Epilogue (S875)

Blurry voices and noises clouded Azure as he stirred from his three-day slumber. The sheets he was lying in felt hot, but he couldn't bring his body to free himself of the infernal blankets. His eyes opened, but everything felt bright and fuzzy.

"He's waking up," came a muffled unfamiliar voice. "Get CAPR's lead. What are you waiting for? Get moving!"

CAPR? That's right, Beacon and all that fun stuff. But if this was Beacon, then where was he? This certainly didn't feel like his cozy dorm bed. Something itched at the back of his head, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

The glint of someone moving a metallic piece of medical equipment caught his eye, and the still-fresh image of the Deathstalker's stinger in his hip burst into his head.

S***!

Azure sat up and swept his right hand across the table next to him, searching for a weapon.

That was right - He'd been fighting a Deathstalker trying to make his way back to Rin. He took a stab to his leg, but… Then what? An incomplete abstraction in his mind told him that Celeste showed up at some point, but he couldn't recall where, when, or what happened after that.

"Easy there," came a doctor's voice. "Take a breathe. How're you feeling?"

Azure frantically scanned the room as if an attack were imminent. "Fine."

The doctor scribbled something on his clipboard, and then looked back up at him. "Can you move everything? Take it slowly."

Legs, arms…

That… Couldn't be right. While the rest of his memory might be a scrambled and incomprehensible mess, he was positive a gaping hole was left in his leg. It should've been impossible for it to feel as pristine as it did.

The same went for his left arm - It'd been completely disabled the last time he tried moving it. How did his twisted mess of an arm manage to restore itself? "Just… How long have I been asleep?

"Three days."

Azure responded with a blank frown. That explained why he felt so well-rested, but not his restored wounds. As far as he was concerned, his aura was nowhere near capable of this degree of healing.

Wait. Were they really his limbs? He kicked himself free of the sheets, and inspected himself.

No, those were definitely his. What sorcery was behind this?

"You can thank Optima for that," came Celeste through the door. "Courtesy of Team HOPE."

Rin followed her in with a relieved smile on her face. "Be grateful, they're good at what they do."

Azure slumped back in his bed, and sighed in relief. "Thought someone decided to rip off my broken limbs while I was sleeping and completely replace them for a second there."

Rin sat on the side of the bed next to him, and ran her hand up his left arm. "No, I'm sure it's still yours."

As much as Celeste wanted to say something, she felt that it might be better for her to leave. All she cared was that Azure finally woke up, and that everything was heading the right direction. Before she could turn to the door, Azure piped up.

"Well, Celeste, how're you holding up?"

It took her by surprise - Up to now, she'd felt as if there were some sort of invisible unspoken barrier blocking her from Rin and Azure whenever they were in presence of each other. "Uh, fine."

Azure raised an eyebrow and laughed. "You don't sound so sure."

"At least I didn't end up in a three-day coma like you did."

"What did your wounds look like anyways?" asked Rin. "You were up and about before I got a chance to see."

"BItes, cuts, scrapes. Nothing compared to what you and Azure got."

"Hmm… Running off on our own that time was probably a bad idea," sighed Azure.

Probably wasn't ever a good idea. They'd gotten blasted by the Elementas before, only to almost get killed this time around. Either he had to better himself, or he had to recruit someone as a failsafe in the event he was unable to return to Rin in time.

Whatever the case, he could not afford to let her die - Especially not at the hands of the Grimm. The thought of crushing the skull of a Nevermore passed by, and his muscles tensed. He already had one reason to seek vengeance against the Grimm, and he didn't need or want another.

Rin half-rolled her eyes. "It could've gone better."

"Anyways, it's good you're alright." Azure looked at the doctor. "Can I leave?"

The doctor looked at his clipboard and shrugged. "Go ahead."

Celeste smiled - It was a step in the right direction. She felt they probably weren't going to be head over heels for full cooperation, but at least the door to it was open. If things went well, they might even be able to reverse their commitment to the sparring tournament.

They found Picton in their dorm studying a textbook with a hand over his forehead. "Welcome back. Here, have a drink."

A flask and a clean cup suddenly dropped into Azure's hands. "What is it?"

"Just drink it. It's celebratory."

Rin raised an eyebrow. "Alcoholic?"

"Of course not. Next strongest thing though."

It was horribly bitter, and Azure had to resist his gag reflex. It was like drinking milk and old molasses together. "What the hell is this?"

"What, you don't like it? It's been helping my headache. Feels like that's the only thing Optima couldn't fix."

"Yeah, what happened to you?"

Picton clenched his other hand. "I don't even know anymore. It was more Grimm than I could count."

It was just like Picton was expecting - Direct combat wasn't his strong suit. Surveillance and monitoring were fine, but a brawl was too much. It was annoying how useless he felt in that situation. He'd signed up for a combat school, yet he still wasn't great at combat. He'd been trained in technical swordfighting which was more useful for killing people, not Grimm.

"You alright?" asked Azure.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it. Just hard to concentrate with a headache."

"Fair enough."

Something needed to change before their next fight. Azure and Rin's resistance to cooperation was certainly problematic, but a non-factor to his own inability to fight effectively on his own. Independence was valuable up to a point, and in his eyes a good teammate had to be able to defend him or herself if the situation demanded it.

But that was something he could worry about later. Right now he needed to work on recovering and catching up on assigned readings.

Even Picton's willingness to talk to everyone was a surprise to Celeste. For someone who almost always kept to himself, this was certainly more than she could've asked for. At last, her team was starting to function and feel like a team. There was still plenty of work to do, but there was progress.