Chapter Text
As Winter Schnee walked through the halls of Schnee Manor, she tried not to let her posture drop. She had taken enough ruler slaps during etiquette classes to know how she was supposed to carry herself, and it was usually second nature, but she’d had a particularly bad day at school filled with final exams. Her business tutoring afterward hadn’t helped much either.
Being nearly fourteen, it was decided that she needed to start learning how to run a business so she could take a low-level management position when she graduated from Atlas Prep, where she would run a small division part time while pursuing her huntress license. After that, she would move to middle management while taking huntress work to build a reputation with the common people. Once she got a high enough approval rating, she would be placed on the board while taking fewer hunting contracts. Finally, once her father retired she would move from heiress to CEO of the Schnee Dust Company.
She had her whole life planned out for her, carefully reviewed by a series of executive she would one day learn to hate more than she already did.
The intense micromanaging of her schedule meant she got up earlier for extra tutoring, had a higher bar at school that demanded she be salutatorian at worst, and spent three hours a day with whatever poor SDC employee she was told to shadow at the main headquarters. By the time she got home, all she wanted to do was eat and sleep, but she knew she had to study and also provide a report of her day to her father. By the time she was finished with all of that, she’d be left with exactly one hour before she went to bed and repeated the cycle all over again.
It was why she was nearly slouching as she walked to her room on what was about to be one of the most consequential Fridays of her life.
It started when she walked past her sister’s room as she always did on her route back to her own. She nearly pressed on, but something made her take a step back and peek through the cracked door. It was rare for her sister to leave the door open, which had caught her attention out of the corner of her vision.
Inside the room, Weiss was standing in the front of her large, full-body mirror and examining it closely. The action almost looked normal, but the confusion that painted her face betrayed something deeper at play. She stood at an uncomfortable distance from the mirror that was too far for close inspection and too close for a general examination of her appearance.
Winter pushed the door open a little further, grateful that the hinges were well-oiled, and got a clearer view of her sister’s room. Everything looked like the prim and proper room that was expected of a Schnee aside from the bathroom door being left open with the lights on. On top of the open bedroom door, that was two infractions that their father would be furious over. It was a good thing he rarely took interest in his children's lives.
“What?” Weiss asked suddenly, gathering her sister's attention. Only, she wasn't talking to Winter. She was facing the mirror, craning her head to the side curiously. "I don't know."
Winter watched for a little longer as her sister gave the mirror rapt attention. She wanted to barge in and demand answers right away, but there was a growing sense of dread that crept up her spine and kept her in place.
“I don’t know who that is. Father says faunus want to hurt us, so I don't talk to them,” Weiss stated, averting her gaze from the mirror like she did when she believed she’d disappointed someone. “I’m sorry.” There was another long pause as she waited for some kind of response, during which she seemed to be in a trance. Winter quickly checked, and she didn't seem to be talking on a borrowed scroll. “I’m eight and a half,” she stated proudly to the mirror, beaming in pride. “How old are you?” Another short pause and she said, “Wow, that’s a lot. That’s older than Winter.”
“Weiss, who are you talking to?” Winter asked, spurred on by the idea that her little sister might be talking to someone far too old to be appropriate. That’s what it had to be. Weiss wasn’t having a conversation with a mirror, just a creep she couldn't see. She entered the room cautiously, scanning once again to make sure she hadn’t missed a hidden presence inside. Almost disappointingly, she only found her sister and a mirror.
“Her.” Weiss pointed to the mirror, her own reflection pointing back. “She’s scared. She said she's looking for her team.”
Goosebumps rolled across every inch of Winter’s skin as she realized something was very wrong with her sister. “Weiss, that’s your reflection. She’s you.” Winter crouched down behind her sister, silently praying this was just a case of childhood imagination run wild. If it weren't for her sister's otherwise subdued nature, she might have written this off as nothing more than a game, but she knew better. Weiss wasn't Whitley after all.
“I know she’s me,” Weiss huffed, turning to her sister and pouting. “She said that a lot in the bathroom.”
Winter sucked in a breath and looked back to the mirror with the odd expectation that something would be waiting for her. Fortunately, all she found was the reflection she expected. “Weiss, Klein needs our help with something.” She had no idea what was happening, but she had a bad feeling her father shouldn’t find out first. At the very least, she trusted Klein to do what was right.
