Chapter 16: Normal
Ben groaned, flat on his back in the grass, the morning chill sucking the heat right out of him. The sky above was only just brightening from the sun, and it honestly was way too early to be up-
"Get up." Came the man's command, a large shadow coming to loom over Ben, stepping out of the morning fog like a wraith. "Or are you giving up already?"
Ben groaned again before he sat up, grabbing the blunted practice knife he'd dropped beside him. Staggering to his feet, he raised the knife in front of him in the defensive stance he'd been taught.
Yes, it was way too early to be up, even on a weekday, but he'd made that choice. He needed help, after all. Plus, it was kinda nice to have something to do immediately after waking; it gave him no chance to linger in bed and think too much-
Stop. He needed to focus on the here and now. So he straightened and smirked at his adversary.
"In your dreams, old man."
Grandpa Max grinned before steadying his own stance and beckoning Ben over with a curt instruction. "Again!"
Max eyed his grandson with no small amount of amusement as the boy idly sipped some water, slumping over the booth table. Beside the child rested a back-pack for school, though he wouldn't be needing it for a while yet. The kid was a little roughed up, but the bruises on him were not from their training session; he'd shown up with those when he knocked on Max's door this morning as XLR8, asking to be trained. He grinned to himself. Training. The kid never ceased to surprise him.
"I think you did well, especially for a first time." Max remarked, downing some coffee, sighing happily. Nectar of the gods, that was for sure. Sheer grit and his wife had seen him through the worst of his time as a Plumber, but without coffee? He wouldn't have made it through the first week. "You're quite nimble, and the knife suits you. If it hadn't been blunted, I'm pretty sure I would've lost a kidney."
Ben grinned cheekily, face still a little worn out. Max knew he'd bounce back soon enough. "Yay. A talent for stabbiness. Gwen will be so proud."
"I dare say she will be when she hears you're training to be less vulnerable in human form-"
"Don't tell her!" Ben interrupted, waving his hands. At Max's stunned expression, the boy flushed before averting his gaze, sipping his water sheepishly. "I-I want it to be a surprise for our next sparring match."
Ah, so that's why that lovely bruise on his jaw is there. Max quirked a brow, amused. "Who won?"
"Me. Totally me. How could you even ask?"
Max hummed, taking another sip of his coffee. 3,2,1.
"Okay so maybe she short circuited the Omnitrix when I was dizzy from swapping between aliens, but that was luck and I so made her work for it. I think we should call it a draw."
Max eyed him in surprise, latching on to the most interesting bit there. "Dizzy from swapping between aliens?" He'd known the master control was back on, but Ben hadn't really mentioned it much beyond that. Ben hadn't used the watch nearly as much as he could, though that was in part on account of Bellwood's peace and quiet rarely requiring it.
Then again, knowing what he now knew about their space trip, it probably had more to do with Ben not wanting to use the watch, and he couldn't fault the boy for that.
Ben snorted. "You try going from Wildmutt to XLR8 and then to Grey Matter. It stinks." Ben put down his glass. "No joke, you go from only smelling stuff and walking on all fours to wanting to outrace the wind and being totally scatterbrained and impatient, to being pint-sized and overanalyzing everyhing. Makes my head spin." The boy groaned, cradling said head. "And don't even get me started about what happens when I try to switch around outside of the original ten too fast; I get stuck with sort of gimpy in between forms. Ever seen Fourarms with a mermaid's tail? Yeah, Gwen thought it was a riot." The boy grumbled before falling silent, crossing his arm while Max wrestled down a bout of laughter. Oh what he wouldn't have given to see that...
Ben's expression slowly turned fearful as he eyed the watch though, and Max could hear his pulse quickening and was already rising out of his seat when-
Gone. Ben closed his eyes, took a deep fortifying breath, and blew it out, fear draining out of him as quickly as it had appeared. "I'm okay. I'm okay. The thing's green, not red, not orange, I'm fine, she's fine." The boy whispered to himself, seeming to completely forget that his grandfather was there. The boy's eyes slowly slid open again, gaze ponderous as he regarded the watch, idly running his fingers over the dial.
His considering look found his grandfather, seeming to weigh his options. Max didn't let it show, but that still filled him with unease. He was used to keeping secrets, not to his grandchildren keeping secrets from him.
He owed his family an apology whenever the truth came out; being in the dark when it came to people you loved was not a great feeling.
"Say, gramps," Ben started, cocking his head. "do you have any idea what's at the core of the watch?"
