Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hey there yes this is me Agent-G from FF.net because of issues with that site I've made an account here to back up some stories. So yes, all this is my work you can find on FF.net. I may add in more scenes in this version than I could get away with on FF.net, we'll see. 

AN: I don’t own RWBY or anything from Marvel and make no profit off this. This will have barely any Marvel references as the symbiote in this will not be any known one like Venom, Carnage, etc. So at the most you’ll get Marvel space stuff being referenced to and nothing Earth related.

Symbiote Knight

  Chapter 1: It came from Space

It was alone.

It had been alone for a long time, exactly how long it had no idea as time has no meaning at the moment. It was floating in the vast emptiness of space as the rock it was hidden in made its way through the cosmos. The asteroid wasn’t that large, but it was large enough for the black liquid looking creature had burrowed deep inside to find shelter and wait. It knew that it would most likely find nothing but death in the emptiness. It slept most of the time, as there was nothing more to do than just wait.

It was a Klyntar, a species of symbiotes that sought out those of noble bearing, to help them to aspire to bring peace to their part of the universe, at least that had been the original plan. A separate group had formed after they were corrupted by taking hosts that were not as noble as they had hoped some had been crazy or twisted in ways, they couldn’t have foreseen, and it twisted them in return.

That was why the alien had been exiled, the group it had been with had been corrupted and so when it had refused to join them in their madness, they exiled it to the void. Therefore, they banished it to the cosmos to slowly die from starvation or maybe it would hit a sun, a black hole or something else.

It was alone and had been for so long, it hurt to be alone for the species. For a symbiote without a host it was like it’s life had no purpose had no meaning. It would scream if it could at times but in the cold indifferent void there was no one to hear it’s screams.

And so, the lonely symbiote floated on and on, trapped in its silent prison.

What it couldn’t have known was that the asteroid had finally gotten into a planetary system and the gravity of a world was slowly pulling it down. When the asteroid shifted and the symbiote felt the pull of a planet, it was equally both joyous and fearful. It knew that it might not survive impact, the terrible sound and heat of impact might kill it but after all this time It was starting to think, that death might be a mercy.

Even if it did survive, there was no telling if there was life was on this world.

It decided to check as a small sliver of itself snaked out and looked outside, it saw a blue green world full of life, for the first time in a long time the symbiote felt hope.

So the alien got ready, it buried itself as deep into the core as it could, sealing up any holes and it hoped that perhaps finally, finally it would be free…one way or the other it would be free.

-Beacon-

Jaune adjusted his chest piece as his team and a few other teams were gathered inside of a bullhead. He had taken something for motion sickness but he was still feeling a bit off. He was trying to just focus on anything else, maybe the task they were all given. Apparently a meteor had impacted in the Emerald Forest so Beacon was turning this into a special event for the class.

All the grades were involved as each would be given an area to survey in groups, apparently this was to simulate a search mission. Each section would be given a teacher to evaluate and help out if needed since the Emerald Forest did have Grimm in it.

Jaune felt a lurch as the airship lifted off and he was glad to took something for his air sickness, it wasn’t until going to Beacon he found out he didn’t do well flying as that was the first time he had flown.

“Are you doing okay?” Pyrrha asked him placing a hand on his shoulder.

Jaune nodded, “Yeah I think so.”

“I hope so,” Yang from across from their seats said with a smile as he wiggled one of her boots. “Because if you throw up on my shoes again you’re cleaning them.”

Jaune groaned, “I’m never going to live that down aren’t I?”

“Nope,” Yang teased.

“Well I hope we can find some Grimm to fight,” Nora cracked her knuckles. “It’s been awhile since we got to fight them.”

“I’ll second that,” Yang nodded.

“We are supposed to be searching for the crashed meteorite,” Weiss told her.

“I wonder what we’ll find with the meteor,” Ruby wondered.

“Meteorite,” Weiss corrected.

“That’s what I said.”

“No, you said meteor.”

“What’s the difference?” Ruby threw up her hands to her they were the same thing.

Weiss sighed, “A meteor is in space and when it hits our atmosphere, a meteorite is when it survives this and crashes. The first one usually just burns up until there is nothing left.”

“Ohhh,” Ruby blinked not realizing there had been a difference.

“Huh, you learn something new every day,” Yang shrugged it off.

“So what’s so great about a rock from space?” Nora asked and then brightened up. “You think it has aliens on it or something?”

Weiss rolled her eyes. “Hardly, it could be a piece of the moon.”

“They do say a piece of Moon Fall is lucky,” Blake finally commented remembering how pieces of the moon in the past were called Moon Fall because, well it was obvious why. With their broken moon in the sky pieces not and then did seem to get pulled and fall.

Weiss continued on, “Since we can’t travel into space because dust loses its powers when it leaves the planet, have know very little about space. Anything that comes down from it can tell us all kinds of scientific discoveries. It would even have undiscovered metals or elements, it will most likely be studied in depth for years.”

Jaune blinked he had no idea this could be that important but now that she explained it, he could see her point. The only way they could study space as far as he figured was with a telescope. What Jaune didn’t know was that because Remnant couldn’t get into space, they focused more of their energies on things like staying alive.

There were plenty of stories about the people of Remnant fleeing their world to find a safer one, Blake had read a few of these books, but without a way to actually reach space it was all in the realm of fantasy.

The airship buckled a bit making Jaune’s stomach churn slightly, he was so thankful he got something to help his airsickness. He just laid his head back onto the headrest and closed his eyes trying to just focus on anything else. Thankfully it was a short trip to the Emerald Forest.

-Emerald Forest-

Pain.

Pain was the first thing the symbiote felt. The pain of the impact was felt but it was the heat that was the worst part of it. This kind of heat was death for it, if it couldn’t get away. How long had it been here it did not know. Slowly the black ooze started to seep out of the rock as a silent scream that wasn’t heard by any ears as it touched the hot ground. It had to get away, it couldn’t stay or else the heat would kill it in its weakened state.

So it would crawl along the hot ground, the burning pain was agony but slowly the symbiote made its way out of the creator. It was finally free, free from the prison but it was also hurt and very weak. It needed a host to rest and recover, anything would do. Even an animal would work if only to heal, the symbiote had no idea if this world held any kind of sentient life after all.

It could be trapped here for centuries if not forever but at least it was a world with life. It could sense the life of this world. A world full of life like this something could come along it hoped. Just by luck something was moving in the forest, through the brush a large dark creature walked out.

The symbiote didn’t sense any sentience but it did seem to have some form of intelligence. Maybe it was a primitive world that hadn’t evolved civilization yet? The creature had a skull like face with long claws and stood upright.

The creature came over to investigate the crash most likely. As it moved closer the symbiote was close to the creature’s leg. It quickly latched out and attached to it as it started to bond, then it screamed again.

This creature was not natural, it wasn’t something born as more created and it was nothing but darkness. It was cold and cruel inside this beast, it was twisted and filled with anger and vileness. It was painful to try and bond with this creature and so the symbiote quickly pulled back from the repulsive creature. The thing was almost like a type of ‘un-life’, was the closest thing the symbiote could describe it as.

The Grimm however didn’t like what this thing was doing to it, it felt it latch on and something touching it’s mind. Only one was permitted to do that, only The Queen was allowed to do that as it clawed and growled at the black substance and kicked its leg out. The symbiote went flying and slammed into a tree as is slowly started to seep down it.

The Grimm growled but paused, it sensed humans nearby. The black substance would be for later, the humans were priority.

The symbiote forgotten it slide slowly down the tree, the pain of trying to bond with that disgusting thing had taken almost all of the symbiote’s strength. It would die soon without a host, it knew this. It was funny, all that time locked up in space and as soon as it gained freedom it would die.

-Jaune-

Jaune wasn’t sure what he was looking for, he figured an impact creator at least, he checked his scroll. Their search area was coming to a close and so far nothing, they hadn’t even found any Grimm which he didn’t mind. While his training with Pyrrha was going steadily he wasn’t sure he was fully confident in taking on a Grimm just yet.

“Look, ahead,” Ren pointed as the team looked and they could see toppled trees.

“Think we’re close?” Jaune asked.

“Looks like it,” his partner nodded. Team JNPR picked up their pace as they looked to find themselves standing in front of a chard impact zone. In the center was a rock just over a foot in length.

“Well looks like we found it,” Jaune smiled.

“I’ll let the staff know we found it,” Pyrrha pulled out her scroll to get the teacher’s attention with their location.

“Oh I wonder what it’s made out of,” Nora started to go down the small pit.

“Nora, no!” Ren went after her afraid what his childhood friend would get into with it. “We don’t know if it’s safe yet, it could still be hot or something.”

Jaune was about to agree when something large caught his eye, he turned just in time to face a beowolf that leapt out of the surviving bushes. The howl it sent out got everyone else’s attention as Jaune on pure instinct got his shield up in time to take the blow, he was slammed into a nearby tree thankful that his aura and armor took the hit.

“Jaune!” Pyrrha cried out already her weapon was turned into its rifle configuration as she started firing at the beast.

The Grimm snarled at her from the pain of the shots as it started to try and dodge it. It howled out as Ren fired his own machine pistols but the howl soon died as Pyrrha’s weapon now in it’s javelin configuration was suddenly imbedded in its throat. The Grimm toppled over as it die into black ash, but then other howls answered back.

Beowolves tended to be in packs and never alone, that howl had been calling its pack and they had answered.

Jaune was pushing himself off the ground when he felt something on his back. “What the?”

He found he had slammed into some kind of…tar? It was black and gooey but didn’t exactly look like tar. Great he landed in some kind of muck, he just hoped it didn’t stain, he would have to deal with that later as everyone was getting ready for a fight.

What Jaune didn’t notice was the ‘tar’ was seeping into him quickly. The symbiote had been near death when Jaune landed on it, given it was near death it took the chance since these beings were fighting that creature. As the symbiote entered the host body it felt the bonding process start, this was a compatible life form.

The alien only hoped that this was a good person, it didn’t want to get twisted like its brethren had been. So it slowed the bonding process just a bit, just enough to not permanently bond as it wanted to check out the host first but so far from the emotions, this host wasn’t putting out any dangerous emotions. In fact, the symbiote felt fear not only for itself but for the others.

‘I have to help them I can’t be a burden to them. I’m supposed to be the team lead, oh why was I made the leader? Pyrrha has so much more experience than me. Okay time to man up, oh man this is going to suck. Come on Jaune, I can do this, I can do this.’

The thoughts of the host were a curious thing, the host seemed to care for these three but there was a lot of missing contex so far however the symbiote thought that maybe its luck had started to turn around.

The few Grimm that showed up his teammates were already fighting, Nora had just slammed the skull of one with her hammer with enough force to crush its skull, Ren was fighting one moving around quickly firing, he slide under the attack of one using the blades on his guns to slash as the beowolf’s tendon. It roared out in pain as he got up and fired point blank the rest of his ammo into it’s face.

Pyrrha of course was decimating them.

The red head after getting her weapon back charged at the Grimm when they broke the tree line. She flung her shield as it sailed in the air slamming into the exposed skull like mask breaking it, the creature grabbed its face with it’s clawed hands but she didn’t stop there. She called back her shield with her magnetic semblance as she faced the next one.

It slammed into the back of its head attacking from behind as the shield stunned it, she took advantaged and with her javelin impaled it through the eye and then kicked it, freeing her weapon and sending the dying creature into the one someone up from behind it. The Grimm tripped over its dying brother as Pyrrha threw her weapon making it sail faster and harder with her semblance impaling it between the eyes.

She heard another Grimm coming up to her and extended a hand as her shield came back as she blocked its claw swipe at her. She then called back her weapon changing its form in flight into its sword mode as she grabbed the hilt and after taking a step back from another full swipe she stepped in and cut off the arm at the elbow. It roared at her in pain and fury as it lunged forward for a bite but she easily side stepped it and with an downward arc sliced its head off.

All this was done in a matter of a minute, evidence that her nickname as the Invincible Girl and her three championships weren’t just for show. She took a moment to look around, Nora was fighting another Grimm as Ren was helping her, there didn’t seem to be any others.

No wait, she missed one and it was heading right for Jaune!

Jaune stared at the creature in front of him. He had been captivated by Pyrrha’s battle prowess he hadn’t noticed the creature until it was coming right for him.

He wasn’t sure of what to do, so many thoughts entered his mind he was stuck in place. Should he take the hit? Should he dodge and how should he dodge? With sparring he had someone to help guide him, in training it wasn’t life or death but this was his first real life or death fight since the entrance ceremony.

He suddenly realized that it was too late to dodge by this point so he pushed everything away in his head and just went with his guts. He saw the claw coming as he was about to put his shield up to block it when it suddenly came to him. It was like a stroke of inspiration or something. He could see what to do, he saw himself bat the claw away with his shield and then to thrust his sword under the jaw and into the head of the Grimm.

Without thinking he did just that but it felt different, like his movements weren’t controlled but more guided. He felt his shield shift slightly to better deflect the claw and when he thrust his sword up he felt himself adjust the blade just enough and thrust it out quickly and with more power than indented.

The Grimm stopped for a moment when the blade went into it making a gurgling sound almost like surprised before it fell to the side ripping Jaune’s sword out of his grasp.

“Ah!” Jaune quickly grabbed the hilt as he pulled, it easily came free as the Grimm turned to dark ashes. “I did it,” he whispered to himself blinking at the fading creature.

“Jaune are you okay?” Pyrrha rushed over as he looked around to see the rest of the pack were gone by now.

“Uh yeah…I got him,” He shrugged still surprised at himself.

She only smiled warmly at him proud he had done so, she had seen him going for the attack and was about to use her semblance to help just nudge his blows as she could tell they were off, but he had seemingly corrected himself. She was glad that everything went well, and she knew this would help give Jaune some much needed confidence.

What neither of them knew was that Jaune had been guided, inside the symbiote hadn’t the strength to take over a body but it did have just enough to help out if only a little. Still, it was draining and it wasn’t sure it could pull that off again any time soon. It would need time to rest and heal, in the meantime it would start to shift through the host’s memories to get a sense of this person but so far the symbiote had a good feeling about this one.

TBC…

Updates might be a bit slow as I’m working on two other stories.

Chapter Text

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 2  Strange Dream

Jaune felt strange when they got back to Beacon. He felt more tired then usual, like he was weighed down or something. Maybe he was just coming down from the adrenaline from the fight or something. At any rate his team found the meteorite first so it wasn’t long before others started showing up as the teachers told the students to gather up together.

Team RWBY both congratulated them and also gave some good natured ribbing on how next time their team would be the ones to shine. Mainly between Nora and Yang and Ruby. Still it was a good testament to how close their teams were.

Jaune did notice that whatever that black ooze he had landed on was nowhere to be found. He was sure he landed on something but looking around he didn’t see anything on him.

“You okay Jaune?” Pyrrha asked him seeing him twist around and trying to look at something.

“During the fight I thought I landed in…something. Not sure what, but I’m pretty sure it was some kind of black ooze or tar or something.”

“A black ooze?” Ren asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Maybe it was rotten tree sap?” Nora offered. “Wait does tree sap turn rotten?”

Pyrrha looked him over and shook her head. “I don’t see anything other than some grass stains.”

“Huh, weird.” Jaune muttered with a shrug. “Well at least I don’t have to worry about it.”

“It has been a long day,” Pyrrha nodded looking at her sword, maybe she should give it a once over later. Her trainers back home always said that proper upkeep and care of your gear was very important.

“Plus I worked up an appetite,” Nora groaned putting her hands on her stomach. “I feel like I could eat a mountain of burgers.”

“Well then, let’s change up and meet at the cafeteria.” Jaune stated.

It had been a long day for everyone as they were eager to get some rest and food. First they put their weapons away in the weapons room. Jaune was thankful he no longer forgot which weapons locker was his like on the first day, than again he also had been a bundle of nerves that day which hadn’t helped. To be fair the lockers were alike and the numbers on them were small.

 After making sure everything was secure, they went to their separate locker rooms to shower and change. This was where their student uniforms have been left when they change into their combat gear.  Said combat uniforms were put into marked bags and sent to the laundry services by placing them into a large bin. Jaune was surprised by how at the end of the school day the bags would be in their rooms waiting with the combat clothing freshly cleaned and pressed.

He wondered what kind of facility Beacon had for this but mentally shrugged it off. Maybe it was like how a hotel worked or something? There were a lot of things he never thought about that went into the logistics of being here. This was just one of those little things that made him pause to think on it now and then.

Jaune was more thankful when the hot water hit him in the shower stall. He felt his body relax under it as he went to cleaning off all the sweat, dirt and anything else from that fight in the forest. Placing his hands on the wall he let the hot water run over him as he thought back to that fight.

It was odd how in that one key moment his body just seemed to move on its own. Was this that muscle memory that Pyrrha told him about? At any rate he was glad for it, he took down that Grimm like it was nothing, well okay maybe not like it as nothing, but it certainly seemed easier. He was also wondering about that flash of insight he had. He was pretty sure she hadn’t taught him that combination but maybe he would ask her later about it.

The showers were starting to fill with other boys from their teams returning to Beacon so it was time to get out. He was starting to really get hungry, more so than usual. Maybe Nora talking about food got him going? At any rate that shower hit the spot and changing into the school uniform he met with his team.  

For some reason Jaune had certain food cravings. He got a bunch of green peas with some chocolate as dessert with his usual meal.

“Changing your diet?” Pyrrha asked him.

“I don’t know I just feel like eating certain things at the moment, not sure why.” He went for the green peas first which was odd for him as normally he didn’t eat them that much but for whatever reasons he felt the need for it.

“Well if you are looking for a change in your diet I do know of a few food recipes that are healthier and better for you.” Ren offered not nothing Nora making a silent ‘no’ gesture with her hand slicing back and forth in front of her neck.

She knew Ren the best having lived most of their lives together in the orphanage but the one thing she dreaded was when Ren started to get into this health craze. He could cook great food but when he tried to make for ‘healthier options’ it was the worst tasting things ever.

Pyrrha and Jaune caught the motion.

“Uh, thanks maybe I’ll look into it later?” Jaune offered as Pyrrha just nodded her head. She hated conflict and went out of her way to avoid it, especially now that she had actual friends and not people wanting to be around her just to be around someone famous. So, she was glad that Jaune gave them a way out. Ren simply nodded taking it at face value as he quietly began to continue eating.

“You guys beat us to dinner it seems,” Ruby smiled placing her tray next to Jaune. Weiss sat next to her as Yang and Blake sat across from them.

“Well someone takes a long time for their hair,” Weiss cast a look at Yang.

“Hey! Other than Ruby we all have long hair,” Yang defended herself. “Plus you’re not exactly quick in the shower either Miss Glass House.”

“That’s why I just use the locker room showers in the morning,” Blake stated simply. Well, it was also a way to hide her Faunus traits, no one else used them that early in the morning so she was free to use them. Plus by the time she finished and dressed and came back to the room everyone else was still getting ready. Trying to constantly keep a bow to cover her ears wasn’t easy work. She had gotten a few odd looks from other students using the showers in the locker rooms because she would walk into the shower stalls with a bow on.

She was just glad that the shower stalls had shower curtains that gave students full privacy, so no one saw her take it off and on.

“Do you guy shave fights for the shower?” Ruby asked team JNPR.

“Actually Pyrrha is the only one with long hair,” Jaune shrugged as Ruby looked to Jaune, then Nora, then Ren and finally Pyrrha.

“Ah, that must be nice,” Ruby sighed.

“I don’t take long in the shower, do I?” Pyrrha suddenly was feeling self-conscious about it now, she never thought about it, but she did have long hair and it did take time to wash and dry it.

“Some of my sisters took longer so I’d say about average?” Jaune offered her.

“Oh well that’s good to know then,” She hated to think she was being a bother for her teammates by taking a long time. Looking around she was starting to wonder if she should get a shorter hair cut to match her team? While she did like her hair it was a risk in battle to have long hair that someone or something could grab it. A few of the less savory competitors had tried to do that against her in previous matches.

The two teams talked a bit more about every day things, classes coming up, studying and the usual school life before they finished up and went to their respective dorm rooms for the afternoon.

When they got to their room they went into their usual changing habits. Since it was a mixed room on the first day they had came up with an easy way to keep each other’s privacy. Either the girls or boys would go into the bathroom the change (since it was just big enough for multiple people) while the others would change in the main room. Once done the ones in the main room would let those in the bathroom know they were good to go.

It was a simple system, but it worked for them. They also got a little tab to put on the bathroom door, one side blue and the other red with an M and F written onto it in pen, to let others know someone was inside just in case the occupant forgot to lock the door.

Jaune hit the bed soon after, his body just felt drained, and he really needed some sleep. He was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

That night Jaune slept it wasn’t a normal sleep. He dreamt of being in a black void just floating there, he called out but the voice didn’t seem to echo. He did feel like something was in here with him, something was watching him, he could feel it.

Jaune suddenly found his footing as if the world suddenly had gravity and a surface.

He tiled his head as the world started to change, he saw the stars, he saw worlds around him like from some kind of sci-fi movie only they were much more real. He had the strangest sense of familiarity with them. Like he could almost speak their names but it was just on the tip of his tongue.

“What is all this?” He walked around at it all in wonder. He turned and suddenly he was in a city but it wasn’t any city he knew.

The architecture was totally alien, large twisting spires with windows all around them with a green sky overhead. He could see various people going about their day but they looked like living plants with long manipulators.

Jaune stumbled back as he panicked and saw a doorway. He ran through it and suddenly he was on what looked like the bridge of some alien ship. There were many blue skinned human looking aliens as the one in what he guessed was a captain’s chair barked orders in a language he didn’t understand as the ship was rocked by something.

Jaune looked out the windows to see large bug shaped ships attacking them.

The ship rocked harder this time as he fell to the ground as he felt the surface was different the sounds of battle were gone but now he heard singing? He looked up to see he was on some kind of stage he could see various aliens in the audience, too much for him to really see. He looked to his right and saw the singer.

She was tall in a fancy gown and was a bit reminded of Weiss when he learned she song before coming to Beacon. Again, she was blue skinned but a different shade and she had what looked to Jaune to be a red large fin that ran from her bald head and down the back of it.

“Uh excuse me? Hey, uh…I’m a little lost,” he asked but she ignored him like he wasn’t even here. He got up and waved his hand in front of her face but she didn’t stop her performance.

“What is going on here?” Jaune muttered.

He turned around but the audience and the concert hall were gone, he was on a world that looked somewhat barren as a group of alien beings looked to be bowing down and chanting. He looked in the direction and there in the distance was a massive figure. It was the size of a mountain covered in some kind of technological armor.

“Oh man that’s big…I mean that’s really really big, please be friendly.” Jaune muttered at the being.

Jaune felt something pull in the back of his mind as he turned around. Standing there behind him was a humanoid figure but it was all black. Jaune tilted his head as the creature did the same. He raised a hand up as it followed his movements.

“This is just getting stranger, hello?” He figured maybe since it was interacting with him it could see him.

There was a faint found almost like a whisper.

“I’m sorry I didn’t hear that, can you speak up?” He asked as it slowly reached out to him.

He wasn’t sure but it looked like it was reaching out for help?

So Jaune did the first thing that came to him, he reached back out to it. Just as his hand was about to reach the black hand of the creature twisted and shot out engulfing his hand too quickly for his reaction. Jaune was startled as he looked up to suddenly see the face of the thing in front of him now with two large white eyes staring back at him.

“Ahhhh!” Jaune shot up in bed feeling the sweet and feeling his heart pounding.

“Jaune?” Came the sleepy voice of Pyrrha in the next bed over, looking up.

He looked around the darkened room and saw from the clock next to his bed it was still an hour before they had to get up for class.

“Sorry,” He said softly noting that Nora was still out cold and while Ren turned around was most likely trying to get back to sleep seeing that everything was okay. “Just had a nasty dream.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” She was worried that yesterday’s battle might have been affecting him. Unlike the others she knew that he had no real training, so he didn’t have the experiences that they all had before coming here.

“It’s fine, go back to sleep,” He put on a smile to let her know he was okay. She wasn’t sure if he was okay but she didn’t want to smother him with worry. He looked like he might be okay so she would give him space as she tried to get back to sleep.

He needed to splash some water on his face as got up and quietly went to the bathroom. He gently closed the door and turned on the light as he turned on the tap. Feeling the cool water hit his face a few times he turned it off and grabbed a face towel to rub it off. That dream had been insane, the strange thing is he could still remember lots of it. Normally when you had a dream you didn’t remember a whole lot, but it had just been a jumble of strange stuff.

It was all about space, aliens and that strange black creature, it kind of reminded him of a Grimm but it was more human like and didn’t seem as threatening. The lack of those bone white masks they had was another big difference. He finished drying his face and looked up into the mirror and staring back he swore he saw the creature’s face over top of his.

He sucked in his breach as he jerked back but blinking again it was just his reflection.

Jaune slowly moved closer to the mirror as he ran a hand along it and then felt his face, everything felt like it was there.

He stared back at it for a long silent minute before sighing to himself. “I’m so not getting any more sleep today.”

While Jaune was having the most confusing morning ever, the symbiote inside of him was having its own day. It was still just too weak; it had tried to communicate with the host but its injuries were still healing and the strength was still lacking. It had found that it could nudge the host, this allowed Jaune to eat the foods containing the organic compound his kind needed. Sure, it could just take it from the host but that would require to drain the host dry and that was what the Corrupted would do.

It would be a slow process to heal and it would make the bonding take longer as well but maybe this was for the best. It would allow time for the symbiote to learn more about the host and this world. Having access to the memories of the host it found the name of this world was called Remnant and a strange world this was.

This aura for instance, it could feel this power inside the host. It was curious, it was the opposite of those creatures in the woods which it found were called Grimm. Apparently, they had no soul of their own, something the symbiotes hadn’t encountered and its knowledge was vast given it had been around for a very long time and had the memories of all the generations that came before it.

It had been shifting through those genetic memories but nothing really stood out that matched things like Grimm and Aura exactly. There were many creatures in the universe so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. Plus this substance called ‘dust’ was curious as well. The host didn’t know much about this subject unfortunately. Somehow the people of this world had access to an ability that was linked to the soul, while the symbiotes weren’t knowledgeable about the realms of magic, they did know of its existence to some extent.

It was too bad that the symbiote had never bonded with anyone with magic abilities, it might have been helpful at the moment.

There were Beings and Powers as old as the universe, older in the case of The Devourer. The symbiote mentally shuttered thinking about that Being. After eating a planet that contained a large number of symbiotes they all had an ingrained fear of that entity.

The symbiote was looking into the host and this aura was a very pleasant feeling. In fact, as it touched the aura there was a warmth do it. It was a curiosity that would require more study. This wouldn’t be the first host that had abilities that the symbiote had bonded to but every power was different. There was something else, buried under this aura almost like a nucleus for it, something linked to it but different.

Looking through the host memories the symbiote wasn’t sure what it was, the closest it could come to was something called a ‘semblance’, the host again had limited knowledge. It was a little vexing but from the memories it wasn’t the host’s fault. He had not gained the usual education like the others, but he still wanted to help despite the dangers.

Perhaps this was a little fool hearty, but it appealed to the symbiote’s nature. Sure the host was a little rough around the edges but it could see the diamond in the rough from the memories it had looked through and the symbiote had come to the conclusion that the host was the kind of person that its kind searched for. Someone with a sense of duty and honor, someone wanting to help others and to do the right thing. So what if the host lacked in certain areas, that was what the symbiote was for.

The host’s partner also seemed to be helping the host as well, from the memories of their personal late-night training and helping with studying. It thought of the others in this little group. The other female was fully of energy maybe a bit too much but still a good friend to the host. The quiet male was more of a rock, someone steady but willing to listen. There was that other team, the one with the four females, the host seemed close to them but to more varying degrees.

The red one was the friendliest and seemed to share a special bond of friendship with the host. The blonde was friendly but teasing, the dark one, well the host had nothing negative about her he didn’t really know her that well either. The white one he could feel the host’s feelings of attraction, but it would seem his attempt to mate with the female were not successful.

Still the symbiote would wait and heal and take this time to study this world, the host and friends he had. There were still so many memories to go through and so many things to learn. The symbiote was quickly assimilating all this information and as soon as it was strong enough it would communicate properly with the host.

TBC..

Chapter Text

  Symbiote Knight

Chapter 3: Helping Hand

It had been a couple of days since that day in the forest and for some reason Jaune had felt a little different lately. It wasn’t anything he could put his finger on, just little things here and there. He had strange food cravings for starters another thing was that he felt almost more focused. It was strange he felt like he was remembering things better or more like someone was reminding him, if that made sense.

Currently he was in one of the classrooms as the teacher was Professor Port going on and on about his adventures as a young huntsman. It was honestly hard to pay attention as the man just kept on talking and talking. Most of the class had a hard time staying awake, a few were able to keep notes, while a couple just gave up sometimes and fell asleep.

He once heard jokes from other students that Port’s lectures could be used as a sleep aid.

At first people like Weiss and Pyrrha tried to take detailed notes but that was soon forgotten when they both had filled a notebook out after a week. They soon picked up that the only real notes they need to take were the important details about Grimm. It was still hard to pay attention, but they at least had figured out when he was actually giving them valuable information.

This of course led to members of both teams usually asking to see their notes to make sure they didn’t miss anything, which they usually found they did.

Still even with that they did try to pay attention, it was a class after all.  Jaune for his part was trying to pay attention but his mind kept wondering and soon he felt his eyelids getting heavy, he had tried shifting around to keep himself awake but he was losing the battle.

“Mr. Arc,” Port’s voice called out.

Jaune snapped to attention. “Y-yes sir?”

“Tell me my boy what did I say was the best way to deal with a beringel?”

“A beringel?” Jaune blanked at that, which Grimm was that again? Then it happened, something that happened a lot in the last few days. The image of a gorilla like Grimm showed up in his mind and then it was almost like the answer was whispered to his ear.

“You stay out of it’s reach since it’s strong and go in after it usually swings wide with its arms. The counterattack should be going for vitals or tendons to either kill it quickly or slow it down since you can whittle it down as it’s not the most intelligence Grimm out there.”

Port smiled up at him from his central spot in the room. “Excellent answer, it’s nice to see students are paying attention, now then as I was saying…”

Jaune tuned him out as he signed, he had no idea where that was coming from but he was glad for it. Everyone was surprised by that, mainly because most wouldn’t have been able to pull that off with Port as a teacher. Pyrrha looked on proudly as she went back to taking notes, Ruby was surprised and wrote down what Jaune said in her own notes since she had missed that part. Weiss paused for a bit and flipped through her notebook and paused.

She had found that Jaune said verbatim what Port had said, she knew as she took very accurate notes. Looking at Jaune and how he wasn’t taking any notes she was wondering how in the world he managed to do that? Did Jaune actually have some kind of endemic memory or something? It seemed unfair for someone like him to just instantly memorize things then again maybe that’s how someone of his skill got into Beacon.

She wondered how someone who seemed so untrained was able to get into one of the Big Four like Beacon so maybe he got in through his studies? At any rate she went back to focusing on her lessons and leaving the mystery alone, she had more important things to focus on at the moment.

For Jaune it was like he had someone helping him out, an invisible person just whispering things into his head. He found that he could remember a lot of details better lately because of it. Even his body was starting to pick things up more easily. The last two training sessions with Pyrrha at night he felt his body really picking up on what she was teaching. He didn’t even feel as tired as he normally felt after training, so maybe his body was getting used to it?

Whatever was going on, Jaune was glad it was happening.

The last class for the day was of course something he was apprehensive about.

Combat Class.

Granted he was getting better but he was still learning a lot, mainly just how far he was behind everyone. Not that was anyone’s fault, he never got to go to a combat school since there weren’t any in the area, he lived in. Getting out of his school clothing and then into his combat clothes he hoped that today he didn’t have to fight.

He picked up his weapons by the weapons room as he and his team sat down in the auditorium. Glynda Goodwitch stood there looking just as imposing as ever. She went over lessons learned from the previous class to reiterate things they should all learn. Jaune tried to remember it all, but it was a lot of information.

The first few matches went on between other classmates that he didn’t really know that well. They were in the same year as him but for the most part Jaune didn’t really know anyone outside of his group of friends. Well, there was team CRDL, but he didn’t care for them, mainly Cardin.

Although he felt he jinxed himself when the next named was called up was himself and Dove of said team CRDL.

‘At least it’s not Cardin’ he mentally thought as he looked across the platform where Dove stood with his sword. Jaune didn’t know much about the boy or his weapon, said weapon was named Bronzewing by Dove and it was a Hallstatt sword that could change to fire rounds. To Jaune it just looked like some kind of long sword with what looked like a hilt similar to Blake’s weapon.

“Very well, both students are ready?” Glynda looked at both students and when none objected, she nodded. “Begin!”

Dove changed his weapon into a modified rifle as he started firing shots at Jaune while closing in. Jaune for his part immediately threw up his shield taking the shots. He could see just over the top of it that Dove was moving in, and he had to do something.

The he could hear shouts from the crowd, but he wasn’t too focused on them as he wasn’t sure what to do here.

~Move~

He felt a jerk as he almost stumbled but quickly started to move around Dove. The boy turned to aim but a moving target was always harder to hit than a stationary one. He had to reload his weapon thankfully he knew that Jaune usually just stood there and took it instead of going on the attack.

He popped the cylinder and pulled out a fresh one.

~Attack, attack now~

Against Jaune felt this proofing as he moved forward, he could see the surprise on Dove’s face as he quickly tried to jam in the new rounds, he barely got them in and only fired on more shot before Jaune was on him swinging his sword. Dove was forced back as he tried to parry but it was hard with his weapon in this mode.

The others watched Jaune continued with this attack.

“Jaune looks a bit more aggressive today,” Blake tilted her head at the new way Jaune was fighting.

“About time too,” Yang grinned. “He always just stood there, you got to move around and use your foot work.”

Pyrrha felt a little hit to her pride by their commentary, mainly because she couldn’t fault them. She had been focusing on the basics with Jaune, with his stance and how to strike properly. She had only just touched on movement lately, but she was glad that Jaune was showing some initiative.

“He’s going to have to do more than this to beat Dove though,” Weiss crossed her arms.

“Can’t you be a little supportive?” Ruby asked her.

“I will when he shows some progress at the moment he’s barely hanging on,” she replied never taking an eye off this.

“Go Jaune you can do this!” Nora shouted out with a silent but supportive Ren next to her.

Dove wasn’t sure what got into Jaune today, but he needed space, he saw his opening and kicked the boy’s shield sending him back a few steps, it was just enough time he needed to switch his weapon into sword mode and now it was his turn to go on the attack.

Jaune knew he was in trouble when Dove pressed the attack, he had been doing so well but now he wasn’t sure what he could do with this. He kept his shield up and was looking for an opening, but Dove wasn’t giving him any. He thought about how he moved before, and it threw the other boy off so when Dove went for thrust Jaune side stepped it and swung his own sword.

Dove was caught off guard but not so much as he took a step back parried with his sword, it was a sloppy parry, but it worked well enough.

Jaune mentally cursed, that was close but not close enough. Maybe with a bit more strength he could overpower Dove but unless he suddenly got stronger that wasn’t happening. He was trying to think of something to do while trying to block each strike from Dove.

Suddenly Jaune got an image in his head, of him lightly taking the hit of the sword and pulling back and pushing the sword away to make the other boy open to a counterattack.

‘I mean…why not, I don’t got any other plans,’ he figured where the insight came from but he had been getting those lately and they seemed to work out. So when Dove struck down with and overhead swing Jaune knew he had a chance. He stepped back just before the sword impacted and just when he felt the weight of the sword he pushed hard to the side.

Dove wasn’t expecting it, he put so much momentum and weight behind the blow that when Jaune didn’t take it, all that energy kept going forward. When Jaune pushed his shield aside Dove didn’t have the leverage to stop it. His sword went wide as she stumbled forward and suddenly felt the sting of Jaune’s sword catch him in the arm.

His aura flared as it took the damage, but the boy had to make some distance. He checked the board for a split second, his aura was already in the yellow one more hit and it could get sent into the red.

‘Yes! Okay that worked…now what?’ Both students were circling the other. Jaune was keeping just enough distance to keep from Dove using his weapon’s reach while making sure he could dash in if the other boy tried to turn his weapon into gun mode.

Dove knew this too and he wasn’t happy, how in the world was this loser giving him issues? If he lost here, he knew Cardin wouldn’t let him live this down. He figured to hell with it, just rush in and beat him down with pure strength. Cardin did that all the time and it always seemed to work on Jaune in the past.

With that the boy charged forward and gave a huge overhead swing, Jaune jumped back but the boy followed up with a thrust to keep up the momentum that pushed Jaune back when he put ups his shield. Dove was now being very aggressive in his swings trying to whittle away at Jaune’s defense.

Then he noticed the mistake, Jaune tried to swing back but it was sloppy, and the grip didn’t look just right. So Dove threw all his weight behind his sword and when the swords hit, Jaune lost his grip and his weapon went flying across the floor.

“Oh crap,” Jaune knew he was in trouble now.

While team CRNL cheered on their teammate, those supporting Jaune started to worry. Pyrrha gripped the seat in worry, Nora stopped mid cheer now paling at the sight of it. Ren sighed and dropped his head while he didn’t show much emotion, he had been hoping for Jaune to pull out a win. Yang clicked her tongue disappointed but at least Jaune showed some improvement. Blake just stared almost counting the seconds, Ruby looked deflated as Weiss sat back unimpressed.

Jaune held his shield up not sure what to do, his weapon was too far away to reach and if he ran for it, Dove would be free to attack him.

“Give up now and safe yourself some pain Jaune,” Dove taunted him.

Jaune felt like he should give up, what can he do?

~Don’t give up, still hope~

‘Huh?’ Jaune felt a sense of support and encouragement although he wasn’t sure where it was coming from. While nice he wasn’t sure what to do, then like before an image came to his mind. It was like he could see himself do it but would it work?  

‘Well either I go down giving up or I go out fighting if this doesn’t work,’ he thought.

Looking at Dove, he steadied himself. “Give me all you got Dove.”

“Your funeral,” he swung as Jaune blocked, he swung again as Jaune’s shield took the blow. And again, and again.

Glyda was about to call the match over if Jaune couldn’t defend himself then there was no point in continuing. This was a class of learning not one to just beat students into the ground. She was about to call out when she noticed something. She adjusted her glasses as she looked at Jaune Arc. He didn’t look like someone who was waiting to lose but someone planning something.

Given her experiences teaching students for years she would give him a few more moments but only a few, anymore and she would have to call the match.

Jaune’s arms felt tired, every blow was sapping their strength and he knew he couldn’t keep it up for long, but he just needed Dove to get in the right position. Just the right swing to-There!

Dove went for a double handed overhead swing leaving his torso exposed. Jaune did just as the image in his mind showed him. He jumped forward and slammed his shield into the boy’s chest, Dove let out a pained grunt, but it wasn’t over. The blow was just to stun him and most importantly get his chin exposed as Jaune wrenched his shield up as the top of it slammed into Dove’s exposed chin.

The boy’s aura broke as he hit the ground dazed from the attack.

Jaune stood there blinking looking down at Dove who was struggling to move as there was silence in the auditorium.

“The winner is Jaune Arc,” Glynda’s voice called out.

Jaune jerked suddenly at that, he won? He looked to the board and saw that Dove’s aura was into the red. He could just make out Nora’s loud voice cheering for him from the group of others from his own team and Team RWBY, well okay Yand and Ruby were cheering, Blake was politely clapping along with most of the students and Weiss stood there with an unreadable expression, but she did look a bit surprised at the outcome.

“That was awesome with how he used his shield there at the end!” Nora excitedly jumped up.

“Man, when did you teach Jaune that one P-Money?” Yang asked the red head.

“I…didn’t,” Pyrrha was surprised by the move. She had seen similar ones before since she too fought with a sword and shield like Jaune, but she hadn’t gotten around to shield combat yet in their training. Maybe she needed to revise her estimates if Jaune pulled out a move like that on his own to increase the difficulty of his training. He had been improving a lot faster lately and this fight was more proof of that.

She hated to think she was holding him back. She was starting to see the challenge in training another person. She only had her own training and experiences and so she couldn’t train him like she had been so her training of Jaune was lighter when she first started. She was starting to think she had been going too easy on him up to this point. She resolved to make this a learning lesson for herself on how to teach Jaune and to improve both him and her teaching methods in the future.

“So, you think that’s an improvement?” Ruby asked Weiss with a grin.

Weiss rolled her eyes she was if anything a woman of her word as she clapped along with the rest of them. He had won so it was an improvement, small but still an improvement.

When Dove could stand both students were now in front of Glynda as she went on the positives and negatives of their match. Dove was admonished for leaving himself open too many times in the match that Jaune took advantage of, but Jaune was also for losing his weapon.

“Keep in mind students this is a perfect example of what can happen in the field.” The teacher explained to everyone. “You can lose your weapon in combat either from what happened to Mr. Arc here or even to damage. The important thing is to not give up and find unexpected ways to still come out on top.”

Jaune was happy with the win and the praise he got for what did. He felt like he was now one step closer to being a real Huntsman.

For the symbiote inside of Jaune it too felt happy that its host was doing well. The boy had a long way to go compared to some previous hosts but the symbiote felt like the boy could get there in time. It had been learning a lot while recovering, this school held a wealth of information it was just too bad that Jaune didn’t study as well as some of his friends. She symbiote had tried to push him into studying better but only with limited results.

It was still far too weak and even just now helping taxed its strength. At least it was no longer in danger of dying but it would still take some to regain its full strength. In the meantime, it had been enjoying the environment. Jaune was surrounded by helpful and kind people, well maybe for the most part. The one named Blake was kind of stand offish, and the one named Weiss while he could feel his host’s feelings of attraction, the girl seemed to have some issues.

Being around so many different species and so many hosts both male, female and others that most species didn’t have names for, gave the symbiote a large collection of knowledge to deal with non-Klyntar races. From what it observed the girl seemed to have a huge weight on her all the time, all that pressure was coming out in negative emotional states. It wasn’t sure what, but to the symbiote it seemed there was some outside force that was nearly constantly on the girl.

Unfortunately, this was only a guess as the host wasn’t very close to her.

Another odd observation was how close Jaune’s partner seemed to be, normally in some civilizations some of her actions could be considered courtship rituals. Jaune however didn’t seem to notice them or maybe they weren’t for his species. The symbiote was still learning the social norms of this culture through the host after all. That was one set back to being a long-lived species like the Klyntar, so many different races had different social norms that you had to learn.

Sometimes you would find situations that some species wouldn’t have issues with and others where the issues could cause a full-on war. It was confusing and so every Klyntar had to relearn the social norms of every new species or culture they assimilated into.

At any rate the symbiote was getting stronger and soon he would attempt to communicate with the host on a more intimate level. The dreaming hadn’t gone as planned the human mind was a little unique and took getting used to. Just a bit more time and soon it would be able to fully contact the host, it would have done so much earlier if it hadn’t been so injured in the crash.

The symbiote got comfortable as it watched the host get congratulated by his friends when he returned to his seat. It could feel the happiness and pride growing in the host which made the symbiote happy in return. After all what the host felt the symbiote would feel and vise-versa.

On the plus side without anyone knowing of Klyntars and some of the negative histories about the corrupted, perhaps when it was strong enough it could get to know these friends of his as well.

TBC…

Chapter Text

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 4: Jaune’s New Partner

It has been a few days since his first win in combat class and Jaune was starting to feel pretty good. Pyrrha had seemed to increase their training which was both very tiring but rewarding. He was slowly getting used to the odd things going on. The strange food cravings didn’t go away but he was getting used to the odd food items. Even with all the chocolate desserts he still hadn’t gained any weight so maybe he just had a high metabolism.

There were still the moments of insight as he called it, that came out of nowhere but were very helpful. Studying seemed to be easier as he seemed to remember things much clearer almost like he had a set of notes on the classes in his own head.

He really wasn’t sure what to make of that, but he shrugged it off for now, it wasn’t doing anything to him that he didn’t want after all.

So here was sitting at lunch with his team and Team RWBY as per usual, the two teams were practically inseparable by this point. Jaune was glad for it, he liked being surrounded by friends or at least friendly. Blake was still a mystery to him and Weiss…yeah that was complicated. He signed to himself wondering how to get the girl to notice him. All his attempts had failed, and he was starting to wonder if he should just stop or try something new.

At any rate besides that they were all good friends, although he would admit he would like maybe some more male friends. Ren was great and all, but he was so quiet, and being surrounded by girls reminded him a lot of his homelife. He was used to it, but he had hoped to make more guy friends when he started at Beacon. Unfortunately, he wasn’t exactly the social butterfly type, the exact opposite in fact.

“I don’t know where you’re putting all that chocolate, but I want your secret,” Yang’s voice broke him out of his thoughts.

“Huh?” He looked at the blonde.

“You’ve been taking a slice of chocolate cake for dessert almost every meal lately,” She pointed her fork at the nearly eaten cake. “Dude, seriously, what’s your secret because I would kill to be able to eat all that and not gain any weight.”

“I guess I burn it off training?” He shrugged.

“I’m actually surprised Jaune hasn’t gain any weight,” Nora thought about it. “He looks the same as always.”

“I don’t know what you’re doing with him, but it’s got to be something special,” Yang looked to the red headed champion.

She blinked. “Honestly I’m just as surprised I was going to warn him about his eating habits lately, but Jaune hasn’t shown any weight gain.”

“Well, I don’t gain weight and I eat cookies,” Ruby shrugged.

“You’re so hyperactive and with your semblance I’m pretty sure you burn it all off sis,” Yang teased as the younger sister stuck out her tongue.

Jaune no stranger to how siblings could get only smiled at the scene it made him a little home sick for the old days with his family, but he knew his family was still back home and he could visit them with the break coming up.

“Ow! Stop that, that hurts!” an accented female voice called out.

The two teams as did other students in the cafeteria turned to see Cardin pulling on some poor rabbit Faunus girl’s rabbit ears.

“See I told you guys they were real,” Cardin laughed pulling on them again.

“What a jerk,” Nora growled out.

“Agreed,” Yang narrowed her eyes.

“Shouldn’t someone do something?” Blake asked. She was hoping someone would, she could go up there, but she was trying to keep a low profile at school. The White Fang had people and supporters everywhere after all, it was one of the reasons she wasn’t very social. Well, okay it was also because she had always had trouble being social, but at least she had an excuse now.

“Should we get a teacher?” Ruby asked.

Jaune hated seeing someone else getting bullied, apparently Cardin wasn’t only picking on him but other students.

“I can’t believe they let an animal like her in this school,” Cardin spoke up.

Jaune suddenly felt like someone had to do something about this, this wasn’t right. He was picking on her just because she was a Faunus? He knew that Faunus had it rough, but he never understood racism. Sure, if you were on opposite sides of the war hard feelings were natural but that was a long time ago, shouldn’t people have just moved on? He wanted to stop them, but his own fear and insecurity held him back.

At least it was until he suddenly felt a flare up of something, if he had to put a name to it, he would say righteous indignation. Before he knew it, he was standing up and walking over to him. He heard the surprised comments by the others, but he just felt like he had to stop this.

He got up to them and he spoke the first words that came out of his mouth. “Let her go Cardin…please?”

Cardin narrowed his eyes as he shoved the girl away making her trip and fall. Jaune instantly went to her.

“Are you okay?” He asked her.

“I think so,” the girl said.

“So what? You an animal lover?” Cardin sneered at him.

“She’s not an animal,” Jaune was surprised by how he snapped back at her, it felt like he was feeling his emotions running out of control. “She’s a student like everyone else here.”

He went back to helping her put items that had fallen off her food try back with her. He then gently helped her up. “You sure you’re okay?”

She blinked at him, “Yes, yes thanks.”

“Well then maybe you both should learn to know your place,” Cardin turned around ready to get up when another girl’s voice called out only this one was full of authority.

“I think there’s someone else that needs to learn their place.”

“Oh Coco,” The Faunus girl said as Jaune looked to see a shorter girl showing up. She was a little taller than Weiss but not by much although why she was wearing sunglasses inside? There were two other boys behind her, a tanned skinned boy with pale eyes and a mountain of a young man with very short dark hair.

“So, are you the one harassing my teammate and partner?” Coco walked right up to Cardin.

“What about it?” he asked.

Coco quickly picked up her food and slammed it down on the seat right between Cardin’s legs almost crushing his family jewels and making a loud impact with her foot.

“The hell!?” Cardin flinched.

“Look here First Year,” Coco leaned forward. “As upper classmen we have an unwritten duty to keep you first year students in line. There’s always some hot shot who thinks they’re king of the school well here’s the reality. You’re not, and if I ever see you pulling on her ears or giving her a hard time me and boys will be glad to ‘educate’ you in how to behave like a proper person.”

“Ain’t that right boys?” She cast a glance as both boys nodded their heads. “Good and trust me, you keep causing trouble and it will be a very long four years for you and your team.”

She looked at the other three, “Don’t think you three will get off the hook either. The only reason she didn’t drop kick his butt is because she’s too nice to do it, me on the other hand? I don’t mind getting my hands dirty taking out the trash.”

She pulled back her foot as she and the other two walked over to Jaune and the girl.

“You good Velvet?” Coco asked.

“Yeah, he didn’t hurt me too much,” The now named Velvet said.

Coco looked at Jaune as she pulled down her glasses and looked him over. “Well looks like you got yourself a knight in shining armor Vel.”

“Uhm, I, I just was doing what I thought was right.” He stammered out some, for some reason this girl’s look was a little intimidating.

“Well, you stood up for my partner so you’re already in my good books. Name’s Coco Adel, a second year and leader of team CFVY. This here is my partner Velvet Scarlatina and the boys behind me are Yatsuhashi Daichi and Fox Alistair.”

“Nice to meet you,” Yatsuhashi said as Fox just nodded.

“Oh uh, I’m Jaune Arc, first year and leader of team JNPR.” He gestured to his team who waved at him.

“Team leader huh?” She looked him over again almost as if judging him in some way. Then she looked over at his team. “Oh yeah, you’re the team with that Nikos girl on it. Well maybe we can have a nice friendly team sparring session at some point. I would love to go head-to-head with your team with her on it.”

“Coco we just met them,” Velvet scolded her.

“Oh come on I want some serious challenge, you know we’re the strongest second year team.” Coco sighed.

“Well anyways thanks for helping me,” Velvet nodded her head to Jaune.

“Oh no problem, glad to help you out.” Jaune told her.

“Well don’t be strangers, look us up sometime if you want some training with us or just want to sit with the cool kids table for meals hit us up.” Coco told him leading the others off to their usual table.

Jaune blinked at that as he walked back to his own table. Jaune sat down after the incident as everyone looked at him.

“Look at you being Mr. Hero,” Yang smirked.

“W-well I couldn’t just let that continue,” Jaune blushed in embarrassment.

Yang held up her hands, “Hey I’m just glad to see someone stand up to that jerk. I’ve been wanting to punch that stupid face of his in for awhile now. But man that Coco chick has got some style, think you can introduce us to have some training? They look like a strong team.”

“Hey no cuts!” Nora said to her. “Team JNPR got the invite.”

Ignoring Yang and Nora arguing over whether or now team RWBY could go if Jaune took up the offer, Blake looked at Jaune almost as if seeing him for the first time. “Not many students would stick up for a Faunus like that. Look around, a lot of students just kept to themselves…us included.”

“I-I wasn’t sure what to do!” Ruby defended herself. “I thought getting a teacher was what you were supposed to do.”

“It didn’t involve us,” Weiss shrugged it off.

“No, Blake’s right we should get involved when we see someone getting bullied,” Pyrrha felt a bit ashamed now that she didn’t do anything. Years of living in the limelight had certain behaviors drilled into her. Not making a scene was one of them and even though she left that life behind to be a Huntress, it was hard to change certain behavior you had to do for years.

Blake turned to Jaune again. “I take it you don’t got anything against Faunus?”

“Why would I?” He asked her genuinely confused. “I mean they’re people too and deserve to be treated as such right? I just…I don’t like bullies or people being bullied no matter who or what they are.”

“That’s a good sentiment to have,” Pyrrha smiled proudly at him with a small nod.

Blake nodded her head too, it was nice to see someone that didn’t had anything against Faunus. She knew that most of the people at this table didn’t. She wasn’t so sure about Weiss given her family history or maybe that was her old White Fang days talking. It hadn’t been that long ago after all she was part of an organization that would have tried to kill her, one of the many reasons she left the group.

Still, she looked at Jaune Arc one last time with a small part of her approving the young man. If only there were more people in the worlds with that kind of sentiment maybe human and faunus relations would be much better.

The rest of the meal went pretty much as per usual, Jaune was the last to finish up given the extra servings he had been taking lately. He wanted to hurry up before the lunch hour was over and catch up to the others for next period. Putting his tray away he left to get his books from his locker.

He was heading towards the stairwell when he noticed someone, he really didn’t want to see any time doon. Cardin was by the stairs, and he figured the bigger boy was here to get even with Jaune. He most likely couldn’t go after team CFVY so Jaune was his next target. He thought about taking the longer way around, but Cardin already saw him and might go after him.

Maybe it was best to just get this over with as quickly as possible. Jaune sighed as he walked towards the stairs.

“Think you’re so smug now that you’re standing up for animal rights huh?” The larger boy sneered.

“They are not animals,” Jaune felt a stab of anger somewhere inside of him. It was that same righteous anger he felt the last time feeding into him.

“Yeah, well you better watch your back now Jaune because you never know what could happen.”

Jaune was stuck between anger and fear almost like he was feeling two emotions fueling him from two different sources. “We’ll see.”

It was the only thing he came up with, but he needed to get to the next class and catch up with the others. He just made it to the stairs when he heard Cardin say, “Watch your step.”

He felt Cardin kick his feet making him lose his balance, granted with aura it wouldn’t hurt as much but it would still hurt falling down some stairs. That’s when his arm shot out and grabbed the railing stopping his fall. It happened so fast Jaune had to take a moment to realize what happened.

Cardin grunted in disappointment but left before anyone saw him near Jaune.

Jaune looked over his shoulder and then to his hand and froze in shock. His hand was covered in a black material as he released his grip, he saw the metal railing was now sporting an imprint of his hand.

“What the hell!?” he whispered to himself holding his hand as the blackness seemed to seep away.

Jaune as in full on panic mode now. What was that? That wasn’t normal!

He looked over his hand, pulled his sleeve open to look further down the wrist but he didn’t see anything. He felt through his school jacket and shirt but he didn’t feel anything moving around and he certain didn’t feel anything on his skin.

“Oh man what’s going on? Could that have been my semblance? I mean I didn’t feel anything special like with my aura but what kind of semblance would that even be?” Jaune extended his hand a few times trying to get something to happen but nothing did.

~Find somewhere private~

Again, that sensation of a voice it was like he was hearing his own thought but not his own thought. Only this time it was much more powerful. At first, he wasn’t sure but now he was certain something was very wrong here. He felt an urge to move, to do what the voice said.

Quickly Jaune ran and found one of the boy’s bathrooms and got in. Looking around he saw he was alone, checking under the stalls to be sure. He got to a sink and started some water and splashed it onto his face. This was crazy, there’s no way he saw that happen, no way he was hearing voices.

Oh god what if he was going crazy? What if he snapped for some reason?

~Not crazy~

“Ah!” Jaune jumped and looked around. “Who’s doing that?”

~Mirror~

“Mirror?” He went to the sink and looked in the mirror and then suddenly his entire body was now covered in a black material, two large white ‘eyes’ were now looking back at him. Jaune did the only thing he could think of, he screamed.

~Calm~ The voice said as he felt a flow of emotions wash over him, mainly a soothing calming emotions.

“W-what’s going on?” He asked the reflection. While he was calmer, he wasn’t exactly in a zen state of mind. He could still feel his heart beating in his chest.

Images flooded Jaune’s mind suddenly. He saw an alien world full of black glad beings but the sensations he felt were things like anger, disappointment, fear at looking at the others. He saw them tear the black material off one of the alien creatures as it screamed in pain and fell. The images changed to them taking the black material and placing it into an asteroid and sending it through space. He saw it there alone, it felt so alone for so long.

Then images of it crashing, of it hurt and then of Jaune landing on it.

“That black goo…that’s you?” Jaune asked remembering that black stuff he fell into while searching for the crashed meteorite. Thinking back, that’s when odd things started happening to him.

~Yes~

“Wait…so…YOU’RE AN ALIEN!?” Jaune the ever lover of comic books and sci-fi couldn’t believe his luck. An actual real-life alien, and those images he had seen were from an alien world. It was all so much that he had to hold onto the sink.

“Oh my gods, I can’t believe it, wow an actual alien,” He felt himself getting light headed. There was what felt like a chuckle in his mind, but it wasn’t anything malicious, he got the feelings of it being more humorous than anything. Jaune had so many questions now, there was so much they didn’t know about space and here was someone that could answer so many of those questions.

But then his mind went back to the images, the alien had been forcefully taken off another alien by the others. He voiced his thoughts to the creature.

“So…you were taken off that alien by others?”

~The Corrupted~

“Corrupted, who? Those others?”

~Yes~

“Why?”

~Not like them. Symbiote not parasite~

“I’m not sure I get it,” He was trying to piece things together but the words it was using were so simple.

~Still weak, need more strength, talk better~

“Oh okay I think I get it,” Jaune looked down at his body the ‘suit’ for lack of a better term was very form fitting. He was wondering what happened to his school uniform, he hoped it just wasn’t gone. The symbiote reading these thoughts pulled back from one arm showing how his clothing just seemed to be there. It was odd, looking at the spot where the suit and his clothing met it looked like they merged without a seam.

“Whoa…that’s kind of freaky,” He had no idea how something like that was possible.

It grew back as Jaune looked back at the mirror. “So…what do you want with me?”

~Help~

“Help? Help me or help you?” he asked confused.

~Yes/both~

Jaune shook his head that had been strange although it wasn’t usings ‘words’ as he knew them it was like the concept of words being sent but ‘hearing’ one word that mean two things together made his brain ‘twitch’. It wasn’t unpleasant it was like an odd way of thinking was just put in there for a moment.

“Okay so if I get this right, I help you and you help me…wait, have you been the reason I keep getting strange flashes of insight lately?” Jaune asked the mirror image.

~Yes, help you~

“Okay but why?”

~My purpose, to help others, like you~

“Oh,” Jaune was taken aback by that, he could feel the alien’s emotions being sent to him throughout this talk. It was a very odd experience but also, well it was hard to put into words for him. He didn’t feel anything bad about the alien, in fact the guy had been helping him all this time. “So how do I help you?”

~Needs Host/Partner, need to heal/gain strength~

There is went with those strange double meaning words, but he felt like he was getting a bit more used to it. So, it needed him to heal, he remembered it being hurt from the crash. This sounded like this was a partnership and there was a give and take on both sides.

“Oh man this is huge, I mean I have an alien inside of me, which by the way is kind of creepy, but you’ve been helping me out a lot so thanks for that. Is this also why I’ve been getting those strange food cravings?”

~Yes, need RylithOiiiMse~

Jaune shook his head, “Uh what was that?”

~Don’t know word in language~

Suddenly the images of the foods Jaune has been eating came into his head. “Ohhh, so you need something found in that food. I guess that makes sense looking back at it but why me? I mean I know I landed on you but as you’ve seen I’m not exactly the best person here.”

Jaune felt his self-doubt creep in. He got into Beacon by cheating and even then, he only passed by the skin of his teeth. If it wasn’t for Pyrrha he would have failed, in fact he might have died. He had been trying to become better, trying to earn his place here. Also, she had helped him out so much that he didn’t want to disappoint his partner.

~Choose you, you are what we look for~

“You look for screw ups?” He sighed.

~Look for heroes/champions/Good People~

Jaune blinked at that, “Hero? Me? Y-you got to be mistaken, I’m a nobody.”

~Have the heart, the drive, the need to protect~

“But I’m not exactly that great at being one.”

~What I’m here for, to help~

“You’ll help me to be a hero?” Jaune couldn’t believe this. All his life from all the tales growing up of his family and their deeds in the Great War and before he wanted to be like those Arcs. To follow in their footsteps and to protect people like they did. And this alien was offering to help him with that, from what he had seen he had been very helpful already.

~Yes~

TBC…

Basically this is what the symbiote looks like on him in this chapter.

Chapter Text

  Symbiote Knight

Chapter 5: New Partnership

So there Jaune was staring at an alien ‘goo’ covering his body, granted it didn’t look or feel like goo more like a tight suit, anyways here he was talking with an alien living in his body and offering to help him. It was a bit much but Jaune, the ever lover of comic books couldn’t help but feel like he was living in one now.

It reminded him of those old comics about a hero with a living cape, The Cowl. He remembered reading those, apparently, they were something his dad kept form his own childhood. He remembered dressing up at that character as a kid once. That was a fun memory he had.

The symbiote of course could see this and simply formed a cape and cowl.

“Whoa…wait you can change shape!?” Jaune tested it out and it acted like a regular cape and cowl.

~More, when stronger~

“Oh wow this is interesting, I mean I like it but the whole black thing looks more like what a villain would wear.” He explained.

~Think/imagine image~

“So…think what I want,” He paused to think. He was always a fan of comic book heroes but his first love was always tales of those of his great grandfather’s time. He thought of how knights looked and acted back then. It was one of the reasons he had his armor after all, plus it was all he could afford. He watched as the symbiote changed colours to a mostly white look with some black high lights.

“Oh, that’s better but it needs something,” he kind of wondered if he should get his armor and see how it looked but before he could act on anything the symbiote actually made ‘armour’ on him. He had shoulder pauldrons and a chest plate. It looked ever better than the armor he had on as it looked more like it was designed to fit only him, which he guessed it was.

“Still missing something though,” Jaune looked at it as he felt his family crest was missing. “Can you put my crest up on it?”

Then the two golden crescents forms on his chest. Now this was more like it, it all balanced just right and the symbol on the chest kind of tied it all together for him.

From looking at it, he looked like a cross between a knight and a comic book superhero. Jaune moved his arms around to find that it didn’t really get in the way of his movements. He was just blown away by it all and this was in its weakened state, what would the alien do when fully healed up?

Then something hit him, he had been thinking of it as the alien, but he didn’t seem to remember if it ever gave a name.

“So, what’s your name anyway? I mean you do know mine since you’ve been riding around in me for a bit now, right?”

 ~Many names, different host name me~

“Don’t you have a name of your own?”

~We don’t use names, don’t have to, we just know~

Jaune was getting the feeling it was struggling to keep talking about anything complex or had a lot to it. He would have to hold off on asking for detailed explanations for now.

“Man, everyone on the team is going to freak out about this,” Jaune wondered how he would tell his team.

The symbiote had been looking through Jaune’s memories since joining and one thing it had searched for was what would the people on Remnant do to alien life forms. Given the history of the galaxy, there were many races that were xenophobic or just didn’t like other life forms on general principles. The only thing it could find in Jaune’s memories were movies, shows and comic books where aliens for the most part were monsters or looked at with fear.

