A/N: Thank you, Wolfone10, for your comment. I had a bit of writers block, so I was very hesitant, but because of you, I decided to push myself. Lesson learned: If you want me to update my stories, COMMENT! I'm very forgetful.

Also, I got a message from someone named "Liz". She said she didn't understand the story, but didn't specify what she didn't understand. She must have not signed in, because I couldn't reply to her. If any of you guys have trouble understanding the story, can you notify me? Thanks.

Chapter 10: Shades of Blue

Ben was oddly quiet the next day. Gwen longed to know what was bothering him, but had to respect his privacy. Well, that, and whenever she would try to ask him what it was, she would basically tell her to bug off. But something was bothering her:

"Ben's keeping secrets from us."

Kevin, who was driving her to lunch, didn't take his eyes from the road. "I know," he said. "Did you try looking the girls up?" Gwen had told him about Annie and Tiffany.

"No," she replied honestly. "But I will as soon as I get home."

"What do you think that Tiffany girl did?"

"I don't know. He said that what she did was unforgivable. Maybe they dated and she cheated on him?"

"That's probably it. What about Annie?"

"They were talking about reincarnation, so she probably died."

"And you've never heard of either of them?"

"No." Gwen furrowed her eyebrows. "Ben obviously knew them, but why wouldn't he tell us about them? Why would he want to keep them from us?"

Kevin pulled over in front of an Ihop.

"Dunno," Kevin said. "But we can worry about it over lunch."

Unfortunately, the two barely made it out of the car when they saw the building being evacuated in a less than orderly manner. Dreams of a normal meal shattered, the two jumped into action, running inside the building. They weren't expecting what they found.

Inside, the place was deserted, all for a young woman maybe a year older than Kevin. She was crying over a table in a booth.

The duo ran over to her. "Are you alright?" Gwen asked. Then they looked what had been lying on the table.

On the table, there was one of the most hideous, odd, asymmetrical aliens they had ever seen— which, needless to say, was a feat. His head was an upside down tear drop. His nose was flat and almost nonexistent. One of the nostrils flared constantly, while the other seemed useless. His blue iris seemed too vivid, and the whites of his single eye were red, as if from crying. His mouth could only be properly opened by one side, as the other side was held together by a piece of skin. His neck seemed too long and thin to fully support his head. His torso was shaped oddly, as if he had a pointed back, and his torso was placed in third quarter instead of forward. One of his arms sprouted upwards from his back. The hand had four fingers, which included an overly large thumb. He only had three yellow nails on that hand, and each one was different—one of them was a claw, even. He had no other arm, just a six-fingered hand protruding from his side. There were no nails on that hand. He had a shoulder on his chest, but no arm. His left leg— which was about half his torso's height— and foot had no noticeable joints. There was one massive jade claw emerging from his foot. The other leg, however, was twice his size, had two knees, and three toes that seemed to have no bones, as they were lolling about like spaghetti.

The worst part about the creature, however, was not its appearance but the sadness that radiated from the obviously crippled creature.

"You- do you know…" The woman sniffled, "B-Ben Tennyson?"

"Yes," Gwen replied, heartbroken by the scene. "He's my cousin. What happened?"

"You know him?" She asked, hope emerging from her eyes. "Could you take me to him?"

"Of course we can. Can we carry him to the car?" Gwen gestured towards the creature.

"Ray? Of course, just be wary of his neck and right leg… and," She wiped her nose with a napkin, "thank you. Thank you, so much."

As Kevin carried Ray to the backseat of his car, the young woman explained her situation.

"My name is Madeline," She said. "Call me Maddie. My father is a plumber, and I myself am graduating from the academy in a few months." She paused to weep.

"It's okay," Gwen reassured the woman, patting her on the back.

Ray had been placed in the backseat, and Maddie sat at his side. "We were on a field mission with our commander to an unregistered planet. It was previously thought to be uninhabited, but locals in the galaxy began to have sightings of grey creatures wandering about on the planet. We were there to see if this was true. What we found were the Raudnits, a new primitive race of level-1 technology. We were ordered not to disturb them until the plumber reinforcements came. I would have obeyed, but then I found him." She wept again, and then continued under Gwen's encouragement. "I had found a woman of this race. She told me that her son was going to be killed by her tribe and that she needed my help. You see, this race killed all of their crippled and deformed. Some families are able to keep their deformed children a secret, but they are always discovered. She told me to take her son, Ray, and go far away from there. At first, I didn't know where to go, and then I remembered Ben Tennyson. I waited a few days with Ray for the right opportunity to leave, and then I teleported to Earth." She blushed. "Although, I might've missed, because I didn't want to land on a table at a restaurant. The people there were so surprised; they ran away before they could see that nothing was wrong." She gave a weak chuckle, and then began to cry again. "I've started a war," She murmured, "because I took him."

