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Weiss and I were waiting at the airfield. I glanced around way over Weiss's head. Travelers were coming and going. Embarking and disembarking on ships of all sorts of sizes. Massive cruisers and the lingering Atlas Battleships swept up and down onto the airstrips. Smaller private liners landed and took off like little gnats compared to the larger ships.
"So…" Weiss began. She was searching for her words carefully. "So I was thinking..."
"Okay? This doesn't sound good."
"It's nothing bad. Don't be a coward. Well, it's not necessarily bad."
"Shoot."
"I think we should stop trying. It's been a month and nothing has come of it. And if I'm getting married within the next nine months I don't want to get married pregnant. We can start trying on our honeymoon again. Does that sound alright?"
"That's really your decision."
"You have a say too."
"Do I though?" I asked. "Could I really demand that you keep trying when you just said you don't want to? Could I actually? Think about it. It's your body. What you say goes."
"Is that really fair?"
"Pretty fair. You're the one who would have to carry the thing."
"Baby," she corrected. "We call those 'things' babies."
"Yeah that. One of those," I agreed. "An infant. You'd be the one dealing with hormones and weight changes and body changes and pushing it out and feeding it and mood swings. What am I gonna do? Ejaculate and evacuate? There's nothing I could do to help."
"You'll be there suffering along with Ruby and I. There will be two pregnant women for you to attend to at once. You will suffer, don't worry."
"Yay?" I wondered.
"So, I think we should stop trying until we have the wedding. What's our budget look like for that?"
"Under three million?"
"You have no idea how much weddings cost, do you?"
"Under three million."
She whacked me in the chest with the back of her hand and smirked up at me.
"Well, yes. But with just our small group of family and friends it can't be more than two hundred thousand. And that's fairly extravagant for twenty or thirty people. And it'll probably be fewer than twenty people."
"Okay? I don't have a very good picture of money. All my life I've just sort of earned it way too easily. Like way too easily. Other people struggle but I make the stuff hand over fist."
"Plus you robbed a mob boss."
"I did do that. There's also that money from when I held the city ransom."
"That's dirty money."
"What money isn't dirty money? It's all filthy. Money is kinda gross when you think about what it really is."
"I suppose that's true to a certain extent…"
An Atlas airship swung down into the bay in the mountain. It was a decent sized passenger liner.
"Is that Ruby's flight?" I asked Weiss.
"I think so…"
"Do we just wait?"
"Well you made the sign."
I shuffled the 'Ruby Rose' sign in my hands. I did make the sign. I did. Weiss and I were both in our hunter clothes which for Weiss was that white dress with a blue sash and tassels. She had her blade by her side and the little box containing Ruby's engagement necklace in it in the palm of one hand. She opened the box and peeked inside. Then she carefully manipulated the locket so its face was just so within the box and closed it again. Then she carefully held it in one hand so the face would still be forward when we presented it to Ruby. She exhaled hard.
"Relax," I told her helpfully.
"Thanks for the tip," she sassed.
"You're the one who's so sure she'll say 'yes.'"
"I mean… probably. Right? Why wouldn't she say 'yes?'"
"Don't trip. This was your idea. Don't start flaking on me now."
"You're right, of course, you're right."
We spotted Ruby making her way off the airship with her bags and weapon on her back. She was beautiful with wolfish bangs and hair that was red just at the tips. She wore a tight corset that led down to a skirt and tight leggings but the leggings stopped above the knee and skirt only went down to about mid thigh so there was this space of white flesh shown off that was dimpled by the leggings. Her developed chest was pushed up and out by the corset and I think Weiss and I both sighed when we saw her but it could have just been me or it could have just been her. Somebody sighed was the point. At least one of us did.
It was apparent when Ruby saw us. She jumped excitedly and paced over to us at a rush. As she got closer I was able to make out her eyes.
Man, if Ruby thought she could just look up at me with those eyes and get whatever she wanted, then she was totally correct.
"You guys!" She ran up and threw her arms around Weiss jostling the box Weiss was holding. Weiss hugged her back and I lowered down the sign I was hefting and grinned as I watched the two of them embrace. Ruby drew back and pressed her lips against Weiss's and I saw Weiss melt into the kiss with a smile.
"Sweetheart," I greeted with a grin.
She drew back and turned to me. I dropped the sign and swung her up into my arms. She wrapped her hands over my shoulders as I easily held her aloft in one arm. Then she grinned and kissed my cheek. She chased that kiss with another one on my lips. My free hand came up to her cheek and cupped it gently while I kissed her back. Then I lowered her and set her to her feet on the ground.
"You guys! I missed you both so much. And Cloud it's been a long time. Too long. Way too long. Never do that again!"
