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"Hey Rubes," I addressed the monitor before Weiss and I on the satellite.

"Cloud? You look tired…"

"His psychiatrist, Amanda, has him on some sedatives but the mood stabilizer is giving him night terrors."

"I still think it's my Mother at work in my head."

"The drugs put him down and then wake him up. It's almost like he's taking uppers and downers at once. It's fairly concerning. But we just need to put out faith in the medicine."

"Stay strong, Cloud," Ruby cheered for me softly. I gave her a little smile. She was such a little cheerleader. It was hard not to find her ever present positive attitude endearing. Even in the sort of pain I was in. It sort of transcended pain. It became existential angst.

"How soon can you come over here?" Weiss asked. "We started trying but we haven't had any luck. It will be a good test to give you a shot."

"Is that the only reason you want me over there?" Ruby whined pathetically.

"So we can make love to you?" I asked and I moved a palm away from my face and stared at the monitor. "What more do you want?"

"Ugh. No. I meant-"

"Don't you want to have sex with us?" Weiss kept up my pressure with a teasing grin.

"You guys are ganging up on me…"

"We would never," I disagreed sweetly. "It's nice to be on this side for once. Usually you two join up against me."

"Well of course I want to sleep with you guys again. I'm hoping the missions that are coming up will be my last and I can take an airship over to Vale."

"I'm going to need a bigger dorm."

"We need to buy a house," Weiss disagreed. "We'll want one anyways for the kids."

"My babies!" Ruby squealed. "I'm so happy we changed your mind, Cloud."

"Hold up. Weiss and I have been trying for, like, a month. I'm probably shooting empty rounds."

"You assume you're the problem," Weiss pointed out.

"I crawled out of a test tube."

"Kick him in the shin, Weiss," Ruby ordered.

Weiss did. It was a touch less darling than when she hit me in the chest but I'd take it.

"Touch me some more," I moaned. I rubbed my face with my hand hard.

"Ugh, you dumb blonde."

"Goof. Ball."

"I'm not sure how I feel about the pet names you both have for me."

"How about grateful?" Weiss interposed. "That's how you should feel. You should be begging us to call you those things more."

"You're right. Silly me. Call me a dumb blonde again, Weiss."

"Anyways...have you picked out any names?" Ruby asked.

"Pearle if it's a girl and Nebel if it's a boy."

"After Cloud? That's a good idea. I should name one of mine after him as well."

"Two?" I wondered.

"Well I was hoping for four…I always wanted a lot though. Maybe that's just infeasible."

"You want four and Weiss wants two. You're trying to drown me. And, again, I'm not working with real bullets over here. Probably."

"Hit him again, Weiss."

"He likes it, Ruby."

"I do," I sighed. "She leaves me with a shot of her aura and it feels good to be touched at all. What's not to like? It's not like it actually hurts. You'd have to drive a bus into me to make me flinch at this point."

"Speaking of… there hasn't been more self harming going on, has there?" Ruby wondered.

"Not that I know of…" Weiss turned to me expectantly.

"No. Not that she knows of," I agreed. She smacked me with the back of her hand and it was cool and crisp. "Or any that she doesn't know of either. See how she abuses me?"

"But is the desire still there?"

"Oh I would love to torch my hand again. Just hold it over the stove until I feel anything at all. Mother and meds have me mixed up."

"Can you resist the urge?" Ruby asked me.

"I can do whatever you want," I promised.

"Can you love yourself?" She pressed.

"Gods only know," I didn't disagree.

"You're being unhelpful on purpose."

"Maybe a little."

"I'm working on making him better but it's hard work. You warned me before we visited him in the hospital that he hated himself and near as I can tell that hasn't really changed. I'm grinding away on it like water on rock but that's slow. I could use your help and wisdom, Ruby."

"My wisdom?" Ruby asked.

"Absolutely. I could always turn to you for advice and it was always good even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear. That was true back in the old Beacon days. It's still true."

"Ruby is so smart. And the ways that she is so smart are unfair. Aren't they?" Weiss tagged me.

"It's such bullshit," I agreed.

"You guys!"

