Epilogue

Ashes

Cinder watched the image on her scroll. She frowned as she saw the group of hunters and huntresses in training leave the Xiao-long house. She had thought se had broken their will more thoroughly than she evidently had. It would be something to work on.

Cinder was dressed in her normal clothes, the crimson dress flowed freely. She pushed herself off the Satin sheets and pulled on her glass shoes. She smiled as she brushed her hair out of the way of her face. As she stood she stumbled slightly, causing her to lose her balance and fall to one knee. She cursed quietly that Rose girl had injured her when she unleashed that power. She didn't imagine that a child would be such a threat. She would keep an eye on that girl from now on.

"You should be wary of your injuries. You still are of use to me." A voice said flatly. Cinder turned quickly and struggled to stand.

"Milady." She said through gritted teeth. Salem slowly slid out of the shadows. And looked at her wounded servant. She walked past cinder without so much as a glance.

"Follow me." She ordered. Cinder turned and weekly limped after her master.

"We have struck a first blow in the… recommencement of hostilities." Salem said walking out into the hallway. The sky dyed dark read, with the dark stone that made up the structure gave the hallway an ominous feeling, even cinder felt a hinto of discomfort in the place.

Salem continued to stride forward as she talked making a quick turn towards the great hall. "We have captured many potent pieces. We have neutralized others, such as Ozpin."

"I thought You had captured Ozpin, not killed him." Cinder said in quick confusion.

Salem smiled, Cinder thought she was lever but she was more foolish than she let on. It is so easy to manipulate you and you don't even realize it. Salem thought. She waved her hand and the doors to the great hall opened silently.

"Captured implies that they are a threat that needs to be caged." Salem said as she walked inside.

Inside the great hall was a dining area with a long obsidian table. There were twelve chairs, or rather thrones as each was large and crafted masterfully, each made of a different material. Cinder cocked an eyebrow as she saw the table was fully set, as if for a feast. Salem sat at the head of the table in a chair made from obsidian. She waved for cinder to sit on her left. Cinder limped to the chair made of glass and slowly sat in it. In front of her was a large meal with chicken and vegetables, a basket of bread to her left with a glass of deep red wine to her right. Salem raised a glass nodding towards the end of the table. Cinder heard the wheezing gasps of an old man. She turned her head toward the end of the table.

There sat a table of White marble, sitting in the chair was a man with a tangled beard. His hair messy and unkempt he wore a pair of glasses that seemed to have cracked lenses. He was heavily leaning to one side. His face was heavily wrinkled his eyes sunken. But he held Salem's gaze. Clearly whoever this man was not all his strength was gone. There was still something of a fire left in his soul.

"Who is he?" Cinder asked having a suspicion but doubting her own eyes.

"He was a man who thought himself wise, who thought victory came from the smaller things, from a brighter, more honest soul. He was and still is a fool." Salem said with a slight smile. She turned her gaze to Cinder her crimson eyes boring deep into Cinder's soul. "He has been neutralized as a threat, but is a good reminder of the dangers of being overly optimistic." She turned and waved her hand again.

Slowly the chair, made of copper, across from Cinder started to glow as something started to take shape. A red glow came from the table as a humanoid shape, but still slightly transparent started to form. The person who appeared slowly but surely, still slightly transparent caused Cinder to shiver just slightly, more out of shock than anything else.

"She is not yet broken." Salem said casually.

"Pyrrha Nikos? I killed her." Cinder said.

"You did. this is simply the remains of her shattered soul. Souls are notoriously hard to wipe away, better to use them then go through the hassle of destroying them." Salem explained. "They are so much easier to manipulate than people. They aren't the person they were attached to after all."

Salem turned back to the old man, Ignoring Cinder's grin as she began to realize what her mistress would do to Nikos' soul, truly a fate worse than death.

"To you, my great nemesis brought low. I cannot wait to watch you burn." She said. With that she brought the wine glass to her lips, smiling as she drank deeply. She slowly stopped and lowered the wine glass, silently putting it one the table. Salem started to laugh, cinder grinned and the old man simply squirmed in place a preternatural fear of Salem having finally unveiled itself.

The Grimm amassed outside started to howl as there mistress's laughter reached them, a signal of the darkness that would consume Remnant the ages to come. As well as a stark reminder to the Hunters of exactly what they fought.

Yeah, I kept this short, I am fond of Cinder as a villain but I thought keeping it short would allow Cinder and Salem to retain some semblance of mystery.

Thank you so much for following this story! I felt that I have learned a lot in the time it has taken me to work on this. It wasn't always easy but I hope to continue to improve over the course of my stories! This has been a great ride, another chapter of RWBY meets world will come out at the end of the month, and a Jaune aftermath one-shot should be out next month. to top it off (and bite of probably more than I can chew) I have another story coming out called Salem's Shadow: Sanctum, I really excited about it. First chapter should be up by June. Lots too look forward to!

Until next time!