Sorry, the chapter's a day late. Between being busy the whole weekend, a mild case of writer's block, and a fresh addiction to Deus Ex HR, which I'm playing for the first time, it's been a slog trying to get this one out.

Part of the delay also came from me sitting down, taking a hard look at my initial outline, and deciding that it'd be best if I rewrote the end's outline, as the original had fallen to pieces long ago, not to mention, it didn't have nearly the kind of detail I wanted. So, I've broken it down chapter by chapter, and I now have a rough idea of how long it'll take to get there. I'm aiming for sixty chapters, so if I stay up to schedule, I should be done around December 8. I'll take time off after that to get my next story well underway to avoid delays like this one, and the next story will likely start (or rather, restart) at the beginning of February.

In that soul-searching, I've come to realize that I made a mistake writing this story. Jaune's updated Semblance was something I threw in for the hell of it, and I had plans for a really cool weapon, courtesy of Beacon's resident weapons fanatic. Quite frankly, there's no room in the story for this, and in hindsight, it would've given Jaune's doubts about continuing his education more traction if his Semblance wasn't any use in combat. If I could edit this out, I would still have broken his sword, but the reason why would've changed. I've decided not to change this, as not only would I have to edit the Jaune x Cardin fight, but also the Jaune x Sun singles round, the conversation Jaune and Cardin had, and hunt down any other mentions of the new Semblance. I have neither the time nor patience to do that at this moment. I may do so in the distant future, but for now, this flaw will remain. Just know that nothing's going to come of it, and I won't be mentioning it in future fights. I can say something good came of it, as I have an idea for a story I may pursue in the future that makes excellent use of this idea I had.

As for reviews, to xfel, I suppose the above addresses what you mentioned. Yours was the review that made me rethink what Jaune's role was in the story and realize the mistake I made, so thanks for that. You're also right that Sun's fight was underwhelming, but I didn't want it bogging down the story, so I kept it short.

To the rest, thanks for the comments and compliments. I'm glad to hear you like the cover and the character development.

Alright, that's enough about story updates and reviews. I hope this chapter, which pushes this story past 200k words, was worth the wait.

Chapter Forty-Seven: Shattered Crystal

Cardin took one look through the dorm's windows at the milling crowd on his floor, congregated around his door, an decided not to take the staircase up to his room. With no way of telling how long they would stay there, as his roommates had all had the good sense to steer clear of Cardin's numerous fans, he would need a good hiding spot, somewhere close to his room where he could hear the crowd leave without running the risk of being caught by him.

And on the ground floor, there so happened to be a room under constant guard, whose door only opened with the permission of a Huntsman.

It wasn't Jaune's father on duty today, but when he asked permission to enter, the Huntress didn't seem surprised. She opened the door, letting out the conversation happening in the room.

"I – I said all that?" Weiss said. "I had no idea. I'm so sorry Yang."

"You have a visitor," the Huntress said. "That Cardin kid, the one you punched in half."

Yang's eyes blazed for a moment, but the anger drained out of her like a popped water balloon. "Sure, send him in."

Team RWBY was seated on their bunk beds, all staring at him as he hesitantly entered the doorway. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"Nah," Yang said. "Just getting Weiss caught up."

Cardin glanced back at the closed door. "People could be listening."

"Which is why we've been keeping it down," Blake said. "We're not stupid."

Cardin regarded that statement with a raised eyebrow, but he took a chair from a desk. An awkward silence filled the room as everyone looked at each other in turn.

"So," Yang said, "I saw the fight. Nice work."

"Thanks," Cardin said. "It wasn't that good."

"I dunno." Yang grinned and threw her hair back. "I really liked the view at the end. You should use Fire Dust more often."

It took a moment for him to realize what she meant. He answered with a weak grin of his own. "I don't think you would've appreciated if I used it during our match."

Yang's face reddened, but she laughed and said, "You got me there."

"So, you're going up against Penny next round?" Ruby asked. "How are you going to beat her?"

Weiss gave him a downcast stare and set her rapier on her lap. "I must admit, Cardin, despite how well you've done, you're up against the best technology Atlas has to offer. I don't think anyone except Pyrrha could beat her. Everyone's saying as much."

