aftercare

"C'mon on. Let's get you cleaned up."

They sat in the giant Shnee bathroom, his coat hung on a peg outside, his boots sat just beside the door so he was down to just his top and trousers.

He nodded. "M'kay."

At first Oscar had protested against the idea, saying they'd only been given an hour and they shouldn't waste time on him, but given they had some explaining to do anyway...he agreed so long they agreed to listen to what Emerald had to say.

Jaune went over to the bath and set the tap running, testing the temperature then looked back at Oscar in time to see him wince trying to take his top off. Jaune felt a rush of sympathy and regret looking at him. Beneath the scorched fabric, the burn was red-raw, and angry dent in the boys chest. He wandered if it would ever fully heal. While his aura-amp had fixed up most of his ribs, the bruises still seemed to be there. At the time, he'd just focused on getting Oscar back on his feat after the explosion. He honestly hadn't had much aura left himself after there run in with Salam. and even where there weren't bruises, patches of dust and dirt had still managed to seep through his coat. He really did need this bath.

Leaving the tap on slow fill, Jaune took the discarded shirt and opened the door just enough to try and hang it on the same leg as the coat. It was torn and cut in places but there must've been a spare somewhere near that was pretty much the same. Someone would come for them later, he knew. Weather it was Wiess, Cline or even mrs. Shnee, he felt sure they'd have some clean clothes by the time they were done.

When he looked back, he found Oscar leaning over the edge of the tub, with his hands on its edge. He looked as though he was finding it somewhat difficult to get in, his arms and legs shaking slightly. Jaune went to help, giving him something to lean on while lowering himself gently into the slowly expanding stretch of water. He suddenly realised it wasn't just a wash he needed, but rest as well.

He still had those bandages he always wore on his neck but when Jaune took them off he noticed some old scars across his throat. "How long have you had those?"

Oscar raised a hand to the scars, as if he'd only just remembered they were there. "About a decade."

Jaune took up a sponge, squeezed it full of water and gently rubbed the boys shoulder. "You never told anyone about them."

He shrugged. "No one ever asked."

He decided to drop the subject, and not to mention it to anyone else either.

Neither of them said anything else until Jaune got his wrist and a reflex caused Oscar to wince and pull away.

"Sorry." Juane said "Does that hurt?"

"Only a little."

He could see why. Thin markings were clearly visible all down his wrist. When he started on his other shoulder and noticed similar markings on his other wrist, the realisation struck him. "Did they tie your hands?"

"Only when it was him." Oscar stifled a chuckle. "I don't think she really saw me as much of a threat...but she didn't wanna take any chances with him.

All of a sudden, his feelings of anger towards Ozpin mixed with his feelings of responsibility for Oscar and he found himself feeling bad for the old man.

"Hold still." With the softer side of the sponge, he dabbed at the blood by the corner of his mouth, only mildly surprised to see the cut underneath had completely healed. "Sounds like he had it pretty ruff...didn't take all of it though, did he."

Oscar didn't bother asking how he knew that. "No. But that was because I didn't want him too. He wasn't gonna force it. Not again."

Momentarily confused, Jaune let the sponge fall. "Why? Why wouldn't you want him to?" He realised just a second too late how mean that question actually sounded but Oscar didn't seem to mind.

"I didn't want them to know he was ready there. Otherwise, it would've been worse...was, worse." He looked at the markings on his wrists. Once again, Jaune felt a pang of sympathy for Ozpin.

Filling a jug full of water, Jaune said "head back." And Oscar did so, letting the water wash though his hair to drop back into the tub. It was getting dirtier now but they were almost done. "Your very brave." Juane told Oscar, running his fingers through his wet hair. "You always have been...but that was kinda foolish."

Once more, he saw the boy holding back a laugh. "It was him she really wanted...and I wasn't gonna give her what she wanted." Juane could help but smile too at that, but then it quickly faded when he realised "but you did in the end."

Up till then, Oscars eyes had been closed but now he opened them. "Yeah." He lowered his gaze to the slowly dirtying water.

"Hay." Abandoning both jug and sponge, Juane put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't be ashamed. You held up for as long as you could. And...in a way I-I'm glad Oz was there for you...to take hits when, you no longer could."

That didn't seem to help much. Oscar lowered his head, his eyes becoming hidden in the dripping locks of his hair. Juane sighed, letting the subject simmer for a while. He would realise in time.

