Disclaimer - I don't own any Final Fantasy VII or its characters. They belong rightfully to Square Enix. ENJOY!

Creeping Shadows

How did this happen? Cloud pondered as he watched the darkness swirling around him and it was slowly swallowing his arms and legs. It wasn't exactly hurting him. It was more like having his hands and legs shoved into icy cold water and hot burning fire at the same time.

For a few minutes, he wondered if he had hit his head or something earlier today, because he was not even afraid of this pitch black darkness that surrounded him. But then again, he couldn't find a reason to be scare when this darkness was caused by someone who was just being emotionally unstable at the moment.

Now that he thought about, it had all started this morning when they arrived at Rocket Town...

Rocket Town was situated at the north-west side of the continent. It was famous for the history that surrounded the old broken rocket at the outskirt of the town.

Five decades ago, the place was known as a test base where mankind would launched their very first rocket, Arnihs-62, to space, but due to a malfunction in the engines, it crashed down and was damaged beyond repair. There were several attempts to rebuild the rocket, though none had been successful and so, the whole base was abandoned. A few years later, the tiny nameless village near the base soon grew more and more populated, its territory started to expand to the rocket, then after a while, people started to call the village, Rocket Town.

I HATE THIS PLACE! Cloud shouted loudly in his mind, careful not to let his mental outburst reached to the mind of someone else other than Zack, Genesis, Cid and Shera. Who knew how would people react to a telepathic blond-haired guy? Hopefully, not with pitchforks or an army.

Truthfully, there weren't many things he hated in this world, there were only two things:

A) Failure was not an option. He hated the feeling of not being able to accomplish something, it torn your heart in slow painful pace and crushed your hope till it was nothing more than a pile of mush.

B) He hated the sound of engines more than anything! When he was a kid, he abhorred the sound of the loud roaring engines of motorcycles and cars. The sounds they made gave him immense headaches! It took him a while before he was able to build a certain level resistance against the bothersome noises, but it still had some limits to it!

I thought this place was supposed to be a quiet town! Cloud complained to Cid as a group of fighters jet flew pass them.

'You could hardly described Rocket Town as a quiet little town, Cloud,' Shera started. 'After the town had prospered, a lot of veteran flight pilots had settled in, many of them wished to teach their hard-earned skills to the children. So they had established the Flight Academy, it was known as the world's greatest Academy for pilots. Many who had entered the school came out as remarkable pilots. And I believe that it is the week of exams, so it's pretty normal that-' Another group of jets flew over and they were louder than the one before. 'Well, you'll get use to it after a while.'

'That would be after I see those wrenched machines burn to the ground,' Genesis said, his voice barely above a whisper, but everyone in their group could hear it clearly. Zack and Cid were throwing death-glares at him, Shera gasped in fear, while Cloud simply rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Cloud knew that the Krusnik was serious and the idea was quite tempting for him too, but he also knew that Genesis wouldn't really do it, because they needed to keep a low profile on their powers. Doing some things stupid like shooting down noisy airplanes was definitely not a way to keep attentions away from them. Still, if the damned jets continued their loud parades, then he might let his control slipped a little bit. Just a little bit.

Tired and annoyed, they quickly made their way to a nearby inn, where they had reserved their rooms, and settled down for the day, because at night, they would go and hunt in darkness...

'Not that I am stupid or something, but why are we hunting something that could control darkness or the shadow at night?' Zack asked he carried a heavy suitcase into the middle of the small rooms with three beds that he shared with Cloud and Genesis. 'Aren't we like walking right into a visible trap and giving it the advantage here?'

During their whole journey to Rocket Town, the three of them had discussed their plan to hunt down the beast. Genesis had proposed that they wait for night to hunt it, while Zack said that they lay low for a few nights and wait for it to come to them. Cloud didn't give much of his opinion, because their discussion about this dark being reminded him of Lazard's words. He hadn't told either of them anything about the mysterious man's cryptic warning yet, but he had the suspicion that Genesis had more or less knew what had happened from just reading the surface of his mind. Though he had to wait until Zack was out of earshot to ask Genesis how much he knew.

Zack, could you get me some painkillers, my head is split into two by those damned jets. Cloud asked with a grimace as he rubbed his temples in smooth circles.

