Shayne arrived at the building moments before Ralen pulled up on Hanna's bike.
"Hanna's lock-up, good thinking, but now she'll be on her way here" Shayne said as Ralen walked towards him.
"That's a good thing though right?"
"I wanted my team out of harm's way"
"Sorry, but this was the most logical choice"
"Oh I don't blame you, now come on we have to move quickly"
Shayne ran through the doors, ignoring the porter and heading straight up the stairs, Ralen apologised quickly and headed up after him. The porter was very confused and annoyed. A few minutes after Shayne and Ralen had headed up the stairs another figure came through the door, considerably slower than Shayne had.
"Evening sir, I didn't know we had new guests in the building"
"We don't"
"Then who were those two men that just ran by me"
"I know them, I'll deal with them"
"But sir, shouldn't I call the pol-"
The figure was suddenly right in the porters face.
"You will not call the police, I told you, I will deal with them" with that the figure stormed away.
Shayne kicked the door to the apartment in and Ralen stepped in, crossbow ready. As Shayne turned on the light, Ralen had to cover his mouth to stop himself from vomiting. There was blood everywhere, it coated the walls and ceiling, the smell of rotting meat hung in the air. Shayne stepped slowly forward into the room, being mindful not to step in the pools of congealed blood. As he passed the counter he saw the bodies lying on the floor.
"Shayne, we need to go"
"I'm going to kill that mother fucker"
"Yes but we can't do that if we're in prison now come on"
They started back down the corridor but as they drew closer to the stairs they saw the figure reach the top.
"Aah, Shayne, do you like my handiwork?"
"I'll kill you; you've taken everything from me"
"No, not yet, I'm yet to deal with your team" Cross leapt forward and unleashed a wave of energy, blasting both Shayne and Ralen through the window at the end of the hall.
They fell 3 stories before landing hard on some boxes. Cross looked down on them and smiled.
Shayne struggled to his feet before helping Ralen up. They ran to the front of the building where Cross was waiting for them.
"It'd be so much easier if you just gave up and let me kill you Shayne"
Shayne just glared at him
"But I see that you're not going to do that, so be it"
Cross strode towards them and Ralen fired faster than Shayne could stop him, the bolt sped across the courtyard. Cross caught it just before it hit him. With an athletic flip he threw the bolt back at Ralen, neither Shayne or Ralen were fast enough to stop or dodge the bolt. It hit Ralen in the right hand side of his chest, lodging deep in his lung.
"Shayne, kill him, not just for me or Lina, but for the good of the world" Ralen closed his eye and laid his head back.
Shayne stood up enraged, he drew his swords and pointed at Cross.
"You…are SO dead" Shayne sprinted across the space between them.
Hanna and silver pulled into the complex to see Ralen take his own arrow to the chest; Hanna skidded the car to a stop as Silver leapt out and ran to Ralen as Shayne sprinted away. Silver picked up Ralen's head and put her head on his chest, his heartbeat was faint and fading fast.
She watched as Shayne battled Cross, the two were a blur of steel and Grimm, with shockwaves of energy rippling off their weapons as they fought. As Cross blocked a strike he kicked Shayne away, Shayne took a moment to re-evaluate the situation, and then Hanna stepped up beside him.
"Shayne, you know you can't beat him alone"
"By all means girl, help him die slightly slower than he will by dying first" Cross called to them.
Cross sent tendrils of Grimm out from his arm, straight at Hanna, she dodged and hacked at them as they pursued her, Shayne cut them cleanly with his blades and rushed Cross, slicing through more and more tendrils as he drew ever closer to Cross. As Shayne reached Cross, a single Kunai flew straight past Shayne's head and exploded on contact with Cross' body.
Dundra, Eddi and the twins arrived and went straight to Silver and Ralen, Dundra grabbed the bolt as Silver and Eddi braced Ralen. Dundra forced the bolt out through Ralen's back; pulling it out his chest would have only caused more damage. Sliver was clearly struggling with the fact that Ralen might die so Ashe picked her up and Vossler took her place bracing Ralen. As Dundra forced the bolt out far enough to get hold of the other end, Ralen coughed up blood onto Vossler's shoulder, Dundra yanked the bolt out in a swift forceful movement, Eddi immediately bandaged Ralen and sat him against a bin.
"What now?"
"Now we wait" Eddi said sedately standing up and checking her weapons.
Cross had recovered from the Kunai and was on the offensive again Hanna had been incapacitated and was dragging herself away. Silver and Ashe ran to her as more tendrils of Grimm shot from Cross. Ashe shot some and had to resort to her sword as they grew more ferocious.
"Ashe get her out of here, I got this" Silver said flexing her hand.
As the tendrils came at them again Silver became a thing of beauty to watch as she danced around the tendrils slashing them to pieces in defence of Hanna. One got the better of her and went straight through her thigh, Shayne cut it before it could do any lasting damage Vossler came and retrieved her as Shayne drew Cross' attention.
"Leave my friends alone you bastard!"
"If they would let you die in peace then they wouldn't be getting hurt"
"We'll never just let you go to your death Shayne" Dundra said as him, Eddi and the Twins stepped up either side of him.
"Very well, you leave me no choice" Cross keeled forwards as something began to pull at the Grimm.
As the group watched, their faces turned to shock and horror as Cross separated into 3 separate entities, the original and two Grimm copies. The remaining students separated off to deal with one each.
The twins struck hard and fast, attempting to gain the upper hand with the speed and precision of their attacks. The Cross copy just hit harder and faster, he exploited their weaknesses, the twins tried their hardest but even their combined effort couldn't bring a Grimm copy Cross down to its knees, the most they managed to do was give it a large gaping wound on its chest.
