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I leaned against my sword as the man introduced as 'Vine' carried Marrow away on his shoulder.

Ruby came dashing down from the observation box. She let go of Weiss's hand and Weiss followed at a more subdued pace with Penny in tow.

"That was amazing, Cloud. The way you fly around. You've grown so much."

I looked away from Ruby's praise. Color rising to my cheeks. She hopped up and kissed me on the cheek. I risked a glance down at where she was glowing up at me. I could feel her cinnamon and rose flavored aura.

"So you are Cloud? Not Jaune?" Penny asked. "I thought Ruby's boyfriend was named Jaune."

"It's complicated," I said. "Salem named me Jaune. Well her or Merlot. I'm not attached to it since I learned that."

"Well you did well at any rate, Cloud. You took on two Ace Operative members at the same time. I assure you that's not easy. Even I haven't done that yet," Penny went on.

"Yes it was very impressive, Cloud," Weiss said. "You've grown so much. It's unbelievable."

What was unbelievable was the thought that both these two ladies had the hots for me. I was still trying to wrap my mind around it. I could tell Weiss was too. She seemed a little flustered but just like Ruby she came up and pecked my cheek and walked back blushing. She was a little more uncomfortable with public displays of affection than Ruby was but it was something we would just have to learn.

We'd have to find an appropriate balance that made everybody feel right.

Or they would get tired of putting up with me and decide they wanted to be with each other. You know what I had my money on.

"Well thank you Weiss."

"Wait, I don't understand," Penny began. "Ruby, how does your relationship work?"

"Well I like Weiss and Cloud. And Weiss likes me and Cloud too."

"So the three of you are together?"

"That's right," I said.

"That's so fascinating. Relationships are so interesting. It seems a little..."

"Awkward?" I asked. "We're still ironing out the kinks."

"I wasn't going to say anything," Penny rambled. "It's not my business."

Ruby grinned and put an arm around Weiss and I. I smiled down at her. Her arm barely wrapped halfway around me at the waist.

"Penny, you were made in a lab, weren't you?" I began.

"I was. My father created me. Why do you ask?"

"Cloud was made in a laboratory too," Weiss said. Her eyes went wide perhaps realizing where I was going with it.

"Well I was wondering how you stay so upbeat? When I learned where I came from I was depressed as hell."

"Well for one thing I always knew where I came from. Perhaps that helped me," Penny began. "Why is it depressing?"

"Well we're basically both baking soda and vinegar volcanoes."

"You mean because I'm not even a real person," Penny confirmed.

"Me too. You're not special," I ran with her train of thought.

"Oh would you stop that." Weiss hit my chest with the back of her hand. It was affectionate though. Her fingers lingered and our aura's buzzed together like electricity. "You're real."

"Both of you are real people," Ruby said.

"Hardly. Barely," I breathed. "If at all."

"Stop it!" Ruby protested. She slapped me harder on the leg than Weiss did. Much more insistent and less flirtatious.

"But you were made for Salem, correct?" Penny wondered.

"I was technically a failure. A prototype. I was made to be thrown away."

"That's sad," Penny said.

"Penny!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Well it is. I never went through a prototype phase like that. My father doesn't have the aura for it," Penny continued. "But you are loved. Doesn't that feel good?"

Weiss blushed again. She was still approaching her feelings tentatively. It had taken enough out of her to confess them, I suppose.

"It does…" I trailed. "I guess I get caught up thinking about it too much. I'm sinking in thinking about something depressing."

"I can see how you would get sad thinking about that. I suppose I am a prototype, too, but I was never meant to be tossed aside."

I nodded. "Mother just found another use for me. Otherwise I think she would have killed me. Her or my father."

"Cloud, I think you meant Salem," Weiss cut in.

"When?" I asked. I was genuinely lost.

"My father cares about me. Perhaps that's the difference. My parent cares about me," Penny went on.

"He has no idea when he does it sometimes," Weiss murmured to Ruby.

"I noticed that," Ruby returned. "He even did it before Haven once. I didn't think much of it at the time."

"That's decidedly bad news," Weiss went on.

"No idea when I do what?" I asked.

"You call Salem 'mother' often," Weiss said.

"I think it just slips out of you," Ruby muttered like it was a secret, nodding along with her own words.

"Oh shit, my bad."

"It's not inaccurate, though, is it? What's wrong with it?" Penny asked.

