Among Others

Daydreaming Gone Too Far // 14

Lance's POV

O O O

I gasp and clutch my chest just to assure myself my heart is still beating. And not like Keith's that just stopped. I feel the familiar hard seat under me and the blue lights in the cockpit calms me down. I press my forehead on the control board and exhale, just letting out all the toxic air inside of me.

"Lance! Lance what the hell, answer!" Pidge's voice rings in my ears through the intercoms in the helmet I forgot I had on. I gasp again and sit up properly, seeing everything spin because I moved too fast.

"Pidge?" I choke out, feeling drowsy, like I just woke up even if I know I just dozed out for a bit. But for how long? It felt too long, too real. "Pidge, what...?"

"Oh my Voltron, finally you answer!" She sounds annoyed at life as usual but I hear a hint of worry. "What the hell happened?"

I open my mouth to speak but Shiro beats me to it. "Lance, are you okay? You dozed out for quite a while."

"I..." I look out my window and see the exact same spot we landed on in my daydream. Wait what? Are we really here? So we are actually on this weird planet but so far nothing more has happened. I'm confused as fudge. Did everything before all the red figure happen? Did Shiro see something red down here and dive down to further investigate?

Then I sigh in relief. I didn't shoot Keith.

"What do you mean you didn't shoot Keith?" Pidge asks astonished. I press my lip together and sit perfectly still when I realize I just said it aloud. "Should we worry or something?"

"No! No, of course not!" I hurry to say but the silence that follows my words must mean they're waiting for me to continue. I sigh again. "But, there is other things to worry about. You know when I dozed off?"

They all hum.

"Well, I daydreamed about something terrifying. Something really weird..."

I tell them everything from start. How we flew around for hours and then coming down here. And the Keith thing. I still have the creeps after witnessing something like that and I can still see his black eyes close for the last time. I still see my tears staining his helmet and his already pale face losing it's remaining color and I can still hear his scream when I shot him. Shiro is completely quiet and it scares me. Does he think that it could happen in reality?

"That's so scary", Hunk squeaks and I can picture him sinking in his seat and hugging his legs against his chest while frantically looking around his cockpit. "This planet is maybe messing with our minds!"

"Then let's search if Keith is here", is the first thing Shiro says since I started telling about my daydream. "Fast."

O O O

This feels too familiar. This is almost exactly what happened in my dream. With Shiro and Pidge ahead of me and Hunk, our weapons in our hands, and the worry chewing at my senses.

I look over at Hunk and he looks down at the ground while we trudge forward. I run the tip of my tongue over the backside of my upper teeth and then bite my tongue. Hard enough to make my whole mouth sting.

I try something:

"Hunk... ", I hesitantly say and hope this won't turn out like I fear it will do. "Do you think he is okay? Do you think that he's alive?"

Hunk kicks away a rock by his feet and we both watch it roll away before he sighs and hold onto his cannon tighter. Same movements. Same everything.

"Believing he's doing okay is the only thing we should do, if we want to keep going", he says and I yelp, almost dropping my blaster to the ground.

But then I actually do it. I watch as my blaster hits the dry ground and the sound it gives out is loud enough for Shiro and Pidge to stop and turn around.