Allura's hands curled through the soft fur of Blue's head, soothingly the drugged out cat that lay on her side across Allura's examination table. Her lower stomach had been patched and damaged, luckily nothing life-threatening.

A tattered and worn down Keith wobbled on the other side of the table, rubbing Blue's back.

His voice was barely above a whisper, "So she'll be okay?"

"Yes, thankfully." Allura nods, her heart feeling heavy at the sight of her dear friend. She had known Keith for years, and Lance almost just as long. When she heard the news from Shiro she could hardly believe it.

She moved around the table, taking Keith's hand before she hugged him. He fell against her, the weight of everything heavy on his own shoulders.

"We'll find him." Allura patted his head, mumbling into his shoulder. "We have to find him."

Keith swallowed thickly and nodded. "Yeah." Stepping back he looks back at Blue. "Thank you for taking care of her."

"Of course." Allura smiles, gently lifting Blue to place her in a large kennel, letting her rest. "We'll keep her over one more night to make sure she is okay. How is Red?"

"She had to get used to the new place since the cops are still at mine. She has been antsy without Blue…." He rubbed his eyes, exhausted. Too many dreams of Lance tortured his mind. He had passed out from pure exhaustion alone.

"Where were you?" he eventually mumbled

He was still surprised he hadn't seen Allura at Shiro's. They did live together after all. "You didn't come home last night. Busy night?"

"Oh? Didn't Shiro tell you-?" Allura trails off, messing with a pen at her desk. She frowned, then shakes her head, "Never mind. It was a long night and I was the only one on call here. I could say the same about you though."

"Couldn't sleep," Keith tells her. He turned, knowing things were done there. "Give me a call when it's okay for me to take Blue home."

"Where are you going?" she followed, walking him to the door.

"Out." he adjusted his coat.

She frowned, "Keith, are you sure? The police are doing all they can to find Lance. And it might not be safe out there for you right now since we still don't know what is going on."

"Lance is out there, Allura." he narrowed his eyes. "I'm not going to just fucking sit around and wait for them to maybe find him." He stormed out the door to grab his helmet, tossing it over his head. He had already wasted enough time as it was with all those questions back at the station.

He wasn't going to waste anymore.

Allura stood at the door, looking small and scared. She knew she couldn't stop him. "Please…. Just be careful." she pleaded

His shoulders reluctantly relaxed, looking back at her. "Yeah," he says quietly. Tossing his leg over his motorcycle, he started the engine. Lance always worried he would get into a wreck with this thing, so it usually stayed parked in their garage. At this point he needed speed, so the caution Lance worried about was tossed out the window.

Pulling out of the parking spot he gave Allura one last now goodbye before he sped down the street. His first stop was Lance's job.

Cut It Perfect, is what it was called.

He was a hair stylist and a very popular one. Customers requested him to cut their hair by the dozens! He always seemed to give the customer exactly what they wanted, even if they weren't sure themselves to what that was.

Pulling over along the sides of the freshly painted building he left his helmet on the seat and walked in. It smelled like shampoo and aftershave.

The walls were lined with mirrors and hair products. Keith wandered around the first display, taking a moment to lift one of the bottles. He recognized it, opening it up to take a small whiff.

It was Lance's favorite. It made his hair smell like strawberries, which Keith loved. He wondered sometimes if Lance used it just because he knew how much he liked it. It was a sweet gesture.

Sighing, only feeling heartache instead of nostalgia, he put the bottle down. He moved to the counter where a familiar blonde sat.

"Hey, Romelle." he greeted.

Looking up from her schedule. looking wary, she leaped to her feet, eyes wide. "Keith! Oh… Oh, Keith." she frowned deeply. Having heard the news she lowered her gaze, "I… I heard about what happened. About Lance." she choked up. "I'm so sorry."

Keith nods, looking away. "That is actually why I am here, Romelle. I wanted to ask some questions about Lance."

Romelle looked around, motioning to the side for them to talk there. "The police were just here asking about him as well." she admits, "I told them everything I know. Nothing had changed with Lance. No new customers, nothing out of the ordinary I think. It was the same as always."

"Did he seem any different to you?"

"Well… he was missing you," she tells him. "Told us he hadn't gotten to see you often."

Keith feels a sting and nods, "Y-Yeah…" he cleared his throat, "Do you know if he had been going anywhere he usually doesn't?"

Romelle shakes her head no. "No clue. I'm sorry I can't be of much help. Shay might know something more but she isn't here now. Off with Hunk somewhere. They talked more often and went out to have lunch a lot."

"You sure you don't have anything?" Keith pleaded. "Even the slightest thing that seemed odd. Something Lance would worry about or-or a person that hung around a little too much?" He needed a suspect here….

"I-I'm not sure… Lance had a lot of admirers I suppose, but he was always kind to them and none of them really rubbed any of us the wrong way. They were all…" she paused, "Wait.. wait no, there was one." she suddenly remembered.

"There was?" Keith pushed for more details.

"Yes. A tall skinny man. I don't work right beside Lance a lot, but there were a few times Lance wasn't happy with some customers. He is usually always happy to see them except for that one. Lance seemed a little uncomfortable around him..."

Keith raised his eyebrow, "Did you catch their name?"

Romelle frowned, struggling to remember. It didn't seem too important at the time, but the more she thought about it the more she remembered how bizarre it was.

"An L name…. Larry? No.. Lottery? " she moved to her desk, looking through the schedule to confirm it. "At this point, he isn't a new customer. Lance always seemed a little uneasy when he came in. He seemed nice enough, but Lance never went into details on how he knew him." she ran her fingers over a few names, stopping at one. "Found it. Does the name Lotor ring any bells?"

Keith's entire body tensed, "Lotor?" he repeated. The hair stood on the back of his neck at that creeps name. The mother fucker!

"How long? How long has he been coming here?" Keith demanded. Romelle flinched, looking at the book.

"F-For a while? A few months at best. He always requests Lance to cut his hair."

Keith turned his head, gritting his teeth. That little...

Romelle seemed to shrink, feeling like steam would start pouring from Keith's ears, "Do you know him?"

"Yeah, I know him," he growled. He couldn't believe Lance didn't tell him about this? "He's a no good creep!"

Their past hadn't exactly been happy. Before Lance got together with him, Lotor and Lance had dated. Lotor had been a downright ass, mistreating Lance at any chance he could! They had argued a lot, and many times Lotor won the argument by making Lance feel bad, manipulating his feelings to keep him under his thumb. He had lied to Lance on multiple occasions, belittled him, and ended up dumping him after a while over a stupid text message!

Keith once got into a fist fight with the guy when Keith thought he wasn't treating Lance right. Which in the end he was right about.

A past boyfriend was definitely something Lance should have told him about. And it wasn't just a one time run in either, he had been interacting with Lance for a while! Well… only during hair appointments as far as Keith knew.

What if their interactions went past that though? Why hadn't Lance told him about this?

Feeling both insecure and pissed off Keith tore towards the door. He couldn't exactly call Lotor a suspect at this point, but it was the only thing he had to go off of.

"Keith! Where are you going?" Romelle called after him.

"To see a snake!" He snapped back, slamming the door behind him.