Chapter 119: Comatose: Part Seven

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 Nineteen. I won't say anything about this chapter.

* So, let's get into this chapter!

Earth-Prime

Late May, 2018

Ben's House

Ben

"What?" I asked.

Albedo looked at me with a strange expression.

"I said, someone's been busy."

I put up my hands with confusion.

"Okay. What exactly are you doing here?"

"What do you mean? I've always been here."

Okay, stop. Just stop. Telling Gwen the truth is one thing and as much as I trust Albedo, I'm not sure if he can keep his mouth shut. Especially if this is past Albedo that we're talking about, before we actually got along. For now, let's just not tell him anything.

"Yeah, okay. Sure, you have."

"So, you've been busy, yeah?"

"Uh, yes. I have been busy."

Don't get me wrong, it was good to see Albedo again. But it was so weird to see him here before he was created in the original timeline. It felt weird to see him here, almost creepy for some reason.

I had no idea what to say to him now, we were just standing there in silence. And thank God that the door behind me opened when it did, because I wasn't sure what would happen.

"Ben, I thought I..." Gwen spoke as she stepped outside, but cut herself off once she saw Albedo and I.

The three of us stood in silence, before she broke said silence.

"Well, just off of the explanations that you gave me, I'm going to have to guess that this is Albedo."

I nodded.

"Yes, it is. Or he is, rather. Is that right? I don't really know or care if it is."

I noticed out of my peripheral that Albedo was looking at me funny, so I turned to look at him. I noticed that he was looking at me like he was confused or something.

"Well, I can certainly say that he's as handsome as you are." Gwen replied.

I turned back to look at her.

"Well, he gets the handsome part from me."

"Thanks." He replied immediately.

I looked at him and then back at Gwen.

"Um, since he's here early, he'll need a place to stay. Is it cool if he stays with us?"

"Absolutely. I don't mind. I have to get back to dishes."

She turned around and walked back into the house before I could say anything else. I turned back to Albedo.

"You can stay with us and crash on the couch, okay?"

"Us?"

"Gwen and I. You know, Gwen? My cousin and therefore your cousin, as well? My girlfriend, Gwen?"

He eventually nodded.

"Oh, Gwen. Right..."

He then walked into the house without another word to me, while I stayed outside. I began to think to myself about what had just happened.

Why was he talking like that? Why does he act like he knows something that I don't?

I let out a sigh that thought came to my mind.

There seems to be a lot of that these days, I thought.

I eventually decided to quit standing out here and go back in the house. When I walked in, I saw Albedo sitting on the couch, flipping through channels on the T.V.

"Well, well, well. Make yourself right at home." I said as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"That's what I'm doing." He replied without looking at me.

I stood there in silence for a few seconds.

"Well, if you need me, I'll be in my room."

"Alright."

I walked past the T.V. and down the hallway to my room. I walked back into my room and sat down at my desk. I began to go over my notes again to determine what was coming next. I looked at the water park date and then looked at the next one, being confused as I did. According to my notes, the next date was Kevin 11 absorbing the Omnitrix's energy.

While that was all well and good, it didn't sound right to me. I could have sworn that something came before that. Did there really? I scooted my chair away from the desk as I began to think. As I was doing that, Gwen walked into the room.

"Hey." She greeted me.

"Hey." I said as I continued thinking.

"Is it okay if we go for a walk?"

I hardly even registered what she asked, but I did respond.

"Um, can we do that tomorrow? I'm kind of tired after the water park thing."

"Of course."

"Thanks."

"So, what's the next thing on your list?"

"Um, if it's accurate, which I'm not sure that it is, it should be when Kevin absorbs the energy from the Omnitrix."

"What do you mean you're not sure that it's accurate?"

"Well, I think that there's something that comes before that, but I can't remember what!"

"Do you think it's the past pushing back against you?"

I looked back at her.

"You mean the past making sure that I forget what I was supposed to do?" I asked as I nodded. "If you ask me, it makes sense if I'm not supposed to be trying to change the past."

