Disclaimer: I do not own anything from RWBY
Chapter Two: No one to blame...
"What the fuck happened?! Why is Cardin crying like a little bitch?!"
"Ah, Ms. Winchester, it appears... something... unprecedented took place at least six hours ago."
"Something unprece- WHAT? What the fuck does that mean Richard?!"
"Madam, control yourself, it has taken a toll on Little Cardin. I'm afraid your shouting won't help improve his current state of mind.-"
"- Well I'm sure my fist breaking his fucking nose will-"
"MS. WINCHESTER! So far, he has done nothing to put you in this foul mood of yours, so please, CONTROL YOURSELF. For the sake of your son..."
"..."
"... What happened?"
"... One... of his friends, Dove Bronzewing... we found him in his along with his father in their home. They were both... dead. Each had a bullet pierce right through their foreheads..."
"... Fuck... and Cardin heard about it?"
"Little Cardin was with me when we went over to Bronzewing's home. He... saw it."
"... Good, seeing something like that will help him deal with despair. He needed to learn how to cope with it and I had no idea of what to do to make him go through it."
"I'm sure he's been dealing with it ever since he was born."
"... You piece of shit, you're just in a sassy mood today, aren't you old man?"
"Sorry, I hope you can forgive me-"
"-Ah, fucking- forget about it. I can't say I don't deserve anything that happens to me anymore; I lost that right a long time ago..."
"..."
"... So, did Dove's father do it? Did he shoot that little shit in the head and offed himself after?"
"We aren't sure, Ms. Winchester, Dove won't tell us anything."
"Well no shit Sherlock, he's dead along with his old man."
"... I was about to get to the unprecedented part."
"And that is?"
"... Dove's still alive."
"Fuck, really? Shit, that little bastard is tougher than I thought. Wish Cardin was that tough, it'd be pretty fucking nice..."
"..."
"... Wait, so why the hell is Cardin crying then? Is it because he actually wanted Dove dead too?"
"No, I simply haven't informed him yet."
"What? Why?"
"He locked himself in the bunker, you know how soundproof that room is."
"Hmph, and where's Dove now?"
"He was brought to the hospital to have the bullet removed from his head."
"AND then he died, I assume."
"Oh no, he still survived. But he's still recovering from the event."
"... Okay."
"Okay?"
"Okay."
"..."
"..."
"... I see, and you were... helping Dion, Ms. Winchester?"
"Yes, what else could make me leave for twelve hours, dipshit?"
"You wound me, madam."
"Ugh... sorry. I'm just fucking tired. I'm going to bed, if Cardin comes out of the bunker then put him to bed too."
"I'll see to it, Ms. Winchester."
"... Hm, actually, I change my mind. I'm going to break that door down..."
"Gaaaah... Sky, if you don't stop poking me, I'm going to fucking kill you."
"Pfffffft, that statement is living proof that your mentally challenged."
"I'm serious Sky, just let me sleep damnit. It's Sunday."
"Yeah, and we have to go pick up Dove from the medical building, remember?" Russel opened his eye in remembrance of what happened yesterday; it was without a doubt, the worst Friday of their lives. And Russel prayed that it stayed that way.
"Alright, I'll... get up." Thrush sat up in his bed, seeing that Sky was all ready, wearing his dark grey armor, black sweater and black pants. He also noticed how their room was missing their signature behemoth of team CRDL.
"Where's Cardin?"
"He left, and reminded me to go, with you, get Dove from the medical building. He said he'll get our breakfasts and meet us at our table in the dining hall."
"... And you decided letting him leave the room alone was a good idea?" Sky gave the green mohawk student a nod, to which Russel pinched the bridge of his nose with visible annoyance. "Dude, you know what happens when Cardin get angry and none of us are around to calm him down."
"Hey, you honestly think anyone's going to mess with him after what happened yesterday? People probably think he's sad or something and... try to make him feel better. Probably by asking how Dove's doing."
