Chapter 4
Brief explanation of Chapter 2 and 3: Cinder captured Joan and tortured her to use her. She hoped Joan would have information of how to find Pyrrha and attain all of the maiden powers. Joan's endless aura and obstinate loyalty to her friends proved any physical torture insufficent, so Cinder has begun to try a new method.
Joan fretted and pouted as she- or he? Jaune whimpered with frustration at the gender confusion. A whine, and she returned to fretting over how the dress hung off of her. Jaune? Joan? Jaune! Jaune for now at least she settled a little queasily. Jaune could comprehend that it was a beautiful dress, but she didn't feel it was beautiful on her. Not only did the bust the dress accounted for draw attention to his lack there of, but it also left him worrying about why exactly his nipples had been feeling so different as of late.
Somehow, that wasn't even the worst of it. Jaune had never much been one for shorts after puberty. For whatever reason, Jaune just wore his jeans and settled with that. He didn't need anything else and they covered what needed covered. The dress however, did not cover his lower legs. The cut ended somewhere just below his knees. It certainly made him feel exposed, and that had… unwanted effects, but as long as he stood and hunched over a little, the dress hid that. The real issue was how she felt the dress clashed with the hair on her legs. Thankfully, it was a light blonde like the rest of her hair, but Jaune still disliked the nature of it- how it was so masculine against the feminine dress.
Over all, Joan really just didn't know how to feel about any of it, the dress, his body, her gender, and the way they seemed to clash more and more with every second. When another few stray tears welled in her eyes and she wiped them away, he knew Cinder saw, he knew she would take it as a sign that her plan had worked- that it was working. Jaune didn't know what to make of that. Maybe it was working? Or maybe these feelings that had been there his whole life only needed the slighted crack to form in the wall he had built around them before SHE came shining through.
"There, don't you feel better?" Cinder questioned and touched around the sleeves of the dress, making it fall on Joan just right.
"I- I-" Joan stammered and her hands rushed to cover the spot where the slightest tent formed in her dress. Why did it have to be so embarrassing!? Why did her body have to react like that! It was! Joan whimpered feeling gross.
"It's alright, lay down. I still need to braid your hair." Cinder formed a chair of glass for herself to sit on as she patted on the bed's pillow.
"I-" Jaune blushed and whimpered as he thought over how nice it might be to see his hair in actually carefully made braids rather than the lopsided ones his sisters teased him with. "Yeah." Joan nodded and timidly sat down in the bed before laying back.
Joan pulled up her knees to hide the most confounding effect of it all. At every step she feared the dress's skirt would fall down and reveal her more than she already was, but with the right juggling, it seemed to settle right.
Just as Jaune tried to relax, Cinder swatted his shoulder. "Huh?"
"No, you can't sit like that. Are you looking to flash someone your panties?" Cinder's acting performance slipped a little more uncanny valley- clearly an imitation of friendship from someone who had a good idea, but didn't quite understand what one really was.
"I- umm… no! I'm not looking to- I-"
"It's not ladylike to have your legs spread like that. You need to cross them so no one can look up your dress."
"I- I umm…" Jaune flushed harder and hated how his body seemed to be intent on rising to the hastened blood flow. He felt gross and disgusting for it, and somehow that just made it worse. "Yeah, sure, I- I guess that makes sense." Joan closed her legs and wanted to cry out when she felt the pleasurable pressure it pressed to the protrusion in her panties.
"There, don't you feel better? Dresses can be… embarrassing and exposing, but they can be beautiful too- and that can be powerful."
Joan found herself nodding along. She wasn't quite sure because, for the most part Cinder was a phenomenal liar, but she suspected Cinder may for the first time be being completely honest with her. "I- I do." She answered with a timid nod. Joan, feeling herself- really herself, and forgetting momentarily about all else, shimmied softly in the bed, puffed out her chest and squeezed her legs, earnestly feeling 'high fem' for the first time in her life. It, was a glorious feeling.
"Ready?" Cinder offered gently as she pulled Joan's hair out from under her and separated it into three neat bundles.
"Yeah." Joan found her voice naturally softening- ok, maybe naturally, it was a little forced, but it felt right.
"Good." Cinder traced her fingers against Joan's scalp and began braid gently.
"Cinder?" Joan asked out of the blue, her hair still damp but half braided.
"Joan?" Cinder replied kindly.