Well, that wasn't what he'd been expecting. Though he wasn't sure what it was that he had been expecting, really. "Not a clue." He told Ben honestly, and had to chuckle at the boy's grimace. "Why ask me?"
"Because Azmuth's not around, and you're the smartest person I know aside from him." The boy admitted with a sheepish grin.
"What about Gwen?"
"Her ego is already through the roof from beating me at mountain biking and the sparring match. If I stroke it any more, she's either going to explode or melt into a useless puddle of satisfaction. Either way, she's down the list until she cools off."
"Makes sense." The old man replied, dryly. It really didn't, but he'd stopped trying to keep up with Ben and Gwen months ago. Maybe he shouldn't have. But at least they were opening up again, if slowly. Still, they were calling more often and often dropped by the RV randomly for a chat. He'd missed that. He'd grown used to knowing the kids better than their parents did; not sitting around a table with said parents and speculating what the hell the youngsters were thinking. That way lay madness; or at least catty conversations between Sandra and Natalie.
"It's just," Ben interrupted his chain of thoughts. "it doesn't make sense! Not even Grey Matter gets it!"
"Slow down there, little man." Max said, holding up his hand. "Take it from the top. What's got you worried about the Omnitrix?" He hoped it wasn't anything serious. The last thing Ben needed was this thing getting out of control again; he was just starting to get a handle on it all, or a semblance thereof at least. From what Ben and Gwen had told Max, he could easily tell that Ben's relationship to his fears was much more about gritting his teeth and shoving them into submission than it was about actually dealing with them.
It was far from the worst way to deal with your fears, but it couldn't deal with a persistent anxiety like the one the boy was struggling with. Anger burned out, after all. And when Ben's did, there needed to be something else to keep him going.
He was very glad that they'd started therapy when they did. They might just be in time to build Ben a safety net before his stubborn anger gave out; but if the watch started acting up again, they might run out of time sooner than they had anticipated.
The boy, for his part, was looking at the watch, idly twisting the dial. Max watched his hands like a hawk in case they tensed to claw. "You know how Ghostfreak is sort of… I don't know, conscious in his DNA?" Ben tried. Max give him a rueful smile and beckoned him to continue. It was probably the best way they could put whatever the heck Ghostfreak was and did into words anyway.
"When I'm Ghostfreak, I can sorta do that too. Like, I just close my eyes," the boy did. "relax," he slumped against the seat. "and then my mind just takes me into the Omnitrix. Ghostfreak used that to put himself back together, and to force himself out when I wanted to transform into something else instead. I've been using it to just roam about in there, trying to figure it out."
Max didn't hide his shocked expression. Then he grinned, finding the way the boy blushed embarrassedly at the open admiration endearing. Give him praise for saving the world and he would boast and cheer, but give it to him because he did something clever as just Ben? I am going to call Gwen after he's gone, she's going to love hearing this.
"That's pretty clever of you, Ben. How do you understand what you're seeing in there, though?" Because clever as it was, and clever as Ben could be when he really tried, the very reason half the universe wanted the Omnitrix was because no one had figured out how to make another one, it was that complicated.
Ben shrugged, still blushing. "Ghostfreak has a decent memory. I just take short trips into the watch with him and then swap to Grey Matter to analyze what I've seen. But that's the thing-" Ben turned to the watch again, expression confused. "whenever I get to the core, I don't get it anymore."
Max eyed the boy with a wary expression, knowing full well that they were walking a dangerous line. Part of him wanted to tell Ben to leave it alone, to not wake a sleeping giant, but-
He sighed, earning him a confused look from Ben. His grandson would never leave it alone, and he'd rather have the boy feeling like he could talk this over with his grandfather than to go at it alone. And if the Omnitrix's self-destruct ever did turn on again, Ben needed all the knowledge of the watch they could get. There was no certainty that they'd find Azmuth again after all.
"How about this," Max pointed at the boy. "you go Ghostfreak, right now, dive into that watch, find the core, and describe it to me what you see." Ben was silent at his suggestion before facepalming.
"I can't believe I didn't think of that..." he grumbled before, in a flash of light, Ghostfreak sat across from Max. The creature still filled him with disquiet ever since that time it had with tried to kill Gwen and take over Ben's body, but they'd assured him that this was no longer the deal. And that Gwen would burn it alive if something like that happened again. She'd looked quite vicious when she asserted that, so much so that Max almost felt sorry for if it ever did turn out to be conscious DNA again...
