Chapter 4: Reflections From the Mirror

-/- Schnee Manor, Atlas -/-

"I say we break in, then go all out!" Yang exclaimed

"Maybe we should just sneak in, get Weiss, then sneak out." Pyrrha argued

Both red and blonde heads turned to look at Ethan. "Sooo Ethan..." Yang started, catching the black-haired boy's attention. "What do you think we should do?"

Ethan hummed in response, closing his eyes as he contemplated on the choices. The girls gave him intent looks until he opened his eyes, saying, "We'll have to go with Pyrrha's plan. Weiss's place is obviously guarded, so we need to sneak in and out to get Weiss."

Yang pouted a little as her plan had not been accepted, but she decided to go with Pyrrha's plan anyway. Pyrrha only sighed in relief, while Ethan cleared his throat and said, "Now, shall we?"

"Let's go."

"Hell yeah!" Yang cheered, pumping her fists in the air, though her loud, cheery outburst was cut off by Ethan and Pyrrha shushing her just in time before someone noticed them hiding in the shadows of the Schnee Manor's courtyard.

-/-/-/-

In the cold and dreary yet elegantly furnished room of a certain former heiress, Weiss Schnee was preparing for her escape from the confines of the manor. Having finally perfected her Summoning Glyphs a few nights back, thankfully the repairmen and women were quick in replacing the window she broke, she was to meet her trusted butler Klein in the library, where apparently, he would get her out of the house and she would be free once more.

The excitement of freedom being so close to her grasp was fueling Weiss's determination to leave the Schnee Manor, despite the orders of her overbearing and poor excuse of a father that clearly stated she was not to leave the manor unless he permitted it. Weiss was not having any of that. She was an adult now, and could decide for herself completely.

Tap, tap. The white-haired girl immediately turned her head to where the sound of tapping was coming from, and had to restrain herself from yelping loudly when she saw a boy knocking gently at her closed window. The look on his face was a bit frantic, and that only fuelled her urge to open the window and let him in.

It only took a few seconds to quietly and quickly open the window, letting a messy black-haired boy inside. Weiss stared at him with a raised eyebrow, before gasping in surprise as a familiar blonde-haired woman launched herself into the room with a small thud.

"Yang?!"

"Hey, Weiss!" Yang looked glad to see her, giving the former heiress a tight hug once while another girl-with an unmistakable red hair tied up in a familiar-looking ponytail-climbed into the room. "H-hello again!" The girl greeted.

"Gyaaah, P-Pyrrha?!" Weiss exclaimed in disbelief, rushing over to the redhead once Yang had let go of her. "Y-you're okay... I'm so glad!" Pyrrha smiled as Weiss embraced her tightly, wrapping her arms around the former heiress in reply.

"B-b-but how-" Weiss's question was cut off by Pyrrha nodding her head at the boy, who waved awkwardly when Weiss looked at him cautiously. "Okay, who are you?" She asked. "And how did you three get here?"

"Mmm... We flew all the way from Vale to Atlas by eagle-" Yang started, before she was cut off.

"What?! An eagle?!"

"Ehhh, we'll explain later. Anyhow, we got here by eagle, thought up of a plan to get you out, and here we are!" The dragon finished, stretching her arms upward as she looked at her male companion. "So, what's next?"

"We get out-" The boy began, but Weiss interrupted him by clearing her throat and asked, "You haven't answered my question yet: who are you?"

"I'm Ethan. Nice to meet you Ice Princess," The raven-haired boy named Ethan introduced himself, not minding Weiss's "Hey!" as he continued relaying the plan to the three girls. "We'll need an escape route."

Pyrrha carefully peeked her head out of the window, sighing as she saw a few guards outside about to inspect the vine that she, Yang and Ethan had utilised to get to Weiss's room. "We can't use the route we took to get here," She whispered, alarming Ethan and the others. "Damn it," Ethan muttered, before an idea came to him and he asked, "Hey Weiss, do you know another way out of here that won't attract the guards?"

