BACK TO BENNN!!!! D: Last chapter was a total bust. I don't like writing in Kevin's PoV…

ooo

I shouldn't be worried. Rika could kill Kevin in two seconds if she wanted to. Why am I worried? Why do I get the feeling something is wrong…?

I tried to keep my mind off of it by catching Aikka… which wasn't exactly easy.

"Come… come back here! Look, I'm not in the mood to chase you, damn cat!" I managed to corner the cat on the couch. "Check mate," I laughed, grasping the kitten by his scruff. The cat instinctively curled his feet in toward his stomach and hung at my grasp.

"Ah-ha! Gotcha. Can't bead thumbs, kid!" I laughed, bringing him in towards my chest. It seemed cruel to let him hang there, and that wasn't really the intended purpose of catching him to begin with. Aikka began to struggle once he was free from the coma-inducing grasp.

"Just… just sit still, will you? I'm not gonna kill you…"

Aikka hissed at me, his claws digging into my skin. I managed to get a tight enough grasp on him where he couldn't struggle, but I wasn't killing him. I forced him into a position where the Omnitrix was directly by his nose.

That's when things started to look up. He cautiously sniffed it, his eyes wide, his ears pointed directly behind him. When he had his fill, he pulled his head back and hissed, then looked back up towards me. His eyes seemed kinder, now, though cautious.

"There," I sighed, using my other hand to readjust him so I could scratch his head. For the first time, Aikka purred because of something I'd done, and not because Rika had 'saved' him from me.

"…Ben…?"

I looked up from Aikka. I hadn't even heard the door open… The instant I saw the look on Rika's face, I dropped Aikka (who instantly flipped over and landed on his feet) and rushed to her side. A shark, stinging sensation burned in my arm, but I didn't have the time to look down at the damage the cat had caused. I had a bigger priority at the moment.

"What's wrong?"

She first looked down towards the ground before basically collapsing. I quickly reached out to catch her, almost missing.

"Rika! Rika, what's wrong?" I knelt down to the ground to get a better grip on her before standing up, carrying her off to the couch.

"…You're bleeding…"

"I don't care. What's wrong? Are you all right?" I was at the point where I would rush out of the house after Kevin if I had to. Only one syllable, one hint to his name and he's dead.

Once she was safely on the couch, she gave a half-smile. "Not anymore…" She slowly lifted her hand to show me her palm, a stripe of partially dried blood stuck to it.

I looked at her hand, then to my own arm. It was completely clear of the cut.

She wiggled her fingers a bit before letting her hand fall against her stomach.

I fell back, sitting down on the ground by the couch. "I'm not leaving, and I'm not letting you up until you tell me what's wrong."

She laughed softly. "Nothing's wrong, brother. Don't worry. We'll get home soon."

I furrowed my brow, narrowing my gaze. "Brother?"

"Come on, Tano, don't… don't look at me like that." She spoke quietly, as if I'd just woken her up from a nap. "You speak English, too." Her smile grew. "Remember that song mother used to sing us?"

I looked over my shoulder, then back at Rika. "Who the hell are you talking to?"

She closed her eyes, her smile still bright. Then, she began to sing a quiet lullaby-like song, the words in her native tongue. Before long her words grew quiet, and Rika was asleep.

Aikka climbed into my lap, but only as a stair to the couch. He jumped up, being cautious to not hit Rika. He pawed her softly, walking lightly across her stomach. He only circled once, lying down gracefully on seemingly-clumsy paws. He tucked his front legs under his long fur and rested his head down onto her shirt. He seemed concerned, as was I.

I tried to relax, though thoughts of what might've happened made each muscle in my body tense up again. Did Kevin drug her? Did he hurt her? What if… I don't even want to think that.

All I could do was wait until she woke up, if she wakes up, before I can do anything to judge what might've happened.

There's a good chance she blocked it from her mind. Whatever happened that made her delusional must've been extremely traumatic…

I rose to my feet, reluctant to leave Rika. I rushed to the phone and quickly brought it back to the side of the couch. I dialed the last number and awaited an answer.

"…Look, don't yell at me. I had to tell her."

"Tell her what? What did you do to her?!"

There was a silence on Kevin's end.

"Rika collapsed the second she walked in here. I don't know what you did, but if you hurt her, I swear—"

Kevin almost laughed, though he tried to stop. "She w-what?" he asked. I could still hear a slight smile in his voice.

