I know Wednesday's are usually for intermissions (if I release them at all), but since exams are coming up for me soon, I'm working double time on finishing the fic before revision periods start. Theoretically, that means that the last (proper) chapter is coming up on the 27th of April.
Stay tuned!
Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum, not me. This is merely a fanwork meant for entertainment purposes only. Cover image courtesy of Simon Howden. All rights reserved.
"What the hell are you?!"
At first it had been a sort of semi-liquid creature, as if someone had melted the mirror's glass and the reflective blob before her was all that remained. However, in a matter of seconds, the situation became a whole lot worse. The glass began to shift, slowly morphing into an all too familiar shape. Pale skin, an elegant coat, graceful white hair tied up in a ponytail…
"I'm your reflection." the creature stated, its cold gaze unblinking, "I'm everything you are, everything you were, and everything you will be."
Having backed away from the reflection before it took shape, Weiss was able to safely equip Myrtenaster 2.0, now pointing it menacingly at the thing that claimed to be her.
"Then if you're me, you know I won't hesitate to cut you down!"
The reflection let out a sinister chuckle, albeit in Weiss' own voice. Disconcerting didn't even begin to cover it.
"Oh, I know you'll try...but you can no more defeat me than you can defeat yourself. Yet, by all means, use your new sword to kill me. Daddy would like that, wouldn't he?"
Weiss roared, using the assistance of her semblance to launch a lightning fast lunge at her mysterious foe. However, as the blade made contact, the reflection merely melted once more, merging again right behind the heiress.
"Now now, is that how you were taught to fight? You're displaying about as much control as that dolt Ruby Rose."
"Shut up!" Weiss sputtered angrily, "Ruby's my friend, and I won't have you say such things about her!"
"I am only stating how you feel. Is violence against me really going to change that?"
Weiss held her rapier in two hands, slashing it downwards as she spun around. Unfortunately, the reflection merely repeated its previous trick, its mischievous smile going from ear to ear.
"You have dust, you know. If you really wish to slay me, I would recommend you stop fighting like a peasant and start utilising your assets."
Weiss narrowed her eyes.
"Those are my father's words, not mine!"
"And who are you to say that you aren't merely different sides of the same coin?"
"I...perhaps once I was like him, focused on nothing but personal wealth and social standing-"
"So you admit it?" the reflection interrupted triumphantly.
"I'm not done! The only reason I became that way was because he raised me to be like him! Once I escaped to Beacon, I met people, real people...I made friends!"
"Friends you so swiftly abandoned when your father clapped his hands? Truly they have changed your character for the better."
"YOU'RE WRONG!" Weiss screamed, letting her anger flow through her as she hit the trigger like a hammer. A brilliant light red sphere zoomed out from the blade, hitting the reflection square in the stomach.
SCHLORP.
"Oh dear. Did we forget what the main job of a mirror is?"
The room rumbled noisily as 'Weiss' began turning the same colour as the dust it had absorbed, pointing an imperious finger at its human counterpart.
"Reflection!"
A thin beam of light shot out of the creature at a truly ridiculous speed; it was only by a little guesswork from its stance that Weiss managed to duck under it before the beam even fired. Looking back, the heiress cringed at the singed crater the attack had left, wondering whether her aura would really have withstood it if she hadn't dodged in time.
"Please, while a powerful attack, it would have by no means been your end. I merely wished to teach you a lesson in the futility of attacking yourself."
Weiss returned her gaze to the reflection, running through a few breathing exercises to calm herself down. Anger almost got her killed, and she wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.
"What do you wish of me?"
The reflection gave a haughty look.
"And finally we ask the right question...but are you sure you wish to know the answer?"
"You tell me, 'Weiss'."
"Of course you do. Curiosity and pride killed the cat, and you are unfortunate enough to have both in plenty. What I want, you see, is for you to accept that which you fear the most."
"How informative and not at all cryptic. I'll be sure to direct my relatives here for their own trips of personal discovery and self-loathing."
"Cute. While you deflect my statement with your usual sarcasm, you know exactly what I'm talking about."
"Then pretend you're talking to someone who's not me to save me a good few centuries."