'Sure Cloud. I'll be right back!' Zack replied as he immediately ran into the corridor, slamming the door shut loudly.

The petite blond waited another minute before he turned to Genesis and asked mentally. Did you know?

'Know what?' Genesis said as he took out another ancient- like book from his bag and began to flip through it.

You read my mind. Cloud replied bluntly.

The immortal stopped looking at whatever information the book he held contained and turned to stare at him with icy blue eyes. This was a definite sign that he was not in a nice mood. 'The man who I saw in your mind is stranger to me.'

He refers to himself as Lazard Deusericus, does it ring any bells? His partner shook his head. Anyway, he told me that whatever the thing we're after is hiding in the Nibel Mountains.

'And you trust his words?' Genesis questioned, doubting his judgement.

Not that he really trusted what Lazard told him, but his instincts were telling him that the mysterious blond was trustworthy. It was pretty much the same feeling he got that night before they went into mansion to face Rosso and Azul. Of course, he could be wrong about his intuition.

'Fine,' Genesis finally said after a long silence passed between them. 'I'll see how this will play out and I hope this won't become another regret of yours.'

Don't worry. It won't. Cloud muttered softly inside his mind as Genesis left him alone in the room. He sat down on the bed next to him and let out a heavy sigh as he ran his hands over his gravity-defying hair. Gaia, he was tired and stressed. It was like his life became bumpier than ever, worse than when he and his mother were working restlessly to obtain enough money to buy food to feed them.

It was like some deities decided that his life wasn't bad enough, they decided to spice things up for him! Which was entirely unnecessary! Now he had deal with every damned evil creatures that would crawled out of the darkness, all because of his own curiosity of the person who had appeared in his very first dreams! To sum it all up, Genesis had simply waltzed in his life and turned it upside down and inside out!

Blue eyes slowly stared up at the ceiling, studying the patterns of the old white paint. He knew he was being childish and even selfish to blame everything on someone else, but he couldn't help it. This sort of minefield life just wasn't coping with him. He was just tired of how those supernatural things kept popping up at any moment in his life when all he asked was just some peace and quiet which he did for quite some times now and it was getting more and more often.

I really need the aspirins right now. Cloud thought out loud, not really caring if someone who walked passed the room heard his mental thoughts, because it was best he could just throw out whatever things he was thinking right now, then to have another psychic burst later with a mountain of stuffs to clean up and to pay. He was pretty sure he was on the verge of hating the whole world and wished it to go to Hell with all the things that kept happening to him. Good Gaia... I need therapy too. Zack you better be back now or I'll probably throw a fit.

As if on cue, Zack entered the room with a bottle filled with aspirins that was enough for him to last for a month. Cloud gave a sigh of relief as he took the medicine from his friend and immediately popped two pills into his mouth. He swallowed them dry, since he didn't have any water and he was in desperate need of aspirins for his headaches. Zack quickly shoved a bottle of water into his hands which he was grateful of and drank the clear liquid in one gulp.

The effect of the pills might not be immediate, but he could feel it slowly taking toll on him and he rather enjoyed the feeling of being weightless, which was kind of like his soul had left his body's empty shell. Not that he was some kind of guy who was addicted to any drug he took. It was just hard for him to relieve the stress he had and, for now, anything that might help him to get rid of it was greatly welcomed.

Zack told him to get some sleep while he unpacked their stuffs. Cloud nodded in agreement as he was getting drowsier and drowsier until he drifted into his usual dreamless sleep.

Cloud sat up groggily on his bed, rubbing his eyes as he studied the dark room he was in. It looked like it was nighttimes already, but Zack and Genesis weren't here. He tried to switch on the lamp on the nightstand, but no light came out.

Where? Memories slowly popped up in his mind as he remembered taking aspirins from Zack and then he fell asleep almost instantly. The blond moved his hands around blindly until his fingers gasped what he thought was his backpack. He rummaged in his bag for the flashlight he had dumped in it before they left the mansion.

He let out a cry of victory when he found the flashlight and turned it on. The small, but strong ray of light cut through the darkness, revealing what the dark shapes he saw were. He walked towards the table to see if his friends had left a note for him, but he found none. Strange... Something's not right...

