After Lance's Cuban style breakfast (which turned out pretty good in his opinion), Shiro took the chance to go upstairs to the room Matt was using. Lance and Matt kept swapping using Adams' room. He heard it had something to do with the couch not being the most comfortable…Now wasn't the time to think about that. As he glanced behind his shoulder to see Keith following him, Pidge's room door opened on him.

He tensed just as he found his head barely an inch away from the door. "Oh crap! Sorry!" Pidge shut the door behind her. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Shiro quickly said and smiled at her. "I just wasn't paying attention." The smile looked strained slightly at hearing Keith snickering faintly behind him. "How are you doing today?"

Pidge shrugged. "I'm good. What are you two up to?"

"Keith mentioned Matt had a tape transcribed for us. We were going to go listen to it." Shiro looked at Pidge, seeing her furrowing her eyebrows and purse her lips a bit. "Why don't you come with us?" He put a smile back on his face. "Maybe it will help you with your own research."

"Yeah sure!" Pidge grinned slightly and all three of them went towards Adam's room. Shiro swallowed slightly while reaching his hand toward the doorknob. He blinked when a different hand shot out and gripped the doorknob. "I can do it." Keith's voice echoed in his ears faintly as he watched Keith open the door.

Keith. Shiro smiled faintly before following Pidge and Keith into the room.

"Oh hey! Bigger posse than I thought! Is Lance going to join in?" Matt asked after turning himself and the chair he was in towards them.

"No, Lance is helping to clean up the dishes. He said to just update him on it later." Shiro leaned against the wall with the large window. He looked towards the window as Pidge and Keith found their spots within the room. His mind went back to a day when Adam stood in front of the window, the curtains pulled to the sides and showing the gray clouds unleashing rain onto the world.

"Do you know why rainy days are the days I love the most?" The question from Adam had lingered in his sleep groggy mind. "Because it gives me an excuse to stay in and be with you a bit longer."

Shiro blinked slightly at hearing the tape recorder going, snapping himself out of the flashback. Matt read out loud the words from his transcript, though Shiro was able to pick up some of the words from the tape itself.

"I keep having dreams of the manor. The one covered in snow." A recorded feminine voice played from the recorder, not meshing well with Matt's "narration" voice. "I see a funeral procession heading inside the manor. Amongst the procession, I saw her. I saw my fiancé. I called out to her, but it was like she could not hear me. Then, I would wake up." Shiro frowned while picking up a gurgled male voice. He couldn't make out the words. Matt must have not been able to either. Then, the woman spoke again. "And each night, I would find myself closer and closer to the manor until last night. I entered the manor and encountered a tattooed woman." Shiro heard the tape cut off.

"That's all I got right now on that tape. Another one I'm working on has a man talking about waking up with a painful tattoo on himself and a third tape that mentions the lullaby. Who knew trying to transcribe and preserve old tapes would be such a pain?" Matt chuckled. "But, I do love myself a challenge." He grinned now. "I'll let you know when I got the others done."

"Right-" Shiro tried to say something, but he stopped himself at seeing Pidge turned towards her brother with a scowl on her face.

"Speaking of that lullaby, I've heard you hum that more than once in your sleep! And I gathered information that made it sound like people experiencing the curse sometimes did the same thing." Pidge's voice wavered, and her body trembled slightly. "So, are you cursed?" The question was now out in the open.

Shiro looked over at Keith who was frowning. Did Keith already know the answer, or was Keith worried about someone else being involved in this whole curse issue?

"Oh crude! I did not mean to worry you like that!" Matt cried out while frowning. "I mean yeah, I could see why you thought that. But see, I've just been listening to that song so much I must have started humming it in my sleep!" He outstretched his arms towards them with his palms up. "See? I don't got any markings!"

Shiro frowned slightly. "Matt, the tattoos aren't that obvious. They appear and disappear at will. You know that." He sighed softly. "I want to take your word for it. It would be better for all of us, including you, if you weren't dealing with the curse as well." He couldn't help but feel a bit of tension start in his shoulders. "Because if you are also cursed…" He wrapped his arm around his torso, cradling himself. "I would really feel helpless."

He tensed more when he felt arms around him. The tension left though upon realizing it was Matt and not some figment of his imagination. "Hey, such a handsome man like me would never get himself cursed!" Of course, Matt somehow found the capability to tease in their situation. "After all, the world still needs my presence." They both ended up laughing as Matt let go of him.

"Yes, because the world wouldn't know what to do without you." Shiro smiled faintly. "I know I wouldn't. And I'm sure Pidge feels the same."

He glanced over at Pidge, seeing a smile on her face. "Yeah, just don't let it get to your head more than it already has, Matt." Pidge joked with the smile becoming a grin. "Though seriously, stick to your day job. Your night humming freaks me out."

Matt pouted slightly. "Hey, the ladies love a good singer." He joked back and smiled at the three of them. "I'll come down in a bit and get myself some leftover breakfast. I need to talk to Keith for a few minutes."

