A/N: Okay this chapter ended up a bit longer than I intended, but here it is.
Also, I'd like to thank runelt99 for helping me with reviews pointing out mistakes I've made. It's really helped, and I thank you.
Also, still looking for a Beta reader, if you're interested PM me.
Also, if you've been reading, you'll noticed I've been struggle with a summery, if anyone has any suggestion to help improve it, please PM me.
Well here's the next chapter.
Chapter 5
Thor was not exactly a pleasant house guest. Well, he wasn't pleasant all the time was more accurate. When he was in pain and needed his medication, he was irritable and short tempered. He wanted alcohol with it too, and Yang wasn't usually of a mind to provide it. She sometimes gave him watered down beer, but never anything harder, which he never seemed to notice. If he was in enough pain.
But he wasn't healing as fast as he should of, and that was scary to her. His Aura wasn't healing him like it should have. She'd heard of people having their Aura "turn off.", After a traumatic experience. She'd never seen it happen herself, and frankly didn't really understand how it was supposed to work. But Aura was a reflection of the soul, and if it wasn't working, then that was a sign of a deeply hurt person, someone hurt in more ways than could ever be seen with the naked eye.
She'd known Thor long enough to tell he was deeply disturbed by what had happened, although he had yet to divulge the specifics of his fight with Adam, and she wasn't sure if he ever would.
Just thinking about the man made her own injury tingle. Gripping it, she couldn't help but think of the dreams and was now certain this is what it was all about. The pain in her arm was too familiar to ignore, and the sheer disaster of the whole ordeal had been on the scale of what they had dreamt about.
And all the preparation had been for nothing, it all still came crashing down around their heads. That scared her, did it mean that fate was unavoidable? Or had they all just not tried hard enough to change it. Neither was a pleasant thought.
Thor had just taken his medication and was sleeping now, but that didn't bring her any sense of peace. She couldn't shake the feeling that this was partially her fault. She wasn't about to take full responsibility, Thor was still responsible for his own actions, but he'd come to save her and Blake.
She didn't know what would have happened if he hadn't shown up, but he'd still put himself between them, and danger.
But his spirit was broken now, there was no other way to explain it. How else would his Aura shutting down of occurred?
She'd seen some gruesome injuries before, both in person and in the many examples of failed hunters that her schooling had always taken pains to show her, to make sure she knew the danger of what she was getting into.
Thor wasn't the worst injury she'd ever seen, but he was up there with the people she'd seen with that scale of damage and come out alive.
What was worse, he didn't get treatment right away, which is what was really needed. The doctor had told them he wasn't found til maybe a day after he was hurt. A whole day laying on the ground, impaled on rebar.
Ironically, the fact he was so badly burned may have saved his life, many of his injuries were burned shut, not all, but it kept him from bleeding out.
But he wasn't ever going to be the same again. She knew what that felt like, if to a lesser degree. She'd lost her arm and her team, she didn't think she'd ever be the same again.
Thor, on the other hand, had been mutilated, the missing arm, leg and eye aside, the dozens of cuts, burns and three holes in his chest and stomach. His physical capacity may never return, and even with prosthetic, she didn't know if his eye could be fixed or replaced.
But what really bothered her was he didn't seem to want to get better. He rarely got out of bed, wasn't eating anywhere near what he used to, and spent most of his days in an either a drug induced haze or in a drunken stupor.
She didn't know where he was getting the Alchohol, she wasn't bringing it in, and her father wasn't either, or at least that's what he said, and she believed him.
In the time he'd been here, he hadn't spoken much, and she hadn't pressed him. But he wasn't sleeping well, that she was sure of. She could hear him at night, rolling in his bed. One time she'd ever heard him scream something she couldn't understand, and she and her father came rushing in to check on him.
They found him soaked to the bone with sweat, and maybe something that wasn't sweat. It was a mark of how scared he'd been that he wasn't the least bit embarrassed by the event. He had reached blindly out to grab either herself and her father, seeking some sort of human contact.
She wanted to reach out to him, but her father got to him first, putting a hand on his shoulder.
That seemed to bring him back to reality, and his tension noticeably dropped.
Yang knew what type of dreams he was having, she'd had them herself, but she hadn't reacted nearly as dramatically as he had.
She was shaken by her experience, but he'd been destroyed.
It was one of the hardest things she'd ever seen, to see someone she had thought was so strong brought so low. The closest thing she'd ever seen was her dad's reaction after her step-mom had died, but even he continued to function in such a manner, even if he'd become like a ghost for that time between her death and when he came out of the stupor.
Thor was more like a husk than a person now, and she really wanted him to…if not return to normal, at least start to function on his own. But more than that, she wanted to go find her sister, but her guilt wouldn't let her leave him like this, not knowing if he was getting better.
And she wanted him to come with her, when he was on his game, he was one of the best, and he'd be an enormous help on the journey.
But she was getting ahead of herself, she needed to get her own issues in order before that was going to be a possibility.
He didn't sleep well anymore, the dreams were too terrible. Not his fight with Adam, he'd seen too many battles for that to shake him. No these were more like the visions, but he knew they weren't prophetic, just his mind. Trying to cope with what had happened to him.
He'd done far more damage to himself than Adam had, and mutilated himself, and he kept reliving that moment in his dreams. If it had just been that, he might be able to cope, but he kept having vivid dreams where his friends, old and new, were being brutally dispatched by some unknown terror, and he was unable to even move, just watch.
And these dreams were utterly visceral, he could see all the gore and terror in their faces as they were dismembered by the shapeless shadow of terror that cut through them with no effort. What was worse was that he could hear the scream will into his waking hours, they echoed in his ears.
And the smell, the smell of blood and burning flesh, hair, clothing, metal, and plastic crept into his dreams and never seemed to leave him until after he took his medicine or had a drink.
The fact that he couldn't see made the dreams worse, the only images he'd seen in weeks was the horrific images he'd been dreaming about, and he had nothing to drive them out of his mind.
The first time he'd had the dreams, he thought it was another vision, but it's repeated occurrence every night he'd tried to sleep unaided, convinced him this wasn't the case. What was more, they didn't feel like a vision, they always had a distinct feeling that told the one who experienced they were real. That was part of the reason why Team RWBY had believed him when he explained it to them.
Finally, there was the fact that if he drank enough with his medication, he didn't dream at all. The visions couldn't be stopped, no matter what you did, if they were going to come, they would come.
That was a concerning habit he was developing, mixing pain killers with drink. That wasn't safe, but it was all he had to cope with the nightmares right now. It wasn't healthy, at all, but he didn't have anyone he could talk to.
Oh, there were people to talk to, but no one who could understand what he really needed to talk about. They could know what he'd been through physically, but emotionally, they couldn't begin to comprehend how far he had fallen. His crushing loneliness, both before the fall of Beacon and after. Dreams of the empty school, where even animals were gone, leaving only a phantom voice.
Alone, that's what he was, and now he was a cripple. His power had disappeared, his weapons, destroyed. He thought back to his actual weapon, buried in the ground for near three years now.
What was he doing wrong? It hadn't come to his aid when he needed it most when he almost died. Why was he still not worthy? What was he missing?
Was it possible, that this time, it wasn't a test? Was he just being punished now? But why? He couldn't even remember what he'd done to deserve this, he actually couldn't even remember the days before his banishment.
But that was how his father was, he'd leave you on your own to figure it out, so you would learn what ever lesson there was to teach.
Well, he hadn't even learned the lessons his teachers here had tried to instill in him. He ignored the warnings about his equipment, and he'd paid that price. He still hadn't learned to think first, to take a moment when he was upset or excited to stop and breathe. When his temper was up, he rushed in like a bull to just crush what was in front of him.
And it had blown up in his face, in the most literal way possible. His pigheadedness cost him an arm and his sight. The doctors said his eye sight may return in his left eye, but his right was beyond repair.
As he brooded on his own mistakes, he could have sworn he felt an itch on the bottom his foot, his left foot, the one he knew was no longer there. He'd heard of this, phantom limbs, where your mind thought you still had a missing body part.
He didn't know how long this would persist, but he really didn't know if it was the sort of thing that ever went away.