"Yeah, that sounds about right. But you should also remember that you can piss Cardin off even if you don't insult." Sky bit his lip and turned his gaze to the floor of their dorm room, feeling stupid after hearing Russel's reason for letting their leader leave the room by himself. "AND, you know how he can be in the morning-"
"- I get it, I get it... just get read already. The faster we do this, the faster we can make sure Cardin doesn't try and kill, or maim... or... rape anyone. Or... God forbid cannibalize a student."
"I think people say rape is worst than murder or cannibalization. But... I don't think Cardin would rape anyone. The cannibal part though..."
"That's another reason to get dress, dumb fuck." Russel scowled at his friend for a second and gave him the one-finger salute, then proceeded to adorn himself of his green, sleeveless hoodie, light-green shirt, single-spike spaulder, grey pants, brown boots, and black eye-patch. The two ruffians proceeded to leave their room, and then their dorm building, passing by very few students due to it being a weekend; most were in Vale City.
The students they passed though either glared at them, like usual, whisper an insult when they passed by, or simply look at them with unexpected pity. And that mystified them both, but they also welcomed it. Russel and Sky guessed the reason for very few not glaring or insulting them was because of yesterday's events transpiring in front of practically every student at Beacon.
Thrush felt a twinge of anger at the thought that all it took for a few students to feel sorry for a member CRDL was for one of them to have a nearby-death experience. In Dove's case, it was his second. But Russel understood why no one would even dare feel sorrow for one of them before all that transpired yesterday in their spar with SSSN.
All four of them were callous, cruel, vile, and in Sky and Cardin's cases, idiots. Racist was another thought that came to Russel's mind, but he, Sky, and Dove knew that was exclusive to their mighty leader. But ever since the incident in Forever Falls, Winchester has focused less and less on tormenting faunus students, but still bullied the human attendees of Beacon on a daily-basis.
"Hey, we're here numbnuts." Russel snapped out of his pondering to see he and Sky were already standing in front of the door to Dove's medical room. Sky pushed the metal, rectangular slab forward, seeing their sword user was almost done dressing himself up with only having to don on his bronze armor, but stopped to turn at the door.
"Oh, hey guys... hows it going?"
"Good, good. Cardin told us to come get you, and to meet him in the dining hall for breakfast. How are... you doing?" Sky asked the gloomy swordsman, while Russel stood by with a soft frown and sorrowful eyes. Dove was obviously beating himself up over this.
"I'm fine..."
"..."
"..."
"... I'm sorry about what happened guys. I... I-"
"-Hey," Russel wasn't going to let Dove do this to himself, not in a million years, "it's not your fault man. You had no idea you were going to have an asthma attack, and neither did we. Those things just come up at random."
"But, I'm the reason we lost yesterday."
"We were winning though. If you looked up at the screen before Cardin called time out, you would've seen that Sky and our leader were nearly done with Neptune and Sage. While us, our auras, were still strong and regenerating, all thanks to you." Sky was actually surprised by hearing what Russel had to say. He didn't look up at the screen himself when he left the arena, so hearing that they were potentially close to beating one of the top teams from Haven was great news for him.
"I... it's just that... it's been so long. What if I have another one?"
"Well, first thing is that you start carrying your inhaler around from now on, okay?" Bronzewing nodded his head at Russel's command. Even if he wasn't their leader, the brunette knew his mohawk friend cared for his well-being. "Good. Now let's go, we shouldn't keep Cardin waiting all by himself." Dove would have asked him "is that it?", but he didn't. Dove knew it was a bad idea to leave Cardin alone, even if he was getting better at controlling his anger.
"Oh... hey, did you guys happen to put Cory in the Council back into my locker?" Dove's question prompted a sigh of exhaustion to escape Sky's lips, with Russel chuckling at Lark feeling troubled. It was a rare sight to see Sky annoyed, so whenever any of his three friends saw the blue-silverhead irritated, they could barely contain themselves of their amusement. Except for Cardin, he was the master of hiding joy, but they were all sure he was just incapable of feeling any possible emotions.
