When Cardin had told her that they needed to talk somewhere safe, Ruby had honestly expected an alleyway, or a bar, or even a club.

Not the best restaurant in the entire city.

The red reaper felt out of place the moment they walked in: it was huge, sparkling, and grand.

It was the type of place only big money could afford. Like, really big money. Ruby had an idea that this place might even make Weiss sweat a little.

And here Cardin was just walking in without a care.

When they walked in Ruby only got a few seconds to stare before a man came to greet them. He wore some kind of tuxedo and as he came closer he sent a critical gaze towards Ruby, taking in her dirt combat outfit. Clearly he didn't think she belonged here

Ugh, Ruby felt like he was right. She didn't even know what to call him. It was a greeter, right? Was it a greeter?

"Good evening sir," the man bowed. "Do you have a reservation at this establishment?"

"I do not." Was the reply, and the man's face twitched as he stared at Cardin. Yeah. What did he think of them now? Probably that they were some kind of riffraff off the street.

But he was professional at least.

"Then do you have business here sir?"

Cardin nodded, reaching into his coat and fishing out a golden insignia. "I do… I'd like a table for Winchester please."

The man's eyes widened massively and he paled slightly. "A-ah my apologies sir, madam. R-right this way please."

Ruby blinked at the sudden change but kept quiet as they were lead to the far side of the room. They drew stares as they went: from men and women dressed in some of the most expensive clothes and jewellery she'd ever seen.

They had the same look no matter where she looked; there were veiled glares of disgust, like she was a sewer rat that had jumped onto their table and stolen their meals from in under of them.

When Ruby looked at Cardin, she saw none of the trepidation that she felt. He walked tall, back straighten and head up with confidence.

But it wasn't the arrogance he showed in Beacon.

After a moment they arrived at a table with shutters surrounding all sides.

"For privacy sake," he explained when she looked at him suspiciously. "I know you probably have some questions so this makes things easier."

She could understand that, but she needed to act like that didn't matter, she needed to figure out what was going on without seeming completely clueless.

"This is a pretty fancy place." She deflected as she peered at the menu. "How much would it even cost to get in here?"

Cardin hummed. "I'd say… that if you sold all your organs on the black market for extortionate prices you could pay for about… a tenth of the admission fee?"

Despite herself Ruby let out a strangled gasp. "Seriously? Who eats at a place that expensive?"

"People who want to show off their wealth I guess," he shrugged before frowning. "I don't really like these kinds of people, at least not how most of them are; they waste all their money doing things like this when they could be helping people, funding construction or feeding refugees. I mean sure its fine to self-indulge a little bit but a place like this shouldn't exist to serve them."

The reaper blinked. This… didn't sound like Cardin at all. "So… how are you able to get in here then?"

Another shrug. "My family has ties. Even if they don't know our real business these people respect the Order enough to grovel a little."

Ruby frowned. That was the second time he'd mentioned some kind of order. "Who's that? Or, what is that?"

"The Order?" Cardin asked, turning to the younger girl as he leaned forward in his chair a little. "You don't know? Ozpin didn't tell you?"

Her frown deepened. "Ozpin only told me what I needed to know about the mission, and my know-how of magic pretty much revolves around what I've seen."

The older beacon student put his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright I get it, I wasn't blaming you for anything, this is exactly the sort of thing he'd get involved in."

"So, you know him?" Ruby asked, it seemed the logical conclusion if Cardin was talking about the headmaster like this.

"Personally you mean? Apart from what we get at school, no. but the Order has had dealings with him for years… although I guess I need to explain what that is don't I?"

"It would help." Ruby agreed, her frown didn't go away but she leaned back into her own chair to get a little more comfortable.

He nodded. "Alright, where to start… uh… well, the Order has existed as long as Vale has, the city and the Kingdom I mean. They, we, are a group dedicated to safeguarding civilians from the dangers of the more… violent creatures of magic. For as long as we've been around, so has Ozpin apparently, although he wasn't the headmaster then, some kind of immortal wizard from what my father told me."

Well… Ruby could at least say that he wasn't wrong.

"Ever since he got into the position he had in the city we've had a sort of… alliance with him, although it's less about trust and more about necessity."

