Chapter 1: A New War

2 weeks after The Breach

Cardin sighed, stretching his arms as he worked out the kinks in his back. He had gone to the library at Beacon to work on his studies for Professor Oobleck's history class and he had been making some solid progress on the current unit they were in. Eventually the words in the textbook started to merge together and he realized that he had been staring at the same page for the past ten minutes.

'Damn, and I was close to remembering the name of the adventurer in the myths of Gale too,' Cardin thought as he took another look at the page.

"Do you need some help?"

Cardin turned to the source of the voice slowly, his head still a bit foggy with boredom. Velvet Scarlatina, rabbit faunus and second year student. Also, a former target of his bullying. Shaking his sluggish head, he nodded and gestured to the seat next to him.

"Yeah, I've been stuck on this assignment for the past ten minutes."

"Which one?" Velvet asked as she took the offered seat and looked over at his textbook.

"Some story about a shapeshifter or something from Mistral. I got all the way to the part about the Grimm lair and that's when I lost focus." Looking up from the page, Velvet scoffed and gave him an unbelieving glance from the corner of her eye.

"Really? You lost interest at the most exciting part of the story?" Cardin held up his hands.

"What? You would've been bored too, if you constantly read about Elias, son of Thomas, son of Martin, bodyguard of Count Claur, descendant of one the 500 Companions and yada-yada." He coughed into his hand motioned towards the book.

"Anyway, back on topic." Turning her attention back towards the book she began scouring the page for information to help her impromptu lesson with Cardin. Looking at the determined expression on her face, Cardin let his mind wander back to the incident that had indirectly lead to this encounter.

The incident two weeks ago, during what many had referred to as 'The Breach'.

Half-hour after The Breach

"Damn."

Cardin grunted as he blocked another strike from the beowolf in front. The beowolf was a matured Grimm, easily larger than the ones encountered in the Forever Fall Forest, and much more heavily plated, with plates on its arms and hind legs. It moved a few steps backwards and dropped to all fours, but kept its distance from Cardin and began to move in a slow circle around him. Cardin took that time to regain his composure and took a deep breath.

'This wasn't how I expected this day to go,' he thought. His team was taking advantage of a free day from classes and studying when the sirens went off in Vale. They managed to get a Bullhead to Vale, and they started to guide and protect the citizens to shelter when a horde of Grimm split them off. Now, after moving through the city for eight minutes, he was in no better position than before.

'Alright, got to think. Mature Grimm are obviously older and more experienced, so I should take it slowly and test its attack.' He took a moment to study the plates covering its body.

'But those plates are going to be more of a problem. They look like they could stop my mace for a hit or two, and if that happens it can hit me pretty badly. If the rest of the city is looking like this, I'll need as much as Aura as I can spare.' Grimacing, he readied his mace and took up a ready stance.

'Which means I'll just have hope I can end this quickly.' Taking a moment to choose his course of action, Cardin raised his mace high over his head with one hand and sent it down towards the ground, activating its fire crystal and causing the street in front of him to crack violently and explode outward. The beowolf leaped out of the way and made a move for Cardin's side.

Cardin brought up his mace and move it to his side, bracing himself for the attack. The beowolf's claws struck the mace, the shock wave moving Cardin in the opposite direction a few feet. Luckily for him, he managed to stay on his feet and made a quick jab with the tip of his mace, the fire crystal activating once again and a spout of flame shot out, burning the torso and right shoulder of the beowolf, which howled in pain and once again made a dash towards Cardin.

Cardin knew that he wouldn't be able to block it in time and instead readied himself for a hard impact. The beowolf plowed into him with its uninjured shoulder, sending Cardin flying into one of the many buildings that lined both sides of the street. He groaned as he picked himself back up, thankful that his armor softened the blow somewhat, and took a glance at the beowolf.

It's quick dash against him seemed to be a solitary act of revenge, as the beowolf was now panting heavily and acting more instinctually than before. It was looking all around itself and was favoring its uninjured side, and if Cardin had to wager, it's mind was getting clouded by heat and pain the flames had given it.

