Future Bound Chapter 37: Amends, a ben 10 fanfic

Disclaimer: I down own Ben 10.

Chapter 37: Amends

Bellwood Cemetery; February 25th, 2018; 10:25PM

Gwendolyn scooted a step closer and wrapped an arm around his, locking elbows, leaning her short-wet hair over his damp shoulder, "What about the wedding? Should we even send him an RSVP?" she asked referring to her Father who had just finished making a scene at dinner, she herself wasn't even sure that she wanted him around on her big day if he was going to act even close to as obnoxious he had been tonight.

Ben smiled after reminiscing about Max with such nostalgia, he leaned his head to the right just a bit to lay it atop Gwen's crimson pixie-cut, "Just keep him from the alcohol, and if he makes a scene anyways, I reserve the right to use XLR8 to strand him in an Australian hotel until we're finally…" He was joking until he realized what he was about to say, prompting her to look up and into his eyes, seeing the optimism returning to his emerald pupils, glowing brightly against the cloudy night environment. This somehow forced a giggle from her mouth but, she couldn't keep her eyes off his now. He didn't need to finish the sentence as she leaned up, reaching a hand up behind his head to run her fingers through his hair while she met his lips with her own, pulling him in close as they pressed more firmly together.

Gwen pulled back but, only an inch or two to keep her gaze locked on his own, finishing his sentence for him, "Until we're finally married, and just eight-months later, we'll be taking care of a baby boy who we already know is going to become a great hero like his father," She turned her head and placed her ear up against his chest as he stroked her hair, "Are you nervous about becoming a Dad?"

Ben blinked a few times, having barely had enough time to really give thought to the idea of being an actual father to an infant from this timeline, it's likely to be an entirely different experience than helping Kenneth and living with him temporarily. He reached around and wrapped a hand around her hip, caressing her side gently, "I'm not really sure, I've stared down evil alien warlords and corrupt politicians but, nothing has ever really shaken me like this does…"

She chuckled in response, looking back up into his eyes, "Don't be a doofus, you're going to be the best Father in the world, maybe even the Universe," patting down her hand flat on his chest to emphasize her point.

"I'll settle for better than our Fathers-" Quickly and without warning Ben gripped her by the shoulders and shoved Gwendolyn backwards into the dirt which had quickly become mud in the drizzling rain, falling faster around them as thunder echoed from the night sky. A crimson beam of energy passed through the space between their faces, where she would have been standing had he not pushed her; the beam carved through adjacent grass and gravestones leaving Max's still intact, thankfully.

Ben quickly shifted through visual spectrums of light with his enhanced sight, spotting the sniper immediately with his infrared, using his flight and enhanced speed to rocket up into the sky at nearly the speed of sound, landing atop a rooftop juxtaposed to the cemetery with a boom of. His dress-shoes cracked the gravel at his feet, shaking the entire building below him with a furious stomp.

When he arrived, he faced a single adversary, a younger thinner Tetramand clad in all black armor down his arms and torso, with four ion pistols holstered to either side of his hips. Ben took a few steps back as a hurricane of speed surrounded him, however; it was most certainly nowhere near the speed XLR8 could muster. The hero quickly dashed into action leaving a blur of color behind himself, he considered suiting up into his hero armor but, refrained until he knew what he was dealing with exactly. Using his own enhanced speed to catch the apparently female Kinceleran, her face hidden by a visor but, not the slim physique which was also clad in matching black armor to the Tetramand. He finally caught her by the neck, rushing her face first into a wall, hitting her helmeted head against the brick rooftop access entrance.

Ben dusted his hands off and gave a slight exhale, barely winding himself to knock her down, she barely got to her hands and knees when he spoke up, "Haven't learned how to phase yet, have you?" he asked with a smile as he ducked avoiding a right cross that nearly took his head off, the Tetramand recoiled and swung again as the hero managed to turn and catch the second hook though, he needed both arms to defend against just a one armed swing that still pushed his boots through the gravel just to keep himself upright.

"Hurgh, o-okay, enough of this," Ben's pupils flooded with neon luminescent emerald energy that slowly encompassed the rest of his eyes in the seconds before he fired off a thick beam of omni-energy discharge into the Tetramand's chest. His durable crimson hide effectively protected him from being cut in half, which Ben anticipated, resulting in a concussive force that blasted the three-hundred-pound armored warrior back through the air, hitting the ledge while cracking a portion of it apart with his impact.

