In the last chapter we learned about mercury and how he met cinder, amber and emerald long ago. Also seeing how ren might be preparing himself for when he see his home again. RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. I own the OC's, AU. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 14 Orange:Kuroyuri restored part 1

It was still the middle of the night as rogue slept in her tent with ruby slept soundly close by. But rogue kept tossing and turning in her bed as sweat beated down her face. She was taking a few rapid breaths. While she did she had sweat on her face.

"No…please…don't go"rogue softly said to her self.

Ruby was sleeping next to her but could feel her kicking and moving around several times. As ruby was sleeping with a content look on her face after a few more kicks soon enough it seemed she was slowly stirring awake. The silver eyed girl eyes slowly stirred awake.

"Ughh rogue quit kicking me"rogue groiggly said but she just heard someone weeping next to her.

Ruby look concerned as she slowly got up from her sleeping bag. She looked down to rogue tossing and turning in her sleeping bag. Along with some small tears on her face she kept talking in her sleep.

"Stop…please..get away"rogue cried softly as she wrapped her arms around herself.

Ruby looked concerned as she started to shake rogue"rogue….rogue? Wake up please"ruby said quietly shaking rogue for a bit

"Please…don't…die…please"rouge muttered as a ruby looked worried as she shook her around more soon enough rogue eyes shot open.

Rogue shot up gasping with fear in her eyes as she was taking several rapid breaths. Sweat beated down her forehead as her eyes were wide open. She looked around from above and the sides several times before looking at ruby.

"Oh…hey ruby something up did I wake you up?"rogue asked nervously with a forced smile.

"Um a little you kept kicking me"ruby replied

"My bad…I move around alot in my sleep is all..night"rouge quickly said as she got back in her sleeping bag.

"Rogue were you having a nightmare?"ruby questioned as rogue flinched a little at what she asked

"Pfft me having a nightmare don't be silly…i'm fine"rogue said turned away from ruby as she pretended to the young huntresses wasn't convince because it looked extactly like someone having a nightmare

Ruby looked at her before pinching rogue ear slightly, after a bit of time rogue sat back up looking at ruby who looked at rouge. Soon enough ruby let her ear go as she went crossed legged.

"Look rogue…I heard you talking in your sleep do you wanna talk about it?"ruby softly asked

Rogue looked away crossing her arms"no i'm fine….I just need some air"rogue said as she got up as she wore her new attire getting out of the tent. Ruby looked at her before following her outside of the tent.

Right now it was probably four am in the morning right now as the night sky was still out. The camp fire was put out as a small wisp of smoke was in the air. Mercury was up as the cranking of a bolt could be heard as he was doing maintenance on his legs.

He looked up at the two"hey you two are up pretty early"he replied

Rogue rubbed her arm"Well yeah you know the saying early nevermore gets the worm"she replied as she looked away.

"Heh yeah though umm where jaune"ruby asked as she looked in mercury and jaune tent seeing him not their.

Mercury shrugged his shoulders"beats me he went to bed for a bit but then got up about an hour ago"he answered

Ruby raised an eyebrow at this"wait he hasn't come back yet?"ruby qeustioned which made rogue look worried.

"Why didn't you go with him?"rogue questioned as mercury shook his head.

"Hey I tried though he didn't go far"mercury said as he was done tightening his leg as he stepped on them for a second. Then he walked a little from the campsite pointing toward a small direction.

"He said he wanted to get some pratice in this morning"mercury replied pointing down the path.

Ruby looked down the path to see a figure that looked like jaune who was praticing his sword swing several times.

"Okay…we'll go check on him keep an eye on everyone alright"Ruby said as mercury nodded. Ruby and rogue walked past him toward where jaune was.

The two walked for five minutes until they walked over seeing jaune praticing with his sword right now. He had it drawn out as he posed with it along with his shield up. The two hide behind a bush as they watched.

"Whats going on?"ruby whispered as rogue shushed her.

