Chapter 17

It took Joan a while to have her head clear up from the drugs, but eventually, her head cleared and she began to notice something new. Her body had changed further. Not just the removal of her… girls. But, the rest of her body had progressed too. Her pointed breasts had rounded out, her ass had rounded to the point that she could feel her body sat differently, her hips felt like one of the most notable changes. They had grown wider- much wider. Wider than her sister's before she had her child. That would almost have been scarry to Joan- the implications of it at least. But, it was hard to find it scary when it made her feel so reassured, so herself.

Later, after she took a trip to the bathroom, Joan noticed another change. She couldn't tell how or why, but her clit seemed to have withered further. From how it looked, she doubted it could extend past the with of her hand even when it was hard. As with almost all of her other changes, Joan enjoyed the development. She would never have trouble with her panties again now.

Looking into the bathroom's mirror, Joan saw how much she had changed. By all but the most conservative of measures, she was a woman- not just mentally, but physically too. She knew that didn't make her anymore a girl, and that to say or think so would only be the epitome of shallow. But, still, she adored her body matching herself so much more.

The breasts, barely pointy A cups when she had been assaulted by the grimm hybrid, had grown to something between a generous B or an average C. She filled her own palms when she tried to touch them. They were more sensitive in general, but the nipples seemed to have leveled out in their response to stimulus.

When Joan turned around to look at her backside, the first thing she noticed was how her silhouette almost matched Pyrrha's. Her shoulders were slightly wider, and her hair was more unruly- almost like Yang's, but… still. In many ways, her silhouette could blend in easily with her piers. She liked that, liked knowing that she might be able to fit in with them.

Beyond just her silhouette, Joan also noticed just how much her ass and hips had come along. Had she looked that way before she had been assaulted by Cinder? If she had, then she almost kind of understood why Mercury made that comment about her ass- gross as it was, she could almost understand.

Joan grabbed at herself, pulled and pinched, curious to know what her body might feel like to touch and be touched. It was different. She was softer, jigglier. She liked it. Joan doubted she wanted much more to be changed about her body. There was the obvious, but as it was, that was still shrinking. Aside from that… Joan was hard pressed to think of anything else she really.

Joan played around with her hair a little, struck a nice pose or two, and earnestly, just toyed around with what she could look like. It was much more fun when she didn't loathe her body. Eventually, she finished and found it time to return to her bed in the infirmary.

"Oh! Brothers! Doctor!" Joan's hands shot up to cover herself at the sight of Watts.

"Huh- oh! Wow…" Watts's eyes bugged a little. "Ah, Sorry, son-" He paused, his eyes observing Joan standing in the buff and only covered with her hands. "Geez, guess I can't call you that anymore, now can I?" He winced.

Joan flushed and stole a blanket from another of the infirmary beds to cover herself.

"It's one thing to see you covered up on a table and just operating on your neck or your… groin, but… she's really done a number on you, huh?"

Joan tried to hide as much of herself against the stolen blanket as she could. She hated being exposed like that, being seen by a man with such leering eyes. "I- I- I guess." Joan stammered and put in extra effort to cover her chest.

"You alright there?"

"Yeah, Just. just don't particularly feel like being leered at by a man." Joan huffed lightly as she covered her chest with both arms.

"Shattered moon in the bloody sky." Watts dropped his tablet and it shattered on the ground.

"What!" Joan snapped and turned her back to the man.

"You're a fucking girl."

"I-" Joan's voice caught in her throat. If- if Watts realized, he would tell Cinder! She could take away- "Well! That's the point of all the shit Cinder has done, right!? Turn me into a girl!" Joan falsified as much anger as she could, but she was not as good an actress as Cinder.

Watts's mustache curled up in a smirk as a chuckle built in his chest. "Oh, beautiful! Fucking beautiful. She tried to torture you… by turning you into yourself!"

Terror shot through Joan. So long of hiding that she was finding herself through all this, and all it took was two minutes of Watts being vaguely kind to cause her to let it slip.

"That's god damned brilliant. You'll kill her when she finds out!" Watts laughed stark and cold.

"I'll… I'll what?" There was no good explanation for why it spawned a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. There was no good explanation, but there it was anyways.

"You- you- you'll kill her!" Watts laughed and cheered with delight. "You've met the foul cunt! You think she could learn- learn that all her efforts made you happy and not snap?!" Watts continued to cackle sickeningly. "She's using every ounce of aura she has to keep that monster from taking her over as it is! If she has another volcanic outburst like that, she'll be no more than a damn ice saber or an apathy!"

Joan's expression slipped mortified, the exact opposite of Watts. "She- she'll completely turn to a grimm?" Sure, she had a passing understanding. She knew that the beast that had become Cinder's arm couldn't be good. But… somehow the reality that her freedom meant Cinder's death only just began to dawn on her.

Watts cackled pridefully. "That bitch deserves it- nothing more than a creature of anger, sorrow, and hate. Few things have ever been so approx."

Worse… Cinder's fate would be worse than death? Joan felt sick and wanted to puke. No one, not even Cinder deserved that.

For the first time, Watts's expression turned serious- almost contemplative. "No, no, no, wait! Wait! You have to wait to tell her though! I need to prepare for my examinations and analysis. A fully morphed grimm hybrid would be fascinating if I can study it."

Without realizing it, Joan began to cry. She only noticed as a tear streamed across her cheek and she realized just how horrible a life that would make.

"Boy- Girl, whatever, I don't give a shit. You mustn't tell her yet!" Watts demanded. "You buy me time to prepare an appropriate cage and instruments for her, and I will make sure a key to that collar of yours is misplaced in your room on a night with no guards."

"You- you'll let me free? I could- could go?"

"Yes, just… just hide it. Do whatever you must. You seem to have the wool over her eyes already. So just keep it up, keep it up and wait till my mark to tell her."

"I- I-" Joan stammered.

"You want the last bit finished if you are a woman, no?" Watts gestured down to Joan's crotch. "It's small now, but I presume you'd prefer it changed out?"

"I- I do." Joan nodded deeply uneasy.

"Good, just wait for that. I will keep you under and hold the operation till my preparations are ready. Then, you are free to tell her." Watts lept to offer. "I kept you under two months stalling just to piss her off this time, I can keep you under till I'm ready."

Joan had long suspected that her trips to the infirmary kept her under for varying amounts of time, and hearing that it had been two months made sense when she thought about how far her body had progressed. But- but that didn't change how shocked she was to hear it.

"Do we have a deal!"

"Y- yes." Joan coughed out without being able to process the implications.

"Wonderful, just wonderful."

End of Chapter 17