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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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Overwhelming Menagerie had been child's play, their only defences had been two small frigates in the natural bay and the guard they could muster, and by the time that had even been gathered his dragon had landed on the beach and the frigates had been beached by three massive Grimm serpents, turned on their sides so that rope, wooden detritus, scattered and varied weapons and frightened crew tumbled off into the sand on either side of his great, Grimm dragon. The more able-bodied crew, and those not trembling in fright in the sands, scrambled to get others to safety while the sea serpents reared behind the vessels and hissed threateningly.

Even they were terrified, of course. He could sense it in the crew, the three ranks of shield and spear-armed guards in light armor, and the civilians cowering even further back from there. The sight of four more serpents kept what fishing ships and trade vessels had been in the water from making a run for it, and at his order, began gently nudging the ships towards the sand or docks to force them to land. Whichever was closer.

Mixed into and just behind the line of regular fighters - no more than a hundred or two themselves and trembling with weapons in hand so badly that he could almost hear the weapons shaking - he saw a smattering of bright colors, varied armors and outlandish weapons of Hunters. Only around a dozen, and some armed with little more than basic mecha-shifting rifles, or off-handing a small arm and carrying a blade, but enough to cause a problem for him and turn this into a blood bath if he wasn't careful of them. Hunters were, typically, cocky and self-assured even when frightened or backed into a corner, and even though when he focused on them he sensed fear he knew it wouldn't matter if a fight started. They'd fight to the last man.

Behind them, bare-chested and wearing heavy pants and metal forearm armor, stood a man Jaune assumed to be the leader. He was impressively large, even from here, and he saw several fighters - Hunters and regulars both, and even civilians in the background - glance to him anxiously and then calm when he smiled and nodded to them. . He was a commanding man, and able to lead even now, with just a glance and a nod?

Impressive, and it kind of made Jaune jealous of the man's ability.

Behind him, nearer to the civilians, a woman and two robed men stood, seemingly arguing and consoling the civilians in turns. They listened to the woman, he could tell from their thoughts and the cascading reactions more than anything else, but on her he could only let out a pained whisper to match the face and name dominating the woman's thoughts when he focused down on her, "Blake…"

The cause of so much pain and war, and all she ever did was try and save lives. Al she'd ever wanted was peace, and she'd caused war. Albeit indirectly, but still. She'd fought for Faunus kind, and died for it, and that had set off a chain of events leading to his conquest of their homeland... There was a bitter irony there, but he'd make sure that they got their equality. He owed that to Blake, at least.

"So, my sweet king to be, what is your plan now?" "Aside from hiding behind my dragon's shoulders, that is." He turned slightly, kneeling between the beast's shoulder-blades, to look at Salem just behind him. She smiled knowingly, still more than pleased about their realization before and just as pleased to be doing what they were, and added, "If you do not act soon, they will likely panic and attack. It will be hard to calm them after that." "Or appear as benevolent as you wish, for that matter."

"Just… Trying to pick the right words." He sighed, shaking his head and looking at the woman for a suggestion.

"Don't try and pick out the right words, Jaune." She answered with an uncaring but honest shrug, "Speak frankly, with clear intentions, and make your demands. They aren't exactly in a position to defy you, though I would note that distress calls have been sent from their paltry CCT here into Mistral. I have contacts and agents there who have received instructions from Watts to delay the reactions however they can."

"How? You don't have a Seer with you, I'd sense it. Especially now, since I can, you know, use my Semblance with you around."

"It's a plan we've had for a while, Jaune. Watts' contacts would have found out about this and contacted him first, and he knows what to do." "Even if he may be confused as to why it is happening now." She shrugged, smoothing out a winkle in her gown absently and smiling pleasantly at the information and the implication behind it. The dragon thrummed in response, and he rolled his eyes. "Hurry now, Jaune, before you end up the cause of a battle. I don't mind the bloodletting, but I know you do."

"I… Follow my lead, I guess? Be ready for my signal, and make a good entrance for me." He grimaced, itching at the short hair that had formed a young beard on his chin anxiously. She nodded and he murmured a thanks, and then stood.

