Chapter 11: Regenerative Healing, Emotional Hurting
After breakfast, Yang shut herself up in her room. She sat on her bed, insecurity's tendrils creeping around her. I'm not a charity case, she thought, If He gives me back my arm, I'll have to do something to pay for it… to earn it; but what do I have that could pay for it? She fell asleep, dreaming another nightmare; this time the dreamscape took place in a forest, instead of the Beacon classroom, or her home. Snow crunched beneath her feet. Silence filled the air. Darkness engulfed her. She walked on.
Adam stepped out from behind a tree. Yang stopped, raising her naked fists. He drew his sword and advanced. She stepped forward too, but someone grabbed her wrist and held her back. She turned to see who it was. It was a woman with flowing black hair, wearing a Grimm mask; the woman from the train. Before Yang could even react, she plunged her sword through her heart.
Yang woke up with a start, sweat soaking her clothes and bed, breathing like she ran a marathon. She rubbed the spot where she was stabbed; it was fine, it was only a dream. There was a soft knock on her door.
"Yang? Qrow's on his way. He'll be here within a couple hours." Her dad said on the other side of her door. "His friend's with him, his name is Nick." Ugh, He must be as old as dad! She got up and walked over to the closet, her sweat-soaked clothes sticking in uncomfortable and embarrassing places. She changed out of these, putting on fresh ones. She looked at her dad's jacket that he gave her, its right sleeve tied off.
She reached for it, thinking, well, let's get this over with. She put it on as she left her room. Following her dad into the living room, she asked, "So, who is this guy? I'd at least like to know a little about him, like if he's a trained professional." Taiyang sighed as she sat down on the couch. He grabbed something off the table he'd put there after breakfast, anticipating this moment, and handed it to her. "Well, here's something about him, in this book, and this is only the beginning." She looked at it, its cover read, The annotated Legend of the Four Wolves: the definitive edition. A picture of four wolf heads, arrayed with each looking at the four covers of the book adorned its cover. The book itself felt heavy and was a good inch and a half thick. Yang looked back at her dad, stupefied.
"Is this a joke?!" he sat in a chair next to her. "You can't be saying he's one of the Wolves." "Yang, just read it." she looked back down at the book, turning its cover. The contents listed the introduction, the story, and the several appendixes in the back. Another page turn revealed the listing of the many colored illustrations- both new and original- throughout the tale. Well, at least there are pictures.
She closed the book, but kept it in hand as Taiyang said, "Qrow told me about Nick a long time ago, before you came around. He said that he saved Summer from near death. According to Qrow, as summer recovered in his cabin, he told them the Legend so vividly that it wasn't much of a surprise when he said that he was one of the four wolves. I didn't believe Qrow at first, but then I read this; now I guess we'll both find out for certain." He chuckled. She grunted in agreement.
He leaned forward and held her only hand. She tensed at the contact, becoming as still as a statue. She turned her head away from him, pain and sorrow coursing through her system. He patted her hand, sighing, and got up; he left her alone.
Yang needed something to occupy her thoughts, or else they'd be oppressed by those traumatic memories. Her eyes drifted across the room, and settled on the book in her hands. Well, there's nothing else to do, and if there's time… she opened up to the introduction. It explained that the story, gathered, compiled and derived from various ancient documents and word-of-mouth stories was, in summation, the complete story to the best of knowledge. Effectively, the story was retold as close as possible to the original stories scattered around the world. Well' here goes.
She turned the page.
Chapter one
It was an age of darkness… but the age was coming to an end. On the seventh day of the twelfth month near the village of Shanot four travelers appeared…
The village was fairly large for the area, they noted as they approached. But what was left was also poorly defended, the mere picket walls surrounding the part still standing shattered in places, no arrow loops, no towers. It was a miracle it was still inhabited and not just a razed heap. The old stone-and-wood wall that had protected them before had been thrown down. And the houses inside were near-desolate skeletons.
The four paused on a hill, overlooking the scene.
"No moat, barely a fence protecting 'em? From what I see, very few men between sixteen and forty years still alive, the rest look like women and children," one said; he spoke with an accent. He looked up at the others. They only nodded.
"Well, nothing worth standing up here. Let's go meet these people." Another said, one who hefted an iron, double-headed executioner's axe. "Whadaya say Lee?" he asked the first one. A third chimed in. "Yeah, Lee-wee, how about it?" she flirtingly asked him. She smacked his rear with the butt of her spear. Almost as soon as she turned around, he goosed her, invoking a short squeal. The second and forth rolled their eyes at their smut play.
