Bloodborne Twin Chapter 10
The four alphas stalked and growled around her, on the field of feathers, on all fours in the formation of a rotating square, waiting for one of their own to attack first at any moment. The nevermore did not join this fight, as it would have been detrimental to their need for sport, and a wanting for the satisfaction of tearing her flesh limb from limb.
The Hunter stayed low to the ground, leaning more on her right leg to relieve the pain in her left leg as her Aura slowly healed it. Her breathing remained even through the beginnings of the "waiting game" despite the pain. She watched and listened to the monsters prowling around her, her Winter Hawk half raised, ready to draw a shot if and when the beasts started coming at her. Her Bowblade remained lowered, but her grip on the handle was tightened, ready to use it if any of them would come too close.
Normally, four alphas would be a challenge she would take on with confidence, but in her weakened state it was next to impossible. She had gained a wounded leg from a feather spear, hindering her abilities to move greatly by about a half. Her Aura was again dangerously low, and slowly regenerating her wound put even more strain on it, leaving her largely unshielded from further injury. She only had one more clip to use, and even if by some miracle she managed to kill all four of them, she still had to deal with the nevermore, and she began to doubt she could ever hope to bring that giant bird down with whatever bullets she had left.
Luckily for now, she remembered that she had one more ace up her sleeve. She still had two unused bolt paper with her this whole time, so this would probably—
She had no time to think and had to do it quick, however, as she heard the first alpha coming at her from behind, kicking up and batting away the black feathers to reach her. She twisted her body around and fired twice at the monster, although she could feel the kick with each shot she made this time. She didn't take her time to fire accurately though as the first bullet went straight through its shoulder and punctured its lung, and the other left a mean scratch near its infernal eye and went straight through its other shoulder, but it didn't puncture the other lung. Surprising enough, the alpha ignored the pain as it swiped its claw at her. She jumped back, but felt the pain spike in her leg when she landed. Plus she landed closer to the other, and that unintentionally gave the signal for the second alpha behind her to lunge for her.
Just when she had put away her pistol and attempted to imbue lightning onto Simon's Bowblade, she felt something coming from behind her again. She instinctively ducked under a swipe as she slid the paper along the blade very quickly, and rolled to the right and out of the way of its bite. She fought through the pain, and with lightning flash speeds she pulled out a quicksilver arrow, transformed her lightning imbued bowblade and released the arrow towards its red eye socket—
The black beast turned to attack her, and the arrow punctured the left side of its chest, just above one of the bone plated rib cages. The second alpha shrieked in pain from the jolt of electricity that burned its left lung, and its breathing grew ragged as it was suddenly becoming very hard for it to breath.
The beast was stunned successfully, but sadly it was the only arrow left. She made ready to put it out of its misery—
She transformed her electric bowblade back into sword form as she ducked and rolled underneath the swipe of the third alpha behind her. She got back up and retaliated with a downward swing of her sword, cutting off its left arm and stunning the monster with both pain and shock. She had made ready to strike at it again—
She instinctively had to jump back and roll away from an incoming lunge from the fourth alpha when it jumped over its two wounded comrades. She got back up and charged at the fourth crouching alpha, but backed away as the others spread out, getting back into the square formation and circled her again.
Then she felt it; her aura visibly broke, indicating she had run out as the wound on her leg finally bled out.
—–––––––Meanwhile, in the air over the forest––—
Eileen, in her shadow crow form, flew as fast as she could over the canopy of trees as she raced for the battlefield. She once thought the Good Hunter could handle herself well enough, and she believed her, but deep down she should have listened to her gut, telling her she just wasn't ready. Now her colleague was paying for her overconfidence, and if she didn't get there soon…
She mentally shook it away and stayed focused. Once she reached the field, the first Grimm she would take down would be the nevermore.
—Meanwhile, near the temple—
'This is not good,' she thought as she shifted her eyes between the creatures again prowling around her. Her Aura was now gone, and the only thing dulling the pain in her leg was adrenaline. She could bet the alphas saw this, too, but they still remained cautious since they all saw the destruction of their horde, so it felt like a small blessing to her for the moment. She did not know what to do, she could no longer conjure fire nor was there a source of…
'Wait,' she realised as she looked down at her sword, still wrapped in a crackling sheath of electricity. Seeing this gave her a flashback to her fight with Darkbeast Paarl. Surviving that monster had taught her that lightning was simply pure energy that gives off heat. So when she had been struck by its lightning attacks, she absorbed it directly instead of manually.
