Been a while, huh? Sorry about that. I kinda fell off Chainsaw Man. I'm writing this now as a way to relax since the word count isn't that high per chapter.
Just as a heads up, while this chapter came out as soon as I finished it, future chapters will be posted a week early on P a treon. Free readers can get it a week after it's posted there.
By the way, I created a discord server to discuss my various RWBY fics. Check it out if you're interested: discord . gg /azheudXk8b - make sure to remove the spaces.
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Kobeni was being hunted.
The young woman panted and heaved as she forced herself to run, pushing past her exhaustion and the desire to just collapse and cry in a heap. She had to keep running. If she stopped, she'd get caught, and then she'd be punished.
A lyrical giggle echoed from behind her and Kobeni choked back a sob. It was all a game to her...her master. She wanted so badly to call her by her name, to deny her the ownership she claimed, but what little resistance she'd had before was already beaten out of her. Not literally, but close enough.
Kobeni rounded the corner of another cargo container and pressed herself against the wall. She hated this. It was bad enough that she was forced to wear a collar, which was still pressed tightly around her neck, but she was forced to be Neo's toy every time she got bored; which was often. Barely a couple of nights went by before Neo decided the two of them needed to play a game.
She still remembered the first time she was taken. She'd naively hoped that just maybe Ne- her new Neo would be kinder than the last ones. No such luck. The first thing she saw after being dragged inside was the pink-haired woman pointing at the corner where a dog bed was already set up. She realized then that this wasn't just some spur-of-the-moment grab. Neo had planned this, either for her or someone else. She looked the type to want to collar someone.
The first night was spent crying herself to sleep. Not that her new owner cared, of course. Neo just hummed and prepared herself a five star meal that she refused to share. All Kobeni got was a dog bowl full of leftovers. She hated herself for thinking it at the time, but she considered herself lucky that she was given actual food rather than being forced to eat dog kibble.
Her memories were interrupted by a shot zipping just inches to the right of her head. Kobeni shrieked and ran, the giggling of Neo even closer than before. This was one of her favorite games. Hide-and-seek, or at least her version of it. She'd drop Kobeni off to some abandoned area and hunt her down. If she got caught - and she always did - she'd get...punished.
Kobeni shuddered and ignored the rising sense of dread she felt as the clicking of heels drew closer. No matter where she ran or hid, Neo would always find her.
"Hehehe..."
Kobeni turned and screamed at the sight of the smaller woman looking up at her with a manic grin. She couldn't even move before a blade was suddenly pressed up against her neck, the tip just centimeters above the leather collar.
Kobeni lost, and now she had to be punished.
"P-Please, not again..." Kobeni begged softly even though she knew it was pointless. Neo would never be deterred.
She didn't even have to tug her along. Neo just tilted her head to the side and crooked a finger, silently beckoning her to follow. Kobeni bit her lip and her fists shook. She could run. It would've been futile, but at least she could say she tried.
Instead, she bowed her head and meekly followed. So far Neo hadn't hurt her the same way the last three did, but that was only because she obeyed. If she ever tried to resist, she would make sure she hurt.
The apartment she'd lived in for the past couple of weeks was far more comfy than the last place, but that wasn't saying much considering all she had was her corner. Neo pointed at the spot in front of the couch and Kobeni took her place. The pink and brown haired woman hummed and opened the freezer. Kobeni gulped and forced herself to just stand there while Neo prepared her punishment.
Minutes passed in torturous silence before the smaller woman sat in front of her. In her hands was a bowl of multi-flavored ice cream topped with chocolate syrup, sprinkles, and a juicy cherry. It was one of the best-looking ice cream bowls Kobeni had ever seen in her life.
Neo smirked and took a big spoonful for herself. Kobeni was forced to just stand there and watch as Neo slowly emptied the bowl full of ice cream. She drooled at the sight of the ice cream and sniffled as the shorter woman smirked and licked the spoon.
This was her punishment whenever she lost. It wasn't always ice cream. Sometimes Neo would watch her favorite show or read a comic book while all Kobeni could do was watch. She didn't beat her like Cinder used to. No, she just loved to torment her with all the things she couldn't have. In some ways, it was worse than how the last three tormented her.
It reminded her of her parents.
Neo slowly finished off the bowl and then handed it to her. Kobeni looked sadly at the empty bowl and then placed it in the sink. Her duties, if she wanted to call it that, were to keep the place clean and basically act as the maid. Whenever Neo left, she'd chain her to the corner, gag her mouth, and tie her hands and legs to ensure she wouldn't try to escape.
