In the last chapter we saw ruby and company link up with ren and nora as they got some transportation for the long journey ahead of them. Since they'll need to go by airship to get to mistral in time. With ozpin now with his new host as well.RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. I own the OC's, AU. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 11 Orange: Traveling By Air

The group walked through the small port town they landed at while they did they filled the two in on the way to the next town for a airship. They explained the maidens and the vaults to them as they were surrpsied by this. But Bashira and Qrow worried they were spys.

Though Ruby and Jaune reassured him that these two were their friends. Along with that Ren made a vow never to speak about this in front of unwanted eyes and ears. Nora seemed to do the same thing but messed it up.

They were driving down a dirt path with the jeep in the front and yang bike in the back. The terrain of the dirt path was rough but qrow jeep managed.

"So were taking an airship to higanbana?"Ren questioned as Ruby nodded to him.

"Yeah, we'll take aan airship then land close by it may take a few days to get their. Though we could top off on our supplies when we get their. "Ruby replied

"Alright then but why don't we take a bullhead or ship. It would have been much faster"nora said

Qrow sighed while he kept his eye on the road"If we're traveling in a big group it'd be better to split off to complete different task. Along with that keeping this discret as possible. But with my ride it won't take us long to get their"qrow said as they continued their drive

"Hmm well despite that how have you two been?"Rogue asked

"It has been rough lately dealing with Pyrrha death"ren simply said as he closed his eyes. Jaune glanced to the side looking at the ground zoom past them

Ren then took a deep breath then exhaled" But we both understand she is gone. Along with being in a better place"ren added

Nora smiled big still"yeah plus she wouldn't want us to be all sad. She'd want us to continue smiling and look forward to the positives"nora added which rogue looked at her for a bit before looking at the road ahead.

"Yeah…along with the others"rogue added sadly as she looked down which mercury noticed. Then he rubbed her head as she glance up at him. He smiled letting her know everything was okay.

They continued to drive for about two hours toward the next port town. Along the way they kept an eye out for any grimm or anything else but they luckily didn't run into anything yet. Which reassured qrow that his dumb semblance didn't screw them over yet. After they drove for another ten minutes they came to a small port town.

It had shops, fishing docks houses alongside the shoreline of the place. Their weren't that many people but their was already a ferry docked as they quickly made their way over to it. Qrow payed for their tickets and loaded their rides into the bottom part of the ship.

They began to sail toward higanbana but jaune kept looking over at his two teammates. Qrow was planning on once we get to the crossroads to explain where they were heading next. Ren and nora were just sitting on a small bench as they looked at the ocean.

Jaune sighed holding his head"why do we need to cut through kuroyuri even. He did say they were rebuilding it but it might anger ren and nora"jaune thought to himself.

He cupped his chin deep in thought"maybe they might be happy to see their old home restored back to its persistent condtiion."jaune thought but as he sat their ruby was next to him as she took a deep breath inhaling the ocean water of lake matsu.

"Man this is so cool i've never actually taken an airship to the anima before actually"ruby stated as bashira and rogue were with her. Though rouge kept side eyeing bashira the entire time which made the tall girl nervous.

"Really…well it'll probably be a few days until we get to the port town"bashira replied

"Hmm well despite that have you ever been out of mistral rogue?"ruby asked looking toward rouge who cupped her chin.

"Well i've been to Atlas before for a business trip for my dad"rogue replied

"You've been Atlas? Whats it like over their thisitie says its all fancy and crap"bashira replied trying to get on the blonde good side.

But rogue just side eyed turning away slightly as she leaned agains the railing facing the ocean. She tapped chin chin for a moment while they waited for her to speak.

"Hmmm well we went their a few years ago for some weapon expo he was in. If I recall he had me and eria showcase some of his new weapons"Rogue started as ruby went starry eyed.

"Oh oh what did you test wait don't tell me….wait do tell me"ruby said excited as bashira chuckled at this and so did jaune. Rogue just smiled happy to talk about that.

"Dad made a sledgehammer if I recalled but he had eria test it out. Me and him decided not to tell her about the small jet booster on it. Then…well.."rouge was about to finish until someone close by finished for her.

"Your sister went flying into the crowd of people i'm guessing"mercury said as he walked over joining the group.

Rogue smiled"yeah you should have seen her face that day"rogue replied laughing with a small snort.

Jaune chuckled as he crossed his arms"that sound nice…though you didn't tell us what atlas was like"jaune remind.

"Your not wrong come on tell us if its as snobby as thisitie was"bashira playfully joked while ruby laughed.

