Foreword & Disclaimer: Squaresoft owns Final Fantasy. All of them. All the characters and places and what have you are not mine. I am merely an avid player of video games, who was struck with the fancy to write. Possible spoilers. I just wanted to be able to play with the characters. Tidus and Squall begged me to make them a couple. Seriously. Later though. Oh yeah, and um, pretend that Aeris never died, in FFVII, okay? I loved her, and well, my fic, she's alive. Enjoy.

Shadows

6. First Encounters

They descended without warning.

They slid over the sides of the cliffs, crawling down toward the group walking along the ever-widening road away from the ravine in which they had awoken. They attacked silently, grabbing on to Rikku first, where she walked at the head of the line alongside Aeris. Tendrils of pure shadow wrapped around the blonde Al Bhed before she had a chance to scream.

Aeris stopped abruptly, calling to the others. She swung her staff at the thing that had twined itself about the other girl, but to no avail. The thing moved and shifted to avoid her physical attacks. Rikku screamed.

"Keep your mouth shut," Aeris cried. "Don't let it slip inside or you will be lost!"

More came up from behind, latching onto Zidane's tail. He wheeled and swiped at it with his daggers, making the thing hiss and scream with pain. It seemed there was more than one kind of Shadow. The thing let go and slinked back into the small group that was moving up behind them. More slid over the tops of the cliffs.

"Some are immune to magic, and others are not!" Aeris cried as the rest of the group rushed into battle. She was fumbling for a materia, a spell, anything.

"Right," Zidane called, advancing toward the group, his body low to the ground in his fighting stance. He shoved Mikoto back toward the center, away from the Shadows forming ranks behind them. The genome girl backed away, with no way to protect herself.

Rikku's head slumped against her chest. The Shadow was draining her life away.

And then there was a loud popping sound, and a fire flashed into existence, exploding on the small path and scorching the rocks around it. The Shadow screamed, a hoarse, unearthly sound. Aeris turned to look at the group behind him, and saw Seifer and Squall standing back to back, gunblades in hand, Pitching small objects like baseballs into the crowd of Shadows oozing over the sides of the cliffs. Ice and fire spells lit up the ravine, and water rained down on them.

Behind them, in the middle of the pack of magic immune Shadows, Zidane fought, spinning and slashing, looking like he were performing some strange and ancient dance, the light from the high-level fire spells catching on his daggers and casting bright reflections on the walls around him. But he was overwhelmed.

Enter Cloud and Sephiroth. Sephiroth drew the Masamune with a hiss of steel as he walked, a slow, determined pace. He swung the great weapon, slicing open many of the demons and spilling blue fluids onto the ground. Cloud walked behind him, cutting apart any Shadow that dared to twitch as it lay on the ground.

Tidus rushed to Rikku and lifted her gently off the ground. Aeris knelt next to them. Rikku has sooty smudges across her face, mingling with the tear-streaked dirt that had already been there. The spray from the splashing water spells washed away parts of it, making her look even dirtier. Aeris placed her hands on the unconscious girl's head and a soft light came from them. Rikku's eyes opened.

"What was that?" She asked, and Tidus hugged her. "Did that explosion take us home?"

"Look," Tidus said pointing. Rikku looked at the amazing spectacle of the five fighters behind them on the trail. She smiled.

"Wow," she said.

With a howl, the Shadows stopped spilling over the cliffs into Seifer and Squall's amazing light show. The bodies of the fallen began to melt and disintegrate around the ankles of the three warriors in the back.

"Sick," Cloud said, stepping away from the puddle that edged toward his boots.

The Shadows there, too, began to withdraw—those that still lived. Sephiroth lifted his long coat away from he forming pool with a look of disgust. Zidane waded out of the mass of dead Shadows around him and back to the group. His sister held out a piece of cloth and he proceeded to wipe the blue blood of the Shadows from his daggers before re-sheathing them. He offered it to Sephiroth and Cloud.

"What were those?" Seifer asked as he wiped the water from their spells off of his face. He looked exceptionally handsome dripping water and sweat.

"Those were the Shadows," Aeris said.

"Those were the demons that we have to fight?" Cloud asked. "Not so difficult, if you ask me."

"Those were the underlings. They are very weak. You were not brought here to fight the weak ones. You were brought to fight the Shadow Masters."

"I can't wait," Squall muttered, swiping his hands through his hair and slicking it back.

Aeris glared at him. "The Shadow Masters will take the form of your worst nightmares. Many have faced them, and none have returned—unless you count the pieces the Masters send us as warnings."

"And you want US to face them?" Rikku asked. "That's not fair, you know?"

"We have no other choice." Aeris said. "We thought you worthy of this task."

"You speak like a prophet," Mikoto said. "But not all of us are fighters, and not all of us are heroes."

"No?" Aeris asked.

"I have never fought for anything." Mikoto said.

"You saved your brothers from the bottom of the Iifa Tree," Aeris said. "You have done something."

"No, Kuja still died."

"But Zidane lives." Aeris said. "Do not worry, Genome Mikoto. You will learn your task, and you will learn to fight the way you were meant to."

Mikoto looked at her for a moment before nodding.