Christmas Bonus - RWBY: The Wandering Huntsman

A/N In the spirit of the Christmas season, I thought that I would give you something extra. Back in 2021, I started writing a RWBY OC-Insert fic, not an SI, and did a couple of chapters on it. I thought that I would post it for you to read. I am uncertain if I will pick it up again in the near future, but if there was enough interest in it, then I would certainly consider it.

Anyway, here it is. It starts at the beginning of season 2, with season 1 being canon. I hope you enjoy.

CHAPTER 1

(Glynda POV)

The cacophonous noise began settling down as the last of the wooden fixtures clattered to its resting place, leaving the distinctly unimpressed and highly annoyed woman to straighten her glasses with the push of a finger as she fought to regain her composure.

“Children, please,” Glynda Goodwitch bit out through her clenched jaw as she refrained from shouting at them as she so very much wanted to. “Do not, play with your food.”

The seriousness of the situation was immediately dispelled as the young Ms Valkyrie belched loudly, without covering her mouth, and a yellow haired missile that turned out to be the young and brash Ms Xiao Long landed on one of the recently repaired tables and left a crater in the floor. The group of students looked at each other for a long moment before they burst into laughter.

The lack of regard for her presence and the clear seriousness the situation required grated on her nerves and Glynda let out a growl as she prepared to unleash all of her righteous discipline on these wayward youth. Even the normally completely serious Mr Ren had been involved! But before she had a chance to utter so much as one more syllable, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Let it go,” the familiar voice of Ozpin said in an attempt to sooth her again.

She let out a frustrated sigh and looked back over the laughing students. “They’re supposed to be the defenders of the world.”

“And they will be,” Ozpin said, his voice both placating and soothing. “But right now, they are still children. So why not let them play the part?” He turned and started to walk away, passing a boy who had been stained purple from the food fight and a monkey faunus with an inappropriately lax standard of dress sense. “After all, it isn’t a role they’ll have forever.”

He had almost made it to the door when Glynda heard a beeping come from his pocket. He stopped walking, allowing Glynda turn to face him fully as Ozpin reached into his pocket and pull out his scroll. He let out a heavy sigh of his own. “And speaking of those who were never allowed to grow up as children.” He turned back to face her. “It would appear that young Mr Isaac Gris has finally made an appearance,” he said. “And it appears that he is waiting for me in my office. Would you care to join me in meeting him?”

“Of course,” Glynda assented. She had heard of this unknown huntsman only a couple of times before the school year had begun. Apparently, Ozpin had asked him to come to the academy to possibly be involved in some sort of teaching capacity, but the man had been held up with other work outside of the major cities. She wasn’t exactly sure where he had been at the time. She wasn’t even sure that Ozpin knew where the huntsman had been, but he had accepted that the other man would be coming with little to no warning.

As she had never met the man who was likely to become a member of the faculty, she felt it was her responsibility to meet with him as she knew that Ozpin was likely to ask her to show him around anyway; as if she didn’t have enough to do without giving a tour, she thought with another sigh. Still, the man had interested Ozpin somehow, which was noteworthy all on its own. The last person to do so was young Ms Rose. Before her, it was Summer, Qrow and Raven.

The man did have rather odd tastes in his favourites.

They headed off to Ozpin’s office at the top of the main tower. Entering the building, Glynda looked around with a frown. She couldn’t see anyone that stuck out as the person she thought it might be, regardless of the fact that she hadn’t met this person yet. There was no one whose face she had not already encountered throughout the academy in the entrance area of the building. Ozpin ignored this and entered the elevator, holding the door open as she walked in a few moments after him. She gave him a questioning look that her boss ignored, pushing the button for his office. The elevator coasted upwards smoothly, as the two embraced the comfortable silence that surrounded them, neither having spoken since they left the cafeteria.

Finally, the elevator dinged as the carriage arrived at the top level. Ozpin swiped his scroll across the security panel allowing the door to open, a security measure that had been in place since before Glynda had begun her studies at Beacon… longer ago than she was willing to admit out loud. It ensured that there would be no unauthorised access to the headmaster’s office when Ozpin wasn’t there. Even when he was there, he had to verbally give assent for a person to enter the office before the doors would open.

