The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Recovery Time

I followed Ozpin through the halls of the Hospital in silence, keeping my eyes and ears opened. It didn't seem like there had been many major injuries among those who'd survived the attack—though, I suppose it was more accurate to say that only those who hadn't suffered any injuries had been able to survive. No one I walked past gave me more than a glance unless I spotted something I felt noteworthy and stopped to heal it. It was easy enough and it wasn't like I particularly minded, so I allowed Ozpin to take the long road through the building and stopped to heal whenever I could.

But in time, we reached our first stop.

"Onyx," I greeted, stepping through the doorway after the headmaster.

The one-legged hunter had looked up from his magazine the moment Ozpin had entered, but his gaze flickered to me at the sound of my voice.

"Hey, Jaune," He replied, trying for a smile before letting it fall away sadly. "I, uh. I heard about your father. I'm sorry; he was a good man. He'd have been proud of what you did out there."

I closed my eyes and bowed my head for a moment, because it seemed like what I should do. As I went through the motions, however, I couldn't help but wonder exactly what Ozpin had told Onyx to explain things. Unlike Ren and Nora, he hadn't seen me with the White Tiger of the West up and running, but Ozpin had probably needed to say something about how effective I'd been in the situation. Whatever it was, he hadn't bothered telling me about it, which was rather annoying.

After that moment of silence, I opened my eyes and looked up.

"Thank you, Onyx," I said. "Without your help, a lot of these people wouldn't be here today. Even with…everything that happened, at least we managed to save a few, right?"

He smiled at me bleakly, but nodded at the words.

"We did at that," He said. "Are you holding up okay?"

"Uh," I said. "As well as could be expected. Yourself?"

"Under the circumstances, I can't really complain," He said. "Which is pretty annoying, honestly. I mean, here I am, having torn off my own leg before working hard for another hour, and all I can really think is 'I got off light.'"

"You can complain," I said. "I don't mind."

"Well," He said demurely. "If you insist. The sheets inch, especially against my stump. Not being able to walk sucks ass. Needing help to go to the bathroom sucks even more ass. I'm not on the ground so I can't use my Semblance and it feels like I'm covering my eyes up, you know? So I'm missing my leg, missing a lot of my power, I feel helpless, and after that whole mess, my nerves are up and will be fore days. So I feel like I need to be prepared if anything happens, but the fact is, I'm unprepared for anything. I bet a freshman at the Academy could kick my ass right now; no offense."

I shrugged it off and smiled. He still seemed to be holding back, but I could tell from his emotions that being allowed to complain was a relief, even if it wasn't about…whatever was really bothering him. I supposed it wasn't my place to pry, but that didn't mean I couldn't help.

"Let's see if we can't do something about that, then, okay?" I said, moving to his bedside and sitting down in one of the guest chairs. "After, well, everything, I'm a little short on supplies, but I still have a little bit left, so why don't we take a look at your leg?"

He leaned against the backrest and nodded, probably remembering my words from before. Even now, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to fix his leg with the skill I currently had—but I couldn't then I'd just keep practicing until I could. For me, it shouldn't be impossible, especially with my new Wisdom skills, so I'd simply grind the skill until it was good enough or find something else that would work. For Onyx, Ren, and especially my own mother, I needed to find a way, so I would. It was as simple as that.

For the moment, however, I simply drew one of my final blue Dust crystals from my Inventory and used it to heal him. Independently of that, I cast a Regeneration of my own upon him and set up a Temple around him. With my present level of MP regeneration, stuff like this was trivial, so it shouldn't be a problem to just leave it up and running for a while. In fact…maybe I could cover the whole hospital with Temples? It would require a fair number of castings, but the way I figured it probably wouldn't hurt if anyone who came here healed faster. I made a note to speak to Ozpin about it.

"Did you need anything else, sir?" Onyx asked Ozpin while I busied myself. "I didn't really see too much, down below."

"It's fine," Ozpin assured the wounded Hunter. "I have business in town later today and it's simply not worth it to fly back to Beacon only to return. As such, I thought I'd spend the rest of the day here, looking after friends. Mr. Arc even offered to escort me for a while."

I nodded without lifting my head. The stump had already healed over as if it had several weeks to heal, but I wasn't sure how much of an issue that would be. There was some activity near the stump itself, but none of it obvious enough to be visible to normal people's eyes; if the skills I'd used were going to have any effect, it would likely be over days or weeks, if not longer.

