Fairies of the Shattered Moon

by TheMaster4444

When Team RWBY discover a mysterious book right before the Vytal Festival, they are blasted to a place of magic and wonder. A few days later, they return, having spent six months as Fairy Tail wizards, forging bonds that would stay with them for the rest of their lives. But answers still elude the young huntresses. Who sent the book? And what link does it have with Fairy Tail?

55. Chapter 55

I don't know WHY the site refused to publish this during my first few attempts, but here it is. Apologies for the shenanigans.

And now, the long-awaited lore dump.

Beta-ed by xenosaiyan

---

Ruby whirled around, her silver eyes widening into dish saucers as she was suddenly dropped into a vast, pitch-black sky, her crimson cloak floating behind her.

"Weiss! Wendy! Blake! Erza!" she frantically shouted, searching the unending night to no avail. "Dad! Uncle Qrow! Anyone!"

Suddenly, the night was no longer so dark. Two great entities occupied its expanse, each one towering over Ruby's miniscule form.

The one on the right looked dark purple, curved ram's horns sticking out of his forehead, but something about him seemed off. He didn't so much as glow in the dark as sink into it, like a black hole was only really visible because of the absence of light, its crushing void inescapable even to the fastest thing in the universe.

The one on the left was the exact opposite, briming with so much shining golden light that if not for his counterpart's influence, Ruby wouldn't have believed the void had ever been dark at all. Indeed, the giant emitted such a radiant, unrelenting halo that the huntress had to cover her eyes to keep from being blinded, barely glimpsing the noble stag antlers atop his head.

"Once upon a time, there were two brothers. Ankh, the God of Light, and Seram, the God of Darkness."

Ruby couldn't tell what surprised her more. That Jinn's voice had just echoed through her mind seemingly out of nowhere or the identity of the beings before her. These were the gods? The ones who created the Relics and cursed Sitara?

The Brothers loved each other dearly, but their natures were opposites. While Ankh crafted worlds and life beyond measure, Seram annihilated those same realms. And so for an eternity, the Brothers fought, neither wishing to kill the other, but neither able to comprehend the other's nature.

Until, after an eternity of pointless squabbling, Ankh decided that he had had enough of fighting the one he loved. He fled to another world and secluded himself there, barring his brother from entry. And in that world, he created a thousand stars to fill the sky and an immortal king to rule it.

---

"King?" Lucy murmured, knowing exactly what it meant and yet hardly able to believe it.

The scene shifted before her, Ankh's ethereal hands clustering together titanic clouds of gas and light. Slowly but surely, the god mixed them together, their forms coalescing into something new, something solid.

And familiar.

A gigantic knight, towering and noble with resplendent armor of pure starlight, manifested before the golden deity. And yet, the thing that confirmed his identity to Lucy was the small patch of white stubble on his upper lip.

The newborn giant knelt, his helmeted head above his lord even in supplication. "How may I serve you, my lord?"

Ankh had no face, but Lucy could somehow still sense his warm smile.

The god placed a gentle hand on his new creation. "Rise, my friend. I was once a being like you, from a world filled with magic. My brother and I rose to what we are now by breaking the laws of existence, but it cost us our world. Our home. Our god. I will not make the same mistake here. I will help teach you to be better than we were. And you, will protect them."

The armored knight cocked his head to the side. "Who, my lord?"

Ankh chuckled, taking his creation's arm and helping him finally rise to his feet. "The Celestial Spirits. I shall make the first generation. And you will be their king."

---

But while the God of Light secluded his new realm in safety, the God of Darkness wept. Hurt and confused by his brother's flight, Seram could do nothing but wallow in his loneliness.

Seeking to rise above his primordial instincts, to prove worthy of what he thought his sibling desired, the dark god spied upon Ankh's new realm. And when he felt he was ready, when he had studied all he needed to know, he crafted his own world. He created his servants, the Umbral Spirits.

"The Grimm," Gray whispered, feeling cold for the first time since his duel with Invel.

In a world with no sky, the heavens built of black stone and the ground lit only by scattered clumps of glowing purple crystal, five enormous rivers of churning dark mud carved the earth apart. The hellish rapids met at the bottom of a barren valley, melding into a single bubbling lake.

Seram hovered above the pool, his ebony claws twisting before him, summoning waves and whirlpools in the black lagoon, piercing shrieks emanating from below as a dark violet glow grew in the depths.

At last, the god went still. And his creation rose.

A gigantic skeletal hand burst up from the lake's surface, reservoirs of black mud dripping between its fingers.

"My lord!" a deep, hellish voice boomed out, barely muffled by the lagoon. "What is thy bidding, my master?"

Seram snapped his fingers, a cloak as black as the night sky draping over his new servant's emerging form. The dark god pressed his hands together, only to pull them apart as a gargantuan staff of glimmering purple stardust flickered in the new space. For one moment, it was a spear. In the next, it was a crook.

At last, however, it settled into an obsidian scythe.

"This shall be yours," Seram proclaimed, passing the polearm to his new cloaked titan. "You shall be my shepherd, and if necessary, my butcher. But to those that come after you in this realm, you shall be king."

"I am honored, my lord," the Umbral Spirit bowed. "I swear, I shall never fail you."

---

"So, the God of Light created the Celestial Spirits, and the God of Darkness made the Grimm?" Jaune inquired, his brow furrowed in thought. "That right?"

"That's correct," Salem confirmed, sighing back in her high-backed throne. "Of course, the brothers' attempts to create their own worlds did not reduce their love for each other. Over time, their longing increased, until Ankh sought Seram out with a plan for a new world, governed by one great god and several more minor ones to handle certain details like time and the elements."

"Earthland," Jaune guessed, putting all the pieces together in his head. "Or, here, I guess."

"Yeah, fascinating," Yang snarked, propping herself on her elbow on the long table. "What does this have to do with you being the Queen of the Grimm?"

Salem shot her friend a small smile. "I want to give you a complete picture, Yang. I don't want you to think I'm trying to manipulate you."

"Thanks for that," Yang waved off. "Still, get to the answers."

The hybrid sighed. "As you wish. When Seram agreed to fuse with Ankh, my father asked his patron for one last a boon. A child, to raise and call his own."

"You!" Jaune exclaimed.

"Indeed, Mr. Arc," Salem nodded. "Ankh was so pleased with my father's service over the eons that he went one step further, making me as immortal as he, linked only to the God of Light's eternal life force as the Grimm are linked to the God of Darkness. As such a being could not be without purpose, I was made the trainer of the Zodiac Guard, teaching each generation combat and blessed with the innate ability to command them."

"Handy," Yang noted. "Go back to that 'one god' thing. Earthland had a whole bunch of gods if I remember right. Which one was 'the one true god'?"

Salem raised an eyebrow. "Did Wendy not tell you of Zeref and Mavis's condition?"

"What does that have to do with… oh. Yeah, that makes sense."

"What does?" Jaune asked.

End growled, leaning against the wall of the banquet hall. "Ankhseram."

Salem sneered with similar disgust. "Ankh had hoped that by fusing their beings, his brother's temperament could be softened while they would never have to be without each other again. Instead, his self-righteous was amplified and Seram vindictive nature infected the great God of Light's love of 'teaching'. Thus, the Curse of Contradiction was inscribed into Earthland's very nature as a punishment for threatening the laws of existence."

Yang frowned. "So, they decided that, if someone was trying to bring back the dead or use a divine spell or whatever, they'd make that person immortal and make everyone around them die? Along with some complicated emotional bullshit?"

"Essentially."

"Huh. Ankhseram's an asshole."

Salem chuckled at that. "Truer words were never spoken. To the brothers' meager credit, when they eventually unfused even they realized just how cruel their merged identity had been. Unfortunately, their combined form was far stronger than they were separately, so it took them three hundred years to unweave the automatic punishment from the fabric of the universe. By that point, Mavis had already incurred its wrath as well and there was nothing they could do."

"So why didn't they do anything?!" Yang demanded. "They're gods, right? Why didn't they just cure Zeref and Mavis of their dumb idea and be done with it?!"

End snorted. "You'd think they would try that. Honestly given Ankhseram's greater power than them, I'm not sure they could have, at least not before the matter was handled in the next century. But more than likely they didn't want to."

"Why?" Jaune asked. "What possible reason could they have for making them suffer like that?"

"The same reason they kept me barred from the Celestial World after I became an Eclipse Etherious. Fear," Salem proclaimed. "Zeref had created an entirely new species. Not some hybrid or chimera of preexisting races but something wholly original. That was something only a god should have been able to do. They feared that he would supplant them as they supplanted their god before them, and in doing so destroy the worlds they were so proud of. If they removed the curse without killing him, he might have gained a taste for vengeance in his remaining time, rally his Etherious into crowning him with divinity. But by keeping Mavis around to have their curses simultaneously kill them both…"

Yang could easily finish that sentence in her mind, her flame arms curling into fists. She remembered Mavis well. The kind, bubbly First Master who was so eager to help even as a thought projection. She'd had sleepovers with them, identified the magic in Ruby's eyes, even given her sister Fairy Glitter. And the Brothers had let her life be hell just so they could use her as a pawn against Natsu's brother?

"Those fucking bastards," she snarled.

"No arguments there," Jaune frowned. "But there's something I'm a bit unclear on. You mentioned that they unfused a hundred years after Zeref was first cursed, right? Why? Why did Ankhseram suddenly decide that the Brothers should come back?"

A wistful, nostalgic smile ghosted across Salem's lips. "I was tricked by a demon, rescued by a wizard, and condemned by a god. And the wizard gave the god quite the tongue-lashing on that last count."

---

"GGGGAaaAAAARRRRGgggrrHHHH!"

Oscar knew the scene before him was long past, but he couldn't help recoiling in terror.

Jinn had showed them much that he had already seen or was at least aware of from Ozma's memories. Sitara's fascination with the human world, Mard Geer tricking, and capturing her for his experiments. Ozma's rescue and her wrath that leveled the citadel. And finally Ankhseram's sentencing, complete with The Great and Powerful Wizard and the Celestial Spirit King's lambasting of his callousness.

Now, he saw what had come after, what Ozma hadn't seen.

Ankhseram was flanked on either side by the Celestial Spirit King and the cloaked shepherd from the Umbral Realm, a long grey beard spilling out from under his hood. Each of the pair was a towering giant, seeming to scrape the sky even in the blank, black void.

