Ruby Rose, Herald of Darkness(?) (RWBY Corruption)

Hey folks!

Well, looks like last week's post was outside Patreon's guidelines. I do my best to stay within them (which is why I don't write actual sexual encounters in my stories) but I guess I didn't succeed with those last stories. Ah well, hopefully this week will go better.

Since it got eaten in the post removal, a reminder: I've opened up a cheaper Reader Tier if you want to donate a little less to me! $13 always sounded a little cumbersome, I've gone back to $10.

This week, a light hearted tale of corruption, and afterwards, a bonus short that I forgot to include last week.

----

In the world of Remnant, there were many ancient ruins, places of power, and terrible mysteries. It was a world where entire villages could vanish off the map, and no one would blink an eye. It was a world filled with grim, determined danger at every turn, a world where no one was ever truly safe.

But few people would have imagined that one of the most dangerous places of all was the most famous Huntsman Academy in all of the Kingdoms.

That was by design, of course. The secrets and magics guarded by the Headmaster, and his select group of trusted associates, were powerful enough to shake the foundations of human civilization to its very core. Such information was not to be given out lightly, and the enigmatic group had gone to extreme lengths to make sure that Beacon’s secrets stayed secret.

They were very good at the job. Ozpin’s allies were some of the most powerful Hunters and political figures across the four Kingdoms. Guarding the people of Remnant from the shadows, retrieving and sealing away dangerous artifacts from across the globe, their status as guardians of humanity couldn’t be questioned.

But they probably shouldn’t have left the task of locking the secret archives after their latest clandestine meeting to the drunk.

Just sayin’.

-

“I dunno, Blake. Maybe this is enough books…” Ruby Rose kept her voice low, even as she pleaded with her teammate. Between them, a small mountain of books rested on the table, the pile wobbling precariously left and right.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Ruby.” Blake Belladonna was unrepentant. No, in fact, she quite firmly failed to see anything about what she was doing that she should repent for! “Spring break is right around the corner, and this place’ll be locked up tight for a whole week. A whole week, Ruby! You know I can’t go that long without books. I need reading material stocked up to get me through.”

“I mean there’s always the bookstore in town…”

“They don’t let me in there anymore. Not since the fish sticks incident.”

Ruby paused. She hadn’t heard of ‘the fish sticks incident’, but judging by Blake’s tone, she didn’t think she wanted to hear more about it. Team RWBY had had a lot of adventures over their years at Beacon – and practically none of them would look good on any public record. The less she knew about this one, the better.

Shaking her head, she focused on the problem at hand. “Okay, I know you’re worried about going bookless, but is thirty books really…”

“… Enough? No.” Blake nodded, as if she understood and appreciated Ruby’s understanding of the situation. “But it’s all the Librarians will let me take out at once, and that’s after I bribed them with tuna. Lousy cheapskates.”

The reaper sighed. “That wasn’t… Never mind.”

The pair were in the library, ostensibly studying. Ostensibly, because Ruby’s idea of studying was reading all the book blurbs and then playing mobile games on her scroll for an hour - and obviously, Blake was just here to take out more books.

But okay. Ruby shook herself. This was a teammate facing a challenge. As Team Leader, it was her responsibility – no, her duty – to try to help her as best she could. Even if she thought her friend was being silly.

“I guess I could take some more out for you, as long as you promise to get them all back in on time?” She offered, reaching into her cloak for her student ID.

But Blake waved her off. “Oh Ruby, don’t be silly,” she said, smiling. “I maxed out your library card months ago.”

“Wait what.”

“No, if we’re going to make sure we have all the literary supplies we need for the coming storm,” the faunus muttered, hand on her chin, eyes glinting. “We’re going to have to get… devious.”

“Yeah but hold up a sec, is this why all those book ninja have been after me?”

“The Librarians here are well trained. They’ll be ready for an outright assault. And they know me.” Blake’s gaze darkened. “Oh, they know me.”

“I thought it was because I used the school charter as a coaster that one time…”

“But they’ll never expect the adorable reaper of subterfuge!” The cat girl slammed her fist into her open palm. “It’s genius!”

“Or the time I set the deep archives on fire, but that was like at least 30% Yang’s fault…”

“Ruby!” Blake spun around, grabbing her leader by the shoulders, and finally pulling her out of her distracted muttering. “I need you to stea- Borrow some books for me.”

The smaller girl blinked, a little shaken to be dragged back to reality so abruptly. “Huh? But you said you’d already maxed out my card!”

The faunus paused, ribbon twitching slightly. “Okay, right, I see the confusion. Sorry, that was my fault. I mean I want you to ‘borrow’ some books without asking for them.”

“Oooooh.” The light of understanding dawned. “… Won’t that get us in trouble?”

“Only if we get caught!” Blake gave her most charismatic smile. If Yang had been present, she would have melted. Ruby wasn’t quite as susceptible, but she was still a sucker for a pretty lady, so she nodded quickly. “Great. Okay, I’ll distract them at the desk, and while I’m doing that, you sneak in the back with your semblance and grab whatever you find.”

