The next two days pasted by in slow, agonizing, motion for Ben Tennyson. Having foolishly stayed up on the roof during a thunderstorm it came as no surprise to anyone, that he had developed a serious fever and was now bedridden. As such, he was now forced to stay confined within his room, and up until now, occasionally suffering the berating rants of his caretaker and roommate, Ethan. He and Ethan had shared the room for two years and as such knew each other to an extent, at the very least Ethan knew him more than anyone else on the campus. Ben for the most part considered him a friend, he was nice and he didn't leave large messes like other roommates. Most importantly though, he gave Ben his space…well occasionally he did, every once in a while he had tried to open up Ben a little more, but mostly it met with failure, still though, he tried and that meant a lot to someone who felt like Ben did. Either way, he figured he could have gotten a worse roommate; he probably wouldn't have enjoyed it if he had had to deal with a heavy drinker or drug user as was common at most colleges.

Ben now lay in his room resting under the covers in a small, wood bed, staring up at the skylight above him. In Ben's mind he had thought it to be the best part of the room. Being able to stare up at the stars at night paled in comparison to the fact that he was woken early every morning by the sharp dawns light. Today however, as he lay under the sun, sweating in his own fevered body, he considered it to be one of the worst decisions he'd ever made.

"Ugh damn it, I could have handled missing one day's worth of classes, but two's pushing it." He muttered to himself. Now, completely ignoring the fact that he was sick, Ben got up to try and make it to his last class of the day, math. Despite the rumors of flawless grades that circled around Ben, even he had his weaknesses and math just happened to be one of them. He had always had to study harder for math class and especially show up for them in order maintain his A+ grade in it.

Ben slowly walked out of his dorm and down the campus pathway making it just in time for his math class to begin. The teacher, Mr. Tenor, walked in just a few seconds after Ben, closing the door so as to keep any late-comers out. "All right everyone take your seats, we'll be taking the assigned quiz today so I hope you're all prepared for it, they'll be no curved grades in this class." Mr. Tenor said as his gaze shifted around the room meeting ever face with his cold unflinching stare. Only briefly noticing Ben's obviously sick appearance, his eyes flicked back to check. "Mr. Tennyson, are you alright?" he said briefly pausing. "You don't look so well, I trust you haven't been up partying with the rest of the rabble rousers, it would be a shame to lose such a gifted student to alcohol and the likes of loose woman." He said staring back at the rest of the class, silently judging them. It was quite obvious to all that Mr. Tenor was a man of older moral standing than his class.

"No professor, just a slight cold, I'm afraid I got caught in that storm the other day." Ben replied, his voice was shaking a little, his vision blurring as he felt himself getting weaker by the second. Ben could also almost feel the disapproving glare of his roommate sitting two rows back as he no doubt muttered phrases of stupidity about him. Tenor, trusting in the good judgment of an A+ student decided not to waste further time and to just distribute the tests. "Very well, still though I'll trust you studied, this a very impo-"

His voice cut short by the immediate sound of Ben's body collapsing to the floor. "Benjamin!" Tenor's voice was as a mere muffle against Ben's nearly unconscious mind. The only things that made it through were the brief sound of sirens and feeling that he was being lifted before total oblivion eclipsed everything else.

However, soon the blackness started to fade and the familiar pink world came into view. The pink ground, the mountain range in the far off distance, the cliff on which he now stood, all of it, except for one thing, the only thing that mattered in this world; Gwen.

"So I'm here again, huh. It's beautiful…but empty." He said to himself aloud as a flurry of pedals from the flowering grass cascaded across his view, blanketing it.

He slowly turned around half expecting Gwen to appear as if it were some cheesy, old movie. But nothing lay in front of him, just another view of the same valley like meadow.

"You, know just because this is a dream doesn't mean it applies to the same rules as a cheesy movie. Honestly Ben, your such a dweeb." The voice said, giggling.

Ben straightened, not sure if what he heard was real or not, slowly turning, he saw his cousin sitting on a small rock that had been raised out of the cliff, smiling. The wind blew a few small strands of hair over her face, petals dancing across her cheeks. Ben couldn't help but blush a little for some reason at the sight of her.

"So… does this mean we're really us? That we're not just each others figments or whatever? I mean I know I'm asleep and all, but we're the real Ben and Gwen right?" Ben said, watching her face, the subtle movements of thought as she responded to his question.

