Today is Ruby's birthday! Time to traumatize her. No silly Halloween chapter this year.
…well, if I did write one, it'd go something like…
Author: …and when Ben brought them back to their home dimension, they instead wasted all their time indulging in pop culture and having questionably strange ships!
Ben: P-please no, not this-
Ruby: We're scared as is! MAKE IT STOP!
Tokoyami: i'm also here because my birthday is the day prior
Author: AND THEN THE GREEK GODS SHOWED UP-
In all seriousness, though…today is a very important day for me. It's the anniversary of me and the co-author, Winter Witch. We met 10 years ago today, on Tumblr. I remember it clearly…
I was at a hockey game with my folks, and bored out of my skull. So, I went on my then secret Tumblr account, and randomly started messaging this one person who had just literally joined. She was in the Ben 10 community, we talked here and there, a little inconsistently…but we ultimately formed a tight pact around our niche ship that we came up with a few months later.
Gemstones exists because of her.
Thank you for everything, Patricia. I love you like family.
Anyways, please enjoy this chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
Unfortunately, their hunch was correct. A small army of Jabberwalkers with alien enhancements was advancing through the village, breaking down doors and upturning carts. They weren't hurting the Afterans, not yet anyway, but instead were searching for something. Or someone.
"Scouring...sEarChing...Stalking...sEeKiNg..." the Jabber's all said in terrible disharmony.
"Shit." Ben cursed, looking back to the village. "If those guys get their hands on one, the Cygnets aren't gonna be able to ascend!"
"Then we don't run this time," Yang resolved, activating her gauntlets.
Elsewhere in the village, the panic and roars had reached the ears of Max, Blake, and Ruby. The Rusted Knight immediately brought two fingers to his lips and whistled for Gwendolyn, the jackalope steed bouncing to her feet and making a beeline for Max's location.
"You three, stay with Xy!" Max ordered the younger Afterans as he activated and let his armor fit over him. He held his hand out at just the perfect time for Gwendolyn to speed by, letting him grab a hold of her saddle, swinging himself up onto it.
"Ruby, Blake!" Max called out, drawing his giant collapsable wrench from its scabbard.
"On it!" Blake said, drawing the now repaired Gambol Shroud, "Ruby?"
Ruby looked down at her scythe, and narrowed her eyes. She gripped her weapon, and shifted it into gun mode.
"I'll cover you both." Ruby finally answered.
"Right," Blake nodded before she drew her cleave-sheathe and raced after Max. Ruby looked down to her weapon and took a deep breath before using her Semblance to speed up onto one of the nearby roofs.
Back in the heat of the action, Weiss and Emerald were already back to back and fighting off various Jabber clones. Thief's Respite blocked a sudden strike from a shining crystalline Jabber before Emerald shoved it aside and hooked its neck in her sickle blade. It hissed before its throat was slashed through, removing its head from its shoulders before it dematerialized in pink particles. Weiss spun Myrtenaster's revolver chamber, letting it land on earth. She lashed out with a wide arcing slash that sent sharpened stones flying, tearing several Jawbreakers apart with the shrapnel.
The revolver chamber spun again as Emerald twirled her weapons between her fingers, ready for the next of the swarm. The problem was that neither of them were ready for gravity itself to turn against them. A Gravattack Jawbreaker had balled its hand into a fist and boosted their personal gravity to the point where they couldn't move. Two Chamalien and two Wildmutt Jawbreakers lunged in at the two, ready to rip them apart, but back up had arrived just in time. Two shotgun blasts rang out and shattered the two Chamaliens, while Gwendolyn crashed through a Wildmutt with her horns, letting Max grab hold of the second by the throat with his wrench. Using the extra momentum from when Gwendolyn landed, Max hurled the captured Wildmutt towards the twisted Gravattack, breaking its concentration and freeing Weiss and Emerald.
"Thanks!" Emerald nodded.
