Forging a Weapon Part 3/3

As they stepped into a store that sold armour and protective gear, Zen gestured to Ruby for her to find someone to help them, leaving himself and Penny alone for the time being.

"Hey Penny, could you do me a favour?"

"I can indeed. What was it you wanted?"

"You remember that cafe we were at the day we met? Do you know if they sold cookies?"

"I'm pretty sure they might, why do you ask?"

"I want to thank Ruby for what she did today. I know I already owe her, and you too for that matter, but I want to make a start at least.

And if there's one thing that Ruby loves more than her weapon...its cookies."

"Okay, I can do that. I'll be back as soon as I can, maybe I should take your bag so it frees you up to change?"

"Thanks Penny, I owe you again, and if she asks, the cookies are from both of us, alright?"

"Alright."

Once she exited the building, Zen went to find Ruby, going through the aisles until he found the black haired girl choosing between bronze armour and steel armour, weighing the options.

"Hmmm, I'm thinking the silvery colour would work better for you than bronze...wait, where's Penny?"

Ruby' said, her tone slightly panicked.

"Oh, she said she needed to buy something and she'd be back here as quick as she can."

"Okay, well what do you think about these?"

Zen looked at both types and after some consideration, he chose the silvered armour, then sifting through the various sizes until he found the right one, looking at it closely.

It's appearance slightly resembled Jaune's armour, with a few minor differences such as having engravings on its surface.

Giving Ruby his gun, Zen went to use the change rooms to see if it would fit.

But as he stepped inside, he immediately came out and dashed for one of the clothing racks, as something had caught his eye.

He was going to take Penny and Ruby's advice and dress to be combat ready.

A few minutes later, he stepped out of the change room and was greeted by both girls who just stared, expressionless, then Penny broke the silence.

"I must say Zen, you definitely look very much to be combat ready.

What would you say to that Ruby?"

"Yeah! I gotta agree with Penny. You look like you could be ready for anything. But I have to ask, how does the armour feel and also. Why the hood?"

Zen stood there, clad in his new armour, it was underneath an overcoat that had a tan colour similar to Penny's outfit. He also wore jet black trousers that had metal shin and knee guards fastened around his legs, and draped on his back was a hooded cape almost identical to Ruby's, however, his appeared a forest green.

"Well, the armour itself is a bit cumbersome, but I'll get use to it, plus it's gonna keep me safe.

As for the hood, I wanted to be mysterious. You never know who's watching."

Grabbing his old clothes and stuffing them into the bag he was now carrying, the three proceeded to the checkout, where Penny offered to pay for Zen's goods.

As they left, Zen caught wind of the name of the store and its slogan:

Thank you for choosing to shop at Battle Pals- Where using protection really matters.

"You should really keep tabs on me Penny, at this rate I'll be owing you for the air I breathe."

The three of them chuckled as they headed towards the food district of Vale, without taking any detours this time.

Arriving at a noodle shop, Penny then said she was going back to the store they came from, as there was something that gave her an idea.

She leftthe two alone to talk as they each enjoyed a bowl of spicy noodles.

"Penny is a great person, isn't she? We're lucky to have her as a friend."

Zen started off.

"Yeah, she definitely is one of a kind. It was funny when we first met, we just, ran into each other by accident, I called her friend, and that's how our friendship started.

Her personality at the time kinda made other people feel uncomfortable when she was around, maybe they thought she was weird.

My teammates pretty much avoided her for a while.

But in time, her kind, friendly and warm nature grew on them.

So much so that I've seen Blake talking with her for hours.

Blake is usually the quiet member of our team when it comes to talking to other people.

But she's not like that when Penny's around.

I think it was because Penny is quite perceptive and she knew about her- I mean, how to talk to her."

Zen listened intently, but his mind was deep in thought.

This was the best chance he'll have to talk to Ruby about the redhead.

Now would be a good time to do so.

"Hey Ruby, can I ask you something? I want you to be honest, and don't be alarmed when I ask you."

Ruby nodded while giving a small smile.

"The thing is, I know about Penny, or as someone else may put it, I know what Penny is...I know she is...- she is an android.

And really, I want to know how should I tell her. I want to be honest as her friend. Plus what if I accidently slip it out, not even thinking about what I might be saying."

