Now's Not The Time (A Klance SpideyPool AU)

Chapter 10: Braver, Stronger, Smarter *@*

*Warning, triggering content in the chapter ahead, please be warned. I dunno if I can add temp markers in the book, but I don't have the time right now, my friends are slut dropping and trying to get my attention. Shorter than I would have liked, but please enjoy the food I am now giving you, I will try to to another chapter this week. Love you all xx* 

Chapter 10: Braver, Stronger, Smarter

Keith's P.O.V

"So, did you want to go on patrol together tonight?" Lance asks, his voice echoing through the room. I turn to face him from my seat on the couch. Lance was in the kitchen again, cooking us something for dinner. The thought of eating right now making my stomach turn.

"Yeah, sure. We haven't gone on patrol in a while." Lance's soft yet loud laugh resonated through the room again.

"Keith, we went on patrol like two days ago. Remember we found out that— umm, never mind." Lance cut himself off and I knew what he was going to bring up. He was going to bring up my mother and the fact that a serial killer killed her.

I knew it wasn't something that I wanted to deal with just yet, the darkness of my past hovering in my head. I hated murder, now more so than ever. Whenever I thought of my mother, I saw the flashes of my childhood, before I lived with Shiro and Mum, back when I was with my father.

Back when I only saw Mum and Shiro every other weekend and I was unable to tell them about the horrible things that happened to me whenever Dad wasn't home. The friend of his— the babysitter— those choices scarred me more than anything else in my life.

"Lance, I understand that it is probably a hard thing to talk about, especially for me. But I know what we have to do. We need to catch this killer. He has caused too much pain to too many people, not just me. Jack the Ripper needs to end. And I need to be the one to do it." I blurt, causing Lance to turn his full attention back to me.

"Keith, I get that this guy has hurt you. But you don't kill people, that's what makes you different to me. I'm not a good person, I've been hurt, and I let that pain cause me to kill someone. Your hands are clean, and you need to keep them that way." Lance says sternly as he walks over to me. I scoff, my face scrunching up in fury.

"My hands aren't clean, Lance. There is no part of me that is clean. I haven't been clean since I was eight years old, Lance. You don't know anything!" I yell, shocking both Lance and me. My eyes widen and I jump from the couch, moving towards the door when a hand grabs my wrist, pulling me back.

"Keith, what are you talking about?" Lance asks softly. I turn my head away from him, not wanting to see the look on his face.

"Lance, I've never said what happened to me out loud. The police, they were the ones to tell Mum and Shiro. I'm dirty, Lance. You shouldn't want me, no one should. The things I've done and the things that have been done to me are enough to scare anyone away. The nights that I sleep normally are plagued with nightmares, full of what I've done. I've killed people, Lance. And I don't regret it. I only regret not doing it sooner and saving my Dad. He has been lying in a hospital bed for the last nine years all because I couldn't stop them. I couldn't stop what they were doing to me behind my Dad's back, and I couldn't stop what they ended up doing to me, Lance." I feel Lance's arms wrap around my body and hold my tightly, the warmth of his chest settling against my wet cheeks.

"Keith, they raped you, didn't they?" The word causes me to scream into Lance's chest. I couldn't nod, I couldn't move. I felt my legs giving out, my body dropping to the floor, my body shaking. Lance goes down with me, not letting go of my shaking form.

"I'm sorry!" I scream, my mind falling into my childhood memories. I scream it until my lungs burn and I feel myself running out of air.

"It's okay, Keith. It's not your fault. It's theirs for being so disgusting and horrible. That is something no one should ever have happen to them." As Lance's words make their way to my brain, I realise something.