Chapter Text
Closing his eyes, Keith lets himself be fully transported by the music he creates with him hands, firmly but gently holding his faithful violin while its beautiful sound surrounds him. It's so loud he can't hear anything else in the manor, all his strength focused on staying just solid enough for the precious instrument not to fall on the floor.
He knows they're coming, though, so he has to be careful, but he also trust his friends to warn him when the visitors are close enough. He slowly opens his eyes, suddenly suspecting an interruption, letting the muscle memory continue the melody for him.
It's a music Pidge found for him not long ago on Romelle's computer, and hearing it a couple of times had been enough for him to learn it. He knows he's a great musician, the violin and the piano are almost parts of him now. One could say it's normal, after playing it for almost one hundred years. Ten years of learning it with a teacher while he was still alive, then years of teaching himself.
When they arrived in the abandoned manor a few days after the accident, they were all pretty devastated, thankful to be together, but thinking about everything they were leaving behind. Then it was just too much for Keith, who decided to leave to explore. Shiro wanted to come with him, but Keith refused, wanting to be alone.
He wasn't looking for anything in particular, but when he got to the attic, he saw that majestic, old piano. He looked around, as if he could feel it, then saw the violin, miraculously intact. He tried to take it with shaking hands, but went right through it, obviously. Frustrated, he gave everything he had to just hold the damn thing. He needed it.
When finally, the violin moved in his hand, he felt a wave of relief and happiness, then saw the instrument fall back, his own hand that looked more solid a moment before fading into nothingness and he lost consciousness.
Waking up had been weird. At first, he couldn't move as he was still so translucent, and someone was screaming, which wasn't reassuring. Then, he saw someone kneeling in front of him, and felt better seeing Shiro. He put his hand on Keith's arm, a worried frown on his face, and slowly, his arm became more solid. He could feel again.
Alerted by Shiro's screaming, their friends came rushing into the room, and Shiro told them to touch Keith, which would have been the weirdest experience of his life if he hadn't died and became a ghost just a few days before. It was okay, though, he trusted them, and felt better, enough to move again.
He took Shiro's hand to get up, almost falling when he let go, but Lance was right behind him, ready to welcome him in his familiar arms, and Keith didn't move away to explain what happened. He felt those arms holding him a bit tightly as they understood he faded completely, as they looked into the attic to find nothing before he reappeared in front of Shiro's eyes, but they were all amazed by that discovery because now, they knew they could interact with objects. They just needed to train.
So they did that, a lot. A first, it was frustrating, like there was no amelioration. But now, they learned to handle their strength, and they're having the fun of their.. Well, death.
They already started haunting the place unconsciously as they went there to stay as their new home. It was big, abandoned, creepy, perfect, but one day, they decided to take it further and really haunt it. Making noises, scaring the few people who dared come close, and rapidly, the place had a reputation of haunted manor. Adventurous teenagers were coming to explore, and they were playing with them until they left yelling.
Until one day, years later, when Romelle came. She was the young owner of the manor, they learned, as her parents and brother died in a car crash. Keith and his friends couldn't help but remember the circonstances of their own death, so they took pity of her and didn't scare her. So wrong of them, because that was exactly what she wanted from them, as she screamed at them to just manifest themselves. They realized later she thought they were her late family.
They felt bad for her: they had each other, but she was alone. So they took her under their wings and made a deal with her, talking to her through her computer, writing messages for her. She kept the secret of their existence, let them live there, and she could open the manor to the public, making an attraction out of them, a big show where people pay to be scared to death. It was twelve years ago, and they all grew fond of her.
So now, Keith's playing the opening part of the show, drawing their guests in the depth of the manor. Some people won't take the bait, of course, staying outside, exploring the garden, but it's okay, Pidge will take care of them.
She found a great song, sad, just a bit creepy, unknown, with a violin part and a piano part. As Keith is close to the end of the violin part, Lance appears in the attic, casually coming through the floor. It stopped being weird so long ago that Keith just smiles at him, receiving a wink in exchange. It's one of the greatest thing with their whole situation: they get to be together forever, and after having been dating for so long they can't even remember a time where they weren't, still loving each other like the first day, working so well with the other that it's like they're two parts of the same being.
