Welcome to the (seriously) long awaited sixth chapter for Reflected Scars! This is the final chapter for this story, after which I will be focusing primarily on The Ultra 10 Chronicles, Volume 3, though I am going to be working on a couple of minor, requested stories as well.

So sorry for how long it took to finish this story! I've got good and bad excuses, but I'll just let them go. Thank you to those that messages me asking if I'm alright/still writing. And thank you to everyone for waiting so patiently!

The soundtrack for this chapter is "Keep Holding On" by Avril Lavigne, as I think it is a fitting theme for the ending of the chapter, both for Gwen and Ben, and the freedom fighters.

Triggers this chapter: This entire chapter, right up 'till the end is a a fight scene, so there is a lot of violence, but I don't think it's overly bloody or gorey. There are a number of choice words, though. The first is in the paragraph following the one beginning with, "Kanga-boom!" The second is in the paragraph following the one beginning with, "Don't think I've met you..." the last two is in the paragraph following the one beginning with, "Looks like I got you all riled up..."

Enjoy the chapter.

Reflected Scars

Chapter 6: A Decision to Make

"All Omni forces are requested in the medical wing, exit two immediately," a robotic voice spoke over the intercom. "Be prepared for resistance." The alarm was blaring throughout the whole tower now, alerting everyone that was in the tower. From the nearby research and development lab, a sickening smile crossed Clancy's face.

"Looks like I am going to get some revenge for knocking down my grandfather's apartment building," Clancy said. Bugs of all sorts came out of the woodworks to swarm to him.

"Indeed," Animo said, slipping on his transmodulator ray's apparatus over his head. "And I shall have plenty of subjects for my future research!" The two insane men barreled out of the lab towards the medical wing. It was only a minute or so before they burst into the destroyed hallway where the battle was taking place. The scene was chaotic as more than a few walls had been knocked down, making a large clearing out of the adjacent rooms.

"I'm coming for you, Ben Tennyson!" Clancy roared as the swarm of insects around him darted for the four-armed alien.

"Kangaroo Komando," Animo greeted his former teammate. "I wonder how much of you is 'kangaroo' and how much is commando…"

"A lot more 'Komando' then you would hope for," he replied, throwing one of his boomerangs at the doctor." The object forced Animo to dodge behind a nearby column. Not far away, Animo heard the sound he'd been waiting for. The sound of several hundred of Clancy's bugs being squashed by FourArm's hands.

"Let's see how you fare against reanimated insects!" Animo shouted, twisting the dial on his chest. A red energy wave instantly went out, bringing the insects back to life and several dozen times their previous size. Several mutated flies and a beetle flew at Kangaroo Komando, forcing him to dodge to avoid getting grabbed. The beetle used its twisted horn to gouge his leg, leaving a long cut across his thigh.

"Kanga-boom!" Kangaroo Kommando shouted as he pressed. Button on his forearm, a sonic emitter blasting a high pitched sound wave at the swarm, turning them to dust. Using his hydraulic legs, Kangaroo Kommando leapt at Animo, trying to get close enough to brawl with him. However, he was intercepted in mid air by another dozen reanimated, mutated flies, knocking him against the far wall, slumping to the floor.

"Shit," he muttered as he rolled to the left as a horned beetle the size of a golden retriever barreled through where he'd just been. He reached into a compartment on his belt and pulled out a couple of wooden balls. Again jumping into the air, he threw them at the doctor, the bolos wrapping themselves tightly around Animo's torso, binding his arms down.

"Ugh," Animo grunted as he struggled to loosen the bolos. Kangaroo Kommando threw a boomerang, it arcing around the room and hitting Animo on the back of the head, knocking him out cold. Animo's limp body slunk to the floor.

"You're Koala chow," Kangaroo Kommando said as he ran over to the unconscious man. He used another boomerang to smash Animo's transmodulator. The roughly dozen more mutated insects all around the room instantly reverted back to their normal sizes.

"Sorry, old friend," Kangaroo Kommando told the unconscious Animo. "We both knew it was going to come to this. I just hope we can be friends again after this is-oof!" Kangaroo Kommando grunted as he was slammed into by ThumbSkull, who'd just emerged from the hallway.

