"The good news is that he is alive. He kept crashing on the table but he were able to restart his heart each time, his pulse is weak but it's there. We fixed everything we could while we were in there so now it is up to him. He should have died out there, he had to have been there for at least 2 hours, he's a fighter for sure. If you follow me I'll take you to his room" He said before leading the two distraught people to the ICU. The doctor opened the door inviting the two in and Allura had to turn away at the sight of Lance. His whole body bandaged and in casts, his head wrapped up, and the only visible part of his face was full of tubes and unrecognizable under the swelling and bruises. Keith walked over and just looked him over his vision getting blurry through tears.

"When will he wake up?" Keith asked looking over at the doctor. He wanted nothing more then to tell him he was sorry for everything and to just hear his voice again.

"That's the bad news.. we don't know. The trauma to his head was severe and according to his brain scans he has decreased function."

"So what does that mean?" It was Allura who spoke up having calmed down a bit.

"It means he may have some.. deficits if not complete brain death." Keith looked over at the doctor like he was crazy.

"So.. even if he wakes up, which may be never, he could be a vegetable? Is that what you're saying?"

"Keith calm down" Allura moved to soothe him but he shoved her away.

"You spent hours saving his life for what?" Keith's voice was steadily raising. "He wouldn't want to live like that. " The doctor put his hands up stopping Keith.

"I'm sorry I don't have better news, I told you as much as we know. There is a possibility he could wake up perfectly fine. We don't know.. It's hard in these cases. We will keep monitoring his brain waves.. as of now his brain has shut down enough putting him into a comatose state which is normal after a trauma like this. It allows the brain and the body time to heal. It's a waiting game right now"

Keith turned away from the doctor his stomach twisting in rage. Not at the doctor but at the situation, at Lance.

"What happened?" Keith asked turning around. Was he not looking when he crossed the road?

"You may have to speak to the police about it more, all I know is he came in with multiple blunt force traumas and broken bones. "

"So a car accident?" Allura asked and he shook his head.

"The injuries aren't consistent to an accident or even a hit and run, the way his breaks are completely different throughout his body, I'd go as far to say he was beaten pretty bad."

"Beaten? Like.. people did this? Someone did this to him?" Keith asked the disbelief evident in his voice. Who would hurt someone like this?

"The police are outside if you would like to ask them questions, I don't want to give any false ideas for I am not sure. All I know is he is lucky to be alive right now and if he does survive the night he will have a long painful road of recovery ahead of him. These next few hours are crucial. If he makes it through the night his chances of survival will increase tremendously. I would stay with him, just in case these are his final hours." The doctor excused himself leaving the two alone. The only sounds in the rooms were the beeps of the multiple machines.

Allura couldn't see Lance like this anymore and left after the doctor. Keith pulled up a chair next to his bed and sat down. He was scared to breath to hard as if he'd hurt him.

"Lance.. I.. " He barely got two words out before he was choking ob sobs. How had this gone so so wrong so fast? He got a sick feeling realizing the nightmare on the plane had been a warning. A warning to keep Lance close or he would lose him and here they were, Lance dying in front of him.

"Excuse me Doctor!" Allura called after him. He turned around hearing her call.

"Please, call me Doctor Holt. What can I help you with?"

"Lance, he's a dancer. He does ballet and he just got into this Academy he's been trying so hard for years to get into and he's only been there a week and now this happened.. Are his legs okay? Can he dance still if he wakes up?" She knew if Lance couldn't dance anymore he would wish he had died, Lance didn't care about anything else .

Dr. Holt took a deep breathe and rubbed his chin a bit.

"I.. don't know what to tell you.. His right kneecap was fractured in so many places and his left hip had quite a bit of damage as well. If he goes through Physical Therapy I could expect him getting about.. 80% of function back if he's lucky."

"80%..? That's it? Is that enough? I mean, will he be able to even land a leap with only that much?" The doctor looked pained for not knowing the answer.

"I think we need to focus on the fact he's alive and figure these things out as they come."

Allura thanked him before heading back to his room. She would have cried if there were anymore tears left but the sadness started turning to rage thinking about the monsters who would have done this to him. Someone so innocent and so good. He hadn't done anything to deserve this. She came back in and was surprised to see Keith no where in sight. If he ran she would fucking kill him. She sat in the chair beside the bed resting a delicate hand over his casted one.

"Lance.. I don't know if you can hear me but if you can, please please please just live. " She said leaning in and leaving a feather light kiss on his swollen cheek.

I can hear you Allura and I'm glad you're here.

Keith made his way out of the hospital and found a group of officers outside the doors.

"You guys found Lance?" He asked his tone getting their attention.

"Yes sir, are you his..brother?" One asked pulling out a notepad."Can you tell us about anything that happened?"

"No! I came out here to ask you guys that. Last thing I know is I left him safe and sound sleeping on our couch then I get a phone call saying he's dying in a hospital."Keith's emotions were getting the best of hi and he was sounding hysterical when the police Captain made his way through the group guiding Keith away from the other officers.

"I'm officer Kolivan. My squad responded to Lance's 911."

"What happened? You guys have to know something"

"Our station has been responding to other calls of violence similar to Lance's. Targets primarily being Homosexuals. We have been unable to identify any of the accusers so far."

"If this has happened so many times why haven't you found out who they are yet?" Keith asked, he couldn't believe this was a hate crime, one that had been going on recently.

"None of the other victims have survived.." Kolivan said shifting nervously. "We are hoping Lance make sit so we can finally catch these guys."

"How many people have they done this too? How many people have died cause you can't do your job?" Keith was getting heated again astonished that they were letting killers run around New York, a city full of different sexualites.

"Lance will make their seventh victim" He said undertaking the frustration Keith was feeling. These were his people dying and it was his job to keep them safe and he couldn't

"Six people.. six people were murdered and I hadn't heard anything? Why isn't this in the news?! I never would have let Lance out of my sight if I knew he was in danger of being hurt over who he shares a bed with"

"We didn't want to scare people and if we started broadcasting the accusers may disburse and we would never find them." Keith was beside himself and started pacing before he punched the guy.

"You need to tell people! You need to scare them! They need to know they're in danger! My boyfriend is in there right now and you have the balls to stand there and tell me that you guys won't tell people about this to save their feelings? What about these seven people? The people who felt safe enough to leave their homes only to be beaten to death? Is that what happened? They were left to die of their injuries?"

"No.. Lance was the only one alive when we arrived. The other's had passed on due to other wounds."

"Other wounds?"

"The other victims were stabbed to death. In Lance's case we are unsure as to why he wasn't. The boy who called us said Lance saved him from the men and took his place as he got away. The boy is being questioned now for any info he could remember from the men but he was in shock and doesn't remember much. Lance was a hero tonight by saving a life. I just hope he makes it so we can tell him that."