Lance stood atop the hill at the base of Alura's statue. In front of him were a dozen of little children aliens, some of all different species. He stood proudly with a smile on his face as he told the story.
"And had Princes Alura not seen that there was still good in Anerva, we most likely would not be sitting here today." he glanced up at her stone face fare above and felt a pang in his heart. He had wished there was another way… "she grew to understand that there is good in everyone." he looked to the children's eyes with a softness one could only describe as love. Then a small Balmarien raised it's hand.
"Even emperor Zarkon?" it questioned looking up at the Hero. lance smiled down at it and nodded with a slight chuckle.
"Yes, even emperor Zarkon." but then the small Alien said something that took him by surprise.
"Do you miss her?" and lance spoke without thinking about it first.
"I do, very much." but for some reason he felt like he had lied to the young one. But he did miss her, but not as much as he might let on. There was another way, they had time to think of one, and Lance had gone over all the other way they could have saved everyone and everything, but she had chosen to leave everyone and thing without taking the time to think. She left him, without a second thought. But he kept talking. "But, i'm reminded of her everywhere i look." it was true, "so in that way, she's still very much with me." Lance closed his eyes.
He couldn't even look in the mirror without remembering that she left him like that, not with these marks on his face, he would never fit in on earth like he had ever again and he had to go through the agony of her leaving every time he looked at himself. And for that he slightly despised her, but he couldn't bring himself to hate her. Not fully. But he never let anyone know. He was the happy, the cheerful, the glass half full guy, he made sure everyone saw him that way.
"With all of us actually," he says opening his eyes back up. Then one of the small Altiens spoke up.
"Now that you no longer pilot the red lion, what do you do?" Lance felt the presence of a member in the Altien community stand next to him as he answered the girl.
"Well, i help around on the small farm with my family back on my home planet." that was a lie. He couldn't get himself to go back to earth. He hasn't not since she left. "It's the simple life, just how i like it." Pidge could go back and forth with her fancy tech without a time gap, but it aged her a bit, she told him how Earth was starting over a lot like all the other planets, all the aliens on earth were leaving. Then the woman next to him spoke.
"Alright everybody, i think paladin Lance has some place to be in a few doboshes, and you all have class to get back to." but once she says it all the children sigh and groan and 'aw' in grief. The wanted to hear more of Lance's stories. Lance chuckled a bit but nodded in agreement to the woman. He did have some place to be, he had to get ready for the feast, and they needed to set it up right where he was standing. Suddenly one of Pidges worm holes opened up near Alura's head and out came her green lion. He smiled up as his eyes followed her across the sky.
"See ya' kids letter." Lance waved and turned speeding off to the castle to see his good friend. He ran down the hill as fast as he could, as he passed Coran he tried to say something but lance was going to fast with too much momentum to listen and sped right past the man with a mustache and then tripped rolling along the grass only to spring back up and speed away again.
Lance dashed through the door heading straight for her hanger and got in right as she strode out of her lion. Lance almost fell again as he speed up to scoop her up in his arms.
"Lance!" she exclaimed as he did so and wrapped her arms around him as well. "Good to see you too man! How are you holding up?" she asks, lance sets her down and catches his breath a bit.
"Same old same old." he says with a shrug. That was a lie, since when did Lance lie so much? "I'm fine," lie. "How are you?" he asks placing an arm around her shoulder to lead her to the kitchen so Hunk and her could have a reunion.
"I'm great, me and my brother are building an artificial intelligent robot, were naming it chip! It's cute, it's got short hair and i gave it my glasses, see i'm not wearing them anymore." she points to her eyes. "Mat's coming by later, he got a haircut, you have got to see it. This might be the last time were traveling back and forth, were thinking of staying in space, doing some undercover work, though the universe may be saved, there is always crime." she says
"And what does your mom think of your plan?" Lance asks lifting an eyebrow at her, Pidge shrugs.
"She doesn't get a say, i'm basically eighteen now. Just because i'm still shorter than you doesn't mean i'm a minor." she shoves his hand off her shoulder playfully. Lance shoves his hands in his jacket pockets.