"Good thing I beat Pyrrha then," Cardin said, expression neutral. He couldn't give anyone an idea that he had a plan, or Ironwood might guess it. "I might be able to pull something off."

Blake gave him a cold glare and drew forward on her bed. "Let me guess, you're going to cheat."

"Cheating is such a strong word," Cardin said with a mild, galling smile. "I prefer to call it 'thinking outside the box'. Besides, I haven't cheated yet. If anything, the game's been rigged against me."

Though he had meant Cinder's influence on the randomization process, everyone else took it as Penny's participation.

"Yeah, it is weird," Yang said. "I don't understand how or why Atlas let a robot compete. She's not–" Yang cut off with a sidelong look at her sister.

Ruby sent a brief frown at Yang before saying, "To me, Penny is just as real as anyone else. Nobody else might think the same, but I don't care. If she wants to participate in the Vytal Festival, then why not?"

"Because it gives Atlas an unfair advantage," Blake said with bitterness in her voice. "All they care about is showing the rest of the world how strong they are, how powerful their technology is. Just look at the fleet they brought with them to protect the stadium, does anyone really think they need that many ships?"

"How much do you think that stadium cost to built?" Weiss asked. "And how much would we lose if some Grimm knocked it out of the sky? Of course the General brought a lot of ships."

"She's got a point," Yang said, pointing her thumb at Blake. "It's kinda overkill, don't you think? I didn't even know Atlas had that many battlecruisers, not to mention that really big one. It's almost as big as the stadium."

"Yeah, well," Weiss trailed off, looking at her teammates. "It can't hurt to be too sure, right? Grimm incidents have been on the rise lately."

Cardin shook his head. "The Dukes invited him to bring his whole fleet, under some diplomatic pretense, and Ironwood was stupid enough to take him up on the offer. Truth is, they're trying to goad hostilities between Vale and Atlas."

"But why would they do that?" Weiss asked. "Aren't we allies?"

"I wish I knew," Cardin said, "But I'm telling you all of this for a reason. If you spread these rumors around, you'll draw the Dukes' attention, and that's not going to end well for any of you." He gave Blake a stern look and added, "That goes double for you. They wouldn't even have to try to get you executed as a White Fang infiltrator."

Blake looked as though she had been slapped, and the rest looked nervously at her. "You're saying they'll make life hard for us?" Yang asked. "How much worse can it get?"

"Way worse. Take my word for it."

"Then," Ruby asked, voice quivering, "What can we do? If they're trying to make things worse between Vale and Atlas, they have to be stopped."

"About the only thing that can be done is for me to win the final round. If I win, it'll lower the resentment and fear for Atlas' new androids, and it'll give me the press coverage needed to do more damage control."

"So you want us to help you cheat?" Blake asked.

"Honestly, yes." He turned to Ruby. "You know Penny well. Try talking to her, see if she can be persuaded to hold back and let me win."

Ruby backed away, flustered. "Me? I mean, yeah, we're friends, but I don't know if I can do that, not if she really wants to win."

"It's for her good as much as anyone else's," Cardin pointed out. "I'm sure she doesn't want to be resented by everyone."

Ruby looked down, thoughtful. Yang leaned forward and asked, "If you only needed Ruby's help, why did you tell the rest of us?"

"She's going to tell the rest of you anyways. I wanted to make sure you all knew what's at stake here." With a nod at Blake, he added, "Especially you."

Blake glowered at him but said nothing. Weiss looked as though she were trying to think of something. Ruby stared at the floor, kicking her heels against the bed and watching the sheets ripple. Yang studied him with an unreadable expression.

"Hey guys," Yang said, "I need to tell Cardin something, in private."

Weiss looked at the door. "Should we leave?"

"Headphones, bathroom, don't come out until I say so."

Ruby pulled out a set of red headphones out from under her bed. Both Blake and Weiss got their own sets and followed their leader, but before Blake entered the bathroom, Yang called after her, holding her own yellow headphones. Blake scowled and took the second set with her.

Once they were alone, Yang said, "It's not like you to ask for help."

Cardin chose his words with care. "I don't have much of a choice. I plan to go to Ironwood about it as well, but I don't know if he will listen to me."

