Ben 10 Radiant War, Volume 4

The Toll Of Vengeance

"Beep..... beep..... beep...."

Ben could only watch the green zig zags as they darted past the screen window.. measuring the steady heartbeat of the girl who now  lay unconscious. 

She was healing fast.. 

Even in her less durable human form, some vampiric power remained, and in the end, Ben had been resisting Zs'Skayr so hard, that the blow ended up being non-fatal , as opposed to what would've happened had he had complete control..

But even so...

Seeing Ophelia lying in a hospital bed, bandages around her head, her hair down like some distant princess or sleeping beauty, tubes going up her nose, IVs stuck in her arm..

It was hard to watch. 

"She'll heal in a week or so maybe." said Erice quietly as she stepped up behind Ben. "Try and get some rest until then." 

"Rest?" Ben croaked. "I.. I.. "

"I know.." Erice said quietly, hugging Ben's arm. "You love her... don't you?"

Ben stared at Erice for a moment, his lips trembling. "Wh-wha.."

"Ben don't give me that." said Erice with a small smile. "You had to pick somebody eventually. And honestly.. she needs you more than I do, she always did. You saved her from herself. But you're still my best friend."

"Erice, I honestly can't tell who is dumping who at this point." Ben muttered. 

"Mutual dumping? Or maybe since we never really dated- eh, I still love you, in a different sense." said Erice, kissing Ben on the cheek. "If anything, I think what she said to you before, you know, might've finally driven it home.."

"I don't deserve her. I don't deserve any of you.." Ben whispered. "I'm the one who did this." 

"No, you can't think that. Yes, for a moment you got angry, but then He came.. and when He saw your anger, he fed on it, and drove you far into the dark." said Erice. "I know, because I've been you. You're not the only one with a monster inside of them."

"What-?" 

Erice drew up a couple of chairs so the two of them could sit down. As they sat, Erice handed Ben a mug of coffee, which he took. 

"When I was five years old, before I became superhuman, before I got powers, my father raped me." said Erice quietly. 

Ben could only stare, his jaw open in shock. "Erice.. I.. wha-?"

"Don't tell anybody else, not even Hanzo.. I don't think I'm ready for anybody else to hear about it yet." said Erice. "Thing is Ben, I don't remember it. No details or anything. I do know my father always was a prick. Beat my mom, supported the Morgana Institution which studied Dark Magic, lots of bad stuff. Course I wasn't aware of the supernatural stuff either, not then.   I guess I was so traumatized by the incident, I developed dissociative identity disorder."

"Oh god." Ben said. "How long before.. wait.. have I ever spoken to-.."

"Trust me, you'd know if you had spoken to my alter." said Erice. "She used to be quite timid, and that made me unaware of her overall, because whenever she had control, she'd just hide or blend in with the background. So its not like she ever left very many outward signs of her existence except for the gaps in my memory.  After some therapy when I was 12, I guess I was finally learning to come to grips with her and understand her, till I went on that field trip when I was 14... "

"The one you took to the British dig site right?" Ben murmured. "When you fell into the Lake of Avalon.. where the Lady of the Lake was.."

"She gave me her power because she felt I was the purest of souls." said Erice. "I always felt she made a mistake, cause at the same time Erice the Tsunami was born, Erice the Darktide was also being birthed. There's another side to the Lady of the Lake known as Viviane, Ben.. Morgana, aka..Morgan Le Fey. So my alter became my darkest most bitter half, a holder of the dark side of my power... a lover of violence and vengeance. "