Yayyy second week of the job done. This is still training so I can sleep in a little bit but still I gotta do extern work after New Years
…so boooo
Anyways, please enjoy this chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
It felt like hours had passed since Yang first started chasing the Cat. There were a few times that she thought she outright lost them, their pixels having vanished from the sky. But every time that happened, something happened to put her back on the right track, a sign created of vines that pointed her in the right direction, or bushes blocking off one path in a fork in the road. A small part of her thought that maybe it was the Cat messing with her again, but that didn't work. Something felt altruistic about this.
This was someone helping. Just...who?
During one of those times that the Cat had lost their unknown tail, they transformed back into their stolen human form and landed in the middle of the familiar twilight forests of the Garden. They stretched a bit, rolled their shoulders, before finding a small pond to drink from. They didn't have to worry about any bacteria or such in these springs, perfectly clean as they were. They cupped the water in their hands and paused before looking at their reflection.
"By the Tree," the Cat gasped in sudden realization, "THAT'S what I look like while wearing him? I am doing him no favors, am I? With little Trivia I could've at least changed my smile. It looks so uncanny on his face! Maybe I should have taken the multi-colored one. I am not blending in with normal humans when I get there!"
Of course you're not going to blend in, the Cat heard the words being hissed in their ear. They spun around, thinking it might be one of the Outcasts, but there was no one. They snarled before turning back to the pond and found their reflection normal.
Did you REALLY expect to blend in with fangs like that? BEN jeered.
"Oh...ooooohohohoh I see what's happening here. You can't pull mind games on me, Benjamin! I'm the master of that, as you, your girlfriend, and Trivia can attest. What's the human expression? Dish it out but can't take it? Well, I assure you that I, most certainly, can."
Sure about that? Because there's one thing you never considered.
"Alright, I'll indulge. What's that?"
What happens if you don't find the answers you're looking for? You want to know why your makers left you for us. How do you know you'll actually figure that out?
"Your girlfriend told me, genius. She explained everything! The Gods, the Relics...and that by bringing them together, the Gods come back! It's a simple little thing. See what I mean about mind games being my wheelhouse?"
Yeah. Sure. You can't fight back with force, so you fight back with words. But at the end of the day, you still rely on others falling for your gaslighting. There's a reason you went after us now. We're emotionally low enough to buy your fake tears. Ben frowned.
"I'm sorry, shouldn't you be crying? Sobbing? Weeping-"
Ruby's not dead.
"But she's gone."
Not. Dead.
"May as well be, Watch Boy. She's Ascending. The next time you see her, she won't remember you. The person you poured your heart out to will be gone, erased. Sure you can live with that?"
...no.
"Then shut up." The Cat smirked before they paused and really examined the face staring back at him from the pond. They hummed in thought as they looked down at themselves. Curiosity had a good stranglehold on their senses, so they couldn't help but think aloud.
"Hmmm...wonder how I'd look with a beard. Would it be refined or would it be like old Father Time," the Cat hummed, stroking their chin, "Hindsight is making me appreciate Trivia's powers more and more now. Buuut they still pale compared to this beauty," the Cat tapped the watch.
Which you don't know how to properly use. Ben said. You pain me with how you're using my classics.
"Stars a-BOVE! Now I get Ruby's annoyance to 'What are you?' All of you just keep pointing that out! They're classics to you, yet they are the first truly new things I've ever seen! Let me have this," the Cat pouted.
No.
"Well you're no fun."
And you stole my fucking body. Your point?
"Let me have my power trip," The Cat frowned. "I'm enjoying this."
Mercury kicked your ass.
"Shut up."
Now you know how -we- felt with your stupid voices. How'd you even do that?
"Oh I found you before you awoke. Put a little piece of me in your hearts and scampered off. A little bit of...preparation, let's call it. Perks of being in three places at once."
Three places...so that's how you were able to break all of us down simultaneously. Ben frowned.
"I was honestly aiming for Neo, but she had that pesky conscience." The Cat sighed. "And you were continuously trying to bring Ruby back up, so I had to make her heart...darker. But then I realized! You were neglecting your OWN mental health! For the sake of her! And that's so adorable! And pathetic."
Shatter the gemstone to steal the watch, Ben quoted.