Using the dragon's spines and armor as grips and handholds, he started scaling the creature towards its head, and he could sense Salem's curiosity along with her order for the dragon to still so that he would be hidden.

"I hope this works… I really don't want to have to hurt anyone I don't have to." Except anyone that got in the way of him getting to Taurus. They would either move, or be moved, and he couldn't bring himself to care.

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"We've beaten bigger than this before, ladies and gentleman. Remember the Faunus Rights Revolution! Where we faced down the might of Remnant's Kingdoms and prevailed!" Ghira bellowed, staring up at the maw of the dragon leering down at them. Conscious of the eyes on him, he spread his arms wide and bellowed up at the might beast, "Well? What are you waiting for? Did you come here to surrender?"

"No, I came to let you surrender." A voice called, and Ghira blinked as the head descended, his warriors instinctively backing away as the head curled on the sand, a man standing atop it and holding a spine on its head for support, face a storm of emotions and eyes gazing past all his men to Ghira himself, "I am Jaune Arc, and I have come to demand that Menagerie kneel to me and my companion, and surrender Adam Taurus into my custody."

"Adam…" Ghira turned, looking to the Albain brothers, and they exchanged wary glances before giving him unsure glances. Turning back, Ghira bellowed out to be heard over the distance, "Why should we give you Adam Taurus? I don't know where he is, but I need to know-"

"He attacked my home, Ansel, unprovoked and without warning." Jaune interrupted him, taking a step off the dragon's head and dropping the three feet off its armor to the sand, sinking to his knees and rising before continuing, "He burned our fields, destroyed Arc Manor and the Vault, and most importantly he-"

Ghira's eyes narrowed when the blonde seemed to choke, looking away and grinding his teeth before looking back at him and finishing, "He murdered my mother, and my kid sister, in cold blood. And he would have taken my other sister's life, too, if my companion hadn't sent her Grimm to their rescue."

"Your companion can control the Grimm?" Ghira asked, more out of shock then anything else, taking three long strides to the back of the armored line of fighters and laying his hand on a shoulder.

"Salem!" He shouted, raising a hand high into the air as the dragon behind him trilled, almost like it was reacting to the name. He thought for the briefest second that, maybe, the companion was the dragon itself. Until it began to turn, throwing up water and sand as it moved and Jaune finished, "Queen of the Grimm, and my ally as well as my companion."

A woman stood atop it, the creature kneeling its entire body down into the sand and water, wing serving as steps as she came down. Pale, with black and red eyes, and dark veins that spider-webbed across her face and hands, she looked like a Grimm. The way she moved was regal and lithe, gown flowing around her like liquid darkness itself, the perfect image of a woman who was called 'Queen of the Grimm'. And absolutely terrifying, fear raging right to his heart, hammering away in his chest frantically at the mere sight of her stepping onto the sands of Menagerie. His sands, he reminded himself, but her mere presence evoked doubt at that reminder.

Menagerie wasn't his any more, he knew. His forces couldn't stand, even with Mistral and the White Fang, against someone who could beckon on the Grimm at any given moment. His only hope was that Mistral could evacuate his people, but he needed-

"Mistral will not be coming, not in time." Jaune said loudly, staring straight at Ghira as he said it. Like the idea had been plucked from his very mind. As he thought that, Jaune smiled widely and nodded, and Ghira's mouth ran dry, even as Jaune spoke to the rest of those around him, "I would speak to you, Ghira Belladonna, in private, to discuss whatever comes next man to man."

"As you wish." He answered, throat dry, "Please, will you-"

"The Grimm stay where they are, and ensure no one leaves this island." Jaune answered, striding towards the center of the assembled fighter's lines without fear. Salem followed right behind him, smiling cruelly all the while, and Ghira felt eyes land on him. Jaune stopped just in front of the wall of spears, tips trembling at Salem's presence, and asked, "Or do you want to fight right now instead?"

"No!" Ghira assured him, pushing in between soldiers and forcing a hole open for the two to step through. He held a hand for them, like a man gesturing for a lady to head through a door, and even forced a smile as he made to follow them, "I will speak to Corsac and Fennec and find out where-"

"They know where he is." Jaune assured him, stopping halfway there and turning, whispering to him, "Order them to come as well, Ghira. I have a plan for this process of events, and if you listen to me, I promise that you will understand everything and no one will get hurt that matters."