But that wasn't all that was on his mind. He wasn't healing like he should. The progress was on par with an average human like he didn't have any Aura to speak of, which wasn't right. He had Aura, he could feel it at his core. But it wasn't manifesting itself in any way. He hadn't tried to call his semblance, but he was certain that would cause more trouble than it was worth right now, in his condition, he would probably hurt himself.
What he wanted right now, was a drink. Reaching under his mattress, he found the bottle of bourbon he'd asked Qrow for before he departed. The Hunter had been reluctant at first to give it to him, but he could only suppose the man felt sorry for him, and he wasn't one to judge anyone on their drinking anyway.
As he pulled it out from his hiding place, he could hear what was left slosh around in the bottom of the bottle. He frowned, he was almost out and didn't have a way to get any more.
Taking a sip, he put the cap back in and slide it back under the mattress. Yang and her father were wondering where he was getting his drinks from, but because he almost never got out of bed, they hadn't been able to look under the mattress properly. The times he did leave it, he took the bottle with him so they wouldn't find it and take it.
Not that it was going to matter much in a few more days, he'd be out by then, and they couldn't take what was gone.
He felt like a prisoner in a way, having to hide contraband, unable to leave with out permission or help.
But the fact was, he had nowhere to go, no one to help him and was unable to take care of himself properly. He couldn't even see, and to walk to the bathroom was a lesson in agony.
He reached up to touch the bandages over his eyes, wondering if even his left eye would see again.
As he ran his fingers along the bottom of the bandages, he felt his beard. Running his hand over his mouth and jaw line, he felt the hair had grown in over the weeks. He hadn't been thinking of that, he'd honestly thought that he was too severely burn for hair to even grow on his head anymore.
Feeling around more, he found that he was partially right. The right side of his face was still bare, his facial hair and the hair on his head wasn't growing in on that side.
But he needed to shave, now that he felt it, he was feeling dirty for not keeping in trimmed, and he was finding it impossible to forget now.
He scooted over to the edge of his bed, grabbed his crutch and with a great effort, hauled himself to his one leg, and started to thump he was across the room to the door and bathroom.
"What's wrong with his Aura though dad? It can't just disappear can it?"
Taiyang looked at his daughter thoughtfully before responding. "No, it can't, but it possible it's psychosomatic."
"He's not crazy dad."
He sighed at this "No, what I mean is he's unknowingly making it not work for himself."
"What? Why would he do that to himself?" Yang asked, confusion still playing across her face.
"He wouldn't, but what he went through was traumatizing. I'm not a doctor, but it may be he's scared of returning to the field."
"What?!" Yang scoffed at the idea "You don't know Thor, he loves to fight."
Taiyang didn't contradict his daughter on this because it was true, he didn't know the young man all that well. But he's seen the battlefield before and how it affected people.
His line of thought was broken as he heard a crashing sound and someone cursing from the bathroom.
Of course, there was only one other person in the house right now.
He didn't have to move, as Yang went to investigate the source of the noise.
Yang burst into the bathroom shouting "What the hell are you doing?"
The sight that greeted her was Thor, bracing himself over the sink with his one arm, trying to balance on his left leg.
"I wanted to shave, but I'm finding it…difficult." He muttered.
"Why wouldn't you just ask for help you numbskull!" she near shouted.
"I don't need to be treated like an invalid!" he shot back.
Huffing, she marched over to him, grabbed him by his shoulder, and sat him down on the toilet.
"Hold still." She said and pumped lather onto his face right from the canister and then start spreading it with his hand.
Thor was so taken aback by the action, he didn't respond right away. It wasn't until he heard her say "Hold still." That he spoke again.
"You know what you're doing?"
She huffed at this before responding "I'm a girl Thor, I've probably done a lot more shaving than you have, now hold still, I don't want to cut you."
He sat there in silence while she did her work. She was quick about it and didn't even nick him.
"There, all done, now back to bed." She said as she got under his arm and lifted him up. He didn't fight her, but he seemed limp like he'd suddenly lost the energy to move.
She helped him back into bed and caught a whiff of the alcohol on his breath. She wanted to start in on him, about mixing his medication with booze, but ultimately decided not to. It hadn't done her any good before, and there was no fight in him, he'd just ignore her until he fell asleep.
She opted instead to ask him what he was thinking trying to move around with out help.
"Why didn't you ask for help?"
He didn't respond, just sat there quietly.
"It's not a sign of weakness to need help once in a while Thor."
Still no response, but she wasn't going to leave until she got something out of him, so she pulled up a chair and sat next to his bed and waited.
This was an issue she knew they both had incredibly hard headed and stubborn as an ox. When two people like that got into a confrontation, it usually didn't end well.
But regardless, she sat there, waiting for him to talk.
It was maybe a half hour before he said anything.
"How have I come to this?"
Yang had honestly been starting to zone out at this point, but she still caught the question. "What are you talking about?" although she had a good idea of what he meant.
"I was once one of the strongest warriors in the world, now…Now I can't even shave myself. I need help walking more than a few meters, and I can even see the world around me, how did this happen?"
She could tell he wasn't actually talking to her, just thinking out loud. "Thor, you didn't do anything wrong, it was all Adam, he's a monster…" she began but was cut off by him slamming him first into the wall, with surprising strength given his condition, though he noticeably winced from the out burst.
"No, he didn't!" He shouted, and this statement just confused Yang, what did he mean? Was there someone else who'd fought against him along side Adam? "I did this to myself, I got overconfident, and I blew myself up, I ignored all the warnings, pushed it too far and destroyed myself!"
"What are you talking about? I saw you get into a fight with Adam, your leg…"
"He did that!" He hissed at her "But the rest…I was brought down by equipment failure!" he shouted.
Yang realized this was the first time he'd actually talked about the fight, but he wasn't very clear, this outburst didn't really convey what happened all that well, but she thought she was getting the necessary picture.
"You mean…your equipment what…just exploded?" She could see him grinding his teeth, and was certain she was right. "How? I mean, why would it do that?"
He waited a few minutes before he actually gave her response "I pushed it past its limit. I've know for a while it needed to be tweaked, but I just never did it. Then it started to over heat, then Adam damaged it, and tried to stupidly finish him off, it was too much for the system to handle and it overloaded." He said as his voice got quieter and quieter in his shame.
So that's why he'd been burned and covered in shrapnel. She'd been wondering why he was injured the way he was, but this explained it. He'd gotten hot headed and rushed in with out thinking, just like she had.
"Why though?" she whispered to him
"Why what." He mumbled out.
"Why push it that far? You knew it wasn't safe right?"
He didn't answer, he just sat there quietly.
She thought he was done talking and made to stand up, but his voice cut the silence.
"For you and Blake, to keep him away from you."
"We were safe Thor, you didn't have to push it like you did, you could have just held him off…"
"He took your arm, I wanted his head."
She thought something like that was going on, he was after revenge. And it had backfired.
"Thor, I don't need you to avenge me, once I'm better, I'm gonna do it for my self." She said sternly, but not unkindly. "But what I can use your help with is finding my sister."
Thor didn't give many signs of perking up at this, but Yang thought she saw his head turn up a little at it.
"She went off with Jaune, Ren, and Nora, doing God knows what. I'm going after her once I'm back to full health, and I want you to come with me, but if you don't get your shit together, I'm leaving you here to wallow in your own self-pity."
It was a bit harsh, but she had the feeling Thor didn't like his truths sugar coated. She stood and turned to leave the room "Make up your mind quick if you want to get better or not."
And with that, she left the room.
That night Yang couldn't sleep. She had too much on her mind, and what was worse, she had an itch in her right elbow. Given she no longer had one, that made it all the most frustrating.
As she lay awake, she thought she heard something coming from Ruby's room. At first, she ignored it, but then. She heard a loud "THUD," and jumped out of bed to investigate.
Running into the hall, and opening the door to Ruby room, she saw Thor on the ground struggling to get the bed sheets from him.
She ran over to help him, but he was still fighting and flailing with his arm and leg.
She tried to help him, but as soon as she got close, he started swinging at her.
