AN: Just wanted to say thanks for all the favorites and follows again, as well as to beg for reviews. Thanks for ready.

Chapter 4

A Cloudless Rain

Stepping into the elevator and hitting the button all he could do was wait. His mind was focused on one thing, work. He loathed the idea of going back to that kind of work. He could turn to hunting, but he was uncertain of how the Huntsman Associations would treat him now. Finally arriving at the desired floor he stepped out of the elevator and walked towards the door labeled Professor Goodwitch. Pausing in front of it he contemplated leaving then, just taking his gear and leaving, he hadn't borought anything else with him, it would have been easy. Instead he stood tall and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Was all he got as an answer.

Entering he found that the office was fairly bare. A large oak desk, similar to the ones that all the other professors seemed to have, a window overlooking the rose gardens, and book shelves lining two walls. Behind the desk sat Glynda, fingers rubbing at her temples.

"Take a seat Lucien." She said motioning to the chair sitting in front of her desk.

"I'll stand thank you." He replied.

"Take the damn seat." She commanded.

"Ok ok… I'll sit." Sitting down he looked her level in the eye. She's been crying. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were still streaked from tears. Well this is me breaking rule number seven.

"Do you know why I asked you here this evening?" Glynda asked, regaining some of her composure.

"I am assuming that it is because I almost beheaded another student today." Lucien said, an uncertainty in his voice. Damn it! Why does she have to be teaching here?! Why did I have to come back here?! I should just get up and leave, I should just go live in a desert somewhere and let myself die of thirst.

"Yes." Glynda finally replied, interrupting his thoughts of death. "And because we need to get somethings straight if you are going to be a student here."

"Fine, what do you need to tell me?"

"First, your behavior in class was questionable at best. Training exercises aren't supposed to pose any threat to the student's lives. Today you told a 17 year old girl that you could have beheaded her. That is intolerable." Glynda stated with unmatchable gravity in her tone.

"This may be a school, but you are preparing these student for lives of combat and strife. They need to know what it's like to actually fight something willing to kill them, or even worse, someone willing." Lucien stated with power in his voice that commanded the attention of any who could hear.

"While you may be correct, the first year of training is not the time to start with such teaching!" Glynda countered.

"It is the only time!" Lucien said, forcing himself to stay seated. "They need to be aware. Aware of the real danger out there."

"And I assume you think you are the one to teach them that? Is that why you are here? To breed a whole new generation of killers?" She accused.

"No, I wont' teach ever again!" Lucien shouted, finally losing his composure and raising from his seat, hands gripping at nonexistent blades. His mask finally shattering, recalling memories of the apprentices lost to petty vengeance.

"Sit. Down. Or you are a dead man." Glynda threatened.

"Fine." Returning to his seat, Lucien took a few deep breaths, letting his anger subside.

"It doesn't matter how you view it. The combat training for first years will not be that deadly in my class. If you do it again I will have you expelled so you can go do that elsewhere."

"Understood."

"Now the other matter I wished to speak to you about." Glynda said, visibly tensing.

"Go ahead."

"I am sure that Ozpin told you the rules for your attendance here. I would like to make a few addendums." She explained.

"What are they then?" He asked, teeth gritted.

"Hide your wings."

"Didn't plan on showing them."

"Never address me as Glynda. You lost the right to do that 20 years ago."

"Yes, Ma'am." Lucien replied, putting extra emphasis on the last word.

"And finally before you go. I want to know why?"

"How come none of you can finish that sentence?" Lucien remarked snidely.

"Why did you leave?" She asked, her voice barely audible, but he heard her clearly.

"I had to." He explained, not giving any real answer. "It was a job, we needed the lien."

"No, why did you never come back?" She asked, her voice still a whisper, tears threatening to fall again.

"I had to."

"No you didn't. It was two years before I heard anything. Even then all I heard were rumors about a ghost with the wings of an angel going around killing crime bosses in their own homes."

"By that time all that was left was a ghost." Lucien said, his voice full of remorse.

"What the hell does that mean?" Glynda questioned.

"I wasn't the man you knew. I'm not the man you knew." Lucien replied. "He died that night. That night twenty years ago, he died. All he left was a weak husk. Weak and sentimental it seems."

"So that's why you are here? Sentimentality? That's it?"

"I guess." He replied lazily, as if all interest in the conversation had left him.

