Snippet 100

Cracks in the Mirror - RWBY

Genre: Angst/Drama/Dark

Pairs: Cold Colours (Whitley/Neon)

Parody: RWBY

AU-Type: Canon-esque AU (Post Fall of Beacon)

Tags: Character exploration, Mostly Canon-Complaint with Small Changes, TW: Alcoholism, TW: Death, Dealing with Loss, Internal Strife, Deconstruction, Mental Issues

Notes: Decided to the crew of RWBY fans that Hapless-Ace invited me into to which has gotten me so far, you guys rock. This is also a bit of a dedication to adel aka's RWBY discord server, you guys also helped. While I did mention a pair, the shipping isn't really the focus of this story. Keep this in mind.

-Ruby-

Ruby knew what loss was. She had lost her mother at an early age, but Ruby admitted to herself later on that she was glad she did not have to see her die. Not unlike recent events… All she wanted was to go to Beacon and get out a huntress to take on the world like the hero from her books. Well, reality could be cold. She watched everything all apart around her. She watched Pyrrha kill Penny, her sister crippling another student, and ultimately Beacon's fall.

The aftermath would have shattered Ruby's worldview. Cinder Fall played everyone like a fiddle, and she could only vomit at the thought. That same girl had spent time with her. Ruby remembers the sleepover she and that illusionist had invited her too. Cinder seemed so nice…and it was all a lie.

Ruby never considered herself the type to take a life. The heroes she looked up to never did…it was a code to not kill. However, Ruby had thoughts. A part of her wanted nothing more than to shove Crescent Rose's gun as far down Cinder's throat as it could before she pulled the trigger, and maybe even dismember the man who took her sister's arm. She felt horrid for thinking such thoughts, but there was that voice asking her why she was hesistating.

"Why the fuck are you even hesitating? Go hunt those fuckers and put them in dirt!"

The voice sounded like her, but harsher and meaner. She did not want to stop being the hero and her innocent mind did not want to bear the stress. So, a simple solution was made. Deny it. Deny the trauma the desire to murder. Deny…Deny...DENY. Then came when she left home to team up with the remnants of JPNR to go to Mistral. She played her part being the beacon of hope. But when she slept.

Ruby was in the midst of her usual dream, Beacon. However, everyone looked squishy, bite-sized, and super-deformed. There was that air of innocence to it. Ruby and her team sat around wondering what fun thing to do next.

"You guys want to do shoot some hoops with me and Pyrrha?" Yang asked.

"If you're playing shirt or skins, the answer is no." Weiss remarked.

"I need some fish." Blake whined.

Before Ruby could speak, she got a chill.

"You can't lie forever…"

Ruby froze with her heart thumping and her eyes wide.

"Uh, sis? You all right?" Yang asked.

Ruby turned to her sister only to see she was missing the arm. She screamed and ran off to the comforts of their team dorm room. Her safe space.

"Nothing bad happened…ever." Ruby said to herself as she sat on her bed.

She repeated it as her mantra, but she would be interrupted with the door to her bathroom being kicked open. In walked Ruby Rose, but different. She wasn't chibi, her silver eyes had darkened circles around, her clothes were more ragged, she had a lit cigarette in her mouth, and a bottle of firewater in her hand.

"How much longer can you live in denial?" Rose said coldly. "How long will you continue to pretend everything's fucking dandy?!"

"Go away. Nothing bad ever hap-"

SLAP! Rose had slapped her other with an open palm before grabbing her by the throat, so they are eye to eye.

"How much longer can you live like this! I'm tired of all the cute and innocent shit! Pyrrha's dead, Penny's dead, your sister's a cripple, and all of Vale burned to the fucking ground. And you're acting like everyone's fucking dandy!" Rose said shaking her.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Everyone's fine. Nothing bad happened…ever." Ruby said as Rose screamed profanities at her. "Language."

