The Monster in the Sky. Klance AU

Chapter 6: The Marks

A few weeks of weekly meetings with Dr Anderson passed for Lance. He found that, every night, after his recurring nightmare reminding him about Allura's death, he woke up with the Altean marks. When he discovered them, he didn't stop crying until the tears had lulled him to sleep like some sort of messed up lullaby. In the morning, Lance would stumble out of his bed to the mirror in the bathroom but the marks were always gone by then. A tiny part of him wondered if the marks were Allura's way of comforting him from wherever she had ended up after the sacrifice. The thought was nice but Lance knew he was just trying to latch onto the only fragments of hope he could reach.

Life seemed gradual. Lance got absorbed in the routine of being stuck in his house with his family with them on his every case. Lance, have you eaten dinner? How are you feeling? How much sleep did you get last night? It was nice to know people cared but sometimes Lance just wanted to be in his own company: the questions got tedious after awhile. It was almost like his family didn't trust him on his own, as someone was always with him. If his parents were working or had gone out, Luis or Veronica would sit with him and force him to play stupid board games or video games. If Luis and Veronica were at school, his parents would keep him busy with chores or they'd ask him to watch a movie.

Then, one day, everything got flipped on its head.

Lance had just been scrolling through Tumblr and listening to music when his mum had pushed his bedroom door open. He turned his head to face her, pulling the earphones out of his ears so he could listen to what she had to say. He expected her to ask if he wanted tea or if he wanted a movie; he certainly didn't expect what actually came out of her mouth. "Lance, the police are here to speak to you," She forced a smile but that didn't ease the anxiety swirling inside Lance's chest. He thought his parents understood that he didn't want to speak to the police. Why were they showing up at his house all of a sudden? Clearly seeing Lance's fearful expression, his mum continued to explain. "Don't worry, you haven't done anything wrong. They just want some information."

"I thought you were starting to believe me, mamá..." Lance slammed his laptop shut and refused to meet the gaze of his mum in an attempt to block her from seeing his frown.

"I am, hijo... the police just need to know what happened. They think they've found some more evidence for the case."

A lump began to form in Lance's throat. "There is no case... how do... how do they have evidence?"

"Three kids are missing. There is a case."

"No... I know where they are. I've already told you. They're in-"

"Lance, imagine how their families feel... you know how much Hunk's family worries but with their son missing too? They're probably making themselves sick with worry. As for the other two, I'm sure their families are in the same boat." Lance could just about imagine Hunk's mum chewing on her nails like she always did when he and Hunk had been late home after curfew as kids. She always seemed to jump to the worst conclusion, assuming that if they were five minutes late, something terrible must have happened.

"Maybe I should speak to their families. I could tell them that they're all safe and..." Lance trailed off when his mum slowly shook her head.

"Fine... I'll talk to them but I'm going to tell them the truth. I'm not making it up and you will understand that one day. Why would I make something so crazy up?" Lance pulled himself up with an exaggerated sigh, heading straight downstairs to the living room. A single policeman was sat on the sofa, fully clad in his uniform. He had a bushy moustache lining the top of his lip that almost looked like one of the ones you'd buy from a joke shop and slap on with a sticky underside. He was wearing a pair of thick sunglasses, despite them being indoors under artificial light. Lance's dad was sat opposite him, talking to him about some sports that had been on the TV the night previous. His dad had tried to rope him into watching it but Lance would rather have been kidnapped for real than to have to watch an hour and a half of dramatic people who earned way too much money kicking a ball around.