"I set a few things up, but they might take a while to show any effect," I said, partially to Onyx but mostly to Ozpin. "I even set up a healing barrier around here, to make things go faster. I might be able to cover the whole building, in fact, if that's okay. Might help the rest of the hospital."

"Yeah?" Onyx asked, lifting an eyebrow before looking around. There wasn't anything obvious so after a moment he just shrugged. "Cool."

As he did so, Ozpin looked contemplative.

"I'll have to speak to Paean, of course," He said. "If it's your power, I don't think it would cause any problems, but where the health of so many people is concerned…well, I'm sure you can understand. If you're willing to take the time to go through the proper channels, I doubt there would be any objections, but such things take time."

"Should I take this one down, then?"

"I don't mind it," Onyx stated. "The healer says it works, that's good enough for me. I know what he can do."

"Then I suppose we shall consider this a test case," Ozpin clapped his hands. "I'll try to remember to inform Paean about it, but I am a busy man. It may have to wait until after you're checked out, Onyx. Jaune?"

"I'm done," I nodded. "I'll check up on him regularly to renew it all, but he should be okay for now. I'll just maintain the barrier until he's clear."

"Then shall we—"

"Sir," Onyx interrupted. "Could we have a moment?"

Ozpin tilted his head to the side and nodded.

"Ah, of course," He said. "Jaune, I assume you know where your mother's room is?"

"Yes, sir," I replied. "You go on ahead."

"Then I shall see you shortly," He said, inclining his head before leaving. "Good luck, Onyx. Be sure not to start any more fights with Paean's daughters, hm?"

"I'll be good," He promised. "I'm not one to start anything I can't run away from."

I waited a moment to track Ozpin out of sight and then lifted an eyebrow.

"Is there something else you need?" I asked.

He hesitated briefly before speaking.

"It's uh…it's about your mother," Onyx said.

"Ah," I understood. "Ozpin told you?"

"No, I'm…" He looked down and then tried to force a smile before giving up and shaking his head. "Well, it's just say I'm familiar with the procedure, yeah?"

"Oh."

"Yeah," He took a breath and then continued. "I figured I should…you know, help. Since…well, since I did this, before joining your father's team. Might need to do it again, actually, but…this is the type of thing I feel like I should be an expert on, but all the shit they did and made me do? There's a lot of it that seemed pointless and stupid at the time and I can't say it makes sense to me now. Most of that stuff, I should probably let someone else explain, but I figured you should get a heads up, just in case."

"Okay," I nodded, confused but appreciative. "Thank you."

"No problem," He said before cracking his neck uncertainly. "I don't actually know if this will happen to you, because the brains behind all this—the therapy thing, I mean—I have no idea how they do this. They might decide what's best for us via voodoo magic for all I know, but the basics is there's about a one to three week period where they basically psychoanalyze the hell out of us and then they come up with some stuff they tell us or our family members and then we either continue to meet with them or they assign us to someone else. I assume your family's been called? Ozpin usually handles that stuff."

"Yeah," I replied. "Grandmother and sisters are one their way."

"Good, good. But, uh…" Onyx raked a hand through his hair. "Well, like I was saying, they sort of customize this shit, but I went through the system and I know three other people did; for me and one of them, the same thing happened, so it might happen to you, too? Or not, depending on Isabelle, I guess. But after Ivory…after my wife died, it was…I guess recommended that I move in with a family member, so my daughter and I lived with my old man for a while and then redecorate my house and some bullshit like that. I guess the idea is that, for some people, being surrounded by…pictures, memories, that type of thing…that it doesn't always help. But it was still a big change for my daughter, you know? She was five at the time and between moving and her mother…I mean, I think if you've proven anything it's that you're not a kid, Jaune, but…still, I thought you should know."

"Did it help?" I asked. "Being out of your house for a while, I mean."

He took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly.

"It…yes?" He said as if asking me before furrowing his brows and shaking his head. "No. Well…maybe."

That does cover all the options, I thought.

"I'm sorry," He shook his head again. "It's just…The thing about a lot of the therapy stuff is, well, I don't what helped or how much or whatever. I mean, I just did what I was told, right? Hell, they're the therapists—they're supposed to tell me, right? But…I guess it worked out in the end? They did allow me to go back to active duty and all. And I didn't…you know. God, I hope they're not going to take this whole 'rip my own leg off' thing as a bad sign. Anyway, I'm not saying it'll happen to your mother, because some people do well with familiar places or something. There's a lot of stuff that happened or that I don't get, like fucking painting my house. But I wanted you to have a heads up, just in case. Like maybe…I mean, they always call your family when someone dies, but with you…but it could just be moving into an apartment across town for a bit, see? Still…"

"I understand," I said. "I'll keep it in mind, Onyx. Thank you."