Ruby's eyes widened dropping her chopsticks into her bowl, almost lost for words.

Penny was so scared to let anyone know, and even though Zen is her friend, it wouldn't be something she would be comfortable with sharing, not to mention how I only knew by accident. Ruby thought to herself, finally responding to him after a few minutes of silence between the two.

"So how did you know? When did you know?"

"Well, I only came to the conclusion roughly a week ago, I think it was the day before we met in the corridor." Zen said, as his mind was busy at work coming up with a reasonable explanation as to how he knew other than simply saying 'Oh I remember her explaining to you she's an android after saving you from an oncoming truck'.

Once a minute of thinking passed, he finally spoke.

"After getting acquainted with her a few weeks ago, I noticed one or two things that made me think, 'that's a little unusual of her to do that..' but I simply shrugged it off.

Thinking that it was just me being nervous while getting to know her.

When we shared a dorm room together, that's when I became a lot more perceptive about the things she said and did..."

He trailed off as he looked at Ruby, who sat there, she didn't appear angry or upset, instead she just listened and nodded.

He then continued.

"I, think that's all I wanted to explain.

Now, I want your help with regards to what I'm going to say to her about it.

She's done so much for me...apart from you Ruby, Penny really is the only other friend I have in all of Remnant.

A-and if I- tell her, I'm w-worried as to how she'd respond. B-but if I don't tell her and she were to f-find out somehow, I-I just don't think I could ever f-forgive myself for not telling her sooner...h-hurting her like that...d-destroying our friendship because of it."

He tried to say, as he felt a lump in his throat, dreading the thought of losing Penny as a friend.

"Hmm, after telling me all of this, I can see that Penny is someone very important to you, isn't she? Let me ask you something.

In the time before you found out about wha- who, Penny really is, how did you act around her?

How did you talk to her?"

"I-I acted around her, in the same way as how I'm acting with you right now, the same can be said with how I've been talking with you."

"And how do you feel about how you act around her after you realised? Do you feel like you talk to her less than you did previously?"Do you feel like you've changed how you talk to her? Have you become aware of what you say to her?

"I-I-I really can't say for sure, I don't really think about what I say to people, I focus on how I talk to them.

In the time we've gotten to know each other, I've learnt more about Penny's personal life than she has mine.

I've wanted to tell her about my life outside of Atlas academy, but there are good reasons why I can't. But does that mean I don't want to talk to her, of course not, I just think she won't understand..."

Zen trailed off, before realising what he was saying.

"In short, I feel like I haven't changed how I talk and act when it comes to Penny."

He said, staring at his reflection in the bowl.

"Well in that case. Just tell her when you're ready, she'll understand, just make sure to do it sooner rather than later.

In our short time together, I can tell that you are just as kind hearted and likeable as she is.

You've had a few weeks with her and she isn't going to run as a result of you telling her.

Nor do you have to worry about her going full attack mode on you either.

You'll do fine, I know you will. If anything, she'll probably feel relieved as she no longer has to worry about how you'd respond if you found out accidentally, like I did..."

"..."

"Let's just say that, I found out because of that immense strength she has, saved my life once, and afterwards she explained to me who she is."

She gave him a comforting smile and patted him on the shoulder, as she did, Penny returned.

She appeared to be holding onto something which she hid behind her back, as she came closer she smiled when she saw how her friends were getting along with the conversation they were having... whatever it was.

"Hi Penny, how'd it go? Did you get what you wanted?" Ruby said in a nonchalant tone.

"Indeed I did. Zen, I was thinking.

Looking at you with your swords, I realised that your uniform doesn't really cater to holstering your weapons, so I bought you these."

Penny produced a pair of scabbards. They seemed to be made out of wood, yet appeared to have a metallic black colour to them.

She then gestured for Zen to attach the pair onto his back, and so he undid his hood.

And with help from Ruby and Penny, the holsters formed an 'x' shape, the one for his right side on top of the left.

He then proceeded in uncoupling his gun, returning them back into a pair of swords.

They slid in perfectly and didn't seem to rattle as he tried to shake them around, acting as if he were sprinting.

He then re-attached his hood, noting that he could still cover his head without the swords getting in the way.

