( ) = Thoughts

Italic = Whisper/Singing

Bold = Yell/ Comm. Device

Underlined = Emphasized Words

Italic Bold = Store Signs/Titles (Read Aloud)


Roger: Welcome back! God this was a pain to write… never found a good way to introduce Weiss, without making the chapter over 10,000 words long…

Rodger: He isn't kidding, I took a shot at writing this and it took me over 7,000 words.

Roger: Since I do want to challenge myself with a 1,500-5,500 words-per-chapter limit, it does limit some things in the prologue, but not as not much in the main stories however...

Rodger: Now that we've got that covered, enjoy! Also if you have any questions PM the boss and we'll answer them for you.


Prologue Pt.4: Shadows Behind the Mirror

It's been almost a week since Winter left. Since then I've gotten new furniture, reorganized my stepfather's workshop and refurbished, polished & organized the old bookshelves. I even got myself fitted for a suit, in a nice coffee black to match my hair, with a silver dress-shirt, coffee black bow-tie and gloves. Just for safety's sake I requested it to be made from the same ballistic-fibre as my sweatshirt. Got it just in time too, the Schnee Banquet was tomorrow.

"But I don't know how everyone will react to two non-Schnee company guests." I thought aloud, laying flat on my couch. "Any hints on conversation Carde?"

"Sorry boss, I got nothin'." He replied, looking up from the book he was reading. " If you want, I can call Winter and say you've changed your mind, if you want."

"No, I have to go." I said, sitting up. "I need to change that trade agreement between Schnee and Ocel, and this may be my only opportunity to talk with Jacques."

"Ok, then let me call the General and let's see if he has any tips." Carde decided, pulling out his scroll. "He's a guest and a favorite among the Schnee's, he has plenty of experience talking to that kind of clientele."

"Sure, what the hell…" I agreed, sarcastically. "Invite him for coffee while you're at it."


30 Minutes Later

"I was being sarcastic Carde…" I admitted, face-palming while he & James sat at the kitchen island having coffee, like I suggested.

"You need to enunciate more, or change your tone when speaking sarcastically." James suggested, setting his mug down. "Now I'll ask again, why did you call me over, besides to have a cup of coffee?"

"Rodger needs 'help' talking to the Schnee clientele." Carde explained. "He hasn't been around people of his caliber in ages, he needs tips on talking to a more 'sophisticated' audience."

"Really?" Ironwood asked, glancing at me as I shrugged in response. "There are no tips on talking to someone, rich or poor. He just needs to be himself, act casual."

"You're kidding…" I said, staring at him slack-jawed. "All I have to do is act like myself?" Ironwood simply nodded in response. "Huh, then I feel that a large weight has been lifted off my shoulders."

"Good, then I suppose won't mind me accompanying you on Cpt. Carde's Bullhead, since he graciously offered to transport me as well." Ironwood said, walking out. "See you two tomorrow night."

"Carde…" I stood there, my eyes gleaming with pure malice, with a hint of orange.. "You've got a lot of sucking up to do, so I'd start now."


On Carde's Bullhead

"Are you ready kid?" Carde asked via my headset. "You gonna be yourself like the General suggested?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I replied, shifting uncomfortably. "Also, I think I'm getting used to flying. How long till we land?"

"Cool, and we should be arriving at the Schnee Banquet hall shortly." He replied, beginning to descend. "You may want to hold onto something General." I heard James's faint response as the familiar thud of metal on pavement allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief. Hey, I said I was 'getting used' to flying, never said I liked it. I still prefer land and sea travel however.

After exiting the pilot's cabin I got a better look at the Schnee Banquet Hall, and I was surprised at how, unimpressive it was. It was an old warehouse, repainted and reinforced for safety's sake. I saw a massive wave of white, blue, silver and black entering the building, but one person out of the crowd caught my eye, Winter. She was wearing a short-sleeved version of Ada Wong's dress from RE4, with a color swap of blue and silver, she also had white silk pants, white elbow gloves and the same white heeled boots she wore when we met. After she noticed me I saw her leap gracefully (Using her Semblance) over the mass of people to greet us.

"Welcome. I'm happy you could make it Mr. Ocel." Winter said calmly, bowing. "We may want to wait until the crowd fades before going in, since you and your guests have arrived with the early crowd."