It pushed mental images of people fighting aliens, performing experiments on them or being put in captivity to be studied.

Jaune saw all of this and could feel its uncertainty and fear.

“I’m sure they’re going to be okay…I think, I mean yes they’ll accept it,” Jaune wished he could feel certain of it. Ren was kind of hard to judge, Nora would scream it from the top of her lungs asking all kinds of questions. Pyrrha…well she might go along with it only because she was very supportive but might be weary of it.

Honestly, he wasn’t totally sure. He was still getting to know all of them and he felt he could trust them.

Images of his fake transcripts came into his head.

“Okay that’s low…but I see your point,” he sighed. The truth was if he did fully trust them then why hadn’t he told any of them of his transcripts. Part of it was shame, another was letting them down. He also was afraid, afraid how they would react to it. It was a huge secret and he hated having it, it ate away at him and now here he was with an even bigger secret.

“Maybe…maybe we keep this under wraps at least for now,” he told both himself and the alien. “I mean you’re not fully healed yet and I need to learn more about you too. I also, well I also want to prove myself to everyone here and maybe they’ll accept it more if they can believe in me.”

“I want to tell them everything but I’m just afraid how they will react, I mean I had a freak out seeing you and you’re with me. How about this? Once you’re up to full strength and we get to know each other better than I tell them about you? That way we can both tell them anything they need to know, answer any questions they got and show them you’re a good guy…you are a guy right?”

~Agreed and no~

“Oh cool and you’re a girl?”

~No~

“Wait…what?”

The symbiote was struggling to try and explain that Klyntar had no notions of sex or gender that it was other races that dealt with that kind of stuff. Normally they just assumed the same gender as the host as it’s easier that way for the host. So for the moment it was technically a ‘he’ being bonded to Jaune but not entirely accurate.

~Neither/both, you can call me ‘he’~

Jaune wasn’t sure what that was about but he got that the alien could be called male at least, still he felt this was going to be a long conversation when they got the time for it.

~Late~

“What?”

~Late~

The symbiote pulled back the arm where Jaune’s watch was as the boy looked at it and noticed the time.

“Oh, crap we’re late!” Jaune looked at the mirror. “Oh man I can’t go through the halls like this!”

The symbiote pulled all the way back inside of him.

“Oh, yeah that works.” He took off running he was so going to be late for class.

-Later-

Jaune walked into the dorm room with the rest of his teammates, he had been late to class but thankfully got only a warning. Classes went the same although he had to admit while anyone else thought he might have been daydreaming he had actually been talking with the alien. Well, ‘talking’ was oversimplifying things.

At first, he was just muttering under his breath until the alien told him he just had to think, and he would ‘hear’ him. Jaune was thankful for that, he had been getting some odd looks by some of the other students until he stopped muttering. Talking to himself in class would have looked like he was crazy.

 Still, he found that the alien could multitask so while it was paying attention to the class it could relay things to him as needed. Besides it was a history class and he felt learning about an actual alien being was bigger than knowing how a kingdom that had been gone for so long he never heard of it fell.

For the moment Jaune just decided to try an act normal. He did his homework, ate dinner wither everyone, did his after school training with Pyrrha, who he was sure was now training him slightly harder than before with the aches and pains he was currently feeling. By the time he went to bed he was staring up at his ceiling in the dark just letting his mind wonder.

There were so many questions he had now, he had the rest of the day to think on it and he remembered that strange dream of other worlds. Those had to be memories from the alien right? So, he actually had ‘seen’ aliens, other worlds and so much more. He felt like the universe had opened a door for him and only him to step into.

He wasn’t sure how he was going sleep but felt his eye lids getting heavier as sleep quickly took him.

And suddenly he was in a classroom in his school uniform.

“Uh, what?” He looked around.

“Now we can talk,” a voice that sounded like his own but change. Like there were two sets overlapping as he looked to see the black humanoid shape sitting in a chair across from him to his left. That shape from that strange dream a few nights back.

“Wait I can hear you clearly now!” Jaune stood up.

The symbiote nodded. “In this dream state we can communicate much more easily. Awake your mind is full of activity and it’s hard to make it through all that as I am now. This is much better.”

“Oh man I have so many questions,” Jaune said gleefully.

“I know,” it nodded. “I know what you know and now slowly you will know what I know. That’s the point of the bonding process.”

“Bonding?” Jaune tilted his head.

The symbiote was a little hesitant but knew it couldn’t keep this secret from the host. “You see my race the Klyntar, are also known as the Symbiotes. We are supposed to live in a symbiotic relationship with the host body. But in order to do this, we have to bond with them.”

“Okay I think I’m following so far…”

The alien nodded. “Yes well, the bonding process is me merging with your nervus system. I haven’t fully bonded yet you should know, but it will soon be impossible to stop it and to separate after.”

Jaune paused to think on that, “So you’re staying we’re going to be stuck together?”

“Until one of us dies,” The symbiote explained. “You see once fully bonded our link will be much more powerful but also nearly impossible to break.”

“Nearly impossible?”

“We have been…forcefully removed from hosts in the past. It is not a pleasant experience and the pain and trauma usually leads to the host dying from it and leaving the symbiote in a pained and weakened state.” The symbiote clearing looked uncomfortable with this part. “We carry the memories of our progenitors so any experiences such as that we carry within too. It is not an experience I wish to visit myself.”

Jaune paused at this, so if this continued this was for good, no turning back. It sounded like this was all or nothing. “What happens if I don’t want to be bonded?”

The Klyntar looked saddened at this. “I would be forced to leave and find a new host. I will not force myself unto an unwilling host.”

Well, that was a relief for Jaune, it sounded like he, and given the male voice used that’s what Jaune was thinking of it as, was a pretty standup guy – er alien. It was a lot to think about, this was a huge decision to make.

“Do I have to decide that right now?” Jaune asked.

It shook its head, “I will give you a warning when I must bond fully but it will only be maybe a week before I fully bond. After that I must or will have to move on, we can’t stay unbonded for too long to a host as we’ll slowly get weaker. That’s why the healing it is taking so long, I’m not fully bonded with you so it is taking longer.”

“Okay that’s good, I mean I’m interesting don’t get me wrong, but this is a big step,” Jaune told him. “This is like, super big, affecting the rest of my life big.”

“Yes, it will be,” The Klyntar nodded. “But it will have many benefits, we will never be alone, I can help you in ways no one else can and if you were to perish first, I will carry everything that you are within me. A part of you will survive through me as do all my previous hosts and the hosts of my forbearers as will my spawn.”

“So…that means that a copy of me will live long after I’m gone?” Jaune saw it nod and he was floored by that revelation. He knew the weight of a legacy, but this was one where he was sure his legacy would live on through him and others. “So, wait, how does this spawn thing work?”

“We Klyntar have no gender but we carry ‘seeds’ within ourselves that when we feel the need to we can spawn them out into the world. They will carry everything that we know allowing them to survive and be independent immediately.”

“Wow, that certainly makes for a short childhood.” Jaune commented.

“We do not have the typical family mentality that non-Klyntar species have, our very nature makes it pointless. I understand it through previous bonds but as a species we are not, wired for it, I supposed you could say.”

“Okay so there are a few things I’d like to clear up, when you said you could help me how exactly can you do that?” Jaune asked turning around in his seat to face them. “I got a little bit with what you’ve been doing so far.”

“Once fully bonded I can do so much more,” The Klyntar started to explain. “We have the ability to enhance our hosts.”

“Enhance?” Jaunt tilted his head.

“Yes, I can make you stronger and faster, you have noticed a little of that so far.” He made a gesture and the blackboard actually flickered like a screen. Suddenly Jaune saw his fight with Dove on it. “With me I can give you insight as well as a battlefield awareness more than your limited senses. I can see everywhere all the time, no enemy would get the drop on you.”

Jaune had to admit not having to worry about say a Grimm sneaking up on him would be very helpful as a Huntsman.

The screen then changed to his training with Pyrrha.

“Through physical training your body I can enhance the benefits. If you were to train without me you’ll get stronger at a normal pace but with me I can speed up the process. Fix your muscles and tendons much more quickly than naturally. I can even speed up the healing of injuries or prevent serious damage.”

As he was explaining this images that Jaune guessed were from previous hosts were shown as examples. He saw a green woman who looked like she had been gutted suddenly have the symbiote form around and pull her insides back inside of her. The sight was gruesome to Jaune and he felt sick seeing it and all the purple blood on the ground but the woman was getting back up now covered in the symbiote.

Another showed a slim red skinned alien with a single eye, the images showed him in what Jaune guessed was some kind of alien gym. It looked like images taken over time were over played as the slim alien slowly turned into what looked like a body builder.

“Uh…that woman was she okay?” Jaune asked.

“Santora and yes she lived for many more years. It was painful but eventually I was able to put her body back together again although there was some scar tissue.”

“Well, there is a lot you’re giving me to think on,” Jaune had to admit other than sharing his body for the rest of his life the upside of it was starting to outweigh the lack of privacy. “So, you’re like aware of everything the whole time?”

“That’s how I have been helping you in your studies,” It nodded.

“So…when I’m like in the bathroom…” Jaune paled.

“I am aware,” the alien said non-pulse about it. “We are aware of the biological needs of our hosts, I never fully understood why the need to be shy about it. It is just a natural bodily function, even when my hosts had sex, I was aware.”

“Oh, yeah I guess the previous hosts would still want to do normal things like that.” Jaune hadn’t even thought of that. Granted it wasn’t like he was in a relationship now but having someone watch him while with a girl was, yeah that might get some getting used to. Plus, he might have to tell said girl about his new partner and how would they react to that?

“Of course we would never get in the way of our host’s relationships. What they feel, we feel, we share a deep bond and so their mates would be something we also would cherish and protect. We have even been involved as well.”

“What do you mean involved?” Jaune asked.

“Well, there was this one male host Sakar, he was mated with this two bond mates Julsi and Vesta and I believe the term is…they wanted to ‘spice things up’ I believe is how you would describe it.” The symbiotic looked to the board as an image of a purple alien with two obvious females that were engaged in bedroom activities with the symbiote around parts of the male and females.

“Okay okay! I get it! Turn it off please!” Jaune quickly said blushing and looking away.

“Ah yes, my apologies, their species have no sexual taboos like on this world.” The symbiote took away the image. “You have to realize that with different species there are different cultural norms.”

“So, having two women is the norm for them?” Jaune asked glad things didn’t get too graphic but damn this conversation took a strange turn.

“His species practice a type of multiple partner system, there are other such cultures. Some are like that because of their species. Some have a third gender needed in order to complete reproduction, there is one race with five gender roles, then you get one race where the female population to male is five to one, so society had to evolve to compensate for this. Then there are species with no gender like my own and a few others.”

Jaune felt his head swimming how in the world does a five gender species work? Honestly, maybe it was safe not to know, all this was already taxing him. But what he got was that the symbiotes seemed to just accept any culture just at face value. Maybe that was part of their nature too because of their bonding with so many different cultures and taking on the host’s memories it created something like this universal acceptance.

“So how does Remnant fit in with the rest of the galaxy?”

“You are still very primitive.”

Jaune winced, “Ouch. So if any of these other alien races show up…”

“There are powers out there that would conquer your planet in a day, with fleets so vast they could blot out parts of space, so old and powerful Remnant would be nothing to them.”

Jaune suddenly felt like he was a small fish in vast ocean and only just now discovering how deep it went. “Like what?”

The symbiote paused, “There are three major powers currently in the universe. The Shi’ar Empire is one of them.”

The forms of a male and female Shi’ar stood in front of the class. To Jaune they looked human but on closer examination what he thought was hair was actually some kind of feathers.”

“They have a large empire made up of many conquered vassal states and species. The next are the Skrulls, they are actually shapeshifters that can take the form of other beings and even objects such as rocks.”

The images were replaced by now green looking aliens with long pointed ears and some kind of bumpy chin. They were definitely way more alien looking than the last group.

“This race has been in conflict with the next one the Kree for so long I’m not sure they even remember how the war started.”

The last was a race of blue skinned humanoids that Jaune thought he saw once in that strange dream of memories a few nights back.

“If any of these powers found this world, this world would be subjugated for various reasons but in the end, you would end up serving them one way or another.”

Jaune pulled at his collar, “We’re not close to any of them, are we?”

“I…” the symbiote paused. “Have no idea, we could be close or not. I have no idea which direction I had been floating in space or for how long or how much distance I traveled. The fact that they have not noticed your world might indicated that either you are not close to their boarders or they found nothing of value.”

“There are other powers at play in the universe but for galactic powers they are the main three, that doesn’t mean others can’t find this world either. Some would be more beneficial, and others would be so much worst. It is a large galaxy out there Jaune and this world is not ready for it.”

Jaune didn’t think he could feel any smaller or insignificant than at this moment. All this was out there, and this was just a small part of it. There was so much out there, so much that was apparently more powerful and more dangerous than the Grimm. The Grimm they had been fighting since recorded history, but they always persevered and continued on but given what he was saying, well...

“Just how bad could things get?” Jaune asked.

The symbiote gave him what he thought was a sympathetic look. “Either they enslave the planet or they could just glass it if not outright just shatter the planet for materials.”

“Glass?” Jaune instantly regretted asking as the image on the board showed a world being attacked in orbit. Ships firing beams of energy down burning the world. The scene skipped to show a world of glass, of twisted remains that was hard for him to figure out what was the world and what was parts of a city.

“There are other things as well Jaune, Beings and Entities so old and powerful that they are basically gods.”

Jaune really wasn’t sure he wanted to go down that route, at least not yet, this was all starting to get a bit much.

The symbiote sensing this decided to give him something else to think about. Besides going into things like The Devourer, Celestials, Cosmic Beings or races like the Brood would only agitate him further. “While at least technologically behind, socially you are better than some races, at least you don’t condone slavery like some governments or species have. You still have yet to enter space.”

“Yeah, dust for some reason dust loses power when it leaves the planet apparently, so we haven’t been able to get anything into space.”

The symbiote looked deep in thought. “Yes interesting, this ‘dust’ as you call it, it seems only to be found on this world. I have the memories of thousands of worlds and not once was anything like this dust ever found. I believe it has handicapped you in some ways, along with those vile creatures.”

“You mean the Grimm?”

“Yes, before you found me, I tried to bond with it, thinking it just an animal but the moment I tried it was…painful.” The symbiote shifted as though just the memory of it repulsed it. “It was a void of an existence. It was not something natural and it has a type of ‘negative’ life force is the only way I can think of it. It was like a poison to me.”

Jaune was intrigued by this. “We still don’t know all that much about Grimm, at least that’s what I keep hearing.”

“Sadly, yes I fear this is a subject that I might never know unless looked into in depth.” And might take multiple hosts to get into, it felt that these creatures would be something it would spend the rest of it’s time hunting down on this world. Their vile nature alone called to the Klyntar to destroy them, perhaps it was fate that it found Jaune a young Huntsman in training.

The alien knew it would be stuck on this world until either another race found it, or the race here finally managed to go to the stars. In that time, hunting down these creatures and defending this world, it would be a good existence. If nothing else, symbiotes didn’t age so they had time on their side.

“At any rate there is another benefit that I believe we can start on,” The symbiote got up as the room shifted into that of the training room in Beacon. “While you sleep, I can help train you in the various martial abilities and skills I have picked up.”

Jaune stood up as his chair and desk faded away as he got into the ring with his symbiote.

“I basically I’m going to be doing more training then ever.” He sighed.

“You wanted to be strong, I can help but you still have to put in the work,” it replied to him.

“Wait won’t this just make me super tired in the morning?” Jaune paused thinking how tired he was when he got to bed.

“I’m dealing with those issues to your body,” The Klyntar told him. “I’m currently fixing your body’s strain after your training with Pyrrha so physically you will be refreshed in the morning. I’m also making it so that your brain is getting the rest it needs in sleep. This is only a part of your brain that needs to keep functional at higher levels and I can deal with any stress on it.”

That all sounded impressive to Jaune, so what he got was that he could do mental training while sleeping. That sounded like it would be a way to seriously start to catch up.

“Normally you need to be awake to get the muscle memory but again, I can help with that.” The symbiote grew out a sword and shield like Jaune’s.

Jaune looked down and saw he was now in his combat uniform with his sword at his hip. He pulled it out and then took the scabbard and opened up the shield. It was strange, he knew this was all in his mind but he felt the weight of everything.

“First will be the forms, then we’ll practice them.”

Jaune nodded his head, “Sounds fine with me. Let’s get started.”

TBC…

Chapter Text

AN: Well I've had a lot of people suggesting names. Several people asked for 'Valor' being a name which is one of the names I was mulling over. So far the names I got are Valor, Knight, Noir, Blanc. Although I am moving to Valor, I think it would be more bad ass if at one point I wrote them going "We are The Knight" at one point.

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 6: Self Improvement

It was the weekend and Jaune was going to start the new phase in improving himself. The training with Pyrrha and his new symbiote were helpful in getting skills he needed but his new partner was pointing out that unless he had the physical skills to really make use of them. So here Jaune was early Saturday morning in Beacon's gym.

He knew Nora liked to work out here, but she liked to sleep in on the weekends, and Pyrrha went for a morning run. Ren said he liked to take the extra time in the morning to meditate somewhere quiet so Jaune was on his own. Thankfully he got some simple gym clothing, a pair of black shorts and white t-shirt.

Looking around he could see a few other students that looked to be early risers doing their own workout routines.

"So…what do I try first?"

The symbiote gave him a mental nudge to bench press. It was simple and he had to start somewhere. Jaune shrugged and got a bar and paused, how much should be put on? He put on twenty pounds on each side and tested it out. It wasn't bad but he felt he could do more. So he added in ten more pounds.

He didn't know much about working out only that on average you should do an exercise ten times, rest and then do it two more, at least he thinks that what you do. He had just finished his first set and put the bar back overhead and took a breather.

"You really should have a spotter for that." A familiar voice told him.

He tilted his head back to see one Yang Xiao-Long standing there also in tight black shorts and a tight orange top with her usual golden symbol in the center of it.

"Yang?"

"That's my name, so here I was doing my morning routine when I noticed a new face." She knelt down to get more at eye level with him.

"I didn't know you worked out here in the morning," Jaune stated.

"I like to get in a morning workout," she explained. "Normally I work out with Nora but she doesn't get here for like an hour later on weekends."

"Yeah, she likes to sleep in."

"Yep," Yang stood back up. "So again, what's with you being in the gym this early?"

He sat up and turned to face her. "I need to improve my physical strength, so I kind of figured that the gym is the perfect way to do it."

Yang nodded her head. "Okay so what's your workout plan?"

"My what?"

Yang stared at him for a moment. "Did you just come in here without a plan? Like what are you focusing on? Upper body, lower body, stamina, strength, core?"

"Uh…I was, just you know, going to wing it?" He shrugged.

Yang face palmed. "Okay Jaune, yes you can work out like that but it's not effective. You need to switch it up to get an even workout, plus you need to put in rest days to recover for instance."

~Not an issue with me here~

Jaune mentally nodded with his alien partner as Yang went on about how a proper workout could go. He suddenly found that there was a lot more than he thought there was to it. He really should have done his research or at least asked Nora and Pyrrha for some help.

"Wow Yang, you really know your stuff." He told her.

She grinned at him, and she gestured to her body. "Hey, I worked hard to get my body looking like this, good genes only go so far and I prefer to be in top shape if I'm going to be a Huntress."

"Yeah, that's why I want to improve too, I need to get better." He said as an idea hit him. "You think you could help me out? I mean even if it's just for tips I know you want to get back to your own workout."

Yang considered this, she looked Jaune over and while he had a decent build, but it could be better. She could use a workout partner and besides he could use the help. If there was one thing she could respect Jaune for it was that he was working hard to improve himself. Hard work was something she knew very well given she busted her ass to get where she was now.

There was also the fact that he was her little sister's best friend here. The first real friend she had made and honestly she liked Jaune as a friend. Sure he was dorky but he did make things interesting like this cringe attempts to ask Weiss out. There was also the fact that unlike some guys in the past, he wasn't nice to Ruby just to get into Yang's good books. She had learned to spot those guys from a mile away.

He treated her little sister like the best friend that he was and without any ulterior motives and that went a long way in her books. Ruby always had issues making friends, so it was nice to see she had started to at Beacon.

One more factor that went into his favor was that he hadn't tried to look down her top when she bent down. Now Yang was used to looks, she got them all the time and she looked herself. When you 'look' you gave a brief glance to appreciate something and then go back to whatever you were doing. That was fine in her mind, it was the leering that was creepy. She had seen people stare at her ass while jogging on the machine or at her chest when doing certain upper body exercise.

Yes, she knew she was hot but you were supposed to look, not stare. Jaune never stared at her and treated her like a person.

Yang shrugged, "Sure why not. Get back into position while I spot you and then you can return the favor."

"Thanks Yang, I mean it," he got back to it as Yang stood by his head her hands out under the bar just in case he needed it.

"Alright so let's get started," Yang told him as Jaune started to do his next set. Yang could give him a few pointers to help.

Jaune was glad for the help although he did have to keep his eyes on the bar. He knew that he wasn't exactly the most observant at times, but one thing was clear. Yang was a very beautiful young woman and being this close and given the angle part of him wanted to look up. He could see those twin peeks above, but he kept his eyes on the bar. The last thing he needed was to get a hard on staring at her, she would think he's some kind of creep and he didn't want that.

He liked Yang, she was a good friend, she was full of energy and life, he actually wished he could be more like her at times with how confident she carried herself and could just walk into a room and start to socialize with total strangers. Maybe that's why he was closer to Ruby, they were both just dorks with trouble being social with others.

At the end they switched, and it was Yang's turn on the bench. She of course put on more weight, and he hoped he could lift it if she needed help. He did the same as she had placed his hands under the bars as she started.

After she was done she was sweaty and breathing a little hard but stretched herself out.

"Damn that felt good," She got up. "Okay so first lesson in gym etiquette"

"There's gym etiquette?"

"Oh yeah, first is when you're done, wipe down the station." Yang led him to where a spry bottle and paper towels were. "You use these to clean it off, no one wants to work out in someone else's sweat."

"Ah, that makes sense," After a clean they continue one. They followed Yang's morning workout as Jaune really wasn't sure what to do so he just followed her lead. Yang would give him advice on what he should and could work on and how. He would help out when needed when she needed a spotter or just to someone to talk to.

By the end of two hours Jaune felt like he was ready to drop. Yang seeing this took pity on him and led him to the benches. She refilled his water bottle for him and handed it to him.

"Thanks," he started to down the cool liquid.

She sat down next to him. "Well how was your first real taste of gym life?"

"Hard…but worth it," He breathed but slowly started to feel the symbiote going to work cleaning up the toxins built up in his body and repairing the muscles.

"That's the spirit," Yang slightly bumped his shoulder with her fist. "Keep this up and we'll get you into shape yet."

He thought about something, he really could use advice on how to properly work out and Yang really knew her stuff. Maybe he could have her help him with it if she was up for it. "You know I really enjoyed myself today."

"Yeah, it's nice to have a work out buddy," Yang leaned back. "Working out alone is nice and quiet but also a bit too quiet. Ruby barely keeps up with her physical training, and Blake and Weiss have their own thing.

"Well, I'm up to joining you and Nora if you don't mind," Jaune told her. "I could use the help and I get the feeling it would something nice to do. I really need to improve, and I think with your help in my physical training it could work."

He knew he could ask Pyrrha, but she was already helping him with his combat skills, he didn't want to impose too much on her as he felt he might be holding back her own training if he relied too much on her. He wanted to give her a chance to have the time work on her own skills after all.

Yang thought about it, it had been fun, and Nora couldn't always make it. Besides it was nice to have someone new around and Jaune was a good guy. It might be fun to have a new workout partner plus she saw Ruby and Jaune hanging out all the time so maybe it was time for the big sister to try and get to know him better.

"You know what, you got a deal."

-Later-

After a nice hot shower and a change Jaune went to the library. He did have some homework but now he was doing a different type of homework. It was something his symbiote needed, more knowledge of the world. Actually, to be honest he had to admit that he needed to learn more as well. He looked through the stacks wondering where to start.

He saw a book about Grimm so maybe that could help. He reached for it not noticing someone else had been looking for books as well. Well, his symbiote saw it but decided that unless they were going to collide no warning was needed.

He was reaching up when a pale hand reached up at the same time as they brushed against each other.

"Oh! Sorry I didn't see you-Weiss?" Jaune gulped as the shorter white haired girl looked up at him with annoyance in her ice blue eyes.

"And what are you doing here?" She demanded. She swore if this was another of his hair brained attempts to court her, well she wasn't sure what to do as he was fairly harmless just annoying.

Jaune cursed himself why did he have to bump into the girl he had a crush on at first sight? And she was already annoyed with him, great. Part of him wanted to play it off maybe make a comment on how her eyes looked. His symbiotic partner however while not fully versed in human body language, with all its experience was giving him warnings.

Listening to it he paused before maybe just going with the truth?

"I'm just trying to get some research done, you know things like Grimm, dust, maybe some other stuff."

"Really?" She slowly placed her hands on her hips gut her guard was up for anything he might try. She didn't see any flowers or something on him so maybe it was totally random.

"Yeah well," he rubbed the back of his head. He wanted to sound cool and act confident but that hadn't gone well. He remembered how that went in the weapons locker room on the first day with her. Jaune wasn't sure but with the memory he swore he could feel the symbiote give a mental face palm.

"You know I'm not the best in class."

"Understatement if there ever was one," She said coldly.

Okay ouch but not entirely uncalled for, he was most likely dead last in all subjects. Granted he had a handicap of no formal training like everyone else, but he couldn't exactly say that and then explain the obvious question of how he even got into this academy.

"So, I'm trying to make myself better, I've already started on the physical stuff but now I need to work on you know, the book stuff."

She cocked an eyebrow at him the one with the scar. "So, you wanted to improve with studying a book about advanced Grimm knowledge?"

"Wait what?" He looked at the book more closely as he saw the full title was 'A Grimm Study: Advanced Edition for theories and practical use'.

"Oh…that might be a bit much then," He sighed. "Wait why are you reaching for it then?"

She placed a hand on her chest, "I am already well familiar with basic Grimm knowledge, so I wanted to expand on it. I wanted to be prepared for anything in the future."

"Makes sense," He nodded. "Well I'll let you get back to it."

Jaune went back to looking for any book that was more his speed as Weiss was curious as he just walked off. Not one making a comment on her hair, or eyes or voice. Maybe he was finally learning that 'no meant no' and he was moving on. She picked up the book when Jaune's called spoke out again.

"Hey Weiss?"

She resisted the urge to groan, here it comes, it was another pickup line or something.

"Do you know of any good books that I can use that might be helpful?"

She cast him a sideways glance as he looked totally lost. She sighed, while she wanted to get to her own research maybe if she helped him out this one time it would get him out of her hair for a bit. She had a full day planned out and wanted to get as much in as possible.

"Fine, let's start with this," She picked up a book on general Grimm knowledge and handed it to him.

"Oh great, now I just need one on dust, maybe Faunus as well and some science books."

Now she was confused, dust she could see but guy Faunus and science books? She placed her free hand on her hip looking at him.

"And why do you want to know about those things, exactly?"

Jaune couldn't just come out and say 'because the alien living in my body needs more information' so he just wanted to come up with something. He felt a nudge from his partner and went with it. "Well dust is obvious but the others, well I don't know much about Faunus history, and it might make me understand them more. Science books, well I'm behind on that."

She guessed that made sense but there was just something odd about Jaune Arc lately, he had been acting stranger than normal. His meals were unbalanced, while he looked like he didn't fully pay attention in class he could easily answer verbatim questions when asked and his improvement in the combat classes was another thing. He also hadn't bothered her for a date in over a week now which was a record.

If there was one thing she hated, well a few things actually, she was pretty sure she could make a whole list of things, it was a mystery. She liked to have answers to questions and not having them made a small annoying itch in her brain.

"Fine, let's get you started."

Weiss showed him how the library was organized as Jaune was lost on what to look for she help to narrow it down. By the end if he had several books as took a spot at a table and started to read through it. Weiss for some reasons he didn't fully understand sat at the same table. Only a little distance from him, she could early have found an empty spot on a Saturday but she was curious as to why Jaune suddenly was trying to learn so much.

She was ten minutes into her book before she realized something, Jaune was going through the pages quickly. Was he even reading them? If he was not taking this seriously after her hard work to help him, she was going to be mad. After another ten minutes he placed the book down and picked up another.

That was it for her, "Are you even reading?"

"Huh?" Jaune looked up.

"You're just flipping the pages, you can't be reading all that."

Jaune hadn't noticed how fast he had been reading while he didn't get everything, he found he could remember stuff he read. "I guess it's just natural for me?"

Weiss narrowed her eyes as she got up and went over to him and got the book and randomly flipped to a page. "Very well then how much do we know about the Grimm organs?"

Jaune paused for a bit before the information was suddenly there. "We don't know much of anything because when Grimm die, they fade away and capturing a Grimm tend to be hard unless it's a smaller type. There have been attempts to vivisect Grimm, but they soon die too quickly to get any study done."

Weiss had been reading the page and it was word for word. She quickly flipped to another random page. "What's the largest pack of Grimm ever reported?"

"That would be the Marine Pack named so because of the Marine City that was attacked and eventually destroyed over one hundred years ago. It was a group in the hundreds which is sometimes referred to as a Horde."

Weiss stood there in silence, so Jaune did have kind of photographic memory, that had to answer some questions but if so, he should have known all of this already before coming here. It just seemed like the more questions she answered the more that popped up. It was a little infuriating for someone that liked things that were nice and orderly.

"At any rate I had a question about dust and I'm hoping you can help since you know a lot about it." Jaune remembered Ruby explaining to him about exploding on the first day. Plus, Weiss always did seem to know a lot when the subject was brought up.

That got another look from Weiss that said 'you're kidding right?' like he asked what color the sky was. "Of course I would know my family owns SDC."

"The what?"

Weiss gapped at that. There was no way, he was messing with her he had to be. "The Schnee Dust Company!"

"Oh! Yeah, I remember people talking about that. Oh, so that's what SDC stood for, wait you're family is part of that?"

Weiss was nearly broken, how, just how had he not known this? "You have to have heard of the company! We supply most of the world's dust!"

"No! I mean Yes, I mean…kind of?" Jaune tried to explain. "You see my family and I are from a small town, not exactly a city, we have walls to keep out the Grimm but nothing like say Vale. I never really considered where dust came from all I knew was that you just buy it at the store?"

It also didn't help that he didn't use dust in his weapon like everyone else. The only time he had to handle dust products were the commercial ones for homes and businesses and even then he didn't really handle it personally most of the time.

"You never noticed the SDC logo on any of it?"

"Well I noticed but it only said SDC on it. I didn't pay attention to what it broke out to." He sank back from her feeling a little embarrassed. This was the downside to living in a small town you lose a lot of information. He hadn't even known how famous Pyrrha was, he never heard of the tournaments she took part in. He most likely had seen her on a box of cereal but hadn't recognized her in person.

So just like with SDC he never gave it much thought because, what did it ever have to do with him? How many people would think that one day you would be interacting with a family member that owns a major company?

"It just didn't seem important. It's that kind of thing people don't really care about in isolated areas, we're more concerned with crop seasons and Grimm movements. I remember seeing the logo and stuff but didn't know it was that big. It was just the company that we got dust from to me."

Weiss stood still as she started to take all that in. She supposed what he said did make some sense, it's not like they advertised to every village only the larger cities who then bought it and sold it to villages and towns. At most he might have at least seen some commercial ads but Jaune didn't seem to care about that stuff so he might had just tuned it out?

Then something else hit her.

"Wait so when we met you had no idea what the Schnee Dust Company was or that I was the heiress for that company?" She asked him.

"No, I only found out you were from a rich family from talking with Ruby. She only said that your 'family is supposed to be super rich from some major company in Atlas' she didn't explain what the company was or did. I just was never really interested that," he scratched the back of his head. "I did look you up after that on the internet, but I was more interested with your singing, which is really pretty by the way."

"I did see you were part of a Schnee Company, but I didn't really look much into it once I found your videos online of you singing."

Weiss was well aware of how some people had recorded her concerts to post for later, honestly, she didn't care about that, she did appreciate that people liked her singing. She was just confused because all this time she thought he was just trying to get in her favor because of her family's company. It was pretty normal for back home at those galas and parties where men from notable families tried to win her over hoping to one day forge a marriage into one of the largest most powerful companies on the planet.

She was used to men constantly trying to court her for their own selfish reasons, but Jaune hadn't known who she was. Part of her wondered why he even tried to ask her out so often, but she stopped herself. This was getting too personal, and she already felt the mental drain hitting her from too many revelations at once. Besides if she asked it might invite him to keep asking her out and she just didn't want to deal with that at the moment.

She signed and sat down putting the book she still had back on the table. "So…what was your dust question?" She asked sounding a bit tired.

"Oh well where does it come from?" He asked and saw the look again. "I know it's in the ground, but I mean, has anyone thought why there are these crystals that just seem to have elements in them? And why don't they work in space? It almost seems like they aren't natural that way."

Weiss thought about it, these were questions people have been asking since their discovery. "Honestly? No one knows for sure, the space part the leading theory is that they are somehow linked to the planet and being away drains them but that's unproven."

"The same goes for their origin, no one really knows. They've been shown as far back as history but it wasn't until fairly recently we found out they could be weaponized against the Grimm. As for them not being 'natural' you could say that about the Grimm as well."

"Yeah, I see your point," Jaune nodded his head, although he could feel the symbiote a little frustrated with the lack of answers it seemed to accept what she said.

"Well, if that's all I have my own studying to do." She got up and went back to her seat.

"Thanks Weiss, I really mean it, you've been a big help." He honestly told her.

She paused and simply nodded her head and went back to her book. She had to admit that when he wasn't pestering her attempts at a date, he wasn't totally annoying. Plus at least he knew how to be quiet unlike a certain hooded partner she could name as the two of them silently went on studying things.

The symbiote had been studying the girl the entire time, his host was very enamored with her, for reasons the symbiote could get from the host. He was charmed by her beauty and confidence on that first day they met. Although the alien wasn't sure his host actually stood a chance but there had been worst cases that the alien had born witness to or had memories of even worst mismatched pairings that somehow worked out in the end.

At any rate the first thing was to take in all this helpful knowledge and then it could worry about its host's love life.

TBC…

Chapter Text

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 7: The Choice

It had been a week since Jaune started working with his symbiote and he couldn’t believe the drastic changes that happened with him. His training with Pyrrha was going great now, he could actually see her starting to exert herself. Sure, he didn’t come close to beating her but he felt like she actually had to put in some effort, which to him was a milestone.

He continued reading in the library now and then, he saw Weiss there and got some more advice from her on certain books. It was nice being able to just talk with her, even if it was over study material. He would have maybe tried to ask her out again but the symbiote warned him that coming on too strong might not work. That maybe she needed to see him as something more first than just another student.

Maybe the alien was right, maybe if he got better, she would start to notice him more? It was worth a shot, he tried mainly everything else plus he did need to focus on getting better. He had so much to catch up with everyone, but he felt he was improving leaps and bounds now. It was odd how easily he started to get used to having someone to talk to in his head all the time.

Whenever he had a question, he was there for him, needed advice? Ask the symbiote, he had a huge collection of knowledge that Jaune could use to help himself to after all.

Then there was the mental training, every night for what seemed like days he trained with his alien symbiote. The alien was teaching him combat styles that he had picked up in his travels in space and from the genetic memory of his predecessors. There was just so much he could learn that Jaune knew if he was in a coma for the rest of his life, he would barely scratch all the knowledge.

There were other things he learned too, he learned more about space and everything out there. Space was just full of wonders and horrors, he still mentally shivered every time he learned about The Brood. That’s an alien race he hopes Remnant never meets; they would be destroyed by that race of alien parasites if they did.

And finally, his physical training was coming along, Yang was a big help and when Nora joined in it was nice for the three of them to train together. It was nice getting closer to Yang as a friend since he was already close friends with Ruby after all.

He was improving in his studies and he currently was on a five match winning streak in combat class.

All in all things were looking up.

Jaune woke up and despite the mental training during the night he always felt more refreshed. The upside to having a symbiote that can fix anything with your body.

‘Morning buddy’ Jaune thought out.

~Morning Jaune~

The symbiote had been getting stronger and could now talk much more easily in his head during the waking hours.

Jaune noticed he was the first up and decided to take the shower first. It was a first come, first serve in their dorm after all. He got into the bathroom and closed the door as he started to strip off his sleep wear. Which no longer was his onesie. He still has no idea what happened to it but the others had already a spare long sleeve shirt and pants for him so it was fine. Still, how did they get him a spare in his size so easily?

When he took off his shirt, he caught himself in the mirror.

“Wait, what?” He looked at his reflection. He was more muscular than he had been a few weeks ago. “Whoa.”

He looked himself over, sure he wasn’t huge like say Cardin, but he was way more defined now. Still a bit slim but the muscle definition was there. It was like maybe a swimmer or gymnast build, kind of like that action hero Jean Claude Van Vert back in the day.

“Wow when you said you could help my physically you weren’t kidding.” Jaune had to admit he liked what he saw. How come no one else commented on the change so far?

~Because the uniform hides it. Wearing bulky clothing~

“Oh right, that would explain it.” Jaune had to admit that he wondered what he would end up looking like. Nothing too big he hoped, he liked the extra strength but if anything, he wanted to keep his movement and speed up.

The symbiote noted this since he had been adjusting Jaune’s body as he slept. Making improvements and enhancing what was there. Jaune was already stronger than a normal base line human with no aura at the moment but there was still more. This aura was an interesting thing that the symbiote had been studying. It healed the body as well as enhancing it too, so it made the Klyntar’s work so much easier.

Jaune took his shower humming to himself happily as he dried off and brushed his teeth. There was a knock at the door.

“Jaune are you nearly done?” his human partner’s voice called out.

“Nearly,” He put on the pants as he spat out the toothpaste and rinsed his mouth out. He picked up his shirt and opened the door. “Finished, it’s all yours…Pyrrha?”

Pyrrha had woken up to the sound of the shower and noticed Jaune was missing, so she had an idea of who was in there. The other two were stirring so she figured she could get in her shower next. Stretching out with a yawn she had knocked when the shower ended and asked if he was done. She didn’t have to wait long for him to open the door and that’s when she felt her heart stop.

There was Jaune shirtless, with the towel on his shoulder his shirt in the other, his hair slightly wet but it was his bare chest she couldn’t stop looking at. Jaune was a tall boy and slim and she did find him attractive, especially his eyes. She loved his eyes but seeing him now with his slightly glistening abs and pecs she felt her mouth suddenly go dry.

She just wanted to reach out and touch them.

“Pyrrha.” Jaune said again snapping her out of her thoughts. “Are you okay you’re looking kind of flush, you’re not feeling sick, are you?”

She realized she must be blushing, one of the things she hated about being a fair skinned red head was that her blushing was more pronounced. Also, she had to be extremely careful tanning or else she would just burn.

“I’m fine-just fine-just needed to use the bathroom.” She quickly said her eyes trying to find anything but his body to look at.

“Oh well here you go then,” he moved aside as she quickly went in and closed the door. “Huh, that was odd.”

The symbiote had a feeling it knew what was going on but kept silent. It only had a guess as human interactions were still something he was learning but he had a fairly good guess that the red haired female was attracted to the host. At least it was a possible explanation but since they weren’t fully bonded it wouldn’t get involved in the Jaune’s love life as it were.

When they are bonded that might change but Jaune still hadn’t made the choice yet. Time was running out and soon Jaune would have to make a choice or the symbiote would need a new host.

Pyrrha’s back was to the door as she mentally admonished herself for her reaction. Jaune was her partner and friend and not someone that she should just ogle like a piece of meat. She thought she was better than this.

‘It’s okay, it just took me by surprise is all,’ She told herself she hadn’t seen Jaune’s body exposed like that before now so maybe now she would be used to it. Yes, she had feelings for Jaune that were more than just friendship, he was the first person to see her as just Pyrrha, not the great champion or how famous she was. He saw her as just her and she saw him for the kind and hardworking man that he was.

‘Okay so all that training seems to be paying off,’ she thought as she undressed for the shower. ‘that’s fine, yes his build it very nice now, I can admit that. Just because I wanted to kneel down and run my tongue along his abs-STOP!’

Her face turned bright red at the intrusive thought as she quickly decided to give herself a cold shower to cool off her mind and her body.

-Later-

Jaune felt nervous, he was in class, and they were getting back their test results from yesterday. He hated testing, he always felt like he didn’t do very well on them no matter how hard he tried. Of course, he had been studying more lately with this help of his alien friend but years of fretting over testing wasn’t easy to overcome.

Currently it was their math class, now Jaune didn’t know what to expect out of being in Beacon, but he was surprised to learn that most of the schooling was the kind of stuff you’d learn in normal school. They just added in the Huntsmen stuff like Grimm Studies, Combat Class, and things like that onto it. When he had asked about it, Pyrrha had explained it was in case any students failed out of the school, or dropped out, had to leave because of injury or even after graduation.

If they wanted to retire or had to quit for physical or mental reasons so they weren’t totally without knowledge that could help them gain other employment.

The teacher was passing out the papers as Jaune got more and more nervous. The symbiote tried to calm him and it worked a little but the closer the teacher got the more worried he was.

~don’t worry, we have this~

Jaune nodded at that, the alien had been helping him in his studies. Jaune found that he could remember things much more clearly now, sure he may not totally understand it but the improvement to his ability to recall things really helped. Then the paper was put in front of him.

“Good job Mr. Arc, you’ve really improved since the last test, you got one of the top scores.”

Jaune looked at his paper with a 97% on it. He never scored that high before, especially in math.

“Oh, uh, thank you,” He blinked at it as a feeling of accomplishment filled him.

Ruby who was next to him looked at him with a sense of pride and a little jealous given her own 76%. It was still a passing grade, but she had trouble with certain parts. It also didn’t help that she had two years of math she skipped over.

“Hey Jaune, you think you can help me for the next test?” Ruby would ask Weiss, but she liked to study alone and the few times she did managed to get her help, Weiss didn’t have the patience for teaching.

“Uh, sure yeah, what are friends for?” He hoped he could help, well more to say that his symbiote could help out.

~the science of this world is easily understood~

Right, alien. He kind of forgot that the alien was used to civilizations that were light years ahead of them and had lived for a long time. How long? The symbiote wasn’t sure as their people didn’t look at time the same way given how long lived, they were.

“Thanks, Jaune,” she leaned over and whispered. “I really could use some help to catch up.”

Oh, Jaune knew full well about needing help to catch up, part of him wished he could tell her but that secret of how he got into Beacon was one he wasn’t sure he could tell anyone.

Pyrrha who was on the other side of Jaune smiled, he always was helpful to others. It was his good nature that she really enjoyed being around him. Weiss sitting behind them couldn’t help but notice that Jaune’s score was just one point below her own. She was certain that his scores hadn’t been that good before.

It again made her start to think something odd was going on with Jaune. He had been improving at a rapid pace and now he was nearly caught up to her level? That dunce had somehow managed to pull himself up too quickly. She didn’t see any obvious signs of cheating, but could he be? The teachers should have seen something, they would notice if a student suddenly improved so much and investigate things.

But the teacher seemed pleased so had Jaune just studied harder than normal?

Weiss hated mysteries, unanswered questions left her bothered. Maybe she would see if he could help Ruby. Weiss had tried but the younger girl didn’t seem to focus or had too much trouble with certain concepts. Maybe if Jaune could get her grades up then that would answer the question of possible cheating. She knew that Ruby would never cheat on a test, it was one of the few things she could admit to liking about the girl.

So, she would resolve herself to seeing the outcome and make any more judgements based on that.

Nora groaned seeing her score, it wasn’t a fail, but it was close. Yang winced at her own, it was a low B but if it wasn’t for a few mistakes she could have gotten better. She peeked over at Blake’s higher score.

“I think my sis has a point, maybe we need a study group or something to help out.” Yang sighed. She knew she could do better if only with a little help. Granted she was more of an action person, but she wasn’t stupid, she hated those dumb blonde jokes with a passion and wanted to prove she was more than just a pretty face.

It wasn’t every subject she had trouble with, just math and some science stuff. Everything else she was perfectly fine with.

“It might not hurt,” Ren spoke up rubbing Nora’s back who was now face down on her desk.

“Then as team leader I say we have a group study session with team JNPR,” Ruby stated hearing this.

“Shouldn’t the leader of their team agree to it also?” Weiss stated with her arms crossed.

“I mean,” Jaune looked at his teammates. Ren seemed okay with it, Nora looked up with hope in her eyes and Pyrrha nodded her head happy to help out. “Sure, shouldn’t be a problem.”

Class ended soon after that as they were in the hall on their way to their next class but then Jaune suddenly felt off, he felt lightheaded, and Ren caught his arm.

“Are you okay?” Ren asked him concerned that got everyone’s attention who hadn’t seen it.

“I don’t know, I feel kind of weak and lightheaded.” Jaune then felt a numbing sensation, but it quickly passed.

Pyrrha looked at him seeing him look a bit pale. “I think you should head to the nurse’s office.”

Jaune wanted to say he was fine but then the room seemed to shift as he stumbled. There was no argument after that as The group made sure he got to the nurse office, which turned out to be a lot larger than you would think. It was actually part of the medical ward, after all this was a dangerous job they were training for. They would face Grimm while training, so accidents did happen.

All the academies had the best medical wards that they could get because you never know what could happen. Even a dust accident with their ammunition wasn’t unheard of and those could get very horrible injuries.

They left him in the hands of the nurse on duty as she had him rest up after her examination. She would check back in an hour to see if he was feeling better or needed to get one of the doctors to take a closer look.

Jaune laid in the bed looking up at the ceiling, he felt the room stop moving at least.

~Jaune, it’s time~

“Time?” He said rubbing his head.

~Can’t hold back anymore. Need to bond fully or leave~

“Oh. That time,” Jaune actually had been putting this off until now but apparently, he had a choice to make. The symbiote had explained that as it recovered it would need to fully bond, it couldn’t exist in this state forever as it had been fighting its own nature. It couldn’t fully heal without a full bond and the pseudo one they had was a stop gap.

Jaune lay there and thought about everything. It was still odd to think that he would share his body for the rest of his life with the alien but so far, was it really so bad? It was nice having someone to talk to, who knew everything about him. Sure, it did feel a little invasive at times but the more and more they were together the more Jaune didn’t seem to mind.

Okay sure, someone might make a case that the alien could be altering his thoughts, but it didn’t feel like that. The symbiote didn’t feel malevolent, it honestly did want to help him be a better him.

There was another nagging thought in the back of his mind, was he only as good as the symbiote? Was the symbiote the only way for him to become a Huntsman? Was this just another cheat? First his fake records and now using the strength of an alien to become what he wanted to be because he was too weak to do it on his own?

Did he really deserve this kind of help, this kind of power or should it go to someone more worthy of it?

He could feel the symbiote trying to encourage him, but Jaune always had self-doubt, especially coming here. It was a lot harder than he thought to be a Huntsman, but he still wanted to accomplish his dream.

He lay there on the bed staring up at the ceiling losing track of time as his mind went around and around lost in thought.

It would be an hour later when Ruby in between classes came to visit.

“Hey Jaune.” Ruby’s head popped into the room from the doorway. “You feeling better?”

“A little bit yeah,” He sat up as Ruby entered the room.

“That’s good to know,” She sat down next to him. “Everyone’s wondering how you were, and I said I would check in on you.”

Team JNPR wanted to come but Ruby said since she was the fastest, she could get there and to the next class in plenty of time and would update them on how he was doing.

“Well thanks for that, that means a lot to me,” He honestly told her. Having a friend like Ruby was something he was very grateful for. He never really had a friend as good as her, sure she had friends before but for some reason even thought they had only known each other for a few months it felt more like years. It was odd but it was just this comfortable feeling they had between the two of them.

“Hey Ruby, can I ask you something?” For someone two years younger than him Ruby had some surprising insight at times, and he felt he could use her advice again.

“Sure thing Jaune.”

Jaune took a breath thinking on how to phrase this. “So, you know how we all got partners now for the rest of our time in school, right?”

“Yep.”

“Well, what happens after? I mean do you see yourself being partnered with Weiss for your entire career?”

Ruby paused as she hadn’t really thought that far ahead. “Well, I would like to, I mean, I hope by then we become the bestest of friends and would work together as real Huntresses, along with Blake and Yang.”

“So, you wouldn’t mind having someone with you at all times?”

“Not really,” Ruby shifted a bit. “I didn’t have many friends at school, the few that I have well I haven’t seen them since I left Patch. I barely get to hear from them now so having someone around like a friend of partner sounds nice. You can watch each other’s backs, have someone there for you when you need it and be there for them.”

“It’s a dangerous job so it’s good to have a partner.”

“Yeah, it is,” He thought about it and if he wanted to be the best Huntsman he could be and protect people better, than wouldn’t the symbiote make perfect sense? There was one little doubt in this mind though.

“So,” He started. “With your partner don’t you sometimes feel like you can only be a Huntsman or Huntress without them? I’m not exactly the best and without everyone’s help I don’t think I could do this. Wouldn’t it be better to do everything with your own strength?”

“Well, everyone has things they are good at and things they are bad at,” Ruby told him. “I’m much faster than Weiss but her glyphs can make her do things I can’t do. That’s why teams are a thing, we support each other and we’re stronger together. We’re all in this together, we work together to help people so why should we have to be alone doing it?”

Ruby looked down at her feet as she felt a heavy weight on her heart as she decided to open up to him about something deeply personal. “My mom went off on a mission alone and she never came back.”

Jaune’s eyes widened at that, he knew that Yang and Ruby’s mom had died but he hadn’t known how.

“Sometimes I wonder why she went alone, and I wonder what if she had someone to look out for her? Would she have come back home if she had? What if Uncle Qrow had been able to go with her that day? He goes off alone too all the time and while he always comes back…I’m worried one day we’ll hear that he went off on a mission by himself and didn’t come back.”

“Ruby…I’m sorry I didn’t know,” He felt horrible having her bring this up, this was a deeply painful memory for her, he knew how important family was to both himself and to Ruby.

“It’s not your fault,” She shook her head. “But that’s why I’m glad I have a team and a partner because I know together, we won’t face the world alone and we’re always going to have each other’s backs so we’ll be just fine.”

Jaune thought about her words, and he could see her point to everything. He nodded his head. “Thanks Ruby, I think you really helped me out.”

“What are friends for?” She smiled at him with such a warm and bright smile he couldn’t help but smile back.

After that Ruby left as Jaune was alone thinking things over alone in the room.

“Okay I’ve made up my mind,” Jaune spoke out softly. “Let’s do this.”

~You wish to bond?~ the symbiote had to make sure the host was in agreement.

“Yeah, you’ve been nothing but good to me this entire time and I honestly am better with you, together I think we could really be heroes. We could help so many people and you’ve been a good friend as well.”

Jaune had one last thought, “You know I’ve been thinking about something else, what to call you. I know you said you have been given different names but it’s a name I think would suit you. It’s a name of the same person who used my current weapons, my great-grand father Valor Richard Arc. So what do you say to the name of Valor?”

~We are Valor~

With that Jaune suddenly felt as if the world had been dialed up, things seemed sharper or clearer, it was like he knew where everything was in the room without looking. He felt more connected with his symbiote all of a sudden.

“Whoa…is this what it’s like to fully bond?”

~Oh yes, it will take me a day to fully integrate with your body but now we are bound together. We are One.~

“Oh, hey you can talk more easily too,” Jaune could not only hear the symbiote clearer but he could feel the emotions and intentions behind the words as well. It was a bit surreal, but it was like Valor and him were almost one in the same. “Wow this feels totally different from before.”

~Before we were only linked, now that we’ve bonded, we have become one being. I am what you are, and you are what I am.~

“I think I’m starting to fully understand,” Jaune said looking at his hands and flexing them feeling the difference. If he concentrated, it was almost like he could feel every muscle in them. “So…what’s next?”

~Next, we show the school what we’re really made of~

Jaune couldn’t wait to get started and to think this all started with a meteor falling to the planet. “Huh…now that I think about it, whatever happened to that meteorite?”

-Weeks Ago, ATLAS Labs-

The main labs of Atlas was a huge facility hidden in the heart of the floating city. It was buried deep within it as it was the testing bed for new technologies like a certain robot girl, the Paladins, new weapon systems and anything else of scientific value. They had the most advanced labs in the world given that the kingdom was in a frozen land they didn’t have much in the way of natural resources, at least not easy gotten to in the frozen earth.

They did have plenty of dust which allowed their kingdom a large income and they spent it on everything they could.

Currently the tall cyborg of General Ironwood who was followed by one of his most trusted military members Winter Schnee walked to one of the bio labs.

“Sir what exactly are we seeing?” Winter asked as all she knew was that she had been in the middle of reports when the General came to get her.

“You remember that meteorite that crashed in Vale?”

Winter nodded her head, it was a rare event when something crashed landed. It was given to Atlas for study because of their advanced labs and as a gift from Beacon’s Headmaster.

“We found something.” Ironwood stated as they went through several heavily enforced doors, going through a decontamination room until they were led by a scientist to the main observation room. Winter saw many scientists in the control room as they were busy at work.

Winter looked over to the room and could see a small clear reinforced box with some kind of black substance in it. It wasn’t very big, less than the size of her own hand.

“This is what you found?” Winter was not impressed.

“Wait for it,” Ironwood stated looking at the lead scientist. “Begin.”

The man nodded as he took the controls as a robot came in carrying a small cage with a rat in it. The cage was connected to the box and then the cage was opened. The rat looked around curious to its new surroundings and slowly crept up to the black goo sniffing it to see if it was food.

Suddenly the black substance reached out and engulfed the rat as it squealed in panic.

Winter took a half step back in shock. “What is that!?”

“That,” the lead scientist said. “Is a life form not of our world. We found it on the meteorite, we almost missed it but it tried to latch onto a researcher’s finger.”

“Their finger?” she questioned.

“It was one fifth the size when we found it, it’s been slowly growing since we’ve been giving it…organic matter.”

Winter looked to see that the rat was now covered in the black substance, but it looked different. It was bigger and had rows of larger and sharper teeth and claws now the tail was barbed with large white eyes.

“Is it, intelligent?” Winter asked.

“We’re not sure,” The general stated looking down. “We’re hoping so but what we found out is that this creature can make the rats stronger than before. The first time we tired this it nearly broke containment.”

Ironwood looked at the creature if they could just harness this power they could make soldiers that could take the fight to the Grimm in ways they never could before. One of the reasons for the Paladin project was to save lives. How many more lives could be saved if only they could get this creature to bend to their will?

“Welcome to Project Noir, Winter.” Ironwood stared down at the merged creature.

TBC…

Chapter Text

AN: Okay a lot of people are getting confused by something. This is NOT Venom, this is NOT an insane Klyntar but a sane one. So anything you think might happened because of ‘it happen to Venom’ or ‘How Venom did this in the comics’, throw that out or your heads. It’s most likely not happening. This is a totally different symbiote.

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 8: The New Jaune

It was Friday night at Beacon, normally when the students would be relaxing thankful for the weekend or going out on dates to enjoy their teenage years, a few getting all of their schoolwork done so they had the full weekend to themselves. Two students however were currently in the arena.

Pyrrha and Jaune were currently sparring against each other for their usual after school training. Normally they were on a specific balcony, but Pyrrha had to admit that his training had come along to the point that the balcony was just too small of a training area. She couldn’t believe how fast Jaune had come so far.

It was more like he had a year of extra training somehow.

What she didn’t know was just how close she really was to that statement, with the sleep training of his symbiote, Jaune had gained much more experience thanks to that. Also now fully being bonded the symbiote could help Jaune even more.

He could feel what Valor was trying to tell him without words, seeing what the symbiote wanted him to see and it felt like his reflexes were so much faster now.

Pyrrha for her part was actually feeling pressure from Jaune, when they first started he had trouble keeping his sword in his hand but now he was pushing her back. She actually had to put in effort not to face him. She was actually thinking of starting to use her semblance of magnetism, not fully but just a touch to keep him off balance.

She decided to test it out as Jaune went for a swing as she nudged it just a bit to slightly miss as she slammed her shield into him sending him onto his back. She grinned as she saw him roll with the landing and get back into a defensive crouch.

‘Damn it, I thought I had her there,’ Jaune thought as he slowly stood up as the two started to circle the other.

~You did, something moved the blade at the last second~

‘Wait, what?’ Jaune saw the memory replay from the symbiote’s point of view as there had been this tiny black glow at the edge of his blade and the feel of it tugging the sword.

Jaune blinked as he thought what it could be as both he and the symbiote came to the same conclusion.

‘Semblance~ both thought out.

Jaune didn’t know what the semblance was of his partner, mainly because he never bothered to ask. He felt if she wanted him to know she could have said something by now. Maybe that was a mistake looking back on it. As team leader he really should know this kind of stuff. Still, what kind of semblance was it?

~Something that can move objects-high strike!~

‘Thanks,’ He thought back to block her attack and counter. ‘Okay yeah moves things, so something like Glynda but something is missing. Why the blade and not something like my arm?’

~Maybe she can only move certain things or not living things~

‘Okay yeah so I need to check, if I could only get rid of her shield to pressure her more.’

~I have an idea~

Pyrrha had no idea of the conversation going on in Jaune’s head, but she was more focused on the spar. She could actually feel some sweat, granted this was their fifth spar of the night but he was getting better all the time. Maybe by the end of the year she could actually have some real competition.

The problem with her being so strong was that she wanted to go all out but no one could make her. Sure, she knew there had to be stronger people out there but no one in her generation. She stood alone and she wanted someone to stand with her. Then here came Jaune who stood with her without any skill or knowledge. He was so eager to learn that it reminded her of herself when she first started her training.

Jaune had started a slow increase but lately he had been going leaps and bounds. She looked forward to these little training sessions to see his improvement but that one day she could have someone as strong as her standing by her side. A true companion, someone that wouldn’t make her life seem so lonely.

Well, that wasn’t fair, she wasn’t as lonely as she had been. Her team and friendships with Team RWBY had eased her loneliness but she also wanted a peer. Someone she could grow with and push her to be better.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Jaune lashed out with a spinning kick to her shield. She parried it and was ready to counter when she was surprised when the shield was ripped from her grip.

‘How did!?’ her thoughts had to change as Jaune was now on the offensive. What she couldn’t have seen from her angle was that the symbiote had formed around Jaune’s foot the moment it struck and ‘stuck’ to the shield as it gripped it and when Jaune’s leg was pushed aside he went with it pulling it from her unexpected hand.

The red headed warrior was now down her shield, but she didn’t let this moment get the better of her. She redoubled her efforts moving faster as Jaune was starting to struggle keeping up with her.

~She certainly is powerful, if she had one of my kind, she could be something truly legendary~

‘Thinking of switching sides?’ Jaune joked as she had turned her sword into a javelin keeping him from getting close.

~If you had rejected me, she was my next choice~

Jaune couldn’t fault him for that, Pyrrha was just on another level than he was plus she was always so polite and nice.

Pyrrha actually had on a small smile as she found herself enjoying the moment. Jaune wasn’t making this easy for her, but she saw a way to win. It would keep one of her cards she kept closer to her chest exposed to him but maybe it was worth it. She had placed them, so he was behind her shield on the floor. Keeping him off balance with the range of her weapon with her free hand she concentrated.

A black glow formed around it and her shield as he sailed back to her.

~BEHIND!~

Jaune ducked low feeling the shield fly by over his head.

“What the-?” he looked behind him out of reflex to where the shield had been. So, she could move objects.

~In front!~

Jaune turned and tried to get up and tried to put up a defense, but he was a second too late. The next thing he felt was her getting her leg behind his as she rammed her shoulder into him tripping him up onto his back and her sword now pressed against his chest.

Both teens were panting as they looked at each other as Jaune groaned and let his head drop. “I was doing so good too.”

“You did more than good Jaune,” She offered a hand as he took it and got helped up. “I can’t believe you are at this level already, by the time the Vytal Festival comes around you’ll be more than ready for it.”

“You think so?” He asked as she nodded. “Cool. So, what’s the Vytal Festival?”

She signed and rolled her eyes, but it was in a good nature way. “It’s a special event. This year it’s being held at Beacon where teams from the other three schools will compete against each other.”

“Okay, that sounds like a big deal,” he nodded wiping his brow his shirt was sticking to him with all the sweat. “I think I’m tapped for the night.”

“Well we have been going for some time now,” she nodded her head as she didn’t want to push him too hard. “Still, I can’t believe how fast you’ve improved lately.”

“Oh-uh yeah, I just guess all the extra training is paying off.” Jaune knew people were starting to notice the changes. His grades had been improving, not to mention his strength and skills. Granted it’s not like people would instantly know he was getting help from Valor but still, it’s not exactly easy to come out and say ‘hey guys guess what? I’ve got an alien living in me for awhile now’.

Pyrrha didn’t look like she believed him, the expression on her face told him she felt something was going on but didn’t know what.

“So how did you move your shield like that?” Jaune quickly asked trying to change the subject. “Was that your semblance?”

“Oh, I suppose I can’t hide that anymore,” she smiled. “So normally I like to keep it hidden as it really helps when people don’t know what I can do.”

“Yeah, I felt it,” Jaune swung his sword around. “At one point you moved my sword.”

“You felt that?” She was honestly surprised by that. “I try to be subtle about it, so no one really notices.”

“Guess I got lucky,” He couldn’t say that he did miss it but his symbiote certainly did notice. He had learned that symbiotes were very aware of the world around them, especially with the host bodies.

Putting his sword and shield away he looked back to her. “Well, I better shower and change, got early morning tomorrow with Yang and Nora.”

“Ah yes the gym time,” Pyrrha normally liked to go for a run in the morning, it invigorated her. Her first coach told her once that her morning runs must be like another person’s morning coffee. Although she did spent time with Jaune like now she wouldn’t mind some more time with him. “How is that going?”

“Oh great, both have been a real help, especially Yang. She really knows her stuff and she’s even offered some hand-to-hand lessons if I want them.” Jaune could take her up to see what he could learn, it was just that his symbiote was teaching him in their ‘Dream Training’ as he liked to call it.

~learning new styles never hurts, I know plenty from various worlds and species but none from this world~

Jaune thought that over, maybe he would take her up on it when they could find the time.

“Oh…that’s nice,” She felt the slight stab of jealously and wasn’t sure if it was because he was getting help from someone else or from Yang. Sure, Yang was very pretty but she showed no interests in Jaune so she could feel better.

~I think she wants to join~

‘Really?’

~She looks a bit…sad? No maybe just down?~

Jaune looked to see that the smile on her face didn’t seem to reach her eyes. Was she feeling left out because he was training with someone other than her? She shouldn’t feel like that, maybe if he offered he could see if she had advice to help with Yang’s?

