The plan went shockingly well.
Somewhere along the journey to the paper village, the cat had disappeared, removing the most unnerving variable from the equation before they could even get started. Afterwards, it turned out that paper houses are really fragile, especially when their inhabitants are constantly trying to destroy them. Neo had no idea why that was the case, but she certainly wasn't going to complain.
All it took was a handful of Jabberwalkers to lure Ruby and friends away, and the entire village undid itself. It was then that Neo had realized just how effective the cat had been; Ruby looked absolutely devastated, unable to even raise her scythe in self-defense. Had it been anyone else, it would have been sad.
Of course, she was the worst person to ever enter Neo's life, so she'd watched on in glee as the town flooded, the Rusted Knight melted down, Ruby followed suit, and an emotional argument ended with her running off into the distance, cold, alone, and seemingly unwanted.
Honestly, Neo couldn't have drawn it up better herself.
It had been a simple manner to teleport ahead with Roman's help, and after constructing an ostentatious tea mansion that Ruby couldn't possibly miss, the pest in question showed up after ample time for preparation. The next several minutes were downright euphoric: Roman fit in a lot of well-overdue monologuing, and she got to leave Ruby a bruised and bloody mess on the floor.
The cat's sudden arrival and sneak attack at the grand finale had thrown a wrench into the works, but they only wanted to add more suffering to Ruby's plate, so Neo held off on retribution until their monologue was interrupted by a talking mouse. Again, Neo hadn't the slightest clue why there was a talking mouse on Ruby's side.
Still, Neo had managed to turn even that to her advantage after slamming the cat offstage; crushing the little fellow right in front of Ruby's quivering eyes was the cherry on top, and with one last devastating—and wholly sincere—line from Roman, she drank the tea and was no more. A tangle of vines was all that remained to mark the stain on existence named Ruby Rose.
On to phase two!
. . .
"No, no no no!"
Curious rushed to where the mount of vines formed. The plan had all fallen apart; why? How was this happening? Were they going to spend Brothers know how much time waiting for the next set of broken, miserable humans to arrive?
Everything was perfectly in place! And humans had ruined everything yet again!
"I needed her!" they shouted, futilely clawing through the vines and leaving a couple scratches. The house was crumbling fast, and they had to do something. But then, something piqued their interest. Curious saw the Great Tree looming among the darkness and purple rain. Then they looked back at a certain peculiarly-colored woman, who sat there and stared at seemingly nothing, dead-eyed.
The plan had all fallen apart, they'd thought. But against all odds, it dawned on them: not yet.
"Take us to her," Jaune demanded, holding them at swordpoint.
"You still don't get it, do you?" they questioned. "It's not a place you go... It's a place you know..." They smiled. "But no matter." They turned to face the broken, purposeless hatted girl again. "I've actually found a much better solution to my problem!"
Curious took a deep breath, concentrating shapes and lightning into their mouth, and released it onto the very friends who had come for Ruby, blowing them away. Them having been (temporarily) taken care of, they turned larger and black-and-white, then leapt a great distance towards their soon-to-be vessel, pinning their paws against the sides of the chair.
"You've lost something most important, haven't you? And now you have nothing left!" They chuckled, quietly. "How delightful! An empty host, perfect for me to fill..."
Curious saw her empty eyes tremble as they entered through the mouth and possessed her...
Or, well, tried.
Their large, grubby paws only made it to the uvula and no further. The fact that there wasn't any metaphysical space inside her soul for them to slip into was extremely problematic. Almost as if to drive the point home, she chomped down hard, leaving Curious with their second bitten appendage in almost as many minutes.
"...What?" Curious trembled as they withdrew their injured arm, their breaths growing heavier. They took in a deep breath, preparing another shout-attack. "WHAT?!"
The blast practically decimated her, leaving behind... shards of glass disintegrating into pink shapes.
"Forget about this," Jaune shouted in the background, "we have to go!"
Curious heard footsteps as they approached her, prepared to take off and slam her at a great velocity. They had enough; Ruby had been whisked away from them, and now that Neo brat tricked them into an insulting bite. As they stood, they felt something press against their back and heard a metallic click. The next thing they knew, they'd been sent tumbling against the floor, flailing about, screaming. They managed to stop their tumble, clawing against the floor, then stood back up as they saw her with her friend, an orange-haired man with that same hat.
Based on what Ruby had told them, they recognized him as Roman.