And yet, the two titans cowered before the great god of black and gold, his hands jammed into his own chest, a gaping wound of cosmic energy thundering apart as his screams of agony shook the very fabric of reality.

With a cataclysmic howl and a final tug, Ankhseram tore himself apart, an explosion that could have been called a supernova and still been a vast understatement flooding Oscar's field of vision.

When he could see again, Ankh and Seram existed once more, the gods staggering to their knees, with assistance from their respective creations.

"Never again…" Seram growled. "Never again…"

"I'm… I'm sorry," Ankh panted. "I never… imagined…"

"Of course you didn't!" Seram roared, flashing into a draconic form before flickering back into his horned humanoid state. The shepherd braced him on his shoulder, supporting the broken god.

"My lord, do not strain yourself," the hood figure comforted. "We will be back home soon, and you can—"

"No!" the dark deity demanded, glaring at his brother. "Earthland. I will go to Earthland. It is just as much my domain as yours, whether we are that creature or not."

Ankh lowered his head, not rising to the unspoken challenge. "You are correct. I will join you after I have rested."

Seram sneered, snapping his fingers and disappearing in a violet flash. His hooded servant deflated in disappointment before glaring at the beings of light across from him. An ocean of black mud appeared behind him in the void and he marched down into its depths.

Ankh glanced away from the Celestial Spirit King, limping off his creation's shoulder. "I am so sorry, old friend."

"I don't want your apology," the king declared, a vault of fury barely restrained by his firm timbre. "Sitara is barred from home as long as she is part Etherious. You cannot change the laws of existence or Ankhseram's decrees. So remove her Etherious half."

The God of Light's shoulders fell even further. "I can't."

The king's hand wrapped tight around the hilt of his sheathed sword. "What?"

"The demon mutated her very being," Ankh explained. "It's not a light switch I can just turn off. It's a part of her down to her very core, not an infection. I can't cleanse the Etherious part without taking everything else with it."

"So… you can't change the world. And you can't save her," the Celestial Spirit King murmured, glaring bloody murder at his liege. "Then what's the point of you?"

The God of Light had no answer, vanishing in a shower of sparks.

Ankh, ashamed and broken, fled to Earthland. His and brother set up their shines, answering the pleas of any who came to them. Though while many came to the God of Light and allowed him to heal legions of sick, none came to the God of Darkness. At least, not until several years later, when a familiar face appeared before them both.

---

With Ozma having fallen to sickness, Salem, broken with grief, came before both Brothers. Ankh, though sympathetic to her sorrow and remorseful to the role he'd played in her exile, could not perform the miracle she desired without breaking the laws of existence outright. Though once she'd left, he began researching if a loophole might be found. After all, if the human Zeref could find one to revive his brother Natsu, surely a god would be able to find another.

But long before he had the time, the lost Eclipse Etherious went before his brother. Seram, ecstatic to finally have someone who came to him that he had not created, granted her plea without thought or care for the wider consequences. As soon as Ozma returned, the world trembled and Ankh came to set things right.

"Set things right?" Weiss murmured.

Those were the words Jinn used, and yet the former Schnee Heiress could not conceive the scene before her as 'right'.

Ozma appeared from beyond the grave and drew breath. Sitara was by his side in an instant, sobbing in relief. And then Ankh appeared, banishing him back to oblivion. Seram, transforming fully into his draconic state, revived the wizard once more, egging on the Grimm that guarded his shrine towards his brother.

Ankh responded in kind, taking on his own dragon form and wiping the Grimm away in a flash of silver light. The gods took turns killing and reviving Ozma, as if he was some meaningless pawn whose life they could do with as they will, just a piece of the game between them. By the time the God of Light finally revealed that the Princess of the Stars came to him first and Seram killed Ozma for good, Sitara was on her knees, sobbing.

To Weiss, it was if someone had forced her to watch Winter jump out of that bullhead a hundred times over, always helpless to save her from Esper.

Of course, then the other feelings arose. The complicated ones that she didn't fully know what to deal with. If Sitara was Salem, then she was Esper's master. And if she was Esper's master…

How could the grieving, broken woman before her, the woman who'd saved her life more than once, be the monster behind COMMAND ESR?

Seram desired to flay Sitara alive and keep her that way for decades, furious over being deceived against his brother. But Ankh requested his brother stay his wrath, a request the God of Darkness granted out of love for his sibling.

But the God of Light was more concerned for the Princess of the Stars, the girl he'd created so long ago. Until her exile, she had been immortal and her closest love, her father, was the same. Now alone, trapped away from her family, with her one true love having been stripped away from her, he feared that if Ozma was not returned to her soon, she would go to him. Exiled or not, the woman still had centuries of life left in her. To have them thrown away out of grief that she had never truly experienced, because he and his brother had been sloppy in their handling of the situation… it was a shame the god could not bear, and so he fell back on his love of teaching.

Desperate to not fail again, Ankh asked his brother for aid in bestowing a curse upon Sitara, a return of her immortality until she understood the importance of the cycle of life and death. That life was precious. And no matter how much pain it brought, it needed to be protected and lived.

Weiss frowned. She remembered that curse. And exactly what it had nearly driven Sitara to.

---

Over and over, Sitara sought to escape her suffering, proving the God of Light's darkest fears justified. For three hundred, the Princess of the Stars wallowed in despair, desperately seeking out a way to end her life. Studying the works of Zeref, she eventually searched for a way to travel back in time and erase herself from existence, seizing opportunity when the Eclipse Gate was revealed in the capital of Fiore.

And thus, three hundred years after her exile, she met Team RWBY, the first friends she'd known in centuries.

"You're his daughter. There shouldn't have been any choice but to keep you safe."

"So that makes it okay for him to turn his back on you for something that wasn't even your fault?"

"Because my goal is worth striving for. Peace is worth striving for, no matter how many mistakes I make."

"I can't imagine what you've had to suffer, but just giving up? Letting these gods treat you like their punching bag?... Fairy Tail dedicates itself to moving forward on our endless adventure, to always finding a path forward."

---

"In all honesty, I didn't mean to send you back when I did," Salem confessed, removing the book from her gown and setting it on the table. "I woke Ruby one night to have her donate a bit of power to the book so I could run a diagnostic and it started sucking her eyes dry before I realized what was happening. I jumped back on instinct and it swept you all up."

"That explains why you all had no idea you were back when you… well, got back," Jaune recalled. Still, his eyes shifted from Yang to the Queen, narrowing in suspicion. "But if you've had this thing for… eons, why haven't you used it? I mean back before you became… this. Back before the moon broke, would you really have let having to track down another Spirit Slayer stop you from going back and keeping you from sending them off? You thought they still wanted to go to another dimension then."

Salem's grin widened. "Quite insightful, Mr. Arc. At that time, no, I wouldn't have. I had not truly understood and accepted the Fairy Tail ideology Ruby had imparted to me yet. But a practical standpoint stood in my way more than lacking another Spirit Slayer."

The Grimm woman tapped the cover of the ancient text, small golden cracks appearing in the cover. "The truth is, despite my grand intentions to return to my pre-immortal self, I couldn't have. I was never able to make this little tome into anything more than a bootleg Eclipse Gate. It's inaccurate, unpredictable. It should only be able to open a portal to a time where it already exists to open one in turn, yet it opened one six months before it became operational in a place it would not be until six months later."

"Seems more like a strength than an issue," Yang remarked, her gaze focused on the device that had changed her life forever, brought her to her guild. "It can do the impossible, and that makes it mighty."

"It also makes it unstable," Salem elaborated. "One more round trip, maybe. After that, it'll collapse under the weight of its own task. It'll be destroyed."

Yang glanced up at her old friend. "One more round trip though. And you're immortal, so it's not like you can't just come back around the long way. Why not try to alter something?"

Salem shook her head. "Even if the past were so easy to rewrite without erasing my present self, it would not be right. We must always move forward on our endless adventure, not give up and surrender to cowardice."

"I can understand that," Yang allowed. "Wendy mentioned you brought the book to Fairy Tail after we went back."

"I did," Salem nodded. "I had a great deal on my mind then and did not trust myself with your lifeline if you had been sent forward in time instead of to another dimension like I thought you needed. So, I gave it to the ones you called family."

---

Wendy had had tears in her eyes after witnessing everything Sitara had gone through with Ozma and the Brothers. Then, she'd cracked a smile upon witnessing the hope and companionship Team RWBY had blessed the poor Eclipse Etherious with. Only for that same hope to be dashed upon witnessing a mere accident send the four huntresses back to Remnant, separating the Princess of the Stars from those she'd called friend once more.

And it was all the worse because she knew what'd happen next. She'd been there for it, soon after the Strongest Team had returned from Sun Village.

The Fairy Tail guildhall was as chaotic yet homely as it had always been. Wendy, Carla, and Lucy had hunkered behind a turned over table while Natsu and Gray had punted each other through a set of pillars, Happy and Juvia cheering on their favorites the entire time. Erza had Elfman and Gajeel in headlocks while Master Makarov and Mira watched the brawl with a pair of smiles.

Only for the Princess of the Stars to stride through the front door, a heavy sack over her shoulder, and the book under her arm.

Master Makarov quickly went giant. "Shove it, you brats! We've got a client!"

The guild immediately quieted down, the entirety of Fairy Tail turning to gaze upon the new arrival. Radiant as she was, Sitara seemed to shrink under the sudden focus of the legendary guild.

Lucy glanced down at her keys, the golden instruments suddenly glowing with heat, vibrating towards the new blonde woman. As if they were drawn to her. "That's weird."

Sitara gulped and stepped forward, raising her full sack into the air. "I have a delivery. In the name of Team RWBY."

The eyes of everyone in Fairy Tail suddenly went wide, Wendy herself shooting to her feet. Two others were faster however.

Erza and Mira both dashed up to Sitara, like mother hens receiving news of their wayward chicks.

"A delivery?" Erza said. "Why didn't they come themselves?"

"Are they injured somewhere?" Mira fervently inquired. "Where are they? We can go to them!"

"And avenge them!" the Titania shouted, a sword flashing into her hand.

"Uh… uh… no. They're not injured," Sitara explained. The Eclipse Etherious set down her sack, a clang of heavy metal sounding from the guildhall floor. "These are the items they were sent to retrieve. And this…" she put forth the book. "… is why they're unable to come themselves."

