It had been a horrible night. To fall asleep in the darkness of his bedroom had been difficult, and the few times he was able to, he was woken up in cold sweat, the sudden memories of the man at the window, of the thunderstorm roaring for attention, of the gray eyes that stared at him so gently appeared behind his eyes.

"Keith Kogane!"

He startled, frightened, opening the eyes to find his teacher beside his desk, glaring at him with impatience.

"I'm sorry; did I wake you up from your nap?"

The laughter of all his classmates made him wince; shrugging between his shoulders at the big, mocking smile Pidge was in her face.

The bell rang, everybody getting up from their seats while the teacher keep yelling the instructions for the homework. Keith picked up his stuff slowly, growling at the weariness that heaved his eyelids down, and received a punch in the shoulder that, judging from the mad precision that made him suffer a severe pain, was from the little one.

"What's wrong, Red?" She asked seating in his table with easiness whilst he finished putting his notebooks in the backpack, "You look gross."

"Thank you, Pidge" he answered with a sigh, "I couldn't sleep last night."

Pidge analyzed him close his backpack and hang it in his shoulder, her glasses slipping to the tip of her nose.

"Is it because of the 39th house?" she asked, too much seriousness shadowing her voice.

"Uh…" He doubted, shaking his head, "No, that isn't…"

"Because" Pidge interrupted coming back to her feet, looking at some point in the sky with some thoughtful air, "certainly, that painting was spine-chilling, wasn't it? I know there was something weird with it.

Keith looked at her, unbelieving, and shook his head again thinking he imagined that.

"Really?" he asked in a little voice, gaining an exaggerated nod.

"I mean" Pidge continued, rubbing her chin, "I didn't tell anyone… but I actually saw something in the hallway."

Keith blinked, feeling scared for a second before feeling relief; he wasn't the only one who noticed.

Then all that happened wasn't his imagination.

"W-what?" he stuttered, having to cough to clear his throat, "What did you see, Pidge?"

She hummed, glancing at him as if she was wondering if she could trust him.

"Well, I saw…" started with caution, Keith getting close at the low volume of her voice, "the painting…"

Move? Smile? Transforming into a dreadful version of itself?

Keith had to contain the craving to ask, the anxiety rotting his senses more at each second passing. And felt time itself stopping when she opened her mouth to finish.

"Jump"

A shout in is ear made him jump away, tripping with his table and losing his backpack to the ground in a thud. The laugh of Pigde deafened him for a second, being slow to recognize the other laughter and the yell that frighten him.

"You would've seen your face!" Lance exclaimed between laughs, holding his head with a hand.

"You are so mature" he spitted with sarcasm, giving Pidge a derogative look while she laughed holding her stomach.

"It was so awesome" the little giggled, taking of her glasses to wipe her eyes, "You really got scared, didn't ya?"

"It looks like Kogane is scared of soldiers" Lance teased recovering his breath, "I wonder how the hell you are going to join the army."

"I wonder if he will be afraid of my brother when he returns" Pidge mocked him putting her glasses on, "But don't worry; you have some months to overcome your fear."

Keith glared them, wrinkling his nose in disgust and crossing his arms.

"Or maybe Matt won't be a soldier per se" Lance pointed out, "Maybe he'll scare Keith just a little."

"I'm not afraid of soldiers" he grumbled, getting more annoyed as that sounded ridiculous at his attempt to clarify it seriously.

"Yeah, sure"

"I bet he'll panic in the army with soldiers everywhere", Lance continued after the sarcastic response.

"I bet he'll freak out every time he sees himself in the mirror", Pidge formulated smartly with a mocking smile, Lance laughing out loud one more time.

"Forget it", Keith mumbled, pulling his backpack over his shoulder and hitting Lance with it as he walked out the classroom.

"I bet he'll scream every time he sees his own picture."

"Oh, poor Keith, he's scared of himself."

He walked away in the hallway, being chased by the laughs of his friends, and he was reached by Lance really fast, putting himself in front of Keith to stop him.

"Hey, calm down, dude", he said grabbing his shoulder, still laughing through breaths, "We're just kidding".

"Yes, don't be so strict", Pidge commented making Lance snort.

"Whatever", he huffed, pushing away his arm to continue walking. He hoped Hunk and Allura were in the front of the school already, at least they weren't such idiots.

"Okay, wait", Lance stopped him one more time, the touch in his shoulder being a really big nuisance, "You can go, but give me my lantern back."

Keith froze before he could push him, frowning deeply.

"What?"

