This is a good chapter. Who's a good chapter? You are. Yes you are. It just flows bro…

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Dear Cloud,

The satellite will be launching soon. Won't you use it to see us more in person? We strongly beg of you to. Please? For us? Surely the risk can't be so great through telecommunications that you will consider it strongly.

Hill set back the launch date but only a little. It's still going to go up and restore global communications. She's been harrying the General but it's only been delayed. And perhaps they've been for the best. Better worker's rights and pay can probably only really mean good things for Atlas and Mantle. It should help to keep the Grimm at bay.

There's been no other attacks and the General isn't sure how they managed to assault the academy with the help of his machines. Whatever access Salem and your sisters have into our systems over here is a permanent feature. Oscar wants to move one of the maidens and we've chosen a location. I won't get into it but suffice to say it's a surprise for you that I hope you will welcome.

You're a Beacon Professor now. And we hope that's how things stay. It's a safe job. The safest you could have hoped to snag. We encourage you to keep it and work hard. We know you're up for the challenges. After all, if you can resist Salem, then what's a handful of students? We're honestly very grateful for it and what you have. You could be running some of the most dangerous missions on the planet with your skill and power level. Good hunters get harder and harder work until they just drop off the map. We don't want that for you and we like this position you have.

Ruby is looking forward to meeting your dog and perhaps your pupil that you mentioned training. It would be interesting to see whether you passed on your pessimistic perceptions or if your trainee managed to retain some spirit.

We worry about you, Cloud. We miss you as well. Our hearts ache for you and even though we're together we feel incomplete. We bear you in our hearts all the time. We feel like you've done well for yourself. Perhaps you could risk seeing us again? We know you're scared and you have every right to be but we're not afraid of you. You'd never hurt us. We know that. You couldn't do it.

When Salem took you in Atlas you seemed like a malfunctioning machine. You seemed caught between two impossible tasks. It looked agonizing from our perspective. But if you've really grown stronger then maybe you'll agree to risk it. For us. We strongly beg it of you.

You'll always be a member of our little trio. Don't ever forget that.

Yours, Weiss and Ruby.

I let go of a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. I reached down under the desk and pet my dog's head. It let loose a doggy sigh as I gave it some attention.

What could I risk here?

That's what it came down to. What could I afford to risk? And no matter how I sliced it I couldn't risk Ruby or Weiss. I just couldn't. Maybe I had good enough mental defenses but should I really chance it with something so important and -well, not fragile, delicate? Maybe? As my relationship with Weiss and Ruby was?

Telecommunications, sure. Fine. But something in person? I don't know. They… they were asking me to. And I found I struggled to say 'no' to them when it came to a direct request like this. I'd put the moon back together if they asked me to.

But…

I sighed.

There came a knock at my office door.

"Come in," I called out.

Glynda entered. She took in the sight of my office. Bare bones with my few trophies was there really was to the room.

"Not out enjoying the festival?" She asked.

"No, not for me. Crowds make me nauseous and make me feel trapped."

"Well I think you're working too much," she said. "Odd to say as your employer. But too much work can stop your heart. It's Saturday. You should be out being young."

"You have no idea what young people do in their free time, do you?" I asked.

"Go to bars? Pick up women?" She suggested. Though we both knew I'd caught her a little.

"For anything remotely resembling a normal person a date with me would be suicide. And I've gotten wasted enough times to know that it doesn't play super well with me either. Besides, my type is oddly specific and the girls aren't exactly lining up around the block to sleep with me. Sex is also a little overrated. I mean, it's fine and good and pleasant and all but it's not something I should be hounding after or spending my free weekends searching for like a beggar."

She opened her mouth.

"And," I pressed. "And I can't help but notice you're here with me. How's your work-life balance? Why aren't you out enjoying the festival?"

She closed her mouth. She pushed up her glasses on her face. "I have personal reasons," she informed me smartly. But once more we both knew I'd caught her a little more.

"Look, I appreciate this concern. I feel like it's coming from a good place. But I'm mostly happy and I'm keeping my Mother's tentacles at bay. Most people don't have to sit around and wonder 'is this dream PTSD related or is my alien-monster-goddesss Mother fucking with me again?' And I realize that I do. Have to sit around and wonder exactly that all too often. So I'm good with a quiet night in and if a student comes by and wants to distract me from all of that, then all the better."

"Be that as it may… what would you be doing if the girls were lining up around the block for you, as you said?"

"Well it depends on the girl, doesn't it?" Yes? Hello? I'd like an order of Weiss Schnee please and thank you. Yes, I've always wanted a piece of that particular cake. Yes sir. Oh what's this? A helping of Ruby Rose. Well, yes, that always goes down smoothly. "The only eligible girls I'm around are my students. And while they may be my age I think it's best if they only remain eligible in the legal sense. Probably best to keep them off limits."

