Contains mentions of incest and rape!
The Trial and its Aftermath
The Trial
"Ben, Gwen, you guys ready?" the king asked.
"Yup. I think we are," Ben answered.
"I've decided against a public trial. I think someone's been spreading a rumor of illness to keep everyone away."
"Is that so?" Ben asked nervously.
"Yeah. I sent out seat reservations and no one's responded."
"Ben, don't act stupid. You started the rumor!"
"Why?"
"We were in danger of getting mobbed. I had to think of something and fast."
"Oh well, we can still televise it," Gwen said.
"Come on. I'll show you guys to the courtroom." The king led them to the courtroom. The jury was already selected. It was full of people from the Frozen universe.
"Just saying, but this jury looks kind of biased," Gwen noted.
"Why is that?"
"We should get at least some representation from our universe to make this a fair trial."
"I see. Call your Professor friend in."
"It's Paradox, and I already know of a way out of your dilemma," Paradox said, materializing out of thin air along with Kai Green, Julie Yamamoto, Michael Morningstar, Lucy, Reinrassic the Third, and Rook Blanco.
"Hello, lovely Gwen. I've seen you've been doing well."
"Back off, Michael. She's mine," Ben told him.
"Eww! You dumped me for your cousin?!" Julie yelled.
"You dumped me first over Sumo Slammers Five!"
"Ben Ben Tennyson! It is good to see you!"
"Hey Rieny. It's been over three years since we last met. How's everything going?"
"Never better. Ever since you repaired our DNA, I'm glad to say we've stopped the process of inbreeding! However, I see you have not."
"Um, let's not talk about it. It's kind of complicated."
"All right people. The trial's about to start. Jurors, take your places!" the king shouted. The people from Ben's universe replaced half of the people from Frozen.
"I shall be the judge. Who's the attorney for the persecution?"
"I volunteer for that in addition to my role of teleporting witnesses in and out," Paradox said cheerfully.
"Excellent. Now we can begin the trial of Dr. Abaelard v. Kingdom of Arendelle! All rise for the judge!" Everyone stood up.
"You may all be seated." Everyone sat down.
"So, Dr. Josef Abaelard here stands accused of engaging in penetration of a maiden's sacred orifice through the use of his hand, use of force to compel her cousin to commit the incestuous act of actual penetration via man genital, and deliberately obstructing the deliverance of aid to a sickly child. Opening argument of the defense?"
"Your honor, I'd like to request a change in the climate of this room. I feel that the negative environment generated in your universe will prove a hindrance to my client's access to a fair trial," Chadzmuth said.
"You've got any better location?"
"How about in outer space, in a universe-less setting aka all the universes combined into one?"
"Even if there were such a place, how would we be able to get there?"
"That's easy! Like that!" Chadzmuth snapped his fingers and everyone was teleported to the Intergalactic High Court.
"Why did you bring all these people here all of a sudden, Chadzmuth? You better have a good reason," said Judge Domstol.
"My client was unable to get a fair trial in the universe we were just in, so I knew I had to bring it into a more neutral place."
"Now where did the alleged crime take place?"
"Crimes with an s. My client is accused of three, and the place was in the universe we were just in, like I told you."
"And where is this universe?"
"Well, technically, it's out of this galaxy. It's not even in the same dimension as this one!" Ben butted in.
"Sorry, but then this case is effectively out of my jurisdiction. I only deal with cases existing in one dimension at a time. You'll have to deal with it in the place where the crimes took place."
"But what about my client? He can't get a fair trial in that place!"
"I told you no, and I'm sticking to it. It's time for you all to go. Case dismissed!" Judge Domstol banged his magical gavel and returned the trial back to Arendelle's courtroom.
"So, back to your opening argument," the king told Chadzmuth. Chadzmuth stood up.
"Good morning ladies, gentleman, and aliens of the jury. My name, as most of you already know, is Chadzmuth, legal Galvan attorney yada, yada, yada. Now, the prosecution claims that my client is a rapist and an attempted murderer. However, they forgot to mention the mountain of evidence that completely contradicts the accusations. I have them right here and I will be showing them to you shortly. I hope you listen to me and my superior intellect and not to those numbskulls over there. Please return a verdict of not guilty. Thank you." He sat back down.
"And now, let's hear the prosecution's opening statement."
"I happen to admire the Galvan's superior intellect. However, that doesn't mean Mr. Chazmuth's argument cannot be disproven. I have surveillance video that clearly shows the defendant delaying speedy aid to the king's daughter. Please return a verdict of guilty." Paradox said.
"Member's of the jury, the fate of Mr. Abaelard rests in your hands. A majority vote will suffice in determining innocence, or guilt. Now, let's proceed on with the evidence."