Glynda and Ozpin stepped into the office. Only to stop immediately when they found that it wasn’t as empty as they had assumed.

Standing behind a terminal was a young man. Glynda raised her riding crop in alarm, ready to deal with the intruder with force if necessary. “Stop!” she barked. “Step away from the terminal and identify yourself!”

The man barely spared them a glance before he looked back at the holoscreen. “Your security to these restricted access areas is extremely lax, Professor Ozpin” he said, his voice calm, as though she hadn’t challenged him at all.

She gripped her crop tighter, her knuckles beginning to turn white. “I said, step away from the computer and identify yourself or I will use force on you!”

This time the man looked up at Ozpin, ignoring Glynda to her fury, his lip twisted slightly in what Glynda could only tell was wry amusement. “I don’t know why your bodyguard here is threatening me, Ozpin,” he said, his amusement carrying through his tone clearly. “After all, you were the one who invited me to be here in the first place.”

“Yes,” Ozpin replied, his tone slightly cautious as he finally started walking towards the young man. “However, it is standard practice to wait in the entry hall downstairs if I am not in my office. It is also good manners to not enter someone’s private areas without their permission first.”

The amusement bled from the man’s face and turned into a blasé expression that held no remorse at all. “True,” he conceded. “However, if I am to be working here then I want to know how secure the facility is before I actually begin working. The best way to test that is without the home party knowing that it is happening so that you can tamper with the results, so I thought that I would use this meeting as my initial test. And I must say it was not promising for you.”

It occurred to Glynda that this man was actually the person that Ozpin had been talking about, Mr Gris. She narrowed her eyes as she took a closer look at him. He was average in height for a hunter, Glynda supposed. Roughly six feet two tall, only an inch taller than herself, with dark brown hair and eyes that appeared to be a very dark blue, almost cobalt in colour, but they looked far too… jaded for someone his age. His face was pleasant enough and he had a strong jaw. He was clothed in close fitting black body armour, similar to police riot armour but clearly much higher quality and streamlined to his body. At his waist a very bulky pistol was holstered. On his back was a long staff that was about one and a half metres long and unusually thick; a sniper rifle variant of some kind, she assumed. He was also a lot younger than she had expected, barely nineteen, if she had to guess. Definitely not the hunter she expected. He looked more like he should be a second-or third-year student.

“But where are my manners?” the young man turned away from the terminal and faced them directly. “Isaac Gris, at your service.” He gave a small theatrical bow.

“Nice to finally meet you face to face, Mr Gris,” Ozpin said moving ahead and going around his desk to stand behind his chair. Glynda moved to stand in front of the desk but made sure that she never turned away from the now identified Mr Gris. “As you know, my name is Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy.” He gestured at Glynda. “This is my deputy, Glynda Goodwitch. She also teaches the combat classes here at Beacon.”

Mr Gris turned and faced her, his eyes narrowing as he looked her up and down in an instant. Glynda couldn’t help feeling a little self-conscious as he did so. It didn’t feel like the leery stares many of the young male students gave her when they thought she wasn’t looking. It was more evaluating, like he was looking for her strengths and weaknesses. She unconsciously gripped her crop a little tighter, not liking how exposed his stare made her feel.

Eventually he looked up and met her eyes, offering a polite smile. “A pleasure to meet you Madam Goodwitch,” he said with a tilted nod of his head. “Please, call my Isaac.”

She gave a nod of acknowledgement. “Glynda. Though,” she looked him up and down in an obvious display of scrutiny, “you are much younger than I expected.”

He gave a small shrug. “I began my apprenticeship much earlier than most.”

“And who was your mentor?” she pressed.

“Glacius Shadows.”

