wow, its been a while huh? admittingly, the story is starting to go through some road bumps, hopefully though, while i just write it out, it will continue on to the end. i do have an idea on how to end it, hopefully, we'll get there. especially since i'm not planning on posting anymore stories up till The Black Knight and Forgetting Reality is done.
Zack was content.
Satisfyingly so.
He had food, and ate to his hearts content. After going so long on so little, if anything at all; he actually felt bloated. It was both a good, but bothersome feeling. He felt full for once, but also felt like he couldn't move at all. Truthfully, it almost felt like he would fall over if he leaned a little too far on one side.
Zack grinned; it was almost like those days as a private being allowed a few days of freedom, having a break from all the nonstop, pain grimacing training; he was one of many that slipped into bars and had drunk himself senseless. Those were good days, though the next morning were hell. But it was fun too, stumbling around, laughing at nothing and bonding with comrades, admitting stories and secrets that they would never remember.
Those really were the good old days. Then, the only thing he had to worry about or even care about were not pissing off any corporals or sergeants, and not getting too injured during training runs. The work and training might have been ruthless; but it was worth it to become a SOLDIER; at least, for a few years.
Now it doesn't seem to matter as much, truthfully, he regrets some in his past. He regrets running away, he really does. He scoffs at his ambition as a child, dreaming to be a hero like Sephiroth.
What had he been thinking? How much of a fool could he really have been? If he could, he could have asked Etro, or even Caius to send him back, so he could meet himself as a kid, convince them to not go, not join the militia. Then again, his younger self might not have understood, and would scoff back at him and his warnings.
Perhaps it was one of those things that were fated. He was meant to become a SOLDIER and go through hell. Nothing he would have done would have changed that probably.
Still, he couldn't help but wonder, what would happen if he didn't runaway? What if he stayed home instead, with his parents. Would he be a married man now? With a child on the way? Would he still have met Aerith and Cloud? Or would Cloud be the one in SOLDIER and he would be the man watching after him, thinking about that childhood dream he had.
Would he still be fated to into this mess? Serving Etro, Ciaus; whomever.
He really, honestly didn't know.
Zack sighed, bracing himself into against a wall, running a hand over his face and massaging his forehead as he felt a light tug of a headache.
Are things always going to be like this? Are they only going to get worse and worse? More complicated as life goes on?
Thoughts like that made him grimace.
He was twenty three for Gaia's sake, he was just another fool joining the military with the selfish thoughts of becoming a hero like Sephiroth. He was one of many hopeful men seeking that glory; he was supposed to be one of many that never get it, wasn't he? Why was it him that got sucked into this? Why not some other SOLDIER seeking to become a hero? That pretty much summed up the large part of SOLDIER, everyone in there wanted to be in Sephiroth's spot, be that hero and that admired.
That noticed.
But it was him out of all of them, him that went through hell, and now he's stuck here in another fight, one he isn't even supposed be apart of.
A glint of white caught the corner of his eye. Pausing in his frustrating, Zack tilted his head, staring out a near window to check. What he saw made his blink, a small, sharp gasp stabbing through him. Standing outside of the castle walls, on an odd, ivory and green creature with six violet eyes staring out into Valhalla with the silver knighted woman. Against the darkness and shadows of Valhalla, Lightning gleamed like a white star, her silver armor shining in the dim light, making the rest of her glow like the goddess he thought she was when they first met.
And upon the odd beast she rode, she seemed even more mystical and distant; different from him or anyone from Gaia. Gaia was just as dark and dry as Valhalla, even with the gleaming sun above. Here in the dim, dark Valhalla; poised like this; it seemed like she was the sun in Valhalla, watching over Valhalla.
Like a real guardian.
Zack leaned against the wall, his arms crossed, his head leaning against the corner as he watched the her and the beast stand, staring out and over Valhalla.
He couldn't match this.
He wasn't originally apart of this place, this world. He didn't care for it, not like Lightning did. She was born having a goddess like Etro, and she must have been the best fighter of her world for the goddess to choose her to be her Knight.
Etro chose Zack out of pity probably, for being dragged here and having no where else to go. He was chosen out of pity and probably out of hope that he would be of use overpowering Ciaus with Lightning.
It might not have mattered much in general though whether he was here or not. Originally, he wasn't supposed to be. Lightning was to be fighting Caius on her own. He was only here because that man probably got tired of fighting an equal over and over again, and was frustrated enough to temper with other worlds and find himself help. Him, the alien.
He wasn't supposed to be here.
He wasn't supposed to be fighting this fight.
He wasn't even supposed to be alive.
Zack drifted his eyes up, zooming into Lightning's face and watching the look of distant concentration sweeping through her eyes as she stared across Valhalla. Thanks to the Mako, his senses were sharper than before, giving him an even better view of her.
She was a real guardian, like Sephiroth had been, before he went crazy.
She had the natural beauty to stun any unsuspecting foe, and the skills and agility to intimidate every foe. Their spar together made it very clear that this beauty knew her way around the battlefeid. That she had fought many battles; some he even unconsciously sensed for pure survival.
Like him; like she was a soldier.
She certainly held herself as such, and at times, acted like she was a high ranking one.
Had she been a soldier? Is she still is? Zack tilted his head thoughtfully.
What had been her reasons?
Why does she fight, what pushed her to curl those fingers around that gunblade and struggle with the process of learning it?
Movement woke him from his stupor of eyeing his newest comrade and mentally considering her. He blinked as the beast shifted, turning completely and walking along steady, all six eyes still alert. Lightning sat up straight and sure on the beast, trusting it enough to walk on its own while she gazed out still, searching for Caius.
Zack watched her go till he could no longer see them from his window. Sighing heavily, he rolled his shoulders, wincing at the tension that spiraled through him. Grumbling, he pushed off the wall and slipped down the hall; all the while, those curious questions filled his head. The heaviest one:
What was Lightning's story?
welp, it probably should be longer, but truthfully, i had no idea what to do with this chapter, and the next one ^^'
so i let my fingers dance across the keyboard and it seems to have worked! another chapter! i have no idea when the next one will be though, but it will be coming! i can assure of that; and i have plans of more eidolons appearing as well, some that weren't even listed or planned to be eidolons either.
if there is a specific summoning that you might want to see and make an appearance as an eidolon, let me know, its open enough for me to squeeze in some for zack to meet.