Forgotten

Chapter 3: The Surprise

      At some point during the transfer between the two destinations, Keith lost consciousness. He woke up to something patting his hair. It felt nice; the touch was soft and gentle. Keith purred and leaned into the touch. For a moment was back with his pod and it was his older sister lulling him to sleep with her touch. Keith drowsily opened his eyes, the light momentarily blinding him. What he saw was not his small coral room but a pair of tan legs. Keith immediately jerked back, hissing, and his eyes turning to a glowing purple. 

"Shh. It's fine, you're ok. I'm not going to hurt you." 

      Keith curled back furthest away from the land-dweller and hid behind his tail, eyes barely peaking above it. The glowing eyes flicked to the land-dwellers face and immediately recognized it as as The Strangers. The land-dweller held his hands up in surrender as Keith hissed at him once more, the glow in his eyes intensifying. "I'm a friend." he said. Keith tightened his ball. The Stranger sighed. This was going to be more difficult than he thought. 

      His original examination of the merman had released a lot about the conditions in the aquarium. The merman looked as if it was a living skeleton, it fought against him as well as the other people present, but it was clear that the merman had little strength left in him. It enraged the man, he had wanted to blow his over right away and end it. And now seeing the merman cower from him with a pitiful hiss made his heart break. 

The man placed a hand on his chest and said, "Lance. I am Lance." 

      Keith uncoiled himself just a fraction, his midnight black hair hanging over his eyes. The glow had dimmed. "I am Lance." the Stranger repeated. Keith blinked, and tried to replicate the land-dwellers words. "L--ants?" Keith pointed to the land-dweller. The other man laughed and nodded his head. "Yes!" 

      Keith chirped. Something told him to trust this land-dweller. He was still cautious around him however. The two tried to communicate with each other for a few minutes. Most of it was just Lance talking to the merman while the other chirped back, not understanding. A couple times Keith tried to repeat what the land-dweller had said. He usually butchered the word. 

      As the time went on, Keith became more relaxed around Lance. Eventually, Keith swam back close to the land-dweller. Keith was never far from the man anyways. The tank he was in was fairly small. Just about 24 feet in diameter, and only a few feet deep. Just enough so Keith could swim without touching the bottom. There was nothing in the tank except for the two beings, above the tank were two bright fluorescent lights. They were all the room needed for, the ceiling was made mostly of glass, letting in a significant amount of light in. 

       During the time Keith and Lance were alone, the later was trying to figure out the others name. The land-dweller somehow communicated to the merman that he needed to chirp if he was correct, and shake his head if the guess was incorrect. The pair went through an extremely large list on names; Lance repeated several of them. A few of his favorites were; Ethan, Noah, and Elijah. Keith shook his head each time, he thought it was a fun game. Lance however, was getting rather frustrated. 

      Eventually, Lance resorted to bringing out his phone and going through a list. Lance had scrolled through half the website before he got to, "Keith?" he asked. The merman chirped happily. Multiple times. "Really? Your names Keith? I would have thought it would be cooler than that!" Lance giggled. Keith chirped once again. Lance laughed once more and stood up from his seat neck to the small pool. "I'm going to get you some food, Hunk and Pidge said you liked seaweed." 

     Lance left the room, leaving Keith in silence. Keith liked having Lances company, the land-dweller almost got him to smile, but he'd always enjoyed his alone time. Even before he was stolen. Keith swam along the small pool until he heard the door swing open. Keith was expecting Lance to stroll through the door, not White Tuff. 

      Keith immediately snarled, his eyes glowing. He pressed against the back of the pool as White Tuff walked up to the edge. White Tuff smiled sadly and whispered, "I'm sorry." Keiths eyes flashed. "I didn't want to do it. We just needed to get you out quickly." White Tuff squatted down,   moving deliberately slow trying not to provoke the merman. "I hope you can forgive me." he said. The door swung open again, this time its was Lance. And in his arms was a large bucket overflowing with seaweed.

      "Lants!" Keith chirped eyes flicking towards the man, he then growled towards White Tuff. The mans eyes widened as he heard Keith speak. "Hello again! I got you a bunch of food." he held up the seaweed. Lance finally caught on to Keith hostile manner towards White Tuff. "Why don't you like Shiro?" he asked frowning. White--Shiro answered Lance without breaking his gaze towards Keith, "Turns out he's claustrophobic. I was the one who put him in that situation."

      Lance frowned again. "I'm sorry Keith. All of us here are good. We're here to help you." Keith's growling stifled slightly and Shiro lifted a brow. "Keith?"

Lance beamed, "I figured out his name!"

"How?"

"We played a game! Well, I kinda just guessed a bunch of names and he just chirped when he heard his name."

"Is that how he knows your name?"

Lance nodded vigorously, "Yeah!"

      Lance's face then had a moment of realization, the forgotten seaweed now shoved back into the reality. Relief flooded through Keith; during the entire conversation the two land-dwellers had, his stomach had become more demanding by the second. He really didn't want to be near Shiro, os he hadn't moved from his spot. Lance realized Keith was no where near comfortable near the other man so he tossed out a handful to the merman. 

      The food disappeared within thirty seconds, and more splashed in its place. Keith was grateful. Lance and Shiro conversed for a few more minutes before he departed, almost immediately Keith swam up to the edge of the pool. He reached his hands out, clasping his hands open and close. Gesturing for more. 

      Lance chuckled, "Alright, one more handful, I don't want you to get sick."

The boy presented Keith with a small portion of seaweed, which was snatched away faster than he could blink. Lance watching the merman devour the seaweed and he frowned, "Can you please forgive Shiro?" 

      Keith paused his eating and growled, a string of seaweed hung from his mouth. Lance frowned again. "Please? He was only trying to get you out as fast as he could." the land-dweller plopped down, getting the bottoms of his beige shorts wet. Lances tone made Keith rethink his grudge. The merman would not fully trust or like the man, but he could forgive him. Keith nodded his head slowly. 

      A smile spread across Lance's face. Keith looked down. The smile disappeared when he saw the merman's reaction. "Why don't you smile?" Lance shrugged and answered his own question, rage dripping from his tongue. "I mean, why would you smile huh? What those sick people did..." he trailed off when he noticed Keith's face sinking in the water. Only the merman's eyes were above the water. 

"I'm sorry." Lance whispered, "I brought back memories didn't I." 

Keith sunk lower into the water. Shame and sadness raced through Lance as he laid on his stomach trying to get as close to the water as he could. "I know how to make it up to you," he whispered to Keith. 

"I'm going to teach you English."

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Chapter 3 done! Woo Hoo! Don't worry Pidge and Hunk aren't going to disappear!

Word Count: 1317