Keith was weak for a few days after his near-death experience. Lance's paternal grandmother was watched carefully any time she came to visit. Keith was kept locked inside of the parents' bathroom during her time at their house.

She would show up every day for a few hours, doing Keith didn't know what, with Lance before she left. A week had passed before she seemed satisfied with Lance's behavior and stopped her frequent visits.

Lance was always jittery after she left. There were never any marks, so Lance's parents never interfered with the little talks the grandmother and Lance would have.

It wasn't until Lance began to avoid Keith that they knew something was wrong.

"Lance?" his mother began.

"Yes, mama?" Lance responded as he flipped through a picture book his grandmother had gotten him. It had some small, simple words on the bottom to make it a story, but Lance didn't know how to read the black squiggles.

"What did you and abuelita talk about when she was here?" She didn't expect an answer. She always asked, but Lance would always tell her that it was supposed to be a secret.

Lance turned back to her with his face scrunched up in a dirty look, "I told you, it's a secret mama." He turned back to his book, "Abuelita made me promise. She said she'd get rid of Keith if I told."

He turned a page before he put his head down, "I don't want Keith to go away." He confessed quietly.

"Lance." His mother placed her hand on Lance's shoulder. "What if I promised not to tell abuelita that you told me?"

Lance paused before he sat up with a nod. He wiped away the tears that were beginning to fill his eyes. "She said. Abuelita said that… normal cats don't talk and that normal boys can't talk to cats. She said… abuelita said that if we could talk to each other we must be evil. Like the devil."

He turned around with renewed tears spilling over before he sobbed, "I don't want to be like the devil!"

Lance's mother felt her heart break at the sight of her child crying as well as a surge of righteous fury only a mother whose child was hurt could fathom. "Lance." She snapped firmly. "You are not like the devil. And neither is Keith." She gathered her son in her arms. "You are a very special boy with a very special cat. You. Are. Not. Evil. Do you understand me?"

Lance nodded as he calmed down in his mother's warm embrace. He rested his head on her shoulder as she tightened her grip.

"You don't listen to abuelita if she tells you these things anymore, okay? I want you to come to me if she starts saying those things to you again."

Lance hiccupped, "Yes, mama."

Lance was still a little wary of interacting with Keith after his mother's reassurances. He'd always look around before he meowed at Keith or even reached down to pet him. Like he expected his grandmother to pop around the corner and cast him and his cat into the pits of hell.

"What's the matter, Lance?" Keith asked one day after he realized Lance was being skittish. At first, he'd thought that Lance was just being protective of him, but it was clear something had happened while he was trapped in the humans' bathing room.

Lance didn't look at Keith as he answered, too busy looking around him everywhere as Keith sat on his lap contentedly purring as his back was rubbed. "I'm looking for my abuelita. She doesn't like it when we talk."

"Your what?" Keith asked as he perked up at the strange word. Lance had slipped into the human tongue so the word was nonsensical to the cat.

"My…" Lance searched for a good translation in the cat language. He hadn't heard it from Keith. As a matter of fact, he hadn't learned how to say anything about family from the cat. "I don't know the word."

Lance paused. "The old-one-who-does-not-like-you. She doesn't like it when we talk. She said she'd hurt you if I told our secret. And I told my kind-smelling one."

Ah… secrets. So, Lance had told his mother about this secret and now he was worried about the consequences. Keith looked up at the child and rubbed his head against Lance's chin to get his attention.

When Lance looked down Keith began, "Lance, I will be fine. There's no need for you to worry. You are a child. Live a child's simple life." Keith stared into Lance's eyes the entire time to convey how serious he was.

After a long moment, Lance nodded and closed his eyes. Keith sniffed his face before he turned and resumed laying in Lance's lap.

After that, Lance had slowly returned to his simplistic childish happiness. His days consisted, once again, of playing with Keith and learning from both the cat and his parents about how to conduct himself.

Keith taught him about how to be a cat while his parents taught him how to be a boy.

Time passed and Lance's third birthday passed. No drama occurred and Keith was, once again, locked in the bathroom for the duration of the event.

Lance now had his own room furnished with the various gifts he'd received from his family that year. His aunts and uncles from his mother's side had gotten him cute cat plushies and pajamas as well as cat coloring books and bedsheets. His father's side presented him with space-themed curtains and coloring books, along with a fish-themed comforter and some clothes.

The wall was painted blue at Lance's request and space themed glow in the dark stickers were added to his ceiling.

All in all, it was a rather eclectic room but Lance loved it anyway. The main reason being that Keith could share the bed with him and was no longer left alone in the house.