"That, I would have to say, completes the look. You're geared, armed and ready to face a Grimm head-on."

Ruby said, as she walked around Zen to see how their time today equated to what was standing before them.

"Yeah, I'm pretty happy with what we've done today, couldn't have done it without both of you, I'll make it up to you two."

"Well, how bout we get to test your swords in a one on one sparring match? See how they compare against Crescent Rose?

Gives you a chance to go up against something a bit more challenging than swords."

Ruby said, as she was already thinking how his swords would fair against her sweetheart.

"Okay, then it's settled. You'll finally have some variety in combat training Zen.

I was starting to worry that, even if you could hold your own against me, you may not be able to against an opponent with a different arsenal."

Penny responded, making note of the training session to come.

"There is just one more thing."

Zen said as he walked over to Penny, who knew what he meant and produced a beautifully wrapped pink box, filled with chocolate chip cookies.

"I know it's not much in terms of repaying you for helping me today Ruby, but it's a start. Actually it's not, as this is from both of us, as a way of saying..."

"...Thank you for being such a sensational friend."

Penny finishing Zen's sentence, handing it to Ruby, who was a little surprised and then wide eyed and smiling as she took the gift, hugging both Penny and Zen at the same time.

"I don't know what to say, other than thank you, and I am lucky to have you two as friends."

As Yang and Blake entered the dorm, they were greeted by Weiss as well as their teammate, Penny and Zen.

Blake went straight to her bed and continued to read.

Yang sat on Weiss' bed, just staring at the four of them, talking, still infuriated about what happened that afternoon.

As she was about to speak and begin to interrogate Zen, she notice something about Ruby.

She was smiling.

Yes granted, this was Ruby we're talking about.

The always optimistic girl who made friends with anyone and everyone, always in a good mood.

But there was a time where Yang could remember, when her sister was not a bundle of cheer, rather, she was sad, miserable and even angry.

These were times after Summer had passed away, and so Yang was there to comfort her sister and to be the shoulder to cry on, the one to attempt to make her happy by any means necessary.

The brawler then thought back even further, before the suffering Ruby endured began, when she knew her little sister had a certain smile.

A smile that was only reserved for those who she really cared for or who really mattered to her.

She had seen this smile when it came to people like her family, team JNPR, Blake and Weiss as well as Penny and the other friends she'd met at Beacon...and now it appeared like that smile was directed at Zen.

Yang kept quiet for the moment resisting the urge to yell and hit him through a wall.

Finally, she stood up and headed for the door.

"And where exactly are you going?" Weiss said, catching Yang reach for the door handle out of the corner of her eye.

"I'm going to go and train. I'll be awhile, so don't wait up for me."

Letting those words out with a stern tone, the last few fading as the door closed behind her, before Weiss could even respond.

She would deal with Zen, just not when her sister was around.

Especially when she appeared as happy as Yang thought she was at that moment.

As Penny and Zen entered their dorm, Penny flopped on the bed, sighing as she did, relieved that she could take the stress off her legs, looking towards Zen as he sat at his own bed unhooking his scabbards from the rest of his armour.

Looking up, he smiled back at Penny and began to speak.

"Today was alright wasn't it Penny."

'Alright! It was great. Beside the fact we have been training up until now, we got to take a break and have time to ourselves, all the while we spent it with Ruby, exploring the streets of Vale.

The last time I had a chance like that, it..."

She trailed off mid sentence, Zen knew exactly where she was going if she hadn't stopped.

"Penny, I can't thank you and Ruby enough for what you did for me today."

He spurted out, keeping the conversation going.

"More so with you. You have taken the time to train me, you've been patient with me.

From the beginning, you've been so kind and thoughtful. Our friendship means so much to me..."

He lost the smile that was on his face as he said this, trying to figure out what was going to happen next.

"Which is what I wanted to talk to you about.

When you left to buy my scabbards, I had a talk with Ruby, she told me to stay honest and to say what I'm about say now rather than wait..."

"Zen, say what.. exactly?"

"...Penny the day I regained my memories, I...I knew who you were."

Penny remained quiet for a moment, then she smiled and chuckled as she spoke.

"Of course you know who I am, you don't lose new memories when you regain old ones when you recover from having amne-"

"Penny, I know you're an android."

