Hello everyone and welcome back to HellFall!
Let me just start off by apologizing for how late this chapter is. Contrary to what you probably thought, I wasn't out of chapters. I've been kind of busy and haven't always been able to get to my computer and edit, or even write for that matter.
Hopefully you guys like this chapter, though, considering the wait. I kind like it, it sets up some cool stuff.
Rocks crunched and clattered against each other. I looked up, seeing Cerberus pulling up armfuls of dirt and rock as he dug at the doorway.
"Cerberus, stop!" Gazini called, running towards him.
"We have to keep moving" He replied simply, not stopping.
"We need time to heal," Gazini retorted, "Not everyone is as experienced as you are. Just wait a bit longer"
Cerberus stopped long enough to turn and look at the red haired man. "They're already on their way" He said, then continued digging.
"Wh-" Gazini started, "How can you know that?"
"I can feel them" He replied, starting to dig again.
After brief hesitation, Gazini grabbed Cerberus by the shoulder and yanked him away. They faced each other, and Cerberus did not look happy. He pointed a thick finger at Gazini, "Don't ever touch me again" He said.
At first I didn't notice it, but upon a second glance I did. His hands, they weren't human. They were that of a mole, thick clawed, pale, and bigger than any human hands were. Gazini seemed to notice this too.
"You're a Faunus" He said quietly, taking a step back.
"Yes." He replied, "My race and semblance are the same"
Gazini nodded, seeming to understand. Cerberus could feel the next group of Heishi coming in the ground.
Our leader turned to the group, "Alright everyone, in case you didn't hear, we got another group coming in. Prepare for battle"
Octavia stepped forward, "Step aside Cerberus." She said, drawing her hammer, "We need more time for these pansies" She shoved the large mole man aside. He cast her a frustrated glance, but she completely ignored him.
Two thin rods stretched out from the butt of the staff of Thunder Cyclone. They bent downwards and stabbed into the ground.
"Tell me when they're close Cerby" She said, holding the hammer by the head and pointing the bottom of the staff at the closed door.
Cerberus didn't acknowledge the nickname he'd just been given. Instead he pressed his hand against the ground and stared towards the door.
I listened closely. There was a small noise in distance. I assumed that it was them.
My attention returned to Octavia. She seemed to be able to hear it too.
"They're close" Cerberus said.
Octavia did something, what it was I couldn't tell, and the head of her hammer split apart, each face folding outwards around the staff, creating a sort of shield in front of her. The splitting head revealed a somewhat hollow interior, but more than that a gun stock, handle, trigger, and magazine of bullets. The head of the hammer had a mold inside it where the other half of the gun was placed when it wasn't being used.
She gripped the handle and cocked the gun, ready to shoot. To top it off, she slid open a narrow clear slip in the shield in front of her face and looked through it.
The crushing noise came again, and the doors began to open.
The second they were even the tiniest bit Octavia squeezed the trigger. Bullets slipped between the doors, and the sound of impact, screams, and crumbling rock filled the air.
I stood; ready to fight just in case.
"How many more?!" Octavia called over her blazing gun.
"I can't tell." Cerberus replied, "It's really confusing in there"
The gun ran out of ammunition, and Octavia set to loading it. Soon enough, the Heishi began to stagger through the doorway, most still living. Only a few bodies lay lifeless on the ground.
"I'm gonna need some cover!" She yelled.
Gazini was out, Arkynshihn split down the middle in bow form, an arrow balanced and ready to let loose. He did just that, sticking the arrow straight into a Heishi's neck. He made a rough gurgling noise, then fell to the ground.
Hail stepped in, switching her scythe to gun position and squeezing the trigger. The bullets merely bounced off the Heishi armor, occasionally one piercing skin.
I stepped up, sheathing my sword and drawing my needle point shurikens. Taking one in one hand, I threw it as hard as I could. It grazed right through the high black collar of a Heishi's armor, piercing his forehead. Blood popped out as he fell to the ground, dead.
Octavia finished loading and released another flurry of bullets. By now almost everyone was firing on the doorway. No one wanted to deal with them again, especially in this small room.