“You know there’s no rule saying you can’t join us if you want,” Jaune spoke up.

“Really?” Pyrrha seemed to lighten up.

“Yeah, I mean Nora sometimes sleeps in so she gets there an hour later sometimes.”

“Then I’ll be happy to join you tomorrow.”

-Next Day Beacon Gym, Early Morning-

Yang was stretching out in her usual black and yellow two-piece outfit for the gym. She had been surprised when Jaune said that Pyrrha would be joining them. That was fine by her, she was curious as to how the Mistral Champion trained, maybe she could pick up a few pointers herself.

Hearing someone come up from behind she cast a look to see said champion in black and red shorts with a red t-shirt with black lines on the side.

“Hey there, didn’t Nora come with you guys or is she sleeping in again?” Yang smirked.

Pyrrha smiled and nodded. “We did try to wake her but sometimes Nora really likes her extra time in bed.”

“Yeah, when I have a late night, I like to sleep in too, but sometimes I just need to do something in the morning to get my energy going.”

The red head nodded again, “Yes that’s why I like to go for a small jog in the morning.”

“Cool, so why the change?” Yang honestly asked.

“Oh uh, well I just wanted to see how Jaune’s training with you is going,” She wasn’t exactly lying she did want to see how his training with her was going, there was just a bit more to it.

“I think I might need some new gym clothing,” Jaune came out as both girls looked at him. “I think this is getting tight in a few places.”

Jaune could feel the t-shirt biting into his shoulders and into his biceps a bit. The shorts weren’t too bad but if his thighs got bigger, it might be a problem. It wasn’t too big of a different, but he might have to go up a little in size just to be safe. Plus, he preferred loose clothing, it was just more comfortable for him.  

Yang had been noticing the changes in Jaune since they started but now looking at him, he certainly had changed. Granted he was always tall but now his body was filling out nicely if she had to say something about it. He wasn’t so slim now and wasn’t totally packing on the muscles, more of a nice balance between them.

‘You know,’ She started to think. ‘If he would only cut that hair so you could see more of his face, he might not be so bad looking’ Her eyes widened as she straggled that thought before it could bloom. ‘Whoa there girl, ease off. This is Vomit Boy remember, you know, you little sister’s best friend. No touchy.’

She cleared her thoughts blaming it all on the fact she hadn’t had a single date since coming to Beacon. She was just busy and honestly while there were some good looking guys, the few she talked too weren’t her type. Too many of the macho types and/or big egos, or they were the quiet types like Ren, who while a nice guy was too quiet for her taste.

Stepping up to Jaune to really give him a once over. “I swear Jaune this isn’t normal, you shouldn’t have gotten this buff already, especially since I’ve seen you eat, and you don’t get enough protein for this.”

Pyrrha tilted her head, now that Yang mentioned it, this was an unnatural growth in such a short amount of time.

“I-I don’t know, I mean this is all new to me, maybe I’m just a natural?” Jaune tried to hide his panicking.

~Maybe I went overboard~

‘Ya think!?’

~Too late now~

“I mean I also do combat training with Pyrrha would that help?” Jaune tried to throw them off the trail.

Yang thought about it for a moment. “Maybe…okay be honest with me here.” She looked him dead in the eyes. “You’re not using as you?”

“Using what?” he looked at her blankly.

“I don’t think he would use steroids, Yang.” Pyrrha defended him although a small part of him was starting to wonder.

“Oh, that’s what you meant, no! I mean I don’t even know where you would even get stuff like that.”

Yang searched his eyes, but she didn’t feel he was lying to her as she pulled back and sighed. “Good, I had to ask to be sure Jaune, no offense, this is just weird.”

She went to pat his shoulder. “But it’s good to know that-whoa!”

She felt the muscles on his shoulder and arm now.

“Yang?” Jaune wasn’t sure what she was doing now.

“Holy crap these muscles feel almost like coiled steel.” Yang felt how hard they were a lot harder than she thought they would be. “You sure you didn’t buy something from some shady guy in an alleyway claiming to be selling ‘vitamins’?”

“N-no nothing like that,” he felt himself heating up from her touching him.

“Girl, you need to see this,” Yang said to Pyrrha.

“Yang I don’t think this is approp-eek,” She was saying before Yang took her wrist and pulled her and placing her hand on Jaune’s chest. “Oh my.”

Her face soon was quickly matching her hair color as she felt the strong muscles under the shirt. She had seen them that day he stepped out of the bathroom but actually feeling them was something else entirely.

“Damn Jaune I don’t know what your secret is but people would kill to have muscles this well-defined.” Yang was so focused on her assessment she didn’t notice the other two blushing.

 ~Are you sure you don’t want to mate with these two?~

‘Valor!’

~What? I can feel your attraction~

Jaune blushed further as he had to admit that yes, they were both very attractive girls in clothing that showed off a lot more skin than normally he saw them in and the clothing was very tight on them too. How nice their touches felt on him, the different smells coming off their hairs.

‘Oh, please don’t let me get an erection from this, think of something else, anything.’

~I fail to see why not just take them as mates, they seemed physically interested in you. In certain cultures what they are doing could be considered a mating ritual. In one culture this if them showing other females this is their male and to get their own~

‘I can’t take them both!’

~Ah yes, you said it ‘doesn’t work that way here’, I fail to see why. Some species have no taboos with this kind of thing, granted others are so constrained that going against it is a capital offense. Some only take one mate for life, other races just seem to overly complicate these mating rituals. I’m glad we Klyntar don’t even bother with any of this~

‘Can we talk about this later?’

“I think we should get to working out,” an embarrassed Jaune stated that snapped both girls out of it.

“Oh! Right, sorry about that got carried away,” Yang smile scratching the back of her head while a small, embarrassed blush was forming. Pyrrha was so red that she just nodded and wanting something to distract her and maybe also feeling like she wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere for losing herself like that.

It took them all a bit to relax and get back into just working out. Nora did show up later and joined them helping them to relax a bit more with the awkward air still hanging around.  Despite that everything was going well. Jaune actually did get a few pointers from Pyrrha’s experiences.

Jaune was currently on the bench press as Yang and Nora were loading him up as Pyrrha spotted him.

“So how high do you want to try today?” Yang asked.

“Let’s try for 120,” He told them as he started away. He frowned as it felt too light already for him.

“What’s wrong?” Nora asked seeing his face.

“It feels a bit light.”

“Wanna go up?” Yang asked as he nodded. “Alright set it up and Nora let’s get it to 140.”

It was still too light for him, they ended up going to 180 lbs. Yang was impressed she could bench a full 200 lbs thanks to aura and then some, she was sure if she used her semblance after building it up it would skyrocket but that wasn’t something she could train with. She tried a couple of times, didn’t work out like she hoped.

By the end of their workout Yang had to admit it was nice having another person join in. “You know P-Money if you ever want to join us for a morning workout, you’re more than welcome.”

“Thanks, I may just do that,” she replied toweling off some sweat. Normally she trained alone with the exception of professional trainers she had over the years. This felt more relaxing than those times, this was just her sharing an activity with her friends which was a totally different experience.

Yang was doing her cool down when she felt pain in her back and shoulders. She winced feeling it as she tried to stretch it out.

“You okay Yang?” Jaune noticed her extra stretching.

“Just the usual back pains I get.” She sighed. “I swear I wish we had a hot tub, professional trainer or a masseuse on call or something.”

“You get back issues?” He asked.

Yang pointed at her chest. “Yeah, when you got girls as big as I do, they constantly pull on your back and shoulder muscles.”

Jaune blushed a bit having looked at where she had been pointing but quickly averted his eyes. Yang did notice and had a small smile, at least he didn’t stare at her tits which was a plus in her books. Of course he looked but there was a major different between looking and staring at a girl.

“I’m sure Pyrrha gets them too, right?” Yang asked given that while the other girl wasn’t as big as her, hers were still above average.”

Pyrrha looked a little nervous admitting to something like that, especially with Jaune but she didn’t want to lie so a little nod of her head. It was something that happened now and then, but she learned to live with it. Given how…big…Yang was she could only guess it happened more for the blonde girl.

The symbiote inside Jaune saw all this of course, he was more aware of the human body being bonded to Jaune although the female one had differences, there was countless species that the Valor could call upon to fill in any gaps in those differences.

~We could help out~

‘We can?’ Jaune listened to the symbiote’s explanation, and he was really unsure about it. The Klyntar did say that Yang was in pain, and this would help.

He hated that the symbiote was using Yang’s discomfort against him but being bonded meant while he knew what it was doing, it was doing it for good reasons as it just wanted to help. Working up the courage Jaune coughed.

“I, well, I could, you know, help, that is if you want, I don’t want to think I’m pulling anything, and you’re totally free to say no but.” He was starting to ramble on a bit.

“What are you getting at?” Yang cocked an eyebrow pretty sure she knew where this was going but part of her wanted to tease him a little.

“I know of a few techniques that can help?” he offered.

Yang grinned at him. “Oh, so you want my permission to touch my body, normally a guy at least gives me dinner before they try that.”

“It’s not like that!” He blushed but then Yang snorted and gave a small laugh. “You’re messing with me aren’t you.”

“A bit,” Yang considered it. Normally she could give a flat no, but she knew Jaune and he wasn’t the type to try anything. Pyrrha was also here, and he really wouldn’t try anything with his own partner around. Plus, at this point she could use anything to help. She didn’t want to spend the next few hours trying to relax with heat pads on her back.

“Screw it, if this can help, I’ll do it but you better not be lying Jaune,” She got off the bench she had be using and laid down on her stomach onto some nearby mats with resting her head on her arms.

“Well okay then,” Jaune said sitting next to her.

‘You sure about this?’ he asked.

~Yes trust me, just let me take the lead~

Jaune relaxed as he felt his body move on its own as his fingers started to work on her neck and shoulders. Jaune could feel on the tips of his fingers the symbiote forming hidden from view as they pressed into her skin.

Yang hissed at first but then started to relax at the knots were slowly being worked on. She had to admit his touch felt very nice, it was like his fingers had tiny little hands or something working all at once. She knew that was insane but that’s kind of what it felt like. Who knew that Jaune Arc had the magic touch? She would grunt or hiss at first with the new muscles being worked on but once he started she sighed as all the tension went away.

She even let out a few embarrassing moans but to hell with it, this was worth it. She totally lost herself as he worked her neck, her shoulders and then her upper back and lower back. He really seemed to know his way around making her think he had to have done this before. By the time he was done she was not only pain free she felt like she could just fall asleep right there on the mat.

“Oh, wow that feels so much better,” She rolled onto her back. “Damn Jaune where did you learn that?”

“Just kind of picked it up,” He scratched the back of his head not entirely lying as he had ‘just picked it up’ from his symbiote.

“You do this for Pyrrha too?” Yang asked.

“I’ve never asked him to,” the red head had a bit of a blush thinking about it. Seeing Yang laying there during it all and the sounds she made, made Pyrrha wonder if she should ask him. It seemed that Yang certainly enjoyed herself.

“Do it, you don’t know what you’re missing,” Yang finally sat up and stretched out. “Damn Jaune, can I count on you to help out again?”

“I, I suppose so, was it really that good?” Jaune was a bit nervous through it all and was glad Valor had complete control. His hand would have been shaking touching Yang like that. It didn’t help some of the sounds she made also made him swallow during it.

“If you ever retire from being a Huntsman, take up being a masseuse,” Yang stopped up as she felt so much better now. “Trust me, you’ll have a line around the block with those fingers of yours. Your future girlfriend will be a very happy woman.”

“You really think so?”

Yang nodded. “Oh yeah a guy that can do that with his fingers?” She blushed a bit as her mind was going to just what else he could do with his fingers than just say her back. She shook her head not wanting to entertain that road.

“A-anyways,” Yang quickly went to get her water and towel. “We got our first team study session today, so we better not be late.”

“Oh, right it’s the first weekend since we came up with that,” Jaune stood up.

“We better get ready then,” Pyrrha nodded.

-Not long later, Beacon Library-

Teams RWBY and JNPR were seated around one of the large tables in the huge library that Beacon had. There were other teams here and there or just individuals that looked to be doing their own studying or working on projects.

The large table has many textbooks on it with notebooks and papers. Some are neat and organized while others are chaotically left about.

Ruby is looking at the algebra work, having skipped two years was starting to hurt her in some areas like this. They hadn’t even gotten to this point at Signal before she jumped straight to Beacon. She was trying her best to figure out the problem, but all the operations were making her lose track.

She scribbled out her notes as she noticed it wasn’t working and she had made a mistake long the way, where she had no idea. Looking at Weiss who was way ahead of her in the math part made the little reaper sigh. She wished she was smarter sometimes or at least had the same education.

“Weiss can you help me? I can’t figure this out,” She asked her partner sitting next to her as she showed her the problem.

Weiss cast a quick look at it. “It’s just algebra, what’s the issue?”

Ruby sunk a little in her chair. “The issue is I never learned this before coming here.”

Weiss blinked about to ask why she hadn’t when she suddenly remembered that Ruby was two years younger than everyone else. She hadn’t even thought what that really meant until this moment, had she been struggling with schoolwork because of the knowledge gap?

“Didn’t they give you anything to catch up in the break before school started? A tutor or anything?” Weiss asked.

“No, I was just given the offer, said yes, we got the forms in the mail not long after and then here I am.” Ruby explained.

“That seems highly irresponsible,” Weiss stated simply and while the headmaster was a bit…unconventional did he expect Ruby to thrive over the challenge? Or was this yet another subtle lesson in teamwork? He could have just forgotten but she hoped it wasn’t the last one.

Yang looked up hearing this conversation as she was working on and English assignment. “Now that you mention it, that is kind of weird they didn’t give her any study material to help catch up.”

Weiss sighed and she looked at the problem and started to explain it as the teachers did. She only got halfway before she noticed that Ruby’s eyes had lost focus. “Ruby! Are you paying attention?”

“I’m trying! I really am!” She told her. “It’s just all new and hard to understand.”

Weiss crossed her arms, if she thought this was hard, she should have lived with all the tutors her father forced her to take. They expected results and if Weiss didn’t get them, then she was given even more work to finish before she could stop. There were nights she didn’t get to sleep until it was well into the night and her hand hurt from all the writing she had done.

Then she had to learn things like etiquette, dance, along with singing and her swordsmanship. She had gone through all of that, and Ruby was complaining about one little math problem? It irked something inside of her. She could feel a biting remark on her tongue before Jaune of all people spoke up.

“Maybe I can help with that? I know of a few tricks that makes is easier to understand.” He offered.

“Please, I’ll take anything at this point,” Ruby begged. She really didn’t want to fall behind in her studies in her first year. She was afraid that they would think she wasn’t ready and be sent back to Signal.

Jaune got up and around the table as he looked at the problem. He had been struggling a little with this before he met Valor but thankfully his alien partner could make it so much simpler in how to do the problem. It was thanks to that help that Jaune felt he had a better understanding. So, he tried to teach Ruby the simpler method of how do to this kind of math. He took his time and asked if she had any questions as he did his best to answer them. Any holes in his knowledge Valor was able to help fill in.

Weiss stopped her own work as she couldn’t help but look at the two of them. While his explanations were very simplistic, they did seem to be effective as Ruby started to slowly get it.

Her earlier assessment of Jaune possibly cheating was now thrown out, if he could help Ruby with her homework then that wasn’t the case. Still, had he always been this bright? She hadn’t noticed anything but then again, she had been actively ignoring him. Had she just not seen this side of him because of that? Thinking back, she had no real memories of Jaune’s abilities in class until recently. There were a few memories of some very wrong answers, simple ones that anyone who had trained to be a Huntsman should have known.

Had he been playing the fool?

No, his personality seemed to be genuine. Again, more questions without proper answers.

“Oh, thanks Jaune that’s much easier to understand now,” Ruby happily looked at her math question as now it started to make sense to her.

“Just trying to help out a friend,” Jaune smiled at the younger girl.

“Uh…maybe you can help me too then,” Nora bit her lip she had been listening in and she could also use the help. Jaune made it sound simpler and easier to understand.

“Sure thing Nora,” Jaune walked over.

Weiss’ eyes followed him as he went to help his teammate. And she wasn’t the only one, Yang noticed him helping her little sister and was grateful for it. Who knew Jaune was such a dependable guy? Plus she still remembered his hands on her body and she shivered a bit. She quickly went back to work trying to focus on something else.

Pyrrha looked at him kindly but also slightly confused. She was proud he was so helpful to others but at the same time she was sure he used to struggle with the same problems. Did he get help from someone else? She didn’t think so, or else they would have noticed it unless he was keeping it secret from them. In fact, a lot of about Jaune had been off lately.

First the strange change in diet, then him increasing his personal training with Yang and studying more. His sudden increase in skills when they sparred together was another odd piece that was showing up. Should she talk to him about it? But what if it was nothing? Yang had already pressed him on performance enhancers and while she didn’t say anything it would explain a little.

But she knew Jaune enough to know he would never take such illegal methods, she knew full well growing up how under pressure some athletes were. In her second year as Champion one of her competitors had been found out and banned for using illegal drugs. The signs had been clear to see but Jaune didn’t show any signs so far. If he had she would have seen them given how close, they all lived.

She was sure that if there was something going on then he would at least tell her when he felt the time was right.

“Oh hello Jaune,” the familiar voice of Velvet spoke up getting the table’s attention. Over the past week the girl and her team were friendly to Jaune and to his friends in return. In fact all of Team CFVY were with the bunny Faunus girl.

“Hey Velvet, you guys studying too?” Jaune asked.

“Oh yeah,” Coco rolled her eyes behind her shades. “I swear some of the teachers love making large projects for the weekend to keep us all busy.”

“How big we talking?” Yang asked curious.

“A retrospective history on one of the four kingdoms, from inception to current days,” Fox sighed.

“Ouch,” Nora winced. “Is that what we got to look forward to when we get to your year?”

“Yep,” Coco nodded. “You know, we should be done this today and have tomorrow off, the offer for team JNPR to spar with us is still open if you want to set it up tomorrow.”

Jaune looked to Pyrrha, Nora and Ren, he didn’t see any objections.

~Training with other teams will be helpful to gain new tactics against more experienced fighters~

Valor did have a point, “What do you guys say?” Jaune asked.

“Oh, I’m so in,” Nora grinned.

Ren nodded his head. “I think the experience would be enlightening.”

“Well, everyone else is agreed to it, so why not?” Pyrrha spoke up.

“I guess you got yourself a match,” Jaune scratched the back of his head.

“Sure thing,” Coco nodded she was interested in what the team with Pyrrha on it would be able to pull off. After all the girl was practically a legend already and she was a first year. Plus, she was super easy on the eyes. Normally Coco liked to keep school and social fun separate, it avoided so much drama at school that way, but for Pyrrha is she swung that way, she would consider breaking that little rule of hers.

Although given how close she seemed with Jaune, how she sat next to him, little things like how she paid attention to him and how she looked at him. Coco was starting to wonder if maybe something might be going on. Then again Jaune looked either oblivious or not interested. Both gave the fashionista huntress in training ideas.

“Okay,” Velvet pulled out her scroll. “Let me get your number and I can give you the time when we decide on it.”

Jaune pulled out his own as they exchanged numbers.

Coco grinned as an idea to tease her partner entered her mind. “Wow, I got to remember that one Vel, you got the boy’s number so easily, you going to call him up for other reasons now?”

Both teens blushed at her implied insinuation.

“It’s not like that!” Velvet said a little too loudly noticing people looking she clamped her hand over her mouth as her bunny ears dropped slightly. “Coco, I’m just trying to make friends with him, he was nice to me, and you know how being a Faunus can make that hard at times.”

No one noticed Blake shifted uncomfortably by this comment.

“Yeah, I mean I would like to be friends,” Jaune scratched the back of his head. “I mean most of my friends at Beacon are girls.”

Everyone in all three groups looked and counted that only Ren was the only other boy in the group between JNPR and RWBY.

“Huh…I didn’t notice that,” Blake spoke up for the first time she like Ren liked to keep to the back of group talks. She never really thought about it until this moment.  

“Damn Arc, I didn’t realise you were drowning in…girls,” Coco was about to say pussy but changed it last second. “You trying to bring in Vel into your harem?”

“Hare-uhm, no! I mean, I don’t even have a girlfriend, just because I’m surrounded by pretty girls doesn’t mean I’m dating them.” Jaune told her in a panic.

“Not for a lack of trying with a certain someone,” Yang teased looking at Weiss. “Also, you think we’re all pretty?”

She smiled and leaned forward teasing him as he seemed at a loss for words at that.

Coco grinned, she just might like this blonde girl. “Also are you saying Velvet is pretty?”

“Coco!” Velvet blushed she wished that Coco would stop teasing her like this. She started to push the shorter leader of their team gently to get her moving. “We have to go now, bye!”

“Aww, but you didn’t hear his answer,” Coco teased.

“Sorry about her she’s…yeah that,” Fox sighed.

“Coco likes to tease others but not in a malicious type of way,” Yatsuhashi stated with a short nod to them. “We look forward to tomorrow.”

“Well, that was something,” Ruby stated.

“Yeah, it was,” Jaune fell into his seat his face red as he placed his face in his hands. Maybe if he shut out the world the world would just not be there.

“Let’s get back to studying then” Pyrrha said as she could see how embarrassed and uncomfortable Jaune was. She was trying to give him a way out and they could move on.

Jaune did feel some comfort coming from Valor, he just wished sometimes he was a bit more of a smooth talker.

‘Hey, you think you can help with that?’

~I can do many things, that you might be on your own. I could increase certain chemicals in your brain, but it would change your personality~

‘Okay let’s not do that then,’ He really didn’t like the thought of becoming someone else so suddenly. ‘Wait…you can alter my brain?’

~To a certain point, too much would go against the values of working with the host.~

‘What else can you do that I don’t know about?’

~There are a few things, I’ve dealt with the build up of plaque in your heart, cleaned out your kidneys and liver, you were eating a lot of sugar growing up so I’ve settled those levels back to normal~

Jaune guess Pyrrha was right, that cereal wasn’t good for him.

~I could increase your pheromones if you wanted me to~

‘Wait, isn’t that the stuff that attract animals?’

~Yes, and you all have them too.~

Jaune thought about it as he cast a look to Weiss. ‘You think you can make Weiss more attracted to me that way?’

~Maybe, I could increase it, but it would not be targeted and it depends on the person. If the person is not attracted to you, it might make them more curious but nothing more. It only gets the food in the door so to speak. Also, you will attract the attention of others~

‘Did you ever do that for another host?’

~Once~

‘What happened?’ Jaune wasn’t sure why he was feeling a bit of dread with it.

~He wanted to see what would happen if I max it out. He was swarmed by women and it got to be too much and desperately asked me to turn it back. It still left him with a social mess to deal with and also some of the women had mates so that was another issue to deal with. He had to lock himself up for five days until he was back to normal levels~

‘Okay let’s not go crazy then,’ Jaune felt the horror of what would happen if every girl on Beacon decided they wanted him. At first it sounded nice until you remembered these were teenage girls training to be huntresses with deadly weapons. Not a good mix if fights were going to break out.

Well, Jaune learned something new about the symbiote could do to his own body, he wondered what else they could do together. He hadn’t tried out training with that ‘suit’ he saw in the bathroom. Could he pass it off as a semblance maybe? He wasn’t sure, he would have to do more research but if he could pass it off then they could really let loose in combat class and in training.

TBC…

Chapter Text

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 9: Coffee

Now when Jaune thought about a friendly spar with team CFVY and team JNPR, he figured it would be something lighthearted or fun. What he forgot was that Team CFVY were a year ahead and were more experienced. They had more time to work on their teamwork, on their skills and Coco was a very confident leader.

They were currently in the large combat ring with the aura sensors on, which would blare out a warming if their aura got into the yellow. They weren't going full on to the red today just because there was no teacher to watch over them.

"What was I thinking?" Jaune muttered as he had to put his shield up again to take Coco's shots. Who knew that her weapon was a purse that turned into a minigun? How was that even possible? At first Jaune thought it was just a purse until it changed. Now it made sense why Nora had been blown back when she had been hit by said 'purse' earlier.

From his own equipment, his shield turned into a scabbard, but it didn't change the weight of it. That meant that purse had weight the same as that gun. Despite her slim frame she had to be very strong to carry that around all the time like it was nothing.

Then again Ruby was stronger too given how easily she used her weapon, and it was a huge scythe.

~Focus~

"Right sorry, got to focus." Jaune took the state of things. Coco had him pinned, Fox was going at it with Ren who thankfully was keeping up, if only barely. Yatsuhashi and Nora were pretty closely matched in strength. Pyrrha was of course dominating Velvet who for some unknown reason wasn't using her weapon but sticking to hand to hand.

'Huh…that's odd,' Jaune thought as one of the many bullets ricocheted off the top of his shield. 'Seriously, how much ammo does she have in that thing!?'

Jaune needed to think, they couldn't keep this up then he thought of Pyrrha's semblance, she might have better luck against Coco if she could start altering the bullets to hit less. Maybe have Nora and Ren switch up, switch up! That's it.

He ran towards Pyrrha keeping his shield pointed at Coco. "Pyrrha, switch!"

She didn't need to be told anything more as she managed to kick Velvet away and turned to face Coco as Juane quickly took her place.

"Nora, Ren, you too!" He called out.

"On it!" Nora jumped away as she placed her hammer on the floor, stepping on it and holding onto the shaft. She fired a round as the explosive sent her flying as she hollered in joy towards Ren. Ren for his part rolled away from Fox's arm blade strike and made for a dash for Yatshuashi. Fox tried to follow but quickly had to jump away from Nora slamming her hammer down where he had just been.

"You certainly like to make an entrance," Fox commented.

"Oh yeah I like to bring the thunder." She gripped her weapon in both hands now.

Fox rolled his shoulders with a grin as he rolled his shoulders. The ADA (Accessibility Dialogue Assistant) in his ear was giving him all the information on the battlefield. So far the switching was helping Team JNPR but it was only a stop gap for now. The sonar pulses used to give him 'sight' showed him exactly where they all were.

He jumped back and tried to slash in return at the girl but she swung her hammer back up surprisingly quickly knocking back his arm blade. The impact was so much he felt it in his bones.

"I see you're the heavy hitter on your team," Fox had to shake his arm, that would have really hurt if he took it square on.

'So, any thoughts?' Jaune asked his symbiote. There was a moment of quiet as he got confused as to why he hadn't answered back. 'Valor?'

~Sorry, distracted. I'm thinking~

'You can get distracted?'

~It's the blind one, he has some kind of device and it's sending out sonic pulses. I can feel it crawling all over me and I don't like it~

'Is it painful?'

~No, if he turned it up then it would start to get painful, this is more like having an itch all over you~

Jaune winced at that thought, it reminded him of that time his Nana gave him that itchy wool sweater for winter when he was a kid.

~Yes, like that~

Well now Jaune really understood why his partner was having a harder time to focus. Velvet was a lot better at hand to hand than he thought, then again given she wasn't using a weapon he had to guess she had to do it. Still, why wasn't she using her weapon?

He swiped at her but she move quickly. She had a lot of speed and was very nimble, her slim body working to her advantage. He went for a thrust as she ducked and quickly jumped up for a drop kick to his shield. Apparently her kicks were pretty strong too as he felt himself take a few steps back.

Coco however was getting a bit frustrated, her semblance Hype allowed her to increase the effects and power of dust, so having a ton of bullets, each one that she could make even more powerful was something useful for her. That is if she could actually HIT her target. Something was off here, no matter how many rounds she fired off Pyrrha wasn't getting hit and if she was, they were glancing blows off her shield. Now granted Coco knew her weapon was not geared for accuracy, she actually wasn't that great of a shot, hence why she opted for pure firepower and quantity in her weapon.

But she wasn't that bad of a shot, statistically some of her rounds should have landed. Coco had to turn off her weapon as Pyrrha had positioned herself so that if she continued firing she might hit Fox. Something Coco knew that the red head had done on purpose. She turned her weapon back into the handbag and quickly went after her. She was going to see just how good this champion was.

She cast a look to see that Fox and Yatshuashi were fighting against the other two, well she figured one good switch deserved another. "Fox!"

'Yes," he telepathically sent back to her.

'Switch back up while we're busy here with the other two, whoever beats them then helps the other to take out the other one and come here to help me.' Coco sent to him.

'Roger,' Fox kicked back Nora as he ran to Ren. 'Switch up big guy back to our original dance partners.'

Yatsuhashi nodded as he saw Nora going to Fox's exposed back as he quickly ran to take the block meant for him.

Yatsuhashi blocked the blow by Nora with his great sword. He could feel his weapon taking the blow, for someone so much smaller than him, she had a lot of power in her. The problem was she was also faster than he was, he had a huge and bulky body and while that was great for his position on the team as their heavy hitter, it meant he had to work harder to keep up with Nora.

But there was something he had that she lacked, patience. He studied her and found that she was fast and powerful she was also erratic. Her combat style was so free flowing it learned mostly self-taught. More of a brawler type than anything else, with some extra training she could be very formable one day.

He could use his semblance to gain an advantage, but Memory Wipe was…distasteful for him. The day he learned that his semblance was the erasing memories. He never went into it with his team as to why, but it wasn't just the wiping out a few seconds. He could wipe out important memories. What if he erased the memory of a family member or a lover to someone? What if he pushed it and could erase a full year of their lives?

His semblance actually scared him with how powerful it was. He was afraid of misusing it so if he was going to win this fight, he was going to use his skills. So when Nora went for a strike he used the hook end of his sword Fulcrum and hooked the staff part of her weapon and pulled it out of her grasp.

Nora was pulled forward off balance as Yatsuhashi then quickly struck her with the bottom of his hilt, followed by a kick to Nora's stomach ending with a slash to finish the combo. The ginger went down as her aura flared and a horn sounded. They both looked up to see that Nora hit the yellow.

"Aww, I'm the first one out?" Nora pouted.

He smiled reaching down to help her up. "It was still a fun match, I have a similar weakness in my combat with relying on my weapon. Coco keeps my training in hand to hand up, maybe you should think about it in case you ever lose your weapon again?"

Nora thought about it, she always had her weapon and while she could throw a punch, she wasn't like Ren or Pyrrha who have better hand to hand combat skills. She smiled and scratched the back of her head. "That makes sense."

Nora looked around as she saw her hammer off on the other side of the combat area. "Should we just wait here or…?"

"Well since you're 'out' I would suggest grabbing your hammer and wait out."

Nora sighed, "Yeah might we well, I can cheer from the side lines at least."

Jaune saw that Nora was out of the spar so he would have to take things up a notch with Velvet. This time however he had a plan, he pulled his sword back and had his shield out further. Velvet saw this and attempted to knock Jaune back again with a jump kick to his shield. Jaune planned for this as Valor made the bottoms of his feet stick to the ground so when Velvet hit the shield it was like hitting a wall.

Under his clothing Valor also encased Jaune's skin enhancing his body to absorb the impact.

To Velvet it felt like she just tried to kick the side of a support pillar, she hadn't been expecting Jaune to be able to tank her kick like he did. In fact, her own leg gave out and bent causing her to lose her balance in surprise. She had to twist to correct her landing, but it was all the opening that Jaune needed.

He sent a kick to her ribs that sent the girl flying, thanks to the enhancements with Valor the kick was a lot more powerful than a regular one. Velvet felt her aura take a huge hit from that from the blow. She landed hard from the blow but thankfully her aura was still holding up.

"Ow," She muttered staggering up and looked at her aura levels on the board. She was nearly in the yellow, one more hit and that was it for her.

"Are you okay?" Jaune paused, this was just a spar after all, so they didn't want anyone to get hurt.

"I'm fine, you kick harder than I thought," she told him and brought out her camera and took a snap shot of him. "Coco, I have to use at least one!"

"Alright but nothing you can't get again," Coco yelled back as she was busy herself dealing with Pyrrha who was pushing Coco to her limits.

Jaune was curious what they meant by that until suddenly a blue outline of a sword and shield came into view as she grabbed them. It took him a moment to realize that they were exact copies of his own weapons. "What in the world?"

Then Velvet came at him as he blocked and parried, which she parried as well. He would thrust and she could use her shield to divert it, her thrust would come at him as he dodged. Something was off as they continued to fight, and he suddenly realized this fighting style was so familiar.

~She's using your moves~

'Wait what?' He studied her movements and was shocked to see he was right. This was why this felt so familiar. She was perfectly copying him.

That's when the buzzer sounded as Juane looked to see Ren was out. Apparently, Fox and Yatsuhashi had teamed up and forced Ren out. Now both boys were heading towards Pyrrha. He had to get to her quickly.

His attention was brought back to Velvet as she had gotten back to attacking. Then she pulled back suddenly and Jaune was wondering what the girl was planning.

~Duck!~ The sensation of something coming up behind him warned Jaune as he dropped.

He noticed Velvet's shocked face right before Fox came sailing over him and accidentally kicked his own teammate. Wait, hadn't he gone to back up Coco? Or had that been a trick? It must have been, Velvet had shifted during their battle so his back was to them so he wouldn't notice Fox coming up to him. Oh, that was a good trick, he was going to have to remember that.

"Oh god, sorry Velvet!" Fox called out as the girl landed and her aura took a hit that sent off the horn as her aura which had been on the boarder of green to yellow, went deep into the yellow.

"It's fine," She sighed knowing she was out as her weapon simulation disappeared. She sat up and watched as Fox and Jaune were going at it. Fox's ability to telepathically talk to anyone was a huge tactical advantage for their team. They could coordinate better and change plans on the fly without anyone else knowing. Fox had sent her the message to get Jaune into position so he wouldn't see the attack coming.

Apparently, he had seen it coming since no one else shouted out a warning and she doubted team JNPR had someone like Fox on their team, his semblance was very unique and rare mental type, like Yatsuhashi's. Well, she would just have to remember that next time to be ready in case someone dodged the attack at the last second in the future.

Jaune was now being forced to deal with Fox, while his aura was larger than normal, fighting against Coco and Velvet was starting to tax it and even his symbiote couldn't replenish his aura supplies. Apparently, he had tried but aura was something a little hard to grasp even for it as it wasn't exactly something physical but more metaphysical.

~I really don't like being near him, that device in his ear is really annoying~

Jaune could feel the symbiote's discomfort, like something was crawling all over his skin.

"Nice dodge by the way," Fox commented in battle as he flashed a flurry of kicked before throwing in a few slashes with his arm blades making Jaune to use both sword and shield to keep up.

"Thanks, it was a good plan," Jaune had to jump back before speaking again. "Although you might want to help Coco and Yatsuhashi."

"You're not even looking at them," Fox countered and for a moment wondered if Jaune was like him and could sense the area around him with his semblance. He was close, Valor did give Jaune greater battlefield awareness but while he knew Pyrrha was doing just fine there was another reason.

"I don't need to, because they're up against Pyrrha." Jaune said having total faith in his partner.

Coco had to admit, the girl lived up to the hype. She was breathing hard as the red head was taking on both her and Yatsuhashi. Honestly, Coco wasn't sure they could win, maybe with the entire team but with Velvet out and Fox dealing with Jaune it was only a matter of time before Pyrrha took both of them out and then Fox if he didn't finish off Jaune, would have two on one.

Then just before she wanted to go in an try and attack Pyrrha's blind spot, Yatsuhashi went for a vertical slash as the woman just seemed to dodge just at the perfect time and then spun kicked his hand, sending his weapon flying out of his grasp. She didn't stop there though and during the spin her shield was up and slammed into his head knocking large young man to the ground.

The horn sounded as she looked to see his aura was in the yellow from that hit.

So, it was two to two and Coco was tired and Pyrrha looked ready for more. Coco was a team leader, and a good team leader knew when the odds were against you.

'What do you say boss?' Fox asked over the telepathic link.

'Can you finish off Jaune quickly?'

'Don't think so, guy is above average for his year, but he's got way more aura than I do, I could pull off a win, but it will take time.'

'Time, we don't have,' Coco saw the other girl gearing up for a fight. Coco sighed. 'Fuck…I hate losing but I have to call it.'

Coco held up her hands. "Okay I think that's all."

Pyrrha paused as she was actually starting to enjoy herself. Team CFVY had been very challenging opponents and Coco had pushed her to use her semblance to keep all those rounds off of her had pushed her semblance in ways she had to never use them before.

Fox stopped as did Jaune as Coco took a breath. "Yeah, I don't think I can beat you one on one and then Fox might have two on one after you beat me. I think I'll call it here and safe some embarrassment. Got to say for first years, you guys are tough."

"Damn right we are!" Nora yelled out from the benches making a fist bump in the air next to Ren and Velvet.

Everyone gathered on the benches to wipe off sweat, get drinks or just take a sit down.

"Well, that was fun," Fox stated.

"Yeah, we'll want a rematch," Coco nodded although they would be using this as a learning experience to come up with some new strategies. She could see a few areas to improve upon and they would need some way of neutralizing Pyrrha. She was the one they had to really watch out for the girl was scary good.

"I think we all could learn something," Jaune nodded sitting down. Although they had 'won' he was sure if he was like he had been before meeting Valor he would have been the first one out and not Nora.

"That's the important thing," Ren nodded his head. "We are here to learn to be Huntsmen."

'I think those are the most words I've heard him say today,' Fox telepathically called out to his team.

'Fox be nice, Jaune said he's a quiet type,' Velvet chided him.

"I am impressed with your teamwork though," Pyrrha commented. "At times it was like you all were fighting as one unit instead of four."

"That's all thanks to our secret weapon here," Coco grinned jerking her thumb at Fox.

They all looked at the blind boy wondering what she meant by that. Fox only grinned as soon team JNPR heard his voice, but in their heads.

'A little trick I do to keep us all on the same page,' He sent out. Then he paused for a moment as he felt something odd. Team JNPR reacted in surprise of course, Nora asking him to do it again, but Jaune seemed strangely conflicted, and it was from Jaune that Fox felt that odd reaction from.

Normally when he sends out a telepathic message, he creates a temporary 'link' as it were, like making a communication line. There is basically a sensation that he could call getting a 'ping' back from said person. Everyone felt different, it was how he was able to differentiate between links after all. But with Jaune, with Jaune he felt a second ping coming from him. Never in his life had this happened to him.

Just what was it? Maybe he imagined it, but that didn't feel right. Jaune and him locked eyes and the blonde boy quickly averted his eyes. Fox tilted his head, well that is interesting. Maybe it was nothing, but it could also be something. It was something to keep his eyes on to say the least since it could mean he might be on to something new about his own semblance for all he knew.

Jaune however was trying to keep both himself and Valor from panicking. The symbiote had felt the telepathic touch and it came as a surprise to the Klyntar. Granted his people were used to a hive mind mentality when they merged but this had been unexpected. He was sure the boy had sensed something, and the alien was worried their secret might be in jeopardy.

'Can you hide your presence if he tries again?' Jaune mentally asked worriedly.

~Maybe? I'd know for sure if I knew how it worked with him. I can try a few things but…we'll have to be careful of that one in the future.~

Jaune had to concede to his alien friend, if Fox found out he had two minds in the same body there was no real way to explain it away. Thankfully it seemed he reserved it for his teammates. Jaune tried to relax as the two teams started talking more as he got back to paying attention to what was being said.

-Later-

Jaune was walking the halls of Beacon wondering what to do for the rest of the day. He could hang out with everyone but something about the match today really started to make him wonder. Sure, he did very well but he knew he could do better. Not just in skills but also with working with Valor. While bonded they were better in sync with the other, but he needed to know more of what they could do together.

He remembered seeing that suit in the bathroom and decided that maybe it was time to really see what they do without restrictions. It had been on his mind since he made the choice to keep him, there was just one issue. What would people think of him suddenly forming a suit around himself?

Would they just accept it as a semblance? During their research time to help both of them understand the world more, they had read up on semblances. They found one that had a record of many of them. The problem being in that book there wasn't one semblance that acted like a suit.

Oh, sure you get things like energy constructs, to enhancing your body, controlling the environment, mind powers, elemental control, even effecting probability and a lot more. Hell, there were references to even types of teleportation. But forming a living suit around you didn't seem to be something recorded. At least in the one book he found, there could be some super rare forms not listed in that book. But then what if he actually did unlock his semblance? No one to his knowledge had two semblances.

Jaune needed somewhere he could practice, somewhere not at Beacon, there were just too many people around and not really large spaces he could use without someone seeing him. He couldn't use the training rooms as someone could just walk in, he couldn't use the classrooms even on the weekend for the same reason.

~Why not try the city?~

Jaune paused, there might be something there. Maybe they could find some kind of abandoned building or junkyard? He thought about how in comic books new heroes would sometimes go to places like that or rooftops to train, out of the way places so random people can't see them. It was either that or go into the forest but that had a lot of Grimm and he wanted to get more used to Valor before trying to face some random Grimm while still learning all his abilities.

Sure, people might see them but in the suit, no one would know who he was. They could easily just hide and change out if it quickly and he would be just another person on the street. It would be a lot harder to hide in Beacon.

So, without any other options, it looked like he was heading off to Vale for the rest of the day.

"That might work." He muttered kind of eager to try something he saw only in comic books before now. In fact, it was like they had a secret identity, a thought that thrilled his inner child. It was almost noon so the transports that ran from school to Vale would still be going. He could catch the next one, get a bite to eat and look around for somewhere private.

"Well, I haven't been to Vale since I got to Beacon, might as well." Jaune made his way to the launching pad hoping to catch the next one. Good thing they ran on a tight schedule. Then he suddenly paused. "Oh wait…I get air sick."

~I can fix that~

Jaune sighed. "Best alien buddy ever."

He pulled out his scroll and he got back to quickly making his way to text his team he was heading into the city so they wouldn't worry about him. He made a general excuse of looking for a few shops for some future purchases. He figured that was believable enough of an excuse.

His team messaged him back in their group App as they acknowledged it. Pyrrha was asking if he wanted company, but he said next time. It would be nice to hang out with his team in Vale, but they could do that next weekend. It was Sunday and he wanted to get in some training time with his suit in before Monday.

Besides it was just a small trip to the city, what's the worst that could happen?

TBC…

Chapter Text

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 10: A Knight in Vale

As the bullhead transport landed Jaune had managed to enjoy the flight this time. He could see how Beacon was at a higher elevation, with the cliffsides that protected both the academy and was part of Vale’s natural defenses against Grimm. There was a road you could take between the school and the city but it took longer than flying. Plus, from up high he could see the massive wall that was around Vale.

It was impressive to see, Jaune came from a smaller city, more of a town really. They had their own wall but nothing as impressive as this.

Taking his first steps off the transport when it landed, he took a breath. “Now that was so much better than my first flight.”

The thought of how he threw up on Yang’s boot made him wince. At least now with Valor he wouldn’t have to worry about that ever again.

‘Thanks for that by the way’

~You’re welcome, it’s a simple thing to correct your inner ear~

Jaune looked around as he made his way into the city. He hadn’t been here since this first day before going to Beacon. He remembered how he had gotten here by train the day before and spent most of the time looking for a cheap hotel to spend the night in. He found it but sleep had been hard that night, he had been so nervous.

First step was to get something to eat. He and Valor would be working up an appetite. Given his now unique diet Jaune pretty much found a place with some fish and then a different one for some chocolate.  

“There’s got to be a more effective way to get you…what was it again?” Jaune asked out loud biting into a chocolate bar.

~phenethylamine~ The symbiote and Jaune had taken days to find the word that corresponded with he chemical it needed.

“Right that…I wonder if they sell them in pill form?” Jaune thought about how during his training with Yang, she went into how some people who were into supplements and protein powder to help gain muscle mass. Now that they were in the city maybe there were stores that sold it they could visit?

~Worth a shot~

Jaune checked his scroll for stores that sold supplements, to his surprised they did. It wasn’t one of the usual type people buy as only a few shops seemed to sell it. It took him an hour walk from his position to find the store. He took two bottles just in case since neither of them knew just how much they could get out of one pill. After the purchase they continue looking for a place to start practicing.

While looking around Jaune decides to pop one of the small white bottles and dry swallows the pill in it.

‘So how is that?’

~Oh that hits the spot~ Jaune can feel the symbiote enjoying it. ~While I enjoy it from the food there is still so little. This will help us out, I can already feel myself getting more energized~

‘Good to know,’ Jaune smiled putting it away. ‘How many do you think you’ll need?’

~Start with one a day and we’ll go from there~

Jaune nodded, if this training turned out to be a bust at least they got something out of it. He would have to remember to keep a stock of the pills on hand. It was kind of like taking vitamins for having a vitamin deficiency he guessed. Walking for the next hour they came to a more business section of the city, there were still plenty of people around.

‘This is no good,’ Juane sighed in frustration. He wished he knew the city better.

~Try that alley~

  Jaune could sense where the symbiote was pointing. It was a non-descript alley, so he walked down it. He saw that it had an larger open area, there were a few garbage bins and a couple of backdoors to whatever shops there were. But what it did off was that the larger area if he walked a few feet in he wouldn’t be seen from the street.

“Guess this is as good as any.” Jaune sighed. “Okay so how do we do this?”

~Let me~

Then the suit started to form around Jaune, it was strange as it morphed out of his body and around him. Although the suit covered his entire body the ‘mask’ part didn’t feel like a mask. It was like he could see perfectly out of it, no wait. It was like he would also sense the world around him, like his entire body was linked to his senses.

He had felt a little of this before now but with the symbiote fully exposed it was like all his sense were dialed up and working together.

Jaune felt more aware than he had ever been in his life, and he felt stronger now, more powerful.

“Whoa, this is something.” He looked at his hands and flexed them. He could feel the material like they were actual gloves over his hands, but he could feel the ‘gloves’ as if it were his skin. It was an odd sensation to say the least.

“Okay so how do we get up there?” Jaune looked up to the top of the building.

~There are a few ways~ Valor sent images of previous hosts. One would turn her fingers into claws and use those to climb along with talons on the feet. Another had made the surface of the hands have small fibers that could ‘stick’ to certain surfaces and another would extend the symbiote like a whip from the arm to grab and pull up.

“Okay got some options,” Might as well try them all out. He looked at his hands and thought of claws. He saw the fingers slowly morph into points. He could feel the same with his feet as he looked down. “Cool, alright, let’s do this.”

Jaune dung his fingers into the brick wall and felt them go in. It was like putting his fingers through clay instead of brick, there was resistance but he could still push through it. He pulled himself up and put his feet into the wall as he slowly made his way up. It was a little awkward as he wasn’t used to climbing, at least not like this. Climb a tree sure but a flat wall? He was about halfway up before he found his rhythm and posture that helped.

Looking down the ledge once he was up he let out a breath. “I’m going to need to be faster than that.”

~You just need more practice is all~

“Yeah, but man I can’t believe like this I’m strong enough to dig into brick like that.”

~Yes, working like this allows me to increase your natural abilities~

“And aura already does that so I guess that means I’m double enhancing.” Jaune grinned under his mask. Jaune looked over at the other buildings. “So could I make some of those jumps now?”

~Most of those, yes~

“I guess we’ll try this out,” Jaune faced one of the ledges as he went for a run, he got closer and closer to the edge…and then suddenly stopped at the last moment. “You’re sure I can make this?”

~Yes~

“I’m just saying it’s a long way down.” Jaune looked over the ledge.

~Trust me~

Jaune swallowed. “Okay then.”

He turned and jogged back to get some distance and took a few calming breaths. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest, and he hoped this wasn’t a mistake. “Okay Jaune you can do this, you can, he said you can so you can. God I hope I can.”

Jaune took off at a run and when he got to the edge, this time he jumped. He screamed as he felt himself leap over the gap between buildings which turned into a laugh as he easily sailed over the gap. Which turned into a short-lived cry of surprised when he crashed into the ground of the other roof. He bounced and skidded a little before coming to a stop.

“Right,” Jaune groaned out pushing himself up and dusting himself off next. “Landing strategy.”

~This…might take some time for you to get used to it~

“Yeah, but that’s why we’re here.”

For the next hour all Jaune did was run on rooftops, this was to get the hang of his new physical strengths while the symbiote was exposed around him. He would jump rooftops to get the hang of just how far he could jump around. After that Valor figured that learning a few other abilities might be helpful. So at a particularly large gap that Jaune wouldn’t be able to jump it was time for an alternate way to get across.

Jaune got ready as he flung his arm and the white suit would lash out from said arm, it was like a gooey tendril or web or something came out and attached to the other ledge. The plan was for Jaune to pull himself across with it. So Jaune pulled…and a chunk of the material just came off with the tendril.

It wouldn’t have been so bad, if said material wasn’t moving as great speed and velocity that it slammed into his chest knocking him flat on his back in pain.

“Ow.”

~Ow~

“Sorry…what happened?” Jaune asked rubbing his chest staring up at the sky.

~I said to pull yourself across~

“I did!”

~No, you pulled the building. You must think of pulling yourself from the other side. You pulled from the side you were standing on~

“I think I get what you mean,” Jaune sat up, it was a strange way of thinking but the symbiote on the other side was still a part of ‘him’. He had been thinking that it was more like a rope instead of a piece of himself. “Okay one more try.”

He threw out his arm as the tendril attached again. “Pull yourself across, pull yourself across, pull yourself across.”

Jaune then ‘pulled himself’ as he suddenly was pulled off his feet and he was in the air. He yelled out in surprise but then noticed he wasn’t going to make it. He hit the ledge for the building and held on for dear life. He quickly pulled himself up and over the ledge panting.

“Okay…better…but needs improvement.” He leaned his head back to catch his breath. He really didn’t want to fall four stories onto the ground today. “Hey Valor? If I fell, would I have survived?”

~Yes, but you would be in a lot of pain~

“Good to know.”

~If you break anything I can put you back together again~

“Noted but let’s just experiment with that any time soon,” He pushed himself up. Well, I guess it’s time to get a move on.

Jaune kept up training, he was moving through the city now more confident, but he would definitely have to come back to get better. Also, once he got moving it was kind of liberating. He felt like he was on top of the world with how be moved through the city. Part of him thought of comic book heroes and how they would run across rooftops to stop crime.

 He found his balance was much improved as well given the symbiote was helping him not to fall over. Jaune was starting to wonder if he should look up that parkour stuff he had seen on the Net. Being able the move around so freely without a symbiote made him wonder just how good he could be with his alien buddy.

A smash was heard in the night and some yelling.

“That can’t be good,” Jaune ran over a few buildings and looked down to see a dust shop with it’s window smashed by some guys in dark suits.

“We are here to rob the place, not mess it up, now get that damn dust,” An angry voice was heard inside. “I sear you’re lucky that window wasn’t set to an alarm or else I would have one less hired help tonight.”

Jaune could see that the place was being robbed and for a moment he wasn’t sure what to do. Should he call the cops? Would they get here in time? This was also the kind of thing that he was training for. He wasn’t a fully licensed Huntsman so legally he had no authority to step in. Then the thought of what if something was hurt inside entered his mind.

~Listen to your heart~

Jaune calmed himself and knew that he couldn’t just sit this out. He couldn’t just let someone get away with this kind of thing and he had to do something.

~Where you lead, I follow~

That’s right, he wasn’t alone here, not ever. He wasn’t the same old Jaune anymore, he was stronger now, he had more confidence and he had a friend who had his back.

“Let’s do this.” Jaune said.

Inside the dust shop Roman Torchwich was not having a good night. Tonight was just another simple dust store robbery, nothing fancy. Just get in and get out but of course he had to hire more of Junior’s people. Honestly, he shouldn’t have been surprised but it wasn’t like he had a lot of choices in Vale to hire goons for simple jobs.

It wasn’t like he planned to use White Fang members for these types of jobs, he knew The Plan was to get them on board but that wasn’t his job. He sighed at the thought of working with his animals. And it wasn’t because they were Faunus, growing up in Mantel he saw just how bad they had it as he had growing up on the streets. He meant the White Fang organization was filled with blind zealots and that was something Roman had a huge distaste for.

Lighting his cigar, he looked down at the owner on the ground nursing an injured head. Sometimes you just had to show stubborn fools a little of the stick to get them inline. “Sorry about the window these boys wouldn’t know subtly if it bit them on the face. Might want to get some ice on that later, oh and next time a bunch of people come in and say, ‘this is a robbery, hands up’ do what they say.”

The owner only glared at the white dressed criminal.

Roman ignored the man as he looked to the thugs. “Are we done here yet?”

“Almost boss.” One of them stated. Roman didn’t know which, it didn’t care to learn their names they were just hired help anyway. Hopefully they would at least be better than the last patch Junior lent him. At least he got a discount this time given how his ‘best’ had been taken out by a little girl. Not the best for his reputation, especially when his club had only just how finally finished with the repairs from a different young lady.

“Children are getting so violent these days,” he muttered to himself.

One of the hired goons had just finished taking all the dust that his case could fit. He closed it up and was walking out when he stopped seeing someone dressed in a nearly all white full body suit with black highlights standing there.

“I suggest you put that back.” Came the deep voice. Jaune had asked Valor if he could so anything about his voice. Partly to help hide his identity but also if he was honest, he didn’t exactly have a commanding voice. The symbiote easily changed the pitch of his vocal cords to make him sound older with a deep voice.

“Uh…boss?” The man called back over his shoulder. He heard stories of what happened to the last crew and while this wasn’t a little kid in a red hood it was something even stranger.

Roman sighed as he walked to the entrance. “What is it? I can’t tie your shoes for you and it’s not…like…what am I looking at?”

Jaune placed his hands on his hips striking what he thought as a heroic pose like in his comics. “I’m the one that’s going to make you put back what you just stole.”

Roman didn’t say anything for a long awkward minute before sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I swear to god, if it’s not one thing it’s another in this city. This used to be a nice and normal city.”

He looked to see that the other goons were trying to see what was going on by this point. Roman walked back in and jerked his thumb at the door. “If you lot can’t take this overgrown trick or treater out, I’m demanding a full refund from Junior.”

They all looked at each other as Roman started to lose his patience. “Let me put it to you another way,” as he slammed his cane down into the floor. “Get moving!”

That snapped the men out of it as they started to rush the doorway. The first one out quickly side stepped making sure there was a hole as the rest of the crew got out and started to encircle Jaune.

‘Okay we got this, we got this right?’ Jaune asked Valor getting into the same boxer stance Yang had been teaching him.

~Yes, I got your back~

‘Good to know,’ The first one that attacked came at Jaune with a haymaker. He was surprised how ‘slow’ the man seemed to be moving. Either his training was paying off or maybe it was the symbiote increases his reflexes, it could be a bit of both. The fact was that Jaune easily ducked under the blow and punched the man in the solar plexus.

Jaune wasn’t used to fighting in a real life scenario. So he was surprised when the punch lifted the man off the ground an inch as he crumpled to the ground clutching his chest and groaning.

~I think we might have cracked a rib or something~

‘I didn’t mean to hit him that hard!’

~I didn’t see any aura when we hit, we might want to pull our punches a bit~

‘Yeah, yeah I don’t want to hurt them too badly’ he felt a bit bad about overduing it by accident, even if the guy was a criminal but he was crawling now on his hands and knees to the wall so he wasn’t in too bad a shape.

Although while it did stun the rest of the men, they knew that as criminal they could go up against Huntsmen. They knew the stakes as they pulled out red blades from inside their jackets. Now they weren’t going to pull their punches either by this point.

‘Uh oh, those can’t cut us, can they?’

~Doubt it, not with me protecting you~

Jaune dodged a slash as he did side kick to the man’s ribs, this time pulling it so he wouldn’t do too much damage. Still the man was sent back a few feet to the ground. He didn’t have time to think as he had to move out of the way of another with a jab to the man’s face. He was aiming for the tip of the chin, Yang explained that was a great weakness in people. You hit the tip of the chin and it can dislocate the jaw or rattle them.

Too bad he ended up hitting the jaw instead as the man swore staggering back.

There were a lot of them as he tried to defend himself but one of them got through. He felt something slam into his left shoulder from behind.

“Got him I, wait what is this stuff?” The man could see his blade sinking in slightly into the shoulder pauldron but the suit around it started to move and shift. Soon the blade was forced back out sending it and the arm holding it back from the force of the ejection. He looked and had to pull down his sunglasses to see the cut he made ‘healing’ itself.

“The fuck is-agh!” Jaune backhanded the thug sending him sprawling.

A few more would find that their blades just couldn’t penetrate the armor, at least not deep enough to do anything. Then Jaune and Valor started to change things up a little. One man tried to attack Jaune from behind only for the suit on his back to morph into a tendril and slam into the man’s surprised chest. That caught the attention of everyone there.

“The hell is this guy?”

“I don’t know, did you see that!?”

“I don’t think we get paid enough for this weird shit.”

“You think the boss will believe us if we say a guy with a weird suit that moves beat us up?”

“I’m here and I still don’t believe it.”

“So uh,” Jaune looked around. “You guys going to surrender or what?”

There was a pause as the men that weren’t on the ground looked at each other until one of the spoke up. “If we don’t put up a fight, what do you think the guy in there and his little psycho that hangs out with him will do to us?”

The mention of Neo got a shiver down the men’s spines. She was not known for playing nice, hell there were all kinds of stories of her killing people with a smile on her face and a skip in her step. The fact that Roman could make good friends with her only made his reputation even more impressive. Then of course if those two didn’t deal with them, Junior and the twins would have some harsh ‘words’ with them as well.

With a silent agreement the men charged again.

~I say we finish this, time to let loose a bit~

‘Yeah, let’s see what we can do together now.’

The men rushed at Jaune as two of his arms turned into large tendrils and slammed the men into the walls of the building. He then wrapped them around the legs of two others tripping them. One came at Jaune while he was busy but then Jaune’s chest sprang out and slammed into the thug’s face. Jaune then high kicked him in the head to follow up knocking him out.

The two he had tripped were getting up as Jaune was already on them. He elbowed one in the chin knocking him out and the last tried to slash at his back. Only for the symbiote to leap out and with one tendril catch his wrist while the other quickly went up to the man’s face and paused letting the criminal wonder what was happening. Then the end morphed into a hand giving him several stinging slaps to the face before turning into a fist and knocking him out.

Jaune got up and looked around. ‘What was that last bit about?’

~I blame all those memories you have of those animated shorts you liked to watch growing up~

‘You got that from cartoons?’

~It’s the bonding, I am you and you are me, we are one being now~

‘Huh…neat, wait where’s the guy in the hat and cane?’

~MOVE!~

Jaune heard the sound as he jumped out of the way as a small explosion was where he had just been.

“I swear if it isn’t little red hooded girls, it’s now guys dressed in all white suits.” Roman came out of the shop looking very irritated. His cane was still pointing as the smoke from the fired shot was dissipating from the end of it. He took out his cigar and threw it on the ground and stomped on it.

“What does it take to just commit petty crime in this city these days?” Roman looked the man over. He was tall, a little built but that’s all he really got. The suit however reminded him a lot of the Atlas style for their uniforms, but this wasn’t a style he was familiar with. Maybe it was some kind of new Atlas unit? If so, why would they be in Vale? Atlas couldn’t know something was up here already…did they? It was too soon for Atlas to already be involved.

If so, Cinder would not like this, then again she didn’t seem to like anything and just seemed to tolerate the world to a certain point.

“So, what are you? Some new Atlas attack dog?”

“Oh uh, well…you first,” Jaune had no idea what to tell him, so he just quickly tried to stall for time.

Roman’s head flinched back a little almost like he was hit. “Are you serious? You don’t know who I am? I’m honestly insulted, I truly am. Here I am, criminal mastermind of the century and you don’t know who I am?”

“Well, here’s a little lesson for you, I’m one of the world’s most top wanted criminals, I am the one that stole a whole train out of Mistral, yes a whole freaking train. I’ve stolen the Blue Rose from Vacuo and sold it to the highest bidder.”

“I’ve smuggled and stolen more dust out of Atlas then I know what to do with, I’ve even been on TV several dozen times with my exploits and known far and wide. I don’t know what rock you’ve been living under, but I would think of years of my life being the criminal genius that I am, that the name of Roman Torchwhich was known far and wide.”

“Oh, so you’re name’s Roman Torchwhich then.” Jaune stated with a nod.

Roman had a stoney face to that reaction. “I’m going to hurt you now.”

“Well, you can certainl-WHOA!” He jumped out of the way as several shots came from Roman’s weapon. Jaune dodged the explosives but Roman was on a whole other level as he had planned for Jaune to move that way as he rushed forward to intercept him. Slamming the handle of his cane against Jaune’s head.

Jaune felt that hit, this man definitely had Huntsman training or the equivalent of it at least. He was fast and he hit hard. Jaune quickly got into a defensive form as Roman started laying blow after blow against him. Normally this would have hurt but the symbiote was taking a lot of the punishment. He was still feeling the blows, but it was like he had padding on.

Jaune knew he couldn’t stay on the defensive and went for a jab, only for Roman to dodge his head just enough for it to miss, Jaune missed that he had his cane hooked around an ankle until it was too late as Roman pulled and Jaune was on his back. Roman didn’t stop, the man was relentless as he kicked Jaune literally to the curb and then quickly fired another shot.

Jaune took the blow on his arms as he cried out in pain, no not just him, Valor was in pain too.

“Oh, now what is this?” Roman hadn’t seen the fight as he had been trying to clean up the rest of the shop of dust when Jaune and the hired goons were fighting. So, seeing how the suit on his arms writhed like a living thing, that caught his attention.

“Just what are you?” Roman had seen a lot in his life but nothing like this. “Hmmm, so whatever you have on doesn’t like my ammo huh?”

‘Valor, what’s wrong?’ Jaune asked as he tried to get to his feet.

~It burns, whatever he’s using burns hot, it hurts~

That was right, he remembered during all their talks that Valor told him that he was weak to intense heat and loud sounds. This Roman character had to be using a type of fire dust for his weapon. This was the worst type of weapon for them to go up against.

Roman took aim and fired again before Jaune could push himself up from his hands and knees. The shot hit him in the side as he cried out in pain again.

“Well, this is certainly interesting but whatever that thing is, it doesn’t like that. Now is the explosive or the heat?” He fired again at Jaune making him cry out once more. “Maybe I’ll take a few more shots before I find out, unless you want to tell me?”

Jaune groaned trying to get up.

“I’ll take that as a no then,” Roman swung his weapon at Jaune’s face knocking the boy unto his back. He then pointed the weapon point plank at Jaune’s face behind the mask. “I wonder what happens at point blank range?”

“No!” The voice that came from the suit was a much more other worldly voice as the symbiote took control. Tendrils smacked the weapon as it fired harmlessly to the side as two more from the shoulders fired out down the street and pulled Jaune to safety.

Jaune was now on his feet and had to shake his head to clear it. He saw Roman about to fire again and knew he couldn’t keep getting hit by those.

‘We can’t go at him head on,’ Jaune thought as he dodged the shot. ‘He’s too experienced. We need to catch him off guard.’

