Hello everyone. I don't have much to say this time around, work was long and boring today, and I just want to sleep. To the reviewers saying how lucky Cardin was, it won't last. To those wondering why Pyrrha's so weepy this time around, I got some dialogue planned for her. Plus, she's seventeen and not exactly emotionally stable in the show anyways.

Alright, that's it. Enjoy.

Chapter Eleven: Gluttony

Beta: HybridAlabaster

Jaune was waiting for him in the hallway outside of his room, staring at the floor with his arms crossed. He wore his sword at his hip, which jutted up awkwardly as he leaned against a wall. He didn't look up when Cardin approached him.

"I made up my mind," Jaune said. "And I'm done. I'm not letting you tell me what to do anymore. Go ahead and tell Goodwitch."

"Nah, I won't."

Jaune blinked and looked up. "Wait, what?"

"Go ahead, stay." Cardin made a show of studying his fingernails and picking at them. "I don't care. I was getting bored of pushing you around anyways."

"So, that's it? You're just letting it go? What, is it because I saved your life?"

"Believe what you want. Just stay out of my way, and we won't have any problems. Are we clear?"

"I, uh, yes Cardin."

Cardin shoved his way past Jaune and entered his room. Sky, Dove, and Russell were stashing jars of sap underneath a bed.

"Why did you stay behind?" Dove asked.

Cardin sat on his bed and set his Scroll on the nightstand. "The plan would fall through if Jaune died. Pyrrha would move on, and it'd be back to square one."

"The Ursa would've followed you anyways," Sky put in. "You were covered in that sap."

"Which also gummed up my weapon, by the way. Russell, could you take care of it?"

Russell took his mace and listened to the squeal of stuck gears inside. "Shit, that's a mess. I think it'll have to soak overnight."

As Russell dug up a bucket from the closet and squirted soap into it, Cardin studied his teammates. Sky glanced at him from time to time and quailed under his stare, while Dove took out his Scroll and texted someone.

"I wonder what my father would make of me nearly dying to a Grimm while my teammates ran for their lives."

A sudden chill swept through the room like a blizzard. Sky went white as a sheet and clutched his knees and Russell nearly dropped the bottle of soap. Dove showed no obvious reaction, but his eyes seemed to stare through the Scroll in his hand.

"You told us to go," Sky said with a shaky voice. "We thought you were right behind us!"

Russell set the bottle down and turned to face him. "Exactly. If I knew you were going to stay behind, I'd have been with you."

Cardin watched their faces intently. Sky twitched, but he otherwise held his gaze, and Russell showed no hint of guilt. Dove continued to ignore him.

"So, you made it to the clearing and saw I was missing. Why didn't you run back?"

"We did," Russell said. "Goodwitch stopped us from stepping in. Ask her if you don't believe me."

Cardin raised an eyebrow at that. It was an excellent alibi, and he could find no other reason to fault them. Yet, Dove's false attention to his Scroll bothered him.

"You've been awfully quiet."

Dove looked up. Cardin peered with a hawk's intensity into his eyes, but his teammate didn't move a muscle.

"They said it all," Dove said with a shrug.

Cardin returned the gesture. "Fair enough. I'll report the incident to my father as an error in judgement on my part. In fact, why don't we get that phone call taken care of right away."

The conversation was brief, as his father signaled that he didn't have that much time. Once Cardin got through the bare bones of the story through and assured him he wasn't in any imminent danger, he told him that he was to blame for his teammates desertion, using a code word to emphasize its truth.

"There," Cardin said once the line went dead. "Nothing to worry about."

Sky exhaled and collapsed on his bed. Russell gave him a smile and a nod, and Dove went back to his Scroll.

"Now that we have that out of the way, we still need to deal with Nora."

"Oh right!" Sky bolted up and fumbled his Scroll out of his pocket. "I did a little digging around school records and noticed that someone has been sneaking out to steal from the kitchens."

Cardin nodded. "They haven't figured out it's her yet?"

