Chapter 1: The Wakening

The sky was set in forever twilight yet the area was undoubtedly several shades of crimson and violet. The shattered moon lay slightly obscured by clouds. Nevertheless its rays bathed the almost desolate area in its glow.

Below it was a barren wasteland completely devoid of life with many scars across its landscape. Crystals jutted out randomly across the plane. Sitting atop one of the larger crystals, the young man sat casually, leaning back on one arm while the other laid atop his knee. He wore an all black ensemble completed with black boots, pants and a black tunic whilst also covered in light armor.

Despite the dreariness of his environment he had a small smile as he gazed upon the moon. His ashen skin and long silver hair which obscured his eyes seem to glow as he basked in the moonlight.

"As always I find myself captivated by the beauty of the moon. Truly there is something alluring about it" he reached out as if to grasp it "it is such a shame it will never be whole again" he finished this sentence with a frown.

He let out a remorseful sigh "truly a shame."

His frown soon turned into a wide smile as he spoke the next words "though, even the moon's illuminating beauty pales in comparison to your own, my queen."

At this he leveled his gaze behind himself, with his bangs no longer obscuring his vision his black and red eyes could be seen. The visage would have made for a terrifying being but his easy going attitude, nonchalance and mirthful gaze lessened the impact immensely.

In direct contrast to this his companion's own eyes did not betray any of the dark power she was known and feared for. Standing tall while wearing naught but a flowing black cloak which obscured all but her hands and head, she fixed the man with a penetrating gaze that made him lose his mirth and straighten himself to a proper sitting position.

"Something troubles you my queen?"

"You know well what 'troubles' me."

He let out an exasperated sigh "this again" he mirrored her gaze "I've already made my decision and see no reason to rescind it."

"You are making a terrible mistake, one that will have dire consequences for all of us."

"Are you so against my decision?"

"Yes" she answered immediately "we are not known to show mercy, it has served us well throughout all the ages, you know this."

He turned his gaze from her to his sword as rubbed the hilt gently "I do."

"Then you know we should not show them any weakness now."

He frowned at her words "this is different."

"Regardless of the situation your decision is a show of weakness, one that our enemies will not fail to try and exploit as it is surely a sign that you are going soft."

Immediately she regretted her words as he sent her a sharp glare "soft, my queen? You would call me soft?"

The air grew tense as he slowly made his way towards her "make no mistake, I did not make this decision on a whim nor did I do it to spare myself the bloodshed. I made this decision to avoid a pointless conflict we cannot afford. It is my duty as king to do what is best for my people whilst ensuring our victory. Pride and glory come second to this."

"Of course my king, forgive me for questioning you I…did not know what came over me" she did not meet his eyes.

All at once his stern glare diminished and with it, the tense atmosphere.

He lightly cupped her chin turning her gaze to hi "look at me, there is nothing to apologize for, you are my queen, it is your place to question me. I may oversee our Kingdom but it is your duty to ensure that I am never led astray no matter if I don't agree, no, especially if I don't agree."

She scoffed with a hint of a smile "flatterer."

He chuckled and wrapped his hands around her waist "I aim to please."

In response she paced her hands on his chest and leaned forward to kiss him. Afterwards they embraced shoulder to shoulder watching the moon together.

"…you are still concerned."

"I do not trust them."

He nodded slightly "neither do I but I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt."

She looked at him and he at her "they hate us."

"No they fear us because they don't understand us but once they see reason I am sure we can come to an accord."

At her unsure expression he smiled and kiss her on the forehead next to her chakram.

"Fret not my queen, trust in me when I say this will work."

After a moment of looking into his eyes with uncertainty she closed her own with a chuckle "as you say, my king."

\

His eyes opened slowly, after a moment to gain his bearings his sight easily adjusted to his surroundings. Not an easy feat as it should have been, not when his body felt so… odd.

"Where…"

He had to cough a little, his throat was feeling particularly dry.

'I could use a drink' if not for the actual need then to help clear the dust from his gullet.

