Cinder Fall beheld as they were marched down the castle's violet hued halls in medieval chains, wrists behind their backs in iron manacles. There had been concerns about the faunus girl and her sneaky semblance, but as she knew all too well, the crystals that dotted the Land of Darkness were neither dust nor decoration.

No indeed, the primeval crystals naturally sapped Aura. Invulnerable as the castle's master was, she evidently wouldn't tolerate any opposition within it. It held no hold over magic, of course, which worked for the old witch, and had allowed Cinder herself to train quite effectively.

But all that was moot now. Cinder had done it.

She and Neo had tracked Ruby Rose down in Atlas, orchestrating a trail of crumbs that ultimately led her group to investigate the Dust Mines in Mantle. That old hole Atlas had floated out of was a far less secure spot than the great city. Ideal to host an ambush.

Of course… it hadn't all gone to plan. Among the icy stares she received as they passed, one of the coldest were from heterochromic eyes of pink and brown…

Neo had played the long game with her… As it happened, she hadn't accepted their truce save for stacking the odds in her own favor. Neo had betrayed her, but even by her own caution she had underestimated Cinder.

They had all underestimated Cinder…

The Arc boy made another attempt on her life, but in the end she'd incinerated him. Fortunate, as he was spared seeing that hammerhead girl bite it when Callows sniffed his way to the action and eagerly employed his new tail on her. She, Tyrian and Qrow all bought it when her boyfriend triggered a cave-in and buried himself. Qrow had overextended his ploy to knock Callows into a mineshaft and plummeted along with him instead.

But how simple it had been afterward… Ruby had been securely blindfolded later, but a little release of natural gas from the caves was all it had taken to knock the rest of them out for easy transport. Even Neo fell prey to it.

How simple it would have been to kill Neo any number of ways while she was unconscious…

But no. Without a stooge like her to kill Ruby… Cinder could only deliver the girl to Salem, unharmed. Otherwise, the Grimm Queen would never stop hunting her, not as long as she still held the only key to the Relic of Choice.

So she would take revenge the only way she could. She was all too aware of Salem's… proclivities…

Still, she couldn't be too disappointed. She had redeemed herself ten times over in the Queen's eyes. Delivered the girl, the Relic of Knowledge… even Ozpin, the boy he inhabited trudging along in fear.

Callows was gone, she returned victorious, and Watts would see none of the credit. This was a good day to be Cinder.

The heavy doors opened to the lower rotunda, and there Salem stood, stoic and ponderous and imposing. Cinder saw their jaws gape as they understood the gravity of the pale being before them.

"Cinder, I'm curious," she began, not even addressing the group directly. "You don't generally take prisoners, and you know I do not. So why are there more than a pair? Do you hate them all so much?"

The Rogue Maiden anticipated this line of questioning… but she was no less desirous for that. "It's an offering. An apology for my failure…"

"Hmm," the Witch intoned. "An offering… You're certain you're not manipulating me into providing some grander personal revenge?"

Cinder had nothing. She only stood rod stiff, avoiding Salem's cat-eyed gaze.

"Make no mistake, Cinder," Salem said, "you've earned my favor… and I'm actually keen to indulge you. But I don't abide being used…"

Cinder's mouth went dry, her own lips unconsciously parting.

"I'm afraid you'll need to leave me to myself for this. I'll not reward your cunning directed so at me."

Cinder didn't move. "Ma'am… may I at least be here for when the girl—?"

"YOU BITCH!" Yang Xiao Long screamed, eyes burning red, finally incapable of sitting quietly in chains. "DON'T YOU TOUCH MY SISTER! I'LL KILL YOU! I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL—"

But as Salem leered her way, a palm reaching out, Yang's shrieking threats devolved into muffled mutterings. And then her eyes returned to lilac as she moaned in confusion, and then horror, her friends sharing similar looks of dread.

Sometimes, even Cinder was taken aback by Salem's shows of power. Tyrian's worship of her hadn't been wholly misplaced. She watched on, bemused as the blonde brawler panicked to find her mouth had vanished. Her lips were gone, replaced instead with more cheek smoothed over the spot between her nose and chin. Her tongue poked at it, her nostrils working overtime as she tried to breathe. Her jaws worked in defiance, opening as if she could split a new mouth back open if she tried hard enough.

"The next outburst will be dealt with far less politely," Salem threatened, turning back to Cinder. "If I decide I accept your request, I will send for you. Until then, leave us."

Cinder almost wanted to argue the point, but she knew that would only sway her towards the opposite of her desires.