"It's adorable watching you put the pieces together," the Cat smiled, "Even if it is too late."
I know you're probably thinking I have nothing left.
"Oh, I KNOW that, dear Benjamin. It's a fact by now."
But there's something I still have...and that's friends.
"Adorable! And sickeningly cliche."
...That will not even hesitate to fuck you up.
"They hurt me, they hurt you. Such a dilemma isn't it? The only reason they went so all out on me before was because I was in more durable forms. If they came at me right now, like this? They'd pull their punches every single time."
You sure about that?
"Huh?"
I know someone who never holds back against me.
"Oh really? And who's tha-"
The sudden sound of mechanical whirring filled the air as The Cat's face was very quickly slammed into by a black and yellow fist.
Yang was standing there, eyes glowering down toward the Cat, her fury radiating off of her along like the heat of her now ignited, fiery hair.
"Ohhhh, good! You made i-!" The Cat said, before Yang smashed her fist into Ben's stolen face.
"Shut up! I'm not giving you any time. Let Ben go!" Yang exclaimed as she quickly sprung into action and began to punch her opponent rapidly, knowing that the Cat, for all they were worth, whilst powerful in Ben's body, hadn't quite mastered all there was to him yet.
Well, that, and they hadn't faced the likes of Yang up close in a one on one brawl.
"Let him go? Oh dear girl, I will...when I'm done," the Cat grinned, their hand moving to turn the dial of the Omnitrix. Yang wasn't going to let them though. She raced in and grabbed their wrist, forcing their hand away from the watch and following up with an open palm strike to the Cat's chest.
They stumbled back before the blonde brawler let out a war cry and raced into a combo of hits. The Cat hissed and morphed Ben's left arm into a monstrous feline arm, blocking their opponent's first strike. They smirked behind their shield before sweeping Yang's legs out from under her. With an opening secured, the Cat leapt back and morphed their arm back to normal before turning the dial to the Omnitrix.
"I said GIVE HIM BACK! NOW!" Yang roared, firing off her gauntlets and tackling BenCat through the trees, stopping them from selecting an alien.
"You're just fun to fight with, aren't you?!" the Cat hissed.
While Yang was closing the distance, The Cat slapped down the Omnitrix and was quickly coated in teal crystals. Yang's next attack slammed against Diamondhead's arm, before she was slapped away.
"I'm starting to get the hang of this one..." The Curious Cat smirked, hands morphing into sharpshooters.
Yang simply pumped her fists, reloading her ammunition before charging forward and starting to rapidly unload more strikes aimed at The Curious Cat's arms, actively managing to dent and even partially shatter parts of them.
The Cat grinned before trying to fire off crystal buckshot at Yang from point blank range. The blonde brawler crossed her arms in front of her, letting the armor of Ember Celica take the brunt of the shotgun-like blast. She quickly lunged in at the Cat with another barrage of powerful punches, each one boosted with a shotgun blast of her own. The shells fell to the forest floor after each punch, cracking the crystalline armor of the feline alien slightly more. The Cat dodged one of the punches and spun on their heels, morphing their tail end into a mace and slamming it into Yang's stomach. She doubled over for a moment, but took the chance to grab the Cat by the tail and throw them through one of the nearby trees.
The Cat was quick to slam through the trees, causing many Afteran birds and other forest-dwellers to scatter, including some lizard-like little fellas wearing leaves for hats. The Cat's anger had been rising with each successive punch Yang landed on them, getting close to a breaking point. How dare this little upstart of a blonde get in the way of his rightful destiny!
The Cat unleashed another barrage of crystals. Yang dodged them swiftly, noting how his 'shoot stance' was off.
They don't know how to really aim. They're just firing NEAR me, not at me. Yang looked behind her. That's even more dangerous. I don't want him hitting one of the innocents.
The Cat wasn't exactly dumb, they knew that they could try and harm as many of those Afterans as possible and they wouldn't go down. The only thing that could remotely kill them was the Jabberwalker, and that beast was long since destroyed.
"What's the matter? Need your eyes checked?" Yang taunted.