"So you're the mole, eh?" Terrence asked as he threw Kangaroo Command into the wall, cracking it. "You chose the wrong side to fight for!" He picked up the Kommando by the top of his mask and kneed him in the face.

"You're better than this," Kangaroo Command struggled to talk from behind his bloodied face. ThumbSkull picked him up again and raised him to look at, eye to eye.

"Better than giving scrawny criminals the beating they deserve?" ThumbSkull questioned. "No, I'm not." With a smirk, he threw Kangaroo Kommando through the crumbling wall.

"ThumbSkull!" Zombozo shouted from the other side of the clearing. "Your quarrel is with me!"

"Don't flatter yourself, Tony," ThumbSkull replied, turning to look at the vampiric clown. "But you feature a prominent roll. And I'm just as happy to give you the beating you deserve!" He ran at the clown, like a freight train barreling down the tracks. But when he was only a couple of yards away, two black tendrils snapped out like a whip, throwing ThumbSkull to the side.

"I was hoping you'd have stayed out of this, Frida," ThumbSkull snarled as he wiped some blood away from his cheek-remnants of FrightWig's attack. "But I'm even more surprised you're working with the clown again, especially after he got Andrew killed!"

"I regret AcidBreth's death as much as you," Frida said. "But so does Tony! He's changed since Acid's death. And he's not about to sell us out to save his own skin again!"

"Empty promises from a soulless vampire," Terrance mocked, climbing to his feet. "Just you wait… He did it once, he'll do it again. It's survival of the fittest with him… it always was." FrightWig screamed with a mixture of anger, fear and regret. She lashed her hair tentacles at Thumbskull, her eyes wet with tears. Thumbskull smirked, grabbing onto Frida's tentacles and yanking them towards him, FrightWig getting pulled off her feet and flying towards him. Behind ThumbSkull, a wooden mallet smashed into the titan's head.

"I'm the soulless vampire, but you were always the cruel one," Zombozo said. Frida rolled to a stop on the floor as ThumbSkull dropped his lock of FrightWig's hair to turn and glare at the clown. He quickly grabbed the clown by his shirt and raised him into the air.

"Cruel? No," Terrence scoffed. "Brutal? Sure, but my pain is always proportional to the crime." Zombozo squeezed the flower on his lapel, squirting acid into ThumbSkull's face. With a grunt of pain, ThumbSkull dropped the clown, his hands flying to his face.

"Justice is blind," Zombozo said, pulling out some more gizmos from his pocket. "But you've always had a clown in the circus."

"They need you," Hex coughed. "Our friends need your help."

"So I'm just supposed to leave you?" Kevin asked. "This is all to rescue you! These people are willing to die to keep the fight alive!"

"We can't win against Gwendolyn if all of our strength dies here," Hex said. "My manna will allow me to walk in a short time, but our allies mayn't have that long." Kevin nodded, placing Hex tenderly on the ground, leaning up against the wall. "I'll be back for you." With that, he ran into the room, ready to lend in the fight.

"Levin! I was wondering if you'd show up in the fight!" An aggressive female voice called out. He turned to see a red-skinned female with spiked hair wearing a biker jacket.

"Rojo!" Kevin shouted.

"Good to see ya remember me," she shouted. "But let's see if you'll remember the beatin' I'm about to give ya!" Two laser cannons emerged out of her shoulders, firing twin laser beams at their target. Kevin rolled to the side, dodging the blast. He dragged his hand across the cement floor, absorbing it as he ran at Rojo. He jumped into the air, bringing his fist down at the woman, who blocked him, skidding back a little from the impact.

"How's that scar treatin' ya?" She taunted Kevin.

"How'd you like to have one for yourself?" Kevin shouted back, throwing a haymaker at her, followed up by a fist to the gut. Rojo gritted her teeth upon taking the blow, but showed little other signs of pain. Instead, she raked her metallic fingers across his face, sparks flying off in every direction.

"Agh!" Kevin shouted as he stumbled back. His hand formed into an oversized hammer, which he swung at Rojo. However her twin lasers blasted the hammer apart, it shrinking back down into Kevin's fist. Rojo let out a mocking laugh.

"This is going to be a hell of a time teaching you another lesson!"

"I've learned from my past," Kevin responded. "You haven't."

