It's been another relatively uneventful week. Work has had a fun surprise each day (note the sarcasm) but it hasn't been anything too crazy, and today should be a nice, slow shutdown for the weekend. I get both days off for once, but I'll be attending a funeral tomorrow.

As for last chapter, it was a lot of fun writing the combat for that one, and I was really excited to see what kind of response it would get. The reviews indicate that I got what I was going for, a realistic portrayal highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of both characters, cool use of Cardin's shiny new Semblance, and tight, well-directed writing of the action.

Of course, it can't be all sunshine and rainbows for Cardin, now can it? That just wouldn't be fun.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Envy

The nurse had given him a couple white pills and a bed to lie in while she got the bandages ready. Before the painkillers had time to kick in, Cardin's father called. He answered, indicating that he was alone but might be listened in on, and his father returned the signals.

"I'm impressed with that battle," his father said. "You can't even tell she was throwing the match."

"She's a good actor."

His father grunted. "Gideon will be at Beacon in ten minutes. I've already set up your appointment. The doctor tells me he can have your nose patched up in time for the Vytal Festival, but you'll need to be careful until then."

"Anything else I need to know?"

"Yes. That was foolish of you. You should have had her lose to someone else, Cinder perhaps."

Cardin shuddered and shrank into the sheets. "I am unsure of Cinder's agenda, and I don't know how wise it is to owe her any favors."

"Banks don't dispose of their debtors, Cardin. They keep them around to make interest payments."

"And if I can't afford those payments?"

"Borrow some more."

Cardin's fingers tightened on the Scroll. "Just how much power does she have?"

"I've spent the last few months trying to figure that out." The sound of shuffling paper came over the speakers. "As far as financial assets goes, she has a suspicious amount of cash at hand, her bank is funded with a tangled web of subsidiaries and fringe institutions, and any paper trail around her hits a dead end outside of Vale. She has Duke Orgen wrapped around her finger, or so it seems, and many other Dukes are also following her lead." In a grim voice, he added, "Myself included."

In a low voice, Cardin said, "She asked me to find something for her, something that Ozpin had taken from her."

There was a long pause before his father said, "She didn't tell you anything more specific?"

"No. She wants me to observe the Huntsman patrols and try to find any anomalies."

"Which means it's something big, and something important." His father tapped a pen on his desk. "I cannot safely act on this information. I trust that you will act to your best discretion on this matter."

"Understood. Thank you for arranging the hospital trip."

The nurse had just applied the bandages when Gideon knocked on the door. He bowed to Cardin and said, "I have a Bullhead waiting just outside the building."

"Thank you Gideon." He pushed himself out of bed, wincing as blood rushed down out of his face. "After you."

It was a quiet and fast flight to Vale Central Hospital, and Gideon only had to say a few words to a receptionist before they were admitted to a hospital room. The surgeon had his tools prepped and a bottle of anesthetic on hand. Cardin groaned when he saw the label.

"Yes, this stuff. I'm afraid I'll have to do some delicate work deeper in your nasal cavity, so I'll have to deactivate your Aura." He filled a syringe with the clear liquid and tapped out the bubbles. "I'll just be doing a localized injection, so the side effects will be minimal. The main anesthetic will just put you under."

By the time he was awake, he had a throbbing headache, a stomach that felt like it was full of battery acid, and a red, fleshy flap of skin over a new prosthetic nose, tenderly packaged in enough bandaging to stop a Bullhead. The doctor handed him a bottle of painkillers, told him when and how to take them, and escorted him with Gideon to the reception area.

Russell met him at the Bullhead docks and gave a quick hello to Gideon. Cardin's stomach nearly upended itself when Russell asked if he wanted to hit the cafeteria, and Russell winced when Cardin explained he had taken Aura-blockers.

"Yeah, that stuff sucks. Had it when my wisdom teeth were removed. So, how's the new nose."

Cardin checked the bandages. "I don't get to take these off for ten days. Just in time for the Festival."

"That long? Isn't your – oh, right, no Aura there."

"The doc said it'll help for some of the facial stitches, but everything around the nose has to heal the old-fashioned way."

Halfway back to the dorms, Cardin became too dizzy to walk, and Russell had to lend him a shoulder the rest of the way there. He collapsed onto his bed, too sick from the anesthetic to pull the covers over himself, and dozed off.

It was nightfall by the time he woke up again, but his teammates were still up. A quick glance at the clock showed it was just before ten.

"You up?" Dove asked from behind his Scroll. "How's your head?"