Glynda couldn’t help wincing slightly at that, suddenly feeling a measure of sympathy for the young intruder. Glacius Shadows was a tiger faunus woman she had only met a handful of times at public events involving the Atlas military. She hadn’t even seen the woman for nearly a decade but the impression Glynda had of the woman was of brutal efficiency and a harsh attitude that demanded perfection from all her underlings. Rumour had it that she taught through violence. That and her nickname certainly did her no favours in community relations, though it did highlight on what her career had likely been.

After all, who else would accept the moniker of Destroyer of Souls?

Ozpin likely heard the same thing as he grimaced. “My condolences,” he said.

For some reason the young man grinned. “I’ll let her know you said that,” he remarked.

Ozpin’s face paled. “No need for that,” he replied quickly. “I merely meant that there was obviously a reason that you impressed my associate, Qrow.”

Isaac frowned. “The drunk guy? Good huntsman, bad human?”

Glynda decided that she rather liked young Isaac Gris.

“That’s the one,” Ozpin chuckled. “He said he ran into you in Mistral just over six months ago. He was very impressed with your abilities.”

“Odd,” Isaac said looking back at the terminal he had been looking at when they had first arrived. “I didn’t think that he would be so complimentary after I had to knock him unconscious.”

Glynda stared at him, startled. “You did what?” she demanded.

“Yeah, he was starting to pick a fight with a bartender that decided to cut him off early,” Isaac said, not looking over at her as the screen on the terminal he was focussed on started again. “I thought I would do the decent thing and stop it before things went to far. He took exception to that too, so I helped him realise that unconsciousness was a better option than destroying the place.”

“Qrow Branwen is a huntsman of exceptional skill, even when drunk,” Ozpin noted, his eyes turning intense as he stared at Isaac. “How did you manage to defeat him?”

Isaac shrugged negligently. “I have the better Semblance.”

“Which is?” Ozpin pressed.

“None of your business.” Isaac still didn’t look away from the terminal but his voice started to sound annoyed.

Glynda started to feel annoyed at both of the men in the room. The older one was pressing into what was really a rather personal issue, after all Semblances were considered by some to be deeply private, and the younger one was just being plain rude by continuing to stare at the terminal in an office he had broken into while being dismissive of the owner of said office. It wasn’t until she looked at the terminal itself though to see what he was so focussed on that she spoke up.

“Are you watching the food fight from the cafeteria a few minutes ago?” she asked, dumbfounded.

“Yes indeed,” the young man said, sparing her a small lopsided smile. “I was interested in the calibre of the students you have here. I haven’t had time to go through the security feeds yet to see combat classes so seeing as this fight started while I was in the office, I thought that a live viewing would be a good place to start.”

“There are a few points you raise there that I believe will need to be discussed in greater length,” Ozpin cut in. “However, I do find myself curious on your impression, based on what you witnessed.”

Isaac slowly turned his head to face Ozpin. “None of them would likely survive Colonel Shadows as their mentor,” he said flatly.

“Oh?” Even Glynda felt intrigued by his opinion on the matter.

“But that is to be expected,” he continued, his tone returning to a more conversational bearing. “After all, none of them have the real-world experience to be considered hunters yet. Oh, and I know where you can save on your budget.”

Glynda wasn’t sure whether she should be offended or not. “What do you mean by that?” she asked, her tone stiff.

“Well, serving swordfish for lunch seems a bit much…”

“Not that,” she cut him off, feeling annoyed. “You basically said they were not good enough.”

“Look here,” he said gesturing to the holoscreen. “Unnecessary flips by these three girls,” Ms Belladonna, Ms Xiao Long and Ms Rose featured on the terminal, “spinning around for extra strength and momentum is all well and good here by the tall redhead but not when your opponent is within striking range,” Ms Nikos had a turn, to Glynda’s faint surprise, “the blonde boy is completely incompetent in combat and would likely only serve effectively by taking a bullet for someone else as his combat abilities wouldn’t rate anything else,” Mr Arc was front and centre, with his face smashed into the floor, “the Schnee is far too rigid and has no ability to change her style as needed and the only other guy has clearly got a lesser level of stamina and also does unnecessary flips.” Ms Schnee and Mr Ren flashed across the terminal.

