Disclaimer: I feel it necessary to inform you that Darth Annihilator does NOT own the show RWBY. If he did, Lancaster would either be canon by now or very close to canon. Nope, RWBY is owned by RoosterTeeth and will remain in their possession for the forseeable future.

Chapter II: First Day of School

The tale continues shortly after Beacon's initiation ceremony had been completed, most of the relics had been gathered without incident, but eight initiates had somehow managed to get on the wrong side of two Ancient Grimm – a Nevermore and Deathstalker to be specific – but had managed to survive by working together and had gone on to form Teams JNPR (Juniper) and RWBY (Ruby), led by Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose respectively. We join Red in his office, going over lesson plans with Glyna.

"Red, pay attention! I will not have my class become the laughing stock of the school because you have the attention span of a squirrell!" Glynda snapped at him, brandishing her whip threateningly in his direction.

"Well it's hard to concentrate when SOMEONE takes a fiendish delight in hitting me with that damn whip" Red retorted, but Glynda simply struck him over the head with her whip "OW! WATCH WHERE YOU SWING THAT THING!"

"And mind your language while you're here, one Qrow Branwen is quite enough!" Glynda scolded before she shifted some papers and handed them to Red "Now read these over and tell me what you think."

"Lesson plans?" Red muttered as he skimmed through them, making occasional comments under his breath "They look good to me except for one thing, I want us to spar in the first lesson for the First Years."

"Why?" Glynda asked, narrowing her eyes at him "If this is just so you can get out of teaching that day…"

"Nothing of the sort" Red interrupted, rolling his eyes at the Deputy Headmistress' paranoia "It's to show the students the level we expect them to reach when they achieve their Hunter Licences."

"And you expect them to be at our level in just four years?" Glynda said incredulously, slightly baffled at Red's apparently unrealistically high expectations for his students "I'll admit you're a good teacher, but you're not that good."

"Of course not, but I DO expect them to remember that the purpose of a Hunter is to protect both Humans and the Faunus from the Grimm, no matter the personal cost. Too many students come in with visions of glory and delusions of grandeur, completely ignoring WHY we exist and it always get them killed" Red replied, Glynda's eyes softened as Red's shoulders sagged and eyes showed a multitude of regrets "Such a pointless, pointless waste of life. Hate to see it."

"Red, we can't stop them, and we can't save them all. We can only prepare them and – if needs be – die for them. It's our burden as teachers and professional Hunters" Glynda said softly, placing her hand on Red's shoulder. Red simply looked at her.

"Try telling that to the grieving families left behind" he sighed before turning back to the lesson plans, having noticed something "I see no mention of bringing in guest instructors in these plans. Any particular reason for this?"

"The main one is that most people I'd ask are either already teachers or have no interest in – or aptitude for – teaching" Glynda explained, getting an understanding nod from Red "Though if you know anyone who would come in, I'd be happy to talk it over."

"Hm, I might be able to get Frost or King in, though I'd probably have to restrict King to lecturing only" mused Red, Glynda making a noise of agreement behind him.

"That would be wise, I have no desire to have to fix the damages King would cause" Glynda commented before she had a thought "What about Mr. Stark and Mr. Talon?"

"Stark's still in Atlas, the last I heard was that he was working on another project. Phoenix has vanished, I've no idea what he's doing now" Red answered, getting a nod from Glynda.

"Well, it may interest you to know that Mr. Stark is currently working on making mechs, he just sent a prototype mech to Argus last week that's designed for fighting against Leviathan-class Grimm. He's also scheduled to be exhibiting some of his latest weapon designs around the Four Kingdoms before the Vytal Festival, which gives us an opportunity to get him in as a guest" Glynda told Red, her words giving him a thoughtful look.

"I'll look into it. Anything else?" Red asked, to which Glynda shook her head, gathered up her papers and turned to leave.

"Get some sleep, the first day is generally the most hectic" she said before walking out and closing the door. Red rolled his eyes when she was gone.

"You'd think I was a new teacher with the way she's treating me" he muttered, amused by Glynda's attitude before he decided to follow her advice and get some sleep.

The next morning brought with it introductory lectures from Professor Port in Grimm Studies and Doctor Oobleck in World History before Combat Class started in the afternoon.

