Disclaimer:

The works of Rooster-Teeth and their characters are their own and that of the mighty Oum. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...

Oum Damn It!

Date Published: 24th Dec 2018

Chapter Title: Tidings to come

Genre: Dan Brown AU, No Grimm

Part 1

~~Scene 1~~

(2 days later – Mistral, 5 miles off the coast of Kurasou Port, 1012 hours)

"Steady now lads, steady..." The old sailor with a long brown beard and a thick cigar in his mouth called out to his crew as they raised the old sarcophagus from the ocean bed using the crane installed on their refurbished tugboat and were now preparing to lower it down on the flat bed for their guest to examine the item. "We are at the home stretch people so don't mess this up okay!"

"On it boss!" They called out to him as they pulled the cables secured to the artifact. Slowly but surely the sarcophagus was lowered gently onto the dry surface alongside other relics they managed to dredge up from the seabed. It has been quite the undertaking for the crew but they persevered knowing that a piece of history could be saved from the ravages of time and nature. Soon enough the sarcophagus joined the rest of the relics, leaving the old sailor to puff out smoke in satisfaction while the crew cheered loudly at a job done.

"All right lads, we got what we came for. Go take five, I will get our adventurer Jaune out to check these items." The old man told them.

"No need, I am already here." The old sailor and a few of the crew turned to find a blonde-haired young man walking towards them with excitement in his blue eyes. He was dressed simply in a white shirt and beige shorts that ended above his knees and wore sneakers that had seen better days, but the amount of youthful energy coming off him as he went to the sarcophagus was evident.

And he had every right to be excited. This particular excursion had been on the minds of Jaune's and Oobleck's for a year now, mostly because of the amount of research done and the amount of red-tape that needed to be done before they could set off on this journey. But they did not let it get to them so easily; the excursion involved the finding and excavation of a lost temple that used to be on an island that went under a few thousand years ago, and it was Oobleck's belief that this could hold a key to a missing piece of Mistral's history as well as a small portion of Vale's. About a week before the excursion, Oobleck brought Jaune to his private study and told him that he had another dig coming up so he was giving Jaune free reign on this, something that shocked Jaune to his bones. He had been on solo jobs before but this was the first time that he would be handling a big dig without his mentor. Oobleck waved his concerns away and told him that he would be waiting for the result.

With that endorsement, Jaune made sure to go all out and got Mr Collin's crew to help since they had used his services around Mistral in the past. The old sailor was tickled at the idea the young man was now flying solo for this job and helped out in whatever way he could. It took a little over three weeks but they had finally got it done.

"Ah! Here we go..." Jaune inspected the relic with a keen eye, occasionally removing a seaweed from it to get a view of the symbols still present on it. After a while he drew back with a nod and a smile. "Mister Collins, I am most pleased with you and your crew, you have done this a lot faster than I had anticipated."

"Well, when you have one of the best salvage teams around Mistral, you can bet that we will deliver the goods in record time." Collins smirked as the crew around them let out their agreement.

"Indeed, and for that you definitely earned your commissions and more, such as..." Jaune turned to face the crew with a big smile. "Once we get back back on land and get these on the truck, first round of drinks at Yuri's Bar is on me gents!" That earned him a resounding cheer and applause as the men got ready to return to port.

"Lad, hope you got a big wallet, cause we can drink quite a bit for the first round." The old sailor chuckled at Jaune.

"No worries there, I still have a fair bit from my last trip, and this latest haul is going to make up for it at least ten times over." Jaune waved it away.

"You are something Mister Arc. You and Doctor Oobleck sure know how to treat us guys for a job done." Collins remarked while slapping his back.

"Hey, you guys do a great job on our trips, it is only fair that we repay it in kind and more." Jaune shrugged while hiding his wince from the back pain. He turned to look at all the relics around him with a slightly hopeful expression. "You think he will like this haul?"

"Kid, I think you will make him a very happy man." Collins guffawed loudly while taking another breath of the smoke. Jaune smiled thinking of the professor who had done a lot for him and how he hoped to surprise him with this.

"Yeah, guess you are right on that."

~~Scene 2~~

(3 hours later, Kurasou Inn)

Jaune sighed as the hot water heated his body and relieved it of the aches and pains resulting from this long trip. It took a lot longer than expected to unload the relics and get them cataloged before moving them to the rented storage unit for cleaning, there was so much red tape involved to get them recognized as there were still some officials trying to get a bigger cut than stipulated, not helped since he was a relative 'newbie' in the area he would be the easier target. Thankfully Collins was there to settle matters via the old 'sailor-wrangling' method, aka grab the officials by the ankles and dangle them over the ship with the occasional baiting from his gleeful men to gather the fishes and rare sharks.