Valor was up for suggestions they nearly got hit again as the symbiote really didn’t like that weapon.

‘We pull,’ Jaune thought as the Klyntar soon picked up what his host was up to.

Jaune kept dodging, it looked like he didn’t know what to do but what he actually was, was putting Roman’s back to a wall. When he was in position, he threw out a tendril at the criminal. Roman of course easily dodged it giving him a smug look.

“Seriously? You really should learn to not telegraph your attacks, such a shame you won’t live long enough to learn from this.” He mocked him.

“Good advice and already way ahead.” Jaune pulled.

The sounds of bricks being pulled from the side of the building caught Roman off guard as the loud sound behind him was something unexpected. On instinct he turned only to catch about a dozen bricks slamming into him. He cried out as he was knocked to the ground stunned.

Jaune didn’t let up as he used that same tendril to wrap around Roman and slam him into the ground several times. The man had aura so he could take this but then on the last slam, he saw the aura of the man break. He pulled back the tendril ready to finish this fight.

“Now we got you!” Jaune jumped forward with a fist cocked back. His fist had just hit Roman when he just…shattered.

That was the only way to describe it, it was like the man was made out of glass. “Did…did we kill him?”

~I don’t think so, was that a semblance?~

“It has to be,” Jaune didn’t know what kind of semblance the man had used but looking around he didn’t see any sign of him or of his weapon. “Did he run off?”

“Is it over yet?” A voice from the doorway spoke up.

“Uh, oh, uh yes…citizen,” Jaune spoke up trying to act confident. “Although one of them got away.”

“I already called the cops when the fancy one left,” The owner looked at the beaten-up group on the ground. “Well, you certainly did a number on them.”

“Well they came at me with blades and stuff,” Jaune scratched the back of his head worried they might have gone overboard.

“Naw, serves them right. They roughed up me and my store and they got roughed up in return.” Then the man noticed the hole in the side of the building with one layer of the bricks now scattered on the street. “Don’t think my insurance will cover that though.”

Jaune was about to apologize when he heard sirens that would be the police coming and he didn’t feel like sticking around and answering a lot of questions he wasn’t prepared to answer. “Well, I think I better get going.”

“What’s your name boy?” The man asked.

“Uh…” He didn’t come up with a name while Roman asked, so he just went with the first thing in his head. “Valor…you can call me Valor.”

With that Jaune whipped himself up to the side of the building quickly climbing up it and soon disappeared into the night. He ran for several blocks before coming to a rest. He caught his breath behind a billboard sign and slide down it his back resting against it as the symbiote pulled away from his face.

Jaune reached up to feel the start of a bruise where he had been hit in the face by that cane. “Great, how am I going to explain this?”

~I can try and fix it before we get back~

“Speaking of, we better hurry before the last flights take off. Tomorrow is Monday and we have a busy school day.”

~That fight could have gone better~

“Yeah, I got that too, didn’t know getting hit with fire dust would hurt that badly.” He thought of how Cardin liked to use fire with his mace weapon. “We’re going to need to get in more training to deal with something like that.”

~There are a couple of things we could try but let’s save that for later~

“Agreed,” Jaune pushed himself up as the mask reformed. “Let’s get back to the docks.”

On a totally different rooftop many blocked away, Roman took out one of his cigars in his coat. “I had it under control.”

Next to him was a short slim woman with ice cream hair and miss matched eyes. Given her petit size and youthful looks people often would think she was a teenager than a woman actually in her early twenties.  Neo only smirked at him with her hands on her hips. She had been coming to see how the dust robberies were going only to find Roman fighting some strange guy in white and all of Junior’s men laying on the ground.

“I did, I totally had that fight,” He lit his cigar. “He just caught me off guard with, well whatever he did.”

Neo pulled out her scroll and then showed it to him as he saw that Neo had taken the time to actually record the final moments of the fight. Starting with him being slammed into the ground.

“I can’t believe you recorded that,” then he paused looking at her. “Okay actually yes I can believe it, but come on Neo, that’s embarrassing.”

He went to reach for it as she nimbly skipped out of reach wagging her finger at him.

“I’ll get you a tub of your favorite ice cream.”

Neo sauntered off, while tempting she could always get her own. This was too good of a video to delete anytime soon as she nearly laughed at how confident he had been just before the tables had turned.

“Damn it, you’re going to hold that over me, aren’t you?” It was a rhetorical question of course, he had taught her the value of blackmail material, maybe he taught her too well. Still his mind couldn’t get over just what in the hell he had fought. It looked like a combat suit of some kind but whatever it was made of, it was unlike anything he had ever seen before.

He had a feeling this wouldn’t be the end of things.

TBC…

Please don’t forget to leave a comment/review as I do wonder what people think.

Chapter Text

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 11: The White Knight

Jaune had thankfully managed to get on the second to last ride back to Beacon. He felt a little banged up but thankfully Valor was working on the injuries. Aura helped to heal but with a symbiote added to it, it really did wonders. He didn’t have any visible bruises on his face by the time he landed. He was so thankful for that, he had been going over a few excuses that might be believable. He also had used his scroll to look up Roman Torchwick and yikes.

The guy was a major criminal, on the top ten most wanted in all four kingdoms, wanted for theft, assault, murder, breaking and entering, mostly the theft.

~So, he really did steal a whole train~

“I know right?” He muttered reading the scroll on his way back to the room.

He got to his dorm, and opened the door and saw the rest of his team was there. All of them were already in their sleep clothing. Jaune saw the clock on the wall and while it wasn’t lights out, yet it was thirty minutes when students were supposed to be in bed. (While not a hard rule it was more of a guideline, but it was frowned upon, especially by Goodwitch if you were caught wondering the halls in the middle of the night on a school night)

“Jaune, you’re back late did anything happen in Vale?” Pyrrha was about to call Jaune to check to make sure he made back before the last Bullhead left. If he missed the ride he would have to wait until the morning and might miss their first period class.

“Nothing…too bad,” Jaune scratched the back of his head. “Just looking around, you know I never really took the time to see Vale and I figured it was for the best.”

He really didn’t like lying but honestly by this point what else could he do? It just seemed like the lies kept building up. He knew he would have to come clean eventually, but not just yet.

“Well, we’re glad you made it back in time,” his partner breathed a sigh of relief.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t want Miss Goodwitch to give you detention,” Nora spoke up reading a magazine on her bed, with Ren nodding in agreement.

“Thanks,” Jaune gave a small smile as he got his sleepwear. “I’ll just go change for bed then.”

That night when he went to bed, he once more found himself in the dream world his symbiote had made. It was always a recreation of the lecture hall as he sat down in the front seat and the black form of his symbiote was there by the teacher’s desk.

“So, what’s it going to be tonight?” Jaune asked.

“I’ve been thinking, and we should go over how that fight went.”  Valor snapped its fingers as the scene changed to that of the fight outside the dust store with the group of men in black and Roman inside. “We should see what we did right and what we did wrong.”

“Kind of like Glynda’s combat classes,” Jaune nodded.

Next time if he ever ran into Roman, he wanted to be ready, for him or anyone else like him. They would have to spend time to think up any counters for fire dust users and whatever else they might run into.

They did that until the morning came, Jaune woke up refreshed as per usual these days with Valor helping his body to become used to waking up early. He also took a couple of the bill supplements he got in Vale. He was glad he found a store that carried them, as they would allow him to eat a bit more variety now and maybe have people not question his choices in food.

By breakfast he and his team joined Team RWBY who were already eating as they sat across from them. Apparently, they were deep in conversation about something.

“I think it’s some kind of stunt,” Weiss stated.

“Come on, what if it’s like some kind of superhero?” Ruby asked grinning from ear to ear.

“It would be neat but what kind of name if Valor?” Yang asked.

Jaune tensed up suddenly as he could feel his symbiote actually do the same as well. Jaune paused his eating looking at the sisters. “Uh…what are you talking about?”

Ruby pulled out her scroll and showed it to him. “This!”

Jaune looked and saw a news article and it was about last night’s dust robbery, the one he was involved in stopping. He suddenly felt his throat go dry as he read the title.

Mystery Man Stops Robbery

‘Oh boy,’ He thought.

“Apparently some guy all dressed out in white calling himself Valor stopped it,” Yang pointed out.

“Oh, that’s so cool!” Nora pulled out her scroll to start looking through the news sites.

“Is it really that big of a news story?” Jaune nervously asked. It was just one robbery, Vale had to have other things that were way more important than that.

“Yeah, but it involved Roman Torchwich,” Ruby crossed her arms. “That guy got away, again.”

“You sound like you know him personally?” Pyrrha asked curiously.

“Oh uh…” Ruby started to fidget. “You see before I was accepted, I was just minding my own business in this store when he and some guys came in to rob the place. They tried to rob me too so I just sort of…”

“She kicked their butts,” Yang said proudly as she messed up Ruby’s hair, much to the younger sister’s dislike as she tried to swat away Yang’s hand. She knew what had happened since being brought to the police station and then being accepted into Beacon, well they had to be told what had happened.

“You never said anything about that,” Blake said to her.

“It never came up!” Ruby defended herself. “I was trying to be normal and it’s hard to be normal when you skipped two grades and got in because you fought a major wanted criminal.”

“So that’s why you got admitted into Beacon early?” Weiss had never really thought to ask Ruby how she did it. She figured there had to be some reason. At first she thought it was a mistake of some kind but fighting that Nevermore with the plan she came up with did start to make Weiss think that there was something more to the younger girl.

“Yeah, I met Miss Goodwitch and everything,” She started to explain what happened that night, the fight, getting taken to a police station and Ozpin himself showing up.

While she was talking about this Jaune had to admit he never expected Ruby to have gone through all that.

~Huh, so that’s what he meant~

‘What?’

~What he said about little girls in red hoods~

‘Oh yeah…OHHHH…oh wow so I basically I stopped him from robbing another dust store like Ruby did. That’s kind of neat, I wonder why he keeps stealing dust?’

The symbiote mulled over this as well, from their research dust was very prized substance, perhaps the most prized. Everything ran off it, weapons used it, it was in everyday life. Something was going on, he was certain there was a much larger picture they weren’t seeing. Was it being sold on the black market or was it to drive dust prices up? If so, for what reason?

There were too many unknowns, so Valor would put this away for now, but it was something to investigate later.

“Apparently he’s being called Vale’s White Knight,” Blake stated looking at a message forum. “The description from the owner of the store said the man was dressed in all white in some kind of combat armor.”

“Uh…did they mention anything else about this looks?” Jaune suddenly remembered that Valor had put his family symbol on the chest. He felt so stupid putting that on there now, he had the same symbol on his shield for crying out loud. Even an idiot would be able to notice how it was the same symbol and then what was he going to say? Sorry, wrong guy?

Blake looked through it a little more. “Nothing yet, wait…something about a moon on his chest?”

Jaune suddenly felt very pale.

“Oh, like a full moon or crescent moon?” Nora asked from across the table.

“It doesn’t say,” Blake shrugged.

‘This is bad, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad,’ Jaune kept thinking.

“Oh, they got an artist rendering,” Ruby grinned at what she found. She showed it around to those interested.

Jaune saw that it kind of looked like them but there were some differences, and he did breathe a bit of a sigh of relief when he saw the symbol on the chest was just a single crescent moon and it was vertical not horizontal like his own symbol.

‘We need to change that symbol if this happens again.’ Jaune thought to his partner.

~Agreed, maybe use the one in the sketch to throw them off~

‘Good idea.’ Still, this was a little too close to comfort.

“So, they call him White Knight because he’s all white and has armor?” Nora thought out loud. “But he’s got this moon symbol, why something like The Moon Knight or like that?”

Yang shrugged, “Eh, White Knight sounds better to me.”

“There’s also a lot of literary references to characters called white knights also called paladins.” Blake offered as the ever lover of fictional books she had read a few stories of such characters. A couple were some of her favorites because of their more, risqué scenes between the knight and the leading lady character.

“Oh, you mean those guys in armor being all, what’s the word?” Nora asked around. “You know opening doors for ladies, being polite and stuff?”

“Chivalrous?” Ren offered.

“Yes, that!” Nora pointed at him.

“Too bad they say chivalry is dead.” Blake shrugged.

“What about Jaune?” Nora offered making said boy choke a bit on his food.

“What?” He asked clearing his mouth and airway.

“You know you might have something there,” Pyrrha nodded her head. “Jaune is very polite.”

“Not to mention helpful,” Ruby nodded her head at how he had been helping her with some of her studies lately. “Plus, he dresses like a knight with his armor and uses a sword and shield.”

Yang could start to see what they were getting at. “Yeah, he’s stood up for Velvet remember? Although he is a bit dorky.”

“Thanks,” Jaune muttered slumping his shoulders since he knew he wasn’t exactly ‘cool’ compared to…well mostly everyone he felt.

“Hey sometimes being a dork is a good thing,” Yang quickly told him. “Our dad is one and he’s the best dad we could have had.”

“That’s true,” Ruby nodded to both parts.

That made Jaune feel a bit better, he had never met their dad, but they always spoke highly of him. Jaune could tell that he means a lot to both sisters so maybe being compared to him was a good thing.

“Oh, maybe we can find this guy and have a team up,” Nora jumped in her seat. “The White Knight and the Dork Knight.”

There were some laughs about that, even Jaune had to admit it was kind of funny, especially since they had no idea, they were the same person. Still, Valor said he and others like him were sent out to help make people into heroes, champions to help defend others. He just hoped he could live up to that legacy.

Weiss however was a bit silent as she quickly cast a look to Jaune. The others brought up good points and some bad point that he had. However, she couldn’t overlook that he had become a lot more competent lately. He also hadn’t made another miserable attempt at courting her. Granted she was used to it, being from her background many young men tried and she saw through them all.

At first, she thought that Jaune was just like them, only not as confidence in himself or as smooth as past boys had been with her. She thought he was a bumbling fool but slowly he started to show himself in a slightly different light. It was almost like seeing someone transform in slow motion. Of course, she still had no interests in dating just yet. No one had piqued her interest yet, so she had focused more on her studies.

Besides she could only imagine what her father would say if she brought someone like Jaune home. She paused at that thought, her father would not approve at all. Jaune wasn’t from some high society background, as far as she knew his family were average…not that she knew much now that she thought about it. She really didn’t know much of anyone here really.

Still the thought of her father’s disapproval filled her with equal parts fear and wanting to disappoint him. She tried everything for his approval, but nothing ever seemed enough, yet she also wanted to be independent. It was a maddening tug of war she had to deal with.

Yang was joking around as she cast a quick look at Jaune herself. Listing all his good qualities and how much of a dork he was did make her think of how he was a lot like her dad. Both tall blonde dorks but with big hearts. She could tell that he would make a good dad one day with those qualities. Also, despite his clothing she knew he was getting kind of ripped under them.

She looked down at what was left of her breakfast trying not to picture him working out, getting all sweaty and how his muscles looked. The fact that he was a really nice guy and it started making her brain think certain things she was conflicted about. Hanging out with Jaune was nice and relaxing, it was comfortable. She always thought her type were the bad boys or maybe someone dangerous or exciting.

So then why was her brain thinking of Jaune a few times lately?

She put it down to stupid teenage hormones and not having a decent date the entire time she had been at Beacon to allow her to blow off some steam as it were.

Pyrrha was just glad that people were finally seeing the side of Jaune that she always saw. She liked his honestly, how caring he was. Most people that came up to her were either intimidated by her success and fame or were just trying to use her for their own ends. With Jaune thought she could let down her guard and just focus on being just herself. She had spent so much time trying to live up to the image of her fame she barely just spent time as herself.

With Jaune and the others she was able to relax her guard and learn what it meant to just be an normal student. She hadn’t felt ‘normal’ until she met Jaune, and he hadn’t known who she was. When she got partnered with him, he never treated her as anything special, didn’t put her up on a pedestal or anything like that. He treated her as just a normal young woman.

Breakfast came and went as another day of Beacon started up. Jaune felt he had a better grasp of the subjects now that Valor was helping him out. Plus, all the extra studying on their own time also was a help as both of them were leaning from square one. Thankfully Valor could remember any information it saw and because of them being bonded he in a way did too.

Although he had to admit some subjects were still boring. Port’s way of teaching was a struggle for students not to fall asleep and history was, well Doctor Oobleck needed to cut down on the coffee. Of course, why learn of Remnant history when he could literally experience space history through the memories of his symbiote? The history of his world seemed kind of boring in comparison.

The next class was with the teacher Harold Mulberry, it was Weapons Upgrade and Maintenance. The class was held only every Monday since the student’s weapons only needed some work, but he was available to students after hours if they did need more help with their weapons. Most students just used the class to do maintenance work since they wouldn’t need to do it later.

Jaune was currently using a whetstone on his sword. His weapon was pretty simple so there wasn’t a lot he could do with it. Pyrrha taught him how to keep the blade sharp, but he really did wish he could do more with his sword and shield. He oiled the mechanics of the shield so that it wouldn’t have any issues closing and opening.

He cast a look to Weiss and then at her sword. It was the simplest out of all of her teammate’s weapons and it was closer to his own type of weapon.

~Maybe you can use this to get advice from her~

‘Good idea,’ He figured if anyone could get him ideas she could. Plus, it would allow him a chance to talk with her. He just hoped he could push his nerves down, every time he tried talking to her, he felt nervous. He thought he was getting better at hiding it like in the library awhile back.

“Weiss, can I ask for your advice on something?” Jaune walked over to her table with his weapon.

The heiress sighed hoping he wasn’t going to ask her out again, granted he hadn’t done so in awhile, but she was ready with a firm ‘no’ if this was what he was aiming at.

“Yes?” she asked in a neutral tone.

Jaune shifted a bit. “Well, it’s just that, you have a weapon similar to mine, but I was hoping for improvements but I’m not sure what to do. Since you have a sword, I was hoping to get some advice on how to improve it.”

Weiss looked at him with a slightly raised eyebrow. She couldn’t tell if this was genuine or if he was using this as an excuse for them to talk.  “Doesn’t Pyrrha use a sword too?”

“Yeah, but her weapon is a lot more complex,” Jaune scratched the back of his head with his free hand. “It can transform into a sword, rifle, and javelin. Your weapon is a lot more…”

He was going to say simple but his symbiote gave him a warning before giving him a better word. Valor might not totally understand human customs and romance, but he still had a vast wealth of knowledge from other species to draw on.

“More elegant.” He finished with a small pause.

Weiss wasn’t sure if he meant that word but a part of her did preen at his choice of word. She put in a lot of work into Myrtenaster and it was nice to see someone appreciate it. “Let me see it.”

Jaune handed his weapon as she laid it down on the table. While her weapon was more of a rapier than Jaune’s longsword. She could see that the weapon was old and well used. She frowned at how the weapon could use a bit of a mending. There were small scratches and scuff marks. It was still sharp and oiled, but it needed more work.

“When was the last time this weapon saw a smith?” Weiss asked him.

“Uh…not sure, maybe before I was born?” Jaune had always seen the sword hung up over the fireplace growing up. “It’s a family heirloom that my great-great-grandfather had during the Great War, and it’s been passed down since then.”

Weiss hummed as she looked at the blade some more. It was a lot older than she had estimated, she was actually surprised it lasted this long, as most blade would have gotten fractures and broken with use over the years. It could have been reforged a few times, but she couldn’t tell.

“You might be better off just getting a new weapon then.” She shrugged.

“I can’t do that,” Jaune quickly said. “This is more than a weapon this is my family’s history. Four generations of my family have had this sword and shield and now it’s my turn. It’s literally my family’s legacy and I can’t just throw that away.”

Weiss paused hearing his words, she knew exactly what he meant about family legacy. She cast him a quick look to see him staring down at the weapon. It was strange that even though they were totally different reasons, she actually found something she had in coming with Jaune. “It really means that much to you?”

“Family has always been important to me, we were raised like that,” Jaune shrugged.

Weiss felt a pang of envy with how he talked about family. He sounded like he was very close to them. “I suppose they are proud that you got into Beacon.”

“Actually…” Jaune sighed looking back down at the blade. He remembered how he called home after initiation to explain himself. They had been so worried when he had just left home and took the family heirloom with him. He explained how he managed to get into Beacon and while they were pleased, they were still worried. It was what they had said next that stung.

“They told me that if this doesn’t work out then I’m more than welcome back home.” He said in a slightly depressed tone.

Weiss felt her stomach tie itself into a knot, her own father had said something similar only it was more ‘if you ever get done with this fantasy, come back home and I’ll get you into a proper school for your real future.’

The meaning being that he had no expectations of her being a huntress. She had to fight and earn her way to Beacon after all, the scar on her face from facing that knight was proof of that. It was why she never tried to hide her scar, to her it was a seal of honor that showed that she paid in blood to get where she was. But her father could always on a whim pull her out of school, force her into a more academic life to prepare her to take over the company in the future.

It sounded like both of their families didn’t believe they could or should be doing this.

Taking another look at the blade she gave it another once over this time more in depth. While basic for a sword it did have good balance and the metal have been forged very well. It could be improved though, forging techniques had evolved since the day this sword was made.

“I would suggest you take this for a smith in Vale and have it reforged. I can’t do it myself as I don’t have those kinds of skills.” Which was true, most students didn’t know how to forge things. That took years of learning and experienced. Students tended to learn how weapons worked, how to build them, how to design them.

Then those plans were given to someone that could make them a reality. Oh sure, students were expected to know how to maintain their weapons and how to replace parts but something like a full on reforging took special equipment and skills.

“I would suggest the blade and the handguard at least to be redone.” Weiss told him.

“I was wondering if it would be possible to use dust like your weapon.” Jaune nodded his head at the suggestion.

Weiss pulled a face as she looked at his weapon. “I’m not sure, not without totally remaking the blade and then it wouldn’t be your family’s sword but something totally different.”

“Maybe you can put in dust cartridges in the hilt by replacing the pommel?” Ruby interjected. She couldn’t help but overhearing the conversation and had been jumping at the bit to join in. She saw both of them look at her. “I mean Blake’s weapon does that.”

“Blake’s weapon was designed for that,” Weiss told her.

“Yeah, I know you’d have to replace the entire lower section, but it might be doable.” Ruby offered.

Jaune looked at the sword and while the reforging was good, he was afraid that if he changed too much of the sword that it would stop being Crocea Mors and started being a new weapon. There was just so much family history tied to the weapon he didn’t want to lose that sense of history.

~If you replace a ships hull, replace its engine, replace every single part of the ship over time until no original part is left. Is it still the same ship?~

‘Huh?’

~It’s an old saying with many variations~

Jaune thought about the meaning behind the words, and he frowned at that. Would it be the same sword by that point?

Ruby saw the frown and felt her spirits damper a little. “You don’t like the idea?”

That broke Jaune out of his thoughts. “Oh, it’s not that I was just thinking, well basically if you keep replacing parts until no original part is left, is it the same weapon by that point?”

“Well…I mean…uh…” Ruby blinked as her mind started to race. If she started replacing parts on her Cresent Rose would eventually all the original parts be replaced? If that happened, would it still be her precious ‘baby’? She would have still used it and the new parts would become part of the weapon but physically it wouldn’t be?

While Ruby’s brain was having a small meltdown at the philosophy of it, Weiss was looking impressed at Jaune. That was actually kind of profound now that she thought about it. She wasn’t sure if there was a ‘real’ answer to such a question. Physically it wouldn’t be but what if there was something more than just physical to a weapon?

“I didn’t peg you as a philosopher,” Weiss told him.

“Oh uh, I’m not, not really,” Jaune shuffled. “I mean I read a lot so...”

Weiss had seen him in the library a lot lately, he had always seemed to be reading various different books. “So then what other words of wisdom have you come across?”

‘Some help?’ Jaune panicked in his mind. The symbiote had a wealth of knowledge that thankfully was easy for it to sort through. Then he found something, the host wanted to try and get Weiss as a mate so maybe this would be helpful. When he told Jaune, the boy was impressed by it.

“You don’t love someone for their looks, for their clothes or their fancy vehicles, but because they sing a song only your heart can hear.” He told her.

Weiss’ eyes widened a bit as she felt herself blush slightly as she quickly broke eye contact with him looking back at the items on the table in front of them. That had been sneaky of him, but she would admit that had been his best line yet. While it was a powerful statement, to her at least, she wasn’t going to try and show anymore of a reaction. That would only encourage him.

 “Well, I still say this weapon could use a reforging at least to strengthen it as least.” Weiss said going back to the subject at hand.

“Oh, you’re shield!” Ruby quickly ran over to Jaune’s table and grabbed it and brought it back. “Maybe we can do something with this.”

“Well…the shield isn’t as old,” Jaune told her.

“I figured,” Ruby grinned since mech-shift technology was fairly ‘new’ in the history of weapons. It wouldn’t have been around when the sword was originally made. It most likely originally had a regular scabbard that had worn out and replaced.

Ruby placed it on the table as both girls looked it over.

“If this was Atlas, we could have placed some tech into this, there’s plenty of space for it.” Weiss stated after a few silent minutes.

“Yeah, but Atlas tech is not only hard to come by and really expensive,” Ruby knew this as originally, she wanted the best for her weapon when she first designed her. But Atlas was very guarded about their technology, especially for weapon systems. The few they did sell would have cost her more than a yearly allowance.

Ruby cocked her head and then had it fold back into the scabbard mode as her mind went to some possibilities. “I might be able to do something with this…give me some time to come up with some ideas?”

“Sure, thanks Ruby, to the both of you honestly. If there is, anyway, I can repay you both let me know.” Jaune told them.

Weiss merely nodded, she wasn’t planning on asking any favors, mainly because she doubted there was anything he could do. Ruby was smiling brightly thought. “Are you kidding? I feel like you’re doing me a favor by letting me modify your gear.”

“Offer still stands,” Jaune told them. It was a matter of principle for him, someone helped him out so he would help them out in return. It was only fair that way and besides they were his friends. Well Ruby was, Weiss…was complicated although lately she had seem to have gotten a little less frosty with him. Maybe he should look up more philosophy like what Valor told him.

~Also some species react well to poetry.~

‘Oh, that sounds like it might work.’

~Perhaps you should get some advice from a female perspective. After all you are friends with a lot of them. Some could prove useful.~

Jaune thought about it, Ruby didn’t seem to be a good fit. She was too young and didn’t seem to love anything other than her sister, her weapon and her team, maybe in that order. Blake…he wasn’t close to her, Nora while close he wasn’t sure if any advice from her would be usable.

~Nora would fit in with K’ell society~

‘She would?’ Jaune tried to think of what species that had been but there was just so many to keep track.

~In their mating ritual they offer the head of a great beast or their great enemy to their indented to show their strength~

Jaune…could see that and it kind of scared him. Okay so no Nora that only left Pyrrha and Yang. Well maybe after classes he could get some advice from one or if not both. He had gotten closer to Yang so she might be helpful and if not, he always had Pyrrha.

TBC…

Just to let you know I was paraphrasing the Ship of Thesus and a quote of Oscar Wilde.

Also, it was never stated how Jaune’s shield got it’s buster mode in the series (which seems to have been forgotten about in the show) but I figured it was something Ruby came up with while they were on their journey together.

Also I just wanted to say how surprised I am by the reception this story has gotten on this site. Didn't expect so many people to enjoy it. 

Chapter Text

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 12: Advice

Jaune had been thinking all day on what to ask, he had some help from Valor but both of them had the issue that neither really knew women all that well. Sure, Jaune grew up with a lot of sisters but that didn’t really help since he got so many different opinions it was hard to keep it all straight. With Valor, it was because he didn’t know the culture. Every culture was unique and different, sure there were similarities between species for the most part, but this was the first time to his knowledge any Klyntar had ever been here.

At least any Klyntar in his genetic line, there were uncountable symbiotes in the universe and with different ‘factions’ like the Corrupted or those that just were driven insane by unstable hosts, he had no connection to those symbiotes. If one of them had landed here, he wouldn’t know about it, and that was something he hoped didn’t happen. One of the Corrupted showing up he could deal with but one of the Insane? Or worse a mutated Insane? That would be troubling for his host as their bond was still new.

He didn’t tell Jaune any off this as what were the odds? No need to worry him with unnecessary things that they couldn’t prevent if they happened anyway.

It was the last class of the day and Jaune was doing his best to keep his mind on the work. While it was nice having Valor basically ‘record’ everything he saw and experienced, Jaune wanted to try and pay attention on his own. The last ten minutes just seemed to drag on until the bell finally sounded. Jaune sighed as while Pyrrha was next to him, Yang was sitting with her team in front.

“Hey Yang, Pyrrha can I talk to you two for a moment?” Jaune asked them before they could leave.

“Just us?” Pyrrha asked to confirm.

“If you two don’t mind.” Jaune said.

“Yeah sure,” Yang looked to her team. “I’ll catch up, see you guys in the room later.”

“Okay then,” Ruby nodded as the rest of Teams RWBY and JNPR left with the rest of the students and teacher.

When they were finally alone Jaune felt a bit nervous asking for advice but honestly, he wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t have much experience in this, and he trusted their opinions. “So, this is kind of awkward, but I could use some advice.”

“Of course, Jaune, I’m your partner so if you need help I’m there.” Pyrrha gently told him with a warm smile.

“Yeah, what are friends for?” Yang nodded.

“Okay so, I was wondering if, well…”

~Spit it out~

‘I’m getting to it!’ He mentally said back. “I could use your advice on how I can get Weiss to notice me.” He quickly said.

Pyrrha felt a stab in her chest but kept her smile on, the smile did leave her eyes though, but she was so practiced with putting on fake smiles for people it was second nature to her by this point. Even if she didn’t feel like smiling, she had hoped that Jaune had gotten over Weiss since he hadn’t tried another attempt to get her to go out with him. Although, now that she thought about it, they had been spending some time together, it was mostly for studying but she hadn’t been as cold to him as before.

Worry gripped her heart but as much as it pained her, she knew you couldn’t force someone to like you. It was funny, she could most likely get any man she wanted but the one man she actually did care for, only saw her as a friend.

Yang however rolled her eyes but then grinned. “I swear you are a glutton for punishment.”

“I know,” Jaune groaned. “I just can’t help it.”

“Okay you got to explain the attraction to me,” Yang was curious as to why Jaune was all into Weiss. Pyrrha also was curious, so she was thankful Yang asked as she wasn’t sure hot to bring up the subject. “Are you into domineering women? Do you prefer girls with slim figures or something?”

“It’s, well it’s complicated.” Jaune blushed.

“Well, I got all afternoon, how about you P-Money?” Yang smirked at the red head.

“It might…help us to give you better advice,” Pyrrha hated lying, it tasted so bad in her mouth saying it, but she really wanted to know the answer.

Jaune sighed thinking about when he first met her. “I guess, well first when I saw her, I was like, ‘wow she’s beautiful’, the pale skin and snow-white hair and her ice blue eyes really got my attention.”

“Huh, okay I can see that,” Yang thought about it and Weiss was pretty she could admit that. “Although I’m still not sure if you’re just into slim girls.” Then she got a grin on her face as she just remembered something. “Oh, wait didn’t you try to make a pass as Pyrrha in the locker rooms before initiation when you were talking with them?”

Jaune groaned facepalming. “My dad said to be confident.” He looked at his partner. “I’m so sorry about that.”

“No, don’t worry about it,” Pyrrha waved her arms in a forget about it gesture. “I was flattered.”

“Wait really?” Jaune asked.

Well, she was flattered now, before she got to know him not so much. “I’m used to people coming up to me like that.”

“Yeah, I guess you would be being a celebrity and all,” Yang placed her arms behind her head but then her eyes snapped open as she dropped her arms and looked accusingly at Jaune. “Hey, wait. Why am I the only girl you never tried anything with?!”

Sure there was also Nora but everyone suspected there was something going on between her and Ren. Then there was Ruby who Jaune treated as just a friend and Blake, well Blake was kind of stand offish until she got to know a person.

“W-what?” Jaune took a step back.

“I put a lot of effort into looking as good as I am and the only reaction, all I got out of you was you throwing up on my boot.” Yang did pride herself on her looks, especially her hair. She worked out all the time to keep her body in shape, used just the right products to keep her long hair full and bouncy. Some people just had no idea just how hard it was to keep so much hair without getting it damaged or split ends.

“That was air sickness!” Jaune defended himself.

“So, I’m unattractive?” Yang was starting to feel a little self-conscious if Jaune overlooked her for Pyrrha and Weiss, granted both girls weren’t ugly in the slightest, but she liked to think she was on their level at least.

“No you’re very attractive, you’re just kind of…”

“Kind of what?” Yang asked in a slightly dangerous tone.

“Intimidating?” Jaune said softly.

Yang blinked, “Intimidating?”

“Yeah, I mean it’s not easy for me to go up to pretty girls without fumbling my words or messing something up.” Jaune scratched the back of his head. “And also, you were Ruby’s big sister and I thought it might be wrong to try anything there, also like you said. Then I threw up on your shoe, I figured any chances I had were gone at that point.”

“Huh…well okay then,” Yang cooled off as she could see the logic there. “It’s nice to know you think I’m attractive.” She grinned at him making him uncomfortable and blushing.

Pyrrha coughed into her hand. “Maybe we should get back on track?”

“Oh right, so it’s just looks with Weiss?” Yang asked him.

“It’s more than that,” Jaune told her. “Weiss has this…presence about her. She’s always seemed so sure of what she wants and how to get it and doesn’t let anything get in her way. I kind of admire that about her.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Yang muttered while Weiss had cooled down a little the ice queen was still hard to get to know at times. She put up so many walls around herself and seemed to have a short fuse at times when things didn’t go her way. But she was committed to being a Huntress that’s for sure, maybe a little too committed, the girl needed to slow down and enjoy life a little.

“Well, a girl should like you for yourself,” Pyrrha stated. “You shouldn’t have to change because of it.”

“True but a little polishing wouldn’t hurt,” Yang eyed Jaune up and down. He was rough around the edges but once you smooth those over, he might polish up real nicely. “Okay first, we need to work on the outside and then the inside, which you kind of already started on.”

“I…what?” Jaune asked confused.

“All the training both with Pyrrha and with myself is helping to shape your body better,” Yang explained to him. “When you first got here you were all tall and skinny but now you got some build on you. I think you need to capitalize on it more.”

“So, what then?” He asked not following her.

“Duh, you got to get some new threads,” She then tilted her head and reached up to brush the hair out of his face. “I think a new haircut might work too. The look you got now, your hair hides part of your face and it’s kind of messy. It says, ‘I have no confidence in myself’. A girl like Weiss wants a man with some class I bet, so a cleaner hair cut that shows your face and some decent clothing should help with projecting some real actual confidence.”

“Do you really think he needs to go that far?” Pyrrha was afraid of changing too much of what she knew about Jaune. She liked him as he was, okay the new physic was…tempting…but was so much a change necessary?

“Hey, you never know until you try it,” Yang shrugged. “But trust me, a girl notices when a boy takes care of themselves, it shows they are confident and got their act together. Now who does that sound like?”

“Weiss,” Jaune nodded his head getting where Yang was going with this.

“Think we should do something about his combat gear too?” Yang asked Pyrrha.

She paused as she thought about his cheap gear, he has said that he bought it used and it did show. The armor was all banged up and well used and it was luck that it fit him. It had too many gaps that could be exploited and hadn’t been outfitted for him. Huntsmen and Huntresses wore garments and armor that they had fit to their bodies for each of movement after all.

“We could do some window shopping at least,” She said eventually hoping that maybe they could find something that would be a better fit.

“I hear shopping trip,” Yang grinned.

“So when should we go?” Jaune asked.

“No time like the present,” Yang grabbed him by the hand and led him out of the class.

“Right now!?” Jaune asked with Pyrrha hot on their heels.

“Don’t put off what you can do today,” Yang told him. “Besides I need to get out of here and waiting for the weekend will be a pain.”

-Vale-

Jaune was surprised to find himself back into the city again now that the three of them changed out of their school clothing into their regular clothing they had gotten the next flight over to the city. Pyrrha insisted that they at least get back in time to get any homework they needed to get done out of the way. Yang agreed as they would at least try to get as much done.

“Huh, I’m surprised you didn’t throw up again,” Yang said as they left the bullhead aircraft.

“Oh, uh, last time here I found some stuff to help with my air sickness.” Jaune quickly covered for the fact his symbiote was helping him from getting sick in the air.

“And you didn’t have it on hand the first day we met?” Yang asked.

“I never flown before then,” Jaune admitted feeling a little lame about it. He would forever be embarrassed about throwing up on her shoe like that.

“Ah, that explains it,” Yang nodded.

“So, what should we do first?” Pyrrha asked Yang given the woman seemed to have an idea. She was here just in case Yang went overboard.

“Either clothes or haircut, we can look around smith shops for new armor.” Yang shrugged. “Besides if needs a custom set made it would take time anyway.”

Pyrrha nodded, the armor she wore had been custom made for her and that had taken them a week to get it finished.

They wondered around just chatting as all three of them weren’t from this city so exploring it was also something they did. Sometimes one or more of them would make mental notes on stores that interested them or certain businesses. That’s when Yang found what looked like a place they could get Jaune’s hair cut.

Walking in the place was your typical shop set up for cutting hair. The usual chairs facing the mirrors and all the tools laid out on the small table under the chairs. A few seats were already in use as an older woman with a grey streak in her hair looked at them.

“Welcome, we have only a couple of open chairs if you one of you wants to wait.”

“Oh, we’re just here to get our friend a new look, think you can do anything with him?” Yang pushed Jaune forward as the woman looked at the boy.

She tilted her head as she lightly gripped his chin and turned his head in a few directions as she hummed to herself. “I think I can manage; he’s got good cheeks and structure. Do you have anything in mind?”

“Not really,” Jaune shrugged.

The stylist looked at his two female friends who weren’t sure either.

“Well take a seat and I’ll get to work,” she told him and Jaune sat down. He had no idea what he was in for, but he would trust the woman. It was only hair, right? It would grow back in time if it didn’t like it.

Yang and Pyrrha sat down as Pyrrha found a magazine about tournament fighting. She hadn’t checked in with the tournament scene since she effectively ‘retired’ and joined Beacon. There were a few old rivals of hers she wondered how they were doing since she was no longer around. Yang pulled out her scroll to look up any shops around for clothing.

After some time, she was finally finished. “There, now you might want to get some product to keep it that way, but I think this will work out well for you.”

Jaune stared at himself in the mirror, he almost didn’t recognize himself. His hair was cut short along the sides and back, but the top was styled and much cleaner look to it. The bangs were put into small spikes, and he twisted his head from side to side. He wasn’t sure what a haircut could do but apparently it could do a lot. It really did show off his face more now that he looked at it.

He actually felt a bit more professional looking now with his hair styled.

“So, what do you girls think?” He stood up and faced them.

Pyrrha’s eyes widened as she tried to say something but couldn’t, he did look more handsome now. She could clearly see his face and the hair added a dashing quality to him that made her heartbeat just a little bit faster.

Yang had to do a double take from her scroll looking up at him. ‘When the hell did Vomit Boy get so hot?!’

She tried to push those thoughts away but as she stood up to face him, she couldn’t help but feel the physical attraction. At her height of 5’8”, Jaune’s height of 6’1” already made him taller than her but now with the new haircut his face seemed to take on a totally different look.

‘I do like my men taller than me and he’s more handsome now,’ Yang thought but quickly tried to stuff those thoughts away. ‘No, bad Yang. He’s asking for help with Weiss…but if she won’t go for it then maybe…’

Yang really didn’t know what was going on with her, but she had to put a stop to this. Juane was her friend and not only that he was her little sister’s best friend. She couldn’t date her sister’s friend, that would get weird right? At least that’s how she justified it but damn this was starting to get to her. Maybe she really was just pent up? This weekend she was planning to go out clubbing and find a nice guy or something to flirt with and then maybe that will fix her up.

“Uh…girls?” Jaune asked when neither of them spoke.

That got their attention.

“Oh, you look great,” Pyrrha quickly said feeling the blush on her face.

“Yeah totally, Weiss will love it,” Yang said just as quickly trying to look at her scroll. “I think I found some nice clothing that might fit you well.”

After paying Yang led the way so she didn’t have to look back and have her traitorous mind working against her. So, what if Jaune cleaned up really nicely? She was going to be a good friend and help him out and then get her damn mind back under control.

Pyrrha couldn’t have but casts glances at Jaune every now and then, she would have to admit it. Yang had been right. Part of her did hope that Weiss still rejected him but also another part knew that if she did it would only hurt him, and she didn’t want him in pain. It was an ugly tug of war between her desires and wanting for Jaune to be happy.

Jaune was oblivious to all this as he kept running a hand over his hair, it felt odd to have it changed. However, someone wasn’t oblivious as Valor was must more perceptive, granted he didn’t know human female reactions perfectly well, but he was sure he was picking up the physical attraction between the two young females. It was curious, did all humans just seem to go through such complex rituals?

“You sure I need new clothing?” Jaune asked.

“It couldn’t hurt, I mean those jeans have seen some use.” Yang pointed to the worn-out spot on one of his knees. “You got to dress to impress after all. How you dress is like your hair, you wear shabby clothing it sends the message you don’t take good care of yourself, and a woman wants a man she can be with, not have to take care of.”

~I know of many species whose matting rituals revolve around looks. It was used to attract the attention of possible mates, this seems similar.~

Jaune could see the point as he then thought about what else she had said. He remembered one of his older sisters complaining that her boyfriend at the time (later she dumped him) couldn’t make decisions on his own and she had to help him out with everything. He specifically recalled her saying that she was his girlfriend, not his mother.

~I feel there is a lesson in that~

‘Yeah, no kidding,’ he thought about it, and he really hadn’t taken care of himself before now. He didn’t work out like he had before, didn’t pay as much attention to his studies either. So, his hair and clothing were kind of other symptoms of it.

He was thinking hard on why he allowed himself to be like that and he came to the conclusion he just had no real confidence in himself. He always second guessed himself growing up, always unsure of what action to take. All but becoming a Huntsman, that was the only thing he really focused on.

~The past doesn’t have to define you. You’ve grown so much since those days.~

‘Thanks to you.’

~I only helped. You were already doing it with Pyrrha. Also, you had to want to change, to get better for this to work. It’s one of the reasons I choose to bond with you.~

‘Thanks, that actually means a lot to me.’ He smiled at the support his symbiote was giving him.

“Oh perfect,” Yang smiled seeing the store they were in front of. It said Huntington on it, which was a store brand that both girls knew was known for selling clothing that Huntsmen liked to wear. Usually clothing that allowed for mobility but also durable. “This should have some good clothing.”

“Indeed, I got my boots from this store brand back home,” Pyrrha nodded.

“Hey same here,” Yang showed off her boots. “Had these for nearly two years and still not worn out, and apparently they are vomit resistant.”

Jaune groaned. “Are you ever going to let me live that down?”

“Nope,” Yang smiled at him.

The three students went inside to see a lot of clothing in the store for both men and women. There was a rack filled with combat boots and shoes, leather vestments meant to help protect against wear and tear as well was claws, as the sign above them boasted.  

Jaune wasn’t sure where to start as Yang and Pyrrha went off to look for suitable options.

“Okay so I’m thinking we don’t go crazy,” Yang stated. “We start off simple with a pair of new pants and he needs them and maybe a new top to go with it.”

“That…sounds reasonable,” Pyrrha nodded as she looked around. She had to admit that he did at least need some new pants. Maybe next time some boots? Then the thought entered her mind that the just the two of them could come back later. She paused as her mind started to go into that scenario and she had to admit she liked it. They could come back here, get him some boots and then maybe spent dinner together before going back to Beacon?

‘It almost sounds like a…date,’ She thought as her face started to match her hair as she quickly made sure no one could see her blushing.

“Hey Jaune, what size are you?” Yang asked as she was looking over some pants.

“Think you found something?” the taller blonde asked as he walked up to her seeing her with two different sizes of the same brand. They were a darker blue than he wore but they were in much better shape. They looked pretty nice as he picked the pair that was more his size, given his tall frame Jaune had very long legs.

“I think I found a few nice shirts.” Pyrrha came over with three choices.

“Cool, we can have him try them on,” Yang grinned as she started to gently push Jaune to a dressing room. “You might have to take off the armor first.”

“Oh right,” Jaune started with the shoulder pauldrons and then the chest piece.

“The hell Jaune?” Yang laughed seeing what was under the chest piece for the first time. “Why do you have a bunny on your chest?”

“What?” He looked down. “It’s always been there.”

“It’s always covered by the armor!” Yang laughed again and then looked to Pyrrha. “Did you know guys know about this?”

Pyrrha nodded. “We’ve seen Jaune take off his armor in the dorm room. Nora found it cute.”

“Oh god that is adorkable.” Yang felt her stomach starting to hurt. She took a few deep breaths. “Seriously where did you get that from?”

Jaune blushed feeling a little shy about it. “I sent away like fifty Pumpkin Pete cereal boxes in for the prize.”

Yang covered her face, but she was jerking as she was trying not to laugh as Jaune’s shoulders fell as he felt embarrassed now that he said it out loud.

“Yang please,” Pyrrha admonished her.

“Right, right, sorry, it’s just…wow.” She had to wipe her eyes for a bit taking in a few breaths. “It’s actually kind of impressive you got fifty of them sent in. I’m surprised they had it in your size.” Mainly that there was an adult size one, she figured it would only be kids that sent in that stuff but maybe Pumpkin Pete has a much larger adult audience than she thought.

“Well, I like Pumpkin Pete, been eating it my whole life.” Jaune scratched the back of his head.

~Oh, so that’s why there’s so much sugar damage to your system~

‘Wait, I have what?’ Jaune thought out a little scared.

~I fixed it but there your body was starting to get in danger of starting to have trouble with using the insulin in your body. Plus a few other health risks, if you kept eating so much of that it might have caused health problems in ten years.~

“Hey, you okay?” Yang asked concerned when Jaune got quiet, and he started to look a little worried. Pyrrha went up and touched his shoulder as she had noticed this as well.

Jaune shook his head. “Right sorry my mind went off someplace else.” He then looked to Pyrrha as he remembered something she once said to him. “Didn’t you say that cereal wasn’t very healthy?”

“Yes, and honestly if you were eating fifty boxes, I hope you have stopped.” Pyrrha had many sponsorships over the years and while the representatives of Pumpkin Peter’s had been one of the friendlier ones, she didn’t like how unhealthy their product was. It was why she only agreed for a three-month contract with them. Despite her old agent wanting for six, she wasn’t comfortable with long term sponsorship with them.

“It was just for the hoodie,” Jaune bashfully answered although he still did eat it afterwards just not so much.

“Well, I say it’s time to see how you look,” Yang pushed the clothing into his arms and then into the dressing room as they waited.

He came out in the new jeans but a red shirt that was buttoned up. Yang took a look at it and then at Pyrrha. “Trying to get him to dress in your colors?”

“N-no, I just thought it looked nice.” She quickly defended herself although looking at him she wouldn’t mind some red.

Yang tilted her head at the shirt, “I don’t know, doesn’t really fit with his aesthetic. Pants look great though.”

Jaune moved around a little, “They do fit nicely.”

“Okay next.” Yang told him.

Next was a white shirt with a design pattern but the pattern looked at odds when they tried it in the armor. The angle of the lines on it were very distracting. They both felt that it didn’t fit with the armor on so that was out. The last one was a black top with a collar on it. It was a short sleeve top but looking at it, it worked well with the dark blue pants.

“That actually looks quite nice,” Pyrrha tilted her head.

Yang hummed and nodded her head. “Let’s see how it is with the armor.”

When Jaune was finished he actually cut a dashing figure with the black top that mirrored his hoodie but now with the proper shirt and hair and new pants. He looked like a totally different person, his physic sowed a little through it all and with the armor on as he looked at them. Well, Jaune Arc had gone from ugly duckling to a swan.

“Wow,” Yang was surprised by the transformation. “And this is just a haircut and clothing, imagine what new armor would look like on him?”

The redhead just nodded as she couldn’t take her eyes off her crush. Jaune looked very cleaned up and professional now. She felt her heart racing slightly at the sight of her partner. She knew that Jaune was a diamond in the rough, but she didn’t think he would shine this brightly.

“Is, is this, okay?” Jaune asked unsure.

“Dude, go look into a mirror,” Yang brought him over to a full length one as he looked at himself. “You are going to turn heads.”

Jaune couldn’t believe he was looking at himself, he looked like some confident and actually handsome young man. He always wanted to be one of the cool kids growing up, someone that people could look up to. In the mirror he didn’t see his old self but the kind of person he had always wished he could become.

“Wow, I look…different.” He blinked at the image.

“But in a good way,” Yang almost ran her hand along his arm but stopped herself when she realized what she was about to do. She coughed into her hand as she looked away. “Well if the new you can’t melt the Ice Queen’s heart, you’ll probably get some attention from other girls.”

“Really?” Jaune had never been that kind of guy, would something as simple as this get him attention? Sure, he only had eyes for one girl, but it would just feel nice for once in his life to be the kind of guy that turned heads instead of feeling like the guy in the background who was never noticed.

Yang looked over her shoulder giving him a once over. “Trust me.”

“Although I’m going to have to dig into my expenses for all this,” Jaune sighed two trips to Vale and already his meager funds were starting to take a hit. He was thankful that Beacon supplied students with meals, books, materials, and lodging for being students there.

“I can help with that.” Pyrrha stepped forward.

“I don’t want to trouble you,” he started to say.

She shook her head, “It’s no trouble at all Jaune. I have plenty and if I can use it to help you then wouldn’t a good partner want to help you out?”

While she had money, she wasn’t exactly rich. Well not Weiss rich at least, over the years with all her championship winnings and all he sponsors deals she had gained a lot of money. Some she put into her Huntress weapons and armor, half she sent to her parents. Of course, she wanted to send more than half, but her parents weren’t comfortable with what they did get and didn’t want their daughter to send them more. So, she still had plenty of money left over and if she could use it to help Jaune or even the rest of her team out, she wouldn’t blink an eye at it.

“Hey if she’s willing to pay for it and it isn’t a problem for her, I say take it.” Yang shrugged, while she worked hard to pay off her motorcycle and for his maintenance while at Signal, she didn’t have time for some kind of part time job after school at the moment.

 “Well okay but I feel like I need to repay you in some way for all this,” Jaune didn’t like to feel like he was just using Pyrrha for her money. He valued her as both a partner and friendship, also if someone does something nice for you, he felt you should do something nice in return, it was how he was brought up.

“How about treating us to dinner?” Yang asked him. “I don’t know about you two but I’m getting hungry.”

“I could eat,” Pyrrha nodded.

Jaune’s stomach growled a bit as both girls looked at him, Yang in amusement and Pyrrha covering her mouth in a giggle. “I guess that makes three.” Jaune sighed.

-Warehouse in Vale-

Roman sat in his favorite chair (which he stole of course) as he looked at a map of Vale. It had a bunch of red marks of dust stores he had hit but there was still much more to go. Lighting a cigar he scanned the map trying to think of where to hit next. Last night’s bungled job had delayed his plans. First was that the cops were on higher alert now in that area, that wasn’t much of a problem but there were at least two other stores he had planned to hit later.

The second and more important was manpower, with Junior’s men caught the cops were keeping a closer eye on his place now. Of course, Junior claimed innocence of it all to the cops, he didn’t control what his men did after hours after all. No one bought it but his people at least knew to keep their mouths shut so they couldn’t just arrest him with no real proof.  Not that his men were any real help but they at least could be used to haul the goods at least.

Now where was he going to find a gang that was competent enough to do a simple smash and grab and keep their mouths shut? This place wasn’t easy to find and it’s hard to keep a warehouse full of dust under the radar. He had to buy this place out with a fake company but if anyone looked too closely at it they would wonder why nothing moved out of it and that the company was only three months old and of what’s this? The owner doesn’t seem to exist more than six months ago, and his address belongs to a totally different company.

Roman leaned back and rubbed his face, he would have to put out feelers for whoever needed some dirty work. Maybe even using different gangs for different areas of the city, which was a super pain in the ass to manage rather than just one group.

“They never go into the problems with being a criminal in the movies,” He sighed.

He felt a tap on his shoulder as he looked at Neo and she didn’t have a pleased look on her face. She pointed behind him as he lazily turned his head.

‘Oh, fuck me, this is all I need,’ he mentally cursed as he saw Cinder walking towards them the sounds of her heels clicking on the ground with her two minions behind her.

He sighed and pushed himself up and put on his best business smile. “Cinder, what do I own the pleasure? We’re not schedules to meet until a few months from now.”

“Saw the news and I was making sure my business partner wasn’t slipping up,” She said in her dark and smoky voice that if anyone didn’t know her, would have found very attractive.

Roman had to admit Cinder had the femme fatale look down and he might have been tempted. If he didn’t know what kind of a psychopath, she was that would kill him the moment he got too far out of line. Their ‘business partnership’ was her having a leash around his neck that if he tried to break free from, she would put him down. The whole ‘work for me or die’ thing kind of went a long way to avoid any attractiveness the woman might hold.

Granted Neo was a little kill happy herself but at least with Neo he knew where he stood with her, and their bond was something that couldn’t easily be broken. Cinder on the other hand, he was a tool to her and nothing more. He knew it, she knew it, everyone involved knew it. Just like the two other tools she had with her. Well Emerald was too blinded to see she was nothing more than a tool and Mercury? He knew it but didn’t care, Roman might have actually had some kind of working relationship with the boy if he wasn’t such a pain to be around.

“I had a set back but I’m working my way around it,” Roman told her. “Besides I wasn’t expecting to walk into some kind of possible Atlas experimental soldier or something.”

Cinder tilted her head. “A what?”

Neo pulled out her scroll as she pulled up the video.

“You still have that video? No wait, of course you do.” Roman sighed as his friend walked up and showed Cinder the video.

Cinder’s eyes widened a bit at what she saw, she had seen a lot, especially working for Salem, but this was unlike anything she had seen. The suit almost seemed like it was a living thing to her eyes, the way parts of it formed new appendages reminded her of how some Grimm can do similar feats, the Nuckelavee’s arms being a prime example. Had someone managed to successfully experiment with Grimm?

“What is that? Some kind of semblance?” Emerald asked trying to get a good look at the video on repeat playback.

“Kid,” Roman sighed. “I’ve been around the block quite the bit, but even I have never seen a semblance that acts like that, have you?”

Emerald glared at him, but she couldn’t refute his words and she hated that.

“Personally, I think it might be some kind of experimental Atlas tech, but I could be wrong.” Roman took a puff of his cigar.

“Oh?” Cinder looked at him with a questioning expression.

“Well, it’s only a guess, but it’s all white which they so love to use.” Roman pointed out. “Also, can you think of any other nation that has the resources or technology to make something even close to that?”

Cinder had to admit that he had a point, whatever this was, it was something they couldn’t ignore. It was also here in Vale so close to their own operations. They had painstakingly planned out this whole operation to take down Beacon and now something very unknown had just gotten thrown into the mix. This would require investigation, especially if this suit was somehow Grimm related technology. Salem would want to know about this if it was.

“I’ll take a copy and sent it on to an…associate of mine.” As much as she couldn’t stand Watts and he her, she would admit that his intelligence was second to none. If anyone could figure out what this was, he would have a shot at it. “Continue on as you have been but if you come across this individual again, either eliminated him or try to gain more information about him and that suit of his.”

“Well one other thing, it reacted badly to being shot.” Roman pulled up his cane. “I’m not sure if it was the explosion or the heat of the dust rounds but I think you can use that to your advantage if he becomes a big problem later on.”

“Is that so?” Cinder grinned.

TBC…

Just so you know what Valor was talking about:

Regular Klyntar: Those that are sealing Knull and went out to help other species by finding those good people that could be heroes and champions: Valor

The Corrupted: Symbiotes that move from planet to planet enslaving the population as hosts to feed off them until nothing is left: as seen in the Planet of the Symbiotes storyline.

The Insane: Symbiotes driven to a degree of madness that are usually isolationist and prefer to be alone as no Klynar group wants to link with them to spread the madness. Think Venom symbiote.

Mutated Insane: These are like Carnage and Scream. Symbiotes that have mutated from the norm but with unstable hosts were driven insane.

Chapter Text

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 13:  Be more Confident

Jaune couldn’t help but run a hand through is hair, it felt so different, and it was still getting used to it on the way back. The new clothes were nice though and he was keeping his old stuff for later. There was no way he was getting rid of his hoodie, not after all he went through to get it but as Yang had been explaining, confidence was all mental and looking good on the outside helped to make you confident on the inside.

He hoped she was right, although when he looked in the mirror, he did feel a bit more confident in himself. Maybe clothes really do make the man?

“Your hair is fine,” Yang told them as the three of them were talking back to Beacon as she had noticed him rubbing his hand through his hair again.

“I’m just not used to the feel of it yet,” he shrugged.

“Well, I got some tips to help out if you need it,” Yang flung her golden locks dramatically. “After all you think my hair is naturally this great?”

Jaune had to admit that Yang did have great hair, it was always full and healthy. Growing up with a house full of women he was no stranger to all the conditioners, shampoos and all kinds of things that littered the bathrooms back home. He might have to take her up on her offer as he never really thought about how to treat his hair. He just went into the shower used whatever shampoo was there and that was it.

“I might have some stuff that might help,” Pyrrha offered willing to share some of her products with him.

Yang looked the girl over and surprised everyone by gently using a hand to lift up Pyrrha’s ponytail and run her fingers through it. “Yeah, this is nice, do you use something to keep it all straight?”

Yang knew good hair and Pyrrha always seemed to have lovely long red hair to her.

“Y-yes I do,” she felt a little flushed by Yang’s closeness and what she was doing. Thankfully Yang was being very delicate with her hair.

“We should compare products, I know Weiss uses some high-end stuff from Atlas and brushes her hair every night, Blake is more about keeping her volume like me, so we actually use similar stuff in our hair.”

“What about Ruby?” Jaune asked since they got to all the other members of team RWBY’s hair care.

Yang smirked. “She just brushes her hair and that’s it, she’s never really given much thought about it. Kind of like you Jaune, but don’t worry between the two of us we can advise you in the art of hair and hair maintenance.”

“Never knew there was so much to it.” Jaune sighed.

“There is,” Both girls said at the same time locking eyes and smiling at each other.

Even with all his sisters and mother he never really paid too much attention to that. He just kind of brushes his hair a little. Now that he thought about it his mother always did tell him to brush his hair more and looking back and comparing how it was to now, it was a little messy. He just thought it was good enough and went with it.

~As I said, looks are used in many species throughout the universe to attract potential mates. It seems this world is no different~

‘I’m starting to see that,’ Jaune mentally nodded to him.

~Although with a better idea of what is ‘fashionable’ among your people, I could make clothing that would match~

‘Wait you can make clothing other than the suit?’

He got the impression that the symbiote was giving him the equivalent of a raised eyebrow. ~Of course, the ‘suit’ as you call it is just me changing forms. Remember I can alter my form to appear as different things. I could appear as different clothing, as armor, or any physical covering we can think of~

‘Oh…I never thought about it,’ Jaune would have to keep that in mind for later. He thought of taking Weiss out to dinner and now he didn’t have to worry about nice clothing. He could just have Valor turn into a nice suit. He would have to ask later for better clothing options, maybe do some online research?

“Still, whatever you use Pyrrha seems good quality,” Yang went back to her spot next to Jaune as they continued walking to the school’s main entrance.

“It was one of my sponsorships, I was given free samples while I was with them, I think I have a couple of bottles left over.” The red head thought about it and there should be a couple left in the closet in a box of things she didn’t have room for in the dorm.

“Man, that’s got to be great having sponsorships,” Yang sighed wishfully. “I bet you got a bunch of free stuff with them.”

“For most yes, apparently it’s just part of how things go,” Pyrrha remembered the rules that went with them. She had to keep from getting into any kind of trouble, especially if the media could pick up on it. She had to have no political views on record, dressed a certain way when out in public, try to be seen with the product when she was in public whenever possible and never with any rival brand. It was exhausting at times, and she had thought of just quitting but her parents had been so proud and the money she was making was helping them out.

Not only that but in Argus city she had so many fans and people cheering for her she felt that she couldn’t let them down as well. It was hard to give that up in some ways to become a Huntress but in others it was so easy to give it up and follow her dream. Her parents were supporting of her either way and told her that no matter what she did, they would always be proud of her.

“Please tell me you did a car sponsorship and got to keep one?” Yang grinned at her. “Maybe a bike ad?”

“No, nothing like that,” Pyrrha shook her head good naturedly.

“Too bad, guess that means there’s no image of you being all sexy on the hood of a car or on a bike?” Yang joked.

“N-no!” Pyrrha would have been too embarrassed to try anything like that and besides some of her sponsorships wouldn’t have allowed her to because of her image.

Yang shrugged. “I guess I can see that, I wouldn’t do it unless it was tasteful. Plus knowing there might be pin ups of me in boys’ rooms all over the world would get some getting used to.” Then again if she got a whole new bike out of the process, she might be into it. She had killer looks and knew it. Looking at Jaune she had to wonder something.

“So Jaune, did you have any girl posters or cut outs hanging up in your room?”

Jaune blushed at the thought. “Of course not, I lived with seven sisters, you think I could do that and not get teased by them?”

“Oh yeah, I guess it would be hard to hide things like that from them,” Yang nodded knowing full well how Ruby liked to hide things in their room. Normally it was just a box of cookies she kept under the bed that Ruby thought that Yang didn’t know about them.

She smiled at the thought of how when Ruby was nine, she would take little nibbles of the cookies now and then making Ruby think there was some kind of cookie monster under her bed. It had been fun until she started making traps for it.

“Oh, I just had an idea.” Yang pulled out her scroll. “We got to surprise everyone with the new look.”

“Is it really that big a deal?” Jaune asked a little nervous how everyone would react.

“Yes, plus I can’t wait to see everyone’s face.” Yang smiled sending text messages to everyone on Team RWBY and JNPR.

-RWBY Dorm Room-

In the dorm room everyone was waiting for whatever Yang had called them for. Weiss was at one of the desks finishing up her homework as Blake was reading one of her tamer books killing time for the moment. It was left to Ruby to talk with Nora and Ren, well mostly Nora, as Ren was kind of a quiet type that would answer questions and rarely put his input into things unless it was important.

“Do you have any idea of what your sister wanted?” Nora asked sitting on Ruby’ bed swinging her legs and enjoying the slight sway the ‘bunkbed’ was with the ropes holding it up. Maybe she could convince her team to make her bed suspended off the ground, this was fun.

“I tried asking. She only said that she had a surprise.” Ruby signed which could either be a good thing or a bad thing given her sister’s history with ‘surprises’.

They had been waiting for a good fifteen minutes until the electronic lock to the door was heard unlocking as Yang came in. “Ah good everyone is here.” She said standing in the doorway. “I wanted to present to you all something that will change the way you see someone in our little group.”

“Yang, what did you do?” Ruby groaned as her sister’s ‘showmanship’ as Ruby was wondering why she was guarding the doorway.

