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And onto tonight's wonderful tale…~Voltegeist

Ignore him, I haven't given him a sock yet ~ Twisted

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"Where are they?" Weiss demanded, the others gathered loosely around her to begin the badgering for today after all they'd done on the previous one. The same questions, asked the same ways, and hoping for different outcomes. She slammed a palm down onto the long table, laden with food for their breakfast with more on the way thanks to Seers delivering it, and almost shrieked, "I asked you a question!"

And they all said he was insane.

"Tell them where we are, Tyrian." One of the Seers suddenly said, the Faunus straightening suddenly at the mildly amused and always half-interested in what he or others had to say. "Jaune says he wants them to know what has happened, in detail, so that they understand what he does next. So do you wish to tell them, or shall I do so in your stead? I know how bad you are with people, after all, dear Tyrian."

"I, well, if you wouldn't mind, my Mistress-"

"Of course, of course. Only, after they sit down and calm themselves." Her tone brooked no argument and, possibly hoping for any answers at all beyond the vague half-explanations and non answers he'd offered thus far, the children started to finally take seats at the long, stone table. "Get yourself some food, some drink, and ensure you are awake. This is going to be quite the conversation, I assure you."

"We don't-"

"Child." The word cracked like a whip, and finally the young Schnee balked and shrank in her seat, reminded by the Seer's malignant gaze just who, or more accurately in her mind right now what, she was speaking with. "You need to understand, right now, that Jaune has lost something precious to him. It was taken from him, for reasons that only seem reasonable to my mind. Petty revenge, for something not his fault and that he couldn't have known to even try and stop."

"Adam Taurus has murdered his mother and younger sister, and only stopped there because my Grimm intervened on their behalf to save the other twin. Taurus also saw to the destruction of the Arc Manor, its vault where the priceless and historical artefacts of his family's history were stored, and took half the settlement and all its crops with it as well. Ansel is, now, truly gone." She gave them a moment to absorb all that, and continued on, "Jaune has decided to seek out Taurus to prevent further damages do himself, and those he loves, by whatever means he deems necessary. As such, we are on our way to Menagerie, to… Inquire as to his whereabouts."

"Wasn't destroying Ironwood's fleet enough?" Ruby finally asked, voice quite and weak. "What else is he going to do, if that didn't scare him away? What will Jaune… What is he becoming?"

"A monster." Weiss whispered, eyes sharp and boring into the table, her fingers curling into fists so hard her Aura flared to keep her nails from biting into flesh and drawing blood. "A despicable monster, who takes what he wants without consideration from those too weak to stop him in his tyranny."

"What this world needs, I have found after so long on it, is not some kind and benevolent hero. Someone to sweep in, in shining silver armor, to save the day, like in fairy tales and myths of old." Salem answered quietly, for once almost sounding… Sympathetic, like she understood why this would hurt them. "A despicable monster is who united the people and eventually formed the Kingdoms, and despicable monsters have led it since. It is the nature of things, and as much as Jaune might dislike it, he has learned he can't truly change it. It's integral to being human."

"He's going to flush him out." Ren realized, eyes widening at the realization. Beside him, Nora felt his own panic and mirrored it, and the effect cascaded around the table. Even Cinder and Pyrrha seemed shocked at the idea's implications. "He's going to force Adam to come out and fight him. And the only way he would risk himself like that is…"

"Master is going to gamble on Taurus' nature as a hero." Cinder said simply, drawing surprised sounds from those at the table. "Hard, but true. Taurus envisions himself a crusader, fighting for what is right. For justice."

"I don't believe that bombings and mass murder constitute justice." Pyrrha argued, Neo next to her poking at a piece of sausage and gritting her teeth while she listened to what was said. "Much less a second Faunus War, spawned from something such as this man."

"But betting an entire Kingdom like that is…" Ruby shook her head, unsure of the right words, and eventually sighed and looked to Weiss for help.