“Alright…” The reaper glanced over her shoulder, towards the librarian counter. “Is there anything you want me to look for in particular?”

The faunus shook her head. “Nah. I’m not picky. Just make sure it isn’t anything I’ve already read, you know? I need my reading material fresh.”

Well, that sounded simple enough. How could anything go wrong?”

-

Sliding the door shut behind her, Ruby crept deeper into the restricted section. Actually, the restricted section of the restricted section. This place seemed like her best bet for finding a few books that Blake hadn’t read already, because normally it was locked up tight, chains and everything. But today it was unlocked for some reason. Score!

On an unrelated note, she’d seen her uncle Qrow snoring on one of the tables in the upper shelves of the library. She would have to go drag him out later, before he got in trouble. He could be so silly sometimes.

But right now, she had to focus. There were a lot of books in here – not as many as in the main library, of course, but still a few stacked shelves – and she couldn’t take all of this stuff. She had to select the kind of books that she thought Blake would like!

Also they were probably restricted for a reason, but she was a 4th year student, she figured she could handle whatever it was.

It was dark in here. For some reason the people in charge had opted not to outfit the room with electrical lights, instead providing red wax candles for a light source. It seemed irresponsible to Ruby quite frankly, given all the dry paper around here, but if you had Glynda Goodwitch, Miss Control-Z herself, on staff you could probably afford to be a bit lax about this kind of thing. At least it gave the place a nice, spooky atmosphere.

It did make it a little harder to see what she was doing, though, and she was pretty sick of the ambiance by the third time she banged her knee on a low table. “Gah! Stupid mahogany corners!”

Okay, that was it. She was just grabbing the closest books to hand and getting out of here. Grab a few from that shelf, a couple from that one, that big one from the middle table, and… Oh, hello there.

The red thief paused for a moment, staring. There was one book on a shelf all of its own. A shelf otherwise covered in wards and holy symbols, plus a few warnings written in languages that Ruby didn’t know how to speak.

Or maybe they were in English. It was dark in here, okay?!

Its cover… didn’t glow, exactly, but the shadows in the entire corner of the room it sat in seemed deeper than the rest, as if it was leaking darkness. The whole thing had a real sinister vibe to it.

Hm. Maybe she should leave that one-

“Ow!” Fourth time. “How are these corners so sharp?!”

Screw it. She grabbed the book and stuffed it in her bag with the rest, before zipping towards the door. Blake’d probably like it, even if it was kinda creepy.

-

Outside, Blake’s hand paused, hovering over the pile of tomes Ruby was offering to her out behind the back of the Library.

“Uh. Ruby?” Her yellow eyes squinted at the one on top of the stack. “That book is obviously cursed.”

“What? Come on.” The team leader rolled her eyes. “It’s fine, it’s just a little spooky, that’s all.”

Look, everyone knew that there was no such thing as magic, alright? They’d seen some crazy things over the years training as Hunters, but all of that had all been the result of aura, semblances, or grimm nonsense. Magic just didn’t exist. They were all really clear on that.

So obviously Ruby thought Blake was being silly when she gingerly shoved the ‘spooky’ tome aside with the corner of another book, and then grabbed the rest of the stack out from under it.

“Yeah, no, I’m not touching that one,” she said, sliding all of her books into one tall stack and balancing it on one hand. Cat grace + Huntress balance added up to some impressive feats.  “You should probably put it back where you found it. Anyway, I’ve got a date with Yang in an hour, so I’m gunna go get ready for that. I’ll see you back at the dorm later if you don’t get  yourself turned to stone or something.”

Then she vanished, her body fading into shadowy nothingness before disappearing in a puff of smoke – books and all.

“Really, Blake? Using your Semblance to run away?” Ruby huffed. Tch, she always did that when she wanted to avoid an awkward situation. Or if she was trying to be dramatic. Or when she didn’t want to pay her tab.

Still, the reaper was pretty sure her friend was wrong about this one. She picked the fallen tome back up off the ground, turning it over in her hands. Yes, it looked a little spooky. Yes, if she held it close to her head, she could swear she heard sinister whispering from the pages. And yes, now that she looked at it properly in the light of day, there was definitely a horned skull on the cover with green glowing eyes.

But that didn’t mean it was actually cursed… Did it?

There was a saying in the world, about curiosity and cats. It was total nonsense, of course. The cat took one look at this curiosity and hightailed it across campus. The hyperactive Huntress, however…

“Curses aren’t real,” Ruby muttered, holding the book between her hands, thumbs resting against the corners. “I’ll prove-”

She opened the book.

Fel magics, glowing toxic green and hellish red, blasted out from the pages, lighting up the entire back alley with their shine. Heat, boiling and infernal, washed over her skin as black fire danced around her, running up her fingers and swirling around her arms.

The Herald Is Chosen!

