In A Grimm Manor Chapter 9: Where The White Mist Grows, a rwby fanfic

After a short trip up the winding spiral staircase, Weiss found herself on what she presumed to be the second floor...although she certainly couldn't see much of it at the moment. For whatever reason, the stairs had lead up to a tiny room with only one door, featuring the same dark blue colouring as the ones from downstairs.

Note to self: if I ever find the architect who made this, I'm going to ask them what the hell they were thinking at the time. Politely.

Turning the doorknob, Weiss pushed her way into the next room, noting that it was some kind of long, poorly-lit hallway. The only reason she could see anything at all was thanks to a small lamp hanging off yet another spiral staircase, bearing the same unfortunate green flame from outside of the manor.

Wait...doesn't this only go two floors up? Where does this lead, exactly?

Deciding that these stairs were just a little too suspicious to take at the moment, Weiss instead decided to inspect what other features the hall had to offer; specifically, yet more doors. The one closest to her was green, then red, then a ridiculous bright pink...oh, and one more at the end which bore a slightly dirty toilet sign.

Lovely. At least I know where to go if I need to clean myself up, assuming the plumbing even works anymore. Let's try green first…

CRK CRK. Locked.

Odd. Perhaps I'll return to this one later if I find a key.

Next came the red room which, from what Weiss could tell, was a quintessential boys' bedroom. The walls were light grey, the likely marble floor was covered up by an enormous light blue rug, and a double bed with some kind of cartoonish covers overlooked the gardens through an ornate window. Otherwise, the room was oddly bare…well. Not counting the grotesque skeleton spread across the bed, anyway.

"Dust…" Weiss muttered, hanging onto the door to help support her somewhat jellified legs. While its clothing was torn in some places, it nevertheless gave signs of being a Schnee servant, gripping in its hands a circular brass keyring. From the looks of it, the green room's key had found itself here, safeguarded by the skeletal remains of its former owner.

"Um...maybe I'll come back for that later…" she told herself, closing the door as softly as she could. One room left.

By dust this room is pink!

The door colour had not lied, that much was clear. Absolutely everything in the bedroom was pink, from the walls, floor, bed...even to the multitude of stuffed toys strewn around, representing an assortment of crude farmyard animals. Walking further in, Weiss ran her hand along the bed's sheets, finding them to be made of incredibly fine silk. Strange...while there were certainly a lot of male Schnee members who could have occupied the bedroom next door, the previous occupant of this one was a little harder to track down. A guest room, perhaps? Hm, no, that didn't seem right somehow…

...what's that silvery glint in the corner?

Encouraged by the lack of a corpse this time, the heiress weaved her way around the various stuffed toys until she reached her prize; an elegant silver rapier, its guard hiding dust canisters of varying colors. In fact, to the untrained eye, it looked a lot like-

Myrtenaster?

Picking the sword up, Weiss found that it wasn't quite like the weapon belted to her waist. The blade was a little shorter, seeming more like a foil than the épée Myrtenaster drew inspiration from. Still, the lacking blade was made up for in a more complex dust exhaust port, apparently allowing for two types of dust to be expelled rather than one. Miraculously, the weapon's six dust canisters were all full to the brim, although their larger size to Myrtenaster's meant that swapping them around would be unlikely to bear any fruit.

Swish swish swish.

It will do for now, I suppose. Hm...I wonder if this could pick up those keys from before?

Sighing heavily, Weiss strode cautiously back into the red room, forcing herself to look back to the corpse that...wasn't there?

Either someone's playing a cruel trick on me, or that skeleton has moved. Possibly both. Either way, the keys have gone, so I'll just-

CREAK CREAK. Ksssssssss. CREAK CREAK. Kssssssss.

...on three, I'm turning around. One-

KSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

-three, three!

Acting on instinct, Weiss launched a furious kick as she pirouetted gracefully, sending a blood-curling scream echoing through the building as the attack connected, throwing the figure tumbling back into the now closed door.

By dust, how does something with no vocal chords make such a horrific noise?!

With a bad taste in her mouth, Weiss took a closer look at the creature. Bones linked into bones, some cracked, some whole, yet not a single muscle was in-sight. The malevolent white mist that had so haunted the first floor boiled beneath it, locked inside through the same magic that kept it animate, perhaps.

It doesn't look particularly intelligent and I doubt it could do much without a weapon, but...best to be cautious.

As it turned out, the heiress' worries were soon justified. While several of the bones had been damaged in their collision with the hardy wooden door, a disconcerting hissing began to sound as they started repairing themselves, fixing the various cracks and chips at an alarming rate.