"Awful." It was about as eloquently as he could manage to describe the fuzzy, bloated, mothball feeling in his sinuses, and the slow, rhythmic throbbing in his temples. "Water?"

Sky ran out and got him a glass. He drank from it greedily, only to regret it moments later when his stomach tried to return it to sender with an extra helping of bile. He kept it down, only because his body was too sluggish to turn over and let everything out.

He spent an hour in a peculiar mental limbo where he felt too awake to fall back to sleep, but too tired to do anything more than stare up at the ceiling and wish he could unscrew the top of his head so he could vent all the pressure building up in his skull. As curfew drew closer, his illness abated, and by the time a knock came at the door, he felt lucid enough to sit up when Russell answered it.

It was Jaune. He looked past Russell and stared at Cardin, with his jaw set hard enough to crush marble. "We need to talk. Alone."

Cardin stretched, prompting a few nauseous twinges from his stomach. "It's a bit late. Can't this wait until tomorrow?"

"No. We're doing this now."

Cardin looked at his teammates, and with a wave of his hand, they went past Jaune out the door. Once they were gone, Jaune closed the door and sat on the bed opposite Cardin.

"Pyrrha told me everything. Ren too."

Cardin nodded. "What about it?"

Jaune's anger boiled over. "What about it? You blackmailed Pyrrha!"

"I blackmail lots of people. Now, what do you want? My head's killing me."

Jaune fumbled for words, let out an angry grunt, and took a deep breath. "I want you to leave my teammates alone. No more blackmailing them, no more using them, no nothing."

"Got it. Why should I do any of that?"

"Because I'll tell Headmaster Ozpin."

"He probably already knows."

Jaune gave a start. "He what?"

"He's got cameras everywhere. I wasn't exactly subtle when I walked up to her in the library and told her what to do."

"Then why isn't he doing anything?"

Cardin massaged his temples. "I'm too tired to explain it. If you really want to know, ask him."

"Then I'll go with what Ren had suggested. We'll tell Cinder that you're trying to spy on her."

"Ah, that." Cardin forced back a wave of vomit at the bottom of his throat. "Fine, whatever. Now get out."

"That's it? You're going to leave my team alone?"

"You want it in writing? Just go, I'm too tired for this."

Jaune didn't leave. He leaned closer and looked into Cardin's haggard face. "Why were you doing this? Do you really care that much about winning the Vytal Festival?"

"What part of get the hell out of my room isn't clear to you?" Cardin grumbled. "I just got off of Aura-blockers."

"What are those?"

Cardin tried to put some contempt into his stare, but the effect was ruined by his pale, sweaty countenance. "The worst. Now, for the love of the Gods, get out of my room."

Jaune stood up, but he stepped towards Cardin. "You know, when I first came here, seeing you in your armor, with that mace, the way you looked calm, almost bored, I thought I wanted to be just like you. Someone who looked as ready for anything as you did. I even thought about trying to find you in the forest. I was hoping you'd be able to teach me, make me less useless than I was." Jaune snorted. "I'm glad that never happened. You have to be the single most revolting, disgusting, unforgivable person I have ever met. You used me and my teammates just to win a stupid tournament."

As Jaune's diatribe ran on, Cardin's stomach roiled. Before he could try to stop himself, vomit gushed out of his mouth and onto Jaune's shoes.

Jaune stopped mid-sentence and looked down at his soiled sneakers. He sighed and said, "Not the first time they've been puked on."

"Now will you leave?"

Jaune slipped his feet out of his shoes and gingerly stepped out of the damp, chunky spot on the floor. "Sorry about that. Had a lot I wanted to get off my chest." As he opened the door, he said over his shoulder, "Good night Cardin."

Russell complained the moment he set foot in the room. "Gods, did you die in here?"

"Ha ha," Cardin deadpanned. "Would you mind cleaning it up, it's giving me a headache."

Russell grabbed some rags out of the bathroom and sponged up the mess, while Dove and Sky tiptoed around the mess to their beds. They both checked their sheets before pulling themselves under.

"What did he want?" Dove asked.

"Pyrrha spilled. He wanted me to stop."

"Are you?"

"Dunno. Need sleep."

He felt like a different person the next morning. A quick test on his bedpost confirmed that his Aura was back and at full strength. His stomach grumbled, and it took three helpings of breakfast, despite Russell's insistence he'd puke it up on the bedroom floor, to get it quiet.

Some probing around the bandages showed that the extremities had healed overnight, but a tingling, burning sensation anytime his fingers brushed the gauze over his nose warned him against going any further.