'This is my chance, I can end this now!' He thought. Shaking his head clear, he rushed towards the Grimm, raising his mace and brought it down towards the Grimm's head. It reacted to his charge, but could only manage to feebly raise it's left, unburnt arm, which broke with a sickening crunch as Cardin's mace broke the bones. Cardin raised his mace to his side and made a well practiced swing towards its head. He heard a satisfying crack as his mace broke the Grimm's mask into multiple pieces and its head into a mushed mess.

"Finally.." he muttered, and he turned away from the Grimm towards the direction his team last was. The Grimm horde had moved on from the area, and some buildings had fallen over and formed a crude barricade between him and it, as well as blocking off his path back toward his team.

Sighing, he turned towards the opposite direction and began moving down the street, taking care to avoid the numerous corpses that littered the streets, all of which were in various states of damage. Cardin barely managed to subdue his gut reaction of vomiting, the prospect of attracting more Grimm from the action and subsequent emotions enough of a deterrent to quell the urge. Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply, and tried to recall all of the advice and training he had learned that would help keep his emotions in check, and opened his eyes.

He slowed his pace as to not upset his stomach and kept both his gaze, and his mind, focused ahead of him. The stench from the partially eaten bodies was horrible, and reminded him of memories he had from trips to the family ranch in the farming district near Vale, and of the dead animals he would find, caused either from other animals or even from himself protecting the cattle.

To his right, he saw the body of faunus woman, her leg chewed off and multiple deep gashes crossing her body. Behind him, a human man with both of his arms missing, probably thrown if the the singular limb across the street was any indication, and his head mangled beyond recognition. In front of him, he saw an overturned stroller on its side, with a pool of blood covering the area around it.

'Shit, shit shit.' Cardin began to pick-up his pace and a minute later he managed to find an area of the city that wasn't totally covered in blood and corpses. He moved down the street, sticking to the sidewalk, when he spotted a sight worse than the Grimm he fought a few minutes prior.

"Oh fuck me," he whispered to himself. An alpha Grimm was in the middle of street, about one hundred feet away with its back to him. Immediately, he took cover behind a nearby car, and scouted out the area. The way forward led towards an intersection, the way behind was still an option but there was almost nothing to hide behind should the alpha look in that direction.

To his right was a stretch of buildings, most of them sporting broken windows or demolished sections of walls, and Cardin had an idea of what happened to the occupants inside. And to his left was a similar image, although the building closest to him, a cafe that he had visited once or twice that semester, he remembered quietly, was relatively intact, with only broken windows and a destroyed door being the noticeable damage. There was also…..

Crap.

Two people, one an adult and one a small child, if not a toddler. The adult was a female cat faunus, with two ears and a tail, wearing a long sleeved shirt with multiple cuts along it, and jeans. The child was a human boy, wearing simple shorts and a t-shirt, and both were hiding behind the bar counter near the broken window closest to Cardin. The woman noticed him and her eyes widened, with a small look of relief appearing on her face as she noticed his armor and mace.

Cardin shook his head from the shock he got from the surprise, and motioned to the woman to be quiet and keep low. She nodded and brought the child down further below the counter. Cardin sighed and took a look back towards the alpha, and was a little glad that it had moved further away from him during the time he looked around. Looking back towards the couple, he moved a little closer towards them before motioning them to slowly moved closer towards the broken window.

Once they were almost over the boundary of the former window pane, Cardin decided to risk verbal instructions.

"Hey, can you hear me alright?" he whispered to the woman.

"Y-yeah. Thank God you're here, I thought we would've died in there. You have to get us out!" the woman whispered with increasing urgency.

"Hey, keep calm and try to keep your voice down, ok? If you keep going on like this, it'll sense your fear, and then we'll all be dead, alright?" The woman nodded, and Cardin took another glance at the Grimm. It hadn't moved any further, he noted sourly, but it was preoccupied with a mostly intact body it had found. Cardin turned back to the woman.

"Ok, that Grimm over there is busy at the moment, so if we can get you out of there we should be able to get to the evac center without much trouble if we play it slow. You know the way to St. Phidiusos' Church?"

"Yeah, it's about two blocks away, on the corner of Thomas and Chestnut."

