Disclaimer: I do not own anything from RWBY

This is work I've done on archiveofourown.

Chapter one: Hear the Trumpets, Hear the Pipers...

"W-what's in the bag?"

"A Boarbatusk."

"A... a Boba?-"

"It's another Grimm, I just caught it outside the house, talk about convenient."

"Co... cov-en-ant?-"

"-Shut up you dumb little shit. Now, take... GAH- THIS! There... there we go. Now, eat this."

"... I... I don't want to again.-"

"-Damn it Cardin, you need to eat it. It's going to help you grow powerful, like me."

"... But, but the librarian says it bad to eat Grimm mea-"

"-That bitch doesn't know shit about us. Not about our gift, and we can't tell her either Cardin... you didn't tell her, did you?"

"N-no! I didn't mommy. I didn't tell Mrs. Thrush about... our gift."

"Good... good, my Little Cardin. Now, eat your share of the heart."

"B-But... it hurts mommy. I-i-i-it burns when I eat it."

"I know it fucking hurts, but the more you eat, the more you get used to it. It helps us grow stronger."

"Mmmmhm- I don't wunna-"

"- You little bitch! Do you always want to be bullied for the rest of your life? By humans and faunus? Huh!?"

"... N-n-nooo... no mommy."

"And what about your little shit-stain friends, huh? Do you want to see Sky eat dirt again? Or Dove swallow glass?"

"No..."

"Yeah, no you don't. And you know what pisses me off about you, son? It's that you're more than capable of defending your friends and yourself from bullies, and yet you don't."

"... Ms. Thrush says-"

"-Fuck Mrs. Thrush, okay?! Now eat your fucking half of the heart!-"

"-Mrs. Winchester, I believe you're being too... prejudice, towards little Cardin. And you're flight is about to leave in thirty minutes, you should leave now for your mission. I'll take care of this."

"... Fine Richard. Cardin, when I get back here, you better be more fucking willing to eat Grimm hearts, understood?"

"..."

"..."

"... UN. DER. STOOD?!-"

"-OW- MOMMY! IT HURTS!"

"IT BETTER YOU LITTLE SHIT! Now answer me!"

"-YES! YES, I UNDERSTAND MOMMY!"

"... Good..."

"..."

"..."

"... Oh, Little Cardin. I don't want to do this, but Ms. Winchester is right; you need to eat this."

"... Why?"

"She told you, remember? You and her have to... consume the hearts to grow evermore powerful each day. That's why your mother is such a successful huntress, she... embraced her semblance."

"..."

"..."

"... You know, when your grandpa did this to your mother, she didn't want to do it at first either."

"... Really?"

"Yes, and she didn't for the exact same reason you don't want to do it; it burned her body every time she did so. But the more and more your mother ate their hearts, the faster she became the huntress she is today... You know, the whole island worships her as a savior."

"... Yes, I know..."

"They are willing to give her their very lives just so their species can be freed of their constraints. She's a hero to them, just as much as she is to humans..."

"... But... but not faunus..."

"..."

"..."

"... Little Cardin, if... if you consume the heart, I'll take you, Dove, Russel, and Sky out for ice cream tonight."

"R-really?"

"Heh, yes, really. But... only if you... eat this."

"..."

"Cardin... you know how your mother gets when she finds out you didn't eat your food."

"... Okay..."

"Good show, Little Cardin. I'll contact your friend's parents while you eat your heart..."

"Cardin... Cardin, get up man."

"Fucking- no, don't wanna'." Came the leader of CRDL, who's voice was muffled by the smothering of his face in his pillow. His partner, Russel Thrush, simply rolled his eye from his leader's immaturity.

"If you don't get up Cardin, we'll leave you alone in the room with Sky.-"

"-Hey! Don't talk about me as if I'm an object that terrifies people, because I'm not-"

"-Okay, okay! I'll get up!" The gargantuan student was quick to stop the silver-bluehead, even if it wasn't Cardin's true intention.

"Hmph, Cardin seems to think otherwise, Scarface.-"

"-Fuck you, you guys can be real assholes sometimes."