"Now your reminding of how weiss used to act during the first week of beacon. She was all I need to uphold my family name"ruby said micking wiess voice a little as they laughed.

Rogue closed her eyes sighing"from what I recalled pretty much what everyone said about the place it was pretty nice. Alot of fancy building though compared to mantle below it. Sort of like a slum area if I recall"rogue replied

"Guess everyone doens't get to live in the lap of luxury it seems"mercury replied as he put his hands behind his head.

"Yeah well not everyone can live high above in a floating city"bashira stated

Ruby raised an eyebrow at this"wait a floating city…I think i've heard about it. But how do they even do that?"ruby questioned.

The group wasn't sure because it might just be gravity dust and technology that keep the city afloat. They can't exactly figure that out since they weren't the ones that help make the floating city.

"Beats me though you seem pretty troubled right now jaune"ruby said as she pointed at jaune who looked at her with surrpsie.

"What? I don't know what your talking about i'm fine see"jaune said as he straighten his posture along with with a force smield. The four looked at the knight in shining armor and they weren't exactly convinced about that.

"Really….seems to me your pretty tense"mercury said as he walked over to jaune.

"Yeah also I noticed how you keep staring at your teammates over their"bashira added in as mercury and her were standing in front of him. Jaune avoided their gazes not really wanting to talk about it.

"I'm fine….nothings wrong"jaune replied waving them off.

But ruby slowly made her way toward jaune as he noticed her their. The two kept staring at each other for a bit until ruby started to give the puppy dog eyes. The knight tried to not succumb to them but he couldn't.

No one can say no or hide anything from her when she does that.

"Alright fine…its just that well lets go somewhere else to talk"jaune said to them which made them confused. But they looked over at ren and nora who were laughing and smiling it seems. They nodded as they decided to head to the stern of the ship. They were on the bow and decided maybe to talk about this somewhere else.

It didn't take them long as they passed a few people on the ship. Most of them humans and faunus just enjoying their day and ferry ride.

Soon enough they were on the other side as jaune stood infront of them as he leaned agains the railing.

"Alright so whats up jaune you keep looking over at them for the entire way here"rogue questioned

"Yeah, its like your trying to avoid telling them something that might hurt their feelings"ruby added worried a little because he never really acts like this sometimes.

Jaune sighed as he rubbed the back of his head"okay you known as qrow said were going through higanbana then were heading toward kuroyuri"jaune replied

This made the four a little confused by what he was implying by that.

"Uh yeah that old town that got destroyed by a grimm a while back"mercury replied

"Yeah uncle said it was a long time ago, but what does this have to do with ren and nora?"ruby asked the obvious question.

"Those two actually were two survivors from the town when it was destoryed by the grimm their"jaune said as this surrpsied the group as they stared at him shocked.

Rogue looked at him with concern because it seems hes worried this might cause tension between his team. But they might actually be happy their home is being restored. Though their might also be something troubling coming from this.

"Wait….that would mean that they lost their parents their then"ruby said as jaune nodded because she was sort of right.

"Your sort of right their"jaune replied which confused them.

"What do you mean by sort of right?"bashira asked as she crossed her arms under her bust.

"Yeah I thought you said they lived their or something"rogue added .

Mercury studied jaune for a second because the guy really didn't want to continue it seems. But they've gotten this far and they might as well continue this little story about their friends. Mercury walked over to jaune placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Look you don't need to continue if you don't want to jaueny boy"mercury said as jaune smirked at that name.

"You know I like that name alot better than vomit boy"jaune replied but then his face sunk as ruby began to giggle a little along with rogue. He then sighed hanging his head down.

Before they knew it rogue and ruby began to burst into laughter at the knights old nickname. To mercury and bahsira confusion who looked at each other.

Ruby laughed as she held her stomach"oh my gosh I forgot about that. The first day at beacon you puked in the nearest trash can"ruby said as rouge snorted

"Yeah I heard about that from yang and zane"rogue said the last part as she stopped laughing sighing at saying his name. Mercury noticed this as he looked worried.

"Really well…why exactly did you earn the name vomit boy is that just it?"bashira questioned as she decided to continue the story to lighten up the mood.

Jaune chuckled a little remembering that day it was the first time he met the jokesteer. He was keeled over a trash can ready to puke his guts out. But he comes out of nowhere with some medicine giving it too him.

Though what he didn't know it was expired which didn't help as he hurled into the nearest trash can.

"Well I was on the airship about to throw up and then he shows up offering me motion sickness medicine"jaune begun obviously talking about rogue partner as she listened a little.

"Then I take it I start feeling better but then…well the medicine he gave me was expired then I ran to the nearest trash can throwing up"jaune finished as everyone laughed a little at that.

