I'm going to say this now. DO NOT contact me about buying your art for my stories. I don't care. If I need art, I will make it myself or get it from a reputable artist not someone that just contacts me out of the blue with a fake message about reading my stories and being 'inspired' by them. Don't waste my time with that or you will be blocked immediately.

Symbiote Knight

Chapter 36: Out in the Open Part 1

Jaune had spent the last week mulling something over, well actually mulling a lot over. First was everything with Amber and Ozpin and well everything he learned that day. He learned that there was another Klyntar on the planet and this one wasn't as nice as his own symbiote. Valor said it most likely had to be one of the Corrupted side of things which he wasn't looking forward to dealing with.

He had a small talk with the headmaster yesterday, it was just a meeting for Ozpin to let him settle in with all the information he had been given and clear up any questions Jaune would have. It hadn't been long given both were busy, but it had helped him get a bigger picture. Of course, it was easy to see there had to be a lot more Ozpin wasn't telling but Jaune figured that was for the best.

He was basically the 'new guy' and he figured he didn't need to know it all since he was more focused on just being a student. Ozpin said as time went on and he got more responsibilities more would be given to him. Honestly, Jaune had so much going on in his life, he didn't need to have more dumped onto his head.

Valor wanted more information on this other symbiote, but it wasn't like Ozpin had a lot to go on, he didn't even know it was an alien until Valor explained it all. All that Ozpin knew was that Salem let it out to cause chaos now and then and after being defeated it would just disappear sometimes for decades or even longer. Valor knew that symbiotes didn't die from old age as they didn't really 'age' like other life.

But this wasn't the thing that Jaune was currently thinking over.

There were two main things he was struggling with, and they were kind of linked. His complicated feelings between Pyrrha, Yang and Weiss were just getting more tangled and complicated. The more time he spent with the girls the more he liked them, for different reasons of course, but it was getting harder and harder to pick which one he liked above them all.

Then there was the fact that Yang and Weiss didn't know about Valor, but Pyrrha did. If he was going to have any kind of relationship with someone they needed to know, he felt it was a bit unfair that Pyrrha knew it and they didn't. Which also lead into that fact he felt that is half of team RWBY knew, then Ruby and Blake should also know.

Of course, Ruby was his best friend, and he wanted to tell her, he trusted her the most. Blake…was a bit of odd one. He wasn't as close to her, as she was just hard to get to know. She seemed just kind of reserved person and took time to open up, but she didn't seem like a bad person to him.

~I know I can remember the class for you, but you shouldn't daydream all the time while in here~

That snapped him out of it as he jerked as he looked to see the professor in their math class. It was one of the 'core' classes. Mainly one of the classes that taught things everyone should know as someone that can't do math wouldn't get far in life.

'Sorry, it's just that I've been thinking a lot.'

~Oh I've noticed~

Jaune slightly nodded at that, one thing about being bonded with a symbiote is that he knew everything that Jaune knew. Sure, it could go both ways but given how much information the symbiote knew, well he explained that the human mind couldn't handle that much information. If he put even a fraction of it into Jaune's brain Valor said his brain might just melt from the overload.

There was some silence before Valor spoke up again.

~You really want to tell them huh?~

'I know you like being secretive, but my team knows and Professor Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch and Qrow and Amber. Kind of a lot already and nothing bad has happened.'

~Yet~

'You can be really pessimistic at times you know that?'

~Being locked up in a rock in space by those who are supposed to be my own race, for who knows how long condemned to a slow death kind of does that. It wasn't that long ago I was just stuck out there wondering what could happen to me~

Jaune winced at that, Valor didn't like to talk about his time trapped like that. He could feel the loneliness and isolation he had gone through because of their bond, and he couldn't even think how someone could stay sane like that. Apparently, it was easier for Klyntars but that didn't mean it was easy on Valor.

'Well okay but still, my team accepted you, hell Nora I think would adopt you if she could.'

