Keith could hardly breathe when he stumbled outside. It was close to midnight, the meeting drawn to a close when he received a phone call from 911.

Stepping out to take it, not sure what this could be about, he was surprised to realize it was Matt. A friend from college, he had taken work at the police station near Lance and his house. His old friend was quiet, explaining to Keith the best he could with what information he currently had. Keith's whole world shattered at the mention of his house.

He didn't listen to much after that before he hung up to get his things.

Scrambling back into the room to grab the keys to his car, Shiro steady hand clasped his shoulder and stopped him. With a gentle tone, he asked to know what was going on. He didn't have a clue- just knew he needed to get home, now.

Shiro didn't need anything else before he was nodding, dismissing the men and apologizing, stating that a family emergency had come up.

"I'll drive,"

"I can-"

Shiro gave him a look, "I'll. Drive."

Not in the right state of mind to drive, he nodded his head slowly, allowing the old man to take the wheel. Together they sped through traffic lights and down the highway as fast as Shiro dare go. A few minutes later, the horrible blue and red lights welcomed them, crashing down the full weight of the situation.

"No way..." Shiro mumbled. Parking a little ways down the street, Keith could already see what appeared to be yellow police tape surrounding his house.

No…

He shook his head, refusing to believe this was happening.

"Keith, wait-!" Shiro struggled to tug off his seatbelt, barely able to call out before Keith was throwing himself from the car and sprinting down the sidewalk.

He pushed his way through his neighbors, ducking below the tape and screaming at the first cop who tried to stop him.

Quickly realizing that Keith seemed to live in the building, he motioned for a few other police officers to step forward, telling him that letting him inside might tamper with vital evidence to the crime.

Keith's blood went cold at the mention of crime.

"What are you talking about? What happened?!" he screamed at their faces, "Where is Lance?!"

"Keith!" Matt stepped out of the house, running up to meet him.

"Matt," Keith reached for him, gripping his sleeves, "Where is he? Where is he?!"

"Keith, calm down- you are only making the situation worse," Matt attempts to say

"Make what situation worse?!"

"Matt!" Shiro was quick to duck under the tape when he had a chance, running over to the two. Matt gives him a confused look to why he was there, but doesn't dawdle on it. "What's going on? What happened?" he scanned the house, pale and wanting answers.

"We got a call from a neighbor, Keith. Something about screaming and crashing, and by the time we arrived, the place was trashed. The entire bottom floor is a mess and we haven't been able to find Lance. We aren't even sure if he was home-"

"He was!" Keith roars at his face, "He was at home! He was… he waiting for me," Keith's voice drops, tight with pain.

Matt's eyes soften, and he nods, "No one is in the house anymore. One of the neighbors mentioned seeing a vehicle leave the premises and we are still talking to them, but that is all the information we have at the moment. An investigation is underway and the police are looking into it. You can come inside, but until the police have what they need, please don't touch anything,"

Keith nodded vigorously, just wanting to get inside and look.

With Matt's hand on his arm to lead him inside, he took his porch steps with shaky knees. To his horror, his house was trashed. He couldn't even see the upstairs, but that didn't matter- he got a good idea just from the first floor.

Pictures had fallen or had been tossed from the wall, covering the hallway in glass, leading all the way towards the kitchen, where the table had been flipped. The contents that had been previously ontop of it were scattered across the way- candles, food, flower petals?

Keith wasn't even sure what to make of the scene. A break in of some sort was evident, but Lance wasn't inside?

"Geez..." Shiro ran a hand down his face, shaking his head in disbelief. It had felt surreal, having been here a week before, when everything was in perfect order. Lance prided himself on keeping their house in its top condition...

"Wha…" Keith swallows thickly, "What happened...?" he took a few steps in, but couldn't bare anything more than that. Their house had been attacked, and he didn't have a single chance to stop it. No, that wasn't true, was it? He could have stopped it had he been here hours ago when he promised he would be.

A few men were taking pictures towards the other side of the room, laying down certain numbers as if they considered the things near them to be clues- vital evidence to this strange case.

"I hope you don't mind Shiro, but I called Allura over," Matt tells him softly. Shiro turns abruptly, his eyes flashing with anger.

"Why?" he didn't want her to have to see all of this. Matt signals for another police officer to come forward. To their surprise and relief, Keith's cat Red following at the officer's feet.

"Red," Keith leans down to his cat, who meowed at him, pressing up lovingly to his leg. With a little scratch to her head, he noticed a slight limp in her leg, "What happened to you, girl?" She meowed and looked up. Keith lifted his gaze to the other officer, who held a blanket in his arms.

