Entry for /r/RWBY 's March MonCon:

Recovery

It was blindingly bright in the room. Slowly struggling to open her eyes, Pyrrha tried to get a hold of where she was, but didn't recognize any of the features in the room.

Except one.

She was lying in a bed, covered in sheets and sitting next to her, head resting on the bed and silently sleeping, was a familiar blond.

With a smile, she reached out to him, noticing a series of tubes that came from her hand and ran out of her bed. Gently, she touched his head and ran her hand through his hair.

"Huh?" Jaune mumbled as he slowly came too, looking around confused.

"Hey" Pyrrha said weakly, her voice almost reminding her of an old hag.

"Pyrrha!" her partner called out surprised, immediately snapping to attention the moment he heard her voice "You're awake!"

The redhead slowly nodded her head "You... Have a beard?"

Confused for a moment, his hand shot up to his face, where something akin to an even beard was growing. Pyrrha was probably as confused as Jaune was for a moment, as she clearly remembered that Jaune barely had stubble on his chin, let alone his whole face.

"Uhm... Well, the ladies like it!" Jaune told her with a smirk, trying to joke around.

"They will..." Pyrrha replied as she slowly closed her eyes again and rested her head against the pillow beneath it.

"Hey," Jaune called out softly as he noticed her drifting away again, taking her hand in his and gently pressing it "Don't slip away again!"

Opening her eyes again, she smiled at him "I'll try..."

Both remained silent, enjoying the moment. Pyrrha only now started to look around the room. It became obvious that they were in a hospital, as there was an array of different medical equipment around her bed including heart rate monitor that gave a frequent ping. A small couch was in the room as well, with a pillow and a blanket lying on it, but they looked as if they haven't been used so far. She figured that it was there for Jaune but he apparently never used it.
Flowers were sitting on a small table near the window and multiple cards were on it as well.

Looking back at Jaune, Pyrrha couldn't help but look at his beard. It reminded her of Ruby's uncle's beard. Only not as well kept. Or good looking...

"What... What's the last thing you remember?" Jaune asked hesitant, as if to avoid the topic.

Pyrrha thought for a moment. What was the last thing she remembered? There were multiple things that flashed into her mind. Penny. Amber. The kiss. And her.

"I... Went up the tower to fight this woman... Then I woke up here..."

The young man let out a sigh of relieve "You don't have to worry about it anymore. It's all over now. Cinder is gone. And her boss as well..."

"How... How long have I been gone?"

Jaune flinched at the question, but answered nevertheless "That was over two years ago..."

"I... I've been gone for two years?" the redhead asked shocked, the peeping of the heart rate monitor becoming faster while she spoke.

"Yeah..." Jaune gave her a sad nod "It's a long story..."

Pyrrha smiled at him "I can't wait to hear it...""Pyrrha!" Nora called out as she burst through the door a few hours later and basically flung herself towards the bed, wrapping her arms around Pyrrha.

"Hey Nora" the redhead whispered with a smile as she was nearly choked by her.

"It's good to see you awake again." Ren told her as Nora finally let go and allowed him to hug their friend as well.

"I missed you sooo much!" Nora said as she began to cry and hugged her once again.

Ren also had tears in his eyes, but held them back as to not break down as well. He simply walked over to them and laid a hand on Nora's shoulder. Pyrrha however thought otherwise and pulled him into the hug as well. A silent sob came from the usually calm young man, to both redheads' surprise.

"JNPR is finally reunited again..." Ren told them as he pulled out of the hug and wiped the tears away from his face.

Ren and Nora stayed a couple of hours, talking about all kind of things. However, they tried to avoid the topic of what happened ever since the Fall of Beacon, rather talking about what their friends were up to, how Beacon and Vale slowly recovered from the devastation and what other things went on in the world currently.

When it was time for them to leave, both only left reluctantly and Nora told Jaune to keep looking after Pyrrha.

"Don't worry Nora, she'll be fine." Jaune told her with a smile "Besides, she's probably keeping me safer than the other way around!"

