Team RWBY were in Beacon's Infirmary, sitting around one bed in particular. Jaune was laying in this bed, breathing deeply. After Jaune was shot, all of them had to pump as much of their aura into him to slow down the bleeding enough to get him to Beacon. Afterwards, it took the doctors hours to operate on him, two blood transfusions and three aura transfusions were used before he finally stabilized. These girls never left for a moment. While he was being operated on, they were in the waiting room and ever since he was moved to this bed, this is where they were. They all knew he'd be fine but seeing him in this condition made them all worried.
He was wearing a gown but they could clearly see the bandages wrapped from his fingers to halfway up his upper arms, more bandages were wrapped tightly around his upper chest. Jaune had severe burns up his arms, along with three cracked ribs from the punch he got from the Paladin. Not to mention the gunshot wound. They all somewhat blamed themselves for what happened to him and none of them wanted to think what could've happened if he didn't come with them. Ruby had been crying the entire time she was there, seeing her best friend in this condition was too much for her. The other three girls were trying their best to help her but were still just as hurt. Weiss was trying to hide her pain but she couldn't imagine what she'd do without him. He'd quickly turned to someone she trusted and cared for so much. Yang was trying to be strong for her sister but she was so scared. Having Jaune confess to her made her so happy, even if the rest of that conversation was shocking. Thinking of him not being the way he was before was too much. Blake was probably the most concerned out of the four. Here was the man she had fallen for and had loved more than any other before or ever thought possible. What was she supposed to do when he was this hurt? She was wearing the hoodie she had given him, refusing to take it off until she knew he was okay.
The rest of his team showed up not long after Jaune was brought in. Pyrrha was worried sick and livid at RWBY, while Nora was just as worried and was close to tears on a few occasions. Ren was worried but kept himself busy by trying to comfort his teammates. After knowing Jaune would be okay, they decided to return his weapons and armor to his locker for him. Jaune wasn't going to be able to fight for quite some time. Also, Ren thought it'd be best to get Pyrrha away from RWBY for a bit before she did something she would regret.
Weiss and the others also convinced Ruby to go with Weiss to the cafeteria to get something to eat. None of them had eaten since the day before. This left Blake and Yang alone with him. Blake was just looking at his face while gently stroking his hair. Yang was looking at the two and couldn't help smiling. "So, you and Jaune, huh?"
Blake froze for a second before she continued stroking his hair, "He told you?"
"Yeah. Right before everything happened." She said as she remembered what happened less than a day ago.
"How much did he tell you?" Blake asked, wanting to know how much she could talk about.
"Just that he loves me and you. Along with Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha. That you two are together and that you're okay with him being with us as well."
Blake chuckled weakly, "That pretty much covers it."
"I'm still kinda shocked that you'd be okay with sharing him. You could have him to yourself."
"Yeah. I could but I see the way he looks at the rest of you and it's the same way he looks at me." She had a small smile. "He genuinely loves all of us. Not because of social status or physical appearance but because of who we are. Besides, I know you all feel the same and I don't want to be happy if it just makes my closest friends hurt. We agree on that."
Yang at this point had her hair over her shoulder and was playing with it nervously, "So, if I were to accept his offer…. you wouldn't be mad?"
Blake stopped and looked at Yang. She just smiled a bit. "Not as long you respect the fact that him and I are also a couple."
Yang smiled slightly, "This sounded crazy last night. Hell, it's still crazy." She looked at Jaune, "But after everything, I just wanna be with him. To show him how much I love him and see just how much he loves me."
"Trust me. It's amazing." Blake said, smiling down at her boyfriend.
Yang gave a teasing smile, "So, what have you two been doing in secret?"
Blake blushed slightly, "Nothing like that. We usual find somewhere quiet and private to read." She started smiling, "He'll hold me close to him so I can listen to his heartbeat and feel his warmth. I'll remove my bow and he'll gently scratch my ears and I'll feel like I'm in heaven." She blushed a deeper shade. "Once or twice, he's kissed my ears and it makes me feel so happy." She sighed happily.
Yang was listening the entire time with a smile, "Sounds amazing. What about the kissing?" she added teasingly.
Blake just grinned at her, "You have no idea. When he kisses me, I can clearly feel how much he cares for me. And before you ask, yes we've made out a few times. Again, I can just feel how much he loves me. Plus, he makes me feel like I just want to live in those moments forever."
"That good, huh?" She looked at Jaune with a smile before turning to Blake, "With all of that, how are you not gonna be jealous if you see him kissing me or one of the others?"
Blake thought about it for a while, "I think, I'll be jealous at first. But I'll just have to remind myself that he loves me just as much."