Even if Genesis and Zack had to leave in a hurry, Zack would have at least left a small note for him. Both of them gone and left no note meant something must have happened while he was asleep, but what?

Seeing that staying in the dark room wouldn't help her one bit, Cloud decided to leave the safety of the room and went to explore the darker corridor outside the room. The young spellcaster walked down the long corridor in a slow cautious pace, only walking on where his flashlight had touched. Panic and fear were slowly rising in his heart with each step he took. It was quiet and he couldn't feel any sort of life around him, it was like every resident in the whole hotel had suddenly vanished without a trace. In short, the place was lifeless.

Hello! Is anyone in here? Cloud shouted in his mind, hoping someone might respond to his telepathic call, when he reached the lobby of the hotel, but there weren't any sort of reply.

The blond took a deep breath to stay calm, knowing that if he started to get all panicky, it wouldn't help him one bit. Without Genesis and Zack around, he only got his still feeble spells to defend himself and his legs to run away, which was a huge disadvantage to him if he encountered the two creatures in Cid's and Shera's story. Suddenly, he felt the air around him shifted and he heard some shuffling sound coming from where the couches and chairs were placed for the guests.

Is someone there? Cloud called out telepathically as he took a careful step towards where he heard the sound.

'Over here,' a cold voice whispered from behind him.

The blond haired mage turned and flashed his light around, while his heart was beating rapidly as if he was running a marathon. The voice was too close for comfort. He slowly took a step back as he tried to find the source of the voice.

'I'm here,' the same voice whispered behind his ear. Cloud found himself unable to move and his whole body frozen in fear. Hands, he felt two icy cold hands running smooth circle on his hands and then they moved up, touching his arms rather sensually, before they rested on his shoulders. 'I have been waiting for so long...'

Cloud slowly turned around to see whose voice that belonged to. What he saw sacred the daylight out of him. The person's face was completely covered in metal strips that had dozen of scratched marks on and there was only a small space that was opened for him to breathe through. He wasn't sure if it was him who had fainted or it was the darkness that was surrounding them had taken over his vision.

Genesis wasn't sure if he wanted to fry Fair at this very instance or tried to find Strife and strangled him. First, Fair the puppy had almost ran over him in panic shouting nonsense like a possessed madman until he had calm down and explained to him that Cloud had gone missing. Second, the blond should have been more vigilant when he knew that there was a creature out there, but instead of being in alert, he had to go and fall asleep and got himself kidnapped! Third, that useless and brainless defective Highwind was being stubbornly annoying, ordering him around like he owned the place, he took orders from no one!

The Krusnik closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, trying to calm himself down and focused on what he was currently studying. From what he could see, Cloud was lying on the bed all along before the puppy had realized that he had vanished and the small trace of darkness that tainted the sheet told him that the creature must have used the boy's own shadow to capture him, but if it had taken Cloud out of the hotel through the shadows by force, he would have felt something through their inner-connection. At least the link forged by their pact was good for something, though it was useless right now.

Also, if the monster came in and out of the hotel through the shadows, he would have noticed its movements. So it must have used another way to capture the blond without alerting anyone its presence, but how did it accomplish it?

His train of thoughts was abruptly interrupted by a loud crashing sound which was caused by an extremely distressed Zack Fair. Fair was throwing hard things that were not breakable around looking like half-mad and had accidentally broken a mirror that was placed at the corner of the room. Genesis had kind of hoped that the mirror had magic, because mirrors filled with magical power tended to react violently against those who tried to break their glass or they would released an energy that would harmed, if not obliterated, their attacker after their glass was broken, but sadly this was only a plain old non-magical mirror, so the puppy would only get seven years of ill luck, if the boy was superstitious about those humans' imaginative stories.

The Krusnik was about to say some nasty and sarcastic comment about Fair's behaviour, but the words got stuck in his throat when his eyes landed on the reflection that the broken mirror showed. The pieces of glass that still were on the wooden frame reflected his face, but some of them showed him in his true form, with his red eyes and sharp fangs.