She wasted no time thinking as she got ahold of the crackling blade with her gloved left hand. She gritted her to fight through the pain as the electricity lashed out and coursed through her wrist. Her Aura returned first as a boost of confidence, then as a soothing feeling and a surge of strength as her wound closed and energy flooded her muscles. Her left glove was burned away from the process, and her coat sleeve was charred.
The alphas stopped and looked at the human who suddenly caught them off guard, but then again they were reveling in her self inflicting pain, believing they were successful in making her suffer. Although she was giving some pain; looks can sometimes be deceiving. Then they had become surprised yet again but angered at both their arrogance and the human as they watched her body glowing a crimson red. This indicated that she had her Aura back. They all knew what they had to do; she must die quickly or else they would be obliterated.
The first thing she did before they all charged at her was superheating her still electrifying sword. She had never heated Simon's Bowblade for the main reason that it was larger and more taxing to her Aura to maintain its integrity, but since she had lost her Blade of Mercy in the fight she would have no other choice.
The third alpha, whose left arm had been cut off, came in as the first to reach her from her right, followed by the first wounded alpha from her left. She spun to the right and swung her sword diagonally upwards, cutting across the third alpha's chest. The monster was stunned from the shock and screamed in pain as the blazing-hot edge seared its flesh.
The first one pounced for the kill, but its assault was stopped dead in its tracks as a .45 magnum slug punched it on its chest. She moved in for the kill, her blade splitting its heart in half. That's one down—
She suddenly got slashed down her right side by the unharmed fourth alpha, just as the first one was killed. Her Aura took the blow, but now it was down to nearly a half and continued to drain. She pulled her sword out from the now dead and burning corpse—
The fourth one again slashed at her. She parried the blow with her blade and the monster's clawed hand was sliced off clean, a shower of sparks erupting as the remaining electrical charge shorted out.
As the soulless beast shrieked in pain from losing its hand, the Hunter got scratched again, this time from the second one, although the attack was not as strong as the first. Her Aura went down by nearly a quarter, and she retaliated by swinging her sword viciously at her attacker. It tried to dodge away from the sudden strike, but was too weak move back as the hot tip of the blade made a deep, cauterizing cut across its chest.
The third alpha already recovered from the initial jolt and tried to attack her again, but the Hunter saw it coming and, instead of standing her ground, she sprinted forward into its personal space and slashed at its belly. The cauterizing cut made the beast hunch forward in pain, but that was all she needed as she pushed the barrel of her pistol underneath the monster's jaw and pulled the trigger. The resounding bang sent the bullet straight through its insides and blowing out of the top of its skull.
That's two down…
She moved away from the falling corpse and dodged away from a furious swipe from the fourth one. She saw the second one just struggling to stand back up, and like a predator seeing an opportunity, she sprinted toward her prey by first ducking underneath another swipe and then, with both hands clutching the handle tightly, she raised her sword up only to bring it down, chopping off it head.
That's three...
She spun around, ready to cut the last alpha into smoldering pieces. She viciously swung her sword upwards, but an unexpected surprise happened when the alpha stopped the hot blade with its sharp teeth. This caught her completely off guard, and while trying to resist the urge to let go of the blade due to the burning pain, the alpha viciously shook the blade out of her hands and threw it aside while at the same it grabbed her by the waist with its remaining hand. It quickly lifted her up and threw her back down not once but twice before her Aura flared and dissipated, dragging her through the now featherless grass and throwing her underhanded, away from the alpha and the burning hot sword.
She flew about eight meters down the hill before rolling unceremoniously along the grass and stopping on her front. After that, she somewhat struggled to get back up, her face somewhat battered and dirtied, her outfit torn in a few places, only to just kneel on one knee. She looked up ahead and glared at the one armed alpha literally blocking the path to her heated sword. It was royally pissed, that much she could tell from the intense growling it was giving her. Then it began to crouch down, getting ready to pounce on her.
First she threw away her Blade in a desperate bid to buy time and refuel her Aura, and now this mangy bastard had made a bold move in taking away her superheated sword as it now lied on the ground, burning and damaging away the metal without Aura to keep it intact. She still had her pistol with her, but she did not release the clip, and it would take too long to reload because of her current state. She did, however, have one other trick up her sleeve; one she had never tried before, and the only thing that would help get her Aura back.