There was a sense of amusement from Valor at that.

'I just think it's time.'

There was a sensation of the equivalent of a sigh from his symbiote.

~I've trusted your judgement on this before so I will again~

'Cool, first I want to check in on Amber. It's been a few days, so I want to know how she's holding up.'

~That reminds me, I've been thinking it over on what happened with Amber. When you needed it, you dug in and brought something out of yourself. Your aura seemed to suddenly explode in amplitude, from what I remember that is not normal~

'What are you thinking? Could it be because we're linked?'

~Possibly, I have no frame of reference for aura on this world as it's unique to this planet. However, it could also have been you unlocking your semblance~

That got Jaune excited, he had no idea what it could be but healing Amber had been a strange experience and mentally taxing. He didn't remember the ending all that clearly but if what Valor said was true, this could be big. Of course, technically Valor was his 'semblance' as to explain the suit that appears on him when he lets his symbiote out.

~You might want to talk to others with more knowledge about semblances like Pyrrha~

Jaune nodded his head, he would have to talk to her about it, maybe his team as a whole. They might have ideas on how to explore this, he didn't even know how it had activated so it might take some time to figure it out. The bell rang as he picked up his books, they still had a few more classes before the end of the day.

At the moment Amber was currently doing her physical therapy, which was her holding herself up on two parallel bars as he walked end to end. This was to help regain the lost strength in her limbs given the year she spent in a coma. It was hard work, but her physical therapist told her that it was a long road and to take every small victory that came her way. She was to make small goals and when she reached it, to make a slightly larger one.

The woman was already sweating from both band exercises and stretching to help get her muscles their mass and strength back. There was another thing she was learning to deal with and that was the missing part of her powers. She could feel it all the time, ever since she gained her Maiden powers she could feel it inside of her. Now it was like something took a scoop out of her insides, her powers weren't just diminished, she could feel the missing part like a phantom pain of a lost limb.

"Okay that's good enough," the woman overseeing her therapy gently helped her to a wheelchair. "You've done very well today."

"I still feel like a rag doll most of the time." Amber sighed sitting down.

"That's to be expected I was told you were in a coma for a year, your body needs to rebuild itself and that takes time. It's good that you're keeping things up though and pushing through."

Amber nodded she always did try to give it her all, it was just how she did things. She noticed a familiar face looking around the large medical room. There were a couple of students that were working out injuries from training here since Ozpin implemented full medical coverage to keep the students healthy. After all training accidents did happen and the times students faced off against Grimm, even with safeties put into place, the worse case can still happen.

It wasn't exactly a safe profession they trained for after all.

Amber waved him over as the tall boy moved towards them.

"I'll give you two a moment before I take you to the shower," she told Amber leaving.

Amber nodded as she also took a bottle of water the woman gave her as she took a drink before Jaune came over.

"Hey, just wanted to see how the therapy was going." Jaune stated.

"Slowly but I'm told I'm getting there," Amber had met him a few times now as he was checking in on her. It was nice to have someone visit, of course Qrow, Ozpin and Glynda kept visiting her which was nice, but it was good to have a new face to come see her now and then. "So how are things?"

"They are, well going," Jaune scratched the back of his head avoiding looking at her.

Amber raised an eyebrow but didn't push, she didn't know him well enough for that, but this young man did save her life and that went a long way in her books. She also found him a very kind and open person. "And how's your friend?"

Amber had been surprised to say the least learning that Valor who had a hand in saving her was a being not from this world. Apparently shock that they weren't alone in the universe was a natural reaction given what Qrow said to her.

Jaune paused as though listening to something only he could hear, which he was.

"He says he's good and that he's happy you're doing well, he also said once you're feeling up to it, he's willing to help see if he can accelerate the healing process."

Amber nodded, their first conversation with Valor he explained that he for a short time did a partial bond to help fix a lot of the damage in her body. While he could only do a minimum of help since he was bonded to Jaune, he could slowly over time fix small issues but wanted to make sure she was stronger first. Her weakened body might prove to be overtaxed if healed too much too quickly.