"Thor, it's me! It's Yang!" She shouted at him, he was soaked again, and as he calmed down, she peeled the sheets off him. His shirt stuck to him like he'd been in the down pour for hours, what hair was left on his head stuck together.
Another Nightmare, she knew that much. He was panting and had back himself up against he bed. Even without his eye's showing the look of terror was evident on his face.
She reached down and touched his shoulder, which he violently jerked away from. "Thor it's me, calm down, I'm here, nothing is going to happen."
"Yang?"
"Yeah, it's me. Can you hold on for a minute? I'm gonna run and grab something, will you be alright on your own for a minute?"
He nodded in response, and she ran out of the bedroom to the kitchen.
The quiet was crushing him as he sat on the floor alone. The dream was much more vivid than normal, he hadn't taken a drink before going to sleep, trying to save what little he had. But this had been bad, one of the worst yet.
His heart jumped as he heard someone come running back, only to realize it was Yang.
He heard the splash of water and then felt something cold against his forehead. It took him a moment to realize she'd come back with a wet rag and bucket of water, and she was wiping the sweat off of him.
"I'm gonna take your shirt off okay?" she said in a soft tone, apparently trying to keep him calm. He didn't say anything, just nodded.
He felt his t-shirt sticking to him as she peeled it off, he was thoroughly soaked. He jumped as the cold cloth started wiping around his bandages. But it felt good, cooling and soothing.
"Alright, that should help for tonight, but you're gonna need to get a proper bath tomorrow, you're starting to smell really ripe."
He hadn't given his personal hygiene much thought this whole time, and he began to feel a little embarrassed.
"Well, we'll figure that out tomorrow." She said as she stood to leave.
His hand shot out to grab her wrist to stop her"Where are you going?"
She hesitated for a bit "I was gonna toss this water, get you into bed, then go back to sleep."
"Please…don't leave me alone."
His tone of voice scared her. He was an entirely different person now, all his normal confidence was gone, the bravado vanished like a puff of smoke after the fall of Beacon.
She almost couldn't reconcile the man he used to be with the man he was now.
But she felt pity for him, and pulled her wrist from his hand, only to grasp his hand in turn. "I'll stay right here."
She helped him into his bed and lay him down, never letting go of his hand.
She sat on the edge of the bed and waited for him to go to sleep.
Once she was sure he was asleep, she let go of his hand to go to her own bed. As she reached the door, she heard whimpering and turned around to look Thor in the face. He was starting to sweat again.
She grabbed his hand and whispered in his ear. "It's alright, I'm still here."
She hadn't expected that to do anything, but she'd be damned if it didn't seem to calm him down.
She'd read about this sort of thing, people who suffered from PTSD calming in their sleep with someone near them, or something like a comfort animal.
As she Climbed into the bed, she remembered doing this for Ruby when she had nightmares. Sitting, so her back was flushed against the headboard, she played Thor's head on her chest, which was supposed to be soothing, something about a human heart beat was calming to people.
Thor stayed quiet and slept, and she tried to get comfortable, which was a challenge. She wasn't in a good position, and Thor smelled really strongly. But she could just leave him to suffer from these nightmares, so she'd tough it out, for tonight at least.
'Thump Thump, Thump Thump, Thump Thump.' That was all he heard as he awoke from the haze of sleep, a steady beating.
He rose and realized someone was in bed with him. It took him a moment for him to remember what happened the night before, the nightmare, Yang coming in, his begging, to not be left alone.
He slid to the edge of the bed and put his face in his hand. He was pathetic, a mere dream rendering him little more than a child.
"Thor?" he heard Yang voice from behind him.
"Yes?" he responded quietly.
"Do you remember what we talked about last night?"
He didn't answer right away, but eventually said "Remind me."
"You need a bath, let's go." She said, and before she could stop her, she hooked herself under his arm and carried him to the bathroom.
"What are you going to bath me now?" he said indignantly.
She laughed at this "No, but I'm going to get you started." She said as they entered the bathroom and she sat him down on the toilet.
He heard the water running, and the tub filling up. It stopped suddenly, and he heard something plop down in the shallow water.
"Okay, I got some water in the tub, but I put a medical chair in there for you to sit on. The shower nozzle is a hose head so you can use it to clean yourself off. But first, we need to take those bandages off, they need to be redressed anyway, we'll do it once you are done."
She could tell he didn't like the idea of her seeing him without the bandages on, to bare his injuries to the world.
She knew he wasn't shy about his body, but all his stitches and burns were somehow incredibly embarrassing to him, but he didn't fight her on it.
They stuck to his skin as he peeled the wrappings off, and for the first time, she saw the extent of his injuries, cuts, burns and three incredibly nasty puncture marks in his chest and stomach.
Finally, all that was left was the wrappings in his head. As she reached up to take it off, he grabbed her wrist.
For a moment, If he could see, they'd be looking each other dead in the eye. "Thor, it has to come off."
He didn't respond but let go of her hand, and let her take it off.
She wasn't prepared to see what she saw. A long laceration ran from his brow down to his mid cheek, cutting his eye in half. The socket looked like a bundle of cuts and burns, looking like raw hamburger.
The rest of the area was covered in a combination of long narrow cuts and pitted holes. His left eye was swollen shut and looked like his eye socket had been broken.
But she didn't make a sound, she didn't want to alarm him. All his bandages were off, and he sat before her in his underwear, which she had seen before, but he seems so much more exposed now.
"Come on." She said, helping him up to get him into the tub.
Lowering him into the chair, which was more of a stool really, so he sat just above the water, letting his leg soak in it.
"Here." She handed him the shower head and set a bar of soap in his lap. "The trigger on the head will start the water flow and the soaps in your lap. I'll leave you to it."
With that, she stood up to leave and give him his privacy.
"Oh, I'd take my underwear off If I were you, just a tip. When you're ready to get out, bang on the floor three times. The drain is right in front of you, and I left a towel next to the tub for you."
Thor washed himself as best he could with one arm, and while it wasn't an easy task, it felt good. Both to finally be clean, and to be able to do it himself.
After finding the bar of soap, he started to lather it up and scrub himself with a wash cloth. Fumbling in his private darkness, he found the shower head and rinsed himself off. The sensation felt good, but over his injuries, it also felt uncomfortable. It was an odd numb sensation over his cuts, and his burns felt hot again as the water passed over his skin.
The steam was relaxing, and the water surrounding his legs was comforting. He hadn't taken that long to clean himself, he didn't have to spend as much time washing his hair as he would of normally, it was still extremely short even in the areas where it had started to grow back in.
But he didn't want to get out yet, it was warm and comfortable here, and he didn't have anything else to do today... or any other day.
So he sat back, and let his mind wander. He thought of how he was going to get out of the tub, who would come to help him and when he'd get this chance again to get clean. He didn't mind being dirty after a fight or when in the wilderness, but just sitting around doing nothing, getting filthy, felt shameful in a way, like he was saying he didn't care.
But, that was how he felt wasn't it? He was a useless lump right now, and even if he ever made a full recovery, or what that amounted to for him now, he'd at best be half as strong as he was before the fight with Adam.
He could get prosthetics, but those weren't the same as a flesh and blood arm, not matter what they said. It would be a foreign object on his body.
Not to mention he would be blind in his right eye from now on. The Doctors and suggest a prosthetic for that as well, but unlike arm or leg replacement, they couldn't just be put on, he'd need to have it surgically implanted, and he wasn't going to let himself be put under and cut open.
As he thought, he absent mindedly brought his hand up to where his right eye had been and felt the mangled mess that was left. He didn't know if it was the shrapnel or the force of the blast that had so severely damaged his eye, but he guessed it was the shrapnel.
Suddenly finding himself incredibly anxious, he pulled the plug of the tub, and let the shallow water drain out.
He reached around for the towel that had been left for him and dried himself off as quickly as he could, sometimes being too rough on his still healing injuries. But he felt the need to suddenly leave the room, and he didn't have a clue as to why he felt the need to so suddenly or so sharply.
He pulled the clothes in after the towel and tried to dress, but only managed to his underwear on and the t-shirt.
He took his leg and stamped on the floor of the tub three times, hard, much harder than he needed to.
