I do not own anything and check ANs at the bottom.

"The next time the universe and everything in it is destroyed don't come crying to me."

A boy who was sleeping in the back of the classroom suddenly shot up from his nap. His body felt like it went through a meat freezer back in one of the many places he visited as a kid. His brown hair rested a little over his eyes as he struggled to follow what his teacher was saying. His green jacket was on the back of his chair, and his foot was tapping away as he waited for the bell to ring to end this class. So he could leave and figure out what those words meant in his dream.

"Ben, what's the answer to the question on the board?" The teacher asked as he finished writing a math problem on the board.

Ben was looking at the board and doing the math in his head when he heard the sound of the school's bell being rung. The entire class let out a breath of relief as the day ended and they all shuffled out of the room.

As Ben started to grab his jacket off the chair and made his way out of the class he heard his teacher call out. " a minute please?"

"Um, sure thing Mr. Kineway. What do you want to see me about?" Ben asked as he felt a buzz from a text. "Must be Gwen.' Ben thought to himself as he listen to the teacher talk about his grades and how he understands how hard it's been since his dad passed away.

Ben's eyes grew ten times their average size in an instant. "Wait what! I don't know what you're talking about. He was there this morning, don't make jokes about shit like that." Ben yelled as he stormed out of the classroom.

His teacher just sat at his desk concerned for his top student as thought about how Ben struggled with accepting things now. "That poor boy he has enough to deal with, he doesn't need me to try to help."

Ben was racing down the hallway, looking around for any sign of an exit. It was beginning to get hard to breathe for him, and Ben could feel each of the walls closing in on him. He hasn't felt this way since he last saw GhostFreak. Racing past several other students and pushing some out of the way too, Ben couldn't feel bad for them, the feeling left his body as soon as he made it outside. The sun stung his eyes as he tried to believe what he was seeing.

Ben looked around as soon as he could see from the sun's glare. Raising a hand to block out the sun he saw the parking lot was filled with cars and a familiar-looking RV. Ben could make out the eggshell-colored vehicle from a mile away. Ben let out a breath of relief as he ran towards the RV.

Coming up to the door on the side of the motor home, Ben started to bang on the door. "Grandpa please open the door. It's me, Ben, I need your help." Ben stood back as he a few steps from the inside and the door opened.

However, instead of seeing an older man in an outdated bright red Hawaiian shirt, Ben was face to face with someone he never thought he would see.

A tall older man opened the door, with pale skin and deep sunken eyes wearing a deep purple button down and dark suit pants. He was the least likely person to be coming out of an RV.

"Hex! What are you doing here and why are you in the Rust Bucket?" Ben shouted and slapped his wrist but instead of the sound of his most useful tool. The sound of skin slapping skin was heard, no one paid them any attention as if this was an everyday occurrence.

"Benjamin, what an amazing timing skill you got. What are you waiting for, Gwen and Hope are waiting for you back at the base." The older man walked out of the RV and walked closer to Ben. With each step Hex took closer to him Ben took a few short ones back.

"I don't know what's going on here Hex but you're done even without my powers I can still kick your butt," Ben growled out as he stood in a battle stance. A glare lives on his face as he glared at the man who caused him a ton of trouble in the past.

"Ben please I haven't gone by Hex for a long time you know this. What's wrong you can always tell me what's troubling you, my boy." The two stopped moving and both stood facing each other. Ben was about to run when he heard the sound of someone running up behind him. Using his training and experience he ducked to the side as this mysterious person tried to jump on him.

Ben saw a girl who looked to be around his age. She had blonde hair and green eyes. She had a resemblance to Ben in her facial features and stood a little taller than him. She had a pout on her face but looked not really upset.

"Why did you dodge out of the way Benny? I could have gotten hurt, you would let your big sis get hurt?" This girl whines and made a dramatic gesture with her hand on her heart." She laughed until she saw Ben's face in shock.

Ben was struck with a thousand volts of shock from seeing a girl he hasn't seen in years. He couldn't believe she was her, and she was making jokes like this. "E-Eunice? How are you here and why?" Ben tried to ask more but was stopped when a hand from Hex was placed on his shoulder. Ben turned quickly but before he could move away he looked into the eyes of the man.

"Ben, apparently there is something wrong. So why don't we all calm down and we can meet Gwen and Hope and get to the bottom of this? You're freaking out and we still have to get back to the base so you can get your training in."

Ben didn't know what to do, but what Hex said made sense. He might have been sent to an alternate dimension, it wouldn't have been the first time. His thoughts went to the time he met the boy Rex and his world. Ben nodded and allowed himself to be led into the Rust Bucket with Eunice behind him. They sat at the table inside and Eunice reached out a hand to Ben. But he didn't take it, he could see it hurt her a little but he didn't know who he could trust at the moment.

Eunice sat there sadly, wishing to know what was hurting her little brother. Ever since Tennysons rescued her and took her in she has always tried to pay them back. They always knew what she was but she took protecting Ben seriously. Even when he had the Omnitrix and he had all the power to defend himself and help others, it wouldn't stop her from trying to protect him.

