Author's Notes:
-Guest named Huh, to answer your question, I kinda forgot that Jaune's shield doubled as a sheath for his sword. Oops! (I feel a bit embarrassed having to admit this mistake...) So let's just say that he found something to use as a sheath or made one from the skin of a Grimm he slayed in the fight.
-While this isn't necessarily a songfic, I'm sure you've noticed by now that most if not all of the chapter titles will be named after songs or part of the lyrics of a song. Sometimes part of a song might be used in the background for effect. Needless to say, I own nothing. Now then, moving on...
Qrow and Jaune went to Everbright Hopsital. They rushed through the automatic doors and panted as they reached the counter. For a moments, the assistant didn't even notice them. Then she blinked twice and saw the two men standing there.
"Hello, can I help you?" the assistant at the counter asked.
"Yes, we're here to see Miss Pyrrha Nikos." Qrow answered.
She looked at them with a strange, leery look. "Do either of you two have any relation to the patient?"
"I'm the one who brought her here. No relation."
"I'm her teammate. We're part of a team from Beacon Academy called team JNPR." Jaune answered.
"Right this way."
The assistant led them up a few flights of stairs to the third floor. While Jaune could keep up and nearly passed her pace, Qrow struggled to keep up. Eventually, after traveling up a few flights of stairs, they reached the third floor and went down this long, seemingly endless hallway lined with blue walls with a white wainscoting. As they roamed the halls, Jaune saw some doors that were kept open. He numerous different ailments victims were suffering from, including but not limited to; a professional huntress with several large claw marks on her stomach, a man with claw marks on his face, a guy with antlers suffering from a bullet wound to his knee, a little girl missing her entire left arm, a little boy who appeared to have been stabbed in the chest, blood and knife embedded in his sternum, most likely dead and a student that Jaune had seen around Beacon Academy, who had broken one of his legs and had the fibula bone sticking out of his body.
Goodness gracious, what happened to them?! What happened to Pyrrha?
When the assistant finally stopped pacing, she had lead them to a room labeled 312. She opened the door and Jaune gasped as she saw the damage.
"Pyrrha... No..."
He ran to her to see her closer. She had been bruised and beaten by only one person. She had been impaled by an arrow to the stomach. Her wounds had been attended to and properly bandaged, but she was still unconscious. Her circlet was crooked and visibly damaged, and the silver chains with green teardrop emeralds under her hair had been snapped off.
"She's been unconscious ever since we got here." the assistant said, breaking the silence. "We're doing all we can, but... we fear our efforts alone aren't enough."
"Pyrrha..."
The three thought they heard a long beep from the Holter monitor, signaling death. Seized by panic, Jaune swiftly looked at the one above Pyrrha's head. But hers was still going, beating a steady rhythm. Even comatose, she was still fighting. The assistant realized it was coming from another room and ran off, mumbling something under her breath.
Jaune looked down sadly. "I thought Everbright's patient survival rate was higher."
Qrow grimly nodded. "Yes, but you must take into consideration that several people were wounded by Grimm and/or the White Fang. It also doesn't help that this hospital is understaffed."
He widened his eyes in disbelief. "Understaffed? How do you know that?"
"As I followed the assistant at the counter, who paced way too quickly for me to easily keep up with her, I fell behind and overheard one of the employees say that at least a dozen doctors and hospital workers were absent. Just when they need all hands on deck, some employees aren't there for whatever reason.
"Why... why would...?"
"My best guess is that they were injured or killed in the chaos."
[cue music-A Great Big World (feat. Christina Aguilera)-Say Something (I'm Giving Up on You)]
Jaune looked inconsolably at Pyrrha. She looked as fragile as a broken porcelain doll. The young man couldn't help but have tears escape from his eyes and fall down his face. The tears fell onto her lifeless body.
How... how can this be? he thought.
"Pyrrha..."
He sobbed silently.