"Wait, 'early crowd'?" Carde asked dumbstruck. "What's the late crowd like?"

"About half as bad, and less pompous atmosphere." Ironwood added, stepping out from the Bullhead. "I did recommend leaving later, but Rodger wanted to get his business with Jacques done quickly."

"Well then I'm sorry to say that father comes with the late crowd, my deepest apologies." Winter informed me. "He won't be here for another few hours."

"Then what shall we do then?" I asked sarcastically. "I mean, it's a beautiful night and I happen to own a nightclub in my part of Vale that's closed for the week." I finished, winking suggestively.

"Nightclub?" Carde asked, not noticing my wink. "Oh yeah, I forgot about 'Horizon'." Carde remembered. "Horizon is the personal nightclub that Ed opened with the help of Hei Xiong Sr."

"A club opened with the help of an ex-con, sounds interesting." James admitted. "It wouldn't hurt to have some privacy."

"I'll join you." As a deeper, more elder voice joined our conversation. "It'd be great to get away from all these pompous bastards."

"Language father, you said you'd stop with the constant swearing…" A younger, feminine voice said. "Honestly, you act like those dolts you hired last week."

"Wait, those voices…" Winter began, squinting to get a better look. "That couldn't be…"

"Mr. Schnee." I said, holding my hand out. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Likewise Mr. Ocel." Jacques replied, giving my hand a vigorous shake. "Sorry for my less-than delicate attitude, but these events always get me a tad, 'wound up'."

"You get 'wound up' at any company event father…" The other voice responded, sounding annoyed.

I would say that I'm thankful to be a Faunus, since I was born with perfect night vision. Although it wasn't needed because both Jacques and the other girl were wearing primarily white. I took a better look at Jacques and noticed how similar his outfit was to Ironwood's, minus a few decorations and a white lower torso rather than James' black, he was also the same height as James, with a snow white mustache and faded-denim colored eyes. The other girl was wearing an outfit with the same color scheme as Winter, except she had something that reminded me of Sleeping Beauty's dress. Being honest, she looked eerily similar to Winter… wait a minute.

"Hey Winter~, you said you had a sister right?" I asked, looking slightly nervous.

"Yes, did I not mention Weiss during our little conversation?" She asked. I nodded slowly in response. "Oh, well then I guess a more formal greeting is needed. This is my younger sister, and heiress to the company Weiss Schnee." Weiss curtsied in response.

"A pleasure Ms. Schnee, eine Erbin muss hart sein, oder?" I asked, earning a confused look from Weiss.

"Excuse me, but can you please translate that for me?" She asked, both annoyed and interested.

"Oh, I said 'being an heiress must be hard, right?', do you not know your family's origin language?"

"No, and please never talk in other languages when around us please." She said curtly, walking toward her sister. "How can you even tolerate him!?" She whispered.

"I heard that." I said bluntly, seeing Weiss jump in response. "Oh, forgot to mention the fact that I'm a Faunus, coffee-black and night don't mix well when you want something to be noticed."

"Y-you're a Faunus?!" Weiss half screamed, stepping away in fear. "How did one of your kind take control of a global company?!" That's what did it, that one comment. Everyone but Weiss noticed my eyes changing color, except they weren't red, they were orange, with a glimmer of pure insanity making them glow like coals.

"Umm… Weiss?" Winter said, slightly scared. "I think you should've picked your words a little more carefully."

"Oh yeah, why should I worry about what I say?!" She said angered, not noticing the near black colored figure behind her. "Because, I might've heard that." A sadistic, bone-chilling voice whispered in her ear. "What the-," Her words were cut off as a knife appeared at the base of her neck.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." The black figure began. "Ya' know, people like you exist to make people like the boss feel like shit. Makes it harder for the him to keep me in line."

"W-w-who are y-you?" Weiss asked terrified. "W-what d-do you want?"

"Who am I?" The figure said, releasing a psychopathic laugh. "I'm Matakishi Orochi, Rodger's manifestation of Psychopathy, Sadism, Charisma, Deception and Dexterity. Happy to meetcha!" He answered. "And what I want, is for you to pay." He finished, pushing the edge of Oblivion further into Weiss's neck, causing a small bead of blood to roll down her pale neck.

"Mr. Orochi, please stop…" Winter pleaded, trying to bring me back. "My sister has been through rough times because of the White Fang, blame them, not her."

