Before you begin this chapter, I would like to thank each of you for supporting this project so much. Your feedback means the world to me.
I'd like to thank my group of writers; Michael, for being a bitch (he literally clapped when I said that), Ethan, for giving me the guts to post this, Antipathy, for assisting in a lot of the creative division, and proofreaders Primal and Kyle, for your hard work and dedication.
I'd also like to thank my group of artists; Razz, for being a feral monster, Carth, for drawing a lot of the concept art for future parts, Ricky, for a lot of the designs and a huge idea that shaped this entire arc, and Domenic, for being a huge creative force in the art department.
To my friends; Matt, Alex, Wayne, Will, Paradox, ZZ, and Kakapo.
And most of all, a very special thank you to my best friend and co-creator, Winter Witch. You inspired me to write and you helped me develop this entire idea. Thank you for your endless support, and happy birthday!
See all of you soon!
Vilgax stomped after the paper airplane, murderous intent on his mind. He had been humiliated by a worthless rat pack of humans, and his pride was shattered on the ground. Vilgax arched backwards and compressed both arms before unleashing a rapid-fire strike, moving his arms up and down to give the impression of thousands of tentacles moving to attack. The plane didn't have the durability to survive such a blow, and exploded into a thousand pieces.
Everyone went flying in different directions, with Ben transforming into Upgrade. He grabbed Ruby and they both went crashing to the ground.
"...well, shit," Ruby sighed. "Bastard's still alive."
"Must've burrowed before we could land the final blow," Ben hypothesized.
"Well, if he's so eager to fight again, let's give it to him!" She held out the Crescent Rose eagerly, and Ben quickly merged with it. He added some more 'bells and whistles' just in case Ruby needed help.
Vilgax ran at the two of them on all fours; he was frothing from the mouth and practically feral. Ruby swung her scythe and the blade shot out like a whip and slashed at Vilgax, cutting off some tentacles on his face. To add insult to injury, an arm shot out of the blade and punched Vilgax in the face, before mashing it into the ground.
"This again?" Vilgax huffed, trying to grab the blade. "Have you fallen under the delusion that a Galvanic Mechamorph will be my downfall? Come at me, you poor excuses for heroes!"
Ruby retracted her blade and switched her upgraded weapon into its Upgrade-exclusive sword form. She charged at Vilgax and performed a two-handed downward sword slash, which actually cracked his armor.
Vilgax swatted them away and stretched out his arms while twisting them. He quickly took hold of his opponent. He then untwisted his arms, rapidly spinning both Ruby and Ben, disorienting them both. Vilgax quickly tossed them into the air and shot out his horrific eye lasers, which exploded upon contact.
Ben and Ruby jumped out of the smoke and tumbled to the ground. Vilgax continued to shoot out more of his laser eyes, but Ruby quickly sidestepped to her left, avoiding all of the blasts. Vilgax decided to switch up his strategy and quickly dashed towards Ruby. He threw his fist forward-
Ruby was quick to counter, her weapon wrapping around Vilgax's arm like a python. Ben popped out of the weapon and delivered a quick flurry of punches to the warlord's face.
Ruby continued her relentless assault, forcing Vilgax to go on the defensive. After a few strikes and cut tentacles, the two combatants were now face to face...well, three, now that Ben popped out his head.
"So, Squidface, you wanna just give up right now?" Ben taunted.
"I aim to remain at the apex," he growled, before grabbing Ruby and smashing her into a nearby tree. Vilgax threw his fist forward, slicing through the air and slamming into Ruby's torso. Ruby broke through the tree, rocketed through the air, and landed in a river.
She shook her head like a wet dog and winced as her aura level became even lower. "Great going, doofus. Now he's angry!"
"Calm down, I'm trying to get a rise out of him," Ben told her, transforming the scythe into its double sided form. "The angrier he gets, the more out of control he becomes. His plan is already falling apart."
