Chapter 65: Carter Valentine's Finest Hour

I was checking the legacy stats for this story, and holy shit: over 200 reviews and over 40,000 views. Like, I can't even wrap my mind around that. And I've got almost a hundred favorites and follows each, just for this story. I can't thank you guys enough for all the support, not just for college but also for my writing. I've always considered this to be a hobby, but you guys are the reason I write, and I hope you guys can still support me even if I take a long time in between updates and take time off to write original content. I wouldn't be here without you.

So, without further ado, I give you chapter 65.

Ben didn't understand what was going on.

He could see Carter right in front of him, holding his arms and talking to him. She wasn't screaming or panicking-then again, he couldn't really tell. There was something wrong with his hearing; all the noises surrounding him had been dulled, with only the faintest of sounds penetrating his ears.

He should probably get that checked. And after that he could really go for a smoothie. A smoothie sounded absolutely fantastic at the moment.

He heard his name. He focused back on Carter. There was something urgent in her manner, from her furrowed brow to her curt words to the firm grip she had on him. For the life of him, though, he couldn't figure out what was so important. Did it have something to do with the blob…?

Ben lethargically moved his head away from his girlfriend. Every movement he took, even the slightest, felt like a challenge. His very body seemed to be made out of lead, the feeling worsening when he tried to lift a hand. It was like he was walking through molasses. He eventually put his hand down.

He took a slow look around the cavern. Cordelia was still out for the count, lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood. Poor thing; she really needed medical attention.

Speaking of medical attention, whatever happened to Kevin? The last thing Ben remembered was Kevin fixing the giant gaping hole in his armor. Ben slowly turned his head and found his friend in reconstructed armor, pummeling a woman with a knife for a tongue. Ben blinked. That was weird.

What was especially strange was the look on Kevin's face. His teeth were bared, and his eyes held a hatred so intense it was painful for Ben to look into them. He averted his gaze towards Sam, who had popped out of seemingly nowhere. She and Evan were savagely pulling apart conjoined twins-one head was stuck on another's body, right at the shoulder. The head was ripped off, blood flowing everywhere.

Ben blinked. Where was his cousin? He slowly swiveled his head towards the side, searching for her. She was standing a few feet away from him, holding a green jacket. It took him a moment to realize that it was his, but he didn't remember taking it off and giving it to her. Gwen also had tears in her eyes; what was up with that?

Cool hands were suddenly on his cheek, gently moving his head so that his eyes rested on Carter. Her hands were shaking slightly, which further confused him. The blob…monster…thing was still a major threat, but Kevin and the others seemed to be taking care of it at the moment. And shouldn't Carter be trying to destroy it? Phineas said she was the only one who could kill it for good.

Something was horribly, horribly wrong. But Ben couldn't for the life of him figure it out.

There was a dull noise ringing in his ears, like a pistol firing. There was something significant about it, he could tell. The din of the cavern was growing exponentially larger, rushing at him fast, fast, too fast; it was hurting his ears-

The noise was at full volume. He could hear Kevin snarling as he mercilessly broke the bones of the thing's puppets. Sam was biting into the neck of another cast off, using her teeth to rip off its head as it fired electricity at her. Evan was straddling an adult male, hitting the face until it caved in, and refusing to stop until the puppet's brains were splattered across the floor.

Ben blinked. He knew the blob was bad news, but it wasn't like Cordelia and the others were going to die. Phineas even said they couldn't. And while it was heartbreaking that they had to kill all those souls inside the monster, it had to be done. They had understood that earlier, actually calculating the proper way to kill the thing as Ben tried to move Cordelia out of harm's way. So what had changed?

He could feel a dull throbbing in his chest. Wincing, he moved his hand towards the center, right where the sternum was. There was something warm and slick on his shirt. He grimaced; it felt disgusting.

Wait, Ben, don't!

Okay, so Ben could hear Ventus. That was good. He wasn't sure why it was, but a suspicious feeling told him so.

He lifted his hand-it was so incredibly heavy-and took a look at it. His fingers were covered in liquid. He rubbed them together, and a metallic smell filled his nose, nearly making him gag.

Ben, calm down.

What was Ventus talking about? He was perfectly calm. Sure his head was ringing and his chest was throbbing, but there was nothing wrong with him. His throat was also dry- when could he get a smoothie?

This is not the time or the place. You need to calm down.

Why was Ventus repeating that? Ben tried to roll his eyes, but for some reason they were hurting. He took another look at his hands and the metallic smell hit his nostrils again.

-Kevin was trying to fix the hole in his armor but it was too late, the first shot had already been fired-

Ben's eyes widened.

Ben?!

-He wanted to go to his Omnitrix, but there was no time. He was right next to Kevin anyway-

He opened his mouth.

