Ah, finally. The moment many of you have been waiting for, sexy grimm queen fun times!

Fallen Snow delayed me a bit longer than expected with this chapter, but that is out of the way and the next chapter to be worked on will still be for DL; so there should at least be a shorter turn around for next chapter. I am starting to get back into my flow from earlier in the year plus some situational changes that will be occurring that should let me write more consistently. Ultimately meaning more chapters for you all to enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: For anyone who didn't read or remember the note at the end of last chapter, this first section is optional for enjoyment but you will lose some context for the following sections. Anyone not wishing to enjoy can skip to the first line break.

Now on with the (sexy) show!

Kura's bare back hit the satin sheets, his wings spreading out across the span of the bed. Salem tossed away his tunic while she slid her knee up along the sheets and held herself above him, one hand beside his head as her other dipped down lower. Tracing the outline of his muscles, her fingers were just above his waist when Kura finally found his voice.

"M-madam!? This is what you summoned me for!?"

Her ruby irises appeared to glow as she gave him a lidded stare: "And what of it, dear Kura? Does this displease you? I imagine that to be quite far from the truth; especially with what I feel here."

Salem's finger grazed over his groin, the fabric tight as his lower half had certainly reacted to her current state of dress. Her fingertips hooked into the edge of his waistband as she leaned close and whispered in his ear:

"I have seen the way you've gazed toward me before, the lust in your eye is not something new to me. Many before have done the same, but be proud, rarely have I ever indulged such fantasies."

The heat of her breath sent a chill down Kura's spine as he felt his own heart threatening to beat out of his chest. Salem's hair cascaded down like water around him, the silver locks framing her face in a way that gave her a far more youthful aura compared to the refined air he had always felt before. He hadn't dared to move a muscle, for even though his mind was still screaming at him that he was in a very precarious position, a small fraction didn't want to stop.

With what willpower he could muster to calm his racing heart, he managed to ask: "F-forgive my curiosity, Madam, but why go so far for me?"

The waver in his voice apparently amused the eternal, who rose up with a devilish smile that set his heart racing once more as she asked in return: "Dear Kura, what's to say this isn't merely a whim?"

Kura felt his trousers slip down, having been stripped of everything else while his mind had failed to register it; he was now completely bare in the presence of the grimm queen. He shivered as the cool air of the room flowed over his sensitive member, which was quickly followed by a full body jolt as he felt the heat of Salem's skin graze it whilst she brought her other leg up to straddle him completely. The ivory-skinned woman's scant state of dress made their current situation all the more erotic as she placed a hand on his chest and her other over his right hand.

Swallowing thickly, his mind was steadily losing the will to resist as he replied: "Madam, you never do anything on merely a whim."

Salem raised his hand and placed it just below the cup of her bra: "Then let this be how I assure your loyalty. The clasp is in the front."

She surely had to feel him throb against her at her words, as Kura lay frozen for a few grueling moments as he tried to offer up some kind of final resistance to his present situation; but there was nothing more his mind could contest.

His fingers moved slowly, deliberately, to the clasp of her lingerie and with a small snap the garment fell away to reveal her bare breasts. Salem let the garb fall from her shoulders, tossing it away as Kura's gaze explored her exposed skin. Her light lilac nipples were dark in contrast to her alabaster skin but were still extraordinarily pale; yet even with this and each of her other inhuman features, Kura was transfixed by the vision of beauty seated atop him.

He felt her hand over his once more as Salem guided it down her side and to her hip. Kura's fingers brushed against the length of string that served to tie the last remaining article of dress to Salem's body. Without any prompting, Kura grasped the one end of the string and pulled as the knot gave way. Salem released the other side in tandem, and once free she slowly drew the scant measure of silk from between them, the heat and sensation of the fabric on Kura's member a most pleasurable agony as she removed the last barrier between their nethers.

Tossing away the garment to join its discarded mate, now that Salem had nothing more to tease him with, she focused her full attention upon him and the pleasurable heat which emanated from where their loins touched. Simply baring her weight down a slight fraction was enough for Kura to involuntarily suck in a deep breath as his back arched, further grinding against one another.

To Kura, the contact was nothing short of divine. Each twitch he felt his member grow slick with the proof of her own interest, every slide pressing more into him as both a form of teasing and preparing further. Trying to focus his pleasure-addled mind back to the source of said pleasure, Kura was left speechless at the sight atop him.

