Flames of Betrayal (RWBY X Villain Male Reader) *REDUX*

Act 1: The Art of the Bull

"You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself."

- Galileo Galilei

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Y/N Belladonna had been in the prison for several weeks, still grappling with the potential of his newfound powers and the chaos that came with them. He hadn't been returned to the cell during his stay in the experimental wing of Gehenna. He was chained up in the lab room he had been experimented on, forced to stay hung and locked into looking at the machine that had tortured him.

Much like his first encounter with Padraig went, he had been forced to allow Padraig to inject him with different dust crystals. Ice, gravity, wind, water, plant, earth, and psionic among many different variations of each element. With each injection, he was submitted to excruciating pain and anguish from the methods they were conducted in. Sometimes it was injections, other times he had been forced to eat them raw. And at the end he was met with the same fate he had become frequently familiar with.

Death.

Over and over again, he died repeatedly and was brought back by Padraig in lightning speed. If anything that was the worst part for him, dying an excruciating death just to be brought back in that same mental state, but in perfect bodily condition. Often times, he found that his body would continue giving him phantom pains all over his body and his veins. And yet every single time Padraig would almost be fatherly in his approach to taking care of him. All things considered, Y/N was fed incredible food, hydrated, allowed to go to the bathroom, and even given some forms of entertainment at times through comics and books. Padraig would attempt to discuss about his life, family, and interests, but Y/N had retreated to being deathly silent in everything.

Yet out of everything he had been through, two things stuck out to him and there was a reason he hadn't lumped either of them in with the other types of crystals he had been forced to consume.

Fire and electricity dust.

By far, the two elements that Y/N reacted to the most was fire and electricity. Though he had a dominant element in fire, he reacted to electricity favorably. The other elements seemingly rejected him, causing more violent deaths than the two elements he favored. However, there was one aspect of the experiments that stuck out to him the most. That was the introduction of Grimm remnants. It was another thing to see Padraig bring in live Grimm just to cut skin off and have Y/N devour it with dust. It was almost otherworldly and the deaths were some the least offensive to Y/N when they happened. It was almost like his body responded favorably to the raw and destructive forces of nature that were fire, electricity, and Grimm essence. All factors that Padraig hadn't neglected to mention in the time they spent together.

Yet for now, Y/N remained silent and did what he was told. He was in eternal hell, but he needed to study and learn the patterns of Padraig to truly find a way to escape from where he was at now. Little did he know, that was going to be later rather than sooner.

With that thought, the door clicked open as Padraig walked in with a gleeful expression on his face, hurrying over to where he was hung up by chains with a joyous expression.

"Alright my dear boy, I've finally pressured the higher ups to give us a little bit of leeway." Padraig said as he began to unlock the chains holding up Y/N. The jingled as he dropped to the ground in mental exhaustion, barely catching his breath as Padraig helped him up. "You're going to be returned to your original cell with everyone still there. I know it's been a while, but the pompous flesh bags in Atlas decided they wanted results. It seems they are satiated with fire, electricity, and Grimm essence as our three methods of evolution. For now, you've been given a break. Take time to recuperate and I'll come up with a different method to make things a little less strenuous on the both of us. I do have other patients I need to focus on after all!"