What better way to get it all back then by using this monster as a giant conduit.
She pulled out two throwing knives in one hand, and she pulled out the last bolt paper with the other. She slid the knives between the paper, and the imbuing was successful as the twin knives were wrapped in electricity. The knives were fully metal, however, and as a result the electricity lashed out at the edges of her coat sleeves and coursed through her hands.
As the alpha charged to finish her off, she got up growling with a murderous intent in her eyes, spent a small part of her regained Aura to activate her Quickstep and sprinted after it, holding her makeshift daggers in reverse grip. The alpha moved sideways mid charge and swiped at her, but she narrowly teleported left. She made ready to charge at it again, but she teleport backwards from the alpha's lunge. This time she sprinted toward it, and the monster did a backhanded swipe to knock her away, but she moved out of its way. That attack left it wide open for her to finally exploit as she teleported up close and plunged her electric knives into its bone covered chest.
The streaming bolts of electricity shocked the alpha nonstop, screaming bloody murder from the tremendous pain. The bolts lashed out at Ella's body, and like before she grunted and gritted her teeth as the electricity directly converted into Aura. Her Aura was halfway recovered, but she had not realized one thing about electricity.
The constant stream of voltage into the alpha's body had been building up to the point where it suddenly exploded. She felt the full force of the blast as if she were being hit by a freight train, and thanks to her regained Aura she was saved from the concussive blast, but it took all of her Aura away as she flew back. She soon slid to a halt on her back and stayed that way, feeling the pain all over her body. She coughed and moaned, being exhausted from her Aura being lost, and her adrenalin all but gone. She rolled onto her stomach and tried to get back up with all the sheer willpower she could muster. She eventually got on her feet with shaking legs, and she looked back at the dissipating, charred corpse… or whatever was left of it with a pained, leering expression on her face.
"I'm fireproof… too bad you're not." She willed her mauled body to walk, but it simply refused to work and she fell back onto her knees and hands. She tried to get back up again even though she was exhausted, but her eyes widened in fear from hearing the telltale signs of loud flapping coming from above. She flinched and looked up to see the nevermore again, rising from the woods where it watched. She had completely forgotten that it was still around the whole time, waiting for an opportunity to finish her off, and now she did not have the strength to move away and into the woods like she planned. All n all, she was doomed.
The nevermore screeched in imminent victory as it flapped hard to release its feather spears again, and as they descended down on her position, a thought raced through her mind as tears began sliding down from her eyes. She had failed her test, and knowing that no one would come to help her…
She will never see her sister again.
She looked down in defeat and shut her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Curious, she slowly opened her eyes. She grew confused from the lack of pain and, oddly enough, from the lack of sound. She looked up… and she gasped, her eyes widened in shock to see the feather spears halted in mid flight. They were just a few feet away from impaling her, and looking beyond them she could see the nevermore was in the air, as still as a statue, its glaring red eyes staring down at her. The noise all around her was all but gone, but she could still hear herself breathing. It was as if time and everything else had come to a sudden halt.
"What… happened," she asked herself softly. She could not hear her voice, but she could hear its echo. The sudden echo of her voice surprised her a little, but it did not stop the question that kept nagging her since she had first discovered this; did she do this?
"No, you did not." This new voice which came from nowhere startled her, but more than that it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand still. This voice spoke rather slowly, it was almost baritonal, ethereal even, and it sounded more like a female but with more voices that came with it. Like each word had power.
"Who's there," Ella asked as she frantically looked around her to find the source of the voice but couldn't.
"I am not here, only within your thoughts," the unknown voice answered.
"Then… who are you?" She asked cautiously.
"You know who I am." She thought for a bit, trying to put things together on whatever she was… or whatever IT was. Eventually, Ella did put two and two together, from the way she would not show herself, to its power behind every word it spoke.
Her eyes widened in realization and dread. "You're a Great One aren't you?" She was shivering inside. She could not believe this, a Great One being here of all places. Though she should not be surprised given how she had witnessed so much, but nonetheless she was shocked that something from Yharnam had followed her home. Ella's thoughts wandered towards the horrific possibility that perhaps it stopped everything so she could be taken back to the hunt. She did not want to go back, the very thought of being trapped there forever would have finally driven her mad.
