CM: Do I have an excuse? Uh...no. *hides* Um...I'll let Tobi handle this one. But thank you all for the reviews and waiting so patiently. Love you all!
Tobi: o.o :D been a while, heh. ._. I'll spare you the bs and get on with the show! Counting by 50, at 1350 was Silverstargirl, Key Shinigami, mayakun, Death-of-Penguins-and-Zannah, Siobhan, and my new good friend Wilowitch at 1600. We got 235 reviews for chapter 17, guys. Seriously. We were so happy we died. Um, this chapter is extremely dialogue heavy (but I think that's what you guys have been waiting for, isn't it? :3) Now go! I love you all so much! And ffnet has deleted our page breaks in other chapters, I hear-I'll fix that soon. (also! CM and Tobi met each other IRL. It was awesome.) (alsoalso: nicknames, you'll love em. We do.)
With shaking hands, Cloud seized one of the chairs and forced the top underneath the doorknob. A proper barricade would be stronger; what else was there? Bed, little table, lamp—
He heard a noise. Cloud's head spun and he scrambled, panicking, to throw himself against the door. His body weight wasn't much, but it was something.
On the other side of the door were his ghosts.
They had spoken to him downstairs. To him. They had kicked Reno out of his house, touched him and said real words to him. He had been fine, managing a shaky "yes" to whoever had asked if he was okay. Then a smooth voice had said his name and gingerly touched his shoulder, and he lost it. In what felt like just a few seconds he had sprinted all the way up to his room, and then slammed the door shut when he heard loud footsteps behind him.
This barricade made him feel stronger. Less... vulnerable. Cloud futilely tried to calm down, breathing heavily and twitching his fingers. He pressed an ear to the door and held his hand over his mouth, trying to be quiet.
He could hear them. "Now what?"
"We should leave him be."
"No way—we're here and it's time, let's do this."
"Poor kid. I think you scared him."
"...It wasn't on purpose."
Holyshit. A weak, high-pitched noise escaped him and he slid to the floor. The voices outside disappeared. For a minute there was silence. Cloud once again clapped a hand over his mouth and nose, trying not to make any sound.
Then someone said, close-by, like they were speaking into the keyhole beneath the doorknob, "...Hey."
Cloud skittered away in disbelief. The doorknob didn't turn; no one forced themselves in; they were just waiting patiently. There... maybe wasn't as much to fear as he had originally thought. Cloud crawled back to the door and peered through the tiny hole just in case, pushing the chair to the side a little with his head.
Genesis suddenly saw a bright blue eye appear, and he flashed a smile up at the others. They'd have to take this slowly and be careful—this would be tricky. Could they really blame Cloud, though?
Cloud saw nothing and bit his lip. Very cautiously, gripping the fabric of his pants over his thighs, he whispered, "Hello?"
After a second's wordless debate, Genesis stood and Angeal took his place. Something about the man was calming, and calming was what they wanted.
"Hello," Angeal said warmly.
Cloud's voice came back more meek than they had ever heard it. "...So...you're my g-ghosts?"
More or less. "You could say that."
His forehead fell forward to rest against the wood of his door. Cloud shivered, skin breaking out in goosebumps. He was tense, waiting for something to happen... but nothing was. Not yet, anyway.
What am I supposed to say? Nothing was happening while he just sat there, so Cloud said weakly, "...Hello."
Angeal flapped his hands and the other three sat down, pressing close to him so they could hear.
"Are you sure you're okay? Not hurt at all, we hope?"
There was something ironic about asking this boy if he was okay, they all realized. Zack winced but eagerly waited for Cloud's answer. The Reno thing was still a big question in their minds but now there were bigger things to worry about.
"I'm—I'm fine." Cloud stopped and thought back to how Reno had 'left' his house. "Did you get rid of him?"
"That was us, yes." Zack bumped fists with Genesis.
Maybe he should be thankful? Cloud was about to come up with a thank you when he finally realized what the fuck was going on. He went up on his knees and splayed his hands out on the wood. "Wait—you can talk!"
"Dammit," Angeal whispered. They all knew this was coming. They had tortured the kid, for crying out loud—there was no way they'd get off the hook so easily.
Cloud continued, "You're the ones who did all that shit to me? You beat me up and ruined my bike and—"
Someone cut him off before he could go on. "We fixed your bike, didn't we?"
"Yeah , but that doesn't make up for everything else—"
"If you'd let us apologize—"
"I don't want an apology! You guys nearly killed me—"
"Rub it in, why don't you—"
Angeal had his head in his hands and finally bellowed, "Alright, stop! Both of you, shut up." He glared at Genesis and then at the door, even though Cloud couldn't tell. "Yeah, that was us, Cloud. All of it. We've realized by now you're not a threat to us. We're sorry. Really sorry. Okay?"
Cloud nearly fell over. A stupid apology would never make up for this. He nearly kept yelling, but then spotted Sebastian lying on his bed. The poor guy had been hung from his ceiling fan, he remembered that... these 'ghosts' could pack a punch. It wasn't any use fighting with them until he knew they wouldn't fight back. Or until he got more paintballs. 'Till then, he'd try to chill a little bit.
