A pattern of torment, it was the only way to describe his experience since first regaining consciousness. It didn't matter if his eyes were closed or slightly cracked as those black lines mockingly continued to dance around his vision. Each time he regained his consciousness the overwhelming dizziness would send him right back into darkness. Jaune didn't know how much time had passed as his tolerance for the lines began to slowly build with each awakening.
'Was there ever a world without those lines?'
It was the only thought he could latch onto as he struggled to not fall back into slumber. He wanted to open his eyes to see the world around him once more. To see the faces of his family and apologize to his mother for not heeding her warnings. Jaune was terrified at being trapped in that perpetual darkness, alone with those ever beckoning lines. Something deep inside of him wanted to reach out towards those threads, yet he was afraid at what meaning they wished to convey.
Jaune struggled over his feelings as each attempt of opening his eyes allowed him to remain conscious just a little longer. The passage of time was meaningless in his struggle to see those he cherished once more. He was determined to push himself as hard as he could to fully open his eyes. The taste of iron could be ignored, pain forgotten, as he had something more waiting for him to just open his eyes. As he fought against the darkness, he saw a hand of light reach towards him promising salvation.
Jaune reached out towards the light with desperation. He hoped it would make the darkness go away, hoped it would truly return him to the world he had once known. His hands finally grasped the small hand of light. A rush of feelings assaulted his senses as he welcomed the connection with open arms.
Loneliness. Cold. Fear. Family. Peace. Hope.
He embraced those feelings as his own as he pushed harder against the abyss imprisoning him. The walls that had once contained him slowly began to break down as light invaded through the forming cracks. Jaune's overwhelming sense of exhaustion began to numb as the final segments of the dark retreated under the rays of light. His eyes slowly opened to the world once more.
His first sight was of a bland white ceiling. Jaune immediately searched the ceiling above him for the black threads only to see their presence had been muted. They remained in place, yet did not have the same permanence he had known. The dark lines flickered between a state of existence and nonexistence as he studied the ceiling overhead. Something was off about his view of the ceiling as the light of the room seemed to glare down at him.
Jaune slowly lifted his hand towards his eyes to try to clear his vision, only to notice that something was in his way. He felt glass supported by some type of plastic frame, leaving him confused until he realized what was covering his eyes. Glasses, something he had never worn in his life. His discovery was soon interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching his side.
"I see, it seems I was right to give you her glasses," the statement was delivered tonelessly.
Jaune turned his head slightly and winced as he saw a man with dark hair in white clothing. The black threads were barely visible as they zigzagged from the stranger's head down to the base of his stomach. There was no set pattern in the movements of the lines as they changed position now and again. He expected to be assaulted by the dizziness he had grown accustomed to, however all he felt was a small throbbing pain in the back of his temple. Jaune was brought out of his distraction by the stranger clicking something in his hands.
"Relax, I'm Dr. Emiya. You are currently in a hospital room," the doctor lifted the object in his hand to show that it was a small source of light. He approached closer to the bed before raising the light towards Jaune.
Jaune was confused at what the doctor was doing as he shined the light into his eyes. It took him a few seconds to realize the doctor wanted him to look at the light as the man moved it in different directions.
"Can you tell me your name?" the light moved slowly up and down before turning to the left and right as the man awaited an answer.
Jaune allowed his gaze to follow the light as he spoke hoarsely, "Jaune Arc, where am I?"
A small click resulted in the light turning off as the doctor looked towards the nearby monitors, "Vale General Hospital, in the Pediatrics ward to be precise."
"Oh... when can I go home?" he knew his family was waiting on him to get better.
The doctor looked back at Jaune, "Don't expect to be going any time soon. Your condition has only recently improved since you arrived. I need to ensure you remain stable so you don't go bleeding everywhere again."
"Why do I have these glasses on?"
"I assumed it would help your condition. Considering you are no longer bleeding or falling unconscious, my assumption proved to be correct for now," the tone remained detached as the doctor looked down towards his wrist.
