Kingdom Hearts 3.5: Passions of Light

"Hey, would you say I became a hero?"

Zack brushed the back of his neck and chuckled shyly at Ventus' comment. "Yeah, I guess so. It's been some time since he's trained me though. I like to believe I'm stronger since then" Zack said. "So, tell us what you have been doing after all these years" Terra said. "Na ah ah. I'm not going to tell until I know what happened to you guys! I deserve at least that much" Zack said in a carefree way.

The Trio looked at each other. Once an idea had marinated in their head, they simultaneously smiled. "We have been traveling" Ventus said. Zack gave them an incredulous look. "Really...? Traveling?!" Zack said, not satisfied with the answer. "Y-Yeah" Aqua affirmed. "Each time we traveled we ended up helping someone new" Ventus said. "We couldn't leave them alone like that" Terra added. Zack's eyes traveled feom face to face, analyzing their looks with a growing suspicion.

"Haha! I knew you guys were playing Hero somewhere else!" Zack told them, earning a relieved sigh from each one of them. "Aaaand what about you Zack?" Ventus said. "Well, let me think.." Zack said, holding his chin between his thumb and index finger.

"After you guys left, I spent a year begging Phil to train me. I'm not ashamed to admit it. When he finally decided to train me, well he said I wouldn't last half a year compared to Hercules. Heh, I ended up lasting three years with him. The training was hard, but like Ven said, it payed off" Zack explained.

"Woah..." Ventus said. "Then what happened? Did you continue to train under Phil?" Aqua asked. "No, I didn't" Zack said. "It's been, what?.. between 6 or 7 years since Phil trained me. After training with him three years, the fourth year I was kinda in-between. I trained with him but I also traveled and helped wherever I could across Thebes and neighboring cities. The fifth year though, that's when I made my landmark" Zack continued on. "What happened?" Terra asked.

"During the fifth year, these things started appearing" Zack said. "What "things"?" Aqua asked. "These creatures appeared out of nowhere. They weren't the same as the ones that attacked Thebes back when you guys were here. They were ink-black, with yellow beady eyes~" Zack explained. "Heartless" Ventus said with a more serious tone. "Oh? So you've encountered them before?" Zack asked. "A few times..." Terra said.

"Jeez, you guys don't miss any action do you? Well, any ways. So these "Heartless", as you call them, started to appear randomly at first. One day, they came in bigger numbers, no more than fifty of those things. They amassed outside the city and attacked, but me and Herc dealt with them. Every couple of weeks or a month apart they would return to try and defeat us, but we stopped them every time"

"Heh, I even had a couple of fans back then. One of them included this young lad called Cloud. I knew him from...before..." Zack said.
"I remember Cloud begged me to train him, so, I did. I gave him my old sword and took on a new one. Bigger and badder, haha. Called it the "Buster Sword". That sword became a symbol of my dreams... and my honor. No... it's more than that..."

"It was my hope and my will for a better future. One that I wielded for the battles ahead" Zack said looking at the sky. "After a couple of months, those creatures came in by, a hundred. Herc and I went straight into the giant number of Heartless. Along with a little help from Olympus, we were able to defeat them. But... in the battle I encountered a dangerous foe" Zack said.

"Who?" Terra asked. "It was a man. Someone from my past. He was leading those Heartless into the city. I fought him while Herc was fighting off the remaining Heartless" Zack said. "I hope it wasn't that tough of a fight" Ventus said, innocently. But Zack looked down to the floor. Away and in shame remembering what happened in that battle. Aqua noticed a scar close to his mandible, down his left cheek. "Is that how you got that scar?" Aqua asked, trying to tread as lightly as possible into the subject.