"Well, this better work." Ruby grimaced as Vilgax charged at her. She quickly crossed her arms and blocked Vilgax's attack. The warlord's tentacles retracted when Ruby charged forward. The traded blows, each attack making the water in the river shudder violently and the earth beneath them shake.
Ruby jumped up and shot more bullets, but Vilgax easily dodged with his superior speed. As soon as Ruby reached the ground, Vilgax ran towards her. He forced his tentacles forward in a blurry, rapid barrage of strong punches. Having little time to react, Ruby spun her weapon in a circular motion, blocking the attacks as best she could.
Ben popped out of the scythe and shot out a powerful optic blast. Vilgax countered with his own, and the two lasers clashed violently. Ben tried to overpower the warlord with all his might, but Vilgax simply crossed his arms and laughed.
And that made Ruby angry.
She turned into rose petals and jumped into the air, the laser instead blasting through a few trees. With a war cry she attacked Vilgax once more, delivering small hits around his body and transforming whenever he tried to hit her. Vilgax slammed his fists onto the ground, shaking the earth with such a force it threw Ruby off guard. He wrapped his tentacles around her and slammed her into the ground she left an imprint, but Ruby once more transformed into rose petals and freed herself, her Semblance creating a tornado-like force that lifted Vilgax into the air.
"Let's end this here and now!" Ben yelled as Ruby shifted back into human form. Ben turned the Crescent Rose into a spear and Ruby propelled herself downward, letting gravity speed up her descent. At mach speeds she sank the spear into the monster's body, driving it toward the ground with a massive THUD, sending dust and debris flying everywhere.
The dust slowly cleared-
And Vilgax had Ben trapped. The young Mechamorph struggled in his vice-like grip. Ruby laid on the ground, dazed and confused and so very tired.
"I knew your strategy from the start," Vilgax sneered, tightening the tentacle restraints. "I have always been a king who could rise easily from discord! I had to just seal up the pitfalls that stood before me."
Vilgax stretched out Upgrade's vinyl like body to its limit. Ben grunted in pain and glared hatefully at the warlord. "I had to just get close enough to rip you off this primitive weapon, and then it would be over." He tossed Upgrade aside as he reverted back to human. Ben tumbled painfully to the ground, blood and dirt smearing his pale skin.
Ruby weakly raised her weapon and cocked it.
Vilgax looked down at her. "A weak little girl with a weak spirit. How fitting."
"Who are you to decide that?! I've come this far all by myself! That has to count for something!" Ruby shouted.
"If it really meant anything," Vilgax went on,"you wouldn't be on the ground right now, too weak to stand and facing utter defeat. Face it, you're a fraud. A joke."
"You're wrong!"
Vilgax sneered. "Didn't anyone ever tell you to respect your superiors? I've humiliated you. Insubordinate wretches like you should learn their lesson." He snatched up the Crescent Rose. "Oh, what's this? Your weapon? That sure came in handy when I countered everything you threw at me."
He broke the Crescent Rose over his knee, splintering it into hundreds of pieces.
Ruby opened her mouth to scream, her eyes wide and filled with tears. Her vision blurred. Her throat closed in on her. She nearly let out a horrified keening noise that only came out of the truly inconsolable.
And then she started giggling.
Vilgax froze. He looked at her destroyed weapon. He took in the fact that her aura was gone, and that this little girl could barely sit up, much less stand. So why…?
"Hey, Vilgax?" Ruby asked, her chuckles still watery. "What's fastest way to fuck up?"
"...I wouldn't know."
"Well, doing that would be on top of the list."
"...was that supposed to be a joke?"
"Nah. More of a distraction." She pointed over at Ben, who was slowly walking towards Vilgax.
Ben had shifted into Heatblast, and his footsteps left scorched earth as he advanced. Vilgax could feel the heat from where he was standing, which shouldn't be happening. Even more strange was the fact that is flames seemed to burn more intensely...more...dangerous.
