Lance has been in the hospital ever since he was a little kid, with something that was slowly killing him. Everyone knew that one night, he was going to pass away. His family knew it, his friends in the hospital knew it, everyone he held dear knew it. They just didn't know that he would pass away on Christmas morning.
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Christmas in a hospital wasn't as bad as it seemed. Not if you had the kind of friends that Lance did. He had been admitted years ago with a disease that was very slowly killing him. You would think that that would have a very sobering effect on him but Lance was one of the happiest and most grateful people you would ever meet. Every day he tried to live to the fullest, even if his schedule was crammed with tests and therapy. He used to live in black and white but that changed when he started meeting people as they were admitted to the hospital. First, it was Hunk, then Pidge, Keith, and finally Shiro. He also made good friends with his doctor Coran and a nurse in training Allura who started working at the hospital when she finished her schooling. It warmed his heart when she told him that she chose that hospital because he would be there for a long time. They became like brother and sister after she told him that.
They huddled in Lance's room since he was put on bedrest a few days earlier and hooked up to several machines. Smiles lit up their faces and laughter poured out of their mouths even as they dodged around wires and tubes that connected to Lance's body. They shared stories of Christmas Eve's before and passed around snacks that Allura gave to them as a treat. Soon enough, she herself walked into the room and started ushering them out.
"Merry Christmas," Lance called out to them as they filed out, joyfully waving at them as they turned back to him. As soon as the door was closed behind Allura, he flopped down on his pillow and looked blankly up at the ceiling. Even as Alura checked his vitals and took simple tests he didn't pay attention to her. Not until she stood by the side of his bed and laid her cool hand against his forehead.
"Allura," he said simply, waiting for her to look into his eyes.
"Yes, Lance?" she replied biting her lip. He wasn't usually this quiet while she was here. They would laugh and talk and she would have to hurry to make up the time on her other rounds.
"Merry Christmas," he said softly. She smiled and leaned down to kiss his forehead.
"Merry Christmas, Lance," she quietly left the room, shutting the door behind her and made her way around the floor.
Lance's head tilted towards the door, a small smile on his face before he shut his eyes. He knew that it would be the last time he ever did.
Hunk and Pidge slipped into Keith's room. The boy still snoozing in his bed. They knew not to startle the boy badly and softly shook his shoulder. His eyes blinked open as a loud groan came out of his mouth. He glared up at the two figures and rubbed at his eyes as they quietly laughed.
"Come on Keith, we promised that we would meet Lance this morning," Pidge whined. Keith huffed but obediently sat up and slid off of his bed, shivering at the touch of the cold floor. He slipped into his slippers as they headed out the door and down the hall towards Shiro's room. As they opened the door, they saw that he was already up and holding a magazine in his hand. He looked over at them with a smile and stood, following behind them without a word.
"Merry Christmas Lance!" They cheered opening the door. Only to pause in confusion when they saw that his bed was empty, with no equipment to be found around it.
"What?" Keith asked in confusion, eyes darting around the room trying to find even a trace of the boy. They backed out of the room, panic clear in their stances and rushed to the nurse's station. The nurses already familiar with them asked them what was wrong.
