Flashback… several years ago...

"Snowflake, do you want daddy to love you?"

Weiss stared up at the man, who was smiling under his mustache. "Of course daddy!"

"Then sit right here," Jacques instructed and pointed at the chair.

Eager to please him, Weiss crawled up onto the chair. Although her father was absorbed in his work lately, Weiss was eager to help him however she could.

The company had taken up a huge portion of his time, so she and him never really even spoke to each other. All she wanted to do was make him happy and try to prove herself worthy of his affections.

Weiss sat in the chair, trusting her dad without thought. The room was vacant aside from a big, scary-looking machine next to her that beeped.

"What's that?"

Rather than answer the question, Jacques fiddled with the machine. "Wait for me for a few moments, snowflake."

Biting her lip, Weiss looked around with wide eyes. It was only a glistening white. With only one light that was directly above her. There wasn't much space in the room. The chair was uncomfortable and stiff, but she wanted to obey her father.

She had lived in this mansion since she was born seven years ago, but she had never been in this room before. She didn't even know it existed. The basement doors had been blocked off her whole life, with her father being adamant about her and Winter not entering or trying to.

It was cold. A big shudder racked her tiny body as she gazed at her father's back.

For some reason, a sudden feeling of loneliness crept up on her. But that feeling soon subsided when her father smiled at her. She smiled back, still wondering what was going on, but she didn't want to ask too many questions. She knew her father was an impatient man judging by how many times he yelled at people on the phone.

Before long, an older man entered the room. He was wearing dark grey scrubs and a stethoscope around his shoulders.

"Hello Weiss," he greeted with a sickeningly sweet smile. "How are you today?"

"G-good," she hesitantly answered. She wasn't good at talking with strangers. "Who are you?"

During the questioning, Mr. Schnee took a seat next to her.

"I'm your father's… associate," he simply replied.

Weiss looked over at her dad for his reassurance. He gave her a nod to confirm the statement.

Now knowing the man could be trusted, Weiss visibly relaxed. "It's nice to meet you."

Although the man knew her father, she could tell something was off judging by his off-putting stature. He seemed far too relaxed in this confined space.

The man grabbed a pair of gloves from his pockets. If his eyes weren't unsettling under those big glasses, watching him bite the gloves to slip them on his hands definitely was. He grabbed a wire from the machine and pinned it to her right arm.

He then pulled out a tiny syringe.

The needle made Weiss look back over to her dad in fear. "What's that for?"

"It's okay, snowflake," Jacques reassured. "I promise it won't hurt."

She was a brave girl, she could definitely handle one little needle.

For her dad.

"O-okay," she murmured, her eyes flicking from the intimidating tool and at the floor to avoid it.

The man her after filling the syringe with a strange purple liquid. "Hold your arm out."

Weiss looked over to her dad, still unnerved about the man in front of her.

"It's okay," he encouraged. "You won't feel a thing."

"T-this will help you, right?" Weiss asked to make sure that she was doing the right thing.

"Of course. It will help you, too. Daddy will love you forever if you be a brave girl."

Weiss gulped and held out her arm, telling herself this was for her family. From the sight of those stripes, Jacques almost spat in disgust.

The man inserted the syringe into her vein, directly into a precise jet-black stripe. Weiss recoiled from the sting, but composed herself for her dad not to worry.

"You're doing well so far," her father praised. "I'm impressed."

Weiss couldn't help but smile from the encouragement. "What's this supposed to do?" she asked the associate, trying to take her mind off the needle.

"You'll see soon enough," he answered after injecting the purple substance in her body.

"W-what do you mean?"

The man swabbed the stripe, where the syringe was inserted. After applying a small bandaid, he put the syringe away.

The two adults stood there, watching her intently as Weiss shrank in her seat.

Her gaze whipped from the associate to her father. "W-why're you looking at me like that?"

She'd never seen her dad look at her like that before.

"It's okay, snowflake," her father said. "Sit there for a bit longer."