"FUCK YOU! Where's your empathy? Oh right, that would require to acknowledge that nothing's fine. But no, you insist on this façade that's turning you into an uncaring sociopath. I want out of here! I want to let out the turmoil! I want to kill that fire bitch! Stop denying me the ability to grieve!" Rose roared with tears spilling her face.

Rose looked to see Ruby had tuned her out by wearing headphones listening to music on her scroll. Rose screamed and smashed the bottle on Ruby's face.

Ruby woke up screaming and a sweaty mess panting as she felt her face for injury. Jaune, Nora, and Ren all stood around her concerned as Ruby got up to her feet shaking.

"Ruby, are you all right?" Nora asked.

Ruby wiped it off her face and gave her trademark grin.

"Yeah, nothing's wrong. Just some dumb dream." Ruby said waving it off.

"But…" Nora said only for Ruby 's face to darken as Ruby repeated her mantra.

They would continue their travels all the while Ruby ignored the sounds of screaming at the back of her mind. Nope, nothing was wrong was at all.

-Weiss-

From young, Weiss was taught that drinking was not a healthy habit to have. Not from her mother or her father…but Winter. Winter had been the parent in the early days before she escaped to military school. Weiss could not blame Winter for leaving. Part of her wishes she had not left her behind too. But Winter used the discipline to deal with the stress and became stronger. Maybe if Winter was here, Weiss would not have found herself sitting in the hot tub nursing a glass of her mother's wine, but she needed to cope.

She always had regrets which only grew. One was thinking the path to be a huntress was easy, and the other was thinking she was leader material. She laughed at that and wished she could smack her past self. Here she was living it up in her fancy home while Vale burns. She wondered what Velvet was doing. She grew to self-loath that she didn't do anything for her when Cardin was picking on her. She claimed to be better than her father…only to repeat similar habits.

"Can I even see myself taking over the business?" Weiss thought pouring herself another glass. "Can I even see…myself as a huntress?"

Her losses haunted her. Her losses humiliated her. Her losses were what got her to push the glass aside and drank from the bottle directly. She always felt like the weak link in the team despite her powers putting them to shame.

Winter would not have loss like that…she would beaten them all out with ease and not be a total joke.

She quashed that thought with another swig as the door to the tub opened.

"Father will be displeased that you're using his hot tub, sister." Whitley said crossing his arms.

"Don't you have anything better to do? Don't you see I'm brooding?" Weiss said trying not to slur her words.

"Oh yes, sitting in a tub of hot water contemplating what exactly? Your losses or your lack of growth?" Whitley said only to get hit with Weiss's glass. "I assume the latter."

It was then Whitley spied the bottle and a bit of guilt settled in.

"What right do you have to criticize me? All you've done is brownnose father!" Weiss snapped.

"I'm sorry. You claim you want to run the business yet you're training to be a huntress and not a businesswoman. At least I'm in business school busting my brain to try to know how to ethically run a business. Sorry about making fun about your lack of growth." Whitley said a bit drained.

Whitley took up the glass with a sigh.

"Pot calling the kettle black. I bet you don't even have pubes." Weiss said crassly.

"Regardless of that, please don't reduce yourself to what mother has become. Our mother has chosen to waste away while father is running our business with a lack of morale. I lied when I said that you being a huntress was silly. I did that to kiss up to dad." Whitley said which got Weiss to pay attention. "I really thought you were so brave."

Weiss's anger softened and Whitley stepped out for a second coming back with another bottle of wine, two glasses, and swim trunks on him to join. He slipped in and Weiss was a bit sheepish.

"What? I…oh please don't tell me you're naked in the water." Whitley said facepalming.

"I thought it was a good idea." Weiss said awkwardly.

"You do know that mom and dad fuck people in this tub?" Whitley thought to say, but actually said, "Forget it. Look, you think I want to be like my old man. Fuck no. He's a "good" businessman, but a shitty father and human being. I've seen and watched him ruin lives while treating everyone around him like trash. He cheats on mom so much to where Mom's cheating as much. You think I want to grow up to be some pompous asshole or depressed limp-wristed drunk?"