Having had enough of spectating from the ground, the firey red-head still standing beside her Grandfather's grave sighed and double tapped the Alpha Rune thar hung around her neck, "love you Grandpa," she murmured to the headstone before springing into action, "Who the hell are you?!" Gwendolyn shouted floating up from the street and looking down on the rooftop and the two attackers who were both relatively incapacitated. Now fully suited up in her nano-weave skintight blue armor, the glow hummed as it outlined her suit in blue mana light, "Why are you attacking us?!" What she wasn't expecting was a torrent of flames to strike her in the back by surprise, the attacker aiming from below the four-story building, on the street she had just flown up from. He was a Pyronite for sure but, his flames weren't nearly as potent as even the ten-year-old Heatblast she knew from their first vacation, singeing the nanotech cloth slightly but, not enough that it couldn't reform on its own.

"Agh!" Gwendolyn shouted in pain as another orb of fire struck her as she turned to face her opponent, this time knocking her out of her levitating stance and sending her hurtling towards the street again.

Ben shouted as he watched her smoke trail fall back out of sight, "Gwen!" he exploded on instinct, emerging instantly from a blinding flash of green light as a rush of black and white sped gracefully down the side of the building horizontally, stopping on a dime below his fiancé who landed in XLR8's reptilian arms, letting her down to her feet as she caught her second wind.

XLR8 transformed back into his human form, his crimson tie billowing in the drafty air around him, leaving one hand around Gwen's waist as they stood side-by-side against these unfamiliar yet familiar enemies, "What the hell do you want with us?" Ben shouted at the Pyronite who stood by in wait with orbs of fire prepared in either palm as the female Kinceleran and the young male Tetramand made their way to the ground floor, the former ran down the same way XLR8 had while the latter jumped creating a small crater in the asphalt with his landing.

Gwendolyn gasped as she was yanked by her arm while still slightly recovering, she attempted to break free but, even with her Keystone strength and graceful agile nature she couldn't get loose until she was tossed backwards landing on her back. Yet another enemy clad in an all-black padded suit that resembled Rook's own proto-armor approached with hostility.

The newest figure pulled a long sharp spike out from his forearm, seemingly directly from his own skin beneath the suit, before breaking it off and twirling it between his fingers. Silently, he advanced forth slashing at the air while Ben dodged between each swing expertly. "Normally," he ducked under a strike aimed for his head, hearing it cut through the air over his hair, "I'd be more inclined to play with you but," he popped his head back up right just in time for the sharp spear-like weapon to swing yet again slicing apart his formal suit horizontally before turning to strike his face, only the hero of heroes frowned and caught the weapon in the palm of his hand with a burst of speed, "I'm beyond not in the mood tonight."

Ben turned and used the enemies grip on the spike against him, swinging it over his shoulder, the assailant going with it as he landed on his back in front of the alien-hero.

The Tetramand nodded knowingly toward the Pyronite as if they had planned for situations like this; they both stepped forward covering the Kinceleran, using the opportunity of Ben being distracted to combine their attacks. A super-strength sonic clap that sent a pressurized burst of air and sound offensively meeting a massive, condensed blast of flames which increased the intensity of the attack ten-fold.

The force of the blazing sonic blast knocked Ben off his feet through the air, flying ten feet away and denting an iron street-light with his back before toppling onto his hands and knees on the dirty asphalt. He hit the ground face first, the tall lamppost came tumbling down in front of him, shattering on the street where the sparks flew from the now exposed wires.

Ben tried his best to get to his hands and knees but, as soon as he did he noticed that the Tetramand had four barrels from his blasters aimed between his eyes, "You let Kevin Levin die, now you're going to pay in blood for it," He pressed the barrel up against Ben's forehead for emphasis, "We're the Rooters, and you're the coming storm."

Gwendolyn suddenly dematerialized almost like an illusion, vanishing from her position on the ground and reappearing right next to Ben, though it startled the Tetramand into firing his weapon, she anticipated this and threw up an energy barrier the instant she appeared before them. "Grrr, gimmie me the thing!" he yelled with one of his three spare arms reaching out toward the Kinceleran.

