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"Where were you?" Ruby asked me.
"In town. Down in Mantle. There's this bar I went to a lot when I was a criminal. It's run by this union group," I answered. I shifted slightly in the corner of Team RWBY's room. I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms.
"We don't like it when you just disappear. Anything could have happened," Ruby went on.
"And I heard you were involved with some plot in tandem with the strikes. That was where our people picked you up. In the middle of a crime scene. You're not giving us the full story," Weiss followed her up.
"I worked with the leader of this terrorist group, Dyne, while I was a criminal. His wife died and he went mad from grief. He had this little girl, Marigold. He was talking about killing her. So I showed up and did my job as a huntsman."
"You were working with those terrorists though. Weren't you. When you were a criminal," Yang perceived.
"I was working with a different group of terrorists. But effectively yes. It was my responsibility to clean things up. And they had information I needed. Or could have had information I needed. About my sisters or Cinder. I had to follow up."
"Why didn't you tell us? We would have gone with you!" Ruby exclaimed.
"I know you would've. This wasn't about that. It was about cleaning up my own mess. Ironwood's orders to take the day off be damned."
"He is technically your superior officer," Blake said.
"Maybe. But he needed this kind of thing cleaned up, too."
"But people died," Ruby mumbled.
"People always die," I shot back. "What matters now is that it's over and done with."
"This kind of terrorism is never over and done with," Blake fired at me.
I had to concede the point to her. She would know better than me.
"What should I do next time? Get you four involved in something I can take care of?"
"We're not little girls," Weiss said with some venom. "We deserve to be in the loop."
"I never said you were. I handled it. And when I find my sisters or Cinder I'll let you know just like I let you know back at the hotel that I found out she was in town. But you don't need to be involved in every little errand I run."
"People died and that's an errand to you?" Blake asked.
"Yeah. That's about right. I didn't kill them. I even went out of my way to try and spare them, too. People are just fragile."
"I don't like this. No more secret errands," Weiss told me.
"Fine," I agreed. "I promise to let you know first next time."
"I want you to not do it," Weiss returned. Some heat in her voice. If I wasn't careful this would turn into our first lover's spat. It might be already too late for that.
"I needed to do it. It had to be done. I needed some information that the guy I was with had."
"And what information was that?" Weiss demanded.
"When I sunk your father's ship one of my charges went off prematurely. I needed to know why and who my saboteur was."
"You sunk that ship?" Weiss asked. "Any other terrorist acts you're not telling us?"
"I also caused that mine collapse."
"You're responsible for all the strikes down in Mantle!" Weiss exclaimed. "I can't believe this. And let me guess, you forgot to tell us."
"It hasn't come up! And yeah. I probably am responsible. I was buying future information from Avalanche and Aurum. My criminal contacts in this city. I was building my network. I did far worse than sink a ship and cause a dust mine collapse. I killed people and burned down a building, too. But you already knew that."
"Why'd you burn down that building, Cloud?" Ruby asked.
"It was full of drugs. Aurum's competitors. It was a favor."
"Cloud!" Weiss shouted.
"I'm not a perfect person! I'm not even a good one! You already knew that!"
"What else have you been up to in this city?!" Weiss demanded.
"I think that's about it."
"You think so?"
"Damn, Weiss, I can't remember everything at once and my mind plays tricks on me. I don't remember. Some prisoner break out, too, for that guy, Aurum. But you knew about that too. I didn't even kill anyone with that."
"And you think that makes it better?!" Weiss asked.
"It doesn't make it any worse!"
Her nostrils flared up at me. "I'm tired of you not telling me things. Of you trying to hide things. Like when you wanted to not tell Ruby about your seizures. You don't get to decide what's best for us."
"I didn't even know today would be a problem. They just said they had something they couldn't discuss over the phone. I'm literally telling you all everything as it comes up. You want my life story? Well, me too."