"Don't know but maybe he–"she begun before a familiar voice called out to her.

"Alright jaune like we pratice with rogue and zane. Follow these insturcitons. Shield up"pyrrha voice could be heard.

Rogue looked over to see a nearby rock that had jaune scroll on it while jaune looked at it.

Jaune raised his shield up to his head so that only his eyes were seen.

"Keep your grip tight"she instructed as he tighten his hands on his sword.

"Keep your foot keep as well"she added as he already was on the next step.

"Ready?go"pyrrha said as jaune lunged forward through the air with a slash. Then he upwards slashed to the sky. Then he raised his shield up high then jabbed his sword forward.

"Ok again"pyrrha said as jaune repeated the same action this time but he had a pained look on his face. Then after he did it he stoped as he looked toward the video.

Pyrrha smiled in the video"okay now…if you aren't cheating. We can take a small break"she said with a small giggle as jaune stood upright and sighed closing his eyes. Ruby and rogue watched this play out as rogue tighten her grip a little.

She recalled pyrrha making a few training videos for jaune back in beacon after they started to date. She wanted to make sure he was always prepared.

"Jaune I know things can be frustrating at time but….all this effort you put may be small. But I want to know i'm happy to call you my leader and boyfriend. I'm also very proud of you..your so determined to better yourself at times. "She begun as jaune soften his gaze for a second.

In the video pyrrha turned her head sighing heavily for a moment"but i want to let you know i'll still love you always"she said with happiness in her voice as jaune let a small tear well up. Then the scroll video stopped as rogue looked at him.

"Alright we should go"ruby suggested whispering getting up but rogue looked at jaune.

She had inferno strapped to her back and she hasn't remembered the last time her and him been a long time and she decided to show herself as she emerged from the bushes. Ruby looked surprised at what she was going.

Jaune heard the rustling of the bushes as he turned to see the two their.

"Oh hey guys….uhh your up early…whats up?"jaune asked as he covered the scroll as another video was loading.

"Nothing just couldn't sleep is all…what are you doing over here?"rogue questioned as ruby sheepishly showed herself with a pained look on her face.

Jaune rubbed the back of his head"nothing just praticing a little to hone my skills"he replied smiling a little.

Rogue smiled as she grabbed inferno from her back as she pressed a button summoning the axe as jaune looked at her.

"You wanna spar for old times sake?"rouge questioned as jaune looked at the scroll and rogue noticed this. Soon enough a video feed appeared of a boxing gym as soon enough her leader appeared

"Sup jaune if your seeing this I got some stuff colt wanted you to see"zane voice could be heard as she looked at him surrpsid.

"When did he send this?"she asked looking at jaune who had a soft expression.

"Umm during break when we went to colt gym. I didn't really like the place so much on account it was…"jaune tried to find the words.

"Its full of people who are ten times your size"she said as jaune nodded

"Yeah"he said looking at the video playing out. Jaune looked at his shield as he set his shield and sword down which confused rogue. Then she noticed what he was doing as she collapsed inferno setting it near his stuff.

Then she stood by jaune as the two faced the video. She saw her partner in a pair of black running pants with a dark blue hoodie tank top with his hands wrapped jumping around.

"Since we've praticed sword play with pyrrha and firestarter. And since you and winchester helped me find this place."zane begun as he cracked his neck in the video.

"I'll show you something the old man showed me"he said but another voice piped up.

"I'm not that old little Z"a voice called out presumably colt as zane mickmicked him in the video with his hand making rogue chuckled a little.

Ruby looked at her for a second smiling but also looked down while the two continued.

"Ok follow me lead"zane begun as he raised his arms up in a boxing stance and moved his feet in ward. Jaune copied the position perfectly as rogue took a few seconds to get into it. After a bit she did as she looked at the scroll.

"Alright jab"zane said as jaune jabbed the air with his left hand and rogue followed.

"Cross"zane said as jaune threw a cross punch with his right hand and rogue followed it for a bit but nailed it it seems.

