A/N: my review for 'Vendetta' is on my profile. Check it out! One sad thing though. My DVR didn't record the episode. So I sat in church for 6 hours this morning, waiting to get out so I could watch 'Vendetta' again. I flip on my tv, check this list of recorded stuff, select Alien Force and the only unwatched episode on there is 'Above and Beyond'. In other words, NO VENDETTA FOR SKYLARK!!! So incredibly pizzed rite nao. So I'm watching it on YouTube while I write. My favorite Devin line: "Well that's a whole lot of useless." The accent makes it funnier!!!

So since I'm in a bad mood, let's go with another darker argument. You all seem to like my overly dramatic ones where Kevin has a tendency to, oh I don't know, die!!! Here you go. 'Hit'

Disclaimer: Yes, yes I do own nothing. But Max has big eyebrows…

Gwen pulled herself from the hole in the street that reeked of death and decay and sewer crap. Her ballet flats were soaked through and she was wet all the way up to her knees. The redhead was pretty sure there was more than just water in her shoes… At the thought, she shuddered before letting her feet hit the pavement as she ran for the green car with its black racing stripes.

Her cousin pulled himself out next while Kevin held off the few Forever Knights that still hung around in the drainage systems. Ben was laughing like crazy. He knew this wasn't hard to pull off. The odds of them winning were already in their favor. With only two or three knights left and the dark teen dealing with them, it shouldn't have been a problem.

"He good down there?" Gwen called back to the brunette boy. She did worry about Kevin even if he had some insanely protective powers. He was only human on the inside. She dropped into the passenger seat, checking the glove box for any tech that could help. Sadly, Kevin had just cleansed his entire car of tech. Didn't want another thing like the gauntlet incident to happen.

There was a shrug from Ben that she didn't see. "Should be. I left two Knights for him to finish off on his own." He was in the trunk, looking for extra change for a smoothie later. If he was lucky, he could come up with a few quarters. That was enough to pay for half the smoothie and the rest of it could come out of his own pocket.

The firing from some laser lances came up through the hole in the street. A strangled cry rang out, sounding a lot like Kevin.

Gwen's head shot up. "Kev?" she yelled, making sure he was alright. The girl didn't know if she was capable of going on without him. Ben had left him totally alone down there. And Kevin was afraid of alligators. That didn't make leaving him in the sewers any more comforting for her.

"I'm good!" they heard him shout back hoarsely as the clamor of Forever Knight armor clashed against something hard. Probably concrete. It sounded bad for the guy in the metal though. Most likely sent his head ringing. "Don't worry! Be up there in a sec!"

Gwen could only hope so. It was driving her crazy that this mission wasn't over yet. Kevin was still in danger. She loved the guy. To pieces. Why Ben didn't help him, she didn't know. He could've finished off the villains and then brought Kevin up with him, but no. Of course Ben wouldn't do that because Ben's a moron. The redhead's eyes locked on the manhole, hoping to see her boyfriend come out any second now.

"Oh yeah, take that, and that, and that because I am a total ninja!"

She found herself smiling because Kevin was actually enjoying himself. He was nowhere near ninja status though. He was loud about everything. Loud car. Talked loud. Walked around pretty loud. Ninja didn't get anywhere near the level that Kevin was at. He was so uncoordinated…

There was a loud-ish Kevin-like grunt and more slamming of metal. Hitting stuff was always the fun part. Being hit, not so much. "That was not cool." He obviously spent way too much time around Ben. There was a yell and some crushing of Forever Knight armor. Then a splash.

"Gwen, do you have a dollar?" Ben called from the back of the car where he was still searching the trunk. "I want to get a smoothie later when he finally decides to finish up down there. Kevin's taking a little long on this one." His fingers drummed along the hull of the trunk. Ben looked up to his cousin who was giving him one of the worst death glares of his entire fifteen-year-old life. He shut up real fast.

There was some silence for a long while. She started to worry. Not good. Kevin was hardly ever silent. "Yo, chicken liver, you comin' up from the pile of crap under there?"

The redhead found another good reason to smile. She should've known better than to assume he was just being quiet for once. And a zippy one liner was a good way to piss off some medieval morons. "Come on, Kevin! Let's get going!" She reached over and hit the horn a few times.

"Comin' comin'!" he called up in an almost natural way. "One more minute!" There was the crushing of metal and then something that sounded like a sword coming out of a sheathe, similar to the hissing of a snake. "Gwen, you sure there ain't any alligators down here?"

A girlish scream erupted from one of the Forever Knights and Kevin let out a series of loud chuckles. Metal clanged on more metal and then there was another small splash and footsteps running from the tunnels. More hysterics were released from Kevin as another girlish scream was emitted.

"Finished," came his voice once more. Gwen could pick up the slightest sound of feet against the cold ladder leading back to the street. He could be quiet on some occasions. At this point, she wanted him to be loud just for clarification that he was still alive. "Take a chill pill, Gwen." His hand appeared out of the manhole. "I'm still livin' and breathin'. No need for a freaking panic attack."