Lance walks to him, predicting Keith's move so he arrives right behind him without being punched. "They're here." He says in Keith's ear, and the musician finishes his bar before stopping, putting his violin down on the piano next to him.
He immediately sits on the piano's stool, continuing the melody. It's only seconds before the first visitors arrive, steps unsure, then stopping when they see the piano, its keys moving on their own, and the violin just above.
Some start to freak out, but the night is only starting. The violin could be just here for decoration, the sound they heard could have been a CD playing. And it's easy to trick a piano so it looks like its playing on its own. But that's the point. They don't want their guests to run away so early.
Lance moves away from him, walking near the wall to touch just for a moment the visitor closest to the wall, who jerks away with a scream. Keith stops playing, as if bothered by the noice, and the visitors stop moving completely, not daring doing more than breathing. Then, Keith stands up, taking the stool with him.
The guests's response is immediate: they yell and run away.
Keith laughs at the same time Lance does. They join each other in the middle of the room, slapping hands in the air as a victory sign, but not letting go of each other's hand. It something they discovered rapidly: touching not only shares their energy but helps them recharge faster.
Lance smiles at him, pulling him close with the hand still holding Keith's and okay, maybe recharging energy is not the only reason they're doing this. "I missed you." Lance whispers in his ear as he wraps his arms around Keith.
Keith chuckles. "We literally saw each other five minutes ago." He mocks him, but he understands. They're so used to being in each other's space that when they turn around and the other is missing, it's just wrong. That, and Lance has always been a bit overdramatic.
"Ten. I'm pretty sure it was ten." Lance contradicts him, preventing him to add anything by kissing him gently. Sometimes, Keith is thankful they don't have to stop to catch their breath anymore.
It's more screaming that stop them, reminding them where they are and what time it is: spooky time.
They decide to explore a bit, looking for lonely visitors: they are the best. Most people come in group and stay in group, holding to each other firmly. But some like the challenge of wandering alone in the manor, and Keith is all for giving them what they want.
They're lucky: it's finally fall, so the nights are longer, darker, and the wind generally strong enough around the manor that it contributes to make people think they're hearing things. It's what catch Keith's attention, as he sees two teens walking down the corridor he's in. Bad choice, kids.
"I swear! I heard it! It was saying my name!" The girl affirms, holding the boy's arm for dear life.
"Don't be ridiculous, it can't know your name." The guy tries to reassure her, wanting to look more confident than he really is. And yeah, he has a point, they don't know the visitors' names, they don't care, and they won't talk to them, ever. They never even talked for Romelle. They can't, it's just impossible. Or maybe they haven't found how to yet. Same difference, the girl is wrong. But that doesn't change the fact that the dude called them 'it', and Keith choses to take offense to that.
He kneels, and as they arrive right in front of him, he catches the guy's ankle, making him fall, dragging the girl down with him as they both yell like their lives were about to end.
"It caught me! A-a hand! I felt it!" The boy screams, the girl yells even more, gets up, and runs away, the guy running after her, trying to catch up. Keith huffs, it's just so easy with kids who wants to believe the manor is really haunted. If only they knew.
After that, Keith decides to go look after Pidge. The outside's a great playground, and there's always enough for two of them. He spots her quickly enough, flying around a tree to grab apples that she throws on their guests. Simple, but effective. Of course, she's not aiming at them, they don't want to kill them, but it's still fun.
Keith joins the party by grabbing apples on the ground to throw them at the visitors' legs. There's half a dozen of them, but their yelling are so loud Keith's actually impressed. It's over after a few seconds as they're not completely stupid and run away, but Keith had fun, and according to Pidge's grin, her too.
She flies down to Keith, resting her elbow on his shoulder. "It's so good to be taller than you, now." She teases, and Keith rolls his eyes.
"Your feet aren't touching the ground, that's cheating." He argues, not even looking down to check. It's just obvious.
"No rule says they have to, though." She retorts playfully.
