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"Darling?" I asked.
"Yes?" Weiss blinked at me from the brown leather sofa where she lounged with her scroll.
"Sweetheart?" I wondered.
"What's up?" Ruby shot back from the kitchen.
"Nothing. I just wanted to see if that would work. And it did. I can die now," I confessed.
"Really?" Weiss asked. "Just to prove a point? Grow up."
"Yeah," I agreed. It had been just to prove a point. "No," I refused. I didn't want to grow up. "I'm fuckin' thrilled that that worked. I couldn't be happier."
"Aw," Ruby cooed. "Does it make you happy that I'm your sweetheart and she's your darling?"
"Yeah it really does. Ready, Ruby?"
"Sure," Ruby came round with a little velvet box and she walked on bare feet into the living room. I stood up and joined her. I walked out to the garage and came back with a long box with Myrtenaster in it all modified up.
"What are you two doing?" Weiss wondered. "I don't want to get spitroasted. I'm warning you."
"Don't be vulgar," I told her.
"You better knock that off. What are you two - oh?"
I got down on one knee in front of her with Ruby. Ruby opened the box with the bracelet and watch in it.
"Marry us, Weiss," Ruby grinned. "Won't you?"
Weiss clutched her chest on the sofa and didn't breath. She exhaled hard and slow. She stood up and took the little box from Ruby. She still breathed hard.
"This is lovely. Thank you both," she whispered. She took her current wristwatch off and strapped on the new one. Then she pulled the bracelet over her wrist and clasped it.
"Well? Will you marry us?" Ruby demanded impatiently.
"Of course my answer is 'yes,' you dolt," Weiss smirked and pulled her hair back behind her. "And what's this?" She asked me regarding the box I was holding. I opened it and revealed Myrtenaster. The new revolver and trigger for the hidden stiletto gleamed by the handle. "My sword? So fast? What did you do to it?" She wondered and delicately picked it up. "A little heavier but not by much. It's still balanced. What's this trigger do?"
She pressed the trigger and with lightning reflexes caught the little blade.
"Oh? Is this...?"
"Ironwood gave it to us. He agreed that it belonged to you by all rights," Ruby informed her.
"This was Winter's… and there's two more barrels to the revolver for dust. Eight instead of six." She gave it a spin. It clicked in place. "Thank you both. I'll use Winter's blade well. T-thank you both." She repeated. Weiss started crying soft silver tears. She was a pretty crier. At least when it was semi-happy eye-flooding.
"Aw, Weiss," Ruby hummed. She stood up and wrapped Weiss in her arms while Weiss sniffled and covered her mouth with one hand. She slid the stiletto back into Myrtenaster and it clicked place. She let tears quickly fall. She trembled in place and buried her head in Ruby's chest.
"Oh," Weiss breathed hard and gasped as she tried to hold back her quicksilver droplets. "Ha, I'm so grateful to you both. Oh."
"It's okay, Weiss. Just let it out," Ruby purred.
Weiss sobbed and shook in place. She was holding her breath and turning red as she tried to hold in her emotions. I stood up and joined them. I wrapped Weiss up around the waist and gave her a long squeeze. She broke down in my chest with a gasp and let the tears rock out of her.
"I-I-I'mm s-s-so embarrassed," Weiss sobbed.
"Hush now," Ruby hummed again. "Let it out. It's okay. I still think you're sweet and sexy even with a little crying. It's okay."
"I've got you," I murmured above her. "Breath. Nice and easy. I've got you."
"Oh," Weiss choked. She fanned herself and tried to breath. She exhaled hard but it broke into a little happy-sad laugh-sob. She breathed in hard and let out a long gasp. "I knew it was coming. I just wasn't ready. Ah. And you gave me Winter's stiletto. Oh, I miss her so much." She choked out that final sentence and clutched her heart painfully.
"We have her scimitar for you, too. You don't have to use her stiletto if you don't want to. You can put them back together and hold on to it if you want," Ruby rubbed Weiss's back gently.
"I'll use it. Oh!" She fanned herself hard. "I can't stop crying," she confessed in a bit of a rush. "Oh gods. I love you both so much. T-thank you." She exhaled in a hard whistle and tried to master herself. She gave up fanning herself and collapsed back into my chest with another choking sob.
"There we go. That's it," I mumbled as I ran a hand through her loose hair. I stroked her platinum locks as she trembled in my arms. "Breath. In and out. Come on. Don't try and hold it in. Breath and let it go."
