Before we start this chapter I'd like to respond to the most recent guest review for Chapter 47 and the third guest review from Chapter 48.

Chapter 47's guest- I wasn't frustrated because I don't like having to defend my choices. I was frustrated because you've ignored every explanation I've given for 3-4 chapters now and insist on ignoring the fact that, as I said, it was decided by a narrow majority before I started writing the chapter with that decision and there was more support for it by the time I posted the chapter. Not only that, but one of the people against that change asked me to try to keep some white in her hair and I tried to give a compromise that they'd be at least comfortable with and you still attack that. You've commented multiple times on this and provided no constructive criticism with your "but thou must because it's canon" attitude and refusal to accept any justification or acknowledge any argument in favor of the change, while insisting on only commenting as a guest and denying me the ability to actually discuss this with you. In fact, your insistence that Weiss is just a "generic faunus OC" shows how little you care about the fact I've explicitly stated that any changes to her personality are going to be through character development, so it seems more like you want this fic written a very specific way and to hell with creativity.

I'm not sure if you're still reading, but consider this my final response to this nonsense.

Chapter 48's third guest review- I apologize, I've seen the term "lemon" used for similar scenes in many other stories on this site and looking the term up made it seem like it was the correct term. If this isn't the case and someone's willing to explain the exact differences to me, I'll be glad to change it.

Chapter 49: Rearmed and Weiss' Cloak

Xiao Long Residence, with Yang and Blake

"This is amazing!" Yang said as she pushed the door open with a smile, causing the cat faunus to roll her eyes, a slight smile on her face. "I can't wait until it's done!"

"Yang, Aurelius said he was almost done with the modifications. Just relax," Blake said causing the blonde to grin sheepishly.

"Sorry, it's just…" Yang took a deep breath. "I want to be able to help again instead of sitting here watching everyone do most of the crap for me, you know? I appreciate it, but I feel like I'm just a burden right now."

Blake wrapped her arms around the girl's neck, giving her a quick kiss. "Yang, you're not a burden… You've never been a burden. You're just having a hard time right now." She went to pull away before Yang leaned forward, returning the kiss.

"Thanks, Blake. You're amazing, you know that?" the blonde said with a warm smile before she started dragging the girl towards the stairs. "C'mon, let's congratulate Weiss on telling Jacques where to stuff it, then we can make breakfast!"

Blake rolled her eyes at her girlfriend's antics. "At least she's starting to act like her old self a bit…" As they climbed the stairs, they had no idea what to expect.

With Ruby and Weiss, moments earlier

Weiss let out a quiet yawn as she woke up, rubbing her eyes slightly before looking up. She sighed happily as she looked at the sight of the girl sleeping under her. She let out a gasp as she felt something brush along her waist. "Did she wrap her tail around me?" Weiss turned to look as best she could without waking her mate, smiling at the fur covered appendage curled around her waist. The fox leaned forward slightly, planting a gentle kiss on her lips. Ruby sighed before her eyes fluttered open, looking at the other girl with a gentle smile. "Morning," Weiss said quietly.

"Hey…" Ruby said with a yawn. "How did you sleep?"

Weiss let out a content sigh. "Better than I have in a long time…" she muttered, tail swaying in the air as she smiled at her girlfriend and mate. "I was wondering… Could we, maybe…"

"Do that again?" Ruby finished with a smile of her own. Weiss nodded and leaned forward to give the girl another kiss when the door flew open, causing the two to let out a surprised squeal.

"Hellloooo…" Yang shouted, cheerfully at first until she took a look at the bed. Her mind struggled to process the fact that she was looking at her sister and their teammate laying in bed, completely naked, with their arms wrapped around each other. "Uhhh…"

Blake spun the blonde around, glancing away from the bed with a massive blush. "We just wanted to let you know we're cooking breakfast!" Blake squeaked out in embarrassment before pulling Yang out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

The fox and wolf faunus remained where they were, blushes going down their necks before Weiss whined. "Oh god, can this day get any more embarrassing?!" she whimpered before burying her face in Ruby's shoulder.

Ruby took a deep breath. "C'mon, let's get dressed before they think we're doing something…" Weiss nodded meekly before standing up, causing Ruby to bite her lip as she briefly admired the other girl's body. The wolf quickly hopped up. "Here, let me help you get dressed, okay?" Weiss took a deep breath and nodded as she put on her bra and pajama top. Ruby quickly helped Weiss into her panties and pajama pants, giving her a few tips on how to slip her tail into the hole before getting dressed as well. The two took a deep breath before heading downstairs.