"Don't need to," Rojo replied. "When you're the best, there's nothing the losers can teach you, ya know?"

"Pride comes before the fall," Kevin said as he rushed at her. Rojo took aim and blasted a laser squarely at him, just barely missing its target as Kevin dodged. Jumping up in the air, he came down with a heavy punch to her jaw. She went down on her back, but recovered quickly as she sprung off the ground, using her feet to kick at Kevin. Kevin went flying off a couple of yards, skidding to a halt as Rojo leapt to her feet.

"All I know is that I come before your fall," Rojo chuckled as her lasers blasted at Kevin again.

Kangaroo Kommando grunted as he climbed to his feet. His mask had shattered due to ThumbSkull's abuse, and he couldn't see a thing out of the eyepieces. Pulling it off, he wiped the blood away from his eyes so that he could see the carnage raging in front of him. Ben was taking on Clancy's insect constructs, Zombozo and FrightWig were squaring off against ThumbSkull and Kevin had his hands full with Rojo.

"Lucy!" Kangaroo Kommando gasped as he scanned the room for the Lenopan. He saw several plasma blasts lighting up one of the hallways across the room. "She's gotta be holding off any more agents from showing up!" With a target, he used his hydraulic jumpers to bound across the room. In short order, he found both Tetrax and Lucy holding off several squads of agents.

Tetrax was pinned down behind a cracked and pitted crystalline barrier, trying to exchange fire with the agents. Meanwhile, Lucy was in her sludge form, sliding around and in between crevices in the walls and ceiling, trying to get close enough to the agents to fight.

"Looks like the two of you could use some help," Kangaroo Kommando said as he threw a boomerang and slid next to Tetrax.

"Your observation serves you well," Tetrax replied, void of humor. "Lucy needs cover fire to get closer to the Plumbers."

"How reactive is her species to sonic emitters?" Kangaroo Kommando asked.

"It may disorder some of her molecules if she's in the blast," Tetrax replied. "But Lenopans have an excellent metabolism."

"Sounds like its a go then," Kangaroo Kommando said as he powered up his sonic emitters. Seeing them reach full charge, he stood up and spun around.

"Lucy! Duck!" He shouted as he activated the gauntlets, the sound wave forcing the Plumbers to cover their ears in pain. Missing the brunt of the wave, Lucy seized on their momentary stunned state and shot a blob of mud at them, pinning more than a dozen of them to the ground.

"I'm going to need some cover," Kangaroo Kommando said as he bolted for the nearest control panel on the wall. "I'm going to seal off the hallway." He frantically began typing away at the keypad, trying to activate the lockdown command. Several plasma bolts whizzed by as several of the agents not glued to the ground began to fire. Lucy slugged her way back towards the exit as Tetrax fired crystal shards from his arms, taking down two agents.

"Time is of vital importance!" Tetrax shouted as he took a plasma bolt to the shoulder. Shards of crystal sprayed as he fell to one knee. He again fired crystals from his arms, peppering all over the hallway.

"Outta my way," Lucy shouted as she turned her arm into a spiked club and smashed the console. Immediately a new alarm began blaring as the armored doors slid closed, sealing them from the Plumbers.

"That's going to make it impossible to counter-measure anything they bring," Kangaroo Kommando grumbled at Lucy.

"Sorry," she said, somewhat embarrassed that she'd acted without thinking.

"Nothing to be done about it now," Kangaroo Kommando replied. "We'll just have to brace it, and hope that we can mop up in here before Gwen or CharmCaster arrives. Tetrax, how are you holding up?"

"I can stay to brace the door," he replied. "Although a better strategy would be to help the others."

"Put a layer of crystal over the inside of the door, as thick as you can. I'll see what I can salvage from the controls. You and Lucy need to get back in there and help the good guys to escape." Lucy nodded as she took off to join in the fight. Tetrax began spreading the crystals over the door, craning the weakest parts first. In a matter of seconds, it looked like a greenish layer of translucent ice had grown over the entrance.

"Looks like Lucy hit the panel hard enough to force a lockdown, but not to destroy it completely," Kangaroo said. "I should be able to work this with little problem." Having finished bracing the door, Tetrax looked at the mole.

"Good luck, Kangaroo Kommando," he said.