With just the slightest touch of perspiration, Salem's skin glistened with a silver sheen from the moonlight. There was none of the elegant poise in her expression he had become accustomed to, instead replaced by a look of assured control as a wide smile graced her lips. That gave her a far more devilish aura. Each breath caused her chest to shake just slightly to emphasize the pert and heft of her bosom, the action almost hypnotic in its own way. Just barely enough to distract him so that every few moments when she would grind harder, he'd be seized by an unexpected rush of pleasure.

Then far far too soon, he felt her heat recede as she raised herself up enough to separate. Though before even a whimper could leave his lips, Salem assured him: "I've riled you suitably for more." Her statement was no half-question. "Will you say what you want?"

There was a challenge in her voice, enough that Kura had to pause his thoughts just for a moment to reign back the urge to flip their positions and give in to the bestial impulse that clawed at the back of his mind. Though there was nothing to stop the growl in the back of his throat as he answered the question:

"Let me prove my… loyalty."

There was a glimmer to her eye as she reached down, only her fingertips brushing against him as she aligned him with her entrance. Kura didn't even get a moment to anticipate, as she dropped her hips in one swift motion and enveloped him whole.

Kura gripped the sheets beneath him as his brain caught up to the explosive pleasure he felt, each moment as Salem's insides massaged against him serving to add more to experience. He would nearly have believed he came if not for the fact that when Salem raised her hips the pleasure increased further still.

He bucked against her as her hips came back down, a near desperate attempt to see how far his raw pleasure could soar before reaching climax. His wings strained against the bed almost painfully as they wanted to involuntarily flap but could only twitch sporadically. His hands had somehow found their way to Salem's hips to assist in driving her down harder onto him.

Each action, every motion, was only an attempt to further his own sensations. Kura's overwhelmed state couldn't even consider if Salem enjoyed any of their union. He couldn't even discern if the peak he could feel quickly approaching had been drawn out or hurried.

He had no other thought beyond reaching that release, but with a single word his body froze:

"Kura~."

With heaving breaths, Kura raised his eyes to a still smiling Salem. Where he expected an air of exasperation, he only could feel reassurance. Followed by words he least expected:

"Your wings must ache. Sit up, embrace me."

At her command, he obeyed as if almost in a trance, in the process letting them shift more to the edge of the bed. With the utmost care, he did not permit himself to leave her velvety embrace, nor did with the sensations he felt he imagined Salem would allow such a thing.

His peak had ebbed, but as Kura wrapped his arms around Salem to support her now at the edge of the bed, she leaned into him and in return wrapped both her arms and legs around him, letting her full weight bare down on him. The way she caressed his back with her hands, soothing the sore muscles tied to his wings, felt so marvelous that he relaxed into her embrace.

The softness of her breasts pressed into him as she grinded her hips down occasionally. The scent from her hair was soft, sultry, redolent, its pleasance pulled him in deeper as he buried his face into her neck. With one arm around her back, he used one hand to grasp her ass to thrust harder as he began to seek out his climax once more, only to gasp as he felt Salem blow across his ear.

Her fingers reached deep into his plumage near the base of his wings, and he felt bolts of pleasure down to his toes as she gripped them just slightly. Shivers ran through him as his wings twitched, with each motion causing Salem's fingers to shift and the feeling of a cascade of sparks to run down his spine in return. Whispering to him, Salem showed clearly who was setting the pace:

"There is more than one place pleasure can be obtained, Kura. Explore, tease, test, see how you can make me respond and for each success I will return the experience to the utmost."

Incentive clearly given, Kura slowed once more and began to seek out ways to satisfy the grimm queen. His fingers teased over her breast, giving her nipples little twists and tugs, feeling the way she would squeeze down on him to tell him to do more. He kissed her neck and collar, even being so bold as to pull her hair slightly to force her head back, suckling the tender skin of her throat which earned a shiver through her body as a reward.

But more so than how her body responded, Kura paid close attention to the sounds he could elicit from Salem. For one who had to have experienced near everything at least once in her eternal days, even the slightest gasp felt like a triumph to him. For every quickened breath, every sharp exhale, he wanted more; he wanted to hear her moan. Even as his mind worked to find a way, he felt his peak climbing once more.

