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Requested By : Polemoduke

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Pyrrha sat up, head bowed as the nurse undid the bandages she'd wrapped around her head the day before. Quietly, the tiny woman hummed, her old hands moving with practiced poise even as her voice trembled, "Your concussion is all healed up, young lady. But remember, next time you crash your Bullhead, to check for that. Hm?"

"How?"

"I'll give you a pamphlet."

"Very well." Pyrrha nodded, flicking a look across the long medical room at Jaune's bed, hidden behind a thick privacy curtain and where she knew Weiss' was, past it. Quietly, she asked, "How is-"

"Mister Arc's chest wound is healing up nicely, though it will scar severely." She answered, turning and looking up the line, reaching up with a hand to straight the bob she had her grey hair tied into while the other dropped Pyrrha's bandages into a waste bin. Humming, she added, "Miss Schnee will be ready for release in… Four or five hours, without crutches."

"How can you know that?" She asked, looking around the room. It was simple, with four beds to each side of a walkway behind a desk at the front, right by the door. There were stands for IV drips, and a shelf full of supplies in the back, but nothing in the way of monitors that she could see.

"My Semblance." The woman answered with a quiet chuckle, "I call it 'Status Check'. If I have touched someone in, oh, a day or so, I can just look at them and ask myself 'how is their heart', as an example, and my Semblance provides the answer. Mister Arc's is powerful, by the by, as is Miss Schnee's. No concerns there."

"I see." Pyrrha blinked, "A useful Semblance."

"As is yours."

"I'm sorry?"

"I can tell Semblances, too." Nurse Rust turned back to her, wrinkled face smiling thinly and warm, red eyes meeting Pyrrha's with no lack of amusement. "I was a Huntress, you know, and oh boy, did it come in handy then."

"You were…?"

"Oh yes." She chuckled, turning and jotting out notes on her chart while Pyrrha started to feel a bit bad for the disrespect and she went on, "Don't you worry, you're far from the first to react like this, Miss Nikos."

"You can read minds, too…?"

"No." She turned and winked at her, resuming her work and explaining, "Emotions are more or less just chemicals, sweetheart. I can read the reaction. You got anxious and I guessed it was because you were worried you'd insulted me."

"I see…"

"And before you go down that road," she chuckled, wagging her pen at her before finishing up her work, "no. Emotions being chemicals doesn't make them 'less real' or whatever silly notion you might get. Understood?"

"I suppose." It wasn't really worth thinking about, she supposed. Existentialism was a bit moot when her career meant life or death for so many - herself included - unless she elected to retire because of it. Which was a danger enough to set the thoughts aside entirely.

Retirement could pry her from her path when it pried her spear from her cold, preferably wrinkled, fingers.

"Mhm." The woman stood and stepped around the curtains, drawn around one side of Pyrrha's bed and around the foot, and chuckled. "Yes, you may see your friend now, dearie. Just be quiet."

"Yes'm." A familiar, tiny voice squeaked, before an equally familiar, tiny face poked around the curtain and smiled at her. "Pyr!"

"Hello, Ruby, how are- Oof!" She grunted as a tiny, Ruby shaped interception missile slammed into her when she tried to stand and did its very best to make her lay back down. Chuckling, Pyrrha stood in spite of her, lifting her up by her forearms until they were face to face as she straightened. Smiling, she said, "You're much too light to weigh me down, you know."

Ruby only pouted at her and muttered, blushing, "I am not tiny…"

"Aren't you?"

"I drink milk!" She pouted, fading into petals for a split second and reforming an inch back, arms crossed and pouting up at Pyrrha. Turning her head like she was imitating Weiss, she said, "Bully!"

"Oh, I'm positively stricken by your words." Pyrrha laughed, rolling her eyes and straightening the simple, grey shirt she'd been given to wear instead of the simple green sets that her team had been given. Her finger brushed over the 'People like Grapes' logo with a frown, but she forced herself to ignore it. It and the matching pants were too large, enough that she kept having to adjust them to feel like they were fitting right, and to distract herself she asked, "Have you checked on those two?"