"Matters…?"

"I am going to kill Adam, that is a fact." Jaune answered, stepping close to be sure none could hear, almost close enough that Ghira could have crushed him in a hug if he wished to. And Jaune knew that too, somehow, judging from his small smile, "I don't want to hurt anyone, I promise. I'd say to trust me, but…"

"I don't have a choice. Right, yeah, I see that." Ghira nodded, hands on hips as he sighed, shaking his head and then raising his voice so all could hear, "Corsac, Fennec, you are representatives of the White Fang. Adam is accused of a war crime and murder, do you know where he is?"

"No, Chieftain, we don't." Fennec answered, bowing his head alongside his brother almost reverently in apology. "I shall see to finding him, though, if you but-"

"Then you two can come and talk to me instead." Jaune interrupted, the two Faunus flinching at the statement and exchanging wary glances. Smiling, Jaune asked, "Unless that would be a problem for some reason?"

"Of course not, Master Jaune Arc." The smallest one practically purred, bowing so low that even Ghira knew it was a sly insult. Jaune, though, seemed to either ignore it or not notice, and simply nodded and turned to Ghira, a silent request to lead on.

Not that he had much choice, of course, looking at the dragon on his beach as it rumbled threateningly and he sighed, "Yeah, right this way."

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The moment the six stepped through the door into the manor, Jaune rounded on Fennec, using his Semblance to hurl him bodily to the side and into a wall. The small Faunus crumpled, and Jaune sensed without needing to look when Salem slammed a hand into the other's stomach and drove them to their knees, hacking violently while Ghira put himself between the woman and the two attackers.

"I'm sorry, Mister Belladonna. Give me a minute to finish up here and I swear I'll explain myself to you in detail, anything you want to know." The man flinched at the sincerity there, and Jaune sensed his surprise as he knelt and spoke to Salem, "Make sure Fennec doesn't go anywhere, please? Corsac might not know everything I need, and I need the pair for the next step."

"Mister Belladonna…." "You knew our daughter, didn't you?" Surprisingly, but only just for Jaune, it was the woman who spoke - Khali was her name, Ghira had suddenly gasped it when she'd spoken - and Jaune nodded at the question. The woman grimaced, looking at the downed Faunus, and then asked, "What happened to our daughter? What exactly happened?" "Those two won't say, but if he knew her…"

"Adam Taurus was going to send a train full of explosives into Vale from Mountain Glenn, to cause a breach and let the Grimm into the city to wreak havoc." Jaune answered, laying his hand on either side of Corsac's head, pushing into his mind and forcing him to still, cutting off every signal his mind tried to send to make his body move while Salem pinned the other with a boot on his chest. "Blake… Shoved me off the train's landing, and boarded it herself as it made to depart. Then she blew the Dust all at once, killing herself to save Vale."

"She saved…" Khali's voice trembled, and he sensed her shock, the woman storming to Fennec's side and completely ignoring Salem, the Grimm Queen smiling in amusement as she slammed a kick into the man's side, nearly screaming at him and almost breaking a rib from the force, "You bastards said Vale killed her! You lied to us!"

Silently, Jaune forced his mind into Corsac's, pushing aside his will and what little resistant he could mount - nothing compared to Cinder's own will, to be damned certain - and then overriding it, searching his memories, and then smiling, "You do know where Adam is. Perfect."

Now, he pulled Corsac's mind up, and then apart, shattering it into a thousand shards and then grabbing the ones he needed to keep the Faunus alive and discarding the rest. Next, he pieced those together, making a loose 'mind' to base everything around and then integrating memory, and replacing Corsac's wills with Jaune's own, and enforcing a strict obedience into him as he'd done to Cinder. Made and then unmade by Jaune's hands, and then warped into nothing but a puppet of Jaune's and released to serve his ends and for no other purpose or desire.

"Corsac is dead," Jaune said, sensing Fennec's panic as he stood, and then smiling at the confusion when Corsac did so as well. Jaune turned, the Faunus standing behind him and gazing uncaringly at his brother while Jaune spoke, "I only need one of you, which sucks for you, Fennec. Salem, would you mind?"

