"How are you feeling then Ben Tennyson?" Azmuth stood on the bedside table, holding a clipboard and pen, for days he'd been visiting Ben, boring him to death with his speeches and lectures and many questions. Every time Ben answered the same "A little better, my side still hurts." He was beginning to get tired of his own voice!

Frustrated he let out a great sigh, turning away from the small alien, his mind on other things. Thinking of Angel and the pact he'd made with him, thinking of that vortex that came towards him, the place you go when you die. He clutched the silvery mark on his wrist.

"Are you even listening?" Ben turned to Azmuth's glare, staring him down with those alien eyes.

"Not really," Ben admitted simply and turned away again, resting his head on his hand.

"Ben," the alien's voice turned soft "It is important that you get well again, news will spread and when others find that the great Ben Tennyson has fallen, they will come and attack the earth."

"That's all anyone cares about," Ben sighed in reply.

"Its what you care about," Azmuth replied and Ben turned to face him and for once in all the times he'd visited Ben, Azmuth saw the young boy's blood-shot eyes, his tiny pupils and the heavy bags under his eyes. He saw the thin face and the slight shaking of his hands as they clutched the quilt, one was covering the silver mark that seemed to have appeared on Ben's wrist. Azmuth sighed, feeling a deep pain for Ben, he'd been through a lot, he just hadn't seen it. Cameras in the room had filmed him tossing and turning in the night, each day Azmuth had planned to ask about the night but Ben's stubbornness always prevailed.

"Alright Ben, tell the truth, how are you really feeling?" Azmuth's serious and stressed face suddenly seemed to vanish, instead, Ben saw concern and a deep look of worry, kindness, care, for once Azmuth seemed to care about Ben and not for the omnitrix.

For a moment, Ben hesitated, leaving an unsure pause hanging in the air. Azmuth sighed and thought he was not going to speak and so turned to leave.

"Nightmares."

Azmuth turned back round "What?"

"I keep having nightmares."

Azmuth blinked and sat down on his perch "What about?"

"Things," Ben realised how childish he sounded, but he didn't care, he wanted to talk about it, all his fears that were building up inside him. "Horrible things." Azmuth just stared. "Last night..." He shivered, his hands shaking more "I had another, it was horrible."

Azmuth shuffled forward a bit more, placing the notepad beside him "Tell me about it," he said.

Ben took a deep breath "I was in my house, in my bedroom, watching TV and just relaxing, then I hear a rumbling, the ground starts to shake and the roof crumbles above me. I run out my room and call for mum and dad, but they don't answer, I check their bedroom except there is nobody there. I check all the rooms in the house but they're nowhere to be seen, so I get out by myself and I watch as the house falls to the ground.

"Then I turn around and all the houses on the street are gone, disappeared, all there is is craters and rubble and not even the junk there was part of a house. I begin to walk, down the street, looking for anyone who may be alive, but no one is there so I go to Gwen's house and she's gone, her house like mine and it was the same with Kevin's. I even checked the garage but nothing, just another crater. I walk around more, seeing more nothingness and earth, then I see a light, glowing in the distance and I walk towards it, but as I do, everything goes black and there is a red sky above me, dripping like blood and the grass is shrivelled and dying, people were running and screaming, bodies strewn everywhere and limbs flying, fire burned and burned and houses were there, but fallen and crumbling.

"Then I see Vilgax, except he's huge, tall, his eyes glowing, he glares at me and I feel pain in my side as I clutch it, my wounds appear and I'm bleeding and falling to my knees, Vilax laughs and he shows his hands, in one, theres Gwen, the other, Kevin and he's tossing them about like toys or dolls! I scream at him, tell him to let them go but he just laughs and just like that he-" Ben's eyes were wide, his pupils down to mere slits, his whole body shook like a earthquake, Azmuth placed a hand on his shoulder gently and finally Ben uttered his words "He ripped them both in two, right before my very eyes," he tried to hide the tears stringing the corner of his eyes, he wanted to stop talking to lie down and pretend to sleep but his words wouldn't stop "And he threw them away laughing more, he then clicked his fingers and all the people were blown away, apart from me who knelt there, helpless... Then... Then I reached for the omnitrix, except it wasn't on my wrist anymore, I looked up to Vilgax and he didn't have it either, didn't look like he needed it anyway..." Ben swallowed, his throat sore and dry "Then there came the plummers, Grandpa, Helen, Hermy, all of them, except all Vilgax had to do was to click his fingers and they were stuck to the floor, crying out for help and Vilgax moved towards them, he drew out a sword and lifted it above his head, I couldn't move, I was dying, I saw them scream and scream and scream and scream..." Ben clutched his head, curling up on the bed, moaning, he felt so helpless, all hope gone, his nightmares came back and he couldn't hold his tears back anymore.

"Oh Tennyson..." Was all Azmuth could say and he patted Ben shivering form "I'll fetch some medicence that will help you sleep, it'll give you no dreams at all, how is that?" All Ben could do is nod. And so Azmuth left the room, but turned back to see Ben crying pitifully.

When Ben failed to mention was that Angel turned up in the dream, he fought Vilgax and turned to Ben who knelt there like a wounded knight.

"Recover Ben, for you do not want to waste time, a life for a life, a year to do the task, go now and live."