"HEYUMP!-" Dove mumbled, groaned, with a dry, scratchy throat. Oh how arid it was, as he winced, frowned in disapproval, whimpered hoarsely so, sitting himself up in his own bed. His hand ran through unkempt hair, scratching his scalp, eyes scaling down to his lap, ignorant of their room while he looked at a sleeping Gilgamesh, her soft, piggish snores being one of may in the room.

And by his side, not much of a shock to his waking body, was Penny, eyes closed, sound asleep, her pale cheeks slightly red, with her orange hair reflecting any light striking down on it. God was she adorable, that was the first thing Dove would groggily think of, just being perfectly fine with the fact she rested herself up against him, even with her arms still being wrapped around his waist.

Dove's mouth started to water, as those dirty thoughts came. He went as far as even laying a hand onto her head, softly, making sure he didn't wake her up, as he started to think of all those positions he read of on his scroll, feeling his pants become tighter as he envisioned putting Penny into them, thinking of all those cute sounds she'd make as he just took.

"Ooooohhhhh- J-just control yourself." But Dove stopped himself from going any further, remembering that he may actually not be alone in the room. And he was right too, though everyone was just asleep. His brothers, RWBY, and JNPR, were all just passed out everywhere in the room. Blake and Yang- humorously- cuddling with one another on top of one of the crates. Ren, Jaune, Nora, and Pyrrha were just cluttered against one another, all underneath a pile of blankets. Ruby and Cardin were sharing a bed together, in a mess of a manner- Ruby was literally small enough to sleep on Cardin as if he was another bed himself.

Russel and Weiss, they both slept in his bed as well, though they weren't so close to each other- or more rather weren't simply so squished up against one another. And Sky, well he had his own bed all to himself, his mouth agape in joyous rest, sprawled out on his sheets, all the while, Dove said, "What the heck happened in here?"

And Rosemary, still on the nightstand, in the sun's rays, answered him. "You were all drinking something you pulled out of one of your crates, as you all watched the film. Yet you all went to sleep, one by one, and by the end of the movie, all of you were sound asleep." Dove was pinching his forehead, rubbing his eyes, as the realization came to him of what happened.

"Damn, I pulled out the wrong drin-"

"-And while you were all sleeping, I was able to hear screaming coming from outside."

"... What? Screaming?"

"Along with shouting, gunshots, roaring, all followed by an earthquake. Or at least I think it was an earthquake, a small one at that. Or perhaps it was a monolithic one, far away from here. The whole time, I listened to your headmaster announcing to the students to stay in their rooms as it all happened. Yet all of you were just knocked out, from those sleep-inducing drinks you all consumed."

Dove rushed to the window, pulling away the curtains, "Gilgamesh, poor Gilgamesh, she was whimpering the whole time too. I tried to calm her down, but the shaking lasted for almost two minutes, she had a hard calming down."

There was nothing. Nothing outside to indicate a skirmish had taken place. All there was was just droplets on the glass, soaked streets, and gray clouds parting for the sun to shine all over Beacon, buildings shining back, their roofs reflecting light with more intensity than usual.

"How long do you think the shaking lasted?"

"... I'd guess a good four, maybe even five minutes."

"Excweeze me?" He turned right back at her, his brown brows raised in shock, "five minutes? Are you sure?"

"I am sure."

"That would mean a fucking earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 or more occurred here, Rosemary. A MEGAQUAKE."

"And...? Is that rare?"

"Yes, that's PRETTY fucking rare, Rosemary!"

"Oh, I see. But the shaking doesn't seem to be worthy of being a megaquake." She commented, recalling every earthquake she had ever felt before now. Some with shaking having been more powerful than this, yet lasting only seconds, or even just a minute.

"Yeah, so it must have been far away, the... epi-EPICENTER! It must have been far from us."

"Ah, I see now. So would that also mean the shaking would have lasted longer at this epicenter?"

"... Yeah," Dove's thoughts went on, his eyes looking back outside, squinting in the light, just realizing the immeasurable amount of people that were rushing the boulevards of Beacon, "... how much time do you think passed since the earthquake?"

"I'd say... honestly not too long ago. Maybe two hours ago." Dove's stomach dropped. His eyes, fixated on the terrified, confused, or emotionally-drained faces of whom he now recognized as evacuated citizens.