"Sleeping." Ruby nodded, "At least-"

"We were." Weiss sighed, groaning and yanking her curtain aside to glare weakly at the both of them. "Until some people couldn't be quiet and we woke up. Right, Arc?"

"...I was just going to pretend, Weiss." The man sighed from past her, sounding… Exhausted, even after a night of rest and care. When Pyrrha stood and padded around Weiss, while she huffed and rolled over, pulling the curtains around from the other side, she found him laid in bed at an angle, halfway to sitting up, with his chest exposed.

And wrapped in thick bandages.

"Hey." Jaune smirked in spite of it, raising a hand to wave and wincing as he let it drop. "Yeah, shoulder doesn't like that…"

"I wager not, given you dislocated it, you oaf." Weiss chastised the man, sitting up a bit more and turning, leaning on one arm so she could glower and point at him. "Don't you dare aggravate your injuries! You need to rest properly. Understood?"

"Yes, your Highness."

"I am not a princess."

"Oh, I know." Jaune smirked, turning to each of them before finally looking over at Weiss and adding, simply, "You are our Snow Queen."

"I-I-" Weiss sputtered, turning an angry red and glowering at him before rounding on Pyrrha and demanding, "You! Shut him up!"

"Why would I do something like that?" Pyrrha demured, smiling and cocking her head playfully as Ruby bounced on her heels right beside her, her hair trailing the rare petal or two as her Semblance ran on its own in her more than obvious excitement. Resting a hand on Ruby's shoulder to stop her bouncing, she said, "This is quite fun for me, you understand."

"But not for me!"

"Ah." Pyrrha nodded, "That is a sacrifice I am willing for you to make."

"You… Traitor!" Weiss hissed, "You absolute fiend! Et tu, Pyrrha?"

"Quiet down, dear." Nurse Rust said as she passed by behind Pyrrha and came over to talk to Jaune to lay a hand on his shoulder. Turning, she scratched out on her chart and muttered, "You're healing up just fine, Mister Arc. Keep up the bed rest."

"Try and stop me." He grunted, laying his head against the pillow and sighing."I missed beds…"

"I bet." The nurse chuckled, turning to Pyrrha and pulling out a little stack of slips that she handed over. "Absentee forms. Sign and date, and submit them to the Headmaster's office. They'll excuse you from lessons for a few days, and missions for a week or so, while you all heal up and recover."

"Alright…"

"And this, too." She said, handing over a little folder and tapping it, "Mind the instructions. No training for a week, for anyone of you aside from Miss Rose-"

"Which means you get all Miss Goodwitch's Prodigy sparring sessions." Jaune cut in, his smile wide and toothy as Ruby shrunk in on herself. Jaune noticed, of course, just as Pyrrha did and rushed to try and sit up, "I-I'm not trying to- Hng!"

"Lay. Down!" Weiss chastised him as Nurse Rust rushed over, gently cursing him back down. He did, waving Weiss and the nurse both off with his good hand while both tutted and shook their heads. Weiss was the one to speak, though, "Honestly, Arc, you can stop the tough and rough routine. We're back in Beacon, now. There's nothing to be afraid of."

"Pyrrha is right there."

"Pyrrha is hardly frightening…"

"Oh, please." Jaune chuckled, "She's terrifying."

"I am not frightening." Pyrrha argued, before she frowned and turned to Ruby to ask. "Ruby, do you think I'm scary?"

"I mean, a bit?" Pyrrha blinked and Ruby hopped back, waving her hands in the air in front of her quickly as she stammered, "N-Not in a bad way, promise! But, like, you're… Super tall! And all muscle… Y. Muscley. Like, you could break me or Weiss with a good enough hug, without our Aura. That's what it looks like, I mean! I don't think you would."

"Do I really look that strong…?" She murmured, frowning and reaching up to rub a hand at one of her powerful biceps. She knew she wasn't the most feminine person, years of fighting didn't lend much to that in a handful of ways, but…

"I-It's not bad!" Ruby rushed to add, flashing past her in a flurry of petals that Rust sighed at seeing. She ignored her, though, and asked, "Right, guys?"