"No problem, kid," He replied. "It's…I'm sorry. I'm not good at this, but…I hope it helps."

I nodded and used another blue Dust crystal on him.

"I appreciate the thought," I said. "I'll do whatever my mother needs, but it's good to not be going in blind. Speaking of which, though…"

"Go on, Jaune," He said. "I've kept you long enough."

"Then if you will excuse me," I rose. "I'll probably be in and out over the next few days, but goodbye for now, Onyx."

I left Onyx's room feeling contemplative. Because I was aware of the emotions of everyone around me, I'd been able to feel how serious Onyx had been, despite the awkwardness of the words. As a result, I took them seriously, considering what he'd said about my house carefully.

Home, I mused to myself. It was strange, how long it seemed I'd been away. I knew mentally that less than a day had passed, but it felt like some much longer and now…now it was time to go back. Three people had left yesterday and from now on only two would ever return. Granted, that had pretty much been what had happened with each and every one of my sisters, but this more than that. My father was gone and we'd just have to live without him.

I could do that. It would hurt, just like it hurt right now, but stuff like that couldn't overwhelm me—not with my power. But my mom…would she be reminded of him? Probably; it was their house, after all. Everything about it would probably remind her of Dad. But would that be a good or bad thing? I didn't know any more than Onyx. For some, it might help, for others, it might hurt. For Mom, though…I'd watch her, once we'd both returned home. Thanks to the power and range of my Empathy, it should be simple to keep track of how she felt about it all and just…go from there. If it hurt her, we'd deal with it together.

That led me to the possibility Onyx had mentioned, of us moving. I could see the merit of the idea, if staying at how hurt Mom, and it didn't matter much to me, personally—everything I needed, I could keep in my Inventory, from necessities to what my father had left behind. Between that and the eidetic memory my high INT had granted me, I'd be fine. Even beyond that, if it was a matter of moving in with my sisters or Grandma, I was fine with it.

Would mom be, though? I got along with everyone a lot better than she did. I liked to think we'd all come together in the face of tragedy, but I hadn't even known what had apparently been happened between my mother and sisters until Mom had told me. What they thought, what they felt…I had no idea. Would they clash? Or would this actually be what brought my family back together again?

I sighed deeply, stopping. I supposed there wasn't much point in wondering when I'd find out before too long. I guess it didn't really matter, either. If it came down to it, I could afford a house easily and, well, I didn't have much in the way of needs even beyond that. Whatever happened, we'd manage, so for now it was best to focus on the present and what I could control. There was the house to take care of and prepare for the return of my family, there was my mom, Ozpin, Onyx, and, of course, Ren and Nora, whose door I'd stopped beside. Even with it shut, I could feel them on the other side in so many ways I might as well have been seeing them.

Though it had been a minor, minor issue at the time, those two had seen enough to tie me to Jian Bing. Probably not enough to make the leap in logic needed to realize I was Jian Bing, since Jaune Arc wasn't a Faunus—but given that he was an internationally wanted terrorist, association alone might make me guilty. Again, I wasn't all that concerned with what they'd do to me, but there was my family to think about, especially with my father gone. Though I briefly considered walking away and heading for my mother first, the simple fact of the matter was that problems didn't go away just because you ignore them. I should probably handle this now.

So I knocked.

"Coming!" I heard Nora shout and felt her approach the doorway. It swung open and for a moment she just looked at me. Her enthusiastic demeanor dimmed slightly, but neither it nor her smile went away, which struck me as rather impressive. I mean, looking at me probably brought to mind the worst things that had ever happened to her; that she could smile at me was pretty amazing. "Oh. Hi, Jaune."

"Nora," I greeted, tilting my head slightly her way. "I woke up just a bit ago and wanted to come check on you and Ren. Is he okay?"

"I'm alive, at least," An almost lazy voice mused. Nora stepped aside to allow me in and I wasted no time moving to Ren's bedside, Levant expanding invisibly through the room, just in case. "It's more than I expected, honestly. You?"

"About the same," I said, looking him over. With a gesture, I set up another Temple around his room and then palmed a blue Dust crystal. Laying a hand on his shoulder, I healed him and then cast Regeneration. "There, that should help you a bit. I healed you and set up a healing barrier inside this room. It should help you recover faster, so…"

I shrugged.

