Chapter Text
Cinder was having an okay day. She'd gotten a good sleep for once and was able to get more food than usual due to an event yesterday. Rhodes even was going to train her later, However on the bad side there was dish breaking causing some repeated punishments. Currently she was scrubbing the floors making sure to get the mud off the carpet before anyone could complain,
"My My, what a hard worker" a voice said.
Cinder looked up to see a stranger, adorned in hotelier uniform.
"Umm sorry for the mess" She provided.
"It's no problem, I'm merely here to learn the trade myself" he supplied.
Cinder looked confused.
"You mean cleaning?" she asked.
The man chuckled, "No I mean running a hotel and providing for guests."
"Oh" Cinder muttered.
"Would you mind showing me your duties miss" He asked.
Cinder nodded, she rather not annoy a guest today.
They walked through the hotel as she did her duties, cleaning the floors, waiting the tables, bringing dishes to rooms. A few times she nearly dropped something but the stranger was quick to catch any object. As she made her way through the reception she caught a glimpse of Rhodes and smiled. He smiled back but then looked strangely at the rookie hotelier.
The man following her excused himself as he walked off to presumably talk to some other members of staff.
"Go serve that man over there" a voice called from her side.
She straightened up recognising the voice of the Madam and quickly looked at her to see where she was pointing. It was Rhodes.
She made her way to the kitchen to grab the plate and saw the Madam's daughters smirking at her. She grimaced as they surely had some sort of cruel prank to play soon, However she couldn't linger on it as she brought the plate back out. Rhodes smiled as he took the plate.
"The hotel hire a new staff member?" he asked.
"No it's just a guest, says he's trying to learn how to run his own hotel." she replied. "It is weird he's in a uniform though"
"Seems sketchy" He supplied. "Be careful alright"
Cinder nodded as she left towards the kitchen again. However as soon as she entered she felt a wet impact. She fell seeing a lump of mashed potato on the floor. She glared at the two sisters.
"Clean that up" they both mocked.
Cinder bit her tongue wanting to retort, however she never got the chance as the Madam entered and stepped on the remains of the mashed potatoes. She grimaced as she looked at Cinder.
"Made another mess I see" she sneered.
"No" Cinder tried arguing. Then a sharp pain struck upon her cheek.
"Talking back, someone is feeling idiotic today" she said pulling out the remote. Cinder cried as her neck was shot with electrical charges. She felt as the pain shot through her entire system.
"Well now isn't this an interesting sight" a familiar voice said.
Cinder fought the pain to see the stranger from earlier at the kitchen's door.
"I apologise for the sight Mr,?..." The Madame said putting up a sickeningly sweet smile.
"You may call me The Doorman" he said as he bowed.
"Mr Doorman"
"The Doorman" the man clarified.
"The Doorman" she replied. "I was just making sure our staff does not step out of line, you know how it is"
"Ah I do, one must always strive to do their best I suppose" he said.
Cinder felt a twinge of annoyance at the statement.
"However I don't believe it's standard to inflict such misery onto an employee from my experience".
The Madam's face went neutral.
"We pride ourselves on high standards" she supplied, "And if those high standards are not met then we must use the appropriate punishment"
"Ah I see, your dodging the question. As most humans do when faced with a dark secret"
Her smile returned.
"Oh so your one of those Faunus then, regardless I feel if you were to report me then you'd end up in more trouble than you'd want" she said.
The man smiled back.
"Ah it's such a treat to see that I can pass off as an average bystander" he said.
"Huntsmen then?" she inquired.
The man chuckled.
"No, just a humble hotelier" he supplied.
The Madam raised a brow.
"Either way, guests are not supposed to be back here" she supplied
"Ah but I am not a guest" he said wagging his finger.
"Then I'll get the hunters to escort you out" she said as she let go of the button and walked to the door beside the man. However when she tried to open the door she was met with no luck.
"Huh?" she muttered. She pushed again and still the door stayed shut.
"Apologies I locked the door before I came in" the man supplied.
Cinder was confused, the doors didn't lock.
"Is this some sort of joke" The Madam said before knocking on the door. "HEY SOMEONE GET HELP, SOME MAN LOCKED US IN"
Cinder heard the scrape of chairs from outside as some guests got up from their seats. The Doorman walked over to her.
"I apologise for all the ruckus I'm making, however I was impressed by your commitment MIss Cinder and was wondering if you'd like to take an offer to work at The Baroness" he said.
"All this to poach a worthless girl" The Madam shouted.
"I believe she has more worth than you think" The Doorman said. "Plus I believe I can offer better, well everything."
Cinder was frozen in fear, yet a spark of hope shot through her.
'Is he really telling the truth'
The Madam pressed down hard on the button again and Cinder closed her eyes and braced for the shocking sensation. It never came. She opened them to see the man at eye level of her, hands around the necklace containing the device. She could almost swear his eyes glowed.
"So do you want to accept the deal" he asked.
She pondered for a moment, Rhodes had warned her about not trusting him. However he had stood up to the Madam.
"Would I need to keep running" She asked.
"Not at all" he said. "The Baroness will make sure of it"
She took a breath in.
"Yes, I accept" she said
The man smiled as he tore the necklace off.
The Madam grabbed a nearby knife.
"YOU WORTHLESS" she shouted as she lunged for the man. However the blade never pierced his skin.
"I will be with you shortly" The Doorman said calmly ignoring the Madam. He turned Cinder around as she saw a glowing door and a vastly different hotel on the other side.
"I'll deal with the riff-raff" he said gesturing CInder to walk through the door.
She took a few apprehensive steps, then calmed herself and stepped through the portal.
The hotel she was in was similar in scope to the Glass Unicorn, however it was clearly not open. She turned to look back through the door but was met with a wall.
"Huh?" She muttered as she touched the wall. Nothing was there, her pondering was stopped when a noise came from the side. She looked out to see a pigeon on a windowsill. However that wasn't what interested her.
The moon was not shattered.
"Apologies for the wait" The Doorman said. as he appeared from behind.
"Where am I?" Cinder asked
"Welcome to The Baroness" he said "The most haunted hotel in the Cursed Apple"