Author's Notes: So I really want to do this story. I probably won't be able to update it as quickly as I am now, but I have quite a few ideas under my sleeve that I want to use on this story. Some of them won't be pretty, but I do plan to make this story as best as I can. Cursing is going to be rather common with certain characters, and most will say bad words at some point (c'mon, save for Ruby, everyone's seventeen). So, I bring forth the second chapter. Hopefully, it won't go as unnoticed as the first (but I do thank the select few of you who have followed, favorited and reviewed on this story).

Departure

She played a tune pretty to his ears on the piano, where many from the café enjoyed the music. When he recognized one of the songs, he'd sing along with it. Or try, rather. His voice was young and squeaked a few octaves higher than it should, but no one seemed to mind. They looked at him in terrible pity, though. But she encouraged him to continue doing so. "You have a good voice, Cardin, a pretty voice. You'll have an even better one when you get big and strong. Please don't waste it."

When night fell and her shift ended, the jolly, middle aged, round bellied owner gave the young lady her share of the month with a fair tip. Asking to stay a little while longer, the elder man gave her the keys. After thanking him, she told the boy on the piano to sit beside her. He did, and so she continued teaching him about the piano. He liked the piano. He liked guitars and drums and basses too, but the piano was always sweet and melodic. His only problem was that he liked the sadder songs. Sometimes, they made him cry.

They left a bit later that night, stopping by the café owner's house to hand his wife the key, the woman already familiar with the two. Soon after, they entered a pharmacy, where the girl with hair so auburn it looked like fall incarnate asked for the 'curative cream' she kept talking about. He kept forgetting what 'curative' meant until she knelt in front of him. She fought tears when she dipped her forefinger in the dense, white substance and rubbed it over his left eye. He smiled. It stopped feeling so swollen now.

He blinked a few times before he looked around himself at the place he once used to call home. A terrible, shitty excuse for a home, but a home, nonetheless. Not that there was any other place would have him. He took a final look at 'Schnee's Orphanage for the Poor and the Unfortunate'. He spit on the ground before the dull grey building and grabbed his bag in one hand. Someday, I'm going to tear that damn place down, brick by brick.

He chose to wear the armor and wield the Mace today. He usually did whenever he could. Kept people wary and away from him. Helped them learn he wasn't the one they wanted to mess with. Not anymore. Besides, it helped that he wore one of his heaviest belongings and held the other so the bag wouldn't be such a pain in the ass. Walking towards where the Airships were landing, he couldn't help but see in the distance 'The Club' very mildly battered. Shame, he liked that place a lot. It must have been a hell of a fight to get it in such a state. Shame he missed it. Then again, he had been too busy… and getting caught.

His mind chose not to turn to that road again. He couldn't keep his cool for long if he got to that burning rage so quickly and so frequently. His mind chose to wander elsewhere instead, though not for long. He bumped into a Faunus with small antlers on his head. He nearly returned to his state of rage when the smaller man looked at him in fear and walked away briskly. He had to close his eyes and let out a very deep sigh. "Freaks."

He went on about his stroll relaxed. It wouldn't be long before he entered Vale City's nicer part of town, where 'wrongdoers' like himself weren't around enough to annoy the richer residents. In his stead, as well as all those alike him, there were crooks of higher pay grades with more advanced weaponry and better vocabulary. He was glad they chose to stay there. He'd had his fair share of tussles with the higher classed criminals, and it grated every single one of his nerves how they always talked twice as much as they hit. Fights aren't meant to be talked over. Just throw the damned punch already and get it over with.

"Hey, you're Cardin Winchester, right?" He looked to his right and found a guy that looked to be his age running towards him from the end of the block. He groaned internally and hoped to whatever god there was that this wasn't some other fighter wannabe. He was a man with a green mohawk who, much to Cardin's surprise, hadn't run out of breath. The top of his head, not including his hair, barely just reached the base of his neck. So basically, he had average height.

"Yeah, what do you want?" His grunt didn't deter the new intruder from prying further as his plain blue eyes brightened at his answer. "Holy shit! You're even tougher up close than you are in the Warrior's Ring! Name's Russel Thrush by the way. Where are you heading?"

Great. A wannabe. Lucky me. He shook his head for a bit, trying to hold himself back at least for a while before actually taking it out on someone. If he did that, he'd rather do it on someone or something that could at least put up a fight. One punch to this 'Russel' guy and he'd probably break him in two. No fun in that. "Valeport."

The shine grew brighter in Russel's eyes. Please no. "You're heading for Beacon too?!"

Fuck. "Yeah. Just so happens that I got lucky enough to climb out of the local shithole high enough to make it. Gotta admit, I got lucky, too."

"No kidding. I've heard that the orphanage has some pretty bad at-ah, never mind." He finished, rubbing the back of his now sweating neck. Having an internal strife on what to do with Russel, he chose to continue talking to him much against his better judgement. Maybe he could at least learn something about his soon to be school. "Well, anything and everything bad you've heard about the orphanage is actually worse, I'll tell you that much. Anyways, what can you tell me about Beacon?"