However, the former heiress was silent, shaking her head in response. "But I was supposed to meet with my butler tonight in the library so I could leave this place. I think he knows a way out."

"Great, let's go-wait, you... You were escaping?" Yang asked in disbelief, having just seen Weiss grab the small suitcase lying on the white-haired girl's bed. Weiss sighed and answered, "I... It's a long story. I'll explain later."

"Fine by us," Ethan said, cautiously opening the door, beckoning the girls to follow him after he noticed that there were no guards present in the corridor. They quietly sneaked around the hallways, Weiss whispering directions to Ethan as they went on. Unfortunately, halfway through their trek across the the manor, they bumped heads with a certain butler who was making his way to Weiss's room.

Dark blue eyes met crimson red as Ethan froze in his place, effectively stopping his other companions from moving forward. In front of him was the butler Klein Sieben, who was in a certainly angry mood.

"Who are you?!" The butler's angry voice thundered albeit softly as not to attract any more attention. Weiss ran and positioned herself beside Ethan, a pale hand raised in an effort to placate her close friend. "Wait, Klein! Don't!" She cried. "He's-" She looked at Ethan, who nodded at her before she turned to look at Klein-"a friend. He and a few others came to help me get out."

The butler contemplated on this, then asked, "You'll be leaving, no?" A sigh left his lips when Weiss nodded, her grip on her small suitcase becoming tighter. "I'm sorry, but... I have to." "I understand," Klein said in a more gentle voice than earlier, his iris changing from red to light blue, amazing Yang and Pyrrha. "If you will follow me, I shall show you the way to the library."

-/-

The library, like the rest of the manor, had the solemn dark colours of blue and white all around, giving off a more dreary atmosphere than it should have. But no one had time to talk about the library when Klein had opened the secret passageway leading to the outside of the manor.

"Keep moving forward and you'll see the exit. There is a nearby airport where you can ride an airship out of here," The butler advised, and Ethan smiled tiredly. "Thanks," The black-haired boy said quietly. "I think we need that for now." "For now?" Pyrrha asked, tilting her head. "You could just summon a-"

"Wait, Pyrrha, I think he's tired," Yang cut her off, giving Ethan a concerned look. "So summoning an eagle is totally out of the question."

"I still can't believe that you got here by summoning an eagle as transport, but it's better if we get a move on before morning arrives," Weiss suggested in her usual manner. Yang snickered, shaking her head as they entered the passageway, mumbling, "Same old Weiss-wouldn't have it any other way."

Weiss was the last one to enter the passageway, wanting to say goodbye to her close friend. "Thank you Klein," She said. "I hope... I hope to see you very soon."

"I do as well, Miss Schnee," Klein replied, giving Weiss a fond smile. "And pass on this message to your friends, won't you? I overheard your father talking to General Ironwood in the study a while ago. It seems that the General is closing the borders of Atlas in a few weeks. No one will be getting in or out after that."

Weiss's eyes flickered in alarm. "I see. I'll inform them. Thank you." And with that, she ran off. Klein watched her join up with the other teens, then closed the passageway, before scurrying off to answer Whitley's recent summons.

-/-/-/-

Ethan struggled to keep his eyes open as he led the way to the airport that Klein had told them about. Inspecting his fellow companions, it seemed that even Yang and Pyrrha were also fighting off their sleep. Weiss was the only one who remained fully alert among them.

After a while, they reached the airport. The place looked like it wasn't in much use for the meantime. A few airships were present outside their hangars, apparently preparing for late night trips to deliver Dust and other important materials.

Weiss, who had been here whenever she went somewhere outside of the Manor in her early days, then took over the lead "You look like you can fall asleep within a few seconds," she had told Ethan after seeing his exhausted state. "I know this place, so let me lead the way. Trust me.". She kept the group awake, hissing numerous times at her bleary-eyed companions to stay alert.