"Actually, there's something else, he told me that I also had a hand in healing you," Jaune shifted not sure how to explain it. "He said it might be a semblance, have you ever heard of something like that?"

Amber thought about it, "while rare, there are support style semblances like healing, damage reduction and stuff like that. Sometimes you can even enhance others with a semblance so it's not out of the realm of possibilities."

"Okay, just wanted to get someone's opinion on it," Jaune figured that given her experience she might know something, he was still going to talk to his team about it later, but it was nice to know that there was something to it.

"So, there's something I was wondering," He thought. "I know you have those abilities." He looked around to make sure no one could hear that part. "But do you also have a semblance on top of it?"

Amber nodded. "Yes, I had it before I became a Maiden. My semblance is more of a passive ability though, it lets me navigate anywhere. If it's a place I know, I instantly know where it is, how far it is and which direction. Mainly I can never get lost."

"Oh, that's uh…" He wasn't sure what to say about that.

"Not very good in a fight? Believe me I know," Amber sighed. "Not all semblances are equal, some vary, and others are powerful, but we don't always get ones that can be used to fight. I figured this was just me knowing where I always wanted to go in life and my soul manifested it."

It wasn't the first time she wished her semblance was more combat oriented, it might have helped when she had been attacked on the road for instance. It was why she relied on her Maiden powers for combat.

Jaune was thinking of Nora and Ren's semblances. Ren's ability to dampen emotions was great against Grimm but useless against more human opponents. It didn't make him fight any better against the other students in the combat classes. Nora's while giving her a boost required her to get hit by large amounts of electricity for it to activate, which was not something they could just do on command all the time.

~Looks like semblances are kind of a lottery~

'Yeah, looks like it, still need to know what mine does.'

The therapist came back, "Well it's time to get you to the showers Amber, unless you want to have sweat covering you for the rest of the day."

Amber shook her head, "No, I could use it. Bye, Jaune, thanks for the visit."

"Of course, any time," He waved her off. It was good to see she was doing better as he was worried given how she had looked the first time he saw her.

~I sense she's a fighter despite her calm exterior~

'Yeah, I get that too,' he pulled out his scroll as he took a breath. It was time to finally pull the trigger on something he had been thinking long and hard about.

-Team RWBY Dorm Room-

"So, what do you think Jaune wants to talk to us about?" Ruby questioned. They had gotten a message that he was bringing his team over to have a talk about something. The message was vague, but he did stress it was important.

"Not sure," Yang was looking in a mirror adjusting her hair. She didn't think it was anything like a relationship announcement. She was sure if he had picked Pyrrha the woman would have let her, and Weiss know before hand given their little agreement between the three of them to fight fair.

"Maybe he wants our teams to train together?" Blake offered while reading her current book flipping a page as she read in her bed.

"Well, they should be here soon," Weiss checked the time on her scroll for the fifth time.

There was soon a knock on their door as Ruby went to open it letting in team JNPR.

"Hey guys, so what did you want to talk about?" Ruby asked them. She saw how Jaune, Ren and Pyrrha gave hesitant looks, but Nora looked like she was bouncing with energy and wanting to just explode with something but was holding it in.

"It's something I've been keeping secret for a while now," Jaune stated before pausing trying to come up with what to say next. "There's really no way to cushion this."

"There really isn't," Ren sighed remembering their own experience.

"Okay, what's going on?" Ruby asked narrowing her eyes looking at them one by one.

"This is something I've been wanting to tell you guys for awhile now," Jaune stated. "I only told my team recently and since I consider you call friends, I felt you all deserved to know."

Everyone was waiting for what was coming next, even Blake put down her book as she was invested in what was going on as this sounded serious.

"It might be best to show them," Pyrrha commented.

"Yeah," Jaune suddenly had his white suit form around him.

