NT veRse - Bad End Academia 15 - His Shadow

“Can you believe this?” Dane mused. His fingers wove into Maria's and Eriel's hair. He clasped their strands and manipulated them easily within his grasp as they just dreamily let him. The two girls were nude on their knees on either side of him. He had gained the confidence to take them along and include them in his operation. They were too far gone, too drugged and too addicted to so many different things that he had for them to try anything.

“Nah...” Renard stated, watching the girls each stare up at Dane with a loving expression.

“Mages, bane of the city, are about as susceptible as anyone else to what WE have. All we ever needed was an in.” Dane laughed, pushing the girls into a prostrated position on the ground. The Elf and Human rested obediently at his side like a pair of trained hounds. Renard was aware that they had already acted in some capacity as enforcers against other people within the city. He could tell Dane was wondering which one of them he should fuck, since they both had their asses raised and were wagging their rears pleadingly as Dane's hand released their hair and ran up their backs to roll around their asses.

“Could you put down a towel or something...” Renard asked, eyeing the dripping down their thighs. They did not care about his presence at all, nor about the tiny apartment in Little Demonkine that gave away their status as Dregs.

“Why do you care? We're gonna be moving up from this place, soon.”

“I don't... Need a reason to wanna keep things nice.” The Wolf argued.
“I just like it that way.”

“Right.” Dane rolled his eyes.
“Anyway, I got these two and you got the Cat you were chasing. Have you started on her already? Let me know if you need any supply.”

“No.”

“Good. You have everything you need already.” Dane smiled.

“No, I'm not gonna 'work on' her. I'm just... I'm just gonna date her. She's sweet and cute.” He thought for a moment.
“To people she likes.”

Dane stared him down. “Bro... She doesn't like 'you.' You're not the person you're presenting yourself to her as. The moment she finds out it's game over. She's a HUGE loose end. I'm gonna need you to get her under control.”

Renard avoided Dane's gaze. He raised his hands apologetically. “I- I feel like this is something that'll just happen naturally. She's taken a real shine to me. Like... a REAL shine. I don't wanna ruin her with drugs.” He stared down guiltily at the two girls after he said that. Dane did not look convinced so he added timidly.
“I love her, Bro...”

Dane softened, in appearance at least. “I understand completely.”

“You do? So it's fine? I'll be careful, I promise.”

“Yeah, I know you'll be careful. We're fine.” Renard rushed forward and gave Dane a big, tight hug. It was moments like those that Dane remembered that Renard was basically a monster. An actual one. No magic or anything needed. It was only the talent of one of the School's top combat mages that brought him down so easily.
“C-cut that shit out!” He wheezed.

“Sorry!” Dane stepped back.
“Uhm... Fuck 'em wherever you want. I'll just clean up after.” He offered.

“You want a go? There's two.”

Renard thought about it. They were too pretty girls, but he declined. “I wanna save it for Nat.”

“All good...” Dane exhaled subtly and ended up just picking his favorite, Maria. He began fucking her with her ass up and her cheek to the ground. She began moaning the moment he entered her.

“B-bro, I'm pretty sure that Dragonkin knows something is up.”

“Yeah, that's the idea.”

“Huh?”

Dane slid his hands down Maria's slender sides to her hips where he dug his fingers in and held her. “Plan is... We're gonna drop a hint. A party where Maria and her 'other man' are going to be partying on one of the nights when she makes herself unavailable. We'll say he can show up, but it would have to be in disguise. Some skimpy number, basically.” He chuckled, very proud of himself.
“I got a bunch of guys that'll fawn over the twink and and eventually... Well you know how we work.”

“Drugs?” Renard commented.

“Of course. Introduce Roy after that to his girls new Boyfriend. Really hit him with it hard. Shock him. He'll be too addled to do anything. It's at that point I'll have her put her moves on him personally. She'll say some weird shit to convince his gullible ass that they can still be together... So long as he's with me as well.”

“You think he'll listen?”

“He'll have to. As painful as it'll be, and I know it will be-” Dane grinned and exhaled deeply.
“Fuck... She's still so tight.” He continued.
“As painful as it'll be, what choice does he have? He either leaves the girl he loves or stays with her under a new catch. Then I have the Red Queen's kid as my bitch. Her sister's already all over my dick... I can take this way higher than the school.”

“That's devious.” Renard complimented with a chuckle. He furrowed his furry brow and looked down.
“Hey.. You know that feeling in your gut that you get when you do this stuff to people? How do you get over that?”