"Hey, i didn't say anything, i'm just… stating, your mom probably doesn't approve, and with the whole aging thing because of the worm holes you use to get around in, your more like twenty three." Lance ruffles the girls hair, taking note that she has grown, all the way up to his shoulder.
"Let's just go see Hunk." she smirks and takes off down the hall. "Last one there is a rotten egg!" she shouts. Lance takes off after her with a grin and they quickly reach the kitchen.
"Oh hey Hunk." Lance paints as he leans on the door way. Hunk looks up from his food and smiles.
"Pidge!" he drops what he's doing and wipes his hands on his apron as he walks over to them and scoops them both into a big bear hug. "Lance, good to see you both, except i see Lance every day, so, mostly hi to Pidge." Hunk sets them back down. "So are you two dating yet?" he asks. Lance stands straight up with wide eyes.
"What the Quiznack Hunk? No, no of course not! Where did you get that idea?" Lance waves his hands around while Pidge also says.
"Why in all of the known and unknown universe would i be dating this beanstalk?" Hunk puts his hands up in defence.
"Sorry, i just always thought you two would end up together. And now that the seed is planted it might happen." Hunk goes back to cooking.
"No way." Pidge says punching Lance's arm lightly. "Lance is still to stuck onto Alura to date anyone." she smirks up at Lance and Lance has to hide that he feels hurt. He was actually thinking about asking someone out. Should he not be moving on this quickly? Should he still be stuck on her? But he doesn't want to be. Now he's confused. What should he say?
"Guilty as charged." Lance rubs the back of his neck with a slight smile to hide his lies. "Let's talk about something else, what are we eating for dinner?" Lance asks to Hunk.
"You'll have to wait and see. Why don't you two go help get ready, the sun is gonna set soon and that's when we'll eat." both Pidge and Lance sulk down into their shoulders and turn to go help set up.
Time skip brought to you by: *physical labor.*
Laughter rang out around the table and lance tilted his head back looking at the statue as this world's fireflies surrounded her in the dark night sky. It was somewhat magical.
"But yeah, earth is almost completely void of aliens, it's sad, and my dad says stabilizing the telidove tech is nearly impossible, and that it's too dangerous to try, he would rather me stay in space then have him try and fail having it kill me." Pidge says
"That's too bad." Shiro says. "It would have really helped with the Atlas's mobility, we could have reached so many more planets. Not to mention the supplies we could have saved with the shorter journey."
"On a happy note," hunk says about to put food in his mouth "Shay and i are getting ready to finally start our restaurant in the space mall." everyone smiles and gives a small comment of congratulations. "Stuff like that is way harder than Alura made it look."
"She made everything look easy." Keith pipes up. Lance looks away from Aluras statue when he talks. He had almost forgotten he was here. Everyone again murmurs in agreement, except for lance.
"Speaking of which." Shiro cuts back in. "how are things going where you are?" he asks to Keith. Lance shrinks back a bit more, Keith was on the planet Dibitall, he was like running for mayor or something like that.
"Were running an election to select a Galran representative, and i'm, dropping out of the running." Lances eyes widened. And he gasped slightly, everyone looked at him, quick, make a sassy remark.
"Uh, classic Keith, still not ready to be a leader." he smirks and Keith grins back at him. Why is he grinning? Everyone laughs though, os the attention isn't on him.
"Instead i'm coming here, to help out around this place, clean up Lance's messes, ya' know, that kinda stuff." more laughter and Lance crosses his arms over his chest but only rolls his eyes.
"Alura would be proud of you Keith." Coran speaks up. "She always knew you were the key to the Galras future." 'wait, that's what i said, Alura never said that it was me.' Lance thinks. He narrows his eyes at his food. "Plus we do need someone to babysit Lance." more laughter, but Lance doesn't pay much attention, he's still trying to think of when Alura said anything about Keith being the future, Lance had said it when they were trapped in the game show. Not Alura. "Just around this table i see so many lives touched by her actions."
