Hello hello, I'm back again! Finals were a thing, but I'm home free!

So this is the chapter that will make this story an 'M' and drive people away. Just a warning. And it's only going to get better. Or worse. Depends on your point of view.

Whatever, on with the chapter!

Edit: 11/22/17. Small changes and touch up. Corrected Ruby's b-day to be cannon accurate. [Edit: 1/4/17, really fixed Ruby's b-day, or B-year in this case...]

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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Things had gone from mildly confusing, to very confusing, to finally downright scary and painful for Ruby Rose. The whip Glynda had wrapped around her neck hadn't loosened at all and was slowly cutting off her air supply. Not enough for her to black out from lack of oxygen, but enough to make breathing difficult and to get a full lungful of air. Somewhere along the line Blake had taken Crescent Rose from her and had wrapped the ribbon of Gambol Shroud around her hands, making makeshift handcuffs. Blake was making mocking sneers at Ruby as she shoved her every once in a while. Weiss had gone completely cold and silent, but the sheer hate in her eyes made up for any lack of other emotions on her face. The epitome of her 'Ice Queen' persona, along with other less than flattering names for it that Ruby inadvertently heard. A cold bitch was one of them. She was currently holding Ruby's pilfered scroll, along with the extra clips she had for her sweetheart.

Yang however was making no effort to hide her enthusiasm, smiling and chuckling to herself, bouncing along, her eyes practically glowing red. That smile she had was the one where someone was going to get hurt and she would enjoy it. Not the 'thrill of the fight' smile, nor the playing around, joking smile. This was the one where she wanted to bodily damage somebody and leave them lying on the ground crying so she could relish their pain.

Yang came closer to Ruby with that creepy smile on her face. "I have waited so long for this moment," she breathed, "you have no idea. You may not be Rose, but you're the next best thing. I've waited for you to fuck up this badly so I can do whatever I want with you. Now I'm going to have some fun…"

"Now now, Miss Xiao Long," Goodwitch said placidly, "we do need to find out what happened to Miss Rose and what this imposter is here for. The best way to get that information is if she's alive and conscious," she emphasized.

"But of course," Yang said nonchalantly. "It's after that when the fun begins."

"You and everybody else," Blake said.

"Hey, I get first dibs, calling it now. Anyone wants to argue with that can get a face full of Burning Celica," she said, patting the gauntlets on her wrists, "like Jo-Annis did when he got in the way of investigating that White Fang fucker."

You know, I'm not even surprised at this moment that Yang renamed her gauntlets, Ruby thought.

"His name was pronounced Joanes, Xiao Long," Blake said, "and yes I do remember. As I recall, Joanes is still in the morgue as his parents never picked him up. Something about not wanting to be within a mile of their son's murderer after somebody sent them a full video of the event?"

"He had it commin'. Should have known better." Yang said dismissively.

The rising panic that Ruby was feeling was now not just about the upcoming interrogation, which sounded more and more like torture. Yang's killed before? How? When? She couldn't have, she's never killed someone before. She would have been emotionally destroyed if she had. Something is not right here, Ruby decided. Well, I knew that about five minutes after that Dust incident, she amended that thought. But how could the Dust cause everything to change? Goodwitch has a whip, not a riding crop, Ember Celica is named differently, everyone's dressed different, and apparently I'm supposed to be different too.

I have the bad feeling this is not going to be like Ozpin's interview with the bright light and cookies. Well, maybe the bright light will stay the same… Okay Ruby, think about cookies then. Get your mind off things. They're yummy, especially warm, gooey ones where the chocolate melts in your mouth, like going to sleep. And made with that secret ingredient Mom used to… She trailed off in her own thoughts. Don't think about Mom right now. That's not the right time. I'm sleepy right now…

She felt a painful stinging on the side of her face and she stumbled. She shot open her eyes, not remembering when they closed. "Don't pass out on us now bitch; you've got to give some info for us," Yang said after slapping her again.

"Perhaps she should get some air, unless you plan on dragging her the rest of the way." Blake suggested timidly.

"No time like the present," Glynda neutrally responded and tugged the whip again to get them moving, causing Ruby to cough and spots to swim before her eyes. She looked around and saw that there were a few people staring at their little group and muttering amongst themselves, as she was practically drug along, Goodwitch keeping a close grip on her whip around her neck.

