~ The Witch leaves satisfied, with a new partner in tow ~

Seeing the opportunity, Cinder says to Crystal "I will leash the horses so they don't escape, while you go greet your mother, is that okay?"

"Huh? Ah, sure" Crystal nods and jumps off of her Grimm and walks away. Cinder, however, turns around, walks back a little distance and she sees her, the Queen of Grimm, Salem, standing in wait.

In a blink of Cinder's eyes, Salem appears in front of her "Good job, little Cinder"

"Yes, master" Is all that she says back.

"Well, why don't we visit this time? She was our guest, so let's become hers for a short while" Salem states and leisurely starts walking towards the lab, while Cinder follows after her. However, the two horse Grimm don't, they stand in place, frozen.

As the two make their way to the building, something strikes the mind of Salem, she has a vague memory of this place... Wasn't it one of the many labs that her previous scientist owned? No wonder she missed anybody living in it. So her scientist is dead after all, even if he'd be stuck in his studies, he would still reply to her summons, she had a hunch that he did something that was over his head and perished, but now she's sure of it. He was a weakling, after all, only his mind was useful.

Meanwhile, inside the building.

"MOM! I'm back" Crystal shouts, her voice echoing all over.

"In the Library" A soft and beautiful voice calls back.

With that, Crystal breaks into a run, quickly running over to the 'library', it's just the old lab's book place, and she sees her mom, sitting in a chair and reading something.

Her mom's face rises up to meet eyes with Crystal, those pretty eyes, and that pretty smile. No better prize exists for Crystal than seeing this scene when she comes back.

The mom stands up, walks close to Crystal, and hugs her, the Faunus melts into it immediately.

Then Crystal feels her body being patted all over "Are you hurt?" Mom asks.

"Mom, you know me, nothing can hurt me" Crystal answers with a chuckle at the end.

"I know, but that doesn't include yourself, now does it?" Mom calls out the Faunus's weakness instantly.

Crystal cringes, remembering the incident from her past.

"Yeah... I suppose that's true"

Mom rolls her eyes outside Crystal's vision, breaks the hug and with a smile says "Welcome back"

"Hehe, I feel welcome"

"Good, now, you should be hungry, gone for months, what do you want to eat?"

"Heh, this time, mom can relax, I am well fed, I am good"

"Aww, but I wanted to make something for my dear"

"Ah... Well then I am hungry, mom's food is the best"

The mom rolls her eyes again, this time Crystal sees it, but she doesn't understand why she did so.

"Well, then let's go to the kitchen, while I make something you can tell me all about your 'adventure'"

"Okay!" Crystal excitedly says and runs off, her mom falling after her.

But mother sees Crystal stop in place and turn around.

"What is it, Crystal?"

"I almost forgot, there's somebody with me this time, she might need a place to stay for a bit, let me go bring her back"

"Oh? A guest this far away from civilization?" Mom asks with a smile, but with hidden cautiousness.

"Yes, yes, it was Salem's servant"

Mom's eyes widen and before she could say something, Crystal goes off.

"That's right, I killed Salem... Well she killed herself, I just stood in place, but her head was on the ground when I left the big castle building thing where she lived. It was such a cool place, I also didn't want her to die, she was a lot nicer than you talked about her, she was the one that fed me, it was so goooood. Haaah, how unfortunate that she's had to attack me, maybe she could've been my first friend"

The mom hears everything that her dear child is saying and pays attention to all of it... Of course, her child is the only one that could manage to say something so 'beautiful' about the world's villain and even want to be friends with her.

So with a smile, she says "Well, don't worry, you will find friends in the future, a lot of them too. But now, why don't we meet this guest?"

"Okay, okay, let's go, she's a beautiful girl, I asked her if she wants to have sex on the way here, but she refused me, so I thought of trying to seduce her while she lives here, will you help me?"

If it was in the past, the mom would be thrown off by such a question, but now, she's used to it.

"No" She simply answers.

"Okay, I see, leaving her to me, I love you mom" Crystal comments honestly.

Crystal sees the entrance door, quickly scampers to it, and opens it, while looking back at her mom and talking.

"So, I thought of withholding the truth that there are multiple beds in this building and thus making her sleep with me in my bed, what do you think, would that work?"

