Recommended listening - Nightcore-d Dollhouse by Melanie Martinez

RWBY Backstories:

Porcelain, I: (1 of ?)

The Doll

Update: 5/30/18

Hey. been a while. sorry about that. just wanted to say that i'm not dead, just busy and hideously lazy. great combo :P

After writing a bunch of the story for Creeping Thorns, I've finally come to the decision that all of my RWBY Backstories are no longer canon within my soon-to-be mainstory. Sorry to disappoint folks, but chances are the changes made between the Backstories and the actual character backstories won't be big, but will be big enough that my decision to out and out say these aren't canon anymore is important.

As a consolation prize, the first chapter of Creeping Thorns is coming out later this week. So, I'll see you guys then. Ciao

Greetings ladies and gentlemen of the RWBY fanfiction community!

You know, I think we're more than or just about half-way done with these Backstories. We got this one (about Weiss, though some other characters you may not expect will also appear winky face) and at least 1-2 more. Probs 2.

I'm hoping to induce feels in this one, at least a little. I like to think of this story as definitively tragic, but I guess it's up to me to make you feel something. You monster. (if you read that in GlaDos' voice you receive a cake. Please wait until the end of the chapter to receive the cake. Thank you for your cooperation)

"The mask covered a little under half of her face, and was smooth to the touch – porcelain-esq, like a doll. As though her life's situation had suddenly metastasized all over the right side of her body."

Snow.

No matter the day, no matter the year, no matter the season – in this frozen hellhole, it snowed from long before you were born and it snowed long after you died.

The red from where She had laid was gone, erased by the fresh snow. Not erased from her mind, mind you, for Winter laid as blue and red and white as she ever did, reaching for her and whispering "why did you do this to me, why, why, why…"

Always with the 'why'.

She was fairly confident, amongst everything going on, that at the very least 'this' was a mere illusion. It was strange to think back on her life, of all the dozens of escapist fantasies played out in her mind to escape from the frosted hell, to consider the ability to differentiate between reality and fiction a privilege. To know when the nightmare ended and reality began.

Now, she lacked that privilege.

"Why," Winter's frostbitten corpse rasped, clawing at Weiss' leg. "Why did you let me die? So that I may spare a monster like you?"

Weiss closed her eyes, letting the soft sound of snowfall clear her mind, though she was unable to feel it on the right side of her body. Breathe. Breathe. You came out here for a reason.

You came here to confront her.

"…You sacrificed yourself," Weiss spoke aloud, staring down the imitation of her sister. It had no eyes. "To save me. To buy me time-"

"Oh, and what a useless sacrifice it was." The abomination snarled, dragging long nails through the snow. Weiss reminded herself that it wasn't real, even though the marks in the snow looked awfully detailed. "I gave my life to save the family failure, and you repaid me by overthrowing father. You aren't even old enough to date yet – how are you going to run the Schnee Dust Corporation, all its affiliates - our Empire without driving it into the ground?"

Weiss admittedly quietly to herself that was one particular mystery she hadn't thought through, but chided herself for the distraction and pushed on.

"That is irrelevant." Weiss bit out. "I came here to tell you you're wrong. I-"

"Do you see their faces when you dream?" Winter asked, voice ethereal like the rustling wind. Weiss stiffened. "All those that you had slaughtered, that you slaughtered yourself-"

"That is enough!" She screamed, stabbing Myrtenaster's – dripping, bloodied – blade through the aberration's skull. The creature laughed.

"You are a fool. You attempt to overcome your unforgiveable acts like a spoiled little girl – by willing them away." It leaned in, dragging Myrtenaster deeper into its skull. Grinning wide enough to stretch its flesh taut. "I am never leaving, Weiss."

It looked up, directly into Weiss' soul, and her heart stopped.

"Because I am you!" The monster shrieked with her voice and her face. Weiss stumbled back, her rapier falling from her trembling, loose grasp and thudding into the snow. She fell over as well, as the monster slowly crawled towards her. Her breaths came out short, and with entirely too little air. Her skull felt ready to explode while her heart felt ready to stop, th-thumping th-thumping th-thumping in her chest like a scared rabbit.

"You're just a little doll, playing in your little dollhouse. As everyone around you moves on with their lives, you remain locked away." It crawled to Weiss' face, running a burning cold finger across her scar. It gently scooped up a tear – when did I start crying, oh Oum is this it is this how I die – and savored it.