"I used to be so jealous of how smart she was back at Beacon. She made me look foolish and like such a bitch without really trying. It made me want to be a better person."

"She likes reading my mind," I agreed. "She sees right the fuck through me. When I confessed my feelings to her she sliced through all my usual bullshit and saw clear out the other side. She just read my mind."

"You broadcast with your aura what you're feeling… it's easy to notice and pick up…" Ruby mumbled.

"It's easy for you to notice and pick up, you dolt. The rest of us have to work hard."

"So hard. She just knows what I'm feeling hours before I do. She's going to be such a good mother."

"I know," Weiss agreed. "That's part of why I signed up for this whole family. The knowledge that Ruby could bail me out of a bad situation."

"You guys…" Ruby mumbled.

"What's up, sweetheart?" I asked. "Can you not feel me from way over there?"

"No… I can't…" Ruby whined. "And it's almost like you're both making fun of me. Like I'm right here, you know?"

"Poor thing," Weiss teased. "You'll have to come over here to be able to feel our aura and read our minds."

"It's not mind reading…"

"It's close enough," I disagreed.

"You're auras taste so good. I miss it. Don't tease me. You two are working together to tease me. That's not fair. No two against one business."

"Except when you both bunch up against me," I pointed out. "You do that shit a lot."

"Would we now? You butt. It's not like you provoke us or anything."

"It's what you deserve, you dumb blonde."

"That's what I thought," I sighed.

"Be nice to me. I miss you guys. I'm lonely," Ruby whispered pitifully. She gave this adorable look at the monitor with her big silver eyes and Weiss and I both sighed unison looking at her. I was glad I wasn't alone in being hypnotized by Ruby's glance. Weiss suffered with me as Ruby scrunched up her cheeks and made little noises.

"So… I don't know how much of this is my business… but what did you both get up to without me in Atlas? Is that my business? I'm not sure."

"It's your business if you want it to be," Ruby informed me. "I'd like to think what you two are getting up to in Vale is my business. No?"

"It is," Weiss agreed.

"Yeah I just wasn't sure if you ladies wanted any secrets from me. Anything kept private. Not just with this but with other things. It's your right if you want it. I just wasn't sure."

"Because you're the odd man out? Well we both like being spooned so you have some decisions to make," Weiss pointed.

"Oh no," I said. "I don't like being the one to make decisions. You two work it out amongst yourselves."

"No," they said together.

"You're going to have to make decisions with your children. Start now. We can't hold your hand as a father. We can't hold your hand as a husband," Weiss pointed out.

"Father… Husband…" I trailed off.

"Don't be a goofball, Cloud," Ruby said. "We want you. I feel safe around you."

I shuddered a little. It constantly felt like I was tricking Ruby. Weiss at least knew I was a disaster but Ruby seemed to have no idea what I was really capable of. That thought scared me. She really shouldn't leave me alone around her children. I was a hazard. Like a walking, talking lightning storm. You don't just give something like that a baby. Not if you wanted it back.

"Ruby, I have to tell you. In Mistral I kept a secret from you."

"Okay?"

"To get Malachite to give Qrow some legs I had to perform a hit on two people. Really just the girl but the guy got in the way. I killed them both and lied and kept it from you."

"I knew," she dismissed.

"What?"

"Not the details but I knew something was off about you. You were broadcasting."

"You little mind reading devil."

"It hurts to know you lied to me but you did it for a good cause. If you have to lie to me to protect my family then it's okay. If you need to lie to save our babies that's allowed. You lied but you did it for me in an odd way. It's hard to be mad about that. And so much has happened since then. I forgive you, Cloud. It's okay."

I sighed. I'd been carrying that around for so long. It was hard to let it go now. And I wished that they would both hold it against me. But they would one day see how much of a monster I was. I didn't have the tools to ward them off any further. And I didn't have the desire to do so either. I wanted them. But there would come a day and a moment when the way they looked at me would shift and they could never go back to seeing me as this… They would see I wasn't making the most of a bad situation. I was the bad situation. It was a part of me. I carried it around on my back with my sword and shield. I had tried so hard to explain it to them but I'd just hit rock bottom. I didn't have the energy left to say 'no.' And it wasn't like I really wanted to say 'no' to them. I wanted Ruby to have four of my children if that's what she wanted. And Weiss seemed content with two. I was still going to be struggling to stay afloat no matter how you sliced it.