She blinked in confusion. "Meaning?"

Cardin sighed. "Even I know that Ozpin and the first King were the same guy, somehow, and even before that man founded the schools, when he founded the city way earlier he went on a rampage, exterminating all magical creatures within the city limits. We have… a difference of opinions: The Order has worked with some of the more sentient beings like, Vampires or fairies, we see the chance for cooperation with them but Ozpin for some reason despises all types of magic societies. You'd think he'd be more accepting since he has magic of his own but no."

He ran a hand through his hair as he recited the next bit. "Decades ago the Order fought against Ozpin for this genocide in the shadows, but he's a wizard, a crazy powerful one while we don't have a single person like that in our ranks. We have strong fighters, some on the level of Huntsmen, not anything special, only numbers, even if the man had agents of his own. It made it harder for both sides to protect the people of Vale."

"People were dying to the Grimm because neither could protect the borders of our home. So eventually the Order called a treaty or something. Basically, we managed the magical residents, kept them out for their own safety as well as the humans and Faunus, and in return Ozpin stayed away from us and our affairs."

Cardin grumbled to himself. "Even if you showing up means he's pushing it."

Ruby was confused beyond belief. "But… that doesn't make sense," she said. "Ozpin wouldn't… he would start a genocide!"

"Really?" Cardin pushed. "He hasn't shown any thinly veiled hatred for them?"

Ruby's hesitation was enough. But… no, just because he didn't like magical creatures – supposedly – that didn't mean he was crazy enough to kill them all. Right? She shook her head. "That still doesn't explain you."

"What about me?"

"You're Cardin Winchester, how do you come to be a part of some order? How does some… some bully do something like this?"

"You mean a racist, arrogant, ignorant asshole with no regard for others?" Cardin questioned with a bitter smile.

She blinked. "Um… yes actually."

He sighed. "I joined Beacon for two reasons: one, to keep an eye on Ozpin. More of a message than anything else to show that we're still here, and judging by the fact that he put me in charge of a team he knows who I am and two… I want to be a huntsman, I want to protect people."

"Then why the bullying?" Ruby pushed.

A pause.

"Do you know what it's like to be a side character in someone else's story?" he asked. "To be not only that, but the idiotic villain in it? That's what I found out when I learned I was an Avatar. The Cardinal of Winchester and then to see the Hero of that story, Jaune of all people be some weakling?"

Ruby licked her lips. SO he knew about the Avatars… and the way he was talking about them it wasn't some big secret. How many people actually knew?

"So… you're taking it out on him?"

"I'm toughening him up!" Cardin growled passionately. "When I was younger I accepted that I was an Avatar and I knew that I wouldn't be a villain, even if my story put me opposed to Joan I wasn't going to do that, but then to see Jaune, someone so weak that he might get himself killed? I can't allow that, and since he had Pyrrha Nikos on his team of all people and still isn't getting stronger? I knew I would have to try a different approach to her, not kindness."

"He's getting better at fighting."

"It's not the fighting I'm worried about?"

Ruby looked up at him in surprise.

"If Jaune stands up to me by himself, fine, he can go about it that way and I won't judge, but even I know that you can't always solve thigs alone, and not everyone is strong enough for that. If he just asked his team for help I'd accept that too but he doesn't. He does nothing!" he sighed. "Huntsmen are heroes, they act, risk their lives and put themselves in danger. If he can't even do this for himself how can he expect to do it for others."

She could… see his point but-

"What about the others then?" she pressed. "Like Velvet? A huntsman can't afford to hate all of the Faunus."

"And neither do I." he said. "Look, my family might not be as famous as it used to be, but it's because of our history that we keep this image as Faunus haters. We hunted down creatures of the night, Grimm, rabid werewolves demons, it was the type of thing people asked questions about and it risked the secrecy of it all… so we strung a story about our hate for people no different than us."

The girl frowned. "So that's why you bully her? To keep up the story?"

"No, I do it for the same reason as Jaune, because she's weak from her own faults, she could be so much more than she is but she's so… Cowardly."

"What do you mean?"