“I notice that you missed the last one, Ms Valkyrie,” Ozpin remarked thoughtfully.

Isaac nodded in concession. “Her problem from this video alone is that her lack of serious attitude would have been beaten out of her by the Colonel within the first week. If that is too much of a part of her then it could ruin her combat effectiveness until she is able to redevelop her personality to something more… appropriate in Glacius’ eyes.” He gave a grimace himself. “She has a remarkably low tolerance threshold for those who are too ‘frivolous’ and airheaded. Her attitude in beginning the fight would likely have been enough for the Colonel to drop her as an apprentice.”

“These are some of the top first year students at Beacon Academy,” Glynda noted, her eyes narrowing. His points were valid on the students from teams RWBY and JNPR but they were fighting as she was training them to do so. Any negative criticism about their abilities was an indirect reflection on her teaching ability and she wouldn’t have that.

Isaac grunted dismissively. “If you say so.”

Maybe she didn’t like him as much as she had initially thought.

“But that is neither here nor there,” the young man continued. “You didn’t invite me for my opinion on the sides of an ultra-competitive food fight, nor for me to bandy words unnecessarily. So let’s get to it; why did you want me here, Ozpin?”

“Well, I wanted you here at the beginning of the first semester but you claimed you were too busy,” Ozpin said.

He nodded. “Yeah, someone was targeting hunters in Mistral.”

Glynda froze, dread starting to roll through her stomach. Could it be?

Ozpin leaned forward. “You are certain?” he asked, his tone now worried.

“There were six deaths of registered stationary hunters in a three week period, only one of which was on a mission at the time,” he said drily. “Another twelve experienced hunters died on missions in the three months prior to that. I would say that I am fairly certain. I spent the last six months getting all stationary huntsmen and huntresses and their families into safe houses so that they could ensure their safety as well as preventing Mistral losing a significant number of their home defence against the Grimm.”

“Thank you for letting me know,” Ozpin said grimly. “I will have to call Leo at Haven…”

“No.”

Ozpin and Glynda paused. “Excuse me?” Ozpin asked in confusion. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”

Isaac shook his head and finally turned off the terminal. “As I said, five of those deaths were when the hunters were not on mission. They were at home. Huntsmen and huntresses on active duty have their addresses recorded in a secure file that is only accessible to the council of the respective kingdom and the headmaster or headmistress of the premiere academies. If someone is targeting hunters, then anyone who has access to that list is a suspect. Every single person, including Lionheart, is a suspect and being seen as potentially culpable.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Ozpin objected. “Headmaster Lionheart would never do something like that.”

“Oh, really?” Isaac said sceptically. “He may have been a decent huntsman once upon a time but the man I met over there is clearly a coward at heart, regardless of what his name is. If he feels like a legitimate threat is coming for him that he can’t defeat then I can easily see him giving out restricted information.” He shook his head. “No, it’s my operation and until such a time as I have cleared everyone on that list then no one is to be informed that there is a potential traitor in the ranks at Mistral.”

Glynda didn’t know how to feel about that. She knew that Ozpin trusted Leo. Trusted him so much that he told the faunus headmaster about the Maidens and even had a Relic stored under the school. And she trusted Ozpin. The man had been around so long and had been fighting against Salem for decades. He had earned her trust. She didn’t know Lionheart very well at all, but he seemed amiable enough.

“Leo Lionheart is one of my most trusted friends,” Ozpin countered with a hint of steel in his voice. “If someone is betraying the hunters in Mistral then he should know about it.”

To Glynda’s surprise, Isaac gave a derisive snort. “If he is a trusted friend then you are a moron,” he sneered. “Besides, the decision is not up to you. The investigation is open and it is mine. If you interfere then I will launch a full protest to the Vale Council and seek to have your huntsman’s licence under suspension, which will remove you from your position at this cozy little school, as only a licenced huntsman or huntress can be a Headmaster. Do I make myself and my position clear?”