Through heavy breaths he tried to distract himself with a question to her: "H-how… can everything… k-keep feeling so… good!?"

Salem gyrated her hips, earning a groan for her efforts as she gave a breathy sigh into his ear:

"Have you never wondered where tales of demons came from, Kura? Especially the inspiration for such beings that can kill through sheer pleasure?"

Kura's eyes widened, only to roll back into his head as he felt Salem's inner walls massage him in ways he would never have thought possible. Words dribbled from him: "A-a-a, s-succubus!?"

With a hand on his cheek, Salem gently brought his head back up to where she stared into his cyan eyes, her lips almost teasing against his: "Myths are born from somewhere, dear Kura. Let me show you how that one began."

He had seconds left to earn a moan from the apparently literal demoness atop him, his hands were holding tight to her ass as she took control and shook her hips against him. His peak rushed to him so suddenly, any thoughts he had vanished as he felt himself climax.

Part of him had been at all costs making sure not to draw from the magic within him, but overwhelmed by pleasure as he was, that part was too washed away by the waves of euphoria that wracked him. Though he had no time to concentrate it, electricity flowed through his body and subsequently Salem as well. His fingers clenched, and with where his hands lay, a digit entered her anus as the energy flowed into her.

Throughout the entirety of her frame, Salem was wracked with a feeling that even she failed to find the words to describe. The electricity forced her muscles to spasm, and with the intruder through her ass she felt every sensation of her lower half tenfold. Her back arched as the feeling traveled her spine directly to her brain, telling it of the astonishing pleasure she suddenly felt. Along with the blazing heat she felt pump inside, she threw her head back and loudly reached her own climax.

Kura achieved his wish, not that he was cognizant of the fact as he felt a sensation lance through his entire being which was beyond the pleasure and warmth that washed over him. His body quickly lost feeling. The last thing he saw as darkness encroached upon his vision was the silent image of a sweat-glazed Salem panting with her head thrown back. He longed for more, but it felt as though some outside force was pulling his consciousness down; there was no way to resist as the black void succeeded in claiming him.

"Who are—!?"

"No time! If you wish for freedom, then come with me!"

Hazy colors filled Kura's vision, to which turning away only revealed darkness. Everything felt heavy and dull like he was surrounded by water, he fought to clear the haze over his mind by focusing on the sounds he heard: the voices of a man and a woman, one of which was strikingly familiar.

Flashes of light blinded him for a moment, as he could hear the distant sounds of combat. His instincts flared but found that his body was not free to move from where he apparently stood. This worrying fact was somewhat distracted by the moving colors of the sight before him. Kura looked on and saw a wide tear in the darkness that surrounded him, from which the sound and visions came; almost made to seem as though he was viewing the memories of someone.

Men dressed in black armor were strewn across a wide hallway as tapestries burned and masonry held scars of a grand battle, by the sounds of which were still ongoing. Kura watched as he apparently beheld the spectacle from the view of a woman by the arms that occasionally came into view, in collusion with a man dressed in bright armor with a green cloak wielding a scepter with a large glowing emerald atop it.

He saw the elements bend to their whims as they fought, in the apparent aim to escape as they appeared to not seek conflict but were fleeing from it. The scene before him warped and changed, and suddenly he was greeted with a view of cobblestone and grass as he heard labored breathing from both the man and woman. The view panned upwards and he could see the face of the green cloaked knight, for lack of a better term, turn towards them in return with a smirk. The man was of a tan complexion with both eyes and hair of a dark brown, while he had a reasonably attractive face by Kura's view; overall, the man was generally unremarkable beyond the display of strength he had witnessed of the man's sorcery.

Kura wasn't so inept as to not have realized what he was seeing must have been visions of the past, but how and why he was being shown it was still far beyond what he could understand. It was then that he heard the woman speak again, confirming his suspicions of who it must have been:

"So, where shall we go now?"

The man reached out a hand towards them as he answered: "Wherever you'd like."

Kura's brain was racked with questions as he breathed her name:

"Salem."

The vision warped again, more erratically than before, images of meals, rooms, fields, forests, cities, and more flashed by, each and every one of them including that man who had apparently rescued the woman he now referred to as Madam. Yet she was far from the woman Kura knew in the present.