An otherworldly voice rang out, both sweet and harsh at once. It whispered in her ears, even as it screamed in her face. Hellish power emerged from the book like burning red and green flames, twisting around in the air, circling the fool who had opened the tome.

Awaken, Servant, And Usher In The New Age!

The flames circled to a peak, and then plunged downwards, straight into Ruby’s open mouth. She felt the searing heat shoot down inside her, so hot that it should burn her to cinders… But to her stunned surprise, it didn’t even hurt. Instead, it just felt…

… Good.

The Age Of Darkness And Depravity.

Her silver eyes rolled up in her head as the pleasure of the flame rolled through her body, hammering in her heart and melting in her brain. She could feel it, a seductive, toxic darkness suffusing her, bleeding into her, but it felt far too good to resist.

The Age Of Power And Might.

The power burning within her began to raise streams of smoke from her skin – skin that was steadily beginning to turn red. Ruby red. The colour spread out through her everywhere the heat burned hottest, up her fingertips, outwards from her chest, down through her hips, and seeping through her brow.

Muscles swelled in her arms and legs, thighs thickened, nails lengthened into claws. Even her teeth were sharpening, incisors growing into fangs, her tongue developing a fork. Only the colour of her eyes remained unchanged, still sparkling silver, even as her pupils developed cat-like slits.

The Age Of Lust And Longing!

A moan wailed from her lips as the heat in her chest intensified – but now her body could withstand it. No, not withstand – it could bask in it. Grow from it. Her breasts swelled outwards, tripling in size, almost splitting her outfit entirely before the flames reforged it, her corset turning into black leather around her waist. A moment later and her ass plumped up to give her an hourglass figure, her skirt melting into fishnet stockings and leaving her nethers bare.

Arise, Herald, And Corrupt The Souls Of Man, So That The Old Darkness Might Return Once Again!!!

“Yes, My Master!” She screamed, meaning every word as the commands seared into her soul, corrupting it into a dark, lust-filled parody of its former pure self. She accepted it all, embraced every last drop of darkness, and was reborn in its burning embrace.

Giant black wings burst from her back, leathery like the wings of a bat. They flapped once, drawing her into the air to demonstrate their power, before settling her back lightly on the ground. Horns erupted from her forehead, curling up over her head. And finally, a long, thin black tail snaked out of her spine, waving merrily in the air as it developed a spaded tip.

The book snapped shut. Everything went quiet.

Blinking, the new succubus looked down at it, and then down at herself. Her line of sight was immediately blocked by her new chest line, giving her a straight look down into her own cleavage. None the less, her spaded tail slid around her waist and curled up over her breasts to wave at her.

“Okay,” she said, turning the book over in her black-taloned hand once again. “So, on closer examination, this book might be cursed.”

“… Maybe.”

Ruby bit her lip, then looked back over her shoulder at her wings.

“… How am I gunna get back to the dorm like this?”

-

As it turned out, Ruby’s new suite of demonic powers included shape shifting. That had been fun to play with, though it had taken a few tries to get used to it. Maybe a bit too much fun, actually, because when the succubus finally returned to the dorm, Blake was nowhere to be found. Her books had been left on her side of the room wherever there was space.

That wasn’t to say that the dorm room was empty, though…

“Ruby! Where have you been? I was getting worried.” Weiss Schnee, heiress, Huntress, and team nag extraordinaire, was waiting for her, hands on hips. “Weren’t you out studying? Did you finish your homework? I’m not going to look like a bad partner again by letting you hand it in late!”

Ugggh, homework. Ruby tried not to groan. It wasn’t that she was a lazy student – she tried to put the work in, she really did! But dust, homework was so boring. It was an evil con by teachers, trying to ruin perfectly good slacking time with study.

… But wait! The reaper’s eyes widened in realisation. Maybe she could use her new nefarious powers to handle this problem? She was Herald of Darkness now, after all. That had to come with a few perks, right?

Hm, what could she use? Could she throw hellfire at the problem? Mmm, no, that’d probably only make it worse. Could she maybe use her new shapeshifting powers to turn into completed homework? … No. No, there were so many problems with that plan, that was just an outright no. How about seduction then? She was supposed to be a succubus, so surely she could seduce someone to do her homework for her…

And she had the perfect candidate in mind!

“Ooohh Weiiisssss~” She purred, sliding up to her bestie and pressed up against her side. “I may have… slightly… forgotten to finish a few pages. But you know, if you help me out with them, I’ll make it worth your whi-urk.”

She stumbled to a halt. The look she was receiving from Weiss would have frozen even the hottest hellfire.

“Ruby,” her teammate said, in the sweetest, brightest voice she had, which let the succubus know immediately how much danger she was in. “If Yang promising to show me her ‘pussy petting skills’ didn’t get me to budge on her coursework trade system…” Damnit Yang. “What makes you think you have a chance with your homework?”

“Uh. Um. Uh.” Think, Ruby, think! The Ice Queen was about to go on the warpath and you’re dead in her sights! What would calm her down? Think, think!

