Author's note: And now, a shocking revelation about the sea dragons.
Also, happy new year, everyone.
Ruby's group met in General Ironwood's office and told him what they had been doing. After their explanation, General Ironwood took a bit to process the information, but stayed calm, whereas Winter and Whitley seemed completely shocked.
"So, you two can fuse with shark souls to turn into mermaids," James said, "That will definitely help us deal with the aquatic Grimm. And based on your reports, it seems you are quite capable of dealing with them."
"Well, not real mermaids," Weiss said, "Mermaids are pretty."
"I have actually done a lot of research into that topic," Blake said, "And the only requirements for a mermaid are that they have a female humanoid torso and a fish tail for legs. Though some also have the tail of an aquatic mammal, like a dolphin."
"Doesn't matter," General Ironwood said, "What matters is that you two can help us deal with the aquatic Grimm, as well as that thing out there."
"Yeah, what is that anyway?" Nora asked.
"According to Sirena's book, it's called a sea dragon," Ruby answered, and everyone looked at Sirena.
"I suppose I can explain," Sirena said, pulled out her scroll and made a holographic image of a sea dragon appear over General Ironwood's desk.
"Does it have to look so scary?" Yang asked.
"That is a baby, the adults look scary," Sirena answered, "The most recent appearance of a sea dragon left me quite baffled myself, so I sent Sophie's swarm to investigate and gather information on the situation. Luckily her devotion to the silver eyes made her immune to the singing tree's hypnotic abilities. She told me that there were signs of waste. That is terrible news."
"What kind of waste?" General Ironwood asked.
"Leftover parts of the pilot," Sirena answered, "Tiny fibers, sure, but it is still alarming. No creature in the deep sea would be so wasteful. Based on Weiss' accounts, I can deduce that there are already three eggs, which will hatch within the next five months."
"Why is this a bad thing?" General Ironwood asked and said, "The leftover pieces, that is."
"Because it shows that there is more food than they need," Sirena answered, "And that, in turn, means that the population will increase at an explosive rate."
"How about we do it like they did in the second movie?" Qrow asked and said, "You know, take an egg, bring it to the surface, but this time, don't die."
"Can we please stop with those movies?" Yang asked.
"It also wouldn't work," Sirena said, "Sea dragons have a hereditary memory, meaning that they remember everything their ancestors knew. They know what humans did to them, and if one learns to use aura, all of their descendants will instinctively know how to use their aura as well."
"Then, what if we take it out of the water?" General Ironwood asked, "Then it can't hatch, right?"
"Wrong," Sirena answered, "Sea dragons can adapt to any environment. Taking an egg out of the water would only delay the hatching, as the hatchling would have to adapt to a more terrestrial lifestyle, but it would still hatch. And then we'd have an amphibian creature at our hands. And within a year, that amphibian would start laying eggs on land, returning the species to the land and skies."
"Wait, hold on," Yang said and asked, "Are you telling me that we'd get real life dragons?"
"That would be so cool," Nora said and asked, "Can I get mine in pink?"
"How do we train those things?" Winter asked.
"What do they eat?" General Ironwood asked.
"How screwed would we be?" Qrow asked.
"Finally someone asks the right questions," Sirena said and answered, "Dragons were created by the god of light to look over his other creations. As such, they will not listen to anyone but themselves. Also, since early human heroes almost wiped out the entire species for fame and riches, driving them into the ocean, they have some strong feelings for humanity. Mostly loathing, but some may also feel hatred towards mankind. They are the best of the best. Their scales are impenetrable to all natural weapons aside from dragon claws or teeth, their senses trump all others, and their speed and agility is also the best in the world. Also, each dragon is capable of laying a fully fertilized egg at one year old, and produces a new one every six months. All things considered, a single dragon that went unnoticed could end up causing the destruction of the world within our lifetime."
"Alright, we'll come back to that later," Ruby said, "But now we need to get ready. The election is in a few days. One side will lose, which means there will be problems. We have to be ready for whatever comes." The group split up again, and everyone went to do their own thing.
~o~
At night, Unakite was sneaking through the natural historical museum of Atlas, using her Glamour semblance to get past the guards unnoticed. She made her way into a large room with three pedestals in it, which had three different colored angel's tears on them. Unakite reverted back to just Ruby, and a red portal opened next to her. Using her silver eyes, she disintegrated the Beowolf that Sirena had tossed through it, simultaneously copying the semblances of the three angel's tears. When she heard a security guard approach, Ruby burst into rose petals and disappeared into a vent.
