Shattering the Mirror Pt 2: The Reflection Changes

"Me?" the ivory haired girl asks in disbelief.

"Yes. You"

"I don't understand."

"Oh but you do. You said it yourself. You hate the being the one to push people away. You hate the way you see yourself so why should anyone else hate it any less?"

She stood there contemplating my words very carefully, looking for every ounce of truth she could accept.

"I guess I do kind of make it a point to drive people away." She admits.

"Let me ask you something. If you truly do hate being this cold and lonesome person, then why do you do it in the first place? There has to be a reason why you don't let people get close to you, so what is it?"

"I suppose it's because I don't know who to let in. Being the heiress to a multi-billion lien industry doesn't go unnoticed. I've had many people who claimed to be my friend. But those people were all liars. As far as they saw things, I was nothing more than the rich girl that could have anything they would ever want, and they tried to take advantage of that. They promised friendship and compassion but they never cared about me in the slightest. All they wanted was the perks of a rich girl. When I found out, I cut all ties with those self-serving degenerates and the Weiss everybody sees now was born."

"So you have an immediate distrust for anyone who tries to be friends with you because you don't believe that they will care for you at all either."

She nods slightly to answer. "How can I? I don't even know if I can trust in anybody now."

"Well that definitely explains why you have trust issues." Suddenly I gain an idea. 'Of course! Why didn't I realize this sooner?' I mentally kick myself for my incompetence. "Weiss look in the mirror again."

"I don't want to." She snaps back like a child throwing a tantrum.

"Weiss, please. I know it hurts but we aren't going to get any further unless we do some things that you may not like. So please just look, once more, I'm sure you will find something different."

She sighs but steps in front of the mirror again.

"What do you see?"

"The same thing. Myself, and nothing more. What did you honestly think would change?" She asks annoyed.

"You don't even know what you're looking for even when it's right in front of you. Look harder. Look past what you already see."

She looks again and tries to concentrate on the reflection, cringing at the constant cold stare she was returned with from her image. She's strong but I don't know how much she can actually take. I step up beside her.

"It's okay. We'll do this together."

"Won't you just get in the way?"

"This is your mirror. I don't exist in how you see yourself. I know this is hard but I want you to know I won't make you do this alone. I know that you think if you are going to get through anything you have to do it by yourself, but you're wrong. You don't have to rely on your own strength all the time."

"I am a Schnee, we are required to be strong. We cannot under any circumstance show weakness."

"Asking for help from time to time is not a weakness especially when you know you need it. It takes a strong person to know when they are in need of help. It takes an even stronger person to admit they need help. And stronger still is the person who accepts it when they need it most."

"Even if that's true I still need to be the best I can be."

"You can't be the best if you're dead because you were to prideful to accept a helping hand. And for what it's worth, you coming to me for help definitely proves that you are an incredibly strong person. Now look." I almost command.

She sighs but returns to looking into the mirror. "Wait… I think I see something else."

"Good you're getting there. What is it?"

"It's me, but it's not the me from before. She's still here but behind her is another me." She stops and looks at me. "Do you see her?" I nod. I can see what she sees quite clearly. "Who is she?"

"Someone you forgot a long time ago. She's you before you stopped trusting others."

"How long has she been here, and why couldn't I see her before?"

"Weiss, you've always had that part of you deep inside. The part of you that is capable of love and trust. But that Weiss is scared and hides behind her own insecurities like a shield. Like a wall of ice to keep others away. You couldn't see her because you lost her and didn't know where to find her. But then you remembered what that side of you was like. By acknowledging she existed you brought her back closer to the surface."

The mirror begins to vanish leaving us to the darkness once more.

"Why did it disappear?" Weiss asks.

"Because it is of no use to us right now. We have other things to find. But I'm sure we haven't seen the last of that mirror."

"So where to now?"

"Well we're off to a pretty good start. Now that we have identified the underlining issue we just need to find the rest of the pieces of the problem."

"I hope there isn't much more. I can't stay here for the rest of my life." She scolds.

"Patience Weiss. We're going to get there step by step."

The room is gone but a door appears behind us.

"It seems the answers are starting to come to us."

