"This is too damn hard!"

Cardin threw his pencil across the room in a fit of frustration. Still bitter from his encounter with Yang and too angry to help anyone, he decided to go back to his dorm and catch up on his work. Forcing Jaune to do it for him had allowed him time to relax, but he knew far too little about his subjects as a result.

"Way to ruin everything past-self! Seriously good job!"

The study he needed to do was overwhelming. He was three chapters behind everyone else in each respective class and forcing someone to do it for him was right out. He'd dug himself this hole and he would have to fill it in himself.

"Why do I even bother?"

With the weary sigh of someone who had resigned themself to a horrid fate, he slowly shuffled over to the corner and picked up his pencil, hitting his recently wounded eye on the corner of a drawer as he bent over.

"Gah! Perfect! Just what I needed today!

Cardin forced the urged to punch the wall down and, blinking back tears, walked back over to his desk, sat back into his chair and flipped through his Grimm Biology book.

"Dude, how did we forget that history assignment?"

"Ah why does it matter, it's only history."

"Fair enough."

The mace-wielder repressed the urge to groan as he recognised the muffled voices of his teammates. Sure enough, the hooligans violently opened the door, laughing wildly at some random joke.

"Sup Cardin! Thanks for the heads up on the assignment!"

"Mmm."

The minimalistic response was slightly worrying for the trio, but they didn't let it show. Instead, they simply walked over to the drawer and pulled out their scrolls.

"We were gonna hit the town for the night, you coming bro?"

"No."

"Why? Whatcha doing?"

"Study."

"PftHAHAHAHAHA!"

Cardin grimaced at his 'friends' laughing. Their laughter reminded him of a pack of hyenas.

"You're no better…"

The thought wormed its way into his mind almost instantly. This time however, Cardin couldn't simply wish it away. The thought was stuck and he couldn't ignore it.

"Have I really changed? Am I really no better?"

"Hey guys, who am I: Erth, 3.14 to the power of pi is approximately equal to infinity divided by the square root of negative 2.5."

"Are you…Egghead Cardin?"

Another round erupted from the trio and pushed Cardin over the edge; the pain from his eye, the frustration from the day's struggles and the tormenting from his supposed teammates had pushed him over the edge.

"Get out."

"Why? Are we interrupting your daily maths session or something?"

"Get. Out."

"Aw come on man, we were just messin' around. We didn't mean it."

"GET OUT!"

The trio stood there in shock, Cardin might've been a bit of a jerk to them before, but they were friends and he'd never raised his voice at them before. The shock lasted a split second before they all but sprinted out the door.

"Oh wait, I forgot my-"

"OUT!" Cardin bellowed, standing up and whirling around to stare Russel in the eye.

"Woah, you're eye is messed up! You should really go to the nurse."

"Thanks for your consideration, now get out."

Russel didn't need any incentive. He closed the door and Cardin was once more left by himself.

"No better than they are…"

Cardin tenderly touched the bruised skin around his eye. Pain lanced through his skull instantly and he withdrew his hand almost as quickly, his mind flashing back to that moment in the hall. How Velvet had left him at the mercy of Yang, how the blonde in question had just punched him in the face without knowing what was happening and how Glynda had punished him for the whole incident.

"Bastards…"

The anger that had been building in Cardin since the start of the day had reached it's boiling point. He remembered all to vividly how that girl had run in fear after he had helped, how that guy would rather struggle and fail to carry his books than accept his help.

"What is wrong with them?!"

Cardin screamed in frustration, kicking a trash can into the wall in a futile attempt to vent his anger. The swung the door open as hard as he could and stalked angrily down the hall, heading for the simulations room.

Cardin pulled his locker opened and pulled out his Mace. He swung the heavy weapon experimentally a few times and, feeling satisfied with the results, stepped into the simulation chamber and hammered in his desired challenge.

"Arena: Forever Falls. Opponent: Ursa Major. Loading…" the monotone voice of the simulation droned. Cardin stood perfectly, weapon resting across his shoulders. He watched with mild fascination as the dull grey of the simulation room loaded an image of a tiny clearing in the Forever Falls.

Before he could spend any more time marveling at the power of modern technology, an Ursa Major came crashing through the trees, charging directly at him.

With an aggressive snarl, the hunter-in-training stepped slightly to the side, narrowly avoiding the Ursa's frenzied claw swipe. Gripping his mace with both hands, he swung towards the Grimm in a golf-like fashion, smashing the weapon into the Grimm's side and staggering it.

Cardin didn't give the creature any room to breath however, as he charged into the Grimm, swinging his hammer in a series of strikes with enough force to shatter the creature's exoskeleton.

"Not so tough now are you? Not so tough when you don't take me by surprise? Come on, FIGHT ME!"

Cardin swung his mace like a baseball in a particularly vicious swing that nearly took the Grimm's head off. The Ursa collapsed under the flurry of blows and fell onto it's belly, thoroughly defeated.

"Feh, pathetic."

And with those words, Cardin swung his Mace down and put the simulation out of it's misery. He watched with mild disappointment as the scenery and corpse of the Grimm dissolved into nothing.

"Load the simulation again."

"Acknowledged, loading…

The night went on with Cardin slaughtering enough simulated Grimm to fill an entire cemetery. When he was too tired to fight Ursa Major he resorted to regular Ursa and eventually to Beowulfs.

"Come. On. You. Worthless. Piece. Of. Trash. FIGHT ME!"

The simulated Beowulfs were currently cowering away from Cardin, a number of the foul beasts dissolving into mist around him.

"Fine then, I'll fight you!"

He charged forward, but his fatigue got the better of him. He blacked out for a split second, long enough for the Beowulf to dig it's claws into his sides. The simulation vanished instantly, much to Cardin's annoyance.

"Simulation complete. Result: Death."

"Run the simulation again…"

"Access denied. Curfew begins in 10 minutes."

Cardin felt slightly shocked by this. He'd been slaughtering fake Grimm for well over two hours if the simulation was to be believed. He'd expected to feel some sort of relief by venting his anger in this manner but now, having finished venting, he merely felt…empty, but somehow still upset over the day's incidents.

"No rest for the wicked then."

And with that thought, he put his weapon back in its locker and began the long walk back to his dorm.

Returning to his dorm hadn't been much of a challenge; he was only half way back to his dorm when curfew was enforced, but the former bully had spent long enough breaking curfews to know what he was doing. With practiced ease, he slipped past the hall monitors and sneaked his way down the halls, making nary a whisper of noise.

"Looks like all those hours playing stealth games are finally paying off."

Cardin laughed quietly at his joke and before long finally found himself outside the door to his dorm. He eased the door open, discarded his armour as quietly as possible and flopped onto his bed.

"Uuuuuh. I've never been happier to sleep."

"And what of your studying?"

Cardin's eyes shot open in mild panic. He sat up, stifling a groan and looked over at his desk and the mountain of books and paper that sat on it.

"There's no way I can finish all that in one day."

Part of Cardin, the side that had gotten him into the current mess that his life had become urged him to just lie down, surely he could just force someone to help him with it when he woke up tomorrow. And although it was a very tempting idea, Cardin knew he couldn't do it. He'd made an oath and he was going to stick to it, come hell or high seas.

"You dug yourself this hole, now you have to fill it in."

Almost against his will, Cardin found himself standing up and walking over to his desk, lighting a candle and flipping his Grimm Biology book open once more. He took one look at the gigantic pile of notes and books and let out a weary sigh.

"Why do I even bother?"

However, like every other time, Cardin couldn't think of an answer.