They kept quiet until Juane turned his attention to the scar on Oscars chest. He didn't want to risk touching it, for fear it would just cause more pain, so he just placed the sponge just above it and pressed it there, causing the water to run down the wound. Even that cause the boy to wince and suck in his breath in pain.

"Shh, this won't take a sec." Jaune tried to reassure him.

Hoping the boy wouldn't notice, he also tried a bit of his aura amp again but, not to much of his surprise, it didn't seem to make it any better.

That just left the bruises over his ribs. The water had risen to just below his chest by now, meaning those bruises were partly submerged. This made it a little harder to see them but easier to get them clean.

"Did Hazel do this to you?" Jaune asked, rubbing the bruises away, careful not to press to hard.

"Most of it." Oscar told him, nodding.

"It doesn't make sense." Juane said "Why would he suddenly go from beating your ass to saving it?"

For a moment, Oscar started to look a little smug. "Cause even while he was doing that, I was tryn'a get him to turn...make him see what he was doing was wrong."

"And how did you manage that in the end?"

"Simple. I told him the truth."

But before he could ask any more questions, there was a knock on the bathroom door.

Getting up, Jaune turned off the top and went to see who it was.

It turned out to be Wiess, holding a pile of clean clothes. "Freshly washed." She says, handing them to him.

That was bloody quick.

"We're waiting in the dinning room when your done."

Jaune took the clothes. "Thanks. We should be out in a minute."

When he closed the door and looked back, he saw Oscar was laying back in the water, his arms outstretched above him, as if he were examining something on his hands. The marks on his wrist were still there but they were much less visible then before. You had to actually be looking for them and even then to be pretty up close to be able to spot them.

He looked up when Jaune took a towel from the rail and came towards him. Crouching down, he let Oscar put an arm around his shoulders in order to help him out of the tub and Wrapped the towel around his shoulders.

"There." Juane told him. "That didn't take too long."

Meanwhile

"What did you do to him?!"

Emerald stood pouting in a corner while the others looked at her accusingly. "I never touched the boy. I barely even saw him. It was mostly Hazels job to...try and get him to talk.

"But why…what was it she wanted to know?"

Emerald shrugged. "Probably a few things. All I know is that at that moment, she has the lamp but didn't know how to use it."

Black nodded. "So that's why she needed Oscar."

There was a pause for a while.

"Did he?" Yang asked, unable to take the silence much longer.

Emerald shook her head. "But I...sometimes a-I could hear it...all the hits...and the screams." She closed her eyes and looked away. "It was horrifying...listing to him cry out like that"

Was she actually feeling sorry for him?

"But you didn't try to stop it!"

She actually laughed. "How could I? Then it would've been me on the receiving end. They tortured him...beating him until he wept but...he never gave in. I kind of admired that." She looked up to where Jaune had taken Oscar to get cleaned up. "He's a brave boy."

There were looks of shock and sympathy all around. Ruby in particular looked close to tears.

"But wait." Yang realised "he said Ozpin took the torture for him."

That seemed to stump Em for a second. "I wandered about that too when I heard cause...I'm pretty sure it was the boy to begin with. Even though it wasn't really him she wanted...that was the other thing she thought the torture would do. Try and draw the old man out. And I guess it worked in the end but I-I honestly couldn't tell the difference."

But that just caused them to ask more questions.

"Why would he want to keep control while going through that?"

"Because I think he knew. If she knew Ozpin was really still there, it would've been harder on both of them. He knew that."

"We'll then why would he end up giving it to him in the end?"

Em shrugged again. "I don't know, I guess it just became too much." Then when they all just looked her blankly. "Look, I'm not gonna pretend I knew what was going on in that head of his, But if I had to guess, I'd say when we were all brought to the bridge to watch the whale land on atlas, it was him in control then."

"So you did see him."

"That was the first time I saw him. Being dragged from that cell it...it looked like he could barely walk."

Two things happened one after the other: Ruby stifled a sob and the door opened to reveal Wiess coming in. Thanks that later, no one seemed to notice Ruby.

"They say there almost done." Weiss told the others, referring to Jaune and Oscar. She glared at Emerald as she passed but said nothing.

"Good, cause we really need to talk about things."

Maybe he'd be able to validate Emeralds claims but they had other problems.

It was a another few minutes until they came in. He still looked a little pale but at least he was clean. Yang moved towards him but he waved her away. "I'll be fine, don't fuss."

He stopped just in front of Emerald. "They treating you alright?" He muttered to her.

She nodded vaguely.

He went to stand by the window.