Lance suddenly thought of all the pain she caused all of them, she never meant to, but she hurt them in ways that changed them forever. All of them, Lance knew Coran was talking about good things but all lance could think about were the bad things.
"For some of us," Coran kept talking. "She was a diplomat, a teacher, a leader, a friend." a significant other, a trader, soulmate, back stabber, Lance added on in his mind. And he looked further down as Coran continued. "But to us around this table, she will always be, Family." they all nodded. Except Lance. Coran stood and raised his glass. "To, Alura!"
Lance stood with the other paladins and raised his glass repeating the words along with them, but not meaning it. He wanted to but he couldn't. He begged for his heart and soul to mean it but they wouldn't and he suddenly felt so hollow, that when he sat down, the rest of the meal he was silent. It went by quickly to him and soon he was in his room sitting on his bed. Ready to sleep. But he didn't not for hours.
He looked to his night stand and saw the photo him and Alura had taken on their first date and last day on earth. He glared and it and slammed it face down. The glass shattered and spilled onto the floor. Lance looked down at it and for a split second he felt that he should take a piece of the broken glass and press it to his skin- NO! He threw himself into his bed and curled into a tight ball, closing his eyes shut tight willing himself to sleep. But instead he heard his lion growl in his head.
He sat up and looked outside. The red lion, it's eyes were glowing, it could tell he was upset. Lance jumped up threw on his robe and slippers and ran out to red. He slid around turns in the halls trying to stay quiet, he reached out doors and ran, tears falling from his eyes, to his beloved friend. It's head bowed down and lance hugged its nose. Even though it was metal, it was still comforting. No one wanted hugs these days except hunk and red.
"Oh red. Thanks girl, your the best." Lance said softly. It purred lovingly and lance closed his eyes tighter. "What would i do without you?" it nudged him a bit and he backed up a step. "What is it?" he asked. "Turn around?" Lance looked back and Keith was standing not two yards away. "Keith!" Lance was shocked. "What are you doing here?" he asked
"Well, i heard your lion roar, and i was gonna go see what was going on, but when i opened my door you were running down the hall, i thought something was wrong, are you… are you crying?" Keith tilted his head suddenly extremely concerned.
"W-what?" Lance quickly turned away and wiped his face clean of salty tears. "No, no i'm not, i'm fine." he said defensively.
"Lance." Keith softly rested a hand on his shoulder. "It's ok to not be fine. you've been through a lot, and i'm here if you want to-" Lance turned around wrapping his arms around his dark haired friend in a hug, lance didn't want to talk, he just really needed a hug. But as soon as Keith put his arms around Lance, which was almost immediately, Lance started sobbing. "Uh, oh, eh, it's ok Lance, it's ok." Keith started to stroke Lance's hair, trying to help comfort the tall boy.
"It hurts so bad." Lance sobbed out. Keith didn't know what to do, he hugged the boy tighter and he could feel lance going limp, he lowered them both to the ground and held Lance in his arms. "It hurts Keith, i can't do it anymore."
"What hurts Lance?" Keith tried.
"Why would she leave." he cries. "She didn't really love me, she was pitying me, she left without a second thought and now everyone just expects me to be sad and hung up on her and never love ever again." Lance buries his face in Keith's shirt as he sobs. "But i need… i need." Lance broke down before finishing the thought.
"Need what?" Keith tried to cox something out of the dark skinned boy but nothing, just more tears. Keith began to rock him back and forth while rubbing his back and stroking his hair as to help him. And then, lance fell asleep. In Keith's arms. "Lance?" nothing. "quiznack." Keith stood and carried Lance back inside. Lance stirred a bit as he laid him back in his bed.
Keith waited for a minute for Lance's breathing to become steady again, then he leaned over and kissed him ever so lightly on the temple. He then turned to go but stepped on something sharp. Glass. Keith bent down and picked some up. It was from some kind of picture frame. Keith looked around and found the photo of Lance and Alura. The looked so happy. Keith quickly cleaned up the glass and took it, the frame and the photo with him and disposed of them.
