Chapter 37
The next thing Aldric knew, he was in a sterile white room, in a big bed, covered in bandages and casts, an IV sticking out of his good arm. His eyes fluttered open and shut for longer than he could count, before he could keep them open and focus his vision long enough to get a picture of his surroundings. He was in a large room in a hospital, sharing it with others in similar states to him. Doctors paced back and forth, checking their patients and speaking to the conscious ones. There was music playing, but Aldric couldn't recognize it; it sounded nice, though.
He laboriously turned his head towards the sound of the music, seeing a small Remnant stereo sitting on a metal tray over to the side of his bed, near the entrance to the room. Closer to him was a nurse, staring into a tablet-scroll, and looking back and forth between it and the medical equipment surrounding him. Aldric wasn't quite sure if he should move the arm with the needle sticking out of it, but when he tried to move his metallic one, he found he couldn't, on account of it not even being there.
He groaned, wondering if he'd lost this one.
But that got the nurse's attention, and she looked up, seeing his eyes half-open, and smiled. "Good morning, mister Etiolate." She said, her voice sounding distant, and muffled. "How are you feeling?"
Aldric answered her question by blacking out again. The next time he woke up, he did so more successfully. It still took an obscene amount of effort just to look around, but he didn't feel like he was going to black out again, and when a different nurse noticed him, and asked him the same question, he tried to give a better answer.
Only to discover they were pumping him with the good stuff. They had to be, because what came out of his mouth wasn't, "like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.", but rather a random collection of sounds and syllables that almost sounded provocative, somehow.
The nurse gave him a piteous grin, "yes... You're still on some powerful medicine, Mister Etiolate." She said, "you actually just came out of surgery just the other day, your doctor has been keeping you on painkillers until your aura began to kick in again."
"Dahcka?" Aldric slurred, with a lazy arc of an eyebrow. When the hell had he gotten a doctor? Or was she saying that in the sense of, 'the guy who operated on you'?
She answered the question with a nod, "yes - as a matter of fact, here he is now. Doctor Deer!"
Who? Aldric's head listed to the side, and he grew an impressed frown when he actually recognized the guy: It was the same dude from the Garden who'd been there after the fight with Amber.
So did that mean Cinder, Mercury, or Torchwick had dropped a coin on him? Or did it mean that the doctor was bound to him because Aldric had solicited his services? There was a lot about the Garden he still didn't know, but he wasn't complaining: He remembered this guy. He was damn good at his job, and he gave Aldric the good shit.
"Yes." The wrinkled old man rumbled, nodding as he approached Aldric's bed. "You never cease to amaze, do you young man?"
Oh wait... Was he in the Garden, maybe? "Wha ahm ah?" Well, he tried.
"You're not underground, if that's what you're asking." The doctor accepted the nurse's tablet-scroll with a nod, "thank you." He turned to Aldric, "the good news is the invaders didn't didn't take all of the industrial and agricultural sectors... Thanks in part to you, I hear." He said, "and since the rest of Vale's military turned up, they've been pretty docile since then. All that to say, you're in one of the better above-board hospitals...
"Which is good, because a person who lost as much blood and had as much shrapnel in them as you did needed a lot more than some bandages and a bed." The man scrolled through the tablet, "had to put you under the knife three times. Last one dug some of it out of your lungs... But that should be the last."
"Damn." Aldric grunted, before swallowing through his dry throat. "We hear from any of the other kingdoms?"
The Doctor grunted, "heh, same news. Wherever these people came from, they're hitting everywhere. Before the CCT network went down pretty much everyone was sending distress calls. Even Atlas. Those poor bastards got hit hard. Wasn't any prelude air attack or soldiers landing like with us, they got hammered with missiles and those remote-piloted things until we lost contact."
Well that was fucking great. "Who coined me?" Aldric sighed.
"Marcus Black's kid. Had me take over for the hack that had nearly severed your brachial artery in your first surgery." The doctor shook his head, "dumb bastard. If I'd cared to I could've taken his license, but I guess we need everyone we can get these days, even idiots who hardly know what they're doing."
"Hm." Aldric peeked down at his right arm, seeing that it was, indeed, still there - but with a pulse of his radar, he found underneath the bandages was a new collection of scars, some faded and some still fresh. "How long have I been out?" He asked, wondering when it would be that he'd be more scar tissue than skin.
The man shrugged, "eh, five days. Your friends will be pretty glad to see you're awake."
"They're here, and not out fighting?"
The doctor nodded, "yeah. Don't know everything, but your headmaster is keeping the rookies back."