They were turning blue, a dangerous color; it reminded him of the Fulmini he faced, and he froze in place, paralyzed with fear. Ruby gathered up as much of the Crescent Rose as she could, getting all the important pieces before darting away to a much safer location. She wanted to see Ben burn Vilgax to ashes, but she knew that she would probably die from either heat stroke or dehydration.
Or maybe something even worse than that.
"Vilgax," Ben said, his voice low and sibilant, "I think it's safe to say that I'm absolutely more mature than you."
"What?" Vilgax's face contorted in rage, and he could feel his legs move again. He stood there though, allowing Ben his final words.
"You didn't deserve the fate the Fulmini gave you. You deserved worse. You especially deserved a complete curb stomp from a brat that's cocky and kinda abused their powers from time to time. What would you would've done, become a one man army? With only ten aliens and a time limit? You think you could really unlock all the unlimited potential of the Omnitrix within a few seconds of owning it? No! I'd tell you to rethink your stupid ideas, but your ideas aren't really the problem. You're just an idiot. Your people will weep for you? Calm down. It's not like your people could stand to lose a sad, old, loose end like yourself, right?"
Vilgax stood there, flabbergasted.
"'Defeat your weaker self'? Seriously? You haven't grown up at all, you overgrown calamari platter! With how much you were praising yourself, I thought you were some nihilist fourteen year old with a God complex! No matter how you grow, there are always limits to what someone can do," Ben went on. "Especially someone who isn't smart enough to just evacuate their own planet."
"T-there...you…"
Ben sighed. "Just shut up already. You're the most pathetic person I've met in my life, and I am done wasting my breath on you. The last thing I need right now is listening to trash like you, let alone beating you to a pulp. But if you want to take me down, feel free to try… as long as you don't mind a painful defeat."
Ben raised his palm in the air; a vast amount of blue flames gathered in the sky above. It looked like the beginnings of a sun-
The sun came crashing down on Vilgax. Absolute pain seared through Vilgax's flesh, burning most of it clean off. Blisters appeared on what was left on his body. Vilgax could feel air escape his lungs; this was the truest, most powerful form of a Pyronite, one that would be told in legends.
And most of those ended in destruction.
The sun quickly faded as Vilgax somehow got back on his feet. The forest around him was engulfed in blue flames and burning up quickly. His wounds weren't healing fast enough either. Vilgax knew he had to retreat, the boy was more powerful than he thought, but Ben wasn't finished with him yet. He ran at Vilgax and engulfed his fist in blue flames.
He unleashed a barrage of flames at his opponent, causing, aside from sheer blunt damage, intense burning in muscle fibers.
But Ben wasn't done.
He unleashed a massive cyclone of blue fire around them both, preventing anyone within a five mile radius from entering or leaving it. Vilgax, with what little power he still had, rushed Ben with more powerful and swift attacks; Ben hoped his plan could come into action soon. He punched Vilgax in the face, leaving his forehead with a fist shaped burn on it.
Vilgax knew that there was no running now; he stretched his arms and grabbed onto his enemy. Then he quickly retracted them, crashing into the foe at high speeds. Ben yelled in pain as Vilgax threw him around like a rag doll. Vilgax slammed Ben onto the ground and started hitting him, all thoughts of a plan going out the window.
But Vilgax's nerves were damaged to the point where he couldn't feel anything….especially his tentacles being burnt into ash. Ben burnt through the tentacles and freed himself, landing on the ground with the intent to end this.
"TENNYSON! GET READY TO DIE!"
Ben charged at Vilgax, hitting him with a continuous barrage of fiery punches enhanced with sheer determination. He then absorbed all the blue flames from the inferno into his fist, and he punched his target with a force so strong the world seemed to slow to a halt. Ben could see Vilgax's face contorted in horror as the punch connected with his face.
The fist collided at mach speeds, blue flames like a rocket behind him. Vilgax went up, up, high into the sky, soaring beyond the Earth's atmosphere in a fiery comet. He left the blue sky and entered space, disappearing into Earth's yellow sun.
Ben's breathing slowed as he stared at the now empty sky.
