Ben's recovery was slow, to slow for him. Every day and night he'd thought about Angel, about their deal and how it would be brought out. His nightmares had finally stopped, thanks to Azmuth's medicine and herbs and he'd managed to get much better night's sleep since then. But the medience didn't help stop Ben thinking of the horrible truth and the secret he'd held from his friends. He'd never got his mind off it, never had he been faced with such a task, even with his enemies Ben never really wanted to actually kill them!

Yes, he'd been thinking of the horrible pact he'd thoughtlessly ran into, he had to kill someone so that he could live. He remembered Angel's very words that always seemed to seep into his mind – 'A life for a life Ben Tennyson...' He shivered at the thought of it, the thought of actually seeing the person die in front of him, by his very hands. Did he really want to live that much? He'd die for his friends and family any day, he almost did at some point, but it always worked out, one way or another.

As he thought, Ben once again recalled that he had to kill a person with exactly the same devotion, determination and strength as he did. But no matter how much he thought, how much he tried, there was nobody Ben knew with the same traits as him. Even if he did get out of the bed he was in, he'd have no idea where to start, or even break the news to his beloved friends.

He lay alone in his bedroom, facing the ceiling in endless thought. He'd been visited many times by quite a few of his friends, Gwen and Kevin had visited plenty and so had Grandpa Max and some of the plumbers like Helen and Manny, even Tetrax visited. But he hadn't received one single visit from his parents or his girlfriend, Julie. Not even a phone call was made, weren't they worried about him? Did they even know he was here? No, maybe Max thought up and excuse, saying he was on another road trip with him as not to worry them, still, it worried him. Especially with the fact that Vilgax was out there with a powerful weapon. As Ben thought of this, he remembered how the gun had pierced through Humongasaurs armour and he felt a shiver run down his spine as he again recalled the terrible pain and the blood. He shook his head to excuse it, he didn't want to think of things like that, not now, he had to recover, just as Angel had said.

"Knock, knock..." A voice made Ben turn to the doorway and he smiled as he recognised Gwen's face as she walked in, carrying a glass of water and a slice of toast.

"Hi," Ben greeted, happy that there was someone to talk to to keep his mind off things.

"How are you feeling?"

"Same question, same answer..." Ben rolled his eyes and his cousin smiled in reply, placing the tray on the bed, Ben eyed it greedily, the toast was dry, no butter or jam or anything, but ever since he'd been put in here, all he'd had to eat were fluids and mushy stuff and his stomach grumbled hungrily.

Gwen giggled and handed the toast to him "Azmuth said you can go onto more solid food now, but not to much, so just a bit of toast to see how you get along, don't eat it all in one go though, it might make you sick."

But Ben just snatched it off her and wolfed it down in a few bites, it was the best thing he'd ever tasted, ever. He savoured the taste and licked his lips afterwards, gathering the crumbs from around his mouth. He then took the water and gulped it down, leaving only a little at the bottom to finish later.

Gwen sighed "There goes that idea then."

"Thanks," was all Ben said to her.

There was a slight pause between them and Ben silently rubbed his wrist, just glancing at the silver mark Angel had left on him, to remind him of their deadly pact. Gwen followed his gaze and once again laid eyes on the mysterious marking that left Azmuth and the others baffled, he'd done tests on it, but it showed to be nothing exiting, nobody knew what it was or what it meant, except for Ben of course, he knew that nobody would know what it was anyway.

"Do you remember how you got that?" Gwen said and gestured to the marking, Ben had been anticipating this question and just shrugged and looked away, containing the lie.

"Are you sure Ben? It could be something Vilgax left behind to track you, just in case you lived," Gwen said, she was not easily convinced.

"Trust me Gwen," Ben replied "I don't think Vilgax even thought I would actually live through that."

"But where did it come from?" Gwen asked again.

"I don't know okay!" It hurt to lie to Gwen, after all her kindness and good she'd done to him, even begging Azmuth for him to contact his parents and Julie. But he didn't want to hurt her, if he told her, it would panic her into a frenzy. The less she and the others knew, the less danger they would be in.

The red-head sighed sadly and glanced back to the silver resting like snow on her cousin's wrist."Ben, do you think I could..." she hesitated for a moment and Ben raised an eyebrow "Well, do you think I could use my powers to see what it is?"

Ben paused, would it work? Would she find out? Perhaps she would suspect something if he didn't let her and she would start asking more questions. What if he did let her try? Maybe something terrible might happen, maybe Angel set that mark to hurt people, no, maybe not. But what if it hurt Gwen? Or told her everything? The pact, the death, the dreams!

As Gwen looked at him fiddle with his fingers, Ben debated whether or not to let her try, eventually he turned to her, her face filled with question and curiosity and nodded slightly.

His cousin smiled in reply and took Ben's hand, staring down at the mark which lay upon his wrist shining ever so slightly, yet it looked beautiful as it shone there. For a moment there was silence and Gwen closed her eyes while Ben watched in fear and desperation, ready to pull his hand away in case something happened.

No sooner as Ben thought this, his cousin's eyes opened, they had turned completely pink, glowing and shining in the glumness of the room they were in, Ben had seen it before when they'd tracked down countless enemies and villains. But she was using it for a different purpose now, to find the origin on the mark.

It lasted for a couple of minutes, Ben thought it would be longer, there came no move from Gwen during that time, only her emotionless face and the glowing eyes. His mark did nothing, it stayed in the same silvery and swirly state as before. Finally Gwen let out a little gasp and her eyes returned to normal, for a moment Ben thought she'd found out and held his breath nervously and after a look of blankness from Gwen he realised it, for she soon shook her head and look down to the floor sadly.

"You tried Gwen, thats all that matters," Ben whispered to her, the red-head nodded but said nothing in reply.

The silence that followed was empty and lonely, despite having Gwen with him, Ben didn't feel the same as before and he feared that he'd never return to that fun-loving smooth talk boy again.

Gwen cleared her throat suddenly, almost making her cousin jump and she turned to smile at him "Your right Ben, I'll come back soon okay? I might ask Azmuth to put some butter on your toast this time!" Ben returned her smile and she picked up the tray and left the room, leaving Ben once more to his thoughts.

But Gwen knew there was something behind the silver mark and she knew Ben was keeping it from her. For before she left her magic state she had heard a whisper of a voice in her head.

'Leave' It said 'Leave me be.'

But being Gwen, she could not do that.