Author's Note: This was the story I submitted to a contest in a discord server I am a part of, it was initially written on an entry by entry basis, so the chapters may feel a little disconnected at times, but I decided to pull them all together into one story and put them out for the world to see.

I hope you enjoy!


How did it come to this? Salem couldn't help but wonder as she looked out over the desolate lands of the Grimm, her lands. As far as the eye could see, her army stood ever vigilant, prepared to throw back any invader that dared approach their immortal queen.

The lands of Darkness had always been troubled, broken in a way that the rest of the world was not, but it had still flourished with life. Once. Until she had come to claim it, only then had these lands started to suffer, and oh, had they suffered.

There weren't any trees or grass plains, despite how there once had been. The Pools of Darkness seeped through the land as if it were a plague, killing everything that had once lived there until all that remained was twisted and diseased. From there, they spawned the creatures of Grimm, which sought nothing but destruction. It was her kingdom to rule over, with no power to counter her own, and it was one of death and decay.

The sun rarely pierced the clouds anymore, she thought as she looked up through the ornate glass window of her throne room. The dark clouds above had always been a feature that she had lamented, as she had grown up in a land of beauty and sunshine, even if her father had kept her locked away from it all. Thoughts of that tower had once plagued her dreams, but time had healed those wounds just as it had healed all of her others. Now, she could only remember the beauty she had seen from her window. A prison of a different type, but at the very least the cage had been a gilded one.

She would never regret having lived her life with Ozma, those few years of freedom had been something unlike anything she had ever dared dream of. She had loved, laughed, and cried. They had been heroes, going wherever they pleased, saving villages from bandits and troubles without thought of reward. Times had been different, with no true guiding power, the Grimm had been limited in their capacity. It hadn't been until after Humanity's temporary destruction that they spread to the rest of the world, something that she had once been ashamed to admit that she had permitted to happen. As the only living human, and without the ability to die, she hadn't seen any need to stop them. It hadn't been until Ozma returned to her that she snapped back to her senses.

For a time all was as it had been, but the Gods had long since proven her enemy, and whatever fates that governed the world saw fit to place her and Ozma against one another. In her anger, she had done something she had regretted for the rest of her days. Their beautiful daughters were no more, and the rage she felt at that fact had plunged her to depths she had yet to fully climb back out of. Part of her was broken that day, she knew that, yet another part of her refused to allow her to heal from it.

The large doors to her throne room opened, drawing her attention down from the window and black clouds that rolled above her Kingdom. She had often heard in her youth that the old looked back on their life with pride or regret, but no matter how she may have doubted her actions, she would only ever allow such thoughts in solidarity. When no others were near to listen. When none could judge her.

"Report." Salem's cold tone rang out across the empty throne room. It hadn't always been that way however, she had once hosted more than a simply paltry cabal of followers. Her Kingdom had been just that, a mighty thing that flourished with life. People did not worship her as a god, but they served her as a queen, and that had been enough for a time. It was… difficult to remember when that had changed. The lands had been fertile then, capable of supporting the families of those who served her.

A Seer slowly floated its way through the otherwise empty halls. This was all that served her now, all that was of any worth at least. Her human followers were insane, the dredges of humanity, she knew that. The humans disgusted her, and so the Grimm were her only true subjects.

Fall has arrived in Vale. That was the message she received, no more and no less. Not a hint of personality or individuality to be found in the otherwise docile creature. No clue as to whether it supported or opposed her, no mention of its thoughts, because there were none. The Grimm had been created to serve, and in doing so had delivered a message. Nothing more.

"Good." It meant they would be all the closer to ending this, once and for all. Then, finally, Ozma and her could rest in whatever awaited them in the afterlife. She had no doubt it would not be kind, but she struggled to even think of what could be worse than her current eternal life. Some saw what she had as a blessing, a fact that she had once used to rally armies to her side to stand against the Gods. That had ended in the extinction of her entire race, all for personal greed and gains. She had wanted Ozma back, and the Kings and Queens of old had simply wanted eternal life. A torture unlike any other.