"Just get Ben and Hex out of here," he replied. "They're our best hope of stopping Gwen's rule of terror." Tetrax nodded and ran off into the main fight, leaving the self-made superhero alone to man the entrance. Splicing a final wire together, the screen came on, it slightly distorted over the crack that Lucy had left on it. Still, it was eyes on the other side.

"Oh no," Kangaroo Kommando said as soon as the picture was readable. "That isn't good at all…"

Kevin dodged another blast from Rojo, picking up a destroyed chair and hurling it at her. She grunted as it hit her smack in the face. Kevin spotted a steel rebar poking out from the wall.

"Bingo," he said as he ran for it. Grabbing ahold of it, he felt the metal encompass his body, replacing the cracked and crumbling concrete layer. "Now this is a fair fight, he said, forming one of his hands into a blade. Upon seeing him, Rojo fired her twin lasers above her, blasting a hole through the ceiling.

"Oh no you don't," Kevin shouted as he leapt at her. He grabbed onto her feet and pulled her back down. She slammed into the concrete floor. But before he could do anything, her left laser cannon shot him in the chest, sending him backwards and landing on his rear. Rojo stood up, again firing into the ceiling, making the crumbling hole larger. Then she jumped through it, trying to get a height advantage.

"Who's the best now?" Kevin mocked. "Looks like you're running away from a fair fight!" Forming his hands into picks, Kevin climbed through the hole into the floor above. Apparently Dojo's blasts had gone through several floors, as she was at least thirty or more feet above. She turned around to look at Kevin.

"I am not a coward!" She screamed as her lasers fired, blowing apart the bit of ceiling Kevin had been standing on only a moment before. Kevin climbed to his feet from where he'd rolled to a stop, only to have Rojo jump down onto him, her claws cutting down his shoulder.

"Agh!" Kevin screamed and elbowed Rojo in the face. With his opposite hand in a blade, he swung at her, slashing it into her side. With a scream of pain, she jumped off of him, shoving him to the ground as she started climbing again. Kevin jumped at her, digging his blade into one of her shoulder laser cannons.

"Take that!" He shouted as the cannon exploded. The impact threw him down at the crumbling floor below. Too hurt to immediately get up, he laid there dazed for a moment.

"No, no, no!" Rojo frantically shouted as the wall she was clinging onto crumbled and fell apart. Rojo's damaged arm was nearly blown apart by the explosion, and she was too weak to grab onto a section that was stable. Loosing her fight against gravity, she fell two stories down.

"Agh!" Rojo shouted as she fell onto a rebar protruding out from the last floor she'd blown through. Her impact finished crumbling the concrete, and she fell onto the ground floor, concrete falling on top of her. Kevin grunted as he got onto his hands and knees, crawling over to the crumbled hole in the floor. His adrenaline starting to fade, he collapsed on the floor.

Ben threw Clancy against the far wall, cracking the concrete upon impact. The swarm of insects swirling around him finally dispersed to show Clancy unconscious.

"Good bye, and good riddance," Ben chaffed as he looked around. Tetrax had just entered from the hallway, and had started helping Zombozo with ThumbSkull. Lucy was stretching up into a hole in the ceiling, trying to retrieve Kevin from his fight with Rojo, who was now under a large pile of concrete rubble. Suddenly, there was a loud explosion blasting from the hallway. Kangaroo Kommando's bruised body went flying from the hallway and into the main room. Ben detransformed from FourArms, trying to give his Omnitrix as much time to recharge as possible. A figure dressed entirely in black with an iron mask walked calmly in from the exploded hallway. He was flanked by a teenager dressed in purple with silver hair.

"What do we have here?" Michael purred with a parasitic tone in his voice. He looked down at Kangaroo Kommando on the ground. Well you're no use to anyone the way you are… no one except me that is." Dark bolts of energy shot out from his hands towards Kangaroo Kommando. It appeared as dark as a shadow's shadow. Almost as if it were defying the ambient light all around.

"Aah!" Kangaroo Kommando shouted in pain as soon as the dark energy struck him. A glob of purple-brown mud shot towards Michael, trying to stop his dark energy. However, it wasn't fast enough. Purple mystical energy intercepted the mud, vaporizing it in mid air. CharmCaster tisked in mock dismay.