"Yeah, I put Cory in the Council back into your locker." Sky growled; he absolutely loathed the name Dove gave his sword.
"Thank you, okay, I'm ready to go now." Dove stated like he was smuggest bastard in all of Remnant, having just finished inserting his left foot into its greave. The three ruffian-students left his room soon after, somewhat intent on meeting Cardin in the dining hall...
"Well, I got their trays filled with their favorite breakfasts," Cardin informed himself as he sat down at a table in the dining hall, "all I need to do now is... wait, I guess." Cardin stared down at his tray; it was practically smothered by noting but bacon and sausage. He wasn't in the mood for getting a waffle or pancake, it would've involved cutting them up into pieces and the mace wielder just wanted to barely work at all today.
He also wasn't in the mood to eat either, but Cardin did so anyways. He binge-devoured four strips of bacon and three sausages until he decided to take a little break before he finished off the tray he didn't want to even see this morning. Cardin pulled out his scroll and started to binge watch episodes of one of his favorite T.V., intending to binge watch them. But even then, the Winchester found himself not in the mood to watch one of his precious shows from television.
Cardin promised himself a lengthy while ago, that he'd protect his friends from anything that posed a serious threat to them. And he was always reminded of how he kept on breaking that promise whenever he'd hear Dove wheezing or coughing due to his asthma. And what happened on Friday made Cardin feel incredibly useless; he would always find himself wishing, and praying everyday for Bronzewing to not suffer an asthma attack. That was all he could do, along with making sure Dove always carried his inhaler around him from now on.
But other than that, Cardin was disappointed with himself for not always upholding his promise. Winchester believed the scars of his friends were proof of his breaking of the promise he never told them about.
"Hey... Cardin." The voice pulled the poncho and armor-wearing giant out of his gloomy stupor, and forcing him to look up at two silver eyes. Cardin just slaved over his body to do everything in it and his power not to hiss in disdain. He had no idea why, but Winchester always felt titan-like fury and fear whenever he looked at Ruby's eyes; Cardin was fighting back the urge to not use every swear word he knew of to drive off the young girl.
"What... what do you want?
"Oh... I just... wanted to see how you're doing." Winchester felt his chest almost drop; her voice had a tone he had never gotten used to hearing. One of a girl he never even befriended who felt concerned for him.
"I'm... fine. But, why do you ask?"
"You've been looking down lately, ever since what happened to... Dove, on Friday... Is he okay?"
"..."
"..."
"...Yeah, yeah, Dove's... fine." Cardin felt exhausted from the simple response, as if he just ran a marathon for a full week. He sat down his scroll on the table, which was when he noticed Ruby was actually sitting down already, across from him, looking like she was stuck in a cage with a lion. Winchester almost wanted to order the scythe-wielder to get back up, because she didn't ask for his permission to sit down. But threatened himself to bite his own tongue if he even started the sentence.
"That's good."
"Yeah... he's suppose to be leaving the medical building today. I told Sky and Russel to go get him; I'm just... waiting here for them..."
"... How are you doing?" Cardin almost wanted to tell her to piss off at that point.
"... Better than I should be." But he didn't. The face-hider felt that would be too mean, even for him, despite having done much worst. "I mean... it's just... Dove hasn't had an asthma attack for at least six years. The worse he ever experience ever since was just wheezing and coughing, and even then, I'd hear stuff like that twice a year. I don't even remember hearing Dove cough at all last year... but, just seeing him like that on Friday... it was his worst asthma attack ever so far. And... and I hope it stays that way. I don't even want to say that, it makes me think there's going to be more..."
It would be an understatement to say Ruby was shocked; she had no idea Cardin Winchester would be so open with how he's been feeling. But that wasn't what surprised the brunette with red tinge, instead it was how Cardin sounded like a broken parent. As if he was a father who just screwed up on protecting his only son. Rose was almost reminded of her father Taiyang, and her uncle Qrow from the bully's tone, but his mood just confused her.
"...Wow... you really care about Dove a lot."
