So, this is the 'penultimate' episode of the Ever After arc. After the next chapter, we're going on a hiatus to get the Vacuo saga in order. I'll be real- this is probably some of the strongest writing I've done for it, and the Vacuo saga feels a little…lackluster, at least to me. But I always feel that way after writing a chapter.

Another reason for the hiatus? To get my job affairs in order.

Anyways, please enjoy this chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5

Ben and Ruby chased the Cat through the bramble thicket, where this chapter of the story all started. It was a bit of a roundabout path.

"Come on, Cat! Go too far and you're gonna end up in the ocean. And I doubt you can swim!" Ruby smirked.

The Cat's pixels condensed back into their Furious form and dropped right at the edge of the beach, where sand met water. They scanned the horizon, hoping to prove Ruby wrong, but couldn't. They were at the end of the line.

"Nowhere left to flee, now. Water as far as I can see on one side, two very pissed off humans on the other, and no real escape. What's your game plan?" Ben asked, lighting up his fists.

"So…we've skipped right ahead to the last chapter," the Cat muttered, turning around to face their two assailants, flaring their claws to their maximum length and sharpness, "The last paragraph of this sordid little clash. As you would say, it all comes down to this."

Ben's flames grew brighter and petals started to flutter around Ruby. "For once, we're in agreement. How do you wanna do this? One hit KO? Trade off?" Ben asked.

"Oooh, how about a firing contest?" Ruby suggested.

The Cat growled, as pixels started to rise out of their body. "How about something a little less flashy and a little more straight forward. The only way your story ends is the traditional way…something melancholy and heartbreaking. The two lovers will cease here."

"A little cliche, isn't it?" Ben snarked.

"Cliches aren't bad, they're often quite useful," the Cat growled.

"The story's over, Cat. You're done." Ruby said, aiming her weapon.

"Ohhhh little Red, little Red," The Cat smirked. "You should know by now that there's more than one way for a feline to defend themselves."

"Bring it! You've been underwhelming ever since you left my body. The hell can you still do?" Ben joked.

The Cat's lips curled into a smile as pixels and sparks jumped off their whiskers. They opened their maw and breathed a bolt of lightning onto their claws, coating the blades in electrical energy.

Ben and Ruby shared a look. "...ehhhh." They simultaneously said.

"You kids aren't fun anymore." The Cat sighed. "Oh, to have the power to just take your emotions away alllll over again..."

Suddenly, something snagged the back of Ruby's cape.

"Huh?" Ruby blinked and looked over her shoulder.

It was one of the limbs of the Cat, but that made no sense. The Cat had both limbs attached right now. How did they-

Ruby was pulled back into the woods before she could even finish forming the question as a thought.

"RUBY!" Ben yelled.

"Oh whoops. How did that happen?" the Cat gasped before chuckling a bit.

Ben looked back to the Cat, who was surrounding themself with more and more pixels, growing larger and larger, gaining extra arms, extra tails, extra heads.

"Trivia said Albedo had an 'Ultimate' feature..." The Cat snarled. "So I decided to give it my own spin."

"Less of an ultimate, more of a cheap rip-off," Ben said.

The Cat's eyes just twitched before four of the floating arms assaulted Ben from all angles. Slashes and punches cut and slammed into Ben before he could react. Ben tried to get away, fire himself backward- but that's when something caught his body.

The Omnitrix-wielder's eyes looked down to see a tail wrapped around his waist. Before he could react, the Cat stabbed his claws into Ben's chest.

"Goodbye." the Cat grinned.

"Wha-" Ben didn't even get to finish his sentence. The Cat's floating limbs and those still attached just slashed into Ben's body like a whirlwind of blades, cackling madly all the while. To the Cat, this was just like cutting down a very stubborn weed. Cut after cut tore Ben apart, faster than Ben's healing factor would even trigger.

By the end of it, the Cat looked down at a pile of mulch.

"Look. At. That," the Cat chuckled, "Looks like even your healing had a limit! Now to find Rose...and show her the remains. Quick snap and I'll slip her on like a brand new coat!"

The Cat stalked off, stepping on the pile of dirt as they walked into the forest. Before they could even reach the edge of the tropical treeline, they noticed something strange.