Now she just had to wait, a simple thing, a skill she had mastered better than any other. Dismissing the Grimm, she urged it to seal the door as it left. Her head dipping, eyes growing heavy, Salem relented as sleep threatened to overwhelm her. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept. Days? Months? Could it have been more? It was longer than should have been possible, she knew that much, but it was simply normal for her. Time was irrelevant, and her body was no longer Human. Grimm did not need to sleep, so neither did she

… and yet, her mind would sometimes forget that. She only hoped that the nightmares did not return this time, she longed for a peaceful rest. If she could dare to hope.


Salem's eyes cracked open slowly, a groan slipping from her as the light seemed to burn her eyes. Turning over, she pushed herself deeper into her pillows in an attempt to close off the bright light around her. It took her nearly a full minute to realize what was wrong with the situation.

As her brain slowly began to realize that; A, she had not been in her bed, B, she did not own a bed or pillows, and that, C: that the sun shouldn't have been able to shine. Her eyes opened finally just as her assailant let themselves be known. A loud electric buzzing sound from her side, prompting Salem to jump up from where she lay. Her attacker must have managed to wrap her legs in some sort of contraption, for as she tried to stand, her legs were quickly snagged and she was sent face first off the side of the bed into the warm carpeted floor beside it.

Groaning, Salem had the presence of mind to recall that she had never installed carpet, and if she had, she certainly would have gone for something more interesting than gray!

The beeping continued, a rhythmic sound that grew neither closer nor farther away. It was mocking her, laughing at the predicament that she found herself in. She let it grow comfortable in its victory, slowly working her way free from the dastardly placed blanket that had thwarted her last attack, before springing up and holding a hand out.

"Die!" A beam of pure darkness shot off in the direction of the sound, smashing into a lamp beside the bed, before going clean through the wall behind it. "Huh! Too eas-"

The sound continued, her foe not yet defeated despite her attack, and as she stepped closer she finally caught sight of it. A small rectangular device plugged into some kind of string beside the bed she had been held captive in. The machine was clearly some kind of sophisticated Atlesian weapon, one that only the brightest of minds could have defeated.

Grabbing it, she chucked it out the convenient hole that she had made through the wall, the sound growing quieter and more distant as it fell.

Dusting her hands in victory, Salem nodded once and turned her attention to her strange surroundings. The natural light coming from the windows made it obvious she was nowhere near her tower, although that begged the question of how she had been taken there. The room, boring carpet aside, was relatively nice, with the bed centered along the wall and covered in thick blankets and plush pillows. There was even a gentle breeze courtesy of the hole that she had added!

Shaking her head, Salem focused on the two doors on the opposite side of the room. Neither possessed any sign of where they might lead. Shrugging, Salem randomly chose the one on the right, clearly the correct choice for an exit, after all.

The door opened, revealing a clean white bathroom, and a scantily clad woman with blonde hair staring back at her, blue eyes wide in surprise. She wasn't the only one caught off guard, though Salem quickly pushed that shock aside and raised her hand, launching another spell. This was clearly the person that had taken her though, and so she kept the spell simple, enough to stun her but not-

The magic bounced off the mirror and slammed into Salem's forehead. She crashed into the floor, defeated.

"Owie…" Salem rubbed at her forehead, slowly sitting up until she could observe the opponent that had so easily bested her. They were gone, giving Salem the time to stand, and as she did the woman was back, only this time Salem noticed her movements copying her own.

A slow, daunting realization settled in as her head slowly angled down. The first thing she saw was skin as dark as some of her minions, before her eyes settled on a deep valley of exposed skin on her chest covered by a white bra.

Salem fell back onto the floor a second later, looking at her hands and arms as she tried to figure out what was going on. Then, a thought occurred to her, and she launched up and forward until her face was only a handful of inches from the mirror. Blue eyes stared back, they were so foreign and yet… she knew them instantly. They were her eyes, from when she was human. Her hair, a soft gold as it once had been so many millennia ago.

Stepping back, Salem turned from the mirror, her breathing rapid and shallow.

