Author's Note: Thanks to Zarannya for suggesting this theory! I've been wanting to do a ghost one, and I enjoyed writing this SO SO much.

Edited 9/11/11

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII.

Intelligent Conversation

"S-Someone's sleeping in there! Maybe... I should leave him alone." ~ Zack Fair

Cloud planted his feet at the top of the hidden stairwell and stubbornly refused to move. "I'm not going," he stated.

"And why not?"

"It's dark and creepy and probably crawling with monsters."

Rolling his eyes, Genesis waved Rapier in the air. "That's why I brought this. It'll double as a flashlight while skewering those monsters you're so worried about."

The fact that the redhead was a Mako-enhanced SOLDIER First did nothing to quell Cloud's fears. He wasn't going down there; that was all there was to it. "You can go down," he said, "but I'm going back to the inn."

Genesis narrowed his eyes and stomped back up the few stairs he'd already descended. "You wanna make SOLDIER, don't you?" he questioned.

Pulling his gun to his chest, Cloud nodded suspiciously.

"No one is going to care if you're 'scared' to go on a mission in SOLDIER," Genesis told him, jabbing at his chest. "And believe me, if you think Shinra Mansion is scary, you might as well stay here in Nibelheim when the rest of us leave."

Memories flashed through Cloud's mind and he recalled that the last time he'd done something reckless, he and Tifa had fallen from a bridge into a ravine. How disappointed she'd be if he told her he wasn't brave enough to even remain in the regular army! Then again, he wouldn't be much use to her if he froze up and got himself killed.

The commander was getting impatient while Cloud did his reminiscing. "As your superior officer, I could simply order you to accompany me."

Of course, refusing orders could get him kicked out of ShinRa, and that would be even more embarrassing. Sighing, Cloud relented and stepped onto the winding staircase. Genesis smirked and grabbed his wrist, pulling the startled blond down with him. Cloud scrabbled to keep up.

It was pitch black at the base of the stairs and after some shameless begging on the cadet's part, Genesis made good on his promise and took advantage of Rapier's magic abilities to turn the sword into a torch. The soft fuchsia glow revealed there to be a long tunnel ahead of them. Cloud glommed onto the redhead's arm.

"I don't see why you're so anxious," Genesis commented, effortlessly slicing through a pair of Dorky Faces with his free hand. "It's exactly like a cave."

Blue eyes darted back and forth, stretched as wide as they could go, searching the shadows. "You'd be scared too if you grew up in Nibelheim," he muttered, squashing closer to the commander as another Dorky Face fluttered by.

"I doubt it," Genesis laughed. "There was an underground mine in Banora that I used to explore all the time. And with the amount of raw Mako springs there, the monsters were much fiercer than these."

"It's not the monsters I'm worried about." A sudden roar echoed from up ahead, causing Cloud to whimper and cling to Genesis for all he was worth.

Raising an eyebrow, the commander stared down at him. "Not the monsters, eh?" he scoffed, wriggling as he attempted to dislodge the blond. "Cloud—I can't be of any use if I can't move."

"S-Sorry," he stammered as he reluctantly let go of his death-grip on Genesis' coat. "It's just... if y-you lived here, you'd know the r-rumors."

The redhead's step faltered and he glanced over at Cloud. "What rumors?"

"They say there's a g-ghost that haunts this mansion." He shuddered, nervously dancing in place. "That's why no one was ever allowed to go down here."

Genesis snorted and rolled his shoulders back. "It's probably just an excuse to frighten children out of poking around here here," he said. "Besides, there's no such things as ghosts."

"You don't know Nibelheim very well," Cloud said, ducking as Genesis swung his sword at some bats. "A long time ago, some human experiments took place down here and the ghost is the dead spirit of one of those experiments. It lurks down here in the hidden passages, waiting to get its revenge."

"Are you intentionally trying to freak yourself out?" Genesis blurted. Turning, the commander leaned into Cloud's personal space. "Do you know what the most dangerous thing in this mansion is?"

"U-um... That multicolored, shapeshifty, mutant thing hiding upstairs?"

"No. The most dangerous thing in this mansion is me."

Cloud yelped as Genesis suddenly bowled into him, knocking him to the floor. Panicked that he'd gotten the commander irreversibly angry, he rolled onto his back to prepare for his imminent doom. What he didn't expect to see was Rapier lodged through the chest of a Sahagin. Genesis yanked the blade out and the creature dropped to the ground beside Cloud. The tip was then pressed to the blond's throat. Blood dripped from the sword onto his uniform.