In one of the fleeting memories, through the reflection of a mirror it showed how she must have appeared back then. Long flowing golden hair, deep sea-green eyes full of warmth and love, and fair flawless skin that was the most obvious trait he could recognize though it was now marred by crimson veins. Even through it all, not long had passed from her freedom that he could surmise by the scenes he was being shown.

The swirl of colors grew still once more to reveal a small room, Salem kneeling beside a bed holding the man he had seen rescue her, and she was weeping. She clutched the man's scepter as he could hear the sobs, it was then Kura noticed that the man was not breathing. The color in his skin had faded in tone and he had grown very gaunt in appearance, ravaged by a sickness was all Kura could guess.

Through her choked sobs, he heard Salem ask to the otherwise empty room: "How could the gods let this happen?"

Kura's eyes widened: "Am I seeing how the Madam was cursed?"

He watched as the images showed glimpses of her travels, until she appeared before a staircase carved into a mountain adorned with many varying flowers and offerings on its lowest steps. In another warping, the scene changed to her standing before a still fountain with a tree of shimmering gold leaves at its rear. He watched as leaves from the tree were plucked by a nonexistent breeze and began to swirl around a point in the water that began to glow with golden light.

From it rose horns attached to the loose form of a man composed of the same golden light. The being stepped forward, and suddenly the vision shook as Salem apparently fell to her knees and begged:

"Please. Please, bring him back to me."

With a gentleness, Kura heard what he assumed to be the God of Light reply: "I understand your pain, but you demand of me that which I cannot make so. Life and death are part of a delicate balance."

Kura grimaced, and could easily recognize the pain and shock in the words that followed from Salem:

"So, you won't do it then?"

The god began to answer: "To disrupt the cycle of—"

"But that's not fair." Kura heard softly, followed by Salem standing to shout once more: "That's not fair!"

There was a crack of thunder as the leaves of the fountain began to swirl once more. They began to circle around Salem as Kura heard the god say to her with a darkness in his voice:

"Let him rest."

She was enveloped by the leaves, and when they disappeared he could see she had been returned to the foot of the stairway that led to the God of Light's fountain. He saw her grip tighten on the scepter of the man she loved that she had kept close since his death. He heard her say with firm resolution a single word:

"No."

Kura commented to himself: "There is more, and I doubt I will like what I witness."

Like before, the scene changed suddenly but the sight that was revealed to him was more familiar than he would have liked. Dark stone and deep purple crystals glowing with a sinister light became clear as a staircase into a mountain could be seen once more, this time littered with bones and weapons rather than gifts and flowers. They were in the lands Kura knew lay within present day Finas, and this had to be the origin of pools of grimm.

As he was thinking, the scene changed to place them within the mountain and before him lay a vast expanse of the bubbling black ichor with spikes of stone rising from it forming a ring near the rear of the fountain. Suddenly a form rose from the ichor in the distance with large, twisted horns atop its head. The figure was somewhat humanoid but the way he witnessed its limbs and form contort and deform, the being of sinister light was certainly not caring of appearing human. It bent backwards and its head twisted until upright, before crawling towards them as Kura heard Salem say:

"Oh Lord of Darkness, I've been torn from my beloved by a horrible sickness that befell him. As the creator and ruler of death, I know only you have the power to give me the chance to see him again. Please, I implore you!"

Righting himself, the god appeared not dissimilar to his golden counterpart. With a surprising tenderness from him, he answered Salem:

"Rise child, and let your faith in me be rewarded."

From his hand grew an orb of the same sinister light that composed him, and from it dropped the body of a man. Salem rushed to the man, and it proved to be the very same she had lost. In gently pulling him so that his head rested on her lap, the man awoke suddenly with a gasp in evident shock and fear as he spurted out:

"Where am I!? What is this!? Where Am I!?"

Salem did her best to calm him with a gentle and soothing voice as she sat him up: "It's ok. Everything is going to be alright."

The immediate clap of thunder that resounded interrupted any warm sentiment that had existed. Kura didn't even need the confirmation of the gaze of the vision shifting upwards to the entrance of the place to know who had appeared: the God of Light had appeared within the domain of his brother.

The voice was soft, but it carried throughout space with malice: "What have you done?"