~o~
The next day, Bumblebee and Arkos were sparring in the training room. Bumblebee melted the floor and made several glass javelins fly towards Arkos. Arkos leaned back and dodged the attacks, moving so fast that they turned into a blur. Bumblebee made several projectiles come back, trying to hit Arkos in the back. Arkos made a barrel flip, dodging the projectiles and flinging their shield at Bumblebee. The match eventually ended in a draw, with both fusions looking at the destruction they had caused and catching their breaths. The training area was full of smoldering craters, either from Bumblebee's semblance or maiden powers, and there were cuts and dents from where Arkos had lodged their shield into the wall, or missed a sword strike.
"Top tier Atlesian craftsmanship," Bumblebee said mockingly, "At least it burns nice enough."
"Don't worry, I've got this," Ruby said and rushed into the room. She knelt down and put her hands on the floor. A wave of green energy rolled over the floor, walls and ceiling, and the dents, cracks and craters closed.
"Wait, since when can you do that?" Arkos asked as the room returned to being as good as new. Nora and Weiss, who had also watched the training, followed Ruby into the training area.
"I snuck into the natural historical museum last night," Ruby answered, "The angel's tears there have some interesting semblances. I can also duplicate my-" She suddenly bloated up, floated into the air and burst into silver-white sparkles, which sunk to the ground and disappeared within a few seconds. Everyone stared in shock, and when Nora's scroll rang, she picked up without really realizing what she was doing.
"Hello?" Nora asked absentmindedly.
"Nora, this is Ruby," Ruby answered, "Sorry about that, one of my clones got away, but at least now I know that they disappear when they get too far away from me, and that I still get all the knowledge they gained when that happens."
"How many clones are there?" Weiss asked.
"Well, I created four," Ruby answered, "But since they're all exact duplicates of me, they can create new clones whenever they feel like it. The only problem is that, when creating a clone, my aura gets reduced. If I create one clone, we both have half of my total aura, and if I create more, we end up with less."
~o~
A woman entered a bar in a village in Mistral, to meet with her new client. She had long, chestnut-colored hair and amber eyes, and wore brown boots, white pants and a white shirt under a brown jacket. She sat down at a table opposite of Hazel.
"Are you Lethena Brown?" Hazel asked.
"Yes, that's me," Lethena answered. She had a happy and gentle smile and spoke with a cheerful tone.
"Alright, then to recapitulate," Hazel said, "You would be looking after two infants with no relatives that could take care of them. Both are bat faunus boys. The location is somewhat outside of most people's range, so we would provide a room for you to live in and care for all your needs, so you can focus completely on the babies. Also, despite the isolated location, you would be completely safe while you work with us."
"What happened to the relatives?" Lethena asked and said, "Unless that is classified information or anything. I'm sorry if it was inappropriate to ask."
"One is in intense mental treatment," Hazel answered, "The other cannot be trusted around the children." Lethena gasped in shock.
"That's awful," Lethena said, "Someone should teach that parent not to threaten their children like that."
"I… do not believe anyone would get through to him," Hazel said, "He is very adamant that harming the children is for the best."
"Don't worry," Lethena said, "If I talk to him, he'll see reason. People tend to listen to reason quite a lot, I've found. You just have to know when to be firm and when to be soft. But in any case, I accept the job."
"Thank you," Hazel said, "Please, this way. I'll bring you to our house. Just, one more warning. The building looks a bit… unusual."
"That's fine," Lethena said. She and Hazel got up and left the bar. They headed over to a Mistral airship and Hazel set the course to Salem's castle.
~o~
Hazel landed the airship near Salem's castle, and Lethena got visibly scared when she saw just how unusual the entire area looked. He just hoped she wouldn't try to back out now. After he failed to capture Ruby, not only had Neo vanished into thin air, but Salem had been somewhat upset with him and Mercury as well. Hazel opened the door to Salem's castle, and Lethena was approached by Salem.
"Wait, what's all this?" Lethena asked, looking at Hazel, "Why wasn't this in the job description? And that… thing, what is that?"
"Watch your tongue, young girl," Salem said, and Lethena backed down a bit. She suddenly heard two babies cry, her dark orange aura flared up, and she became much more assertive.
"No, you watch your tongue," Lethena said and asked, "Do you think this is an appropriate environment to raise children? Did it never occur to you that those spikes were a major safety hazard? What if they get hurt?" Salem was suddenly overcome with something she had never felt before, or at least couldn't remember feeling before.