We open the door and find ourselves in the middle of a forest. Before us is a temple. The temple of the Emerald Forest. But this time there are only three pedestals and they don't have chess pieces. Instead the objects seem quite random. A rose sits on the left side pedestal, in the middle a small black book, and finally on the right is a gold hair comb. Those all seem vaguely familiar.

"Well this is interesting." I say looking at the objects. Weiss walks to each of them and frowns.

"Hmph, not really. All these things are in inadequate condition." She remarks.

"Really? Do explain. What do you make of these objects?"

"What are you blind?" She scoffs. "The rose is nothing more than an immature bud. The book's cover is unreadable and most of the pages are blank. The few that aren't are as cryptic as the cover. And the comb is missing some teeth. They're all useless."

It's true. The objects are indeed in poor states. But that has to mean something. A rose that has yet to bloom, a mysterious book, and a rough and edged comb. I smile as I piece the objects together.

"I wouldn't say that. They're like that for a reason."

"And I assume you know what the reason is?"

"Because they're not useless. They are flawed. Something that you immediately find in everything you see. Immature, mysterious, and jagged. Does that remind you of anything?"

"My teammates." She says with realization.

"Exactly as you described them after we sparred. The mirror showed what you thought of yourself. The relics appear to show what you think of your team. Each item is a thing of beauty yet all you can see them for is their flaws. Because they are not perfect or do not seem desirable you show no interest in them. Ruby is young and immature, Blake is a walking enigma, and Yang is the rough and wild party girl. But is that all you really see?"

"Of course it is! The things they do are enough to test my patience every day. They may be skilled but their still infuriatingly imperfect."

"Well what about you? Do you see yourself as perfect? I certainly don't. You may be just as flawed as the rest of them. You're hate for yourself is a flaw, the coldness you show others is a flaw, even the scar on your face should remind you that you are far from perfection. I think you find the flaws so easily in others because you are constantly reminded of your own."

"Well what do you want from me? To just sit back and act as if nothing is wrong? To just ignore the blatant fact that I'm stuck with the most annoying people I can think of? Well it's not going to happen. Epically when I'm constantly reminded I'm on a team led by a child!"

The scene returns to the void. She needs to know the truth. She won't change if I leave things the way they are going.

"Weiss," I sigh conjuring one of my own doors. "Come with me. There's something I think you should see."

We enter the door and we end up in the forest once more, only this time it's dark. In front of us sits myself and Weiss's red clad leader.

"What's this place?" Weiss asks looking between the figures in front of us.

"One of my memories. This was the night Ruby had her nightmare. She told me some things that you should hear for yourself."

The memory starts to play out as Ruby begins to speak.

"I just don't want to fail them as a leader. I've never led anyone before and now I have three. I'm scared that I'm going to mess up. Aren't you scared too?"

Weiss watched as the memory continued being taken aback by the scene playing before her. Her leader was confessing her deepest fears. Fears that no child should ever have.

"I am, it's a great responsibility I never dreamed of having. And while I worry that I may make a bad decision, I trust the strength of my team and they seem to trust me. Ozpin gave you a tremendous burden Ruby. He wouldn't do that if he didn't think you could do it."

"He told me something like that a few days ago, after Weiss told me she wasn't exactly pleased with me being leader.

The memory jumps slightly showing Weiss exactly the things I want her to hear and cutting out the minor details.

"Why do you care what she thinks about the situation anyhow?"

"Because I think I'm scared of failing her the most. After our rough start I wanted to make sure I could prove to her that I belonged here, that I wasn't some incapable child. I don't know why but after my talk with Ozpin she told me she thought that I could be a good leader. I don't want to make her regret that. I'm trying to do my best at being a good leader but I… I don't know if I can do this. I want to so badly but it's hard and it scares me. I don't want to fail and I don't want to lose them. I don't want to lose Weiss."

Weiss's expression softens at her leader's confession. "Ruby…"

"Why is it so important to you to please someone who from day one only saw you as a hazard?"

"We're friends now, I think, and I'm her teammate. I know that she can be cold sometimes, ok a lot of the time but deep down I know she has a heart. I know she does, and I think she just has a hard time showing her emotions around others. But I think she opened up enough to be my friend. I really admire her I guess. She's smart and talented, and I'm really glad she let me be her friend in the end. But I don't want her to shut me out again. I want to be a good friend and leader for her. I just don't know if I can."