"Wait, you're not serious, right?" One glare from the larger man and Russel shrunk in response. Gulping a bit, he tried to keep himself straight and started. The key word is tried. "Beacon is one of the best academies in the world that trains Hunters to fight the–"

"I know that. Do you know anything about the school itself? The teachers? The training?" By the time he finished asking that question, they had entered Valeport. Settling on talking about it on the airship. Checking in, they chose to wait on the large vessel that awaited more students for takeoff. Once the plane was full, a guard came to check that all IDs matched. It disturbed Cardin greatly that his face and name was somewhere recorded and saved. He had to put those thoughts aside when Russel continued speaking.

"Well, I heard that Beacon has a starting test from a friend of a friend. He said we had to go through the school's outer forest and go through hordes of Grimm to get something and go back. I think he was talking out of his ass, though. Sounds a liiittle bit too suicidal for a starting mission. I guess it's just going to be some pen and paper review of everything we've seen so far through high school. Hopefully combat is one of the tests."

Russel, Cardin concluded, talked too much. So he began working on how to tune out all the things he said that weren't important and listening on what actually was important. Problem was, he mixed the two in an almost perfect limbo that made him want to fall asleep standing. But, he heard the bit about the forest and Grimm. "What about the forest?"

"Hm? Oh, like I said, that guy probably didn't know what he was talking about when he said that fighting Grimm on the first day would be the first test. But I think we'll be going there every once in a while to test our skills against the beasts once we've spent enough time in the place. Wonder what the teachers will be like. Ozpin sure as hell looks like he could be hiding a tail and leading the White Fang with just how he acts around everyone."

Cardin wasn't sure if it was Russel or his friend's friend that talked out of his ass. Ozpin, the leader of the White Fang. He'd laugh in his face if he was in the mood for it. All he did instead was ignore him and offer a prayer to a god or a devil to make him shut up a bit more. But, the man with the mohawk was right about one thing. Ozpin could be capable of anything and hide it under everyone's nose with his position and his alliances. Or was it affiliations?

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon!" The two stopped to look at the hologram of a young woman, probably a teacher, with blond hair in a bun and green eyes. "My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Hunters and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now, it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."

The crowds huddled in the plain talked excitedly after her announcement, but there were a hundred and one things about Goodwitch's little speech that made Cardin punch a wall. He was almost sure, no, he knew that the kind tone she used for her introduction would probably be the last time any of them would ever hear of her. She was a cold bitch to the heart, Cardin knew that at first glance. He wasn't smart when it came to subjects, but he knew people and how they worked.

Apart from the altruistic crap that made him puke internally, his mind returned to the incredible 'peace' they were all living in. Social classes couldn't be more separated if they tried, the assholes that made up the White Fang were becoming more aggressive, and that global 'peace' was shaky at best. If the woman actually thought it could be maintained, then Cardin was sure she had some problem when it came to understanding things. Heroes look pretty in the spotlight and admirable in the cameras, but it's the crooks that pull the strings and actually keep things from completely collapsing. Either she was lying to them all, which he could respect, or she and everyone else that taught at Beacon would be able to do nothing to save that 'peace'.

It made Cardin rub and grind the bridge of his nose with his fingers, the crease between his brows growing with his frustration. Alas, some cruel god of pranks or must have heard him, for a blonde nearly knocked him down in his sprint. Before he had time to process, fresh bile coated the bottom half of his right leg. He couldn't even be angry at the boy because his mind still worked on processing what had happened to him.

As a matter of fact, everyone looked at the scene in play, a brave few giggling at the sight. The rest looked as Cardin's face contorted in a white fury that made fighting Grimm feel like a better alternative. In turn, now apparently feeling better, the blonde looked at the mess he made and started chuckling nervously. He stopped immediately when he met the taller man's soul burning glare. Russel looked at the whole situation in shock, even offering a final sympathetic gaze to the blonde, the kind given to a dying man. "I am so, so–"

"Do you have any idea how much I've had to work for this armor?" He didn't even need to shout and his voice was still heard throughout the entire ship. Now the blonde looked half his size as he shrunk further and further. Or maybe he was crouching away from glowering eyes. "Do you have ANY idea how much–"

"Woah there, big guy. Vomit boy here couldn't control himself. I don't think he likes height too much. If it makes you feel any better, it's not just you! Look! I've got some on my boot!" He didn't even lower his gaze at the new, bustier blonde's boot. He could tell that the girl with a mane of hair and lilac eyes was trying to stop the situation from becoming slaughter, and held up her left foot so he could get a better look.

With a final decision, he gave an animalistic scowl to the boy on the floor and stormed to the other side of the airship, all other students eager to stay out of his path. Finding his bag, he opened it and found a large piece of cloth he used to clean his armor. Much to his disgust, he had to scrub with a fair amount of strength the stickier parts of the projectile that had landed on his leg. Russel stopped talking after that. By the time he was done, the airship stopped moving. Getting out of his seat to leave the vessel, he was met with the majestic sight of Beacon before him and all the other rookies.

Author's Notes: Well, in case it wasn't clear before, I'm confirming it now. This is an AU, so I chose this to be Jaune's introduction to Cardin, a rather crappy one for the latter, as well as a small bit of Yang. Anyways, I'm sure there are more than a few questions unanswered with this chapter, and this is the system I'll be following for a while. Overall, I hope you've enjoyed, and please do review. It motivates me to continue onwards with this story.

The Almighty Afroduck,

All Hail