Forgotten

Chapter 14: Evidence

Lotor's platinum white hair swung like a pendulum between his shoulder blades as he sauntered down the single hallway towards the crumbling wooden doorway. The cool and calm act, however was only an act; the man was nearly buzzing with blood lust and excitement. It had been little over three hundred years since he'd taken the couples souls and he was beginning to feel the affects.

Though he didn't project his discomfort, Lotor's neck was constantly stiff, his youthful beauty slowly lost its shine and charm, and it felt as if his very bones were filled with lead. If he went just two hundred more years without the taste of his only souls; he would wither away into nothing. A slow and -- not particularly appealing process to the soul stealer.

He reached the door. Not bothering to acknowledge the men behind him; he just extended his arm to the side, palm facing up. Not two seconds later, a ring of keys found its way into his hand. The only sounds in the hallway were the hushed breathing of the guards, the jingle of the keys twisting the lock, and the dripping of a leaking pipe.

A grin that never reached Lotor's dead eyes graced his face as he pushed the door open. It immediately vanished. The room -- it was empty. Only a puddle that smelled vaguely of salt, the scuttles of mice and insects, and dripping water greeted him. The boy was nowhere in sight.

Such rage burned through him that his true form almost came out to play. His head whipped around to the lackeys so fast he was a blur. "Bring him to me alive! I'm going to tear him to pieces!"

Lotor snarled at everything and nothing as he stormed away from the door, not bothering to slam it shut.

Maybe it was luck or maybe it was fate, but through Lotor's rage he failed to notice the small grate in the back corner; with only one screw and the door slightly ajar.

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Lance's body squished against every surface of the tunnel, barely able to fit and the dust cover everything like a blanket made him want to sneeze. Cobwebs hung everywhere, Lance didn't enjoy having the sticky and creepy substance all over his body. His escape route was completely dark, besides the small dots of light shining through holes below him.

It was through those small holes that Lance navigated throughout the compound, either through eavesdropping on the Galra, or peeping down at the mostly familiar hallways. Sometimes he was squirming in-between walls and was surrounded by complete darkness.

Speaking of darkness - Lance had no idea how he'd gained the will to move again. Through his broken sobs and hatred for living, he heard a small voice whisper to him. Whether he was loosing his sense of rationality or it was some unnamed higher presence, it helped him rebuild his shattered wall.

Brick by brick he built it up until it was a solid force of rock, duct tape, and Elmer's glue. He could still hear the gentle voice ringing in his mind. There is still a chance, It whispered, look for the way. Rebuild your hope and begin.

So he did.

He crawled out of the puddle filled with his tears and began to search. His cloths still dripping water, he ran his hands all around the dirt walls. Searching for anything. A secret door, a lever, anything. Lance was just about to loose hope when his hand grazed a near freezing piece of metal.

He knelt in the soaked dirt and traced the shape. It took a few moments for him to realize that it was a ventilation grate. Not even thinking whether or not he would fit, he looked back towards the stupid door and began to unscrew three of the corners.

He shoved the screws in his pocket, twisted the grate and slipped into he tunnel. Lance was able to move through the tunnel with ease for a hundred yards before he got stuck. That was when he felt his wall start to crumble.

He spent two minutes thrashing and wiggling before he calmed down enough to think. Lance took deep breaths and closed his eyes. Then, he shifted his hips from horizontal to an angle and slowly dragged himself from the tight spot.

So that was how he was brought to his current situation, huffing, puffing and squirming through the warehouse in the stupidly dirty ventilation system. It had been almost thirty minutes into his quest when an uproar started; and that was when he figured out that either a guard or Lotor himself had figured out that he'd escaped. It was also purely convenience that Lance had also figured out where Keith was being held.

Two Galra lackeys jogged side by side down the hallway until they stopped before an iron door. "You sure this is Lotor's new prize?" said one with a scar running across his face as a short, but extremely muscular man typed on the keypad. The short man scoffed, "You think I wouldn't know which door held a rutting merman?"

The door door slid open and the two men walked inside, door slamming shut soon after. Lance formulated a plan as he waited for the two guards to exit the room. Lance waited in tense silence for only a few minutes before the door whooshed open and allowed the Galra men to leave.

Lance wiggled past his little spying hole and prayed that the tunnel would go through Keith's cell. The man let out a sigh of relief when the tunnel turned in the direction of the room. There was a few minutes of struggling before another spying spot presented itself. And that was when he spotted the most inhuman thing he'd ever seen.

Roaring filled Lance's ears as he took in the glass tube much to similar to the tunnel he was compacted in and the merman inside; still bleeding. He wanted to punch something.

So he did.

What followed after his brief lapse in self control; he didn't want to talk about. The entire thing started to groan under him, then dropped him to the floor (rather ungracefully) along with the metal underneath him. Not to mention the noise his fist had made.

Keith let out an alarmed screech as Lance hit the unyielding floor with a yelp of his own. But, when the merman saw who the intruder was, he could stop the tears of relief and happiness that blurred his vision. "Lance! Oh thank the Gods your ok!"

The man pushed himself off the ground and raced to the ladder perched next to the glass. "I- I'm gonna g-get you out K-keith. Don't worry." Tears treated to make an appearance on Lance's own face, as he climbed up the ladder, knocked the lock off and lifted up the grate preventing Keith from jumping out.

Keith waited impatiently near the surface the entire time Lance was working. As soon as the grate lifted Keith threw himself into Lance. Nearly knocking them both to the ground. "I thought I would loose you!" he whispered, tears now streamed down his face. Lance buried his face in the crook of the merman's neck.

"I'm so, so sorry," he mumbled into his skin, "All this is my fault," a strangled sob echoed, "Mine."

Keith pushed Lance away from him and stared into the man's eyes with surprising conviction. "None of this is your fault. I don't blame anything on you, so you shouldn't either."

Lance then noticed how close their faces where. Their noses were centimeters apart, breath mingling. His eyes flicked down to Keith's full lips. Were they always this pretty? Keith moved just a fraction closer, eyes fluttering shut. Lance moved with him and . . . .

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Chapter 14!!!!

First off . . . IM SORRY PLZ DONT KILL ME!!! IM GONNA POST THE SCENE LATER TODAY AHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Also, thank you all so much for 5k reads!! Woo Hoo! Guys, have you read Slow Dance With Me??? OMG SOOO GOOOOOD!! I legit cried all alone in my room at 1:30 am. (What else is new) Oh!! I am debating wether or not my next klance should be a fluff or another angst......yeah. Don't forget to vote and comment, Stay Sweet!!

Word Count: 1394