Erza gingerly took the book into her grip, staring at it as if was a three-legged chicken, its magic the same as the subtle bits that come off Team RWBY when they'd first arrived. "This is… what they were searching for. Which means you…"

"You're Sitara," Mira whispered. "The magic's the same as when they first arrived. You sent them home."

"I did?" Sitara muttered. "Maybe I did. But… either way, it should be with you. They called you all family."

"They're home," Wendy whispered, unable to keep bits of tears from trickling down her cheeks. "They're gone. And… we didn't get to say goodbye."

The reaction from the rest of the guild was similar. While everyone was glad that the four girls from another world had gotten home, losing members of the family, even in the best way possible, was never something without tears. Lucy and Juvia's faces were frozen in shock, while Natsu and Gray did their best to maintain stoic facades but could not hide the shaking in their limbs.

Master Makarov was the best at maintaining his composure, the elderly man striding up to Sitara. "You were their friend?"

"They were mine. They… I have to reconsider some of the things they told me," the blonde woman replied. "I… I tried to help them, but… I don't know."

"If you tried to help them, then you are a friend to Fairy Tail," Makarov assured her. "You may stay as long as you like."

For a moment, the Princess of the Stars considered it. Ruby had made her the same offer. To join Fairy Tail. To no longer be alone.

But then she gazed upon the faces of the guild, beheld their sorrow, their tears, at Team RWBY's disappearance. At her failure.

Her new friends had helped to give her a faint spark of hope that had been absent since she was cursed by the gods. A faint spark of pride. And with that pride, came its natural consequence.

Shame.

"Thank you, sir," Sitara said, her face downcast and turned away from the master. "But… I need some time to think. I need to figure out some things about myself. About what I want."

Makarov frowned, but he nodded in that sagely way only he could. "As you wish. But just now, the doors of Fairy Tail will always be open to you."

Sitara nodded in thanks at his words. Then, she turned around and strode out of the guildhall, leaving behind the fragments of the Eclipse Gate and the book that changed everything.

---

For months, Sitara mulled in her choice, struggling over whether she should return and accept Ruby and Makarov's offer. At one point she did indeed manage to scrape together enough will and courage to go back and join the guild's ranks... only to find when she arrived that the guild no longer existed.

Though he had finally been annihilated in turn, Mard Geer had taken Fairy Tail from her when she needed it most.

Gray scowled, scenes of the war with Tartaros flashing before him. Scenes he preferred not to remember.

Laxus and the Thunder Legion being infected with bane particles.

The guildhall being destroyed by a Macro-controlled Elfman.

Lucy sacrificing Aquarius's key to summon the Celestial Spirit King, whose pre-existing grudge against Mard Geer now made much more sense. Though he was weakened by no longer being in his world and hampered even further by Lucy's limitations at the time, the ancient spirit still kept the Underworld King on the ropes, freezing him in stone and freeing Fairy Tail from Alegria.

Gray's duel with his father, tears pouring down his face as he was blessed with Ice Devil Slayer Magic.

Juvia putting down Keyes and laying Silver to a well-deserved rest at last.

Zeref arriving after Gray and Natsu had defeated Mard Geer, teleporting the Book of E.N.D. out of the Ice Mage's grip—

Wait!

Gray's eyes widened, his mind whirling as he watched the shower of colored sparks flash over the demonic tome as Zeref reclaimed it. Lucy had mentioned that none of them had any other experience with Etherious books, but he'd forgotten the details of this moment, lost in the grief for his father and the brutal conclusion to Acnologia and Igneel's battle right after.

Because when Zeref had teleported the Book of E.N.D. to his hand, it had been covered in dark purple sparks. Though the color had been emerald at the time, those same mystical flashes had been what appeared over the tome after Lucy had later rewritten it. And as the scene reminded him after Zeref burnt Mard Geer's book to ash, that was very different from the effect that took place when an Etherious was destroyed completely.

But if Zeref had died… who took the Book of E.N.D. during the Alvarez War?

Tossed into despair once more, Sitara scavenged the various books of the Etherious from the ruins of Tartaros' cube. The Eclipse Etherious returned to her lab, alone, studying more of Zeref's works.

Though, despite her implacable research, the wayward woman no longer knew what she was working towards. Ruby had convinced her not to erase herself, or work towards her own death… so what should she do?

---

Before she could decide however, war came to Fiore. The Black Wizard Zeref sought to claim the infinite magic of Fairy Heart and use it to undo his suffering and that which he'd caused to the world in turn. Bringing to bear the mighty force of his Alvarez Empire, he marched on Fairy Tail.

When Ichiya of Blue Pegasus sent out a call for reinforcements to friends of the guild, Sitara heard it. And though she hesitated briefly, she did march to battle, only to be caught up in a spell that reshaped the world itself.

"Universe One," Irene noted, standing as if solid beside Wendy. "One of my finest creations. Since it affected the land and not a specific target, Acnologia could still be displaced by it."

"Which is why he didn't show up until after you'd died," The Sky Dragon Slayer noted.

"Indeed," Irene remarked. "Strange. Even though I sent him quite a ways away, he still should have been able to make it back at least half an hour before then—oh, that explains that."

Wendy gulped at the new scene before her. Yes, that certainly explained why Acnologia had been delayed.

The ocean split in two, over and over again, walls of water miles high flaring into the air. Hanging just beneath the clouds was the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse, his dark scales glimmering in the sunlight. He unleashed a rain of his sapphire breath attack, a hellish bombardment falling upon a tiny island.

From the small spot of land, twelve golden meteors rose, crashing into the beams of pure sorcery, a shockwave greater than any bomb thundering through the sea and sky.

When the smoke cleared, an enormous twelve-headed hydra sagged across the stone, panting hard. The gigantic creature was bruised and battered, two of its heads in the process of regrowing from their splattered necks.

Between the nest of fangs and scales, Sitara's humanoid form stuck out on top, her arms and lower half melded into the reptilian titan, dark veins protruding across her flesh while the whites of her blue eyes had been replaced with black.

"You are strong, little Princess," Acnologia cackled, actually deeming to address his opponent. "But you are no dragon. You cannot hurt me, let alone fight me. You cannot win."

"And I cannot die, even to you. But I can fight," Salem snarled. Her titanic hydra staggered to its feet and roared towards the Dragon King. "I will fight! I will fight for Fairy Tail as my friends would have! And as long as I stand, you will not pass!"

Acnologia howled at the insolence of her challenge, the ocean quaking as he unleashed a new barrage of cataclysmic attacks.

"Half an hour," Irene murmured, unable to keep the admiration from her voice. "She held him off, alone, for half an hour."

Wendy nodded. Immortal or not, not even Zeref had dared confront Acnologia without an ace in the hole. Sitara… Salem… had fought him until Universe One had been dispersed by Irene's death. For them.

But where had she been sent when the country spanning enchantment had worn off?

---

Lucy rested in Gray's arms, his Devil Slaying ice freezing out the demonic infection that had invaded the Celestial Spirit Wizard when she'd rewritten the Book of E.N.D. Happy pawed up to his weakened friend, resting his burnt mitts on her wounded flesh.

What Lucy only saw now, from an outside perspective, was Sitara limping down the road, slowly coming to their aid. Only to freeze when the Book of E.N.D. began to fade away.

The Princess of the Stars, who had come to aid the Fairies, saw the most powerful of Zeref's creations begin to die. The creation said to have been his greatest success, capable of killing an immortal. Of killing her.

Having already altered the books of Tartaros's lifelines to connect to her instead of their creator, Salem's frantic hope led her to do the same with E.N.D.

"She saved him," Lucy whimpered. "She saved him, when I nearly killed him."

The Book of E.N.D. vanished into a shower of emerald sparks, only to reappear in Salem's hands beyond the Fairy Tail members' sight. The battered Eclipse Etherious smiled like Erza seeking strawberry cake, only for her joy to slowly fade as she glanced guiltily at the wizards.

---

"You needn't have felt ashamed," End assured his mistress, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You saved my life that day. So what if you hid it from the fairies? Wasn't as if you didn't donate your energy to help seal away Acnologia."

A grateful smile slipped over Salem's face, the Grimm woman covering the Ophiuchus's clawed hand with her own ashen fingers. "Thank you, my friend."

"Can't say I agree with that. You shouldn't have kept that secret from them," Yang frowned. She glanced towards End. "Whether or not you and Natsu were different people, the book was still bound to both of you. It was as much a danger to him as you."

End snorted. "No, it wasn't. Heartfilia's body gave out before she could erase me, but she did sever the book's link to the Salamander. I'm the only one in danger if it's damaged now. Though, I have taken steps to ensure that no one will ever modify it without my approval again."

"It was still a lie," Yang retorted.

Steam flared from End's nostrils, but Salem tapped him lightly on the shoulder, calming the demon's rage.

"It was," the Grimm woman conceded. "That fact consumed me for a year after. I studied End's book as well as the rest of Zeref's creations, but my heart wasn't in it as it once was. I had played a role in Fairy Tail's fight against the Black Wizard and the Dragon King, played a part in their victory. Imagine that. Two forces that had been invincible for centuries, capable of annihilating the world if they saw fit, and they'd been felled by the combined forces of humanity. That little race, that barely lived more than a century at best, had done the impossible. And for the first time, I thought that maybe I could do it. That I could do as Ruby said, not die like a dog, but fight. That I could be mighty too."

"And then the White Wizard came," Yang followed, remembering this part from Wendy's retelling. "She attacked you and stole your research on FACE so that she could wipe out magic."

Salem nodded. "She did. And the aftermath of that battle, and the fate of the Strongest Team, showed me what I had to do."

---

"Where are they?" Mira demanded. "They should be here."

The She-Devil and The Princess of the Stars stood in the ruins of a gargantuan FACE pillar, the silver-haired Fairy Tail wizard staring off in the heavens with a quivering lip while clutching at her stomach. The Eclipse Etherious knelt at her side, her glowing hands pressed into the Take-Over Wizard's wound, staunching the bleeding.

Erza was relieved that Lucy's report really had been true, that she hadn't killed Mira in the mad frenzy of their duel.

Still a pit of worry built in her stomach. She didn't think this scene would end well.

"I don't know," Sitara confessed. "Maybe Lucy overcharged them with the God Dragons' power, maybe the FACE's destruction sent out a shockwave that scattered them."