"And that hurts you, Sky? The last time I checked, you're a masochist, aren't you? So shouldn't you, I don't know, be aroused by insults? Or maybe you're just so small that we can't even see your boner. Is that the case?" Dove's vulgar inquiry barely left him any time to dodge his partner's fist. The sound of the wall next to Bronzewing's bed breaking was more than enough to encourage his team to breakout in mild laughter, except for Sky.

"You know what? I'm gonna go get breakfast already, see you cock mongrels in the dining room." Lark's insult only intensified the amused guffawing of the rest of CRDL. Sky would have glowered at them even further, but he was hungry, really hungry, and the spear wielder wanted to make sure that there were still waffles. "Thank Monty it's Friday... Don't forget your weapons either, guys."

Sky left the room after mumbling to himself, slamming the door behind him, which startled a few first-year students already in the hall. Lark gave all of them his biggest smile, promptly causing all of them to continue on with their day at a hastened pace. Sky just laughed at them with high volume, not caring if the students were able to hear his amusement of their fear.

With one glance, a person is able to tell that in one point of Sky's life, the corners of his lips were slit open, all the way up to the bottom of his ear lobes. The wounds of course were now closed up by thick scar tissue, making it look as if Lark was always smiling. Take away his armor and clothing, and one can see a violent story imprinted onto Sky's body, with scars from all kinds of weapons.

'Little bitches, that's what they all are.' Sky broke into a stream of mental slander, all the while he continued to traverse the halls of the dorm building. 'They all hate us, and they fear us.' Sky exited the structure, exposing his scarred face to the bright sphere above. Much to his discomfort, the high heat of this day was already causing his body to sweat under his armor and clothing.

"Ah, for fuck's sake. Gah, why couldn't we have a normal class-day? Fucking' exchange teams, fuck the Vytal Festival." Sky, in actuality, didn't mean what he said when referring to the Vytal Festival. The boy knew how important it is, and he practically believed it was the only reason why another Great War hasn't started at all. But he did despise the exchange teams, or at least the ones Sky has come to know for the last few months.

They hated him, and the rest of CRDL. Sky was sure that every single exchange student from Haven, Shade, and Atlas wanted to see him and his team die more than any other student in Beacon. They didn't hide their hatred either, and that just riled up CRDL something fierce; the four boys were always reminded of RWBY and JNPR whenever an exchange team glowered at them. Sky and his friends just loathed those two teams animosity, and the eight students felt the same towards CRDL. With there were now being more teams just like RWBY and JNPR, the four bullies just had more people and faunus to deal with until the Vytal Festival

The only thing stopping them from inflicting grievous bodily harm on the exchange teams was the fact that a certain woman in all of CRDL's lives would severely do the same on their bodies. They already had enough scars of the crime on them, Sky knew they didn't need any more.

"Ah, here we are, there better be- OOOPH!" Sky felt a large figure bump into him, effectively knocking both of them down onto the floor of the dining hall. Lark could practically feel the silence fall over the morning crowd, along with a sense of desire; there a pang of discomfort on his bottom. "Who the hell?" But before he could continue forward with trying to get himself off by pain, Sky needed to know who it was he bumped into. The first thing he saw from looking up was a pair of familiar, long, brown, laced boot. 'Oh boy, could it be?-'

"-Tch, watch where you're going, Sky Lark." The voice with a tone of accomplishment confirmed that it was Scarlet David, of the Haven team SSSN. Sky couldn't help himself from grinning from hearing the redhead's annoyance. But, Sky felt angry, along with being joyful; he hated Scarlet more than anyone, as far as he knew. Sky also hated capes, just like the one Scarlet was wearing; the student's style itself was more than enough to infuriate Sky. And he knew just how to deal with it.

"Gah, I feel sorry for you, Scarlet, it must be a burden to be PMSing all day, everyday-" Sky stopped with he felt the bottom of the cutlass and flintlock-user's boot smash against his scarred face. A second later, the boy was able to feel the light stream of blood flow out of his left nostril and onto his lips. Soon his teeth were instead red, rather than white, and the feeling of arousal took hold; this is what Sky would strive for everyday, but rarely get.

"SCARELT!" His grin faltered when the voice rang through out the dining hall. Scarlet's partner, Neptune Vasilia rushed over to the two students, and Lark was able to tell by the Haven student's tone that he intended to stop the redhead. "Just let it go man, he's not worth it."

