Cardin Winchester fell to his knees. He had a sudden case of weakness with what he had heard. He had heard theories of those online but he dismissed them as nothing more than mere conspiracy. A means for those of in power to keep the masses in check. Never in his life would he imagine that there actually was a Queen of the Grimm. A Queen. One who had ruled over them for who knows how long. Was she immortal? From what he had been told it seemed to be the case. Why hadn't the people been informed of this? Oh wait, the mass panic that would ensue if they would ever realize that there is an evil overlord who wishes to wipe them out. Not to mention all the moral and ethical debates that it would ensue. Had they, as huntsmen and huntresses, been provoking a war with someone who would otherwise be innocent? Had they actually been able to fight back or were they incapable of truly winning now that there is an intelligent force behind them? Oh and their headmaster was apparently a reincarnating wizard that has entrusted team JNPR's fifth member with her current capacity of manifestation. That was nice but mostly the former.

He turned to look at his fellow team leader. There was also the matter of her apparently. It is no secret that Ruby Rose had been enrolled into Beacon two years earlier than what was expected. At first, he thought that it had something to do with her being some kind of prodigy. Apparently, Taiyang didn't know the exact reasoning but the man suspected that it had something to do with her eyes being silver.

"I know Ruby that it's bad," Taiyang tried to defend himself. Turns out that the father was concerned for his daughter's safety and was actually relieved that the headmaster had his attention focused elsewhere, namely team JNPR. The daughter wasn't having it because they were her friends. "I'm sure they'll be fine. Glynda specifically gave them the cane on the chance they would see Ozpin on the way."

Ruby pouted. Rather than focus on the apparent revelation that she had some kind of magical power that isn't her semblance, she is more concerned about whether or not her friends are in any danger.

As for Cardin, what else was he supposed to think? Did he have some special role in the headmaster's secret war against this Salem person? Was he just meant to be some disposable fodder or was he meant for greater things? He certainly didn't know that. He asked Taiyang for an explanation.

"I'll be honest," the older huntsman replied. "Glynda told me that this should only be for team RWBY. I chose to tell you because I want someone to keep my daughters safe."

So he didn't have any special role. He was just among the many other huntsmen and huntresses meant to fight the Grimm horde, none the wiser of the apparent peoples from behind the curtains. He was just to be a random foot-soldier in this war against the darkness. That was fine. That was okay. Cardin just needed time to gather himself. That was normal, right?

"Why tell us all the way out here, dad?" Ruby asked. Good for her. She wasn't losing her mind just yet. "Why couldn't it have been back home or literally any other time?"

"Because, sweetie," Taiyang said. The tone was less parental and more of a superior explaining those under him in rank. "Ozpin didn't want it to happen so soon. He wished that you all would at least graduate Beacon. But because of things like this, we had to move soon. Glynda believed that the Grimm activity is no coincidence and wants to prepare. Not to mention, you and your team will learn of this sooner or later anyway. Better that it be sooner than later."

Ruby and her team. Just team RWBY. Team CRDL was just tacked on them without much thought. Cardin slapped himself in face. He will have enough time to have a crisis; he could resume later. Right now, there was the mission that they have been entrusted with. It was still mostly the same with the only difference here is that there is a different reason for their being out here in the wilds. Was that why their supplies have been prepared ahead of time? Was it simply to let this reveal better? A kind of apologies for what they were about to learn? No. Cardin was slipping back into again.

"You doing okay, kid?" Taiyang asked. "I know that feeling. Had the same when I first learned about it, too. You'll get used to it eventually."

"Thank you, sir," Cardin replied. Getting back his bearings, he continued. "Can I ask you something? Why separate me and Ruby from the rest of our teams?"

"Qrow will be the one to handle them," said Taiyang. "Took a while to convince Ruby's uncle—he usually trusts Ozpin on most of these, didn't like to move without his output—but he eventually came around. If it meant protecting Ruby and Yang, Qrow was willing to bear the responsibility of being the one to tell the others. That and I will be the one taking over both of your training both as leaders and for Ruby, silver-eyed training."

"And our mission here?" Ruby asked. "Is this going to be the end of our mission?"

"That will depend on how far your uncle needs to fly to get any confirmation," Taiyang replied. "While he is going to be looking for information, I will be making sure that you along with team CRDL are up to shape for what is to come. When he is around, that is when we do this arrangement."

Ruby nodded along. Cardin eventually did so as well after some time. He was still taking it all in. In addition to the training, there was also practice for these silver-eyed powers that Ruby apparently had. It was a bane to all things Grimm but no one had exactly figured out how they worked. It was more trial and error to see if anything could work, apparently nothing was working. Accordingly, not even the former headmaster knew the specifics behind the silver eyes and was taking note of it as much as it can.