The Cat hissed and began firing off barrage after barrage of crystals at Yang, both from the Sharpshooters they morphed their arms into and from their tail, flinging the crystals off like daggers. The blonde managed to expertly roll and dodge out of the way of the projectiles, scooping up any of the leaf-wearing, lizard-like Afterans in her arms to get them out of harm's way. The buckshot and daggers that missed their targets tore through the wood of the trees like shrapnel. And that's when Yang had an idea.
Won't knock them out...but a tree falling on them would at least pin 'em for a little bit, Yang mentally planned.
The Cat looked at their arms, and hummed. "Well, these have proven less than ideal…" They focused their attention on their shooters, before they suddenly elongated into sharp blades, perfect for stabbing.
"Now these are more my speed." The Cat started charging at Yang. "I'm gonna hack that other arm off of you, blondie!"
"Low blow, but I doubt you could. I was a kid when I lost it. To a Beowolf. Nowadays, I don't even break a sweat fighting them and somehow you're clumsier than them!" Yang taunted.
Thanks for making my plan easier, dumbass, Yang smirked.
The Cat dragged their weapons as they raced towards Yang, sparks following their wake. Their plan was to jump up, act like they were going to go for her right side, but then disarm her left side. A great fake out.
If it worked.
Yang stood her ground, positioning herself right in front of the largest trees around them. She had to time this just right.
Yang quickly prepared herself before starting to quickly adjust her neck slightly; she was going to make sure that this feline got hit and hit HARD as she monitored their movements.
As the Cat approached, Yang suddenly lunged to the side, as if trying to dodge their attack. The Cat smirked, suddenly changing directions of the swing.
This was the moment Yang had been waiting for.
With a powerful swing of her arm, she struck the massive tree next to her with all her might, using her Semblance to enhance her strength.
The trunk splintered and shattered, catching the Cat off guard. What in the hells was she do-
The Cat could hear the tree creak and teeter above them before it began to fall. Their eyes widened before the tree itself came crashing down on top of them.
"Timber!" Yang joked. Not great that they figured out more tricks, but they're not really accustomed to fighting in a giant alien rock's body. Let's just hope I can wear them down. If push comes to shove...
Yang's eyes darted over to the water. But ONLY if push comes to shove. The wire around her robotic arm unraveled, and pulled her up into the trees to hide.
Angry hisses echoed out from under the Tree before slicing the tree apart into pieces. With a roar, the Cat exploded out from under the felled tree, eyes darting around to try and find their blonde opponent.
Where the hell did that stupid blonde go!? The Cat cursed.
Hey, don't call her that. She's not some walking stereotype, y'know. Ben scoffed.
"I can call her WHATEVER I want. Are you in control?!" The Cat snarled.
No, but I can see the appeal YOU got from sassing me. Ben smirked.
"You're not even supposed to be here. You're supposed to be neatly locked away in a mental box!"
Guess you forgot about the spare key.
"What spare key?!"
Yang looked down from her hiding spot. Who're they yelling at? Yang thought. Is Ben still in there?
"I swear to GOD, Tennyson, if you don't shut up, I will stab your grandfather!" The Cat threatened.
If you can manage those crystals. You were REALLY straining yourself.
"AUGHH!"
Yeah, that's Ben. Yang thought.
"One way or another, I will shut you up..." the Cat growled, "after I deal with your golden would-be savior. Now where did she-"
That was Yang's chance. She dropped from her hiding spot and landed a powerful jab to the Cat's cheek, taking them by surprise. The Cat stumbled back, as Yang assaulted him with a barrage of far reaching punches.
"Ben, if you can hear me- keep it up! War on two fronts!" Yang grinned.
The Cat growled as they tried to block or counter as many of Yang's punches as they could, but for every jab that was blocked by a crystalline shield, three more found their mark. Ben really was distracting them, so that needed to end. Instead of waiting, the Cat tried to mentally throw Ben back in the box they had locked him up in when he first took control of his body.
Can you really try and hold off MY taunts and Yang's punches?! Ben laughed. I doubt it.
"Shut up!" the Cat hissed, channeling their anger into the fight. They dodged one of Yang's punches and grabbed hold of her wrist. They morphed their claws into a giant mace-like structure and started slamming it into Yang's stomach.
Yang just tanked the blows, using the energy to fuel her Semblance. Aura levels still seemed very high from what Yang could tell. Perfect.
