A thundering growl echoed from the darkness.

Grimm eyes stared out of the abyss at her, sizing up their new immortal chew toy.

Teeth flashed as jaws began to unfold and unhinge.

Something touched her leg.

Salem startled awake with a gasp, panting heavily. She ripped the covers off herself without thinking to find her legs were unblemished and whole. Phantom pains still lingered and Salem could almost trace the bite marks she thought she felt. With a shuddering breath, Salem drew her legs up and hugged them to her chest.

She tried to build up her usual mental defenses, but they fell apart like wet paper under the swirling, eroding forces of her irrational emotions. So she took in her surroundings in an attempt to distract herself.

She was not in her gloomy castle bedchambers like she half expected, but in the tiny guest room of Summer's home (which made Salem feel oddly relieved for a moment). The room was darkened, but the light of the moon illuminated one side of it through the window. Her eyes caught the sight of a nearby clock. It was just a few hours before dawn. It was quiet, save for the sound of her breathing and thudding heartbeat. But despite the peacefulness, there was something wrong about it.

Salem furrowed her brow. 'Wait, how did I get here? I don't recall going to bed.' She remembered dinner, the strained look on Taiyang's face, asserting her vegetable dominance over Yang, and then sitting on the couch to show she can stay up late as well. After that, nothing. 'Was I drugged? No, I helped prepare the food. On top of that, I don't think Summer would risk her own children like that. It was just an ordinary family meal that was very filling-'

Salem didn't facepalm, but she did bury her face into her legs and groan in embarrassment of herself. How could she have forgotten the times when her own children would stuff themselves at dinner and pass out not long afterwards. Summer probably carried her up the stairs on her shoulder like a babe and tucked her in as well.

Salem mentally cursed several ancient swears. 'How many more indignities must that woman put me through?' She only hoped Yang didn't see anything. Salem did not want to be ridiculed by a child.

What Salem did want right now was to sleep peacefully. It wasn't called beauty sleep for nothing. Not that Salem considered herself vain, but appearances were still important to keep up. She grabbed the covers and pulled them up, her body still curled into a ball.

Her eyes drifted close and her breathing slowed once more for slumber.

Crreeeaaaakk Pop

Salem's eyes snapped wide and her breath hitched. She scanned the room for any threat in the dark. The window was shut, the doors were closed, ah, except the closet door was still ajar. Ajar, and it had a thick arm creeping out from behind it.

Wait, it was just a sweater.

Salem snorted and pulled the sheets away from her face. "Jumping at shadows in the closet. What am I, a child?" Salem laid back down to sleep, this time with an eye on the closet door for any sudden movements.

After all, Boogie Monsters weren't real.

….

….

Grrroaaan

They weren't… right?

It was official. Salem hated this house and all the wood that made it. She missed her castle. Stone didn't creak and groan in the middle of the night. Whoever built this place needed to be put to the sword for such shoddy craftsmanship. How dare they keep her up all night. Such things wouldn't have happened back in her day.

Salem discovered she also hated the morning sun too. It was never this bright at her castle, nor did the sunlight seem to try to strike her eyes until she was awake. Why didn't the Brothers take out the sun while they were leaving?

Salem grumbled as she pulled the covers down tighter over her head to block out the light. She'd hardly gotten much sleep since she woke up, no matter how much she kept her eyes closed. What little rest she could get was fitful and laced with night terrors, and Salem just couldn't understand why.

'I've survived countless deaths and witnessed some of the greatest horrors Remnant has to offer. How can I be so disturbed by the thought of a Beowolf under my bed? Is this another side effect of the Silver Eyes? No, they destroy Grimm, not create them.' Salem yawned deeply. 'I just… want to… sleep.'

Salem felt her body slowly drift once more into slumber. Perhaps this time, without the distractions of the dark, she could rest.

Knock Knock "Breakfast is ready!" Yang's voice called out as loud as she could before running away.

From under the sheets, Salem glared murderously at the door. 'I'm not going to kill her, but I shall have to acquire a 'Do Not Disturb' sign for the future. If she ignores it, then I'll kill her.'

