Alice Bright's Story

The Bens finished the song and a chorus of roars could be heard. The Hydra's had apparently enjoyed their song. Since both Hydras and Cerberus' responded so positively to music, Ben had actually trained them with musical tones using his harmonica. Ben stood up and folded the chair and placed the tambourine and drum back in the bag. Henry had finally come out of the water and was now soaking up the sun. Before Ben had started playing for him, Henry refused to leave the water and had gotten rather sick from lack of Vitamin D. Now that he surfaced to hear the music, he could soak up enough rays to keep him healthy. He and his clone high fived at their good work, then noticed an odd flux at the Volcano. They both turned and looked towards it, then a deep bellow could be heard that sounded very close to the Volcano. Ben slammed his hand into his face. "Shit! I forgot about Maggie. If I don't calm her down, she'll start to piss off the Phoenixes, then I'll be in real trouble." The problem was that he needed to get over to Emma's as quickly as possible, time was of the essence. His clone walked over to him and patted him on the back. "No problem man, I'll take the stuff and Lucky and go calm down Maggie. You go deal with Emma." Ben lifted his head and smiled at his clone. "Thanks man, your the best." The clone just smiled back and said. "Thanks, I know you are." They both laughed a bit, then the clone grabbed the bag and called for Lucky and headed out towards the Volcano.

The real Ben pulled out his harmonica and hit a few ranging notes, then put it back into his jacket. A screech could be heard, and a Skydra swwoped downa nd hovered next to the cliff. She was far too large to land on the cliff. Ben smiled and jumped onto her back. "Thanks, Jade. We need to get to Emma's fast. To the Creeping Woods!" Jade's four heads roared and began beating her wings towards the woods. Now, Ben wasn't entirely sure if the actual name of the forest was the Creeping Woods, but that's just what Hephaestus called them. He said it seemed like the trees move from place to place, that they, you know, creep. He's an odd one, but still one of Ben's closest friends. It seemed that the other Gods relationship with their Tamer was like a protege and Master, he and Hephaestus were more like brothers or really close friends. They talked, they hung out, they made stuff together. He was the most human of the Gods. Of the Gods he had met, that is. Soon enough, Jade was hovering over Emma's house. The woods were to thick for her to land, so Ben sighed and put on what looked like construction gloves. He nodded to Jade, then jumped off of her back and landed on a tree. Ben then slowly slid himself down the trunk of the tree, increasing in speed at the end. He landed on the ground and struggled to keep his balance. He stumbled a bit, but regained his balance.

Ben swore he saw someone sneaking about the back of the house and he could sort of hear whispers. He had bigger fish to fry at the moment. Ben walked right up to Emma's front door and placed his key in the lock. It turned and the door opened to reveal a rather lavish ballroom. He quickly shut the door behind him. He looked out the window briefly and saw that he was somewhere in L.A., where Emma lived. He doubted this was here house, it was so......grand. Either way, Ben trudged over to the nearest door. He stuck his key in and opened the door into what seemed to be a bathroom. He was glad Emma was not in here. He closed the door, then opened it again to reveal a completely different place, he was now inside Emma's Reendria house. He walked through several of the hallways, until he saw her in the library. He entered. "Emma! What the hell did you do?! I have been spending the past few days getting the underworld Gods off of your trail! Hades just chewed me out today, and I took the fall for you, again." He quickly walked over to her, the anger resting in his shoulders. "Since you refused the help of a God, in which case you would have been protected, now I'm the one who has to protect your ass! Ben then slumped down in a chair, tired of yelling. Their relationship was.......complicated. Since Ben was the Tamer of Cerberus' the guardians of the Underworld, and Emma was the Tamer of Necromancers, ones who defile the Underworld, they sort of stood at opposite ends of the spectrum. When Emma had a good day, Ben had a bad day and vice-verse. Though, Ben stillmade sure that none of the Underworld Gods knew about her, why? Ben didn't know anymore. Ben rubbed his eyes.

"Listen, Emma. Just........tell me how to help you. What do you need me to do to help you get these guys back where they belong, or if you need them for some reason, how to cover it up. He looked over to her, his eyes genuine. "Help me, help you."