That man helped him save a lot of lien and time.

There was still some paperwork that needed to be done, not to mention a few more weeks of cleaning and proper restoration to be done for the relics before they made their way to the museum for the final checks and display, but all the work was now paying off and he could not wait to share the news with Oobleck. Collins and his crew already started the tab when he returned, and he could almost feel his wallet dying at the amount they were drinking. At least it was just the first round and Collins was keeping an eye on them since they still needed to be level-headed for the next day. Already a few had opted out of the heavy drinking, preferring to enjoy the comfort of the rooms.

The sounds of the wood floor creaking stopped his washing of the hair temporarily and made him looked to the door with narrow eyes. Despite appearances, both Oobleck and Jaune don't mind the simple necessities as being on the field meant such things would be a rarity, and with some locations having rather corrupt officials, it would be better to have some extra lien just in case. The inn was one such example where the accommodations may not be five star glamour, but with a dining room, a bathroom and a kitchen, it was more than enough for Jaune with an added bonus; the creaky floor boards act as a security measure for him in case some tried to enter his room without permission since only he would know where the weak boards were. It was always a hazard for Oobleck and Jaune when people wanted to steal their research or to take them hostage for whatever valuables they have found. One of the more extreme cases came about when they had unwittingly taken something from a tribe and they hunted the two down. It took a fair amount of talking to clear up the misunderstanding and to exchange the relic with something else.

Thank goodness for Oobleck's linguistic talents.

The sounds of the wood creaking getting closer prompted Jaune to wash off the soap and stop the water before creeping to the towel rack to grab both the towel and the gun he kept with him. He was not a good shot but a foot away and he can get a good hit in the chest if needed. After securing the towel around the waist, Jaune slowly turned the door knob and peered around the corner, then just as slowly and keeping to the planks that were secured properly. He stopped at the corner that lead to the dining room and grabbed the small mirror on the table to peer around it. From the reflection, he could see three individuals dressed in normal slacks and could pass for regular folk if not for the dark military boots and the weapons they have on hand.

This was going to be problematic, he had to time it right. Jaune took a deep breath to steady himself before creeping around the corner and getting behind the closest intruder. With a pause to check the other two, Jaune reached and managed to cover the mouth of his target before using the butt of his gun to hit the head to knock him out and dragged him away to hide him. With a quick check, Jaune snuck up to his second target to silence him as well. Unfortunately that one was turning to find the missing friend and spotted Jaune, yelling as he leveled his weapon at him.

Jaune cursed as he dived for cover behind the kitchen counter-top as the attackers opened fire on him, causing a few pots to hit the ground with bullet holes and a few broken pottery to follow suit. Jaune made his way around it and took a couple of shots at the offenders to distract them before rushing over and grabbing the closest intruder, twisting his hand to make him drop the weapon before placing an arm around his neck and used him as a shield.

"Put down that gun and I don't have to hurt your companion." Jaune shoved the gun in his hand at the intruder's temple while glaring at the other man.

"What makes you think he is my companion?" That man laughed as he turned to face Jaune, revealing the tattoo on his neck Jaune recognized to be the mark of the Branwen Bandits, one of, if not The, most notorious bandit groups around in Mistral. "Those two are just hired guns for me to find you." To illustrate that, that man raised his weapon and fired two rounds at Jaune's human shield, causing that man to cough out blood as he died slowly. Jaune could only let go and stared at the light leave that man's eyes.

"Now that the distraction is gone." The Branwen pointed the weapon at Jaune "Time to collect my pay. I would prefer that you come with me willingly, some clients of mine are waiting to meet you." Jaune was about to tell him where he could point that gun at when at the corner of his eye he spied Collins and 2 of his men sneaking up from behind. Collins motioned with his hand to get Jaune to continue distracting that intruder.

"Who are your clients, any one of them I know?" Jaune pointed the gun at the intruder hoping to get answers and distract the man. "Let me guess, the Nobunaga Clan, or the Tesla Family? Those guys never appreciated how Doctor Oobleck was able to beat them to the prize back in Vacuo. Wait~ Please don't tell me it is the Malfoy family, those assholes never shut up about that article we made about the supposed 'pure-blood' line they kept trying to bribe us to get their names in."