"Foolish, naive, childishly over-simplified and hopeful?" She tried, shrugging at Ruby and looking to Salem's orb. "If he does this, will hiding here even be possible? The battle with Atlas can be swept aside with my sister's aid, and even mine if I am needed. But something like this… This kind of ploy would require Adam face a grave threat to Menagerie, not one Jaune and a handful of Grimm could pose alone.

"That is not the end of his plans." Salem pointed out quietly, the group's attention and fear snapping onto her. "In the coming days, the entirety of the world's population will know the situation they live in. And in the coming days, they will also be forced to make a decision to fight against Jaune and myself, or kneel."

"You all," she continued, "get to make that choice today, however. I shall leave you now, to decide among yourselves what you will do, while I gather my strength for Jaune's plans. If you wish to join us in ushering this in, simply let Tyrian know."

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"How'd they take it?" Jaune asked, sitting on a cliff in the wilds far south of Mistral proper. In the distance, he could just make out islands dotting the blue of the ocean. The start of the archipelagos surrounding Menagerie's smaller continent. "I'm going to make a bet that they didn't take it well."

"Be careful, Jaune, or one might accuse you of being a psychic." Salem chuckled, shaking her head and settling in next to him, the dragon far behind them watching the area for any dangers and laying down with its tail wrapped around its feet almost like a hound. "They are afraid, angry, and worried for their world and for you. But I have heard nothing of turning against you."

"They're good friends." He nodded, smiling under his helmet. "Good people, too. I'm glad to have them around, I… Don't feel like I deserve them, but I'm happy just having them near me."

"If I did not know you so well, I might think you'd used your Semblance to seize their minds." He rounded on her, and she held up a hand placatingly. "Yet I know you, so I know you did no such thing. I am merely remarking on their loyalty to you. Which is impressive, by the by, to say the absolute least. And grossly under-describe it, I rush to add as well."

"They're not that loyal."

"Are they not?" She asked coyly, sitting down next to him and smoothing out her dress. She leaned against his shoulder and he thought to pull away, but decided against it at the last moment, since it seemed to make her happy. "They tolerated and accepted you marching out to attack Ironwood, and accepted when that turned from what you wanted into the unfortunate loss of life which was that end."

"Accepted it?" He asked, snorting a bitter laugh and shaking his helmeted head. "They were furious, sickened, and felt betrayed after what happened with Ironwood. I wouldn't call that 'accepting it', personally."

"Acceptance is not approving of it wholeheartedly, Jaune." She argued simply, "They accept what had to happen, and your judgement calls. They simply, personally, disapprove of them in a large way. Or perhaps it is better to say that they disapprove of how you went about the act of solving your problems, but approve of you solving it in the general and accept that you did so because you had to."

"Seems like word games to me. I just…" He growled in frustration, and Salem raised a brow at him curiously, "I don't get it, you know? Like, I feel like they don't trust me, or they won't at least."

"What isn't to understand?" She asked, sounding amused enough to frustrate him further. She seemed to sense that, though, smiling apologetically when he turned to her and explaining, "They have faith in you, Jaune. They believe, without evidence in some ways that is true, that whatever you do will be the best that can be hoped for or achieved."

"I know, but…" He looked back at the islands and sighed, "Will that last through me taking the damn world over?"

"Perhaps." She answered, "Once they see you genuinely ending the conflicts between people, and they realize life may be better with us ruling over them. They will think us tyrants, though, doubtlessly."

"Yeah…" He took a breath before he spoke again, and Salem couldn't help the satisfied smile that crept across her lips at what he said next, "But a good tyrant could be a good thing, I guess. That's what you said, right? We can be good tyrants, and everyone will be happier and safer."

"It is what I said indeed, and I meant it as well." She nodded, "For a change of subject, how do you plan on taking Menagerie? If it simply drops off the grid in its entirety then surely, people will come looking. I've no qualms sinking their ships in the sea, of course, but… I fear you would."

"We're going to take the broadcast center, and make our announcement there with the leader of Menagerie. Then we destroy it, as a show of force." He answered simply, rolling his own eyes when hers lit up in excitement. "We'll demand Adam come and surrender and threaten to wipe out everyone there if he doesn't show himself in, like, a week or something. I don't know about that part, but it seems like a good plan to me."