"What? Your semblance? Jaune we already know about that," Ruby cocked her head curiously.

Then suddenly a new head formed out of Jaune's right shoulder looking right at her with the same large 'eyes' but a mouth formed as it talked right at her. "Not exactly, hello there Ruby Rose."

"Ah!" Ruby being the closest fell onto her butt staring up at it as Blake nearly jumped so high she nearly hit her head on Yang' bed above her. Weiss took a step back as Yang's jaw dropped.

"What is that!?" Ruby pointed at the extra head.

"This is Valor, he's my, well…" Jaune trailed off.

By this point Nora couldn't hold it in. "He's a freaking alien!"

A tendril suddenly shot out of Jaune's other shoulder quickly but gently covering Nora's mouth as the head formed back into the right shoulder and came out of the left looking right at Nora.

"Shhhhh, not so loud Nora." Valor didn't need the entire floor to hear her as Nora's voice could get quite loud when she wanted it to.

"Sworry," she mumbled through the suit against her mouth. Valor pulled back the tendril and looked at the others as did team JNPR waiting for the shock to wear off.

"Y-you're serious?" Yang said eyeing the moving 'head' as it looked right at her.

"Yes, I am a Klyntar," Valor explained. "Or you can call me a symbiote, I was in that meteor that landed in the woods, and I've been with Jaune ever since."

Yang blinked at she just stared at the creature still slowly processing everything.

"Aliens don't exist," Weiss threw her arms up not believing what she was actually seeing.

Valor looked at Weiss almost with a questioning look at his 'face' at her. "So, then what am I?"

Weiss' mouth open and closed a few times not finding an answer to that.

"There's more to the universe than what is found on this world."

"Wait the meteor you guys found?" Blake thought back to that small mission the school set up as she slowly got off her bed to take a better look at this…creature. "You were just inside of it?"

"Yeah, he was stuck in that for, well a long time," Jaune shrugged as he pulled the suit away from his head. "He was hurt and dying and latched onto me, symbiotes need a host and I offered to help."

"Why would you, I mean…why?" Weiss was struggling to come to terms with what she was seeing. In her mind things like aliens were just fantasy, they shouldn't exist, if they did then why haven't they ever been contacted before now?

"Well, he did give me choice," Jaune shrugged again. "He was in a bad way, and he's also been helping me."

"Helping how?" Yang asked.

"Well, he's been helping me out with physical things for instance." Jaune scratched the back of his head.

"I have the ability to enhance my hosts," Valor explained. "While bonded I allow my host to get stronger much faster, to be able to push their bodies to extremes. I've also been training him at night in his mind, while it's not as good as physical training it does help him get the knowledge down faster."

"Wait is that why you suddenly got so much stronger!?" Weiss blurted out. "And why you suddenly got better grades?"

Now everything was starting to make sense to her, the sudden increase in his abilities, how he had seemed so hopeless at the start and now was shooting up in the school grades and in his abilities. She felt a sense of anger at it. She felt like she had been lied to and manipulated, two things that she hated the most in the world because that's what her father did to her all the time.

She crossed her arms and glared at him, "So you've been cheating."

Jaune winced at that, he couldn't deny that it was a bit unfair.

"He helped a lot yeah," Jaune flushed in embarrassment. "I was so far behind."

This time it was Pyrrha that came up and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Jaune was always working hard. I've seen him put in so much effort before Valor showed up but even after he never stopped. In fact, I think he pushed himself even further because of it. I know he could have achieved what he has now in time, Valor just helped him reach his potential faster."

She looked at Weiss, "I think I know how you feel, and I did feel at first that it was unfair too Weiss."

"And now?" She heiress asked.

The red head paused to gather her thoughts. "I can't go into it, but Jaune wasn't given the same opportunities we had before coming here. So, he was already given a handicap, but despite all that he always did his best when I was helping him train and get better. Valor has also been helping him in the same way I have. You don't consider the help I've been giving him 'cheating' after all right?"