“But we can’t leave her,” Weiss whined, frantically upset. “She’s asking you for help.” She flinched and turned back to the mirror, becoming fixated once more.
“Weiss, we need to go see Klein now,” Winter stated, grabbing her sister’s hand and lightly pulling away from the mirror. “He’ll help her, but we have to go find him first.”
“Is she going to be okay?” Weiss asked, following as her sister led her away but not breaking her gaze from the mirror.
“Everything’s going to be fine,” Winter promised as she picked up her pace until they were out of sight of the mirror. She looked back, seeing that her sister was looking around like normal, and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Winter, who’s Ruby?” Weiss asked, looking up at her sister curiously.
“I don’t believe we know a ‘Ruby’,” Winter answered suspiciously, holding her sister’s hand tighter while they passed by their father’s office. She watched the large wooden door until it was out of sight, her heart hammering until they turned a corner.
“She does,” Weiss stated, her eyes dragging on a well-polished vase as they passed by. “She’s looking for Ruby.”
“Klein can help us find Ruby,” Winter promised, tugging her sister away from the vase. "It's not too much further from the library." She'd never been more thankful for Klein's commitment to a schedule.
"Winter, why are you scared?" Weiss looked up at her sister with a tinge of panic reflected in her own. "Are we in trouble?"
"No," Winter assured her sister, slowing down so she could keep Weiss calm. "Klein just needs us for something important."
"What is it?" Weiss was once again distracted as they passed by a painting with a particularly reflective glass pane protecting the family portrait within. She nodded at something unseen, her expression hardening into something more determined.
"It's a surprise," Winter responded after a delay, not good with improvisation.
"She says we need to find General Ironwood," Weiss stated, once again staring at her own reflection, this time found on the recently polished tile. "She says something bad is going to happen."
"We need to talk to Klein first," Winter insisted, walking faster as the library came into view at the end of an intimidatingly long hallway. "Klein will know what to do."
"Okay," Weiss accepted easily before she flinched into her sister and nearly knocked them both off balance.
"What's wrong?" Winter demanded, instinctively looking for a sign of danger in the empty hallway.
"She started shouting," Weiss whined, huddling against her sister's leg. "It's loud."
"She can't hurt you," Winter promised, crouching down to look her sister in the eyes. "Klein will help her be quiet, okay?"
Weiss simply nodded, following quietly after her sister as she grew increasingly uncomfortable with each step. Just before Winter pushed through the door to the library, she said, "Winter, why can't you hear her?"
"I don't know," Winter lied. "I don't know." She pushed open the door and prayed somebody would.
___________________
Nine years later...
“Do you have your scroll charger? I didn’t see you pack it up."
“I have it in my personal bag.” Weiss held up said bag, one of the ten she had prepared for what was hopefully going to be four years at Beacon.
“What about your sleeping pills? I saw you pack up the vitamins, but–"
“I have everything,” Weiss promised as she turned to look at her reflection in the compact she was allowed so she could do her makeup. Not that it helped since she couldn’t actually see her reflection anyways, but at least Mirror Weiss guided her well enough. “I’m even bringing that weird book you had me read.”
“It’s weird, but it will help you bond with Blake," Mirror Weiss promised, speaking from her place in the compact. She looked the same as she always did, never aging past nineteen. She looked like an older version of Weiss, which she technically was, aside from the scar over her left eye, which she helped Weiss avoid due to her own experience in fighting the arma gigas.
“She doesn’t read any other books?,” Weiss asked, shaking her head and turning back to checking over her bags and suitcases. “How exactly do I become close with someone who has such horrible taste? It’s just people having barely clothed fight-sex. It’s too absurd to be erotic.”
“Her primary appeal is that she’s quiet. Admittedly, my… previously held beliefs got in the way for most of our first semester, but we bonded over me learning to be better,” Mirror Weiss explained, embarrassment audible.
“I still don’t understand how you ended up racist,” Weiss teased her counterpart. “Faunus' mistreatment is the most obvious thing in the world, and you were living with King Oppression himself.”
“I didn’t have my future self to show me Ghira Belladonna speeches,” Mirror Weiss bit back. “Regardless, Blake forgave me fairly quickly. Atlesian indoctrination rarely survives first contact with the minorities it oppresses.”