But Crystal doesn't hear an answer, as instead, she sees her mom pull out her weapon and point it at the door.

Crystal blinks and turns around... Only to see Cinder standing in front of her with a dark expression... Who's standing behind the big pale lady that was supposed to be dead.

"Salem? Huh?" Crystal mumbles, then turn to mom "Mom, what's going on? I am pretty sure that she was dead... Is it an illusion that you warned me for?"

"Crystal, behind me" Mom states with no room left to argue, so Crystal listens and jumps back behind her mom.

Salem enters the building, having to bend her head down in order to not get hit in the forehead, she gazes at her surroundings, her eyes jump on the one that gave information about her to the Faunus.

Salem's eyes twinkle and her face breaks into an evil smile.

"So that's where you were hiding all this time. No wonder my minions couldn't find you, no matter how hard they looked for you, one night you just disappeared into thin air... Now I feel bad about ending their lives for their failure... You and your precious eyes cost me quite a lot of good people, Summer Rose"

Summer's grip on her dual grapple dust daggers tightness at those words.

"Mom, you know this beautiful lady?" Crystal asks innocently.

But before Summer could answer, Crystal looks at Salem and throws her a question too.

"And, didn't you die? I am pretty sure that your head wasn't on your body"

For the first time since Salem entered the lab, her eyes stop looking at Summer Rose and instead look at the Faunus.

"Well, I might tell you, if you tell me how you got my head to appear on the ground in the first place" Salem throws the question back.

"well, it's simp-"

"Salem, what are you doing here?" Summer says loudly, breaking her daughter's honest explanation in place.

Salem's eyes turn back to gaze at Summer's silver eyes.

"I followed the one that 'killed' me. To know who it was that gave information about me, but I didn't expect this, to see you"

Summer stays silent. She knows that Crystal wouldn't lie to her. So what's going on here? Salem should be dead then, but yet, she's standing here and she herself commented about her being killed.

So with a little bit of uncertainty, she asks her daughter again "Crystal, dear, are you sure that you saw her head on the ground?"

Crystal not knowing why her mom asked it again, just answers honestly "I did, she attacked me with some black thing, going for my head, so I just activated my semblance and her head separated instead. You can ask Cinder even, she's the pretty girl standing behind Salem, she saw it too"

"There's no need, I believe you" Summer says softly, before turning to face Salem again and she gets into a position, readying herself for a fight. She will have to figure out what's going on by herself then.

Salem seeing the tense atmosphere, chuckles darkly "Oh, please, the only thing about you that's worthy of me being cautious is your eyes, the rest of you doesn't matter, so put down your weapons, I am here to talk. But if you want to continue pointing those meager things at me, then I don't mind finally acquiring your eyes that eluded me for years"

The two of them look at each other for a long time, in silence, neither backing down.

Crystal seeing that her mom seems to really dislike this beautiful woman, interferes. Her hand lands on Summer's shoulder, breaking the staring contest between her and Salem.

"Mom, don't worry, with me here, Salem wouldn't be able to do anything, so why don't we just go and eat and hear her out, I am hungry"

Summer blinks, her muscles stop being so tense and she softly states "You said that you weren't hungry"

Crystal chuckles "I am always hungry for mom's cooking"

Summer hearing her daughter's words sighs tiredly and finally, her weapons goes back to how they used to be and she attaches them to her hip, but her eyes are still cautious as she looks at their 'guests'.

"And Salem lay a finger on my mom and neither your beautiful appearance nor whatever you did to trick me before will save you again" Crystal says with a smile.

Maybe it would be threatening to anybody else the way this Faunus said she'd kill somebody with a pure smile. But it didn't even faze Salem, however, she will play nice, because she's here for the said Faunus after all... She still doesn't know how she lost that fight, but because of that, she knows that if she has her in her inner circle... Her victory against the world, against Ozma is assured. There aren't many individuals that could survive hundreds of Grimm coming at them and come out unscathed and even beat her in a fight. She has to have her. And even if she's apparently the daughter of the one that controls silver eyes and that escaped her somehow, she will stand aside for now and try to cooperate to make sure it all goes her way.

"I understand" Salem answers simply.