"Haha, no one that silly, and especially not one as pretentious as those Malfoys." The Branwen bandit spat that last bit with a look that spoke of past transactions with them. "No, my clients are a little different. They have been on the lookout for historians with certain skills and are offering good money for anyone bringing them in alive. This is my lucky day since I found you hiring that crew to hunt down that lost temple in the sea."

"Well lucky you then." Jaune smiled in a manner that got the intruder on alert. That did not help him when Collins and his crewmen took that moment to smack the gun out of his hand and body-piled on him to keep him there.

"Well that was a thing." Collins wiped his brow while his sailors tied the man up liked a trussed-up turkey. "Well at least who are not on the list that want you now."

"Yeah, though that bit about the historians is getting me worried." Jaune frowned as he emptied out the gun of its ammunition. "I have heard some rumors on the way here but I did not put that much stock in it. Maybe I should check in on Doctor Oobleck?" Collins was about to reply when they heard a couple of squeaks and turned to find two of the female staff members standing at the doorway with their backs facing them.

"Mi… Mister Arc, you have a phone call at the service desk!" The younger girl with her hair done in a bun stammered out her reply.

"Okay then I will be right down then." Jaune answered only to get an even bigger squeal from the two women when they took a peek at him and blushed heavily. What was wrong with them?

"Lad, that is fine and all, but before that..." Collins pointed to Jaune with a toothy smile. "You might want to put on some pants." That was when Jaune remembered that he had been wearing a towel earlier and at some point it came loose, thus exposing himself to the elements without meaning to.

Crud.

"I will go and get changed, then I will get the phone." Jaune bent to grab the towel that was on the floor and secured it around his waist again.

"Better get it done soon." Collins gave a smirk that made Jaune want to smack his head hard. Instead he grumbled and moved to his room to at least get some pants on. He was closing the door just as the voice of the older woman rang out with words that made Collins and the crewmen fall to the ground laughing their asses off.

"Now THAT is a katana!"

'Son of a bit~!'

Part 2

(2 days after Oobleck's death, Outer Reaches of Vale)

Drops of water resounded in the tunnels as Emerald made her way through them, the small lamps casting odd shadows on the walls and with the echoes in the tunnel, made everything seemed to come alive in the darkness. It also stunk of sewage, dust and something so foul that it made her dry-heaved a few times on the way.

Truth be told, Emerald would really not want to be entering their safe-house in this manner, but it seemed the police were a lot quicker than her crew had anticipated and put up road-blocks to check everyone, not helped when there was surveillance footage of Oobleck's attackers. Thankfully the top of her body and more importantly her face was hidden but she was still noticeable and she would rather not take any chances. The henchmen she had borrowed for the capture of Oobleck could blend in by removing their masks and switching out their clothing, she did not have that option early on. After she had reached the outskirts of the city, she hitch-hiked on a bus to the outer perimeter of the state before taking one of the pickup trucks meant for her escape. After a day's worth of driving and changing of disguises because of the border checks, she abandoned her vehicle and went to an old building that had old tunnels connecting all over the area, one of which was the one used to get to the docks where the safe-house was.

Oddly enough, that was not the main focus of her problems. They were able to get more information from Oobleck about the lost kingdom of Vale and the supposed location of its king than any of the previous historians combined. That was at least the proof they needed that he was the best in the field. But the man was stubborn to resist all of their interrogation methods and ended up denying them the final piece of the puzzle, and Emerald was afraid of how the news would affect her boss.

All too soon and much to her relief, she had arrived at the ladder that led to the outside world. She took a moment to check her equipment before grabbing the first rung and started climbing the ladder to where the hidden manhole cover was. Lifting it a tiny bit to peek through, she quickly lowered her head as the patrolman in the area was moving his flashlight in her direction, muttering a few curses that would be considered downright rude for children to hear. After a while the patrolman continued on, leaving her in the darkness. She waited one more minute before lifting the cover and leaving her hiding place, placing the cover back neatly to hide it properly. With a quick glance, she left the spot and made her way to a warehouse close by. She paused by the door and looked around once more before knocking it in a pattern. A sliding partition opened up to reveal one of the masked men looking at her briefly before closing. Sounds of bolts being moved soon followed and the door was opened for Emerald to make her way inside.

Time to face the music.

