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(Ruby PoV)

I brushed a comb through my hair. I wanted to look at least decent for when I saw Jaune again. What? Just because I could bullseye you from a thousand yards doesn't mean I didn't like girly stuff. One of those things was looking nice for my boyfriend when I visited him in a military psychiatric hospital.

I grinned wolfishly at the mirror. I didn't have a lot of hair to comb through like Yang or Weiss but I had enough to drag a brush through and make it look a bit neater. Speaking of Weiss, she came by and leaned at the corner of the wall in the bathroom. Her hair was still down and not up in its braided ponytail. I turned away from the mirror to actually look at her.

"What?" She asked. She looked beautiful with her hair down but she probably wasn't planning on coming to see Jaune like that. It just wasn't in the cards for her.

"You're not coming with me to see Jaune?" I shot back.

"He likes you, remember?"

"He liked you first," I retorted. "All freshman year, remember?"

She sighed. "I don't want to overwhelm him. He's probably going through a lot as it is. He doesn't need whatever is going on with me to add to that." She waved a hand at herself.

"That you like him," I cut through.

"Yes, Ruby. That I like him." She sounded a touch exasperated.

"Don't you want to tell him how you feel?" I asked.

"I-I suppose..."

"Come on. Let me do your hair." I guided her in and sat her down by the bath and ran my fingers against her scalp. She sighed back into my touch and I let a grin stretch my face. I started to do up her enormous plait.

"It's just so confusing."

"No it's not," I said. "The only thing left to see is if you like him back. And you flirted with him occasionally in Mistral."

"In Mistral…" she repeated. "I just don't want to confuse him."

"But what if you don't have the chance to tell him how you feel again? Think about how stressed you were before you told me how you felt."

"Ruby…"

"You don't want to let this opportunity slide by, even if he's stressed out it's not like having you like him will make things worse."

"Easy enough for you to say. You've already slept with him. And I've already kissed you. It's fairly clear we both like you while it's not so clear that he and I would work out."

"I've just slept with him three times."

"Just three times you say. Forgive me. I didn't mean to blow it out of proportion," she said sarcastically.

I kissed her on the lips with a bit of passion before I went back to doing her braid. "It'll be alright."

"And you're okay with all this? Sharing him? Sharing me?"

"Of course." I was raised by Yang and my dad so maybe my view of love was more relaxed than Weiss's. She was raised up here in Atlas where things were more strict. To me, love was love. It was about sharing and being shared. Nothing about this was crazy to me. I liked what I liked what I liked. And I wanted it, too. "You're alright with sharing me with him."

"W-well yes," she agreed.

"Then don't worry about it. You're stressing way too much."

"But what if he says no."

"Why would he say no? He flirted back with you in Mistral if what you told me is true. He had a crush on you first. Even before all that business with Pyrrha happened. So why would he say 'no?'"

"What if he wants to be monogamous with you. What if he's not poly." Weiss came out and said it. The big humdinger.

"Then why would he have flirted with you in Mistral?" I countered. And I didn't really blame him for it if he did. I wasn't mad.

She sat in silence while I did her plait. I bobby pinned it up as I worked my hands through her long beautiful hair. I squealed a little and wanted to squeeze my face into the silky mass.

"We just need to be open with him. He'll understand. I'm fairly certain he won't be upset that another beautiful girl loves him. He'll probably just be like 'I hate myself and I don't deserve it.' He's like that a bit. We just need to shut that down."

"You've thought about this a lot," she accused.

"Not really," I responded. "That's just how he is, he loathes himself, sometimes. And it's how we could be. All together. I love you Weiss. And I love him. What's wrong with that? What's complicated about that?"

"It's just a whole person to be added to the mix. And you weren't ready before."

"But I promised you I would be ready eventually."

"And that's now?"

"Yes. I'm fairly fast, in case you haven't noticed. It helps that I have him back. I was worried about him. He was alone stewing in whatever happened to him for real. He was off dealing with Salem's mind control by himself, even if we didn't know about it yet. But that's over now. We're going to keep him safe, you and me."

"You make it sound so easy. It's not. It's three people. All with their own desires. That's about as complicated as it gets. Plus you have no idea how to help with the mind control piece."

"You're stressing about nothing until we talk to him."