"Stay focused!" Blake said, racing in along with Yang. A Humungosaur Jawbreaker thundered up and bellowed at the Bumblebee duo before spinning around and bringing down their mace-tipped tail. Yang raced ahead and grabbed the tail before it could slam down on her. She shifted around a bit to make it easier to hold and tightening her grip. Blake then leapt over her blonde girlfriend and ran up the length of the tail, jumping up and onto the neck of the dinosaur-like clone. It thrashed around a bit, a large hand jutting up to grab Blake. The Jawbreaker brought the captured Faunus in front of its mouth, only to see Blake smirk and disappear. Swords cut through flesh as the real Blake had just decapitated the Humungosaur clone. The blonde brawler raced in and caught the feline Faunus with ease before throwing her towards another clone, this one lankier and more wooden, clearly based on Swampfire. The Swampfire Jawbreaker roared and swung at Blake, but she expertly used her Semblance to dodge the strike, slashing at the exposed back of the clone. She landed behind it and hooked its front leg with Gambol's ribbon. She yanked it back, taking out its balance and cracking its head on the ground. The feline Faunus let go of the limb and let Yang land a combo of hooks on the monster's masked face before cracking its visage and shattering it entirely.
Ben frowned. How the hell are they based on my aliens!? Did Animo end up here? The watch wearer was just incredibly frustrated by this. Why did they have aliens that he didn't?
Ben activated the Omnitrix and slapped it down. Sure, he wasn't sure who he'd turn into, but whoever it was, it'd have to do. Much to his surprise, he ended up as Ultraviolent again.
"Jeez. Omnitrix really likes this guy..." He muttered, before flying off to stab a larger Jawbreaker based on Wildvine. The Jawbreaker stretched its arms backwards, before whipping them forward, momentum adding to their power. Ben immediately stabbed his way through the vine arms, cutting the limbs into shreds.
But he just feels so GOOD.
The cyclopean masked Jawbreaker looking down at its shredded arms before Ben just descended on it, slicing the rest of the clone apart. A turtle-like Jawbreaker spun in towards Ben from the side and slammed into him like an airborne saw blade.
Wait, Terraspin?! Ben thought.
Ben dodged the attack, letting the Jawbreaker careen into the ground. Ben blinked. That just confirms it then. I only unlocked Terraspin a day ago, but Albedo's had it since day one, as far as I'm aware. But why…why would Neo do this?
Ben flew forward, spinning in air to drill into the Jawbreaker's reinforced body. The Jawbreaker blocked the attack with its shell, but Ben didn't stop spinning. His body started to spin faster and faster, until he was glowing with power.
Eventually, his power was strong enough to just punch right through the shell like a tank round. He pulled his arm out of the clone and watched it disappear in a storm of pink particles.
"Neo..." Ben muttered. With the revelation of Max's survival, he'd completely forgotten that Neo was responsible for these monstrosities.
"Shit..." Ben muttered. His mind raced with possibilities as to why she had turned right back around to her old ways. Only one somewhat rational explanation came to mind. Vilgax. That damn lie he'd spun for her before she was thrown over the side back in Atlas must have struck harder than he could've ever imagined.
"Seeking...RUBY," a Wildmutt Jawbreaker growled as if to confirm Ben's suspicions. He gritted his teeth and got ready to fight, sharpening his blades in a taunting display. The clone growled and roared in response, charging towards Ben with bestial fury.
Ruby, meanwhile, had taken up position on a roof that overlooked the battlefield and pulled the bolt on Crescent Rose. She looked down the scope to try and line up a shot on any available target she could. She saw Ben easily sidestep and impale the Wildmutt Jabber, so he was doing fine. Weiss and Emerald were handling themselves, both taking down a small squad of Echo-Echo Jabbers with a combination of gravity Glyphs and Emerald's own magic. Blake and Yang were a monster of a team, taking down one clone after another in perfect sync. Even Max was doing fine with Gwendolyn, the mount kicking away a Rath Jabberwalker while the Rusted Knight himself locked the wrench's jaws around the arm of a Diamondhead clone. It didn't last long when he threw it into Gwendolyn's path, getting trampled in the process. Eventually, she finally managed to get a target in her crosshairs, a prowling Chamalien Jabber that was sneaking up on Weiss. Her finger moved to the trigger and-
Nothing. She froze.
She was trying to squeeze the trigger, she wanted to squeeze the trigger, but her finger just wouldn't move. Her eyes went wide as the slithering clone got closer and closer, rearing up behind Weiss like a cobra...only for the heiress to turn around and stab it through the heart, dispersing it.