The leaves before them were moving, drifting towards the dirt pile. They snarled as they recognized the same trick from before.

"I dunno, Cat." The pile suddenly spoke up. "If you tell Ruby that you reduced Swampfire to mulch, she'll just have a 'yes, and?' reaction."

The Cat spun around, pupils wide in a mix of horror and fury.

"I've been thinking." Ben began, as a head reformed from the dirt. It looked different. The yellow 'horn' on his head was more pronounced, looking like a corpse flower. "That thing you said about me being a God playing human. Pretty insulting of you to say that." His body reformed more and more, taking on a stronger appearance.

"Sure, if you were in my body, you could learn all the tricks and twists with my aliens with time. You could become the most powerful, capable thing alive with my powers. But there's something you lack with all my aliens." Ben continued.

"Which is?" The Cat was starting to get nervous.

"The indomitable human spirit." Ben smirked, taking a step forward. "A heart to guide your way." Swampfire was tall before, sure, but now it seemed like he was a good head taller than the Cat, figuring out if that was real or just a fear-induced mirage was a matter for later, "I saw it first hand. The way you fled when Mercury wiped the floor with you. You give up too easily when things don't go to plan."

Ben flicked his wrist, presenting a luminous orange fireball. "You can't play God if you're below humans."

The Cat just growled, anger rising as they bared their fangs. This little pathetic second-hand toy of the Gods had the gall to say that to them?! They needed to be human to play God? Compared to the baseline of humanity, they were already a god! Hearts and minds could be swayed with the flick of a tail, virtual immortality was given to them at birth, and this child thought he knew how to define DIVINITY?!

Apparently so, because while the Cat's mind thought up that mental argument, Ben had flung the fireball and blasted the faux-Ultimate Cat back into the tropical jungle, through trees and bushes, scaring away the local birds and even grabbed the attention of some nearby Hunter Mice.

Ben walked through the forest, the trees and vines following close behind him. Ruby soon regrouped with him, looking miffed.

"Stupid Cat hand." She mumbled, looking Ben up and down. "Oh, hey. That's different."

"I bet I smell worse." Ben smirked.

"Oh, absolutely."

"Horrendous...actually," the Cat coughed, staggering to their feet.

"You don't get to agree with us," Ruby and Ben said together.

The Cat growled. "You two are so codependent, it's sickening. Apart, you're so easy to decieve. Your love isn't built on respect. It's built on a constant desire to validate the flaws you so desperately want to ignore."

"What's wrong with flaws?" Ben asked.

"EVERYTHING! Flaws are not meant to exist! The world should be perfect, an impeccable tapestry! You seriously think you can live with yourselves!? Your issues? A simple conversation can't fix everything!" The Cat yelled. "Flaws are burdens on the soul. Why have a life where you can't fix everything in an instant!?"

Ruby and Ben looked at each other. "Are...you confusing our trust in one and other for toxicity?" Ben asked, genuinely concerned.

"What? Confuse it? It IS! You allow these flaws to fester instead of removing them! Allowing a wound to become infected is bound to be toxic!" the Cat argued.

"That's not the kind of toxic we mean," Ruby clarified.

"It's not...?"

"It's more toxic to destroy yourself and come back as a whole different person." Ruby said. "It's...healthy to have someone help you work through the worst parts of you. Sure, they may not vanish, but to just flat ignore them is...arguably worse."

"I never said ignore them! I said REMOVE THEM!" the Cat roared.

"You've been ignoring yours for too long." Ruby frowned. "You never had the chance to Ascend yourself now, did you?"

"I..." The Cat grit their teeth. "You think a simple mind down here could understand what sort of life I've lived!?"

"Not right away, but we can get the gist of things," Ben shrugged.

"The 'gist' isn't GOOD ENOUGH! Stop trying to pull a page from MY BOOK! GET OUT OF MY HEAD AND LET ME GET INTO YOURS!" the Cat demanded, getting ready to lunge.

Ben created a wall of vines before them, and encircled the Cat. "Projection. You think becoming someone else will make your issues go away. You gonna run away when you have to deal with their problems too?"

"Run away? Run away?! I'm not running away! I'm removing my problems! And in order to remove my problems, I! NEED! ANSWERS!" the Cat roared, spinning around and slashing right through the vine wall, only to be greeted with a powerful punch to the back, courtesy of Yang.