Time skip brought to you by; the bonding moment, reenacted
Over the next week or so, the paladins had a some fun times, Lance smiled a lot and talked a lot, and Keith watched him. He was acting as if nothing had happened. They took happy photos and played fun games. They helped hunk pack, welcomed Mat and their dad, along with all of their nerdy research, Shiro started dating some guy and Keith re-embraces the color black.
They helped hunk move into the space mall with shay and he proposed, it was amazing, the found out Shiro had been dating the guy for longer than they thought, Lance continued to teach little aliens, but they always had more questions, he smiled the whole time. They watched as Keiths mom got elected and they threw a party, went to Hunks wedding and Shiro caught the bouquet standing next to his date.
Keith did as much service around Altiea and the surrounding planets as he could make time for, he invited lance every time, half of them he declined to. Mat and Pidge did start a cool undercover service and left Altiea and then they all got back together for a week when Shiro's wedding came around, then the two of them left on the atlas to patrol the universe. It was almost a year later when Coran sat down next to Keith.
They were outside and Keith was studying lance. Coran looked between the two of them a bit before he said anything. "So, you and Lance ay?" Keith almost fell off his seat.
"W-what? No, no nothing like that." Keith waved his arms. "No, Lance and i are not dating, not at all, nope."
"So, why are you always finding an excuses to spend time with him or watch him?" Coran tilted his head.
"I'm… observing him. Yeah, that's it, i'm just observing him." Keith tries to put his arms in a comfortable position, but fails.
"With moony eyes from a distance?" Coran asks. "Or is it like for a study, like the research things Pidge would always do?" Keith smirks slightly.
"No, it's not, well kinda, have you noticed, sometimes he covers his Altiean marks on his face with makeup? And whenever he looks at Aluras statue he gets sad, and when we talk about her he looks mad?" Coran blinks a few times. "He's upset, he doesn't know what to do with himself, he doesn't talk at dinner like he used to, and he only really likes to hang out with the little kids. Alura hurt him. And he's not healing."
"Oh." Coran looks down rather sad. "I did not realize, she truly meant that much to him?" he looks up just enough to see Keith.
"Yes. and he thinks she was only dated him out of pity, he thinks she didn't really love him. She left without even taking the time to consider a second option in turn making Lance feel like she wanted an excuse to leave him." Keith looks back at Lance with a slightly longing look. "He doesn't deserve that. He deserves so much better."
"I see." Coran stands up. "Do you think i should go and talk to him? Perhaps i might be able to-"
"No." Keith cuts him off. "No it's ok. I will do it. I don't want him to hate you if you might say the wrong thing, he already hates me, so it'll be fine." Keith says putting his hand on the older mans shoulder. Coran nods approvingly.
"You know where to find me if things go south." he nods before twirling his mustache between his fingers and walking away. Keith looks back to Lance for a while and sits back down, deciding he would go to Lance that night.
Time skip sponsored by; hiding the marks
Lance sat in his bed cross legged looking down at his hands. Why did he tell so many lies? He wasn't fine but he insisted that he was, and he wasn't happy but he put on happy faces, and he wanted to run away but he stayed and he missed earth, but he never told anyone, he even tried to forget about earth. No one would accept him there. Not anymore. He fit in here
Even that was a lie, to human for here, to alien for there, he didn't belong anywhere! Lance dug his nails into his head, is this what Keith felt like? When he found out he was Galra? No it must have been worse, the Galra were our enemies, he felt like the enemy, lance scolded himself, he needed to be grateful for what he had and stop feeling bad.
Lance hit himself in the head with his hand, first lightly, but then he did it harder and harder till it shook his brain inside his skull and he paused to pull at his hair. He rocked back and forth on his bed pulling his knees closer to his chest. He felt like he was feeling everything at once but then nothing at all at the same time and it was hurting him, it was taking his soul from his body and putting it in the blender, then trying to push it back into him again.
