EX Chapter 6 - "Mirror Mirror"

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"Everyone is entitled to their own sorrow, for the heart has no metrics or forms of measure. And all of it… irreplaceable." – Weiss Schnee

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Weiss Schnee walks out onto a stage, it appears to be a concert. She closes her eyes, and soft music begins to play and Weiss opens her mouth, she looks into the crowd.

??? : "Next, is my daughter, the heiress of the Schnee House, Weiss Schnee!"

An expected applause appears. The audience starts clapping and after a few seconds of clapping, the audience stops. They wait for a great show to begin. Something which they all have anticipated for.

It's the Schnee Ceremony. Every time an heir or heiress passes away, a new one is chosen.

Weiss' father, Jacques Schnee watches her, and waits for the show to begin. He sits in a vip lounge, for only people of the nobility.

Jacques has gray-white hair and a pale complexion. He has a large gray mustache, and his eyes are a cold blue color. He is seen wearing a pure white double-breasted jacket with a red handkerchief in the breast pocket, underneath which he wears a blue shirt and vest and a gray-white tie, printed with the same emblem on his shoes and above his study. He has a silver-colored ring on his right hand.

Next to him, there are both his oldest daughter, and his youngest son. Winter Schnee and Whitley Schnee.

Jacques : "She better performs well. I've paid way too much for this."

Winter : "Father, my younger sister will not disappoint you. I promise you."

Whitley : "Indeed, father, have faith in your new heiress."

Winter Schnee looks very similar to Weiss. She is a tall young woman, with a fair complexion, white hair and slate blue eyes. Her hair is tied up in a bun at the rear left corner of her head, causing her bangs to fall towards the right side of her face, and leaving a small curled lock of hair that reaches below her left ear.

Whitley Schnee looks very similar to the younger Jacques. Whitley Schnee has white hair and light blue eyes with a fair complexion. His hair is mostly pushed to left, although he does have a cowlick. Whitley is fairly tall with a slender build.

The three of them wait for Weiss to start the ceremony. Every ceremony is different, and this time, it's all about Weiss' voice.

The slow music becomes a slight bit more intense. It starts with a piano, and after only a few seconds, more instruments are able to be heard. She opens her eyes and then…

Weiss : "Mirror, tell me something,"

She starts singing. Her voice echoes through the theater. Everyone is shocked by her voice.

Weiss : "Tell me who's the loneliest of all?"

She closes her eyes again, and her imagination brings her to an unforgettable scene.

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Weiss finds herself in a dark hall. In front of her, there is a large suit of armor, and it prepares to attack Weiss.

It's the legendary Spirit of Gusteko. It's not a Great Spirit, but it's a Legendary Spirit. People barely believe that this spirit actually exists nor lives among them, the Arma Gigas.

Weiss pulls out the Myrtenaster, and is ready to attack.

The Arma Gigas stands up and swings its massive sword down at Weiss, which she narrowly evades by back-flipping out of the way.

She points her weapon, the Myrtenaster at him, and darts forward, landing a hit onto the Armor before briefly twirling and landing.

"This is my burden to bury. I have to succeed. I cannot disappoint father."

The Arma Gigas swings again, but Weiss darts behind it, landing several slashes on her foe as she spins. The Arma Gigas respons by swinging it swords horizontally at her, but she manages to block the attack, bringing her rapier just in time, She is, however, unable to prevert herself from being send sliding back.

"N…No…"

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Weiss : "Mirror, tell me something, Tell me who's the loneliest of all? Fear of what's inside of me; Tell me can a heart be turned to stone?"

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Upon recovering from the attack, Weiss looks up just in time to see her foe in the air preparing to strike at her. As the Arma Gigas swings, she quickly dodges, but it persists in its attack, sending her tumbling back. With white energy gathered on her fingertips, Weiss makes a downward motion to the ground, and a White Glyph appears underneath her.

"This will lead me to victory. I am sure. It never failed!"

She then dashes forward with inhuman speed, this was thanks to the White Glyph, one of her most common attack. She dashes, preventing the Arma Gigas from landing a blow, and seemingly teleports around it several times with the assistance of her Glyphs. She summons multiple glyphs around her, just to move as quick as possible in the air.

However, when she slows the frequency of her attacks, her foe retaliates by swinging at Weiss, who leaps over the sword, but is caught off-guard by the subsequent punch, which sends her flying.

Weiss : "Uagh!"

Weiss then stands back up and faces the Arma Gigas, blood flowing down the left side of her face.

"I have underestimated it. But I cannot fail. I will not fall. I will not disappoint father!"

She then assumes her combat stance and turns the revolver to the Red Mana Stone and releases the Fire Mana onto her rapier's blade. The Arma Gigas proceeds to charge at her and launches an overhead strike, but she swiftly deflects the blow with her rapier, causing the former to stumble back.

"This is my chance. I will end everything here. I have to prove myself, for father!"

Weiss spins as she changes to another slot on Myrtenaster's revolver and stabs the blade into the ground, which sends a wave of ice forward. This freezes one of the Arma's feet in place, immobilizing it. It then swings at her as she runs forward and jumps, landing perfectly onto the sword. With Myrtenaster glowing yellow, she rolls along the sword and slashes at her foe, destroying the ice crystals and knocking her opponent's weapon away.

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Weiss : "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? Mirror, Mirror, tell me something, who's the loneliest of all?"

