Enter the Goliath
Ozpin sipped his coffee as he watched the potential students file into the auditorium. He couldn't help but wonder how they would take what he was about to reveal to them, then shook his head. They weren't going to take it well. None of them.
Next to him miss Goodwitch was trying to pretend she wasn't glowering at her newest colleague and that she was instead watching over the students.
"Since when do you drink coffee," she hissed at him without seeming to move her mouth. And likely without anyone else hearing.
Ozpin lifted the mug to hide his answer. "Since I need it to stay awake. I'm hoping to get some sleep again before the end of the month."
"Tell me you aren't serious."
"Do you think I left that project to you alone?"
That was enough to silence Glyndas protests. Just as the last applicants filed in and the doors closed behind them. It was time for his speech.
Ozpin take another drink from his mug, drawing a frown from miss Goodwitch who must have realised that by this point he had drunk more coffee than the mug could possibly contain.
"Applicants," Ozpin began, "I must confess that while I had a speech prepared for today I must now give a different one. Due to events entirely out of my control." Miss Goodwitch snorted. "Recently someone has appeared with a certain claim on my position here at Beacon. Fortunately she has agreed to work with me as co-headmistress. Naturally this has come with certain conditions. Before I cover these allow me to introduce the newest member of our faculty." He took a deep drink from his mug. "Salem. Queen of the Grimm."
[]
Jaune stood amid the silence that followed Ozpins announcement. There was no way this could be happening. Wait- what if this was a practical joke Ozpin was playing on him for trying to get in with forged transcripts? Maybe the others were a mix of actors and frauds like him?
He saw a woman with skin that seemed pale even beyond white, with glowing red eyes and visible veins across her face and gulped. This wasn't a practical joke was it? How had things gone so wrong?
He wasn't alone in his thoughts judging by the reactions of the black haired girl wearing a bow in her hair and the red haired girl, whose reactions were among the most extreme.
A question ran through his head; how did the queen of the Grimm have a claim on the position of head of Beacon? Could he use that for blackmail in case his fraudulent transcripts were ever found out?
[]
Salem smiled as she looked over the shocked faces of Beacons applicants. This was indeed looking like a far better revenge upon Oz than any she had previously considered. And to think, the means was lying in some legal technicalities that they had both overlooked.
She was still his wife.
Granted, he had died many times since then, but the actual line was "until death do we part" and they hadn't parted quite that much, had they? And for all of his careful work to set up his inheritance of his own position, that worked for her as well.
Admittedly the details had taken some time and effort to work out, but considering that Tyrian was the one to realise the potential that was hardly surprising. But then, what in life was not worth all the more from the challenge?
"Good evening. My presence will change certain things around Beacon, but don't worry. I don't have any plans to go around stealing peoples souls or locking them in basements," Oz shifted almost nervously next to her, "it will be more along the lines of certain applicants I've had added to the list. You'll get to see them tomorrow, at initiation." Salems smile widened as she caught the glance Glynda gave Oz, clearly questioning what students she had added to Beacon, and what role they would play in her plans.
It amused her, the way they would be spending so much time wondering what her plans were, when they boiled down to destroying faith in Oz, ruining all he worked towards, through her mere presence.
"My role at Beacon will keep me mostly out of the way of you students," she lied without any concern, "just like the headmaster."
Oz looked at her, taking a drink from his mug. Her eyes narrowed at the memories that mug brought back. He turned back to the crowd, clearly deciding that calling her out on her lies would only lead to more problems as she revealed his own. If only she had realised what joy she could get from subtle attacks upon Oz while able to see his response.
"Indeed, the plan is for my..." he paused for a drink, clearly using it to consider his words. "My colleague to be much more involved in an administrative role rather than a teaching one. For now, we shall leave you to get some sleep and prepare for initiation, with a final piece of advice." He took another drink, confirming Salems suspicions about the mug. "All of you have the potential required to study here, the energy to train and improve yourselves. This as how it should be. Do not squander your energy in other pursuits, squander your potential through impatience. No matter what goals you have in life, now is not the time to fulfil them. Now is the time to prepare yourselves to meet them."
He nodded to the collected teenagers, and walked away from the stage, leaving the auditorium while they remained in a state of stunned silence.
Salem brought her hands together in a slow, deliberate manner. "What an intriguing amount of nothing," she commented, quietly enough that her clapping would cover it for the students but loud enough for the staff to hear. The glares she received only made her smile.
Perhaps she should have tried Tyrians plans more often.
[]
Pyrrha was certain she wasn't alone in wondering just what was going on, even if she started working through the problem logically.