She glared at me for a moment more. "Fine. But no more tip toeing around the line. You come clean with us. Before. Not after." The 'or else' was implied. I got the memo.
"Did you find out who sabotaged you?" Blake asked.
"The Happy Huntresses. You heard of them? Robyn Hill wanted to shut me down. Adam Taurus was there. When my bomb went off early he thought I was cutting the mission off at the knees and he attacked me. That was when he nearly killed me. Any more questions?"
"What information were you looking for?" Weiss asked.
"Just more dirt on Cinder, Merlot, and my sisters. I've been trying to learn all I can but so far 'nothing much' has pretty much been the word."
"But you know that Cinder is in town. From who?" Weiss questioned me further.
"Aurum. He's a drug lord. He runs The Den where you ambushed me that night. Anybody else?"
They were silent.
"What are we going to do for the rest of the night?" Ruby asked.
"Grill me," I deadpanned.
"You brought this on yourself," Weiss shot back. "If you would have at least told us where you were going that would have been something."
"You would have wanted to come."
"Which ought to tell you something."
"Guys…" Ruby bemoaned. We both shut up.
I sighed after a moment of silence. "Look Weiss. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it. I'll do more next time."
She rubbed her thighs with her palms where she sat and wouldn't meet my eye. "You had better." I figured that was as close to an 'it's okay' as I was going to get. I took it as such. We weren't ruined over this. It was just a fight. We'd be back to where we were later.
"So seriously what are we going to do for the rest of the night?" Ruby asked again.
"I was going to go get my bike out of impound."
"You bought a bike?" Yang asked.
"Just some wheels to get Neo and I around. Any of you are welcome to come with. It'll probably be boring as hell."
"I'll go with. Can I drive it?" Ruby wondered.
"I don't see why not. I also don't see why." I gave her a teasing grin. She 'pffted' her hair out of her face up at me but she gave me a small smile.
Weiss sighed. "Does it have room for three?"
"Probably if we don't mind getting touchy-feely with one another," I answered.
"We're going dancing again. You mentioned The Den. Is it any good?"
"I never clubbed there. Well not really. About the only thing special about it is all the hard drugs."
"You didn't…" Weiss trailed, slightly threateningly.
"I tried some. I figured it couldn't make things worse." Open honesty being the policy…
"So that's how you know what hyper is like," Weiss sighed. She leaned a hand on her forehead like she had a headache.
"Is it any good? I always wondered, too. Ow. Don't hit, Blake," Yang muttered.
"I could honestly take it or leave it."
"Leave it," Weiss growled like she was talking to a dog. Which, I mean, fair enough.
"You could give it a try. Tell them Cloud sent you. Get you a bit of a discount," I went on like I hadn't heard her. "It's a bit intense. Bit of a rush. But you can get the same thing with, like, good sex."
"Interesting…" Yang said. "Blake! I said no hitting. You're abusive."
"You'll find out just how abusive I can be," Blake shot back. "No drug use."
"Cloud is there any good weed in this town?" Yang wondered. "I tried some back home. I could use it to open this girl up. Loosen up, Blake."
"Some. Same place. Same people. Got your hook up. I could really use a hit right now, too."
"Tough shit for you, Jau-Cloud. Learn to live without," Weiss grumbled, slipping up on my new name.
"I'm trying but it's not easy."
"Did it really help that much?" Ruby asked.
"Ruby!" Weiss hissed.
"What? If it helped him then… then I want it for him."
"It's a hard maybe, Rubes. Let's keep trying what the doctors have me on for now. But I'm not sure I can take a few more months of this."
"Is it that bad?" Ruby wondered.
"It's not great," I returned with a sigh.
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I got my bike out of impound and was riding it down an empty highway. Our seating order went me, Weiss, then Ruby in the back. They clung to each other then to me super close. It was actually kinda nice. Especially Weiss clinging to my torso after our fight.
