So this is a new one, a full AU. I think at least. It's different from my other story, but hopefully can be released at the same pace.
I'll get a few things out of the way.
Firstly, I'd like to start that while there is romance in this story, it will be heavily plot focused too. the world and politics will be important to this story so I hope you can follow along. Secondly it'd like to state two things that will not be in this fic: 1. an abusive relationship. this is the kind I see in a lot of "slave Au's" where one character is beaten relentlessly by the other who is supposed to eventually be their romantic interest. That doesn't sit well with me. That's not romance, that's Stockholm syndrome. 2. This is not some smutty heat filled story about domination and all that. I see those a lot, and while it's cool, it's not what this story will be focusing on. So, if that isn't what you want then feel free to take this as a warning.
If you're still interested, then I hope you enjoy.
...
Part 1
Chains
The sound of hateful jeers filled her ears.
Blake panted in panicked breaths.
Metal shackles dragged her along, biting into her writs. Her bare feet trampled of jagged, stoney floors and were bloodied. Her skin was so freezing it burned as the arctic wind spared no pity for her rag-wearing form.
She clenched her teeth so hard she heard them creak. Where was she being taken? There was nothing but darkness, a blindfold having been wrapped around her head.
This wasn't fair. It wasn't fair!
Why was it her? She did what she was told. She'd kept quiet. She worked hard, she didn't complain and she was obedient.
So why was she being sold!?
Blake could hear the shuffles of other people in the same boat, both in front and behind the sound of bodies being dragged by accursed chains!
"Please," She begged. "Don't do this. I don't want to be a slave."
That was as far as she got before her shackles were yanked painfully and she cried out. "Shut up." The man holding her chains grumbled. "I'm not talkin' to no dirty Faunus."
Blake whimpered as blood leaked from underneath her metal bondage. The jeers and shouts were getting louder, the cold getting sharper.
Her ears flickered as a gust of wind reached her and she shivered. They were being led out of a tunnel. To somewhere outside.
Again, the gust of wind, and suddenly the shouting hit full volume. It was all around her, vile profanities and leering words form what she could only assume were humans.
She grit her teeth in fear and anger.
Humans were monsters, treating her people like this, treating her like this. She hadn't done anything wrong! She'd just told the truth!
Blake stumbled and winced as her bare toe stubbed something and she nearly tripped up it. She dug her nails into her palms, fighting to ignore the pain as she was dragged up a set of steps.
It was a stage, she realised. As stage so that people could see them clearly.
Her ears flickered at movement behind her, and she cried out again as her legs were kicked out from under her. The sound of metal col be heard, and the whistle of a sword. She froze stiff as she felt it come down in front of her face, and paled when she realised it had wedged itself in between the links in her shackles, keeping her locked in place.
Someone grasped at her face, and there was suddenly light as the blindfold was ripped off her face.
She flinched as her feline eyes reacted to the sudden light and she had to squint to see anything properly.
She swallowed at what she saw:
There were so many. Rows upon rows of humans lined up to insect her from their seats.
Her head snapped to the left and right to see her fellow Faunus is the same position as her – on their knees and in chains – shaking with fear.
She forced herself not to do the same. She would not show terror to these monsters. She refused!
Suddenly, all voiced were silenced, as a man in a black waistcoat and expensive hat came onto the stage.
"Good evening my fine lords and ladies," he greeted. "And to the newcomers here on their first time to the auction."
Blake tensed. This was it. This was the slave auction!
Her eyes flickered to everything she could see:
They were in some kind of area, with massive walls encircling them and spikes lining the tops. The humans stood themselves above that, looking down on them like specimens to be examined, because in truth they were.
The sky was high above, and the arctic chill of Atlas faced no resistance from the open roof.
"Now," the man said. "No doubt you all want to enjoy the fine weather we have today of all days."
There was a chuckle from that, making Blake feel appalled. How could these people laugh in a situation like this?! Were they that depraved!?
The auctioneer made his way over to the first Faunus, three spaces down from Blake.
