Author's Notes: Hello, everyone, I am The Almighty Afroduck, here to bring you a new story. It there's anyone at all that's coming from one of my other stories, you know how it goes. For those of you who don't, I have named my account in honor of the Afroduck, the greatest deity in the entire universe, and I try to write stories that break the mold one way or another. In this particular one based on a series created by our beloved Roosterteeth, I will narrate the story from Cardin's eyes. It's an AU, and like the summary suggests, my Cardin is better and worse than he is in the series. He isn't going to be the cardboard cut-out of a bully they've made him in the actual series, and he will have his reasoning. In fact, many characters in the series are considerably by-the-book archetypes that never step outside the book or what is considered cliché (in my personal opinion). That is something I will vastly change with this series. Without further ado, please enjoy this story to come.

Introspective

Alright, you wanna know who I am? No, you're not interested, I'm sure. I wouldn't be. You don't care any more for me than I do for you. I'm fine with that. In my new school, I would say that one out of every ten people I see absolutely hate my guts, the rest just barely tolerate me. I couldn't give a damn about that if I tried. I couldn't give a damn about everything I've done if I tried. I've met a few assholes to the heart in my time, and I've met more wannabe 'bad boys' that try to get all the chicks with their 'rebellious persona'. I'm neither. Deep down, I'm nothing more than an actual, shitty human being. I'm fine with that.

I've never been a very 'learned' man, and thankfully I've had strength to make up for it. I'm the last person who should have been admitted to Beacon, hell, it wasn't even my idea. But, here I am. I didn't choose this, but I may as well make the best of it. I'm not a good person, but this is a place for Hunters, not for saints, so I have a chance here. Want to see what becomes of me? Then follow me and shut the fuck up or leave, because I don't have patience for anyone anymore. Not that I ever had it.

She grabbed his smaller arms and danced, pulling him in circles with her. She smiled and laughed, her sweet voice echoing in his mind, prompting him to do the same. They remained that way, for one minute oblivious of the world's true, cruel face. He had to crane his neck back so he could look up at the tall girl's face, indigo eyes and auburn hair long enough to brush his own. She knelt in front of him, both still laughing as she removed a stray strand of hair that had fallen on his forehead. Pushing it behind his right ear, she put her hand on his cheek and caressed it.

His face twisted and turned in horror as a crimson flow of blood trickled from the upper right corner of her face. She didn't seem to notice even as more rivers of red began spouting from different places all around, from the corner of her mouth to above her left brow. "Cardin?"

Tears flowed from his eyes as he tried to wipe it all away with his hands. He only succeeded in coating her whole face further as more flowed from new wounds to hide her pale complexion. He panicked when he found his hands horribly stained, blood remaining on them no matter how hard he tried to clean it off. He swiped them on his shirt and his pants, but they never dried and now his clothes were stained with her gore. "Cardin?"

"Cardin Winchester?" The voice behind him snapped him out of his trance, and there was an elusive tone to it that the young man couldn't put his finger on. He looked around the room. It was still that same metallic grey in front of the same plain, metal table with a metal chair on the other side for someone to interrogate him. To finish squeezing out the last bit of information they didn't even need to lock him up. He sighed, grunting, "Yeah, yeah, you want me to confess my crime. First of all, fuck you. Second of all, hurry the fuck up so we can get this over with."

"Now that's hardly a wise tone to use with an authority, especially if he's granting you another choice." The man, now walking past him and taking a seat on the metallic chair across from him, hadn't been affected by his dismissive backtalk. Unlike the cops from a while back. Or maybe they had questioned him fifteen minutes before. He really couldn't tell in the damned, metallic room.

The man in question was tall, almost as tall as he was, with brown eyes hardly hiding behind small, shaded spectacles. He looked relatively young, but his hair had silvered nonetheless. It even seemed to suit him, suggesting early wisdom. He guessed he was near two meters tall, and if there was one thing Cardin prided himself at, it was at analyzing an opponent. He looked battle-worn, but there wasn't so much as a scratch on his face. Then again, his suit black and green almost completely covered him. He was one of those people especially dangerous, Cardin knew. The kind that knew far more than they let on. "What are you saying?"

The man caught on to his weariness, no, he predicted his weariness as he relaxed on the cold chair he sat on. "That you don't have to spend your life in prison if you take up my offer?"