"Yes, quite. This PTSD concerns me. Perhaps you hide it better than most… would you like me to set you up with a counselor?"

"Not really," I managed. "My situation is a little unique and the balance I've struck at my Mother is one that's not exactly easy to control or direct. It's… it keeps the feelers at bay but that's about all it's good for. If that makes sense. Does that make sense?" I wondered.

"You could elaborate a little," she replied.

"I'm terrified," I confessed. "I'm so out of my mind scared that she doesn't want to enter my brain at all. Through our connection what one of us feels the other can as well. I say 'can.' But really the other has to feel what one is feeling. We flow together into a single unifying part. We're branches of the same tree. And by maintaining this drop-dead panic I keep her from wanting to expose her mind to my own any more than is absolutely necessary. I'm so mind jarringly terrified every moment that I'm awake and asleep that she doesn't want anything to do with me and she's the one using mental magic to keep me out of her head. It's a two way street. She's the one on the defensive a little now instead of me. I'm so scared that I'm about to go mad. I'm so scared I'll drive her insane with me. That's what she was afraid of when we last spoke. Using our connection."

"Well that is…is a little alarming. Don't you agree?"

"It keeps her feelers at bay. And it's good for that but not much else."

"But are you stable now?"

"Was I stable before?"

"Don't be semantical. I have to know if you're safe to be around the students."

"No. But you knew that when you offered me this job. Didn't you?"

"You seemed more stable than you're letting on now."

"I'm losing my mind. I'm so scared. And I should be terrified. My Mother is out there wondering what Ozma is doing with her wayward son. I'm a loose end and a backdoor into the most monstrous and insidious mind on the planet. I have to be at the top of her list of people to shut down. It's not like seeing a therapist will cure my fears. It's not like I'm a paranoid schizophrenic operating under a delusion. My insane, alien, bitch of a Mother has an open hatch into the front of my head. Your only real option if you want to do something about me is to kill me."

"What if I want to help you?" She wondered. "What do I do then?"

"I just told you. You have to kill me. Death would be preferable to this. Death isn't the worst thing that can happen to a man."

She said nothing.

"So yeah. That's my weekend plan. Work is good. Work is distracting. It keeps me focused and not thinking about what my Mother is up to. And I'm helping people. It's the exact sort of good I wanted to do for the world before fate catches up with me and I run into something I can't beat. Probably my sisters or someone else who does stuff for my Mother. Or, hell, a big enough Grimm ought to do it. That will shut me down real good."

"You're suicidal," she observed.

"Sue me and set me on fire for it. It's not like I'm goin' lookin' for death. But if we happen to meet on a wayward street I'll say hello and greet her like an old friend."

"Death is a woman?" She asked over her glasses.

"Um. Yes," I affirmed. I glanced away from the doorway at my holographic screen. As though death could be a man. The very idea! Death wasn't merciful and knew me too intimately to be a man. "The fuck did you just ask me?"

"My mistake, then," she replied. She pushed her glasses up her nose.

"Oh? Headmistress? Am I interrupting something?" I looked back up and over. Rosé had joined Glynda in the doorway.

"Not really," I answered for the both of us. "We were just chatting. What's up, your highness? Did you need to talk to me about something?"

She pouted at me. "Well… I have to attend a gala for the festival for my family tomorrow evening. I was wondering if you would escort me? Just as friends, of course," she said it quickly to make sure I wouldn't get the wrong idea. "I'm a bit old to show up alone and unaccompanied," she explained.

"You should be delighted to hear that the Professor's weekend is free," Glynda informed her before I could say 'no.' The absolute… I mean honestly… she set me up. I glared at her but she gave me a kindly smile and a wink. Were all women just absolute devils? I tried my brain to think of a single woman in my life who wouldn't throw me under the bus. I came up blank. Ruby and Weiss knew how to get exactly what they wanted from me. Neo was a fiend. There was my whole fucking family. I recalled Yang slamming me into a wall and Blake's distrust for me. There was none. They were all maniacs for me for one reason or another. Let this be a lesson. All women were spring loaded and ready to go off.

My dog got up and walked over to Rosé. She stroked him on the side and patted him on the flank. I reclined in my chair and sighed.

Rosé gave me this pitiful, hopeful, worried look. And in my heart I knew that she was a wackjob as well. Some way. Some time.

"Details?" I decided.

"Really?!" Rosé asked.

"I ain't said 'yes' yet!" I protested.

"'Yet.'" Goodwitch dissected with a sly smile.

"Um, it's at my family castle. Tomorrow at six. Dinner and a dance and a show. A play of some sort."

"What color should my shirt be?" I asked.

"Do you have any blue? Like a light blue?"

"I have 'like a light blue,'" I said robotically. I didn't have 'like a light blue.'

"Great! Um… do you know how to dance?"

"Oh you aren't aware?" Glynda asked Rosé.