He blamed himself for the death of his dad, a man she came to call her father as well. She saw him take the Omnitrix off and knew where it was hidden so no one could take it. But when Vilgax returned a few months ago and Ben couldn't make it to the watch in time. Their father paid the ultimate price to keep his family safe. It has been years since they saw the alien tyrant and no one was ready, like Ben they believe he died when Ben threw him into space.

The oldest Tennyson, Max took the loss of his son poorly. He left the planet in search of Verdona to inform her of the death of their son. No one has seen or heard from them, the family assumes it has taken Max some time to get to her and they are both grieving or Max hasn't found her yet.

"Ben please talk to me, if this is about Vilgax and Dad, you know I'm here for you." Eunice tried to reach out again but Ben just looked at her.

"That's the thing you shouldn't even be here," Ben said and he turned to look out the window.

Eunice tried to stop herself but she flinched back after hearing that from the boy she called a brother. She knew he didn't mean that, he was just upset. Ben never was one to be great with grief, he would snap at people or say some hurtful things but this felt different.

"Okay you two we'll be at the base in a second so get ready," Hex called from the front of the Rust Bucket.

Ben still found it weird that Hex was driving the Rust Bucket. The three of them soon pulled up to a tall building in the city. The building didn't look like anything special but as soon as the Rust Bucket pulled into the garage on the side of it, a loud sound rang. It sounded like heavy machinery was moving around. The floor under the RV started to sink bringing the vehicle with it. Soon the platform came to a stop and the three stepped out.

Ben looked around in awe as he saw a high-tech base filled with hundreds of people in high-tech suits walking around. Ben could make out several species he knew already from his time in the plumber headquarters before. This base took the cake and was more impressive than the headquarters he knew. He saw Hex and Eunice start to walk away towards a set of doors to the left and chased after them.

Once they walked through the doors Ben saw two people he would never think to be sitting across from each other. Two girls sat at a table with food placed in front of them, each glaring at the other. One had long red hair and green eyes, she wore a basic everyday outfit of a red shirt with a black vest over it and blue jeans. She looks to be the same age as Ben. The other girl had long silver hair with purple tips at the ends, she wore a purple jacket that went down to her knees and black leggings. Her purple jacket had a large black stripe down the middle. Her face was sharp with a regal look and pointed ears, and purple eyes that could make anyone stare at them for hours. Ben could tell she was around the same age as Uni just from the looks and the way she dressed.

"You are so gonna get it Gwen, you couldn't even get past the hard stuff in my book." Charmcaster taunted but Ben could tell something was off. This wasn't the normal tone she used, it was like she was joking about it.

"Oh please Hope you only call it hard to make yourself feel better for not getting it before me," Gwen smirked but they both laughed.

Ben was confused, he wouldn't never in a million years think those two could even laugh together. They both looked at who walked in and two things happened that surprised Ben. Gwen ran and gave both Ben and Eunice a hug and smiled at Hex. But what surprised Ben the most was when Charmcaster came over and wrapped her arms around Ben's neck and quickly pressed her lips to Ben's.

His eyes widened in shock at this, never did he think he would kiss Charmcaster. Sure she was always a little attractive and he can't deny that now but she was an enemy and had tried to kill him in the past. Ben pushed her away and moved a little closer to Gwen. Charmcaster just looked a little confused and hurt at this, wondering what happened to her boyfriend.

"I always hate it when you do that, my niece. I asked you to do one thing, not kiss your boyfriend in front of me." He said though there was no real anger in his voice.

"Oops sorry, Uncle I forgot." She smirked with a fake innocence in her voice.

"Right, well Ben I told you we will get to the bottom of things so let's head to the office where you can say what you have to say," Hex instructed.

The group of them made their way to a large room with plenty of space for the group. As they all settled in, they waited for Ben to start.

Ben paced back and forth trying to think of a way to start. Finally having enough Gwen walked over and placed a hand on his arm. This brought him back to the present, and he gave her a grateful smile. Giving himself a small slap on the face he started to explain things. "Okay…okay where do I start? Well, I let the universe get destroyed." He decided that was a good place to start this conversation.

Everyone else on the other hand didn't. They all had a look of confusion and disbelief at his statement. Finally, Charmcaster stood from the couch she was sitting on and walked to him. "Ben what are you talking about, you have been in school for the last week or so and if you're not there you sleep in my bed." She went to pull him to her but he wouldn't budge.

"No you don't understand, you're not supposed to be this way. You hate me and have tried to kill me plenty of times, you have killed me before I can remember it. You don't go by Hope, you hate it since it reminds you of your past. You only go by Charmcaster and you lie and stab us in the back when we try to help you, even when you show signs of being good." Ben shouted. Charmcaster took a step back with tears in her eyes. But Ben didn't stop.