"Tabitha, Lee, both of you stow it now," The fourth commanded, hand on the hilt of his short sword. "MacGyver, what would you do to shore up their defenses?" the axe wielder, a big fellow by any means, looked over the wreck of Shanot. "Well, first I'd start by patching up and improving their fence –reinforce it, add some super punji's– then dig a nice wide moat around that; make those monsters climb up. I could also add some simple towers too, if there's time and manpower.
"Well Alistair, about after that I'd get that old wall built up. I think you'd train a decent militia out of them." Alistair nodded. "Well brothers, we've got work to do," he said, hefting his large buckler on a shoulder, "Let's roll."
The village had survived an attack by creatures of Death during the night and the previous day. When the four arrived, the villagers' impression was that of wonder and suspicion. The warriors all had a strange plate-like armor, and most wore trousers with leg plates. The largest, a beast of a man6, wielded an executioner's ax; another, clearly a woman, wielded a spear; the one next to her was a strange man, wearing what looked like a woman's skirt with only knee-high leggings and mere shoes, and wielded only a longsword; the final warrior was a man with a deep countenance on his face, bearing a shield and sword.
When they entered the ruins, the Villagers got a closer look at them. The largest man seemed to only have one eye. The woman had dark hair and a dark complexion to her skin. The strange man had the brightest red hair anyone ever saw, beneath a tilted round cap with a red ball in the middle. The final warrior had the most mysterious eyes, each a different color, under golden – almost but not quite sandy– blond hair. All of them had a hardness –like that one gains in war– in their countenance, mixed with a brotherly kindness.
Some climbed the wooden wall to get a good look at them.
When they approached the gate, the gatekeeper called out, "Who are ye, and what thy business here is?" the beast answered with a queer response, "we're here to build ya up, and defend ya from those monsters. To train you to not only hold them at bay, but to push them back to the pit from whence they came." The gatekeeper called for–
There was a knock on the front door. Yang jumped at the sound. She turned and looked at the door as her dad came to answer it, and made a split-second decision. She got up and bolted to her room before he opened the door. She didn't know why she did it; it was more like a feeling, an instinct to flee from the man her uncle brought to "help" her. As soon as she closed her door, she crumpled to the floor, sobbing. She was angry at herself for running, for not standing and facing him.
Her dad called up to her, but she didn't really hear him.
She finally sat up and tried to get a hold of herself, when she noticed that she was still holding the book. It was even open to the page where she left off.
They all walked up the drive, Nick ending up in the middle. As Qrow rapped on the door, Ruby took Weiss and disappeared around the corner of the house, Blake following to make sure they didn't get in trouble. Winter seemed to regard this with a certain icy air, staying with Qrow and the subject, Nick. He, himself, saw this with a mild interest. Taiyang opened the door. "Hey Tai," Qrow said. "Qrow, come on in." the blond said, warily eyeing Winter. When they all got inside, Taiyang turned to Nick. He was surprised at how young the man looked, even with his scar. "You must be Nick," Nick looked straight at Taiyang, who thrust his hand out.
"Well, I was the last time I checked," he replied, shaking Taiyang's hand with a firm grip. Taiyang turned to Qrow. "So, where's Ruby?" "I don't know; she just ran off with her partner." Qrow took out his flask, to nearly everyone's chagrin.
"May I sit down?" Nick said, gesturing to the sofa. "Yeah, sure," Taiyang replied, "Yang ran upstairs a minute ago, I'll call her down." Nick tried to wave him off, but Taiyang walked off, and a moment later called out, "Yang! We've got company, so get down here young lady!" he walked back to find Nick still standing, with a mild, if not neutral expression. "Respectfully sir, I'd like to have a talk with you first about the procedure." Taiyang sat, "Wait, you're going to fix my sunny little dragon's arm, right?" Nick grimaced, but sat down in a chair across from Taiyang, leaning forward. He took a moment to reply, but his response was unanticipated.
"No, I'm not here to 'fix' her arm, I'm here to replace it with a regenerated copy," he calmly said. "I– Okay," Taiyang stated. Qrow and Winter stayed silent, but this has news to them too. "The thing is," Nick continued, sighing, "It will be very traumatic, and will scar her for the rest of her life. She might not forgive you, let alone Qrow for letting me do this. You don't have to let me though, and she can get a robotic prosthesis instead; likely as not, it would probably be better that way."