"You seemed kind of unfocused when you were talking to me after the attack at the water park. Did something happen?"

I nodded.

"What happened?"

"I saw Mr. Trench Coat again. And instead of lecturing me, he just shook his head. He didn't say anything. It was like he disapproved of what I was doing."

She let out a sigh.

"He's just not going to leave you alone is he?"

"Probably not."

"Well, what are you going to do about it?"

I shook my head.

"I have no idea."

Silence fell between us after that.

"I'll leave you alone to think then."

"Thanks."

She then left the room and I continued to think.

The Next Day

The following day, Gwen and I went for a walk like she wanted to. Having nothing to do back at the house, Albedo decided to tag along. He tailed a good length behind us while we talked.

"Gwen, there's something I've been meaning to tell you."

She slightly turned her head to look at me.

"Okay. What's on your mind?"

"Do you remember how I mentioned that you have powers?"

She nodded.

"I think so. What was the word? It started with an A?"

I nodded.

"It's Anodite, that's the word. And with you being an Anodite-human hybrid, you have the abilities of one."

"Abilities? What kind are you talking about?"

"There's a lot I could give you for examples. For now, I'll tell you that you can generate these shields of hot pink material called mana and you can use the same mana to throw them as weapons. I once called them Gwen Bolts."

She laughed.

"You did not!"

"I did."

"Oh, come on. That's terrible! It sounds like something from a corny comic book!"

"Well, to be fair, I may have had some inspiration. In the Teen Titans comics, there's this character named Starfire that can fire these bolts of green energy from her hands, which are sometimes called "Star Bolts". That's where I came up with the idea for calling them Gwen Bolts."

She rolled her eyes.

"That's an awful name, Ben."

"Oh, come on, now. You love it."

"Do not!"

"Do to!"

I didn't try to protest again. Instead, I tried to pull her forward for a kiss, but she wasn't having it.

"No, not right now, Ben!" she said as she gently pushed me away.

"Ugh, fine!"

I stopped antagonizing her and we continued walking as we entered one of the public parks in Bellwood's suburbs district. That's when I came to a stop.

Wait, public park?

My eyes widened as it finally hit me.

Oh my God! That's what I've been forgetting! Clancy!

"Gwen." I said as I tightly gripped her arm. "We need to go. Now!"

She looked at me with concern.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Don't question me!" I said as I turned my head, to see a guy not too far behind Gwen, walking as if he were drunk. "We just have to get out of here!"

"Ben, calm down! What's so bad about us being here?!"

Clancy was getting closer and my time was running out.

"Just trust me, please! We have to go, now!"

"What has gotten into you? You're scaring me!"

"Hey baby, why don't you come home with me, tonight?" Clancy exclaimed as he pushed me away from Gwen. "Ditch this guy, this wallflower!"

It was too late.

I quickly got back to my feet and saw Clancy forcing Gwen up against a tree.

But I could still change this.

I rushed over to them, grabbed the back of Clancy's jacket and pulled him away from her. He rolled through the grass as I stepped in front of Gwen, blocking his path to her. He began to get back up as he looked at me with an angry expression.

"Back off, man. Right now. I don't want to hurt you!"

He didn't take my warning seriously.

"Fuck off!" he exclaimed as he approached again.

I pushed him back, but only by a foot or two. After that, he approached again and punched me in the jaw. I stumbled back a little bit, opening his path to Gwen back up. As he walked towards Gwen, I looked around for something to use against him. As I searched the ground, I saw a stick, maybe as big as the average person's arm in diameter.

That'll do.

I picked up the stick and approached Clancy again.

"Back off! Leave her alone!"

He ignored me and proceeded to pull on her shirt, hard enough for it to rip at the shoulder, revealing Gwen's bra strap.

What was I doing? He wasn't going to stop just because I asked him to!

I grabbed the back of his jacket again and pulled him away from Gwen. He stumbled backwards and once again; I blocked his path.

"Stop right now! Just walk away! I don't want to hurt you, but this is your last warning! Don't make a single step towards her!"

