There has to be an After for Us ~ (shadam / klance)

Chapter 9 - Free Fallin

"Be gone evil spirit!" Hunk yelled at the translucent Altean child.

"Oh, hello there," said Pidge, bending down to meet the child's eyeline. "Who are you?" But when she looked into the kids silver eyes she saw something ancient and dark. Pidge stood up and said more seriously, "Alright Casper, who are you?"

"Pidge, don't make it mad!" warned Hunk.

"I'm Bored," said the child.

"That's not a name," said Pidge.

"Neither is Pidge, Knowledge-Seeker, but names only come about by using them."

"Okay, Bored," said Pidge. "What do you want?"

"She wants to eat our faces!" cried Hunk.

"I want to play pretend," said Bored. "Do you like games?" She directed this at Hunk.

"Is it a Saw type of game or a game where I keep all my organs on the inside?"

Bored giggled. "You're funny. Let's play food truck!"

"Yes, let's do do that," said Hunk, switching gears.

Poof! Bored disappeared. But then the food truck's metal curtain opened up and there was Bored in the order window.

"What do you want?" she asked Hunk.

"Uh..." Hunk looked at the menu on the side of the truck. "The menu's all in Altean..."

"Pick something. What does your heart most desire?"

"A Burrito?"

"Order up!" bellowed Bored and produced a wrapped burrito from behind her back.

"Okay," said Hunk giving it a sniff. He unwrapped it and stared at the pink tortilla. Different...

"Eat up," said Bored.

Hunk took a bite and paused. "Hmm... I can't be sure but..." Hunk took another few chews then said, "Yep. It's made out of play doh." Hunk spit it out on the ground.

Bored erupted in cackling laughter.

"I can't believe I ate play doh!" cried Hunk. Pidge, am I poisoned? Am I gonna die?"

Pidge gave him her 'I can't believe I have to explain this look' that's usually reserved for Lance. "No, you will not die because 1. Play doh is non-toxic, everyone knows that, it says so right on the container, and 2... NONE OF THIS IS REAL!"

"It's... not?" said Hunk, and as it he said it everything dissolved around him: the food truck, the "burrito," the platform... "Oh no!" gasped Hunk, wiggling his feet and realizing there was nothing underneath them. "There's no ground anymore. Don't look down. If we look down, we'll fall."

"Hunk," said Pidge, dead serious. "That is cartoon logic, not real life logic. The only reason you'd fall if you look down is because you're expecting to fall. You have to remember that none of this is actually happening and we're manifesting it with our thoughts."

Bored sighed. "Well, it's no fun when you figure that out."

"I knew that coming in," snapped Pidge. "Now Hunk, we gotta get a hold of this controlling-our-environment thing. On the count of three we're going to look down and NOT fall. Got it?"

"Okay... okay...," said Hunk, trying to calm himself down. "I just don't like when the laws of physics don't apply."

"I get it Hunk. I'm the same way," Pidge said, reassuringly.

"Will they fall...? Won't they fall...?" Bored asked no one in particular as she floated by Pidge's head. "That is the question."

"One...two...three!"