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As Color Fades Away
Chapter Twenty-Six
"Almost there, just a bit more," Pidge muttered, hands flying over her keyboard. "Come on come on come on!"
She was hovering outside of the hangar door that the Red Lion had indicated Shiro and Keith had gone through. Finding the Red Lion had been easy enough; Pidge had built in tracking software to not just the Paladins' armor (she was always prepping for the worst case scenario) but also into her cloaking hardware and since Red had a version of it now it was an easy enough find.
She'd landed Green on the hunk of space rock the Red Lion had taken up perch in and while she had no idea how to communicate to a Lion outside of her own, Green must have said something as Red's signal took off like a shot and Pidge had hurried to follow.
They didn't have any time to waste. She'd just left Hunk and Allura by themselves to fight off an entire Galra fleet and Zarkon an Haggar. They had the Black Lion too, but she was pretty much regulated to keeping Zarkon at bay for a few minutes.
Pidge didn't know if they had a few minutes.
She felt sick from disobeying Allura's order; she knew the princess was right in the fact that Pidge should not be in that fight; it was too dangerous at that point. But she could not, would not, return to the ship when the others were still out fighting.
Fuck that.
She wasn't leaving without a single one of them.
She refused to lose anyone else she cared about.
Then, and only then, would she head back to the Castle.
The bay door finally opened with a silent hiss later. Pidge didn't even smile at the success — and remote hacking through an encrypted network with a battle echoing behind her was nothing to downplay — and flew Green directly into the hangar and Red following, both landing with loud thumps.
She dissolved Green's cloaking and activated her particle barrier instead and Red to her relief followed suit. Good.
Pidge was down the Green Lion's ramp and hitting the floor of the hangar running a moment later towards the interior door. It was a simple keypad encryption that should take her not even twenty ticks to crack.
She booted up her coding program and got to it.
xxx
"Black!" screamed Hunk as a blast of purple energy slammed into the Black Lion, disrupting her own attack and pushing the Lion back.
He knew where that blast had to have come from.
Zarkon.
His stomach heaved.
He and Yellow were helpless to assist though. They had their hands and paws full beating back the fighter ships that were swarming all about the scene and for every one that they took down another seemed to take its place. Hunk knew that wasn't quite accurate but as Yellow's power continued to dwindle and he had to spend more time evading strikes than taking them so he could activate his cannon and lay down a barrage was starting to take its toll.
Their one advantage in the Blue Lion's cloaking had disappared as well when then cloaking expired a moment ago. Allura had been immediately surrounded and she and the Blue Lion were engaged in their own fight; as skilled as Allura was the Blue Lion was not hers and it showed in the somewhat jerkier movements and missed shots.
All of those paled though to the new problem that had just showed itself.
As Hunk had feared, Zarkon was still very, very much alive and he looked very, very angry.
Haggar had disappeared though but Hunk knew better than to think it was because she'd been incinerated. It had likely been her actions that had saved them from Blue's surprise attack.
He had the sick feeling the Druid had gone back into the ship, no doubt alerted to some commotion inside because at this point he knew Shiro and Keith's cloaking was long run out and they were in a base crawling with sentries and Galra and now a super creepy, dangerous Druid.
He'd tried to contact Shiro but there was only a burst of feedback on his comms. They still seemed to be working between the Lions but any communications into the base were blocked.
Forget knowing it was a trap, this was like a trap of a trap of a trap and topped off with a never ending feeling of horror that Hunk could not shake.
That feeling grew as Zarkon let out a yell and leapt off of the platform into open space, a giant shoulder cannon forming in his hands from his ill-gotten black bayard.
Hunk may have screamed, throwing his hands up in front of his face, but Zarkon bypassed him and the Yellow Lion, his sights set only on the Black Lion. The leader of the pride roared out her own challenge at her former Paladin and the two crashed together in a cacophony of light and sound that left Hunk's ears ringing.
He he barely recovered in time to direct Yellow to snap a ship between her jaws before it kamikazed into them, heart thumping.
That had been too close.
Yellow shared his sentiment, a tingle of relief mixed with worry traveling down their mind link.
"Hunk," Allura called over the comms, sounding breathless. "Do you copy?"
"Here," he managed, sending Yellow into a roll to avoid another a laser blast.
"We require a plan of attack," she said. "This is not working."
