Author's Note: Hello everyone it's been a VERY long time since I've updated and I apologize. I've decided to rewrite the story since I felt it was getting of track and have no intention of abandoning it. So here is the rewrite of chapter number one and I hope you enjoy :)
Ruby knew Schnee Estate was in the top ten list for most beautiful homes in the country but the magazines didn't do it any justice. The view was breathtaking. An enormous Victorian style mansion that was a brilliant white with a massive pathway leading to the main doors and a vast front yard filled with all types of plants that were some shade of blue (in a few months however, the color would be changed to red). The inside was even more impressive with high ceilings, fancy furniture, and massive windows that let in plenty of natural light. Ruby had been so caught up in the view she hadn't noticed the presence of her very annoyed boss until she received a somewhat painful pinch on the arm.
"Miss Rose, are you back to the land of the living?" Came the high pitched and irritated voice that belonged to Mrs. Jones. Ruby let out a nervous laugh, "ah sorry I just zoned out for a bit. This place is pretty amazing, isn't it?" "And the reason it manages to stay that way is because the Schnee family only hires the best of the best to manage their estate." Mrs. Jones said before muttering, "Which amazes me how someone like you, without any experience managed to get this job in the first place." The older woman cleared her throat before continuing, "You will be working as a personal maid for Miss Scnhee and when not doing that, then you shall assist the other maids. Am I clear?" Ruby nodded and began to follow Mrs. Jones into another section of the house.
"Miss Rose this is Miss Sustrai, Miss Sustrai Miss Rose." Mrs. Jones said. Ruby looked over to see a girl roughly her age with minty green hair, dark skin, and red eyes. "Nice to meet you, and please feel free to call me Emerald." She replied with a smile which Ruby returned. "Ruby Rose it's a pleasure to meet ya." "Miss Sustrai I shall be entrusting Miss Rose into your care until she gets used to working here. I hope this will not be an issue." "Of course not Mrs. Jones." Emerald replied. Mrs. Jones nodded before going off to take care of some other matter.
"Well then lets get down to business, shall we?" Emerald said as she began to give Ruby a tour of the estate. It took an entire hour to simply cover the first floor (the mansion had three) and an additional hour and a half for the gardens and most of the second floor. The tour then ended at Ruby's new quarters (located at the west end of the second floor so she'd be closer to her master) where Emerald gave her a blue and white maid uniform that matched her own as well as a map of the first and second floor of the estate.
"What about the third floor? What if I ever need to go up there?" Ruby asked. Emerald shook her head, "Trust me, you won't need to. Anyway, if you need me my room is down on the first floor with most of the others. I'll come get you tomorrow at six, okay?" Ruby nodded and Emerald left without another word.
The next day
True to her word, Emerald arrived at Ruby's room precisely at six o' clock the next morning. Rather then being greeted by Ruby, she found said teen fast asleep in bed. Emerald gave a huff of annoyance before not so gently snatching the covers away from Ruby. "Rise and shine~" Emerald said as Ruby let out a groan. "Ugh...what time is it?" Ruby asked groggily. "Time to get up Ruby, we have a long day ahead of us." Ruby dragged herself out of bed and began her morning routine. After seventeen very long minutes (at least in Emerald's opinion) the duo finally headed downstairs for breakfast.
"Umm, this breakfast is delicious!" Ruby said, her face stuffed with waffles. A brief look of disgust made its way onto Emerald's face, but was gone as quickly as it came. "I'm glad you like it. Anyway we'd better hurry and finish up here, we have plenty of work to get done and not a lot of time to do it." Emerald downed the last of her coffee and waited patently for Ruby to finish. "Hey Emerald?" Ruby began before shoving another forkful of waffles into her mouth. The mint haired teen raised an eyebrow. "I'm supposed to be the personal maid of Weiss, so I was wondering what she's like..." "I'll tell you on the way to bring her breakfast, how about that?"