"Ahw, don't undersell yourself Jaune!" Nora said, jokingly punching the blond and almost knocking him over.

"We should get going now, Nora. Pyrrha is probably exhausted and needs some rest" Ren told his partner, while Jaune was rubbing his arm.

"You are probably right..." Nora sighed and then waved at her friends "We'll be around if you need us."

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked after their teammates left already.

"Yes Pyrrha?"

"We're not in Vale, are we?"

"No... We're in Atlas." Jaune told her with a sigh "I've not been to Vale since Beacon fell, actually..."
The redhead was surprised "Why not?"

"Too many bad memories to return to..."

"Oh..."

"The doc's going to be here in a few minutes I guess, so you probably want some rest before that." Jaune continued, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah..."

Not even a day later, Jaune got a call and told Pyrrha with a smile that Team RWBY came to see her as well. He told her he was going to get them and asked if it was okay to leave her alone for a while.

"Don't worry about me, Jaune." she told him with a smile "I think I'll survive a few minutes without you by my side..."

Jaune froze for a second, before nodding "Yeah.. I'll get them real quick."

While Jaune was gone, Pyrrha had some time to prepare herself for what she assumed was going to be their friends bursting in through the door, much like Nora did, only in a far more chaotic manner.

It didn't take long until she could hear Jaune talking to them through the door.

"Okay, remember she just woke up yesterday, so don't stress her too much..."

"Ah, don't worry, we'll be gentle!"

"Why do I doubt that?"

The door slowly opened and Jaune came back in, followed by Team RWBY.

"Aayyy!" Yang immediately greeted her and walked over to the bed to give Pyrrha a big hug, while the rest of her team got in row to do the same.
Weiss and Blake both greeted her and told her how glad they were to see her alright again.

"Winter and I made sure you were in the care of the best doctors in all of Remnant!" Weiss said with a hint of sadness, as she pulled away again "It was the least any of us could have done..."

Finally Ruby came up to the bedside, tears filling her eyes. At first, Pyrrha barely recognized the younger girl, as she had grown taller and her hair was also different than when she saw her the last time, leaping off the airship they were on.

Wordless, Ruby just wrapped her arms around Pyrrha and started to sob uncontrollably.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm alright now..." Pyrrha whispered, trying to console her friend.

"I... I wasn't fast enough..." Ruby sobbed into the redhead's shoulder, confusing her friend

"Ugh, you dolt!" Weiss said jokingly as she pulled her partner away "Don't make her worry about stuff like that!"

"Yeah... I'm sorry, Pyrrha." Ruby said with a nod as she pulled away and now stood next to Jaune, who gently put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. The two exchanged a small smile, before looking back at their friend.

Pyrrha felt terrible for it, but she couldn't help but feel a sting in her chest when she saw how close the two seemed to have become.

"Jaune here hasn't left your side ever since Salem fell, you know?" Blake said with a smile, apparently noticing Pyrrha's change of expression.

Pyrrha recognized the name faintly, but couldn't make a connection to anybody she knew "Salem?"

"Ah, that's not so important right now, we'll get to tell you about all our adventures once you're back on your feet!" Yang said with a smile, waving it off like a puff of smoke.

Only now did Pyrrha notice that Yang's arm looked... off.

"What happened to your arm?" she asked shocked, while Yang's grin faded for a second.

"I... I lost it the night Beacon fell..." the blond woman said with a hint of sadness in her voice, before returning to a huge grin "But now I've got this awesome new arm! Weapon included!"

"Developed by the Schnee Dust Company, of course!" Weiss added with a smirk, before being shoved away by Yang again.

"Well, Ms. 'Blake Runner' here-"

"Oh, booo" Blake interrupted her partner annoyed.

"Anyway, we got into trouble and... Let's say I made a poor choice..." Yang continued with a straight face "But that's well in the past now!"

"You should have seen her kick ass before her new arm." Jaune told Pyrrha with a grin "Probably the most terrifying thing I have ever seen!"