She had to see Ruby's last moments… She had to be there when in fear and anguish, the girl slipped out of this world. To see the light leave those Silver Eyes, and know the one to humiliate her had received the final wage to her foolishness.

But Cinder bowed, turned on her heel, and hurried out the far door, which closed with a sound that left them all in piercing silence.

"Now," the Witch said, "I think we should clarify how this is going to happen. To answer your inevitable concerns… yes, you will die here today."

There was a shudder of uneven movement among the prisoners. In particular, Weiss Schnee had begun blinking rapidly, twin streaks of tears instantly rolling down her face. Ruby's eyes were blindfolded, but her lips had parted to reveal clenched teeth. Blake didn't seem moved, expression quite as stony and despondent as it had from the first minute. Neo's eyes had widened, and she merely shook her head over and over again.

"The sooner you accept this the better," Salem continued. "Were you to escape this fortress somehow, you would proceed without arms through hundreds of miles of territory infested with Grimm far less merciful than I, before reaching an ocean with no means to cross it.

"...If you have illusions of destroying me, I freely invite it if you think you can. If dear Ozpin has told you anything about me, then you should know I've been trying that myself for thousands of years. Truly, I'm granting you something I can no longer possess: a reprieve from this fallen Eden."

None of them said anything. Even blindfolded, Ruby knew their weapons were a continent away. They had seen Jinn's memories, and they all knew they were helpless before Salem. By the Silver-eyed girl's estimation, they probably only had one real chance.

"I'd prefer we did this in private, but I think I'll spare you all any ambiguity to your fate while you're waiting."

Suddenly, a terrified-looking Neo's shackles snapped off, and she fell forward unexpectedly.

"I'd had other plans," Salem explained, "but you're shaking like a leaf. It would be cruel to prolong this in your case… but I won't deny, it entices the Grimm in me."

Neo bolted. In her brief freedom, she sprinted past them down the hall, only capable of small exertion sounds as she fled for her life.

But it couldn't be. A mere gesture of Salem's hand and the woman stopped, feet still hammering the floor as she tried to run, instead being swiftly drug back.

Finally, Neo was stood up lock stiff before the Queen. "Cease your struggling. You're only making this harder on yourself."

Neo went loose again, save for her feet, which planted to the floor like she were wearing cement shoes. Salem's hands found Neo's shoulders, almost delicately grasping them.

"So, girl… have you any last words for me?"

Neo's makeup ran as the tiny woman's tears fell, her jaw working as she stammered noiselessly, knowing Salem had asked the impossible of her.

Salem frowned, and then brought one of her razor-nailed hands to Neo's throat.

There was a flash, and then gasping as Neo had doubled over, and a new voice higher even than Ruby's spoke. "I… w-what…? My v… My voice…!"

"It's not a gift that will last, child," Salem told her. "As I asked… have you any last words?"

Neo devolved into noisy tears, sad and savoring of the sound of her own pipes.

"If you've nothing worth saying, I'll gladly take it ba—"

"NO! PLEASE!" Neo pled. "Please, I just wanted to avenge my Roman! I wanted Cinder to pay for taking him from me! I'm not against you, I don't want to die! I don't want to d-die! I DON'T WANT T—"

Neo immediately spluttered back into silence, sobbing as her voice left her again.

"I think you've said all that's useful," Salem surmised. "I'll not deny, you're a woman after my own heart. I too once went to great lengths in honor of the man I loved, since lost. I was denied the ability to return to him for aeons.

"As such, it would be unthinkable of me to consider your request. Nothing is left for you here in revenge, girl. Let me send you to be with your love, in true happiness…"

Suddenly Neo flinched as every article of her clothing was very suddenly torn off, practically exploding off her body until she was as naked as the day she was born. She huddled, mouth open in a noiseless scream as she covered herself.

"Oh god," Weiss breathed, averting her eyes.

"Oscar, look away!" Blake ordered, imagining herself in Neo's position, ogled by a boy she barely knew.

"Hmm," Salem grunted. "Don't be cruel, beast girl. Ozma's latest slave has almost certainly never had a woman before. Let him look… or perhaps one of you ladies could busy yourselves to remedy that for him?"

"W-what?" Oscar asked after the suggestion, he and the girls surrounding him going pink.

"Doubtless you all possess some comprehension of my ties to the Grimm," Salem began, hand running over Neo's back. "Indeed, at times I feel… an urge. Immortal as I am, I'm still afflicted by desires of the flesh… loneliness… hunger…"

The look in Salem's eyes chilled them, but none more so than Neo.