It let me at least pretend I was in part forgiven. Even more so when I'd take a turn and feel her arms tighten around my chest. Her fingers trailing across my abdomen and her palms drifting across me.
I checked my rear view mirror. Two other bikes were coming up on me. I slowed down to let them pass, I wasn't in any rush. Then they caught up to me and started to match my speed.
I truly wasn't that suspicious until one of them pulled a sword with two blades. The other whipped out a gauntlet with sharp points on the end. One of the riders, a girl, hovered close to me on her bike. A helmet obscuring her features. Blonde hair breezing through the air behind her.
"Cloud!" Ruby called, her voice barely making it above the wind. "It's them! From Argus!"
I flinched. I drew my sword around Weiss's body and drove with one hand.
I turned my bike sideways and abruptly slowed down in an attempt to lose them. Another girl on a bike rode up on me right then from behind, boxing me in. She yanked up on her bike and front-flipped right over us, bike and all. She pulled her pistol from her waist and pointed it right at my head as she did. Then she fired and the punch from her gun rocked my head back.
I'd gotten a good look at her through her helmet as she did her trick though.
"Saphron?!" I asked. I shouted over the breeze. "You're real?" The one with the gauntlet pulled up on me. I recognized her immediately. "Lavender? You too?"
"Poor big brother. Can't tell reality from fiction." Lavender let out a laugh. Her narrower jaw made her stand out from my memory of my sisters. My head suddenly pounded and I touched it with my sword hand. My sisters…
"Come with us, big brother," another voice said. I recognized it right away. Violet pulled up on my other side with her double blade. Her darker eyes and shapely nose pointed her out. Our swords clashed for a moment. I could feel Ruby and Weiss readying their weapons on the bike behind me as I drove.
Violet tried to catch my weapon with a twist of hers and disarm me. I held fast to my enormous weapon regardless. I slashed at her and she blocked while I drove.
"Come see Mother with us. She'd be happy to see you," Violet giggled. Like it was some private joke. I didn't laugh. I didn't get it.
Lavender punched at me with her gauntlet and I drove the bike to the side on the empty highway and I sliced at her too.
Saphron was pulling up in front of me. She turned around in the seat on her bike and shot me with her pistol again. It was a decent calibre round because it stung.
My head pounded. It hurt like it had when I'd last talked to, "...Mother?" I wondered aloud.
"Come with us, Jaune," Lavender beckoned. "We'll take you to see her." Her voice pierced over the wind as we drove down the empty highway.
"Cloud!" Ruby called. "Stay focused!"
"Cloud?!" Violet laughed. My sword met hers again. The long blade served to keep her double one away. "Is that what they think your name is?"
"I'm…" I flinched like I'd touched a hot stove but with my brain. "I'm Cloud now."
Saphron shot at me twice again. One hit me in the chest, the other pinged off of my bike.
"Is that what you're calling yourself?" Saphron asked. A note of laughter on her voice. "You'll always be our Jaune."
Ruby stood up on the back of my bike and took a shot at Saphron. It struck asphalt and tore it up. I drove over where she had just shot and the bike went badump.
She fired another shot and hit Saphron in the back. Saphron twisted on her bike so she was driving backwards and took three more shots at us. I heard Ruby cry out in pain. She'd just made herself a bigger target when she stood up.
Lavender came up on me again. She seemed to hesitate. I knew that stance. It was like she was charging something. She was storing a little time away. She punched down at my bike and I swerved to avoid her gauntlet. She swerved down and struck the asphalt and tore a huge chunk of it out in a flash of purple light. Then she threw it at us.
Weiss caught it with her pseudo-telekinesis. A dull black glyph came to life. Then she tossed it over us and at Violet who had to swerve to avoid it.
"Big brother!" Saphron sung out. "Don't you want a family reunion? Everyone can be there. Especially if it's for you."
"Come be with us! Ditch these girls. You don't need them." Lavender called. I clashed with her gauntlet again. Myrtenaster poked out from beside me and met the double blade of Violet.