"They're Fairy Spheres!" Mira shouted. "Nothing should be able to move them!"

"I don't know!" Sitara sobbed. "They should be here! I don't know why they're not! I'm sorry!"

Mira flinched as if she'd been slapped, looking upon the blonde woman with new compassion. And a hint of… fear?

Erza cocked an eyebrow. "Mira… why would you be afraid of her?"

What did her friend know that she didn't, that Salem didn't?

"You did everything you could," Mira assured Sitara, laying down beside her. "This isn't your fault."

"… no. It isn't," Sitara scowled. Her furious gaze turned onto the broken body of a short blonde woman, lying beside an unconscious Exceed. The White Witch. "It's hers. And his. She did this in his name, and he did nothing."

"What do you mean?" Mira asked. "Who is 'he'?"

"Ankh," Sitara growled. "And Seram. His gift would have been ripped from the world and they did nothing. And neither of them did anything when Acnologia nearly laid waste to the world."

Mira frowned. The wizard reached her hand out and placed a hand on the Eclipse Etherious's shoulder. "Sitara… let go. Come back with us. Join the guild."

"Join the…" Sitara turned to the silver-haired woman with a look of utter adoration. "Thank you, Mira. Thank you so much."

The Take-Over Wizard gulped. "But you have to say no."

Sitara nodded. "I would just have to bury you all. Just like Ozma. Just like Lucy and the others. I can't sit back and be a victim anymore. I have to move forward. Do you understand?"

"I do," Mira muttered. "Please… Please be careful."

The Princess of the Stars smiled at the Fairy Tail Wizard. "No matter how hard the path ahead may be, I will not give up. My goal is worth fighting for. But if you ever need my help, or if you're ever worried, just send word. I will come."

For decades after, Mirajane would hold her to that oath and Salem would do so gladly. Even as Makarov finally passed on and Mira became guildmaster of Fairy Tail's fourth generation, the Princess of the Stars never failed to come when called upon by her friend. Yet, just as she predicted, she had to bury her friend when old age finally claimed her. Her and the rest of her peers.

In time, the face of Fiore changed. No longer was it a land of adventure, but business, its mystical creatures penned and utilized by massive corporations. After centuries, the nature of the Fairy Tail guild and its peers changed to survive in the new era.

And with them gone, Sitara had no reason to stall her plans any longer.

After all, mighty as they were, she knew the Brothers could be tricked. She knew they could be hurt. So why couldn't they be brought to heel?

---

Across Ishgar, Alakitasia, and Guiltina, Salem traveled to scores of great countries, professing her vision for a world where the gods were forced to take responsibility, where threats like Acnologia, the five God Dragons, the White Witch were not left to ravage the world for centuries and slaughter nations. That the people could come together to make a better world for all if they just showed strength together, that they would not settle for scraps.

The leaders of the world laughed at her. They cared nothing for the people who suffered such threats, for they themselves were fat and happy, their every want fulfilled and their every whim tended to.

Thus, Salem learned that mankind, though mighty when united, was not like Fairy Tail.

She waited a generation, for the kings and queens to change and the old guard to die out, and she approached them again. But this time she was not so foolish as to appeal to their better nature. This time, she appealed to their humanity. Their lust, their greed, their pride.

She spoke a lie of how she'd tricked the gods and taken immortality from them. How she could, if they were united, ensure they gained a similar boon. They and their loved ones would no longer need to fear death.

And so, the hearts of men were easily swayed.

Unfortunately, the Gods were not so changeable.

When Salem's army assaulted the Shrine of the Ankh, Seram came to his brother's aid, enraged and furious that the humans would dare wield his own gift against his beloved sibling. Without mercy, without restraint, he made his judgment.

And, Ankh, despairing in his final failure, could not bring himself to fight the brother he loved to save humanity.

---

"My own gift… used against me…"

"I'll come back! I'll spread word of this massacre and come back with a new army—"

"You are mistaken. There is no one else."

And yet, in that, Seram was mistaken. For one of the minor gods he and his brother had created had in fact foreseen the possibility of Earthland's genocide.

---

Chronos, the God of Time, had glimpsed what might have been, and though he had no great fondness for humanity, was aghast at the fate of the entire lesser species for the actions of only a portion. And so, he blessed one who had been his chosen vessel for centuries with a vision of what might come.

A sizable farm appeared from Jinn's mist, fields of golden wheat spreading out for half a mile in every direction, gently blowing in the wind. Within the center of the stalks, picking them all while humming a pleasant tune on her lips, was a tall, beautiful blonde woman, her eyes brown and her hair pulled back in a plain bandana.

Wendy's eyes widened. Though she'd just witnessed the literal end of the world, she found that the person before her was just as surprising.

"DiMaria?" Irene intoned, disbelieving at the sight of her old comrade. "DiMaria Yesta saved the human race?"

"How is she even still alive?" Wendy asked. "This is centuries after the war."

"She's the chosen vessel of the God of Time. Stopping her own aging is not a difficult task," Irene waved off. "But she's a brat!? I know Brandish told Lucy she'd retired to be a bloody farmer, but still?!"

A shining glow passed through DiMaria's eyes, the vision from her patron god. When it faded, the Take-Over Wizard's basket of grain dropped from her hands, her face warped into a pale expression of pure terror.

DiMaria entreated the kings and queens of the now broken up Alvarez Empire to turn down Salem's calls for war, to let the gods be. But the monarchs, parliaments, and senates that formed when her old ally Ajeel had abdicated the throne had no interest in anything that contradicted their own ambition for eternal life and would not listen to one they saw as desiring to keep such a boon exclusive to herself.

However, the descendant of Ajeel Rami, now mayor of a small town outside the capital, found merit in the legendary Valkyrie's words, the former comrade of his ancestor. All the people he could command, and would listen to him over the calls of glory their rulers spread, he charged her to protect.

DiMaria led hundreds onto her farmland, now expanded into a massive plantation, some of them with animal features like Toby of Lamia Scale. A young man with similar facial features to Ajeel spread a ring of sand around the acres, the Take-Over Wizard coming to his side and smiling.

Suddenly, a sound like the core of the world had collapsed rang through the air. DiMaria and Ajeel's descendant whirled towards the horizon, only to find a towering wall of purple death swiftly approaching.

Gold flashed around DiMaria and the Valkyrie assumed her Take-Over form. Reaching out to the sand, she plunged her hand into its grains and flooded the ring with shining energy.

Just as the God of Darkness's wave of slaughter reached them, the farm and all who took shelter within it disappeared into thin air.

The Shrine of Chronos was frozen in time by the god's blessing. None within it would age, but they could not truly live either. In time, the people who took shelter there would reemerge, to a new world. A Remnant of what it once was.

A violent violet pillar shot off into the heavens and cracked the moon apart. The fragments of the shattered satellite plummeted to the surface of Earthland, reshaping it forever.

---

Blake felt cold. Colder than when she'd seen Adam again at Beacon. Colder than when she'd learned that she'd taken Yang's arm. Colder than when she'd come within a hair's breadth of killing her parents.

Watching the end of the world… that was probably an appropriate response. Intellectually, she knew it was going to happen, Loke had told her, but seeing it… the apocalypse was not easy viewing.

The Celestial Spirits watched from their realm, aghast and horrified at what their patrons had brought about. Tens of thousands of Silver Key spirits could only look on helplessly as the humans they loved were slaughtered like cattle.

None more so than the twelve members of the Zodiac. Virgo's hands covered her gaping mouth. Loke shook in his armor, and even Aquarius balled at the sight before her. The rest of the Zodiac responded similarly, the Celestial Spirit King himself allowing his sword to topple to the ground, collapsing into his throne as the first asteroids massacred the dead world.

"How could they…" Virgo sobbed, her eyes filling with tears. "How could they do this? Billions of people…"

"They were nothing to them," the King murmured, his mustache curled in fury. "That was the lesson. We are not them, so we are all nothing to them."

Blake wanted to reach out, to comfort the poor beings. There was nothing they could have done. Most of their keys were with Lucy in her Fairy Sphere, and she doubted whoever had Libra, Pisces, or Ophiuchus's keys had had enough time to summon them to help. Even then… they would have just died with the human race.

However, when the minor gods were forced to withdraw from the world by the Brothers and Seram learned of Chronos's actions, he was enraged. Though Ankh was thrilled to learn of humanity's survival, Seram was furious. He agreed to the vow not to return to their former domain until the Relics were gathered, he did not hesitate to give new orders to his servants, orders to complete the sentence he had passed down.

"KILL THEM ALL!"

Blake was not ashamed to admit that she cowered as the god's shout filled the air.

The Umbral Spirit World was dark and hellish as it had been at its creation, the only change being the deary obsidian castle built on the bank of the central mud lake. Seram, flailing in his dragon form, raged above the churning quintet of rivers, the hooded figure kneeling before him.

"Kill them all!" the God of Darkness howled. With a flail of his claw, a surge of purple energy tainted the already corrupt mud. "Kill them all! Their sentence has been given and it shall be carried out! Kill them! Cull them! Destroy them! Every last one of them! And make that wretched Princess suffer! To use my gift against my brother..."

"By your command, my lord," the hooded shepherd promised. "Through the mud, I shall send my people forth to do your work."

The Umbral Spirits obeyed their lord's command as they had been taught. The mud portals endowed them with physical bodies so as to not decay during their time on the ethernano barren environment their god had left Remnant as. And their minds were ravaged of anything other than Seram's decree. His madness.

Blake flinched, the incessant murderous voices rampaging through her head just thinking about it. To have an entire species cursed with that hell, to have their minds taken from them to serve some cruel god's vendetta, why did the Umbral Spirits allow such torture to be inflicted upon them?

Or rather, did they have a choice in the matter.?

For centuries, the newly named Creatures of Grimm hounded Salem across the world. None could kill her, few could even harm her, but never did they allow her to rest.

---

Her resolve shattered by the hope she'd had ripped away from her, by the horror and genocide she had witnessed, Salem wandered the lifeless world alone. Once more, she lost the will to move forward, the will to strive for something better.

She just wanted to die.

"No," Ruby whimpered, silver eyes full of compassion for her lost friend. "Keep going, Sitara. Find DiMaria. Find the others."

But of course, her friend could not hear her. These events had long passed.

