"Take me to him now," Lotor said through his screams, Allura and Coran grabbed him and helped him towards the medical rooms. I chased after them, I needed to know what was happening, what was happening to Lance? The rest followed shortly behind, crew members rushed to the screams but quickly moved out of the way.
The doors slid open where a doctor was trying to understand the convulsing, while Veronica cried in the corner.
"Move," Lotor ordered before touching his fingers of his right hand to Lance's forehead and the fingers of his left hand to Lance's chest. He was still struggling through screams.
The shaking stopped, but Lance shot up and started screaming, the sounds of someone slowly ripping him apart, I dropped to the ground trying to drown it out. Lotor embraced Lance, I could see him mouthing things to him, and slowly, Lance's eyes opened his screams stopped.
"Lotor where are we, they are so close, they look so real," Lance said clinging onto Lotor.
"Lance it worked," Lotor said, pulling Lance away from him, they touched foreheads. I wanted to push Lotor out of the way. Lance was mine, not his.
"We are in our reality? We really are? How many years has it been?" Lance asked, his focus was entirely on Lotor, like no one else mattered.
"Seven, seven years since we stopped my mother," Lotor said, tears in his eyes, Lance reached up and wiped them away.
"Seven years, we have time, we can stop it, we can stop them," Lance said, tears coming down his own cheeks now.
"And they can stop hurting you," Lotor beamed back, I had no idea what was happening.
"Who is hurting Lance?" I stood unable to keep quiet anymore, and if Lance screams were reminiscent of the pain whoever was causing him I would rip the tormentor to shreds.
"Keith?" Lance said before turning to me. "Keith!" Lance jumped up and threw himself into me, causing me to fall backwards into the wall.
"You are safe, you are alive," he planted kisses around my face to my surprise.
"I think you mean you are alive, you have been dead for ten years," I said not wanting to push him away, but I had to, none of this made sense.
"Lance-" Veronica choked out, Lance's head spun fast, meeting his sisters eyes.
"Veronica," he let go of me and hugged her, they hadn't seen each other in forever, I may have selfishly yelled at the universe for bringing Lance back to me in the center of realities, but Veronica has witnessed her brother die too many times now. When he first disappeared from Earth they were devastated, but the video streamed by the Holt's brought hope to the hearts of the McClains, only to learn that Lance sacrificed himself for us, then for us to tell stories of him in the center of realities. They did not deserve this kind of pain.
"You were dead, you have been dead for so long, but you are right here," Veronica said stroking her brother's slightly longer hair.
"I am so, so sorry, I thought I was dead too, that was until we met them in the center of realities, I never stopped thinking about you, or mom or anyone, you know I saw abuelos, ellos estan mas bien," he said, his voice filtering into that irresistible accent.
Shiro grabbed my shoulder and and arm helping me up, we all had happiness plastered on our faces.
"It has been three days since the anomaly, you seem to be doing just fine," the doctor said checking all of Lance's vitals and systems.
"That's great then right?" Lance said, he asked everyone out except for myself, Veronica, and Lotor. I kept my eyes trained on Lotor, what happened in there? What did Lance do to make Lotor into a good guy? What happened between the two of them, they shared a lot of intimate interactions, but I couldn't tell if it was romantic or not.
"Yes, it is, I am just worried, your scans are picking up weird frequencies, unlike Lotor," the doctor said, what did weird frequencies mean?
"If my heart is beating and my lungs are making me breathe then I think all is well," Lance said standing up, Veronica tried to encourage him to sit, but he refused.
"I have been somewhere for ten years, somewhere I thought I was dead for most of it, and the other part I never thought I would be able to escape," both Lance and Lotor eyes glazed over darkly, before Lance quickly recovered. "I don't want to spend any more time away from my families."
"I received word from Shiro that we can return home with Pidge in ten days," Veronica said, Lance led us into the hallway of the Atlas.
"It's bigger than I expected," Lance touching the walls and dancing through the halls.