“Uh. This!” Panicking, the succubus followed her instincts, spun around, and lunged – kissing Weiss square on the lips.

“Mhm hm hmh!?” The heiress’s eyes widened, her body jolting in surprise, but Ruby was committed now. She dove in, her tongue pushing through those oh-so-soft lips, and she felt something inside her unleash…

Her eyes flashed bright green. Staring into them, the light flared in Weiss’s as well, her irises shifting from frosty sapphire to deep emerald. The shock on her face faded, replaced with a dull, half-lidded passivity. She even stopped resisting the kiss, her mouth slackening enough to let the reaper’s tongue dance with hers to her heart’s content.

The kiss lasted a good long while, only parting when both sides began to run out of breath. Only then did Ruby lean back, wiping at her mouth and trying to work out why she’d just done that. Sure, she’d wanted to pounce on Weiss for years, but fear had always kept her hormones at bay before. Did she have less self control now that she was a succubus?

Hoo boy. That was going to make things tricky. But, okay, Weiss hadn’t exploded yet. Maybe there was still a chance to salvage this.

Actually, Weiss hadn’t done much of anything yet. She was just stood there, arms hanging at her sides, staring into space.

Oh no, had she gone into shock?!

“Weiss!” The newbie succubi shook her friend by the shoulders. “Come back to me! I didn’t mean it! Wake up!”

The heiress’s green eyes fluttered – and then opened wide as her head was shaken left and right. “Gah! Hey, knock it off!”

“You’re okay!” Ruby cheered – and then wilted. “Okay, fine, I guess I’ll do my homework properly. But can you at least help me with it?”

“Of course, Mistress!” Weiss smiled happily. “I’d love to!”

“R-Really?!” The reaper was so stunned that Weiss agreed that she kind of missed a bit on the end there. What had she just called her? Eh, probably wasn’t important. “Great!” She cheered, rushing over to desk. “Okay, Miss Goodwitch wanted like five paragraphs on the history of Magelioth encounters, right? When’s it due?”

Weiss sat down next to her, leaning in close as she checked her watch. “In ten minutes, Mistress.”

Wait. What did she just say?

-

“I’m not late!” Ruby burst into the arena stands (carrying a strangely snuggly Weiss) just as the clock struck the hour, gasping for breath. Demonic endurance, as it turned out, not that much better than ordinary Huntress endurance.

“No, Miss Rose, you aren’t,” Glynda Goodwitch did not look impressed. The deputy headmistress was stood in the referee’s podium over the combat arena down below. “But it was close. And since you’re clearly nice and warmed up, I think you’ve more than earned a place as one of our first duellists today.

Urk. W-well, that wasn’t too bad. Yeah, she was feeling a little tired after using her semblance to dash all the way over here from her dorm, but she was a Huntress! She could handle a good duel!

You know, as long as it was against a human or a grimm and not an outright monster.

-

“Hi Ruby!” Pyrrha Nikos waved from the bench by her locker as the succubus reaper entered the changing room. “Oh, are you the one I’m fighting today? My, it’s been a while since we last fought, hasn’t it?” She smiled brightly, looking excited. “I’ve been working on some ideas to counter your semblance, so be ready!”

Ruby froze. Oh no. Oh no no no no no no. She couldn’t fight that.

Look, Pyrrha could hate being put up on a pedestal all she liked, but the girl was unstoppable in the arena. Her title of ‘Invincible Girl’ wasn’t for show! She was genuinely outright terrifying to fight! No one walked away from a fight with the beast of Beacon without a broken aura and a collection of ouchies.

She needed to think of a way out of this, quick.

“Uuuh. Soo, hey, Pyrrha…” The succubus in human guise sauntered closer to her soon-to-be opponent. “Could I ask you to maaaybe take it a bit easy on me? I didn’t sleep well last night and I’m probably a little on the slow side…”

“Oh dear, really?” The redhead frowned, shaking her head sadly. “Good sleep is important…”

“Right?” Ruby nodded, giving the champion her best puppy dog eyes.

“… So I’ll try to make this quick, okay?” Pyrrha went back to her bright smile.

Gah! No! No no no, worst result, worst result! Quick mode Pyrrha was Killer mode Pyrrha! She didn’t want to activate hard mode here! Ah, what could she do, what could she do? Would hellfire work here? Mmm, maybe, but she might get in trouble for arson, and everyone would find out she was a demon. Uh, what about… Huh?

The thing about being a succubus, of course, is that, as a demon of lust, her body had needs. Powerful, nigh uncontrollable urges, desires that could never truly be sated. Perhaps it was the protection of her silver eyes that kept Ruby unaware of them, or perhaps she was simply just that much of a doof, but as she drew close to the incredibly attractive star of the school, her body decided her brain didn’t need to be consulted on what came next.

So Ruby was just as surprised as Pyrrha when she slid into the taller girl’s lap, and even moreso when she planted a searing kiss on the stunned champion’s lips. Though she certainly enjoyed the experience, her lips singing with delight as she swallowed down the other girl’s soul, replacing it with unholy lust and obedience.

