Tobi: Wow, hi everyone! You guys freaking rock. Props go to SarissiaDiablo for being IM's 300th reviewer. The 350th was the anonymous reviewer Fuzzy. Thanks a lot, SD and Fuzzy! :) Thanks again for all the kickass support, everyone! :D

CM: You readers never cease to amaze me! We got 75 reviews! And I'm sure there are people who read and don't review! (psst you guys should review! We love feed back!) Tobi and I have some fun stuff coming up in a couple chapters. I'm sure everyone will enjoy it. And I want to thank SephFan for her AMAZING fan art! THANK YOU! If others want to draw us fan art we would be extremely flattered! Please let us know! Thanks guys! Enjoy!

Warning! CloudedMirror and Tobi do not recommend that anyone attempt any of the pranks, tricks and attacks in the previous chapters, this chapter or future chapters. Everything has been performed by trained, Invisible SOLDIER professionals and a not so professional Marshmallow. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.

Seven days left to live.

Horrified, Cloud examined his reflection in the mirror over his dresser. He would willingly admit he looked awful—his cheek was still swollen and hardly any better. His shower-burn had mostly faded though, so he didn't look like a blushing cherry anymore, which was good.

His forehead bothered him the most. 'SEVEN DAYS' had been written there during some point of the night. The thing was backwards, so that when he looked into the mirror, he could read it perfectly.

Seven days. Seven days. Did this mean something very, very bad was going to happen to him in a week? Did this mean he could escape and be okay or would this… whatever… still affect him? He didn't wanna die—he was going to leave!

Halfway to the bedroom door, Cloud stopped. Leaving Nibelheim wasn't an option, he remembered belatedly. If he was gone for too long, Tseng would know what was up. No matter what happened, he did not want that man on his back. He was scary, probably was connected to a crapload of people who would willingly beat a good-looking blond up, and it didn't help that Tseng could make him foot the cost of this whole estate. He'd rather get molested and fucked by ghosts than have to pay all that off by himself. It would kill him.

…But would staying here kill him first? There was, without a doubt, something in his house. What if it was some wronged, homicidal old man who hadn't passed on and Cloud reminded him of his killer? What if he was intruding on the place where some bitter wife's husband had beaten her to death?

Similar thoughts chased themselves around his brain. It began sinking in that he was well over his head here. Something had actually written on his forehead!

Cloud pouted—this was his mansion now! He couldn't just sit here and let an evil, scary being that he couldn't see walk all over him. …Right?

Cloud wearily sat on his bed and tried to think. Out of all the crazy things that had happened to him, did any of them make sense when you explained them using an explanation that totally didn't make sense?

The shower.

The water had been hot only. He didn't see how that could have been the work of a ghost unless it was smart enough to screw with the plumbing. He hoped not.

But the door wouldn't open. That didn't make any sense—it was a sliding door; it should have opened all the time, no matter what. There wasn't a lock or anything to keep it in place.

Cloud paled. It didn't make any sense, but it made complete sense!

And that meant… Cloud had to clap a hand over his mouth so he wouldn't throw up. The previous night's sheet incident came back into his mind's eye with terrible, perfect clarity. How could he have been so stupid? He had thought it was some wise-ass who had broken in!

Cloud curled up on his bed in misery.

Really, who could he call? Aerith? Cid? Yuffie?

Ghostbusters?

Aerith would giggle herself to death. Cid would cuss him out and advise he check himself in to the nearest mental institution. Yuffie would tease him forever.

The only possible person he could think of calling was Rufus. Rufus Shin-Ra was the brattiest man on the planet, and he'd probably put the phone down on his desk while Cloud freaked out so he wouldn't have to listen to him. He could probably pretend that Rufus cared and was listening if he tried.

That idea was shot down too. Rufus was greedy—if Cloud told him that he was inhabiting a Shin-Ra mansion, the other blond would probably steal it back somehow. That thought almost made him dial him up. The house and its supernatural problems would be gone. No more Tseng to deal with.

But then Cloud paused. Where would he live if that happened? Behind a dumpster? No—it was better that Rufus was kept uninformed, for now.

Still, Cloud wished he could talk to him. His cousin (Rufus was more like a half-cousin by marriage thrice removed only half the time's uncle, or something totally crazy like that) was richer than sin, but he was fun. They had been closer as children, but President Shin-Ra had started teaching Rufus how to better be the perfect little Vice-President at an absurdly easy age, and they had rarely seen each other after that.

His parents had worked for Shin-Ra, which was why he had grown up in Midgar, and above the plate, too. But they were dead, and he had only enough money to move below the plate into a relatively clean sector, in a relatively clean apartment.

Cloud wondered if Rufus knew Hojo was dead. He could only assume that Hojo had only gotten a job working for Shin-Ra because he was related to the President, albeit very distantly.

