Chapter IX: Nyx and Qrow's Excellent Adventure
"You've got to be kidding me, Qrow!"
"I said I was sorry! I thought my baby would've made it."
"I told you we should've stopped for gas when we passed that gas station, but noooooo "She'll make it till the next stop, Nyx. Don't worry about it."" Nyx said as he mocked Qrow.
It had been two days since Nyx had gotten a ride to Vale with Qrow. The two had fought through Grimm and Imperials together for the past two days and now they were on the side of the road with a car out of gas and the sun was beginning to set.
"What should we do now?" Nyx asked as he made himself comfortable on the hood of Qrow's car."
"Well first off you're going to get off my baby, then we're gonna see how far the closest motel is and call it a night."
Nyx jumped off of Qrow's car and took out his scroll to see exactly how much the two would have to walk "The closest motel is 2 miles down the road, if we run we could get there in 20 minutes."
"It's getting dark so we need to double time it."
Nyx and Qrow begin to make their way towards the motel 2 miles away from them. They get to an open field and the ground begins to shake violently.
"What the hell!" Nyx shouts as he tries to keep his balance. "It feels like an earthquake!"
A purple fire like wave begins to come from the ground and from the purple flames a monster like creature ascends from it, wielding a sword made of flames.
"That's no Grimm!" Nyx shouted as he took out his kukris and Qrow unsheathes his sword and transforms it into a scythe.
The monster charges at the two and they roll to the sides of the monster, barely dodging its ramming attack. Qrow rushes at the monster with his scythe drawn and attacks the monster's leg causing no damage to the creature. The monster swings its flaming sword at Qrow who blocks the attack with his scythe, but is still pushed back by the force of the swing. Qrow is thrown to the ground by the force of the monster's swing.
"Jesus that thing hits hard." Qrow says as he stumbles back to his feet.
"Let me take a whack at it"
Nyx rushes towards the monster but the monster sees Nyx rushing towards him and swings his flaming sword. Nyx slides under the flaming sword and slashes at what would be known as the achilles tendon on a human being. The attack from Nyx causes it to wince in pain and turns its attention towards the attacker. The giant attempts to step on Nyx, but Nyx rolls away from the stomp. The monster then swings down his flaming sword and strikes the ground, sending a flaming shock wave to Nyx and pushing him back. Nyx manages to keep his balance as the shock wave forces him back, but knocks the wind out of him making him fall to one knee.
"There's no way in hell we'll be able to beat that thing." Qrow said as he made his way to where the shock wave had pushed Nyx to and helps him back to his feet. "We need to get out of here."
"If we run away from it we'll just lead it to civilians!"
"Then how do you suppose we stop that thing? Our weapons do nothing but make it angrier so killing it isn't an option."
Nyx takes a look around and spots an abandoned mansion "Qrow, do you trust me?"
"Not really." Qrow replied sarcastically
Nyx smirks and pulls out a fire dust infused grenade
"I don't think that's gonna do the trick, Nyx."
"I know, but it'll piss it off!" Nyx said as he threw the grenade at the monster, enraging it as it looks towards the direction of the grenade and lets out a loud roar and rushes towards the two.
"Now what!?"
"Now we run towards that building!"
"We what!?"
The two begin to run towards the abandoned building with the monster and his flaming sword chasing them down.
"This is your big plan!?" Qrow asked as he ran for his life.
"Just trust me!"
Nyx and Qrow make it to the building and lock the door behind them as they enter. The locked door proves to be useless as the monster rams through the door causing the debri to fly everywhere.
Nyx looks around the building and spots several pillars supporting the building. Nyx throws pieces of wood and rocks at the monster gaining its attention. And the monster starts to charge towards Nyx and as the monster swings its sword Nyx combat rolls out of the way and making the sword hit and destroy one of the pillars.
"Oh okay, I see what you're getting at." Qrow said as he mimicked Nyx's actions, the monster then rushes at Qrow and Qrow rolls out the way causing the monster to destroy another pillar.
The building then begins to shake and debris starts to fall from the ceiling.
"I think we should make our exit" Qrow said as he watched a piece of the roof fall on the monster.
"Let's get going then."
Nyx and Qrow make a rush for the exit dodging falling debris and vaulting over old furniture. They get near the exit and Nyx takes out another dust infused grenade and tosses it at the last supporting pillar. The monster attempts to chase the two but the mansion falls on top it.
"Th-That was a close one." Qrow said as he tried to catch his breath. The now destroyed mansion began to shake a little.
"We really should get going." Nyx said as he gets a running head start on Qrow.
Nyx and Qrow make it to the nearest motel without the monster catching their scent.