Sitara dashed through the mountainous hellscape of the Land of Darkness, running through the barren ravines and enormous purple crystal. Behind her was a veritable army of Grimm of every shape and size, from a pack of vicious Alpha Beowolves to towering eldritch giants that Ruby couldn't even name, all of them charging after the Princess of the Stars.

The frantic Eclipse Etherious skidded to the edge of the cliff, an ocean of churning black mud bubbling beneath her.

Salem hesitated, obviously still unsure. But her moment of delay cost her, an Alpha Beowolf leaping from the vanguard of the pack and sinking its teeth into her shoulder.

The half-Celestial Spirit howled with pain. She lit her palm with golden light and rammed it into the beast's skull plate, liquifying the creature's head with a single strike.

She glanced back, the horde of Grimm quickly approaching. Her eyes drifted away, falling upon the pool below.

This had to be it. Ankh's fountain of life had given her immortality twice in her life. Surely Seram's pool of darkness could destroy her?

Salem stepped off the cliff and plunged into the depths below.

She was wrong. The pool brought no salvation. It only brought her to her most dangerous adversary.

A titanic scythe, burning with incandescent violet energy, sheered through the infinite blackness, cleaving Salem in two, in three, in four, and so on, reducing the desperate Eclipse Etherious to tinier and tinier pieces in an instant, only for her to be repaired by her curse in the next. All while she screamed.

"How kind of you to come to me, you little cockroach," the booming voice of the hooded figure mocked, those his visage was nowhere in sight. "My lord's portals were not large enough for one of my strength to pass through properly. I was so worried I'd have to work out another way to come to your pathetic little Remnant. Now, I can make you suffer all you deserve while we watch your wretched humans die."

Salem's eyes widened in terror, frantically thrusting out her hands, golden energy surging off of them. The scythe battered her blasts aside with ease, whacking the blonde woman deeper into the depths. The pole arm shifted into a shepherd's crook, looping its way around the battered lady and making to drag her down to the Umbral Spirit World.

Only for the Princess's baby blue eyes to turn a vicious, hateful crimson, igniting with a naked spark of defiance.

"Eclipse Etherious Form!" she roared.

Golden light encircled the blonde woman's form, whisps of purple and black pulled in from the dark deluge around her. With a mighty roar, she threw her head back as it exploded into twelve, the force of the transformation stalling the shepherd's hook a brief moment.

Just long enough for the princess to escape back above the surface.

Her enemy eluded, Salem did not leave that pool the same as she had entered.

She had been born a Celestial Spirit.

She had been made into an Eclipse Etherious by Mard Geer.

From the depths of Seram's portal, she rose part each of those… and part Umbral Spirit.

And her new state came with unexpected benefits.

Salem crawled out of the pit of mud, her ivory skin turned ashen white, black veins etched across her face. Her hair was no longer glimmering like starlight, but pale like bone. Her eyes, rubies set in a sea of black.

And the army she'd fled, still present on the shore, growling and pawing towards their returned prey.

Yet, Salem didn't seem to notice the horde bearing down on her. Instead, she clutched at her head, the demonic veins stretching across her veins like tree roots.

And from them, voices.

"KILl TheM!

"CUll tHeM!"

"DeStrOy the HUMaNS!"

"Stop," Salem whimpered. "Stop. Stop. Please stop."

Ruby shuffled forward. She knew she couldn't help her friend, knew that any thin hope that she wasn't the Grimm woman Ozpin had described was completely shot, but she still… she wanted to make things better. To fix this travesty.

Yet, in that same moment, the Grimm charged in.

And Salem rose.

"I said STOP!"

Her voice carried across the Land of Darkness, echoing under the blood-red sky.

And the Grimm who heard it, froze in their tracks.

Salem's palms kept pressing into the sides of her head, the whispers pushed back just a fraction, the veins retreating just a smidge.

Created to train and command the Zodiac, Salem's new condition expanded her influence to any Grimm nearby. As soon as they were far enough away from her, they would escape her orders and the Umbral Spirit King was far too powerful for her to affect…

But the princess died in that pool. The Queen rose anew.

And her consort was soon to come.

---

"Ozma, a tragedy has befallen your home at the hands of my brother. We have chosen to depart this world, but in our absence, I would like to offer you a loophole I have constructed. A loophole, that will allow you to return to life without breaking the laws of existence. And with it, I must beg a task of you."

"Beg… a task…"

"Mankind may yet return to the remnant of Earthland. But without our presence, they will be but a fraction of what they once were, with few, if any, capable of wielding magic. Creation, destruction, choice, and knowledge were the ideals upon which mankind was founded. Now, I leave them behind as Relics, with the hope that you may learn to remake yourselves. If brought together, my brother and I will be summoned back to your world, and humanity will be judged. If your kind has learned to live in harmony with one another, and set aside your differences, then we will once again walk among you and humanity will be made whole again. But if your kind is unchanged, if you demand our blessings while continuing to fight amongst yourself, then man will be found irredeemable. And your world will be wiped from existence."

Ozma fell to his knees, the weight of the task put before him sundering the ancient hero.

Ankh flinched back, but continued on after a brief pause. "Until this task is complete, you will reincarnate. But in a manner that ensures you will never be alone."

"I'm… I'm sorry," Ozma replied. "But without her… that world just isn't as dear to me. Please, send me back to the afterlife to be with Salem."

"You will not find her there."

"What?"

Oscar glanced away, forgoing the rest of the conversation. He had seen what Ozma and Salem had had before everything had gone to hell. He knew exactly what the time wizard would choose the second he learned his love was one Remnant, no matter what warnings Ankh gave him.

If a miracle was presented that gave one the chance to reunite with their true love, who wouldn't take it?

---

Ozma tracked down his love, and when she saw him, the whispers of Seram's madness fell silent for the first time in a century. Salem had kept them at bay with sheer willpower before. Now, she buried them with euphoric joy.

Weiss didn't know how to feel about what she was seeing. The voice in the mud had felt… familiar somehow.

Now watching Ozma and Salem reunite, rekindle their love in that abandoned cabin in the woods, the so-called 'Queen of the Grimm' eagerly regaling her lost husband with tales of Team RWBY and Fairy Tail, she was wondering what was the point? How could this lead to the horror she had experienced in Atlas? To Klein, her mother, and General Ironwood's deaths? To whatever monstrous fate was befalling Winter?

"Humanity seems more divided than ever."

"Are you surprised?" Salem scoffed. "Humanity has always, with some few exceptions, been a race of rabid dogs, barking at whatever makes them frightened, including each other. When I learned I could order Grimm away, I tried to help them, to create a sanctuary for them. But the moment they saw what I looked like… well… torches, pitchforks, the usual angry mob matters."

Ozma reached out and took her hands in his. "I'm sorry."

Salem shot him a soft smile. "Not your fault, my dear. Besides, this world is quite literally godless. These humans have no one to guide them." The Queen's eyes widened for a moment, a realization running through her mind. "Maybe… maybe that's all they need."

Ozma cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it. Alone, they ran from me, but with you by my side to get them to stay beyond the first look..." Salem muttered, rambling as a wide grin blossomed across her face. "We can guide them! Unite them in peace, in a true paradise of our own making! Our strength is beyond any force in this world, our souls are immortal. We can make this world a better place."

Weiss frowned. There it was. The rhetoric of Esper Rosenflos. Kill, lie, and manipulate to make the world better. Damn anyone who gets in your way.

---

Ozma and Salem built a great kingdom, the only kingdom truly safe from the Grimm. And at the head of that kingdom, a family.

"Mommy! Daddy! Mira and Ruby are hogging Horsy again!"

"We are not! Emily had her all yesterday!"

"Girls," Salem intoned, firmly scolding the three blonde little girls assembled before her. She knelt down and gently took an intricately carved wooden horse toy from the middle child. "Do you think Horsy enjoys you all fighting over him?"

The children glanced away, ashamed. "No, mama."

"Do you want to make Horsy sad?"

"No."

"Then don't," Salem advised them. "You are sisters, family. And though it is natural for family to squabble from time to time, you should never let something so simple tear you apart. Horsy wants to play with all three of his noble princesses."

The girls all glowed at their mother's praise, running off as soon as the toy horse was returned to them, jubilantly playing together.

Ozma smiled, pulling his wife into his arms. "Why did you need me to get people to listen to you, again?"

Salem grinned. "You have a very handsome face."

The two leaned in, their lips inching towards each other, until…

"Mommy! Daddy!" a fourth blond girl cheered, racing up to her parents.

"Yes, Lucy?" Ozma inquired. "What is it?"

The child raised her hand, five tiny colorful orbs floating over her palm. "Look!"

Salem and Ozma swooned, queen and consort gazing on their daughter with limitless love.

But as the conquest stalled, as Salem grew more ambitious and determined to force back the Grimm, Ozma felt he had no choice to reveal the full truth of why the God of Light sent him back.

As the scene shifted to a small, warm study, Blake felt her hands shiver. Salem had Seram's madness running through her. Somehow, she had forced it back in her mind, held back the rage and wrath. The Black Fairy had no idea how she had mustered such titanic will, but she feared that it would only take one straw to break the camel's back.

And this secret… wasn't that more than enough?

"Why?" Salem said.

Ozma flinched away. "I'm sorry. I didn't know how to bring it up—"

"No, not that. I understand you were concerned. It's alright," Salem assured him, taking his hand.

Her husband looked relieved for a moment, only to pale when he saw the black veins growing across her face.

Salem noticed his gaze and angrily shook her head, forcing the Grimm lines back. "What I mean is, why spend time trying to redeem these humans when we can make them better instead?"

Ozma's eyes widened. "What?"

An excited smile spread over Salem's face. "Lucy can do magic. That means that there is enough ethernano remaining, however little, for those with a sufficient origin to do so. Now, we are the only ones with the power to keep anyone truly safe from the Grimm, but if we make them capable of doing so, they won't just be our burden to protect. They can be soldiers who can crush the Umbral Spirits."

"That's an interesting idea," Ozma noted. "But we can't control who has a large enough origin to use magic. Even back in the old world, only about ten percent of the population could do it—"

"We'll make it so," Salem grinned. "We will evolve humanity into something greater, replace them with something better. Greater than the gods could ever have imagined. Why invite back their calamitous self-righteousness in full when Seram still orders his creations to butcher us? In fact… what if we could end them, and the threat of the Grimm, forever?"

