"Do you suffer from nightmares often?" the new empress of the Incursean empire noticed Ben's shoulders stiffen at the question.
The hero had silency risen up to to check his child, after the baby woke up yipping.
Consequently when Attea had woken up she found the other side of the bed empty.
For an crazy moment, mostly caused by the confusion typical of the awakening, she had thought that Tennyson had run away, but then she had simply found him standing in front of the frozen cot of the little bug trying to calm him down.
It looked like he was checking the baby's bandaged wing when she asked the question.
"… Nightmares?" the human repeated, in an apparently uncaring tone as he looked Little Chill's wing "It's almost better little guy"
"You were fidgeting in your sleep last night" Attea said "I thought you had one"
"Really? I don't know, I don't remember …" Ben dismissed, hoping to end the discussion there "You know, that's kinda creepy to stare at people while they sleep"
"Well, it's kinda creepy to stir and murmur during your own sleep too, Tennyson" Attea said narrowing her eyes.
In reality Ben never remembered anything of what he dreamed, IF he dreamed, but when it came to nightmares on the other hand he remembered very well the feeling of loss and anguish that left inside him.
And if the nightmares in question were particularly strong, he would wake up in the middle of the night with tears in his eyes and his shirt stuck on his sweat.
In those cases he could no longer sleep until the next morning.
He generally had nightmares during times when he was particularly stressed or worried for some reason.
Anyway, Ben just decided to ignore her, preferring to focus on Little Chill.
Through the Omnitrix he had taken a photo of the bandaged wing and sent it to Azmuth to get some advice, although apparently it didn't seem to be anything particularly serious.
"Ben-Ben-Ben!" the little Chill calls out for him.
"Ssshh it's ok, it's ok …" Ben murmured softly.
The omnitrix emitted a slight "beep", after which the small holographic image of Azmuth appeared above the watch.
-I figured you would call me for the status of the Necrofiggian's wing, so I recorded this message- the hologram said -Fortunately for you, even the Necroffriggian babies have a very high healing factor, if well cared for obviously, so just keep the baby clean by washing him with very cold water, don't use too much soap and make sure you don't get his wings too wet …-
Said that, the registration ended.
"Well, the smartest being in three (maybe five) galaxies has spoken" Ben smiled as he carried Little Chill towards the bathroom "Let's go take a bath Specter!"
-Specter?- Attea thought, raising an eyebrow while she stayed on her side of the bed waiting for Ben to come out.
She actually expected the hero to avoid the topic "nightmares", after all, why on earth would he have had to confide about it to the one who had forced him to leave his own planet?
She didn't even know why she had wasted time asking him.
Just because for a moment it seemed to her that they had something in common, but still …
-… I wonder what kind of nightmares can torment the "Universes greatest hero"-
A little later Ben came out of the bathroom with Little Chill, or better, Specter in a towel.
The little chill unwraps itself from the Towel, while Ben layed him down on the bed, and shook himself like a dog scattering droplets of icy water everywhere.
Specially on Attea "Hey, watch it bug!"
Ben laughed, watching the scene with barely concealed satisfaction.
"Come on, honey" he teased, sarcastically treading on the last word "Specter is just playing, aren't you Specter? Yeah, you are just playing"
"Ben-Ben-Ben!" Specter squeaked cheerfully.
"Sure, he does" Attea hissed.
Then she looked at the little one, who in turn began to stare at her with his innocents, HUGE, green eyes and …
… Damn it, how could an bug like that be so cute?
"What kind of name is Specter anyway?" She snorted.
"What do you mean? It's mysterious and spooky, it's perfect"
"It's stupid, how about … Indigo, instead?" Attea suggested casually "It sounds much better for him"
"Indigo?"
"Everyone knows that indigo is the color of nobility, and since you are now royalty so does your little bug"
"Seriously? And exactly what makes you believe you have any say about it? He's my … uh, little Necrofriggian, so I decide the name!" Ben said indignantly.
"But I'm actually the one who can get him what he needs, am I?"
"This has nothing to do with it …!"
The discussion about Little Chill's name actually continued, at times, until the two of them went down to breakfast.
"What's your problem? He's MINE, so only I can decide the name!"
"Yeah, but he lives in MY room and eats MY metal objects!"
"SPECTER!"
"INDIGO!"
"Why not BOTH?"
Neptune's suggestion pushed through their discussion with impressive simplicity, drawing the two's attention to the Atlantean.
"What?" Ben said, not convinced at all.