A few minutes later, the door opened and someone entered to approach Salem's bed (Summer most likely, judging by the weight of the steps). Salem could feel a hand placed on top of her.

"Good morning," Summer said softly. "Did you sleep okay?"

Salem had a hundred responses to that, but settled with a grouchy "Not really." A few seconds later, the covers around her head were peeled up and Summer's face gazed down upon her with a smile.

"Not a morning person, I take it?"

"When I was Queen, mornings only began when I woke up, and I awoke precisely when I meant to." Usually after Ozma had gotten up and let her sleep in for a bit longer. She never knew how he could wake up before dawn like a rooster.

"I'm guessing nightmares don't count?" Summer's eyes were drawn to Salem's sleep-deprived ones.

Salem didn't respond, but she did roll away from Summer to hug one of the pillows. "I'm fine. 'M not scared of anything."

Summer's hand combed through the nest of bedhair on Salem's head. "No, you're a big girl. But you can always come talk to me if something is bothering you. I promised to look after you, remember?"

Salem knew that, but she also knew that she wasn't so weak to go crying to Summer for every little bump in the night. She wasn't. She could get past this.

Summer gave her a light tap. "Now come on, sleepyhead. Tai is making chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and you don't want to eat those cold. We even have strawberries and whipped cream."

'That sounds like it would rot my teeth and put on twenty pounds,' Salem thought. She would have to request something healthy like eggs, sausage, and toast with jelly. Salem was not some sugar-starved child.

Summer tried not to chuckle as she watched Salem stuff her face with her second stack of pancakes like a starving man from Vacuo. She had long since given up on trying not to smile since Salem came to the kitchen.

It started with Salem asking politely for eggs and sausage at first, citing her desire for a healthy breakfast, but then Yang had walked past her with a plate of pancakes that had chocolate chip smiles drawn into them. Summer wished she had a camera to capture the look of pure, child-like fascination and hunger as Salem watched the plate go to the table. Salem even licked her lips when the syrup was drizzled liberally onto the plate.

When Yang began to eat, Salem broke out of her food trance and asked Tai for pancakes instead, claiming that it would be a waste to not use the rest of the batter. Oh, and she wanted a bigger chocolate chip smile. Tai was completely bemused by it, more so at the childish glee Salem had once she was given her plate.

'Her soul may be ancient, but she just can't help her body's urges and desires,' Summer thought. 'Does she even realize her face is covered in syrup?' Salem's soul still resisted the change most of the time, but Summer could see it was an active effort easily swayed by the whims of her body. 'She looks so happy when she gives into it and almost uncomfortable when she resists, even when it hurts her. I need to break her out of that shell. This is her second chance and I'm not going to let it go to waste.'

But first, she needed to get her other girls to school.

"Yang, Ruby, finish your food and start getting ready for school," she said.

"What?" Yang looked at Salem with a wary expression. "Wait, is she going to school with us?" She pointed at Salem with her fork.

"Oh! Can she be in my class?" Ruby piped up with an eager smile.

Salem swallowed her latest bite of pancakes and said, "I don't need to go to school. There's nothing there that they could teach me." She grabbed her drink to take a sip.

"So… you're too dumb to learn anything?" Yang asked.

Summer never thought she'd see Salem do a spit take. It probably would have been amusing in a different context. "Yang, we don't call other people dumb," she admonished.

"But she said she was!"

"No, you fool," Salem said after recovering her breath. "I meant that I'm far more intelligent than you." She rolled her eyes at Yang's confused look and added, "I'm smarter than you."

"Oh yeah?" Yang challenged. "If you're so smart, what's six times twelve?"

"Seventy two," Salem said without hesitation.

"Seven times eight?"

"Fifty six."

Yang frowned. "Five times nine?"

"Forty five." Salem smirked. "Is that the hardest you have?"

Yang was about to ask another when Taiyang's voice cut in. "Yang, did you really finish your math homework last night?"

