Chapter 1: Mysterious Disappearance

Constant ringing interrupted her studying. She groaned and picked up her phone, mustering a tone of annoyance at the other end. If she failed her test, she was so blaming whoever was calling her."Hello?"

"Gwen is that you?" A voice asked with worry.

She frowned, "Yes it is.. who is this? Ben?"

"Ben.. you must come right away to Bellwood. There are terrible news!" It quickly said.

"First I want to know who this is? What happened to Ben?" She furthered.

"I apologize but there is not enough time to explain everything. Just bring yourself and Mr. Levin to Plumber Base immediately. Magister Tennyson will explain everything there. Hurry," The voice said and quickly hung up.

She froze at the dead line and shut her text book. What was happening to Ben? Where was Ben? Grabbing her phone again, she dialed Kevin's number and waited for him to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Kevin, pick me up now. We've got an emergency."

"When are they arriving?" Rook asked, tapping his foot impatiently.

Max sighed and scratched his head, "They should be here by now.. I wonder what's taking them so long."

"Grandpa Max?" Gwen yelled out, rushing to her worried grandpa. She wore a stressed expression and gave him a sad look, "What's happening? Where's Ben?"

"Who's he?" Kevin interrupted, pointing over to the Revonnahgander.

"That's Ben's new partner. He was the one that called you earlier on the phone," He shrugged off and sighed, "Ben's been kidnapped. We're not sure who took him but he's not home and we can't call him. We've tried to use his omnitrix to find him but nothing.. he's been missing for 3 days."

"3 days?! Why didn't you call me earlier?" She exclaimed.

Rook crossed his arms, "We had thought we had caught a lead on his whereabouts but unfortunately it was a false lead. That is when Magister Tennyson had recommended we contact you for assistance. You are an anodite correct? You can track his mana?"

"Y-Yeah," She stuttered, "But.. I tried that in the car. I couldn't locate his mana anywhere on earth. It's just.. gone."

Her grandpa put a hand on his forehead, trying to think of a plan to rescue his grandson. "Who could have taken him? Why would they need him?"

"It's Ben. Everyone always wants revenge on him.. unless he's..," Gwen whispered in horror, eyes widening. She backed up into Kevin and buried her head into his chest supportively.

"Let's not think about that. He can't be dead. He's not dead," He disagreed and turned over to Rook. "Weren't you watching him?"

The Revonnahgander shook his head, "I.. We had finished out patrol around Undertown. I had dropped him home and returned to my place. I had not contacted him the next morning because the day before he had said he would not be reporting to Plumber Base because he wanted to have the time of the families with his parents."

"Family time," Kevin corrected.

"And that was the last I had heard of him. When I went to investigate over at his house but when I had asked his parents on his location, they had assumed he had left towards Plumber Base. He had never arrived," He muttered, looking away. "It is my fault. If I had visited him the day before, he would not be missing."

Gwen sighed, "Don't blame yourself. We just gotta find him. Any leads? Can you trace any ships leaving earth?"

"I've tried already Gwen. We've found nothing. Ben's gone," Max shook his head.

"Ben's somewhere. He's to valuable to just kill you know," Kevin said, trying to state a point.

"We'll find him. Ben's too good to be missing this long."

2 years later..

"Get them out of here now! I will search for others," Rook yelled out to his crew. They nodded back at him and vanished into the fires. A loud blast from above his personnel and he rushed forwards, towards an area which didn't seem to get affected by the fires around the ship.

His crew and himself had been assigned to board the ship, which had been known to be one of the ships that kidnapped exotic aliens from their planets. There had been a large amount of kidnapped aliens, around 100, each locked up in a cell. They all looked skinny from the lack of food they received and utterly weak. They thankfully had broken into the ship and arrested the main crew controlling the ship. Until one of those fools had started the self destruction count down and forced the ship to explode.

He gasped out the smoke filling up his lungs and continuing running, looking for anymore aliens locked up. He had nearly passed by a cell, which contained a dark figure lying in the corner. For a split second, he had assumed it was dead, by the way it's chest never rose but he heard faint breathing inside.

"Hello?" He said quickly, knocking on the cell door. "Are you alright? We are here to help!"

The figure didn't answer but moved it's head towards the source of the sound.

"I am going to open the door," He informed and stuck out his Proto-Tool, which was charged up with electricity, and stabbed it into the control panel beside it.