"Don't shout at me," she responded with attitude though, still not hesitating to dash in a black blur of speed which Ben noticed handed a black-box to her partner still holding them at gunpoint. Gwendolyn was focusing on her barrier spell as the smoke cleared up completely, her eyes snapped open preparing to retreat.

The Pyronite stepped aside as the older, more combat experienced 'Rooter' approached the two crouching Cousins. "Gwendolyn, I don't expect you to take our advice but, you should distance yourself from this man, he isn't what you think he is. He's the-"

"Coming storm, we caught that part, can you tell us exactly what that means?" She responded as Ben noticed the Tetramand was preparing a device with some sort of mystical rune he'd never seen before etched into its plastic casing, as it beeped at them in preparation.

He glanced back at his comrades before nodding and retracting his armored mask to reveal a human man's face albeit with a mutation of short spikes pultruding from his cheeks and brow, "Let's start by introducing ourselves; My name is Pierce, that's Manny Armstrong, Helene Wheels, and Alan Albright," each of them took the opportunity to step forwards and stand beside Pierce as he called out their names, "Our parents were part of a black ops military Plumber unit, they were part of the first Rooters… along with your Grandfather and the current Magistratus of Earth."

Ben unfortunately allowed this to distract him, narrowing his eyes at the new information, "Grandpa Max and Wes have something to do with this?" he murmured to himself, though Gwen could hear his doubt vividly.

"It doesn't matter now," Alan responded coldly, having spoken up for the first time tonight to say as much, "The coming storm is a disruption to the process of Earth's technological advancement within the assigned sector…"

Pierce stepped in and clarified the younger half-breed's point, running a hand down his black mane of spiked hair, "The Omnitrix isn't even Level 20 classified Plumber tech, it goes way beyond anything this Galaxy, and more importantly, this Planet is ready for."

Gwendolyn held her hands out, still maintaining her barrier between them, "Are you saying the Plumber's are hunting us down?"

Helene the speedster rolled forwards on her wheeled heels, shaking her head as the visor slid up and out of her eyes, "We're only after Ben Tennyson, and we were trained by the military of Earth to stop you should you become a national threat."

Manny scoffed folding his arms over his chest, "Until he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, then he just flushed us into the Null Void like turds, where we rotted for four years straight," he held one out of the four of his hands behind his back, more than obviously still holding the device that Gwen hadn't quite seen yet, though Ben was more than worried as he grabbed her shoulders from behind, "It wasn't all bad though, we learned a lot of interesting things while we were trapped… you became a world famous hero, you killed Vilgax in cold-blood again, and oh yea," he punctuated his sentence by flailing his arm down with all of his strength slapping the square device on the spherical energy shield. "You let our best friend die!" Sending sparks out across the metaphysical dome, it simultaneously shocked Gwendolyn within utilizing enough power to light up a football stadium.

"AGH!" waving a hand beneath them, she manifested a Bezelian portal underneath their rears, causing them to fall suddenly through the sparkling golden hole in the ground.

The barrier vanished as the portal closed behind them slowly, "Urgh!" sounding just as frustrated as Gwen had been, Manny drew all four of his ion pistols and fired at the ground where the portal had already closed up, "Dammit, we just had 'em! He was right there!" the energy bolts carved away at the asphalt until he finally stopped pulling the triggers.

…

Omnitrix City; Tennyson Tower; February 25th, 2018; 10:58PM

As their perspectives inverted, Ben and Gwen fell from the ceiling through the portal atop the command center, smashing the glass holodeck projector with their fall as Ben had managed to get himself beneath his fiancé before she could be littered with a flurry of lacerations. She rolled off of him and got to her feet, helping him up as she noticed that not a single shard of glass broke his skin, still she spun him around and checked him up and down, "I'm fine, I'm fine," he insisted, dusting the highly advanced glassware designed by Cooper to project an image from below with a touch screen interface embedded.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he pulled her close and caressed her back where she'd been struck by a blast of heat as hot as a pool of lava, luckily her suit developed by their own personal technopath mechanic, protected her skin from the exposure. After all, only one of the two of them had bullet proof skin. She huffed almost out of breath, wiping her brow as she caught her breath, "I'm fine, babe, just a little dizzy. Whatever that Fourarms-guy hit me with disrupted my mana field, I had to use a lot of energy to maintain the barrier and still get us out of there in one piece."