Eventually they reached one of the airships, which was the only one whose pilots seemed wide awake at this time of the night. Instead of sleeping off their stress from work, the two of them-one Faunus and the other human-were playing cards when Weiss approached them. Ethan, Yang and Pyrrha, still able to keep their eyes open for the meantime, watched as Weiss talked with the pilots.

"Excuse me?" Weiss spoke up, gaining the pilots' attention. The two immediately dropped their cards and stood up from the crates that they were sitting on. "Y-yes? Can we help you, ma'am?" The human, a young woman with dark brown hair, asked.

"I need you to get us somewhere, without the permit of your superiors, unfortunately," The former heiress answered, earning a hearty snicker from the Faunus-a dirty white-haired fox-tailed man who somewhat reminded Ethan of someone-who crossed his arms. "Permit? Superiors? We just came here to make sure that some special delivery was okay, then we go anywhere after that."

The woman nudged him, but Weiss apparently didn't mind the casualty with which he addressed her, and gave them a small smile. "That's good. So can you take us?"

"To where?" The female pilot inquired.

"To..." The white-haired Atlesian looked at Ethan, who answered for her. "We need to get to Menagerie. You think you can fly us there?"

"Menagerie? The Faunus continent?" The brunette echoed with a straight face, before cracking into a smirk. "My partner is a dang Faunus! Of course we can take you kiddos there!"

"Thanks a lot," Ethan said, and simultaneously he and Weiss brought out a few Lien from their wallets. The pilots, upon seeing them bring out Lien, shook their heads earnestly. "You don't have to pay us or anything. We'll take you there, and nothing else," The Faunus pilot said. "We won't say anything to anyone who asks."

"Oh really?" His fellow pilot asked, mischievously raising an eyebrow. "You won't say anything about us giving a couple of kids a lift to Menagerie, not even to your mom or auntie?"

"Arrrgh, don't bring them into this," Was the irritated answer, complete with a feral growl, but instead of intimidating the woman, it only made her laugh. As her friend stalked off to check on the airship's fuel, she opened the entrance of the ship and beckoned for the four teens to enter.

"The flight's going to take a few days, so there are spare cots in there," She motioned to her right, where a built-in bunk bed and a few sleeping bags lay, as well as some personal items. "You kids look like you need the sleep, so feel free to use the bed. Loo's over there-" she pointed to a closed door nearby-"and do lock the door when you're using it."

"We appreciate your concern, but..." Pyrrha faltered, shyly looking at the woman. "May we know your names?"

"I'm Cola, and my partner is Vanilla," The pilot answered her. "But he hates it when anyone calls him by his real name, so just call him Van instead. Unless of course, you wanna tease him and all."

"I'm Ethan," Said boy introduced himself, nudging the others to give their names as well.

"Pyrrha."

"Yang."

"Weiss."

"Welp, glad to meet you kids too," Cola grinned again. As Van came inside the airship, she left the four to help prepare the airship for takeoff. Immediately Yang claimed the top bunk, with Pyrrha taking the bottom, and Ethan took one of the sleeping bags. Weiss, though not feeling too sleepy, also got a sleeping bag and laid it out beside Ethan's.

Soon, the airship took off into the night.

"I never got to say thank you," Weiss quietly said, after a while, when Yang and Pyrrha had fallen asleep. Ethan, who found that he could not sleep despite feeling sleepy a while ago and was just staring up the ceiling, looked at her, confused. "For what?"

"Well, for helping me get out." The white-haired girl gripped the sheets of the sleeping bag tightly. "I thought I was going to have to get out by myself, but then you, and Yang, and even Pyrrha came to help me. Speaking of which, how did you... You know, with Pyrrha..."

"It's a complicated topic." Was his answer. "But I have this power that allowed me to bring her back."

"Can the same thing be said for Yang's arm?"

"Yeah..."

The two of them were quiet for some time, listening to the gentle vibrating of the metal beneath them and the muffled conversation between Van and Cola in the cockpit nearby.

"Why are we going to Menagerie?"

