Chapter XVIII: No Huntsman Left Behind
Nyx had spent 3 days looking for any signs of Qrow, but had nothing to show for it. He was too late to follow any trail that could've been left by the people who had ambushed Qrow and now he had to do whatever he could to save his friend. He was now investigating an old abandoned town outside of Vacuo. He has on his Kingsglaive outfit with the Kingsglaive crest replaced with Beacon Academy's crest, and a black scarf shielding his face from the sand and heat, and a pair of black aviator glasses to block out the sun, and a brown beaten up satchel.
"Qrow, I swear to God if you're dead I'm going to kill you for making me come out here." The once lively town was now at the mercy of the sand. Nyx made his way through the ghost town making sure to survey every part of the town hoping that luck would be on his side and the had managed to miss some evidence of Qrow's disappearance. The town took on the look of a western town from the old west, shops that were covered in sand surrounded the town with a few housing complexes. Nyx continued through the desolate town when a sudden gust of wind blew towards him, nearly knocking him off his feet.
"Crap! A sand storm!" He pushed against the powerful wind and sand and made his way into a nearby building to hold off while the sandstorm passed. He took off the glasses and pulled the scarf away from his mouth. The building he found himself in was an old saloon that matched the scenery in western movies. Tables were turned and chairs we scattered all over the place. An old piano sat in the corner of the saloon, and the bar looked as if no one had tampered with it. Nyx walked towards the bar and vaulted over the counter, he picked up a bottle and it read "Vacuo's Desert Vodka" He looked at the bottle and shrugged, he popped open the bottle and took a sip "Wow! That's some good stuff, I should save this for later." He said as he stuffed the bottle into his satchel. He made his way up the stairs of the saloon and looked into each and every room on the second floor, finding nothing but beaten up beds with sand filled sheets, and broken down television sets. He took a seat on one of the beds and took out the vodka and took a drink "Where the hell are you, Qrow?"
He took off his boots and shook out the sand that had snuck its way into the Hero's combat boots. Once he thoroughly shook out the sand out of his boots he put them back on and took one last sip of the vodka before he put it back into his bag. He looked out the window as the sandstorm looked as if it had begun to die down. He got up from the bed and made his way out of the saloon.
"Damn, that storm came out of nowhere!" Nyx heard a voice shout from outside the saloon, he rushed towards one of the windows and carefully peeked out of the window. Two White Fang members, armed with guns walked towards the saloon "Man, we should stop in here real quick, I feel like grabbing that last bottle of vodka."
"CRAP!" Nyx thought to himself
"Fine, but make it quick. We have to meet that guy from Niflheim, and I don't want to be late and make him angry."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll hurry up inside."
"If I want answers this is the best time to get them." Nyx thought to himself.
As the White Fang member walked into the saloon Nyx quickly unsheathed his kukris and grabbed the White Fang member, before the White Fang member outside of the saloon could react Nyx through his Kukris, hitting the Faunus in his throat, killing him. The White Fang member shook himself loose and tossed Nyx over his shoulder, Nyx landed on the ground with a loud grunt escaping his mouth as he landed. The White Fang member made a dash towards his gun, but Nyx managed to trip him as he passed him, Nyx then jumped to his feet and unsheathed his other Kukris and tackled the White Fang member with his dagger against his throat.
"If you want to live, you'll tell me where the Huntsman is!"
"The what?"
Nyx used the butt of the daggered and striked the White Fang member's nose, causing him to bleed. "TELL ME!" Nyx shouted, not wanting to waste time with the pronoun game with the White Fang member. "Start talking!"
"I-I can't…. He'll kill me!"
"What makes you think I won't!" Nyx shouted as he added force onto the dagger, cutting the faunus' throat a bit.
"O-Okay… just please don't kill me, I have a family!" The White Fang member pleaded
"Then tell me what I want to know!"
