Ben 10: Radiant War.

The Memory that One Regrets

"Ow.. "

"Well that's a good summation of how ya got here. Rise and shine Super Hero."

Ben's eyes slowly opened.. 

He was lying in a soft futon.. in a traditional japanese dojo-room. 

Sitting next to him, looking at him solemnly was none other than Hanzo himself. 

"Hanzo, you.. you saved me?"

Hanzo rolled his eyes. "Don't make a big deal about it. Yeah. Even with all the shit I talked about this alliance being stupid, in the end, I guess I still kind of.. kind of.."

"Kind of what?"

"Want friends." Hanzo muttered, his gaze dimming a little. "You only have yourself to blame for being such a damn no win situation. I try to take my eyes off you, I get a feeling yer gonna get yerself in trouble, and I fucking worry. I keep my eyes on ya, and I have to get involved in the trouble anyways. You're the fucking embodiment of a hassle."

Ben smiled weakly. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me for calling you a fucking hassle ya idiot!" Hanzo grunted, rolling his eyes again. "Fuck, I hate it, now I feel like I can't leave ya alone again!!"

"Erice, Ophelia." Ben grunted, trying to get up. 

Immediately Ben felt a tight sensation of horrible pain exploding around his body, as if something were constricting his lungs, making it impossible to expand them without feeling immense pain.

"Easy, your ribs are broken. They're mending faster thanks to that watch of yours, but they still need to mend." said Hanzo, gently pushing Ben back down. "Control your breathing. Best way to keep from feeling the pain. Keep it nice, steady, and don't heave any huge breaths. "

"Hanzo come on.. I need to know."

Hanzo sighed. He seemed to pause a bit, as if wondering if it were proper to tell any sort of truth. "Ophelia betrayed us. Erice, well both you and her got hit pretty bad."

"I'm one thing, but I don't think I ever saw Erice get hit directly." Ben muttered.

"No, but apparently there's a horrible side effect to Ophelia's power." said Hanzo. "Take a look for yourself."

Ben looked looked across the room to where Hanzo was indicating, and he saw her there.

Erice was naked, her entire body wrapped in bandages from her breasts all the way down to her toes, almost like a bare shoulder mummy. Sweat was pouring down her face, her eyes screwed shut in pain, an ice pack on her forehead, her chest and other various points on her body. 

"Eldritch Poisoning, just looking at an Outer God can cause something like this at times. Turns out Ophelia ain't just a vampire, she's got powers from some sorta Lovecraftian being." said Hanzo.

"Ophelia.." Ben murmured. 

"She's burning up, I don't know what else to do. You're lucky, the watch thing you've got seems to have countermeasures against Outer Gods. But Erice only has the magic of her own abilities, and those don't seem to be geared to stop the sorta stuff your watch counters."

"Where did I go wrong Hanzo?" Ben murmured, tears welling up in his eyes, as he felt his vision turn blurred. "Wh-where..? W-was it something I said to her..? was it-?"

"It's not your fault." said Hanzo. "You said nothing wrong, hell even though I don't know her well enough, Ophelia genuinely cared for you, both of you. But this is the Radiant War, where the gods themselves play with us like toys."