Ozma took a step back. "Salem, you can't mean that. Your father, your people—if Ankh were to die, they'd go with him. And that's even assuming we could. Last time you tried… well…"

"The world was reduced to a Remnant," Salem mulled. "And I cannot annihilate the Celestial Spirits for Ankh's sins. But… peace is a goal worth fighting for."

"You can't kill them," Ozma professed. "It's impossible!"

"Only until we make it real," Salem declared. "I've seen the way that fails. Now, I can use what I've learned to make a better one. We can move forward."

Blake staggered back, just as Ozma did, though for very different reasons. He was horrified by the words his wife was speaking, by the sheer potential for calamity. She was horrified because she remembered who'd first spoken those words to Salem.

"No…" Blake muttered. "Please, no…"

---

Ozma could not condone Salem's plan, one that risked another calamity befalling their world, but he did not think his love was beyond reason. However, just in case he was wrong, he decided to make sure his children were outside the kingdom when they had their discussion.

But even the best-laid plans of men may go awry. Even by something as simple as a mother coming to read her children a bedtime story.

"Now then girls, where did we leave off?" Salem grinned, striding into a bedroom with four small beds, a thick book under her arm. "The Girl in the Tower? The Devil that Loved the Lightning? Or the Writer and the Iron Dragon? I know that's one of your favorites, Lu… Lucy?"

The Queen paused as she took a seat on one of the beds, her eyes narrowed when she received no response. She set her book down on the bedside table. "Lucy?"

She raised her hand to the top of the blankets and gently tugged them down. She found no child, only a fluffed pillow.

"Lucy!" Salem screamed, her eyes wide with terror. She shot over to the other beds and rapidly ripped the covers off, finding her children gone. "Mira! Emily! Ruby! Girls!"

The Queen frantically rushed out of the room, the castle dissipating into green smoke as Jinn skipped to a new scene. Now Ozma, in full combat regalia and wielding a staff with an emerald on top, led his four daughters through the halls of the darkened castle, one of them clutching Horsy to her chest.

"Ozma!" Salem shouted, rushing around the corner of the hall with her eyes filled with terror. "The girls! They're not in their… rooms…"

The Queen cocked her head to the side at the sight of her children, safe and sound. Her confusion lasted only a mere moment before she sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness," she murmured, only for her gaze to grow confused and suspicious. "What are you all doing up… and why are you… dressed for combat?"

Ozma gulped, holding out his arm and pushing his children back, the girls themselves glancing befuddled and frightened between their parents.

"No," Erza muttered, ice gripping her heart. "Not like this. Please not like this."

Her hopes went unanswered. And she had to watch as another mother suffered a fate worse than death.

Salem's eyes flickered over Ozma, her face wide with betrayal and pain. Then, her gaze narrowed at her husband, all her previous terror transformed into furious wrath.

Her will sundered, the black veins of Seram's Madness sprouted over her arms and face with a vengeance, writhing through her ashen black flesh, the visage of a devil appearing before her family.

She didn't see them. She didn't see her children. She probably didn't even see her husband. Only wrath, and rage, and the need to kill.

She thrust out her hands. Ozma thrust out his staff. And the castle exploded.

---

Ruby… Ruby didn't know what to think.

The castle burned, left nothing more than a ruin. All that was left of her friend's children, of the child that she'd named after her, was ash. Ash and a tiny wooden horse.

Ozma crawled across the rubble, his leg broken, his staff shattered. A few feet away, Salem reformed from a puddle of nothing, black mud still flooding her veins. In an instant, she stomped over to her fallen husband and unleashed a torrent of flame over her love.

When it faded, Ozma was gone.

"Why?" Ruby muttered, her silver eyes wet with tears. "Why, Sitara?"

Salem took a deep breath, panting over the pile of ash that had once been her beloved. After several moments, her breath still heavy, the black veins began to recede from her skin. When they did, the Queen blinked, glancing about slowly, observing the ruins of her home as if she'd just realized what had happened.

"Ozma?" she murmured, only for her gaze to drift back to where she'd delivered the final blow, her eyes widening in horror. "Oz…ma…"

She frantically dashed into the rubble of the castle, tossing aside the mountain of broken stone, desperately searching through the ruin. "Lucy! Mira! Emily! Ruby! Girls! Girls—"

Her eyes found Horsy, abandoned on the ground, and marred with soot. Salem fell to her knees, lifting the toy into her hands, unable to look away. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, aaaahhhhhh!"

She didn't know.

Ruby gulped at the realization. It was just like with Blake's Grimm Soul at The Fall, when she'd attacked Yang without any idea what was happening. The moment Salem had felt betrayal at what Ozma was doing, taking away their children, Seram's Madness had overwhelmed her, turned her into the same as any other mad Grimm. She hadn't even had the sense to take on her Eclipse Etherious Form. Her husband would never have lasted as long as he had against that.

But what was done could not be undone. Salem clutched her daughters' toy to her chest, her sobs dominating the clear night sky, knowing that it had been her hand that had cut their lives short.

"What have I…" she wept, raising her head to the heavens as tears flooded down her face. "What have I… I…"

Her eyes locked upon the shattered moon. The moon she'd known once to be whole.

And her eyes turned cold as she recalled who had broken it. Who had set the Grimm upon humanity. Who had poisoned her with their stain. Who had turned her husband against her. Who had cursed her to suffer for eternity. Who had exiled her from her home.

Who had taken everything from her, over and over again, and called it justice.

"What have they done," she hissed, fury overtaking her features as she rose to her feet. "Is this enough?! Have I finally suffered enough for you!? Have I been an amusing toy for you?! Losing everything and everyone again!?"

She received no answer, obviously. The pale moonlight shimmered down from the broken satellite, illuminating the Queen as her eyes widened with realization.

"A shattered moon. A remnant," she chuckled without mirth, a dry, mad thing that made Ruby's skin stand on end just to hear it. "I've been so blind. The book worked just as intended. They're out there, yet to be born. Just like the Strongest Team, trapped in their Spheres. And you've given me eternity to find them. So, thank you for that. Thank you, because you will not squash my hope, not this time. I will not break. My daughters will not have died in vain. I will not be your punching bag! I will not give up! I will move forward on my endless adventure! Except I have an end in mind, an end of justice! I will pull you done from on high and I will crush you! Do you hear me?! Do you hear me!?"

Maybe the gods did. Maybe they didn't. But Ruby did. Ruby heard everything.

She heard the same words she'd spoken to Sitara so long ago, spoken to give her hope, to lift the broken woman up from the suicidal spiral she'd been trapped in. She heard those words clung to, gripped like a vice, amplified to extremism, and aimed squarely at beings who'd showed themselves more than capable of wiping out the world.

It was Fairy Tail, without restraint or moderation. Without friends, reduced to the simple, singular drive to protect their family.

What had she done?

---

"Your children…" Yang gaped, her fiery heart suddenly freezing cold. "I'm so sorry."

She was. She understood perfectly that it had likely been Salem's hand that had taken the girls' lives, but she had only thrown the first punch due to Seram's Madness taking her over. Yang got pissed at her Uncle Qrow for the dumb things he did while drunk, but his addiction was a disease, something he could only control so much. The Queen had never asked for the mud to influence her. Indeed, if Blake's description of what the affliction did to one's mind was accurate, the amount of control she had managed to force over it was nothing short of miraculous. How much willpower was she constantly bringing to bear just so she could act like a normal person?

"Thank you, Yang," Salem replied, though a pair of tears still trickled down her cheeks, End's comforting hand tightening around her shoulder. She wiped away the liquid from her face and took a deep breath. "A child's death isn't something one truly 'gets over' but I have learned to live with it."

"Apparently not completely," Jaune noted. "I mean, you still blame Ozpin for it, right?"

Salem sighed. "For a long time, I did, not helped by our squabbles over the Relics. I've sought them to study their natures for my experiments and use the Lamp to find the Fairy Spheres, while he seeks to keep them from me so as to discourage my efforts against the Brothers. But what he did that night… a friend has helped me come to understand his decision. It was arrogant but made with a parent's best intentions. In truth, if he is able to see the folly of his strategy, I would welcome him to my ranks. Our greatest victories have always come when we've had to put our differences aside to keep humanity from wiping itself out, none more so than the Great War."

"The Great War?" Yang repeated, incredulous. "What? Was Ozpin the King of Vale?"

"Yes, actually."

"Of course he was."

Salem nodded. "He tried so hard to keep the peace against Mistral and Mantle's aggression, but his own people disobeyed his prevention measures and before long, war had erupted, and hundreds of settlements were consumed by the Grimm while humans were off killing each other over how best to deal with the Grimm. When it became clear that Vale simply could not fight two kingdoms on its own, he came to me and begged for my aid. A false flag operation later, a few faked notes about Mistral and Mantle's plans beyond Vale, and Vacuo had joined the fray full of righteous indignation."

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't the best student in history class, but I'm pretty sure the textbook said that Vacuo joined the war because Mantle and Mistral started saying 'Join us or else'?"

"History is written by the winners, Mr. Arc. And Ozpin has always understood the necessity of controlling the perception of his victories," Salem explained. "You'll find no mention of the Relic of Destruction in those textbooks either, but it was what he used to win the final battle of the war."

End sighed. "He'd done it. He had the entire world under his command, the power to truly make a difference and he threw it away."

"Not without good reason, my friend," Salem argued. "Ozpin knew how unlikely it was that he'd reincarnate into a royal line again. Creating a system that he could continuously exploit to return to power each life, while keeping his pawns in place to defend each of the Relics at the Huntsmen Academies, was one of his most brilliant moves."

"That's a… pessimistic view of democracy," Jaune noted.

Salem shrugged. "Ozpin had a goal, to hinder my efforts as much as possible. To do so, he created the most efficient tool in doing so. It's not meant to be an effective government, but one so ineffective that it cannot do any real harm when he isn't in control of it."

Jaune's eyes narrowed. "And you'd be so much better? You just said that you attacked your own family in a 'moment of weakness'."

"Jaune!" Yang protested. "Cool it—"

"Or what?! She'll lose control and kill me?" Jaune demanded, turning his gaze back to Salem. "You claim to care about us, and I believe you do, I really do. But why in the world would we ever want to trust someone who could lose control and slaughter us at a moment's notice?"

"Jaune, that wasn't her fault—"

"No, he's correct," End interjected.

Yang's eyes widened. "He is?"

