"Don't ever mess with my team- my friends ever again."

The words hung in the air like a thick fog on a winter's morning; cold, relentless and oppressive. Cardin wanted to say something, anything that would set the record straight. Something that would make the horrible feelings swirling around in his mind go away. But nothing would come to mind.

He could only watch wordlessly as Jaune, the man he ridiculed and harassed, the man who had saved his life walk away. Of all the feelings that ran through his mind, it was shame that he felt the most vividly. He had thrashed Jaune effortlessly in every duel, he had been accepted into Beacon; one of the finest combat schools in the world and had been not only defeated by one Ursa, not only saved by the man he bullied, but he had been left for dead by his teammates and 'supposed' friends.

"Where did everything go so wrong?"

With nothing left to do, he re-joined the rest of the group. His teammates could barely look at him and when they did, they did so in short and ashamed glances. Teams RWBY and JNPR glared at him with enough poison to down a Nevermore and even Glynda looked at him with disapproval, like a mother scolding an unruly child.

Normally, Cardin would've lashed out at them. Asked them how they could dare look at him like that and put them in their 'rightful' place. But he couldn't muster the indignation or the energy. He just hung at the back of the group and accepted their malice, continuing to wonder how everything had gone so badly in such a short amount of time.

The ride back to Beacon was morose and sullen. He refused to sit with his teammates and knew that sitting near either of the other teams would see him humiliated and beaten. With no other option, he sat as far away from the others as he could and stared out the window, watching as the scenery flew by.

"How could this have happened? How did I screw things up so badly?"

His grandmother of all people came to mind as he dwelled on his failure; she was a wise, kindly old woman who never ran short of advice. He remembered the first time she caught him harassing Faunas, how she dragged him back to her house by his ear and scolded him with such ferocity that a Deathstalker would've been cowed by her words.

"Before you bully someone, imagine how you'll be making them feel!" he remembered her saying. It seemed like such a silly piece of advice back then. How could he imagine himself as someone else, let alone one of those 'Beastkin' animals!

"But they're animals grandma, they don't have feelings." Was his response. Cardin cringed at the thought of those words. They were cold and merciless, even by his standards.

"How I'll make them feel… hmm."

A silly piece of advice was all it was. But for once, Cardin tried to picture himself as his victims. And what he saw horrified him. He saw Velvet alone and crying in her room, nursing her bruised and swollen ears. He felt the pain Jaune had felt as he was torn away from his friends over the countless spiteful things he'd been forced to do. He shared the experiences of countless victims and found himself hateful and disgusted.

"Oh…Oh God, is this what I've been doing to people? Oh God…what have I done?!"

"Passengers, we have now reached our destination. You may disembark."

Cardin didn't wait for Glynda to dismiss them. He just ran. He ran and ran and ran until he eventually arrived at the showers. Discarding his Armour and throwing his clothes off without any concern for where they landed, he turned the shower on as cold as possible and stood there, trying to combat the waves of nausea that washed over him.

"Why? Why would I do those things?"

Feeling slightly refreshed but unable to shake the feeling of disgust, he reluctantly stepped out of the shower and put his clothes back on. Feeling emotionally dead on the inside and unable to think, he went for a walk around the school.

The bully eventually found himself in the library, which, due to the hour, was thankfully empty of all but the most hard-core bibliophiles. Some of his most recent victims hid behind their books, some people moved into a different part of the library; most just cut their eyes at him.

"How did I let things get this fa-"

He was interrupted from his thoughts by being knocked onto the ground, having been standing to close to the door. Whoever it was took one look, realised that it was the short-tempered and universally reviled Cardin and tried to run.

Unfortunately for him, Cardin was too fast and caught him before he could make it into the maze of bookshelves, Cardin took realised it was Fenestra, a bookish, computer-loving snake-faunus and one of his more frequent victims.

"Urgh, disgusting." Was all Cardin could think as he looked at his scaly skin and slitted eyes.

"What do you think you're doing freak? Are you trying to kill me?"

"What?! No, I-I-I wa-"

"That's what I thought. But still, animals like you need discipline." The taller boy said while drawing his fist back.

"No! Please!"

Fenestra's words cut through Cardin's anger and indignation. Taking one look at the pleading Faunus and his fist, he recoiled in horror, nearly falling tripping over himself in his efforts to get away from the Faunus.

"Go."

"What?"

"Go. Just…go."

Unable to believe his luck, the Cold-Blooded Faunus scampered away as fast as he could. Leaving Cardin behind to stew in fresh waves of nausea and self-loathing.

"Why did I do that? I didn't even think! It just happened."

Utterly defeated and devoid of hope, Cardin sat at the nearest table and wallowed in self-pity.

"It was just instinct! How can I get over something that I do without even thinking?"

With nothing left to do, he dipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his most beloved keepsake, the pocket edition of "Inspirational Quotes" and began to read. But his heart wasn't in it; he just kept flicking through the pages mindlessly, looking for something that would make him feel better. And he found it; his favorite quote in the entire book.

"The first step is always the hardest, but it's the only way to reach the second step."

All his life, Cardin had been able to relate to this quote the most. When he started combat school and fell behind the rest of the students, this quote inspired him to pick himself up; he started training outside of school and showed more dedication to the theory work. He couldn't maintain the attitude forever, but it took him from the worst in his class to above average.

On the playground, when Faunus would taunt him about being unable to do all the incredible things they could do with their superior senses and additional appendages, this quote inspired him to stand up for himself, even if he'd taken it to still made them shut up about his supposed 'inferiority'. Everything in his life could be related back to this one quote.

"The first step…"

It would be easy to just slip back into his bullying habits and ignore the guilt he felt, but would that really be a good thing in the long run? Would in not be better to try to fix himself and fail rather than not try at all?

"Is always the hardest…"

So what if they rejected him? So what if he'd been a jerk in his past? Was the damage really beyond repair?

"But it's the only way to reach the second step."

"If that's the case, then I, Cardin Winchester, Will-

"Shh!

The cranky old librarian's shushing brought him back to reality. Cardin, now painfully aware that he was standing on the table, sat back down on his chair and tried to cover the luminescent blush spreading across his face.

I, Cardin Winchester, vow to defeat my habits and be kinder to those around me!" the thoroughly embarrassed boy whispered to himself. With newfound purpose, he marched over to the entrance and saw someone carrying a large number of textbooks struggling to open the door.

"Perfect."

Cardin walked over, opened the door and gestured for the young girl to walk through.

"Be my guest." He said, trying to suppress the urge to do something cruel and vindictive.

The girl glared at him warily, as if she were suspecting a trap but nodded her thanks and walked through.

"Wow…that felt…good."

With a spring in his step and a warm feeling in his chest, Cardin walked back to his dorm and eased the door open, knowing that his teammates would be fast asleep. Too lazy to change into his pajamas, he merely slid into his bed and went to sleep happy and filled with hopeful thoughts.

Sadly, Cardin was blissfully unaware that people tend to hold grudges against those who have wronged him.

After all, everything has a price and redemption doesn't come cheap.