The screen began to bubble and boil as the familiar silver door rose from it's depths, the thick purple chains corroding and breaking apart as the door opened up and bathed everything in dark purple.
From the tainted light, came a single red eye that glared at the screen before the door slammed shut and everything became static, a crumbling rose symbol appearing every so often as the title began to form.
The Ruinverse: Chapter Twenty Four, Mirror Mirror, Shattered.
Xxxxxxx
-Remnant, Solitas, Atlas, Schnee Estate-
It was a moonless night in the great capital of Atlas, headquarters of Remnant's most advanced technology and its near infinite supply of Dust, as snow fell outside the domed city and onto the local mountain range.
Within these mountains and their snow covered tips, was a rather exquisite manor belonging to the Schnee family, the most influential of Atlas' elites.
As the camera zoomed closer to this estate, one made from the blood of the past and maintained by the backs of corruption's lackeys, a pair of maids, both faunus, were currently in the middle of clearing the circular driveway and front steps of several inches of snow.
"Ah!" one maid groaned, her alpaca-like ears frozen stiff from the near freezing temperatures, as she threw a shovel's worth of snow away from the lower steps. "I hate being forced to do this, in my maid's outfit of all things!"
"Be grateful that we are wearing anything." retorted the other maid, her mantis-like antenna currently covered in icicles. "The 'master' would just as likely see us shoveling the snow naked."
The first maid grumbled while throwing another shovel's worth of snow to the side. "I need a new job."
"Like what?"
"Possibly a CCT technician one. I mean that pays well."
"True, but I really don't think that's a good idea. I mean…lately most big companies are falling apart."
"...you mean the death of the Human Nextwork's CEO? You're still scared about that after two weeks?" she said with a raised eyebrow.
"Well it's not my fault, getting thrown off your own building is a turn off for any new workers." the second maid said with a shiver. "And it's not just Nextwork, it's been the Atlas Broadcast Network, Chekov Ink, Coal Dust, and even the Crepe N' Pastas. All the major Atlas media, restaurant and Dust shops have been shutting down lately."
"Well, we could always try outside the Kingdom. Like Mistral, I heard the weather is better there." the first maid inquired before sneezing from the cold. "Sniff."
"Did you not hear about the Vale Headmaster Incident? Or the Haven Disaster? The Shade Bombing?!"
"Chill out, I know about them and I see the point. Especially when…" the maid looked around to see if anyone was listening in on their conversation before whispering to her coworker. "There's talk of another Great War, this time against Atlas."
"That is hogwash. Atlas might be bad, corrupt even, but even they know that without them, the other Kingdoms would be starved of Dust within a few years, possibly less." the second maid spoke in a hushed yet annoyed whisper. "War will never come to Atlas, not when Robyn Hill holds power in the council."
"True, but still this is all strange. She becomes head of the council right after Ironwood's 'suicide' as the media keeps insisting, and only then does the other Kingdoms declare war on us." the first maid frowned while no one heard the sound of crunching snow from the other side of the manor. "I think it's all a conspiracy to cause a war."
"Not this again. Robyn Hill wants peace between Atlas and Mantle, not a war. It's not her nature."
"Or is it? Her semblance tells the truth of others, but not herself. For all we know, she's the one lying to everybody." the alpaca-like eared woman said with suspicion as the crunching sound moved closer to the manor and suddenly stopped, the sound being replaced with the cold harsh winter winds. "Burrrr! So cold!"
"Then let's get this done before you know who pops up." the second maid retorted before shoveling the snow over her shoulder, hitting a nearby tree in the process.
(Elsewhere)
-Winter Schnee's Bedroom-
Woooooosh.
The sound of the cold winter wind moved across the closed windowpane, frost forming on the edges as the camera zoomed away and moved towards a nearby desk table, where Winter Schnee, former heiress and current Lieutenant General of the Atlasian Army, was currently polishing her swords with a dirty rag, seemingly stressed about something.
That something? The death of General Ironwood, which according to the news reports was possibly poisoning but according to the autopsy done in private...
