I had my first dream about the crash. It probably should have been traumatic, and maybe it's a sign of a minor flashback, but it was also so needlessly funny as well. I dreamed I was driving and skidded again, and was doing 360 spins no matter how hard I tried to stop it.
Should have been traumatic, right?
Well, my dream decided to take it a little too far and I kept doing spins over and over (like constantly, never slowing down) until even dream me took my hands off the wheel and was like "What…?"
I never even crashed in the dream. Just kept spinning until I woke up.
Cover Art: GWBrex
Chapter 31
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Dead pile up as ungrateful Jaune Arc flees to Vale – but will he be held accountable?
Atlas Times
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Jaune Arc CONFIRMED present in Vale. When will he be in your hospital and how to how do you get your name on the list?
Vale Daily Tribune
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Second riot in Atlas as those helped by Arc try to stand up to angry mob. Six injured and one killed.
The Mistral Review
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Global controversy over miracle healer likely to cast shadow on Vytal Festival, says Gillian Asturias
Vacuo Today
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Arc shoves two fingers up at Atlas
Kuo Kuana Express
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As thanks to Ozpin, and because he needed something to do, Jaune spent his day working in the infirmary with the faunus woman known as Kitsune, but who requested – quite firmly – that he call her Tsune. "It's a stupid name and whomever gave me it should feel bad," said the woman, unusual for having two faunus features, fox ears and a tail. It was uncommon but not unheard of.
She was… an odd woman. That was the only way to put it. Overly bright for a medical professional. He'd worked with doctors and nurses for years now and while they all put on bright faces for the public and their patients, they were usually stressed and overworked behind the scenes. Not unlike him. Beacon must have been an easier place than any hospital though, because it only had to cater to a couple of hundred people, and those people had both aura and a healthy lifestyle.
"Illnesses are common in the first few weeks but shouldn't be as big an issue now. It's when all those teenagers come from all over the world and are shoved in dorms. It's a breeding ground for infection. We call it first-year fever because it's the first years who suffer most. Their immune systems get better in following years."
"What about injuries?"
"Less than you'd think but almost always catastrophic when they happen." Tsune's tail wagged quickly as she held up a finger and explained. "Aura is obviously good for preventing most injuries, but when it breaks it breaks. This school uses live ammunition and bladed weapons so don't be surprised if you're attaching fingers sometime in the next few weeks. But hey, no one's been disembowelled in at least sixteen months. Most of the time it's terrible wounds, broken bones, concussions – we get a lot of concussions – and the occasional bullet wound. You ever dug a bullet out of someone?"
"The doctors did that before I saw anyone, and the patients were a little too dead to care."
"Yeah. Ozpin says I can't let anyone die and have you bring them back just because it'd be convenient to have them stop whining while I fix them up."
"That's a joke, right?" asked Elm from beside the door. "That was a joke."
"Hm?" Tsune looked over. "What was?"
Jaune laughed, sure – at least he thought he was – that the faunus woman was pulling their legs. Though, from a purely utilitarian standpoint, he could actually see a lot of logic in intentionally killing someone to make surgery easier and then having him bring them back. He was glad no one had done that. Or at least he hoped they hadn't. It occurred to him now that he'd never have known.
But a kid screaming and likely to die from their injuries, and me coming into the hospital soon. It'd almost be a mercy to finish them off, wouldn't it? No. There's no way they'd do that. Surely not. That'd be completely against the law.
"Basically, you're going to be my assistant," said the faunus. "Ozpin says it's to give you a job but Glynda says it's because half the student body would want to see you if they knew you were in Beacon, but that they're all too scared of me getting hold of them to come here."
"Is that a joke as well?" desperately asked Elm. "Because I'm hearing a lot of flags right now."
"Eh. I'm a licensed medical practitioner. It's fine."
"Has anyone ever died under your care?"