"And stay off."
Ben sighed, finally happy that long fight with Vilgax was finally over. And then he grunted as Gwen not-so-gently healed his wounds. "Jeez, is there anyway your healing spells won't hurt me more than I already am?"
"Shush. It's not my fault you just knocked a space tyrant back to where he came from," Gwen snapped, her palms glowing dark blue.
"At least she repaired the Crescent Rose!" Ruby beamed, holding her prized 'baby' in her hands.
Ben's jaw dropped. "Wait, so you're telling me I got angry for nothing? I thought that thing was irreplaceable!"
"What? No. I mean, my dad would've been angry that he'd have to buy a new one, but hey! Work with what you've got, right?" Ruby grinned impishly.
"I will punch you in the liver."
"You'll try and you'll fail."
Ben glanced over at Kevin, who was awkwardly trying not to draw attention to him. "What about him? Did you try healing him back to normal?"
Gwen frowned. "Nope. He's refused any help."
"And why's that?"
Kevin grimaced. "Cause I deserve this."
"...huh?"
"I'm out of control," Kevin sighed. "I don't need medical attention or anything like that, I just need some...mental help, y'know? I don't really have a good grasp on my powers and my emotions...heck, I think my emotions alone are the reason I'm like this. I mean, look." He held up his arm and, ever so slowly, it shrunk, becoming more and more humanoid before it snapped back to its previous alien shape. "So, yeah. I think I just need some mental recuperation."
Ben nodded. "I can understand that."
"Plus...Anna's thinking of taking me in," Kevin said with a low chuckle. "I could really use a good family right now."
Ben looked over at Anna, who was gorging herself on spaghetti with far too much parmesan on top. She looked better, her face less pale and sweaty, but the tomato sauce around her mouth made her look too much like a cannibal. Ben nervously turned back to Kevin and snickered. "I think Anna would be an interesting mom."
Anna threw down her carton of orange juice and wiped off her face with a napkin. "Alright, I'm charged and ready to blow this popsicle stand. We need the Plumbers to do a proper scan of you, kid."
"I don't think you should fly there," Max advised. "You still look a little delirious."
"I'll take care of it, Mr. Tennyson," Kevin said, walking over to Anna. "I'll fly us back to base."
"No, no," Anna said, smirking, as a car barrelled down the road. "I already called someone." The car screeched to a halt as Anna waved the driver down. A lady with orange eyes, a small jewel on her forehead, dark complexion and wild black, chin-length hair in an asymmetrical bob cut rolled down the window. Her body was adorned with numerous tattoos resembling tiger stripes, with two bengal cat like ears popping up from her hair. Ben assumed the lady was an Osmosian too. She had a look that screamed 'not this shit again.'
The lady frowned deeply. "You overdid it again, huh."
"Yep." Anna gave a coy smile.
"Well, at least you didn't die," Sienna said, opening the door for her. "You're lucky I picked up Kylie earlier."
A girl with green stripes her black hair awkwardly greeted them from the backseat. "Hello!"
Ben paused. "Huh."
"I didn't know Anna was married," Ruby said.
"A lot of people don't, kid," Sienna said as Anna got in the car. She turned to Kevin. "Now, as for you...uh...I actually don't know if we'll have room for you."
"It's fine. I'll fly close to the car," Kevin told her, before glancing over at Ben and Ruby. "Well...I suppose this is goodbye for me."
Ben smiled. "It was an...interesting summer, Kev."
"Hope you get the help you need," Ruby added sincerely.
Kevin chuckled. "I'll see ya around." And then, he took off, soaring through the sky with ease.
"We're all stuck with the same alien business," Anna said, her head popping out through the window. "You'll see each other soon enough."
"Bye weird lady!" Ben called out as the engine started.
"You little shit!" Anna shouted as the car drove away.
The group watched as Kevin flew away with Sienna guiding him. It was rather poetic, like watching someone leave a toxic relationship forever and enter a brighter, newer chapter that would be healthier for him in the long run.