"Heh, I care a lot about him, Russel, and Sky, even if they're all scumbag monsters of Remnant like me. We've been together for a long time, and have a lot in common too..."
"... Like... what?" Cardin stopped himself from blurting anything out; he had to remind himself of what's okay to say, and what's not okay to say. There was only one of the latter he needed to remember, so it wasn't challenging to remember what it is.
"Well... we were all born in the same year..."
"..."
"..."
"... Is... is that it?"
"Yeah... no..." Cardin actually hoped Ruby would leave after he stated one similarity, but he ridiculed himself for not giving the young student enough time to even react. "We all had a pretty shitty childhoods, we all want to become hunters, we also grew up on Disown. Oh, and-"
"WHOA! You guys grew up on Disown?!" Cardin would be lying to himself if he was surprised by the scythe-wielder's reaction. Albeit he hadn't told anyone at all about where he, Russel, Dove, and Sky were born and raised, the poncho-wearer did expect people to react in some sort of way similar to Ruby's.
"Yeah, we did, so?"
"So? Your home is the only prison island so far to be turned a vassal by a country! What was it like growing up on Disown?-"
"-I said we had fucked-up childhoods, didn't I?" The petite huntress-in-training called herself stupid in her mind for forgetting that. She could barely believe she just forgot Cardin saying that a few seconds ago. "Uh... sorry, I didn't mean to make... make you feel bad." Cardin was tempted to stop his apology right in the middle, but he felt like what he said was mean, a little too mean at least, to say to Ruby Rose.
He was not even sorry at all, he just said it because he made an actual promise with his brothers that they know about: to try to act kinder to the other students, even if he did not want to.
"Oh- no! It's okay; it's all my fault for forgetting what you said about your team's... time on Disown."
"... Thanks... well, anyways. Even if Disown is a vassal, it was, and still is pretty unlawful. And our... our... leader always deals with the inhabitants who break the law with... pretty controversial methods, so she isn't very... kind either."
"Oh yeah... she's practically the reason why your home became a vassal of Vale in the first place, seventeen years ago." Winchester had never gotten used to hearing that. How she's primarily the reason why he and his friends are here in Beacon in the first place. Even if the prodigy sitting in front of him did not say that specifically, what Ruby just stated made him feel as if she instead said what he always heard whenever some talked about their leader that way. "It's crazy, how she was close to being nine-months pregnant... when she was sent to..."
The behemoth started to feel a bead of sweat roll-thunder down his left cheek. 'There's no way she can make the connection so quick, Ruby isn't intelligent enough to make it-'
"Cardin... how old are you?"
"..."
"..."
"... Seventeen."
"... Holy... is... are you-"
"-Ruby," Cardin blurted out; he knew it was too late to convince her he isn't Disown's next ruler. "You... please don't tell anyone that, pleas."
"... Whaaa?! You're really-"
"YES! I am her son, okay? But don't tell anyone! P-please, I beg of you!" It didn't take a genius to guess why Winchester was acting so timid about the subject; Ruby assumed his mother was the reason why Cardin is this way in the first place. He did just say his childhood was terrible, those only come around when you're either abused by your parents, relatives, or others. In the mace-wielders case though, his mother is the ruthless leader of Disown, so the prodigy girl believed it to be safe to assume she was the same to her own son. "If people find out... I... I don't-"
"-Don't... don't worry Cardin. I won't tell anyone about her." The Winchester boy visibly relaxed, with stretching emitting from him unbinding his gloved fists and his head raising up. Ruby wished she could see his face; she didn't prefer conversing with a student who always hides his face, or has at least been doing so for the pass majority of the semester.
"Thank you, Ruby. My... mom, she's a sensitive subject for me, and I'd prefer if the whole academy didn't know about her... You can tell anyone about the other stuff I talked about, but not her." The contempt in his voice was all to familiar to Ruby's ears; Cardin always talked like this towards his victims, and Professor Oobleck as well. But hearing his rage when talking about his mother was confirming there to be bad blood between them.
"... Is she the reason why you hide your face? Did she hurt you?"