"You shouldn't have left your little Dollhouse, girl." It pressed its blue lips to Weiss' ear.

"This is how you die."

Weiss screamed.

At the same spot, a lifetime ago

"Weiss!"

She stood watching the snow, mesmerized by the drifting flakes. Snow; so beautiful, so peaceful, so pure…

"Weiss!"

She caught one tenderly, letting the delicate ice gently fall into the palm of her hand. She continued to look on in awe of the-

Winter Schnee whapped Weiss right upside the head, inadvertently causing the snowflake to fall and merge with the snow. Weiss was stunned at first, but began a low cry that Winter abruptly shushed.

"It wasn't that hard." But the red mark was forming, very quickly, morphing into an ugly deep purple bruise. Winter unconsciously bit her lip, trying to hold it back, but the moment Weiss turned two watery blue eyes on her the guilt burst out and Winter sighed.

"Alright." Her arms crossed, and facing elsewhere, Winter muttered with an embarrassed huff "my apologies."

Weiss giggled and bopped Winter gently on the head. "Now we're even." The 10 year old declared victoriously, and Winter couldn't help but love her little sister all the more, smiling faintly.

The smiled faded as she recalled what she was here for. She cleared her throat with an authoritative, though shaky 'humph'. "Anyway, Weiss. As you know, it's time for…" her breath hitched momentarily "…tutoring."

The colour from Weiss' face drained, and Winter could tell this wasn't going to be easy. "Please, Weiss." She pleaded, earnest and caring. "It'll be easier if you just go along with it."

Winter knew Weiss wasn't aware of it, but when she was on the verge of panicking, she'd gingerly trace the scar. It was this and dozens of tells that let Winter know exactly what Weiss was thinking, and right now, Weiss was barely staving off hyperventilation.

The snow crunched underfoot as Winter strode closer, laying both hands on Weiss' shoulders reassuringly. Her little sister levied wide, terrified eyes at her, small body trembling with a sensation that had nothing to do with the cold.

"I'll be there if anything goes wrong. You trust me, don't you?" Weiss immediately nodded, and Winter's heart warmed in response. No one in this family deserves her. No one.

"Good." Winter said. She held Weiss tight, drawing her in as much for herself and as for her. "I… I love you, Weiss."

Weiss pressed herself in deeper, feeling the almost maternal embrace of her elder sister. "Love you too, sis."

Weiss impacted the tutoring room floor with a slam that left Winter flinching in shock, her little sister skidding along before colliding loudly again at the wall. She didn't move.

"Again." Their Father commanded, and so it was, without so much as a thought of protest.

The undisputed head of the Schnee Dust Corporation was as immobile as stone, yet his presence was enough to constrict Winter's lungs with an indescribable pressure. He held the Schnee Family Cane, which depicted two spiraling dragons of ice. Holding the Cane alone granted him power, as it was the most sacred of all Schnee heirlooms. Winter couldn't help but eye the handle, spotting the almost imperceptible gap between handle and shaft - alluding to the Cane's true form.

The medical staff waiting on hand – for Weiss had never left without the absolute necessity of aid since the day of her first tutoring, when she was only 7 years old – were visibly ready to protest, but it only took the notion of a movement from Father to silence them.

The custom-manufactured Schnee training robot, an enormous metal knight more than 5 times Weiss' height, slowly raised its Greatsword. Its shadow loomed large and dark over the child, who had yet to rise from her earlier impact.

Blood steadily trickled from one ear, and Winter was fearing the worst.

But then Weiss' fingers twitched, and slowly, slowly, she propped herself up, Myrtenaster acting as a crutch. If a particularly hardy breeze had blown through just then, it would've blown her over – nevertheless, despite her egregious injuries, Weiss managed to stand. She faced her enemy with the sort of grim determination that made Winter proud.

"Attack." He commanded, and so it was that the metal behemoth swung downwards without pause or mercy.

Weiss couldn't dodge.

Though she had presented a strong front, Weiss had started crying the moment the order was given, so utterly afraid she couldn't so much as think as the end neared. Despite the expensive rapier and the training, she was still only 10 years old, and it showed when her only thought as to last words were whispered as-

"Winter - help me -!"

Winter heard. Though Father and the no one else did over the groaning metal, somehow Winter was able. And when it came down to those last moments as certain death fell upon her little sister, when the decision was presented, when the consequences were presented before the immediate positives, Winter felt it wasn't really a choice.