Crystal hearing an agreement, nods and turns around, and walks towards the kitchen.

But before anybody could move and follow after her, she turns around again, goes to Cinder, and grabs her arm, actively taking her along.

"Wha-?" Comes out of Cinder's mouth as she gets dragged along

Cinder didn't have time to remove herself from the hold of the Faunus before they make it to the Kitchen.

Cinder blinks several times at the kitchenware all around... H-how did she get here? No, no, more importantly, why is she here? She doesn't want to be here.

Salem and Summer, left behind, get into another silent staring contest.

"I don't know what you want from Crystal, but don't think that I will allo-" Summer breaks it.

But Salem breaks Summer's sentence short "Try and stop me..." She pauses and starts walking to where the two ran off and while passing the Silver-Eyed Huntress she whispers "You'll die trying"

Salem grips the unactivated weapons on her hips tightly and after a moment to herself, walks to the kitchen, to which she's the last one in.

When Summer walks inside the kitchen, she sees her daughter enthusiastically show everything around to the young girl that came with Salem.

She also hears the girl ask, annoyed "Why are you showing me all this?"

The question makes the Faunus stop in place and look at Cinder stupidly.

"Huh? Weren't you the one that cooked for me? I thought you'd like to know where everything is"

Cinder is yet again surprised that the Faunus actually picked up on that, with how stupid she was, it's a miracle. Then she asks something else "Why would I need to know?"

"Well, of course, because you're going to live here? Ah..." Crystal pauses, when she said it out loud she remembered something crucial.

Cinder looks at her ridiculously again, how can she be stronger than her, it's just unthinkable.

"That's right Salem isn't dead anymore, so I guess there's no need for you to live here and know anything about it... My bad" Crystal finished saying when she remembered.

Cinder stares at the Faunus like she was crazy, then decides to ignore her by walking to one of the several chairs in the room and sitting down in it.

Summer trying her hardest to ignore the big dark-clothed pale woman in the room goes to where she needs to be to make something. She wishes she could make some cookies for Crytal and for herself, it's been a very long time since the last time she could do that, but the ingredients are scarce.

Salem seeing Cinder sitting down, walks over, pulls another chair closer, and sits down near her, waiting for the conversation to begin. She won't be starting it, but she will be ending it. For now, she will let this tense silence simmer, until a specific person, a certain Faunus breaks it. Because it won't be herself to do it, it won't be Cinder as she seems to dislike being here and it definitely won't be the Silver-eyed escapee.

Crystal hearing... Well not hearing anything being said is about to say something, but before that, she goes and stands very close to her mother, their backs touching. Summer is used to their close proximity, so she doesn't feel anything wrong.

But Salem sees something in the eyes of the Faunus that gaze back at her. It seems she's protecting her mother. Salem doesn't know how her semblance works yet, but she can also be used as a shield? Good, very good. The more information she has, the better her future plans involving the Faunus will be.

"Well, Salem, how did you not die?" Crystal asks straightforwardly, which is unlike her.

Salem would of course rather hear about the semblance of the Faunus first, but if she tells about herself a little first, that should help her get answers of her own. So with nothing to actually lose, Salem just answers it as it is.

"Because of your Mother's confusion, it's obvious that Ozma didn't tell enough about me" Salem chuckles darkly "Which is quite on-brand with him, keeping secrets to himself, thinking that if others knew it, it would be the worst thing imaginable... But I am getting off-topic. Why I am still alive and well? Simple, I am immortal"

Summer who was holding the knife to cut things, while intently listening on, lets go of the knife in disbelief, it hitting the board, making a slight noise.

Crystal blinks at the Queen of Grimm's answer, then ask her mother "What does she mean by 'immortal'?"

"S-she can't die" Summer answers. But it began with a stutter because she can't believe that to be true. How could Ozpin send her alone on such a mission? did he not know about it?  What is she going to do?

Summer picks up the knife again and grips it tightly. It doesn't change anything, she will find a way to beat her even if she can't physically die. But until then, she won't believe it before she sees it with her own eyes.

"Is that true?" Crystal throws a question at Salem.

"I see that you two don't believe it" Salem comments and right after, without hesitation, cuts her own head off with her tendrils.