Cardin raised an eyebrow. "How many second years Huntsmen would tolerate a first-year bigot picking on them? Not many, that's who. She's meant to be role models for younger students, or barring that at least be resolved enough to make me stop. I may have Order training but I'm still weaker than her, but she's too weak-willed and would you want someone like that in charge of saving lives?"

No… she wouldn't. IF someone like that hesitated even for a second out of fear or self-doubt it could lead to tragedy. "I get it…" She sighed. "I don't agree with how you're doing it but I get it."

Cardin shrugged. "If they both stand up to me I'll be more than happy to be the nice guy and help them out, teach them or just leave them alone if they want it, but until then? They need a villain in their story that isn't going to kill them, so they can learn beforehand."

"You could at least tone down on that stupid look you get on your face."

Cardin blinked, confused. "What stupid look? I don't make a look."

"Oh… never mind then."

She was saved from Cardin's questioning as waiters knocked the shutters, before entering with steaming hot plates of food.

Ruby stared, and the older student took the liberty to explain.

"They have a service here that if you don't order after a certain amount of time they give you what they think suits. Most people order but those who don't normally do this so that they can try new things without losing face if they don't like it. There's actually people who get paid to judge you when you come in and guess what you'd like… and they're good at it."

Yes they were, Ruby could practically feel her mouth water as the dish was set in front of her. The reapers culinary pallet usually just included things she hunter out in the wilds, and more recently the food at school. This though? Oh my.

"Well?"Cardin pressed. "Eat, enjoy it while we talk about what we're going to do next."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked, even as she dog into some very tasty looking pork. Seriously, how did you make meat taste so good?!

"Those goblins might have been driven off but we didn't do any permanent damage." He explained. "The feral kinds don't leave unless you destroy the nest, what's worse is that hobgoblin probably wasn't the only big guy we have to worry about."

That was true, and Ruby had been in enough danger with just one of those things… if they were going into the centre of all that then…

"Alright," she nodded, biting into a tender cut, enjoying the pleasure of food before this undoubtedly went to hell. "What's the plan?"

…

…

They returned to the industrial are just an hour later, with the moon starting to rise high in the sky it gave them the perfect light needed for scoping places like this out.

Cardin had his hood up, and the black coat did a good job of keeping him hidden in the dark. Ruby's cape on the other hand wasn't much help… maybe she could do something about that sometime.

She shook her head. No wasn't the place to lose focus.

The building looked as deserted as it had before but now there was an air of danger around it, one that made Ruby's neck prickle with nerves.

"So how are we going to do this?" she whispered to the older Huntsman next to her.

"You said you can in from the floors above right? I came in from the back and we left from the front, that means that the nest has to be somewhere else… if the building has an underground level that's where it'll be, but that means tighter spaces and higher risks of ambushes."

He glanced at her. "How are you in close quarters."

Ruby bit her lip in thought. "I'm alright," she said. "My scythe is built around long and midrange combat, but I'm decent enough with knives… silver works better anyway right?"

"That's right. My short-sword is a sliver and steel alloy like your own dagger, but that means that you can't do much against the bigger guys."

"You have an idea then?"

"I do," He confirmed. "Leave hobgoblins to me, just make sure the rabble stays off our backs. You can deal with the smaller ones right."

"Yeah, my speed won't be much help in small spaces but it should be enough to beat any of the regular goblins."

"Then you deal with those ones, got it?"

"Yeah I got it."

With that the two of them moved in as quietly as possible, the doors hadn't been locked so they at least knew nobody had come to check it out. Cardin took the lead, and since they already knew where to go it was a straight b-line to the lower levels.

"Why do places like this even have lower levels?" Ruby asked as they made their way down. It was dark, like, nearly impossible to see thanks to there being a complete absence of light anywhere but upstairs. The dust tickled Ruby's nose, and so took what she thought was a monumental effort. The quiet was killing her, the only interruptions in the crushing atmosphere Huntsmen their own footste-

"Wait!" Cardin hissed, throwing an arm out to stop her. "Something's wrong."

She froze, and peered down the hallway, the only direction any danger could come from.

It was empty.

"What is it?" she whispered, and flinched when even that bounced off the walls.

"I don't know," He replied. "That's the problem… it's not just goblins here, you can feel it can't you? The feeling in the air?"