"Never thought you'd be so passionate about wanting to make change to the company." Weiss said with a hint of guilt. "I'm sorry for brushing you off as a suck up."

"I have to suck up and tolerate it just to ensure he doesn't disown me like he did with Winter and what he plans to do to you eventually." Whitley said quietly. "And there's another reason."

Whitley took up his scroll and opened it up to show Weiss a picture of him and a familiar raver.

"You're dating a faunus?" Weiss said with mild shock.

"She's helped in making me realize that I did not want to be my father. You know how we met? She threw herself at me when I made a move because she thought I was going to get her dad fired. When I realized this, I made an effort to apologize and things lead to us becoming a thing. It's about to be a year now." Whitley said putting it aside. "And you and Klein are the only ones that know. Not even her huntsman team knows about this. Or my endeavors to donate to minority causes."

"Wow…and here I thought I was the white sheep of my family." Weiss said downing another glass. "But you put me to shame."

"Don't beat yourself up." Whitley said as Weiss downed another glass. "You're willing to change. Even if you've lost plenty of battles. You've got a good team backing you up and you're still breathing meaning you can get better. Just promise me you won't end up like our parents."

"Only if you promise me the same." Weiss said as they clinked glasses.

The moment was ruined when Willow Schnee pushed open the door wearing just a robe and already plastered.

"Perfect…I left bottles and glasses. Perfect to spend the afternoon with my Vinny." Willow said tossing off her robe and walking over to the drawers to get something.

The two Schnee kids scrambled out not seeing to have any more of this burned into their brains.

"Ok, I got my scroll and you…are naked." Whitley said covering his eyes.

Weiss covered herself and bolted for her room just praying no one else had to see. She already had her own body issues, and she did not anyone else pointing that out. Whitley was off to his room hoping to avoid a similar issue.

-Blake-

Regrets. Guilt. Shame. Loathing. The token faunus of Team RWBY was a bundle of negative emotions on the ship she was sailing for home. She was terrified of seeing her parents knowing she shamed them. Would they even accept her back, she thought. She wouldn't even accept herself back. She thought back to Beacon and it all played like a bad memory. She fashioned herself as a Faunus Revolutionary, but she could only realize she was nothing more than a former terrorist with bouts of hypocrisy and cowardice. Velvet would have hated her guts if she knew she was a fellow faunus just letting a bigot walk all over her.

Blake looked at herself in the mirror and flinched to seeing a reflection of her with his blood on her hands with Adam behind her. Blake flung herself back in fear slamming her back against the bathroom wall.

"No…no…no…you're past that. It's behind you." Blake said to herself to calm herself down. "You repressed those."

Like Ruby, she was no was no stranger to repressing. However, Blake knew she had done things in the name of White Fang. Terrible things she did in Adam's name. She recalls how she met Adam and what led her down her path.

"I was so naïve and spoiled…" Blake thought. "I let myself get enamored with him and watched him slowly became a monster."

"And you stood by and did nothing!"

The reflection fogged and she was no longer seeing herself by Yang who did not look very happy.

"Where were you? I fought for you and you left me to bleed out! I give up my arm and my peace of mind for you!"

"I didn't ask for it!" Blake screamed before running out of her cabin.

She stumbled into the deck retching her lunch over the rails from the stress of what she just saw. She felt sick to her stomach as tears spilled down her face.

"I just had to fall for his words and be a fucking idiot on top of them. I've done so much wrong and I've been nothing from a hypocritical coward." Blake said tearing off her bow and throwing it into the ocean. "I…I.."

She felt a chill, only to feel someone putting their cloak on her. She turned to see Sun who looked quiet and concerned.

"How long?" She asked.

"I was just getting some air and I heard you rush out before tossing your bow. If it helps, you look better without it." Sun said in a near whisper.

