Jaune Arc wonders what just happened (jaune_d_arc) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-05-28 02:15:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, jaune arc |
Who: Jaune and his sisters, Ivory and Aurelia
What: Narrative; Jaune packs up his dorm room
When: Today
Where: UCI
Rating/Warnings: Minor blood mentions
Status: Complete
The room was quiet, the silence of it heavy and just slightly haunted. Jaune stood at the threshold, staring at the bones of Cardin's old furniture because it was easier to deal with. There was no way his old rival could have stayed there after everything that happened, but Jaune still hadn't expected it to feel so empty.
At least the blood had been cleaned up. That had been his greatest fear, though he still couldn't get the imagined scent of it off of his hands. If he was left alone with his thoughts too long, Jaune could still feel the wetness of it on his shirt, his hands, even across his face. Pyrrha hadn't died but it still felt like she had. Her ghost was all over that room now, and it was no small wonder that the students were giving it - and him, by extension - a wide berth.
Though his parents couldn't make themselves available to him, a couple of his sisters had made the drive north to help him through this. One of them stood at his back as the other one came up beside him, and they exchanged a look before the oldest broke the silence. "You have to go in, Jaune."
Jaune took a deep breath and let it out, trying to release every one of his urges to break into tears as he did. His sisters were right, but it was suddenly too much, even though he'd been trying to prepare himself. Pyrrha's bleeding neck, the words she'd barely managed to speak that still seemed to be echoing around the room. He nodded, through, and lifted one shaky foot. His younger sister piped up, "One foot in front of the other, and then another."
And it helped, somewhat. The younger, Aurelia, gently took his arm. "I'll do it with you."
It was as if she could sense his fear. They probably both could. He knew their parents wouldn't have sent them without making them aware of the situation first, too, which meant that they hopefully understood why it was that Jaune kind of never wanted to be in this room again.
But it was time. Though his old bedding and pillows were long gone, there were still things to pack up. A few posters on the wall, his desk, his clothes. The various odds and ends that most kids living in a dorm required to exist. Not to mention the expensive laptop his parents had bought him as a graduation present.
His oldest sister, Ivory, pressed her hand against his back and gently pushed. "We're here for you, but you have to face this."
So that was that, and Jaune had no other course but forward. He shook the image of Pyrrha's bleeding neck out of his mind and took that step, arm linked with Aurelia's, with Ivory close behind, and then another, and another, until they were all on his side of the room and surveying the work.
The mattress had been replaced, something that the girls noticed and politely did not remark on, though Jaune gave it a moment's pause. Not because he wanted to think about the fact that there should have been blood stains, but because of something else. A golden crown had been placed exactly where Pyrrha's head would have lain during their nap.
Ivory raised an eyebrow as Jaune took another wordless step towards the bed, and Aurelia followed his gaze. "What's that? Was that always there? It seems like a strange thing for the cleaning crew to leave behind..."
"It's not..." Jaune tried to say, though his voice cracked halfway through. That it wasn't some trinket left behind by the crew at all. He picked it up carefully in his hands and inspected it before his eyes went a little blurry.
It wasn't a mere trinket at all. It was Pyrrha's, the very headdress she always wore. She'd been wearing it when she died, and Jaune recalled a dream he'd recently had of it being returned to him. But that dream only made the blurry vision worse, and a few tears dropped onto the crown as he let out a sob.
The sisters exchanged another look. Ivory pulled their boxes in and closed the door, and Aurelia took a seat on the bed. Jaune sank down next to her, and Ivory took up the spot on the other side. Neither of them needed an explanation, and Jaune couldn't provide one.
Instead, they put their arms around him and provided what comfort they could. It wasn't until about an hour later that he could say anything at all. His fingers rubbed at the metal of the crown, and the look on his face was the most determined Ivory had ever seen. "I'm going to be an EMT. I couldn't do anything. I'm tired of not being able to do anything. With training, I can at least do something. I can help. I'm going to help."
Neither sister seemed all of that surprised. Ivory nodded, and Aurelia smiled. "I can't think of anything more perfect for you in the world."