"W-What have you done, you horrible mon-" His words died in a gurgle as Salem's heel slammed down into it with enough force to crush the tile under him and make his Aura shatter and turned to Jaune without another care, leaving the choking Faunus to die and nodding politely at him.

"He's all you need, then?" "I suppose you must, you wouldn't have had me kill him if not." She asked, the blonde nodding while she hummed and turned to regard Ghira and Khali, the large man inching towards his wife who very suddenly seemed to remember what Salem was, and grew afraid at that. "Very well. You, Faunus, could you see to getting us some tea? I find I am rather thirsty, and tea from Menagerie always tastes so fine."

"O-Of course, yes." Ghira said quickly, sounding and feeling terrified in equal measure to Jaune's enhanced senses, forcing an anxious smile and gesturing behind him, "Please, just follow me to the tea room. Khali, would you mind-"

"Of course!" "Who in the god's names asks for tea after killing someone like that?" She agreed quickly, giving Salem and the freshly dead Albain a berth to head into the manor quickly, anxious to be away from both of them in equal measure. She disappeared through a doorway with a shout of, "I'll get some boiling right away!"

"Corsac, take your brother and sneak away from the manor." Jaune ordered, turning to the puppeted Faunus who hummed in response, raising an eyebrow and smiling pleasantly at Jaune speaking to him. "Go to Taurus, and tell him that Ghira wishes to speak with him secretly. Tell him to sneak into the manor, armed, to work with him to kill me. A show of support from the Chieftain, if you think that will convince him."

"Using yourself to bait him into a trap." Salem said, as much a compliment in itself as an explanation to Ghira, who looked more than a little shell shocked by the very rapid string of events. "Clever, Jaune. Very, very clever indeed." "And rather dangerous as well, if this man decides to act on that idea himself and strike you down."

"Ghira, I think you and I need to have a bit of a talk." He said simply, understanding Salem's fears. Ghira could very easily decide to attack him, and the Grimm might not reach him in time to help. That would almost definitely mean he'd die, and Menagerie with him. "About Blake, and what happened to me, and what's going to happen to Menagerie. As well as the rest of Remnant."

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"Have even a single one of you considered what will happen if you fight him, young ladies and man?" Tyrian asked, blocking the lowered ramp up and into the Bullhead they'd hoped to steal, arms crossed and smiling widely. The young Hunters exchanged glances, but didn't answer right away, so Tyrian hummed, "I thought not. The short answer is, you will get a lot of people killed who don't need to die."

"We can't just let Jaune start a war with the Kingdoms." Ren argued simply, the other three assembled behind him with weapons half-ready. They knew a fight with Tyrian would not go their way, of course, the readying was more instinct than anything else. "What would that say about us?"

"The young God-to-be is not starting anything, young man. He's ending two wars, three if you want to argue about it. The White Fang declared their little war on everyone years ago, the Schnee can attest to that one personally." Tyrian argued with a shrug, Weiss making a pained face at the statement but not contesting it. "Then there's the war between Man and Grimm, which he is also ending, even if you don't like that ending."

"Of course we want the Grimm to stop killing people!" Ruby interrupted, "But that doesn't mean we want that… That thing of a woman to take over the fricking world!"

"That thing is more powerful than every last snivelling one of you combined! And she is the only reason I haven't gutted each and every last pathetic one of you ungrateful little shits!" He snarled, tail flicking behind him as he stepped towards them and spread his hands threateningly. After a second, he sighed and shook his head, "She won't forgive you if you kill them, be patient…"

"Do you want the killing to stop, girl?" Ruby nodded nervously, and Tyrian smiled, "Then dear girl, celebrate! The killing will, in a short enough time, truly and completely come to an end. At least the kind we see now, the kind where whole villages are razed, every last pathetic little inhabitant torn to shreds, dashed upon the stones of their burning homes."

"It doesn't sound like you have any problems with how things are now…" Nora accused, hand tightening around her weapon's grip. He shrugged and nodded, making an amused face as if to say 'fair enough'. "So why stop us from going? If you really think we'd make this drag out and get people killed, you should want us to go."