"You… Just give me a straight answer. Why did you never come back after you took that job?"

"You want the honest truth?"

"Of course you asinine shit!"

"That was the first time I killed a man."

"What?" She asked, astounded by his response. "Really? That was it?"

"Yeah, but the best part… oh... the best part…" He began, quiet laughter punctuating his words. "I enjoyed it." Well this should keep her away from me for a while. Better than the truth at least.

"You can't be serious." She said, not believing his ruse for a single second. "The man I knew hated the very thought of human suffering. How could he go from being so fervently against the suffering of man in the morning, to being a serial killer that evening?"

"He did." Lucien replied, holding onto his ruse till the very last second. "Get used to that idea, cause that's the truth."

"I don't buy it. And until you tell me the truth, I will be seeing you here every evening till you do." She informed him dead set on getting her answers.

Shit! Of course you won't just drop it. Come on Angel get over this. It has been twenty years. You've had time to move on, time to mourn that guy.

"Fine, but this could go on for years and you wouldn't get any closer to the truth than you already are, 'cause Professor, it's sitting right in front of you." He said cooly.

"I doubt that." She said. "Now you may go. I'll see you here again tomorrow evening."

"Whatever." He replied as he began walking out.

He walked back to his dorm room in relative peace, most of the other student having taken up shelter in their dorms for the evening. On the way back he thought of what his lie for the next day would be, trying to figure out how he could convince her to leave it alone. Finally entering the dorm building he began the ascent up the stairs to the second floor when he was stopped by a now familiar voice.

"Hello, Lucien, I was wondering if I could ask you some questions?" Pyrrha said uncertainly, stopping him.

"Sure. Why don't you get your friends and gather in my dorm? It's the last one on the hall." He agreed, feeling sorry for the girl, she had obviously been quite shaken by their fight that morning.

"Ok, thank you."

"It's ok kid. Just want you to know that I'm gonna get in some serious trouble for this." Lucien joked. "But don't worry about that."

"Ok, thank you again, we'll be by in a few minutes." Pyrrha said as she ran up the stairs to go get her team.

Heading up to his dorm Lucien pondered what they would ask him. Not liking any of the directions it could go. Well I better take this moment to relax, soon enough I'll be swamped with questions I can't answer, and then tomorrow I'll probably be running for my life. A knock at the door signalled that it was time to put on the act that he had gotten very good at.

"Come in." He said, a hint of warmth in his voice.

"Good evening, Lucien." The perky brunette said, being the first into the room.

"Good evening, Miss Rose." He greeted warmly. "All of you come in and find a seat. I'm sure I'm going to be answering a lot of question tonight."

"Thank you for doing this Lucien." Pyrrha said as she entered with Jaune in tow.

"Yeah this is really cool of you man." The blonde girl, Yang, said as she followed suit dragging Blake in by the arm.

"Yes this is very generous of you." Blake said before taking a seat on one of the beds next to Yang.

"Please think nothing of it. I figured I owe Pyrrha for such an exhilarating match this morning." Lucien explained, a pleasant smile masking his regret at suggesting she bring her friends.

The rest of the group squeezed into the room, while they were making themselves comfortable Lucien took a moment to remember all their names. The bubbly ginger haired girl was Nora, her companion in green was Ren. Then there was team RWBY, their young leader Ruby, her partner Weiss, and the two eldest girls that appeared to be attached at the hip, Yang and Blake. All of them squeezed into his small room, all of them staring expectantly at him, as if waiting for him to just start explaining his life.

"You know I can't answer your questions if you don't ask them." He pointed out.

"Uuhhh… yeah… So Lucien, how did you beat me this morning?" Pyrrha asked, her hesitation written on her face.

"Think back. What were we supposed to be doing today? Using our semblances in combat. You used yours very creatively. Using it to slow me down instead of simply overpower me or completely disarm me. Against a less observant adversary it would have completely thrown them off, they wouldn't be able to explain it." Lucien explained, seeing the realisation dawn on their faces.

"So you are using your semblance to disappear!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Well sort of." Lucien corrected. "My semblance allows me to make myself incorporeal."

"WOAH!" Ruby shouted. "That's so cool. At first I thought you were moving so fast we couldn't see you, then I was like no maybe it's teleportation, but this is way cooler! You can become a ghost!"

"I guess you could say that. Let me show you, maybe it'll make more sense that way." He said as he let his arm fade away and passes it through a chair, letting his hand reappear on the other side.