Crystal has already seen it happen once and is not shocked at the rolling head. She's just surprised by the woman's actions.

While Summer can't believe what she's seeing. She fought loads of Grimm and she has cut their heads and other limbs off multiple times, but they would instantly disintegrate, so there'd be nothing to gawk at and fights with people normally don't tend to get so... Gruesome, so the sight is unnerving to her.

This sight, a human's head... Is it even a head of a human that's on the ground near her feet? This particuliar scene no matter how battle-hardened she is creeps her out. Whose head it is also doesn't help.

What also doesn't put Summer to relief is the fact that the eyes of the severed head rotated and looked straight at her, the next moment the head started rising with tendrils coming out of the neck, and in seconds, Salem is rebuilt as if she was new.

This whole process took about a minute or two, but it felt way longer for Summer.

Not only did her assumptions about Salem being immortal not being true were crushed, but it also happened way too quickly for such a fatal wound... But the most disturbing part is the fact that she did it herself so casually, which means that in battles she foregoes defending completely and focuses only on offense, because what's the point of that... That's one terrifying foe.

But Ozpin still sent her, alone too, he had to have a plan on how to beat Salem... It has to be her eyes, she has some knowledge and control over them... But all she knows is that they are the most effective weapon against Grimm, but would it work on a Grimm that's immortal? Obviously, Salem isn't a Grimm, to begin with, so it shouldn't work on her either way... So she has no clue what her next move will be... Yet no matter what, there's always hope, she knows that if not her, somebody else will defeat her, and she won't stop fighting or believing.

"I told you how I survived, now it's your turn. Tell me about your semblance that allows you to go untouched" Salem breaks the silence this time.

"Your power is amazing! I want that" Crystal comments instead of answering.

"Amazing? Perhaps. But it isn't as glamorous as it may seem at the first glance" Salem shares a little bit of her 'true' feelings about her own existence.

"I have no idea what the word 'glamarous' means, but I don't care, your power is something that I want"

Well, Salem supposes she can wait a bit before getting an answer to her most wanted question, she may as well play with the Faunus.

"Why do you want immortality?"

"Because no matter what, no matter how long I'd have to wait... My enemy would just die when their time comes. Or it would give me enough time to get back at him, thus leaving me with my freedom and a long time to do whatever I would want to... That would be the life" Crystal finishes answering, slipping into her own fantasies at the same time.

And that is the second most wanted question that Salem has at the moment, who is this 'enemy' that this Faunus keeps on talking about, maybe if she were to bring him here, she'd join her group in a heartbeat? But something tells her that it wouldn't be so easy if her rejections back in the castle mean anything, it's that she wants to do everything by herself when it comes to this person... Fine, she can promise resources and information to do so and that's enough for now.

But before she could ask anything about it, the topic seemingly changed in an instant, because Crystal started to explain about her semblance.

Crystal raised one of her arms to the air, her palm pointing towards Salem "Why don't you pierce one of my fingers with your things. Oh and while you do that, look at the same finger of the same hand on your own body"

Salem does it without any pause, she sees the pinkie finger of the Faunus bleed through the small hole she made, and in a blink of an eye, the injury disappeared. So she does as Crystal said and looks at her own pinkie, just to see a similar-sized hole on it. And something instantly clicks in her mind and an evil smirk crosses her face for a split moment.

No wonder she couldn't tell what happened to the Grimm, unlike people, the Creature of Grimm vanish when they get fatally wounded, so when it would seem that they bit the Faunus in half, they would die instantly. And the accident with her head, she wasn't paying attention to it at all because she wasn't expecting it.

But now... Now she understands. This is good, really, really good. Great, even. With this, she is guaranteed to succeed, nay, she isn't guaranteed, it's like Ozma has lost any chance that he previously may have had.

Crystal starts explaining about her semblance, but there's no need for Salem to actually hear it for she has understood it. But, hearing the details wouldn't hurt after all, so she listens with patience.

Summer doesn't stop her daughter's explanation, because she knows that there's no need to. Crystal likes freedom above anything else in this world... And she knows why, so she allows her to do everything and anything she wants, of course, she teaches her as much as she can to still be a 'good' person, but no matter how many times she tried. She just can't manage to make Crystal's honesty levels go down even by a tiny bit.