"Wow, saying that must have hurt the genie in you." Keith says, but he's still not moving, just content to take a moment to chill with his friend. They're not in a rush, they have all night, and don't want to do too much right away. They want the guests to feel safe again to strike when they're not expecting it anymore.
"I know you think you're winning by saying that but, really, you're just flattering me." Is Pidge's answer as she tousles his hair. At that, he takes offense and catches her hand to stop her.
"You're going to wish you hadn't done that." He announces, pushing her away.
She's not impressed, though. "Yeah? And what are you going to do?"
Keith smirks, lets go of her, and grabs her hairband, making her hair falls on her face. She swears loudly, trying to catch it, but she's too late. No one is faster than Keith.
He puts the hairband safely around his wrist and takes off, flying faster than he could ever run. The time she takes to realize what is happening and to take her hair away from her face is enough for him to disappear from her view.
"I swear I'm gonna—"
"Are you talking to yourself? Is that a thing now? Are you finally losing your mind?" Hunk asks, joining Pidge quickly as the wind is strong enough to carry them faster than usual.
Keith stays hidden not far away between the trees, knowing better than to say anything or make a move that could be noisy and risk his cover.
"Very funny. No, I'm talking to Keith, he stole my hairband." Pidge explains, annoyance clearly visible in her voice. She knows Keith is still close, listening to them. She knows all she has to do for him to come back and return the hairband is to say she regrets what she did. And he knows she'd rather die if she wasn't already dead than to do that.
"Oh, okay. Anyway, Lance wants you to help him do the 'ghost-passing-quickly-in-the-corridor-thingy' with him. So like, can you.. Go?" Hunk asks, and Keith almost laughs. Why don't they have a single word to reference to that trick already?
"Why don't you do it with him?" Pidge demands with reason. Keith understands, he wouldn't want to go either. An apparition to mortal eyes is the most tiring thing they manage to do, and after, they felt like they're about to pass out, if they don't just fade completely.
"Because I already did it with Shiro earlier." Hunk argues and Pidge groans loudly, knowing she lost. None of them would ask another one to do something that tiring twice in the same night. They care about the others too much for that.
"Ugh, fine." She finally accepts, and they both go back to the manor.
Keith is about to do the same, not seeing the point in staying here if he's alone when he hears footsteps on the dead leafs on the ground of the tiny forest around the manor. He frowns. They're coming from the outside of the property, but maybe they're just visitors who tried to explore and got lost. Or maybe they're trying to experience the haunted manor without paying for it. Whatever it is, they deserve to be scared.
He flies next to them, deciding for an easy strategy. He'd just crush the dead leafs around them, making it sound as if they were followed.
Once he's closer, he sees it's another couple, though way older than the previous one inside the manor. They're around their thirty, maybe a bit younger. They both have really long white hair and dark skin, though the woman's skin is darker. They're tied to each other by their arms, whispering to each other. It's what get Keith's attention. Visitors are never whispering. Even back in the days when they were unauthorized, they're always nosy, yelling.
It's what make Keith decides against his initial plan, wanting to know what they're saying. He comes closer, almost touching them. He's careful not too, because even if the touch would only feel like cold wind for them, he feels that he shouldn't risk his presence to be known.
"… just listen, this is…"
"… need to! … crazy…"
"… later… first we should…"
"… maybe… he said…"
"… trust him, but…"
"Keith!"
The scream, way louder than the couple's whispers makes Keith jumps, only his reflexes preventing him from bumping into them. He looks around until he sees Shiro, waving with his arm to get Keith's attention. He looks back at the couple, wanting to try and understand what the hell they're talking about, but he can't just ignore Shiro.
So he flies to him. "Is Pidge sending you for the hairband? Because she—"
"No, it's not that. Just.. Come with me." Shiro only says, turning around to go back to the manor.
"Wow, you can't just say that and walk away! Is everyone okay?" Keith asks, suddenly worried.
"Yeah, show's over, Romelle's sending them home." Shiro explains, which only confuses Keith more because normally, Romelle only sends away the last visitors after one more hour.