As Cardin was cleaning his last plate, Cinder strolled over to the table. She sat down in front of him while Emerald and Mercury stood off to the side.

"You've gotten quite famous overnight." She pulled out her Scroll and showed him a video of his fight with Pyrrha. It was nearly at a million views. "I have word it's going to be on the late morning news."

"Any chance they'll want me for an interview?"

"They've been told that you're still recovering from your injury." She frowned and sat in front of him. "Why did you arrange that fight? It would have been wiser to handle that together."

Cardin forced a smile and leaned back. "You've helped me so much already, I didn't feel like being a burden."

"And if you had failed?"

"I had everything under control."

Cinder pointed at his nose. "That tells a different story."

"It makes for good theatrics. Nobody would believe it if it didn't come down to the wire."

Cinder's face hardened. She stood and motioned for Cardin to follow her. When Russell started after him, Cardin stopped him with a gesture. She led them down a long string of hallways, out the building, and all the way back to her dorm. Emerald and Mercury were gone, but Nelly was sitting on her bed, dangling her legs over the side and sharpening a knife. Cinder pointed out the door, and with a pouting face, Nelly left.

"Do you think you've won?" she asked. "If anything, you've set yourself further back. Any chance you had of surprising her and winning fairly is gone, and she's told her teammates what you have done. She won't let you blackmail her a second time. You failed."

Cardin shrugged, but inside, he felt frost coating his lungs. "I exposed her Semblance for everyone to see and proved she could be beaten. Now I don't have to do anything. Some other team will take care of her for me."

"Don't be naïve. Perhaps one on one, someone could win without their typical arms, but in teams and doubles, her opponents would be at too great a disadvantage." She frowned and added, "Especially with that Arc boy's Semblance. There's no telling how dangerous he could be."

"Then she can lose in singles. Anyone who makes it that far should be able to contend with her once they know what her Semblance is."

Cinder smiled, and her eyes flickered like candles in the shadows of the room. "What if you get unlucky and fight her in the first round of singles? People can find their luck turn on them when they rely on it too much."

There was a subtle croon in her voice that made Cardin's ears perk up. "Are you suggesting you have a way around that?"

Cinder's smile widened. "I have my ways, Cardin. I could make you the winner of the Vytal Festival. I can make you Duke of Winchester within a year." She leaned in close to him and whispered in his ear. "I could make you King of Vale."

Cardin snorted. "The title's been defunct for centuries."

"It doesn't have to be." She put her fingers on his shoulder, and he shivered under her touch. "You could have whatever you want. All I need you to do is trust me, and obey me."

Cardin took a deep breath. He was all too aware of how sharp her fingernails were. She might be able to slice open his neck with them, if she was strong enough. Just one little nick in his jugular, after piercing his Aura, was all it would take.

"Of course. Forgive me for not coming to you with my problem sooner. I had merely not wished to offend you with such trivialities."

The fingers slid off his shoulder, leaving behind a burning, sinuous trail. "Good. Keep searching for Ozpin's secrets, and you'll have whatever you desire." She stood and offered him a hand up. Cardin took it. "You better take care. A lot of teams have taken interest in you, and some have talked of challenging you today."

Cardin tapped the corner of his bandages. "I have an excuse ready-made."

Cinder chuckled. "Perhaps you should compete. It would be well if they saw you lose a battle."

As the students filed into the auditorium for the second day of qualifiers, Pyrrha split off from her team and headed toward him. With a quick glance at Jaune, Cardin stepped aside in the hallway, to an alcove in front of an empty classroom. He was just out of view of the traffic coming into the auditorium, but Pyrrha found him and leaned against the wall near his shoulder.

"I wanted to apologize for yesterday."

"For breaking my nose, or your word?"

Pyrrha frowned at him. "For the nose. I still lost in the end."

"You weren't trying to lose."

"No, I was not." Pyrrha sank to the floor, and Cardin crouched beside her. "I thought I hated being unbeatable. I thought what made me miserable was how much everyone idolized me, how people thought they had lost the moment they crossed blades with me, how I seemed to trample the hopes and dreams of everyone aspiring to be the best. I thought I wanted to get away from that, to go somewhere where I wasn't special and find someone who could defeat me."

"That's why you went to Beacon?"

Pyrrha nodded. "Back home, I was the champion. I even beat professional Huntsmen in exhibition matches. I was hoping I'd be less well known in Vale, but I was wrong." She paused. "Well, not entirely wrong."

"Jaune?"