Lance pursued his lips, one of his eyebrows going up.

"My lantern", he repeated, Keith looking his hand opened to him, "I borrow it to you before we got into the haunted house, Keith. My lantern."

Keith blinked, dumbfounded, and opened his mouth a little, doubting what to say.

"Lance, uh…"

He felt his eye tick, Pidge's eyes going from one to another with interest.

"I… think I lost your lantern", he confessed.

Lance huffed, making him look at him and disconcert at his forced smile.

"You lost it?" he asked incredulous, shaking his head a little, "How did you…?"

Lance quieted, the words getting lost in the air at the same time his face got serious, and Keith tensed at a snort, glancing Pidge rapidly and finding her as confused as he was.

"You lost it in the house, didn't you?" Lance said putting his hands in his pockets, a playful smile in his mouth.

Keith nodded slowly, thinking it was better not to speak.

"Good."

His eyebrows joined in consternation at the naughty light in Lance's eyes, and he heard Pidge snort.

"Oh, no" he gasped shaking his head, aware of the air both had between them and knowing what they were thinking, "No, no, no, no, no, no."

"What?" Lance asked with innocent tone.

"We haven't said anything" Pidge said with the same voice, exchanging conspiratorially looks with the taller one.

"I'll not go back in there" he murmured feeling his throat dry, a shiver making him tremble because of the memory of the previous day and the horrible scare he suffered the night before, so he repeated louder, "I'll not go back in there."

"But, Keith" Lance started with a friendly semblance, his arm hugging his shoulders and smiling at him, "You left my lantern."

"You have another three!"

"They came together as a package!"

He groaned, lifting his arms in frustration.

"Lance, please" he pleaded, letting go from his passive-aggressive hug, "Yesterday… that…"

"Are you scared, Red?"

He glared at Pidge and her unwavering malicious smile.

"I'm not…" he wanted to argument.

But it wasn't true.

He was scared.

"Are you scared of the little soldier, Kogane?"

Opening his mouth and closing it again, he squeezed his fists and bit his tongue.

"You are such…"

"Finish the sentence, Red" Pidge threatened, the creepiest smile in the whole fucking world pulling the corner of her lips.

And yes, creepier than stupid ghosts.

"I'll go for your stupid lantern" he spitted, pushing him to pass, hearing him laugh and follow.

"Don't worry, Keith" Lance said as he joined his trot, with Pidge hardly following their pace, "I'm sure sir soldier will return it to you kindly."

He felt his nose wrinkle at their too loud laughs, and he prayed all that things he saw and felt the day before were just his imagination.

Oh, how wrong he was.

"Come on, Red! You can do it!" the dwarf shouted from the above the old wood fence, Lance laughing out loud.

"Guys, I don't think this is a good idea…" he heard Hunk behind him in the safety of the sidewalk.

"At least someone should accompany him" Allura said, clearly anguished.

And, as the girl expected, as well as everybody actually, Lance crossed the forgotten garden, giving Keith a too hard slap in the back, the boy still motionless in the front of the house.

"Come on, bro."

Keith didn't answer."

"I said: COME ON!"

He got a push, stumbling ungraciously into the door opening without resistance, and falling in the floor inside the house.

"Oh, I'm sorry, too harsh?" Lance bugged him from behind, hearing Pidge laugh and Hunk and Allura scold him loudly.

He rolled his eyes, huffing and lifting dust from the floor in front of his face, the smell of it a little too old for his nose.

"You're insufferable" he complained getting up and shaking off the dust on his clothes, ignoring the stupid answer from Lance to look around.

It didn't seem like the same house they explored the evening before, an emptier aura more than a scarier one, being decorated by dust specks and the light getting in from the windows and the holes in the walls.

He swallowed with difficulty, this time around a knot, and nibbled his lower lip as he encouraged himself to take a step inside. The wood underneath his weight crunched painfully whilst he entered the hall, looking briefly to the room on his right; a small living room with a broken-down armchair, in the back it seemed to be an incomplete bar, with empty glasses and bottles abandoned in the shelf.

He turned his head to the left with caution, catching a glance of what looked like the dining room and kitchen, both empty and with a rug covered with dirty fluff. He got his eyes to the front, to the hallway, and recognized the frame of the painting in the wall, aligned with some other framed pictures, old and forgotten where the faces couldn't been seen. He shot glances around and keep moving forward, Lance still going on about complains to his person.

"And now it turns out that although I do the duty of accompanying you here, you nag about my help."

