Shado: Well...I need to work on my other fanfic, Lost Angel. But then came a really strange dream where I was Cloud and...this happened. Enjoy

Disclaimer: I own nothing

The Nightmare's Puppet

It was a normal night for Cloud. Finish homework, tidy up his room, and clean the kitchen. The blond heaved a sigh. He was almost done with his chores. He had already finished the easy stuff, now it was only the heavy duty kitchen.

To make the chore seem less stressful, Cloud turned the TV on. He put it on some random program, which happened to be Unsolved Mysteries. The blond smiled, it was one of the programs he didn't mind watching.

Cloud then put on his blue apron with chocobos all over it and began to clean. He didn't know how much time flew by. Cloud usually didn't pay attention to the clock when he was cleaning. When an hour and fifteen minutes came and went he had finally finished.

'Dad left an unusually large mess…' Cloud huffed at the slob of a man.

It was always a routine. His mother always left early in the morning for her first job of the day. His father worked later in the day, so he prepared himself lunch and dinner. But the old slob never cleaned after himself.

So Cloud took it upon himself to clean the kitchen before his mother came home. Anything to be of some help to his mother, Cloud did the job. She worked two jobs, so to ease some stress from her the blond would help around the house a lot more.

'Speaking of mom…she should be home soon.' Cloud glanced at a nearby clock as he removed the apron.

It was already six forty – five. His mother usually came home around six. Cloud frowned and briefly worried that something had gone wrong. Then he heard the thrumming of rain. He had forgotten that there was going to be a heavy storm tonight. He hoped that there won't be any lightning or thunder tonight. Cloud didn't like the thought of being alone in the house during a thunder storm.

He had bad experiences in those situations when he was younger. It went all the way back to when his mother didn't come home until nearly eleven. She couldn't change her working hours at that time, and his father always came home around midnight.

One time when there had been a thunder storm and no one else had been home, the power had gone out. Cloud had been five at that time. He had been so scared from the lightning he had bolted from one room to another in hopes of escaping the flashes and noises of the storm.

He had run around to every room five times each, and towards the end Cloud had been close to having a panic attack. When he had reached the bathroom, long arms had came out of nowhere and embraced his small body against a firm and warm chest. A smooth, dark voice had whispered sweet nothings, effectively calming the boy. Within minutes Cloud had fallen asleep in the warm hold.

The blond didn't remember a face, and he had never met the owner of that voice after that night. Cloud wanted to thank the stranger, but he wasn't sure if it had been a dream or not. That night when his mother had come home, she had found him asleep and curled up under the covers of her bed. He had no idea how he had gotten there, for all he remembered was the warm embrace in the bathroom which was on the other side of the house.

Willing those thoughts away, Cloud sat down on the couch. If all went well, his mother would be home any minute. And if he was lucky, there would be no thunder storm until she got home. And the power wouldn't go out.

No sooner had those thoughts crossed his mind the lights flickered. Blue eyes widened as the TV screen flickered with the lights, went static, and then everything was dark. Cloud could hear his heartbeat in the dark silence.

'Relax, Cloud. It's nothing. It's just a nightmare. I must have fallen asleep, or something.' Cloud pinched his arm.

"Ow." That felt real. Maybe his dream was messing with him.

The blond got up and blindly made his way towards the nearest bathroom. Maybe if he washed his face then he'd wake up. Or at least that was what Cloud hoped, since he first had to find his way around without his sight.

Cloud hated these first few moments while his eyes were adjusting. It made him feel weak and vulnerable to the darkness. The blond wasn't really afraid of the dark, but it was what was in the dark that frightened him. He had an infinite and slightly exaggerated imagination. The mystery and horror novels and movies didn't help.

Lightning suddenly flashed, which sent Cloud running with a yelp. In his flying panic, the blond hit his head against a corner of the wall. For a moment the blond was dizzy as the impact sent him spinning a few times. Luckily Cloud held a hand out, which prevented him from running into another wall.

"That hurt like hell…" Cloud mumbled as he raised his other hand to his forehead.

The injury stung to the touch, but he didn't feel any blood. After rubbing it gently a few times, Cloud was forced to admit that maybe this wasn't a dream. The pain was all too real, and the stinging scrape on his forehead wouldn't go away. It was evident that this was really happening.