"They... they evacuated Vale."

"Ah, I see. They brought them to higher ground then, to wait out the tsunami's arrival."

"But is Beacon high enough?"

"I'd say yes."

"Yeah, it's big enough to protect us from a tsunami made by an earthquake along the range of 9.0, but in this case-"

"-Attention CRDL, may Cardin Winchester please report to the Headmaster's office? I repeat: may Cardin Winchester please report to the headmaster's office? That is all." Goodwitch's voice echoed, not fazing any of the panicking civilians down on the streets, nor being loud enough to awaken Cardin, as Dove looked at him, still sleeping, his chest gently rising and falling with little difficulty from the sleeping Ruby on top of him.

Even when Dove went to his bed and started poking his cheeks, forcing open his eyelids, and whispered into his ears, "Wake up," Cardin did not even shift a muscle in response. He just stayed asleep, leaving Dove to just stand still, silently staring down at him, before looking at their door, scarred by the sacred runes carved-in by Dove himself.

"I'll go speak to Ozpin myself," he told Rosemary, not looking at her however, as he went into the bathroom, "if my brothers woke up, tell them where I went. Anyone else, you tell them to leave." Turning on the shower, Dove shoved his head under to cold stream, shivering his skin for a few seconds before he pulled away, turning it off, and turning to the mirror.

"Oh yeah..." He remembered what he did to it last night though, staring at the shatter glass. Yet nonetheless, he still took his brush on the sink, and combed his hair to his own liking, wanting to at least make himself look somewhat-presentable to the headmaster.

Once he was satisfied with how his hair looked among the broken shards, Dove left the bathroom, seeing no one had still woken up, not like it mattered to him anyhow, already unlocking the door, and telling Rosemary,"All right, love you sweetie. See you later." Shutting the door behind him, leaving Rosemary to feel her jar warmth in aura from the statement.

"Y-You too." Rosemary told him, quietly, as he shut the door behind him. Her attention, to be directed at a stirring Penny...

DING!

"Come in."

Dove stepped out of the elevator, trying to hide his exhaustion of having to navigate among the fretting mob that was all of Vale city's population, let alone in a warming, morning sun, at a time of which his asthma was strong. His breaths were quiet, yet quick, as Ozpin started to talk from his cushy chair.

"Dove? Where is Mister Winchester?"

And he responded, trying his best not to wheeze. "He... he's sleeping. I couldn't wake him up. So I cam here to take his place instead." Ozpin believed him, knowing well that Cardin was currently suffering problems with sleeping, what with all the reports he was receiving from professors complaining about it.

"I see. Well have a seat Dove, and we'll talk." Dove took his seat across of the headmaster graciously, as the silver-headed man took a sip out of his mug before starting. "Now I'll be straight with all of this. You and I both know that so much has just occurred within the span of these past few hours: Beacon was attacked, an earthquake struck us in less than an hour after the assault, and now we're taking in civilians from the city to protect them from a tsunami that will hit us at any minute now, all the while our attackers fled into the forest surrounding Beacon."

"Oh yeah?" Dove lowly replied, his eyes being dead, void of any expression for a second.

"Yes, and I wanted to talk to Cardin about this, but... well, Mister Bronzewing, with all of these citizens flooding the campus, we're going to have to at least use the outskirts of Beacon for them to camp out any tsunami that comes. And albeit we may have some soldiers from Atlas here with us, along with the security and police of Vale, I fear they may not be enough to deal with both Grimm and whatever... those things were that attacked us last night."

"What... things?-"

"-Dove... Cardin's semblance, ability, whatever it may be, can he... somehow communicate to the Grimm around Beacon."

Dove was hesitant with answering that, but yet he knew where Ozpin was going with this discussion. "You want him to try and ward off Grimm, huh? Tell them not to attack anyone on Beacon's outskirts, is that it?" The truth is that Cardin can indeed communicate with Grimm telepathically, but in only a limited radius of 50 miles or so. Dove was not sure if he had been training his telepathy or not though, at least ever since they came to Beacon that is.

"That, and also to... tell them to hunt down our attackers."

"What do they look like? We'll need a description of them, if you want the Grimm to hunt them down."