Cinder also saw the exchange between her Master and the annoying Faunus, unlike Salem who figured it out immediately, she only has a vague idea of what Crystal's semblance is. In her mind it's something akin to a reflection of physical attacks, seeing as Grimm's attacks were all physical and Salem's tendrils were also the same.

But the soon explanation of the Faunus blows that thinking away immediately.

"Anything and Anybody that attack me, will hurt themselves instead. The same part of the body, the same size of the injury, the same measure or pain. It will transfer anything. Doesn't matter what it is or how that wound happened to me. Be it from a long way back where I can't even see who attacked me, somebody really close and even if they hit me a bullet from a gun... Anything doesn't matter what it is. All I have to do is activate my semblance for a quick moment and all of it will be transferred back to them. I don't need to do anything myself"

While Cinder sits on the revelation that this Faunus is just way above her in power, which undoubtedly makes her sour and pissed off, she hates her even more now.

Salem instead wants to know the 'weakness' of this seemingly unstoppable power. If she knows what it is, she can avoid it and abuse it in the future. But she won't ask it outright and instead go slowly towards that answer.

"What are the limits of this semblance of yours?"

"Huh?" Crystal blinks in confusion "Limits?"

Summer answers this one for her daughter "None, there are no limits"

"Is that so? There has to be something, no?"

"There isn't" Summer answers yet again, with more conviction. She'd know... She has heard all of the gruesome tests that Crystal has done when on her journeys... At first, she wanted to stop her from killing so many people, but when she learned all about her past and who's behind it and those new attacks, unfortunately... She chose to not say anything and continued to allow that to happen. But it's only because the more Crystal 'trains' the less chance of her experiencing something bad ever again. She also knows that her daughter... Well one side of her, only defends herself when she gets attacked and doesn't strike first. But for the other one? She doesn't know what to do about it.

In the past, maybe she'd try to talk her out of it... But being stuck in this place for years and years, without seeing Yang and Ruby and... Tai, she has seemingly lost something, of which she has no clue what it might be, but she knows that there's something missing inside of her.

Salem ponders over the answer... The silver-eyed huntress doesn't seem to be lying or trying to trick her, in fact, she's talking as if she's witnessed a great deal of this semblance.

The more the Queen of Grimm hears about it, the more satisfied she is... And the more hungry to have this Faunus under her control.

So should she ask about the weakness then? Won't she just get the same answer, that there isn't one?

Wait... She doesn't need to ask, the answer to that is standing in front of her right now, defending her mother.

This Faunus may be her strongest minion in the making, but her lacking mental prowess and this obsession with freedom actually reminds her of her own obsession with death... She's clearly unstable. Just like Cinder was when she found her, so forget her semblance and her power, just poke her in the right part of her brain and she will be defeated if a need arises.

"So did the beautiful and immortal woman come here to try and beat me because she lost the first time?" Crystal asks slightly confused and wanting to know, because if it's not for that, what else could there be?

That only proves Salem's thinking about the Faunus's mental power, before, in the castle, the Queen of Grimm questioned her about 'joining' her, yet she just got asked if she were here for a rematch as if something like that would've not killed any other person besides her... Though there is a feeling of competition somewhere deep inside Salem brewing for the first time in a long time. There's no question who'd win, it'd be her obviously. No, she would like to know how long the fight would last and how much pain and injuries would the both of them endure in that battle.

"No, I am here for something else" This time Salem has something else in mind, instead of asking the Faunus to 'join' her inner circle, she will instead try to partner up and help each other in their goals, on the surface level, there will be no 'controlling' of the other person, but with the way this particuliar Faunus functions, it won't be hard to pull strings from behind. So being 'partners' is just in theory.

"I'm here to ask for a... Favor" Salem says after a brief pause.

Summer hearing this sentence, immediately senses that something is off... Why would she need a favor from Crystal? And more importantly, what was that weird pause before she said it? It was as if she wanted to say something entirely different.

She might need to interfere if this 'favor' is unfavorable to Crystal and herself. If it comes down to it, they should be able to escape from a fight, with Crystal's semblance as the backbone of defense and maneuvering as her job.

"What is it?" Crystal responds.

