Ben 10: The Secrets of Love

(A Ben: 10 BenXGwen Fanfiction)

Chapter One: Sacrifice

"I DON'T CARE!" Ben growled in response to two aliens, Tetrax and Myaxx, screaming at him to not activate the Omnitrix again for fear of speeding up the device's self-destruct countdown. As the green glow of the transformation dissipated, Four Arms started pounding on the hatch with all his strength as Ben kept yelling, "It should've been me!" The boy kept pounding on the hatch in absolute fury as anger, guilt, sadness, pain, and a fifth emotion Ben couldn't identify coursed through Ben's mind. He felt the release of a buried emotion that started to flicker to life on dance floor in the Rustbucket as he and Gwen slowly twirled around the space in happiness. Of course, that spark was smothered when Grandpa Max came in. Then, Vilgax and Kevin tag teamed him in The Null Void. That same feeling flickered to life when he saw them use Gwen as a bargaining chip for the Omnitrix and sustained itself even as Ben buried it under boyish arrogance. Now that she was gone, the buried emotion burst out in the roaring fire of that one statement. He only stopped when the teal crystalline alien, Tetrax, put a hand on the boy's shoulder. As the Omnitrix timed out, Ben sank to his knees in defeat. "It's all my fault, Tetrax. If I would have listened to Grandpa instead of trying to go after Animo…Gwen would still be alive." Tetrax felt for the boy, but in life, lessons sometimes must be learned the hard way. "Let's finish what Gwen gave her life trying to achieve." The Petrosapien said to Ben calmly as Ben looked at him, got on a hover board and nodded without a word.

As they rode, Tetrax noticed a change in Ben. The normally energetic and eager boy was quiet and reserved. This worried Tetrax, but the alien didn't press the issue because he knew it would do little besides anger the boy in his grief-stricken state. Once they got to the door of Azimuth's lab, a camera met them and seemed to focus on Ben. "What are you doing here?" A voice from the other side of the door growled. "We need you to fix the Omnitrix." Ben said calmly. "I know about the Self-Destruct Mode. I built it after all." Ben glared at the camera. "My cousin died to get me here, and you will help us." Ben growled. "What are you going to do to make me?" Ben couldn't take it any longer. With a glare of hate aimed at the door, Ben activated the Omnitrix, went Cannonbolt, and slammed into the door repeatedly until it gave. As the door fell over, the large creature looked at the boy, shocked. "This is not possible!" Cannonbolt smirked momentarily. Then, his mouth formed into a scowl. "Fix the Watch now!" Ben growled in as warning tone. "I say let the Universe be destroyed." The Creator said calmly. Before Ben knew what he was saying, he spat out something that shocked all in the room. "Fine…" He began to cry as he closed his eyes and squeezed the tears out. "…my universe has already been destroyed."

The Creator stopped in his tracks at that statement. "What do you mean?" He asked. "What do you care?" Ben snapped at him as he glared with dead eyes. Azmuth looked at the boy before he got out of the suit. Ben glared at the Galvan and picked him up. "You're a self-righteous, pretentious midget!" Ben growled. "I won't let her death be in vain!" Ben growled as he took the Omnitrix dial and twisted it around back and forth angrily. Azmuth stared in shock at the young boy as Ben unconsciously put the unlock combination of the Omnitrix. When the dial popped out of its base and rolled to Azmuth, the Galvan stared at the core in mild shock. "Keep it!" Ben growled as he glared at the Galvin in a fog of anger.

The diminutive grey frog studied Ben as the boy glared at him. The Galvan sniffed the air and picked up a faint trace of alien pheromones from the boy. Interesting… The Galvan thought as he took a few hairs from the boy and stored them in his suit for analysis. When the suit gave Azmuth a readout of the boy's DNA over his neural link with the machine, he smiled. I guess that Loboan in New Mexico does have quite a bite. He thought as he had the suit run more tests. Tests showed that the boy's DNA was changing. Having been able to fallow the boy's exploits and "suggest" aliens for him at appropriate times through his Omnitrix, Azmuth theorized that the Loboan alien DNA in its saliva was fused with Ben's when the Omnitrix encountered the foreign DNAas it recollected the Florauna sample back into itself. The mix of "Capture" and "Active" modes that facilitated the change then, had no effect now. The boy would become half Loboan.