"Ruby! Look out!" Little called out. The red-hooded Huntress took her eye away from the scope just in time to be tackled off the roof by a Jetray Jabberwalker. Ruby thudded onto and rolled across the ground, the Jabber tumbling away from her before getting back on its feet. The hunter turned to Ruby and growled, menacingly approaching her as she stood back up.
"Missed...hAtIng...Thinking...WaItInG...wAnTiNg...DROOLING!" the monstrous Jetray announced as Ruby took shaky aim at the monster, but just as before, she couldn't pull the trigger.
"CRAVING! TASTING!" it continued on, before a truly nightmarish sight played out in front of Ruby's eyes. Either it was just her mind playing tricks on her or it was Neo's Semblance, but the masked visage of Jetray morphed into that of Cinder's. At first, it was just the disturbing sight of Cinder's head on an Aerophibian body, but then that was replaced by the vision of Cinder in all her villainous glory floating in the air of the Central Location as the flaming bodies of civilians rained down into the void behind her.
"Ruby!" Little called out, their voice muted in the girl's ears. The hooded Huntress leapt out of the way as the Jabberwalker lunged at her, missing her by mere inches.
"WANTING!" the Jabber bellowed, turning to Ruby, now sporting Vilgax's head. The scene of Vilgax ripping the Unitrix core out of Eunice's body played out before her again, his claws piercing her flesh. But then, Vilgax turned to her and lunged again. Ruby was suddenly tackled to the ground by the Jetray Jawbreaker, its hands on her shoulders to keep her pinned. Crescent Rose had been knocked out of her hands and skidded away from her.
"HATING! YOU!" the monster screamed in her face, before it shifted to the face of Salem. Ruby was panicking, her eyes going wide and wild, her breaths becoming quick and shallow.
No. No. No. NO! Get off! GET OFF OF ME! GET OFF! Ruby mentally begged as she saw Salem's eyes turn into empty black sockets.
"YES! READY! STARVING! TAKING! CLAIMING! AVENGING!" the Jawbreaker roared.
Ruby's fear quickly turned into pure, burning, rage. She was tired. She was exhausted, and the last thing she needed was Neo, SCREAMING at her for some bullshit she didn't even cause. Ruby wanted to hold that girl down and scream the truth at her. SHE DIDN'T KILL ROMAN.
It was weird! It was weird Neo was so civil with her, but the second Vilgax manipulated her with a few words, their entire relationship was destroyed! Ruined! Shattered into innumerable pieces!
And it made her-!
SO!
SO!
SO-!
Normally, in a moment like this, Ruby's body would unleash her silver eyes. But that was fueled by hope, good memories and encouragement. Ruby's empty and hopeless body could only generate spite. This spite to keep moving and walking as if she was fine. And it was spilling out.
And it did spill out, violently. Ruby exploded in a mess of red petals.
The Jawbreaker was knocked back with a violent howl of pain as rose petals sliced into its flesh. The rest of the Outcasts finished off the last of the Jawbreakers before they turned to see the giant rose explosion.
"Ruby...RUBY!" Ben yelled, running over to her. Weiss summoned up a pathway of Glyphs she could skate across, taking Emerald with her. Blake and Yang ran towards the sight with Max astride Gwendolyn close behind.
The rose petals fluttered in the air for a few seconds, not falling to the ground. Suddenly, they started to reconstitute in mid air. Ben expected to see Ruby reform, but what reformed instead wasn't human looking.
It was a conglomeration of petals, forming into something that resembled Ruby, but just wasn't. The petals were constantly moving, breaking off, and just looked inhuman. Giant silver orbs were in place of where eyes would be and a long fluttering cape draped behind the crimson shape.
"STARVING! MUST! EAT!" the Jetray abomination roared, not caring about how its prey looked. It ignored Ben and the others entirely, focusing solely on Ruby. It lunged at her again, arms outstretched and ready to grab hold of her again.
The Jetray-based hybrid flew through the red petals, not even phasing "Ruby". The living storm turned around and flew towards the monstrosity, enveloping it in petals. After a few moments, the petals dispersed and landed on the ground silently.
The Jetray Jawbreaker was nowhere to be found.
The other Outcasts, even Little, all looked stunned at the transformation Ruby had undergone. Emerald was in pure shock, but for those who'd gone through it before, they knew exactly what this was. Blake, Yang, and Weiss all felt that same sense of dread as they stared at Ruby's Berserker Semblance.