Kobeni let out a shaky breath and turned around to see Neo standing right behind her. She wasn't even surprised anymore, "We're going out later," her scroll said.
"Wh-Where are we going?" Kobeni asked back nervously.
":)"
She didn't like the sound of that, but she also knew she didn't have a choice.
Hours passed and Kobeni only got more and more nervous. Neo seemed excited, which didn't spell good things for her. She was right in the middle of praying that it wouldn't be so horrible when the door opened, "Neo, come on. It's time." An orange-haired man in a bowler hat and white coat stepped inside like he owned the place. She'd only seen him a couple of times before. Apart from a comment about 'her new pet', he pretty much ignored her existence.
Neo crooked her finger again and nudged her head to the door, "W-Wait, you want me to come with you?"
"Oh no, absolutely not! We're going on a heist, not a walk in the park. Go take your dog out for air on your own time." Kobeni shrunk back and her coyote ears wilted at the dehumanizing way he talked about her. Tukson told her before that a lot of people looked down on the Faunus, which was what she was in this world. She still had no idea what caused her to change or even what brought her here.
Neo pouted and tapped something on her scroll that Kobeni couldn't see. The orange-haired man groaned and brought a hand down across his face.
"Alright, fine, but you'll be the one watching her."
Neo silently cheered and suddenly grabbed her by the collar. Her pull was painful and Kobeni yelped in both shock and pain as she was dragged out of the apartment without any warning. What was happening, she wondered. She knew better than to ask - Neo wouldn't answer her - and with every step the dread she felt only got worse. There was no way this was gonna be anything good.
It wasn't.
She ended up being dragged into a museum heist. She wanted to say that it was at least exciting since she'd watched heist movies a lot with her siblings when she was a kid, but it was anything but. There was a lot of screaming and shooting and then the alarm hit and suddenly all hell broke loose. All Kobeni could do was keep her head down and scream as bullets whizzed overhead and the museum guards screamed.
Kobeni looked up once it was quiet and bit back a scream of her own. At least a few of the guards were dead judging by the bleeding wounds and bent necks. Neo and her friend weren't like the gentlemen thieves she grew up watching. No, they were just as brutal as Cinder and her two minions. This world - Remnant - was cruel and life was cheap, almost as much as it was back home.
Neo hopped through the scattered bodies without a care and picked up one of the paintings. Without any warning, she pushed it into Kobeni's arms and raised her scroll, "Drop it and I'll kill you ;)." Kobeni shuddered. She didn't know if the multicolored woman was joking or not and she didn't want to test her. She kept a tight grip on the painting and continued to do so even as Neo piled more and more art onto her arms.
Minutes passed before she heard noises from outside, "Shit, looks like they got the Huntsmen out there," the orange-haired man groaned, "I told you we should've done this quiet."
Neo rolled her eyes and made a gesture that Kobeni didn't understand. She turned to Kobeni and raised her scroll, "Go out back, we'll distract them. Make sure to take those straight back home."
"B-But-"
"You know what happens if I get mad..."
That shut up any complaints she had. Kobeni nodded and went out the back way, paintings precariously balanced in her arms. She hated this. Why did she have to be taken to this world!? She was finally happy! Her parents thought she was dead and she was finally free! Now she was trapped in another world and the only person who was ever nice to her here was dead because of a couple of psychotic teenagers!
She made it to the alley and tripped over the dead(?) body of another security guard. The paintings flew out of her hands and she fell on her hands and knees. Kobeni groaned weakly and looked up to see all the paintings splattered with mud on the ground. Her heart leaped up to her throat and she bit back a cry. The paintings were ruined, which was obvious even with just one look, which meant...
She felt the press of a cold knife at the back of her neck, "W-Wait, I-" A kick to the small of her back sent her crashing face-first onto the dirt. Kobeni groaned weakly and looked up to see Neo staring down at her with an expression of disappointment. It was more terrifying than if she was actually angry. She'd never seen her look anything but carefree in all the time she'd been under her care.
Neo crouched down in front of her and held up her scroll, "Now why did you have to mess up? Now I have to punish you even harder :/"
"I...I didn't mean to-"
"No excuses. Trust me, this is gonna hurt me a lot more than it'll hurt you." She paused then laughed, "Actually, that's a lie. This is going to hurt you. A lot. Don't worry, I'll make sure you survive. Might just be missing a few pieces :3"
The understanding set in then and there. Neo knew she would fail - wanted her to - and it was all so she could torment her even more. Something inside her cracked at the realization that she'd be punished for something that wasn't her fault. And for what? Because of a sadistic ice cream gremlin that thought tormenting her was fun? She didn't do anything to deserve this!