"There is no need to fear," the Great One responded after reading her thoughts. "I am the one who severed your contract and sent you home after all."
The response had given her quite the revelation in answering how she got home, but to also be told that it was she who severed the contract and not Gehrman's scythe? She would like to thank whoever this being was, if only because she was not feeling like she was at this thing's mercy.
"Then, what do you want from me!?" She asked, still being somewhat afraid yet curious enough in wanting answers. "Why did you save me!?"
The Great One, instead of answering her questions, she asked her a question. "I believe the more important question is; why did you stop?"
She looked on at nothing, incredulously at the question. "What do you mean why!? I've lost my Aura, I'm too exhausted to move…! I'm all out of options."
"You are not out of options, and it is because you have forgotten the obvious," the voice corrected.
She narrowed her eyes in more confusion. "What do you mean," she asked, this voice was starting to slowly frustrate her. It was giving her riddles to something she could not understand.
"The answer to what you have ignored is above you." Ella looked up at the clear blue sky, searching for what this voice meant when her eyes were locked straight at the summer sun. She was suddenly hit with a flashback, the images in her mind showed her, along with the knowledge of how to absorb the hot rays of the sun. After that, it hit her; it was the sun, and today was supposed to be hot, but this whole time the outside heat did not bother her because of her Semblance and just simply ignored it. She mentally hit herself for her ignorance, she had been hunting in Yharnam for too long, and the habit she had developed during the night stuck with her.
"You remember now, yet you cannot even remember your name… pity," the voice stated, still with the same impassive tone. She felt insulted from the jab, implying to her inability to remember quickly. Before she could retort back, however, the voice continued. "Tell me, do you wish to see your sister again?"
She hesitated for a moment. The fact that a minute ago she was sitting here on the ground in defeat, and now this… whoever this voice was, saved her from a gruesome death and was giving her another chance to keep on living. She felt a little discouraged, but due to the circumstances which led to this moment, she was glad this happened. And so, she had decided to take the chance, to keep going to one day find her sister.
"...More than anything," she exclaimed.
"Then I shall give you one memory. A little gift to help you along the way." Ella wanted to question the voice on what the memory was, but was interrupted again when it continued. "Brace yourself, mortal."
'Brace myself for wha—,' she did not have the time to finish that thought, only an aching, painful pressure took its place. She shut her eyes tight, grunted in pain with gritted teeth and pressed the side of her head with one hand. It felt like something was slithering through her brain and tried to pull something to the surface forcefully. As soon as it came, a memory of personal knowledge began to surface. The intrusional pain soon went away after that.
"Now," said the voice, "stand tall, and absorb the very energy from the very sky. Turn the sun into your weapon, and remember who you are."
As the voice spoke she slowly got up and stood on her two feet, stretched her arms out, and concentrated on her Semblance. The still heat from all over were quickly absorbed into her very being, turning into Aura and regaining her strength. She was somewhat in disbelief that this was working, that she should have remembered this before. None of that mattered now, however, she had her Aura back, and she rediscovered a way to beat that stupid bird.
"You may want to start moving soon," the voice stated. She did not need to be told twice as she activated her quickening ability. As soon as time went back to its normal pace the feather spears rained down on her position, but she had already dashed away from it all and out of the nevermore's sight.
The nevermore meanwhile had looked down in disbelief at the spot where the human should have been. It wondered where the soul-bearing human went when it got struck from underneath its beak by a fireball, the blast knocking its head back and for the moment it struggled to regain balance.
"Hey birdbrain!" The nevermore positioned itself to look down at the human in anger. "Looking for me!?" The human mocked the flying Grimm, and unfortunately for her, it understood what she said and cawed furiously at her. It may be a soulless beast, but living a long time had made it smarter. It then dove down to catch her, but the Hunter ran into the forest and out of sight. It growled angrily after flying back up to the sky. It would have to follow after the prey's scent of emotions in order to soon kill her, and although its wings were currently in the process of regrowing new feathers, it still had other ways of slaughtering the human… or perhaps to devour her.
Meanwhile, the shadow crow that was Eileen looked at the scene in shock while in the air. She had just flew over the treetops to witness a weakened and helpless Ella about to be impaled by a hail of black feathers. She cawed out and flew as hard as she could in a hopeless attempt to save her. But then the impossible happened right before her very eyes. The Hunter instantly stood up in a flash and dashed away with such speeds, the likes of which she had never seen. She continued to watch as the nevermore, completely oblivious of the Huntress in disguise, furiously went after the Hunter from above the woods after the Hunter mockingly provoked the giant bird.