"... Heh, no... I hide my dace for a different reason. But I understand why you'd ask that; my mom is abusive. In fact, before I came here to Beacon with Russel, Dove, and Sky, she broke my nose for calling her old."
"What?!"
"Yeah, it happened during one of our spars. I told her she's slowing down, then addressed it being a sign of her old age. She got pissed and just decked me right after, it still hurts too." Cardin said, rubbing his nose to put emphasize on his statement.
"Jeez."
"Don't worry about me, she... she's done a lot worst before. I still like to think her abuse was... her way of preparing us for the outside world. Russel, Sky, Dove, and I..."
"... Wait... are the four of your brothers?" Cardin gave a loud snort in response, along with a brush of one of his gloved hands.
"No... Monty no. I thank him everyday for making me an only child for the first six years of my life. My mom just adopted the three of them when... well, why she adopted them is a pretty touchy subject, for them. But... I don't think I should tell you why; you're going to have to ask them yourself."
"Cardin, you know that your mom adopting Russel, Dove, and Sky, makes them your brothers. So-"
"-Shut up Ruby." Cardin cut her off, shoving one strip of bacon, whole, into his mouth soon after and breaking it up into bits with his teeth, soon swallowing the crisp meat-pieces. "Now, it's my turn to ask you a question. How much did your friends beg you to not come over here?"
"... Did you just eat that strip of bacon in one bite?"
"Tch, answer the question Ruby. Or else I'm eat you next~" Rose had no idea if he talking about eating her flesh, or a more private area. And because of that, she blushed and crumpled down a little from fear, and disgust. "Hey, hey, don't turn red like that. I was just kidding, I prefer pretty girls anyway." And just like that, Ruby's fear and embarrassment morphed into false anger; she knew he didn't really mean what he said. Hopefully.
"You know, I just have to scream 'ow' and they'll come over here."
"Who? The dust-addict? The girl who reads nothing but smut? Or your sister who you play with every night?" That was when her anger turned genuine.
"What? You... you- don't talk about my friends that way! None of that is true!"
"Well, I know Schnee doesn't really snort dust. But Blake does read smut, I saw the cover of what she reads. And as for the last one... I always hear you moan her name at least once a month though the walls. Either you're fucking her, or you're touching yourself to her so..."
"... Maybe I should tell them about your mom.-"
"-You little bitch." Cardin rose out of his seat, slamming his palms onto the table and effectively breaking off fear-inducing chucks. Ruby realized how badly she messed up with taunting Cardin. "You wouldn't dare."
"Take back what you said.-"
"-I'll take back the first two, but not the last one..."
"..."
"..."
"... Fine," the little female speedster got out of her seat as well, and turned to see the rest of her team, along with JNPR, at the table she left; all of whom were looking right at her and Cardin's direction, "hey gu-" It was right when he heard the shout of rage from Yang Xiao Long that Cardin booked it, almost breaking down the doors to the dining hall in a dash and sprinting down the right hallway. He could here the yelling of dozens of students, all of whom the Winchester boy assumed were angry with for whatever he was planning on doing. He mentally thanked God for giving him speed that no giant in armor should ever be capable of.
"Gah- CARDIN! PUT ME DOWN!" Ruby started to vocalize her discomfort with whatever was happening, along with making an attempt to struggle out of his grasp. She cursed out loud for being so weak in terms of strength when compared to the gargantuan who snatched her away. Ruby could barely believe how fast he was either, and felt all hope of her friends, her sister Yang, slowly dissipate when she lost sight of them. Blake was the last of her team Ruby saw before losing sight; the fact that Cardin is faster than the cat faunus just demoralized Rose even further.
All the while Cardin ran for the sanctuary, which in this case is his team's dorm room, the mace-user pulled his scroll out and dialed Russel's scroll number. The device rang twice before the punk of a friend answered with his face filling the screen.
"Cardin? Is something-"
"-Russel, get to the room now."
"LET ME GO!"
''Was... was that Ruby?"