They just hoped it would last.
Gwen's hometown wasn't that different from Bellwood- lots of towers and commercial buildings, a few malls and tourist attractions, a school system and suburbs in- and outside of it. It was a bit bigger that Bellwood, with much less forest, but it was still an uncanny resemblance.
"So, you live about two hours away from each other?" Ruby asked as the Rustbucket rolled down the highway. So far Washington state looked like a weird mix between desert and forest, and she had heard that the west coast of it was downright Mediterranean. She had always lived in the moderate climate of her little Oregon town, and while she loved the forests surrounding it, it didn't beat perfect beach weather.
"Pretty much," Ben said, shrugging. "Doesn't mean we get together often."
"Considering we once stopped talking to each other over a stick of gum, it's justified," Gwen snorted. She was calmly put quickly packing anything she forgot. Her magic book was the last thing out, and she hid it in her backpack as best she could.
A few minutes later, the Rustbucket rolled to a stop in front of a large two storey house. Ruby and Ben stared at it, flabbergasted; it was supposed to house a family of four, but why did it have to be so big and bland looking? Ruby was especially jealous, seeing as her house was essentially a glorified cabin. (A rather nice one, but still.)
Gwen quickly said her goodbyes to Max, giving him a big hug and sneakily wiping away a tear. She put her backpack on and turned to Ben and Ruby. "So, this has been… a summer."
Ben snorted. "That's one way to put it."
"At least it wasn't boring," Ruby offered sheepishly.
"Yeah, it was actually really exciting," Gwen said, smiling softly. "Not sure how I can go back to being, well, normal. It's gonna be weird."
"Well, weirdness is in our blood," Ben pointed out. "If you can tackle magic and a genocidal maniac, you can handle normal weirdness."
Gwen shook her head, laughing softly, before pulling Ben and Ruby into a hug. They returned it, and the three of them stayed like that for ten seconds before Gwen pulled away, declaring, "We'll stay in touch. I still have so much to learn."
And then she marched out the door, coming back home.
The Rustbucket quickly passed Olympia and rolled along to Seattle, Bellwood not being too far from the seaport city. Ben, Ruby, and Max talked and joked for the entire two hour drive, just like they always did. But Ben still felt that sense of dread that had plagued him over the last few days. The end of summer always sent him spiraling, but saying goodbye to Ruby? That made his throat close up and his eyes hurt in ways it never had before.
Another wave of sadness came over Ben, and it took all his willpower to look and act normal. He got most of his strength back just as Max ended his short phone call. "So, that was Taiyang," Max began.
"What does my dad want?" Ruby asked curiously.
"He's doing some work at the Bellwood headquarters," he explained. "He wants a status update on what happened with Vilgax earlier. Anna already sent in her field report, but he wants one from me."
Ben raised an eyebrow. "Does he even have the authority to do that?"
"When it concerns his daughter? Yes." Max shuddered. "Not looking forward to that…"
"Yeah, I don't want to be in the blast radius of that," Ruby mumbled darkly. Her eyes narrowed, like she was remembering something distasteful.
"Oh, you two don't have to worry about that," Max reassured them. "There's a big carnival in Seattle. I can drop you off there for a few hours while I go deal with Taiyang. Normally I wouldn't, but you two have been handing worse all summer; I figured something like this would be easy for you two."
"Thanks Grandpa/Mr. Tennyson!" Ben and Ruby chirped as they excitedly chattered about what they would do at the carnival. Max smiled at them through the rearview mirror. There was a sad sort of fondness in his gaze; he would miss these adventures with his kids, watching them grow and learn together and becoming fast friends. But all good things had to come to an end, and he hoped that a few hours of peace would be a proper sendoff.