And that was without my children worrying about their aunts and Grandmother. They would wait and be patient but at the right moment they would strike as hard as they thought they could get away with.

"I… I worry so much about you both. And the future I'm dragging you into."

"You're dragging us into this?" Weiss asked. "You think that?"

"Cloud… we basically strong armed you into being ours. From the start. I begged you to let this be a trio. Then even when you were worried about it we forced you into being a parent," Ruby murmured.

"I always would have wanted to have been a parent if you asked me. I always had affections for Weiss from the very start. And I fell in love with you, Rubes, in Anima. I'm a pretty lucky guy when it comes to this whole trio. I'm scared of my Mother. I come with a lot of baggage. That's what I'm dragging you two inseparably into. You know what I mean? And our kids. I'm forcing them to have to deal with my problems. There are things I should have done by now. I should have done more against my Mother. Gone on the offensive perhaps."

"We begged you not to," Weiss pointed out. "You thought you might be able to invade Salem's mind and we begged you not to try it. You did that for us. The same way you gave up greens which I know you liked. You're going through this whole medicinal nightmare where now you can't reach completion just because I asked you to and for no other reason. It feels like we're constantly bullying you into doing what we want."

"I'd put the moon back together if you-"

"We know that!" Ruby cut me off. "But that doesn't mean you should obey us like a servant."

"Then what am I?" I asked. "Seriously. Before, in Anima, I hounded your enemies and planned your campaigns like a dog of war. Weiss likes me now because of how I changed and became an honest man. But the goal with being with Weiss was to know whether or not I was good enough to be good enough. You know what I mean? You give my life purpose. You give my life meaning. Both of you do. Of course I'm your servant."

"You're our equal," Ruby protested. "You're not like some dog."

"I'm exactly like a dog. That's exactly what I'm like. And if you and Weiss have to cut me loose to save yourselves and our children then you shouldn't hesitate. Don't you get that? You've got to understand that. I was never your equal. I'm still not."

"But you're among the most powerful huntsmen in the world. How are you not our equal now?" Weiss asked.

"This was never about power or being a strong hunter. I'm a murderer. That makes me less than a dog. You two are both pure with true emotions and not these fake feelings I'm plagued with."

"You think your feelings are fake?" Ruby asked. "You're not an empty doll. What you feel is as real as what I feel. You deserve to have all your emotions. You deserve to feel and embrace all your emotions."

"Not all of way I feel about you two is real, certainly. So is the way I fear my Mother. That's real. That's why I cling to those two things so tightly. That's why I hunted your enemies, Ruby. That's why I want to be your servant. I desire that."

"I… I think I understand…" Weiss muttered.

"You do?" Ruby asked.

"Sure. Sometimes I want to be dominated and to submit," Weiss pointed out. "I like it when Cloud takes control of my body and makes me feel. It feels so good to give into that. So I kind of get what he means. I like giving into those sensations. They're real to me when he touches me or when you and I touch each other. I like letting my body go and experiencing that. All of that. I like the control he has over me when he makes me make undignified noises."

"Those are such good noises," I whispered. "But even when I'm in control like that you have to see that I'm not the one in control."

"But you're so hungry. You always devour me. You always pin me down and take me. How are you not in control then?"

"You make me hungry. It's you who dominate my mind in those situations. And then you give me permission to touch you and to enter you. How are you not the one with all the power?" I asked. "You must be. Because I slip from myself. I take what you give me. As much as you give me. But it's still you making me feel that way. It's still you granting that consent. Where do I have any strength? I'm a helpless victim of you."

"You really feel that way?" Weiss asked. "You feel like I'm in control?"

"You won't let me mark your neck with bruises when you allow me to take you. I could probably do it while you're distracted. Probably sneak away with it. But I still can't do it. No matter how badly I want to."

"Oh… then I understand that, too. I guess," Ruby mumbled. "I like the power you have over my body, too, Cloud."

"I like the power you command over my soul, Ruby."

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-WG