Hello everyone and welcome back to HellFall!
I've hit some kind of writer's block recently, and I was just writing a fight, so this has been kind of weird. It's been hard writing something that I actually like and doesn't feel super awkward. I'm going to try again today though, so hopefully it works out.
Anyways, on with the chapter!
I rode the bus to the closest stop to Gazini's house, then set out to find it. I was going to be fairly early, but I didn't mind, and hopefully he didn't either. When I arrived I found myself surprised that I wasn't the first one to do so.
Dennis Soldier, the rescued and turned Heishi, was there, along with Gazini and his team of course.
"Ah, Wintanweorth," Gazini said as he opened the door, "your early"
"I wanted to give myself time to find the place." I replied, "Turns out it wasn't that difficult"
"Glad to hear it." He said, then stepped aside, "Come on in"
"Thank you" I said, stepping through the door.
"Do you ever wear anything other than a suit?" He asked.
I looked down at my black and white attire, "I don't sleep in one," I replied, "usually"
"I see" he replied simply, shutting the door behind me.
"Have you met my team yet?" He asked, showing me to the living room.
"I know of them," I replied, "but I haven't met them"
"Alright," he said, "well, they're all in different places right now. Steam's in the basement, Hail's out, and I don't really know where Petunia is. Have a seat, make yourself comfortable"
"Oh, thank you" I said, sitting down on one of the brightly colored couches.
"Dennis is here, too," He continued, "he might come down. You know him, right?"
"Only by reputation"
"You haven't met many of us yet, have you?"
"Not at all"
"Okay, well, hopefully this'll be a chance for you to meet some of the people you work with"
I nodded, but decided not to say anything. Gazini didn't seem like he was really in the mood to talk, nor did he seem very welcoming despite his politeness.
A few minutes later Dennis came down a set of stairs which I hadn't even seen.
"Yo," he said, seeing me, "you're…"
"Wintanweorth Coal." I replied, standing and holding out my hand to shake, "Your Dennis Soldier, correct?"
"…Yeah," He replied, "Not the original, but, you know,"
"I know" I replied.
Dennis was dressed in a dark green hoodie with a dark grey interior and deep blue jeans. His hair was a slightly lighter green than his hoodie and stuck out in all directions. A sword and sheath was wrapped across his back.
"So," he started, "your part of this whole thing too, eh?"
"Yeah"
"What's your reason?"
"Um," I shrugged, "I figured… if I can make a difference… then why not?"
"You're just willing to throw your life away like that?"
"I wouldn't say that I'm throwing it away." I replied simply, "What about you?"
"Assuming you don't know how those guys treated us Heishi?"
"Can't say I do"
"They tortured and killed the ones who weren't made perfectly"
"Oh"
"Yeah. I guess they didn't realize that they were making real people and punishing them for mistakes they didn't make"
"Good reason"
"I know"
Neither of us spoke for a moment.
"So do you live here?"
"Yes"
"Figured"
Again, no one spoke.
Steam came up from the basement and wandered around for a moment, looking up at the upper walls and ceiling before sitting down on the floor in front of the couch.
"Uh," I started, "you want to sit on the couch?"
"I'm fine." He replied, then leaned in close to us, "Want to hear a cool story?"
"Sure?" I replied, unsure if I really did.
The old man smiled, "Alright, this is the story of how I got into Beacon"
Sounds interesting, I thought sarcastically.
"That one again?" Gazini said from the kitchen. He walked into the living room, "Steam, do you even remember how you got into Beacon?"
"Well, yes," he replied, "I-"
"No you don't." Gazini interrupted him, "Steam, it's different every time you tell it"
"Well, nobody wants to hear the same story over and over"
"You always tell it to people who haven't heard it before"
"Well, nobody wants to tell the same story over and over"
Gazini sighed.
"Now I'm curious" I said.
"Steam got into Beacon when he was already pretty old." Gazini started, "Because he kept failing the entrance exam. Eventually he barely squeaked in and ended up becoming the oldest student in Beacon"
"Oh," I said, "how old was he?"