Ben pointed at Eunice, "You left us. You went to Primus and stayed there with Azmuth. I haven't seen you in years and you claim to be my sister. I keep hearing about my dad but he's not dead. I saw him this morning. He was cooking in the kitchen with my mom. I saw him!" Uni just stood there and gave him a look like she didn't want to break him. A look of pity was what he saw on her face, she didn't believe him.

"Ben, you need to calm down, and explain this please." Hex started.

"No it was my fault, I had to rewrite it, redo it, fix it all. I didn't want this. I wanted my cousin back since she left me, I wanted to be a hero again. I want to see my family together again. Those fucking Incurseans had to get the fucking doom box with some stupid name. I let the Annihilarrgh go off and I had...I had." Ben stopped his rant and crashed to his knees. Tears came running down his face as the reality of what was happening came to him. "This is all my fault…this is all my fault." Ben kept repeating as he cried. His head fell down, and his tears stained his shirt. It wasn't until he felt soft arms wrap around him that he looked up, he saw warm purple eyes looking at him.

"Why…why would you comfort me?" Ben asked, his voice watery with tears.

"You're a fool Ben Tennyson if you think I would be mad with you for that." Charmcaster smiled at him.

"This is my fault if only I took my job more seriously." He said with a downcasted look.

"Breathe Ben, just focus on breathing for me." She said as she started to rub his back in a soothing manner. Ben wiped his eyes and started to take deep breaths before starting to tell the story.

"So where do I start, I guess I can start with the beginning of the day." Ben proceeded to tell them about his mission to stop the Incurseans from getting the Annihilarrgh. He told them how every time he was close to getting it something would get involved and stop him from getting the device. He talked about how the Vreedle brothers showed up and Argit got involved. He explained how it ended with how the Annihilarrgh was dropped. During the fight and it started to countdown.

"I couldn't think of what to do. We all knew it would go off and nothing we could do would work. If we tried to break it would have set it off early. I remember telling the watch I needed something that could work. No alien that I could think of could help, at least not without setting the fucking thing off. The Omnitrix did give me an alien though. One I didn't think of or would I use willingly. I transformed into Alien X." Ben said with a negative tone.

Charmcaster decided to speak for the group. "What's Alien X?" The rest of the group had a similar look on their faces. Ben looked around before remembering they never saw Alien X.

"Right, you've never seen it. It's my most powerful transformation, he can change the way reality is seen with just a thought of it. However, to make a change it needs to be agreed upon. By all the personalities inside Alien X. Making those two agree on anything is normally impossible though, and I was lucky they agreed to my request. I had them rewrite the universe but something went wrong and changed everything." Ben explained.

Gwen walked to her cousin and looked him in the eyes. Ben stared back at her and waited for the slap, anger, or hate from him messing up the mission. However, what he got was a hug. One filled with love and care. Nothing about it screamed anger or hate, and it was what Ben needed. He knew he messed around and didn't take things seriously sometimes, but when it was needed he did. He also missed his cousin a lot and wished she was there for that mission a lot now. "Ben it was not your fault. There must be a reason things are different from what you know," she whispered into his ear.

"What if you could talk to this Alien X and see if you can find out why?" Eunice asked as she moved closer to Ben. He looked at her still in disbelief that she was there. It hurt but hearing how she wasn't around in his life it made sense.

"Yeah, good luck with that without the Omnitrix I can access him, and even then it's a chance if I get the playlist with him in it," Ben said sourly.

"Well getting the Omnitrix isn't the issue, and we can see if Azmuth can't unlock him for you. You just have to explain the whole thing to him." Eunice said with a smile that showed how much she believed in Ben.

"Where is the watch? I don't have it and I don't think it's in the same place I left it the first time." Ben questioned.

"I know where it is…you showed me before just in case you couldn't get to it," Eunice explained. She didn't want to tell them the real reason why she knew where it was.

"Let's get going then, the faster we get it the answers we are looking for," Charmcaster said. The four teens in the room stood with confidence that wasn't in them before. The feeling of sadness was swept away by the determination to find the truth. With a nod from Ben, they all made their way out the doors to get ready for their journey.

"Ben wait, please. Girls, you can go get ready." Hex called out before they left the room. The girls left the room, leaving Ben and Hex standing in the office.

"If you find the answer to your question, and it's not what you want to hear. What will you do then?" Hex questioned.

Ben stopped and thought for a moment about the question. He stared at Hex, "I'll cross that bridge when I get there. I think I'm better than I was at first, but this is new to me. If this world is what I'm stuck in I won't fail it, not like I did before." Ben walked out leaving a stunned Hex behind.

Hex leaned back into his chair and took a deep breath, before getting the paperwork for the equipment the four would need. "Let us hope you do not fail boy. Let us hope."

ANs

New story! I have been writing a lot and am almost done with a few more chapters for my other stories. I like to write a few in advance so then I can upload them without the worry of falling behind on my writing. I have a big job now so my uploads will be slower as you have seen with the gap between the recent updates. But I have been writing and will keep writing. If you want to talk about any story ideas, stories in general, or just everyday talk with people like me, macdog123, and tidalmoon2003 join my discord.

Discord link: /5PMBq2z3tX