"I fucking hate her. That's what's wrong with it."

"I see how that could cause problems. I'm on good terms with my father so I don't really have that problem. I also don't have a mother," she happily chirped.

"Luckily I have these two," I picked Ruby and Weiss up with one arm each. Ruby giggled and Weiss let out an adorable yelp of surprise before she slapped my collar again, it was still slightly flirtatious and her hand lingered there longer than it needed to. It seemed like she was just coming out of her shell when it came to me, like she wasn't quite sure what she wanted, especially in terms of shows of affection. Hopefully we had time to figure it out. "They're both in my camp. Even though all the odds are stacked against me," I declared.

"Would you put me down, you gorilla." Weiss demanded. Her face was an adorable beet red.

I did.

I still held Ruby up. She wrapped her arms around my head and kissed me.

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"The last time we spoke it was about how you were an agent of Salem's. I'm sure you could imagine my confusion at the events of Haven," Ozpin said with a smile through Oscar's lips.

I was alone with him in his room at the academy. We were bound to talk eventually. When he summoned me I figured it would be better to get it over and done with.

"Yeah well imagine my surprise when it turned out to be true. I was Salem's agent. That's why I was at Beacon."

"I see. But you yourself had no idea."

I nodded. "False and half true memories all the way down. Memories of family from before are all like that. Even of where and how I grew up. I just never put that much thought into it."

"I see. But you know better now?"

"Maybe a little. I'm still working out what's true and false. I'm mostly counting everything before initiation as false, though. Some things were half true. Like my sisters."

"And you know this because…?"

"Salem mentioned them when she captured my mind at Haven."

"But you broke free. That explains why we were attacked by those looking for the relic. One question answered, at least."

"The others mentioned that too. That maybe they were my sisters. It's possible. They were successes made by a different scientist," I said.

"Whereas you were a failure created by Merlot," he clarified. He jabbed his cane at me as he said it.

"That's right."

"For a failure you have absurd strength. You killed Tyrian. That's no mean feat."

"Thank you…" I trailed.

"I can't help but wonder if there is some of my sort of magic in play for you. Aiding you along the way."

"If there is, it's well hidden behind my semblance and usage of dust."

"Why don't we try a simple exercise? It used to be well practiced back in the old world when magic like mine was common. Try to turn this needle into a feather."

He set a needle down on the desk before me.

I stared at it. I had no idea where to even begin with something like that for all that it seemed like a simple request.

I reached out and picked up the needle. Nothing called out to me in terms of where to proceed with it. It was just a needle. And I was just a man. How could I possibly transform it?

"Yes. Indeed, it took Oscar many attempts to succeed in this magic and I knew how it was done."

"I don't know where to start," I informed him.

He reached out and I was sort of able to feel what he was doing. I wasn't sure if it was aura or something more but I could tell something was up as he transformed the needle into a feather and back again.

"Now you try, Mr. Arc."

"It's Strife now. Arc was the name Salem gave me."

"I see. Very well, Mr. Strife."

I reached out once more and focused. Nothing happened. I imagined the needle turning into a feather and let out a little of my aura.

Nothing happened.

Because it was a needle. It was made of metal and a feather was not. If I hadn't just seen it done I would say that it was impossible.

"You must believe in yourself. Magic is about the things you can believe in. If you can't believe in it, you will never succeed.

I tried again. I tried to believe that I could.

I think I can.

The needle might have wobbled a little but it didn't turn into anything.

"Keep the needle, Mr. Strife. Practice a little every day. We will yet see if progress can be made with you. Focus and believe in your magic. You must extend your will in order to accomplish any magic."

"That sounds like bullshit. No offense."

"Believe, Mr. Strife. Just as you believe in your semblance. Just as you believe in your dust. It is the same. It can be. If you choose to make it so."

"I'll keep the needle. I'll keep trying," I promised him from my seat.

"See that you do. You could be an enormous asset to our side. I know you feel as though you cannot make up for the harm you have caused but that, too, is a matter of will and belief. I doubt Mr. Lie and Ms. Valkyrie would want you to give up so easily."

I hardly wanted to hear their names.

"Is that all?"

"Not quite. I know this may be uncomfortable for you but I wish to hear about how Salem was able to control you."

I nodded and grimaced.

"She spoke and her words had power to them. She told me to stay silent and I almost bit my tongue off."