Hunk blinked. Was she asking him for suggestions?
He was not the offensive coordinator by a long stretch. A long, long stretch. He could offer suggestions for workaround or an alternative viewpoint when someone else posed a plan but fighting was not his strength.
And it definitely wasn't in the middle of a battlefield where they were being hit from all sides and Shiro and Keith were in danger and Pidge had gone off on her own and Lance... Hunk couldn't even think about him. Because if that broken, bloodied lump had been what the Galra had tried to fool them with he was under no doubt that the actual Lance had to be in a similar state.
"We need to draw their fire away from the base," Allura continued and Hunk heaved out a sigh. She was making the plan. Good. He could follow a plan. And this one sounded straightforward enough. He could act as a diversion. "We must also protect the Black Lion."
Uh.
What?
Hunk knew that, of course, but...
He glanced out the window where the Black Lion was darting around space debris and ruined Galra battleships with Zarkon literally on her tail and the two of them exchanging blow after blow with one another although it was clear that Zarkon was landing more strikes than she.
What exactly was he supposed to do in a fight like that?
But as soon as the Black Lion faltered... they were all in trouble.
They had to help.
Somehow.
He heard her take a deep breath. "Hunk, I... I will assist the Black Lion. Are you able to focus on the other ships to draw them away?"
Hunk swallowed.
This didn't sound like a good plan. This was too dangerous, too risky for Allura, she could be kill—
"Hunk!" Allura snapped over the comm.
"Yes!" he blurted.
What else was he supposed to say?
"...be safe," Allura keyed in after a pause.
She and the Blue Lion took off in a burst of thrusters, angling for the duo locked in a bitter duel.
"You too," Hunk murmured, not sure if Allura could even hear it over the renewed shrieking of blaster fire.
And with a yell and a jump of his own thrusters Hunk leapt back into the fray.
xxx
Keith's heart was pounding in his ears and he found his hands were trembling around the grip of his bayard.
Scared, his mind told him. That's what he was feeling.
He didn't like it.
But he could feel nothing else as once that door opened and either sentries or Galrans streamed in he was going to be hard pressed to keep them back while covering Lance and the thought of Lance landing back in their hands, in her hands...
No.
He wouldn't allow it.
He channeled the fear, converting it into a more familiar anger at what Haggar had done, letting it fuel him. Whoever came through that door...
They were going to find themselves run through before they could even blink.
The door opened with a hiss and Keith lunged, blade speared.
Pidge stared back at him.
Keith barely managed to redirect the blade, ending up in a sort of half-twirl as he brought it around in a deadly arc but one not aimed at Pidge.
"What the hell?" she yelped, face white beneath her visor as she instinctively leapt backwards, hands flying up and shield flying to her wrist.
An apology was on the tip of Keith's tongue but she had already looked past him and if she had been white before she was ghost colored now.
"L-Lance?" Her shield winked back out of existence as she caught herself on the doorframe, legs no longer wishing to support her.
She had thought the figure the Galrans had dragged out looked barely human. This… this…
That couldn't be Lance.
Acid bile tickled the back of her throat and she desperately swallowed against it. She couldn't pull a Hunk, not now.
"What are you—?"
"What happene—?"
They both cut off as they spoke over one another.
Lance moaned.
Keith whirled around. He knew what was about to happen.
And although he knew it really made no difference — there would be pain regardless — Keith dove for Lance, grabbing his hands as the convulsions began as the collar lit up purple and Lance's moan turned into a ragged scream.
Pidge stared.
She was frozen.
She couldn't move.
What the...
What the fuck was this?
Lance was twisting and writhing, head thrown back and exposing a glowing ring around his neck, stark against the protruding veins as he seized.
And the blood.
It was smeared all about the floor and Keith squelched in it as he tried to hold Lance down.
And the smell.
Oh God.
There was the scent of burn meat — flesh, she identified faintly — and the tang of sickness and the cutting, overwhelming odor of both fresh and dried blood.
Pidge was puking a moment later.
As she emptied the contents of her stomach she dully thought she was glad she'd removed the bottom part of visor when she'd arrived in the hangar.
Lance continued to scream behind her before it tapered off into low moans and then a somehow even more terrifying silence.
Pidge was afraid to look.
She felt shame paint her cheeks at the thought. Lance was in pain and she had... she had just... frozen.
What kind of friend was she?
