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A new year of Beacon started without my favorite students. I looked after my growing family. Things were pretty good in my life. I mean- that could all change in a heartbeat because of my unchosen family. They could come swooping in at any moment.

"How are you doing? Cloud?" Glynda asked me in my office. She sipped on some fragrant tea as she spoke to me from by the door.

"I'm doing… I'm doing better. I have a lot going for me at the moment. I had once forgotten how good things could really be for me. I sort of resigned myself to life under Salem being suffering and it is. But…" I trailed off.

"But?" She pressed.

"But I have a full family now. None of that would have been possible if I gave up or if you decided it would be most convenient to kill me when we met again."

"Quite. Killing you was never really on the table for me," she confessed.

"Of course not. Come on. I needed you to be ready for that. I was counting on you," I bemoaned.

"You didn't need me as a safety net. You're quite safe. It was never really possible for me to kill you. You committed no crime and planned on committing none. You were totally under your own power. The entire time I've been around you you've been under your own power. So killing you was never really an option for me. Even when you told me the things you had done and the things you were capable of."

"I was counting on you," I repeated.

"You never needed to," she shot back. "And now you have your family. Six kids at the age of twenty five. Your wives made quick work of you. I don't see what I needed to get involved for. Except for when you were throwing yourself into your work with no sign of ever taking a moment to breath."

"Those were good times," I hummed.

"Were they? Or were you barely Cetra?" She leveled.

"Okay so I was barely Cetra. But I liked it. What of it? I was a menace and I tore shit up just because I could. That's the high life."

"You mean monsters," she clarified.

"Sure," I agreed halfheartedly. I really meant criminals from the underbelly of Vale. The Engelberts had tried to run from me but I hunted them down and now their weapons hung in my office.

"You don't mean monsters?" Glynda raised an eyebrow.

"Depends on your definition of monster I suppose," and I did suppose. I splayed a hand out at my trophies.

"Indeed. The people you took all these off of count."

"Do they? All of them? All the time? I guess you would be a better judge than me. I usually turn to Ruby to answer those sorts of ethical questions for me."

"You don't think that they count as villains?"

"Villains aren't monsters. I was a monster but I was never a villain," I disagreed.

"I still think you need to redecorate your office," she rolled her eyes at me. "This is pretty inappropriate."

"I don't get to decorate things at my home…" I trailed.

"I do wonder why."

"Hey, I can be stylish," I defended. "I just don't want to be in here. When the council comes for me let them know the kind of man I am. I somehow have you fooled into thinking I'm a decent person. You and my wives both. But I could use the little edge of intimidation on the unwary."

"How have you fooled all three of us?" Glynda demanded. "You're a good father and a good husband."

"I'm violent. My first solution to any problem is to start slicing. That's not a good trait for a father or a husband."

"What do you do about your emotional problems?"

"Did I stutter? I have a problem, I start cutting."

"Well I don't think you have us fooled-"

"Naturally," I agreed and interrupted her.

"We would know by now if you were a monster."

"Wait for my family to come for my kids. I have real enemies. I will paint the walls red with blood and viscera."

"By family…" She trailed for clarification.

"My family. Not my family family. My unchosen family. My sisters and Mom."

"Being defensive of those you love is not a bad trait for a father or husband to have."

"It is when you're capable of incredible violence. And I am capable of incredible violence. Seriously what am I going to do when Saphron comes for my babies? I haven't seen hide nor hair of her for years. She'll do as much as she thinks she can get away with. I need to be ready and I'll have to react and when I do it will be bloody," I finished.

"Saphron is…?"

"My eldest and probably most dangerous sister. She's a real problem with no good answers in a way I'm a problem with no good answers. She's brainwashed but she isn't a victim. Does that make any sense? I probably have to kill her. And the others. If I ever want to sleep peacefully."

"I think I understand. And you think she might make moves on Weiss and Ruby and your children?"

"I do. I really really do. My kids are valuable targets because of the power I wield. The fact I'd level cities for them is a real problem when there are those willing to kidnap them and I can level cities."

"But she hasn't done anything in years. Maybe she's gone or dead or done. Maybe she's otherwise occupied."

