For people living in the countryside, the warm morning sun beaming over the face is the first sign that it's time to start the day. Compared to the average city slicker, who relies on his alarm clock because the sun gets blocked by either thick drapes or tall buildings, most people outside the walls of Remnant's imposing urban centers don't really think twice when the first ray of sun hits. They sit up, yawn, stretch their arms and prepare for the days labors. They do it again the next day, and the next day, a constant routine only marred by the occasional festivity or the occasional Grimm raid.
Having lived on the Arc family estate most of his life, located in the rolling plains a day's drive from the nearest major city, he never really thought twice of how sunlight signaled the start of another day in the relatively uneventful life of Jaune Arc. He too would sit up, yawn, get bathed and dressed, have breakfast, and then proceed to whatever activity his family had in store for him. He too preferred not to use any alarms to wake him up, as he was used to getting up as early as the first light of dawn. Like everyone else, it was just another day to either enjoy or trudge through.
Today would different.
Maybe it was the melodic chirping of the birds. Maybe it was the gentle banter of familiar voices in the background. Perhaps the repetitive beeping of what sounds like a heart monitor. It could also be the overpowering smell of surgical disinfectant that permeated through his nostrils. Whatever it was, it contributed to the gentle feeling of warmth on his face and in his heart like, finally, everything was going to be okay. Like all of his suffering was over. Like he was dead and he was in heaven.
And then he remembered his own screams trying to keep his best friend awake. The vivid memory of breathing slowly and quietly ceasing. A voice full of regret trailing off into silence. No, he refuses to accept heaven when he had just been forced to witness an atrocity beyond belief.
He slowly opened his eyes.
"… Jaune."
Looking to his left as he reacted to the voice, he saw tears forming in the tired-looking eyes of a familiar redhead haphazardly dressed in wrinkled pajamas. Behind her was a young lady of snow white hair also dressed in pajamas, slumped over a table by the window, sleeping soundly. He could hear familiar voices to his right, likely behind a door or wall he couldn't see. The voice of a stern but obviously caring old man and the loud and boisterous voice of a young lady.
"Jaune!"
The redhead immediately hugged him on the bed. Her excitedly ecstatic scream echoed in the room and the halls outside. The white haired girl sprung up from her chair in an instant and clamored over to his bed. A man with a cane and a girl with yellow hair quickly rushed into the room, with the girl nearly toppling over the man in the process. They all hovered over him like vultures; though he believed he was far from being a carcass. He regained his bearings and finally realized what was happening around him.
"I'm… alive… right? Probably?"
"You… you doofus!"
Pyrrha obviously said those words in jest, laughing and crying at the same time as she finally let go of him. She wiped away the tears as Weiss looked over him with a look of relative indifference. A look that he knew was just a façade, considering just how much of a worrywart she tended to be, in his best friend's own words. Ozpin and Yang looked over him as well with smiles on their faces, eagerly anticipating an update. Doctors and nurses followed suit behind the two, in order to check on him. Within minutes they told Ozpin that his vital signs were stable, but having just regained consciousness, it would be best to give him as much bed rest.
"You had us worried there Mr. Arc. Surviving 7 days down in tunnels older than anyone alive is quite a feat, though no one in Beacon was surprised that you did. No one gave up hope the entire time we searched for you."
"… Seven days? What happened… that took you that long?"
Taking a seat as everyone else began to calm down, the headmaster recounted the huge rescue effort initiated by the student body. Apparently the back half of the decoupled train went down a track that looped back to a loading station close to where the train originated. The members of RWBY and JNPR managed to subdue the remaining White Fang and were in the process of reporting in when they felt the ground shake as an explosion echoed through the tunnels.
"Your teammates encountered piles of rubble down the tunnels. No one knew exactly where you were since you got separated. We were still in the process of digging for the maps in the old records building when they reported the explosion."
Within an hour a fourth of the student body was en route with Beacon rescue crews and as much heavy machinery as they could get their hands on. They knew exactly what was happening and what was at stake. Ozpin immediately organized the rescue, with almost a hundred students working in tandem with the rescue teams digging through the collapsed tunnels 24/7.
"Heh. You should have seen how serious everyone was during the entire operation."
Pyrrha recounted how, minutes into the start of the rescue operation, Weiss was screaming on the phone calling just about everyone in the Schnee Company demanding they send as much men and material as they could. How Blake was, every night, standing in front of each newly hit wall of rubble and using her increased hearing sensitivity trying to map the tunnels in her mind to help guide the rescue. How, whenever the machines broke down, Yang would just load up her gauntlets and just punch down the debris with pure abandon.
"It's just as well. Two days into the rescue a giant Schnee company drill came in which really sped up the process. Yang herself did as much work as two regular drills. Without Blake's attempt to track down the tunnel, we probably would never have picked up your SOS signal."
Jaune looked up at Weiss, who had a slight scowl on her face. Unlike the usual Weiss, her make-up was a mess and her eye bags were almost at her cheeks. For what it's worth, this was a girl who clearly was up and worried for days. Pyrrha left the room to speak with her team mates who has just arrived as Ozpin finished speaking to the attending physician.
"We were we found you when we did. If not for your training and your aura, well, both of you'd never have survived beyond 4 days at most. You were already massively dehydrated as it is, a few more hours and we'd have carried you both out in body bags..."