"Must have been an interesting first day at beacon"bashira replied looking at ruby who was smiling a little.

"What about you ruby how was your first day their?"bashria asked her old friend as ruby nerovusly turned away laughing.

"Well..umm lets just say…it was pretty…explosive"ruby said as bashira looked at her confused until from behind another blonde in their group spoke up.

"Aww sis are you talking about how you ran into weiss and made a crater in front of the school"yang cooed behind the group as they turned to see her their with emerald. Emerald was a little intrigued by this.

"Wait that actually happened?"emerald questioned as they were a little intrigued.

"Yeah it wasn't that bad…it was just a small explosion"ruby said emphasizing on small.

Jaune and yang looked at each other then back at ruby as the two blonde chuckled at this.

"Really because weiss was pretty mad when you did that"jaune recalled team RWBY ice queen flipping out on the silver eyed girl.

"Yeah along with that she gave you a stupid pamphlet during orientation that day. Ahh that was priceless"yang added on

The group continued to remincis about the old days back at beacon academy. Along with talking about some of the good times they had while they attended the famous academy in Vale. But it seemed to bring a small smile to rogue. She also missed those days back at beacon the most.

Hours later it was getting close to night time for the group as most of them returned to their rooms for the night. Ruby,Rogue and emerald shared a room together. While nora, yang and bashira shared a room together. The three boys shared a space together but had to agree on someone sleeping on the was jaune as he lost their game of rock,paper and scissors.

But outside on the main deck was qrow looking over the edge of the ship. He was staring at the sun as it setted on the horizon onto the lake. It was quiet out as he looked out at the setting sun sighing to himself.

"Welp guess she is just like you summer"qrow said to himself as he was holding the old team picture of Team STRQ. He caressed the area where summer was sighing.

Qrow chuckled a little because ruby and her looked to similar they practically could be twin sisters it seems. Though he also missed her since its been so long. He hung his head as he talked to himself.

"Still wish you were here to watch her grow up to who she is today"qrow begun as he walked around for a bit. Their was barely anyone on the deck as they were all asleep right now.

Qrow metal foot clanked around a little while he walked on the deck with one hand in his pocket as he looked at the night sky.

"What I wouldn't give to see you one last time right now….we should have never gone on that dam mission to Atlas"he said to himself.

He remembered that day vividly because it was one of the worse days of his life.

Flashback

Many years ago in atlas in a small little clearing filed with snow. But in the clearing several grimm were slowly converging on a small group of huntsman and huntresses. Though in the group was a much younger qrow who was smiling as he brought out his broadsword as he sliced through the grimm infront of him. He cut off its head as it dropped to the ground dead.

Qrow looked at it smiling"another point for my ray!"qrow called out looking toward a much younger raven.

Raven held a katana in her hand that was bright red, her singiutre katana dubbed omen. She lifted her katana up as she twirled a little before slicing off a grimms head.

She rolled her eyes"qrow be focused right now…also i'm winning"Raven bantered as she sliced through the grimm infront of her.

The young dusty qrow kept slicing through grimm alongside his sister. But he was also worried about where their leader was. They continued to slice through the grimm ahead of them but soon enough the two got surrounded by a small circle of grimm.

The two went back to back staring at the creatures surrounding them.

"Dammit….where the hell is summer?"raven questioned as she got in a defensive stance.

Qrow raised harbinger in a defensive stanc"Don't know maybe dealing with the grimm close by"qrow said as they waited for the grimm to attack them.

Soon enough the grimm came full force at them as the all roared and lunged or pounced at them. The twin sibling were ready for this but as they raised their arms. Soon enough a flurry of white rose petals appeared above them. Then soon enough they reappeared as a young women.

Qrow looked up smiling at this"bout time you showed up summer"qrow said as raven looked up at their leader.

In the sky summer dived bombed on the grimm below. A few turned roaring at her but they quickly dispatched by a black and gold axe. The axe had a long handle that was colored black, with gold metal attached to it, which formed a gold curved blade. Near the axe blade was a trigger and the blade seemed to be coming front he stock. She raised her axe as she chopped down several grimm in her path.

Then qrow and raven joined her as they rushed in dealing with the grimm at jumped in the air as he transformed into a qrow then flew in the sky before reappearing as a normal person. Then he flicked his sword backwards launching himself through several grimm. He defeated grimm with vertical slashes and gut stabs while he tore through them.

As he continued to do so soon enough he stopped as he noticed the grimm slowly starting to back away. He was confused by this but he could feel a dark presence close to him. The young huntsman slowly turned around to see his sister and partner staring at something…no someone.

