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(Weiss PoV)

"I want to come," I demanded.

"I know that. But what do you want to do about this gala?" Cloud shot back.

I hit him for that. He managed to bait out a smile from me despite my best attempts at resistance and I knew he thought when I hit him that it was 'darling.' So I suppose he won. But what was I supposed to do?

"You dumb blonde. You know what I meant. Don't be vulgar."

"But Weiss, I want you to come," he persisted. I hit him again a touch harder but his confident victorious grin only stretched further across his face. He was winning still. "I meant to the gala. You and Ruby are so abusive. She used to kick me in the shins and stomp on my feet. What's a guy to think?"

"You could stop thinking with the wrong head."

"Oh, Weiss. I would if you'd stop all that sexy singing. But you just can't help yourself. So I'm trapped in an unending cycle. How you tease and abuse me both at once. Can't you see I'm hurting here?"

"You big baby. I've seen you walk off so much worse than a tap from the back of my hand. You probably don't even feel it. It's supposed to be a sign I'm displeased with you. But you like it. That's what's twisted."

"But you give me that small smirk as you do it so you can't be that unhappy with me. Again, what am I to think?"

"You should think that I'm going to go to this dance with you."

"I was going to ask Neo…"

"That tramp!" I protested. "Well, you can forget about that sex we were going to have."

"That was your idea!"

"Even so," I turned my head away from him and closed my eyes. I folded my arms over my chest and huffed.

"Darling…"

"Don't 'darling' me."

"But you like it…and you still want to do it. Neo is ideal for the purpose of trying to scare them. She's a friend."

"She's a lunatic."

"Weiss. Seriously. Me too."

"You are not!"

"I'm just schizoaffective if I'm lucky. I'm not lucky. I have really bad luck. I'm very sick and warped. Neo is the best choice for letting them know I have a dangerous sadist on my leash. What are you good for in this scenario? What makes you a good choice? How does involving you here benefit my situation?"

"I've been to fancy gala's with the scummiest of families who also have managed to have clean records. I have experience exactly here. You need someone to keep you in line and not embarrass yourself. You're not going to pull that off with the mute psychopath. You need my advice."

"I need to let them know I'm not someone to be messed with. Bringing my future wife along won't do that. Neo will. And you don't have to keep insulting her. We both already know that she's a dangerous, mute, psychotic lunatic. I really want to use the word 'lunacidal' to describe her but I don't even know if that's a word."

"And you defend her!" I shouted at him.

"I know she pisses you off. What do you want me to do? Don't ask me to kill her, please. She's literally my only friend who gets what's pleasurable about killing somebody."

"I thought you didn't like that."

"I don't want that for you. But I see in myself that I gain sadistic pleasure from killing people. I like the power trip. I like the rush. I hate that about myself. But I do. I don't want any of that for you," he confessed as he ran a hand through his hair. I was suddenly jerked back to when he was an in-patient at an Atlas military hospital.

Back then he told me that he was a monster. He still thought that about himself. I wasn't sure how to save him from this. I truly hadn't seen his father's labs. I didn't see the experiments that created him. He had. And it deeply affected him.

"You really do. You really absolutely hate yourself. Ruby did warn me once that that was probably the biggest barrier to this trio working out. You really honestly think that you're a monster when you're not. You're just making the most of a lot of bad situations that you've been put in."

"Oh is that right?" He challenged and I noted a hint of bitter anger. I had hit a nerve.

"Yeah," I put down. "That's right."

"Then why do I like it. I. Like. It. I like killing people. It's easy. It's fun. It's free."

"You hardly go around slaughtering civilians. You always target that towards people who deserve it. Like Cinder. Like Tyrian. Like Mercury."

"That wasn't always true. I killed Don Corneo's men like dogs because I had power and wanted to use it. I didn't like how my Mother made me feel helpless so I slaughtered them in the streets. To gain some semblance of control back."

"You killed them to help us get out of that brothel."

"Not the second time. Not when I used Neo as a weapon and tracked them down and I fucked them sideways. Not in Atlas when I was running favors for Aurum. I killed because I could. Ruby and you both I have somehow fooled into thinking that I've just been 'making the most of bad situations.' You know who saw through me? Blake did. She knew that I was a little like her Adam Taurus. Even our semblances were similar. She saw right the fuck through me and she saw a murderer. Why can't you and Ruby see that? Seriously? Why are you still with me even with all the horrible shit that I've told you? I just don't get it at all."

"Because I love you and I think that you never ever give yourself the benefit of the doubt. And when you do you stack the cards against yourself. And you're going to drive me to drinking, you dumb blonde. Killing underworld scum and absolute devils like Cinder doesn't make you a monster. And before you bring up Ren and Nora I will remind you again that it wasn't your fault. And I will keep reminding you until that message sinks in. No one, not even Blake, blames you for their death. Not anymore. She did. She definitely was allied against you before we ran into each other in Atlas. She thought that you were a turncoat absolutely and she did her best to console Ruby who was totally heartbroken. But even she saw the struggle you were going through to resist Salem. And so do Ruby and I."