"Well, I can't say for sure, but it might be possible. I mean I remember going to sleep and doing things on Anodine before that, but I don't think we can be sure, I mean neither of us can verify anything if we exist in the others head. We already know about all the others experience with us, so in essence we could just be using our memories to lie to ourselves. There's nothing we could offer as proof to support whether we're real." she said, slightly frowning before hearing Ben chuckle.

"Yep, your Gwen alright. Only the real Gwen could sound so like Gwen." Ben said before folding his arms and walking over to the cliff to feel the fresh wind blow across him.

Gwen's face scrunched up a little in annoyance at that comment, "Oh and how can you be so sure, you can't just base it off of some hunch or gut feeling…I don't want to talk to someone I think is Ben only to find out its not," Gwen said her eyes staring at the ground tearing up a little "I mean I know I said you were him last time but I-" Before Gwen could finish that sentence she felt Ben's hand gently tussling her hair. "Don't worry Gwen, I get it. It's scary to think that the person that's next to you isn't real when you really want to them to be. I'm still really nervous about it too, but…I want to believe its you, so I will." Ben said smiling a small, but honest smile, "besides stranger things have happened."

Looking down Ben saw Gwen's emerald eyes staring back up at his before her hear her laugh "Well that settles it, you can't be Ben, Bens nowhere near that mature." Gwen said giggling, waiting for the retorts Ben was so famous for, but nothing came. Gwen, started to wonder weather he really was Ben. But how could he not be, he was so much like him in so many ways.

Ben was smiling. "Well, I've been studying and working hard you know. Got into a college and I'm getting good grades too, suppose I owe you a thanks for that. You were always telling me to study more after all." He said, turning back to the edge of the cliff, to hide some of the embarrassment from saying that.

Gwen just stared at his silhouette dumbfounded, Ben had actually taken her advice. She was almost about to apologize for doubting him, however briefly when he interrupted.

"Besides, it's your fault if you don't believe me, you're the dweeb who spent a whole summer trying to educate me. But I suppose if it'll make you more comfortable I can go back to scratching my butt in public like when I was ten." He said raising his hands in mock shrug.

Gwen simply smiled. Still Ben, just a smarter and well toned one. Wait what did that last part have to do with anything? Well it doesn't matter, the point was that its really Ben, he's Back! It just had to be Ben, because after all not even in her wildest dreams could he be this smart, it had to be the strangeness only reality could surprise people with.

"Guess it really is you Ben." she said before smiling and tilting her head a little towards the ground for some reason. "I'd never have imagined that we'd meet again, especially like this, but I'm glad." a small crimson blush crept over her face. She continued. "But, how exactly is it that we're both sharing a singular dream? I mean isn't it impossible for us to be asleep at the same time and connected through a dream?"

Ben had been wondering about the same thing while Gwen had been busy with his identity crisis. "Well I've been wondering about that too, but the only thing I can figure is that it has something to do with your Anodite powers." Ben said scratching his head.

Now Gwen was confused, "Why my powers, couldn't it just as easily be the watch doing this?" Ben shook his head, "no I doubt it, the Omnitrix doesn't have the ability to tap into peoples minds as far as I know and there haven't been any changes in it to set it off. The only thing I can figure is that your powers are somehow affecting us; they can manipulate just about anything and are powerful enough to bridge distances like this. Besides, if I'm not wrong, isn't this Anodine? I mean Grandma told us about it, but I don't know this place well enough to manipulate a dream of it. And if this is Anodine that means you're the one manipulating the dream via your powers." By this point Ben was now staring back at Gwen, his arms folded, enjoying the look on her face.

Gwen was amazed, Ben wasn't just mature, he was smart! Ben had never been this smart, he had gone from barely understanding four syllable words to using complex reasoning to determine the source of a problem. The Ben she remembered would probably just have said it was an alien thing and figured that was enough of an excuse. Had five years really done this much too him or was Gwen wrong and he really was a figment of her mind. But she decided no, thoughts like that would just lead her in circles, she had to give Ben a little faith after all.

Ben merely sighed "once you left I had to be the smart one as well as the kid with super powers. I may have been an idiot at the time, but I did realize that power if not guided by intellect is dangerous." he said wincing at his memory of her, he'd realized that truth too late.

Gwen saw him clench his fists and the small shiver that made him stand up a little straighter. She wondered what was responsible for this, it wasn't just her leaving, it was also the same thing that caused him such pain that he acted the way he did when they first met. She had half a mind to ask him, but in the end seeing him lift his head up at her with those sad eyes, the ones that seemed like they were trying to be happy for her, she decided not to.

