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Chapter 02: Red Tide

Prompt – Weapons/Aura

Ship – Ruby Rose x Neptune Vasilias

Ruby Rose, youngest student of Beacon Academy since its' founding had never expected to become the leader of her own team but had risen to the challenge, every single training mission or exam that Team RWBY underwent they excelled in.

That was the easy part.

Ruby in the politest way possible, not a people person; having very few close friends before her acceptance into Beacon, she had trained at Signal with a single minded determination that was both impressive to behold while at the same time leaving her unable to relate to many of her peers. Upon arriving at the prestigious academy Ruby had been fully prepared to undergo the entirety of her four years of intense study and training with nothing but her sweetheart, Crescent Rose and if the situation required teamwork her sister Yang. She'd been disillusioned of that idea very quickly when Yang had simply taken off and forced her to socialise; now Ruby found herself surrounded by friends and team-mates that she would do anything for

Anything except this

She had reached her wits end and her ability to remain polite about the subject was being sorely tested. Blake was currently investigating the White Fang, seemingly determined to become a one Faunus crusade against them. Ruby knew that she should help for the sake of her most insular friends' well being, she'd indeed tried on several occasions only to be brushed off. Ruby was considering asking Yang to talk sense into her partner, because if anyone could it was her. However there was a more pressing concern in the young Huntresses mind, with Blake absent it meant she was left alone to contend with Weiss and Yang; two people who had very different ideas of what a party entailed who had, since Yang and Fox Alistair were dating somehow been convinced to organise the upcoming dance in Team CFVY's place, together

"Yang Xiao Long you degenerate madwoman, we will not be fitting smoke machines and we will most certainly not be using speakers that large!" Weiss huffed, breaking Ruby from her own internal condemnation of this exact type of behaviour

"Okay Weissicle, I need you to listen" Yang retorted with a grin "This is an actual party, attended by actual Hunters in training who actually want to relax….ditch the champagne flutes this isn't an SDC function"

"HOW DARE-"

"OKAY THAT'S IT!" Ruby snapped, cutting Weiss's furious response off before it could acquire enough momentum to become one of her famous tirades wherein Ruby was sure the heiress just invented new words to sound intellectually superior. Weiss and Yang were both silenced, staring at their team leader with wide eyes, Ruby never snapped

"I can't deal with this, you have driven me to insanity. Well done" she told them, waving her arms in a theatrical display to match the mocking tone. Before they could react she had grabbed Crescent Rose from its' place beside the laughably unstable bunk-bed she shared with her partner and vanished from the dormitory in a shower of petals, slamming the door behind her.

"Stupid dance" she grumbled to herself as she secured her weapon in its' customary place beneath her cape while making her way along the empty and dimly lit corridors without a clear destination in mind.

"It can't be that fun" she muttered, talking to herself as it seemed she was all out of reasonable people to talk to. Even Team JNPR were currently obsessed with the upcoming event "Oh sure, get drunk if you're old enough; enjoy the hangovers. Dance if you can, which I can't. Find someone to suck face with, yippee" with a sigh Ruby realised she really needed to let off some steam and she really didn't want to get caught by any of the teachers patrolling the halls, especially not Professor Goodwitch' Although she pondered idly It might be fun to see if I actually can outrun Oobleck. Dismissing the idea, amusing as it was she decided that even though there was no way she would be able to make it to the Emerald Forest at this time of night the best form of catharsis available to her right now would definitely involve using Crescent Rose on something Grimm shaped. With that in mind she made her way to the training rooms, deciding to take a detour on the way. The dining hall may be closed but there were vending machines and she wanted cookies, quite frankly after listening to her sister and partner for that long she felt she'd more than earned them.


Neptune Vasilias tried hard to a be a good friend, a kind friend who listened to his teams' problems and offered advice and moral support; he really did. His ability to do that however was being tested to its' limit by a group of friends whom he was currently deciding on which order to strangle. Scarlet was absent, most people wouldn't think that this was an issue, most people weren't aware that Scarlet David had made it a personal goal to visit every gay bar in Vale before the end of the Vytal Tournament and routinely returned to the dorm at unholy hours in the morning either covered in hickies and wearing a grin that could best be described as 'shit eating' or ridiculously drunk and making an abysmal attempt to sneak whatever young man had taken his fancy that night into the room, attempts that without fail turned awkward when he tripped over his own feet and woke up the rest of Team SSSN. Neptune personally chalked it up to Scarlet coming from a very sheltered background and Haven Academy being his first real chance to experiment, Neptune also made a point of stopping those trains of thought before he could start wondering if Weiss was similarly open to experimentation.