It was internal hemorrhaging in the cranium, suggesting either blunt force trauma, high blood pressure, a blood clot or a possible brain tumor. However, upon examining the skull, no signs of external damage were identified and from current medical files, he had no signs of a developing tumor…thus making the second option probably due to the man's semblance.
However, something didn't sit right for the Schnee, at all. She knew that while the general's semblance was harmful to his mentality over prolonged use and even saw the effects of sporadic bouts of 'madness' during his dealing with both the White Fang and the other headmasters, it never seemed to have an adverse effect on his body.
If anything, the idea of his semblance causing his own death was impossible and as unlikely as his own cybernetics malfunctioning under a Soltias blizzard.
'This…makes no sense. How could he have had high blood pressure from his own semblance?' she thought while rubbing her blades a little faster, the cloth absorbing the grime and dust particles into itself with every stroke. 'It just makes no sense.'
As she continued to clean her blades, placing the smaller one upon the desk, her mind wandered away from her commanding officer's death to other matters of interest that concerned both her and the rest of the world.
The deaths of the three headmasters of Remnant, Ozpin, Leonardo Lionheart and Theodore, all occurring near weeks of each other but with various methods of execution.
For Vale, Ozpin was poisoned via a drugged cup of tea, the approximate time of death being unknown.
For Mistral, Leonardo was shot by an unknown sniper during a White Fang rally held in the city at the time, although the shells have mysteriously been unaccounted for by the forensic investigators.
And for Vauco, Theodore, the most cautious and most powerful of the headmasters, was found dead in the desert, apparently mummified within the sands for a long amount of time, possibly months, with various scratch marks present near the neck and sides. Local law enforcers were only able to locate the body several months after his disappearance following a large Combustion Dust explosion within Shade Academy's Headmaster's office, possibly enacted by either The Crown or the White Fang.
These deaths, called the Vale Headmaster Incident, the Haven Disaster and the Shade Bombing respectively by the media, rocked the current political climate of Remnant to its very core, causing many of the capital cities and its resident Huntsmen Acadamys to go into a panic, unable to comprehend or understand the sudden deaths of the most influential beings on the planet.
To the Schnee, this was both confusing and concerning for multiple reasons as with the deaths of the headmasters and the odd happenings around the Kingdoms, tension was becoming higher than it ever had and if things continued…then war will be inevitable.
Woooooossssh.
The wind began to pick up outside as the Schnee finished her polishing, letting the light of her ceiling lamp shine down upon the reflective steel.
"...just what is going on in Remnant?" Winter muttered to herself, feeling lost without General Ironwood's presence in her life, feeling like she lost both an acquaintance and a possible father figure, given her biological father neglected her and forcibly controlled her heiress studies for a good half of her life before joining the military.
However…something kept bugging her every time she recalled the harsh childhood of her youth, something that…she couldn't recall at all. Which was strange as she usually had a good memory, especially about certain events of her life, but as it stands…she was drawing blanks, and she didn't like it.
'What is this unnerving feeling?' she thought to herself as she turned to face the window, her eyes slightly dulled with dark rings, a sign from her sleepless nights of uncertainty after hearing about the death of her commanding officer, as she watched the snow drift downwards towards the ground. 'Just what am I forgetting?'
As she looked upon the snowflakes, a chill went down her spine, the hairs on the back of her neck rising up as she felt that something was…amiss.
Carefully putting her weapons on the left side of her coat, she stood up and moved towards the doors, opening them as she looked down the dark hallways with a cautious look in her eyes.
"...odd." she muttered to herself before walking out of her room and begun to move down the left hallway, her heels making a loud 'clack' with each footstep she made.
(A bit later)
Clack.
Clack.
Clack.
Winter moved slowly down the hallway, her heels clacking against the hard tiled floor, as she felt unnerved about the manor's atmosphere, which replaced the cold harsh aura with an air of terror and uneasiness.
But as she neared the end of the hallway, she noticed that one of the doors, the one closest to the end, was slightly ajar, letting a trail of light hit the nearby wall and it's glass window companions.
