Cardin awoke to the sounds of war. A choir of noise that he knew from heart. Everything from the rhythm of distant explosions to the shouts and moans of those wounded to the screams of airships flying overhead was predictable and had a place in the symphony.

Sitting up from his cot, the broad-shouldered man cringed as the scars on his back stretched. Gathering his gear, he stepped out from his tent into the base his forces had called home for the past few months. The bandits who once inhabited the base were long dead. Killed by Grimm or another group of bandits. He didn't really care all that much of their fate.

All he cared about was that this base belonged to him and his division. It, along with a few dozen others scattered along the Vale's eastern border, made up the new front of human expansion. He didn't need to worry about the borders of the five kingdoms since they had already figured out following the Battle of the Citadel.

His only mission was to clear it out of anything that might pose a threat.

It was easier said than done. Half of his division was made up of ex-bandits and the other half were battle-hardened hunters and soldiers who forced those same bandits to surrender or face extermination. That kind of work environment wasn't something to be desired. Those loyal to the cause were easy. A few motivational speeches, a few villages recused from Grimm and a bandit hideaway raided and they would gladly fall in line. It was the ex-bandits who were a trouble.

The raiders, murders, and rapists the lot of them. He would love nothing more than to wipe their filthy hides off the planet. But Jaune made it abundantly clear that mercy and compassion were the corner stones of the army he led. If they fell out of line however and did something that didn't reflect his stance… let's just say that there is no hellfire hotter than that of a gentleman angered. And Cardin?

He wasn't a gentleman… No. He was Jaune's' executioner.

It was only that fact that kept those bastards in line, knowing that if they fell back on their word. Nothing would save them from Jaune's judgment. Or Cardin's mace.

Stepping in front of the main assembly area he watched as his solders and fellow hunters went about their daily tasks.

A voice spoke from behind him. "Need a drink general?"

Cardin grunted as he turned to the speaker. "Oscar… Ozpin." He greeted with a tired nod. "What can I do for you?"

Oscar, like usual, didn't speak a few moments. "I am just wondering if there is any word on General Arc's next plan."

Cardin's eyes narrowed as he regarded the question. "Nothing new Oscar. I would suggest heading back to the medical tent. I feel as though we might have wounded coming."

Just as he said that several bullheads came screaming over the trees, a few looking a bit worse for wear. They landed with a thud as medics came pouring out ferrying dozens of wounded soldiers and hunters. Oscar sighed as he jogged back to the medical set up.

Cardin stared after him as he ran. He couldn't bring himself to hate the younger man. He wasn't Ozpin, just the old man's ride. But, like fate, destiny had decided that Ozpin should suffer for his sins. Oscar liked to help people rather than use them a fitty punishment for an inept leader. Cardin was never privy to what his former headmaster said but the responses were always the same. Never again. That had earned the boy a good vote from him when the time came to hang those responsible. After all it was Ozpin that nearly caused the collapse of a kingdom.

They had tried it Ozpin's way at the beginning. That had cost tens of thousands of lives as well as eight other friends. Ozpin's strategy was to wait and counter whatever the queen threw at them something that Team RWBY had agreed with. Cardin gripped his mace at the thought of waiting to be hit. His team, Velvets team, Jaune's team. All of them gone in one battle. Because Ozpin refused to take the lesser risk. In the end the battle of the Winter's Edge, which had ultimately stopped the White Fang incursion into the city of Mistral, had taken the lives of eight Hunters. But it gave them something that proved to be the edge they needed to bring the fight to the queen.

He, Jaune, Velvet and Neo formed team ACSN (Ascend) and together alongside the other remaining teams brought the fight to the Queen. And without the bulk of Adam's Fang to help turn the tide. They had won. But not before losing Ruby. It sucks that Neo couldn't be recognized. Or else they would have been made a team and not Jaune and the remains of RWBY.

Cardin sighed as he remembered the small fifteen-year-old pain in the ass. She was the cause of Jaune losing the rest of his team. If RWBY had just listened to Jaune instead of blindly following Ozpin they could have all made it out. And like a cruel reminder of fate, In the midst of the chaos and pain, Jaune a had fallen for Ruby. And because of that he stayed by her side up until the end.