The faunus smiled ferally. "Not anyone I didn't fully intend to kill~"
Another joke. Jaune had the feeling he'd be clinging to that excuse a lot in his time here, but at least the work was varied. He spent the first few hours being shown around, then having the basic process of how to take in patients explained. It was a lot more care than he was used to dealing with on account of how his patients wouldn't be corpses for once. Exciting. A lot of it just came down to him leading them to a bed, stemming any bleeding, then coming to get her, but she showed him where all the various gauzes, bandages, and everything else were kept.
Surgery, she told him, would be saved for when that was really needed. Beacon didn't have a surgeon's theatre but sometimes you didn't have time to wait for one and a separate sanitised room had been set aside for if things got really bad. "Normally we're just stabilising them so they can be taken to a proper hospital, but it is what it is. You can't really afford to take your time when someone is bleeding out."
"It sounds stressful."
"Nahhh." Tsune waved her hand and laughed. "Working in a hospital is stressful. Childcare is stressful. This is downright relaxed. We get maybe three or four people a day and two serious cases a week. It'll probably get worse when all the transfers come but until then it's smooth sailing. I guarantee your first few cases will be colds or sprained muscles."
Tsune was almost correct. The first case was a dislocated shoulder. The girl brought in was shocked to see him, and then so stunned that she barely talked when he led her onto one of the beds. Awkward didn't go far enough to explaining it. The girl was at least a year older than him and yet she was tongue tied. The odd words that came out were stuttering and lost, and she hardly even noticed when Tsune started playing with her arm, moving it up and around and probing at the shoulder joint. Jaune could see the swelling where bone was threatening to come out of skin. It must have been painful.
"Distract her," said Tsune, casually.
He'd say she was pretty damn distracted already. Even so, he smiled. "Hey. What's your name?"
"Um. Ah. Mm. Vel-" There was a horrific grinding and cracking noise. "-ahhhhhhhhhh!"
The girl's body bucked on the bed and her arm spasmed, which might have dislocated it again had not Tsune released it with a cheerful smile and an "All done!" The girl heaved and almost threw up but caught herself at the last. Her long rabbit-like ears drooped down on the pillow and she groaned unhappily.
"I'm beginning to see why Glynda thought you'd scare people off," said Elm. "I've seen battlefield medicine delivered with more care. And I do mean in the middle of an active battlefield."
"I'm a strong believer in teaching valuable lessons," said Tsune. "Little Velvet here will do much better at avoiding a dislocated shoulder after this. Won't you?"
"Ysssmmmm…" whimpered the girl.
Good lord. Maybe it would have been kinder for him to kill Tsune's patients before she got around to practicing medicine on them. At least he could rest assured no one would be feigning sickness to try and see the famous celebrity.
/-/
There was no avoiding Weiss all day. It wouldn't have been a healthy thing to do anyway. News spread, as it tended to surrounding him, and it was during the lunch hour that the door opened and a familiar face stepped through. What should have been a surge of affection was instead a surge of panic, but he stamped it down and faced her with what he hoped was a confident smile. He didn't feel confident at all inside. Behind her came two other girls. One was blonde, the other short with dark hair. He was actually grateful for that because Weiss would never embarrass herself by causing a scene where other people could see.
"What happened last night?" demanded Weiss. Her first words to him. "Did you cut me off?"
Jaune panicked.
Elm cleared her throat. "That would be my fault. Jaune's scroll ran out of battery and we hadn't had the time to charge since leaving Atlas. He wanted to come find you and explain in person but I knew he'd need his rest for today. I felt it best he make a good impression on his first day at Beacon rather than cause a scene getting lost looking for you."
Weiss' eyes were on the larger woman before flicking back to him. Her shoulders, unbearably rigid before, were just a little looser now. "Is that true?"
"Y-Yes. I don't even know where your dorm is. And Ozpin asked me not to cause a scene until he could announce things this morning." He took a deep breath and stepped toward her, offering both his hands. "It's good to see you, Weiss."
