(Time : 30 minutes later)

Salem and Summer didn't know how long they had been walking through this tunnel but it seemed like an eternity. Thanks to the mushrooms, there were enough light to enlighten their road but still, being several hundreds of feet underground with nothing to help them finding their way,it was getting to their nerves.

After a long time of silence, Summer decided to break it.

"So… you had daughters ?" she asked her companions with slight curiosity.

Salem glanced at her for a second, her face showing no emotions, until it softened as she opened her mouth to answer with nostalgia "Me and Ozma had four daughters, yes…"

"How were they like ?" Summer asked her with interest.

Salem paused for a moment, thinking about something, before answering her companion "They were the joys of my life… They were smart, always happy and beautiful… They were my babies… and yet, I was the one to take their lives..."

Her voice seemed to break near the end as a look of pain and sorrow appeared on her pale face. Once again, Summer felt pity and sympathy spreading within her as she looked at the Queen of Grimm : once again, Salem showed her that the cold hearted monster Ozpin described her as was not an accurate description.

Salem was just a broken woman who fell into a dark path because of her sufferings.

Against her better judgment, Summer putted a hand on Salem's left shoulder, causing the latter to blink in shock at the gesture. The Huntress looked at her with a straight face as she opened her mouth to ask

"Did you meant for this to happen ? Did you wanted to kill your daughters ?"

"Of course not !" Salem snarled back with rightful anger in her glowing red eyes.

"Then, you shouldn't blame yourself for it… It was an accident… And while it was a tragic one, it was not your doing..." Summer said with a tiny smile while squeezing Salem's shoulder in a comforting manner.

"..." the Queen of Grimm staid silent for a moment, looking at the woman before her with contemplation before saying with a sigh

"But the guilt still remains..."

"I know… but as least, you can tell you aren't responsible for the death of your daughters..." The Huntress whispered gently to one who was considered (by her boss) as a cold bloodthirsty monster.

Salem smiled at Summer. It wasn't a smirk or a fake smile… it was a genuine smile, one giving off a warm feeling. Even more, tears could be seen forming in her eyes.

"Thank you, Rose..." The Queen of Grimm said while using a finger to brush out some tears before saying

"Never before, I have met someone so caring and compassionate… You are truly one of a kind, Summer Rose..."

"I heard that one a lot of times before from by teammates..." Summer retorted with a snort of amusement before the two of them shared a brief laugh of humor.

"I can believe that…" Salem said with a chuckle as she slowly regained her senses before speaking again with a tone filled with curiosity.

"What about you ? Do you have children ?"

Summer's face brightened at the mention of children and it was a clear answer for the Queen of Grimm.

"Yes, I do ! Two adorable daughters, Ruby and Yang ! They are my greatest prides !" the Huntress answered with a warm smile as images of her daughters flashed through her silver eyes.

Salem smiled at her companion before asking with curiosity "How old are they ?"

"Ruby is one year old… as for Yang, she is three years older… and she is a little spitfire already !" Summer answered with a fond smile and a chuckle.

"How do they look like ?" the Queen of Grimm asked her with an eyebrow raised with interest.

"Ruby looks just like me… Yang looks more like her father..." Summer seemed hesitant in the last part.

While curious about it, Salem wisely chose to not voice it as it might be a personal matter. Instead, she decided to change the topic a bit as it was clearly making her companion uncomfortable.

"Who is the father ?"

"Tai Xiao Long… He was one of my teammates at Beacon Academy alongside Qrow and Raven…" Summer's face turned into a slight grimace at the last name, even when she tried to hide it.

"Raven ? As in, Raven Branwen ?" Salem asked her with slight surprise.

"The very same ! You know of her ?" Summer asked her back with equal surprise.

"Not personally but I heard she was the leader of a tribe of thieves, the Branwen Tribe..." The Queen of Grimm answered with a frown.

Summer narrowed her eyes at her companion, thinking that Salem knew more than she let on, before shrugging, while shaking those thoughts aside. She was getting paranoid, she thought with a sight. Being out of the sun and locked in a tunnel was really not good for her mental health.

"How was it like in Beacon Academy ?" Salem's voice suddenly broke her out of her thoughts.

Summer shook her head to regain her senses before answering her as trustfully as she could.

