By popular demand a continuation of "A Piece of Me" who knows, this may become a series in this fanfic. If you got ideas don't be afraid to send them out! I plan to update "War" on Friday so stay tuned! Big shoutout to "That guy" who offered some great tips and writing examples, you were an inspiration for this chapter my dude so keep those reviews coming!
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Another Piece of Me:
Jaune wakes up after what the good doctor has put him through, but he's less than willing to settle into his new skin. Now his team and Team RWBY must deal with the fallout, and find Dr. Grossman before this happens again.
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Jaune's POV:
I-I, m-my arms! M-My face! I thought sporadically, my hands completely covered the cutting board that used to be my face as I tried to wrap my head around everything that happened. I remembered the night before: being blamed for being a pervert, walking around Vale, getting jumped somewhere downtown, waking up in that psychopath's lab, and then... Darkness.
"Ja... Jau..."
I could feel my breathing become quick, and shallow. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, their sound a horrific cacophany. Everything was too loud! Even with my face buried into my hands things were too bright! I... I was a monster now, some mechanical freak of nature that had no right walking around! Getting modifications for physical therapy was one thing, but I just got turned into this horrific metal puppet! I buried my face further into my hands, my once anguished screams turning into muffled whimpers as I tried to sort everything out.
"Jau!... It's... -Kay..."
A voice? It was familiar, calm and clear but still strong. My eyes readjusted themselves in my sockets, an alien feeling that emitted a sound like the focus of a camera being adjusted. Slowly, I looked up from my scarred hands; my friends, my team, Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha sat around me. Ren had a firm grip on my shoulder, not crushing but more like... Reassuring.
"Jaune! You're okay! We're here!" Ren said, giving a small shake to try and snap me out of it. His face was contorted into worry, his eyes searching all over me as if he was going to find something. Then it hit me: it wasn't worry, it was disgust...
Of course, how could he look at me now? His leader... His friend, turned into something like this? It's no wonder the poor guy could barely look at me, in fact, all of them just stared back at me with that same mixed look of sickening pity and morbid curiosity. The room began to spin like a carousel again, and I felt bile rise in the back of my throat. I shoved Ren's hand off my shoulder and sprang up out of the bed, ripping various chords and catheters that were stuck into my out without any regard. I made for the door in the corner of the room with haste and threw it open; slamming it closed again, I locked it and immediately sunk into the toilet where I proceeded to vomit everything I had left in me.
I stayed there, retching and dry heaving as I tried to slow my breathing. I could faintly hear Pyrrha pounding on the door, and the sounds of what must have been newcomers into the room judging by the frantic voices that I wasn't familiar with. Eventually, my nausea passes and I stand up on shaky legs; I reach out to the sink for support and I use it for leverage as I wobble over to the basin. I turn on the cool water and immediately go to washing the watery vomit of my chin and splashing the cool liquid against my face to try to rack my brain. Tentatively, I look up into the large mirror hovering above the sink to truly witness my new body.
I takes all my will not to run back to the toilet. I swallow hard and force myself to look, just as I saw before, my face was reduced to a mass of silvery scars that spanned the width of my face. My eyes especially had some work done on them -if that venomous green was anything to go by- as I saw a small mass of scars form a jagged starburst of lines out of each one of my eye sockets. More scars dotted the area around my chin, on my cheek, and even some on my forehead with the largest beginning past my hairline and reaching down to my left temple.
"Jaune! Is everything ok in there?" I heard Pyrrha's maternal and worried voice call from just outside the door. I whipped around and chewed on my lip, what should I tell her? "Yeah Pyrrha I'm good! Guess I'm the Terminator now huh?"
"Y-Yeah! I-I'm good! J-Just, taking it all in" I winced as my voice audibly cracked near the end of what I said. I cleared my throat and turned back to the mirror and removed my medical gown, oh my god I thought as I viewed the disfigured warzone that was now my torso. If I thought my face was bad, this was an entirely new ball park!
Scars. Scars everywhere! That same silver color, but some of them spanning the length of my arm! I noticed a few things that stood out first, a mass of the damn things was accumulated near my heart, down the flanks of my abdomen, and straight down the middle of my chest. I traced an equally scarred hand along them, if they weren't so visible then I wouldn't even notice them, none of them looked messy or incomplete. No, these were the work of a skilled surgeon and top-of-the-line machines designed for work like this. No part of me was spared being cut up: shoulders, biceps, pectorals, and another congregation of clean slices marring my triceps and down the length of my arms giving them the look of a Halloween costume's makeup. I noticed something equally strange there too, more long scars spanning down the underside of my arms, right through the middle of them with additional horizontal scars along my wrists. I twisted my body with surprising ease despite the traumatic surgery I had undergone, but I began to notice some things out of place.