“What feeling?” Dane panted.
“I don't feel anything like that. I just enjoy it.”

“Eh?” Renard was a bit surprised.
“Never? M-maybe you've just never done anything you'd feel sick about.”

Dane shrugged. “I guess. Why?”

As they spoke, Eriel crawled over to Renard. The beautiful blonde Elf made motions like she wanted to suck him off. As tempting as it was, he shooed her.
“No no. Not me.” Renard whispered. The girl pouted and slid back to Dane obediently. He turned his back to Dane, intent on answering the question. However, when he noticed his brother was no longer even paying attention he left the topic and just sat back.

-

“You gotta stay away from Dane, alright?” Renard asked seriously. Nat was sitting with her legs slung over his lap. She traced designs idly in his chest fur as she leaned against him.

“Why?” It was not a defiant question but a curious one.

“Just do it, okay?” He ordered.

“I mean, if this is the first place you put your foot down, yeah of course I'll stay away. Still, it's weird. Aren't you both friends? Also, Eriel and him are super close and he's friends with Roy and Maria. It'd be weird for me to avoid him. What do I say?”

“You say that you're MINE.” Renard offered firmly. A small halo of red formed around his already vibrant blue pupils. Nat stared up with wide eyes, the fur on her ears and tail stood up as a wave of goosebumps washed over her.

“Say no more.” The girl giggled.
“Still... Wonder what's going on over there.”

“Don't look over there.” He sighed.

Off at another table, after Maria got up, Eriel and Dane began speaking to Roy. Renard could guess what they were talking about. As Renard looked over, breaking his own rule, he saw Roy staring down sadly, with a knowing look. He was not stupid and the conversation they had which Dane was not privy to was enough to tune him into the duplicitous nature of the plan. The Dragonkin clenched his fist below the table and gritted his teeth. As Maria was getting back and the others piped down and pretended to be conspiring without her, Roy got up abruptly and moved across the isle, much to Renard's surprise.

Unlike before, Nat did not his at him as he stood beside the Wolf and said. “I-I wanna make it official.” He added in a whisper.
“Or at least try to... I'm so, so confused right now. I don't know what's happening but everyone's trying to get in my head and you're the only one that talked straight to me.” The Dragonkin whined.

Renard looked from the shaking Roy up to Dane and the two girls. They were staring at him expectantly, especially Dane. He made a rolling motion with his hand, implying that he should quickly reinforce the plan that was explained back at the apartment. Renard felt the pit in his stomach again and swallowed hard.
“W-what? What do you mean?” He stalled to try and think.

“I mean, Ruby obviously likes you. Right?” Nat asked.

“Y-yeah. I don't really know how this is gonna work. I don't even fully know if I wanna be Ruby or Me or if they're the same person. I just know that I wanna try being with you, Ren.”

“Dammit, fine...” Renard relented.

Roy nervously slid onto the bench beside Renard, enduring the stares from around the room. Dane smiled and shook his head lightly to mask the fact that he was seething. Maria dropped pretenses and comforted him openly, as did Eriel. Roy glanced over.
“So... The ruse is up. Maria and Dane... I'm not gonna be their toy to play around with.”

Renard closed his eyes and breathed. He could not disrespect that decision. Nat seemed to agree, since she knew and had avoided saying anything for Renard's sake. Once that cat was out of the bag she offered soothingly.
“It's fucked up. I'm real sorry, Roy. Or... Is it Ruby?”

“I- I- I dunno yet.”

“Give him space to think.” Renard uttered in exasperation. He rubbed his eyes. That answer seemed to endear the Dragonkin to him more, as Roy smiled weakly and leaned on him.

“Thanks Ren.”

-

“You are fucking with things you don't understand.” Dane warned.

“N-no you are!” Renard argued.
“You're playing kingpin around all these mages. Only thing you've got are your drugs. What happens if those wear off.”

The Human exhaled through his nose sharply. They're like animals. I trained them with the 'treats' and now their brains don't know what to do, with or without them. They're so hooked, who knows if they'll even live if they go cold. If they'll even have the will to start. I know what I'm doing, Renard. You? You have no fucking clue and that much is obvious.”

“What's obvious?”

“If either of us goes down, the other goes down. I don't like it that way, but that's how it is. That's what it became when you started going here.” He sighed deeply.
“You're playing with forces of nature here.”

“You aren't?”