"To get Blake. She's there with her parents and Sun."

"Huh, I never thought that I would be going to Menagerie in my life," Weiss said. "I should have a disguise or something, just in case they don't warmly welcome humans there."

"That's a good thing," Ethan yawned, and could not resist stretching his arms as the yawn left his body. "Well then, good night."

"It's almost morning, you dunce," Weiss snapped quickly, but she sighed and said, "But good night anyways."

-/-/-/-

-/- A few days later... -/-

"And I win."

"No! That can't be!"

"But it is! You activated my trap card, and now your army is down."

"Curses!" Yang moaned, her ego flattening.

"I told you Yang, one day, you were going to be beaten at this." Weiss only huffed, triumphantly grinning as Yang bemoaned the loss of her kingdom. The two of them, as well as a bored Van and Ethan, were playing Remnant: The Game, while Cola had taken over pilot duty and Pyrrha was a quiet observer of the game.

"Seriously, you're quite good at this," Van commented before Ethan shrugged. "Maybe it's beginner's luck," Was the grinning raven-haired teen's answer.

"Beginner's luck or not, you managed to beat Yang," Weiss said. "Back at Beacon, no one was able to beat her except Neptune."

"Stop it Weiss!" Yang drawled sadly. "That guy won out of sheer luck, but it's clear that Ethan is skilled at this!"

"Either way, you lost, so deal with it."

"Weiss! I thought we were teammates-why have you forsaken me?!"

"You destroyed my army last time," Was the short reply. "And I am no Ruby."

"Even though!"

As the two teammates bickered with each other, the boys were left to pack up the board game. Pyrrha giggled quietly at the scene of Weiss trying to dodge multiple hug attempts from Yang, which went on for a few minutes before they were out of breath.

Van excused himself and went into the cockpit to check up with Cola. After a while, he came out and said, "We're halfway to Menagerie, but we need to land now. Fuel's low and Cola wants to stretch her legs and refill the ship. Fine with you guys?"

"Well, we won't be going anywhere if the ship's low on fuel," Ethan replied. "It's fine by us."

The Fox Faunus nodded in acknowledgement, then passed on the message to Cola before he turned his attention back to the guests. "Speaking of flying, is it okay if I ask you guys what you're planning to do in Menagerie?"

"We need to see a friend," Pyrrha spoke up from her place in the bunk bed. "From what we know, she's in Menagerie visiting family, and we have to talk to her."

"Oh, I see. Well, I hope you guys have a happy reunion."

"Tch." An unexpected snort came from Yang. Everyone turned to look at the dragon, who averted her gaze from any of them as thoughts of Blake filled her mind. "Happy my ass."

"Yang..." Pyrrha said slowly, but said blonde crossed her arms and cut the redhead off. "Blake left us. She abandoned us back in Beacon. The whole reunion thing won't be happy like a fairy-tale."

Ethan stepped towards her. "Yang, that's not true. You should listen to her side of the story before jumping to any conclusions."

"Whatever," Yang said uncharacteristically, her vibrant lilac eyes dulling by the second. "She promised us that if a problem came up her way, she'd come to us for help. But then a problem shows up, and what does she do? She runs away for freaking Oum's sake! She didn't go to us for help, she RAN from us."

"But Yang-" The raven-haired teen was cut off by her angered voice and bright red eyes, causing him to unconsciously take a step backwards.

"SHUT UP! You may know a lot about us, but you probably don't know the finer workings of our team. What gives you the right to tell me that I need to forgive her? Nothing! She didn't trust us enough to share her latest problems, so technically I don't trust her enough to hear her side of the story and think it's genuine. SO STAY OUT OF THIS!"

Her thundering voice silenced everyone present, and a heavy atmosphere reigned upon them until Cola's voice came on from the intercom, unaware of what had just happened. "I found a good spot to land on. Hold on tight guys!"

-/-

The moment that the airship landed on a wide plain and Cola had opened the entrance, Yang stormed off into the nearby woods to clear her thoughts. Everyone else watched her go, concerned looks on their faces.

