The Monster in the Sky. Klance AU

Chapter 9: Everything is Better When You're Pretty

"Uncy Lance!" Carlos squealed as he raced towards Lance, crashing into his uncle and pulling him into a hug. Lance picked him up and span him around in a circle whilst Maria watched and giggled behind them. Once he had put Carlos down, he lifted up Maria and repeated the action. She squealed at about a hundred times the volume that Carlos did. "Papá said that we couldn't see you because you were sick but we convinced him that we would look after you."

Carlos seemed so innocent as he spoke but the words might as well have been a knife through his heart. Lance could just about deal with his parents thinking he was insane but there wasn't a single chance in the world that anyone would stop him from seeing Carlos and Maria. Lance let his frown morph into a grin as he forced out, "Are you guys going to be my doctors?"

"Yeah! Maria is going to make you look pretty because everything is better when you're pretty."

Lance snorted, raising his left eyebrow. "Am I not already pretty?"

"You're ugly!" Maria yelled, digging through her tiny handbag in search of the materials she needed. She pulled out a bottle of baby blue nail varnish and shoved it into Lance's face. When Lance held out his right hand and balanced it on his knee, she unscrewed the cap. Lance let out a soft laugh at her insult as she leant forward and used the brush to coat his nails.

Carlos pouted as he realised he was being left out. He shuffled over so he could sit right up against Lance before asking, "Can you tell us more about that princess?" He cocked his head to the side in an adorable-ly innocent manner.

"Of course..." Lance pondered for a moment, letting himself get absorbed in the way Maria painted his nails. "She was ten thousand years old."

"Was she all wrinkly?" Maria teared her focus from the nail polish to look up at Lance. He laughed, almost making Maria smudge the paint.

"No, no, she was beautiful. She had these pointy ears... like an elf. She also had these marks on her cheeks that glowed blue."

"Was she magic?"

"It's complicated."

"Do you miss her?"

"Yeah," Lance sighed and flickered his gaze up into space, blinking away the tears gathering in his eyes. "I do."

"There! Beautiful!" Maria sat back and admired her own work. The painting was a bit scruffy and she had painted the skin on occasions but it was good for an eight year old. "I need your other hand now." Lance nodded and moved so his left hand was balanced on his knee as opposed to his right.

"Who else did you meet in space?" Carlos didn't look at Lance as he asked the question, instead waving his toy shark around in the air. The thing was rugged and its material had somehow gotten even more grey so Lance couldn't help but wonder if it had seen a washing machine before. It probably hadn't, considering Carlos barely parted with it.

"Hunk was there, do you remember him?"

"He made me shark cupcakes on my birthday!" Carlos broke out into a larger grin, roaring like a lion but pretending his toy shark was making the noise. Lance playfully gasped, eliciting a loud laugh from his nephew.

"Yeah, he did. One day, I'll force him to make some more. There were three others with me in space too: Pidge, Shiro and Keith. Pidge was really cool and she was a literal meme. Shiro was the space dad and he made sure we all looked after ourselves. Keith was an edgelord. He was really emo and impulsive but he was cool once I got to know him."

"Do you have a favourite friend?"

"Obviously Hunk. Any friend who makes me food is my best friend." Maria leaned back and grinned whilst Lance began to blow on his wet nails. "Keith was getting close though, even if he never gave me food. Carlos, do you want Maria to paint your nails too?"

"Yeah!" Carlos held out his tanned hands whilst Maria dipped the brush back into the paint.

They sat in silence as Maria painted her brother's nails. That was right up until the point that Carlos murmured, "Are you really sick? You don't seem sick."

Lance let out a soft sigh, refusing to meet the little boy's gaze. "Everyone thinks I'm sick but I'm not."

"How does that work?"

"It's hard to explain. Just know, I'm okay. Don't worry your little head about it."

Carlos didn't seem so worried anymore as he barked out, "I'm not little! I'm taller than Maria!"

-

Dark thoughts seem to surface in the middle of the night and that was something Lance become all too familiar with since coming back to Earth.

It was those times at three in the morning, after being plagued with nightmares, when Lance was at his lowest. He couldn't tear the thoughts of Allura and the rest of his team from his mind which usually resulted in a copious amount of tears. He sat on his bed, the only light in the room being the soft shine of the moon, and cried into his own hands. He missed the princess and the rest of his friends but all he could do was sob in his own company. No matter how much he wished and wished for Allura to be at his side (or Keith: he'd suffice), holding onto him and reminding him that everything was okay but no. He was alone.

Despite being inside a house with his family who he loved with all of his heart, Lance felt isolated. Since coming back to Earth, he had began to understand the difference between loneliness and being alone. Even inside a crowded room with hundreds of people, one can feel shut off from the world. That was how Lance felt. It was like he was behind a pane of glass, watching the rest of the world move on and love each other whilst he was trapped, unable to interact with anyone.

He hated it. He was a social butterfly so he hated the isolation more than anything. More than Zarkon even.

At some point, a soft knock rang through the air. The sound contrasted Lance's heavy sobs so he almost didn't register it. When he did, he lifted up his head, sniffed and wiped at his tear-filled eyes. He called out a broken, "Yeah?" that came out much quieter and sadder than he could have anticipated. It tore off the mask that Lance wanted to wear, screaming about his real state to the rest of the world.

Upon receiving the response, the person behind the door- Veronica, Lance soon came to realise- threw it open and flicked on his light. "Oh dios, Lance..." She rushed forward and pulled her brother into a hug that he needed. "What's wrong? Do you want to talk about it?"

Even though Veronica was sat right next to him, Lance still felt a million miles away. "I miss them so much," Lance sniffed, unable to hold back the tears. "I know they're real, V. I know it..."

"I know..." Veronica began to rub Lance's back, trying her hardest to calm him down with her action. It wasn't often that she had to comfort Lance: it was usually Lance who comforted her when her significant others broke up with her, when she failed exams or just when she was having a bad day and things had just gotten too much. She was so used to seeing Lance build walls up around himself, pretending to be okay just so he could ensure everyone else was happy.

"Do..." Lance swallowed as he raised his head to meet Veronica's eyes. "Do you believe me?"

"Of course I do."

Lance let out a heavy sob, body shaking at the sheer power of it. He leant his head on his sister's shoulder, though he still attempted to maintain the eye contact. "You do..?"

"Yes. I know it all sounds crazy and I can understand why mamá and papá don't believe you but... I trust you. If you say it happened, it happened." Lance couldn't stop the small smile from forming on his face because, finally, someone trusted him. All of a sudden, it didn't matter that Lance's parents didn't believe him or that the police considered Keith and Shiro suspects of a made up crime because Lance wasn't alone anymore. He had Veronica; it was Lance and Veronica against the rest of the world.