Disclaimer: I do not own Silent Hill and Final Fantasy and all it characters

Chapter 2

Once he touched the triangle, his eyes saw pitch black point. It engulfed him, and it made him dizzy. But not for long, he managed to open his eyes. He was in a small restroom, the portal triangle was on the wall behind him. The restroom was in awful condition, he couldn't take the thick stench atmosphere, he threw up. Spitting the last vomit, he realized that Denzel wasn't on his back. He remember it clearly that Denzel has been on his back when he travel to this stinky school.

But there was one more thing he recognized when he entered this school. The school was dark, gloomy, and slippery. It was DARK. 'What's wrong with my eyes? I couldn't see anything. Weird.' Every SOLDIER who has been infused with Jenova cells has the ability to see in the dark, which includes him to be one of them. But in this building, he couldn't. 'I need a lighting...'

All alone, he started his search for a lighting, and for Denzel. He made his way out from the restroom and found a big hall, a school hall. Good thing that it still has little intensity of light, helped him to see his surrounding. Its floor was dirty and slippery, but he managed to keep his balance. His eyes searched for a janitor room, hoping for somekind of flashlight to help him. Finding one, his intuition was right. There was one in the shelf, and some batteries for it.

He made it to the central corridor of the school. He walked slowly, each step made its own echo. Too silent, too frightening. His hand found his gun for anticipation. There were rows of classrooms in that corridor. Many of their doors won't budge. He couldn't barge in because of their thick wood, his arms ache after he tried to barge into one of the room.

But there was one classroom which has its door unlocked. He needed to investigate. He peeked through, flashing his flashlight to see what's inside. Only ordinary rows of desks and chairs, and empty. Well, not really empty. On the teacher's desk, a girl with two ponytails and a moogle plushie on her lap. She was burying her face into her fold of her arms.

She saw the flash, and looked up. Cloud was stratled at first, 'she's alive?'

The girl stood up, but stumble down, before Cloud's hands supported her back on her feet. She was barefeeted, her outfit tattered, much like scratches from small claws. Her face was pale with blue lips. "Are you okay?" he choked.

The girl only shooked her head. He could see her dark eye-bags clearly, indicating she was lack of sleep. She made a sign with her hand, well many signs. He barely understood, though. "You're mute?" she nodded.

'I... can't... speak... but... I... hear... you...' He managed to understand what she meant. Since he was a smart-ass student back in high-school, he learnt about body language for mute people. But only the alphabet signs.

"What's your name?" he asked the little girl.

She made rows of signs of the letters: 'S E L E N E'

"OK, Selene. Have you seen a boy with auburn curly hair?"

'D E N Z E L... he... is... my... friend..."

"Okay, here's my cellphone. Type whatever you want to say to me." He fished his cellphone from his pocket and handed it to her. She typed on his cellphone and give it to him. Good thing that she knows how to type.

'We are orphans. We all got Geostigma which is an incurable disease from her.' He stopped reading and direct his flashlight to her mark. It was all along her right arm, also on her neck. He cotinued reading: 'We are locked in this world with monsters lurking in each corner. We cannot get out from here. Denzel was in the other world because he has something different from us.'

He gave his cellphone to her, "Who locked you here? Will you explain?"

'A witch called Aerith. She said she will be our mother and we can live with her, but she brought us here. She tied us on our beds and injected something into our bodies. Then, these scars appeared. She called the monsters from Underworld to watch over us. She plans to spread Geostigma to our world with a Meteor. She took our infected blood everyday and store it in tubes. I think she'll stock it in her Meteor Spell and let the virus spread to our world.'

His eyes went wide as he read the text. 'Is it really?' But not before he managed to flip his phone close, he was attacked from behind. It was furry, with claws and paws. A huge wolf was on his back. He reached for his gun and managed to shoot the beast through its neck. The beast fell down onto his body, not yet die. Cloud struggled to move the wolf away from his body. Succeed, he shoot a bullet through its cranial. Shortly, it's no longer moving.

He turned, looking at the girl, her knuckles were white from her strong clutch to her moogle plushie, she was obviously frightened. He squatted, circled his arms around her, soothing her. "Shh. It's okay now. You can come with me. We'll get out from here, I promise." He whispered to her. He could feel her nod against his shoulder. "Now, close your eyes. I'll take you out from this room."

He walked pass the dead wolf and closed the door. He let Selene down and told her to open her eyes, he smiled at her. "Okay, now, we'll fetch your friends. How many orphans are here? And where are they?" he asked the girl while handing his cellphone to her.

'There are only three of us, Denzel, me, and Marlene. I don't know where Denzel is, but there were a lot banging sounds from above, I think it's from Marlene.'

He flipped his cellphone and put it into his pocket. Knowing the girl was too fragile, he carried her on his back. "Here we come, Marlene."

To Be Continued