"Oh, she was all I really had growing. I-I-I l-looked up to her-er-er my who-who-whole life." She grabbed fistfulls of my shirt. Ruby came up behind her and wrapped her up. I stroked her hair softly and shushed her softly. "Now she's gone! Oh, I always wanted to be like her when I was little. Then I got a little older and saw how distantly she held everyone. Even me. It was because of how we were raised. She was distant because of my mother and father. I saw that as a weakness later but I never blamed her for it. We were never as close as I wanted to be because of how we grew up. She was always looking after me in her own way. Haa, I miss her so much," Weiss broke down into renewed crying.
"It's okay, Weiss. We've got you now," Ruby whispered. I gently rocked her in my arms.
"I've got you, darling. I'm not letting you go," I promised.
"Oh, ha," Weiss panted into my chest and left dark stains behind. "This was so sweet of you both. I can't wait to marry you two. I love you both so much. Ooh," she tried to breath. She started fanning herself again and it seemed like she was collecting herself for real. Ruby wiped Weiss's cheeks gently. "What am I going to do?" Weiss wondered. "This was so sweet and thoughtful. What am I going to come up with for you both?"
"I love my little locket that you both got me," Ruby mumbled. She kissed Weiss's nose. "And whatever you do to Crescent Rose I'm sure it will be lovely."
"But this was so… this was so…" Weiss breathed hard and couldn't get her words out. She pushed on my chest gently and I released her. Weiss stepped back out of my arms and rubbed her face and her eyes hard. She breathed out in an almost whistling 'o'. "I love you both so much. It hurts so bad. It feels so good."
She sounded more than a little emotionally overwhelmed. She clasped her hands over her heart and she looked so small. She was all hunched in on herself like she was mid collapse or fold.
"Wow. Okay," she breathed. "Okay. Okay. I'm… I'm alright. I just… wow." She gradually inflated and stood proud and strong again. She rubbed at her red eyes and rosy cheeks.
"You need a drink of water? Need to lay down?" I asked.
"No. No. I'm alright. Well. Maybe some water…"
I walked around her and couches in our living room to the kitchen and filled a glass full of water. I dispensed some icecubes into it from the fridge and came back into the living room where Ruby was holding both of Weiss hands in both of hers. I handed Weiss the glass and she took it and drank a sip. Her eyes were still red and she was very pink in the face.
The engagement present, the watch and bracelet, were secondary by far to the modifications to Myrtenaster. Jewelry was fine but family was family. Well, not that I would really know. But I did have something of a picture into Weiss's childhood trauma and it was awful. Losing Winter had brutalized her.
Weiss took another drink and I leaned in and kissed her forehead and ran my hand through her silky, soft, long hair.
"I might actually lie down. I'm very tired," Weiss admitted. "That was a lot. It was… more than I was ready for."
"A good cry is like that sometimes," Ruby agreed.
"A good high is a little like that. Weed, laughing, crying. These can all do that for you. That endorphin rush. You can sorta feel your brain chemistry being wiped clean. Well, maybe not weed. It's a dirtier high than laughing or crying."
"I'll just take a quick cat nap," Weiss sighed. "it's too early to go to bed for the day but I'm shattered. Or maybe I'm whole? I'm emotionally drained."
"Sleep tight," I wished.
Ruby led Weiss by the hand out of the living room and to the hallway leading to the master.
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I didn't really get my appeal.
But I had one, evidently.
I just never really felt it myself. I was never really feeling myself and confident when it came to women. At all. Ever. But women liked me apparently. It went from one to two to three to poof. A bit like killing people had for me. One, two, poof.
I never really talked to team RYPP after the school dance when I had danced with three of them. Weiss told me insistently that a girl would only ask a guy she liked as more than friends to a dance. Lochart, Kisaragi, and even… Gainsborough had asked me for a dance. And that was something I was still struggling to process and in general disbelief about. I mean… what were the chances they all had little crushes on me? Low, I thought. Real low.
But Weiss assured me that it was everything to the contrary.
And then, after the disbelief, came a bit of realization and revelation. Gainsborough had asked me to more than just a dance. The way she giggled and leaned on me at the festival gala. The way she flushed when we talked about sex that one time. And a bit more. A lot more, really.
I was uncomfortable with it.
Did other school girls look up at me in admiration like that? Did other students? People's disgust was tolerable, welcome, and expected. I guess I was shocked when I got anything but. I mean, what does a guy have to do to deserve to be left to rot?
