Jorge woke up feeling warm. He was in a hospital bed that he guessed was the Beacon Infirmary. To his right, he felt someone sleeping and when he looked he saw Pyrrha. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. A slight smile stretched over her face as she nuzzled into Jorge's chest.
Seeing her gave him a different kind of warmth that started in his chest and spread outward. He wasn't sure but he was relatively certain that this what true love felt like. It was the only explanation
He looked around and saw that he saw hooked up to a few of the machines in the room which made sense to him. After all, he knew that he was pushing himself to his limit with the siege, even as he thought about the siege his mind froze.
He was confused, Pyrrha died on the first day of the siege, didn't she. After he kept thinking he remembered that he had probably pushed himself too hard and as a result, he passed out. Then he must have had a nightmare that Pyrrha had died since she was clearly alive. He could feel her chest moving as she breathed.
He settled on the fact that she was alive and to be sure he leaned down and planted a kiss on the top of her head. She seemed to be stirred by the show of affection because she moved a little and then looked up at him.
"Morning," he said as she slowly shook the sleep from her eyes. "How did you sleep?" he asked her.
"I would have slept better if I wasn't so worried about a certain someone pushing themselves too far and getting hurt a result," she said it was clear that she meant him but she also knew that something was already bothering him. "What's wrong, you seem a little tense?"
He shook his head smiling he held her tightly and said, "nothing, I was just a little confused."
Pyrrha leaned forward and gently pressed her lips against his own. "How about now," she asked.
Jorge smiled and kissed her back before saying. "A little better but I could use a few more of those."
Pyrrha smiled and sat up from the hospital bed. Jorge saw her go into the attached restroom so he took a moment to sit up and think. He was sore all over but that was to be expected. He sat on the edge of the bed and thought about the past, the present, and finally their future.
Pyrrha stepped out of the bathroom when she saw Jorge facing away from her while he sat on the edge of the bed. She see could by the way his shoulders were set that he was thinking. He didn't see her walk over to the bed, he didn't hear her climb onto the bed behind him. But he did feel when wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder.
"What are you thinking about sweetie?" she asked, the cinnamon toothpaste she had used still lingering on her breath.
"Do you really want to know?" Jorge said, still staring into the floor like it was a looking glass to the deepest wonders of the world.
"If I didn't then I wouldn't have asked now would I." she answered.
Jorge looked at her with a serious face before saying. "I'm thinking about you dressed in white, walking down the aisle with rice in your hair. I'm thinking about Ren standing at my left and Nora standing at your right. A small town preacher between us. I'm thinking about a small house in the countryside. You and me sleeping in on a Saturday morning only to be woken up by stampeding children. But mostly," Jorge said intertwining the fingers of his right hand with Pyrrha's. "I'm just thinking about YOU,"
Jorge saw that Pyrrha had tears in her eyes as with a shaky voice she asked him. "Did you really mean that?"
Closing his left hand around her right and turning to face her he said. "If I didn't then I wouldn't have said it. Pyrrha Nikos, will you marry me?"
Pyrrha threw herself into Jorge's arms as she screamed yes into his shoulder as she cried. He ran a hand through her hair. She leaned back before once more pressing her lips to his.
While she was doing so there was a soft crack that came from behind her. She stiffened up and when Jorge looked down he saw a spear of pure darkness had been run through her back and was sticking out of upper right side of her chest just under her collar bone. She was bleeding fast and Jorge could see the pain and fear in her eyes.
There was nothing he could do, Jorge knew that the moment he saw it wound but he had to try, he had to. But there was just so much blood, he saw the life fading from her eyes as she struggled to stay alive even if only for another moment of life. All at once due to the combination of blood loss and shock, she dropped dead in his arms.
Jorge's head shot up from the top of the bar he had been sleeping on. His arms were crossed and he had been using them as pillows. He looked around as saw where he was. It was Ninety-Nine's, where he had been pretty much living ever since the battle had ended. He tried to sleep at Beacon but he couldn't bring himself to.
The dreams where bad as it was. For the past five nights, he had been having the same dream. Every night he dreamed that he was with Pyrrha and that she was alive, that the past week and a half had just been a nightmare. Then every night he watched her die all over again. It was the worst kind of dream, it kept giving him some kind of hope that she was still here. Only to tear that hope from him.
The real nightmare began every time he woke up.
He could still see it feel the pain that ran through him.
"Oh, your up, you want a coffee?" it was the owner of the bar a guy named Cody Lawquane he and his three other brothers ran the place.
"Sure," Jorge said as he rubbed his head. He looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was about five thirty. He had slept for about an hour which was an improvement.
Soon a second brother Jorge thought was named Rex stepped out. That was the funny thing about the Lawquane's they were a set of Identical quadruplets. He had a tray with three cups of coffee. He gave one to his brother one to Jorge and the last one he took for himself.
The Lawquanes had been instrumental in saving the block that their bar was on. They had almost single-handedly rallied the civilians and police in the area. And then they lead them against the Grimm.
Jorge sipped his coffee as he checked his scroll. He had asked that anyone who was looking for him not be told where he was. Ever since he began to lead counter charges that pushed the Grimm back he had become something akin to a hero to the city. Not that he felt like one. He had helped turn the tide of the battle but that didn't matter. Pyrrha was just as dead either way. He had still failed her.
