RWBY – The madness of Lappland

Ebony Pov 

After pushing the service cart with cleaning tools behind the door of the storage room , I was ready to close and then lock the door , thus ending my shift today . 

Clover : " Ebony ...... Wait ! "

However , a sudden shout from my senior , Clover stopped me . Holding the key in the door lock , I turned my head to look at the worried face of my co-worker .

Clover :" I know this is sudden , however , can I ask you to take care of the lobby for me " 

Clover says with a panicked and nervous tone in her voice , which stops me from immediately refusing her request . After all , I'm not stupid or nice enough to do someone else's job when I'm done with mine myself . However , the panic in her voice reassured me that it is not because of her laziness or malice she wants to dump it on me . Rather, some urgent emergency situation happened , through which she has to leave immediately .

Ebony : " Yes , of course I can finish it quickly for you . But if I may ask , what happened ? "

I ask wanting to know at least why I have to help her .

Clover : " My son fell down the stairs and was taken to the hospital . My husband is with him , but in all the panic and stress he does not remember whether he closed the door to our house behind him ."

Hearing her words I unconsciously covered my mouth with my hand , thus hiding my shock at the tragedy of my co-worker . Looking at her worried face I could only shake my head in sadness and sympathy .

Ebony : " Then go home quickly and then go to your son . I will take care of everything . "

I say seeing that she is still standing in front of me . Despite the relief caused by my words , tears still rush into her eyes . 

Clover : " Thank you Ebony , You save my life . You see I have already cleaned everything there , but apparently something has happened in the lobby and there is now something to clean . I was about to go back to do it , but I was stopped by a message from my husband .

Clover : " I know there's a storm and it's unlikely someone would break into my house right now , but I wanted to check it out anyway and then go to the hospital to see my son . I'm sorry for dumping it on you , but except you everyone from our shift has already finished and left .... "

Seeing that with every word she puts more and more emotion , I understand , that this is really not an easy situation for her and probably asking me for help must be hard . After all I finished my shift so nothing obliges me to help her .

Ebony : "You don't have to explain anything to me , something bad can happen to anyone in life . As a thinking being I understand this fact . So go home now before it's too late . And be careful on the road , there is heavy rain and wind outside . "

I say , rushing her . After nodding her head in a gesture of gratitude , Clover with tears in her eyes turned around and as fast as she could , she ran through the corridor towards the staff room .

' I hope nothing serious happened ' .

I think with hope that it is nothing serious . I may not personally know the families of my co-workers , but I know that Clover's son is only eight years old and for such a child an unfortunate fall , even from a small height , can end badly . Especially since the fall was from the stairs . After taking a breath , I focus my thoughts on getting back to work , so as to quickly get it over with .

 Looking at the cart of cleaning tools that Clover left next to me , I open the storage room door again . Pulling out my service cart , I remember to then push Clover's service cart inside . Locking the storage room door behind me, I set off with the cart to the lobby. Fortunately I was already on the first floor , so I did not have take the elevator . But before I directly entered the lobby , I first headed to the staff bathroom , located on the way to the lobby , where I filled an empty bucket with water . 

After this stop , I went directly to the lobby , which was right next to the bathroom . Pushing the cart into the lobby , I saw that it was empty , surprisingly there was not even a receptionist behind the counter . It was quite strange , while the lack of new arrivals or current guests in the lobby can be explained by the weather conditions outside and the late hour , by which most guests may already be asleep in their rooms , the lack of presence of a receptionist or a random guest hanging around the lobby is quite strange .

But being honest , instead of thinking about it I focused more on the task to just get home as soon as possible. Looking for a problem in the empty lobby I noticed that on the white marble floor , from the door all the way to the elevator , stretched a long wet trail . Which must have been created by an unfortunate visitor who failed to take shelter from the rain . 

Looking at the fact that this was the only such trace , I was able to certainly confirm that Clover had indeed already cleaned up here and the unfortunate guest must have returned just moments after she had finished . Sighing, I already knew that in addition to the lobby itself, one of the floors will also need to be cleaned . After all, since everyone had already finished cleaning their floors and this guest came in after cleaning , it means that some floor also needs to be wiped . 

' But there is also nothing to blame the guest , after all , she or he also had to change quickly after such rain . '

I think comforting myself a little , despite knowing that I will not finish quickly . Taking the mop and water bucket out of the cart , I began to work in complete silence . The only sounds accompanying me , was the sound of my mop wiping the floor and the quiet sound of rain and wind outside . 

Surprisingly this gave a calm and pleasant atmosphere to my work . But this quiet and peaceful atmosphere was interrupted by the distinct sound of another bucket being placed on the ground . I'm not going to lie I was frightened by this sudden break in the silence . Out of fear I instinctively quickly turned my head towards the sound , only to see the receptionist , who after looking at me shook her head .

Receptionist : " What are you still doing here ? Haven't you already finished your shift ? "

She asks me in her calm and melodious voice , when in the meantime she herself began to clean the wet trail from the floor with her own mop . I , on the other hand , wanting to answer her , realized that I did not know her name . To make matters worse the badge on her chest was too blurry for me to read . In fact , the only reason I know her at all , is that she always stands at the reception desk when I left work , and it is also for this reason that I never had the opportunity to meet her . 

Ebony : " Clover asked me to clean up the mess because something happened , making it impossible for her to do it herself .....".

Despite my initial hesitation , with focus and calmness I answered her question in such a way as not to give away too much information , after all I do not know how much information I can freely share . In response to my words , the receptionist only sighed .

Receptionist : " This poor woman , she must have been so panicked after that phone call that she did not hear me . She just ran out , I thought she heard me . I told her it was no problem for me to do it myself ."

