Child of the Stars

So there are a lot of things I leave up to interpretation in this fic and it is not at all Canon Compliant on quite a few notes as you'll find. I hope you enjoy it and leave any questions or comments if you have them and I will do my best to respond.

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Often I am upset that I cannot fall in love but I guess

This avoids the stress of falling out of it

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The rain poured around him as he stood there in silence. Keith looked down at the casket of the only person he had cared about as it was lowered into the ground. Keith's social worker stood behind him. She had been in charge of him ever since he had gotten called out of his kindergarten class a week ago. The woman was stiff and strict, she didn't tolerate his tantrums and had placed him in a foster home nearby since he had no living relatives that could take him in. The foster parents had told Keith to call when he needed to be picked up. They had to take the other kids to activities that day and couldn't spare the time to come for the funeral service. They had barely spared Keith a glance when they told him this as they rushed to leave the house earlier that day.

Now Keith stood there, surrounded by his father's brothers-in-arms. Each held a handful of soft soil. They all stood around the grave where the casket settled in the ground and waited for the pastor to say his final words. Ending with a choked goodbye, Keith felt himself being nudged forward to release the first handful of earth, beginning the process of burying his father. Keith raised his arm and tried to clear his vision of tears as cries clogged his throat. He wanted to scream. He wanted to run away and never have to face this. Seconds seemed to carry on for an eternity as he tried to open his hand. A sob burst past his lips and he felt himself tremble as the finality of the situation crashed over him. A hand fell on his shoulder in silent support from one of the men standing with him, and Keith was finally able to let the soil fall from his grip.

The rest of the service and ceremony went by in a blur. The light rain rolled down his face, mixing with his tears that hadn't stopped since he had heard the news. He recalled how he had been told that his father wasn't coming back. That he would have to leave the only home he had known in his young life. Keith registered that a crew started to fill the grave in earnest. As he focused on the dirt piling up Keith clenched his fists and raised an arm to rub at his eyes.

He swore to himself that he wasn't going to let anybody close enough to make him cry like this again.

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Are you tired of me yet?

I'm a little sick right now but I swear

When I'm ready I will fly us out of here

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Keith hugged his hippo plush to his chest as he stared at the ground where he was crouched by the open doorway. It was one of the only things that he had brought with him, along with some clothes and his mother's knife. The hippo had been with Keith through every step of his life so far, he had it for as long as he remembered. Keith had been in three homes since his dad had left him, and it looked like he was gonna hit four before he even reached a whole year in the system.

Earlier that day an older boy had seen his hippo and snatched it from Keith before he could react and had started taunting him with it. He said that if Keith was too weak to get it back, the hippo might as well go in the trash where it belonged. Keith could only remember a wave of overwhelming anger, the color red, and finding himself atop the older boy with bloodied knuckles. The boy below him had clutched his nose and yelled for the parents in charge of the home. Afterward, Keith had grabbed his hippo and was told to wait in his room while his social worker was called in to talk.