I didn't want to hurt him. Despite what you may believe, I didn't enjoy hurting people. And if I could cause him to back off without having to hurt him, that was the preferable outcome.

Well, you know what? He kept coming anyway. And so, I hit him in the knee with the stick first. He stumbled forward as he let out a yell of pain. He still tried to approach anyway, so I hit him in the arm. And again, and then again. He eventually backed up from me and looked at me with anger and hate.

"Why you..." he exclaimed. "Fuck you! Fuck you! I won't let you keep me from..."

Homerun.

I cut him off by hitting him in the face with the stick as if I were hitting a baseball. He went down after that, crumbling into a heap in the grass below me. After seeing that he didn't move anymore, I dropped the stick.

"God damn it." I said. "Why didn't he listen to me? He could have just walked away! There was no need to hurt him!"

I turned to Gwen, who stared past me and then adjusted her gaze to look at me. I stepped towards her and unlike the original timeline, she didn't back away.

"Gwen, are you okay?"

She nodded.

"Yes, I'll be fine. Thank you. Was that the reason you were telling me that we should leave?"

I nodded.

"Yeah. And I think that this is the thing that I forgot about."

She just looked at me without saying anything. I pulled out my phone, put in my password and brought up the number pad.

"What are you doing?"

"Calling 911." I said as I looked back up at her. "I want to get him to a hospital and ultimately, away from you so he's permanently out of the equation."

A Few Minutes Later

After I called 911, I told Gwen to go home.

"What about you?" she asked.

"I'm gonna make sure that he gets taken. Go without me and have Albedo walk you home."

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you, too."

She turned and began to walk away, as she did her best to cover her shoulder. I turned to look at Clancy and I saw him. Who else but Mr. Trench Coat? He was standing a few feet away from me, with a disapproving look on his face.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked.

"You've made a mistake." He said.

I shook my head.

"No, I would have to say that I've done a great thing."

"You don't understand. What you've just done will lead to great consequences."

"You know what? Fuck off. Stop doing whatever it is that you do and leave me alone!"

He just stared at me without a word.

"What? Is there something going on behind me?"

I turned around and saw nothing but the ambulance finally arriving. After seeing only that, I turned back to Mr. Trench Coat, only to see that he was gone now. I cursed with frustration.

"And, he's done it again."

I turned back around, to see Clancy being picked up and put onto a gurney. I was unsure of what to do now. There was no reason to stick around for any longer. It was then that I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around, to see Albedo standing there.

What was he still doing here?! I told Gwen to have him walk her home!

"Do you want to tell me what the hell just happened?"

"What do you mean? And why aren't..."

"Let's take this one step at a time. How about we start with how you just attacked an innocent man for no reason!"

"Innocent man?! You didn't just call Clancy an 'innocent man'!"

"Oh, so you know his name, too? What exactly did he do to you? Why did you beat the shit out of him like that?"

"Why did I... Albedo, he was trying to get to Gwen! Did you not see him try to assault her?!"

He continued to stare at me as his gaze softened.

"Oh, now I see. Um, Ben, I think we need to talk about something."

Oh, you think?

"You don't say."

"It's not about what you think."

"It's not?"

He put his hand on my back and started walking us away from the crowd of people that had formed around the ambulance.

"Will you just tell me?!"

"Not here."

"Why not?!"

"Don't make a scene."

"Oh, you're telling me not to make a scene?!"

"Ben."

I let out a sigh and shut my mouth. Eventually, we came to a stop by a tree, far away from any spectators.

"Okay, when I tell you what I'm about to tell you, try not to make a scene."

"Just tell me already."

"Yeah, you got it, pal. So, you claim that you saw Clancy attack Gwen? Is that right?"

"Not claimed. It actually happened."

He shook his head.

"I'm not sure that it did. Just relax, try not to get angry."

"I'm fine, Albedo. I'm calm. Real calm!"

"What you did was attack an innocent man. A man who never did anything to you."

I was having trouble staying calm.

"Never did anything to me?! He attacked Gwen! He... He tried to assault her! And he's going to..."