"It is a good plan, and give him a day." She shrugged when he asked why, and answered, "I simply have a feeling he is in Menagerie, somewhere. I have learned to trust my intuition, and Taurus will rush here for a chance to play hero. What do you intend to do then? I assume you'll simply kill him?"

"No." Jaune growled, and even Salem was surprised at the ferocity there. The heat, the hatred, suddenly frothing forward and warping his body language in a way that shocked her. His shoulders straightened into walls of ice and hands curling into fists, the young man practically radiating anger and hatred. "I'm going to rip away everything he has ever worked for, and break him."

Salem's smile when he looked at her was thin now, and small. The corner of her mouth curving up, and her eyes searching his mask for… Something, before she demanded quietly, "Jaune, take off your helmet."

"But won't that-"

"I have a feeling, call it my intuition again if you like, but please trust me for a moment. I need to check something for myself." He hesitated still, and she sighed, "If you suffer a reaction from me, then I will make sure to get your helmet onto your head, I assure you. I just need to know something."

Grimacing, he let out a long and anxious breath, but reached up to grip the sides of his helmet regardless of the splitting headache he knew it would bring. She stiffened beside him, turning bodily to watch him, and he almost stopped to ask what she was even expecting. Instead, he grit his teeth and shoved the helmet off his head, feeling…

Curiosity, emanating from her and into him, laced with the echoes of grief, and loneliness, and a kind of pain he couldn't quite sympathise with or place. He didn't collapse, and knew that was the source of the spike of satisfaction she felt. The excitement that rushed through the ancient woman, that caused a smile to split her face that reminded him of the happiest ones he'd seen on his sisters. Usually at holidays or birthdays, when they got all the sweets and presents those brought them.

"So, Jaune." An eyebrow quirked, her smile growing even wider, and he heard for the first time her thoughts. "You are finally ready…" "Are you ready?"

"To…?" He asked, smiling at her in return. Her joy was infectious, as emotions always were around him, and it was easy to lose himself in the emotions newly emanating from her. To feel the age in them, the centuries trickling through her and into him.

"To become a King, of course, Jaune." "My King, at that… Finally." She held up a hand, a small creature like an insect crawling along her arm and settling into her palm. Beady red eyes settled on his blue ones as the creature regarded him, the blonde looking at Salem curiously. "A very special creature, with a very special power and a very special gift to grant. A gift destined to you, Jaune."

"What will it do to me?" He asked cautiously, looking at the creature again. It looked kind of like a spider, sort of, he guessed. More Grimm though, obviously. "Will it… Make me like you?"

"Like me?" She asked, the blonde gesturing at his face awkwardly and eliciting a laugh from her. "Silly young man…" "I knew what you meant, Jaune, I was only teasing. I am sorry, I'm just so…" "Elated, shocked, relieved-" "Happy. That you are ready. And yes, in years to come, your body will have changed into one like mine. A side-effect of the immortality, I am afraid."

"I…" He swallowed, met her eyes, and smiled almost bitterly, "I did swear to you, didn't I? That I would do this, when the time came."

"Yes. And that when your woman passed, you would be mine. I will not alter our agreement, to do so would be dishonest. And of everything, I am not that." "A monster I may be, but an honest one at least." He reached for the creature, and she smiled, closing her fist around it. "One last thing, Jaune… Before you take this burden, I want you to experience something."

Her other hand lanced out, grabbing his outstretched one and raising it to her forehead, pressing his palm there and closing her eyes, whispering, "A gift of experience and sensations, Jaune, and I don't know how else to phrase that to make you understand. My most precious of memories, so you know what I am and was." "Reach into me, and they are yours…"

"You'd trust me that much…?" He asked, receiving a simple nod of confirmation and shaking his head. "I don't know how to… How to look at memories like that, Salem. How to find them. I could hurt you, warp you, without even trying to."

"I trust you." She said, and he sensed that she meant it. "I can guide you to what I want to show you, Jaune. What I want you to experience." "To share." "I have wanted this since I found you and your Semblance, and knew I could."