Emerald walked around the stacks of crates meant to give the illusion of the placed being used for storage and to hide the light from being seen outside of the windows, the sounds of people talking and moving equipment getting louder as she got closer. Around the last corner, Emerald found a few of the men sent to help her earlier now back in the warehouse and dressed in street clothes for them to leave without getting recognized. In one corner, a group of them were moving crates containing the weapons to be used soon. In another corner, a truck was getting loaded with some of the equipment as part of evacuation orders.

"Is Cinder around?" Emerald asked the closest masked man who was picking up his rifle.

"She is at the office going through some of the documents." The faunus replied. She nodded and made her way to the staircase leading to the office where her boss was. She took a little longer than needed to climb the stairs to get her story straight in her head, then with another quick breath and check, she opened the door and let herself in.

"Welcome back, Emerald." The soft and sultry voice drew her attention to the far end of the room where her boss was viewing a pin-board covered in diagrams and documents. Her boss turned to reveal a woman of a dark and lustful beauty, with her raven-black locks of hair cascading to her shoulders and covering one of her amber-gold eyes that seemed to gleam in the light, pale skin that helped to accentuate it and her hair, and an hourglass figure with all the right curves shown off by a tight-hugging dark-red, off-the-shoulders V-neck mini-dress with her long legs on full display.

"So my dear Emerald, what news you bring to me?" Cinder walked to her slowly with her arms crossed under her chest and a notable swaying of her hips. Emerald gulped lightly from the display and the expected behavior Cinder might have upon hearing her news.

"We were able to obtain a fair amount of Oobleck's research, it is at least double than all the other historian's combined. Some of it is confirmation of what we have gathered from the others and a lot more that we did not anticipate." Emerald started to report what she had found. "It is clear that Oobleck has unearthed a whole lot more than what the legends had spoken off, and there are trials to them. Traps more likely to deter all but those who followed the old king and the group opposing us"

"Oh?" Cinder sat herself on the desk nearest to her and crossed her legs while tilting her head and giving an alluring smile. "Tell me more~" Emerald shifted slightly from the sultry tone Cinder was making and thankful for her tanned complexion to hide the blush on her cheeks.

"Oobleck has theorized that there are a few trials to get to the prize, each one designed to test the person in different manners." Emerald started talking while taking out a scroll to connect to the projector and displayed the photos taken. "The first trial is something that we thought was just a way of stopping others from following. In actual fact, it is one trial that forces those who wish to join the order to take the other trials with a series of markers as their guides."

"The second trial starts at the second marker, it is called 'The Path of Penitence'." Emerald switched to a picture that showed a drawing of an old mural displaying a man kneeling on the ground before a ball of light, "based on Oobleck's translations, 'Those who walked forth pridefully before the breath of god will suffer his swift wrath. Only the penitent man shall be allowed to pass.' I have no idea what that means."

"Intriguing." Cinder hummed as she looked at the images.

"Third trial called 'The Tower' starts at the next marker. While the other historians speak of this as the coming of doom, Oobleck is of the belief that it may be a literal tower that is supposed to keep something that leads to the fourth marker." The next image showing a sketch of a stone tower with indications and quick scribbles around it was shown, followed shortly of photos of certain areas that showed either symbols similar to it or constructions.

"The fourth trial is something of an oddity. From what Oobleck was looking into, he has a fair number of doubts about it."

"How so?" Cinder tapped a finger to her chin as she looked on in interest.

"The name is 'The Tears of God'. The description of the trial is not clear because the symbols used can be given double or even triple meanings based on its placement in a sentence." Emerald answered as she switched to a picture depicting a face mural of a woman with tears running down her face with a small figure underneath that in a manner that the figure was getting drenched under.

"My my, the good doctor is certainly thorough with his research. It is a good thing that we held off on getting him first since he would likely have more time to decipher the text." Cinder spoke in genuine admiration for the doctor's intellect.

"The exact details stopped around the fifth marker." Emerald looked guilty at this point. "He was able to write out his theories on it and possibly the details of the sixth marker, but his notes ended there. What I can say is that he has kept more notes on it elsewhere so we may need to check his house."

"What theories did he have on the fifth?" Cinder waved her hand to her.

"From what I gathered from the information we had obtained, there is the possibility that there are 2 trials for that marker. One is called 'The Word of the Gods' and the next is 'The Veil of Desires'. The first describes how one who walks in the footsteps of the Gods shall proceed on. The second is something that Oobleck was uncertain but he had given his theories that those who can overcome their desires shall be welcomed into the arms of the order." Emerald answered. "He also added a note that gong forward would see more trials at each marker, he did not state the number of markers or trials in the end."