The door opened with a beep and he smiled. Walking in, he could smell the scent of the putrid cell and wrinkled his nose in disgust. Clicking a button, the mask which created fresh oxygen covered his face, so that he could think properly. He bent down towards the alien and picked it up, not bothering to closely inspect the person he carried. He could hear more explosions from behind him and he darted out, towards the opposite way he had come.

"I have found another alien in the cell. I am running towards the opposite end of the ship," He yelled into his speaker, taking gasping breaths.

"Noted, prepared to board," Someone called back.

A ship appeared, it's opening already wide enough to fit the both of them. He jumped into the hanger, holding his victim tightly against his chest. A loud explosion pushed the ship back; everyone being spun around like a toy. As soon as the explosion ceased, the hanger fully closed and everyone sighed in relief.

"Who did you find?" Someone asked, walking up beside him. He was a wolf like alien, named Adam.

Rook allowed himself to release his victim and got up. "I am not sure. But I am sure he was the last one on board."

"...Rook. You.. You found Tennyson!" Adam said wide eyed.

Freezing, he glanced down at his feet, utterly shocked at what he was met with.

It was a skinny version of his partner but it was him alright. The familiar shaggy brown hair. The familiar face features. The beaten up omnitrix that was clearly printed on his wrist. This was Ben alright. But it seemed far from it. The boy looked white as a sheet, clearly shaking in fear and probably from how cold it was in the ship. His clothes were torn in several places and he was instead wearing his old brown pants, which had several rips and a grey shirt, which was oversized on his body.

"Ben," He whispered in shock. He had forgotten about his long lost partner. It had been 2 years since he had last saw him. They had gave up his search a year ago, everything pointing to his death. They couldn't locate him and nobody had last saw him.

He picked up the boy slightly but he remained unresponsive. He put his ear to his chest and was horrified at how cold and slow his heart was going, "We need medical attention stat!"

The medics assigned with their group, carefully picked up the boy and carried him to a nearby bed, hurrying to prep him up for IVs.

Rook glanced sadly at Ben's deathly looking form and put a hand to his face, "I must alert Magister Tennyson."

He hurried to a silent part of the ship, where he knew he wouldn't interrupted. Looking through his contacts in his Plumber Badge, he pressed on Magister Tennyson's number and waited for him to pick up.

"Rook? What's wrong?" Max asked.

"We found something when we boarded the alien ship. But I am not sure how you will react," He mumbled, glancing over to the end of the hallway.

"What is it?"

"We found.. We found Ben."

The phone remained silence for the longest of time before fake chuckling was heard, "Good one Rook. You must of taken a hit to the noggin."

"I am serious. We have found Ben. But he is not in the greatest conditions. He is severely thin from starvation and he has a very slow heartbeat. The medics are on him, trying their best to help," He informed softly. "I.. Are you alright?"

"..Fine. When are you arriving?" He asked.

"In about an hour," Rook said.

"Okay. See you then," The line died abruptly.

He lowered his badge and deposited it back into his pocket, reaching the medic bay. He found Ben once again in the same position but his clothes taken off, so that it showed his bear chest and legs, but the boxer still in place. Pulling up a chair, he watched them perform tasks around his body, injecting him with many syringes and using AEDs to assist him.

Rook stared, petrified at how many bruises littered his body, along with many blood dried cuts. He could still remember how young and innocent Ben was, always getting his way like he knew what was coming. After his disappearance, everything joyful ceased, always a constant reminder about Ben. Gwen and Kevin had stopped visiting and after finishing her degrees, decided to stay around campus with him. Max had become more demanding overtime, becoming stricter than his usual teaching skills. His parents had been hit the hardest with the loss; they had planned a funeral for Ben, which many millions had attended physically or through the television. It was one of the biggest events in history. And after it, had went through his belongings and decorated the house with his clothes, posters and medals over the years from being a hero. It had been a sad couple of months..

From then, he had been getting tougher. He had been working harder at Plumber Base that it had taken notice on everyone, including Magister Tennyson. But what had shattered it was when he had personally asked Rook if he wanted a partner.

Rook had spat that back in his face, saying he never wanted to replace his first fun partner of some stupid knock off. He didn't care if Max had forced him, it would of never happened. That's when he was assigned a team to order around, taking them on many missions, each one coming out victorious.

He didn't dare chose another partner; not only did it seem rude but it was like he wanted to forget about Ben if he had agreed; and he honestly didn't want to. He had learned so much from him.. human grammar, how to think out of the box and all the fun stories he used to share. He had promised himself never to eat chili fries or smoothies without Ben beside him again; it was only fair to keep a sacrifice for his missing partner.