"Rear hook then watch out for the uppercut"zane said as he threw a punch in the video but then pretended blocking someone punch.

Jaune threw a rear hook then put his arms together to block something. Then rogue did the same thing but a little slower. Her partner kept rattling off a few more moves for a bit until the two stopped as the video was slowly stopping it seems.

She looked at it seeing zane smiling in it at the camera"nice work…jauney boy, keep this up and you may not to rely on that butter knife of yours from your ancestor. Though you never know when you'll lose your weapon. Be ready and keep up the work man. Should see if my partner might like this"he said as the video stopped as rogue stood their looking at it for a bit with a small smile.

But she looked down because she recalled him asking her if he wanted to try it during break. She sort of refused because she didn't want to at the time since she was busy upgrading inferno. He understood and let her continue on her work.

She sighed as jaune looked at her walking over placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey if you want…me and you can spar once we get to kuroyuri and haven"jaune asked as rogue smiled at this.

"I'd like that…it nice seeing him like that"rogue replied as ruby looked at the two with worry on her face.

She cleared her throat getting their attention"lets get back to the others their probably awake"Ruby said as the two agreed as they walked back to the others.

Back in mistral oscar was walking down a dirt path humming to himself as he walked along it. He left about three days ago as he left a note for his aunt to find but to ozpin it was necessary for what is to come. Oscar managed to get a few more answers from him about alot of thing more importantly his former lifes he had liverd as the former headmastwer which he wasted little time explaining about them. For his choice of weapon it was an axe his father left him after dying eight years ago. Then his mother past as his aunt took him in.

Right now he was talking to ozpin in his head as he ate an apple.

"So tell me about your life with will vincent again?"oscar asked in his head as he ate the apple.

Ozpin sighed in relief it seems"Will vincent that man was such a trickster back in the day. I could hardly stand him at times since I was such a snob for the rules back then"ozpin explained.

"Really were you that bad back then?"oscar thought as he was taking another bite of the apple.

Ozpin chuckled"yes though he taught me many skills such as espionage and some locksmithing. Though right now we need to make it to the next town"ozpin added as oscar finished the apple and he pulled his back as he placed it inside of it.

"Okay then once we reach their where do we go next?"oscar thought so he didn't look crazy.

"We head to higanaban first. Then we travel to kuroyuri to meet some of the branwhen tribe who are helping rebuild the town. Then we can get some transportation and its a straight shot to mistral"ozpin explaiend

"Alright but why are we heading to this town?"oscar thought

"Because if I recall their a small train station here that can take us most of the way to higanbana. "Ozpin replied

"But it would take days to get across that terrain if they don't offer a mode of transportation to us"oscar asked in his head.

"You'd be correct we need a mode of transportation though from my existmation it will take us about three weeks to get their. For the town two days then for the train ride about ten hours. After that it'll take us about four days without transportation crossing its terrain. "Ozpin started as oscar sighed.

"Let me with transportation it'll take us about two weeks to get their"oscar asked the obvious as ozpin hummed at this.

"Yes but from what I recalled it'll be long journey oscar"ozpin said as oscar chuckled at this.

"Well we got plenty of time you can tell me some stories about your old lifes to pass the time for these boring walks"oscar said as ozpin chuckled at this as the two kept making their way toward the town.

Back with rogue and the others everyone was already packing up the campsite as they were easy to compact together. Ren was packing up a tent as he glanced out of the corner of his eyes seeing the three.

"Ah their you three were did something happen"he asked

"No were good just getting some early more pratice in"rogue replied as she walked over helping mercury pack up.

"Yeah early morning pratice..you guys sleep okay?"ruby replied

"It was great I slept fine"nora replied softly to ruby surprise a little.