Weiss spent a moment, then two, then three, then four wondering why she hadn't felt the enormous blade cleave her in twain, and the subsequent cold embrace of death. Is death supposed to be painless? She cracked open an eye, curious at first, yet when she saw what laid before her she was left wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

Winter stood before her, Silberdistel already re-sheathed. A moment passed in silence.

The top half of the metal giant's sword fell away, harmlessly to the side, the rest of its body frozen solid in a grand construction of ice. The monstrosity abruptly groaned before falling apart, shattering into thousands of pieces.

Weiss watched in awe.

Winter cast a glance over her shoulder, smirking in a manner specifically reserved for those of Schnee heritage. "Well, that takes care of that."

Weiss, though she had more motor function in her eyebrows than the rest of her body combined, still found the strength to wrinkle her nose. "Really?" She whispered, throat hoarse from screaming. "That's the best one-liner you could come up with? Why not 'he wanted to act cold, so I made him ice', or 'someone took the order to 'Freeze!' too literally?'"

Winter's face twisted into a variety of rather abstract shapes before settling on anger. "How is that anyway to-"

"Winter."

They both froze, the moment of levity vanishing like smoke. The elder of the Schnee daughters straightened, immediately recognizing the situation for what it was. The consequences that would ensue from violating her Father's orders. Realization slowly bloomed in Weiss' eyes, and she started trembling.

"We will talk."

He commanded it, and so it was.

It was her fault. It was all her fault.

Weiss pressed herself into her knees, tears spilling out as her crying continued.

If Weiss had just been a little stronger, not so weak and unlike a true Schnee, then Winter would not be inside Father's study right now. She did not hear a single raised voice from the room, not so much as a whisper, but that was what scared her all the more. Her unconscious mind conjured more and more horrifying outcomes for her weakness, worrying herself into endless despair - plaguing her like mad beasts, relentless and vicious and hungry for her sanity.

And all those emotions must go somewhere. For Weiss Schnee, it was inward. She hated her weakness and despaired over it. She hated her father with a passion bordering on obsessive. But most of all, she was afraid. A little girl afraid of the dollhouse she spent her whole life in, the plastic yet glass-like walls that held it together. Like stacked cards, a simple shove from toppling over.

She didn't deserve someone as selfless as Winter. Her sister was the bestest, nicest, coolest person alive, and sometimes Weiss wondered if she'd be better off-

A knocking at the door pulled Weiss from her thoughts. "Excuse me," called the maid, "may I come in?"

Weiss' heart lightened the tiniest bit. She called out "you may!" with a hopeful tone and smiled wide as her best friend walked through the door, closing it with a gentle click.

"Hey," she said quietly, and Weiss waved back. Her friend's rabbit ears immediately flattened, an instinctive response to the emotional stimuli. Weiss always thought it was cute.

"...What's wrong?" The 10 year old rabbit faunus inquired lightly, at Weiss' side in a moment. Her friend's hand on her shoulder had an immediate effect, easing Weiss' nerves and stifling her tears for the time being. Weiss would guiltily admit to having waited for her best friend just for the chance to talk things out, to try and share the burden of her weakness. A twang of self-loathing came and passed before she started talking.

"Winter's in trouble. Because of me." Just saying it alone made the situation seem all the more dire. Weiss couldn't even imagine what kind of -

"Weiss. Weiss - listen to me." Her friend whispered, slowly and soothingly stroking her pale hair. "It's not your fault." She had such a strong sense of empathy that it almost sounded like she was experiencing the pain just as potently as Weiss was. "I know your sister can be a bit of a meanie face - "

"- a very angry meanie face -"

"- and kind of, um... -"

"-antisocial."

"Antisocial. Yes. But if she did something, it's because she chose to."

"But she wouldn't have made the choice if it wasn't for me!" Weiss exclaimed so forcefully her friend flinched back with visible shock, eyes wide. "Every day, they dress and paint me up into a perfect little doll, with a perfect little smile, and I hate it! I hate all of it!" Though she had noticeably gone off-topic, Weiss didn't seem in the mood to care. "People just use me and expect me to be what they want, and then they want me to be thankful for it. But Winter's not like that." Weiss' voice softened, throat clogging with sobs and eyes pouring crystal tears. "S-She's the only family I have. You're my best friend, but I - I..." Weiss sniffled. "I can't lose my big sister." She whispered in a broken voice. "I just can't... I'd die..."