"Why? Aren't you working together, or something? I mean, Penny's been your bodyguard for the past couple days, and you have his personal Scroll number, so it's not like you can't talk to either of them."

"True, but Ozpin doesn't trust me, not since I dug up Ruby's secret. They both might think I'm Cinder's double agent."

"Which is stupid," Yang said. "Look, a lot of shit has happened. I got stuck in here, Weiss had a Grimm in her brain, and Ruby has magic eye powers. I'm not sure what to think of any of it, but that's all I had time to do, think. I've been thinking about everything you said, about how Cinder has all the powerful people twirled around their fingers and there's crazy dangerous people using Grimm for Brothers knows what. The only thing I'm sure of at this point is that you're on our side. Normally, I wouldn't trust you. I'd think you were leading us on in this whole grand conspiracy and stab us in the back once you got what you wanted. But I felt that punch, I felt your ribs snap. I thought I killed you, and from what I hear, it was a miracle you didn't die."

"I was supposed to die." Cardin ran a hand over his stomach, breath shaking as he remembered the blow. "If those nurses had gotten me on that ambulance, I wouldn't have even made it to the hospital. I would've tragically died of blood loss on the way there."

Yang looked away from him, and her hands balled up in fists. Cardin reflexively tensed and set his hands on his lap, ready to defend himself.

"You know," Yang said, "There was a time I would've thought that you deserved it. I used to wish that you would just go away, that the world would've been better off without you. You've done some messed up stuff for as long as I've known you, harassing Faunus kids, blackmailing classmates, you even got a teacher fired, and not one of those stuck-up cranky bitches, but a sweet, kind teacher."

"Miss Clearwater?" He froze up at the sudden heat in Yang's eyes and stammered out, "I – uh, yeah, I did. Sorry about that."

Yang took a deep breath, and the crimson left her eyes. "You aren't sorry for any of it, are you?"

Cardin thought about saying he regretted everything, expressing himself as some poor misunderstood soul who only did all that because his father told him to, but would Yang even believe that?

"I'm not."

"And you'd do it all over again, wouldn't you?"

Cardin mulled over his answer for a moment. "Only if I had something to gain from it."

Yang took the bait. "What did you gain from it, then?"

"My dad told me to do all of those things. If I wanted him to appreciate me, I had to prove I could manipulate people well enough to become a proper Duke. I had to break the rules, provoke the teachers, and either bribe or blackmail them into leaving me alone. If neither of those things worked," he said with a significant look at Yang, "Then I had to get rid of them."

"Wait." Yang looked at him with disgust. "You did all that to get your dad to love you?"

"I did that to get him to like me," Cardin said, emphasizing the word choice. "He made it very clear to me that if he thought I would turn out to be a poor successor to his titles, he would have me replaced. By now, it's too late for him to remarry, but if I slip up, it would be the end of both of us." With a grimace, he added, "I might have already doomed us both."

"By helping us."

"By doing the one thing that keeps me out from under the thumb of the most powerful person in Vale. Cinder wasn't pleased when I tried to dig up her past."

"Did you find anything?"

Cardin shook his head. "She's covered her tracks." With a laugh, he added, "I don't think even she could figure out her history." He looked at the bathroom and kept his voice low, so Weiss, even without headphones, couldn't overhear. "More likely, she didn't like that I was getting close to Ironwood and Jacques Schnee. Whatever she's planning involves them."

"And Penny."

"Exactly."

"But you already know about her illusions, so she can't do that again, right?"

Cardin shrugged. "She probably has something else planned."

Yang chewed her lip. She said, "One more thing. Is Ruby in danger, like Ozpin says?"

"They know that we cured Weiss, but I don't know if they know how." He shook his head and said, "It would be safest to assume that they will try to kill her, considering that they're working with such dangerous Grimm. It would be too easy for her to ruin their plans, as she already had."

Yang nodded. "I'll talk to Blake and Weiss, make sure she's never alone."

"Make sure they're both always with her, if they can help it. Ask JNPR as well. I'll try to lend my own teammates as well."

"Is there anyone else we can trust?"

"If there was, Ozpin would've talked to them already."

"I see." She peered closely at him. "You look like shit. Have you been sleeping?"