Every movement of my arms, the twisting of my body, or just the refocusing of my eyes brought this soft mechanical hum. Just like before, almost unnoticeable had it not been for the deafening silence in the small bathroom. My breathing picked up again as my brain soon went to work analyzing my whole body, and what it found nearly sent me into a tailspin.
Everything wasn't right.
They were small things, but the longer I looked for them the more pronounced they became. I began to feel something different, and I did mean feel in the literal sense because it felt like my nerves were on adderall. Every breath of the air conditioner, the slight movement of my feet against the tile, even the gentle touches of my own body hair were picked up by my nerves. I ran a hand along my chest and focused, sure enough, I could feel every groove and slight pattern in the palm of my hand and the design of my fingerprints. I could track it all so clearly that it began to feel second nature, when the current of air changed I could feel the subtle tug of it across my bare skin, and when I leaned in to the mirror things got worse.
There were changes in my body structure as well, I could see them in stunning resolution. In fact, I could see just about everything: the grooves on my skin, the patterns within the scar tissue, I could even faintly see the outlines of veins if I tilted my head slightly. The longer I looked the more that I saw was wrong, but was that actually true or was I just imagining things? Did my ears look slightly displaced or was that just a trick of my mind? Was my hair always this dark of a blonde, no it must have been lighter right? I began to hyperventilate again as I heard the door to my hospital room swing slightly open and the familiar click clack of dress shoes on cold tile.
"Mr. Arc-" I heard a sagely voice ask outside my door.
"Yes!" I responded too quickly and narrowly cutting off the man outside my door.
The man cleared his throat and began to speak, "this Professor Ozpin Mr. Arc, General Ironwood and I would like to speak with you for a short period before we can clear you for departure from Beacon Hospital."
I licked my dried out lips, "o-of course Headmaster, right away! Just, please, can someone hand me some clothing... And some gauze?"
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15 minutes later and I was outside the bathroom and resting in the uncomfortable seat near my hospital bed, Headmaster Ozpin sipping his coffee as General Ironwood analyzed me quietly. They had gotten me a green shirt and some of my jeans from my dorm, and I used the gauze they handed me to wrap my arms up tight like a mummy's bandages after all, I didn't need to suffer a panic attack everytime I looked at my arms right?
"Sir, may I ask what's happened?" I spoke softly, breaking the silence of the room. Headmaster Ozpin regarded me carefully before nodding and looking over to Ironwood to explain the situation.
"Jaune, you've been in the hospital for about 4 days on a steady stream of sedatives while our doctors examined you for any internal threats." I sucked in a breath, "Luckily, we found absolutely nothing, while she did implant you with multiple devices to augment your natural abilities we found nothing in them that could lead to her taking control over you. We also made sure she did not implant some kind of failsafe device inside you like a bomb to prevent you from going against her or as a way to assassinate some high-ranking official."
I released a breath I didn't know I was holding, this was good right? So atleast I'm not wired to detonate if I get water spilled on me I guess I attempted to joke in my mind, but it really only turned out to be a halfhearted jab at myself.
"Mr. Arc, it seems that Dr. Grossman has implanted you with a variety of bio-modifications to increase your natural abilities as a human. From what we can see some of them are rather benign, increased muscle mass in your calves and feet, while others are major, such as your artificial spine, heart, and lungs as well as your new eyes." Ozpin said slowly, afraid he would set the boy off.
Jaune, for his part, swallowed the news carefully. He could feel it inside him, those artificial things, they felt slightly off like they didn't belong in side him (and they very well didn't). He nodded along to the two men's explanation of what happened, already knowing the gist of it considering that the good doctor told him in detail what she was going to be doing to him. The color in Jaune's face was noticeably absent, and he looked rather gaunt without eating solid food in a good four days, but still, he half-listened to his headmaster as he finished explaining how the investigation for Grossman was still underway.
"Well, with that concluded, we believe that it would be in your best interest to return with your team to sleep in your own bed and eat some solid food. I have arranged for the cafeteria staff to provide you with whatever you need, and I've also prepared some therapy for you to undertake as you readjust to your life. I've scheduled for you to visit one Castanea Sour: a therapist that should help you with any emotional stress you may be feeling at this time, I would have felt like laughing if I wasn't scared of offending Ozpin yeah, I just got cut open right? Should only be a month or two before I'm back to normal. I thought to myself bitterly.
"And I have arranged for one of my own to assist in your physical therapy, your new modifications are something that you'll have to get used to if you don't want to accidentally hurt yourself or others. She has a very personal experience in matters like this, and we both figured she would be perfect for you to have as a training partner as the Vytal Festival nears." explained Ironwood as they both turned to leave, "trust me Jaune, I know what it's like to deal with a new body."
