Disclaimer: Rooster Teeth owns RWBY, not me.
Jaune groaned softly as he woke up in a dark room, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings he found himself in once his oddly limited vision had adjusted to the lack of light. He was laying in a soft bed with cream coloured sheets and a rather comfy pillow. The walls were constructed of vertical wooden planks and gave the room a homely feel to it. Turning his head to the left, he looked out the one window in the room and noted that the sun had not yet risen. He could barely make out a heavy forest in the pre-dawn darkness which meant that wherever he was, he was not in Vale or Beacon. There was also a small end table with a lamp and the broken hilt of Crocea Mors on it. Turning his head to the right, he saw a seated figure dozing at his bedside although a combination of the figure's drooped head as well as the darkness made it impossible to identify them, although he noticed an empty bed behind them.
Acutely aware of his need to relieve his bladder, he moved to get up and find a bathroom. He gave another groan, much louder and filled with pain, as his body shrieked in protest of the sudden movements. The noise was enough to rouse the figure at his bedside but instead of the startled awakening that most people would experience, the figure calmly opened their eyes and regarded Jaune with pink orbs. A hand was placed over his chest, gently yet firmly keeping him in bed as Lie Ren gave him a look of concern.
"Easy there Jaune, you're in no shape to be walking on your own. You need to rest up and let your Aura heal you."
"Ren, I need to find a bathroom fairly soon or things are going to get messy."
Jaune barely recognized the thin, scratchy voice as his own, however long he had been out had rendered his voice hoarse and faint. Ren gave a brief sigh before making his way around the bed, snatching up a pair of crutches on the way. He helped Jaune get into a sitting position on the side of the bed before placing Jaune's right arm around the back of Ren's neck. With Ren's support, he hopped his way down the hallway before they stopped at one door out of many in the corridor. Accepting the crutches from Ren, he made his way into the bathroom before sitting down heavily on the toilet, exhausted by the short trip.
After he quickly relieved his bladder and getting to his feet with difficulty, Jaune made his way to the sink. Unable to find the soap in the dark room, he reached over and flicked on the light before turning back to wash his hands. A badly beaten and ragged looking figure stared back at him from the mirror over the sink. His right leg was held in a fairly sturdy splint that was kept in place by a swathe of bandages. Bandages also were wrapped around his torso, throat and upper arms, while the skin that was left bare was covered in fading burns, bruises and a mesh of thin, pale lines. His face was haggard and worn with bandages wrapped around the crown of his head before descending across his left eye to meet with the bandages around his throat.
Ren helped him sit on the edge of the bed before retaking his position in the chair, the only difference being which side of the bed the chair was on. Behind Ren, the sun had started rising and light began to slowly stream through the window. The black-haired boy regarded Jaune with a look of concern, before lightly smirking and leaning back in his chair with folded arms.
"I take it from the look on your face that you have a few questions?"
Jaune nodded slowly, doing his best not too aggravate his injuries any further. While he felt like he had been put through the ringer, he hadn't expected it to be as bad as what he saw in the mirror.
"You got that right, Ren. First of all, where are we?"
"Right now, we're staying on the island of Patch at the house of Taiyang Xiao Long. He's Ruby and Yang's father, in case you didn't know."
Jaune knew enough about geography to know that Patch was off the coast of Vale, which meant that the city was probably still unsafe for people to stay in. Brief images of Beacon Tower flashed through his head as he recalled his fight with Cinder while hordes of Grimm swarmed Pyrrha. His eye widened, he didn't know what happened to Pyrrha or anyone else after he passed out.
"Did everyone make it out of Beacon?"
Ren closed his eyes briefly and grimaced, clearly uncomfortable with the subject. Jaune's stomach dropped, if it was bad enough to shake Ren then it had to be fairly bad
"Honestly, JNPR made it out of the Fall in much better shape than many would expect. You're definitely in the worst shape out of all of us."
"What about team RWBY?"
A sigh escaped from Ren's lips as he grimaced further. He stared at the floor for a while before lifting his head and meeting Jaune's eyes.