Ben, I'll take over from here on out, you just need to calm down! You're going into shock!

-He stepped past Sam and stood right in front of Kevin. He could feel both bullets penetrate his chest-

A bloodcurdling scream tore out of Ben's throat.

Ben wasn't responding.

That's bad, that's very bad, Aquaria whispered in the back of her mind. Carter knew that too. Everything about this situation was bad, very bad. She tried to get Ben to talk to her, but he was just standing there, staring blankly at her.

Slowly his head swiveled around, taking in the battle happening right behind her. Gwen wasn't a part of it; despite the waves of fury rolling off her she had to be there for her cousin, now more than ever. That was why she hadn't questioned Carter when the Goth told her to remove Ben's jacket. She figured it would help him. He hadn't responded to that either, which was just another warning sign.

And then he slowly, ever so slowly, put a hand to his chest. Carter wanted to rip it away, but she couldn't. His skin had taken on a sickly pale color, his green eyes far too bright in the dim lighting. His hands were shaking slightly-did he even realize that, or was he too far gone? - and slowly touched the blood that was dribbling down his shirt.

Gwen winced, a small cry escaping her lips. Carter could even see her eyes dampening. She couldn't blame her; hell, she wanted to let out the sob that threatened to spill out of her throat. She wanted to scream, rip out her hair, curl up into a ball, anything.

If you do that, you'll bring shame down on the Valentine name, Aquaria said grimly. Carter imagined her sea green eyes narrowing in contempt.

You think I don't know that? she easily countered. Besides, even if I didn't care about the family name, no else has the medical knowledge to take those bullets out of Ben.

The only medical knowledge you do know is from reading medical journals, the goddess protested.

Medical journals that have been written by Cordelia and Isaac, Carter pointed out. Since the only person in the room who can easily remove those bullets is unconscious, I'm the next best option.

Ben suddenly jerked, forcing Carter to focus back on him. He was staring wide eyed at his fingers, which were covered in his own blood. She checked his heartbeat for the umpteenth time; it was rapid yet so very weak. His breathing was becoming more and more shallow, his skin slowly becoming clammy. And the amount of blood that was leaking out of his chest was starting to increase.

"He's going into shock," Carter told Gwen. "Help me get him to the ground." The girl complied, gently taking his arm.

Ben suddenly opened his mouth and a blood curling scream erupted out of it. Carter clamped a hand over his mouth. He tried to jerk his head away, but he was too weak. His breathing was becoming more rapid and shallow, the scream still trying to get out.

And then his eyes flashed sky blue and he collapsed.

"Help me move him to the side," Carter ordered grabbing his shoulders. Gwen took his feet and the two of them dragged Ben off to the side, as far away from the fighting as possible. Once he was situated, Carter willed an icicle to appear out of her finger and began to saw at Ben's shirt.

"What are you…?" Gwen trailed off as she saw her snip apart the cloth, exposing the wound. There were two black holes in his chest, surrounded by a sea of blood. The smell hit Gwen's nostrils, making her gag.

"Go and help the others," Carter immediately told her, bringing her hands up towards her face. The thumbs and pointer fingers on each hand suddenly had a claw attached to them.

"I can't." Gwen shook her head helplessly. "You heard Phineas; that thing feeds on energy."

"You can still fight without using your powers," Carter pointed out. The redhead turned to Sam, who was tearing off arms and legs like the meat puppets were ragdolls. Gwen was completely indifferent to that.

"Besides," Carter continued, forcing Gwen to look her way, "I have to surgically remove the bullets. That's not something everyone can watch." She peered out of the corner of her eye as her friend's face slowly paled, her hands dropping the jacket onto the floor. Gwen gave a quick nod of her head before running towards a puppet and punching it in the face.

Focusing intently on Ben, she willed some water to form in the palm of her hand and forced it into the wounds. Antiseptic or alcohol would have worked best-hell even bleach would have worked to kill all the germs. Unfortunately Carter didn't have any of that on hand. Her powers were only good with closing wounds; the body tended to kill off any remaining alien bacteria. Still, water was better than nothing.

Once that was done, Carter cracked the knuckles in her fingers in an attempt to stop them from shaking. Sweat was beading down her neck and she was feeling lightheaded. She had never attempted surgery on anyone before, and she never even imagined that such a day would come. It was always possible to die on the surgical table while being worked on by experienced surgeons. The mortality rate shot up exponentially when you factored in bad lighting, dirty operating conditions, and an inexperienced surgeon whose only knowledge on the human anatomy came from old medical journals and public school health classes.

Now is not the time to dwell on the negative, a sharp, blunt voice cut into her thoughts. Despite her reputation, Aquaria was rarely motherly. Get your ass in gear and save him.

Carter took a deep breath and began the first incision cut.