As Glynda stared at him, feeling a measure of righteous indignation on behalf of her friend and boss, she couldn’t help but see the steel that was in the younger man. And legally, she knew that Mr Gris was right. Interfering in an official hunter’s job was punished harshly by the Council and there were some on the Council of Vale that would like nothing more than to teach Ozpin a lesson. It didn’t mean that she liked his attitude though.

Ozpin frowned at the young man for a long moment before his face relaxed slightly. “I can see that Colonel Shadows’ apprentices definitely develop at least a portion of her resolve,” he remarked. Then he let out a slow sigh. “Very well, I shall not inform Leo of this until after your investigation has concluded.”

Isaac’s stance loosened up noticeably. Odd, Glynda hadn’t realised that the younger man had tensed.

“Thank you,” he said, inclining his head slightly.

“If your case is ongoing, then why are you here?” Glynda interjected. After all, leaving an investigation before it was concluded was also frowned upon in hunter society.

He gave a lopsided smile that might have worked on her had she been twenty years younger. “Because I was invited,” he said. His smile lessened slightly. “Besides, when word of the increased Dust robberies and some other whispers that I have heard, I am not convinced that the targeting of Mistral hunters is completely unrelated to certain activities that are happening here in Vale. If I happen to stumble across anything while I am here that links the two then all the better.” Glynda exchanged a quick look with Ozpin. If Isaac noticed, he didn’t say anything. “I first made sure that all stationary huntsmen and huntresses were relocated to safe houses, gave them my contact number and told them to let me know if anyone else is targeted or goes missing then made my way here.”

“I see,” Ozpin said. “Well, now that you are here and have a new trails for your investigation lined up, what is your plan?”

Isaac gave them both a long look. Again, Glynda couldn’t help but feel that the young man was evaluating her. “Well, that depends on what you wanted me here for?”

“Quite simply, I want you to help teach at Beacon,” the headmaster stated.

The younger man blinked and looked at Glynda for a moment before turning back to Ozpin. “Your deputy here looks competent to me. Why would you need me for anything? Isn’t this supposed to be the ‘premier huntsman academy’?”

Glynda wasn’t sure if that was exactly a compliment but she was prepared to treat it as such.

“Indeed it is,” Ozpin confirmed in his neutral tone. “However, having a second trainer, especially one who has been taught by the Glacius Shadows, would give a different perspective and cater to different styles that may not improve as much as we would like under a single instructor. Additionally, it would allow Glynda here to be able to use her precious time to focus on her other duties by not needing to teach certain classes.”

Glynda could appreciate that. The amount of work that Ozpin threw on her shoulders was staggering sometimes. She could occasionally pass some of it on to Doctor Oobleck but the man was too quick in everything he did and often left smudges that needed to be cleaned up anyway, or his work was just indecipherable to anyone other than himself. Having Isaac take over some classes would be a significant relief. Though she did have reservations about young Mr Gris doing the job.

Apparently, the young man was in agreeance with her. He stared at Ozpin with a flat stare for a long moment. “Well,” he drawled slowly, “that sounds like a horrible idea.”

To his credit, Ozpin didn’t react other than to raise an eyebrow politely. “Oh?” he responded. “And why is that?”

“Let’s see,” Isaac said, his tone half sarcastic, “I will be the same age as many of the students that you plan for me to teach and actually younger than many third years and all of your fourth years. I still have my investigations in Vale to conduct regarding the alleged White Fang Dust robberies and their potential relation to my other investigation. And then there is the fact that you just won’t like the way that I do things.”

“You are so certain that I won’t approve of your methods?” Ozpin asked neutrally.

“Of course,” Isaac retorted. “I may take a slightly softer approach than the colonel but the methods are essentially the same. It won’t be some soft remonstration until one side is slightly hurt. They are going to hate me to the point that some of them may choose to leave the school of their own volition. They will fight and bleed to the point where they will be lucky if they have the energy to crawl out of any combat classes that I teach. I won’t be sparing any criticism of the other teachers and their methods that I disagree with either. That’s not how I was raised and it’s not how I was trained. I have no patience for morons and I will call it as I see it, even if you are the one I am calling out.”

