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"Please rest like you belong here; your chest is heaving; I listen to your breathing; you don't have to disappear."

"Soar out over the long land; and as you're leaving; watch the city receding; is it everything you planned?"

"Do you want me t' take it off? Like a loom weaving; together we are cleaving; so weak you can barely cough."

Weiss's voice rose on the first few syllables. Then it wobbled at a high register. Then it fell back down again. Then she reached a chorus.

"I want to see the light when it finally burns out; and I want to feel you against me when you make me shout. Your watch ticks beside my head but I hardly hear it; you know that it is not something I am prone to admit. My hands reach-touch your face and bring you in for a kiss; gods above, save-help me, your watch is so merciless."

"I want to see the light when it finally burns out; and I want to feel you against me when you make me shout. Your watch ticks beside my head but I hardly hear it; you know that it is not something I am prone to admit. My hands reach-touch your face and bring you in for a kiss; gods above, save-help me, your watch is so merciless."

Then she fell back into the old pattern.

"This our tangle embody; The thread is spinning; watch as our cord is thinning; strain me against my body."

"Strands of light through the windows; undo my clothing; pull-tug 'way on my dressing; intertwinment continues."

"Heat courses through the wire; gossamer braiding; I listen to your moaning; I take time to admire."

"I want to see the light when it finally burns out; and I want to feel you against me when you make me shout. Your watch ticks beside my head but I hardly hear it; you know that it is not something I am prone to admit. My hands reach-touch your face and bring you in for a kiss; gods above, save-help me, your watch is so merciless."

"I want to see the light when it finally burns out; and I want to feel you against me when you make me shout. Your watch ticks beside my head but I hardly hear it; you know that it is not something I am prone to admit. My hands reach-touch your face and bring you in for a kiss; gods above, save-help me, your watch is so merciless."

"When the wick finally breaks; our sweat is clinging; the patient clock keeps ticking; I lay back and feel my aches."

"Attire scattered 'cross the floor; You leave me panting; your small smirk-smile is roping; plan to leave me wanting more."

"With each breath a hurricane; small fingers groping; aura so intoxicating; I easily see your pain."

"I want to see the light when it finally burns out; and I want to feel you against me when you make me shout. Your watch ticks beside my head but I hardly hear it; you know that it is not something I am prone to admit. My hands reach-touch your face and bring you in for a kiss; gods above, save-help me, your watch is so merciless."

"I want to see the light when it finally burns out; and I want to feel you against me when you make me shout. Your watch ticks beside my head but I hardly hear it; you know that it is not something I am prone to admit. My hands reach-touch your face and bring you in for a kiss; gods above, save-help me, your watch is so merciless."

"You know what's hot, Weiss?" I asked her as we laid in bed together. She was snuggled a bit distantly to keep from getting too hot but she stayed touching me. She didn't like being hot; she preferred to sleep at like sixty degrees. And I was comfortable when she was comfortable.

"What's that?"

"And it doesn't turn me on per se. But it also doesn't not turn me on."

"Tell me."

"When you sing. You sound amazing. Your voice is so gorgeous I could seriously listen to it for hours."

"What if our babies have nice voices and can sing. Imagine some daughter of yours carrying a melody."

"That's pretty fucking slick. Not going to lie."

"Start working on your swearing."

"Yeah, alright."

"I mean it. I don't want that around my children and Ruby won't either. Work on it."

"I will. You got it."

"I suppose we should get up."

"I suppose… I really don't want to. I want to lay in bed with you."

"We have to teach. You get up first."

"Me?" I asked. My scroll buzzed on my table. I reached over and grabbed it. "You've reached Strife."

"We're calling in our favor. We need you and Neapolitan to meet with us and we need you to do it tonight. We're running a shipment and we need you to look after it. Make sure that it makes it to its destination. It's not drugs or people. Just dust. Can you handle all that?" It was Noir's voice.

"We can make that happen. Keep up the good work on your end."

"See you," he hung up.

"Who was that?"

"A criminal contact I have in Vale. He helped me with the bombing and killing Hazel Rainart so I owe him two favors. Him and his sister both."

"What sort of favors?"

"Pretty much anything. They need people killed or something like that then I'm their man. Money doesn't matter to hunter trained people working in crime. Money is like toilet paper."

