Chapter 9

PAIN. Joan felt pain. It screamed through her and breathing seemed… hard. She tried to take a breath through her nose before opening her eyes and it only made the pain worse. She tried to cry out a scream, but something stopped her jaw from opening too far and her throat burned.

"Shh, the sadist didn't give you anything for the pain till I got here a minute ago." Cinder comforted with a clawed hand on Joan's right shoulder.

"Hauh?" Joan coughed and the pain redoubled.

"Shh, no, don't breathe, the machine will do that for you. We'll take the tube out after the painkillers kick in

Joan tried to speak again only to realize she had in fact been intubated.

"Watts! Put her back out!"

"What?"

"Just do it!"

"Fine fine." The mustachioed man gruffed and the wold seemed to blur for Joan, quickly darkening and distancing itself from her existence.

"I thought you wanted her to see it fresh with the scars; before his aura can-"

"Well someone wanted to wake her up from an operation without pain meds!"

"Did you want him to be in his right mind to be horrified by it or not?"

"Her! Her!" Cinder snapped, the grimm arm attached to her lashing out and near strangling the man to death. Joan didn't see how it ended. She had no idea if he lived, but she feared the only doctor- sadist or not- didn't die while Cinder certainly had no plans of pausing her efforts to break Joan.

When Joan woke the second time, there was no pain. By the pleasurable way the room seemed to spin and wave back and forth, she was ever so vaguely able to tell she was high as a kite. She couldn't tell if it was just an effect of whatever painkiller she had been given, but her face felt tight- or maybe it was pressure? It was really hard to tell when the walls seemed to sprout joyus faces. Wait… no that face wasn't joyous, it was… Joan blinked a few times and realized Cinder was just paler than usual and near blended in with the wall behind her. It was hard to tell because half of her head seemed to be covered in… "What happened to your face? You're wearing a rag over your eye." Joan giggled as if there were something to be funny.

Cinder scowled and flames flickered weakly around her exposed eye and the rag that covered where the other had been until recently. "Shut up."

Joan giggled at Cinder's face and the way it seemed to scrunch. It was just a funny looking face. Then again, the walls seemed funny to Joan too for some reason. "Look so mad." She lingered with an open mouth dumbly. "You- wait… didn't want me in pain? Hehe, so funny- you with the stabby stabby n'-" Joan made a stabbing motion only to nearly tug an IV out of her arm.

"Yes, well, the stabbing is over." Cinder snarled under her breath as if she missed it.

"What? You really taking your offer of friendship seriously?" Joan made a shocked face. "You actually are!" She gaped, convinced of it in her opioid induced state. "You think you're my friend- that you can be? That you can just make me a girl and give one of your cronies a beating for hurting me, and that makes us friends? That means I will give up Pyrrha?" Joan listed the two back to back because to her they were both kindnesses, but the way Cinder flinched at it, thankfully, she had not understood her true appreciation for the gender transformation.

"Shut up! I don't care whether you see me as a friend; all that matters is you will break! Watts nearly killed my tool! He operated on you without pain medicine. If you had gone into shock, your aura might not have healed you and anything could have killed you. That is the only reason I snapped at him! You utter fool!" Cinder hissed and grabbed Joan's face by her chin. It hurt horribly even though all the drugs. "I may not be able to beat it into you, but you will learn your place, you pitiful little bitch."

With immense pain and effort, Joan swallowed and felt the terror sink in.

"Do you understand, you sniveling mongrel?"

"Yes." Joan shuttered and teared up.

"Good, now start using your arua to heal your face! You still have to do your makeup today if you don't want another punishment tonight."

"My… my face?" Joan whimpered.

"Oh yes," Cinder nodded and passed a small hand held mirror to Joan.

As Joan held the mirror up, Cinder removed the bandages for her. She had- her face had been changed? It was puffy and swollen, but Joan could tell that the shape of her face had been modified. Mostly her chin, some of her cheeks, and a bit around her brow and nose. All of it had been done to make her look more feminine. As Joan's aura filled her, it dulled the effects of the drugs and began healing her face. It was still puffy, and she was not sober by any means, but Joan was together enough to tell that despite being swollen and changed, the face in the mirror was still distinctly her's. Not just in the sense that she wore the face, but Joan still… she still looked like herself. Not identical, but in the general strokes, she looked just like herself but more feminine. Once more, a change brought her to tears. Cinder watched on with expectant amusement as she began to cry and inspect her face more.

"I- different-" Joan spoke up only to cut herself off. "I- and I sound…" Her voice was a little raspy, but it was… somehow still softer? Smaller? Drugged and still dazed, Joan could not put together the right words to explain it

"Oh yes, and he took your Adam's apple. You're more of an Eve anyways."

"I- I-" Joan struggled to speak. If anything, to herself, her voice sounded distinctly more feminine while still remaining androgynous. It felt much better, right, just right. Just like her face, it was different, both from the fact it was clearly still healing and from the changes, but it was still her.

"I suppose because you might need some bedrest you can be exempt for the day, but expect to actually adhere to my instructions tomorrow morning."

"Yes- yes Cinder." Joan held her head low and answered as obediently as she could to avoid the woman's wrath.

End of Chapter 9