After a few seconds of checking injuries, the two fraternal cousins who often shared the same reactions quickly looked into each other's eyes, asking the same question which plagued their thoughts.

"Who the hell were those guys!?"

They both shouted to each other simultaneously and almost in unison, grabbing each other to ensure to themselves that they were okay; suddenly, they both turned on a dime in the darkened command center at the sound of some sort of air sucking inhalation. The slurping alerted them prompting them to jump, Gwendolyn aiming her luminescent palms ignited with a metaphysical aura in the direction of the sound; Ben was a tad more subtle simply glaring with ominous glowing eyes, prepared to fry the enemy on sight.

Kenneth slurped from the straw of his Mr. Smoothie promotional drink, branded with an image of Big Chill around the side of the cup; without even a moment of surprise, the boy raised his brows at their initial reaction, finding it humorous at least for himself, "Ya know, I didn't have smoothies growing up but, even now the Big Baha Chill doesn't live up to the hype…" he still slurped it down regardless.

The unprepared and ill-equipped parents sighed in relief dropping their intimidation act after seeing their future son holding a cellphone in one hand and a smoothie in the other, sitting in an office chair leaning with his feet propped up against a desk, he had watched their messy arrival the entire time. "Ken? What are you doing here so late, I thought you were at the loft?"

Kenneth gave a fake chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck, "I was but, I tried going to sleep… and you know how sometimes you just need a little rest but you're too worried bout fading out of existence at any given moment, where nobody would even remember you were gone because a new you takes your place in eight months?" the look in his eyes, spite the joking tone, was clear as day that he was beyond afraid of his fate. He was prepared to vanish the instant he changed the future, experiencing everything he never had only to know he'd eventually lose it all… it was daunting and effected his ability to sleep.

Gwendolyn cringed and glanced back up into Ben's eyes, looking hopefully for an answer that could even begin to respond properly to his dilemma. Ben gave a longer sigh this time, more exasperated than his original sigh of relief, "Actually I kinda do… I wasn't erased from the timeline but… I thought I would never see anyone I knew or loved ever again," he took a few steps towards

Gwendolyn figured that this could be their main priority for the moment, considering their holodeck was shattered and they had no means of tracking these Rooters until they could convene the team in the morning. Ben put a hand on his shoulder, looking into his son's eyes, "Prometheus had me for a week straight and each night, if he didn't knock me unconscious… I had to find a way to get to sleep without a midnight snack or a nightlight," he understated.

Understanding his sarcastic gross exaggeration, Kenneth shook the cup of sloshed blue-berry juice in his direction, "Oh yea? and how did you manage?"

"Well, I had to think about what I did have left… whether I died that night or months later, I imagined every night about your Mother, your Great-Grandpa Max, my entire team looking to me for guidance, the thousands of people in Omnitrix city counting on me…" Ben held his gaze steady with Ken's matching emerald eyes, bewildered by the man he called his Father and his determination to stay optimistic regardless of the circumstance. "And I didn't think about my life with them after I escaped, by the way, my only thought was how I left things and how I could have made things better. It was part of the reason your Mother and I got engaged in the first place." Gwendolyn blushed just a bit, being a touchy subject, they had hardly spoken about his time in captivity.

Kenneth looked back down at the cup in his hand, swirling the iced juices within once or twice without thinking, "How I could make things better, huh?"

"Well, you could make a friend or spend some time with us, I'll even let you join on missions-" though he finished his sentence he still felt interrupted by a slap to the shoulder coming from Gwendolyn's frustrated back hand. "What!?" Ben whined, "You heard him, he's fading out of existence!" without warning, she noticed a tear forming behind his eyes but, only because of the glistening emerald omni-energy billowing behind his pupils, "He's my boy, our boy! I won't let him go until he's seen a world without war. I've been thinking about that, and I've been meaning to tell you for days that I want to start taking him on missions, real missions, I'm sorry I took so long to tell you." Kenneth noticed the emotion in his father's expression as he explained to her his true intentions, forcing him to reciprocate the feeling, gripping the cup in his hand to avoid dropping it as he wrapped his arms around Ben's torso. Ben closed his eyes with a solemn smile returning the embrace tightly, fearing the moment he let go that his son would be gone, in which he would vanish from his life for another eighteen years, not that he still wasn't ecstatic about the infant growing within the love of his life. As strong as he was, he was still only human, and the tears were thin but, all but impossible to miss.