Jaune was starting to get annoyed by the doctor's answers, "But why do these glasses help? What's even wrong with me?"
The doctor continued to look down at his wrist as he answered, "Need a parent or guardian before I can go into any details. Your sibling normally visits you around this time, until then I have other patients to see."
Jaune could only look on in irritation as the doctor left just as quickly as he had showed up. He still didn't have any solid answers for why he was there. All he remembered was seeing the black thread of the branch snapping before he felt the wind race across his body. He paused in hesitation as he reflected back on the memory, something felt off. There was something strange about his memory of the accident, yet he couldn't quite place it.
He felt nauseous as he tried to go over the memory, causing him to give up before the feeling got any worse. At least he could look forward to someone visiting him soon if the doctor wasn't mistaken. Without having anything else to do, Jaune lifted his head slightly off the pillow to look around the hospital room. It was as bare as he expected with the same generic white coloring from the ceiling coating the walls. Only a single window placed near the end of the room allowed sunlight to fill the small room. His gaze shifted slowly across the room until it fell upon a small table near his bedside.
'That's a lot of stuff,' he slightly frowned as he noticed standings cards, stuffed animals, and a single set of flowers.
'How long have I been in this stupid hospital?' the thought burned in his head as his gaze remained on the table.
His gaze only left the table when he heard a slight knocking at the door. A woman in a blue uniform entered his room with a tray in her hands. She smiled down at him as she exposed the contents of the tray. Jaune's nose immediately identified the smell of a warm soup as his bed slowly raised. His stomach rumbled upon the sight of the meal.
"Please eat slowly. Don't force yourself to eat if you begin to feel full. If you feel sick or something wrong, please push that small red button on the side right here. If you need to call us for anything else, press the yellow button to speak with us," the woman pointed towards a jumble of buttons on the side of the bed.
Jaune wasted no time in grabbing a sip of water from the tray, "Thank you, I'll let you know. Do you know where all those came from?" he slightly tilted his head in the direction of the table.
"The gifts? I believe the cards and stuffed animals come from your family Mr. Arc. As for the flowers... if I remember correctly I think Dr. Emiya's son delivered those to your room."
She leaned in closer to Jaune to whisper, "That sweet child delivers gifts to the ward all the time. He's around your age so please try to get along with him if he ends up visiting. He needs more friends his age, just don't let him know I said anything to you."
Jaune awkwardly nodded at the nurse's words, "Okay, I'll be sure to thank him if I see him around."
Those words seemed to do the trick to lift the nurse's attention away from him. Jaune watched her take a look at the equipment at his bedside before she left through the door. Without any more distractions, Jaune slowly dipped a spoon into the warm soup.
'Tastes funny. I miss mom's cooking already,' he continued to dip and raise the spoon with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.
He let the spoon rest inside the soup once a third of it was emptied. Between the taste and his lack of energy, Jaune doubted that any more of the soup could be emptied. At least the water proved to be more bearable as he slowly sipped at the cup. Once the cup was emptied, Jaune lightly pushed the tray away from his bedside to reach for one of the cards on the nearby table. Going by the amount of glitter on the card, he felt it was safe to assume it belonged to Nero.
His suspicious were confirmed by the curved lettering composed of red ink. A slight smile crossed his face as he looked down at the composition of the card.
'Only Nero would choose to use red ink on a yellow background,' he ignored the semitransparent thread dividing the letter in half as he turned his attention to the text.
Brother,
I know you will get better and when you do, I expect you to keep your promise. Alice is still waiting for you to hold our tea party. I will forgive you just this once for being late so please come home.
Nero
Jaune couldn't help himself as his smile turned into laughter at the letter. He had to pause to wipe the moisture from his eyes as he imagined Nero sitting at the dinner table pulling at her hair while writing the letter. How she must have struggled over what to write to him while he was in the hospital. For as long as he could remember Nero had struggled with conveying the emotions she felt appropriately. His little sister practically had her own language when it came to communication.