Ozpin, not skipping a beat, took out his scroll before him, fiddled with it, opening on it, as he spoke in a hushed manner, his voice, grainy for the moment, "This... is what they look like."

Dove's scroll vibrated, and out it came, as Dove turned it on, seeing that Ozpin had sent it as a file to him. He opened it, saw them, a series of images, of these monsters, abominations. They were just tall, naked, skinny humanoids, their skin black as night, with bright, white, triangles on their chests. But what was the most frightening to Dove, enough to have his sweat turn cold, was that he recognized them.

Neelanths. His accursed blessing of the Soloman Empire's knowledge told him exactly what they were. Their existence today being confirmed right before his eyes.

"I don't know what they are, Dove. I don't know where they came from, and I don't know what they want from us. But they must be dealt with, or at least preoccupied, until we can send the citizens back to to the city."

Dove gave no response. He just stared on at the images, as he scrolled through them, seeing how they moved, how they attacked the security forces, how their vacant eyes reflected off any light shined upon them.

"And what I'm about to ask, Dove, is completely up to your team: if you all want, you can join the hunt for these... things." That was when his head came back up, his brows furrowing over his squinting eyes.

"Hunt? You're sending students out there to hunt these things?"

"No, no, I'm sorry, that was a poor choice of words on my part. What I mean is your team can volunteer to patrol Beacon at night. To keep in check of the citizens, and to be there if... another wave of these monsters come at night."

"I see. I see."

"Yes. Now for another point I'd like to discuss... is about Cardin going out to the forest every night."

"... You know?"

"Yes, Bronzewing, you should know by now how well informed I am of everything that happens within even a single minute in my academy. But I never did anything about it, since he always returned unscathed each morning. But after I heard of how he save Vale city, I couldn't help but wonder if what he did there is in fact what he's been doing in the forest ever since he came here to Beacon..."

"..."

"Well, what I'm getting at is that you tell Cardin that I think he should avoid going into Emerald at night for a few weeks. I'm sure he has Grimm in there who'll protect his well-being with their very lives, but it's better safe than sorry, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yeah, yeah I agree. That sounds good." Ozpin smiled, one that Dove could believe to be of genuine gratefulness, the first expression of its kind that of which Dove had seen ever since he came here.

"That's pleasing to hear. And if you and your brothers want to volunteer for tonight, then feel free to do so, understand?"

Dove turned off his scroll. "Yes headmaster."

"Then you're dismissed."

"Holy shit- I just wanna fuggin eaaaat!" Sky exclaimed, having just entered the mess hall with Cardin and Russel- who carried Rosemary in his hands. And at their feet was Gilgamesh, keeping close to them from the crowded hall of both citizens and students.

"Cool it, Sky, I'm sure we can eat outside-"

"-That's not it, Cardin! I'm upset because there's probably no fucking food left for us!"

"Oh." Cardin supposed Sky was right to assume that, seeing how it'd be cruel to deny any of these displaced citizens any food.

Russel was the first to suggest that, "Well we'll never know if we get in line, will we?" Which made Lark want to tell his brother to sod off. But yeah, Sky guessed he had a point as well. The five got in line, Gilgamesh oinking viciously at anyone that drew near, and Cardin telling her to stop, until they were face-to-face with one of the chefs; a big old bastard, his gut hidden under a shirt and apron, and his brown beard glistening with captured sweat.

"Sorry boys," his voice was rather high though, along with being scratchy, like he had a soar throat, "but I won't be able to give you much today. We have to ration the food for any civilian that's hungry."

"Well what can you give us anyways, Bill?"

"This." He answered Cardin, by laying on each of their trays scrambled eggs, and two strips of bacon.

They thanked him for the breakfast, and left the line. Trying not to spill their trays among the crowd as they searched for seats to take their butts. But unfortunately, among the faces of crying children, parents who tried to calm them, and annoyed students, there were no places to sit down and eat at. So the next best thing- to them at least- was to just go outside, and find somewhere to eat. Maybe even go to their room.

Outside however, the sun was mild on their skin, soothing their minds in amongst the citizens and students alike. The brothers, the brain, the boarbatusk, they did not care for what was happening around them at that moment. They did not bat an eye at the murmurs of a tsunami from civilians, or the speculation of what attacked Beacon from the students.