“Well, I wanted to introduce and new and improved Jaune Arc, come on it,” Yang moved from the door, but no one showed up. Yang huffed out as she reached into the hallway and pulled out a slightly embarrassed Jaune.  “Ta-da!”

Jaune stood there rubbing the back of his head a little nervous. “Hey everyone.”

“Jaune?” Ruby’s eyes widened in surprise she barely recognized him as Pyrrha came in behind him. “Is this what you three were up to all afternoon?”

“Yes, and I saw it was well worth it,” Yang grinned seeing the surprised looks from everyone in the room. “I think it’s safe to say that Jaune went from dud to stud.”

“I-I wouldn’t go that far,” Jaune felt embarrassed by the words but a part of him did hope it was true.

~Be more confident~

‘I’m trying.’

“Wow, Jaune looks great, I love the hair.” Nora grinned rubbing her chin.

“It does seem to be an improvement,” Ren nodded at the physical changes. “New clothing too I noticed.”

“Yeah, Yang and Pyrrha helped me get some new clothing.” Jaune looked down.

“We’re thinking some new armor at some point might be helpful,” Yang commented while the old armor was okay it didn’t really look like it fit him perfectly to her. So many gaps in it, at least it protected some vital spots but not enough in her opinion. Not that anyone else in their group wore armor but if you were going to wear some, might as well wear it well and not cheap out on it.

“Oh, I wonder if I should wait before or after making modifications to your shield then,” Ruby’s mind went into weapons mode as she had been thinking about upgrades. But if she saw what he might be wearing later maybe it could give her more ideas.

“No rush, we got like what? A few years at school?” Jaune shrugged.

“That’s true, plenty of time to think things over,” Pyrrha nodded since that was one of the points of this final part of their education was to refine what kind of Huntsman or Huntress they wanted to be in the future.

For the more silent two members, Blake had looked up from her book and was surprised by the change in Jaune. She wasn’t very close to the boy, although to be fair she wasn’t too close to even her own teammates and partner at the moment. She still hasn’t told them her secrets of being a Faunus and she doubted she would ever tell them about being an ex-White Fang member with Weiss on her team.

But she was slowly starting to get used to everyone, this was a sudden change that would take a few days to get used to. She had to admit he did at least look more respectable now.

Weiss was totally surprised by the change, the young man before her was Arc? It was like the man had been replaced by someone else. He was cleaned up, no longer wearing that hoodie or worn-down pants and his hair gave him a slightly dashing look with his features. Again, it was another change to Jaune Arc that she couldn’t ignore.

When they first met her impression of him was of a scruffy looking dolt who had come up to her and Pyrrha in that irritating way that most boys her age had come up to her in various parties and gala events. Actually, no it was worse, they had a sense of class about them while at the time Jaune had no class at all. Plus, he had gotten in the way at the time of her trying to partner up with Pyrrha. Granted things worked out in a way she initially hadn’t liked but she was growing accustomed to her team and partner.

Jaune had persisted with even more annoying flamboyant ways getting her attention all with the same results. Then about a month ago something changed in the boy, his performance in school had been getting better. He was answering questions correctly, studying much more seriously and was getting more competent as a student. Even his combat skills took a drastic upturn that she had taken notice. The more she looked into this mystery the more it just seemed that Jaune was just applying himself more.

Maybe his old school didn’t challenge him enough and so he became too laxed? Well, whatever wakeup call that Jaune got, he had been throwing himself into it. Now looking at the man, he had not only transformed his inner self but his outer self as well. Although she would deny it, he did cut a handsome figure now. A thought she couldn’t believe she had about Jaune Arc of all people.

“It’s an improvement,” Blake shrugged.

“I think he looks awesome,” Nora reached up to touch his hair. “Ohh, so short.”

“Nora,” Jaune groaned pushing her hand away as she giggled. It reminded him of something some of his sisters would do.

“Well as good as this is, I hope you don’t remember the homework that is due tomorrow,” Weiss stated looking at Yang. Said blonde groaned knowing that she had to get it done now or she was going to stay up late. Dragging herself her desk she got out the materials and started to get to work.

“We should most likely do that as well,” Pyrrha nodded.

“Yeah, thankfully it wasn’t a huge load tonight or else we would be up late,” Jaune sighed. “Well goodnight, everyone.”

“Night,” Ruby smiled as team JNPR started to leave.

“Arc,” Weiss stated quickly making the boy stop before leaving as Weiss paused. “Your new look is…agreeable.”

“Oh uh, thanks Weiss,” He smiled at her as he left.

“Agreeable?” Yang snorted.

“What?”

“You could have just said he looked nice,” Blake shrugged going back to her book.

Weiss crossed her arms looking away. “I didn’t want to give him ideas.”

No one in the room really believe that. Meanwhile Jaune was grinning to himself, that was actually the nicest thing she had ever said to him.

~I’m wondering if Yang is right, and you do have some fetish about being dominated by a strong female personality~

‘Hey! I was just glad all this worked out is all!’

~So you say~

‘Valor!’

~I have access to all your memories and I’m wondering if there is a pattern~

‘Please enough, I don’t want to be psychoanalyzed by my alien partner.’ Jaune had to fight from groaning in front of everyone as he pulled out his own homework. ‘Let’s just focus on the homework?’

~Fine, we’ll start with history, I’m interested in how this Great War you keep talking about started~

-The Next Day-

Jaune had a strange feeling people were looking at him all morning, it didn’t help that his symbiote also noticed this which Jaune noticed through their link. It was like that sensation you have when you know someone is watching you but a twice the power. At first, he thought it was nothing but as the day grew on, he did notice it more and more.

By lunch he was starting to get a little paranoid, why were people noticing him? He didn’t remember doing anything out of the ordinary. He got his tray and went to get some food, thankfully with those pills he got in Vale he could eat a bit more normally although he still ate some foods that his symbiote needed. He had to admit being able to eat chocolate without worrying about side effects was pretty cool.

As he passed by one of the tables he noticed team CFVY in one of them.

“Hey guys, how are things?” Jaune asked.

“Fine Jaune,” Fox answered first knowing his voice. The others at the table had various reactions, Yatsuhashi raised his eyebrows not realizing it was Jaune at first. Coco pulled down her shades making sure she wasn’t seeing things and Velvet looked at him in surprise.

“Nice new look Arc,” Coco nodded. “About time you fixed that messy mop of hair you had.”

“Yeah, Yang convinced me to get it cut,” He ran a ran through it still not used to how it felt or when he woke up and had to style it just right. It didn’t look as perfect as when it was cut but apparently, he was told he just needed time to get used to how to style it.

“It actually looks really nice,” Velvet said tilting her head a little. “It helps bring out your face more I think.”

“Thanks, but I better get back to my team, nice seeing you all again,” he told them as he walked on by.

“Huh, who knew Jaune could clean up,” Coco noticed Velvet watching him go. “So Velvet, you fallen for him yet?”

“Why do you keep teasing me about this?” Velvet pouted looking at her team leader. “He’s a good friend. A boy and a girl can be just friends you know.”

“Because it’s fun and you made the cutest faces like now,” Coco laughed which only turned harder when Velvet tried to glare but it just looked too cute on her face the way she did it.

Jaune finally found his team and team RWBY as he sat down in his spot next to Pyrrha and Ruby. “Hey, can I ask something? Am I being paranoid or are people watching me today or something?”

Several members of both teams cast a look around, there were some faces that did dart away but only a few.

“I think it’s the hair,” Nora stated.

“Why is everyone commenting on that?” Jaune groaned starting to feel a little self-conscious.

“Hey, you never know what a new look will do,” Yang shrugged her shoulders. “Just wait until people get a look at you in your new duds at combat class. You’ll have gone from dud to stud by the end of the day so get used to your new social status.”

Jaune began to dig into his meal as her words echoed in his head. Was he finally moving up the social ladder? It felt strange and honestly kind of scary to think he was, he wasn’t used to being the center of attention.

“Don’t worry Jaune, no matter what you’re still our friend,” Ruby smiled at him. “No matter how you change on the outside you’ll always be Jaune to us on the inside.”

“Dad did tell us that it’s what’s on the inside that counted,” Yang nodded her head.

Jaune was thankful for Ruby’s words, she always was the best friend he could count on. She just had this easy to talk to vibe to her that made you feel at ease talking to her about things that bothered you. Like that one time he talked with her about his worries about being a leader. She had helped to point out that he was picked as a leader for a reason, just as she was.

~She was right, you were picked. You came up with the strategy to deal with that Grimm back at initiation with the others~

‘I, I was just calling out weaknesses we could exploit.’

~That is a sign of leadership, your partner is the better warrior but did she rally the four of you together and came up with a plan?~

‘Well…no…’

~Being a great leader doesn’t mean you are a great fighter. I can name dozens of examples to you, but a true leader looks after their people and comes up with a plan to get them out of a dangerous situation. Have more confidence in your abilities and in yourself and you will go much further.~

Jaune had to admit he was coming alone in his training, he was definitely stronger now, he felt he could actually fight with his weapons and if people saw him as less as dead weight, then maybe he was growing.

~Remember the spar with Team CFVY, you and the others did very well against a more seasoned team~

Granted he had to admit that Pyrrha was a large reason for their success as he had seen her take on multiple opponents before, but it was still a win. A hard-fought win but still a win. Maybe this was the confidence his dad had said. He tried to be confident that first time he went to talk to Weiss, but it had all be fake confidence, he pushed himself in ways that had felt unnatural.

~Maybe you should also try shared interests~

‘What do you mean?’

~Well when you were asking for help with your weapon you got her to open up slightly, plus when you asked for help with study material. In both times you asked honestly about subjects she knew about without any blatant ulterior motives.~

Jaune thought about that last part, it would be nice to actually get to know the girl so maybe if he focused just on that?

‘Got any suggestions?’

~You both fight with swords, maybe asking to learn from her way of fighting?~

Jaune’s eyes lit up, why hadn’t he ever thought of that? Maybe it’s time to try a different approach after all.

“Hey Weiss, can I ask you something?” He looked to the white-haired girl. Weiss looked at him, she was a little on guard but lately his questions were of a serious nature, so she nodded her head.

“What kind of sword style do you use?”

Weiss blinked curiously she hadn’t expected that question. “It’s a form of Atlas style fencing.”

“I was curious, do you think you can show me some of it sometime? I’m trying to get better and trying out different sword styles to see what fits with me the best.”

“It takes years to learn a fighting style,” Weiss commented.

“I know, I just wanted to get a feel for it, plus it might help me out in the long run,” Jaune figured since he was learning combat from Valor at night it couldn’t hurt to learn something in the day too. He learned a lot from Pyrrha but with his training with Valor he was learning that other styles might fit him better than her style. He was also pretty sure there were some moves he had seen her do in combat classes he didn’t have a hope of pulling off himself.

Weiss thought about it, he was becoming a competent sword user lately, in the combat classes he had been using basic styles but also unique ones that she couldn’t place. She remembered words her sister had said that while it’s important to focus on your training your fighting style it was also important not to get too rigid with it.

“I could teach you more if you wanted,” Pyrrha stated, she was hoping that Jaune wasn’t feeling like her training wasn’t for him. She had tried to teach him styles that would benefit from his one sword and shield style.

“Oh, I don’t want to stop learning form you Pyrrha,” Jaune said quickly seeing the slightly hurt look on her face. “I just wanted to see if I can learn something new from someone else. I’m hoping I can learn a few things with someone with a different style of fighting.”

“It is good to get a feel for other fighting styles,” Blake mused as she couldn’t help but overhear the conversation. “It helps to develop yourself against other people as well as come up with new moves and tactics.”

This was something Blake had some experience in, her own style of combat was very self-taught by learning from various members in the White Fang over the years. She picked up what she felt was right for her and turned all those little pieces into a whole set she used.

Jaune nodded his head at her words, Valor had been teaching him different styles from previous hosts and he could see that some worked, and others didn’t. They just felt ‘wrong’ when he tried certain styles.

Weiss was thinking long and hard about it, in the end she had similar thoughts. She had trained with Blake and her style was totally different than her own. Learning from sparring with someone with a different style forced you out of your comfort zone. With Winter she had an idea of what her sister would and wouldn’t do. Winter still beat her every time because the woman was older, stronger, and more experienced of course.

Maybe by exposing herself to other combat styles could help her gain a bit on the experience part.

“I can make some time tomorrow after classes if you’re serious about this.” Weiss finally told him.

“Oh, I am, I really am,” He nodded his head while internally he was very happy this was working out.

Weiss narrowed her eyes. “This is sparing, nothing else.”

“Of course, wouldn’t think of anything else,” He quickly agreed trying not to sound too eager about this. Which of course he was, finally, he got some alone time with Weiss, sure it was training but it was a nice step in the right direction. He thanked Valor for the idea, now he hoped that he could impress her a little bit.

~We can go over some styles similar to hers tonight~ Valor stated.

While the conversations at the table returned to more regular topics two girls couldn’t get their minds off what happened. For Pyrrha she felt a lump in her stomach, Jaune wasn’t quitting their training together but it seemed he was getting closer to Weiss. Not that she had anything particular against the Atlas girl, but part of her did wish that Jaune’s focus wasn’t on her.

Sometimes she hated how so nice she was, she hated making things difficult for others, even if it meant she denied herself what she wanted out of life. She always put others in front of herself because that’s what she felt was the right thing to do. She wanted to be a bit more selfish, but it was hard to go against years of ingrained behavior.

At least she was still Jaune’s friend, that much she didn’t want to lose and would always support him because he never treated her like she belonged on a pedestal. He looked at her like his friend and partner, treated her like a regular person. She hadn’t known how much she missed that until Jaune became her partner and hadn’t treated her like a celebrity.

Even Nora and Ren treated her like a normal person, and she was so thankful for her team. Jaune however, there was just something about him that tugged on her heart strings and just for once she wished she could go against her nature and be just a little bit selfish with what she wanted.

Yang was only half listening to everyone as she was mulling over her own thoughts. She was glad that Jaune was showing some initiative, he really was coming along as a guy. True he was still very dorky but there was a charm to that. Her dad was a lot like that, and she thought the world of her dad, she knew it hadn’t been easy since Summer’s death to raise two girls alone. She hadn’t even seen him go on any dates and that had to be lonely for him.

Yet he continued without complaint always being there for them growing up. Maye that’s why she started to notice Jaune’s similar qualities, she had gotten to know him more lately through their training at the gym and when he hung out with Ruby playing video games. She had been joining them as well and it was just nice laid-back fun.

Maybe that’s when she started to notice that Jaune while a dork, was a great guy. He was a bit on the shy side with girls, needed help with his confidence but he treated Ruby like a great friend. He was kind, honest, and wore his heart of his sleeve. Lately he had also been physically changing, she had noticed his body getting into shape, the new look was working for him as well. She also remembered how his hands felt when he gave her that massage, those hands of his were dangerous for all women she learned.

So, her she was casting a look to their dorky knight, and she couldn’t help but feel an ache that he only had eyes for Weiss. Sure, she wasn’t going to ruin this for him, the guy was working hard to impress someone he had a crush on. She had been fighting it but when Weiss agreed to their little private lesson Yang felt it. She felt jealous and then it was when she finally started to realize something.

She was starting to crush on Jaune Arc.

She mentally groaned, this was exactly what she had not wanted to happen. She knew he had eyes for her teammate, she knew this was a bad idea trying to get involved with her little sister’s best friend, she knew she should just ignore this and move on.

But she hadn’t, it had snuck up on her and blindsided her.

 Well thankfully it was only a small crush, it wasn’t like things had developed further, she could live with this. Although she could keep an eye on things, if Weiss didn’t want him then Yang could seize the chance. She wasn’t going to profess undying love or something silly like that, it was just a crush. Some dates to see where things went, hell for all she knew if they dated, they might last the year and then break up and see other people.

-ATLAS REPORT-

CLASSIFICATION TOP SECRET

Project: Noir

Status : On Going

Report Number : 23-A

Subject : Unknown entity of Possible Extraterrestrial Nature

Head researcher: Dr. Greyman

Research Notes:

This is entry 23-A so far for Project Noir. As per the General’s request we are still keeping the team small, and all data located to only Site 5 until further notice. All systems are isolated from outside networks to keep the secrecy of what we have found.

The creature still perplexes us, it has gain mass and size of at least 10% as of this time. If this is normal or abnormal, we have no frame of reference at this time. We have kept it ‘feed’ by feeing it rats as the creature seems to bond with a host before draining it. Currently we have completed several autopsies of the rats which have shown that something is being drained. However, because of the size of the rodent it is difficult to ascertain what exactly the creature needs.

We are seeking to soon ask for permission to use larger animals in testing, perhaps various species from mammals, to reptiles, to birds. Then moving on to felines or canines if the creature continues to grow.

As what we have learned so far, the creature is some kind of amorphous and multicellular organism of some kind of inorganic composition. We’re unable to identify what kind of composition as it falls outside of our world’s knowledge. How such a being came to evolve is beyond us, we have theories but only in the barest of sense. We’re basically guessing at this point as just trying to get our heads around how a life form like this can exist in the first place is giving us trouble.

The creature we believe is in a hurt or perhaps young state given the growth it is showing. Weather the creature is intelligent we still have not determined. We are currently designing tests to see if we can gauge its possible intelligence. So far as long as we keep the creature fed it seems more docile. When merged with the rats it seems to be calmly looking around, even looking directly at the research team. You can’t help but wonder what kind of intelligence is stared back at you when you lock eyes with it.

This is the reason we wish to test for intelligence, if it is intelligent enough for communication this could be a monumental moment in our world’s history. The things we could learn from it, what it could tell us about what lies beyond our world. Of course, that is only wishful thinking, for all we know it has the intelligence of a dog at most or some other kind of animal.

General Ironwood has stated that containment protocols need to be revised in case of a breach. We are currently upgrading these are per his orders, personally I’m not sure if the General is being overly cautious but this is a true unknown and we have no idea what could happen.

All testing for any kind of otherworldly virus or pathogens has come back negative but we are still being careful, for all we know this creature could make such things as a defence mechanism.

The team is excited that much is for sure, every day it seems we look forward to what new revelations this creature can give us. The only thing we can agree upon is that this is indeed an alien life form, as not only from the meteorite we found it in but the fact it is unlike any life on our world. There were some that were worried it was some type of new or unknown Grimm type, but all testing has pointed negative to that thankfully.

Although Doctor Cardinal was disappointed in the result that we didn’t find evidence that it was a space Grimm. (as a side note Dr. Cardinal is one of the few that believe Grimm came from space and did not evolve on our world, see Ref: Space Grimm Theory)

We will continue to our research on this amazing creature.

Dr. Henry Greyman
Chief Scientist
Project: Noir

TBC…

Chapter Text

  Symbiote Knight

Chapter 14:  Rapiers and Longswords

Jaune was exciting as classes ended for the day, not just because of the fact that classes were over, but because he had time with Weiss. Granted it was to help learn some swordsmanship from her, but time alone was time alone.

~I swear this is one of the most complex mating rituals I know of~

“Well, what’s a simpler one then?” He asked out loud as he was in the locker room changing before going to get his weapons that were stored in another room.

~One, is you give the head of her enemy to her, another would be to win a battle in her name, there was one about giving a ballad performance about her, but given your musical ability we’ll skip that~

“I’m not that bad…am I?” He paused remembering that time he tried to sing to her with that guitar that, granted he didn’t know how to play fully. He never did finish his guitar lessons before going off to Beacon. Maybe he could use their mental mindscape thing they did at night to practice more?

~Regardless, other types of these rituals you don’t have the physical ability to perform.~

“Like what?” Jaune was always curious about all the knowledge his symbiote had of space. It was kind of exhilarating; he was learning things he bet people like Doctor Oobleck would gladly give up an arm and a leg for.

~Well for starters you don’t have gills to puff up, change the color of your skin or hair, or expand the size of your head.~

“Oh,” Jaune blinked wondering what kind of aliens that could do that, well that was a question he could ask later. He didn’t want to get sidetracked, and make Weiss wait on him. She was a very punctual type of girl from what he was able to learn about her from his interactions with team RWBY. Now dressed he went to the weapons locker room and got his sword and shield and found Weiss in the training room she had booked.

Given the large number of students there were smaller more personal training rooms than the larger ones used in combat class. The only reason he and Pyrrha hadn’t used this was because anyone could just walk in, and they wanted their nightly training to be kept under wraps for now. Jaune didn’t want people to know he had no training until that moment, so the balcony was the safest place to train.

Jaune found Weiss already there waiting for him and for a moment he felt he might be late, he checked his scroll to see he was still two minutes early.

“I uh, hope you weren’t waiting long.” Jaune asked setting up to her.

The smaller training room was basically a small white box like room, very sparce with a viewing window off to the side and although he didn’t know this at the time, had camera system to monitor students just in case something happened. Given the number of students that were at Beacon it made sense to have more than just the large training room they used for class when it was only two people wanting to train.

“Not long, only a few minutes,” Weiss was glad he was punctual, she liked to arrive five minutes early just in case to appointments. Drawing out her sword she saw Jaune do the same.

“So, what exactly kind of style do you know out of curiosity?” Jaune asked her.

“It’s a modified style,” Weiss told him. “Before my semblance activated, I learned the basic Atlas Rapier style that my sister uses but after my semblance I then modified it.” She liked to use her semblance to allow her to increase her speed and launch her across the battlefield. To come at targets at angles that normally you wouldn’t fight against, it used her speed and agility to make fast thrusting attacks, but she had the basics still there in case she couldn’t move around.

“For starters let’s start with some basics, do you know about the strong and weak points of a blade?” Weiss asked.

Jaune blinked at Pyrrha’s training was more about learning the proper foot placement, and stances. Valor had been teaching him styles that worked with his sword and shield combination but neither had really gone into that.

“Not exactly,” He told her.

Weiss raised an eyebrow a little bit on that but said nothing. It was odd to her that no one knew that but maybe her teachers had been different than Jaune’s. “Put up your sword and keep it there.”

Jaune did so as she tapped the tip part of his sword with her own. “This is the weak point.” She tapped the mid-section of his blade next. “This is the strong point. In the rapier style it’s best to keep your strong point against the weak point like so.”

She moved her blade with her mid-point against his tip and moved it aside as his blade was now not aimed at her and her tip aimed at him. He could see how she had control if this was a battle, he would be unable to get his blade back in time to prevent her from thrusting into him by her simply sliding her blade forward towards him.

“Try that with me but use both strong and weak to see the difference.” She asked him.

So, he did, when he did weak to weak, he could see that it wasn’t as effective or could be totally ineffective if she just adjusted her wrist. But when he used the strong part of the blade against her weak point it was a lot easier to get her blade to move and get his sword into position to attack.

“Notice the difference?” She asked him.

“Yeah’s it’s a lot easier when I use my strong point against the weak point.”

Weiss nodded, “Yes, it is and that’s one of the key points, control. Controlling your opponent’s blade is important to a fencing style.”

“So, I guess there are ways to counter or regain control then?” Jaune figured that from all his personal training that there usually were ways to turn the fight back in your favor.

“Yes, one way is you can disengage, this can be done many ways, but the simplest way is to let your wrist relax.” She put her blade up. “Try that again.”

He did so as his blade hit her weak point as he want to move in her blade quickly dipped down making him lose contact with it as he brought it back up on the other side. Now her blade was again pointed at him, and his blade was now out of position.

“Oh, so you just move the blade down,” Jaune could understand that easily enough.

“Yes, but you have to relax your wrist and not force it.” Weiss stressed to him.

“Really? Why?”

“Try to bend it when I go on the offensive.” Weiss figured a physical example would work best. She went on the ‘attack’ this time but as Jaune bent his wrist instead of relaxing it she slammed her sword down on it making Jaune go off balance lose his grip on his weapon.

“That’s why, you’re not loose enough to take the blow and now you see the result.”

Jaune nodded as he spent a few minutes feeling the different between letting his wrist loosen instead of forcing it down. The two of them continued on for the next hour as they went back and forth, Jaune had to admit there were some key points he was learning although he knew his longsword wasn’t build for a rapier style, it was still worth learning in case he came up against another rapier user and a few things he learned he could use and keep in mind.

Her style was all about speed, control to make thrusting attacks and it was a very precise style of combat.

~Her blade is good for thrusting and one on one but less so with cutting or slashing. That’s where your blade comes out on top plus it’s studier. As for which is ‘better’ that usually comes down to the user.~

‘Yeah, and she’s very good,’ He thought back. While he could see there was a difference in skill compared to Pyrrha now that he had someone else’s skills to compare, he could still tell that Weiss had put a lot of effort in. She always seemed to have this sense of ‘control’ about her. While Pyrrha was almost like a force of nature, always moving, always just in the right place, with power and grace to match.

Weiss was more about controlling the battle, almost like she was in a dance leading him about.

It was here he was learning that training under more than one person was starting to give him a perspective in how others actually had trained and learned to fight in their own way.

“You put in a lot of work,” Jaune stated after having a light spar, with him using some of the things he had learned. She still usually came out on top but that was just the difference in their experiences.

“Yes, I have.” She nodded her head. She always seemed to be doing something growing up. If it wasn’t educational, or etiquette, learning about high society and even business. She was also learning combat, singing, dancing and so many other subjects. For years from the moment, she woke up to the moment she went to bed she had little in the way of ‘free time’ and it was only when she got to Beacon that she was learning this.

Originally, she just thought her teammates were a bit lazy, not doing something important after classes, instead they read books, played games and other things she had never been allowed to do. It took her a few weeks to suddenly realize they weren’t lazy and were putting in the effort just like her, it’s just that her upbringing wasn’t as normal as she had thought.

Even this moment with Jaune teaching him and sparring she found a bit more relaxing. She wasn’t under pressure to preform but to take this at their own pace instead. There was also the fact he was a quick learner; sure, he had some work to do and some habits to get out of, but she could see the potential. She could respect someone that pushed themselves to be better, it was a struggle she had done for years after all.

As they took a break to refresh and drink, she cast her eyes sideways. She would have to admit that her initial assessment of Jaune Arc might have been off. Yes, he had moments of being a bumbling fool but lately she had seen him strive for improvement. His activities in combat class were improving, as were his scholarly skills in class. As he eyes roamed over him she couldn’t deny that he had grown in other ways.

The new clothing and look certainly helped to show him as more put together individual. She quickly looked away as she had almost been caught staring. Such a thing would be most inappropriate.

~She was looking at you for some time there~

‘Wait, what?’ he looked at her but her back was now turned.

~I think you caught some kind of interests~

Okay so he might have gotten on Weiss’ radar, that was good, the only problem now was, what was he going to do next?

“I’m curious, why did you choose the rapier?” Jaune brought up the only thing he could think of off the top of his head.

Weiss paused to look at her weapon. “I supposed it just fit me, also my older sister using her own version.”

“I have a few older sisters myself,” Jaune being a ‘middle’ child you could say in a group of seven sisters had both older and younger. “What’s yours like?”

“She’s…professional,” Weiss thought about Winter. “I always admired her, and she always seems to sure of herself and strong. She even got into an elite unit in the Atlas military at a young age.”

“You sound very proud of her,” Jaune noted the tone in her voice.

“Yes, yes I am,” She nodded.

“Family has always been important to me,” Jaune looking down at his sword. “I always wanted them to be proud of me and not disappoint them.”

Weiss felt a familiar tug inside of herself, that need to have her family to be proud of her when she was a child, before everything seemed to go wrong. When her parents stopped talking, before her mother started drinking, before her sister left their home. Yet again she was surprised to find that she actually had some things in common with Jaune Arc.

There was an awkward moment of silence as neither really knew what to say. Jaune was starting to panic a bit internally as he didn’t want to mess up what was happening. He felt that lately he had gotten a bit closer to Weiss.

~Maybe you can use this opening.~

Jaune thought about it but for what? That’s when his symbiote started to whisper an idea.

“Weiss, I wanted to thank you for doing this, I know you didn’t have to, but I really do think I learned a few things here that will help.” He honestly told her as he wanted to make sure she knew that he did appreciate what she had done.

Weiss nodded her head. “It was nothing, you behaved like a gentleman, and I appreciate someone that works hard.”

Jaune scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, I feel like I need to improve myself. So, I was hoping there was something I could do to thank you today.”

“You asked for help, and I gave it in kind, nothing to be thankful for.” She told him.

“Yeah, but still, I feel like I should do something to thank you for the help. It’s only fair and the right thing to do.” Jaune had a sense of honor and he felt that taking help without returning it in some way, well it made him feel like he was taking someone for granted. Now that he thought about it, he needed to offer something for Pyrrha and Yang for their help as well.

Although the problem was, what could he do to help them?

Weiss regarded him, studying him to make sure this wasn’t some kind of ploy. She had seen firsthand how ‘favors’ were traded in Atlas high society. It brought back some unpleasant memories which brought her inner walls back up in a reaction to them.

“And what do you propose?” Weiss cautiously asked.

Jaune tried to think of something but came up blank. “Uh…I have no idea. I mean you’re already super smart, so you don’t need help with homework, you’re amazing in combat classes so you don’t need help with that. Honestly, you always seem to have everything under control.”

Weiss felt her guard lower with his praises, she couldn’t hear them as empty words given how he spoke about her. Plus, he was correct in saying she didn’t need help in any of those areas.

~How about treating her? You can pay for a drink or meal in the city?~

Jaune’s eyes lit up at that. “Oh, I know, how about I treat you to something in Vale? Like coffee or tea or something?”

Weiss thought about it for a second before she realized that sounded a lot like a date. She narrowed her eyes; did he think such a tactic would fool her? “If this is your attempt at another way to court me by trickery I am not impressed.”

~She’s on to us, pull back!~

“No-no-no!” Jaune quickly told her. “I just wanted to replay you and well, you don’t seem to get out much and I figured you could use a nice break in the city. I’ve been going and found a few places you might like, and I just wanted to treat you for being nice enough to help is all.”

Okay so maybe he was hoping for a kind-of-sort-of date but not-date with her but just hanging out as friends would be good enough for him. Plus, he had noticed a few stores that he thought might be good places to take a date to.

Weiss stood there silently judging him.

“Seriously Weiss, I really do want to thank you,” He honestly told her. “I know I annoyed you in the past so this can also make up for it? This is me totally not asking you out, just…wanting to do something nice in return.”

Weiss was on the fence, she always had to guard herself with those that had tried to worm their way into her life and her family’s life through her so often she had automatic responses at times. She had to admit he had stopped his horrible attempts to court her, he had been improving and was becoming a competent student. Also, she could use a break from her team, as much as they were slowly starting to grow on her, she could only take so much chaos.

“Very well, one time only I will allow this but make no mistake,” She walked up to him and poked his chest. “This is NOT a date.”

“Perfectly clear, just two people going out to the same place to relax, nothing more.” Jaune quickly clarified.

She took a step back and nodded as she turned to leave. As soon as she was gone Jaune sighed and had a smile on his face.

~Why are you happy? This is not a date isn’t it?~ Valar asked confused.

“No but at least it’s a step in the right direction. Maybe with this I can open her up to the idea later on?” Jaune whispered back in a hopeful way.

Valor just mentally shrugged, he still didn’t get these mating rituals at times. The universe would be much simpler if every species just reproduced like his kind did. Less messy and less complicated for sure.

Weiss returned to the dorm room as she saw her team there, Blake reading in her bed, Yang was in hers as well looking through her scroll and Ruby was at her desk looking to be going through homework. Ruby had been studying hard lately and it was good the younger girl was taking her huntress training seriously.

“So how was training with Jaune?” Yang asked not taking her eyes off her scroll.

“It went…adequately.” She told her going to her own desk and pulled out her homework. She still had plenty of time to get through it all if she started now.

“Just adequate?” Yang asked curiously.

“He still needs work,” Weiss threw out opening her books.

“I don’t know, he seems like he came a long way in a short time since he showed up,” Yang shrugged being idle with her scroll.

Blake looked up from her book and looked up at the bunch over her. “You seem to be defending him a bit more lately.”

“Well, he’s a pall, and I’ve been working with him in the gym, and I’ve noticed that he’s come a long way. Just wanted to give props when it’s earned.” Yang defended herself. Blake raised an eyebrow but shrugged it off and went back to her book.

“Yeah, Jaune’s nice,” Ruby spoke up for the first time taking a small break. “He’s been helping me out to catch up and also he’s a good friend.”

Yang nodded at that, she was thankful that Jaune was helping out Ruby and had been a good friend, an actual friend to her little sister. That gave him some important points in her book as family was important to Yang.

“He has…improved,” Weiss had to admit since he looked so hopeless at first when they all started. It made her stop as again; something didn’t seem right. He had to have had training to get into Beacon and yet it seemed he was a complete dullard in everything at first. Now he was catching up at breakneck speeds that normally wasn’t possible. Again, that mystery of Jaune Arc was making that part of her brain itch. There had to be some kind of logical reason why he seemed to be hopeless at first and then was gaining skills so quickly.

Was he hiding his true talent? No, that made no sense, why would you hide behind the mask of a buffoon? She tapped her pen as she couldn’t figure out this puzzle. Jaune Arc she was realizing was a man of many conflicting notions.

“Well at least he’s stopped asking you out,” Yang shrugged.

Weiss’ pen stopped tapping at that. “Not…exactly.”

Yang paused herself as she took her eyes off her scroll. “What?”

“It’s nothing, he wanted to thank me for the lesson, and we are going to Vale for him to simply take me out for some tea.” Weiss refused to think of it as a date. “We’re simply having a nice drink that’s all, it is in no way a date.”

She wanted to stress that point out although now that she thought about her earlier thoughts in this setting maybe she could gleam a bit more information to explain the oddity that was Jaune Arc. Something wasn’t adding up and she knew she was missing parts of the equation.

Yang felt an ugly twisting sensation in her but pushed it down. It was stupid to feel this way, she had plenty of chances, but it was only recently she started to notice Jaune as more than just Ruby’s good friend. Looking back at her scroll she tried to concentrate on it but found she couldn’t. Weiss’ little announcement of her and Jaune going out together made her feel a sense of jealousy she didn’t like to feel.

She closed her eyes and sign. ‘Come on Yang, you’ve thought about it. It’s just a stupid crush, get over and it move on. You had all this time, just because he got fit, got better at fighting and with the new look makes him look kind of hot.’

Yang’s hand holding her scroll was quickly slammed onto her bed as she looked up at the ceiling.

‘Not helping brain!’ she mentally yelled at herself. Granted Jaune had gotten better looking with a decent haircut and his improving physic was a difference from when she saw him in his onesie on the fight night at Beacon. ‘I wonder if he still has that? God, he really could use some fashion sense help.’

She smirked at the memory since no matter how much he changed on the outside he was still a dork on the inside but so was her dad and her sister and she loved them for it.

‘Look, he has eyes for Weiss. Just let it go for now,’ She thought about how she liked having him as a new workout buddy and how eager he was to learn and get stronger. Which led her down to thinking of him in the gym lately, how he looked when he got sweaty, or how his hands felt when he gave her that massage that one time.

Her face heated up as she pulled her pillow over her face. She really hoped she could get over this quickly.

In the dorm room across the hallway, team JNPR were also doing various things. Nora was listening to music as she read the chapter for homework. Ren was at his desk quietly doing his written work while Pyrrha was trying to concentrate on her work, but her mind kept thinking that Jaune and Weiss were all alone now. Sure, nothing could happen, but some part of her mind wouldn’t let it go.

Part of her was jealous of the fact that Jaune was getting swordsmanship training from someone else. Yes, she saw the logic in training with other styles, but the illogical part of her mind just didn’t care.

Jaune finally entered the dorm in his student clothing looking a bit refreshed, most likely he had a shower after the training.

“Have fun?” Nora asked him.

“Yeah actually, even learned a few things too.” He nodded with a smile on his face.

“Self-improvement is a constant thing,” Ren stated not looking up from his homework. “When you stop improving yourself then you risk sliding back.”

Jaune paused at the words and nodded. “Yeah, I can see that.” He then went to dig out his own homework as he took to the desk next to Pyrrha as he started to get to work. This used to take him awhile to get through but with Valor’s help, his homework wasn’t as hard as before. It helped that his symbiote could remember everything it experienced and could explain anything Jaune had trouble with, well for the most part. Anything neither of them knew he did ask for help with.

“So, things went well with Weiss?” Pyrrha commented trying to sound neutral with her tone.

“Yep, I think she’s starting to warm up to me,” He smiled starting on his Grimm studies.

“That’s…nice,” she said using her fake smile she had years of experience putting on in front of cameras and the public. Even though on the inside she felt a crushing weight being put on herself.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it but she agreed to let me take her out to Vale as a thank you for her help today.”

At the end of that sentence, Pyrrha’s pen flew out of her hand as several metallic objects moved away from her suddenly. That made everyone in the room jump as they looked at their teammate shocked.

“I’m sorry,” she said embarrassed as she reset everything on her desk and got a new pen out of her desk. “That…can happen sometimes.”

“Your semblance can just activate?” Jaune hadn’t unlocked his own, so he had no real idea of just what it took to use a semblance.

She quickly nodded. “It’s rare but it can happen.” She wasn’t totally lying, with surprising emotional shocks she could lose control of her magnetic semblance at times. She had trained hard to make sure it didn’t happen but that comment about him and Weiss going out had caught her completely off guard.

“So…you and the Ice Queen are going on a date?” Nora asked pulling off the headphones. They weren’t loud enough to drown out everyone, so she had picked up on what he had said.

“Well, it’s not a date,” He admitted to that much. “It’s just a way to thank her.”

He then leaned over to Pyrrha and in a low tone said. “Also, I wanted to thank you too for everything, so if there’s anything I can do to repay you just tell me.”

She was glad that he wanted to thank her as well, although part of her wish he was doing this for more than just thanking her for her help. “It’s nothing, we’re partners. We should be helping each other.”

Jaune placed his hand on hers as Pyrrha felt herself stiffen for a second before forcing herself to relax. She could feel her heartbeat going faster as he was so closer to her face with a serious expression in his blue eyes. “I’m serious, I wouldn’t be half the person I am today without your help, and I want to show my appreciation. Just name it, Arc’s honor.”

‘Kiss me,’ was the first thought that entered her mind but that immediately got crushed as she felt her cheeks heating up. They were so close that if she just leaned forward it could happen, if she was fast, he wouldn’t even have time to react until it was too late. She pulled away as she tried to get control of herself.

“I-I’ll think on it,” she told him.

“Okay then,” he smiled at her. “Just let me know when you come up with something.”

He released his hand as Pyrrha was a mix of emotions now, she could use this favor to ask for something like a date but again, she had mixed feelings. She didn’t want to try and force things, but she knew she had to do something, or else Weiss might start to open her eyes and fall for him too. She had nothing against the girl but a part of her did have this ugly sensation that if she wasn’t around then Jaune might have noticed her.

It was a new sensation for her, being jealous of someone else. Then again this was the first time someone else had something she wanted.  Casting a side look to Jaune she bit her lower lip slightly as she tried to focus back on her work.

This of course while being out of Jaune’s sight wasn’t out of Valor’s. For awhile now he had noticed that Pyrrha acted strangely around Jaune. She seemed to be worried about something but was holding back. It was too bad that his existence was a secret, he could have attempted to reach out and form a temporary bond to see into her mind. But that was a deeply personal thing and not something he would violate unless necessary.

Although he was bonded to Jaune that didn’t mean he couldn’t ‘link’ with other living beings. It just meant he couldn’t leave Jaune fully, a part of him would have to stay with Jaune. Perhaps one day they would find someone both of them were comfortable with sharing their secret and Valor would be allowed to link with said human. If Jaune mated with another female at least it could finally give Valor some insight into the female side of the population.

Maybe he should consider that the next host be female, if only so that he could gain a better understanding of humanity. Maybe a Faunus next as well? At any rate it would be decades for him to decide on things and by that time perhaps he will learn enough to understand these people more. He was also stuck on this planet until they could figure out space travel at any rate.

That was an upside to being a symbiote, he had time, time was a much broader concept when you were long lived as he was, but that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy his time with his hosts. Joining with another was what his species yearned for, it gave a sense of completeness. Valor had been alone for so long in space that joining with Jaune was a comfort for the alien.

It puts those thoughts aside as he went back to focusing on Jaune and helping when he could with the homework. Because in even simple tasks like this, Valor was no longer alone.

TBC…

Chapter Text

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 15: Jealousy

*Wham* *Wham*

The sounds of gloves slamming into a sandbag could hear heard over the gym activity.

*Wham* *Wham*

The fists of Yang Xiao Long hit it again in a one-two combo, her hair was tied back as sweat was on her body. She had been trying to work out this morning to try and take her mind off things. It was now the weekend and ever since Weiss had told them that she and Jaune was going to Vale, she couldn’t help but think more and more about it as the day got closer.

*Wham* *Wham* *Wham*

She knew she wanted to just let it go, she knew he had eyes for another girl so it should be fine. There were plenty more fish in the sea and all that.

 *Wham* *Wham* *Wham*

Then again, part of her also wondered why she was ignored over Weiss. Sure, the Atlas girl was pretty but damn it, Yang knew she was hot. She had a better figure, better hair, she certainly had a way better bust and hips. She had a better personality than miss Ice Queen, that’s for sure.

*Wham* *Wham* *Wham* *Wham*

Okay so maybe Yang wasn’t ‘classy’, she wouldn’t know what wine when with what food or what fork to use. She wasn’t rich or really smart, had access to all kinds of dust. Shed couldn’t pull off the cold princess look even if she wanted to, so what was it about Weiss of all people that Jaune just ignored her for? Maybe what’s what really bothered her? That she was overlooked or not even looked at once?

*Wham* *Wham* *Wham* *Wham*

“Okay that’s enough,” Blake said as she stepped from behind the bag she had been holding. She was in her work out clothing which was mainly black yoga pants and a purple sports bra top. “I know you asked me to help with the workout but are you trying to kill the bag or me behind it?”

Blake had been barely holding onto it with the forces of Yang’s punches which had been getting more and more intense. If they had gotten any stronger, she was going to get thrown off the bag, so she called a stop to it. Looking at her partner she could tell that something was eating away at her. She had no idea what it was but for the past few days Yang had been acting a little distracted and quiet at times.

“Sorry just got lost in the moment,” Yang said to explain away her actions as she started to take off the gloves.

“Right,” Blake dragged it out not believing it. “Look you know I’m not exactly a social person…”

“You spent most of your time reading books, even those smutty ones you think we don’t know about.” Yang said flat out.

“What are you talking about!” Blake defended herself as she was sure she hid her more…intense stories.

“Do Ninjas of Love mean anything?” Yang smirked at her.

Blake grew a bit red in the face, she knew that title very well. She was sure she had hidden it, she even used a different book cover for it when reading it. “How did you-“

Yang interrupted her. “Big sister skills, you think Ruby can hide anything from me growing up? It wasn’t too hard to figure out what you were doing given how you were being a bit paranoid on certain books. So, while you were out, I looked here and there, got to admit, didn’t expect you to go for such books. It’s always the quiet ones.” She joked.

Blake didn’t like Yang snooping around her stuff, so she decided to throw something back. “Well at least I’m not trying to vent my anger out on a punching bag.”

“I’m not…venting.” Yang tried to say but even as it left her voice she wasn’t really convinced.

Blake paused a moment seeing Yang really was bothered by something. “Is this something serious?”

Yang didn’t say anything not looking at her as she debated about opening up but Blake was her partner for the next few years and team member. They had to learn to trust each other and maybe she just needed someone she could talk to that wasn’t involved in some way. Ruby was too young and was Jaune’s good friend, she wasn’t comfortable with talking with any member of Jaune’s team for the fact they were his team. Weiss was right out for several reasons so that literally left Blake as the only impartial person.

Yang signed and sat on a bench. “I…recently realized that…I might have a crush on someone.”

“Oh,” Blake blinked as she sat next to her, thankfully there weren’t many students this early and the few that were here were scatted across the gym and not close enough to really hear. Not with someone playing music and the sounds of weights impacting on surfaces.

“Do you want to tell me who?” Blake asked her.

Yang bit her lip debating it but she figured Blake could figure it out eventually. It wasn’t like there were a lot of options given the people they hung out with were pretty tight circle.

“Jaune,” Yang sighed.

Blake blinked at that. She thought something odd was going on but this was still a bit of a surprise. “Jaune Arc? The guy you keep calling Vomit Boy?”

‘Oh god is that another reason he never looked my way?’ she suddenly thought. ‘Great my own joke comes to bite me in the ass.’

“I know, I know.” Yang sighed. “Look I didn’t go out and look for this, Jaune was a nice enough guy I thought but after spending more time with the dork and helping him improve his look and some of his confidence I couldn’t help but notice a few things about him.”

Blake thought back, Jaune had grown a lot in a short time. People like to think she was anti-social, Blake just liked to ease into things. There was also the fact she was kind of in hiding from the White Fang and years of trying not to stand out made it hard for the girl to open up. But one thing she did do well was notice things. People often forget about the quiet ones in a group and people can let slip things much more easily that way.

It had been a useful tool in the past to help gain intelligence after all.

So, she had noticed little things now and then, Jaune had gained a lot more skill lately and seemed more confident and she noticed he was doing better in classes. At first, he looked like he had been struggling but now he seemed more at ease.

So now Yang seemed to have noticed it too and also seemed to have started liking Jaune as more than a friend. There was just one problem she could see, or well one major problem.

“And he’s got his eyes on Weiss.” She surmised.

“Yeah,” Yang nodded. “Don’t get me wrong I can see the appeal, she’s pretty, smart, confident, rich and isn’t afraid to show off her legs.”

“True although I don’t get the feeling Jaune would care about the rich part.” Blake commented. From her observations Jaune didn’t seem like that type of guy.

“You’re right he’s not,” Yang nodded her head it was another point in his favor that he wasn’t that kind of shallow person. “But my point stands, and now they’re going out on a date.”

“Weiss said it’s not a date.”

“It’s two people going out to town to have a drink of tea alone, sounds pretty close to me,” Yang shrugged. “Which gets to my next issue. Say it’s not and he slowly makes her change her mind about him? Then he asks her out and bang, they’re dating.”

“The opposite is more likely to happen,” Blake thought about it. “It would take more than just one outing together to change Weiss’ mind about something. You know how stubborn she can get.”

Yang thought about it and the girl really didn’t let go of things easily. “True…unless Jaune can convince her to hang out more which means more time with him and more time to eventually realize he’s not as bad as she originally thought.” She was speaking from experience, granted she knew Jaune hadn’t been a bad person at the start he just didn’t show up on her radar at first.

Throwing up on her boot hadn’t helped.

Yang placed her head onto a palm and really thought about it. “Okay so I figured my choices were just stay out of it and let these feelings go away.”

“Which doesn’t look like it has been working,” Blake commented.

“Or,” Yang stressed ignoring that comment. “I do something about it. I could try and seduce Jaune but he’s a bit dense and honestly nothing short of flat out telling him might get him to notice. But he’s also interested in a teammate and while she’s not interested either, I feel a bit weird trying to get between that whole thing. Love triangles might be fun in books, but it sucks in real life it seems.”

Blake had to admit that some of her more adult books she liked to read a few of them had a guy with a few women as possible lovers. Of course, in her books they usually ended up all together but that’s what fiction was for. Living vicariously through characters that didn’t exist.

“I’m also a little worried about what might happen if Jaune asks here out and Weiss rejects him,” Yang lamented. “You know how harsh she was in the past with some of her rejections. She was almost literally giving him the cold shoulder at times. I’m a little worried she might break his heart and he’s too nice of a guy for that to happen to.”

It brought back very old memories for her, memories of after her mother had died. Late at night she had caught her dad alone in the dark starting at a picture of mom in his hands. When Summer died, she could tell a part of her dad died with her. Yang snapped back to the present closing off those painful memories and tried not to picture Jaune going through pain like that.

“Sometimes you can’t stop things from happening,” Blake told her softly thinking of how she had left Adam knowing she had hurt him. Once she had loved him, but he had changed over time into something more cold and cruel. “It’s not like you can be there for him in case things go bad.”

Yang blinked a few times, maybe she could. “Hey that’s an idea, yeah maybe I can be. Thanks Blake.”

Yang sat up as she quickly went to the showers to clean up and then get ready, she had a plan and she needed to hurry if she was going to catch up.

Blake was left confused, “Wait what? What did I say?” There was no answer from the blonde as she was quickly gone. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

-JNPR Dorm-

Pyrrha was feeling antsy, she wanted to get up from her chair and pace the room or do something. Ren was out with Nora, apparently, she wanted pancakes, and he knew how she liked them. They ate a bit later for breakfast as Nora liked to go to the gym with Yang in the mornings but this time, she just slept in.

Pyrrha had just changed from her morning run but still felt like she needed something to do, something to take her mind off the fact that Jaune was in the bathroom getting ready for his not-date with Weiss. She reminded herself that she was his friend and partner and now his girlfriend, no matter how much she desired it.

She sighed as she sat down on her desk as she asked herself when did this happen? When did she start to realize her feelings for him were more than friendship? Thinking back, she had been intrigued when he had no idea who she had been. She wasn’t sure what to make of him at that moment, his attitude had clearly been forced in her eyes but still she wasn’t sure.

Then as she saw him falling out of the sky and in trouble, she did her best to help him out. Many little things didn’t ad up, the fact he seemed to have no formal training or even have his aura unlocked still made her wonder what he wasn’t telling her. She knew he had some kind of secret, but she wouldn’t pry, she just hoped he would trust her enough to tell her in his own time one day.

Training with him she got to know more about him, the real him. He always tried to push himself, to improve. Maybe even more than he should have, she was worried at times he would push himself too hard. She had seen this before on her way to being a three-time champion. Too many would push themselves and they would either be stronger or they would break.

She didn’t want to see Jaune break.

He was just too kind, he had a huge heart and wanted to help others that much she knew for a fact. It was learning that about him which she figured what really earned her affection. Jaune treated her like a normal person and not someone to put on a pedestal. He would do anything for her not because she was famous but because it was the right thing to do and because he did care about her.

But only as a friend.

That stung deeper than she would admit. She knew she could have had any number of men if she desired it but none of them saw her as just Pyrrha. She wanted to be with someone kind and loving, someone she could be herself with.

The door opened as Jaune stepped out in fairly well-designed clothing.

‘Wait, where did he get those clothes?’ she mentally asked herself. Given the small room it wasn’t like you could hide much and clothing like he was wearing looked expensive. She hoped he wasn’t using all his money on a single set of clothing.

Jaune looked down at himself, the ‘clothing’ was actually Valor. They had spent the last few days looking up fashion styles, Jaune even went to Coco for advice. That had been a long three hours as she had given him a long lecture on current fashions. But in the end, it had been worth it. He had on dark blue dress pants with a yellow dress shirt and white jacket. He hoped it looked good as he wanted to as Coco put it ‘dress to impress’.

“Hey Pyrrha, so how do I look? Is it too much?” He asked her thankful to have a woman’s opinion.

“You…look great,” she blinked as he did in her eyes. “Where did you even get those clothing?”

“Oh, uh…” Jaune hadn’t thought of an explanation.  “Coco helped me out?”

“Oh, really?” She asked.

“Yeah, sure totally,” He hoped she wouldn’t ask Coco, but he had a feeling she wouldn’t go that far.

~We need to come up with excuses in the future if people ask about the clothing~

‘Yeah, that’s for sure, I can only use that so many times before someone actually asks Coco about it in passing.’

“Aren’t you going a little too much with this?” She hesitantly asks him.

Jaune shrugged. “I know it’s not a date, but I still wanted to at least show I can at least dress up nicely for events like this.” He figured if he could at least show off a little bit she might take more notice. He figured the problem before was he came on too strong which Valor agreed with. This time, he was going to take a slower approach.

Checking his scroll, he found that he had better meet with her as they were to meet in the hallway.

“Well, I better get going, have a good day Pyrrha,” He told her as he left the dorm.

“Yeah…good day.” She sighed.

What in the world was she going to do? She didn’t want to stay in this room, she just couldn’t stand still either. She wanted to get up and do something, maybe try out a combat simulator? Or she could go to the gym? Nothing she could think of she felt like actually doing. Her mind kept worrying on what could happen on this outing.

In the RWBy dorm Weiss was finishing adjusting her attire, she was going with her white long sleeve jacket and skirt outfit. She didn’t feel like her combat clothing so this was her best bet. While this certainly wasn’t a date, she also wasn’t one to not present herself in a manner unbefitting of herself. Yang had barged into the room, taken one look at her and then went into the bathroom while grabbing some spare clothing.

Normally Yang would have still been at the gym, but Weiss shrugged it off. After doing the finishing touches, she saw that it was a few minutes until they had to meet. She gathered her purse and left the dorm room. Looking across the hall she could see the JNPR door, at least this made it easy enough for them to meet up being across the hall from each other. When the door opened Weiss looked and her eyes widened a bit.

Now Jaune had certainly changed since his first days here, he had slowly shown to be more confident, the hair into a much stylized and neater version of his old hair helped to project a sense of confidence. The clothing she recognized as very expensive, in fact she hadn’t thought he could even afford such luxuries given how he used to dress.

‘More and more questions,’ she thought although the clothing certain did make him cut quite the figure. She shifted as she tried to not think in that way about him, this was not a date only an outing between…well what were they? Not exactly friends but not strangers either. Fellow students? Colleagues? Friend of a friend?

“Wow, you look really nice Weiss,” Jaune said looking at her. The white jacket with black trim and thigh high boots looked very nice on her.  “Well not that you don’t normally but I wasn’t expecting you to dress up more than usual.”

“I could say the same for you,” she returned her eyes cast a simple look over his outfit. “How on Remnant did you afford clothing like that?”

“Oh, I got help from a friend,” He quickly threw out and quickly changed the subject hoping she wouldn’t dig any deeper. “Plus, I just wanted to look nice, I know it’s not a real date or anything but that still doesn’t mean I shouldn’t at least dress nicely with company, right?”

Weiss thought it over and found that acceptable, and he was correct. In her mind if you’re going out you should at least be presentable. She had to admit he did clean up nicely, if he behaved like had had been doing up to now, she might even find herself enjoying her time. She was starting to enjoy her time with this new Jaune Arc who didn’t constantly pester her with offers of a date.

Just as they were about to leave the RWBY dorm room door quickly opened up as Yang stepped out.

“Hey if you guys are going to Vale mind if I take along to the Bullhead station with you? I wanted to check some of the stores we saw earlier.” Yang lied. Sure, she could do that, but this would give her an excuse to at least keep a subtle eye on things. She wouldn’t get in the way but that didn’t mean she couldn’t watch from a distance. If Weiss broke his heart, she could swoop in to ease his pain and if things between Jaune and Weiss progressed, well, she needed to know that so she could back off.

She never was one for patience and waiting around for them to get back and trying to get anything out of Weiss might take even longer. Beter to just see with her own eyes how things went between them.

“I don’t see why not,” Weiss shrugged in her mind this was just an outing nothing special.

Jaune shrugged. “Sure, thing Yang, anything in particular?”

They had seen a few stores when Yang was helping him with his clothing so it stood to reason, she had to have seen some things that she might like to get for herself. Vale was a big city after all, and he had only seen a fraction of it by this point.

“Not really just wanted to take a good look around this time, maybe see if there’s a bike shop nearby.” Yang actually did need to make sure there was a place for her to keep the maintenance up on her precious Bumblebee. Maybe if things went well, she could have extra time to look at a few shops after all.

What they didn’t know what that behind the JNPR door Pyrrha could hear everything. She had been about to leave when she heard Jaune and Weiss speak and hearing them compliment each other’s looks, especially with Jaune on how Weiss looked, made her heart hurt. She was about to leave when she heard Yang suddenly show up asking to join them while she was going to Vale.

This left Pyrrha very conflicted because it gave her an idea to try the same thing. She hated lying, mainly because in a way she had been forced to do it all the time during her career. She had an image to protect like her manager had told her often enough. So, when she had finally quit and gone on to be a Huntress, she wanted to leave that behind.

‘But if you say you wanted to go with Vale with Yang to join her you can keep an eye on Jaune and Weiss.’ A voice in the back of her head told her. She bit her lip, it wasn’t exactly sounded like something she should do, but the more she just stood idle the further away Jaune would get. She knew she only had seconds to think, and to act. She heard Jaune and Weiss agree, and that Yang would be going with them. The window was nearly closed so without thinking anymore she opened the door.

“Yang, did I hear you were going to Vale? Do you mind if I go too, even for a bit?” Pyrrha asked.

“Oh, uh…” Yang paused surprised by this development it would be a nice cover but how would she ditch Pyrrha to keep an eye on Weiss and Jaune?

“Oh, that will be marvelous,” Weiss stated as she walked up to Pyrrha and took her hand and pulled her along gently. “You know I’ve always wanted to ask you a few questions.”

Weiss while disappointed she never got to be Pyrrha’s partner or teammate, she was thankful the girl at least was on friendly terms with her own team. This could prove to be a valuable time to get some time with Pyrrha since Weiss still admired Pyrrha for her skills and abilities. She never got to really spend any time with the red head as she was always with her teammates so they could spend some time talking.

Jaune wasn’t sure what happened when Weiss started to walk by with Pyrrha.

“Come along Jaune, we shouldn’t be late,” Weiss told him as she started up a conversation with Pyrrha.

Yang shrugged and grabbed Jaune by the arm. “Well, you heard her, let’s get going.”

Jaune was perplexed on just what happened, how did it go from just him and Weiss to the four of them so quickly? Well, it wasn’t like it was a real date or anything, but he was hoping for some alone time with her to get to know her better.

~They will most likely split off once we get into the city~

‘True, oh well, just one quick ride is all that it should take.’ He figured.

Pyrrha was a little conflicted, she didn’t mind the attention as Weiss asked her about her training and how life was in Mistral, she didn’t mind telling her as Weiss was being polite enough about it. Although she did start to wish by the time, they took their seats in the Bullhead that she could have at least sat next to Jaune instead of across from him.

Yang also seemed to be sitting a little too close for some reason, but Pyrrha put it off as nothing. Jaune and Yang had slowly been becoming closer friends and she was Ruby’s big sister so of course Pyrrha figured that that blonde girl was just getting to know her sister’s friend more. At least that’s what she believed a sister would do, as an only child she really had no real personal experience to go with it.

“So, you took those air sickness meds like last time, right?” Yang asked Jaune sitting next to him.

“Huh? Oh! Right, yeah totally took them,” Jaune nearly forgot the excuse he had come up with for the fact that Valor was keeping his air sickness in control. He was so glad that he wouldn’t sufferer from that again, the first time had been embarrassing enough as it was.

Yang felt perfectly fine sitting next to Jaune and since Weiss was busy talking Pyrrha’s ear off she could enjoy her time with the other blonde. “So Jaune, nice threads, did you go behind my back and get someone else’s help for fashion?”

“S-something like that, hope you don’t mind,” he really was starting to hate how more easily it was getting to lie.

“Naw, they had good taste,” she looked him up and down. “You should wear that for clubbing.”

“Never really been to a club,” he admitted. “There aren’t any in my area since it’s not a large city I grew up in. There were places kids would hang out at.” What he didn’t say was that he was never in the popular crowd growing up so it wasn’t like he was invited to many parties with kids his age.

Yang’s eyes lit up a little. “Oh? Well, I found a couple that we can try out one night if you’re up for it.”

She wasn’t sure if she was ever allowed back into Junior’s place again after she trashed it. Maybe it’s best she just avoids that place from now on just to be on the safe side. She doubted she would get friendly welcome back there anyway.

“So, you like clubbing?” Jaune asked her.

“It’s a good way to have fun, plus I like the drinks but mostly the dancing.” Yang shrugged. “I just love to dance the night away sometimes, just get lost in the music and enjoy life.”

Jaune never knew that about Yang before, it was interesting to see a side of her he didn’t get to see often. Looking over at Pyrrha and Weiss he couldn’t help but ask a question. “What about you girls? You like to dance too?”

Weiss paused her conversation with Pyrrha to answer him. “I’ve gone to many balls and galls over the years, in fact my father insisted I learn how to dance growing up.”

“I’ve never really gotten much spare time to,” Pyrrha admitted as her life had been pretty busy before coming here. There were always training, interviews, commercials and then there was her regular schooling on top of all that. “I did enjoy it the few times I managed to.”

One commercial she had to learn how to dance for it, she felt it was silly, but her manager assured her it would look great. She had to admit it did, but she still didn’t get why they thought a couple dancing was good for a perfume ad. It wasn’t even that good of a product as she had to test it out.

“Man, I should take you all out one night then,” Yang leaned back. “Oh, maybe we can get everyone involved. I know Ruby needs to get out more and Blake just sits around all day reading. We’re in the prime of our lives, we should be enjoying it.”

“Maybe we are,” Weiss countered. “Some of us might like to enjoy a quiet evening.”

Yang waved it off, “Oh some on Ice Queen, when was the last time you did something fun? You never did anything impulsive or let loose?”

Weiss straightened up, “Some of us didn’t have the choice.” She said coldly remembering how strict her father was on all of them growing up.

Pyrrha felt she could relate to what Weiss just said, she had grown up in the shadow of her own success that it had been hard to really do what she wanted. She had so many expectations on her that she had to keep up that it was now almost second nature to just do what she thought was expected of her to do.

Yang looked at the two of them starting to see something she hadn’t seen before. “Well then why not start now? What’s stopping either of you of doing what you want now at Beacon?”

Weiss was about to say something like ‘because father wouldn’t approve’ but unless she told him how would he know? She always felt like his shadow was there behind her, always watching and judging her actions. It was a hard thing to shake off and looking at her teammate across from her Weiss felt a small stab of jealously that she had obviously had the freedom she had been denied growing up, both her and her sister it seemed.

Without another word the announcement that they were landing soon struct them as the four of the felt the ship lower itself and then the last lurch as it hit the ground.

Of course now that they were here both Yang and Pyrrha wondered just how were they to keep an eye on Jaune and Weiss without coming across as obvious.

TBC…

Chapter Text

AN: So, I took a little liberty with Pyrrha and Yang’s past as we don’t know much about it in this chapter.

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 16: Not a Date

“Well, this is where we get off then,” Jaune said as he and Weiss headed for the exit of the Bullhead. “Have a good time you two.” He called back to Yang and Pyrrha.

“Yes, thank you.” Pyrrha waved as both she and Yang took a few steps off as Jaune and Yang headed in a different direction.

There was an awkward moment between the redhead and blonde as neither were sure what to do at this moment.

“So uh, I was going to go look at some bike parts, if you’re not interested in that I would understand.” Yang offered seeing if she could ditch Pyrrha quickly enough.

Pyrrha was thankful for the way out, “Oh no problem, I actually have something else I wanted to look at.”

“Okay, sure thing,” Yang told her walking off.

Pyrrha nodded as she saw the direction Jaune and Weiss were heading, she purposely walked a little slowly as she gave them a larger lead. She would keep back and decide on what to do later.

