She could hear it again.

Just beyond her thin walls in her newly renovated room between Denzel's and Tifa's, the noise practically reverberated along the plaster and wood. The sounds that kept her awake long into the small hours of the night. An unfortunately recent event, now routine, that she didn't know how to break. A waking nightmare ever since she moved into her new bedroom…

Creak, creak, Bump, bump.

There it was again!

Just like it has every night since the day Cloud finally came home and Denzel was healed. But for some reason only she could hear it! It was like a curse had fallen upon the house and only she knew it. Even her brother said he didn't hear anything when she confronted him about it before school. Tifa wouldn't even let her explain what was going on when she tried to tell her in the morning. Cloud seemed to just go deaf when she approached him about it. Even her dad laughed it off when they had their weekly calls.

Was she going insane!?

"Faster, go faster!"

At first she thought it had been an intruder who had gotten into the bar. But even dragging her family around to search the place from top to bottom, they couldn't find any signs of a break in. Later she had tried to investigate on her own when she had free time but for the life of her couldn't figure out where the sounds were coming from! There just wasn't anywhere to hide! On the second floor it was Tifa and Cloud's room down the hall, her's in the middle, and Denzel's after that. There wasn't a spot anywhere for a person to sneak around without one of them seeing them.

"Yeah you like that? How about this!"

Marlene could swear the ominous noises almost sounded like they were words. She couldn't quite make out what was being said but she had no doubt that it was a voice. Maybe more than one? Were the intruders having a conversation? Or an argument? The tone did sound very urgent, aggressive even. If only she could hear exactly what was being said!

The little girl strained her ears a little to hear over the constant creaking.

"Oh you bastard I'm never letting you go again. If you try…I'll tie you to the damn bed if I have too!"

And oh gods, the moans that followed every sentence were terrifying! Why were the voices hurting each other like this? What could possibly have happened to make two people hate each other so much? Marlene only hoped that she never does anything to someone that would cause them to be so angry with her!

But now wasn't the time to be scared, she had to get to the bottom of this mystery and see if she could help.

"Quiet! You're going to wake the kids up!"

"I'm not the one who can't keep their voice down."

The voices were louder now, practically screaming! The little girl was just able to make out a few words from all the creaking and banging. She thought she heard the words "bastard" and "bed". Maybe that's why the first voice was so angry? Because the second voice did something to their bed? It'd make sense if that was true, Tifa would sometimes scold her if she was caught jumping on the mattress. But who's? As far as Marlene knew there were only three beds in the whole bar and they were all occupied.

"Hey, not on my hair!"

There were some muffling noises before silence filled her home once again. Marlene blinked away her tears as she began to relax after another stressful night. She had learned more tonight then she had in the last couple of weeks combined.

It was actually getting worse and worse!

She needed to do something…and fast. Rubbing her wet eyes, she resolved to get to the bottom of this mystery! Confront the problem head on! She was a Wallace/Lockhart/Strife after all. Timidness was not in her blood.

Marlene had to think calmly and analyze the situation, go over the facts as Kyrie would say. Only she could hear the noises, that was an undeniable truth. They would appear every night but be gone in the morning. There were two voices and they were very angry with each other. And for some reason…nobody could see them. Okay, maybe that last part was just her guessing. But with all the evidence taken into account…

Finally, like a light bulb had flashed in her mind, she knew what was going on. And cold ice filled her veins.

Ghosts were real and the bar was haunted!

000

Just a fun little fic as I'm brainstorming for other stories.

Fun fact: Kyrie became a detective after Meteorfall. From criminal to cop basically.