"Nope. They've narrowed it down to a handful of rooms, and she's come under suspicion, but the teachers don't have evidence."

With a grin, Cardin said, "I think I'll get some late night training in at one of the rooms. Are you down for it Russell?"

Russell twirled a knife in his hand. "Without your weapon?"

Cardin held up his hands. "I got two right here."

"Keep getting cocky like that, and I might win. You're on."

He checked the logistics of his schedule and found space for another meeting with Blake. He stared for minutes at their message history, remembering the gleam in her eyes as she watched him get mauled by an Ursa. With a deep breath, Cardin sent a text and snapped the Scroll shut.

The rest of the Friday afternoon was treated as a study hall period. Port and Oobleck had heaped mounds of homework on them both, and Cardin would've been miles behind had he not gone over the reading with Blake the night before. As it was, the mere act of reading the questions on the assigned worksheets had him twitching in his bed for hours. A break for dinner offered some reprieve, but by the time he could leave to see Blake, his legs felt too cramped to ever straighten again.

"I can't take any more of this," Cardin said to his teammates. "I'm going for a walk. Anyone in?"

All three shook heads over their books. Russell said that he'd meet him at the room an hour before curfew. Cardin got up with a groan, stretched, and left the room. In the downstairs gym, he jogged the soreness out of his calves and thighs and pressed a few hundred pounds until his arms ached.

Beacon's halls were deserted, with all the first years either at the library or in their rooms, while the upper classmen patrolled Vale's streets with police and senior hunters. The classroom looked empty when he opened the door. He took a few steps inside, and the door slammed shut behind him. The point of Gambol Shroud dug into the back of his neck.

"Jaune should've let you die," Blake hissed.

Cardin's breath hitched, but he forced himself to relax. When he noticed his hands shaking, he crammed them in his pockets and cradled the jars of sap inside. "So, you're thinking of killing me yourself? We talked about that Blake."

"I don't care anymore! I'm tired of being pushed around. I'm tired of listening to Yang and Weiss bicker every time they're in the same room, I'm tired of doing your homework and stringing Jaune along." She pulled back her sleeves, revealing red welts on her skin. "I got stung getting those damn wasps for you. I'm done! And if you're going to turn me over to the police, I have no choice but to kill you."

"Go ahead then, do it." Despite the dryness of his throat, the words came out in a silken whisper. "Do it, and see how far you can run."

The point trembled on his neck and pressed until it bit into his Aura. He felt a slight sting and a warm trickle as a drop of blood ran down his back.

"You should aim lower, at the liver," Cardin said. "The blade might get turned aside by my vertebrae."

"Shut up! Do you really want to die?"

"Of course not, but I probably will anyways. If it's not you, it'll be another student, or one of my teammates. If there was anyone my father could marry safely, he'd have drowned me with his own hands. Well, he'd order someone else to do it, but that's besides the point." Cardin chuckled. "The point. Yang must be contagious."

"Then why did you come?"

Cardin turned around slowly. The blade slid across his neck, nearly slitting his throat, until the point rested on his Adam's apple.

"I thought about cutting you loose and having the police drag you away, but I decided that you're more use to me here."

"I left you to die!"

"You didn't see my teammates stick around, did you?"

Inch by inch, the blade drew away, and Blake lowered it to her side. "So, what? Things go back to the way they were before?"

"Well, I won't trust you to do something that important again, but yes. That includes dating Jaune, once I get Nora out of the way."

"That's what the sap was for?" Blake asked. "You were going to have him hurt his own teammate just to play around with Jaune some more?"

Blake's accusation caught him off guard, but once he realized what Blake had assumed, he had to smother his delight.

"What, did you think I'd just walk up to Nora and ask, hey, could you stop trying to get in Blake's way? I'm trying to run a nefarious scheme here. Getting her to hate Jaune was the fastest way to keep her off you."

"And you're going to try again?"

" I found a new angle. With luck, it'll all be sorted out tonight."