The God of Darkness answered with little concern in his voice: "I have done what I please, brother. You may bask in the powers of creation, but you do not own them."

The elder god walked down and gestured towards them: "This… is not creation."

There was a haunting echo in the dark god's tone as he raised his voice: "Do not lecture me!"

The God of Light looked around at the encroaching grimm that littered the place, before focusing his gaze down towards Salem and her beloved: "I will do what I must to maintain order."

Seeing the vision pan down, Kura watched as a tainted golden light surrounded the man in Salem's arms and disintegrated to nothing more than dust. Salem could be heard weeping at it all as she cried out:

"No. No! What did you do!? Bring him back!"

The God of Darkness' voice rose with hatred: "You dare enter my domain and show such disrespect!?"

With a wave of his hand the man reappeared before them, and Kura heard Salem call the man by name for the first time:

"Ozma!"

Kura's eyes widened, considering he had heard that name many times in recent months: in reference to the leader of their enemy.

"I had wondered what relation Ozma had to Salem, but to think it was this. She created a dispute between the gods, but to imagine they'd even care to such a degree feels… petty."

There was tension in the God of Light's voice as he countered: "I am abiding by the rules we agreed upon!"

The sound of bones cracking could be heard as the God of Darkness stepped forward, his form shifting as he replied: "Rules that I now see work ever in your favor!" Wings sprout from the dark god's back as he grew to gargantuan size, taking on the appearance of a skeletal dragon. "Yet the day a mortal comes to pray at my feet before your own, so do you arrive to lay your judgement upon me."

"What?" Kura exclaimed with confusion. "Salem made no such claim. She…" Realization dawned on him as he continued to watch. "There was no mention that she visited his brother first, but to simply assume that she hadn't… this can't be why she—"

A blinding flash returned his attention to the vision, and as the light faded the God of Light had taken on the appearance of a great scaled serpent floating in the air above them. The god's voice addressed his brother:

"I know we have our differences, but I have not come here with the aim to control you. The same, however, cannot be said for her." The God of Darkness looked down on them as he continued to listen. "This woman came to you only after I denied her pleas. Pleas that would have disrupted the balance that you and I created. Together."

Kura's anger began to bubble as he heard the dark god's reply:

"Then it appears I owe you an apology. Allow me to correct my mistake."

"No!" He heard Salem cry out as she desperately attempted to shield Ozma with her own body as the dark dragon reared back. The vision went dark for a moment, but it slowly returned to reveal that Salem had survived with nothing in her hands but ashes.

Her words as she watched the ashes drift away started soft, but quickly grew as she shook with rage: "You... you monsters! Give him back to me! Give him back!"

Kura watched as he could see lightning and energy crackled around them, a grand show of her power that she was perfectly prepared to wield against two apparent gods; not that she'd get a chance to.

He watched as the God of Light twisted through the air and with a roar opened his jaws as he charged Salem and the vision returned to white once more. But only briefly before vast blue skies replaced the vision, and they turned to reveal that Salem was falling through the heavens. Kura could barely recognize the rapidly approaching sight of the God of Light's fountain, before Salem crashed down and sank beneath the surface of the crystal clear waters.

But as the vision began to blur once more, suddenly it warped to show that Salem somehow lay just on top of the surface. She rose up slightly, coughing violently, as the voice of the God of Light could be heard:

"When you first came to me, I did pity you." The vision rose to reveal both gods standing on top of the surface of the fountain before her. Yet they were not done addressing her: "But it is clear now that your selfishness and arrogance have led you astray."

Slowly standing, Salem looked down at her hands to see a white aura enveloping her: "W-what did you do to me?"

Kura's rage boiled over as he heard the words he expected from the God of Light: "I have made you immortal."

"Immortal?" Salem echoed with confusion.

The God of Darkness continued: "You cannot die. You cannot be with your beloved."

Then together the gods spoke: "So long as this world turns, you shall walk its face." For the God of Light to then add: "You must learn the importance of life and death. Only then may you rest."

He watched as Salem reached out and attempted to step forward, only to suddenly find herself in a desolate field. As the vision began to shift again, Kura screamed out to the darkness:

"ENOUGH!"

As though in response, the vision froze before dissolving and revealing before him the cause of this entire experience: The God of Darkness.

