Re-Written 3/10/2018

Some changes here was well. More on that later.

Enjoy!

Yue, wearing a simple red button down and black slacks, smiled as he waited at one of Beacon's landing pads. It was such a beautiful day out, with nary a cloud in the sky. The sun shone down on him and he enjoyed the warmth that enveloped his body. It was a rare day indeed that let him relax as such and he was going to do his best to enjoy the moment.

He had already spotted the airship that he had been sent to greet. As it drew closer, he took the time to admire the curvature of the ship's hull. It reminded him of the swans that he had seen in Atlas. They were such beautiful birds and displayed an elegance that few could match. Given the person who he would be meeting, he figured the design of the ship was a statement just as much as it was for fashion.

As the airship touched down on the landing pad, he waited patiently as it powered down. A hatch alongside the ship's side soon opened and he walked forward to make himself known to the ship's passengers as they disembarked. He looked at one passenger in particular.

"Winter, it's a pleasure to see you again," he greeted while holding his right hand out. "You look as lovely as ever. Did you enjoy your trip?"

The person he addressed, a tall young woman with brilliant white hair and slate blue eyes, reached forward and grasped his offered hand. Her eyes studied him briefly, before she smiled and answered, "The pleasure is all mine, Yue. It is nice to see a familiar face after such a long trip. You know how dreadfully boring they can be."

Chuckling good naturally, he nodded and released the woman's hand. Gesturing toward Beacon, which lay off in the distance, he asked, "Shall we?"

"Of course."

The two of them fell into step with one another as they quickly distanced themselves from the airship and made their way down Beacon's Main Avenue. The other passengers who had disembarked, two men clad in Atlesian armor who were most likely Winter's subordinates, followed at a discreet distance.

"So tell me Winter, how are you doing? I remember your father saying recently something about trying to get you to quit your, and I quote, disgraceful life choice." He theatrically shrugged his shoulders while shaking his head. "Forgive me for saying this but the man is like an Ursa in a china shop, thick-headed and prone to breaking everything it touches whether by accident or otherwise."

The young woman sighed heavily. "No apology is necessary. It is as you say, Yue. The man might have struck me from the line of inheritance but he stills spends no small amount of effort to try to get me to return. I believe he feels slighted in how I decided to go against his wishes."

Yue nodded while thinking about her father's personality. Just like in his time, Jacques Schnee was a self-serving, controlling, egotistic blowhard that the world would not mourn if the man just up and died. He blinked. Well, that just happened.

Sighing himself, he said, "The man certainly is stubborn. I will give him that."

"Stubborn is putting it lightly," Winter replied with a light laugh. She turned her head toward him, her eyes dancing with amusement. "But enough of that. While I might be here on business, I am glad they sent you to escort me. It makes my second objective all that much easier."

"Oh?"

"It seems I owe you a debt of gratitude, Yue."

He searched his recent memories for what she could be alluding to but came up short. He frowned and scrunched his face in confusion. "I'm afraid you have me at a loss. What do you mean?"

"You're a Professor here now, yes?"

"That is correct."

"My sister Weiss numbers among your students, does she not?"

Ah, that was what she was getting at. "That she does. Worry not; she is one of my most attentive and best students. No doubt she takes after her mother in that regard, much like you."

"You flatterer," Winter said while favoring him with a small smile. "But that's not why I brought her up. I know she is an exemplary student. As you said, we take after our mother after all. No, rather it is what she does with that team of hers, rather recently too."

"You're talking about the incident involving the stolen Paladin."

Winter dipped her head in acknowledgement. "Quite."

A hand went up to cover his face. That had been an eventful night, a White Fang rally infiltration followed by a highway run-and-gun battle through the streets of Vale. He could only be thankful that team RWBY and those two boys from team SSSN had emerged from that fight relatively unscathed. Roman Torchwick was Vale's number one criminal for good reason. The number of dead credited to him numbered in the hundreds and that included several dozen fully-fledged huntsmen. If the man were serious, he would have been able to take on even six huntsmen-in-training, no matter how talented they were.

Which was why when Weiss had came to him about how her teammates were in trouble, he had followed her without a moment's hesitation. However, while he was present for much of their fight with Torchwick, he had only provided mild support for most of the exchange. The man hadn't seemed to be putting his all into the fight and truth is, Yue had wanted to see how well the team performed outside of a controlled environment. They had not disappointed. Nevertheless, when the Neo girl appeared he had quickly taken over. She was more dangerous than Torchwick and they were still unsure as to why she was with him.