Why would they care after all, when in their sight, they caught glimpse of an oh-so wonderful looking grassy knoll, free of people to spoil their moods. They all sat down on the knoll, cross-legged, side-by-side, as Russel sat Rosemary down beside him, and Gilgamesh curled up again Cardin. Here, they started to enjoy the breakfast they were given, bathing in the cozy rays from above, just watching the traffic of humans and faunus pass by.

"This is nice." Cardin went, smiling, his chest breathing lightly in peace, as Sky agreed with him.

"Yep."

And Russel as well, "Mmm-hm."

Rosemary commented, "Even in a time of obvious distraught and worry, you three still somehow find solace this morning.-"

"-HEY GUYS!" All of the brothers grimaced, just as Nora, not caring for their comfort, forcibly sat herself between Russel and Sky, having a tray of breakfast of her own. "Thanks for saving us a spot! It sure is crowded today."

"Yeeeaah, saved it just for you guys." Russel irked, scooting himself and Rosemary over for Ren- who was more mindful of the Thrush boy- to sit himself by Nora's side. Next to Rosemary, Yang and Blake sat themselves down, and by Cardin, so did Pyrrha, Jaune, and Ruby- preferring to be right next to him. While Weiss, having some common sense, refused to sit.

"Are you all serious? This grass is wet!"

"It's not that wet, Weiss." Sky refuted, acknowledging that there was indeed some sense of mud staining his bottom as of now.

"It's wet enough to stain my uniform, Sky."

" SO? It's a uniform, Weiss. It's not one of you prissy white dresses. Plus you're wearing stockings, so just sit down."

"No, you gangling cretin. Unlike you, I actually care about how I look, and I care about the consequences of my actions."

"... Don't fucking bully me." Sky, unsparingly so, extended his long, pale arm, grabbed Weiss by her skirt, clenching as he pulled her- or moreso tossing her- at Russel's direction, landing on her back. It was immediate, before their eyes, that Sky's actions was indeed going to have consequences, as they watched, some trying to hold back laughter, watched Schnee's face scrunch up, reddening, her body quaking in holy fury.

Within the snap of a finger, she shot up, face burning red, as she looked at Russel and demanded, "THRUSH! Are you just going to let him treat me like this?!"

"... What-"

"-Punish Sky now! He needs to be taught that you can't just manhandle a woman like he just did without consequence!"

"Ah- don't take it personally. Sky would have done the same to a man as well. He is a firm advocate of equal treatment for both genders."

"That... GAH!- NO! Russel, that's not what I'm implying! Your brother doesn't have a right to do what he just did to me, without suffering some form of PUNISHMENT."

Russel's mouth widened, his head nodding in agreement, his one brow raising, as the fiery orb of his other eye flashed bright for a second. "Yeah, I understand..."

"Then do something about it!"

"Why does he have to do it? You can do it yourself, princess. Or better yet, I can do it for you." Yang proposed, a glint in her eyes as she playfully grinned and stared at the pale Sky. He too looked back, his face pleading for not to do so, when in reality he'd love to be slammed around by Ruby's beautiful vixen of an older sister.

"No Yang, Sky doesn't learn anything when it's just us punishing him. Our opinions or feelings don't matter to that... profligate. But his brothers hold influence on him. They're the only ones who can change him. Plus, if Russel ever wishes to become... closer to me, then he has to at least stand-up for me once in awhile when I'm harassed by scoundrels like Sky."

Sky snorted in laughter, "Ha, get closer to you? Why would Russel want that? Only faggots like girls."

"Sky," Pyrrha berated him, "please don't use that word. Plus, gay men aren't attracted to women. They're attracted to men."

Lark, in response, just licked his bottom lip, with narrowed eyes leering at the redhead, while Cardin shook his head in disapproval.

Jaune went out of his way to explain to her, "Pyrrha, it's a joke. Sky knows that faggo- gay men don't like women."

Ignoring his correction, Blake was quick to retort, "Yes, but Sky isn't trying to be funny here. He's just being edgy.-"

"-Edgy?!" And Cardin, appalled, took his time express his feelings towards her comment. "Blake, you're so fucking edgy I cut myself from just looking at you. All dressed in fucking black, acting like such a loner, with your little baby katana- which is also fucking black- or dark gray, whatever."