"Awww, has the poor little kitty cat forgotten?" He smiled. "Not everything most important to her is gone. You know what that means?"
The name Alyx came back to haunt them.
Alyx had promised to take them to Remnant with her, but in truth, she was a heartless being who only wanted to stay. Only wanted to "fix" everything she had broken here in this place. It was decided: much like her, those cheating rat bastards had to pay. Pay for tricking them into making a fool out of themself. They didn't care how much longer it would take to take them down, they were going to perish for what they were doing.
Just like Alyx.
Curious breathed energetic purple lighting towards Neo and "Roman," who got out of the way. They swiped their claws at "Roman." He glided across the floor, dodging left and right. Drat. They got on their four digits and lifted off after him, who dissolved in pink and reappeared right above.
CRACK!
"GAH!"
Shattered glass shards slammed right into them as they crashed towards the floor. Gritting their teeth, they looked around the mansion, staggering as they got up. The first thing they noticed was that the mansion was no longer collapsing; suddenly, it was back in pristine shape now that this Neo girl showed herself to still have some life to her. But most distressing of all was "Roman," standing at that table with a crowd of unfamiliar people behind them.
He was dead, Ruby had told them, but... was he really? Something strange was definitely afoot.
"Hello again," Roman said, with that same twisted smile as that damned Alyx.
"I don't care how long it'll take, dear," Curious snapped. "I will rid you of everything you love, everything that means so much…" Snarl. Their fangs grew larger, and their checkerboard pattern turned to stripes. They were furious, and they were about to make that painfully, oh so painfully clear. "…until you are but a shivering husk!"
"Then come right up." Roman stepped down from the table and held the cane in his hands. "After all," he continued, this time joined by the people around him in unison, "you'll have to go through us first."
Curious took a few steps forward, then charged headfirst at their prey.
One by one, they powered through every attempt to subdue them through sheer force and will alone, making their glassy weapons shatter with their claws, literally breaking them to pieces punch by punch, and systematically tracking down Neo everywhere she went. Another barrage of fishing rod strings their way.
Another shatter. Another sneak attack from that annoying red warrior. Another shatter.
Finally, they caught up where Neo was and sent her flying at a wall, causing some sort of Aura shimmering before breaking away. They watched Roman shout her name before disintegrating with the fake people alongside him. Once again, she found herself helpless, Curious observed. They walked up—hearing more shimmers—and leaned in on her, smiling.
"Well?" they asked. "Have you given the ghost yet?"
No response but a frightened stare. How predictable; they all stood tall and proud, but at the end of the day, they were but mere rats, delaying their inevitable demise until they could no longer.
Curious smiled and shrunk back down, prepared to try again... until they felt a sharp pain somewhere on their left. Where the hell did it come from? The only choice now was to look... and saw Ruby's friends, back for more misery with their weapons drawn.
"We changed our minds," Yang declared.
They let loose a loud laugh, and turned to face those four. "You came back to serve yourselves on a platter?!" The laughter continued, one front paw on their temples. "Have you lost it?! Oh, it just keeps getting better!"
"Maybe." Weiss nodded. "Just maybe."
Curious smiled. "...Alright then." Curious grew back to their previous size. "Do as you pleeease..."
Jaune scoffed. "Gladly."
Once again, the Cat Most Curious moved first, leaping towards Yang, who stepped out of the way. Before Curious could even get their claws in, they met with a barrage of punches, kicks, elbows, and smoldering shot in the face before the act finale that was the... strange ticking things stuck to their belly?
"What the..."
Those things exploded on them, sending them flying towards Weiss, who had summoned a gigantic knight beside her. Weiss went first, delivering a few striking stabs to Curious's hind legs, bringing them to their knees. Already, their patience was running out; they wanted to dissect them so badly, and yet they barely had enough time to even react. Worse still, Blake, Yang, and Jaune all joined her in the beatings, the ethereal white knight likewise joining them (albeit in shrunken form).
As if to make things worse, Neo came to join them—although that didn't go unnoticed.
"Neo?!" Yang shouted, in utter confusion. "This bastard–"
"Focus on her later, get the cat!" Jaune snapped.
No matter. If they could find one opening, even a bad one would give them the slightest silver of a fighting change. They just had to claw for it... and then...
Suddenly, Roman and all those other people from earlier popped up to back up their "frenemies." At that point, it was no longer a fight, but a gang-up beatdown where Curious was a living pinata bouncing from spot to spot, feeling every pain everywhere.
