Prompto saw nothing but darkness all around him. He realized that upon entering a tunnel was not as easy as he expected.
Tifa's footsteps were so soft, that Prompto could barely hear them. As far as he knew, Tifa was just in front of him taking the lead. It was definitely a shame, since Prompto was a guy and he couldn't act like a hero like everybody else did. He was not built for fighting and all; he was just a regular guy with a shotgun. Moreover, he couldn't even properly handle his own weapon.
Prompto could feel the cold lingering over him. Pitch black was all he could see. He took a deep breath. Every step he took was too much for him; his knees being jelly made it hard for him to walk.
"I'm afraid of the dark," he mumbled as his shoes met with the ground. "Jeez, Tifa. Can you even see where we are? This tunnel is nasty, like real nasty."
Tifa wanted to keep on going, but she thought that if they would, they'd probably get lost in the dark. She stopped and blocked her arm on Prompto's body. "That's my arm," she said, her voice echoing through the tunnel. "We'll stop for a moment."
Prompto nodded. "Well, yeah we should."
Now silence was all that could be heard. The two of them stood in the dark.
Tifa was the first to speak. "Have any idea where we are right now?"
"We're in the tunnel."
"No, idiot," Tifa was probably irritated. "What I mean is, where are we exactly?"
Prompto felt uncomfortable. "I really think we should go backwards." He then turned around and expected that the blazes above the ground would be seen, but no. He saw nothing. Nothing at all. It was as if the opening was covered by darkness.
"This is not good, Tifa," Prompto trembled. He tried not to show his fear. This was what he had been afraid of. To fail. "No. . . I. . . I can't fail!" He dropped his knees to the ground and wept.
He could feel Tifa's hand on his shoulder. The moment when he realized that she was there, he immediately wiped his tears, but soon he hiccuped. "Damn it. I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Tifa assured. "Don't be sorry. And we're not going to fail, I promise. We can still save them; it's not too late."
"But. . . the way disappeared. Like some sort of magic had been used on them when someone passed through it. I should've known. Niflheim can still use a small amount of magic, given their expertise in technology."
Tifa widened her eyes. "That's it, Prompto!" She looked around at the dark. "This tunnel could be one of their own ways of doing it!"
Prompto certainly did not understand her, but as soon as he tried to analyze, he got it. He understood what Tifa meant. He stood up and held on her wrist. "Well, we can't get lost in here, either," he looked around. "Surely this tunnel is an illusion. It gives off extreme darkness that blinds what our sight truly sees."
"Exactly."
Prompto grinned. "Well then, shall we go onwards?"
"One problem."
"What is it?" Prompto sighed a little. I thought we've solved the problem already, he thought. He hated another problem rising. He recalled the day when he and Noctis were in high school. They had the finals on physics, and Prompto could still remember his score on it. It was goddamn eleven out of eighty. 10 points for each problem, if the answer was wrong, you get 3 points for effort. Well, he definitely didn't want to remember that day.
"What do we do then?" Prompto asked.
Tifa thought hard. What do they do then? She didn't know. But a part of her had an answer, yet she wasn't sure whether it was right or not.
Something suddenly popped into her thoughts. She then turned around. She focused on her eyesight. At first nothing happened. But when she focused harder, a tiny white hole emerged; it went and faded.
"There's a hole out there."
"Where?" Prompto turned around.
"Follow me."
*
Cloud sliced the last magitek into a piñata.
As far as he knew, he estimated that he destroyed hundreds of robotic minions in a row. When he saw that the field was filled with destroyed magiteks, the others came running towards him. He turned to his left and saw Vincent landing onto the ground.
"I'm glad you're here," Cloud nodded at him. Vincent formed a tiny smile and looked over his shoulder.
Cloud widened his eyes. Yuffie and the rest of Avalanche were here. "What are you guys doing here?"
Yuffie laughed. "Seriously Cloud? I thought you'd be happy seeing us here."
"In the middle of this war?"
"We came to help, Cloud," Red XIII spoke. The red creature trotted around the blond.
Cloud raised an eyebrow; a hint of worry formed on his face.
"If you're thinking about Denzel and Marlene, don't worry. Someone's taking care of them in Insomnia."
"What?! They're in Insomnia?"
"Well, yeah," Yuffie giggled. "You can say they're taken care of a beautiful lady there."
"Lady Lunafreya has them," Ignis spoke out of nowhere. Cloud turned around. "They're safe. I assure you that. I owe them for saving me and Gladio from Aranea's escape."
For a while, Cloud couldn't believe what was happening. He couldn't believe his friends were here in Eos, just to help him with this. He felt whole again. Now that his friends were here, he was sure that he could face whatever was laid before him.
"Sir Gladio!"
Everyone turned to someone's direction. Nyx Ulric had teleported and stood before them. "The way is under the tunnel. I saw Prompto and a girl enter through it. My fellow glaives sent an information about the underground tunnel. It's filled with magic and false illusions. We have to be careful."
"Magic, eh?" Ignis adjusted his eyeglasses. "We can solve that."
"But the problem is, Prompto and the girl—"
"Tifa," Cloud said, tightening his grip on his sword. He didn't even notice that Tifa disappeared out of nowhere, and now she was with Prompto, within that tunnel.
Nyx continued. "The two could've gone lost in there. The passage is pretty dangerous."
Ignis turned to the others, then back to Nyx. "We'll handle this. The rest should stay here and wait. There could be another set of troops attacking here and there."
Nyx reluctantly agreed, but eventually he had no choice. He then stayed at the field while Ignis gestured for the rest to follow him down the tunnel.
"How shall we handle this then?" Gladiolus asked.
"Like Nyx said, it's an illusion. So we'd better not get lost in our minds. Don't think we'll get lost. Don't think we're lost. Don't think we have been lost. That's it. Keep walking." Cloud suddenly spoke.
When he said that, everyone went silent and followed. They passed through the arched opening, not daring to look back.
Next chapter will be (Y/N) and Sephiroth. Finally updated after a few months. Yay.