"You're really screwing yourself over right now. Hope you know that," Yang smirked.
"And just HOW, pray tell, is that what I'm doing? You're the one taking the hits!" the Cat grinned.
"No. You're hitting yourself."
"What are you blathering about?"
Yang's eyes turned red, and she delivered a powerful haymaker into the Cat's diamond jaw, cracking it. The Cat stumbled backwards, recovering to growl at their persistent opponent before they heard a familiar beeping.
She's been playing you, Ben smirked.
"What...what is that sound? Why is it beeping?!" the Cat demanded to know.
Weren't you blown up by these earlier~?
"...I hate you both," the Cat's crystal ears drooped in annoyance, their tone just oozing with sheer disdain.
Yang just smirked and triggered her sticky bombs, detonating them and engulfing the Cat in a fireball. The bodyjacking feline was thrown back from the blasts and through several more trees, much to their annoyance. They bounced off of one the many bioluminescent mushrooms before they thudded to the ground with a loud clink! But then the Cat turned to see what type of mushroom they had actually landed by, and a devilish grin spread across their lips. They started coughing, almost like they were about to hack up a hairball, as Yang marched closer.
"Hold...hold, Fiery Huntress! I think," The Cat hacked, "I think you broke something in here! My...his chest-!"
"Oh, please." Yang rolled her eyes "Diamondhead isn't called 'Brittleface', y'know. Did that attack because I knew you could take it. Quit playing."
"But even...but even his race can be harmed, can they not? Everything," the Cat wheezed, "Everything in creation can be harmed." The Cat quickly grabbed the mushroom, ripping it from the ground, and throwing it in Yang's face. The fungus exploded into a cloud of spores, blinding and disorienting the blonde brawler long enough for the Cat to enact their plan.
Yang didn't see the Cat change, but she heard it. When she finally got away from the spores and opened her eyes, the Cat was nowhere to be found.
"No…no, no, no, SHIT!" Yang cursed, looking around, trying to figure out where the Cat had scarpered off to.
"Were it that easy for you," the Cat whispered creepily, right next to Yang's ear. Her eyes went wide when she heard the words and she turned on her heel, throwing a punch behind her. She only hit air, but that little taunt put her on edge. Her eyes darted around the forest, her mind racing to figure out a new plan.
Ok...ok. You know they're not Big Chill. They couldn't turn intangible earlier, so that means they must be Chamalien. And if they ARE that means they should flicker into- Yang began, before her train of thought was interrupted by a powerful strike to her stomach. She doubled over before something lashed up and whipped her in the chin, before that same invisible assailant wrapped around her neck and threw her aside.
Yang huffed and quickly deployed her string around her body, forming it into both a barrier and a tripwire, letting her have a plan to counter the Cat's every move.
"Adorable." The Cat mocked, their voice seemingly echoing from all around her, "The Fiery Huntress trying to be a spider! If you want to be a weaver, you should stop fighting and enjoy a spot of tea. I know a lovely little brew that I think you'd enjoy."
Yang's ears perked up and she fired a sticky bomb in the direction of the voice.
"Missed me~" That feline voice teased.
"I know." Yang said before the bomb detonated. Dust and debris kicked up, covering the battlefield.
"Oh I see! Try to find my silhouette in the dust! Clever girl! But you forgot to cover one angle," the Cat chuckled before their tail wrapped around Yang's throat, "Above you~"
Yang winced, trying to pull the Cat's tail off of her neck. The Cat squeezed it tighter and tighter, like a boa constrictor killing its prey. "Now fade away, you stupid little blonde bi-"
CHOMP.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"
On sheer reflex, the Cat whipped their tail out and smacked Yang in the face.
"What is WRONG WITH YOU?! You bit my TAIL!" the Cat hissed.
"You whipped me in the face and stole my friend's BODY!" Yang countered.
"YOU BIT MY TAIL!"
"YOURS IS 100X WORSE!"
"By your standards! Do you have any idea how unsanitary that was?! For all I know, your saliva is laced with toxin!" the Cat defended. "You know what? I was gonna end you quickly, stealthily. Maybe even make it painless! But now? Now I'm gonna make sure your end is BRUTAL!."
"Give it your best shot then!" Yang taunted.