All sound drowned out so that she could only hear her own heavy breathing. The sweat that had started to trail down her face evaporated. Her heart beat slowed to a steady rhythm. The metallic scent of blood hit her nostrils; she didn't even flinch. Serenity washed over her as she worked to carve a small X shape through one of the holes in Ben's chest.

Looking back on it later, Carter would never be able to recall exactly how she did it. Time slowed and her vision was crystal clear, but her memory failed somewhat beyond that point. All she could recall with certainty was that it had taken very little time to extract the first bullet lodged in Ben's chest cavity and, after dropping the bloody bullet somewhere around his head, went to work on the second.

The others weren't faring better with the demonic monster. Gwen was the only one not panting from exhaustion. She twisted around and kicked the head off of another female castoff, this one with ice claws that seemed straight out of a nightmare. The female instantly reverted back into blob form and joined the main one.

Sam gritted her teeth. "Just how many souls does thing have?"

"Over thirty," Kevin said grimacing. "And we've been hammering it for how long?"

Evan shrugged. "At least half an hour."

"Well, we have to keep hammering it until its dead," Gwen snarled. She then back flipped out of the way of impending bullets.

"Easy for you to say!" Sam yelled out as a bullet whizzed past her head. Kevin took that moment to slice off the hand holding the gun, the half-made puppet turning back into a blob. The shot ricocheted off the cavern walls, nearly clipping Carter's right shoulder. She paid it no heed as she dropped the second and final bullet near Ben's head.

Taking a deep breath, she pressed the palms of her hands on the wounds. She grimaced as she felt both congealed and fresh blood seep through the cracks in her fingers. In a shaky and hurried voice, she sang softly: "This is the story I've wanted to tell/ I was left for a handsomer guy…"

Gold tendrils erupted out of her, spreading a warm sunny glow through the cavern. Suddenly the golden light turned into a happy Kelly green, and then mellowed into a calm sea green. Bursts of blue flashed, zigzagging through the green in a haphazard harmony.

"All I could do was wish them both well/ and gaze at my friend in the sky."

Her voice was too soft, too hurried. Her throat was constricting; she had trouble breathing. Ben was healing, but it was slower, much slower than how it was supposed to be. His heartbeat was barely at the proper equilibrium, why…?

"April Moon/ you know me/ I have wept here before…"

The lights were chaotic, bursting like fireworks around them. Around and around they circled, faster and faster until it was a blur of green and blue. Too fast, too fast, Carter's heart was bursting out of her ribcage, Ben wasn't breathing, why?!

It almost wasn't heard, over the chaotic light swirling around them, over Carter's own heartbeat: a ragged gasp, a slight cough, and finally a fluttering of eyelashes. She stopped singing, stupefied. The lights dimmed, slowing down immediately. She could feel his steady heartbeat thrum through her fingers.

She began again, quietly, her voice breathy but sure. "Can you believe I went back to her for more/ I just hate that side of me…"

The blood was sliding back into the wounds. She could feel the muscles stitching themselves back together, the skin knitting back into place. He was breathing slowly but surely, his face the color of milk but no longer gray and corpselike. His brow furrowed and his lips quirked as if he was desperate to wake up, but then calmness washed over him and his face smoothed back into place. It was almost like he was sleeping.

A hysterical, triumphant laugh bubbled in Carter's throat, but she held it in. The song had to finish. Smiling and stroking his hair away from his eyes as if he were a child, she drawled out, "April Moon."

The lights retreated back into her, disappearing as quickly as they had came. She stood up and spared a final, happy glance at Ben. He was sleeping peacefully, and would hopefully stay that way for a good long while.

And then she turned around, and her smile was replaced by a venomous scowl. Her teeth were sharpened into fangs, and she curled her lips so that they appeared wolf-like. Her pupils had thinned, turning jagged and snakelike. A snarl erupted from deep in her throat; booming out of her chest cavity and making her angry stalk even more frightening.

Carter didn't notice how the others balked and quickly backed away from her, clearing the battlefield so that it was just her and the demon. A puppy's snout appeared out of the mess, sniffing the air. The entire monster growled, sounding like a demon straight out of hell. And then it quickly morphed into a humanoid.

Only this time the blob didn't take a form of a stolen soul. It took the form of an athletic person, but there was no skin or muscle, just red-gold clay forced into a mold. It had arms and legs and a head and a broad chest, but there were no eyes or nose or mouth to identify it. No it had something much, much worse than that.

Around its stomach and creeping up the torso were faces. They looked like flesh-colored masks, except the mouths were moving, screaming in silent terror, eyes wide and horrified. There was the petrified whimper of a scared puppy echoing through the silence, but other than that there was no sound.

