Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Growth

Chapter Eleven: This is How We're Left

Kenny sat up in his room. Just one more of many nights in which he forewent his beloved sleep in favor of self-induce insomnia. Only, this time, instead of staring fixedly at his closed door, expecting his cousin to pass through it, he was playing with his watch.

Ahem. That is, figuring out his watch.

Kenny hadn't 'played' with his watch since he was a child. An Omnitrix wasn't a toy -or so his father felt the need to remind him often.

Kevin's suggestion wasn't half bad, and the boy couldn't figure out why it had never occurred to him. To hack his faux-Omnitrix, to unlock Master Control and give himself unlimited time and access to all the aliens the watch had in his databank. It was the perfect solution.

A knock at the door distracted him.

Looking up at the door, Kenny's hands tightened around the watch unconsciously. "Who is it?"

It was late, Dad and the rest of the grown-ups would already be asleep. Well… maybe Aunt Gwendolyn and Kevin were still awake. But if they were, they wouldn't be interested in leaving their room to come and bother him. That meant there was only one person it could be on the other side of his door.

"Its me." Came Devlin's voice. "Can I come in?" A pause. "I'm still wearing my gloves."

As if those stupid gloves actually meant anything.

"I just thought… maybe we could talk?" The Osmosian continued.

"About what?" It was a clip of a question from Kenny.

There was another pause from the other side of the door. Then, "Are we really gonna take separate vacations this summer? I totally understand not wanting to go on a road trip with Kevin, but I always went with you when you had to stay with Aunt Kai. I just… I guess, what I'm asking is if I can still come too."

For a moment, Kenny was about to let his knee-jerk reaction of "No." slip through. Blurting out the first thought that came to mind was a sort of trademark of his. But he reigned himself in and instead said, "I don't think it would matter. Kevin will probably insist you spend summer break with him -on a road trip, apparently."

"I could not care less about what Kevin would want." Devlin informed him. The door knob jiggled and the Osmosian huffed when he realized it was locked. Kenny had been locking his door since the fiasco with the Rooters. "Look, could you just let him in?"

"I could. But I won't." Kenny informed him.

"Don't be like that." Devlin groaned. "I've said I'm sorry, like, a million times already. I promise I'll never try and absorb you again."

"Do you even know why I'm so upset?" Kenny asked in all seriousness.

A sigh. "Because I almost killed you."

Well, yes. Actually. That was the reason Kenny kept saying was why he no longer trusted Devlin. But after his talk with Kevin and learning that Kevin and his father tried to kill each other multiple times but were still friend, Kenny was beginning to question himself and whether or not that was really the core issue. Come to think of it, Cooper almost killed Aunt Gwendolyn and she and Dad had already forgiven him for it. 'What was a little attempted murder between friends?' everyone kept saying. Water near a bridge. And in a horrifying epiphany, Kenny realized why he was really so angry with Devlin. Why he was so fearful of him.

It wasn't the attempted murder. It was-

"You betrayed my trust." Kenny strapped the faux-Omnitrix back on his wrist and climbed out of bed. Crossing the room, he leaned against the wall next to the door rather than the door itself. "You did the one thing I honestly thought you'd never do."

There was a longer pause this time. "The one thing you thought I'd never do besides try and absorb you?"

Closing his eyes, Kenny suppressed a sigh. Placing one hand flat against the wall, his rested his forehead on it when he said, "I never thought you'd absorb an Omnitrix -my Omnitrix."

That. Right there. That was it.

Devlin might never have met his father before a few weeks ago -maybe a month ago by now- but he knew what he was. Aunt Gwendolyn made a point of educating her son (to the best of her own knowledge) in his Osmosian heritage. His strength and his weaknesses. What absorbing different things would do to him. What absorbing an Omnitrix would do to him.

Thanks to being steeped in Aunt Gwendolyn's Anodite power for nine months in utero, Devlin had a higher threshold for power than his father did. He could absorb far more than Kevin could before the rush of power broke his mind and he went crazy. But the Omnitrix was the most powerful object in the universe. Kenny's faux-Omnitrix probably the second most powerful. There was no way any Osmosian -not even one with as high a tolerance as Devlin- could absorb that much power without going stark raving mad.

Devlin should have known that. He certainly got enough warnings about it grown up.

That was what Kenny was most upset again.

That Devlin knew what would happen to him but did it anyway. Why? Because he wanted to win. What kind of kriffing bullshit was that?

"I said I was sorry." Devlin insisted. "I also said I'd never do that again."

"Those are just words, Dev." Kenny informed him, crossing his arms over his chest in stubborn defiance -even knowing his cousin couldn't see the pose.

"Well, ya know, you betrayed my trust too." Devlin informed him.