"Here I've got a bag of semen and a badly mauled bra," Chadzmuth said, holding up the items. "Now, I've had the semen tested in an independent lab, and the results show that the DNA found in the semen is a 99.9% match with that of Ben Tennyson. Therefore, my client could not have committed the crime. The true perpetrator of the crime was none other than Benjamin Kirby Tennyson! What's more shocking is that said person and the accuser, Gwendolyn Catherine Tennyson are related!"
"Objection! Your client forced Mr. Tennyson to ejaculate inside of Ms. Tennyson."
"But you're forgetting about my second piece of evidence. Feast your eye, members of the jury, upon the bra that Gwen Tennyson was wearing at the crime scene. Notice the mangled shape? Well, that could only come from one of Benjamin's aliens!"
"But which one, Chadzmuth?" Paradox asked.
"Let's ask the expert, the creator of the Omnitrix himself! Go get Azmuth!" Paradox teleported Azmuth into the room.
"Do you, sir, swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" the king asked.
"What am I doing here? I don't have time for your frivolous human lawsuits!"
"Just answer the question."
"Yes, yes. Anything to get this down quickly."
"This will just take one moment, great thinker. Tell me, what sort of Omnitrix alien would leave bite marks such as these on this article of clothing?" Chadzmuth showed Azmuth the mangled bra.
"Must be a Vulpimancer," Azmuth said, without examining the bra very closely.
"Are you sure? You're positive?"
"Yes. I can see some faint orange hair that possibly came from the fur. All Vulpimancer from the planet Vulpin, where I got the DNA for Ben's alien copy from, have orange fur."
"So now all we have to do is confirm the color of Ben's Vulpimancer transformation."
"Paradox, get me out of here! I've got stuff to do back home on Galvan Five!" Azmuth cried.
"Certainly, old friend." Azmuth disappeared.
"Well, what are you waiting for, Ben. Show the jury your transformation!" Chadzmuth shouted.
"Crap! We're so screwed!" Ben hissed to Gwen as he transformed into Wildmutt. There was an instant uproar. All the jurors from Frozen instantly fainted at the sight of the Vulpimancer. The king managed to stay conscious only because he'd heard of Ben talk about transforming before.
"So this is one of your many aliens, I presume?" he asked.
Woof! Woof!
"Ben can't talk when he's in this form, but I think he's agreeing with you," Gwen said.
Ahem! Chadzmuth cleared his throat loudly. "So, as this clearly proves, my client is not guilty of rape. Mr. Tennyson here committed incest!"
"Objection! We need a clear definition of incest. As I recall, I am allowed to call experts into the courtroom to back up my client's case, am I not?"
"Yes, you are allowed," the king said.
"Good. I call Professor Hex from Friedkin University to the stand." Hex appeared.
"Good day gentleman. How can I be of assistance today?"
"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" the king droned, clearly bored.
"Yes, but to what?"
"We need your expertise to help defend young Ben here," Paradox said.
"Ben? Ben Tennyson?"
"Yes, my cousin," Gwen said. Hex looked up.
"Gwendolyn, there you are! I haven't seen you in my class in a long time."
"Grrrr," Wildmutt growled. He pounced on Hex suddenly and bared his fangs an inch from the guy's neck.
"Ben, get off of Professor Hex!" Gwen cried.
"Order! Order in the courtroom!" the king cried, banging his gavel.
"Gwendolyn, help me!" Hex whimpered. Gwen rushed over and managed to drag Wildmutt off the professor.
"Ben, don't attack witnesses. If you do so again, I'm going to have to hold you in contempt of court."
"Huh? Sorry, my dog instincts kicked in. Hex was hitting on Gwen," Ben said, transforming back to normal.
"No I wasn't. I was merely questioning why she dropped my class."
"You switched subjects, and quite frankly, what you're currently teaching got boring on the second day," Gwen replied.
Anyways, like Professor Paradox said, I am Professor Hex and I teach family relations at Friedkin University. I now want to talk to you all about-"
"Why'd you switch subjects? I loved your magical artifacts class!" Gwen interrupted.
"After what happened with Charmcaster, I decided that I needed explore what parenting is all about, and I thought, what better way to learn than to teach the subject? Like I was saying before Gwendolyn so rudely interrupted me, I want to talk to you all about the very sensitive topic of incest."
"Hold on. Better wake the rest of the jury up. They can't miss this," the king said. Gwen dumped a bunch of water on the six people who had fainted, waking them up.
"Ho! Huh? What did we miss?" the foreman of the jury, a rather rotund individual asked.
"Oh, nothing important. You were only out for around a quarter of an hour," Paradox said.
