Wake Me Up~A Sequel to Don't You Trust Me

Chapter 10

A warm shower rinsed the dirt and blood from Lance's body, it removed the physical aspects of her capture at least. The few drops of water echoed throughout the tiled room, followed by wet footsteps. With the towel secured around her, Lance paused in front of the mirror long enough for her to run her fingers through her hair. For her imagination, it was a moment too long. Glaring yellow eyes met hers in the mirror. Eyes she hoped she would never see again.

In one smooth motion, Lance had turned and thrown a punch only to be met with open air. Straitening she flicked her gaze back over her shoulder to the mirror her hands adjusting the towel around her. The only thing she saw was her own frightened reflection. Unnerved Lance gathered her clothes in her hands. Pressing them tightly to her chest she hurried from the showers.

A few short minutes later Lance was in her room sliding the lock into place. In another minute she had her clothes thrown from her hands. The towel slid from her body and pooled at her feet in the fifth minute. In the sixth, she was slipping into her underwear and then black leggings. Another minute passed and she was pulling a shirt over her head gasping in relief when her head broke through the hole. With her fingers, she combed her brown hair back into a ponytail, little wisps of hair falling to frame her face. In minute ten she was strapping her blades to her thigh, followed by a pistol strapped to her lower back.

Before she had never felt the need to have it on her person, but now feeling that small pressure on her back was a comfort that she knew she needed. She left her room behind with her mask balled up in her fist, her footsteps took her to the bridge, the most likely place she would find the others.

She wasn't disappointed when she was met with the gazes of several different people. One gaze however she wasn't expecting to see. Jarep stood at the back of the group his eyes flitting across the room but always coming back to hers. She nodded towards him a friendly gesture. He had dropped the agency in her lap, and now seeing him standing here in the same room as she set her on edge.

"Hello everyone," Lance said, taking the silence that followed as an opportunity to secure her mask around her neck.

"Welcome back," Haitheil said. She placed a hand on Lance's arm giving it a gentle squeeze. Last time Lance saw her she had been shot twice and left for dead. The amount of joy the surged in Lance was overwhelming at seeing her number two, her friend. However, it was killed just as quickly as it rose when Jarep's voice was heard speaking.

"Where are we with the plan?" He said. Instead of turning to who spoke eyes shifted to Shiro. He must've been the one to step into her position since Haitheil was incapacitated.

"Lance, do you have anything that can be used to aid us?" Shiro asked.

She shook her head. She didn't see anything or hear anything that would be helpful. The one thing that she did here was Keith screaming, and that just about broke her. "Where's the galra that was in the pod with me?" She asked instead.

"He's in the containment room," Hunk answered. Not quite processing where Lance was going with her question.

She was up and out of the room before anyone had a chance to stop her. Jarep pushed through the crowd, his body moving faster than his mind.

He didn't reach her until he walked into the room. She stood just in front of the door neither moving towards or away from the pods lining the wall. Only one was filled with a comatose prisoner.

Lance jumped when he came up beside her, although she tried to mask it by moving closer to the pod. The black hair with purple ears poking through. Yellow eyes were hidden by purple eyelids. Lips and skin covered in the purple fur that could drive one insane.

Is what he told her true? That he really is Keith. Lance bit her lip. There's no way. The paladins are right. She could trust them. Keith was dead.

"Lance-"

Jarep couldn't get a word out before Lance started throwing punches in his direction. He dodged them but that only seemed to make her angrier. So he stilled allowing her to throw every punch she could. She hit him square in the chest, it took the air from his lungs the first couple of times. After a while, her throws slowed and eventually stopped.

"Why?"

It was nothing more than a whisper on her lips, but he heard it all the same.

"I needed a break."

"So you just drop everything in my lap? You left without so much as a goodbye!" Lance shouted. Her nostrils flared as she glared at him. "Half of the time I didn't even know if you were alive!"

"Lance, I had no intention to leave you as unprepared as I did. The last mission I did affected me more than I thought it would." Jarep reached for her, instead, she stepped back out of his reach.

"So you just abandon everything you built just because of one mission? You train us to handle a lot more than that!"

Before she had a chance to move he grabbed her upper arms, "You had been captured!" He shook her with each word.

"Jarep-"

"I thought they were going to kill you," he whispered his throat raw with emotion, "When I saw your pod return empty and not containing you with a bullet through your head I had some hope. But I knew you didn't have long."

Their faces were mere inches apart at this point. Breath labored from yelling. Lance's eyelashes fluttered as they moved closer. Their lips just brushed before Lance regained control of her actions. She placed her hands on Jarep's chest pushing him back.

"I can't." She turned away her arms sliding from Jarep's grip as he let her go.

"You love him don't you?" Jarep asked his voiced pained. He knew as he looked into her eyes that their time together was over.

"Yes I do," Lance admitted. Her heart no longer belonged to Jarep. It belonged to Keith, but he wasn't here.

"Fallen in love with a mission is dangerous." Jarep was talking to her back. Why couldn't she just turn around!

"Yes I know," she knew that all too well. It had gotten her captured and tortured. It had clouded her judgment. The only thing clear was him. "But I'll be damned if I'm going to let them get away with killing him."