"And…done. Finally…"

Cardin leaned back into his chair, letting out a sigh of relief at finally being able to relax. It had taken half a day and all night, but he'd done it; he'd caught up on all his work.

"What time is it?"

He stifled a yawn as he grabbed his scroll and absentmindedly typed in the password, painfully aware of how sunlight burns the eyes after an all-nighter.

"8:08. Beautiful..."

On one hand, Cardin was so tired that even basic tasks were beginning to feel like a struggle but, on the other hand, breakfast would be starting and if he missed that he'd probably be starving for most of the day. The growling of his stomach made the decision for him.

"I suppose I'll need to shower then."

Cardin let out a sigh of relief as the hot water poured over him, washing away the aches and pains from yesterday's mishaps and abuses.

Abuse. The word stuck too his mind like a bad smell. He raised his arm and gently touched his eye, hoping that the pain would've eased. He was wrong; it was even worse.

The ginger instinctively leapt backwards, smacking the back of his head against the shower wall in the process. He grunted in pain and fought back tears. He likely would've sat there for several minutes if Russel hadn't knocked on the door.

"You alright Cardin? I heard yelling."

"Don't worry mate, It was nothing."

"Okay. And would you hurry up? We need to shower too!"

Cardin's lips curved into a ghost of a smile; at least they managed to somewhat care about him. Regardless of the whole incident with the Ursa, they were his only friends at Beacon.

"What happened to hyenas and rats?"

As much as he loathed admitting it, whatever dark recess of his mind creating these thoughts had a point; he'd spent most of yesterday thinking of them as lower than scavengers. His only friends and he felt the need to bad-mouth them in his mind. A fresh wave of guilt washed over him, a feeling of shame over his pettiness. How could he claim to be a new person if he couldn't turn the other cheek?

"Stupid philosophy crap. Why can't it just be 'do nice things and I'm all good'? Why can't this be easy?"

With a weary sigh, Cardin reluctantly turned the shower off and stepped into the cold air, walking over to the sink and looked at his face.

"Bloody hell! I look like a mess!

His eyes were sunken, bleary from a lack of sleep and red from his tears of pain. However, all of this paled compared to the monstrosity that was his left eye.

"She's got one hell of an arm." The former bully mused idly.

The skin around the eye had turned blackish-purple and had swollen almost completely shut. It was a wonder that he could see out of it at all.

"Cardin! Hurry up, would you!" Russel yelled through the door. However, it was amused yelling and he could hear some laughter coming from the other side.

"Yeah, yeah. You can have your 'private time' in a minute."

He heard his other teammates laugh heavily through the door, causing Cardin to smirk at the mental image of Russel blushing heavily from embarrassment.

Feeling much better after a little laugh, Cardin threw on a t-shirt and a pair of board shorts and opened the door.

"There, done."

His teammates took one look at his swollen eye and recoiled in horror.

"Gods, are you okay?!"

"Dude, we need to get you to the nurse."

"Bloody hell man, what happened?"

Cardin smirked again at their reactions.

"Wow, you really do care. You're not going soft on me are you? Seriously, I'm fine. See you guys at the cafeteria.

Cardin's temper grew the closer he got to the cafeteria; everyone he saw had an anger-provoking reaction. Some people stared and smirked as if he deserved it, others had the sheer audacity to snicker audibly. The worst were the ones who simply looked down at him with their heads held high and contemptuous glares in their eyes as if they were better than he was.

"It's like they're trying to provoke me."

By the time the former bully had reached the cafeteria, he'd just about reached boiling point and was ready to thump the next person he saw. Pushing the open doors open far more violently than he intended to, Cardin was embarrassed to see every face in the cafeteria turn to him and laugh at the sight of his eye.

With a vicious snarl, the ginger walked over to the food counter, picked up a tray and dumped whatever food he could get his hands on onto the tray. The frustrated Hunter walked over to his usual spot and sat down, slamming his tray down and drawing a loud yelp from Velvet.

The entire cafeteria went silent as Cardin glared at Velvet aggressively, several of them preparing to step in if things got violent. The Hunter stared at the Rabbit Faunus, looking into her fearful eyes, hoping to find some trace of regret over what happened yesterday.