The being of sinister light stood across from Kura and he could feel it questioning him for an explanation:

"She was cursed… all because you believed that you had been tricked!? You are no god! Just a petty pathetic excuse for a creator that punished a woman for simply wishing to have the man she loved resurrected!"

With a tilt of his head, the dark being replied: "Do you care at all she convinced the entirety of the world to rise up in rebellion against its creators on false pretenses that she too could grant them immortality?"

Kura looked appalled: "Would I blame a mother that had just seen her child murdered multiple times before her eyes anything she did in her subsequent grief? No! Yet such a concept as grief apparently isn't something either you or your brother understand!"

"So you simply wish to excuse her trickery and lies, as though there should exist no consequences for anyone that grieves."

"You went too far!" Kura screamed, uncaring of the fact that if this truly was one of the creators of Remnant, that he could very easily be erased with only a thought. "Refusal was enough, to punish her with immortality was only going to make her hate you more! Even if she did incite rebellion against you two, that could all have been prevented if she were allowed to die! Did you punish her when she did that? She told me that she drove you away, I now believe that was an exaggeration. So you willingly left, and what? Expected her to magically learn her lesson when you have given her nothing but every reason to despise you instead?"

"We left of our own accord, after I wiped humanity from the surface of the planet as punishment for her lies and manipulation."

"And it just keeps getting better!" Kura cried out sarcastically. "You murder a planet just to make a point! Next you'll tell me you placed Ozma back on the planet with only the ability to hate her just to make the suffering worse!"

"My brother was the one who set things in place for humanity's eventual return. It is also his meddling in the project we discarded to return Ozma to it, with a task to return us to it to judge it one final time."

Kura's gaze sharpened: "And the relics? They are related to this I know, but Salem wants them as well."

"It is Ozma's task to bring them together, it is this act that will return my brother and I. In how that differs from what that woman desires, is should humanity not have learned to live in harmony with one another, we will simply do away with the world you call Remnant once and for all."

" 'So long as this world turns'... then Salem's ultimate goal is simply to die. After seeing all the suffering you've caused her, I can't say I wouldn't want the same."

"So you don't care if the world is destroyed?"

"Of course I do, and I don't want Salem to die either! But why show me any of this? You can't expect me to believe that you want to do anything for Remnant's benefit."

The dark being shrugged: "I most assuredly don't. As for why I've shown you any of this, it is because for the first time in millennia I felt the spark of the gift I once gave to you humans touch the darkness of my pools of annihilation. Out of plain curiosity, I viewed your world to see what the cause was; only to discover you fornicating with that immortal woman we abandoned. For my own amusement, I wanted for you to know and understand her in her entirety and hear your words after learning her past."

Kura stared with malice: "The only thing I learned was that you are cruel and petty, and while you might be responsible for the creation of my planet, you are no god."

With a dark and twisted chuckle, the dark being replied: "You are certainly an interesting result of our creation."

With a sharp shake of his head, Kura countered: "I was not created by you; I am merely a remnant of your creation, remember? And so much more because of it."

"I have no care for your world, but my brother still holds an attachment, that is why he returned Ozma with his task. He has interfered with the project we abandoned, and in doing so taken things into his own hands. I see an opportunity in you to do the same."

Kura scoffed: ""So you're asking me to oppose Ozma's task to bring you back to judge the world? What makes you even vaguely imagine I'd listen to such a request?"

The dark being just waved his hand dismissively: "That is far too boring to concern myself with. Instead, I'll leave you with a question: What is that woman's worth to you?"

Kura bolted upright, panting heavily as his eyes blinked through their bleariness to reveal the sight of crimson sheets that his fingers were desperately clinging to. His mind quickly played catch-up as he ran his fingers through his hair, remembering everything that had happened the previous night. Part of him thought it had to have been a wonderful dream turned nightmare, and he looked to his sides to see if he shared the bed with anyone. He breathed with some relief to find no one was there, but that peace was soon shattered as he heard the clink of metal against porcelain.

Turning slowly, he found Salem sitting a distance away at the small table he had noticed before with the tea set put to use as she was holding a steaming cup. She didn't even look his way, but he could sense the oddly serene air about her. She knew he had awoken, but Kura was not prepared for the words she greeted him with:

"I must say, that was certainly quite the unique experience. You learn rather quickly and are very bold indeed considering what you put me through, though we will have to work on your stamina. You left me quite wound up after only a single round, but that can be rectified in the future."