"Good, I can get you all the way to Theodore Avenue and if the militia did their job right then you should be fine the rest of the way there."

"Wait, you're going to leave us out there by ourselves?"

Cardin gave a soft scoff.

"Trust me, that entire street should be covered in Grimm bodies, you'll be fine. And if they're all dead, there isn't much I'll be able to do except bleed on them. Besides, I have to find the rest of my team and find anyone else I can save."

"You really think you'll find anyone else?" She said with a slight tone of disbelief.

"I found you, didn't I?" She remained quiet at that. Cardin took a look at the area around the window. Shards of glass littered the area outside the window, but it seems most of them went inside, as if something crashed into the cafe.

"Do you have anything that you can put over these shards? I don't want us to be noticed because we couldn't stop the noise of some glass."

"Hold on, there's some towels for large spills around here somewhere," the woman said as she left the boy and went down the bar looking for the towels. Cardin looked at the boy, who he now noticed had red eyes and a small amount of blood on him, although he couldn't see any wounds on the boy.

Cardin gave him a small smile and the boy wiped his eyes and gave a timid smile back, but then turned his attention back to the woman as she made her way back, a large towel in her hands. She threw one end of the towel to Cardin, who grabbed it and gently put it over the shards and ever so gently, stood up slightly and put his foot on a single shard.

He winced at the sound it made, but when he turned his attention towards the Grimm, it showed no sign of noticing the sound and kept on with its meal. Cardin felt a twinge of shock as he noticed that the corpse was already almost completely eaten, his conversation with the woman being only half a minute long.

Taking one last look at the Grimm to make sure it wouldn't notice them, he held his hand up, but then beckoned them forward. The woman took the first hesitant step, but when the alpha showed no signs of noticing them, she grabbed the boy and quickly made her way over to Cardin. He took another glance, and sighed with relief as the alpha remained the same.

"Alright, let's not run until we round the corner," he said and they slowly started walking towards the corner. They would've made it too, if it wasn't for the nearby apartment wall falling to the street. Cardin froze, and as he twisted around he could see the alpha turn its head at the noise, and then it gave a low growl as it noticed them.

"Start running. Now!" Cardin shouted, and the woman eagerly complied, still carrying the child. As he turned to run with her he could finally see what type of Grimm it was. An Alpha Beowolf, it was similar in size to the mature beowolf he fought earlier, but slightly larger, and with multiple segments of bone plates covering all of its body as well as having bony ridges across its spine.

Cardin easily managed to outpace the woman and child, but as he took a look behind him he could see the alpha gaining ground on them, fast. They should be able round the corner before it could and probably find a hiding spot, but he doubted that it would save them. He was broken from his train of thought when he heard a scream and the sound of a crashing wall. The woman and child were both on the ground, and although they were unharmed the woman looked as if she sprained her ankle and the falling rubble had created a thin layer of dust, causing both the woman and child to cough.

They won't make it. He knew that. Even if the the woman could somehow grab the child and see through the dust, her sprained ankle would keep her from running and at the current speed of the Grimm, it would reach them in the next ten seconds or so.

No-one would know if he left them. The alpha would definitely kill them and if he left right now, would more than likely give up the chase and focus on eating their bodies. That would easily give him time to put distance between them to throw off his took another look at them, on the ground and he could see the fear in their eyes as they noticed the Grimm.

"Shit," he murmured under his breath. He couldn't leave them. No, that was wrong. He wouldn't leave them. It didn't matter if one of them was a faunus, or that he would be better off if he just sacrificed them. He was a huntsman, or at least one in training, and he'd be damned if he left them to die.

'How would I live with myself if I knew I left them?' He thought. He turned around to face the alpha and readied his mace. Giving out a yell he rushed towards the alpha. The beowolf saw him approaching and attempted to slow down, but its momentum was too great and it only managed to raise a plated arm as Cardin's mace smashed into it, the fire crystal active.

The plate covering its right forearm shattered, and the upper arm plate cracked from the combined force and heat of the impact, but the rest of the arm remained mostly unharmed. Cardin jumped back a second after the hit connected but he was hit square in the stomach from the beowolf's left arm. He went flying into a nearby wall, and he could feel a sharp pain in his skull.