"And you would do well to remember that," he growled. "Not shapeshifty mutant things, and especially not a stupid ghost."

Cloud sighed in relief when Genesis huffed and moved on. Something he'd said set the commander off, he decided, but he was reacting as though he felt threatened. Because when Genesis felt threatened, he got defensive and stabbed anything that moved.

"You're not... afraid of ghosts, are you?" he called.

"Of course not!" Genesis snapped, all to quickly. "Ghosts don't even exist, therefore being afraid would be pointless."

The cadet pulled himself to his feet. "But if they did, would you be scared?" he asked, jogging to catch up the the commander, who had halted to examine a door. "After all, you can't just blast them away with a fireball."

"You can't ask me to answer that. I've never faced a ghost before, so I have no idea of my reaction." Foregoing caution, Genesis ripped the door open. The heavy metal lock barring it shut simply snapped in half from the force, and Cloud once again found himself in awe of the SOLDIER's utter brute strength. "Dear Goddess, what the hell is this place?"

Cloud poked his head through the doorway and felt his heart drop straight to his knees. Sitting innocently inside the hollow room were wooden coffins. "D-Do you suppose the g-ghost is a v-vampire?" he squeaked as he trailed behind Genesis into the room.

"How awful would that be," the redhead scoffed, "to be stuck down here with nothing but those grotesque monsters to feed on?"

Approaching one of the coffins, Cloud ran a trembling hand over the top of it. His glove came back coated with dust. What if there really were vampires down here, waiting for unsuspecting Nibelheimers to wander down and drink their blood? Unsuspecting victims... just like them?

Teeth fastened into his neck and Cloud screamed.

In sheer terror, the cadet blindly flapped his arms and continued to shriek at the top of his lungs. Shiva, he was going to die! He hadn't even made it into SOLDIER yet! Tears began to run down his cheeks at the thought of Tifa finding him dead and rotting on her doorstep, still just a lowly infantryman...

One of his hands landed a hit and the thing released him. Brandishing his gun, Cloud whipped around to face-

Genesis, rubbing his cheek and laughing so hard he was hiccuping.

"Y-You, hic! should've seen yourself!" he jeered, pointing a shaky finger at Cloud. "Gaia, I wish I'd hic! brought a video camera!"

Stamping his feet and letting out a wail something akin to a siren, the blond charged him. "You jerk!" he screeched, throwing poorly-aimed hits at Genesis. "I hope you get skinned alive and dipped into Mako!"

"Cloud, calm down," the commander chuckled and caught his wrists. "I couldn't help myself. I apologize. I won't do it again, I promise."

The cadet sniffled and allowed Genesis to ruffle his hair until his breathing had returned to normal. "You're very mean," he grumbled.

Genesis patted his shoulder and stepped away. "Yes, I know. I've been told." Much to Cloud's dismay, he walked over to one of the coffins, slipped the tip of Rapier under the lid and began to pry it open.

"Wh-what are you doing?"

"You've got me curious now," he replied. "If what you say about human experimentation is true, then we should at least find skeletons in these coffins."

A wave of nausea passed over Cloud at the thought of seeing dead, rotten bodies. "Great."

The lid finally snapped open and Genesis pushed it aside. Both he and Cloud turned white as ghosts at the sight that greeted them.

"I-I thought you weren't going to play j-jokes anymore," Cloud rasped, his throat going dry.

Genesis sucked in a sharp breath. "Oh, g-good. You c-can see it too."

But the redhead hadn't suddenly developed teleportation powers. No, the black-haired man inside the coffin was just as real as the wooden box he slept in. Unless Cloud was just having a freakishly graphic dream, but he doubted it.

Just then, red eyes snapped open.

"Oh Gaia," Genesis whispered.

Tifa watched from her bedroom window as a man in a red-leather coat streaked by into the village. A distance behind him, a blond teen in a ShinRa uniform struggled to keep up, waving his arms and screaming 'Wait for me!'

Those Midgar people sure are weird, she mused, shutting her curtains. But that blond guy certainly looked familiar...

Deep below the Shinra Mansion, Vincent Valentine pulled the lid back onto his coffin. Why did he get all the weird visitors? Perhaps he'd ask Chaos.

Author's Note: Ahh, Genesis. Not quite as brave as you pretend, eh? The multicolored shapeshifty thing I mentioned is Lost Number, by the way, if in case you were wondering.

I love freaking Cloud out. Evil!Genesis is amazingly fun to write.

RegenesisX