"I don't doubt that at all!" Pyrrha agreed with a smile.

Team RWBY stayed with them for some time, before Weiss told them it was time to leave, as they would be heading back to Vale soon "Preparing your arrival", as they told her.

After they left, it was only her and Jaune again.

"What else happened that you are not telling me about?" Pyrrha asked after a while "Don't think I wouldn't notice it... They all are... colder than I remembered them..."

"That's... some of our friends didn't make it, Pyrrha..." Jaune told her after a moment of hesitation, his voice breaking slightly.

Somewhere inside of her heart, she already knew, but Pyrrha had hoped that she was wrong and all their friends were alive and well. But live wasn't a fairy tale.

"Who?" she asked, voice shaking, somehow she felt responsible for not being there.

"Some other time... First you have to get better again." Jaune told her calmly as he sat back down next to her "I'm sorry..."Over the next few days, many of their friends came by to visit and the doctors decided that it was time for Pyrrha to try and walk again. To her own surprise, she managed to walk normally within only a few days, even though a nurse had told her that it usually takes months to regain full strength after being in a coma for years. Pyrrha herself attributed how quickly she was recovering to the fact that Jaune was there for her at all times.

She could almost feel how proud he was as she was able to make the first few steps on her own again, only a few days after waking up. Every step along the way, he was there to cheer her on and encourage her.

Even when she fell down and thought she couldn't get up again, he was there to help her up.

One evening, after a long day of walking, both of them returned exhausted into Pyrrha's room. Pushing the wheelchair she was in up to the bed, Jaune gently lifted her into her bed, even though he should know that she was already strong enough to do this herself.

"Why?" she asked him sleepy as he put a blanket over her, before sitting down on his usual place.

"Huh?" Jaune looked confused at her "What why?"

"Why are you staying here in Atlas with me, while all our friends are going back home?" the redhead asked, sounding almost a bit distressed "You could be back home with your family or return to Beacon with Nora and Ren. But you still stay here with me, sleeping by my bedside every night..."

Jaune gave her a smile before he answered "I blamed myself so long for what happened that night. That I wasn't by your side. You're my partner... And my best friend... I'm not going to risk losing you again, even if it means staying in this chair until you are back on your feet again."

"Thank you, Jaune." Pyrrha told him with a smile, slowly drifting into the realm of sleep.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, still sleepy, as the light coming from the window woke her up.

Groggily, the blond man pushed himself up in his chair "Yeah?"

"Would you tell me a bit about what I missed?"

Eyes still barely open, Jaune nodded "Okay..."

Before he began, he slowly got up and grabbed the mug he had used ever since Pyrrha woke up again, to fill it with water. Sitting down again, he took a sip before he began:

"After everything that happened that night, Nora, Ren and I didn't really know what to do. Beacon was gone, Nora and Ren had nowhere to go, team RWBY was gone and you... We stayed with my family for a few weeks before Ruby send me a message and told me she had made her mind up and was going to find wherever Cinder went. I immediately told her that we were going to come with her and so we did. We hunted after Cinder for months, first coming to Mistral for her, but it took very long to finally find out her new plans and confront her. Qrow also followed us the whole time and even began to help me train after a while..." he took another sip from his mug "When we finally tracked her down and confronted her, we barely managed to defeat her... It was actually me who brought her down."

"You?" Pyrrha asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yeah, I don't believe it either... But defeating her brought something much worse out. Salem, the witch that orchestrated all of Cinder's plans, had another pawn she sent after us when we finally put down Cinder for good. She was cold, calculating and cruel. The first time she showed up, she fought against Qrow... Ruby was devastated when the news reached us that he was gone..." Jaune paused a second, thinking about how to continue "She... she was worse than Cinder. Even without the powers of a maiden, she almost defeated all of us... One time we only got away because Team CRDL stepped in to delay her. CRDL of all people... They... we don't know what she did to them..."

Pyrrha's eyes widened in terror "Did she..."