Jaune put the card back on the table before reaching for another one. He was greeted with a plain white card filled with black ink with the only true notable feature being a small smeared handprint on the back.
Big Brother,
Alice wanted me to tell you she says hello. That's her hand print on the card for you! I hope you are starting to feel better. The house isn't the same without you around. Everyone has been really sad, even Jeanne hasn't been smiling. I'll try my best to make everyone laugh until you get back.
Love,
Lilly
'Jeanne isn't smiling? I hope she doesn't blame herself for my fall. I know the thought would tear her up,' he found himself biting at his lip as he placed Lilly's card back with the others.
Jaune wanted to read more of the cards, however as he reached for the next one he heard the door to his room open. His gaze shifted towards his latest visitor only to immediately identify the guest as Violet. She seemed to freeze upon seeing him before her hand raised to cover her mouth. Jaune could see tears forming in her eyes as she stiffly stood in the doorway to his room. He knew he would have to be the one to say something first as she remained in place.
Jaune broke the silence, "Violet, it's great to see you. The seat next to me isn't taken," maybe it wasn't the wisest thing to say at the moment but he didn't know what else to say to his crying sister.
He was surprised as she practically blurred across the room. Jaune felt her hand lock with his as she took a seat on the chair next to his bed. She remained silent by his side as he studied the faded lines moving around her body. He noted that the lines never approached where her lost arm had once been. Her facial scarring had also seemed to have faded further than what he had remembered from the night under the moon.
"Jaune... I'm so happy. I was so scared. I visited you everyday to see if you were getting better," her voice was shaky as it crackled with emotion.
"Don't worry Violet, I'm fine. A small fall like that can't keep an Arc down for long. Plus Mom always did say I was hardheaded," he spoke with a smile and bravado in an attempt to cheer her up.
The attempt failed as tears freely fell from her eyes, "Jaune you idiot, the fall kept you in the hospital for the last two months. Mom would cry if she heard you say something so dumb."
Overwhelming dread gripped Jaune, "Two months? That can't be right. Why would I be here for so long?" he found himself nervously pulling at a strand of his hair with his free hand.
"You haven't been alright. I still remember you waking up the first time screaming. I was so relieved when you opened your eyes, until you started to bleed," she squeezed his hand harder.
"I'm sorry, I don't remember something like that happening. I don't really remember much after the fall to be honest. The doctor told me to wait for you to come before he would tell me what's going on. Has he said anything to you?"
Violet nodded her head slightly as she sniffled, "I know some basic information on what's going on with your health but not much else. Those glasses suit you, he said you would be needing them."
"Ah, thank you Violet," he stopped pulling at his hair to fiddle with the glasses frame.
The conversation between the two lulled as Jaune simply took comfort in the presence of his sibling. Violet seemed to share the same feeling as she continued to sit there with her hand wrapped in his. A knock at the door signalled the arrival of the familiar Dr. Emiya.
"Good, you arrived. Let's get down to business since you are on record as one of Mr. Arc's guardians," the doctor wasted no time as he approached the bedside with a clipboard in hand.
"Mr. Arc experienced severe head force trauma as a result of his accident. To be frank, if you didn't activate his Aura when you did he would have died long before making it to the hospital," the message of his near death had been delivered without emotion.
'I could have died...' his face paled as the thought ringed in his head.
The only thing preventing him from losing himself was Violet squeezing his hand hard. He looked towards her as the pressure on his hand was starting to hurt. She was glaring at the doctor as he continued to look down at his clipboard.
"He's been slipping in and out of a coma as his Aura has been repairing the parts of the brain we can't effectively treat. Those glasses are just a side effect of the damages as his vision has worsened. We will be keeping Mr. Arc under observations until I deem him ready for release," the doctor spoke the last words with authority.
'My vision doesn't feel any worse.'