He had started to think back to the day that she died but stopped himself. He had to check his scroll. If anyone actually needed him there were a few people who had his number and knew where he was going to be.
His scroll had a message on it that read. "Your teammates are coming to find you. I told them where you are." Jorge had to do a double take when he read the message, how had Ren and Nora gotten here so fast. All available Bullheads where still in use patrolling the skies around Vale to warn of any counter attacks. He had sent three to aid the Fort but they were all shot down by the Grimm so he had instead offered to hire a mercenary group to go help them only to find that the vaunted Grimm Cuirassiers where already on their way to save the fort. They were days away but that was faster than anything Jorge could send to it would have to do.
Jorge checked the time that it was sent and saw that it was twenty minutes old. He had just enough time to put down his cup before the door was thrown open and Nora came running in and wrapped her arms around him. Jorge could tell by the fact that she was smiling that no one had told her about Pyrrha yet and he was glad. It needed to be him to tell her, they both deserved that much.
Nora let go of him and when she saw the way his face looked she could tell that there was something wrong, by now Ren had walked over from the doorway and he also waited for him to answer.
Jorge felt the tears pooling in his eyes and he felt a lump forming in his throat. He needed to say but he couldn't find the words. He felt the hot tears streaming down his face. And he could tell that they had a feeling something was wrong. A feeling that was only strengthened when Ren asked. "Jorge, Where is Pyrrha?"
Jorge had to look down unable to even meet their gaze. " she's… she's dead."
As he spoke he could hear Nora gasp and then he could hear her start to cry. H told himself that he was going to have to hold it together long enough to take care of his team but now he couldn't do a damn thing to help them. He saw Ren consoling Nora before the stoic monk looked up at Jorge.
His face was as always hard to read but Jorge had an idea. Ren was furious, one of his best friends is now dead because Jorge had failed to do HIS job. He could see the pain in Ren's eyes but there was something else. Was it pity, no Ren knew better. What was it?
Jorge had to look away once more. He was too ashamed to even maintain eye contact. Maybe one day he will be able to but not yet. For now, he would go back to wasting his life in a bar, that was at least an existence that helped to numb the pain.
Nora separated from Ren and started to walk to Jorge had sat at one of the stools she didn't want him trying to hold all of what he was feeling in. if he did then it would just poison him from the inside out.
She had almost reached him when the bartender who was cleaning a glass waved her off. He motioned for her follow him to the other end of the room and so they did. He leaned in and whispered. "I have seen men like him before, right now he has a lot of pain and anger brew in him, he is looking for something to let that anger out on. If you get too close he may lash out at you, me and my brothers are good at handling these sort of things, just leave him with us or a few days and come back."
Nora wasn't sure if she trusted this man but she didn't have much of a choice. He was right and the odds of getting Jorge to do something he didn't want to weren't too good.
Seeing that she was conflicted the bartender smiled slightly and said. "Don't worry ma'am my brothers and I were all soldiers, we know what he is feeling."
With some of her worries placated Nora headed back out of the bar with Ren before they got on Ren's bike and headed back to Beacon. When they arrived they saw the school was in good condition with the exception of Ozpin's office which looked like a bomb had gone off and blown the walls off.
They slowly made their way back to their room and saw Pyrrha's bed. When they realized that she was never going to sleep in that bed again Nora started to cry. She felt Ren wrap his arms around her from behind as he held her close. He was trying to be the stone cold emotionless man he pretended to be but Nora knew he was breaking. She could feel his tears dripping down onto her shoulder. They made their way over to Ren's bed and together crawled under the covers and after moving so that they were both comfortable they tried to get some sleep.
When they awoke they left the room to find that the halls were swarmed with students asking where Jorge was. Many of them had some manner of gift in their hands. Some wrapped some not, others just had a card.
Nora tried to get the crowd to calm down and speak one at a time. But they wouldn't settle down. When suddenly there was a thundering voice that yelled, "enough,"
The crowd fell silent and turned to see that the resident giant of team CFVY Yatsuhashi Daichi was standing at the back of the mob his team leader and the generic mom friend to all of the Beacon students Coco Adel stood beside him. "These two have just gotten here, I know that you all want to show your thanks to Jorge. I owe him one too but for now, we need to give them some room," she said with her hands in their usual place on her hips.
Her words seemed to have registered with students since they dispersed afterward all of them heading their own way. Coco approached them and said. "I take it you two don't know what happened here over the past two weeks.?"
Ren nodded as he snaked his arm around Nora's shoulders. The only thing that they knew for a fact was that Pyrrha had died.
"Alright let me fill you in on what happened," Coco said as he motioned for them to follow her. She lead them to her dorm where they ended up sitting at a table while Coco readied a kraft of coffee and Yatsuhashi almost grabbed five cups but remembered that he only needed four.
Once they were all situated at the table with a cup of coffee. Coco leaned slightly forward and said. " it all started twelve days ago when Jorge took command of the VPD."
I understand that this chapter may sting so don't be afraid to let it out in a review at me. I understand.