He waited for a minute, then two, then ten. Before long he lost track of time he was attempting to keep and started to panic.
'How long was it now? An hour? Two? More?" was all he could think. He hauled himself out of the tub and started to crawl to the door, dragging his burns and cuts along the floor. He felt all the injuries screaming a railing against the treatment, but he needs to escape.
He got to the door and he was realized to find that as he touched it, it was open a crack, not latched shut. He pulled it open and flopped out into the hall. Bracing his back against the wall, he pushed himself with his leg up the wall into a standing position.
Using his arm to brace himself he started to make his way down the hall.
"Yang?!" he called and waited for a response. There was none. "Mr. Xiao Long?!"
Again, no response. His heart rate was going a mile a minute. Had they left him here? No, that wasn't in their nature, when ever both were going to be out, they'd tell him, and they were never gone for long.
Thumping down the hall on his one leg, using the wall to keep him standing, he suddenly felt the floor fall out from under him.
He had forgotten in his panic about the stairs. He'd never seen them, of course, being blind from the time he came into the house, but he heard them being used. But he hadn't thought of them because he'd only used them to get upstairs once, and he has drugged out of his mind then.
But the fall was taking too long, why was he still in the air. No sooner than he thought this…
He was shaking, no that wasn't right, someone was shaking him.
In his blind state, he hadn't even realized he was being woken up.
"Thor, wake you're dreaming again!" Yang's voice rang in his ear.
As the fog of the dream was shaken off, he realized he was still sitting in the tub. He also realized that he'd been screaming during his dream fall, and heard the last notes of it as he came back to reality.
He was wet, not from sweat this time, but from his bath. The water around his feet was still warm, meaning he hadn't been out that long.
"You okay?" Yang's voice was hesitant but firm in its own way, reassuring in fact.
"Just, another bad dream." He said in a mumble. Which was true, it was bad, he was alone and abandoned again, but this one was weird. In the dreams he'd been having, he could see again, this one blended so perfectly with his real activities, he'd dreamt blind.
That was scary in its own way, but he didn't need to burden anyone else with his problems.
He also realized he was totally naked in from of Yang, and found he didn't care in the least. He was so scared that it seemed totally inconsequential. They were getting so real that they were blending between the sleeping and waking world.
If this trend continued, how would he ever know the dreams from reality? Was he losing his mind? He didn't know if he was but was sure that if things continued on as they had, he would.
Yang draped the towel over his shoulders, both to dry him off and give him some semblance of privacy. If it weren't for the fact he was in such distress all the time and was recovering so horribly, she might have been embarrassed walking in on a friend in the middle of a bath, well a male friend at least.
But right now, it felt more like she was a nurse and he was a patient. She hated the comparison, but it was the closest thing to what their relationship was now, more patient and caregiver rather than friends.
"Here, I'll help you up." She said as she got under his arm and lifted him up, not bothering to help him get dressed, but walking him to his room.
She helped him to bed and covered him with a blanket while looking away to preserve what little privacy he had.
"I'll grab your clothes, just hold on for a minute, okay?"
He didn't verbally answer her, but nodded, his jaw clenched so tightly she wondered how he hadn't broken his teeth yet.
Rushing out, she went to get his clothes.
Taiyang knew Thor wasn't getting better, not like he should anyway. His mental and emotional injuries weren't something he could just get over. But physically, he just wasn't where he should be.
Even as severe as it was, with Aura, he should have been up and around by now, ready for prosthetics.
Yang was there already and was miles ahead of him. They had kept that a secret, not wanting Thor to get discouraged, but Yang was frankly thriving now.
He had a suspicion as to why she'd taken such a sudden turn for the better. Thor being around had woken her innate desire to help others. She'd done it when Rose had died and taken care of Ruby. She may be hot headed and quick to fight, but she was also capable of great compassion and was naturally nurturing. Thor was in such a sorry state, he'd helped her go back to that mind set.
Which was perfect for Yang, but Thor was still nearly helpless. Taiyang didn't know the boy all that well, the time he'd spent with him probably wasn't a great indication of his real self. But all reports said he was strong, physically anyway, in a fight. But he had taken his loss harder than almost anyone else he'd ever seen, he'd never seen someone shut off their aura.
That problem was, he was certain, psychosomatic. Letting him work through it wasn't working, he needed a kick in the pants to jump start him.
"Dad, how come I've never heard of this place?"
"It's not a secret or anything, it's just that typically only full-time Hunters need it."
"So this place." Yang said looking at the brochure "really helps stimulate Aura in hunters?"
"Yup, something in the hot springs helps with Aura recovery, we don't know what it is, but it works."
Yang didn't think that was right, how could she not of heard of this? Especially if it was here on Patch? She knew that there were some hot spring resorts in the mountains regions, but one that helped recover Aura? She'd of heard about it, right?
"You think this will fix his Aura problem?"
"I know it will, and once he get's that squared away, he'll be up in no time," Taiyang said with confidence.
Yang was skeptical, but at this point, she'd try anything to get him up and going. Because if wasn't at least starting to show signs of getting better like he should, within the next two or three days. She'd leave without him. She didn't want to, but she couldn't put it off much longer with no sign of progress on his part.
"Okay, I'll take him up there tonight."
As Yang walked off to Thor's room, Taiyang breathed a sigh of relief. He thought she'd figured him out there for a second.
The story about the Aura stimulation hot spring was total bull spit. He'd come up with the idea while watching a documentary on legends, and one was about spring that restored health and vitality.
He'd had a friend fabricate the brochure, well not completely, there was a spring hotel there, but he needed it modified to bolster his story.
If his hunch about Thor suppressing his own aura with knowing it was right, then he believed he could get him to jump start himself with the story.
Granted, he didn't like tricking Yang, but it if he didn't trick her, then she'd have to lie to Thor, and he didn't like the idea of compromising her integrity like that.
Worse case, it didn't work, and they were back at square one, only now he'd have to deal with a very pissed off daughter. But hell, he'd dealt with that before.
"So this place will help me recover?"
"That's what it says, and my dad thinks this will get you Aura jump started and get you healing quickly like you're supposed to be."
"Let's go, let's go now," Thor said in the most excited voice he'd used since he woken up after the fall. He'd seen these type of springs before, how they healed varied from one to the next, but he was by no means unfamiliar with the type.
"Okay, hold on second." Yang said a bit defensively "We'll go, my dad booked a private cabin for you already, but we won't be leaving until tonight. We got to get packed and everything."
Thor slumped a little at this, but his internal excitement was overwhelming. At last, he'd be able to see the world again.
That night, they were packed and ready to go, Thor was sitting in the back seat of the car, waiting. Yang finished talking to her father about the specifics of the where they were going and then climbed into the car herself.
She could drive one handed, and while she didn't prefer to, he lest her prosthetic arm behind, hoping this would be the last time she'd need to hide it from Thor. Granted, given he couldn't see, she could probably have gotten away with it, but he was so full of surprises, she didn't want to risk him hearing or touching it.
Heading off into the night, she found herself feeling something she hadn't felt in a while.
Hope.
The Cabin, she could see as they approached, was a single story building. The vapor rising behind it in the mood light was a clear indication of the small, but private, hot spring it had behind it. That's what this place prided itself on, the numerous smaller hot springs that let the renters have an individual experience.
That seemed a bit too convenient to her, that when they needed a private area for Thor, it just so happened to be the one that could heal him?
Shaking her head, she pulled up the cabin and parked the car.
"We're here." She said to Thor, who had been extremely quiet the whole ride. She suspected that, despite his hope, this scared him too. The idea it might not work, and the disappointment that would follow were scary enough to her, she couldn't imagine what he was going through. "I'll help you in, then I'll unload the bags."
He nodded at this, and she got out and opened his door, and did the familiar underarm maneuver to get him in.
The inside of the cabin was furnished nicely, if modestly. Their was only one bedroom, and she helped Thor to it, where she layed him down on the bed.
Looking around the open floor plan, she took in the cabin. The living room and kitchen were open with no barriers, with an island counter functioning the only separation between the two.