Blake's mouth curled in disgust. "Do I even want to know what you have planned?"

"I don't mind telling you, if you'd like to know. Maybe I'd even let you help out a little."

She studied him in the darkness and turned away. "Keep me out of it."

"Suit yourself." He took out his Scroll and checked the time. "We have a while to curfew. Let's make the best of it."

"And have us both return at the same time?"

Cardin grinned at her. "I think I'll be a bit late to my room, if you catch my meaning."

Blake glared at him and took out a book. An hour later, Cardin had another week's worth of reading done. She left first, creeping down the hallways. Cardin lingered another ten minutes, getting homework done on his scroll, until a few minutes remained before eleven.

Russell was waiting in front of a training room. He waved as Cardin approached, and they went inside together. They stripped out of their uniforms down to the t-shirt and underwear, stood at either end of the room, and rushed at each other.

Despite Cardin's bigger size and larger store of Aura, he tired out first as Russell's daggers carved him up like a pumpkin. Cardin got in a few hits, including a shot to the face that was already turning Russell's cheek purple, and Russell scored a few cuts along Cardin's forearms.

They were sweating and breathless by the time curfew hour approached. They left the room ten minutes to midnight and waited in the hall just outside the door. On the hour, all the lights turned off with an audible pop, drowning the school in darkness.

Fumbling around in the dark hallways, Cardin and Russell made their way along a wall until moonlight illuminated an exit. Once outside, they stayed within the shadows, hidden by the uniform's darker color, and made their way to the outside of the cafeteria.

The main dining area had high, spacious ceilings, numerous windows, and a wide set of doors, but the kitchen and the adjoining cellar were squat, sturdy buildings. A chimney towered above them, cold and quiet. A faint burnt smell pervaded the ground around the kitchen, where ashes drifted down and coated the grass in a thin film of cooking grease.

"How do you think Nora gets in?" Russell asked as they settled down under a tree.

"Knowing her, the most insane way possible. My money's on the chimney."

Russell chuckled. "I think it's a window. The chimney's way too high up."

"Bet fifty lien on it?"

Russell took out his wallet and looked at the fat wad of bills inside. "You're on."

About twenty minutes later, a muffled boom echoed from off to their left. A pink flash lit up the ground, and an indistinct shape flew high into the air, landing on the kitchen roof. A second explosion carried the figure even higher, up to the lip of the chimney, where it disappeared.

Russell passed Cardin a fifty-lien note. "Should've known. Are we crashing the party?"

"Not from the chimney, I don't want to get my clothes dirty. Why don't we try the door?"

Getting in the dining hall was simple enough, as the doors had no locks, but the kitchens had a cutting-edge Scroll-lock, requiring a registered Scroll and secondary password verification.

Russell's shadow slipped under the door, and with a click, it opened.

"They really need to lock both sides," Russell said. "You'd think they'd know better, since they have all kinds of Semblances here."

"If they wanted to see what students can do with their powers, giving them ways to break the rules isn't a bad idea. It lets you see how they think."

"So, you think they know we're sneaking in here?"

Cardin glanced up at the ceiling. Though he couldn't see them, he knew there was a camera there. Beacon had cameras everywhere.

"Absolutely. We're not getting in trouble for it, because then all the students would know they're being watched."

"Great," Russell said sourly. "Think they know what we're up to?"

"Knowing Ozpin, yes. And also knowing Ozpin, he won't do anything about it." Cardin waved at where he thought a camera might be. "He's very cautious, and he has a hard enough time with the Council of Lords at the moment, considering the current Dust crisis and that donation to Menagerie." Cardin peered through the open doorway. "Now, are we going to stand here and talk politics tonight, or are we going to get some blackmail material on Nora?"

Russell pushed the door open all the way. "Ladies first."

"Nora's already inside," Cardin pointed out as he went through.

Though all the lights were turned off, the screens on the ovens gave off enough light to illuminate the counters. Cardin led the way through the maze of sinks, stoves, and racks of silverware to the cellar door at the back. The door was unlocked and left wide open.