Leaden legs carried her over to where Keith was crouched next to Lance, his head bowed and she felt her heard hitch.
Was Lance...?
But she could make out the faintest rise of his bloodied chest and this close the barely there gasped breaths.
She sank down next to them and to her utter surprise Keith reached out a hand and patted it very lightly, very carefully, on her shoulder.
Keith was trying to comfort her.
Pidge hiccuped a sob.
"The shock collar?" she managed after a tick and Keith gave a tight nod.
"It has a tracker too."
Pidge cursed.
It was swallowed up by the sound of blaster fire from down the hall and Keith tensed next to her.
Pidge had a sinking feeling she knew where Shiro was.
"Go," she told him. "I'll... I'll watch Lance."
Keith's eyes widened and she could see the relief there at the permission to go after Shiro even as his eyes slid back to Lance's face, even in unconsciousness furrowed with pain.
"I'll be back," he promised and Pidge had the feeling he was addressing them both. "Don't touch—"
His words were overwhelmed by the sound of more gunfire and a shout that had Pidge's blood freezing.
Shiro.
Keith took off running.
Pidge turned her attention back to Lance and to the shock collar masquerading as a tracker that would need to be removed before they left. She couldn't look at Lance himself. She couldn't. Her heart was back in her throat and she felt sick if she focused too long on what they'd done to Lance, at the knowledge that this was Lance, and he was so still and she didn't know what to do and he was hurt and —
Concentrate.
Focus on the problem she could solve.
Shock collar. Go.
Her fingers touched lightly down upon it, feeling the barest tingle, and she traced it all around looking for a latch.
Nothing.
The only thing she found was a slightly larger bump that she could guess was a crystal as it felt the same as the small nodules embedded in other places.
As she was debating how to turn Lance's head so she could get a better glimpse of it she felt it warm under her hand.
That...
That could not be—
Pidge yelped as hot, shocking energy burst against her fingers and she yanked her hand back.
Her reaction was nothing on Lance's.
His back arched up off the floor as his body seized from the current and his mouth opened, revealing bloody teeth, and he shrieked, although it could be called a whisper of one as his throat was so torn up, so raw and he so exhausted that it no longer had the force.
It was even more terrifying.
"Lance!" Pidge gasped as his hands rose up and she tried to mimic what she'd seen Keith do, but Lance's hands were slick with blood and she lost her grip.
Lance rolled over to the side, curling up on his side with his back to her as the shocks continued to rock him. Pidge remained where she was, hand outstretched helplessly as Keith's warning of "don't touch—" echoed.
Don't touch... what? The collar? Lance? A particular part of Lance?
The crystal faded a too long twenty ticks later.
It gave Pidge an idea.
The collar was airtight around Lance's neck — she tried not to think too hard about how it must be embedded in his flesh at this point — and with no latch she didn't see an easy way to remove it and time was short. But what if she didn't have to remove it to disable it? What if she could just... fry it like it was doing to Lance?
The crystal was similar to the ones she had started to work with in the castle and she knew from some experiments that different crystals had different wavelengths and conductor abilities. This one, while small to fit into the collar, was no doubt extremely powerful if it was capable of powering a tracking program while shock capabilities (and strong, horrible powerful shocks at that) and the two not shorting out the other.
She just needed to figure out its conductor and then accurately charge her bayard to counter it.
She was going to have to shock Lance.
Pidge remembered when she'd first powered her bayard up and Lance had teased her about it. She'd shocked him right then and there, smug as he twitched on the ground. The memory, normally recalled fondly, only made her feel sick that she'd ever found Lance in pain amusing. The way he was trembling now was too reminiscent of that.
And to top it off, to get a reading on the crystal she needed it to be actively in use.
That meant she needed Lance to get shocked again. Twice, actually; once for the calibration and the second time to overload it.
Motherfucker.
"Oh, Lance," she whispered. "I'm... I'm so sorry. I..."
Lance let out a tiny moan.
Pidge forced herself to ignore it for the moment.
She could not afford to fall to pieces. She didn't know when the collar would activate again — and who the fuck was doing that? Who was fucking torturing him when they weren't even here? — and she needed to be ready.
Pidge glanced once down the hall, the sound of blaster fire having disappeared but the silence was not comforting either. She couldn't do anything right now for Keith and Shiro; Lance needed her more. She would just have to trust that whatever they were doing was enough to barricade her off from any encroaching enemies because she could not do this if she was trying to defend too.