"That is so awesome!" Ruby exclaimed, her friends offering up similar replies.

"You still haven't told me what you used to do before coming to Beacon." Pyrrha stated.

"No and I'm still waiting for you to tell me what you think I did." He said.

"You told Pyrrha you worked in government, you know how to fight, correction, you know how to kill, and you can become a ghost." Weiss said, speaking for the first time since greeting him. Looking him in the eye, conveying an understanding that threatened his cover. "You were a mercenary. Weren't you?"

"What the hell kind of question is that?!" Yang shouted at the heiress.

"An informed one." Weiss stated. "He has the skills, a semblance that would make him extremely efficient, and he is extremely cryptic about his past work. Oh and 'I worked in government' practically screams 'I killed a corrupt politician for money'."

"Holy shit Weiss! What the hell would make you say that?!" Jaune shouted.

"If you would all calm down I could answer her question." Lucien said calmly, his facade holding strong.

After a long beat everyone returned to their original positions and looked back to him. Their eyes asking for many different things, one pair wanted gratification, one pair was scared witless, others were simply curious, and the rest were asking for him to lie and say it wasn't true.

"I worked as an independant contractor for various local and area governments. As an accountant. Before that I was a huntsman for a short time. I attended Beacon when I was your age." Lucien replied, only hiding as much truth as he had to.

"Well I guess that explains how you know how to fight. But accounting? Really? Could you get any more dull. I was hoping for something with more flair to it. Well I guess the stories in our heads don't always hold up under the light of day." Weiss said, shooting him a knowing look.

She doesn't buy it. Smart girl, probably has rich parents who have done some things that would make them targets.

"Well then, I'm sorry I don't live up to your romantic ideal of adventure and death." Lucien replied with a chuckle. "By the way. Are you a Schnee? I heard the heiress attended Beacon and you look very much like Winter Schnee."

"That's ok, I guess reality is a little more comforting." The heiress said. "And yes I am a Schnee."

"Well then I'm sure you have heard your fair share of tales about contract killers. Do I really look like a payed killer to you?" He asked, spreading his arms out as if asking for their appraisal.

"Nope, you remind me of some teachers I had at Signal." Ruby said cheerily.

After their little exchange of quips the tension in the room was almost entirely lifted. The rest of their time together was spent asking and answering questions about what it was like being a huntsman, how Beacon had changed, and other trivial things. Just before he was about to call it a night Blake asked a question he had hoped no one would be willing to.

"Is there history between you and Professor Goodwitch?" She asked.

"Blake, I have history with all your professors. We went to school together." He explained.

"Yeah but with Goodwitch there was this… tension." She said.

"Yeah there is a bit of history between me and Professor Goodwitch. But that's just what it is. History." He said with a note of finality. "Now anymore questions before I kick you all out for the night?"

"Nope! I'm good." Ruby said, perking up at the thought of bed, at some point she had become so tired that she curled up into the side of her partner, Weiss simply letting it happen.

"Ok children. Your leader has spoken. Off to bed with you all." He said, standing and stretching. "Don't need you all falling asleep in class and getting me in even more trouble."

They all stood up and stretched, giving their farewells and leaving him in peace. Basking in the sudden silence he laid back in his bed, finally relaxing his mask. The cracks in his face deepening and the years catching up all at once. Hours of hiding his past cascading into a crushing tiredness. Letting his sudden exhaustion take him he fell into another fitful night of slumber. Waking early again the next day.

Almost repeating the previous day he walked through the halls of the school, hearing even more whispers. Sitting through the same classes, listening to history he already knew, some of which he had a hand in shaping. Watching students spar and appraising their abilities. Occasionally being stopped by a Professor wondering what he was doing there. Eating alone in a corner of the dining hall. The tedium already driving him mad. The only thing he looked forward to was his talk with Glynda, anxious to see how she would attack him this time.

His days toiled away like this for two weeks. Each day becoming more dreadful than the last, and each evening becoming more exhilarating. He always looked forward to the combat of words he would engage in at the end of the day. Each day she dug deeper and he hit back harder, some nights he would almost cave, and others she would almost shed a tear. Each time it got more and more intense, till one night something suddenly gave, and the walls they had both put up crumbled down.

"I'm growing tired of these little exchanges." Glynda said exasperatedly one evening.