While the pilots heaved out the extra fuel they had and refilled the tank, Ethan made up his mind to talk to Yang, but was stopped by a gentle pale hand that touched his shoulder. He turned to see Weiss, who had a look on her face that Ethan had never seen before.

"Let me talk to her." Was what she said. "She's my teammate."

The blue-eyed boy sighed. "Are you sure? She might not listen to you."

"That seems to be a risk that both you and I want to take just so that Yang could be convinced to forgive Blake," Weiss replied. "Besides, I was the one who made Blake promise that she'd come to us if she had any problems..."

The Volume 1 finale flashed through Ethan's mind in an instant after hearing her reply. Hesitantly, he nodded at her, and she gave him a small smile before walking off to find Yang.

Pyrrha walked up to him, the look of concern still evident on her face. "Do you think Yang and Blake will be able to make up?" She asked, earning an uncertain shrug from her friend. "Not sure," He answered. "But I hope so."

-/-

It only took Weiss a few minutes to look for her teammate. Yang's mood had begun to attract several Grimm in the area since she left the group, so when the former heiress's ears picked up the sounds of the golden dragon taking down the dark beasts, she rolled her eyes and ran to where her friend was.

Upon reaching Yang, the horde of Grimm had been eliminated, and the blonde was heavily breathing for air, sweat (or were they tears?) pouring down her face. The white-haired girl cleared her throat and walked towards her teammate. "Yang," She began slowly, but said currently red-eyed girl refused to listen to her or even look her way. Instead, the blonde began to scream in frustration and agony, letting out all of her pent-up emotions in the wild.

Weiss sighed, and waited until Yang was finished, giving her friend constant concerned looks as Yang yelled her lungs out.

When the dragon was finished, her knees gave way, causing her to sit on the ground and cry a little more. Weiss then sat beside her, placing a comforting hand on her back. "Hey. I know you're mad at her..."

"I still am."

"But so am I." That was what caused Yang to look at her as she continued talking. "I just have a different way of dealing with it. We all have different ways of dealing with our anger, our disappointment, our... Well... Other emotions." The two of them were then silent for a while, before Yang broke the silence with her thoughts.

"I hate it when people leave."

"Why is that?"

"Well... It's a long story." The blonde sighed sadly, but Weiss nodded her head, ready to listen, so Yang continued with her talk. "When I was born, my mother left me with my dad. I never knew her, or even saw her in person. The one who raised me was Ruby's mom, Summer Rose, and later she raised Ruby too. For a long time in my life, I thought she was my real mother.

"But... One day, she went on a mission-she was a Huntress-and never came back. My dad shut down and my uncle was gone for a long time, so an aunt of ours took it upon herself to take care of us until my dad returned to his senses, but I found that most of the time, I had to take care of Ruby.

"It was hard being both an older sister and a mother figure to her. She didn't even really understand what was going on in our family because she was too young to. All that she knew was that Summer was gone, Dad wasn't doing anything like his usual self, Qrow didn't visit most of the time, and Auntie was the one who was caring for us. That was it. And what made me more stressed out-if I knew back then what was stress-was the fact that Summer wasn't my real mom, and that my mom had left me long ago.

"A lot of questions popped up in my head when I found out about that. Why did my mom leave? What happened that she left? Why didn't she stay? Did she care about me at all? I asked my dad, Qrow, and even my aunt about her, but they didn't say much. I had to find out the answers for myself. And all the while, I felt so mad and so sad because she wasn't there for me-at all.

"Then Ruby and I got to Beacon, and met you and... And Blake. I understood the first time she ran off-and even the time when she tired herself out trying to look for Torchwick-but I can't understand why she ran off the second time. Why did she even run? We're her friends, for Oum's sake! We could help her against that bastard-but she ran away from us instead!" Tears spilled from Yang's eyes as she stopped talking, and Weiss offered her a hug, which she tearfully accepted.

