The Age of Fairy Tales:

The New Gods XI

Salem looked through her Seer Grim outside world of Remnant within her dwelling place in the dark lands where the creatures of Grim coming out from the dark pools. There wasn't a high list of activities in her dwelling, mostly because she detested anything man-made and highly refined, hence why her castle was made out of a cliff in the Land of Darkness. She would tolerate the possessions of her subordinates so as long they did not bother her or were useful to her.

For now she was looking at the kingdoms of humanity had built together.

Especially three locations.

The Faunus live on the island of Menagerie, the capital city of Kuo Kuana. Thanks to Lady Aqua Schnee with the aid of the Winter Maiden creating the snowstorm to that desert island changing the land and killing off the Grim to make it more habitable. Salem had not anticipated any of the Maidens ever being bold enough to create a snow storm that would change the habitat of Menagerie, making it more livable. She knew Ozma would never be this bold in allowing one of the Maidens to show their power to such an extent and thus knew this to be Aqua's doing.

Unlike Ozma who focused on reaction and defense, Aqua would follow her 'heart' as she would often say.

By no means did that make her a fool but combined with her own wisdom and power, it made Aqua more unpredictable compared to Ozma and his own cabal. And worse, because Salem had no way of predicting that Aqua would convince one of the Maidens to use their powers in such a way, she was in no way to prepare for when Menagerie was on its way to becoming the unofficial fifth Kingdom of Remnant. The last thing Salem needed was Menagerie being declared as a kingdom on its own and fortunately it was still unofficial.

Despite Aqua and Ozma's attempts, prejudice against the Faunus was still strong, even in places like Mistral despite Aqua's time as Empress and Ozma placing a Faunus as headmaster of Haven. Vacuo didn't care what you are as long as you could survive on their turf and Atlas barely paid attention to its own laws, only relying on them for convenience for their benefit. Vale was the lesser of all the kingdoms when it came to prejudice outside of Vacuo, no doubt thanks to Ozma but people were slow to change, and some kept their views hidden until they were sure no one was looking.

She had considered Aqua and Ozma to be the same in how they did things.

Trying to unite everyone through subtle manipulation but Aqua's stunt with the Winter Maiden had caught her and Ozma by surprise. Then the SDC capitalized on Menagerie's new eco-system with developing the Faunus region, allowing them to expand and grow to the point that the entire island was now flourishing. Large enough to be considered a kingdom but only Vale right now was recognizing it as one.

Salem underestimated Aqua that one time and she intended to never make that same mistake again.

For the second place, she looked at the one of the four kingdoms Atlas. Not long-ago the island in the sky had starting to disregard with the city of Mantle for the moment. Then Aqua had appeared there, either by as a reaction to Ozma incarnating himself there or simply making the journey there and ended up being betrothed to Nicholas Schnee, becoming his lady to his company of all things. From her balancing her husband's ideas for the kingdoms and bringing people together greater than before, making things even more difficult for Salem.

Aqua and the Schnee patriarch even ended up having a daughter and chose a very wise son-in-law for her daughter to be together with, ending up being establishing the city of Mantle to not to be disregarded and became better than ever.

Finally, she viewed the last place where the first change in the great mistake began by putting her adversary Aqua as the Empress of Mistral. Technically, she was only supposed to be a figurehead, a puppet to the combined forces of Mantle and Mistral. Aqua had been traveling across the world for so long, she was viewed as someone the people inside and outside the kingdoms could rally behind.

A symbol of bravery.

A symbol of hope.

A symbol that could threaten all of Salem's plans.

She had traveled to every corner of Remnant, fighting injustices and spreading ideas of pacifism, peace and tolerance to the waring and distrustful kingdoms and the villages out in the wilds. The leaders of Mantle and Mistral first tried to capture or kill Aqua before she became too great a threat but no one was strong enough to defeat her. The then Emperor of Mistral, Alexander Highwind Tycoon realized Aqua was able to capture the attention of the other kingdom leaders, even the leaders in Vacuo and that she was someone the people would respect and follow.

Working with them, Salem was able to have Aqua captured in Mistral, where she planned to find out how Aqua was able to disappear and then reappear at the same young age she had been when Salem had first met her before disposing of her, hoping she wouldn't come back after that. However, Alexander argued that Aqua's charisma with the people and her powers made her too valuable to be killed.

