Everyone is entitled to their own sorrow, for the heart has no metrics or forms of measure. And all of it... irreplaceable.
Slowly, she stepped out onto the stage of the concert hall. The air was cold, but she was accustomed to that. Countless men and women watched her in the audience, filling up the massive room.
She looked down at her clothes. The white dress was pristine as ever, the red velvet in her collar the only color in her ensemble. As she looked up, she saw the balconies hanging from the tall ceilings of the concert hall. Even more people stood on them, watching.
He was there, on the highest balcony. Looking down upon her.
Well. At least this would be the last time.
The orchestra rose and she closed her eyes and began. "Mirror," she sang, "Tell me so-o-o-me-thing…
"Tell me who's the lo-o-o-oneliest… of all…"
Had it just been a week ago?
She had been standing in a hall, dark and frigid, clad in the same dress. Not as if she could choose any others. The empty suit of armor, five times as tall as a grown man, loomed before her, its gauntlets locked around an equally massive sword.
He had smirked when she gasped upon seeing it. Once again, he offered her the chance to give up. To remain with him, play the pretty songbird forevermore. He could have seemed half surprised when she turned him down.
Even so, he ascended to the balcony to watch. The AK-130s, naturally stamped with the company emblem, had been drawn back. They would only have intervened if she failed. Winter had been there too, dressed in her military uniform. She remembered searching her sister's face for any sign of encouragement and finding none. Winter was there only to evaluate her performance. The months they had spent together as Winter taught her to fight, to survive; were meaningless now.
He gave the order and a heavy metal trapdoor began to slide open. A black mass poured out, briefly taking the shape of a Geist before it rushed towards the armor. The cracks in the steel were quickly filled by a black, ashen substance as a single red eye appeared behind the visor. In seconds the Geist had fully possessed the armor, forming an Arma Gigas- a weapon giant. The towering figure shifted into motion, readying its broadsword.
She drew Myrtenaster. The white rapier glistened, the rubies in the pommel flashing. With a clank of metal, the Arma Gigas rushed upon her. Nimbly, she darted towards it, meeting the charge head-on.
It swung the broadsword in a wide arc, sweeping across the room. She leapt up over the blade to the Arma Gigas's helmet, struck at the visor with Myrtenaster, then flipped over her foe, landing on her feet.
It turned back to her and she snarled in frustration: her attack had left not a mark.
"Fear of… what's inside me…" she sang. "Tell me can a heart… be turned… to sto-o-o-one?"
Smiles and joy filled the audience. They barely seemed to hear the lyrics. After all, there was no way the heiress to millions could be unhappy.
No way they, sitting on top of the world with pearl necklaces and gold rings, could be unhappy.
The Arma Gigas brought down the broadsword towards her, and she leapt to the side, her movements akin to an ice skater. She seized the opportunity and lunged while it was bent over, unleashing a flurry of attacks upon its helmet. Yet still Myrtenaster couldn't pierce the metal.
It lashed out with an iron backhand, and she artfully sprang away from the blow, retreating down the room. The direct approach wasn't working. Time to spice things up a bit.
She closed her eyes and concentrated. The Arma Gigas charged toward her, but at the last second, she leapt into the air. A glyph of white light, similar in appearance to a snowflake, appeared out of thin air. She sprang off of it and flipped over the Arma Gigas's head before ramming Myrtenaster into its back, finally piercing the steel.
The Arma Gigas let out a metallic grunt of pain. She leapt off and, before gravity could pull her down, generated another glyph. Springing off of it, she slashed at the Arma Gigas's helmet, knocking off chinks of metal. The Geist's eye was exposed to the world, glowing red with hate. Arma Gigas's gauntlet shot up towards her, but was blocked by another glyph below her feet which she promptly sprang off, landing on the floor.
She readied herself for the Arma Gigas's next attack-
"Enough, Weiss!"
"Mirror, tell me so-o-o-me-thing…tell me who's the lo-o-o-oneliest… of all…"
His voice cut through her defenses more skillfully than any of the other monster's attacks.
"You'll never manage to pass my test! I raised a lady, not a barbarian!"
Gritting her teeth, Weiss evaded a stomp from the Arma Gigas, followed by a broadsword swipe.
"Face it: you'll never pass my test! You're not like your sister!"
Desperately trying to tune him out, she summoned a glyph and jumped off it at the Arma Gigas. If she could break the armor again-
"You won't be going with her! You'll stay with me!"
She didn't react to the gauntlet in time. It slammed into her stomach and sent her flying into a wall. Weiss collapsed to the ground, white light crackling around her before vanishing. The Arma Gigas stomped towards her.
Weiss entered an aria, singing "Aaa-aaaaaaaaaa… aaaa-aaaaa-aaaaa-aaaa…"
Outside, she could hear the noises of an airship landing. Weiss smiled ear to ear as she began the last verses, the orchestra swelling in a crescendo.
She struggled to her feet, her hand finding Myrtenaster.
"Give up, Weiss," his voice came.
"NO!" she had yelled. The Arma Gigas lifted its broadsword. "I can do this!"
As it brought down the blade, she rolled to the side and rushed at its leg. Grabbing onto the spur, she threw herself up to its arm, grabbing hold of the limb.
The Arma Gigas swung its arm out with incredible force, trying to throw her off. She hung on grimly, ignoring the sputtering forbiddance from the balcony.
"Mirror, mirror, what's behind you?! Save me from the things I see! I can keep you from the world, why won't you let me hide from me?!"
The Arma Gigas's other gauntlet shot for her and she was forced to let go. She was sent soaring away, but a glyph suddenly appeared below her feet. Had she been thinking clearly, she'd have been shocked. Her reserves were exhausted, she couldn't make any more glyphs. But she was driven by pure adrenaline. She kicked off it on pure instinct, leaping back at the Arma Gigas. It swung the broadsword, but she did a handspring off its wrist and landed on its helmet.
"Mirror mirror tell me something, tell me who's the loneliest of all?!"
Immediately, she buried Myrtenaster into the Geist's exposed eye. It let out a shriek of pain and collapsed to the floor, the broadsword clattering away. A gauntlet weakly grabbed her, the spiked knuckles biting into her flesh. She screamed in pain, but nevertheless plunged Myrtenaster forward.
The Geist let out one last cry and vanished into black smoke, pouring out through the chinks in the armor.
Jacques has no words. But Winter did. "Well," she had said, "You have certainly passed. Welcome to Atlas Academy, Weiss Schnee."
"I'm the lo-o-oneliest… of all…" Weiss finished.
Amid much applause, she walked off the stage and out of the concert hall, hurrying through the garden. A raven fluttered overhead as she reached the launchpad. Winter was there to greet her with a nod and escort her onto the airship, her bags already packed. Soon she'd be in Atlas Academy.
Weiss touched the scar under her eye, left by the Arma Gigas's gauntlet. She mentally replayed every move in that battle. There was no way she could've made that last glyph. So who?
She looked over to Winter. Why, the only person with the same Semblance as her, of course. Someone who Jacques would never have expected to interfere. Someone who she never expected help from.
Weiss knew Winter would deny it, so she didn't say it out loud.
Thank you, Winter.