"Sorry we're late!" Yang apologized.

Ben sighed. "You're fine." Ben threw up a hand. "We're not making any breakthroughs with this guy."

"Take 'em down then?" Yang asked.

"Take 'em down!" Ruby nodded.

The Cat yowled, unleashing a powerful screech that made the group flinch. Like they'd let them have the first move-!

But before the screech could do any serious damage, Emerald's chains wrapped around and snapped their feline maw shut. The trickster gave a quick and mocking salute to the Cat, a muffled growl rumbling from their mouth. They grabbed hold of the chains with their claws and struggled to rip them off, before Neo suddenly appeared and slid under them, right between their legs. Hush lashed as the Cat's legs, making them stagger and wince in pain before the Furious Cat retaliated. They tried to crush Neo under their claws, only to smash glass.

...I really should've gone for her, the Cat mentally lamented. Their regrets were interrupted when a shimmering sound reached their ears, that of a summoning Glyph coming into being. Weiss put all of her focus into the Glyph and the summon itself answered. The glowing wings of a white Nevermore emerged from the Glyph before flapping and taking to the air. The Cat's eyes widened and continued to struggle against the chains, exploiting a weakness and freeing their maw.

"GOTCHA!" the Cat bellowed, charging up and firing off another beam of lightning.

Their mouth was quickly shut by a double uppercut from Ben and Yang, nearly shattering the Cat's jaw. The Cat yelped, before Yang began planting bombs on their chest.

"Light 'em up!" Ben cheered.

Yang smirked and detonated the bombs, launching the Cat into the sky. The Nevermore raced after them and latched onto them with its talons, pecking at their face with its peak. The Cat growled before grabbing the bird's beak and fired off their lightning beam, tearing the summoned bird to shreds. Their victory was short lived when Blake leapt into the air and wrapped Gambol Shroud's ribbon around their waist.

Blake pulled the Cat to the ground, slamming him into the dirt. Ben binded him to ground while the group wasted no time just stomping the living shit out of him. Was it a bit silly? Yes. But that didn't matter when you were winning.

This can't be happening! Even at full power! I thought ditching the body would work-! The Cat frowned.

Am I...

Really this broken?

No...NO! I am not broken! the Cat's mind snapped back, fully in denial now, THEY are broken! They just won't ACCEPT IT!

The Cat's floating arms spun and slashed through the vines that bound him, forcing everyone back as they stood back to their full height. But they weren't free yet. Ice suddenly encased their feet, courtesy of Weiss, locking them in place.

"Of course..." the Cat growled.

Ruby began shooting their body with high impact bullets, doing some significant damage.

"We need to knock them out for good! No more wasting Dust on 'em!" Ruby yelled.

"Then I know just what to do," Ben smirked. He nodded to Neo and Max, the two of them leaping into the fight to try and slam the Furious Cat into the ground once and for all. The Cat just growled and leapt into the air, easily freeing themselves from the icy shackles and forcing Max's wrench and Hush to just strike the ground. Ruby and Ben leapt at the Cat from below, while Blake and Yang leapt from behind them, catching the feline in a crossfire. With a flick of her wrist, Weiss summoned a circular cage of Glyphs around the five of them.

Just as planned.

The Cat was suddenly barraged by the group on all sides. Their bodies were glowing- red, white, black, yellow and green- Weiss snuck in some time dilation glyphs within the cage.

ULTRA COMBO MOVE!

Ben raised his fist, allowing it to burn so hard it was destroying his hand.

Ruby prepared to swing her scythe over her back and into the cat.

Blake raised her katana over her head, aiming for the Cat's neck.

Yang aimed her fist to smash the Cat's crotch.

Weiss aimed her rapier to slash the Cat's tail off.

The group launched their attacks-

OVER THE RAINBOW!

All of the attacks landed and the Furious Cat practically exploded from all the impacts. They were thrown to the ground with one last defeated gasp before they shrunk back to normal. They weakly tried to get back up from the middle of the crater they landed in.

"N-no...noooooo!" the Cat whined, "You're broken...all of you! You break everything you touch! Like all humans! Weak! Confused! Incomplete! Just like I said!"