Shiro raised an eyebrow and looked over at Keith. Keith shrugged. "Yeah, we were looking into something related to the curse. We're collaborating to make it easier to gather all the information quicker. We'll tell you about it when we come down."

"Alright. See you two in a bit." Shiro quickly headed out of the room. Hearing the rain start to come down within Adam's room only reminded him once more of Adam's smiling face that he would never see again.

He heard the door close behind him, jumping slightly. He looked over his shoulder and felt bad at realizing he forgot Pidge must have followed him out. "I wonder what they are working on?" She tilted her head while walking slightly behind Shiro. "I figured they would have mentioned working on something by now, right?"

"You would think. But, I trust them to know what they are doing." Shiro turned slightly and ruffled her hair. "Now, let's go see if Lance needs our help cleaning up."

"So, you lied." Keith scowled slightly. "You could have just told them the truth."

Matt sighed loudly. "They would have freaked out and you know it. And like I said, I just started having the dreams. I haven't had an encounter with the tattooed lady yet. So, as far as "cursed" goes, I didn't lie. I just didn't say anything about having the dreams."

Keith shook his head and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I know. Shiro wasn't too happy when I told him. But, he caught me humming and all that and well…it felt like the old days a bit." Keith smiled just barely. "When I couldn't lie well, and I always felt bad lying to him or Kuron. Then again, maybe it's just more I've gotten better about not feeling guilty."

"Who knows." Matt grinned slightly. "But, you have wanted to be close to Shiro again, or should I say Takashi?" The grin grew more, and he laughed at feeling Keith slap his arm.

"Shut it Matt!" Keith's cheeks faintly reddened. "This isn't the time for that. And besides, he's clearly still chasing after Adam's ghost. He would need to let go of his heartache before I would have a chance." Keith frowned more. "Do you think it is because of his grief that he's cursed now?"

Matt frowned while working on one of the tapes. "Well, it could be because of Adam. But, it could be because of Kuron too or his parents. He's had more than one loss in his life. If the loss still lingers inside you like a disease, then I think the Manor and its curse can use that loss against you." He tapped quickly and gently against the keys of his laptop. "What is scary is that I believe, based on previous accounts, that you don't have to visit the physical ruined manor to be cursed."

"So, you've been able to confirm that?" Keith scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "So, couldn't that mean the curse could spread like a virus? Like in that one horror movie?"

Matt shook his head. "Maybe amongst those with traumatic loss or grief they haven't dealt with. It could spread amongst them possibly. But, they say not one person handles loss or grief the exact same or even handles it again the same way." He pointed to a photo nearby the bed of Adam and Shiro. "The way Shiro deals with Adam's death has been different than how he has dealt with Kuron's death for example. It's possible the curse knows which loss will hurt the person the most and uses that one specifically."

Keith swallowed. "Like my father."

"Yeah, exactly like how the manor uses your father against you." Matt slid the chair over to the bed the best he could (curse the carpet) and placed his hand on Keith's shoulder. "Have you seen him lately?"

Keith shook his head. "No, but I'm sure I will soon. Just a feeling." He clenched and unclenched his fists. "Just like I'm sure I'm due another visit from her."

Matt looked away. "Just be careful alright?" He moved the chair back in front of the desk. "Even with your unique state and all, that doesn't mean the curse can't kill you too. And I'm not sure we want to find out what would happen to you if the tattoo covers you like it did Veronica and others before her."

"Yeah." Keith glanced down at one of his hands. "I'm less worried about that though and more so about Shiro. I heard the rumors about what happened to Kuron. I even went back to that place they found Shiro at and where Kuron went missing. It was where we used to play at as kids." He gripped his shirt slightly right above his heart. "Now it's covered in water from that dam. But, it felt different than it did back in the past. Like something had been freed…the oppressive feeling no longer there."

"Does that mean that village really did exist then? The one beyond the stones and all of that?" Keith looked over at Matt and furrowed his eyebrows.

"I can't be for sure. I never saw it myself. If it did exist though, and clearly the Manor can take images of other places into it…" He frowned, and he looked down at his feet. "Then I'm sure the Manor could bring bits of that village into it as well.

Matt nodded and opened a desk drawer. "We're lucky Shiro still has issues being in here." He gripped an old worn book, placing it on the bed with his outstretched arm. "Or else he would find out we're researching more than just the Manor."

Keith gripped the book gently in his hands, slowly opening it. "Yeah." He took a deep brief and looked at the words inside the book.

"The gate to hell is called the .

Gaze not upon the .

Eyes that glimpse the will be blinded by the .

Speak not of the .

The mouth which utters will be made speechless by the .

Listen not to the .

Those who heed the are turned heartless by the ."

"And it truly seems like that place had a curse of its own." Keith muttered while continuing to read the book. All in hopes of preparing himself, and hopefully Shiro, for what else might lie ahead.