as a few requested, i edited it up, hope it meets everyone's expectations!

also, though i originally had plans to include this in The Black Knight, still might, but now I'm sure if it would be included. either way, its a side story for it, a bonding moment between them since i realize there is little bond growing between them and i have zack mostly exploring Valhalla and its eidolons.

for those that have read this before, know that a few things have been changed

so, enjoy, it may appear in The Black Knight, it may not

Zack leaned heavily against the wall, watching the ever still sea in Valhalla, seemingly still waiting for that sun to come up and warm this cold world. He was ready to see something bathed in yellow. This whole dark and dim world was starting to get old. At least it had some amusing entertainment though.

Zack couldn't stop a teasing smirk as he watched Mog trying to hold a conversation with Lightning's towering white knight, Odin. He stood tall, his jade gaze peering out, ignoring the rambling moogle; maybe not even aware of its presence. Mostly likely, he was musing over battle plans against Caius when he finally strikes. It seems that all he and Lightning ever thought about.

Now, Mog seemed to have realized that he was being purposely ignored, and started doing what he could to get the white knight's attention, and Zack suspected Mog was going to get stomped on soon. Odin wasn't the most patient after all especially around him and any lesser beings, as he saw. Zack always found it curious. Around Lightning, Odin followed her like a puppy, or maybe how he used to follow Angeal, especially when he first started. But with anyone, or anything else, they were met with the frustrating challenge of an unquestioned general.

An amused smirk rose to his lips, and he watched as Odin flicked the moogle off, sending him flying out and away, and he winced when he hit the hard stone ground. That looked like it hurt.

But the moogle was a trooper. He got up, shook himself, and waved his clock stick angrily at the white knight, screaming curses Zack couldn't understand.

But Odin did.

Zack perked up in interest when Odin turned to Mog, and moogle stilling and tensing. Quickly, the moogle turned wing and fled, just as Odin turned into an odd hoofed creature that Lightning called a horse. Rearing back and clawing at the with his two hooves, the ivory and green eidolon tore after the moogle, his head shaking as he snorted angrily, his double set of blue and violet eyes locked on his target.

He felt sorry for that moogle. And in a sense, he could relate to him as well.

He wasn't on Odin's favorite list. At all.

An eidolon mentioned to him that Odin was jealous that he had to share Lightning with another second-in-command. Long before Lightning came to Valhalla, he had been told that the two had worked closely together, and now, before he woke up here, Odin got the chance to work just as closely again.

Only now that he was here, Odin probably didn't have as much time with Lightning. Lightning probably had him showing the ropes around him, helping and guiding him through and around Valhalla and how to be around certain eidolons.

In general, he was someone Odin didn't see as worth his time, and Zack was taking the time of the one the knight saw as worthy.

For a moment, Zack shook his head, frowning warily as he leaned back and turned his gaze back to the sea, continuing on with his muse.

He wondered what it would be like to have his own eidolon. His own partner in battle, something that he could trust and rely on to always have his back, just like Odin did with Lightning.

Lightning did agree that he would eventually get to use his own eidolon, though it wasn't really said how, but Zack assumed that Lightning was going to be the one to choose, or it was implied that they find each other and automatically connect.

Personally, Zack felt that it was Lightning that would make the decision. She is Etro's first Knight, and the commander of a whole army of Eidolons, she would know which one would suit him best. Though, preferably, he wouldn't mind the few he was able to meet and sort of interact with. Like Fenrir, Fenrir would be amazing, the ride on him was fast and sure, maybe even faster than Odin.

Then there was Bahamut, a golden and black dragon like creature with similar robotic features that Odin had; the coloration and attitude reminding him much of the summon he used to use, Bahamut Fury, the golden dragon that so graciously saved him in their last big fight with Caius.

Both were pretty appealing.

A wolf or a dragon? Both were fast, and both had perks that he could work with in battle and both were quite powerful...