Eileen soon landed on the ground and transformed back to normal, all the while trying to wrap her head around what she had just seen. There was not a single Huntsman or Huntress in the world who could recover so quickly and get away in the blink of an eye. Ozpin might be the person to do it, but she hadn't seen him fight any Grimm ever since she worked for him. Perhaps she had a second Semblance she knew nothing about? Or maybe some kind of arcane ability from Yharnam she never heard before…? Or perhaps something otherworldly did happen.
Thoughts of those pressing questions aside, she did see from the video and from the fact that she did not recover either of her two weapons when she escaped to who knew where. She might as well recover them herself and bring them back to her while she was here, though she may want to avoid the burning hot sword until later on.
Ella ran through the woods with Aura enhanced legs, all while the nevermore circled about and followed her. She could have escaped and left the nevermore confused to complete her mission, but being a coward was not in her job description; she was a Hunter, dammit! She did not exactly have a plan at the moment, and for the most part she was just running aimlessly through the woods. Whenever she saw the nevermore in view, she would throw a fireball at it, always making a direct hit but never doing much damage much to her disappointment. It's as if the giant bird's feathers were made of steel. Luck was currently on her side for now, for the nevermore did not try to release its feathers down on her, even though she would just dodge them all anyways, but unbeknownst to her it was regrowing it's ammunition.
Eventually she came upon a clearing, and she looked around to see she was surrounded on both sides by columns of old, moss covered stone pillars, making this to be some sort of entrance. Beyond that was what would look to be an ancient tower, with the cliff wall far behind it… well, at first sight. Once she had reached the bridge, however, she soon discovered that it was a network of bridges connecting to various towers, and they all stood straight out from beneath the deep, dark canyon. Meanwhile the nevermore flew overhead, and it soon turned to perch on one of the tallest towers in the canyon, looking down to where the Hunter stood and cawing at her, daring her to make a run for the bridge. She shouldn't be surprised seeing that it did not do any structural damage whatsoever by being naturally lightweight.
She had to make a quick decision. She had figured the beast had turned the bridge she stood in front of into a death trap, but the giant bird was standing on a tower that was not adjacent nor connected to the one ahead of her, and it was a bit further off, so this might give her enough time to reach it if she were just fast enough. If she had stayed on this side of the canyon, it would have taken longer to form another plan. So she took the risk and gunned for it.
The nevermore saw she had fallen into the trap and flew off and around another tower adjacent to it. She saw the Grimm coming at her from her right, but to her horror it was not angling for her; it was aiming for the bridge. With the few precious seconds she had left she activated her quickening and dashed at the last second when the nevermore rammed right through the bridge, destroying one of her means of going back to the safety of the woods. She was very lucky to have made that split second decision, but now she was having second thoughts on how to take it down. It had just tanked a stone bridge with little effort, and if that did not stop it, then what could?
She went around the tower and saw that the next bridge extended quite far. To her, it was deemed as just too risky to take and turned around to see a staircase leading to the top of the tower. With little options left, she ran up the staircase, and as she went up, she tried to come up with a new plan. She could try to hit it with everything she had left, including her last clip, but would it really be enough? Unless… she had to kill it from inside, but how was she going to accomplish that? When she finally got to the top and saw the nevermore flying around the tower cawing, it gave her a morbid idea on how to do this, but a flashback to the king taijitu gave her a reminder that it might end badly. She shook that thought aside, they were not the same as far as she would know, and if by some miracle she got onto its back, she would be having one hell of a ride before trying to kill it.
There was no time for thinking. The nevermore was circling higher and higher, getting ready to strike, and she would better be ready. She reloaded her pistol and fired at its back. The bullets pierced through its feathers and hide and the nevermore cawed angrily, buying her some time she used to absorb the heat in the air through her other hand. The slider slid back to reveal she had completely spent her last clip, so she holstered her pistol away and got ready. Her Aura was now fully restored again. She knew what to do now, and the certainty filled her with confidence. She spread her arms wide and cried out to the nevermore in challenge.
"Come on!"