"Dude's alive? I saw him take a fucking missile."
"Doesn't mean anything. You don't get to be a Huntsman academy headmaster without learning to take a hit or two. He's trying to leave the front-line fighting to the graduated huntsmen and our armed forces. He's suspending pretty much anything that isn't combat training. Putting the rookies and the students back to it, fortifying the academy against further air attack, and slapping the CCT Tower back together." A beat, "almost done with that, or so I hear. Might already be. Never know until the other kingdoms fix theirs." He lowered the scroll, "you need to be more careful, kid. That artery I mentioned wasn't the only damaged one, it was just the only one that hack managed to mess up."
A bone dry, "ouch." Was all Aldric could muster up.
"You laugh, but you needed so much blood you nearly drained that poor girl dry."
Aldric frowned, "girl?" Oh God was he part Neopolitan now?! He didn't need that in his life, he'd rather die.
"Some redhead, didn't care for her name. Jumped at the chance when we said you needed it, had to actually convince her to stop giving once she hit the limit and tried to keep going when one of the aids let slip you still need some."
"Didn't care to get her name, but you cared to remember that." Aldric deadpanned, a snide grin stretching across his face.
"Humor." The doctor matched dry wit with dry wit. "Good. Means you're not damaged." He shook his head, "I cared to remember that because I was worried I might be obligated to work for free if I didn't think of a better way to get her to stop without tearing the needle out of her arm."
"What'd you do?"
"Didn't do anything. Busty chick with blonde hair came through, got her to go, but they and this gaggle of other women come down from the academy pretty much every day." A beat, "gets damn annoying having to answer 'why isn't he awake' every day."
And there's the other one. Aldric yawned, "how long am I going to be in here?"
"Well, you're still on some major pain killers, but you're talking clearly, so that means your aura's back in gear. From what I remember about your healing rate..." He shrugged, "check again tomorrow, if not - you'll be out the next day."
"I appreciate the help, sir."
"You call me 'sir' again and I'll go back in and reopen the artery." The doctor growled, setting down the tablet. "You need me, hit the button to your left." He nodded at one of the wires stretching out from Aldric's good arm.
"Oh, just gonna leave me like that?" Aldric grinned, "am I stuck in bed, at least?"
"I heal killers, kid." He shook his head, "I don't pamper them." He harumphed, "I wouldn't recommend it, but I know you types. Just keep that -" He indicated what looked like a coat rack on wheels, upon which hung Aldric's IV bag. "- with you wherever you go. Meds are in it." He gave Aldric a nod, and vacated the room.
Very open about that, Doc. Aldric let out a hollow sigh, lolling his head to the side. Wasn't I in a public room last time? He frowned, seeing that he was far more secluded than he had been, his last outing with consciousness, his room was small, made even more compact with the medical equipment surrounding him.
Looking to his right, Aldric found a chair upon which was seated a familiar looking bundle of cloth.
Well I'll be damned... Aldric thought, as he reached out with his semblance and pulled it into his lap. How did who get this? Thought the building had fallen... He felt inside his recovered longcoat, but couldn't find his spare Power Glove canister. The absence of that, his scroll, and his cybernetic arm made him feel vulnerable, but he figured, with him being cared for by an assassin doctor and was in the middle of a hospital servicing injured superpowered -
Yeah, you know what? That doesn't fill me with confidence. These people haven't ever dealt with SEALs. He needed a weapon.
As he rested his head in his pillows, Aldric had a grand total of fifteen seconds to wonder what he'd do with his time before he sensed the Doctor who needed growing a heart, having walked to a waiting area, where he saw, in short order, all of RWBY, what remained of GEMS, and three quarters of JNPR. It only took him a second to realize why he couldn't see Jaune with the others - he was three rooms over, dead asleep, sporting a web of scars on the right side of his torso, only one arm and, upon closer inspection, a left lung that looked entirely too mechanical to be the one he was born with.
I think I'll call him Brown until I know better. Doc Brown. Aldric grinned, as Doc Brown caught the assembled students' attention and told them one of their friends was awake, and then deftly slid out of the way when a stampede of women rushed past him, Ren and Nora being the only ones to stay behind and thank him, though not through lack of trying on the latter's part.
Oh...Kay. Here we go. Aldric let out a long breath, watching his team lead the charge, with RWBY and Pyrrha following close behind. Brace for impact, Captain!