"I've learned that getting help from your team isn't something you should be ashamed of, also in a way Valor is also a part of Jaune now and not using his help would be like cutting yourself off from your own natural abilities. Would it be cheating if we stopped using our semblances for instance?"

Weiss paused to think on that. There were points for and against what she was saying, but it was hard to make an argument if they were one being. Did it come down to the difference between natural and un-natural talent? Did this count as getting help from a 'teammate'? In all honesty she had no idea, this was something she needed to think long and hard about.

"I guess I can see the logic, you say you two are…bonded?" Blake asked them to break the silence.

"Yeah, we're linked, what I think and feel he feels it," Jaune told her.

"And it works both ways, we are separate beings, but at the same time we are also one being."

"I'm not sure I can wrap my head around that," Yang shook her head as she was trying to keep up with it all. The boy she had a huge crush on had a freaking alien of all things living inside of him. This was not the kind of thing she thought she ever would come into her life. She thought it was enough just to compete with two other girls for him but now? It was just so surreal she wasn't sure if this was all some weird dream.

"It gets a little getting used to," Jaune nodded. He then looked at Ruby who hadn't said anything looking like she was trying to catch up with everything. "Ruby, you okay?"

"Yeah? I mean I think so?" She questioned not sure herself as she finally got herself off the floor and looked at the alien head now looking at her. "So, your name is Valor?"

"That is what Jaune calls me, I tend to take new names with a new host."

"Wait so what's your real name?" the young reaper asked.

"Klyntar don't always have 'names' as you call them, we know each other more on an instinctual level."

Ruby blinked at that. "Huh, okay then…so Valor is it. So, you're like Jaune's friend?"

"Yes, friend and partner. We are bonded until the day one of us dies."

"Wait this is permanent?" Weiss asked suddenly hearing that.

"It takes some getting used to but it's actually kind of nice always having someone with you." Jaune explained to her. "But yeah, he explained that if we bonded it's for good, he needed a host to survive at the time and let's be honest, I needed all the help I could get. But he's been a really good friend."

"That's right and he's also the super secret member of team JNPR." Nora proudly claimed. "Although maybe we should change the team's name? Can we call ourselves team JNPRS or something? Should we use a K, a V or an S?"

"I don't think they will let us just change the team's name," Ren told her.

"I mean just for us," Nora told him trying to think of something. "JVENP? Maybe VVALP?"

"Those aren't colours," Ren simply stated not even sure what the first one was supposed to be, he figured she was just randomly putting letters together.

"This is so hard," Nora slumped her shoulders. "How does Professor Ozpin make this look so easy?"

"What's it feel like?" Ruby asked looking at Jaune's 'suit' more closely now. It looked like a white armored clothing with his family crest on the chest but where the head was coming out the 'material' took on an organic look.

"It's kind of hard to explain," Jaune said looking down at his body. "I feel like I have a second skin that's also a limb, it's hard to really put into words."

"Can I touch it?" Ruby asked.

Jaune and Valor shared a look at he just shrugged, Ruby ran her hand over his arm. "It feels like real armor and cloth, but it's not, right?"

"Correct, we symbiotes are extradimensional tesseracts made up of a viscous protoplasm."

Team RWBY just blinked at that as they all turned to Weiss given that she was the one that was the most educated out of them all. She saw her team looking at her for a translation to that, but she had none.

"I don't know what that means!" she defended herself. "I mean I know those words individually but not together like that." She had a vague idea of viscous protoplasm, but she only knew what a tesseract was in a drawing not in real life and add in an extradimensional tesseract and it was beyond her level of comprehension.

"Yeah, we don't really get it either," Nora scratched her head as Pyrrha, Ren and even Jaune nodded in agreement.

"So, there's no downside to this?" Yang asked him as there had to be a trade off of some kind.