Albedo was giving me this look, like he knew that it was impossible for me to listen. He sighed as I kept talking and interrupted me a few seconds later.

"Gwen's dead."

I stopped talking and shut my mouth for a second.

What did he just say?

"What?"

"There! I said it!"

"No. No. Repeat what you just said."

He nodded.

"Gwen is dead, alright buddy? She has been for a while now. And I think you need help. You are obviously having a hard time in trying to let her go."

I put my hand in his face.

"Shut up."

I turned from him and tried to comprehend what he was telling me.

Gwen... dead? No! There's no way! I would know if she was really gone! It's not like I've been imagining her! She's alive! Albedo is the one who's crazy!

Speaking of Albedo, he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Let me get you some help, bro. I know how you feel right now."

"Stop it. Shut up and leave me alone."

"Dude, I know it's hard to believe, but it's the truth! Gwen really is dead! Now, what you need to do is go apologize for beating up an innocent man! You have to turn yourself..."

I spun around and punched Albedo in the jaw, sending him to the ground. He slammed into the tree trunk as he landed in the grass. He hissed with pain, before he looked up at me.

"Dude, why did you..."

I pointed down at him and he stopped talking.

"Don't say a word! I should throw you out after what you said, but I'm willing to overlook this whole thing!"

He stared up at me with what I thought was fear.

"Dude..."

"Shut it! I'm going to forget that we had this conversation! And I'm going home! You can come back when you've had some time to think and come back to a sensible state of mind!"

I didn't wait for him to respond. I just turned right around and started walking away.

Sometime Later

Ben's House

"He said you were dead!" I shouted, throwing my notebook at the wall.

Okay, obviously I hadn't forgot about my conversation with Albedo. It was just impossible.

"And I'm not."

"Of course, you're not! It doesn't make any sense! I can't be imagining you!"

"And you're not, I promise. I'm real. And I'm really here."

I heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, some good news! Finally, good God!"

"Hey, just relax. Try not to let it get to you."

"Try. Easier said than done. It practically sounded like he was crazy!"

"Ben, just relax."

I let out a sigh as I took a deep breath and let it out.

"Okay, calm. No big deal!"

"Thank you."

Just then, I heard the door open.

"Oh, brilliant! Mr. Crazy's home!"

"Relax, Ben!"

I sighed.

"Right. Sorry."

Gwen and I were in silence now. Eventually, there was a knock at the door that broke the silence.

"Hey, Ben, buddy?" Albedo asked from the other side. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

I looked at Gwen. She shrugged, as if to tell me the choice was up to me. I sighed and got off the bed. Once I got to the door, I opened it.

"No." I said, about to shut the door again.

"But..."

"No buts!" I said as I shut the door. "Just leave me alone."

I walked back over to my bed and flopped down onto my back, where Gwen joined me. I looked at her with concern.

"Hey, I hope the whole park thing didn't scare you."

She shook her head.

"No, I understand. You were just defending me. You don't have to apologize and I have nothing to be scared of."

I let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, that's good to hear."

We laid there in silence for a minute or two, before she spoke up.

"Hey, I have an idea."

"Okay. What do ya got for me?"

"You need something to take your mind off of things. Why I don't I call my brother and you can call your friends, and we'll have a game day tomorrow."

I looked at her with concern.

"But... that's how Kevin got his powers!"

She shook her head.

"No, if you told me correctly, he got his powers from shaking your hand and absorbing the Omnitrix's energy. All you have to do is prevent him from making contact long enough for him to absorb the energy!"

As I thought about what she said, I began to smile.

"Hey, you're right!"

She winked at me.

"Hey, mom's always right!"

"You're not a mom. But you might be some day."

She chuckled as she stroked my cheek.

"Oh, yeah?"

I chuckled as our lips met and we kissed as she snuggled up against me.

Later That Night

I left my room later in the night to have a quick chat with Albedo. I walked down the hallway and into the living room, to see him sitting on the couch. He looked up at me with a nervous glance. I pointed to the door.

"Outside. We need to have a talk."