"Good afternoon students and welcome to your Combat Class. For those of you that do not know, I am Glynda Goodwitch, the Deputy Headmistress of Beacon Academy and your Combat Class instructor. I will not tolerate any messing around or ignoring my instructions. Failure to pay attention in this class could result in serious injury or death, do I make myself clear?" Glynda's introductory speech was met with wide eyes and scared nods from the students as Red stepped forward.

"Greetings students, I am Red Rose, the assistant instructor to Professor Goodwitch and I'm going to tell you how this class will work. As you have this class a minimum of twice a week, the lessons are divided into two types, the first type will see Professor Goodwitch select two students at random to spar with each other under standard tournament rules, when the spar finishes, Professor Goodwitch will give both combatants feedback and select another two at random; this will continue until the end of the lesson. The second type will involve a student being selected to spar against me, this will allow me to get an idea of your combat style, thus allowing me to give you feedback on how to improve" Red continued where Glynda left off, getting more nods from the students but he could see some scoffing at him. He narrowed his eyes, making a note of those that scoffed as Glynda continued.

"Now Red and I will spar to show you the standards that are expected of professional Hunters in combat, standards that each and every one of you are expected to work towards reaching during your four years here at Beacon. You will observe this fight and see if you can pick out the mistakes that we both will include in our fighting styles, there will be a quiz afterwards so it is in your best interest to pay attention" Glynda said as she activated the Hard-Light shields around the Amphitheatre before she turned to Red "Are you ready, Red?"

"When am I not? Now shall we begin? I'll let you go fi…URK" Red was interrupted by Glynda flicking her whip upwards, which caused him to be thrown violently into the ceiling. He was held there for a few moments by Glynda's semblance before he was released and began to drop. Red quickly drew his sword, pushing the randomiser as he did so and slashed downwards in Glynda's direction, his sword taking on a blue glow as he did so and a crescent of blue light was shot at Glynda, who quickly flicked her whip again causing a small mass of rock to erupt from the ground and block the crescent, though the rock shattered when the crescent hit. Glynda flicked her whip upwards again before making a twisting motion with it, making the rubble rise and begin spinning at high speeds before she jabbed her whip in Red's direction, making all the rubble fly at Red.

Red – who had landed by now – moved his feet until they were horizontally in line with each other with a gap the same size as the width between his shoulders between them. He then sliced his sword horizontally, sending out another blue crescent which destroyed several of the oncoming shards before he pushed the randomiser again, the barrel landing on red this time. Red smirked as he used the flat side of his blade to block the remaining pieces of rubble, the rocks appearing to melt as they hit the sword. He then darted forwards towards Glynda and unleashed a series of slashes on her, tongues of flame following the blade as it arced through the air, making it harder to concentrate on the actual path of the sword.

Glynda used her whip to deflect all the slashes except the last one, which she caught using her semblance. The two remained locked like that for a few seconds, both staring the other down before Red launched a kick at Glynda's side, which she blocked with her free arm before sending a kick into the back of Red's knee, making his leg buckle as breaking the lock as he fell. Glynda used this opportunity to infuse her semblance with Ice Dust, generating blocks of ice and pelting Red with them relentlessly as well as creating a thin layer of ice everywhere around the battlefield except where she stood. Red attempted to stand but the barrage of ice blocks and the icy field made this impossible, instead making him flail rather embarrassingly like a fish out of water. Eventually he lost his grip on his sword as well and it went spinning through the air towards Glynda, who raised an eyebrow before deflecting it into the ground.

Eventually the barrage ceased and Red was able to reclaim something resembling balance as he looked at Glynda and narrowed his eyes.

"If that's the way you want to play, I'm game" he muttered, eyes glinting savagely before he opened a rift and slid into it. Glynda's eyes widened as another rift opened and Red flew out of it, catching her with a punch to the face before he opened another rift and vanished before attacking again, this time with a flying kick into her back followed by vanishing into another rift. This continued for a bit, with Red's attacks getting quicker and more ferocious before he finished with an axe kick directly from above. Having finished his barrage of attacks, they stared each other again.

"All that for a minor change in facial expression?" Glynda mocked with a raised eyebrow as Red tensed to attack again but with a hidden flick of Glynda's fingers, his sword flew out of the ground, the handle clonking him in the nose.