Gwendolyn gave a half smile, realizing that Ken mentioning his own fate triggered emotions the hero had been repressing since he found out what Eon's plan had done to him. Finally showing outwardly his true unconditional love in a heated moment. She gave a short smile, as they pulled apart and gave one another grins only a parent and his child could share.

After they separated and Kenneth wiped the tear rolling down his cheek with the sleeve to his blue-hoodie which he seemed to love to wear regardless of the outfits they'd boughten him. Ben cleared the lump in his throat and placed his hands on his hips, looking back to Gwendolyn who had a smile splayed across her face like a child.

"So, does anyone wanna explain why you two fell through the ceiling and destroyed a half a million-dollar holodeck?" Kenneth finished his sentence by sipping on the smoothie he hadn't let go of. "I thought you had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa before storming off."

Ben sighed loudly, exasperatedly, running his hands through his brunette hair as the events of the last hour or two came flooding back, "Yea, that's two disasters ago, bud," he narrowed his eyes and turned around approaching Cooper's desk, Ben placed his handprint on the hologlass which scanned it and gave him access to the computer which the technopath usually summoned with his mind. "Now we have a team of trained alien mercenaries out to kill me and Albedo wants to challenge me one last time, again," he deadpanned the last word for emphasis, still knowing his way around a computer from the days where even Cooper wasn't around to help him go hero, he pinpointed his twin's new Omnitrix signature though he could feel it earlier it seemed that was only the case because Albedo wanted it to be.

Gwendolyn came from behind, deactivating her nano-weaved suit as it reabsorbed into the housing unit on her Alpha Rune, turning him around by his shoulder to look into his eyes. "I think you mean three disasters ago; we still have to settle things with our parents."

Ben sighed through his nostrils, "Okay, well… I'll set up an algorithm to track down Albedo's new Ultimate Omnitrix, after I do that I'll take care of my parents if you take care of yours, deal?" even after all these years they weren't just boyfriend and girlfriend, they were still best friends in life and acted accordingly.

"Deal, but I have one prerequisite."

Ben raised his brow with a casual smile, "Absolutely," he paused, "What's a prerequisite?" he agreed causing Gwen to giggle just a bit before nudging his shoulder.

"We don't tell them I'm pregnant."

She looked into his eyes while biting her lower lip waiting for a response, he smiled and reached out grabbing her hands into his, he thought it was funny that she was all worked up and worried, but also found it quite adorable. "We tell whoever that your pregnant only when you're ready and not a minute sooner, this is your choice," he pulled her hand clasped in his own up to his face where he planted a soft kiss on her wrist.

"Why did we have to be cousins?"

Ben pulled away just a bit and looked up at her, raising a brow in confusion, "W-What did you say?"

Gwen repeated herself, this time looking into his eyes, "Why couldn't we have just been strangers who met at school like everyone else? At least that way my father wouldn't hate you so much and we could have a normal weddin-" Ben interrupted her as soon as he could, pulling her in for a passionate kiss… the surprise ones were always the most passionate as she fell into his lips, locking and unlocking for a moment as they separated to take a breath.

Ben smiled as they placed their foreheads together, something they'd done since they started dating, "Don't say that, don't ever say any of that," Ben insisted reaching up cupping her cheek in his right hand softly, looking into her glistening eyes, "We were dealt the cards we were dealt, and frankly I wouldn't change anything. If we had to be… just for all of this to happen? T-Then I'm glad we were cousins in the first place. I couldn't care less that we were born vaguely related… you changed my entire life Gwen," he noticed the sparkle in her eye as she smiled over every flattering word, "And I can't thank you enough for that, I love you, Gwen Tennyson… and if I'm being honest, I probably always will…" He smiled down into her eyes, his own eyes glowing with an enthusiastic smile.