And a moment later, Ecru swung around the door and into the room, and Aldric set his jaw, ready for his ears to start ringing again. But when she didn't immediately start shouting, he arced an eyebrow, as the others started filing around the door, their entry blocked by Ecru, who was giving the heavily bandaged spy such a shocked appraisal that it almost made him wonder if this hadn't been the first time she'd seen him since the fighting.
Aldric grinned, "yeah, I know." He said, carefully swiping his stiff hand through his hair. "I can see you now."
Ecru let out a single, breathy laugh, before sliding into the room. "Ash, are you okay?" She whispered, no strength in her voice.
"Well..." Aldric's grin turned conspiratorial "I dunno, I'm kind of surrounded by... One, two, three, four, five... Six seven -" He ticked off each number by pointing at each person filing into his room and surrounding his bed, and when he reached Yang, he paused a moment, and then turned back to Ecru. "Seven very concerned women, and I've been sanctified."
Ecru blinked, a confused frown forming on her face, as Yang let his jab roll off of her with a scoff, a grin, and a roll of her eyes.
"Sanctified?" Srebro, towering over everyone in the room, squeaked from the back.
"Yeah, and feeling good about it, too." Aldric said, nodding to the side. "See, I'm holy, now."
A beat, the entire room silent.
Yang's grin dropped to an unimpressed frown. "Shot full of holes?"
Aldric grinned and nodded, "she gets it." There were a few groans from Ecru and Myrtle, a scoff from Yang, a suppressed giggle from Ruby, dead and stunned silence from Blake and Srebro respectively, and a blank, guilty expression from Pyrrha. "Ah, there they are. I mean, damn, guys." He said, sitting up with a light groan. "I know we're in a hospital but what's with the long faces? Laugh for chrissakes, I'm okay." He said, as Ren and Nora entered the room, which Aldric noticed. "Ooh, new people."
Pyrrha nodded, "yes, this is Ren and Nora. They're part of JNPR." She said, as they each nodded and greeted him.
Aldric's grin widened and he pointed right at Yang, "not a damn word - see, there's a guy, there." He pointed at Ren, whose stoic expression didn't change, as he ushered Nora in and shut the door behind him.
Yang scoffed, "please. Eight - no, nine! Nine Beebee - Nine women in your room and you call attention to the guy. Don't even try, you're not fooling anyone."
"Oh yeah?" Aldric leaned over, "hey Ren can you come help me out? This bed is very cold." A beat, "you don't need your clothes, just your hot man meat."
Ren blinked, but was saved from responding by Ecru, "what, you're not asking me?"
Aldric chuckled, "I know better, you've been giving Myrtle fuck-me eyes since you two met."
"You shut your whore mouth, Etiolate!" Myrtle shook her head, laughing as she brushed her blue hair aside.
"Not a whore! I'm a holy man!" Aldric called back, before he leaned back in his bed and looked at everyone. "How about all of you guys? Spend any time in a bed?"
Ruby spoke up, "Professor Ozpin kept the students behind the Orange Line, he didn't want us in any of the heavy fighting."
"Hm." Aldric grunted, "I didn't get that memo." He deadpanned, with a guilty frown.
"Yeah, because someone flew off before they could get updated orders!" Yang raised a fist as though he were going to give him a shove, but then realized that her only targets were his heavily bandaged chest, heavily scarred stump, or his heavily bandaged arm, with needles and IV catheters sticking out of it. "Fear and dead men, Beebee?" She asked, lowering her hand, as Aldric sensed Nora find the only chair in the room and sit not on it, but its back, so she could get a better view.
Aldric blinked, "uh... What?"
Weiss had her scroll out in a second, as a smug grin painting her teammate's face. "VAF has been spending the last week pouring through the security cameras and their recordings, to try and figure out what happened and how, when the Invaders came in. They're hoping to cut them off, and while they didn't like what they found, they did find something that has been spreading like wildfire." She said, turning the scroll to Aldric, stepping in closer, and holding it in front of him.
Everyone was now squeezed in around his bed and looking at the scroll's screen. Aldric saw it was a recording from the ports, and there were marines and soldiers crawling around everywhere, on all levels of the dock, like ants. He saw them setting up machine gun nests, sandbag walls, offloading arms and ammunition, he saw tanks rolling up to the mainland and boats coming in to the piers, until something bright occurred offscreen. The camera feed switched first to one all the way from Beacon, then one behind Vale's defensive line, and then one with a direct line of sight from the docks, all showing the same image: Aldric's little phoenix stunt, perfectly visible even from as far back as Beacon's camera. Then it returned to the first camera, and saw him come rocketing down for a landing, right on the edge of one of the piers.