Matt sighs sadly, "I knew she was a vet and, well…" the bundle was placed into Keith's arms, and he inhaled sharply

"Blue..."

"Whatever happened, she got caught up in it. If there was an intruder she might have attacked them and got hurt in the process," Matt says, not sure what else to say.

Keith cradled her close, lifting the planet to reveal the pool of blood along her side. She had been hit, and from the looks of it, her side had been punctured with some glass. He didn't need any proof to know that if Lance were in danger, she would have leaped forward to attack.

"We found her in the living room. Red was there watching over her- almost wouldn't let us near her till I showed up,"

Keith nodded numbly, petting the top of Lance's cat delicately. "You did good, Blue. You too Red," he tells them, "But… What about Lance?"

"Like I said Keith, he isn't here."

"But he was," he insists.

Matt nods, "I think he was too, but he isn't anymore. Whatever happened…" he trails off, knowing better than to just make assumptions, but they were all thinking it. It wasn't easy to state a kidnapping, but that seemed to be the only believable option here.

"Who did this?" Keith choked.

"We are still figuring that out. Was Lance acting strange at all today?" Matt lifts out a notepad and a pen, ready to get a statement from him and ask some common questions all people were asked during these situations.

Keith's tongue felt thick, "I was suppose to be here for dinner, but I canceled."

"Why is that?" Matt asked

Keith inhales, "I had a meeting. W-With Shiro," Shiro nods next to him.

"For the company," he adds

Matt nods knowingly, jotting that down, "Did Lance have anyone over? Was he completely alone when you last contacted him?"

Keith nodded, but realized a moment later he couldn't fully confirm that, "I-I think he was? It sounded like it was just him. He was waiting for me to come home for dinner. He said… He was all right." he thought he might cry, his voice cracking, "H-He was-"

"Maybe," Shiro quickly interjects, "We should hold off on questions for a bit?"

Matt goes pale, realizing his mistake, "Yeah. Yes of course." he apologizes, then steps back. "Go get some air, Keith. We still need to talk to you but take your time, okay?"

Keith can't even nod before Shiro is trying to steer him back out the house. His feet wouldn't move, eyes locked with his dining room. He had been here just this morning when everything was fine.

He hated himself.

He hated himself.

He knew that it obviously wasn't okay that he had missed a date with Lance again, but he didn't do anything about it. Lance told him that it hadn't been a big deal, but even in this chaos, he could see the work Lance had put into the setup before it was destroyed.

Stumbling forward, his legs moving on his own, he approached the table, staring down at it in dismay. Shiro and Matt let him go, knowing it was fine so long as he didn't get in the way of the investigation.

Still holding Blue close to his chest, Red following obediently at his heels, he bent down, lowering his head just to breathe. It was so hard to suddenly.

This had to be a dream. Some horrible nightmare.

Why didn't he come home? Why didn't he keep talking to Lance? Why- god, he could ask all these questions but nothing would change what happened!

With a watery exhale, his shoulders shuddered. Just think it through... Who would do this? Who would break into their home just to grab Lance? They had no enemies from what he could think of. Keith had pissed some people off, but nothing bad enough for them to resort to this. And Lance was the nicest guy he had ever met. No one would want to hurt him. So if it was just to steal belonging, why would they take him? Did they even take anything else? Did they come in here to steal something or was it all just to take Lance? Was he even taken? Had he just run off to get away?

Had...

The thought swirled in his mind. He didn't want to think about it, but what if Lance had done this all himself? What if he had gotten so mad at Keith he destroyed everything in his rage? He might have left afterward to cool or just... just left him.

NO.

No, Lance wasn't like that, and he refused even to think that was an option.

Cradling their beloved cat in his arms, he glanced at Red, who blinked at him. "Do you know who did this?" he whispered weakly. Red meowed, her tail batting back and forth. She moved, her paws patting over flower petals before swiping over a plate. It caught his attention, and he looked down.

There was something there.

It was black and square. A box?

It peeked out from below the destruction. Not recognizing it, he reached out, lifting a broken plate to reveal it fully.

His stomach sank.

"Please, no..."

The box felt heavy between his fingers as he brought it up to his face. He knew what it was before he popped it open with his thumb.

"God..." His vision blurred as his voice choked out. Shiro was rushing to him when his entire body swayed catching him before he fell over.

A ring.

Lance was going to propose to him tonight. And he missed it.

Now, Lance was gone.

It is so painful to write this story...

Reviews:

Space Mullet: Oh my goodness, thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter too~!

Ewink18: AHHH! You are the best, thank you!

Adrainna Agray: Friend, I am blushing so much right now. You are so kind and nice to me, and I'm so blessed to get to know you. Thank you so much!