45

Chapter 45 – Jaunesite

The pain was muted. She didn't know where it had come from, but the dull ache – not to mention the sheer magnitude of it – told her she didn't want to know. How badly had she been hurt? How had she been hurt?

The memories were muddled. There was Mountain Glenn, then the train… she'd fought Torchwick – beaten him, even. And then… nothing. As her eyes drifted open she realised she was in the Beacon infirmary, with more than a few machines hooked up to her. Hooked into her.

Blake was glad she couldn't feel that.

"You're awake," the voice was familiar. She'd missed it. "Thank any gods out there."

"When did you start believing in Gods?" she croaked. It had meant to sound teasing, but the scratchy nature of her words – not to mention the pain it caused – put a stop to that. Her throat was so hoarse… like she'd been shouting for hours.

"About the time I died and came back. If I prove there's an afterlife then I figure it's best not to take any chance on a higher power, either. How do you feel?"

"Not… great…" She felt weak and tired, but the pain was keeping her awake. More than that, the uncertainty gnawed at her. What happened back there? Was Torchwick captured? How had she ended up back here, in Vale? "Do you… know anything… that happened?"

"I've got nothing," he shook his head and floated free from the bear, leaving it resting against her breasts. She half-thought she should have been angry at that, but the effort behind such an emotion was unreachable. Plus, it felt like so long since she had seen his real form. In fact, it was back when they'd had their argument… "You never realised but… I was actually with you at Mt Glenn. Zwei dragged me along."

"Damn mutt…"

"My thoughts exactly. What happened there… I didn't get to see your injury, or what happened. Is there not a message on your scroll or anything to explain?" He pointed to the device that rested on her bedside. It took her three times to move her arm, and what felt like an age to carefully manoeuvre the shaking limb onto the scroll.

But she managed it through sheer stubbornness, bringing it back before her exhausted eyes.

You have 1249 missed messages.

…

"There's nothing on my scroll," Blake clicked it off and let it fall back down. She didn't want to know that badly.

"Weird… I really thought one of them would have."

"Yeah… strange." It just wasn't happening. But that left nothing else to talk about… and as the silence dragged on, the elephant in the room seemed to become even bigger.

"Bla-"

"Jaun-" They both paused. "You first."

"Ladies first."

"I'm injured."

"I'm a little beyond injured." He stuck his hand through his own chest as proof. She wanted to stick her fist through his head. No, no… she couldn't get angry. This was apologising time. Not getting irritated at Jaune time… that could come later.

"I wanted to talk about what happened before I – well, we – went to Mt Glenn." She knew he realised what that meant, by the way his eyes looked away. Strength was slowly returning to her, but everything still hurt. Despite that, she pushed on. "I said… some things that I didn't mean. And some things that I shouldn't have said at all."

"Don't," he held one hand out, but it just passed through her shoulder. "I should be the one asking for your forgiveness. I acted like you didn't care – like you thought nothing of that man dying. I knew it hurt you too, but I acted like my pain was all that mattered."

"And I made you do that."

"You didn't! I wanted to save you, and as horrible as it sounds, I'd do it again if it would keep you alive."

"That's not right, though." She argued. "You were… you're still pretty much an innocent. I've done bad things Jaune, terrible things. You shouldn't be dragged down to my level."

"What if I want to be?" He looked so serious, but she wanted to shake her head. He didn't understand, clearly he didn't. She was a terrorist, a monster and a criminal. Sure, she hadn't blown up that train, but she'd played lookout while Adam and her comrades did other such horrible things. Oh, she'd convinced herself it wasn't true… that the people had fought back or that she was letting enemy propaganda get to her head.

But ignorance didn't make her innocent. Nor did naivety.

"That doesn't change the fact that I was wrong to insult you, Jaune. I was wrong to try and force my way of thinking on you an-" He held his hand over her mouth, not that it did anything, but she stopped speaking regardless.

"How about we both admit we were wrong, and go back to being friends? No questions asked."

That simple? Jaune was a simple kind of guy, but this felt too easy. Maybe that was what she needed, however.

"I'd like that…"

Jaune floated back into the bear, the fluffy figure pushing itself up on her chest. With tentative steps he stepped forward. It was silly and childish… but she couldn't help but smile as his arms wrapped around her cheeks. He gave her face a hug.

Right about the time her friends stepped into the room. "Blake!" Yang cried, pushing forward even as Jaune fled the bear, leaving it to fall flat in her mouth. She choked on the fur, feeling it stick to her tongue.

"I'm glad to see you're awake," Weiss sighed as she removed it and held it with hand. "And while I'm sure you are relieved to see your teddy in one piece, I'm not sure you need go this far."

"Whatever you're thinking," Blake wheezed, "forget."

Weiss didn't get a chance to reply, not as Yang filled the injured faunus' vision. "How can you joke at a time like this? Do you have any idea how close you were to death?"

"Uh… no, actually. I can't remember anything."

"Very close!" Her partner prodded her cheek, hard. "I was so… I was so damned worried and you wouldn't stop screaming." Blake shivered, once more glad she couldn't remember it. Very little had ever made her scream, at least in a pain sense. She'd cried out in anger or frustration, but she didn't think she had ever truly screamed in agony. "I didn't even know what to do… I was so scared."

Oh hell no, there were tears pooling in Yang's eyes. Yang, of all people. The next thing she knew the girl's arms were around her, crushing her close as the blonde wiped her eyes on Blake's shoulder. The paper-thin hospital gown did nothing to stop the salty tears making her shoulder wet. Also Yang was starting to squeeze a little too hard… she was still having trouble breathing.

"Ruby, a little help?" Blake wheezed. The small girl nodded, stepping forward.

And wrapping her arms around Blake's other side.