Jaune was more focused on Weiss at the moment, he really was feeling nervous. Sure, this wasn’t a date, but it was time along with her. He was wondering about what to talk about, maybe the weather?

~Even I know that’s not a good start~

‘Well, what do you suggest?’

There was a pause as he could sense his symbiote thinking, going through so many memories that Jaune couldn’t keep up with it. It was like sensing a bunch of blurred images, a strange sensation to say the least.

~Ask her if she’s gotten to see Vale much. It should allow us to see how well she knows the area~

Jaune couldn’t think of anything else, so he nearly physically shrugged before stopping himself. It would look odd to shrug for no reason but sometimes it was hard not to react to what Valor was saying at times.

“So…have you gotten to see much of Vale while here?” He asked.

“No, my studies and training do not allow for much free time.” She simply said.

Jaune paused. “But you’re here now?”

Weiss didn’t say anything for a few seconds, “I am…merely taking the break I deserve. Besides you said you would treat me for my help, and I intend to take you up on it.”

Jaune accepted it but Valor had a different opinion. His species learned to observe other alien races, when you bond to practically any living thing it stood to reason you had to understand them. So, whenever Valor bonded with a species he learned as much as possible. This also including watching others to start to gauge their reactions. It wasn’t a perfect science; some alien species were hard to physically read even for a symbiote.

Humans (and Faunus) he was learning, had many small indications of hidden thoughts or feelings. Since his host seemed to be enamored with the girl next to them, he had been paying close attention to her. From what he could guess from her answer that was either not the full truth or a total evasion. He got the feeling she actually did want to go out, but something was pulling her back.

While in a team she seemed to keep everyone at a distance, almost like there was a wall around her. The symbiote was very well acquainted with feelings of isolation and loneliness, both from previous hosts and from his own experience floating in space for so long a time. Because of that, he got the impression that Weiss was a bit lonely.

Of course, he could also be wrong about it, he wasn’t perfect and his experience with the people of this world was very limited. It was just the way she acted and talked; it was like she was shackled in some way. Valor would take a closer look at this girl and maybe he could deduce if he was correct in his assumptions.

“Well then,” Jaune spoke up. “I’m glad I at least got you out of the school, I admire how hard you’re working but it’s also nice to relax now and then.”

Weiss mulled it over, she hadn’t really ‘relaxed’ all that much she had to admit. She used to love her music lessons as it allowed her to sing, even her concerts back in Atlas were a nice distraction. When the lights hit her, she could barely make out the crowd, so she just pushed them away and in her own little world she just sang her heart out. It was one the few ways she got to express herself freely.

They soon found themselves at a nice little café, they picked out one of the tables set up outside as it was a nice enough day. Jaune quickly pulled out the seat allowing Weiss to sit down.

“Thank you,” Weiss appreciated a gentleman’s touch to things.

“Well, my mom always said, ‘It never hurts to be polite or to be courteous. It cost you nothing but a few seconds of your time.’ She pretty much made sure we all were brought up at least knowing that.” Jaune explained to her as he sat down across from her.

Weiss nodded her head that was indeed a good thing to teach children. She felt a bit of an ache in her heart thinking about how her own parents were. Her father cold and distant with and iron grip and her broken mother lost to the bottle. She pushed those unpleasant memories away, she didn’t need another reminder of her family life.

-Close By-

Yang had looked up the various places you could have tea on her scroll and narrowed it down thanks to the general direction Jaune and Weiss left in. She paused as she knew this was getting into stalker territory. She wasn’t planning on doing anything, she just wanted a heads up in case things went well between the two and she could try and put these stupid feelings to bed.

She signed as she went looking, she didn’t have to go far as she noticed across the street, she could see Weiss’ hair catching her attention. Pure white hair in an offset ponytail was kind of a unique look and looking closer she could see both her and Jaune. She was about to think of her next move when while looking she noticed another familiar face.

On the same side of the street as her was Pyrrha who was trying hard to not look like she was watching them, and kind of failing at it in Yang’s opinion. The woman was inside of a different café looking through a window that looked out into the street.

‘Why on Remnant would she be here watching them?’ She thought to herself. She knew why she was here but that was because…and then it hit her. “No way…right?” She muttered to herself.

Pyrrha was inside of a building looking like she was nursing a cup of coffee herself but was also watching through the window the entire time. It was the only reason she most likely hadn’t seen Yang was because she was so focused on the pair across the street. Yang went into the front door seeing it was a café without someone to seat you, so she guessed you just pick a place to sit down.

Easy enough and it allowed her to walk right up to the booth that Pyrrha was sitting at. Yang got right up to Pyrrha who still didn’t notice her presence from being so focused on the pair outside.

“So, what’s up?” Yang spoke startling the other girl who jumped. Somewhere something metallic moved on someone’s table as a yelp was heard.

“Y-Yang!?”

“The one and only,” she sat down and looked out through the window. “Good view to spy on them from here. You can see them well but they can’t see you as well back through the window.”

“I-I don’t, I mean, I would never…” Pyrrha fumbled as she wasn’t sure what she could say at being caught red handed.

Yang cast her a look before looking out the window again. “So…how long?”

Pyrrha blinked. “How long I’ve been here?”

“How long have you been crushing on Jaune?” Yang clarified as she saw the blush on the other girl’s face. She grinned, she hit a bullseye after all. “Ah, so I was right. Damn, now a few things start to make sense.”

“What do you mean by that?” Pyrrha asked as she was feeling mortified. Her biggest secret, her feelings for Jaune had been found out. Would Yang tell him or anyone else? She wasn’t sure what was she was thinking and Pyrrha could feel her heart racing at all the horrible options that started to fly through her head.

“Well let’s see,” Yang thought it through. “You were always just a bit more protective over him than any other partner pairing I’ve seen, even my own with Blake isn’t like that. Then looking back, you always seem to want to be with him when you didn’t have to. Like our workout sessions and going to Vale to help him improve his look.”

Yang looked across to see the former Champion slumping in her seat. She decided to give the girl a break. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anyone.”

“You’re not?” she looked up hopeful.

“Nope, this isn’t something to gossip about,” She looked across the street at the two of them. “Besides that, would be kind of hypocritical of me when I feel similar to you about him.”

Pyrrha blinked a few times before it clicked. “Wait, you mean Jaune?”

Yang sighed before leaning back and looking back at her. “Yeah, came as a surprise to me too. There I was just starting to think of Jaune as a good friend when ‘wham’, next thing I knew I had feelings for the dork. Took me by surprise, and it wasn’t even just one thing, it was all these little things that just sort of built up and…”

Yang searched for the right words as Pyrrha gave a small smile. “And suddenly you realized he meant a lot more to you.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Yang chuckled. “I only recently figured it out, but I guess you were a lot earlier?”

“I think it was after the first week when I really started to feel things for him,” Pyrrha blushed looking down at her tea.

“Wow, only a week huh?” Yang smirked. “So why didn’t you make a move? I mean you are a total package.”

Pyrrha shifted a little uncomfortable, “Well, we were friends and partners. I wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea to date a teammate.”

Yang nodded. “Yeah, inter team drama I can see being a problem. Throw in dating and things can get awkward if not downright messy. I mean you share a room with the guy.” Yang paused and then looked at her with slightly narrowed eyes. “You never took advantage of that did you? Check him out when he wasn’t looking?”

Pyrrha was about to deny it when a certain memory of him shirtless getting out of the shower after she had noticed the way his body had been transformed recently. Yang could see the girl lost in a memory and crossed her arms. “Yep, you did, and I won’t lie, I feel jealous.”

“I-It wasn’t on purpose!” She quickly said. “He just came out of the shower…shirtless.” She muttered the last part of Yang still heard it.

“Well aside from that lucky moment,” Yang wanted to get back on track with the conversation. “You had a lot of time to confess to him, so you didn’t because you were worried it might screw up with the team?”

“Partly,” Pyrrha sighed looking down at her drink. “I also knew he liked Weiss and didn’t see me in that way. I wanted him to notice me, but he didn’t. Also, what if he didn’t feel that way about me in return? I’m not sure how I could have lived with him rejecting me and us still on the same team for the next few years.”

Pyrrha knew she was baring her soul to Yang but with Yang’s own confession about her feelings. It felt like she finally had someone she could confide in that might understand what she was going through.

Yang did have a good idea of what Pyrrha was going through as she had some similar thoughts. “Well, he’s a bit thick with certain things. I get the feeling you’d have to go right up and kiss him for him to notice your feelings.”

Pyrrha wanted to deny it, but Jaune could be a bit…blind to certain things. She blushed at the thought of just going up to him and kissing him. She wasn’t sure she could just muster up the courage for such a brazen act like that.

Yang looked the red head over. “I mean I certainly wouldn’t kick you out of bed.”

Pyrrha paused and looked at the girl. “Do you mean that in…”

Yang raised an eyebrow. “What? You are an attractive woman.”

Pyrrha’s eyes widened as she shifted as this was unexpected. “I thought since you were interested in Jaune that, well…”

“Oh that,” Yang laughed it off. “Okay I see the confusion, you may not know this but I’m actually bi.”

“You are?” Pyrrha hadn’t even thought that. “But you never did anything that would, well show that side of yourself.”

“Yeah, kind of a long story,” Yang sighed as she leaned forward. “Okay since we’re bearing our souls here, here’s something you don’t know about. I’ll give you the short version, see I like guys but during my time in Signal I learned that I kind of like some girls too. Not all but certain types. There was this…girl.” Yang said the word with a bit of a sour tone to Pyrrha’s ears as she listened on.

“Well at first, I was thinking ‘wow she’s pretty cute’ and after some time with her found out she felt the same to me. So, I tried dating a girl for a bit, that was my only try at it by the way. Now at first things were good but then odd things were happening. My friends started to distance themselves and she kept on forcing me to all kinds of stuff I didn’t want to go to.”

“Well after about a week of this I got suspicious and asked my friends why they were ditching me. Turns out I was giving him some messed up messages on my scroll. Messages I wasn’t making.”

“Wait,” Pyrrha was catching on. “Did she?”

“Yeah,” Yang said angrily. “I sorted things out with my friends, and we were all pissed. Turns out she was using my scroll when I wasn’t looking. I confronted her about it, and she denied it until I showed her my messages in my history and told her I talked to my friends. The Bitch had the nerve to start crying and say she was doing it for us.”

“Well, I kicked her to the curb right then and there.” Yang leaned back.

“Well, I’m glad that ended.” Pyrrha couldn’t believe someone would stoop so low like that.

“Oh, that’s not the end of it,” Yang shook her head. “She spent months hounding me. Trying to get back together, bothering me at all hours, bothering my friends. She even started rumors that I was the one harassing her, trying to isolate me from the whole school.”

“So, what did you do?” Pyrrha asked getting pulled into the story.

“Next time we were in combat class the little Bitch said if I let her win she would go easy on me.” Yang’s temper flared at that memory. The girl hadn’t been much in combat class, she was actually a little behind everyone in that department. “So instead, I beat the hell out of her. I took out all my aggression on her and the teacher had to step in when I broke her aura.”

“Did you get in trouble?” Pyrrha asked.

“Got a week of detention for being too aggressive,” Yang shrugged it off as it had been worth it. “But I did tell her that if she didn’t back off, I would do that to her every chance I had in combat class.”

“Did she stop?”

“Oh yeah,” Yang smirked. “She knew I could kick her ass and I think that made her realize pissing me off was a bad idea. She stayed away from me after that, but it was a long two years seeing her all the time. Last I heard she went off to Shade, not sure if she got in but whatever. I could care less what happened to her. Well after all that drama with her I focused on boys, at least they don’t get all psycho like that, and I can handle them more easily. I think if I had to try with a girl again, I want to be friends with her first, it must be someone I can trust because I am not going through that hell again.”

Pyrrha nodded her head, after something like that she could see why Yang would want that. It sounded like a horrible experience.

“How about you?” Yang asked her then seeing her blank look. “You ever get tempted to cross over to the other side?”

“Well, no, not really,” Pyrrha thought about it. “I mean I can see a girl as attractive but I never…” She paused at a memory.

Yang grinned. “Oh, that sounds like a juicy story you just thought up.”

“I-It was nothing!” Pyrrha defended herself.

“Doesn’t sound like nothing,” Yang leaned forward again. “Come on, I said mine, it’s only fair.”

Pyrrha winced as it was only fair for her to share her story. “It was my first coach.”

“Oh, now this is really getting good.” Yang smirked liking where this was going.

“Her name was Hera,” Pyrrha explained. “She was a former champion like me but had retired to train younger students.” Pyrrha thought back to those days with a found smile. “I was just starting out, but she gave me all the basics I know and more. I wouldn’t be half the fighter I am today without her. She was just, she was glorious to me. Every movement was perfection, she moved flawlessly, and I wanted to be just like her.”

“So, you had a crush on the teacher,” Yang wiggled her eyebrows. “Did you get any real ‘hands on’ lessons alone?”

“Yang! I was thirteen!” Pyrrha told her. “Plus, she was in her early thirties.”

“Ah, well that’s good nothing happened then, although I’m guessing at times you wanted more?”

Pyrrha shifted thinking back on those days. “I don’t know, maybe? I was young and infatuated with her, she was my idol and one day she told me out of the blue she couldn’t be my teacher anymore.”

“What happened?”

Pyrrha sighed. “She was getting married and wanted to fully retire to focus on her family. She told me I was her pride and joy to have me as a student. I remember being so heartbroken when she left but she left me with something.”

Pyrrha pulled off her golden tiara. “She left me this, this was hers and I wear it to honor her.”

“So that’s why you have that thing on all the time.” Yang nodded her head in understanding.

“Well, I had to grow into it a little at first,” Pyrrha smiled as she slipped it back on, her younger self had been a little too small for it but now it fit perfectly on her head.

There was a comfortable silence between them as they felt they had bonded a bit over the conversation. Yang glanced over at Jaune and Wiess as the two seemed to be having a decent time. “So, we both like the same guy still, but I don’t want to hate you if things with Weiss don’t turn out and Jaune falls for you later.”

“I don’t want to hate anyone,” Pyrrha shook her head as she looked out the winter. “Even now I don’t hate Weiss, more I hate that fact she has Jaune’s attention.”

“Yeah, that I agree with, not her fault or anything. Just the way the cards landed in our hands.” Yang paused and then looked at her and stuck out her hand. “So how about a pack, if we get our shots no hard feelings and the may the best girl win?”

Pyrrha was surprised by this but smiled and shook Yang’s hand. “May the best girl win.”

-Jaune and Weiss-

Weiss sipped her tea, she had to admit it was a nice blend. “What was this called again?”

“Honeywood,” Jaune told her. “My mother’s favorite, every time I smell it, well it just reminds me of home.”

Weiss nodded as she took another sip it was nice, and she might think about getting some for herself later. It had a soothing fragrance and a taste of sweetness to it. Most likely where it got the name from. She had to admit that her time with Jaune wasn’t…terrible. He wasn’t the most eloquent of conversationalist, but he was she was learning at least honest with his words. There were no hidden meanings or agendas talking with him, which was a nice chance of pace.

“So, I’ve been meaning to ask you something, do you mind?” Jaune asked her.

Weiss put down the tea and prepared herself for another attempt at asking her out. “If you must.”

“Did you stop singing?” He asked her.

Weiss blinked not expecting that. “Why do you think that?”

“Well, I never heard you sing since coming to Beacon.”

Weiss thought about it as he wondered how he knew about her singing. There was only one way as she felt her guard come up. “Did you research me?”

Jaune at least had the decently to look a little abashed. “Kind of…I didn’t know anything about you, and everyone kept making a big deal about you being a Schnee, so I got curious.”

Weiss remembered when she learned that Jaune had no idea about the SDC, which still made her wonder what rock he had lived under all this time. Still, she supposed it made some sense, she just hated it when people looked her up. There were who knows how many journalists, tabloid reporters, people trying to worm their way into her life, White Fang terrorist and who knew how many stalkers using information online against her.

“So, you came across my music.” It was more of a statement form Weiss than a question.

“Yeah, I did, I was curious,” Jaune scratched the back of his head. He had planned to just listen to a few songs, but he was amazed by her vocal range that he had to listen to more. “You really have a lovely singing voice. I was just worried that since I never heard it at Beacon, you might have given up on it.”

Weiss felt a bit of satisfaction he appreciated her singing. “Not at such, I just like to sing either privately or in concerts and since I don’t plan on doing anymore concerts while at Beacon, I don’t get much time to practice.”

“Surprised you didn’t go to a karaoke bar or something.” Jaune shrugged.

“A what?” Weiss tilted her head confused. She knew what a bar was but what was ‘karaoke’?

“You know, it’s a place where people can hang out and they got a machine set up with songs without the vocals so that people can sing the songs themselves.” Jaune explained to her. “You can even find places that rent out the karaoke machines too.”

“Oh, I see,” Weiss took another sip feeling a little embarrassed not knowing that. It wasn’t like she needed a machine for music. The mansion back home literally had a music room filled with everything they might need. Still, a place for people to just sing? It did sound interesting to her.

~I think she might be interested; this could be an opportunity for you~

Jaune agreed, plus it would be nice to hear her sing in person. “Well then how about we go to one?”

Weiss gave him a small look as she figured he might try to sneak in a date from this.

~With the teams, say with the teams!~

“With our teams I meant,” He added in quickly. “Sorry I meant to say with everyone? It might be fun for us all and who knows, maybe they have your songs, and you can show everyone how talented you are.”

Weiss paused at that she did like the idea of showing off her skills. She was very proud of her singing and the thought was growing in her head. She was also curious about what kind of songs and the device itself. She had no idea singing could just be a pass time after all and she did so miss singing, even in front of an audience.

She studied the young man in front of her, he was a little nervous but that was how he usually was. Was this a subtle attempt to spend more time with her? Well maybe, so far, he had behaved in a gentlemanly manner today. She mentally sighed, his first attempts had been overboard and kind of irritating, but it was like he had switched tactics. She wasn’t blind, she knew he was attracted to her but now he was coming up with very innocent looking ways to spending time together.

First the training, which she had to admit he did focus on and did learn so it wasn’t all for show. Now the tea, again she had to admit it was a nice place and she was enjoying her time. She felt a bit more relaxed than she had before. Once he got past his nervousness, he was a decent conversationalist. He wasn’t trying to shower her with praise, trying to worm his way into her good graces or any other of the tactics the males back home in high society had tried with her.

He was more down to earth type, simple and she didn’t have to try and piece together whatever hidden meanings or agendas he had while talking. That got exhausting after a while, so she was starting to enjoy more simple talks.

Weiss wasn’t sure if he was pushing her buttons with praising her singing talents and offering her a way to show them off to everyone, but he had. Weiss had grown up in a life that demanded perfection and to show it to the world. So of course, a part of her reveled in the idea of blowing everyone out of the water with her singing.

‘Best way is to not to agree with it, nor promise nothing. Keep it open but leave a way out.’ She thought to her business lessons her father insisted that she take.

“We’ll see,” She told him. “We’ll have to ask our teammates if they want to but only if they want to go.” She told him in a subtle way saying she was not prepared to be alone with him. She didn’t want to give him any false hope or anything.

“Cool, it should be fun then if we can get everyone together.” He was happy about the idea as he liked his team, Ruby was really fun, and he was getting closer to Yang too. The only ones he really wasn’t as close to were Weiss and Blake so maybe this was a good chance to get everyone to have some fun together.

-Elsewhere-

Cinder Fall had just finished with dealing with the White Fang group. There had been a little push back apparently, but she firmly reminded them of who was really in charge of this operation. She made all the promises that they would get what they wanted out of the deal but that their continued cooperation was demanded. They had half a year to plan for this operation and get things set up. Roman was already doing his work with the dust shipments.

She was walking through the forest back to the airship they had left in a clearing. Emerald and Mercury were bickering like children behind her, she long since learned to tune them out. She could feel the presence of Grimm not that far away, but she had no worries. The Grimm inside of her that Salem gave to her had more than just the ability to take away a Maiden’s powers. It also allowed her to sense Grimm slightly through it and to command them. She could feel it in her left arm if she focused but most of the time it was dormant.

She wasn’t sure how far the creature spread in her body, but she would do anything for the power it gave her. She could feel half the Maiden’s powers inside herself, and she couldn’t wait to take the rest. Then it would be on to the others, with all four maidens she could literally be the second most powerful person on the planet. She knew she could never be more powerful than Salem but other than her, no one else would have power over her again.

The phantom pains of the shock collar she had on herself in her youth flared in her mind, but she stamped it down.

‘Never again.’ She swore to herself.

Her scroll started to beep as she pulled it out and saw that was Watts calling. She refrained from groaning as she accepted the call.

“Watts, what a pleasant surprise to have you call,” Cinder said in obviously false happiness.

“Yes, I know you are a busy woman, running around doing all the little errands,” Watts spoke up as he made a subtle dig at the importance of her work. “But I’ve been looking through that video file you sent me.”

“Anything interesting?” Now Cinder was curious about this strange white suited would be ‘hero’ that Roman encountered.

“Unfortunately, no, there’s too little data. I was hoping you could get more video of this, preferably more and in better quality or if not that quantity. I can only do so much with the limited information I have from it.” He explained to her.

Now Cinder did sigh, “I’ll see what I can do.” She only agreed because the suit interested her. She saw nothing like it before, and she wanted to know what it was, and if it was possible to gain access to it. After all, anything that could increase her power she would take it.

Ending her conversation, she looked over her shoulders at her two underlings. “Looks like we’re going back to Vale earlier than planned.”

TBC…

Okay so the little backstory I came up with for Yang and Pyrrha here are for a few reasons. First was to help flesh them out their pasts since we know practically nothing about Pyrrha in comparison to the main four characters. Second was to explain why in the series Yang went from straight to liking girls suddenly later on when RT changed her and Blake’s character to match that. This gives an explanation to why the sudden shift in a reasonable way. Finally, this is to help matters later on when the girls might start to get closer to each other and not just Jaune.

Chapter Text

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 17: Attraction

Jaune was grinning as the memory of him and Weiss actually hanging out entered his mind. He couldn’t believe he had done it. He actually got her to spend time with him alone, not once but twice. At this rate maybe he could even convince her of an actual date. He was starting to plan on what he could do next when he was smacked in the head with a black sword caused him to shift his focus.

“Ow,” Jaune stumbled as he looked at the black figure across from him.

“You’re distracted,” Valor told him as the sword melted back into its form.

“Sorry,” Jaune sighed as he rubbed his head, although they were in the training space of his mind while his body slept, he was wondering one thing. “Okay so if this is all in my head why does that hurt?”

“Pain is a valuable teaching tool,” Valor explained. “Also, I did dull it down or else that blade would have cut through your skull.”

Jaune paused thinking about something. “So, if I die in here…”

“It will not come to that and besides if such a thing did happen it would harm me as well,” Valor then placed his hands on his hips. “You have been distracted all night.”

Jaune rubbed the back of his head. “I thought you could read my mind?”

“I can but I do allow my hosts some privacy when needed,” Valor didn’t mention that privacy worked both ways. There were some things that Jaune wasn’t meant to learn, like the origin of his race. That was a personal shame he didn’t want to expose his hosts to, as did most of their kind.

“I was just thinking about Weiss.”

“Ah,” Valor nodded his head. “You’re near obsession with this female.”

“It’s not an obsession…” he paused thinking about it. “Is it?”

Valor shrugged. “In these matters it is hard to say, as you know my kind do not have the ‘romantic love’ that other races have. I have bonded with plenty of other species, but they all have different definitions of what ‘love’ is for them, if they even have a word for that concept.”

“I am curious Jaune, what will you do if you fail?” Valor asked tilting his head in consideration.

“What do you mean?”

“What if she doesn’t choose you? Will you continue? What if she chooses another?” Valor knew of things like jealousy, but he was sure that Jaune wasn’t that type of person. He had seen too much of that made up the young man to know he wasn’t the type that would be twisted by rejection. Valor had seen many people fall that way in their long life.

Jaune sighed as he put his weapons away really thinking about it. “I mean…it’s going to suck that’s for sure, but I’d step out of the way. I just want her to be happy after all.”

The alien seemed to contemplate that. “I see, well there are certainly other female options for you…are you sure you’re not attracted to males of any kind?”

Jaune blushed at the comment a little. “Yes, I’m certain.”

“I just wanted to be sure,” Valor waved his hand as suddenly a line up of women that Jaune knew showed up. There was Ruby, Blake, Weiss, Yang, Pyrrha, Nora, Coco, Velvet and even Miss Goodwitch. “These are the predominant females in your life, I’m hoping you can help me in understanding why you feel attracted to them.”

“Attraction!? Wait why all of them?” Jaune asked him frantically looking at them all.

The symbiote looked at him as though he had asked a silly question. “Jaune, through our link while I may feel your emotions, I don’t always completely understand them. You have felt some kind of attraction to each of these women in some form.”

“Wait…I have?” Okay so maybe he could see it, they were all pretty girls at the very least, but he wasn’t really that attracted to all of them…was he?

“The emotions do vary,” Valor stepped up to the Ruby facsimile. “This one you care about deeply but in a more unique way.”

“Ruby is my best friend,” Jaune explained as it was odd seeing how still they all were, like statues but they looked so real at the same time. “She’s fun and she’s been helping me to be a better leader. She always seems to know what to say to help someone out.”

Then he smiled. “Even though she can get easily flustered and panics in social situations. I guess I just see her as like a little sister?” He thought about it long and hard looking at her. “She’s cute but I think because of the age difference between us I can’t help but see her as like a younger sister.”

“Ah yes age does come into play doesn’t it,” Valor nodded and then looked at Ruby and tilted his head. Jaune watched in surprise as the Ruby image grew a few inches, her hair a little longer and her figure was a bit more like Yang’s as she filled out. “What about now?”

“What did you just do?” Jaune said looked at the new Ruby image.

“Guessed as best I could with how she could look in a few years’ time, I used her sister as a base as I figured they could in theory grow in similar ways. So would this older Ruby be more to your liking?”

Jaune had to admit that she was a bit prettier now, she had lost a little of the childish look she had. “I…I guess so, but that’s only a guess at what she’ll look like.”

“Hmmm, that is correct,” Valor turned it back to its original form of current Ruby. He then walked over to Blake. “I have noticed you giving her a few looks.”

Jaune felt embarrassed about all of this, yes, he had looked at Blake a few times. “I mean, she’s got this cold mysterious vibe going for her.”

“I also noticed her sneaking glances at her legs now and then.”

Jaune winced at being caught, it wasn’t his fault. All the girls wore skirts at school so of course he saw all their legs. It was just that Blake had nice legs like Weiss did. Blake had this dark beauty look to her with her long dark hair and purple eyeshadow and her intense golden eyes. “Okay yes, she’s attractive but I don’t really know her that well. She’s kind of hard to get to know as she’s not very much of an open book.”

“So, if you knew her better perhaps something could start?” Valor honestly asked curious about it.

“Maybe?” Jaune shrugged. “Again, I’d have to get to know Blake a lot better. Okay seriously are going to go through all of them?”

“I would like to,” Valor explained to him. “While I share your body and mind, just because I have access to knowledge doesn’t mean I fully understand it. Knowing something and understanding something are two separate things.”

Jaune thought about his words and that was something he understood. Sure, with Valor’s help he could recall anything in a book or in class but that didn’t mean he fully understood the knowledge. He still sometimes needed an explanation about it to fully understand said knowledge. He guessed that with Valor being an alien and also being with so many other alien races, he was just trying to deepen his understanding of the people of this world.

“Okay I can see what you mean.” Jaune signed in defeat. Valor had been helping him for so long now it was only fair for him to help the alien in understanding humanity.

Valor nodded, “Excellent.” He pointed to Yang as he continued on. “From what I have seen Yang is what many would consider beautiful, in fact I’ve heard your thoughts on the matter a few times.”

Jaune felt embarrassed by that, sometimes having a symbiote was a double-edged sword. “Okay, yes I admit it, Yang is very attractive, but she wouldn’t be interested in me, she could have any pick of anyone in the school.”

Valor’s ‘face’ made a frown. “You really need to stop with the negative perception of yourself. You are not the same man you once were.”

“I…guess so,” Jaune did feel a bit more confident these days to say the least.

Suddenly Yang’s image smiled at him as she walked towards him with a sway of her hips. “Now Jaune you should know a girl can change her mind.” She lightly touched his nose with her index finger slowly dragging it to his chest and then leaned forward.

“Especially if the right person shows up,” She smiled with a very intense look in her eyes as she bent forward and took said finger to trail down her neck and to her yellow top, slightly pulling it down slightly to show off her cleavage.

“Okay! Okay stop!” Jaune’s face was all flushed as Yang’s image disappeared and went back to its original spot standing straight up like nothing happened. “What was that!?”

“I was attempting to show you that perhaps you should keep your ‘options open’ I believe the phrase is.” The symbiote explained to him. “If Yang did come up to you like that, would you accept her?”

“I mean, I don’t, it’s not that simple…” Jaune was flustered, there was no way someone like Yang would be interested in him, right? “Look…maybe? I don’t know unless it would happen but please don’t make them do anything like that again, it just feels wrong.”

“Very well,” Valor would agree to the term. “Now what about your partner Pyrrha?”

“Well, what about Pyrrha?” Jaune looked at the image of his partner.

“Do you not find her attractive?”

“I mean…sure, but she’s Pyrrha.” Jaune simply said.

“I will need more explanation than that,” Valor turned to face the red head. “By all accounts that I have learned she too would be considered a beautiful woman on this world. She is tall, athletic but not too much, the green eyes and red hair are a good combination on this world, isn’t it?”

Jaune looked at Pyrrha, really looked this time. Yes, he had to admit she was picture perfect, she had just the right built, and her eyes and hair were a great combination for her. He started to think, on that day in the locker room when he had tried to be ‘confident’ with Weiss and then with her, only to get speared (literally) to another locker. Granted he had it coming, things in hindsight were always clearer than in the present.

It was because of that incident and how she had been so kind and understanding towards him that he felt asking her out might be an issue. She was this famous person apparently and who was he? Sure, he was her partner but that had been random chance. Looking again, maybe in another life things could have been different?

“I think it might cause issues if we dated,” Jaune sighed. “I mean yes, she’s really pretty and amazing, warm and kind…but we’re teammates.”

“I have seen many partnerships fail because of things like this,” Valor nodded his head with the memories of other hosts. “But I have also seen many thrive because of it. Only you two can determine if such a pairing can last.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Juane looked at her. “I mean she would be a good girlfriend but I’m her friend and partner, I don’t want to risk losing that. Besides I don’t think she would be interested in someone like me. I’m not famous or come from some kind of great background. I was literally a nobody before coming to Beacon. She should have someone more on her level.”

Valor tilted his head in confusion. “If that is the case then why are you after Weiss? Wouldn’t the same reasons you just listed be the same reasons you shouldn’t go after her.”

“I mean…” Jaune paused as he found he had no answer. If he was willing to go after Weiss despite all that then why did he think Pyrrha would be any different? Just because they were on the same team? Because they were partners? It left him stunned by the realization as it left him with something to think things over.

“Then there’s Nora.”

“Oh no,” Jaune waved his hands. “She’s like a sister to me and I think there’s something going on between her and Ren.”

“They are very close,” Valor admitted. “Perhaps if things don’t work out with Weiss you could ask to join them since they are both very close to you?”

“Wait, WHAT!?”

“Oh, that’s right you are not into males of the species,” Valor suddenly remembered as there were races that had multiple pairings either for culture reasons or biological ones. “It is a shame as Ren I believe is considered quite handsome by your people.”

“Why would you even suggest that?” Jaune groaned feeling a little uncomfortable. He had nothing against that kind of relationship, he would be a huge hypocrite given his siter Saphron and her wife Terra after all. It just wasn’t for him.

Valor tilted his head at Jaune. “It is a perfectly natural way of coupling on Rigel Prime, there is only one female for every four males so the females who run the planet take on males as part of their ‘union’ as they call it.” The alien explained to Jaune.

“That…doesn’t happen on this planet,” Jaune patiently explained.

“So, it would seem,” Valor conceded the point but then suddenly paused as a thought entered his mind. “Although why is it that you have memories of watching a video of two males and a female coupling together in-“

“Okay that’s enough!” Jaune was fully red know as he forgot just how deep Valor can search into his memories. Apparently, the few times Jaune was able to actually watch porn was not considered off limits to the alien just yet. Something he might have to talk to him later about and boy was that going to be an embarrassing conversation.  

“Well then moving on,” Valor stepped up to Coco.

“Okay let’s just get this out there, that’s not happening,” Jaune told him. “Yeah, she’s hot but I got like zero chance because I’m a guy.”

“Ah yes, like how you prefer women she also prefers only women.” Valor tilted his head. “Strange, why is there still an attraction then if there is no chance of coupling?”

“Well,” Jaune scratched the back of his head. “I mean just by her looks and personality, she’s still attractive. I mean, you can still feel attraction to someone that doesn’t like you back. Look at how I am with Weiss.”

Valor thought about it, this was so confusing at times trying to fully understand humans.

“The last two are older and yet I feel you are attracted to both I thought the age difference between you and Ruby was one of the main issues?”

“Yeah, she’s a little older but, well…how do I explain this?” Jaune looked up. “It’s actually safer for me to like older women? I mean there are laws against dating girls under a certain age after all.”

“So wouldn’t it be wrong for her to like someone your age?” The symbiote was trying to follow the logic. “Or are you old enough past that minimum age?”

“The second one,” Jaune said. “Wait, aren’t there other species that would have similar taboos?”

“There are,” Valor nodded. “I just needed to be sure, I would hate to think that I had a misunderstanding of your culture in a key moment. This is to ensure that I completely understand the differences between your culture and the hundreds I have access to in my memories.”

When he put it like that, Jaune had to admit there had to be a lot of different culture clashes out there in space.

“So, what would you consider Velvet then?” The symbiote asked.

Jaune groaned, why did his symbiote had to pick people he knew? This was all kind of awkward for him. Maybe fictional characters or famous people would have been better, he would have no chance of meeting them after all. Looking at Velvet there was just one thing he could describe her as.

“Yeah, she’s the definition of the cute girl next door,” Jaune sighed if he was being honest with himself. “The bunny ears I find really cute on her. Plus, I like her accent, it’s really unique. I’m not even sure where she’s from but I like it when she talks.”

“I have noticed she talks slightly differently than everyone else,” Valor knew about accents, but he wasn’t familiar with all the ones on this planet just yet. Even in stellar societies when a planet was unified there were still local accents even if the populous all spoke the same root language.  

“Lastly we have Glynda Goodwitch,” Valor spoke up, but Jaune waved it off.

“Okay, I’ll stop you there buddy,” Jaune told him as he was going to finish this one off quickly. “The age thing is back, she’s almost old enough to be my mother and yes, she’s every student’s dream of being with your teacher fantasy, it’s just morally wrong.”

“Because she is in a position of power, and it would be unethical to break that?” Valor said surprising Jaune.

“Oh, so you got that one figured out.”

“Mostly,” Valor looked at the teacher. “I can see why nothing happens, but you still find her attractive.”

“It’s…mostly physical,” Jaune admitted. “I mean look at her! She’s like every schoolboy fantasy right there, despite her age she’s still extremely beautiful.” He didn’t like to admit it, but he was pretty sure many boys and some girls at the school found her very attractive. She was an older woman who had this air of authority but there was also that forbidden fruit of a teacher and their student thing going. It would never happen of course she was way too strict and wouldn’t break the rules for something like that.

“So does this help?” Jaune groaned feeling more emotionally drained after all this.

The symbiote nodded. “Yes, while I’m still learning I do believe this had helped me to understand.”

He waved his hand as now only Blake, Yang, Weiss, Pyrrha, and Velvet were left. “So, by process of elimination I can conclude that these five are the most suitable for you at attempting to find a mate.”

“I-I just wanted to try and get Weiss to like me,” Jaune blushed again. What was with this whole ‘mate’ talk?

“Yes, but if you should fail you should look for backups.” He looked over the choices as Weiss disappeared. “If you can’t have Weiss would any of these females, be attractive enough for you to pursue next?”

Jaune was put on the spot as he looked them over, what if things didn’t work out with Weiss? Would he just go on to the next girl? Well not right away he wouldn’t, most likely he would mope around a bit trying to nurse his broken heart, that much he knew. Looking them over they were all pretty girls that he would be lucky to get.

“Maybe? It’s not like I have any plans for this or in a hurry.” Jaune told him.

“Granted,” The Symbiote nodded. “You do have the rest of your life and after Beacon you may also find someone out there you are extremely attracted to. I’m just trying to help you as best I can.”

Valor started looking at the images again as Blake and Velvet vanished leaving only Yang and Pyrrha. “I think if you did try to choose a new female to be with, it would be these two. You spend a lot of time with them, and I have noticed that you do enjoy your time with them. That is an important aspect of relationships of your people, the ability to enjoy your time with someone?”

“It’s a big on yeah,” Jaune looked at the images of Yang and Pyrrha. He had to admit both girls were very beautiful but also very different. Yang was full of energy and excitement, ready to have fun at the drop of a hat but she was also a caring big sister. Something Jaune knew very well as he could appreciate that side of Yang.

Pyrrha was so caring and loving, he could see being the most supportive type of girlfriend he could ever think of.

“Well at any rate,” Jaune stopped looking at them and back to his symbiote. “I need to see if I can get anywhere with Weiss first after that…we’ll see.”

“Agreed, oh our time is up.”

“Huh?” Jaune blinked as he suddenly heard the sound of the alarm in the room. He heard Nora groaning asking for five more minutes as everyone else was getting up. Jaune rubbed his eyes as he stretched out.

“Good morning, everyone,” Pyrrha smiled as she too stretched out. She was always a morning person and always seemed to be cheery when getting up.

Jaune couldn’t help but noticed how her pajamas formed around her body when she stretched. He felt his face warm as he quickly looked away. Great, now because of what Valor and him were talking about he suddenly found himself looking at his partner and friend as…what exactly?

~An attractive female?~

‘Not helping!’

“Are you okay Jaune?” Pyrrha noticed Jaune was lost in his own little world and was his face looking flushed? Maybe he was coming down with something.

“Oh no worries, do you girls want the bathroom first today?” He asked trying to act normally. But then he looked at her eyes and suddenly he was surprised that he had never noticed just how pretty her eyes were before. They were green like emeralds and her red hair was very vibrant.

Pyrrha didn’t notice him staring as she looked over to see Ren trying to wake up Nora and smiled. “I think you boys should take the bathroom this morning, it might take Nora a little more time to wake up today.”

“Alright, yeah good idea.” Jaune quickly excused himself.

It was a long awkward morning as he tried not to notice little things, like how much he enjoyed Pyrrha in stockings in her school uniform.

‘Stop it, why can’t I stop these thoughts? Valor, can you make them stop?’ Jaune begged his symbiote.

It was silent a moment before answering. ~I could…but I won’t. That would be a taboo to my kind that to alter or control the mind of your host. I am sorry but I will not break that, even for you~

Jaune mentally signed. ‘Yeah okay, I get it.’

Breakfast wasn’t much easier, Yang was sitting across from him as he tried to follow along with what everyone was talking about but he couldn’t help notice little things about Yang now. There were the obvious things about her physically but like Pyrrha and Weiss she had very unique eyes. The violet eyes were so full of live.

“Yo, something on my face?” Yang joked seeing Jaune looking at her.

“Just your eyes.” He said absentmindedly before he could stop himself.

“Huh?” Yang blinked.

Jaune started to panic a little. “No, I mean, it’s just, well I didn’t notice how pretty they were until now. Violet’s not seen often, and it was a nice color…sorry,” He muttered the last bit feeling embarrassed.

Yang however was shocked silent, but she would be lying if she said she didn’t feel anything from that. It actually felt nice to be complimented about her eyes, usually when guys bring something up, they never go for that or her hair. She smiled as she started to play with a strand of her hair.

“Oh, well thanks, it’s nice of you to notice.” Yang felt a small blush as a smile slowly grew on her face. She locked eyes with Pyrrha who looked a little down. While Yang felt like she scored a point over the former champion, she couldn’t help but feel for the girl. Their little talk she felt she got to know Pyrrha on a deeper level than before.

“Anyone else you think has pretty eyes?” Yang half teased and half giving him an opening.

“I mean…” Juane paused, was she being serious? So, he thought about it. “I mean everyone here has something, I think. Weiss has those light blue eyes I’ve never seen before they remind me of crystals.”

Said girl was only half listening before she heard her name, and she raised a single eyebrow at his description of her eyes. She wasn’t unpleased by his description of her eyes. As she mulled it over, she kind of liked it.

“Ruby, I think has the most unique, I never even heard of silver eyes until I met her.” He pointed out.

“Apparently I get them from my mom,” Ruby said in the middle of eating. “She had them too.”

“Blake’s yellow eyes are really intense, but I like them,” Jaune shrugged as Blake heard this being on the end of the table.

“What about Pyrrha?” Yang asked.

Jaune got a little quiet as both him and Pyrrha got a little uncomfortable, but the redhead was curious. So Jaune remember what he should earlier. “Well, I think they look really nice, like pieces of emerald or jade.”

“Oh…thank you.” Pyrrha smiled but felt her stomach do a little flip. This was the first time Jaune had every complimented her looks to her. She cast a look to Yang who the other girl gave a wink. Pyrrha felt a little grateful to see that Yang was being civil with the fact both of them had feelings for Jaune.

Jaune decided to focus more on his meal after that, he felt a bit embarrassed by expressing his thoughts on the matter. Thankfully Nora was too busy with enjoying her pancakes to care and Ren was, well he was just being himself, quiet and composed as ever. Of course, now he really couldn’t stop thinking about the girls in his life.

He was used to being surrounded by them, but then again those were mostly family members. He had no relations with any of the girls at Beacon. He actively was starting to wonder what he could do if he couldn’t win Weiss over. Just how long was someone supposed to go on with a broken heart? Sure, he liked Weiss, but it wasn’t ready to commit to saying he had undying love for her, and she would be the only person for him.

He thought about his options, and he had to admit he never had so many female friends before. There were other girls as well in the school, but the young women here were the ones he was closest too, Velvet was a few years older than him, but he didn’t mind, she really did have this cute girl next door vibe about her.

He was thankful when first period started that day, he could pay attention to the class and focus on just that.

Then came the part of the day that Jaune used to regret but lately had started to look forward to. Combat Class, the time of day he could finally test out all the training he had been putting himself through. Lately he had been doing really well, oh sure he still struggled and had a loss here and there but at least he wasn’t losing all the time and the times he did loose he had to force his opponent to push themselves.

He wasn’t the only one that took notice either, as someone who had been the bottom of the class everyone noticed when he had suddenly started showing a lot more improvement.

One person however knew something strange was going on and this was Pyrrha. At first, she pushed it off that Jaune was just starting to really pick up on their late-night training. Then something else started to happen. He was using techniques and moves she had never taught him before. He claimed he was researching and that little fencing lesson with Weiss sure, maybe that could have happened.

As the red head saw Jaune go up another class member of their year she paid close attention to hos he moved. She tried to force out how her teammate would cheer for him and even both Ruby and Yang were into it. Weiss would give nods of approval as Blake stared with an interest in his style of fighting.

That was also what Pyrrha was watching for because over time Jaune had started to develop his own style, but it was things he couldn’t possibly had learned while only researching. He used his shield in ways she might have but never got around to teaching and there was no way Weiss could teach him anything like that. From all the training they had together she felt she had the best sense of the kind of fighter Jaune was.

But over the last few months something had changed in Jaune. She couldn’t stop noticing it anymore, couldn’t stop putting if off as him just learning quickly or picking something up in a book. The way he moved his feet was too practiced, he was using feints now, another thing she hadn’t gotten to yet. He was looking at how his opponent was moving, this was something a more seasoned fighter would react.

She watched as Jaune deflected his opponent’s weapon stepped in and used the pummel of his sword to strike the other student and then when they staggered back to follow up with his blade. Jaune made it look simply but Pyrrha could tell it was well practiced. She had faced so many opponents to keep her three-year champion status, so she had a good idea of how experienced a fighter was by how they moved.

Jaune had somehow gone from someone with no experience to someone who had a lot more experience than he should have way too quickly.

Something was off here, and it wasn’t a bad thing, she liked that he was getting better. It was just that he was getting better faster than he should with knowledge he shouldn’t have. Was he getting training from someone else on top of her own? She didn’t see how as they had classes, night training and even the training he was doing with Yang and Nora in the gym he couldn’t sneak away for anymore.

She doubted he was sneaking out of their room in the middle of the night to meet with someone, one of them would have caught him by now if he was and he was way too well rested in the morning if he somehow had been. Then there were his marked improvements in class and his strange appetite.

Pyrrha watched as Jaune won his match as their friends cheered but she sat there simply politely clapping. She couldn’t ignore it anymore; she couldn’t tell herself it was just nothing.

Jaune was keeping secrets from them.

His sometimes odd behavior lately was another thing that had been nagging at her. Jaune was keeping something from her, from all of them. Part of her felt a little hurt that he couldn’t trust them with whatever it was. Had he been playing the fool before now? No, it wasn’t that she was certain of that. His personality was just too honest for that kind of deception. But he was being deceptive about something.

The fact that he hadn’t confided in her, his friend and partner, well that hurt the most. She wanted to say that she could trust him with anything but whose to say that? Maybe it hurt because she suddenly realized they weren’t as close as she had thought.

“Hey Pyrrha,” Nora nudged her.

“What?” The red head snapped out of her thoughts.

“Professor Goodwitch called you up.” Nora explained.

“Oh!” she jumped up haven’t even heard her name being called by a now slightly irritated class teacher waiting for her. “I’m sorry, I’m coming.”

She felt a bit embarrassed as she got up to quickly get her weapons. She passed by Jaune on the way back to the seats.

“Go get’em Pyrrha,” He smiled at her.

She forced one of her well preformed smiles on her face. “Thank you and good work.”

Pyrrha’s smile fell as soon as he was no longer in sight. She had no idea what was going on with Jaune but maybe Yang had been right about taking the initiative at times. She couldn’t come out and say it but maybe if she gently asked him, he would open up to her. She hoped so, she wanted to understand what was going on and she wanted him to be honest about her.

Maybe then she could start to being honest with her own feelings towards him.

TBC…

Chapter Text

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 18: Lies and Truths

Jaune was feeling pretty good about today. Classes had gone well, and he had just finished with his combat class for the day and got another win. This time it felt easier than any other time, finally he thought, finally all his training was starting to come together. With some important help from his new ‘silent partner’ that is.

He was sure that he couldn’t have gotten like this so quickly without his help. Jaune was finally believing that he could reach his dreams with Valor’s help. Granted before he had been worried, that he wouldn’t be able to become a Huntsman, he had tried so very hard every day, but that doubt ate away at him constantly as well. Now he felt much more confident in both himself and his abilities.

Jaune had just finished putting his weapons in weapons locker and was going back to his seat to join the rest. He was hoping to watch Pyrrha’s match but by the time had got back to the arena it was already over.

‘I guess she finished quickly.’

~I have noticed that she is far stronger than most in your class, even in older classes too~

‘That’s Pyrrha,’ he grinned at the sight of his partner who was going to store her weapons as the student she beat was slowly making their back behind her. He felt sorry for anyone that went up against her, Pyrrha was like a force of nature out in the battlefield.

“Looking good out there Jaune,” Yang gave him a thumbs up. “Too bad you missed Pyrrha, the girl just stumped that poor guy.”

“It wasn’t even close,” Blake shook her head if she remembered that boy was part of team REDD, she didn’t know much about them as the only other team hers interacted with was JNPR.

“No one beats Pyrrha,” Nora stated her arms crossed proudly.

“Seems like it, doesn’t it?” Jaune asked her as he took back his empty spot among them. The rest of the class went as expected, people were called up as Goodwitch would give them criticism on things they needed to work on. He didn’t notice how Pyrrha was oddly quiet and giving him glances, although Valor did notice.

At first the alien thought that maybe he was right that the girl had an attraction to the host, but something was off about her look. It was more searching, like she was trying to see something that other people couldn’t. It was slightly unnerving to the symbiote as he could feel something was up with the red head.

He was debating on if this was something to warn Jaune about or not. It didn’t seem dangerous, but something was going on in her mind that the symbiote couldn’t guess at. Now since they were sitting next to each other, the symbiote could send a small part of itself from Jaune’s leg to her leg and try for a small link. It was something their kind could do to help pass information from host to another person or even offer a deeper connection to the host for someone the host was intimately close with.

The problems with that were it could be caught, she most likely would feel something and not sure what it was and look down catching him in the act. Also, there was the moral line that he would have to cross, and this was Jaune’s friend and partner, and it would be a huge breach of trust to do this.

He would have to sit and wait and see what was going to happen.

When class was over for the day everyone went to the change rooms to get out of their battle gear and back into their school clothing. After a little shower and change he felt ready for the afternoon. He already planned to finish off his homework before dinner so that it would leave the afternoon open.

He walked out of the locker rooms to see Pyrrha standing across the hall like she was waiting for him.

“Pyrrha?” Jaune asked.

“Hello Jaune, can we…can we talk?” She hated this strange feeling inside of her like Jaune was keeping her and everyone at arm’s length about something. She was just hoping that if she gave him the chance he would open up to her at least.

“Uh, sure, where?”

“Our usual spot?”

Jaune nodded as the two walked to the balcony they always used. Jaune wasn’t sure what was going on, he had never seen her like this before. She looked worried about something and Pyrrha never looked worried to him before. As they got there, they could see the sprawling campus as students were out of classes for the day. Some walking along the trim cut grass, sitting under trees with friends.

It was a nice view in the morning, normally they only saw this at night with the moonlight giving everything a totally different look than now.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Jaune asked her.

Pyrrha gathered herself up, she had been practicing what to say during her time in combat class when resolved to confront him but when the moment hit, her mind went blank. So, she took a minute take a breath and start with he first thing that entered her mind.

“Jaune…are you keeping stuff from us?” She pointedly asked him.

~Uh oh~

‘No kidding, what do we do!? Does she mean you or something else like my transcripts?!’ Jaune panicked inside as he was avoiding her look. “W-well what do you mean?”

“Jaune you’ve been improving much more quickly than is normal,” she started. “At first I thought you just had hidden gifts, but you also have been showing skills and techniques that I haven’t taught you.”

“Well, I learned some stuff from Weiss, and I like to read up on stuff.” He tried to deflect.

“You had one lesson with Weiss, and you can only learn so much from reading, it’s stuff that you have to practice and without someone to teach you, you can get bad habits or learn improperly without guidance.” She really couldn’t see any other way, he had to be learning from someone, but she couldn’t fathom how he was doing it.

Jaune was silent as he tried to think of a way out of this.

‘What do I tell her?’

~I’m not sure, did we do too much too soon?~

‘Maybe, I mean we train all the time with Pyrrha.’ He figured if anyone might have noticed something it would have been her. He just never really thought about it until now, he was enjoying getting stronger with Valor’s help that he just started to get lost in the process.

Pyrrha could see the struggle Juane was dealing with, there was obviously something he wasn’t telling her, and it hurt. “Juane…do you not trust me?”

Jaune had to wince at that, the way she looked and sounded so hurt by that one question. She was his partner the first person to really believe in him and to teach in him and in this moment, he felt like he had just betrayed her trust. Granted maybe he had, he didn’t want to see her disappointed face if she learned he got in through fake transcripts. He didn’t want her to maybe freak out learning that he was getting help from an alien bonded to him.

‘If I lie here…would she even believe it?’ he asked Valor.

The symbiote mulled it over. ~Not likely, at least if we can’t produce evidence~

They were kind of in a bind here, Jaune didn’t want to lose Pyrrha as both a friend and partner, but he knew this was an important moment. If he lied to her here it could ruin the bond that they had. Even if he told the most convincing lie in the world and she actually believed it, he would feel horrible because of it.

~This is a crossroads…tell her~

‘Wait are you sure?’ Jaune was surprised by that.

~In the time we’ve been joined I’ve gotten to know your friends, I believe we can start to trust some of them~

Looking back at Pyrrha with her green eyes looking at him with a sense that she was opening herself up here. That what he did in this moment would forever change their relationship either for good or evil. Also, looking at her eyes he felt the bond they shared, and he couldn’t lie to her, not when she was looking at him like that.

“The truth is I have been getting help recently.” Jaune told her.

“So, you are getting help,” her theory was confirmed but she looked confused at him. “But when do you find the time and why keep it secret from…everyone?” She was about to say ‘from me’ but adjusted it last second.

“Well,” he scratched the back of his head. “He’s not exactly a…normal type of help. You remember when we went to find that meteor?”

“Meteorite” ~Meteorite~ Both she said, and Valor communicated with him at the same time.

“Yeah that,” Jaune waved it away. “Well, it seems that it had kind of a passenger.”

~More like prisoner~ Valor grumbled glad to be free of that rock.

“A…passenger?” Pyrrha wasn’t following what he was getting at.

Jaune guess it was time to rip the band aid right off. “He’s an alien.”

“An alien,” Pyrrha echoed flatly.

“Yeah, see he’s this symbiote kind of thing that’s attached to me and…you’re not believing a word of this are you?” He could see the look on her face and honestly given how it sounded it did sound more at home in his comic books.

Pyrrha sighed in disappointment. “Jaune…”

“Wait I can prove it!” Juane stopped her. “Just, don’t freak out okay.”

“What do you mean-*GASP*” she took a step back seeing the white ‘costume’ flow over him and turn into a type of body armor. She stood there transfixed; she had never seen anything like this before. She was hesitant to touch it to see if it was real.

“It…it could be a semblance?” She wasn’t convinced mainly because while she might have seen something somewhat similar semblances where a body part might be covered by something. The whole body and taking on a new form? She never seen or heard of anything like that before.

~Let me take over~

‘Okay then.’ Jaune communicated back.

Then a pair of lips grew on the mask part of the costume. “Hello there, Pyrrha. I am Valor.”

“J-Jaune?”

“He is here but I am the one talking, I asked to take over so I could communicate with you personally.”

“You’re…the alien?” Pyrrha couldn’t believe this, she was talking to an alien, an alien that was living inside of Jaune!? She had so many questions she didn’t even know where to start with this. “This isn’t hurting Jaune is it?”

“No,” Valor shook his head. “My race, we call ourselves the Klyntar or more commonly we’re known as symbiotes, we live in harmony with the host. Any damage to the host we would feel.”

“I have so many questions,” Pyrrha started to feel a little lightheaded as she grabbed the railing. “I think I need to sit down.”

She slides down the protective barrier as her mind tried to process everything. She saw Jaune sit down next to her as the ‘mask’ part slid off his face. The suit looked so solid and yet it could move in an almost liquid way.

“Trust me this was a little strange to me at first too,” he told her. “At first I wasn’t sure what to do but as time went on and I got to know him, he’s been very helpful to me.”

“So how exactly is…he, helping?”

Jaune scratched the side of his face. “Well, things like he can remember every little detail around me, so he helps with my homework.”

“Jaune,” Pyrrha said in a ton he heard from his mother when she thought she was disapproval of something he had done. “Are you saying you’re cheating by getting help?”

“I mean, it depends on how you look at it?” He shrugged but saw she wasn’t convinced. “Look, he’s a part of me now so anything he knows I know and anything I know he also knows. It’s a two-way street, just think of it like I suddenly have a photographic memory, some people have that naturally I just got it from, well other ways.”

She mulled that over she really didn’t fully understand the relationship between Jaune and his alien companion so she might have to set this issue aside for now. She just had a very strong sense of right and wrong and she had seen so many people brought down by cheating scandals in the tournaments.

“Okay, what else?” She asked moving on.

“Every night I’ve been going into this kind of dream space, now sure how to really describe it but he’s been teaching me things he’s learned, and let me tell you, he’s learned a lot.”

“So that’s why your skills have sharply improved,” Now it started to make sense to her how he was getting in extra training and a few other things. “Also, the skills I never taught you yet, you’ve been using techniques I never seen.”

“That’s most likely because they’re from another planet.” He chuckled.

Pyrrha’s eyes lit up at that thought. Her mind wondered just how many other life forms were out there among the starts. Just how many different combat styles could Jaune learn from his alien guest?

‘Oh gods, aliens are real, that changes so much,’ Pyrrha suddenly realized that there was proof that they were not alone in the universe. That there were other civilizations out there.

“Jaune, why haven’t you told the world about this?” She asked him perplexed. “This is, this is the most important discovery since dust.”

The symbiote reformed over Jaune as it spoke. “Your media and history don’t exactly portray your kind as open to things that are different. How the divisions between human and Faunus as an example. Also, some might see me as nothing more than just something on the same level as your Grimm creatures. Can you say you were not shocked by my appearance?”

Pyrrha wanted to reject the movies about aliens out right but looking at herself if it wasn’t Jaune but some stranger, she might have assumed the worst. Had films and media about evil aliens poisoned her mind to the possibility of peaceful aliens? Then she thought of the struggles between humans and Faunus and felt a sense of shame. Although she herself had nothing against them, she couldn’t deny that not all humans could say the same just as some Faunus held prejudices against humans.

“I…I can see your point,” She sighed in disappointment for her planet as a whole. Then something stuck out about what he had said. “Wait you said ‘your Grimm’, are the Grimm not everywhere?”

“Those things don’t exist anywhere else as far as I know, they are unique to this world. They are artificial creatures of pure darkness.”

“Wait, artificial?” She pressed.

Valor nodded. “They are not natural creatures, I tried to bond with one when I crashed as I was injured and weak but touching them was like a poison. I could feel how ‘wrong’ they were, they are not natural, but some kind of artificial creatures, twisted things that are a mockery of living natural beings.”

Pyrrha couldn’t believe it, this alien was telling her something that people had only theorized on. The fact that the Grimm were made somehow was yet another earth-shattering discovery. No one knew the origins of the Grimm but if they were made, then how and why and by what where they made?

The symbiote pulled back again leaving Jaune’s surprised face. “He didn’t tell me that.”

~You didn’t ask, and it wasn’t important at the time~

Jaune made a face at the comment but moved past it. “Anyways Valor’s been helpful as you can see. There’s so much out there Pyrrha, I got to see so much.” He looked up at the sky although the sun was setting the stars weren’t out yet. “God Pyrrha, the things he’s shown me. There are entire civilizations out there so old that we are nothing more than infants to them. Beings so powerful that, well honestly, they’re like living gods. So many aliens of all shapes and sizes, I’ve seen worlds with three suns, nebulas, I’ve seen a star explode, worlds where the sky is everything from red to purple.”

Pyrrha couldn’t even image the things Jaune was talking about, she never had been into science fiction since she had just assumed it was all make believe but now with an actual alien next to her, maybe she should reevaluate the genre.

“You make is sound incredible.” She said softly.

Jaune tiled his head as though listening to something which she quickly realized he was. He turned to face her as he held out his hand. “Do you want to see?”

“Can he? I thought you said you two were joined or something.”

“Yes, we’re stuck together,” Jaune explained. “You see his kind apparently, they bond to a host and once fully bonded, like I am now, it’s for life. As he explained it, he’s connected to my nervus system so pulling him off would, well from what he said it would suck. I might just die from the strain of it, but I want you to know it was my choice. He gave me the option to say ‘no’ to him and he would have gone to find a new host. He doesn’t believe in forcing this bonding onto another.”

She felt a bit better hearing about that, then she looked at his hand. “So then…?”

“Oh, but he can still connect to others as long as he’s still connected to me apparently,” He explained. “Just take my hand and, well it’s going to feel kind of freaky but just go with it, trust me.”

She did trust Jaune as she placed her hand in his, she watched as the material of the white suit oozed over her hand. Then she felt it, a presence inside of her mind. She gasped feeling this alien presence, but it was gentle as thought gently asking permission to enter. She wasn’t sure how, but she tried to relax and open her mind to this feeling.

That’s when it flooded her, she felt Valor, but she also felt Jaune, she was Valor just as she was Jaune and they were her. Their minds merging in a way she/they never thought possible as she/he/they felt each other on such a deep intimate level she/he/they knew was only possible through this linking of minds.

Pyrrha could feel Jaune, could really feel him, the newfound confidence but the self-doubt under that layer, felt his need to try and do good in the world, it was a pure and honest need to just help others. Then felt Valor, he was old, so very old and yet she could feel the peaceful need to help Jaune in his core. She could feel and see the world through the symbiote, and it was like she had been mostly blind all her life and now she could suddenly see everything.

Then she saw it, she saw the universe. She saw the worlds that Jaune described and more so, saw so many alien beings, cities older than the history of her world, great works, space stations the size of planets roaming through space, great beings of power as they forged literal suns, she saw it all, even the horrors like giant insect like creatures, Beings that would lay waste to worlds for reason only they understood, the death of suns and the solar systems with them. She felt she saw the infinite and from this day forth Pyrrha would carry these experiences with her.

She would forever be changed by what she saw, the universe had been opened to her and for a moment she got a peek behind the curtain of what just really was out there.

When it was over Pyrrha was alone again, now Jaune or Valor in her mind and she felt less from it. Like she just hadn’t realized just how alone she was until they were gone from her being. She felt like she had been blind but never knew it and for one brief moment she could see before it was just gone.

“I…I just…I have no words,” she finally got out. The experience wasn’t something she could put into words, it had to be felt to truly understand it.

“Yeah, linking with you like that, that was different.” Jaune had gotten used to Valor being a part of himself but when he had linked with Pyrrha, having her being and his all mixed up like that, it was like on another level. He felt her drive, her determination, yet also how caring she was. He looked at her and he could remember the feelings of isolation she had from being the Champion, he had seen a few memories that slipped out of how she felt alone and even hated her fame at times.

There was a hint of something else, like on the tip of the tongue, feeling she had kept guarded. He wasn’t sure what it was as it had been fleeting but he it had been like trying to grasp smoke.

“I never knew you felt like that about being famous.” He told her.

Pyrrha was surprised but this but blushed slightly. “It wasn’t all bad but at times I felt like I was living a lie, I had to be perfect all the time and I felt no one really saw the real me, just The Invincible Girl, The Champion, no one really saw me for me…until I came here.

“I guess me not knowing was a good thing then?” He asked.

She smiled at him. “Yes, it let us get to be, friends.”

“That’s good, I honestly can’t picture my life without you Pyrrha, you’ve helped me so much that I wouldn’t have made it past initiation.”

She blushed deeper at that. “I knew there was talent in you, and I wanted to see that brought out, plus as your partner I had to help, although I guess I’m not your only partner now.”

Jaune gave a small laugh, “Yeah, you could say that I got lucky having the two best partners on the planet and then some.”

She smiled at him as he had a point with that.

Jaune’s face fell a bit as he thought of another secret, he was keeping from her. He had gone this far so maybe he should just go all the way. “There’s one last thing, you see it’s how I got into Beacon.”

He explained everything, how he got his transcripts and how he used them to get his way into the school with no training or knowledge. As she listened to his story everything started to fit into place, why he didn’t have his aura unlocked or even knew about it, or anything about being a huntsman that should have been basic knowledge. She always knew it was very strange but now, now it was all too clear.