"Human hunger is constant… but Grimm don't need to feed… they choose to. I possess both desires… and I can only sate both one way."

At that instant, Salem began to grow. Though not minuscule compared to any of them by any means, she gently towered to nine feet tall in moments, perfectly proportioned from before. Neo squirmed in terror as she was lifted from the ground by goliath hands.

"God no…!" Blake croaked, as they saw where this was headed.

"What…?" Ruby asked. "I can't see…"

Weiss shook uncontrollably. "S-She's going to eat us! She's going to EAT US!" she shrieked, looking as though she might leap from a window.

"What?!"

But indeed, Salem raised her high, magic arresting the flailing feet to be streamlined towards her. The rest of Neo wriggled with fear…

"WAIT!"

Salem turned to leer at Ruby Rose, who leapt out into view, still blinded. "Did you think I was bluffing about outbursts?"

Black hands shot out from beneath the Silver Eyed Girl and swiftly dragged her flat to the floor. She groaned in discomfort as the others called after her.

"SALEM, PLEASE! I'M the one you want! Take ME, let the rest of them go, JUST TAKE ME!"

Salem sighed, setting Neo down slightly. "Really? Even for this one?"

Ruby sniffed loudly, the white cloth over her eyes graying. "T-too many people have died today… If it makes it stop, you can take me!"

"I already have you," Salem droned. "Ozma isn't negotiable. And unless the rest are keen on switching sides… At any rate, this one has already betrayed one of my lieutenants," she explained, indicating Neo, whose tears ran fresh. "Useless."

Yang muffled angrily as she stared daggers at Salem. Blake echoed her sentiment. "There's no way in HELL we're joining you after you've EATEN our friends!"

"There we have it," the Witch said, almost wry. "Now may I continue, or will you scream something else at me from the floor?"

"The gods were wrong!" Ruby said clearly.

Salem's expression softened. "What was that?"

"What they did to you, both of you, was so wrong…!" Ruby explained. "They might have made us, but they don't understand us at all! You were just a girl in love, in mourning… You made mistakes… humanity made mistakes… but that's what it IS to be human! And they punished you for it… they punished everyone for it…"

"What else do you know about me, Ruby Rose? Go on…"

"I know you suffered as much as anyone can, and more… I know you so desperately wanted something so simple, but no one would let you have it… and once you finally did, it was all taken from you again. Ozma was wrong to abandon you, and the Brother of Light was wrong to warn him away. He said there was no hope for you, that nothing was left of the girl he loved. But you were an adoring wife, and a loving mother, even in spite of the darkness driving you!"

"How do you know this, child?" Salem asked.

"The Relic… the Relic of Knowledge showed us."

Her brow rose. "You used one of my questions. While I appreciate your candor, you'd have been better served keeping that to yourself." Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "So you knew my curse of immortality?"

"...Yes."

"And still you chose to oppose me? To join his pointless campaign, when it could only ever lead you to this day?"

Ruby took a breath. "I'm a Huntress… and I'm sworn to protect humanity to the bitter end. If the Relics are gathered, the gods will return. And if we're unworthy, if we're not what they expect of us… they'll destroy everything… And you want that, don't you?"

Salem didn't say anything for a moment. "A Huntress to the end… throwing your life away. Not even the excuse of Ozma's shameless lies to embolden you.

"Yes, I'd like to have one more chance to defy those celestial bastards… I'll lose, and then they'll end this pointless game for good."

This time it was Weiss who spoke up. "Or they'll come up with some even worse fate for you! Maybe they'll destroy Remnant, and leave you to wander the void alone!"

"Quiet," Salem hissed.

Ruby pressed on. "Salem, you're letting your hate cloud everything! It's the Grimm influence, you dove into that pool of destruction and it changed you! If you're so eager to die, then why are you after people with Silver Eyes like me? What are you afraid of?"

Salem scoffed. "Afraid? Of course not, you silly girl. I seek those with your gift as an affront to the one who granted your precious light… His children, the one who cursed me, the one who ruined everything."

"I might have his power, but I'm not on his side! Let me help you… If the power of destruction changed you, then my power could change you back! What do you have to lose?! What if I'm right?!"

Neo watched the exchange, looking utterly helpless, knowing her fate was in the hands and words of this youthful idealist.

"You're saying my thoughts are corrupted somehow?" Salem asked.

Ruby tilted her head. "You're about to swallow a human being!"