Of course, Pyrrha’s eyes were already green, so there wasn’t really a change there. But the principle was the same. In an instant, the free willed champion was converted into an obedient minion, happily accepting her Mistress’s kiss.

Alas, eventually, all good things must end. Once again, a stammering Ruby found herself breaking a kiss with a green eyed friend. “Oh, um. Oops.” She blushed, rubbing the back of her head. Sorry. I, uh, I think I tripped.”

“Not a problem, Mistress,” Pyrrha sighed breathlessly. “You can do it again if you-!”

“Some time today, girls!” Glynda’s voice called from outside the changing room, making both women jump.

“Crap. Okay, okay, we can do this,” Ruby muttered, hopping to her feet and dashing to her locker to grab her gear. “Just, like, go easy on me a little? Hold back maybe, like, 50 percent, okay?”

“As you wish, Mistress…”

Alas, the succubus was too busy getting changed to catch both Pyrrha’s sudden devotion, and the hesitant look she gave at her command…

-

“Ow ow ow ow ow…”

“I’m so sorry Mistress!”

In the infirmary after class, a very chastised looking redhead bowed her head at the end of the bed as Weiss did her best to soothe Ruby’s bruises and pains.

“I thought you were gunna hold back 50 perceeeeeent…” The reaper whined.

The champion blushed. “I normally hold back like 80…” She muttered, fingers fiddling together.

“Well that’s just great.” The succubus slumped back in her bed. “Man, today’s sucked. First Blake maxed out my library card, then I get turned into the demon herald of the end times, then I forget my homework, and then I get crushed in class.” She pouted. Both of her minions immediately rushed to comfort her.

“It’s okay Mistress, it’ll be better tomorrow, I’m sure” Pyrrha said, stroking her Mistress’s hands.

“I’m happy to make you the best demon overlord the world’s ever seen!” Weiss was eager to promote from ‘Best Teammate’ to ‘Best Vizir’ as she massaged Ruby’s shoulders.

Her lip wobbled, happy tears in her eyes. “Aw, thanks guys.” She pulled them both into a hug (not noticing her hands groping them – nor how much both ladies leaned into said gropes). “You’re good friends.”

One got the feeling that she’d been listening more to the comforting tone of their words, rather than their content. Oh well.

“But okay. I should go find somewhere private and work on mastering my new powers,” the reaper finally decided, breaking free from the hug and sliding out of bed. “Otherwise I might do something silly. Like, imagine if I accidentally mind controlled someone and then went, like, ‘I command you to fuck the first person you make eye contact with’, or something. Crazy, right?”

Weiss and Pyrrha, who had, at that moment, both been sharing an exasperated look at their Mistress’s obliviousness, both turned as red as a rose.

“Anyway, I’d better go. Thanks for the pep talk, guys. I’ll catch you later!” And the reaper vanished in a shower of petals.

“… She has no idea what she just commanded us to do, does she?” Weiss sighed, her skirt dropping to the floor as she hopped up onto the bed.

“Probably not, no,” Pyrrha agreed, already pulling off her top. The doors to the infirmary all magnetically locked themselves at once. “Think you’re up to this?”

“I’ve been dreaming about it since the day we first met,” the heiress answered, her breath shaking as her idol hopped up onto the bed, smirking down at the Ice Queen beneath her.

“Knew it.” Hunger flashed in Pyrrha’s eyes. It wasn’t very much different from the look one might see when facing her down on the battlefield. Becoming a minion of lust had clearly stirred something up in her. “Well then, let’s see if we can make sure you’re worthy of serving the Mistress’s needs – whatever they might be~”

A smile spread on Weiss’s face, just as hungry - just as certain. “Right back at you, Invincible Slave~”

-

Cinder Fall was an ambitious woman. It took strength of will and momentous determination to climb your way up from being a slave to being the right hand of one of the most powerful women on the planet (and she had no intention of stopping there, either). Sure, she’d faced some delays in tracking down the maiden power – she, Emerald, and Mercury had been hunting their prey for years now – but they were getting close. Soon, that power would be hers. She could sense it nearby.

But today, she also sensed something else. Her grimm adaptions from Salem were twitching, telling her that a new player had arrived on the scene…

She’d been warned about this. Salem had been explicit that if she encountered any other major powers, she was to retreat and contact her. But Cinder wasn’t the kind of woman to back away from a fight that easily – not when she was this close.

Actually, if there was another source of power nearby, well, why shouldn’t she sample it for herself? Then she’d be that much stronger when it came time to challenge Salem for her throne.

Ambition, thy name was Cinder Fall.

Of course, when she found this ‘other power’, she was disappointed. She recognised Ruby Rose – a fourth year student, if she remembered her profile – as she found her hiding in an unused classroom, up to who knows what.  This was supposed to be a threat? This girl? This Huntress? Please, Cinder had eaten stronger foes than her for breakfast, quite literally.