"You really care for her that much huh?"

"Mhmm."

The memory ends and fades away. Weiss just stares at the spot where Ruby had been sitting.

"You're right you know. Ruby is a child, but she knows what is truly important when it comes down to it. She made me believe that you were someone worthy of all the effort she puts into being a good leader. Despite everything you have ever done to push her away, she continued to try because she saw the very best in you. She didn't care that you were cold, or that you constantly insult her. She didn't care about your wealth or who you were on the outside. She cared about the person she saw through all of that. To her you're not Weiss Schnee. You're just Weiss, her friend and teammate. She accepts you for who you are, flaws and all."

"I never knew she cared so much. I've been nothing but cruel to her and she still finds it in her to forgive and forget."

"Hard to believe I know. And yet the proof was shown right in front of your eyes. So can you accept her for who she is as she accepts you?"

"I don't know if I can."

"Why not?"

"Ruby is so much kinder than I am. All I have ever known is anger and loneliness."

Suddenly in a flash of white, the scene changes to a large stage. In the middle stood Weiss.

"Okay now I have to ask. Where are we now?"

Weiss stares at herself. "I remember this. This is one of my memories."

Music starts to play around us. It's slow and beautiful but at the same time disturbingly depressing. The Weiss on stage begins to sing.

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 of 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.

The song ended and the memory faded away like mine did.

"Weiss… That was beautiful. You never said you could sing."

"It wasn't something I was particularly proud about. That song is a constant reminder of how truly alone I felt. How I still feel. I don't even know if I can accept anyone anymore. Ruby was right when she said had a heart. But what good is it when it's made of ice and stone?"

"We're really not that different you and I. We're just a couple of lonely souls."

"What would you know of being alone!?" She snaps. "You don't even know what it's like to be all alone with parents who don't have time for you because of work. To only have a sister to talk to. You have no clue how that feels!"

I feel myself tremble. Not from fear or from the harshness of her words, but out of anger.

"How… How can you be so conceited!?" I feel myself slipping out of control, overtaken by my rare displays of rage. As she was about to find out, she had just struck a very painful nerve.

"Are you so blind to those around you that you think that you're the only one who is capable of suffering!? Well it's time for you to wake up princess because you're not the only one who has known loneliness. I've suffered too!"

Flames erupt from the ground around us, a true sign of the anger behind my words. Weiss jumps back from my sudden outburst.

"Wh-What?" She asks with fear evident in her voice.

"What? Is that so hard for you to believe? That someone like me has been down the same road you tread? I know what it's like having parents that had to put work above their own child. To only be truly near them during the few holidays we were allowed from working. To not have any friends to talk to, to laugh and cry with. I didn't even have a sibling to turn to. DON'T YOU EVER TELL ME I DON'T KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO BE ALONE!"

The fire flares in response to my words. Tears begin to fall from my eyes through the bottom of my helmet. 'Dust…' A light rain begins to fall extinguishing the remnants of my anger.

"But… What about Matthew? I thought you two were best friends." She asks finding her voice.

"I… I didn't always have Matt around. We met before we started Signal. Until then, no one wanted anything to do with me. I tried so hard to find some acceptance. I never found it. I was rejected by everyone I tried to open up to." I tense clutching my hand to my heart. "It hurt. It hurt so much. I eventually gave up. I stopped trying and distanced myself from people. I didn't want to hurt anymore. I became as cold as the steel I forged."

There was a pause. That ever persistent silence that always found itself around me. Until Weiss spoke up.

"Why? Why would they treat you like that? I thought you helped people. Why would they turn you away?"

"Why? I always found myself asking that question, over and over again, until the answer was screamed in my face. Bad blood. Weiss you have to understand me and my family are all good people. It's just… My family history is complicated, let's just leave it at that"

"If your family are all good people, which I believe, how is it that you can have bad blood?"

"…"

"Okay. Forget I asked." She says with the most understanding voice I've heard from her yet.

"You know, I have to admit, I'm kinda jealous of you Weiss. Not because your rich or anything like that, but because you have a sister. I would have given anything of value to myself to have grown up with a brother or sister. I love my family and they love me, but when it boils down to it, what I wanted most was a friend. You were blessed with a sister. Don't ever take that for granted."

