AN: We made it. 50 chapters (technically). Wow. I'm so glad I've been able to write this much! Thank you all for your constant support!

I would also like to respond to Dyna-Man 21. I'm flattered that you have so much confidence in me. I would love to hear what your story ideas are, but keep in mind that I probably won't be able to make time to write it, with this story, plus grad school. If the idea is something that really lights a spark under me, then I'll definitely consider making time for it. As for your chapter idea, at this point, I'm not sure I can fit it in, since I had planned from the start to have Cinder be the one to help Ruby with her self-confidence issues.

So with all that said, here's Chapter 50!

Chapter 50

"Hey, Pyrrha," Jaune said, walking into his redheaded girlfriend's hospital room, holding a bag behind his back.

His girlfriend. Man, that felt great to say!

"Hello, Jaune," Pyrrha said in that delightful sing-song voice of hers, a giant smile on her face. He leaned forward and planted a quick, chaste kiss on her lips, the two of them blushing profusely.

Kissing was still kind of embarrassing for them.

Ah well, he was sure they'd get more comfortable with it.

"Hey, I got us something," Jaune said excitedly, making it clear that he was hiding something behind his back. She looked excited, which then got him excited. He put the bag down and pulled the goods out of it. "Ta-da!" he said, revealing that he was hiding a box of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes, a bottle of milk, and two bowls.

"O-Oh," Pyrrha said, still smiling.

"It's great, right?!" he said. "I figured since you're still stuck here, we can't go out to eat, so why not bring the food here?"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, Jaune," Pyrrha said.

"Sorry I couldn't bring anything fancier than some cereal," he said.

"Don't worry about it," she said, still smiling at him. "I don't really think the specifics matter. I'm just happy to spend time with you." Jaune put the bowls on the table next to Pyrrha's bed. He poured each of them a portion of cereal, and then added the milk. Pyrrha scooted over to give him space next her on the bed. He sat down, picked up the remote, and turned on her T.V.

"So," he said. "Anything you feel like watching?"

"Well, could we watch something on Heartmark channel?" she asked. "I've always liked those."

"Heartmark it is," Jaune said, hitting the buttons on the remote to flip to the appropriate channel. Some cheesy romance movie was on, as always on that channel, and Jaune put the remote down. The couple picked up their bowls of cereal, and each took their first bites.

Jaune, like always, savored the sweet pillowy goodness of the marshmallows.

Pyrrha had a… very different reaction.

"Ugh," she said, shuddering as she swallowed her first bite. "I can't believe I endorsed this."

"What, you don't like it?" he asked.

"U-um, it's delicious?" she said with a forced smile. Jaune chuckled.

"It's okay," he said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a package of fresh strawberries. "I got you these, too, just in case."

"Aw, Jaune," Pyrrha said happily, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him on the cheek. "Thank you."

"No problem," he said, wrapping an arm around her. She snuggled closer to him, and they both turned to keep watching the movie.

"All right, girls," Professor Port said through the scroll, "You're approaching the second dark zone. Keep an eye out for any clues about who did this! Good luck!"

"I just don't get it," Weiss said. "Why would anyone try to take down Beacon's security network in the Emerald Forest?"

"You think it has something to do with the White Fang?" Yang asked.

"I don't think so," Blake said. "This security node is for keeping track of Grimm activity in the forest. Why would they want to interfere with that? Even the White Fang know not to mess with the Academies. They'd lose whatever public support they have left overnight."

"Well, the White Fang has been doing a lot lately that you wouldn't think they'd do," Yang pointed out. "We can't really rule out the possibility."

"True."

"Besides," Ruby said. "What about that weird symbol I saw on the last terminal? That didn't belong to the White Fang."

"Well, only one way to find out," Yang said, and the group continued on.

"I wonder how old these ruins are," Weiss said as the team kept walking. At this point, they could hardly call where they were a forest anymore. They were surrounded by ruins built right into the cliffs on the edge of the Emerald Forest.

"Probably thousands of years old," Blake said. "Some ancient civilization was based here."

"They could have picked a worse spot to build a city," Ruby said, looking around her. "It's beautiful here."

"Well, whoever they were, they were pretty damn good builders," Yang said, as the group approached a large stone bridge.

A bridge that was teeming with Grimm.

"Whoa," Yang said. "That's a lot of Grimm."

"Professor Port?" Ruby asked. "How often do you send someone to clear out the Emerald Forest?"

"Why, every few days or so," the professor answered. "Why do you ask?"

"There's an awful lot of Grimm for having been cleared out a few days ago," Weiss said.

"Hm, strange indeed. No matter! That bridge is the path that needs to the next terminal, so you're just going to have to clear out those Grimm!"

The girls looked at each other, drew their weapons, and charged onto the bridge.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, the redhead still snuggled up to him.

"Yes?" she asked, looking up at him.

"The other day, when I was fighting Seymour, I think I unlocked my Semblance," he said.

