Being Awake (Klance) [Voltron WA 2017]

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Her screams are burned into my memory, but I didn't want to watch it happen again," Keith said.

He and Dream Lance were back into the black, empty void. The scene of the train tracks was melting away like sea foam.

Dream Lance stood in front of Keith. He had tried earlier to hold him, but even in his dreams, Keith shied away and got angry about it. "If your ideal world, the one where you live peacefully with your Mom...If it's gone right now because of the memory of her death, then why are you still here?"

The question left Keith feeling numb. His sadness had melted away as he tried to block out his mother's death once again. He was used to blocking things out. This wouldn't be any different. He felt the memory of the scene fade away. His eyes stung painfully. As he stood there, refusing to look at Dream Lance, he felt a burning in his chest. "Because I want her back...She could come back and I could forget about you. Forget that you ever showed up here...Maybe then I could—"

"Could what, Keith?" Dream Lance interrupted. "Live in a fake world? I'm the part of you that wants to wake up. You should learn to listen to me more often."

Keith's hands balled into tight fists and he bit his lower lip. "You can't tell me what to do!"

"But what's the point of being inside your own head like this? It's over, Keith! Your mom died when you were a little kid! You're a part of something greater now!" Dream Lance's voice rose again and the anger returned.

Keith went silent. He crossed his arms and tried to bury the memory of his mother's death even further.

"So..." Dream Lance said. "Are you going to tell the real Lance how you feel when you wake up?"

Keith was surprised at his imagination's question. Did Dream Lance really ask him that? "What? I don't feel anything that would suggest I—"

"I'm your mind's creation, you idiot," Dream Lance rolled his eyes. "I know what you know. You were gonna tell your dream Mom that you were a homosexual, weren't you?"

There it was. The smug smirk that real life Lance always gave whenever he said something truthful and shocking.

Keith felt his face grow hot. "Stop changing the subject! Can you go away so I can go back to my dream now?"

"But this is your dream," Dream Lance protested.

There was a silence between them, but Keith finally felt that Dream Lance was right. "If I wake up..." Keith began after a few seconds.

"You'll know when you wake up," Dream Lance nodded. "Now I'm trying to tell you that--"

~~

Lance's heart jumped for joy. "He moved!" He exclaimed. "Keith! You can hear me, can't you!?" He got so excited that he grabbed Keith's hand and tightly squeezed it. Again, he felt the burning urge to kiss him again, but he knew it wouldn't be right. "Come on," He encouraged, his hope suddenly skyrocketing. 

Keith's eyebrows furrowed as if he were finally responding to his voice. Lance sat there for a few more minutes, staring at Keith's face. 

~~

"I'm trying so hard," Keith said. He began hitting his own head, trying to figure out how to wake up. 

"Try harder!" Dream Lance exclaimed. "Do you hear that?" He tilted his head to look up into the black void. Faintly, very faintly, real life Lance's voice could be heard. "I told you real me would be by your side."