She smiled, whether it was forced or genuine I don't know. "Alright. So what lead you to Matthew?"

"Fate, Chance, Destiny, Accident. Call it whatever you want. I don't particularly know myself, but I couldn't care less at this point. I'm thankful every single day of my life that for that one gift."

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to hear your story."

I take a moment to collect my thoughts.

"I was walking home from school one day, alone as usual. I didn't know a few of the older students who attended my school were tailing me. There were three of them. They soon caught up to me and pulled me into a small alley way."

"What did they do?" Weiss asked softly.

"What everyone else did. Degrade me, mock me… Hurt me. For no reason other than the fact that I dared to exsist. An existence that they were prepared to end. Then Matt showed up. He had seen what was going on from the other side of the street. You know what he did?" She shakes her head. "He ran straight up to the leader and decked him into the dumpster."

Weiss grinned trying to suppress a giggle.

"While the leader's lackeys were busy fishing him out of the trash, Matt had placed himself between me and my attackers. I had no idea why a stranger was defending me from such vile people. When the group had finished retrieving their leader, they told Matt to step aside or, well you can guess what they had in mind. But Matt refused and held his ground. The alley way became a battlefield. When it was all over they left battered and deterred. We didn't fare much better. We were injured but alive."

"So that's when you two became friends?"

I look to the floor and frown.

"No. I turned him away. It was my turn to reject someone for once. I told him he was stupid for risking his wellbeing for me, that he should have left me to my fate, so I could just be forgotten. I didn't want to open up to someone just to be hurt again when he found out what everyone else knew. I ran away to my home so I could just forget about the one person who ever showed me any kindness, thinking I would never see him again."

"So you turned down the one person that offered you their friendship? How does that even make sense!? You'd have to be the biggest dolt in all of Remnant to do something like that."

"Oh really? I seem to recall a certain young leader of yours that did the same thing for you and offer her friendship, and as I remember her telling me, you repeatedly refused. Now, what was that about being a huge dolt?"

"I… Um…" I chuckle at her lack of coherent sentences. "Oh be quite you dolt!" She scowls but quickly returns to her small grin. "So what made you change your mind?"

"Well as luck would have it, the universe decided it had other ideas than leaving us apart for very long. I was practicing with my sword in the forest close to my home one weekend, when I heard a Nevermore fly overhead. I chased after it to see what it was up to. I followed the direction it was flying in when I heard people shouting. I found Matt pinned to a tree by the shirt by one of the Nevermore's feathers. He told the young girl accompanying him to run. It was his sister. She tried to flee but the Nevermore blew her to the ground with a gust of wind from its wings. The Nevermore grabbed her in one of its talons and tried to fly away. I jumped into action and landed on its back and drove my sword through the back of its head. It never had a chance to figure out what was going on until it was too late. Matt's sister landed in a bush without any further injuries, and the beast was dead."

"Why would you help them? You already rejected others so why bother?"

"Because I became distant, never heartless. It was still in my nature to help others; I just wouldn't let them get into my life. My work done I tried to leave but Matt stopped me. He put me in a hold and activated his semblance to keep me from leaving. He refused to let me go until I told him why I left him that day in the alley. Matt's stubborn so ignoring him did me no good. So I finally told him the truth. All of it. The sooner he learned the sooner he could leave me like all the others. But he didn't leave. He didn't care. He learned my reasons and told me it didn't matter. Matt told me he stood up for me because I was a person just the same as he was and that I deserved better, and especially now after what I had done for him and his sister, he knew that I was a good person. One who just needed a fair chance. He made me a promise that day. No matter what, he would always stick by my side and we would always be friends. That's when I knew I didn't have to distance myself from him. He cared and wasn't going to hurt me for being who I am. Weiss, he refused to give up on me when I had given up on myself a long time ago. I finally found a true friend in Matt that day. So do you want to keep making the same mistake I made over and over? Are you going to continue questioning their friendship, or are you going to finally let them into your heart? To accept them as they are, as they accept you?"

The three objects rematerialized in front of us, as if they knew they were needed once more. Weiss walks up to the dormant rose.

"Ruby is immature and unready, but that means she is still growing and one day, with work, she will bloom into something special."