"Hmm…" Orochi grunted, pausing. "Ya' know what, I did overreact." He decided, removing the blade from Weiss's throat, revealing the small red cut the knife had left. "Besides, the White Fang caused the bosses little problem with me and Fenryr. I'll be glad to hate them more."

"Matakishi, can Rodger talk to us now?" Ironwood asked politely, holstering his revolver. "I'd like a full explanation on who you are, and why you 'showed up'."

"Gladly, give me a mo'." He said, closing his eyes. After a few minutes Rodger returned to the realm of the living, silver eyes and all.

"Mr. Ocel?" Jacques asked worried, stepping closer. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, and sorry Weiss." I apologized nonchalantly. "But now I need to talk with Orochi in a while…"

"Wait, talk?" Winter said, looking at me in confusion. "You can remember everything that happened?" I nodded, giving Ironwood a look of suspicion.

"Let me guess, you remembered everything when Fenryr took control too?" Ironwood asked, I nodded yes, looking & feeling guilty. "You have a lot of explaining to do, but maybe over a drink?"

After we got into Carde's Bullhead, I decided to get on a separate channel and I told James everything. Fenryr and Matakishi were created to help me with my lonely beginning and whenever I was threatened, mentally or physically. Over time they started adapting to my personality, taking certain mental stresses, emotions or physical traumas as 'triggers' to help me whenever a crisis is happening. Matakishi was triggered because of the constant discrimination I suffered during my trip to Vale. When Weiss said "your kind" it resurfaced too many bad memories for me to handle, so he took over and resolved the situation. That was the gist of it, I even told him the fact that they give me crazy physical attributes to improve my chances of survival.

"So that's why you still retain your consciousness, you know what's happening, but you let your persona's take over to prevent further damage." Ironwood realized, summing up what I said. "Why hide that fact until now?"

"It's a tough subject to explain, says the man with three personalities." I finished, laughing at myself. "I can give you more details after I get my medical files back."

"Fine, but until then I'm keeping an eye on you, and I'll be asking a few of my old friends to make sure you stay in line." Ironwood said menacingly. "You make one mistake, and they'll make sure you regret it."

"Deal, just make sure they're professionals. Matakishi won't go down easy." I warned, turning off my headset.


At Horizon

"Huh, for a nightclub this place seems kinda…" Carde began.

"Low key?" Winter finished for him. The color-scheme was primarily white, black and brown. With chromed steel on the bar & lighting fixtures, and dark-oak planks on the main dance floor.

"Horizon was made for a more… wealthy clientele. It was made to be a little boring." I explained. "I was going to call Junior and see if he can, 'modernize' it for me."

"Junior?" Carde asked, confused. "Wait, as in 'Hei Xiong Jr.', son of the famous gang leader in lower Vale?" I nodded, earning this reaction. "Why the hell would you ask him for help?!"

"Let's just say that his family owes my family a few favors." I said vaguely. "Give me some time, I'll get this place running in a couple of minutes." I said, venturing down into the basement. After five minutes of tinkering I managed to reactivate the main power, as the lights and AC hummed to life, knowing that everyone had to be boiling in their formal wear, that was a good thing.

"Perfect, looks like Mr. Ocel turned the main power back on." Ironwood noted, noticing the cooling air that began to fill the room. "I suppose he won't mind if we have a few drinks." He finished grinning.

"Go on, help yourselves." I said, pouring myself a shot of bourbon. "I pay for everything here, and being honest I could drink the place dry and leave without a single guilty feeling." Everyone except Weiss laughed at that little statement.


~1 Hour Later~

"I thought I had a tolerance to alcohol, but you two have drank the same amount as me and you're still sober?!" I exclaimed, noticing that both Jacques and James were still perfectly alert. "I got to invite you two here more often."

"I must admit, I enjoy this place. "James commented, finishing his 12th shot. "Maybe you can keep the second floor like this, and have the bottom floor be the public club."

"I'll keep that in mind." I said, glancing over to see that both Winter and Carde were passed out. "Mind waking up Carde Jacques? He's our ride home." Jacques simply nodded as I saw a glyph appear under Carde. "Don't worry about being gentle, he's got too much aura to spare, and I can pay for the damages." Upon hearing this Jacques unleashed a flurry of snow, and afterwards a frozen Carde tumbled out.