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Ben 2 was making his way up the mountain side with Lucky to the Volcano's entrance. Since an eruption had destroyed Maggie's original lair, she had temporarily had moved in with the Phoenixes in one of their Volcano's. This was just until Hephaestus's Volcano was made suitable for the Big Destroyer. After a few minutes, Ben 2 and Lucky made it to the entrance of the Volcano, bag slung over his shoulder. He noticed Alice, the Phoenix Tamer, there with a Phoenix of hers. She was wearing the usual phoenix garb. Ben seemed to be one of the very few Tamers in Reendria to dress in normal modern day attire. He guessed it was a tradition thing from proper bloodlines or something like that. He put on a genuine smile and approached her with a wave. Her burning hair really accentuated her beauty............that dress didn't hurt either. "Hey Alice. Good to see you again, it's been awhile since Ive seen you here. Thanks again for housing Maggie, Heph's place should be ready soon. I'm just about to go calm her down for her nap."

Ben was genuinely shocked when Emma put her hand on his arm. Her face had a look of fear and desperation and her voice was shaking. This was nothing like the independent, strong and snarky Emma he knew. She seemed actually scared. He know felt kind of bad for yelling at her, kind of.

"Look, Ben.I know we don't really like each other, but I didn't want to summon those guys, really!It was a mistake.I have ghosts that can tell you that I am no lying..But, something terrible happened, but I need to know you won't tell to anybody.Please, it's my life in the game..I...I..summoned by mistake, three souls from the Myth council, and you know what that means.If the God's won't see them in there at the council, my life is over.You have to help me..To find the three souls.Please.."

Ben's jaw nearly dropped off when she said they were apart of the Myth Council. The situation was much more dire than he had first realized. He turned and looked Emma in the eyes and grabbed her hand. "Emma.....I don't care if you summoned them on purpose or accidentally, the fact of the matter is, you summoned them. I won't tell anybody, Hades can go drown in the River Styx for all I care. I'll help you. But we have to go now. I know the Myth Council doesn't meet for awhile, but the Underworld Gods are looking for them as well. They have a lot of spies, so if they link back to you.......your dead. I get that we, by nature, aren't supposed to like each other, but we're both Tamers. We need to look out for each other."

Ben squeezed her hand in reassurance, then quickly turned around to head to the door. "Bring, you books, we may need-" He was cut off by slamming head long into someone. When he recovered himself, he found it was Guy, the Gryphon Tamer. The last time they saw each other, they were having a discussion about the fishing territories of Gryphons and Hydras. Things had worked out well. "Oh, Guy. Sorry about that. No time to talk, dead people to find, Emma's life to save and all that." He walked past him without another word and pulled out his Harmonica. He played a crescendo, then decrescendo. After a little bit, the ground started to rumble and large paw burst from the ground. Then another, then three black heads. Soon enough, a large three headed black dog, almost the size of the house, pulled itself out of the ground. "Jericho, we've got dead people to find." Ben told him, the three heads barked in unison. Ben jumped onto his back, and looked back at the three that seemed to be in Emma's. "Emma, lets go, I'm not doing this without you. Time is sort of the essence here." Ben didn't like to be kept waiting if he was waiting to put his life on the line for someone else.

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Ben 2, sighed a heavy sigh when she asked him how he had been. "You should not have asked that." he said in a tired tone. "Some rather important souls have escaped from the Underworld. I know why and I know who did it, and my life would be a lot easier if I just told them about her......but for some reason, I don't think I could live with myself if I threw her to the wolves like that. I mean she could die, but the odd thing is.......I don't even like her. But I still want to help her." His head hung down in a very tired way. The situation had been exhausting for him, having to travel to the different Underworlds only to feel the wrath of three different Gods. All for Emma's sake, why? He quickly shook his head and looked back to Alice, realizing what he had just done.

"I'm terribly sorry. First time we've spoken in ages and all I do is complain. I'm really sorry, you don't want to hear about my problems." Ben said, apologizing and rubbing the back of his head. Lucky started to nudge him closer. Ben stumbled closer to her. He spun around. "What Lucky?" Lucky made a small yip and looked towards the cave entrance. "Oh, right." He spun around, and found he was now about two feet away from Alice. He was a bit surprised at this, but he composed himself quickly. "Sorry to have taken so much of your time. I should probably get in there before she brings down the place..........would like to come with? You can play the tambourine." he said, offering to her like it was the coolest thing ever.