Ben's lone eye glazed over and Max knew the boy had gone inward, making his way to the core.
Minutes ticked by as Max got up to make another cup of coffee, before he was snapped from his thoughts by Ben's raspy voice drifting through the air. Spinning around, he saw the boy's eye was still glazed, but the form was… tense, if an ethereal form like that could even be called that.
"I'm in a room." The boy reported. "Large, shaped like a ball. There are… doors, to all of places that hold the DNA of my aliens. Grey Matter figured out that whenever I transform, the DNA gets shot into the core at the center of the room along with instructions to transform me, and then it just does." Max didn't know how, but he somehow understood that the creature was frowning. "But Grey Matter knows it shouldn't do that, or shouldn't be able to, it breaks the laws of physics."
Max tapped his chin, leaning back against the counter. "Some of your alien forms don't exactly follow those laws either: both Ghostfreak and Heatblast have some magic in them to bend the rules just enough that they can exist. Maybe it's like that?"
Ben was silent again. Max waited patiently for him to resurface. He had no idea what the boy was doing in there, or if he could even hear Max, but he had time. And for now, Ben had too. He didn't need to leave for school yet.
"No." The boy decided, answering the question of whether he could hear Max. "It's like magic, but… rawer. Gwen's magic always feels… fleeting? Strong, but like it could be gone in a second, even when it's under my skin. This feels… primal. Absolute."
Max let that sink in, trying to soldier past the question of how Ben knew what Gwen's magic felt like under his skin, and felt a sense of dread well up in him. It couldn't be…
"Ben. What does the core look like?" He asked, knowing he sounded far to intense for the relaxed, analytic tone the conversation had had so far. Because if this was what Ben said it was, than that would explain how this thing waived natural laws like it was nothing and how the machine could simultaneously be a bomb strong enough to destroy the universe-
"Like a floating orb." The boy said, sounding surprised at Max's outburst. "Dark, except for the edge. The edge is white...ish." The ghost shook its head, seeming to start getting dizzy. "I can't look at it for long, it like… pushes at my brain. Can we stop?"
"Hold on just a little longer!" Max urged, moving over to lean onto the table, looking into Ben's unseeing eye. "Just two more things: describe the darkness of the orb, and the edge. Can you do that?"
The ghost bobbed its head, the closest approximation to a nod he could manage, seeming to struggle. "The void is- dark. But not empty; there's stars in it, but they're, they're not stars but more like the idea of stars, it's there, but also not-" The boy groaned.
Max reached out, grabbing the ghost's shoulder area. "And the edge? What sort of white is it? What do you feel when you look at it?"
"It's… white, at first, but when I look, I'm seeing shapes in it, of all sorts of colors, and they twist, like, like-"
With a flash of green Ben was himself again, seeming woozy and panting slightly. But looking back at Max like he hadn't looked in ages: like he was lost, and needed his grandfather's guidance, and like he wanted that guidance again.
"Grandpa…?" He asked, weakly, uncertainly. Max squeezed the boy's shoulder and smiled warmly.
"Well done, my boy." He praised, and the stunned expression the boy gave him, before it shifted into a slightly watery smile was just unfair, because how could Ben have gone so long on so little genuine appreciation? It made him sad just to think it. That ended today. "I think I know what we're dealing with thanks to that, but I'm going to brood on it for a while. You," He squeezed the boy's shoulder. "need to get to school."
For a moment Ben looked like he was about to protest, before the tension drained out of him. "Promise you'll get back to me about this?" He asked with a stern expression, pointing a finger at the man. Max quirked an amused brow at him.
"Promise you'll be back here tomorrow morning at six thirty sharp?" He returned, giving the boy a mischievous smile. Ben's own lit up the room more than the morning sun ever could.
"You know it!" He cheered, before jumping up and hugging his grandfather. Max chuckled, gleefully picking the boy up to crush him to his chest. Rather than be deterred, Ben just squeezed harder. "Is that all you got, old man? I'm not even hearing my spine pop! Gwen can do better than this."
"Ah, that's just because she's a pretty girl. They always do it better." He didn't need to see it to feel the boy's expression turn tender.
"Yeah, she is." Ben agreed when Max put him back down, before he startled. "I mean, for a dweeb!"
Max snickered. "Get to school, and do well, and I won't tell Gwen you called her pretty, deal?" That Gwen had referred to Ben as 'cute' more than once over the phone was not something he was going to tell the boy. He had that to hold over Gwen's head, after all.
