Hello there everyone and welcome to the next chapter of Reignited, I hope you've been doing well.
Chapter 2: Awakening
-Vale hospital, Intensive Care Unit-
His entire body was numb. That was the first thing Jaune realized when his eyes slowly began to open, a bright white light greeting him that took a moment to adjust too. He tried to sit up, but a sharp pain forced him right back down. 'Well this is perfect..' the room was full of beeping machines that he was hooked up to with one arm or the other. He glanced to his left when his hand brushed up against something. Looking down, he saw it was a call remote. He took it into his hand slowly and clicked it a couple times before letting go. His left arm was tightly wrapped, no skin showing through. Before he could question this any further however, the door opened.
"Oh my, your awake!" The surprised voice of the nurse turned his attention to the door. She walked in and checked the machines Jaune was hooked up to before looking down at him. "How are you? Are you in any pain?" That was an easy question. He couldn't feel ANYTHING, let alone pain. He shook his head a bit and she smiled. "That's good. I'll go get the doctor, Im sure he'll want to check up on you himself." Jaune sighed to himself as she hurried out. He'd just have to wait for him to be able to ask anything, though he had to get some water or something first, his throat feeling like sandpaper.
'God I feel like death warmed over. What the hell happened after I-' he felt his confusion fade into fear as it came back to him. The last memory he had before blacking out was Cinder slowly making her way over to Pyrrha and then a blinding white light. 'Pyrrha..Ren, Nora..oh god what if they…no. No, stop that right now. There's no way. God I cant think straight with all this crap their probably pumping into me. I need to-oh my god..'. He had reached up to rub his eyes when he discovered that his right arm no longer had a hand to do so. His right hand was gone, a carefully wrapped stump in it's place. 'N-No…no no no…this can't be happening. NO!'
He had begun to panic, fighting his numb body to move. He wanted out of here. He wanted out of this damn bed and he wanted answers right now. The doctor entered with the nurse, his smile and look of relief turning to worry when he saw Jaune's current state. He walked over and placed both hands firmly on his shoulders, gently pushing him back down. "Mr Arc, I know this is..jarring. But you need to take a couple of deep breathes and relax. In your current condition, you will only make things worse." Jaune used his remaining hand to gesture to his throat and the nurse hurried to him with a cup of water. Slowly drinking it down, feeling the cool liquid ease the feeling, he stared up at the man.
"What..happened?" He whispered, his voice rough. The doctor-his name was Maize from the name tag on his white coat- chewed on his bottom lip for a moment before answering.
"Which part would you like to know first? There's a bit to go over."
"My friends..are they all okay?" A small smile crossed the mans face.
"Yes. There were no casualties among the students who were fighting. As for your team in particular? Miss Nikos, Valkyrie and Mr Lie Ren are all fine, though I won't lie to you, the latter two are currently admitted to this hospital. Their not as bad off as you, however so don't worry yourself over that." Jaune felt a wave of relief hearing this. His friends were safe and alive, that's all he could ask for after everything.
"How bad off am I exactly?"
"Well..your left arm suffered severe burns from the attacks you blocked. Even though it wasn't a direct hit, the metal of the shield and your armor being heated to that degree while having direct contact to your arm caused a lot of damage. Near as we can tell, there's been no nerve damage so you should maintain full functionality of it. I should forewarn you however theres likely to be some substantial scarring. Aura can only do so much. Your sword arm in particular the hand..." he trailed off and let out a sigh.
"Cinder cut it off…" Jaune finished, the memory coming back to him. He had swung wildly, the intense burning of his left arm and desperation clouding his mind. Cinder had sidestepped, materialized her bladed weapon and removed his hand in one quick strike. His fist clenched tightly, a deep burning rage settling into his mind, though he forced it back for the moment. He still had one more question.
"Were already talking to Atlas about prosthetic options, if you'd be interested. We considered the ones we have here, but given you likely still wish to be a huntsman, you'd be better off with military grade tech." Jaune could only nod. "Aside from that, you also had a lot of glass and such in your legs and upper body from the Grimm destroying the top of the tower. As well as a few cracked ribs and a particularly bad gash near your neck, nothing life threatening though. Is there anything else you need to know?"
"When can I leave?" The question seemed to take Maize aback for a second, but he quickly composed himself.
"Now that your awake, we'll keep you under observation for a couple days. As long as no new problems crop up, it shouldn't take long at all." Again, Jaune nodded and Maize cleared his throat. "Well, I'll leave you to rest. You've been hit with some big news and all, and I'm sure your team would appreciate an update on your condition."