Taiyang practically fell back into his seat. Qrow looked at Nick, whose expression turned stony, and his eyes glazed over at an apparently bad memory. Taiyang took a few moments to think this over. "If it means my daughter can regain a sense of normalcy, even if it hurts her, how could I refuse?" he chortled, "Besides, she's a tough girl, I'm sure she can handle it." Nick nodded, reaching into a pocket and taking out a wooden dowel, the branch he sanded on the way there. "What's that?" Taiyang asked. "It's for her to bite down on." Taiyang deadpanned, "um, you don't know Yang." Nick gave him a look that unsettled him. "She's gonna scream in pain." "How do you know?!"
Nick stood up. "Prior experience; It'll feel like her body got crushed and set on fire." He took a deep breath, closing his eyes trying to expel his own residual trauma.
Taiyang took a shaky breath. "She'll be very angry after this." He looked up. "Should I call her down or–" Nick calmly shook his head. "No, that's fine; I'll go up to her. What you could do is talk to her a little about this." Taiyang slowly rose and said, "Alright, follow me." Nick followed Taiyang up the stairs.
Out of sight and earshot of the others, Taiyang grabbed Nick's arm and pulled him aside. "If you harm her in any way, I will hurt you." Nick said nothing, didn't even flinch at his dark statement. So? Join the club Mr. Xiao Long; I'm already haunted by the memories of what I've done. Nick thought. "I don't care if you're one of the Wolves," Taiyang continued, "She's my daughter." Nick shifted his jaw from side to side, and then calmly but respectively said, "I'll keep that in mind, sir." Taiyang let go of his arm.
Yang was just reading the part where they started building up the village, when someone softly knocked on her door. She looked up as her dad called through the door, "Yang, can I come in?" she marked her place, "sure dad, why not?" she got up off the floor as he opened the door. "Nick's here Yang, can we have a talk?" she sighed, giving a nod. He sat on her bed. "He tells me that the process is going to be very painful–" she snickered at that, "–and that there may be severe side effects; but it'll replace your arm good as new." She looked up at him, "do you trust him?" Taiyang paused. "He believes what he says, and your uncle vouches for him." She shook her head, "let me guess, you want me to accept, but it's my choice?" he said nothing to answer her question, but added, "He said you'd scream." She looked up in disgust. He chuckled. She thought for a moment, as Taiyang stated, "He's right outside," gesturing to her door. She finally said, "Fine, send him in, I'll do It." her eyes turned crimson as she took her dad's place on her bed.
"Oh, and one more thing," he said as he stood up, "you might be caught off guard by his appearance." "Why, is he that ugly?" she snidely remarked. He let it slide, walking out the door.
A moment passed and Yang started to wander in thought. She heard muffled talking on the other side of her door, and suddenly, Taiyang walked back in. "Yang," he said as a stranger walked in behind him, "This is Nick." He stepped aside, giving her a view of this Nick.
A young man stood there, in jeans, grey tee, and red plaid shirt. Short, curly ashen-white hair on his head, and the most stunning eyes she saw; even though they reminded her of that Neopolitan runt. "Shalom Aleichem," he greeted, raising a fingerless-gloved hand. Her dad was right, she was caught off guard; he was handsome, with a soft-spoken voice, but it was his youth that surprised her, he looked about twenty years old. Her eyes turned lavender when she saw him.
He looked down at her stump, and nodded as her dad whispered, "I'll leave you to it." "Would you like to know the process Miss Xiao Long?" her eyes remained lavender, but her expression soured as he said, "Well, first I'll have to give you an injection–" Finally she spoke to him, interrupting, "I can take pain." He stopped for only a mere microsecond, before rebutting with an odd look in his eyes, "you can try." He took out a case the size of a thick paperback novel from his small backpack. "The injection isn't a painkiller, it's the regeneration compound." He sighed and said, "The big question now, Miss Xiao Long, is how badly you want your arm?"
Her response was forceful, "I want it now if you're gonna give it to me." He sighed, and walked over to her.
When he entered her room and saw her for the first time, he felt… not much more than before. There weren't any sparks between them, no connection, no fluttering of his heart. He would freely admit she was pretty, and very attractive; she was another person with her own feelings, but he didn't feel anything more for her, he was too desensitized for that.
Now as he approached her, he grabbed a chair and sat on it next to her, placing the case on her bed. "May I?" he said, motioning to her stump. She lifted it towards him, and he gently started to unwrap her bandages. "Now don't worry, I just wanna see your arm." The bandages seemed to almost melt away, he took them off so quickly and gingerly she shivered; and when he touched her tender skin beneath, recently healed and still red, she tried but couldn't help letting loose a quiet gasp. His strong fingers gently felt her skin, inadvertently caressing her stump. He nodded and turned to the case, opening it and taking out a syringe stuck in a small vial of clear liquid.