At the family reunions, he and Rufus had always secretly made fun of the slimy old creep, making sure that the slightly older boy didn't look like he was enjoying himself too much or mingled with the poorer attendees too much. Rufus was a bitch, true, but for some reason, the two had always been pretty close. Rufus had been his first kiss actually—first sort of 'sexual experience' too. They had jerked each other off in the bathroom of some random Shin-Ra apartment, fourteen years old and itching to get away from that year's boring family reunion.

Cloud smiled at the memory. Yeah, he'd call Rufus sooner or later, but he'd at least try to not let on that he was where he was.

He had wanted to work for Shin-Ra too, once upon a time. SOLDIER had been his dream. He still remembered General Sephiroth—his hero. He had read about him in the papers, and even though Cloud had never seen a picture of him, he loved such a kind man anyway. He had saved countless people here by being a fighter abroad—he had wanted to be just like him.

Sephiroth, three other SOLDIERs and some high-ranking Turk had disappeared a few years back, though. There had been an uproar, and Cloud had spent months praying for his hero's safety, but nothing had ever came up. One day he had just accepted that Sephiroth was dead, and that had been the end of that, though he still felt the pain of a crushed dream every time he went past the Shin-Ra building.

Because his parents had just died, Cloud had failed the psych test that enabled him to enter the Cadet program (which was pretty damn hard to do, he knew. He was such a failure). He had taken the blow hard, but Rufus hadn't said anything harsh to him, thankfully. He had taken him shopping, if he remembered correctly.

There was a loud creak from out in the hallway. Cloud instantly was up and alert. While he had been thinking, he could have been killed or worse!

Cloud clawed at his hair, eyes desperate. …What was he supposed to do now?

For the third time, Zack drawled, "…Aaaaare ya sure, Seph?"

For the third time, Sephiroth answered, "About eighty-five percent, Zackary."

Zack didn't act like he had heard. The 'Puppy' bit his lip, sent Angeal a worried look and repeated, "Are you sure, though?"

Sephiroth didn't bother answering. All four were seated in Genesis's favorite reading spot, a small room near the home theater that was chock full of comfy chairs and a couch or three.

It was silent for a moment, save for the ticking of a grandfather clock somewhere that you could hear in practically every part of the house.

They were in a unique situation. Sephiroth was eighty-five percent sure that Cloud was a blond bimbo who was prepared to experiment on them, had they been in the labs, but who had no idea they were out and about. He thought that all the 'weird mishaps' that kept occurring in his new house were caused by ghosts, or some other silly nonsense.

There was a fifteen percent chance that Cloud was far smarter than any of them had guessed, and that he was completely playing them. If they were wrong about this, then they could end up back in Mako before they knew it.

Did they take the cautious route, or did they spring into action? A lot of bad things could happen if they messed up. Their plan wasn't even that much of a plan—they just had to scare the shit out of Cloud and hope he left the house. They couldn't actually kill him at this point; Cloud hadn't tried to harm them yet and wouldn't, as long as he thought they were in the labs (there was an eighty-five percent chance of that, however).

Zack entertained a brief thought of Cloud being innocent, and his failure to realize they were what they were was because he had no idea that he wasn't alone in the mansion.

…Nah. He had been handling Mako the previous day. That meant that he was definitely a 'scientist' (madman) and not some random civilian who was related to Hojo somehow. And like Sephiroth had once said—Hojo wouldn't have left Cloud the mansion in his will if he wasn't interested in continuing the family 'practice.'

This kid could've done damage if he hadn't been a complete and total idiot. He thought the signs were pretty obvious, but if the kid didn't understand, Zack wasn't going to complain.

And really… this kid was pretty dumb. This thing, the ridiculous week thing, had been cooked up by Genesis. He had seen a movie or something and had explained how bad they could mess with their residing intruder. It was humorous and a bit unbelievable at first, but Genesis was persuasive, and the other three quickly broke down and agreed with him.

It was pretty funny, actually. The look on Cloud's face had been priceless and had filled them all with some sort of evil glee, as mean as that sounded. But, it wasn't like the kid didn't deserve it.

They could have some fun too, couldn't they?

…He was hungry.

No, he was starving.

The last time he had eaten had been, what? Yesterday afternoon? And what had he eaten? Barely anything. Cloud's stomach growled for the umpteenth time and he made a sad noise, grabbing Sebastian. It was probably lunchtime, maybe a little later. He had stayed in his room, scared and afraid for what felt like weeks.

Man up, Strife.

He had to step up and brave the thing if he wanted to survive. It hit Cloud like a fist to the gut to realize that he had to survive. This wasn't a small group of guys playing a big elaborate joke on him—this was the real deal.