"That, and we don't want Miss Valkyrie getting too wound up again," the Nurse said. Jaune chuckled a bit
"Yeah..Nora can be a handful..thanks for telling me their okay, at least. I needed that." Maize smiled and gave him another nod before walking out. Jaune turned to the nurse, "Could you turn down the meds a little? I feel like a zombie with all this stuff in me," he said.
"I can, but if you start to be in too much pain, it's going right back up, deal?" Jaune nodded and she adjusted he settings on the IV. "Now, other than some more water do you need anything else?" Jaune shook his head and after getting him a refill she left. Jaune settled back, staring at the ceiling, clenching and unclenching his hand. It felt…so odd. Like his body wanted to move his other hand, but there was nothing to move anymore. Cinder he repeated that name In his head over and over again, each time he felt his anger building, teeth clenching and his clenched fist shaking a bit.
"She'll pay for this when Im out of here..her and every single one of her friends." He had never in his life felt this intense of an anger in his entire life. Cinder had destroyed the school, hurt countless people among them Jaune's closest friends and damn near crippled him. Jaune could only pray he would be there when Cinder was finally taken down. If he had his way, he would perform the kill shot himself. And gods help anyone who tried to stop him.
He eventually had to reign in his rage to try and sleep, not able to do much of anything else, and feeling a lot more tired than he probably should be. He wasn't entirely sure how long he was out, but he was woken by a faint knocking on the door. When his eyes opened he saw a grinning Nora and Ren there. "Guys..?" He said softly.
"About time you woke up! We've been worried sick mister," Nora said as they walked in. Wiping the rest of the sleep from his eyes, he got a good look at their injuries. Ren's left arm was in a cast, a strap tied over the shoulder of the arm it was on. Nora had a similar cast but on her left hand.
"Do..they know you two are here?" Jaune asked
"Well duh silly! They are pretty strict about who they let into this wing of the hospital during non-visitor hours." Nora smiled, pulling up the two chairs that sat in the corner of the room. Ren nodded as they settled into them, relief prevalent on his face.
"But when we heard you had woken up, we had to come see for ourselves. As Nora said, we've both been rather concerned." Jaune smiled a bit, seeing his friends here with him. Though there was still one person absent.
"What happened to Pyrrha after all the fighting was over?" He asked Ren.
"Her ankle was the worst injury she incurred thankfully. She was seen to and given leave to Patch along with Ruby and Yang."
"What about Weiss? Blake?"
"Weiss is with them, after sorting things out with her father. Blake...is gone." He saw Jaune's eyes widen in horror and he shook his head quickly. "No, no, don't worry. Gone as in she ran away, not dead. Me and Nora have been in touch with them and other than Ruby still being unconscious, everyone appears to be fine. Physically at least.." he trailed off.
"Has she been up to see me? Pyrrha?" Nora shifted uneasily, her eyes falling to her hands. "Are you serious?" Jaune said, his smile dropping.
"I think she felt too guilty to do that, Jaune. Before they left for Patch she came by to see Ren and me and she looked really upset when we asked if she'd seen you yet." Jaune shook his head. So Pyrrha didn't even bother to come by? He felt that same anger force its way to the surface, his eyes narrowing as he glared at the wall.
"Well, good. Only reason I was even up there was because she wanted to go play hero," he muttered.
"Jaune that's unfair-" Ren started
"The hell it is! I couldn't stand the idea of her fighting that monster alone, so I went with her. Like a partner and leader should right? I told her it was a bad idea and we should just leave. Did she listen?! No! So now because I felt like I HAD to be there because she was am idiot, look at me!" He snapped waving his stump limb at them.
"Jaune I get that your upset, but she-" he held up his hand, still trembling in anger
"Enough. I..I don't want to talk about her anymore right now. I'll deal with HER when the time comes. Are you two okay?" He said, his voice tight. Ren and Nora exchanged a nervous look
"Other than my arm, a slight concussion and some cuts and bruises, I am doing fine. Nora broke her hand and a couple ribs taking that shot from the mech for me. They were actually planning to release us tomorrow."
"That brings up a good question..whats the plan for you, Jaune?" Nora asked gently. Jaune, his anger faded let out a sigh.
"Im under observation for the next couple of days. If nothing else happens, they say my chances of getting out of here quick are good. Actually Ren..could you do me a favor? After you guys get out of here, check to see what happened to my gear. I want to know if I need a new sword and shield on top of needing a new hand," he said, glaring down at it. Ren winced at the bitter tone his friend took at the mention of his lost hand, but he nodded.
"Of course I will do that. Come on Nora, we should probably get back to our rooms before we get thrown out of here." Nora nodded and leaned forward, giving Jaune a hug, much gentler than the ones he was used to from her.
"Im glad your okay, Jaune." They left and Jaune let out a sigh.