He lost track of time eventually, Ben already making significant improvement. He had been given vitamins, which would boost everything needed in his body until he was at full strength. The doctors had quickly said, when arriving on earth, Ben would need much food in his system. He needed fat, salt, sugar, everything to push him back to normal.

When they had left, Ben was wrapped up in new clothes, a black shirt and a pair of used sweatpants from a nearby donor. His skin color was returning to a tannish color and now Rook was able to see his chest rise and fall with rhythm. He laid back in his seat, not knowing he had been tense when he was examining Ben.

The ship halted and the voice of the ship's captain brought him back. He glanced over to Ben and then the medics coming to assist him inside. He knew he couldn't do anything but see Magister Tennyson, who was no doubt waiting outside for either Rook or Ben.

As he slipped out of the ship's cargo bay, he found many Plumbers haling weapons inside, gossiping with other comrades, or just grabbing their vehicles and leaving for today. It was like ants around an ant farm when you accidentally stepped over their home.

He found Max standing alone in the middle of all the confusion, waiting patiently for someone to come to him. He saluted, "The mission was a success; we managed to save all the aliens that had been trapped inside and we have arrested some of the crooks running the business. And we found Ben. At the last minute. If I had not looked towards his way, his shadow, he would not be here thankfully."

"How's Ben?" He asked softly, glancing at the cargo bay.

"He was severely weak when I had grabbed him but he is making slow but rapid recovery," Rook smiled, "But he needs many vitamins and proteins to get him back to normal."

"Noted," His eyes turned towards the bay and watched as a stretcher was being rolled out. It was covered in a white sheet but you could easy pinpoint the brown hair falling out. Five medics surrounded him, telling others to get out of the way or holding the equipment necessary like IVs and heart monitors. One of them stopped, rushing to Rook and Max's side.

"Magister Tennyson! We're taking Ben Tennyson to the medical station upstairs for further examination. I'm afraid we don't know the full extent of the damages he's endured. You both are welcome to join us," He said quickly.

Max nodded, "We'll be right behind you. C'mon Rook."

They followed the medics back to their station, like a cat and mouse. Max watched carefully of the state of his grandson. He seemed alright but the IV's inside his arm didn't assure him so much.

As soon as they reached the station, they darted towards an empty room and quickly hooked him up to many various machines. Rook and Max watched as they did many activities, checking his vitals and his stability.

They finished in record time, analyzing everything and summing it up for both Plumbers to understand.

One doctor, named Dr. Hugele, went to both of them and glanced at his chart, "Ben's experienced malnutrition and severe dehydration. They didn't feed him so much on that ship and you were very lucky to save him at that time. If you hadn't, Ben would have died in a couple minutes. Checking on his dietary systems, he hadn't ate since 3 days ago. He was very weak and near death. But with enough food, he'll regain weight and muscle."

Rook sighed, "Good to know. Anything else?"

"Yes. There's multiple bruises around his chest, probably from being beaten. But no internal bleeding. And we couldn't help but notice a small little feature that frighten us. There's a large cut around his omnitrix arm, as if someone had tried to cut if off. The cuts were pretty deep but healed okay. But some muscles are torn and I'm afraid Ben won't be able to use his wrist to the full extent. But other than that, he's fine," He finished. "I can recommend some surgery for his hand, if you'd like."

Max rubbed his forehead, "Okay, how long would it take?"

"Maybe 2 hours. We need to be very careful or any move could cut off the omnitrix," He nodded. "Would you like it as soon as possible, or do you have a specified date you'd like to perform it."

He glanced towards Rook, "I think now would be a good time. He won't feel it."

"Agreed. This would be a fast and painless way for Ben," He said with a sigh.

"Very well. We'll set up everything for the surgery. I recommend you leave for this and later someone will bring you in to see him," He scribbled things down on his clipboard.

Rook stood up and tugged on Max's arm, who was glancing over at his pale grandson, "Let us go Magister. He will be fine."

When they had left the room, Max released a great sigh and pulled out his cell phone, "I'd better contact everyone and tell them what happened. Thank you Rook. For everything."

"It is my job sir," Rook just said before leaving towards his truck.

On the way, many people stopped him, wanting to know if Ben was truly back. And he answered every single question with yes. He pushed his way towards the vehicle bay and spotted his truck a couple yards away. He unlocked it and threw himself into the back, clicking a button so that a roll out bed would appear. Laying on it, he put a hand to his forehead.