It all played out far faster than he remembered it going, even those precious few minutes before the fighting had started, leading up to his exchange with Megaphone Guy, and his Darth Vader quote.
"All I am surrounded by, is fear!" He heard himself shout, "and dead men!" And then his blade ignited, and all of the soldiers opened fire, it appearing for a moment as though the entire planet was throwing everything that could explode at him in an attempt to kill him, and yet once the fire ceased, his blade ignited again, cutting a bright blue swath in the cloud of smoke and dust. He actually saw his free hand thrust forward by the light of the saber, and saw his fingers clench into a fist before all of the soldiers in view of the camera began exploding.
"How did you do that?" He heard Myrtle ask, as Weiss snapped her scroll shut. "Blow all of them up?" The thief specified, as Aldric sensed Ren pulling Nora off of the back of the chair, to her objection.
"Lady, you of all people should know I have no problem whatsoever in setting shit on fire." Aldric laughed, cutting the tension that had grown in the room. "I'd do it now, but -"
"Not sure if you can get it up?" Yang interrupted.
Ecru cast Yang a look from her side of the bed, "I like you." She nodded.
"My worst nightmares are coming true." Aldric buried his head into his good hand. "No - you two aren't allowed to hang out together." A beat, "or, wait, no - do exactly that. Go hang out together with the invaders. No one will survive."
"Why'd you say that?" He heard Ruby ask, as she leaned over the bed.
"You don't know how loud she can get, Ruby. Imagine two of your sisters."
Ruby giggled, but shook her head. "Why'd you say that to the soldiers?"
As Aldric considered his answer, it occurred to him that at least him and Pyrrha, but just as likely everyone else in this room, might have killed someone over the course of that day, and along with the rapidly approaching realization that everyone he'd killed had been from his home, it sobered him up fast. He shrugged, and forced those thoughts from his head. "I figured if I caused a big enough distraction, they'd stop dedicating soldiers to Vale and try to deal with me on the docks." He said, "might be able to give everyone else more time to help the evacuations that way, so I..." He grinned, "put on a show. Just like hope is the strongest weapon for your allies, so too are theatricality and deception powerful agents to the uninitiated in your enemies."
"But you could've died." He heard Blake intone, "it was stupid."
"Blake!" Ruby whined, her head whipping around to the cat faunus.
"She speaks!" Aldric grinned, "but she's not wrong." Aldric waved the issue away, "risking your life is part of the job description. I was out there to protect others, that's what mattered." Albeit he was doing so by chopping a lot of people in half and separating a lot of limbs from their bodies, but he digressed, again having to force his mind away from that dark path.
"But... At that great of a risk to your life, Ash?" He heard Pyrrha speak up.
Aldric nodded, "if I wanted a life without risk to mine, I wouldn't be doing what I do." He said, earnestly. "If it means saving more lives than will be lost, I'm willing to put mine on the line." He nodded.
She quieted down, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms; Aldric noticed she seemed pale, and the Doctor's words came to mind. Just how much blood had she given?
"Well, I'll be damned if it didn't work, Ash." Ecru shook her head, a grin stretching across her dark face.
Weiss picked up with a nod, "indeed, no sooner had you begun your attack than did Vale's navy begin their tactical retreat." A beat, "how long are you going to wait before you admit that it was your idea?"
So the Wonderful Wizard told everyone that the 'bomb Vale' idea was mine? Asshole knows what I'm up to, so what's his game? Aldric shrugged, "I wasn't going to mention my stunt at the docks." He couldn't help but wonder if he'd done that to give Aldric credit and help Goud's reputation, or to cover his bases if it didn't work.
"You are too modest, Ash." Weiss huffed.
"You pretty much saved Vale!" Ruby piped in, a smile on her face.
"You're already becoming a household name in Beacon, dude." Yang leaned against the wall Aldric's bed was stuck up against. "Give it a week and Vale will start to figure it out, too."
"Oh, that'll be fun." Aldric deadpanned, "but you know what - if it makes trench coats a thing, I'll take it." He had a new mission in life: Get everyone in Vale wearing his Matrix coat. "So..." He turned to Ecru, "if Ozpin was keeping all of the students behind Orange... Just exactly how did you -" But he was interrupted, not by Ecru, but the amazonian woman in the back.
"We threatened to shoot him if he kept us back." She said, brushing some of her dark dreads out of her face.
Aldric stared at her, aghast. "Same dude who shot a star into the sky."
"Ecru described exactly where she'd shove the Lovely Lady." Myrtle deadpanned, with a snide grin and a nod.
