AN: Okay so I have made a few decisions as I really wanted to take this story in a direction. Now you may have noticed I changed this to M rated because of a few scenes I have in mind will get a bit violent. Possibly for other reasons too but we'll see how the story goes first so it's M for safety at the moment.
Now as for the romance, and please hear me out and don't stop reading, give this a chance to explain. I have thought of having three girls interesting Jaune-WAIT LET ME FINISH! I don't plan on a stupid just falling in love because the author says so style of storytelling, there will be reasons, they will be logical. Plus I have an idea that will take time to pay off in the long run.
It's an idea that hit me and I really want to go with it because I think it will be interesting to see. Now yes Pyrrha is one of them, she's confirmed the other two I have in the running may or may not change so I won't confirm them yet. If you don't want to read further that hurts but okay, all I ask is you give it a shot and I hope I don't disappoint you all who sticks with it.
Symbiote Knight
Chapter 4: 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…
So I do have a couple ideas for a name for the symbiote but I'm curious as to what names some of you might think of. If I find a better one I might use that instead.