He let out a sigh as he got up.

"Okay, okay. I'm not a dog."

"No wise cracking." I replied. "Just go outside, now!"

He walked over to the front door and opened it as I followed him. Once we were both outside, I shut the door behind me. He stepped down onto the path to the driveway and turned to look at me.

"So, what's on your mind?" he asked. "Is this about what I said in the park today?"

I crossed my arms over my chest as I shot him a disapproving glance.

"Don't! I don't even want to think about that."

He didn't say anything, so I continued.

"Look, I'm having some friends over tomorrow and I can't have you here."

He gave me an offended look.

"Why not?!"

"Because none of them know who you are yet. It'll be hard to explain my twin brother that I never had until now and I frankly don't remember how we did it last time."

"Last time?"

I waved my hand.

"Forget about what I said. Please, just go out for the day tomorrow. I'm pleading with you, dude."

He looked at me, before he sighed.

"Well, if I got out tomorrow, what am I supposed to do?"

"Start searching for a man named Leon Jones. Keep tabs on him and get me as much information on him as you can. He's important!"

He just chuckled.

"Don't tell me. You're gonna beat on another innocent man, right?"

My temper flared at that mention, as slight as it was.

"Do you really want to live out on the streets in a cardboard box?"

His amused expression faded.

"Sorry." He said in a low tone.

I turned around to walk back into the house.

"You should be."

The Next Morning

After breakfast the following morning, I had to send Albedo on his way.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! I'm going!"

I just waved at Albedo as he walked out the door.

"Don't be a stranger, Albedo!"

He gave me the finger as he walked off down the driveway. I chuckled as I shut the door. I turned around to face Gwen, who was sitting on the couch.

"So, when does everyone get here?"

She smiled at me.

"Soon." She replied.

Later That Day

I heard a knock at the door and I got up before Gwen could.

"I'll get that." I replied.

I walked to the door and opened it, seeing Kevin, J.T., Cash and Ken standing on the stoop outside on the stoop.

"Well, how about, cuz? You gonna let us in?" Ken asked.

"Absolutely! Come on in, guys!"

I stepped out of the way so they could walk in. Once they shut the door behind them, Cash turned to me.

"Man, how have you been?" he asked, as he stepped up to me.

"I've been great, Cash!"

"I bet you've been good." J.T. said, as he stepped over to stand next to Cash.

I turned my head to look at J.T.

"You have an extremely hot cousin to hang out with, you follow me?"

I rolled my eyes as I sighed with disgust.

"J.T., that's my sister you're talking about." Ken spoke up.

J.T.'s face suddenly turned bright red.

"Oh, right. Sorry about that."

"Uh-huh. Yeah, sure. I bet you are. Now, how about we get this game day on the road?"

"That's what I'm talking about!" Kevin exclaimed.

"Follow me. We can set up in the basement."

A couple minutes later, Gwen, Kevin and I were all downstairs. Kevin was off in the corner, tossing darts at the dartboard and Gwen stood with me, while I set up the LAN party for Ken, J.T. and Cash to connect to when they got down here. As I was setting up the LAN party, I heard a commotion coming from the stairs. I turned to look at the stairs with confusion.

What's going on?

I walked over to the stairs, to see J.T. and Cash coming down the stairs, struggling to carry a T.V. down.

Oh, right. I forgot about that.

"Um, what exactly do you think you guys are doing?"

"Um, we grabbed the T.V. from upstairs, why?" J.T. asked.

"Would it really have been hard to grab a T.V. from Ken's house? Or from your house, or from Cash's house, or from Kevin's house?" I asked.

"Leave me out of this." Kevin said.

I rolled my eyes.

Just like old times.

"I didn't want to have to carry it through the living room." J.T. said, along with Cash nodding.

"You're so lazy. Besides, you could have borrowed the T.V. from my room!"

J.T. snickered.

"Get real Ben! We all know about the box of tissues and magazines under your bed!"