In fact, the people were ready to rally and revolt against him for Aqua inspiring them to stand up against the mandates of eliminating self-expression.

Salem had little care for that, only caring that once she knew the secret of Aqua's powers she would eliminate her after whether not she found a way to replicate that power or made sure it would never help Ozma again. With a special Grimm, Salem was able to access her dreams and enter her memories, only accessing her memory of her battles and meeting Ozma, defeating the crimson Warlord and his demonic form including the second time defeating him and sealing him away with her new allies. Salem already knew about the demon king being sealed away and how it could be undone. She tried to pry further into Aqua's memories in the dream but mysterious powers that resided within Aqua forced not only the Grimm but Salem out to prevent her from knowing any more.

When she tried to do it again the Nightmare Grimm was rejected. She connected with it and learned that Aqua had developed an immunity to the Nightmare she had created and thus it could not enter her body. Even though she was not present there she wanted to put an end the Ocean Knight and ordered her subordinates to finish the job. Emperor Alexander tried to persuade her to use Aqua in a different way, believing reputation would help them to prevent the rebellion from getting worse than usual.

Salem didn't care about the kingdom that he was ruling over.

She wanted nothing more than to end her most dangerous adversary, the Silver Knight.

One of Alexander's messengers then arrived with an important message for his emperor. Salem was present with her Seer listening in the conversation when the report of the evasion of his army to invade the Kingdom of Vale had been defeated by a Bronze Knight.

The messenger reported his stone army was eradicated and both of his united armies of Mistral and Mantle are highly injured and captured.

The emperor asked what had happened.

The messenger reported that a Bronze Knight with an odd-looking key-like sword was able to defeat entire armies with one fail swoop leaving many others that were presently witnessing his power making their escaped with their lives, fleeing from the land they were trying to conquer. The emperor heard enough from his messenger and dismissed him. He then turned to Salem and asked of her of this new knight that had appeared in Vale.

Salem had gotten curious about this news. She sent out a Seer Grimm to search for this other individual knight. When she did find him, she was immediately shocked by what she saw. He fought against those armies and creatures of Grimm, putting them all down easily with a key-like weapon. It wasn't just the key-like weapon but the armor design she recognized was similar to the Ocean Knight.

Witnessing this Bronze Knight's power that was stronger than almost anything she had seen before except for Aqua and eliminating her forces with ease Salem reconsidered the emperor of Mistral using Aqua as a puppet, not only to settle down the masses but to use her as a weapon of choice for that Bronze Knight and the King of Vale.

It would also allow her a small bit of revenge on Aqua for trapping her in that crystal long ago.

She allowed the leaders of Mantle and Mistral to use Aqua as a puppet, taking no small amount of joy in seeing that she was under their and by extension her control, but the biggest problem was that she broke free over time before sending her in the front lines of the final battle. When the fight was over, she not only helped reestablish connections with the other four kingdoms Aqua ended up helping the people regain the arts that once was abolished, reestablishing them for all to enjoy and see life itself as an art.

But it didn't stop there of her rule.

She had reconstructed the kingdom of Mistral to a greater level ever before, taking steps to make sure was able to leave this Kingdom would prosper long after she was gone.

Salem was not only beyond amazed but envious for what she had done which also left her loathing her greatest adversary Aqua even more then her former beloved Ozma. Aqua's actions showed great leadership than she had done in centuries ago when she was ruling over her kingdom with Ozma in the kingdom of Dracon. Her subjects from the higher ups had respected her very well, except the people beneath them soon had enough of her and those who followed them, so they decided to leave and go against her. She wouldn't care about a few going against her as they were not worth anything to her.

Except when they joined the east side of world of Remnant where the other kingdoms were uniting their forces along with Aqua. It turned out those who do not follow or abide her rules were capable of defeating her followers with ease because Aqua had trained them and granted them the power defend themselves against the Grimm and the armies of her kingdom.

Salem was nothing more than a ruler of the ruins of her defunct kingdom and had a small group of subordinates that shared her own ideals. Some of them possessed potential but not exactly worth anything much afterwards.

While Aqua had multiple followers throughout the ages living up to her legacy, bringing more prosperity to this world. And those who are followers would become great and shared their potential to many more generations.