"That's mature of you." They were quiet for a while. "This is still crazy." Yang said trying not to laugh.
Blake just nodded, "Yes it is but I think it'll be fine."
Jaune was surrounded by darkness. He couldn't see or hear but he could feel how cold he was. "Where am I? What happened?" He was just floating in this abyss, not sure of anything. Soon he started to hear voices, two of them. They sounded so familiar but he couldn't place them. He tried to focus on them and soon he could feel warmth and something soft around him. The voices started to get louder and he recognized them as Blake's and Yang's. He tried to get to them anyway he could, the darkness soon started to fade.
Jaune's eyes slowly opened to look up at the infirmary's ceiling, again. He groaned, "How the hell did I end up here?" he said in a raspy voice.
Before he knew it, he heard two people shouting. "Jaune!" Then he felt something on his lips. He looked to see Blake kissing him with small tears. He soon closed his eyes and returned it. Soon they pulled apart. "Wow. What'd I do to deserve that, Kitten?" he asked.
She just wiped her tears away and smiled, "Just being you."
He smiled and soon was wrapped in a hug. He saw blonde hair and knew it was Yang, "It's good to know you're okay." She said with a slightly shaky voice.
His smile grew a bit and he wrapped his arms around her. "Thank you, Sun Fire." She soon pulled away and gave him a look he's rarely seen but he got distracted when he saw his arms. He held them out in front of him, "What happened?" he asked.
Yang and Blake exchange looks before Blake spoke, "You don't remember last night?"
"Last night?" he asked before the memories from night before flooded into his head. "Right. I took a bullet, didn't I?" He started to sit up before hissed in pain and his hand gripped his chest. Blake and Yang were by his side trying to help him but he held up his hand, "I'm okay. Just need to take it slower." He sat up slowly. "So, how bad was I?"
"The doctors had to operate on you for a few hours. You needed two blood transfusions and three aura transfusions. You have severe burns on your arms, three cracked ribs and the bullet wound. They said it'll be a while before you're okay." Blake told him.
Jaune thought about it, "That makes sense. The burns should be gone in a day or so. But with my aura, my ribs and bullet wound might only take a week or so." He soon remembered something, "The White Fang member, did I...?"
Yang looked away slightly and Blake just looked down slightly, "Yes." She said sadly.
Jaune closed his eyes and placed a hand over them. He took a deep breath before he exhaled. "Thought so." He took his hand away. "There really wasn't a way around it and if I didn't, things coulda gotten worse." He looked up at the ceiling again.
Before the conversation could continue, the door opened to reveal Ruby and Weiss. They just stared at Jaune until Ruby squealed and used her Semblance to get to his bed. She stopped just shy of the bed and looked like she was restraining herself. Jaune smiled when he figured out what was going on. "What are you doing?"
"What?" she asked as she tilted her head slightly.
"I'm in the infirmary and I don't get a hug? That's just wrong."
"You sure, Jaune? I don't wanna hurt you." She said, barley containing herself.
"I'm a big boy. I can handle it." He held open his arms to her, "Now give me a hug, Rosebud."
Without further ado, Ruby hugged Jaune and buried her face into his shoulder, "I'm so glad you're okay!" She said. Jaune just smiled wider and retuned her hug. When the broke apart, Weiss was already by his bed with a small smile.
"Hey." He said with a smile. She smiled more and leaned down to hug him gently. Jaune was shocked by this but soon wrapped one of his arms around her. "Thank you, Snow Angel."
She pulled back a bit, "You deserve more than a hug for what you did last night." She gently kissed him on the cheek before she stepped back with a blush. "So, thank you, Jaune."
Everyone was shocked because of that. Soon Jaune smiled at her, "Anytime." He said this while fiddling with the bandages on his arms.
"How did you get those burns with your aura still intact?" Weiss asked, noticing what he was doing.
"My aura caused it. Lava's Elemental Feedback burns my skin from the intense heat. The longer I use it, the worse and further they spread. These aren't the worse I've gotten, so my aura should be able to heal it within a day or so. By the way, how long was I out for?" he asked.
"Just over twelve hours." Weiss answered.
"Wow. Less than I expected." He said before he started to get out of the bed, groaning slightly in pain.
"What are you doing?" Blake asked worried.
"Getting out of bed. I've been here long enough." He said standing.
"That's crazy. You need rest." Weiss added.
"I was resting. Trust me, I know my body better than anyone. Since I'm awake, I should be fine as long as I don't push myself." They all just looked at him worried and he tried to ignore the looks. He noticed some of his clothes next to the bed. He started to take off his gown. "I'm gonna change, so either turn away or be prepared." He said with a smirk as he removed it.