Ben was once again shocked to hear actual gratitude from Emma. Don't get him wrong, she have freaking better had been grateful, bit she was the sort of person to never really admit it. He grew a small smile when she called him Big headed at the end of the thank you. "Scared me there for a second, I thought you had gone and grown a heart on me. Glad to see your back to normal..........your welcome." Ben said in a very teasing manner, though the last part he said very sincerely. He didn't despise Emma, she just seemed to be the only person who could piss him off. She was just so.........Emma. Which is why she and Guy had single handedly baffled the entire Tamer community. The two seemed to completely incompatible it was scary, not opposites, just two people who seemed like they would have nothing to do with each other. Guy was a lot like a Gryphon. He was prideful, vain, a bit arrogant, he was also a bit naive. Though, his heart always seemed to be in the right place, and he was a good Tamer, which earned him brownie points with Ben. The two together though........Ben just thought it was weird.

He suddenly realized they were both demanding to know where they were going. "Right, we're going where Jericho here leads us. He can sniff out spirits, especially freshly escaped ones. It hasn't been that long since they escaped so their trail will still be pretty hot." Ben then reached into his bag and pulled out a gray translucent piece of cloth. "This is Grave cloth. It will get him in the right mind set for the hunt." Ben dangled the grave cloth in front of their noses and they sniffed it rapidly. HE turned to Guy. "Guy, I would be best if you kept to the ground and stuck close to me. We're going to need Emma when we find one. Also, I have a feeling that the skies are going to be watched, specifically by the Furies." Ben shivered a bit at the mention of Hades' little pets. Vicious creatures and a swarm of them could tear an adolescent Dragon to bits in under 20 seconds......he'd seen it happen. Suddenly, Jericho's eyes began to glow yellow. "He's got the scent, let's move!" Ben quickly grabbed onto the black volcanic collar around the middle head, and the Cerberus took off with great speed and started barreling through the forest, changing directions every so often. Two heads were stuck tot he ground sniffing like mad, while the middle head looked ever onward. He knew Guy could keep up. Gryphons were fastest in the sky, but they were still plenty speedy on the ground.

After awhile, they broke out of the forest and were now in a place with dark soil and bleak rocks everywhere. They seemed to be heading into some sort of quarry. They rounded some bends until they came to a large opening. It almost looked empty, but if you looked close, you could see faces and movement everywhere. It was filled with spirits, and none of them looked particularly happy. Jericho growled a the ones near them and they back away. Alive or dead, a Cerberus and mess you up. He called back to Emma. "So......any of them here? I think the overabundance of activity is throwing off his scent."

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Ben went a bit stiff when Alice's hands brushed against his, but he kept calm. She then bit her lower lip with a cute smile. Ben's eyebrows slightly raised. This......was going to be a good day. He hoped his other self was doing ok. She agreed and Ben's smile grew even wider. "Excellent, let's go." Ben started walk towards the cave, leading her in. Though, he still hung back a bit to be sort of next to her as they moved through the cave. They came out in the heart of the Volcano, the heat was incredibly intense in here, but Ben didn't mind. Being immune to being burned or melted helped a lot with a tolerance to heat. Though he was pretty sure if he fell into the lava he would probably die. He would rather not test the theory anyway. He decided it was too hot for his jacket, he took off his jacket so he was now only wearing his black t-shirt that said in white "Harp'in Fool."

He got out his Harmonica holder and put his back up harmonica in it. He then got out his acoustic guitar. It was beaten to hell and had some chips out of it, but he loved it. Bellamy had character, as Richard used to say. He then looked to Alice, then gave her a warm smile. He walked over to her and began tapping the tambourine with a half second pause between each tap. "Just keep that rhythm through the while song. Feel free to give it your own flair and shake it how you will. Remember, it's music. It's not about memorizing notes, it's about making you feel something without words or pictures. Just play how you feel." He said very casually, and trying to reassure her that there was no wrong way to play.

He got out his pick, then looked to her. "OK, a one, a two, a one two three now." HE then began strumming on his guitar, eventually getting louder and faster. He began to play on his harmonica in a very light and happy tone. This was a song of his own creation simply called "Maggie's lullaby." About 20 seconds into the song, he could hear the lava start to shift beow. Soon, three incredibly massive dog heads were sticking out of the lava. The heads started to howl along with the song, she recognized it and welcomed it gladly. Ben just started smiling when she started to howl and looked over to Alice with a big smile and gave a quick laugh.