It was a few months later that tragedy struck once again…

Keith was home alone, he'd been left inside because the family was going out foraging for food. They did this often so Keith didn't feel like he had too much to worry about. The first few times he had been nearly inconsolable after the few hours spent alone, wondering if the family would return.

He heard someone approach the back window and went to investigate. Finding it odd that he hadn't heard the metal monster pull into the driveway… and that the family didn't go to the door.

The cat found the window responsible for the strange noises and immediately recognized something was wrong. He didn't know who that person was and, quite frankly, the black mask covering their face freaked him out.

Panicked he fled to Lance's room under the bed.

He heard the window finally open and then shut before the heavy sounds of booted feet meandering around the house. Keith listened from his hiding spot as the intruder went from room to room searching for something.

Keith assumed he found it in Lance's parents room because he heard a metal door open and shut. There was a frustrated growl that had Keith's fur standing on end.

As scared as he was, Keith fervently hoped that Lance and his family didn't return while this intruder was here. The stranger seemed incredibly dangerous and Keith didn't want to lose anyone important to him… not even Lance's dad.

Keith heard some odd noises and papers being shifted around before a single scratch was heard. The sound of the metal door closing was followed shortly by the sound of the window opening and shutting again.

Keith peeked out after a while in order to make sure that the intruder was gone. He had taken two steps out of Lance's room before he smelled something that instinctively told him to escape.

"Smoke."

He ran to the window to try and escape, but it was firmly sealed shut. He searched all of the openings to the outside world before he approached the front door. He could smell the outside world from the sliver of an opening. It was so close, and yet he couldn't escape.

The smell was getting stronger and the house was beginning to heat up. Panicking, Keith began to cry out for help. For Lance.

But no one heard him. And no one came to help.

Lance was drifting off in the backseat on the way home. He was excited to show Keith the blue mouse he had convinced his mother to get for him at the store.

His father's angry swearing brought his attention to the front seat. He found his mother with her hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes and his father looking forward in horror.

Lance looked out the front window as much as he could and found a dark black cloud in front of them.

Lance's father hit the gas as they tried to process that their house was on fire.

They parked on the other side of the street to watch as their home continued to burn. Lance's father called for help and gave them the address while Lance's mother held her child in her arms.

That was when Lance heard it. Quiet. Exhausted.

"Help… please. Lance… I-"

It was silence again.

"Keith!" Lance called panicked.

"A dios mía!" His mother exclaimed.

Lance father passed the phone to his wife before he ran to the house. He heard it right by the front door, a pitiful meow.

Steeling himself, Lance's father tried the handle. It scorched his hand. Cursing, he used his shirt to test the door handle, it was unlocked. With a gasp of pain, he turned the handle and shoved the door open. The fire lashed out at him and caused him to fall back on his rear.

He looked down and found Keith laying on the ground struggling to breathe as the smoke flowed angrily out of the house.

He crawled forward and shielded his face from the sparks as he gripped Keith's scruff. He dragged the cat outside and onto the grass before he picked the feline up and ran to the safety of his car.

"Keith!" Lance called in despair at seeing the soot covered cat, his fur singed everywhere.

Lance's parents argued about the best course of action as Lance's father felt his arms burning. Either from the contact with the allergen or from the cinders that had fallen on him, he didn't know.

They finally agreed to leave Lance's father there for when the fire department arrived while his mother put Lance in his booster seat. She passed Keith over to her child with instructions to hold him carefully before she kissed her husband and climbed into the driver's seat.

They were halfway to the veterinarian's office when Keith spoke.

"Lance?" It took the cat's breath away to try and speak.

"Keith! It's okay, Keith. We're taking you to get help."

It took him a while to gather enough air to answer, "I think… this is the end."

"Keith, you're scaring me. You're going to get help."

Keith ignored him, feeling his life slipping away with each insufficient breath of oxygen.

"I have…one…last…thing…to teach you." Lance began to cry quietly as he waited for Keith to finish, "The final…lesson…of death."

"No! Keith!" Lance returned to English in his panic. "No death! I don't want to learn about death!"

Keith felt his heart heavy with regret. He had been young too when he'd learned of loss and grief. He didn't want Lance to be miserable. He held on with everything he had. He fought death furiously as he struggled not to fall under the pull of the final sleep.

Without his permission, his eyes began to cloud over. Lance's face became blurry before it faded to white. He heard no sounds, he felt nothing, he saw nothing.

He was nothing.

Lance watched as Keith's pupils dilated before he ceased breathing. His mother stopped the car and turned around to check on them before she got out and brought them inside of the vet's office.

She found her son clutching Keith's body as he sobbed. She'd heard quiet meowing during their journey and had thought that Keith was going to make. Apparently, she was wrong.

And that was the end of the McClains' surly cat named, Keith.