"Uh," the red head thought for a second, "Late thirties? Early forties? I'm not entirely sure"
"Do academies even accept people that old?"
"Not anymore. I think the limit is twenty years or something now"
"Huh"
Again, the room was silent.
"Hey, you guys want to hear a story?" Steam asked.
Gazini sighed and returned to the kitchen. Whatever he was cooking smelled nice, but I felt like it'd be rude to leave Steam now and see what was happening in the kitchen, despite the fact that he seemed a little crazy.
And so that's how the next while went. Steam told us fables of how he slayed great creatures, like Grimm, giant tortoises, regular sized tortoises, smaller tortoises that he claimed weren't regular turtles, and creatures I hadn't even heard of.
The front door opened, turning everyone's attention to it, including Steam's for the moment, thankfully. His stories were amusing at first, but they got dull and repetitive very quickly.
Hail had returned with a woman whom I didn't recognize. She had long violet dreadlocks and wide red eyes. They were followed closely by a young woman clad entirely in blue.
Gazini poked his head out from the kitchen, "Oh, hello." He said, "Have you seen Petunia?"
"No, is she not here?" Hail replied.
"No" He said.
"Hm." Was all she said before noticing me, "Hello. I'm Hail Strom"
I stood, "Wintanweorth Coal" I replied, shaking her hand.
"Well, you're certainly dressed up." She said. "You realize we're heading straight out after this, right?"
"I do"
She hesitated for a second, "Alright," she said, then turned to the purple-haired woman, "this is my sister, Octavia Strom. And this is Azure Blaze" She gestured to the blue woman behind her.
"Nice to meet you" I said.
Hail smiled, then went and introduced her comrades to Dennis, saying that they were going to be in a team along with one other person.
Slowly more and more people began to trickle in. My team arrived shortly after Hail did, and although the living room was getting quite full we were still missing two people.
I heard Gazini talking to someone in the kitchen. Peeking in, I noticed him on his scroll.
All of a sudden there was a noise. The roaring of wind, or something. Hail ran outside, and from my spot on the couch I tried to see what was going on. I heard shouting over the sound, but none of it was audible.
The noise faded slowly, and the dialogue coming from outside became clearer. It quickly became silenced, so I had no idea what was going on.
Hail entered with a short blonde woman whom I recognized to be Petunia Vaughan. She entered the kitchen with Hail, and I could hear them talking.
"What's going on?" Dennis called.
Hail poked her head out, "Petunia got us a helicopter" she replied, returning her head to the kitchen.
I almost stood, but figured that it'd be rude to run outside and stare at the vehicle. That and the large man standing in the doorway stopped me. By now most people had noticed him and ceased to speak.
He wore a black and purple striped coat and had hair the color of blood held back by shining product. He was tall and muscular, and I was a little horrified by how he looked; like something right out of one of those crappy vampyre hunter movies, only he was real. I found myself hoping that he didn't try to fight vampyres, mostly because they weren't real but also because the movies never turned out good, and I wanted this guy to be.
As if on cue, I heard a loud roll of thunder. Whether my ears were playing with me or not, I had no idea.
"Is this the house?" He asked. His voice was deep and intimidating.
Gazini walked out of the kitchen, "Cerberus," He said, "glad you're here. Now we can start."
Cerberus walked right past him and made a beeline for us. We all watched him, curious. He stared down at Dennis, and Dennis stared up at him.
"Yes?" He said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Dennis Soldier"
Cerberus drew a silver pistol from his coat and pointed it at Dennis's forehead faster than I could have even thought possible. The pistol barrel appeared to be more of a short blade which curved out from under the barrel. Where the bullets were stored, I didn't know.
But that wasn't as important as the events unfolding before me.
So there you have it. Most of the characters are brought together now, and some obvious conflict has started between Cerberus and Dennis. How do ya'll think this is going to go down?
Anyways, I'm kind of tired and don't really have anything important to say, other than the writer's block thing. I think that's happened like three times now. Is that normal? I don't know.
But 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!