Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.

Meanwhile in the Paper Universe

(Moments Before Grimm Ruby Started Torturing Ruby)

A waterfall gushed over a cliff, hitting the lake with enough power to disintegrate the rocks underneath it. Near the edge of the lake were a few items. Shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush, deodorant, a towel and clothing.

"Hmhmhmhm~" Chaos Ruby hummed as she bathed in the lake while showering underneath the waterfall. The water pounded against her head, and yet… it felt pretty good on her.

She stepped out, wrapping a towel around herself as she brushed her teeth and spat the toothpaste out on a rock, then she got herself changed and applied the deodorant. Even when she was despairing and gave up on everything, she hadn't given up on certain essentials.

"Aaaah… wish I could be under that forever, but I'd be wrinkled…" She mumbled as she put her stuff in a bag and walked away into the woods, going into a little hut that she had made. Sure, she prefers caves but ever since Penny found her, she'd rather live deep in the woods… and besides, a cave was nearby, so she could sleep in there if she felt like it.

She walked into the hut, putting the towel on a tree branch and sat down on a stump, looking over some plans.

"Operation: Destroy Beacon"

Chaos Ruby smirked. She knew what she had to do… sneak in there, unleash armageddon on Beacon and leave before anyone realized what the hell just happened. After all, to her, this was Ozpin's fault that she became like this. How she became chaos incarnate.

…And yet, something inside of her kept nagging at her and telling her that destroying Beacon was a horrible idea.

And it drove her crazy!

"UUUUUGH!" She complained as she fell on her back, looking at the ceiling. "I don't GET IT!" She yelled. "I have no qualms with stealing, beating people up for confronting me or burning villages to the ground, ESPECIALLY Flipside… yet why can't I bring myself to attack Beacon!"

She knew she could do it. She had gotten powerful enough to the point where no one could stop her. Whenever help came, she outright destroyed them.

And yet, whatever it was that was begging her to not do what she was about to do, it was driving her crazy. Could it be because her old team was still there?

…Her team. She growled at the thought. Weiss. Blake. Yang… they replaced her with some skank. What was her name again… Reflet? The thought of it burned her up… and the more she thought of it, the more she was willing to burn it all to the ground.

If she had the power to rebuild everything in own image to make herself feel a twinge of happiness again, she'd find a way to make it a reality. Her own reality.

She sat back up, grabbing a water bottle and splashing her own face with it. "Alright, focus. I can do this. I'm Chaos, after all… I can storm right into Beacon and have it implode in on itself. I can destroy everyone who lives in it… I can make Ozpin suffer! I can… I can-"

Her stomach growled.

"...Make myself some food." She sweatdropped. "Guess those berries weren't enough." She chuckled.

She stepped outside of her hut, forming a fiery blue bow and arrow from her own chaos magic. She walked through the woods right after.

"Oh, what am I doing… I could easily just go into a restaurant and steal anyone's meal…" She mumbled. "Neo Bowser City? …No, their food is always burnt, I could just go to Toad Town and steal anything from the Shy Guy Buffet or… have chinese or… I don't even know." She mumbled.

As she was pondering what to do, two Deerling pranced by. "Hmm?" Chaos Ruby turned her head and saw them prancing about as if they were playing. "Ooooh…" She smirked as she aimed her bow at the Deerling, smirking.

Meanwhile, in the main universe…

Grimm Ruby shoved Ruby into the wall, chaining her wrists up. "Heheheh…"

In the paper universe…

Grimm Ruby pulled her string, smirking… before feeling a sharp pain on both wrists. "Nnnngh!" She winced, firing the arrow as it whizzed past the two Deerling. "Ow…" She said, looking at her wrists. She looked at them with an odd expression and shook her wrists. "Weird… did I sleep on them wrong?"

She tilted her head before shrugging it off. "Whatever." She picked her bow back up, only to see the Deerling had ran off. "Aw, dammit!" She groaned as she spotted an Unfezant flying overhead. "Ah, now there's a good one~"

"Save it for later. Now open wide." Grimm Ruby forced Ruby's mouth open and poured Grimm Liquid inside of her mouth, forcing her to swallow it.

Immediately, Chaos Ruby felt nauseous. "Mmm…" She tried to shake it off but to no avail. "Ugh… what the hell…?" She wondered as she immediately gagged. She immediately ran over to a bush and started throwing up.

