Part Three is here! After this, hopefully the most we'll see is one more chapter of the flashbacks, then we move on to the present.

So, I kept forgetting to say this at the end of the last two flashbacks after publishing, so I'll say it here: if you have an OC that you think might make it into Diego's past, feel free to offer them up to me. I'm always open to suggestions.

Other than that, please enjoy!

Diego quietly walked up the stairs to Yang's room, careful not to make too much noise as he walked. It was still light outside and he wasn't trying to hide his presence; no, it was more of a gesture of courtesy that caused him to tread so lightly. Not too long ago, Tiayang had decided to take a nap and Diego felt it was only polite to make sure he wasn't disturbed.

Reaching the door to his girlfriend's room, Diego gave it a few light knocks to announce his presence. He actually knocked on it in a manner that was obviously a code of some kind.

"Come in, Diego," Yang's voice answered on the other side. Diego smiled and opened the door. As he expected, Yang was sitting up in the bed currently, giving him a smile of her own. Beside her on the nightstand was a robotic arm from Atlas, most likely to replace her original one. Why she hadn't tried it on yet, even in her condition, was unknown to Diego, but he wasn't going to talk about it just yet. He gently sat on the bed next to her as he continued to give her his warm greeting.

"I didn't hear you come in this time," Yang noted with a smirk.

"Well, your father took a nap not long after I got here," Diego explained. "Consider my silence an act of courtesy towards him."

Yang nodded in understanding; it seemed like a polite gesture in and of itself. Then she asked, "Are you going to tell me more about your past then?"

Diego nodded silently. "It'll give you something to listen to. Besides, I've needed to do this for a while." He then gave her a small glance. "Just to warn you, this next part may get a bit... unsettling in more ways than one."

"I understand," Yang replied. "Whatever you have to tell me, I'm listening."

Diego sighed. "Well, here goes nothing..."

Yang listened patiently and quietly as Diego continued his story...

**Flashback**

"I figured you'd be here," Diego said to the Grimm Queen before him as he hung upside-down on the branch of a tree above his blind. Or at least where the blind used to stand. For reasons that he wouldn't reveal to Salem, he had removed the blind from the area and set it up somewhere else. If Salem was bothered by this detail, she never said anything about it.

"Where else would I be?" Salem snapped, but there was a small hint in her tone that Diego barely managed to catch that seemed to tell him that she wasn't actually angry at him. In the last year or so that he had been around her, Diego had noticed a small change gradually coming over her the more they interacted. She would still snap at him or treat him like he wasn't much to pay attention to, but she also occasionally flashed him a genuine smile or simply held a hint of a different tone in her voice than what she tried to portray. Diego loved to tease her about such details, all of which she tried to deny in vain. Diego may have been a bit naïve to most, but he held a particular gift in detecting the true emotions one held in their mannerism.

"Oh I don't know," he answered her, giving a ridiculous smile from his position. "You could be terrorizing other areas to your heart's content, coming up with new Grimm, even become a nuisance to someone else. Yet, here you are, still hanging around my place, hoping to gain something that you have been craving for your entire life."

"And what would that be?" Salem demanded, her eyes flashing dangerously as if to warn him that he was treading on thin ice. Diego ignored this and said something that caught her by surprise.

"You want to be treated as more than a monster."

She seemed confused to what he was talking about, but then the picture got brighter. She placed her hands on the tree, in a somewhat confused state. Not confused by what Diego said, but what she was feeling in the inside. She was not made to feel these emotions, in fact she was designed to sense the complete opposite. She was a love struck teenager she heard so much about, and right now the object of that emotion was staring at her while hanging upside down from a tree.

"Then show me what you mean by that," Salem said with a hint of nervousness in her tone. Diego smirked and hopped down from the tree.

"Scared, are you now?" he joked. "You, the definition of fear." Then more seriously, "How about I teach you the basics and we'll work our way up from there?"

"Okay..." she was feeling too many mixed feelings to properly respond or react.

"Goodie!" Diego cheered. "So, let's start off with a simple greeting..."

A few months later...

Diego strolled through the forest cheerfully, humming to himself as he walked. Today had been a special day for him, hence the reason for his cheerful attitude. Today had been his birthday; he had just turned 18 and was feeling ready to take on the next step in his life. Tonight, however, as always, he had someone else he wanted to speak with. And there she was up ahead, staring at him with her red eyes while leaning against a tree. Diego gave a playful whistle.

"Hello, Nurse!" he teased, then laughed before saying, "How're ya doing, Salem?"

"Fine I think. That whistling is really getting annoying," She responded with a pompous tone.

"What? I can't say that you look nice at night?" Diego smirked. "Even with the eyes, it does favors for your appearance."

Salem eyes widened with that response.

"You know this teasing isn't get you anywhere." She giggled with a faint smirk.

"Well, you know me. I can be very cheeky sometimes," Diego replied. He then sighed. "Today was probably the best day of my life."

"And why is that I wonder?" She said with such sarcasm that she thought it could be true.

"My birthday came along," Diego replied. "And by golly, I swear Dad and Mom went all out on it this time." He giggled. "Though they probably could've done without pampering me." His smile faded for a second. "But now comes a difficult part that is soon to follow."

"Every bird must leave the nest eventually," Salem said while staring at the moon. It was almost like she had a story behind that quote. Then her eyes snapped out of it. "So what did your parents get you for your birthday?"