She pulled up schematics via her suit and her fingers flew through the screens on every piece of data, every calculation she'd ever created for crystals while she mentally began to generate more. Her bayard was prepped at her side, shock katar and cord hooked from her suit and she pressed the end of it to the large crystal that was still easily reachable as Lance had remained curled up on his side.
She did her best to ignore the way she had to kneel in a shallow puddle of smeared blood.
Don't think about it.
Lance tensed up a minute later and muttering a silent apology Pidge braced her hand on his shoulder pushed all of her body weight down to hold him pinned as he was while the shocks ran their course.
He didn't scream this time.
It was a series of choking, strangled gasps that had Pidge shuddering along with him while she prayed for it to end and yet continue long enough for her program to run its calculations.
When it finished Lance did not go limp as he had before.
He was still awake, a soft keen building in his throat as he shuddered.
"Lance?" Pidge whispered, inching slightly closer. "L-Lance?"
She reached a hand out, placing it ever so lightly atop his head.
Lance stiffened.
Pidge trailed her fingers through his hair as she knew he liked, hoping that the familiar gesture might be a comfort, might soothe away at least a drop of his pain.
Lance jerked away, shoulder slamming painfully into the floor. "No," he gasped, the first word she had heard him speak outside of the screams.
He sounded terrified.
"N-no. No me toques. No más."
"Lance it's just me," Pidge pleaded, stomach churning as he tried to back further away, the action clearly paining him but that was somehow a better, safer option than her.
"No más," he whimpered. "Por favor."
"Lance, please. You're hurting yourself."
"No m-me toques," he stuttered. "No. N-no."
Pidged stopped reaching for him, hand dropping limp to her side.
Spanish was not all that familiar to her minus the small phrases she'd picked up on from Lance, but she recognized 'please' and obviously 'no.' He was scared and she was the one scaring him.
He had wedged himself into the corner next to the hangar door now, arms and legs tucked tight against his body and his head angled down.
The back of the collar was out of reach.
She needed that if she was going to disable it.
Pidge stayed where she was for the moment, trying not think about how much Lance looked like an abused animal cowering in the corner — and too late, that image was seared into her mind now — and looked over her data she had collected.
A ghost of a smile crossed her lips.
She had the code.
She made quick work of relaying it to her bayard, setting the shock prod to the correct output. All she needed now was access to the collar.
Pidge carefully scooted herself across the floor towards Lance.
He recoiled, trying to somehow shove himself deeper into the corner.
"Lance," she whispered his name and he flinched.
"No más," he choked out, eyes scrunched tight.
Pidge had another idea.
And she liked this one much better than the shocking bit.
"Lance," she said softly, and at the sound of her voice he shuddered again She hurried on. "I'm… no, um… Lo… uh, Lo sie...ento?" It came out more of a question than anything, but hearing it sounded out Pidge could visualize it now. Any Spanish word would do, but this one came to her first and it seemed the most appropriate.
She repeated it, more strongly. "Lo siento." And she meant every butchered syllable. Sorry for hurting him then and now, sorry that he'd had to suffer. Sorry that they hadn't arrived sooner. So, so sorry that she had no idea how to help.
Lance ever so slowly untucked his head.
It was working.
Spurred on, Pidge murmured out a soft "hola"and she felt her breath catch as Lance fully turned his head in her direction.
An then he opened his eyes.
Pidge's breath turned into a choked inhale.
His eyes.
What the fuck had they done?
Ocean blue was surrounded by pitch black and his gaze, while turned in her direction, was unfocused.
Like he couldn't see her.
"Lance," and he flinched again, but she pressed on before he could retreat, pushing back her own fear in light of this newest development. "It's me, Pidge. Uh, ¿cómo estás? I think that means how are you? Or is that are you hungry? Um, hola again."
Each utterance of his native language seemed to be coaxing him out of his shell as tight limbs slowly loosened and the worst of the furrow and fear on his face began to fade even though he was still no doubt in a lot of pain.
So Pidge came up a steady stream of whatever Spanish words and phrases she could recall, even though she was pretty sure that none of them made any sense. "Agua, hola, lo siento," she murmured as she inched closer. "Burrito, adios, churros, por favor…"
She was nearly there, hand just a breadth away from the collar, Lance's dark eyes still focused in her direction, when he spoke.
