"Seriously? This is what we're doing with our Saturday night?" A loud voice rang into the night in an attempted whisper.

"I must agree, mon ami. Why are we here?" Another voice asked, indifferent to whispering, yet still not as loud as the first one.

"Come on! This will be fun! Haven't you guys ever been to a haunted house?" A third voice chipped in.

"At a fair? Yes. Breaking into an abandoned house where no one can hear us if we are attacked by a bloodthirsty murderer? No and neither would I like to." The second voice spoke again, "Let's just go back to my house and watch some television."

"Wait, wait." The first voice interjected again, "We're breaking in?"

"Si. How else do you expect us to get in?" Came the reply of the third voice.

"Gil, you are not seriously-"

"Let's do it!"

"Gilbert!"

"Yes!" The third voice exclaimed, "Come on, Francis! Gil's in!"

"Ugh. Fine. But, just so you know, if we get brutally murdered or find a dead body, I will say I told you so."

"Point taken." The louder voice said, "Now, let's go in."

-/-

"Yep. This place definitely looks haunted." The voice echoed throughout the house so clearly that Matthew could hear it from one of the back rooms upstairs. Usually from here Matthew could only hear the murmurs of those who entered the house, but these visitors didn't seem shy in the least.

"Uh oh." Matthew murmured to himself as he stood from the uncomfortable high-backed armchair where he had been sitting. Where there were visitors, there would surely be Alfred.

Matthew walked into the hallway just in time for a gust of wind to burst past him. "Alfred!" He hissed as his brother flew by. There was no stopping Alfred now. Matthew had tried too many times in the past and knew that when his brother was granted this opportunity to ease his boredom, nothing could stop him from taking it.

Matthew looked down the empty hall his brother had disappeared down and followed after, slightly curious of what Alfred would do this time. He stopped behind a banister by the grand staircase to obstruct him from the view of the people in the main entryway. He looked around, wondering where Alfred could have gone.

"Al?" He whispered, hoping his brother would hear him. There was no indication Alfred had heard, but there was of someone else.

"Did you hear that?" A whispered voice carried up the stairs.

"What? You hear something, Antonio?" A much louder voice asked.

Matthew cursed himself. He was only contributing to Alfred's nonsense now. He shook his head only to catch sight of his brother on the other side of the grand staircase. He caught his eye and the other gave him an excited smile. He placed one finger to his lips then started to float up up up until he was touching the ceiling far above. Matthew wondered how the intruders hadn't caught sight of him yet, then realized his brother must have turned invisible.

Matthew suddenly became very curious and peered around the banister to spy on the strangers below. There were three of them. One had shoulder length blonde hair and was carefully avoiding the dust that covered the hand rails as the three ascended the steps. Another had darker hair and looked both excited and frightened to be in the house at the same time. Matthew didn't blame him; the house sometimes gave him the creeps too. The last boy had shockingly white hair and a smug grin across his face. Matthew wondered how the boy could be so comfortable with breaking into a house that had been abandoned for almost twenty years.

Matthew found himself watching them, more specifically this boy with the odd hair and the comfortable attitude, until the boy locked eyes with him. Matthew only had time to note the very red coloring of his eyes before he noticed the boy was actually looking right at him.

Matthew gasped, panicked (just a little bit), and disappeared (or maybe a little more than 'just a little'), leaving the boy with wide eyes and a shocked face. "Wh- did you guys see that?"

"What?" The boy named Antonio asked, sounding startled by his friend's tone.

"There was a boy there! Right there! And he just disappeared!"

"What!" Came another frightened exclamation from the boy.

"Gilbert," The other boy spoke, "Do not try to scare us with such weak fabrications. We see right through them."

"What? But I wasn't lying!"

That's when the first of the crystals dropped on them. One precisely on each of their unknowing heads. They all three looked up, but couldn't see anything there. Matthew could see what was happening, though- or, more specifically, who was doing it.

The guy named Gilbert kneeled down and picked one of the crystals up. "Are these from the chandelier?"