"Deal! Later grandpa!" The boy waved before slinging his backpack over his shoulder, racing out the door with a red face before in a flash of green he zipped away. Max chuckled to himself. Yes, Ben might be getting a little too comfortable with Gwen being a girl, but it was still ridiculously cute. And they could handle a little cuddling and some blushing. If that's all it was, well. He'd seen way stranger things in his day. And if it was more...
Well. They'd deal with that, too.
His smile turned to a frown as he pressed a palm to his forehead, falling back onto the booth seat, sighing, his mind whirling with the implications of what Ben had told him. It shouldn't make sense, it shouldn't be possible, but…
"Azmuth, you absolute madman."
"Okay, divide by three, then put a zero behind the dot and that should give me the right answer aaaaand… nope. Drat." Ben flopped back into the grass, not caring that he'd get stains on his clothes. His jacket and cargo pants were both green-ish anyway. Bellwood was having a cold snap today, even if it was still nice in the sun. Plenty of kids were playing around in the schoolyard, and Ben kind of wanted to join them but…
He blew out a frustrated breath. He had a test on Friday and he was not ready at all. Groaning, he sat back, smacked himself in the face to wake up, and turned back to the book lying beside him with a glare.
The book did not look particularly intimidated. Ben cracked his knuckles. "You're going down, paper butt." Picking up the textbook, he flipped back to the page about the theory of this chapter, trying his best to absorb the knowledge (without much luck), but he was trying-
"What are you doing?!" Lizzie yelled in his ear.
Ben yelled and flopped back onto the ground, clutching his chest, heart hammering. "Don't do that, Lizzy!" He hissed, "I thought I was gonna have a heart attack!"
"But you didn't!" The cheerful girl chirped, sitting down next to him in the grass.
"It was close!"
"Oh c'mon, Ben, you know what they say: 'whatever doesn't kill you-'"
"-will try again later!" Ben snarked, sitting up, only to be smacked lightly on the head by Anna as she came up beside them.
"I'm quite sure that's not how that expression goes." The taller girl muttered sitting down on Ben's other side, munching on a sandwich. She gave him a meaningful look, even if it was still flat as a board. "You good, squirt?" Eyeing the bruises as well as likely noting his accelerated breathing.
What? Why wouldn't I-? Ah. Right. Breathing fast. Heart rate. They'd watched him enough to know the basics of that and he-
...wasn't bothered by it. He smiled. "I'm good, actually. Just startled. And the bruises are from a sparring match."
Anna shrugged, but she did have a faint smile on her face herself. "Just checking, little brawler. You wouldn't be the first person she's nearly killed by startling them. This weekend she snuck up on me while I was drinking tea. I swear, I saw my soul leave my body."
"Was it going up or down?"
"Okay listen here you cheeky little-"
"So what are you even doing?" Lizzie interrupted, picking up the textbook he'd left abandoned on the ground. "Math? During your break?" The brunette turned a heartbroken stare on Ben. "Please tell me you're not becoming a nerd! I thought you were better than this!" She cried, fake tears springing to her eyes. Ben hummed with approval. She's good. Gwen's better. So am I.
Ben wiped his own false tears. "Oh, I know, but it happens to the best of us. You'll have to carry the torch of dumbness in this friendship from now on."
"I will Ben, forever- wait, are you calling me stupid?!"
"Careful. It's learning."
"Riveting as this exchange is," Anna interrupted with a graceful roll of her eyes. "the question still stands. Why are you suddenly concerned enough with your grade average to study during your breaks?"
Ben cast his case to his lap, feeling a flush creep up his face. "Because I..." He muttered the rest, so low even he couldn't hear it. The girls leaned in close, giving him penetrating looks. He flushed deeper under the scrutiny. Oh for- "I wanna transfer to Gwen's school, you happy now?!" He squeaked out, grabbing the book back from Lizzie and burying his face in it. It did nothing to stop the sounds though.
"Oh my god, that is too cute!" Lizzie gushed, and he could feel rainbows and glitters radiating off her as she spoke.
"I just threw up in my mouth." Anna deadpanned from his other side, raising a hand to her mouth; though he could still see the grin she was trying to hide from the corner of his eye.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." Ben groused. "I know, wanting to be around my girlfriend. How dare I."
"Aww Ben," Lizzie said with a rueful smile as she glomped him from her side. "that's really sweet of you. So, how's it going?"
"...poorly. I hate books."
