A/N: A thought that popped into my head after a CSI episode…

Disclaimer: Gosh, stop making me write these things! I don't own Ben 10, why don't you understand that?

Be Good

He'd known his whole life that he was doomed with a curse. He'd known that things wouldn't ever change. Kevin had been told when he was young that his powers were dangerous and that one little misstep could cause him to lose himself to a monster. His father had taught him that once he was old enough to know what he was, who he was, and how to control exactly what he could do.

So for years, he had always told himself to be good. He'd write it on his hand in a marker and smile at it; those two words were another reminder that he had to stay on his best behavior. He'd always been told to be good. "Be good, Kevin," his mother would say. "Be good, Kev," would come his father's voice from the front door just before leaving.

For a long time, it was simple. The main rules were not to go outside without permission, not to absorb electricity, not to play with his powers unless his dad was around, not to hurt anybody. It was how he had learned to live life.

Then, things changed.

It wasn't hard to be dubbed the freak of the school. He was the scrawny little kid with the wrong kind of hair and the weird eyes; apparently, everything was wrong with him to his classmates. No one even had the decency to try and stand up for him against all the bigger kids. Not one of them. That was only the beginning.

It was soon after he turned nine that he learned his father was gone. Not just gone on a mission or on another journey, but gone. It didn't help Kevin. He told himself to be good, to behave, to keep himself on the right track; it was what his dad would've wanted and that was all that was keeping him on the right track.

He quickly veered from that track. It was as simple as a few names. Kevin had always had good self-control up to that point. He'd been able to keep his mouth shut and keep himself from wanting to gouge someone's eyes out; it was something he'd taken a bit of pride in after the skill had been mastered. It got harder and harder as the school year went on to bite back vicious words and keep his fists clenched instead of flying, but Kevin managed. Until someone spat out a name that he couldn't keep himself from fighting back at.

"Freak!"

He wasn't a freak. He was just as human as the rest of them. He was normal. He wasn't perfect, Hell, none of them were, but he wasn't a freak. They were all dirty little freaks, not just him. He wasn't the only one in that class who was an outsider, but he had been the only one made a pariah by the other freaks. A freak thrown out of a freak party. So, despite all the times he'd carved "Be Good" into his desk and told himself over and over and over again at night when he cried into his pillow, Kevin couldn't stop himself.

It was the first time he'd ever hit someone with malicious intent.

And it felt good.

His mother had picked him up from the principal's office, tears in her eyes, bawling of course. She only wanted to protect him, that was all. She was his mother for God's sake! How could she not have known how he was being treated? How could she have been so ignorant? Too much work and chaos had been warped into their lives lately, Devin gone and Kevin left to fend for himself while his mother worked to make ends meet. The Levin household was in shambles after falling from glory.

There was no talk of what he'd done. He knew he'd done wrong. The kid had gotten a bloody nose, not quite as much as he'd deserved, but Kevin could deal with him again tomorrow. His fist wasn't hurt, he could hit a little bit harder. Maybe a bloody nose wasn't all he could give the freak. No, he wasn't the freak. The bully was. They all were. Dirty little freaks. Every single one of them.

The next day, Kevin hadn't been able to help himself. No, it wasn't "Freak!" that had set him off this time. They'd aimed lower, below the belt. Another one that he couldn't keep himself from defending, no matter how true this one was. "Orphan!" Oh, he gave the kid a black eye. And the kid next to him. A little girl had even gone down in the process. He wasn't on a warpath, just getting close. If they were going to mess with him, he was getting right back at them. There wasn't anything wrong with him. They were just getting on his nerves. He only wanted what he wanted. Payback.

Harvey had come in at some point. Kevin had hardly noticed him hanging around their apartment. The boy had just walked into the small place and headed back to his room, ignoring the second presence in his house besides his mother. That was why their engagement had become such a surprise to him. He hadn't even known his mother was dating, let alone in a serious relationship with anyone.