From the little that Ruby could see, people they had passed not too long ago had stopped to stare at them, including Mercury and Emerald, who were now looking on with extreme confusion. However, the people there started to get some idea of what was going on (which was better than Ruby's at any rate) and started getting wolfish grins on their faces. Ruby was not encouraged the slightest. I've seen pleasanter expressions on Grimm.

Ruby felt a heeled foot planted on her back and she met the floor in a painful heap, unable to break her fall as her hands were literally tied behind her back. "Move," Weiss said, the first word she spoke since leaving the headmaster's office.

Ruby tried, her eyes watering, but Glynda kept walking, pulling on the whip. Ruby tried to get on her knees, but the whip pulled taunt and Ruby saw more black spots dance in front of her vision. She fell and was drug a few more yards before Glynda stopped. "Ruby Rose, or whoever you are, please refrain from dirtying up the school with your filthy body. Either stand up or become a permanent fixture on the floor so everyone could wipe their shoes on you. Come along Miss Rose, I haven't got all day." Ruby struggled and eventually stood up again, but swayed as she could feel her head getting light. Oh Oum, what's going on, Ruby thought, everything becoming a bit too much for her. Unwillingly, tears started forming at the corner of her eyes, a few drops leaking down her face.

Eventually after going down several unfamiliar corridors in the school and falling once more, Ruby stopped when Glynda reached an heavily armored door and entered a code on the pad next to it before opening it. Ruby could feel the ribbon being unwrapped around her hands. With a jerk, Ruby was thrown inside and the leather uncoiled around her neck. Ruby wolfed in fresh air down her unconstructed airways, coughing slightly. Air, I love you and never want you to go away. Please stay with me forever.

Ruby's calm didn't last long as she felt someone grab the back of her shirt and carry her into a chair. Well, threw her into a chair really. The chair was bolted down to the floor so it made a clanging sound as her back hit it, causing her to hiss in pain even though she made her Aura take the impact. A secondary series of clicks found her hands cuffed to the chair, uncomfortably constricting her hands. Ruby's eyes were wide. I'm not a criminal! What did I do?! I don't know what's going on!

"Thank you Miss Xiao Long, that will be all for the moment," Goodwitch said, "If you would wait outside with the rest of your team, that would be welcome.

"Sure," Yang said and WBY headed out of the room, shutting the door behind them. Ruby looked around but couldn't see much as there was only the solitary light hanging above the table, the rest of the room darkened. Ruby tried getting her breathing under control.

Glynda took a seat in a chair across from her and stared at Ruby. "Now then, we're all alone. Let's start from the beginning from where we left off in the Commander's office. This all started with a Dust accident. Can you describe what happened in detail?"

Ruby nodded. Okay, everything's fine for the moment. I can answer these questions, she thought in her panicked state. Once they figure out what the Dust did, then they can reverse the effects of it and everything will go back to normal. "Alright," she rasped, then coughed, "Alright. Since the breach Weiss had been working in the Dust shop on something and today she called us down. She gave us all some Dust for our own usage but she gave me a red-black crystal, after creating several black crystals. That was impressive since nobody has made a black crystal before, but then she goes and combines it with a red crystal? That's Weiss for ya." At the deadpan stare she received Ruby coughed again. Stay on topic Ruby.

"Anyway, I tried activating the crystal with my Aura, but nothing happened. I tried again, but still nothing. Weiss then suggested using White Dust grain to help activate it. I kept pumping in more Aura but it still wouldn't activate so I was about to stop when Weiss startled me and I put a burst of Aura into the red-black crystal and I blacked out. The next thing I knew, I woke up to Yang slapping me and everyone acting like they woke up after getting three hours of sleep." Yeah, that was a bad day after midterms.

"White Dust you say?" Glynda questioned and made a note on her scroll. Before Ruby could respond, Glynda spoke. "Moving on, you said that your team was acting strangely. Elaborate."