"Expected?" I asked, Lance grabbed my hand, intertwining each of his fingers with mine.
"I have seen a lot of things, we will talk about it some other time, but let's just say there's little I don't know about this reality," Lance said planting a kiss on my cheek. I held my cheek in surprise, it's been seven years. How long had it been for him?
"Well Shiro is asking for us to meet him in the conference room, Hunk and Shay prepared food for all of us," I said, being dragged around the halls by Lance. Lotor and Veronica staying as close as possible.
"Ahh yes I have to congratulate Hunk and Shay, Shiro and Curtis, and of course Allura and Merken, oh and Veronica I know all about your feelings for Acxa, when are you going to propose? I proposed to my love while I was dead, you are pretty far behind," he said laughing, and my mind just lingered on all of the things he was saying, he knew about it all, what was the space between realities?
"Oh come on you old grump, don't tell me you don't believe in happiness, if you are going to be my partner you are going to have to be a bit happier than this," Lance yanked me close to him, his forehead against mine.
"Lance's it's just been so long, I am still not understanding what's happening-" I started.
"So are you not happy to see me?" he asked, his eyes growing serious.
"Of course I am-" I said before he cut me off again.
"Then be happy, you said it's been seven years, smile a little, you are only twenty eight, and you are half-galra, I know you don't age that fast," Lance said, he was still acting seventeen.
"So did you age while in this space between reality?" I asked, because if he was still eighteen then that would be a little weird.
"Time works strange there, but I can assure we have aged in our own ways," Lotor said before Lance could. That is true, when Lance first woke you could tell he was peppered with pain and experience. I wondered if all of this was once again a front.
"Lance this way," Veronica called, guiding us towards the conference room.
"Come on Keith you are so slow, I need to see Pidge and Hunk," and there we were running again.
I watched Lance burst through the conference room doors and dive into Hunk and Pidge who had been conversing.
The three of them erupted into laughter and tears, I have to admit, Lance had a point, I should stop being so worried, and just let myself be happy, but he still didn't explain much. How was he here? Where was he? How did he find us in the center of realities? Who was hurting him? What was Lotor to him? I thought as I glared at Lotor who looked over Lance with happiness. I hadn't ever really gotten to know Lotor, but I knew I didn't trust him.
He looked over at me, and stared straight into me, so much so that I actually felt violated, I scoffed and turned away.
"Glad to see you back to being the Lance we once knew," Shiro said sitting at the table, inviting everyone else to sit as well. Acxa joined, hugging Lotor before sitting next to Veronica. Shay and Curtis joined well, Lance toasting to the them and to Allura on her new partner.
"So you I see the space between realities told you plenty about our lives, how about yours," Allura asked, Lotor and Lance both tensed.
"Oh not much, very boring over there, wouldn't recommend," Lance said laughing it off and digging into the food. "Oh yeah Hunk, I like warless universes, I mean you have perfected these garlic knots."
Hunk laughed punching him in the arm warmly, the table continued sharing some stories, as if Lance had just been out of town for a few years and missed out on some action, but like nothing changed, but my heart was aching, so much had changed, he was different, he just wasn't going to admit it.
"Well please make yourselves comfy here, can go to New Altea early and prepare for the celebrations, the universe has been rather quiet lately," Shiro said, he was smiling too, happy to see the family whole again, the family that had been one person short, short of the person who brought all the happiness.
"Indeed what is it you call the celebration, I believe I finally have that big statue I always wanted," Lance said standing tall, in the exact shape of his statue.
"Mine too, surprisingly," Lotor said, standing with his back to Lance's just like the actual monument.
"Yes, I can tell you have seen in the rift, we call it L&L day, in remembrance of the sacrifice both of you made, you lost families in the war, and without you we wouldn't have won," Allura says offering an answer to Lotor, I had also been skeptical, I wasn't particularly a fan of Lotor getting to be part of the day, but he was the one who told his mother how to fix what she broke. Lance only shared the day because the day he sacrificed himself was lost in the timeline after the crew realized they had been blasted three years from the event.