"You did the right thing," Gwen argued. "Ray doesn't deserve to die just because he was born the way he was. You saved an innocent life."

She sniffled. "Thank you," She said. "Ray and I have become good friends. He's more than just physical deformities. On the inside, he's really bright, and creative, and funny. I couldn't do without him."

Gwen smiled. Maddie was much more heroic than she believed. She had done a great thing. "We might even be able to make him better," She said.

"Maybe just for his mouth," she said. "So he could talk better. But we both like him the way he is. It's what makes Ray… Ray."

"That's wonderful," Gwen said. "It's amazing how friendships can become so strong that appearance only strengthens bonds." She looked at Kevin. "I know what it's like."

"What, you're saying I'm ugly?" Kevin joked, pulling over in front of Gwen's house.

Ben was in his new room, the old guest room, the lights off and curtains shut. There were many things on his mind. Tiffany, Annie, Pan, Yieropia, Sandra and Carl (he didn't know who he should be calling his "parents"), but most of all, Bronchite. Oddly enough, it wasn't because the man had killed the people he had known as his parents for most of his life. It was because the name was beginning to sound disturbingly familiar. It began when he first associated the name with the people who raised him. Something about his childhood… and the color of Bronchite's legs during one of the visions of his father's life was oddly familiar… and… he was beginning to remember… something about a box… many sad children, and animals, several animals… yes, he almost had it—

"Ben!" Gwen called.

Just like that, he lost it.

Ben sat up in his bed, disgruntled.

"What?" He yelled.

"Get down here!" She yelled urgently.

Ben caught the urgency in her voice and did his best to rid himself of his anger. He could go back to the memories another day, though he couldn't ignore a sense that the memories were important.

"I'm here," He said, running down the stairs. "What's—?" He stopped when he noticed the woman and the alien. "Who are they?" Ben asked. Gwen and Kevin filled him in on their situation.

Ben walked up to the woman. "You did the right thing, Maddie. I'll make sure you don't get into any trouble."

"What if there's a war?" Maddie asked nervously. "What if the Raudnits want to fight us?"

Ben smiled. "Don't worry. I've stopped bigger wars." He began to fiddle with his Ultimatrix. "I'll call Plumbers Academy and tell them where you are. They'll excuse you for what you did; I'll make sure of that."

"Thank you," Maddie said sincerely.

Ben continued to fiddle for a bit, and then frowned.

"What's wrong?" Gwen asked.

"It's not working," Ben said, perplexed. "Kevin, try your plumber's badge."

Kevin took out his badge and attempted to call the plumbers. After a moment, he narrowed his eyes. "My badge isn't letting me call them."

"Mine either," Gwen said, not needing to be asked to attempt a call herself. "This doesn't make sense. All its other functions work fine."

Ben turned to their guest. "I'm sorry, Maddie. We'll defiantly call them, but we can't right now."

"Oh, no," Maddie said worriedly. "When can you get it working again?"

"As soon as possible, I promise." The brunette turned to his cousin. "Gwen, call Grandpa Max. I'll find somewhere Ray and Maddie can stay while they're here."

"Can it be here?" Maddie asked urgently. "I came all this way for your help. I don't want to be far."

"Of course," Gwen said. "There's another guest room upstairs."

"C'mon," Ben said, urging Maddie forward. He transformed into Goop to make transporting Ray easier, then the trio disappeared upstairs.

"I could've carried him," Kevin pointed out to no one in particular.

"That's great, Kevin," Gwen said. She took out her phone and dialed her Grandfather's number. She held it to her ear for a beat, and then said, "What?"

"What's wrong?" Kevin asked her.

She examined her phone. "My cell's not working, either. What's going on?"

"Maybe your house is a dead zone," Kevin pointed out.

She shot him a look. "Kevin, be serious—!"

Before Kevin could argue that he was being serious, Ben came back down.

"That was fast," Gwen noted.

"They're good," he claimed, ignoring his cousin. "They're trying to get some sleep, so they don't want us to bother them."

"Good," said Kevin. "Now we can go to your Grandpas place without them knowing."