"Ugh…" Chaos Ruby groaned. "Was it those berries…? No… I made sure to be immune to toxins…" She said to herself, rubbing her belly. "Mmm… hell with it, I'm not that hungry." She mumbled and walked back to her hut.

"Now… scream for me!" Grimm Ruby smirked and dug her claws into Ruby's skin.

"Mmmph!" Chaos Ruby winced, feeling pain in her stomach. "What the hell… now what?" She wondered as she tried to make it to her hut, but it felt like someone was pressing a hot iron against her stomach. "AAAAAGH!" She cried, falling on her knees as she sat upright and pulled her shirt up and looked down at her belly… but nothing was on her biting down or scraping the skin off of her body.

…Yet she felt something was inside of her abdomen and was having a party in there.

"Whatever you are… LEAVE NOW!" She yelled, raising her hand up as dark fiery claws came out of her hand and reached down to her stomach, but she paused before she could mutilate herself. "You're above self harm… you're above self harm… you are above self harm…" She told herself and pulled away.

"I may have lost myself in despair… yet I refuse to harm myself…" She said as she got up, fighting the stinging pain of whatever it was that was assaulting her. If anything, it was probably the chaos powers inside of her acting up for whatever reason, not that it had bothered her before.

The moment she walked into her hut, she sat down on her bed, consisting of rose petals that she had molded together to fit as a bed. The stinging pain wouldn't go away, but she tried her best to ignore it.

"And a little bit of this~" Grimm Ruby slashed her sideways. "And a little bit of that-"

"AAAAAAAAAAGH!" Chaos Ruby yelled, clutching her abdomen as she fell off her bed and fell into a fetal position. "Hah… hah… what… what is going on…?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Images popped into her head, seeing Ruby getting tortured and Grimm Ruby digging her claws into her. "Dark Ruby…? No… no… I killed her… how is she alive… I PULLED HER APART!" She yelled. "And that girl… who is that girl… WHY DO I KEEP SEEING HER?!"

She closed her eyes, fighting the stinging sensation. "Can I… make contact with her… hah… hah… it's worth a try…"

She took a deep breath, quickly fighting off the pain as she closed her eyes. "Be with me… be with me… can you hear me!"

"...Who are you…?"

Chaos Ruby opened her eyes and found herself in a different room. She looked around and saw Ruby chained against a wall. She walked over to her and took off her blindfold. She let out a gasp. "You… you have silver eyes… who are you…?"

Ruby looked up. "What…? How did you…? Where's Grimm Ru- AGH!" She cried, feeling the pained sensation from Grimm Ruby. Even Chaos Ruby had felt it.

"I… I think I brought myself into your subconscious or… something, I don't know what I did." Chaos Ruby explained. "Who are you?"

Ruby looked at her, her eyes widening. "I'm Ruby… and you're… you're my paper self that gave into the Chaos Heart. Chaos Ruby."

She looked away. "I don't go by that anymore… I'm just… Chaos. What are you doing getting tormented by that… that… thing?"

"It's Dark Ruby… she turned herself into Grimm and she's really letting me have it…she'll stop at nothing from… torturing meee… agh! Gah…"

"NNNNGH!" Chaos Ruby fell on both knees, wincing. "How the hell… how… I killed my version of Dark Ruby… I pulled her apart until there was nothing left…! How is your version alive?!"

"She's just… way too stubborn to die…"

"Somehow, I find that relatable… how are you not screaming? I was in my world screaming in agony."

"I… I have a strong will… she thinks she can tear me down… she wants me to scream for her… but I'm… I'm not going to let her do it…"

Chaos Ruby looked at her body, seeing blood dripping to the ground. "You're bleeding!" She rushed over to her and pressed her hand against her wound, applying pressure to stop the bleeding.

"...Huh?" Grimm Ruby tilted her head, noticing a particular gash having stopped bleeding. Did she will herself to stop bleeding? She scratched her head. "Mmm, must be my imagination." She went back to her work.

"I… I have a personal question to ask…" Ruby said.

"What is it?"

"Why did you give in to the Chaos Heart?"

Chaos Ruby sighed sadly. "Because I'm a- NNNNGH! I'm a mess… I don't know if you have or had a Shadow Queen in your dimension or the fact you had to deal with an end of the world void but-"

"The universe imploded on itself. You can thank Bowser and Eggman for that. I've heard everything got distorted before everything went dark, then everyone heard Rosie."