That was when he'd truly snapped. How could she? After everything… With his dad… And… He broke another rule. He'd used his powers, his dad not there to supervise him. And the Osmosian boy had fried most of the apartment, the place torched like a charred forest after a massive fire.

He'd broken the rules. The biggest rule. He couldn't… He couldn't be there anymore. Too many memories, too much hurt, too many innocent people. He couldn't do it anymore. So he ran, wiping tears from his eyes as he went.

Then he stole. The first thing he'd ever taken was a bike after picking the lock. And for the next two years, he wore that lock around his neck just to show off what he'd done. Sure, it was just a bike, but he knew it would escalade quickly.

Bikes were too easy. Then he went to convenience stores. Those became just a mere game in the grand scheme of things. He was already up to hijacking cars before he'd met Ben.

Ben. The brat. Kevin had only put up with him because he was an asset. And even then, he'd been telling himself to be good. He was doing what he had to in order to survive. He was being good. The only rule he was really breaking was using his powers; he had to use them for survival though. He considered himself exempt from it, having found a single loophole that he could jump through. Ben, though, was a problem. Kevin couldn't pull any crap by him.

That was how he became a freak. A real freak. A true freak. Now that was just as true as orphan. His eyes were fierce, the insanity cutting a deeper wound than any other moment in time had. He'd been turned into his worst nightmare. He'd disobeyed the rules. He'd broken the rules. Kevin couldn't help but feel like this was his punishment for doing so much wrong, but the ferocity of this body was limitless. The boy could only fathom rage and fury, nothing deeper than those primal emotions able to burst forth.

He knew it was true, everything they'd said or murmured or screamed. Freak. Orphan. Monster. Weirdo. It was all just the truth, a future truth. Now he was the freak and they were the normal ones.

The Null Void had brought back his sense of duty; there were times when he was almost grateful to the Tennyson kid for sticking him in there. The place knocked some sense back into his thick skull, giving him a bit more time to tell himself that he had to be good. Instead of a desk, he carved it into every empty space that he could find in his cell. One finger would scratch it into the wall or metal bars or the tin toilet, and he would read those words to himself over and over and over again. He had to be good. That was the only way he'd escape.

Kwarrel was a big help to keep him in line. He'd kept the boy on track, keeping him from exploding. Kwarrel had also enforced the "Be Good" motto into Kevin's mind while training him to control himself. And when the monster melted away, Kevin was able to find himself again. He'd been good. His own human body was the reward.

Since, Kevin had been trying to be good. Dealing illegal weapons wasn't too bad. He was only doing it to keep himself on his feet. He couldn't keep falling so far. Ben had been such a crash and burn period in his life that he swore never to fall that far again. Never. He just couldn't do that anymore. So dealing weapons wasn't bad as long as he wasn't using them himself. It was another good loophole that he'd pieced together.

Then Tennyson came back. That boy made Kevin want to be a criminal again just so he could destroy him. But then he caught sight of something better. Something that maybe, just maybe, he didn't want to destroy.

All it took was one moment for Kevin to find something good in himself to prove that he was worthy of at least being near Gwendolyn Catherine Tennyson. He had to find one good thing in himself so he could be near her, another good thing to talk to her, another good thing to allow himself to look at her like a prize to be won. Kevin wouldn't permit himself to misbehave, not with her so close. He had to be good. Be good, just like his dad always said. He had to be good just to be with the red-haired beauty.

That was how he became so determined to make himself better. His dad had been a good person and had won a good life for as long as he was around. Kevin figured karma could do the same for him, right all the wrongs done in the past. So he stepped around all his weapons and towards the light that could lead him out of the dark tunnel and back to where he belonged. Home. With his family. With people he cared about. A freak no more. Orphan, yes, but that was something that couldn't be helped. He was recovering, repairing himself. That was all he could do.

"Be good, Kevin." Those were his father's words as he ruffled his hair and left the house that last day. "Be good."

And he was.

A/N: I just realized how rambling this was… Anyways, review? Please?

~Sky