Weiss sighed and placed her fingertips in his palms, then stepped forward to embrace him. "It is good to see you as well, obviously, but how did this come about at all? You told me we'd talk about things, Jaune. A partnership. I don't appreciate being left in the dark as to why my fiancé is at war with Atlas. I had to get the full story from my father." She scowled. "You know how that makes me feel."
He did know how that made her feel, but it wasn't like he hadn't been feeling his own share of misery at the time. Yet again though, it was his fault. He didn't know if Weiss meant it that way but that was how it felt to him. "Sorry," he said, lamely. "Everything happened so quickly. You know I'm not used to any of this. Being famous."
"That's exactly why you need to slow down, stop making impulsive decisions, and talk to me. I am used to this and I can steer you through it if you let me. But only if you talk to me. We could have avoided all of this if you had." She stepped back. "Not that having you here isn't a pleasant surprise. It is. It's just that I wanted to focus my attentions on Beacon and now I'm going to have to help you navigate this latest disaster."
"You don't have to…"
"I do." Weiss poked his chest firmly, though she did offer him a tiny smile to go with it. "This is a partnership. Your problems are my problems, and partners do not leave one another struggling. Besides, I'm at the centre of this now. People are saying half the reason you came to Vale is to be with me."
"And the other half?"
"Because it's your home kingdom."
"I lived in a small village in the hinterlands. I barely even knew Vale."
"I know that," she said, "but most people writing or reporting on that have only ever known life in a city. They can't understand that people living outside wouldn't identify with the kingdom in some way. You should ignore it all anyway. People are fickle, the media even more so. When I quit singing, they had a field day accusing me of turning my back on my fans and not respecting them."
"You're not angry, then?" He'd expected more in the way of spitting rage, and maybe it was having spectators that was keeping it back. "I thought you'd be furious at how I handled that interview. I let it get to me. I know I shouldn't have."
"I am frustrated. This situation isn't ideal at all. On the other hand, I'm not immune to my own temper, Jaune. You're my fiancé." Her gaze hardened. "Watching those people mock all your hard work, and then hearing the audience agree, made me so mad. I wanted to shout and scream at them." A shuddering breath left her. "But it's how things are, isn't it? You, I, and any other huntsman knows what it means to drain your aura dry. They don't. They can only guess and, as usual, their guesses are far from the mark."
This was going better than he'd thought it would. Jaune tried not to let his relief show and instead focused on acting normal. After their call, and with all the drama, he'd assumed she'd come in like an angry goddess and try to force him back to Atlas. Maybe it was a lack of confidence that had him forgetting that she loved him, and that people attacking him would upset her just as much as it would for him to hear people attacking her. They were a partnership, for better or worse, in sickness and in health. And, presumably, in shitty PR positions.
"I'm surprised you're working here, though," she added. "There hasn't been a death in Beacon for years. Have you already been to the hospital?"
Jaune sucked in a breath.
"We're still hashing that out between Beacon and Vale," interrupted Elm. She came to his rescue again, pushing herself into the conversation in a no-nonsense manner. "You can't just show up and demand to see their dead, Miss Schnee. There is a lot of planning that needs to go into it. You should leave the arrangements to the headmaster for now."
"Oh. Of course. I didn't realise." Laughing lightly, she stepped back. "I should introduce you to my teammates, shouldn't I? They must be feeling left out waiting this long." The cue was obvious and the two girls stepped up.
The blonde had a quizzical look about her. Confident, smiling, but as though she was looking at something she didn't quite understand. He was sure she'd be different to most people but he wasn't most people. She looked him up and down and the saying "never meet your heroes" came to mind. He must have looked a lot less special in person.