"Nothing but fear. Why? I've tried being nice; I stuck up for her yesterday. What more could she want?"

"Well, well. What do we have here gentlemen?"

"Oh bloody hell…"

It was his teammates. Of course, they would show up when Velvet was close to but hadn't quite finished her food.

"What do you think you're doing freak? This is our table."

"Th-there aren't any spots left…"

"That's your problem, not ours."

While the discussion was going on, Cardin was in the grips of emotional turmoil. There was no way he would be able to bluff his way out of this one, it was either his teammates or Velvet. The only people who gave a crap about him in the entire school or sticking to his promise of redeeming himself.

"It's not fair! I've tried being nice! I've done good things!"

But when the ginger looked up and saw them yanking on her ears, the decision was made for him. He needed to do this, no matter what.

"Stop."

"Wait, what?!"

"Leave her be guys."

His friends looked at each other before bursting into laughter, still tugging on Velvet's ears. The ginger felt like his legs had turned to jelly, but he kept his expression straight and free of fear.

"Wait, you're being serious?"

"Yes, now let her go."

His teammates looked at each other again, this time out of fear and concern rather than humour.

"What's happening to you, man? First studying all night and now sticking up for this freak. Why are you doing this?" Sky asked in a worried tone, tugging on Velvet's ears for emphasis.

"It doesn't matter, just let her go."

"Fine. Let's go guys."

Dove's voice lacked its usual fun-loving and sarcastic tone. He just sounded…defeated. As if he'd just had all the fun and joy sucked out of his life. As if he'd been betrayed.

"He was. By you."

Cardin ignored the thought and turned to see Velvet walking towards the cafeteria exit.

"That sneaky little- that does it."

Cardin threw his chair back and went after the Faunus, rage flowing through every fibre of his being. How could she? He'd just driven away his only friends and she'd walked off? Niceness be damned, he was going to get answers.

Before Velvet could open the door, Cardin grabbed her arm and spun her around.

"What's your deal Velvet?"

"Wh-what?"

"I'm trying to be nice and you keep blowing me off. What's wrong with you, can't you see I'm trying to help?"

Everyone in the cafeteria turned to watch the ongoing conflict between them. Jaune stood up to go talk Cardin down but was pulled back into his seat by Pyrrha, telling him to watch how things go.

Cardin however, looked worried; Velvet was angry, not annoyed, not trying to look intimidating, genuinely angry.

"What's wrong with me? Me? What's wrong with you?! Three months Cardin! Three months of bullying and being isolated because people were afraid to be friends with me because of you! Three months of abuse and pain and loneliness and you think that one good thing makes up for all that? Do you really think that one day of good things can make up for three months of loneliness and suffering? Well you're wrong y-you JERK!"

Cardin recoiled as if he'd been slapped. This was the first time in all of their time at Beacon that Velvet had ever said something mean about someone. Even when he tormented her, she just turned the other cheek. The students in the cafeteria burst into a round of applause, happy to have finally seen Cardin be taken down a few pegs.

"Is…is she right?"

Cardin walked back over to his table and sat down, stirring and playing with his food until it was a mess, thoroughly unrecognisable when compared to what it once was.

"What have I been thinking, how did I not see this?"

He thought back to yesterday's events and how he'd reacted to everything that happened; how he'd blamed the other students when they had every right to be paranoid and weary, how he'd got on his high-horse the minute he'd made his change.

"What is wrong with me? What about everyone else who has to go through this bullshit? It works in books, so why won't it work here?"

"Attention all students, the Weekend classes are now available for anyone who wishes to catch up on work." Glynda said monotonously over the speaker, causing a large number of students to stand up and exit the cafeteria, leaving Cardin and very few other students alone.

"Weekend classes? Hmm…I am still not sure of a few things."

And with that thought, Cardin pushed Velvet's words out of his mind for the moment, determined to improve himself. He deposited his abomination of a mess into the trash can and left to join the weekend classes, blissfully unaware of the events that would be kicked into motion as a result.