"Lucy Mann, you should have known that your old trick is too slow and weak," she said.

"How about mine!" Tetrax shouted, blasting a dozen greenish shards at CharmCaster. She grunted as she summoned a mystical barrier, shattering most of the shards. However, one had gotten past, drawing a line of blood across her cheek. She glared back at the petrosapien with hate in her eyes.

"You'll pay for that, Tetrax!"

"Agh!" Michael shouted, grabbing his gloved hand. One jagged crystal protruded from it, causing Michael's blood to drip down them. He grabbed it and pulled it out, tossing it away. "You filthy little geode-face!" He fired a blast of his dark energy at the alien, who grew a crystal barrier to deflect it.

"Lucy, you get to Kangaroo," Tetrax ordered. "I'm on diversion."

"Got it," Lucy said as she dropped into a pool of mud, quickly slinking off towards where Kangaroo Kommando lied on the floor, more dead than alive. His costume smoldered and his skin was wrinkled and shriveled. His hair was wispy and white, as if he'd aged thirty years in moments.

"Yeah!!!" CharmCaster shouted as Tetrax's crystal barrier exploded in every direction. Smoldering shards skittered across the floor and stuck into the concrete walls. Michael fired a blast of his dark energy at Tetrax, forcing the petrosapien to his knees in pain. A flash of green light, and Michael found himself knocked off his feet, somersaulting through the air and landing on the ground behind him.

"Not so fast," Ben said as XLR8's visor slid up, revealing his reptilian face. Michael climbed to his feet.

"Benjamin, you know I never forgave you for what you did to me," he said, revealing the crack running through his iron mask, a crack that XLR8's hypersonic punch had formed. He reached up and pulled the mask off, revealing his face. It was shriveled and corpse-like, like he was a mummy without his bandages. He had small tuffs of hair barely clinging onto his head.

"Don't think I've met you in my world before," Ben said in his serpentine voice. "And from the looks of it, I'd rather you kept your mask on!" MorningStar gritted his teeth, effortlessly baring them with a mouth devoid of lips. He fired a blast of energy where XLR8 stood, only for the alien to disappear, appearing a dozen feet to the left. Michael blast at his opponent again, once again seeing the alien disappear, turning up another several yards away.

"Damn you," Michael shouted in frustration as he swept the area with his dark energy, finally clipping Ben as he turned. Draining him of life energy, Ben's Omnitrix began to beep, warning him of the depleted energy. "Gotcha!" Thinking quickly, Ben rushed at Michael, detransforming as he slammed into the teen at around fifty miles an hour. The impact knocked the boy out cold.

"Ouch," Ben muttered as he rolled off of Michael. "Note to self: do not try that stunt again…"

Off to his side, Tetrax took a powerful blast of purple mana directly to the chest, it coursing through him like electricity. He dropped to the ground writhing in pain.

"Hope, it's me you want to get revenge with," Hex's voice emerged from where he'd been left by Kevin. "Leave Tetrax alone."

"With pleasure," CharmCaster said, the purple mana coursing over Tetrax disappearing as she turned to look at the old magician, walking towards her, leaning heavily upon the staff of ages. "You're even weaker than last time we met, Uncle."

"You're unstable," Hex replied. "Your dabbling in Ledgerdomain magic is starting to take its toll on you."

"You don't know anything about the realm's magic!" CharmCaster shouted back. "You've always been too afraid to touch it! It's not to be feared! It contains magic you've only dreamed of!" With that, she blasted a bolt of purple mana at Hex, who neutralized it with a bolt of his own, golden mana.

"I can still leech the corrupting mana from you, if you only give me a chance," Hex pled with his niece. "Please Hope."

"Stop calling me that!" CharmCaster shouted, fury in her voice. "And I don't need your help!" She swirled her hands, smoke forming between them. It grew darker as it increased in size. Finally, she blew it at her uncle, the cloud of darkness quickly formed into a dragon made of smoke, swirling as dark as night as it grew in size.

Hex stamped the staff of ages, a golden bolt of electricity shooting forth and piercing the dragon through the chest. The bolt of lightning emerged from the other side, taking the form of a dragon of its own. But in contrast to the behemoth of a monster CharmCaster's was, Hex's dragon was slim and beautiful, crackling with electricity as it turned around to face it.