This is my fault. I should have ran right to the tower instead of staying there, in that destroyed part of the city! I could have stopped her from fighting that wicked sorceress! I could have battled those Grimm quicker! And what's worse is that I never told her how I felt about her. How much she truly means to me. How much I... I love her... Even if she doesn't return these feelings, I'll always be loyal to her until the end. Please... Pyrrha... don't let this be the end...
"Pyrrha... I've failed you. I should have been there for you." He softly grasped her hand. "Please... wake up... Say something... Anything!"
His hand felt slightly cold from Pyrrha's touch, but he didn't even notice.
I would have followed you and helped you to face her if you just didn't push me away!
Jaune examined her closer, noticing that the blood was mainly on the center of the bandage used to wrap up her wound.
"I shouldn't even be alive." he spoke so quietly that Qrow couldn't hear. "I'm not even strong as everyone thinks I am... You should be the one mourning over me. I should have been the one who got hurt..." He sobbed, his tears continuing to fall.
Qrow remained silent, unsure what to say. He looked away from the fallen huntress. "Jaune, I'm sorry..." The blond warrior said nothing. "Perhaps it would be for the best to leave this place. Staying here won't change anything."
"Please... Pyrrha... say something..."
Jaune, who was about to walk away and felt something grasp his hand.
[the music ends]
He turned to Pyrrha as she moaned, slowly sitting up, opening her eyes and looked towards her partner as she awoke.
"Pyrrha!"
He threw his arms around her as if he hadn't seen her in forever. Then again, when the love of one's life is missing and they have no way of figuring out what has even become of them, time seems to slow down and feel like forever is passing them by. To him, twenty hours felt like forever. Twenty hours were long enough. Pyrrha was a bit surprised by his initial reaction, but then she smiled and embraced him, even as his tears fell onto her bare skin.
"Jaune..." she spoke. "I... I thought I'd never see you again."
He looked at her, blinking to get rid of tears and tremendously relived to see her alive. "I'm glad to see you again."
"Well, I'll be darned, she's awake." Qrow commented. "I didn't want to say anything to crush your hopes young man, but I thought she wouldn't make it. Now, I don't know if you believe in a god or goddess or even a group of them, but if you do, you might want to say some prayers of thanks before you retire for the night."
Jaune turned to Qrow and nodded in agreement and understanding. "Qrow, do you mind stepping out of the room briefly? I wish to speak to Pyrrha alone."
"Certainly."
He stepped out of Pyrrha's hospital room, closing the door behind him. As soon as he did that, he realized he made a mistake. He felt that he shouldn't be asking Pyrrha about what happened. Silence permeated the room for a minute or two. Jaune's eyes darted to the windows then back to Pyrrha as the wounded warrior kept her eyes on him the entire time.
I just barged in. I shouldn't have been there. As curious as I am, I shouldn't be asking...
Finally, Pyrrha asked, "You want answers as to what was happened last night, don't you?"
"I do, but... I realize that it's not my place to know." He awkwardly rubbed his hand against his left elbow. "I barged in on a private matter between you and headmaster Ozpin." He slowly turned away, sadly. "It's none of my business."
"No, Jaune!" She sighed. He turned to face her. "You were there. You saw her. You saw the evil maiden rise to power. You deserve to know the truth."
"So... what happened?"
"Well..." She turned to him with the most serious face she could muster, which was actually only partially serious, partially sorrowful and a little bit whimsical. "Have you ever heard the story of the maidens?"
Jaune immediately smiled. "Yeah. I loved that bedtime story as a kid. What about it?"
"What if I told you...?" Pyrrha hesitated, eyes looking away from him. "that it was real?"
His eyebrows were raised in the blink of an eye and he gasped. "That.. that's crazy!"
She sighed and nodded. "It's true. Ozpin and a few of his close associates are responsible for guarding those who have the maidens power. And you just saw one of those four maidens during the procedure I was attempting to go through."
He blinked. "Okay... I'm listening."
