[A/N: 18/50 of the 50Shuffle Challenge; title could be from the song by Iron Maiden or Within Temptation xD I prefer the WT one though |:

Myeh, I don't think I write Third-Class!Zack very well here ¬____¬

Dedicatedish to MinaTakahashii, since she asked me for some Zangeal months ago and I only just got around to it… well, actually, I did write this a while ago and never posted it D: so this is for you 8D

Enjoy~!]

Fear of the Dark

It was dark down here. So dark, and cold, and damp, and Zack really wished he did not have to be here all alone.

Water dripped from the ceiling in dirty rivulets, trickling down the green rock like cold sweat down skin. The sound reverberated around the mines, echoing sharply back and forth until Zack could not tell where the original had come from. He scuffed a toe on the rocky floor, and the scrape danced away from him into the dark depths of the caverns, seeming so much louder than he'd thought it would be.

As the sound faded away, there was an answering noise – a flutter, the dry rustle of wings on still air. Zack froze and held his breath, waiting in complete silence to hear it again, but it never came. He did not know how long he stood there, not daring to even swallow for fear of drawing the monster towards him; but when he could take it no more, he relaxed a tiny bit and drew in a lungful of the damp, cloying air, and nothing swooped on him out of the gloom.

Yet.

The Third-Class shook his head and relaxed his tense muscles, flexing his fists to rid them of the paralysing stiffness. He had to be calm, he had to be at one with his surroundings; that way, he would be able to fight more efficiently, and show Angeal what he could do.

This was his first mission alone, ever. Well, it wasn't really a mission; it was all an illusion, a virtual reality conjured by ShinRa's technology and fed into his mind by the mask he could faintly feel, if he concentrated. The monsters weren't real; but the harm they would do was.

The fear coursing through his blood at this moment was certainly genuine, flooding his senses with heightened awareness as a result of the adrenaline. He was still getting used to his enhanced sight and hearing from the mako injections, even though it'd been at least six months since that first sickening time; sometimes, the way that everything was rendered in such crystal-clear detail gave him a headache, and the way he could hear every little fleck of dust drifting down to touch the floor had almost driven him insane, at the beginning.

But Angeal had taken pity on him, the little Third-Class who was always so popular but huddled into a little ball when he was alone, too overwhelmed by it all. That was how the First-Class had found him one day, after his second course of injections; he'd poked Zack lightly, and when he didn't get a response, had simply picked him up and carried him to the infirmary.

Zack hadn't been able to fathom why a First-Class would even notice a lowly Third, let alone be bothered to take care of him; from what he'd seen, none of the others of the elite group would have. General Sephiroth wouldn't even have seen him; Commander Rhapsodos would have simply nudged him out of the way with a boot and continued on. But since then, Zack had come to find that Angeal was different. He actually cared about his students; when the invitation had arrived from him to Zack, offering himself as a mentor, Zack hadn't thought twice about accepting.

How brilliant it would be to be tutored by a First-Class, and Commander Hewley himself! he'd thought. That way, he could learn to be a fighter worth attention; he'd never had problems with getting people to notice him, but he wanted recognition for something he'd done, rather than who he was. He wanted to become a First-Class; he wanted to be a hero.

He thought of that as he continued on through the mines, avoiding dangling rotted ropes and barrels scattered around the area. If he was going to be a hero, he had to face up to his fears; he had to embrace his dreams, Angeal had told him, and get through any obstacles in his way.

I'm not afraid of the dark.

The subterranean tunnels seemed to wind on forever, each disappearing into shadow at every junction. There was nothing down here, he told himself, nothing to hurt him - except there was, and that was the whole point of this exercise.

"Hell," he muttered and pressed on, picking a random direction to travel down. The PHS he'd been issued with had no signal down here; the map was fuzzy and distorted, offering no help at all. He wondered if Angeal had set the training room to do that, as part of the test; he wondered then, if Angeal was watching now or not.

How he wished Angeal was here! It was not the same, wandering around in darkness without the comforting warmth and bulk of his mentor beside him. Even when he was standing back, watching Zack fight, the Third-Class drew strength from the fact he was present. He decided to do so now; Angeal must be watching, with that rare half smile on stern features, or his brow furrowed in concentration. He wouldn't approve of this fear; he'd tell Zack to act his station, and carry on because he'd been commanded to, and his honour demanded it.

Zack straightened and rolled his shoulders confidently, walking on with new purpose to his step. He'd do this right, and he'd do it now, because Angeal had told him to.

Only a few metres on, his ears caught that flutter of movement again, a lot closer this time. He tensed, eyes flickering around the cavern he'd stepped into; the floor dropped away into darkness, an underground waterfall cascading down into the depths beside a wide wooden bridge.

Hesitantly, Zack stepped onto the bridge, pulling his broadsword over his shoulder as he tested the strength of the planks. The rope supports creaked a little, but held; holding the weapon in front of him, banishing the tremble from his arms, Zack crept forwards onto the bridge slowly.

There was a definite apprehensive quality to the silence; it felt just as if there was something waiting for him, readying to strike when his guard was down. Zack swallowed and continued, sky-blue eyes skittering around at every angle in nervous anticipation. Finally, a chance to prove himself; but that fear was still lurking in the back of his mind, undermining his confidence bit by bit. But what if…

He didn't have time to think any more as a huge demonic creature swooped out from the waterfall to his right, screeching as it lunged for his head with ivory talons outstretched. Bloody red leathery wings flapped dank air against his skin as Zack threw himself forwards into a roll, flipping up onto his feet facing the monster.