Yang's face turned into a deer in the headlights. "Uhh, kinda?" Under her father's stern look, she crumpled. "Daaaad, math is hard. And boring!"

Taiyang pointed at her. "Put away your plate and then pull out your homework so we can finish it. If it's not done by the time you get to school, you'll be in trouble."

Cowed by the threat, Yang quickly grabbed her plate and tossed it in the sink before rushing off to grab her backpack.

Summer shook her head, and then stifled her laughter at Salem's dumbstruck expression.

"Tricked… by a child. Impossible," she muttered. Her outlook grew stormy and dark, to which Summer grabbed the nearest magazine and lightly bopped Salem with it.

"No scheming, Salem."

Salem pouted. "She tricked me! No one tricks me! I require retribution!"

"'Bution!" Ruby cheered gleefully, almost unaware of the context. "Does that mean we can have Yang's cookies?"

"I think you need to go to school first, Ruby," Summer said. "You don't want to be late again."

Ruby shook her head and took off as well, completely forgetting her plate.

Summer turned back to Salem, who was now grumpily stabbing at her pancakes. "You know she didn't mean anything bad by it."

"Doesn't make it any less insulting. Generals and kings would have killed for my political and strategic knowledge. To think that a child could bumble through it all…" Salem grumbled something under her breath as she stabbed another piece of pancake and ate it.

Summer decided to change the subject. "Would you want to go to school?"

Salem gave her a deadpan glare. "I hope you're not serious about this or I'll need to re-evaluate my assessment of your intelligence. Again."

Summer tried to not roll her eyes. Really, Salem was as bad as Raven with the dramatics. "It's just an idea. As my new daughter, I need to look out for your well being, and I think you need to get out more. Obviously we would need to do something about your appearance, but my point is that you've spent too long being all cooped up in a dusty old tower."

Salem raised an eyebrow. "And your first idea is to put me in a children's school?"

"What else would a child do? Do you even know what you want to do with this new life?" Summer lifted a finger to tap Salem's nose. "And 'plotting against Ozpin' is not a Summer-approved activity. That was the old you."

Salem's mouth scrunched into a fierce pout. "What makes you think I don't already have a plot against him? It's not a difficult task to fool that fool."

Summer tapped Salem's nose again. "Nope!" she said with a pop. "That's what Salem the Grimm Queen wants. What does Salem the Little Girl want?"

Salem glared at Summer, but said nothing.

"Come on, you had to have a hobby that wasn't related to Grimm or Ozpin, didn't you?" Summer leaned forward on the table.

Salem grabbed her cup of orange juice and took a long sip, almost as if to hide her flushed face. Between sips, she said, "I tried stitching a few times. If only because Grimm make for terrible tailors."

Now they were getting somewhere. "You like sewing?"

"It was a necessity to learn, not some guilty pleasure to play with." Salem stared into her cup, swirling it a bit. "I had to learn a lot of survival skills living on my own for centuries, but not all successfully. I couldn't tell you how many times I starved to death attempting to farm. It was far easier to gather and garden."

Summer wasn't sure what disturbed her more, Salem's apathy towards her own demises or how a child could talk about it like it was a boring, everyday thing for them. Salem survived her solitude, but had she really lived?

Perhaps this was the crack in the shell Summer had been looking for. A hobby, something to do, to create, to distract herself when things looked bad. Tai had his garden after Raven left and Summer worked her baking skills for the girls. If Summer could find a hobby that Salem liked, then maybe, just maybe, Salem could start to enjoy living again.

Summer stood up, grabbing Salem's attention with the sudden movement. "Salem, I know what we're going to do today!"

Salem frowned. "What hare-brained idea have you come up with this time?"

A/N

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I've been picking away at this one for a while and I think this will be a good way to start off getting Salem settled in.

That being said, I have a handful of ideas for hobbies to throw at Salem, but I do want to hear other options from you guys (because there's probably a lot of hobbies I'm not aware of).

Other than that, please leave comments!

I'll try to be quicker about the next update.