Said the receptionist shaking her head , without stopping floor cleaning .

Receptionist : " Well , it's nice that you are helpful but you can go home , I can handle it myself ."

Says the receptionist seeing that I continue to work .

Ebony : " I do not want to be rude but I decided to stay and do it , I have already started so I will not leave until I finish . Besides I promised to do it and I would feel bad if someone had to stop their own work because of my unkept promise . "

I say with a smile without stopping work with the mop .

Receptionist : " No one is in the lobby . I have nothing to do . "

Says the receptionist sighing .

Ebony : " I was just thinking about it earlier , generally at this time there are no such emptiness . Did something happen ? "

I ask , to continue the conversation . After all , the work itself is boring , making the time drag on . So perhaps , the time will pass faster during the conversation.

Receptionist probably thought the same , so instead of focusing the conversation on trying to convince me to go home receptionist looked at me and continued .

Receptionist : " I was not there from beginning to end but I was just in time to see our guest came in torn , dirty and wet clothes . But the worst part is that she seemed to be covered in blood . Or at least that's what it looked like , looking at the stains of tinted red in her hair and clothes . " 

Says the Receptionist with a clear discomfort in her tone , that frankly escaped me during the conversations because of the shock caused by this information .

Ebony : " Perhaps she was assaulted ? What happened to her afterwards ? An ambulance was called ? What about the police ? Why haven't I heard anything ? "

I asked feeling worried because it was obvious from the conversation that we were talking about a woman . Who knows what might have happened to her . From the description of the state of her clothes I could only deduce the worst . Vale is not the worst in terms of crime , but to say that it is safe here is incorrect . Some neighborhoods are very dangerous , even more so after nightfall .

Receptionist : " Calm down , I don't know anything . That girl without asking for help or paying attention to anyone , went straight to the elevator , leaving the mess behind . "

The receptionist said , stopping the wiping of water from the floor . At that moment I noticed that I myself , unknowingly stopped working . Instead I turned towards the receptionist , in whom face nervousness and fear were clearly visible . But as before , allowing myself to be carried away by emotion I overlooked her facial expression .

Ebony : " So why did no one stop her if she was in such a state ! Everyone just watched this poor girl go to the elevator ? "

I say with anger , at the lack of response from people to the apparent misfortune of someone else .

Receptionist : " You don't understand . I said she looked battered and tired , however not injured . At least not injured enough that the amount of " blood " on her clothes , was hers . " 

Hearing the receptionist's words, I fell silent. Looking at the frightened face of the receptionist , I lowered my gaze to look at her mop-holding hands , which were visibly trembling . Just then I was struck by the realization of the meaning of her words .

Ebony : " Do you mean ....? Is that why the lobby is so empty ? Is that why you are afraid ? "

I ask with realization why it is so empty here .

Receptionist : " It's not about her clothes or body , it could just be dirt . A simple discoloration that looks close to red . Atmosphere ...... The atmosphere throughout the lobby changed when she came inside , when I looked at her ...... I thought I was looking at an animal . She was a faunus , but this was not about her race ...... Something about her ..... Gave me the feeling that if I stopped her...... I will die . " 

Says the Receptionist looking at the elevator with concern , as if the person she just told me about is about to come back here .

Ebony : " Did you call the police ? "

I ask feeling unconcerned , If her words are true then this matter could be dangerously serious . 

Receptionist : " I asked the shift leader about it , but he said we can't call the police just for guessing . Because of her rain-soaked and dirty , damaged clothes there was no certainty that it was blood We also could not call for help for her , unless she herself asked for it . The only thing left was the atmosphere around her , which frightened the other guests . "

Receptionist : " The head of the shift said that as long as she did not hurt anyone , he can at most talk to the girl about it in the morning . In the end , as long as the girl has not done anything to anyone , and we have no evidence of her guilt , our hands are tied . The only thing he assured me was that , there is a security guard sitting in the monitoring room all the time , whom he had already informed about everything . If something was to happen , there is also one security guard in the parking lot . " 

Says the receptionist , calming down . Apparently the fact that she is not alone in her shift gives her peace of mind .

Ebony : " If I may just ask ? Who was that girl , you say she is our guest ? "

I say , asking her a question which is  nagging me . A question or rather a hunch , which troubled me from the moment the receptionist mentioned the atmosphere around the guest and the fact that she is a female faunus . After all , I already have a history with someone fitting that description .

Receptionist : " You know those two girls renting a room on the second floor ? One has black hair with a bow on top od her head , her eyes are amber or gold . The other girl , her roommate is the very girl I mentioned .... "

Hearing the description from the mouth of the receptionist , I am reminded of that exceptionally beautiful , strange and scary white-haired wolf girl who was once talking to her reflection in the mirror .

Ebony : " She has a wolf tail and ears , white hair with dark tips and a scar running across her left eye ? "

I say , giving a detailed description of the characteristic features that can not be ignored .

Receptionist : " Yes exactly , that's her . "

The Receptionist says , nodding her head . Hearing her words confirmed all my worries . I hate to admit it but there was something wrong with this girl all the time . As much as I don't want to do it , I feel I have to check if they are okay . Or rather to see if the black-haired girl is safe .

Ebony : " Second floor ? We are almost finished here , why don't I go upstairs to start cleaning there . Can you finish here ? "

I ask , looking at the Receptionist , who after my words looked at me strangely .

Receptionist : "You know what , Go . Just be careful ."

Says the receptionist apparently understanding what I want to do . As for going there myself , I don't have much opportunity . The receptionist has her work so she must be in the lobby , only I have an excuse to go there . I just hope that my worry is unnecessary .