He looked away from me. He wouldn't meet my eyes though I stared and kept waiting.

"You weren't there…" he whispered like a prayer. "You weren't there when she took me. You have no idea what she can do to me. Because I'm a part of her. And she's a part of me. You have no clue what I'm capable of and I will shock you. I will shock you one day with the horrors I'm deeply adept at."

"I don't believe you," I fired right back.

"You should. Especially once you and Ruby drag my children into this and make them targets for my enemies. I will astound you. You'll see then. You'll remember this conversation."

His words wavered with his promise.

"This gala…" I started.

"Sure. Whatever. You and me," he relented. I stared. I expected more of a fight. "It doesn't matter if they find out about you and Ruby. If they touch you, then they die. I'll sick Neo on them and let her have her fun. I'll paint the town red. No need to complicate things. Let them know. Let me show you off and seem confident. This is how sure I am that they won't do shit because I will fucking kill them. They know I have Neo already anyways. Why does it matter?"

"I expected you to keep resisting…"

"Pick your battles. I'll lose this one."

"What do you gain?"

"You get to be involved like you wanted."

"Okay. But that's not the real reason you're agreeing."

"I hope that one day you'll see me and what I have done. The things I can and will do."

"I already see you. And I love you."

"How dare you."

"Excuse me?" I wondered.

"How dare you and Ruby both empathize with me. You're not getting it. And I've run out of tools to warn you off. One day I'll have to show you. You'll understand."

"Holy hell, I can tell that you hate me," I said.

"I love you," he disagreed with something desperate and pleading in its quality.

"But you want me to leave you," I pointed out.

"I want you to know what you're really getting into. I want you to see me. And then I want you to not leave me. But I can't shake the feeling I'm tricking you. You just frustrate me. Please break my heart. And I frustrate myself. I wish I was capable of explaining to you what I really am and how dangerous I can be and why I should never be left alone with your babies."

"Cloud, you're going to be an excellent father." I reached out and took his hand and rubbed a little circle into the back of it with my thumb. "You're gentle when it matters and firm when you have to be. You will do an incredible job. If I didn't believe you could do it I wouldn't be pushing you. But you can. You will be a kind and loving father who knows when to be strict and when to be flexible. You'd never strike them. You're too afraid of your own power to hold it over them. It's a healthy fear. Ruby and I both know you can do it."

"I am afraid… and you should be too."

"I'm not afraid of you," I vowed. "No matter how much you seem to want me to be. You would never hurt me on purpose. I'm not scared of you." I promised. Then I was struck with an epiphany. "Are you afraid of me?" It hadn't occurred to me that I might scare him until that moment. I wasn't sure what it was about me that would frighten him but it was possible.

"Yes… and no… I know that's not helpful. I love you. It scares me what I would do if you asked me to. Have you ever seen something so beautiful that it scares you? I imagine that I feel the same way about you that moths feel about flames. So beautiful and entrancing… I would torch myself to touch you. But it will unmake me thoroughly. I think that moths know that. There is something alluring to the danger. It's just as hypnotizing as the pretty lights. I want to chase it, I want to chase you. I have always wanted to chase you. But it's something that I know will lash out and destroy me. You unmake me and put me back together. That's not a comfortable process no matter how much I sigh into your touch. You angry siren. There is no peace from you. And I don't want it. That's how I feel about you."

"So that's how you feel about me? Like you're an insect?"

"I'm an insect and you're an alien force in my life. You've ensnared me from the start. I never stood a chance. There are some species of moths which live short lives and have no mouths and no way to feed themselves. Their only purpose is to reproduce and have offspring in the time they have left."

"I don't like this comparison you make between yourself and insects. You're supposed to feel like an equal to me. You're supposed to be a match for Ruby."

"Please," he dismissed. "Like I could ever hold a candle to you or Ruby. Or perhaps I should? Perhaps I should show you both how small my light is and your own magnitude. Ruby makes a room brighter with her mere presence. You could fill an opera house with your voice. I was made to break and kill things. I have no creative avenue. Do you get that? The only way I'll ever make something meaningful is with you two and our bodies and minds. I'm so… incomplete. I'm a shard."

"You are my equal," I assured.

"No, Weiss. I'm not. I never have been and I never will be."

"So you do hold my rejections of you against me? This is all because you think you're not good enough."

"No. I just know why you rejected me. I was never good enough. I just know why I'm not good enough now."

"You are good enough. You became who you are and it's enough. You're not an insect to me. You're like the sun. You shed power and energy like nothing else. You radiate honesty. And if Ruby and I are bright it's only because we're reflecting your own brightness. Ruby and I are like the moons. And you're like the sun."

Before he could respond I started singing.

