The Monster in the Sky. Klance AU

Chapter 3: INSANE

Lance could tell that his parents felt guilty for not believing his story because, a few days later, they told him they were going on a day trip to his favourite aquarium whilst his siblings were stuck at school. He liked the idea enough to get into the car without even the slightest bit of argument. There was just something about water- and everything in it- that made him feel so calm and at ease. For a brief period during his time at the Garrison, he had even worked in the aquarium. He was forced to wear a shark fin hat (forced is the wrong word when Lance really thought it looked awesome) and he gave tours to families so often that he was able to blurt out a list of random fun facts he had learnt to keep everyone entertained. Part of him missed his job but he knew defending the universe with Voltron was more important than being a tour guide that knew a strange amount about fish.

When they pulled into a car park that most certainly didn't look like the one behind the aquarium, Lance began to worry. It was so dingy and dirty, litter spread across the floor in the most randomest places. To make it even more suspicious, there wasn't even a billboard hanging off the building that had hand painted dolphins on. It was just a manky white building with the words Forestar Hospital written on the side. Most of the letters had been scratched off but, still, the sight was enough to send Lance's heart plummeting to the floor.

A million questions ran through his head: was someone sick? Was someone dying? Was he dying? What was going on? "Mamá?" He questioned but she didn't reply to him. Instead, she grabbed his arm and tugged him towards the main entrance without so much of an explanation.

They walked passed a large white sign that stood by the main reception. It had a list of different wards written on it in a rainbow of different colours. His mum pulled him down a hall that was painted a sickening bright blue with Bluebell Ward scrawled on the top of one of the doors. Once they reached another smaller reception, his father walked up to the lady sitting at the computer behind it. Lance could only watch as his mum guided him to a lone seat pressed right up against the wall.

Finally, Lance let the questions in his head come out of his mouth in the form of an endless ramble. "Is someone sick? Why are we in a hospital? What's going on? Is someone dying?"

His mum refused to meet his gaze and only shook her head so slowly that Lance almost missed it. Her voice was so soft that it might as well have been laced with marshmallow when she next spoke; Lance had always thought marshmallows were too sickly. "We made an appointment for you."

"For me?" Lance's face scrunched up in thought. "But I'm not..." Something seemed to register in his mind as his face fell again and he let out a heavy sigh. He leant forward in his chair, sparkling eyes eating into his mum's own tearful expression. "Is it about my scars? They're fine mamá. They happened a long time ago and there were these healing pod things that-"

"It's not about the scars, hijo," That time his mum had spoken so fast that Lance was sure she was trying to drown out his space talk. If she had taken a loaded gun to his heart and shot a bullet right through it, it would have hurt less. Lance loved space and he loved Voltron. Talking about it was one of the only things that had made him happy: it gave his life so much more meaning. He could ramble for hours and hours about the different aliens he had seen and the adventures he'd been on but, there his mum was, raining on his beautiful sunny day. "You're going to speak to a psychologist."

You can only imagine what it's like for your family to completely dismiss something you've said. Lance's entire world was Voltron at that point but, still, his mum didn't believe him. She was sending him to a psychologist because she would rather believe her own son was insane than to trust what he had said about space. That idea alone was enough to encourage tears to break free and stream down his face.