"Kevin!" Gwen yelled.

"No, we need his help," Ben interjected. "And I'm going to guess you weren't able to call him."

Gwen's eyes furrowed in concern; his cousin had gotten very serious all of a sudden. "Ben, is there something wrong?"

"No," He said in a more relaxed fashion. "It's just… they need us, you know?"

"Oh… alright," Gwen said, weary about her cousin's moodiness. "Let's go."

After having told Max Tennyson of their situation and learning that he had never heard of the new race, Gwen and Ben came back around twenty minutes later. To their disappointment, it seemed that Max's communication lines weren't working either. Kevin had agreed to drop them off at their house and work in his garage to see what was wrong with the badges. Max had wanted to say hello to the new plumber and crippled alien, though he also had to ask a few questions. However, Ben told him that he had to fix his communication lines before he did anything else. He told him all the information on Maddie and Ray he needed and left rather hastily.

On the way home, Gwen sat in the back seat with her cousin.

"Ben," she said seriously, "are you sure you're okay?"

"Why?" Ben asked irritably.

"You're acting really serious. You were kind of harsh to Grandpa back there."

Ben narrowed his eyes at her, and then frowned sadly. "I'm sorry." He stared straight. "It's just…" he paused. Then he said quietly, "I still miss them."

He means his parents, she realized. Gwen put a hand on his arm. "Ben, I'm sorry. I didn't realize…"

"It's not your fault," Ben assured her. "You never really get over someone dying. One moment I can be fine, but the next…"

Gwen hugged her cousin. "Well, at least it was an accident. They didn't die because of some alien that hated you. Even if it had been, it still wouldn't have been your fault."

She felt him stiffen slightly, accompanied by what sounded like a small whimper, and then he relaxed. She pulled away to see what had caused the sudden movement. His eyes were red and he was smiling sadly.

"Ben?" Gwen was saying, voice full of concern. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"You were right," he said in response. "Nothing's my fault."

Gwen narrowed her eyes. "Did someone—?"

Kevin pulled over quietly, as if he could hide the fact that they had arrived. But Ben was in no apparent mood to talk.

"I'll see you later, Kevin," Ben said hurriedly, then exited the car. Gwen slid over and jogged after him.

"Ben…" Gwen was saying as they entered the house, "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

He turned to her. He was quiet for a long time, but finally he said, "I'm not sure if I can."

Gwen's eyes furrowed. "What do you mean?"

He looked at her in a miserable way. Then, suddenly, his lips curled into a sinister smile. Gwen never could've been able to imagine the expression on her cousin's face if she had been asked before this; it was so disturbing she actually had trouble looking at him directly.

"He's been keeping secrets from you," he whispered. "Big ones; things you can't even comprehend."

As soon as she realized what was happening, Gwen went straight into action. She stood in a basic karate stance, forming energy discs around her fists.

"Who are you?" She demanded. "What have you done with my cousin?"

The hero look-alike chuckled coldly. "Gwendolyn. You let some strangers into your home after hearing a soppy sad story that conveniently couldn't be proven, and left them alone with your cousin. Immediately afterword he begins acting strangely and you wonder why? Come now, Gwendolyn. I've seen what you've done around Ben in the past—I know you're not this stupid." At that moment, his eyes flashed and became blue. A greyish, dull, familiar shade of blue….

"Ray?" Gwen breathed.

"It's the Raider, sweetie," he corrected her. "That is, the mind Raider."

"What are you doing inside my cousin?" She asked angrily.

He laughed. "I would answer you, but those were a poor choice of words!"

Gwen grimaced. She was in no mood for jokes.

"Get out of him!" she demanded. Then a thought struck her. "Where's Maddie?"

"You were thinking about me?" an arrogant voice asked. "How thoughtful of you."

The woman walking out the stairs was nothing short of an entirely different person from the Maddie she had met less than an hour ago.

Previously, Maddie—if that was her name, which it probably wasn't—had been a toothpick-thin woman with long, wavy black hair and fair skin. She had worn a baby blue dress that gradated at the v-shaped neck in three solid layers, from light to dark.

The dress was the same, but this woman was massive; she was well built, at least six feet tall, and her curves were noticeably larger than average. Her eyelashes were thick and her ruby-red lips were cherubic. Her hair was combed back, and was in an odd, curvy shape, not unlike Maddie's own body, reaching her lower back. Lastly, her eyes, which had been sky blue, were now pink. As she walked down the stairs, she trailed her index finger on the railing in a way that was supposed to be elegant, but she was anything but.