"Very well, for all the people without a good view, here we have a bear Faunus, strong and healthy." The man flinched as the auctioneer placed two fingers in his mouth, grasping over his teeth.
"Healthy on the inside too, great teeth and steady reaction times, perfect for a hard day's work in the fields wouldn't you say? Now then, onto the bidding"
He turned to his audience and held up one hand.
"Starting at fifty lien; a low, low price for this muscle."
Noblemen and women called out steadily, the price raised high with every response.
"One hundred, two hundred, two fifty, five hundred… anyone else? No?" the auctioneer clapped his hands, and the sharp sound made Blake flinch.
"Our first specimen sold to Lord Benjamin Thrush."
With that, armed men stepped onto the stage, freeing the sword holding the bear Faunus in place and dragging him roughly to his feet. He struggled little, staring off into space at the realisation as to what his life would be now. Labour until the day he died, if he was lucky.
The auctioneer moved on to the next Faunus without a second thought. He looked down at the next one, a girl barely twenty shivering in fear.
"Here lords and ladies we had a mouse Faunus, creatures known for their excellent handy work. Perfect for the more intricate jobs needed done if you lack the servants to spare. Now then, we'll start a little higher now that your pockets have been opened: three hundred lien.
Gain the calls started up, rising higher and higher than Blake would have thought in her inwardly hysterical mind. Was eight hundred lien really what this woman's life was worth?
Apparently so, as that was what she was sold for, and as she was carried off she begged to be set free. That she didn't want to be taken.
She was silenced with a slap to the mouth.
Again, the man stepped up to the next one, but this time he frowned.
He motioned to one of the guards, and with her enhanced hearing Blake overheard their whispers
"What is this one doing here? its arms are broken… now we can't sell this one, we can't risk insulting them. Get rid of it."
He turned back around to the nobles above with a light and charming smile.
"My apologies sirs, it would seem one of the goods have been damaged, we will be sure to take it off your hands."
The Faunas, a lizard of some sort, tried to rise suddenly, shouting and begging as she was grasped by the hair and pulled off the stage. All the way back down the tunnel he screamed and begged, and Blake wasn't sure what is fate would be, back to the mines, or a quick death.
Then the shadow of the human fell onto her.
She tensed for a moment, before straightening as much as she possibly could in her kneeling position and stared up at the man in the eye defiantly.
She didn't bat an eye, probably used to dealing with the same act many times over. She still did it however.
"Here we go ladies in gentlemen, back on track. This girl here is a youthful one, nearly into her adulthood. A cat-Faunus. See those ears? They're not just for show." He reached for them, but Blake pulled back, glaring at him with as much venom as she could muster. He shrugged like it was nothing.
And it was, what could a slave on auction surrounded by armed guards possibly do?
"There are also some impressive eyes to be seen here, golden, round one moment and slit the next, night vision is a valuable trait." His hands lashed forward, one gripping her chin and the other into her mouth. She nearly gagged at the man's gloved hands.
"Sharp teeth, canines, or I suppose we should call them cat-nines." a round of laughter that made her snarl up at him. He pulled away and faced the crowd. "She's well-built too folks, plenty of work in the mines and healthy enough to be of use. She could be of any use to you. Now, we'll start at the bidding at-"
"One thousand lien."
Silence reigned as a feminine voice rang out from above. Blake blinked, but from where she was kneeling she couldn't see who had said it.
The auctioneer blinked, before regaining his composure quickly. "Well this is a surprise, starting right off with an impressive sum. Will anyone compete?"
"Eleven hundred lien." a gruff man grunted.
"Ah, Lord Winchester, back again I see, still buying for your son?"
"I am, he broke the last one."
"Well then a good thing we have more as-"
"Twelve hundred lien." The feminine voice called out again.
A pause, and the man scowled.
"thirteen hundred.
"Fifteen hundred
"Sixteen hundred-
"Two thousand lien."
The lord frowned. "Twenty-one hundred lien."
"Twenty-five hundred lien." The repose fired back easily.