As Ben walked out of the lab, an explosion outside of the fortress rocked them and Ben heard a familiar whine. "Vilgax…" Ben growled as he shouldered a blaster and marched out to the battlefield. As Ben, Myaxx, and Tetrax battled Vilgax's drones, Ben let out his anger on the drones and stated blasting away. Little did he know, as he ran, Ben's body began to shift. It became more muscular and faster. Soon, Ben through the blaster aside and started ripping into the drones with bare…claws?! Ben's mind was too focused on trying to take down the robots to notice, but Vilgax wasn't so single-minded. He smirked at the weak child's new form. "Crush the boy!" The Warlord ordered with a cold and deadly stare. Two larger drones walked up to the boy while the smaller drones kept his occupied. Ben heard a drone's power up and flinched as he expected the blast to vaporize him. Instead, Ben saw two blue orbs of energy demolish the drone heads. Ben looked on in shock as he thought Blue orbs…can it be? Hope dared to spring up in Ben as theboy looked to a cliff and saw the moist beautiful sight in his life. There, with a light smile on her face as she stood by Gluto, was Gwen Tennyson!

Time seemed to freeze as Ben sprinted to Gwen. The boy's eyes filled with happy tears as he raced across the raging battle to her. As Ben closed the gap to Gwen, his wolfish form retreated with Ben unaware the change ever occurred. When his arms wrapped around her, the distraught boy kissed Gwen on the lips and was shocked when Gwen didn't pull away but instead wrapped her arms around him in a tinder embrace. Ben broke the kiss suddenly when he heard something small land beside him. "You'll need this, kid. I don't think your girlfriend would appreciate it if I let you come home to your Grandfather in a body bag." Gwen shivered at the thought. "Are you saying all I had to do is pop the core back in once it was out?!" Azmuth smirked. "The energy in the core would have to dissipate first, but yeah, that's basically what would have to be done." Ben glared at the Galvan. "You jerk!" Ben yelled.

As Ben readied his baseball arm to throw Azmuth across the valley, the sound of large metal footsteps marched up to the trio. Azmuth smiled. "So, the fabled creator of the Omnitrix is really a Galvan?" He laughed darkly. "Yes, you little genius, you will build me an even more powerful device.' Azmuth twisted the Omnitrix dial until it showed the silhouette of an alien Ben had never seen before. "Oh, yeah?" Azmuth said with a smile. "Try this one on for size, kid." Ben nodded and slammed the dial down. When Ben opened his eyes, he was a giant white and red humanoid creature. He chuckled. It sounded deep and slightly threatening. The formerly towering drones now looked like toys from Ben's new prospective. He smashed them together and rolled them into a giant ball. Then, he threw the ball of scrap metal at a flying drone. The drone was crushed to pieces by the impact. A pair of drones tried to attack Ben next. As Ben raised his hands in a defensive position, a beam of blue light shot from his wrists and destroyed the drones.

With a yell of fury, Vilgax leaped onto Ben's Tuko'star and began clawing his way up Ben's body. "I SHALL NOT BE DENIED MY PRIZE BY SOME PUNY EARTHLING CHILD!" Vilgax yelled as he continued to climb up Ben's body. The hide on this new alien was so thick, Ben felt as if gnats were biting his legs until he saw Vilgax. The boy's eyes narrowed, and Ben picked up Vilgax who felt like a feather to him. Vilgax struggled against Ben's grip and got a clawed hand free. He then slammed his claws into Ben's massive hand. All that did was piss Ben off. He pulled Vilgax up to eye level and snarled in an animalistic fashion. Vilgax looked at the giant in shock as he began to squeeze Vilgax. Once the warlord stopped trying to struggle out of Ben's grip, Ben wound his arm up like he was at pitcher's mound and let Vilgax fly as if he were a fastball. "You are OUT!" Ben said as he made the umpire motions to go along with the call.

As the Watch timed out and after the giant red flash faded, Gwen tackled Ben in a hug. He smiled at the gesture and hugged her back, unable or willing to let go until Ben knew she wasn't a dream. "If I'm dreaming, don't wake me up." Gwen giggled at Ben's comment. "I didn't know you were such a softy, Doofus." Ben smiled at her. Then, he looked away from her, put his right hand over his heart, covered his eyes with the back of his left hand, and tried to do his best imitation of Shakespeare. "Oh, fair Juliet, you do wound me so!" He told her as he grimaced in mock pain. The playing instantly stopped when Ben had a flashback of Gwen as she was taken by the wild Florauna. Gwen noticed the glazed look in Ben's eyes and pulled him into a tight hug until the flashback ended. "It's ok, Ben," she whispered gently into his ear.

Once Ben was recovered from the flashback, Tetrax walked over. "Your Grandfather will start to worry soon. We should start heading back." Ben and Gwen nodded at Tetrax who seemed perplexed at the children's new proximity to each other considering Ben hoped originally to travel into space without his cousin but waved it off as a human thing. Once they got into his ship and headed back to Earth, fear started to rise in both their minds, What will we tell Grandpa?! They thought in unison, completely unaware of the other's thoughts. Tetrax noticed the children's worried expressions and smiled as the realization hit him like a ton of Tadenite. "Max will understand." He said calmly. "Your bond is hard to miss."

Please Read and Review