"Ah, someone who understands me, and asks the real questions! My, but you are a rare kind to find, my sweet." Nora recoiled at the almost intimate term, but Tyrian moved on to answer her almost without noticing, "You see, I would prefer things stay the same. But ultimately, all I care for is what my Goddess decrees to be. If she says that I should seek peace, then that is what I must do, just as surely as if she says that a village needs to fall then it must be made the case that is has fallen."

"So you just do whatever you say? Like a hound, called by his master whenever his master needs amusement?" Weiss asked, barbing at him almost on reflex, but flinching when his head snapped to her and his tail flicked threateningly over his shoulder.

"I am her hound, yes." He nodded, smirking at her and wagging the tail up and down as much in threat and in a joking way. "And I am loyal as one, little Snowflake. A loyal dog, with orders to keep you here and safe. Not unharmed," he added with a low, threatening chuckle, "but safe."

"And if we try to get past you by force?" Ren asked, eyes narrowing at the man.

"Then I shall stop you." He answered with an uncaring shrug, almost smiling hopefully at the idea of it. "Broken bones would do the job, as well as rope and ties, and I even have a type of venom in my tail that will put you to sleep for some time. Do you all have any preferences, then?"

When none stepped forward, he chuckled, and his smile fell, "I thought as much. You know, if you would just trust in him, and give him a chance, then maybe you'd find the world he and my Goddess make to be better than this one."

"How?" Ruby asked quietly, watching the man relax from his fighting stance into a more comfortable one with his arms crossed.

"Think on it, young Rose." He said, tapping his nose with a small smile - at the 'young Rose' name or her question, she wasn't sure. "Imagine a world where the Grimm don't slaughter and maim, and instead serve as Salem's watchdogs. A world where terrorism is seen by a thousand eyes, and stopped by tooth and claw. Where all are equal and made to be so, no more hatred based on sex, or Kingdom, or race," he flicked his tail once at that last bit, to emphasize his point, "because my Goddess doesn't care for such petty things, and young Jaune won't tolerate them."

"A utopian dream, it sounds." Weiss started, eyes narrowing beside her partner, "And all it requires is for the world to kneel to the Grimm."

"Is that truly so much worse than the way things are now?" Tyrian asked, sighing and stepping aside, waving an arm at the Bullhead he'd stood before previously, "In a lot of ways, you already do kneel to the Grimm. The Grimm decide where you settle, decide who lives and who dies, and enforce their will wherever they need to. If you truly wish nothing but more purposeless killing, then be my guest."

"You're letting us go?" Weiss asked, surprised at the sudden gesture.

"I am calling your bluff." He corrected, smiling even wider than before, as impossible as that seemed. "You go out there, and Kingdoms will burn. Unless you think that any one of them, or even all of them, could face down the armies of my Goddess. I suppose that would mean you also think that what happened against Atlas was a mere fluke."

None of them did, and he knew that, smiling pleasantly even before Weiss backed down and sighed. Ren was the next to fold, and Nora with him, before finally Ruby gave in and they turned to head back to their quarters. Chuckling as he watched them leave, Tyrian gave a pat to one of his pockets, inside which sat the sparkers for the Dust that gave the craft lift, and then made to follow after them.

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Adam arrived barely an hour and a half later, Ghira waiting outside in the garden for him to show up and then leading him in, towards the tea room. He sensed them both, the ball of vitriol, hatred and rage that was Adam and the much more anxious feeling Ghira with him. Adam suspected nothing, and seemed not to be on guard but instead seemed excited about what was coming.

Which was a good enough confirmation that Ghira had kept his word, so he turned to Salem where she sat at the table with Khali, enjoying warm tea, and said, "Taurus is close by, on his way. I'd ask if you were ready, but… You kind of trash everyone, don't you?"

"Yes." She answered with a thin, toothy smile, "I do."

He nodded, leaning against the wall by the door and waiting, watching the two women drink tea together diplomatically, if not entirely pleasantly, talking. Even if Khali seemed anxious and frightened of the Grimm-Queen, she had the courage not to terribly show it and force herself to sit and keep company with Salem. And honestly, that was kind of impressive, given the displays Salem had already put on for her.

