Hello everyone and welcome back to HellFall!
I finally got around to doing some more writing today. Hopefully I'll be able to do some more tomorrow as well, and the next day, and the next day, and so on and so forth. Maybe I should give up social media to that...It'd probably help.
Anyways, this chapter is fairly long, so let's get on with it!
Nello and I ended up leaving the tournament much later, and by the time we did Gazini and Thunder had already left, so the next day when the tournament started we planned to leave.
Back at home we returned to Azure walking out of the shower and down the stairs, a towel wrapped around her chest and hair. When she saw us she jumped a little.
"Hey scaredy-cat." I said, "Or I guess more like scaredy-fox, eh?"
"You startled me" She said.
"I noticed," I said, "so, you and Xeyrus find anything?"
She hesitated, but eventually shook her head.
"Something's wrong" I said, immediately noting that she was off.
"I was just about to tell you." She started, "Xeyrus and I were attacked. He… didn't make it"
"What?" I asked, shocked. Xeyrus was very skilled in battle, not so much with people though. "Who attacked you?"
"Cinder Fall" She replied.
I paused to think. This wasn't good. And for some reason they still used that old building. We completely trashed it! How are they still using it?
"How'd you escape?" Nello asked, his voice somewhat shaky.
"Um," she stammered, "after Xeyrus fell, I panicked and ran. Somehow she didn't notice me"
"You're pretty lucky." I finally said, "Cinder's a real threat." I hesitated with my next question, but decided to ask it, "I take it you didn't find anything then?"
Azure looked at me, surprise across her face. "N-no, we didn't. Cinder was waiting for us"
I sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of my nose, "Well, crap." I said simply, "This sucks"
There was a long silence.
Finally I decided to break it, "Well, on the bright side, Nello and I found out something"
"Oh really?" Azure asked, her voice still a little scared. "What?"
"The military has Rain Fall in custody." I replied, "Nello and I are planning to sneak in tomorrow while Lleu and Gazini are out and interrogate the guy. You in?"
"Um" she started.
"Maybe now isn't a good time to talk about it." Nello said, "I mean, Xeyrus just died. Shouldn't we wait maybe?"
"No, we have to keep working" I replied.
"Isn't that a little insensitive?" Nello asked.
"Nello," I started, "the show must go on. I hate to be that person, but I know we're all thinking it. No one really liked Xeyrus, and he didn't like anyone either. We don't need time to mourn; we'd probably just sit around and watch TV, okay? We need to get back to work"
Nello sighed, "Alright." He said, then turned back to Azure.
"I don't think I'll be joining you guys tomorrow" She replied.
I nodded, understanding, "'Kay. Well, get a good night's sleep. You can change your mind if you want to, of course"
With that we separated. I went to the couch, Azure went back upstairs, and Nello went to the kitchen.
The next day Nello and I headed out. Azure still didn't want to join us, so we went on our own.
We walked right through the front door, no questions asked.
"This is a dumb idea." Nello whispered to me, "We don't even know which floor they're on"
"Then we'll ask" I replied simply.
"Ask what?" He asked, "Where are you holding Rain Fall?"
"Just let me do the talking"
We arrived at the front desk. The secretary looked up and smiled, "How may I help you?" She asked.
"I'm wondering which floor Lleu Thunder works on?" I asked, "He recruited us for his team, but he failed to provide that info"
"Okay." She said, "What's your name?"
"Octavia Strom." I replied, "But he just recruited us. I doubt he'd put us in the system already"
She looked at her computer for a minute, then shook her head, "Typical." She muttered, then looked back up, "He always forgets. Most of his team isn't even entered. Trust me, you aren't the first. He works on floor B10. Sorry about that"
"No worries." I said, smiling, "Thank you very much"
She smiled back, then returned to work.
I turned and started towards the elevator. As we approached it I turned around, winking at Nello. He leaned forward and whispered, "I can't believe that you pulled that off."
We reached the elevator and went down to the floor the secretary had told us. The elevator stopped at a lone room with a very large table in the center.
"Is this is?" Nello asked, looking around cautiously.
"Is this what?" Someone asked.
We both turned, seeing a heavily armored guard standing next to the wall just right of the elevator. There were three doors lining that wall.
"We're here because Lleu Thunder recruited us." I replied, "Is this the right place?"
The guard nodded, "Indeed it is." He replied, "May I be of assistance?"
"Um, yes, actually." I started, stepping forward, "I heard that you had Rain Fall in your custody?"