"...Is that what that was?" Chaos Ruby rubbed her chin. "Well, that's good to know, I guess… but anyway, as I said, I'm a mess… it all happened in the Sammer Kingdom. It all just… fell apart due to the void, and then the Pure Heart was destroyed, I felt such anguish… and then Dimentio sends us to the Underwhere. Of course, we weren't kept down for long… and then- AGH! Damn" She grunted. "Anyway, I saw the void in the Overthere and I… I just lost it at that point. I caught Dimentio's attention and he… he set me aside at Peach's Castle and warned me about a dam analogy or whatever."

"...Irreparable damage."

"Yes! And then everything just fell apart at Castle Bleck. I lost everyone but Mario and Akechi… and I tried to call dad, uncle Qrow, Byleth, Pit… everyone didn't answer. At that point, I was on the brink of giving up. Sure, everyone came back who I had thought was dead… but I was about to kill Bleck. I was talked out of it and then… Dimentio happened again and… I just gave up. I succumbed to the Chaos Heart and… attacked everyone in my own despair."

Ruby looked at her sadly. "Ruby…"

"Don't call me that! It's just Chaos…" Chaos Ruby grumbled. "Anyway, Dimentio died and… here I am. I left Beacon because Ozpin wanted me to recuperate and… basically, replaced me with Reflet."

"...Robin's sister?"

"Yes."

Ruby smiled. "Aw cute, it's keeping RWBY alive!"

"Cute isn't what I would say…" She mumbled. "Anyway, I've just been in anguish ever since."

"You know… for some reason, I can feel that."

"Huh?"

"I remember when I was eating ice cream with Pit, I suddenly felt a wave of anguish, like I just wanted to cry my guts out."

"You… felt that…?" She asked. "AAAGH!" She grunted. "DAMN! Can't Dark Ruby just tickle torture you instead?!"

"I think her idea of tickling would be scratching me with those talons of hers…"

"Fair enough… but you could feel that?"

"Yes… and then when we headed back into space for the Phazon War, Dimentio shows up-"

"DIMENTIO?!" Her eyes widened. "You… you have a Dimentio of your own?!"

"More like your Dimentio. Apparently he crossed dimensions…"

"What… no! No, he died. He DIED! How did… unless that death was a ruse and he just escaped, found a way out of my dimension and is now making yours a living hell!"

Ruby laughed. "Yeah, but… he's not that bad here. He acts like a child when things don't go his way, plus… he tried round two by dipping me in Phazon. Chaos Phazon Ruby, I believe… or was it Phazon Chaos Ruby…?"

"Wait… Phazon, does it like… burn?"

"Oh yeah, it burns like- NNNNNGH! It burns like heck!"

"I… I felt that pain. It felt like I was being burnt alive. I could see you and Dimentio! And… I think I saw the Phantom Thieves there."

"Wait a moment… how can we feel each other's pain?"

"I'm not sure… are we closer than we think we are? Have we somehow connected or…?"

"Okay, first thing that pops into your- RRRGH! Head! Ready? One. Two. Three."

"Cookies/Flame of despair!"

Both of them sweatdropped.

"Okay, maybe we're not that connected." Chaos Ruby blushed. "But, that's… honestly freaky yet, I've seen freakier."

"Same." Ruby forced a giggle before frowning. "Wait…"

"What is it?"

"The pain stopped… but I also hear… Pittoo saying something."

"Eh? Pittoo's there? What's he saying?"

"..Ewwww, I think he's flirting with her!"

"That's uncharacteristic of him…"

"Oh Pittoo, how much of a fool do you take me for?"

"Oh, I don't like the sound of- AAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

"YAAAGH!" Chaos Ruby cried. "What… what the hell did she do NOW?"

"Grimm… Grimm Piranha Plants… they're biting into me…!"

"You gotta… gotta be shitting… nnnngh! Me!"

"Plants, be a dear and keep him company so he doesn't try anything funny."

"Agh! You know, you're a real bitch!"

"Hmhmhmhm~ I know~"

Chaos Ruby heard the sound of sobbing. "Ruby… are you…?"