Oh, boy, how do I go about this nicely? "Well, they were all dressed differently than normal. Blake didn't have her ribbon over her kitty Faunus ears and she had a scar on one of them, Weiss' skirt was longer, and Yang had even less on than normal. And they were all… well, they seemed to have different personalities." When she saw Glynda motion to elaborate Ruby continued. "They were more… savage you could say, and cussing every other sentence and fighting amongst each other… more so than normal," Ruby added.

Glynda made another note. "Alright. Now, going forward to the events in the Grimm Pit-"

"Umm, I have a question about that?" Ruby asked, hurriedly interrupting. When Glynda gave her an irritated look Ruby hastily continued. "Why do we have all those Grimm?"

Glynda stared at Ruby for a moment. "You mentioned something about that in the Commander's office. What is so confusing about what we do?"

"What we do? What we do is hunt Grimm, not keep them in pens. Well, except for Professor Port." And he's… umm…. Port, Ruby thought.

Glynda stared at Ruby again then made yet another note. "Miss Rose, or whoever you are," I am Ruby Rose! "if you are even remotely knowledgeable of our history, you should know the Hunter's Mandates, which allows for the usage of Grimm when necessary."

Ruby's eyes widened. We use Grimm?! They're the creatures of darkness for Dust sakes! We're supposed to hunt them, not use them.

"I can see that that information is surprising to you," Glynda said. "I'll move past that for now." Glynda pulled out Ruby's scroll that she had gotten from Weiss and started looking through it. "I can see why my message didn't reach your scroll, all your numbers are incorrect and yours is different too. Care to explain?"

"I've never changed my number before, and those are the numbers my friends put in," Ruby answered truthfully.

Glynda gave her a skeptical look and made a call. Ruby could hear the phone ringing then a disconnect tone. "Exactly what happened when I called you previously. No such number exists."

Well that's strange, Ruby thought, but not surprising how this day has gone. Glynda put away Ruby's scroll. "Anyway, the Grimm Pit. What exactly happened down there? Why didn't you use any Black Crystals to recapture the Grimm?"

"Black crystals don't exist - well, they didn't, but Weiss recently made a few, so I didn't have any," Ruby said. Glynda rewarded her with another stare.

"Fine then. Your weapon, Bloody Rose: when did you make those changes?"

Ruby frowned. Is she deliberately getting the name wrong? "Uh, first off, it's Crescent Rose, and I've never made any major changes since I've built my sweetheart, as I've said before."

Glynda gave her the most intense stare Ruby's ever seen and she could feel herself wilting under her gaze. I've never liked that stare.

"Alright then. Let's get this underway." Get what underway? "What is your name?"

"Wha? What's this all abou-"

"Answer the question!" Glynda shouted, snapping her whip for emphasis.

"Eep! Ruby Rose!" Ruby said, trying to get away from the whip. How did she pull that out so fast?

"Date of birth?"

"Um, October 31st, 65, New Vytal calendar."

"Biological mother?"

Ruby sighed. "Summer Rose."

"Adoptive mother?"

At that Ruby's head shot up. "What? I've never had an adoptive mother. I've been living with my Dad. Taiyang Xiao Long."

Glynda gave her a stare and made another note or three. "Rose, or whoever you are, you are either the best or worse spy I've ever met."

What? Spy? For whom? The White Fang? "What? I'm not a spy!" Ruby shouted.

"And the sad thing is that you believe that," Glynda said. Glynda made another note and stood up. "I'll move out and correlate your tale with the rest of your team, but I doubt that they'll have the same story. For now, sit tight. In a little while we'll see what makes you tick." She opened the door and went out, closing the door behind her.

Then the light went out, leaving Ruby behind in the pitch-black darkness, strapped to the cold metal chair.

"Well?" Weiss demanded, "What's the verdict? We heard everything already, and that is not what happened. Not exactly…"

"Then please, enlighten me, Miss Schnee, of the divergences," Glynda drawled.

"Well, first off, I called down Mistress who brought these two along," Weiss said, jerking her thumb and Xiao Long and Belladonna, "to have her test out the red-black crystal. When nothing happened, she took it upon herself to use the White Dust grain on the crystal. I was nowhere near her when she recklessly pumped her Aura into the crystal, which she set off. There was a bright flash and Mistress, or whoever that is in there, was lying on the ground. Yang slapped her to wake her up, and you can tell the differences."