"If you wanted to see the Huntsman you should've just asked." A calm voice said from behind Nyx. Before Nyx could turn towards the voice he is knocked out unconscious.
"What the hell?" Nyx said as he woke up in a cell. He rubbed the back of his head and got up from the bed, dust and silence filled the air, the jail looking building looked as if were abandoned for decades, and he was its first guest, well second guest.
"You awake, Nyx?" He heard a familiar voice calling from the other side of the cell.
"Qrow? Is that you? Holy shit you're alive!"
"Yeah, I am." Qrow said as he took a sip from his flask "So what are you in for?" Qrow asked sarcastically.
"After you went radio silent for a week Ozpin asked me to come look for you… So I came here to rescue you."
"Well this is one hell of a rescue." Qrow sarcastically said with a chuckle and Nyx joined in.
"Where the Hell are we, Qrow?" Nyx asked as the laugh died down
"Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue." Qrow said as he took another sip, then reached his hand out of the bar to offer Nyx a drink and Nyx took the flask and took a sip of his own "I had been following this lead on a crypt that was close to Vacuo, but surrounded by Grimm. The last thing I remember is finding the crypt, then I blacked out and woke up here. The only people I've seen besides you are the White Fang members that brought you in."
"How the hell do we get out?"
"Hey, don't ask me. You're the rescue party here."
Just then the door that lead out of the cells opened and in walked one man.
"Good evening, gentleman." Ardyn said in a calm voice as he removed his hat and bowed "I do hope you're feeling comfortable."
Nyx and Qrow both leaned against the cell doors that separated them and Ardyn
"I do hope these animals weren't too rough with you, you are our guest."
"You're the chancellor of Niflheim, Ardyn Izunia, aren't you?" Nyx questioned "I saw you enter the throne room the day of the attack."
"That very one." Ardyn said with a condescending smile
"What do you want with us?"
"I don't want anything from you, it's the emperor that would like a word with you two."
"What? Why would the emperor want to speak with us?"
"I guess you'll just have to wait and find out. I don't want to have to have these animals drag your unconscious bodies so I recommend you come peacefully." Ardyn said as he unlocked the cell doors. "Come peacefully and you may walk yourselves to the carrier, but make no mistake. If you try to run I will have you two killed."
Qrow and Nyx reluctantly agreed and followed Ardyn to the helicarrier that waited outside the jailhouse.
Niflheim
The airship that carried Nyx and Qrow landed in a militarized camp, the camp was protected by antenna like pole that emitted energy that protected it against attacks, somewhat like the crystal had been doing for Insomnia. Qrow and Nyx continued to follow the chancellor through the camp that had stationed soldiers in full body armour, and mechs that needed no driver to operate.
"This is insane." Nyx said as he watched in awe at the magnitude of the strength that Niflheim had.
"This is just the beginning" Ardyn said with a smirk "Soon, we will be able to march against the rest of Remnant."
"You won't win." Qrow said with a calm voice "Noctis will stop you."
Ardyn stopped in his tracks with the mention of Noctis and turned towards the two with the same smirk on his face "Awh yes, the young King of Insomnia. It's true that an incredible power lies dormant within him, but that will not be enough to stop our reign, but he is more than welcomed to try." Ardyn said as he turned and continued to walk. As they continued to make their way through the heavily guarded camp, something had caught Nyx's attention that caused him to stop and nearly tremble in fear.
"Yo, Nyx. What's up?" Qrow questioned as he noticed Nyx had stopped walking
"Now you see why we will not be stopped." Ardyn said in a calm but menacing tone as he he looked at what Nyx had been looking at.
Niflheim soldiers were riding Beowulves like horses, and teaching Death Stalkers who to attack.
"T-They're learning to use the Grimm!" Nyx said in shock
"And that's not all, but I'm afraid that will have to wait for another time." Ardyn said as he he continued to walk
"We have to report this to Ozpin." Qrow whispered to Nyx who nodded in agreement.