"Mmph, yeah, I'm not worth it. And I'm sure all the girls you sleep with are worth the risk of getting an STD." The halberdier rose to his feet with the retort, wiping the blood off his face. He soon found his old strength reinforcing his smile of ecstasy when Neptune scowled at Sky this time

"That sounds like something a guy barely getting any would say-"

"-Ho damn, that's a low blow, Neptune. But hey, I believe in the saying quality, over quantity. I mean, hell, you can't get any lower than bumping uglies with that Schnee girl."

"What?!" CRDL's masochist only smiled harder when he heard the agitated voice of Schnee Dust Company's heiress. The look of dried blood on skin and teeth on an expression of joy was more than enough to unnerve Scarlet and Neptune. But the two knew they couldn't let Sky see their feelings; it would give him the knowledge that they were somewhat scared of him.

Before Sky could even say anything, he felt the small hand of Weiss grip his left wrist with what he thought of as pitiful strength. She wasn't strong enough to make him turn around, so Sky did so willingly, prompting the pale girl to pull her hand back when she saw his bloodied smile. She felt exactly what the students from Haven were feeling, and just like them, Weiss couldn't show it either.

"What did you say about me?!-"

"-That hooking up with you is like hooking up with a five-lien street whore?" It came fast, and hard. Weiss slapped Sky with volume that echoed throughout the dining hall, followed by the joyful laughter of the bully. Today was going well for him, that's how Sky felt. "Oh yeah baby, give it to me gooood." As soon as the lewd begging ended, Sky, yet again, felt another hand grab his left wrist from behind. What made it different from Schnee's was that it belonged to either Neptune or Scarlet, they both had the strength required to pull Lark around.

He found out it was Neptune who grabbed him, and who also completely decked him right there at the spot. Sky's head slammed against the floor as more crimson shot out of his nose and mouth; it was all a pleasant surprise to him. Sky would have never guessed it'd be this easy to piss off Neptune, and that he was this violent also.

"HEY!" Unfortunately for Lark, he knew his fun was over when he heard the commanding voice of his leader boom at three students surrounding him. He looked over to his right, still lying on the ground, to see Cardin standing a few meters away from the three huntsmen and huntress-in-training.

Winchester had adorned his glorious armor, trimmed with gold and marked by a bird-symbol on his chest, along with his black pants, armor boots, black red-trimmed shirt, black leather gloves, and his black, hooded, leather poncho, lined a gold coloring. Cardin always covered his face with the hood, hiding it rather effectively from all of Beacon. Even when required to wear a uniform, Winchester would always wear his black poncho over it. Sky though of it depressingly, how Cardin always chose to hide his face, but that didn't make him any less intimidating though.

"What did I say about doing this kind of stuff, Sky?" Cardin incredulously asked his friend to recall his memory. But Cardin didn't wait for an answer, he just pulled Sky back up by his v-neck collar. The mace-wielder also took it upon himself to pull Sky away from Weiss, Neptune, and Scarlet while they all made an effort to burn a hole through the two bully's heads.

That was also when the rest of the students in the dining hall resumed to their normal, drama-free lives, taking Cardin's interference as a sign that the fight was over.

"Gah, you're always a buzzkill Cardin."

"Shut up you filthy masochist." The behemoth stopped when they reached a table with four trays stacked with breakfast, two on each side. Russel and Dove were already sitting next, as expected, so that left Cardin and Sky with the only free side. Lark was pushed down onto the seat with the tray stacked with waffles and syrup, along with a plastic fork and knife. "Eat your damn breakfast, we have half an hour until we're forced to go to to today's marathon of sparring."

Sky would have grumbled something disrespectful in response, but since Cardin was so considerate of getting Lark waffles, he decided to let his leader's interruption pass.

"Ya' know, Nora asked us a minute ago why you like waffles." Russel informed his scarred friend, before taking a bite out of his sausage and cheese sandwich.

"... Are you serious?"

"Yeah, we told her that we don't know why you like waffles. And she said the fact that you like waffles makes you a target of hers..."

"..."

"..."