Salem froze for a moment. Then she looked down to Neo, naked with black and green tear smudges. "All the same, am I to capitulate to these gods and their demands? For the sake of this fallen, worthless husk of humanity's former glory? You know they could never measure up to the Brothers' standards."

Ruby shook her head. "You don't know that! You've worked against them from the start! We never had a chance to come together because you've worked from the shadows to tear us all apart!"

Salem stared at her, frowning.

"What good is it to spit in the gods' faces, and prove them right about you? Prove them right about all of us! But what if we proved them wrong?! Wouldn't that… that send them a real message?! Isn't that the act of defiance where everybody wins?!"

Salem continued to stare. There was silence.

And then there was a snap as Ruby's manacles popped open, and some unseen force untied her blindfold, leaving her blinking as it fell from her face. She beheld the pallid witch for the first time.

"Come then, girl," Salem said, expression flat, "do your worst."

Her friends watched, and Oscar's eyes were huge, and Ruby couldn't be sure who was in control of him at that moment. She walked past them all, to face Salem, still clutching the young woman in her hands.

Ruby stood before her, looking up at the enlarged queen. "Thank you."

The queen shook her head. "Don't thank me yet…"

Ruby closed her eyes, and concentrated. It wasn't hard at all this time… she had to preserve the ones she loved… this was the moment… this was the moment that would make all the difference.

And for the extra kick, she sought the image of her mother's face…

Ruby's Silver Eyes opened to flood the rotunda with a glow of such intensity that poor Neo before her saw spots. The others had to look away as the warmth of The Light washed through like a freshly opened clothes dryer.

Then, as soon as it had begun, it was over. The blinding light faded, and they all beheld the result.

...But Salem's fair pink skin was already fading. The black veins were already threading underneath. Her jewel blue eyes were already becoming red and inhuman.

"No…" Ruby whispered, her heart sinking.

Salem sighed. "It's a shame," she said, a ring of real regret in her voice, "For a moment, I think I believed you…"

She raised Neo high…

"Salem, please!" Ruby cried, her manacles already racing back to bind her. "DON'T DO IT! JUST GIVE ME ANOTH—"

But the dark hands from before clasped over her mouth, and the others dragged her back to her friends.

"I will not lie to you," Salem said to her victim, "the process is excruciating…"

Neo, meanwhile, was having the nightmare of her life, toes twisting and tears streaming as she looked down at an angle to see her feet passing into Salem's open mouth. In moments, they sat on her tongue, presently huge enough to stand on if she tried.

Salem's hands ran up to her knee and hip, and with a flick of that tongue, the combination of forces caused Neo to slip on the studded muscle and slot past it to the waiting throat.

"There's… no way…!" Blake stammered, in shock and awe as Neo visibly panicked, her knees locked in the pit of the throat, feet evidently kicking from inside Salem's pale neck. Her lips wrapped around Neo's thighs, twisting as though she were desperate to relieve herself.

Then there was a thunderous, wet noise, and Neo gasped and bucked as they saw her entire backside eclipsed by Salem's bottom lip. It was a swallow.

Neo's reaching, flailing hands made for Salem's face, but were quickly gripped by magic and dragged up as though by chains bolted to the ceiling. She was helpless as her entire pelvis sank as though in quicksand, until her waist was between Salem's lips.

It was clear that while Salem was prepared for this, she hadn't grown so large that the hips of a full-grown woman weren't a mouthful for her. Unseen, Neo was repulsed as she felt the huge tongue lathering up her backside. None of it was sexual… she was merely lubing her body for the next part, like some dry morsel.

The next swallow was nearly as dramatic as the first, but slower, as even Salem moaned with effort as hands on Neo's shoulders assisted. Ruby saw the clear peach shape of her hips rolling down her neck, drawing Neo up to her navel.

"M-mother of god…! She's really…!" Weiss breathed, looking half sick as she realized Salem had already engulfed most of the admittedly diminutive woman's body, the hips being the thickest part of her. From this point, the swallowed part would drag the rest of her down until…

Neo leaned back and tilted her head so far she just made eye contact with Weiss. Though mute, her eyes streamed as she mouthed something at her, as Salem began working her up to her modest breasts.

Weiss shuddered, feeling sick. She couldn't read lips, but she could tell what Neo had tried to say.

"Help me…"

Weiss began shivering so hard her bounds jangled constantly.

"No…!" Oscar muttered, not daring to look up. "Stop this…! She can't…!"

Salem's magic had already stuffed Neo's arms to her side, up to her elbows in the witch's esophagus. Another loud gulp and her breasts heaved upon Salem's upper lip, and she only needed to open her mouth to let them flop in. Neo's sniffling was all they could hear as she sobbed openly, shaking her head rapidly as she struggled.