Maybe he convince Lightning to have them race to see which is faster, maybe they could include Odin in that mix. Who would be the fastest of these three? His mind flew as he thought of the possibilities, and already mentally placing bets. Now if only there were more people here... maybe they could get Caius on a truce day...

"You better not be plotting something," a stern voice warned. Zack turned, glancing at his newest comrade in arms, Etro's real Knight, Lightning. The distant beauty that has been fending off a mad man for who knows how long. Though strict, her tone was easy and soothing, often assuring him of things that he was always wary of.

Like his place here.

In a world he wasn't supposed to be in with only Lightning as his guide in her own home, and it would only be him there. No one else.

No Cloud to tease and guide, no Turks to mess around with, and that endless tension between Turks and SOLDIERS...

He was missing them, all the SOLDIERS...

He shook his head, brushing his thoughts away. They were of past, a past he couldn't go back to and he shouldn't even bother mingling with. In hopes for a good distraction, he offered her a sheepish, and hopefully innocent, smile. It did the opposite it seems, for she only narrowed her eyes at him, intense with mistrust and caution. Thankfully, she didn't push on the subject. She merely strolled up and stood next to his form, watching Odin chase Mog or looking for Caius, Zack couldn't tell.

With her attention off him, Zack allowed his gaze to look her over.

Lightning was a beautiful woman, so long as one could really look past that attitude. Her body was far from delicate, though it did give that impression. Her skin, on the few times he's actually touched it, was soft, and pale in this dim world, making it flawless. Her strawberry hair, still the weirdest color Zack has ever seen, even more so than Sephiroth; looked just as soft as her skin. He has yet to touch her hair or skin, if it happens. He learned quickly that was Lightning's style, or adopted one, especially with the eidolons. When fighting Caius, Lighting always had her hands ready, reaching for eidolons to either throw her, or she throw them herself. Though all this hand grabbing and trusting the hand's owner with his life was something Zack wasn't use to, he was getting the hang of it, and understanding it in a way. It was a silent reassurance that they were with each to the end, that they could trust and work with each other through this. Something Zack was starting to understand, or at least, get the idea of. Though in SOLDIER, it was roughly the same, though at times connections were tense. Like Genesis and his droning tones and scolding glares, it seemed that with him, it was only Sephiroth and Angeal that he really only ever opened up too. With him... Genesis made it hard at times to mingle, especially around the first time Zack started hanging out and mentored by Angeal.

Here in Valhalla, most of the eidolons were open enough, and most were pretty neutral if not welcoming. And Lightning herself was just as willing.

It really wasn't much of a bad change. It gave him reassurance and confidence knowing he really did have this Knight and her Eidolons at his back.

Though it still gave him little chance to actually touch her hair. He couldn't do that in battle, and especially not in battle. If he walked up to her randomly and just touched the silk looking locks, she would either give him a weird look, or send him out of Etro's castle. Really depended on her mood.

Now that he thought about, her mood was pretty stony, wasn't it? He has yet to see her smile, or soften up at all. Only around Odin, sometimes Mog, she would allow a small smile. With him, it was more distant respect for a fellow comrade in arms. Though despite her calm and distant persona, he could see sparks of anger flaring in her eyes, bringing out the blue in them.

Blue eyes Zack never knew to exist, just like her hair...

"Are you done?" Lightning huffed, grabbing his attention right away. Instead of muttering an apology, feeling a bit coy, he grinned at her. "I don't know, the view is lovely," he said slowly, tempted to drag his eyes up and down her body. But that would probably make his situation worse.

She shot him a dark look, the blue in her eyes smoldering like he knew it would.

Zack just smiled.

She muttered a curse he didn't know and went back to glaring out at Valhalla. Slightly disappointed that he didn't get much of a reaction from her, Zack followed her actions, only he more gazed over the land if anything, watching that distant sea.

"Why did you join the military?"

Zack blinked at the question. More surprised that Lightning asked him a question than the question itself. He glanced at her, but she was still looking out and over Valhalla. He allowed a small smile on his features as he thought back to the days of hardship.