Aldric turned his attention to Ecru, eyes wide. "You threatened to shove a shotgun up Beacon's Headmaster's ass?"
"No." Ecru tried and failed to suppress a grin.
There was silence for a few moments, as her implication dawned on everyone, and it was broken by Nora, who gasped loudly and began laughing. She doubled over, and her laughter inspired a slowly growing chorus of guffaws from the others in the room, until the room was filled by everyone's laughter, and the air lightened considerably.
"Hot damn, lady." Aldric shook his head, as the laughter died down. "Okay, this one's for you -" He turned to Ruby, "has Weiss talked to you at all about team battles?"
Ruby gasped, "what?! No!" She shrieked, whipping around to the snow-haired huntress. "Weiss!"
"In my defense, I was more focused on bringing to mind how I was trained in the sword to impart upon you." Weiss waved at Aldric, "and clearly it must have worked, considering."
"I said it's for when I had to get dangerous." Aldric defended, "I did say that, and now you know how dangerous I meant." A beat, "oh, and I think you just wanted to hog me for yourself." He grinned.
"So, wait, you've been trying to set up a fight between us and RWBY?" Ecru gasped, a huge smile stretching across her face.
"Why not us?" He heard Nora whine from the back of the room.
"Because as much as I think you and Ecru might get along like a house on fire-" Aldric pointed to Yang, "pretty much since day one, I've wanted to see Yang duke it out with Ecru." He leaned over, "you can fight winner."
"So we'll fight you?" She shot right back.
"Oh!" Yang planted her hands on her hips, turning to Nora, "oh! You have something to say, Nora?" She demanded, a wide smile on her face.
Aldric watched the chaos he'd sown until it died down and the conversations moved on to other topics, news about Beacon, stories about the 'Invasion Day', how bad Beacon Tower was trashed, that RWBY was helping GEMS move into a dorm that was less exposed from and to missile strikes, and on and on until Blake let slip that it was late at night, and they all still had school in the morning. It took twenty minutes for everyone to say their goodbyes and to leave the room.
Aldric, however, made one last request, as Pyrrha tried to slip out. "Lady." He called out, catching her attention. "Stick around a minute?"
She nodded, and bade her team and their friends farewell, promising to meet up with them later, before coming back into the room, taking a seat on the chair Nora and Ren had been fighting over. She folded her hands in her lap, and refused to make eye contact with him, trying to mask the frown on her face. So Aldric the first thing that came to mind: He unscrewed one of his eyes and threw it at her.
She jumped when it bounced off of her shoulder and into her lap, and Aldric would never admit that he'd used his semblance to make sure it specifically landed iris-up, such that he could say, "see, I have ways of getting you to look at me, even if I have to cheat a little."
She picked up the eye delicately, examining it. "It looks nice..." She said, slowly, before leaning forward and handing it back to him.
Aldric screwed it back in, "there she is!" He said, "entire time you were in here you said... Like... Five words, and you're paler than I am and I'm a damn mummy. Are you okay?"
"I am not the one in the hospital bed, Ash."
"Well, true, but you're also too smart to go try and take out an enemy... Boat, actually, not an airship, and then turn right around and try to fight the entire freakin' army." He grinned, "and you didn't answer my question. What's the deal, lady?"
Pyrrha kept up her silence, momentarily breaking eye contact with Aldric, before looking back up. "I awoke my aura when I was six." She said, "and when I asked my father to enroll me in a combat school, I remember the conversation he had with me. He said that the world we live in is a hard one. The Grimm may be our greatest threat, but they are also the simplest. That they do not have souls, and killing one of them is... In its own way, of no consequence to our own... But then he told me that there exists a threat equal to the Grimm: Humans. Faunus. Other people. He maintains to this day that the Grimm will never be able to wipe out humanity because we will never fall to an outside force... But that does not extend to us fighting eachother. That if we were ever to die out, it would be because we destroyed ourselves.
"I..." She paused, "I don't quite believe in the evils of our people, in the same way he does. Even with these Dustless invaders. I believe much like you do... That there is still good in us, and that it is worth fighting for... But I do understand our reality." She said, "I do know that... Like my father, not everyone believes as I do, even back then, I knew this much. And because of this, his one question for me before he signed the papers was if I was willing to live this life, the good and the bad." A beat, "if... I was willing to kill a person. To watch a person die."
Aldric stared at her, metal eyes wide and jaw hanging. "Your dad said this to you and you were six." He deadpanned.