The flying beast heard her cries and obliged. It circled about and flew straight for her with its beak opened wide. Time seemed to slow down when she made the jump, her mind arguing that this would be suicide, but what other opportunity could she ever find than right now? She reached its open beak, and with quick reflexes she halted her progress through its mouth by pushing both her hands and feet against its beaked jaws. She used her right hand to conjure up her fire, and this time, she was not going to throw it down its throat, but rather she had something else in mind. With a growl she unleashed a stream of fire down its throat. The nevermore squawked loudly in both pain and agony as its insides burned. Of course, being this close to a screaming bird pained her ears, but she could not let it stop her from pouring more fire down its throat.
The monster, utterly consumed by pain, flew upwards towards the summit of the cliff wall, trying to shake the human off by thrashing left and right, but to no avail as she kept an iron hold on her position. It soon came to a halt, just over the edge of the cliff when it finally burst into flames and ceased to live. The Hunter noticed the beast had ceased in its struggles and knew that she had finally killed it, but the corpse was beginning to spiral downwards, and she looked back to see she was just over the edge. She quickly jumped out of there, and she fell twenty feet before having to land on one knee. As she stood back up, the burning nevermore continued to fall down the cliff and into the deep dark chasm, fading away as it lit up through the darkness.
Ella pumped her fists into the air as she cheered in triumph before falling onto her back breathing deeply, now completely exhausted from the use of her Aura and her survival as she stared up at the sky, her ears still ringing from its screeches. She had done it, she had killed her first flying beast, and it had taken a lot of effort to do so. Her eyes had begun to grow heavy, and she soon gave-in to the exhaustion and rested awhile.
It did seem to her, though, that instants had passed when a faint flapping roused her from her sleep, and a familiar voice soon followed after a moment of silence.
"You keep surprising me, Ella," Eileen said calmly.
The Good Hunter opened her eyes and turned her head to see the former Crow Hunter standing near her, with a soft smile and her arms crossed. "Sometimes I amaze myself, too," she replied, but then her eyes widened a bit and her eyebrows raised in question as she then pulled herself up to a sitting position. "Wait a minute, what are you doing here?"
She smirked, "Ozpin got worried, so he sent me in to help you deal with the Grimm," she answered half truthfully, "but it turns out you did not need the help after all."
"Well I… guess I was in a bit of a… predicament there." She rubbed the back of her neck as she laughed a bit nervously, "but all is well now, and I'm still in one piece."
"That's good to know, though I can't say the same for your attire." Eileen said this as she walked up to her to lend her a hand. She gladly accepted the help and was pulled up to her feet. She looked down and inspected her attire, and it was sad to say this outfit looked much worse for wear. There were several burn marks here and there, several cuts and tears, and it was all covered in soot and dirt. She even looked down at her right coat sleeve to see that it was burned away from the wrist up. To her conclusion, it was all ruined beyond hope.
She sighed. "Guess there's no way to fix this is there."
"And I know you haven't brought any extras with you." Eileen added that fact alone since they were walking back to the city. "After this is over, perhaps we'll find a replacement for you, and more."
"Yeah, that would be preferable." She looked away out of embarrassment for not having any more but the clothes on her back and the gear she carried. She then looked back and smiled at the offer, "thank you."
"Think nothing of it, but I'm rather curious. How did you manage to get up so quickly and escape that barrage of feathers in an instant?"
Ella paled, she did not know that she was there. Either that or they all saw through their scrolls what happened. She paused but for a moment. "...You were there?"
She nodded. "Yes, I was there, and as far as I know, there has not been a single Hunter in the world who could pull that off except Ozpin himself." Being a Hunter of Hunters in her former life, and being a Huntress in this one had given her a much better skill set and a much sharper sense, but it did not take two lifetimes of improving herself to clearly see just how uncomfortable and pale Ella was being after bringing up the subject. She could even see the very subtle stiffness in her posture, leading her to believe that something must have managed to spook her of all people.
"Look, I apologize for bringing this up," Eileen said as she tried to reassure her, "but you mustn't be afraid to tell me. We're both hunters after all, and we both have seen and learned many things in Yharnam. Things that have defied all logic and nature."