"It must be a very old chandelier." The blonde said. Then three more plunked down, only one hitting Antonio on the head.

"We should get out of here..." The boy said nervously.

"What?" Gilbert argued, "You were the one who said we should come!"

More crystals. "I don't like this place." Came the reply.

Then, it was as if someone had shaken the whole chandelier, knocking dozens of crystals off of their secure places along its iron edges. Matthew watched as the three looked up, realizing what was happening and panicking. They ran out of the way as torrents of the bullet-like crystals rained down. Matthew was momentarily worried that the crystals would hurt them until the three yanked open the door they had broken open, and fled out into the normal world.

Matthew caught a brief glance of the night sky and dark trees just before the red-eyed boy named Gilbert slammed back closed the massive door, obstructing his sight of the outside world. He sighed.

The next moment, Alfred was beside him, grinning and Matthew didn't hesitate to swat his shoulder.

"Ow!" Alfred held his arm, "What was that for?"

"You know what!" He whispered, scolding his brother for his recklessness.

Alfred looked down and pouted a bit, causing Matthew to feel bad. They hadn't had anyone come here in ages. It wasn't his brother's fault he got bored so easily here and Matthew could certainly relate. At least this way Alfred wasn't sleeping in a dusty corner or chasing after the rodents of the house like he would usually be doing. Though, that last one could easily be compared to what he had just been doing anyway.

Matthew looked back to the wreckage of the crystals littering the wide entryway floor and smiled a little, unable to hide his amusement. Alfred laughed, realizing the tension had left the air. "Wasn't it funny, Mattie? They didn't even know what was happening!"

"Yeah." Matthew laughed along, "You really know how to cause your fair share of destruction."

"You could join in next time!" Alfred bumped his arm, "It'd be a lot more fun haunting the intruders with your help!"

Matthew laughed at the wording of his brother's sentence. "Haunting. Whoever thought it would become such a casual thing in our lives?"

He laughed again at the wording of his own sentence, but this time with less enthusiasm. "Lives" probably wasn't the best word for it. Matthew looked down. "But, you know I can't, Al."

"Aw, sure you can! Have a little fun, man. Don't let something like that stop you!"

Matthew looked at his brother in doubt. Alfred still had on a huge smile from the excitement and fun he had just had. Fun. Something they hadn't had in their lives in decades. Excitement. It was tempting to join his brother the next time someone came around, but he knew it just wouldn't be a good idea.

Then, Alfred's gaze shifted to the wide entry hall below them. His body had tensed and his gaze had locked onto something down there. Matthew knew exactly what it must have been and felt his body still. They were both still invisible, but that wouldn't do them much good against what was lurking down there.

"Don't move." Alfred whispered, halting Matthew as he had begun to peek around to see. Instead, he stood there, watching his brother's gaze as it didn't leave what it was fixed on below.

A few minutes went by until Alfred gave the okay. "It's gone." His brother breathed and Matthew released a very visible breath of his own. He looked around and, just like Alfred had said, there was no trace of it among the crystals scattered across the floor beyond the staircase below.

"What was it doing?" Matthew turned back to Alfred and asked, not able to raise his voice above a whisper. It had been a long time since he had been comfortable talking at full volume in this house. It was too empty. He felt like any sound he made echoed into every crevice of the large house when he spoke.

"It was just down there, sniffing around."

"Around the chandelier wreckage?" Matthew asked and Alfred looked slightly guilty. Matthew just shook his head, not wanting to give in but also feeling sorry for blaming it on his brother. He let it go, continuing on. "What do you think it's looking for?"

"I don't know." Alfred replied, "I'm just hoping it doesn't find us."

So, I have a bajllion other fics I could/should be working on, but here comes this one here, giving me no choice but to obsess over it and finally publish its first chapter instead of, oh, I don't know, updating something else? Publish something else I've been working a lot longer at? Wow, I'm sounding bitter. But seriously, I love this story and I can't believe it just jumped my life like this. I'm really looking forward to hopefully continuing with it- I certainly have plenty of ideas for it already! Hope you liked it!