"Oh really? I find them quite enjoyable." Lucien replied honestly.

"I think that's the first honest thing you've said since we began this little war." She quipped.

"No, that's just the first honest thing you've believed."

"Well how can you expect me to believe 'I had to leave' as a good answer?"

"It's the best one I have." Lucien snapped back.

"How is that the best you've got?" Glynda said, her voice rising in tenor.

"Because the truth is I don't have better one!" Lucien lied, his voice raising to match hers.

"You are lying! I know you! And I know you are lying!" She shouted standing from her seat.

"Of course I am!" He shouted back standing to match her. "I was payed to kill a man! I took his life! I had blood on my hands! I couldn't come back to you like that Angel!"

"What did you just call me?" Glynda asked, her voice dropping to a whisper she knew only he could hear.

"I said I killed a man, Angel." He replied, putting emphasis on his former pet name for Glynda. "I was payed to kill a man."

"I asked you to never call me that again."

"No, you said to never call you Glynda again." He replied pompously.

"It doesn't matter." She replied, her voice rising again. "Add that to the list of thing to never say to me again."

"Fine." He replied. "But now you know. I couldn't bring myself to return to you covered in blood."

"You had returned to me covered in blood before." She said. "Blood never bothered me."

"I never returned to you covered in someone else's blood!" He shouted, his anger rising. "I had never returned to you a murder!"

"You told me that the mission was dead or alive!" She shouted back. "Why did you kill him then?!"

"The mission changed! The details got in the way!"

"So you thought that you couldn't return to me because I wouldn't be understanding? Because you thought I'd be repulsed?!" She questioned.

"I didn't return because I was disgusted! Because I was repulsed!" He screamed back. Taking a step back from the desk.

"So you just ran off and kept killing?" She screamed taking a step forward to keep the same distance between them.

"Not at first… NO… I planned to never kill again." He said taking another step back his voice dropping to a shaking rasp. "No I never wanted to kill again."

"So tell me! How did you become the most feared killer in Remnant? How did you become that monster Morningstar?!" She shouted her words laden with sarcastic ire, making him cower back another step.

"The jobs slowly became more and more unscrupulous. Eventually I just got used to the killing I guess. That's when I became Morningstar. That's when the man you loved truly died." He whispered back, the past returning to him in a flood of painful memories. Memories of every life he was payed to end. Memories that seemed to belong to someone else. Memories that he didn't want to have.

"So that's it! What a fucking cop out!" She screamed, her voice hoarse. "You just let yourself keep killing?"

"I guess that's what happened." He replied, his will completely broken.

"What, all out of witty retorts? Or horrifying tales of death and gore?" She snapped, letting her voice drop as she took another step forwards.

Gazing down into her eyes he could see the dams waiting to burst. An old instinct had him leaning in, closing the gap between them, placing a gentle kiss on the crown of her head. His hands pulling her into a long forgotten embrace. Soon he felt a warm damp spot appear on his shoulder.

"Don't cry Angel. Please don't cry over me." He whispered into her hair.

"I'm not crying over you, you extraordinary asshole." She whispered back. "I'm crying for the idiot who thought he couldn't come home."

"Please don't say that. Please don't say that you would have accepted me after that." He pleaded, the final walls that help in his long denied emotions breaking down.

"There was a time when I could have. That was twenty years ago."

"And that's how it should be." He said, the long denied tears finally leaving his eyes.

Holding her for what seemed an eternity, they simply cried together. They cried for what was lost so long ago. Eventually he tired of standing and lowered them to the floor, cradling Glynda in his lap, letting his semblance fall completely. The moment his wings rustled against the wall Glynda stopped her sobbing, looking up over his shoulder and seeing the now scarred and tattered white wings. The signs of the strife and pain he had wrought upon himself only bringing more tears to her eyes. Letting herself feel the pain she had denied for years.

They sat and cried together for hours, just holding each other, mourning some great unexplainable loss. As night drew upon them proper they stopped crying, but they still held each other, neither able to let go of the sliver of the past they had discovered. Soon the moon had risen to its apex and began to shine through the window into the office. Illuminating the pair, cradled in each other's' arms, sound asleep, both experiencing the deepest sleep they had in a very long time. Lucien only stirred once, looking down upon the woman in his arms, her face illuminated by the moon the only thing he could think about.

God you are so beautiful when you sleep, my Angel. I've missed you. I will miss you.