This led Salem to feel even more loathing and jealousy of her former friend's progress throughout the years, clutching tightly on her arm rest, nails digging and deep into the purple crystal viewing the world outside.

Aqua had not only become her greatest adversary she was greater than her in being a teacher, a mother, and a greater ruler than Salem ever was, and she hated her more for it.

The doors opened, shaking Salem from her thoughts and she looked up to see who had entered. "Clayton."

"Lady Salem." Clayton stopped before the table and bowed. "Apologies for the sudden intrusion."

"I trust that this sudden intrusion means you have something to report." Salem replied.

"Yes. We've made contact with someone in Atlas, someone with a definite grudge against both General Ironwood and Ansem Schnee." Clayton straightened himself. "Dr. Arthur Watts."

Salem had heard of this man.

Due to the rising technology in Atlas, Salem had to keep a close eye on that kingdom, looking for someone to be of use against that very technology. Hazel was more suited for diplomacy outside of fighting, while Tyrian was better at covert operations such assassinations and stirring up trouble and despite Clayton's usefulness he was a wanted man in all of the kingdoms for his Wild Hunt activities.

"A rising star, he has contributed much to Atlas and is one of the few men working outside of the SDC. Apparently however, he was recently disgraced when a proposal project of his was passed over in favor of one of his colleagues and he is now left with no choice but to work on the project with the man who was chosen over him." Clayton continued and smiled. "That's never good for someone working in Atlas."

"No, it is not." Salem agreed with a smile. "You have a plan to extract him?"

"Somewhat."

Salem frowned. "Meaning?"

"He wishes for vengeance on James Ironwood and was already working on a way to get back at him, using the very project that the General rejected." Clayton explained. "We've conversed over it, and it is a good way to fake his death…And perhaps eliminate the good general and Ansem Schnee while we are it."

Salem raised an eyebrow. "Eliminate General Ironwood and Ansem Schnee?"

"I know that you would consider extracting this man more important over eliminating one of Ozpin's pawns and perhaps our biggest obstacle when it comes to matters in Solitas, but I wondered just how open you were to this idea." Clayton continued. "I told him we would consider it."

Salem brought a hand to her chin.

Ansem Schnee was perhaps her biggest obstacle outside of Aqua, Ozma and the Bronze Knight. His work was doing more to unite Remnant than Ozma and ironically, he had no clue of her existence. The man was brilliant as shown when he jumpstarted technology in Remnant over a few decades when he was made leader of the Schnee Dust Company. The man was an amazing scientist, even Salem could admit to that, his studies into Aura and Dust allowing Huntsmen, likely the same studies made by Aqua improving Huntsmen greatly.

His impressive feats made him all the more an obstacle for her.

"He can guarantee that this plan of his will work?" Salem inquired.

"He boasted enough that his plan will work but given that we have only made recent contact, I cannot say for sure his plan for work." Clayton admitted.

Not the answer Salem wanted but Clayton had a good point about the fact that Watts was possible new addition and thus neither Clayton nor her had a good idea of his competence.

"If he can arrange an escape, can he arrange a way into Atlas?" Salem asked after a moment of consideration.

Clayton thought it over and nodded. "A man in his position should be able to do it."

"Then we'll put his boast to the test. As much as bringing this Doctor Watts here for recruitment, a chance to eliminate Ansem Schnee is an opportunity that we cannot pass up." Salem instructed. "Have him prepare a way into Atlas for Tyrian and Hazel."

"Sending both Tyrian and Hazel?" Clayton raised an eyebrow. "To ensure Ansem's death?"

"To escort both Watts and Ansem out of Atlas and bring them both to me." Salem clarified with a smile. "Ansem is the son-in-law to Aqua Schnee and I have no doubt much of his work on Dust came from Aqua's studies from her time as Lady Schnee. I want to know how much he knows about her and her own powers and how it can benefit us."

Now Clayton understood Salem's plans. "I see…I will inform them immediately. Do you wish for me go with them?"

"No. You are better here coordinating the extraction and remaining as Watts' contact." Salem answered. "And I want Tyrian and Hazel to understand that under no circumstances is there to be any evidence of their presence in Atlas. They must not be seen by anyone."