"I am?" Jaune repeated, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

End nodded. "What do you think I'm here for?"

"It was Ophiuchus's duty to protect the Zodiac, the warriors of the Celestial Spirit Realm, from that which too dangerous for them to handle themselves," Salem smiled. "End serves the same role among my Gates. Including protecting them from me, should I lose control. I assure you, he is more than up for the task."

"Huh. Alright then," Yang remarked, cocking an eyebrow. "You two seem to have a lot of faith in each other. How did you two meet?"

Salem chuckled. "Once again, would you believe it was an accident? I'd made this castle my headquarters for working on Neo-Hell's Core and the Ascension Chamber, harder for Ozma to sneak in and blow it all up again while the Grimm act as a security system, so I've spent centuries searching its sky for Fairy Spheres. Around fifty years ago, my search finally bore fruit. I found Natsu and Happy, but both of them were still infected with Bane Particles. The only way to save them was to turn them into demons, which for Natsu required the full activation of the Book of E.N.D."

"Which put me in control of my body for first time since I was created," End revealed. "It was an… eventful first meeting."

---

Confused and terrified after regaining control of his body at last, the mightiest of Zeref's Etherious lashed out at the Queen in battle that leveled Castle Evernight.

Pyrrha could see that. She'd thought Cinder was strong. She'd thought her mother was strong. But Jinn's visions had educated her on just how wide and towering those at the pinnacle of magic power truly were. The Gods, Acnologia, the White Witch, the Celestial and Umbral Spirit Kings, all of them could crush entire armies like gnats.

And Salem and End were in that very same league.

The dark citadel splitting the Grimmlands' skyline had been reduced to rubble. Its obsidian mortar was melted to slag, some its black stone still liquifying into puddles.

Salem limped across the ruin, still clutching her arm to her side as she came to stand over End's unconscious form. The ground was still sizzling under him.

These were the people she'd abandoned Jaune to face alone? She'd left her boyfriend, her partner, to flail helplessly against this class of titan?

A crocodile faunus with a pair of cutlasses strapped to her belt stalked out from the ruins of the castle. "Oy! Master! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Tock," Salem shouted back. "Did you get Happy to safety?!"

"No worries, boss!" the woman grinned with her sharpened teeth. "Got the kitty and his tube out before the Core got melted!"

Salem breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness."

Tock sauntered over and shot a respectful glance at the unconscious fire demon. "This is what the guy can do when he just woke up? Don't think one of Ozzy's bombs ever packed this much of a wallop."

Salem raised her injured arm, her eyes locked over its charred form. Unlike when she'd dueled Ozma and been restored from disintegration in a matter of seconds, the wound from End's flame showed no signs of augmented healing from her immortality.

"So, it is true," she muttered. "All these years studying the book… I'd started to wonder. But he really can do it. And if I can find him and combine their powers…"

"Ma'am?" Tock inquired, cocking an eyebrow.

"Once he's cooled down enough to move, take him to whatever hospitable room is still standing. Get him some food and new clothes if you can," Salem commanded. She reached into her robe and pulled out four keys, one black, three gold, each with unique engravings on the pommels. "It's time for a family reunion."

---

With confirmation that her goal was possible, that the power she needed was within her grasp, Salem called upon the Zodiac. And though Ophiuchus refused to attend, devoted still to her king, the twelve answered her call, the Queen providing sufficient magic power for the entire force to pile through Aquarius, Pisces, and Libra's Gates.

"Open! Gate of the Water Bearer! Open! Gate of the Heavenly Scales! Open! Gate of the Paired Fish!"

Salem swiped each of the keys through air and three golden blasts broke through the air. However, that trio of shines soon multiplied to an even dozen, the glow fading as twelve figures strode out into the dark chamber.

Despite knowing what was coming, Lucy couldn't help the smile that came onto her face. Seeing her spirits, her friends, again, was an experience she'd always treasure.

They were older, just as Loke was, gray marring their candy-colored hair, and there were a pair of wedding rings on Aquarius and Scorpio's fingers. Celestial Spirits may have had a lifespan longer than most human countries, but even they aged and eventually fell to time, save the King, Ophiuchus, and, once, Sitara, who were tied to Ankh's life force more than the rest of the species.

"My friends," Salem smiled, her eyes misting up. "I've missed you."

"My lady," Virgo nodded. "It's good to see you well."

"Aquarius and the others said you had something to discuss," Loke said.

Salem nodded, taking a nervous gulp of breath. "I know you all love humanity. Have you watched? From the Celestial Realm, have you watched? As the Brothers have debased them, tormented them? Driven them to the edge of extinction?"

The Zodiac Spirits glanced away, shame and horror filling their faces.

"We… have watched," Taurus mewled, his former bombast completely absent.

"They burned," Sagittarius murmured. "All those people…"

"They slaughtered them," Aries muttered. "Seram slaughtered them all."

Scorpio's hands closed into fists. "And Ankh did nothing."

"He does nothing," Aquarius hissed, water crashing around her in a violent whirlpool.

Capricorn growled. "He forces their welfare on Ozma. Uses him as a tool."

Salem sighed. "I see we are of similar minds. Something must be done. The Gods cannot be allowed to escape justice. If they do, humanity will be wiped out by the Grimm."

The Zodiac Spirits did not respond so eagerly to that comment. At best, the warriors tilted their heads in confusion.

"My lady, forgive my bluntness, but we all saw the last time you tried to go to war with the Brothers," Capricorn pointed out. "Humanity had magic power in abundance then and they were annihilated when you rallied them together."

"The twelve of us are powerful, but even if Ophiuchus and your father joined our efforts, we still wouldn't have power exceeding the humanity of then," Loke reminded her.

"I concur," Salem replied. "Which is why we need to make the humanity of now greater than it ever was back then. Evolve them past what was considered human, in both ability and nature."

"What exactly do you mean?" the Gemini twins inquired, their beady eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"The fact is, we cannot defeat the Gods as we are. We'd need an army powerful enough and with the correct capabilities to harm and kill them. We cannot beat them with scraps they toss to us. We must use the power we create ourselves," Salem declared. She raised her burnt arm, still healing from End's blaze. "I have found the solution. A way to destroy the brothers' curses, to go along with another method of shielding us from their regular magic."

Virgo and Loke shared wary glances. The Maiden stepped forward, concern etched over her gentle face.

"My lady, I can't deny the nature of your discovery. The Gods made you as immortal as themselves," Virgo said. "But whoever or whatever caused this, they're only one being. We can't replicate that power."

Salem grinned. "No. We can't. But just like any slaying-element, we can enchant it."

Virgo's eyes widened in realization, the rest of the Zodiac sharing her amazement at that simple revelatory statement.

Loke's brow furrowed in thought. "That… could work. But I was unaware that you were a master enchanter, my lady."

"Alas, I've studied many, many matters over the eons in preparation for this Ascension. I am competent, but I cannot call myself a master without a proper teacher," Salem concurred. "Fortunately, Wendy Marvell is such a master. I have been working on locating the remaining five Fairy Spheres. The Relic of Knowledge will be able to lead me to them, or if I can recover Lucy through my mundane search, I have designed a ritual to use her lingering link to her spells to divine their locations."

The atmosphere of the room changed the moment Wendy and the Fairy Spheres were mentioned, the Zodiac Spirits muttering amongst themselves with hope and excitement. And when Salem mentioned she was working on returning Lucy to the world, it was as if they'd been told their birthdays had come early.

"You can find her?" Aquarius asked desperately. "You can really bring Lucy—the brat… you can bring her back?"

Salem took Aquarius's hands and shot her a joyful grin. "I just need to find her. And I will find her."

"And then what?" Loke queried. "Assuming we summon the Brothers back with the Relics and beat them, what then? Killing Seram to stop the Grimm from wiping out humanity sounds well and good until you realize that Ankh would never let that go. He loves his brother too much. And if we were to kill him too, our entire race would die with him."

"No, it won't," Salem proclaimed. "Because we will become one with humanity. We will fuse with them. Every single human and faunus on this world will be combined with a Celestial Spirit, enchanted with the necessary power to fight the gods, and together we will throw off their tyrants' yoke! With Neo-Hell's Core, we can alter ourselves to function off curse power, instead of being at the mercy of whatever scant ethernano the Brothers toss us."

Lucy gulped. The Queen certainly had spent a lot of time with Mira. Most would view people getting absorbed as little different than killing them, but Take-Over Wizards held a different philosophy. To them, merging with other beings' souls was a way of immortalizing them, of saving them. It's why Mira had had zero compunctions about taking in Seilah and the other Tartaros demons she'd absorbed, despite Fairy Tail's general stance on killing.

Salem didn't see her actions as killing the Celestial Spirits. She saw them as saving them and humanity at the same time. Strengthening both through unity.

"I need you twelve to be my vanguard, to merge with humans I can trust more than anything, to wield the curses of Tartaros against our enemies," Salem elaborated. "As manmade curses they will affect the gods even without the special enchantment. You will be my Gates to a new world. A better world."

Virgo narrowed her eyes. "These Gates… do you have any candidates in mind?"

Salem smirked. "I am still working on perfecting the Ascension Chamber. However, I do have four slots that I am rather set on."

Virgo nodded. "Team RWBY."

"Team RWBY," Salem confirmed. "I don't know when they'll be born for sure, but I am confident I will have the chamber ready for them when they are. A few more decades, no longer."

Virgo stepped forward and knelt before the Queen. "Then I will gladly wait with you, my lady."

Salem smiled, tears pricking in her eyes. "Thank you, my friend. Thank you for your faith."

"Virgo," Loke muttered. "Are you sure?"

"She's asking for our help, Leo," Virgo responded. "She could use her power to command us, but she's asking. Not forcing, asking."

Loke frowned. "That doesn't make it right."

"No, what makes it right is that it is right," Aquarius proclaimed. "Brandish's descendants were slaughtered when the gods burned the world. Lucy's would have been too if she hadn't been in a sphere. Do you remember, Leo? Watching Earthland die?! How can we do nothing again? Let them get away with genocide again?!"

Loke had no response to that.

Honestly, neither did Lucy.

Scorpio threaded his fingers through Aquarius's fingers. The two lovers shared a look of union and looked to the Queen.

"We're with you, Lady Sitara," Aquarius declared.

