Hello everyone and welcome back to HellFall!
I can't think of anything to say, so let's get into it!
The amount of Grimm pouring through the hole in the wall gradually shrank in size, then dipped suddenly. I doubted the wall had been repaired, especially considering the creatures were still coming and it would be impossible for someone to fix the wall whilst fighting off Grimm.
"What's going on?" I asked over the rain and growling monsters.
"I don't know," Bole replied, "it slowed when the rain did. Maybe the civilians aren't as scared as they were earlier"
I stabbed a Creeper through the jaw, realizing that this was probably true. The Grimm were attracted to negative emotions, and after the storm let up it must have given them some hope. Of course, there were still those who were afraid, plus the Grimm could simply follow their comrades to the wall. But regardless, things were looking hopeful.
As the Grimm entering slowed to a general halt it became more and more difficult to find an opponent to actually fight. Ultimately we were approached by Elwood, the leader of the AOD, telling us that we could leave if we needed to. We thanked him, he returned the favor, and we were off.
We found several others filing into the military base before and after us. The door was broken down, and I guessed something had gone down here.
Many of the people we passed were bloody and bruised, limping through the open doorway into the elevator.
I entered the elevator next to Yang Xiao-Long, her arm wrapped around Weiss's shoulder for support. The yellow-haired woman's forehead had a long bloody gash raking across it, blood covering her face and still dripping.
Many, too many actually, got off in the infirmary before we continued to our floor. By the end it was me, team VAIN save for Nicole, and Jaune Arc. The rest of his team, I wasn't so sure where they'd gone.
"Where's the rest of your team?" I asked him.
"Nora and Ren are in the infirmary. I told them I'd go looking for Pyrrha in the meantime." He replied, "You haven't seen her, have you?"
I shook my head, "Maybe she's with Gazini"
"That's what I'm thinking" He replied.
We arrived on our floor and stepped out. It was empty except for Thunder. He was dressed in black and yellow striped armor, with a shoulder cape of the same pattern. He looked up from his seat at the table when we arrived. A smile spread across his face.
"We did it." He said, "We won"
I was sure we had, but hearing it from him suddenly filled me with joy. I turned to the others with me, seeing a smile taking over the lower half of their faces too.
"Have you seen Pyrrha?" Jaune asked Thunder, no hint of happiness on his face.
Thunder's face went grim. "She's in the infirmary" He replied.
Jaune's eyes widened with fear, "Is she okay? What happened?"
"She's dead" He replied, almost without hesitation.
For a moment Jaune didn't move. Then he turned around, heading back up the elevator.
I felt my smile fade, "What?" I asked, surprised. I hadn't expected her to go.
Thunder nodded solemnly, "Apparently Rain was tougher than we thought"
"What about Gazini?" Veil asked.
"He's…" Thunder started, trailing off, "I don't know. He's exhausted, I think. I'm not really sure honestly"
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
He turned to me, "He's… different. You wouldn't recognize him"
"That bad?" Barnabas asked.
"No, no." Thunder replied, sighing, "It's hard to explain. You probably shouldn't go up now, but I'm sure that later he'll explain it"
I tried to push the thought from my mind, but had some trouble. Regardless, the infirmary would be packed, and there was no point of going right now.
As the hours progressed more and more people appeared from the elevator. As the doctors finished working their magic on the injured, the table filled up as we prepared for one final meeting.
Finally a man in a pale grey hoodie and blonde hair exited the elevator. I'd never seen the man before, yet here he was. He looked around the table, "This everyone?" He asked.
"I was about to ask you" Thunder replied.
He looked up and down the table again, "Well," he said, "I was the last one out, save for JNPR. So I guess that's that." He looked up at Thunder, "Shall we begin?"
Thunder nodded, "Sure," he replied, "you start"
The man cleared his throat, standing at the far head of the table where Gazini usually sat. He clasped his hands around the back of the chair and looked around at all of us. "Hi everyone, I'm Gazini Void." He started, "Or, Gazini Nikos, I guess. I'm assuming you're confused, so I'll just go over it real quick.
"This was how I dressed back in Beacon. I embed dust into my clothing so that it looks like the clothes I wore before, and same with my weapon. This attire allows for increased mobility, but I find it's kind of embarrassing to walk around in, so I changed it. Whenever my aura hits a major peak the dust gets activated and my clothing switches in order to better fight. And the weapon changes to the one I used back in Beacon. I figure I'll switch back pretty quickly, so don't worry about getting used to this" he gestured to himself.
There was a long pause as everyone processed this sudden and frankly weird piece of information. It made sense, but it was still weird. Like a shounen anime where the characters have several forms with higher levels of power for fighting tougher opponents.
"Should I continue, or what?" He asked.
Thunder gestured to him, "Go ahead. Make your report"
He sighed heavily, leaning on the chair and starring down at the seat. He sniffled, then looked up, "When we fought Rain he killed Pyrrha Nikos."
There were a couple surprised faces in the crowd, but most everyone had stopped by the infirmary and seen the body. A moment of silence passed over the crowd, then we put two and two together. Gazini Nikos. Pyrrha Nikos. They were related, and she'd just died.
"If you haven't figured this out yet Pyrrha and I were siblings, sort of." He continued, "I guess here comes some sob story for you guys. I was adopted into the Nikos family, not born into it. We haven't exactly been in contact for quite some time, I don't know why, but that's why I didn't want to contact my parents about coming here.
"Anyways, yeah. Pyrrha didn't make it. And before you ask, yes I saw it coming. I saw everything. But let me say this, of all the possible outcomes I saw at the time that was the only way we'd win. Pyrrha would have had to die to win. And if I warned anyone I knew the future would change greatly. I won't apologize, because I did what I had to." He paused, sniffling again, "Thunder, anything to report?"
He took in a deep breath, "Well, I fought off a couple Roccos, although that was it. I don't know if anyone fought anyone else, but I only saw Rocco"
No one spoke up, so we assumed only Rocco had been cloned.
"Well," he started, "that's reassuring. For now, anyway. Anyone else have anything to report?"
Ruby raised her hand, "Roy defeated Cinder, in case you hadn't guessed"
"Where is Roy?" I asked, scanning the table and not catching sight of him.
"He died protecting me" Ruby replied. I looked over to see her eyes reddening.
"Oh," I said, "I'm so sorry"
I noticed Grizzly sitting next to her, a somber expression across his face, but no tears fell. He didn't make much noise, but the emotion was there.
"Are we missing anyone else?" Thunder asked.
"Nicole." Barnabas replied, "After the helicopter went down we separated. I didn't really see her again"
No one said a word. It was likely that she was lost or dead.
"What about Blake?" Yang asked.
"She went down," Carden replied, "I saw it. Unfortunately"
The three remaining RWBY members shed tears, as were many of us now.
"Has anyone seen Dennis?" Gazini asked.
"I saw him go down too," Carden replied, "I don't know if he died though. I just saw him fall without any arms. I assume he's gone too"
Gazini let out a deep breath. He looked like he was ready to go out and look.
"Gazini," Hail started, "Steam didn't make it either"
The blonde man shook for a moment, then turned around and left out the elevator. Petunia followed after him, and a moment later so did Hail.
Thunder looked around, "Anyone else?' he asked, his lip quivering slightly, "As hard as this is, everyone needs to be accounted for"
No one said anything.
"Is that it, from our team?" He asked, looking around the table one last time, "Alright then. We'll have to organize search parties. If you're willing, please step up"