"Damn, that hit took out that much aura?" He cursed. He gained a little bit of comfort as the pain slowly subsided, telling him that he still had a little aura left. He charged at the Grimm again before it could focus its attention on the pair and he fired off two random shots with his fire crystal. The first shot connected unobstructed into the Grimm's back, burning the bone plate and even managing to crack a few of them in half.

The alpha roared and turned around in time to block the second shot with its shoulder, the plate staying strong and only the surrounding fur being singed by the blast, but it was still knocked back a step. Cardin rushed at it and swung wide with his mace, the training he instilled in himself coming to bear. The mace connected with the left side of the Grimms face, but the mask refused to break and instead a thin fracture line appeared, spreading across the mask.

The Grimm didn't roar, but instead viewed Cardin with what he could only describe as a look of… understanding? Respect? No, that wasn't it. Could they even feel any emotions besides anger? Cardin shook the distracting thoughts from his head and was caught by surprise by the arm the connected with his chestplate and sent him a few feet onto the street. The Grimm moved towards him and raised its claw to strike him.

"Cardin, watch out!" Cardin's eyes widened at the new sound, but he turned himself onto his side and shielded his face as he felt a blast of wind and an explosion near his body. Getting on his feet and turning around he saw that the area in front of him was covered in small flames and the beowolf was panting heavily. Its torso was heavily scorched and its entire right arm was burnt to a crisp, if the smoke rising from it was any indication.

However Cardin realized the new problem. The Grimm started running again- but not at Cardin. Instead it started running towards the woman and child. Acting on instinct, he ran towards the pair and threw himself before them. He felt a burning pain entered his abdomen, and he was vaguely aware of the screaming happening right behind him. The Grimm's left arm had pierced straight through the left side of his abdomen, and Cardin could feel the blood flow from the wound.

He also knew, that at this moment the Grimm was vulnerable to an attack.

Its right arm was unable to defend against an attack and with its left arm stuck in him, he had a free shot at taking it out. Struggling to raise his right arm, he took a look at the Grimm's mask. It had a thin fracture before, but the blast must've damaged it further, as the fracture line was now much wider and looked as if it was on the verge of collapse. He took a mighty swing with his mace and activated the fire crystal at the tip.

He was awarded with the entire mask shattering into pieces and the immediate area of the face being burnt to ash, with the rest of the head flying off to the left of him. He ripped the arm free of him and walked back a few steps before falling down on the ground, a pool of blood forming around him.

"Cardin? Oh my God, you're bleeding!" Cardin looked over from the corner of his eye. Velvet? What was she doing here? She should be at the church.

'Must've been the fighting. It had to be,' He thought, as a thick fog grew over his mind.

"Don't worry Cardin, you'll make it out of this. I promise," Velvet said.

'Huh, first Arc, now her. The world sure is strange,' he thought as his vision went dark.

Two weeks after The Breach.

"Hey, are you listening?"

Cardin blinked, lost in his own thoughts. Velvet was looking at him, a slightly annoyed expression on her face.

"Wha- Of course I'm listening. Honest," Cardin said quickly, feeling slightly abashed from being caught in his daydream.

"Mh-hm. So that's why you were looking off into space for the past five minutes, right?" Velvet said, sarcasm lacing her voice. Cardin sighed, closing his eyes and running his hands through his hair.

"I was just thinking, is all." Velvet gave him a curious look.

"What about?"

"Just about the, uh, breach, is all." Velvet gave him a concerned look.

"Is your wound still giving you trouble? I thought the doctor's cleared you," Velvet said, putting a hand on his shoulder and trying to examine the stomach wound he got from the alpha. Calmly, he gently moved her hands away from his sides and held up a single hand.

"It's ok, it hasn't bothered me much since I got out. Just a few aches in the middle of the night, not much else. Can we get back to studying for now?" he asked motioning back to the book, a slight twinge of desperation lacing his voice. Velvet gave him a concerned glance before she hesitantly turned her attention back towards the book.