"But I'm not…and I doubt I ever will be again," he mumbled.
-Patch-
Ruby groaned softly as she felt her eyes slowly starting to open. When they did, she found she was staring at the ceiling of her room in Patch. Wincing a bit from the aches that ran through her body, she sat up and looked around, seeing she was alone. As she processed how she could have gotten here, the door opened and a gasp could be heard from the other side. "Ruby!" Ruby looked over and couldn't help the grin that broke out across her face.
"Weiss!" Weiss walked in and hugged Ruby, a gesture Ruby returned almost instantly, ignoring her sore body protesting.
"You had us all worried sick, you big dolt," she said before flicking her forehead. Ruby pouted and rubbed the spot as Weiss pulled away.
"Im not even awake for an hour and your already flicking me. Mean." Weiss rolled her eyes and the two laughed. Ruby's laughter died however when she realized if she was back home, the battle must have been over. That meant.."Wait a second..Yang! What about Pyrrha and Jaune?!" Weiss' eyes widened and she shushed Ruby, keeping her from standing. Ruby's breathing began to quicken as she tried to regardless. "Let me go! We have –"
"Shhh…Ruby-Ruby! Look at me okay? Everyone is fine. Everyone is alive and recovering. Calm. Down." She said firmly, Ruby stared at her for a moment before nodding and breathing in deeply to quiet her panic a bit.
"Sorry it..It's just.. I saw Jaune. Before I passed out..He..Weiss he was.. I.." her eyes watered a bit and Weiss looked at her sadly.
"Wait here. Im going to get your father, okay?" Ruby nodded again, tucking her legs in to her rest her chin on her knees. Weiss made her way down the steps quickly to where Raven and Tai were. "Mr Xiao-I mean Tai! Raven! Ruby's awake!" She said as quick as she could. A look of shock flickered across both their faces for an instant before they both stood and followed her upstairs quickly. Ruby had tears running down her face when they got there, both of them going to comfort her.
Tai sat on one side of the bed, hugging Ruby while she cried while Raven sat on the other side, one of her hands on Ruby's shoulder. "Ruby.. shh…it's okay sweetheart. Were here," Tai whispered. Ruby's shoulders were shaking as she took in gulps of air, trying to calm herself but failing.
"I-If I had just been faster Jaune wouldn't have-oh gods…" she sobbed.
"You can't blame yourself. You did everything you could and we are proud of you," Raven said squeezing her shoulder. Weiss sat there, feeling helpless. It just didn't feel right seeing Ruby so torn up about this, but she knew there was nothing she could say right now that would do any better than her parents were saying. After a few minutes longer, Ruby had calmed down enough to talk, though she was still trembling a bit.
"What exactly happened, Ruby? Do you remember anything?" Tai asked gently.
"I..I got to the top of the tower and I saw Pyrrha and Jaune..and Cinder" she said, her fingers curling around the blanket tightly. "Then everything went white..and then nothing until I woke up here." Raven and Tai exchanged a look before looking back to Ruby.
"Anything else?" Raven asked
"I remember..my head hurting really bad when everything went white but..nothing else. Im sorry.." Tai kissed the top of her head.
"You've told us plenty, kiddo. You get some rest alright?" Raven nodded and gently ruffled her hair
"I'll be back to check on you later alright? Give your father a break from nurse detail," she said smiling when Ruby let out a giggle. They stood and Tai motioned for Weiss to follow them out. Once the door was shut, Raven turned to her. "You think you could do us a favor, Weiss?"
"Certainly. What is it?" Raven sighed angrily
"Well my good for nothing brother was with your sister last time I saw him, and he isn't answering my calls. Could you have your sister send him back when their done with..whatever mission Ironwood sent them on?"
Weiss nodded and smiled a bit. "Certainly. Whatever I can do to help. But I have to ask..is this involving Ruby and what she said?" Tai sighed and nodded. "Then I'll get right on it," she said.
"Thanks Weiss..we really appreciate it," Raven said. Weiss nodded and the two of them went back downstairs. The door at the end of the hall opened and Yang peeked her head out.
"What's all the fussing about?" She said sleepily. Weiss rolled her eyes and waved her over then turned to the other end of the hall.
"Pyrrha! Could you come here for a moment please?" It took a moment, but eventually Pyrrha made her way to them, a noticeable limp still plaguing her.
"Yes?" She asked
"Ruby's awake. And Im pretty sure she could use us right now," Weiss said. Yang's eyes widened a bit but nodded. Pyrrha looked unsure, but after a moment of thought she sighed then nodded herself.
"Is she okay?"
"Just…see for yourself," Weiss said softly as she opened the door and walked in with them.
Hope you folks enjoyed this, and I shall see you next time.
