CHAPTER 13: Weight of a Soul.

I think I had been listening to all four girls shouting back and forth for a couple hours before I walked away. The restaurant we went to was empty except for one other person who sat at the far end of the building. I tried to get a good look at the person but the jacket they were wearing covered their face.

"Dude or chick? Probably a dude, I wonder if he cares about the girls shouting." I thought aloud. "Maybe not I guess since he hasn't said anything." I walked over and stopped a few feet from him. "Mind if I join you?"

He nodded and motioned a hand outward. I slid into the booth and finally got a look at their face but they kept their eyes hidden. 'It's a chick.' I was decently surprised but didn't let it show. "I'm sorry about the noise my friends are just talking about something that recently happened to me."

"It's not a problem; actually the conversation is rather interesting." Her voice was soft and soothing. It felt like she was singing. "It's not all that surprising that your scars faded, after all your body changes depending on how we feel." She smiled at my confusion.

"Just who are you?" I tensed up and she reached her hand out and grabbed mine.

"At one point in time you knew us very well but it seems as if you forgot about us, even though we have been with you this whole time." She lifted her head and revealed her eyes. Her left eye was a perfect steel gray while her right was a cosmic swirl.

"Your eyes, I have never seen any like them before." I stared into them and her lips curled.

"Captivated aren't you, well we did pick them out specifically for you. You see we are a part of you. We are an artificial soul made from Dust and we were planted inside of you on your 7th birthday. We watched you grow along with all the other children and out of all of them we chose you as our host." Her grip felt cold and hot at the same time.

"Why did they make you and why did you choose me?" My head started to feel fuzzy and my vision blurred.

"They made us in an attempt to create a full artificial being but the body they made could not sustain us. As for why we chose you, we chose you because you were their favorite, their little indestructible test subject." Her grin tightened until my knuckles felt like they would break. "We wanted to use you to destroy them but since that were done for us already; we now want to help you."

"That doesn't make much sense why would you want to hurt the people that made you?" I pried her fingers loose one by one.

"For the same reasons that you hated them. The pain, the loneliness, and the suffering but unlike you our pride made us want it more than anything. We hated being nothing but a test for them, we wanted to live and be free. So now we shall live on and enjoy our freedom through you." My eyesight went static and when it cleared she vanished.

"Icarrus are you OK? You have been mumbling to yourself for a couple minutes." Blake said as she slid into the seat across from me. I looked around and saw no trace of the woman but when I looked down at my hand I saw something etched into the skin at the base of my pinkie.

{R7-C7}

I covered my hand and smiled. "Oh I was? Sorry, do you have any idea what I was saying? I'm pretty sure I just got caught up in a memory." Blake smiled shyly and shook her head.

"No I didn't catch any of it but it actually looked like you were talking to someone." She reached out and grabbed my hand. "Come on lets go back I bet they are still at it."

"Thanks Blake." I gripped her hand.

"For what Icarrus?" She asked unsure.

"For bringing me back." I whispered. "Oh nothing much really just thanks."

We walked back over to the girls and sure enough they were still arguing about it. I slid into the booth next to Weiss and wrapped her in a deep hug. Then I got up and moved over to Yang and did the same to her and Blake. When I got to Ruby I had tears falling from my face. I hadn't realized the emotion I had bottled up from everything that has happened recently.

No one spoke a word as I cried, clutching onto Ruby as my strength slowly left my body and I slid to the ground in front of her. All four girls dropped to the ground with me and embraced me. Still no one said anything.

After a few minutes my tears stopped coming out and I calmed down. "I'm sorry Ruby, I'm sorry I can't return the amount of love you have for me yet not until I know how I love you. I do love you but I don't know how and I can't find the right words to say it. I know I love Weiss in the way a man loves a woman and with Blake and Yang I love them like they're my sisters but with you it's different than all of that. I just don't know how it is."

I was breathless and shaking. I felt the girls pull back and I looked up, all of them had tears in their eyes except for Ruby. She just smiled weakly like she was alright but I could tell I had hurt her yet again. I leaned forward and kissed her on the lips quickly.

"Please! Please don't hate me! I wouldn't be able to live with myself, if any of you hated me I just...I can't...I-" I was cut off by four consecutive slaps, one from each girl, followed by another hug.

"Don't be an idiot, we could never hate you." Blake kissed me on the cheek.

"Yeah you big dummy." Yang copied her.

"I may have been an only child and I got everything I always wanted but now that I have sisters I need to learn to share." Weiss grabbed Ruby's hand and placed it on top of mine. "I you find how you truly feel about Ruby is that you love her like you love me, I will try to share."

Ruby leaped from her stop and into my arms. She kissed me and grinned then blushed quickly. "Sorry, sorry, sorry."

A short while later.

"Icarrus about your scars healing we did come up with some ideas." Weiss was curled up on my chest as I played with her hair.

"Yeah? Like what? I also have a guess." I ran my fingers over the marking under my pinkie.

"Well none of them really make any sense but I said that maybe it has something to do with your age. Blake and Yang said something about how you became a man and what not but anyways Ruby thought that since it had been so long since you have been free from the labs that the dust is slowly being replaced by normal stuff I guess." She yawned and moved closer. "What about you? What do you think?"

"I'm not sure but I plan on finding out." I looked down to see that she had fallen asleep. "I love you but I need to go to find out for sure." I slid out from underneath her and threw on my clothes. "I will be back and then I will apologize."

I headed out the door and walked out of the building. "Why did it have to be my old room? She couldn't have put anything different on my hand?" I thought aloud and sighed.

[Because we wouldn't find out anything for sure unless we go there.] I heard the woman's voice but it sounded like the voice in my head.

"So you really are a part of me aren't you?" I followed the street lights down the road.

[Yes we did try to make that obvious. We have tried many time to talk to you but it seems only now can we do that. So naturally we would want to talk to you and see if you wanted to find out more as well.] I smiled and nodded.

"You're right I do want to find more, so let's talk on the way." I could feel her nodding and I slowed my pace. "By the way what is your name?"

[D.E.A.S. Dust Enriched Artificial Soul but Doctor Serena called me Eve. When we were alone she would often joke about how you were my Adam.]

"Eve it is then.