Nodding, he closed his eyes and… Reached.

He felt her mind give in to him, as all did when he forced himself into them, and the cacophony that followed thundered into and through him like a rolling explosion that slammed into him with all the force of a typhoon. Then…. Something wrapped around him, a presence that shielded him from the overwhelming memories, feelings, desires and needs.

Salem, he knew without asking, protecting him from being overwhelmed by her sheer presence. Like his helmet that she had provided, twice in fact she rushed to remind him, his first had been destroyed. She tugged at his mind and, pulling him further into her own mind and through it to somewhere else entirely. Or, he could only describe it that way, the sensation of moving here was weird. She beckoned him to follow, and he willed it to happen, and so his mind moved in ways that he didn't understand.

The movement was natural, though, and a moment later, his eyes opened once again, looking around himself curiously and at least slightly confusedly. Around him, trees stretched in every direction, dwarfed by his own massive, powerful body. He shifted to look down, and blinked in surprise at what he saw.

Himself, and Salem, sitting on the cliff with his head in her lap and the woman stroking his hair. She sensed, through their connection, his shock and looked up at him, smiling, "This is my most precious thing, Jaune. Do you understand?"

He did, and though he couldn't say it he knew she understood. Rising was awkward, but only when he thought about it. Once he let go, it was natural, the way the dragon's body - his body - moved, the way the weight settled on his legs as he reared high and rested on his haunches, his tail slashing behind him and throwing trees aside without even the slightest effort. He spread his wings, and did what came most naturally.

His roar scattered birds in the trees around him, and he felt his rage and sorrow wash through the beast and into the roar, raising his wings into the air and leaping.

Then he was flying, climbing higher and higher into the air and making wide circles as he did, looking around. To one side, in the distance over the green of trees and the browns of mountains and hills, he could distantly make out Mistral's southernmost parts. To the other, he could see Menagerie, the small settlement that was the 'Kindgom' clinging to its edge on one side. Pressed against the water, with low mountains warding off the wandering Grimm, he knew the truth that he suspected applied to every Kingdom of Man and Faunus.

The paltry mountains would mean nothing should Salem decide to obliterate them. These places, and the people there, lived because she wished it and for no other reason whatsoever. The Man in him disliked that, felt almost trapped and oppressed by it, and raged at him to fight against that fate. Demand freedom, fight for it, and take it for himself with his own hands and blade.

The Grimm in him, though, revelled in it for the moment it cared. The power they held over so many, the power Salem held more accurately. Absolute, terrifying, insurmountable and nearly god-like in magnitude, and especially so when he compared it to anything Humans and Faunus could manage.

And then, neither parts cared anymore, his wings carrying him ever higher into the sky. He continued on, ever higher, until the sky darkened and he felt his body chilling in the cold air. Frost cracked when his shoulders moved, and he blinked, breathing in air so cold he felt it could kill him.

And then he was back, staring at Salem's stomach and blinking sleepily, and she chuckled, "I pulled you out of the dragon before you flew too high and killed the creature on accident, my Icarus." "Though freezing and burning are different."

"I… That was… Amazing, I don't…" He sat up, raising his hands and looking at them, then up to see the dot high above that was the dragon. "I don't think the words exist, to describe that."

"That is why you needed that helmet. To protect you from everything the courses through me, through my mind. A connection to the Grimm around me, and around my Seers. I had to shield you from a lot of it still, and you will have some adjusting to do when you convert, so you may deal with them." She explained, smiling and standing, pulling him up with her and taking a deep breath. "Magnificent, aren't they? The Grimm, I mean."

"I…" He paused, and chuckled, "Yeah, they are. I never would have… Never would have even thought about them like that, not until now."

"I doubt you would have." She agreed, holding out the insect for him once again. "Now, gather your wits, and prepare yourself, my new Knight. With this, you will grow ever stronger, and the Grimm will bow to you as they do to me."