Yeah, Salem’s training had been pretty intense.

But if she was supposed to take this tiny thing as an actual problem – something to retreat from – well, no, she wouldn’t be doing that. No, no, she was going to nip this in the bud, and maybe get herself another useful ace to play if she needed it.

“Well hello there,” she said, strolling into the classroom with her hands behind her back. The glove Salem had given her to steal a maiden’s powers was already on her right hand. She figured it’d work well enough on whatever this girl was supposed to be. “Excuse me, I’m a new exchange student, and I’ve gotten a bit lost. Could you-?”

She’d had a plan. Just a nice, friendly greeting until she got close enough to make a grab.

Unfortunately, Ruby was wearing her headphones. She’d decided that music would be the thing to help her master her new powers – after all, everyone knew that rock was satanic, right?

Thus, she didn’t hear Cinder approach. She might have, if she had actually been focusing on developing her powers, which might have allowed her to sense the oncoming threat… But she’d gotten distracted and started dancing instead. Alas, becoming a demon had done absolutely nothing for her self-discipline.

It was the dance that really made things complicated. Because just as she reached the high point, she spun around, throwing herself into the energetic dance move – and crashed right into the woman ‘sneaking’ up behind her.

They both went down in a pile of limbs and red cloth.

Lips touched.

Eyes flashed green.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Ruby shot back up to her feet, hands pressed over her mouth in shock. “I wasn’t looking where I was- I mean I didn’t see- Um, you know what, I just remembered that I haven’t gone and got my Uncle out of the library yet and if I don’t go now he’ll probably get arrested so, uh- You good? You’re good right? Yeah, you’re good. Okay, gotta go!”

And she was gone in another shower of petals.

Cinder, on the other hand, remained on the floor for some time, blinking up at the ceiling with her newly emerald eyes. “I’m… Good?”

Well that was a puzzler. Sure, the wanna-be maiden was an expert at lying to herself, but she’d never held any illusions about where she fell on the moral spectrum. Other people may have deserved the vicious betrayals and murders, but that didn’t really mean they were nice to do. Even she couldn’t call herself ‘good’.

But her Mistress, her love, the light of her sinful life, had just done so. Clearly, Cinder was wrong about a few things.

Hm. Well what was she supposed to do about this? She’d ask her Mistress, obviously, but she’d completely vanished, so it was just up to her.

She bit her lip. If she was a good person, then… maybe she should try doing good person things? Be nicer to Mercury and Emerald, maybe. Cancel that crime spree she’d ordered from Roman. Maybe donate some profits to charity? Obviously, arranging the fall of Beacon was right out…

Ooon the other hand, shouldn’t she play to her strengths? And some of her biggest strengths were her manipulative nature and her cunning mind. It would be wasteful to just abandon all of her schemes just because she was a good person now. Maybe she could repurpose them? Go from trying to destroy Beacon to trying to conquer it for her Mistress. Ah, yes! That’d be good, right? It certainly sounded like it to Cinder!

With a careful, calculated nod to herself, the redeemed villain rose to her feet, still considering her new world view as she walked from the room. There was a lot to do, after all. Maybe she could start by repurposing her criminal assets into making a run for the city council? That would put her in a good position to work around Ozpin politically. Roman certainly wouldn’t object. Actually, if she played her cards right, she might be able to take control of the entire political body by…

… Well, her scheming mind went on, quickly latching on to this new project with gusto. Yes, she was definitely going to enjoy working for her new Mistress, even if she’d started her tenure by getting some very strange commands. Hopefully the woman would be pleased by how well she followed her instructions!

And if not, well, maybe offering Emerald and Neo as tribute would do instead~

Yep. Good or evil, no one could ever say Cinder Fall was not an ambitious woman.

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Bonus Short:

Request: Yang (and other characters) are touring a Schnee lab learning about a new type of dust called Mesmo-Dust as part of a partnership with Beacon, where they will be the testers. Yang sneaks off to the bathroom for a break from the boring tour, and the building goes into lockdown. (We'd basically start the story with Yang starting to get back to her group and the building locking down). When she arrives she sees the women all naked and mindless, obeying the scientist who was leading the tour. The men have all mostly left except Ren and Jaune who are guarding him. Yang realizes she can't escape or attack him right away, so she decides to blend in, begrudgingly stripping and obeying. When she finally gets a chance to attack him and reveals she was never actually hypnotized, he peppers her with some of the dust and we end with her failing to stop him and actually being tranced.

Okay, so, you know what sounds exciting? Testing out new weapons against the grimm. Know what’s not exciting at all? Being lectured for like five hours about every bit of dust minutiae that’s ever been recorded. Why did I sign up for this again?

It’s this new kind of dust, right? ‘Mesmo-dust’ or something. Supposedly, just a hint of the stuff sends grimm straight to sleep, no matter how big they are. Pretty big deal, right? I mean, sure, it’ll really take the fun out of fighting those things, but hey, not every fight is fought for the fun of it.