'Father's study? Did he forget to close the door again…wait, why am I even worried about him?' she thought to herself while the feeling of uneasiness never left her, only growing more intense as she moved closer to the door. 'He's a vile monster…no Winter. Don't give into negativity, think what…mother said. Ugh, I really need to stop being harsh on her, she's trying her best and I'm just making it worse by avoiding her, especially when there's a war looming on the horizon. Repairing that relationship could help…although with Whitley, it might take longer…given I still don't trust him-no no, stop thinking negatively of your family. Think about what the psychologist told you. Breath...breath.'
As she got towards the door and peeked inside, she noticed that her father was slumped on his desk, possibly passed out from overworking, given that in the months leading to Ironwood's death, the SDC's stocks and important data were mysteriously absent in the company's database and Jacques Schnee, the man that cared about the company's outwards appearance, was worried some external influence was sythoning company secrets and spent many a night trying to recover the stolen information.
Strangely, in her opinion, the 'theft' was only noticed just six months ago but the decrease in company stocks has been occurring much longer than that, about twelve years to be exact.
Winter looked on with mixed emotions, one filled with both malice for the man that ruined the Schnee's honor and a faint touch of love for the one that raised her, as she heard something rummaging through papers within said study.
Suiss.
Suiss.
'Who's that?' she thought before slowly pushing the door, allowing her to see a little more of the room itself.
Only to see a figure, cloaked in shadow due to the poor lighting of said room created by the rather small desk lamp, throwing folders from a nearby cabinet onto the ground with semi reckless abandonment.
Quickly, the Lieutenant General pulled out her weapons and kicked the door, sending it flying off of its hinges as the figure stopped and stood still within the darkness.
"Freeze! Hands where I can see them!" she yelled while the figure remained in their spot, unmoving. "Put them up, slowly."
The figure slowly moved their left hand, unseen by the Specialist, before something shot towards the lamp, shattering the bulb and plunged the room in complete darkness.
"Shit." Winter cursed before hearing footsteps moving towards, causing her to block a kick to her chest using her blades as the figure was pushed back into the blackness. 'This won't be easy, but I have to restrain this intruder, now.'
Clack.
Clack.
Clack.
'This intruder must be cocky or stupid to invade this manor, but how did they get past the guards, and the security system?' She thought before getting kicked in the back, sending her falling onto the table, knocking several papers and books to the ground as the body of Jacques Schnee slumped to the floor with a heavy thud, unmoving.
SWISH!
Winter rolled away from the figure, hearing the sound of broken wood as she quickly got up and activated her semblance, causing glyphs to appear under her feet as she zipped across the room to confuse her opponent.
However, the figure became illuminated by a white light as their speed increased as well, causing both to attack each other on equal terms, much to Winter's shock.
'How did they do that!?' she thought as she blocked each attack with her blades, noting the curved nail-like blades on the figure's person in place of a practical weapon. 'Is she a speed user like Specialist Harriet?!'
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
As Winter's blades repelled the intruder's attack, the figure quickly changed tactics and moved towards something in the darkness.
WOOSH!
"AH!" Winter cried out as something stabbed her in the right arm, causing her to drop her secondary blade in the process. "What was-"
WOOSH!
"AHH!" she screamed again as another object penetrated her left arm, causing her to drop her main weapon as the clouds outside began to part away, revealing the distant glow of Atlas while a small airship hovered by and momentarily lit up the room with its searchlights.
Only to reveal, to the Specialist's shock, a pair of pens lodged in her lower arms, right in between the Ulna bone to be exact.
The Schnee panted in pain, her arms becoming unresponsive due to the pens hitting blood veins and nerves, making movement impossible as the figure moved away from her hiding spot and revealed something…familiar.
That being a short pale skinned young woman with short white hair with two small offshoots behind her head that were wrapped with two thin black bands, pale blue eyes, a B cup chest and small ass, wearing a black long sleeved full body bodysuit with white zigzagging lines going down the sides and shoulders, black gloves that were tipped with white metallic nails, a short black skirt-like trail with white vertical elliptic sigils in the center, and slim black high heeled boots with a single white heel, whose face was devoid of all emotion as the Schnee's eyes widened in horror.