"I was lucky," he finally said. "I happened to be in the area and had been drawn by the sound of combat. However by the time I arrived your sister's team had the situation well in hand. It was not-"

"You would do not to lie to me, Yue," Winter interrupted, her gaze turning chilly. "My sister told me everything."

He sighed. "Of course she did."

Winter sighed as well and stopped, turning to face him. She hesitantly reached out and put a gloved hand on his left arm. "If you are concerned that I would disapprove of letting Weiss and her team fight Torchwick as a team-building exercise you needn't be concerned. In fact I welcomed it."

One of his eyebrows lifted at that. Winter's concern for her sister's well-being was legendary to those who knew her. Fighting a world-renowned criminal was anything but safe.

"I see that look in your eye. No doubt you are wondering why I would approve?"

He nodded, his eyes clearly showing his curiosity.

"It's simple. Weiss needs the experience. Having her fight against someone like Torchwick, while setting the bar a little high, serves well as an example to what she will face once she becomes a fully-fledged Huntress." Winter scowled as she removed her hand from his arm. "As we both well know, the world is a dangerous place and the Grimm are not the only monsters that seek to cause us harm."

"You're talking about the White Fang aren't you?" Yue asked soberly. The activist turned terrorist group was notorious for going after the Schnee Dust Company. "Not just them either. All the enemies your father has no doubt made in the years since he's had the reins of the Schnee Dust Company."

"Yes…" Winter turned away from him and motioned that they continue walking.

Neither of them talked, each of them occupied with their own thoughts. Entering one of the Academy's plazas, Winter gestured toward a nearby empty bench.

As Winter sat down, she stretched her arms out and closed her eyes, seeming to bask in the sun's warm midday rays.

Yue joined her, leaving a respectable distance between the two of them, and ran a hand through his short, silver hair. He looked around the plaza and was pleased to see so many of his students out enjoying the day.

After a few minutes, Winter said, "You know, I was surprised to learn from Weiss that you had decided to take up teaching. I had always imagined that you would enlist in Atlas's Specialist program and join me in the field. It was all we talked about back when we were kids. What changed?"

Dying, but he could hardly tell her that. In fact, there was very little that he could tell her. While he did not doubt the friendship he had with Winter, he did not want to test it against her loyalty to General Ironwood and Atlas. So he decided for a half-truth.

"I felt my place was here, helping groom Remnant's future protectors or rather their checkbooks." He laughed as he remembered how his first class had gone. "Did you know most of them didn't even know what a checkbook was? I was stunned!"

Winter looked at him, her eyes sharp as icicles. "But you could have done that at Atlas Academy. There was no need for you to come all the way to Vale."

Did she have to be so perceptive? "Yes, well I have my reasons."

Once it was clear that he was not going to elaborate, Winter sighed and turned away from him. She removed the ruby embedded brooch that held the collar of her coat together and held it up. The sun's rays stuck it and it glittered prettily in her hand. When she next spoke, her voice was soft almost melancholy. "Those reasons, do they involve me?"

He could almost feel the air grow heavy with her anticipation. Unsure as to what to say, he remained silent as his mind raced to understand what was happening.

Seeing his reaction or rather lack of, Winter smiled but the action stood in stark contrast to her eyes which were devoid of emotion. "I see."

As she made to stand, he grabbed her wrist. He blinked in surprise, his body having moved without his realizing.

The young woman stared down at him, locking his eyes with hers. With a shock, he realized that they were starting to film with tears.

He honestly had no idea what was going on or what was causing the young woman to act like this. The Winter he had known always had a firm grip on her emotions. Sure she could get hot-headed at times but this was something completely contrary to what he knew.

"I-t doesn't have anything to do with you," he finally stammered out.

Winter didn't move but neither did she move to sit back down, as if she was waiting for more.

Hesitantly, he continued, "Believe me when I say this. While I can't get into the particulars, there is a good reason I am here at Beacon. Part of it is because I do want to help these students. They need to learn other skills besides how to kill Grimm."

"But?"

"But I can't say more. Not right now. Maybe in time I can confide in you but I can't yet. If you take anything away from this just know this, I am still your friend. Now and forever."