Carter tore her gaze away from the faces and looked straight at the thing's featureless head. "You know, I'm pretty merciful most of the time," she said conversationally. "I meet a lot of horrible people who really don't deserve the air they breathe, but I try to give them the benefit of the doubt, or if not, then a quick and clean death. I figure they deserve at least that much.

"But you…" she trailed off, calmly surveying the abomination before her, "I don't think you deserve that. You nearly killed someone especially close to me, and I think he'd agree with me that you have to be put down. Knowing him, he'd make it quick, but I'm not that nice."

Suddenly she smiled her Cheshire cat grin, and her eyes narrowed coldly. There was a rushing sound echoing throughout the cavern, like an angry tide crashing into a rock jetty. Her friends made startled cries, but she fixed her gaze at the humanoid.

"I told you before didn't I? I'm going to make your final death so slow and painful that by the end you'll be screaming for mercy. And I'm going to enjoy every second of it."

The cavern walls broke apart, and river water rushed in. It split apart into two monstrously large streams, coiling around Carter protectively. The streams were becoming lifelike, blue scales flashing and sharp fangs glistening in curled black mouths. They were water dragons, wingless and beautiful, with a blue glow in their eyes. They roared ferociously, the sound echoing throughout the broken cavern.

Someone was screaming: "CARTER! STOP!" It almost sounded like Evan, or Sam-or perhaps they were talking at the same time? Carter couldn't hear, because the mouths on the abomination were screaming out loud, their terror a symphony that refused to be silenced.

Carter smirked, frost collecting on her brow like a circlet. A laugh escaped through her lips, a childish noise that sounded unnaturally cruel. The humanoid was devoid of all emotion, but the faces strapped to his torso were still screaming, singing a different tune.

Carter waved a hand at it. The dragons shifted, their growls drowning out the screams. In a voice clear as day, she said one word: "Devour."

At once the dragons were upon it, coiling around the monster like snakes. The screams picked up again, but they were choppy and strangled as the dragons sank their teeth into their flesh. Blood spurted everywhere, contrasting against the cool blue scales of the dragons. Gun shots rang out, but the bullets either sank into the watery mess or were bounced off an icy piece of skin.

Again and again the dragons ate at the humanoid, and again and again the faces on it screamed in terror, but it soon stopped sounding like a symphony. One by one the souls were killed, and one by one the screaming ended, until finally, finally there was only one voice.

The dragons suddenly splintered apart, the pieces of ice and water washing over each other like waves crashing against a jetty. They swirled around the monster, trapping it in a tiny cocoon where the outside was pure ice while the inside was a watery prison. The rest of the dragons' bodies became snow, spreading out on the cavern floor in choppy waves. The immense liters of blood from the humanoid were spread out like rings in a tree stump.

Carter stepped onto the snow, her boots crunching. She walked up to the cocoon, staring at the millions of faces reflecting in the ice. They all showed a single person: a bulky frame, a sharp, taut face, close cropped black hair and dark blue eyes. On his white shirt was an electronic door pass. Carter could vaguely make out the name Stanley.

The thing that had once been Stanley was screaming on the inside of the cocoon, not caring that his lungs were filling with water. Carter turned around, a cruel little smile playing at her lips. She walked away, her footsteps creating prints in the bloody snow.

The cocoon cracked the sound resonating throughout the silent cavern. And then it exploded, the water shooting outwards in an attempt to free itself. The person inside was ripped apart; pieces of flesh and muscle and bone fell on the ground, ice water dripping on them.

Carter walked out of the snow, trampling blood and slush on the ground. She blinked, the diamond circlet at her forehead disappearing. She breathed in deeply.

Blood erupted out of her back, her shoulders, her mouth. Her arms shot outwards, the joints moving on their own. Her legs buckled underneath her, and she fell backwards in a puddle of her own blood.

Carter's eyes were foggy, her breathing ragged. Her lungs were filling up with fluid. She looked around wildly, searching for what she didn't know. She wanted to cry, but the only liquid that fell out was blood.

And then a voice filled her ears. It was so familiar; she remembered a silvery peal of laughter from long ago, so long ago. She remembered a happy person with a face from the nineteen twenties, with her oxblood-painted lips shaped into a Cupid's bow, her smoky eyes glinting with mischief, soft black hair that had been cut into a bob, the sides curling over her small olive-skinned face.

The woman was kneeling over her now, painted lips curled into a tiny smile, her brown eyes warm. Carter tried to say her name, but she was gasping for air. She was too weak and disoriented to do anything but stare.

Pearl…

"Time for beddy-bye, kitty cat," the woman said, closing her eyes and smiling. Carter could feel her eyelids falling. "Good night and I'll see you in the sunshine."

She fell asleep wishing for sunlight.

Ben 10: The Slayer Chronicles is officially ON HIATUS.