"I-" Salem said, her heart feeling like a jackhammer in her chest. Lethena's face slowly melted away, and her eyes burned with the fury of hell itself.
"I'm not finished," Lethena said, "This place is the worst. There are Grimm everywhere, even inside, and those bones are guaranteed to give the children nightmares. I get that it has been a while since you had children, but that is still no excuse to be so grossly incompetent and careless." Lethena grew in size, her skull turned upside down, and her lower jaw folded open completely, turning into a burning crown made of hellfire. Her forehead cracked open, revealing a vertical maw full of razor-sharp brimstone teeth. Salem found her legs moving on their own, slowly backing away from the figure.
"That-" Hazel said, but stopped when he saw Salem saw trembling and staring in horror. He was completely paralyzed, not knowing if Lethena was doing to him what she did to Salem, or if it was because he never saw anyone so terrified.
"Get them each their own beds," Lethena said, "W̸e̵'̴l̴l̶ ̶a̴l̵s̸o̵ ̶n̸e̶e̸d̷ ̵c̴l̶o̶t̸h̶e̸s̶ ̵f̸o̸r̴ ̸t̸h̴e̴m̷ ̵n̷o̸w̸.̸ ̵A̵n̸d̵ ̸s̸o̸m̶e̴ ̴f̵o̷r̷ ̸w̴h̴e̴n̸ ̶t̷h̵e̶y̸ ̴g̴r̷o̴w̴ ̴u̸p̵.̸ ̸G̷e̸t̴ ̴t̴h̶e̴m̸ ̸a̶ ̴b̷e̴d̴r̶o̶o̷m̷,̶ ̶a̵ ̶p̸l̴a̴y̴ ̸r̵o̷o̶m̷,̷ ̶a̷n̸d̸ ̴a̷ ̷c̸h̸a̸n̵g̸i̴n̸g̴ ̸r̸o̶o̸m̸,̵ ̸a̵n̴d̶ ̵m̸a̷k̶e̶ ̴t̷h̴o̴s̸e̵ ̴s̶a̸f̵e̸ ̴f̴o̴r̷ ̴c̷h̵i̷l̵d̴r̶e̸n̷.̶ ̷̙̉N̷̯̄o̸̭̅ ̶̧̲̿͝b̸̯̀͆o̴̞͊̇n̴̗̑e̶̥̐s̵̮̟̀,̴͙̻͠ ̸͍̍ņ̵̀o̶̥͝ ̷͇̰̉̍s̸̨̀ḧ̶̤́̉ä̷̱̞́̂r̵̠͝p̸͔̫̊ ̸̙̝͒ē̶̞͇d̷͇̈́͒g̸̗̅͜ę̶̥̈̀s̷̢̖̓,̵͓̇̑ ̸͍͐̔á̸͕͜n̸̖̈́͠d̷̪͖͆̃ ̷̱̈ͅn̷͚̄̓o̵̧̼͑̒ ̴̭̏d̷̩̹̎̎a̴̡̳͆r̴̛͍̃k̵̠̄ ̴̲́̇c̷̮̄o̶̧͖̿l̵̩̯̀͂ŏ̵̫r̷̪̳͑͐s̶̭͋,̸̜̯͠ ̵̢͒̒e̶͍̊ẍ̶̳̟́͝c̶͓͎̍͠e̷͉̅p̷̫̂ť̶̢͔̚ ̸̼̰̍̈d̸̛͙̻̔ą̵́̎r̵̜̦̒̾k̷̡̼͛̕ ̸̰̳̐̏c̵͈̚ŏ̴͇̝̾l̵͔̒͜ǫ̷͋r̸͔̐̾s̸̱̈͒ ̴̲͙͂̏í̴̥̥͋n̵̖̕͝ ̶̘̈́͘ț̷͐́h̸̙̩̍e̶̜͑ ̴̜̙̀b̵͚̜̂é̷̞̓d̸̢̦͌r̸̼͗͜o̵͔̟̍ȏ̶͖͒m̴̪̰̅,̶̻̠̇́ ̵͈͐̎a̴̢͚͐̽n̶̨͑̄ḋ̶̟ ̶̬̅͝n̷̬͕̈ö̵̜̙́͂ ̶̥̬̽Ǵ̶ͅr̷̻̓ĭ̸͚͈͗m̵̙͂m̸̖͛͛ ̴̱̀a̷̢͉͛͘n̷͍͋̚y̵̡͆̋w̶͒͝ͅh̶̡͐e̵̩̠͊̓r̴̮̚e̴̤͝ ̵̟͚̿̎n̷͔̙̎ẽ̸̫̊ȁ̵̯̌r̸̺̙̄̃ ̶̢̪͋̚t̵̲̓h̴͔̀̚o̶̻̓ŝ̴̛̙e̷͚̟͒ ̴̬̲͒̇c̵͍̾̕ͅh̸͈̜͐i̴͕̓l̷̩̥͆̀ḓ̷͒r̴͈͊è̴͎n̴̻͇̏̀.̵̮̈́́ Ë̵̪͚̦͇̠́̓̕v̷̮̈͌͝e̸̥͉̍̃̈r̵̹̦͈̘͐͊͋.̵̣͒͋ Also, make this place look more inviting overall. Potted plants, for example. So, now I'm finished." Mercury, Marcus and Hazel just saw Salem tremble before an ordinary woman, whereas Salem saw a twenty meter tall demonic entity with scraps of seared flesh clinging to its cracked bones, skeletal wings protruding from its back, and fleshy membranes spanning between the bones of the wings. After her tirade, Lethena's personality slowly returned back to normal.