Only a few knew what happened. He was one of them. It seemed as though destiny had found him worthy of witnessing his friends die in his name. Frist with Pyrrha knocking him in the locker, then Ren and Nora holding the line as he had dragged a wounded Jaune to an escape pod, only for Nora to get hit and Ren throw his dagger at the door controls launching them away, and finally with Ruby using her last round to send her scythe and Jaune flying out of the citadel right before it exploded.

Cardin felt betrayed by their actions, sacrificing themselves when they didn't need to. Pyrrha knew she was outmatched and yet she fought. Ren had enough Aura to make it to the escape pod yet he threw a dagger sealing their fate. And Ruby, the idealistic child refused to trust the man who loved her and instead shot him out of the building.

Many of the better fighters, veterans of war and strife broke at seeing their young leader holding the reaper's scythe as he sobbed unconsolably.

Did that include him? No, Cardin lashed out in a fit of rage, challenging any Grimm that tried to oppose him. Many, those who were now under his command mostly, did the same. Killing the Grimm with such abandon that for the first time in history the Smarter Grimm retreated. That was until whatever magic the witch was using wore off and they became feral, killing anything that was not their own species.

The ginger remembered howling in anger as he watched the Grimm rip each other apart. He and his fellow hunter's soldiers and militia members, letting anger control their actions, surged forward into the mass of flesh and Grimm bone and slaughtered them to the last.

Cardin reached into his pocket and pulled out his scroll and opened it up to the main screen, showing him and Velvet with their children. If there was one good thing that the war had changed. It was the fact that he wasn't the same racist brute as his father before him. He no longer held the name Winchester for now. But once his father passed, something that was soon to happen he would take back his name and return it to its glory. Another good thing was Velvet. Jaune wasn't the only one to find love.

His musings were ended as a female soldier ran up. "Sir! Adam's forces have been spotted near the village of Nesing!" Came her panicked shout.

Cardin nearly crushed his scroll as his famous rage grew. In a fit he shoved it back into his back pocket. There were many in Adam's Fang were able to escape the board all those years ago, living to fight for his vision of a world without humanity. The psychopaths were the most wanted people in the world for the murder of thousands. Their following was made up of radical fighters and aura users who felt no mercy to anyone on the opposite side of the field. They wouldn't stop unless they were dead.

Cardin reached behind him and pulled out his mace from the magnetic plate. "Get Samurai and Fox companies on the line." He ordered.

The woman snapped to attention before sprinting off to the communication tent.

Waiting for her to disappear into the tent, he reached into his pocket and pulled out another pure black scroll. With a flick of his thumb he turned it on and called the only number on it.

"Cardin. I was just about to call your FOB what do you need?" Came the calm voice of his partner.

"Jaune. Adam's forces are here."

There was silence for a moment before he heard Jaune responded. "That is a problem. If we miss this chance we might not get another one."

"Your pretty calm about this Jaune." The mace wielder observed.

"The council wants me to retake Mountain Glenn. My division will be there by the day's end.

Cardin blinked. "That's close to Adam's forces are. Are you thinking what I think you are Jauney boy?"

"I'll be the anvil if you will be the hammer Cardin." Cardin smirked when he saw Jaune do the same. "And this time we will show them no mercy."

"That's all I needed to hear Jaune. Give me two days' preparation and ill have those radical terrorists on the run and headed your direction."

"Understood Cardin… I'll make sure to keep the city mostly intact for your arrival." Jaune paused a moment. "Oh. And before I forget. Velvet wants you to call her."

"What you're my wife's messenger boy now?"

"No I just can't say no to a bunny."

Cardin chuckled. "Yeah… both of us seem to have that problem. Take care Jaune."

"You to Cardin. Out." With that Cardin's screen went black showing his reflection, showing the numerous scars and burns that he had earned in the war. It also showed his eyes. His tired and aged eyes of a man with so much to make up for.

Switching scrolls again he dialed the number for his Velvet.

A few rings later he saw her beautiful face. "Hello? Cardin?"

Cardin smiled lovingly at the sound and sight of his wife. "Hey Vel… "

Fin