She smiled dully, "he has never been big on subtlety." She responded, leaning back forward in her chair. "But for as developed as my views on the world was at six years old..." She gave him a thin grin, "I didn't fully quite grasp the gravity of what it was he asked me. At the time, I merely rationalized it as... If I have to kill someone to save someone else, then I should. And if an ally died fighting someone, I would have to finish the fight to help my ally." She said. "But... As I grew older, I realized he meant less 'ally' and more 'friend', when he asked me if I was willing to watch a person die.
"And I told you once I didn't have many friends. Truth be told... I'm not sure if I ever truly had a friend until I came to Beacon and met you, and Yang, and Jaune, and Nora and Ren." She listed off, "so... That helped color that opinion. I guess you could say I was more clinical, before I came to Beacon." She explained, "and when those... Strange airships began bombing Beacon, I didn't hesitate when Ozpin called for us to assemble in the hall. When you halted the missiles, I knew I had to help them, to save the other students... And when you explained your 'rail gun' to me, I knew and accepted that we would be killing those pilots... And when you explained to me that the soldiers would be coming, I knew that we would have to kill them in order to protect Vale... But when you told me you intended not just to defend, but attack, I realized I had been wrong... I thought I had been ready to see someone die, but that was because I'd never had a true relationship beyond my family."
Aldric felt his blood run cold, and he had to keep up a poker face. Was this what it was sounding like? Was this happening right now?
"And... I realized... I didn't want you to die." She finally said, looking down at the floor. "I didn't want to see you die... And worse was that I knew you." She said, "I knew then as I know now, your sense of heroism. Your ceaseless belief in good. I knew that you were willing to lay down your life to save others, and that at that moment you were going to do just that, and then I -" Her voice shook, "- I heard you had taken the fight to them to distract them from the Navy and I was terrified. You're my friend, Ash - my first friend, and I didn't know what would happen if you would die!"
Okay, not exactly what I thought this was, good. Though he still felt a small bit of his soul flake away: Here was his work as Goud working, and here was another reminder that he'd inevitably be wrecking these people through betrayal.
"And then -" She breathed, "and then, I'd heard that you and Jaune had both been hurt and were in the hospital..." Her voice shook worse, "and I - I -" But she found herself silenced when Aldric raised his hand and with a 'come hither' motion, used his semblance to drag her chair, with her in it, over to him.
When she reached him, he poked her on the forehead, and her vivid green eyes peered into his gunmetal gray orbs, her breath caught in her throat.
"Are you calm, now?" Aldric hummed, and she slowly nodded. "Good... 'Cause that took more effort than I'd care to admit." He let out a quick gasp, "now listen, Pyrrha. I do not feel worthy of the faith and friendship you're giving me, of the trust you're showing in me right now." How fucking long had they known eachother? A month? Two? He'd honestly forgotten when he'd showed up at Beacon, the days were running together now. "But I'm honored to have it." He said, leaning over and resting his hand on her shoulder, "I understand what you're telling me... And I think I see a little bit more, but I'm not sure quite yet." He leaned back up, "but... I ask you this: Would you have... Rather me not done what I did?" He drawled.
She sighed, her shoulders slumping. "No." She whispered.
"Can you tell me why?"
"Because you wouldn't have been able to live with yourself."
"Eh - close." Aldric said, pinching his fingers together. "Think a bit smaller, less long term." He said, "I believe in something bigger than myself. You could say I... Hell - believe in destiny." He shrugged, waving his hand. "That I believe I have a purpose... And while I may not know exactly what that purpose is, I know what I want it to be, and how I'll go about discovering it." He said, "much like you... I've made peace with the fact that I'll end up killing people at some point." He shrugged, "fuck - you saw that video, and I'm pretty sure it was a lot longer, considering the editing I saw. I literally lost count how many soldiers I cleaved in two after thirty." He said, "but I believe that in ending those lives, I am servicing the protection of countless more. I believe that, if ever avoidable, one shouldn't kill... But sometimes one just has to get dangerous - explaining..." He nodded, "- why that was probably the first time anyone but Weiss saw that sword. I pull that out, I'm making a statement: Be it me or my enemy, someone's going to die... And that, in a roundabout way, is my point.
"Sometimes, a life has to be traded for the continuance of far more." He summarized, "and... I've made piece with the fact that, if I judge the situation drastic enough... Just as I'm willing to end someone else's life, I am more than willing to offer up mine as payment for others." He leaned back into his pillows, "bring it back to what I said about destiny... I'm pretty damn sure I'm not going to die of old age." And expanding on that, that he'd already met the person that would kill him. "But I've made peace with that, because I'm dedicating the life I have to protecting others'.