Lame title though. I could totally do better. Snoozy-sprinkles? Down-n’-out Dust? … I’d think of something.

The guy who made it, though? Total bore. He’s the one who’s been in charge of the tour here at the Schnee Dust factory. Which should be cool, right? Dust is super interesting, especially when it explodes. But somehow, this Professor Magni, he makes it all so boring. Imagine that! Almost-magic elemental gunpowder… Boring!

It’s crazy.

Look, I’m a patient girl, I can handle a windbag or two – I mean, look, you know who I’m on a team with, right? Sure, Blake won’t say a word if she doesn’t have to, and Ruby talks too fast to ever waffle, but I’ve had my fair share of lectures from the resident Ice Queen, lemme tell you.

But I needed to get away from this guy. Once the clock started ticking around for the third hour straight, I begged off. Took shelter in the bathroom, and now here I am, playing around with my scroll and looking for an excuse to go home. C’mon, there must have been a grimm attack or Torchwick screwing around out there, right? Something interesting had to be happening somewhere! VNN I downloaded your stupid app, don’t let me d-

SLAM!

Huh?

SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!

… Why did metal shutters just cover all of the windows? And now my scroll’s gone dead? The hell is-

“Security lockdown engaged.” An automated voice speaks from the speakers set in the ceiling. I think it’s based off Lisa Lavender. “All personnel report to your designated posts. Non-personnel, please consult your guide for instructions.”

Ah. Shoot. When I said I wanted something interesting to happen somewhere, I didn’t mean literally right here. What the hell?

Well whatever is going on, whoever’s behind it hasn’t reckoned with Yang Xiao Long!

Though, I’d better go find the others before I run off on my own. Lord knows Ruby’ll be panicking if she can’t find me, especially if Jaune’s there to panic with her. RWBY and JNPR got some weird team leaders, huh?

So much for heading home.

Finding my way back to where I left our two teams and Glynda (I know she wants me to call her ‘Professor Goodwitch’, but I’m a casual gal!) is easy enough. Most of the other passages are blocked off by heavy metal barricades, though. Looks like this security lockdown thing is serious. I might not even be able to punch my way through all of these.

There’s something kinda weird, though. I mean, beyond all the security stuff. That’s not really all that weird in a Schnee lab. No, I mean how quiet it’s gotten. Where’d all the people go? All of these corridors are empty. And the only thing I can hear is…

“-ntil I tell you to stop!”

… Someone shouting something in the distance. And laughing, I think?

He gets louder as I get closer to the lab where I left everyone else. “Oh yeah, that’s the way. And you! Orange lady with the ass. Yeah, how about you start twerking, Peaches. That’s it, shake that money maker.”

… The hell?

I’m already frowning when I reach the door, and hearing that made me stop outright. Something strange was definitely going on – I didn’t need my instincts as a Huntress to tell me that, my ears were doing it just fine. Carefully, I press my back to the wall and peek my head in, trying to see- Woah!

That is a lot of naked ladies.

I pull back, blinking. I did not know Nora had a birthmark there. No wonder they call her Thunder Thighs, huh?

Snap out of it, Yang, this isn’t a time for jokes! What the fuck was that? Why is everyone naked? They were just standing around in there – Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Nora, Pyrrha, even Glynda. Some of their faces were blank, just staring at nothing. Some of them, like Nora, looked a little more eager, though there was still a glazed look in their eyes. Nora herself looked like she was having a great time thrusting her butt out and bouncing her hips up and down, while Blake was crawling around on all fours, a collar around her neck, meowing, and Glynda was smacking Weiss on the ass with her wand…

I take another peak. Okay. Okay, no, worse than I thought. That’s not just teams RWB and JNPR + Glynda in there. The lady Schnees are too – what were their names? Winter and… Willow, yeah! Weiss’s mom and sister. Or her sister and mom, I can never remember which is which. The three of them are in a white-haired line together, with Glynda giving each of them her attention in turn. Wow, this goes all the way to the top, huh…

Where are the guys, though? I look around and spot them, now that I’m not so distracted by the show in the middle of the room. Jaune and Ren are just standing there at the side of the room – still fully clothed, at least, even if they’re as blank as the rest. Between them, though, that’s definitely Professor Magni, the guy who brought us all here. And he looks like he’s having the time of his life, sitting like he’s in a throne, laughing and barking orders at everyone…

What’s going on here? How did this- Damnit, I don’t have time to work it out. Thinking’s not really my strongest suit anyway. Not sayin’ I’m dumb, I’m just saying this problem goes away a lot faster if I just punch the guy who’s obviously responsible into oblivion. Someone else can sweat the small details later.

That said, it looks like he’s using Jaune and Ren as bodyguards. With them protecting him, I’m not going to be able to get close to him if I want to put an end to this madness. And with the building sealed, I can’t exactly get help, either…

Unless…

Oh, that’s a terrible idea. Oh, that’s a terrible, awful, abysmal idea.