"It's not so much different than how things get done between big businesses. Money isn't much of an object for really large corporations but favors and deals can make or break things. I'm not really surprised that criminals operate in mostly the same ways. Big business and criminals are often the same people."

"That's pretty much how it goes. If you need money you can get it or take it easily. Favors and contacts are how you get shit done. Not to toot my own horn but I'm a powerful huntsman and I can pretty much wreck any one person when it comes down to it. Neo's powers have more utility so I offered to loan out her powers. She follows my lead and does what I say. We're friends so we don't operate on favors. We just do shit for each other."

"I want to meet her."

"Neo? Why?"

"She's your friend. Why wouldn't I want to meet her? And she did work for Roman and she tried to kill Yang. If she's going to be around I want to get to know her. Do you really trust her?"

"Neo's a bit of a monster. I wouldn't let her around my kids but I don't want to abandon her. I trust her pretty far. She cares about me. Plus I also maybe slept with her."

"You what?"

"I was on a lot of drugs and I don't remember that night."

"What drugs?"

"Alcohol, greens, and hyper."

"Wow. You really didn't care about your brain."

"I was going through a lot at the time. Give me a break."

"So you slept with her. Did anything else happen."

"Maybe I slept with her. And nothing else happened. Ever. No kissing, some hugging, no other touching."

"She won't tell you if you slept together?"

"She's a sadist. It's funnier to her if I don't know. If I let her know it bothers me it would just give her more power."

"Interesting friend you have there."

"Beggars can't be choosers, alright? I've never had that many friends. Cut me some slack. We weren't together back then and it probably didn't happen. Maybe. She's mostly alright though. Mute and quiet as all hell."

"Language."

"Right. Right. You can meet her. It won't be a long discussion. You can lay down the law or claim your territory or whatever you women do."

"Is that what you think we do?"

"I have no idea. I really don't understand women very well for someone with one girlfriend and one fiancé. I don't have a clue."

"You're really quite the lady's man. Who would have figured?"

"Not even me. Not even the start of Beacon would I have imagined getting all the way with not one but two women."

"At the same time. And maybe even three."

"And maybe three. Wow."

"You are just blown away by this."

"I really am. I am floored. Did you think that you were bisexual and would you have thought you would be dating Ruby or me? It's incredible."

"I suppose not…"

"We had better get out of bed for real."

"I really don't want to."

"You're adorable. Aren't you touch hungry."

"A little. Be nice to me."

"I am, darling." I kissed her forehead and got out of bed.

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"Neo this is Weiss. She's my fiancé."

Neo cocked her head at me.

"It's recent that we got engaged. You're one of the first people to find out," I explained and Neo nodded. "Weiss meet Neo."

Neo shook her head.

"Neapolitan?" I tried.

Neo nodded.

"Weiss meet Neapolitan," I corrected.

"We've met already. Once back when she still worked for Roman." Weiss folded her arms across her chest and actually managed to look down on Neo. Weiss wasn't tall. There weren't many people she could glare down at. "So what? You interpret for her?"

"Sometimes. It's easier than you think. Neo has her ways of making herself heard. When we first started it was mostly charades and guessing on my end but eventually I figured it out. That or she compromised."

We were in my office in Beacon with Weiss standing beside me while I sat. I reached out and pulled her into my lap. She gave an adorable squawk but didn't try to get up when I wrapped my arms around her waist.

"What about sign language?" Weiss asked.

"Never tried it. I don't know any."

Neo began making a complicated series of gestures.

"She knows sign language," Weiss observed.

"Meh. Fifty-fifty odds she's fucking with us."

Neo mutely giggled behind her hand as though that would hide it in some way. I knew her too well. The way her shoulders shuffled as she laughed at me was all too familiar.

"So did you two or did you not-" Weiss started. I cut her off.

"-Don't Weiss. Don't give her any leverage over you. She preys on that sort of thing."

"I want to know."

"Go ahead and ask, then. But don't say I didn't warn you."

"Did you two sleep together or not?"

Neo grinned like a cheshire cat. She looked up at the ceiling and put a finger on her chin and cheek and tapped it against her face as though deep in thought. She held that pose for a long time. Literally for a minute. She fooled nobody in the room.

"I asked you a question. A simple 'yes' or 'no' will suffice."

Neo held both hands over her heart as though taken aback and stunned. She feigned a hurt look and pouted.