Salem's hands no longer supported any part of the assassin, instead one hand massaging her throat as she went to her task, the other cradling her unseen gut. By anyone's estimation, Neo's feet were almost certainly touching the floor of her stomach by now.

With a wrenching effort, Neo pulled one of her arms free with a squelch… but it had cost her dearly. The friction of her last bid for life had forced herself down a few inches, and lost her body traction against the constant creep down. Her shoulders slipped out of sight, only her head in the outside world, arm flailing and fumbling around as she could be heard hyperventilating. Salem's lips were firmly sealed around her neck…

Ruby wanted to scream to Salem to stop this. They were witnesses to the slow execution of another human being. And this fate would await them all… just because she failed… Salem had let her take her shot, and she failed!

As surely as Ruby was gagged, Neo's mouth was hanging open, dryly wailing with almost no noise at all. And so too did Salem's jaws gape, chin to the sky. A single, loud gulp, and they could no longer see Neo's face anymore. Only her arm, sinking as it was could be seen, the ever more frantic gasps and breaths of Neo the only indicator that she was anything but a lump in Salem's throat.

Salem swallowed again, and for that instant the noise stopped…

...And then the noise returned again, a rasping, more frantic breathing, echoing slightly as if from a tunnel. The arm became even more frantic, reaching to grab for something, anything to stop or slow what was happening.

But Salem was keen to end it. One last swallow put out the noise completely, and Salem sealed her lips as she massaged the lump down. The wrist twisted, almost convulsing, until it too was drawn out of sight into her mouth. A few ardent gulps and each of them saw the distortion against Salem's cloak as her gut contorted, Neo no doubt being stuffed into the Witch's stomach after her long and awful trip. It writhed, and squirmed, noiseless as the human being whose life it had claimed.

"She really did it…" Blake croaked, unable to take her eyes off Salem's paunch.

Salem sighed, took a deep breath, and shrank back down to size, the bundle in her gut doing likewise as it wriggled. "I don't need to breathe anymore… not for a long time… but not being able to is no less distressing once they're halfway down. Sadly, she'll have no issues with air either," Salem explained, rubbing her middle. "She'll be quite alert and alive until the process has mortally injured her."

With a wave of her hand, Ruby's supernatural gag came off, and Yang's mouth tore open once more.

"Let her out of there!" Yang cried, looking at the squirming form of Neo beneath Salem's skin. "You can't do this, she'll die!"

"Oh, a quick study, aren't you?" Salem droned, sarcasm dripping from her words like venom. "I'll be gone a few hours while I work her off… use them however you see fit, but I'd do so wisely. Don't forget what I said, boy, you especially."

Oscar's eyes widened. "W-why?"

She sighed. "I won't leave it ambiguous. You're next, child."

Oscar felt a shudder run through himself. They'd already been sentenced… but somehow, inwardly, he was hoping he'd be further away from the front of the line.

"It's nothing personal." she clarified. "Well… no, it is… but it's hardly your fault he wound up in your body… is it, Ozma…?"

"Salem… please…" Ruby muttered, utterly defeated. "Don't do this… it's not too late."

Salem gave her a long, hard look. And then she strode back into the rotunda, the door closing behind her with no apparent cause.

A/N: Why?

'Cause I was feeling it…

Yeah, I know this is pretty niche, but I was into this enough to crank out a whole chapter in two days.

Probably I did a little too much to try and justify the premise here, but it exists for pure titillation and I'm not taking it as seriously as Hearts Mended. There's just something inherently absurd about vore, that you either don't take it seriously at all, or you play it basically as a tragedy. I chose the latter, because that suits me best. I know that as hard as I try, imagining Salem just going "nomf..." on another person isn't ENTIRELY believable.

Still, being me, I had to give it a setting and realistic characters. In this case, it's post Volume 7, highly speculating what a hard loss would look like in their time there. I also tried anticipating endgame elements for RWBY's new direction following Volume 6, specifically ideas like Neo turning on Cinder, or the JNPR death theory I shoved into this (mostly so as not to have ten different vore scenes, as they do get a bit samey after a while), or what the ultimate solution to stopping Salem might be and what her motives are.

I mean, how could I resist? Between Hearts Mended and my sfw series, I don't adhere to the canon enough to really explore how I think these things should go down, because generally I'm operating off my own rules.

So yeah, this ought to be a short one, but here's the first installment. Hopefully you fellow sick bastards enjoy!