Hello everyone and welcome back to HellFall!

So today while transferring all my files to my other computer I almost lost all my books and notes, including HellFall. Luckily I sent them to myself as a precaution. Goes to show that you can never be too careful.

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to upload another chapter today, with my teachers pouring homework on us as they struggle to finish teaching everything before the final exams. Some teachers really don't know good time management apparently. Anyways, I took a break because some of it took less time than I thought, which was certainly nice for me (and you too).

Anyways, this is a bigger chapter, but its also more important, so enjoy!

Sitting on my bed and pondering how to spice up the room a bit, I was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a loud gong. Nearly falling off my bed in shock, I rushed downstairs, seeing Hail standing before a large gong beside the staircase leading downstairs that I hadn't noticed. She held a mallet in one hand.

"What the hell Hail?!" I yelled, "You scared me half to death!"

She looked me over, "Well you're still alive, aren't you?" She pointed out.

"Don't be smart with me. What the heck was that all about?" I demanded.

"Dinner time." She replied, "You seriously need to learn our traditions"

"Dinner?" I asked. Sure enough, Petunia rushed downstairs after me, and Steam shortly after. "Why don't you just call 'Dinner time!'?"

"Because it makes my throat hurt." She replied, "Besides, this is more fun"

Hail set the mallet next to the gong, then returned to the kitchen and sat down at the small round table with everyone.

"Well?" She asked, "Are you sitting down?"

I went and sat down with them.

"Do you ring the gong for all meals?" I asked.

"Basically." Hail replied, "On nights like when you first arrived, no. We tried once and it hurt our heads"

Petunia groaned, "Don't remind me" She said.

I sighed. "Anyways, what did you prepare?" I asked.

"Food," Hail replied, "duh"

"As in what kind of food?" I asked, "Steak? Steamed vegetables? Sandwiches?"

"Oh," Hail replied, "um, I don't know"

"What do you mean you don't know?" I asked.

"Hail doesn't know how to properly cook." Petunia replied, "She just throws stuff in a pot and hopes for the best"

"Usually it tastes pretty good though" Hail pointed out.

"Usually" Petunia said.

"That's what I just said" Hail said.

"I know." Petunia replied, "I'm adding emphasis"

Hail rolled her eyes, then lifted the lid of the pot in the center of the table. I stood a little to see what it looked like. Sitting back down, I didn't know what to think. I don't even know how it could be described.

We all started to serve ourselves with the large spoon set in the pot.

Once I was served I lifted my own spoon and ate a bit of it. Immediately I cringed.

"Well?" Hail asked.

"Well, um-" I started.

"It's awful Hail" Petunia stated.

"Detestable" Steam added.

Hail turned to me.

"Um," I started, "Tolerable?"

"Be honest, Gaz," Petunia said, "we don't tolerate lying here"

"Sorry," I started, "It's as foul as a pig rear end, Hail. I'm sorry"

"Don't apologize," Hail replied, "all feedback is helpful. By the way, how would you know how foul a pig's butt is?"

All eyes fell on me.

"Well I've smelled pig's before" I replied.

"I'm asking about the taste," Hail said, "not the smell"

"It's just my way of saying it's terrible." I said, "I'm just assuming that considering pigs are generally stinky and gross and so are rear ends, that it was a fair comparison to make"

"Pigs aren't stinky and gross if you cook them right" Steam said.

I slapped my spoon back on the table and stood up. "Alright," I said, "I'm your new chef"

"You can't just take my position like that!" Hail said.

"You don't even cook." I pointed out, "I can make every meal delicious and nutritious"

Petunia snickered. Steam smiled.

"I'm serious." I said, "You guys are in need"

"In need?" Petunia asked, laughing open-mouth now.

"Do you want to eat this every night?" I asked.

"Usually its good!" Hail pointed out.

"With me around it'll always be good!" I exclaimed, "We can avoid a major crisis like this!"

"A major crisis?" Petunia laughed.

"Well," Hail started, "then I take the position from you!"

"Well I take it back!" I retorted.

"It's mine now!"

"Now it's mine again!"

"I'm taking it back!"