"...Okay," Cloud said slowly. He rose and got Sebastian. "I get it."
All five took a moment to collect themselves. Then Zack said, "So. There's four of us and we're not gonna leave, sorry buddy. I think we can manage to live together in peace, though. Whattaya say?"
Cloud swallowed thickly. He sat down by the door again. "...We can try," he whispered.
"Good!" said the voice cheerfully.
"Uh, so... we're roommates, I guess," Cloud said, wrinkling his nose.
"Yup!"
Five seconds later, something snapped.
Cloud let out a gut-busting laugh and leant back so much he fell onto his back, arms flying up and launching his toy chocobo at the ceiling fan. "Ahahaha! HAHAHA!" He cracked up, rolling around on the floor. Sebastian fell down on his face, and Cloud grabbed his leg and threw him again.
Outside, the Invisibles looked at each other, saying nothing.
"Oh Gaia, ahahaahaa—GaiaGaiaGaia," Cloud chuckled, voice going softer with each syllable. Eventually he was muttering curses to himself, interrupted by little spurts of laughter.
"Shit," Sephiroth swore. Of course this was going to happen.
Cloud wiped tears of mirth off his face and giggled, "I'm talking to ghosts, I'm talking to ghosts, I'm talking-"
"Cloud?" Angeal asked hesitantly.
The blond screamed at the top of his lungs. He sprang to his feet, still yelling, and ran to the wall farthest away from the door. The four in the hallway all jumped as there was a huge thump; Cloud had thrown something at the door. Then there was another, and another. Inside the room, Cloud threw his last pillow and screamed louder, his own panic making him even more scared.
"GET AWAY! DON'T TALK TO ME! Oh, shit—"
He let out a sob as he trashed his room. One of those things outside told him to calm down and Cloud did exactly the opposite; he grunted and planted a foot against the wall, and let out a whoop of victory when he managed to knock his dresser over.
T here were GHOSTS OU TSIDE they TALKING to him remember POISONING WAR blood broken glass k nives
He was going crazy! Crazy! Everything that had happened since his arrival at Nibelheim Manor played in his head again like a movie. The fear he felt when he had been trapped in the shower, when he woke up and found 'SEVEN DAYS' on his forehead, when he was pinned down on the steps and when he went to war with these fuckers was back, and worse than it had ever been before.
Cloud screeched and picked up his mattress, chucking it at the door with frenzied, inhuman strength. One of the legs on the chair broke at the impact, and the sheets on the mattress slid out in every direction. He tripped over a half-exploded shampoo bottle he had thrown in from the bathroom and hit his knee on the box spring.
His knee hurt, but Cloud didn't even really notice. There was a hole in the top of the box spring, and...
Cloud let out a scream—a real one—as a furry raccoon head popped out and turned to look at him. Cloud fell over and did a backwards somersault, not expecting it at all. Bandit—and Cloud knew for sure it was Bandit—jumped out and scampered over to him. Creepily human little paws touched his side, and a rough tongue licked his cheek.
The door burst open, Cloud's little 'barricade' nothing at all to the SOLDIERs outside. The alarmed Invisibles took in the destroyed room, and the hysterical boy rolling around on the ground.
"Bandit!" Zack exclaimed, recognizing the little guy that had disrupted Cloud's Halloween party. Cloud rolled around on the ground, trying to cover his head and push the raccoon away at the same time.
Sephiroth was closest and tried to shoo him away. Bandit bared his little teeth and screamed the same horrible scream he had done before, startling Cloud so bad he jumped literally off the floor. The ex-General was not one to be deterred by an animal, though, and swiped for him; Bandit rolled away from Cloud and darted out of the room before anyone could grab him.
"...Well, shit," Zack joked, nudging a toe against the overturned mattress.
Cloud recovered, getting up off the floor and slapping and hitting Sephiroth, who he had heard get close.
"Stop that," Sephiroth growled, deflecting Cloud's blows with one hand and looking at the other three for help. Cloud started kicking, and he managed to chase the ghosts out of his room. He pushed someone out and slammed the door, pressing his back against it and digging his heels into the carpet.
Then, Cloud started to breathe.
It wasn't normal breathing or even sort of normal breathing; Cloud repeatedly took in giant gulps of air that hurt his lungs and made him let loose loud noises, but he didn't notice. Panic attacks weren't things that Cloud was really prone to having, but right now, having survived a raccoon attack and all the other crazy fucking shit in his life, Cloud felt he was allowed to have one. He fell onto his side, hyperventilating.
The Invisibles were absolutely shocked.
Genesis muttered, leaving to go downstairs and saying exactly what the others were thinking, "What the hell."
Cloud tried to calm down, but he was stuck in some terrible place full of scariness and bullshit and ghosts and jolly ranchers and Ouija boards.
Fuck my life, seriously.
Something poked him in the butt. Cloud gasped and turned his head. A little piece of paper retreated and then was slotted through the crack at the bottom of the door a few inches to his right, underneath the chair. Cloud snaked his arm underneath it and grabbed the note.
Dear Cloud,
Take a chill pill, please. ASAP.