"You only do it for Allura" he commented with no heat behind, to immerse in walking slowly in the hallway.

"Excuse me?" he let out, not moving from the principal entrance and gesturing with his hands exaggeratedly, "Do you actually see me as a profit-seeker? You have absolutely no sensibility at the feelings of someone, do you?"

He rolled his eyes.

"I've been trying to have at least one date since so long, and it's not only because of her beauty or popularity. No. She's just so gorgeous and strong and intelligent. It's not merely interest, Keith. But how could a virgin like you understand it? You've never had a girlfriend! Or boyfriend. Whatever. You'll never have one, surely, with that damned attitude of yours…"

He preferred to ignore him, this time speeding up his steps even if his courage wasn't ready, and the annoying noise from the entrance stopped reaching his ears just as he entered the point of view of the painting. Keith stopped against his will in front of it, the blood going cold all of the sudden and the color of his face running away instantly. He felt cold and the urge to see the portrait to check the face was more than his own bravery.

He glanced, not catching anything unusual, and turned his head more to see it entirely, feeling his mouth dry up at the almost smile and the proud light in the eyes.

He hadn't noticed last evening among shadows, but the man painted in acrylic looked like someone incredible, with the numerous medals hanging in his chest and the military uniform tailored. With the fine and strong jawline and the straight, firm shoulders. With the lips slightly curved in serenity and the black bang falling and raising funnily from his forehead. With those gray irises, clear and soft, and the golden stripes of light that shined on the portrait because of the sunlight entering through the window.

He had to swallow, looking away to be able to breathe, his own heartbeat hitting his eardrums taking him away from the reality.

"Keith!"

He tensed, turning to face Lance's annoying voice.

"What are you doing?! Are you at least listening to me?!"

He rolled his eyes, again, and preferred to ignore it, again. And Keith continued walking, trying to get that feeling away from him and finding the little lantern thrown in front of one of the doors by the end of the hallway, still on and pointing to the wall.

"I found it" he told Lance, grateful to interrupt his complains.

"Finally!" he heard him wail from the entrance, "I'm starving here, you know!"

Keith huffed as a wave of complains filled the hallway filled one more time, and the leaned to take the lantern turning it off.

Without the little extra light, he noticed a stripe of light coming out from the room, gasping when he recognized it was the same room that had a perfect view from his own bedroom window.

He raised his eyes through the light, his gaze adjusting to the abrupt change of light from a poorly illuminated hallway to a full of orange sunlight entering from the windows room. He immediately lost his breath.

In the midst of shines of dust, a translucent figure stood by the window, being pierced by the orange light coloring the lifeless wood of the floor. It floated up and down in a slight and slow motion, almost peaceful, and the gray eyes, as clear and bright as in the portrait but incredible gentle and melancholic, were lost in the distance through the glass.

Its reflection couldn't be seen in the window even though his clothes were all black and close-fitting to his body, his white hair sparkling orange and raising gracefully in every barely there move.

And this time Keith could see clearly the lack of his right arm, it's short sleeve hanging motionless from his shoulder.

The lantern hit the floor, and the transparent eyes stilled on him, and Keith gasped from seeing his face entirely, being crossed by the scar over his nose and cheeks. And at the sight of his irises being rounded in astonishment, his jaw dropped with wonder, unable to even think to break the connection their gazes made.

"Keith!"

Startled, he dropped his eyes slightly to glare at Lance, but that half second where he regretted to turn away from the inside of that room and tried to find again those gray eyes was the worst mistake he could make.

He hurried to push the door with his weight, peeking desperately inside the abandoned and enlightened room and the specks of dust stirring with the movement of the air, the smell of old and unused being now too strong. He blinked a few times before falling to his heels, defeated, looking intently into the empty room, with only a pair of old nightstands and torn-apart curtains.

He looked at it, feeling lost, incredulous, and unable to comprehend what just happened before his eyes.

"What the fuck are you doing, Kogane?!"

He clenched his fists, resisting the impulse of throwing him the little lantern straight to his face only to make him shut up. But, even when the distance wasn't the problem to give him an accurate hit to Lance's nose, he couldn't allow himself to get into trouble, again.

"Shut up", he jabbered getting to his feet, not even saying it to loud for Lance to hear him from the entrance.

"What?! Speak up, Little Red Riding Hood!"

And, while his stupid friend keep yelling at him, going on and on about who knows what kind of things about his shitty attitude, Keith couldn't keep his gaze away the empty room before him, lost in a gray so beautiful it did not require any color to leave him restless.