"Y- yes," Salem said, looked past Lethena and said, "Hazel, you heard her. Don't come back unless you have everything we need."
"Of course," Hazel said, and Lethena walked past Salem to comfort the babies.
"One more thing," Lethena said, "Go out into the sun more. You're hideously pale. Hazel, you come with me, I need to see just how much this woman has messed up." Hazel followed Lethena into the castle, and Salem fell against a wall, feeling an incredibly strong emotion, but not knowing what. She sunk to the floor, inexplicably exhausted by this emotion, and glowed golden for a few seconds.
"How did you do that?" Hazel asked when he was sure it was safe, and when Lethena had returned to her normal self.
"I told you I was convincing," Lethena answered and said, "Sometimes, you just have to put your foot down and tell people when they mess up in order to help them improve."
~o~
Ruby, Ren and Maria were walking through the natural historical museum of Atlas, supposedly hunting down invisible Grimm they could only see with special sunglasses. Since the fictitious Grimm would become visible if they died, and anyone without an active aura would be sent into a state of rabid aggression if they looked at them, Weiss and Blake had commandeered the security systems. Ren masked the negative emotions of the guests, supposedly driving the Grimm into a trap, and the trio moved to where the angel's tears were located. One of them was dark blue, one was light green, and one was silver. Blake deactivated the security systems, and Ruby fired a scatter shot into the room, destroying the glass covers over the jewels. Weiss summoned an Apathy and relayed its scream over the speakers to make the guests not care about the gunshots.
"We got them, thanks for your cooperation," Ruby said over communicator, "We just need to clean up, and then we're on our way." She picked up the pearls, secretly attached tiny devices to them to connect them to the city's computer system, and used her Mentor semblance to teach them some things, such as modern-day Vytalian. She put the angel's tears on the red cushions, with the devices facing downward, and used her Repair semblance to fix the room again. The whole group went to meet with the museum's owner.
"Thank you so much for saving my guests," the man said. He was a human with light brown hair and orange eyes, and wore a white tuxedo.
"We're just doing our job," Ruby said.
"Still, you did so much for me," the man said and asked, "Is there anything I can do to repay you?"
"I could name one thing," Blake said and glanced over to the sign at the entrance.
"I'm sorry," the man said, "But I pride myself on offering my guests an experience free of any… distractions." Blake pinned her cat ears to her head and scowled angrily, but Weiss put her left hand on Blake's right shoulder.
"Of course," Weiss said, pulled out her scroll and said, "Then let's do it the usual way. One, two, three, four huntresses, plus one huntsman, employed on an unofficial mission. Also considering workplace hazards in the form of an especially dangerous Grimm, and refusal to evacuate civilians. That makes five thousand Lien for each of us."
"That is a bit outside my price range," the man said.
"Now if only there was another way you could compensate us," Blake said, and the man sighed.
"Alright, fine," the man said, "I'll allow faunus inside the museum, and won't have them cover their traits any more."
"Thank you," Weiss said, and the group turned to leave the museum. As they passed an exhibit, Ruby stopped to look at it.
"What is it?" Blake asked.
"This," Ruby answered and pointed at a black wooden plank with white scribbles on it. The plank was kept in the middle of a large round room, surrounded by a large glass tank to keep people from getting within one meter of it.
"Supposedly, it's cursed," Weiss said, "At least, that's what people say the writing reads. But, you know, curses aren't real. As far as I know."