His eyes snapped to my face like he couldn't help himself. In that moment I felt a certain power over him. I held his attention like gravity. I watched his lips part and his mouth open slightly and I saw that hunger in his gaze that made me feel in control.

He was typically the dominant one out of the three of us in the bedroom. But he always looked after Ruby and I in a queer fashion. He always served himself last. And always with a certain thirst that made me feel like I was the one in control even though it was always him manipulating my body. It was always him pinning me down and trapping my tongue. It was always him ripping moans from my throat. But I always felt like I had all the power even when he dominated me. It was because I knew I inspired that hunger in him. And I wanted him to dominate me. I wanted to submit to him in those moments.

But I still felt that control. And I felt it now when I stole his attention and he stared at my lips and eyes.

The fact was that I wasn't a good singer, or, at least, not just a good singer. I was a huntress. I was a supernatural songbird.

"Diana, oh closest moon in the sky, your shattered face does become me; your millions of pieces do fly by; encircling and longing to be free."

"Lonely body ringed by little light; I see my face like thou art a mirror; a pool to me of plain warm silver; drifting to rest now, no need to fight."

"Accompanied in a timeless dance; companions are whole and unbroken; two compatriots leave in a shining trance; Artemis's curved touch leaves much unspoken."

"Once a friend and now become a lover; red faced and crimson like rose petals; you kiss, embrace and leave each other; waiting while your white body settles."

"She leaves you colored vividly; yet you remain completely composed; is it weakness or is it dignity; there's no embarrassment in being exposed."

"Naked thou art beside your sister-wife; can thou be content with circles you ran? A long death following a short life; you both touch and end where you began"

"Your bright husband you both reflect; powerful Ra shedding energy like no other; with scorching rays he doth eject; much light hath he your husband-brother."

"Three you are united but never can you entreat; near misses and close eclipses; pale eternities roll by it's just a treat; gravity will bring you together and deliver you those kisses."

"But as your lips doth finally meet; you die a yellow death as a trio; a farewell and a great last retreat; a final trace, this you completely know."

"Still you three spheres springing sway; together a new life above Remnant's face; Oh, Diana, your pieces in a great grey bay; your husband leaves-sets first, he sets the pace."

"He'll bring you with him when he goes; the fragments of your body he swallows; an end at long last to every Grimm; your sister vanishes too, her rose body follows."

"You intertwine no more at long long last; no more circles do you obliquely pace; your first touch it came and passed; your heart provides one last final race."

He paced over to me and picked my body up by my butt with both hands. I wrapped my legs around him and felt his heartbeat against my own at both of our cores. I teased his lip with my tongue as he held me above him and just like I wanted he grunted and pursued my tongue back into my own mouth and trapped the muscle with his own. He held my body far above his own. He shifted and held my body weight easily in one hand. I wrapped my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss from above him.

At once I was totally at his mercy and I was in complete control. And I thought for a moment that I understood what he meant when he called himself an insect. I wanted to bait him out and draw him along until he dominated me. So I did. And he reached his free hand up and tangled it in my long hair and he made me whimper into his mouth. It was a noise that he devoured. He lips left mine and he pulled my head back and he started kissing down my neck starting from beneath my ear and all around my jawline. I sighed into his kisses.

"I see you," I whispered. "I do. And do you really think you could pull one over Ruby for this long?"

He hesitated and his breath caught like I'd slapped him hard across the face.

"Yes. I do. She doesn't know but in Mistral Lil' Miss Malachite wanted more than just Don Corneo's scroll. I killed two people. I hid it from her."

"Who were they?" I wondered.

"I don't know. I didn't ask any questions. I just killed them. And I knew that Ruby wouldn't approve so I hid it from her."

"Does she know now?"

"I haven't told her. The only other people who know are yourself and Qrow. They begged for their lives. And… I can't blame what I did on her… but that was the first time I heard my mother's voice. She was laughing at me."

"You're mad."

"No. I'm so fucking sane that it hurts. You keep talking about how honest I am but I hid this from Ruby. I hid it from everyone."

"But that's it? That's all you ever hid from her? And it was to help out her uncle?"

"What do you mean that's it? I killed two people. Premeditated. They probably didn't deserve to die. I murdered them. How do you keep seeing through that?"

"But I know that you've killed underworld scum. This doesn't really change anything. And it was a year and half ago. And it was the only thing you ever kept from her. Cloud, you're allowed to lie to me to help people I love. And you're still worthy of love after that."

He rested his forehead against my collar.

"How long have you been carrying that? That's the only thing you've ever kept from Ruby?" I asked.

"This whole time..." he muttered.

"You've been stressed about this lie this whole time? And you've convinced yourself that you're still dishonest? You have serious self confidence issues and they are probably my fault."

"Your fault?"

"I rejected you. Harshly at times. Now you have no confidence around women and low self esteem and a poor self image. That's on me. But don't worry. I'm going to fix it. Ruby and I are going to fix it."

I dragged him to my lips.

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-WG