Lord Winchester said nothing for a moment, before growling, and withdrawing his hand.
Blake watched it all with wide eyes, as two nobles, two strangers competed for the ownership of her life in sums of lien she would never even dream of in her lowly slave life
"And there we have it," the Auctioneer applauded. "The fourth specimen, the cat-Faunus, sold to Lady Weiss Schnee."
Blake froze.
Schnee!?
Blake struggled against her chains frantically. No, no this couldn't be happening. Anyone but the Schnees! Blake had heard horror stories about the noble family, and their treatment of Faunus being the most brutal and cruel among all others.
Please gods be anyone but a Schnee!
At the very idea Blake's struggling grew, but it was for naught as two armed men moved to take her off stage. The sword was freed and they gripped her arms on either side. She didn't stop struggling, kicking and screaming a slew of profanities, words she wouldn't ever usually say.
But she was afraid.
She was terrified.
Blake was going to die. She knew this. If a Schnee was the one buying her she could only imagine what it was for; sport, experimentation, intense labour.
Anyone of those would be bad for a regular noble.
The Schnee would kill her.
So she kept struggling, even as the men yanked her chains and kicked her to the ground, as they beat her and dragged her away into the tunnels for transport.
She struggled as her body scraped across the ground and she struggled as she was hoisted up into a box.
A box!
It was barely big enough to hold her, a wooden crate with a single hole for air to keel the produce alive. That's what she was, produce for a Schnee to use at their leisure.
Blake winced at the position she was in, hunched over and curled up so badly that is she wasn't a Faunus she might have broken her spine. Her shackles hadn't been taken off, and they still dug into her skin.
She focused on that pain instead of her fear as the box moved, lifted so that she fell against the side uncomfortably.
They were moving her.
Where to she wasn't sure, but likely to a carriage to bring her back to the Schnee residents. Blake had heard about it; a fortress in the snowy mountains of Atlas, cut off from the rest of the world less for a single road. Far enough away that a slave with nothing but the clothes on her back wouldn't escape, freezing to death instead.
Blakes' eyes burned with tears that threatened to spill forth.
She didn't want to die. Not now, not when she'd done nothing wrong.
She focused on the pain again.
Focused on that and bit down on her fear. She wouldn't die quietly. If they were going to kill her she'd look them in the eyes when they did. A last show of defiance for a girl who had been a slave all her life.
And so she waited, and she waited, as the crate moved to and fro. She waited and waited as the icy cold… lessened?
She waited and waited for minutes, hours. What was that smell? Salt?
She waited and waited as her little box was cramped in somewhere dark; she waited and waited as the wooden floor beneath her rocked sickeningly. She waited and waited as her stomach churned as she fought the urge not to be sick, the other thing preventing it, her empty stomach.
Blake waited as the air leaking into the box grew warmer, warmer than she'd ever felt in the freezing grips of Atlas.
Where was she?
She had been awake for… how long? Blake's eyes fought not to drift shut. It had happened already, a few times. Had she fallen asleep already? How many times?
They closed again, and Blake fell into a tired slumber.
Only to be jolted away as everything around her shook.
Blake tensed as her crate hit sold ground, and if it weren't for the shackles she would have been able to prevent falling face first into the side.
As it was, the smack bloodied her nose.
Then, suddenly, there was a creek, and the front of the box split. Blake squinted and recoiled as a sudden burst of light shot into her vision, but before she could think about it a rough hand gripped her collar and dragged her out.
She fell onto the floor painfully and glared angrily up at a new man she'd never seen before.
"Come on," he grunted, "Stand up already."
Blake didn't, her anger making her defiant, or, if you were looking at it another way, stupid.
The man above her rolled his eyes and reach down, dragging her to her feet. She stumbled, but managed to catch herself before she fell again.
She bit her lip as her scratched and bloodied feet ran across cold stone floors. Where was she
Her eyes had a moment to look around. There was candlelight, not sunlight.
How had that blinded her? Had she really been in that box for that long?