"I warned you Weiss. She's been holding it over me forever. She won't give it up very easily. It's too much fun for her to keep me in the dark."

Neo paused and held her hands together in front of her as though she was about to start praying. Then she slowly moved them apart. Slowly and ever so slowly she reached a point about seven inches apart.

"She did! You two had sex!" Weiss exclaimed and pointed.

"Bullshit. She's guessing. She has no idea. She just kept spreading her hands until she provoked a reaction out of you."

"She stopped before I said anything! She knows how-how-ugh! You must have slept with her."

Neo silently cackled. Her hands fell to her sides.

"We didn't sleep together. Probably," I said. "She's just trying to sow discord. It's what she does."

"She knows how long you are! She fucking knows."

"She's turning you against me! It's what she's good at."

"You slept with her. It happened. You need to tell Ruby."

"Oh gods don't make me tell Ruby. It was such a dark time in my life. I was on so many drugs."

"That's your own fault."

"I had no idea if Ruby would take me back."

"You have justifications now?"

"I'm begging you... she is the master of lies."

"Quite the friend you have here."

"She's dependable."

"And a good lay. She's quite pretty."

"Don't be jealous. It didn't happen. Probably. I don't think so."

"Can you drop that probably with honesty?"

"No. But-"

"You slept with her. Deal with it Cloud. You may as well have."

Neo held her hands seven inches apart on her belly. Then she fluttered her eyes upwards as though in pleasure. Then she burst out into silent peals of laughter.

"Neo don't-" I started.

"She absolutely knows!"

"Weiss please… you're only encouraging her. She's playing off of you. She's feeding off your anger."

"Wake up Cloud! How many girls like you?"

"You and Ruby and Pyrrha. That's it I swear. I really didn't have you pegged as the jealous type. You don't mind Ruby and I."

Neo made a little heart out of her hands and blew me a kiss.

"That's Ruby. Ruby and I are also together. It's different. This hussy is separate from that. Look at how she dresses with those hip windows. I bet she's a slut and that's why she's been following you around."

"Darling…"

"Don't darling me when I'm mad at you!"

Neo stomped a foot angrily. She started to pull her chotto.

"Alright…" I started holding out a hand.

Weiss shot up and grabbed the hilt of her own rapier.

I activated my semblance and picked Weiss up with one hand. Then I held out my other hand and pushed Neo back with two fingers on her forehead.

"Alright! Neo, you've had your fun. Weiss, she's just baiting you. Can't you see that?"

"You need to apologize to Ruby and break off anything you have with her," Weiss demanded.

"She's my friend. You're blowing this out of the water. It's not like I want to have slept with her."

"Just another girl to add to your bedpost notches. First Pyrrha-"

"-Below the belt - Weiss," I said with some real anger. "Take that back. Right now."

Weiss flinched at my tone slightly in my arms. I set her down and looked her dead in the eye.

"Go on. Take it back," I insisted.

"Fine. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought her up. But there are some unresolved feelings there that you, Ruby, and I need to work through."

"Granted," I agreed readily. Pyrrha was deeply confusing and really complicated. It made my chest hurt. The thought of all of my team did. But Pyrrha was the sorest spot to me because… because of what could have been. That sucked. That really really sucked. And I didn't know until it was too late and I was pretty sure I was never really going to get over that. Killing Cinder had done nothing to lessen my agony. "But come on, you know I'm not like that. And Pyrrha is… complicated. It's really hard to talk about her. It makes me feel weak and powerless just like I used to be. I have serious unresolved issues where Pyrrha is concerned. But I'm willing to try, alright?"

"Fine. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry about this whole mess with Neo. I shouldn't have been on so many drugs and lost myself. That's on me."

Neo tapped me on the shoulder.

"What?"

She cocked her head to the side and looked up at me.

"Who's Pyrrha?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Go fuck yourself, Neo."

Neo held up a finger and made a ring shaped hole with her other hand and she thrust in and out.

"Fuck," I interpreted with all my skill.

She pointed at herself.

"You."

She pointed at me.

"Myself. Fuck you myself? Knock it off, Neo."

"She's doing it again," Weiss pointed out.

"You have to not give her ammunition and you just handed her an arsenal."

"What a friend to have."

"She's not so bad."

"If you say so."

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-WG