Ben tried to reach out to Ruby, but she flew off. Another Jawbreaker was approaching the village, but Ruby instantly destroyed it. She flew around, wrecking every single one she could. It was madness.
"What...the hell is going on?!" Max yelled.
"It's her Semblance...she's..." Weiss muttered.
"It's her Berserker. Long story short, we figured out our Semblances can evolve when certain negative emotions get too strong. My hair turns into black fire, Weiss can use her summons as armor," Yang summarized.
"And Ruby?" Max frowned.
"Ruby...is letting everything out." Ben realized, watching her carve through the Jawbreakers. What started out as a small army had been quickly reduced to just a small group of a few Breakers, specifically a Swampfire, a Gravattack and an Upgrade.
"Return! ReTreAt!" the Upgrade Jawbreaker screeched before trying to flee, as if Ruby would allow it. A storm of petals flew at it from behind and quickly reformed in front of it. The fleeing Breaker actually had stopped in its tracks before its stop half started to slide off and disperse. Ruby's "arm" had reformed into a scythe made entirely of petals, but still as sharp as the real thing. The Gravattack and Swampfire Breakers shared a look of concern between them before Ruby spun around to face them. The Swampfire breaker started things off by throwing several flaming seeds at the petal entity, burning holes through her form, holes that quickly sealed up with more petals. As if to say "my turn," Ruby held out her hand and fired off a barrage of petal darts that peppered the Breaker into nothingness.
"Holy shit." Ben whispered, watching berserk Ruby fight. "It's like...she went 'Ultimate'."
"Is this what she feels like? After everything we've been through? The way she's destroying everything makes me worry for her mental state..." Blake frowned.
With only the Gravattack left, Ruby raced in and began slashing away at it as if it were any other Grimm. No, not like any other Grimm. With the Grimm, she was always measured in her attacks. This? This was pure, blind, fury. With a powerful scythe uppercut, the Gravattack was knocked back into a building where it seemingly dispersed upon impact.
Ruby hovered in the air for a few moments. She surveyed the land, noting the destruction she'd caused.
And she still felt nothing.
Her silver eyes narrowed as her hands just shot to her head. Why? Why did she feel NOTHING?!
I saved the town. I saved the citizens. I saved EVERYONE for once. WHY? Ruby cursed, her angry and muddled brain cursing her out. She wanted...she wanted...
She needed to feel like she could be Ruby again.
"...Ruby?" Ben asked, his voice measured, a sign that he was human again.
Ruby's head snapped back to face Ben. Her body was still trembling with rage as she floated back down to the ground, regaining more human features.
"What." She frowned.
"Ruby, can...can you-?" Ben reached his hand out to her, hoping the gesture would be enough to calm her down, let her turn back to normal. One of her rose petals floated by and left a small cut on his hand, but he ignored it completely.
Ruby didn't say anything. Her silver eyes were devoid of any life. For Ben, it was like staring at a total stranger.
"Ruby!" Yang yelled, looking the most concerned. "Ruby, are you-"
"I'm fine." Ruby lied, clearly not being fine. "I was useful. There. Happy?"
"Ruby, that was… maybe a little freaky. Maybe it'd be a good idea for you to stay off the field for-"
"Oh, what!?" Ruby yelled. "What, the second I show some muscle for the first time since we're down here, you want to bench me?!"
"What? N-no, that's not what I'm say...ing..." Yang trailed off, turning her head towards where the Gravattack Breaker had been sent, hearing something from the direction. Ruby turned her head as well, trying to find the source of that sound.
Clapping. Slow, dramatic, clapping. Out of the rubble of the building, Neo, in her royal garb, walked out with Hush tucked under her arm and Torchwick's hat on her head.
"Neo," Ben growled.
Neo just winked at the Omnitrix wearer, as if this was all just a game to her. She looked over Ruby's current look shrugging.
Nice look, Red. Very...floral, Neo silently chuckled.
Ruby didn't say anything. Her response was to simply hold up her hand and fire a single petal at Neo, shattering her like glass.
"I don't have time to deal with you." the berserk reaper muttered, but that was cut off by more claps. The group turned around to see Neo, approaching them from behind.
Ooooh, how very 'Ironwood' of you, Neo mocked.