"He'll thaw in about 20 minutes, and has anybody seen Weiss?" The now sober Winter said, brushing snow off her hair and dress. "I haven't seen her since we got here, and I'm starting to worry."

"I'll check upstairs." I said, downing my 13th shot of bourbon. "I need to walk around anyways." I walked toward the second level, which was exactly like the first minus the bar. "I wonder why she would even be up here in-" I stopped myself, hearing somebody sing. "What in the world?"

I continued up the stairs, the singing getting louder as I approached the second story. After reaching the top I hesitated, I realized who was singing, and mentally punching myself for not realizing earlier. It was Weiss, "(I guess she doesn't like singing in public.)" I thought, standing there and waiting, wanting to hear the whole song.

RWBY Vol.1 Soundtrack #3: Mirror Mirror (By Jeff Williams, Lyrics by Casey Lee Williams)- Required


Mirror, tell me something,

Tell me who's the loneliest of all?

Mirror, tell me something,

Tell me who's the loneliest of all?

Fear of what's inside me;

Tell me can a heart be turned to stone?

Mirror, mirror, what's behind you?

Save me from the things I see!

I can keep it from the world,

Why won't you let me hide from me?

Mirror, Mirror tell me something,

Who's the loneliest of all?

"I'm the loneliest of all~." I whispered along with her, feeling the tears run down my face. After a little while, I wiped my tears & opened the door to find a silently sobbing Weiss, hearing the sound of rain against metal as her tears hit the floor.

"Weiss?" I asked. "Are you ok?" She continued to sob, ignoring my presence. "You're not alone ya' know." She paused for a moment. "I've suffered through the same things." She stopped, began to stand up and turn to face me.

"R-really?" She asked, sniffling. "I d-didn't know, I'm so s-sorry for what I said before." I noticed more tears forming. "I-I shouldn't have even tried to say th-, th-" She began to cry again, falling into me to support herself.

"Hey, it's alright." I said, embracing her in a hug, feeling her tears dampen my shirt. "You don't need to apologize for anything, it's all in the past." She squeezed me tight and just cried. "That's it, just let it all out…"


~Ten Minutes Later~

"Better?" I asked, trying to hold a calming smile.

"Y-yeah, I f-feel a lot better." She said shakily, still wiping her eyes. "I c-can't thank you enough for this."

"Hey, I just did what Winter would've done for you." I said warmly, noticing that she was still holding my hand. "You should go home now, it's pretty late." I noted, she nodded in agreement. "Alright then, let's go see if Carde's thawed yet."

"Let me guess, father froze him to make him sober again?" She asked while walking back down the stairs, with a little smirk on her face. "Or did you ask him to do it?" I whistled awkwardly in response, earning a small giggle from Weiss.

"You know, you're laugh is kinda cute." I said bluntly, turning to see that Weiss's face was a bright pink now. "Hey, just being honest."

After I escorted Weiss back to her family, they thanked me for the time. And Jacques told me he'd have all the documents related to the trade agreement sent to my penthouse in about a week. So after Ironwood called a personal Bullhead to fly the three of them home, Carde asked me what happened with Weiss. I just said that she apologized and we realized how similar our childhoods were.


~The Next Morning~

"So you'll never tell me what actually happened up there?" Carde asked, sipping on a glass of ginger soda. I nodded while taking another glass, filling it with water & dropping an antacid in for him. "Thanks boss, I owe you one."

"You don't owe me nothing." I said, denying his thanks. "I'm just doing what any good person does, granting assistance to those in need."

After Carde went back down to his room I layed down on my couch and thought,

"(I wonder if my little interaction with Weiss helped change her in anyway?)" Brushing it off I said aloud, "Eh, shouldn't worry about it too much. May drive me crazy in the process, now time for some well needed sleep."


A/N: Four attempts later and I got the most unintentionally emotion filled chapter I've done yet. On other news, one more chapter until Volume 1!

Rodger: You're not the only one happy, I've been waiting for this as long as everyone here. Can't wait to finally hit someone!

Roger: Yeah-, wait you said you meet Yang at the end of the summer right?

Rodger: Yeah, why?

Roger: The next chapter begins at the end of August…

Rodger: Oh god no...

Roger: Here come the puns… somebody save me. I really am going to love and hate writing this next chapter.