Ben10 & Digimon Tamers

Heroes and Humanity

Part 02: Humanity and Heroes

The Beginning – Chapter 05

Originally Written: Tuesday May 26, 2015 324PM to Wednesday May 27, 2015 319PM, Thursday May 28, 2015 515AM to 604AM

A/N: This entire story deals with possibly triggering content concerning body image. If you read Part 1, you know I have not hidden this fact. Please take caution reading this. -points to the selected genres and ratings-

…..

"Do any of you plan on telling me where this cruise ship is headed?" Albedo looked at Fridge, Swamps and Hugh, awaiting an answer.

The ID Masks they all wore allowed them to travel easily without being recognized or scaring anyone who saw their true forms. Swamps ID Mask granted him hazel eyes and pale skin, darker than Fridge's human form, but lighter than Hugh's. He was the second largest of the trio, with most of his bulk coming from unhealthy habits for a Methanosian.

Albedo had pitched in with staying close to their alien forms with a human shift, as it was easier to lie when some parts of the truth were thrown in. Also, the trio were all aware that Albedo had experience when he told them that it's easier to get used to the different forms if done this way.

So Swamps sported light, nearly orange, brown hair with the occasional green streak, the most gaudy yellow orange shirt Albedo ever saw, black shorts, and sandals he commonly left behind due to not being used to them.

Fridge's ID Mask made him a pale, almost but not quite sickly white. He had put his human form's bone straight dark blue, almost black hair in a bun, putting some hair sticks in it to keep the style in place. He wore short, kimono-like robes, light enough for the weather, coated in various shades and tints of white, black and blue, and dark pants made of the same material as his robes. He spent way too much time adjusting his robe around his gut, and staring at his blue fingernails in wonder in Albedo's opinion. Fridge's blue eyes were a nice color in Albedo's mind, reminding him of the night sky. Still he fretted a bit that Fridge stood out more than any of them.

He preferred Hugh's ID Mask appearance. A tall dark skinned male with short black curly hair wearing square glasses and plain shorts and shirts. He too kept forgetting his sandals. No one minded though, as the male walked around examining everything with fearful but curious brown eyes. Humphrey hadn't needed any sandals to make him taller. His form gave him the appearance of a person muscular enough to do reasonably well at sports if they applied themselves, but just happened to be more interested in less physical activities for some reason. It was something not as noticeable in his Vaxasaurian form, where he resembled a more awkward, gentle giant attempting to use their brain.

If the trio meant to comment on Albedo sitting on the floor in the corner of the room he shared with Hugh, none of them had gained the courage to do so yet. Hugh had even gone far enough to make sure they sat on the floor, away from Albedo, so as to not crowd around the Galvan turned human.

The cruise ship currently docked in Greece, the crew giving the passengers time to see the sights and collect souvenirs and the like as part of the contract when they purchased their tickets. As the four of them unfortunately had very little money after purchasing the tickets, they couldn't afford such luxuries. Albedo figured that wherever the ship's final destination before returning back to America was, the crew had decided to take the very long way around.

"Alex Strong expected an answer when he asked that question." Albedo looked at the trio with hardened red eyes, nearly glaring.

"Remember," Swamps pointed to Hugh.

"Your plan." Fridge finished for Swamps as he looked at his glittering nails in fascination.

"One day I'm going to m-make sure you two g-get stuck in the null void." Hugh muttered and lowered his head. He lifted his head and smiled a small awkward smile at Albedo. "I-it's a nice country. I-in Asia. T-The plumbers or B-Ben wouldn't think to look for us t-t-there. T-this will give us time to build up our resources and d-d-defenses..."

"How the hell did you find out about Japan? What makes you think I want to even step foot into that country again!?" He stood flames of rage blazing in his eyes as he glared at them.

"You text people who live there all day." Fridge spoke softly, "More than you speak with us sometimes."

Albedo ran his hands down his face, rubbing his eyes in a futile effort to ward off his growing headache. "Which one of you nutjobs went through my belongings while I was away?"

"It wasn't going through them." Swamps waved a hand as though doing so would help convey his explanation. "It was more like making sure everything there was yours..."

"You broke me out of jail." Albedo held out a hand towards them, "And you expect me to believe you were that worried about stealing someone else's things? Not even counting that I left most of my things with your belongings." He looked at each of them with what he would call his patented glare. "You three are insane. Or stupid. Or both," he sharply turned around.

"You're acting like something really bad happened there." Fridge looked up at the ceiling. "We figured that it made the most sense to go there. You seem happier talking to them, whoever they are."

Albedo sighed and sat on the wood floor again. "It's only two people. Three on a good day." he muttered. "The rest are probably not too pleased with me."

The trio looked at him. Fridge gave Hugh a pointed look.

"H-humans forgive easily in my experience." Hugh spoke confidently.