But I’ve not got anything better.

So, that guy, the professor, he’s having a great time over there, but I know his type. He’s far more interested in his own voice than he is paying attention to any of the girls he’s got under his thrall. So if there’s one extra ‘thrall’ in there with him, I bet he won’t notice until it’s too late.

Of course, if I’m going to pretend to be a thrall, that’s gunna mean I’ve got to lose these clothes. And I looked so goddamn adorable today, seriously, my hair looks amazing with this jacket…

… Focusing on irrelevant details is a stress coping mechanism, don’t judge me.

Anyway… I hate it, but it’s all I’ve got. I pull my shirt off and shimmy out of my shorts, setting my underwear down carefully with the pile. I’m coming back for these later, after all. Then I quietly slip into the room and slide in next to Ruby doing my best to look like a tranced out thrall, just blankly staring at nothing.

The Prof didn’t notice. Score one for the Yangster. He’s too busy yelling orders at Pyrrha. “Hey, Strawberry Head, you look like a cheerleader. Why don’t you give your Master a proper worshipful cheer?”

“Yes Master~” The redhead answers with the dreamiest voice I’ve ever heard out of her (just beating out how she sounds when she’s pretending she’s not peaking on Jaune in the shower). She starts jumping on the spot, shaking her hands like she’s carrying pompoms – and jiggling her tits just as much in their place. “Master, Master, he’s so fine! He’s so fine he slaved my mind! My strength and wits he did outclass, now he flat out owns my ass! Go Master~!”

Huh. Well, I’d give her a 7 out of 10 on that one. Pyrrha’s not really a cheerleader type – she’s the one who gets cheered, usually. But it did the job. Now I’m in the thrall herd, and he hasn’t noticed me.

Actually, should I be offended at that? I mean, I look great clothed, but I look amazing naked, how can he miss my girls out in the open like-

“Hey, you! Titan tits there!”

Oh, there we go. Is it wrong that I feel better now? “Yes Master?” I try to make my voice sound just as mindless as Pyrrha’s.

“Get over here. I think it’s time I got some personal attention from those boobs of yours.”

Jackpot. I make sure to pull off my sexiest strut as I walk between Jaune and Ren, drawing close to my target. I’m going to end this nonsense with a one big bang – a big Yang, if you will. I don’t need Ember Cecilia to punch this guy’s block off, after all.

No messing around. I slide up to the guy, and the instant I’m in range I grab the guy by his collar and haul him up, fist raised back. “One chance, Professor Dumbass,” I growl, knowing I only have a moment before the bodyguards react. “Release my friends from your control right now, or get used to going through life minus one head.”

It’s interesting to watch his face as he goes from unbelievably smug to terrified for his life in under half a second. Kinda fun to see, actually.

“Wha-H-H-How?!” He stammers. “How did you resist the effects of my Mesmo-dust?!”

“You know, that’s a real stupid name,” I snarl. “Now let my friends go!”

I know I said one chance, but I really want my friends back, and I don’t know how he enslaved them, so… Wait. Something’s wrong. Why’s he looking all smug agai-Gack!

A cloud of purple dust envelops my head. He must have had a vial in his pocket or something. What is this stuff supposed… suh… suppos’d… t’… doooo….?

My head goes quiet. I feel my body go slack, my jaw dropping open as my eyes lose focus, but I can’t care about any of it. All I can do is stare forwards, my mind a complete blank.

“There. Much better. Anybody home?” Fingers snap in front of my eyes. I don’t react. “Good! Well, Titan tits, since you apparently missed the first induction, listen to me now: You are my slave. Understand?”

“Yes Master. I understand. I am your slave.” I repeat his words back to him in that same breathy, dreamy voice from before. Because of course I do. He’s my Master, and I’m his slave.

“Very good. Right! I think that’s enough excitement from you for now,” he says, shoving me back a step. I don’t resist. “So from now on, you’re just my dumb, big titted chicken. Got it?”

“Yes Master. I-“

Oooooh. My eyes flutter up in my head as his words resonate between my ears. Dumb. Big titted. Chicken. Of course.

My smile turns dopy as my brain slows down. I can feel it happening, can feel my synapses thickening, feel my thoughts growing simpler an’, like, way, way dumberer. It’s, like, so hard to think an’ stuff now. But who needs ta’ think when- wuh-wen… ah… Bwak! Buk buk… Bwak!

My legs fall into a crouch, my arms drawn up by my armpits, elbows stuck out like wings as I strut about the lab, pecking at the ground, makin’ sure my big titties wobble and jiggle with every move.

Bwak! Bwak! Bwak!

“Excellent.” The laughing words of my Master filter through my dumb chicken head, even if I don’t understand them. “Well, good to know even a wary Huntress can’t resist the effects of my dust. With the Schnees in my control and this fine harem of Huntresses to serve me, I think it’s time I started planning how to take over all of Remnant. Now doesn’t that sound exciting?”

Bwak!