"Yeah." She rested her shin on her knees. "I started that battle intending to lose. I was even looking forward to it, in a way. I thought maybe that's what needed to happen, I needed to lose to finally stop being the invincible girl, the special one that made everyone around her feel like trash. Then you messed with my Polarity, took most of my Aura, and had the crowd chanting your name within a couple minutes. I was terrified. I thought I was actually going to lose, really lose, not the fake defeat I had planned in my head. I was terrified that I wasn't going to be the best anymore."

"So, now what? You told Jaune everything, right?"

Pyrrha bit her lip. "No, not everything."

"You left out the Blake stuff."

"Yeah, that." Pyrrha looked down at her hands, seemingly unable to meet his eyes.

"Do you still want Jaune?"

"Well, I do, but not if it means breaking him and Blake apart." She looked up at him. "I've been a fool. I thought I hated being unbeatable, but deep down, I cherished it more than anything else. I thought I wanted to fight fair, to never use my broken Semblance, but when push came to shove, I was willing to do whatever I took to win." Her hands curled into fists, and she pounded them on her thighs. "I broke your nose trying to beat you. How far would I have been willing to go? What if I killed someone?"

Cardin couldn't think of an answer for that. Instead, he said, "In fairness, I don't think you were trying to break my nose."

"I know. Doesn't make it any better."

After a long, awkward moment of silence, Cardin got up and stretched. "We better wrap this up, the prelims are starting back up soon."

Pyrrha rose, dusted herself off, and rubbed the tears out of her eyes. "You're not going to blackmail me anymore.

"I don't have to. Now that your secret's out, someone else can come up with something to beat you."

As he was walking away, Pyrrha asked, "Do you really want to win that badly?"

He didn't stop to answer. The auditorium was packed, but the aisles were free, and he found his teammates towards the front of the arena. He slipped in next to Russell and set his mace in between his legs. "Did I miss anything?"

"It's just getting started. What did Pyrrha want?"

"To apologize for redecorating my face."

Russell snickered. "I liked it. A lot roomier in the front."

Pyrrha made it into the room just before Professor Goodwitch came onto the stage. She spent the first few minutes explaining the changes in the seeding, including Team CRDL's dramatic leap to second seeding for Vale, just behind JNPR.

"Well, that just made our lives easier," Dove said. "Way to take one for the team."

"The selection process for the bracket is randomized on the spot," Professor Goodwitch explained, "But the odds are weighted based on how you're seeded. The system is more likely to put the highest-ranked seeds with the lowest, in interest of keeping the later rounds more competitive. Of course, since we want to add an element of unpredictability to the tournament, it's still possible for first-ranked seeds to square off in the first round."

"So much for that," Sky muttered.

Once the matches began, nearly every hand in the room shot up. Goodwitch picked an Atlesian student, who requested Cardin as an opponent.

"Mr. Winchester will be recovering from his injuries for a couple weeks. He is exempt from any further challenges. Would you like to pick someone else?"

The rest of the day went the same as the first, until Jaune walked up to the stage and asked to challenge Cardin.

"I believe I already made it clear that he is recovering from injuries, Mr. Arc. Please pick someone else."

Jaune turned away from her and looked up at Cardin. "I can fix that. Wouldn't take too much of my Aura."

A chance to get out of the bandages a few weeks early, to experience Jaune's healing Semblance for himself, and to lull the audience into a false sense of security, all the while taking Cinder's advice? A little pride was worth the price.

"If your Semblance works, I'm game." Cardin twirled his mace in his hand and sauntered down the stairs. "So, do you have to actually touch it?"

"Your hand will do."

Cardin held out his hand. Jaune touched the barest tip of one finger, and through it poured a river of molten iron. He flinched as the warmth rushed into his nose, knitting together the torn flesh and easing the swelling. Within seconds, the subtle, persistent pain he had grown accustomed to vanished, leaving a null, tingling sensation in his face. He touched at the bandages, felt nothing, and removed them one by one. Crossing his eyes, he saw that the skin was pale cream, the dark-blue stitches standing out in sharp contrast. He ran a finger over the healed skin, felt at the new implant, nudged it, feeling for any residual injury and finding no sign.

"Don't go for the face," Cardin said. "I've had enough trips to the hospital for one week."

Jaune took a few steps and took out his sword and shield. "I won't break your nose. Arc's word on it."

Professor Goodwitch never got the chance to call the match's start. Jaune lunged forward, sword striking towards his belly. Cardin swept it aside with his mace. The shield pushed his mace further aside, opening Cardin's side to a backhanded swing. Cardin ducked, letting the sword ring on his shoulder plate. He rammed his shoulder forward, driving the sword past his back and slamming into Jaune's plate armor.