"What humans do you know again?" Albedo stood up and stalked to the bathroom. He pointedly avoided looking in the mirror. He turned on the water to wash his hands, and he stared at them for a moment. "Oh, hm, ID Mask. Right." he murmured.

On the cruise, he discovered that, despite providing a respite for him he didn't like thinking about, ID masks posed one annoying problem. He looked at the mirror, at his black hair and brown eyes. Hygienic tasks didn't carry themselves out well with an ID mask on. He gently slipped his fingers under the mask's edges and lifted it off his face. He opened his eyes and looked in the mirror at red eyes, white hair and pale skin. He cringed in disgust. He lowered the mask onto the counter and looked at it for a bit. He scratched at his scalp.

He shut his eyes as images of Tennyson's alien forms wailing on him plagued his mind. That only served to make things worse. He gagged over the toilet bowl, forcing out bile from his system. Goop killing him replayed in his mind. The alien's green limbs forcing themselves down his throat and deep into his lungs depriving him of air, drowning him. Its acidic composition participating in a vile competition to see what would kill him first, the lack of oxygen or his trachea and lungs melting within him from the inside out.

He fell to his knees.

"Shouldn't have looked." He swallowed deep gulps of air. His hands tightly gripped the toilet seat, his knuckles turning sickly pale. "Why do construction workers always place the mirror over the sink? Just what need does a person have to watch themselves brush their teeth?"

He pushed himself to his feet. On shaky legs he flushed the toilet and rinsed his mouth out at the tan sink. "I'm sure it serves Tennyson's purposes of primping and preening quite well." He opened the bathroom door, making sure it hit the wall behind it, but not hard enough to damage anything.

He stood in the doorway for a bit, evening his breathing out and working to settle his stomach. He straightened his back, but not too much. He walked over to the bag sitting to his temporary bed, holding most of his meager belongings. Along the way he glared at the three companions he wished were not as he passed them.

They looked at him in silence with questioning frowns. Fridge slumped partially hiding behind Hugh who took the brunt of Albedo's glare. He grabbed a towel and other toiletries from his bag in silence. Then just as he entered, he stalked back to the bathroom, taking precious energy to glare at the trio once more.

He entered the bathroom, and set the things that could not be hung up on the sink and hung the things that could hang on the towel rack. He set the water in the tub, and in a manner that brought him back to his happier memories, he dropped the toilet seat lid and sat on top of it. He stared at the wall ahead of him, arms folded on his lap as he waited for the tub to fill. He could almost see Jenrya standing in the doorway, saying nothing in particular to him as he waited.

He looked at the bath soap sitting on a clear bottle on the sink. He reached over and opened the bottle. The smell of ginger wafted in the bathroom, mainly underneath his nose. He poured some into the tub, a good deal more than he should have.

He undressed, and stepped in the tub, sinking low into it as he sat and rested on the tub's siding. He watched the mass of clear bubbles grow, as the smell of ginger washed over him, a bit like the whispering wind in his dreams.

That wind had to easily, in fact, be the best part of those dreams. He stared up at the ceiling, an arm hanging over the side of the tub. He looked down at his pale arm, wondering, as he had before, if he stared at it long enough, it would at least take on some sense of it's usual gray hue.

It did not however, and only served to remind him of the horrors he suffered at Ben Tennyson's delighted, wicked, and incompetent hands, completely supported and backed up by a squadron of plumbers, countless aliens and Azmuth himself. He always received the blame for the situations he found himself in, but no, anyone with half a brain could see it was indeed Tennyson's fault. He supposed then that his old mentor had been so brainwashed by Tennyson that he appeared to have lost his own mind.

He rested his arm on the side of the tub, mentally noting the water shutting off automatically. He rested his head on his arm. Just who did those three outside the bathroom think they were anyway? Assuming what he wanted, as Tennyson assumed his reasoning for the things he did. Granted he did have reason to return to Japan, to get the rest of his items out of storage, for one. If he hadn't managed to amass money before he was ungraciously thrown in prison like a lowlife criminal, he would have lost his belongings a long time ago.

That jacket Jenrya had purchased for him was perfect for Japan's cooler weather. Sometimes, when he wore it, it reminded him of the very occasional remark of praise Azmuth handed out. He supposed Azmuth's praise was the only good part about the Galvan these days. Seemed to hand it out like a drunk man handing out money at a stripper club. If a Galvan like him did have a favorite stripper, that person would have to be Tennyson. He probably jumped for joy whenever he saw the narcissistic self-entitled hero.

Albedo rubbed his eyes, holding in a yawn. He was no Tennyson and he certainly lacked an Azmuth these days. He couldn't even imagine Jenrya or the others jumping for joy if or when they saw him. Not the way he had bowed off center stage. No, he imagined Rika kicking his innards in, much like Tennyson took pleasure in doing.

