Alex Chase: Beyond The Multiverse

Chapter 7: All's Fair in Love, War, and Memory Wiping

*Alex Chase*

We came back into my room, smiling and laughing. What they didn't know was, I had played Sumo Slammers before. I mean, you gotta comprise for date nights.

" Hey, can I ask you a question?" Ben asked me.

" Fire away."

" I feel like we know each other somehow. Like I've met you before today. Am I just being crazy or. . . ?" I crossed my arms.

" Ben, I already gave you the same answer on the other side of the portal. I just can't tell you."

" Why not!?" Ben complained.

" You know how Professor Paradox can't tell you about your future because it might mess with it?"

" Yeah."

" It's sort of like that. Only in reverse. Sometimes, when people get their memories erased, it's to protect them. I may have broken the rules by introducing myself when you were eleven and a half because I wasn't supposed to meet you officially until I was sixteen." Ben looked reluctant.

" Are you...."

" Ben, I know it's hard to believe, but I swear I already knew you and Gwen before today." Ben thought for a second and then looked up at me.

" Prove it."

" Okay. You remember how you took off the Omnitrix when you were eleven and a half years old?" I asked.

" Yeah."

" Well, what was the reason for that?" Ben looked like he knew the answer for a second, but then his face fell.

" I...uh...well...it was time to grow up?" When he said it, it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself that it was reason rather then telling me the answer to the question.

" You have no idea what the real answer is, do you?" I asked.

"—No. I got it! I...," Ben started to say.

" You thought you had taken it off because it was safer for your family right?" I asked.

" Yeah, thats it!" Ben smiled in relief. I smirked.

" Well, that's not the reason."

" Excuse me?" He asked. I raised my eyebrow.

" Did you seriously think that you took off the Omnitrix after you classified it as a dream come true for four and a half years without even once considering putting it back on?" Ben looked away for a second, then looked back at me. I smirked agian. " Didn't think so."

" If I didn't take off the Omnitrix then..."

I sighed, taking a deep breath. " I erased your memory of what really happened, and the memories of everybody else in the universe. Including the alternate and pocket dimensions like the Null Void.

That's why you don't remember the Rooters coming after you when you were eleven and a half, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen. And why they think they stopped coming after you when you 'gave up wearing the watch'.

Servantis lead the Rooters on a hunt, after the "coming storm" for almost two years. We were dodging them left and right. Everything now would've been different had I let you keep your memories. Like, bad for everyone different.