They all started laughing. Kevin started laughing; J.T and Cash began laughing as they put the T.V. down. Even Ken laughed, as he came down the stairs. I looked over at Gwen, who was blushing and doing her best to hold back her laughter. I turned back to J.T., as I began to laugh myself.

"Eh, whatever." I said.

"Wait, you're not going to get mad?" he asked. "Hit me maybe?"

I shrugged.

"Why should I? It's just a stupid joke. Alright, people! Let's plug this T.V. and Xbox in and get on with this thing!"

About fifteen minutes later, we had the T.V., Xbox and the LAN Party set up. Kevin, Gwen and I were playing on the bigger T.V., where I had already set up the LAN Party. And Ken, J.T., and Cash were playing on the smaller flat screen on the other side of the room. I had gotten chairs for them from the storage/laundry room. The game session lasted about three and a half hours.

And since there were six of us, we decided to play on Blood Gulch for the whole time. Kevin and I were constantly switching from sitting on the couch or the floor, while Gwen stuck to the couch most of the time. I would have to say that J.T. is the worst player out of the bunch. I was walking along the cliffs in the game, when I heard him speak from across the room.

"Surprise, motherfucker!" he exclaimed, as his character jumped out of nowhere at me.

Only, his character missed me.

"Oh God!" he exclaimed, as his character fell off the cliff, to which everyone else laughed.

The second game we did was Team Slayer, with Gwen, Kevin and I as a team and the other three as a team. We looked around the entire canyon of the map and couldn't find the enemy team. We eventually found them in a cave, armed to the teeth with Rocket Launchers.

"Run! Women and children last!" I exclaimed, as I ran away, barely missing a rocket that killed both of my team members.

I continued running, but J.T. and Cash both ran after me.

"Where are your papers?!" Cash screamed in a mock German accent, causing all of us to laugh.

Somehow, I don't know how, we won the game.

One Hour Later

Kevin and I took a break from the gaming, and went outside to get a breath of fresh air. Besides, he said it was time for him to be getting home. Once we were outside, we were talking about something, I don't remember what, when Kevin brought something up.

"Give it up, Alien Guy." he said. "I know your secret, Ben."

I chuckled.

"You know my secret?"

"Yeah! You're that Alien Guy, right?"

"Okay, you caught me. Big whoop."

"Big whoop? You're not going to try to deny it?"

"Why should I? What do you want anyway?"

"I want to get in on the action. Whatever makes you do that alien thing, I want a piece of it."

I shook my head.

"Sorry, pal. I won't allow it. It's too dangerous."

"Alright, fine. If you say so. We played a few good games today, right?"

He stuck out his hand.

"Yeah, we did."

Huh. He must have bought it.

I took his hand and we shook.

Well, that was easier than I thought.

"I'll see you later, pal. Take care of yourself."

"Yeah, you do the same."

He let go of my hand and as he looked at me, he winked. Before he turned away, I noticed his green eyes.

His green eyes? No… Kevin had brown eyes! What was I supposed to do again?

I lifted my Omnitrix hand into view.

Oh, no. He shook my hand!

I facepalmed as I hissed with anger and confusion.

"Oh, come on!"

Author's Note:

* And that's it for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed.

* What do you guys think of the confrontation with "Nathan" at the beginning? How about what happened with Clancy? What about what Albedo said about Gwen? Why do you think he would say such a thing? And finally, why do you think Ben allowed Kevin to shake his hand?

* I think that's all I got. I'm going to go though, so have a Bwen-tastic day and bye.

Review Responses

Daniel6 (Chapter 118): All good. Albedo is has returned. Ben really needed his brother back.

Thank you, Daniel. Yes, Albedo has returned. Although, after this chapter, I'm not sure that your opinion will remain the same. Thanks for the review, as always.

jasongd (Chapter 118): And another great chapter congrats BWEN Forever

Thank you, Jason. I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one. Thanks for the review, as always.

Next Chapter: Ben tries to figure out how he ended up shaking Kevin's hand. Meanwhile, Ben saves Kevin's hostages and tries to keep his best friend's condition from getting worse. Ben's situation once again worsens.