Genesis scowled and twirled the pen he had gotten off a table downstairs. Good ideas—they were his specialty.
For a minute more Cloud trembled, wheezed and thrashed, but eventually he got himself under control. Mostly. He retrieved Sebastian from the bathroom where he had ended up, wedged between the toilet and the wall and brought him back with him, patting his head.
"I'm so sorry," he said miserably.
"Freak out much?" someone quipped. They all thought he was crazy, probably, if they hadn't already.
Cloud scrubbed at his cheek which tingled from raccoon slobber and repeated, "I'm sorry."
Angeal was already exhausted. "It's okay. To be honest, we kind of expected you to do something like that."
There was a humorless chuckle from the twenty-two year old.
The oldest man continued to murmur things to Cloud, calming him down. Sephiroth began to massage the man's shoulders for him; Angeal stopped talking for a second to kiss a finger on one of the gentle hands. The blond in his room was relaxing, they could tell—his responses to Angeal's cautious questions became less clipped and quiet. Within just a few minutes Angeal had Cloud comfortably talking to them (or so they hoped).
"You're really..."
None of them really wanted to lie, but they couldn't tell the whole truth. Too many questions they didn't want to answer yet otherwise. "...Yeah, sort of. And yes, we can talk to you. Yes, you can feel us. We're...special I guess. You're not crazy. We don't want to hurt you."
That was reassuring. Throughout their whole chat a thousand questions had been bubbling up to the surface. Cloud bit his lip, but he couldn't hold them in anymore.
"How do you guys talk? How did you die? Oh my gosh, was that rude to ask? I'm sorry? Did you guys live here? Do you have names? How come you can touch me and I can feel you?—"
"Woah, calm down!" Cloud stopped, then laughed nervously a little. He swallowed again, then cautiously moved the things blocking his door away. He wiggled and kicked the mattress as far as his legs could extend, then carried the maybe broken chair and a few feet to the side. He almost opened the door, but decided not to and rested his back against it, Sebastian in his lap.
"I need to know," Cloud began, "that you won't do any of that anymore. I get we're not friends and you're all putting up with me because we're 'roommates,' but I won't let you hurt me again, or do anything to my house." He was firm. Moment of truth.
"We promise," Angeal reassured. "So long as you don't do anything to harm us."
Cloud smiled and nodded, forgetting they couldn't see him. The other four knew that Cloud only really attacked when provoked, though, (ignoring his not-so-little episode from earlier) so hopefully there wouldn't be anything to worry about.
The blond surprised them then; he said firmly, "We need rules if you're going to live here with me."
The Invisibles looked at each other. "Good idea," said Zack, "We agree."
Cloud, who had started kneeling again, sat on his rump and tapped his chin. What kind of rules were you supposed to set for... for ghosts? It felt weird, but he had to show these guys that they couldn't walk all over him.
"Um, I guess... stay out of my room unless it's life or death. Okay?" Cloud tried to put some force into his voice but it came out shaky.
"Deal," one of them said. Cloud closed his eyes and tried to think of something else. It was just so hard; he was talking tho his ghosts and this was so messed up, all of it.
"Clean up your own mess," he decided. "Don't steal my stuff." At this Sephiroth's lips twitched. "If you respect my privacy, I'll respect yours."
"Sounds fair," said Angeal, considering.
Genesis said suddenly, "We have to have rules too, if this is to be 'fair.' ...Anything got anything?"
Cloud waited nervously as they thought. He hesitantly offered, "Are there any places you don't want me to go?"
"Hm, how 'bout any room any of us is sleeping in." The time Cloud had intruded on their private time, screaming, was still fresh in their minds.
Innocently, Cloud replied, "Okay."
"If we think of more rules later we'll tell you. Oh, and..." Angeal chuckled, "You can't cook, Cloud."
"Why—why not?"
"You breathe fires and accidents. You can eat with us instead; we'll cook."
The ghosts were inviting him to dinner. Sorta! Instead of further protesting, Cloud finally gave. "Alright. You win. I promise not to." Behind his back, his fingers were crossed. Like hell I won't, he began to scheme.
"It's for your own good," said the voice that had been talking to him the most. "I don't know how many fire extinguishers we have left."
Angeal was joking this whole time, trying to lighten the mood a bit, but Cloud gasped in horror, "That was you?" Ah, so he remembered his heroics. Dumb blond, throwing paper on a hot burner like that...
"Hah, yeah. That was me."
Cloud squirmed, then stood. He reached for the doorknob, then froze and hastily patted himself down. He probably looked like a crazy person who had stuck his finger in an electrical socket and rolled around in plastic wrap. He combed his fingers through his hair, tugged his clothes into proper order a little, tossed Sebastian onto his bed so he wouldn't seem like a wuss, and then opened the door.
The hallway seemed empty.
The baseboard and wall opposite seemed exactly the same as always. There wasn't any shimmering, no curious shapes out of the corner of his eyes, nothing. Honestly, Cloud knew that, but still he had been expecting... something.
Despite the boy's best efforts, he still looked like he had stuck his finger in an electrical socket and rolled around in plastic wrap, Genesis noted. Cloud's eyes were big and wary, a bit puffy, looking left and right.