"You wish to keep him longer to ensure he doesn't slip back into his previous state?"
"That is currently the plan Ms. Arc. Rest assured I will be checking Mr. Arc each night myself. I will be meeting with him later to go in more depth on what he should expect while recovering," the doctor's cold gaze fell upon Jaune causing him to shiver slightly.
'I really don't like him,' Jaune looked away from the doctor to avoid holding the man's gaze.
Dr. Emiya turned his attention back to his clipboard, "I'm sure you two have some catching up to do. Call for a nurse if you have any concerns, otherwise I'll be seeing you later Mr. Arc. We still have much to discuss," his exit was abrupt.
"What a rude doctor, I wish there was someone else who could be assigned to you," his sister was staring at the closed door to the room.
Jaune ignored the comment, "Was it true? You saved me Violet?"
He was answered by a slight shake of her head, "Your Aura saved you, I just helped it along."
Jaune squeezed her hand, "You saved me by activating my Aura. Without you I wouldn't be here anymore. Please don't put yourself down."
"Can we please drop it for now? I hate thinking about the accident," she pulled her hand away before reaching for something in her pocket.
"Jaune, this is the number to my apartment phone. I'm giving it to you before I forget to. Home was a little too far away to visit you everyday so I've been staying in town. I still have the same scroll number if I'm not answering," she placed the piece of paper next to the cards on the table.
Jaune blinked in confusion as his sister spoke more than she had to him in months, "Slow down Violet, are you leaving soon?"
He received a stiff nod, "The apartment isn't cheap. My job starts soon and I can't call in an absence on such short notice. I swear I'll come back as soon as my shift ends."
He frowned as he shook his head, "No, don't worry about coming back if it gets late. You shouldn't be pushing yourself too hard. Just get home safe and relax. Give me a call when you do get home."
He saw her lean over before he felt her hand ruffling his hair, "Have you always been this mature?"
Jaune lightly swatted at her hand as he laughed, "Someone has to be the adult here."
She stood up from her seat to lean in for a hug, "You should take it easy too. I'll call you as soon as my shift ends."
Jaune returned the gesture as he leaned in just enough to finish the hug. He waved her off as she made her exit from the room. Without much else to do at the moment, he leaned back into his pillow to rest.
A blank white ceiling, the same sight he had awoken to, greeted him again. The threads remained in their faded state as he stretched his cramped limbs. He noticed a glass of water had been placed on the tray beside his bed and wasted no time in drinking from it. A quick glance at a clock on the wall showed he only slept for a few hours.
It was awfully dull in the hospital room without anyone else there so he turned his attention back to the pile on the table. He reached out for another card from the bunch as he ensured Violet's paper from earlier remained in reach. This particular card looked hastily put together compared to the ones from earlier as the script was messy and the white card itself seemed stained with coffee. It was incredibly easy for him to guess it belonged to Mordred considering the condition of the card.
Little Bro,
What do we say when the reaper comes a knockin? Not today! You better spit in his eyes for me before you come back to the land of the living. I'm sure everyone is treating you like a dainty doll but I know you better. When I get home I'll teach you what I learned so you can finally kick Jeanne's ass. Call my scroll when you finish up your nap.
Mordred
Jaune nearly spat out his water as he couldn't stop himself from laughing. He always held a certain respect for his rough edged sister. He would never tell her directly but she felt a lot like an older brother than another one of his sisters. She always did get along better with him than her other siblings so he knew she worried in her own way. It was nice to know someone held so much confidence in him.
Jaune placed her card back next to Violet's number as he planned to call both of them later in the day. Only three more cards remained to be opened from the pile. The next card he grabbed was dark blue trimmed with a golden color. A lot of effort was put into the script considering how neat the lettering was. Jaune was confident the message belong to Artoria.
Dearest Jaune,
It pained me to hear of your accident, yet not be able to act. I wish you a fast recovery and will be steadily monitoring your progress during your time in the hospital. If my duties did not demand my full attention, I would be standing at your side. Violet is confident she can handle your guardianship during your time in the hospital, yet I can not help but worry for her condition as well. Please take care of yourself and her as you have already done so.