And so Weiss fell silent, sobbing into her arms once more. Her friend took a moment, then two, and gently embraced the Schnee heir. They stayed together in a silence only broken by sobbing, one of Weiss' startlingly few times to vent her emotions.

Eventually, the rabbit Faunus servant of the Schnee family broke away, hands lightly placed on Weiss' shoulders. Weiss looked up, tears dripping still, wondering-

"You hate it. You hate dressing up when they tell you to." Though it was a statement, Weiss realized it was still some form of question. Or perhaps... confirmation. She nodded, slowly.

Her friend reached behind her neck and unclasped something, then presented the shining silver object within the palm of her hand. "This is... a necklace, that someone gave me a long time ago. Back before I was sold to the Schnee." She dangled it, revealing a sparkling chain ending with an elegant rose. "The... man... who ran the slave trade came in with a little girl one day. I thought she was just another Human come to laugh at me - instead, she gave me this, and told me it was something from her mother." Weiss was transfixed, utterly mesmerized, by the gleaming necklace. It was entirely possible she wasn't hearing a word that the former slave was saying. "She said I looked sad, sadder than the rest, and wanted me to have it. I said I couldn't possibly take something that precious, but she told me 'it's okay. Mom always told me, sometimes all somebody needs is to know is that somebody cares.'" The Faunus was visibly crying, light drops of water that belittled how much she felt. "It... it gave me the strength to keep going, to know that there was some light in the world, some Humans that care." She smiled, bright and hopeful and choking on her own emotion. "It let me be friends with you. And that's enough, I think, which is why-"

She put the necklace on Weiss' neck. "I want you to have it." Weiss blinked, mouth agape, shocked into silence. Her pale hands delicately traced the gleaming necklace, still in awe as her friend continued.

"Everything you wear may be theirs, but this necklace is yours. As long as you wear this, they can never own you like some doll." A sharp lance of warmth spread through Weiss' body, blooming in her cheeks and her eyes as the kindness of the gesture dawned on her.

"...I-" Weiss began.

"-I'm not letting you say no." Her friend said with a pout.

"...I... wasn't going to say no..." Weiss choked up, letting the necklace flow through her fingers. She cried once more, the last time for the evening. "I wanted to say... t-thank you..."

Velvet Scarlatina smiled brightly. "Hey... we're best friends, aren't we?"

Weiss didn't respond. She was too busy smiling in honest happiness.

Present, earlier that day

"We're best friends, aren't we?"

And yet the screams refused to stop, Velvet's final, sorrowful stare ingrained in Weiss' vision as though bolted on. That same face, the look of regret that Weiss hated so much, because how could you betray me so much, and like this, yet instead of just being a monster Velvet Scarlatina was still her best friend in the end and that made Weiss unable to sleep.

No, it wasn't Velvet that didn't let her sleep, not truly, it was the eyes and the voices. Bloody red rivulets ran down her arm, because she couldn't sleep but she still needed to get away. Away from the fear, anger, hate... and numbness. That awful numbness taking up the right half of her body, like a coffin she could never climb out of; it seemed to suffocate her. To do what all the other reaching hands of the screaming and staring could not, and touch her. The longer it went on for, the longer she continued to breathe, the closer the hands came. Suffocation was just a breath away, always a breath away, no matter how hard and how long she breathed.

These fits came and passed, as she functioned (as loosely as the word functioned may be applied possible) in one moment and couldn't remember how to breath the next. Myrtenaster tempted her every moment of it all, like a Siren's song, whispering sweet images of a person not dissimilar to herself hunched forward with a silver rapier speared through their neck, smiling. Always smiling, smiling, smiling, all of the faces smiling...

Weiss wondered if this was how she'd spend the rest of her life, locked in her room, unable to differentiate between reality and fantasy.

"We're best friends, aren't we?"

Weiss screamed, so quietly to her own ears, yet so hard her vocal cords began to give - have I been screaming, I didn't notice, she thought dimly somewhere in her broken mind - hands clawing and tearing at her skull. She sobbed endlessly, rocking back and forth.

"Somebody... help me..."

...

...

"...We're best friends, aren't we?"

If all things go according to plan I have uploaded this just before I move and become without internet for like 2 weeks. How will I survive? I dunno. Maybe just play Dishonored... for like the billionth time...

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