"It ward hard… and some lessons were pretty much boring… but I had good times there..."

"Any nice stories to share ?" Salem asked her with a glint of mischief in her eyes and voice.

"Plenty !" Summer replied with a toothy smirk.

"Any in particular ?" the Queen of Grimm inquired with the same look on her face.

"Well, there was the time Qrow was pursued by a mob of angry girls because he was spying on them !" Summer answered with a snicker of amusement while the memory of that moment passed through her mind.

Somewhere in Remnant, in a bar, a man sneezed loudly and his action caused him to accidentally spill some of his drink on someone else's clothes. The black haired man chuckled nervously when he noticed a muscular man glaring at him with anger, his clothes completely wet. A second later, the muscular man lunged at him with his fists raised, immediately starting a general fight between every customers.

But let's get back to the two women…

"Let me guess : those girls were either bathing or changing clothes ?" Salem asked her with an amused raised eyebrow.

"Second option..." Summer replied with a laugh.

Her amusement seemed contagious as Salem also released a few chuckles. Internally, the Queen of Grimm wondered why she was warming up so fast to someone who previously was her enemy, but she would be lying to herself if she said she didn't liked being able to talk to someone so… casually.

It had been a long time since she last had a real conversation with another human being. The last one was her beloved husband, Ozma, and it was during their shutdown many centuries ago… But now that she thought about it, she cannot really consider this a conversation but a very loud argument.

Glancing at the Huntress beside her, Salem allowed a smile to appear on her face : she had never met anyone like the woman walking by her side and she will always remember this enjoyable moment at her company.

"Another story in mind ?" she asked the black haired woman once Summer stopped laughing.

"Like I told you, I have plenty of them ! But if you want a specific one, here one you might enjoy..." Summer began to say before telling the story about how Qrow jumped off the second floor of a building to leave class.

Once again, the story amused Salem and for the next few minutes, the two of them would share stories about their past or personal moments with people they enjoyed the company. The more they talked and exchanged stories, a bond was slowly forming between them.

Former enemies were slowly but surely, becoming more than that : they were slowly becoming friends.

After Summer finished her stories, Salem, in return, would told her a bit of her past : how she was locked in a tower by her father before being rescued and taken away by a handsome man (Ozma). She told her companion of her brief when he died, how she pleaded the Gods to revive him… only to be met with refusal.

"The God of Darkness had listened to me at first and revived my husband… but then, his brother came before telling him how I had 'tricked' him into doing the same… The God of Darkness then killed my husband before my eyes !" Salem explained to her companion with gritted teeth.

"It's horrible !" Summer gasped in shock and horror as her silver eyes stared at her companion.

"It is… I was so angry that I attacked them… To punish me, they cursed me with immortality, preventing him to ever be with the love of my life again…" Salem said in a soft tone before it turned bitter and cold.

"I wanted revenge… so I managed to gather a large army to face the Gods… but in retaliation, they annihilated every single humans on Remnant, putting an end to the first Humanity… Because of my curse, I was the only one to survive…"

Summer stared at her companion with nothing but pity on her face.

"Ozpin said you had tricked Humanity in opposing the Gods..." she whispered to the pale skinned woman.

"I didn't tricked them… Back then, many humans wanted the Gods gone, wanting the land for themselves… Some were bold enough to claim they were more powerful than their creators…It was not hard to gather followers..." Salem answered with a deep sigh, loosing herself in memory for a second.

After hearing this, Summer's mind was in turmoil : everything she had learned from Salem and what Ozpin told her were completely different. Ozpin hadn't stopped telling her that Salem was a ruthless monster who wanted nothing, but to rule the world but so far, it wasn't the case.

Sure Salem had control over the creatures of Grimm, Mankind's deadliest enemy, had magic and had the appearance of a monster. However, she also showed that she was also a living being with emotions and feelings. Salem wasn't born a monster, she BECAME one after a tragic event.

Summer knew that, if it was hers in Salem's place, she would have acted the same : if Tai were to die, she would do everything in her power to bring him back to life… even if she had to do things she wouldn't be proud off.

In a way, she couldn't blame Salem for becoming what she was today.

She was about to say something to comfort her companion, when something caught her attention : a tiny movement a few feet away from them.

"Salem ! Look !" the silver eyed Huntress said to the Queen of Grimm while pointing forward with a finger.