Feeling? Ruby frowned, and tried to focus on whatever it was Cardin was talking about… but… no, she couldn't feel anything, whatever-

Wait.

There was something there… it… it wasn't a feeling. She could see something. It was like, a disruption in the air, a river of something moving down the hallway.

She chanced a look at Cardin, but from the looks of it he couldn't see what she was seeing.

Was it… was it because of her eyes?

She shook her head, it didn't matter right now.

"There's something," she confirmed. "But I can't tell what it is."

"Neither can I," he growled. "And that's the problem. We don't know what's up there."

"Well we're not going to at this rate. Whatever's there, we're going to have to deal with anyway so let's just go before something goes wrong."

Another growl before Cardin unsheathed the sword at his side, the silver glinting.

"Fine, lets hurry and get this over with."

She nodded, and followed the bigger man as he hurried the rest of the way, the closer they got the more of the waves she could see, and soon there was noise as well, a snarling, Goblins screeching and groning to each other in the distance.

Ruby saw the end of the hallway, and gripped her dagger tighter.

Ready.

Ready.

There, up ahead something was moving!

"The nest." Cardin gasped, and Ruby could only stare.

She didn't know what to say. It was… it was like a beehive, but a rotting one, one that was half turned to sludge and was collapsing in on itself, it was a sickly yellow colour and the stench was horrific. Like rotting flesh. What was worse was that Ruby knew that it probably was; did goblins bury their dead? Did hey eat them or just ignore them entirely?

And the best part?

It was over ten meters tall and twice that wide. It was like a network of miniature caverns.

"Shit, I didn't think it would be this big." Cardin breathed through clenched teeth. "We better hurry."

"How do we deal with this?" she asked.

"Burn it," he answered. "Once the nest is gone the goblins will either run or fight amongst themselves."

"That sounds easy. It's not though right?"

"No… one the flames touch the nest they'll know we're here… get ready for a fight."

She nodded, raising the knife to clutch against her chest.

Cardin made his way over to the base, and reached into a pocket she couldn't see, but she recognised the thing he pulled out: it was a scroll, yellowed parchment topped with wood. He unfurled it, and Ruby could see even from a few feet away the intersected symbols in red… that was dust-coated ink.

He set it down on top of the nest and ran a hand over the seal once before backing away. The symbol glowed for a moment, before it burst into flames.

There was a terrifying cry.

Ruby heard the scratching on gnarled feet as there was suddenly movements from the caverns and she leapt back as a clawed hand reached for her.

Like a dam the goblins burst from the nest, dozens of them biting and snarling.

"Don't let them put out the fire!" Cardin barked, before be leapt at them.

Ruby followed suit, stabbing at the horde of monsters in front of her.

She stepped to the side, twisting as the body fell and leapt forward. There were so many of them.

Slash, a limb flew.

Stab, a body fell.

She slid under a swipe that would have hit her head and sprinted forward in a flurry of rose petals.

Ruby's eyes were focused entirely on what she was doing, each movement taking into account her strength and speed.

The dagger wasn't like her scythe: with such a short reach she needed to be careful, but she could tell why it was so short; silver was wasn't like steel or iron. It was softer, unfit for combat against a real weapon, and so ferocious attacks were needed. The shortened distance made it so that speed was used to the advantage of the wielder, while physical power was thrown aside.

It wasn't needed, no when the silver blade cut through these goblins flesh like a hot knife through butter, better than her scythe ever could, the bodies practically dissolved under the dagger, and Ruby could smell the burning not just from the burning nest but from the monsters themselves.

Their screams filled the room, and suddenly there was a canopy of savage roars.

"I've got the hobgoblins!" Cardin called over the cries.

"AS in plural!?" she gasped, before nearly stumbling to dodge a particularly wily goblin that had lunged at her. She couldn't worry about Cardin right now, she needed to trust he could look after himself and keep these thing away from him.

She jumped up, kicking out with one foot that collided squarely on a goblins jaw, and its teeth went flying.

So did Cardin. She saw it out of the corner of her eye, the bigger huntsmen in training barely got his defence up before he was hit by a log of an arm and flew back. His aura flared as he hit the wall.

Ruby grit her teeth. He was up against three hobgoblins at once. She needed to draw even one of them off of him.