"... Pfft, really? Whatever, like I'm scared of that pathetic, optimistic, pancake sympathizer."

"Damn, what's wrong with pancakes?"

"What's wrong with pancakes, Russel, is that they always absorb the syrup. Which turns them all soggy and... blegh. BUT, waffles don't absorb syrup as much as pancakes do, so they don't turn soggy." All three of Sky's allies took a few seconds to think about what their precious masochist said. None of them could poke any holes in his logic; pancakes do get soggy when they absorb too much syrup, and as far as they knew, no one liked soggy pancakes. But maybe Nora did, they weren't sure...

"So... you two sure taught that scumbag a lesson."

"Uh, Reese, I don't... think they really taught Sky anything." The tall, pinkhead spoke his mind out, prompting all seven of the other Haven exchange students to look at him, all waiting for Nadir to give his reason. "W-well, I mean... he's a masochist. So, it wasn't like you two were really hurting him."

"... Yeah, you're right. If anything, I guess we were encouraging him to be a douchebag." Neptune's reply was defeated, despite him not appearing as so. Scarlet would have said something as well, if only he could think of why they were teaching Sky Lark a lesson in what being a bully brings him. But he definitely knew, no matter how hard he pondered, that he, Neptune, and also Weiss, weren't doing anything effective to knock Sky off his horse.

"His friends... they're not masochists."

"... Bolin, you're not suggesting we attack his friends, are you? A huntsmen would never do that."

"Oh, but bullying faunus, just because they're faunus, is? Is that something a hunter would do, Sage?" Yellow eyes narrowed at the obvious prejudice in Bolin's attitude. But Sage relaxed, reluctantly; Bolin's rhetoric was right. Hunters and huntresses weren't meant to be racist, but yet there was still a handful of them who'd rather see a faunus caged than given civil rights. "...No, that's what I thought.-"

"-Bolin, even though you're right, attacking... those scumbags would be unwise."

"What, why? Don't you have faith in your team being capable of taking on anyone, Arslan?" Reese's sarcastic emphasis on 'faith' was more than enough to put her leader in a bad mood. She had issues with controlling her anger and Reese knew it; Arslan didn't know why her hoverboard-weapon-using friend had to try an provoke her.

"Reese, if you ever took a good, long look at CRDL, you can obviously tell each member is seasoned, even if they're all first years."

"Tch, really? What makes you say that?"

"Well, Sun, you don't get scars like theirs from a damn puppy. Russel lost his left eye, and a majority of the left side of his face is scarred from a fire, probably due to third-degree burns, and now he wears an eyepatch. Sky... ugh, Monty knows what happened to that sick man. And Dove... you can clearly see he once took a bullet to his head, and somehow survived. You don't get scars like those from a combat facility, especially in Vale. Wherever they grew up, life was most like hell on Remnant for them, and that turned them into... the bastards they are today."

No one even dared to talk after hearing Arslan's observation. It sounded understandable; the idea that all of CRDL having grown up in some sort of 'hell of Remnant' turned them into tough, not-to-be taken so lightly, scumbags wasn't far fetched. But then again, team SSSN nor BRNZ knew what each member of the most hated team in Beacon were capable of. For all they knew, Cardin, Sky, Russel, and Dove all could be weaklings, and it's just no one knows that all because of them barely being called on to spar.

"This match is over, team CFVY are the victors." Glynda Goodwitch declared, cutting right through the small silence that took hold of the eight Haven students, while the rest of Beacon and other exchange teams broke into applause for the second-year team's victory. Their opponent team appeared as if they just lost a match in the Vytal Festival, which they pretty much had. This whole class day was dedicated to teams sparring each other; gauging their skills and efficiency against other teams.

After the arena was cleared out of the two second-year teams, Professor Goodwitch entered the center of the area which the stands viewed.

"The next two teams up for the next spar are team CRDL..."

"I swear to God, Arslan, if you jinxed us.-"

"-Don't worry Bolin.-"

"-And team SSSN."

"WHOO! KICK THEIR ASSES GUYS!"

"... I hate you Reese." Neptune informed his hooded friend, who has just blasted into his and Scarlet's ears, much to their chagrin.