"Hi!" Zack said enthusiastically.
Cloud's eyes snapped over to where the voice had come from. They were only a few feet away, almost directly to his right.
"You're the one who said 'boo,'" Cloud marveled.
"...Uh, yeah. Heh. Nice to meetcha."
His hand was grabbed by another, and Cloud's mouth fell open as he watched himself shake hands with an invisible ghost. Ghost. "Planet," Cloud whispered.
Someone else touched his shoulder gently, getting his attention, and then shook his hand too. "It's a pleasure," they said.
Cloud was introduced to the other two, hand completely dwarfed by the ghost who had calmed him. They were all different somehow, but one thing was the same—they were strong. Like, ow, his hand almost hurt.
"...Hi," Cloud said breathlessly afterwards, to them all.
"Hi," they chorused back.
For a minute or more the five stood, not quite sure what to say to each other. Then Zack said nervously, "I'd love to stay up and chat, guys, but I'm beat."
Genesis said immediately, a bit too fast, "Sleep! Good idea!"
Cloud turned around and peeked into his room. Totally trashed. It would take him all night. "Yeah..."
"Aw. Here, Cloudy—to show we really mean what we've been saying we'll help you clean your room up. It'll go a lot faster with five people, yeah?"
Cloud flashed wide eyes in who he had dubbed the Friendly Ghost's direction. "Really?"
"Yeah, sure."
By the footsteps Cloud could tell that Friendly walked into his room; the others followed (one with a sigh).
"Holy," muttered one. Cloud laughed nervously as he walked in, bumping into one of the ghost's backs. He backed off with a stuttered apology.
"It's fine," said the ghost, "Just an accident."
This ghost was so nice. He had calmed him down earlier, and aside from telling him he couldn't cook, Cloud liked him a lot. This guy reminded him of a friend he used to have, back in Midgar. A man named Bobby used to deliver his mail, and they'd always chat about things. Bobby was level-headed and strong. Cloud had once cried all over him after his kitty Button had died—Bobby had patted his back and said nice things to him, and even gave him somebody's letter to wipe his snot and slobber off with. Then he had never seen Bobby again. Cloud missed him. It was the perfect name for a ghost.
"I've got the dresser," said Bobby.
"I've got over here!" said Friendly.
"I'll clean the bathroom," said one ghost softly.
"I'll get... I dunno. All this shit," sighed the last. A shirt on the floor floated up and was folded.
Cloud himself stumbled to his bed. He crawled onto the box spring, sneaking amazed looks around at all the ghostly activity in his room, and peeked in the hole Bandit had come out of. How on Gaia...?
"Damn," came Friendly's voice. "You really messed up this chair—woah!" The chair by the door's wobbly leg snapped off completely, and it fell over with much too loud a thud. Friendly was probably sitting in it.
Genesis laughed at Zack and shot Sephiroth in the bathroom a sly glance. The man opened a cabinet under the sink and put something in there in his pocket. Sneaky, that one. And already breaking the rules they'd set. Genesis bent to pick up the next article of clothing on the ground, but stopped.
"If you think I'm touching your underwear, boy, you're sadly mistaken."
Cloud's cheeks flared in embarrassment as he got off the bed and hurried to the ghost in the middle of the room. "They're clean!" he gasped, falling to his knees and gathering everything he could see as fast as he could.
"So? They've still touched your—"
"Stop it," said the bathroom ghost. "Look what you're doing to the poor kid."
Cloud's eyes narrowed as he eyed both of them (he hoped). He wasn't sure how much he liked this 'boy' and 'kid' stuff. These two, he'd keep an eye on.
He and Bobby managed to put his bed back together, and by then, everything was mostly back to normal.
Sassy—he thought the name was fitting—had his clothes in almost perfect order. Everything was nice, and Cloud was immensely grateful. The whole cleanup had taken maybe twenty minutes.
"Thanks so much," he stressed as they all filed out. "That would've t— WAIT!"
They all stopped. Cloud pointed at the floating bottle of his Sephiroth Shampoo and barked, furious that one of them had violated his rule so soon, "That's mine!"
Genesis clapped a hand to his forehead and ignored Sephiroth, who had frozen.
"...You can see it?" he asked finally, taking the container out of his pocket. Things inside their bodies, like food, couldn't be seen, but things surrounded by invisible clothing could? It was interesting to think about, but Sephiroth... really wished he could have discovered this little fact on his own and not now, with Zack and Angeal laughing at him.
"Yes," Cloud snapped, grabbing it from him. "Duh." He glared as they all filed out and repeated, though now considerably less enthusiastic, "...Thanks."
Friendly answered for them. "No prob. I know we're not friends, but hopefully you know we're not enemies now."
Cloud's lips twitched, and then he smiled widely. "Yeah," he laughed, "Not enemies." Then he narrowed his eyes to the side, where the shampoo thief was.
The four Invisibles were struck by exactly how much better it was, talking to Cloud and trying to be his friend rather than what they had been doing. It was a very good feeling, all of this. They probably should have talked to him much sooner.