She then went back to the car and unloaded their luggage. They had enough clothes and toiletries to last them the four days they were staying, which shouldn't have been hard to carry. But minus one arm, she found it a bit cumbersome.
But after a few minutes, she managed to get everything in. Sighing, she looked at the clock, and it was just past 11:30. That was much later than she thought it would have been when they left, but there it was.
She went into the bedroom and found Thor sitting on the edge of the bed. "You want to try and get in tonight, or do you want to wait until morning."
His face told her he wanted to get right to it, but he hesitated before answering. "It's late, we'll do it tomorrow."
She was a bit relieved at this decision. She was tired and really want to get some sleep. "Okay, we'll try it the first thing in the morning, get some sleep, good night Thor."
"Goodnight Yang."
With that, she went to the couch and plopped down. "This is really comfortable for a couch, " was the last thing she thought as she faded off to sleep.
Yang didn't know what had woken her up at first, but a quick look at the clock told her she'd be asleep for less than an hour.
Standing up, she rubbed her eyes. "What the hell?" she looked around for something that may have woken her up, but didn't see anything.
That is, until she looked out the back door, and saw Thor sitting in the hot spring. With a bottle of something in his hand.
"You're gonna wait till tomorrow huh?" she said as she approached the hot spring.
"It's tomorrow right?"
He was technically right, it was past midnight, but how he knew that when he couldn't see, she didn't know.
He looked totally at ease, with a bottle of champagne in his hand, which she had no clue where he got that from, but left it alone for now.
His bandages were all off and was stark naked. Looking away with a flush in her cheeks she spoke again "You know you aren't supposed to drink in hot water like that right?"
He just took another sip.
"Where did you get that anyway?"
"In the refrigerator, found that thing by mistake as I hobbled my way out here."
She sighed at this, of course, he did. She didn't know if this place stocked by the owners, but if it did, she bet there was an up-charge on anything they used.
She was still stressed from the drive and getting here, but now she didn't feel like she could sleep.
She looked at the spring, and it looked so welcoming.
"Screw it." She said out loud and stripped down to her birthday suit and climbed in. Thor couldn't see anyway, and she wanted to relax a bit herself. "Give me that." She said to take the bottle from Thor and taking a long drink of it herself. She knew this wasn't advisable, but her aura would deal with the issues anyway, she might as well have a little bit of fun.
Thor didn't exactly feel any healing properties of the spring, not overtly anyway. But in the water, he felt a calm peace he hadn't felt in a while wash over him. The Alcohol helped, he was sure, but this felt purer, more natural.
He heard Yang moving in the water, and he was frankly glad for the company. He didn't want to ruin her sleep, but he didn't want to put off this any more than he had to. He needed to get better yesterday.
They sat there for a while in a peaceful silence, and Thor started to feel a bit light headed. The alcohol and hot water were starting to affect him, he felt so…loose.
"Yang…" he started to say but trailed off.
"Yes?" she stated in a tone that made him think she may be feeling the effect as well.
"Do you believe in fate?"
The question caught her a bit off guard, it didn't seem in his character. But she answered regardless.
"I guess, a bit, but I think we make out own fate." She responded.
"What about the gods? Do you think they're out there? Watching us?"
That one made her uncomfortable. She remembered the book Blake had found what seemed like an eternity ago, she didn't want to follow this line of questioning, afraid it might reveal something about him she didn't want to know, that he was really crazy.
"I'm…not sure, I mean I guess they could be, there could be gods or a God, but I don't really think about it much."
"I believe they are out there." He said taking another long draft on the bottle. "Tell, me, have you ever heard of Odin?"
Despite the hot water and alcohol, she suddenly felt cold. She was going to find out if he was delusional mental patient or not in the next few minutes, like it or not.
"Is he a god?"
"King of the gods, he can see the future…like my father." He said. That made her feel better, the way he was wording it, it seemed like he had just adopted the persona.
"Is he your God?"
Thor didn't respond right away, but after a few moments of silence said "Yes. I feel like this has been a test from him."
That wasn't a comforting thought for her. Not so much what he said, but what it implied about his view on the world, that his god could treat him so harshly.
"What kind of test?" she asked hesitantly.
"I don't know." He answered quietly. After that, he sat in silence for a long time. Then he spoke again "But maybe…Knowing I don't know, is part it."
Yang could hear the sadness in his voice, no confusion, he just sounded like he accepted it.
"Thor…"
He looked at her, and she could swear it was like he could see her. He smiled though.
"It's alright Yang, I thought I knew what I was supposed to do, I choose my path, the one I was certain I needed to take, but that road lead me here."
The tone of his voice was so different from a moment ago, he sounded almost happy.
"I've let go of the need to know why."
As Thor worked through his thoughts out loud, he was starting to think he got why he was here. He was used to being taught lessons about humility, kindness, responsibility, sacrifice and so on. But he'd never once been forced to truly and fully live a mortal. Here was was now, mortal, a stronger than average one, but still mortal, despite showing everything his father praised in a man and warrior.
The only answer he could think to answer the question as to why he could regain his powers is he wasn't supposed to. He was to live as a mortal man.
Why, he had no idea why, but he didn't think he ever would know. So he'd let go of that question.
This all hit him like a ton of bricks as he sat in this hot water.
Why he didn't know, it was maybe the calming sensation and vapor of the water, but he just seemed to unlock a hidden door in his mind, and it seemed right.
Yang just looked confused, her eye's narrowed in confusion….
Wait? He could see her eye's?
Thor looked shocked for a moment, and he just stared at her.
"Thor, are you alright?"
"Your eyes, I've never noticed how kind they are before."
Her eye's? Wait.
"WHOA!" She shouted, covering herself up "You can see again!"
No, he couldn't, not exactly, just out of his left eye, and it was still a bit blurry, but it was a huge leap over where he'd been.
"Just out of this one." He said indicating his left eye. "It's still blurry."
"Still, Thor, I'm not wearing anything!"
That baffled him, he didn't tell her to strip down, and he hadn't asked for his sight to return now to all times.
"How is that my fault?"
Well it wasn't, he didn't have any control over it. But she had been skeptical this place would work, but there was some pretty substantial evidence it did.
Her sudden irritation faded with that realization. "Give me that." She reached to grab the bottle and took a big knock from it.
She felt at ease, over all really. That she'd been drinking in a hot spring probably had something to do with it, but really, the fact that Thor had shown some recovery overlapped any sense of embarrassment she might have felt.
"It's not like you haven't seen me naked before," Thor said, with a bit of his old self, carrying through in voice.
He was right in that regard, technically, but it wasn't like this situation, he'd been in the middle of a stressed induced dream, and she'd treated him more like a hospital patient than anything else.
"Not the same thing." She said in a much calmer tone and slumped against the side of the pool of water.
Thor did the same thing opposite her, looking at the sky. "I still can't see too well." He said while staring almost absent mindedly at the sky "Are the stars out tonight Yang?"
She was a bit taken aback at the odd request but looked up none the less. "Yes, they are." She looked at him as he stared up. "Why?" she asked, but frankly didn't care if she got an answer at this point, she felt a pretty good buzz now from the champagne.
"I just feel better know they are out, I've always felt like if the stars were shining, someone somewhere was looking out for me."
That and taking another draft from the champagne was the last thing he remembered from that night.
Thor woke up the next day in his bed and didn't know how he'd gotten there. But he was awakened by the sunlight, for the first time in months, he could tell if the sun was up or not.
Granted, how his head felt, he wished for a moment he couldn't. He didn't know how much he and drank, but it was clearly more than he should have, and the hot water hadn't helped.
But for the first time, he could really see the scope of the damage to his body.
His left leg was cleanly severed, and the wound was by far the most appropriately treated. But the burns and cuts on his torso were much more ragged, not as clean. The three large golf ball size injuries were from the rebar he'd landed on.
Trying to look at his right shoulder, he couldn't get a good look. His right eye was gone, and he just couldn't get a look.
Grabbing his crutch, he hopped over to the bath room and braced himself against the door to flip the light on.
He looked in the mirror and finally saw his face for the first time since the accident.