Far shorter, and half hiding behind her sister, was the young girl that must have been Weiss' team leader. The one she'd originally been furious about. And, in a way, the cause of a lot of the drama. Not that it was her fault or that he could blame her. The real cause was the bastard who hacked and leaked their conversations in the first place. The younger girl met his eyes timidly and then looked away, going white instead of red. Fear instead of embarrassment. He doubted she was afraid of him, which meant she was afraid of making a scene or something else.
"Jaune, this is my leader Ruby Rose and her sister Yang Xiao-Long. Girls, this is my fiancé Jaune Arc."
Jaune extended a hand. "A pleasure to meet you both."
The blonde looked at his hand and then shook it quickly. Almost too quickly. She then nudged her little sister who did the same for all of half a second. Awkward didn't begin to describe it. I'm just a normal person. Shake my hand like one. But, of course, they didn't. And it wasn't really their fault. He'd been all over the television, on the news, in the newspapers, and that had only gotten worse in the last few days. Given the accusations toward him against them, it was probably good they didn't hate his guts.
"Yang and Ruby know the real story of our calls and messages," said Weiss. "It was almost inevitable after what was said. It wasn't a good moment."
"What Weiss means is that I nearly broke her nose," said the blonde, testing the waters. "Hearing that she and you were trying to oust my little sister wasn't easy. I might have overreacted."
"You didn't," said Weiss. "Your anger was fully warranted."
"Misplaced, though."
"Again, not your fault." Weiss looked back to him. "I had to have them all sit down and listen in full to the recordings that were leaked. Once they did, it was obvious I was just ranting to you and not actually planning anything against Ruby. They calmed down once it was clear the newspapers were making up drama for the sake of it. It helped that Ruby and I had settled our problems before that, too. Things might have been worse otherwise."
"Then I should thank you both for sticking by Weiss," said Jaune.
Yang smirked and said, "no problem" but Ruby only "eeped" and hid behind her sister. Yang laughed and forcefully dragged her out, squashing her between Weiss and herself and keeping here there so she couldn't run away.
"You'll have to forgive my sister here," said Yang. "She's had a bit of a hero worship thing going on for you ever since you came onto the scene. The man who saves thousands every year. You're kind of her biggest hero."
"Y-Yang, no!" whimpered the girl.
It was cute. Jaune forced himself to think that. In reality, he felt his stomach clench and his world shrink in just a little more. So much for Weiss' teammates being able to see him as more than just his celebrity status. It wasn't their fault, though. He'd expected too much. "Ahah. Yeah, I guess that's fair." Jaune scratched his hair and adopted his talk-to-fans voice. "It's nice to meet you, Ruby. Thank you for accepting Weiss despite her thorns, and I hope you'll look after her."
Ruby flushed and bobbed her head rapidly.
"My thorns?" asked Weiss. "And what exactly does that mean?"
"That you're a rose?"
"Hmph." Weiss closed her eyes, but she did smile. "I'll accept it, though calling me a rose with Ruby Rose right here might get confusing. It's not the worst pet-name you've tried to give me. Snow Angel is still off the table."
"I notice your last teammate is absent," said Jaune.
"Strategic decision. We weren't sure what your reaction to her would be."
Jaune grimaced. "I'm not sure what my reaction would be either. They know about her, then?"
"We know," said Yang, sighing. "Bit of a shocker to find out your quiet teammate is actually an ex-con who technically was an accomplice to the murder of your other teammate. Like, who has to put up with that?" She managed a wry grin; at least she was getting a little more comfortable around him. "I thought my team would be simple. Shows what I know."
"Blake isn't bad," said Weiss. "We've… talked. We're still talking. It's not easy. I hardly even remember it. I saw his face when he killed me but Blake was hardly even there. But you saw my body and I know that's something you remember. You don't have to meet her if you don't want to. Blake understands. Staying away was actually her idea."