A creaking sound across the room caught his attention and he dared to take a glance upwards at Sage Ayana's bunk which he was currently sharing with Arslan Altan. Mercifully the sound was just that of the pair readjusting themselves and making themselves comfortable; the pair had apparently known each other for years before moving across Anima to Mistral itself to attend Haven where they had progressed from friends to a couple. Neptune was happy for his friend but on more than one occasion the pair had gone from cuddling and watching something on their Scroll together to an intense make-out session; so utterly absorbed in each other that they forget that there were other people in the room. And when there weren't other people in the room, well, suffice to say Neptune had learned more in a single walk towards his dormitory about Arslan's sexual appetite than he'd ever wanted to know. She was loud.

"Nep, you still there bro?" 'Oh right' the blue haired teen thought somewhat bitterly 'Sun's still talking' in all honesty he had managed to tune out his partner until the Monkey Faunus's voice was nothing but a dull droning in the back of his mind whilst occasionally nodding in agreement

"Kinda" he mumbled before sighing and forcing himself to pay attention "What's up?"

"I was saying I'm gonna ask Blake to the dance, I'm just not sure how to go about it. She's been anti-everyone lately" and there it was, more of the same thing Neptune had been barraged with since reaching Beacon

"Just ask, don't make a scene out of it" he sighed before turning his attention back to his weapon, which he'd been polishing after making some upgrades to "Seriously look at Jaune asking Weiss out, do the opposite"

"I don't know man, I really wanna make this special y'know? Go for the big gesture….I'm even going to where one of those neck traps" Neptune felt his eye begin to twitch, he turned to Sun who as usual had removed his shirt entirely in the privacy of their dorm giving his partner a full view of his chiselled physique 'Which' Neptune thought to himself 'Is a situation we'll unpack at a later date'. Pushing his questioning of his own sexuality aside he placed his weapon on the desk and stared Sun directly in the eyes, speaking slowly

"A tie is not a big gesture, you dumb-ass"

"Come on man, hey I've had an idea this'll be great" Sun grinned "We're partners, Weiss and Blake are on the same team….double date?"

"No"

"Bro why not? it's a great idea….you haven't asked Weiss have you?"

"No I haven't" Neptune admitted with a sigh

"But she's totally into you and I need a wingman" Sun insisted. Neptune merely turned his attention back to his weapon, deciding against going into specifics of why he hadn't asked Weiss or anyone for that matter to the upcoming dance, and was actually considering not going

"Can you let me work on this please?"

"Bro there was nothing wrong with your weapon the way it was, you're just being extra" And with that comment the last of his patience was spent. Collapsing the weapon Neptune holstered it and reached for his jacket before making his way to the door

"Where're you going?" Sun called after him

"Anywhere I don't have to hear about the dance" Neptune shot back over his shoulder

"Bro you can't leave me here with these two!" he knew that Sun was gesturing frantically at Sage and Arslan who were no doubt rolling their eyes at the situation

"Just climb through a window or something, you do it often enough" Neptune grimaced, that had sounded a little harsher than he'd intended. Hearing the door close behind him he strolled along the corridors for a while before a destination occurred to him, checking his pockets he saw that he did indeed have the temporary I.D that all of the transfer students had been issued with, a card that would allow him access to the training facilities at any time of day.

"Let's go see just how extra I am" Neptune gave a bitter snort before setting off.


Ruby deposited the empty packaging in a nearby trash can, the last of her cookies clamped firmly between her teeth as she approached the training room. Her expression become one of utter dejection when the sounds of a training exercise already taking place reached her ears, the one place in Beacon she could usually rely on to be empty at this hour was apparently taken from her. With a sigh she prepared to leave when something caught her attention; the training session currently taking place involved lasers, if the distinctive sound of the weapons was anything to go by it involved a lot of lasers.