Pink lips turned down in a tight frown, and yellow brows drew together. He clutched Sebastian's leg in one hand and turned the doorknob, pushing his door open about a centimeter. But rather than opening the door all the way using a normal method, Cloud lifted a leg up and kicked that motherfucker so hard it bounced back and almost hit him in the face after it crashed into the wall.

He pushed it open with his hand and bravely strutted out into the hallway, realizing a bit too late that he had just made a loud sound. A sound that had definitely been heard by anyone—anything—in the house.

Cloud's bravado promptly evaporated, and he squeezed Sebastian in fright. The poor thing would have been screeching at the cruel action, had it been a real chocobo. But it wasn't, and all was eerily silent as Cloud unknowingly started to gouge Sebastian's eyes out.

What did he do now?

Not wanting to go back inside his room, Cloud left the door open (for a speedy, obstacle-free escape route, if the need for one arose) and stood on tiptoes, trying to be quiet.

Cloud made it downstairs without too much trouble. It felt strangely like the previous night, to be perfectly honest. Cloud was cautious for that reason and studied every shadow before he passed it, peeked around every corner before darting down a hallway.

The kitchen was creepy, to put it lightly. Now that he knew that he wasn't alone, he kept eyeing the knife rack on the counter. …Stuff like that happened all the time in scary movies, right? Common things turned into instruments of pure evil when wielded by a ghostly being of awfulness?

That thought made Cloud more than a little nervous. He opened a cabinet, cringing and looking around wildly when it squeaked loudly. He blindly shoved food in his mouth. He didn't care what he ate—he just needed his energy.

He shivered suddenly, and every nerve went on high alert. If he was to make a wild guess… he'd say his ghost had just entered the kitchen.

Cloud swallowed so much food it hurt on the way down and turned slowly. Everything looked the same, but he wasn't fooled. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up. He dug his nails into Sebastian's softness and stood rigidly, eyes narrowed.

About ten feet off to the left, Zack rapped his knuckles once against the shiny, metal refrigerator. The noise was pretty loud in the tense silence, and Cloud's head snapped over to him. The Puppy fought hard not to laugh.

Hojo's relative surprised them, then. Pure hatred directed towards the 'something' that was haunting him flashed in the blond's unnaturally blue eyes for a moment, and he flashed a disgusted look at the kitchen in general. He lifted his head up and calmly exited the room, leaving an open loaf of bread and a handful of cheez-its on the counter. It seemed like he was…ignoring them. Cloud's little tough-guy act was ruined by how tightly he was holding onto his toy in fright, but at least some credit had to be given to the kid.

Appalled by his own audacity (putting his back to the enemy like that!), Cloud took a few deep breaths when he entered the entrance hall. He had just stood up to the thing a little, even though it wasn't much.

It was a good feeling.

But what did he do now, he wondered? Wage unending war against the ghost until he scared it shitless enough that it left? …Nah. Go back to sleep? …Nah. Leave the house and chill somewhere else—somewhere safe? …Nah, 'cause if he left, he knew he'd return to a house trashed or burned to the ground. Dammit.

He glanced at the library. Surely there was something in there that could help him? As long as he stayed off of those ladders and avoided deathly sharp or heavy objects, he'd be fine. Cloud took a step towards the room, but stopped short and glanced down.

…He didn't need Sebastian. He—an adult—was able to function by himself without a toy used to comfort children. Cloud gently propped Sebastian against the very first step of one of the main staircases and entered the library without looking back.

The library was, once again, quite intimidating. Cloud didn't let it bother him too much though, and put on a brave face. He was looking for something that could help him get rid of ghosts, now that he pretty much knew that he was fucked. Maybe he'd find something all about exorcising—that would be handy. Or maybe about wafting scented smoke around and chanting in some weird language.

What he ended up finding was a whole lot of crap. There were more crazy weird books about the eighties hiding in that place. He didn't quite know what to think about that. Biology textbooks were even more all over the place than he had thought yesterday. Hojo had really been into science… the creep.

Cloud wandered around a big bookcase, found some colorful books at the bottom, and found that they were more normal novels, as well as a few romancey things. He grabbed a bunch without really looking at them—reading material was reading material, after all! (Though textbooks were not, Cloud vehemently swore.)

He crouched and pulled a couple more off the shelf. He turned one over and scoffed at the title—The Billionaire's Mistress—and reached for another. There was a tiny chink! noise, and Cloud glanced down, confused.

Lying on the carpet was a tarnished key. He picked it up and ran his finger over it. …What was it doing inside a romance novel, of all things? He didn't dwell on it for too long, though, and shoved it in his pocket for safekeeping.

He was about to leave, but one ungodly thick book on a shelf on the other side of the room caught his eye. He couldn't tell why, but he felt like he had to at least look at it. Cloud placed his findings on a table and moseyed over to the new book, peering at the title when he pulled it off the shelf.