"Aware of what, exactly?" Rosé wondered back.

I shut that down. "My parents taught me," I had a smile on my face and I didn't quite spit out the words but I made the message clear to both of them. They both looked shocked. "Yeah. I can dance."

"Oh… well… that's fantastic, then?" Rosé struggled. "Well- thanks again. And I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Right. Shall we say four-thirty?" I shot.

"Right. Sounds like a plan. Good evening, then," she didn't quite run away but it was close.

"Your parents taught you?" Glynda fired at me as soon as Rosé was out of the hallway and earshot.

"Yeah. My father wanted to test my motor skills without teaching me combat in case I escaped the incubator somehow," I replied. "Even the light stuff in my life is pretty fucking dark."

"My gods… Do you have anything going for you?"

"This job is pretty sweet," I nodded. "So there's that. But sooner or later some council member is going to get their hands on my Atlas power ratings and summon me up. And I'll have a hard time saying 'no.' Because if I say 'no' they'll ask someone with less power to do it. And they'll die. And it will be my fault."

"But besides your work…?"

"Team RWBY I suppose. And I just made some weekend plans. Thanks for that, by the way," I let sarcasm drip into my tone.

"Oh come now, you should have said 'yes' to the girl by all rights. She took some real courage to ask you just now. It isn't easy for a girl to ask a man for a dance."

I sighed out my nose and put my hands over my head as a rest. "You heard her. We're just friends."

"You don't know anything about women, do you?"

"You know if I had a fuckin' Lien for every time I thought that or said that or someone said that to me, I'd have enough Lien to quit this job."

"A blindspot, then."

"You could, would, and should say that. If I was still a student and a girl as pretty as her asked me to dance, I would be ecstatic. Even as friends."

"But you're not a student. And I can't help but notice you aren't 'ecstatic.'"

"I had plans for this weekend. It was to do nothing."

"It was to wallow in your depression and what sounds like a panic disorder."

"So? Let me mope! It's my mental illness and I get to choose the coping mechanism! I have some serious bullshit wrong with my life. Was it really for you to leave me to my misery?"

"I had to do something."

"Did you?" I wondered.

"Now you have a date."

"Do I?" I asked.

"Do you really have a blue dress shirt?" She pressed.

"No. But I have every other part of a suit and I can just buy one tomorrow."

"Men. You have it so easy."

"I have it easy?" I demanded. I laughed.

"Well not you in particular. All men do with their clothing options. I think Miss Gainsborough had to buy a whole dress and heels. You just have to buy a shirt."

"That's 'cause I already own a suit."

"Imagine having to buy a whole suit for every event."

"Are you kidding? No way. I'd never do anything."

"And underneath it all you're just a sweet guy, aren't you."

"Am I? Or am I a cold blooded killer? Grrr."

"No. I don't believe that about you. Despite all this." She waved a hand at the weapons under the display glass. "Is this really how you want to decorate your office?"

"I don't have many possessions. Besides some other clothes you're looking at all my worldly belongings."

"I'm starting to get a better picture of your mental well being."

"I told you it was bad from the start," I protested.

"But you're really not okay."

"But it's high functioning. Don't rock the boat."

"I'm ordering therapy."

"Can you do that?" I asked unchallengingly with genuine curiosity.

"You do need therapy."

"You can't do that," I realized.

"But you really should go to therapy."

"I'm not doing that," I decided. "I'm going on this date or whatever it really is. That's enough. No more meddling in my social life for you."

"Your non-existent social life."

"What about your social life?" I demanded. "When was the last time you went on a date?"

"I'm running a school," she defended.

"I'm running a-" I thought of the right word. "...shitshow," I realized. She just nodded. "It's still my shitshow. It's my party and I'll cry if I want to."

"What do you do on weekends when you're not in your office?" She asked.

"I'm alone. In a dark room. Shouting at the walls like a schizophrenic maniac," It was sort of dawning on me that I had real issues. "Well my dog is there, too. Who's a good boy?"

"See? I'm not doing that, at least."

"You should go on a date," I demanded. "If I have to, then you have to."

"Are you asking me on one?"

"Please. As if I'd be so bold, I'm sort of in this… thing." How exactly would one describe my relationship status? Please? Anyone? Tell me!

"You're committed?" She asked.

"I'm super committed. I've been committed to two different psychiatric hospitals." She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on now," I pressed forward. "I thought women loved commitment."

"I meant to Miss Gainsborough."

"Sure. As friends."

"Are we friends? Cloud?"

"I'm sure tryin' to be but then you keep setting me up on what we probably shouldn't call dates."

"It's only happened once so far."

"'So far?'" I dissected. "Plus you keep pushing for me to go into therapy and if I have half an honest conversation with a therapist I'm getting locked up and my weapon is getting taken away. You have no idea how bad psychiatric hospitals are. Who will teach your classes then, headmistress?"

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-WG