Gwendolyn had tears in her eyes welling up as they ran down her cheeks, she lunged into his embrace, feeling the warmth of his skin before looking up into his glowing emerald eyes. She leaned up and brushed her lips softly against his again at first before reaching her hand around his head and pulling him close to deepen the kiss passionately.

"Ew," Kenneth remarked as he turned away.

As Gwen pulled back to take a gasp of air, she felt goosebumps glid across her skin as her hair stood on end, she huffed with a deep crimson blush over her cheeks, "God, Ben, I love you so much; after we take care of this parental situation?" she paused and ran a finger down his chest seductively "I'm going to rock your world."

Ben chuckled nervously, "Is that the hormones talking or…"

"Are you going to question it or run with it?"

Ben held his hands out in surrender, his Omnitrix lighting up as he backed away, "No, no; I'll go find my parents, in the morning we'll have Cooper track down those assassins."

Gwendolyn took a few steps into his personal space with a mischievous smile, purring almost as if she were any more feline than her belt-emblem design, "Listen, according to Julie I can be sexually active until three weeks before my due date, hormones or not, I'm going to make you sing in harmony," she grabbed the collar of his suit and pulled him in close, her eyes having never been so filled with arousal.

"Y-You got it!" He held his hands out in surrender, chuckling nervously just a bit as her demeanor changed releasing him and pecked him on the cheek.

"Good luck!"

…

Hilton Suites; Omnitrix City Heights; February 25th, 2018; 11:29PM

Ben dashed through the city using his super-speed, it was only a few dozen blocks so, he didn't feel the need to transform just to meet his Father at the hotel bar. He'd sent a text to Saundra inviting her to the lobby bar of the hotel they were staying at, he'd rushed in sending a flurry of napkins across the floor upon his arrival. Sitting atop a comfortable stool, the bartender approached him as a blonde woman sat next to him without saying a word.

"I'll have a whiskey on the rocks," Ben insisted, prompting the tender to nod and face the blonde sitting right next to him, still not having made eye-contact.

"And for you ma'am?"

Saundra shook her head, "Just a glass of water," she answered, as the Mother and Son sat quietly beside each other; waiting for the other to say the first words.

Ben was the mature one for some reason, speaking up first to draw her attention, "You didn't say much at dinner," he deadpanned.

"And for all your chastising of your uncle I'm surprised you're ordering one of his favorite drinks…"

Ben chuckled looking down at the glass as it was placed before him, "My metabolic system has a protective system of regeneration and healing, it means I can't get drunk…" he explained grabbing the glass and downing the still burning liquid, "I've just grown to like the taste I guess."

Saundra chuckled, "If only we could get one of those healing factors for your Uncle," she waited for him to start chuckling before laughing herself, he still didn't hear an answer though.

"You guys said you saw a therapist; how did that go?"

"Well, we told you-"

Ben interrupted her without fail, almost putting her on the spot in the politest way he could muster, "Dad told me all about it, I want to know my Mother wants to be there to see me marry the woman of my dreams…" he turned to face her, placing the glass flat down on the bar, "I want to hear you say you accept it."

Saundra sighed, shaking her head as she took a sip of the cup of water placed before her, "Look, son, I will never accept the fact that you're dating your cousin…" as the disappointment set in, it was quelled as she continued, "I will accept though that you've found real, true love in Gwendolyn and… and as a Mother It's my job to support your happiness," she grabbed his arm and pulled him in, sliding his stool closer to hers, "I'm so, so, so sorry for everything we put you through as kids! You were following your hearts a-and that's exactly what anyone should do when they're trying to make love work."

"M-Mom…" Ben muttered as she cried into his shoulder, he reached out and placed a hand on the back of her head, combing through her blonde hair with streaks of grey beginning to run through them.

"I'm sorry that I was a failure as a Mother!" she shouted in a whisper up at him, he could tell she was sober and just completely breaking down over the mistakes she made when he was just fifteen or sixteen.

Ben grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her teary eyes with a smile, "You, just like me, are only human… you did what you thought you had to when you were raising an alien superhero teenager who fell in love with someone you didn't approve of…" she wiped a tear with one hand as he still held her a few inches apart, "I forgive you."

"You aren't angry with me?"