Despite that, they weren't days he regretted.

"I joined to become a hero," he said simply. It may have costs him leaving behind his family and going through things he didn't think people could ever go through, but it was worth it. He stood for his honor, defended and helped who he could.

He became a hero, just like he wanted, even if it brought him a young end.

Well, back in that world, it did. Here, he now had a second chance of being another hero, helping Etro, and then whoever that was back in Lightning's world.

Speaking of Lightning, he glanced at the white knight, chuckling as he saw her baffled expression, her eyebrows rising. Then her expression became a bit of a weak scowl.

"...A hero?" she repeated, baffled.

"Yeah," Zack said simply, shrugging it off. Turning away, he grinned nostalgically as he stared out at the sea. "Back where I came from, there was a man named Sephiroth that was a hero, a hero everyone wanted to be. I was no different than the rest. I left home and became a hero, just like I wanted."

She shook her head, her eyes closed and he could feel her disbelief. It was his turn to arc a brow at her. "Aren't there any heroes back where you come from?" he wondered.

"Not really really," she said, turning to him. "No one was ever a hero where we come from. I'm certainly not one. I just did what I had to do. There was a war a long time ago but most were lost in it..."

"Oh."

So that's what the baffled response was, there weren't any heroes back there to inspire anyone. No sense of righteous honor that people might have felt, or didn't exactly appreciate as they should. He found it to be a bit of a pity for this world.

"Actually, we do have two heroes."

Zack perked up, looking up at her with wide, interested eyes. "But I thought you said-"

"I will always see them as heroes, even if no one else would. Fang and Vanille were their names."

"Were?"

She nodded, "They sacrificed themselves to save Cocoon. Many say they are dead, some think they are simply sleeping and waiting for the day to awaken. I don't know which is true. Though I do hope they awaken soon. If I'm successful here, they will."

Zack blinked up at her, seeing her forlorn features stare out, her eyes distant as memories past over her eyes. He offered her another small grin. "Sounds like you have three heroes," he assured.

She blinked, turning to him.

"You're doing what you can for them, to help them and secure them. Its a noble deed, its what heroes do."

She blinked at him, and quickly turned away, though he could make out a little color on her cheeks, making him grin proudly. Seeing that he made her a little uncomfortable, he got up, stretching and started to do squats next to her, and changing the subject.

"So what about you?" he wondered, counting under his breathe, "You couldn't have lived here forever, and I know you had to be apart of some military as well. Why did you join?"

She surprised him again when she actually answered.

"For my sister."

He paused, half imagining seeing another person that looked like Lightning, same hair and eyes; or maybe someone completely different. "Your sister?" he repeated, looking at her in a new light.

It was her turn to look away, and stare off into the distance, a sad frown on her features. "I joined the military at sixteen, as soon as I graduated, I joined the military. I did it to get stronger, and for a job to pay for the bills, to keep our house, and get food on the table. I joined to protect her, and our hometown. That's why I joined the military."

Zack stared at her. She joined for her sister? To secure a life for them both. She went through training and hardships, for a sister that their parents could take care of.

That is, if she had parents. There weren't a lot he met that didn't have parents still around, maybe she could be one of those few.

If so, then that sister probably saw her as a hero too. Zack rose, grinning brightly. Before Lightning even had a chance to react, he grabbed her and pulled her close, shouting out for all of Valhalla to hear, "Look out Cocoon! You got two more heroes coming your way!"

"What are you doing?!" Lightning exclaimed, thrashing in his hold, which he easily ignored, laughing cheekily as he abused his Mako strength.

Things really weren't so bad here in Valhalla. Maybe a little empty and dull, but it wasn't so bad. After all, he had a fellow hero here with him to share the glory when they took down Caius and left for his new home.

Truth to be told, even if it would be quite a drastic change to what he was use too, and strangers and a strange culture he would have to figure out and get used too, he was looking forward to it and the fresh start that came with it.

It could be his reward, what was a hero without some kind of happy ending?