I nodded solemnly again, clenching my fist as the soft mechanical whirring stung the air. Both men left and I returned to just sitting there, alone and confused until I heard a knock at the door.
I stood up slowly, "Coming-"
The door was suddenly blown down with enough force to send it skittering across the tile floor, the next instant and I felt something hit me with enough force to almost knock me over. My brain adjusted faster than my mind could handle and I sputtered as the red anaconda on my wrapped me tighter into a soul crushing hug that suddenly made me thankful for my new body.
"Gah! Ruby!" I choked out as she suddenly realized what she was doing and shot off from me, furious blush riddling her face.
"Jaune! I-I'm sorry! I didn't me to hurt you and I just got so excited-" I cut off her off with a raise of my hand.
"It's ok Ruby, how are you feeling?" she looked at me like I had just grown a second head.
"You're asking me! How are you? You just got cut open-"
"Ruby!" shouted a familiar heiress as she stepped into the room, Ruby's blush got brighter as she swiveled her head between like a confused pigeon.
"I-I-I'm so sorry Jaune! I-I didn't mean to be so insensitive!" she stammered out before opting to just stop talking all together. I walked up and patted her head slightly, before turning to greet Weiss and the rest of Team RWBY who looked at the carnage Ruby had wrought.
"Hey Snow-angel" I said with a tired expression, she just humphed at me and turned away saying something about how I was just fine. I laughed despite myself and Ruby took it as a sign of relieved tension as she giggled too.
Blake offered me a smile, "good to see you back on your feet Jaune, how are you feeling?"
I returned it, "as best I can, haven't really gotten used to my new body yet." I hoped that my internal meltdown was showing through too much as the fabric of my shirt brushed against my chest with almost agonizing sensitivity. Then I noticed something for the first time, the blonde brawler of team RWBY, despite entering the room with her teammates, hadn't said a single bad pun or innuendo this entire time.
I looked past Blake at an uncomfortable looking Yang, Blake got the message and stepped out of the way leaving Yang and I directly across from eachother. After a few moments she turned to look up at me, a watery film cast over her eyes that made a sharp stab of guilt run into my core.
"So, don't suppose you're still intent on hitting me huh?" I joked weakly, hoping that I wouldn't offend her or something. She shot her head to look me directly in my new eyes, I saw her mouth trying to form words but nothing, not even a whisper, came out. Then suddenly, she made a beeline straight for me and I braced myself for a beatdown, but what I didn't expect was something soft and warm pressing against me.
"I'm sorry." she choked out between hiccuping sobs, "I shouldn't have made you leave." She dug her head into my shoulder and pulled me into another hug, though not nearly as hard as Ruby's. I just kinda stroked her head and tried to reason with her, things like "it wasn't your fault" and "I'm okay see?" but it didn't stop her in the least bit.
"I made you go out there alone, I'm sorry." she whispered, and I just kind of held her there until she let go and turned to face me, eyes puffy and face thoroughly red. I put a hand on her shoulder and told her I was alright, albeit a bit hungry which made her giggle a little. I sighed a sigh of relief, I never could see a girl cry especially not one over me (damn sisters and their fake tears!).
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I burst into the cafeteria with gusto as dinner was midway through. I was hungry as an Ursa and Ozpin gave me free reign to get some food that'll help me get back on my feet, but I didn't quite expect such a strong reaction.
You could have heard a pen drop...
All eyes were suddenly on me in an instant, all conversation vanished and I shrank into myself. I raised a bandaged hand in a weak wave as I saw a few awkward glances and pitiful looks from the assorted crowd. I suddenly felt Yang brush up behind to face everyone-
"All right, go back to eating he's just fine!" she shouted and most of everyone complied, albeit if the conversation had to pick up steam again. I thanked her and made myself a plate of everything on the food pyramid, the staff served me happily with cheery looks and compliments of "good to see you again".
I sat down at our usual table to see my team already waiting there, food untouched and faces carefully guarded. I tried to ignore it as I sat down next to them along with Team RWBY as silence invaded the table. Ren looked like he was about to say something before I cut him off-
"Thanks for being there for me guys, I owe you." I almost whispered, eyes focused intensely on the shape of my mashed potatoes. There was another turse silence and I thought I had just made it more awkward before I felt something soft and warm enclose around me again.
Pyrrha and Nora both had me in some kind of pincer hug-lock, crushing my new bones as Nora sobbed openly into my back and Pyrrha just clung to me for dear life. I could hear people around us stifle giggles, breathe sighs, and cough awkwardly as my teammates bawled over my wellbeing and how happy they were Team JNPR was back again.
I wish I could've stayed in that moment forever.