"Don't go telling me that wearing black makes me an edgy punk, when YOU wore a hood over your face for almost the entire school year!"

"I wore my hood because I was fucking self-conscious about how I look- DON'T FUCKING BULLY ME!-"

"-Can we please get back to the matter at hand, please?! Just... Russel- do something!"

"About Sky?"

"Yes!"

"No."

"He can't keep acting like this forever!"

"Okay, you know Weiss," Sky raised his hands up, his long, greasy, pale fingers shining in the sunlight, "if it matters to you that much, fine: I'm sorry for pulling on your skirt." The apology was unimpressive. Weiss easily saw through his facade of seemingly being apologetic. But before she could even call him out on it, Dove, just arriving from behind them, spoke up.

"I leave you alone for the morning and I come back to you perving on girls Sky?" Said-student turned his long neck around, looking at the brunette with glee.

"Yeah, but I'm a changed man now. As you heard, I'm starting to take responsibility for my actions."

"Hm, don't give a shit, but whatever. Cardin, Ozpin needs you to do something." Dove went on, pulling out his scroll, prepared to present his brother the pictures of these aliens.

"Do what?" Dove looked at the others, his brothers, RWBY, JNPR, they were all staring at him, their gazes pressuring him to just tell them all what has happened. But in his own opinion, Dove felt it would be best if he discussed this with only two who he knows would not panic at the existence of Neelanth being here on Remnant still.

"Talk to me privately, and take Rosemary with us."

"Hm?" The brain was not given an explanation, not even a glance as Cardin picked her up and left the group, telling them to keep eating. They walked about a dozen meters or so until Dove stopped.

"Okay, Cardin, Rosemary, I want you both to see this." He opened the file, pulled an image out, and presented it to Cardin and Rosemary. His brother's face blanched, his gold eyes blaring at the very same monster, or now monsters, that he encountered that horrific night, as Rosemary responded.

"Cardin! Those are the monsters you fought that night!"

"Wait what?!" Immediately, Dove questioned Rosemary, finding himself to be confused when he really should not be. "The hell you mean fought?! Cardin, when did you fight thes..." Of course, he thought to himself, it was that stormy, howling night, the one when all of CRDL finally journeyed into the forest together. The night where they found Cardin exhausted, drenched in mud and rain and blood. The night his hood was ripped from his poncho. "Cardin... is she talking about that night?"

And Cardin answered, his palms sweating onto the glass of Rosemary's jar,"... I-I thought it wasn't real. I thought it was just... just one of my hallucinations. But once we found Rosemary and I touched her, she told me the truth... they're Neelanths." Dove, he stared at his brother, almost hearing his breath shake.

"They were what attacked this academy last night? Were did they go?"

"Ozpin says they ran back into the forest, Rose, and he believes they're still there. That's why he wanted me to ask Cardin if he could command the Grimm in Emerald to hunt them down and protect the citizens here from another attack."

"..."

"CARDIN."

"Y-Yeah? Oh- yeah, I heard you bro. Yeah, I can get them to do it. I can."

"Good, also I think you should... stop going into the forest for a little while, ya know, just to wait for these alien freaks to clear out." Dove chose to tell Cardin in this manner, thinking to himself that his brother would be more comfortable not knowing Ozpin was already aware of his trips.

"Good idea, I'll-"

"-Wait! Is this really all we are doing?" Rosemary inquired. "Dove, you know now, as well as I, that there is much more than we can do than just sic Cardin's beasts out in the forest." Bronzewing was aware of what she meant: a ritual.

"It's too dangerous though. If we do it in the forest, we'd be surrounded by those freaks, and if we do it in Beacon, we'd be putting citizens at risk."

"Wait, what are you two talking about?"

"Cardin... there's a ritual we could conduct that would lure in Neelanths," Rosemary explained, "it does not require much, and it would be incredibly efficient to exterminate the Neelanths."

"But I just told you why it's a terrible idea."

"Then let's next best thing."

"And that is?" If Rosemary had a body, she'd physically convey to Dove that he most certainly knows what the next best thing is. "... OH! I know! I know- runes!"

"Runes? Like what you carved in our room?"