With a spine-shivering roar, CharmCaster's dragon lunged at Hex's dragon, the dark cloud flaring up with flashes of golden lightning as the two servants wrestled. Waves of dark purple mana flowed from CharmCaster's hands, just as gold lightening crackled from Hex's staff, each replenishing and fueling their avatars. Just as it seemed that Hex's lightning dragon had gotten the better hand, an explosion of dark mana sent Hex to the ground, the staff of ages skittering away from him.

"Your power is waining, just as my power is rising," CharmCaster said, summoning the Staff of Ages to her telekinetically. Hex looked up at her as she now hovered in the air above him.

"I've failed you Hope," Hex said. "I just hope that you can see the error of your ways, before it eats you up inside." With that, he closed his eyes, ready for CharmCaster to strike him for the last time.

"HEX!" Kevin shouted as he saw CharmCaster strike the final blow. Hex's body exploded into a wave of mana, dissipating into the air. Kevin felt his anger build, electricity being drawn into him from the atmosphere. Covering himself in a layer of concrete, Kevin dropped down onto the teenage witch with a shout of anger. CharmCaster just barely managed to form a shield over her head, which Kevin shattered through as he rolled to his feet.

"Looks like I got you riled up," CharmCaster managed to say as she dodged one swing of Kevin's fist, and then another.

"Damn you to hell," Kevin gritted as he swung wildly again, this time forcing CharmCaster to protrude a mana shield. With a hit, Kevin cracked the construct, and with another, it blew apart. Kevin kicked the teenage witch, electrical shock adding to the blow. CharmCaster doubled over from the pain, to which Kevin punched her square in the jaw. The blow sent CharmCaster to the ground.

Just as Kevin was about to deliver a kick to Charm's head, a blur of purple and black whizzed by, sending him flying into the wall. Dazed, but still adrenaline-crazed, Kevin struggled to his feet, looking for whatever had sent him flying. A second blur of purple and black sent him flying off of his feet again, crashing through the wall. Barely had he looked up from the ground than he was struck across the face, he grunting in pain.

He saw a blur of movement from across the room zip towards him again, and he balled his fists, ready for a fight. However, the purple and black blur was intercepted by an almost-identical black and blue blur, forcing the two speed creatures to a halt.

"You were supposed to be on my side," Gwen hissed out in her Veloceraptor's serpentine voice. "You were supposed to be a hero, not a villain."

"Look at yourself," Ben hissed back in his own Velociraptor's form. "You can't possibly still believe you were the good guys."

"We were bringing order, we were eliminating crime,"

"No, what you were doing was enforcing your order, and taking out anyone that disagreed," Ben interrupted. "That's not what a hero does." Gwen grimaced at him and sped away. Instantly, Ben speed after her. Catching up, he rammed her into a wall, sending concrete chips blasting out into the room. Ben waited for enough of the dust to disappear to see his cousin.

"What do you know about me? Nothing!" Gwen spat at him. "You don't get to judge me, you don't know what I went through! What I've done for you!"

"What you've done for your cousin, who's dead," Ben corrected. "And nothing you do is going to change that. But if he were alive, he'd be disgusted with what you've done with the Omnitrix. He'd be disgusted with you." Gwen's face filled with rage as she sped towards Ben. However, Ben sidestepped, tripping Gwen's XLR8 as he did so, seeing the alien tumble to the ground at around sixty miles per hour. Ben inched closer to her, making intent on making sure she'd stay down.

Gwen slapped her Omnitrix, transforming into FourArms and grabbed ahold of Ben before he could get away. Picking him up, she threw him into a crumbling wall. XLR8's delicate body crashed through the cracked concrete, Ben lying in a mess on the other side.

"You're right, you're not my Ben," Gwen said as she walked towards where Ben had landed. "And this is not your world." Gwen picked him up, squeezing him around his waist. Ben reached for the Omnitrix, but Gwen stopped him, holding each of his arms in another of her hands.

"You should have chosen your family over your criminal friends," Gwen said, squeezing him harder, nearly pulling his arms off.