"-here, he's resting while we look for you. We can take him together, if you want." The words were spoken low enough to hide from someone who was supposed to be sleeping and with a wall between them, but Jaune wasn't sleeping. He was leaning against the only wall between them, next to the open door, and waiting on Adam.

"He's mine, and mine alone, Chieftain." "And he'll pay for what he did." Jaune had to resist a snort at the cock sure attitude, but he did let himself smile and wave a hand at Khali to move away from Salem. He heard Adam draw his sword, and saw the man step around the corner confidently and raise it to strike, and then freeze with his back to him as Salem rose. "Who are-"

The table left the ground with Salem's foot and flew at him, forcing Adam's attention on her and the table, his sword coming down to cleave through the wood as he stepped back for space. Jaune took the opportunity and dover forward, driving his shoulder into the shocked man's back, driving him into Salem's open palmed strike into the center of his chest. The air left him in a rush, and he swung his sword weakly at Salem, who caught the arm holding it and wrenched him around to face Jaune, slamming a foot into the back of his leg and forcing him to his knees.

Before he could try anything, Jaune's hands fell on the sides of his head, splaying among his hair and under his horns and dominating his body through his mind, ending whatever fight the man had and growling, "You wanted me, Taurus, and here I am. What now?"

"I-I'll… k-kill you, Human. For Blake-"

"For yourself, that's what you really mean." Jaune growled angrily, kneeling in front of the man and releasing his head, the man unable to move his limbs now. Plucking the mask from his face, Jaune smirked into angry brown eyes, and said, "I know what you wanted, Adam. Why you're so angry at me for Blake's death, even though her death is your fault. She died stopping you, Adam."

"No, she-"

"No." His hand clamped down on the side of Adam's head, robbing the man of his speech with a thought, the Semblance's power coming easily to him while he smiled viciously. "Taurus, I came here to punish you, and end what you started. Not for a fucking debate. You destroyed my home, killed my mother and my sister. A child, and you stabbed her right through the back."

"And now," he finished, smiling as he started the this time purposefully slow and painful slow process of subsuming Adam's mind, disassembling it one agonizing piece at a time so he could feel himself being disassembled, broken down into each tiny piece of himself and watching it be warped and twisted into what Jaune desired, "I know exactly what to do to you to make you pay for what you did."

Smiling even more widely, he began reshaping the man's mind as he'd done to Corsac only a few short hours ago in the the Chieftain's main entryway, but with one special thing he took care to do. Adam would remain conscious the entire time he lived, without a will of his own. A prisoner in even his own body.

"You want to stand on top of the world, and you will." Jaune explained, sensing the panic and pain rushing through Adam's mind while his face twisted in reaction to both and his arms trembled from the experiences, "Right behind me, as my sworn servant. That should get the White Fang on my side, if one of their own is my guardian."

"You can leave, Ghira." He offered to the man and his wife after a second thought crossed his mind, "I don't think you'll enjoy seeing this, so wait for me somewhere else. I'll come and find you with my new bodyguard later."

Neither said anything, of course, either frightened or resigned - probably both, really - and left without another word.

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Talon Ibn La Ahad :

Never too late to hop on the ride, friendo~!

The Impossible Muffin :

In fairness, it's meant to not be something stated, but shown. And some missed it, but that's a problem with that style of writing on such an important facet of the story. Jaune understand Salem and gets pushed and pushed and pushed and never let be, and these two things combine.

Everyone assumes things about him, or pushes him to do what they want with no regard for what he himself wants. Salem understand him though, and he understands her and gets what she wants.

Death Trooper 900 :

Eh, a little of both, I think.

Blaseing Fire :

I mean, I'm out of chapters, so you deserve a good, solid explanation on things. Even if I am still kind of subtle about it, to annoy you a bit because I'm kind of a dick sometimes, you see.

Kill Kill 123100 :

Same here, my dude, same here.

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Thanks to everyone for reading, I am truly thankful to each and every last one of you. You've taught me so much over these years, and given me so much support. But I ranted about that last chapter, so…

See you next time, Twisted Ones.