He ran his hand over his face to wipe the sleepiness away. The action made his oddly sluggish brain realize just how stiff his body felt from the simple action.

How long as he been here?

For that matter where exactly was here?

His hands reached out and his palms pressed upon the surface of his…prison? Tomb? Coffin? Well it certainly was not his quarters and this was most definitely not his bed.

'I will have words with Arturo about this'

Who would dare put him in such a place?

Having enough of musing to himself in this appallingly cramped space he stuck his hand out attempting to simply push the cover off of him. To his surprise it didn't even budge, he applied more strength to it but it didn't so much as budge.

'What is the meaning of this?'

Either the coffin was sealed tightly by magic or perhaps he was weak. His eyes narrowed, as much as he hated the thought of being remotely weak in any sense it was certainly a possibility since he at least felt weak.

"Hmph"

Using both his arms he started to slowly push the lid off, the concrete slowly slid up and allowing light to shine through the ever widening crack. His eyes narrowed, light should not exist in the first place. He continued to do this until the lid completely fell off with a loud thud that echoed. The air made him take deep breaths and sigh in content.

'The air is certainly cleaner than in that stuffy sarcophagus.'

Pulling himself up he looked to where the source came from. His eyes landed on a most peculiar object, blinking he tried to make sense of what he was seeing because for all intents and purposes it looked to be a miniature sun.

"Curious"

As much as he was amazed he needed to check his surroundings. He was in a room of sorts, though the architecture was not of his home nor of any he had seen before. There were stacks of metal containers as well. His curiosity peeked he hopped out of his tomb and after a few minutes of loosening his body noted his attire.

Ceremonial burial garbs "by the creator they truly did bury me."

The realization hit him hard, if he was in there long enough for him to feel weak and his body to be stiff then he must have appeared to be truly dead.

'Then how am I alive?'

"I'm telling you I heard something"

His attention turned in the direction of the noises.

"And I'm telling you Steve-hey who the hell are you?"

He tilted his head somewhat 'what kind of language is that? And what are they wearing?'

"What the hell's up with that guy, look at him?" the man said a little fearfully.

"Calm the hell down Steve, he's just some nut job. Look you I don't know who you are but you better get outta here before I call the cops!"

"Frank, the coffin"

Frank looked to the coffin then back to the man.

The man looked to the coffin then to the man who followed his gaze before looking at them. Almost immediately he began to put two and two together

Creepy ass coffin

Creepy white skinned, red eyed guy in fucking robes standing beside creepy coffin that was now conveniently open

"Oh shit" Steve began to hedge away "we gotta gut the hell outta here."

The he started approaching them and that's when Frank pulled out his company issued glock.

"Stay right where you are asshole!"

He only paused to look at his gun for a moment before speaking but none of them knew what he was saying.

"What?"

The man rolled his eyes and started walking again while talking in that strange dialect.

*Bang*

The man staggered a little and blinked owlishly as if wondering what just happened.

"I said, don't move"

The man looked surprised, he took the robe down to reveal smooth chalk white skin with a bullet wound. To their shock he dug his fingers into the wound, that wasn't even bleeding, and pulled out the bullet. He started inspecting it out of curiosity before he frowned and looked at Frank.

He then did something none of them would have thought and flicked the bullet towards them.

"ARGH!"

The bullet ripped through Frank's shoulder and Steve heard it hit something behind them.

"Oh shit" Steve ducked a little while Frank was clutching his shoulder.

He looked in front to see the man was already before them looking very much pissed but he was staring at Frank and Steve was too scared to even move. Frank tried to aim the gun at him but the man grabbed his hand and held him by the throat.

He looked at the gun before crushing it like paper, then Frank let out a strangled yell as something began to happen. Steve watched as the man began to lose his weight getting thinner literally shriveling up. After sucking the life out of him the man tossed Frank's corpse aside then just seemed to stare off.

Steve took that chance to back away, the man still didn't even seem to notice him. Once he was near the corner he took a last glance at Frank before turning around, ready to run for dear life only to stop mid take off resulting in a stumble.

