Ch.8
Now with Ventus awake the group could finally make their way back to Yen Sid's tower where all the others were. When they got there not only were Riku and Mickey there, but also Lea and Kairi. Zack had not met them yet, but he had heard a few things here and there from Sora on the way to and from getting Ventus back.
When they were all there Yen Sid finally spoke. "At last, we are all assembled. First: Sora, Riku, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, I cannot thank you enough for what you have done." He then looked over to Ventus, Aqua, and Zack. "And you, Aqua and Ventus: we are fortunate to have you back. As well as your new friend Zack."
"Thanks," Aqua answered. "I only wish we could have returned sooner to help." She then turned to face the group. "We're grateful to all of you for rescuing us."
"Thank you," Ventus said to the group.
"Yeah," Zack added on. "A really big thanks, seriously."
"I feel bad for letting you guys down. We tried, but we still haven't found Terra," Mickey replied.
'Don't," Aqua answered calmly.
As she spoke Zack watched her expression carefully. She seemed so calm and collected over the matter about Terra, but Zack could see past that. There was an underlying tiredness and weariness in her eyes that only he could see. Everyone else was smiling and talking with her as if nothing was wrong, but Zack knew better than that.
With all of the time he had spent with Aqua, even if it wasn't really all that long, he could just tell by the way she looked. Her smile was trying to hide how tired and pained she was in, but when Zack looked at her eyes he could see that pain hiding in there.
Before he could try to say anything though, the redhead known as Lea cleared his throat who warranted Yen Sid to talk. "Ah yes. Let us not forget our new keyblade wielders. Lea, Kairi, you have made tremendous strides. And from what I have heard," Yen Sid turned to look at Zack. "Zack, you too wield the keyblade now."
"Yup that's right!" Zack said as he pointed to himself. "Up and coming keyblade master!"
"I like the way this guy thinks," Lea chuckled. "Two future keyblade masters will be ready before you know it."
After there was a bit more discussion between the group, mainly with Lea lamenting over how confusing it was that some of them knew him as Lea and others as Axel. But in the end Jiminy made sure that everyone got their own Gummi Phone so they could read up on all the information that he had stored and as a method to talk to one another.
After that Mickey spoke up again. "Welp, we've got our seven guardians. Though… counting Zack that puts us at eight guardians. Is that still going to work?"
"Having an extra guardian brings no harm," Yen Sid answered. "After all the Organization can have more than just thirteen in their ranks even if their title says otherwise."
"So it's still all cool that I am here and stuff?" Zack asked as he rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a little nervous.
Aqua reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. He turned to her, looking a little surprised by her simple gesture. She smiled at him gracefully, warming his heart. "We wouldn't want it any other way, Zack."
Once Yen Sid told the group to go home and rest for the day, Zack exited the room holding in his sighs until he saw that everyone else was ahead of him. Axel was going to stay in Twilight Town for the night while Sora, Riku, and Kairi headed back to Destiny Islands. Mickey and his group would go to Disney Castle for the night as well, leaving Ventus and Aqua to stay the night at Yen Sid's tower mainly for the fact they didn't feel ready to return home yet.
Technically Zack could have gone home if he really wanted to. Radiant Garden was still out there from what he was told, but he just didn't feel like returning yet. It had been over ten years after all. He couldn't just go back and spend the night at home after being gone for over a decade. It wouldn't feel the same anyways.
So he was going to stay at the tower with Ventus and Aqua. It was the only place he wanted to stay anyways. He still wanted to be close to Aqua, wanting to make sure that she was safe. Though as he headed down the stairs he saw Ventus and Aqua standing at the bottom of them.
"Oh Zack, if it's okay, I was going to talk with Ventus outside. It's been a while and-"
"I get it," Zack said quickly. "Nothing you feel you need to apologize for. I understand."
Aqua sighed happily and smiled again. "Thank you, Zack."
Zack watched them leave as he leaned against the wall. When the door to the outside closed he let out a sigh. Technically he was alone again, and he could feel the coldness creeping in around him. He tried to shake the thoughts away, knowing they would lead to nowhere good. He was back in the realm of light, and Aqua was too. They were both safe and sound now, though there was an impending battle up ahead which still worried Zack.
He was still fairly new to the keyblade, still new to all this world traveling with Heartless and Nobodies. It was crazy or would have seemed more crazy if he had not been tossed into the Realm of Darkness. So here he was, a keyblade wielder about to be thrown into a huge battle to save all worlds.
"Are you Zack, dear?"
Zack shook his head, clearing out his thoughts. Turning his head to the side he saw that three older women were standing next to him. One dressed in red, the second in green, and the At their sudden appearance he nearly jumped back, crashing into the wall. "Whoa who are you three?"
"Oh where are our manners," the one in red said. "My name is Flora."
"I'm Fauna," the one in green replied.
"And I'm Merryweather," the third one in blue said.