She got a good look at the man aswell, a portly fellow with a grey moustache. He inspected her with an appraising eye, and gestured for her to sit on a stool another servant had placed beside her.
At the risk of being dragged roughly again she hesitated, but when the man didn't; simply waited she did as she was motioned, sitting down.
"Alright las, let's get a look at you."
She froze, preparing for the worse, only to breathe a sigh of relief as he kneeled to look at her feet. She winced when his calloused hands ran over the cuts and bruises, but kept quiet as he hummed to himself.
A stray thought entered her mind.
She could kick him. Where he was kneeling now would be the perfect chance for it, straight to the face, even with her injured feet it would be enough to-
She pushed that thought back. It was idiotic. She didn't know where she was, and there were others here to stop her if she tried to make a run for it. No, she needed to stay as calm as she could. Assess the situation, see what would happen.
A minute later he nodded and stood up.
"Alright then, it doesn't look too bad. The rest of you seems alright too." He waved a hand at a couple of servant girls. "Take her to be cleaned. Have old sawbones look at her cuts, make sure they won't be a problem later on."
Blake sucked in a breath from the order, at the word sawbones, but a servant girl saw her face and shook her head.
Not an actually sawbones then, or at least not for her.
Blake let herself be led by the arms, a sudden bout of exhaustion taking over her body.
Her joints were stiff and her body ached.
Whether it was tiredness or pain, the next time she blinked she was sitting on a table, with a woman in front of her.
"So you're the one then?" she asked, mostly to herself. No humans actually wanted to speak to a Faunus unless necessary, especially not for small talk. "You look relatively intact at least, not much we can do about the cuts except clean and bandage them, but it should be enough."
The sawbones raised a pair of scissors and grinned menacingly. Her pink hair doing nothing to take away from the terrifying grin. "Stay still will you, and let doctor Peach do her work."
Blake's eyes widened in fear as the small blades moved closer, fear of a cut, fear of more pain.
She swallowed when it didn't do that, but instead moved on to a roll of bandages, and breathed a fractured sigh of relief.
The sawbones heard her, and grinned wider. She chuckled to herself and held up a bottle and cloth. "Now, this is going to sting, a lot, try not to scream alright?"
The Faunus didn't have any time to respond as the damp cloth ran over her wounds.
She whimpered, clenching her eyes shut and whistling through her teeth. Her nails dug into her palms.
Peach hummed. "Impressive. I thought you'd be writhing a lot more. You might want to be careful though, I'll have to clean those wounds on your hands now as well, it'll be trouble to use them if it goes to deep.
Blake didn't answer, but gave a feeble nodded, instead opening her hands wide and pinning them to the table as hard as she could.
The sawbones was precise, methodical and quick as she scrubbed the openings on her body, cleaning way blood and dirt that had built up recently, as well as cleaning out some older wounds. That was messy to look at, the yellowing scabs having to be peeled off had Blake shaking in agony, but she managed to keep her mouth shut, somehow, through it all. What mattered was that they were cleaned, and shortly after Peach unrolled the bandages, carefully wrapping them around Blake's body. On her legs, her arms, her stomach, back, feet and hands. It wasn't a ridiculous cast but did its job at covering the damage.
The pink-haired woman nodded.
"There we go, all done. I have to say again; I'm impressed expected a lot more noise. Good for you."
Blake didn't answer, to busy panting heavily as the awful stinging wracked her body.
"Sit there for a moment," the doctor ordered. "You'll be walking in a few minutes, be sure to rest your feet when you can."
"R-right." she breathed and flinched when she realised she'd spoken. She looked up hesitantly to see the sawbones staring at her for a moment in surprise.
"Huh…" Was all she said, before turning to do other work on the counter against the wall.
As the woman had said, there was a knock on the door a few minutes later.
The dark-haired girl turned in time to see a short round man with bright eyes. He wore a suit or something Blake didn't know the name of.
"Ah, Klein," the doctor smiled. "Right on time, she's all patched up, so I'll leave the rest to you."