"Her cloak is back to when she got it from that whore Summer," Yang spat, "and she believes that she's her mother. Something's wrong with her."

"No shit dumbass." Weiss muttered.

"Aww, you do care," Blake teased.

"Fuck off pussy, you know as well as I do how valuable she is, as much as I hate to admit it. If she's damaged in any way-"

"It would be by her own doing this time," Glynda said, looking up from her screen. "I have the security footage and what you said was true. Miss Rose was the one to use the White Dust grain and not you, contrary to when she claims," she said to Weiss.

"So what now?" Yang asked.

"Ah, the big question." Glynda adjusted her glasses and looked at her scroll for the notes she made. "First and foremost the facts: that red-black crystal with the white Dust caused several changes in whomever that person is who believes herself to be Ruby Rose. Miss Rose's Grimm lost control and reverted back to wild Grimm around the time the crystal activated. Both parties, being her and everyone else, believe the other to have changed.

"Now I have several theories from there. Most likely is that she is an impostor of Ruby Rose and a spy. However, her information in highly inaccurate, which makes me wonder about the rebel's information gathering techniques. We'll have to check back with the lab for the blood tests later to be sure though. Next is that the red-black crystal, mixed with white Dust grain, causes a breakage of the Hunter-Grimm slave bondage, hence why Rose's Grimm reverted. In that case, we need to keep that knowledge secret to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. The last theory is that the crystal causes amnesia or alters a persons perception on reality."

"What do you mean by that?" Yang asked, leaning against the wall.

"I'll put this in terms so you can understand," Goodwitch said patronizingly. "Your brain is receiving signals from your senses; sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing, Aura. But in this case, instead of understanding those signals normally, her brain gets something different from those same senses. For the person in there, she perceives everything differently. But until we have proof from the blood test, these are only theories, nothing more."

"Some things aren't adding up though," Blake said. "Those theories are sound except when looking at everything overall. And parts of her story are inconsistent. How did her weapon change? Why was she wearing different clothes? How does she know certain things, but not others?"

"Once again, it could be because of some brain alteration."

"There's more to it than that," Blake stated, "unless everybody was effected by the crystal, and I'm not talking about the ones that were in the room when it happened."

Glynda nodded in agreement of her reasoning. "Indeed, which is why we're still going ahead with the information gathering session."

"Don't know why we don't call it what it is," Yang grumbled.

"Public perception," Glynda countered. "And speaking of public, if you would, put a public sign-up notice saying that there will be an open session in cell 1138 starting tonight every night until further notice. The masses need their entertainment until the Tournament starts after all."

Yang's smile stayed on. "I get the first slot."

"Well then, why don't you head on in then? Get reacquainted with your sister."

"She's not my sister." Yang growled.

"Half-sister then," Blake added with a smirk, knowing it would infuriate her.

Yang snarled and turned away, going into the interrogation room. Or as most people would call it, a torture chamber.

Ruby stared into the blackness, trying to see anything. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, trying to fight down the rising panic. Calm down Ruby, you've been in situations worse than this before. Remember the White Fang getting you a few days ago. True they didn't lock you in a room and interrogate you, but same principle right? And they're your team. Once the Dust wears off, everything will go back to normal, none of this craziness.

Maybe it's me though, Ruby thought. That crystal only knocked me out. So what if I'm stuck in a bad dream? Maybe that crystal was a hallucinogen. Like that one Grimm that causes hallucinations. What was it called? Puff-something or other. Whatever. I just need to wait it out. That's all I have to do.

Ruby was drawn out of her ruminations when she heard the door open and close, letting in a sliver of light, but not enough to see who entered. Then the entire room lit up in a flash of light. She could almost feel her retina's burn from the sudden lights turning on painfully before she could close her eyes. She couldn't open her eyes when footsteps came closer and she could feel the cuffs on the chair open, which gave her hands some relief.

However, that was as much relief as she would get for hours.

A hand closed about her neck and Ruby felt herself lifted off the chair. She gasped and grabbed at the hand around her neck, trying to pry it open. She had no luck, but her actions drew a familiar feminine chuckle from the perpetrator. Ruby cracked open an eye and saw a mass of yellow in front of her. Yang.