There came a light tap on the door and lance lifted his head from his knees. Tears running down his face. He looked over at the door, he could see the shadow of someone standing outside. But who would want to talk to him? He's not that important to wake up for an emergency, maybe someone had a complaint about something he did. That makes more sense.
But lace couldn't get himself to actually stand up and open the door, he just sat there staring at it. Like maybe if he looked at it long enough it would open. And then it did. The room filled with a light making the outline of the person just a silhouette and Lance covered his eyes as the guy walked in.
"Lance?" the voice said. But lance was to out of it to tell who it was, he blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes but he couldn't see.
"Who is it?" he asks still unable to see with the new light from the hall. The figure mumbled an apologize and closed the door behind them staying in the room. Lance let his eyes adjust quicker in the dark and saw…
"Keith?" he lifted an eyebrow and then quickly wiped off his face looking away. Keith slowly walked over to Lance's bed and sat down at the foot. "What do you want mullet?"
"Lance, are you ok?" Keith then kicked himself, of coarse Lance wasn't ok, he was crying. Lance looked at him for a moment.
"Pft, i'm fine, why do you care?" Lance crossed his arms over his chest. "What do you want from me? You wouldn't be here if you didn't want something from me." Lance says defensively. Keith frowns.
"No, i don't want anything from you." Keith says. "That's not it, i wanna help you. Dude i can tell you haven't been so hot lately and it's not good for you, it's not good for you to hide it like this. Trust me, i can help you." Lance took a nice long look at his friend.
"No." he states and stand up. "No that can't be it, no one wants to help me, you only wanna fight me, you stayed here so you could prove how much more useful you were then me, well guess what Keith, it's working, now you can go back to being your emo secluded mullet Galra self." Lance said angrily pacing back and forth slightly.
"No lance, that's not it, that's not why i'm here." Keith says standing up as well. He tries to put a hand on Lance but lance pushes it away.
"Then why the heck are you here, Keith?" lance spits a few tears running down his face. "Why don't you leave, hu? Just like everyone else, they all left, and now it's your turn, am i right?"
"No, your wrong, i'm here because i care about you, i'm not gonna leave. I wanna stay where you are Lance." Keith says letting his hands rest by his sides. Lance pauses, tears still streaming down his long face.
"What?" he asks furrowing his brow. "why?" quiznack, Keith thinks. Quick think of something to say.
"Uh, because, i… i knew you were going through a hard time, and i wanted to make sure you were ok." Keith says.
"Ok, yeah, but why? Why do you give a quiznack what happens to me or what i feel or what i'm going through?" Lance asks almost bitterly.
"Because. Because, you always cared when i was going through something, you care about what everyone feels and what happens to them, you care about everyone." Keith tries to put a hand on Lance's shoulder once again, this time Lance lets him. "Now it's time for you to get cared about." he says. Lance closes his mouth and his chin quivers, more tears spilling from his eyes. He falls to his knees.
"Keith." he mumbles putting his face in his hands. "I can't even look in the mirror without remembering what she did, what i am! Keith i miss my home, i miss my family, and i'm never gonna see it or them ever again. I can't go back and i can't stay here. I think… i think." Lance's voice trails off in his tears.
"You think what Lance?" Keith kneels with him putting both hands on his shoulders. Lance looks up at him, such an empty look in his eyes it hurts Keith to see it.
"I think i need to die." Lance says. Keith's eyes widen and he shakes his head violently. He stands up and pulls Lance with him.
"No, you don't need to die, you need to live." Keith says pulling lance to the door. "You are important and needed, everyone needs you, the kids need you, Coran needs you, the others need you, i need you, Lance."
"Where are you taking me?" lance asks, yet not pulling away. Just letting himself get dragged. Keith doesn't say, he just pulls lance through the halls. "Where the crap are you taking me?" Lance asks pulling a tiny bit.
"Just trust me lance." Keith says as they turn a corner. Lance sees the medical bay come into view and his eyes widen and he starts to struggle.
"No, Keith, i'm fine, i don't need any medication or anything! I'm fine, look i'm happy, i can be ok! Stop, i don't need help." Lance struggled and pulls at his arm but Keith kept trudging right ahead.