"You...have the fucking gall to say that to her?!" Yang yelled, her eyes turning red in sheer rage.
I'm not wrong though! Didn't the tin man shoot Oscar for trying to talk? Neo taunted, walking by and twirling her umbrella on her finger, But I didn't just come here to get shot at.
"Then why did you?" Ben threateningly asked, "Because I swear to god, if you were just waiting for a chance like this-"
Accusing me of betrayal? That's rich. No, I was fine with her…until I learned. As to your first question, why, I'm here to deliver a message! Miss Ruby Rose, YOU...are cordially invited! Neo suddenly produced an envelope from out of nowhere like a magician before throwing it over to her. Ruby emotionlessly caught it.
We've got everything! Tea, crumpets, sweets of all kinds! Neo grinned madly.
Ruby shredded the invite. "I'm not gonna face you."
And risk putting all these people in danger? Neo motioned to the town. My my my, maybe you don't even need to show. You're already self destructing by your-
Another petal shattered her. This one didn't come back. Ruby regained more human features and collapsed to the ground. Her friends rushed over to help her, but Ruby held up her hand.
"Don't."
"W-what? Ruby, what do you me-" Weiss began.
"I said don't," the huntress interjected coldly, making the heiress just freeze up. Even Little looked surprised by the sudden lack of emotion, so different from the girl they met back in the tropical jungles.
"Ruby, we're just-" Blake began.
"What? You want me to be the leader?" Ruby clenched her fist. "You want me to say something about what just happened? Well guess what, I don't."
"Ruby?" Ben asked.
"Why do I have to be the leader? Why do I have to be the one to pick up the pieces!? To just roll with the punches!?" Ruby yelled, looking at Max. "Am I supposed to just...ACCEPT that Max is back and continue on my merry way!? Am I supposed to feel honored that my boyfriend would throw himself into a void to chase me so he can see me at my lowest!?"
Ben's heart broke hearing that.
"No! No! I have to deal with a bunch of grown ups! No time for me!" Ruby turned to face her teammates. "Gotta get back home! Gotta help the people! Gotta find someone who isn't just going to screw everything up! STAY POSITIVE! Sort out our bullshit!"
"Ruby, listen, you're having a panic attack. You-" Yang reached out her hand to try and comfort her sister, and Ruby slapped it away.
"I'M NOT A LITTLE KID!" Ruby yelled. "Stop walking on eggshells around me! JUST SAY IT!"
Ben took a step forward. "Ruby! We're trying to help-"
And what Ruby screamed next...
Could not be written by the author. Because it even made her sad to even think about.
Ruby just tore into Ben. It was...so out of character and so horrific, that Ruby blocked it out herself. All she just heard was her voice, making noises, and Ben's reactions.
His horrible, sobbering reactions. He couldn't believe his eyes or ears. His best friend, his soulmate was just...screaming at him like he was a nobody. Part of him wanted to go for volume and scream back at her, but he could never forgive himself if he did that.
So, he tried to do the best thing he could.
Ben just wrapped Ruby in a hug. It was stupid. It was the worst thing you could do to someone screaming at you.
But he just knew she didn't mean any of those horrible things, this was just the result of keeping all her negative emotions underwraps. They needed an-
And then Ruby just pushed him off. No words, just action. Ruby was huffing after exploding like that, but it still seemed like she still had more anger bottled up inside.
"Ruby. You need to-" Max started, trying to put his hand on her shoulder, only for Ruby to spin around and slap it away.
"Need to what?! Need to calm down?! Lemme guess, you're just gonna give me a blanket that I can just roll up into and then magically all my problems are gone?! You think that's gonna solve ANYTHING?! I'm not a kid anymore! And you're not even supposed-! You're not even supposed to be here!" Ruby screamed. Even as furious as she was, she couldn't bring herself to say what first popped into her mind.
You're not even supposed to be alive.
And that brought Ruby back to reality.
She looked around at all the people staring at her, looking horrified at what she just said.
It was too late to say sorry.
So she ran.
Ben tried to reach out and stop her, but his fingers only managed to just barely catch one of the rose petals she left in her wake. He looked down at the small red petal in his palm through blurry eyes as he fell to his knees. Tears just started falling into his hands, one or two of them landing on and soaking the petal.
Snow began to fall.
And that was all Ben could remember for a while, just snow and tears.