"We are friends of Yen Sid. He called us back here because we're here to help you," Flora replied.
"Help me? With what?" Zack asked.
"Well your outfit dear," Flora replied. "It's completely dreadful."
"What are you talking abo-" Zack started to say until he looked down to see his outfit.
He had forgotten how much time had gone by, and just how much fighting he had done in the Realm of Darkness. So much fighting and so little rest. No time to just sit and have someone mend his clothes when they got torn or dirtied.
"Geez, I knew they had gotten bad, but I didn't think they were this bad," Zack replied as he pulled at his shirt.
"Well that's why we are here. We fancy ourselves good with making new outfits. After all we made the outfits for Sora and all of his friends that you've seen today."
"You did? Well those are pretty nice I guess. A new outfit would be a good idea with going into a battle, yeah?"
"Oh of course dear!" Fauna replied. "Now you just stand there and we will do the rest."
Zack straightened himself up as he watched the three women pull out magic wands. Before he knew it they were circling him, muttering to one another about what colors would go best with eyes and how this or that would look matched with other things. Honestly Zack understood none of what they were talking about, but if they could give him a good new outfit then that was all that mattered.
Soon the three of them stood back from Zack and each held up their wands. They counted to three in unison before flicking their wands, causing the magic to glow and surround him. The light became too bright and he had to shield his eyes, but it faded in the next moment. When he opened his eyes after that he let out a surprised gasp.
His outfit had been changed to something completely new and different. He was now adorned almost entirely in dark colors, with his shirt now being a deep, steely gray and his pants pitch black with combat boots to match. His long jacket was a dark shade of azure, with a checkered pattern on the hem that reached down to his mid-thigh. He even had new gloves, black and fingerless. The new outfit was surprising to see after wearing his old outfit for so long.
"Whoa," Zack muttered as he looked over the outfit once more, feeling the soft texture of the clothing against his skin. "This is pretty cool."
"You're welcome, dear," Flora replied.
"These new clothes have special magic too," Merryweather added.
"Yes," Fauna nodded. "The magic woven in will better protect you from the darkness."
"Wow, really? That's awesome, really would be helpful," Zack said. "Thank you."
The three fairies smiling happily, looking proud to have made yet another stylish outfit With their work done they vanished into thin air, leaving Zack alone once more. Though with that time he was alone he pulled out his gummi phone, fiddling with it until he figured out where the camera was. He tried his best to get a good look at his new outfit from a camera view, or at least as much as he could fit into the camera frame.
"This really is impressive," Zack muttered. "Does it make me look older? I think it does." He chuckled lightly to himself. "Aw man just wait till Aqua and Ven see it! They're going to love it!"
He waited a bit longer, looking through the functions that were on his gummi phone. Mainly it was a lot of reading up on various enemies and other information Jiminy had stored up in the data. It really did help give him a more clear picture of what they were going up against, and just how much Zack never knew before. The vastness of all the worlds and all their wonders was amazing to him and there was still so much more than he could read up on.
He would have kept on reading if the front door had not opened back up. He stood up straight for whatever reason as he watched them Aqua and Ventus back inside. Right away he could see their eyes widened as they came closer.
"Zack? Is that you? Wow! You look awesome!" Ventus cheered.
"Yeah, the fairy ladies got me some new clothes, how do they look?" Zack said as he posed rather dramatically.
Aqua laughed lightly, covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh Zack, I think the new clothes look wonderful."
"You really think so?" Zack asked as he walked closer. He could feel that little bit of warmth in his heart again from her praise.
"Of course," Aqua replied. "It really does suit you."
Zack grinned at her, happy to have a compliment. "Thanks, Aqua."
"You know," Ventus cut in. "Maybe after all this, I should get something new to wear. Technically I have been wearing this same outfit for over 10 years."
"That's true for me as well," Aqua agreed. "But until we save Terra I want him to be able to recognize us from what he remembers us wearing."
"Hey…" Zack reached out and placed a hand on Aqua's arm. "We will rescue Terra. I'll help as much as I can. I may not have known him as long as you two, but he is still my friend and the hero I look up to. So I want to help as best as I can."
"Zack…" Aqua sighed happily with a smile to go along with it. "Thank you so much. You never needed to do any of this, but just thank you."
"It's no problem, it's what heroes do after all," Zack chuckled as he placed his hands proudly on his sides. "Or in my case, an up and coming hero."
"I still think you are a hero, you've made it this far after all. I'm glad to have you fighting by our side."
"I'm glad too. I can't imagine where I would be if… if… well you know," Zack mumbled, trying his hardest not to reflect back onto how all of this had started.
"It's okay, Zack. We made it out of the darkened realm. Even though we were there for some time, we made it out. That is what I think is most important."
Took me forever to figure out Zack's new outfit. Going over different ideas again and again till I finally settled on what I created there. Thanks for reading!