"It is a universe celebrated holiday remembering the war, the sacrifices people made everywhere for peace," Shiro said, the day always so bittersweet, remembering those we lost but celebrating what we gained. I looked to Lance, his eyes were on mine too.
"Well please make yourselves comfy on the ship, the crew needs to get back to work, we will wormhole tomorrow for New Atlea. Lance, Lotor, let us know if there is anything we can do for you to make your transition more comfortable," Shiro said before excusing himself, Curtis and Veronica following in pursuit.
Lance elbowed Acxa and lifted his hand like a cat and made a purring noise, which got him an elbow in the gut, "Don't think just because I thought you were dead I am going to go easy on you now blue eyes."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Lance said standing up, walking over to me and getting on one knee. Great what the hell was he doing now. "Keith Kogane will you do me the pleasure of taking the red lion out later, she misses us."
I processed the words for a second, the red lion misses them? I guess that made sense, no one really flown the lions in a while. Sometimes Hunk takes out yellow, but not very often. Pidge used to fly hers a lot, before she retired to work on Earth.
"Uhh, yes sure," I said, blushing a bit, by the stars I was twenty-eight why was I getting so worked up over this kid?
"Great, pick you at 7, don't get too dolled up for me," he winked before grabbing Hunk and Shay's hands before running off somewhere.
"Still blushing, it's been seven years," Pidge scoffed at me.
"Oh shut it you little Gremlin," I said reaching out tackle her.
"It is great seeing him tease you, thank you for letting him laugh again," Lotor said cryptid before leaving.
"He is quite curious isn't he?" Coran said eyeing the purple alien walk away.
"He doesn't have hate in his heart, but neither love," Acxa said lightly, I turned towards her, she always told me she had a deeper connection with Lotor, he had rescued her many years ago. "He is different, he has been through so much more pain, it is very unfortunate."
My heart fell, if Lotor had been through pain, then Lance must have too.
"So are you two going to finally run off and get married?" Pidge said again having slipped away from me last time.
"Pidge, please it's been seven years, there's quite a bit of catching up to do," I yelled trying to slide across the table to get her.
"Yeah, yeah, seven years, we all know that you only have heart eyes for him, and don't think we didn't figure out what those bracelets mean," Pidge said running around the table, seriously this gremlin.
"It is true, the bracelets hold a lot of meaning for the McClain family, will you propose to him?" Acxa asked grabbing my shoulder, telling me to give on chasing Pidge.
"Propose to him?" I asked looking down at Acxa's wrist, a blue bracelet. "Wait you and Veronica?"
She blushed a little before regaining her composure, "you wear both bracelets."
"What does that mean?" I asked, glancing at the bracelets, I had never really thought about that, everyone in the McClain family only bore one, the other belonged to their significant other.
"I do not know, I do not even think Veronica or the rest of the McClain's have an answer for you, Lance was always the strange one," Acxa said laughing, landing a heavy hand in my back.
"You have time Keith, don't feel like you need to rush things," Allura said, smiling at us before she stood and left the room.
"I am not teasing this time, I promise, anyway, something that neither of you had a chance as was young love, you always danced around it when you did know each other, and right now it seems like Lance wants to forget about his time in the reality prison, and be with you," Pidge said pushing up her glasses.
"Number five has a point, we can all tell the 'reality prison' as Pidge calls it was not very friendly, and your time without Lance since he admitted his feelings hadn't been easy on you, perhaps you both need some fun," Coran said, before bowing out himself.
"Not too much fun though, or else you are grounded," Pidge said whipping her finger through the air, I dove across the table tackling her for real that time.
"See I knew you still had fun, young Keith in you, still brooding, but at least fun," Pidge said laughing as I tickled her. I rolled my eyes, I had been away from them for too long, and of course it is Lance to bring us together again, it is always Lance.