"You're absolutely stunning, Pyrrha."

"You're pretty." Jaune shrugged with his one good shoulder, smiling and adding jokingly, "Too tall for me, though. You're more 'strong and gorgeous'. I like 'short and adorable' more."

"Oh…?" She flicked Ruby a look and the girl flushed and pouted, crossing her arms and muttering 'I'm not short' under her breath. Shaking her head, Pyrrha said, "Regardless, I'm just happy we're all back home, and more or less alright."

"You see the bandages, right?"

"You'll heal." Pyrrha chuckled before she saw something… Dark, somehow, pass over Weiss' face and turned to her, head cocked to the side at the little frown she wore. "Weiss-"

She flinched, ever so slightly, and turned to smile over at her, "Yes?"

"...Nothing." She shrugged, turning and waving for Ruby to follow her. "Come on, Ruby. We should get this to the Headmaster's office."

"B-But you all just woke up!" Ruby argued, trailing along behind her slowly regardless, "You, too! You should rest so you heal up, and-"

"Miss Nikos is perfectly fine to move around." Nurse Rust added as she passed by, heading to her chair and plopping onto it to work on filing away some paperwork left on it. Without turning back to them, she called back, "No running, fighting, or travelling via Miss Rose's Semblance-"

"You can do that?"

"Sometimes?" Ruby shrugged, "Hard as heck, though."

"-and if you feel any nausea, undue fatigue, or headaches, come back here." Nurse Rust went on with a sigh for their interruption. Finally, she added, "Ah, and avoid loud noises, heavy smells and flashing lights for the day. Tomorrow is fine, but today? It may give you the symptoms I just mentioned, and we don't want you back in here. At least, not on a bed."

"Yes, Ma'am." Pyrrha nodded, passing her by with Ruby at her side, grumbling as they walked.

"Oh, and Miss Rose?"

"Yeah?"

"Your multivitamins came in." The nurse said, smiling as Ruby yanked her hood up to hide her face. Ignoring her, Nurse Rust went on, setting them where Ruby could get them, "Additive vitamins for your higher needs, and to encourage bone growth for added height. As requested."

Silent as the grave, Ruby stepped forward, head hidden in her hood, to collect the little blue bottle.

Then, as she rejoined Pyrrha, she said, "Not a word."

"None from me." She promised, smiling as they reached the door, "Though, for the record, you're just fine the way you are. You don't need to worry about being taller."

"Shush…" Ruby grunted before, as they stepped through, adding, "T-Thanks."

Pyrrha just smiled.

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Weiss watched the doors close with a tiny smile before relaxing back into her bed, staring up at sterile tiles and drumming her hand against her ribs absently. Finally, she asked, "How are you really feeling, Jaune?"

"My shoulder hurts, my head hurts, and my chest hurts." He sighed, voice quieter than when the others had been there. More subdued. Probably for the pain. Louder, he added, "Thanks, Nurse Rust, for keeping it quiet."

"You didn't want to worry them." She called back, "I understand that. And, as a medical professional, you or Miss Nikos being stressed over it would be bad for your health. As Miss Schnee pointed out when you asked me for the favor."

"Still," Jaune grunted, "thanks."

"My, you are the sweet, overly sincere type, aren't you?"

"Oh, you have no idea." Weiss chuckled quietly, "No idea at all.

"I try." Jaune chuckled, "It's all in how I was raised."

That cast a dark shadow over Weiss' mood as it dragged up old, painful memories. And some more recent ones, ringing with pain but tinged with something… Warmer, too. Something she had difficulty enough in placing that she shook it all off and sighed, "Remind me to thank your mother, then."

"For…?"

"Raising a man good enough to save my life." She smiled, "In spite of how I acted."

"Weiss, we already-"

"I know, I know." They'd talked about it already, it was settled. "Even so…"

"Weiss." Jaune grunted, that hard edge coming back into his tone in that way he had. The way that told her he wasn't going to accept a different answer when he said, "It's done and dealt with. I understand why you did what you did, so let's just… Move on. 'Water under a bridge we crossed a mile ago doesn't mean anything to me now', like my mom always said."

