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 reallydid 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.