That was the last straw.
"That's– Ah!– ENOUGH!"
Curious, with all their pent-up fury and anger, released a sudden burst of energy and lightning at their opponents, sending them flying, leaving behind smoke in their wake.
CRACK! Crack! Crack.
Curious stood before the smoke, staggering to the side as they fought off every feeling of excruciating pain. "I WILL NOT STAND THERE TO PERISH!" they boomed, staggering forward as the smoke cleared. "YOU WILL NOT–"
It was only then they noticed nothing but broken glass everywhere.
Curious's heart skipped. Their eyes twitched, trembling as they turned left and right for answers. What had once been a crowd of fighters waiting to be bloodied was now nothing more than glass shards scattered everywhere. There were a few larger shards barely resembling body parts of Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Jaune, but that didn't matter; they all faded just like the illusions from before.
What was the meaning of this? Had they missed out on humans and Faunus coming to be made of glass? Did Neo conjure people just to lead them to a trap? Was everyone here a fake, made to mess with them?
They wanted to scream. They had to know. They had to know.
Just then, they heard footsteps growing louder behind them. They turned around.
They saw Ruby, who held a tea set in her hands. She still looked bloodied and bruised, yet she walked just fine, eyes closed. Simply put, this couldn't be her; they saw her Ascend. She fell through that stupid hole and that hole got covered by all kinds of plants, but here she was, taunting them with her presence alone.
They. Had. To. Know.
"...You!" Curious cried. "What's going on? Do you shatter now, not bleed? Are you here? Did you even Ascend?!"
"Care for a drink?" she asked.
Curious gasped. She was holding the characteristic purple-and-green Ascension tea. They knew that every other Afteran could ascend, except themself, for their purpose was to heal the hearts of others...
Ruby was taunting them? But she couldn't have possibly known, unless...
"...I can't Ascend, all thanks to those Brothers, and you know–"
The ceramic set crashed against them, their contents spilling over their face.
"I wasn't asking about that," she said. "Now..." She clasped her hands. "Bottoms up?"
Curious blinked. "...Or are you dyin' to know, pussycat?" She opened her eyes. Curious saw green.
Or was it green?
They were silver again, just as how it usually was. Or were they silver?
"Now, riddle me this," Ruby asked. "Am I here with you? Are they here too?" She gestured towards the familiar crowd of cruel humans gathered to her side. They waved towards Curious, who could only barely back away, for any action greater than that could ache their body worse than it already was.
No, they weren't there before, they realized, they can't just appear out of thin air now, can they? And then it hit them: there's only three here.
Slowly, the fake "humans" closed in on them. At this point, they had to run, now. Any longer and they would risk a further beating into submission... or worse.
"Wh–Wha... but–," they stammered, at a loss of words.
"Oh, what big illusions you have," Ruby began, mocking their tone. "What big mirrors you have." She gasped, exaggeratedly. "...What big trickery you did!"
The illusions all devilishly smiled. "All the better to break you with, my dear."
Curious broke into a sprint, smashing through the glass-bodied people, seemingly defying their numerous injuries to evade... but it wasn't enough. Soon, they fell over, tumbling across the floor. Still, they got up to continue running, taking one peak behind their back to see nobody...
Little did they know, "Ruby" had caught up.
Curious was caught in her scythe. "Ruby" dragged them towards it before letting go, pulling the trigger as the weapon sent them flying towards "Yang." Before they knew it—"GAH!"—they collided into the floor. They heard shimmers from above as an image of "Weiss" smiled before them, watching pieces of the ceiling crash into them.
"AAah!"
Footsteps getting closer. In came "Blake," who turned to fire before exploding on them, propelling them screaming as they made a hard, awkward landing against the wall. Curious could only whine as they slid down, utterly devastated and broken all over.
But that wasn't the last of their misfortunes.
The familiar broken sword stabbed through them, pinning them against the bottom of the wall. They couldn't even muster a yelp; they were just that on the brink.
They stopped bothering; all they could do was accept fate.
"Okay, everyone, group picture~!"
Curious's pupils shrunk to the size of a needle's eye as the cruel illusion "humans" gathered in front of them. As "Ruby" held out her Scroll to take a picture, they heard the nearby growls of...
...a Jabberwalker...
"Three! Two! One! Smile!"
SNAP.