Chapter 3: Melody of Memories

Weiss looked out over the balcony and took in her surroundings. There was a light breeze and the front courtyard of the Academy was covered in a sizeable blanket of snow. It had stopped snowing sometime before Weiss came out onto the balcony, creating an atmosphere of bleak stillness and an image of hopelessness. At least that's how Weiss saw it.

She still didn't know what she was going to do. 'Fixing' what was wrong with herself is about as vague of a start as one could get; what was she supposed to fix and how was she going to do it? She really had no clue where to start figuring herself out. So, after some thought, she decided to sing. Singing did two things for Weiss; it helped her cope with the trauma she was facing at the present moment, but it also made her remember the sadness of her past. She loved sad songs, and their lyrics were what made Weiss remember. Singing was a bittersweet gift to her, but here it would be put to good use.

"There's only one song I can even sing that can make me remember that far back…" Weiss hesitated, and then cleared her throat quietly. "At least nobody's hearing me…"

"Mirror, tell me something. Tell me who's the loneliest of all?"

The memories all came rushing back. The yelling, the hurtful words, the tears, but mostly the pain. Weiss continued to sing anyway. She was sick of her crying fits at night when nobody could hear her, like what forced her here tonight. She was sick of the feelings she held inside of herself. She needed an answer.

"Mirror, tell me something. Tell me who's the loneliest of all?"

She remembered herself when she was around five years old, a small girl whose knowledge of the world was smaller than herself. She lived about as happily as a girl could have been. She had lots of friends and always found a way to have fun and make people smile around her. Her family may not have been around much, but she still enjoyed herself. She'd always dreamed of being something like a 'warrior princess', someone who would be able to fight off bad monsters and save her people. It seemed that easy to her, really. She'd find out that the real world wasn't the same as a fairy tale.

"Mirror, locked inside me, tell me can a heart be turned to stone?"

Once the war between the Schnee Dust Company and the Faunus began, her family became far more disciplinarian than they were before, removing Weiss from any nonprofessional interactions with anyone at a young age. Part of that move was so she couldn't be an easy target for the Faunus, as many others have been at that time, but the main reason was to train her to become 'the ideal Schnee', in her family's eyes: strong-willed, intelligent, logical, thorough, and decisive. In other words, Weiss Schnee would become a leader among many, performing everything with flawless perfection and diligence, the kind of person worthy of running the Schnee Dust Company. She was still five, but she was immediately thrust into the realities of the world and of her family name.

Weiss continued to sing, a melodious series of vocal notes escaping her lips in the dead of night with the wind carrying it as far as it would go. The varying pitch and tone of her voice was the singing equivalent of the 'ideal Schnee'; flawless in every way.

"Mirror mirror, what's behind you? Save me from the things I see.

I can keep it from the world, why won't you let me hide from me?"

She remembered the brutal lessons, the business training, all the combat practice, and her family's ideas all forced into her mercilessly. Very soon, the once bubbly and happy girl became a kind of walking corpse, cold and calculating, the very life drained from her being, as she shuffled from task to task without much rest or a second thought. Her wonder and questions had ceased to escape her lips after numerous fights with her family, including one she'd never forget…

For the longest time she believed it was the Faunus' fault for what had happened to her life, but after her dispute with Blake, she figured it was more the Schnee mentality than anything else. She would've gotten this kind of life without the war anyways…right?

Regardless, she was fully convinced that something was very off about herself, never mind the fact that her family life affected her growth as a person. She felt that it was HER fault she was an outcast, someone who couldn't get along with many people, try as she might. She felt like her own team at best tolerated her because they had to, though in reality that couldn't be further from the truth. But Weiss wasn't thinking that way. She was a problem to others, to everyone she was around. Her family thought her as an heiress, not a person. She learned to be callous to all but herself and only defended her family's name staunchly because doing so would make her look better and maybe give her some respect, something she sorely wanted not for the sake of having it, but so she could feel appreciated for once. She never got that.

Her real life had to be a secret, otherwise her life and her family's lives would suffer from the wrath of the royalty of Remnant, the consumers of Schnee Dust, and the ever-watching public eye. The last thing she needed was her family's life to suffer.

Holding back tears, she continued on singing, slowly losing her handle on that famed ice-cold Schnee composure she would exhibit so well.

"Mirror mirror, tell me something: Who's the loneliest of all?"

In her mind, it was her. In her mind, she was a problem in the lives of so many. In her mind, her life itself was a mistake.

The last words of her song came out in a muffled, yet audible whisper:

"I'm the loneliest of all…"

And with that, the strong-willed and flawless heiress of the Schnee Dust Company lowered her head, broke down and wept silently on the balcony as the wind of the night whipped by her, a scene that could torment any healthy soul.

And unbeknownst to said heiress, someone was watching. Someone holding back her own tears as she looked on, wearing only a black top and white sweats, the latter of which were adorned in red roses.

A/N: So I brought the feels this chapter. Be warned I will continue to do so. This took me a while, and to a point it could be considered more of a rant than a story, but this was the best I could do to capture Weiss' childhood. That element of somber finality was helped by the song (I basically transcribed 'Mirror Mirror' by Jeff and Casey Lee Williams, the song Weiss sang in her trailer) and the environment Weiss is in almost as much as the context itself.

As always, any and all feedback is appreciated, and I'll try to get these chapters written on a more consistent time frame. Plus, a lot of you guys on the RWBY fanfics are really, really good! I'm very jealous of so many of you guys' work and will start to follow/fav some of you other guys. This is a strong community after only one season, let's keep this going! Happy Holidays!