Ch. 19 Aftermath

Darkness was all Jaune could see, he wanted to blink but his eyes felt heavy. He couldn't move his limbs, he knew he still had them. He heard a faint beep, then another one. It was calming almost, but that calmness shifted into worry. He was in a hospital, that was something to worry about. He was in alien land when it came to Hospitals, especially because of his cybernetics.

One of the few things that scared him since arriving was visiting a medical facility of sorts, yes that included veterinarians. It wasn't because of his own health but because of his cybernetics. He was ambiguous to the world of Remnant and the last thing he needed was to be poked at by scientists and weapon manufacturers.

Jaune decided to prop himself up, it was the best he could think of. Groaning a bit he opened his eyes. He felt drowsy just moving up a bit, before he could continue he felt a hand placed on his shoulder and someone's voice. Looking up he could only hear muffled voices but the face was recognizable.

"D..diego?"

"...no…..Oa…kl…y"

"Oaky?" he repeated

He saw the man smile and pat his shoulders, his mouth moved but Jaune could barely understand him. After a bit he saw his uhd light up. Something along the lines of system calibrating. At first he heard white noise, then Oak's voice began to fade in, although it did sound muffled.

"...'nyways it's good that you're awake. Damn near scared me half to death and I rushed out as fast as I could whe-"

"W-where am I?" Jaune asked

The older man was about to respond but paused, putting a hand to his chin he thought a bit. Then a voice behind him piped up. "A private establishment"

Jaune looked over Oakley and saw Diego, the young man seemed calm but Jaune noticed he shivered a bit. His leg was propped up in the chair he was sitting on. Looking around he noticed that the room he was in looked a lot nicer than any hospital he's ever been in.

"Your rich friend brought you in here" Diego continued

"Who's that?" Oak asked

"Some guy. Jaune was able to get a car and reservations through him. I think his name is Snowy, Snow…"

"Snowden" Jaune cut in

Oakley raised his brow, then scrunched up his forehead in thought. Then his face illuminated, seemingly remembering. "Oh I know him!"

"You do?" both Jaune and Diego asked

"Course, don't really talk to him though. I've seen him at Midnight Sonatas"

Jaune raised a brow, before he could speak Diego chimed in "It's a meeting held between the different gang leaders of Vale. Normally they meet once a month but if an emergency comes up they can call one up quickly"

"That my boy is both correct and confidential, remind me to promote you when we get back"

"Noted"

Jaune looked at the two and sighed, he was about to say something when his eyes widened. "How long have I been out?"

The two men looked at each other, then at Jaune. Oakley walked forward "MAte, you've been out for two weeks"

He felt dread, how? How could he have been out for two weeks. His cybernetics….

"Oakley" Jaune said

"Yes"

"I want you to tell me what exactly happened to me after we crashed. In full detail"

The man looked at him and rubbed the back of his neck, his prosthetic covered by a glove. Exhaling, he pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Long or short version?"

"Long"

Exhaling, the man folded his hands "Well…"

Oakley pushed through the crowd of people, he had forgotten to equip his holo mask but he didn't care. Making it into the hospital he ran through the halls. He heard a lady scream at him to wait but he ignored her. He felt dread, fear, anxiety, a multitude of emotions flew through him and it was mostly because of what had happened earlier.

The news broadcast played over and over his head. One of Vale's busiest highways looked like a warzone. Cars thrown about, ice, burn marks, debris, it was horrible. It wasn't until he saw behind a news reporter a man being crated into an ambulance that he noticed who was in said accident. Now here he was running through the halls to meet up with Rosa.

After a sharp turn he saw the girl sitting outside a door,she wore a baseball cap and hoodie.

"How is he?" he asked, she didn't respond. Slamming open the door his eyes widened. Jaune laid in a bed, his body hooked up to different tubes, cables, and machines. He didn't understand many of them but what he did see were the x-rays taken.

There were metal organs, some with synthetic materials, he noticed that in his arms were metal rods and more. Grabbing the x-rays he looked over them and after a bit crumbled them up into a ball. Something about them…he knew the doctors shouldn't see whatever it was that they got.

He stood alone, the room was silent. Jaune's labored breathing was the only thing Oak heard and he gritted his teeth. Walking outside he sat down next to Rosa, her panther tail hung low. Looking at her he simply patted her back.

"I..is he g-gonna be okay?" she asked, her voice croaked most likely from crying

"I…I don't know" Oak a tear run down his cheek

The two sat there for a bit. They didn't know how much time had passed, it didn't matter to them however. Throughout the night Oak heard yelling and crying. He saw an older lady being dragged out of a room next door, she bawled. He heard something about her son and wanted him back.

Aside from those there were also at times nurses and doctors yelling, sometimes at each other, other times to people, or just at themselves. As time went on the sounds of defibrillators, flatlining, crying, and weeping became all too normal to him.

"Um, excuse me?" he heard a soft voice

Looking up he saw a young nurse, she had short brown hair and a round face. "V-visiting hours are over"

Oakley saw her face was red, most likely from crying, her clothes wrinkled up, and her eyes had dark spots of mascara on them. He walked forward bit and simply hugged her. He didn't know why but he just felt like it. She hugged back, her grip was tight and after a bit he heard her whimper.

"It's ok. You're doing an amazing job" he told her

She continued to cry, Oak didn't mind it. After a bit he saw another nurse walk by. He stared at him and simply walked to his friend. After a bit the two separated and went back to work, leaving Oak with Rosa.

After a while the two finally left. As they walked out the doors Oak noticed a large truck. Bags were being loaded into the truck. He took in a sharp breath and turned his head. The night had quieted down and he simply continued forward. He felt his scroll vibrate, pulling it out he saw an unknown number and a message.

Opening the message he read it and grit his teeth. Rage consumed him and he yelled into the sky. If one could see his scroll's screen they would see a news article. On it was Roman's smug face as he piloted the mech through the highway.

Jaune looked out the window of his bed, Oak and Diego had left and the story left a dry taste in his mouth. Looking at his palms he examined them, then he looked up. There was some good news however. Before Oak and Diego left he asked them about MIsty, thankfully she had also been moved to where he was staying at, unfortunately she was also in a comatose state.

Opening a drawer and turning on the tv, of course the first channel he saw was the news. Before he could switch off he heard something.

"In other news, as of today we are yet to know the identities of the four huntresses in charge of stopping Roman Torchwick. However, video footage shows us that they correspond to the colors of Red, Yellow, White, and Black. It is unknown who these vigilantes are but the city thanks you for your efforts in preventing this disaster from worsening"

Jaune saw the footage and saw the different blurs run past, each corresponding to what Lisa said. Activating his optics he tried to scan the figures by slowing the footage down frame by frame. He was only successful in scanning one, the yellow one.

Yang Xiao-Long, there wasn't much about her. Looking at the footage he saw something, something that startled him. Replaying the footage he saw that Yang was falling a bit behind, her solution was to shoot her shotgun bracelet whatever it was at the ground allowing her to fly forward. In doing so it caused a truck to launch backwards.

Before he stopped he saw her shoot in front of her, clearing out some cars to make room. His brow twitched, anger boiled inside him. When yellow shot in front of her she had hit HIS car.

When the nurse came in to check on him she noticed that the flat screen in his room had glitched out and that a remote control was lodged inside of it.

A little bit more worldbuilding, just not the positive kind. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you soon. Also, I thought I had written much more but apparently only hit 1k words, shortest chapter in the story so far but packs a punch.