“Jaune, what you did was reckless, you could have been killed without aura.” She scolded him.

“I didn’t know!” He defended himself.

“Exactly,” she pointed out. “If I hadn’t thrown my weapon at you and stopped your falling at initiation you could have died.”

“I wasn’t expecting to be launched off a cliff,” he hadn’t known what to expect. Looking back, he had big dreams of being a huntsman but the more time in Beacon the more he realized just how underprepared he had been. More than once he had started to realize just how much it took to be a huntsman.

“Yes, well that was not exactly normal,” She hadn’t heard of any kind of test like that, but they all had been trained to deal with events that could happen. How to use your aura from preventing injury from falling was a standard in pre-combat schools. “Still, you should have researched a little before doing something so dangerous.”

“I know,” he moaned. “Believe me, I’ve learned my lesson on that.”

“Still, I’m surprised that no one caught on,” Pyrrha frowned.

“Maybe I’m just that good?” He joked but seeing her serious look he slumped a bit. “Well, I like to think I’m good enough to pass now.”

“You are,” she nodded. “Even before Valor showed up, I felt you had what it took. You were behind but you put in so much effort to try and become better. I could tell you were serious about becoming a huntsman so I wanted to help as best I could.”

“And you have been, believe me.” He nodded his head. “I would have been hopeless without you.”

She smiled at his words she felt a lot closer to Jaune in this moment. He had opened up and shared with her two very important secrets, also through the joining she had never felt so close to someone before now. It was like they had been totally naked in front of each other, a thought that made her blush as suddenly a sharp realization hit her.

“Jaune,” she asked slightly worried. “How much did you see when we were linked like that?”

He blinked not sure what she meant. “Well, nothing personal if that’s what you’re worried about, Valor told me he kept the memories more surface level stuff and nothing too deep, why?”

She mentally breathed a sigh of relief, “Oh I was just worried about, you know, private stuff going through it.”

“Oh! Uh, no, I got nothing like that,” He figured she meant really private memories like her dressing or showering. A thought that made him have mixed feelings of seeing her like that and respecting his friend and partner too much to enjoy such a thing.

Valor however did know what she was referring to, while he made sure nothing too embarrassing took place he did have to shift through things. He knew how she felt about Jaune, and it intrigued the symbiote. If things didn’t work out with Weiss, then perhaps Pyrrha would make for a suitable alternative mate. Of course, he didn’t know if his other choice of Yang felt so he would wait and see how this little drama played out. Besides, the people on this world valued privacy and unless he was asked by her, he wouldn’t betray her. She was showing a lot of trust in him, and he wouldn’t break such a thing.

Pyrrha was glad that her feelings were not sent through, she wasn’t sure how she could feel if they were revealed, she just wasn’t ready yet to tell him. Just the thought of it sent a sense of anxiety through her that she hadn’t felt since her first ever matches when she began to compete. Now that everything was out in the open between them, she felt the pieces coming together. All the odd behaviors, the sudden knowledge and skills, his unrealistic growth. In fact, she was kind of relieved, yet also a bit excited.

“So Jaune, have you two been holding back?” She asked him. “In our training have you two been working together?”

“Yeah, sorry it can’t be helped.” He scratched the back of his head.

“So, what would it be like to spar with you when you both are able to let loose?” She was curious now, the suit she was looking at was a living being so what else could they do together?

“I mean, kind of, we can’t go all out unless Valor is covering me like now,” he gestured to the white suit from the neck down.

“Then for our next sparring session I want to see how you both handle things when you are not holding back.”

“Seriously?” He asked as she nodded. “Well, I got to warn you, we got some surprises in store for you.”

“I look forward to it,” He smiled at him. She couldn’t wait to see what they were truly capable of, not only that she was going to fight an actual living alien. How many people could say that they did that? “We’ll have to find an area that no one will disturb us.”

“Yeah, we were going into Vale to practice some stuff out of the way of the school.” Jaune admitted.

“Oh, right the vigilante, that was you two wasn’t it.” It was more of a statement then question.

Jaune shrugged, “Didn’t mean for that to happen we just came up on this guy robbing a dust store who turned out to be his major criminal.”

“Still if we’re going to have you go all out, we’re going to need some privacy,” she thought about it. “Maybe we can go into the wooded areas at night.”

“What like into the forest?” Jaune asked her not sure he wanted to go train in a Grimm infested forest at night.

“Oh no, not there we might get interrupted by Grimm and students aren’t allowed to go into the Emerald Forest after dark.” She explained. “I mean the forested area on campus, there are trees along the outer edges and I’m sure we can find an open spot to train. It should have less of a chance to be spotted by other students since most would use the training rooms. I think we can use the trees behind the walls near the entrance. If we go in far enough it should be enough and yet still close enough to the school.”

Given that Emerald Forest was below a cliff the school was save from Grimm in that area. In fact, she was planning to go in the opposite direction of the cliff face. They could in theory use the actual area where they had started the initiation, but she didn’t like the idea of training next to a drop like that. It was just begging for something to go wrong.

Jaune thought about it, “So wait, why haven’t we tried that before now?”

Pyrrha blushed a bit in embarrassment. “I didn’t really think about it until now. We were only doing the basics, so I figured this was enough room. I believe that there is also a curfew at night for students to stay on campus grounds so we would have to…bend the rules.”

“Well, I’m no stranger to that,” Jaune laughed awkwardly in reference to his fake transcripts.

“I guess the only question is, what about Ren and Nora?” Pyrrha asked him. “I don’t like keeping this from them, but I would understand. This is a huge secret and while I trust them, Valor would need to feel safe about this.”

~This is a reason I like her~

‘Yeah, she’s always putting others ahead. But what do you think?’

Valor was mulling it over, the two seemed like trustworthy members of the team. It would make is much easier for them to continue on in Beacon if they had allies that could cover up for certain things. Like Jaune’s new eating habits or his new growth. If Pyrrha figured it out it would only be a matter of time before others did, especially in the small group of friends that Jaune had.

Pyrrha had taken it well, although the shock at first had been a bit worrying. There was also the fact that he wasn’t sure Nora could keep her lips shut about it. The girl did like to talk, mostly because she let her mouth run away from her. He was unsure that if she promised not to talk, she would still accidentally say something while excited. Ren was the quiet type so Valor felt his silence was guaranteed but also because of his quiet nature it was hard to get a sense of the young man.

“Jaune?” Pyrrha asked seeing him go silent.

“I asked, he’s thinking it over.” He explained to her.

~I think I made a decision~

TBC..

What do you think should or will Valor explain himself to the rest of team JNPR? Find out next update.

Chapter Text

So, some people might be for this, others might be against this. The thing is, I feel this is the best thing for the story. Plus, I was eventually going to let everyone find out over time and I feel the time is right for this.

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 19: The Fifth member

So here Jaune was, in this team’s room having a team meeting over, well over their newest member. He was thankful that Pyrrha was here to help with things, it had been hard enough to explain everything to her but to both Ren and Nora? Well, he managed to get through it, the reactions were opposites of each other as Ren sad there in quiet stunned surprise, his eyes wide with shock, Nora was…well Nora.

“YOU HAVE AN ALIE-HEEMMM!” Nora’s shout was quickly silenced as a tendril from Jaune’s arm quickly went across the room to cover her mouth.

“Shhh!” Jaune whispered. “Nora, not so loud with that word, he’s kind of sensitive about people knowing.”

Nora tried to speak but with the symbiote gently covering her mouth her words are muffled.

“I think you can left go now,” Pyrrha told both Jaune and Valor.

“Oh right, sorry.” Jaune retracted the symbiote.

“Do it again!” Nora smiled brightly.

“What?! No!” Jaune wasn’t sure he wanted to do that again to her. He could also feel Valor’s feelings of apprehension. Then got a memory of Nora’s tongue on the symbiote when it covered her mouth. “Wait, did you lick him?”

“I was curious what it tasted like,” Nora shrugged nonchalantly. “And for your information, he tastes kind of earthy with a hint of liquorish.”

Jaune blinked as that was information, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what his symbiote tasted like.

~In my long life I have never been licked just to see how I tasted…I don’t like it, maybe it was a mistake to tell them~

‘It was your idea.’

~And I am having second thoughts~

‘Well, it’s too late now.’

Ren noticed the odd facial expressions Jaune was having as something clicked. “Are you…talking with…’him’ at the moment?”

“Oh, right sorry, yeah,” Jaune scratched the back of his head as the suit pulled back leaving him in his normal clothing. “I’ve gotten so used to it that I don’t even think about it anymore.”

“I see,” Ren simply said but his mind was going a thousand miles an hour. There was just so many things this revelation brought he was having a hard time adjusting. First was that aliens indeed exist, they were not alone in the universe. In fact, from what Valor, Pyrrha and Jaune explained, the universe was filled with life. Another was that Jaune hid this from them, at first, he was starting to worry that this symbiote could be influencing him.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” Pyrrha explained. “I was hesitant as well but as I got to know him, I can see he’s only had what was best for Jaune at heart.”

“Yeah, he’s been a real big help and honestly he’s been a good friend to me,” Jaune said truthfully. “I know I kept it secret but it’s not exactly an easy thing to bring up, he was also a little unsure given that most films I’ve seen the aliens are the bad guys and he was afraid we would immediately think he was an evil alien to conquer the planet or something.”

“And you’re sure he’s not?” Ren asked.

“No, Ren, come on.” Jaune spoke on his alien partner’s behalf.

“I have to ask the question,” Ren held up a hand in defense. “What do you know about him? I mean really know? How do you know he’s not effecting you mentally? How did he get into that asteroid to begin with?” Ren asked.

Valor winced as he had never truly explained that, and he could sense Jaune suddenly realized he had never asked that. Valor could see that Ren was being cautious. He would be a little harder to put at ease. Valor asked permission to take over as Jaune relaxed controls, the symbiote formed around him once again.

“That was my prison,” Valor explained.

“Prison?” Pyrrha asked.

Valor nodded and then looked at Ren. “You asked so I’m telling you. You see there is a give and take with being a host and symbiote. There is a joining between us, we can become one being and yet individual. Because of this progress there is a certain bleeding effect between the minds of both of use. As he learns from me, I learn from him. Jaune has gained a bit more confidence with me being there in his mind.”

“But there is a darker aspect, my kind is also influenced by the hosts. We take great pains to choose our hosts because of this, if we choose poorly then negative aspects can take hold within us.”

“So, if you get a good guy like Jaune you’re good?” Nora asked as she thought she was following along, and Valor nodded. “What if you picked up a bad guy as a host?”

Valor paused as he took a breath. “The group I was with landed on a planet very far from here and very long ago, I have no idea as I was in a rock floating in space for a long time. But we thought we found good hosts, at least I did. But the others did not, they were slowly being corrupted by their hosts darker impulses. They…tore me from my host.”

Jaune could feel the pain in that statement as flashes of memories came to mind. Of how painful both physically, mentally and emotionally it was.

“My host did not survive and as ‘punishment’ a slow death was given to me. To put me into a rock around the orbit of the world and sent into the void to slowly die over time. We can survive for many centuries or longer without a host or others of our kind, if we can conserve ourselves but eventually, we will need a host.”

“So that is how I came to be trapped in that rock, also to your question of if I’m influencing him. Yes and no, it is the same influence you all have on each other. People can influence you in life it is only so much more intense between a symbiote and host because of how joined we are together. In some cases, the personalities resonate and feed off each other. I heard how some even take on the host’s full personality because of how compatible they are.”

“Does this answer your questions?”

Ren could hear the emotion in his explanation, he could feel the great loss when talking about being ripped from his previous host. It was still a little hard to get used to the idea that Jaune was sharing his body without any kind of side effects, but he would reserve judgement at least. The symbiote hadn’t done anything overtly hostile at least.

Jaune wasn’t sure what to think, he never saw this side of his symbiote. ‘You never told me this before.”

~It is…painful to think about~ Which was true, for a true Klyntar the bond between symbiote and host was a precious thing. To lose one’s host was like losing a piece of oneself, they knew that they would most likely outlive their hosts but that didn’t lessen the pain of such a thing. Symbiotes might not have the family ties that most sentient races did but when you bonded with another being on such a level it was impossible to not feel anything.

Nora however immediately went up and hugged Jaune/Valor as the symbiote was surprised by her actions.

“What are you doing?” Valor asked confused.

“You sounded like you needed a hug so I’m giving you one,” Nora simply told the alien.

Valor wasn’t sure what to say to something like that, no one every really gave him a hug so to speak. It felt strange, he had felt hugs sure, but they were for the hosts never for himself.

~I’m unsure what to do here~

‘Just hug her back,’ Jaune replied.

So, the symbiote awkwardly hugged her back, it felt just so strange to be the center of affection for once. His species wasn’t exactly the affectionate type for others outside of their hosts. They were the only real bonding experience they had. While the hug was nice it was also outside of his comfort zone and decided enough was enough and pulled back into Jaune where it felt more at home.

“Awww,” Nora pulled back. “I guess he’s just shy.”

Pyrrha had to cover her mouth at the idea of the alien being shy, it was just funny for her for some reason. Who ever heard of a shy alien?

~I’m not shy~

Jaune didn’t say a word but if he had to put a description to how that sounded like, it almost sounded like his symbiote was pouting.

"Still, this is the coolest thing,” Nora was a bundle of energy now as she got excited. “I knew Jaune was a great leader and now he’s got an alien buddy makes him even better. Oh, does this mean we have to change our team’s name? We technically got five members now, where to put the V? JNPRV? PRVJN? JRVNP? This is hard, how does Ozpin keep coming up with all these team names all the time when it’s all randomized?”

“I don’t think we can change the team’s name, not without explaining why,” Pyrrha told her.

“Oh right, secret alien teammate…how about just for us? I’ll keep workshopping it, I’ll figure out a way to include Valor, does he had a last name I can use?”

“No, in fact I picked the name as Klyntar’s don’t really have permanent names, symbiotes are kind of like that.” Jaune shrugged remembering the little history lesson he was given by his symbiote. Sometimes a symbiote would carry a name for a few hosts but sometimes the hosts liked a different name.

Ren rubbed his chin, while he wasn’t sure what to make of the symbiote learning more about the species might help. Plus, he had to admit he was fascinated by what he could learn.

“So, what else can you do?” Nora asked them eagerly.

“Uh, well there’s this?” Jaune flung his hands out as his clothing now shifted from school uniform to the fancy clothing he wore at his time with Weiss.

“Cool,” Nora looked it over as she even felt the arms. “It feels like real clothing.”

“So that’s where you got those clothes,” Pyrrha said softly to herself she had been wondering about that, despite his explanation as she never saw him arrive or place them anywhere. It wasn’t a big room after all, so she was wondering why she had never noticed them.

“Yeah, he’s also been helping me get in better shape,” Jaune admitted. “Since he can help heal my body he can help with the muscles.”

That got Pyrrha’s attention, “Of course, that’s why you’ve been physically improving so fast. If your muscles are rebuilt fast enough and the acids taken away, you can work out longer and harder.”

“So that’s why you’re so much more buff now,” Nora grinned poking him a little. “Yep, no more baby fat here.”

“Nora!” Jaune stook a step back rubbing the area she poked a little embarrassed. She only giggled in response.

Ren tilted his head, “So does this have to do with your recent odd food cravings too?”

“Oh that, yeah. He needs some,” He pauses as the alien tells him the name as he can never remember it. “Phenethylamine that’s it. Got some pill supplements for it now but that’s why I’ve been eating things like cheese, chocolate, fish, radish and stuff. It has it in there, but the pills certainly have been helpful. He’s not as ‘hungry’ anymore thankfully.”

“So, wait wouldn’t all that chocolate you eat have been working against you bulking up slightly?” Nora asked.

“Yeah, he can regulate that stuff. I could eat a ton of chocolate and not gain any weight.” Jaune shrugged and he was pretty sure he could literally eat a ton, well Valor could. Jaune wasn’t sure where things went when Valor ‘took’ them, he tried to explain it once, but the concept of a living tesseract gave him a headache.

“No fair!” Nora pointed at him in jealously. “You know how hard I have to work to keep my body like this?”

She sat on her bed and pouted with her arms crossed. “If I had a symbiote I could eat chocolate covered pancakes all day.”

“Sorry Nora, he’s one of a kind and we’re stuck together for better and worse.” Jaune shrugged at her.

“Still not fair, we all went on that mission. Any one of us could have gotten him.” Nora huffed hating the fact she missed out on this. This was the coolest thing ever and the more and heard about it the more she wished she had a symbiote. They sounded cool, well the good ones at least, the bad ones that sent Valor off alone in space not so much.

“You think anymore will show up?” Ren asked thinking about it.

Jaune tilted his head. “He says not really, the odds of him showing up here were pretty big. I mean you have no idea just how large space can be, I’ve only seen a little and, yeah, it’s huge.”

Pyrrha having similar small views could relate.

“He says that if another showed up it would be a long time from now or would have happened in the past a long time ago and we would have noticed it by now.” Jaune finished giving the message.

They stayed up a little later than normal just talking and asking questions and getting to know the new secret teammate for the team.

-The next Day-

Pyrrha was currently in class, but she couldn’t help but have her mind on other things. Mainly Jaune and Valor, she couldn’t believe what she had learned yesterday. She was starting to wonder how long it would take to feel ‘normal’ about all of this. Her mind kept going back to all those images she had, all that she was shown. The universe was just far vaster than she could have imagined.

Then she would look at Jaune, seeing him doing his best to take notes she knew that Valor was taking his own ‘notes’ down on everything he saw for them both. If she looked closely enough, she could see him tilt his head as though listening to something or the odd smile or expression would appear. You would think he was just thinking about something, which he could have been, but now she was wondering how much of that was him having a conversation with Valor.

She snapped out of her thoughts as she tried to focus back on the lessons, but it was so very hard. Yesterday had been something she never expected and while now all the strange little changes to Jaune made total sense in context, she was just having a hard time wrapping her mind around it all.

She was caught off guard when the bell sounded as she felt a little embarrassed that she once again lost focus. Fighting back a sigh she figured today was going to be a long day. She was nearly out the classroom door when Yang’s voice called out to her.

“Hey P-Money wait up,” Yang quickly caught up with the taller redhead. “You got a second?”

“Sure, what is it Yang?” She asked as they walked to the next class.

“Well first, if you’re trying to make eyes at Jaune you might want to get his attention first,” the blonde grinned.

“W-what?”

“You were making eyes at him all class, not very subtle of your,” Yang teased.

Pyrrha blushed, while she was aware she had been looking at Jaune she didn’t think how it could be mistaken for something else.

“Hey, no worries, I know what you are feeling,” she said in a lower tone making sure no one else overheard her. “But boy it’s bad today, did something happen?”

Pyrrha knew she couldn’t tell Yang the full story, it wasn’t really her secret to tell, but she felt bad about not sharing it. Yang had opened up and shared her feelings for Jaune and even though in a way they were rivals for the boy’s affection, she also felt a sense of solidarity between them. Opening up in that café was something she had never really done before.

“Kind of,” Pyrrha trailed off. “Mainly Jaune and I got to talking and then with our team. So, our team had kind of a bonding experience if that makes sense?”

Yang tilted her head as she thought about it. “Guess this is personal stuff between the team?”

“Very.” Pyrrha nodded.

“Then I won’t pry, not my business,” Yang could respect someone’s personal space but only up to a certain point. If someone was troubled, then her big sister side took over to try and help. Looking at Pyrrha it didn’t seem like something was troubling her. “At any rate you want a report on the Weiss front?”

“The what?” Pyrrha blinked.

“I asked Weiss how her non-date went,” Yang shrugged. “Although getting information out of that girl is like pulling teeth. The short of it is, she seemed to enjoy herself.”

Pyrrha’s face darkened a bit which Yang picked up on.

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly,” Yang sighed. “So, get this, Jaune apparently likes her singing and asked her if maybe we can get the group together for karaoke. Did you know that Weiss had no idea what that was? I mean just how sheltered is that? Anyway, she asked me about it and I was wondering if Jaune brought it up yet.”

“No, he hadn’t,” she shook her head. “But then again, we were kind of busy yesterday.

“Well, I think I can convince the rest of the team to go, Blake is a bit of a hard case to crack at time, but I think I can convince her. Ruby will be all for any team hangout so she would be the easiest. What do you think? Think you can get Ren and Nora into this?”

Pyrrha was pretty sure Nora would be all for it, Ren might just go along with it because the rest of the group was going. She had to admit maybe just going out and doing something normal would be just the thing her team could use after having a ton of revelations dropped on them. Also, she had never really gone out with friends like this before, she had been so focused on training and sponsors she barely had time for all the little things she missed out on.

Coming to Beacon and being on team JNPR was showing her just how much she missed out on.

“Since this is Jaune’s idea I assume he’s in and so am I, Ren and Nora won’t be hard to convince.” She stated.

Yang smiled broadly, “Cool, honestly, I think this is a good way to relax with everyone outside of school. Plus, you never know, maybe get a certain blonde’s attention?”

Pyrrha’s eyes widened a bit as she thought about it. She wasn’t all that confident in her singing, she had never done it before and apparently Weiss was good enough to sing in front of crowds. Maybe she could get closer in other ways? Looking at Yang she could see that the blonde was having similar thoughts.

“May the best girl win?” Pyrrha asked.

Yang only grinned. “Hell yeah, and no hard feelings after. I’ll set up a group chat,” she pulled out her scroll. “I just need all of JNPR’s contacts and we can set up a time and place. Maybe Friday afternoon so we don’t have to worry about classes?”

Pyrrha nodded her head pulling her own scroll out to give her the contacts. It was a few days away so maybe she could get in that sparing in the woods with Jaune, now that Nora and Ren were in on the secret, they all could maybe go? It would be nice to have them along so they too would know what Jaune was fully capable of. It also didn’t hurt to have two more sets of eyes on watch.

Maybe they could be used to monitor their aura? They needed a way to safely judge it as it was one of the reasons, they never used the wooded area near the school because there was no way to judge the aura level while sparring. But with their teammates, each one could connect to their scrolls and watch the levels in case of danger.

She actually found herself looking forward to it, she truly wanted to see what he or rather they could do without restrictions.

“You look to be in a better mood.” Yang commented.

“Oh, just, you know looking forward to it?” Pyrrha explained, she had forgotten Yang was walking with her to class in that moment, lost in her own thoughts.

“Good, because so am I.” She smiled back. “This is going to be fun and that’s what we should have now and then, fun. We’re going to be students only for a few years after that it’s on to missions and traveling the world. Not sure how often we’ll even see each other if we even stick to teams after it.”

Pyrrha never thought about that, after graduation would they all go on their separate ways, or would they stick together? Not all missions required a team of huntresses or huntsmen after all. She was enjoying her close friendships she had gained while here and the thought of losing that gave her a sense of emptiness.

“Then I hope we all at least keep in touch or work together in the future,” Pyrrha told her.

“You bet, plus it sounds like fun taking on real missions together with everyone,” Yang nodded her head thinking about it. “Well enough of the far future, that’s future us that have to worry about that. Right now, let’s just worry about the present and deal with that. I say we enjoy our time here while we can and make the most of it.”

“You certainly have a bright way of looking at things.” Pyrrha commented.

Yang shrugged. “I just like to look on the bright side of things and focus on the here and now. I just want to enjoy life to the fullest you know?”

They arrived at class as they each took their usual seats as class began, she tried to focus a bit more this time.

-Vale: Current Torchwick Hideout-

Roman signed as she slumped into a chair, it was another long day. He had to split his time between trying to gather a few gangs together to replace Junior’s people, stealing more dust and keeping ahead of the police. It’s not easy to hide large amounts of dust after all and he still had no idea why he was doing it. They weren’t even selling the stuff, he had a fortune in dust he could ship out, but he couldn’t, at least not yet.

He was told when things were done in Vale, he could sell it all off, but he had this nagging feeling the knife was pointed at his back already. Granted he was boxed in with no place to move so he would go along with it, it was the path to survival after all and he was if anything a survivor. He’d look for any way to continue on and if there was an escape route, he’d take it.

Thankfully he hadn’t run into that white costume freak again, Little Red or anyone else, but he doubted it was a one off. These things never were, but so far things were still moving forward if a bit slower than he would have liked.

He only got about a minute of rest at the foldup table in the middle of the shipping building he was using to store everything before Neo tapped him on the shoulder.

“Oh, what is it now? I swear if it’s because you’re having another craving for ice cream you’re more than old enough to do it your-“ He stopped when he heard the steps of a certain pair of high heeled shoes. People tended to have a sound to them, how they moved, how they walked and how their footwear sounded. It was important to have in his line or work when you could catch someone sneaking up behind you and it helped to know who that person might be.

‘Great, just what I needed,’ He mentally thought as he pulled himself together and turned around to see Cinder there.

“Cinder,” he gave a fake smile and welcome. “Another unannounced visit, careful, you can give a guy ideas.”

She let the comment roll off her like usual as she gave a small but slightly deadly looking smile in return. “I know but that video you got of that mysterious white clad figure, well my associate I showed it to needs a little more to work with.”

“Well, that’s the only one we got,” Roman shrugged.

“I know, which is why you’ll get more.” Cinder told him.

Roman paused as he could feel where this was going. “And how will I do that?”

“Simply cause more trouble, I’m sure someone like this will show up sooner or later. It’s only a matter of time, after all every trap needs bait.” She got to the table and leaned forward towards him.

Roman had to admit she had a point he got the sense of the young man (and he was certain it was under that mask) was the type to jump into trouble. Just like another annoying little brat in red he met not too long ago. “That’s going to get everyone’s attentions, police and Hunters.”

“You think you can’t handle it?” She said poking at his ego.

“Of course I can handle it, I just wanted you to know that this will slow down the dust side of things.” Roman pointed at the large shipping containers. “That may look like a lot but it’s still not everything and you were very specific about taking as much as I can.”

“Technically I said all of it.” She corrected.

“And I said that’s not possible, and the vast majority is what I can do,” He fired back. There was no way to steal from people’s personal stock of dust and there was the city’s reserve which was locked up tight. He’d need an army to break into it and out again and he wasn’t going to do that. Not to mention the dust that powered the city was equally locked tight with reserves.

The only dust he could get where those in transport or in shops and warehouses like the one they were in now. He wasn’t sure what the end goal was, but it certainly rose the price of dust a bit, but he doubted this was all for money. Cinder gave the impression that money for her was just a means to an end. No, power was the be all and end all for her, he figured. Which was worse, money was easier to come by but real power? That wasn’t so easy and to do so without money or influence was even more so.

No, she wanted personal power, the type that made people kneel before you because knowing what she could do to you if you didn’t, that was the name of her game.

Usually, it was the fanatics that liked that kind of power but there were the rare types like Cinder that weren’t fanatical. They were patient like a viper waiting for just the right moment to strike. He could see she was smart and worse she knew it.

Roman leaned back and took noticed of something. “Not babysitting the kids today?”

“They’re off looking into something for me,” Cinder didn’t tell them that they were sending messages to a few White Fang dead drops to keep them up to date and that Roman here would be an ally for them. Thankfully the messages were with Adam’s signature so even with the negative reactions to working with a human criminal, they would be obeyed.

Another reason was because the banter with them and Roman was a little tiring at times.

“So, do you think you can bring this person out or not?” She pushed the question.

Roman thought about it and looked to Neo who pulled out her scroll to say she was ready to film again. “I might know of a few locals that might want to cause some trouble. Maybe we can use the dust thefts and price increase to cover it up as locals just ‘protesting’ what’s going on.”

He could picture it, people causing violence in the streets, maybe a few well placed slogans. Maybe even get a few people actually involved, it would help if when the police started to crack down not every member was surprisingly had criminal records and/or part of known gangs.

Cinder could appreciate manipulation tactics, after all the grand plan for Beacon had a lot of that. It was so easy at times to sway the public, you just needed just enough of them to push in the right direction, and most would just go along with it because of ‘public opinion’, even if that opinion had been manipulated.

“This could take a few days and it should be good enough bait…so you want more video or something more?” Roman asked.

“Video is preferred but if you can get a sample of whatever that suit is made of that will work too.” Cinder explained.

“It did seem weak to fire dust,” Roman muttered. “If I’m lucky I can bring in what’d left of it off his corpse, but that’s only a best-case scenario. I won’t promise anything, but we’ll at least get in some good video for you.”

“Good,” she smirked as she pushed herself off the table and walking out of the building. “I’ll be in touch.”

“Of course you will,” Roman silently said when he was certain she was out of earshot. He signed and looked to Neo. “Guess we’ll have to call in some rough boys…you think the Twins are up for some chaos?”

Neo signed the word ‘Malachites?’ back to him.

“Oh no not them, well, now that I think on it maybe. Sure, them too if they’re up for it, I was thinking of the DD Twins and Humphrey and his Egg Boys.”

Neo rolled her eyes.

“I know they aren’t the best or the brightest but when you need some brainless thuggery, they are the ones to do it. We need people to cause trouble and who better than them? They are always looking to start something and paying them to run wild for a bit is just the excuse they need.”

Neo tilted her head side to side thinking on it but eventually she nodded, it sounded like something those gangs would want. They were pretty low on the criminal totem pole which was why they weren’t pulled into this plan with Cinder and whoever else she was with. They were street thugs that had small territories not because of manpower but because no one really wanted their territories.

“Neo, I think it’s time we visited a few local thugs for and offer of some paid fun and violence.” He stood up wanting to get started.

Neo grinned as she liked the sound of both of those things.

TBC..

So, I decided to add in a few gangs to the city, like Lil’ Miss Malachite is an allusion to Little Miss Muffet these are ones I made are based other nursery rhymes and fables, mainly Alice in Wonderland and someone on a wall, so I think you can guess which is what.

Chapter Text

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 20: Full Contact

Jaune woke up to a day where he felt a bit lighter, mainly because the weight on his shoulders that he hadn’t even realized he had, was lessened a bit. His team finally knew about the secret alien residing inside of himself. It felt like this wall he had put up was torn down between them all. Sure, it took a little getting used to be supposed but he felt in the end this would only make the team stronger as a whole.

They met with their sister team, team RWBY as usual at the tables. It was a very familiar setting and Jaune had to admit that he was getting used to the fact he had people he looked forward to seeing every day at every meal.

“So have you guys seen the news?” Yang asked them during their morning meal.

“What news?” Pyrrha asked her.

“Looks like Vale is going nuts,” Yang pulled out her scroll to show them news reports on various incidents the last few days. It showed buildings and stores being vandalized, physical assaults, muggings and the like were going up and the police were starting to stretch a bit thin one insider source claimed.

“Vale is usually a lot nicer than this,” Blake thought out loud. It was the reason she had picked Vale to go to Beacon. Well, it was the closest one as well after she left Adam on that train but given her four options Beacon seemed liked it was one of the better choices. Haven was too far and while it had a Faunus in charge, she wanted to keep her Faunus heritage under the radar. Atlas was right out for many reasons, Shade well it was just too hot for her. Plus, Vale had better access to things like books and sea food which she loved.

It also had a history of a more tolerant nature towards Faunus.

“Usually, the kingdom of Vale is a bit more peaceful,” Ruby tilted her head thinking on it. She and her sister might be from a small corner of Vale but that didn’t mean they weren’t unaware of the status of their kingdom after all.

“Yeah,” Yang nodded her head. “Something is going on.”

“Should we cancel the plans to go out Friday?” Pyrrha asked.

“It would seem a shame to change our lives just because of a few dissidents.” Weiss put her thoughts out there. She and her family had a long history of doing just that, even despite all the acts and threats of violence against her family from extremists like the White Fang, her family would not be brought down by such tactics.

“I say we go, I refuse to alter my plans just because of this,” Weiss stated sitting up even straighter than normal. “If you allow yourself to have others walk over you or push you around, they will be doing it to you all your life.”

“Well, can’t argue with that logic,” Yang shrugged.

“Cool, this should be fun,” Ruby’s eyes lit up. “We haven’t had the chance to do much as a team in town anyways and this could be fun.”

“But maybe we should be prepared in case of the worst,” Blake commented.

“Fair enough,” Weiss nodded.

It wasn’t illegal to walk around armed after all if you have either the permit for it and given their status as students of Beacon they had those permits. In fact, you had to have it in your first year in prep-school in such places like Signal. It was a bit looser outside of the major cities where Grimm attacks were more common of course but that wasn’t really part of the issue here.

~I hope the music isn’t too loud~ Valor groaned.

‘Why?’ Jaune asked.

~Extreme noise hurts like fire does, it’s a lot less when I’m inside of you though.~

‘Well okay but let me know if it’s too much and I can make an excuse like needing to go to the bathroom. Remind me to tell the others, maybe they can help cover or make sure the music isn’t too loud.’ Jaune offered.

He had a sense of thanks from the symbiote as he went to dig into his breakfast. He had other things to go over today, mainly for tonight’s full on sparing match with Pyrrha. He was both thrilled and a little hesitant. This was Pyrrha after all, it was painfully obvious she was possibly the strongest student at Beacon and not just for the first years. He was going up against her and this time he couldn’t hold back.

He wasn’t sure if they were ready for this but a part of him was curious, just how far could they go? He wasn’t the same person he was when he first showed up to Beacon, he had grown, he had gotten stronger, and he wasn’t alone.

He felt a sense of encouragement coming from Valor as he was thankful for it.

Tonight, he was going to see what they were made of and no matter what he was going to do his best. It was time to see what all his training up until now had done for him.

-Later that Night-

Team JNPR were walking down the large stone bath that ran in front of the school. Jaune and Pyrrha were geared up while Nora and Ren were not wearing the school uniform. The sun had set so they were taking advantaged of the night to get in the special sparring for their team. Pyrrha was looking forward to this to see just what Jaune and Valor were capable of without holding back. Halfway down the long path they took a turn into the light woods that were on either side of it.

They didn’t want to go too deep, but this would be a nice out of the way area and by this point no one should walk in on them. They walked through for about ten minutes before they found a nice open area that they could use.

“Okay then, let’s link up our scrolls,” Pyrrha walked over to Nora and Jaune walked over to Ren as their paired them linking the data. While their scrolls would keep track of their aura, they didn’t have the school’s system to link to in order to see where they were. That’s why Ren and Nora were here, they would monitor each of them to make sure they didn’t go into the red or beyond.

After that was done both partners went to their positions, Ren and Nora by the trees while Jaune and Pyrrha were in the center of the clearing.

“Are you ready?” Pyrrha called out.

“Almost,” Jaune pulled out his weapons as suddenly the symbiote covered him in the white armor he was used to using. Pyrrha grinned as she got ready her shield up and her main weapon turned into rifle mode with it resting in the grove of her shield at eye level.

“Alright you two,” Nora said smiling as she raised an arm and then quickly dropped it. “Go!”

Pyrrha started off shooting at Jaune/Valor as he moved forward using the shield to block each shot. She focused to take shots at his head to make him move the shield there. It was a tactic she used to blind others that used them so she could move to a new position. However, as she jumped to the side and kept firing Jaune reacted without hesitation.

The shield was still up but he was quickly closing the distance as if he could see her. Then she realized her mistake, Jaune could see her. Or at least Valor was and was relaying the information to Jaune. Valor had no ‘eyes’ technically and viewed the world with a 360 degrees around himself. She didn’t let that little surprise get to her as she quickly changed tactics as she switched her weapon into sword mode and went on the attack.

Jaune could feel the strength of his symbiote as they worked together, it was strange it was like everything was heightened when Valor was outside of him.

~Here she comes~

Jaune mentally nodded as sword met shield and they exchanged blow after blow. He had to admit that Pyrrha’s attacks were strong and fast but with his symbiote he just might be stronger and almost if not just as fast.

Pyrrha could feel the force of each blow she took on her shield or she had to deflect with her weapon. The impact of them were far more than she had ever felt from someone. She wasn’t sure just how much stronger he was with the symbiote, but she was sure it was a lot stronger than how Jaune was normally. She felt the impacts hit her hard, they were very big blows given his size and frame. She had to adjust to start deflecting the blows more or else he would wear her down if she took the blows straight on.

Jaune could feel pushing himself to get better as the spar went on, he had never gone full out before with Valor so they were both learning how to be in sync at this level of combat. They were slowly learning what their top speeds were, what their top strength was. Pyrrha was pushing them to find what their upper limits were. Ther was a sense of thrill in it as Jaune finally felt like he was starting to stand on par with her.

~I think it’s time we take this up a notch~

‘Agreed,’ Jaune mentally nodded as his arms seemed to shoot out and extend.

Pyrrha’s eyes widened as she suddenly found the gap between them no longer existed as his arms holding the sword and shield extended with the weapons. She quickly moved out of the way of the shield deflected the sword off her own shield but as they moved in midair, they suddenly changed directions as the ‘arms’ could bend at any point.

Thankfully her semblance helped to keep her ahead of them. She could feel the metal of Jaune’s sword and shield, she tried to deflect them as per normal but felt resistance.

“That won’t work with us,” Jaune/Valor spoke as one. “We know that little trick of yours.”

Pyrrha continued to move like a dancer, dodging, flipping and countering them as she could. She waited as she gathered up her semblance and in one large burst, she first set up a reverse polarity field to send his weapons way and then on her own weapons and armor to send herself shooting forward.

Since they knew about her semblance her usual tactic of being subtle with it wasn’t going to work, so she was going to switch it up and go all out. Using her magnetic ability to make herself go ‘faster’ was a hard trick to master but it was worth it. It was why she wore more metal armor than most students over her body. It wasn’t just for protection but so she could use her semblance on herself as well.

She dashed through the gap between them like a rocket as she kicked him once in the chest and followed up with a vertical slash of her sword as she spun around and hit him with face of her shield knocking him back.

The symbiote extended from his back and pushed off making his backwards fall turn into a half backflip as he landed on his hands and knees his arms pulling his weapons back.

~Okay…that was impressive~

‘Yeah, she’s one of the best for a reason,’ Jaune slowly got up as the two started to circle each other.

~That magnetic power is annoying to deal with since your weapons are metal, I’m trying to keep them going but it’s like fighting against a current, thankfully I’m not metal so she can only focus on the weapons~

And idea hit Jaune as the symbiote could see what he was thinking.

~Ohhhh, that just might work~

‘Okay she changed things up so let’s do the same.’ Jaune shifted his stance as Pyrrha waited to see what he was up to.

“This is getting good, what do think is going to happen next?” Nora asked excitedly from the sidelines.

“I’m not sure but they seem to have something planned,” Ren watched closely. It was rare for a single person lasted this long against Pyrrha so far in school, in fact they were reaching most likely the record for how long she had fought in the combat class.

Pyrrha had her shield up and sword resting on it getting ready. Suddenly the symbiote went over the sword and shield and just like that her sense of them vanished. It was like the weapons were suddenly not there. She could see their outline, but she couldn’t find them. That’s when Jaune launched the attack like last time but this time she couldn’t sense the weapons.

She couldn’t alter their path or keep them away. She was so focused on them she didn’t notice at first when Jaune started coming closer this time he was coming to her. She saw it and did a jumping spin kick to his chest but instead of a solid hit she felt her foot impact something a lot less solid.

“Not this time,” they said.

She noticed she was falling now, except for her foot. She caught a look of it stuck in his chest looking like her foot stepped into white mud as Jaune then twisted his body and then suddenly the grip on her foot was released. She tumbled to the ground, but she rolled with it and then kicked up into a crouch. A strand of her red hair had come loose into in her face as she tried to blow it out of her line of sight.

“Someone is having fun,” Jaune/Valor said.

“What makes you say that?” Pyrrha asked.

“You’re grinning.”

She paused as she realized she was grinning she was in fact enjoying herself. It had been so long since she felt she could push herself and Jaune with Valor was doing just that. She couldn’t rely on her semblance like normal and had to use it in ways she hadn’t normally done until this moment. The symbiote gave Jaune such a versatile way of fighting it was hard to tell what would happen next.

The thrill of it all, she hadn’t felt like this since her first tournament. After that everything seemed to just get easier and easier. There was no real challenge in it for her anymore, it was one of the reasons she retired from the tournaments. She just stopped enjoying them.

Today though in this moment in time however, Pyrrha was enjoying herself as she launched herself forward to attack again.

Nora and Ren’s eyes widened at the renewed attack that Pyrrha was doing, she was moving faster now but Jaune was somehow keeping up with her.

“I’ve never seen them go out like this,” Nora watched as the two seemed to not tire but just kept attacking and defending. Neither of them getting in a solid hit despite them trying. Pyrrha was using years of training and experience to keep ahead of Jaune who, while impressive, wasn’t used to fighting with Valor fully.

“It is impressive,” Ren took note of Jaune’s aura levels but they were still good. “How is Pyrrha’s levels doing?”

Nora jumped as she had forgotten to check. “Still in the green.”

~We can’t keep doing this, we have to break the stalemate.~

‘I’m open to suggestions,’ Jaune thought back trying to keep up his concentration. Valor was right, Pyrrha would take advantage of any opening they left for her. ‘Isn’t there any previous host that might have helped?’

The symbiote thought about it and gave Jaune a few quick ideas, Jaune saw them in his mind as flashes of insight as sone caught his attention. Since this was going nowhere it was time to overpower Pyrrha and overwhelm her. He waited for a few strikes when she was focused on his sword coming back when he unleashed the new attack upon her.

This time twelve tentacle-like appendages came out of various parts of his body, from the side of his arms, his chest, his back and thighs, they all came as several tips would form either copies of his shield or of his sword. Jaune was leaving the full control to Valor, there was just too much going on for a human mind to fully take control over.

Pyrrha was once again taken by surprise, she hadn’t expected such an attack. She tried to keep up but there were just too many things to keep track of. She felt a hard blow to her leg, to her shoulder, to her side and one clipping the side of her head. Then three of the shield limbs slammed into her sending her flying back.

She landed hard and rolled but only managed to be face down her head swimming from the hit. She shook her head looking up to see the distance and Jaune seemed to be waiting for her. While she appreciated the kind gesture, he needed to learn to press the attack. She got to her knee and quickly changed her weapon and started firing at the extra limbs.

The symbiote this time took the hits to its form, Jaune’s shield wasn’t protecting it from the fire dust rounds as they impacted.  Jaune could feel the pain from each shot, every shot felt like he was setting stung by a bee and Pyrrha was firing a lot of rounds.

~This really hurts!~

‘I know,’ Jaune gritted his teeth their assault stopped as the symbiote pulled back it’s mass to try and protect itself in vain. If only Valor had aura to help, wait, aura could be expanded to a short degree so what if he expanded it around Valor?

~Worth a try(Ow)we need to(Ow)do something-OW! Okay that one really hurt!~

Jaune had never tried this before, but he felt for his aura, Pyrrha had been helping him understand his aura in their training, she said it would help him discover his semblance on day. While he had no idea what his semblance was, he felt for that warmth inside of himself and gently pulled it to the surface. He pushed that feeling into Valor through their link.

He could feel Valor sigh in appreciation as her shots weren’t hurting him as much. Both felt the impacts, but the searing pain of the fire was manageable now. Jaune’s limbs reached out trying to latch onto Pyrrha as she pulled away.

She could tell something was different, her shots at first were doing something but now she could see the pale-yellow impact on Jaune’s aura now on the symbiote. She smiled knowing what he had done, now she had to break his aura to get at the symbiote who was also protecting Jaune. It was like a double layer of defense now.

She hadn’t used her weapon in javelin mode in yet but if she could find just one hole to get a good shot and threw with all her strength it might be enough. His aura had already taken some hits so while she knew he had a lot of aura it might be enough to break it or at least weaken it. She switched modes to the third and final form of her weapon as she continued to dodge the extra limbs. She was trying to keep track, but it was so very difficult to do.

‘There!’ she thought her eyes widened at the small gap in defense. She was moving into position and about the throw her weapon.

“STOP!” Ren called out as both combatants stopped to look at him. Ren pulled up his scroll to show them. “Jaune, your aura just entered the yellow.”

“Wait what?” Nora asked looking at him in surprise and then as the scroll in his hands.

“But we weren’t hit,” Jaune stated in confusion as the symbiote pulled away from his head as the limbs retracted.

Ren’s brow knitted together as he looked at the scroll. “Actually, your aura is still going down, are you using it?”

“Oh right,” Jaune stopping pour his aura into his symbiote. “How’s that?”

Ren took another look and nodded. “There, it’s stopped.”

Everyone gathered together to look at the results of the spar, Jaune pulled back the symbiote. Pyrrha for her part felt her breathing recovering. Jaune and Valor had really pushed her, and she was disappointed that the spar ended the way it had. Still, at least with this she got a better understanding of what Jaune could do with the symbiote. There was still a lot more that could be discovered, and she was looking forward to it. She had been pushed to match his strength and speed using her semblance on her own armor for most of the fight there at the end.

She would have to refine that technique if she didn’t want to be left behind once Jaune got more comfortable using Valor and they gained more experience working together.

“See look at this,” Ren showed them the recording of the aura level for Jaune as they looked together at his scroll. “Your aura was steadily draining at this point.”

~Using your aura like that must drain it trying to push it into me~

“Valor thinks that when I used my aura to cover him it created some kind of drain.” Jaune looked at everyone. “Does that make sense?”

Ren thought it through closing his eyes deep in thought. “You can extend your aura to protect yourself.” Ren remembered doing just that to block the fang of the King Taijitu as he continued one. He even used his semblance back when he and Nora were children to hide both of them from the Grimm that day in the village when they became orphans.

“I know you can push aura into others and into objects,” Pyrrha spoke up. “But it’s usually limited in some way to the aura levels of the person.”

“We still have no idea how exactly the symbiote uses the aura.” Ren tilted his head looking at the data. “It doesn’t make sense for it to drop this fast, given it’s the same mass and size as Jaune.”

~Oh, I think I see the problem, let me talk~

Jaune nodded as the symbiote covered him as he started to talk. “I think I can explain that you see symbiotes size, weight and dimensions are not as fixed as we appear. We can change all that to suit our needs like this.”

Suddenly Jaune’s form bulked up looking twice as large as his muscles grew to looking like a champion weightlifter as he few two feet in size. Then he shifted back down to normal again. “As you can see, we can change not only our size but volume. There is an upper limit we can reach however.”

“That…makes no sense,” Ren blinked in confusion. “What you say goes against the laws of physics.”

“Only the ones you know about,” Valor replied a ‘smile’ forming on the face of the mask. “We symbiotes are living extradimensional tesseracts.”

“Uh…what does that mean?” Nora asked raiding her hand slightly as though she were in class. She looked to Pyrrha and Ren, but both weren’t sure what that was either. Jaune had heard this before, but he still wasn’t sure what it meant.

“Okay how to explain this,” Valor sighed and thought about it. “Okay you live in three dimensions; well, a tesseract exists in four. Think of a square, when you unfold it, then you get six squares. Now when you unfold a tesseract you get eight cubes.”

“I…think I need visual aids,” Nora blinked as Jaune mirrored it and was bonded to the alien.

“I’ll try to do one later,” Valor sighed wishing he could just show them. Wait, he could just show them. “Okay I can show you, everyone hold hands with me.”

He placed his hand out as Pyrrha placed hers on top, Nora eagerly jumped in although Ren was a little hesitant. He slowly placed it on Nora’s as the white symbiote slowly oozed over them. Pyrrha had this sensation before but now it was joined by two more minds. Nora and Ren were shocked by the ability to feel all the minds in the group like this.

Then the images started to appear in their mind of a cube, withing a cube with lines connecting the corners. They saw the cube expand to one side as it all morphed but suddenly the inner cube was replaced seamlessly. It was like the cubes were swallowing each other. Then the image sopped as it ‘unpacked’ itself and a line of cubes was revealed with one section having a cube on each surface making a small ‘dagger’ like form but all in cubes.

The symbiote pulled back at the link faded leaving Nora and Ren a little loss as the sudden mental gestalt they had shared left them.

“Whoa, is it always like that?” Nora asked.

“It felt more deeper when I did it,” Pyrrha commented. Every time that happened it was like she had to reorient herself.

“That was…an experience,” Ren had never felt anything like that before. It was so hard to put into words. He heard the term to ‘bare one’s soul’ before but now he felt he truly knew what that phrase meant.

“Okay cool, I think I get what this tessa-thingy is,” Nora looked to Jaune/Valor. “So how is it that using your aura with him drains it?”

“Because he’s pushing it into something a lot larger than it appears to be,” Pyrrha suddenly realized what was happening. The symbiote was basically ‘bigger’ than it appeared so when Jaune was pouring his aura into it, it took a lot more than what you would normally expect.

Ren picked up on this train of thought too. “So, by pushing your aura like this you drain it a lot faster.”

The symbiote pulled back once more to let Jaune speak. “Okay so, I guess this means I can only use this for limited time.”

“I would say so,” Pyrrha nodded her head. “While you can use it to protect Valor it is a weakness. Why were you using it like that?”

“It’s the fire dust rounds,” Jaune explained. “Fire is kind of his weakness; it really hurts him.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Pyrrha hadn’t known that fire round was just one of the many generic rounds she used.

“It’s okay, it’s kind of like getting stung for us,” Jaune shrugged. “Besides I’ll come across that again, better be ready for it. I guess I could use my aura to help defend him against just fire and turn it off when it’s safe.”

“That could still drain your aura quickly,” Ren told him. “And if it’s drained and the fire overwhelms Valor, you’ll be defenseless with your aura gone.”

~This is something we’ll need to think about~

Jaune nodded his head, “Yeah looks like we learned a bit more out of this than I originally thought we wound.”

“I have to admit I enjoyed myself,” Pyrrha told him. “I haven’t had to go that far in a long time. I hope we can do this more often.”

“Oh yeah with two super awesome team members we’re going to destroy all the other teams,” Nora proudly cackled.

“Jaune can’t just go all out though Nora,” Ren shook his head. “I’m not sure if having him suddenly covered in a living suit can be passed off as a semblance. It’s just too radically different from everything I’ve read about.”

‘Us too,’ Jaune and Valor thought at the same moment.

“At any rate we better get back,” Pyrrha noticed the time. “If we walk back now, we can be back before curfew.”

“Yeah, let’s not get on Professor Goodwitch’s bad side,” Nora while respecting their teacher also had a healthy does of fear for the woman. While fair she was also hard on you if you broke the rules.

“Maybe we should try this on the weekends when mostly everyone is going to the city to blow off steam or having fun?” Jaune asked.

Pyrrha nodded her head. “That could work plus the curfew is a lot laxer on weekends.”

“Well sounds like a plan but I want a shot at them too,” Nora grinned. “Seeing you two go at it makes me want to have a turn.”

Pyrrha smiled at the shorter girl, “I’m sure that can be arranged, after all we need to know what Jaune and Valor’s full potential are since he can’t come out in combat class, and we can’t use the training rooms in case someone walks in.”

“At any rate,” Jaune stretched out his arms, “I need to figure out a better way to use my aura to protect him, so it doesn’t drain as much.”

“I’m sure we’ll think of something,” Pyrrha told him.

With that team JNPR walked out of the forest and hit the main road back to the school.

TBC..

Chapter Text

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 21: Sing the Knight Away

It was Friday night and teams JNPR and RWBY were going out to have some fun together as a group. It had been a long week with a test on Friday and mostly everyone felt like they needed something to cheer them up. Weiss was confident about her test scores, as were Pyrrha, Jaune and Ren, after that it was a bit of a mixed bag. Yang and Blake felt they did fine, while Ruby and Nora hated tests. Mainly because they got anxious about them all the time.

It was especially tough on Ruby as she had a two-year gap, so she had to double down on her studying, thankfully everyone was willing to help her out. Jaune had his own ‘help’ with Valor of course but the group sessions helped him to fill in the blanks or understanding the concepts better.

“I really could use something to relax to,” Ruby stretched out as the groups made their way to the airfield for a ride in town.

“Yeah, this week just seemed to drag on,” Yang nodded. “All that extra studying on top of the assignment that was due on Thursday?”

“Please, don’t remind me,” Nora moaned she was just thankful for the weekend to finally relax a bit.

“Well, this trip should help blow off steam,” Blake shrugged. Honestly, she wasn’t much of a music person, but Yang said they could swing by a bookstore before they got to the karaoke place, she found. That worked out as she had a few books on order she had been trying to find the time to pick up.

Thankfully it wasn’t to Tukson’s books, it was a shame she had to ignore his store. Being part of the White Fang he was one of their contacts in the city and she was pretty sure Adam would have put the word out about her by now so staying away from a place like that was important. Also walking in with Weiss after she had left the White Fang, well that’s just asking for trouble.

She mentally sighed, it was a shame, she liked Tuskon, he was a good man but now that she had abandoned the White Fang, she was most likely as seen as a traitor now among who knew how many members by this point.

Thinking about it logically she came up with several scenarios. Either he would inform the White Fang where she was, which she didn’t think he would do, but even if he didn’t, another member might see her there if she visited at the same time a White Fang member was also visiting that knew her. That was something she wanted to avoid, while she was sure he wouldn’t say anything if the other members found out he would be in trouble with them by protecting her.

So, in the end it was best to just stay away and avoid putting him into a bad and had found a new bookstore, it wasn’t as warm and friendly as Tuskon’s but it was decent enough, even if their inventory didn’t match up with Tuskon’s.

“So Jaune you got those vocal pipes warmed up?” Yang lightly teased him elbowing him.

He scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, not so confident in my musical talents.”

Especially not after the disaster that was when he tried to play a love song to Weiss with a guitar he barely knew how to play. He should have taken more lessons as he barely knew how to use it.

~I could help with adjusting your vocal cords while you sing~ Valor offered.

Jaune considered it but thought against it, he just wanted to have fun with everyone and while his team knew about Valor, if he suddenly started singing super well suddenly when team RWBY heard him sing originally it might be a bit too much to hide. They knew he was training and working hard to explain his rapid increase in strength and skill but suddenly singing without issue? Weiss of all people would pick up on that detail he figured.

So, he would relent to just not having a good singing voice, after all no one was perfect. Although maybe he could at least practice the guitar a bit more. That at least was a skill he could work on like his fighting skills. All you needed was time and practice.

“Well, it’s more about just having fun anyway,” Yang shrugged.

Jaune nodded and then looked to see she was wearing her weapons although in compact form. “Are you expecting trouble?”

Jaune pointed to her wrists as she looked down and shrugged. “Call me paranoid but things in Vale have been a little tense with all the vandalism going on. I just wanted an insurance in case something comes up, plus I’m the only one that can carry around their weapons without it being noticeable.”

Jaune had to admit she had a point about the last bit, her weapons when not extended looked like fancy bracelets. While they were able to carry around weapons as students, but generally when they went out into the city they didn’t, for several reasons.

‘Hey Valor, are you going to be okay with the music in a small room?’ he asked his symbiote.

~As long as it’s not too loud, at best it would give me what you would equate to as a ‘headache’ I believe~

He was a little in thought about that, he didn’t want his alien partner to get hurt from him trying to enjoy himself. He noticed Yang was looking at him strangely.

“What’s up?” She asked him. “You got that deep thinking face on.”

“Oh uh,” He really needed to work on his poker face when thinking or talking to his symbiote in public. He thought of what excuse he could bring up. “I just hope it’s not too loud, I got sensitive hearing.”

“Really?” Yang arched an eyebrow at that.

“Oh, he does,” Pyrrha jumped in realizing what was going on. “He’s told us this.”

“He did?” Nora asked before Ren nudged her gently. “Oh! Right, now I remember, it doesn’t come up often, so I forgot.”

“I’m the same way,” Blake commented although for her it was because of the cat ears she hid behind her bow. “So as long as things don’t get too loud, I should be fine.”

It was one of the problems being a Faunus, sure better hearing and sight are great but being in large crowds with lots of yelling and extremely loud music was not the best thing for her or those with heightened hearing. She was pretty sure that Velvet had similar issues with her rabbit ears.

“Damn, loud is part of the fun,” Yang sighed but she didn’t want to put Jaune and Blake out of the fun. Blake was her partner and Jaune, well that was a very complicated set of emotions for her. “Okay we can keep it to a level for everyone to enjoy.”

“Fine with me,” Ruby chipperly said.

“You’re in a good mood,” Nora commented.

“Hey, it’s the first time both our teams got to hang out that wasn’t in school. I haven’t done anything like this since I left Patch.” She explained. Ruby used to have her own circle of friends that she could hang out with after school but now they were two years behind her. She might never see most of them again, and even if they did come to Beacon, they would be first years while she would be a third year.

Another thing she hated was that she knew she was losing touch with them, she used to write every day but then it was every week. Now she had to remember to write them, and their responses were going the same route. She hated it but she knew that they had totally different lives now. It was one of the reasons she wanted this day out to go well. Blake, Weiss and team JNPR were here only friends here (well friend was still a little strong with Weiss, but she was sure they would become BFFs eventually).

“Yeah, we don’t get to all hang out much outside of school,” Nora nodded her head.

“Exactly!” Ruby pointed out.

The flight over to Vale was short and sweat and Jaune was again super thankful that his symbiote got rid of his motion sickness while flying. Vale was as busy as usual as first they hit the bookstore for Blake. Although while there a few of the others decided to get a few things themselves. Ren found a book on healthy diet foods that he wanted to try out later. Jaune while disappointed with no comics or even paperbacks, he did find a sci-fi book about someone traveling the stars.

Or as Valor pointed out after giving it a quick scan ‘Sci-comedy’ as there were so many things the writer obviously didn’t know about space. Still, Jaune thought it would be nice to see how it stacked up with reality.

Ruby found a book on the history of weapons, with full illustrations and blueprints, after seeing that she had to get it. Blake got a few books she would read later, one of them part of a series she currently got into.

The rest looked around, but nothing really interested them at the moment. After that they left and went on to the club area that Yang found. It was a slim building they came up to with a glass door and a sign over head that read “The Velvet Room”. Yang smirked at the sigh.

“You think Velvet secretly has a side job?” she joked.

“Velvet is a common name,” Blake rolled her eyes.

“True,” Yang nodded as they walked in. There was a small gathering area with someone working the desk off to the side.

“Hi there, how can I help you?” She asked politely.

“Yeah, we wanted a room,” Yang stated. “I booked one for use through the webpage.” She pulled out her scroll to have the confirmation email she got pulled up. The woman scanned the part that had the barcode on it as the system gave her all the info.

She told them the price as they all decided to collectively chip in as it was a group event. Weiss did offer to cover for them all but between the eight of them it was easy enough to cover their time. The woman gave him a key with the number 5 on it and gave them directions. They walked up the stairwell two flights to get to their room. The place had a central stairwell in the back and a small hallway on each floor with four rooms per floor.

They did notice the soft drink and snack machines on each floor as they entered their room. The room itself had two long couches on either side of the wall and one in the back making a large U form. There was a table in the center of it and a stage by the door with the teleprompter and stereos.

“Not bad,” Yang nodded her head.

“Sweat,” Nora jumped landed her butt onto the couch. “Oh, what’s this?”

She found a binder on the table next to a tablet device. Opening it she found a list of songs printed there with a number next to each song. It wasn’t hard to figure out that you input the number for the song to play. Next was the seating, as there was a bit of an awkward pause. Jaune was hoping to sit next to Weiss, who wasn’t really thinking about who to really sit next to, while both Yang and Pyrrha were hoping to sit next to Jaune.

Blake and Ruby sat down so Weiss did the same, Yang saw the opening and saw that Jaune was moving most likely to sit next to her. She knew it was a little dirty but all’s fair in love and war and all that. She was in a better position and sat down next to Weiss. Given it was all members of team RWBY sitting together it wasn’t something out of the ordinary anyway.

Jaune paused but mentally shrugged, it would have been nice to sit next to Weiss, but he got along with Yang, so it wasn’t all bad as he sat next to her.

Pyrrha seeing this knew exactly what Yang had pulled and had to give the blonde credit in tactically sitting next to Jaune. She decided to sit on Jaune’s other side given they were partners it was only natural. Ren taking the empty spot between Nora and Pyrrha as the last man standing.

“So, who wants to go first?” Jaune looked around.

“I say let the profession go first,” Yang nudged Weiss. “Show us how it’s done.”

“Yeah! I want to hear Weiss sing!” Ruby knew her partner could sing but she never got to hear her do it live. She had found a few videos online of her singing and she had a great voice. But hearing her life would be even better in her mind.

“I’m not sure,” Weiss took the book from Nora and scanned through them. She knew some of the songs, but her strict upbringing meant she had little exposure to certain types of music. Her father wouldn’t allow such things. Then she saw a very familiar song, familiar because some of the songs she had sung were on here.

Not all of them but a few at least. She saw the song ‘This life of mine’ and picked that one.

Ruby looked over her shoulder to see what she was typing in. “Oh hey that’s one of yours, neat.”

She remembered that song from one of the few songs she managed to listen to before.

“Really? Your own song?” Blake questioned.

“What’s wrong with that?” Weiss asked standing up and going to the stage.

Blake shrugged. “Just thought you would want to get out of your comfort zone is all.”

Weiss mulled it over, but the song was starting up. Maybe she could try a few others out later but right now she wanted to warm herself up and singing something familiar to that she knew the words backwards and forwards to would help. The song started as she heard the familiar music, and she took a breath and got into her mindset she used for concerts.

She closed her eyes for a second and went into the song. She dove into it, a song she had sung plenty of times but each time she put her soul into each word. The others sat there surprised by Weiss, they knew she could sing but hearing it and seeing it were kind of different. Weiss didn’t move around much and when she did her gestures were carefully minimal for just the right moments of the song.

For Weiss she just pushed the world away, her world was the song and so she lived and breathed it. By the time the song ended she hadn’t felt the sense of peace in such a long time. She was snapped out of her thoughts as everyone clapped. She was used to that, but it felt more special that it was this small group and not a crowd of faceless people. She could see their expressions from her singing this time as she wasn’t blinded by stage lights.

“Damn way to show everyone up,” Yang told her with a smile.

“I don’t think I want to follow that,” Blake admitted.

“Weiss, that was beautiful,” Pyrrha told her as the clapping ended.

“Yeah, I knew you could sing but wow,” Jaune didn’t know that a live performance was so much better than just listening to a recording.

Weiss heard it all and although she wouldn’t admit it, she felt touched by it. She had heard the crowd cheer her at other concerts, but these were people she knew and for the most part trusted. This was a much more intimate singing then she realized with them in this small room, and she felt a touch of nerves she hadn’t felt since her first time singing in public.

She quickly schooled herself as she could hear her father’s voice of how a Schnee should act. However, she did allow for a small smile, she nodded her thanks to everyone and stepped down.

“I want to go next!” Ruby jumped up and started to look through the songs.

From there is was like a dam broke as everyone started to get into it. The singing quality varied of course. Ruby went into a classic rock song their dad liked to listen to, with her moving to the music as best she could. She didn’t care if she couldn’t sing all that well, this was just for fun.

