Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

(A/N: This fic is a sequel to one of my other Ben 10 fics, "Branch". Which is in turn a sequel to one of my other Ben 10 fics, "Growth", which is in turn a sequel to another Ben 10 fic "Roots", which is the sequel to my first Ben 10 fic, "Thorns". I do recommend reading at least one of them first as they all take place along a fanon AU and are a mix of several different series canons. It will make much more sense to you if you read them in order. However, each story is also its own self-contained adventure -rather like episodes in a series. So you can still pick and choose ones to read and -hopefully- not be too confused. Anyway, you have been warned. Enjoy!)

(A/N2: This fic is gonna be weird. I mean, like, really weird. Ever seen the anime "Revolutionary Girl Utena"? Its literally that exact same weird. Specifically season two, the Black Roses arc level of weird. The answer to all of life's problems is to kill the Rose Bride. That's not a spoiler, its a warning. If you still wanna read, then have fun!)

(A/N3: This fic is FULLY ILLUSTRATED on AO3.)

Rose

Prologue:

Five Years Ago...

Gawky and uncoordinated, Devlin was still trying to get used to his new, skinny, human legs. His body felt unbalanced without wings or a tail on his back -he was always falling forward, scraping the softer, thinner skin of his human knees. He felt weaker with only two arms, and was able to do fewer things at once.

When two boys from Devlin and Kenny's class took his backpack from him after school, the young Osmosian had trouble getting it back.

They tossed it between each other, playing a game they called 'Keep Away', but Devlin wasn't having fun. He would run to the one that had the backpack, but just as he got close, he would throw the pack to his friend. The Osmosian was smart and caught on quickly, instead of going after the boys themselves, he tried jumping to catch the backpack mid-toss. Except that he wasn't as fast on his human feet, couldn't jump as high with his skinny legs, was off balance without his wings and tail, and ended up missing his landings. Falling flat on his face.

The game ended when they grew board threw the backpack in the trash.

Devlin climbed into the dumpster after it, and they slammed the lid shut on him.

That was when Kenny showed up with the brand new Omnitrix his father gave him for his tenth birthday. He blocked the bullies path, glaring at them, green eyes blazing. "Where's Devlin!?"

Exchanging a look the two bullies decided they were not intimidated by the other boy and smirked at him. "We were just helping Baby 11,000 take out the trash."

His green eyes shifted from the two boys to the large dumpster behind them. The dumpster with its lid firmly shut. "You didn't!"

Overcome with rage, Kenny didn't care what alien his new faux-Omnitrix gave him. He slammed his palm down on the watch face. There was a flash of green light and where there once had been standing an angry ten-year-old there was now a large and pissed off Tetramand.

"Four-Arms!" Picking up each bully with one of his four thick red hands, Kenny brought the boys close to his face so that he could glare at them with all four of his sharp oval eyes. "You threw my cousin in the trash!"

"We didn't throw him!" One boy attempted to explain, voice shaking with nerves. They might not have been intimidated before, after all, there was two of them and only one of Kenny. But that was before Kenny turned into a large, multiple limbed, muscular alien that was perfectly capable of ripping them apart. "He climbed in on his own!"

Kenny shook the one that had spoken, focussing the full attention of his multiple eyes on him. "Why would he climb into the trash?"

"We-" the bully hesitated. What would the changling do to him? He wouldn't kill him, right? Kevin 11,000 was the one that killed people. Ben 10,000 was a hero, protector, savior -a superhero- and Kenny was Ben 10,000's son. He wouldn't kill them. He would really even hurt them very much... right? "We threw his backpack in there."

"You what!?" Roared the Tetramand.

"He did it!" The one that hadn't spoken yet jabbed an accusatory finger at the firs talker. "Then he closed the lid on him!"

"What!?" The Tetramand roared again.

Kenny didn't know what to think. He knew Devlin was being bullied. He was skinny and awkward. He didn't walk quite right yet, was always tripping over his own feet and falling over. Was pale and skinny. And kept his hair long to the point where he sometimes looked like a girl. But recently, people had also started taunting him about his last name.

Levin.

They were starting a unit on recent events in their history class and one of their texbooks mentioned a terrorist named Kevin Levin. Devlin's dad was also named 'Kevin Levin', so everyone decided that he was the son of the evil Kevin 11,000 their textbooks talked about. All of the teasing Devlin was already enduring seemed to multiply exponentially after that.

The frightening thing was that it was true. Devlin's dad really was Kevin 11,000. But that shouldn't matter because Devlin had never met the man. He was sent to the Null Void when Devlin was still just an infant. Only eleven weeks old and to young to remember his father. The other kids had no right to punish him for the bad things his father did. They had no right to torture him or lock him dumpsters because he happened to be the son of a bad guy.

Four eyes narrowing, Kenny glared at the two boys he held. They were the worst of Devlin's bullies, but there were others.

"Now you listen to me." He growled. "It doesn't matter who Devlin's dad is or isn't. Devlin is my cousin. He lives with me. You mess with him, you are messing with me! Do you wanna mess with me?"

Both boys gulped hard, their eyes drifting from Kenny's smoldering eyes to his rippling Tetramand muscles. No. They did not want to mess with a kid that could turn into that -or anything else for that matter. They both nodded as best they could with Kenny holding them by the fronts of their shirts.

"We'll stop." They promised.

"Good." Kenny let them go. "And make sure everyone else who's been bothering Dev knows."

"We will." They promised again -and ran away.

It was a good thing they ran away when they did too. Because the faux-Omnitrix timed out just then. Kenny would not have been able to keep up his intimidation.

Turning his attention to the dumpster that held his cousin, Kenny pulled a box over to it so that he could climb up enough to lift the lid. Devlin was inside. His backpack was in there too, but the Osmosian wasn't paying attention to it. He was curled up in a ball, resting in a nest of discarded paints and papers from the art classroom, all in shades of green. They must have been attempting to teach landscapes, but the crumpled papers looked more like a bed of green roses.

"Dev...?" Kenny ventured, unsure. "Are you okay?"

For a moment the younger boy wondered whether or not his cousin heard him.

Then the Osmosian curled up tighter, burying his face in the crumpled green paper.

"I wish I could die." He informed the garbage in which he lay. "I wish I was never born."

"You don't mean that." Kenny told him firmly. He threw the lid all the way open and reached a hand in to help his cousin out. Devlin just had to reach back. "Give me your hand. I'll pull you out."

But the Osmosian didn't move. He just laid there, curled up in the fetal position. Not crying over his misfortune. Just motionless.

"Dev, give me your hand." Kenny said again.

"Why bother?" Devlin eventually asked. "You heard Great-grandpa Max. The 'Kevin' from history class is the same Kevin that's my dad. My dad's a bad guy. I'm a bad guy."

"That's not true." Insisted the younger boy. "You're Devlin. You're my cousin. We live together. We're kinda like brothers. You don't have to be a bad guy if you don't want to. If anyone ever tries to hurt you again because of who your dad is, tell me! I'll protect you. I'll grow up and be a Hero one day so I can be your protector, Dev! Now give me your hand!"

…

Once upon a time, there were two Princes that lived in a tower above the city.

One day, while the Princes were at their lessons, the older one was attacked but there was no Hero around to save him. So, the younger one vowed that when he grew up the Prince would become a Hero himself one day.

…