"Yes! I fucked up man! Where are you?!"
"I just left the medical building with Sky an Dove-"
"-Good, go to our room now! Don't waste any fucking time either! I'm serious!"
"Okay, got it man!" The boy's face flashed out, ending the call with his team's leader. The whole time the short conversation took up was practically smothered by Ruby's blasting begging for freedom of Cardin's hold, tempting him to just knock the girl out and take her to his room. But that would make this situation worst, and he knew it.
Fortunately for him, Cardin looked up after putting his scroll away in his right pocket to see their dorm building, celebrating briefly while Ruby was filled to the brim with dismay. How could things take a turn for the worst this severe?
The haste of the running boy grew ever more, wanting to reach his room, knowing he was closer than ever to temporary safety. Cardin reached his team's room in less than a minute, opening and closing their door in record time. The feeling of only a little tension came off of his shoulders; Cardin reached his destination, now he just had to deal with Ruby, wait for his team, and come up with a plan.
The first course of action he took was searching a three-by-three crate in a corner of his team's dorm room, while still holding onto Ruby, who at this point had given up of shouting for help and instead focused on struggling. Cardin would have told her how stupid she was for doing that, and that she should just use her energy for calling help. But he knew how that would make her presence known to every student in the building, and how she was stuck in an unfortunate predicament.
Cardin soon found what he was looking for: rope and duct tape. He threw the material onto his bed, and did so with Ruby as well. She gasped from the wind mildly being knocked out of her lungs. The petite girl wasn't left with any time to even realize what had just happened; Cardin flipped her onto her stomach and grabbed both of her wrists while sitting on top of her. Ruby felt her cheeks redden when she realized it was the large student himself who was the heavy restraint.
The Winchester boy got up from his bed when he finished his first task, tying Ruby's wrist to each other.
"W-What? Did you- GAH! D-Don't touch me there!" A chill crawled through her small frame when the sensation of cold leather and rope made contact with her ankles. The feeling of tanned animal rawhide was overwhelmed by rope however, and along with that was Ruby's knees tied up, effectively incapacitating her. Ruby soon witnessed Cardin picking up the duct tape, knowing what he was about to do with it. "Wait!"
"What?"
"D-Don't duct tape my mouth shut, p-please!"
"Are you serious? I have to do it or else you'll be shouting; we can't have none of that now can we?"
"But, but... I-I'm a mouth breather! If you duct tape my mouth, I'll suffocate!-"
"-Bullshit, you are not a mouth breather. Why are you so troubled by the idea of me duct taping your mouth shut? It should be this, this situation, that bothers you. I'm unsettled by what's happening right now-"
"-Excuse me? You're unsettled? I'm the one who was tied up by a bully who always hides his face and is currently being held hostage in his room, by him, on his bed, that... smells like beef jerky. I'M THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE UNSETTLED-"
"-Shhhhh..." Cardin hushed the disturbed girl, placing a finger on her lips. Ruby's response was to bite the finger through the black leather that hid it from all of reality. But instead of feeling covered flesh, Rose felt bone that was sharpened, causing her to release Cardin's finger from her mouth in fright.
"W-W-What the?! What's wrong with your finger?"
"Nothing, now accept the fact that I'm going to duct tape your mouth shut. Or don't, it doesn't bother me." The son of Disown's leader informed Ruby, pulling off a strip of silver big enough to cover his victim's mouth. Instinctively, however, Ruby shoved her face into Cardin's pillow in vein hope of it stopping him from taping her silent. She quickly raised her head up, gasping, due to the smell of beef jerky being too much for the leader of RWBY to bare. "Now that's not nice. You might as well tell me I smell bad."
"I-It's not that! It's like you're pillow is stuffed with jerky!-"
CLICK
Cardin instinctively went for his mace, grabbing the blunt weapon in his left hand and facing the door to the dorm room, prepared to smite whoever it was that unlocked the door. He fell back on that intention though; it was just Dove, Sky, and Russel, with the latter shutting the door behind them. All three of the huntsmen-trainees seemed surprised with their own touch; Dove was confused, Russel was angry, and Sky was perverse.
