A/N Sorry I've been away, but I'm back and needed to start this! I finally finished Riverdale and all I could think of was a mystery AU based off Riverdale, so hopefully I can keep this one going. It's actually fun to write, unlike other things I've written haha.

If you're a shipper person, I would ask you to give this a go, but I will list the ships: Klance, eventual Hidge, non-endgame Lotura, Adashi, Aczor, and I'm still pondering Romelle. The rest are really minor.

Prologue ~A Sound with No One to Hear it

As the skies darkened, the forest became a treacherous labyrinth. Three tall figures made their way across the land, sticking close to the waters as not to get lost in the hands of the bare November trees.

The eldest spoke to another, his son, with worry in his tone, "Matt, you should head back. It's getting dark out and who knows what really attacked your sister and her friend out here – for all we know, it still could've just been a prank."

The look in his eyes was tired; running this town had taken its toll, especially in the past few months of struggle against the Galra family's ridiculous demands. In fact, those demands could have been the cause of the attack on Pidge and her friend.

Matt remained in silent thought whilst the other man spoke, this one a similar age to Matt, "It's not just your sister that was attacked, my brother was there too, and I promise we'll do all we can to get to the bottom of this."

His father sighed, "Shiro's right, son. Go home and keep your mother and sister safe for me."

Those words had the opposite effect as Matt snapped at the two elder men, "But that's just the point! I am protecting them, by finding the guy who did this – otherwise what kind of brother am I? I wasn't even there for Pidge, and if Keith weren't there she could've been hurt or killed or god knows what and I just-" He took a deep breath and Shiro placed a calming hand on his shoulder. After a moment he'd calmed down and he continued shakily, "I just want my sister to be safe. I'm staying."

Matt looked up to Shiro who nodded as Sam chuckled, but their brief moment of relief was ruined when they heard a piercing scream come from across the wood: deeper into the forest. Sam readied his rifle as he checked once more if everyone was ready, with obvious replies.

None returned.

-o-O-o-

Nearly a year after the disappearance of Sam Holt, Matthew Holt and Takashi Shirogane…

The sun crawled over the horizon drearily, as if tired of its daily work. The sky was surprisingly clear of clouds for a September morning, and the forest life basked in the rays the sun gave. The more sapient beings, however, could see the rays dwindling like the hopes of the town.

Keith found himself down the river for what was probably his daily stroll. At first he came down to search for any signs of his brother or the mayor or Matt or just… anyone. Anything. Matt and Shiro's phone signals led down the river, so this was most likely nearer to where they had gone missing. It evolved into a habit, and further into his daily routine (not that he had much of one anyway, but he always found himself drawn to the river). Keith preferred the river over the lake, it was less crowded and more peaceful, if he met anyone it was either Blue and Plaxum practising swimming (occasionally something more) or Red and her father out fishing. He came so often he'd even named the local deer family.

Mothy, a deer with a darker pelt than the others, raised her head above the bushes and flicked her ears in greeting, at which Keith nodded. Her eyes trailed over to where the river led further on, and he followed her gaze. He was going that way anyhow, so why the hell not? Just follow a deer's gaze into the wilderness. He'd done much worse.

When he walked further, however, he noticed something dark against the rocks. At first he felt angry, assuming it was some dumb kid that'd been littering, but as he kept focus he could swear it moved. It twitched once more, ever so slightly. His deep violet eyes widened as he made out the shape of a body in the water. Stumbling over and slipping on the wet rocks in his haste, he jumped down to pull the body out of the water.

The whole world seemed to freeze as he turned the body over and saw the man's face. He'd clearly changed – he had a huge scar, completely white hair and what looked to be a metal arm – but that face shape was unmistakeable. Keith snapped himself out of his daze and checked the man's pulse: still beating. Without a moment to waste he began reviving him, pushing the water out of his lungs and breathing air back into his system.

The man coughed, breathing out unevenly, as he whispered his name, "Keith?"

The boy's face melted into a puddle of joyful tears and a warm smile, "Shiro…!"

A/N I know this first chapter was really short, but 1: it's only the prologue! 2: I'm just starting to get back to writing with actual effort, so it'll probably be a while before these become amazing novel-worthy masterpieces (if ever haha). Also 3: most chapters probably won't be super long, maybe 2-3 thousand words?

Hopefully I'll actually stick to this one! It looks super fun (from my shoddy notes lol) and I hope you enjoyed the lil Brogane thing here. I'll try to explain everything along the way, so sit tight and read on! (that includes the deer names hehe)

Also, the title is kinda based off the old question 'if a tree falls in a forest but there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?' *everyone begins to yell Waving Through a Window*