Oh for the love of…

"Weiss?" Weiss would help her – she wasn't one to be thrown off by emoti-

"You worried us all," the Schnee said, one hand gripping Blake's shoulder as she held the faunus' hand in the other.

"Awww…" Jaune cooed, even as she began to see spots. "The only thing that could make this sweeter would be a lack of clothing."

Must… kill…

"If you could not kill my test subject that would be appreciated." The four girls froze at the elderly voice, eyes turning to the corner of the room where the eccentric Atlas Scientist sat. "Once I'm done with her then you can do whatever, but for now it's best if she lives. Maybe… I mean perhaps I could learn some things from her body, but… no, probably best to leave that til later."

"H-How did you get in here?" Yang pointed at him. Blake's eyes crossed, hadn't she chosen the wrong question there? Wasn't the bigger question to ask about that worrying thing he'd just said?

"I was always here," he rolled his eyes and climbed out of the seat, bones cracking loudly. "I simply remained hidden."

"I didn't see him at all…" Ruby whispered, getting an agreeing nod from Weiss. The two of them were one thing, but how had she of all people missed him? Or Jaune?

"Of course you didn't," the man rolled his eyes – as though to say it should have been obvious. "I was holding this." He lifted up a dark, green cucumber, waving it before their eyes. "So why would you ever have seen me?"

Weiss walked up towards the man and bowed. "Doctor Kitsune should be here soon, sir. I'm sure she will be able to diagnose you and prescribe some medicine for your condition. Until then, why don't you hand over the vegetable and sit down. I'm sure the nice lady will come for you soon."

"Bah girl, I'm not mad."

"I remain unconvinced."

"He's telling the truth," Blake sighed. It wouldn't do for her team to herd him away. Not when he might hold the answers for why and how she'd gotten here in the first place. "And he isn't mad… I think."

"Genius and madness often straddle the same donkey," the man nodded. "Now then young ladies, I will need you all to give me and Miss Belladonna some privacy, so that I might explain some things to her."

"Oh, an actual explanation?" Jaune raised one ghostly brow. "This will be a new experience." Blake snorted at that but couldn't exactly disagree.

"No!" Yang apparently could. "I'm sick and tired of not getting any answers. Blake nearly died on our mission – and if this is going to be a regular thing then I need to know why! How am I supposed to look after her if I don't even know what's wrong…" the blonde was panting, "Why did she pass out? Why did the bear help her – why did that psychopath bring it back?"

"Psychopath?" Blake questioned.

"I'll explain later."

"And I'm sure Miss Belladonna will explain these things to you, Bang." He tapped the cucumber against her hair, somehow managing to survive not only mispronouncing her name but also touching the mane. "Once she knows the answers herself."

"Eh?" That seemed to take the wind out of her sails.

"That is why I am here," he waved both hands and bowed, "to… erk… I am here to help her understand-" he seemed to be struggling to stand back up. "God damned back… a little help here?" Ruby and Weiss exchanged looks, before helping the man stand back up straight. The loud crack his spine made had them all wincing, but he just rubbed it with a happy sigh. "Basically I'm here to do tests on her so we can figure all this out ourselves. Your teammate's aural dependence on her bear is one such mystery. And I'm sure once we have a good answer, she'll rush to tell you all."

He was sneaky, she'd give him that. Once they had a good answer, not necessarily the correct one. The truth was something altogether more difficult to explain… something she might need to broach eventually.

But how would they react if they knew I'd been lying to them all this time? Their shared experience at the docks, when she'd run away, said secrets were better out than in. But this was something more than that. It was his secret as much as hers, not to mention it broke all laws of reality.

"Is this true, Blake?" Yang turned to her, and the concerned look in those eyes had her pausing.

"We have some theories," she answered honestly… because who could lie to those eyes? Maybe Yang and Ruby got the puppy dog eyes from their father… a scary thought. "But nothing concrete. We don't know the full story, or even why this happened in the first place, but we're going to try and find out."

"And for that you need us to leave you alone?" She sounded so hurt, it tore at Blake's heart.

"Oh for the love of," the man rolled his eyes. "I only asked for some privacy. I'm going to be five minutes – you might as well wait outside. Damn dramatic teenagers, seriously."

"Oh… uh…" Yang flushed. "Okay then… you want us to get you a drink Blake?"

"Please," she nodded in thanks, only just realising how dry her lips really were. Getting fluids through a tube was all well and good, but it didn't do anything for her throat. The three members of her team drifted out the room, each promising to be back in just a few minutes. Blake nodded to each with a smile, it truly was good to see they were okay.

But once they were gone, the mood seemed to turn more serious. "What happened?" She asked.

"You nearly died. The connection between Jaune and yourself was stretched to an unusual level, and the backlash continued to drain your aura. Another day or two and we have reason to believe one of you would have died."

"One of us?" Blake waited for him to answer before realising he couldn't hear Jaune. She repeated the question.

"From what we could see your aura was maintaining his presence, but the distance meant he was using more than you could supply. It's uncertain whether you would have run out and died, or if the lack of aura supplied would have caused Jaune to somehow disappear. The latter would have ended the drain, leaving you nearly empty – but alive."

"Neither option sounds appealing…" she leaned back in the bed with a sigh. "What does this mean for us?"

"In terms of day to day life? Not much. Stick close and don't let him be taken away from you." That would be easy enough. She could have him stay out of the bear more, which would mean even if it was taken, he'd still be nearby in spirit form. "But it does answer one of the questions of what you ae, my boy."

"I'm over here." Jaune sighed, as the man addressed a completely empty portion of the room. "But I'll bite. What am I?" Blake repeated the question once more.

"Why it's very interesting," the scientist cheered, "You're an undead parasite!"

Jaune floated in place, face flat.

Blake snickered.