"Gladly," The Cat snarled before slamming down on the dial and transforming into Ultraviolent. The Cat sharpened their Laceritter-blades and grinned maniacally.
"I'm going to enjoy painting the trees RED," the Cat cackled, putting Tyrian's own insanity to shame.
Yang grit her teeth. Okay, I don't know this one AS well, but from the brief few times I've seen it, I don't think this guy even runs out of stamina. Think, Yang...how do you get out of this one?
CatUltraviolent cackled as the slits in their blade-arms suddenly surged with blue energy before dashing towards Yang like a living sawblade.
Shit, where'd they learn to do that!? Yang cursed, dodging the attack just narrowly.
The Cat just cackled madly, their blade arms rushing towards, threatening to slice her to shreds if she wasn't careful. Ultraviolent's offensive prowess put her on the back foot, forcing her to just dodge or block the hyper-aggressive alien's attacks. The UV-powered strikes sparked against the armor of her weapons, forcing her back with each hit.
They're faster than me. More aggressive. They're a living war machine... Yang thought. But I bet they've got serious tunnel vision.
She feigned a stumble, allowing CatUltraviolent to believe they had her right where they wanted her. As they lunged in for what they thought would be the finishing blow, Yang swiftly sidestepped, narrowly avoiding the attack.
Time slowed down as the Cat's eyes shifted to watch the brawler sidestep the slash. Yang's own grin only grew before she landed a punch to the side of the Laceritter's head, right in the eyes. The Cat yelled in pain as their opponent just smirked.
Looks like I'm gonna have to go with the nuclear option! Yang thought to herself.
The brawler's hair started to turn black, with her eyes turning a darker crimson shade. BERSERKER! Yang mentally yelled. KEEP IT TOGETHER AND UNLEASH EVERYTHING!
The Cat quickly recovered, sharpening their blades again before noticing the black flames rising off Yang's form and their expression turned from anger to horror.
"Oh..."
Yang's next punch was nothing short of legendary. She slammed her fists together and propelled herself forward with a burst of flames. She smashed Ultraviolent's face in, black flames consuming his body to deal extra damage.
PHOENIX DOWN!
The entire acre seemed to shake from the impact, the blast scaring even the most stalwart inhabitants of the forest.
The Cat's form went flying through MULTIPLE trees, before they smashed into the ground. The black flames slowly faded, leaving the Cat broken, but not yet defeated.
"What...in the hells…?" they mumbled.
Told you she wouldn't hold back.
"Shut the fuck up."
Cat's first f-bomb. Historic day for the Ever After.
"If I didn't need you, I would be shredding you!"
Speaking of, looks like Yang's shredding you. Her Aura's holding strong and you've taken a brunt of this damage. You suck at fighting, don't you?
"...you're right," the Cat sighed, twisting the dial on the Omnitrix, "I should stick to what I'm good at."
Good luck with that. Pesky Dust wouldn't last a second against her.
"Now, who said anything about Pesky Dust?"
Ben's eyes (if he had any in this weird void) narrowed. What? What the hell are you-
The Cat slapped down the Omnitrix and their body began to change. The new form was, quite terrifyingly, tenebrous, completely jet black. The Cat's patterns adorned the black hide of the bestial form and giant wings ripped from their arms. The Cat's face became more beak-like, and the Cat began cackling madly.
"Just sit back...and...watch," the Cat ordered before taking flight.
Yang was sure that her last attack would knock the Cat out for a good while. Imagine her shock when she saw something soar out of the forest.
"Seriously!? Not even Ben was this resilient." Yang frowned. Did they learn how to fly as Big Chill?
She couldn't make out all of the details, but, upon a second glance, the form looked too big to be Big Chill. Jetray maybe? No, they were still bigger than Jetray. Think. What other forms did Ben have that were bigger than-
WHAM. The Cat landed behind Yang, impact sending her flying backwards. She tumbled on the ground, caught off guard by the attack.
YANG! Ben yelled. GET AWAY!
"So…you DON'T know this form?" The Cat grinned. "That's just DANDY."
The alien took a stride forward, revealing its new form to be a pterodactyl-like creature with seven blue-purple eyes and black pupils. At the tips of every single one of their limbs, the beast sported two white claws. They had wings that were a checkered blue and purple pattern and were connected to their front legs in some way.