They told the blond they'd talk to him in the morning. Angeal said something about breakfast. Then they left, giving both parties some well-deserved time alone.
"Aw, he's fun," Genesis cooed, pulling his shirt over his head as soon as he got into their room. "And Sephiroth, you're an idiot."
"...Sleep with one eye open, Genesis."
Zack flopped onto their bed and ignored them. "I'm exhausted."
"I think all of us are."
"Except for Seph. He's never tired."
"Sure I am," the man countered, curling up next to Zack like a cat. Zack kissed his temple, then started to wiggle.
"I didn't brush my teeth yet—lemme up for a sec?"
"No. Too bad." Sephiroth rolled until he was half on top of the younger man, keeping him on the bed.
Zack laughed and tried to push him off; when that didn't work he resigned himself to his fate and tried to get comfortable. Sephiroth shifted to accommodate him and when they were both comfy Sephiroth pressed his lips to the corner of Zack's mouth and went still.
The other two rolled their eyes and washed up. They returned to find Sephiroth out like a light, and Zack still awake—but barely—beneath him. He waved feebly at them.
"Goodnight," Genesis whispered, climbing into bed and kissing Zack's wiggling fingertips. "Tomorrow will be exciting, I bet; we need our rest."
Angeal said fondly, "Night you two." They all got comfortable, and Genesis turned off the light.
Across the house, Cloud tucked Sebastian in beside him and stared at the ceiling. He felt kind of dizzy. The day had started out so normally... and then Reno came, then...
His brain was tired of thinking about the ghosts too, it seemed, and Cloud slipped into a sound sleep, looking forward to the next day.
When Cloud fully woke up the next morning, he was halfway out the door in his boxers. He blinked, stopped and looked around, checking to make sure there wasn't any sort of... witchcraft or craziness going on. Finding none, he trooped back to his room and yawned, stretching until he had heard three satisfying pops from sleepy joints.
Then it hit him—what had dragged his half-asleep body out of bed.
Something smelled wonderful. Like, fucking delicious. Cloud stuck his head into the hallway again and took a big whiff. Fucking bacon!
Hunger always did make him have a pottymouth. He dressed quickly but took extra care to wear something halfway decent. His first impression with his ghosts had been pretty much terrible, but he could at least try to have a nice second one.
Cloud went downstairs nervously, slowing down at the top of the stairs and looking around. The house looked no different, really. Someone had opened the curtains downstairs. The sun was out. Someone else had turned on the heat—Nibelheim was proving to be pretty damn cold already.
He heard talking in the kitchen. A television was on. His ghosts were... clearly not hiding their presence anymore. Cloud continued downstairs and trotted to the kitchen, head turning this way and that warily. Planet, the remote was floating in the living room.
"Morning," he was greeted by a voice as he walked in. Bobby.
Now he was almost shy. "Hello."
Cloud tried not to seem too nosy, but he wiggled forward and eyed the food cooking. Mmm, fucking baconnnn—
"Here." Bobby waggled a piece in front of his face. Cloud froze, then recovered and took it with a thank you. "Now get out—I'm not done cooking. The others are watching TV, I think."
Three others. Now definitely shy, Cloud moseyed over to the couches in front of the big television in the main living room. He didn't know where they were sitting—oh gosh, what if he sat on one of them—
Friendly's chipper voice knocked him out of his worrying. "Good morning, Cloud!"
"H-Hi." Cloud smiled and hovered behind one of the couches, uncomfortable. The floating remote and Friendly were in the couch in front of him, and the two other couches perpendicular to that one seemed empty. Wait... there was a small stack of Oreos hovering a few feet above a cushion on the couch to the right.
"It's good to see you, Cloud," said the ghost eating the cookie. Cloud stuttered out "y-you too" and walked to the couch to the left of Friendly's.
"Wait-!"
It was too late. Cloud sat on something that definitely was not the couch cushion and immediately sprang up, yelping, "Sorry!"
A snore was his only answer.
The other two laughed. "He fell asleep," Friendly said, quite unnecessarily. "Sit here!" He scooted over and patted—more like smacked—the cushion beside him. Cloud clearly saw where to sit and went to the spot, narrowly avoiding smacking his socked foot on the leg of the coffee table in between all the couches. He sat and did his best to relax, even though he could feel both awake ghosts' eyes on him.
"Sleep well?" An oreo was twisted, and the top cookie came off perfectly, with no cream stuck to it. Cloud had never been able to do that. That took practice.
"Yes, I did, thank you. You?"
"I slept well also." Munch, munch.
"You slept like a log. A heavy one."
"Hmph." Munch.
Cloud giggled quietly, not really getting what was going on, and looked at the television for a distraction. Some cartoon was on.
"I love this next part," Friendly said.
A cactuar was running down a long, desert road, giant clouds of dust near its legs. A tonberry was riding a rocket a good distance back, trying to catch up.
The cactuar squeaked twice and ran faster. The rocket and the tonberry crashed into a trap a chocobo had set up from earlier, and the cactuar let out a little noise of victory as it ran past the carnage.