"But you were still competent enough to slay Mr. Lie and Ms. Valkyrie? Would you say her control over you was both subconscious and conscious? You were able to plan for her desires but unable to resist them?"

"That's exactly right. It was both. She...she owned me. Completely."

"That's troubling. There is some magic for such a thing but it mostly implies one or the other. Not both."

"I'm telling you that she had all of me."

"I believe you, Mr. Strife. It is troubling is all. What happened next?" He asked.

"She talked to me. About Merlot and my sisters. She said we had long been in her dreams. Then Nora and Ren came in. She told me to kill them both and I had to obey."

I didn't like talking about it. I didn't even like to think about it. It was my lowest moment. It brought a lone tear to my eye which I wiped away with my right hand's forefinger.

"Well Mr. Strife, the control over you is very troubling indeed."

"Do you know how she did it? How she's in my dreams?"

"She is in your subconscious. When she spoke to you she was able to rise to the surface. That's how she took control. It must be in the nature of your connection to her from being grown from her cells."

"How do I fight it?" I pleaded.

"You already are, young man. Do not give up. Resist her. Resist her nightmares. Fight against them and rage against her ability to over power you. That is the only way you will stay in control. There is no shortcut; no easy path for you. Her control over you is not a simple thing for her either. I suspect you may be able to influence her as well."

"She's so strong." I didn't mean for it to come out as a whimper but it did a little. "She's so old. She's a goddess."

"Not quite."

"Then she's the closest thing to one without actually being one."

"Perhaps. She is powerful, but so are you. Resist Mr. Strife."

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"You might have the others fooled but I know what you are." Blake informed me. It was just the two of us in team RWBY's room while I waited for Weiss and Ruby to come back.

"I haven't fooled anybody. I've outright told them all what I am. The shit I'm capable of. It's not my fault that they chose to not believe me anyways."

"You're taking advantage of them."

"Maybe," I agreed. "What should I do? In your professional opinion, of course."

"Make sure you can't hurt anybody else."

"What? Kill myself? I thought about it. I even tried to."

She looked away from me; wouldn't meet my eye. "What happened?"

"Couldn't hold my aura low enough to cut through my wrists. It was just after I broke Salem's spell. I was a little shaken up," I said.

"And now?"

"Now I'm on a lot of medications that are supposed to stop me from thinking suicide is my only option."

"Does it work? The meds?"

"A little. I'm still pretty fucked up. I've been open and clear with everybody about that. No tricks."

"You know how Ruby is. She just wants to see the best in people."

"And Weiss and Yang?"

"Weiss never wanted to believe it about you. She was falling for you. She had rose tinted specs. She couldn't see the thing you've become. Yang just wants what's best for Ruby in all this. It's hard to believe you're it, however."

"'The thing I've become,'" I laughed. "You know what I think, Blake?"

"What's that?" She asked.

"You're absolutely goddamn right. I'm a fucking monster. I have killed and maimed and tortured. I killed my own best friends."

"You said Salem made you do it."

"And she did. But that only makes me a tool. Her weapon. That doesn't make the things I've done any less real. Most people get to wonder about whether they have free will. I don't. She speaks and I have to obey."

"So I want you to stay away from my friends."

"Hey," I said. "They're my friends too. Or girlfriends. Trying to wrap my mind around that one."

"Never thought it would happen to you? I thought that was most guys' dream. To have two beautiful women in love with them."

"Yes well. Compare how pathetic I was freshmen year to the shit that's happened to me now and suddenly it wasn't exactly in my realm of possibility or even the realm of my imagination. I thought just Ruby loved me. I come here and find out she's got some threesome business up her sleeve with Weiss who also wants a piece of me. It blew my mind. Especially after freshman year and how things were with Weiss."

"But you didn't say 'no.' You said 'yes.'"

"I said I was willing to try. Whatever form that may happen to land. Ruby and Weiss may decide they're better off without me," I said. "That would surprise me less than not."

"You hate yourself," Blake realized.

"You would too if you were me. Who wouldn't? I killed my best friends. I see Salem sometimes out of the corner of my eye. She lingers there just beyond the edge of my perception. Just beyond the things that are real. She'll want me to kill again. I can feel it."

"Which is why I want you to leave my friends be. They don't need to be caught up in what you are," she said. She folded her arms at that.

"I need help. I can't survive without them. I tried living that way. Mostly alone. It didn't work out for me. And I'm right where I need to be to fight Cinder when she comes again. My hated enemy. I take it you haven't talked to them about this."