"You didn't need to give me your cloak. I had my o…oh I left it in my cabin." Blake said with a sigh.

"Look, I don't know all about your past and your struggles, but you need someone to talk to. I'm here for you and I'm sorry for following you. I was worried when I saw you freak out after you left Yang behind." Sun said having a supporting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about my team, I left them with orders to ensure Yang was all right."

Part of her was a follow peeved that he followed her, but the other half was glad for it. Sun was actively reminding her that for all the mistakes she made, there were a few good things that came out of it. Right then and there, she made a promise to herself. She would beg for forgiveness for parents and her team and leave her cowardice behind. She was not going to scurry away like a kitten, but roar with the heart of a lioness.

-Yang-

Yang Xiao Long saw many things. Nightmares, sleepless nights, and phantom pains. But the two things that drove her to get more in the morning was anger and revenge that festered within her soul. In secret since she was at home, she was training her body driven to compensate for her missing arm. Unlike Ruby, Yang was not keeping the rage repressed. Yang was not one to take lives either, but she had a few ways she wanted to execute Adam and several others. So far, she made good progress keeping all this under wraps and Dad's nose. At least, until the day her father brought the mechanical arm home.

She had no idea why Ironwood would even bother to give her such a valued piece of technology. At first, she passed on it have felt it to be a crutch. The arm sat in her room looking at her as a reminder of what she lost. That night she sat on her bed staring at the metallic appendage like it insulted her sister. A part of her called it a crutch and a weakness. Another part of her just wanted two arms to dress and drive again…to be independent again.

"Damn it. Why did I have to lose my arm?" Yang said to herself before looking at a photo of her and Summer Rose. "I guess I should go see her."

She got up and put the arm down quashing down the thought of it as a crutch. She flexed it and just felt glad to have two arms. She left her room walking downstairs seeing her dad bemoaning a lack of milk.

"I'll get it." Yang said getting her keys. "It's not late enough for them to close."

"Yang, I…oh you're wearing the arm. I'm glad for it." Taiyang said as Yang walked to the door. "Think you'll be able to drive?"

"Yeah, I will." Yang said leaving the house.

It felt good to rev up Bumblebee again and even better to drive it. She had gotten the milk but had made one more stop. She needed to see her. Parking her bike, she slowly came up to that lonesome grave.

"You know I never did really visit you after you passed like Ruby did. I didn't think it was my place. You gave birth to Ruby and I was the reminder of a failed relationship. But you didn't see that…you took me up and loved me like your own. I just wanted to know why my bio mom couldn't bother with me." Yang said fighting not to spill tears. "You always had a good word about Raven, but you were just protecting me….from the real asshole she was. I wasted four years of birthday wishes for that cunt to come back, and I swear I'm going to make…"

She was interrupted by the howls of a lone Beowolf approaching. Yang's eyes flashed red as she turned around to only to see it, only she was grinning mad.

"Oh, fan-fucking-tastic." Yang said cracking her knuckles. "I can't wait to wear down the metal on this knuckle."

It snarled slowly approached trying to scare Yang, but she threw dirt in his eyes before tackling it. Taking a page form Nora's book, she supplexed it before grabbing it by the throat.

"You think you can just come here and ruin my life? Huh? You lowlife piece of a shit!" Yang said repeatedly slugging the Grimm's face.

She unloaded all she had on that Grimm before punching it into dust. Panting, she looked to Summer's grave.

"Mom, thank you for loving me. As far as you were concerned, I was all yours." Yang said walking back to her bike taking off for home.

As she rode home, Yang mostly felt at peace. Of course, the desire to strangle Adam, maul Raven, and put Blake through a wall was there. But a Xiao Long powers through.

(A/N: Happy 100th everyone! It took a while to write, but I did it. The angsty exploration piece is finished at last. Thank you all for the encouragement. Here's to 100 snippets, and here's to 100 more!)