“I am, but I know what I'm doing. You gotta take away their ability to understand, to fight, to think for themselves. You aren't doing ANY of the groundwork. Nat and Roy have so much backing them, there is so much at stake if either of them catches on or turns against us. I'm fine giving you yours, Bro, but you gotta break them.”

“They like me... They came to me on their own.”

“They came to you because you exist around me. I'm the reason you found Nat in her room and I'm the reason the twink is coming to you on the rebound.” Dane offered up a translucent baggy of product.
“Here. You know what to do.”

“I don't want that.”

“Don't act like you haven't had a hand in this stuff since we were kids. Who's kid are you?”

“Don't bring him into this...” Renard's large lupine head lowered dejectedly.

“Use the drugs.” Dane ordered.

“M-maybe you need the drugs because you think no one'll like you otherwise. Except m-” Renards face turned as Dane smacked his snout hard. Renard looked down in shock and felt it.
“We're not kids anymore. You can't push me around.” Renard claimed.

Dane tilted his head to one side and stuffed his hands in his pockets with the baggy. “Then hit me. Prove it.” He waited smugly. Renard hesitated.
“Truth is, you're just a fucking animal too, Renard. You can't hit me. I conditioned you while we were growing up to always live in my shadow. That's not even a bad thing. It's where you're comfortable. You know it, I know it, your family knows it. You can't hit me, you can't do anything without me for gods sake. I'm the BIG Bro, get it? Take the drugs and use them on those two so we can take over this school.” Dane waved the baggy in front of him playfully.

“No...”

“Do I gotta tell Dad how much of a bitch you're being right now?”

Renard roared, grabbed Dane and tossed him up into the bathroom mirror, shattering it and sending the human falling down onto the porcelain sink that also shattered. He laid breathlessly in the rubble staring up to see the Wolf's eyes were piercing him, a red halo surrounding the Iris.

“Th-the fuck?” Dane gasped for air.

“You go tell Dad! Go tell my Uncles, too! You belong with them, you're all perfect together!” Renard shouted anxiously. His hands were shaking. He had never been able to raise them to Dane after he lost initially, and lost his Father's respect.

Dane tried and failed to get up a few times. “You're not better than us...” He mumbled, still sucking air back into his lungs. He watched Renard turn around and leave the restroom.
“You hear me!?” Dane let out a hacking cough.

-

Roy looked down and cupped his tiny breast. “So... He's been feeding me hormones to turn me into a girl slowly?” He frowned and looked over his body. It had developed to at least the same build as Nat. The two stood together and looked quite similar.
“None of this is on me?”

“Nah.” Renard stated.

“Why didn't he just use his illusion magic to change me more drastically?”

Renard was not quite ready to let them in on that much info. He shrugged and told a half truth instead. “Dane... He likes messing with people. It would've been easy, but he'd rather take his time and mess with your head while he's at it.”

“I see...”

Nat chimed in jealously. “Must admit, it's kind of frustrating that you look this cute without even being done. Those tits'll probably get bigger. Hips too... World's unfair sometimes.” The Cat cupped her own bare breasts. The two were on the floor leaned over either side of Renard's lap. Their perky breasts rested there when they weren't being cupped.
“I guess you're gonna stop that now, so I got nothing to worry about.” She smirked triumphantly.

Roy blushed. “I dunno... Maybe I should finish it? I already feel so different. I like...” He stared up at Renard.
“Things I didn't think I would like and you said it yourself Nat, I do kinda look cute, right?”

“Yeah.” She relents.

“That kinda feels...” Roy smiled awkwardly.
“Kinda feels good.”

“Great.” She rolled her eyes.

“You aren't competing. Besides, you lead to this.” Renard stated.

“I know. I'm more fine with Roy or Ruby or whatever than I would be another girl. It's just annoying, is all. She's going to keep getting prettier and I'm going to keep looking like a tomboy.”

“I like the way you look!” Renard insisted. Nat's cheeks flushed. She glanced down and away.
“I mean it.” He looked to Roy.
“You too. Whatever you choose, I think.. I think I can make myself get over how you look. I took your 'virginity' after all.” He thought on that a bit after the encounter with Dane.
“I think that might've been what let me get out of his shadow.”

Roy shook his head. “At least some part of you did that. Not the gift. You don't become worthy because of it. In fact, if you weren't, you would've proven it there by submitting.” Roy smiled endearingly.
“Thanks so much for standing up for me, by the way. I can't believe you did all that just so that I would stop getting gaslit by them.”

“Yeah...” He still hadn't told them everything.