"She was delusional. What did you do to her?!" I asked again, louder this time.

"Ben, shut up!"

I gritted my teeth, watching Rika's skin turn a lighter shade of white.

"Look. I told her some really bad news. Don't make me feel worse than I already do."

"What? What did you tell her?"

Kevin hesitated. "Her brothers were murdered. .... I had to tell her!"

Without a second thought, I hung up on Kevin.

Rika didn't seem depressed… She didn't seem to have the same reaction as someone whose family had just been killed. Though everyone reacts differently, this just didn't match up…

ooo

I slowly opened my eyes, wondering why I was awake if it wasn't morning. A slight movement on the other end of the bed further aided my sudden wake. The movement stopped by my left. At first I thought it was Aikka since he'd come in earlier but left for some reason. Then it spoke.

"Mother used to sing to us all the time…," Rika mumbled, curling up on the other half of the mattress.

I groaned quietly as I reached across to click on the lamp. I winced from the sudden light change and rolled over before sitting up. "Wha's wrong?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. I quickly decided to change my question, as things didn't go too well last time I asked that. "Are you all right?"

She rolled over and reached her arms straight out, watching the small involuntary movements make them swing only slightly. "Yeah… I guess… I'm used to this by now… The leaders took over our education and welfare when mother and father were killed in battle… Since I was the oldest, I looked out for my brothers. I kept Mother's memories alive. Father was big on armed forces, and none of his kids were too fond of him, myself included. Even when he was gone we didn't find respect for him."

I yawned. "So fighting was big on your planet?"

She shrugged. "The war has been going on the entire time I've been alive. I've never known anything different. Which… is why I resolved so quickly to punch Kevin when we landed on Earth. That's how I was taught. The leaders taught us many fighting styles. We were told we would be needed in battle when our education was finished.

"I was the first to complete our studies on life, so I was sent to battle first. I met Mother out on the front lines my first day out. I didn't want her harmed, so I sent her home. Father was soon to follow after a critical injury. They were both murdered in their quarters."

Rika sighed, letting her arms fall against her chest. "I'm numb to it… I guess…"

I glanced over towards her. "Well… I'm not sure if that's a good thing…" I scratched at my scalp, unsure of how to help her. "Is there anything you want? Anything I can do?"

Rika sat up slowly, ruffling her hair. "Not sure. It'd be nice to go home, but that's not really an option… It'd be nice to leave the house, too, but I'm afraid to leave."

"What? Why?"

She yawned. "Kevin said they're after us. They killed my brothers in hopes we would surface. I'm up for solitary confinement and twenty-four-seven surveillance. You… you're up for death row. Immediate death."

I shrugged. "So what's new? Someone's always after me. I tend to tune it out and hope for the best. If someone attacks me, so be it."

"I don't want you to die, Ben Tennyson," she mumbled. "Hell, I don't want to die either… but I don't want to live knowing you were killed for their wrong-doings rather than your own."

I laughed quietly. "You don't even know what I did. Not the details, at least."

"Does it matter? I knew you weren't lying when you said you didn't do anything wrong."

"I didn't say I didn't do anything wrong. I said I did what I had to do and it saved my friends. I knew the consequences if I got caught and I chose to live with them."

Rika stuck her tongue out. "Oh, what does it matter?! All I said is that I didn't want you to die! Is that so wrong?"

"Wrong? No. Stupid? Yes. If you're going to worry about me, then you're digging yourself an early grave. I'm not going down without a fight, and if I die, you should be proud not sad. I did my damnedest and if it kills me, I must've gone down doing something I loved."

She smiled. "Stubborn ass."

"So stop worrying about me!"

Rika stood up on the bed, raising her arms out as if to balance herself, and walked off the bed, one foot in front of the other. "Well, I can do what I want… in silence… You can't do anything about that!"

"Bet I can."

She laughed. "Goodnight, Ben Tennyson."

I rolled my eyes, laughing. "Get some sleep. Maybe in your own room."

She whined, "My bed sucks. The couch is un-comfy…"

I sighed. Was the alternative all that bad? "Do what you want," I told her, reaching over toward the lamp.

And the second the light went out, her voice chimed in the silence. "Goodnight, Alien Boy…"