"What the hell..." Yang muttered.
"Oh now why should I answer that? It's so much more fun watching those little gears turn in that little heard of yours," the Cat snapped their new jagged beak to emphasize its point.
The hell even is that?! Looks like someone had a nightmare about an alien and Grimm fusion! Yang frowned. Okay, Yang. Just focus. Clip its wings so it loses some mobility.
Yang rushed forward and the Cat's eyes lit up. The brawler was about to throw a punch, fresh shells already loaded.
And then Ruby manifested between the two.
"Yang wait-!" Ruby called out.
Yang had to send her wire out to snag around a tree branch to stop her from accidentally attacking her sister. Yang barely missed her, swinging back and landing on the ground. "R-ruby!?" Yang gasped, eyes wide.
Ruby had her hood up, draped around her body. "Yang, wait..." Ruby repeated.
"R-ruby...oh my god you're ok!" Yang called out. She was so focused on Ruby's sudden return that she didn't even notice the Cat's own disappearance. She just raced up to Ruby and hugged her as tightly as she could.
"I knew you weren't gone! I knew they were lying! They had to be! They had to be and they were!" the blonde smiled, tears of joy coming to her eyes.
"Yang...wait..." Ruby repeated.
It was now that Yang noticed the pain in Ruby's voice. "...Rue?" She asked, sounding concerned.
"Yang...wait." A voice behind her said. Yang spun around to see a different Ruby, this one sporting a white cloak. Yang's eyes widened as her pupils shrank.
"W-what the hell?" Yang asked.
"Yang...wait," a third Ruby suddenly said, appearing from nowhere, her own black cloak blowing in some unfelt breeze.
"One...one of you has to be real...right? Please tell me one of you is real..." Yang begged.
"Yang."
"Yang."
"Yang."
"Yang."
"Yang."
"yang."
"Yang."
Yang was surrounded by dozens and dozens of Rubies, all with various cloaks. All of them sounded off, like they were incredibly sick.
"Okay, what is this!?" Yang demanded, as she stormed over to one of the Rubies. "Whatever this bullshit is, Cat, you can knock it off." Yang reached to remove the hood-
When she pulled it down, she was met with a face out of one of her nightmares. It was still Ruby's, but her skin was chalky white with dark purple veins snaking their way across her cheeks. Her sclerae were pitch black and her pupils, while retaining a dull silver color, seemed to be moving, the best comparison to it being a living chalk drawing.
"Yang..." The Ruby groaned, reaching out for Yang with both arms.
All the other hoods on the Rubies were removed, revealing similar features, some worse than others. They all started to suddenly swarm Yang, as if trying to rip her apart. Yang screamed at the top of her lungs. What the hell was this power?!
Something SHARP slammed into her. Talons, swooping down from above. Yang screeched, feeling chunks of her Aura fading, as if physically ripped out by the aerial strike.
Before she could even see what had hit her, the talons seemingly vanished into thin air. The Ruby swarm turned and began shuffling towards Yang.
"Yang..."
"Yang..."
"YaNg..."
"SiS..."
Yang didn't want to keep her eyes open. This was sensory overload at max. All those Rubies looked...wrong. This couldn't be real. The alien's powers had to be some sort of...nightmare generation, some form of hallucination! Like Emerald's power!
STOP! Ben yelled, as the Cat swooped at her.
"WHY DON'T YOU STOP ME YOURSELF, HERO!?" The Cat laughed, swooping at Yang a few dozen more times.
The talons slashed into Yang's body, cutting more and more of her Aura away. The Ruby clones were still surrounding her and, by now, Yang actually thought it was the swarm that was taking chunks out of her Aura. From her perspective, the blow that shattered her Aura was actually a twisted and almost Grimm-like version of Crescent Rose, the red metal replaced by Grimm flesh and the blade itself made of sharpened bone.
The brawler fell to the ground as the Cat landed before her. They reverted back to human and slammed a foot on her chest. "First time losing to Tennyson? Don't worry...it'll also be your last." The Cat smirked, pressing harder, when their heard something rattle in their pocket. They raised a brow and put their hand into their stolen jacket pocket.