"Fair enough. Yeah. Fair cop."
"Ruby…" Weiss muttered and she glanced at me. I just nodded a little with a small smile.
Weiss and I got down on our knees.
"You guys!"
Weiss opened the box.
"Ruby Rose, won't you marry us?" Weiss asked.
"Of course I will! Finally!"
I laughed. Weiss took the necklace out of the box and stepped behind Ruby to put it around her neck.
"How are we doing this?" Ruby asked.
"No idea," I said.
"He does too." Weiss waved exasperatedly. "We're going to pair off for the engagement presents and we're going to modify one another's weapons slightly."
Ruby jumped a little in place.
"It's so exciting. We need to plan the wedding and we need to invite my family. And Blake and Penny and Oscar and who else do we know?"
"I was going to invite the butler who raised me to walk me down the aisle."
"I have no one to invite," I declared. "Well, no one who would be appropriate to invite. Just a crowd of enemies, really. That would be interesting," I admitted.
"Ooh this is so exciting. I'm going to be married. Mrs. Strife. Me. And you? Weiss?"
"Me too," Weiss smiled. "I'll take his name as well. I'm probably ending my family name but that may be for the best."
"And kids. How many am I allowed to have? Cloud? Weiss?"
"How about we start with one and see where that takes us…" I trailed. "If - you know, nothing horrific happens, then I don't know. Less than five. Don't destroy me, Rubes."
"Nothing bad will happen. You'll see, Cloud. Oh my gosh there's so much to plan. Have we set a date yet? Weiss and I need dresses. And we have to get a cake organized. And what kind of cake do you two want? And instead of little figurines can we have miniature versions of our weapons on top? And where do you want it to be? Where are we going for our honeymoon? What's our budget look like? Where are we staying? Can we buy a house? Where are we going to raise our babies? Anywhere in the whole world. Where would you two pick? Oh, I suppose we want Cloud to keep his job. So somewhere here or near Vale? Like Patch? Oh we could buy a nice big house out in Patch. Big enough for all the babies and us three. And Cloud can fly. He can really commute without a problem. And it's such a safe job. The safest he could have gotten. I mean… the sort of missions he could be being sent on by any of the Councils or militaries could just be the most dangerous. They only pass you up to harder missions the better you are. It's such a good job. It pays well enough and he can really stay close to home and not have to travel much. What do you guys think?"
"I agree completely. He should keep his job right here."
I glanced at Weiss. They both turned to look up at me at the same time. I sighed.
"I have to take the council's jobs when they come up. First of all," I pointed out. They were still waiting. "And I have to kill my dad. And I have to butcher my mom. I can't stay teaching forever and make my family someone else's problem."
"Why not?" Ruby asked. "Why can't we have our lives?"
"Weiss, come on, can you really sit back and do nothing while your family makes a mess out of things?"
"I'm not going to do 'nothing.' But dealing with my family and dealing with yours are two seperate things. Yours is a whole mess of trouble that is never really going to get solved."
I sighed. I looked down at them. Ruby was looking up at me with those big fucking eyes. Weiss folded her arms and raised an elegant white brow on her scar side.
I turned away.
"I can't do nothing. It's my responsibility. Can you really ask me to not do anything and let more and more people die? It's a fucking meat grinder out there. My Mother isn't going to stop. How many other hunters should I let get blended up? I can put a stop to it. I can end this whole cycle of suffering. It's on me. It falls on me. Ruby… would you really love me if I put it aside for someone else to deal with? If I condemned other people to face her, if I made someone else take my place, really?" I side eyed her. "Could you really sleep soundly beside me each night knowing what I let other people face in my stead?"
When one of us looked away it wasn't me.
"...no…it's what makes you a hero," she muttered and she eyeballed Weiss. Weiss let her arms droop and sighed despairingly. "But we can have both. We can beat Salem. But we can also live our lives. I really believe that we can. I do expect you to face your mother. But not today, this week, this month, or even this year."
"My father has to be stopped. That's next on my agenda."
"Marrying us should be next on your agenda," Weiss cut in.
"I thought that was first?" I asked. "You have my accounts. You have my schedule. Just ask me. I'm yours. For this year I belong to you. But I also belong to the world. It falls on me to slice up my Mother and put an end to this train of human suffering. And humanity will grow and blossom without her withering influence. Maybe the sort of world peace the gods expect from us will happen one day and Oscar will be able to unite the world. But it comes down on me. I'm the one with the power to face my Mother and I'm not getting any stronger. I was getting stronger but recently I've been faltering more and more. The more time I waste the more other people get hurt and my chances of success fall too. If I'm not at my best she will destroy me. Like a bug on a windshield. She won't even need to use my sisters against me but she can. My best chance to take her down is right now." I pointed at the ground to emphasize my point.