"In the nose with my own sword? Dick move Goodwitch!" Red protested as his hands nursed his nose. When he lowered them, he caught a smirk on Glynda's face before she brandished her arms outwards, generating a shockwave with her semblance and sending Red flying as well as shattering the ice on the field. Red recovered to see thousands of ice shards raising up in the air before they all flew at him.
He quickly raised his arms, forming a dome of crimson Aura in from of him which blocked all the shards but exhausted him in the process. Seeing this, Glynda grabbed him with her semblance and slammed him into the ground multiple times before tossing him carelessly out of the boundaries of the battlefield and embedding him in a wall.

"Under standard tournament rules, that would signify a loss for Professor Rose" she said as she turned to address the students, all of whom looked extremely intimidated by the brutality the Deputy Headmistress showed in finish the match. With an internal satisfied smile, she addressed them again "Now, can anyone identify any issues with that spar?"

"Professor Rose sucks" came a mocking voice from somewhere in the stands, getting a glare from Glynda.

"That will be a detention with me tonight for your disrespect Miss Vert" Glynda said coldly before turning her attention to the other students "Any more comments?"

Nobody answered as Red extracted himself from the wall he'd been thrown into and joined Glynda back on the battlefield.

"No-one? How disappointing…"Red drawled before raising a finger, spinning it around a couple of times before allowing it to come to rest pointing in the direction of a certain redhead "How about you Nikos? You've fought in a couple of tournaments so you should be somewhat familiar with watching your opponents for weaknesses and mistakes. See anything?"

"Ah… Well… There was only one major flaw that stood out to me" Pyrrha started nervously, getting interested looks from Red and Glynda "Professor Rose stood and mocked Professor Goodwitch which allowed her to move first and basically control the entire fight from thereon out. I noticed that he seemed to be quicker on his feet than Professor Goodwitch, so if he had attacked first instead of taunting her, he may have been able to get close quickly and severely damage her Aura reserves."

"A good point with a well-reasoned explanation behind it Nikos. Good to see your time in Mistral's tournaments wasn't wasted" Red praised her, causing the former champion to blush and look down in embarrassment.

"Anyone else have anything to add?" Glynda continued, noting that Weiss Schnee raised her hand in response to her question "Yes Miss Schnee?"

"Rose never used Dust during the fight, which put him at an inherent disadvantage to those who do" Weiss answered, giving Red a slightly condescending look. Glynda glared at her for her apparent disregard of Red's status as a member of staff.

"I will ignore your disrespect this once Miss Schnee as it is the first day, but from now on I expect you and all the other students to address Professor Rose as you would any other member of Beacon's staff. This the only warning I will give you students, the next time will be an instant detention" Glynda warned, making the students look at each other and whisper, a look from Glynda silenced them "Your statement has merit Ms. Schnee but it is also important to remember that the use of Dust can be as much of a hindrance as a help to its user and thus should be used with extreme caution"

"How about you Arc? Anything to add?" Red said, seeing Weiss' indignation build by the look on her face and wanting to avoid a scene, but also wanting to test Jaune to see if he had any analytical capabilities.

"What? Me? Oh no, no, no. Nothing of note anyway" Jaune answered, stuttering slightly in nervousness. A few students tittered but they were silenced by a glare from Red.

"I'm asking for observations, they don't have to have ground-breaking insight or anything" Red deadpanned, getting a loud snort from a student with burnt orange hair and indigo eyes. Red turned to address the student "Winchester, if I want your opinion, I will ask for it. Until then, shut up."

"Well… the only thing I noticed was that Professor Goodwitch appears to be a primarily ranged fighter whereas you seem to prefer melee combat, putting you at a disadvantage to her. If you had a ranged weapon, perhaps you could've lessened that disadvantage?" Jaune said in an uncertain voice, surprising both Red and Glynda with his fairly accurate breakdown of their fighting styles and suggestion to improve Red's.

"A fair point Arc, though I've designed my weapon to be able to execute ranged attacks, a sidearm wouldn't be a bad idea" Red admitted making the blonde male sigh in relief before Glynda decided to bring the lesson to a close.

"Remember this spar as this will be the standard to which you all will be held when you become professional Hunstmen and Huntresses. Next lesson will have you sparring with each other while myself, Professor Rose and occasionally your peers watch and give feedback, so ensure your gear is in a condition suitable for combat as I will not accept excuses about your weapons being broken or anything similar as a reason to get out of class. Now, class dismissed" Glynda finished her ending speech and the students began to trickle out, most of them discussing the lesson they'd just had. Red turned to face Glynda.

"Nice speech, you really know how to hold a crowd's attention" he complimented her, though she just brushed it off.