One by one, the rest of the Zodiac did the same, iron and vengeance in their eyes. Thousands of years, with only horror and atrocity in their eyes, unable to do anything as millions burned. When presented with a plan, a plan that had a real chance of working, of avenging the entire species they'd watched die… how could they refuse, even if the odds against them were impossible?

After all, they'd watched Fairy Tail do the impossible, defeat immortals, dragons, and gods, all the time.

At last, only Loke stood apart, the others gladly standing beside Salem.

"Well, Captain?" the Queen asked. "Do you believe our cause just? We cannot turn away from a battle that must be fought."

Loke sighed. "I do not deny what the Brothers have done is monstrous. I do not deny that the threat of the Grimm must be fought. But turning humanity into the weapon you speak of will require bringing them to heel first. Have you thought of what that will entail?"

"I have," Salem replied. "It will save them from themselves as well as the Grimm. Once they follow me, there will be no petty squabbles like the Great War or these faunus wars that have been raging as of late. No rancid, pointless hatreds will spoil their potential, the kindness and strength we all know they're capable of."

Loke frowned. He turned around, proudly displaying the Fairy Tail mark emblazoned across his back. "I wish you well in the wars to come. But I would see my guildmates once more with my own eyes before I commit to this enterprise."

Salem scowled. "You believe in Ozma? Still? His pacifism is a death sentence for them all. The Umbral Spirit King has not been idle all these millennia."

"If Fairy Tail will return, if Team RWBY will return, then they can stop him," Loke proclaimed. "I'll give your father your regards."

With a wave of his hand, the Spirit of the Lion vanished into golden sparks.

Salem stood there, fuming, black veins protruding across her flesh, growing, inching, their whispers growing louder—

"My lady," Virgo said, taking her hand. "We are with you."

The Queen glanced down at her faithful maid, witnessing the devotion in her eyes, the certainty in her stalwart gaze. Slowly but surely, the Eclipse Etherious took several deep breaths, the roots of corruption receding across her flesh.

"Thank you, Virgo," she said, helping her friend to her feet before gazing around the remaining Zodiac. "I swear to you all! I will not let your faith be in vain! We will have justice!"

"That we will," Aquarius remarked. "But who knows if we all have decades left in us. If we're still going to be around to donate our power once you finish that chamber and find some worthy candidates, we know what we have to do."

The rest of the Zodiac nodded, all of them having expected what they'd have to do.

Only Salem wavered. "I mean… it could work. But you all would hibernate inside me, and is there really any need—"

Virgo pressed her hand over her Queen's fingers. "We believe in you, Lady Sitara."

Salem was stunned, glancing fearfully around the other Celestial Spirits. But the warriors she'd trained all met her gaze, all of them sure and confident.

With one final gulp of nerves, the Queen reached out her arms, each of the Zodiac taking hold of her ashen flesh. A soft golden glow burst off of her skin and surged into each of the spirits, slowly but surely combining them into her body.

And so, the Golden Spirits of the Celestial Realm hibernated within their trainer, seeking to preserve themselves for however long was needed to be installed into proper Eclipse Etherious. One by one, they fused with the books of Tartaros and the servants of the Queen, forming her vanguard, the spear tip of her army.

When every human on the planet enhanced to destroy the gods, imbued with Celestial Magic and Demonic Curses, the Queen would unite them. And go to war once more. To end the Grimm forever.

Tears trickled down Lucy's cheeks, Jinn appearing and waving her hand to finally end the revelations in a flush of blue smoke.

---

Yang's mouth hung open, gazing at her host in utter and complete shock.

"It is a glorious thought, isn't it?" End remarked. "An entire army infused with my power. Seram defeated the first assault against him because it was his gift, but my creator built my abilities to directly counter him and his brother. Since they bound themselves to the Relics, once we draw them back, they'll be easy prey."

"Gods…" Yang stammered, disbelieving. "Easy prey?"

"Relatively speaking," Salem clarified. "We will be able to kill them, but there will be blood. Though after they die, and the Grimm with them, the new humanity will have a chance to truly flourish."

"You don't say," Jaune murmured. "And Ozpin opposes this plan because…?"

"He doesn't think we can win. He thinks it is impossible to defeat them," Salem replied. "He's never met Fairy Tail."

"But if we lose, we lose," Yang pointed out. "Doing this… after you already tried it before…"

Salem shook her head. "I have given this thought, you know. I know doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different result is insanity. But I know where I went wrong before. I know how to win."

"But why take the risk?" Jaune demanded. "If you can keep the Grimm away from this castle, you could make one of the kingdom's capitals immune to Grimm. From there, we could build up forces in safety and start expanding—"

"You assume our enemy is passive," End cut in. "You are mistaken. Though the Gods cannot return before the Relics are brought together, the Umbral Spirit King is working hard to enter this world."

"So?" Yang queried. "If he comes through the mud portal, he'll be driven insane by Seram's Madness. He'll be just another Grimm."

Salem frowned, her hand flinching to her chest, as if she'd been cut. "He is as old as my father. If I can push through the affliction, so can he. If he manifests, he will have a proper physical body. He will not be limited as my father was during Fairy Tail's war with Tartaros. And that's the least of the threat he poses."

"What do you mean?" Jaune inquired nervously.

"Do you remember the lie Ozpin told you? About my being able to control all the Grimm worldwide?"

Yang paled. "No…"

Salem nodded, her bone-white face grave. "If he arrives, he will muster them into a true relentless, coordinated, military force. Even my influence will be overrun."

"The kingdoms would fall in a fortnight," End declared, even the mightiest Etherious wary of the army they faced. "We must strike first."

Yang and Jaune exchanged a nervous glance. They'd both seen what a mindless horde of Grimm could do to Vale when drawn by significant negativity at the Fall of Beacon. The Black Queen Virus and Torchwick's destruction of the Atlesian battleships hadn't helped matters, but those defenses were already being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers pressed against them.

And that had only been the Grimm that were nearby, the Wyvern and Goliaths being the strongest among them. If ancient monstrosities the likes of which were kept circling Salem's keep were brought to bear against humanity, if every Grimm in the world was mustered for war, turned into an actual, disciplined army with a being even the Queen feared at its head…

No force on Remnant could stop them. Even Fairy Tail as it was, there were just too many of them. They were outnumbered by millions.

Salem sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to put so much on you at once. I know you've had a long journey, and hardly the easiest time besides that."

"Wasn't exactly a day at the spa," Yang absently muttered.

"I know. You don't have to make any decisions right now," Salem turned to End. "Could you please take them to the guest chambers? Give them time to rest?"

End nodded. "Of course, your grace."

The Ophiuchus strode towards the exit of the hall, clapping Jaune on the back as he went. The blond huntsman glanced at Yang but didn't wait long before rising. If nothing else, a bed was sure to be more comfortable than these chairs.

Yang… Yang didn't know what to think. Salem was Sitara, and Sitara was her friend. Virgo, Aquarius, and the rest of the Zodiac trusted her, believed in the threat enough to place their faith in her. And the Devil Slayer knew it was a serious threat as well. Most of humanity weren't huntsmen. They didn't have aura or semblances, or any way to really fend for themselves even against something as manageable as a Beowolf. But if everyone was evolved into Eclipse Etherious, boosted by curse power and enhanced by End, every individual person be able to slay entire packs of Grimm. The greatest army ever seen on Earthland or Remnant.

But… the cost of bringing that army about…

Yang glanced down at her flame arms, the lack of human flesh glaring back at her. No one had gotten hurt at Haven outside of Salem or Ozpin's factions, but at Beacon? Even if that was Cinder going off-script, people had died. She'd been one of the lucky ones only being maimed. The Grimm had been used as the Queen's weapon just as she warned they'd be the Brothers'.

She couldn't say she was a fan of Ozpin hiding and just hoping the problem wouldn't get worse, nor how he'd lied to make Salem seem to be the center of the threat the Grimm posed… but was conquering the kingdoms really the only way? Her mother, her real mother, had given her life fighting the Grimm the old-fashioned way. Was that really all for nothing?

"Yang?"

The Blonde Fairy looked at Salem, the Queen's hand gently placed on her shoulder, comforting her as any friend would. And yet, Yang couldn't help but flinch back from her touch.

Salem sighed, disappointed but not angered. "There is one part of the story I haven't told you."

"What?" Yang growled. "If you've lied to me—"

"I haven't. And I have no intention to," Salem assured her. "But the information is… not easy to believe. You wouldn't believe me if you heard it from me. But someone is arriving tomorrow that you will believe it from."

Yang frowned. "I'm not in the mood for games, Sitara. If you're trying to spring some crazy surprise on me… well, it's not going to make me any happier about this plan of yours."

For some reason, Salem shot her a small smile, a twinkling thing of mischievous anticipation that seemed out of place on the Grimm woman, yet all the more frightening for it.

"Don't worry, my friend," she said. "Unlike what I've told you today, this is a surprise I think you'll like."

---

Lore Dumped.

Holy crude, thank goodness for Jinn's narration. I don't know what I would have done without that genie allowing me to breeze through to the important stuff. Even with it, I'm pretty sure this is the longest chapter I've ever written.

And it is the added nail that the rest of the story is based around, essentially the counterpart to a certain twist in 'RWBY/Zero'. The conflict between Salem and Ozpin is very much meant to be one of Grey and Grey Morality, with both of them having good reasons for their respective stances. It is deliberately ambiguous whether Salem is correct that her proposed properly equipped army would be enough to kill the Brothers, or if Ozpin is correct that the Gods are simply too powerful to challenge no matter what they do, as well as left up to each of you all if the methods Salem is willing to use to bring said Eclipse Etherious army about are too far or simply the best option out of a plate of bad ones. After all, humans and faunus have more than a bit of trouble getting along as is. Even if told that something is in their best interest, most people wouldn't exactly be eager to change their species completely, especially when the offer comes from someone who looks like Salem. And then there's the Umbral Spirit King and his threat...

Overall, I am very pleased with the construction and delivery of this information. It is not designed to justify or create sympathy for either Ozpin or Salem, but instead, explain and create empathy (which is different from sympathy) for each of them. I fully expect this structure will create many passionate viewpoints in all readers and encourage you to express such views in the reviews. All I ask is that everyone keep their heads and express their viewpoints calmly and politely.

And with that, I wish you all a Happy Halloween, November, and RWBY Volume 8 premiere! See you in December!

Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!

Go Forth and Conquer!