"It has been a long time…"

"Just a month or so," I returned. "That's less time than you spent with him in Mistral."

"You're too excited for this."

"Why wouldn't I be excited? I get to be with both my best friends."

"If he likes me back," Weiss amended.

"You're still worried about that?"

"It's kind of a big hang up, Ruby."

"He likes you. I promise. What's not to like about you?"

"I'm uptight. I worry too much. I'm an overthinker."

"Now you sound like Jaune did before he admitted we were a couple. Maybe I've got a type." I sighed.

"Jaune and I aren't that similar," she protested. "That's kind of what I'm worried about."

"You're both overthinkers. You're both super smart," I disagreed. "You have more in common than you think, Weiss. I think so, at least."

"Really? I always thought he was a bit like you, Ruby."

"Impatient?" I asked.

"Energetic and a touch clumsy," she corrected, a small smile quirking her pink lips.

"Huh," was all I could manage. We sat in relative quiet as I worked for a moment. She hummed back into my touch. She had a lovely singing voice. I could stand to hear it more.

"And now that he's got that real confidence and honesty behind him I always thought he was… well, you know."

"Hot?" I asked. He was a little.

"You see it too, then."

"You should just wait until he kisses you. Now that's hot."

I watched Weiss rub her legs together a little. "And you're alright with that? You'd be onboard with me kissing him."

"For the hundredth time, yes!" I wanted to shake some sense into her. They were both my best friends. I wanted to share them. "It's not so complicated. It's just one more person, like you keep saying."

To be honest the thought of watching Weiss and Jaune kiss was about the hottest thing I'd thought of in a bit. It made me shudder a little.

"We should see how he is first. He might not be in the best place mentally for it."

"But when he's ready we'll snatch him up, you and me."

She wrapped a hand over my neck and turned me to kiss her. Her tongue dove forward a little and I let it into my mouth. I moaned into the kiss. It felt like everything was going to be okay. For the first time in a long time I really felt it.

"Weiss…" I whimpered. "I need to finish your braid…"

"What's the hold up?" She whispered against my lips. "Are you distracted?" She teased me.

I whined a little and clenched at her hair with both hands. She groaned a little as I pulled gently on her platinum threads.

"Maybe a little." I confessed, desperately. "Let me finish!"

She turned back away from me with her face pink. She was breathing hard enough to make her chest heave. For all my sister's teasing about Weiss's modest chest size, I liked it. Her breasts swelled up at me as she panted from our long kiss.

She was only in her morning wear so I thought I could see the tips of her breasts hardened in the early yellow light. I was no better with my heart beating fast, hammering away in my chest at my ribs. The way she made me whine was enormously domineering.

It was so unbelievably attractive.

I desperately tried to remember where my fingers were and finish up her braid. My hands were trembling more than a little. I slowly got my breathing back under control. My face was as red as my cape in the mirror.

It took a moment to get myself under my own command but eventually I succeeded.

A knock came by the open door. I turned to see my older sister. "Yang?" I asked. I put the last tie in Weiss's plait. "Are you coming to see Jaune too?"

"Yeah, Blake and I both are. I talked her into it. Jaune turned himself and the relic in. That counts for something."

"Thank you Yang." Weiss tucked her hair behind her shoulder and stood up. "I was worried that this would divide us."

"Yeah well it still might," Yang said. "Jaune is a criminal now. Plus he was working with Neapolitan. He better have a good reason for that. For both those things. Let's be honest, I want Jaune on our side, his power and strength are awesome, but I don't know if I can trust him. Especially with the mind control stuff."

I sighed and nodded. I was grateful for Yang coming at us honestly. I was willing to bet the reason was good enough for Jaune, but would Yang agree? I wasn't sure.

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Jaune looked good. Tall with little blue diamond piercings like his eyes. His hair was done up in a spiky messy fashion that made him look dashing. His armor was under black clothes and he had a touch of red where Pyrrha's sash was tied to his arm and he had this little half cape to him too that made his silhouette look slick.

None of the others had brought up his outfit change. It hadn't been as important as other topics but it was there and Jaune looked good-enough-to-eat in his git-up. And if I had it my way I would.

He sat down with us just at a table within the hospital behind double locked doors like an airlock. Someone would have to let us out and the double doors ensured that none of the patients could escape, should they try.

"Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang." He nodded with a charming smile. "It's good to see you again."

"Jaune." I embraced him deeply. His wide frame wrapped me up easily. I inhaled his familiar smell wildly. Crisp spice and something else, something torched.

I had missed him. It dragged tears from my eyes which I wiped away.

"How are they treating you in here?" Weiss asked.

Jaune waggled a hand. "Eh. About as good as I could reasonably expect considering the liability I constitute. If I meant business, I'm not sure that those doors could stop me."

He'd probably been analyzing the exits. It was instinct for a hunter like him. He was trapped and he knew it. But he was trapped by his own code as much or more so than the actual doors.

"Jaune you have to tell us everything. What happened to you?" I asked. "What happened at Haven?"

"I killed Ren and Nora. Salem made me do it but I still killed them," he confessed. "She then called me to bring the relic to her. I… I know where she is. At all times. It's like an instinct. I can feel her."

"Are they giving you medication for that?" Weiss asked.

"They're trying to bring my psychosis under control. They have no idea how to deal with the Salem stuff."

"But they're related. Salem's causing it," Blake said.

"That's right. I'm skeptical about any treatment they give me. They're giving me all kinds of sedatives to relax me and they've got me on antipsychotics." He leaned back in his seat and kept one arm around me. "Propranolol and Clonazepam to help relax and then something called Asenapine for the delusions and hallucinations."

"Is it working?" Yang asked.

He shook his head. "It's too early to tell."

"But you don't think it will." Blake murmured. "You think what Salem's doing to you can't be cured."

"Right. I'm being mind raped." He had a lazy half smile. He looked consigned.

I flinched a little. And Weiss shuffled slightly in her blue and silver outfit. She rubbed one arm with the other.

"You're not being mind raped." I said. "Right?"

"She sends me nightmares and I have to deal with her hallucinations. She's attacking me all the time. She wants the relic and Ozpin dead again. She's in my head all the time like 'do it. Kill them. Bring it to me.' That sort of ominous bullshit. You can only say 'no' so many times and so many ways. It's… it's a lot to deal with."

"But you're fighting. You can resist her," Yang said.

"I'm not sure. If I hear her voice again for real I'm afraid I'll have to obey her. That's what happened last time."

"But so long as you don't hear her real voice you're alright. You're safe." I tried to confirm.

"Maybe. It's a struggle to not give in to her whispers. I hear it all the time."

"You said that you were using Marijuana to help with that. Are you still?" Weiss asked.

"They took that away from me. I'm lucky I'm in a hospital and not behind bars."

"You attacked Atlas. Set some prisoners loose when you were Cloud Strife." Yang murmured. "Burned down a building and did worse besides."

"I was working for an information broker in the city. I was looking for the maiden here. I found out that your sister, Weiss, visits the same bunker every day. Ever since Beacon fell. I'm betting the maiden is there, Tyrian brought her up before I killed him."

"She is," Weiss breathed. Blake nudged her. "What? He already knew."

"These are the kinds of secrets we can't share with him just yet. He's a liability," Blake hissed.

"You said Cloud Strife. Is that your alter ego?" I asked. "Would you rather we call you that? It's a pretty name."

"Maybe. Jaune Arc was given to me by Salem or Merlot. I'm really not attached to it. Kind of disgusted by it to be honest."

"We'll support you. Whatever you decide."

"Thank you. And Cloud does have a nice ring to it, let's roll with that," he smiled.

"You were also working with Neapolitan. She attacked me. She tried to kill me," Yang said.

"She wanted revenge against Cinder and I happened to run into her. Our agendas aligned and her powers are useful," Cloud shrugged. "I won't lie, she's a bit of a monster. But then so am I."

"You're not a monster," Weiss murmured.

"No?" He asked. "I've killed people. I've tortured people."

"I've tortured people, well a person," Weiss said. "You're not alone in that."

"And I've killed people. Lots of them." Blake muttered.

"I was made in a laboratory out of Salem's cells by a mad man. Pretty sure I qualify. You should have seen my father's other experiments. I found where I was born, this incubator. Did you know that I'm only four years old? Because I didn't. He grew me until I was almost an adult and then sold me back to Salem then she had me sneak into Beacon. All of my dreams, all of it was fake."