"..."

"I wanted you to know that, that I know."

"..."

I didn't want to hide that fact from you."

"..."

" I wanted to be honest with you."

"..."

"I want to be a good friend to you."

"..."

"Penny, please forgive me if this has hurt you in some way."

"..."

"I'm so sorry you had to find out this way...I-I shouldn't have said it ...I..I shouldn't have said anything."

"How did you know...?"

"I'm, I'm sorry?"

"How did you know that I am an android?" Penny said in a very shallow small voice, almost as if she was going to tear up.

"W-well, t-there were the obvious things. You appeared to never eat around me, your extremely perceptive behaviour, the fact that you seem to change the way you fight at the drop of a hat and also you never appear to tire after a hard times training."

"Okay..."

"Penny, I want you to know that nothing has changed between us. I'm still going to see you as Penny Polendina, the girl from Atlas who fights with swords that dance on the end of strings.

The same Penny who was there for me when nobody else was, who was willing to help a complete stranger who might have been the harbinger of danger to Vale for all she knew...but you did it and that's what makes you special."

"..."

"Penny please, I'm sorry I didn't mean any ha-"

Immediately he was smothered by Penny's hug.

She held him like that for a five minutes, then she spoke.

"I know, I just wanted to see if you were going to compliment me any further.

You don't have to be sorry, it was going to happen sooner or later, I just didn't know how to handle it. Or even how you would. But, since you haven't changed in tone, or body language around me since then, everything is fine. And Zen, after all of this, all I can say now is ...

Thank you. Thank you for being such a... Zensational friend."

"Penny. I know that a few minutes ago I was dreading our friendship was going to end from what I would tell you. Now however, I swear I'm going to get back at you for that egregious joke."

The pair laughed for a while before turning in for the night, knowing that they had a sparring date with the scythe wielder to look forward to in the morning.

Before Zen could fall into a deep sleep, he heard his scroll go off, and as his vision focused after being blinded by the screen, he read the following message.

Hey Zen, this is Ruby. I got your number from Penny and I have attached a document that describes how you can maintain your weapon, if ever there's a problem with it. I hope all goes well with your talk with Penny. It was nice to spend time with the two of you, I'll let you go now since we have tomorrow to look forward to. Goodnight Zen.

As Blake approached the training room, she could hear her teammates' yells and grunts as what sounded like several bodies hit the floor.

A small smirk came over her, not of one of contempt but of predictability.

In the time she knew Yang, if ever she was stressed, angry or upset, this was always the first place she'd be.

Yang did this not only as a means to vent her problems, but also because she always thought that by training, she could step above her problem.

By improving herself in combat, maybe it would have the same effect on the problem she had to deal with.

When Blake entered, she could tell that Yang knew she wasn't alone, she ignored Blake's presence as she cocked Ember Celica for another round with the dummies.

"If you want to know, they left just two or three minutes after you left."

"Well isn't that just good to know." Yang retorted in a sarcastic fashion, cracking her knuckles as they began to tense up upon the thought of that guy in the same dorm as her.

"What about Ruby, how is she?"

"She's fine, pretty cheerful, said she had an enjoyable day, helping Zen build his weapon."

"..."

"Actually she was concerned about you once you left, she wanted to come talk to you once her guests left."

"Then why didn't she?"

"She did, but she also looked pretty worn out, so I said I'd come talk to you instead and let her rest."

"Well you're here. So what exactly did you want to talk about?"

"I want to talk about this afternoon."

"Hold that thought." Yang said, raising her index finger up at Blake. She rolled back her right arm and let it connect with the nearest dummy sending it flying, smashing against the wall, almost causing it to crack.

As she stood it back in its place, its head was only attached by a single thread, swinging side to side as it dangled .

"You said that Ruby spent today helping him build his weapon right?"

"Yes."

"Well maybe now he may at least try to defend himself when I next see him. Doubt it will do him any good."

"Yang! What is your problem with this guy? What have you got against him so much? Even someone like Torchwick hasn't gotten you this mad, and he actually tried to kill your sister... three times I might add."

"It just doesn't make any sense to me. The fact that he rarely talks to anyone, yet he talks to my little sister, a few hours no doubt and they act like they've been lifelong friends."