"Understood." Clayton bowed his head. "I will make the proper arrangements. Of course, I ask for clarity in one detail, Mistress."

"Which is?"

"Is capturing Ansem Schnee as a high a priority as extracting Dr. Watts or if we are unable to, should we just focus on the doctor?" Clayton asked.

Salem raised an eyebrow again. "You doubt our success?"

"Ansem Schnee is not like most men, as you already know. He is the husband of Willow Schnee who is considered the best Atlesian Huntress of her generation, his eldest daughter is in the military and Dr. Watts described his bodyguard as being exceptionally powerful. In fact they were powerful enough to take down Ironwood's own Ace Operatives in a sanctioned fight. Add what Doctor Watts has said about this Limit Break theory being proven to be true, it's possible that his bodyguards are so powerful because they are the result of Ansem's own studies into evolving Semblances." Clayton explained. "It's also possible he will be well protected even if he falls into Watts' trap and an attempt to take him with his bodyguards nearby would result in a bloody fight, even if Tyrian and Hazel manage to contain it."

Salem considered this, admitting to herself that Clayton had a point. What made Clayton a useful pawn outside of his own contacts and connections was that he was able to recognize the benefits and risks of every plan before him, weighing the possibility of failure.

The benefits of a trained hunter she supposed.

"Since extracting Dr. Watts is the main plan, he will remain the top priority. Ansem will be secondary and if the opportunity to capture him is lost, Hazel and Tyrian are to immediately retreat." Salem finally answered. "Sometimes, a victory does not require complete destruction of the enemy."

"I see." Clayton smiled. "I will stress this to both of them."

"Good." Salem said and dismissed Clayton.

Once he left, Salem turned and looked out the window, surveying the dark lands she lived in. "I wonder what role you will play this time, Aqua."


Thousands of Years Ago

"So, neither you or I remember almost before we blacked out." Salem said to him. "And you do not recall why you were in in the middle of a desert by Oasis."

Salem and Ozma had tried to recall for what had happened to them. Both couldn't remember why Oz was outside of the middle of desert and she doesn't know what happened to her she couldn't fall for illness because of her curse.

"Sadly, I don't know why I was there in the first place. Especially, your servants and I do not know what cause you to pass out." Ozma replied to her. "Although our servants in our castle informed us of what we were trying to do. We were trying to defeat a monster that is called Sin that had originated from the former kingdom of Spira."

They both knew their servants wouldn't lie to them. They spent most of the day searching for information about that creature. Salem used her control over the Grimm in the seas, trying to locate or even hear their thoughts about that monster.

Even they believed she had fought against it and lost multiple times against it.

That surprised her even more.

How could she forget a fight against that monster like that?

But when the Grimm when they were trying to keep track of it and it disappeared leaving no trace of its whereabouts Salem was left to ponder what had happened. When she thought that that creature was capable of using powers and magic then when it disappeared it must have used some sort of spell to send anyone's memories of that creature into oblivion to ensure no one knew of its existence. Strange enough it is now that creature was gone, but they won't let their guard down and build up their kingdom together to unite the world and if there were any signs of that monster returning from the seas, they would be ready.

Meanwhile, inside the soul of Ozma, Diggs remained silent, letting Ozma and Salem believe that Sin had simply disappeared, which it technically did. Diggs had no idea if Aqua had anything to do with Sin's disappearance, but it was better than letting Ozma and Salem find out about her again.

"In the meantime, we must focus on uniting the people of this world." Salem turned away, walking back to the dining room table.

Ozma followed her over to the table and sat down next to her.

"This monster is just more proof that this world needs us to guide them." Salem remarked, waving a hand over her crystal ball. "If united, we will stand a better chance against this monster if it ever returns."

"How do you suggest we do this?" Ozma asked.

"We start by spreading out to the surrounding lands." Salem stated. "Villages and towns not part of any kingdoms will be easier to convert, especially if they have no defenses against the Grimm."

Ozma conceded that Salem had a point there.

Villages were easier to attack and the only defense they had were walls built to keep the Grimm out. They would keep out the smaller Grimm out but eventually larger ones would just break through the walls with ease.

And the people had no magic to repel the Grimm.

"We will start small and make our way to the larger kingdoms." Salem observed her crystal ball showing a large castle. "We can work on converting them when we reach them."