"Ready!" Called Bobby a few minutes later. He could feel Friendly almost immediately vacate the couch, and even Sassy seemed to wake up.
"Mm, M'rnin', Clod," Sassy murmured, voice getting fainter as he moved towards the kitchen. Cloud's mouth twitched as he followed them all. New chapter in his life in Nibelheim, here he came.
The kitchen table was set, not the one in the dining room. There were five spaces, though, luckily, and Bobby called as he wandered in, "Sit here, Cloud." He picked up his plate and put it back down so Cloud would know where to sit.
It was so crazy. The kitchen seriously seemed empty. Except... a cup of orange juice was raised to someone's lips, and the cup tipped, then drained. He couldn't see it as it went into their mouth or anything—the ghost's bodies must have made everything inside them be invisible, too.
That was almost a scary thought. If he stuck his finger in one of their mouths (not that he would), would it just... end? Would he be able to see his bone and stuff? Ugh, gross.
Breakfast was interesting. The conversation was a little awkward, no one wanting to overstep their boundaries. Cloud was careful not to ask anything about the ghosts' pasts, even though he desperately wanted to. Something told him that he shouldn't. Mako was still fresh in his mind; Cloud still suspected his 'Hojo plus experiments equals invisible humans' theory was correct, but he didn't mention it. If these guys had to deal with his Great Uncle... he wasn't about to bring him up.
The Invisibles, on the other hand, knew how information-starved Cloud was getting. It wasn't like they could blame him. The poor kid didn't even know their names. How frustrating would it be to try to talk to people and not know their names? Genesis knew he'd go absolutely crazy. It wasn't that they didn't want Cloud knowing their names, but—but that was exactly it. Damn. There was always that chance that Cloud knew them, knew their names from when they were in SOLDIER. If he did, he'd obviously ask questions—questions that he and the others weren't ready to answer yet. It hadn't been that long, still, since Hojo had died and their torture and experimentation had come to an end.
Despite the somewhat awkwardness, breakfast progressed smoothly. It was different, talking to Cloud instead of listening to him think out loud or interact with his friends. Different in a good way, probably. The kid was funny.
Cloud was thrilled to talk to his ghosts. His questions were still burning and he asked one that probably wouldn't make anyone too upset, "Can you four see each other?" In the Casper movies, they could... maybe...
"Yeah," answered Friendly through a mouthful of food. "We don't even see each other as translucent or anything."
"I'm the best looking," said the ghost to his left in a stoic voice. He took a bite of yet another cookie. The others laughed at that, but Cloud frowned in thought. He had finally came up with a final name.
"Shut up," Friendly told Cookie jokingly. Cookie snorted and brought a forkful of eggs to his mouth.
After breakfast Cloud did the dishes with Sassy, not wanting to seem like he was a freeloader or anything. They had a dishwasher (his old apartment in Midgar hadn't and Cloud still preferred to do dishes by hand) and the ghost told him how to use it. They scraped off the plates and cleaned off the table, chatting a little. Cloud couldn't say that he disliked any of his ghosts; they were good guys.
He retreated to his room when he was done, mostly to give himself a breather. He did, however, do the final touches on his room. The chair that had been broken was kind of hopeless, without wood glue or something like that; Cloud leant it against the wall and hoped he wouldn't forget and try to sit on it sometime. He made his bed, patted it down just in case to make sure there wasn't any suspicious hiding raccoons, and thought about what else to do.
Around three that afternoon he had to leave for a delivery to a neighboring town. Until then...what? Play with his new friends? The thought was both exciting and incredibly daunting. Cloud felt out of his league, involved in things that were too big for him. Ghosts, seriously? Seriously? He wanted Aerith—she always knew what to do in situations like these.
Cloud sighed and checked his phone—no texts or missed calls. Hmm. He shrugged and left his room, heading towards the library. Boring as all get out there but it was quiet and calm. That was good.
The titles in Hojo's library seemed, if it was possible, even more boring than they had the last time he had been there. Cloud nearly groaned as he stood on tiptoes to examine a shelf high up. He knew that he wouldn't be knocked off a ladder again if he tried to go up, but after what had happened last time Cloud really didn't want to touch that thing with a ten foot pole. Instead he craned his neck back as he walked around, looking for something that wasn't absolute shit.
"Try this one."
Cloud yelped loudly and jumped, hands flying to his mouth as he spun around in a panic. A floating book was before him.
"Oh, I'm sorry—I didn't mean to startle you." Cookie.
"New rule!" Cloud squeaked, taking the book, "Don't sneak up on me. Always let me know you're there."
Sephiroth could have rolled his eyes. He hasn't snuck up on the guy. And, if it was just him, he could say that Cloud was taking to this "rule" business a bit too well. "Alright. I'll make sure to do that. Sorry."
"It's okay," Cloud said shakily. He turned the book over and peered at the cover. The Day the Bodies Fell. The back cover was ranting reviews about how it was "a true marvel—unlike all other books of the genre!" Another review said it was one of the best books about the Battle of Mideel to date. Ohhhh, boring.
"It's excellent," Cookie offered.
"Heh... thanks," Cloud said, trying to seem authentic. He tucked it under his arm and grinned.