"I would know if she were dead. And if she's otherwise occupied we have more reason to worry because then she's up to something nasty. She's not just doing nothing. She's like my Mother like that. Twiddling their thumbs just isn't in their realms of possibility."

"Is it for you?" She wondered.

"What do you mean?" I shot back. "Do you see me racing off after my forbidden family or do you see me staying with my slightly less forbidden family?" Both my families were forbidden for different reasons.

"But you're not doing nothing. You take the council's missions," she reminded me.

"But I'm not hunting my dad. Or my sisters. Or my Mom," I disagreed. "I'm not committing any of the real changes I want to see. I'm sitting back and waiting for them to come to me. That's… unnatural. It's almost feral of me."

"This is you being feral?" She let out a low laugh at me. I didn't think it was funny so I ain't laugh.

"It's me being pretty fucking selfish. Isn't it?"

"Perhaps. Perhaps you're allowed to be selfish after everything that you've been through. Maybe you deserve a little bit of you time with your chosen family," she suggested.

"How much time?" I asked. "How much time?" I repeated insistently when she said nothing. "I have to go after my family eventually. Don't I? I mean- team RYPP agreed to hunt down my dad for me in Vacuo. But I honestly can't count on them succeeding." I sighed heavily. "If I want it done right I'll probably need to do it myself. You understand?"

"I thought you would leave with them. Team RYPP. You only came aboard for Ms. Gainsborough. I expected to have to find a new teacher when they graduated."

"They aren't why I took this job. You were a big perk but now I see I was blind to think you'd try and stop me if I flew off the handlebars. It's the exact sort of good I want to do in this world before I finally eat it and I will eat it. Even if I beat my Mom I'm still going to have to die. Everyone has the right to die. Every person. So yeah. I wanted to do this sort of thing. It's healthy for me to do between missions for the council."

"Still I thought you'd depart with them. I thought you'd call it with their graduation and set off after those things you need to get done," she explained.

"That may be why I started but it's not why I stayed. I stayed for my kids. I want them to remember my face. I want them to know me. All of them. Not just Nebel. I want even little Carnel to remember what I looked like. And yeah, that's also selfish of me," I forestalled.

"Is that selfish of you?" She asked rhetorically.

"But that's why I am staying. Plus Ruby and Weiss begged me to stay long enough for my kids to remember me just in case I bite it against Salem. The calamity from the sky. She'll fuck my days and they want my kids to know my face."

"Plus you don't want to go. Perhaps a little?" She phrased it like a question.

"Perhaps," I agreed. "It's not like I want to die. Not anymore. Not with so much to live for. I have so much now. I want to keep what I have built up here. Maybe I'm tired of being a walking thunderbolt. Maybe I just want to be a guy. For a bit. Maybe I just want to be a regular guy instead of the hero to save us all. I used to dream about being the legendary hero to save us from some extra terrestrial threat or whatever. Now that I'm in that position all I want to be is some schmuck. I want to be some schmuck with two wives. And yeah, I probably deserve some awful shit to come my way because of how I have two wives. I'm a lucky guy when it comes to romance. So maybe I deserve some trouble to come waltzing up to me. But this? All of us? Depending on me? Yeah it's what I wanted at Beacon but I had no idea what it would cost. I didn't know what I would be responsible for. So no. I don't want to go. But I have to go anyway. Because the world is counting on me even if nobody knows it other than a select few. So I gots to go despite all the reasons I have to stay."

"Nobody would know if you didn't go. If you decide to leave it to Ozpin. Nobody would know. You could live your life with your family. There's no pressing time limit forcing you to approach Salem. Nobody would have any idea," Glynda disagreed.

"Yeah they would. I would know," I shot right back. "I would know."

She shifted to drink some tea. I stared her down and when one of us looked away it wasn't me.

"Well at any rate do you have any motivation to go soon?" Glynda wondered without looking at me.

"Not that I know of," I let the words drip from my lips.

"Not that you know of. So-" I cut her off.

"'Not that I know of' does not mean 'no.' It means I don't know. I don't know if I'm on the clock as we speak. I need to leave a lasting impression on Carnel and then I need to go. I just need to go."