"What the hell Cardin?! What is this?!"
"What does it look like?-"
"-Why the hell is Ruby Rose tied up on your bed?!"
"Isn't it obvious Russel? Cardin has a thing for bondage. Don't worry, we'll give you two some privacy." Sky's sly comment earned his two glares from his leader and Russel, while Dove remained exactly the same, and with Ruby's face turning beet red.
"We... she... I..."
"Fucking- whatever." Thrush threw his hands in the air, already tired and fully agitated from Cardin's antics. He soon grabbed his right-hand-dagger, Tango, and started cut the rope that held Ruby prisoner, much to Cardin's chagrin. "Hey-"
"- Don't 'hey' me, Cardin. I have no idea why you took Ruby hostage, but whatever the reason is, it's probably just as moronic as you are." The insult really got to Cardin. Not because Russel called him an idiot, but because he called his reason stupid, irrational, idiotic.
"... She threatened to tell her friends about mother..." Russel stopped half-way through with the rope that held Ruby's wrists together, staring at his leader in disbelief, then back at RWBY's leader. He pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance at Cardin's thinking, got up from his bed with Tango next to Rose, and clocked his leader right in the face, as hard as the shorter boy was capable of.
Ruby couldn't tell who was in more pain, since Cardin rubbed his face under his hood, which was expected, and Russel shook his right hand like he just punched a stone wall. Both were bleeding, Cardin less than the mohawk speedster, but Russel was the first to recover.
"That is the shittiest reason to kidnap someone Cardin! I just... FUCK!" The eyepatch-wearing boy returned to releasing Ruby, mumbling about how much of an idiot his leader is, while the Winchester seemed to have finally recovered. Dove and Sky both were standing near the door, barely looking shocked at all from what they saw; all four of them were used to emotional turmoil like this.
KNOCK-KNOCK
"Oh..." Dove trailed off as he looked through the glass eye-hole of their dorm room door, pulling away only after a few seconds. "It's the rest of RWBY and JNPR, they look pissed. Especially Yang."
"Shit." Was all Russel had to say to the news, soon after finishing up on the rope Cardin tied around Ruby's feet, freeing the petite leader.
"What are we going to do?" Sky inquired, picking his halberd while asking so. Dove also grabbed his weapon, and Cardin already had his in his left hand. Russel was even tempted to retrieve his other dagger, Lien.
"I'll deal with this." Cardin spoke up, approaching Ruby. He loomed over the shorter girl, completely dwarfing her and blocking the room's only source of light from her. The first-year could swear she sees tears rolling down the boy's neck. "I started this mess, it's all my fault. So I'll finish it myself." Came the callous reason from his hidden lips. Cardin lumbered over to their door, which endure another series of knocks more violent than they needed to be. Ruby followed right behind him. "I'm sorry for doing this to you... guys, don't open the door, no matter what you hear."
Cardin opened the door enough for him to pass through, letting Ruby go out first and him following suit. The silence in CRDL's room was all too comfortable for Sky, Dove, and Russel. They knew three things were most likely going to happen from experience. Either Cardin was going to be beaten, or get off scot-free, or fight. But all of them were positive that he was not getting off scot-free, so that option is voided.
What started was Yang yelling at Cardin 'what the hell is wrong with him', followed by him saying 'sorry.' Silence took over once again for only a moment, and was then replaced with something being slammed up against the wall, along with shouts pleading for the attacker to stop. The bashing did stop, but it was followed by the grunts and blasts of an individual being punched, and judging from how low the voice was, the three members of CRDL were able to deduce that Cardin was taking a beating.
"YANG STOP!" It was at that point the assault stopped, giving silence total control of the situation once more. Sky reached for the door to see what's been happening, but his partner stopped the masochist, mouthing a 'don't' towards Sky. A multitude of footsteps breached the walls of the dorm room, fading into nothingness, and proceeded by the door opening. There was blood running down Cardin's neck, but not one of his friends worried for him.