If I destroy it, that white mist might come out again. On the other hand, if I leave it, it's liable to try and kill me when I'm not paying attention. Caught between a bone and a hard place…

Seeing that the skeleton had once again become fully functional, Weiss made her decision. Her movements projecting hours of practice, she extended the new blade towards her foe, pulling the trigger with a delicate finger. A high-pitched whistling sound blared as balls of fire and ice surged forward, joining together into some kind of shining purple sphere. Upon making contact with the skeleton, its skull began to melt, sending another horrific scream echoing through the house. Soon, however, the screaming stopped completely, and all that remained was a tiny off-white puddle.

Effective, if a bit loud. Good work, Myrtenaster 2.0, good work.

Unfortunately, Weiss' inner celebrations were short-lived. Upon exiting the creepy room, she immediately spotted another skeleton at the top of the first floor staircase, flanked by the poisonous white mist.

It must have opened the door! Dust, what to do, what to do?!

Just as it had been downstairs, there seemed only one way left; up. Running as fast as her legs could carry her, Weiss zoomed up the spiral staircase, tumbling through the door at the top and closing it behind her without a second thought.

"Need to...work on my...stamina...sometime!" she huffed, wiping her brow with her weaponless hand. She'd had quite enough of new rooms today so, thankfully, this seemed to be the last one. The floor she sat on was a checkered black and white tile, a stark contrast to the rest of the manor's pure white marble. The walls, meanwhile, were dripping with some kind of oily black liquid which, unfortunately, she had managed to get on her forehead when trying to clear off the sweat. As for furniture, there only seemed to be a single item in the entire room, despite its apparent enormity.

"A mirror?"

"...the one who died?" Jaune echoed in disbelief.

"Yes, Jaune. I died quite a long time ago, in fact; perhaps longer than you have lived."

"And you've been stuck here all this time?"

"I 'sleep' sometimes...let my mind drift until something happens. I haven't slept recently, though."

"Because a lot of things have been happening?"

"Quite right!" the girl confirmed happily, tilting her head to the side, "Most of them good, thankfully. In particular, a charming warrior has been keeping me company over the past few days. He's the one who told me about you, you know."

"What did he say?"

"He admires you, I believe. He seems to view you as a powerful combatant, primarily, although perhaps also as a friend."

"Do you know his name?"

"No…" she replied, frowning, "He does not like his name, for some reason, so he wanted me to call him differently."

THUMP THUMP THUMP. Something heavy was approaching the chamber.

"I-is that…?"

"Mmhm, that's him!" the girl announced cheerily, "My Spade is coming to see me! And you, perhaps. We'll soon find out!"

The thumping stopped for a moment as something ducked into the 'entrance' to the chamber, the door having been torn off many moons ago. The figure was very tall, perhaps a good six inches taller than Jaune, but it nonetheless had a definitive human shape. However, not a single distinguishing feature could be seen, as the figure was covered head to toe in some form of rock-based armour plating, including the head. Curiously, the helmet didn't have any holes for air, so Jaune wasn't quite sure how this thing was meant to breathe...if it breathed. Wordlessly, the figure made its way over to the ghost girl's side, kneeling down in respect.

"Spade!" she yelled loudly, 'clapping' her hands in excitement, "You made it! You're a bit early, though…"

"...Bianca." Spade's gravelly voice uttered, resting an enormous blunt weapon down on the ground, "The mist returns."

Jaune glanced back quickly, shivering as the white substance continued to press against whatever was keeping it at bay.

"What is that stuff?"

"Dangerous." Spade answered curtly, "Emitted by the manor. Should've killed you."

"So why didn't it?"

Spade and Bianca shared a look.

"I don't really know…" Bianca admitted, "You walked in here, basically half-dead from the mist, and I just kind of...kept it away from you for a bit. Don't you remember?"

Jaune shook his head.

"How strange...well, no matter. You're safe now, and Spade will be happy to escort you out of the manor, won't you Spade?"

"Mmhm."

"But...I can't leave yet! Weiss might still be in here!"

Bianca tilted her head once again.

"Weiss? Weiss Schnee?"

"...yes?"

Bianca paused for a moment, 'feeling' for something in the air.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..."

A horrible feeling began forming in his gut.

"Sorry for what?"

It was a deceptively simple little structure, devoid of the fancy embellishments present throughout the Schnee household, but somehow it had an aura of value, so to speak. Laying her weapon down, Weiss just couldn't resist clearing the dust off of the mirror's surface, marvelling as her reflection stared back at her, just as she stared into it.

"Mirror, tell me something…" Weiss chanted quietly, "Tell me who's the loneliest...of all…"

A curious thumping could be heard as it rumbled through the walls but, somehow, Weiss didn't hear it. She was a little busy focusing on something else.

"You are."

The mirror has her now, Jaune.