But he lives his whole life and death with Shiro, and he knows when it's useless to push. Right now, it is. Whatever this is about, he'll only know when they're with the others, and even if Shiro said they're okay, Keith can't wait to see that for himself. It's not like there's a lot of things that can hurt a ghost, but you never know what can happen anyway.
He follows Shiro in the main living room, where Romelle's sitting at the table, her computer in front of Pidge next to her. Keith notices a paper in her hand.
Hunk and Lance are on one of the couches, Lance's head resting on Hunk's shoulder, and Keith decides he's in good enough hands for him not to worry about his translucent state. It's not their first ride, he knows he'll be fine.
Keith makes a beeline to Romelle and Pidge, following Shiro. "This just arrived in the mailbox," Shiro starts to explain, pointing at the letter in Romelle's hand. Next to her, Pidge writes something, and Romelle puts the letter on the table, easier for the brothers to read. "It's from Romelle's older cousin, apparently, but she didn't know she had living family members left. And that woman clames the manor is as much hers as its Romelle's and she wants to visit and 'talk'."
Keith nods, trying to think of everything this news could change. He wants to believe they could make a new friend along the way, but everything in that letter screams trouble.
"We need to check if what she's saying is true, of course. She pretends she has proof she only wants to show Romelle in person, which could be a trap, a pretext to come and do whatever evil plan she has." Pidge adds, frowning. She looks exhausted, and looking at the computer's screen, Keith understands. She taped a lot to try and reassure Romelle and it's tiring, even for her.
"Ooor, she could be friendly?" Hunk offers, but even him doesn't look convinced.
"If that was the case, she'd want to know Romelle, as she's family and everything. But she only cares about money. Or evil thingy like Pidge said." Lance interferes, raising his head from Hunk's shoulder just long enough to talk.
"But let's not panic yet, maybe we can scare her and make her go away or something, we'll see. Any question?" Shiro asks, turning to Keith.
"Yeah. Why was Romelle checking the mail at 2am?" Keith asks, perplexed.
Hunk and Lance chuckle from the couch, Pidge snorts loudly, and Shiro hits his head with his hand. Keith tilts his head, not understanding their reactions. His question's perfectly logical, who the hell does that.
"Anyway, We think Romelle should just ignore her, as there's no proof it's the truth, and we'd make researches on her. Except Shiro, who thinks she should meet her and be done with it. Of course, it'll be Romelle's decision, but for know, she really doesn't want to meet that woman, except she's scared she'll have problems if she says the truth. What do you think?" Pidge asks him, totally ignoring his own question. And one: rude, and two: how is he supposed to know that?
"Ugh." He just answers as everyone turn to him, waiting for his opinion. But when Shiro looks disappointed, he forces himself to find other words. Or real words in general. "I think we shouldn't ignore it, she looks determined so she won't leave it alone. Probably. Maybe Romelle could make an appointment but like, not before a few days so we have time to make researches?" He offers, unsure, but relax when Shiro smiles at him.
Pidge immediately starts typing to let Romelle know. Keith waits, feeling uneasy as none of his friends comment what he offered. He looks back at Hunk and Lance, but they're not looking in his direction, talking to each other, their voices so low Keith can't hear anything. He looks away.
Romelle nods after reading Pidge's new message, thinking. "I.. I guess I can't just ignore it. Maybe I can ask Luka to be there? No offense guys, but I'd be more at ease with another living person here."
"Of course, whatever makes her feel better." Shiro answers immediately, and Pidge nods, typing that.
"Good. We'll answer tomorrow morning. I think we should all get a good night sleeping. Resting. Whatever it is that you're doing to recharge." Romelle says, her tone fond.
Pidge types a quick good night message from all of them before exiting the room by the floor. She likes the room in the basement, for some reason. Romelle stands up, leaving too to her own room.
Keith starts to do the same, but he almost right away hears Shiro saying good night to the others, following him. "Hey, Keith?" He calls him when they're alone in the corridor. Keith stops, turning around to look at Shiro without a word. "I'm proud of you." He tells him with a smile, and Keith automatically smiles back.
Shiro tousles Keith's hair, and Keith groans, escaping though the wall, only hearing Shiro's laugh before it's muffled by the wall.