"While it's not my place to talk about them, I will say that they're worse off than we are but they are all alive."
Jaune stared blankly at his hands, still somewhat raw from the burns he received in the fight with Cinder. He sighed, processing what had been said before lifting his head and looking over at Ren, who was staring out the window at the forest. It must have been really bad if the most stoic and composed member of his team flat out refused to discuss it.
"Alright Ren, final questions: how long was I out, how bad are my injuries and where is Crocea Mors?"
"Ruby's uncle Qrow was the one to find both you and Ruby at Beacon. That was five days ago and while he was able to get you to safety, he wasn't able to retrieve your weapon except for the broken hilt due to the encroaching Grimm. As far as we know, the shield half of Crocea Mors is still in the remains of Beacon Tower as well as the top half of the blade. The hilt is sitting on the table next to you."
Ren stood from his chair and retrieved his Scroll from his pocket, checking the time before facing Jaune again. Jaune felt his stomach drop further, if he had been unconscious for five days, then he must have been injured pretty badly.
"As for your injuries, when we got you to Patch you had burns and lacerations covering more than eighty percent of your body. Your right leg was broken in four places and should be healed within a day or two to where you don't need crutches. You had broken or cracked all of your ribs, those have healed pretty much completely..."
His teammates words drifted off into an uncomfortable silence as Ren awkwardly looked at Jaune's face, not quite meeting his gaze. Jaune brought a hand up and gestured towards the bandaged side of his face, imploring his teammate to continue.
"And this? What's with all the bandages across my face?"
"Your face had been cut to the bone which also blinded that eye, Jaune. I'm sorry to be abrupt but I need to go make breakfast now, perhaps you should rest."
Jaune grabbed his crutches and forced himself to stand, shaking slightly from the exertion but refusing to relent.
"I'm not going to be stuck in this room any longer. If I rest, I'm going to do it somewhere where I can interact with other people."
"Fine, but you should put some clothes on first."
Looking down, Jaune realized he was clad in nothing more than a pair of boxers. Glancing back up at Ren sheepishly, he gestured vaguely.
"Okay, where are my clothes?"
"Your armor was shattered and most of your clothes were burned or ripped to tatters. Thankfully, Taiyang mentioned that he had some old clothes in that dresser over there."
Hopping over to the dresser, Jaune pulled out the first clothes that came to hand. Awkwardly and painfully, he dressed himself in a pair of beige cargo pants along with a pale yellow shirt. He slowly made his way down the hall and managed to descend the stairs into the living room with Ren's assistance. Jaune sat down heavily on the green sofa while Ren headed into the kitchen before returning with a tall glass of water for Jaune, who took it gratefully as his teammate returned to his domain. Letting the clatter of pans and faint humming emanating from the kitchen fill the background, he began reflecting on what he had found out.
According to Ren, I'm the most injured from our team and RWBY is bad enough that he won't even discuss it. Beacon's fallen, Crocea Mors is broken and missing and I'm blind in one eye. What the hell am I supposed to do now? I can't exactly lead a team while half blind and weaponless.
The sound of footsteps roused him from his thoughts as a tall, blonde man made his way down the stairs and into the living room where Jaune was. He had dark blue eyes that held a level of experience and wisdom surpassed only by his instructors at Beacon. He wore brown cargo shorts, a tan shirt with a sleeve cut off and a vest over the top of it along with a metal spaulder on his right shoulder plus a leather vambrace and glove. He had a patch of facial hair on his chin and part of his hair tufted straight up in a way that was familiar. It took Jaune's brain a couple seconds to make the connection that the reason that he looked familiar was that he shared features with both Yang and Ruby, which meant that he had to have been Taiyang.
Taiyang stopped walking once he stepped off the stairs and noticed that Jaune was sitting on the sofa, but if he was surprised at all he hid it well under a warm smile.
"It's good to see you up and about Jaune. I'm sure the rest of your team will be glad to hear that you're awake."
Jaune took another drink of water to ease the scratchiness of his voice before replying to the man in front of him.
"Thank you for giving us all a place to stay after the Fall, Mr. Xiao Long. This house must be pretty cramped with six extra people here."