"I…," she wanted to express her doubts, she wanted to say to her that there was a big difference between them when it came to what she experienced, but she was right about one thing; they were hunters. After a brief pause of thinking it over, she finally relented and sighed. "You know, I thought I had seen everything. I had been killing both mad men and beasts, learned the Eldritch Truth, and I even slaughtered seven Great Ones, all in one night. I thought I had become so desensitized to the point where nothing could surprise or scare me, and when it was all said and done and I returned home, all I had to fear was dying. Besides you and Iosefka, I thought that I had finally left it all behind me.
"But as it turns out it followed me home. Just when I thought I was going to die, everything stopped. And to my surprise and horror, it turns out a Great One saved my life of all the things that could happen. And do you know what's even more baffling than the rest? She spoke to me!" She spoke of this in exasperation, still being bewildered by the event which happened. "All I have ever known is that Great Ones never speak unless contacted by use of a phantasm, and since they tend to be sympathetic in spirit, they would sometimes act upon the person's wishes!" She stopped rambling when she looked at Eileen, the former Crow Hunter's eyebrows raised up in soft surprise, but to her confusion it could mean anything.
"You don't believe me, do you," she asked.
"I do believe you," Eileen answered calmly, "it's just that I'm surprised that a Great One would help you directly, and you are correct on the assumption that they never talk unless one uses a phantasm to contact them." What baffled her still was that it aided her out of kindness. They never interfered with mortal kind, and as such they were quite mysterious in their desires and motives. "What did it say to you? Was there a price to be paid?"
"She told me that she herself was the one who severed my contract and sent me home, and she gave me a memory to help me along the way. There was no price to pay whatsoever. Which still confuses me." She muttered the last sentence.
"Hmm." Eileen hummed in thought as she crossed her arms once more. Ella's answers only left her with more questions than answers. Although this did give her a definite answer as to how she got here, but now she began to ask herself "why". Why did this eldritch being send her and the others here on Remnant? The Great Ones were always mysterious in their motives, sometimes going as far as directly or indirectly being involved in the mortal realm, and if one were to try and figure them out; it would only end in going insane. So she simply pushed those questions to the back of her mind for later.
"This just leaves me with more questions than answers," Eileen soon responded, "but perhaps we can talk of this at a later time. Rightnow you need to complete your initiation."
Ella's eyes widened a bit in surprise as a thought came to her. "Oh that's right! Which brings me to ask why else you were here." She asked in a worried tone. If she were here, this could mean she had failed in her initiation, or perhaps this was something else.
"If you're thinking that you failed the initiation, then no." She answered for her. "Besides," she reached down and pulled out Ella's Blade of Mercy from her belt, flipped it once over, with the handle now facing her and handed it out to her. "I believe you will need this."
"Thank you," Ella said as she held the handle firmly and graciously had it back inside the folds of her coat. She noticed there was something else that was missing. "Wait, where's my bowblade?"
"You mean that hot sword that is still cooking on the grass by the temple?" She asked as she pointed her thumb in the direction of the temple.
Ella took a moment to process it, but then she instantly understood. "Oh, it's still hot, isn't it?"
Eileen nodded. "No need to worry, we can come back to the temple at dark when it's cool."
"Right," she nodded back.
"Well then, time to head back. Do you know the way home?" Ella looked around her and realized, to her small embarrassment, she had no idea where she was.
"U-um, do you know which direction?" she asked with an embarrassed smile.
"It's down that way," Eileen said as she gladly pointed her finger in the direction pointing southeast by south without so much as looking. "I will see you back at Beacon then." She transformed into a shadow crow and flew in the same direction she pointed. Ella still had that smile on her lips as she pulled her compass, readjusted the direction, and headed back towards Beacon Academy.
As she walked she thought back to the memory unlocked for her. She smiled when she discovered the memory was her full name.
It took an hour and a half of walking before finding a stairway to the top of Beacon cliff. During her travel back, she did run into only one pack of Grimm. They were simply easy to dispatch thanks to her rediscovery. Once she finally got to the top, she was greeted by the three same people who waited for her return. Eileen was there smiling at her triumphant return. Glynda's look was somewhat impassive as always, and Ozpin greeted her with the soft smile of assurance that she was okay… if not worse for wear that is.
"Ella, it is good to see you back in one piece," he said, "do you still have the relic?"
"You mean this card?" Ella asked as she pulled out the ace of spades from her coat pocket while walking up to him. She placed the card back on his offered hand, "here it is."
"Good work, Ella." He replied as he put away the fireproof card back in his coat pocket. "Now, I am proud to say that, as of this moment, you are now officially an assistant staff member of this prestigious academy."