"The maidens have been around for thousands of years. It was initially common knowledge, but overtime, their existence faded into myth and legend. These women can use incredible powers without the use of dust, aura or their Semblance, making them incredibly powerful beings. The power is always transferred to a young woman. When a maiden dies, the power is normally transferred to last person in their thoughts. If this person is a man or older woman, then it is transferred to a random young lady. This ensures that no one holds onto the power forever."
"So which of these maidens is the subject of this story?"
"Fall. The previous fall maiden, a young teenager named Amber, was attacked and had part of her power stolen. One of Ozpin's associates was able to find her and put her on life support. But since this phenomenon had never occurred before, they had no idea what would happen. Amber's remaining power could easily go to her assailant, who was the last person in her thoughts, or it might seek out it's other half. In hopes of preventing this happening, General Ironwood devised a solution; taking Amber's remaining aura and compressing it into another young woman. That woman they wanted to compress Amber's aura into... was me."
"That's... wrong."
"That's exactly what I said, but as Ironwood put it, 'Desperate times call for desperate measures.' Ozpin and his associates needed to know if I was willing to undergo this procedure before the end of the Vytal Festival. So when I was speaking you about destiny, what I referred to as the ability to instantly fulfill your destiny but at the cost of who you were, gaining the fall maiden's power was what I meant. There was no guarantee that it would work or even what would happen to me as a result. So there I was, during the festival, keeping an enormous burden on my shoulders while everyone else was blissfully unaware of the impending disaster."
"You... you were scared, weren't you?"
She looked at her hand. "I wasn't just scared. I was dreadful. I was about to make a decision that could alter my destiny, my entire future, for better or for worse. But then..." Painful memories of her duel with Penny flashed through her mind. "when the last duel occurred... the Grimm attacked.." She remembered the Grimm breaking through the white barrier surrounding the arena. "and the Vytal Festival had come to its end..."
"That's when you had to make your choice."
"Me and Ozpin knew time was running out. But it was in that chaos, when the Grimm had attacked Vale, that I knew the world needed a hero. So I knew that I would save the world, or die trying. That's why I was willing to risk it all, put everything on the line, my own life included- to save the world from darkness by becoming the fall maiden."
"But then... when that woman appeared and killed the young woman... Amber.."
Pyrrha looked down. "It was all over." She breathed in deeply. "The power reunited with its other half, making Cinder an extremely dangerous opponent."
"Cinder? That's her name?" Pyrrha nodded, confirming his statement. "How were you able to identify her?"
"After engaging the woman in a duel, Ruby appeared and called her out for hacking into the CCT. Then she was about to fire an arrow at her, which would have killed her, but I intercepted it, and ended up impaled in the process. As I lie there, suffering in agony, I remember hearing her laugh, then I heard Ruby screaming my name and this flash of white light as everything faded away." She paused and put her hand onto her wound. "How I survived that lethal blow is beyond me."
Jaune remained silent for a few minutes. "So I can assume you have no idea what happened to the fall maiden?"
"No one knows, but she's probably out there, somewhere..." She slowly rose to her feet only to fall to her knee.
"Pyrrha! Are you alright?!"
"I'm fine." She got up and sat on the bed. "I just have a twisted ankle, that's all. I think I twisted both of them..."
"Pyrrha, there's something I..." Jaune began.
Suddenly, one of the workers came running in, slamming Qrow against the door as she dashed into the room. After regaining his balance, he leaned against the door, keeping it open. Jaune sighed.
"Alright, you're awake." the nurse said. "Now then, I'm going to ask you a few questions. Does your head or any part of your body hurt?"
"Aside from the stomach wound I received earlier, my twisted ankles, and that I ache all over, I'm fine."
"Do you remember anything that happened?"
"I remember everything. Do you need details?"
"Not necessary." She ran off to get something. A few minutes later, she returned with something in her hand. "Now you can take your medicine." She handed her a container. "You'll need to take this once a day for a whole week."