"Lance, you need help, and i can't give you the help you need." Lance pulled harder and fell to his knees bringing Keith down with him.
"Yes you can, i can tell you what i need and no one else will need to know, please Keith, if i'm happy their happy, i can't let them know i'm not happy." Lance begs on his knees and Keith looks into his eyes.
"Ok, what do you need, how can i help you." Keith says. He is willing to do almost anything for Lance. Anything. Lance bites his lip,
"This is gonna sound weird, but, i need more hugs." Lance shrugged. "Cuddles would be nice." he admitted looking down. Keith smiled.
"I was worried you were gonna ask me to kill someone. But that i can do." Keith went in for a hug and held lance close. Lance hugged him back and instantly felt the world melt away, his worries his pains, everything. He pushed his ear to Keith's chest, he could hear Keith's heart beating, and for some reason it was the most comforting thing in the world.
Keith then takes Lance back to his room and offers to cuddle him a bit before leaving to bed, but Lance shakes his head no. to embarrassed that he had even asked Keith for a hug. Lance laid in bed awake, but not upset, just confused. He thought he liked Allura… but she's gone, he's aloud to like other people… but did Keith count? Would all the other paladins hate them? Would he get thrown of Altiea? What if Keith doesn't even feel the same way? How the hell do i feel about this? How can i wonder if Keith feels the same way if i don't know what this way is.
Lance wrestled with his thoughts for a long time. He didn't sleep. And he didn't teach the next day either, he stayed in his room. A few people came to check on him but he wouldn't' let them in. he didn't know what to do with himself. Suddenly a familiar light tap came from the door.
"Who is it?" Lance called.
"It's Keith." Keith responded. "How you doing lance?" he didn't even ask to come in… Lance furrowed his brow and walked over to the door to talk through it.
"I'm ok, what do you want?" he asked.
"I wanna give you another hug, like i agreed to do last night, you didn't forget did you?" Keith smirks from his side of the door. "Like our bonding moment."
"Ok, just because you say it, it doesn't make it true." lance says and they both laugh. Keith turns to the door.
"Lance, come on, let's go get lunch." lance's stomach flipped. He knew Keith wasn't asking him out but it was a step in a good direction. "I'll pay."
"We don't have to pay for anything up here." lance says.
"Exactly." Keith says with a grin. "Now if we hurry we can rush to the space mall and get something from Hunk." Keith says. Lance smiles widely.
"Ok, hold on, let me get dressed." he says as he frantically tries to change his clothes into something clean. He throws on some clean clothes and they run to their lions. Once they get to the space mall they quickly find Hunks store and they sit down to eat, while they wait for their food lance starts to bite on his nails.
"Lance don't bite your nails." Keith says taking a sip of water. Lance sneers and then continues to bite his nails. "It's not good Lance, stop." Keith says. "Your gonna hurt yourself." Keith warns.
"It's fine, what do you care." Lance mumbled, Keith then suddenly grabbed Lance's hand pulling it away from his face and looked right into his eyes.
"I care about you Lance now stop hurting yourself. Replace one habit with another, like, cleaning." Keith says. "Or something. Something constructive."
"Ok." Lance says and slides his hands under his legs to keep himself from biting his nails. He studies Keith's face as Keith looks over the menu. "Can you even read that?" he asks tilting his head slightly.
"There is a lot about me you don't know, when i was in the void place, my mom taught me Altian, and Galran, fluently." he says. Lance blinks a few time.
"I gotta step up my game." Lance smirks at his friend. Keith looks up at him with a sheepish grin.
"Sadly, neither of those two languages are on this one. They have Altian on the back, but i'm looking at Balmerian and Olkarin. So i mean, your right i can't read this one. But if i read it compared to the other one's then i can translate it, in turn learning some of these two languages, sorry, i'm being boring." Keith shuts his mouth.