“She did more than just forgive you,” Weiss pointed out, holding up the ninja erotica she had been made to read.
“Perhaps I was too detailed when I told you about the future,” Mirror Weiss groaned, cringing at herself.
“At least it helped me figure out I was not only into women, but also polyamorous.” Weiss shrugged, putting the book away into her literature suitcase. “You saved me from being a useless lesbian until… what was it, Argus?”
“They were already dating, how was I supposed to know they were hitting on me? I didn’t even know three people could date each other.” Mirror Weiss defended herself as a blush crept up her neck.
“Maybe the fact that Blake read lesbian erotica with you and Ruby kept inviting you to watch gay cartoons could have tipped you off?,” Weiss suggested, smirking at her reflection. “I really should be thankful you came back in time just so you could save me from the embarrassment.”
“Yes, stopping the end of the world is only my secondary goal.” Mirror Weiss rolled her eyes and turned away.
Weiss checked a few more bags while her reflection continued to check that she had all the items she would need to either bond with her team or convince people that she knew the future.
Her dust suitcases were extra secure for when Ruby bumped into her. She already had that fighting game Ruby and Yang liked downloaded on her scroll. She had a list of the teas she apparently liked in the same notebook she had written down ten pages worth of puns.
She also had several notebooks that chronicled a story she could hardly believe written in them. They were Mirror Weiss’s story of what happened starting from when Winter left and ending when Atlas fell. To most it would read as speculative fiction about the future, but to those who knew enough it would be undeniable proof that she had knowledge about Salem. There was even a bookmark that denoted a page that had a “fairytale” about relics and maidens.
“What’s going to happen when we tell Ozpin everything?” Weiss asked as she finished checking the last of her suitcases and was ready for the long flight to Vale.
“He’ll believe us and hopefully handle everything himself,” Mirror Weiss explained like a calming teacher. “He might like keeping secrets, but he can’t pass up this information. After that, I suppose you’ll become a huntress.” She smiled somberly, staring down at herself. “At that point I would just be an annoying voice in your head.”
“No, you’ll be the huntress who saved the world,” Weiss assured her reflection, pausing before she folded up the compact. “You’ll only be annoying if you–”
A knock at the door cut her off. In that moment, she realized she'd been talking perhaps a bit too loudly.
“Weiss, can I come in?” Winter asked, muffled by the thick wooden door.
“Of course, sister!” Forgetting to put away the compact, Weiss scurried over to the door and opened it to reveal her sister staring sternly at her. She curtsied in greeting. “Winter.”
“There’s no need for formalities, sister. I only came to say goodbye.” Winter entered the room and swept her scrutinous gaze quickly around it, scanning it like she expected to find danger within.
“I wasn’t expecting you to come,” Weiss said, closing the door behind her sister then moving to stand in the center of the room. “If I’d known, I would have arranged my bags in a more aesthetically pleasing manner.” As it was, her luggage was haphazardly scattered around and on her bed.
“Of course I’m going to see you before you go away from home,” Winter stated, finishing her sweep as she found the open compact on the dresser. “It’s a rather large change for you, and I need to make sure you’re ready.”
“Of course I am, Winter,” Weiss assured her sister, gesturing to her ten bags. “I’ve got everything packed and I’ve double checked my paperwork every day for the past three weeks. I'm ready for Beacon.”
“You have everything packed?” Winter repeated skeptically, decisively marching to her sister’s bathroom and throwing open the medicine cabinet. Inside was the one bottle of pills Weiss hadn’t taken with her, mostly because she was fairly certain her diagnosis would be debunked once she could get a meeting with Ozpin and she wouldn't need them anymore. If that wasn't the case, the pills probably wouldn't be able to help with whatever mind-shattering breakdown she would suffer.
“Damn it. Why didn't we flush those?” Mirror Weiss groaned as she watched Winter come back in with a full bottle of pills. “Why does she have to be such an attentive sister this time around?”
“Forgetting something?” Winter asked rhetorically as she walked to the desk and shut the compact before pocketing it. She looked at her sister in disappointment for a few long, tortuous seconds before she shook the pill bottle suddenly. “You got this two months ago. It should be mostly empty by now, and in one of your bags.”