Yours truly,
Artoria
Artoria was perhaps the most difficult of his sisters to deal with in his opinion. When she had her mind set on a goal it was incredibly difficult to distract her from it. He could never get her to discuss her own issues, leading him to worry about his older sister. She and Mordred often fought over the smallest things, causing Jaune to feel divided in loyalty between the two. It was his hope their time in the academy would help repair their relationship or at least cool the rivalry between the two.
The letter was placed with the rest of the read pile as Jaune pressed the small button on the side of his bed to call the nurse.
"Excuse me, can I please have some more water and crackers if you have any," he was starting to feel slightly hungry again and figured something small to nibble on would be helpful.
It took only a few seconds before he received a reply from the speaker connected on the bed frame, "Someone will be with you shortly Mr. Arc."
Jaune took a few seconds to adjust the tray beside his bed back into a more accessible location. With his tray prepared, he allowed his attention to drift as he gazed toward the distant window in the room.
'How are Mom and Dad doing? Is Dad blaming himself for us being out there sparring? Is Jeanne blaming herself for not stopping me from climbing the tree?' he feared what was within his parent's card and Jeanne's card the most.
He stopped himself from falling deeper into his thoughts when he heard the door to his room quietly shut. His latest guest was a boy around his age with auburn hair and golden-brown eyes dressed in a simple T-shirt with jeans. The boy was smiling with a bottle of water in one hand and a packet of crackers in another.
'Is this who the nurse said delivered the flowers?' he had recalled the nurse describing the fact the doctor had a young son earlier in the day.
"Hello, the nurse told me to bring these to you," the boy placed the two items on the tray before taking a few steps back.
"Um, thanks. My name is Jaune but I'm sure you already know that," he awkwardly coughed into his hand before turning away slightly. It had been a while since he had to interact with someone around his age without knowing them.
"Nice to meet you Jaune, I'm Shirou. My Dad told me a little about you," Shirou looked down at the ground.
"Oh, what did he say?" Jaune couldn't help but to fidget with the crackers package.
Shirou's face turned slightly red before he spoke, "He told me I should try to make friends with you since we are both stubborn. Dad said you make the same look I do when I want to know something but he won't tell me."
A few crackers bursted from the package onto the tray as Jaune opened it with too much force, "I guess he wasn't wrong. I asked him a lot of questions when I first saw him and wasn't happy that he didn't say much. I must have been making a face at him without realizing it."
"Yeah, that sounds exactly like my Dad. I swear he's not too bad when you get to know him. You don't have to worry about him being mad at you," Shirou rubbed the back of his neck as the two fell into awkward silence.
Jaune took a sip from the water bottle before pointing at the flowers on the table, "A nurse told me you gave those to me. Thank you for the gift Shirou."
Shirou raised both of his hands in front of him as if he was denying the credit, "It was nothing, you don't have to thank me for it. I just like to make sure everyone has a chance to wake up to something nice."
Jaune blinked in surprise, "You give gifts to everyone here?" he did recall the nurse mentioning Shirou deliver gifts to the ward but he didn't realize the extent of it.
Shirou nodded, "Everyone deserves to be happy and people always smile when they get gifts. Flowers are easy to grow at my home so why wouldn't I share them?"
"Good point, if you can make others happy why wouldn't you?" Jaune nodded at his logic.
"Exactly! I don't understand why there are so many bad people out there. Why would they want to make others sad all time?" Shirou paced slightly in pace with a frown on his face.
"Hey Shirou, what do you want to do when you grow up?" there was something he needed to confirm about him.
Shirou stopped his pacing to look directly at Jaune, "I'm going to be a doctor just like my Dad. I want to be able to save people just like him."
Jaune nodded at his words, "I want to become strong enough to protect everyone around me. My family is already strong but I want to be the person they can rely on."