"Yes... They weren't the best people I knew, but when it counted, they stepped in to safe us. Without them, we probably wouldn't be alive anymore... They didn't deserve to die like this..." Jaune told her, his voice filled with sadness, even though CRDL turned his life into a living hell in their first semester at Beacon "When we finally brought her down, it was only because we knew she was coming and because Yang's mom helped us..."

"Who... was that woman?" the redhead asked hesitant, trying not to interrupt Jaune's tale.
Jaune looked at her for a moment, before emptying his mug and shrugging "I never saw her face... She always wore a mask."

Both remained silent for a while before tears started to run down Pyrrha's face "I'm so sorry I wasn't there with you for everything! I... if I was, maybe I could have..."

"You were with us, Pyrrha. Maybe not in physical form, but where it counts. Here." Jaune told her with a warming smile as he pointed at his chest "Without you in our hearts, we wouldn't have kept moving forward no matter the difficulties that blocked our paths. Without you and what you mean to all of us, we might have given up. I might have given up... But the thought of you was what made me keep moving forward. And without you, we wouldn't have defeated Salem or her pawn at all."

"But-"

Jaune shook his head to stop her "What you did that night, on the tower? You became our guiding light. You became our beacon. Don't be sorry for not being there with us. You were. Every single step along the way."

Jaune's short speech made Pyrrha feel at least a little less guilty for not being there for her friends, but there was still this lingering guilt inside of her. Before they could continue their talk, a nurse came in to get her for the daily training.

"All in all, you have made an impressive recovery within an extremely short time, Ms. Nikos." the doctor that was overseeing her process told her proud "So I do not see any reason why we should keep you here any longer. I'm sure you are eager to return home?"

"I... I am, yes." Pyrrha answered, still baffled by the fact that she could already leave after waking up only two weeks past.

The doctor gave her a smile "Oh, and make sure Mr. Arc finally gets some proper rest. Sleeping on a chair for as long as he did isn't good for his body..."

"I will." the patient told her doctor, before he left, allowing Jaune back in.
He had a worried look on his face, as he was asked specifically to leave the room when the doctor came to talk to Pyrrha, while he usually left on his own to give them some privacy.

"The doctor just told me that I am free to leave whenever I want." the redhead told him with a smile "That means we can go home."
A smile now appeared on Jaune's face as well "Really? This is great!"
Without hesitation, he immediately started to pack the few things that were spread through the room.

"You don't have to do this, Jaune." Pyrrha told him, but he quickly shushed her.

"You may be free to leave now, but you won't stop me from at least helping you pack!"told her with a smile.

After they were done packing, the setting sun was already standing low over the horizon, warm red light shining softly through the window and into the room. Jaune hadn't informed their friends, as he wanted to surprise them when Pyrrha finally returned.

"Hey, how about a final ride in that thing?" Jaune asked as they were about to leave, nodding towards the wheelchair Pyrrha had to use the first few days after waking up.

With a giggle, Pyrrha sat down on it, holding her bag in front of her, and Jaune began to push her down the hallway, that lead to the exit. Running and laughing, both almost crashed into the glass door that was separating the building from the outside world.

"That was close..." Jaune muttered as he narrowly avoided a reason for both of them to remain in this hospital any longer.

He walked up to the door and pushed it open, before courteously offering Pyrrha a hand to get out of the wheelchair "I figure you'd like to walk out of here on your own?"

With a smile, Pyrrha took his hand and stepped out of the building, into the cool air outside, still holding Jaune's hand.

"Uhm, Pyrrha?" the young man said, apparently struggling to find the right words "There was something I wanted to talk about with you... For some time now."

Pyrrha became worried "What are you talking about?"

"Oh um... I... wanted to ask you... If you... Uhm, you know..." Jaune struggled through to what he wanted to say "Would like to go out sometime, when we're back in Vale again. Like a date?"

For a moment, Pyrrha looked baffled at him, before pulling him in for a kiss, much like she had done over two years ago.

"That is all I ever wanted, Jaune."