'W-W-Weiss!?' she thought as her mind became flooded with memories of her sister, from her birth to…her fifth birthday, the day she got lost in the sea of politics and self-righteous fury towards her fate. 'N..No…it can…can't be!'
'Weiss' looked upon the figure of her older sister, seemingly confused about her presence, before moving closer to the Specialist and raising her left hand upwards.
"W…Wait! Weiss, it's me, Winter, your sister!" she yelled while the middle sibling didn't flinch or even respond to her despite pleas. "You can't do this! We're family!"
SWISH!
Within the span of a few seconds, clawed metal nails ripped and tore the eldest Schnee's throat out, causing blood to drip out and coat the floor and her uniform with the liquid as she fell to the ground, slowly losing consciousness in the process.
"I have no sister." Weiss said while moving away, revealing to a semi conscious Winter that the back of her arms were covered in deep thick cuts that seemed to be healing. "Silence has only one family."
As Winter started to black out, she could hear her sister, the one she seemingly forgot due to her own ambitions, walking out of the study and towards her next target.
"Mommy Salem." Weiss said, to no one in particular, as the lights of the searchlight faded away, replacing the world with darkness once more.
Xxxxxxx
Name/Designation Title: Silence/Weiss Schnee (Mirror Mirror Shattered Weiss Schnee- MMSWSRWBY)
Age: 17
Affiliation: Mega Evil.
Dimension: - 102223781- 91 MMSWRWBY
Abilities: Enhanced strength, speed, durability, agility, endurance, accuracy, and jumping, supernatural accuracy, weapon mastery, hand to hand combat skills and knowledge, Dust knowledge and handling, blunt object handling skills and knowledge, weapon creation skills and knowledge, infiltration skills, espionage mastery, assassination skills and knowledge, Grimm control and summoning (limited), knowledge of Aura and Semblances, organic physiology knowledge, faunus and human anatomy skills and knowledge, tactical mind, high preparation skills, poison knowledge and handling, very limited knowledge of magic (thinks its another form of unknown science), wall climbing skills, pain immunity (via Grimm implant), low empathy, fear instillment, facial cue knowledge, emotion detection, lip reading knowledge, limited self regeneration (via Grimm implant).
Semblance(s): Glyphs
Bio: In this timeline, the bond between Winter Schnee and Weiss Schnee was moot due to Winter being forced into more challenging training for the role of the SDC heiress, causing the girl to become isolated and alone from both the outside world and her own family at a very young age. Upon reaching the age of five, the loneliness became too much and she wished upon a shooting star for someone to fill the void in her heart, not knowing that the star was really a Seer Grimm that was sent to spy on the esteemed Schnees for its mistress. Seeing a little of her own daughter within the lonely girl, Salem chose to appear to the Schnee, in the guise of a godmother, and influence the child with her own ideals and passions, intending to use her position to replace the lingering feelings of maternal love within her own heart and to create a weapon against her enemies. Influenced by the immortal's presence, Weiss bonded with her 'godmother', learning the ways of proper etiquitte, medicine, magic, hunting and the art of assassination to such an extent that she could turn non-lethal weapons such as erasers into weapon of death in her hands, her body fusing with a specialized magic infused Grimm that nullified pain itself. Gaining the traits of Salem through the years, her loyalty to the Schnee family became nonexistent as she served her godmother as the assassin Silence, Remnant's most deadly and untraceable killer in modern history, as her own heart became unfeeling and apathetic to all. In the following twelve years, the assassin Silence systematically killed many of the key players of Remnant, preventing them from influencing the world against Salem's will and doing so without being detected or captured, causing the Kingdoms to become weary of each other and preparing for another war. This included the Schnees, who were killed by one of their own in the dead of night, on the orders of Salem to prevent them from swaying Weiss back to their side. Without knowing it, Weiss doomed the planet to an age of darkness, all to make her 'Mommy Salem' happy.