Great. That made her sound so reasonable, which made him the unreasonable one. Which was unfair given she was a terrorist. Former. Oh, whatever. She helped kill Weiss. If not for his Semblance, she'd be dead. Though, if not for his Semblance she wouldn't have been there in the first place. That didn't absolve her or Adam Taurus of their crimes, but if Weiss was trying then he had to as well, didn't he? Otherwise, he'd be sabotaging her efforts to make up with Blake. Jaune forced his mouth shut and said, "I'll keep an open mind."
"That's all I ask. I'll text you our dorm number if you want to visit. We should spend some time together this weekend. Maybe go on a date." Weiss smiled. "I'm sure Team RWBY won't mind showing you around Vale as well."
"It's alright with me," said Yang. "You're not as high and mighty as I expected."
"Thanks," said Jaune, trying to ignore the confirmation she'd come in with expectations. Everyone did. First impressions were important, and the worst thing was that almost everyone already had a first impression of him long before they met him.
"Ruby will get over her hero worship as well. Trust me, she was like this when she first met Weiss as well. Though less hero worship and more not knowing how to make friends."
"Yaaang," whispered Ruby. "Stop. Not in front of him."
"She used to have the biggest crush on you-"
Ruby, pushed too far, lunged at her sister and practically tackled her to the floor. There was much laughter, mostly from Yang, and a patient sigh from Weiss. "See this?" she asked. "This is what I have to deal with on a daily basis."
"It sounds busy. Is it fun, though?"
Weiss eyed the two sisters for a moment and then rolled her eyes. "I guess it is amusing at times. When I'm not the butt of whatever stupid argument is taking place. We should go. Miss Tsune looks like she's ready to kick us out."
"Not at all," said the faunus. "Stay. Choose a bed. I can run some blood tests if you like."
Yang and Ruby froze, then paled, then scurried for the door. Weiss followed at a healthy clip, though not before calling back to him. "It's good to have you here, Jaune. Let's spend the weekend together. We can fit in a visit to the hospital beforehand."
Weiss didn't know how much that bothered him. And, in a way, it was his fault that she didn't know. He smiled flimsily and waved back. "Looking forward to it."
Once they were gone, Elm pushed herself off the wall and approached him. He knew from the way she walked that he was in for a telling off, and she delivered it with a swift rap of her fist atop his head.
"Ow."
"Don't ow me. When are you going to find the guts to tell her how much you hate heating at the hospitals?"
"I don't know. Someday. Weiss loves that I do that. It's not easy."
"This isn't healthy. Bottling up your feelings isn't going to make them go away. It's just going to scatter shards of glass across the floor when it finally does come out, and then you'll both be tripping over those as you try and sort the problem out." She sighed and ruffled his hair. "A healthy relationship requires good communication. If she loves you half as much as she claims to then she'll listen to you and understand."
"Yeah…"
"Jaune," growled Elm. "I know that yeah means. It means you're planning to never bring this up. Gah. When did my job description change from bodyguard to relationship counsellor? Talk to her. Sort things out. You can't keep-"
The door opened again before Elm could continue. Jaune prayed for a broken bone. Something to distract them.
It wasn't that, but it wasn't anything bad either.
"Jaune!"
"Pyrrha?"
The redhead closed the distance fast, laughter in the air, and swept him into a desperate hug. Elm would have stopped anyone else, but she knew he talked with Pyrrha almost every night and stepped back with a pleased smile.
"You're really here!" whispered his friend into his ear. "I couldn't believe it when I heard?" She pushed him back and looked over him. "How are you? Are you okay? I can't believe what those people are saying about you. It made me so angry!"
He couldn't help but laugh back. "I could tell. I saw you did an interview with some Mistral reporters about it. I thought you said you were going to refuse to do media work once you came to Beacon."
"I did say that, and I meant it, but that was before your name was being dragged through the mud. Of course I wasn't going to sit back and stay quiet when that was happening."