Ruby walked over to the Cat, and stared down at him. There was a weird look painted across her face; was it pity? Disappointment? "Afterans throw themselves away- because you either deem them broken, or they truly believe there's no other option." She leaned in. "If there's something that breaks everything they touch...it's you."

"This isn't paradise." Ben said, walking back over and reverting. "Sad as it is to say, there's no such thing as a real, true happy ending." Ben reached for Ruby's hand and she grasped his tight. "That's why we have to make our own."

"We could end up broken by the end of a story." Ruby continued. "But we need to have people to help mend them." The rest of the group crowded around the Cat, looking down at him.

"I'm...really sorry no one could help mend you." Ruby sighed. "In a weird way, I think you're how I could have turned out if I ended up here alone."

"Stop. Saying. I need mending! I am the one who mends! I'm the one who sends people to get fixed! I don't break! And if you ended up like me, then none of...none of THIS would have happened! I'd already be wearing you and walking right on through to Remnant," the Cat sighed.

"Still set on that? Then I guess there's nothing else to say."

"We're going to the Tree, back to Remnant...and you're staying here," Ben said. Without sparing the Cat another glance, the green and red duo walked past the Cat, turning their back on them. The others did too, moving to retrace their steps and leave the Cat to their own devices.

But neither Ruby's words nor Ben's actually made it through to them. The Cat growled and leapt into the air, pouncing towards Ruby, but they were caught mid-jump. The crook of a cane wrapped around their neck and yanked them back.

"Hey there," Roman Torchwick smirked, looking down at the Cat, his hand now gripping the Cat's fur.

"W-what?! Roman?!" the Cat gasped.

"Eh, sorta. They might be content to just leave you here...but me? But Neo?" the crime lord's eyes turned to Neo's pink and brown hues, "Yeaaaaah no."

The Cat could only watch in horror as Roman's form seamlessly shifted into the horned and masked visage of the Jabberwalker.

"No! No, no!" the Cat panicked, squirming in the Jabber's grip, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

And then the Jabberwalker descended, tearing into the Cat and brutally devouring them.

Ben and Ruby heard the carnage behind them, but didn't try to stop it. Ruby shot a glance towards Neo, who was hiding her eyes from them.

Even though Ruby couldn't see it, she could tell that the colorful ex-con was crying. She just didn't want to draw any attention to it.

Eventually, the noise died down, and only silence hung in the air as they walked back into the tropical forest.

Now, Neo hadn't actually come with them yet, something Emerald noticed not long after they left the site of the battle behind.

"...I'll be right back," Emerald said to Ben and Ruby, just letting them know.

Ben and Ruby shared a look, but nodded. "Alright. We'll just be...a little up the way." Ben jabbed his thumb behind him. "Catch up with us, okay?"

"Promise," Emerald said before quickly moving back to the beach. When she pushed aside a bit of foliage that blocked her view, she was met with both Neo and Roman, their backs turned to her and staring out at the golden ocean.

"So. This is it, huh? The last hurrah for the greatest crime duo in the world, eh?" Roman asked.

Neo nodded.

"I'm sorry I'm not real, kid." Roman said. "Honestly, I would've followed you to their side too. You got a good setup there."

I'm…pretty sure they're not gonna take kindly to me for a while. Neo admitted.

"It wasn't you that did all that. It was the Cat," Roman tried to reassure her.

But I still did it. The Cat wasn't the one to torture Ruby with visions of her friends. Of the -dead.- That was -me.- Neo silently sniffled, wiping some of the tears from her eyes.

Roman put a hand on her shoulder. "Far from the worst thing we've done. Right?"

But the worst thing I've done. Neo countered.

"You just wanted the truth. I know that's not gonna justify it but...I feel like it's understandable. Didn't Ruby deserve the truth about her mom?"

She did...

"And you deserved the truth about me. Reason no one told you? The only people who could tell you, well, they knew it was a touchy subject. Probably didn't wanna open old wounds."

But I so easily fell for it. One whispered lie from Vilgax...one lie that stupid Cat twisted. And I was back to being a villain.

"But a 'villain' who still has a support system. To have what you and Albedo have, it's something to be treasured."

