The Lost Fable

What is your favorite fairy tale? "The Lost Fable" is the sixty-ninth episode of RWBY and the third episode of Volume 6. It premiered for Rooster Teeth FIRST members on November 10th, 2018 and was made public on the Rooster Teeth site on November 17th, 2018.

Summary
In a story narrated by Jinn, with apparitions of team RWBY, Qrow, and Oscar occasionally appearing to react to the events, Salem, completely human in an era when magic was available to all humanity, is kept isolated in a tower by her father. Ozma rescues her, and when she asks where they should go now, he responds "wherever you'd like." The two fall in love.

Some time later, Ozma dies of illness. Salem petitions the God of Light to resurrect him, and when he refuses, she goes to the God of Darkness instead, who agrees. Before they can leave, the God of Light arrives and destroys Ozma again, the God of Darkness again resurrects him, and the two fight. Their difference is resolved, however, when the God of Light tells the God of Darkness that Salem only came to him upon his own refusal.

The God of Darkness again destroys Ozma, and Salem flies into a rage and attacks both gods, only to be teleported to a great height above a pool in the domain of the God of Light. After nearly drowning, she awakens on the surface, which she's able to stand on unassisted, and the two gods tell her in tandem that she is now immortal, and so can never be with Ozma, until she has learned the "importance of life and death."

After a failed suicide attempt, said by Jinn to be one of several, Salem realizes that a mortal lying to the gods and turning them against one another exposes their fallibility. She goes to the kings of the world, claiming to have stolen her immortality from the gods, and raises an army, thus learning from her curse that "the hearts of men are easily swayed." The army sends a volley of magic at the God of Darkness, which he easily dismisses, and right after wipes out all of humanity except for Salem. The gods leave the world, the God of Darkness shattering the moon as he does so.

Salem, now completely alone, still refuses to blame herself for her fate. She returns to what had been the realm of the God of Darkness, and in yet another suicide attempt, leaps into his Grimm pool, which does not kill her, but corrupts her, giving her the chalk-white skin and hair and red sclerae of her modern self, albeit her skin lacking its red markings.

In a "realm between worlds," the God of Light tells Ozma that his brother has destroyed humanity, and that while it will one day return, it will return to a world without their presence. Instead, he leaves behind the four Relics, saying that when they are brought together, humanity will be judged, and either the brothers will return to guide humanity again, or, if they find them still fighting among themselves, the world will be destroyed. Until this happens, he will reincarnate in a way that ensures he'll never be alone. He refuses at first, saying he would prefer to join Salem in the afterlife, but accepts upon being told she's still alive, despite the God of Light's warning that she is no longer the woman he loved.

Ozma awakens in the head of a human man during a Grimm attack. Upon getting his bearings, he takes control of his host to save the life of another man, who asks his name, which Oscar observes Ozma doesn't know. The world he's now in is different from the one he knew, with Grimm attacks frequent, humanity lacking innate magic, and the Faunus now living among them, kept in cages. Hearing of a woman called "the witch," Ozma goes to find her, and upon meeting her, asks what they do now, to which she echoes his response from the tower, saying "whatever we like."

Ozma laments the state of the world to Salem, to which she responds that humanity needs "someone to guide them," as they once had, and that she and Ozma, the only two with magic, should take on that role. The two of them theatrically destroy a Nevermore attacking a village, leading the villagers to bow down before them, as Jinn echoes Salem's past lesson that "the hearts of men are easily swayed." They soon use their influence to form a kingdom, which they rule over as they raise their four daughters.

As Ozma becomes increasingly concerned about the harsh means by which he and Salem have come to enforce their rule, one of their daughters interrupts their discussion to show that she's learned to do magic. Ozma tells Salem the mission given to him by the God of Light, only for Salem to respond that there's no longer any point to redeeming humanity, but that rather they should replace them with their own line. This prompts Ozma to attempt to sneak their daughters out of the castle, but Salem stops them.

Salem and Ozma fight, causing significant damage to the castle; the details of their fight are not seen, but team RWBY look on in abject horror, and at the end is shown the torn doll of one of the daughters. Lamenting that "we finally had freedom," Salem kills Ozma's incarnation.

As Ozma reincarnates again and again, he decides that humanity cannot be redeemed without destroying Salem. Knowing that this cannot be accomplished by mortal means, he hunts down the Relic of Knowledge, and asks "how do I destroy Salem," to which Jinn responds simply "you can't." Ozma falls to his knees in despair, becoming a similarly dismayed Oscar kneeling in the snow.

Trivia

 * Miles Luna considers this to be one of the most complicated episodes the RWBY crew has ever made, on every level.
 * Ozma and Salem's daughters wear dresses reminiscent of the four Maidens, blue (Winter, who also has ice crystal-like details), pink (Summer, whose yellow skirt also has a big Sun), green (Spring, whose bow and dress trimming also has a leaf-like pattern) and orange (Fall, with the upper parts in brown like Amber's clothes). The eldest daughter in blue also has a chain headdress and belt like the ones worn by Jinn.