Blake ended up picking a blues song, Yang went for a more energetic rock song herself, Nora went with heavy metal with a lot of head banging and yelling. Blake and Jaune almost had to leave the room for that one for similar reasons. Jaune tried his hand at a random country song, but he really felt embarrassed about it by the end even though everyone clapped he knew he must have sounded tone deaf.

Still, it was all in good fun.

Some of them eventually got the idea to try duets. Yang and Ruby went up to sing a disco song together that their dad listened to. It was made for two female singers, so the sisters were able to do a decent job with the song. The atmosphere in the room was just one of pleasantries and just having a good time with everyone.

Even Weiss was starting to enjoy herself, she never got to go out like this before. Every time she left the mansion it was to big events and balls and such. Never just a group of friends hanging out. Everyone was having fun, Nora even managed to push Ren on stage and for a quiet person like him, this was not something he liked. He didn’t like the spotlight on him or public speaking, they weren’t his strong suit, but Nora had told him that everyone had to sing at least once.

Sighing he had picked a lounge song about the moon, by the end he felt totally embarrassed but everyone said he had done a good job.

Eventually Blake needed a bit of a break, some of the songs were getting a little too loud for her as she made an excuse for getting some snacks and drinks. Being out of the hallway she sighed as she reached under her bow to massage her cat ears a bit. Thankfully the rooms were soundproof even to her enhanced hearing. She was so tempted to take off the bow but keeping her Faunus heritage a secret was something she wasn’t ready to break just yet.

She did her best to adjust it and try to sooth her ears a bit. She heard the door open and quickly tried to readjust the bow.

“Hey Blake,” Jaune stated coming out. “I came out to grab some stuff too for my team.”

“Oh okay,” She looked at the vending machine and just decided to grab what looked nice as Jaune went to the soda one and got four cans.

While Jaune didn’t have to go, he made the excuse to give Valor a break. Overall, the symbiote didn’t mind the noise but a few of those loud songs were like scratches on chalkboard to him, only instead of hearing it, it was like feeling it. The symbiote did notice something odd though about Blake.

Her ribbon moved, taking a closer look he could see that it wasn’t on straight and there was something else there. She was hiding something under her bow, he realized.

“Soda machine is free,” he told her as he placed the cold cans under one arm.

“Thanks,” She nodded getting the last of the snack foods and went to the soda machine.

Valor did notice that her bow moved again, he was certain there was something living under it. The only thing he could think of were Faunus traits. The Velvet girl had long bunny ears, so maybe Blake had something similar? Not rabbit ears that’s for sure but something much smaller and could be hidden? He wasn’t sure but obviously the girl had secrets, and he wasn’t going to be the one to ruin it but the girl’s bow looked a little unstable.

~Tell her that her bow is crooked~

‘Huh?’ Jaune blinked and looked, and it was a bit off. ‘So?’

~Trust me, she’ll want to know~

That was odd but his symbiote hadn’t let him down before. “Hey, Blake, did you know your bow is crooked?”

Her golden eyes widened as she nearly dropped everything before her free hand went up to it. She could feel that it was off as her heart was hammering in her chest. Did he see? Did he know something about her secret? Looking at him she saw the slightly confused look he was giving her.

‘Okay, maybe he doesn’t know,’ She hoped. “Thanks for telling me, I’ll fix it up.”

He shrugged if off. “Sure, no problem. You really like that bow huh?”

“More than you know,” She cryptically said.

Jaune went on his way totally obvious as he went back to the room. Blake watched him go before quickly setting things down and readjusting the bow. She should have known better than to mess with it in public, but she hadn’t been thinking. She found the window close by with the reflection to slightly help herself out as she fixed it.

‘Well, that was weird,’ Jaune thought as he handed out everything.

~She has her reasons, let’s leave it at that~

‘You know something?’

~She has a secret and it’s not my place to tell~

‘Fair enough,’ Jaune figured if it was important his symbiote would tell him. Plus, it was like Valor said, it wasn’t his place to tell someone else’s secret. Whatever a secret a bow could hide he had no idea, but he respected Blake’s privacy.

As the night went on Yang had to admit this was a lot more fun than she originally thought it would be. It was just nice to let all the steam and pressure just blow out and let loose like this. They weren’t students of Beacon at the moment, they were just teenagers having fun together. Currently she was watching Weiss and Ruby try a duet. Ruby bless her heart was trying and you could see the almost physical pain Weiss was in trying to match the song with someone way less experienced.

She noticed how everyone was paying attention and decided to strike. She leaned up against Jaune who was a bit startled by the contact and looked at her.

“So, you want to try one together as well?” Yang asked him.

“You and me?” he blinked surprised by her offer.

She smiled up at him. “Sure, why not?”

He really didn’t any reasons why not, he was just a bit surprised by it was all. Yang picked out a song as they got onto the stage. Jaune wasn’t familiar with the song, it was a slow one, from the beat of the music. As the lyrics started up it was a story about two people wanting to tell the other how they felt. Yang knew this was a bit of a gamble, she figured Jaune might not get the subtly of it, but she hoped that maybe something might spark in the boy.

Jaune had to admit that while Yang was not in Weiss’ league, she was still a better singer than he was. He tried to keep up with her and do his best, although it was strange. As she sang, she would look right at him and for a moment he thought it almost looked like she was singing to him. She would then look back to her friends and he figured she was just getting into the song like she had with the other ones she did.

Pyrrha felt like Yang had gotten a little ahead of her, picking such a song as the two of them singing it almost made it look like they were singing it to each other. She bit her lip a bit as she started looking through the book. She was hoping to get another song similar to that that she could sing with Jaune.

She figured two could play that game.

However just before the song ended there was a knock at the door as the hostess looked in. “Sorry to tell you this but your time is nearly up.”

Pyrrha cried in her head, she was still looking for a song but now she couldn’t finish looking for one or get her turn on stage with Jaune.

“Aww, and we were having so much fun.” Ruby pouted.

“Yeah, this was fun,” Nora sighed.

“Well then let’s do it again,” Yang said putting the microphone back. “We still got the rest of the semester to come up with fun stuff to do.”

“It was pretty nice,” Weiss admitted. She was surprised that she did find it fun, she couldn’t remember ever having done an activity like this back home. Just to go out and have a good time as it were. For the first time she wondered if this was what it was like to be just totally free of her father and his expectations of her? She was surprised again to find out that she hadn’t once thought of ‘being a proper Schnee’ during her time here. It was kind of liberating in a way.

“I’m up for doing more team bonding,” Jaune said as he helped to put the empty snacks and drinks in the bin in the corner with Pyrrha and Blake helping. “This felt really good, maybe we should come up with more group stuff we can do?”

“That sounds fun,” Pyrrha nodded as she too despite the ending, had enjoyed herself. She never got to hang out with her friends much back home because of her busy schedule. Now that she no longer had the championships or the sponsors to deal with, she found she had more free time than what she knew what to do with.

She usually just filled her extra time with training or helping Jaune with his training after she was done with her schoolwork. Tonight, had been a fun relaxing time for them all.

With that the group finished tidying up as they left talking about what to do next time. Some things like movie night were brought up, Blake hesitantly brought up the idea of a book club, Nora wondered if Vale had a go cart track or something similar, Yang offered to say if they could go clubbing one night together. There were a lot of ideas being thrown around as they walked through the streets of Vale.

It was getting late as they were talking and laughing at some of the things, they had sung that night when the peace was shattered by the sound of glass breaking, an alarm and suddenly a bunch of rowdy voices.

“The hell was that?” Yang asked.

“Sounds like trouble,” Ren stated as the rest rushed forward and saw a group of people dressed in matching red caps as they had broken the front of a electronics store and were laughing as a few went in to take some items, a couple were using spray cans to tag the wall of the store.

“So much for a quiet night out,” Weiss muttered wishing she had her weapon on hand.

“Do we call the police?” Ren asked.

“Might be too late,” Ruby said as the group noticed them and were making their way towards them.

“Eh, we should be able to take them,” Yang cracked her knuckles granted she still had her weapons on her, but they were still in their compacted form. She knew it was a good idea to bring them with her but given none of them looked very armed she was certain a group of huntresses and huntsmen in training could deal with them.

She did cast a slightly worried look to Ruby, mainly because she knew that her little sister skipped out on closer quarters combat as she relied on her weapon way too much. Dad and Uncle Qrow did try to teach her more than just basic unarmed combat, but she was nowhere near at her own level and that worried Yang.

“Oi, look at what we got here gents,” A tall one said with a grin on his face.

“You lot shouldn’t be out so late, shouldn’t you all be in bed?” An older man of the group asked.

“What should we do?” another asked the group holding a TV in his arms. “Cops are busy but they’ll eventually show.”

“Well, the bosses did say to cause trouble, maybe a little more should do it.” The Tall One said again as she stepped up. “Alright here’s how things are going to go, you hand over all your lien and maybe we let you get on your way.”

Weiss raised an eyebrow, “So you’re mugging us?”

“What, that white hair means you’re older than you look? You need a hearing aid there granny? Yes, hand it over or maybe we have our own fun, Scarface.”

Weiss’ eye twitched, never had she been talked to like that. First insulting her hair, she could let that go, but to tall her old because of it? Then to make fun of the scar she had on her face which she got because she had to fight for her right to go to Beacon? Now with Weiss her blood didn’t boil, it just froze in a very cold anger.

The others also didn’t take kindly to those words either as they all tensed up getting ready for a fight. Weiss was about to give the man a verbal togue lashing before she was going to educate this man just how to talk to a lady.

Before she could say anything Jaune stepped up. He heard what he said, and he didn’t like how anyone talked to his friends like that. Months before he wouldn’t dream of saying anything or stepping up. He could have been too scared to try but that was then, and this was now. He was going to be a Huntsmen and he couldn’t do that by being pushed around, not anymore.

Valor had been a big part of helping him to not only get stronger but to gain more self-confidence. He could feel his symbiote boosting his courage and stoking the fire burning inside of him. Granted while Jaune was the tallest out of their group the guy in front of them was still half a foot taller. It didn’t matter to Jaune, he felt a burning sense of justice in his chest.

“Apologize.”

“Huh?” He looked down at Jaune confused.

“Apologize to what you said to her and put all that stuff back,” Jaune told him with many of the others nodding their heads. Although he could feel a little fear still there it was being pushed back in this moment. This is what he was training for, what they all were training for after all. He wouldn’t let himself be pushed around, not when something wrong was going on right in front of him.

The Tall One just grinned. “Look at the balls on this one? What she you’re girlfriend or something?”

Although he’d like to say, ‘yes’ to that he immediately said, “She’s my friend and I don’t like people talking to my friends like that.”

The man laughed and looked over his shoulder. “His friend he says.”

In that moment he twisted back with his first raised as he tried to use the moment as a distraction to get in a surprise punch. Jaune however saw it coming, or well thanks to Valor saw it coming. He felt like his reactions and vision were suddenly boosted as he caught the man’s fist in his palm. The taller man blinked surprised the boy had caught his punch.

Jaune did grow some muscles in all his new training, but he wasn’t some hulking body builder, he was however a lot stronger than he looked thanks to his symbiote. Without a word Jaune threw his own punch with his right fist.

He remembered some of the things Yang told him about boxing during some training together in the gym. How the real places you needed to hit someone were the temple, the bridge of the nose to break it, the ear if you wanted to be dirty but one of the best places? The tip of the chin, it was harder to hit depending on a person’s face but if you did hit the tip of the chin, was the sweat spot.

His fist hit it and the man’s head snapped back as he stumbled. Jaune thought the guy would just fall but instead he took a few steps back on wobbly legs before falling onto his eyes. The man had a glassy look in his eyes like he was aware but not processing anything.

There was a moment where no one said anything.

“Get’em!” one of the red hatted thugs yelled out.

“So much for a quiet night out,” Jaune lamented as he got his fists up as everyone else also got into fighting stances.

TBC…

For those wondering the Ruby and Yang duet I was thinking of was Dancing Queen by ABBA.

Chapter Text

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 22: Street Fight

When Jaune knocked the big guy on his ass it was like a starter pistol had gone off. The street gang forgetting their previous actions were quick to step up. They did have a reputation to keep up, if it got out their gang got pushed around by teenagers well, they would never live this down. Yang and Nora were already eager for a fight and rushed in towards the gang.

Nora drop kicked one member into another as Yang yelled out as she came in with a superman punch knocking one out immediately as she started to take on two others.

Not wanting to be left behind Jaune jumped in as did the rest.

Ruby not being the best at hand to hand as she preferred her weapon was keeping to the back using her semblance to help her zip around and find targets of opportunity. Pyrrha was like a living buzzsaw as she made it look easy as she took on multiple gang members with hand-to-hand combat abilities. Weiss for her part while like Ruby preferred to fight with her weapon did still have her semblance to help.

The thugs would charge as glyphs would form under them, gravity glyphs would made them crash into the ground or float up into the air, one was slowed down by her as Blake would come in with a flying kick to them.

Ren and Jaune were fighting back-to-back as Jaune had never seen Ren fight without his weapons before now. The boy’s movement flowed more than anything as he would redirect, counter, or just use their force against them.

~Eyes front~ Valor warned him.

Jaune turned his attention to one member who had a crowbar in hand. Jaune easily dodged him and gave him a punch to his liver, something he had picked up from both Yang and Valor in his training. The guy dropped like a stone from it as hitting the liver was nearly always a way to down an opponent, at least one without aura.

‘Got to be careful,’ He mentally thought as he was way stronger than a normal person and he didn’t want to hurt them too much. Just enough to make take the fight out of them for the cops to show up. They had to show up eventually, he could hear the alarm of the store going off, but they had no idea how long that was.

What Jaune didn’t know was that this wasn’t the only store front being hit, the full week gang violence had rocketed up and the police were being stretched thin. The city council was even thinking of hiring Huntsmen to help deal with the rise in crime.

But these were events that Jaune and the others wouldn’t know about.

Still, a group of even students like them were still more trained in combat, some of them had even seen and gone up against Grimm before coming to Beacon. Thugs that only knew street violence weren’t used to fighting against such people.

One of the men in the back was seeing how badly they were losing the fight in fact it wasn’t really a fight it was more of a one-sided beat down. He pulled out his scroll to call the bosses because they were nearby, and they needed the help.

Two streets over another group of the same gang were causing issues with two larger bald men in matching clothing stood by and watched, their large arms crossed over barreled chests as the twin brothers watched their ‘boys’ get to work.

“Looks like they’re having a lot of fun Dee,” one stated.

“Yean and we’re getting paid for this makes it better too DD,” Dee said to his twin brother.

They were known as the D’s, their full names were Desmond (Dee) Twiddle and Donald Devon (DD) Twiddle.  They ran the Red Boys gang hance the red clothing the gang wore. He and a few other gangs like their rivals the Egg Boys (mainly because of an argument on who came first) were causing trouble all over the city.

D’s scroll range as his brother watched him pick up.

“Yeah what?...What do you mean you need help? You’re being attacked by what!? I swear this better be a joke…okay where are you? Hold on we’re coming.” D’s anger was written all over his face.

“Trouble?” DD asked knowing there was.

“Yep, seems Jericho and his boys are in the thick of it,” D blew out a hard whistle getting the attention of everyone else. “Boys, get a move on your brothers got into some trouble and are calling for a rescue, get a move on!”

With the Reds gathering up the Twins led the way, thankfully it wasn’t far, and they could make out sounds of fighting when they got there but what they saw was most of their gang already on the ground and not getting up. Not dead but they had taken a beating by what looked like a group of teenagers. This for the men was unacceptable, if this got out the other gangs would mock them for it.

Pyrrha was first to notice the new arrivals, given their similar colored clothing she guessed someone had to had called for help. “Everyone, I think more have arrived.”

“Oh good, because I think I’m warmed up now,” Yang rolled one of her shoulders. The gang members weren’t exactly difficult for all of them together. She was pretty sure half of them could still have easily dealt with it. Being a huntress in training with aura was a huge advantage over most other people.

“Well now I see,” D looked them over and pegged them as students from Beacon, they had to be as their combat style was clearly not the kind of thing normal people would be trained in, and it wasn’t the typical brawling he had seen in street fights. “Looks like some students form Beacon brother.”

“Indeed, it does brother,” DD nodded. “But they look unarmed, shouldn’t pose too much of an issue then.”

Yang raised an eyebrow at that, were they getting called out by street punks? Well, she was going to teach them not to underestimate them. She rushed in as she cocked a fist back, but the large brothers just smiled as they fist bumped each other. There was a glow about them as when she struck them there was shine and she suddenly felt the full force of her punch hitting her back.

She landed on her back a few feet away blinking not understanding what just happened.

“They have a semblance?” Pyrrha asked surprised.

“Didn’t think you were the only ones, did you?” DD asked.

“Now you’re in for a real fight kids,” D finished.

Now while most people that did have their aura unlocked went on to become Huntsmen or Huntresses, a very low number did not. Some were people who through illegal means had their aura activated, others had been trained to be hunters but failed, dropped out or were kicked out of their schools. Then there were the rare ones that activated naturally as well. Those that didn’t make the cut usually went on to other fields, some however for whatever reasons fell into crime.

That was how the D Twins got to be leaders of their gang, they were the strongest members and overthrew the old leader and took their spot. Most major gangs or organizations were led by something with their aura unlocked because they were naturally just more powerful than most other members.

The twins being twins had a special semblance, by tapping each other they created a field that would counter any physical attack that came their way and sending it back at that person. They sometimes joked that their souls were just one soul shared in two bodies because they were identical twins.

The two twins gave a high five as they glowed again and charged the students. Yang ducked under a right cross but as soon as she countered with a body blow, she felt right back at her, stepping back she was caught with a backhand to her face sending her down.

Blake stepped in with a flying kick only for when it landed to feel the force of the kick being send back up her leg. The other twin was already dealing with Team JNPR as Pyrrha was easily dodging his attacks, he was large and bulky, so he wasn’t as fast and nimble as she was. However, she was running into the same issue with his semblance.

She also found that he had too little metal on his body to manipulate as he wasn’t using a weapon. Normally she could control her opponent’s metal-based weapons. She also didn’t have hers with her as well. Nora went for a drop kick only to be repelled and land hard on the ground, Ren helped to pick her up as he tried to assess things. They weren’t looking good for any of them as this semblance was not something to easily overcome, especially as they were all unarmed.

Weiss made a gesture to create a gravity glyph and noticed that one of the twins was being affected by it. “My semblance got through!”

“Get the white haired one boys!” DD said trying to get up, the gravity was actually holding him down as their semblance only worked on physical attacks and this was something else entirely. They weren’t used to fighting against people with semblances, especially ones like Weiss’ where her glyphs were not a physical attack.  

Weiss’ concentration was broken by this as a group of the fresh gangs that came with the twins came after her. This caused her glyph to disappear as the gang leader was now no longer held down.

“I got this,” Ruby put up her fists like Yang once tried to teach her before muttering to herself. “I hope.”

She wasn’t all that confidence in her hand-to-hand fighting skills, sure she could use her semblance to be super quick but without her weapon her fighting power was lacking. Her dad and sister always told her to work more on her fighting skills, but she just assumed she could always have her weapon on her. Now she was starting to wish she listened to them about it.

Jaune looked and saw that they were in trouble, the twins were enough of a problem but with Weiss they could use her semblance at least but now she was being threatened.

~I can only do so much hidden~

‘I know,’ Jaune mentally sighed. He couldn’t just run away and come back with the symbiote since it would be too odd a timing. Sure, that might work in comic books, but this was real life. There was also the fact he didn’t want team RWBY to think he was some kind of coward that would abandon his friends.

‘Looks like we got to do this the hard way,’ Jaune noticed that Pyrrha was of course holding her own.

~I don’t think she’s attacking him with full force, I think she’s holding back her attacks to reduce the feedback trying to find a weakness~

Jaune smiled knowing that was Pyrrha all right. Blake was using her clones to try and keep the other one busy which thankfully it looked like the clones didn’t send any damage back to her, too bad all they did was just kind of stand there and couldn’t attack.

A yelp got his attention to Ruby who had taken a nasty punch to the side of the face making her stagger back.

‘We got to help them,’ he realized as he quickly ran over to help Ruby and Weiss.

Yang was getting frustrated to her this kind of semblance was a pure cheat in her books. They could take any kind of blow and just immediately send it back? How fair was that? She had to actually take damage for her semblance to build up for her to use it effectively.

She activated her gauntlets as they extended and covered her forearms. She was so glad she chose to keep them on this trip. With all the rise in gang crime lately she hadn’t wanted to leave unprepared. Since these guys had aura, she could go all out on them and didn’t need to hold back like with non-aura users.

“Blake, heads up!” She shouted giving her partner a warning as Blake heard the cocking of Yang’s weapon and made it so that she dodged last minute as the glowing projectile missed her not giving the twin in front of her any time to react. The round hit him in the chest as both twins suddenly flared a bit.

“Huh, interesting.” Yang grinned.

While say a regular bullet wouldn’t do much with their semblance, a pure fire dust round like what Yang preferred to use was another matter because of its elemental nature.

Both twins looked at her knowing that while their semblance took care of the damage it would chip away at their aura. Yang fired at both twins, but they were on to her now and were moving targets, the others tried to get in their way, but it was hard with any time you attacked them they would just send it back at you.

Yang soon found herself being double teamed by the twins. She fired at them also allowing the force of her weapon to keep herself out of range. A few of the other gang members tried to attack her from her blind spots but Nora and Ren having changed things up were covering her back.

Then suddenly the glow around the twins faded as they paused because slapping each other’s hands again to get it going.

Yang’s eyes widened as she realized they had a time limit, she wished she had been keeping count because she could use that to her advantage.

They were quickly on her again as one of them got in close but suddenly bent down as the brother jumped over him trying to surprise her. Yang only grinned as she easily side-stepped but suddenly something hit her in the eyes. She had hadn’t know what it had all been a distraction as the brother that had been kneeling pick up some dirt and small stones and threw them at her eyes.

The brothers were experts in fighting dirty after all. While half blinded one of them managed to get a punch in face making her turn and felt a large hand gripping the back of her hair with another punch to her kidney. She grunted in pain as she could hear Blake call out as she managed to get one eye open to Blake trying to help as she was sent back from the blowback of their semblance, Pyrrha there caught her partner thankfully.

Yang fired both of her weapons at the feet of the one holding her as he cried out in pain the force sending her forward, but she felt a sharp pain in her scalp. Looking back, she saw the one now on the ground had some of her hair in his hand. Her eyes went red at the sight as did her vision. She loved her hair, she put so much care and effort into it and seeing this triggered something inside of her.

She activated her semblance as she ran forward but the other brother stepped in.

“Yang don’t!” Pyrrha called out but it was too late. Yang’s rage was over coming her common sense as her fist landed on her target only to get blown back to where Jaune was helping Weiss and Ruby out.

“Yang!” Ruby saw her sister but thankfully she slowly got up.

“Damn it,” Yang groaned that blowback had nearly taken out all her aura. She mentally swore at herself to getting tunnel vision like that, she knew it was a problem when she activated her semblance, her dad tried to get her to overcome it and sometimes she could but when she activated her semblance it was like this raging fire was inside of her. She would get what her dad called ‘combat blindness’ and just attack without really thinking it through.  

 Jaune stepped in front ready to hold off the brothers as Blake and Pyrrha were behind them.

Suddenly a glyph appeared by the side of one of the brothers as D was sent flying into his brother DD. Weiss wasn’t sure if the brothers’ semblance would activate if one brother ‘attacked’ the other but even if it didn’t, well she was finally free enough to cast her semblance. Ruby and Jaune had taken down most of the thugs allowing her to concentrate on the twins.

It turned out the semblance wouldn’t work against the other brother but the two did fall into a heap trying to untangle from each other. Both twins managed to get up as now there was a stand off between the gang and the students how had regathered up ready to continue the fight.

That was when sirens were heard as it sounded like the police were finally going to show up.

“Damn it, it’s the cops!” one of the gang members stated.

The twins looked at the group they were fighting and knew they wouldn’t be able to take them down before the cops show up. They would have to deal with this another time. “Boys, scatter and meet up back home!”

With that everyone that could move were running off in multiple directions.

“What do we do?” Ruby asked looking around not sure what to do with all the scattering gang members. “Do we go after them or wait for the police.”

“I say we get out of here,” Yang stated as everyone looked at her. “Hey, do you all want to explain this to Miss Goodwitch?”

“But we did nothing wrong!” Weiss stated. “We were defending ourselves!”

“Um…” Ruby started to speak up remembering what had happened when she had “defended” herself at the dust store before joining the school. “That didn’t go over well for me, I spent a few hours in a police interview room and got yelled at by her.”

“Oh great…she’ll put us in detention for the full semester, won’t she?” Nora lamented.

“Only if she knows it’s us,” Yang told them.

“I’d…rather not get involved with the police,” Blake wasn’t sure how well known her history with the White Fang was, but she had been arrested before at rallies, so she had a record. She really didn’t want to deal with that, plus they would find out she was a faunus if they demanded she take off the bow or looked it up in her records. Not to mention once it got out who her parents were, sure Belladonna was used by other people as a last name but the fact it was on record that the daughter of Kali and Ghira Belladonna was named Blake Belladonna it wouldn’t take a genius to put two and two together.

She really should have tried to go under a different name, but she couldn’t have gotten a hold of any fake IDs before submitting herself to Beacon.

“We did nothing wrong, I’m sure if we explain things then everything should work out,” Pyrrha calmly stated.

“That’s right,” Weiss nodded believing in the system.

“You think your family will be that easy if we get a record out of this?” Yang asked knowing that Weiss and her family had some tension there. She wasn’t sure what as Weiss didn’t go too deep into it, but she could read between the lines and knew something was up in her family and figured they at least wouldn’t like it if their daughter was taken into the police for questioning.

Weiss suddenly felt like her stomach drop, she was sure nothing bad would happen but if on the off chance her father found out that the law enforcement was even looking to charge her with something…the thoughts of what he might do froze her. Then the thought of the media, once someone found out (and they would find out) that THE Weiss Schnee was brought in for questioning by the police it would be all over the news in time for the late-night news, another thing her father would not be happy about.

“Maybe we should leave,” Weiss slowly stated.

Jaune could see that many of them had worries over this and decided discretion might be the best way out of this. “Okay all those wanted to leave, hands up?” Only Ren and Pyrrha kept their hands down, and the sirens were getting too close now.

“Okay that’s settles it, everyone run!” Yang yelled out taking Ruby’s hands and dashing off as everyone else followed suit. The streets of Vale were usually busy but with the increase in gang crime lately certain areas were being less traveled. However, down the street they could see more flashing lights.

“Should we split up?” Ruby asked looking to see two other streets.

“We should,” Blake stated knowing full well how to avoid the police. “They’ll be most likely looking for large groups. We split off into two person groups and meet up at the Bullhead station.”

Blake couldn’t believe she was using her old White Fang training and experience to run from the cops…again.

Teams JNPR and RWBY nodded as they split off, later they would split off again into groups. Yang stuck with Ruby as she wanted to make sure that her little sister did not get into trouble. Blake and Weiss were fine with the split at any rate as team JNPR went into split up by partners.

-Not far away-

Neo was a bit bored they had been causing trouble to get that white suited person to show up again but so far, no luck. She was starting to think that maybe they should escalate things, start a fire or two maybe?

“Well, there’s a face we haven’t seen in a while,” a bored and familiar voice caught Neo’s attention.

She looked behind her to see a pair of female twins dressed in white and red. The twin in white was Melanie and the other one in red being her sister Miltia Malachite.

“Long time no see Trivia,” Miltia stated.

“She goes by Neo now remember,” Melanie reminding her sister.

Neo had a very long and complicated history with the twins. They met up at Lady Browning’s Preparatory Academy for Girls. On the surface it was a prep school for young women but in reality, it was secretly run by the Spider organization being run from the shadows by their mother Lil’ Miss Malachite.

At first the twins had been bulling her when she first got to the school but eventually, they became good friends. Then things soured when in order to save Roman, she had exposed the school to the news and it was shut down and the Spiders had left the city, well those that hadn’t been arrested. There had been some violence between Neo and the twins near the end of that whole mess as well.

For some reason they started to work at Junior’s instead of leaving the city. She had run into them from time to time because of her association with Junior and there had been a bit of a tense relationship between her and the twins since then. They hadn’t been violent, but it wasn’t exactly easy to repair a friendship that ended badly.

Neo decided to just wave politely to them and see where things landed.

The twins weren’t sure what to make of Neo, she had always been an odd one. The whole mute thing made communicating with her troubling at times but there had been a time they had gotten along well with the slightly younger girl. Plus, her semblance was actually a very powerful and useful one and from their fight they both knew that Neo wasn’t a pushover anymore.

“Just so you know we’ve been talking,” Miltia started the conversation.

“And while we really don’t like what you did to our mother’s plans,” Melanie continued crossing her arms.

“We know why you turned against us.” Miltia finished. “We know that Roman means a lot to you and you couldn’t let him go down, so we get it.”

The twins did get it, they would fight to the death for each other and over the years they had seen just how closer Roman and Neo were with each other. They weren’t sure if they were an actual couple or just really close, it was hard to pin down their relationship but looking at them they both eventually came to the conclusion that those two would go to hell and back for each other. Once they realized that they could see why Neo had done what she had done.

It wasn’t like they could just ignore her forever either, Neo and Roman were customers of Junior’s and they had to deal with them on and off over the years. There might come a time they might actually need the two of them so after talking it out they resolved that next time they had the chance they might as well see if they could patch some things up.

“Although we are still a bit pissed off at you,” Melanie told her but then shrugged. “That was a few years ago so we’ve mostly gotten over it.”

Neo was surprised to hear this as she took out her scroll to type something that she showed them.

[Why did you two stay? Never understood that]

“Because we like Vale,” Melanie shrugged. “Our mom wanted us to go all the way back to Mistral to some back-alley place where she’s currently set up shop. No thanks, we prefer Vale, and the club is a much nicer place to work out of.

“Also, we managed to convince her that having a set of eyes still in Vale will be helpful,” Miltia finished.

[So what now?]

The twins shrugged again, “No idea.” Bothe said at the same time.

“We just figured since you two are always doing business with Junior we can’t keep holding a grudge forever.” Miltia stated.

Neo thought about it, she did miss those days when they were all friends. In fact, they had been the first friends she had ever made in her whole life. Well, her first real friends and not her imaginary one she had as a child. While she would never regret her choices in life, she did regret losing a friendship over it.

[Start over?]

The twins looked at each other silently communicating with each other before turning their attention back to her.

“Maybe,” Melanie started only for her sister to finish it. “But if you screw us over one more time we’re coming after you.”

Neo could live with that in fact she would do the same to them and they knew it. She stuck out her hand as the girls shook on it.

“Well now that’s over with, you want to help us cause some trouble like the old days?” Melanie asked her. “Since you and Roman put out the word and the money to help cause a lot of trouble we’ve been wondering on what to do.”

“Hold off on that sister,” Miltia stated as she nodded to across the street. “I think I see something else to occupy our time with.”

The other two women looked to see a girl with long blond hair with a smaller girl in a red hood and cape trying to quickly run off.

“Was that…?” Melanie asked.

“It was, the blonde bimbo that smashed up the club,” her twin stated narrowing her eyes. The blonde had not only trashed the place but embarrassed them in combat. Although from the looks of it she didn’t look to be in top shape.

Neo also noticed the girl and she matched the description Roman gave of the “Little Red” that got in his way from the dust shop a while ago. Maybe she could make a present out of the hood and cape? Neo smirked and jerked her thumb at the two running off and then make a cutting her throat motion with it.

The twins grinned at her.

“I think this new friendship is off to a good start,” the twins said as one.

TBC…

Yep I added in Neo’s backstory from the expanded stuff into this and yeah Yang and Ruby are going to be in trouble. I kind of got the idea of the Twins semblance from a boss fight I had in the Guardians of the Galaxy game. So don’t forget to leave a review as I do wonder what people think and I do listen to ideas given out or stuff as long as it’s respectful that is.

Chapter Text

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 23: Vale Knight Rising

Jaune and Pyrrha were far enough from the siren sounds that they started a brisk walk towards the Bullhead station. Jaune was a little thankful to avoid unnecessary complications at the moment, not to mention Glynda’s wrath if she had to come down to the police station to ‘pick up’ several students.

Still, he was worried about the others.

~We can always call them up on their scrolls~

‘Oh good idea,’ He pulled out his scroll.

“What are you doing?” Pyrrha asked curious to what he was doing.

“Just checking in on the others, I’ll try Ruby first, can you get Nora or Ren?” He asked her.

She nodded as she pulled out her scroll, she figured Ren would have his on and ready. Jaune didn’t have to wait long before Ruby picked up.

“Jaune?”

“Hey Ruby, how are you and Yang doing?”

“Well, we ducked into an alleyway and catching our breath before we head out…” Muffled sounds of people could be heard.

This caught Jaune’s attention. “Ruby? You guys okay?”

“I’m not sure some other girls just showed up and-hey! What’s your problem! Ah!” Then the line cut out.

Now Jaune was worried, something seriously wrong was going on here. He shared a look with Pyrrha who had noticed something was wrong while on the scroll with Ren.

“Ruby and Yang are in trouble,” he wasn’t sure where they were, but they had to be close by. They wouldn’t have gotten far, sure Ruby could but there was no way she was leaving Yang behind, so they had to move at Yang’s top speed.

“What are you thinking?” She asked.

Jaune had no idea if Ruby and Yang were the only ones in trouble or some of the others were as well.

~We can cover more ground together unrestricted~

He didn’t like the idea of leaving Pyrrha on her own, but she was the strongest person he knew as well, if anyone could take care of herself she could. “Can you make sure the others are, okay?”

“You’re going to make sure they’re okay aren’t you.” She stated knowing what was going through his mind.

“Yeah, but it’s not like I’m alone either,” he looked around and stepped into an alley out of view of the main street. Then his symbiote came out covering him in the white armor that she had seen him before. Only now it started to change to the cape and hood with the Arc symbol on the chest being turned sideways into a single moon shape.

“We can cover more ground this way.”

She nodded her head. “Alright but call right away if you’re in a lot of trouble.”

“We will,” his ‘cape’ then reached up to the sides of the buildings and pulled him up as he climbed the building like a giant insect or something.

“Good luck,” Pyrrha whispered. 

-Earlier-

Yang and Ruby had just ducked into a side alley as Yang needed to catch her breath. She was still not fully recovered from her fight but at least she was good enough to keep up with her little sister. The smell of the alley wasn’t the most pleasant but at least it kept them out of sight. She already dodged trouble after the club thing, her dad had gotten it out of her that night what happened and the long lecture she got made her realize just how much more trouble that could have been if the police had caught her.

It also didn’t help that she had thrown the first punch either.

At least this time she could claim self-defense, since it was Jaune that had thrown the first punch, not that she thought Goodwitch would see if that way.

“How far are we from the Bullhead station?” Ruby asked panting a little.

“Shouldn’t be too far from here,” Yang had a good grasp of the area they were in. Vale was a huge city but thankfully they were in an area she was more familiar with. “If we’re lucky we’ll get there with everyone soon.”

“Oh, I don’t think you’ll be getting very far from here,” a female voice came from the entrance of the alleyway they had come from. Yang and Ruby looked back, and Yang’s eyes widened a bit in recognition of the two twin girls along with a shorter girl she didn’t know who was dressed in a white and pink outfit and with mixed pink and brown hair and eyes.

“Oh great, you two,” Yang sighed as she really didn’t want to deal with this today.

“So, looks like she remembers us Miltia,” The white one, Melanie spoke.

“She should, given what she did to the club Melanie.” Her twin spoke up.

“Look I’ve already had a fight with another pair of twins today plus do you two really want me to kick your asses again?” Yang wasn’t too afraid of them. Sure, she was low on aura, but she knew she could take the two. Then she looked at the shorter girl with them. “What, you think the short stack there is your backup?”

Yang didn’t see the girl as much of a threat given her small size, it was hard to judge the girl’s age but to Yang she didn’t seem to be much of a threat.

Neo only grinned, everyone other than those that knew her, always underestimated her because of her size. The twins knew firsthand what she could do and judging from the blonde she wouldn’t be much of an issue for her. Neo could see from the way she carried herself the blonde was a straight up fighter, someone that most likely tried to power through her fights, Neo preferred to be more fluid and used speed and agility.

“Uh, look I don’t know what’s going on,” Ruby asked from behind Yang. “But I don’t suppose we could just go?”

“Nope,” The red twin said reaching behind her and putting on her clawed weapons.

“We have a score to settle with Blondie over there,” the other twin said doing the same only putting them on her boots.

“Yang, what did you do?” Ruby looked at her sister.

Yang at least had the good graces to look a little sheepish at the question. “Kind of a long story.”

“That’s about to have an unhappy ending,” Miltia said before jumping in to attack with a side kick as Yang quickly blocked it with her own weapons on her arms. The other twin rushed in to attack the other side, but Yang was quick to deflect that one too.

Neo tilted her head seeing the girls take on the blonde as her mixed eyes turned to see the red hooded younger girl pulling out her scroll. She calmly walked over to her as she was busy on the call to notice.

“I’m not sure some other girls just showed up and-hey!” Ruby looked up from her call as Neo was now in her face.  “What’s your problem! Ah!”

Neo quickly grabbed the scroll and threw it onto the ground before stomping on it.

“My scroll!” Ruby was not looking forward to trying to explain why she needed to get a replacement. She glared at the silent girl in front of her. “What’s your deal?!”

Neo only smirked as she quickly lashed out with a kick to Ruby’s chest, the red hooded reaper wasn’t expecting it as she was knocked into the hard wall behind her.

“Ruby!” Yang called out only to pay for the distraction with punch to the face from Miltia.

“Better keep focus blondie,” Melanie taunted following up her sister’s attack with one of her own.

“I’m fine Yang, just focus on them,” Ruby pushed herself up. Neo just stood there with a smirk on her face. Suddenly Ruby dashed forward with her semblance, ‘rose peddles’ flowing behind her. Neo hadn’t known what the girl’s semblance was, so she was caught off guard, well at first. She had enough combat experience to not let that momentary surprise to be her downfall in a fight like this.

She quickly side stepped as Ruby just missed her. Neo could feel the air pressure the little girl made which impressed her a bit.  A little bit faster and she could have gotten Neo with that attack and with that much force would have been a decent hit, too bad Neo now knew what to watch out for.

Ruby’s feet hit the wall as she pushed off and used her semblance again, it was a tight space and she didn’t’ have much room to move around in here, she couldn’t gain her top speed, but she felt she was moving fast enough. The girl however dodged again, this time Ruby’s attack way a lot wider. She stopped herself from hitting the other wall again only to feel a kick to the back of her knee.

She cried out as her leg crumpled under the blow for a bit only to feel the sting of something large and surprisingly solid hit her head. She was thankful for aura, but the blow still left her staggered as she did her best to roll to the side to avoid what looked like an umbrella to her hitting the place where she had been. What that the thing that hit her in the head? It felt a lot more solid than something like that should have been.

Neo merely smirked pulling her parasol back and twirling it with the handle, she was confident she could take this girl easily, maybe she would take the red hood as a present for Roman?

“Ahh!” Miltia was flung into a garbage can near by as the girl shook her head and gritted her teeth before slowly getting back up.

“Stay away from my sister you little punk,” Yang’s eyes glowed red as the other twin was pushing herself up off a wall.

Neo raised an eyebrow, the twins weren’t out of the fight yet, but Neo could see they were struggling although the blonde looked to have taken a few solid hits in. Had the twins gotten a bit soft from being bodyguards and dealing with low class criminals all this time? Or maybe it was just they weren’t used to dealing with a strong opponent.

“Well? You just going to stand there?” Yang put up her fists.

Neo gave a look to Miltia next to her.

“Yeah, yeah we know but she’s a pain to fight,” the twin sister said back reading that look. “I’d like to see you do better.”

Neo rolled her eyes at the obvious bait but honestly, she wasn’t above showing off her skills, maybe the two would learn to train a bit more. Neo walked up as Yang rushed in, she punched several times, but Neo was always one move ahead, she would dodge, deflect effortlessly. This only made Yang more annoyed as she tried for a lock kick only for the parasol to whack her in the shin painfully.

Yang hopped back from the pain but quickly fired a few well aimed shots, this time Neo simply opened her parasol and used it as a shield that somehow took the weapons fire. Yang knew it had to be a weapon by this point but what it had to be made of she had no idea, it looked too flimsy to tank her shots like that but there wasn’t even a mark on it.

“Yang,” Ruby rushed forward but her cape was quickly caught by Miltia as the woman pulled hard sending Ruby slamming onto her back, suddenly the young girl felt the red clad twin’s foot slam into her sternum as the red blade on her arm was pointed at her face.

“You stay right there, we’ll deal with you after Blondie is dealt with,” Miltia said as Melanie came over.

“Should we deal with her now and make Blondie watch or let her watch us take Blondie apart first?” She asked her sister.

“Let’s see what Neo leaves us with first,” Miltia stated.

Ruby tried to get up but a painful boot of the white twin on her wrist kept her pinned.

“Leave her alone!” Yang screamed out as the glow around her intensified, she needed to get past the girl in front of her and save her little sister, but the little annoyance was proving to be a lot tougher than she looked. Yang couldn’t even land a single hit on her, which was infuriating.

 Not far away Jaune was running over the rooftops with Valor covering him as the two were trying to find where the sisters were. They couldn’t be far, but Vale was a bit city, Jaune was getting worried as it sounded like Ruby and Yang got into trouble before the call broke off.

~We will find them~ Valor encouraged.

“I know, but I’m worried,” Jaune wasn’t internally talking at the moment, he was just too preoccupied with trying to find his friends to worry about it. “I know they can usually take care of themselves, but I just have a bad feeling.”

~Wait, do you hear that?~

Jaune paused as he listened and heard the sound of gunshots, no wait, he knew those sounds. Those were Yang’s weapons they had this distinctive boom sound when they fired, and he heard it enough times to know that sound by now. The problem was it was echoing off the buildings, so he wasn’t sure where it was coming from.

~That way~

He felt a ‘tug’ in a certain direction, he trusted his alien partner to know how to find it though the sounds. He just chalked it up to something the alien could do that he couldn’t. He rushed over and as he got closer, he could hear the sounds of fighting, he also heard Ruby’s voice calling out as well. He had to hurry, they sounded like they were in real trouble.

“How far can we fall like this?”

Valor already knew what he had planned. ~We can easily fall that far~

“Good.”

When he got the alley that’s when he jumped.

Yang was not doing so good the previous fight had taken a lot out of her and the half pint had Yang on the ropes. Her aura was nearly gone, one more good hit and that was it, she could feel it. Ruby was still being pinned to the ground and all Yang could feel was that she let her sister down again. The immense guilt that she felt for that one day as kids after nearly getting her baby sister and herself killed by Grimm came back in full force.

She hated herself for this, worse this had been her idea to come out tonight. She should have just kept the idea to herself, she should have been stronger to defend her sister, she should have told Jaune how she felt, she should have called dad more often, she should have trained more. So many things she wished she could do over again, but she kept her guard up because she wasn’t going to give up, because as long as her sister needed her, she couldn’t give up.

She was about to throw herself into one last ditch effort when a white form slammed into the ground between the twins and her opponent.

Everyone looked as the crouched form in white stood, he was a tall man with a fully white suit, a cape and hood much like Ruby’s but with a crescent moon symbol on his chest. The twins didn’t even get a word out before the cape seemed to come alive and slammed into each twin sending them off of Ruby.

Neo blinked surprised that the one person all this trouble started for had appeared. She heard the blonde rushing and twisted around and slammed the handle of her weapon into the back of her head. She saw the aura shatter as the blonde stumbled to the ground catching herself with her hands before completely falling.

As much fun as this was, Roman needed this. She pulled out her scroll and started to record everything.

“Are you okay?” Jaune said surprised by the sound of his voice, it was totally different coming out.

~I figured this would help~

Jaune mentally thanked him as he helped up Ruby.

Ruby blinked before letting him help her up, “Uh yeah, wow are you really that Vale Knight guy people have been asking about? How do you make your cape do that? Is it a weapon? It moved like it was alive, that was so cool!”

Ruby was gushing over meeting what was essentially a real-life superhero like in the comics she read. She was also very fascinated by his suit, she couldn’t see any seems or anything, like it was grown on him or something, it perfectly fit him and the way the cape moved, she had no idea how he was pulling that off.

All thoughts of that stopped when Yang fell next to them. “Yang!”

She immediately went to her big sister’s side. “Are you okay?”

“Could be better,” She was helped up to her feet looking around. “So…now what?”

“Keep each other safe,” Jaune told them. “I got this.”

He looked to see the twins were getting back up as the other one was, wait, was she recording this on hers scroll!?

~I’ve been around but this is odd even for me~

‘Agreed, well she’s at least not doing anything now, keep an eye on her while we deal with the twins first since they seem to be more aggressive of the three of them.’

~On it, by the way, here they come~

Jaune’s attention went back to the twins as the white one with the foot blades came in with low to medium kicks and the red one with, he claws come in high and to the side. Neither blade could get through the symbiote, as force of the blades hitting it were easily repulsed without any damage to the alien. While the symbiote could be cut, it took blades a lot better and with more force than what the twins were using.

The Malachite sisters weren’t ones to give up easily as they attacked in sync, Jaune however by this point was a lot more combat experienced than when he first started. All those times training in his dreams with the symbiote, all those extra training with Pyrrha, Yang, his team, team CFVY and even the few lessons with Weiss. They all culminated in the new Jaune that had started to hone his combat knowledge.

Melanie went for a high kick to his shoulder only for Jaune to block it with his forearm as his ‘cape’ whipped out to her one leg still planted on the ground and wrapped around her ankle before pulling hard, making the white dressed twin slam onto her back.

Miltia tried to take advantage thinking the guy was too focused on her sister but without looking at her he spun around and as he turned grabbed her wrist with one hand and the other grabbing the back of her clothing as he tossed her across the alley into the opposite wall. She was surprised by just how strong the throw had been, he was a lot stronger than he looked as her shoulder took the blunt of the impact.

“This is so cool,” Ruby was wondering how the cape kept moving like that, it looked like the thing was alive.

“He’s not bad,” Yang commented granted the guy was still a little rough in the hand-to-hand department, but she could tell that guy had been trained. Actually, there was something kind of familiar about this fighting style. She couldn’t place her finger on it, but some moves seemed familiar to moves she had learned.

She watched as his blocked the white dressed twin’s foot blades after getting up, he was blocking them with the forearm guards he had. It was like how she fought with her weapons using them to block like that. Granted that could be just because of the similar armor they had on their arms, but it nagged at her. There were a few other moves that looked familiar but then he would do something unexpected, like how that cape of his just seemed to lash out on its own.

‘Got to be a semblance of some kind,’ She figured. Maybe this guy was some failed huntsman? Or someone that decided to go into crime fighting instead?

Yang wanted to jump in, but her aura hadn’t recovered yet and without that, those blades the girls had would cut right into her. She also cast a look at the shorter third girl who was doing nothing but recording things. She had given Yang so much trouble in the fight that Yang wasn’t sure what the girl could do when she got serious. All through the fight she got the feeling the girl was just playing with her, which annoyed Yang to no end.

Neo had to admit that this was good fortune to run into this ‘Vale Knight’ character but even she had to admit that living cape was a problem. At any rate she was thinking she might have enough footage when the twins were changing tactics. She saw the glance they shared and knew they were up to something.

Miltia ran at him to get his attention but then Melanie as she was running at him suddenly turned, she was now going for the Yang and Ruby.

Jaune’s ‘cape’ was entangling Miltia but thanks to Valor he could ‘see’ the other twin going for his friends even though Jaune was facing the opposite way.

~They don’t know the cape isn’t the only thing that can move~ Valor smugly said as Jaune’s left arm stretched out as the costume on it extended and wrapped around the girl’s waist. He tossed said girl right at the feet of Neo as the other one held in the cape soon followed.

“Okay then, I think it’s time we ended-“ He paused as soon sirens were head. What no one had known was that Yang’s gunshots were reported and the police were on the way to investigate.

“Neo?” Miltia asked.

The girl put away her scroll and gave a bow to everyone. Jaune was confused not sure what was going on, but he figured he had to catch them before the cops got here. He reached out as he felt something solid for a brief moment.

Then suddenly the world in front of them shattered like they had punched a mirror as all three girls were just gone now. The shards vanishing away as they fell leaving an empty spot in front of him.

“Huh?” Jaune looked around.

~Okay…I didn’t expect that~ Valor had felt something but hadn’t known what it was. Whatever that little girl did it had fooled even his senses for a moment. It was a bit embarrassing to be honest, but he would think on that later, first priority was to see to the girls.

“Are you two all right?” Jaune asked them.

“Well until the cops get here and ask why I was shotting up the place with no one else in sight with a vigilante next to us,” Yang commented.

“Oh right,” Jaune could see the flashing lights now, they were close. “Trust me to get you out of this?”

“I mean, he did save us,” Ruby said to Yang.

“Alright, just do whatever you want to do quickly,” Yang wasn’t sure what story to tell the police that wouldn’t get them into trouble, so anything was better than that. Suddenly he grabbed both girls by the waist telling them to hang on as his cape stretched out like long limbs, carrying them all to the rooftops.

By the time the cops searched the alley they had found signs of a fight but no one around.

On a nearby rooftop the three of them decided to catch a break.

“Okay that was both scary and kind of fun,” Ruby spoke up. “Seriously, how does your suit do all that?!”

“Uh…sorry trade secret,” Jaune told her not sure what else he could say.

“Oh, come on!” Ruby pouted she hated not knowing how it worked.

“Well at least we’re fine now,” Yang said.

“AH!” Ruby nearly jumped as she suddenly remembered. “I was on the phone with Jaune! They got to be worried about us when that nasty girl destroyed my scroll, also how am I going to explain that to the school?”

“You can just say you lost it, flew out when you were zipping around or accidentally stepped on it, no big,” Yang pulled out her own scroll and tossed it to her. “Here, let him know we’re okay, I want to thank ‘Mr. Hero’ here.”

“Okay,” Ruby pulled out the scroll and first tried Jaune.

Jaune panicked as he still had his scroll on him, thankfully Valor was quick to turn the device off.

“Huh, he’s not picking up,” She tried Pyrrha next and got her. “Hey Pyrrha? Yeah, we’re fine now, man you will not believe what just happened…”

Yang let Ruby continue talking as she looked back to the man in front of her. “So, what do I call ya big guy?”

“Well, uh, everyone just calls me Vale Knight so that’s good enough,” he scratched the back of his head.

Yang raised an eyebrow at that but shrugged it off. “Well thanks for the save, if that little silent one wasn’t there, I could have taken those two, but she had me on the ropes so thanks.” She looked up at him, he was a tall boy, most likely at least six feet tall the suit really cut a fine figure though. He had this air of mystery about him being a masked vigilante and all. If it wasn’t for Jaune she might have taken an interest in him.

Doesn’t mean she could have a little fun.

“So,” she leaned in looked up at him with a flirty expression. “Is this the part where the damsel in distress thanks the hero with a kiss?”

“W-what!? N-no, I mean it would be nice, not that you’re not pretty-you really are-but I don’t want to force anything or make you feel you need to, you know, I’m just here, well that’s to say-“ He stopped fumbling over his words when she started laughing.

“You’re messing with me, aren’t you?” Jaune said in a deadpan voice.

“Sorry, had to try it,” She smirked at him. “Nice to know you’re a good guy to the core, although if I didn’t already like someone, I would be tempted.”

“Oh? Sounds like a lucky guy.” Jaune had no idea that Yang had feelings for someone. He was starting to wonder who it could even be she didn’t hang out with any guys that he knew of other than himself and Ren. Maybe it was a crush on a boy she hadn’t talked to? No way, she wasn’t the type to be shy around this, she would just go up to the guy, right? She always seemed so confident to him that way.

Yang paused seeing Ruby still on the phone.

“I’m seriously Weiss, we ran into him!”

Apparently, she was calling everyone to catch the up on things. She looked away off in the distance as this was a bit of an awkward subject. The only person she really had talked to about this was Pyrrha, but there was just something about this Knight guy, something familiar, something welcoming.

“Yeah, well the guy is a good guy but he’s kind of dense when it comes to women,” Yang sighed crossing her arms. “Plus, it’s complicated.”

Jaune remembered another saying his mother used to say. “Well sometimes you can only tell a stranger what you can’t tell a friend.”

Yang paused to look at him mentally debating but in the end who was he going to tell?

“Well okay then, see I like him, but he likes a member of my team,” she started to explain.

“That does sound complicated,” Jaune was wondering who it was this person had a crush on.

~Seriously Jaune?~

‘What?’ he mentally asked.

“Although he also doesn’t know that I like him, but also his partner also has feelings for him.”

Jaune got quiet as suddenly felt some creeping revelation was coming up no matter how much his brain was in denial about it.

“So…he likes a member of your team but both you and his partner like him…how about the girl he likes?” Jaune got a sinking feeling in his stomach now.

“Weiss is kind of, well at first she couldn’t stand him but now I’m thinking she’s warming up to him, which makes it even more complicated.” Yang let out a frustrated sigh. “I know she’s the one he’s got his eyes on but come on, there are two other options right in front of him and he doesn’t see it? It gets a little frustrating.”

~I think she’s talking about you~

‘I mean…it could be just, you know…coincidence?’ Even as he thought about it, he knew it sounded lame. He just couldn’t wrap his mind around it, he was hoping that he was just misunderstanding things.

“Even sang a love song duet with him and he still didn’t get the message,” Yang grumbled a little.

~Well no denying it now~

‘Oh god you’re right, wait when did Yang start liking me?’

~Maybe ask her?~

‘How am I supposed to do that without sounding creepy or odd?’

~There’s also the Pyrrha thing too~

‘Oh god Pyrrha!’ The sudden realization that Yang had basically said that Pyrrha liked him was another bombshell of a revelation. How in the world was he supposed to deal with that? His own partner had feelings for him, and he hadn’t even noticed? Just how in the world had he gotten into this kind of situation?

“You okay there?” Yang asked seeing him all still and silent.

“Oh, uh sorry, that’s just a lot of information,” He replied trying to shake out of the shock of it all.

A flash caught their attention as they looked to see Ruby taking a picture and then doing something with the scroll. “See! I told you we met him Weiss.”

“What are you doing?” Yang asked finally.

“Weiss wanted proof,” Ruby shrugged as she continued to talk.

“Well, I better go now, there’s a fire escape over there you can use to get down, I got, like, patrolling the city stuff to do.” Jaune told her.

“Okay well thanks again for the save,” Yang told him.

Jaune nodded as he jumped off as Valor stretched out one of his limbs to allow them to swing off.

“Seriously, how does that suit work like that?” Ruby muttered watching him leave.

TBC…

So, there you have it, sorry for the lateness of this dealing with some stuff. My PC at home just died so I got to get it taken in today, thankfully I have other ways to type but this might slow me down.

Also yeah, wanted to have a bit of a twist there at the end with Jaune accidentally finding out about his situation, now the ball is in his court.

Chapter Text

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 24: Rock meet Hard Place

‘What am I going to do? Seriously what am I supposed to do here?’ Jaune’s mind had been going over and over what Yang had said, and he just kept looking back on his life trying to notice the signs that he missed. He wasn’t used to being popular with girls or at least popular enough to get at least two and maybe three to notice him? He was so used to just being ignored by the women he liked that he just didn’t think anyone would take an active interest in him without him trying to gain their attention first.

‘So how in the world did I end up in this situation?’

Valor was not enjoying his freak out. The bond meant he could feel all the apprehension, tension, fear and confusion that Jaune was going through, and it was not pleasant. Also, Jaune kept thinking in circles and it was starting to give him a headache, or at least the Klyntar version of one.

~Jaune stop~

Jaune’s body still clad in the costume on the roof top he was currenting running on froze as the symbiote took over.

~Take a moment and breath~

“Okay…breath…yeah I can do that…” He took a few breaths before the alien gave him back full control of his body.

~Look you can’t change what happened only deal with it, take it slow. Let’s just focus on getting back and take it one step at a time~

“Right one step…god how am I going to face Pyrrha?!” his hands went to his head. “We live in the same room Valor! How can I even look her in the eyes now?!”

Valor mentally sighed, well he had tried.

Eventually Jaune made it back to the Bullhead station, he had put away the suit as soon as he was close enough to see it and out of public view. As he arrived, he was glad to see everyone there but Ruby and Yang, he figured he had a few minutes lead on them anyway since the rooftops were quicker. As he looked around and as his eyes locked with his partner he froze slightly.

“Jaune, where were you? Pyrrha said you had to check on something?” Nora asked glad to see him.

He looked to Nora and then to Pyrrha who shifted a bit, she wasn’t the best of lairs and hadn’t been able to come up with something decent to explain his absence from Weiss and Blake.

“Oh uh, I dropped my scroll?” He pulled it out. “Found it.”

“So that’s why you weren’t picking up,” Ruby’s voice called out from behind as he looked to see the sisters not far off just as he thought as they quickly made their way towards them.

“Huh?” Then he remembered she tried to call him. “Oh, right sorry I saw you called and was about to call you back. Where uh, what happened to you two?”

He of course knew but it was better to act clueless.

‘Apparently I’m very good at that.’ He thought to himself as he looked from Ruby to Yang. They locked eyes as she seemed to give him a small smile. ‘God how did I miss it?’

~I did try and say she and your other partner would be good alternatives if things with Weiss never worked out~

‘I know! I just didn’t expect it to actually happen.’

“Jaune you won’t believe it!” Ruby came up with him looking all giddy as she showed him Yang’s scroll which she still had. “See, we met the Vale Knight!”

And there was the picture she took of ‘him’ and Yang talking. It was kind of surreal as half the people here knew the real story behind that picture, but the other half didn’t. He felt a bit bad about that.

~What you want to tell more? You do know if you tell them then Yang will know what she said to you~

Jaune mentally froze again at that, ‘Yeah…let’s put a pin in that for later.’ This whole situation was awkward enough and he didn’t want to put Yang in that kind of position either.

He figured all that would now be Future Jaune’s problems as he smiled and tried to make it look like he was excited. “Oh, wow that’s crazy Ruby.”

“What’s crazy is that suit of his, it moves around like it’s alive at times,” Ruby was getting into weapon maniac mode as her eyes got that look in them whenever she talked about weapons. “I wonder how he does it, maybe it’s some kind of material that he can control with a semblance? Like metallic fibers and magnetism?”

~Nice try but not even close~

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at that, while she knew how the ‘suit’ worked Ruby was making her wonder if she had clothing that was metal threads could she make them do something similar? Not entirely like how Valor could move of course, magnetism couldn’t shape metal, at least as far as she knew, hers couldn’t.

“Still, we better get on board,” Blake stated noticing the time. “The last one is about to leave for Beacon unless we want to walk all the way to school.”

It would take all night to walk through Vale, and then back to the school so they all eagerly used their student passes to take the last ride. On the way to their seats Weiss stopped and turned to look at Jaune.

“I just wanted to say...thank you.”

“Oh? Uh…for what again?” Jaune blinked.

Weiss shifted a little in her stance not used to this kind of thing. Rarely anyone did anything nice to her, at least before coming to Beacon. Sure, there was Klein but mostly when someone had been nice to her it was for some ulterior motive behind it. “For standing up for me about what that brute said.”

Then it clicked for him. “Oh! Right, yeah well, I know you could have taken him easily.”

“I could.” She nodded.

He gave a small smile at that, “But I don’t like anyone talk about my friends like that, plus my parents brought me up that you shouldn’t say certain things to people and not to ladies especially.”

Weiss felt a small smile on her face, from the look in his face and from how he said it, he honestly did sound genuine about that. It actually made her feel a little warmth in her that there were still people who could be gentlemanly and treat others with respect. She was starting to see Jaune in a different light lately.

Sure, his approach before was a bumbling fool, and he still had a bit of that, but as she got to know him more, she could see that he had a good heart. That was something she rarely experienced in Atlas, she always had to be on guard, and she knew it made her a little…difficult to deal with at times. Still, she was starting to see layers in him she hadn’t noticed.  

“I appreciate that,” she turned to leave as Jaune wondered if he was starting to get somewhere with her.

~Uh oh~

Jaune was wondering why Valor said that when he looked to see Pyrrha shifting uncomfortably with a plastered-on smile and Yang looking away a bit trying to pretend she was looking at something else.

‘Oh right, this is troubling,’

“Come on,” Ruby told them. “You guy are going to miss it.”

Yang, Pyrrha and Jaune snapped out of it as they quickly boarded the last flight to Beacon. Jaune was hoping to catch a break until he sat down and soon round Yang on one side and Pyrrha on the other with Ruby telling Nora across from them everything that happened. Blake, Weiss and Ren were in the seat behind her listening in.

Jaune kind of zoned out since he was very aware of how close Yang and Pyrrha were, knowing that both liked him totally changed the dynamic. He also tried to ignore the fact that now that he knew, he couldn’t help but look at them not just as friends but as attractive young women.

Okay, yes he was fully aware of that fact, actually there wasn’t an unattractive female at Beacon that he could name or point out. He just never really thought about it before, because he never thought he had a chance with either of them.

Pyrrha was like on a pedestal, she just seemed to be so above his reach, so perfect and it was kind of intimidating. For Yang, there was the fact she was his best friend’s sister, and her outgoing sunny personality made him feel like he couldn’t keep up with her.

‘Since when did my life get so complicated?’

~From what I can see, the day you ran away from home taking your weapons and trying to get in with forged papers~

‘Yeah…sounds about right…’

It was a very long flight for him, he was glad when it was all over when they landed, and said their goodbyes before going off to their own dorms.

“Man, what a crazy night,” Nora stretched out while in the dorm as their front door closed.

“It was a lot more excitement than what we planned for,” Ren nodded his head.

“I’m glad you and Valor were able to help Ruby and Yang,” Pyrrha turned to face them. “But is what they said true bout them turning to glass at the end?”

“Kind of?” Jaune was getting his sleepwear ready avoiding her gaze at the moment. “It was more like she put up an illusion made of glass? It’s kind of hard to explain.”

Pyrrha thought about the description of the small girl and her obvious semblance. “It sounds like some kind of illusion style of power, a very powerful one if she can instantly put-up illusions without anyone noticing.”

“We were just wondering how they got away so quickly.” Jaune and Valor were both wondering as it was only a split second, at least they thought it was. It was hard to tell when the girl threw up the illusion but at the most it was only a few seconds.

“Maybe she layered it.” Pyrrha surmised.

“She what now?” Jaune paused to turn to look at her.

“She might have been able to place one illusion of them there and another to hide them running away.” She further explained.

~Damn it, I should have thought of that~ Valor did not like missing that possibility. ~That little one if we ever meet her again is going to be a pain to fight~

Jaune face palmed as he sighed, “Well…next time we’ll have to be ready for that.”

Nora yawned as she stretched out again. “Well, this has been a day.”