'Oh god…I'm alone in the house, with the power out. Okay Cloud, just calm down. You're not a little kid anymore.' The blond inhaled a sharp breath to help calm his mind and racing heart.

Now that he was slightly calmer, Cloud slowly continued on towards the bathroom. When he finally got there (he was still walking around blind and had almost ran into the washing machine), Cloud attempted to turn on the sink.

Water still came out. The blond then started washing his face. He was still nervous from all the creepy chain of events going on. He had the worst luck today for some reason.

'The power is out, so what can I do? Sit around on the couch and do nothing?'

Lightning flashed, causing him to jump a bit. But as he did, he saw something move in the mirror. Cloud froze as he stared at the mirror like a deer caught in headlights. He couldn't see anything, but judging by the hair standing up on the back of his neck he was being watched.

'Oh god…oh god, oh god, I need to get out of here!' Cloud was about to turn and leave when something dashed out of the shadows. Familiar long arms wrapped around his small frame like a snake.

One arm went around his waist, pulling him close to the other's body. Cloud didn't have time to scream when a black leather gloved hand covered his mouth. The blond tensed in his captor's hold, eyes widened at the mirror's reflection.

Lighting flashed in the background again. He saw alabaster skin, long silver hair that he briefly admired for a few seconds before he saw the not so friendly smirk. It held a sinister feeling, as if the man was a satisfied predator with its prey in its grasp.

Cloud then dared to look at the other's gaze in the mirror. His blood went cold at the sight of cat green eyes staring back. Those eyes were inhuman, glowing brightly in the dark. Cloud couldn't look away from those eyes, plus he had currently forgotten how to blink.

In the mirror they never broke eye contact as the taller man leaned over, slightly rubbing his front with Cloud's rear end. The blond was afraid, but for some reason he was growing a little excited. He was still hoping that this wasn't real.

Cloud was snapped out of his reverie when he shivered as hot breath tickled his ear; those lips were too close. The blond involuntarily whimpered, he didn't know if it was because he was afraid or if he was silently asking for something. Somehow he knew it was more of the latter, judging by the dark chuckle in response.

"Good to see you, Cloud."

That voice, it was the same voice. He knew that voice anywhere. But now that he was older, the voice didn't calm him. Cloud suddenly grew afraid as tears welled up in his eyes. He didn't know if it was from not blinking for a few minutes or from his fear, but he still willed them not to fall.

The other man snickered, obviously enjoying the moment. It was more noticeable when the arm around his waist loosened. Before Cloud could move, the hand moved to gently fondle between his legs. The blond inhaled, whimpering at the pleasuring touch.

'This isn't real. This isn't real. It's just a really bad nightmare. That's all it is, it's just a nightmare. A really strange and bad nightmare.' Cloud repeated in his head over and over. But deep inside the blond knew that it was all a lie.

His legs shook, and more laughter echoed in the bathroom as Cloud did his best not to cry or moan. It was harder to hold the tears back, even harder not to moan from the pleasuring and soft touches down there. He had three different conflicting emotions that trembled through his body.

"Don't pretend you're sad. Why tremble with anger that's not even there?" The whispers weren't the same soothing voice that had once calmed him some years back.

Cloud tried to move. He wanted to run away. He wanted to run to his room and lock the door and cry in the corner. But his limbs wouldn't respond to his brain. It was as if the other man cut off his ability to move.

"Face it Cloud, all you are is an empty –" Everything after this point went black, but somehow he still heard the last word that Sephiroth had spoken into his ear.

Puppet.

Shado: This was based off a dream I had. I kinda exaggerated the dream, for my dream ended at the "Good to see you, Cloud", and my dream didn't include anything about my parents or chores. I just felt that this needed to be a little more realistic. And the empty puppet line is my favorite from Sephiroth, so of course I had to add it.

And, to tell the truth, this is the first time I've written anything that's related to horror. It doesn't feel right to me, but the foreshadowing and messing with Cloud's mind helped. He's almost too easy to mess with, but he's still adorable x3

Anyway, enough of my rambling. This will remain as a one shot. Period. Now click the lovely button below and tell me what you think xD