"Oh," Nora drew out the word. "Will it fix Ren's hand, too?"

"I hope so, at least if given time," I said honestly. "Even if it doesn't, though, I'll be practicing constantly until I can—a lot of people got hurt badly in the outbreak."

"But not you," Ren observed, looking me over. With the status effects gone, I showed no sign that I'd been so much as touched by the conflict. "Even after everything, you look fine."

I shrugged and smiled.

"I'm tougher than I look."

"You are," He acknowledged. "You're Bai Hu's heir, aren't you? Like Grandfather…like I am Xuan Wu's."

I shrugged again and wondered what he would do. Having seen Nora's reaction, I wasn't worried. I had saved them, after all, ignoring the hand thing, and we'd fought together. They didn't seem like the types to turn around and betray me, nor did they seem to feel anything like hatred. That was good, especially considering everything that had happened, and it saved me from having to convince them not to say anything—or from having to do anything worse. I appreciated that.

"I…suppose that's true," I said at last, tilting my head slowly to the side and waiting for the inevitable.

"Then you know him," He continued. "Jian Bing. Was he your master? Or another student? Or is he really…?"

"I know him," I confirmed. "And Ozpin knows what I know. Let's leave it at that, okay?"

"Because it's the West's business?"

"Because it's dangerous business," I clarified. "It's not something you want to get wrapped up in, okay? Leave this to Ozpin and I?"

"Hey," Nora said behind me. "You saved us, you know. Even when you disarmed Ren—"

Ren sighed quietly.

"—You were helping him, right? Even though our town's gone, a lot of the people there survived because of you. If you need help, I really can hit things pretty good. I didn't get to show it in the battle because I couldn't get near anything, but…I'm strong, I promise. And since you're fixing Ren, too…if there's anything I can do to help, I'll…"

She sounded—felt—uncertain, especially when she mentioned the battle. It wasn't hard to imagine why; the situation had really been against her there, but that probably wasn't a comfort when it meant she hadn't been able to do anything to help the people she cared about. And now the only home she'd ever known was gone, on top of that. It felt pretty awful; I'd know. But…

"Thank you, Nora," I said. "I appreciate it, really. But you two probably have enough to worry about right now. It's okay, really; you don't need to pay me back or anything. I was just trying to help who I could, because that's my job as a Hunter."

She sagged slightly in place, but I couldn't see her life improving if she got involved with…this colossal mess. She was already down a grandfather figure, a town, and a…boyfriend's hand? I wasn't sure where these two stood on that front, even with their emotions, but it wasn't really my place to ask. But either way, this seemed like a good place to cut her losses—and I wasn't going to start dragging random people into this, either. Still…

"Hey, you two are going to be in Vale for a while, right?" I mused.

"Yes," Ren answered. "We'll probably be living here from now on. Professor Ozpin came by earlier and spoke to us about it—he said a friend of his would handle it."

Ozpin sure had a lot of friends, I mused. But then, I guess that was why he was the headmaster.

"I'll swing in regularly to heal you," I promised. "And maybe once you're better, I'll show you around Vale. I'm busy most of the time, but I'm sure we'll be able to work something out eventually."

"Okay!" Nora chirped, brightening somewhat. "We'll see you soon, then?"

"Sure," I chuckled. "I'll try to come back tomorrow, but…I need to check on my mother, now. She got hurt, too, you see?"

"What about your father?" She asked, sounding worried. I was silent for a moment before shaking my head slowly, making her wince as if struck. "Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry, I just…was he, I mean—"

"Nora," Ren stopped her and something unspoken passed between them. I knew they were thinking of their own grandfather and managed to smile.

"It's okay," I said. "Because no matter what happened, I'll always remember who he was. If the past is something that can't be changed, that just means that the time I spent with him can't be erased, either, right?"

Ren met my eyes for a moment and then nodded.

"Yes," He said. "That's right."

I nodded and the smile became easier.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then?" I clapped my hands and stood.

"Of course," He nodded.

"Goodbye, Jaune!" Nora waved, seeming to have been cheered up by my words. I'm glad I accomplished that, at least.

"And you," I waved slightly before stepping out. "Oh, and, do you mind keeping this stuff between us? You can tell Ozpin, but…"

"Got it," Ren replied, sounding sleepy. "Neither of us will say a word."

"Cool," I nodded. "Laters."

