Cardin sighed for what must've been the millionth time today, dwelling on the events that brought him to where he was and, for the millionth time that day, cursed his naiveté.

He thought that a few good deeds would make up for months of torment, that playing the Good Samaritan would make them forget the months of misery he put everyone through, especially the Faunus.

'Faunus'. Even know, the thought of them still made him cringe. Despite all his promises and epiphanies, he still felt his stomach turn whenever he thought of them. He hated himself for it, he wished every day that he could be more open-minded, but it seemed that it was 'hard-wired' into him or something along those lines. Cardin stopped that train of thought before it went into an unwanted area; he didn't consider himself one to dwell on the past.

The ginger breathed in deeply, the soothing scent of flowers filling his nostrils and calming him down. He looked around the rooftop; Ozpin told him that growing vegetables, flowers and the like was a relaxing hobby. He thought the headmaster was just full of shit at first, but sitting here now, among the roses, Lilly's and nightshades, he regretted such close-mindedness.

"I've been doing a lot of that lately." He thought bitterly.

He thought back to when everything went horribly wrong; when he all but crippled Crimson in a duel, and right after he vowed to redouble his efforts to be a better person too.

"Who said that fate doesn't have a sense of humour." He chuckled.

Crimson was doing fine now, the Beacon medical staff truly were a cut above the rest when it came to Physical Therapy, but people still hated him more than ever for it, for a while at least. Nowadays, people mostly just ignored him. Nobody talked to him, sat with him, hell; most people didn't even acknowledge his existence. He was just something in the background that people didn't notice. Like an extra in a movie about someone else. He was still undecided on whether this was better or worse.

"Whatever, back to this ungodly test of my patience."

After the flowers and vegetables were done, Ozpin started recommending other plant related activities. He'd tried that thing where you sculpted bushes into…well, sculptures. After several failed attempts to create something profound and meaningful, he just started making shapes. He tried making a dinner based solely on the vegetables he had grown next, which went significantly better. Cardin had always been a good cook, but he started hiding it since he started combat school, his friends didn't approve of non-manly habits.

"Come on you sonova-"

Cardin wasn't a patient man and he didn't consider himself particularly smart. He wouldn't lie around scheming and plotting when there was a far simpler, more practical solution available. Namely, hitting them with a hammer until they stopped being a problem. So naturally, getting him into Bonsai was a recipe for disaster.

"Or carpal tunnel."

Cardin delicately slid the clippers through the gap in the leaves, ignoring the throbbing pain in his wrist. He was a hunter and he refused to be beaten by some stupid tree that didn't even come up to his shins. Cardin couldn't help but imagine himself as some sort of bomb disposal expert. With laser precision, he separated the leaf that bothered him so, breathing out in relief.

Only to immediately destroy three branches while pulling the clippers out. Cardin stared at the tree with contempt.

"Really? REALLY?!"

Cardin picked up the current bane of his existence and raised it above his head, prepared to throw it onto the ground. He stared at the plant, analysing the damage and decided that it wasn't worth starting over. He set the tree down on the ledge ground as carefully as he could.

"Well done. The old Cardin would've hurled it off the ledge." Ozpin said from behind his book.

Cardin breathed deeply of the aroma around him. It was Ozpin's idea to start all these relaxing activities; said it would help him work off 'excess anger' or something like that as a form of therapy. The mace-wielder thought he was full of it at the time but currently agreed that it was incredibly helpful.

He regarded the tree with disdain, surveying the damage that he had wrought. It would take at least ten minutes to get the tree looking halfway decent again.

"The new Cardin still might." He quipped, earning a quiet chuckle from the Headmaster.

Cardin had grown to like him over the last few months, once you got past the firm but fair punishment and worked through the issue of Cardin being a complete arse, he was a great person to talk to. The ginger considered him to be the closest thing to a friend you could get with a teacher.

Ozpin glanced at his watch and widened his eyes in surprise; the book must've been truly captivating if he failed to notice how late it was.

"Hmm, almost time for curfew. We'd best be heading back now."

"Ten more minutes?" Cardin asked, trying not to sound too desperate.

"Cardi-"

"Please." The ginger said quietly. This garden of his was the only place he felt at peace, everywhere else filled him with feelings of guilt and loneliness. He felt so empty and ill at ease whenever he walked the halls, being completely ignored and feeling like someone was just around the corner, waiting to jump him.

"Okay, but not a minute longer." Ozpin said sympathetically, before closing the door behind him.

Cardin stared at the door for a moment, a paranoid sense that someone was waiting for the headmaster to leave so that they could jump him. After three minutes had passed, it was clear that he was properly alone.

Mentally kicking himself for being stupid, Cardin turned back to the Bonsai Tree and began rushing to fix the damage he'd done as best he could.

"As if I haven't been doing enough of that already…"