"Carry on with your speech, professor," the king said.
"Incest is any sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This includes both blood relations and people related by affinity; adoption, marriage, being of the same lineage. The incest taboo is, and has been one of the most widespread of all cultural taboos, both in present day society, and in many past societies. Many modern societies have laws regarding incest or closely consanguineous relationships. Common justification for the incest taboo is the impact inbreeding may have on the offspring of incestuous sex. Children whose parents are genetically closely related are at increased risk of congenital disorders, death, and disabilities."
"Aha! Thank you for proving my point. You see, I am worried about the poor children that may result from Ben and Gwen's relationship. If it weren't for the risk of genetic defects, I would have no problem with them being together. But, there is!"
"Really? I came here under the impression that all you cared about was money. You'd never give a hoot about anybody unless it would make you even richer than you already are!" Ben yelled.
"Hey, hey! However miserly I may be, I still have very high moral standards!"
"Then perhaps you'll have enough decency to let me finish my speech?" Hex asked.
"What?! There's more?"
"I'm far from done if that's what you're thinking. For those who do not yet know, Benjamin Kirby Tennyson and Gwendolyn Catherine Tennyson are related through their paternal grandfather, Max Tennyson. This makes them first cousins, meaning 12.5% of their DNA is related or r, the coefficient of relationship, equals .125. Now, most legally prohibited degree of kinship regarding incestuous relationships concern relations of r=.250 or higher, while most permit unions of individuals r=.125 or lower. So, there you have it. It's not incest if most of the world permits it."
"Sure, it may be legal, but what about the possibility of genetic defects?" Chadzmuth pressed.
"Even in a normal relationship, there is a small risk of the offspring having genetic defects; around 2%. For first cousin relationships, the risk is only slightly elevated at 4 to 6%. That means at the very least, any children that Ben and Gwen may have will have a 94% chance of being completely healthy."
"Ok,ok. It's not incest in this case. However, there is still the charge of perjury. The Tennysons did lie about this whole incident. There was no Rape!"
"Agreed. Ben and Gwen, you're both charged with perjury, lying under oath," the king said.
"Paradox, my work here is done. Beam me up!" Hex cried. Hex disappeared.
"So now, onto the final charge Mr. Abaelard is facing for blatant disregard for human life."
"I have here a surveillance tape of what went on in the shop while the king, queen and their children were there. I now roll the film for the jury to see what kind of inhumanity exists in Mr. Abaelard's shop."
Paradox put the cassette into the VCR and hit play. The following transcript played:
"Greetings my king. What brings you to my establishment today?" the owner asked.
"Help me. It's my daughter," the king said.
"Your daughter? You mean the one cowering behind you?" Dr. Josef Abaelard asked.
"What? No! Elsa," here the queen dragged Elsa into view, "hit Anna," here the queen pointed to Anna, who was still unconscious, "with her ice powers."
"And you are hoping that I have some cure that will fix everything?"
"Exactly. Can you do it?" the king asked.
"That depends. Where was Anna hit?"
"The forehead," the queen said.
"Oh no, no, no. A wound of that nature is surely mortal. In fact, it's a miracle she even survived this long. Go home and bury her!"
"Are you sure there is absolutely nothing we can do to save her?" the queen pleaded.
"Nope. Anna's gonna die!"
"Mom, I don't see his license. Is he a real doctor?" Elsa asked.
"Ok, son. Let me see your credentials!"
"Credentials? Yes sir, absolutely. It'll just be a minute."
"This proves nothing!" Dr. Abaelard screamed.
"On the contrary. This piece of evidence proves that you're clearly wasting the king's valuable time."
"My client is innocent as nothing here proves the accusation you have just made."
"Then why run away?"
"Excuse me?"
"Why did Mr. Abaelard run away if he wasn't guilty, eh?" Here Paradox skipped forward a few minutes and hit play again.
"Well, I'll be going now. Good-bye!" The fake doctor slammed the door shut and made a dash for it out the back-door.
"He was frightened by the sight of heavily armed men," Chadzmuth insisted.
"No, he was afraid of being exposed as the fraud he truly is!"
"All right! That concludes the trial. The jury shall now decide on the three charges brought before you. Remember, a majority vote is required to acquit or convict. Good luck!" the king said. The twelve member jury went into the back room to deliberate. Meanwhile the king cheerfully served lunch.
"Hey, pass the pheasant will you?" the fake doctor asked.
"Certainly. You should enjoy your last moments of freedom after all," the king said with a smile as he gave the bird to the doctor. Dr. Abaelard took a rather large piece and started to choke the moment the gravity of the king's words hit him.
"Crap! What do we do?" the king asked as the doctor turned blue.