"Ohhhh...hello." they muttered, pulling out a very special, very familiar knife, "This little trinket again."
"N-no! Don't..don't touch that!" Yang reached out weakly to try and stop them, only for the Cat to press down harder on her chest.
"This was supposed to be...what? Your little proposal to 'Red?' Why in the Ever After would you use a dagger as a sign of love? Daggers are meant for cutting, wounding, thrusting them into someone's back. It doesn't exactly scream 'cherished bond' to me," the Cat snarked, "Well made, I'll grant you. But that's the only compliment you'll get."
The Cat pulled their foot off Yang's chest, giving her the chance to breathe again. She weakly tried to get up, stop the Cat, but she just fell back down to the ground. The mental and physical assault was too overwhelming for her to recover from quickly.
The Cat trudged over to one of the nearby ponds and looked down into it. Their reflection was their own, a small but satisfying detail to the Curious Cat, before they looked at the dagger.
"You know, as poor a symbol as this is for a union, it does still give you hope, doesn't it, Benji? And we can't have that. Don't want to take any chances," the Cat threatened, holding the dagger right over the pond. A small gesture to most, but to Ben, this might actually break any form of resistance he had left in him. The Cat's fingers began to unfurl around the dagger's hilt, ready to drop it.
The Cat tried to drop it, let it drift away.
But their fingers refused to actually move. They still firmly grasped the weapon. The Cat's eyebrows went back up.
"Huh?" the feline muttered.
The Cat tried to release the stupid gift, but their hand just wouldn't open. The Cat growled, shaking his hand violently. "What the hells is this?"
Yang weakly picked her head back up, confused by the scene. A moment ago, she had to silently accept that she wouldn't be able to save the gift. Now, it seemed like the Cat was…fighting some other force. Was this Ben's doing?
The Cat stopped fighting for a second, and growled. "Don't tell me you're still fighting in there."
And as if to answer with a very affirmative "YES!", the Cat's fist suddenly smashed into their own face.
They staggered back from the sudden punch from their own arm, a mix of confusion and momentary shock crossing their face.
"As stubborn as ever aren't you?" the Cat hissed.
Yang sent her wire forward and immediately snatched the knife back. The Cat scowled, cursing the loss of the knife. Yang weakly stood back up, shoving the knife into her own jacket pocket for safe keeping. She patted it before giving a small smile.
"Thanks, Ben." Yang smirked, hearing footsteps fast approaching. "You bought me some time."
Blake was the first to go to Yang and help her stand back up. "Yang! Are you-"
"I'm fine." Yang coughed as Max helped to straighten her out. "Good news. Ben's still in there."
"What good will THAT news truly do you, Xiao Long? Is this supposed to be a message of hope?" The Cat sighed. "You children really are hopeless."
"We used to be, I used to be," Emerald admitted, "but despite everything you've done, we have found hope again."
"A fleeting version of it. Look at you all! You couldn't have picked a better name! The Outcasts! A princess without a kingdom, a knight played for a puppet, a shadow that is neither purely human nor purely cat, a wildfire that will consume herself with her passions, a traitorous thief of magic and hearts, and only half of a grand dessert! I'm surprised none of you had Ascended earlier! So happily and blissfully reassured in your own failures! Three cities, three entire kingdoms, CRIPPLED because of Salim, one of them was even wiped off the map ENTIRELY! It's not like you could even stop her! You broken, discarded things can't even stop ME from leaving and I will be leaving! Once I put all of you in the ground, I'll make my way to the Tree and march RIGHT THROUGH THAT DOOR TO REMNANT! I WILL HAVE MY ANSWERS!"
"Not if Team RWBY stops you." Max frowned.
The Cat looked caught off guard and then they just LAUGHED. Laughed harder and more psychotically than any time prior. "YOU'RE KIDDING! You still hold out hope that the brat didn't choose to destroy herself!? Ruby Rose is not the name of a hero! It's not a pretty name! It's an invasive species! A symbol of faux hope! What good has she accomplished!? If your endgame is to gamble on her miraculous return, then you are sorely mistak-"
They stopped their tirade, their anger halting in its tracks. Their eyes were focused on something that would've been lost on them, if it weren't for just how vibrant the object was.
A small red petal suddenly fell before their face.