The four girls ate in awkward silence, with Ruby and Yang making an effort not to look at each other. Weiss glanced between them nervously before Blake spoke up. "Look… I know this wasn't something Yang and I were meant to see… Could we just pretend this didn't happen?"

Weiss went to respond when Yang exploded. "How can you expect me to forget that? Oh god, I'm going to have that burned into my head for the rest of my life!" she said, running her hand through her hair.

Weiss looked down with a blush. "At least nobody saw your naked ass… You're not the one who has to live with that…" Weiss muttered, causing the rest of the girls to blush.

Ruby took a deep breath. "Look… The way I see it, we have a few solutions to this. The first is that Weiss and I can lock the door before we go to bed from now on and the two of you promise to knock first before trying to barge in…" Ruby started before she looked down meekly. "Or… Weiss and I could look into moving into the Rose Quarter in Bastion." The other three girls looked at her in surprise.

"Ruby, are you sure that's a good idea?" Blake asked, getting a meek nod in return.

"Weiss is going to need to start practicing with her new abilities soon and I need to get back to my own training. It'd be easier if we were there in case we needed help," the wolf said quietly before looking at Weiss. "I mean, we don't have to live in the same place if you don't want…"

Weiss put a hand on Ruby's shoulder, smiling at her. "Ruby, it's fine… Besides…" The fox blushed before continuing. "I… kinda like waking up to see you in the morning." Ruby smiled before Yang squealed.

"Aw, that on its own is so cuuute!" Weiss glared at the blonde with a blush before she frowned. "Wouldn't that mean we wouldn't be able to visit you guys as easily though?"

Ruby frowned at the hurt and slightly scared look on Yang's face. "She really can't take anything that might look like abandonment right now…" "I mean, we could see if you and Blake could live somewhere in Bastion. I'm not sure what the requirements for living in the Rose Quarter are except having ties with the Rose family, so we could end up neighbors," Ruby said before Blake spoke up.

"It would give us better access to training areas and we'd be able to spend time with the rest of our classmates…" the cat faunus said quietly. Weiss nodded before she noticed a metallic glint from Yang's arm.

"Yang, is that an attachment point for a prosthetic?" she asked, drawing Ruby's attention to the blonde's arm.

Yang let out a squeal. "Yep! Apparently, Ironwood decided that he'd have a new arm made for me and Aurelius decided to help. It should be ready today! They had me get this attached after the concert," Yang started before looking at Weiss with a grin. "That reminds me, I really liked that song. If all classical music had an awesome guitar riff in the middle like that I'd probably be able to stay awake through them."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure if I should accept that as a compliment, but thank you. Is that where you were yesterday?"

Blake nodded. "We also thought it'd be a good idea to get you some new clothes considering none of the ones you had are meant for anyone with a tail."

Weiss nodded thankfully before Ruby smiled. "So, I guess we have a few reasons to head into Bastion today," the wolf said, drawing everyone's attention. "Weiss never got her cloak before we left." The fox's eyes widened. "That means we're going to have to get you one, right?"

Yang let out a sigh. "Seriously? I get that you guys like your cloaks, I just don't understand why you have to act like it's the most important thing in the world."

Weiss went to scold the blonde before Ruby spoke up. "What? We're not allowed to look cool while we kick ass? It's a tradition, Yang," the wolf said, causing Weiss to blink in surprise.

"Eh… I guess I can't say anything about that… Even if it does seem kinda silly," Yang muttered. "How about we just eat and then we can get going?" The group muttered in agreement before they started eating.

Bastion, Citadel Tower, Aurelius' Office

Team RWBY blinked as the door opened and sounds of barking laughter rang out, causing them to look around the room. Winter was standing to one side, rubbing her forehead as Summer tried desperately to calm a younger Qrow down. "Oh god, I thought you were lying! He actually does look like he was going to crap himself! Damn, I can't believe I missed that…" Qrow said, slowly calming down.

"Mom? Dad?" Ruby asked, head tilted to the side. "What are you doing here?" Qrow and Summer turned in surpise.

"Oh, hey petal. Blue here just needed to be brought up to speed on what's been going on around the world," Qrow said, only for Aurelius to scoff.