Ben scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Of course I was angry you crazy bat but, you're my Mother… you fed, took care of me, took me to school, bandaged my wounds after soccer practice, and comforted me when I had nightmares…" he looked her in the eyes and smiled brightly at her, reassuring her of his sincerity, "All I ever wanted was this… an apology… I will always love you."

She lunged forwards and hugged his torso, wrapping her arms around his bulky muscles just to tear up into his shoulder, he returned the embrace and patted her back for comfort.

…

Hilton Suites; Omnitrix City Heights; February 25th, 2018; 11:29PM

Simultaneously, Gwendolyn tracked her father's mana to the suite Ben had rented out for them, quickly opening a portal with a spinning golden light forming in the center of the hotel room. As she stepped through, she noticed her Father, alone, and watching a holographic television while holding a drink and leaving several other drinks standing by. Sitting in a recliner only fifteen or so feet from the screen, it was no wonder her Mother wanted to be nowhere near him at this point.

"Dad?"

He was startled a bit but, stood up out of his chair knocking a can of beer off his lap onto the carpet, he smiled as if he forget the entire night prior where he made a fool of himself, "I-F it isnnt my favorite d'aughter, come on and give papap a hug!"

Gwendolyn narrowed her eyes and frustratedly swung her hand outward, casing a spell, "Memoriam sobrii," a wave of golden light flew over her father as he suddenly looked around, shaking his head for just a moment before glancing up at his daughter.

"What did you do?" he asked.

Gwendolyn folded her arms over her blouse, raising a brow, "I sobered your ass up, probably should have thought of that during dinner, but I guess hindsight is twenty-twenty…" she walked across the room and kicked several beer cans across the room lightly. "Where's Mom?"

Frank rubbed his head, circling the recliner and attempting to sit on the bed where he would eventually pass out, "She went to the hotel spa, needed to some time to unwind."

Gwendolyn used her telekinesis to pull him away from falling back first on the bed, forcing him up to a standing position, "I'm not done talking."

"Okay, sorry," Frank insisted as he caught his balance and faced her, looking into her emerald eyes which she didn't get from either of her parents yet, she shared them almost identically with her cousin, now fiancé. "Look, everything I said was aimed at Ben, it had nothing to do with you…"

Gwen scoffed insulted, "Nothing to do with- you insulted the love of my life and called him an Alabama-fuck, now think real hard Dad, what does that make me?" she was keeping herself calm, far calmer than she had been at dinner that night.

Frank felt tears welling in the back of his eyes, remorse for what he said and all of the other emotions he'd been suppressing all of these years, "I'm sorry, pumpkin, but when I imagined your future this was the last thing I pictured…"

"What exactly did you picture?" Gwen asked folding her arms as Frank ran his hands through his thinning hair, blinking as tears started to trickle down his cheek.

"Certainly not you daily risking your life and falling in love with your cousin! I never had another child so when all of this happened I didn't know how to process it, I'm sorry that I hurt you…"

Gwendolyn reached out and grabbed her father by the shoulders, pulling him in as he sobbed a bit, still confused, "You hurt me but, you hurt Ben more than you know… the things you said to him…" she cleared her throat and pulled away, "You're my Dad, I love you, and I can always forgive you… but, I am marrying Ben. Which means you owe him an apology too."

Frank wiped a tear away and gave a sigh, shuddering a bit before shaking his head, "Yea, yea, he didn't deserve any of that… as much as I hate to admit it," he sauntered off towards the window that peered over the city streets that allowed hundreds of people to settle in each day, well paid Kinceleran construction workers allowed Gwen and her Father to watch the city being constructed rapidly in the distance. "But, what he's done here is phenomenal… I had no idea that he'd invested Max's money… I feel so stupid."

Gwendolyn glanced out at the buildings that were being build at super-speeds, smiling at the progress they'd made, "Yea, you should."

…

New Xenon Square; February 26th, 2018; 12:25AM

Ben was sitting atop his massive statue that the citizens had constructed for him using the alien workers that gladly accepted well paying jobs in the city and were even more than happy to memorialize the heroic effort of the warrior who saved the only alien coexistent safe-haven for millions of lightyears. Ben swung his legs over his over exaggerated bicep, staring out at the stars above, he wondered if while having the Omnitrix, perhaps staying on Earth was a bit selfish… though, he could never leave his home planet without his protection, he still felt that there were so many worlds that needed him and his guidance. A pressure that nobody else could truly understand.