Kobeni scrambled to the dead body and took out the revolver in its cooling hands, "Stay back!" she shouted and pointed the pistol right at Neo. The shorter woman raised a brow and looked distinctly unimpressed. She'd seen what Neo could do. A gun was about as effective as trying to take down a devil with her bare hands. All it would do was give her even more of an excuse to torment her.
She couldn't take it anymore. The past month had been complete and utter hell. First, she had to bury her friend and then she'd been enslaved twice by people who seemed to make it their mission in life to make sure she suffered.
There was only one way to escape from this...
Kobeni turned the gun on herself and pressed it under her chin. Just one pull and it would all be over. Neo raised a brow curiously as if silently daring her to go through with it. Kobeni shut her eyes tight and pulled the trigger.
She expected oblivion. While devils and the existence of hell were a fact of life, heaven was something no one had ever proven. Someone told her once that maybe they all ended up in hell when they died no matter what they did. The thought of it always terrified her and she'd always preferred the idea that maybe there was just...nothing waiting for them on the other side. Just peaceful oblivion.
That wasn't what she got. She heard the shot, felt it ringing in her ears, but she was still there. Kobeni forced her eyes open and watched, utterly gobsmacked, as the bullet zipped all over the alley walls, somehow missing her head completely. Ignoring physics and logic altogether, it ricocheted multiple times between the grounds and brick walls...
...before zipping straight to Neo's face and shooting through her left eye.
A heavy silence settled over the pair. Kobeni looked on in shock while Neo stood frozen, her remaining eye wide in disbelief. The bullet had destroyed her left eye and came out through the back of her head, punching through her Aura like it wasn't even there. The gaping wound bled profusely and Neo could only look back at Kobeni and parted her mouth in a silent scream before she fell to the ground on her face, blood pooling from her head.
"Wh-What...?" Kobeni's hands trembled and she slowly walked towards the prone body. Was she...dead? She knelt down and reached a hand out nervously. She could check her pulse, but-
The back door crashed open and the orange-haired man stepped outside, "Took care of the Huntsmen, Neo. We have to-"
He stopped and for the second time in minutes, Kobeni could only share a silent look. She knew how it looked. She still had the gun in her hands and Neo was dead(?) at her feet. The flamboyant man's shocked expression turned to anger and he raised his cane, aiming it straight at her head.
Kobeni scrambled back and her free hand grabbed hold of something sharp. The knife at the end of Neo's parasol. She didn't have her devil anymore, but the will to survive - to not die - came raging back now that she truly had a chance to escape.
She pulled the knife out of the parasol and charged the orange-haired man. She ducked under the explosive shot at the end of his cane and stabbed him in the chest. His Aura blocked the first couple of hits, but the third went through. She stabbed the knife deep into his gut and, before he could do anything else, she pulled out the the blade and slashed his throat. Blood splattered across both their faces and she twisted the blade before leading it embedded at the side of his neck.
Kobeni kicked him to the ground...then she puked, "Oh God..." She wiped away the vomit and cried, the stench of blood invading her nostrils.
She had to get away from here. Looking down at the orange-haired man's twitching body, she grit her teeth and rummaged through his pockets. The wallet she pulled out was bloody but filled with more than enough lien to let her get a ship out of here. She'd leave this place and never look back. Tukson talked about a place called Mistral. Apparently, the Faunus were treated badly in the big city, but it had a lot of places in the countryside where people could just disappear.
First, she had to make sure she wasn't arrested here, and then she'd find a ship to take her to Mistral. Everything would be alright then. She'd finally be free.
And then she got captured by the Branwens and met up with Denji again. Man, Kobeni's life sucks. Oh well, at least she'll get a happy ending...eventually. She's also killing the bad guys, so she's actually more of a hero than Denji.
The next chapter will be another one with Blake and Nayuta where the latter continues to establish her place as Blake's owner. On the bright side, Nayuta may solve the issue of Faunus racism because she wants Blake's attention all to herself and not the case of equality. Success?
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Question:
1. Do you guys want Pochita involved? I'm thinking of a chapter where he's given a body due to Ozpin's magic and what shenanigans can come from that. I'm sure Ruby and Weiss would absolutely adore the little guy. Yang and Blake are terrified.
2. Do you guys still want a Velvet date chapter? Winter's already the winner, but some people before showed interest in a proper Denji and Bunny date anyway since she's so normal and not crazy like Ruby and Winter are.
