Healing B4C13/B4C14/B4C17

Tyrian's blades pierced into my unprotected back.

Blake, Qrow, Weiss and Pyrrha's did the same to his.

A silence descended on the temple.

The pain was indescribable. I sagged forward but found myself propped up, both by Tyrian, who had pinned me to him through two swords lodged into my body, and by Salem, who had so casually caught the tip of my sword between her finger and thumb. Blood dribbled out from between my lips, splashing down onto the floor. I felt moisture pooling behind me, pressed into my back by the weight of another body against mine – and then three against that.

"Pain, sorrow, and the acidic tang of grim satisfaction at a job well done…" Salem whispered. Her eyes bore into mine even as she let out an irritated sigh. "Your pain is not as enticing as your conversation, Deceiver. I'm disappointed."

"I… I have a tendency to do that…"

As four swords were drawn from Tyrian's back, and his two were drawn from mine, I collapsed onto the floor at the demon's feet, lifeblood pooling out across the altar.

—B4C13


I was dying.

"We have no wishes," I shouted to Salem, preventing Blake from making a terrible mistake. "There's nothing we want other than for you to leave."

"You heard the kid," Qrow said, taking position before us once more. "No one wants one of your contracts, demon. No one is going to fall for your tricks."

"The boy will die if you do not," she said, almost conversationally.

[...]

Her hand touched my hip and I gasped as something vile ran through me.

"W-What debt?" I gasped. "What are you doing?"

"Tyrian's wish would have been a bothersome one to fulfil. I might well have been trapped with him for the remainder of his mortal life. Though you intended it to save your pathetic allies, your actions aided me more than any other." She removed her hand. "Consider this my repaying the favour."

What would-? I sagged as she released me, but felt a strange burning in my back and sides. When I reached down with one hand, I was shocked to not only realise I could, but that there were no gaping wounds to be found.

[...]

"Jaune," Blake gasped, and Ruby too as she finally regained her ability to move and crawled frantically over. There were tears in her eyes, while Blake's were wide and afraid as she ran her hands over me, looking for whatever terrible mark Salem had left behind. "T-There's no bleeding," she whispered. "How?"

"H-He's alive?" Ruby gasped. "But… But I saw… and I couldn't move and I just laid there as he was stabbed."

[...]

"It knows us," I said, still unsure that I was alive and still half-waiting for a nasty surprise from Salem for the healing. My skin felt sore and… almost burned, but it was whole. I felt my strength return, enough to stagger to my feet with a little help from Ruby and Blake.

[...]

"Jaune's fully healed," Ren said, crouched down by my side and inspecting the wound. "The skin is discoloured, unusually so, but it's not bleeding internally or externally."

—B4C14



Cool fingers poked and prodded at the skin on my back and the constant humming of the person responsible didn't make me feel any better, especially when the Priest continued to hold a hand to her chin and stare at the wound like it was some kind of wild animal.

"Is it bad?" I asked.

"Not that I can detect. You said this was a stab wound?"

"Two," I corrected. "It was pretty much fatal."

"Well, the healing process seems to have completed so there's no risk of that. I also can't detect any malignant magic or problems you should be concerned about." The Priest sighed and stepped back to dust her hands together. Her brow was furrowed, eyebrows drawn low as she glared at my back as if it had offended her.

"You don't sound entirely convinced," I pointed out.

"The headmaster filled me in on the type of creature that did this to you," Tsune said, "and no, I'm not convinced. Just because I can't see anything wrong doesn't mean there isn't. This Salem creature doesn't seem the type to be so benign. But…" She sighed and nodded to my back. "There's nothing wrong that I can see. Even if I feel uneasy I cannot countenance keeping you here, and I'm not sure there would be anything I could do should something happen. You haven't felt any unusual urges or emotions recently, have you? Any thirst for human blood or desire to kill people?"

"Um, no. Should I be worried about that?"

"If it happens, yes, I'd say that would be cause for concern. Otherwise, it looks like you're fine. The skin is a little discoloured, rather pale about the wound, but that might just be because it was regrown." The Priest gestured for me to pull my jerkin down. "I'll have another look in two or three months just in case, but you seem fine. I've cast a number of healing spells on it and nothing has happened, so... it's already healed."

[...]

 Maybe there really wasn't anything wrong with it. Maybe the skin was just discoloured because it was a non-human trying to heal a human. It could have just regrown in what Salem thought was natural skin tone. I desperately hoped that was the case.

—B4C17