Ozma felt a sudden unease inside of him for some reason.

"And Ozma…"

Ozma glanced up, seeing his wife looking at him. "Yes?"

"I will be counting on you." She reached out and grasped his hand. "You are the legendary warrior who challenged every man and beast in ancient times. Now, you will be the one to lead our kingdom to prosperity."

Ozma stared at her, seeing her smile he grasped her hand back. "…I would be honored to."

They both smiled, feeling that nothing would stop them.

Together, they would make the world a safer place.

Diggs, however, knew that things wouldn't be as simple as that.

Things would be getting very complicated soon.


After having a peaceful sleep, unaware of the events happening in the Ever After Aqua and her apprentice finished their breakfast and cleaned up, both of them planning to head back out and finish off Sin once and for all. Aqua was about to return to her room until she sensed something close by their home and was approaching them.

It was not any dark energy like the Grimm.

She was sensing elemental energy of earth.

"Aqua." Poppy called out to her. "When you created this temple, you said it had a certain protection and magic around it and that we're like the only ones to enter this location. Right?"

"Yes, that's why I asked for Ambrosius to create this place with the power that protects us here would also make it invisible to the eyes of others that are unworthy. Especially those are corrupted and dark hearts cannot enter the land that we're in." Aqua said noticing Poppy looking out the window. She had a feeling that whatever her apprentice was looking outside is also what she is sensing. "And let me take a guess you see people outside approaching our home."

She nodded, not taking her eyes off for what she is witnessing through the window. Whatever it is that caught Poppy's full attention, for her to be like this must it be something incredible as she could not to look away. She was not even blinking, leaving her to stay focused for what she was seeing. Aqua walked beside her apprentice and looked through the window.

There was a small group of people out there and traveling cloaks but one in particular stood out. They wore darker cloak almost resembling a blacker starless sky. The stranger was wearing a skull like mask some little bit of design around that mask. That appearance alone almost gave the representation of death.

Aqua sensed the elemental energy coming off from that one. And she recognized that energy long ago with the one of the golden weapons that Erebus had created to fight against her.

She even remembered who had taken ownership of that golden scythe last time she saw it.

Aqua's hunch was correct when the wind blew the dark cloak. She saw the golden scythe in the mask one's hands. She turned to the door and immediately walked out, standing at the top of the stairs and made sure that the newcomers could see her. She slowly walked down, coming to a stop right in front of the group.

Everyone was on guard until the leader of the group carrying the scythe strolled forward. Aqua was prepared for anything except when she took off her hood showing the color of her hair and her mask.

Aqua's eyes widened when she saw the familiar face along with the dark hair and silver eyes. "…Artura?"

The spitted image of Artura smiled, shaking her head before speaking. "Artura was my ancestor. My name is Amarilla."

Ancestor?

Aqua shouldn't be surprised by this but she was, nonetheless.

It would have been a few centuries by now and Artura was long gone.

"My ancestor let a journal detailing her life as the King of the Emerald King, including its fall when the Gods abandoned Remnant and the rise of the Demon King. She also spoke of the friend she had fought alongside after her kingdom fell, defeating and sealing the Demon King and knighted her before taking this," Amarilla tapped the golden scythe attached to her hip. "To a safe place where she met the survivors of her kingdom."

Poppy looked back and forth, seeing the surprised Aqua digest what she had been told.

"She spoke highly of this friend of hers, the one she had named the Ocean Knight. And there was something else." Amarilla continued. "She suspected the Ocean Knight possessing a form of magic different from the magic humanity once had."

She took a step forward, walking right up to Aqua who took one step back in surprise but didn't when Amarilla took another step forward, staring her right in the face.

"You are her, aren't you?" She asked, her voice almost a whisper. "You are the Ocean Knight who fought alongside my ancestor."

Aqua sputtered a bit. "I-I would have to be very old if I was."

"Yes, you would have to be." Amarilla nodded in agreement, but a sly smile appeared on her face. "Unless you are a timewalker."

Aqua's eyes widened, completely speechless by Amarilla guessing what she was and Poppy could only stare at her in shock.

"I have a feeling…" Amarilla said slowly, knowing that she had guessed right. "That we have a lot to talk about."

She didn't know how right she was.