She reached to her waist, and the collapsable gears of Cresent Rose turned. She spun around on her heel, cutting through a group of them and opening up some space. She aimed down her sights and shot at the closest Hobgoblin.

The bullet dug into its shoulder and it turned to her. It only had one arm, it was the one from before, the cleaved limb already grown into a stump. Its eyes zeroed in on her and it bared its fangs.

It recognised her.

The beast lumbered towards her with a fury, abandoning its kin as Cardin got to his feet.

Ruby readied Cresent Rose in front of her, low ar her feet. She ducked low and moved in, under the Hobgoblins swing and sliced at its calf. She'd learned this time, and instead of expecting it to cut through, when it caught on the beast's muscles she pressed her back against the haft and pulled the trigger.

The recoil sent her spinning, freeing the curved blade for a split second before it became a whirlwind, rending the montes legs again and again.

It clawed at her, and Ruby winced as her aura tanked the hit. She ignored it as best she could and went in again. It couldn't stand now, giving her the chance to fight level with it. she shot at its good arm, the bullet skimming the first time, then piercing its hand it cried out.

Ruby jumped, twirling as she did so and ripping Crescent Rose down. It dug into the Hobgoblins shoulder with a sickening splash of blood and it shrieked in pain.

It tried to shake her off but her weapon was lodged. She manoeuvred to its back, planting her feet upon it and yanking it back. The limb, the shoulder was severed in a spray of red as it gave a death rattle.

There were cries all around her, and Ruby watched as Goblins fled in all directions, desperate to escape.

She turned to Cardin as he finished off his own enemies and managed a tired smile.

"Well," he said. "That wasn't-"

That was as far as he managed as an entirely new sound sent earsplitting pains through Ruby's head.

Out of the nest burst a figure and Ruby barely managed to stumble back in time to avoid it.

She gasped as it landed in front of her:

A hunched, human-like figure, but with skin white as snow, sunken, eyeless sockets and blackened teeth, greasy midnight hair draping down its shoulders and clawed hands and feet… and worst of all, it leaked a black smog.

"Ghoul!" Cardin cried out in warning, even as he charged in to help her.

Ruby rolled to the left as it lunged, curved talons drawing sparks from where she'd just been. She scrambled to her feet and tried to make some distance but it was already on top of her again.

Ruby cursed. This thing was faster than the goblins, nearly faster than she could gods-be-damned see. It lashed out again, and the reaper brought up her scythe in defence. Its claws scraped against the blade, leaving a mark in the steel as the strength of the hit sent her back a few paces on unbalanced feet.

Cardin's mace swung in to make the distance she needed to right herself. He stood in front of her like a bulwark; massive mace in his right and silver sword in his left. He weighed heavily on one foot, when he'd hurt it she didn't know.

The room was filling with smoke.

"Go!" he growled. "I can hold the bastard off for a few minutes maybe. If you use your semblance you can get away."

Ruby stared at him in shock before scowling. "Don't be an idiot," she hissed. "If you think I'll just leave you here you're in for disappointment."

The boy might have said something in reply but the Ghoul didn't give them a chance. It lunged like a cat, talons outstretched to kill.

Ruby anchored Cresent Rose in that same moment, firing off a round that sailed past as it twirled in midair to easily avoid. Still it came at them and Cardin swung high in an attempt to force it to the floor.

It worked, but it was too fast to do anything about it, and it struck Cardin's aura. He grunted in pain as it flared, even cracking a little.

Ruby baulked. Cardin had far more aura than her. If she was hit would her defence hold?

Damn it they needed to in it somehow.

A dangerous thought came to mind.

"Slow it down." She ordered, and rushed forward without waiting for a response.

She burst sped forward with rose petals, keeping low as the Ghoul saw her coming, retaliating but an effort to grasp her.

Ruby dropped. She didn't stop, or leap or anything else. She dropped like a marionette cut from its strings and let herself roll right past the creature. He body snapped to attention a split second later, plating her boot on the ground to spin on her heel she skidded to face its back, body crouched and low, coiled to spring.