Jaune stuck his hand forwards towards Shirou, "Friends?"
"Friends," the two shook hands in the glow of the fading afternoon sunlight.
Jaune looked into the dark eyes of his doctor as the two stared at each other. The sun had already gone down resulting in the room being lit by just the lights overhead. It was finally time for the discussion about what was wrong with him. His phone call to Mordred and Violet could come as soon as he got the answers he sought. Dr. Emiya was the first one to break the silence.
"You see things don't you?"
Jaune tilted his head slightly, "Yeah, these glasses make what I see blurrier though. It's much harder to see compared to without the glasses."
"It means the glasses work for you. My wife had a similar condition in which she saw more in this world than she was supposed to. Her condition cost us everything," his disposition remain unchanged as his expression remained unreadable.
"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that," he wasn't sure how to react to the lack of reaction on the doctor's part.
"Tell me exactly what you can see with your eyes," his tone brokered no argument.
"Lines, everything has lines. Walls, objects, and everything else. I remember seeing the line on the branch as it snapped and I fell," Jaune leaned further back into his raised bed.
"Impossible, you would have been in here ages ago if you saw those lines before your fall. Your perception has been permanently warped by your accident. Something many people would have wished remained lost to history awakened within you," he moved closer before pulling a pen out of his pocket.
"Try manipulating whatever you see on this pen with your finger, I wish to confirm my theory," the pen was shoved into his hands before he had a chance to question the command.
Jaune looked carefully at the pen as he attempted to find the thread of the object. It was hard to spot due to its faded nature but eventually he was able to identify the location. With some hesitation, he placed his finger against the line and slowly began to trace the thread. He was surprised when his finger seemed to sink into the thread, however the doctor didn't seem to react to the action. The object broke into two as his finger traced the rest of the thread.
Pain, his finger was suddenly in great pain as the doctor looked at the split pen. Jaune looked down at his finger and saw the skin at the tip of the finger had cracked causing blood to seep from the wound. He held his hand against his chest as he saw the doctor continue to stare at the broken pen.
"My finger! What just happened?"
The doctor looked up from the pen causing Jaune to shiver as the previously expressionless doctor had a grin on his face, "My theory was correct. You possess something only recorded in forgotten fairy tales, Mystic Eyes. A perception beyond human comprehension, the ability to manipulate the world with what only you see as the truth. This is excellent."
"What are you talking about?" the pain in his finger lightly throbbed as he tried his best to ignore the feeling.
"You manipulated the logic of the world with your own understanding of the world. In your eyes the object broke and so it did. The lines you see, I feel it is safe to assume you can see the internal frame of all things. Mr. Arc, you are truly a monster to possess such an ability."
Dr. Emiya's grin remained as he leaned in closer, "Say, you don't wish to be a burden to your family right? You know your time spent in the hospital will result in a large hospital bill. Especially, if I don't see you fit for leaving soon. I can help make that debt go away if you let me borrow your talent."
Jaune stiffed at the words, "Leave my family out of this. What do you even want from me?"
"There is someone out there waiting for me. I have need of your gift to get to the person. I will release you from this hospital and pay for all your fees under the condition of you meeting me twice a week for checkups. Your family will be told you will be staying the night in the hospital during those two days. In reality, you will be with me and my son learning how to harness your talent. If you break your oath, your family will suddenly have a very large debt to pay."
"Fine, when do I have to get started," his nails were digging into the palm of his hand as he accepted the demands.
"You will be released at the end of the week. The checkups will be held on the weekends until our arrangement is finished. I will reward you if our objective is completed successfully. You will never have to see me again once we are through. There is still much I must teach you before I can even consider using you or you will just end up getting yourself killed," the doctor reached his hand out towards him.
Jaune grasped his hand and squeezed with as much force as he could muster. A part of him knew he just made a deal with the devil but another part yearned at the prospect of learning more about the gift he possessed.