All the girls blushed at that. Weiss and Ruby quickly turned their backs to him, Ruby went as far to put her hands over her eyes. Blake just kept looking, they were dating and it wasn't like he was naked. Yang looked away but snuck a few looks here and there. Jaune threw on his dark blue jeans and his black t-shirt. It hurt slightly to put on the shirt but he was dealing with the pain. As soon as he did that, he sat down on the bed and started to put on his boots. "I'm decent now." He told Weiss and Ruby. They turned and still had slight blushes.
"How are you okay with just stripping like that?" Weiss asked him.
Jaune shrugged, "It's not like I was naked. Besides, you've all seen me shirtless anyways. So all you got to see was my legs but only a little bit more than when I wear shorts." He stood back up and saw Blake taking off his silver hoodie before handing it to him. "Thank you for taking care of this." He said happily as he slipped it on, he didn't bother to zip it up.
At that point, the door opened again to reveal NPR. Jaune smiled and waved slightly. Nora ran at Jaune and tackled him, "Jaune!" she shouted as she was hugging him tightly on the ground.
"Why?" Jaune groaned out as he was on the floor. Soon Ren was there to pull Nora off of him and help him to his feet. He gave him a quick look before he nodded, knowing he was at least somewhat better now.
Pyrrha was by his side looking him up and down, "Are you okay, Jaune? Should you be out of bed?" She asked frantically.
"I'm fine, Pyrrha. I'm a little sore but that'll go away." He said with a small smile.
"A little sore? Jaune, you have serious burns, cracked ribs and were shot!" She said just below a shout.
Jaune nodded, "I was there. The burns I knew were going to happen, that's the Elemental Feedback of Lava. The ribs and the gunshot however." Jaune shrugged as much as his ribs would allow. "They were unavoidable."
"Unavoidable!? Jaune, you almost died!" Pyrrha shouted. She turned her gaze to RWBY. "If it wasn't for them…" she started.
"That's enough, Pyrrha." Jaune said with a commanding tone. "They were not the ones that shot me and if I didn't do what I did, we'd probably be having a different conversation with one of them in worse condition or possibly dead." Realization hit Pyrrha with that. "No matter what happens to me, I'll risk everything to save someone I care for. Even if it costs me my life." Everyone, besides Ren and Nora, was shocked by this and Jaune walked to the door before he stopped. He turned to them. "Almost everything good in my life seems to get taken away by this world. But, I refuse to lose you seven. No matter what pain I have to go through." He said with a sad smile before he left the room and left the rest to their thoughts.
He was walking around the courtyard now. He wasn't mad at any of them but them constantly worrying about him wouldn't do them or him any good. They needed some space right now. Although, he had no idea on what he was going to do right now. Training and working his Semblance were out of the question. Plus, they all knew his usual hiding places. "Jaune! Dude!" he turned to see Sun and Neptune running towards him.
He raised a hand to them. "Hey, guys. You two made it out alright then. Last time I saw you, you got knocked off the highway by that robot."
"Yeah. We survived the fall without a scratch. We thought you guys would manage without us so we stopped by a noodle stand we found. Best noodles ever." Sun said cheerily.
"What happened though? We haven't seen you guys at all when we came back. This is the first time we've seen any of you." Neptune asked.
Jaune shrugged slightly. "Yeah. We've been in the infirmary."
"Wait, did any of RWBY get hurt?" Sun asked concerned.
Jaune shook his head, "No. There fine. I was the one that needed medical attention."
They soon noticed the bandages on his hands and some of the ones sticking above the top of his shirt. "Dude, what the hell happened to you?" Sun asked.
"Just some burns on my arms. Along with a few cracked ribs from a punch from the robot and a bullet wound from the White Fang inside of it." He answered offhandedly. The two were just staring wide eyed.
"How are you walking around right now?" Sun asked amazed.
"Should you even be out of the infirmary?" Neptune asked with the same awe.
"I'm too stubborn to stay dead and my aura helps with a lot. Large reservoirs of aura and accelerated healing can really help, that's why the Arc family is awesome." He said with a smirk. "And probably not but I hate infirmaries and hospitals, so much. So, I left before anyone knew otherwise. And now saying that, I think I should head to Vale before someone drags me back there. Wanna hang?"
The two of them looked at each other and followed him to the nearest airship. On the way down, Jaune gave them details on what happened during the fight. They were just amazed that he took down another of the Paladin's single handily. And they were even further shocked when they heard that he jumped in front of a bullet meant for someone on RWBY. They were getting off the airship when Sun whistled, "Jaune, you are by far the most badass person I know."