“I see,” Ozpin said, his tone not giving anything away.

“Are you claiming that you could do better in my combat classes than I could?” Glynda couldn’t help demanding, feeling her anger rise.

Not that her growing ire had any effect on the younger man. “Not sure,” he admitted. “You will likely be better at teaching people in general. But I think it more likely that my methods would have a better chance of pushing people to new heights.”

“And how can you be so sure of that?” she growled, taking a step towards him.

“It worked for me,” he said, as if that explained everything.

“Glynda, Isaac,” Ozpin’s voice cut into the tension. “There is no need to fight amongst ourselves.” She backed off but couldn’t help sending a glare at the younger man. Her annoyance only increased when he gave her a bland smile in response.

“Good,” Ozpin continued. “Now, Mr Gris, I propose a compromise. You said yourself that you want to be here to investigate. If you agree to assist in teaching combat classes, possibly for advanced students only, then it would give you the chance to have some continuous income while having a base from which you can work towards your investigation. And I will share any information I come across that is relevant to your investigation.”

“Ozpin,” Glynda began, only to be stopped by a gesture.

Isaac looked at Ozpin for a long moment, his eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he considered the offer.

“Alright,” he said eventually. “I will teach a few daytime classes a week on advanced combat and maybe one a week on Aura and Semblances if I feel the need to do so after seeing the students. In return, I will be free to continue my investigations as I see fit and will be free of any reprisals from other teachers who disagree with my methods. And I choose if someone is not suited for my classes and have the ability to remove unsuitable persons. And I can take whatever security measure I deem necessary to accomplish my tasks, including cancelling my classes if I need to.”

Ozpin considered for a moment. “So long as those security measures don’t compromise the safety and privacy of the students without my approval, I agree.”

The younger man hesitated for a moment, then nodded slowly, leaving Glynda feeling uncertain as to how she felt about his presence amongst the faculty. Still, she trusted Ozpin. Even if she didn’t understand. “Agreed, but I want access to Student Records.”

Ozpin nodded. “All staff have access to them.”

With a quick shake of hands and an agreement to have a formal contract prepared, the younger huntsman disappeared down the elevator. Glynda turned to Ozpin and sent him a glare. “Are you sure about this Ozpin?” she demanded. “He is brash, clearly doesn’t care about offending people and raised a good point about students here not being willing to be taught by someone so close to their age.”

“I am,” her boss said in a tone that she recognised as similar to the one that he used when he was justifying a potentially unwise decision; he used the same tone when he had convinced her that letting young Ms Rose into Beacon two years early was a good idea. “Despite the rough edges, the reports from Qrow on his abilities was more than impressive. He even labelled him as a potential for our group.”

Glynda couldn’t help feeling a little impressed and stunned by that. Qrow wasn’t easily dazzled by the combat abilities of fighters. His comments and attitude during the previous Vytal Festivals was evidence enough of that. But putting the young man high up enough that Qrow would vouch for him to join their group in the fight against Salem? That was something that she would never have expected.

“So, you are using the opportunity of having him here to evaluate him,” she nodded. “And if any of his investigations give anything up on something that might lead to the Maidens…”

“Indeed,” Ozpin said. He stood up and moved to the window to look out over the academy. “But for now, let’s just see how he interacts with the students his age. From what I understand, he was denied the opportunity to grow up as a regular person. Maybe he can improve that here. And who knows? Maybe he will be exactly what we need to get ahead at the Festival.” He turned and gave Glynda a little smirk. “After all, we are still in a competition with the other academies. Why waste a potential resource?”

“And if he is right and someone is targeting hunters in Mistral?” she asked, her concern rising. Removing huntsmen and huntresses would severely weaken the already strained defences against the Grimm. And against Salem and her forces.

Ozpin’s levity dropped and he sighed. “I said I wouldn’t interfere and I won’t. But it may be a good idea to reach out to the hunters in Vale and give them a small warning to be more alert.”

Glynda nodded and turned to leave. So much to do. No wonder she missed her last three dates. It was hard for someone in her position to have a social life.