The three of them then proceeded to train in hand-to-hand combat. Cardin had the unmistakable advantage. Being taller meant that he had the greater reach and being overall bigger meant that he was many times Ruby's weight class. In fact, Cardin had a feeling that this was more for Ruby than it was for him. The reason? Turns out, Ruby Rose was pretty much helpless without a weapon here. She could throw a haymaker here and there but her punches were far too predictable and far too easily telegraphed that Cardin could see them coming as though they were in slow motion. She needed to use her kicks more if she wanted to reach him. Ruby might have handled it better if she had her semblance but Taiyang didn't want that for this one.

Next, Cardin sparred with Taiyang. The boy was in the reverse with the experienced huntsman. It also didn't help that Taiyang himself was an unarmed combatant. He could recognize the training that Yang Xiao Long there except the older Xiao Long was much more refined, straighter and most definitely hit harder. Taiyang even implemented a few elbow strikes in there which caught him off-guard when the distance had been closed. Not only that, Cardin had gotten himself tangled by Taiyang's grappling technique. There was an audible crash when he had gotten power-bombed by the older huntsman. Cardin had to tap out when Taiyang locked him in a modified Backbreaker.

Ruby repeatedly tried to hit her father after that. "Dad!" she decried. "You're being too hard. You never do the Walls of Xiao Long to anybody!"

"Correction," Taiyang defended. "I don't do that to anyone unless I have to."

Was that some kind of respect? That Cardin was enough to warrant the older huntsman resorted to wrestling. Cardin pitied the Grimm that had to endure that. No Grimm deserved that. It was called a backbreaker for a reason.

"Alright," the older huntsman continued after his daughter grew tired enough of hopelessly trying to harm her own father. "We'll be doing some gathering and then return to your teams for today. Qrow will back anytime soon and we will have to camp for the night. Tomorrow, there will be more walking and more training."

As the trio reunited with the others, they brought with them some firewood and a few berries. There wasn't much from them as they were wild. They had just enough edible part to entice some bird to at least nibble on it but it was mostly seeds so that it can be planted on the ground to reproduce.

Qrow came much later, in the darkness of night. There was still much ground they needed to cover, although he did manage to see dust clouds forming as the Grimm have begun to conglomerate in a central area.

"Can't say much on what to expect," said Qrow. "Just looked like a black sea from a bird's eye view."

Nothing much was said there. No quips nor comments. Everyone wasn't the same as before after learning of it. Now that there is an evil mastermind behind the Grimm, some of them had begun to question what other things that they had dismissed as mere conspiracy or tall tale? What other stories of fantastical nature might have been real? Do gods exist too? Oh wait, they do. Cardin and Ruby had been told that when Salem came to be.

The breaking of the firewood as the flames ate it was the only sound that could be heard that night. Cardin's eyes stared upwards, unblinking and unable to sleep. Was he doing good enough of a job as a huntsman? If this Salem had existed for hundreds of years, is humanity really winning? Or was this simply the longest siege that only one side had ever known? It was easy to look back now at the little bits of history that he bothered to listen. Wars between nations whose names he could no longer remember that occurred after they had battled the Grimm. Most of them were over the lands that they had taken from the Grimm and couldn't come to a proper agreement. Was it something that this Salem person took advantage of? Or wasn't something that they had no control over?

"Hey Cardin?" Ruby whispered. The two teams slept next to one another and were pretty much out in the open. There weren't any tents but the trees' branches and leaves served as good enough cover from the elements. The two adults alternated amongst themselves on the watch. Something about letting the kids have their full rest for the trek tomorrow. Ruby mustn't have been able to sleep as well. "You up?"

Cardin turned his head to face her. With the way the fire is burning, he could not see her face well and couldn't exactly tell based on her expression what it was that she was thinking. "Yeah," he replied. He could guess though. "Salem?"

"Yeah," Ruby said. "It's just. You know my mom?" Cardin shook his head. "Well, people tell me that I had my mom's eyes. So I've been thinking, was that why my mom was gone? That Salem has been hunting down all these silver-eyed warriors because it is the only thing that could really hurt her?"

He made no response to that. There was a feeling that there wasn't a good answer for it. For one, he never met Ruby's mom. Secondly, he had only just learned about this Salem person and the silver-eyed powers. Maybe? People have gone missing before and most of them were huntsmen and huntresses who went out there fighting the Grimm. Who knows how many of them were actually silver-eyed warriors. How silver must the eyes be? Could those who didn't have these powers also be targeted even though their eyes were more of a gray? Were the silver-eyed warriors even plentiful enough to warrant these targets? Or were they one of those rare but powerful kinds of people that both sides have to find them?