"A wise woman…"

"Mhm."

"How…" Weiss blinked, "How many of those cute, folksy sayings have you got?"

"Few dozen." Jaune snorted, "And 'cute and folksy' Really?"

"I-I mean, you are from the country…"

"And you're from Atlas." Jaune chuckled, "'High in the sky, with the biggest pie'."

"Your mom?"

"My sister, Saphron, actually." Jaune countered again, smiling when Weiss snorted and covered her mouth at the undignified sound. She flushed but he just rolled his eyes and said, "You shouldn't do that, you know."

"Do what…?" She asked, blinking as she brought her hand down and let it curl against her chin thoughtfully.

"Hide." He shrugged, grimacing as he, once again, forgot himself and panged his injury. She grimaced in sympathy but he moved on swiftly and so she did, too, listening as he went on. "You hide because of our dad, right?"

"Yes." She nodded, thinking for a moment before she sighed and went on, "My father… Always stressed presentation. Decorum. Appearance. Whatever term you like, my father made quite certain we all understood the importance of it. Of maintaining ourselves at all times."

"Sounds harsh, but…" Jaune turned and smiled, warm and kind even if she could still see the edge in his eyes - like he was holding himself back. Like he had when he'd finally snapped at her.

Like he was ready to fight - and this time, not with her.

"But…" He reiterated, "You don't have to be ashamed of yourself, Weiss. Laugh, snort, whatever- Be you. Your dad doesn't get a damn say."

"But…" She frowned, thinking through the question before, finally, asking in a quiet voice that sounded oh so fragile to her. Enough to scare her, just a little.

Weakness wasn't tolerated in the Schnee house.

"I get that you're scared." Jaune told her, that hard edge to his gaze filling out the rest of his face, too, now. "But whatever comes- You have us. I give you my word, we'll protect you. And if our camping trip told you anything, taught you anything, it's-"

"An Arc never goes back on his word…"

"Yeah." He smiled, lopsided and goofy as all that edge suddenly just… Washed away. Like dirt in a shower. Chuckling, he grunted, "That. Another of my corny little sayings, I guess."

"Yes." She smiled, in spite of herself, "But I happen to like that one."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Awesome…"

"Mhm." And, Weiss discovers, she much prefers Jaune this way, too. Bright and warm, rather than with that… Edge he could carry, when the moment called for it. Shaking the thought off, she said, "Once we're both well enough, you and I are going into Vale."

"Okay." He blinked, "Uh, why?"

"Your armor was ruined." She answered frankly, "I believe you're in need of a new, better one. Don't you agree?"

"I guess, but…" He frowned, "Where will you get the Lien?"

"From my father." She answered, turning and reaching down, into the bag by her bed, to retrieve her new Scroll. Opening it, she started typing out a message to him and smiled thinly, "You saved my life. And if he won't reward that with at least replacement gear, I'm sure the story will carry enough in the papers to make up for it. Especially the bit where he refused to help you, after everything."

"Ah…" Jaune chuckled wryly, "When did you turn so… Uh… Underhanded? No, that sounds bad."

"Clandestine." Weiss offered, smiling when he shrugged and nodded, making a face like 'sure, that works I guess' that told her he wasn't entirely sure it did but was trusting her regardless. "And I learned it at home. With my father, leverage is the most important thing. I may have avoided playing what I had in Atlas, to save the danger, but…"

Here, now, she'd play Jacques' game just a bit more.

For Jaune.

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Whoo, and this short-arc is finally, totally completed! I hope all enjoyed it.

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Lea :

Yeah, and this chap has even more ship baiting, lol.

As for Mr Pilot… We'll see. XD

Dino Guy :

UNfortunately, I have an upper limit on 'things that can go wrong' on this fic thanks to SOMEONE. XD

Sorry not sorry. Sweet, sweet fluffy payback for all the angst happening in your other fics. Lol. -Polemoduke

Imperialsama :

Danke.