2 freaking years Ben had been trapped on that cursed ship, roaming around planet to planet collecting precious aliens. He had been put to the limit, with no food for days and being locked up in a cell. And the fact that someone had tried to cut off his omnitrix arm sickened him. He felt utterly stupid. How did he not think of that stupid ship first? It was known throughout the galaxy as an alien poacher ship.

But there were many more ships like that in different galaxies nearby. And it would just keep kidnapping poor aliens from their homes.. just like Ben had been abducted.

The families that felt grief and pain he could now relate too. Having someone plucked away from your life without any explanation was the worst kind of torture.

But at least Ben had returned. Maybe things would return to normal.

"Rook! Get up here now!" Someone yelled through his badge.

He jerked up and examined his surroundings, realizing that he had taken a nap on his cot. Grabbing his weapons, he rushed upstairs, careful not to bump into any fellow Plumbers on the way up. He had slammed into the medic doors and then towards a room where screams were heard. Bursting through the door, he held his weapon towards the threat: Ben.

Rook froze and lowered his weapon, "B-Ben?"

But Ben wasn't in human form; he was instead Diamondhead, holding up his diamond-pointy hands at Rook and Magister Tennyson. "Don't touch me!" He blasted towards Rook but he spun his weapon around, creating a shield. Throwing himself towards a nearby flipped table, he cowered.

"What is wrong with him?" He asked, glancing angrily at Max.

He shrugged, "He woke up and panicked at the sight of me. He turned into Diamondhead and started to attack me. But thank goodness you're here. I was running out of tables to help me."

Rook glanced up but quickly dived down, to avoid being shot by crystals. "I think I can do something."

Taking a large breath, he darted towards the side of the wall and Ben began shooting at him, missing every time. Rook jumped onto the wall and kicked Ben down, slamming his hand on the omnitrix.

The diamond creature flashed green and reverted back to human. Ben shook in fear and pushed himself back, "Don't hurt me please! I didn't do anything. I swear!"

He cocked his head in confusion, "Ben. We are not going to hurt you. It is me, your old partner, Rook. And your grandpa. Remember?"

"G-Grandpa? No it can't be!" He held his head and turned away, "I haven't seen him in forever. This is a dream.. a nightmare."

"Ben, please just calm down," Max whispered, "It's us. You're back home. Safe. Just calm down."

Ben took shuddering breaths, but was able to calm himself. Rubbing his eyes, he studied his partner and grandpa, trying to make sure they were truly as they were saying. "Y-You.. I'm home? I'm h-home." He threw himself at Max and started to sob, "I.. I missed you so much. I.. I never thought I'd escape that place."

"What did they do to you?" Rook furthered with curiosity.

Tears threatened to fall as he sighed, "They locked me up in my cell, barely feeding me. If I went out of turn, they whipped me. Then.. then they strapped me on a table and started to.. s-saw through me. They were trying to r-remove my omnitrix and failed when it was electrocuting them. It was useless to try so they gave up and t-they didn't even help me recover. T-They dumped me in my cell and continued to starve me. The pain.. everything was hurting so much after that. I f-felt so weak.. so lifeless. I knew I had an infection in my arm.. but it was then when they gave me medicine.. they did that just to put me on auction at a higher price.. If it wasn't for that.. I'd be dead already."

Max glanced over at Rook and then propped Ben on the bed. He kissed his forehead, "Nobody's going to touch you. I promise. I should be thankful to whoever sent you that medicine but I don't feel like being thankful. I feel like the captains did that on purpose. I've heard enough of those ships to know what they do to their victims."

"And what do you suppose they do? Lower their energy so they can just push them back up?" Rook asked with a frown.

"No, I think it was because they were trying to sell Ben. Think about it Rook. You've done research on those kind of ships. They were only created to poach rare creatures and then sell it off to high bidders. Ben must of gained a bidder but lost him because of how terrible shape he was," He informed, "They gave him that medicine, hoping it would heal him back to normal. People wouldn't want to kill their victims, since that doesn't make money to run the ship and for themselves."

The Revonnahgander nodded, "I get it. But why would only one bidder want Ben? Would there not be thousands.. no offense." He glanced over at Ben.

The teen shrugged and chuckled halfheartedly, "I don't care.. as long as I'm not in that stupid prison anymore.."

Max rubbed his chin, "It's probably because Ben was a very expensive person to buy. He's probably worth more than all the money on earth. And the only bidder that rejected him probably wanted him as a slave."