If this Salem was the source of the Grimm, as her title almost suggested, that brought up a worrying question of how exactly the headmaster knew her, how she had a claim on his position. But it was also an opportunity. Her semblance was all but useless against Grimm, but if there was a more normal person responsible for their existence, maybe it could prove more valuable to Remnant than she had believed. The existence of Salem could allow her to be proud of her semblance for the first time in her life.
On the other hand, could this Salem have become queen of the Grimm? If she knew the headmaster from before it could explain everything. Perhaps she only became queen recently, and wasn't responsible for all the harm they had done to the kingdoms.
It was too soon for her to decide on a course of action. She needed to know more about what was going on.
"Are you even listening to me?"
Pyrrha started, realising someone had been trying to speak with her. "I'm sorry, I was caught up thinking about..." she trailed off, uncertain how to phrase it.
The other girl raised an eyebrow. "You think any of that was real? What series of events would bring a so-called 'queen of the Grimm' to a huntsman academy, other than at the head of an army of Grimm aiming to destroy it? Clearly it's some kind of test, maybe to scare off unsuitable applicants."
"I-I suppose you're right. Ah, miss Schnee wasn't it?"
She winced slightly, such that Pyrrha only noticed thanks to her training. "Weiss, please. Miss Schnee sounds too much like my sister. It's not that I don't respect her. It's just..."
"I understand completely. I respect my family, but don't want to be them. It feels too close to being judged based entirely as my strength rather than as my own person."
Weiss winced slightly, hiding the reaction as best she could once again. "I see. I hadn't expected to meet anyone in such a... similar situation to my own. At initiation, when... actually no," she shook her head. "That wouldn't be fair. I apologise for wasting your time."
[]
Weiss drifted away from Pyrrha, questioning her motivations in seeking a partner. She had always hated being judged based on her family, what she was rather than who. Pyrrha had brought it up by accident, but Weiss could now see she had been doing the same.
It would be best to wait until teams were formed in initiation, let it happen more naturally.
Naturally she would refuse to accept an unsuitable partner, they would only cause problems for the rest of her time at Beacon, but she couldn't let their previous achievements dictate their worth to her. In that way she would become just like her father. Truly, a fate worse than death.
At least her words seemed to have calmed down the championship fighter.
If only she could feel as reassured...
[]
Cardin Winchester wasn't the sort to let anyone shake his confidence. Maybe this Salem was the queen of the Grimm, but that just meant he would have a quick and easy shortcut to being the hero he knew he was going to be. And if she wasn't, well, unmasking an impostor would be a good start.
He grabbed the arm of one of the other students he had spotted as they walked past. "Your weapon looks old."
The blonde boy responded nervously. "Uh, yeah, it's something of a family heirloom."
"Thought so. Old family, right? There are a few of us here. We're planning to try and make a team, show that we don't need fancy mechashift weapons to be Huntsmen. We already have a teams worth, but there's no reason we can't help other scions. Just so long as you don't drag our reputation down."
[]
Blake sat against the wall, drawing out the top entry of her book bag. It was one she'd read before, and quite recently too, but people tended not to approach others who were reading, and it would give her a chance to think through what had been revealed.
If this Salem was for real, maybe she had something to do with Adam changing. And if so, there was a chance she could get him, the real him, back.
"Um, hi."
Blake glared over the top of her book. Why couldn't some people take a hint? If you sat out of the way in a room full of people and got out a book chances were that you didn't want to socialise. "What?"
"It's just, I noticed you react rather strongly when Salem was introduced," the blond (almost the opposite of Adams hair colour) boy said, scratching the back of his head.
Blakes eyes narrowed. What was up with this guy? His pose, too relaxed, almost innocent in a way that trained Huntsmen could never manage. A plant to keep an eye on her? No, too obvious, he even approached her and asked her outright about her reaction. A 'friend' for her to rely on? Maybe, but surely Ozpin would be able to get someone with training to look out for her. One of Salems students? She said they would meet them at initiation, but could they really trust a self-proclaimed queen of the Grimm? There were too many questions.
"How is a student at an academy that teaches them to kill Grimm supposed to react?"
"I have no idea, but nobody else seemed to react quite the same. It almost seemed you thought... ah, never mind."
"Never mind what?"
A small girl wearing a red cape had appeared next to them, and Blake stifled a groan. What had she done to deserve this? She had left the terrorist organisation for crying out loud!
"What sort of book is that anyway?"
Damn it, now the girl was talking to her. And she was inquisitive. That could only spell trouble.
"Not one you'd be interested in."
"If you say that's because it doesn't have pictures..."
