Breathe in, breathe out. In, out, never look back. Smile, laugh, recede. Put on your mask.

Lance blearily opened his eyes, castle alarms blaring. He groaned, less than eager to get up.

"Get up, Lance! Zarkon won't give a quiznak about stupid sleep! You can't disappoint your team like this! GET UP!"

Lance jolted awake, falling from his bed. One groan, two, then he donned his armour, bayard, and proceeded to the bridge. When he arrived, he was met by each of the impatient faces of his team. Hunk looked slightly concerned, why was he…? Wait. In his haste he forgot to check the mirror to put his smile in place, shit, he must look awful. He mustered up his strength, and sent a half convincing smile to his team. They did not seem pleased.

"Lance, you must be on time for once. You are lucky this was simply a drill. You need to be more serious about our missions, I know you miss your Earth, but that is no excuse to act foolish."

Allura.

"Lance, the princess is right. I understand you miss home, we all do, but you have to take these things seriously. We are the universe's only hope. We can't afford to be late."

Shiro.

"Lance, stop acting so childish all the time. You aren't the only person on this team you know. Stop acting so damn selfish."

Pidge.

"Lance, why can't you work harder? We get it already; you don't have anything important to do. Stop whining and acting like a baby! You have it easy. I train, Hunk fixes, Shiro practices, Pidge works. What do you do? Nothing! You sit around and bug us! You are a pest, a nuisance."

Keith.

"M'sorry Lance, but… they're right. You don't really help out. I don't like to say it but… if you could just try to be more serious? Like… well… Y'know…"

Ouch. That hurt.

Hunk. His best friend.

More like Keith, right? He wanted to say it. He really did. His soul cracked a little more at every word thrown. But he's already wasted enough of their time. He smiled, voice sounding weak even to him.

"Hey, hey… I know I'm popular and all, but could you stop crowdin' please?"

They scowled. Uh-oh.

"Look, I'm sorry… I won't let it happen again." He repeated for...how many times has it been? He had lost track long ago. He was hollow, wanting nothing else but to shrink away from the withering look his teammates settled on him. They seemed to accept the answer, but fixed him with a glare. A warning.

He wasted no time in hurrying to his room, first walking out of the room casually, as not to raise suspicion, but once he was out of sight, he broke into a sprint as quick as his legs would take him. When he reached the door, he closed it, locked it, and sank to the floor, breathing rapid, shuddering gasps. Thank whatever god was out there that these walls were soundproof. Fat tears began to stream down his face as he let out a sob.

"Why can't I do anything right? I try so, so hard, but it never works! I'm useless, stupid, re- replaceable." He cried out.

His words were interrupted by a barrage of hiccups and sobs that shook every fiber of his being.

Pest, Childish, Nuisance, Selfish, Foolish, Immature, Unimportant…

Not like Keith.

Never like Keith.

His throat began to constrict, breathing becoming rapidly more difficult. He grabbed fistfuls of hair, violently pulling as he struggled to breathe. More tears. More ugly, broken, sobs. He was in so much pain, so alone. Another sob, broken, desperate.

"Please… someone… anyone...help me." A whisper that fell on deaf halls, each one more empty than the last, with the rest of the team smiling, laughing over dinner.

No one noticed Lance was missing.