"I have an idea," Ruby said, took a deep breath and focused on the piece of wood. A series of dark blue lines came out of her eyes, seemingly scanning the wooden plank. After a few seconds, the lines stopped scanning the plank, and Ruby blinked a couple times.
"What was that?" Weiss asked.
"Loremaster," Ruby answered, "One of the semblances I copied. It lets me understand any text. I honestly wish I had that earlier."
"And what does it say?" Weiss asked.
"It's an outhouse," Ruby answered, and the group continued walking through the museum, with Ruby scanning various texts every now and again.
"Anyway, why did we do this in the first place?" Maria asked and said, "I mean, I'm all for causing a little ruckus in Atlas, but I don't exactly get what those devices have to do with anything."
"It helps restore the CCTS," Ruby answered, "There is a small device that mimics Weiss' aura, specifically the frequency of a Seer summoning glyph, allowing all the relay towers to communicate with each other like they used to. But the system runs on aura, so I hooked those three angel's tears up to it in order to constantly provide at least some aura."
"This won't be enough," Weiss said.
"I know," Ruby said, "But it's a start. I'm already working on getting the rest hooked up to the system."
"So, what do we do now?" Maria asked.
"We get ready for the election," Ruby answered. The group left the museum and headed back to Atlas Academy.
~o~
Late at night in Atlas Academy, Ruby astral projected into Oscar's room. She knew what she had to do, but she didn't know if it was a good enough idea to risk causing damage.
"No, you've put this off for too long," Ruby thought, "He needs to see what he's done, and he needs to take responsibility." She entered Oscar's dream, and made it so that Ozpin would show himself again. After she left the dream again, Professor Ozpin was sitting on the chair next to Oscar's bed, and Oscar woke up in a cold sweat.
"Hello, Miss Rose," Ozpin said, "I must say, I am deeply disappointed you resorted to such tactics."
"Wait, Ruby is here?" Oscar asked. He looked at his left hand, closed his eyes, focused, took a few deep breaths and waved his hand around. A green mist emanated from his hand, and when he blew it into the room, it gathered around Ruby's astral body, and made her visible to Oscar.
"Hello Oscar," Ruby said, turned to Ozpin and said, "I could say the same to you. Except for, you know, the Miss Rose part, but the rest, yeah. Totally disappointed and all that."
"I suppose my reaction was a bit… excessive," Ozpin said, "But, you have to understand that I have made-" He was cut off by Ruby.
"More mistakes than any man, woman or child, yes," Ruby said, "But you never learned from them. And at this point, the only thing you can learn from your mistakes is that you suck at making decisions. I'm sorry, but that's just obvious by now. For centuries, Salem has been slaughtering silver-eyed warriors, the only ones who can kill Grimm for good, and you have done nothing to keep them safe. The maidens have no fail-safe in case one of them turns evil, there are no contingency plans in case you die and can't tell everyone what to do, and you never bothered to help silver-eyed warriors learn to master their powers. There were even some who had already started discovering their powers, so all you had to do was find them, keep them safe from non-Grimm threats, and help them fully understand their powers. And don't even get me started on the absolute tactical catastrophe that is Atlas. One wrong move, one bad winter maiden, and two cities get wiped out."
"You honestly think it is that easy?" Ozpin asked.
"Well, there are the maidens," Oscar answered, "You could have made their powers useless against silver-eyed warriors, for example. After all, you set all the other rules as well."
"Did you just look into my memory?" Ozpin asked.
"It's our memory now," Oscar answered with a sheepish smile, and Ozpin sighed.
"I… suppose I understand," Ozpin said, "But if I am to resume my position as your guide-" Ruby cut him off again.
"No, not that," Ruby said, "You just sit back, do nothing, and let the real heroes fix your mess." Contrary to what Ruby had expected, Ozpin smiled.
"I may have made many mistakes," Ozpin said, "But luckily, getting you involved in all of this was not one of them."
"So, why didn't you do anything?" Ruby asked, "I mean, why not ask Jinn how the silver eyes work, or something like that?"
"Because Salem can't be stopped," Ozpin answered, "You heard Jinn say it. She never lies."
"She just said that you couldn't stop her," Ruby said, "She didn't say that Salem couldn't be stopped." Ozpin paused for a moment.
"Really?" Oscar asked, looking at Ozpin, "You've never once thought about that?"
"At least one thing stayed the same," Ruby said, "Most people don't think about how things are worded, and get screwed over."
"Now I'm even more upset about all this," Oscar said, "I don't want to become stupid."
"I have more experience than everyone in this city combined," Ozpin said, slightly offended.