"How much Lien do you have, Nyx?" Qrow asks as he takes out his wallet
"Nothing." Nyx replied as he turned his pockets inside out showing Qrow that he was broke.
"Well I only have enough for one room, looks like we're gonna have to share."
The two walk up to the reception desk and are greeted by a young brunette haired girl who greets them with a friendly smile.
"How may I help you, gentlemen?" The young girl asked with an innocence that reminded Qrow about his niece.
"We'd like a room for the night, please." Qrow said as he gave the girl some Lien.
"Is this a honeymoon trip?"
"W-What?" Nyx almost shouted giving the receptionist a confused look "W-We're not…" He then began
"Woah woah woah! I don't roll that way sweetheart." Qrow said
"O-Oh, I'm terribly sorry!" The girl said with a blush on her face "I j-just assumed two guys coming for a room in a motel in the middle of the night."
"C-Can we just get our room, please?" Nyx asked still flustered from the young girl's assumption.
"O-of course!" The young girl gives Qrow the key to their motel room and a piece of paper with her number on it "You should give me a call sometime so I can apologize to you privately." She said as she winked at Qrow.
"Will do, sweetheart." Qrow replied as he returned the wink, making Nyx sigh and roll his eyes. "Hey, when you got it. You got it." Qrow said giving Nyx a smirk.
The two make their way to their assigned room and Qrow opens the door.
Their room is a smallish room with two twin beds and a small bathroom in the corner of the room, and a small flat screen tv showing basic television.
Qrow throws the key on a small coffee table separating the two twin beds and jumps into the bed closest to the door.
"This is actually pretty comfortable."
Nyx takes off his boots and lays in his bed. "I'm just happy to get some shut eye."
Qrow takes off the lamp light on the coffee table and a silence falls between them.
"'Hey, Qrow. Do you know what that thing was that attacked us? It didn't look like any grimm I've seen."
"That's because it wasn't a grimm, it was a daemon."
"A daemon? You mean like in those stories that parents would tell their kids to help them fall asleep."
"Those very ones. Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon. He had me such for any signs that daemons were roaming on Remnant after the initiation of Beacon's first years. Apparently one of them appeared during the initiation."
"Jesus, were there any casualties?" Nyx asked as he turned on his side to face Qrow.
"Thankfully no. Qorw told me that one of the first year teams managed to kill it."
"Really?"
"Yup."
"So did you find anything?"
"Until today, no. I was actually on my way to Vale when I had gotten the call to give you a ride, that's why I didn't have a problem with it." Qrow grows silent and just stares at the ceiling fan above them "To think… The legend coming to life before our very eyes."
"Yeah…" Nyx replies as he slowly drifts off to sleep.
Qrow turns to Nyx and sees that he had fallen asleep and soon gives in to his exhaustion and also falls asleep."
The next morning Nyx wakes up and turns to Qrow, who is still sleeping. He grabs his scroll and checks the time.
"7:30… Rise and shine, Qrow!"
Qrow slowly opens his eyes and sits up. "What time is it?"
"7:30, we should get going. We still have to walk back to the car and push it to the nearest gas station."
The two get put their boots on and head outside the motel room. They then begin to make their trek back to their vehicle.
"So Qrow, what if that daemon is still looking for us? Is there a way for us to kill it?"
"Not from what I seen, according to the stories you need a special weapons to kill daemons, weapons that we don't have. So hopefully it's still trapped under all that debris."
The two make their way back to the car without running into the daemon that had attempted to kill them last night.
Nyx gets behind the bumper of the car and gets in a position to push the car, as Qrow hops into the front seat.
"Aren't you gonna help me push, Qrow?"
"Someone has to steer the car."
"I'll do it!"
"No way are you driving my baby." Qrow takes out his scroll and looks for the closest gas station "You're in luck, Nyx! The closest Gas station is only 20 miles out, if you stop complaining and start pushing we'll make it before nightfall!"
Nyx lets out an annoyed sigh and starts to push the car as Qrow steers it.
"That's it, Nyx! Put your back into it!"
"Sh-Shut it, Qrow! Or I'll drag your ass out of this car and make you push!"
5 miles into pushing the car Nyx stops and collapses to the ground, covered in sweat and trying to catch his breath. "That's… It…. Let's switch spots…. Now!"
"Alright alright, no need to get your panties in a bunch."
Qrow gets out of the car and Nyx takes a seat in the driver's seat. He shuts the door to the car and prepares to steer it, but the car doesn't move. He turns to Qrow and sees him on the phone. "Come on, we're burning daylight!" Nyx shouted as he honked the horn.