Just the thought of his lost sleep recalled the visions to him, images of Grimm and betrayal that haunt his nights. "It's been a hectic week."

"Yeah, I hear you." Yang stood and stretched her arms. "Thanks for the chat. I'm letting them back in now." She flung the bathroom door open. The three of them were huddled up near the back of the bathroom, all wearing their headphones. Blake had a second set jammed over her bow, to the Faunus' visible discomfort. She tore off the headphones and stalked back into the room.

"Actually," Weiss said, looking at Cardin. A hint of a blush touched her cheeks. "There's something I would like to tell him as well."

Cardin felt his stomach fall to his feet as he considered everything she could possibly tell him.

Blake's ears drooped. "Are you going to make us wear headphones too?"

"If you wouldn't mind."

Yang picked her headphones off the floor with a rebuke for Blake, while the Faunus took Weiss' headphones. Once the door was shut, Weiss sat over on her bed, the closest of the two to Cardin's chair.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask of you."

Cardin's heart pounded on his ribs like a carpenter demolishing walls with a sledgehammer. "Go ahead."

Weiss' eyes darted nervously from him to the floor, and back again. "I, um, heard rumors that you and Cinder, well, were close."

Cardin felt himself breathe a little easier. She had to suspect him of working with her. "I can't deny those rumors, but she's been more interested in killing me lately than anything else."

"Do you still feel anything for her?" Her eyes were glued to her feet as her toes scraped the carpet. Cardin felt his nerves grow tense, but he answered, "I never did feel anything for her. I only got close to her because my father requested it. She was too powerful to ignore."

A smile lit up Weiss' face, and Cardin heard alarm sirens blaring in his head. "I see. It's awful, what our parents made us do, all the expectations for us, treating us like trophies to be given out to whoever can give our parents the most power and money." Her mild, pleasant tone was at odds with her bitter words, a discord that made Cardin's nerves tingle as though she rubbed wool over each one.

"It's what has to be done," Cardin said, shrugging it off. "Cinder would have moved against me much sooner if I hadn't played along."

"I see." She rubbed her hands together, trying in vain to hide her nerves. "Does your father have any arranged matches for you?"

Cardin's stomach was trying to strangle itself with his intestines as he scrambled to figure out how he can deescalate the situation. Should he try to say that he's too busy with what's going on? That would just delay it. Say he's not interested? She might suspect he's seeing someone else, make her suspicious, put distance between them. Say he's gay? Could he even say that with a straight face?"

"Nothing fixed. It's of more benefit to my family to keep my options open. If other Dukes can entertain the chance of marrying into our line, they'll be less likely to move against us."

"What would your father think of a match with the Schnee family?" she asked, her voice a constrained whisper. "As the most powerful family in Atlas and one of the wealthiest in the world, it would surely be of benefit to both sides. If I spoke with my father about you, I'm sure he would approve."

And there was a perfect way of rejecting her. He reached for it with the fumbling grasp of a drowning man. "It would never work. If any Duke caught wind of such a relationship, they would try to bring me down as quickly as possible, since it would tip the balance of politics too far in my favor."

"Oh." She looked downcast for a moment, but sudden resolution hardened her features. "Well, fine then. I want you to know that – that I care a lot about you. It's presumptuous of me to say this, but I want to be with you. No one else I've ever met understood what I've been through, no one else gets how much pressure it is to be a child in a powerful family. None of them know what it's like to get shown off to nobles and their sons like some trophy, enticing them into a political marriage," she said, gesturing at the bathroom door.

"None of them realize that I have to maintain appearances, that I have to be perfect at all times, that I don't get to relax and have fun. The only people I've met up until now that were in a situation like mine liked being powerful and rich and snobbish. They didn't care about me, just my father's money. But you, you talked to me like a real person. You've been through all the things I've been through. When I thought I would be alone here at Beacon, with no one that understood me, with one teammate that's – that's a Faunus, and another that sees me as a stuck-up snob like my dad, with a team leader who's too young and trusts her hotheaded sister too much, with everyone keeping a polite distance from me like I'm made of porcelain and they'd break me by getting too close, I thought about giving up, going back, that I was stupid for thinking it would be any different in Vale. Then I met you. I thought you were just a jerk and an a – well, a jerk, for picking on others, but I realized you have to keep up appearances too. You have to show everyone you're better than them, you have to distance yourself from any Faunus, and you're constantly watched by your own teammates to make sure you do that."