After receiving instructions from the doctor, taking her first dose of medicine and doing some paperwork, Pyrrha Nikos was allowed to leave the hospital. As Jaune and Pyrrha exited the building, the sun was about to set. A crow flew over the building and into the sky.
"We better move before Ren and Nora send a search party after us." Jaune mentioned. "I'd call them, but my scroll is busted."
"Then let's go." Pyrrha stated.
As the two former Beacon Academy students walked down the street arm in arm, Jaune saw the sun setting in front of them, painting the blue sky with yellow and orange hues. The young man smiled as he took in the semi serene scene around him. If it weren't for the occasional ruins of destroyed buildings he saw, Jaune Arc would try to dismiss these horrible events as a nightmare that he just woke up from. But he was smart enough to tell apart dreams from reality. He noticed that Pyrrha was looking away from the ruins with a tormented look and a blank stare.
"Pyrrha, what's wrong?"
"I just realized..." she began. "What are we going to tell Ren and Nora?"
"What do you mean?" Jaune asked, bewildered. "I mean... we wouldn't keep secrets from our teammates, would we?"
She groaned. "I don't know. Everything's gone wrong." She folded her arms, hands covering her elbows as she turned the other way. "I'm just lost and confused."
"I know Ozpin wanted you to keep this quiet, but considering that he's... gone... would it matter?"
"Even with Ozpin missing, I still feel like I shouldn't tell them. Also..." Pyrrha paused, putting her fist to her heart. "would they even be able to handle the truth?"
He put his hand on her shoulder, trying to reassure her. "Personally speaking, I think we should tell them. But that's just me."
"Tell them what?" a familiar voice asked.
The two of them turned to see Cardin Winchester and his team, CRDL. The quartet stood there, most carrying various objects with them. Sky Lark was carrying a small metal case, Russel Thrush carried a bunch of fishing rods on his back, Dove Bronzewing carried two buckets, one in each hand and Cardin had his hands empty.
"Oh great." Jaune sarcastically stated, folding his arms. "My second least favorite person on the planet and his entire team."
"Oh come on, Jauney boy." He spread out his arms, pretending to welcome him. "Is that any way to treat an old friend?"
"You were never my friend, Cardin!" Jaune retorted. "If you think I'm going to forget how you treated me first semester, then you are terribly mistaken."
Pyrrha didn't like Cardin or his group of cronies either, but she tried to be more civil and polite. "And what have you been up to since the chaos unfolded?"
"Glad you asked. We were all dragged to this dark and small warehouse that couldn't fit everyone, so they asked some people to get apartments and we bailed right out of there. Since then, we've been searching the city for supplies. The fish market was completely cleared of all its inventory, so we had to catch some ourselves." Cardin answered. "Fortunately, Sky happens to be very good at the skill. We even caught some whoopers."
"Oh, well good for you then." Jaune said, clinching his teeth.
"And what have you been up to?" Dove asked.
"That's none of your concern!" Jaune angrily yelled.
Pyrrha looked sadly at her partner. "Jaune?"
"Really? Come on, tell us." Russel prodded.
Jaune groaned. "If you really must know, I've been losing my mind. I have been trying to find my missing teammate for the last 20 hours!"
"20 hours?" Pyrrha looked at her wounded body. "I've been unconscious for 20 hours?!"
Cardin smirked. "Ha. You act as though you're surprised. Although I'm surprised that you suffered so much damage. Guess you're really not all that, are you?"
Pyrrha looked down sadly, putting her hand to her left elbow. Jaune glared at the leader. "Can it, you bastard! Her opponent was extremely powerful. She has abilities beyond your comprehension!"
"That's such a bold claim for someone who wasn't there."
"I saw her before Pyrrha ran off to go face her. She could have killed me!"
The entirity of team CRDL blinked their eyes in reverse order of teammates.
"Okay, I stand corrected."
"Whoever this powerful woman is..." Sky began. "She sounds like she's just as dangerous as a Grimm... maybe even more dangerous..."