Finally, things started to chain together as he continued to stare at the glass' shards. The reason why the creature was able to kidnap Strife without alerting him, it had used the Shadow Realm to accomplish it. The Shadow Realm was like a mirror reflection of reality, but things worked differently. Time didn't exist in that realm, where there was light in the actual world was only darkness and living became lifeless. In short, it was an empty parallel world where shadows dominated everything.

He picked up one of the shards and cast a tracking spell he had used many time during the time he hunted the vampires. Since vampires' blood had each a unique kind of magic residue in them, it made tracking them easier. So if he applied the same concept on whatever remains of magic that was used on the mirror, it should point them the way to where the monster and Cloud were located.

The glass shard he held glowed dimly on the right side, pointing directly the window, Genesis turned towards the window and opened it. The shard glowed brighter as Genesis watched where it pointed directly at looming shadow of Mt. Nibel.

This was too much of a coincidence. Cloud had mentioned to them that the monster might be hiding within the Nibel mountains and this piece of information came from a stranger who they knew nothing about other than his name which could a false one. This all sounded too much like a trap to him, but a trap he could used to his advantage...

'We're leaving,' Genesis said as he strolled out of the room with the agitated puppy at his toll.

'Where are we going?' Zack asked hastily.

'We're getting Strife back.'

Cloud coughed slightly as he sat up on the rocky ground, he felt like his head was being used as a drum for a whole day. One second he was in the dark hotel room, having a creep guy behind him, and the next, he was here in the dark of some sort of underground cave or something. He could barely see anything in the pitch black darkness around him.

Light, light, light. Where's my flashlight? Cloud thought as he felt around him for the flashlight, but he couldn't find it anywhere near him. Ok. Plan B.

The blond concentrated his power, imagining a glowing sphere in his hand to help him materialized his source of light, and almost instantly a bright orb was formed in his hand, shining the dark environment. I'm getting good at this.

Suddenly the light he had created dimmed to nothingness. Or not.

Cloud ran a hand through his messy hair and decided to try the trick he had read at the last chapter of the book about controlling magical powers. He placed his hand in front of him and released a wave of energy that swept the entire area, which allowed him to see the outlines of the stones and water around him. The trick worked like the echolocation that bats and dolphins used to help them navigated in their environments.

He walked forward a few steps before he released another wave. Cloud kept doing this until he reached another part of the labyrinth cave that was slightly darker and smaller than the other part, but a faint dimmed light was shone behind some rocks.

He carefully made his way towards the light, readying an offensive spell if whatever was behind the rocks would attack him, but what he found surprised him more than when a monster jumped on him. It was a broken capsule that big enough to hold a teenage adult inside and the light came from the glowing clear green liquid. Cloud broke off one of the glass and swiped up some of the liquid, taking a few sniff at it, he quickly pulled away. Whatever the substance was, it was not good at all, he didn't know what it was exactly. Though he caught a faint scent of Alocasias mixed with several others that he identified had sedative effect.

When Cloud was just a child, his mother had taught him everything about the plants, which one was toxic or not, which combination of plants could be poisonous. He remembered that his mother had warned about the effects of Alocasias, it was also called elephant's ear. Alocasias' flowers might have a certain appealing appearance for the garden, but if one consumed it, it could cause stomach upset, painful mouth irritation, mental instability and possible death.

Why would someone put a dangerous substance in it? Cloud thought as he unintentionally backed away from the capsule. He couldn't even imagined what the person or animal or whatever living being that was put inside the capsule would feel being soak in this poisonous liquid for a long period.

He gulped unsteadily as he approached the capsule again and studied it thoroughly to if there was other indication of where this capsule might came from and maybe identified what was actually inside it. He found a faded inscription on top of the prison-like container, it read: 'Sub... SC-N1 N...'

If Cloud had to guess, the inscription must a code number for some sort of science freak. Everything reminded him to much of how he and Zack found Genesis. It all began when they started searching for an inscription.

I have to get out of here before whoever kidnaps me comes back. Cloud thought as he stood up and readied to leave this place, but he came face to face with the person in a metallic mask, or rather the prisoner of the capsule.

I am deeply sorry for those who were waiting impatiently for the update. I know this chapter might be too short, but I am really working as hard as I can to get the chapter done. Please review!