Ben was afraid that Emma would say what she said. It looked like they would have to carry on and track these things on foot. Guy landed on the ground next to him, readying to disembark. This whole situation was looking bleaker and bleaker. Why the hell did he have to be such a good person. Ben reached into his bag and pulled out what looked like a very intricate bronze bracer. He hooked it onto his right arm and it locked in place with an odd sound. A handle popped out and Ben squeezed down on it hard. Then, the bracer seemed to open up a bit and three metal rods popped out and shot forward past his hands. They were blade like. He looked over to Guy. He smiled. "Hephaestus." was the only explanation that he gave for the device.

He hoped off of Jericho and stared into the canyon. He threw on his hood and signaled for Jericho to follow him slowly, he knew Guy and Emma would be right near him. Ben walked slowly through the canyon, letting Emma do her thing, he was eying each spirit they passed, most didn't make eye contact, knowing who he was by association. As they moved along, Ben couldn't but feel something wrong about this place. Oddly enough, it wasn't all the ghosts, it was the cliffs. Something felt familiar about them.....an almost sinister feel. Odd holes in the rock formations that seemed........sculpted instead of natural. Almost clawed out. A faint sound made him freeze in his tracks. IT sounded like a very high-pitched shriek. He wasn't sure if Guy or Emma had realized it yet......bu they were in an Ahool hunting ground. He slowly grabbed his pack and whistled to get Guys attention. He gave him a signal and threw him the pack. He then spoke to him in a hushed tone. "Grab a weapon, there's a good amount in there, your going to need them." Ben looked around cautiously. Rocks were shifting and clicking could be heard all around. He called back to Emma.

"Whatever your doing to find these guys, I would hurry it up if I were you. We are about to be...........................attacked by giant bat people." Ben said bluntly, deciding to not cushion the blow. Almost as if on cue, a massive screech was heard. Ben spun around as dozens of dark figures shot forth from the caves like bullets from an M-16. They flew in swirling patterns, screeching at the thought of fresh meat. Ben looked to Guy. "Cover Emma and let her do her thing!" Ben then glowed briefly, then was surrounded by over 20 of himself, all with the weapon on their arms. "We'll hold them off. His clones started to move out and the Ahool started to dive.

The blades on the gauntlets started to shoot out attached to cables. They stuck into the wings and bodies of the grotesque bat people. It only stopped a few of them. The rest began diving and clawing at each clone they could get their hands on. They managed to pick up a few. Two got ripped in half, but disappeared half way down. Ben was so consumed by the chaos, that he didn't notice the Ahool coming right for him until the last moment. He tried to dodge, but the creature caught him on the shoulder and dug it's claws in deep before moving on. His left shoulder was bleeding rather profusely. Suddenly several of his clones formed around him.

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Alice seemed to be really letting loose. She was shaking her hips and throwing out her own flare with the instrument. Even her Phoenix was getting into it. The music built and so did their passion for it. He could hear Maggie slowly slipping back into the lava, tiring herself out and slowly falling asleep. Ben started to bob his head and get into the music more, but couldn't help but keep laughing at the silliness of his movements, and the fact that Alice was laughing at herself. Ben hadn't laughed like this in awhile. It was good to forget about the crap he had been going through lately. It was apparently not to last.

Ben suddenly felt an intense pain on his left shoulder. He cringed a bit and looked at it. Five massive claw marks had suddenly appeared there and blood was gushing from it. The pain overcame him and he dropped to the hard stone floor. "SHIT!" was all he screamed as he went down. The pain was intense and he was somewhat in shock, having no idea what was going on. He simply laid there rocking back and forth, holding his wound.

Feeling uplifted and joyful, she continued dancing a little, and tapping on the tambourine. She laughed along with Ben, having a good time. Maggie's heads began to slip back into the lava, and Ignis nudged at Alice's legs, pushing her over to Ben a little. She hadn't really noticed being caught up in the music. Then Ignis decided he'd had enough too, and flapped his wings elegantly, then doing somewhat of a swan dive into the lava. She smiled at his gracefulness.

Suddenly she heard a cry from Ben, quickly turning, her eyes widened, shocked by what she saw. He was on the floor of the cave opening, blood gushed from his shoulder, from five deep wounds. She screamed, scared herself, she didn't know what had happened. She dropped the tambourine, and rushed to his side, she crouched down, with her legs folded under her she placed his head in her lap, and pressed both of her hands against the gashes. She knew she had to keep pressure on it, so she tried her best.