By the time they were all dead I was exhausted, the tiny bit of aura I had left depleted at the use of my semblance.
I looked over at Ember, hoping that she was ready to keep moving. She felt her cheek, and her eyes widened. It was sealed closed, but indented enough for her to be able to feel it. She looked over at me.
"You okay?" I asked.
Slowly she nodded, not saying a word.
"We need to get going pretty quick here" I said, turning to Gazini, who was retrieving his arrows from the Heishi bodies. Cerberus had torn down the door, so we didn't have to worry about it closing and cutting him off from us. I stood and went to collect my shurikens.
"Good throwing" Gazini said when he saw me pulling one from a Heishi's forehead.
"Thanks." I replied, "Good shooting"
"Thanks." He said, "Where'd you learn to do that, anyway? It didn't look like you were even aiming"
"It's my semblance." I replied, "Perfect precision in everything that I do, so long as I have aura left"
"Ah," he replied, "convenient"
"Oh yes"
"Alright," Gazini called out after a brief break, "I know some of us are still tired, but we need to get moving. We can't stay here any longer. Ready or not, we have to leave. Okay?"
No one responded verbally. A few of us nodded, but that was it.
"Good, let's go" He said, taking up the lead down the tunnel. I followed at the back with Dennis and Ember.
"Wintanweorth," Ember said as we walked, speaking quietly, "will this ever heal?"
I looked at the scar on her cheek. "Not fully, I don't think" I replied.
She nodded solemnly. I knew that she knew that, but probably hoped for some assurance from me. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to give that to her.
At the end of the tunnel was a wide staircase. It appeared to be in good order, better actually. It looked very well kept and almost new. The cramped stone walls gave way to smooth white tiles, and the floor to a flat grey stone.
The bottom of the stairs revealed a hallway stretching down only a little ways before hitting a wall. Behind the stairs was another hall, only more crumbled and broken apart than the one ahead. The walls were crushed and hanging out, but it wasn't impossible to move through. There wasn't anything there really; a few doors leading to empty rooms.
"I've been here before." Octavia said upon seeing the first room, "We made holes in the wall when we came through. I guess they fixed them"
"We?" Gazini asked.
"The other test subjects and I" She replied.
We moved on to the other hallway and busted down each door. The lights were always off, and each room was full of shelves of chemicals or failed experiments, both living and dead. Mostly dead, by what I saw. The smell was both new and nasty in every room, and the appearance of everything was something I wouldn't wish upon my greatest enemies. Twisted bodies formed and contorted in ways that I didn't think possible. Animals, humans, and Faunus, all just expendable experiments in the eyes of the scientists behind it all.
There was only one door left. Everyone feared what would be behind it. More experiments, something else? Living, maybe? We all had our theories.
Inside the lights were, as expected, off. I heard the flick of a light switch, and the room was revealed. We had walked into an amphitheater. Chairs lined up across the descending floor, with an aisle right down the middle leading down to a wide wooden stage. A set of bright red curtains hung from the ceiling, hiding the backstage.
No one spoke a word. I was quite shocked, and I assumed everyone else felt the same way. It was so out of place to be believable right away. But even after blinking and staring, the stage did not waver.
"What is this?" Dennis finally said.
"The amphitheater" Someone replied. I wasn't entirely sure who.
"Well, duh, but why is it here?" Dennis asked.
"For the main act" Again that same person replied.
"This isn't a joke." He said, "Who's saying that?"
"I am" The voice was distant this time, but distinctly the same. It bounced off the walls until it reached our ears. We turned to the stage, seeing a woman clad in a short red dress emerge from behind the curtain. She had long black hair and yellow eyes, and I recognized her in an instant.
Pyre Fall.
So there you have it. We finally know Wintanweorth's semblance (took a while, eh?), along with Octavia's weapon transformation (also took a while), and, of course, Pyre Fall.
Again, so sorry about the lateness. Life is busy sometimes, you know? I'm hoping to finish Part 2 by the time summer starts, but it is kind of doubtful with my current pace.
Anyways, not a whole lot to say. 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!