"Who are you?" She yelled. "What do you want?"

"They call me the Madame," she purred. "And as for what we want? Hm…" she paused, pretending to think. "Nothing at all; we just want to have a little fun."

"That's what I was going to say," the Raider explained, turning to Gwen. "But you ruined it by saying what you did."

"Hey," the Madame snapped angrily, "I didn't—!"

"Not you, you idiot," he pointed to Gwen. "Her."

"Oh," she said rather happily. Gwen could tell from her reaction that she was usually the one who ruined things.

"So now that you are entering the Haggin world," the Raider continued, "we all thought it was best that you see what you've gotten into."

"You're Haggins?" Gwen asked.

The Madame laughed with mirth, flinging her arms in the air. "We're gods!" She exclaimed delightedly.

"Aliens," the Raider clarified. "Powerful ones. We appeared in early Haggin mythology."

"And you're powerful enough to disable all local communications by just thinking about it?" Gwen gathered.

"That's right," the Madame responded, taking a seat on thin air.

"Well," the Raider said, "I believe we made our point." He shuddered, and the real Raider jumped out of Ben's forehead.

"It's been fun," he continued in clear, recognizable speech as he stood erect without any signs of difficulty.

"Wait, not yet," the Madame protested. She stared at a couch for a bit, and it combusted. "Now it's been fun."

Gwen pulled a blanket out of the closet and hastily swatted out the fire with it.

"And one more thing," the Madame was saying. She faced Ben. "Raudnits aren't real. But they are based on your mother. You'll figure it out."

She laughed as they disappeared from plain sight.

"Ben?" She called out. "Are you alright?"

She didn't hear anything from him. As soon as the fire was out, she rushed towards her cousin. He looked shaken.

"Ben? Can you hear me?"

When he didn't answer, she grabbed his arms and gently shook him.

"Ben, talk to me. What happened?"

Slowly, he responded: "I was laying him on the bed, and… he jumped into me. Like my head was a pool."

"Are you alright?" She asked, concerned.

"…He dug around in my mind… now he knows things I've never told anyone. Deepest secrets and feelings…"

She shook him again. "Ben, look at me. It's going to be okay. I know what it's like to have your head invaded like that."

"My memories were tossed around like pieces of paper… like dirt…"

"Ben, you have to snap out of it. It's going to be okay. I'm going to call Kevin."

"Kevin…" Ben whispered as Gwen dialed her phone. And then: "Tiffany Burnman."

Gwen stopped suddenly. "What about Tiffany Burnman?" She said this cautiously, as if she could disturb his line of thought if she talked too much."

"He made me relive…"

She was about to ask who "he" was, when she remembered the Raider.

"He made me think about… her sister."

"Her sister? Who's her sister?"

"Brooklyn." He said the name as if he were spitting out a plague. "They called her 'Brooklyn Bridget', so I didn't know they were related."

"What did Brooklyn Burnman do?" She asked carefully.

"Brooklyn Bridge… made me feel like shit."

Gwen's eyes furrowed in concern. Again with the swearing. She must have done something terrible.

"Ben, what did she do?"

He was quiet for a full minute. And then:

"She raped me."

"What?" Gwen was aghast. "When did this happen?"

"Annabeth Abraham," Ben continued, "Taught me how to love again."

And she's dead, Gwen thought.

"I'll talk about it when I'm ready, alright?" he said, the daze he had been in beginning to fade. "I'm just… going to stay in my place for a few days to get over this." As he turned, he muttered, "I feel like it happened all over again…"

Gwen ran over and hugged her cousin. "I'm going with you," she said, tears spilling over. "You're going to tell me everything, okay? I want to help you."

She felt him nod.

"I'll tell mom and dad afterwards. Ben…" she paused. "We love you."

He nodded again. She heard him begin to cry with her.

"It's alright, Ben…" she assured him. "It's alright…."

At that moment, Kevin came through the door.

"I'm not sure what was wrong. Everything looked fine, but…" he surveyed the scene in front of him. "…what the heck happened here?"

A/N: SORRY for the long wait. If it makes it any different, it feels good to work on KIAB again. Were Ray and Maddie's twists predictable? Was the pace too fast? Do you have any advice? Please comment.

Also, I have a group on DeviantART specifically aimed at Ben 10 fan fiction authors aiming to improve:

If you want to see what the Madame and the Raider look like, look them up on DeviantART. My username's the same.