"Hm." Cookie wandered off deeper into the library.
Cloud got out of dodge and went to his room again, putting the book on top of his dresser but knowing he'd never, ever, look at it.
The book got him thinking, though. The Battle of Mideel... he had learned about it, back in high school. Lots of men had died. Maybe...? Maybe Cookie had died in that battle, and that was why he found it so interesting. Or maybe he's just a history buff, his more rational side quipped.
So many fucking questions. No answers as of yet. He wouldn't give up.
After half an hour or so it became apparent that Mako wasn't going to keep his interest. Cloud was maybe halfway through the book now, and folded the page he was on and hid it under his bed again. Then he wandered downstairs.
There as so much life in the house now. He could hear feel the vibrations in the floor—someone was in the basement playing music really loudly, probably lifting weights. Someone else was in the home theater—he could feel the vibrations from that too when he placed his hand on the wall that led to it.
"Hey Spiky."
Cloud jumped. Immediately he said, "Don't do that!"
"Huh? Do what?"
"Sneak up on me. It's a new rule."
"...Oh. Sorry, man. But I'm bored. Wanna do something?"
If he had to play a game with one of them, Friendly was probably the one he'd pick. "What did you have in mind?"
"Dunno."
They sat, brainstorming and trying to remember what kinds of board games were in a cabinet in the basement. Eventually Friendly asked, "Wanna play hide and seek?"
Cloud's was expressionless. "...You must think I'm some sort of idiot, don't you."
"What?"
Cloud's lips pursed in annoyance. "You're invisible. How are we supposed to play hide and seek?"
Zack nearly busted a gut laughing, and Genesis had heard on his way back from getting a snack in the kitchen. "Moron," he called, snickering. Cloud's stopped looking annoyed and then laughed quietly along with them.
They ended up playing checkers and chess (at which they were both absolutely terrible) for over an hour, until Cloud regretfully had to leave. He said goodbye to all the ghosts on the first floor and ran out, tugging on a warm hat as he did.
Outside, Cloud took a deep breath of the chilly air and felt a thousand times better. The atmosphere inside the house wasn't stifling, exactly, but it was weird and he wasn't used to it and they were all nice, but...
Cloud paused as he walked down the porch steps. The grass outside was torn up a little in one spot. With a jolt, Cloud remembered Reno. Reno had been chucked out of his house by the ghosts—where was he now? He looked around, almost expecting to see his ex-boyfriend on the grounds somewhere, but nothing.
Reno... Cloud missed him, he did, but yesterday he had realized that they seriously were over. Reno was charming and wonderful and he had almost given in and forgave him, but this was his new life now, in Nibelheim. He was kind of a different person, and this Cloud didn't have anything to do with that Reno. He shook his head and got on Fenrir. With luck, this ride would clear his head a little.
Inside, Genesis flopped onto his stomach and sighed. Angeal echoed him.
"Is he gone?" the readhead asked weakly.
"Yeah," Zack confirmed. "Just saw him ride away."
The Invisibles sagged. Sephiroth was still in the library so he couldn't join in, but everyone was sure he was just as stressed as they were. This was hard work. Keeping secrets wasn't really any of their specialties—they weren't Turks. They couldn't very well build a good friendship with Cloud if it was founded on lies and mistrust, but... they had to.
"We need to talk about this," Zack said finally, serious.
Genesis nodded and sat up straight, resting his feet on the coffee table. Angeal retrieved Sephiroth, and when all were comfortable they stared at each other.
"He's getting suspicious," Angeal started. "Can't blame him."
"No, we can't. We can't tell him what he wants to know yet, though."
"Why not?" Zack crossed his arms behind his head and looked at Sephiroth, genuinely curious. "I mean, I get that we don't have to tell him everything about Hojo and all, but not even our names?"
Sephiroth frowned. "He'd recognize my name, if not one of yours. Trust me. He probably doesn't truly believe the 'ghost' thing as it is even now." The General was having trouble putting his words together. There was that fear, the fear that they'd have to reveal what had happened. That was between the four of them—they had suffered together, and theirs was an exclusive club. But it was tough to keep the marshmallow boy out; he was just that—a marshmallow boy that you couldn't ignore, especially now that they were talking to him. For real, talking, speaking. To him.
"Sooo, none of us want to tell him anything at all, but none of us want to not tell him anything at all?"
Zack shrugged. "I guess."
"If he asks us directly, I'm going to answer him," Genesis decided. "Relax, not about anything too personal. But if he doesn't ask, I'm not going to say anything. Sound fair?"
No one could really find fault with that.
"Good!" Genesis stood, pleased, and slapped his thighs. "Alright—let's go out to the hot tub. I haven't been in that thing in ages."
When Cloud came home later, all five watched a movie in front of the huge screen in the theater. Sharing popcorn with these guys and yelling at the same scary parts Sassy did made Cloud feel a little bit more welcome.
Life was weird, but life was good.
For a week or more, Cloud's new, shaky existence continued. He learned a lot about his new 'friends' in that time, and they learned a lot about him. Sometimes Cloud forgot that it was these ghosts who had been with him ever since he had come to Nibelheim. He was going to announce his favorite food once when Sassy asked him, but Bobby said it for him, "Kimchi, right?"