A pale ghost white women who was obsecured by dakrness. He joined his teammates as he quickly rushed over. Then he raised his blade at this women wondering who she was.

"Who the hell are you?"qrow qeustioned as he looked toward summer.

His leader had her axe out but it was now a long scythe in her hand. She narrowed her gaze as she looked at the women.

"Your her aren't you?"she asked as qrow looked a little surprised but know full well who he's talking about the witch known as salem.

The women just darkly laughed at the three smiling"yes I am…but its pitiful how your showing no fear right now. I'll make sure you fear me for the rest of you lives. Which will be for the next ten minutes"salem stated as she said this she rushed forward toward the group.

Present

Qrow stopped reminsiacing as he could feel someone shaking his shoulder. He jumped a little as he raised his fist ready to attack whoever was their. But it was just ruby who had a worried look on her face.

Qrow sighed relief"dang it kiddio don't sneak up on me like that"qrow said as he took a slow breath.

Ruby rubbed her arm"Sorry…you weren't in your room so I was wondering where you were right now"ruby replied as qrow sighed.

"Just getting some air kiddio…trying to come up with a plan right now"Qrow replied

As he sat their looking at the ocean with the night sky he rubbed his neck because this felt alittle awkward. Ruby was still their as she took a small bench spot next to him waiting for him it seems.

"Sooo…how long do you think it'll take us to get to haven?"ruby asked

Qrow cupped his chin"well once we stop and pass through kuroyuri. We'll head their straight away. My guess a couple weeks if we take the necessary routes"qrow replied

"Really? Why do we need to take specific routes?"ruby asked

"Thing is their are alot of dangerous grimm around in mistral. Along with that we gotta make sure her goons aren't around every corner"qrow replied

Ruby seemed to get what he was implying"oh right…but are you sure its safe to split up?"ruby asked worried

He sighed as he placed a hand on her head rubbing it"don't worry kiddio it'll be safe. Someone needs to go ray place and tell her about our plan. And…yang may wanna see her"qrow said as ruby nodded but still was worried.

Qrow picked up on this as he sighed"something else troubling you kiddo?"he asked knowingly as ruby sighed looking down.

"Its just…i'm worried about a few of my friends in the group"ruby said as qrow lifted an eyebrow at this.

"Oh and who would that be kiddio?"qrow asked as ruby hestiared it seems to speak. She looked around as she sighed heavily.

"I'm worried….about Ren, Nora and rogue. "She replied

Qrow raised an eyebrow guessing he was worried how that girl was acting because she kept talking about getting payback. Along with having that small little fire in her eyes for revenge it seems.

"Your talking about how your little weapon nerd friend…may do something she'll regret"qrow said knowingly as she nodded.

"Yeah when she talked about going on this little mission for our friends. I was all abroad for it I was actually going to try and reach out to her and jaune before they came to the house"ruby replied

"But…shes been acting different lately…at beacon she would also act so relaxed. Now she just seems to get sad by the mention of our friends names. I miss them too but…they wouldn't want us to.."Ruby tried to finish but didn't want to utter those words.

Qrow sighed as he walked over placing a hand on her shoulder to reassure her"hey don't worry we'll make a stop in kuroyuri and before we leave i'll have a talk about this with her alright. "Qrow reassured as ruby smiled a little.

Soon enough the two decided to return to their rooms for the with hoping their wouldn't be any problems in the future from how the blonde tinker was acting. But they just needed to sail for another two days and they would be their.

But far into vale walking in the woods was a hooded figure. He was smiling to himself as he was walking through the woods. The woods were quiet as nothing could be heard except the footsteps from the strange man. As he continued to walk through the woods for a bit a snapping of a tree branch could be heard.

He turned to where the sound came from as he looked at it for a bit. Soon enough a pirmming of a gun could be heard behind him.

"Hands up or its your life"he threatened as the man glanced behind him seeing some bandit.

Soon enough four more people emerged from the woods with weapons pointed at him. They all seemed to be bandits and the one pointing his weapon at him was their leader.

"Lookie here seems someone decided to take a mid night stroll in our turf"a women said pointing a sword at him.

Another man laughed"yeah and this is our territory you do know what that means?"he asked the man who quietly sat their with a manically grin on his face. Something budlged under his cloak as the tip of a scoprian faunus tail could be seen.

This annoyed another man who was shorter than some"hey dumbass you listening to us?"he asked as the man turned his head over to him. Then he slowly nodded yes but smiled at him which sent shivers up the mans spine.

The bandit leader smiled"good so heres the deal…your going to drop all your gear and goods. And we let you live"he said as they sat in silence for a bit.