"It comes with the territory of being a teacher since I graduated from Beacon, though I will admit that I sometimes miss the freedom of being a part-time teacher over a full-time one" she replied nonchalantly as the two waited for the last of the students to leave before they headed off.

"So, what do you think of this year's bunch?" Red asked, getting a sigh out of Glynda.

"Their attitudes will need to be sorted out, I saw half the class messing around on their Scrolls after our spar ended and at least a quarter of them didn't even bother to take notes on the fight" she groaned. Red gave her an understanding nod.

"Typical teenagers" he said, getting an amused smirk out of Glynda.

"I seem to remember you once being like them" she teased.

"Who, me? Never…" he replied dramatically, waving his hands around for effect before they looked at each other for a second and Red began laughing. Glynda turned her head to mask her amused smirk as they reached the door to Red's office.

"Have a good night Red" Glynda said to him as she headed for her own office.

"You too Glynda" Red responded as he opened the door, crossed the room, sat down at his desk and reclined in his chair, wincing a bit as he did so.

'I guess Glynda hit me harder than I thought' he thought, taking his Scroll out and fiddling with it for a bit before his eyes closed and he dozed off.

Some Time Later…

Red was awoken by a loud knocking on his door, after quickly arranging himself to appear a tad more presentable, he called for the knocker to enter. The door opened to reveal Ruby and Yang, one with a nervous expression on her ace, the other with a neutral expression.

"Ah, Ruby, Yang. I honestly wasn't expecting to see you so soon, please take a seat" Red greeted them with a smile, gesturing to a couple of chairs that were near his desk. The girls wordlessly pulled them up to his desk and sat in them, facing him. Red raised an eyebrow "Am I to assume that this is not a social visit?"

"No, Ruby has some questions for you" answered Yang, fixing him with a cold stare "Questions that I also want answered."

"I thought she might" Red sighed before turning his attention to Ruby, who as fidgeting slightly "Okay Ruby, ask away, though I'll warn you that I may not be able to answer every question you may have."

"Are you related to me, Red?" Ruby asked, getting directly to the point as Yang had opened her mouth with an angry expression on her face and Ruby didn't want her answers delayed by an argument.

"Yes, I am" Red answered simply, his answer silencing anything either girl had to say before he continued "Summer Rose was… IS… my twin sister."

"WHAT?! YOU'RE RUBY'S UNCLE?!" Yang roared, slamming her fist down on the desk in front of him, her eyes glowing scarlet and her hair glowing gold, heat beginning to rise from it.

"Yes" Red replied without flinching, keeping his face neutral as Yang bared her teeth and glared at him, she looked as if she was going to continue but she was interrupted by a quiet voice.

"Then where were you?" Ruby's head was down, hiding her facial expression and her voice quivered towards the end of her question, as if she didn't want to know the answer but needed to ask the question anyway. Yang's expression softened, and she sat down and drew Ruby into an embrace.

"The wilderness mostly, though I occasionally visited the major cities in the Four Kingdoms to rest and resupply" Red answered, as Ruby pushed Yang off, still not looking at either her or Red.

"Why? Why did you never tell me you were my uncle? WHY WERE YOU NOT THERE WHEN I NEEDED YOU?" Ruby shouted the last question, locking eyes with Red to show the tears running down her face. To show him the expression of devastation and anger that she now wore.

Anyone who knew Red well would have been able to see how the question affected him by watching his small movements: how his eyes remained closed a few seconds longer than usual when he blinked, how he inhaled and exhaled more deeply than usual to control his emotional state and how his brow relaxed slightly. Alas, Ruby and Yang did not know Red well and thus missed these signs that he was attempting to hold back his emotions at Ruby's outburst.

"There is no reason I could give for my absence that would not sound like an excuse" Red said after a short silence, closing his eyes and resting his elbow on his desk, fingers interlocked in front of the lower half of his face.

"And what does that mean? You're not going to tell us?" Yang sneered at him, though Red gave no sign that her words had affected him.

"No, it just means that my reasons will not sound adequate to you" Red replied, closing his eyes and massaging his temples. The sisters watched him silently, Ruby still with tears running down her cheeks. Finally, Red sighed and began to speak.

"The main reason for my absence from your lives is that I was looking for Summer after her disappearance, thus most of my time was spent chasing false leads and baseless rumours. I never told you of my relation to Summer because it never came up and never seemed important" Red averted his eyes from Ruby as he said the last sentence and missed her shocked look as a result. Yang, however, did not.