The cellar was pitch dark, but the cacophony of slurping and munching sounds was all the proof Cardin needed that Nora was in there. They turned on the lights on their Scrolls and entered the cellar on tiptoes, not making a sound. Following the sounds of eating, they passed racks of canned vegetables, jam, and fruit preserves in glass jars until they came upon a pile of rice sacks.

Nora sat on top of the pile, surrounded by empty jars, with both hands scooping canned apples and pickled beets. She paused with the pilfered food halfway to her mouth.

"Hey, I got here first! Go get your own!"

Cardin gestured to Russell. With a grin, he held his Scroll up for Cardin to see. It was already recording. "You're not supposed to be here," Cardin said.

Nora squinted and peered into the light. "You. What are you doing here? And you're not supposed to be here either!"

"Actually, Professor Goodwitch asked us to monitor the pantry tonight." Russell shot him a worried look, and Cardin nodded back. "She had noticed that food was going missing, and she wanted to find the culprit. I had an alibi, since I was at home during one of the robberies, so she asked for my help."

"Robbery?" Nora asked. She held up a jar with her hand still inside of it. Beet juice ran down her arm and spilled onto the floor. "It's the school's job to feed us, right? I'm just getting myself a midnight snack, that's all."

"It's against school rules to take food from storage without permission. I'm afraid that I'll have to inform Professor Goodwitch, and you'll likely get detention for it." He held his Scroll so Nora could see his face and gave her the most sinister grin he could manage. "I also imagine she'll make extra sure you never get to sneak into the kitchens again. You won't be getting any more midnight snacks."

The color left Nora's face. "But – but I get so hungry! I can't wait until morning! Ren used to have snacks in our room, but he says he can't buy any more! I tried taking some from lunch, but Professor Goodwitch yelled at me for keeping it in the lockers, then I tried keeping them on me during practice, but it all got squished and icky in my gym clothes."

"How unfortunate," Cardin deadpanned, "But it's no excuse for breaking the rules."

Tears poured down Nora's face like rain. "Please, I can't take it any more! All those times staying up with Pyrrha, I get so hungry staying up all the time! I can't not eat! Ren says I have to eat or I'll stop moving, and if I stop moving I can't keep him safe, so please don't tell Professor Goodwitch!"

"I can't promise that," Cardin said. He waited until the moment she broke down in despair before adding, "Not unless you do me a little favor."

Nora's head shot up. "What favor?"

Cardin had to pause for a moment. He hadn't thought it would be this easy, and now that he had her attention, he didn't know how to phrase his request. Outright asking her to leave Blake alone would be too suspicious, but if he wasn't direct enough with his request, Nora might interfere again.

All he could do here was roll the dice.

"I want Pyrrha to drop out of the Vytal Festival."

Russell jumped and tried to shut the recording off, but Cardin set a hand on his arm. He gave him a wide-eyed, puzzled stare, but he kept recording.

Nora wiped away her tears. "You what?"

"If I'm going to win the tournament, I'd have to defeat the toughest students in the world. It would be a lot easier if I defeated them before the tournament ever started, don't you agree?"

Nora went silent for a minute. Her hands trembled and clenched, and the jars around them shattered. "It's you, isn't it? You're the one making Blake date Jaune."

Cardin's eyes darted over to Russell. He flinched and glanced at Cardin, and hastily looked away. Cardin turned back to Nora. "Blake does what she does of her own free will. I'm simply taking advantage of it."

Nora stood on top of the sack and looked down at them. "Never! I'll never help a bad guy like you!"

"Not even for this?" Cardin asked, taking a jar of sap out of his pocket. The pink fluid glowed in the light of their Scrolls. Drool slipped out of the corner of Nora's mouth as she studied the jar.

