RWBY is the intellectual property of Roosterteeth and the late Monty Oum.

Note: Italics indicate Yang's direct thoughts.

Mirror Mirror, I'm the Loneliest of All

"Yang just stop and listen to me for a minute"

Don't listen to her, she doesn't understand, she couldn't ever understand. There is only one way to end this.

Trying to block her out I continued winding my way through the trees, hoping to get away from her, and closer to what I came here for. That is until a large grey glyph appears a foot in front of me. Even with Ember Celica, my immediate response gets me nothing except bruised knuckles.

Damn it Weiss, this is hard enough without you stopping me. Especially when it's you.

Trying not to turn so far as to look at her, I make to walk around the obstacle, which is when I notice that it isn't one of her normal Glyphs. Instead of being a flat plane it's curved inwards towards me. Turning all the way around now I can see that it's dome she's sealed around me, and herself. She's one step ahead of me again. Make that two. She already has Myrtenaster up and ready, its blade aglow. Her face is a familiar one of determination, though now it's tinged with what I can only assume is her approximation of concern.

"Yang stop this, I know what you're trying to do, and I know you think you can handle it. But you're angry, and you're hurt, and you're confused, and you're not thinking straight. You're going to get yourself hurt, or worse, killed."

That was the idea.

"No Weiss, for once in my life, I am actually thinking clearly. So get out of my way."

Her composure dropped at those words, and a look of recognition appeared on her face, quickly followed by fear, pain, and then contorted as she tried to regain control of herself.

As I stand there trying and failing to keep hold on my anger, and figure out why the hell she's acting like this, her face finally settles into a look of outrage.

"Yang I forbid you from doing this!"

That's it!

"You forbid me?! Let's get something straight princess, I don't care that we're friends, or teammates, or that your dad is the most powerful man in the country. YOU! DO NOT! ORDER ME AROUND!"

And even before I started, that thin veneer of control she had slipped away as her emotions showed through once more. As quickly as my anger resurged, it fled me even faster as the words left my mouth, for the woman before me was not the Weiss Schnee I know. Her composure, her grace, her attitude, it's all gone. She isn't in a fighting stance, she's facing me directly, Myrtenaster held out before her again. Both of her hands around the hilt, she's holding it so tightly her arms are shaking. But the part that chills me to the bone is her expression. I've seen Weiss genuinely happy, I've seen her depressed, I've seen her enraged and on the warpath. I have never seen this look on her face, and it's so unlike Weiss that I don't even know what it is.

"Fine Yang, if you won't listen to me,… I'll drag you back myself."

I very nearly flinch at her words.

Weiss, why do you sound so… broken?

"Yang I know the path you're on, I know what's at the end, and I'm not going to let you leave like this. Not while I'm still here."

I've already made up my mind Weiss, why can't you see that? You're not going to stop me. Please just leave you don't need to be here for this.

"You can't beat me in a fight like this Weiss, you can't hold me here forever."

Even with as much force as I could put in my voice, it still sounds hollow. Weiss didn't even flinch.

"I know Yang, but this Glyph is special."

And that's when I notice that the grey dome that had been covering us had changed. The pattern had shifted, now swirling around with a life of its own and the color had changed to bright pulsing white glow.

"This one won't lower until I let it, or until my Aura is completely and utterly gone."

…

…

…

Weiss you can't possibly mean…?

But even as I back away, mouth hanging open, I realize she does. It's in the tears, the broken voice, the expression I couldn't read. She's desperate, desperate because she'll either convince me to go with her, or I'll leave and kill myself fighting Grimm. She's in despair because she knows which one it's going to be, and this is all she can do. She intends to use up all her Aura, … she's going to kill herself to try to stop me from doing the same. And she believes all it will do is slow me down.

The most wonderful, beautiful, caring girl I've ever met, who I think I'm in love with, is going to burn away her entire being, just to hang on to me for a few more minutes.

And for some reason I'm furious with her for it.

"WHAT THE HELL WEISS?!"

The impact in my arm stuns me. Weiss hitting the far side of the dome we are in jolts me even harder.

Why the fuck did I just hit her? …

Weiss is picking herself back up by the time I regain some semblance of control over myself. Blood is streaming down the left side of her face hiding the old scar and mixing with the still flowing tears.