"The baby seems to appreciate both" the woman pointed out "Look …" she clearly repeated both the names, distancing them well from each other to see which sounds the little one answered.
In both cases the little Chill, who was gnawing on a metal fork, made cheerful verses and flapped his wings.
"See?" Neptune smiled "He likes them both"
"Ah! See? At least the bug has shown to have a minimum of good taste" Attea agreed.
"Well, if he likes both of them ..." muttered the boy.
At the end, Specter Indigo Tennyson didn't sound too bad.
The rest of the day, Ben spent it in the company of Jades, who apparently had officially become her personal servant, along with Armand, and Specter since Attea had to deal with ... more urgent business.
The little Necrofriggian was happily clinging to Ben's shoulder, while the hero and Jades walked through one of the corridors of the royal palace.
"Now that you are married we can finally finish the tour of the palace" Jades exclaimed excitedly "I couldn't wait to show you the gardens! They are cared for by a dear friend of mine, Lillylia, She's a Eukaryotalis, you know? From planet Florya …"
And Ben actually liked her company, even if he occasionally lost the thread of the speech in the midst of all that chatter.
Suddenly Jades' cheerful chatter stopped.
"Jades ...?"
Ben's eyes widened when, turning to the alien girl, he saw an Incursean soldier who had immobilized her from behind, covering her mouth with one hand.
"Ummh!" Jades' eyes were wide open and her shoulders trembled with fear.
"What the …?! Let her go!" Ben growled, immediately raising a hand to hit the Omnitrix.
Strangely, the soldier seemed confused by the order and was about to reply when she was anticipated by another voice.
"Hey! Chill out Tennyson!" the voice said.
A familiar male voice.
After that, a hand blocked his wrist, before he could hit the Omnitrix.
"Ben-Ben-Ben!" Specter made a small leap, helping himself with the good wing, and jumped into the attacker's face.
"Hey! Leave me alone you little ..."
"Kevin stop fooling around!"
"Tell it at this little monster!"
-Wait a minute …-
Another Incursean soldier, a female, whose appearance actually reminded Ben of the frog version of that Disney princess ... what was her name?
Tiana …? However, she entered Ben's field of vision with his hands raised in peace.
"Ehy, doofus"
"... Gwen?" Ben stopped fighting, and blinked "Is it ... is it really you?"
The female Incursean just smiled, before clapping twice.
Immediately the figures of what appeared to be four common soldiers disappeared giving way to Gwen, Kevin, Grandpa Max and ...
"... ROOK!" Ben exclaimed.
The one who was still keeping poor Jades immobilized …!
"Let her go Rook, you are hurting her!" he hurried to say "She's a friend!"
"Oh, I'm sorry" his partner apologized, letting the girl go.
Jades ran close to Ben, frightened "M-My lord …?"
"It's alright Jades" the boy reassured her "They … they are my family …" he murmured then excited, almost not believing it.
"Could someone please take this thing off me, OUCH! Stop it …!"
"Ben-Ben!"
"How did you get here?" Ben asked.
"Well, let's say we found another way to get here without the plumber's help" said Rook, rubbing his neck "Gwendolyn's illusion spell did the rest"
They were aware that they had arrived too late when they saw the people of Neo Tongue Topia celebrating on the streets, after the announcement of Attea's coronation.
Unfortunately, passing the Incursian block without being discovered wasn't easy at all, not even for an expert pilot like Rad.
Nice little person the captain of the "Lovely Duck" spaceship.
Or at least nice as it can be an alien trigger-happy duck of sharp sarcasm and intolerant of other people's criticism.
Full name: Captain Rad Profit-Danger-Trouble Trouble ... and no, it wasn't a joke, those "names" were actually present on his pilot's license.
Rad was a mercenary who mainly dealed with smuggling, often in those sectors of the universe where most of the pilots were afraid to venture, but he didn't refuse other types of job as long as he gets well paid and he never asked too many questions beyond those he really needed.
Despite everything he really was a professional.
But even that wasn't enough to reach Ben in time.
"Hellooooo?" Kevin groanted.
"Specter, come here!"
The baby, hearing himself called, stopped pulling Kevin's hair or trying to scratch him and fluttered in Ben's arms before picking his niche on his shoulder.
"Wait a minute, that Necrofriggian ..." Gwen blinked "Ben, isn't he ...?"
"Long story" Ben cut short.
For a moment they all remained silent, as if they didn't know exactly what to say.