Anna snorted as she spun around and flopped back, laying her head down on Ben's thigh. The boy shifted the book out of the way so he could glare down at her. "Hey, that's 'Gwen-only' space." He warned.
"Are you going to kick me off?" The girl asked, giving him an alluring look. He scoffed. There was so little heat in that look, it was ridiculous. That was probably the only reason he was comfortable with the girls getting clingy; it was obvious even to him that there was nothing there.
"Why do I put up with you people?" He muttered, flopping back on the grass himself.
"Because," Lizzie said as she laid down her head on his abdomen. "without us, you're a shambling wreck of a boy with no social life."
Ben sighed. "Thanks, Lizzie. I feel so much better knowing that. By the way, if Gwen tries to kill you for this, I'm sitting back and laughing."
"Ah no worries short stack." Anna spoke up, eyes drifting shut in the warmth of the sun. "I have it on her authority that she's pretty secure about where she stands with you."
Huh. That was… sweet. He was glad that Gwen felt secure about their relationship (and every time he thought about that, he felt his stomach to a happy little flop). For his part, he'd never even considered not being secure in where he stood with Gwen, it was just kind of a given that they were going for it, all the more so since their date.
"So, do you need help?" Lizzie suggested, snapping him from his musings. "With the studying, I mean-" She gasped rolling over to gush in his face. "We could make a study group! We could all get into Gwen's school!" She gasped again. "I could violate her personal space everyday! Yes, so much yes! Let's do it!"
Ben couldn't contain a laugh at her enthusiasm. Anna snorted in amusement as well. "Easy tiger," she said, and Ben could feel the sardonic shake of her head. "we still have to pull it off."
"We can do it!" Lizzie rolled back onto her back and punched the empty air. "No stopping this train! We'll start this afternoon! After we destroy the Burger Shack!"
"Why would we want to…?"
"They forgot to put salt on her fries yesterday. She's salty about it."
"Ah. That's fair." Because really, at this point Ben figured that destroying a restaurant for poor service was just about the most normal thing in his life. "Sorry Lizzie, can't. I'm gonna meet aunt Nat after school. She's going to help me sort through… things."
He wasn't going to lie, the way Lizzie grabbed his hand to give it a quick squeeze was amazingly heartening. As was the approving tap that Anna gave his knee. "No Gwen today? You're a terrible boyfriend, Tennyson." The blonde teased.
Ben didn't care. "Her school ends a little later, but she'll come home soon enough. I'll see her then." Lizzie rolled around so she could look him in the eye, her face cutely mystified.
"'Home'? She lives with your aunt?"
...crapbaskets. "To us, home is wherever the other is." He explained and Lizzie squealed while Anna made gagging noises. Crisis averted.
Anna tapped his leg. "Hey, don't forget that you've got a Halloween party tonight."
"...was that tonight?"
"Beeeen..."
"No worries!" He clarified quickly. "I haven't got any plans. Plus, Gwen would never let me forget." Lizzie nodded enthusiastically.
"I can't wait to see your costume!" She gushed. Ben grinned, glancing at the Omnitrix. I can't wait either. They lay in silence for a few minutes and Ben just soaked up the warmth of the sun and the feeling of safety. Nothing made him feel safe and warm like Gwen did, but having these two nut jobs around to watch his back was great in its own way.
The school bell rang and Lizzie moaned in protest. "Aww man! I was just getting comfy."
"You're telling me." Anna yawned, stretching as she sat up. "I get why Gwen puts up with you, you're a great pillow."
"Are you saying I'm fat?"
"Well, I would say you have a muffin top, but that wouldn't be right." Anna rose, and looked down at him with a superior raise of her brow. "You got the whole bakery down there."
"Nuh-uh!" Lizzie protested, poking at his abdomen before standing up as well. "I felt the muscles. Not fat."
Okay, that got him a way to interested look from Anna. "Can we see them-?"
"Yeah no. Gwen would kill me." Or worse: withhold kisses. "Ask her."
"Oh I will." Anna purred, again with no real heat. The routine was pretty funny though.
Ben waved her off as he rose and packed his bag again, following the two girls back to school while exchanging insults and chattering about stupid things, and for a second, Ben could pretend that he was just a normal boy. No complicated family issues, no aliens, no magic and no messed up brain; just a boy that was having fun with his friends before he'd go off to visit his girlfriend's house and having a party later.
Before summer, he'd always wanted to be special. But feeling normal was pretty great in its own right.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone