Chapter 116: Comatose: Part Four
I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters
I Don't Own The Rights To Nathan Black Or Any Associated Characters, The Rights Go To annihalator2015
Author's Note:
* Hello and welcome to Chapter One Hundred and Seventeen. I can't think of anything that I need to say right now, so let's just get into this chapter.
Earth-Prime
Late May, 2018
Ben's House
Ben
So, I'm skipping over a lot. But that's fine with me. Focusing on December and the months leading up to Summer of 2018 weren't really important to me. Besides, nothing really interesting happened and you aren't missing anything important. But just let me give a brief summary of what I'm leaving out.
So, I got grounded like I did before. Not really a surprise there. However, the reason for it this time was a bit different. I was fine in Chemistry class. What the problem was, was my obsession over fixing the past (which didn't last long). Um, I ran into Zombozo and his Circus Freaks, which that encounter ended like it did originally.
I stopped Animo from blowing up a bomb in Midtown, just like before. I know that I've been quite vague during the couple times that I've brought that up, but it's really lackluster. I'm being serious about that. It's nothing special by any means. I also discreetly reported Kevin's illegal fighting rings in the school basement to Principal Hannigan.
His fight club was shut down a day or so later. He never accused me of anything, but I'm sure that he suspects me of something. I also never used the fight clubs because there was no point to do so this time around. And so, that brings us to now: Late May of 2018. Okay, full disclosure I may have lied a little bit. I changed one thing before I gave up all together.
I stayed out of the spotlight as much as possible, in terms of using the Omnitrix to fight crime. That way, getting together with Gwen will be that much easier, seeing as she won't be taking pictures of my aliens this time around. Apart from that, I believe that everything will progress normally.
As far as I know, Mom and Dad weren't being careful enough a few months back and she got pregnant because of it. And I know this from them telling us when they got back from their trip in July, I think it was? And I'm pretty sure that she said she got pregnant in March, but I can't fully remember.
As I said, everything had happened as it had originally, so there's no point on dwelling on the past five months. I was sitting in the living room, on the couch, waiting for Mom to come tell be about their trip to Vegas. And she didn't disappoint. She came into the room only after a little bit of waiting.
"Ben?"
"Yeah, Mom?"
"Your dad and I have an announcement to make."
Don't even mention something about little brothers or sisters this time. There's no point.
"What is it?"
"We are taking a two week trip to Las Vegas."
"Oh, that's cool. I guess."
"You do understand that you're not going with us, right?"
"Of course. It's just you and Dad, right? Besides, why should I go? I'm not old enough to drink or gamble yet, so it probably wouldn't be very fun for me."
She looked at me with a surprised expression.
"That's a very mature thing for you to say." She spoke after a few seconds of silence.
Is it really?
"So, is that it? It's just you and Dad going?"
She shook her head.
"No, your Aunt Natalie and Uncle Frank are going with us."
I got up from the couch.
"Cool. Well, I'll be downstairs when you guys are ready to go."
"Wait, that's it? You don't have any questions or anything for us?"
I shook my head as I began to walk towards the hallway to the basement stairs.
"No. Why would I? Anyway, I'll be in the basement."
I walked into the hall and towards the stairs.
"Um, okay then."
I began to walk down the stairs as I flipped on the light switch. You know, it never dawned on me why they waited until the very last second to tell me about their trip to Vegas. I think that's weird. It's also kind of weird that Mom didn't even bring Gwen up. That's pretty weird. I walked over to the door across from the couch on the far side of the basement and opened it, to see an empty room.
You may recall me having a lab of sorts in here during the original timeline. However, I didn't get one this time around. I guess I didn't display enough of an interest in science for Mom and Dad to consider it as a Christmas present this time. It's not like I'm crying about it, though. I recall that I never really used it that much. Well, it'll be empty for when Albedo and Sunny move in this time.
I walked back to the couch and flopped down onto it. I didn't feel like watching T.V. or anything. I was just going to lie here and think until Gwen arrived.
About Forty Minutes Later
It seemed like an hour had passed when I heard it, but it may not have been that long in reality. Eventually, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I took a deep breath as I sat up and looked at the bottom of the stairs.
Well, here she comes.
"Hey, Doofus!" I heard her speak as she came into view.
"Oh, hey." I replied.
I probably shouldn't have been staring at her, but I couldn't help it. She was just as beautiful as she always was. She had her red hair pulled back into a ponytail; she was wearing a simple blue T-shirt, jeans and black Nike shoes.
"Are you okay? You look kind of out of it."
I nodded.
"Yeah, I'm okay. So, what are you doing here?"
She gave me a weird look.
"Didn't your Mom tell you? I'm going to be staying with you for two weeks while your parents and mine go to Vegas."
I shook my head.
"No actually. Now that you bring it up, she didn't mention you at all."
"Huh. Well, that's weird."
"Right? Well, actually, she probably didn't mention you because I didn't let her."
She gave me another weird look.
"What does that mean?"
"I may have been a little bummed out that I'm not going to Vegas, too."
She chuckled.
"Oh, yeah? Well, what were you going to do there, anyway?"
I shrugged with a sheepish look on my face.
"Oh, I don't know. I'm sure that I could have thought of something."
"Well, don't be so down about it! There's lots of things that we can do while they're in Vegas! We can order a pizza tonight, we can watch T.V.," she spoke as she began counting on her fingers. "We can go to the new water park that just opened, The Riptide Rapids Zone, we could go up to the middle school for open swim, we can play some Sumo Slammers, we could do lots of stuff!"
She threw up her hands to show how enthusiastic she was.
"Thanks, you're really selling all this to me."
"Hey, that's my job."
"So, what do you want to do first, then?"
She shrugged.
"I dunno. What sort of video games are you into?"
"Oh, you know. Call of Duty, Halo, BioShock, Fallout. A little of this, a little of that."
"Okay. Well, do you want to play some Halo, then?"
I nodded, feeling a sense of nostalgia.
"Okay, sure."
One Hour Later
After an hour of a nostalgia trip of a Slayer match (which had ended in her winning), the game was over. Oh, Mom, Dad and my Aunt and Uncle had left as well. I nearly forgot to mention that.
"Well, that was fun." I replied as I got up and stretched.
"Yeah, it was." She replied as she got up and looked around the room. "You certainly have a lot of stuff down here."
I nodded.
"And you are welcome to use it anytime."
She turned to look at me with a grateful smile.
"Thanks. That's so nice of you, Ben!"
"No problem. You know, it kind of surprises me that we're getting along right now."
"Why? What makes you say that?"
"The last time we saw each other, when we were ten, we got into a fight. I said some things and you said some things. Well, you said that you never wanted to see me again."
"And you believed that?!"
I shrugged with another sheepish look on my face.
"Oh, come on, Ben! That was seven years ago, and we were kids! I don't think that we knew what we were saying then. Besides, I was really excited to see you because I thought that maybe we could start to repair our friendship!"
Seven years ago, huh? Well, this time it's only been about five months or so. And yet, it somehow feels like it's been longer than even that.
"So, seven years? Well, I'll tell you that it feels like it's been longer than that. But I'm glad that you want to try and pick up where we left off back then."
She gave me another weird look.
"Um, alright. That's an interesting way of putting things."
"Oh. Well, sorry."
"That's alright. But like I said, I don't think we meant what we said back then."
"Yeah. We just being the brats that we were back then."
"Yep. We were growing up and we pretty much have."
She chuckled as she began to approach me.
"Speaking of growing up," she spoke as she pulled up my sleeve. "Where did these guns come from?!"
I felt my cheeks heat up as she looked at my biceps, that I had worked on in the previous months.
"Well, you'd be surprised what happens in seven years."
I obviously had to start from scratch in my exercise routine. So, I talked to Dad about me wanting to work out, but not having proper equipment. He told me to wait until Christmas and so I did. The holiday eventually came around and just like it had happened originally, my gifts for Christmas were a Spider-Man comic book signed by the authors, the clubhouse with workout equipment and my own car. The only difference this time is that I didn't get a chemistry set. I'm just glad that I got the clubhouse again. Both for having a place to hang out with my friends and needing a place to work out, more so because of the latter, I couldn't live without it.
She let go of my arm and backed up again.
"So, do you want to go upstairs and play a board game or something?" I asked. "Then after a while, we can order a pizza for dinner."
"Sure!" she replied.
We began to walk up the stairs, with her going in front of me.
"I'll pay for the pizza."
"I can split the cost with you, Ben!"