She slowly got up and moved over to him embracing him in a hug. Ben just stood there, feeling her embrace. She can read me so well, huh? "Was she always this warm?" he said in an almost inaudible whisper.

Gwen broke the hug smiling. "Well I'm glad to see that you've matured, there were times on Anodine when I was afraid you were in some sort of trouble, grandpa Max can only help so much you know." she said smiling, before realizing at that moment that she had forgot to ask him about the rest of the family.

Seeing the look on her face Ben responded. "There doing fine Gwen, so is Grandpa Max. They all miss you." Ben said smiling a little to hide the hurt he felt at mentioning their names. Truth was he hadn't seen them in years, he got a few phone calls here and there, but even on most holidays he didn't come back home, it had been to painful for some reason.

Gwen smiled, it was good to know that everyone was alright; Anodine was so far away that hardly any news came to them unless it involved something urgent like the attack. "Oh! Ben that reminds me I heard there was an attack on the Earth the other day, did you get hurt?" she was about to ask Ben more questions when she saw that same hurt look appear on him again, this time nearly redoubled.

"Gwen, there's something I should tell you." he said pausing. "I haven't used the Omnitrix… in years." Ben spoke, trying to hide the choking sound that constricted his voice. Somehow seeing Gwen had made that her death feel realer to him than it had in a long time. "I stopped using it and handed over the protection of the Earth to the Anodite's."

Gwen was shocked by this, Ben loved being a hero, he always had, the only time he ever hadn't was that time Grandpa Max had been hurt and wound up in the hospital. What could have happened? "Ben, why would you do that?" Gwen said unable to think of a proper or possibly gentler way to ask.

Thoughts echoed through Ben's mind, what will happen if I tell her, will she hate me, will she stop talking to me, will she disappear like before? He couldn't stop them, small drops of tears flowed down his cheeks, he didn't care. "She," he said pausing unable to speak it. "She died because of me." Gwen didn't quite understand, what did Ben mean someone died? "I tried to stop Animo from robbing a bank and- and she got caught in a blast I created. I didn't know she was there until it was too late. She died because I was angry, I wanted Animo to stop hurting people, and because I was so angry…she was killed. Because I wasn't strong like the Anodites, or smart like you, I was just a kid trying to be a hero and it cost someone their life!" He said practically yelling, backing away from her, hands clutching his head as if trying to block out the sound of the memory, the smell, the sights…the pain. "I don't deserve the watch." Gwen could barely believe it, Ben, had he really been carrying all this pain, had she really left him so alone with all this misery. A girl had died, Ben had been a part of it, but that didn't make him evil, he had tried to help them, even if he was angry he was still trying to help them! "I'm not a hero, I'm just another monster, I don't even deserve to-"

Ben didn't even know it was happening till he felt Gwen's hand slap him across his face, the sound sending itself echoing through the empty meadow-like landscape.

He just stood there, feeling the strong stinging feeling on his cheek, his hand automatically going to touch the spot. As he stood there staring at her face, tears streaming down her eyes, Ben's mind slowly taking in the pain. Only thinking, so she really does hate me, of course, it's like I said, I'm just a monster, of course she'd hate me. Tears were forming behind his eyes in even greater numbers, waiting for her words to cut the strings that held them. However the cruel words Ben had been expecting didn't come, instead came something else.

"You idiot! Don't you ever say that, never! Your not a monster, your Ben! Ben isn't a monster! Your always the hero, because you always care about people. Never once did you let me down as Ben Ten, You never stopped being a hero, Because you never stopped caring if people got hurt! All those times you saved me and Grandpa, all those times you saved innocent people. Don't you dare say it! You didn't come into that bank to hurt that girl, you came there to protect people! Even if you wanted to hurt Animo, you wouldn't have! Because your Ben, and the Ben I know couldn't hurt anyone… " By now Gwen's voice was cracking as she had tears flowing down her face. "So please don't forget that that's who you are Ben! Your Ben, you're a hero, Earths hero…my Hero" She said finally braking down and collapsing into his arms, holding him as she cried into his shirt. His arms gently wrapping around her fragile frame, letting a few small tears fall as they took solace in this embrace. Somehow, both of them stood there, damaged by the hurt they saw and felt in one another, yet at the same time drawing strength from this broken embrace.

However, this touching scene was not just shared by the two of them, another person floated above them, an onlooker, watching the two in the comfort of the others favor.

Sighing to herself she muttered "Kiddo you're just full of surprises, and with Ben too. 200 years and life still knows how to surprise me, go figure." she said chuckling slightly before disappearing, leaving the two alone in their embrace.