The right side was cross crossed with cuts from the shrapnel, and a large burn covered his ear, ran down his jaw line and about half way up from his ear to the crown of his head. No hair was growing there, and ear looked like melted wax someone had tried to shape into an ear.
He ran his finger over the burn, it skin felt disgustingly smooth to the touch. But the worst was here his eye had been. It looked like ground meat to him, and that was after the doctors had worked on it.
Aside from that, there was a large cut running down from his brow, over his ruined eye and down to his jaw line. Another deep cut, but this one much shorter, ran across the bridge of his nose.
Stepping back, he looked in the mirror again to get the whole picture of what he'd become. His arm was gone at the shoulder, now leaving on a knot of forming scar tissue and still raw burns.
He didn't even look like himself anymore, he'd wondered how they had even identified him. He suspected he'd been identified from his gear because he didn't look at all like himself.
He wasn't vain about his appearance in a general sense, but he knew he had been considered attractive, but now, he looked horrible. He just seemed like a victim, and he hated when other's felt pity for him, empathy and sympathy he could stand, but pity made his gut churn.
But, he was alive, he was lucky in that regard. Other's hadn't made it out at all, and here he was, mangled, but alive, and he was starting to heal.
His sight returning was proof of that. He felt his Aura surging through him, and could almost feel the cuts knitting together the burns healing, and even the broken bones fusing.
He decided he wanted to take another soak in the hot spring, get himself some extra help in this area. Taking his walking crutch, he started towards the living room.
That was the first time he smelled it, food. Pancakes, he thought.
The cabin was an open floor, with the living room and kitchen were connected, and he could see Yang cooking on the stove.
It was weird, seeing her looking so…domestic. She was a hard as nails fighter, and thrill junkie. The idea she could cook was strange to him. He knew how to cook for himself, but it was utilitarian in every respect.
This smelled good.
Making his way over to the counter, he took a pancake and ate it with nothing on it. Despite the lack of syrup or any topping, it still tasted good.
"This is good." He said as she continued to finish her work.
"You're like my sister you know? Can't wait to eat, can't even wait for the toppings."
He shrugged at this "So you cook, fight, party, and take care of the sick?"
"Hey, I spent years taking care of Ruby, I had to learn something other than beating people up."
Thor smiled at that, and he felt weird smiling, like his muscles to do so had fallen into disuse. "So why pancakes?"
"Figure we'd be able to eat the easier than other stuff." She said as she turned the stove off and pilled the last of pancake on the tray. "Go ahead and eat, we'll get you into the spring when you're done."
Pulling a plate towards himself and stacking the pancakes high on it, he poured syrup on them and cut them with the side of his fork and started to eat, and felt properly hungry for the first time in a long time.
"You won't be joining me in the pool today?" he teased as he ate.
"We're here for you to get better, but I might come in later." He piled the dishes in the sink before continuing "No drinking this time, it's not good for you."
"You drank some last night." He countered before taking another mouth full of pancakes.
"Yeah and that was mistake…" she said distantly like her mind was else where.
That caught him as weird, but he ignored it and finished his breakfast.
Yang didn't want anymore drinking after what had happened last night.
She was grateful that Thor didn't seem to remember, which she also thought was odd. He hadn't drunk enough to make him black out, but she supposed the heat and his medication could have had a similar effect.
But she didn't want a repeat of last night.
She'd gotten a little too…Friendly with Thor last night.
Nothing happened, but she had kissed him once. He didn't seem to hate it, but he was pretty near the end of his night at that point.
She didn't know what made her do it if it was just the setting, alcohol, and the feeling of relief she felt in his getting better, but she had made a pretty strong move on him last night, and if he hadn't passed out, she didn't know what would have happened.
She didn't need that in her head now. She had enough on her plate without trying to hook up with a friend.
But damn it, it wasn't something she could put out of her mind. Once something was done it couldn't be undone, and while Thor didn't remember, but she did, and she could get it out of her head.
Thor sat on the couch as he watches Yang clean up, and felt a twinge of guilt over not being able to help her. But if his recovery stayed on course, he would be able to soon.
But as he watched her work with one arm, he wondered if he'd adapt to her. Despite her set back she was getting along with her life and adjusting. Plenty didn't, or don't, and not all of them had anything like that level of setback.
He was one of those who didn't, at least for those months he'd spent recovering. He was ashamed of himself for it now that he'd started to mend. He knew his injuries were worse than her's, but he'd made no progress on his own until something had begun to help him fix himself.
His condition, he the thought of it never left him, and not just his physical limitations. He didn't even look like himself. Vanity or not, a person's idea of self was at least in some way linked to their appearance, good or bad, and his was drastically changed.
"Yang!" he called after her as she finished up.
"What do you think of my…appearance?"
"When did you turn into a chick?" was her first response. She didn't really want to answer the question, and it reminded her of girls she'd known asking their boyfriends or girlfriends "Am I pretty?"
He was clearly a bit taken aback by the response, but only for a second as he responded: "No, what I mean is, do I still look like me?"
Oh, that wasn't as bad in some ways, but worse in others. The simple fact was, no, he didn't. But she didn't know how to say that without hurting him.
She looked him over, and he didn't look good, even with his new vitality and progress towards recovery. The numerous injuries that would no doubt be scars soon marred his previous good looks.
But she could still see him through the scars. His one remaining eye was still bright blue, his shaggy hair was the golden color she still recognized, and his face.
Half his face was so badly scared she couldn't recognize him. But she knew his face, and the part she could see was familiar enough that she could recognize him.
"I can see you're still you Thor, don't worry about your appearance too much."
"Oh, that's what all the pretty girls say to the ugly ones." He responded with a smirk.
She knew from that he was poking fun at her, but still, her answer had eased him up a bit, she could see it in his shoulders as he relaxed a bit.
"Come on, let's get you into the spring."
Yang helped him into the water, although she wasn't sure if she even needed to help him, seeing he'd managed to do it himself the night before. She'd wondered about that a bit, but knew that even in his condition he could get somewhere he really wanted to, as long as it wasn't too far.
He hissed as he went in hot water, she guessed his burns were still tender to the heat, but they did look better already, after only one day.
"So how'd you get in here last night? I mean, I get that you knew about where it was, but how'd you manage it?"
He took a deep breath and looked at her "I stumbled along the wall for a while, found the fridge, took a bottle of champagne, and made my way out the door. After that, it was just a matter of wandering around until I fell in."
Yang pictured him in her mind's eye just walking around the area until he fell in the water. It was funny and sad at the same time. Given his recovery, however, she felt it landed more on the funny side. So she laughed.
"Do I amuse you?"
"No…it's just…you're so stubborn, that you will literally walk blind into an unknown environment."
He shrugged "You getting in?" was all he said in response.
She looked at the water as it steamed, and the vapor rising over the still cool air. The day was a bit chilly, so why not?
"Yeah, I'll go change, be in a minute."
She went into the cabin and pulled her bag out and started to shift through it. She'd pack a bathing suit because she knew that at some point she wanted to try these springs out. She'd actually wanted to come to one of these for a few years now, but her dad never really cared to, and family vacations had been spent at the beach.
Not that she didn't like the beach, but she still wanted to come here.
Finding her bathing suit, she changed in the living room, which she wouldn't have normally done, but there wasn't anyone around for miles, except Thor, and he was sitting outside in a pool of hot water.
As she got ready to head back out, she grabbed a towel and opened the fridge.
It was stocked with all sorts of drinks, which she wanted to keep Thor from. Beer, which she knew he liked, and harder stuff, like Champagne.
There was water too, and that's what she grabbed for the two of them. She didn't want to say anything to Thor, but she thought he might be developing a drinking problem. He wasn't over the edge yet, but he'd had a drink of some volume almost every day since he'd started to stay with her and her dad.
He'd probably ask for beer when she brought him water, but she didn't think he knew it was in there, he'd blindly snatched the champagne out last night, but he wasn't able to see.
And if he drank, she knew she'd start too. She didn't have a problem drinking, but she was very much a social drinker if someone else did, she wanted to join in on the fun. After last night, she didn't want to go there again.
Pushing the thought to the back of her mind, she brought the water and towels out.