She let out a silent sigh of relief. He was still being an absolute maniac when it came to caring about his well-being. If someone cared, he obviously didn't care. A bad habit picked up from the streets of New York probably.

His head appeared, obsidian eyes shining with the enjoyment of smashing something for the day. Smashing. Breaking. Hurting. Pounding. It was all relatively the same thing, but he just liked destroying stuff. Kevin gave a little grin. "You guys good?"

"Got any cash?" Ben asked. His head came out of the trunk long enough to look at Kevin. "And can we go to Mr. Smoothy?"

There was the long howl of a horn in the distance from the street. Gwen's green eyes glittered, immediately snapping towards the direction of the sound. "Oh my god."

Kevin was still oblivious as always. He started to climb a little higher out of the hole in the street. Then his face twisted in panic. "Dang it, why did you decide to come back?" he snarled, looking back down into the sewers into the gray masked face of yet another Forever Knight. He kicked his foot, trying to shake the enemy.

Gwen still stared into the face of danger like a deer in headlights. "Kevin!" she yelled, hoping he'd forget the fight, just for a few moments. "Kevin, get up here!"

"Hold on!" he told her, raising his voice through clenched teeth. This was going to suck. Why did Ben ditch him again? And why the heck was Ben searching through his trunk? "Dude, let go of my ankle for crying out loud!" He landed a solid kick in the metal clad guy's face. His grip remained firm and a laser lance in his other hand only spelled trouble. With a capital T.

Ben looked up. "Need help?" he asked his friend, who seemed to be struggling. But only a bit.

"Kevin!" Gwen shrieked this time.

A huge semi-truck was coming down the street right for him. The headlights were bright as a neon sign in Vegas. And it didn't seem to be slowing down one bit. Kevin was trapped between two deaths. A laser lance or a massive truck which would probably mutilate his mutated body worse than a laser lance ever could.

The brunette boy only looked up. "What's going on?"

"Ben!" Gwen called, looking over at her shoulder to her cousin. "You've got to help Kevin!" Her eyes widened as she saw that the truck was getting closer. Her heart pounded and she tried to get back out of the car again. She wasn't going to make it. She couldn't block the truck. It'd injure the driver. She couldn't pull Kevin out. He'd never get out of the way in time.

"You Forever Knights have to be the most annoying group of guys we've ever had to fight," Kevin snarled. He got another square kick in the guy's face. "Please, please, please just friggin' LET GO!" He still didn't know of the looming danger just over the horizon of the road.

"He's not gonna make it!" cried the redhead. "Ben, he's not gonna make it!"

"What?" His green eyes pulled themselves away from the bottom of the trunk. He could hear the faint rumbles of the truck, but didn't put the pieces together yet. He was so confused until he saw that Kevin was still half in and half out of the sewer. "Kevin!"

"BUSY!" Kevin landed another blow, this time narrowly dodging a red hot shot from the laser lance. He could feel the metal mouth's grip slightly looser. But not enough to drag him out of the sewer without bringing a few chunks of armor and maybe a hand with him.

The horn blasted again. Louder. More urgent.

Gwen realized time was up. She should've grabbed him when she had the chance. Now it was over. The window of time had passed and Kevin was either going to be hit by a truck or fried by a lance. She found herself hating the Forever Knights so much.

"You know what? Screw this." Kevin dropped back down the manhole and morphed his hand into a silver sledgehammer and brought it down on the breastplate of his opponent's armor. "Finished yet?!"

This time, at last, the final Forever Knight released him, reeling at this final blow that seemed to break his ribcage. Then ran. His footsteps splashed through the tunnel as he disappeared.

Gwen thought it was over. The truck would pass right over the manhole, not even bothering Kevin in the slightest. That was the end. She was finally convinced that this was the way it was supposed to end.

Kevin popped his head back out into the darkness of night that was the above ground world. "Done," he announced as light washed over his head.

"KEVIN!" she screamed. This was the end. This was his end. That was it. Gwen's whole world was crashing down. She'd be living without Kevin for the rest of her life. It'd be awful. She'd suffer through this loss harder than any one before it.

Ben wasn't in any position to go hero in time. Not even XLR8 was fast enough for that. Not without being hit and killed. "GET DOWN!" he shouted, praying for a bit of help on this one.

He only turned his head and gave Ben a questioning look before feeling the initial impact. There was no time for panic or pain to register. Kevin was out cold within seconds, neck snapped easily. He was gone in less than a second, falling back down under the ground. A loud splash echoed through the tunnels as he sank to the bottom that was covered in grime and rust.

Gwen was crying, so depressed and scared that she could hardly breathe. She found her mind spinning on how many things she did wrong in those few moments that she should've saved him. She should've saved him, that was the bottom line.

Ben shouldn't have left him behind. No sacrifices, right? That was his rule. But he'd watched his own teammate die right in front of him while he stole coins from the trunk. He was robbing his friend as he died. Ben thought Kevin could take a couple of blockheads. It should've been simple. Somehow, it didn't work and he'd let Kevin die.

Wondering if she should dare to go check and see if by some miracle he was alive, Gwen buried her face in her sleeve. She was so afraid to go on without him. He was her rock, in more senses than one. She was totally in love with him. Now how was that going to go over if he was dead?