Ruby eyes that glimmered with intelligence glared at him before it swept forwards again; this time the sharp barb on the tip of the ratty tail caught his arm and opened a shallow, wide slash on tanned skin. For a moment, Zack stared at the wound incredulously, then up at the creature. Something inside of him stilled and a strange calm came over him; he knew precisely how to deal with this thing.

With a savage yell, the Third threw himself over the ground underneath the monster and leapt up behind it, arcing his blade in great swipes across the vulnerable back. The demon screeched again, an unearthly resonance to the sound, and shuddered as it tried to recover from each violent blow. Blackish blood dripped off its skin and down Zack's sword, spattering onto the wooden boards with little hisses as a counterpoint to the beast's shrieks.

But no matter how long he swiped and chopped at it, the monster stayed alive. Exhausted by his efforts, Zack allowed his slashes to slow, forcing himself to lift the sword each time and slice through the creature. But as he raised his arms one last time, the demon dodged away in the brief respite, turned, and with a grating scream cast a ball of ethereal white light at Zack.

The Third was paralysed. Completely and utterly paralysed. He could see, he could feel the heavy air and the sweat coating his skin, but he was powerless to move anything except his eyes. They widened in terror as the beast lunged at him, spraying its own blood over him as it clawed and tore at his skin.

He could feel his strength, already depleted, waning, and as the monster's talons ripped through his bloodstained vest and he collapsed to the ground, released from the paralysis, he hoped that Angeal hadn't seen his failure.

-

From outside the training room, Angeal watched with arms folded as Zack navigated his way through the mine. He saw and shared the fear in his student's stance at first, and then a flash of pride washed through him when Zack straightened and continued confidently. Quelling the smile that wanted to work its way onto his face, the First-Class shifted a little and kept an eye on the monitor tracking what Zack saw.

When the monster attacked, Angeal couldn't help the protective urge that swept through him – that was his puppy out there, and he didn't want him harmed in any way. Inwardly he berated himself and watched the battle anxiously; Zack had to do this. He'd been overdue for an individual mission – indeed, perhaps Angeal's unwarranted worry was holding the Third back.

Just as he'd calmed himself and begun to watch as dispassionately as possible, Zack froze. It was unnatural; panic was etched into every muscle, fear dancing in glowing eyes. Angeal stared at the screen and saw immediately what had happened – the monster had been waiting for an opportunity to cast its status ailment, and Zack had been unprepared.

Cursing, Angeal forced himself to wait and see if his student could hold out until the effect wore off. Zack was strong, he was young, and the mako in his blood made him more resilient to spells that would down the creature's normal prey.

But when Zack collapsed, comatose, Angeal slammed the power of the VR room off and cancelled the mission, fear flaring through him. How could he have been so negligent? He should have done it earlier, before Zack was seriously hurt, he should have saved him…

The door to the room seemed to take an age to open as Angeal forced his way in, rushing to the prone form of his student and ripping off the headset with no regards as to its safety.

"Zack? Zack, talk to me…"

The black-haired youth stirred a little but didn't react any more; flooded with panic, Angeal merely scooped him up and carried him out of the training rooms, all the way through the building to the first place he thought of – his own apartment, aiming for his stock of Cure materia.

"Don't give up, Zack, hold on just a little longer…"

Finally he saw the familiar door at the end of the corridor and hurried towards it, barely noticing the weight of Zack in his arms. With one hand, he awkwardly tapped in the key combination and nudged his way in, settling Zack down on the sofa as he went to his chest of materia.

Grabbing the first green marble-like ball he saw, Angeal almost ran back to Zack, summoning the healing magic as he cradled the Third, talking to him all the while. To his immense relief, the visible wounds closed and disappeared as if they'd never been there; Zack's breathing eased noticeably and he slipped into sleep.

With a sigh, Angeal relaxed back and began to wait.

-

"What is he doing here?"

"He was injured in the training room, Gen, I had to bring him back…"

"That's what the infirmary's for, Angeal. You shouldn't have brought him here."

"I thought it was the best thing to do."

"You deal with him then. I have to go…"

Zack heard the voices as if from a huge distance, fading back into consciousness like from a deep sleep. He felt groggy and drained; slowly memory of what had happened bled back into his thoughts and he jerked upright – or would have, if his body hadn't been like lead. He tried to open his eyes and eventually forced them to obey him, coming face to face with a worried-looking Angeal on the other side of the room.

The older SOLDIER crossed the space between them swiftly, relief cascading over his features as he settled down on the floor next to Zack.

"Are you okay, Zack?" he asked anxiously, rarely-revealed emotion swimming in his eyes. Zack forced a smile and nodded, wincing at the ache in his body.

"I'm… in your house?"

Angeal chuckled and smiled. "Not technically a house, but I live here, yes."

Zack's eyes narrowed. "Was that Commander Rhapsodos?"

The other's smile faded and he sighed, casting an unreadable look towards the door. "Yes, but don't take any notice of him. He's just… volatile. Doesn't like being surprised."

Worry crossed Zack's face and he tried to get up, attempting to roll off the sofa and stand before Angeal restrained him.

"I've been here too long, I shouldn't have made you look after me…"

Angeal shook his head and pushed his student back onto the sofa, ruffling one hand reassuringly through ebony spikes. "Don't worry, Zack. You can stay here as long as you need."