"I'd be lying… if I said that this didn't hurt…"

"Ruby… Ruby, look at me. Look at me!" She requested as Ruby looked at her with her eyes slowly going blank. "Don't give up… okay? You're strong, you're brave… everything that I gave up on. I may have lost my humanity, but dammit, I'm not going to watch you give up on me! Just because I gave up doesn't mean you should! You got- NNNNGH! You got this!"

"You're… you're sweet…"

"I guess some things never change…" Chaos Ruby formed a smile. "I don't know why… but you… you're giving me a spark of hope for some reason, something that I've lost a long time ago."

"Ruby-"

"Don't call me tha-... actually, hell with it, call me what you want. I'll allow it."

"Ruby… I don't know where you are or how I'm going to find the Paperverse and get you out of there… but I'm going to get you back. I don't care what it takes, but I promise you, I'm going to kick this Chaos business out of you."

A tear escaped Chaos Ruby's eyes. "That may not be possible but… dammit, what is it with us and having a way with words?"

"It's in our blood…"

Chaos Ruby chuckled. "I guess it is…" A bright smile formed in her lips subconsciously. "You know, I never thought I'd call you a friend, but… here we are."

Ruby forced a small laugh. "Calling yourself a friend… heh… wouldn't that be considered narcissistic?"

Chaos Ruby burst out laughing. "Probably!" She giggled, some light in her eyes returning. "Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"You're awesome… has anyone ever told you that?"

"You're… not so bad either. True, you may have gone off the deep end, but you're still in there somewhere."

"Maybe… I'm not sure, but… I dunno, talking to you has made me feel at peace for a long while, even if we're getting tortured by that dark bitch."

"Yeah." She smiled. "...I SAID GO TO HELL, YOU BITCH!"

"Whoa! Where did that come from?"

"Sorry, I said that to Grimm Ruby. She just took the blindfold off."

"Understandable." Chaos Ruby chuckled. "It's fine… your eyes though… come on, stay strong, just a little-" She felt pressure on her eyes. "AAAAGH! WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING NOW?!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

"Yes! Scream for me! Scream to the high heavens as I take away your-" Scorpion's spear chain went through her. "Aaagh! Wh-what…?"

"GET OVER HERE!"

"Hah… hah… what now?"

"She tried… she tried… to gouge out my eyes…"

"Is there a line that she won't cross…" Chaos Ruby rolled her eyes as she suddenly saw the chains breaking as Ruby fell, but Chaos Ruby caught her. "I got ya! Did they just crumble on their own?"

"No… no… mom freed me…"

"Mom…?" She smiled. "She's a good mother."

"Yes… she is…"

Chaos Ruby noticed that she was slowly breathing. "Ruby… Ruby! No! Stay with me! Don't die on me!" She teared up. "Don't leave me…"

"I'm sorry… I've… I've used up all of my… energy… it was… nice talking to… you…"

She started to fade away.

"No! NO! NOOOOO! DON'T LEAVE ME! RUBY! RUUUUUUUUBY!" She screamed as she found herself back in her own hut. "Ruby… no… she… she can't be gone! No no no no no no! RUUUUBY! ANSWER ME! RUUUUUBY!"

No answer.

"Ruby…?" She teared up. "No… no, I can't lose you too… Ruby, please… Ruby!"

Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed loudly, the light in her eyes disappearing as she screamed in despair, a dark aura surrounding her as she leaned her head back and screamed in agony as the dark aura shot out of the hut and into the sky, striking the moon as the dark despair shattered another good portion of the moon as chunks started to fall into Remnant's atmosphere.

Her screams of despair faded, and her sadness turned into pure rage. She got up, growling angrily as large meteorites slammed into Remnant and the Mushroom Kingdom. "You did to me… you did this to us… you took her away from me… the only light I had left!"

Her eyes went from silver to a chaotic blue. "You… you're gonna pay for this… OOOOOOOZPIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!"

Ibuki: No! We were this close to having Paper Ruby-chan have some hope in her! DAMN YOU GRIMM RUBY!

Ooooh yeah, she's gonna be in for a world of hurt. Anyway, to get everyone's minds off of things: That Splatoon 3 Direct was dope as HELL! Also, Shiver is best girl.

Ibuki: Naaaah, Big Boy is~!

*snickers* Anyway, as for the Splatfest, I have a pretty good feeling you're gonna be Team Rock, given your love for rock music.

Ibuki: *shifts her eyes warily* Noooo, whatever gave you that impression...? *innocent whistle*

Call it a hunch.