"We gotta draw it away from Cross, get it way from the source of its power" Vossler said as they regrouped, Ashe nodded and fired a flare straight at its face.
"Come on fuck face, come get me" The copy took the bait and set off after the Twins as they ran off towards the docks.
Dundra and Eddi were having a slightly easier time as Dundra could at least shelter them from the tendrils assault with his shield.
"Ed, I've got an idea, if you can draw the tentacle things away from me I might be able to kill this thing"
"Ok, just make it quick I'm running out of ammo" Eddi said letting off another barrage from her machine pistols.
The pair separated and Dundra rushed forwards, his shield raised as Eddi unleashed the last of her ammo as Dundra collided with the Grimm. His sword went straight through the Grimm, stopping the tendrils; Dundra stepped back and dropped his shield. He drew his axe and with a mighty heave cleaved the Grimm's head from it body. Cross whipped Dundra's legs out from under him and began to drag Dundra towards him. Shayne dove and freed his friend before turning to face them.
"Go find the twins, they ran off to the docks, I got this"
Dundra stared at Shayne, looking for any trace of defiance, finding non he took Eddi's hand and ran after the twins.
"So, it's just you and me Shayne"
"You will pay for what you have done, to everyone"
"Then so be it, only one of us may stand at the close, and you know it"
Shayne looked towards the sky and stood up straight.
"By my hand I find you guilty, by my hand you shall die" Shayne caught the smell of burning flesh on the wind and felt saddened by it.
Shayne strode forwards, blade in hand. As they came together the air sang as their weapons clashed and rang out, blood spattered on the ground as each made wounds on the other. Shayne tired quickly, he knew he was losing; he just had to hold on a little longer. After a careless mistake Shayne was kicked to the floor, his blade skittered away across the concrete. As Cross loomed over Shayne, Shayne gripped his tomahawk in readiness; he was hoping that if it was going to happen that it would happen soon.
"Goodbye Shayne"
"Fuck you Cross"
As Cross brought his axe down a single fireball collided against his chest, he stumbled back in shock at what he was seeing. Shayne stood as Ralen walked up beside him.
"Azrael?" Shayne asked.
He nodded and a scythe materialised out of fire form his left hand, Inferno in his right hand. Shayne smiled at Azrael and felt the Grimm boil and writhe again. He let it go and allowed it to form into something he could use. Shayne's body grew sharp blade like pieces of bone from his forearms, his face turned white as chalk. His eyes remained his own yet his body became that of a half beast half man hybrid (A/N like a werewolf kind of thing).
"Now, Shayne, let's see what you can really do" cross sent tendrils straight at Shayne.
As the tendrils hit Shayne and pierced him through and through Shayne roared the most primal roar that had ever been heard, Shayne slowly walked forwards, blood dripping onto the floor with each step, with every step he took Cross became more nervous. As Shayne reached him, he grabbed Cross' throat and lifted him off the ground, the claws of Shayne's gauntlets digging into Cross' neck. Shayne threw Cross over to Azrael, Cross looked up into the eyes of death itself, and he was scared.
"This isn't over, not while I still have control"
Cross stood up and sprouted wings made of pure Grimm, he tried to escape but Shayne grabbed his leg and Azrael severed the wings from Cross' body and he fell to the ground. Shayne crouched down and looked Cross in the eye. The pale bone mask pulled away from his face.
"You took everything from me, now we, are going to take your last away from you"
Shayne grabbed Cross' shoulders and stood him up, with one of his newfound weapons he pierced cross' body at the shoulder and twisted, with a sickening pop, his arm was disjointed. Azrael watched on as Shayne picked Cross apart, breaking limbs at the joints, punishing him. After a few minutes of screams and lots of blood Azrael stepped between Shayne and Cross.
"Enough...it is time…." He said in a whispering raspy voice.
Shayne snarled and hauled Cross to his feet before plunging his arm blades into Cross's chest, Shayne roared again and pulled his arms apart, tearing Cross' chest apart. Azrael cleaved Cross' head off with a single swing of his scythe, it rolled off of cross' shoulders and onto the floor.
Azrael raised a single hand and Cross' body burst into flames, his remains burned completely to ash in mere moments. Shayne and Azrael looked at each other and they faded back to normal. Ralen fell forward against Shayne who picked him up and carried him back to Dundra's car.
The others arrived somewhat later.
The days following the events outside the apartment complex were dull in comparison; they held a funeral for Lina and her family. Lance and Jiang were informed of what had happened, they had been unavailable at the time when Shayne went to confront Cross. Most told them that it would have been easier if they had been there, Shayne said nothing.
About a week after Cross had been destroyed, Shayne stood on the roof of the dorm.
"So, what now Shayne"
"We carry on Ralen, he's dead, my Grimm is calm, and we're okay"
"Shayne, when we took out Cross, Azrael was there wasn't he"
Shayne nodded.
"Do you understand him?"
"I do, he is not to be feared, he is like me, he does what needs to be done and nothing more"
"Thank you, for everything"
"No problem, now go, your team are probably wondering where you are"
Ralen walked away, leaving Shayne alone on the roof. He looked up to the sky and closed his eyes again; he saw her face and smiled.
"Soon…" Shayne lit the piece of paper on fire and walked away.
As the picture of Lina burned to ashes it was swept away on the wind. As the sun rose on the following day, though very few people knew, the world had hope again.
I thank you all for reading this, keep a look out for my coming stories, i hope you enjoyed reading this story.
-TheWolfbane987