He travels across the rooms, floors and walls until he's in his own bedroom. It's cosy, with a huge window overlooking the lake behind the manor. He opens the window and looks at the view a few minutes, closing his eyes. He's happy he can still feel the wind, even if he can't get cold anymore. He doesn't even remember how it felt, just that it was annoying anyway.
Keith jumps when arms wrap around his middle, but relax when he realizes it's Lance. He can't prevent a smile to for on his lips, not that he'd want to.
As he's not reacting, Lance rests his head on Keith's shoulder. "Don't jump, I love you." He whispers in Keith's ear, making his whole body shiver. Even in death, Lance always has the power to drive every fiber of Keith's body crazy.
Keith chuckles, looking down. He didn't even realize how close he is until Lance pointed it out. Not that it matters anyway, he wouldn't fall unless he wants to, and it wouldn't harm him. "I love you too." He simply answers, perfectly content. Until Lance talks again.
"Sooo.." Keith stiffens, knowing by Lance's tone that his boyfriend is about to say something that'll annoy him. Or something Lance thinks will make his angry. Great. "You really always have to agree with Shiro, huh?"
Keith groans, definitely annoyed. It's one of the rare reasons they still argue sometimes, because it's one of the rare cases where none of them wants to make compromises. Keith can't, of course. He's not going to apologize for having the same point of view than his brother. But Lance often thinks that Keith will always chose Shiro's side because he's afraid of disappointing him. Which he is, but still, he can have his own opinion, thank you very much.
"It's not my fault he was the only one to think with his brain instead of being a coward." Keith snaps, a part of him immediately regretting it, scared Lance would unwrap his arms from around his tummy, but another part still mad at Lance, wrongly not sorry at all.
He feels Lance's arms stiffen, though still in place, so he puts his hand on Lance's, silently asking him to stay. As if Lance would ever leave. "I—"
"It's okay," Lance cuts him. "But if Pidge didn't say what each of us thought, I'm not sure you'd have said the same thing, that's all." He holds Keith a little closer to show he really doesn't want to argue either, but Keith can't pretend Lance's right just to avoid that.
"Except I would have. Actually I would have said 'let's meet her right now to see what the hell she wants', so it's y'all different point of view that influenced me." Keith says, because he always was the impulsive one in their group.
Lance chuckles. "But you knew it's not what Shiro wanted, so you didn't say what you really thought, you said what he wanted to hear." Lance retorts smartly, and Keith mentally slaps himself. Did he accidentally prove Lance's point by wanting to argue?
To win some time to think, Keith groans. Sometimes, he misses the time when he could sigh. "It's not like that.. I just knew it was useless to say that so I said the second best one." He explains.
Lance moves one of his hands to put it above Keith's hand, trapping it between his two hands. "Hey, what you think is never useless, though, you know that, right?"
Keith can't help but smile. How did he get so lucky to have such an amazing boyfriend? Okay, maybe dying at 19 wasn't lucky, but at least they were together still. And forever. Maybe one day they'll move on, they have a few hypothesis about why they're all trapped here, he just hopes that if it happens, they'll do it together.
"Hey, Lance?" He says, his voice barely more than a whisper. Lance hums, waiting. "I love you so much."
Lance chuckles softly. "Me too. You can't even imagine how much. But that doesn't change what I think of all of this. Never think you need to change who you are for anyone." Lance doesn't let go, because that's who he is. His stubborn, gorgeous boyfriend.
"I know, I just didn't want to lose time when I knew the right solution. And Shiro knows it too, so it's fine." Keith affirms. He never got the tension between Lance and Shiro. Sure, they were friends, close friends, even, but sometimes, he could just tell something was wrong between them. Lance once confessed a fight they had before the accident, but it was so long ago..
"Sigh, if you say so." Lance says, making Keith laughs. Unable to sigh anymore, the dramatic part of Lance decided to just say the word out loud, and it's just one of the hundreds of reasons Keith is madly in love with him. "Wanna go to bed? I'm so tired. I had to make two apparitions because these dumbasses were so busy running around screaming they didn't notice me the first time."
At that, Keith definitely burst into laughter.