"You are becoming your father and your friends hate you but don't have the guts to tell you so. Our two greatest fears, no?"
Weiss grunted.
"More like phobias…"
"Superstitious and unfounded, are they? Then perhaps you'd like to explain why, when having been told about the event weeks in advance, you cancelled your day in Vale when your father finally pulled your reigns in about investigating the manor?"
"You know why!"
"Perhaps I do, but why not say it out loud to humor me?"
"...my father threatened to cut off my funding and withdraw me from Beacon. Happy?"
"Yes, yes, we know this already. But how do these two statements connect? How does this occurrence become your reason for action?"
"Because if he did that, I'd have to leave my friends behind and go back to...eurgh, I don't want to say it!"
"But is that because you think your friends will miss you, or you will miss your friends?"
"I-I don't know! Both!"
"Is that really true?"
"...yes."
"Pathetic. You distrust your father for his abhorrent business practices, in which he backstabs whoever he wishes to get his own way, yet here you are, doing the same. Admit it, you are no different than him."
"N-no, that's not..."
The heiress fell to her knees, her eyes glued to the floor.
I-is it really true? Am I just as self-centered as my father? Ruby, Blake, Yang...Jaune...do they hate me for it, and are only not saying it because they don't want to get in trouble?
I don't know anymore…
While Weiss had been having the intense discussion with her reflection, her outfit had slowly become more and more black...not that she had been paying enough attention to notice. The tar-like liquid, so prevalent on the walls of the room, was now apparently dripping from the ceiling, soaking deeper and deeper into her clothing.
"Admit it!" the reflection barked, pulling the poor girl up to face height with superhuman strength.
"I-I…"
Drip drip drip.
"I'm…"
Thump. Thump. Thump.
"I'm just like…"
Drip drip.
"My…"
Drip.
"Fathe-"
However, before Weiss could finish her sentence, an enormous CRASH shook the very foundations of the building. Turning to its source, she saw that a large circular hole had been bashed through the floor, with some kind of stone golem standing beside it.
"Finish it!" the reflection cried, desperation creeping into its voice for the first time, but Weiss had long since disregarded it. Her attention was on the stone warrior, who had now turned, its head directed towards the lifeless frame of the mirror.
"What are you doing here?!" the reflection hissed, its form slowly degenerating back into the vague blob. The warrior, for its part, didn't care. It readied its blunt weapon, turning its gaze to Weiss.
"Heiress?" it- his gravelly voice boomed.
"Y-yes?"
He raised the weapon up high, paying no heed to the desperate screams of the quickly reforming reflection.
"Don't look."
Just as the creature assumed the warrior's own form, he brought his weapon down like a judge's gavel, sending it through the mirror's frame like so much papier mâché. Unable to resist glancing towards where the reflection had once been, Weiss instantly regretted her decision. The transparent blob began to convulse and twist, producing a horrific noise akin to a thousand gears grinding at once as it slowly evaporated into the atmosphere. However, as it went up, fragments of herself, the warrior and some other person she didn't recognise could be seen in its pieces, all screaming for help at the same time. Seconds passed. Silence.
"...it's gone?" Weiss asked anxiously.
The warrior merely nodded, extending an armoured hand to help pick her up. Accepting the assistance, Weiss got back to her feet, re-equipping her not-so-trusty Myrtenaster 2.0 in the process.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
The odd pair looked up…
"I can't just sit here idly while Weiss is in trouble!"
"I assure you, Jaune, that Spade has the situation under control. He'll be back down here with your friend soon, you'll see!"
Thump. Thump. Thump.
"...what's that?" Jaune asked anxiously.
"Hm? Oh, it's just Spade walking around."
"No, not that! There's something else, something softer…"
Bianca stopped for a moment, trying her hardest to pinpoint the sound Jaune was talking about. There was the thumping, and…
"Oh...oh no." Bianca uttered softly, deep fear running through her ghostly form.
It was absolutely grotesque. A kind of...Grimm heart. A monster...and it was stuck to the ceiling.
"What is that thing?!" Weiss exclaimed.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
"Alice..." the warrior replied.
Thu-thump.
"Queen of Hearts."