"How do I…?" The creature fell into his palm, blinked at him, and then bit down on his hand. His Aura flared and he winced, and then the creature was a wisp of smoke scattering through the air. "Uh… Did it-"

"Yes." She answered, the dragon swooping low over them to land again, shaking its might head and looking at him curiously. He met its eyes and it snorted, and Salem continued speaking, "It will take some time, probably a year, before you feel anything beyond the ability to command my Grimm. Your Semblance is, for now at the least, safe." "I'm not so foolish as to throw away that kind of power in our situation."

"Then let's get started." She nodded at his words, and reached a hand out to order the dragon to them. But Jaune stopped her, turning to it himself and shouting, "Hey, big guy! We need a lift."

The dragon thrummed, kneeling low so they could clamber up, and Salem smiled. Both at his command of the beast, so natural and assured in a way she had not matched for centuries, and also at what was about to happen. The glory to come, for her and him both. Her, the Queen of the Grimm. And her King, stronger than her in every way that mattered. And the look he gave her told her he knew that as well as she did. And that was good.

He wouldn't be worthy of her side if that wasn't the case, after all.

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So, this story is finally coming to an ending arc, after so gods damn long that I can scarcely comprehend and accept it as true. These next few chapters are going to be the last few, and… Gods has this been a long, long story. Ups, downs, and so much change in the year and a half or so I have been working on this story. Almost working straight through, too, thanks to all of you supporting me. Your Reviews, your readership, the Supporters that have come to this story and supported me for writing it and to help me continue it. During the writing of this chapter, I read the reviews for this story. Laughed, cried actually, and smiled all the while in a way I never do.

This story, and you all, have helped me through dark times. Pain, deaths in the family, lost jobs, depression, injuries and two moves. I have my own home, I have confidence in my writing - though I am not cocky or arrogant enough to think it perfect, I still want to better myself in every way - and I have all of you behind me.

Thank you all, every last one of you, from the absolute bottom of my Twisted heart. I will never forget this time for as long as I live. Know that, no matter what comes, you are my Twisted Ones as far as I am concerned.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and see you next week with the Menagerie chapter.

Special shoutouts, thanks, and affection to :

Mika, The Impossible Muffin, Couer al Aran (for the original idea, in Telepathy, so long ago), Blartibus, Blaseing Fire, Smokey Panda, Bukkake No Jutsu, Duplicate User Name, Zenith Tempest, Spudy Potato, Gizmo Gear, Hikari Niwa, and all my supporters. And of course, a very special one for my editor - who didn't do this chapter, so that he could get this surprise - Voltegeist.

~ Twisted, with True Affection and Gratitude

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The Impossible Muffin :

A lot of this story is actually based on the song by Sabaton, A Lifetime of War, as seen above. Damned if it doesn't fit, though, and a good jam too.

Death Trooper 900 :

This is the culmination of all of that, actually. I hope you enjoyed it.

Curious Inquiry :

Somewhat, yes, in how I wrote him specifically in words and actions. But honestly, I hold that philosophy in mind in almost every story. The greatest villains think themselves the hero, after all.

And the best ones show that. Lookin' at you, Thanos.

Blaseing Fire :

Very well. Your conspiracy theories are somewhat right. Not entirely, but somewhat. Salem wants him to understand, to relate, to her. So that he'll tolerate what she is, and come down the road towards her. It's not so twisted as you might have thought, truly, though I see why you would think it.

So in short, kinda yeah. In long, only in a manner of speaking. I genuinely hope that answers your question.

Smokey Panda :

Oh, boy, I am going to do things to Adam… Ho ho ho, you may even think I did too much, in the end, to him. Let's just say 'Come to Jaune' meeting and leave it at that, shall we?

Blartibus :

That is an excellent summation of events, actually. Everyone, check his chapter twenty-two review to see it. I would paste it here, but that would be kinda rude. Hats off, Blartibus.

Mich Mech :

I'm glad I managed that successfully. She is… Hard to find a way to get some kind of humanity into her. Even some stories that try seem to imply that she is less human and more… Focused on something and feigning Humanity to get it.

Here, her hurt and human needs are what drives her to do things.

Follower 38 :

Oh trust me, mate, he won't be stoppin' at Menagerie.