"No." Lance says quickly, then almost regrets it. "Sorry, i mean, you don't have to be sorry, you can talk about what you want to talk about, it doesn't matter." he nods. Keith nods back. They sit there for a second, just looking at each other, until Hunk breaks the silence.
"I was wondering when you two would show up for a meal, what can i get for you?" Hunk asks with a big smile. Lance grins up at him and Keith offers a side smile.
"Your finest food sir." Lance says with a funny voice. Hunk chuckles and nods then looks to Keith.
"And for you, lone space ranger?" Keith scoffs and squares up his shoulders as he clears his throat.
"I'll just get whatever he's getting." he smiles. Hunk nods and smiles to the both of them taking them in a bit more.
"Alright. That'll be right up." he claps his hands before turning and leaving the two of them alone.
"I thought you were looking for something on the menu." lance smirks at Keith. Keith chuckles and nods.
"Well i didn't find anything interesting, so i'm just getting what you get. That way if it's any good i won't end up with something gross, or vise versa. Ya' know?" Keith explains putting the menu to the side.
"I guess that makes sense." Lance nods. "I don't even know what i'm getting though, so this should be fun." he chuckles. Hunk brings their food out a few minutes later, it doesn't look like anything on earth, just another fancy space meal Hunk magically created, he is awesome like that. He talks with his friends for a bit, about how he has plans for a cooking empire, the joke about Hunk becoming the next Zarkon, taking over one meal at a time.
They go home, Keith gives Lance hugs every time he sees him. Even though it's a little outside of Keith's comfort zone, he does it anyway, lance needs it, so he will deliver. No matter what, some days Lance locks himself in his room, Keith sits outside and talk to him through the door, he always manages to get him to come out by the time dinner rolls around.
The go to the space mall every week or so to see hunk, after a while he's pretty famous, and has a new slogan, 'bringing the universe together, one meal at a time', they all have a good laugh over that. He also announced the soon arrival of his first born child. And lance jumps to his feet "calling" god father, Hunk allows it.
They see Pidge and mat once or twice before it's almost been a whole nother year, their family is basically the new police force, universally known. But also not known, it's strange, but it's cool. Lance grows taller then Keith again and Keith just laughs it off when he tries to shove it in his face. Lance is slowly getting better, but it still hurts, hiding his mark become a regular for him.
"So why do you cover them?" Keith finally asks. Lance shrugs and continues to garden. "Oh come on, you know, why wont you tell me?"
"Because you already know." Lance says plainly. Keith huffs and lays down in the grass. "Don't act like that, you are an adult, deal with it." Lance throws a little dirt at him and Kith jumps up to brush himself off.
"I'm just saying, it's good to talk about it. Even if i do know, that doesn't mean you shouldn't talk about it." Keith says. Lance huffs and sits back on his heels.
"I cover them because i can't stand the sight of them. There are you happy?" Lance looks over to Keith as he sits back down on the hill next to Lance.
"But why?" Keith coxes. Lance stands up and kicks the small pile of dirt back into the hole he dug and scowls at it.
"A lot of reasons." Lance says with a small shrug.
"Care to share some with me?" Keith stands up as well and frowns at the fact of how short he is compared to Lance.
"Well, first off, Alura put them there." Lance glances to her statue. It was being repainted as they spoke. "And it's not that i have anything against her, it's just, i don't really have the best memories of her last moments, ya' know?" Keith nodded as if to say keep going. "And, it reminds me of how i'm not who i used to be." he frowns down. "I was happy with being the happy go lucky sharpshooter boy from Cuba. But now, i'm the man who loved the princess, a lasting piece of her memory. No one knows the other side of me."
"I do," Keith nudges him. "I know the finger guns and bad puns guy who wanted to pick a fight with the cool guy, kid." he smirks and Lance chuckles. "What else Lance?" he asks and they both sit back down putting Alura behind them.
"I wanna go home?" Keith lifts an eyebrow at his friend on this one. "Earth home. I want to go to the beach, dance in the rain, see my family, enjoy the sun, the grass, the earth, ya' know? And i get it, this planet has most of those things but it's still not earth, i want to see my blue sky, my green sea, my home town. Ok maybe not Cuba… but… earth." Lance leans back on his elbows.