She moves over to the black vexing book. "Blake is mysterious and hides her information of her past, but as you clearly demonstrated, we all have some things we would rather not talk about. That information is private and she will reveal it when the time is right. And while her words are cryptic and I don't understand her, given time it will all become clear."

She steps up to the comb. "Yang is rough and wild, but on the inside she has a big heart and she cares for us, for me."

The mirror returns as expected but the symbols of her team do not leave.

"So. Tell me now… What do you see?"

She faces the mirror but does not flinch at the reflection.

I don't do well with my emotions or other people, and they can all be insufferable, brutish and secretive, and they are far from perfect." If she could see the top half of my face she would see me raise an eyebrow. "But I'm not either and I suppose they have their moments and I don't think I could imagine any better people to be associated with." We exchange smiles. "And thanks to you I realize that I don't have to hide behind my fears. I don't have to be alone anymore."

"That a girl."

The objects begin to glow filling the space with their combined glow of color and radiating with a certain warmth. The mirror began to crack shattering and splintering around us blinding us with a flash of light. When we could see again the objects were gone leaving the broken mirror. Before us was the Weiss from the mirror, but not the cold one. The scared Weiss that had been hiding behind her. But she wasn't scared anymore. She was smiling. She stood before us surrounded by her teammates. She was finally free.

As I awoke I see Weiss also withdrawing from her sleep. When she looked over to me she smiled. And it wasn't a forced or faked smile either. For once she was truly happy. Dez faked a cough to grab our attention.

"So how did it go? You were in there for quite some time."

"I don't know. Weiss?"

She rolled her eyes. "It was enlightening and I'm glad that I decided to take you up on your offer Ace. So to the both of you, thank you."

"Hey, what are friends for?" I reply.

"Who ever said we were friends?" She says.

"Aw come on. I thought we had a very touching moment in their together." I feign my hurt.

"Dunce."

"Princess."

"Dolt."

"So that's it? We're just going to automatically go back to that." I joke, which she responds with a smirk. "Glad to see some things never change. I don't think I could see you being unbearably nice all the time." I laugh. "Guess you really can't change overnight."

"Give it time. This is all going to be new for me for a while, but I'll get the hang of it."

"Well even if you do change completely, you will always be the Ice Queen to us."

We look at the clock. It's 3:30 now. Weiss gets up leave and I walk her to the door.

"Thank you, again. You should really think about changing your profession to a psychiatrist."

"Nah, I wouldn't get to do that little number on people. Plus I'd have to start charging you. Nope I'm happy doing it my own way."

"Still I think you deserve something for what you've done for me."

"Well, there might be one thing I could accept."

"Name it."

"I stretch my arms out wide."

"How about... A hug?"

"A hug? That's it? That's all you want?"

"Yep. Just a hug."

She rolls her eyes but moves into my embrace. She tenses from the contact but relaxes. She's not use to this form of contact I suppose.

"Ace? Are you ever going to tell me what you're hiding?"

"One day I will. I'll tell everyone then. I promise you'll be the first to know. Goodnight Weiss."

"It's morning you dunce."

"Whatever."

"For what it's worth, I think you would have made an excellent brother."

"Thank you. And remember, just between the two of us."

She departs for her room and I return to mine. Dez is in his bed relaxing now that his space is unoccupied.

"So you didn't eavesdrop on us while we were in there did you?"

"Nope. All I had to do was start and maintain the process. Everything was kept just between you and Weiss. So how did it all turn out?"

"She's been through a lot, but I think she's going to be just fine now."

"Well I'm going to get some rest." Dez says laying his head on his pillows.

"Sorry to keep you awake so long." I apologize.

"Don't worry about it. Wasn't that tired anyway. Besides your goals are my goals." He says smiling.

"Thank you."

I lay down to rest more myself, as the sound of singing rings through my mind.

A/N: ... Wow. That was long. I had so much fun writing the stuff for the Weiss arc of the story. Fun fact the idea to dive into Weiss's mind came from a really awesome fanfiction. It's called 'Yet Another Weiss Christmas Story' by G.N. Over-Kite. This guys stuff is awesome so check that out.

Anyways, Now that this is out of the way, I'm going to be working on the special on friday so no update until then. So how do you think I did? tell me what you think with a review or just message me if you like. I like talking to people so I won't bite. Until next time.