"It does actually, of the nightmarish creatures within." Wait, no that was her other book. Well, at least it should scare off the child.
"Like Grimm? Can I see?"
Damnit.
It was almost a relief the teachers calling lights out. Sure she couldn't use her book to help her think, but at least it should get her some peace.
[]
Yang watched Ruby as she interacted with new people. Yes, her plan worked. Well, sort of. She was claiming it had been her plan all along, and it had worked, so...
Plus the introduction of this 'Salem' seemed to distract Ruby from the incident earlier, with the Dust.
And the 'queen of the Grimm' thing was surely a nickname of some sort, as befitted a Huntress who could fight even giant Grimm in a fair fight. Of course if it wasn't, and Salem tried anything with Ruby, she wouldn't last long at Beacon.
Yang grinned, even as her eyes flashed red. Yes, things were working out.
[]
The applicants always had certain questions going through their heads come initiation, Ozpin mused as he took another drink from his mug, but this current batch clearly had more questions than most.
"You do realise that this is rather different from what I expected," he commented to Salem, who seemed amused by something. It wasn't hard to guess what.
"I told you I would be bringing some extra applicants."
"Indeed, and the extra relics," she reacted to the word before realising what he meant, "caused problems with my original plan. But I guess pairing up teams based on matching items rather than working together wasn't the best idea I ever had. But I had expected rather different applicants."
He swept his gaze over the Hunters to be, nervous looking humans and Faunus and their fellow applicants.
A bunch of Grimm.
It looked to Ozpin as though miss Goodwitch had gone into a state of catatonic shock, brain desperately trying to parse the concept of Grimm training as Hunters.
"The badges, I guess I should call them, are a part of them I presume? A method to distinguish them from other Grimm."
"A way to grant them souls, of a sort. They will have greater intelligence than other Grimm, as well as the protection of... of aura."
"A protection equivalent to aura then. At least they should be easy to tell from the inhabitants of the forest."
Ozpin took a long drink from his mug. It was a good thing he had spent the last night planning contingencies rather than trying to sleep as Glynda had suggested. It was true what they said, with enough coffee you didn't need sleep. And while he might not have appreciated the taste at first, it was starting to grow on him.
He tapped his cane, drawing the attention of all the applicants. "Initiation is simple. A number of relics are hidden in the ruins within the woods. To pass you need to collect a relic. On the way to the ruins you will form a pair. The pair only needs one relic." He paused. "I shouldn't have kept my notes on the desktop. Anyway, your partner is the first applicant you lock eyes with who doesn't already have a partner. The only exception to this rule is that Grimm cannot partner with Grimm."
"Why not?"
"Because the Grimm present here lack one important thing." He took another drink. "Opposable thumbs. A Grimm pair would be unable to collect a relic. Within the forest there are natural Grimm that will serve as obstacles. It is up to you to evade or eliminate them. However, deliberately attacking a fellow applicant, even one of the Grimm, will be frowned upon. I do not usually feel it necessary to mention, but initiation is watched by camera and recorded. If you do attack a fellow applicant we will know. Any questions?"
There were a number of raised hands. "Why do you keep saying applicants?"
"Because there aren't enough relics for everyone. There are more than previously planned due to the recent applicants."
"How do we get into the forest?"
"Like so," he nodded to Salem, who pressed the launch button on her scroll. It was a good thing he had a contingency for miss Goodwitch being indisposed.
One by one the applicants were launched into the air in the direction of the forest.
Good. That time one was launched in the wrong direction was something he didn't want to repeat.
"Grimm students!"
Ozpin recognised the emotions in his deputies voice. They practically matched his own. "Yes. I discovered that we have no rules against it." Normally he would have added that they would soon, but given that Salem had equal say on matters of policy? That wouldn't fly. Unlike some of his potential students. He took a long drink from his mug and pulled out his scroll. "They just need to pass initiation, but there's no guarantee about it."
Salem laughed. It wasn't a familiar laugh, not the one he remembered almost fondly, but a darker laugh. "Isn't there Oz? Do you doubt me that much?"
"Given that you have infinite reserves and still haven't destroyed the kingdoms? Yes."
He was truly glad that a subcontractor had messed up and placed a camera facing the launch pads. Otherwise he would have missed the expression on Salems face.
AN: And so the change from canon is revealed: Tyrian heard about Salems history with Oz and made a suggestion she listened to. Any guesses as to what these Grimm mean for the teams?
Side note: It doesn't seem fair not to mention, but I have played the Rwby tabletop rpg a couple of times and am making references to those games. The cat Ozpin accepted into Beacon? That started as a joke in character creation, but ended up as a character playing a joke on Ozpin.
