Eclipse - Act 1 - The Healing

Chapter 29 - What Comes After...

Jaune

Morning has risen after the Fall of the Black Smog...

A Victory, that has come at great cost. Jaune walks across the battle-scarred terrain of the Academy, smoke still rising from the places where flames once burned, extinguished by the storm that hit during the end of the battle. The pile of metal and rubble that formed the Praetorian Knight lays on the ground still. With water pooling out across the floor in multiple areas, claw marks and craters torn across the upturned cobblestone. The howls of Ambulance Sirens and Police Cars can be heard across the entire city of Vale, having to collect the hundreds of corpses left behind, mostly from the city itself. Due to the unanticipated attack from the War Sphinx that was drawn to the civilians' terror opposed to the scent of the Relic. So many innocents were eaten alive inside of that city, beyond the Destroyed Districts.

And even within the Academy itself, so many students and staff members lost their lives, even some innocent construction workers who were caught up in the battle which started. Some of them are burying their friends, whilst others are staying as positive as they can, starting to begin the second round of cleaning up in the Academy. Sweeping up the rubble into enormous piles, whilst others zip up the bags that hold the bodies of the fallen. As Jaune walks along, recovered from the punch he suffered from the Praetorian Knight after finally activating his Semblance, with a bandage wrapped around his head and a mighty bruise faintly visible on his cheek where he was hit.

His concussion has subsided, thanks to his aura repairing the damage coupled with the medics that helped him recover from the circumstances. He walks towards the base of the Cross Continental Transmit Tower, where the Battle was held to try and keep the Black Smog busy. But due to the amount of people that were killed from the attack, it was not a total success. However, it is nowhere near as bad as the first attack was – if that is any consolation whatsoever. But there are still people heading out to collect the bodies in order to stop Secondary Disaster once again.

There is a feeling in the air directly after a battle, it is a combination of relief but also terror – because there is that part of you that does not believe that the battle is truly over. You are still expecting to hear the shriek of another Nevermore or the howl of another Beowulf. It will never come, now that the Praetorian Knight is defeated, but even still...that feeling is as thick as the Smog that they just defeated.

Jaune approaches the family of warriors recovering at the base where many bodies have been zipped up, seeing Glynda sat beside the body of Oobleck, sighing sadly as she zips the bag up with Port beside her. He gently caresses her shoulder with a smile as he stands beside her, and Jaune looks around, seeing everyone sat there. None of them showing many smiles on their faces, just that feeling of recovery. The same one that they felt from the first battle – however they had that thought in the back of their mind that this would happen. The Black Smog were getting closer with every day that was passing by.

It was only a matter of time before something would trigger the attack, and unfortunately it was all due to the schemes of Nathaniel Killian, manipulating a sick child.

No matter how noble your goal may be, if your methods are as cruel and merciless as that – does that truly make you a good leader?

It might create a better world...but at what cost?

Who will be left to remember the world that came before?

Jaune has been thinking of those questions ever since Killian left the Academy, and he approaches them all, seeing them all sat there. Blake sat beside the recovering Sun Wukong, blood still hardened around his wound, but the bandage has stabilised his condition. He is less lucid now, but he does seem different. Blake lovingly caresses his hand with a smile, supporting him, but he has a blanket wrapped around his chest. "How are you feeling, Sun?" Blake asks him softly as she gently holds his hand, her other hand caressing his cheek and moving some of his messy blonde hair from his blue eyes.