Saphron shot back at me twice again. She hit me both times with preternatural accuracy.
"Come be with us," Violet purred. Ruby opened fire from her stance on the back of the bike and hit Saphron again. Saphron spun back around to drive straight once more.
My head hurt so bad. It was like talking to Mother again. It pounded with memories. With memory.
"Cloud? Are you alright?" Weiss asked.
"I'm fine," I bit out.
My head whipped back again as Saphron shot me in the skull one more time. Then my blade met Violet's beside me. I shoved her back.
Lavender was driving focused and unmoving. Like she was storing more time away for another devastating attack. Ruby took three shots at her to disrupt her concentration. The first hit her. And the next two hit her bike and caused her to swerve slightly.
Ruby shifted her weapon into its full mode out of just the gun state and took a swipe at Violet while I had her blade engaged.
Saphron shot me three more times. They came at me high impact and hit like .50 caliber bullets. I was pretty sure they were. She tossed an empty clip behind her and reloaded. She then whipped around and threw a knife at me. It buried in my aura up to the hilt and the tip nicked my face, leaving a cut behind before it bounced down into the street.
I flinched to the side. I swerved slightly to the right but that just led me closer to Lavender. I tried to block her purple flaring punch with the wide side of Crocea Mors but the force of it was enough to lift up my whole bike, three passengers and all. It nearly slammed us into Violet. Who in turn took a long slash at the bike that would have crippled us if Weiss hadn't caught us with a glyph and blocked her cut with Myrtenaster.
Saphron shot me in the head again and there was a whoosh of air as I got Limit.
I had had enough. I stabbed Crocea Mors into the asphalt and picked us up off the ground. I swung the bike around without losing momentum and reversed us completely so that we were driving the wrong way. Then I crossed over to the other side of the interstate over one of those entry ways for police. I left my sisters behind, they were driving straight where I'd completely turned around.
"Cloud?" I put my sword away and raised a hand to my head.
"Jaune…"
"...Mother?" I murmured.
"Cloud, snap out of it!" Weiss ordered.
I shook my head. I was trying but my head hurt. And not just from being shot there a couple times.
Behind my eyes pulsed and I shuddered. Weiss wrapped her arms around me tightly.
"It's okay, Cloud. We're here."
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I stumbled off my bike at the garage in Atlas Academy. I fell to my knees. The grimy pavement in the garage mattered little. I felt grimy in my head and in my very soul.
"Come to me…my son… my precious son…"
"Cloud, you recognized them, didn't you." It was Ruby's voice.
"Saphron, Violet, and Lavender," I muttered. "They're real. My sisters are real." I sort of knew that they had been, I could feel it. Like I could feel Mother. But seeing it was a whole next level.
"Cloud? Are you alright?"
"My head hurts. And I hear Mother's voice," I bemoaned. I rubbed my face with the whole of a hand. I got a phantom pain across my entire tongue from when I'd bitten through it.
"Reunion… a family reunion… Just for you."
"Mother?" I called out.
"He's delirious," it was Weiss's voice. I felt her arms wrap under mine. "Gods he's heavy. Help me, Ruby."
"Everyone will be there…"
"Everyone will be there. At the reunion," I murmured. "All my sisters. And Mother."
"What are your other sisters' names?" Ruby asked.
"Iris, Kolumbine, Juniper, Lily…"
"Iris, Kolumbine, Juniper, and Lily," I repeated Mother's voice outloud for Ruby.
"Someone has a flower fetish," Weiss grumbled.
"Step-father must have thought he was being funny. They're… they're all like different models. Different makes. Like cars."
"What's his name?" Ruby wondered. Trying to keep me focused.
"I don't… I don't know." I picked myself up and out of their arms. I took two steps and almost fell again. I pitched and swayed on my feet. I rubbed my face. My head ached.
