The Ghost (A Voltron Fanfic)

Chapter Four

BONUS FLUFF MATERIAL

"Are there any poptarts left?" Keith asked quietly, sitting on the counter where Lance told him to stay, (just in case he tried walking around with his new blindness). Lance looked through the cupboards.

He shook his head. "No, I can't find any," he frowned. He turned around and glanced at him. "What about a fruit or vegetable?  You haven't been doing very well lately."

A simple 'no' was thrown his way and he sighed, searching the cupboards again. "What about a granola bar?"

"Uh, sure," Keith answered, taking the bar from Lance's out stretched hand. With the arm of Lance around his waist, he jumped down from the counter and followed his lead out of the kitchen.

CHAPTER FOUR

The group sat in the common room, silent with the exception of Keith unwrapping a granola bar. Everyone could tell he was emotionally broken, with the exhaustion and the constant fear weighing him down. Lance sat next to him, legs touching and hand on his shoulder to make his presence known.

Shiro cleared his throat. "So, Keith's really freaked out, beyond exhaustion, he's hallucinating, and more..." he faltered off, then turned to Keith. "What all have you been experiencing?"

"Uh," Keith swallowed hard, recalling it all. "At first the lights flickered a lot, I had a really bad nightmare last night-"

Lance interrupted, sitting up straight. "Wait, the lights follow flickering?" Keith nodded slowly, face turned in Lance's direction. Lance nodded, sitting back slowly. "Okay, sorry, continue."

"I feel like I've never slept in my life," Keith groaned, leaning back to lay on Lance, head on his shoulder. "And, um, I saw a creature when cleaning the equipment."

Shiro nodded, grim. Pidge butt in at this point, asking a few questions to get a better idea of the situation. "Shiro said he heard you screaming in there and that everything looked normal besides you pressed into the corner... what exactly did you see?"

"The lights dimmed and started to flicker and-" he shuddered, "this creature stood at the other end of the room when the lights flickered back on and then it was closer and the lights turned off and there was the noise and-" He was crying, visibly disturbed by what happened. He shook as Lance wrapped his arm around him, trying to calm him.

Pidge was thinking, not looking at Keith. "Okay," she muttered to herself. "So you were seeing something Shiro wasn't seeing-"

"Hallucinations, we've thought of this already," Shiro said.

Pidge looked up at him. "Yes, but we should still know this full situation. Allura, are you writing all this down?"

"Yeah," the princess confirmed, scribbling away.

Pidge nodded. "Okay, and Lance," he looked over, "you saw Keith after he collapsed." A nod. "Did you see anything he saw?"

Lance shook his head. "We carried him to the bed and I went back to working on my email," he said.

"Anything unusual happen?" Shiro asked, now curious.

Lance shrugged. "The lights started flickering, I guess."

"And Keith saw the lights flickering," Hunk mentioned. "Have you seen anything else?"

Lance shook his head. "I'll tell you if I do, though." He paused. "Do you think it'll haunt me too?"

Everyone was quiet. Keith bit down on the granola bar, the crunch echoing. "Can we find something to reverse the hallucinogen?" He asked, mouth full.

"I'll start looking into it and try to put something together," Coran answered.

Shiro sighed. "Okay, in the mean time, everyone keep an eye on Keith," he turned to Lance. "Keep an eye out for anything strange and if you start to experience the same things, let one of us know and we'll keep an eye on both of you."

Lance nodded. "Okay," he said, "We'll stay in my room then." Keith crumbled up the granola bar wrapper and let Lance hold his elbow as they both got up. Keith didn't know where he was going but he trusted Lance to guide him, losing that trust completely as he tripped on one of the stairs out of the common room.

"Okay," he yelled. "Who else wants to guide me?"

**********

"Wake me up if you notice me having a nightmare," Keith said for the third time. He was crawling into Lance's bed, curling up next to his boyfriend. "Promise?"

Lance smiled, rubbing circles on the red paladin's arm. "I already promised," he reminded. "Now go to sleep. I'm right here,"

"Okay," Keith muttered, drifting off. He fell asleep right as he head hit Lance's shoulder.

Laying his own head on Keith's, Lance looked around the room, finally finding peace. It was only a few minutes later that the lights flickered off and on quickly, and a voice rang out from the hall.

"Lance?" Coran called, obviously not realizing Keith was sleeping. "Laaaaance?"

Lance groaned quietly, being delicate as he removed himself from Keith and the bed. His heart ached as he stepped away, wanting so badly continue cuddling him. He walked out of the room, tiptoeing, and heard the door shut behind him. "Coran?" He called.

"Lance!" Coran responded, the voice coming from the infirmary and lab. "Could you give me a hand in here?"

Lance scratched the back of his neck, confused as he walked into the room. "Sure, but couldn't you get someone else's-" Lance stopped, seeing no one in the room. "Coran?" The door shut behind him and an audible click echoed the room. "Um, hey!" Lance shouted, hitting the door to see if it would open. "Is anyone out there?"

The lights flickered and the air thickened, the cold sending a shiver down Lance's spine. "This isn't funny guys," Lance called, fear growing in his chest. "Guys?" The lights flickered again, but this time a figure could be seen in the corner of his eye. "Hello?" Then the lights shut off.

Lance felt only what he could imagine was the fear that Keith felt in the training room. He could feel the presence of the figure, its unseen eyes staring at him. He swallowed heard, stepping back into the wall behind him. The cracking noise that Keith described was worse than Lance assumed, it sounding like bones snapping, and it was getting closer. A sob welled up in Lance's throat as he slammed his hand on the door. "HELP," he cried out. Two white orbs opened like eyes a few feet from him, coming from the snapping noise.

The air in the darkness was getting hard to breathe, Lance taking deep and quick breathes. The creature was close. It had no footsteps, only the eyes growing closer. Lance began to panic, sweat beading up on his skin. His head grew light and white spots clouded his vision. He no longer could see the eyes, the orbs camouflaged in with the white.

He choked out a cry as he felt hot nails scrape through his shirt and into his collar. The pain spread to his chest and his knees buckled. He collapsed, losing consciousness.