"Welp, the situation is taken care of... who want's lunch?"
"Of course you'd ask a question like that after getting your ass kicked.-"
"-Hey, I let Yang kick my ass, okay?"
"Whatever." Dove replied, sounding as if he could barely care about Cardin's inquiry. "Is it even time for lunch?"
"I don't know, we have a damn clock set up, don't we?"
"Wow, does getting your ass whooped turn you into a sassy fuck, Cardin?" Winchester was fighting off the urge- with a stick- to dropkick Sky's pretty ugly scarred face.
"Oh, it is lunch time." Russel exclaimed in a quickie, putting his daggers back into their sheathes and getting up from his bed. "Yeah, I think I can go for lunch. We didn't get to eat any breakfast after all. I was actually looking forward to that egg-sausage sandwich today."
"Whatever." Dove replied, now not even caring about Russel's desires...
"HEY!"
"What the hell is going on here?"
"Ziz, ma'am, we caught this faunus stealing four loafs of bread and three packs of water from this man's shop. Says his reason for it was because he has a starving family back at home, and that the shopkeeper in this town is overpricing his food."
"Hm... sir, how much does a loaf of bread cost in your shop?"
"Two lien.-"
"-He's lying! That bastard charges ten lien for a damn loaf!-"
"-DID I SAY YOU CAN SPEAK, PILGRIM?"
"..."
"..."
"... Ma'am, I... I think you meant to say peasant."
"What?"
"P-pilgrim's are people who wander around, looking for a home or something like that. A... a peasant is a person of low social status."
"... Fuck, you're right... Well, I think he gets the idea."
"Okay... oh, and he's right, this shopkeeper is charging ten lien for a single loaf of bread. He's also charging crackers for seven lien per box of four stacks, water for ten lien per package of six, twenty lien for each bag of jerky."
"Fucking shit, serious? Sir, either you lower your prices to a reasonable amount, or we'll have you executed for hoarding."
"WHAT!?"
"... Okay, not hoarding, my bad. But still, you're overpricing food, so lower your prices to an acceptable degree, or... well I won't execute you, but the punishment will be severe."
"Are you serious? You're siding with this filthy cricket-kisser?!"
"Cricket kisser? That's a new one... now lower your fucking prices."
"But-"
"-Lower. Your. Prices. Or you'll be fired for fraud and replaced by a Vale agent."
"... Ma'am, Vale agent's aren't suppose to be used to replace an empty position of a common job. Also, we don't have any Vale agents, the council doesn't provide us with any."
"... Fuck... fine, I-"
"ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT, I'll do it. Just... just stop being an... ignoramus..."
"... What's... an ignoramus?"
"Ma'am, it's... a stupid or ignorant person..."
"... I guess I can be a little ignorant from time-to-time..."
"OOOOFFFH!"
"But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate someone insulting me because of it. You just bought yourself a year in the Disowned prison for slander."
"What?- CAAAGGGH!"
"Sure-Shank, make sure this shop keep is run by another, more reasonable, merchant."
"Yes ma'am."
"And you, faunus you're free to keep the food you... stole."
"... T-Thank you, Baroness Ziz.-"
"-But, you must give me something in return. If you don't, you'll be imprisoned for three months, and the bread and water will be returned to the grocer."
"O-Oh... a-a-and what is it that you w-wish for, Baroness?"
"... I want your tail."
"What?!"
"Your tail, cat, I want it. We'll have it amputated, and properly treated. And you'll get to keep the food you and your family so desperately needs..."
"..."
"... You'll also be offered a job for doing it, you know that right?"
"...You're a monster."
"Hm... if you don't give me your tail now, you'll be imprisoned for a year for slander as well, albeit I do know I'm a monster."
"..."
"Well, what's it going to be, you filthy animal? You're tail, or you're family? Monty knows what's going to happen to them if you're imprisoned for a whole year."
"... Cut it off..."
"Excellent choice, though I don't think you know how bad this is going to be..."