"Just leave Jaune and Blake alone, and help convince Pyrrha that she should leave Beacon. You could say that she needs a fresh start away from Jaune. Maybe Vacuo? I hear Vacuo's lovely at this time of year. She could go home too, they'd be happy to have her back."

"No."

Cardin felt his stomach drop as he looked at Nora's face. Tears streaked her cheeks, and her eyes were getting puffy and red from all the crying, but she looked down at him with grim determination.

"You're not taking my offer?"

Nora laughed at him. "You think I'm afraid of being hungry? Ren and I went years on just what we could dig up from the side of the road. We ate grubs under rocks and crunchy roots, we cooked dead animals and ate them. I was hungry all the time back then, but Ren always found a way to get food for me." She slid down the bags and dusted herself off. "Friends always take care of each other. I'm not going to stab mine in the back for a snack."

Magnhild was leaning on one of the shelves. She picked it up and hefted it over her shoulder. As she strode past them, Nora turned and swung the head of her hammer at Cardin's face, but he ducked underneath it.

"Well, fuck," Russell said after he turned off the recording. "I don't think that could have gone worse."

Russell went towards the door, but he stopped when he saw Cardin was still standing there. Taking a deep breath, Cardin said, "You knew, didn't you?"

Russell bit his lip. "I heard the two of you in that classroom, the end of it, anyways. When you started getting ahead on your reading and you started going out to exercise more often, it wasn't hard to figure out why. Absolutely genius, by the way, making Blake date Jaune."

"Thanks," Cardin said dryly. He was all to aware that his mace was soaking in cleaning fluid in his bedroom, and Russell had both of his knives. Russell stood in between him and the only exit out of the cellar, and he was nearly out of Aura. "I take it you already told my father?"

"I didn't have much of a choice."

Cardin thought through how he could knock Russell into one of the shelves and run past, but where would he go? All he could do now was trust that Blake's secret was still safe, somehow.

"He doesn't object?"

Russell went quiet for a moment. He leaned against a shelf, took out one of his daggers, and picked at his fingernails with it. Cardin tried not to let the sudden tension in his body show.

"He only told me to watch and find out everything I can. I haven't figured out where you meet or what else you do besides read."

"I have her give me combat lessons," Cardin said, "Over in the wooded area near the Emerald Forest. Let my father know so it looks like you're making progress."

Russell twirled the knife and shoved it back into his pocket. "Sweet. We can just pretend that I was watching the whole thing, I don't feel like sitting up in a tree for an hour."

Which is as good as saying he'll be there every night from now on. He'll have to warn Blake so she doesn't do anything stupid.

"So, what now?" Russell asked. "Are we going to turn her into Goodwitch?"

Cardin took a deep breath. There's a cold, gnawing sensation in his chest as the nerves get to him, but he shoves it aside. "We'll have to wait on it. If everything with Jaune falls apart, I'll have the whole rest of the team kicked out." With a grin, he asked, "As good as Pyrrha is, there's no way she would be able to win four against one, right?"

Russell shook his head. "I dunno, I have a feeling she could. I got knocked around like a soccer ball last week, and I didn't even get a scratch on her shield, let alone her Aura. I swear she was toying with me."

He only half-listened to Russell as they walked back to their dorm. As he muttered in response to Russell's questions, he reviewed everything he and Blake had said together. Some of their rooftop meetings would've been disastrous for Russell to have overheard, but the window was always shut, and even so, he made sure they had kept their voices down. The mock battle was worse – it would've been hard to see in the dark, but her ribbon had fallen off for a few minutes. All it would take is one mistake, and all his plans would tumble around him.

As bad as it would be if his father found out, if any other Duke caught wind of this, it'd be a death sentence.

As Russell knocked and Sky opened the door for them, Cardun looked at each of his teammates. Dove, already asleep and buried under the covers, Sky, bleary-eyed from hours peering at his Scroll, and Russell, still flushed with victory and excitement from their battle, all three of them spying on him for someone else. Maybe just for his father, maybe for someone else.

He smiled, put on his pajamas, and went to bed.