Neo didn't immediately respond, just letting the words sink in.

...can you do me a favor? Neo finally asked.

"Anything."

We never got to back home...so...so I want to say goodbye. Properly.

Roman gave her a sad smile.

"You know you're talking to yourself, right?"

I know. Just humor me.

Roman sighed. "Okay, okay...come he-"

Without even letting the illusion finish the sentence, Neo threw herself into Roman's arms, and just squeezed him tightly.

Roman hugged her as tightly as he could, despite just being a collection of her Semblance's particles. But it just felt all too real to Neo, she didn't want to believe it was fake. She wanted to believe this was the final goodbye of her old friend. She just closed her eyes and silently sobbed into Roman's chest.

G-goodbye...goodbye Roman. Thank you...for everything, Neo sniffled.

"Goodbye, Neo. Take care of yourself up there, ok?" Roman said, before he began to fade, scattering on the wind as nothing more than pink shards of glass.

But the hug remained. Emerald was still holding Neo in her arms, tightly hugging her fellow former antagonist and just letting Neo cry.

The group decided they needed a rest after the battle, so Max decided to bookend their battle with a small meal. Ben and Ruby were laying on the shore, looking out at the sea.

"So, this is where you started?" Ben asked.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah. I landed somewhere over…" She motioned to a general area behind her. "Here? I dunno."

"You ended up in a nicer sandy place than I did. This place is…beautiful." Ben looked around him and ended up staring into Ruby's eyes.

Somehow they beat the sights and sounds of the beach. Ben's heart warmed up and he noticed that Ruby's silver eyes regained that signature shine they always had. They always gave him a nice calming vibe of 'everything's gonna be okay.'

"Kinda reminds me of the summer we met. Even though we didn't really go to a beach. That's weird, right?" Ruby asked.

Ben chuckled. "Honestly, no. I was thinking the same thing."

"You're phoning that in, aren't you? Just so we can act like we're on that 'couples wavelength'." Ruby said.

Ben threw up his hands. "You caught me."

The green and red duo shared a laugh, before they sighed. Ben stared at Ruby for another few seconds, before looking over at Yang.

"Uh, hey. I need to...grab something from Yang real quick. Do you wanna go for a walk after?" Ben asked.

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Sure."

"Great," Ben said, getting up and walking over to Yang. The blonde brawler was talking with Blake after using some of what was left of her fire Dust to start the fire Max was using.

"Hey Ben," Yang grinned, "Coming to help set up?"

"Actually um...I think..." Ben didn't even finish the sentence, his eyes wandering down to one of his jacket pockets. The blonde immediately caught on.

"Thought you said that it might be shallow if you did it now?" Yang asked.

"It's a promise. Not an official thing." Ben clarified as he quickly pulled the dagger halfway out of his pocket. "I...I just feel right about it." Ben held out his hand. "Please."

"Alright," Yang said, her feline Faunus partner's eyes catching the knife.

"Is...that-?" Blake began.

Ben put a finger to his lips. He'd gotten the green light from Yang. From Tai. From Qrow.

There was just one more person to ask.

Ben approached Max, who was busy at work over the cauldron. "Hey, Grandpa...I need to ask for your advice."

"Been awhile since I've heard that question," Max chuckled, "but sure. Always can, you know."

Ben looked down at the knife, and then at Max. "Should I?"

"Is this for what I think it is?" Max asked, looking over the knife.

"It is, yeah." Ben nodded. "Been on my mind for the longest time."

"And how long have you thought about this?"

"Since...maybe the day after we defeated a space god. Long story." Ben shrugged.

"Which was when? How far back?"

"Half a year ago." Ben answered. "It's just a promise. When all of this is over, when our world's safe...I want to have a future with her."

"Then you wanna know what I say? I say go for it."

Ben gave a small smile.

"That's all I needed to hear."

"Then what are you waiting for? Go tell her," Max chuckled.

Ben gave his old man a hug. "Thanks, Grandpa."

"Anytime, kiddo," Max hugged back before patting his grandson on the shoulder encouragingly.

Moment of truth now for Ben.

Ben slowly approached Ruby, and gave a small smile. Ruby stood back up, unaware of everything. The two began their walk along the water side.