"If I die, Pyrrha... I hold no reservations, I know I'll leave behind some amount of sadness. But I would request instead that... My mantle be taken up." He said, with a nod. "That someone picks up my shield and keeps the fire alive, as it were. I don't want to be mourned, that's... A waste of time that could be better spent elsewhere. I want to be an example, in life and in death. That... Against impossible odds, the world can be saved, and is worth saving, that the fire I mentioned - hope - will always exist.
"So..." He hummed, "don't... Fear..." He said, "for my death." A beat, "worry for my intelligence." He gave her a playful shove, and she smiled, "because... You know - all I like to boast about 'skill versus strength', or 'brains over brawn' - if it isn't fucking clear yet, I have no brains!" He indicated the bandages keeping him wrapped up like a mummy. "You're talking to the same idiot who thought it was a good idea to bite the sword of a superior foe one day, and then charge headlong into an enemy army another day." He finally got her to raise her hand and cover her mouth, trying not to laugh. "There she is!" He pointed at her, "damn, lady, depression doesn't suit you. Need to smile more. Laugh more." He shook his head, "world needs more of that. Laughter. It's too serious to be taken seriously."
Pyrrha's shoulders twitched as she stifled her laughter, "you know, Ash... I believe you."
"Oh?"
"I don't think I've ever heard you complain once... At least, in a serious way." She said, straightening up, her smile doing wonders to brighten her face. "You're always trying to make the people around you laugh... Even right after waking up from almost... Dying." She hesitated, before continuing on with, "I believe you when you say you want to... Save the world, as it were."
And once again, Aldric was acquainted with the feeling of his soul rotting away. How much did he have left, at this point?
Apparently enough to fuel my aura. He grinned, "lady, please, that was the pep talk, talking. See, I really believe in two things." He held up two fingers, "never trust a fart, and don't bring anything into a fight you don't want to break."
Pyrrha did a double take, "never trust a -"
"It was a bad day for everyone at school - moving on!" Aldric said in rapid-fire, before devolving into a chuckle fit.
Pyrrha stuck around for a while after that, telling him of the last few days and how she'd contributed a lot of help to fixing the CCT Tower, before finally bidding Aldric adieu, and leaving him alone, with his only request being another visit tomorrow - because if he was going to be here another few days, he wanted his scroll, or something to read. Once she left, he found himself alone, but not tired in the slightest, and as such his inactivity lasted all of ten minutes before he carefully slid out of bed and, sure to keep the IV tower in one hand, almost using it like a walker, he patted down the sweatpants the hospital had thrown on him and sidled out of his room, one step at a time.
Down the hall he went, until he found himself standing outside of Jaune's room, looking in, and seeing him awake, just having finished a conversation with his nurse.
"Knock knock, Johnny-boy." He said, "permission to enter?"
"Oh - Ash!" Jaune's voice sounded a little hoarse, but he nodded, "yeah, come on in - you're here too?"
Aldric nodded, grunting. "Yup. You just wake up?"
"Yeah, just a little while ago." He said, as Aldric took up a position in a chair next to Jaune's bed.
"Damn, dude, should've caused a fuss - Pyrrha and your team just left."
Jaune managed to pale, even though there was hardly any lights on in his room. "Is she -"
"Nah, man, you should know her better than that!" Aldric waved the issue away, "just some bumps and bruises so I'm told... How 'bout you, man?" He nodded to Jaune's missing right arm. "I know you want to join the club and all, but... Dude. You wanna help your southpaw game you've got to lose your left arm, not your right."
Jaune laughed nervously, "yeah, I uh... Did something stupid."
"Pray-tell." Aldric grunted, leaning back in his chair.
"One of those strange airships - the ones higher up, with the bulbous front ends?" He said, running a hand through his hair, digging some of it out of the bandages wrapping around his head. "I saw one of its missiles coming down to this mom and her kids... She reminded me of my mom and my sisters, and..." He pantomimed raising a shield, a guilty, sheepish grin on his face.
Aldric blinked, "holy fuck Johnny-boy, you took a missile for a family?" He scooted forward and raised his hand, "props, dude."
Jaune high-fived Aldric's hand, "I'm hoping that because I'm alive that means the family still is... But the nurse didn't know, and I blacked out when the missile hit."