"Stop lying Qrow. You're here because, in the week Summer's been back, I've received forty noise complaints and twelve reports of public indecency regarding the two of you!" the Blue Rose snapped, causing the older couple to flinch before returning to reading through papers on his desk.

"Oh god, not Qrow and Summer too!" Yang whined before covering her mouth, looking meekly at Ruby.

"Wait, what do you mean by that? Yang, did you go and-" Qrow started before he saw Ruby with a blush on her face. Ruby swallowed nervously when Qrow narrowed her eyes. "Petal… what happened?"

"Nothing! Nothing happened at all!" she started meekly. Qrow continued to glare at her causing her to take a step back meekly. "Um… Well…"

Weiss took a deep breath. "I-it was me," she said, flinching as the man's eyes locked on her. "After the concert, I was having a hard time getting changed with my tail…" Weiss let the appendage sway behind her to emphasize it. "And Ruby offered to help, but there was an… incident and one thing led to another-"

"What happened?" Qrow asked calmly, surprising the two girls.

Ruby looked down meekly. "We kinda, sorta… might have become mates?" she said quickly, face as red as her cloak while Qrow blinked at them in surprise.

"So, my little girl's growing up, huh?" Qrow muttered before nodding, a grin on his face as he ruffled Ruby's hair. "I hope she took good care of you, petal."

"Daaad!" Ruby whined, a blush on her face before Qrow looked at Weiss.

"Normally I think I'd be pretty pissed at this, but considering your heartfelt declaration last night and the fact you'd decided to turn into a faunus, I'd say this wasn't just some spur-of-the-moment thing, was it?" Weiss blushed and shook her head meekly. Qrow walked up to her and put a hand on her head, ruffling her hair.

"Hey!" she squeaked out before Qrow grinned down at her.

"Just don't let her get hurt or anything, alright?" Qrow asked getting a meek nod from the fox before Summer squealed.

"Oh, the two of you are going to have the most adorable children!" she said with a grin, causing the young couple to stare at her with a blush.

"Um… Mom… Weiss and I can't… you know…" Ruby started.

"Dust is capable of wonderous things, young wolf," Aurelius said, not looking up from his paperwork. Ruby looked at him, her face going from confusion to realization before stopping on a mortified look.

"Oh gods, why did you have to put that in my head!" Ruby cried out, curling into a ball on the floor. "Someone please kill me! I can't take any more of this!"

Weiss had a scandalized look on her face as she processed the implications before it was replaced with a thoughtful look, a blush on her cheeks. "Us starting a family? What would that look like?" Images of small wolf pups and fox kits running around filled her mind and she had to bite her lip to resist the urge to squeal at the thought of Ruby telling their children a bedtime story and tucking them in for bed.

"Granted, the two of you would only be able to have daughters," Aurelius said, finally looking up. "Dust does have limits, after all…"

Yang looked at them in surprise before her eyes lit up. "Oh! How does it work exactly? I'm curious now!" she asked, causing Blake to stare at her wide-eyed.

"Wait, we haven't even done anything and she's already thinking about having a family?" Blake thought with a blush.

Aurelius looked at her hesitantly before speaking up. "Ah, Yang. I was going to contact you to let you know I finished working on your new arm," he said, noting how the girl's eyes shone. "Well, at least I won't have to explain that to her…"

"Really?! Where is it? C'mon, I wanna try it out!" Yang said with a bright grin. Aurelius let out a sigh.

"Give me a moment," he muttered before getting up, walking into a nearby room before returning with a grey prosthetic arm. Yang's eyes lit up. She smiled as Blake helped attach the prosthetic, giving a few experimental movements.

"So… What can it do?" she asked, glancing up at the Blue Rose.

"I didn't get the full schematics from Ironwood, so I can only go by what I saw while making modifications and by what he put in by my request. The casing and internals are all made of a durable, heat-resistant metal to allow it to survive the intense heat and immense force of your blows when you use your semblance. In case of emergencies, there's also a small firearm built into it. I noticed that, for some strange reason, the wrist joint doesn't have a limiter on rotation and it looks like whoever was designing it may have intended for there to be a minigun inside before that was scrapped." Yang tried it out, watching has her hand spun a full 360 degrees. "Once I got ahold of it, I added a number of Burn Materia Dust lattices to the design to power the servos, increase the force of your punches, recharge the arm's batteries, and power the Burn Dust crystal hidden in the palm." Yang hummed as a hatch opened up, grinning at the potential uses.