"That's your time table?" She affirmed.

"That's my time table," I hammered in agreement. "I make my impression on Carnel and my other babies and then I face her. Unless something happens first to motivate me to accelerate my schedule."

"Like what?" Glynda wondered. I could hear her curiosity. She was really not sure what would ramp things up for me in terms of confronting my alien bitch of a Mom.

"Like my dad. Or whatever my sisters are really doing. The fact I don't know what Saphron is up to is a real problem," I sighed.

"Maybe I can help with that," she folded her arms.

"I have eyes and ears in the criminal underground. You can't help me. Don't be ridiculous," I shrugged her offer off.

"Well I could help you fight. Surely you can't mean to take all your sisters on yourself," she disagreed with that dismissal.

"Surely not. I'll let you know if they come up," I promised. It was fine by me if she wanted in on this.

"How many were there again?" Glynda asked.

"Seven. Seven sisters. My dad and the queen of the aliens herself. My Mother," I counted up to nine.

"I suppose you really can't take them all on yourself. As powerful as you have become. You shouldn't be scared of relying on others for support. It's hardly a weakness that you need help. When I was young I thought similarly. It only ever really got people around me hurt. And myself. I'm sure you are aware of this. You should be mindful of this as weakness. You aren't the only force for good in this world. You aren't alone," she suggested.

I shrugged. "You sound like Pine Telimess. She told me I had a hell of an ego which prevented me from accepting help. It's hardly my fault I'm the only one willing to bring my dad the kind of justice he needs. It's not my fault I'm the only one with the power to make my Mother think twice about showing up herself and doing things personally. That's not on me."

"But what is on you is refusing help from those around you who can assist you. You aren't the only one with a vendetta against Merlot. You aren't the only one capable of locking him up and shutting down his experiments."

"He needs to die," I disagreed.

"He doesn't. You want to kill him. Those aren't the same thing," she fired at me.

I growled. I growled audibly.

"He deserves to die for what he did to me. He sold me to Salem with a half a scrambled mind," I bit out. "He needs to die."

"You deserve peace. You deserve to forgive him," she tutted at me.

"I could never," I grimaced. "Not after what he did to me. If only you knew. If only I knew what I was supposed to be if I had worked out as an experiment. I was going to be… some kind of hitman assistant for his fucked up work. That's what I was made to be. And when I didn't turn out right he sold me to Salem like a dog from a breeder. He deserves to suffer and die," I shot right back.

"Aren't you tired?" She asked. And I was tired. I was so tired. I'd been resting for so long but I was still so exhausted. "Anger takes energy that you deserve to be exerting towards your family."

"My family doesn't need this energy."

She rolled her eyes. "You knew what I meant. You deserve to spend that energy you're exerting towards hating your father over in that direction. You deserve to be making an impression on Carnel. Not hounding Merlot like a dog. Maybe you were a hound once but no longer. You claimed your right to personhood."

"I don't need this. Nobody could just let this go and if RYPP does find him then nothing is going to stop me from killing him. Nobody alive can. He needs to die for me to ever really sleep well at night. Just like my sisters. And I'm letting you help with that. So leave me alone. I have to do something about him. I can't just let him get away with it."

"Why not?"

"'Why not?'" I demanded. "'Why not?' Because he's an insane monster and he hurt me very badly."

"So you admit this is about you?" She shot. "Not about doing any real justice."

"Fuck you," I bit.

"Oh. I see," she hummed. "So why not let RYPP handle it? Why not let them put him in jail? What's wrong with that brand of justice? Why do you want to be a murderer? Why do you want to sink to the level of your mother and father. Why not rise above?" She pressed.

"I'm not good enough. That's why. I'm not a very good person. We've been over this. Unfortunately we are what we are. And I hold grudges. I held it against Cinder and Taurus and I hold it against my Mom and dad. I just do."

"You could be better than them," she reminded unhelpfully.

"I could but I won't," I shot back. "And it's because I am not nice. Grr."

"Oh shut up," she rolled her eyes again.

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-WG