"Well... maybe I should show you," Diego answered. He lifted up his arms and revealed what seemed to be two redish-grey bracelets on them, until he made a motion with his wrists and they extended into full gloved gauntlets. He grinned as he showed them to her.

"These belonged to my mother's great-great grandfather," he explained. "Passed down to him by his father, and his father before him, and so on. It's been in the family for as long as anyone can remember." He sighed. "Now, the responsibility of keeping them has been bestowed upon me."

"Sounds like more of a burden if you ask me," She said with a monotone voice.

"That's because you don't fully understand humans," Diego noted as he made the gauntlets shrink back down to bracelets. "Or Faunus. Or hybrids, like me." He shrugged. "But, I don't blame you."

"I never been one to be really attached to objects," Salem stated. He felt like she lied about that, but he was not going to push it.

"So... how's sitting around waiting every night for me to come around?" Diego asked, making it sound like it was a perfectly natural thing to do.

"I don't only come up for you. The view of the moon is truly exquisite if I say so myself."

Diego stopped and looked up at the fractured moon.

"Neat," Diego remarked. "Wonder how it got that way..."

"Story for another time... oh, I haven't given you my present yet, have I?" She said with a glint in the eye. Diego seemed confused what the present might be, and even more surprised she actually got him something.

"You... got me a present?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. He had not expected such an answer.

"Yes, but it's not quite an object like your parents' gift," Salem answered while trying to avoid eye contact with Diego. Diego gave her a smirk.

"Salem, are you trying to imply something?" he teased. "Cause I think someone stole your heart. Who's the lucky guy?"

"Well, let's just say the guy is not the brightest in the world. He has a severe case of ADHD. But you can say that's why I'm attracted to him. He doesn't see me as a monster, but as an actual woman." While she was saying this, Salem was inching her hand towards Diego's hand. "He makes me feel human."

Then she collided her lips with his. Diego's eyes lit up in surprise, his brain feeling like it was about to shut down.

Is this even real? he asked himself. I... can't even...

The kiss only lasted for a few seconds before she pulled away, and he continued to stare blankly onto space. Then, eventually, his brain rebooted and he chuckled.

"Okay... not that I didn't like that... but that was the LAST thing I expected," he managed.

"I'm so sorry. It's just I've never tried anything like this before," Salem said while blushing. "But all those things I said are true. You really do make me feel human." Salem placed a hand on her chest. "And it really hurts. I was never made to fall in love. I was made to snuff it out," She said with actual tears starting to gather in her eyes.

"Hey, don't cry," Diego said gently to her, wiping the tears as they fell. "You may think you're made for one thing, but I can tell you now, that doesn't have to be your destiny." He gave her a smile. "I'm the son of a Faunus, but that doesn't mean I'll live as a Faunus. I'm also the son of a human, but that doesn't mean I'll treat Faunus unfairly. I'm also me. And I get to choose what I want to be." He gently caressed her cheek with his hand. It felt unsettling and his entire body seemed to crawl because of it, but he didn't care. "I believe that you can make the choice to be what you want to be too. You just have to follow your heart."

"My main purpose is to make sure that humanity is to suffer!" She shouted while tears poured down her face. "I have never known what is like to be human! Only to be a monster from the stories you tell children!" Salem sobbed while sliding down the tree, covering her face. "I want to be more than that. I want to fall in love, have a child, and finally be happy with myself. To achieve something besides humanity's downfall."

Diego didn't know how to react. Salem was so broken, so conflicted inside, it was sad to watch. He felt pity anew for the Grimm Queen who had been dropped into his life. Slowly, he sat next to her and put his arms around her in a full embrace, ignoring the warnings in his brain and following his heart.

"You can achieve that now," he whispered to her. "You've proven that you can be something other than what everyone thinks you should be. And I don't care if they call me crazy for this, but... I want to be with you, to hold you, to guide you through this. You gave me something I thought I could never achieve; you helped me overcome my fears." He lifted her head up to look into his eyes. "Now, it's my turn to help you, if you'll let me... my beautiful queen."

She was shocked with response. In all her years, she has never seen someone so committed to her besides that stupid wizard. She stood up and kissed him on the cheek.

"I think you know what comes next right," Salem said with a very flirty tone.

"Mmm, a little..." Diego admitted. "I'm... honestly just as new at the relationship thing as you are. So... this is uncharted waters for both of us." He smirked and squeezed her hand. "But we'll face it all together."

"Always," She added caressing his cheek. Diego smiled, then looked up at the moon for a moment.

"I'm... not expected to be back for a few more hours," he said to her. "We have the night to ourselves." He gave her a cheeky grin. "So, what's on your mind, my dear?"

"Well I don't really want to ruin your birthday, so it's your choice. Consider it my second gift," She said with a huge grin.

"Ooo... choices," he said with glee. Then he smirked. "How about another kiss? This time, I think I'm ready."

"I was about to say that I just wanted you to say it," She replied while closing in on his face.

I will admit... that one part Salem mentioned did sound maybe a little suggestive. But, I managed to make it a little less than it originally sounded. And, no I'm not the one responsible for that.

Big thanks to DoomyWoomy737 for helping me with Salem in these scenes! You rock buddy!

One last call for anyone who wishes to have an OC star in Diego's past; the next chapter or two will most likely be the last of Diego explaining his past to Yang. So, if you wish to have an OC in the story, get it in! XD

Cya in the next one!