Ruby broke the silence. "Sorry I sort of…screamed whatever I did at you earlier. There's no excuse for me just being so awful and spiteful, and you shouldn't forgive me AT all, but-"

"Honestly, I could tell from the look on your face that you didn't know what you were saying. Like you were a puppet and someone else was pulling the strings." Ben said. "Considering what the Cat did, it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't at least nudge some of those words into your head."

"I…I guess. My brain was just screaming at me for something beyond my control, something I had no idea how it was going to." Ruby sighed. "Atlas may have fallen, but the people of Atlas and Mantle are alive, right? I shouldn't be shamed for doing my best to save them."

Ben gave a small smile. "One hundred percent. You deserve a lot, honestly."

Ben reached into his pocket, confusing Ruby.

"Speaking of things you deserve," Ben began as he pulled out the knife and presented it to Ruby.

The red reaper's eyes lit up as she looked at the gift. She gently took the blade and held it up to the sky to see the way it glistened. "It's such a beautiful knife. The weight's nice, the cut on the blade's pristine…looks familiar though. Did you commission Ceres for it?"

Ben nodded. "Well, her family was originally one of blacksmiths. She's got an eye for these things. But she also told me about some Archimedean traditions, and she told me it was okay to use one of them."

"Which one?" Ruby asked.

"Remember how…on the day we hooked up, we saw Ari give Ceres a knife? It's an old Archimedean tradition to craft a special blade for someone you want to marry. One day. I...had Ceres make that a while back." Ben explained.

Ruby looked at the knife and then back at Ben as all the pieces clicked together.

"M-marry." She finally repeated, eyebrows raised. "Marry?"

"Yeah."

"….ooooooh my god I need to sit doooooown."

"Look I know it's probably not the best time and I don't want you to feel pressured..." Ben exclaimed, worried that he'd messed up.

"I...I'm honestly not feeling pressured, Ben. It's just...wow." Ruby chuckled. "Wow."

"Wow?" Ben just sat down with her and started to put a hand on hers.

"Yeah. Wow." Ruby looked back up at the sky, seeing the sun starting to set.

"If you're gonna propose to me...do it right." Ruby said. "One knee and everything. Big emotional speech that'll make me cry."

"Huh?"

"Come on. Tennyson speech." Ruby clapped. "You're good with those."

Ben chuckled. "I dunno, it's been a long day."

"Oh yeah? Mr. 'Can't be God if you're not human' can't speak from the heart?" Ruby joked. "Come on, out with it."

Ben took a deep breath, before following Ruby's directions. He got on one knee, and knelt before her. "I want the two of us to live a life that allows us to both be happy. If not now then in the next few years when we're both fully ready."

Ruby smiled. "I can tell there's more you wanna say."

"And...ever since we first met I've always thought about the fact we've been so close to one another. Been through thick and thin, literally surviving the end of the world multiple times..You honestly are...well..." Ben went on, before looking up at her.

"You're my hero, Ruby."

Ruby blinked a few times, some tears forming. She grinned, before wiping the tears away.

"You're my hero too, Ben Tennyson," she beamed.

"So let's make a promise, here and now. When we're both ready and when we've finally managed to sort everything out, we'll make our engagement official." Ben said.

Ruby wiped away the tears, and smiled. "Yeah, that sounds nice." Ruby said, taking the knife from his hands. "We'll get married after all the calamity is gone."

"Exactly..." Ben smiled before starting to slowly look toward the sunset. "We'll see this through to the end."

"Hey, I've had your back for years. I saved you from a Grimm the first time you learned about my powers. We took on Vilgax together. I chopped off the tail of a serial killer. I even risked my life against Cinder. And we've overcome so much together. I won't let anything happen to you. Not one single hair on your head will be harmed, I promise you," Ruby put the knife to her side, as she hugged her future husband.

"Nothing bad happens from here on out, okay?" Ruby said.

Ben hugged back. "Nothing bad."

"We're just...missing something." Ruby said, getting close to his face. "Should we?"

"Yeah. Let's," Ben smiled before kissing Ruby on the lips, heart pounding out his chest as he started to hold her tighter than ever. Ruby kissed back, tears streaming down her cheeks.

This was the happiest moment of Ben's life.