"Well, looks like you two get another chance to teach Sky a lesson." The leader of SSSN stated, even though he knew that it was nigh-impossible to teach the monstrous silver-bluehead anything with physical violence.

Meanwhile, with the four wrongdoers called to spar against the Haven team, they had already entered the arena with their weapons. They jumped off of the bleachers, and, unfortunately for Dove, he didn't anticipate them to be so high from the middle of the amphitheater. The end result was him falling face first onto the floor, spawning off a series of laughter from the students. Seeing one of CRDL injuring themselves was amusing to them as much as bullying faunus was appealing to Cardin.

"Aw fuck- goddamn it Dove! You're the biggest disappointment I've had the displeasure of leading."

"Well I love you too, CARDIN!" Dove retorted back to the taller student, grabbing his short-sword off the ground and getting back onto his feet. A small blush covered his cheeks from all the laughter being directed to him.

"Well, looks like we have to wait for that monkey and his team to get here, so here's the plan.-"

"-Really? You came up with one that-"

"-Shut up Russel. Sky, you're going to take on the man-whore." Albeit Cardin didn't use the boy's name, Sky was able to tell his leader was referring to Neptune.

"Oh yeeaah. It's going to feel so good."

"Ugh, Dove, you go up against Sun."

"Whatever." Dove replied, still bothered by his little incident.

"Russsel, you fight Scarlet."

"Gah, I can't stand that guy." The mohawk speedster gripped his dagger, squeezing hard enough to make it unhealthy for him to be doing so.

"None of us can stand that hardass. He's ju-"

"-Just like you Cardin, a hardass." Sky's comment earned the masochist a look from his leader. Even if he couldn't see Cardin's face, Lark was able to tell the armored giant was giving him a dirty look beneath that black, red-lined, hood of his leather poncho.

"Well then... I'll be taking out that Sage guy."

"What should we do if we defeat our target?"

"Dove, you go help Russel with Scarlet if your finish off Sun. That goes for you too Russel, help Dove out if you beat Scarlet. Sky and I will help each other if we take our targets out."

"Speak of the devil... sss." Russel prompted Cardin to look away from the brunette swordsman, seeing that SSSN had finally entered the arena, stopping at least two dozen feet away from CRDL themselves. All four of the Haven boys scowled at the four Beacon boys, each varying in degree of intensity. Scarlet was the one who glared with the most might.

"Are both teams ready to begin?" Professor Goodwitch received nothing but 'yes ma'am' from all eight of the hunters-in-training. It was slightly difficult to hear due to them almost being drowned out by all the cheering for team SSSN to beat CRDL, but Glynda managed to hear their confirmations. "Then you eight may begin!"

To everyone's surprise, Cardin was the first to go for his target, also reaching Sage at a speed all the students thought of being impossible for Cardin to pull off. It took the brute of a boy two seconds to close the distance and clock Sage right in his jaw, sending the tallest of SSSN flying back. Cardin chased after the launched hunter-trainee.

Sage's teammates couldn't do anything to help him either. They were about to, actually, but Sun, Scarlet, and Neptune found themselves being confronted By Dove, Russel, and Sky, respectively in that order.

CRDL was more aggressive than anyone in the amphitheater had ever seen before, it was unnatural. Usually whenever one of CRDL sparred, they fought defensively, except for Skyl. The dual-dagger-wielder always fought aggressively, and that was that. But something was inspiring them to behave violently.

Neptune was the one among his friends who got the short end of the stick in this situation; Sky was literally acting like a newborn Grimm this time. He had no care for his well-being whatsoever.

Sky was fighting like a madman, which a majority of Beacon students believed him to be. His thrusts, swings, and the occasional punch or kick barely had any technique in them at all, but it was no surprise; he always fought like that. But they were faster, and looked stronger that before. Neptune was forced to go on the defensive, which was soothingly easy for Sky, and frustrating for the other bluenette.

The first thing Sky did immediately after confronting the fake bluehead was merely thrust his halberd towards Neptune's face. The gunman had little to no time to dodge, but Neptune pulled it off with what he swore was the bottom blade's tip gently brush by his left ear. The taller boy of the two noticed Lark twist his halberd so that the axehead could be facing Neptune by its edge; and then Sky felt the sensation of his face's flesh being scorched.