Thor watched as Yang came back out with towels and bottles of water. As she set them down, he was surprised at what she was wearing a swimsuit.
It was a simple yellow one piece bikini. He didn't know what he was expecting, but this was decidedly modest for Yang.
"What, see something you like?" her tone was teasing and he just huffed at it.
"It's just, well, I'd imagined you wearing something a little more…flashy?"
She laughed as she climbed in and swam to him to give him his water. "I'm not here to try and pick anyone up, I'm here to help you and enjoy a soak in some hot natural water."
He took the cap off with his teeth and took a sip." Yeah, that makes sense." He looked at her as she took a deep breath and went under the water for a few moments. She came up taking a deep breath and ran her hand over her head sweeping her long hair back.
"Ahh! That feels so good!" she sighed as she rested her back against the wall of the spring.
That looked like a good idea, and following Yang's example, he submerged himself in hot water.
The burns on his face felt much hotter for a few seconds but started to acclimate after a bit.
But he felt like he was under long enough and breached the water.
Taking a deep breath, he saw some of his hair covering his eye and used his hand to sweep it back. Granted he didn't have as much as Yang to push back, but it was still shaggy.
"So, you weren't going to try and pick me up?"
Yang was grateful for the vapor and heat, it hid her blush pretty well. Did he remember last night? How she'd made a fool of herself after drinking.
But as she examined his face, she was pretty sure he was just teasing her about the comment.
Her heart rate dropping, she splashed some water at him, which he shielded himself from with his arm, laughing.
"Smart ass" she snickered.
He didn't say anything for a bit but took another drink from his water bottle. The atmosphere was warm and pleasant, and not just because of hot spring. She felt like he was coming back more towards his old self.
She looked him over, and she noted the rate of recovery was remarkable. This place must really have helped. Hell even she was feeling better from being here like she was getting an energy boost from it.
But it was more than that, there was euphoria she couldn't pin point. It was a general sense of wellness that had over come her in the past day or so.
Well, being on vacation, even if it wasn't really one, certainly helped. But there was something in her gut that said there was more to it.
They sat them for about an hour before Yanf decided it was time to get out. This was nice, and all, but the heat was starting to get to her.
Thor protested a bit, but in the end hoisted himself out of the water to sit on the ledge while Yang climbed out and brought him his towel.
Drying herself off first, she went over to help him stand, then lead him into the cabin.
As Yang set him down on the couch, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
He felt much warmer than he'd initially thought, but he was cooling off quick.
Yang went into the bathroom to change, and for the first time since he'd woken up, he wondered how he, and her, would get back into the fight. She might be able to cope with one arm, but he at least needed a prosthetic leg.
Ideally, they'd both get full prosthetics, but they were expensive. He didn't know if Yang's father could afford one for her or not, but he knew he didn't have anywhere near the money to afford it. He'd saved some cash from his fights, but that wouldn't come close to covering the cost.
"If you're gonna change, do it while I'm in here!" he hears her voice call from the bathroom "I don't want to come out and see you naked this time!"
"You love it!" he called back, but grabbed his bag and pulled it towards him and opened it. He just grabbed a t-shirt and underwear and changed.
Yang came out a few minutes later, dressed similar to himself, a t-shirt and shorts.
"Yang, how are we going to…fight, even when I've recovered?"
She looked taken aback by the question, apparently not expecting it. But she still answered, "I didn't want to tell you until you started to get better, but we've been given state of the art combat prosthetics, gifts from General Ironwood himself."
That was a surprise to Thor, especially he didn't even know the man.
Yang apparently saw the confusion on his face, because she continued "For what we did during the fall, said it was the least he could do."
"But why us? Did he extend the offer to any one else?"
Yang shrugged at this "Couldn't say, but I don't know of anyone who was as badly hurt as you or me."
Thor didn't want to miss the chance, but it seemed too good to be true, he'd be walking and fighting again, on his own.
"Where are theses prosthetic?"
"At my house, you can try your when we get back, I think at this rate you'll be up to it. But I think we'll have to practice a bit before we're ready to hit the field."
Thor nodded at that, it made sense, given that he'd have to adjust.
"You're also gonna need to fix your hammer, the school sent over the pieces of your equipment…"
"No." He said suddenly "I'm not remaking that gear, my teachers were right, too much can go wrong. I'll make something else, but not that."
He didn't lie as he said this, but he left out that in some way, he felt that trying to replicate his real hammer was a mistake in the first place, almost a blasphemy.
"Okay, but you're still gonna need a new weapon, got anything in mind?"
"Yeah, I've got a few ideas."
Yang started the gas fireplace that came with the cabin as the sun begun to go down. It was getting chilly at night and she didn't really have a blanket to cover up with.
The light from the fire was casting a gentle glow over the room, and the warmth lapped over her body. This was incredibly relaxing, and she thought she might just pass out right there on the couch. But she had other things to do, so she forced herself up, and went into the one bedroom, where Thor was changing into his swim suit.
"You ready?" she asked, knowing full well that he was.
"You won't be joining me?" He said as he turned to face her.
"Not tonight, I'm gonna relax on the couch, maybe read a book, then if I don't pass out, I'll pull you out if the pool and get you to bed, but if I do fall asleep, well you got in fine on your own last night."
She was teasing him of course, she wouldn't leave him in there all night, but it was fun messing with him.
He rolled his eyes at her, and raised his arm up, letting her know he was ready to go.
She hefted him up and carried him to the pool.
After he was in the water, Yang went back inside, grabbed a book and started reading.
She'd been doing it for ten minutes before she realized she wasn't taking in a word of it. Her mind was elsewhere. Where that was, she didn't know, but she was starting to feel agitated that she couldn't relax.
She understood it was a paradox to try and relax, but it didn't help. Getting up, she looked out the back door to see how Thor was doing. He was fine as far as she could see, just relaxing with his head back resting on the ledge.
Going to the fridge, she noticed the Chanpage that was chilling in there.
Looking over the door to see if Thor was looking this way, she pulled one out and popped it.
She wasn't going to get black out drunk, but he needed to loosen up a bit.
Pouring herself a glass, she took a sip.
One glass had turned into near the whole bottle an hour later. She didn't know what had come over her, but this stuff tasted good, and she just kept knocking more back.
As dizzy as she was, she made her way to the fridge and popped another bottle. This time not bothering with a glass, but drank straight from it.
Looking out the screen back door, she spied Thor still in the water.
Smirking, she grabbed the third and final bottle and headed outside.
Thor heard the door open, but didn't look "I'm not ready to get out yet."
"You're not getting out, I'm getting in."
It was Yang's voice, but it didn't sound right. He looked at her, and she came out with two bottles of the champagne he'd taken the night before.
She set one unopened one next to him and stepped into the water without bothering to take her cloths off or change.
Thor looked from her to the bottle she'd placed next to him. Without a second more of the thought, he grabbed it and popped it. He took three large gulps of it before setting it down.
"Been drinking?"
She just smiled at him and took another swig from her bottle instead to answer his question.
He knocked back another swig.
"I kind of wanted to hook up with you, ya know?" she said, looking at the sky.
"Hmmm?" he muttered in response.
"Back when you first showed up at Beacon, I thought 'Damn that's a beautiful piece of man meat!'"
"Oh really?" he said, taking another sip.
"Yeah, sort of fell off after I got to know you though, seemed weird."
They both knocked back some more drink.
Thor looked into the stars, not really thinking about what she said.
It wasn't until he felt the water shift around him.
Looking back down, he saw less than a foot away from him.
"I'm still up for it, though." She plunged in and kissed him on the lips.
It wasn't graceful at all, but the passion wasn't lost on him.
He reached his arm behind her back as she's reached behind his. They linked up perfectly in the regard, his left arm, and her left arm, they mirrored each other in that regard.
They rolled in the water, drunk and hot.
Yang's head was throbbing the next day as she rubbed her temples.
She realized she wasn't on the couch, but in bed.
As she did this, the previous night's events came crashing down on her.
She looked over to see Thor asleep on the bed with her.
Well, she'd done exactly what she didn't want to do, she'd gotten drunk and made a fool of herself.