Jaune stumbled back, but his retreat was coordinated, each step firm and deliberate, his center of mass stable, his sword and shield steady in front of him. The moment his feet found purchase, Jaune rushed forward, shield high and the sword whistling down at Cardin's neck. Cardin leaned aside, taking the cut on his armor, and grabbed the shield with his left hand. Jaune' shield hit the floor with a loud clunk. He swung around with his right, intending to clobber Jaune in the side of the head. A white glow surrounded the shield, and it darted up to intercept the blow. The glow vanished the instant before his mace hit. The shield clanged and vibrated under the impact, but Jaune held it steady.

Jaune's sword leapt up, jabbing under Cardin's armor. Cardin sent his Semblance into the blade, but after it sank an inch, it became infused with the same light and drove deeper. He felt the numbness of Aura drain as the sword sawed at his skin, but he pushed past it, shoving Jaune towards the edge of his arena.

Jaune raised his shield, and an intense white sheen engulfed it. With a blinding flash, the light leapt forward, a solid wall buffeting Cardin back. Jaune's blade disentangled itself and cut into Cardin's side. Cardin grabbed the sword with a gauntleted fist, wrenched Jaune sideways, and slammed his mace into Jaune's exposed back. Jaune made his shield fold up into the sheath and swung it like a club at Cardin's wrist, forcing him to drop the sword.

Cardin glanced up at the board. To his shock, Jaune's Aura was still above three-quarters, while Cardin had just dipped into the yellow. His eyes darted back in time to see Jaune lunge, his sword jabbing at his gut while the sheath was raised for an overhand blow. Cardin stepped back, letting Jaune wear himself out with swing after swing. A bit of Semblance made his armor lighter, and he focused on breathing easily, making as little movement as possible. Jaune's Aura had always been ridiculous, but his stamina couldn't keep up.

Except, this time, it did. After almost five minutes of swinging, and a risky shot at his shoulder, Jaune had hardly broken a sweat. A quick check at the board, however, showed a five-percent drop in his Aura, even though Cardin hadn't touched him.

When Jaune overextended himself again, Cardin blocked both arms with his own and headbutted him. While Jaune stumbled back, cursing, Cardin lightened his mace and closed in with a flurry of swipes. Three caught Jaune in the head before he extended his shield and held it before the onslaught. Cardin tried grabbing it again, but the white glow returned before he could hook his mace over Jaune's shield. Cardin was forced to retreat as Jaune made aggressive slashes at his chest and legs.

Another glance at the board showed that he had fallen to forty percent, while Jaune had just over half of his left. He smiled and lowered his mace.

"What's the matter, Jaune? Are you mad that I made your girlfriend look like an idiot?"

Jaune didn't charge. Instead, he stepped backwards, staring intently at Cardin, until his feet hit the edge of the ring. His sword glowed, Aura rippling off the steel like flames. Cardin crouched and watched Jaune carefully, every twitch of his shoulders, feet, and eyes, hunting for a clue of what was to come.

Jaune swung the sword. The light leapt from the blade and soared through the air at Cardin. He raised his mace to block, but the light rushed past the weapon, only stopped where it made direct contact with the haft. The broken slash of light slammed into Cardin in two pieces, one nicking his shoulder, the other slamming into his gut. The wave of Aura was sharp as Croeca Mors and chewed through his Aura until it dissipated. He only had time for a quick glance at the display and finding that he had lost almost ten percent on that hit to Jaune's two, before another slash tore at him. He dodged it, but Jaune's shield joined in, buffeting him with walls of light while the sword slashed at him.

Cardin danced at the edge of the arena, using his Semblance and every trick Blake had taught him to roll out of the way, stay on his feet, duck and weave around the slashes, but it wasn't enough. A slash caught his foot, a wall slammed into his shoulder, and another slash hit his arm. Within three minutes, he had dipped below a quarter and had gotten no closer to reaching Jaune. He ground his teeth, and anger simmered in the back of his mind, anger that he was being outclassed, actually beaten, by the same runt of the litter he could toss around the ring a few months ago.

He flinched when he felt the his thumb hit the trigger for his chain. Clenching the mace in his hand, he fought the rising anger in his chest as he let the last slash take him. A white-hot lance of pain turned cold and numb as Aura seeped out of him. His Aura meter went red, and Goodwitch called an end to the match.

Jaune strode up to him, sword still in hand. "That's for Pyrrha," he said, too low for anyone but Cardin to hear.