The man was suddenly in front of him, the imposing man who had a foot above him in height his silver hair reached to his back. Red black eyes that seemed to burn stared through him with an impassive gaze. Steve quickly scrambled back when he advanced and tripped over his feet to land on his rear.

Steve scrambled back as he continued approach until he was backed up against the container. The man reached out with his hand and Frank panicked, covered his face while shutting his eyes

"Oh god please don't kill me"

There was a long silent pause followed by a very long, very exasperated sigh. It was enough for Steve to open his eyes and look to see the monster.

"Why is it that every human I meet assume I am trying to kill them?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, your friend dared to try and injure me so I can understand but he is not even dead."

'Wait what!?'

Steve looked at Frank's corpse and almost did a double take, aside from the obvious weight loss he actually didn't look as bad Steve originally thought.

"He's not dead?"

"Merely dehydrated, though in my opinion he could have used the loss in weight. Why you humans wouldn't appoint the best and most fit to guard your precious consignment is beyond me."

Steve looked at the monster(?) who was looking around like…well like a guy who woke up in a freaking coffin would look.

"Uh, excuse me"

He looked to him "what is it?"

"Who/what are you?"

"Oh, where are my manners" he smiled slightly and did an eloquent bow "I am Jeremiah Azazel Ulysses Nekron Ecclesia Armon Raizel Christophe, sovereign of the Grimm empire."

Steve stared blankly at him for a very long time with wide eyes and for a moment Jeremiah wondered if he shouldn't have mentioned that last part.

"What!?"

Jeremiah blinked "yes?"

"Y-you're a Grimm?"

He tilted his head "I am clearly not human, neither am I a beastman, so I must be Grimm no?"

Steve was doing his best impression of a fish but the apparent Grimm must have recognized the fear in his expression.

"Calm yourself human, I mean you no harm" he folded his arm "honestly if I wanted you dead, you would have already been dead."

That thought made Steve gulp "w-why didn't you?"

To his surprise Jeremiah gave him a look "why would I do that?"

Steve gulped "w-well I'm a human and…"

"And?"

"You're a Grimm"

"I don't see what you being human and myself being Grimm has to do with me attacking you. As far as I am concerned you did nothing to earn my ire, unlike your friend over there" he threw a distasteful look "I actually felt that" he rubbed where the bullet wound was "speaking of, what manner of contraption is this?" he held up the crumpled weapon.

"It's a gun"

"A gun?" he tinkered with it for a moment before throwing it away "you humans and your silly toys, although I have to admit, it must be quite a weapon to have me actually feel it. Tell me who forged this…gun."

Steve stared at him for a while, the weird way he speaks, the fact that he came out of a freaking coffin and the fact that he doesn't know what a gun is. If he didn't introduce himself as a…

"Wait you're the King of Grimm?"

"That is what I said, yes"

"How long have you been in there?" he pointed to the coffin.

Jeremiah shrugged "I do not know, though it must have been quite some time, a century perhaps?"

'100 years!?'

Something tells Steve this guy doesn't have a good sense of time.

"Do you know what Dust is?"

Since he doesn't know what a gun is then he might as well skip anything modern and Dust has been around for hundreds of years.

Jeremiah's brows furrowed "dust, do you mean the dirt upon which you are sitting on?"

Steve's mouth dropped and he realized he's been sitting on his ass the entire time but that didn't really matter "I think you've been in that thing a lot longer than a century."

"Is that so? Forgive my intrusion then."

"Wha…"

Jeremiah used his fingernail to poke Steve's forehead and for a few second they stayed perfectly still until he finally withdrew his hand.

"No…"

"What just happened?" he said suddenly feeling weak.

Jeremiah didn't respond, he only walked over to the coffin and brace it. He had viewed the memories of the human Steven. He had been away for hundreds if not thousands of years. Even for him that is a long time to be away because so much has happened, so much has changed.

'My kingdom, my comrades, my people!'