"What does that have to do with the marks?" Keith pokes Lance's cheek under his eye and Lance giggles a bit and quickly covers it up by clearing his throat.
"I can't go home. That's why, i'm not human anymore, i can't live on earth, Pidge said, there were no more aliens on earth, they started over, flip phones and channel TV Keith, the garrison is gone and she said it's like they erased most of our life times from history, we literally can't go back, they don't know who we are, none of them, i wont have family, they'll all be dead, and all i'll have, is my lion, but i cant bring my lion on earth when they barely know what the moon is like, Keith, i can't go back. And these stupid little blue things on my face just keep screaming it at me, every time i see them."
"I'll get you back." Keith stands up and Lance lifts an eyebrow at his friend as he brushes off his pants. "I'm gonna get you back to earth, i'll find a way, don't worry." Keith then turns and walks back to the castle, leaving lance to finish his gardening by himself.
"Well ok then mister mysterious emo man, HEY!" Lance yells at him. "The 80's called they want their angst back!" but Keith was too far to hear, so he only grabbed the attention of a few other gardeners near by.
Time skip brought to you by, Lance cant come up with anything better
"We can what?" lance's jaw dropped. It had been almost six months since Keith walked off with a promise of getting Lance back to earth, and Lance had only seen him once every other day, Keith had been busy.
"We can go to earth." Keith says again with a nod. "I figured it out, i got in touch with Pidge and mat, they held out, yeah, time has passed, about a decade or so but we can go to earth. And no… none of the others wanna come with. Their all busy, i'm sorry." Keith looked down, but Lance's face lit up.
"Who cares! Were going to earth! And dude, you need to shave." Keith looked up at his happy friend and felt his chin, yeah, he might have let himself go a bit while working on getting lance to earth, but come on, he had other things on his mind.
"I'll shave." he says. "Your not upset no one wants to go to earth with us?" he asks a bit confused.
"Not really, i didn't expect anyone too, they all have lives now. Weeeeeeee, Don't." Lance says. "Which means, we can just freaking drop whatever we want and go! I'm gonna pack, when can we leave?" Lance jumps up to his feet.
"Lance calm down, were gonna leave first thing in the morning, but it is gonna take us about six more months to get there, all telladove tech is down, unstable, we could get launched into another reality if we try, so we'll have to take the long way." Lance just nods.
"Awesome, i'm gonna go pack up my lion, you better do the same." Lance claps his hands. "Last one packed is a rotten egg!" he shouts and then takes off down the hall to his room.
That night, lance didn't sleep, he was filling his lions cockpit with literally everything, he had all of his earth stuff he got from the space mall stored in there, along with as much space stuff he could get, they made a stop at the space mall on their way out, and lace bought almost everything, he already had a cow, so he left the rest there, but literally everything else, a bucket of neck ties, gummy bears whip cream mistletoe, crayons, pillows, whipped cream, hair brushes, clothing, make up, books, movies, everything. And put it in his lion. Keith said he was crazy, but it all came in handy on the six month ride to earth.
Over the years in space, lance and Keith had both been saving up money, and though Aliens didn't go to earth anymore, they could still exchange their space currency for earth currency, american dollars, so when they did reach earth, Leaving their lions on the moon, and taking a small space craft down, they had all the money they could need, they became basically the richest people in america, they traveled around the us a bit and mastered making fake ID's, but then Lance said he wanted to settle down near a beach, where it would be warm, so they headed to Florida, to find where they would stay, though they had money, they only let themselves use a certain amount a month, to keep a low profile.
So even though they could have paid for a house in cash, they decided to seek out an apartment, under a certain price range. Keith and lance basically made a pact not to spend over a certain amount every month, but lance put in a loop hole, saying, unless a big Holiday was that month. Such as christmas, or a birthday, and Keith reluctantly said yes. So the two headed off to Florida, with fake names, Kaden, and Jared, and Lance even got himself a job, online, it's complicated.