"Why-"

Suddenly, a shooting pain pulsed in her heart, swiftly pinging to her head. She clutched her head, feeling like it would shatter if she didn't. An anguished groan escaped her lips.

"W-what's-"

The pain quickly made its way through her entire body. She would have fallen out of the chair if her father hadn't rushed forward to keep her upright. His hand was firmly on her shoulder, steadily keeping her in place. He could tell that she was still conscious based on her pained whimpers.

Instead of checking to see if his daughter was okay, he looked at his associate. "Does this mean it's working?"

"Give it a moment," he said, his hard gaze on the girl.

Weiss let out a high-pitched scream and gripped her head harder. Her knuckles warped white as she tried to choke back a few sobs.

"Why…?"

Jacques snapped his fingers in her line of sight in a feeble attempt to keep her conscious.

Her vision blurred and her ears were ringing. She could tell her father was saying something since his lips were moving, but she couldn't discern what. She winced, the light was blinding.

All she could do was scream.

Her father ignored the shrieks of agony and focused on the marks on her arms. Her eyes met her father's stare. She was very confused at the expression he made.

The steady hand on her shoulder wasn't enough to keep her upright anymore as her body went slack. Jacques leaned forward and easily caught her in his arms. After standing back up with her in his arms, he turned to the man.

"Why aren't they gone?!"

The associate stared at her arms, baffled that the stripes didn't vanish as intended. "I- I'm not sure."

"This is an abomination!" Jacques yelled. "You said that this would be a success! That she would no longer be a faunus!"

"I'm sorry, sir!" the man yelped in fear. "I didn't think this would happen!"

"She can't be a faunus!" Jacques raged.

"Hold on," the associate muttered as he addressed the wildly beeping machine.

Jacques fumed. "What? What did you screw up now?"

"Her aura is dropping and raising sporadically," the man observed. "This was an expected side effect, at least. I'll get the medicine to you immediately, sir."

"A side effect with no results," Jacques spat. "You're useless!"

Present…

When Weiss uncurled her hand, a few orange pills glowed under the dim moonlight.

"As a result, I have to take one of these every day. My aura is too sporadic to not. It could be dangerous."

"Oh my god…" Blake breathed from the nightmarish story, unable to stop staring at the pills. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

Her own father betrayed her, Blake realized. When she was just a child...

"It's okay," Weiss replied with a sad smile, spilling the pills into the bottle. "Now you see. Bleaching isn't something I can stop. Every time I do it, I get a little closer to acceptance from my family. And one day, I can pull us back together."

Tears rolled down Blake's face. She knew the reality, but Weiss might be in denial.

That's a wishful dream, Blake thought. Weiss knows that. That deep down, it's foolish. Her father will never accept her. She fell for his beautiful lies. Eventually, she needs to accept that and herself. She thinks his love might save her, but in the end that pain cut so deeply that it broke her… and took everything.

Blake snapped out of her thoughts when she felt gentle fingers on her cheeks. She didn't even notice that she began to cry.

"Our team will always be your family."

From hearing that, Weiss reeled her in for a hug. The contact made amber orbs widen. Cat ears perked up as Blake stood there, stiff.

She really needed to hear that, Blake figured.

As Weiss slid her head to fit snugly onto her shoulder, Blake wrapped her arms around her with a smile. They held each other close, not wanting to let go. It was a warm embrace.

Warm on this chilly night.

So that's why her aura fluctuates! A failed experiment to make her not a faunus. I love making people suffer. I'm horrible.

Lyrics from No Game No Life: "Don't trade a fraction of your pride. Don't fall for those beautiful lies." - Weiss believing for years that her dad would actually love her if she wasn't a faunus anymore.

Asphyxia: "I believed love would save me. But in the end, the pain that cut so deeply is breaking me, taking everything. I only wish it would turn into love." -Weiss wants to believe her father's love could bring the family back together, but knows deep down that's not true.

Stay dandy,

~Toto