"Then how does Salem keep winning?" Oscar asked.
"Because she has just as much experience," Ozpin answered, "And because she knows how to make people follow her."
"Guys, come on, we can still fix this," Ruby said, "I'll first have to help you two get along, and then we can help the world."
~o~
The evening of the election, Team RWBY, Jaune, Ren and Nora met in the former team's dorm room and discussed their plans for the evening. Yang and Blake went to a club with Team FNKI, Weiss, Jaune and Oscar went to watch a movie, and Ruby, Ren and Nora had decided to attend Robyn's premature victory party.
"So, what do we need to know?" Weiss asked, and everyone looked at Ruby, who sighed.
"Penny will be framed for an attack on the party," Ruby answered, "The election will be manipulated, Jacques will win, and there will be Grimm everywhere. Weiss, Jaune, I need you two to protect the people at the cinema. Weiss, you create a combat drone and use summons to help fight Grimm. Jaune, you keep her aura up. Blake, you give Neon steam-dust for her weapons, and use Deathzone to make it harm Grimm on contact. Yang, just kill all the Grimm." Yang gave her a thumbs up.
"What about you?" Jaune asked.
"Nora, Ren and I will keep the party-goers safe," Ruby answered, "I'll also try and convince Robyn that Penny is innocent. I've built some credit with her, so she might listen to me. That's also why I wanted to copy the Healing Circle semblance."
"You… know that's illegal, right?" Blake asked and said, "I mean, knowing about an attack like that and not doing anything. We could all get in serious trouble for that."
"But we are doing something," Ruby said, "We're making sure noone dies. That's our job. But if Salem knew that we are onto her plan, she'd get serious, and I'm just not ready for that yet. We have to make her feel safe, so she doesn't send any serious opponents our way."
"Does Penny know about this?" Nora asked.
"Yes, and no," Ruby answered, "I told her, but she asked me to block that memory until after the party, so she doesn't mess anything up."
"What about Robyn?" Ren asked.
"No," Ruby answered, "If she knew about this, then she'd call off the party for security concerns, and then Salem would know that we knew her plans."
"But, what if people ask how we knew that this would happen?" Blake asked.
"They won't," Ruby answered, "And even if, we can just say that it was luck that we were there. But we can't let Salem know that we know her plans. We have to let this happen, then step in to pick up the pieces and build a better future. We let her play with fire, and whenever she burns something, we're there to use it to our advantage."
"Sis, are you okay?" Yang asked.
"Of course," Ruby answered, slightly confused, and asked, "Why do you ask?"
"You're acting… strange," Yang answered and asked, "Where is the Ruby I grew up with? The one who just wanted to save people and be a hero like in the stories dad told us?"
"I- I'm still me," Ruby answered, "I just… now that I know what's at stake, and what is going to happen, I can save people even better than before. I can save more people. We can save more people."
Author's note: Lethena's semblance is called Protective Intimidation. Basically, it lets her instill fear in an aggressor, directly proportional to her desire to protect what that aggressor is threatening. It doesn't have any illusion components, but Salem's subconscious had to justify the fear somehow, so it made something up that made more sense than this random woman being so utterly terrifying. The reason she seems so nonchalant about it is because she has no idea that that is what she's doing. She's an innocent little wallflower, and a bit of a pushover, and doesn't believe that semblances can do something so dark.
And yes, she literally scared Salem to death. Or would have, if Salem could die. She is largely inspired by Fluttershy from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, whose first big moment was staring down a fully grown dragon, that was several hundred times bigger than her, and reducing it to tears. She also stared a cockatrice into submission and made it un-petrify her friends, even though cockatrices petrify creatures by looking them in the eyes and can't actually reverse the petrification. I decided to ignore the fact that Fluttershy's Stare can intimidate creatures to the point of breaking the laws of nature, because otherwise the story would be over now, as Salem would've stayed dead out of fear.
Don't ask me why Lethena knows that Salem had children before, I'm not even sure Salem remembers them, but that entire thing wrote itself and I'm not changing it.
Speaking of Salem not remembering things, we've never seen her scared, and given her history, it's safe to assume she's never been scared in her life, so this is an entirely new emotion for her. That's also why the effects of the semblance were so powerful, they hit Salem at full force because she had no coping mechanism for fear.
Yang asking Ruby if she was fine actually brought the story to a screeching halt, because I wasn't really aware of what I was writing, and just wrote what felt natural to the characters. That one scene reminded me of how much Ruby has changed, especially now that she knows the future.