"I don't think so. As my guest, I won't have you pay for our dinner. That's my responsibility!"
"If you say so."
An Hour and a Half Later
We watched T.V. and played Battleship until around dinner time. Once the pizza came, I let her pick a movie to watch while we ate. And just as she had originally, she picked Finding Nemo. Well, after we had eaten and about halfway through the movie, I came to a realization. As we were watching the movie, I turned to look at her.
Her face: it was as beautiful as it ever was. For a second, I didn't know what it was, but I knew something was different about her. And that's when that realization that I had mentioned just now came into play. The light scar on her forehead, it was gone. The scar that she had received when Ghostfreak hit her in the head with Hex's staff: poof, it was gone.
And the fact of her having a scar on her forehead, that's not a bad thing. I love her just the way she is, and a scar doesn't make her any less beautiful. But even so, what if I could fix it? What if I could fix my mistake of unleashing Ghostfreak and therefore, she never gets that scar? She doesn't have to go through trauma! I turned away before she'd notice me staring.
Things didn't have to go that way. I could fix everything. I can keep her from ever being hurt and with that, I can keep a lot of things from happening. I can change the future. I can and I have to.
One Hour Later
After the movie was over, we said our good nights. I went to my room and she went to the guest room, which would eventually become the room that we'd share. Once I got into my room, I put on a different T-shirt and a pair of gym shorts, before I got down to business. I walked over to my mattress and lifted it up, to reveal the notebook that I had I used to record my notes and events of the future in late November and Early December.
Yes, I had decided that I was going to burn the pages that I had used. But Mom and Dad never left the house for long enough for me to do it. So, I never got around to doing it. And now I'm thankful for that. I grabbed the notebook and put the mattress back down. I walked over to my desk and sat down, placing the notebook down as well.
I opened it and began to read the notes that I had left. I took a few minutes to briefly go over my notes before I began to think again.
I have to do this. I have a chance to make Gwen's life significantly better. So, I have to do this. I was selfish for not wanting to change history if it risked me getting a worse future. This is everyone's future that we're talking about and I have the power to fix it all. So, if I had to potential to change things, what kind of person would I be if I didn't try to fix things? It was settled. I was going to try and change the future; no matter what the cost was.
I picked up my mechanical pencil that had been sitting on my desk and got ready to write.
Fixing my future could consist of a lot of things. There are so many things that I can do. I can keep Gwen from encountering Clancy, therefore preventing him from resenting me. I can keep Kevin from getting powers and dying. I can keep Albedo from being infected with Loboan and Vladat DNA. I can... I can...
That's when I got an idea. You may call it a terrible idea, but I think it wasn't that bad, at least. I turned one page in the notebook and came to a date in the middle of June. Or maybe it was early June? I looked at the entry about us being captured by The Forever Knights and began to write.
Sunny doesn't have to exist.
After having a few months to think about it, I now see Sunny as my greatest failure. I could stop her from ever existing and therefore, I could also stop a whole fuck ton of bad stuff from happening. It might not be a priority, but I think I have to try at least. I put my pencil down and looked at my notes again.
Okay, so that's my game plan. If I want to begin changing things, then the first thing I need to do is stop myself from burning down that apartment building. When is that anyway?
I flipped to the first page of my notes and looked. My eyes widened as I read the date. I got up from my desk and let out a groan as I fell backwards onto my bed.
"Shit!" I whispered.
According to my notes, I had less than a day until it happens.
Author's Note:
* And that's it for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed this one.
* So, what did you all think? Do you approve of everything that Ben did in this chapter and what he decided to do? Like, do you think that he's making the right decision when he lists off all of the things he'll change? Speaking of which, I know that some of you may be angry about the decision to try and keep Sunny from existing, but if any of you are angry, just chill out. I would hope that by now, you all will get the gist of this story arc.
* But that's all I got for now. I am going to go though, so have a Bwen-tastic day and bye.
Review Responses
Daniel6 (Chapter 115): Congratulations on 100 reviews.
Thank you, Daniel. I appreciate that. Thanks for the review, as always.
jasongd (Chapter 115): And another great chapter congrats BWEN Forever
Thank you, Jason. I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks for the review, as always.
Next Chapter: As Ben prepares for his mission, he pushes to get together with Gwen faster in the timeline. Unfortunately, he begins to experience a series of step backs that slow his progress.