"Pidge?"
The word came out cracked and broken and almost intelligible, but it was her name. He said her name. He said her name!
"Yes!" she cheered, biting her lip when Lance flinched away at the volume and dialing it back immediately. "Yes, it's me. It's Pidge."
He could hear her.
"Lance, it's gonna be okay," she pressed on. "It's okay. We're rescu—"
She cut herself off as the collar lit up purple.
Lance tensed, eyes going wide and a silent scream on his lips.
Pidge lunged forward, collaring him about the neck before he could pull back into the corner and the scream that was torn from him was the most painful one she felt yet.
She realized she was yelling too as her forearm pressed against the collar.
"Hang on, hang on," she chanted, wrangling her bayard into her other hand and pressing the cord to the crystal. "Just a second, please, Lance, it's okay—"
His scream became a wail as she activated her bayard, a flash of green light bursting against the purple crystal.
"Come on," she pleaded, at Lance, at the collar, at everything, as the crystal whined but did not yet combust. "Please! Work godamnit!"
And with a violent pulse and a bright glow the crystal shattered, pieces flying and one piece pinging against Pidge's chin, hot and burning and she didn't give it a second glance.
Lance went limp.
Pidge released her almost chokehold on him, chest heaving beneath her armor.
It had worked.
It had actually worked.
It was over.
Her gaze drifted back down to Lance, lying so still, covered in gore and burns and broken and it was not over at all.
"Oh God," she choked out, pressing her hands to her mouth to contain her sob. "Oh God."
She looked down the silent hall.
No one appeared.
"Please," she whispered her prayer aloud. "Hurry. Please. Lance, he..." she looked down at the broken body that had been her friend. "Oh God..." Her voice broke. "Lance..."
xxx
"Well, well, this is a pleasant surprise."
Shiro froze.
No.
It couldn't be.
He turned with agonizing slowness, the last sentry from the battalion sliding off his hand to hit the floor with a loud clang.
Shiro didn't even hear it.
He couldn't hear it over the sudden pounding of his pulse in his head as Haggar stepped into view.
"I had hoped to see you again, my Shiro," Haggar smiled, neatly stepping over the sparking remains of a sentry and closing the space between them.
"Shut up," Shiro snarled, raising his prosthetic in front of him with a smear of purple light.
He forced himself to stand his ground.
He wasn't scared of her.
He was disgusted by her.
Haggar's gaze moved towards the glowing limb and she let out a soft, happy sigh.
Shiro's neck prickled.
"You wear my arm so well, my Shiro."
"Shut up," Shiro ground out.
"I have missed you," she opened her arms wide, as though inviting him in for a hug. "Your loss has hurt me. However..." her lips turned up. "I will admit I have found something that brings me even greater joy. My Lance is such a precious boy after all." Her eyes met Shiro's and he found he could not tear his gaze away. "I love him."
Wrong. The sensation burned into Shiro and freed him from her stare. The possession that Haggar had displayed before had morphed, distorted even further. There was a look in her eyes, an obsession, a lust that Shiro had not ever seen before, not even in his darkest memories.
"No," he got out past his thickening throat. He swallowed, words growing stronger. "He's not yours."
And Haggar laughed. "Isn't he though? His blood has spilled over my hands, his tears have brushed my fingers," Haggar advanced with each iteration. "His fears have touched my soul, his screams have made my heart beat." She was mere feet away now, eyes flashing with triumph. "He is mine and mine he shall remain."
"You'll never touch him again," Shiro growled, refusing to listen to her words.
"Oh? You mean like this?" Haggar held up her hand revealing a small silver disc.
Shiro glanced between it and her, wondering what she was up to. Not breaking eye contact with him she pressed her thumb against it.
A moment later a ragged, faint scream echoed from further down the hall.
Lance.
The shock collar.
"You..." Shiro's prosthetic creaked alarmingly as his hand clenched.
She smirked victoriously at him. "It seems even now you cannot protect him. What a failure of a leader you have become."
"I will kill you," Shiro promised darkly.
He meant it with every bit of his soul. Haggar would never get her hands on Lance again.
Never.
Haggar scoffed. "You think you can kill me?"
"Why don't we find out?"
"I like that look on you," she purred. "My Champion."
Shiro lunged forward with a roar.