"Very good," the human male hummed. His eyes fell to Blake, who caught the message and got off the table, standing up. She ignored the sharp pain that lanced through her heels. "Come along then." He said, turning his back to her and walking out the door.
Blake blinked at the causal order, and without thinking trotted along to catch up to him.
She followed him from a few steps behind. Now that she had a proper chance the Faunus' eyes roved over everything she could.
It was a wide hallway, pristine and white, but not in a way to suggest cleanliness, rather like it hadn't been used. But what did she know? It was honestly just a guess. It was still cleaner than anything she'd ever seen in the mines.
The walls and ceiling were marble, and the chandeliers above were crystal. Outside, the windows were-
She stopped. Staring outside.
The man, Klein, paused as he noticed her hesitation.
He raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
Blake just stared, not even processing that a human had spoken to her, asked her a question instead of just beating her forward. She was too focused on what lay outside. Green.
It was a field of green.
She swallowed. "We're not in Atlas, are we?"
"We are not," the butler confirmed. "The servants have been prepping for our arrival for the last fortnight. we arrived in Vale just hours ago. Mistress Schnee has been very busy since then.
"M-Mistress Schnee?"
"Indeed. Her father has allowed her to take residence in his personally own mansion here in Vale. Come, I will explain it to you as we clean you up."
"Clean?"
He shot her a look. "Yes, clean. You may have your wounds cleaned, but one look at you hair and nails showed you've never been bathed in your life." His nose wrinkled, perhaps involuntarily. "And I thought it polite not to mention the smell."
Blake blinked, taking a sniff of herself. What was he talking about? She had far better smell than any human and there was nothing reaching her nose. How could he smell her?
She took a sniff. Nothing.
Klein hesitated as if he realised something. "You're not completely like a cat when it comes to water are you?"
She… didn't really know how to answer that.
She would find out minutes later however, when she was brought into another room she didn't recognise, and handed over to a new group of servant girls.
Klein told her that he would return shortly, and the girl got to work on Blake.
And when she meant work, she meant scrubbing her from head to toe.
Apparently, she was too bandaged for a bath (Which Blake wasn't even sure what that was, but it was their words, not her) so instead they took soapy warm water and brushes to scrub off the grim from her skin, while another girl ran her fingers through her hair.
It was thorough, but not gentle, and Blake winced for what felt like the hundredth time that day as they worked at her dark hair and not too kind with her ears. Pulling and tugging on the cat appendages to pull out the cakes of dirt.
She couldn't complain though, even if she wanted to, her body felt cleaner and lighter than it ever had before.
The whole thing took around ten minutes, and when it was done, Klein returned with something in his arms. He saw her naked form, and regarded her with a one over, more interested in a job done then anything attractive about her. Although she doubted any human would care, not with her ears for all to see.
He smiled at the servant girls. "Well done, you can return to your duties now, I can finish here."
The women bowed and hurried out of the room without a word. Leaving only the two of them in the steam-filled room.
"Here, put these on."
Blake regarded them warily. "What are they?"
Klein raised an eyebrow. "Clothes." He said simply.
Blake blushed in embarrassment. Right, of course, what did she expect?
She was handed the clothes, and with a little bit of embarrassment, turned her back to the butler to put them on. A few seconds later she looked down at herself. They… it was a short and pair of pants. Pure white in colour. She knew why of course; slaves were forbidden from wearing anything but the standard clothing. No dresses, no jewellery, only things practical for work. Things that could be easily recognisable so that they could not escape or run unnoticed. The white on the other hand was more simple: the colours of the Schnee household. Not the full colour, but enough that she wouldn't stick out.
"Those clothes are only temporary," Klein told her as she turned back. "Once the mistress has arranged everything we will find you some proper wear.
She nodded slowly. Whatever that meant she couldn't be sure. Would she be put back in rags? Who could tell?
The human opened the door and Blake followed him out.
"Now," he said. We have one more thing we need. Follow me."