"We are so sorry Ben" Gwen started sadly "We ... we tried to get here in time"
"It's okay, there wouldn't have been much you could have done anyway" Ben interrupted her, giving her a faint smile, then his eyes widened like struck by a sudden realization "Wait, what about Attea? If she finds out that you are here …"
"Don't worry, my spell hid us from the first moment we set a foot on the planet, the only negative thing is that it doesn't last very long but we are safe for now"
Okay, this reassured him.
"Why did you come? I mean, I'm really happy to see you all, but …"
"We wanted to make sure you were fine" Max said, giving a quick hug to his grandson "And to tell you that, while we were coming here, we started thinking of a plan to get you out of this situation"
"Really? Which plan?" Ben asked brightening.
"Actually, we haven't finalized the details yet, but we were thinking of presenting your case to the intergalactic court" Rook revealed.
"A court? I believed that legally we couldn't touch Attea" Ben said.
"That's true in theory" Gwen retorted fiercely "We can't be completely sure until we try, right?"
"Yeah, we can't just abandon you here without trying all possible options first" Kevin added "Even if actually I would have already proposed a good plan …"
"For the last time Kevin, we can't KIDNAP Ben and FAKE HIS DEATH! It's too dangerous, too many variables!" Gwen snapped, rolling her eyes in exasperation "Not to mention that if it even worked it would be impossible to hide something like this forever"
Ben didn't even know why he was smiling at their squabble.
God, he really missed them.
"We thought there must be some legal quibble, some rights we can appeal to …" Max continued.
"… And would I be free to come back to Earth?"
Was such a thing really feasible? Could he afford to hope?
"Yes, and ... you and Attea didn't consume the wedding, did you?"
"W-What? Of course not, grandpa!" Ben yelled blushing at the thought "Attea was only interested in taking the throne, she doesn't look at me like that"
"Good"
"Rather, how ... how are my parents?" Ben asked in a whisper.
"You can imagine that" Max sighed, running a hand over his head uneasily "They are destroyed, Ben"
The boy lowered his head, biting his lip "I'm so sorry ..."
Suddenly Gwen's eyes lit up with pink mana.
"Someone is coming, we don't have much time anymore" she realized anxiously "We have to go"
"Go then! I don't want you to get into trouble because of me, even though ... it was nice to see you" Ben admitted.
"You too, Ben" the girl said hugging him tight "I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you"
"Don't say that, I know how much you wanted to attend that school" the hero reassured her "What happend it wasn't your fault, we are no kids anymore, we have our own lives to live"
Gwen just smiled, trying to hold back her tears.
"See you soon, Benji" Kevin joked, beating his fist against Ben's already raised one "Try not to get into trouble as you usually do"
"Look who's Talking" Ben chuckled "Yeah, see you soon Kev"
Then he turned to Rook "Always cool partner"
"You too, partner" he smiled.
"Try to resist Ben, it is not the end of the matter" Max said.
-Or at least I hope so- the Magister added mentally.
"Just, tell mom and dad that ..." Ben swallowed "That I'm sorry, and that I love them"
"Of course"
They started to leave when Gwen suddenly turned back.
"Oh! I almost forgot" she said coming closer to her cousin "I brought you something, here!"
What Ben found in his hands made his eyes widen.
"Charmcaster's old spell book?" he exhaled in surprise ""But Gwen, why ...? You really care about this book"
Although belonging to one of their most bitter enemies, it was still the tool that had allowed her to start studying magic.
"I know, it's just ... I know every single spell of this book, I don't need it anymore and I just wanted you have something of mine with you" she murmured softly.
"Gwen ..."
"Whenever you feel lonely, try to read it, even if you don't understand it" she continued shrugging "Take care of yourself Ben, we will try to see you again as soon as possible"
Ben nodded "Okay, Thank you"
Then she joined the others, reactivating the illusion spell.
Ben watched them disappear, unable to help but wonder when he could see them again.
...
Yeah, I thought that the idea of kidnapping/fake death could be in Kevin's style, the problem is that it would be impossible in the long run since it would mean forcing Ben to hide forever somewhere, but as you can see that doesn't mean that Ben's family and friends will surrender to the situation so easily.
Thank you very much Dinobot king for helping me write this chapter and suggesting part of Little Chill's name, "Indigo".
I know some of you are wondering what happened to Looma Red Wind in this story, don't worry ^^ I haven't forgotten about her.
Rather, she will appear in the next few chapters.
See you next time! ^^