"If you say so…" she trailed off and resumed where they'd left off. They sat and studied over the material, Velvet explaining certain aspects of the tales. Eventually they took a break and Cardin mused on a thought that had crossed his mind.

"Hey, do you know when Team RWBY is coming back? I haven't seen Red in a while," Cardin spoke, hoping it sounded like a casual question. It wouldn't do to have people know that he was somewhat worried about the fellow team. He'd been trying to repair his school image, but that didn't mean he liked to lose his tough guy persona anytime soon.

"Red?" Cardin decided to take a keen interest in the cuffs of his uniform, but even still, he could hear the smirk in Velvet's voice. Warmth filled his cheeks in embarrassment as he attempted to keep his cool.

"Yeah, Red, y'know. 'Cause she wears.. red. And stuff."

"Well, from what the I've heard they went to the Schnee family manor in Atlas, probably for for family business. They left about 4 days ago, but they should be coming back tonight, if they aren't here already," she gave Cardin a smile before continuing.

"But I'm sure Ruby will be happy to hear that you care. As will the rest of her team, I imagine. Especially Yang," she finished. Cardin sighed, getting used to the teasing.

"It's not like that and you know it. I just heard they got some of the worst of the fighting during the Breach. I see Red in my weapons class, and I was worried that something might have happened, is all," Velvet gave him another small smile.

"Honestly though, I'm sure she'd appreciate the thought." With that said they got back to the lesson. Time passed, and eventually they decided to end the lesson and instead talked about other things for awhile. Velvet checked her watch and nodded before looking back at Cardin.

"It's almost curfew, and the library should be closing in a few minutes. You think we should leave?" Velvet asked.

"I'll put the book back, and then I'll head back to my room. See you whenever," Cardin said as he moved out of the chair and towards the back of the library.

"I'll be out in a few minutes, so I'll see you later," came the soft reply. Cardin went on towards the back of the library, tall shelves of books of varying age stacked around him. Minutes passed, and he cursed the the sorting system of the library as he thumbed through the shelves in a vain attempt to find the book's proper spot.

"How the hell did I forget where I found this book? I swear it was right here.."

"Need help?" Cardin whirled around at the unexpected voice and found himself facing the source. What he saw didn't put him off edge either. He was facing a woman, probably in her 30's, standing at 5'7". She wore a sleeved tunic with pants, leather boots and pauldrons being her only visible armor. A hood was pulled down and let her ponytailed white hair move unrestricted, her clothing an ice blue. But what caught Cardin's attention was the 6 ft spear casually propped against her.

"Well? You gonna answer me kid?" The woman spoke again, light blue eyes burrowing into his.

Cardin backed up slowly towards the open space in between the rows of shelves.

"N-no, I'm fine, I was just leaving," He spoke nervously, his mind frantically looking for anything that could give him a headstart on his escape. The woman cocked her head slightly and a mischievous smirk appeared on her face.

"Oh? But you haven't returned your book yet, have you? It wouldn't do to steal school property," she said, moving calmly towards him. Cardin picked up his pace slightly and found himself in the hall, his eyes never leaving the woman. The woman gripped her spear and brought it to a battle ready stance, poised to thrust at him. She stopped, and looked off to the side slightly, and then huffed in disappointment.

"Sorry kid, but it looks like I don't have any more time to chat. Sorry it had to be this way," she gave him what he thought could be an apologetic smile before thrusting her spear towards him. Cardin cursed, holding the book up in front of him and instinctively moving to his side.

He wasn't fast enough apparently, if the pain in his shoulder was any indication. Cursing, he dropped the book and clutched at his arm, and was surprised to find blood coating his hand.

My aura didn't block it? I barely saw her move! What the hell is she? Cardin was starting to panic, and he could feel his heart rate pick-up. He staggered back, clutching his shoulder and started to look for anything that could help. He spotted a door to his left, if he was lucky it would connect to an office or passageway to another section of the school. Now, he just needed a distraction..

The shelf! if he could bring it down he could make a break for the door. He took a breath and brought his now bloody hand away from his shoulder, and prepared himself to start his plan. The spearwoman grunted softly, and small amount of respect filled her eyes.

