Skinny Love - Klance

Chapter 1 - Deception

Lance didn't know how much more he could take of Keith. The two had been bickering since everyone had gathered in the main hall for breakfast. Lance's rivalry with Keith was nothing new—they had been arguing from the moment they first met. But what Keith had just said was the final straw.

"Why would any girl date you? You have the flirting skills of a gnat." Lance stood up, furious. How dare Keith insult his incredible flirting skills? With his looks and smooth way of words, any girl would be lucky to date him.

Before Lance could reply with a genius comeback about Keith's hideous mullet, he was interrupted by the sudden blare of the castle's alarms.

Shiro stood up quickly, glaring at them. Lance sheepishly looked away under the intensity of Shiro's cold glare. "That's enough. Let's hurry and go see what Allura needs."

Allura greeted the five paladins with a strained smile as they entered the room. "Finally you are all here. I have received a distress call from the nearby planet of Xestade. Apparently civilians have been turning against each other, almost as if they've been possessed by an evil force."

Shiro gasped. "I think I know what we're dealing with. When I was a prisoner on the Galra ship, they would have us fight to the death against nearly unbeatable monsters. But it wasn't always monsters we would fight against," Shiro looked down, and sighed. With a pained voice he continued, "Sometimes it was our own friends. Zarkon would somehow turn them against us, but I have no idea how."

He shuddered, but quickly regained his composure. "All I know is that if that's what we're up against, we must be very cautious. Who knows what could happen if power like that fell into the wrong hands." The other paladins nodded grimly.

"Wow," Lance said sarcastically, "That sure is depressing."

"Lance!" Allura chided, "This is no time for joking around. Paladins, get to your lions. We'll be arriving at Xestrade shortly."       

Minutes later, Lance stepped out of his lion and walked over to join the others, leaves crunching underfoot. They had landed in the middle of a dense forest, and Shiro had begun discussing the plan.

"On the way here I recieved more information from the inhabitants of this planet. They think the problem is coming from something in this forest. I think our best choice right now would be to split up. Our first group will be Lance and Keith—"

    "Wait, what!? I am not going with Lance," Keith groaned.

    "Yeah, there's no way I'm pairing up with mullet-head," Lance uttered in disgust.

    Shiro sighed in frustration. "Maybe this partnership will help you two finally get along. You'll be searching towards the South. Look for anything that seems out of place, but please be careful. We don't want anyone getting hurt."

    Keith turned, giving Lance one more disapproving look, before heading through the trees. Lance muttered in annoyance, running to catch up.

    For the next hour barely anything was exchanged between the two boys, save for the occasional brash comment, or mention of their surroundings. The forest itself was exceptionally beautiful. The colossal oaks seemed like towers, guarding the bustling world below. Each step they took revealed another unique part of the vast woodland.

As they ambled through the thicket, Lance swore he could hear the distant sound of running water. Suddenly, without warning, the forest opened up into a wide clearing. A magnificent river lay before them, seemingly cutting the forest in two. On the opposite bank sat a beauteous golden harp, shimmering in the opaque light. The whole scene seemed dreamlike.

    "Woah..." Lance gasped, taking in the sight before him. His eyes fell upon the harp, and in a flash he had jumped over the river and onto the rocky bank.

"Keith, look at this! Do you think it's what we're looking for?" Lance looked back to the harp, and outstretched his hand. "I'll have you know, I'm an amazing musician."

"Lance, wait!" Keith called, but his warning was in vain. The moment Lance's fingers touched the harp's strings, a sickly-sweet melody began to play. Lance recoiled in alarm, turning to Keith in a panic.

Their eyes met, and for a moment an unspoken understanding passed between them. Suddenly, to Lance's horror, Keith crumpled to the forest floor, screaming as his conscious was taken over. He screamed again, desperate, terrified. It echoed through the great expanse of the wilderness, and then, all at once, it was silent.

    Lance's blood ran cold. He watched in terror as Keith slowly stood up, his bayard already transforming into a sword in his hand.

"K-Keith?" Before Lance could react, Keith rushed forward, leaping over the surging river. Keith swung his sword forward, and if it hadn't been for Lance's quick reflexes, he would have been killed. Lance sprung to the right and grabbed his bayard. He hastily transformed it into his rifle, and held the weapon up, ready for Keith's next attack.

  Keith recovered from the failed blow, and swiftly swung his sword again towards Lance. This time Lance was ready. He fired a single shot at the incoming blade. It connected with it's target, reflecting off the blade and narrowly missing Keith.

The proximity of Lance's blast caused the reality of the situation to crash down on top of him. He had almost hit Keith, a shot that could've killed him. What was Lance doing? No matter how much Keith annoyed him, Lance couldn't hurt his rival—his friend.

Keith struck repeatedly, with the precision of a skilled swordsman. Each time Lance dodged the impending attacks, and each time the blade came closer to hitting him.

Lance knew he couldn't keep this up, but he also knew that he could not hurt Keith. There was no saying that even if Keith killed him he would return to his normal self again.

Suddenly, in the corner of his eye, Lance saw Keith's sword come crashing towards him. Unable to move away quick enough, Lance kicked out of desperation. The force of the kick shoved Keith backwards, towards the edge of the river. Keith's foot slipped, and he flailed his arms, attempting with no avail to stop his impending doom.

Lance surged forward. If Keith fell, if Keith died, it would be all his fault. Lance would never be able to live with himself. He outstretched his hand, and reached for Keith. Right before Keith fell into the raging river, Lance grabbed his hand, and pulled him to safety.

Keith struggled, trying to break free from Lance's tight grip. "Keith! Stop this. This isn't you!" Lance cried, shaking Keith's shoulders. They locked eyes, and for a moment Keith stopped.

"Lance?" Keith whispered. He sounded vulnerable, as if the slightest touch would break him. Lance had never seen this side of Keith before.

Lance hugged Keith tightly. "Keith, thank goodness you're back to normal. For a moment I thought you were actually going to kill—"

Lance's sentence was cut short by the sudden searing pain in his side. He collapsed to his knees, gasping for air. His shaking hands moved to his side, and he drew them back, terrified of what he saw. Blood. Lance looked up in a daze, darkness already clouding his vision. Keith's sword was smeared with his blood.

Lance fell to the ground, but before he hit the earth a pair of arms caught him. Lance looked up to see Keith, tears pricking his eyes.

"Lance...what have I done?" Keith's muffled voice barely registered in Lance's ears. The last thing Lance felt was warm liquid hitting his face, and he laughed. Was someone crying? He looked at Keith's blurry face one last time, and everything went dark.

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Hey everyone 👋🏻 I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my new fanfic, don't hesitate to comment what you thought. (Constructive criticism is great! :D) There might be a few errors here and there, I wrote this in about two days for school 😅. See you next chapter!

~Amber