"Then I challenge you to a cook-off!" I decided, slamming my fist on the table. "Winner takes the position"

"You're on!" Hail replied, pointing her finger in my face.

Petunia was in stitches, tipping her chair back. Even Steam was laughing. He covered his mouth and did it discreetly though.

Just like that I was in the kitchen, searching the cupboards for food ideas. Hail followed shortly after.

"What to make…" I wondered aloud.

"Oh please!" Hail said, "the best chef knows exactly what to make right away!"

"You can't even make anything!" I pointed out.

"Lies!" Hail retorted, "True cooking is throwing stuff in a pot and seeing what happens!"

"That's called an experiment!" I exclaimed.

"Only in science class!" Hail replied.

Facing the cupboards again, I began to pull out food, pots, pans, and anything else that I'd need.

Hail filled her arms with a random array of foods and spices, then grabbed a large pot.

Minutes passed. Ten, twenty, forty, an hour. I cooked furiously. Hail, on the other hand, checked her pot of boiling water and food from time to time.

"Hurry up" Petunia groaned. I glanced at her, not taking my eyes off my cooking. She was splayed out across her chair, her mouth wide open and drooling.

"Hush darling." I said quietly, "It'll all be over soon"

"Wha-?" Petunia started, not finishing her word.

"Little did you know, Gazini," Hail started, drawing a small beaker of green sauce out, "I have my secret sauce, which is why everyone loves my food"

"That's guacamole." I pointed out, "And it's hardly a sauce. More of a condiment"

"Drat!" Hail muttered, "He knows my secret"

"I'm using it as well" I added.

She gasped, "N-no…" she stammered, "Using my own weapon against me, are you?! Well, two can play at that game!"

She reached into the cupboard, pulled out a small hunk of steak, and threw it into her pot of boiling water.

"That's not even how you cook steak!" I burst out.

"It is now" Hail replied.

I gasped, "You monster..."

Two hours passed, and finally I was done. I poured my stew into bowls and served everyone, then put a plate of burritos with guacamole and other things in the center of the table. Lastly, I placed a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches next to the burritos.

"Steak and potato stew," I started, "with burritos filled with lamb, guacamole, tomatoes, and sour cream. Then to top it off, grilled cheese sandwiches grilled to perfection with cheddar and mozzarella cheese between two slices of pure whole wheat bread"

Hail picked up her pot of assorted boiled foods and placed it next to all my food.

"Enjoy" I said, backing up slowly and bowing.

"Enjoy mine more" Hail said, stepping forward.

Petunia and Steam tried Hail's food first. They both cringed, as had I.

"Hail," Petunia started, "this is the worst thing you've ever created"

"Truly unbearable" Steam said.

Hail frowned.

Next they tried my stew. Then my burritos, and then my sandwiches.

"Gazini for sure" Petunia decided.

"Easily tolerated" Steam added.

I gave a small fist pump of victory.

Hail held out her hand, "Well done" She said.

I took her hand and shook it, "Thank you" I said.

She leaned forward, "But I will learn how to cook, and when I do, I will crush you" She whispered.

"I'll be ready" I whispered back.

After we all finished eating we sat down in the living room. Hail raised the television's remote control, but Petunia stopped her.

"Gazini," she started, "why is it that you won't tell us anything until you're done with your work?"

I paused, not sure what to say. "Honestly," I started, "I don't know why. I just don't feel ready yet I guess"

"Giving yourself some time" Steam said.

"Exactly" I replied.

"Alright" Petunia replied.

"What is it that you're working on anyways?" Hail asked.

I paused, not sure if I could tell them. I decided that I should, as they could be part of it.

"Well," I started, "recently I discovered something called 'Plan H'. I discussed it with the commander of the Atlas military, Lleu Thunder, and he's currently getting the file that I found translated. Meanwhile, we have reason to believe that it could be a major threat. So we're looking for the best hunters to assist us in stopping it"

"So you think that the best place to find those hunters is in the tournament?" Hail asked.

"Right" I replied.

"Clever" Hail said.

"Currently Thunder is interested in putting us on that list of hunters, so you guys should think a bit about that" I added.

"We should wait until they get the file translated" Petunia decided.

"I agree" Steam said.