She could feel the blood still rushing, and she took one of his own hands and placed it against a cut, she was afraid he'd go into shock because of the blood loss. She wasn't trained in this sort of event of course, so she was panicking. Quickly, she ripped a piece off the skirt of her dress, and pressed that over the wounds. She couldn't tell if she was making things better or worse, she could only hope she was helping.

"I........fucking......hate......bats." Ben mustered to say to himself as white hot pain enveloped his body. The wound was deep, too deep for Ben's liking. Those damn Ahool's claws were big, sharp, but worst of all, they were covered in bacteria. The pain was almost too much for Ben to move, but he knew he had to act quickly. As his clones were fighting off the horde alongside Guy the Lion, Jericho, and Ragnok, Ben slowly crawled his way towards his pack. His jacket had been completely ripped off by the Alpha Ahool and only had the tattered remains of one of his favorite T-shirts. He finally reached his pack and thrust his hand deep inside of it. What he pulled out was a small white jar labeled "Blood". Gasping for air, he unscrewed the top and dipped his fingers into it. A white topical like goo came out and Ben began rubbing it into his wounds. He grinded his teeth together to stop from screaming. After a few minutes when he was finally done, he sat up. Ben ripped the remains of his shirt off and wrapped them around his wound. He then stood up and pulled out what looked like simple ancient leather armor. He quickly threw it on and buckled it up and looked back towards the battlefield.

Things looked to be wrapping up a bit, as a flock of large eagles had apparently joined the fight. He could probably thank Guy for that one. With a look that emanated battle lust, Ben was eager for pay back. He once again extended his blades and leaped into the fray.

After what seemed like almost and hour in total, the Ahool finally routed, and they had won the day. Well, Ben knew they had won the battle, but he wasn't sure if Emma had accomplished her goal. His remaining battered clones disappeared into thin air as Ben whistled through his fingers. Jericho came trotting up and Ben gave him a couple hardy pats on the neck. [b]"Good work, boy." Ben hopped up onto his back and had him trot off to where he saw Emma go last.

Ben finally came upon them as he hopped off of Jericho, not before patting Ri's head. He walked towards them, left arm hanging almost lifelessly at his side and cuts along his body and faced. He felt like shit and was really in the mood for some good news. He called out to them. "Nice touch with the Eagles, you'll have to remind me to thank Zeus. You were great out there Guy. I guess I was a little slow." Ben said motioning to his wound. He knew there was something wrong with it, but he would deal with it later. He then turned towards Emma. [b]"Please tell me you got one." He then looked passed her and saw a rather large box. "What's that?"

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"What.....the fuck......am I doing.......out there?!" Ben mustered to say to himself as white hot pain enveloped his body. Since he had been materialized for so long, his body would mimic the host body, therefore, Ben's injuries were his injuries. He suddenly felt himself being moved and a scream. He suddenly felt more comfortable and looked up. He saw Alice's face filled with tears and fear. She was trying to put pressure on his wound, it hurt like a bitch, but he was touched by her gesture. Ben pointed to his bag, which was in reach of her but not him. After she grabbed it, he reached in and pulled out a white jar labeled "Blood". He reached in and started lather the white goo onto his wound. He couldn't hold back his cries of pain, though Alice's presence helped him get through. He then took his shirt off with one hand and wrapped the torn piece of Alice's dress around his wound. He was breathing very heavily. It was incredibly difficult for him to do, but he couldn't have asked Alice to do it. After he finished, he just laid there on her lap for a few moments.

He then looked up at her with a weak smile. Ben noticed he had gotten his blood over her dress and some on her face. He fumbled his hand around in his bag and pulled out a small black rag. He then raised it to her cheek and wiped off the blood. "There, much better." he said softly. "Thank you, Alice. I guess I offer you an explanation." He paused for a moment, catching his breath. "I don't know if you know, but I can copy myself. When a copy of myself is materialized for longer than an hour, then we share bodies, sort of. Whatever happens to one, happens to the other. I, apparently, am fighting something right now." he said rather slowly, trying to gain his strength back. He grabbed her bloody hand and squeezed it affectionately. "I'm so impossibly sorry for putting you through this, but you acted wonderfully and I'm in your debt, Alice." HE said with warmth in his eyes.

Just then, Lucky came over to Ben. Lu began sniffing Ben and lightly licking him on the face, while Key began affectionately licking Aliice's face, as if to say thank you. Ben chuckled softly at his friends actions.