imagine, klance

waking up

Staying up all night, order me pad thai
Then we gon' sleep 'til noon

lance watched as the stars drifted by as the atlas flew through them. the remembers the times on the castle of lions, when he was feeling too homesick to cope, he would look at the stars and be reminded that him and his family could possibly be looking at the same ones, no matter how far away he was from earth that though was always in his head, even though it may have never been true. he also remembers the time when allura had taken the chance to watch the stars with him, it was only one night. neither of them could sleep. they just talked and talked and talked and learned more about each other than they knew already. looking at the stars makes him miss her even more than he usually does.

he woke up ten minutes ago. he was gasping for breath and he knew he had said something the second he woke but he can't remember what, the drowning feeling was there when he woke but the water was too loud for him to hear. lance knows he's on the atlas, he's at the medbay. he remembers because this room is almost identical to the one allura was in when he came back from clear day. he can't remember what happened after he heard the horrendous words spill from axca's mouth in the radio room, he remembers krolia but it's all fuzzy after that. lance doesn't think he really wants to remember anymore that happened.

lance drops his head down to see the IV stuck into his arm, forcing his eyes away from the balls of gas. he doesn't mind it being there but he'd like to know why. maybe he fell and hit his head and has a slight fever of amnesia. that's what happened when he was younger and woke up in a similar position but his mom was scolding his brother on letting the baby of the family ride a bike for the first time without stabilisers. when he was discharged from the hospital, his brother's bike was the first thing he went to.

suddenly he hears the whoosh of doors and his head snaps up to see his mamá, shiro, veronica and axca enter the room. his mum holds her breath and a hand comes over her mouth as she runs up to him, even after all these years, even with him getting lost in space to his many near death experiences she always reacts the same even if it's only something slight. he sees shiro and veronica smile before he is engulfed in his mother's arms. "lance! mi hijo, are you alright." his mother fusses but he reassures her that he is feeling much better, even if it's a lie.

veronica and shiro come up behind her, and it's only then when lances realises who is actually in the room. what is his mum doing on the atlas? aren't they going to- oh, keith. lances expression drops when his eyes land on axca, it's almost like she is hiding behind veronica but she is too tough for that. he remembers now. he remembers all the anger that built up inside of him and how he let it out on axca, ezor and zethrid. he remembers why they were there in the first place and keith wasn't. if looks could kill, the glare lance is giving axca now would have her on the ground with foam around her mouth. "where are we going." he demands, looking straight into axca's eyes. he doesn't expect her to answer and she doesn't.

"we're all heading to altea." supplies shiro with a small smile. what? altea? weren't they supposed to be saving kei-

axca silences his thoughts, "he's here lance. we have him, he's safe." his eyes go wide and his mothers worried face doesn't go unnoticed.

veronica frowns at her brothers sudden silence, so she supplies him with some knowledge he has the right to know. "you've been out for two weeks. we found keith yesterday and now we are on our way to altea on shiro and corans orders." shiro nods in agreement with his sisters words.

"h-he's alive? and here? and okay?!" lance asks, struggling in his mother loving but tight grip. she holds his head in her hand, bringing it to her chest like she always would when he was upset when he was little. she would always let him hear her heartbeat, it calmed him down. even now. even if it was only by the slightest bit.