"Can we stop talking about me like I'm not here," Ben interrupted, his eyes glancing over at both of them.

"Of course," Rook smiled and ruffled his hair. The teen playfully pushed him away and smirked.

"I missed you to partner. I hope you didn't get another partner while I was gone," He narrowed his eyes, pointing at the alien's chest.

He put his hands up, half offended, "I would never have gotten a new partner. Though your grandpa had insisted that I do; I refused every single time. I could not be assigned a new partner, it felt wrong. And just so you know, I have not consumed chili fries and smoothies while you were away."

Ben grinned, "Good to know. Now you wanna go get one? I haven't had anything decent in.. How many years was I gone?"

"Two years, I am afraid."

"Well I haven't had anything good in two years. Let's go," He exclaimed, jumping from the hospital bed and rushing out the door. Before he could even cross, he was grabbed and pulled back. Rook gave him a skeptical look and pointed over towards his clothes.

"I do not think you want to be noticed again wearing hospital clothes," He shook his head.

"That's why it's called having a locker.. I wonder if it's still mine," He mumbled, scratching his head.

Rook sighed, "You are thankful I forced them not to touch your belongings."

"Okay, it seems like you're settling fine. I'll see you later right?" Max asked, hugging his grandson. He could smell the stench of sweat, blood and vomit around him and he crinkled his nose in disgust, "And you'd better take a shower before you go. You haven't had one in two years correct?"

Ben sniffled himself and rolled his eyes back, "Yeah, you're right. Shower first. Smoothies later." He went to the bathroom in his room, which luckily had a shower as well. He locked the door behind him and stripped, examining his body which he hadn't seen in forever. He could see scars littered around his body and the faint trace of incisions around his omnitrix. He fingered his chest slowly, which held the largest scar unfortunately.

Pulling his mind away from the dark memories threatening to return, he opened the water and stepped inside, groaning at the warm contact. He could feel all the grime fall down his body and into the drain.

He had forgotten how his life was here. He had always taken things for granite, like his family and friends.. and just bragging about being the greatest hero in the universe.. when he couldn't even save himself from a stupid poacher ship. He should of contacted someone.. anyone when he saw that mysterious ship pop out from the sky. But no.. he had ignored how dangerous it would be getting close to it, and instead went for it by himself. He had deserved it anyways; Grandpa Max always told him family was important, no matter what.

Ben finally understood what he meant now.. to a certain degree.

Finishing up, he found his old.. yet new clothes on the counter, slightly dusty but from when he had stored it in his locker two years ago.

Two years.. he couldn't believe he had been gone that long. It felt shorter than that..

How had everyone changed? Had they changed dramatically since the last time he saw everyone? What happened to his parents? Gwen and Kevin?

A knock interrupted his thoughts, "Ben, your grandfather has contacted all your family members. They will all be here soon to see you again. If you are hungry, I can help you to the cafeteria or we can get the smoothies you wanted earlier."

Ben grinned, "Smoothies dude."

As they had traveled together for drinks, his grandpa worked on getting everyone to one single location; his parents, Gwen and Kevin, and friends, ready to explain everything that had happened the last couple of hours.

When Max had called up his parents, they had started screaming and the line went dead in seconds. And it wasn't even 10 minutes later, that they arrived at Plumber HQ, knocking on the door desperately. When spotting Ben, who showed up 15 minutes after they had arrived, they had showered him with affection and refused to let go when he had began to get uncomfortable. But when Max had continued explaining that Ben had been abused with scars and bruises, they had began sobbing uncontrollably.

Gwen and Kevin had arrived an hour after, also being shocked that Ben was alive all this time. Kevin had swore if he ever saw a ship like Rook had described, he would murder the captains and burn down the ship without a second though. Gwen just had shaken her head at that ridiculous idea.

Many other friends had arrived as well, each of them having the same reaction when they laid eyes on Ben.

Ester had freaked out, hugging the teen as hard as she could. Ben could have swore he felt his ribs break against all the pressure.

Julie had also come, since she and Ben used to be close friends after they had broken up. She had cried at the thought of Ben missing and had literally taken Ship off into space, hopefully trying to find something that would lure them to Ben's location. Which had unfortunately proven a failure like all the scanners had said.

Many other Plumber kids Ben recognized came as well but stayed a distance away, so that his family and close friends could chatter with him.

Ben shifted nervously at all the stares everyone gave him. He remembered liking being the center of attention until he realized this wasn't because of how a great hero he was; it was instead that he was still alive after two years of his untraceable disappearance.