Qrow stood up cracking his back"alright lets pack up the gear grab our ride then head to kuroyuri. Should be about four hour if we start heading their now."Qrow said

"Great then lets go"ruby siad as they packed up the tents and other items they had. But she glanced over at rogue who seemed to be smiling but at the time a hint of sadness on her face. She sighed as it seems she was still grieving. But she didn't want to be a bother right now

Packing up easy for them since their was alot of them and soon enough they made their way back to the jeep and loaded it up. Then after that qrow started the engine as they drove down the dirt road for about a couple hours.

After about two hours they noticed something weird and it was very off. They dealt with a few grimm in the area that came at their jeep. But they used their firearms on them dealing with them quickly.

Though their wasn't alot of them which was weird and qrow worried about it too.

"Has anyone noticed their hasn't been that many grimm around lately?"ruby said

"Yeah I noticed that are you using your semblance ren?"jaune asked as ren shook his head.

"Yes after the first couple attack I thought it be smart to use it for a bit"he replied

"Smart idea though how much longer till were their?"rogue said

"Another two hours until we wind around some rocky terrain. Then we'll meet the group we sent here and stock up and help out if they need assistance"he replied as they kept the pace up.

However farther away from them still following the tire tracks was tyrian as he smiled licking his lips anxious to find his new toys.

After they travel for another hour they came to a strange sight which was a wagoon destroyed in the middle of the road. Qrow stopped the jeep as he shut the engine off looking at it.

"Ummm thats weird what with the wagoon here?"jaune asked as he slowly got out of the jeep alongside rogue, mercury,qrow and ruby.

The wagoon was smashed in as small pieces of supplies decorated the ground. Qrow walked up looking at the wagoon seeing that someone or something didn't want the supplies getting to it destination.

"Hmm looks like someone didn't want someone getting these supplies"qrow said

"Yeah but was this some merchant or supply convoy or something?"rogue asked as she picked up a small bottle that wasn't smashed. It was disinfectant and it was still sealed with a cork.

Ren was in the truck looking around and more importantly at their approaching destination kuroyuri. He still coukdn't belvie his home was being restored but he also worried about that thing still living here.

He began to look around close to the woods and as he did he noticed the glint of a scope. He went wide eyed as he pulled nora down as a sniper shot rang out. Everyone went wide eyed as they all scrambled for cover.

"Dammit its an ambush!"mercury shouted behind cover with jaune and ruby.

"Yeah but where are they?"rogue asked as she ducked her head.

Qrow looked around the jeep corner as he heard air being released because the sniper shot one of his tires. He looked toward the forest as six men were walking down the path. But one of them stood out to qrow as he was a tall man who seemed to be in his late twenties with medium length dark brown hair and light blue eyes. He was a long sleeve shirt colored jet black under a winter jacket with fur on the top of it. It was color lightish maroon. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans with brown boots. Along with pouch on his right thigh and a holster carrying a magunum pistol. But on his back was a cane knife. On his right shoulder was the branwhen tribe symbol.

Qrow groaned at this"god dammit Koa"qrow said getting their attention as they looked at him.

"You know these bandits?"jaune questioned

Qrow immediately knew who that was because he was one of his captains second in commands here. The men on the hill pointed their weapons at the group.

"Careful these might be those cultist freaks reinforcements"koa said

"Yeah though he kinda looked like qrow"a tribe warrior replied

Koa threw his hand up"pfft no it isn't I heard from raven he's still back in vale"he dismissed as he looked at the car below. As he did soon enough qrow emerged glaring at the group as koa looked shocked. But he also knew he was in trouble right now.

"Ah crap"koa said as he put a hand up telling the sniper to stop as they slowly emerged from their perch.

Koa and the brandwhen tribe warriors walked down toward qrow and his group. The branwhen warrior was nervouse as hell right now.

"Hey qrow….what are you doing here?"koa questioned nervously as qrow glared at him.

"Oh nothing just coming by with some students while i;m on my way to haven. Then I decide to check on your guys progress here since we gotta cut through here"qrow began as he walked over toward koa as the tribe member backed away from the two.