I shut the door and turned my head to the man I'd sensed standing there. I'd recognized him, so it wasn't a concern, but I had Levant arrange some privacy for us regardless.

"Well said, Jaune," Ozpin applauded. "Very well said."

"Sir," I tilted my head. "I thought you were going to check on my mother?"

"She has fallen asleep again," He stated. "I thought it best to leave her to her rest."

"Ah," I nodded. "I'll just pop in real quickly to heal her, then. I'll need to handle stuff at home and then buy more Dust crystals, so I'll head out afterwards and come back later. What about you, sir?"

He seemed to mull over that for a moment before nodding to himself.

"We have much to discuss, but nothing that cannot wait until tomorrow. I have business in town over the next few days, so shall we meet here again, Jaune?"

"Yes, sir," I agreed. "Once I restock, I'll just hang out here, so just stop by."

"Then I shall see you tomorrow, then," He said before pausing. "Considering the circumstances, might I suggest you take the rest of the day off? Most Dust shops are unlikely to be open this late, but I'll arrange to have an order delivered to you tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, sir," I nodded. "Have a nice day."

XxXXxX

True to Ozpin's words, my mother had been sleeping. I suppose losing three limbs, suffering extensive burns, being struck by lightning, and losing one's husband and team would do that, so I was careful not to wake her. I stayed beside her until I finally ran out of blue Dust and then left. It hadn't shown much effect, yet, but I'd make it work, whatever it took.

But for the moment, I followed Ozpin's advice. My mother and friends were safe, if not completely healthy, and I'd set up Temples around each of them. They'd be fine for now and I did had stuff I needed to do.

So before long, I found myself back home. But for my daughter and dog, it was empty, but our house wasn't unused to being that way, even if it seemed like a gloom had settled over it. Whatever the case, rooms needed to be cleaned out and prepared and I'd need to get food enough to feed an army while I was out tomorrow. I didn't want to do anything to my father's belongings yet, though, so I'd leave them untouched for now.

Better get to it then.

"I'm home," I said pointlessly as I opened the door and entered, knowing there'd be no reply.

Except there totally was.

"Welcome home," Gou said, scurrying to the front hall and looking up at me with big doggy eyes. Autumn was wrapped around him, as per usual. "Autumn was worried when everyone left and no one came back, but I knew you were okay."

I looked down at him. Since no one else was home, I didn't bother turning on the lights, because I sure as hell didn't need them, but I took a moment to consider my dog and daughter.

Celestial Dog

LV 52

Tiangou

"Yeah," I said. "A lot of stuff happened and…it's a long story."

"Where are the others?" Gou looked around, as if expecting my mother and father to appear. "I can't smell them."

"It's…" I sighed deeply. "It's a long story, Gou. Is it okay if I explain later?"

"Okay," Gou nodded. "Food?"

"Sure." I said before stepping by him and went into the kitchen to make him something to eat, fetching his dog bowl in silence. I made his food and then put it down to watch him eat, sitting in a chair by the table as I did. As he scarfed down his food, I reached out to pet him, touching Autumn's petals to let her know I was there. Her blossom twitched and opened at my touch.

That done, I addressed the elephant in the room.

"So," I drew out. "You can talk now. That's new."

"It kind of surprised me, too," Gou looked up at me. "But suddenly I could."

"I see," I lied. Well, he'd obviously gained a lot of experience from the fights I'd been in, so…that had probably been why. I guess. "So…"

I kind of trailed off at that point, pursing my lips at the whole situation, but the ring of the doorbell saved me from needing to continue. I directed my attention towards the presence and lifted an eyebrow when I recognized it.

"Hold that thought," I said before lifting my voice. "Coming!"

I reached the door quickly and opened it to look at Adam.

"Hey," I greet.

"I heard about your parents," He said with his usual bluntness.

I leaned against the doorway and sighed slowly, nodding.

"Yeah."

He looked at me carefully from behind crimson shades and then spoke.

"I still owe you that drink," He said. "Now a good time?"

I felt something in me relax suddenly, in a way that was hard to describe even though it made me smile. Maybe it was because of who Adam was—a friend—or who he wasn't—one of the people I'd let get hurt—but for the first time since I woke up I felt at ease.

"You know what?" I said. "Yeah. Gou, watch the house for me, okay? I'll be back in a bit."

"You can count on me," Gou said seriously, sticking his head out of the kitchen.

Adam turned his face and stared expressionlessly over my shoulder for a minute.

"Did that dog just talk?" He asked.