It turned to her, as she hoped, and so didn't see Cardin's mace as it crunched into its back. It stumbled forward, knocked but not beaten it turned again to face its attacker like a wild animal, and Ruby lunged forward, in her left she sank the tip of Cresent Rose into its leg, anchoring it to the ground and with her right she stabbed through its left hand.

It was pinned for a second, that was probably all the time they would have.

But it was enough.

Cardin's silver pierced where its heart should be the instant after, and it sang to the floor.

There was no time to celebrate, and Ruby pressed her cap against her nose to block out the smoke that filled the room.

The ran as fast as they could, and by some miracle managed to make it out without any more opposition.

Cardin gasped great gulps of air as they stepped out of the building, and allowed himself to fall onto his backside.

The red huntress followed suit.

"Just a few goblins they said. It would be easy." He groaned loudly. "I'm going to kill them."

"Friends of yours?" Ruby guessed.

"Just people who should have had this info on lockdown."

He sat up and took another breath before glancing at her.

"…Thanks."

"For what?" she breathed heavily. The smoke had been burning in her lungs, but it looked like her aura was repairing any damage it might have caused.

"For not leaving me behind." He said.

"Don't mention it," she shrugged. "No, seriously, don't. I just wanna forget tonight."

Cardin laughed at that.

…

…

The next day was a slow one. Ruby had somehow managed to get back to Beacon, slip into her room without being noticed and get an acceptable amount of sleep before morning. Her team were all awake, laughing and chatting with a leaderless team JNPR. Moaning about their detention the other day.

Ruby didn't even notice the strange looks her sister was giving Blake.

So there they were, at breakfast, eating and generally just enjoying the peace when a crash could be heard. All heads turned to Cardin the bully – accompanied by his team – standing a head taller than Jaune, with a scattered try of food on the floor. He stood there, arrogant and cruel and nothing like he had been last night.

To have seen both sides of him, Ruby could see now that it was unnatural to him. How had she missed that before?

There was something new though.

Jaune wasn't cowering.

"What did you say to me blondie?"

He growled.

"I said enough Cardin!" Jaune growled back.

Jaune!

His fists were clenched and his shoulder squared. He was shaking, but Ruby couldn't tell if it was from fear or anger.

"I'm sick of you acting like you're some tough punk; pushing me around and treating me like dirt. I sick of it and I'm sick of you! If you want to act like an ass and take out whatever issues you have with me in the practice ring, at least there you can prove you're worth a damn instead of acting like an asshole!"

Silence, the whole cafeteria had gone so quiet you could have heard someone blink.

Cardin stared at Jaune, before suddenly grabbing him by the shoulders and hauling him out, followed by his team.

Pyrrha and the rest of them made to move but Ruby held out an arm, stopping them. Her fellow redhead stared at her in shock but she shook her head. The champion tilled looked like she might force her way through.

The cafeteria fell into frantic whispers for a full minute, people wondering if this was the end of Jaune, before the doors burst open again, but instead of a blond beaten by Cardin, Jaune was lead back into the room with Cardin's arm slung over his shoulder.

The knight had an utterly bemused look on his face, even as the whole of team CRDL looked to have suddenly flipped a switch and laughed aloud as they sat down at the same table as team RWBY and JNPR.

Nora took it in her stride as was immediately laughing with them as Russel tossed her a chocolate bar as a peace offering.

A fast friendship there.

Jaune turned to his fellow team leader with a look that just said 'I have no idea what just happened.'

And over his head, Cardin turned to her, and winked as if to say 'told ya'

Hmph! Ruby snorted, turning away to reach for an apple, biting into it with a shared feeling of triumph.

Smug bastard.

So, yeah, I guess it's been a while since I've updated but life kind of made difficult, my times been focused on other things and I barely had time to write this in between.

Anyway, that's the end of Volume one in its entirety and the transition to Volume 2 is complete. these next few chapters are ones I'm looking forward to, especially the dance and Mountain Glenn. Most of those scenes are already planned out, I just need to make it to them, so stay tuned for that.

So what dod you think of Cardin, and the bits of background info I tried to give on the world? Was it any good? or too clique for your liking? let me know, and if you have anything else you want to say feel free.

THat's all for now, I'll hopefully be back much faster this time, so anyway, if you have time please follow, favourite, and review.

BYE!