The sound of her voice broke Salem out of her little trance and quickly, the pale woman looked ahead to see what had caught her companion's attention : a few feet away from them, looking at them with tiny brownish eyes, was a creature she never saw before.

It looked to be around the size of their hands and hand the appearance of a green flat-faced stick figure of woods and twigs with long sharp figer-like appendices on each 'hands'. The green creature also had three legs underneath its body.

For a moment, the women stared at the tiny creatures with wide eyes of shock and awe, unable to look away from it. In response, the tiny being also stared at them, not moving from its place.

"What the hell is that ?" Summer whispered to her companion without looking away from the green being.

"I-I have never seen anything like this creature before..." Salem whispered back in awe, her red eyes looking at the tiny being with curiosity and interest.

Summer, hearing this, briefly looked away from the unknown creature to look at her companion with disbelief and surprise

"Really ?! Are you saying we have discovered a new specie ?!" the silver eyes woman asked her companion with stars in her eyes.

"It seems so..." Salem replied with a nod before looking back at the tiny creature.

The greenish plant-like being titled its head to the side as if wondering what they were saying before 'walking away'.

"Let's follow it !" Summer said to her companion when she noticed the thing heading somewhere.

"We should, indeed… I don't know what this creature is and where it came from, but it must come from outside this cave…" Salem said in agreement to her companion before the two of them went after the tiny being.

Seeing that it was being followed, the plant-like creature started running and the two women were forced to also quicken their paces to avoid loosing sight of it. However, they were forced to stop as Summer fell to the ground with a grunt.

"Summer !" Salem called out with slight concern in her tone as she grabbed the other woman by the arm.

"My exhaustion from earlier is back, it seems..." Summer said with slight disappointment and annoyance.

"Let me help you..." the Queen of Grimm offered while wrapping Summer's left arm over her shoulders before helping her walk forward.

The silver eyed Huntress blinked in surprise at the gesture but soon, smiled at her previous enemy before whispering with genuine appreciation "Thank you..."

Salem blinked at the sudden words but also allowed a smile to grace her face as she nodded back in appreciation. Together, the two women slowly went back to follow the tiny being, which was harder than they thought as they soon found out that they had lost it.

Fortunately for them, the tunnel they were in ended after a few corners… revealing them a wide cavern with smooth walls and many sharp stalactites above them.

Looking at one another, they nodded with firm expressions on their faces : they have to make sure to not make any loud sounds… unless they wanted to be impaled. However, Summer quickly saw something and pointed it with a finger while whispering with relief "Look !"

Confused and curious about her reaction, Salem looked over from her companion to look ahead and instantly, she understood why Summer looked so relieved : a few feet away, there was the entrance of the cave they were in and, standing right there, was the little creature they had seen earlier !

The tiny green being, upon seeing them, released a little sound before rushing outside the cave in fear. However, this time, the two women didn't tried to go after it as they had finally found a way out of those tunnels.

"We did it !" Summer said to her companion as she looked at the light coming from outside the cave.

"We did, indeed..." Salem replied back with a smile before looking back at her companion.

"Now, let's get out of this cave…"

With a firm nod and a look of determination on her face, Summer and Salem, together, walked toward the entrance of the cave… but once they were on the other side, they both gasped by what they saw.

"What the hell ?!" Summer cried out in disbelief and shock while Salem was unable to say a word, her red eyes looking at the scene with wide eyes of equal shock and awe.

Outside the cave, there was an entirely new world : a rocky ceiling was far away above the entire area, supported by high rocky pillars (pillars that were perhaps taller than the tallest buildings on Remnant). Underneath the ceiling, there was a beautiful landscape with waterfalls, rivers, forests and even mountains !

Somewhere in the distance, they could see what looked like a sun shining in the 'sky' of this new land ! Summer and Salem also could see some forms flying in the air and they could also hear animal sounds coming from the forest nearest to them.

"Are we both seeing the same thing ?" Summer asked her companion in awe.

"We've been living above an entire world… and we didn't even know it !" Salem replied with awe as she looked around with her red eyes wide in shock.

For a few moments, they stared at the wide landscape in silence but soon, it was broken by Summer who asked her companion

"What should we do now ?"

(To be continued…)