"That's it?! It wasn't important?! YOU NEVER SAID ANYTHING TO YOUR OWN DAMN NIECE BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT YOUR RELATION WASN'T WORTH MENTIONING?!" Yang snapped at him, grabbing him by the front of his cloak and raising her fist as if to punch him. Red just stared at her, waiting for her to strike but the expected strike never came.

"Yang, don't. It's not worth getting in trouble for" Ruby said as she put a hand on Yang's raised arm and gently pushed it down before she turned her head back to Red and looked him in the eye, the calm tone her voice had taken feeling worse than when she had lashed out "You didn't answer my question, why were you never there when I needed you?"

"You needed Summer and you had Qrow, Tai and Yang. You never needed me" Red answered, holding Ruby's gaze as her eyes widened and a final tear fell from her eye.

CRACK!

Red's face snapped to the side, blood running from his nose as Ruby drew her fist back, panting in rage.

"How dare you! I lost my mother, my father shut down and it fell to a seven-year-old girl and a grieving drunk to look after a five-year-old with no idea of what was happening around her and you STILL have the audacity to say that I NEVER NEEDED YOU?!" Ruby barked, striking him again and sending his head in the opposite direction, this time with a black eye. She brought her fist back a third time before looking at it and shaking her head "No, you're not worth it."

She turned to leave, missing the single tear that fell from Red's eye at her last words and the sheer feeling of anger and hatred in them. Yang almost missed the tear as it fell on the side of Red's head that was facing away from her, but she caught sight of it in a reflection in one of Red's windows behind him. Her eyes widened almost imperceptibly as Ruby reached the door. Ruby stood at the door briefly, not allowing either Red or Yang to see her face, though if either had been looking closely enough, they would've seen her shoulders shaking slightly.

"Do you even care? Did you ever care?" she asked, making both Yang's and Red's eyes widen in shock at the blunt question as both turned their heads to look at each other. There was a brief period of silence and Ruby opened the door but before she left, she heard a whisper. A whisper that she may have otherwise missed had she not been focusing to hear an answer from Red, regardless of what the answer would actually be.

"More than you will ever know" It was a simple statement but it made Yang turn back to Red in shock and Ruby ran from the office, head down so nobody could see what she was feeling or thinking. Yang looked between Red and the open door a couple of times before Red spoke to her.

"Go" he said, as he stood and headed for a back door in his office that had been left ajar "She needs you, perhaps now more than she ever has before."

Yang took one last look at her adoptive mother's brother before she followed her sister out of the door, shutting it behind her and leaving Red alone with his thoughts.

Scene Change: Beacon Courtyard

Yang found Ruby in the courtyard, near a statue of a man and a woman standing proud with their weapons nearby. She idly wondered if they were famous Hunters as she approached her sister and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Ruby had wrapped herself in her cloak with the hood up, concealing any indication of what she was feeling and Yang knew not to ask as it would just drive Ruby away. The two sat in silence for a while as a light breeze blew through the clearing, carrying with it the red, brown and gold leaves of autumn. Eventually, Ruby broke the silence.

"Yang…" she said, voice quivering slightly as she spoke, making Yang's heart ache at the sadness only one who knew Ruby as well as Yang did could detect in her voice "Promise me you will never leave me."

"I promise you Ruby, that for as long as I'm able, I'll never leave you" Yang replied as she drew Ruby into her embrace, feeling Ruby's whole body quaking as her younger sister pressed her head into Yang's shoulder. As Ruby did this, Yang bowed her head over Ruby's form and closed her eyes, just holding her sister in silence.

Well, that's a wrap. I hope you all liked this chapter folks as it has changed from what I originally envisioned for it, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

Now, there are a couple of extras that I wrote for this chapter, but I decided not to include them as I'm going to try and make my extras a bit more on the comedic side and I felt that after the ending of this chapter, a comedic extra would be fairly inappropriate, but if my readers want me to add them in, just let me know and I'll edit the chapter and add them in after this Author's Note.

So, that's all I really have to say on this chapter other than that all feedback on this chapter, regardless of whether it's a follow, favourite, PM or review, I only ask that all feedback is phrased in a polite and comprehensible manner. Unhelpful flames will be ignored.

Well, Until Next Time,

Darth Annihilator - out.