"Well, I do have to take supplements of phenethylamine," Jaune finally was able to say that word given all the practice he put into trying to remember it on his own. "Symbiotes need that chemical, at first I was eating as much food that had it as I could."

"So that's why you were eating such weird combinations," Yang remembered some of his meals, he had gone back to a more normal diet a few weeks ago. "Wait, what even is that?"

"It's found in a lot of things," Weiss squinted her eyes trying to remember from her biology studies. "I think it was in the brain but I'm not sure."

"It's in foods like chocolate too," Jaune offered.

"Wait are you saying you can eat all the chocolate you want, and he just eats it all up or something instead?" Ruby accused him like he had committed the worst kind of sin by having this ability all to his own. She could just imagine her eating all the chocolate cookies in the world and not get sick.

"Pretty much?" Jaune shrugged.

"That is so unfair," Yang muttered given the lengths she went to just to keep her body in shape being able to eat all the junk she wanted to and not have any kind of downside felt like such a cheat.

"This is so cool," Ruby looked around Jaune's symbiote suit. "Can you like make different things like that tentacle thing that covered Nora's face?"

"Mostly," Valor said as Jaune's arm came up. The arm changed into a nice looking suit, then into a copy of Ruby's arm and clothing, then back to the suit but with a large arm blade on it before going back to normal. "Actual weapons like guns I can't do but I can form myself into a variety of things like blades, clothing and such."

Something about how the symbiote changed and moved suddenly clicked in Ruby's mind as her eyes widened. "Wait a minute! That's how the Vale Knight's cloak worked!"

She finally figured it out, why that cloak seemed to move like it was alive, because it had been alive. She looked right at Jaune in the eyes daring him to explain how there were two people with living suits.

"Oh, right that," Jaune laughed nervously now seeing their looks. He sighed as his suit changed into that for the 'Vale Knight' with the moon symbol and cloak on him. "Yeah, that was us. We kind of made this so people wouldn't know it was me that one time and it just kind of stuck."

"Wait Pyrrha said that you were with her," Ruby remembered the conversation she had about this with her then looked at Pyrrha and pointed right at her. "You lied!"

"I'm sorry," she quickly said. "Jaune needed to me to cover for him."

"Huh so you went the whole secret identity thing," Yang smirked but then her face froze. She had just remembered that rooftop conversation with the 'Knight' and her face paled. She had actually confessed to Jaune right to his face that she liked him, and she hadn't even known it.

'Wait…he knew! He knew all this time that we liked him!? Well, me and Pyrrha at least but he knew and didn't say anything!?' Her face shifted into several emotions at this. She was embarrassed that she felt like she wanted to crawl under Blake's bed and just hide from the world but also angry at the whole thing.

Jaune locked eyes with her and he knew what she was thinking about, this was something he hoped she might have forgotten about.

~Told you she would remember~

'I know,' Jaune winced as she pulled back the suit and tried to speak to her. "Yang, about what you said-"

"You jerk!" She exploded as she punched him in the shoulder as she stormed out her face red both in embarrassment and in anger.

That left everyone shocked seeing her storm off like that.

Jaune rubbed his shoulder and sighed. "I…might have had that coming."

"I'll go after her," Pyrrha stated as she wasn't sure what was going on, but Yang might be more open to her. They had been getting a little closer lately and she could tell Yang wasn't doing this out of anger, well not totally out of anger. She saw how the girl had paled and the mortification on her face before the anger flashed on her face.

"I think I need some air," Weiss stated joining her, which was true. All of this was just a bit too much for her to process all at once and this was the perfect excuse to get some distance.

As the two left to track down Yang everyone else turned to Jaune.

"What was that about?" Ruby demanded her hands on her hips. She had never seen Yang like that, at least not in a long time.

"It's…a long story," Jaune sighed.

TBC…

So, since Amber's semblance is never listed and she didn't use it in the episode we saw her in, I figured to just give her a type of support one to explain why she only used her Maiden powers. So yeah part 2 with some drama coming up next.