"How do you know that!"
"You've eaten it a lot?"
That made him feel stupid. "Oh."
Besides the occasional slip-up, though, things went smoothly. Cloud had once made Cookie wear a ribbon with a bell on it around his wrist (since it was always Cookie who managed to frighten him in some way or another) but the bell's chiming ended up being creepier than Cookie himself so Cloud made him take it off. He and Friendly figured out how to play chess after Bobby told them about it, and Cloud had managed to beat the ghost six out of ten times. He was a worthy opponent, though.
But, Cloud still got the feeling that they were hiding something from him. Or... not so much hiding, it was just that they left so much out and gave such vague answers. At first Cloud had been understanding—there was probably a lot that a ghost wouldn't want to tell an alive human—but now it was just getting annoying. He still had no name, or age, or much of anything from these guys, and he had ended up spilling his whole life story after Sassy gave him too many energy drinks one night.
Cloud felt terribly vulnerable... and almost used.
That's why at dinner one night, he slammed his palm down next to his plate, hard.
"Look," he said in a deadly voice, interrupting Bobby and Friendly's conversation. "I get you don't want to tell me stuff. To be honest, I don't even wanna know. But you can't expect me to go on with absolutely nothing here. I'm sick of calling you the stupid nicknames I've come up with for each of you in my head—I want your names or something you want me to call you."
When he got no answer and the kitchen went very still, he pressed on, bottom lip stuck out in pure defiance. "If you don't give me something in thirty seconds, I'm going to call you Bubbles, Moonbeam, Sparkles and Juniper and there's nothing you can do to stop me."
More silence. Then, Sassy let out a terribly inelegant snort and all four ghosts started laughing.
Cloud scowled, but it was really more like a pout. "I'm serious! Gah! Fuck you guys!"
Someone sobered, and the others did quickly. Cloud squirmed, aware they were communicating somehow. Then Friendly said slowly, "Well... My name's Zack. Uh, Zack Fair."
"Next."
"Jeez, you're demanding," said Sassy. "I'm Genesis Rhapsodos. I'd say I'm pleased to make your acquaintance but... it is maybe not so much a pleasure after all..."
Cloud scrunched up his nose at him, knowing (or at least hoping) he was joking, and said again, "Next."
Bobby let out a short, uneasy sigh. "My name is Angeal Hewley."
"Next!"
Cookie was quiet. Bob-Angeal nudged him, and he said finally, "My name is Sephiroth."
Sephiroth? "Uh. Wait, what?"
Cookie didn't say anything else, and Cloud realized he had heard correctly. His brain skid to a stop as he tried to process it.
"Wait, General Sephiroth of SOLDIER, Sephiroth?"
"...The one and the same."
"Oh." Cloud blinked. "Oh. Okay."
The Invisibles watched him warily. Cloud's mouth scrunched up and his eyes lowered, and he brought a piece of broccoli to his mouth. He frowned and pushed his food around on his plate a little. Zack stubbornly started a conversation with Genesis then, not liking the almost creepy, unusual silence that had fallen over Cloud. The blond stood up about ten minutes later and mumbled, "I'm gonna go lie down. I don't feel too well."
They watched him go. Angeal patted Sephiroth's shoulder, not minding when the man immediately shrugged it off.
Cloud entered his room and sat on the edge of his bed, sort of staring at the floor.
He was so stupid. Running away like that, like an idiot. But... but Sephiroth. Sephiroth. Seriously? No wonder he had tried to steal his shampoo!
He had called Sephiroth Cookie. Cloud could have died.
There was a still-unopened box next to the wall in the corner, and Cloud walked over to it, crouching and opening the top. Inside was a collection of newspaper clippings, letters from friends and the like. Halfway down the stack was what he was looking for. Carefully grabbing it and going back to his bed, Cloud spread it out on the comforter.
The title read, General and three SOLDIERs KIDNAPPED!
As a sixteen year old, Cloud had read this and cried his little heart out. Sephiroth had been his whole reason for joining the army, the gleaming star of the military and iconic strength of Shin-Ra. Cloud read the article again, stopping with wide eyes when he read 'The other three kidnapped were Commanders and First Classes Angeal Hewley and Genesis Rhapsodos, and First Class SOLDIER Zack Fair.
Oh, shit.
Cloud gasped when he realized what this meant. He grabbed Mako from underneath his bed and stared at the author's name.
It hurt to know that his hero had done that stuff to him, a little. But as Cloud began to almost put the puzzle together, he could sort of sympathize. These four had been here, with Hojo. Hojo used to work for Shin-Ra.
It was possible, wasn't it? Wasn't it? Maybe?
They, heroes, here, with him, downstairs.
Cloud threw Mako as hard as he could at the wall and carefully placed the article back in the box. Then he took a deep breath, preparing to go back downstairs and apologize for his behavior. It was no big deal, right? So, his General Sephiroth and what would have been his Commanding Officers were his 'ghosts.' So what? So what?
When had his life become even more fucked up?