"What's wrong with that? Your sister has that effect on people."

"But she wasn't who I was referring to.

Don't you remember? It was him that talked to her about meeting up."

"Well not everyone can be as outgoing as you are you know, I mean look at me, when we first met, I wanted nothing more to sit and read."

"That's not the point, and besides you're different. You wanted to keep to yourself because you were scared of how we would take to you being...you know...you.

But you've come out of your shell and now you're just as social as the rest of us.

"..."

"Well in your own way that is. Plus you've been open with us about your personal life and that there are no secrets between us."

Yeah open about it, there are no more secrets... Blake thought to herself, as brief moments of being with the white fang flashed before her.

"But you guys helped me with that, I'm sure that Zen has his own problems, and you haven't had a warm reception with him either.

I've seen you respond to him in two ways, either you keep the peace and remain silent like you did this morning. Or, you simply distance yourself from him. You haven't spoken to him properly and you're making this situation very difficult."

"Blake, be honest with me. If someone came up to me or Weiss and were acting unusually suspicious and somehow they knew something about us, despite the fact we've never had prior contact with them before.

And on top of that, they act all weird and somehow are able to make a prediction that's true... Wouldn't you be a bit concerned for our wellbeing?"

"Look, I understand that you want no harm to come to Ruby, and both Weiss and I would do the same without hesitation.

But at the same time, I don't think there is any need for concern, Ruby is our team leader, she is capable of anything she puts her mind to, including taking care of herself when the situation calls for it.

But if it's really bothering you, I will try to talk to him when I have the time.

See if there's anything out of the ordinary he says and ask him why he said what he said in the dorm."

Blake responded, seeing how much this whole thing with what Zen said that afternoon was eating at her teammate.

Blake knew what Yang meant about his unusual demeanour, and she was feeling a little apprehensive now that she thought about it.

If Zen behaved similarly to Blake with how she interacted with people, keeping to themselves around others, she could only speculate as to what he could be hiding.

"Alright, thanks Blake. I know this may be strange to you, but I feel that there's more to him than meets the eye."

"Don't mention it, now c'mon it's late, and you seem worn out by today, get some rest...I'm not leaving here without you."

"Blake Belladonna, always the voice of reason. And Blake, thank you for looking out for Ruby."

And with that, the two trailed off towards the dorm room for some much needed sleep.

So as mentioned in chapter 10, there are alot of things I wanted to discuss.

First of all:

I want to thank the comment made by a guest reviewer in chapter 9, I am glad that people are enjoying the story and providing their input, I value it when people let me know how they feel about my story, kinda cuts out the personal bias a little.

The thanks also goes to the other reviews that have been left, from suggestions to correcting errors (Qrow Brandwaven is now Qrow Branwen).

I also want to thank you all who are reading and following Foresight, so far since I wrote this, a total of 2100 people have read forseigt, so from countries I didn't know the name of.

The reason I have written such a large chapter and given all three at once is because, I'll be taking a week off from writing (or at least sitting at my laptop to write).
I'm doing this because, I'll be staying with friends inthe heart of Sydney, and I'll be seeing the Sydney Achievemnet Live show on Wednesday...Which is on my Birthday.

Again thank you so much for interest in my story, theres still loads more to come (given that there is a 10 week gap between this chapter and the Vytal tournament commencing).

Now for the usual commentary I make at the end of a chapter (or rather all three):

So these are the chapters that finally reveal something, if you wanted to know what Zen's weapons look like...its in the cover art for the story. The swords themselves are on either side of the image, the on ein the middle is the rifle (that is formed by the two swords combining) and in between them are the 'secondary' guns.

The inspiration for Zen's weapon (especially the rifle part) was essentially looking at a beam rifle (from halo 3 ) and flipping it 180 degrees.

Zen's armour is somewhat based off of the arbiter (again from the halo franchise...halo 2).

Battle Pals is a fusion of Battle Buddies and Play Pals.

And finally, this set of chapters were probably the third or fourth thing I wrote to begin with ( I had to write everything leading up to this essentially after this chapter was a complete draft).

And so I after reading three chapters at once (dedication right there).

Thank you and see you in the next chapter.