He groaned, "Shut up. Shut up. Shut up." No peace awake, no peace asleep. How come beings like Tennyson gained peace, more peace than they would ever need, but beings like Jenrya and himself went through daily torture? The tumultuous gathering of the thoughts in their own minds, and the gathering of people willing to harm those they didn't even know outside their minds.

All it would take, he imagined, was one good attack on Tennyson, and his lackeys, and surely those around him would see how great the brat was not. He supposed he didn't have much opportunity to do that now, but all good things come in due time, right? Right…?

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He studied the floor looking pristine and fake as the lives of everyone on this ship he surmised. His mind went blank for a short respite, which he took full solace in, as the bubbles started to fade and the water turned cold.

At some point, his eyes had remained closed a lot longer than he intended. When he opened them again, a cardboard cutout of Mr. Smoothy stared at him with a ridiculous, bright and goofy grin on its face. He would have cried if it would have woken him up, but it would have not. So he, almost like eking out a routine, elbowed Swampfire so hard he bumped and knocked over random aliens he didn't care to waste time to fully identify. He grabbed the cardboard cut out in a rage and threw it at the group in a fit. That did nothing, as he fully expected it to. He swore the Tetramand barked a mocking laugh at him.

He kicked open the door to the smoothy joint and wished to a God, or was it an alien race he had no faith in, that maybe this time, his legs would be capable of getting him out of this nightmare.

…..

Albedo's eyes snapped open.

Fridge, still wearing his ID Mask, jumped back. The pale human's form stiffened as hot coffee sloshed about in the mug on the tray he held. Fridge released a breath he wasn't aware he even held, and looked down at Albedo, awaiting a response.

Albedo took a few moments to react when he woke from sleep, Fridge noted. Usually the male worked like a ninja, quick to his feet and to attention at the slightest sound, unless he was truly comfortable where he was, the way he was. Now, as he watched Albedo pull the covers over his head, and shiver underneath them, in a cold chill that he would never feel and could only imagine, Fridge noticed the sluggishness.

It was a bit more than the level of a teenager who simply was not ready to face the school day yet, a teenager who had spent time partying instead of studying for their exam the next day. He supposed this was why he was here, holding a tray of coffee, his arms tiring more at every moment that passed.

A pale hand reached out under the covers, fingers crawling to the edge of the bed like a large spider checking to see if the elements deemed it safe enough for it to explore the world once more.

Fridge juggled the tray on one arm he hoped was not clumsy this late night and reached for the D-Terminal sitting on the night table Albedo shared with Hugh. He set it on the bed. Albedo's hand grabbed it, and both the hand and electronic device disappeared from view, like a snake slithering back to it's den where it would spend hours lounging about as it digested its meal.

A bright light, sure to wake up all but heavy sleepers shined underneath the covers. Albedo sat up fully and looked at Fridge. Fridge didn't question the tear tracks on the male's face, as he stood dutifully holding a tray with a mug full of a drink Albedo didn't even like and a way too large serving of egg stir-fry alongside some fried dough strips Fridge didn't know the name of but thought Albedo would like anyway.

The Necroffriggian pushed thoughts of a companion left in Bellwood who would never want to see him again to the back of his mind. The only reason he had met them currently shifted in a bed before him. He watched the male slink off to a corner of the room, coffee, D-Terminal and blanket in tow.

Albedo set the coffee on the floor and nestled the D-Terminal in his lap. He wrapped the covers around his thin shoulders. Fridge watched him survey the room, as though he deemed any of the other three corners of it as suitable advantage points.

It reminded him of those war video games human kids liked so much for some reason. If they watched real news clips of human causalities, he'd give his right upper wing in a bet that they wouldn't like such games anymore, and would no longer over glorify the killing and murder and dying in the name of one's country or beliefs. He wouldn't show them alien skirmishes, he thought as he placed the tray on the already crowded night table between the two beds. Showing them alien war would be enough to make themselves wonder why they were even bothering to enjoy their own lives.

He sat on Albedo's bed, careful of wings that, for the moment, were not there. He laid down on the bed, subtle in his observing of Albedo. The lack of a blanket didn't bother him in the least as he propped his head up with an arm.

Albedo's D-Terminal provided it's own "noise" alongside Hugh's occasional snort slash growling. If Albedo noticed Fridge watching him, he didn't say anything about it. Nor did he say anything about the subtle smell wafting off of Swamps, an odor Fridge had come to know as the smell of not methane gas itself, but rather the resulting smell of methane mixing with other certain gasses Fridge couldn't care to remember at this hour.

He buried his head in his arms as he laid down, the D-Terminals key's clicking a nice accompaniment to the other things teasing his senses, like the sun rising from the horizon, slowly making the room brighter. Fridge closed his eyes, reorienting himself in the hopes that he'd one day get used to sleeping on a horizontal plane instead of his more preferred upside down position.