Hi, there!
This is my very first english fanfic and my very first voltron fanfic!
I'm really excited about it, and I hope I update it every week. I hope you like it and be free to comment whatever you think about it!
(If this fanfic goes well I'll probably translate every other fanfiction I have written in spanish :3)
It happened too fast.
"Keith!"
So fast that he doubted what he'd seen.
"Keith, what's wrong?"
So fast that he couldn't process what he believed he saw.
"You're pale, what's happening to you?"
"Okay, guys, give him some space", he heard vaguely and all the hands over his shoulders and back draw away, "He clearly is in shock."
"Keith?"
He mouthed a little, keeping his eyes glued to the painting before him. A painting visibly old and from the last century, illuminated only by one of the lanterns his friends have because the one he had had fell down and rolled away in the darkness.
"What's wrong, Keith?" one of them asked, a trembling big hand shaking his shoulder, "Don't tell me you saw something".
"Like a ghost?!"
"Pidge!"
"It's the only thing that could put him like this" she commented with obviousness in the tone.
"It's merely a soldier painting" he heard back him, recognizing the annoyed voice, "It isn't even a scary one".
"I think we should go", said the only voice of reason in the group, "It's getting late and…"
"Oh, are you scared, Allura?"
They started to argue behind him, but he couldn't take his eyes away from the portrait, trailing carefully the lines where a color collides with another. It was a soldier, yes, you could tell by judging the green uniform and the numerous medals in his chest, too many to be for someone that young, surely in between his 20s and 30s. His black hair was buzzed in the sides and nape, with a fringe longer in the top of his head.
His gray eyes seemed to sparkle lively even without the light of the lantern, and his expression was all serious, with an almost invisible curve in the corner of his lips.
He was sure he saw the man in the painting follow him down the corridor, moving his chin to continue watching him when he passed the portrait, startling him to the point of screaming and falling to the floor, losing his lamp and alerting his friends already climbing the stairs.
And now the image was frozen as it had to be, in the serious expression and almost smile.
"I'm not scared!"
"Aw, don't worry, Allura, I'll protect you."
"Lance, get over it, the only one scared here is Hunk and he's freaking out because of Keith. I don't think he would like your protection."
"Keith, you're scaring the hell out of me."
"I…" started without thinking, more like a sign of life. His friends made silence, waiting for him to continue talking.
"Are you possessed?" the littlest one said, crouching beside him, "Who are you? When did you die? How did you die?"
"PIDGE!"
"What? I want to know our new friend."
"I want my old friend back!"
"I'm fine" he tried forcing himself to stop staring at the grey eyes in acrylic, pasting his eyes to the wall instead, "Sorry for scaring you, I thought…"
"Did you see a ghost, Keith?"
"Did the painting move?"
"Tell me the painting didn't move."
"It's obvious it moved!"
He frowned, looking up again to the portrait.
"Why else would Keith scream for?!"
"Tell me it didn't move, Keith!"
The hand in his shoulder now was squeezing him painfully and had to take away the attention to the painting to palm the fingers.
"It didn't move, Hunk, relax" he lied with a nervous smirk, gaining a relived sigh from his friend.
"Oh, thank god!"
"Let me help you" Allura said giving him a hand, and stood up with the little help, "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay" he assured smiling briefly.
"What scared you so much, Keith?" Lance asked putting himself between both, making him stumble backwards at the sudden push.
"I…" doubted, giving Hunk a glance and seeing him trembling and shrugged on shoulders, Pidge watching him with an eyebrow up, "I thought I saw something. That's all."
"A ghost?" Pidge insisted, Hunk clearly shivering at that.
"It wasn't a ghost!" he cried hugging himself, "Right, Keith?!"
He opened his mouth, really doubting to answer because he wasn't really good lying a second time in a row, and heard Pidge murmur a 'Told ya'.
"I don't know what it was, okay?" he answered starting to feel annoyed, "Maybe it was the lightning or something else."
"Then, it wasn't the painting?" Lance questioned squinting at him with suspect, an irritating smile dancing in his mouth, "Are you scared of soldiers, Keith? How is that possible? They protect our country!"
He rolled his eyes, listening Allura breathe out in annoyance similar as his.
"Enough", she started, "We have to go before it's hard to find the entrance."
"It's just an old, dirty house" Lance protested, "Everybody knows that the entrance is over there."
"Actually, it's this way", said Pidge methodically, pointing to the other side of the hallway, "We were walking to the stairs when Keith screamed."
"Whatever", he waved his hand, "how difficult it is to get out of a house?"
"But this is a haunted house, Lance", Allura stated dead serious, "You told us."
"But…"
"And even if you know which way is the right way," continued Hunk shooting glances all over the place, with no necessity to act scared, "you're going to get lost because it's haunted!"
"Hunk…"
"Oh, you know what that means?" Pidge jumped, startling everyone, "Lance would be the first one to die or disappear."
"What? Why?"
"Because you took the wrong way to the outside" Allura whispered putting a hand in her mouth, faking surprise, "Oh, Lance, I'm so sorry."
"I'm not dead!"
"Would" Pidge emphasized with a finger up, "be dead. Oh, poor and defenseless Lance."
"We should take care of him in the way out" the other girl said, putting her hand in Pidge's shoulder, both nodding with determination.
"Oh, come on" Lance complained throwing his hands up with a groan, "It's Hunk who is scared to death!"
"I don't know, man" Hunk shrugging with a little smile, "Knowing it's you who would die first relaxes me a bit."
"Hunk!"
"Let's go, let's go."
The four came back down the hall, teasing and mocking Lance, but Keith couldn't laugh at any of the jokes neither piss him off with one of his. He stared at the painting once again, the corridor darkening because of the lanterns walking away and the sun hiding, and took a deep breath, biting his lips nervously. The eerie sensation was back in his nape, making shiver at the strangely familiar perception.
He downed his eyes and shook his head, convincing himself of the words he told his friends and trying to forget the experience.
He took half a step to follow them, but stopped in the middle at the feeling of a stare in his person, burning his back persistence, a gentle persistence, not like the creepy action the painting by his left did before. He swallowed the knot in his throat and turned without having even gathered the courage to do so, finding the hallway empty and the noise of a breeze hitting the window.
Keith exhaled; shocked he was containing a breath, and blinked to the empty space, a weird magnetism inviting him to go deeper into the house, to the doors in the back.
"Keith!"
He startled, retracting his steps quickly and trying with all his will to not look back, this time sure there was something floating in the middle of the hallway, watching him closely.