Both. Ozpin used that word. Twice. It run in his ears as he still tried to make sense of their rescue. The last thing he remembered was screaming his lungs out, almost in vain, begging and pleading that his best friend stay awake. Begging and pleading for her to keep the hope in her heart alive. The hope that rescue would come, for both of them. That they'd both see the rising sun again. That they'd both be eating freshly baked cookies atop Vale's tallest lighthouse.
And then it hit him.
"Both... Both! Is she-"
"Yes... Yes she is but..."
A now sullen looking Weiss got up from her chair. She walked up the the right side of Jean's bed, to where Jean heard the heart monitor. Weiss pulled back the blinds as Jaune stared at the sight before him. All he could really see from his side was a body wrapped in more gauze and bandages than he had ever seen before.
"I called in as many favors as I could. She was... She was pretty banged up when we found her. The doctors tried but... Vale's best trauma surgeon was on vacation. I managed to get him flown back here on my father's jet just in time."
Jaune sat up on his bed and looked at the young girl lying on the bed beside him. She was wearing a face mask attached to an oxygen tank with countless stitches and bandages on her head. A gastric tube was protruding from her nose . On her right arm were 3 intravenous lines with a blood transfusion running. Her left arm was in a cast and sling suspended by weights on her side. Through her hospital gown were countless wires snaking above her, attached to her heart monitor. On her right abdomen were layers of gauze dressing soaked in yellowish red secretions, which were in need of changing, with metallic surgical clips protruding from the side. She was unconscious and, to Jaune, looked absolutely terrible.
But she was alive. The doctor detailed the laundry list of findings they had when she came in.
"Surgery took 12 hours. The scans showed she had a hemorrhagic contusion in her brain. She had fractures in her skull and left femur. Inside the operating room the surgeon found that she had a lacerated liver and right kidney with lots of internal bleeding. He had to remove half of her right kidney because they were too damaged to work any more."
"Like Ozpin said... The average person would have been dead with these injuries. But, of course, she's not your average person..."
Weiss leaned herself back onto Jaune's bed, holding her head.
"Ms. Weiss! You have been up for 3 days already! Push yourself more and you'll be the one next on a bed inside this room. Just let her body do the rest... "
"I know I know doctor. It's just a matter of time. Jaune... Watch over her okay?"
The exhausted Weiss stumbled out of the room, assisted by Pyrrha. Ozpin opened the door and instructed Pyrrha to take her back to her room. Jaune could see Yang and Blake standing outside, taling to each other.
"Now, Mr. Arc, I should myself bid you farewell and let the two of you speak. There's still the fallout of this entire incident the school as to deal with, though that is nothing you should worry about at this point. Just get some rest, both of you. We'll be back later."
"I understand. Thank you... Headmaster."
As he left the room, Ozpin gestured towards Yang and Blake who nodded their heads. Yang stole a peek in the room before she and Blake followed Ozpin.
"She's fine... That's all that matters..."
With everyone gone, the room fell silent save for the occasional beep of the monitors. Jaune sat up on his bed and, after making sure he could hear no one outside, stood from his bed. He felt his legs give way and fell to his knees beside his bed. Mustering up all his strength, he pulled himself up and wobbily approached the window. He pulled back the drapes as more sun engulfed the room.
Sunlight. He admitted to himself that a part of him never thought he'd see this again. The clock showed that it was 10am in the morning, and with the sun not yet that high over the horizon he surmised that their room faced east. He could see countless cars in the road below, their honking likely blocked by soundproof glass. He basked in the sunlight before going back to his bed. On his bedside table was a plate of blueberry cookies. He could tell from the smell it came from that bakery. He'd have to thank Nora and Ren for it since they're the ones who introduced him to that bakery and most definitely brought the cookies. He leaned back and looked at his friend, tubes and bandages and all, soundly sleeping on her bed.
Jaune took the plate and placed it on her bedside table. He took a chair and sat beside her, thinking of just how bad she looked and... If she'd ever wake up.
"Well... It looks like you're going to be here a while huh. You'll... Probably be shocked when you see all these tubes and wires coming out of you."
Jaune laughed under his breath.
"I'm guessing you've never been hospitalized before. This will all definitely be new to you when you wake up. Knowing you... Hearing everything about you for those seven days... I know it's going to be all right. Everything will be all right."
Jaune took a knee and knelt beside her bed.
"You'll be all right. You're a survivor. Most of all... A survivor with a smile. You've never... Never let all the crap the world throws at you get you down. I used to think you were blessed... That the world handed everything to you on a silver platter. But... After hearing everything you've been through... You're probably one of the most hard working people I've ever seen."
He sat back up and looked at the cookies at her bedside.
"I don't know when you'll get out of here. It's going to be a while, I can tell. I don't know... When I can take you there to that bakery and to that lighthouse but... For the time being... I guess this will have to do. Ren and Nora brought some cookies from that bakery and this room has a nice view of the city. It... It will have to do... Until you get better. But i promise you... When you finally get out of here... I'll take there... That very same day."
He placed his forehead on her hand.
"So get better quick... Okay?"
He placed it there for a few minutes in silence before deciding to get back on his bed. Getting up he felt a slight tug on his hand as he tried to pull away. He looked at the hand grasping his own, not wanting to let go. It was a weak yet powerful grasp. Neither of them wanted to let go. He looked at her face. He eyes were barely open, struggling through the mask and the tubes. She turned here eyes towards him.
"Hey... Ruby"
"Hey... Jaune."