She did as she was told dutifully; taking in the route they took as she did. It might be important to run if worst came to worse, and she expected them to when the Schnee felt the urge to get rid of her. a good five minutes later (just how big was this place?!) they reached their final stop. It was a door at the end of the hallway, where the first man she'd met stood, running a hand through his moustache. Klein greeted him with a wave.
"Peter! Have you got it?"
"I do my man, right here."
The stout man reached behind him and pulled out a collar.
Blake was suddenly rooted to the floor.
The two humans shared a look.
The butler spoke. "I would advise you to put this one."
"I-I…"
She tried to protest, but the words wouldn't come.
"Come on then," the man named Peter said with a cheer she certainly didn't fear. He walked up to her with it still in his hands; Blake's eyes didn't leave it. "It is lawfully required by the royal families that all nobility owned slaves must be wearing a collar showing their masters."
That made her swallow. It meant she couldn't beg even if she wanted to. This was happening. She couldn't prevent it. Her eyes took in every detail they could.
It was a metal collar, smoked black and lines with… jeweller- No, Dust. The collar was lined with Dust for some unbeknownst reason all around the edges, four different colours, red, blue, yellow and green. And on the front, in the centre, where her throat would be covered was a snowflake, the emblem of the Schnee family.
The man quickly lost patience, and with a grunt, stepped forward. Blake tried to step back, but grabbed by her arm and pulled forward.
The collar clamped shut around her next with a metallic click.
"There we go. That wasn't so bad now was it?"
She glared at him hatefully. Wasn't so bad? No, it wasn't painful, but it was a mark now, a mark that she wasn't free, that her dreams and hopes of a life away from the mines had been dangled right out of reach only to be yanked away.
He saw her look. "Oh, and one more thing." He stepped back to get a better look at her form. "That collar had another purpose; the Dust is there for a reason. Now, you're probably very rebellious in this stage of your life lass, but we cannot tolerate that in front of the lady, so, while your thoughts are free, if you make an aggressive move towards Mistress Schnee, the collar will know and…"
There was a sudden crackled next to her non-Faunus ears, and Blake's eyes shot open as pain shot through her body. She gasped, all of her muscles seizing up. She fell to the floor with no hands to break her fall.
She panted, gasping for breath as her body shivered. There was the pain, right there and it burned!
It stopped the next moment, as suddenly as it began. The pain stopped, no, the primary pain stopped, but the jolt had left her body sore. She glared up at the man named Peter who hadn't even batted an eye.
"That will happen." He said, and it took her addled brain a moment to realise he was finishing his warning. This was what would happen if she misbehaved in front of the Schnee?!
Klein sighed. "Was that really necessary Peter?"
"Of course it was!" he said. "the lass needs to know the consequences, better safe than sorry."
The butler didn't look convinced, but sighed again anyway.
"Very well, I think that is all. You may leave."
"Righto."
Klein watched as the other man marched down the hall for a few moments before bending down to help take to her feet.
"Terribly sorry about that, Peter doesn't seem to realise when he's gone too far. He's old-fashioned like that."
Blake didn't know what to say to that, so she said nothing.
The man brushed her down before nodding. He opened the door and led her into the room. There… was a bed on one side, large enough for two, even three people and curtains draped on all sides. There was a window taking up nearly the entire farthest wall. The room was the same marble as the others, but there seemed to be a blue shine to the floors. Klein turned and looking her in the eye.
"Right then, a little advice then before you begin. Lady Schnee is under a lot of stress at the moment with this new transition, so be sure to use your manners and speak appropriately. Also, make sure to listen carefully to her instruction, they may be oddly specific sometimes but considering what your new vocation is it is imperative that you listen well, and finally, do not bring shame to the Schnee family, either on the lady's behalf or anyone else. She does not need the added trouble."
He straightened up. "Now, then goodbye, I will see you again soon."
"W-wait!" she called out, too late, as the door closed shut behind him, leaving her standing in an empty bedroom.
She stared at it in confusion.