There was no stopping the heat that rose to his face at her words, considering most of what he remembered was hazy pleasure. Though, his embarrassment quickly faded as it was replaced with trepidation at the words he felt compelled to reply:

"Madam, I… I know… about you."

Salem set her cup down, folding her hands over in her lap as she focused her full attention on Kura. He could see the shadows extending from her, as though all the light in the room was being sucked away. She asked in a soft but sharp tone:

"Oh? It appears something unexpected occurred last night. What all have you seen, Kura?"

He had already come too far to stay his words now: "I had felt my consciousness pulled away last night, and when I came to I was in a void devoid of anything. I witnessed your memories as though through your eyes, Madam. I… saw you, from before you were immortal. I saw how happy you were when you met him, and how much pain you suffered when he was suddenly gone. All that you did to bring him back… who you had to ask."

The shadows receded somewhat back into Salem: "Is that all? How far did you see?"

Kura swallowed: "I witnessed how you became stricken with your immortality; I couldn't bear to keep being shown any more from there."

Kura found himself hit with a wave of pressure as shadows leapt from Salem's form, consuming almost all light present. The only thing he could still clearly see was the grimm queen's eyes that now burned with a light felt like he was staring into two orbs of pure hellfire. In her fury, she softly repeated a single word from his statement:

"Shown?"

He knew that his next words had to be chosen carefully: "The one who showed me your past, that thing that claimed to be a god, was the supposed God of Darkness."

Kura could hear the growls of grimm, as though just beyond the shadows that poured from Salem, waiting for her command to consume him. He continued on as he knew any word could be his last: "Madam, what they did to you was no punishment! It was a cruel and horrible penalty placed on you because they could not accept they had let their flaws show!"

Salem stared into his very soul as she questioned him: "You are a brave and smart young man; I would assume you know better than to use your silver tongue and honeyed words to get the better of me. So tell me, you must have been at least told some of what occurred after I was cursed; what do you know of what I plan to accomplish?"

His voice felt constricted in his throat, but Kura pushed himself to answer with:

"I… I don't want you to die, Madam."

The shadows flickered, almost as though reeling back as the fury in Salem's gaze lessened by a fraction. Her voice sharing her surprise:

"What? You cannot even begin to comprehend how long I have yearned for death, you selfish boy, and yet ask for me to live before even asking for your own life? Was the pleasure from last night actually enough for you to lose your mind, young Kura?"

He looked into her eyes, turning towards her, and rose from the bed. He walked over to where she was and bowed on one knee before her. His words still shook, but there was a conviction behind them:

"There must be a path other than death, Madam. I refuse to believe that to be the only option."

To his surprise, the shadows receded and he could hear Salem move. Raising his head slightly, he found that she had returned to the small table with her tea. She refused to look his way, but as she gazed out the window behind her he heard her mutter:

"Honesty… how would things be if only you had also had a shred of what—"

Kura cautiously raised his voice: "Madam?"

She raised the cup to her lips and drained its contents before setting it down and finally turning her attention back to him. Salem stared down with an unreadable expression as she lay a challenge at his feet:

"You wish for me to live, Kura? Then give me a reason to care again."

Yonder

Hehe, shocky shocky. Hehehe.

WRW

Hey not everything goes to plan during fun times, and sometimes that makes things even better.

Yonder

Oh, I loved every second of it! I just can't get that out of my head, hehehe.

WRW

Well... ignoring the Maso who (turns to Yonder) obviously wants to try it out for herself! I hope you all were able to enjoy.

This chapter obviously has large implications towards the story at large, and I hope you'll stick with me to read and see what those turn out to be in the future. The response to this story has been just crazy and truly appreciate every comment, follow, and fav that has been given.

As a BONUS to you all with this chapter, we have new art up over on DeviantArt at WinterRuneWolf that is the official cover piece for the story! And more art that is in the works!

The image here on FFN will not be changing because the image is not suited to the small size of the thumbnails on here, but do make sure to check it out over there and check out the amazing artist I worked with to bring this about for everyone to enjoy!

Stay awesome everyone, WRW and Yonder out.