"If you'd agree to help me, you would be able to travel to a lot of new places and experience all of it. The only thing you would need to do for me is getting information about a certain man that I have an... Interest in" Salem finishes with her request, the added 'adventure' pretext was on purpose. If the Faunus feels strongly about freedom, then being free to explore the 'world' should add some leeway by default. And then there's another more subtle thing in her words, about a 'man', just like she predicted it, it caught Crystal's attention, as the next words of hers were.

"A certain man? I want to find somebody as well"

"I know, that's why we can help each other, you help me to find information about him and I help you get information about what you want. In fact, I am feeling generous, if you tell me who you're looking for, I might know about them and I'd tell you right now and you'd be free to do whatever you want with that information"

Summer's mind goes off on high alert immediately. This 'certain man', who can it be? This Ozma person she mentioned, could she be talking about him? But the way she spoke about him, it's as if Summer was supposed to know him... Wait, if Salem's immortal, meaning she could've lived for far longer than one could imagine, then how would Ozpin know about her...? Is he also immortal and was called Ozma back in the day? It would check out because Salem can't actually 'go' to Beacon by herself, so she plans to send Crystal there?

Now then, the question is why does she want information about Ozpin, or Ozma rather, the way she spoke about him, shouldn't she know him better than the 'information' she could get? Something... Well, a lot of things don't add up, but... if Crystal goes to Beacon, then there's a very slight chance of meeting Ruby and Yang. And Summer herself might finally go back, instead of being here. She really shouldn't have thoughts of joining the enemy, but... She does want to go back and this could be her chance.

Or maybe it's her homesickness speaking and Salem wants literally anything else but what she just had thought of.

"Why don't we eat first, I smell that it's almost ready" Crystal states, dodging to answer the question for now... She needs to think, which isn't the easiest thing for her, she likes to do everything at the moment, so planning ahead isn't her strongest capability.

Salem gets a little bit irritated because of this interruption, but it quickly subsides as this time she didn't get rejected outright, so with a little bit more coaxing and time, she should break through and get what she wants.

She also should be grateful that the silver-eyed Huntress isn't really interfering, she clearly knows that her daughter's dream of 'freedom' is important, but to let the Faunus's stupidity lead in every aspect of life is quite a ridiculous thing to do. She doesn't know if she should call Summer an idiotic or a great mother, as both are applicable.

Well, she might as well 'eat' even if she doesn't need to, since her goal is in sight at this point.

Summer silently readies portions for all three of them... Wait, four of them, she almost forgot about the young girl who came with Salem, as she just sat there silently the whole time. If she didn't see her red clothes out of the corner of her eye while putting the food on plates, she would've messed up as a host, even if her guests are... Villains of the world.

"Thank you" Cinder finally opens her mouth to say something and it's to express gratitude when a plate of food appeared in front of her face.

"No problem, see it as a thank you for feeding my Crystal earlier" Summer says back with a smile. She doesn't know what a child is doing with Salem, but she's still a child, albeit a little misguided, who knows, maybe she can sway her away from her.

Cinder doesn't say anything back but throws a quick and annoyed glance at the Faunus, she has already talked about her and not only about her made food too, there was that other talk between daughter and mother about setting her up to sleep in one bed... Then she thinks back at the 'honest' compliment from the Faunus about her made food being almost as good as her mother's and starts eating, wanting to know if those words hold any credibility to them whatsoever.

Salem also got a plate of food, but clearly, there's some bias, as her plate has the least food there is. Crystal got the most, Cinder is second, and then Summer. Maybe she would say something about it if it weren't for the fact that she expected to not receive food at all. So she'll take what she can get, at least in this situation.

And so the four start eating, with Crystal being as close as possible to her mother, still touching shoulders and legs with how close they are sitting. And they do so in silence, Cinder not wanting to talk or associate with these people, Salem giving 'time' for the Faunus to 'think'. And the mom is thinking about everything that has transpired here today.

Of course, the silence doesn't last, as Summer is the first one to say something and it's directed towards Crystal, whose eating without manners, her hands on the plate and her face more or less on the plate, just devouring food.

"Crystal, dear, don't forget what I taught you"

Crystal pauses, her hand midway to her half-open mouth, in which, one can see half-chewed food already. The Faunus blinks several times trying to remember which lesson her mother is referring to and then remembering that they are eating she replies.