Seattle was home to numerous tourists attractions, but Ben always looked forward to its annual end of summer festivals. Art fairs, movie screenings in graveyards or in makeshift drive-in theaters, and the huge carnival that kicked everything off. He hadn't been able to fully enjoy everything- he would never admit it to anyone, but he did secretly enjoy the art fairs and movie screenings of obscure films the few times he went to them. But like any other kid his age, he would always enjoy the roller coasters and rigged games and the greasy food that always came with carnivals.
"Okay, so, whatcha wanna do first?" Ben asked. Max had given them plenty of money for tickets, the pink papers stuffed into the pockets of his cargo pants. Ben wasn't sure where Ruby was hiding her tickets, and he suspected he didn't want to know. "I'm pretty sure we're both tall enough to ride some of the rollercoasters-"
"Let's do that, then!" Ruby exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "We go on a couple of rides, maybe see some of the booths, and eat later. We're here fairly early, so the lines shouldn't be too long."
And they weren't. At most the two of them had to wait ten minutes to get on a ride, and luckily they were tall enough to get on most of the high intensity ones. First was the Aftershock, a 191 foot metal monster that pulled you backwards until you were staring straight at the ground from skyscraper levels, and then gravity took you down at 65 miles per hour through breathtaking loops and curls. And then you were pulled up the second tower, staring right at the sky, before being sent backwards at the same speeds, going through the motions once more. They left the ride with messy hair and wild eyes, hungrily searching for the next thrill.
The Corkscrew was equally fun: as they went out of the station, Ben and Ruby's car climbed 70 feet high, staring right at the sky, before taking a short dip… which then turned around and descended into a devastating plunge. They were whipped around one more turn, going upside-down through the double corkscrew, and then they were brought back to the station, delightfully dizzy and disoriented.
The Timber Terror was the only air coaster at the carnival, and it proved to be Ben and Ruby's favorite ride. The left the loading station and went up the first hill, going up 85 feet. They turned, making the first drop in the chain of hills, and a familiar sensation of weightlessness came over them, making both children scream in delight. They screeched throughout the entire ride and even through the Terror's crushing 360-degree turn, only quieting down once they were safely back in the loading station.
They went back on all three rides until they were halfway out of their tickets. Hair windswept, throats aching in pain, and eyes shiny and bright, the children stumbled to a table in the dining area, looking over the new pictures on their phones.
Finishing her lozenge, Ruby said, "Okay, not many pictures here, but what few we do have look great."
"Good thing too, we still have a few hours left before Grandpa picks us up." Ben quickly counted out his tickets before shoving them back into his pockets. "Wanna eat now or hit up some game booths?"
Ruby put away her phone. "Game booths please! I'm always pretty good at the gun games."
"I'm pretty good at ball tosses and dart games myself," Ben said, his smug grin matching Ruby's.
"Oh, this I gotta see," Ruby jeered, already standing up.
And she did see. Ruby watched, goggling as Ben easily threw heavy balls at jugs, tossed bean bags into tiny holes, and toss darts at moving balloons. By the end of it, Ben had a bag filled with stuffed animals and other toys. He fished out a bright blue monkey with long arms with Velcro on its hands. He quickly looped it around his neck so that the toy settled against his chest. He then took a selfie and sent it to Ruby.
She didn't look at her phone when it pinged. She just stared at him. "What the absolute hell."
Ben smirked. "What can I say? I'm just lucky."
"You've got some weird devil's luck, more like," Ruby grumbled. She brightened up when she saw the shooting games. "Now it's my time to shine!"
"You already do that in battle," Ben said, but Ruby didn't hear him as she dragged him over. From there she dominated any game that used a gun or shooting style implement. In just half an hour, she too had a bag filled with stuffed animals and toys.
"As usual, you impress everyone," Ben declared as they left the game area.
"I aim to please," Ruby said smugly. "So, how many tickets we got left?"
"Enough to try out a few things," Ben told her. "I heard they got Kool-Aid donuts here, I can't not try one."
"Think they got deep fried Oreos?"
"Can you cool it with the cookie addiction?"
"Never!"