He noticed a minute change in Taiyang's expression but was distracted by Ren making another appearance from the kitchen with a steaming mug of coffee which he wordlessly handed to the father. The blonde man uttered a brief thanks as Ren went back to making breakfast before turning back to Jaune. The smile was back but it lacked some of the warmth of the previous expression, betraying the unease in his eyes.
"Please, call me Tai. And finding room wasn't hard, you and Ren had the guest bedroom while your partners bunked with Ruby..."
The way he trailed off slightly before sipping his coffee gave Jaune the impression that there was more to be said.
"What about Weiss and Blake?"
Taiyang's smile dropped fully from his face and he let out a short sigh before a pair of dark blue eyes met a single azure one.
"Weiss' father took her back to Atlas a few days after the Fall and Blake... she disappeared in the Fall and was last seen running into the streets of Vale by one of the students from Haven after making sure that Yang was safe."
While Jaune was taken aback by the revelation, a small part of his brain noted that it was somewhat to be expected. After all, Weiss was the heiress to Remnant's leading Dust supplier and Blake had already shown a tendency to run, if her reaction to her Faunus heritage being discovered was any indication.
"What about Ruby and Yang?"
He drained the last of the coffee and glanced up the stairs for a couple seconds before turning back to the boy in front of him. He clasped his hands in front of him and rested his chin on his thumbs before responding.
"Ruby appears to be fine physically, however she still hasn't woken up yet and it's been almost a week so we think it's hopefully just exhaustion on her part and nothing worse. However, much like you, Yang went up against somebody far stronger than herself and paid a high price for it."
"Her eye?"
"Her arm."
If Jaune had been taken aback by the news about Weiss and Blake, he was stunned to learn about what happened to Yang and Ruby. He was greatly concerned about Ruby's condition as he viewed the young reaper like a younger sister but for Yang to lose an arm, especially given her fighting style. He feared that it may not be a loss that the upbeat brawler could recover from.
Thankfully, the awkward silence between himself and Taiyang was interrupted by the smell of the heaping pile of pancakes that Ren brought out onto the dining room table, along with syrup, bacon, scrambled eggs and a bowl of assorted fruits. Raising one hand with all fingers extended and the other stretched out to block the entrance of the room, he watched the bottom of the stairs with a slight smirk before lowering his fingers one at a time.
Five...
Four...
Three...
Two...
One...
As the last finger curled into his palm, a pink and orange blur tore through the living room and stopped in front of Ren's outstretched arm. Nora did her best to get around her partner and at the tasty pancakes as he stared down at her in amusement.
"Hey Nora."
She spun around, wide-eyed at the sight of her leader sitting on the couch before her usual grin reappeared as she enveloped him in a massive hug. Jaune supposed she had taken note of his injuries as this hug was only moderately bone-crushing compared to the usual. He sat back down heavily as he attempted to regain the air that had been forcefully squeezed out of him by the bubbly girl while she proceeded to unleash a torrent of words that surpassed Ruby's Semblance.
"JAUNE! You're okay! What happened? Did you fight a sloth? You know you shouldn't fight sloths silly, only Ren can deal with them since he's pretty much a sloth already. But you're awake! Pyrrha's going to be so happy when she hears about it. You need to eat pancakes, they always make me feel better so they're sure to help you..."
As much as he found comfort in listening to the bomber's motor mouth, he tuned her out with practiced ease as the sound of measured footfalls descending the stairs met his ears. He turned his gaze from the orange-haired girl in front of him to see the graceful form of his partner. She looked to be completely recovered from whatever number of Grimm she had to deal with while he was in Beacon Tower, her skin was a flawless as ever as was her dark red hair. She stopped in her tracks with a quiet gasp when she saw his bandaged form seated on the couch as his single eye met her emerald ones...
...filled with absolute guilt and anguish.
I don't really have much to say on this chapter except that any and all flames or salt in the reviews or PMs will be used to make burgers and fries.
I also noticed that a couple lines were unintentionally omitted from last chapter so I went back and fixed that.
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See you next chapter!