"No worries, Mom, when Cinder and Salem fed me, I showed manners to strangers, Salem saw through me eating slowly and then called it out, thus letting me eat like I normally do, so it's okay, they don't mind" And right after that, she resumed abusing the food of which there's almost none left.

Salem certainly does mind, it's as if she's eating at the same table with an animal. When she first said that, she thought that the Faunus was just uncomfortable eating in front of new faces that were looking at her without eating themselves... She kinda regrets mentioning anything, because she saw something that she won't unsee. But she's not going to say anything now, let the Faunus think what she wants to, maybe it will help Salem's 'good' image.

Cinder doesn't mind the method of eating... She has been in a low place herself, so she doesn't fault it... No, what she's disgusted by is the person behind the eating method.

"I see..." Summer sighs out. That's her wrong, she should've been more specific with her teachings and taught Crystal to always eat decently, instead of only with strangers... But maybe it isn't too late to fix it, she will try to do that another time.

After some time, every plate on the table has been emptied. Cinder has to say that this woman's cooking definitely rivals hers, but no matter how she looks at it, hers is still at the top in the end.

After Summer serves everybody a glass of water, Crystal speaks out after sipping on it.

"Salem, do you know the Schnee family?" The Faunus asks without any smile or pretenses. Only seriousness is in her voice right now.

"The Schnee? The ones that control most of the dust? I do" Salem answers, she has finally gotten to where she wanted, so she might as well be honest. Just a little bit and she will own the strongest minion.

"Do... Do you know the names of the Schnees?" Crystal asks with a tiny bit of hope behind her eyes.

"I remember three of them, the names of the other two escape me at the moment"

Crystal opens her mouth again to ask if Salem can tell her the names she knows, as she only needs one.

But Salem didn't give her the chance to speak, as she says the names before being asked.

"Willow Schnee, Winter Schnee"

Crystal hearing those names knows that they are not the ones she's looking for... No, what she needs is a man.

Of course, Salem knowing that, purposefully said the women of the Schnee family first.

"And Jacques Schnee"

Crystal's left hand, the one that's not holding the glass of water, immediately rolls into a fist "So that's the bastard's name" She seethes through her teeth, pure of hateful anger.

So that's the man this Faunus wants to find? Well, this just became a lot easier than before. Salem already knows a lot about that man, in fact, he more or less 'provides' her with dust, albeit without his knowing, and he doesn't happen to be irreplaceable.

Summer with quick thinking starts rubbing Crystal's back soothingly. She has two reasons for doing so. First, is very simple, she doesn't want her daughter to be sad, dejected, angry, or feel negative emotions at all, she wants her to be happy all the time. She knows that it can't be like that all the time, but a mom can hope. And the second reason is to try and hide the weakness of her semblance. If she shatters the glass she's holding, the enemy will see what it is and it may spell certain doom for her otherwise strong daughter.

"If you want to hear more about Jacques Schnee, then partner up with me. I will help you and you will help me"

Crystal feels Summer's body go stiff when she got asked that question by Salem.

"Mom? What should I do?" She asks for advice. Even if she isn't the smartest, she clearly felt the discomfort of her mother during this whole time, but right now, she feels the most discomfort.

Summer grips her own glass of water, she wants to say 'refuse' so badly, she wants to take her daughter away and run at this very moment knowing that nothing good can come out of this 'deal' between the two... But no matter what, she can't, she's stiff in indecisiveness, she just can't muster up the will to go against her own promise of not interfering with her daughter's decisions... With a heavy conscience, she lets out.

"You're your own person. You choose what you and how you want to do things. You have the freedom to do so. I... I will be with you until the end, so even if you mess up, I will be there"

Crystal smiles happily "I love you, mom"

Summer meets her daughter's smile with her own "I love you too, dear"

Crystal then turns to face Salem's patient but heavy pressure-filled gaze "I accept to partner with you. But on two conditions"

Salem nods, indicating for her to continue with these 'conditions'.