Haggar was not a normal opponent. She did not fight head on, did not use strength or even his own against him.
She used tricks and deception like the liar and coward that she was, vanishing in front of him with a cackle.
Shiro would not fall for it again.
He whirled around and his prosthetic smashed against her own glowing hand as she angled for his side and where she had struck him in their last fight. Shiro moved to swing it up, to cut through her arm, but Haggar leapt backwards with a laugh, almost seeming to float.
"You have learned," she smiled. "I am proud of you. But... you have not learned enough." She lifted her hand, displaying the metal disc.
Another hoarse scream sounded a moment later.
Shiro bellowed and charged again.
She was not going to hurt Lance again. He would not allow it. Haggar danced nimbly out of the way, following up with a swipe that Shiro barely managed to block, and the power behind it still sent him skidding backwards several feet.
And then suddenly there was not just one Haggar, but a dozen, filling the narrow hall and forcing Shiro on the defensive as they all came as one.
He spun and blocked and sliced, but the Druid's cackling continued to ring around his head in a ceaseless cacophony and for every one he dispatched another took its place.
Lance screamed again.
"Aren't you going to stop me?" Haggar taunted, voice echoing from each clone.
Shiro slashed through another one, growling low in his throat.
"What's wrong, my Champion?"
"I had expected more."
"This fight bores me."
"You bore me."
The change in tone, from taunting to something darker, something crueler gave Shiro pause as he whirled out from where he'd just dispatched another clone.
All of the Haggars were looking at him...
All except one.
As if sensing his gaze that one turned her head and he knew without a doubt that was the real Haggar, standing further down the hall.
The hall that he had come from.
He'd been turned around in the fighting.
Oh God.
"My Lance though," Haggar's smirk widened. "He does not. And he needs me."
She turned her back to him.
Oh hell no.
Shiro charged forward but the clones immediately swarmed him, blocking him from going after her.
"No!" he screamed, panic making his voice high. "No! Get back here!"
Haggar ignored him, stepping around a turn in the corridor and was lost to his sight.
Her laughter and Lance's screams echoed back.
Author's Notes:
And behind door number one... Pidge! Good on those of you who called it! And now Keith is off to help Shiro (everyone realize who he's going to encounter before Shiro though? :D Mwahaha!), Haggar's being as creepy as always and we've got Allura and Hunk taking out Galran cruisers. I have to add, I had that particular scene written out before season there aired, so Hunk's comment about Allura not being compatible with Blue makes me giggle now xD (although in my heart there is still only one Blue Paladin for this group and he's my precious child) Anyways...
Thank you all for your patience with this chapter. I've been under the weather the last few days, and still fighting to get back to sunny skies. I write this while trying to convince myself not to vomit. I'd say it's Lance getting back at me for all the shit I've put him through except he doesn't have a vindictive bone in his body. It's probably Pidge acting for him xD If I missed responding to your review I am so, so sorry. I just haven't had the energy to go back and doublecheck all of the out messages. Apologies. I'll do better this week (I hope xD)
I am at Geek Kon this weekend. I don't recommend hugging me so I don't get you sick, but if you're there please do drop by my table (7E) and say hello~! Also keep your fingers crossed for the fanfiction contest. I'm hoping Over the Edge wins! :D
Thank you so much to the lovely reviewers. Love to: Pheonixwarrior123, dragoscilvio, Alexa, Sirrius The Moonblade, Guest, Jennyfish26, KarleighH, shakespeare13, vickydd, Wolf of The Demise, wingedflower, Fireflame159, Arrowshaft, Cynthia of the Wallflowers, Guest (oliviadbell), StrawberryFever3, stealingthestars, Jadegem02, Violinworld, Stargirl720, sally3015, DoctorMerlinReid, LishaChan, Merlin's Knight, 0WolfFaerie0, ariatheguardianangel106, Rookblonkorules, Purplehood, luminoslight1313, SonoSvegliato, Guest, 3, Yuuki Hitsuguya, JustADamFrenchFry, PaintedWings45, FanaticFangirl2602, Spacenerd7, Guest, HetaRosFangirl, LanceMcClain45, Lasagna, Guest and Neko Noire!
If you have a tick to spare I'd love if you could leave a review. All reviews will be added to my comfort kit for this cold/flu/whateverI'mdyingfrom and I cherish all even more than cough drops and decongestants.