"If its threatening," Hail started, "then I'm in"

"Alright" I replied.

"So how did you find that file anyways?" Petunia asked.

I hesitated again, "On a mission." I replied, "Found it a little while ago"

"What kind of mission?" Petunia persisted.

I sighed. "That's part of the catching up" I replied.

"Well now that you've told us part of the story we need to know the rest" Hail pointed out.

"I guess that's true." I replied, "Alright, get comfortable, this could take a while"

I sighed again, trying to find a place to start. "Where to start?" I wondered.

"Did it start before Beacon?" Petunia asked.

"Yes," I replied, "but I don't remember that far back" That was somewhat true, but partially a lie too.

"As you know my brother, Harrison, was a Faunus. A fox to be more specific." I started, "his semblance was the ability to transform into animals temporarily. And mine was the ability to see into the immediate future. Well, after Beacon we heard about a science experiment that could enhance one's semblance. They were in need of human or Faunus test subjects, so we signed up.

"After the experiments were completed, my semblance of course became what it is today. I can now see up to twenty-four hours into the future. The side-effects were that I wouldn't always be able to see into the future, and that it was impossible to predict when it would happen. I can rarely see into the future the full twenty-four hours either. And of course, my left eye turned white afterwards.

"Harrison, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. His semblance made him able to transform into animals for an extended period of time. However, that extension turned into an eternity. Thus, he transformed into a baby fox one day and was never able to change back"

This brought some surprised looks and small gasps.

"After that Harrison and I began to work together." I continued, "But work stopped coming as easily. Perhaps it was after I changed my attire and overall look, or maybe people didn't think they could trust a gang member and a baby fox. I wasn't a gang member, but I kind of look like one. So once work got worse, we resorted to other forms of work. More specifically, I killed whatever I was paid to. Grimm, humans, Faunus. If it paid well, I did it.

"So during one of my missions to kill someone I came upon a large complex and discovered the Plan H file." I said. "The man I killed and retrieved the file from was part of the criminal underworld of that particular town, called Aldbay. I went to one of their parties to investigate, and discovered that a relative of Cinder Fall was the leader of the gang"

Surprised looks sprayed themselves over everyone's faces. Apparently they'd stopped gasping.

"We started fighting," I continued, "and Harrison died in the process. The Fall disappeared afterwards"

Silence spread across the whole house. One could hear a pin drop on a soft carpet in the attic.

"Okay." Petunia said, "Good to get that out of the way then eh?"

"What?" I asked. Now it was my turn to be surprised.

"Well you seemed to be dreading telling us that," She said, "now that you've done it, we're all satisfied"

"Were you expecting something else?" Hail asked.

"I don't know." I replied, "I've done some pretty horrible things, so-"

"We all have." Petunia said, "Trust me, we've all had to kill people before"

"Really?" I asked.

"What hunter hasn't?" Hail asked, "We've all got to do things that we don't want to sometimes. As hunters we have the skills to inflict more severe punishment against others, so naturally we've all acted on impulse"

"The science is pretty weird though" Steam said.

Everyone nodded in agreement, "Yeah that is pretty crazy" Hail added.

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Well do you guys want to watch some TV or something?" Hail asked.

She was answered by variations of "Sure"

"Cool" She said, flicking the television on and scrolling through the channels.

As we watched I found myself distracted by how surprised I was about their lack of reaction. But they were right, we'd all done terrible things, either on impulse or because we had to.

So there you have it. Gazini is the product of science, and Harrison was actually his brother. I bet some of you were confused about that back in Crimson I.

Also, this has come up before: Gazini's former attire. What do ya'll think that means? I know what it means, but I want to hear what you guys think/how you think it affected Gazini.

This will be the last chapter of Crimson II for now, but we will return. I've already continued with it on the full document, so you have my guarantee that it will resume in the near(ish) future.

If you have any questions, concerns, or issues about this chapter, shoot me a review or PM me. I'm happy to answer any questions nagging at your minds (as long as they don't involve spoilers). This was a bigger chapter, so some things may be more difficult to understand.

Anyways, as usual, favorite, follow, review, tell your friends, tell your enemies, or don't if you don't want to, and I'll see you all in the next chapter.