"I-" Joan hesitated a moment, but committed to her question. "Why are you being nice now? You- you went from treating me like skum to… to… I- you're almost friendly!"
Cinder hummed and nodded noncommittal.
"I- I just don't understand! What is the point of-"
"You are protecting Pyrrha, that silver eyed brat, and the rest of the beacon nuisances because they are your friends, no?"
Joan frowned and shrunk a little. "Yes." She looked away from what must have been a false friendly smile on Cinder's face. "But- but I don't see what that has to do with-"
"You will turn on them." Cinder cut icy and cold. "It may not have happened as quickly as I would have liked, but, you will. One way or another. You will, and it will be easier to break you if you know what you have to gain." Cinder gently traced her soft fingertips over Joan's forehead. "It is important you know the friends you can gain by giving in."
Joan frowned and she didn't like anything about Cinder's certainty. She considered asking more about the point of Cinder's change in tactics, but she didn't feel quite ready to hear the answer. Joan needed some time to figure out how she felt about it before she could handle hearing what Cinder had planned.
"You will learn. Being a 'friend'-" Cinder spoke the word with such disgust Joan knew it must be earnest. "To Salem and I can be quite beneficial. And, if you don't learn… we- I will break you one way or another. Even if it needs to be done through untraditional means. Rest assured, it will happen." Cinder gently brushed a stray hair behind Joan's ear with a coaxing touch. "We aren't the same as the brats, but… we have our own reasons- our own honor. Even if you might not see it." Joan rolled her eyes and dismissed Cinder's selling speal.
"Yeah, sure. Bet you're all quite the little family." Joan spat with what she thought would only be a hint of venom, but still, it seemed to sting even the cobra Cinder.
"More than you and any of the other BRATS!" Cinder hissed and her grimm arm clawed and tugged at Joan's braid. "You think they care for you? There is no care- only usefulness. And to them, you are useless. Why else do you think not a single one of them has come looking for you?" The half maiden released her grimm hand, but only after she wrestled it free with her human one.
Joan had no words. She- she knew it would be stupid for any of her friends to come save her… but… Cinder's words still hurt. They hurt especially because she knew Cinder was right about one thing. Now, and always, she had been useless to all her friends.
"We-"Cinder started with pride. "NEED each other. Salem saved me; saved me and proceed to give me the power to save myself. In turn, I am loyal. Maybe- just maybe you can learn to see me the same way." Cinder smiled and caressed her thumb gently across Joan's cheek.
She's being manipulative! It's manipulation! She's using you! She's… dangerously good at this.
Jaune's mind spiraled and spiraled. He- she? Jaune? Joan? Whoever they were, the poor blonde had no fucking idea. All they knew was that things were confusing and a despite their mind screaming that Cinder was a treacherous leach of a woman… there was still a corner of their mind that latched to Cinder's words. Could- could Cinder be a savior? And what did it mean for whether they were Jaune or Joan if they did in fact feel saved?
When Cinder finished with Jaune's braid, she tied it tight in a hair tie and gently ruffled her hair. Additionally, she had a large vanity brought into the room. She mentioned something about how all girls need a good mirror, gave a wink, and disappeared.
Joan- or Jaune spent quite a long time looking in that mirror. She poked at his broad shoulders, he inspected her feminine jawline. She fretted about his more masculine chest, he focused on how despite that, the dress still made them look undeniably feminine. She cried when his core refused to fit neatly against the gusset of their panties, he sobbed when he realized maybe there had only ever been a she all along.
Later that night, they sobbed together in the bed. Just one being, holding themselves and balling their eyes out. She cried for so so many reasons, and so did he. Neither halves of the being knew what would happen to them or how. Neither knew what Cinder would do next, if it would be pleasant or heinous. Was it true that their friends hadn't looked for them? Did- did their friends not care for them? Was it just because they were truly useless? It would explain why one of Pyrrha's last acts was to send them off- trap them in a weapons crate and shoot them away. Would… would they ever cave to Cinder and her machinations? Neither half liked that thought… but both knew it was something to be vigilant of, especially with all the doubt and confusion already seeded deep in their mind.
There were many things the two halves wondered and feared aimlessly about. But both seemed to agree confidently on one thing that both halves knew to be true. Only one of them would last. Only one was the true version of Jaune or Joan or whatever name they settled on would take hold and become the true version of them. Both found this fact horrifying beyond all reason.
End of Chapter 4