"But you had memories. Remember Shion? Remember your sisters?" I asked.

"Fake," he sighed. "Or wrong. Incomplete. My sisters though are somewhere out there. I couldn't find any notes on them in Merlot's laboratory but Salem mentioned them in Haven. She has my sisters, whoever they really are. I ran into their creator at this other laboratory, this man with a mustache."

"We ran into a group of girls. They were younger than you but their powers were like yours a little," Blake said. "They all had blue eyes and blonde hair. They were after the relic and attacked us in Argus. Could they have been your sisters?"

"Maybe. It's possible. I might recognize them if I saw them. Mother gave me a lot of memories, not all of them were outright wrong, some were merely half-true."

"Mother?" Yang asked.

"Salem. I meant Salem. Damnit." He hit the table with a fist. I flinched back a little from the loud noise. He seemed oblivious to it. Running a palm through his spiky hair.

"How long are they keeping you here?" I asked.

"Well they did call it a three day hold. And mental patient or not it's nice to be held," he smiled a little. He rubbed his face with his hands. Hard. "Ah. They've got my weapon somewhere. I'd rather you all had it."

"We've got Ren and Nora's weapons, do you want them?" Weiss asked.

"No. Gods no. I don't. I don't deserve them. What did you do with their bodies, if I can ask?"

"We had them cremated." Weiss reached out and took his hand with one of hers. She rubbed gently over the back of his fingers.

He nodded. He was crying a little. "Thanks. For the best, that." He wiped his face again. His cheeks were turning red from it. He wasn't a handsome crier.

I looked over at Yang. She bit her lip and looked away from me. I don't think she felt any anger towards Jaune, or Cloud, rather. I don't think she felt anything other than sorry for him. Blake was rubbing the back of her neck and was gazing at the ground. Her stare had a thousand yards to it.

I reached over and grabbed Weiss's other hand and she gave me a measured glance. She wasn't sure now was the time. I'd respect that if that was what she wanted. I just didn't want her to regret it.

"Blake, we should go…" Yang was watching us. "Unless you have any more questions for-um Cloud." She fumbled slightly towards the end.

"You don't have magic, do you?" Blake asked.

"Not past my semblance and a bit of dust I've been practicing with. Not that I know of, I should say."

"Then I think I'm out," Blake said. Yang nodded at her. Blake and Yang departed through the double locked doors of the hospital. That left Cloud and the two of us. "See you later, Cloud."

He nodded to them and looked between us. He inhaled a shaking breath.

"We have something we need to tell you…" I said. "Cloud, Weiss and I are together."

He breathed and nodded along. "I see. You like girls, then."

"Not quite. Neither of us do completely," Weiss murmured.

"I don't understand. I'm a dumbass so whatever it is you'd better spell it out for me," he gave me a brave smile. It was weak underneath. He was scared.

"Cloud…" I mumbled. I rather liked it. It was a good name. It was his own and not Salem's. I thought it was an encouraging sign of his independence. A rose by any other name smells just as sweet anyways. "I love Weiss. And I also love you."

"You dumb blonde, you're not stupid." Weiss said to him fondly. "I'm well- I love you too." Weiss finished. "And I love Ruby. I'm not sure if you're poly or open to that…"

"I don't want to lose you," I told him while I held his hand. I let some tears flow. " But I need Weiss as well. I can't do it without her behind me. So will you give the three of us a try? When you left we kissed and I realized how much I wanted her. I... I need you too though. I told you that at the Golden Saucer. I meant it. I can't choose. Please don't make me choose. "

Cloud leaned back and exhaled. "My heart… from what you started with I thought it was going to be bad news…" he still looked almost scared.

"I take it that this isn't bad news?" Weiss asked. "Don't tell me you're afraid of our wants." She laughed a little but she was desperately watching his face. She wanted to know. She wanted to know what he felt. I did too, but I was less scared.

"No. Its-its fine. I'm open. I'm willing to try, just wait for me to get out of here. Alright? We'll be able to talk more."

"You think they'll let you out and not put you in prison?" I wondered.

"No way. They'll want me out in the field. The things I can do... They'd be foolish to put me away. And no prison could hold me anyways." He smiled weakly at us.

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-WG