"Yes" He replied.
"I was wondering if I could speak to him." I said, "I think that I might be able to crack him"
"Oh?" He asked, "That would be helpful. He's just through this door"
"Thank you, sir" I said. Nello and I went through the door in which he gestured to. We found a barred prison door on the other side.
"No problem." He replied, "And it's Abel, by the way"
"Good to meet you, Abel" Nello said quickly.
Abel came into the room after us and unlocked the prison door. Rain Fall sat in the center, chained to the floor by the wrists and ankles. He looked rather uncomfortable, as he wasn't able to stand. But at least he could move his arms.
"Rain Fall." I started, "You are him, correct?"
"Who's asking?" He asked.
"I am, bozo." I replied, "I need to ask you a few questions"
"Oh really?" He asked, "Well here, let me give you the answer I gave the last guy" He raised his middle finger and smiled at me.
I frowned, then kicked him across the face.
"Octavia!" Nello called.
"Shut it" I said, pushing him back and casting him an angry look. He didn't move after that.
"Ow, my jaw." He said, "Is that even legal?"
"Oh please." I said, "Like you care"
He snickered, "You're my kind of woman"
"I'm flattered." I said sarcastically, "Now tell me, where's Gale Sheng?"
"You're after Gale?" He asked, "Why?"
"I'm asking the questions, bucko." I replied sharply, "Now answer the question"
"You'd like to know, wouldn't you?"
"Why do you think I asked?"
He smiled, but didn't respond.
I sighed, "Do you know what your sister has been doing the last few days?"
"She's been working." He replied, "At least I hope so. I haven't seen her in days. Wonder why" He raised his hands, the chains around his wrists clinking as they wiggled against each other.
"She just killed one of my men. Why? Any idea?"
He shrugged, "You're obviously with Thunder, so naturally you're a target"
I figured that I didn't need to press him on that. It was fairly obvious what he meant. "Where's Gale Sheng?"
"Back on Gale, eh?" He asked, "You must really like her"
I kicked him in the gut and his body flopped down. His forehead smacked into my shin. "I'm asking the questions" I said.
He laughed, "You'll find her soon, don't worry"
"When?" I asked.
A smile curled his lips, but he didn't look up, "When hell descends upon our remains"
The statement sounded familiar, but from where I didn't know.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
He looked up at me, his bruised forehead shining. Through his dried lips he spoke one word.
"HellFall"
Again, it sounded familiar. But from where, I had no idea.
"What does that mean?" I demanded.
"Hell shall descend upon our remains" He said.
"Where's Gale?!"
He laughed, "You'll have to wait." He replied, "You'll see her in HellFall. That I can assure you of. Don't worry your pretty little head!"
I kicked him in the nose, cutting off his laughter abruptly.
Sighing angrily, I turned to leave. "Come on Nello," I said, "he's a lost cause. Let's get that file at least" I grabbed him by the coat collar and started to drag him along.
"Wha- oh, okay" he said simply.
The guard, Abel, suddenly appeared at the exit doorway.
"Excuse me, Mr. Abel. I'd like to leave" I said, stopping in front of him.
He looked past me for a moment, then reverted his gaze back to me. Or at least I thought he did. His head moved in such a way that indicated that he was looking straight ahead, which happened to be at me, but I couldn't see his eyes through his helmet.
"Hello?" I asked, waving my hand in his face. He didn't respond. Sighing, I pushed his chest. He stumbled backwards a little, but quickly regained his position, making it impossible for me to slip out.
"Can you hear me?" I asked, waving again.
All of a sudden he swung up his fist, punching me in the gut and sending me to the floor.
"Octavia!" Nello called, turning to me.
"I'm fine." I said, sitting up, "What the heck, Abel?"
Nello's hand instinctively went to his weapon, but he didn't draw it. "Yeah, what the heck?" He asked.
Abel lifted his helmet off his head, revealing what he looked like. He appeared to be some kind of Faunus. His face was covered in green scales, and his eyes were yellow and snakelike. A forked tongue slithered out from his wide lips before disappearing behind them again.
Both Nello and I were caught off guard. He was definitely a Faunus, but he better resembled the animal than the human.
He cocked his head to the side, emitting a slight cracking sound.
I stood, reaching back but not finding my weapon. Crap! I thought simply. I had nothing but my fists to defend myself, and by the looks of it it would take more than that to take down this guy.