"You're pretty brave, or pretty stupid to stand your ground against me, boy. But, I admit I admire those who confront their challenges head-on. I'll give you a quick death," she brought her spear up for another strike.

Yelling, Cardin grabbed the nearest book on the shelf and gave a mighty throw towards his assailant. Her eyes widened slightly and the spear seemingly instantaneously cut the book in two. She stared at the remains of the book, taken aback by the abruptness and of the attack.

"A book? That's a new one kid," she brought her eyes back up in time for the bookshelf to fall upon her. Cardin grabbed another book, this one a few inches thick, and made a mad dash towards the door. Not taking any chances with a lock, he slammed his shoulder into the door frame, reinforcing it with aura and causing the door to break open. The door opened up into a narrow concrete hallway, heading in two different directions. Choosing randomly, he went right and ran down the hall. Glancing back he saw a blur of white enter the hall, and then a spear heading straight towards him. He twisted around holding the book in front of him and reinforced it with whatever aura he could gather.

The book squealed under the strain of the spearpoint, before breaking entirely a second later and shattering into pieces. Cardin was propelled back from the force and grunted as he hit his head on the concrete floor. He backed up as the spearwoman lowered her spear towards the ground, face covered by a mask of indifference.

"Clever trick, boy. Using a bookshelf to catch me off guard and then filling an object with aura as a makeshift shield. Not many would come up with a plan like that on the fly," her voice remaining neutral. She took another once over of him.

"But unfortunately for you, my spear is made of much stronger than stuff than anything you could find here. It does seem likely you would've been the 5th Master, but it seems like-" her voice broke off abruptly as she looked off into the distance around her again, as if listening to something only she could hear. Cardin wasted no time in running again, and looked for another exit. Only a few feet behind him, he slammed through the door and shut it, before looking for anything to block the doorway.

Spotting a short cabinet, he pushed it in front of the door before he took a more detailed look of the room. It had four walls, with no doors or exits anywhere in sight.

There goes my escape plan. I doubt that cabinet's going to stop her for even a minute. This just keeps getting better and better. Cardin sighed as he scanned the room. In the center was a large red circle filled with an intricate pattern, and at the center were some black and white shards. Probably from a sword, if Cardin had to wager. The other thing that got his attention was the small note placed right next to the shards. Walking towards the center of the circle and bending down, he picked up the note and read it.

To whomever finds this room, the proper materials for the summoning are in place. I implore you you to use the catalyst already located in the center of the summoning circle; the hero that it corresponds to is of a trustworthy and powerful caliber, and will defend you to his last. The chant for the summoning isn't included in this note, but if you require even that much than perhaps you shouldn't be a part of this war. Either way, good luck, and may you survive the trials ahead.

Cardin looked at the note in confusion.

War? They talking about the Great War? And hero? How long has this room been here, and who left it here? I wonder- Cardin's thoughts were interrupted by the door smashing open and the deadly woman from before blocking the door frame.

"You're a slippery one, I'll give you that. But now I really have to get on my way; you made my master angry by holding back my schedule you see and I'd rather not infuriate my master further. Goodbye, child," she spoke the last part softly, as if she regretted what she was doing, and once again raised her spear for a final thrust.

"Screw this, I won't die here to someone I don't even know. There's still things I have to do, people I have to make up to. I won't die to like this!" Shouting, Cardin didn't notice the circle beneath him glowing, nor the figure that appeared behind him. The woman raised her spear….

But instead of delivering the final blow, she raised it to block an incoming attack.

"The fifth Servant?!" Grunting, she was propelled back into the hall, smoke and debris flying into the hall. Cardin didn't notice though, instead staring at his unexpected savior. White hair and tan skin greeted him.

Gray eyes met lavender, and the figure spoke.

"I ask of you, are you my master?"

A/N: Hey there peoples of , I'm Collaredblock4 and this is my first story. I appreciate any reviews or criticisms of the story, grammar, etc. I'll try to update when I can, but don't expect a general consistency for the time being. I'll probably post more on the next Author's Note, but in the meantime have a nice day.