"And as my pupil for the time being," Eileen added.
Ozpin nodded at her comment before turning back to face Ella. He extended his hand out to her. "Welcome to Beacon, lady Hunter."
Still with a smile, she gladly held the offered hand and shook it with no hesitation, thus sealing the agreement. But not without correcting him on the matter of her name.
"Fall."
"Hm?" He looked at her in a bit of confusion with a raised eyebrow. In fact, they all looked to her in question of what she meant.
"My last name is Fall," she specified.
Now both of his brows were raised. "Well this is unexpected, you remember your last name. Do you remember anything else, miss Fall?"
"Other than remembering how to harness the sun to refill my Aura, sadly no." She shook her head on the last part.
"I see; Eileen had informed me of the event which transpired at the temple. I assure you that our agreement still has not changed."
"Thank you, Headmaster," she bowed her head.
"Think nothing of it."
"Now, if you will follow me, miss Fall," announced Glynda, "I shall show you to your quarters, right this way."
"Of course." She followed Glynda back inside, followed by Eileen. When she nearly reached the corner, Eileen turned back to see Ozpin staring out at the expanse of the Emerald forest, with the June summer sun almost setting. She had worked with him long enough not to disturb what he was thinking, and soon went around to catch up with them.
Meanwhile Ozpin stared blankly at the landscape, thinking back to the events that happened. He was thinking moreso on Ella's initiation. He could tell she was graceful, calculated and resourceful like many Hunters would aspire to be, but she also had the cold hearted brutality of a killer, just like Eileen when she first attended his academy, and like Eileen, she would be reined in from following that path for long.
Then he thought back to her Semblance, or perhaps the strange foreboding behind it. She had used it with such brutal efficiency against the Grimm in a way that made him not want to think how many times she used it against the beastly citizens of Yharnam. What made it foreboding, however, was that he thought he had caught a glimpse of some kind of physical change on her skin. It wasn't the usual redness which he almost thought was the side effect of her Semblance as Glynda guessed, but it seemed darker, or like the skin was almost charred from being in the fire for too long. He might bet she noticed this, too, but she did not show any signs of pain. It could be that the stress of battle was the main cause of this change, or perhaps it was her emotions not being in check.
It did, however, bring him closer to answering his theory whether there was something wrong with her Semblance, or there was something wrong with her. He still did not have enough evidence to reveal the answers, but a long time of experience had taught him to be a very patient man, and the answers would one day reveal themselves one way or another.
Lastly, he thought about the incident at the temple. One where a Great One had suddenly intervened to save Ella. What could it mean he wondered, and why did it protect her of all people? Back before Ella arrived on Remnant, Eileen explained to him all she could about these eldritch beings, moreso that they were just as enigmatic as their desires and motives. He would have to keep a closer eye on the Hunter if he was to gain any more answers.
"What could this Great One's sudden appearance mean for the rest of Remnant I wonder?" Unbeknownst to him and the others, this event was just the beginning.
A/N: well, this took quite a long while to finish, but it's finally done in all its glory. The reason it took so long was because of writer's block, second guessing, research (and searching), and my lazy butt. The reason for the research was because, even though it's just fantasy and imagination, I just did not want to write off something that would have been completely outrageous. It's simply a habit.
Ella finally reveals her last name, although you guys already knew that before the reveal because of the obvious dead giveaway in chapter 7. I would like to give you all an interesting fact as to why I gave Cinder a twin sister. You see, while I was reading information on Cinder Fall, I came across a curious trivia about her name. I learned that Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross made a joke that they "originally wanted to call her Cinder Ella." Then it hit me; Cinderella. Cinder and Ella. And that is how Cinder officially got her other half in this fic. Which, by the way, this universe is going to be slightly AU due to our favorite/hated villainess' backstory.
Speaking of which, you all were also asking about when this story had been taking place. As I just mentioned in the last section of the chapter, it happens during the beginning of Summer before the start of Volume 1, and for that reason I will be calling chapters 1 through 10 as the prologue arc. As for the series, I've decided I will not be interfering with canon until Volume 2, although I will be introducing her to the main characters in the story. And don't worry, the other Hunters will show up sooner or later in their own way.
I would like to thank CruxMDQ immensely for his Suggestions and beta reading.
This is Kyro2009, signing off.