"What's that?" she asked when she saw it, "It's not a painkiller is it?" he looked at her with a stupid smirk on his face. "This is a chemical commonly used to commit germicide, known as alcohol." She looked at him and mumbled, "Well that joke certainly kills me." He took out an alcohol swab and rubbed her stump. He stuck the needle into another vial with yellow-green fluid and drew back the plunger, as she said, "By the way, are you trained for this?" "In a way. What are you asking?" she sighed and said, "Never mind." He took out the needle and gently held her arm. "Now hold still, this might sting." He jabbed the needle through the dome of her stump, into the bone. It stung.
Nick felt her muscles tense, to the point of becoming rock hard. He pushed down the plunger, injecting the serum into her stump, and quickly pulled out the portion-sized syringe. He set it aside and took out several electrodes. "Can I ask you something?" he asked as he plugged the wires into a metal box on the other side of the case, and stuck the electrodes to her arm. "Go ahead." She replied. "What's your opinion on ghost stories?" She looked at him in dumbfounded surprise. "I don't believe them, if that's what you're asking, why?" He shrugged, "just trying to make small talk." For some reason beyond him, he took note of that.
"You'd better lay back; it'd be easier that way." She reluctantly complied, lying back on her bed. He took out the dowel. "You'll need to bite down on this." She looked at him as if he was retarded. "It's not a painkiller. But you'll hurt yourself if you don't." he handed it to her. "You act as if I can't take it," she said, "Pain makes me stronger; that's my Semblance! So stop– " he interrupted her, his tone a bit sharper than before, "you're gonna scream. I know because I did." He sighed, "I'm not gonna sugar coat it, it'll feel like hell; even though it'll only take about ten minutes, you'll pass out within three, but it will feel like eternity. You'd likely give anything to make it end." He flipped a switch on the box and it started to hum, and she asked, "how long did you stay awake?" he paused, "I was clocked at two minutes, fifty-eight seconds of consciousness; let's see if you can beat that," taking out his scroll. He sat back in his seat. "Ready when you are," she said, putting the stick in her mouth. "Alright, on three," he said. She nodded, preparing herself. "One–" He pushed the start button.
For Yang, it felt like she'd just been crushed and set on fire from the inside out. She screamed, but the stick helped muffle the sound; it made a crunching sound as she bit down hard on it. The last coherent thought through her head was, What the Hell happened to 'two'?
When she woke up, Yang was feeling a buzz across her whole body, especially where her right hand should have been. "Come on, wake up Hero, you beat my record." She looked up at the speaker, meeting his heterochromic eyes… mystifying eyes. She sat up, grunting and moaning. "Jeez, what just happened?" "It worked; you've got a new arm, no payment necessary." He held out his right hand for her to take. She did, her mind still groggy, and he lifted her up to her feet.
Suddenly, she realized what he pulled when they started. She launched her fist, her right one. He flew across her room, landing on his face. "YOU JERK!" he picked himself up as she fumed. He was about to reply, paused, shifted his jaw, and spit out something white; it rattled on the floor like a pebble. "Well, your arm's strong, that's a good sign." She wasn't amused. "What happened to two?" he sighed, "In my experience, people tend to tense when you count to three. It's better for you to be relaxed as much as possible when you start." "That's bull." He nodded. "You know, you beat my time by eight seconds." He reached for the door as she advanced on him, grabbing him by his shirt collar. "Hey, now look miss–" she huffed, "Just call me Yang, Nick." She looked down at her right hand. It felt… different.
"I'm sorry."
She looked at him, confused, and saw the sorrow in his eyes. "You'll carry this feeling that that arm isn't yours; I know, and I'm sorry to place this burden on you." Then his mood changed and he said, "can you please let me go?" she was taken aback at this sudden change. She let him go, giving him a punch in his shoulder.
A/N: Well, one month has passed already! lot of stuff has happened. I finally have accepted Pyrrha's death in cannon. (Don't worry she's still around in here.) I think I should get a DeviantArt page up or something.
anyway, the chapter 10 reviews...
merendinoemiliano: Hmm, I prefer stuffing, but filler works too.
GamehunterMC: The song has the same effect on me too. others include, but are not limited to:
I Apologize by Five Finger Death Punch,
Monster by Skillet, and
Lesson From a Nomad by Zack Hemsey.
yeah, Nick is part go-with-the-flow, and part I WILL NOT BE MOVED! but just wait till I reveal all... you might hate me.