She shook her head. "They don't want to hear that you're unstable. Especially Ruby. Weiss at least I feel like I can get through to sometimes, but Ruby is just so happy you're back and safe."

"Am I back and safe?" I wondered.

"Well? Are you?" She shot back.

"Perhaps. I have psychic trauma that the medicine just isn't hitting. It's helping with my hallucinations but not the other stuff. My fears are too real. They keep pushing me up on the tranquilizers and sedatives like the things I'm afraid of aren't there. But they are. They can get me."

"You don't fight like you're sedated. You fight very awake and aware."

"Well thank you," I decided to take that as a compliment even if she didn't mean it as such.

I clutched at my side where Taurus had sliced me. It was healing a little still and I got the occasional pang of pain from it.

"Are you hurt?"

"I was. This White Fang guy did a number on me. He got lucky."

"What was their name?"

"Adam Taurus. Evidently he's this ol-"

"You fought Adam Taurus? When? He's in town?"

"It was a few days before my voluntary incarceration. You know him?"

"I did. Once upon a time." She rubbed her right arm with her left hand. "He was my partner in the White Fang before I turned."

"He's a real piece of work," I said. "I take it that wasn't always the case."

"No it wasn't. And are you really one to talk?"

"At least I know it."

"And you think that helps?"

"It literally couldn't make things worse for me. What do you want from me, Blake? You want me to kill Taurus? Would that make you happy? You want me to kill myself or go back into exile?"

Her ears flattened subconsciously.

"I just want my friends to be safe."

"I'll keep them safe," I vowed.

"Even from yourself?" She asked.

"I swear to do my best. What more can you ask from me? Besides for me to stop existing. Because I have a feeling you don't see that as a real solution either."

"So long as you don't hear her real voice you're in control?"

"That seems to be the prognosis."

"What about recordings?"

"I think she has to be behind it for real. There's a magic to it."

"And you can break the spell?" She reassured.

"With enough time."

She hesitated, her arms folded. She nodded once. "Then you have my tentative permission."

"Well thank you. I was really worried about what you thought." I paused. "That came out sarcastic but you're their teammate and friend. I think you were my friend once too."

"I still am. I think. It's just complicated."

"Mind control. It's a hell of a poison."

"I don't blame you. I just want what's best for them," she said.

"I understand. Really. I do. I'm the leader of the 'this sucks' camp. I do my best to remind them at every turn. I think they see me as someone who needs their help."

"You think it's the Florence Nightingale effect?"

"That's…?"

"When nurses fall in love with their patient."

"Ah, maybe a little, then," I muttered.

"You underestimate their feelings for you. They really care about you. We all do. We hate to see the suffering you're going through."

"You're a bunch of empaths. One and all."

Ruby, Weiss and Yang walked in and saw us talking.

"Oh, Blake and Cloud…" Ruby began.

"Are you…?" Weiss trailed off.

"We were talking about Adam Taurus," I covered for us both. "I ran into him a few weeks ago. Before I was hospitalized."

"You fought him?" Ruby asked.

"And I've got the scars to prove it," I said.

"And what did you think of him?" Yang's eyes flickered between Blake and I.

"He got lucky. I can take him. Next time," I informed them.

"So Jaune-sorry. I meant Cloud. We were thinking. That is Ruby and I…" Weiss struggled.

I just cocked my head and listened to her.

"We wanted to try a date. The three of us," Ruby supplied. She sounded much less nervous than Weiss did about it.

Weiss had probably never been on a date like this where Ruby and I had. I wasn't sure what all she and Neptune had gotten up to and it probably wouldn't be for the best to ask.

"Yes. That," Weiss managed. A rosy blush colored her cheeks.

"I'm game," I said. "Do you mind if I bring my weapon?" I'd be uncomfortable walking around without Crocea Mors.

"Well we weren't going to leave them out of this." Ruby rolled her eyes. Her excitement was infectious and I grinned down at her tiny form. Weiss cracked a smile at her.

"I suppose you would consider this a six way date with our weapons involved," Weiss teased. She sounded a little more relaxed.

"A little," Ruby poked her forefingers together with a new found nervous energy. "They're important. Cloud also wasn't here when I got Crescent Rose upgraded. He might like to meet her again."

I laughed. "Of course, Rubes."

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-WG