But as they did soon enough eh man started to chuckle a little to himself. This confused the bandits as they echanged gaze as they looked at each other.

"The hell is up with this guy?"the bandit women asked as one shrugged his shoulder.

The shorter bandit growled"hey freak quit laughing"he threatened moving toward the man with his hatchet in hand. But the man didn't stop laughing like a crazy person as he cackled away at him.

The shorter man got close looking at him as his face was still obscured by a hood. He could see his was smiling like a crazy person.

"Whats so funny?"he asked as the man grinned at him.

"Your corpse"he replied which confused the shorter man but before he knew it a mechanical noise of a weapon shifting could be heard. Then the shorter bandit got gut stabbed by something as he could feel pain in his lower abdomen. He slowly looked down to to a pair of pincher like blades in his gut.

He coughed up blood as he shook in fear right now. The other bandits were surprised by this before the leader glared.

"Open fire!"he declared as all bandits started to open fire on the strange figure. But as they did the figure then jumped back as he threw the bandits dead bodie into anohter. It cause them to topple to the ground. Then the cackling madman rushed forward as he came at the person trapped under the dead bandit.

She struggled for a bit but soon went wide eyed as the cackling man slide by as he sliced open her neck. She couldn't even scream as blood poured from her neck wound. All that could be heard was the gurgling of someone trying to speak.

A bandit with a sword got scared as he had a look of fear on his face. The remaining three soon got back to back as they looked aroun cloaked figure retreated into the tree as all they could hear is his cackling. The rustling of leaves could be heard as one of them shot at it. But it didn't hit anything.

The bandit leader narrowed his gaze"be careful boy seems were dealing with some crazy person"he warned.

The bandit with the gun nodded"yeah let just kill this guy and head back to base"he replied

The bandit with a sword was quivering as he was shaking in his boots. The cackling from that man was terrifying like he was enjoying this.

The bandit soon had a small tear escape his eyes"no…no…I don't wanna die…I quit"he said as the leader glared at him.

"You don't back out you joined the group and you commit to it. "The leader growled as the bandit who was shaking in his boots.

"Yeah what you too much of a cow–"he begun before a gunshot could be heard. The two were surprised by this but the bandit with the rifle fell down backwards dead. His eyes were open as his jaw was shot off.

The bandit looked over to see his friends jaw on the ground. The bandit who had his jaw shot off looked in fear as he slowly passed away with tears in his eyes.

The bandit leader looked around as he kept hearing rustling in the trees above and the bushes. The remaining two bandits got back to back as now the leader was scared it seems.

"Dammit boss…why did you make us…rob this guy"he cried as he shook in fear.

The leader gulped"don't know but….thanks for distracint him"the leader said which confused the bandit as the leader grabbed him and then threw him down. Then he began to run off down a dirt path toward a town it seems. While he left the other bandit their.

"You bastard! You'll pay for this!"he screamed in anger as he scrmablled upwards to chase after him. But was stopped as someone grabbed his head pulling him back. Then he could feel someone slice his throat open as he went wide eyed.

Blood ozed from his neck as he slowly looked behind him seeing the hooded figure with a as he slowly died the man spoke.

"Oh no…it seems your dear leader left you…let me fix that"he said as he aimed his wrist up to reveal a pair of gaunlents. Then he squeezed a trigger at the bandit leader who was running. Then from his wrist a hail of bullets shot foward toward the bandit leader hitting him in the knees as he fell down to the ground.

He could hear the bandits leader crys of pain as the bandit who had his throat sliced open smiled a little. Because the bastard got what he deserved and soon enough he slowly closed his eyes as he was dead. The hooded figure dropped him to the ground smiling as he looked toward the bandit leader licking his lips.

The figure slowly started to walk over to the bandit leader which took about five minutes. As he did a small trail of blood could be seen on the dirt path as the bandit leader crawled away for his life.

"no…no..I can't die….dammit…dammit"he cried as he kept crawling with all his will power to live.

The hooded man laughed"aw too bad I need entertainment"he said as the bandit leader glanced over his shoulder and went wided eyed. The hooded man was someone he rcognized from news articles years ago.

Tyrian callows a serial killer known for several murder, assualts and kidnapping all across the anima in mistral. The bandit leader just screamed in fear as he tried to crawl away while tyrian smiled as he had some time to have a little fun before going after that little rose girl.

It seems hot on their trail right now was tyrian who was going to hunt down that silver eyed girl and bring her to his queen. Though it seems we got a flashback to the day in atlas when qrow last saw summer. Thanks for reading!