"Yes Cardin, like those ones. If we go around campus, setting up runes all over that ward off Neelanths, then we won't have to worry about another attack from these things for awhile."

"...Awhile?"

"Well, at least long enough until we get out of Beacon." Cardin nodded, getting the point.

"Well, then... when should we do it?"

"At night. That'll be the best time, when everyone here is settled down and won't be bothering us. Yet if any of them ask, we can just say we're volunteering to patrol the campus." Cardin's lips twisted into a smug grin, nodding, listening to Dove.

"Indeed, it would be best to do this at night." Rosemary agreed.

"That's a clever idea Dove. God you're so smart. It must be that autism of yours."

"I don't have autism, Cardin."

"And I don't care, let's just get back to these losers." Cardin proceeded, his face visible of embarrassment. Dove closed his scroll and hid it. "Also don't mention this to any of them, except for our brothers. I don't think Ozpin will want word spreading out that there's magical, hostile aliens inhabiting the forest."

"Well actually, I'm pretty hungry, so I'm going to-"

"No no, don't go to the mess hall, it's crowded with all sorts of people who are about to lose their homes. You can have the rest of my breakfast, I'm barely ate any of it cause I'm not that hungry anyhow." Shrugging his shoulders, Dove took Cardin's offer, not caring for any germs it may have. The two joined back with the group, in the midst of more calm discussion.

The three festered in the groups ignorant, looking forward to nightfall in uncertainty. Cardin had to shut his eyes to do what must be done, setting Rosemary by his side, as crowded streets, barking people, chirping birds, Gilgamesh's squeals, they all were smothered to his ear, fading away, drowned out by chanting.

Cardin, Cardin, Cardin.

We answer your call, our liberator.

Was what they said, and their "liberator" answered. He recalled that very creature itself, from that very night, burning it into their minds.

Do you all see this monster? Remember what it looks like. There are many of these freaks that live in the forest that surrounds Beacon, and I want all of you to protect the academy from them. They can disguise themselves into humans or faunus, so if catch one in your sight, whatever form it is in, chase it down and kill it by any means necessary. I do not care if it is an actual human or faunus, we cannot risk them coming near the academy. Am I clear enough for all of you?

Yes.

Yes.

We understand.

We will hunt them down until not one remains in the forest. We will do it for you, Cardin.

Cardin.

"Cardin!" He snapped out the void, the world coming back to his senses. "Cardin," he looked at her, Ruby, her big, grey eyes reflecting the sunlight, "what were you tw-three talking about?" She had almost forgotten about Rosemary, a common occurrence for anyone in RWBY or JNPR, as Rosemary tends to keep quiet most of the time when they're with CRDL.

Dove answered for Cardin. "It's nothing you need to concern yourself with, Ruby," with a stern tone, like he was scolding a child. It did little to deter Ruby however, her defiance showing her own dirty look as she retorted.

"Well I'm concerning myself with it. What were you three talking about?"

"Ruby, I love you, but we can't tell you what we were talking about." Cardin told her, oblivious of his usage of "love." Fortunately, everyone else ignored it too, feeling like it was just Cardin being endearing.

"You three aren't planning on doing anything illegal, are you?"

"No."

"Yes." Dove told the truth, Cardin was the one who lied, conflicting each other with how to respond. "I-I mean... maybe. Maybe what we're going to do is illegal."

"Cardin... don't make us report you to Ozpin."

"Fucking do it, Pyrrha," Cardin turned his agression to a hundred it a blink of an eye, "do it, I fucking dare you to do it, roastie!"

"What did you just call me?!"

"Calm down! Both of you," seeing how Cardin just royally screwed everything over, Rosemary saw fit to take control of the mess, "we're not planning on doing anything illegal. All we were talking about was coming out at night to carve runes all over Beacon to bless and protect us from another attack for tonight, nothing illegal at all." Her purposefully withholding certain information was enough to settle down Pyrrha, in turn calming down Cardin, overall saving them from exposure to the truth.

Except Weiss just had to speak up, "Oh yes, I'm sure going around Beacon at night and vandalizing property with magical runes will help us with repelling another attack if one to come."

"I'm sorry, snowflake, do you happen to have another suggestion?" Rosemary's smugness was palpable. Had she a face, she'd make sure to put on the biggest shit-eating grin she could muster.