Qrow gets off his scroll and takes a seat on the passenger's side.
"What are you doing? We have to get going we still have about 15 miles to go."
"I hope you don't really think I'm gonna push this car all the way there. I just called a tow truck, they should be here in about 5 minutes."
Upon hearing this Nyx grows silent and gives Qrow death stares "You mean to tell me you just "made me push this car almost 5 miles by myself when you could've just called a tow truck!"
"Well I wanted to save the Lien, but since you were whining about pushing it, I just called a tow truck."
"I REALLY hate you, Qrow."
5 minutes later the tow truck arrives with the logo "Hammerhead" on the body. A young blond girl wearing short shorts, cowgirl boots, a yellow jacket, and a trucker hat jumps out of the tow truck "Howdy, ya'll. I heard ya'll could use a lift to our shop." The blond girl said with a heavy southern accent.
"We sure could Miss?"
"Cindy, ya'll can call me Cindy."
"Well it's a pleasure, Cindy. I'm Nyx and the drunk over there is Qrow." Nyx said as he pointed towards Qrow who was taking a sip from his flask.
"Well let me just get your guys' vehicle hooked up and I'll give ya'll a lift!"
"We really appreciate it."
Cindy hooked up Qrow's car to the tow truck's hook and the three of them got into the tow truck, with Nyx in the middle, Cindy driving, and Qrow taking the passenger window seat.
"So, where are you two headed?" Cindy asked making small talk.
"Vale." Nyx replied
"Business or pleasure?"
"More like business. I was trusted with a delivery and I plan to see it through."
"Oooooooh, sounds interesting, what are you delivering?"
"Sorry, I can't say."
"I understand." Cindy said with a smile on her face.
Qrow just sat there looking out the window, occasionally taking a sip from his flask until he flipped it over and discovered he had took the last sip.
They get to Hammerhead and Cindy parks the car next to the gas pump.
"Here we are! I'll fill 'er up with gas and you'll be ready to go!"
"Thanks, Cindy!" Nyx said giving her a smile.
"Don't mention it!"
The three get out the tow truck and Cindy unhooks their car from the truck.
"Well I'm gonna go see if there is a place to refill this real quick." Qrow told Nyx as he took out his now empty flask.
Nyx walks over to Cindy who is filling up their car with gas.
"So, you know a lot about cars?"
"Basically, I grew up in this garage with my paw paw. He taught me everything I know."
"So where are you from?" The blond mechanic asked Nyx.
"Insomnia, isn't that right?" Answered an old man wearing a red jacket, and matching trucker hat.
"How'd y'know?" Nyx asked the old man as he gave him a surprised look.
"The way you walk, talk, dress. All points to the Crown city." He offers Nyx a hand "I'm Cindy's grandfather, Cid."
"Nyx." He says as he takes Cid's hand and shakes it.
"So tell me, how is Reggie these days? Still reckless I assume."
"You knew King Regis?"
"Of course I did! We both were Huntsman, we were on different teams but we did a few jobs together. So how is his Highness?"
Nyx grew silent and he stared at the ground grasping the ring that King Regis had entrusted him with.
"He was killed a few days ago." Qrow answered as he came out of the shop with his filled up flask in hand.
The shock of hearing his friend had been murder proved to be too much for Cid as he began to feel light headed and lost his balance. Nyx was able to catch him before he hit the pavement and sets him in a lawn chair by the garage.
"H-How could this be? How could you be sure? Were you there?!"
"Yes, I was one of his Kingsglaives, Niflheim had used the treaty as a front, a way of entering Insomnia and as soon as they were in they killed thousands… Including King Regis." He takes out the ring and shows it to Cid "King Regis entrusted me with this ring, that's why I'm on my way to Beacon, to give this ring to Noctis. King Regis believed that it could save all of Remnant from whatever Niflheim has planned."
Cid just sits there in silence as he tries to process everything he had heard "Listen here, Nyx. You get that ring to Noctis and when you see him. Tell him to come to Hammerhead, I think I can help him against those Imperial bastards."
"Will do, Cid."
"Good, now get going."
"It was nice meeting ya'll" Cindy said as she gave Nyx a hug that he happily returned "Make sure ya'll come back now!"
Nyx and Qrow get back into the car and head back onto the road. Nyx looks through the rear view mirror as Cindy waves them off.
Qrow looks and Nyx and notices a white piece of paper popping hanging from Nyx's shirt and smirks "When you've got it, you've got it."
Nyx grabs the piece of paper that has a number on it and X's and O's by it with Cindy's name next to them and smiles. "She seems nice."
To be continued...