"Someone do the Heimlich!" Ben yelled. Gwen raced over and gave the doctor a few abdominal thrusts.
"Thank you kind girl for saving my life."
"Back off. I'm warning you…" Ben muttered.
"Sir, we've reached a verdict on all three charges," the foreman said, coming out of the back room along with the rest of the jury.
"Well, what do you have?"
"On the charge of rape, we the jury by unanimous vote, find the defendant, Mr. Josef Abaelard not guilty."
"Nice work there, chap!" Mr. Abaelard exclaimed as he smacked Chadzmuth on the back in celebration.
"One down, one to go."
"On the charge of careless disregard for life, we the jury by a vote of seven to five, find the defendant guilty."
"And finally, on the charge of perjury, we the jury by a vote of nine to three, find the defendants, Benjamin Kirby Tennyson and Gwendolyn Catherine Tennyson guilty!"
"What?! This is an outrage!" Ben shouted.
"No, we deserved it," Gwen said quietly.
"Who voted for us?" Ben asked. "I have half a mind to hug them!"
'I voted for you, Ben, even though you love your cousin," Kai said.
"Thanks."
"Ben Ben Tennyson, I recalled your efforts to save the Highbreed from extension, so I voted for you."
"And let me guess, the last vote was from Rook, my bestest buddy in the whole world!"
"Actually, the last vote was from me," Darkstar said. "I did it solely because of lovely Gwen here."
"Rook, why didn't you vote for us?"
"Because you two clearly lied. My duty was to give an unbiased opinion of what I saw to be the truth and you lying was the truth."
"What sentence do you pronounce?" the king asked the jury.
"Hard labor for all three."
"In light of their previous efforts spent saving the world, I request that the sentence for Gwen and Ben be withdrawn," Paradox said.
"Request granted due to the relatively minor infraction," the king agreed.
"Hey! What about my client?" Chadzmuth demanded.
"Sorry, but hard labor is a relatively minor punishment for such a serious crime. Sentence is upheld."
"Where's he going to work?" Ben asked.
"How about the local university?" Gwen suggested.
"Excellent idea! Mr. Abaelard, you are to work at the Arendelle Institute of Technology (AIT) for the duration of your sentence. What say you to that?"
"Thank you, thank you! It has always been my dream to educate people."
"You begin work at the start of the next semester. Case closed!" the king declared as he banged his gavel. Paradox sent the Ben 10 jurors back to their universe.
Later on in private-Ben's room
"Ah, what a happy ending!" Gwen sighed.
"Maybe not. We still have Kevin to deal with. I forgot to tell you he went berserk again."
"He what?!"
"Yeah, he tried to kill me, so we kinda fought, and I accidentally injured his mother."
'You did?!"
"Only severely injured her. I hope she's not, you know," Ben said, unable to continue.
"Dead?" Gwen suggested.
"Unfortunately, you did kill her, Benjamin. She died in the hospital. At least Kevin got to say goodbye," Paradox said with a mournful air as he materialized.
"But I saw it with my own eyes! She wasn't that bad. I mean, she was burned over 50% of her body and had the wood stuck in her, but I've seen plenty of people survive worse."
"Perhaps it was due to a combination of both her injuries and her loss of the will to live."
"What do you mean?" both Ben and Gwen asked.
"She probably gave up hope after she saw what a monster her son had become. Not that I blame her."
"I still can't get over the fact that I am partially to blame for her death."
"How?" Gwen asked.
"I blew up a barrel of gasoline that Kevin threw at me."
"Ben, you're supposed to protect the innocent, not put them in greater danger!" she said crossly.
"I know, I know! Don't yell at me, ok? I'm still quite emotional," Ben exclaimed as he curled up into a ball and started rocking back and forth.
"Perhaps we should give young Benjamin here some privacy, Gwendolyn. He's obviously still in shock.
"No, you go. I've got to stay here and sort out this mess."
"Suit yourself then." Paradox vanished into thin air.
"Ben, I know you're upset, but you've got to stop crying."
"Upset doesn't begin to describe what I'm feeling, Gwen."
"Ok, so what are you feeling?"
"I feel a sense of duty, of purpose!"
"Ok. You kind of lost me there."
"Don't you get it? The only way I can atone for my sin is to track down Kevin and stop him before he hurts anyone else!"
"Stop him?"
"Yes, Gwen, stop him. By whatever means necessary."
"I'm sure it won't come to that."
"Only time can tell. Goodnight, Gwen." Ben leaned forwards and kissed his cousin on the cheek.
"Sweet dreams, cuz," she whispered as she turned off the light and shut the door to Ben's room. I hope you think long and hard about what you're about to do…