"How?" Kenny demanded, voice dripping with skepticism. He couldn't remember having done or not done anything to Devlin that might be considered a 'betrayal'. Up until the whole absorbing the Omnitrix thing they were tight. As close as two people could be.

"Look, will you just let me in? This is not a conversation I wanna have out in the hall."

"Then go back to bed." Kenny told him, as if that should have been the obvious solution.

"Fine. We'll do this through the door." Growled the Osmosian. "I thought we told each other everything."

"We did." Kenny shot back.

There was a soft THUNK against the door which Kenny assumed was the older boy resting his own head on the wood. Devlin heaved a sigh. "Kenny, I saw you. When I absorbed the Omnitrix, it did a weird thing to my sense. I could, like, see energy. Like heat-vision but not. I could see the power lines in the walls. They stood out, glowing like there wasn't a wall in front of them at all. And you- Kenny, if the cables in the wall glowed, you were practically radiant! Why didn't you tell me? I would have been cool, man. -Completely jealous- but cool."

It was all the younger boy could do to blink at the still closed door in incomprehension. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

…

"Dev, don't-" Kenny tried.

But the second the younger boy opened his mouth the moment was broken. Kenny blinked and Devlin tightened his hand over the faux-Omnitrix as he absorbed its power.

It was incredible. Different from anything Devlin had ever absorbed before. A strange cocktail of different life-energies and powers of various creatures, blended with the electrical and mechanical charges that allowed the watch to function. No wonder absorbing the Omnitrix always turned Kevin crazy. If a cheap knock-off-Omnitrix felt like this! What must the real thing be like…? Devlin lost himself in the sensation. Suddenly giddy -almost drunk- with the feeling of power that now coursed through him. …And he wanted more…

A shudder passed through the Osmosian's body as his shape changed. One arm morphing from Vulpimancer to Galvanic Mechamorph tentacle. His face strained as his sinuses were once again displaced by his eyes changing shape and position. His jaw creaked as it changed from Ripjaws to Upchuck's. There was a sudden headache when Waybig's head ornament sprouted from his forehead and Snare-oh's bandages wrapped themselves over his back and around his torso.

Devlin's grip loosened on the other boy's wrist and Kenny jerked his hand way.

But more than just the physical changes that came along with absorbing life-energy, there was one other difference Devlin had never noticed before. With all the power already coursing through his body, his vision changed. He could see energy now. The cables and wiring concealed behind the walls glowed as clearly and brightly as if they were right before his eyes. Thin rivers of copper and gold flowing with electrical power. Warm and inviting. And Kenny…

Kenny was a battery of energy all to himself.

Glowing in Devlin's eyes with star sapphire light. The energy of life -mana. Burning hot and bright, Devlin could almost taste him! He'd absorbed mana before, but the young Osmosian had never really taken the time to noticed just how deliciously intoxicating it really was. Pure energy. Pure life. Pure power. Anodite power!

Kenny was an Anodite!

And Devlin wanted it.

"Kenny… you've been holding out on me…"

…

All Devlin's life, all he wanted was a power that didn't hurt others. A power that didn't transform him into a grotesque and misshapen monster. A power that didn't come from his father.

During some of his darker moments, he damned the universe for cursing him with his father's abilities and asked -demanded- why he couldn't have any of his mother's. Why couldn't he be an Anodite instead? Why did he have to be Osmosian. His body was full of so much mana, but all it did to him was mold his shape into the form of nightmares. It just wasn't fair!

And then he found out about Kenny.

"Why didn't you tell me? I would have been cool, man. -Completely jealous- but cool."

And all Kenny said through the door was, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

That really pissed Devlin off. (Not that it really took much to piss him off these days.) But the fact that Kenny would still deny it even after Devlin told him he already knew and there was no reason to keep hiding it. It wasn't enough that Kenny had been pushing him away all this time. It wasn't enough that Kenny abandoned him to face Kevin alone while the younger boy get smoothies with Ally. It wasn't enough that Kenny seemed to like Kevin a lot more than him all of a sudden. But the fact that he would deny being an Anodite right to his face! (Right through the door, technically.) Even after Devlin told him that he already knew. That was the last straw.

"Well, fine then!" The Osmosian snarled in frustration, throwing his arms up in defeat even though he knew his cousin couldn't see the motion. "Keep denying it. You're perfect and I'm a monster. That's the way its always been anyway! Go spend the summer with Aunt Kai without me! I bet you hate it after the first week!"

He stomped off back to his own bedroom.

Kenny was left in his own room still completely clueless as to what in the world Devlin was talking about.

And nothing between them was resolved.

…

END

(A/N: Yeah. That's how this one ends. No conclusion or resolution. Just melodrama. Guess I'll have to write another fic to fix them…)