His courage growing, Ben decided to check. He had to know. It was his fault. He took a few steps towards the hole, peering down into the darkness.

Kevin was laying there, still, limp, unmoving. His eyes didn't even flutter as Ben called his name. He was broken and crumpled. His neck was obviously snapped. If the truck hadn't hit him, the fall would've killed him. His body was twisted at strange angles, legs shattered from crashing into the cold concrete.

"Ben?" came his cousin's strangled voice. Tears spilled over her green eyes.

He only turned slowly. No words were spoken. Instead, he walked over to the passenger side door, head hanging. He opened it and reached inside to hug Gwen. She needed him right now after watching that unfold. She'd just watched her boyfriend die in a horrific crash that both of them could've prevented. Ben tucked the redhead into his black shirt, holding her tightly. "I'm so sorry."

Tears only rolled down her face as she choked back sobs. "Kevin…"

"I know." He felt her bury her face in chest. "I should've saved him."

She was silent, fighting back this tortured pain that emanated from her soul. She'd lost the other half of her heart. Kevin was more of her than she'd ever thought. Gwen just wanted to kill the Forever Knight for stranding him between life and death for so long. She wanted to rip his head off and tie his limbs in knots.

"You want to cry yourself out?" asked Ben softly. He knew this was going to be a hard recovery. "Or I could take you home," he offered.

"I want to make sure." She carefully peeled herself away from her cousin and got herself out of the car. Gwen was shaky on her feet. She was tired and cold. The girl wasn't sure how much of this she could take. Her steps were soft and she hoped she wasn't going to topple over. Slowly, she lowered herself down into the manhole when she got to it. Her ballet flats nearly slipped from under her, but she hung on.

Ben only nodded, watching from the street above. "Be careful."

The redhead took one step into the muck at her feet. Kevin was practically drowning in it. Only his face was visible above the water level. "Hey," she murmured, knowing Ben was back at the car, calling Max. He understood that she needed some time. Gwen placed her hand on Kevin's cheek. "I don't know if you can hear me or not." Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. "I really don't think I ever got the chance to tell you a lot of things."

She had to take a deep breath. There were a lot of things she wished she had told Kevin. "I'm terrified of spiders. I laugh at your jokes when you're not looking. I adore your laugh. I wish I'd heard it one last time. I like staring into your eyes and then thinking about how pretty the colors are later."

Gwen gulped in the dank, moist air. She couldn't believe this. He was really gone. "I love how dedicated you are to your mom. I like watching you work on your car even though you don't pay any attention to me." She moved her other hand down to touch where his heart should've been beating. It was still, no steady pulse radiating from it. "I know you don't like to admit it, but you are friends with Ben. He's going to miss you."

"Yeah," floated Ben's voice from the driver's seat of Kevin's car, his feet hanging out over the street. "It was an accident, Grandpa."

The girl couldn't believe this was real. She even pinched herself when she thought this wasn't even close to a nightmare. It was pretty close to most nightmares she'd had before. Kevin had died in a lot of them and they were all by freak accidents. But she didn't wake up. She wished she had though.

"I know I really liked you. I mean, when I touched you that first time back before the Highbreeds attacked, I thought it was just our powers connecting, but I don't think that anymore." Gwen wanted to cry herself out over the raven-haired boy she'd poured her love into for nearly a year now. She couldn't bring herself to do it over his dead body. "I know that I was in love with you, Kevin. I still am. I always will be. I know I love you to pieces. I wish I'd told you that before. Before now at least. I didn't expect anything like that to happen. I always thought it'd be better. You know I thought you'd go out with a bang. Overly dramatic and all, the way you are. I mean, were. But I always loved you."

Her tears spilled over again. She tried to wipe them away with her sleeve, but a hand caught her. A pair of obsidian eyes stared up at her, face twisting into a pained smirk. "Glad to know you care, Gwen." His hand wrapped itself around hers.

She pulled his torso a little further out of the green murky water and buried her face in his neck, giving him a soft kiss on his cheek. "You should've always known that." She felt more tears rolling their way down her face.

"Yo, Gwen, you can come up now. Grandpa's coming." Ben's green eyes peered down into the darkness of the hole.

"Hey, can you carry me or something?" asked the limp form in the water. "Can't feel my legs. Or my feet." He gave a little shrug and a choked laugh. His face became depressed. "Sorry for scaring you like that."

The redhead ran her fingers along his smooth neck. "I thought you were dead."

"Nope. Just really, really messed up." He tangled his hand in her fiery mane.

Conjuring a platform of mana, she moved it under Kevin and lifted him out of the sewer water. "But I think that's why my heart decided to love you."

A/N: man, I really thought I had the courage to kill him off this time. I was wrong. I was so very wrong. I still love him too much to kill him. SO CLOSE THOUGH! Leave a review if you liked it or hated it or so on and so forth. Btw, ALMOST 600 HITS TODAY! THANKS A TON!! LOVE U ALL SOOOOO MUCH!!!

~Sky