By the time they were done, it was dusk. Exhaustion laid over them like an oppressive cloud, but adrenaline still coursed through their veins. They sat on a bench near the pickup site, their bags on the ground. Ben had his head thrown over the back while Ruby set her legs on his lap, leaning her shoulder into the blue plastic back of the bench. The screams from the rollercoasters and the music from the carnival became background music as the sky slowly turned into a brilliant painting: the yellow and red ball of the sun turning the clouds dusty pink, right before the sky turned dark blue and purple, the starlit night rapidly edging them out.
"I'm really gonna miss you," Ruby said, her voice practically a whisper. Ben turned to her and looked into her wet, half-lidded eyes. "People don't normally like me, you know? Like, they see Ruby Rose as this awkward, snarky, introverted little girl and compare her to her much more likeable sister. Most of the people who tried to be my friend only did so to get to Yang. And the few that didn't eventually didn't want anything to do with me anymore. You're the first person who liked me for me and stayed."
Ben swallowed heavily, blinking rapidly. "I… I don't really have friends back home either. I'm nice to people and they're usually nice back, but I wouldn't call them friends, you know? I used to be bullied pretty badly- Cash and JT bullied everyone, but I was their favorite target. It didn't really stop until Cash was held back and JT transferred to another school. Cash mainly picks on the kids in his grade now, but I don't want to be friends with the kids in my school." Ben took a deep breath to stop his tears from spilling over. "I don't- I don't want to be friends with people who used to watch as I was beat up repeatedly, who tore up my homework and who put cruel notes in my backpack- some of them used to laugh-"
Ruby gently touched his shoulder and whispered, "Hey, breathe now. In and out, in and out- match my breathing, okay? You got this." They did that for a few minutes, Ben calming down and discreetly wiping his eyes as Ruby rubbed soothing circles into his shoulder, only stopping until Ben's breathing was back to normal.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that." He was relieved to see that there was only sympathy in Ruby's gaze- Ben wouldn't have been able to handle it if she pitied him. "My sister always threatened anyone who ever hurt me, so at least I had a bodyguard. You didn't even have that."
"This isn't the crappy life Olympics, Ruby," Ben stated. "What happened to you… it isn't less than what I went through, ok?"
"Ok."
"Anyway, I don't want anything to do with the kids in my school, or the teachers." Ben grimaced. "I think they knew Cash and JT were bullies, but they never caught the two of them being anything other than nuisances, they were smart like that. And JT's mom was on the school board, she could have smoothed over any problem."
"Ugh, nothing worse than bullies with connections," Ruby said, rolling her eyes in disgust. "I'm glad they're out of your life now."
"Well, Cash still makes an appearance, but I can run away from him now," Ben said, smiling lightly. "But I've sort of developed this prickly exterior at school so no one could hurt me. And no one does anymore, but it's lonely." He took Ruby in the eye. "So, what I'm trying to say is, you're the first person who saw through my bullshit and decided to be my best friend despite that. So, thank you, Ruby Rose."
Silent tears slid down Ruby's face, and she sniffled softly. "You're my best friend too, Ben Tennyson. I never want to forget this summer."
"Me too."
A familiar car horn sounded, and Ruby hastily wiped her face as Ben grabbed both their bags. They entered the RV and sat down, too exhausted to speak. The RV was entirely silent as they rode through the darkened highway, the bright lights of the street lamps cutting through the RV like slashes from a knife.
All too soon, they were outside the Bellwood headquarters. Ruby had long since been packed, and all her bags were already being tucked away inside Taiyang's bright yellow car. Ruby said her goodbyes to Max, sniffling lightly as she let go, and then she turned to Ben, silver eyes bright.
"We've already added each other on all our social media," Ruby said, smile quavering.
"You'll have a hard time trying to get rid of me," Ben said, his voice cracking slightly.
"Wouldn't dream of it," she said before pulling him into a hug. They embraced tightly, the kind of bone breaking tightness that spoke of too many untold feelings, that desperation that only came when the book closed, signalling that's it, the end.