Ink black Aura began outlining his form, he smashed the sarcophagus and it crumbled into pieces, he reared his head back with an inhuman roar. His Aura was a literal pillar of black while his roar caused the very building to shake.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGG-"

\

Outside the warehouse the instincts of every Faunus within a hundred mile radius screamed at them to run, run, hide and never look back. Ears were flattened, tails bristled, blood ran cold and in the case of children, they cried and dropped to their knees.

All the creatures of Grimm within the Kingdom's borders perked as all their attention simultaneously turned to the source. Those within close proximity began heading in that very direction.

All across Remnant at that very moment there was a shift in Grimm activities as Beowolves howled, Nevermores screeched and various other noises could be heard. No matter what they were doing, no matter where they were, the creatures of Grimm joined in the chorus of howls, screeches, chittering and all other manner of sounds.

\

After a few minutes of howling followed by pacing and a quick tirade in several languages the poor human didn't even knew existed the ancient being finally sighed and sat down beside the stock still human.

"What a mess" he lamented.

Steve on the other hand

"…I think I pissed myself."

The comment earned a confused glance from the sovereign leader "excuse me?"

*Sniff*

He looked down at the wet stain on the man's pants "oh" he scooted away "I suppose I should apologize for that. What I saw made me very…disgruntled. I don't usually do that" he assured quickly before sighing "I truly have been locked in there for a long time."

There was a beat of silence before Steve broke it "I'm going to change my clothes"

"Please do"

That earned Jeremiah a small glare which he returned with a sheepish expression that Steve couldn't help but sigh at "you know for a guy who's supposed to be some kind of bigshot leader you don't act like it."

Jeremiah hummed "hmm, I've always been told I was strange" he sounded wistful as he said it.

Steve thought that was an understatement of the century. Here he was talking to the apparent King of the creatures of Grimm like he was just some normal guy. Its almost as if the total unbridled fear he experienced before didn't even happen. He felt no ill intent or intimidation from this man at this moment…but he did feel the wetness of his pants though.

'I really need a shower' he got up when he finally caught sight of Frank groaning on the ground 'oh right'

"He's gonna be okay right?"

"Hm? Oh yes, he just needs some fluids" his brows furrowed "just call the hospital before he dies"

"WHAT!?"

"Well the human body could only survive so long with so little water." He got off his haunches.

"Where are you going?"

Jeremiah gave him a strange look "you don't expect me to just sit here on my arse do you? I have only gotten glimpses from your mind but there is an entirely new world out there ready for me to explore and I refuse to miss another minute of it."

"Looking like that?"

Jeremiah looked down at his robe and frowned "you're right, a change in wardrobe is required, shouldn't be too difficult."

"I was actually talking about your...uh" he trailed off.

He raised an eyebrow "yes, my what?"

He coughed awkwardly "you know I was just thinking instead of just your clothes you could change...this."

"You just gestured to all of me."

"...yes, yes I did"

Jeremiah sighed "I suppose you have a point. It wouldn't do any good to cause a panic."

He was far from 100% but weaving his clothes into something more form fitting was paltry. Using Steve's mind as a template his form was temporarily enveloped in a swirl of black. When it receded the imposing form of the Grimm King became an imposing form of a man.

More specifically a young looking man with blonde hair reaching his shoulders. He now wore a grey suit with black dress shoes and a red tie. Topping it off he had coat hanging off his shoulders seemingly defying several laws of physics.

"I suppose this is farewell then sir Steven."

"Actually it's just Steve" he murmured.

"Of course" he allowed "farewell Juststeve."

He walked away and disappeared into the darkness.

Steve looked on before speaking "the exit is actually down there" he pointed to a hallway where at the end was door with an 'Exit' sign above it.

A moment later Jeremiah briskly walked past "thank you."

To Be Continued

Author's Notes: Okay this one goes to 'Jaune Uchiha the one with swag' for his prompt of what if Jaune was the King of Grimm. I drew some inspiration from the Korean Manwha Noblesse, except you know, Jaune has more personality. With this fic the chapters are going to longer and I honestly don't see this fic exceeding ten chapters. The story itself is mainly going to focus on Jaune's relationship with Salem both past and present.

Updates will be sporadic at best, you have been warned.