"Let's get this over with" Abel said, reaching back and drawing a shotgun. The gun's stock appeared to have some sort of axe blade on it, and the barrel was long enough to make a decent handle for the bladed weapon.
Nello's whip, Eternal Punishment, swung out. He held it by his side and took up a stance, ready to face the monster.
"I'll take care of this, Octavia." He said, "You stay back, okay?"
"Sounds good to me" I replied.
The snake man cocked his shotgun, then fired. Nello swung his whip, the heavy blade at the end blocking the bullet. Abel's eyebrows rose, then he charged.
Nello twisted his foot, readying to sidestep. Sure enough, Abel fell right into it. Eternal Punishment wrapped itself around his body as Nello swung. Abel fell to the ground, and in seconds Nello was on top of him. He held the blade of his whip to his neck.
"What the heck are you doing?" He demanded. He wasn't very intimidating in voice, but the blade certainly was.
"Take a wild guess" Abel replied.
I turned to Rain, who sat watching the entire thing unfold, a grin spread across his face. Abel was working for him, I knew that now.
"Why you-" Nello started. "I should just kill you now"
"Too late" Abel said, moving his hand slightly. I saw his shotgun barrel pressed up into Nello's gut.
He pulled the trigger, and Nello's body flew into the air. He let go of Eternal Punishment, and when he landed didn't get back up.
"Nello!" I cried. No response.
Abel stood, ripping the whip off his body. It was in pieces now, and almost worthless at first glance. He turned his gaze on me.
I started to back up until I hit a wall. He raised his shotgun and pointed it at me.
Before he could shoot I turned and ran. He pulled the trigger, hitting the wall. He turned around, raising his shotgun and gripping it by the barrel so that he held it like an axe.
I dived to the ground, grabbing Eternal Punishment's severed blade. With great effort, I lifted it and spun around on my back. Abel's axe came down on me, colliding with the blade instead. It sucked a lot of strength from my body, but I held it in place.
He raised the axe, then swung again. I both felt and heard the blade crack slightly. He swung again, and again. The blade was breaking. Right before the fourth swing I dropped the blade and rolled away. Sure enough, he broke it in two.
Regaining my feet, I took up a stance and readied for his next attack. Whatever it would be it'd probably kill me if it landed.
He swung his axe horizontally. I skidded back suddenly, avoiding the blow on instinct alone. The blade still grazed my black sweater. He swung again, and I backed up. Again and again he swung, pushing me back. Finally I ducked, rolling between his legs as he completed the swing, and reached the broken blade again. Reaching down, I was able to lift one half with relative ease.
Abel's axe came out of nowhere, and I barely deflected it. I tried to fight him off his the blade, but the reach was so little compared to his axe.
Finally I turned tail and ran towards the now-open doorway. Broken blade in hand, I charged through it. There was no way that I could beat this guy.
Abel came charging out after me, breaking down part of the doorway in the process.
I threw the broken blade at him. He snapped it in half with a single swing.
As he neared me he swung his axe downwards. I was pinned against the long wooden table, and I had nothing else I could do. Putting up my aura, I blocked the attack. His axe bounced right off my hands.
He frowned, then swung again, harder this time. I threw up my aura, placing a strong shield around myself. His weapon slammed into me and flew right out of his hands.
I took this moment of weakness and charged, pushing him backwards and slamming him against the wall. As smoothly as I could, I kicked his knee and snapped it forwards, causing him to fall to the ground.
Picking up one of the broken Eternal Punishment blade shards, I hopped onto his back and plunged it into the back of his neck. He squealed and shook with pain.
And then the elevator arrived.
So there you have it. There wasn't any great place to end this chapter in between, so it is pretty long compared to my other chapters. The fights I write have certainly become longer though, I just wrote a chapter that was basically entirely a fight. I haven't finished it, but it was the normal length of a chapter.
I hope you all recognize Abel. If you don't it'll be clarified in the coming chapters I think.
I know I've said this multiple times before, but the story should be wrapping up relatively shortly. By shortly I mean in several more chapters and several more months. That's probably what's going to happen at least. But the title was finally said in dialogue by the antagonist, so that's a thing. I'm really looking forward to the climax of this part, it's pretty awesome if you ask me.
What do you guys think happened Nello? Will he live? Will be die? Will he live but not be able to fight and ultimately kill himself due to a lack of feeling of self-worth? Who knows, but it took me a bit of time to decide on that. Also, same with Abel. Living? Dead? Unable to fight?
Anyways, that's about it. 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!