“Winter…” Weiss sighed as she tried to think of an excuse.
“Just take them,” Mirror Weiss requested, now just a disembodied voice without a reflection to inhabit. “She won’t leave until you do. I'll be fine. It’s a long flight with a layover, I’ll see you before you get to Beacon.”
“I thought you’d been more distracted during training recently, but I’d hoped it was just your excitement for Beacon,” Winter stated flatly, striding forward as she dispensed a pill. “How long?”
“Eight months,” Weiss admitted, wilting under the crushing gaze of her sister.
“Why?” Winter demanded.
“It’s not a problem, I promise,” Weiss pleaded. “I passed Father’s test and got accepted to Beacon without my medication. I’ll be fine without it. She’s a lot quieter now.”
“While that may be a testament to your skill, it’s not an excuse,” Winter challenged, holding out the pill for her sister to take. “You know very well what happens if Father finds out you haven’t been taking your medication again. Do you want to go back?”
“No.” Weiss shuddered as she thought of her two month stay at the premiere mental hospital in Atlas. It took bribes for admitting people without paperwork, so it was the safest place for Weiss to be diagnosed and treated without it potentially leaking to the public. It had been a bit much for an eight year old, but her reflection helped her through most of it. At least until they diagnosed her as schizophrenic and gave her medication that somehow worked. The same medication her sister was holding out in front of her nine years later. She took the pill, silently apologizing to the voice in her head before she dry-swallowed it with practiced ease.
“It's okay,” Mirror Weiss assured her physical counterpart, manipulating their shared aura to apply a gentle pressure to Weiss's abdomen that could best be described as being hugged by air.“ I'm used to it by now.” The feeling of the air hug left with her as the fast-acting medication kicked in and left Weiss with an uncomfortable empty feeling.
After watching her sister take the pill, Winter placed the bottle in Weiss’s personal bag. She hesitated for a moment before she placed the compact in after it, burying the handheld mirror deep within. “At Beacon you won’t have anyone to keep you honest about this, nor will you have the luxury of living in a space without reflective surfaces. You can’t be caught, Weiss. You’ve already lost your status as heiress. Don’t give up your career as a huntress as well. You have the kind of illness that usually disqualifies people from even enrolling in combat schools.”
Weiss searched her mind for a defense, but came up empty. From Winter’s perspective she was a schizophrenic refusing to take her medication so she could take to her reflection. Of course her sister was going to be worried about her. “I’m sorry, Winter. It just doesn’t feel like a problem most of the time.”
“I know,” Winter said gently, closing the distance between them so she could place a firm hand of support on Weiss’s shoulder. “That’s why I need you to be honest with me, and trust me when I say this is for the best. I know you hear things that sound important and it feels real, but they’re only going to hurt you if you listen.” She released her sister’s shoulder and walked to the door, taking one last look at her sister. “I want you to call me every night, and I need you to be honest about whether or not you’re taking your medication. I won’t get mad or tell Father. I just want to help.”
“I know, Winter.” Weiss walked forward, hesitating for a moment before she lunged forward and wrapped her sister in a hug. “Thank you. I wouldn’t have made it this far without you.”
Winter was slow to return the hug, unused to such close contact with anyone. When she did, it was awkward and stiff, but it was also deeply comforting. “I haven’t done anything, Weiss. You’re strong, much stronger than you know. You’ll make it as far as you let yourself.”
Somehow the end of the hug was even more awkward than the beginning since neither of them knew the proper protocols for such an encounter. One would think etiquette classes would have prepared them for something as simple as a hug, but alas hugging was not ladylike to the Atlesian nobility. In the end, the act of leaving the hug could best have been described as a reverse slow motion car crash.
Fortunately, the sisters were spared the indignity of having to talk around that strange embrace by Weiss's alarm informing them that she only had fifteen minutes before she left for Beacon.
"Do you need help with your bags?" Winter offered, pointedly gesturing to the ten bags that were each filled to the brim.
"I would appreciate that, thank you," Weiss accepted the offer, grabbing as many bags as she could before flagging down several staff members to help with the rest.
And so it begins, Weiss thought to herself as she made the long walk to her family's private landing pad. Our plan to save the world.
If only she knew...