She remembered drinking and making out with Thor, but it got hazy after that.
She had flashes of memory, but nothing linear. The bed was wet, and she pulled the blanket off, to find with relief that she was still wearing the cloths she was wearing when he decided to take a dip in the spring.
So she had in all likelihood brought Thor back to his bed, and the two had passed out on the bed together, and nothing else had happened.
Thor was still fast asleep, and she decided to make her escape now before he woke up. She didn't know how much he remembered, probably more than her, given she'd drank a good deal more than him.
Waking up in his bed, he noticed it was wet, and he feared he'd had another episode. But he hadn't had a nightmare the night before. As he looked under the blanket and noticed he was still in his swimming trunks.
Rubbing his head, he thought back to the night before.
It took him a moment to remember what Yang had done and found himself confused, but not altogether unpleasant.
He'd never really thought of a relationship while he was here. But the idea that had come into his mind, that his lesson was to be mortal, then he'd be here for a long time, and he had started to think of his time here a much more permanent experience. He didn't know for sure if that was the case, but he felt that was close to the truth.
But she was drunk, and he was more than a little buzzed. Not exactly good decision-making skills on either of their parts in that situation.
But she'd drank much more than him, and he didn't know if she'd remember the night before. He hadn't blacked out this time because he'd stopped taking his pain killers, with his injuries healing, he didn't want them anymore.
He'd see how today went before he pressed the issue, and with that, he grabbed his crutch and got up for the day.
Yang was in the shower, so he just made his way to the couch to sit down and wait for her. He thought of making Breakfast but didn't think he could properly navigate the kitchen with one leg and one arm, at least not yet.
Yang took much less time in the shower than he thought she normally did. She came out wearing an outfit similar to what she'd worn the previous day. She looked at him for a second then looked away and headed to the kitchen.
"So." He began as she started to get cookware out. "Do you remember last night?"
She froze, only for a minute, but continued on her way getting breakfast ready. "Remember what?" it was possible he didn't remember and was just asking about the previous night.
"When you out into the pool, with a couple bottle of champagne."
Well, he remembered, so she might as well handle this now. "Look, Thor, I was drinking, I wasn't thinking clearly, just…let's just forget about it okay?"
She looked at Thor as he stood up from the couch and balanced himself with his crutch.
"What if I don't want to?"
He wasn't sure why he said, it but felt right, he didn't want to forget it. He was lonely here, and he was tired of it. He'd desired an emotional connection without even being aware of it.
But hadn't he known for a while, on an unconscious level at least? The dreams of being alone, the fact that he'd formed a bond as strong as he did with people he really didn't know that well, his closeness to Ruby.
He was lonely, and he was tired of it, the memory of the previous night just solidified it. More the fact he'd experience a close and fairly intimate encounter with Yang, and it had drawn a stark comparison between what he'd experienced, and what he was experiencing.
"What would be so bad about it?" He said as he hobbled toward her. Her face was showing signs of discomfort, but he pressed on. "I'm tired of being alone frankly, and I'm fairly sure what happened last night didn't just happen because you were drinking."
Yang didn't know what he meant exactly by being alone unless he meant in a general relationship sense or his lack of a family. But she thought he may have been right on the point of what she'd done last night. He didn't remember, but she'd done it the first night too. Granted both had been results of her drinking, but the fact that she'd still done it on two separate occasions… Well, she wasn't oblivious to the fact that alcohol was a disinhibitor, and it was just making her more likely to act on impulse desire.
But did she feel that way for him? Well, she'd felt a physical attraction to him early on, she'd told him that much. But what about emotional?
She liked him, a lot. He was confident, kind, strong and overall pretty fun. She didn't care about his looks, she didn't feel anything different about him now that he'd been severely scared than she did when he was basically the golden god of Beacon.
But did those feeling go beyond liking him as a friend? Well, she didn't know honestly. She did like him as a friend. Maybe more? Given her action the previous two nights, she thought she might, but she wasn't sure.
"So, let's say we pursue this. Where does it go? We hook up and what?"
He didn't look like he really had an answer ready for that. He looked a confused for a moment before answering. "Then we continue." He said, and it was irritating he didn't specify what he meant.
She was about to respond to this vague answer, but he kept talking. "We both almost died during the fall of Beacon. This life isn't so long as we can wait. Why not seize what affection we can?"
That didn't seem quite like him, too fatalistic, but it still rang true to her.
Maybe she should give this a chance, she didn't know if she'd live as long as she had originally planned, Adam had shown her, her own mortality, by dispatching her so easily.
What the Hell, life was short, and she didn't have other options at the moment, and she liked him anyway, what was actually holding her back?
She spoke "Alright." She was smiling as she said it "Let's give it a try, what's the worst that could happen?"
Thor smiled as he closed the distance between them. "Well, I'd say, grab some beer and let's head into the hot spring for our last day here."
Then he kissed her, and she returned it,
Yang had expected a lot more physical intimacy after they had talked, but really, she couldn't see much of a difference between how they were acting now, and when they had been at Beacon.
They had kissed, and that had gotten pretty heavy. But once they had the beer in the hot spring, Thor had calmed down and wasn't as aggressive in his advances.
She frankly was glad, because for all her flirty nature and comfort flaunting her body, she'd never had a serious relationship in her life, let alone gone past first base.
What he'd relegated himself to was talks of achievements and boasts of strength, which she felt she'd matched him blow for blow. It was sort of a game to him, bragging about his accomplishments, and challenging her to match or beat him.
But he wasn't hostile about it, and frankly, she felt he was embellishing his tales, but that felt like it was part of the game, to improve on the facts.
It was fun, but she felt it was odd, that she wasn't trying to do anything more physical with her. Every guy who had ever sought to hook up with her had tried to get to that part as quick as possible. Thor didn't seem to care for that, or at least it wasn't the primary concern, he wanted to talk and share stories.
But, as they sat in the spring and drank more beer, she felt it was going to get to the point of physical intimacy soon.
But she was having fun, trying to outdo each other. She almost forgot that they had agreed to be "more than friends," and she was starting to wonder if that agreement was ever going to become an actuality.
Thor took another swig from the beer they had brought out with them to the hot spring. It wasn't nearly as strong as what he'd been consuming, but he liked its taste more, to be frank.
Yang had been drinking pretty consistently as well, but he didn't think either of them was drunk, buzzed perhaps, but far from drunk.
"So…" he began, "If you could change one thing about your semblance, what would it be?" the question seemed to come at random as they had been talking, but it seemed like a good questions.
Yang didn't answer at first, seeming to think carefully before answering "I'd like it to stop the damage I take, so I don't have to actually experience it, just take it in a deal it back." She said as she took another sip of her beer, and grimaced. She clearly didn't like the taste as much as he did, but she still liked the lighter effect of the alcohol. "What about you? What would you change about your semblance?"
That was easy for him to answer if he wanted to be truthful. But that wasn't an option for him so he had to think quickly "I'd like to be able to alter the weather in a more…Creative way, I mean without dust assisting me, I'd like to make it rain fire without the need to mix in fire dust."
She snorted an laugh at thing "Yeah, that would be cool, but really, can that even happen?"
Thor smiled at this, more than she knew but he wasn't about to tell her that "I suppose not, but it's a hypothetical question, so going beyond reasonable limits is part of the fun."
Yang laughed and took a long draught from her beer. As she set the bottle down on the ledge, she smiled a smile he'd never quit on her before. Then she started to make her way through the water towards him.
"You know Thor, I really did consider hooking up with you when I first meet you, but I honestly thought my little sister had a crush on you." She wrapped her arm around his neck. "I didn't do anything because I thought she might like you." She looked him in the eye as she continued, "But she didn't have any interest in you, beyond friendship." She paused at this "Her loss I guess. But I think there is something that might just work here." She leaned in and placed her lip gently on his.
The kiss broke, and she spoke again " I want to see where this is going Thor, and I'm ready to take this as far as I can." She kissed him again, and he returned it with full passion.
They were hot and more than a little buzzed, but more than that, they were both in need of a human connection, in need of a profound physical connection.
And that night they made one.
A/N: Okay, there it is, please leave a review.