"Lastly, I felt that, considering how you lost your arm in the first place, you might need to adjust your fighting style and would like a way to get some revenge if you ever encounter Adam Taurus again," Aurelius stated, causing Yang to look at him in confusion. "There's a final Dust lattice built into a plate that can extend from the outside of your forearm. This Dust lattice is meant to create a thin blade of fire-" Yang grinned before clenching her fist, causing the panel to pop up and send a small jet of flame out past Aurelius' head, briefly igniting his cloak before he quickly put it out. "Which I would appreciate if you didn't try out in my office!" he shouted, more than a little alarmed while Ruby, Summer, and Weiss stared wide-eyed at the two.

Yang let out a squeak and deactivated the blade, scratching the back of her neck nervously. "Sorry! I didn't know it'd be that long!" she said meekly.

Aurelius let out a sigh. "It's fine, you didn't mean any harm," he said, glancing at the damage. "It's singed, but that's better than losing a large part of my cloak to a fire…" "Now then, Yang, Blake, Winter… Would the three of you mind waiting outside for the time being? The next part of this meeting is something that we'd prefer to keep private." Yang looked as though she would protest before Blake put a hand on her shoulder.

"Yang, I'm sure they'll tell us when we need to know, alright? Come on, how about we go take a walk through the parks?" Blake asked, getting a hesitant nod from the blonde before they quietly left.

Much to everyone's surprise, it was Winter that spoke up next. "Do you really expect me to walk out of here after recent events? I know there's something about your cloaks and the way everyone here responded to what happened earlier tells me it's more than just some sort of fashion sense," she said, crossing her arms.

Aurelius let out a frustrated sigh, tapping his fingers against the desk. "There's nothing I can do to convince you otherwise, is there?" he asked, causing Winter to look at him in annoyance. After a moment, he sat back down in his chair. "Very well. Since you're so insistent on this, I'll tell you as long as you swear to never tell anyone, including Ironwood."

Winter hesitated for a moment. "Could I keep something as potentially serious as this secret from the general?" she thought. "Then again… if I promise to keep it secret and tell someone, Aurelius most certainly would never forgive me if it's truly as significant as he makes it sound…" Winter took a deep breath before answering. "Very well… I promise that I won't tell anyone about what is said in this room."

Aurelius hummed as he placed his hand over the burned part of his cloak. "As you said, for a Rose, our cloaks are more than just a fashion sense. When a member of our family unlocks the Rose Storm, a hidden aspect causes part of their soul to bind itself to their cloak," he started, causing Winter to pale. "This results in our cloaks gaining a powerful Aura of their own, more powerful than the Aura protecting our bodies, and causes the cloak to serve as the focus of our transformative and Wind aspects of our semblance. Without our cloaks, we can't use the transformative aspect and our manipulation of Wind is more difficult."

Winter nodded slowly before Aurelius continued. "Not only that, but our cloaks therefore are a grave weakness. Any damage to a Rose's cloak damages our soul as well. If a Rose's cloak is destroyed, it can lead to anything from us being temporarily stunned until the fragments of our souls return to immediate death if a large portion of our soul is within it. This makes fire, specifically Burn-attribute semblances and Burn Dust, grave threats to our existence."

Winter swallowed slightly. "So even you…"

Aurelius nodded, removing his hand from his cloak to show it fully mended. "I'm no exception to this. I'm just as vulnerable to fire as Ruby or Summer."

Winter nodded before Weiss spoke up. "And what about me?" she asked nervously.

Aurelius tapped his fingers on the desk. "Your secondary semblance makes you an interesting case. Burn and Frost elemental semblances confer an immunity to temperatures that remains with the soul when bound to a cloak, making it far more difficult to singe, let alone burn, the cloak. This means that you are now one of the few examples of a Rose being resistant to one of our greatest weaknesses."

Weiss nodded, wide-eyed. "Oh… Okay… Wait, does that mean I can use my semblance to put out the cloak of another Rose if it's ignited?"

Aurelius smiled. "It does, actually. This makes your partnership with Ruby all the more powerful, but it also makes you into a serious threat to Salem and anyone she's taught how to use this weakness to their advantage. You and Ruby must always be vigilant when on assignments," he said before opening a drawer in his desk. "Now then, since we've covered that, it's time for you to take the last official step towards becoming a Rose." Aurelius placed a simple grey robe in the desk in front of Weiss, causing her to look at it in confusion.