The girl in question lifted Ruby further and squeezed. Ruby could feel her consciousness start to ebb away before Yang shifted and slammed Ruby onto the white tiled floor. Ruby's head made a loud crack as it connected, but her Aura flared as it absorbed the blow, preventing any serious damage. It still hurt though.

Ruby hoarsely coughed, trying to get air in her lungs, and rolled over. Before she could though, a foot connected with her ribs and sent her rolling, causing her to cough even more and clutch her side in pain.

Yang chuckled again. "You know, this is even more fun than I thought it would be." She planted a foot on Ruby's back, pinning her down, then administered another kick to Ruby's side. Ruby whined, trying to cradle her ribs. Yang reached down and pinned Ruby's arm to her back, preventing her from reaching her injured ribs. "Nuh-uh-uh, no comfort for you." Yang stepped off Ruby, but still held onto Ruby's arm and gave another kick to her ribs.

"I don't know who you are, but you are the closest thing to Rose that I can get right now. And over the next few days you're going to be seeing a lot of me, and your team." Yang dropped Ruby's arm, which immediately went to her injured side.

Ruby was trying to make sense of what was happening. What's Yang doing? This isn't you. She could hear some rustling and clanking of metal, and really didn't want to know what Yang was doing. After a moment, Yang stopped and came back over to Ruby. Ruby felt herself get picked up by her neck again, choking once more, before Yang swiftly punched her in the gut and then dropped her. Ruby wheezed and clutched her stomach, trying desperately not to vomit up her lunch and probably a bit of her breakfast.

"I don't know if you did your research fully, but we have an interrogation system, we as in Team RWBY. It's actually quite ingenious really. Credit where credit's due - even if I absolutely loath Rose, she's the one that devised it. I beat down the person till they don't have any Aura to spare. Then Blake comes in and pumps you full of drugs to spill all your secrets. Then Rose and Weiss team up together to cause pain and squeeze out the rest. And that's not even for the open session. Imagine all the fun you're going to have later once we're done with you. Then tomorrow we get to do it all over again!" Yang sounded positively gleeful at that prospect.

"Why?" Ruby wheezed out, now on her knees crouched.

"Why? Why what? You'll have to be more specific than that," Yang mocked before lashing out and catching Ruby in the chest with her foot again, sending the girl rocking backwards.

"Why are you doing this? This isn't you." Ruby whimpered from her curled up position on the floor.

Yang frowned. "Because I like doing this; it's fun! And this is perfectly me. If you had done any research into us like the good fucking spy you should be, you would know that." She went over and grabbed Ruby's neck again. However Ruby saw it coming and in desperation and threw a punch, her fist coming straight at Yang's face…

There was a fleshy slap as Yang's bulkier hand closed around Ruby's leaner one, completely halting the desperate move. "Rose, Rose Rose Rose, you should know better than to throw a punch at me of all people," Yang chided, then squeezed Ruby's caught hand, making the girl cry out in pain. "But I love it when you're feisty. Makes it much more fun to break you."

Ruby flinched, her voice swallowing the scream building as Yang's superior strength almost crushed her comparatively tiny hand. But Yang let go just before anything got broken. And then she punched Ruby in the jaw.

Ruby saw stars and couldn't tell up from down. Her head spun and throbbed painfully moving in cadence with her ribs. Ruby closed her eyes, tears trickling down her face from the pain. She felt Yang grab her legs and swing her into the wall, her back smashing against the cold metal tiles again, driving the breath out of her. Her body slid to the floor, gasping for breath again, fighting for air. Why? Yang flipped Ruby over and punched her in the face again, the double hits of the fist and the floor, causing Ruby to loose all feeling except for pain. Why?

In one last move, Yang brought up a foot and slammed it down on Ruby's chest. At first, Ruby's Aura protected her from the disabling blow, but from the previous blows and Yang's overwhelming undeniable strength, her Aura gave out, dissipating around Yang's foot with a cracking sound.

Pain. That was all Ruby could focus on. Something broke in her and she could feel that her bones weren't the way they should be. Pain.

She screamed as much as she could, but it came out raspy and wet from vomit and bile that threatened to come up. Tears streamed down her face, unending. It hurt to breath. It hurt to cry. It hurt. Period.

"Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic," Yang said as she stepped around the bawling mess that was Ruby Rose. "I never knew exactly why they chose you. You're just too weak to lead anybody." Yang knelt down next to Ruby and smirked. "Now comes the humiliation."

She grabbed Ruby's boots and pulled them off, then turned Ruby over to get her cloak and unpinned it. Kicking her again for good measure, she started working the laces of her corset and skirt and pulled those off too, getting the stockings as well, leaving Ruby only in her bra and panties. Yang's smirk grew wider as she saw purple bruises forming on Ruby's pale skin. "I'll leave you displayed so everyone can see what you truly are: a pathetically weak, small and helpless child that should have never been born." Yang went over and grabbed a pair of scissors from a worktable and then proceeded to cut the remaining fabrics from Ruby, leaving her completely naked.

Yang tossed the clothes in a pile in a corner, then picked Ruby up, ignoring her pained gasps and crying, and carried her over to the wall. Manacles hung down from the ceiling and close to the floor, which Yang shackled Ruby up to so she hung from the ceiling, her feet barely scraping the floor. Ruby cried out in distress as her arms and legs were pulled slightly further than they were comfortable with, her chest protesting the stretch.

Ruby looked up through her pain and tears and saw her sister. Or rather, the monster that was in her sister's body. Those Grimm red eyes and the maniacal smile on her face that was more teeth than smile. The way her hands and feet devotedly worked to inflict pain in an almost rapturous manner. For the first time since the crystal incident, Ruby could see clearly.

This wasn't her sister.

It never was.

With that revelation came another. This wasn't her Beacon. This wasn't her team.

They looked like her team and sounded like them, but they were all monsters wearing their bodies. Their actions and movements were all those of predators more dangerous than the Grimm. Not her teammates. Not her friends.

Everything had changed and Ruby had a sinking feeling that it wasn't just the crystal's fault. The whole world had gone to madness.

Smack! Ruby's face snapped to the side when Yang slapped her. Then she felt something rubbing against her nether regions, causing conflicting feelings of pain and growing pleasure. Ruby blinked through the tears and saw that Yang was rubbing the handle of a multi-strapped whip against her womanly lips.

"N-no… stop." Ruby pleaded weakly, trying to reach the monster that wore her sister's skin's heart.

Yang indeed did stop, but grinned up at Ruby. "Oh don't worry, I'm not going to pop your little rose," she sneered, butchering the affectionate name Ruby's mother would say to her. She then caressed the straps across her nipples and Ruby had to bite down a groan at that motion. "I'll leave that for one of the others to do later, unless Weiss has already done so." Ruby's eyes widened in horror at those words, but then shut as she screamed in pain when Yang brought the whip to bear on her pale skin, leaving red streaks where the straps hit across her midriff.

"Just some reassurance, none of us will permanently damage you, well, physically anyway. There will be scars however, both mental and bodily. You may have trouble walking again… It's going to be fun breaking you." She brought the whip down again.

And again. And again. The whip came down continuously interspaced with the occasional punch or kick. Then the whip again. Both her front and her back were unspared from the whips menstruations.

Each action was punctuated with a cry of pain from the girl with red highlights that hung from the ceiling. Each blow was made by a monster wearing her half-sister's skin. All rational thought left the girl in chains as she was whipped, beaten, and insulted with impunity. All concept of time disappeared except for the brief moment in-between lesser constant pain, and the sudden instant pain.

But worst part was, for Ruby Rose, it was only the beginning of the hell that she'd unwillingly entered.

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Well, what did you think? As previously said, this is only the beginning of hell for Ruby, we still have to end Yang's fun and get through Blake and Weiss' turns, plus the open session. Ouch... Keep the pain rolling!
Sometimes I wonder if I'm secretly a sadist... 0_0

And on that note, I have to apologize... I don't think I need to say what for.

Anyway, kiddos to those that caught the various references.

I debated for a moment whether or not if Ruby called Goodwitch she would pick up from the other world, but decided against it. Cell reception isn't that strong.

On a literary note, it's hard for a writer to keep track of everything they write, so if you see some inconsistencies and/or spelling/grammar errors, please point it out to me.

Okay that's enough. Don't forget to R.R.F.F.

More to come! (Probably within a few days)

-OrangeGalen