Author note: Okay, here goes nothing. Hi! I'm Jeanie, and as you can see, I'm new here! This will be my first fanfiction on this site, so feedback (positive and negative) will be very helpful. Without any further ado: my first story!

Disclaimers: I do not own, nor do I claim to own any of the characters in this story. (There is only one, minor character that I created for the purpose of the story.)

Chapter one:

(Keith's POV)

I… I still can't believe it. Well, I guess after everything that has happened, I can believe it. I just can't accept it. I don't want to…

But, no matter how many times I close my eyes and beg for it not to be true, Shiro is still gone. Lost somewhere. Alone.

I shake my head in an attempt to get rid of those poisonous thoughts. It doesn't really work. I had locked myself in my room, after we found out that the black lion was empty. That was probably three days ago. At least I think it was three. I don't really care anymore and I'm sure the others aren't doing any better. No one has knocked on my door yet, so I'm assuming that they need some space too. This situation is so messed up! I mean, we defeated Zarkon.

Actually defeated him. We were supposed to be celebrating! But, instead we're all mourning.

You want to know the worst thing about this? All I can think about is myself. One of my closest friends disappears, and all I can do is worry about myself.

I'm so disgusted with myself -

A sudden wave of pain shoots through my body. I curl up into a little ball, biting down on my lip. I wait it out, or at least I try to. I let out a gasp as another wave of pain hits me. Slowly the blinding pain begins to subside. I take a deep breath in and try to relax my sore muscles. This makes it the fifth time in an hour. It's getting worse…

The pain has been going on for about four or five weeks now, steadily growing more and more intense. At first I barely noticed it, but now, now the pain was nearly unbearable.

I slowly sit up, catching my reflection in the mirror. I look like shit. My eyes have dark bags under them and my hair is a mess. I jump up the second I notice it, nearly tripping over my own feet. I freeze, horrified by the monster staring back at me: dark purple fur covers three quarters of my face with one glowing, yellow eye. The purple still spreading

'No… no, no, no!' I start internally screaming. 'How is this happening? I thought I was only part-Galra!? How… oh no, I feel dizzy-'

I fall backwards, hitting my head on the side of the bed.

The last thing I remember is the sound of someone's voice yelling through the door.

(Lance's POV)

'I really haven't seen anyone these past few days.' I think to myself as I absent-mindedly walk trough the castle. I don't really know what to do with myself – this loneliness is really not good for me. But I don't want to bother anyone, not right now. Not when the wound is still so new. I sigh as I'm pulled under the waves of depression.

Everyone has something to keep them distracted.: Pidge, hasn't stopped tinkering on her countless new creations. Totally losing herself in her work.

Hunk has been baking a lot. There are some pretty impressive and delicious looking stuff, though no one really has an appetite for; anything. Anymore.

Princess Allura, wanders around the castle like a ghost, leaving Coran all one on the bridge.

And Keith, well Keith just locked himself in his room. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him at all .

'Maybe I should go check up on him?' I think to myself as I turn right down the next hallway. The hallway that leads to our rooms. I stop right in front of his room, when I hear commotion coming from inside. It… it almost sounds like he's having a panic attack. I open the door just in time to see him fall over and hit his head. Well, I didn't really see him fall, because the lights were off.

I rush forward to see if he is alright, flicking on the lights as I go. I stop dead in my tracks, this isn't Keith. The person laying on the floor is Galra, that much I'm sure of. The tell-tale purple fur, bat-like ears, claws, the whole thing. Only this one was wearing Keith's clothes. And he kind-of looks like Keith – if you look at him from a certain angle... Okay, he looks exactly like him, only purple. All of this can only mean one thing, that this is actually Keith.

'Okay, calm down Lance. You know that Keith is part-Garla. No need to freak out. Your friend needs you.' I tell myself as I kneel down to make sure he didn't hurt himself too much.

'Yeah, I did know that he is Garla, but I didn't know that he can look like one too…'

I carefully lift his head to check for any signs of blood. I let out a sigh of relief when I find none. 'Luckily the idiot didn't crack his skull.' I think to myself as I carefully pick him up off of the floor. I look down at him once I am fully upright. 'He feels so...small. So helpless.' A feeling of intense guilt swells up in my chest. 'How long has he been hiding this? Why would he still feel the need to hide?'

I silently debate whether I should take him to the med Bay or not. Finally I decide it would be best to get him checked out. Maybe someone will have an idea of how to help him. The bundle in my arms started stirring. I look down, he isn't fully awake yet, and seems rather confused. The second he realised where he was and what had happened, his eyes shot open and he jumped up, trying to get away from me. And it really worked, as I hit the wall on the other side of the room with a thud. Keith, standing by the foot of his bed. One glowing - Galra eye, and one human.

"Hey, calm down. It's just me, Lance." I say in an attempt to calm him. For a moment it looks like I had gotten through to him. That moment was short-lived.

A tear ran down his right cheek, from his one human eye. That alone made me panic, but what he says nearly stopped my heart.

"Run..."

Okay, how was that? (Any and all feedback is much appreciated)

Here's a list of songs that I listen to while writing this. (I almost always listen to music while writing, to help me express the emotions of characters and situations better. So I thought that it would be nice to list them after each chapter. Just for fun. I hope that it can give anyone who reads my story a better or deeper understanding of what is happening.)

Starset: Satellite

Starlight

(these two will probably be listed the most, because I love them)