So… I didn't exactly try and hide the sort of person I was. I was brutal. My brutishness went into every aspect of my life. I collected trophies off of serial killers and put them on display. What part of that was peacocking? I didn't coddle my students. Any of them. Even Miss Gainsborough. Especially not Miss Gainsborough. So it was a little surprising. And I couldn't really get my own appeal.
But nonetheless there was something about me ladies liked once they got to know me and sometimes when they didn't really get to know me either.
Floored.
What could I do? And how could I look at Miss Gainsborough in the eye again? I felt bad. But I couldn't really put my finger on why I felt bad. I mean, there were all the other things wrong with my life. Granted. There was that. But this? Why did I feel ashamed and guilty? I felt like I had tricked them all somehow. But really? All of them?
What the fresh fuck?
Seriously. I was a gross murderer. I once killed people for sport. I still did a little. Yeah, they were serial killers. But I wanted to kill people. So I found a good excuse. And I was pretty open about that. So what the fuck did they all see in me?
Didn't I present a little unhinged or was that a part of the appeal?
Did they think they could fix me?
"And that's class," I announced when the match in the ring eended. "Pack it in. I'll see you all tomorrow."
I shook my head a little. I wasn't really in it. I had better get my head in the game. These students were counting on me. I had to focus the fuck up.
"Hey, Cloud?"
I glanced up to see Gainsborough. She brushed her silvery hair behind her ear.
"Miss Gainsborough…" I trailed. She winced like I slapped her across the face and I felt like an asshole. I felt like I was hurting her accidentally on purpose. We hadn't exactly had the chance to talk recently so I didn't know where she stood or what she was really feeling.
"Where's your sword?" She asked me. "You haven't had it in a week or more."
"Ruby and Weiss are modifying it. It's traditional for hunter engagements," I spoke carefully.
"You're busy planning your wedding?"
"Weiss is doing most of the planning. I just nod my head a lot and get by."
She snorted. "What's the date? When are you planning to get married?"
"The Vernal Equinox. Between winter and spring. Sooner rather than later. They both… they both want to start trying. For kids I mean. Before… me. Before my plans get in the way of that."
"I see… and you're worried about your responsibilities? Your family matters?"
"That and my other duties. To this school. To Vale, Atlas, Mistral, and Vacuo. And… also to you."
"Me? Why?" She wondered.
"I never meant to hurt you," I murmured. She looked away and down.
She gave a shallow laugh. "Schnee told me that you didn't need to be worried about every other girls' heart on top of everything else."
"Not every girl…" I trailed.
"You have no idea. Do you?" She laughed again.
"I really don't," I agreed lowly. I turned to face her better. I lowered my tablet.
"You're a catch. And I'm upset that I never really had a shot with you. I didn't get a shot. You were already taken. Two other lucky ladies scooped you up first. And they were willing to share you. You're about as lucky as you could have gotten. More lucky than most people are with that sort of thing. I never stood a chance with you. And that's what really hurts. You're a catch. You're a scoop. And if they hadn't grabbed you, then I would have. And it's because you're… you're the whole package. People write stories about guys like you."
"Whoever is writing my story is exceptionally cruel," I whispered. "I'd kill them for nothing."
"I'm sure they'll get what they deserve. We all do. And I didn't deserve a shot with you. I didn't. That's what hurts the most. I mean, you were never going to give up what you have with them for me. They seem like fantastic people. And you got two of them. How many of us can't even find one person? That's fucking hard. Finding one person. But I'd like it if we could be friends. Yeah, I wanted you as more than friends. But since I can't have that I'd at least like it if you could look at me without feeling guilty and use my fuckin' first name. Can't I have that?"
"In private. Not in class. And after you graduate all the time for sure," I agreed. "Yeah. No problem." I glanced away from her.
"And I bet that's all you ever wanted from me. First name basis and friends. But I… I attached all these careless wants to you. You told me you were involved with somebody. And I just couldn't help it. I wanted more from you than that. I wanted to be inside you. I wanted you inside me. And now that I'm never going to get it and I know I'm never going to get it, it hurts so bad. You could have filled me up like no one else. All of that stuff I wanted from you you're giving to somebody else. Kids. Marriage. Lovemaking. All of it! And now you won't even look at me. Look at me!"
I didn't. I shuffled a little uncomfortably.
"Please look at me…" she begged.
I glanced at her. She was crying. Hot angry tears and red cheeks.
"I did this," I said. "I did this to you."
"I did this to me!" She shouted back. "That's what hurts the most." Then she turned and stormed out.
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-WG