"But how the hell are we going to get out of here? There's no way in hell we'll be able to fight our way through. There's too many of them."
"Yeah, I'm still working on that."
Ardyn then led them to a car that would take them the rest of the way to the Imperial palace.
As they drove through Niflheim it was clear that for the last few decades since the war between Niflheim and the rest of Remnant they had been working and waiting for their time to strike and it was growing near. Nyx could see that Niflheim was ahead when it came to technology and weapons, especially seeing that they are able to domesticate Grimm of various sizes. How
things were looking, the rest of Remnant would not have a fighting chance against Niflheim.
"Here we are." Ardyn said as they arrived at the Niflheim palace. "Our Majesty awaits for you inside." Ardyn said as he motioned for them to head into the palace, that looked to be twice the size of the palace in Insomnia. Imperial soldiers led Qrow and Nyx through labyrinth like corridors until they arrived at one gold plated door.
"Your Majesty, the two Vale Huntsman are here, as you requested." An Imperial soldier announced
"Let them in."
The soldiers motioned for Qrow and Nyx to enter the throne room and they did. The room was huge, the walls filled with portraits of past Kings and past royal families.
"Nyx Ulric, I must say, it's a bit of a surprise to see you still alive after that day. I'm impressed you were able to escape Glauca."
"It's going to take more than that to take me down."
"We'll have to see about that, now you may be wondering why I have summoned for you, it's simple. Nyx, you are close to the King, so I have a proposition for the both of you."
"Proposition?" Qrow asked with a questioning look
"Yes. If you bring me the King I shall repay you by sparing your lives, and the lives of your loved ones. Qrow, you have nieces, am I right?"
Qrow then gave Emperor Aldercapt a hateful look which made the Emperor smile a wicked smile
"Bring Noctis and I will spare them."
Qrow stood there silently as if he were thinking about the Emperor's proposition, all he had to do was bring Noctis and his family would be saved.
"Qrow! You can't seriously be thinking about it!"
A smirk then formed on Qrow's face and he lifted his head and looked into the Emperor's eyes. "I don't have to make a deal with you… Because Noctis will beat you and your whole damn army! No matter the size or the strength of your army you won't stop him, I may not know him personally but many people have died for the safety of that kid and there's no doubt in my mind that he will be the one to destroy your damn army! He's the hope of Remnant and he will bring you to your knees!"
The Emperor just sat there quietly then smiled a wicked smile that could match the Devil's "I knew you would decline my generous offer, in truth that is not why I wanted you here. You see my new pets need to be trained in the way of killing Huntsman and I believe you two would be the perfect subjects." Aldercapt said as he motioned for his soldiers who surrounded Nyx and Qrow. "Take them to the arena!"
The soldiers point their weapons at Nyx and Qrow and force them to leave.
"Make sure those two don't leave here alive." Aldercapt ordered Ardyn
"As you wish, your majesty."
Nyx and Qrow were lead outside of the palace and towards the car that they had arrived in, as soon as he saw an opening Nyx turned and managed to disarm one of the soldiers and take their sword, BAM!... Nyx dropped the sword and fell to his knees as blood begin to fill his black shirt.
"NYX!" Qrow shouted to his downed friend
"The Emperor would like for you to die at the hands of our little pets, but sadly I just do not have the time for that." Ardyn said as he smiled "So I hope you don't mind if I just kill you both right here."
"YOU BASTARD!" Qrow made a dash for Ardyn but was stopped by a single bullet and fell beside his friend "I-I'm sorry, Nyx. This is my fault…" Qrow said but received no response.
"Please deliver them to Beacon Academy, and be quick about it. His Majesty would not appreciate the smell of blood filling the streets of his wonderful kingdom."
"Right away, sir!"
The soldiers picked up Nyx and Qrow and tossed them into the car and exited the Kingdom
"This is sure to rile the young King." Ardyn said with a smirk.
To Be Continued...