Mako. That was the title? 'Mako?' Cloud was doubtful, but flipped it open. Words like 'reaction' and 'unexplained' and 'side-effect' caught his eye. Cloud considered, lips twitching up in a smile. A Sci-Fi book? Good enough—maybe he had found something interesting!

He trotted out of the library happily, pleased that he had at least found something. Did Nibelheim have a library? He'd have to check it out. Strolling into the entrance hall again, Cloud admired the shiny tile beneath his feet. The milky white was pretty.

He had meant to drop the books off in his bedroom, but when he lifted his gaze to make sure he didn't trip on the stairs, he froze and almost dropped everything.

Sebastian was floating.

The chocobo was hovering in the air about ten feet away from the spot where he had placed him earlier. Cloud's mouth fell open and he turned, fully facing his best friend from early childhood on.

"Sebastian?" Cloud croaked stupidly, brain not functioning correctly. "You can fly? Since when?"

Zack instantly started giggling, but Cloud wasn't enhanced, so he didn't hear.

"Gaia," Zack chuckled, wiping his eyes and looking at Angeal, who was holding Sebastian above his head, "He's so fucking stupid." Genesis readily agreed.

Cloud paused for a moment, and then realized what was going on. He tried yelling, first. "Put him down!" The blond screeched, gripping his small stack of books tightly, "Right now!"

Sebastian drifted up and down a few times. He was being taunted. Anger flared in him, and Cloud took a few rapid steps forward. Sebastian went soaring over his head and stopped about twenty feet behind him, still floating. Cloud turned quickly and advanced, but his chocobo went flying back to the original spot.

It was like monkey-in-the-middle from hell.

Panicking, Cloud's head whipped back and forth. Were there two ghosts, or was one splitting itself in half or something? Was it teleporting? He didn't know what it was capable of!

Sebastian flew again, out of his reach, and Cloud became beyond angry. …How dare this thing take his fucking stuff! He'd kill it!

Cloud hurled three books at Sebastian once he came to a stop where one of the 'throwers' would have been had they been elementary kids out on a playground. With luck, he'd strike the ghost unconscious (could that even happen?) and he'd be able to split.

The books threw themselves back.

Cloud ducked wildly, but one hit him on the back of the head, and he saw stars for a moment. He gasped, dropping the rest of his books and clutching his skull.

Sephiroth frowned for a moment. What they were doing—teasing and hurting and humiliating a defenseless being at a severe disadvantage—harshly reminded him of old times as a child, growing up in the labs. An odd emotion rose in his chest; he almost felt sorry for the boy. He shook it off, though, catching a smirking Angeal's next toss and waiting until Cloud started for him with wide, desperate, horrified eyes before throwing the toy back.

Cloud had a plan, this time (sort-of). He charged at the spot where Sebastian was going to land while he was still in the air with everything he had, prepared to beat the living (or unliving) shit out of something that would dare to humiliate him in his own home, touch his things and try to ruin his life.

Angeal's reflexes were exceptional, thanks to Mako (and even more so because of Hojo's own twisted formula), but his gaze had been focused up, on the chocobo, and Cloud had made a sudden, drastic move. Cloud launched himself at him, and had he been a lesser man he would have been overwhelmed. As it was, he shifted his weight in time to give Cloud a harsh shove, and the boy bounced back, falling down with a crash and a shout.

Cloud's fist had knocked the toy out of his hand, though, and even though the kid was obviously in pain and reeling from shock, still only half-digesting the situation, he scrambled forward, claimed his prize and took off up a staircase like he was running from an enraged bull. He stopped for about a second to scoop up some of the books he had missed earlier, deserting the others in his haste to get away.

"Are you alright?" Genesis asked, rushing forward from his place at the sidelines to check out Angeal.

Angeal rolled his eyes and nodded. Cloud was extremely slight and little—he could tell from that little collision—so of course he was all right. He was SOLDIER.

The four men listened to the pounding footsteps from upstairs and the slam of a door. Zack grinned slowly and said, "That scared him some, don't you think?"

Cloud jammed a chair against the doorknob and barricaded the bathroom door too, just to be safe. He had felt his ghost—something very, very hard and very, very solid, not plain air like he had thought. That was good—he could fight it! Make it hurt, bash its face in!

He glanced at Sebastian, the fruit of his struggles. He could beat this thing. He just needed some…resourcefulness. And a hell of a lot of elbow grease, blood, sweat and tears.

There had to be a weapon of some sort in the house, right? He'd find something… and he'd make his supernatural harassers pay.

Even though it was only about three o'clock in the afternoon, Cloud stayed in his room plotting for the rest of the day and night.