Ruby listened while pushing along the cart carrying Weiss' breakfast to Emerald as she described Weiss to the best of her ability...and what she had to say certainly wasn't good. Despite all the sugar coating Weiss could be summed up in two words: spoiled brat. Emerald told her of various maids that had quit claiming she was too high maintenance and extremely ungrateful. Ruby let out a small groan and wished she had done further investigation on the job besides the paycheck. Well, it was too late to back out now and besides, she needed the money.
Emerald knocked on the door to Weiss' room but there was no answer. She repeated this process twice. "Hmmm, it seems miss Schnee isn't here. Perhaps she is in the music room or library." "Well then, where do you want to start first?" Ruby asked. "Music room. The library and other rooms are downstairs." "Good idea." Ruby said. Emerald began to walk in the direction of the music room and Ruby (with her cart in tow) followed her.
Later
Ruby Rose was hopelessly lost. Weiss wasn't in the music room so they headed downstairs. She wasn't in the library so they went to the dining room just in case she already ate breakfast down here. She wasn't there either so Emerald had left her to find the heiress herself since she had to do her job as well. Ruby then went to the ballroom, billiard room, and even the garden. A fellow maid noticed the girl standing around looking like a lost puppy and suggested trying the third floor.
"The third floor? Are you sure? I was told I wouldn't need to go up there and don't even have it on my map." Ruby said. "It's the only other place she could be, unless she left without our knowledge." And so Ruby performed the task of pushing the cart back over to the elevator only to find there was no button for the third floor and she'd have to walk up at least two flights of stairs to reach the top where Weiss was doing who knew what who knew where. With a sigh Ruby removed the tray containing Weiss' breakfast (she never really needed to bother with the cart in the first place know that she thought about it) and went upstairs.
The third floor, if possible, seemed even whiter than the rest of the mansion and certainly colder. There wasn't a single piece of furniture nor a painting on the walls, just windows and doors that were few and far between. 'If I hadn't known any better I might've thought I was in limbo' Ruby thought as she turned down another hall. Ruby huffed in annoyance, she was tired of looking for the elusive miss Schnee and the food had gone cold. She probably wouldn't even want it. She was just wasting her time.
Ruby was about to turn back the way she came and attempt to find her way down to the first floor when she heard a sound come from down the hall. It was a loud thud that was shortly followed by another. Ruby followed the source of the noise to the end of the hall where a pair of double doors stood. She quietly opened the door and peeked in, curious to see what she might find. Ruby's eyes widened with shock.
Amazing Ruby wanted to whisper but couldn't. A young woman clad in white with a rapier landed on the ground, shards of ice falling all around her. The woman, who was in reality a teenager only two years older than Ruby stood up and did a double take at the sight of some stranger in the doorway of the room. "That was...AMAZING! Are you like, training to be a huntress of something?!" Ruby asked in awe. Weiss frowned at the unexpected visitor and remembering the injuries sustained from her fight quickly moved to wipe away the blood from the side of her mouth. Ruby noticed this action and all the other injuries that she hadn't noticed before seemed to pop out at her.
The white haired female had a busted lip, scraped knee, and a bruise on her cheek that would definitely stand out on her flawless skin later. Weiss felt heat rush to her cheeks. It was humiliating having some stranger see her like this (although it was certainly better than it being her sister). Instead of letting Ruby see how embarrassed she felt she masked this emotion with annoyance and anger. "And what exactly are you doing here? Servants aren't supposed to come up to the third floor. You could face serious consequences for this." Weiss said with a scowl. "I was just delivering breakfast to you Weiss." Ruby replied. The heiress' gave her a condescending glare, "Do not speak to me so casually."
Weiss, feeling quiet famished from her training, went over and took the tray from Ruby. "It's cold." Was her only reply before she showed Ruby to the exit. "The stairs are right over there, go downstairs and fix me a bath. I would like to freshen up after my training." Weiss ordered as she left to go consume her meal. "So much for a thank you." She muttered. Her first impression of Weiss: Emerald was right. For however long she was going to be stuck working here, her boss wasn't going to be that pleasant, future huntress or not.