"Agh," Ben gasped out, helpless in Gwen's grip. All of a sudden, a glob of mud flung itself at Gwen's face, trying to force its way into Gwen's mouth, suffocating her. Gwen let go of XLR8, all four hands flying to her face to rip Lucy off. But her viscous body made it difficult to grab onto anything substantial. Momentarily rescued, Ben fell to his knees, detransforming into his human self. Finally, Gwen got a hold of Lucy, ripping her off of her face and throwing the alien at the wall beside her. Lucy landed with a splat, and slugged to the ground, not moving. Gwen looked down at Lucy, seeing Ben kneeling between Gwen and the Lenopan. He had his arms stretched out, in a weak attempt to protect her. His arms were turning black and blue from Gwen's abuse.

"Don't," Ben pled with her. "Don't do it. I may not be your family, but she is, and the only family you have left." Ben took a pained breath, evidencing the injuries he'd sustained. "Please Gwen, don't do it." Gwen stared at the image for a second, slowly seeing Lucy gathering her mud together to reconstitute her body. Still, how slowly she moved evidenced how closer she was to her own death.

Gwen felt her eyes get wet and her heart tremble as her adrenaline began to seep away. Her rage melted away into shock and regret as she realized what she was only moments away from doing. From killing her only relative left, and dooming her double in another universe to the same pain she'd felt at Ben's death. And even worse yet, the knowledge that that pain would be caused not by accident, but because she chose it. That she choose to kill her family. With a flash of red light, Gwen appeared in her human form, finally level eye to eye with her sousing from another universe.

"I'm sorry," Gwen whispered as tears started streaming from her eyes. She fell into hugging Ben, her tears starting to wet his shirt. "I'm sorry."

"I was so hurt and angry, I… I just couldn't think straight, and I didn't want to ever feel as powerless as Vilgax made me feel again," Gwen continued to sob.

"We cannot eliminate the bad without eliminating the good with it," Ben said. "The existence of evil is what makes the good desirable." He hugged her back.

"But how can I stop all of this pain?" Gwen asked, pulling away.

"You can't," Ben replied. "Because whenever we love someone, we open ourselves up to pain. But that doesn't mean that love is not worth the pain." Gwen looked around at the carnage around her. Most of the fighting had stopped with the participants either unconscious or dead.

"I've done some terrible things," Gwen said. "I don't know if there's any going back from what I've done." Ben shook his head.

"No, there's no going back. Even ClockWork can't entirely undo what's been done. But you can move forward. Face the consequences for your actions, and prove to yourself and everyone else that you have changed. That you won't make the same mistakes as before." Gwen nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"And what about you?" Gwen asked. "How are you going to move forward?"

"Hex pulled me through into this world," Ben said. "Meaning that the magic is the same between the universes, possibly there's a technological way to send me through too. With some luck, I should be able to find a way back to my world."

"You could stay, you know," Gwen said, standing in front of the Galvanic transferal pod. Her hands were cuffed, and the core of her Omnitrix was removed, though those precautions were merely symbolic. Gwen was completely willing to serve her time for her crimes. In the end, most of her cabal were willing to, the only exception being Michael Morningstar, who was already locked in his own Galvanic transferal pod, headed towards a Galvanic prison. "You could stay here and be the protector this Earth needed, rather than the one it got."

"I think you know that I couldn't do that," Ben replied with a bitter smile. "I don't belong here. Besides, I've already got my own universe to protect."

"But what if a threat arises while you're gone?" Gwen asked. "I won't be able to break out of a Galvan prison to protect the Earth. We need you."

"No, this world needs to know that they have their own heroes they can trust," Ben replied. "Not heroes from another universe. Besides, with the Galvans directing the Plumbers, the universe is in better hands than when I was here."

"Will I see you again?" Gwen asked.

"You really want to see the Doofus again?" Ben mocked, making Gwen laugh bitterly at the old joke of a name. The two cousins took a deep breath.

"The universe has a funny sense of humor," Ben laughed. "It brought me seemingly from the dead to help your world, and it could do it again. And if there's one thing that's the same across all universes, it's that there are no such thing as coincidences. Almost as though there's some crazy scientist orchestrating the events. I may not see you again, but I am glad to have met you, even if you're not my Dweeb." Gwen nodded, her eyes again wet.