Neptune shot his gun, right when he realized Sky was going to swing left. The blue energy splashed over the right side of Sky's head, emitting the sound of sizzling skin. Apparently, it also didn't bother Sky at all. Neptune assumed this was the case when the masochist still swung his spear, striking the tanned student's neck. SSSN's flirter grit his teeth as he rolled further to the left, using the force from the blow as momentum to as far away as possible from the lunatic of CRDL.

When stopping on his feet, Neptune brought his head and energy-projectile gun up to Sky's direction. Half of his face was most likely what Russel's once was when he lost his left eye. But that wasn't enough; Neptune continued to unload projectile after projectile onto Sky. He knew of the halberd user's semblance, and so did every other hunter and huntress-in-training. It was one of the two primary reason that Sky was barely using his aura for defensive purposes at all.

Lark was in pure ecstasy after the twelfth shot struck his forehead; at this point he could only assume all of his head was a gooey, black, texture of fire that only Hell could match. Sky wanted more, like the greedy pig he was, so he did whatever he could to force Neptune make every attempt to end their fight. He dashed forward with the large axeblade of his halberd aimed towards Neptune's neck, and could even hear the marksman swear in reaction to the increase of speed Sky now exhibited. Which was impressive, since Sky was able to feel his ears having been blown off after the fourth shot.

The tip would have torn right through the member of SSSN's throat, if it hadn't been for Neptune's aura protecting his adam's apple. But it still stung, even worst than a rapier wasp. Sky didn't stop there though; he pulled the firing pin on the shaft of his weapon, and smiled at the loud crack of a single bullet making an effort to penetrate Neptune's throat. But as expected by Sky, it deflected off from the boy's aura, and judging from Neptune's face, the pain was even worst than the axeblade.

The fake bluenette fell back after feeling the small, metallic, shell nearly give him a new orifice. He wasn't even given a single second of peace either before the thug of a student stomped the taller student's face. Neptune couldn't believe anything could surpass the suffering of taking a bullet to the throat, but apparently, Sky just disproved that notion.

He was giving himself a good mental lashing for hopping Sky up with nothing but pleasure that should have been pain. Neptune assumed it was the reason for Lark's sudden rise in overall power, and now he was showing that off in the form of shameful combat by attacking a downed opponent. Unfortunately, Vasilias knew there was nothing in the rules of sparring in Beacon that restricted from students fighting like common criminals, but it was frowned upon. The marksman also knew Sky didn't care about that at all, what with Neptune who believed was probably the ninth foot-stomp.

They just kept coming and coming, accelerating in speed and strength with hatred acting as a source of fuel. Neptune was beginning to suspect Sky of being a masochist AND a sadist; a concept horrifying if it was being demonstrated by a normal human or faunus. But this was Sky, a human training to become a huntsmen. Neptune didn't even dare to say it, but if Lark graduates Beacon, he's going to make a fearsome, and successful hunter.

"SHIT- TIME OUT! TIME OUT!" Neptune's breath hitched when Sky's foot stopped an inch or two away from the boy's already broken nose. The lighting of the arena returned to its usual state of lighting up the entire amphitheater.

"What the hell?" Sky wasn't pleased with the abrupt end to their spar with SSSN, but when he turned around, the halberd user was more than pleased that Glynda stopped it.

Dove was having an asthma attack; one that just dwarfed all of his previous ones. It was also the first one he had for the last six years. His lips and fingernails where practically indigo, and stuck out like a bunch of sore thumbs due to Dove's usual pinkish complexion turning pale as Weiss herself. His clothing underneath his brown armor was drenched with sweat, and the sound of immense wheezing and coughing, Sky didn't want to hear it again. None of it at all.

"Fuck! Dove, where's your inhaler!?" The way Cardin behaved was uncharacteristic of him, or to everyone in the amphitheater at least, suddenly speaking a horrified tone, like a father wanting to save his child. But he, along with Sky Dove, and Russel, all knew that it was because of this not occurring half a dozen years.

"Lo... locker..." And just like that, Russel broke into a sprint, disappearing down the corridor to the arena. It was obvious what he was going for.