They continued to stare at one another. To him the silence between the two of them was deafening. After what felt like an eternity, she broke eye contact first. "I believe you."

Feeling strangely relieved, Yue smiled as Winter sat back down, a handkerchief appearing in her hand going up to dab her eyes. He did not notice how she was closer than she had been before or the fact he had never let go of her wrist.

As if a dam had burst, they began talking, the minutes stretching on to a half hour, then even longer. Had they been paying any attention, they would have noticed that they had on-lookers.

They made quite a pair, his red and black contrasting vividly with her blue and white. Several students looked on with envy or awe, wondering the identity of the woman that was so animatedly chatting with their Finance Professor.

Weiss could not believe her eyes. Granted she knew the two were friends, Winter had mentioned as much on many occasion. However, she had rarely seen her sister like this. Her sister looked so…content talking with the professor. Part of her seethed with jealousy yet the vast majority cheered ecstatically that her sister had finally found someone else to let her guard down around.

She forgot how long she had stood there, not quite hiding behind a vending machine just off to the side of the plaza where her sister and Professor Yue sat, watching them as they conversed. Much as she wanted to greet her sister, she just could not bring herself to interrupt the two.

"What'cha looking at Weiss?"

Weiss jumped up and whirled around, her eyes flashing at whoever dared sneak up on her, a sharp retort ready to burst from her lips. That is until she saw two pools of silver looking at her curiously. Of course.

"What is it Ruby?" Weiss asked with a sigh, a hand coming up to rest against her forehead. This was just what she needed right now.

"Just wondering what you were staring so intently at," the younger girl answered as she peeked around Weiss. Her eyes widened and she grinned mischievously. "Hey, is that Professor Yue? Who's that woman he's with? Do you think he's on a date?"

Sputtering, Weiss said, "N-no! That woman is my sister and I doubt she would be all the way here at Beacon for s-some...date!" The last word was practically forced out. "I mean the very idea is preposterous!"

Ruby's grin widened as she questioned, "You sure? Then why are you hiding here instead of saying hi to your sister?"

"I-I..." Weiss stammered, her brain shutting down.

"Well if you're not going to greet them, then I will!" Ruby said as she bounced forward. "Hey, Professor Yue! Good aft-"

Moving quicker than she ever had before, Weiss spun around and grabbed Ruby by her hood and yanked, hard. As Ruby fell backwards, Weiss grabbed one of the younger girl's arms and threw her against the vending machine, pinning her while clamping a hand over the girl's mouth. With her teammate secured, Weiss let out a relieved sigh and peeked out to see if her sister or Professor Yue had heard the little scuffle. She frowned when she could not see the two.

"Weiss? What are you doing to that poor girl?"

Weiss froze. Gulping, she turned her head slowly around and winced when she saw Winter staring at her. Part of her noted that Professor Yue was by her sister's side, watching amusingly.

"H-hello sister. Wonderful day we're having isn't it?" she got out while quickly releasing Ruby, who staggered away from her wincing as she rubbed her neck.

"Miss Rose, are you quite alright?" Professor Yue asked, his face turning concerned.

"F-fine, Professor," Ruby said with a small cough. "Weiss was just showing me a new martial art move."

Winter and Professor Yue looked at each other then back at Weiss and Ruby. Their eyes spoke volumes on how they doubted that was the case but neither of them said anything.

After a few moments, Winter finally said, "Very well. Seeing as my sister is now here I believe it's time I spent some time catching up with her." She smiled at Professor Yue and dipped her head slightly. "I will be seeing you."

"Of course," Professor Yue answered with a smile of his own. "You can count on it."

"Now then. Weiss, come, we have much to discuss." Without another word, Winter walked off, her subordinates following close behind her.

"Yes sister!" Weiss glanced at Ruby and sent her an apologetic look before quickly taking off after her sister.

"So then Miss Rose," Yue began while looking down at the young huntress. "What will it take to have you keep silent about this?"

Ruby looked up at him and grinned. "The usual, Professor."

"Done."

Well then. This was probably my most embarrassing chapter to re-write. The original exchange between Winter and Yue was...well it was just stupid.

There was also more to this chapter previously but I felt that ending it here was better.

Comments and Criticisms are welcome.

Cheers!