Blushing furiously, Weiss glanced at both doors before continuing. "Once I saw past all that, I found that you were very different, unlike anyone else I had ever met. You were kind, sincere, and caring. You helped me with my father even though you didn't have to, helping me stay at Beacon even though he was trying to force me to come back. You helped out the soup kitchen, even at great risk to yourself."

Cardin started feeling light-headed as Weiss' explanation meandered on, highlighting all his false virtues and pretend generosity. She reached over and put a hand on his. The skin felt warm and tingled at the touch. Even as his blood ran hot, making his limbs shiver with excitement, a cold sweat broke out on his face and back, chilling him to the bone. His heart trembled, and bright lights flashed before his eyes as he struggled to breathe. He could feel the Seer's barbed tentacle, its touch on his forehead burning like a brand, could remember the same warm, giddy emotion that had haunted him in his nightmares.

"You believed all that?" he said numbly. "You really are naïve."

Her hand flinched, but she didn't draw it away. "What was that?"

Cardin wrenched his hand out from under hers, tucking it inside his school uniform's vest. "I 'helped' you with your father so I could get in touch with him. I promised him I'd keep an eye on you, keep you from getting embroiled in Vale's politics, and gently steer you back to Atlas in exchange for expensive Dust for the Vytal Festival and a connection to Ironwood."

He took the Gravity Dust canister out from a pocket and popped it open, showing her its glowing contents. Weiss' eyes widened and her face grew pale as she drew away.

"As for the soup kitchen, I did it to try to win Ozpin's trust. He's been cautious around me ever since I spilled Ruby's secret, and I had to make sure he wouldn't try to remove me to protect her. Aiding that fool's errand was simply my way of showing Ozpin that I can handle being leashed."

Weiss was trembling as she asked, "Was all of it a lie?"

"Ever since I first spoke with you. I could tell you hated formalities, that you despised politics, when I laid it on too thick that first time, so I change tactics. I pretended to be the nice guy dancing on their daddy's strings that you wanted to see. I got closer to you, hoping to use you to get contacts outside of Vale, and it paid off. That's all there is to it. I'm not kind, or sincere, or any of that other trash you were calling me. I used you, and now, I'm done with you."

Tears ran down Weiss' cheeks. "You can't mean that. Your father is making you say off of this stuff, isn't he?"

"Just ask your father. He can tell you it was all true. Heck, I'm the one that persuaded him to send Klein over, so he'd depend solely on me to spy for him."

"But – you saved my life. When that Grimm had me, when Ozpin was planning to…"

"When you were about to destroy the Defender, when that Summon was forming, I was going to kill you so I wouldn't die. If Ruby hadn't saved you, I would've killed you. I played it off to your father as trying to get Ruby to activate her abilities, but truth is, I would've killed you and everyone else on board to save my own skin." He leaned close, face icily calm, and said in a harsh whisper, "I'm not a nice person, Weiss, so do yourself a favor and forget about it."

Weiss reared away from him. She buried her face in an arm and ran for the door, clawing for the knob until she wrenched it open. Before the guard at the door could say anything, she sprinted out, running far away from him.

Fear and excitement ebbed out of Cardin, leaving him numb. Even the prospect of Jacques displeasure, laid out for him by a chiding voice in his head, felt muted as he stared out the open door. With a deep breath, he heaved himself out of his chair and walked out the door, but the Huntress stopped him.

"What did you just say to that girl?" she asked, voice sharp and cold.

"I told her what she needed to hear," he said without looking up.

The Huntress studied him for a moment before letting him go. "Dumped her, eh? It's always tough when you're younger. She'll get over it."

He didn't bother correcting her assumption as he plodded up the stairs. Too late did he remember the throng of students waiting outside his room as he opened the door to his floor and found himself staring down a wild, giddy crowd. By the time he made it into his room and sent the fans away, he was too tired to do anything but fall into bed and stare up at the ceiling.