"I don't know. Remember that time in the Forever Fall forest?" Russel asked.
"Don't remind me..." Cardin grumbled.
Pyrrha smirked and folded her arms. "You're still feeling humiliated about the events of that day, aren't you?"
"If only Jaune had done what he was supposed to do..." Cardin complained.
"What was he supposed to do?"
Jaune widened his eyes in terror. "Uh... ugh..."
Cardin smirked and turned to the red-haired huntress. "You don't know?"
"Know what? Jaune?"
Jaune held up his hands and rocked them back and forth silently pleading, Please don't say anything! Of course, Cardin payed no heed to Jaune's warning. "Jaune was supposed to hit you with a jar of red sap and then release rapier wasps upon you."
Pyrrha gasped. "What? Jaune..."
"That's what he wanted me to do." Jaune quickly answered. He closed his eyes. "But I couldn't." Then he glared at Cardin. "Because nobody messes with my team. I'll never forget that day. Heck, that's a story I'll be telling my kids one day."
Cardin laughed. "Assuming you survive long enough to have them."
"Who asked you?!"
"Come on, Jaune, we should get moving." Pyrrha walked forward and Jaune followed, only for her to trip on a giant hole in the ground. "Ahh!" She collapsed on her side, moaning in agony.
"Pyrrha!" He ran to her as Cardin and Russel laughed at her misfortune.
"Dang twisted ankles..." she mumbled. "I don't think I can continue..."
"I'm not leaving you here." He then scooped up Pyrrha into his arms and ran off.
"Jaune..." She threw her arms around his neck. "You don't have to do this."
"You've twisted both your ankles. I shouldn't be forcing you to put your full weight on them after being so brutally injured." Pyrrha blushed. He stopped and looked around. No one was there. "There's something I wanted to tell you but didn't get the chance to earlier. I... I love you, Pyrrha. You mean the world to me."
"Jaune... I should have just told you that I love you before running off to my near-death. You're my best friend and I couldn't forgive myself if anything happened to you."
"Pyrrha..." He pulled her closer to him and softly placed his lips upon hers. Pyrrha was not surprised by his actions, and returned the kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck even tighter, never wanting to let go. She could feel his warmth. Eventually, after doing this for about two minutes, they broke apart, Pyrrha and Jaune gasping for air, albeit the former was louder.
She sighed romantically. "Jaune..."
He smiled, then he saw the sun set and freaked out. He was running out of time. "Oh man, we gotta move!"
Jaune Arc speed off, hoping to get to the apartment before an unnecessary search party was sent.
Meanwhile, an orange-haired girl looked out the window. The sun had almost set on this long, tiring day.
"I'm worried." Nora said. "Jaune and Pyrrha still aren't back."
Ren, who was cooking dinner for them, sighed and looked downcast. "I know." He added the fish to the wok full of vegetables and looked at the rice in the pot. "I suppose it's time we call the police force."
Suddenly the sound of a door being opened was heard. Jaune walked in, carrying his warrior princess in his arms. Nora gasped, "You're back!" He gently set her down on the couch. "And you found Pyrrha!"
"Oh wow... That was taxing..." he said to himself. Immediately his stomach growled upon smelling the aroma of Ren's cooking. "Damn, in my search for Pyrrha, I haven't eaten all day."
"I guess fear really shuts down your other psychological needs..." Pyrrha said to herself.
"Your timing is impeccable." Ren stated. "We were just about to call for a search party." A timer went off. "Also, dinner is served."
The four of them went to the table and filled their plates with Ren's salmon stir-fry. Jaune ate at a moderately fast pace while the rest were not quite as fast. Pyrrha tried to smile in attempt to hide the emotional pain she felt inside.
"So... Pyrrha... I know you may not to talk about it, but... what happened back there? With Ozpin?" Ren asked.
"And how did you end up so injured?" Nora also inquired.
Pyrrha sighed. "It's a long story..."