"No idea," was the answer that he came up with in the end.

"One more thing," Ruby asked. "What's it like to not have a team member?"

That gave Cardin pause. That wasn't a question he wasn't prepared to answer. Team RWBY is technically down one member but Weiss Schnee was only held up in Atlas. CRDL's loss however is something that couldn't be fixed by a simple reunion. As much as he wished that it would the case, he just knew that team CRDL could never be complete without their lost member. It happens to all huntsmen teams eventually; he just couldn't imagine that it would happen to his so soon, still.

"It's hard," he said. "You have no idea how many times I wished I could have just woken up thinking this to be some crazy dream. When you get used to hearing their voice, it becomes terrible when you don't hear them anymore. It's hard Ruby. I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

"I'm sorry." She sounded remorseful. "I didn't mean to bring up any hard memories. It's just—"

"You lost a team member," he cut her off. "Your partner no less. Losing someone you could count on gets to you."

"I'm just not sure if I could do it." Ruby audibly shuffled. "Weiss was kind off always there. She made sure I could keep up with the stuff I missed. She was also there keeping my leadership in check, you know?"

"So what?" Cardin joked. "You want me to do that part for you?"

"Would you do that?" Ruby asked, catching him off guard. He was only joking and yet Ruby had taken it seriously. "Would you help me by keeping me in check?"

"Only if you'll help me with mine." Cardin himself was a bit more of an opportunistic kind of guy. While he doesn't attempt anymore, he still does have a tendency of taking the opportunity to strike even though it would sometimes get in the way of his teammates.

"It's a promise." Ruby reached out her hand. A pinky promise. Cardin rolled his eyes but he took it anyway.

It seemed to have been enough for the girl as she then turned and went to sleep. Cardin turned in the other direction and tried to do the same. It had taken a while longer but he managed to close his eyes and enter the world of dreams.

The next morning, the two teams woke up. Some having felt terrible while others still taking it in. As for Cardin, he had opted to simply keep going. His overall mission was still to fight Grimm and nothing much of that changed. They all did some stretching as the place wasn't exactly the most comfortable for sleep. Ruby was the only one besides the two huntsmen who seemed to be ready for the day ahead. A little walk might do them good.

The further into the forests that they went in, the more they have begun to notice the obvious signs of Grimm activity. No animal could possibly break down the trunks and branches like these. As the tracks start to conglomerate, the area around them had begun to appear as though a stampede went through here; a stampede that had little regard of what they ended up hitting. The ground appeared to have been like flattened with the sheer weight of the mass number of Grimm that had went through here.

Eventually, they reached that point where there was no mistaking that it was part of the mountains or at least the start of it. Their feet were uneven on the ground and they had to lean forward lest they fall backwards especially considering the weight on their backs. Each step had started to become more strained as both exhaustion and their packs really pushed them down. The two teams had to take a break more often before they could even continue. There was no water source as well and they had to ration the amount that they had brought with them.

During one of their rests, Qrow Branwen transformed into a bird and flew ahead when they had begun to hear the faintest sounds of rumbling; they were close to a group of Grimm. In the meantime, Taiyang trained the two teams against one another. They were more a series of exercises ranging from endurance, speed, agility and the likes. He didn't want them to spar out of the chance that the clash of their metals would attract any possible Grimm that may have not yet been part of the pack. For Cardin and Ruby, apparently there was a battle of strategy as the two played a board game against one another as a means of testing their tactical prowess against each other. Both struggled against one another mainly due to their most used tactic: striking first, hard and fast. At the first opportunity, either one would fully exploit it which sometimes leads to them walking straight into a trap.

"One thing for sure," said Taiyang. "Both of you need to work on your defenses. It's like you're trying to throw a punch without using your other hand to guard a possible counter attack. You're also throwing your entire weight behind them without much thought."

Shortly after, Qrow returned. The huntsman appeared to have been exhausted, like he had rushed his way here. Everyone looked at him in concern but they did not rush him. The man was panting and only after he managed to catch his breath did he look at them.

"We're close," he finally said. "Grimm are being slowed down with the terrain but there is a lot of them. Managed to get a glimpse of the tail-end of the horde."

Everyone's expression turned serious. This was why they were here. They had found the Grimm horde that they should have expected to descend upon them back when Beacon had been attacked. The two teams then rushed their way up the mountains, as far and as fast as their legs could carry them for as long as it could. The Grimm were gathering and they needed to know exactly from where they could strike. Cardin Winchester was still a huntsman; he still had a job to do.

AN: Might as well try my hand at one of those "Cardin Redemption Stories" while I'm at it. Also headcanon, Taiyang does wrestling, it just seems right to me and it's funny to imagine wrestling moves on the Grimm.