Oh Dust is she okay!? ...WHY DID I DO THAT!?...

SAY SOMETHING YOU MORON!

She's walking towards me now, a small limp on her right side.

Get ahold of yourself Yang.

"Weiss I'm sor… ufgh."

The knee just she drove into my stomach proves she's probably okay.

Doubling over, I gasp for what little breath I can get. The dull thump against the back of my skull from Myrtenaster's pommel promptly puts my face into the dirt. The pain following blinds me and makes it impossible to do anything but clutch my head.

Weiss rolling me over right now is definitely not helping with my head. Her unceremoniously sitting on me drives what little air I'd managed to gather back out of my lungs, and somehow brings my attention back to my sight. Which is filled with Weiss's face. She still has the look from earlier and I can't bare to see it.

I try looking away but she stops me, a hand on my cheek gently forcing me to hold her gaze.

"Yang please, listen to me." Her voice is soft and still broken, tears flow freely from her eyes.

"Don't do this Yang. Please just come back with me. We can't lose you Yang."

I can't stop my own tears at this. She still doesn't understand. I pull her hand from my face and I turn away truly unable to look at her now. She stands pulling me up, hands resting on my shoulders.

"Just let me go Weiss. I'm not worth this. Just tell Ruby you couldn't catch me, or... something.

It doesn't matter. She's better off without me. You're all better off without me."

"Damnit Yang, no we are not!"

"Weiss, I'm the reason Ruby's in the hospital, I'm the reason Summer's dead! I'm the reason Ruby had to grow up without a mother! Even you are bleeding now because of me!" My voice rises through my tirade until I'm shouting at her.

I try to turn around again, get away from the hurt on her face. Again she stops me, the barest tips of her fingers holding me in place.

"Yang,... oh Yang. This isn't the way to make things right. This would only hurt us more." Her voice is so gentle and soothing, so hard not fall into and be carried away.

"We need you Yang,..."

She leans in close, arms wrapping around me, her head on my chest. Everything seems to fall away in this embrace. I've wanted this for so long now.

"...I need you." The last three words, barely even whispered, pull me out of my reverie.

"Weiss,...what did you just…?"

The tips of her fingers once again stop me.

"Please Yang for me. If not for Ruby, if not for everyone else, please, for me, because more than anything I need you. You mean everything to me and I can't lose you, especially like this. So please, stay with me Yang."

Weiss, are you really saying what I think you are?

"Yes I am." "I said that out loud didn't I?" How did I not notice?

"Yes, you did, and probably because I'm telling you I love you Yang."

She loves me? How did I not…? She loves me?! Oh Dust I love her smile. She really loves me! I have to tell her too. I… COME ON VOICE WORK!

"Yang…" Please don't take my smile. My arm reaches for her face, and brings my attention back to the blood that hasn't stopped flowing.

I… how can I? Her blood's on my hands now too. She really is safer without me.

Her hand grasps mine as I started to pull back, and slowly brings it towards her face, just as her hand rests upon my face.

But she loves me. Maybe I can… maybe she was right. She loves me.

She loves me…

…

…

and not him.

"Yang wait, I know it's a lot to take in, you don't have to say anything now. Just co…"

"You're engaged Weiss."

First I'd like to thank everyone who reads this, it means a lot to me. I'd also like to thank several friends who have supported and encouraged me with my writing for a long time. You guys know who you are and I deeply appreciate you guys so much. Anyway, this is just an excerpt of much larger project that I had planned out, and haven't had the time or drive to be able to work on. Unfortunately I don't know if I want to finish it as it stands. I have a several parts, this one being the most complete at the time of writing, and have been sitting on this for about 3 months now debating on whether to continue or drop it. I'm posting it now to see if there is any support for it.

If you guys want to see more of this piece, please leave a review or PM me here, or on Steam or Reddit, the names are the same. I always welcome feedback on anything I write, and it really drives me to do more. I feel that I try to write for my readers more than for myself, and that's how I even got this far. If you guys want more, please let me know. I'll find some way to make it happen. Thanks again, and I hope to hear from all of you.

Rouger