Brought out of his thoughts by approaching footsteps, a Caucasian man with his hands shoved in his pockets rounded the statue almost not noticing the hero at first until he glanced up. Ben sighed and floated down ten or twenty feet, landing gently in front of his Uncle Frank.

"What? No drink this time? Or did you come to insult me so-" Ben wasn't expecting the man to step forwards and wrap his arms around the hero's torso, pulling him in tight, "-ber?"

Frank spoke into his shoulder as Ben hesitantly placed a hand on his Uncle's back, patting it down, he could tell that whatever happened in the last hour or two had clearly sobered him up completely in a way that seemed unnatural, not taking very long to assume it had to be his fiancé's magic.

"I uh…"

Frank pulled away and wiped a tear with his sleeve, "I've been in a bad place, Ben, a really bad place… your aunt and I are getting a divorce, my daughter moved away, and I couldn't accept any of it. My point is I took it out on you, and I'm so, so sorry, my boy."

"I'm not your boy," Ben insisted, narrowing his eyes though he knew he was being sincere, it still didn't make up for everything he said at dinner, "I appreciate the apology but, it changed nothing."

Frank shook his head, "I know that I know you could never erase what I've done… all I'm asking is a chance to stare new… with both of you…"

"Did you talk to Gwendolyn about this?"

Frank chuckled, "She's the one who slapped some sense into me," he answered sniffling before continuing, "I just want to be there for my daughter on her wedding day."

Ben smiled, even though he knew he had planned on inviting Frank to the ceremony anyways, he knew this was a good opportunity to take advantage, "I'll let you come on one condition… You need to start attending Alcoholics Anonymous weekly, I'll set everything up back in Bellwood, so you don't have to go far…"

Frank smiled, closing his eyes as a tear slipped down his right eye, knowing he had a problem, he hesitated causing Ben to waver but, he broke the silence as he lunged forwards and embraced his nephew, "Deal."

Ben rubbed the back of his neck, "But, Gwen always wanted Grandpa to walk her down the aisle and, no offense, with you being such a jerk… she already asked Wes Greene to do the honors. You're free to enjoy the rest of the ceremony though…"

Frank chuckled, shaking his head, "Serves me right, whoever she walks down the aisle with is alright with me, especially Wes, I know how he took care of you two after your Grandfather passed."

"Yea, passed…" Ben murmured.

Frank looked down at his hands, sighing even deeper now, "Okay, what I said was completely out of line, you were on a big mission and the fate of the wor-"

Ben gave a fake shortened smile, filled with regret and almost a tear welling in his eyes, "No, you were completely right… a little harsh but, right all the same Uncle Frank… I killed Grandpa Max when I made the wrong decision," for the first time that night, a tear slipped down Ben's cheek glistening in the moon light that shun from above them, "And I'll live with that for the rest of my life."

Frank chuckled, before all out laughing, he started to tear up from the laughter as Ben raised a brow out of confusion, "Oh, Ben… Your Grandpa risked his life on a do-or-die basis every single day for fifty-years, he was all over the place but, he always had a plan for everything;" Frank looked into his eyes with a serious expression, "I don't think my Father would have done what he did, if he didn't know you were going to be here after he was gone."

Ben turned to look at his Uncle who smiled up at the Moon, or perhaps up into the heavens where he hoped his Father was looking down on them, "He did what he did because he was ready to go… and from what I hear, he ended things on his terms to save you and by extension… well, everyone."

Ben choked down a lump in his throat, this time finding himself falling into his Uncle's embrace, almost tearing up into his shoulder, wetting his coat with his eyes, "I'm so sorry… I wish I could have done more… I wish I could have saved him… I-I-I…"

Frank was ashamed now more than ever about what he'd said at dinner, the boy really did hold all of these emotions in for the sake of being the hero he knew the world needed him to be, something he's been trying to tell them and his own parents since he was fifteen years old. "Oh, Ben, I'm so sorry…" this time Ben leaned himself into his Uncle's shoulder where he consoled him, patting his nephews head spite him being nearly half a foot taller than him.

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Short Chapter