His eyes roamed around the room and he kicked his feet in the air, trying to pull his mind away from the current situation.

"Ben?"

He turned towards his cousin, who have him a confused look, "You alright?"

"Huh?" He rubbed his eye, "Yeah, I'm fine. I.. I'm just not used to all this attention.. it's been two years ya know."

She sighed, taking a seat beside him, "I'm sorry about what happened to you. We really tried to find you. I tracked you with my mana, tried my time travel spells.. I just couldn't do anything that would work and bring you back safe. We couldn't track you if we tried. We even asked Azmuth to help find you.. and he didn't get a single thing. You just disappeared from the universe."

Ben chuckled to himself, "Yeah.. I was just trapped in a ship for an unaccountable amount of time. It was terrible in there. I.. I heard all the screams from everyone when they grabbed new people. Some of them recognized me and hoped I'd break them out.. only to find out that I couldn't. They chained my omnitrix and I couldn't even touch it without getting electrocuted."

"What's what they did to you right? Your wrist?" She pointed over to the scar beside the watch.

He nodded solemnly, "They.. they chained me to a table and tried to cut it off me. They didn't use anything to help numb the pain. Just tie me up and cut me up like a animal. I screamed for so long, I couldn't hear anything anymore. T-Those people are sick. Monsters. They just want money and sell us off for profit. They.."

"Ben that's enough. You don't need to explain if you don't want too," She interrupted quickly, sensing how stressed her cousin was getting.

He choked on his words and nodded.

"We're all here for you Ben," Julie added, walking up to him with a supportive smile.

Ben forced a smile back and shrugged, "I know. Thanks."

She punched his shoulder lightly, "It's what friends do right? If you need anything just call me. I'll be here for you. That reminds me, I have to go. I told my dad I wouldn't break curfew."

"Okay," He waved, "See you later."

It had started after her departure when more people had decided to leave; not that Ben could blame them. Soon it was just his parents, his cousin and Kevin, Max and Rook left. Later his parents left, persuaded by Max that he still needed time to adjust before he walked out in the public again. They reluctantly left with Max, after many kisses from Sandra.

Ben rubbed his cheek tenderly, "I think I'm going to bed.. I haven't slept anywhere good in years."

"Ben, before you go," Gwen stopped him, "Since your back.. me and Kevin are going to move back here. We're going to be leaving tomorrow to pack all our stuff and come back. We promised ourselves we'd come back when you were found again."

He smiled, "Nice to know everyone kept a promise for me. At least nobody forgot about me."

"Nobody can forget about you Ben. You've saved so many people; you're a hero you know. Plus your family and my favorite cousin," She grinned and kissed his cheek, "See you tomorrow."

Ben nodded softly and watched as they left. Kevin gave him a small wink but he ignored it, not caring for what the adolescent was going to do.

The Revonnahgander watched from distance at how Ben was reacting. This boy acted like Ben but he seemed off; no doubt from the days in the prison ship. They had put him through many emotional stages, it was impossible not to act different. Ben had seen things that wasn't human, he was subjected to many tests.. it was just wrong to think about.

Ben had changed no doubt.. not positively though.

"Ben."

The teen glanced over to his partner, "Yeah?"

"I know whatever you experienced on that ship was.. horrifying.. but I just want you to know that you are safe. Nobody is going to take you again, that I swear. I will not let you go through that again," He promised softly, strolling over to the boy.

He sighed, "You don't understand do you? I can't forget what I saw. They.. I haven't told any of you this.. but they killed so many people trying to detach the watch from my wrist. Then they resorted to removing it the old fashion way. I.. I had been so caught up trying to remember how to take it off but it was already to late. They killed innocent people who had been captured longer than me. And.. they told me they'd let them go back home if I could just take it off. But I couldn't! I.. I couldn't save them.."

"It is alright, it's not you-"

"Don't say it wasn't my fault! It was my fault. I killed them all. If I could only remove it, they'd be alive with their families. It's not fair that I escaped and they had to lose their lives to just get a chance out," He sobbed, collapsing on Rook's shoulder. "It's all my fault. I could have saved them!"

He gently stroked the boy's back, trying to find a way that he would stop crying. But he just continued to be a sad mess, balling all over his partner. It was until he heard the boy let up slightly when he pushed him away gently.

"It is alright. Everything will be fine. I promise."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

New story. I feel like this one's gonna be a keeper. Comments? Opinions? I'd like some feedback on how this story is rolling. Any criticisms good for me.

~Tortoro15