"Uh, yes actually, how about instead of leading all your boyfriends out on some holy mission, you just let them go out and patrol on their own use their fists or whatever to protect Beacon."

"... We'd uh... we'd be doing that too, Weiss," Dove interjected, "we'd be patrolling Beacon and well as... blessing it."

"Well, hold on Dove, why did you have to talk about this with only Cardin and Rosemary though?" Russel inquired, "You could have spoke to us as well about this."

"Oh, I just had to talk to Cardin about what Ozpin wanted him to do. The whole rune-carving stuff was just brought up by Rosemary."

"Ah, and what did Ozpin want Cardin to do?"

Dove looked over at Cardin, scanning him for what to say. Dove could either lie to them, or Cardin can tell them what he was tasked to do. It's not as if it was a secret anymore to RWBY and JNPR, mixed with how much wailing there was in the streets of Beacon for anyone else to hear him, be it faunus as well.

"Ozpin wanted me... to tell my Grimm to hunt down any of the attackers in the forest, to protect Beacon from another attack."

"Ahhhhh- so did you do it?"

"Yes Skyyyyy- I did it.-"

"-Wait," Ren cut in, "you did it already? When?" Cardin understood his, and anyone else confusion, going out of his way to explain.

"Well you see, Lie, I can telepathically communicate with any Grimm... liberated by me, and tell them whatever I want, like ordering them to kill any human or faunus that they find wandering in the forest around Beacon." Their faces betrayed them, nervous laughter and unsure eyes darting between one-another. Except Nora, she was the only one who showed awe.

"Woah! So you can just command them around like your own personal army with your mind?"

"Yeppers, they do everything I ask them."

"Do you want me to go into the forest and kill any humans or faunus I find in there too?"

"No Gilgamesh, you stay here with us-"

"-Cardin... you really didn't just tell hundreds of Grimm around Beacon to kill all humans and faunus they find in the forest, right?"

"I did Blake," Cardin grinned, reveling in the joy of messing with her, "I told ALL OF my Grimm with my mind to kill any person they come across, because let's face it: all faunus are animals that deserve to die, and any human stupid enough to go into Emerald by themselves are absolutely too insane to keep on living." The air grew thick, with shock, horror, disgust, as what they believed to be Cardin's worst showing itself once again.

It was not his worst though, yet he still meant. But instead of letting it fester, Cardin broke out in bombastic laughter, eyes crying with joy, as his three brothers and Rosemary watched on. "HOHOHOHO- Y-YOU all should have seen the look on your faces! Priceless!" Now befuddled, they looked at him like the madman he wants to be seen as. "All I did was tell them what the attackers looked like! It was a joke! An EDGY joke, unlike the one Sky mad-"

-SLAP

"-GAH!What the hell?!"

"Don't joke like that, Cardin!" Ruby yelled, her features baffled by how Cardin could even amuse himself like this. "How could you even joke like that?! No one's gonna laugh at that!"

"I did." Cardin answered, plain as day, rubbing his cheek from the ruthless slap Ruby delivered.

"That's not the point, Cardin!"

"You're right, the point is that I just told my Grimm to hunt down anyone who looks like the attackers, and that's all that matters."

"... So you won't apologize for that tasteless, offensive joke?"

"... I'm sorry."

"Oh wow," Yang went, "you're actually apologizing for being a racist once in your life?"

"No, I'm apologizing because I'm fucking your little sister and I don't want her to leave me for being too mean." His brothers, they faltered, breaking down into gagging and laughter, reacting to his lie. The rest, JNPR, and RWBY, stayed quiet as what Cardin said drilled into their skulls, looking at Ruby herself, staring down at her tray, blood rushing to her cheeks.

Yang, she just looked back, glaring, she saw Cardin smiling, his teeth showing, like he was the happiest man in the world. She started to seethe, her wrists cringing in fury, her eyes beaming, staring at a faux-innocent grin Cardin was putting on. "You fucking pig-"

The blond fighting-machine, with clenching fists, pounced onto the much larger man, with enough force to pin him to the grass, starting to clobber his face. As everyone snapped out of the false bombshell Cardin had dropped, bringing themselves to stop the two from crippling one another...