"How many times were you shot?" Weiss asked. "You've got a nasty cut."
"A couple. She really kept bouncing them off my skull." She had rung my bell with those bullets. Then with that knife.
"Are you going to be alright?" Ruby asked.
"If I…"
"Go to the reunion…"
"...no…" I murmured. I cut that thought off.
"No?" Ruby asked, concerned.
"Yes?" I realized I was having a conversation with myself. "As alright as I ever am."
"That doesn't sound promising," Weiss murmured.
"They knew your old name," Ruby followed her up, speaking softly.
"Mother must have told them."
"Salem," Weiss softly corrected.
"No… yes…" I breathed. "Salem. My sisters are real. I… I don't know if I can face them. I don't think I'm strong enough. There's seven of them. And I'm just the bad batch."
"Don't think like that," Ruby whispered. "You're not alone, either."
"Let's get him inside. Put him to bed."
"No. Please. Anything but that. She gets me when I sleep," I pleaded. "I'm not strong enough. Not for this. I don't know if I can resist the urge to go to the reunion."
"What's the reunion, Cloud?" Ruby asked.
"My summoning. She calls out to me from so far away." I realized I made no sense to anyone but myself. "Don't you see? She calls to me." Distantly I realized I sounded a lot like Dyne.
"He's going mad." Weiss murmured.
"What do we do?" Ruby whispered back sounding desperate.
"What can we do?" Weiss wondered back.
"How can I save my sisters when I can't even save myself?" I laughed. "Salem has them. She has them. She'll get me too."
"Cloud, listen to us. Can you hear us?" It was Ruby's voice. I heard it so I nodded. "That is not going to happen to you," she went on. "We'll keep you from losing yourself."
"Cloud if you ever feel like you're going to lose yourself we'll be there for you. And we'll help you save your sisters, too. You need to sleep though. We'll be right there for you when you wake up," Weiss reassured.
"How can you know that?"
"Which part?" Weiss asked.
"Any of it," I shot back.
Ruby came up to me and took both my hands in hers. "Because I believe it. We're going to save you."
I choked back a sob. But I nodded. "Don't let me go to the reunion," I begged.
"We won't," Weiss promised.
"Whatever I say and do… And don't let me kill myself."
"Well we especially won't do that," Weiss went on, she smiled slightly. She reached up and touched my face. I almost couldn't look down into her ice blue eyes.
"My head just hurts," I complained as they started to walk me to my room. "It hurts like I'd talked to her again."
"Does it always cause you pain?"
"It did last time. And she made me bite my tongue off. Almost completely."
"You didn't tell us that," Ruby murmured.
"I thought I was going to die from the pain," I confessed. "My head is full of these… these memories. I don't know if they're real. What does it mean for a memory to be real anyways? How can you tell? I have so many memories of living and playing with my sisters. They can't be real though."
I remembered when my sisters braided my hair in Shion. I remembered walking in the rain alone with Kolumbine when we were both just little kids. Just flashes of spending time with the short haired Iris before school one morning. I even knew that I'd fought this boy who pulled on Lily's pigtails. It came to fists over it. Little Lily… my little Lily. I could recall Saphron and I eating my Mother's cookies in the kitchen once. My little sister, a little shortstack. Absolutely adorable with big blue eyes and shoulder length golden hair.
I was going to be sick to my stomach.
And my Mother, she'd been a beautiful blonde woman in a flowing white dress with pale wispy blue eyes like crystal.
But I couldn't recall my father's face or anything about him. That's how I knew it was fake. It was glaring and obvious but only once I knew where to look.
And my Mother… she was always wearing that same dress. White and drifting in every little breeze with golden trimmings to match her pale straw colored locks. That same dress… Burned into my mind; roaring across my skull. It had been planted there by her; by my Mother. It was all fake. It had to be. I didn't have a childhood.
She was always wearing that same white and golden dress. Always.
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-WG