"You and I both know that Blake promised that the next time a big problem of hers came up, she'd go to us for help, and not run away," Weiss said gently, rubbing her friend's back. "But then she went back on her word-she ran off the night Beacon fell, after her old partner cut off your arm. And I know that her leaving without saying anything hurt you as much as it hurt me.

"However, in the end, I think she did it because she thought of us. She thought that if she stayed any longer, she would end up bringing more harm to us than good, so she left. But, I also think that it was the stupidest thing she ever did-even more stupid than her running off after we learned that she was a Faunus.

"You can't blame her for, at least, thinking of us when she left. The thing is, she didn't actually think about us properly. She probably didn't realise that by leaving, she'd hurt us more than by staying. Blake is probably used to thinking that if she left people she cared about, she wouldn't cause more damage or pain to them, but that's wrong. You and I clearly know that.

"But, it doesn't mean that we shouldn't forgive her just because she did the wrong thing to us even if it was meant for us. What right do we have to be mad at her for her decisions if we can't see things in her perspective first? And what right does she even have to think she's right without seeing things in our perspective too?

"So, in other words, both you and Blake are at fault, but you need to forgive her, now that you understand how she thinks." The former heiress finished her gentle lecture, and noticed that Yang had gone silent. "Yang? Did you even..."

A bitter laugh left Yang's lips as she quietly untangled herself from Weiss's hug. Red eyes finally returned to the usual lilac as she wiped away her tears. Her eyelids were puffy, and Weiss silently supposed that Yang was having a small splitting headache.

"Y'know what, Weiss?"

"What?"

"I'm so stupid to have thought that I knew everything about her within almost a year," Yang said, a bittersweet smile on her lips. "Like the things she loves, her hobbies, and even the way she thinks."

"What are you, a sappy love-struck dunce?"

"Maaybe," The blonde drawled, giggling after. Weiss rolled her eyes in a playful manner, then got up to her feet, offering a hand to Yang, who gratefully took it.

"I think we should head back. Van and Cola should have finished refilling the airship."

"That's a great idea," Yang began, and as they walked back to the airship, she said, "Thanks for the talk back there."

"You're welcome, Yang. You can repay me by telling Blake how you really feel about her when we see her again."

"Weeeeiss!"

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone else."

Cola immediately took off after Weiss and Yang had boarded the ship, but no one was willing to ask about what they had talked about, and not even Ethan was sure if Yang was faking her bright mood or not.

-/-/-/-

Menagerie, as it turned out, could only accommodate ships and not airships, so the travelling quartet had to say their goodbyes to Cola and Van once they reached the nearest Mistralian port town, where they had to take a ship to the Faunus continent.

"Hey, this ain't goodbye, yet," Van casually said to the four teenagers while his partner had a sad look on her face. "We'll meet again, I'm sure of that."

"Hope so," Yang was the first one to reply. "So I can finally beat up your ass in Remnant: The Game." Everyone began snickering at her response, just before a nearby ship blared its horn, alerting all other passengers to board the ship to Menagerie.

The four were waving repeatedly at the pilots as the ship left the docks until the port was out of their view.

"You think we'll actually see them again in the future?" Yang asked sometime after the ship left the port. Pyrrha and Weiss had gone around, touring the ship, leaving the blonde with the raven-haired teen. Ethan only shrugged, saying, "Well, I hope so, but I'm not as sure as Van, though."

"Y'know, Van reminded me of someone."

"Who?"

"A cocky little girl whom you managed to get to help us in whatever thing you asked her."

Oh, Neo. Ethan immediately thought, before he chuckled. "Yeah, I thought so too."

"Think they're related or something?"

"Probably. Might as well ask Neo when she contacts me."

The two of them were silent for a while before Yang snickered absentmindedly. Ethan looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "What is it?" He asked.

"Nah, nothing..." Yang said quickly, but the raven-haired boy caught the mischievous twinkle in her eyes. It seemed that the lively Yang was back, and that was good... Right?