New vocation? As a Slave he meant, surely, but… then it wouldn't exactly be new. Manners? She doubted she would even be allowed to speak to the noble without pains of death hovering over her and shame? Once again, she was a slave, what was she supposed to be representing other than cheap workforce?
None of those questions were answered by the empty space, and soon Blake was inspecting just where it was she'd been landed.
The whole room looked… new. Was it really true that no one was living here? That servant's had needed to prep it? From the thin layer of dust on the desk in the corner, it might have been. She hesitantly made her way over to the bed, running a hand over it. It was… soft.
That was as far as she got when the door clicked open behind her. She spun around and froze stiff as a girl with white hair entered the room.
She wore a fine white dress down to her ankles, meshed with expensive fabrics, and hair tied back in a delicate ponytail.(That drapped off to the side?)
The Schnee's eyes landed on her and blinked in surprise.
"Ah! You're here, good." The noble said, moving over to the desk and setting down a book, or a ledger of some sorts that she had been carrying. "I've been swamped with work at the moment, so if you will just give me a moment before-"
"Why am I here?" Blake bit out. It seemed that even with the collar around her neck, the flame of defiance still burned in her chest.
The noble blinked in surprise before a slight frown overtook her features. "Well…." She said. "I suppose I should have expected you to be a bit uncomfortable, what with our trip over the sea.
The sea, Blake had travelled over the sea in her box… That would explain the excessive rocking.
"No matter," she went on. "that can be resolved easily."
Blake tensed, bracing herself for the collar to start up again, her body locking in anxiousness.
Nothing happened.
Blake blinked, the Schnee noticed.
"What are you… never mind, come here."
The Faunas didn't move for a second, but w3hat was she supposed to do? It was a simple order from the white-haired noble, disobeying might lead to more trouble.
So, hesitantly, she approached the Schnee lady.
She was just a foot away from the Schnee, close enough to reach out and touch her.
She didn't.
The noble looked Blake up and down, to the bandages on her feet to the collar on her neck. Next, she reached out, fingers just grazing her cat ears. Blake flinched back, and the noble paused, before withdrawing her hand. She hummed, or was it a cough?
"Well," she said after a moment. "You seem to be in good health. That is good. What is your name."
She blinked. "I… what?"
The human rolled her eyes. "Your name, to what I must refer to you as, what is it?"
"…Blake… it's…. Blake."
There was a pause.
"And?" the Schnee pressed. "What is your last name?"
"I don't have one… or if I do I don't know it."
She blinked. "Ah…. Well, that is fine then. Blake, it's a… nice name?"
Blake didn't respond, watching the human noble warily. She didn't know what to make of this, or even if she wanted to. What kind of noble concerned themselves with the name of a slave? Why would they concern themselves?
The Schnee nodded to herself. "Right, well, I am Weiss Schnee of the Schnee family. In public, you should refer to me as either Lady Schnee or Mistress Schnee. I suppose in the privacy of our home, you may call me Weiss, at least in front of Klein. It should make it easier to settle into your new job."
"I… what? I don't understand!" Blake suddenly cried. "What are you talking about?! Why am I here?!"
She paled suddenly and recoiled. Why had she yelled? The Schnee was going to punish her for that, maybe kill her even for her- why did she look surprised.
Weiss blinked. "You weren't told?"
Told? What had she not been told?
"I purchased you in Atlas for the sole reason of filling a position I don't trust anyone else to fill."
Blake watched her with suspicious eyes. "What… position would that be?"
Weiss smiled, at Blake didn't realise until a second later that it was there to soften the bombshell that she dropped.
"To be my bodyguard."
...
So that's the first chapter. I hope you get a feel for what the tone of this story is going to be. there are going to be some light moments, and some dark moments but I hope that either way you'll enjoy whats to come.
AS it is, you can read this, give criticism on what you like and don't like, and if you decide you want more you can check out my other story on RWBY.
For now though, that's it.
If you liked it, be sure to follow, Favourite and Review.
Hope to see you next time.
Bye!
P a treon . com(slash) WSpectre