"I don't think I understand why it has to be grey," she muttered, causing Ruby to put an arm around her shoulder.

"Grey's a common color that you won't find in any rose, so it helps make sure we know if you've managed to bind your soul properly or not," Ruby said, causing Weiss to look at it nervously. "C'mon, I'll help you with it, okay? Just put your hand on it wherever you want, focus on the cloak, and think about the things you truly care about."

Weiss nodded and put a hand on the grey fabric in front of her, thinking about her past and everything she thought mattered to her before turning to what was important to her. After a few minutes, she started to become frustrated before she felt a sharp pull. Weiss let out a gasp as she felt her strength drain suddenly and went to pull away, only to find herself frozen in place. A reassuring hand landed on her shoulder and she took a deep breath as a ripple went through the cloak from her hand, turning the dull grey fabric the color of freshly fallen snow. Once this was complete, Weiss felt her strength return and her mind clear as if a fog had rested on it her entire life. Colors brightened and everything felt a bit warmer. The newly-made White Rose shuddered at the feeling, removing her hand from her cloak and frowning as the effect weakened slightly.

"Fitting, considering that you're now Weiss Rose, isn't it?" Aurelius hummed. "Perhaps in more ways than one in the future considering your current relationship with Ruby."

Weiss went to speak before Ruby grabbed the fabric off the table, causing Weiss to shiver as she realized she could almost feel the contact as if Ruby was putting a hand on her shoulder. "Here, I want to see what you look like in it!" Ruby said before helping her mate into her new cloak, taking a step back. The wolf faunus looked at the girl, admiring how the cloak went with her standard white combat outfit. Ruby had pulled the girl's hood up, leaving her long hair to spill out the front over her chest.

"I'm not sure I like having the hood up…" Weiss muttered.

"Come on, Weiss, you look awesome!" Ruby said, tail wagging happily behind her, causing the White Rose to smile.

"If you say so… How about we get something to eat?" Weiss said, causing Ruby to grin.

"Sure, just one more thing," Ruby said before turning to Aurelius. "Would it be possible to have a few residences set aside in the Rose Quarter?"

The Blue Rose smiled. "If you mean one for you and Weiss and a second for Blake and Yang, I can arrange it. Go on, enjoy your date, alright?" The duo nodded before Ruby dragged her girlfriend and mate out of the office, leaving the adults in silence.

I apologize for this one taking longer than normal to write. I tend to have issues with mild depression this time of year and lose interest in things more easily, but I really wanted to finish this chapter since I started it before that hit me.

As you can see, Yang is completely unaware of the Rose family's most dangerous weakness, which makes things more than a little interesting for everyone involved. Her arm also got quite a bit of an upgrade, all the better to kick Adam's ass the next time they run into each other.

On a more entertaining note, I realized that, canonically, there's something like a six month timeskip between the end of Volume 3 and the start of Volume 4 (is this the case? Correct me if I'm wrong) and that means that White Rose, Bumblebee, and Arkos will all have been together for six months before we get to the Volume 4 equivalent for this story. This leads to… interesting implications for all three couples, especially with Ruby and Weiss just one step below being married already. Just a little food for thought…

I was talking to TheSetupMage in PMs and they brought up something I didn't think about that I wanted to share: "If you wanted, you could be the author, forever associated with the comment! "The one who we thought wasn't going to be that weird, but when he started with the asphyxiation, electrocution and temperature stuff? Gotta give credit where it's due, we got played like violins." What do you think, eh? You either just vomited/cringed a little, gave a shrug of indifference, or did some variation of laughter." I'm sharing this because it took me a realize there was in fact a time when the weirdest stuff I'd written about was Yang and Weiss being able to manipulate the temperature around them, Ruby nearly suffocating from using her semblance, and Nora being able to vaporize a Deathstalker with her semblance. Dear god, it's kind of hard to consider that "weird" now that we're dealing with flying cities, near immortals, and all the shit Dust can do…

Lastly, Bookah, one of the people I talk to the most when working on this story, started writing their own about a month ago that I've agreed to help beta read in my spare time. If you're interested in some hijinks involving Team CFVY in a more canon post-volume 3 setting, feel free to check out their story, Winter Hunt.

That's all for now, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.