"T-this is a trick," Shaking her head, she did her best to ignore the golden strands that flowed in and out of her vision. "I-I'm dreaming, or I-I ate something and this is just a side effect… did I get drunk? No, no, I would remember… surely." Regardless of the method, Salem quickly settled on one fact. "This isn't real!"

"Oh, it's real." A woman's voice softly called out from beside her.

Salem turned quickly, leveling her hands as she summoned a dark flame. There was no one there however, and for a moment she thought she might truly have lost it.

"Over here."

Salem turned again, seeing nothing.

"Show yourself!" Salem shouted, bringing forth another flame into her other hand as she prepared to destroy the room entirely. "While I will certainly survive, you will not!"

"No, wait!" The woman's voice called again. "On your shoulder!"

Her shoulder? What kind of nonsense was that? Looking down to her right shoulder, Salem saw a small, naked, blue woman waving back at her.

"Hi!"

"Ahh!" Salem held her hand before the demon on her shoulder and let loose another blast, adding a new hole to the far side of the wall.

"That's really rude," A new voice called this time, a masculine one from her other shoulder. Turning her head slowly, this time it was a naked, blue man. "If I say hi, are you going to blas-"

Salem had already started to move her hand up to blast the demon before she felt something grab her wrist.

"Wait, let us speak first!" Salem's eyes snapped over to the being holding her, only to see the small woman from earlier now roughly her size, hand gently grasping Salem's wrist. "Please, we simply wish to talk."

Salem was no fool, these beings, whatever they were, were certainly resilient. If she had survived one blast, who was to say they couldn't survive another of equal measure.

"You have until I am done." Salem held her hands out, slowly building up the energy she would need to destroy them.

"Is she still trying to kill us?" The man, if that's what he was, appeared beside the woman.

Exasperated, the woman sighed and brought a hand to her nose, muttering about having their work cut out for them before quickly smiling and looking at Salem once more.

"My name is Jinn, this is Ambrosius." Jinn said, gesturing towards the man floating beside her.

"Sup." Ambrosius waved lazily.

"We are here to help guide you on your journey." Jinn smiled widely, a false cheeriness to ehr voice.

Energy continued to coalesse around Salem, her attack building in power. "Journey?"

"Your journey to change your ways!" Jinn cheered.

Perplexed, Salem raised a single eyebrow. "...and what if I don't want to change?""Well that's too bad!" Jinn snapped. "I'm tired and want my dads to come back damn it!" Pausing, Jinn smiled once more. "I mean, self growth is important…"

"Uh huh…" Salem nodded slowly, but did not stop casting her ultimate destruction spell.

Realizing that she was not convinced, Jinn seemed to panic.

"You know…" Ambrosius floated into Salem view once more. "I'm pretty sure I heard the God of Light say you couldn't do it…"

Salem's concentration on her spell faltered. "... He said what now?"

"Yup." Ambrosis rubbed his chin softly. "Something about you never learning your lesson and being too stupid or something."

Glaring, Salem's hands stilled. "Oh did he?"

Jinn, seeing a moment to jump in, smiled softly. "He did seem convinced that you'd fail…"

The spell fell away entirely, Salem crossing her arms over her chest. "And… what exactly am I supposed to fail at?"

"Why don't you start by getting dressed," Jinn smiled, gesturing down at Salem's still underwear clad body. "You've got a busy day ahead!"

Salem, Queen of the Grimm and enemy of mankind did not blush. That was impossible for a being like her, she told herself, even as her face heated up and she rushed over to a nearby dresser to pick out a shirt.

"Dress formally," Jinn added. "It's induction day after all."

"Induction day?" Salem slowly started looking through the dresser, looking for something nice to wear. Sadly, there weren't many blacks or purples for her to use, so she would have to improvise.

"Yup!" Jinn added. "I'm sure your prospective students would feel weird if their new Headmistress showed up in a t-shirt."

"Wait, Headmistress?" Salem closed the dresser with enough force to rock it. Moving over to the window, Salem pulled open the curtain to reveal a view of Beacon Academy from the central tower. "Am I in-"

"Welcome to Beacon!" Jinn and Ambrosius replied in unison.