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She creates a white glyph underneath herself and rotates the revolver once more as the Arma Gigas tries to punch downwards at her. However, she evades the attack and causes the glyph on the ground to explode, launching her foe into the air. Weiss then sends six beams of blue energy at the Arma Gigas, locking it in midair.

"Now is my chance!"

With one final glyph-augmented leap into the air, Myrtenaster glows with white markings along its blade and Weiss creates yet another glyph, which she uses to dash at the Arma Gigas, cutting right through it. As the Arma falls through the air, some sort of white energy is emitted from its joints and helm. Weiss lands in a crouch, but stands up as the suit of armor hits the ground and shatters into ice shards.

Realizing that she defeated the Arma Gigas, she smiles and looks at the ceiling of the building. A glass ceiling, and she sees the stars.

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Weiss : "I am the loneliest of all."

With the last line of her long, the 'all' is about five seconds long. The music slowly turns off until she opens her eyes.

The audience is amazed, and everyone starts clapping. They are not only amazed by the song, or her voice, but the fact that she is the one that wrote the song.

The curtains fall, and she turns around and looks at Winter, her older sister, who just approached the stage.

Winter : "Well, snowflake, you've performed well. I am sure father is proud of you."

Weiss : "Thank you."

Shy as ever, Weiss thanks her kind words. Winter smiles at her younger sister and slowly turns around.

Winter : "I have business to do. It appears that the Military of Gusteko is failing… I will not return before Christmas."

Weiss : "What? Are you out of your mind? You're the only one I celebrate Christmas with! What am I supposed to do now?"

Winter sighs, she looks at Weiss, who is very, very sad by this news.

Winter : "I know that it isn't the brightest kind of news, but I've to fulfill my task, as a soldier. I'll be leaving tonight."

Weiss : "Do you have your Meteor Mirror with you?"

Winter : "Well, of course. I want to call you every single evening."

She smiles at Weiss, and turns around. Before she left the sight of Weiss, Winter remembers suddenly something.

Winter : "Oh, there is a guest upstairs. I'm not sure who it is. Do you have your weapon with you?"

Weiss : "Y-Yes, of course. What's going on?"

Winter : "I am not sure. But father allowed a guest to talk with you."

Weiss : "Ah, I see. I'll go and talk to her immediately."

The two of them turn their back to each other and aim for their priorities. Weiss enters a stairway upstairs, and enters a long, very long black corridor. She takes the furthest door on her ride side and enters the room.

It's a white room, with white couches, white tables, and bookshelves made of marble. In the middle of a room, there is one white couch with a person sitting on it.

She is a pale-skinned woman with black hair, it was somewhat between wavy and curly. Her hair is a little bit longer than shoulder length. She wore some pretty make up, but it wasn't obvious to notice. She wears a tailored black suit with a white dress shirt and a black tie and a fedora.

??? : "Well hello sweetheart. How are you doin'?"

She talked in a very weird matter, Weiss was very unfamiliar with it.

Weiss : "Good evening. You called for me, right? How can I be of assistance?"

??? : "Oh honey, don't be that formal with me, will you? I would like to offer you something."

Weiss : "Excuse me?"

??? : "You've heard about the Wardens and the Warriors, am I right?"

Weiss : "Y-Yes… Of course! They're the heroes of our world!"

??? : "Well, don'tcha wanna attend to a Warrior Team? I would love to sign you in."

Weiss : "What?! Why me?"

She asked, nervously.

The woman grinned wickedly.

??? : "Well, I'm working for a great man, red eyes. He would love to have you as a Warrior. I've listened to your song, quite depressing, ain't it?"

Weiss : "I-It's just–"

Tessa : "Listen' up. I'm Tessa, Tessa Fortune. I would love to have you attend in another place for my bosses. Won't you join?"

For some reason, it felt like her voice was the way to follow. Her voice didn't felt natural. Weiss isn't able to describe how her voice feels like. It felt like God was talking to you, and as a prayer, you would follow.

It felt like your mother is calling you to help her.

It felt like all your intuition is focussed on one point.

It felt like you believed in something, and so you chased it.

Her voice… it did something with you.

Weiss : "I…. I don't know."

Tessa : "Ah come op Schnee, weren't ya dreaming about becoming a Hero? A Hero who could prove that you're not just a name?"

Weiss : "What? How do you–"

Tessa : "Off topic, I hate that."

She grabs a cigarette and starts smoking. She inhales and breathes out. The ash of the cigarette falls on the white couch.

Tessa : "Let's say I'm far more better than that Thinker Warden, Tattletale, wasn't it?"

Weiss : "Are you… Alexandria?"

Tessa : "Well honey, of course not. Why would a Warden meet ya up here? I'm the Leader of the Leaders!"

Weiss : "Are you… Con–"

Tessa : "Yep! I am! So, ain't this a great deal?"

She reaches her hand towards Weiss Schnee.

Tessa : "Why won't cha come over? I'm sure you would be The Warrior Team leader I am searching for, don't cha think so as well?"

Weiss : "What about my father? My family?"

Tessa : "I am sure enough you are rich, rich enough in fact. No? Yes!"

She takes another inhale from her cigarette and breathes out.

Tessa : "I would love to explain why I fuckin' want ya that bad, but Boss told me I cannot tell ya. I'm sorry. But I'm sure I can offer you whatever you desire, even your dream, my sweetie."

Weiss looked at the woman, confused what was going on. But she knew that this woman would lead her to victory and glory. At least, that's what Tessa's power made her feel…