"Cool" Ruby whispered to herself, swallowing a mouthful of cookie as an idea struck her. She assumed that whoever it was in there, allowing themselves to be barraged by lasers was a more senior student. Ruby had barely seen any of the older students thus far, she knew of Team CFVY first through Velvet Scarlatina and then through her sister dating Fox. She crept forwards and opened the door to the training room silently, suddenly desperate to see how older students, perhaps even a final year close to becoming a fully qualified Hunter trained.

"What on Remnant" the gasp escaped her faster than she could prevent it. Standing alone in the centre of the training room while a dozen laser batteries opened fire on him was a first year student. Ruby instantly recognised the vibrant blue hair and tinted goggles, currently over his eyes of the Mistrali transfer student Weiss had been enamoured with, Neptune Vasilias. Ruby was left wide eyed and open mouthed, arms hanging limp at her sides as she watched the display Neptune was putting on. He remained near the centre of the room at all times though his footwork and manoeuvrability was stunning, his weapon twirling in his hands at a speed that would have made it near invisible to most onlookers and Ruby found herself discreetly triggering her Semblance to keep track of his movements; what was truly mind blowing however was the fact that the blade of the weapon was deflecting laser blasts. Each attack that connected with the broad silvery blade was hurled back towards one of the turrets with ease until a synthetic voice sounded out

"INCREASING DIFFICULTY TO LEVEL FOURTEEN" Ruby was flabbergasted, she hadn't even known that there was a level fourteen and almost squealed with excitement when the turrets began rapid firing actually forcing Neptune to start leaping and rolling aside as he couldn't hope to deflect them all. Ruby was too absorbed in the display to notice that when when Neptune avoided one of the blasts that it was streaking directly towards her.

Neptune was sweating profusely and would freely admit that he may had pushed himself a little too far with this training exercise, 'But' he noted with a satisfied smirk 'The upgrade works' he rolled under a laser aimed at his chest before deflecting attacks from more of the turrets until the sound of a yelp reached his ears. His eyes darted to the entrance to the training room, widening when he saw falling rose petals some of which were burned to ashes. Without hesitation he shifted his weapon to its' gun mode and opened fire; twelve shots disabled twelve turrets with ruthless efficiency.

"Ruby?" He called out nervously "Ruby, you okay?" he scanned the several rows of raised seats around the room, picking out a red shape a split second before it vanished and Ruby appeared beside him

"THAT WAS SO COOL! LEMME SEE LEMME SEE!" Neptune was taken aback by her enthusiasm

"See?"

"You've gotta show me how you did that, you were blocking lasers"

"Oh that" Neptune rubbed the back of his head while shifting his weapon to the correct mode and holding it out for the younger Huntress to examine "I figured out how to make an alloy that can reflect lasers and completely coated the blades with it"

"That is amazing" Ruby breathed out, Neptune felt his carefully constructed and maintained image come crashing down around him as he blushed under the compliment

"Thanks, I just want to be ready for anything. I know Grimm aren't likely to have lasers but still….my team just think it's me being extra" Ruby gave a derisive snort

"We're training to fight monsters for a living. We got catapulted into a forest full of said monsters and had to fight our way out just to prove we're good enough to be here. We're going to be the heroes that the whole of Remnant looks up to….if you can't have the coolest weapon ever then what's the point?" Neptune couldn't help but laugh

"Sweet merciful Oum, I've had to travel across the ocean but I've finally met someone who gets it" he told her in a stage whisper as he removed his goggles. Ruby gave a lopsided smile, her attention still on the glistening silver blade of his weapon; the blade almost as bright as her eyes. 'And this is going to be my whole year isn't it' Neptune thought to himself irritably as he realised that Ruby was actually incredibly pretty 'All kinds of hormones'

"Do you think you could show me how to make it?" Ruby asked, clearly fascinated "I'd love to be able to make Crescent Rose able to do that"

"Um, yeah sure….It'll probably take a whole day maybe longer, so I can meet you in the forge on Saturday if you want?"