"Thank you, Ben. You truly are the Hero of Heroes," she said, stepping into the transferral pod. The door closed, a static field encapsulating the pod, preventing any tampering. With a whoosh, the pod took off into the evening sky, disappearing into a twinkle.

"That was rather touching," a disembodied voice spoke. "Though you kind of hit it close with the scientist bit."

"I couldn't leave her without any hope," Ben replied, turning around to talk to the Time Walker. "After all, it was you that brought me here, wasn't it?"

"While I may have had a hand in your arrival here," Professor Paradox said. "I had nothing to do with how well you set this universe back in order. Nothing that was accomplished here was predestined, you did that on your own… with the help of the inhabitants of course."

"So, will I be able to visit here again?" Ben asked.

"Now you know better than most that I cannot answer that," Professor Paradox replied. "But what you told Gwen was true. If it happened once, it may well happen again. Are you ready?"

"I've got a message to deliver to the Galvans at Gwen's trial," Ben said. "I hope you'll see it is delivered to Azmuth?"

"Already done," the professor said.

"Then let's go," Ben said. A tear in the time-space continuum opened in front of him, and the two talked through it, back into Ben's universe. However, the scene was different than what he'd left it as.

"Oh no," Ben whispered as he looked up into the sky above Bellwood, seeing Vilgax's Chimerian Hammer hovering stationary. A squad of Vilgax's fighters zoomed by, completely uncontested by the Plumbers. Ben turned his head upon hearing a speaker blaring.

"Lord Vilgax, Conqueror of Worlds has commanded all humans to receive Vilgaxian Empire identification passes. Failure to submit will result in immediate punishment."

"Looks like you need me to fix my own universe now," Ben said to his disappeared cosmic friend. "Great."

Gwen's universe, galvanic trial proceedings

Gwen stood in front of the jury composed of representatives of humans and Galvans. She felt all the eyes of the universe on her, as she waited for her proceedings.

"Gwendolyn Rose Tennyson," Azmuth spoke into the microphone. "You stand convicted of numerous criminal charges, too many to count, to which you've pled guilty. Among which is the violent takeover of Earth, terroristic conduct, murder in the first and second degrees, and numerous violations of sentient rights. Is this correct?"

"Yes," Gwen said, her voice steady.

"Were not for a special message delivered to this jury prior to your arrival, you would be facing a lifetime imprisonment in a maximum-security Galvan prison," Azmuth continued. "However, due to the nature of that special message, and owing to certain extenuating circumstances, we are willing to consider a lesser punishment." Gwen got a look of confusion on her face.

"What message?" She asked, completely confused.

"A message from Benjamin Kirby Tennyson, the one visiting from an adjacent universe," Azmuth explained. "Owing to his hand in stopping your behavior, both in attitude and circumstance, this jury has placed a large weight in his opinion. Further, owing to the circumstances surrounding your arrest and pleadings, this court has decided upon a lesser punishment."

"What is that?" Gwen asked.

"Gwendolyn Rose Tennyson will not be confined to any amount of imprisonment, but rather will regain control over the Omnitrix, to use should circumstances require; but only under the supervision and probation of the Galvans. Further, any misuses of the device will nullify this ruling, and will land you in Galvanic prison," Azmuth explained. "Do you accept the ruling of this court?"

"Yes," Gwen said, tears in her eyes. "Yes, I do."

A/N:

And that concludes the story, "Reflected Scars." What were your thoughts? Sorry again for how long it took to finish. (Almost a year... phew!) Hopefully you enjoyed the ending. And yes, there has been requested a sequel to Reflected Scars, which will take place in Ben's home universe, which Vilgax has taken over in his absence. Hope you Ultras enjoyed it, and I'll see you in The Ultra 10 Chronicles, Volume 3! Have an awesome day!

Review Responses:

Ushindi: I knew Falcon would be angry and no doubt attack Gwen. I'm looking forward to the build up. There might be a change of sides either during the final battle or after the aftermath. Few might die but one thing is inevitable Gwen is going down!

Yes, Gwen went down. Though thanks to Ben and Professor Paradox, she has an opportunity to be the hero she was supposed to be. Hopefully you enjoyed the conclusion!

Eagle10000: Question will ben ever go back to his own universe?

Yep, and that is what the sequel is going to be about.