"But I'm asking you to wait. We're asking you to wait," Ruby informed me. "Wait. It'll be okay. Live with us."
I breathed deeply. I… I couldn't say 'no' to her. Not really. Never could. Maybe that was a weakness of mine. If I could look at her and tell her 'no' and start flying in my Mother's direction I could end this today. I could still feel her out there on the edge of my thoughts. She hung like a piano over my head ready to crash down on me.
"Fine. Yes. Sure," I bit out. "But one day you'll have to let me go to her…"
"We will," Weiss whispered. "We'll let you go."
"We'll release you. We will."
"I'll die," I warned. "She'll kill me," I said without emotion.
They said nothing. They looked between each other but I marched forward.
"I might get her but she will get me. And if she doesn't, then my sisters will. You have to let me go anyway. You have to let me go knowing that."
"Cloud…" Weiss trailed. "You don't know that."
"Yeah. I do. And you do too," I whispered.
Weiss frowned but didn't have a ready retort.
"All the more reason to spend some time with us," Ruby pressed. "Don't you think? Just a little more time together…"
"It will never be enough, though. You have to see that. You're always going to want more. You're going to want even more time. No matter how much I give you it will never be enough and you'll never be satisfied."
"Let us have this at least," Weiss demanded. "Don't start leaving us now. We only just got all together. There's no need for this. We don't want you to go now. We want you to be with us now. All of you. Your mind and your body and your soul. Don't start straying from us the moment we're finally one again. Let us have this moment. Ruby just said 'yes' to us. What more do you want? Why do you have to undermine it? Just be with us."
"Let me have this moment," Ruby pleaded. "This moment with you and Weiss when we're all engaged. Let me have the moment where I see your face as I walk down the aisle. Let me have the moment where we hold our babies in our arms. I'll let you go. I will."
"You know that I will too…" Weiss murmured. "I can't hold you back from your destiny. And I believe you have the power to stop Salem. I won't stay your hand. But you have to be with us the rest of the time. You can't be pulled apart by your worries. You need to really be with us. Not partially but all the way."
"I can't do that either. She lingers like a curse on me. I'll always have to look over my shoulder… but I can give you the rest," I promised. "And if nothing horrible happens I'll give you as many kids as you want. Well, not as many. But quite a few. No more than I have fingers for."
"You always have to tag with that, don't you?" Weiss leveraged. "Something 'horrible.' They're our babies. Let's be optimistic."
"We still don't know if I'm not using an empty revolver."
"Please. Little Cloud is a rifle," Ruby cut me off. "Call a spade a spade, at least."
"Um. Anyways," I shrugged that ego boost off as well as I was able. And I was pretty good at it. Not gonna lie. "We tried for a month straight and nothing happened. And I'm probably the issue. Not you, Weiss. You're young and healthy."
"And you're not?" Weiss continued.
"You know I'm not. I'm old for my age."
"Five or four," Weiss informed me.
"Yeah. Five," I agreed. It really was so young. So many people got so many years. Even in our hellish world. They got to grow up. They got to live. They got to grow old. They got to die.
I was cutting to the chase. I didn't get to grow up. I got grown. And if I wasn't careful I wouldn't get to do much living. I would definitely die. All people did. All people should. Everyone got that privilege. Except for my Mother. She always had to be the exception to the rule. My Mother… my fucking Mother.
The eternal bitch.
I sighed heavily.
"I'm only five. I should be worried about kindergarten. And the cutest girls in class. And trying to make my parents proud. Not… not having kids, or wives, or saving the world from that alien. I'm matricidal and patricidal. And I'll be sororicidal too. I don't want to kill my sisters but I will. So it counts."
"You always stack the deck against yourself," Weiss dismissed. "You always have. You can't see the good parts of who you are and what you do. It's not like you asked for your family to be evil. And you take it on yourself to solve it. That's what a hero would do."
"You can't see that you're a hero. You're blind to yourself," Ruby pointed. "We're going to work on that."
"We have time, Cloud. You'll see. You'll have all the time you need to become a good father and a good husband before you save the world and come back to us. And you'll see that having kids is easier than you think."
"I… I doubt it. I bet having kids and doing a good job is hard as fuck."
"I told you to work on your language. Start with that. We probably have just been getting unlucky but we'll get it right. If we need to, we'll get tested. There's always medical programs to assist with pregnancies if we really need them. You worry far more than is healthy. I do too, I can admit that. But we have Ruby now. All together we really can figure this out. There's nothing we can't do. I know you don't always feel that way. So we'll just have to show you. We'll show you what you're really capable of."
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-WG