"Yes" Ruby squealed, bouncing on the balls of her feet with enthusiasm

"Awesome, it's a date" The words were out of his mouth faster than his mind could stop them. He stiffened up and Ruby's cheeks coloured, which did nothing to distract his attention from just how pretty she was "So, um, forgetting I said that….How come you're down here at this time of night?" Ruby gave a dismissive shrug and mumbled her answer

"I got sick of my team. This is the kind of thing we should be doing at Beacon, training and making our weapons better so we can be Hunters. Not turning into idiots over a stupid dance"

"I know right!" Neptune exclaimed, sometimes he really couldn't stop himself from talking. Ruby's eyes positively lit up

"Seriously" he continued "If I have to listen to Sun's latest plan to ask Blake out or Scarlet's ideas on how to spike the punch I will actually go crazy" Ruby was doubled over with laughter by this point

"Oh so it's not just Team RWBY then; but speaking of dumb ideas to ask people out did you hear about Jaune's latest attempt to ask Weiss to…..oh never mind" her hands shot to her mouth and she looked incredibly guilty

"Jaune asked Weiss out and she shot him down, again. What's up?" Neptune asked her, thoroughly confused

"It's just that I thought you and Weiss might be going together so…." she mumbled from behind her hands, trailing off into awkward silence, Neptune gave her a reassuring smile

"Nah, I haven't asked Weiss; she hasn't asked me. Honestly I was thinking of giving it a miss"

"If only I could" Ruby lamented with a sigh "Yang and Weiss or organising it, as their team leader I kinda have to show up; even if I'm not gonna enjoy it. Yang took me into the city centre last week and helped me pick out a dress; I didn't even recognise myself when I was trying it on and I can't walk in heels never mind dance" Neptune thought his next words out very carefully before deciding to throw caution to the wind for once

"I can't dance either-"

"But you're so cool" Ruby interrupted, Neptune treated to a bright smile; a genuine one rather than the toothy grin he gave almost on request

"Thanks, I try" he shrugged, trying to downplay just how hard he tried "But I've got an idea. You can't dance and can't get out of going. I can't dance and I'll get pestered by my team until I crack. So how about we go together? I'll even sneak in a copy of Remnant: The Board Game and you can try and win back some of your pride" he finished with a wink. Ruby was blushing profusely and he wondered if he may have made a mistake until the silver eyed girl gave him a mischievous smirk and stood on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear

"It's a date"

Authors Notes:

Okay so the appeal for this ship is based on me realising something about Ruby and Neptune: They're both total dorks. Neptune's weapon is a gun that shoots lightning which is exactly the sort of thing Ruby would drool over. Neither of them can dance and beneath Neptune's cool act they're both pretty socially inept.

So to summarise:
People seem to forget just how Anti Ruby was prepared to be at the start of Vol.1 she was like a less angst-filled Blake.
The one shots were all meant to be completely unrelated to one another, then in day 03 prompt I referenced this one shot and the previous one, so I added in the little mention of Yang and Fox dating. Putting (Most of) these in the same timeline.
You know that Ruby thought about telling her team mates to just shut the fuck up at least once, admit it.
Who would win in a race between Ruby and Oobleck is a question that I think we all want answered.
Scarlet David has no concept of chill.
Sage and Arslan is a rare pair I want to see more of, which means I'll probably have to write it myself….like some kind of writer.
Shots fired in Jaune's direction.
Okay quick explanation: I headcanon that Neptune is actually a Bi mess that's not even open with it to himself yet, the over the top flirting is actually him trying to compensate.
Neptune's weapon is kinda extra, but that's what makes it cool.
Shot's fired in Sun's direction. If he says something about Yang then he's three for three on blondes.
As I said in the last chapter, Ruby would definitely sit in on older students training sessions and fan-girl over it.
Yes I made Neptune's weapon able to deflect lasers like a lightsabre.
"If you can't have the coolest weapon ever then what's the point?" - Ruby Rose.
Poor Neptune, someone end his suffering.
I was gonna have a scene at the end from Yang's perspective where she sees part of the conversation between Ruby and Neptune but I couldn't get it to work right so oh well.

Thank you to YellowMagicalGirl (The creator of RWBY Rare Pair week) ZswerberUnlimited, Tsuk1, FluffyFirefly, ShadowWolf, Treenymphie and BetterTitles for their reviews on the last chapter.
All of of Team CFVY need more screen time.
Yeah I won't be taking requests for these, they're based on the prompts for the challenge and all seven have actually already been written.
If I make you start shipping any of these rare pairs my only answer is this: "Good, now go make some content for it because I want more of it as well".

As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.