"Then i'm investigating this attack wagoon and then we get shot at by your sniper. What the hell koa?!"qrow said jabbing a finger in koa chest.

"Look man we thought you were with those freaks that have been hounding us for the last week"koa rreplied as qrow raised an eyebrow.

"Umm freaks what are you talking about?"jaune asked

"Yeah are they the ones who smashed up this supply wagoon or something?"ruby added

Koa nodded"yeah we were expecting some of our guys with a couple of the villagers here to come back from town with supplies last week. "Koa begun as he looked at the jeep then titled his head for his men to fix the tire.

They got to work as koa rubbed his eyes"then out of nowhere one of our warriors comes back with an injured villager. "He continued

"Alright but who exactly attacked them?"rogue asked trying to get to the point.

Koa shrugged his shoulder"don't know some freaky cultist or something"he replied which made the group a little confused.

"Cultist?"nora asked scratching her head at this.

"People who have great devotion to a person, idea or object. Sometimes led by a prophet"Ren simply replied

"Okay but do you know who attacked the wagoon?"qrow asked

"Sort of we've been waiting them out here for the last day since a scout spotted them scaving the wagoon left here. But then some grimm destroying it. Though they had these"koa said as he dug into his pocket to pull something out.

Koa pulled out a small piece of armor that was scratch up and it looked like a shoulder pauldron but three claws marks were on it but a strange symbol was on it.

Ruby studied it for a second"hmm that kinda looks like an eye"ruby pointed out as mercury was leaning agains the hood of the jeep. He raised an eyebrow at this as he walked over snatching the armor from koa hands.

"Hey what the hell kid?"koa asked as mercury studied it.

Rogue looked at him because he looked surprised to see something like this it seems.

"Merc? You okay have you seen it before or something?"rogue questioned.

"Yeah…its the unseen eye"he replied which confused the group how exactly he knew about them.

"Wait, don't tell me you were in a cult?!"nora questioned excited a little but quickly slinked back down

"Yeah you don't look like the type to be in a cult"jaune added

He shook his head"no these…these are the guys that were after me and my dad"he replied as they all went wide eyed at this.

"Wait…but why would they be here I thought they were assassin?"rogue asked

Qrow sighed"look lets grab the jeep then make our way to kuroyuri we'll get more information about these freaks their got it"Qrow said as they refocused on their branwhen tribe members got the tire fixed as qrow got in driving the jeep at a steady pace following the them along side the car They continued onward toward the town of kuroyuri.

But with yang and her group they were already packed up as they drove through a small forest path. As they did yang kept the bike going at a steady pace to avoid emerald being thrown out of the back. Emerald had her scroll out as it had a local map of the area for now.

"Alright you said the outpost is here?"merald as pointing to what looked to be a small little area.

Yang nodded"yeah once we get their we grab anything just incase we run into trouble out here"she replied

"Okay, but what do you think we might run into?"bashira asked as she held onto yang.

Yang thought for a moment before responding"maybe some grimm or something I don't know"yang replied

"What about bandits?"emerald asked

"That shouldn't be a problem if the branwhen tribe are in the area"yang reassured

"It better be rather not deal with some warlord or something out here"bashira added

They continued to drive through the woods toward their destination hopefully not running into trouble along the way. But near the forest of the village of kuroyuri was a group fo purple roped figures. They were all gathered around someone infront of someone with robes like them. Along with a staff that was spherical object that sembled a smoky crystal ball covered with bone like plates and spikes. It had six long red tentacles that are wrapped around it.

The cloaked women raised her arms as the people in the robes kneeled.

"Soon we shall take over that pitiful town for you my queen"she said as the crystal like ball glowed a little.

"For our queen"the other said in unison as a familiar witch figure could be seen in the crystal ball.

Seems qrow and company ran into quite a problem now since they ran into some of his tribe...crazy cultist. Though seems rogue and jaune are bonding over their shared loss, but ruby seems worried by that behavior. The unseen eye who are a creation of my own along with koa who is my OC