"Shit, alright Dove." Their large, armor, poncho, and black glove-wearing leader plucked Bronzewing up into his arms, holding the wheezing student like a bride and running in the same direction of the dagger-user. The two left the arena filled with confusion, and surprisingly to Sky, worry, filled in the students and Goodwitch. He didn't take time to gaze at everyone's faces from seeing one of the most hated students suffer an asthma attack. He had to be there for Dove; Sky merely walked to the exit, grabbing the dropped sword of his friend. He could here Glynda declaring SSSN being the victors, but only due to the technicality of Bronzewing's misfortune interrupting the spar and forcing CRDL to leave the arena...

"..."

"..."

"Was that the last one?"

"Yes... she was the last one."

"Ahhh, finally, it's like I have to do more and more everyday.-"

"-Which is wonderful; the more you bless, the closer we come to release."

"Yeah, yeah, I know... I know..."

"... How are your children doing?"

"Tch, those little shits are doing mediocre to good at fucking least. So far they've been excelling in combat though."

"Mmhp, that's good. They'll be able to defend themselves just fine when they graduate... Deacon, was it?"

"It's 'Beacon,' and that's only if they graduate. They still have to pass their other classes."

"I thought you told me the only thing Beacon and the... other, hunter academy's care about is a student's fighting capabilities."

"... Yeah. I fucking did, didn't I? That's... my mistake, I guess..."

"..."

"..."

"Well, I guess I should let you know Cardin is blessing us, like you told him to keep on doing. I've been feeling more and more leave the cage, and enter our bright-"

"-I fucking get it. I think we should worry more whether or not those little bitches are caught..."

"..."

"... Why do you hate them?"

"Excuse me? What kind of fucking question is that?"

"Every time you came here with him, he'd always have a bruise or a cast. And the same for the second one when you brought him along, then the third, and the fourth. I simply wish to know why you hate those who you raise and take care of. I've actually been thinking if you really did care about them or-"

"-Hey, how about you stay our of my fucking business, okay? We have more important shit to be talking about."

"... Yes, you are... right, I assume..."

"..."

"... We haven't been confronting hunters and huntresses as much as last year, so we constantly improving our ability to stay hidden, until... you know."

"Hmph, good. That's the only thing I wish to hear, so... bye."

"W-WAIT!"

"What? What is it? What else could there possibly be that I should hear?"

"... I... there's... something. I do not know what it is, but... a war could possibly loom over the horizon."

"Tch, yeah, no shit. I've already been keeping you up on White Fang activity, and the Vytal Festival is coming up."

"Ah, and it's going to be?..."

"The fortieth."

"I see. But... NO, that's not what I meant to say- Today, Draco informed me of... a few refusing to join us."

"WHAT?"

"It is true, our savior, we approached them, and they say they follow another calling."

"E-Excuse me? Another calling? What the fuck does that mean, Draco?"

"He doesn't know, and I do not know either. But... we can hear it too, but we have no wish to follow it."

"Is it Cardin? If it is, then... fuck it, maybe they're just mistaking him for being different. The same thing will happen to them, no matter what."

"No, it's not your son. He's the same as you. This though is different. A... another woman, she is far from these four kingdoms, and she asks for hell to come here, in the nations of humans and faunus..."

"Shit, are you serious?"

"I'm afraid so, and she does not... offer blessings, like you and your son. No, she... she is of human descent, but also of us."

"... Do you think she's going to come here?"

"Without a doubt, our Goddess."

"Fuck... we're going to need more allies."

"They will fight her, the hunters and huntresses. And armies will follow them as well; we have them on our side, even if they are unaware of our existence."

"Hm, you're right, I guess."

"And, fortunately for us, her presence is even motivating more to come join us also. I can hear them coming."

"Well, isn't that fucking dandy?"

"Is it? I am unsure of what the right reaction may be..."

"No, I was... fuck it, never mind... I think I'm gonna go home now, it's two a.m., I've been doing this since eight a.m."

"Ah, I understand Ziz, you need your rest to move forward."

"Yeah, see you later."

"Oh, and remember to remind Cardin-"

"- Don't worry, I fucking know. Just... just keep me updated on that... woman."

"I have nothing more important to do..."