And too soon, they let go. They smiled at each other once more, and just like that Ruby was gone, the scent of roses lingering where she once stood.
Max drove Ben home, and they said their goodbyes, with Max promising to visit soon, at the latest Christmas. Ben entered his house to see his parents, still up and happy to see him. They hugged and laughed and smiled, Ben leaving his luggage at the front door, his father saying, "We'll get to it tomorrow, you have school in the morning."
His room was the same mess it always was. His new backpack was filled with binders and papers and pencils. He took out his phone and his charger, plugging it in and watching his nearly dead battery regain charge.
He saw his lock screen: Ben and Ruby smiling while at a campsite, huddled together in the slim frame.
Ben closed his eyes and finally let himself cry.
The next morning, like many other school mornings, was filled with frantic energy and the apathy Ben had for school. It may have been his last year of elementary school, but for him, it was just another day of socially acceptable prison. And considering everything that went on yesterday? Yeah, he was more of less dead on his feet.
Stifling a yawn, Ben wished he was allowed to drink coffee. He had to settle for a small cup of green tea- it tasted nasty, but there was a small amount of caffeine in it, and his mother didn't notice him drink it. Ben couldn't eat much in the mornings, instead settling for easy to digest smoothies and a small drink. A small cup of hot tea wouldn't be something Sandra would notice.
Dressed in brown cargo pants, bright green t-shirt with black sleeves and a white 10 emblazoned on his chest, he was more of less ready for school. His hair was messy and fluffy, but whatever, bedheads were always popular. Dragging his green and black sneakers on the ground, he made his way inside the white brick schoolhouse, dodging teachers and wincing as children screamed, excited to see each other after such a long summer.
Ben could already feel normalcy settling in, which was weird, because he was still jazzed over his supernatural, explosive summer. It was hard to go back to the swing of things, and yet there was something so easy about it too. He couldn't put a name on the feeling, only that it was bugging him.
But in the end, normalcy had to win out. Ben looked down at his watch. Looks like I won't be using you for much anymore, he thought sadly. He quickly stopped in front of a bulletin board to look for his fifth grade class, trying to find where he'd be going for his first day. Most likely his new classroom and then the gymnasium for the yearly welcome back speech, but sometimes they changed it up.
"So, where are we going?"
Ben's head shot up. He turned around.
He took in short, choppy black hair that went from a black to red gradient. Silver barrettes held back her hair, revealing a small heart shaped face and big silver eyes. She wore a black long-sleeved shirt under a dark red jumper dress with two fuzzy pull strings and black knee-length boots.
"Ruby!" Ben cried out, beaming.
Ruby grinned as she flash stepped over to him. She wrapped her arms around Ben (in an iron grip, no shock there) and giggled. "Hiya!"
Ben's mouth hung open in that dopey way Ruby found endearing, and his arms awkwardly began to wrap around her waist. "I...I, what? What are you doing in Bellwood?"
"Wellll," Ruby drawled, "turns out my dad's got some work to do here, so here I am! Dunno how long I'll be here though."
"In school or in town?"
Ruby chuckled. "Now, isn't that a fun question?"
"Hey...hey!"
Ben blinked.
"Kid, kid, look. I didn't ask for an essay about what you did on your summer vacation," the grump huffed, taking a swig from his flask. He had spiky black hair with some gray in it, dull red eyes, and some stubble along his jawline. Along with a red, tattered cloak, he wore a gray and white dress shirt with a long tail, black dress pants and black dress shoes. "Specially one that happened years ago. I just need to know what happened to you earlier."
Ben blinked. He'd gotten so lost in the moment. He had to remember where he was and what he was doing. No, he wasn't a ten year old on a road trip with his best friend. He was a sixteen year old boy with stress. Lots of it. And most importantly, he was being interrogated in a dimly lit room.
"Right, right," Ben said, nodding. "I was attacked by a crazy scorpion dude."
The grump took another swig and smiled. "Now that's a story I'm willing to listen to."