Jaune waved it off, "Not really. I just didn't wanna risk anyone on RWBY getting hurt and taking the bullet was just instinctual."
"You just naturally risk your life on reflex?" Neptune asked in shock.
Jaune sighed, "I'll give you the short story but, yeah. I've lost a lot of people I cared for in my life. So now, if there is anything I can do to save the people I have left, I won't hesitate to do it."
"Damn, now I feel bad that we didn't come help out." Sun said guiltily.
"Don't worry about it. I probably would've done the same thing if you guys were there or not."
"Wish we could make it up to you though." Neptune added.
They all heard Jaune's stomach growl loudly. They all looked at each other before Jaune laughed. "Well if you take me to that noodle stand, we'll call it even. I haven't eaten since before we left yesterday."
They took him there and Jaune ordered the biggest bowl of noodles you could imagine. He ate the bowl ravenously. Sun and Neptune just laughed at him. As soon as he was done, he asked for a second bowl followed by a third to Sun and Neptune's shock. As he finished the third helping, he burped and soon had a toothpick in his mouth. "Well, I have to say, those were definitely the best noodles ever." He said with a content smile.
"Jaune?" He turned to Sun. "How did you manage to eat that much?"
"Well, I haven't eaten since yesterday and my aura has been working overtime to try and fix the damage done to my body. So, I had to eat a lot more than normal to replenish myself. Normally, one of these would've been enough." He commented as he placed lien on the table for his meal. They soon headed back to Beacon. On the airship, Jaune felt his motion sickness coming back but it was very weak compared to the usual. Either he was getting used to flying or he was just too weak to puke his guts out. He chuckled slightly at the latter.
When they got back to Beacon, it was already dark and they decided to call it a night. Jaune started to make his way to his dorm. On the way he passed the fountain and found Yang sitting on it, waiting for him. Jaune sighed and sat down beside her. "Shoulda known one of you would be waiting for me."
Yang just gave him a small smile, "Well, you did disappear and we couldn't contact you."
Jaune shrugged, "You guys never gave me back my scroll."
"Got me there. So, where did you head off to?"
"I ran into Sun and Neptune. We hung out downtown and they took me to a noodle stand. Just kinda relaxed. I thought it'd be best to give you all some space for a while. Let you calm down a bit."
"That was probably for the best. Pyrrha has calmed down and has apologized profusely for what she said." Yang informed him and he nodded in response. They were quiet for a while before she broke the silence. "So, besides giving us space, why did you leave?"
"I appreciate the fact that you guys were worried about me but the whole thing reminded me of my past." He said this as he ran his hand through his hair. "My family acted very similar when I got hurt all those years ago. I was slightly worried that history was repeating itself. Crazy as that sounds."
Jaune then felt something in his hand and looked down to see Yang holding it with her own. He looked back up to her. "That's understandable. But could you blame us? You almost died, Jaune."
He nodded weakly, "I know. I won't apologize though."
"I'm not asking you to. But it was kinda crappy to drop a bomb on me like that and almost die before I can give you an answer."
Jaune blushed slightly, "Right. So, um, what do you think?" he turned to her nervously. She leant in and kissed him. Jaune's eyes were wide before he leant into the kiss and returned the pressure to her hand. They ended the kiss and just smiled at each other.
"You almost dying on me, made me realize just how much I care for you. And scared me to death to think that I could never tell you or truly know how you felt about me. So if you think you can handle me and Blake, we can give this a shot." She gave him a wink and a loving smile.
Jaune chuckled, "I guess I have no choice then." He gave her the same smile and they kissed again. Soon Yang wrapped her arms around his neck and started to run her tongue along his lips. Jaune smiled before he wrapped his arms around her back and joined her tongue in its endeavor. The kiss was hot and heavy but neither complained. After a few minutes the two broke apart and were breathing heavily. Jaune leant in and gave her a gentle kiss to her neck, which made her shiver. They smiled at each other before they got up and made their way to the dorms. Yang had wrapped her left arm around Jaune's right arm and had their fingers intertwined. She had her head resting on his shoulder and they both wore very happy smiles.
When they made it to their rooms they looked into each other's eyes before they kissed again, this one chaste. When they separated, Jaune told her what he thought with a smile. "I love you, Yang."
She gave him the same smile, "I love you, Jaune."
They bid the other a good night before retiring for the night. Jaune was still shocked that now he had two of the most gorgeous girls he had ever met as girlfriends but he was never happier.