"I've always seen it like this - if you took a hit for someone else and you lived, they're still kicking too." But Aldric was still stumped by the fact that Jaune had taken a goddamn missile! Only other guy he knew with a similar stunt was Garrus Vakarian, but while he'd caught it with his face, he'd only been hit by a small little gunship's missile - not a high-end predator drone missile; he respected Jaune a lot more, now. "I might know a guy, if you're in the market for an arm."
Jaune blinked, looking both surprised and excited, "really?" He said.
"Hell yeah - dude owes me a favor." Aldric had already forgotten the conversion rate, but he had a quarter-thousand glass coins stowed away, and since those were functional 'IOU's' in the underworld, the prosthetist owed him a lot of favors. "You say the word and I can give him a call... You know - once I swap the bandages for my lucky coat, that is." He grinned.
Jaune was stunned, "wow, Ash, I don't know what to say!" He said, "I was thinking I might have to quit school..."
Was it just him, or did Aldric actually hear hope and relief in Jaune's voice? How could someone both hope they would get out of a situation, and then be relieved that they wouldn't have to?
Or do I have that backwards? Aldric shook his head. "Dude, anyone willing to play catch with a missile deserves to do whatever the fuck they want, and if I can help them -" He scoffed, "least I could do." He petered off after a moment, saying, "not... Quite sure how I'll replace your shield, though." He had one idea, actually - but he wasn't quite sure if Jaune had some kind of backup plan in place.
"Oh - no, Ash, you don't have to do that." Jaune shook his head, "I can head out, try to get it fixed if I can find the pieces... Or buy a new one, if I can't." He waved it away, "so, uh - so what'd you do to get in here?" He asked, changing the subject.
Aldric grinned, "nothing quite as badass as tanking a missile. My stupid ass ran for the docks and started fighting the invaders." He indicated his own bandages, "see how well that turned out."
Jaune blinked, "why would you do that?"
Aldric shrugged, "seemed like a good idea at the time. Pretty sure my thought process was: They'll never expect it!" A beat, "and I was right! They never expected the dumbass student charging right down main street with nothing but a shield and a sword." He grinned, "element of surprise, you see. On my side, then."
Jaune looked down at Aldric's bandaged chest, then back up to him. "Uh-huh..."
"I mean, I got my ass kicked, but I kicked some in return."
Jaune nodded, leaning back in his bed. "So uh - is there anyone else we know, in here?" He asked.
Aldric hummed, leaning back into his chair and closing his eyes; he felt out with his radar pulse and searched the rest of the recovery ward. "Doesn't... Look like it." He said, leaning his head back forward. "But they might've skipped out." He shrugged, "why? Hoping to recognize someone?" He asked quickly.
"No! No, I was just... Worried." He said, "those soldiers... They were causing a lot of damage. Ozpin tried to keep us being the Orange line, but..." He nodded at his own heavily bandaged stump, and then blinked, and looked at Aldric. "How'd you get past him? I saw Cardin get real mad and try to lead his team to advance, but then Ozpin was just there, like he knew they were going to do it, and he sent them back."
"Oh, I never got those orders. So I couldn't follow them, see." He said, "I started out shooting down the airships, but we ran out of steam pretty fast and shifted to support... And attack, in my case."
"How long did the fighting last after I got hit?" Jaune asked, "do you know how many we lost?"
"When were you hit? And I don't know. Only information I got is from the girls... And Ren." He nodded to the side, "I know that the main fleet is here, the CCT is almost back up and running, and I think Atlas might be on their way."
"Uh... I think I fell around three." He said, "you were out at the ports, you said? Did you see any of their ships? I heard Patch said they weren't airships at all, but boats."
"Then a few more hours after that. The home fleet flew above the clouds and bombed everything in front of the orange line, kept them from advancing." And he nodded, "yeah... Big ships, with big guns, and launching big missiles. I don't get it either." He shrugged.
"Why risk building a navy in the ocean?" Jaune wondered, "with Grimm out there? Where do you think they came from?"
Aldric shrugged, "maybe there's... Like... A secret kingdom out there?" He suggested, "I have no clue, dude. Kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel, here."
Jaune blinked, and sank back into his pillows. "Right... Sorry."
"No, fuck - ask 'em if you've got 'em, man." Aldric said, waving it off, before he leaned forward, and lowered his voice. "Some advice for you, though? Guy-to-guy?"
Jaune recoiled, "huh?"
"Learn to be a lefty!" Aldric nodded at his stump, "much easier, and less painful, than the alternative." He burst out into laughter, and Jaune stuttered and tried to fight an embarrassed, amused grin at the same time, leaning away from Aldric and shaking his head.