"And what offer would that be? Meet a dealer and bring the supplies? Be a hitman? If you're looking to set me free, you can't have a good head on your shoulders." His growls and accusations were further ignored by the man when he simply shifted forwards slightly. "If you must know, I am Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy."

It took a while for the names to sink into Cardin's head. He wasn't smart, but he understood titles like those well enough to react quickly. After taking up enough of the headmaster's time to finally understand the situation, he began laughing hysterically. "You want me to be a student in your school? I never would have thought someone with a silver spoon up his ass to be this funny."

"I take pride in finding diamonds in the rough when I see them, and I do all I can polish them and make them the best they can be. But, one more outburst like that, and I'll personally see to your cell." Cardin stopped laughing then. This man wanted to make him get serious, a mistake for anyone that didn't truly know him. Being 'serious' was his terrible side. "Oh, what? So you can teach me the love that our beloved God has given us from the moment we were born? 'Oh, boy howdy I sure hope I can get to Beacon Academy this year! I wanna be a hero and kick butts and fight the Grimm and end the White Fang!' You know what? Save the bullshit and send me to jail. At least I can get a better sense of reality then."

Finally, the elder man smiled. No, Cardin was completely sure that something had gotten in his eye. Or maybe they'd gotten one of the aerial… hallucinogenic? No, maybe it was… never mind, he got it right. Maybe they'd placed hallucinogenic drugs somewhere in the room and had only him be exposed to it, because there was no way that 'Ozpin' should have been smiling at his rant. But, he was.

"I understand that you don't know who I am, but I would have thought you would know that my academy is a place for Hunters, not heroes. If you accept, then you will have to become part of a team, get fighting clothes and a weapon, but it seems to me that you already have the latter two. Your skills are worth noting, you would do a well enough job at fighting the Grimm, it's your cooperation with others that has me doubting."

"If that's your way of saying I have to work with those animal freaks, then the deal's off. No way in hell I'm going to play nice with them, not after everything that's happened." He let his fists loose when he noticed they became way too filled with pressure. Ozpin sighed and stood up, walking over to him and placing his hand on Cardin's shoulder, much to his annoyance.

"Anyone else that shared views as extremist as yours, I would have never even bothered wasting my time studying their profiles. I have been willing to make the exception with you only because you have been through much more than even most of my senior students ever have. You are capable of fighting, maybe even leading. You do not follow orders until you find out why they were give, but if you do, you make sure to learn that along the way. I respect that, maybe even admire it.

"But you knock down your entire potential to the dirt with the kind of judgement you hold. I understand your rancor better than most ever will, which is why I am willing to look past your attitude towards the Faunus on the sole condition that you seek improvement. And, if I were you, I would take my offer. With just how unstable society is getting to be, prisons are becoming rowdy and splitting up in gangs. You may have had experience in your neighborhood, but believe me when I say those criminals will not need the excuse of a dropped bar of soap to take the best of you. Or from you, should I say."

Cardin paled at the thought. He was intimidating enough at nearly two meters and six centimeters, so he thought he would have prevailed in a place as tough as that. Then again, the thought of being overpowered by a group of… He lost the trail of thought when his mind didn't want to process the idea anymore. Ozpin took his hand from his shoulder and walked towards the door. Just about to leave, he turned his head halfway before giving a knowing lecture.

"Transport leaves next week, so you will have time to clean up, say goodbye and pack your things. I think I am not wrong in my actions to speak for your pardon and your entry in my school, am I?" All Cardin could do was shake his head, not feeling like he was able to do much more.

"Good." With that, Ozpin left Cardin to brood internally over his current situation.

Author's Notes: And that was the first chapter of this story. It's short, I know, but this is more prologue than introduction. What was Cardin's crime? What did his flashback mean? Why does he loathe the Faunus and why was Ozpin willing to look past it? All of these will be answered in time if you stick with me long enough to find out. Unfortunately, I won't update very quickly since I like to juggle my stories (and with this new one, there are now four) and inspiration doesn't always come to me in a flash. Either ways, hope you've enjoyed this, and please review on what you've enjoyed and what you haven't. It's what keeps me motivated.

The Almighty Afroduck,

All Hail