"I see, well at least we actually have confirmation on these." Cinder then turned to her with a steady gaze. "What of the final prize?" Emerald's heart sunk at this point.

"I am sorry to report that Oobleck had resisted all of our interrogation methods and he died before telling us about the location of the lost kingdom and the tomb of the last king." Emerald gulped as she looked to Cinder, feeling chills down her spine as she watched Cinder's eyes seemingly glowed in the dark and her lips thinned in displeasure. "Furthermore, I could not get the starting point for which the trials would begin. For all we know, it could be in Vacuo or Atlas as opposed to Vale or Mistral."

"..."

The silence was almost oppressive as Cinder looked at Emerald with a steady gaze that made the tanned woman want to get down on her knees and beg for mercy. Then with a sigh, Cinder closed her eyes and the silence grew less daunting.

"Well it was to be expected. I had hoped for the best but knowing the good doctor's behavior he would never give it up willingly." Cinder remarked before opening her eyes to look at Emerald. "Good work Emerald, at least we now have confirmations about possible traps and that much of the work is done without us having to toll through all that paperwork." Cinder pointed her thumb over her shoulder at the desk and pin-board with documents all over them.

"Thank you, Cinder." Emerald bowed her head in gratitude, relieved she was not going to be punished.

"At least you are efficient and punctual with your work. In fact you are a lot earlier getting back than Mercury. Honestly, all he has to do is upload a virus into the SDC servers. How long does it take to do that and get back?" Cinder grumbled at their missing companion with displeasure evident much to Emerald's hidden glee.

"He is likely taking the scenic route." Emerald shrugged before adopting a serious expression. "Cinder, I have to ask. Without Oobleck, whom do we turn to next? He was the leading expert in these field of work. Not to mention that all the others before him were lackluster, anyone else in the future would not be as good as him."

"Have no fear, I have anticipated this." Cinder smiled in a manner that would give chills to those unlucky to be in her path. "My spies are keeping an eye on possible targets to go next. One in Vale had alerted me that Oobleck has sent a warning of sorts to protect his partner known to aid him on some of his excursions."

"Do we know his name?" Emerald asked only to get a shake from Cinder.

"He is using a pen-name and he is not very well-known with his real name, whatever that is." Cinder replied as she stretched her arms over her head. "What I can say is that my contacts have informed me that both Vale and Atlas have sent delegates and some men to find this person to bring him in, though which one is the question since Atlas wants to get him to translate the virus to get rid of it while Vale wants him to solve the murder. My money would be on Vale since they are closer and if the partnership is real, Ooblekc's widow would be the key to it."

"Will it be an issue for us?" Emerald asked. "We went through the trouble to create the virus so that we can get the information from their servers while infecting the other networks."

"You need not worry. Our hack team has already obtained the ones we desired and are now taking every other information we can get." Cinder smirked widely. "For a technological giant, SDC has quite a few holes in their security system that makes it so laughable and almost pathetic in retrospect."

"Seriously?"

"Yup." Cinder nodded with amusement from Emerald's disbelief. "In any case, we already gotten what we needed from the SDC and then some. We are just getting more information that might prove useful in the future." She took a glance at the watch on her wrist. "For now get some rest. We will need to go through some of the documents tomorrow and Oobleck has quite a fair number." Emerald nodded and made her way out, leaving Cinder alone in the room. She turned to look at one photo depicting the mural of the lost kingdom and a second that depicted a broken heart.

The same symbol as the one on her back.

"Very soon, I just need to be more patient." Cinder mused as she tapped her chin. "Soon we will get back what was stolen."

== Author Notes ==

Hey there, so here is the second chapter for this story idea. I am still fiddling with this a little to see how it gets received. So far it is limited but good, I will be changing the rating to get more viewers since the theme may not be as bad as I originally thought. It will probably be back to M-Rating in the future though, after all this is inspired by Dan Brown. I think a few of you can get the shout-outs from some parts. XD

I have decided to hang on to the faunus theme so that there is a reason for White Fang to be there. But I am still leery about having Semblances into the story, do you guys think I should have them in here?

So please read-and-review and let me know how you feel about this, and hopefully you stick around for more chapters of this story.

And I put my pen down for now.

Merry Christmas to you all!