"The first is simple. Our 'partnership' lasts until I fulfill my goal of getting back at Jacques Schnee, the moment I am done with him, we end it. Now, I know that you need for me to do something for you, thus, I am willing to spend a few years for that first and not work towards my goal for that time. But when a time comes for me to move on to finding Jacques Schnee, I will drop your part of the goal and you'll let me do so without problems"

Salem thinks that this is acceptable, some of it she doesn't like, but with time, she can accomplish anything, so 'modifying' this condition shouldn't be that hard.

"What's the second one?" She asks.

"It's simple" Crystal starts, then intertwines her fingers with Summer's "My mom, is to be protected, helped, and looked after in any way that she wants or needs. If anything happens to her, anything at all, be it from your side or from somebody else that you'd fail to protect her from... This partnership is done for and I will also become your enemy. My mom is the most important person in this life. To me, she's more important than myself or even my freedom"

While Summer tightens her hold on Crystal's hand due to the emotions she's feeling right now, Salem is tapping the table in thought.

She didn't think that Summer Rose, the Faunus's mother, was so important to her. This complicates things by quite a big margin. She wanted to stage an 'accident' in the future when she gained more of the Faunus's trust, but now, it's different...

Salem continues tapping the table with her long nails. Before it, all stops and she grins darkly on the inside, while on the outside she has a calm expression.

If her mother is so important, then why not become as important as her, if not more. This Faunus kept calling her beautiful over and over and that rating thing she forgot about gave her nine out of ten... Well, why not, let's play, two-tailed Faunus, let us play.

Though in the end, the Faunus is going to be the one being played, while Salem gets away with everything.

"I am fine with both of those conditions" The Queen of Grimm finally answers positively.

Crystal smiles at Salem "Well then it's settled, we are a team from now on"

"Indeed we are and the first thing we need to do is to relocate the two of you. We will go back to the castle in the land of Darkness, compared to this rundown building that's about to collapse, the Castle is spacious and sturdy"

"Hmm, I suppose, not that I care where I live as long as I have my mom with me. But the Castle was nice. And I suppose we won't need to walk over and over again to each other. What do you think mom?"

For once, Summer agrees with her daughter's decision wholeheartedly and not halfheartedly. She has been stuck in this lab for far too long, she has forgotten what other buildings even look like. And seeing as it's the location of the enemies, she might use that information to her advantage in the future if a chance like that arises.

"I am okay with it" She answers Crystal.

Sometime later.

The Faunus is outside her 'home' with Cinder near her. After some time conversing about details and other things, Summer went and got most of the stuff that they use daily, it's not much, but it suffices.

They are preparing to fully leave and go back to Salem's castle.

Salem is now standing in the entrance corridor of the lab, about to go outside, when she gets stopped by the Faunus's mother drawn weapons pointing straight for her heart.

"I don't know what you're planning, or what made you come here in the first place. But if you hurt Crystal, you will pay for it. I don't care if you're an immortal all-powerful witch, you will regret it. Ozpin sent me on the mission, while I may have abandoned it a long time ago, I know that there has to be a reason for him to do so... And it has something to do with my eyes. I may have little control over them, but I do know that they are at their most powerful when a lot of unbridled emotion swirls inside of you. So don't dare hurt my baby. Because you will be the prime target for these silver eyes"

Salem gazes back bored, due to the wasted threats, at Summer's cautious, but confidant silver irises. Then her eyes travel down to the daggers pointed to her chest and with a malicious smile, she slowly steps ahead, impaling her non-existent broken heart, throwing the pro-huntress off of her game.

"Don't worry, I will take your words very close to... Well I wanted to say my heart, but it has stopped beating for anything a long time ago, so I will just say this. Be it with your own power, or the power of those silver eyes, you can't do nothing"

Salem leans in to whisper in Summer's ear "But do your best to try, I do love a fruitless struggle from you puny humans... It's all just so hilarious"

With that, the Grimm Queen turns around and walks out of the lab, leaving the retired Huntress to her own devices.

Summer looks at her dagger, seeing nothing but blackness on it, she cleans it off with a towel and follows after Salem... She will be keeping an eye on her. No matter how 'fruitless' Salem makes her and humanity's attempts to be, she won't stop believing that one day somebody will stop her, be it herself or anybody else. There's always hope.

~ End of Special Chapter, part 2 ~