"You did?!" she asked, sitting up quickly. "That's great news, Jaune! So, what is it?"

"Um, honestly?" he said. "I'm not entirely sure. I think I was somehow making my Aura more powerful."

"Like amplifying it?" she asked.

"Yeah, kinda. So, I was wondering, if I can amplify my own Aura, can I maybe do it to someone else's?" Pyrrha put a hand up to her chin.

"It's certainly a good question," she said. "And it definitely would be very useful if you could."

"Do you think I could try it?" he asked. She titled her head in confusion. "On you, I mean?"

"On me? What for?"

"Well, I figured if I boost your Aura a little bit, maybe it can help heal you faster?" She thought about it for a second, and then nodded.

"It's certainly worth a shot. I trust you."

"Thanks," he said, standing up. "Lie down, I guess." She lied down on her back, Jaune standing off to the side. He placed his hands together, and hovered them over her chest.

He blushed profusely when he also noticed that his hands were awfully close to her…ahem.

In fact, her light blue hospital gown clung to her body differently than her armor usually did, and he realized that they were actually larger than he thought.

Oh boy, was it getting hot in here all of a sudden?!

"Jaune," she said suddenly, turning Jaune into a spluttering mess.

"I wasn't staring!" he yelled.

"Huh?" she asked. Then she clearly realized what he meant, and her face turned as red as her hair.

"I'm so sorry!" he said.

"Uh, no, it's…uh," she said. "It's okay."

"It is?" he asked.

"Believe it or not, Jaune, a girl tends to appreciate it when her boyfriend stares at her body," she said with a giggle, her blush fading a little. "It's very flattering."

"Oh," he said. "Uh, well in that case, you are a very beautiful girl."

"Thanks, Jaune," she said, smiling at him lovingly. "Now, where were we?"

"Uh, right," he said, placing his hands over her chest again. He tried to concentrate on the feelings he felt when he fought Seymour. He tried to focus his Aura into his hands, and push it into Pyrrha.

"Oh, that feels nice," Pyrrha said, and her body started to glow with a white light. "So warm."

"I'm doing it," he said. "I'm doing it!" His concentration broke when he got happy, and the light faded from Pyrrha. "Whoops," he said.

"It's fine. We'll just have to work on your control. I am still training you after all. Being my boyfriend doesn't mean I'm going to stop working you hard." Jaune smiled.

"Looking forward to it."

Team RWBY stepped onto a large stone platform, looking to be the ruins of a town square. They could see the computer terminal in the center of the square with the same box attached to the side as the last one, and strange glass cages with the same "M" symbol on them. The cages were opened, which was very concerning.

"Just as I thought," Professor Port's voice said. "More sabotage from our mysterious friend. But those cages…Was someone trying to capture Grimm? I don't like the looks of this."

"Uh, Prof, don't you capture Grimm, like, all the time?" Yang asked.

"No matter!" the professor said. "Miss Rose, plug me in like last time." She did so, and after a few seconds, her scroll blipped. "Nice work, girls! That's the whole network back up and running! Hold on, I've just received a report."

"Oh, no," Yang said.

"Ah, that's right!" the Professor said loudly, startling the girls. "The symbol we've been seeing belongs to Merlot Industries, an old research and development corporation- far before your time. The company was crippled by the collapse of Mountain Glenn, where they lost their primary facility and chief staff members."

"That place again?" Ruby asked. "Weird. We were just there a few days ago."

"Indeed. Anyway, they never recovered from the incident and eventually shut down. Which begs the question… why is their technology suddenly popping up in the Emerald Forest?" He hummed. "I'll look into this here, in the meantime, why don't you girls come back to Beacon? I'll send a Bullhead to pick you up. Good work, Team!"

"Ugh, finally back home!" Yang said as Team RWBY exited the Bullhead. "Remind me again why we said 'yes' to this."

"Because we couldn't say 'no'," Weiss reminded her. "I'm just glad it's finally over."

Ruby was about to comment, but then her scroll rang. She groaned and answered it, expecting Professor Port.

"Good afternoon, Miss Rose," General Ironwood said.

"Oh, uh, General Ironwood, sir," Ruby said nervously. Her team stopped and raised their eyebrows at her. "Uh, good afternoon."

"Are you free?" he asked. "I would like to ask you to come up to the flagship."

"Uh, sure," she said. "I can head up there. What did you need?"

"I'm going to allow you to speak with Roman Torchwick."

AN: I decided to throw in some Arkos Fluff in this chapter. I figured if they're a couple now, might as well have them do some couple things, like snuggling and watching movies.

As someone who didn't get a girlfriend until I was 16, I can definitely relate to Jaune taking a moment to realize that it's a good thing to openly admire your girlfriend's body. He doesn't have to pretend like he's not staring now. It's kind of liberating.

So next time, we've got some more Roman stuff, and then we're going a little more about this mysterious Merlot Industries.

As always, thank you very much for reading, and I'll see you all next time!