"You didn't have to-"
"I did!" Pyrrha squeezed him again, and he brought his hands up to hold her in return. "I was so angry! I just… I…" A soft growl escaped her. "People are terrible. I know how it is. Not as badly as you do, but I still remember your advice when I was just becoming famous. I never understood then why you were so miserable about it. Then it happened and I'd have gone mad without you to talk to."
He'd helped well over ten thousand people in his time, but this one felt different. This time he hadn't helped by waving his hand and using his Semblance, but by listening, and being there, and being a friend to someone. It felt good. It felt like he'd done something and not just coasted by. And better yet, it was private. The world didn't get to watch over his shoulder as he did it and applaud like he was a performing monkey.
"It's not like it was all one-sided. Having you to talk to kept me sane as well. How is Beacon?"
"Good." Pyrrha released him at last, though she kept his hands in hers and continued smiling. "It was bad at first, and I was disappointed I wasn't on Weiss' team, but my teammates have really surprised me. You should come meet them sometime. I already filled them in on you."
"Filled them in?"
"Told them that you hate it when people treat you like the famous person and that they should be completely normal around you. I hope you don't mind, but I didn't want to see you all awkward and miserable because they were looking at you like some kind of superstar."
"No, that's fine. I'd prefer it this way. You didn't bring them?"
Pyrrha shook her head. "I didn't want to crowd you. Besides, I wanted to see you." Embarrassed, she laughed. "And I guess I didn't want to share. It's been ages since we were together in person. Have you continued your training?"
"A little on the side with Elm. Maybe we should spar sometime."
"Definitely! Not in the training rooms, though. Those are public and everyone will come gawk. I know a place on the roof that's pretty quiet. Elm can come as well," she added as an afterthought. The huge woman snorted from behind them. "Has Weiss already visited?"
"Yeah. She came just before you did with Yang and Ruby."
"Oh." Pyrrha smiled weakly. "I hope it wasn't too bad. Yang and Ruby aren't all that bad."
"They seemed fine. A little starstruck in Ruby's case and a little tense for Yang. I don't think it was an issue; they just didn't know how to act around me." He shrugged, but he didn't need to explain any further. He was the world's most famous person and Pyrrha knew it. "I'm kind of glad you came on your own to be honest. It's nice to have someone who just sees me as me."
"I know what you mean. My teammates are fine but there were definitely some people who wanted to get on my team because of my tournament career. Sometimes it was just wanting a strong partner, and sometimes it was because they wanted to catch a little stardom. It's so exhausting. How do you deal with it?"
"I don't. I have you and Weiss and that's about it." There was a cough, and he smiled. "And I have Elm." They both heard the "damn right" come from the woman. "You're doing better than me if you're friends with your teammates."
"They'll be your friends as well if you give them a chance. Just give them that. I've told them not to put you on some kind of pedestal, so don't go into it assuming they will." Pyrrha paused to look him up and down, and then hugged him again. "I'm so glad you're here. Forget those people in Atlas. They don't deserve you. If you ever want to hang out, spar, or just talk then you know where to find me. We can even have our nightly chat in person for a change."
"That… Honestly, that sounds great. Do you want to bring them over to my dorm tonight?"
"No. I'll come, but they can wait. I want to catch up first. We'll leave meeting new people until tomorrow at the earliest." He couldn't tell if she was saying that because she wanted to, or because she could sense he wasn't in the mood to meet new people. It was a relief either way.
It really was good to see her again.
My choosing to make Ruby the one to hero worship him probably seems a little ooc given she wasn't that way around Pyrrha in the show (I mean, no one was which I always felt was a missed opportunity to make Pyrrha's issues feel more real). I felt it could be possible though since Jaune is touted as a hero who saves lives, and Ruby so obviously aims to be that as well.
Eh, maybe it's a stretch but I thought it made sense. Young Ruby, 13, watching tv reports of the brave boy who saves thousands every year and thinking he's the coolest hero in the world! She's not still crushing on him or anything, but it would make her first time meeting him a little mortifying for her.
Next Chapter: 9th Feb
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