The Monster in the Sky. Klance AU

Chapter 12: The Lowest of Lows

Allura. Keith. Hunk. Shiro. Coran. Pidge. Allura. Keith. Hunk. Shiro. Coran. Pidge.

Lance repeated the names in his head as if it would make them any more real. He even had a minute sparkle of hope in his heart that it might summon one of his friends. At that moment, Lance would have done anything to see their faces again. Anything. Anything anything anything any-

"Lance, are you alright?" The voice seemed so distant that Lance couldn't tell who it was. His ears were ringing and his surroundings seemed too bright and high in contrast to look at.

He felt like he was dying. Was he dying? He didn't know.

Forcing himself up and breathing so quickly that he was lightheaded, Lance ran to the closest bathroom. He slammed the door behind him before covering his ears with his hands to drown out his own thoughts. The room was shrinking around him, each wall tip-toeing towards him until he felt he had to make himself as small as possible. He hadn't even noticed he was crying and screaming all at once; to his mum on the other side of the door, it sounded like he was hurt.

She panicked. She pushed the door open and tried to calm her son down with words but he didn't seem to hear her. He wasn't listening. Naive, his mum made the mistake of reaching for his hand. Needless to say, she never managed to grab it.

Too disorientated to trust his environment, Lance flailed his arms to get whatever- whoever - it was to give him space. In the process of doing so, Lance's hand smashed into his mum's stomach. Hard. She stumbled back and hugged herself, eyes wide. Her own breaths had become erratic as she realised she couldn't help Lance. She had to watch her own son suffer, helpless.

To both Lance and his mum, the next part was blurry. All they knew was that Lance's dad must have heard them and come running. Somehow, he had managed to calm them down which brings us to the next part of the story.

Sobbing into his chest, Lance's mum was clinging to his dad. After he gathered that Lance had hit his wife, a long, deep frown spread across his face. Meanwhile, Lance was sat on the sofa opposite them, eyes rimmed with enough red to make it look like poorly done stage make up.

"Lance, you can't keep this up any longer," Lance opened his mouth to catapult himself into an argument but held back when his dad continued. "We know this is hard for you too but you... hitting your mother is the last straw."

"I was- I didn't-" Lance tried but not even he could make sense of what happened in his head. The world had been so fuzzy and he had been petrified... he didn't even know what he was doing.

"We think it might be best if you were put in hospital. You just... You're not getting better and I'm worried you might lash out again."

Lance's brain couldn't comprehend words as tears filled his eyes. He could no longer say the heavy feeling in his chest was sadness: it had become numbness. How was he supposed to react when his parents wanted to throw him into an asylum? That wasn't supposed to happen to him. He was just a normal kid who had a normal childhood and was supposed to live a normal life. He didn't belong in an asylum... he belonged at home with his family and friends.

"It's for the best, okay? Who knows what could happen next. You might hurt yourself..."

Lance's heart begged him to argue. It begged him to shout and to scream- anything that might fix things. Despite that, his mind refused to cooperate. It told him that he had stooped too low. He had his own mum- the woman who had dedicated years of her life into looking after him- and that was enough of a reason for him to be locked up. The only words that could escape his mouth was a tiny, desperate, "I'm sorry."

-

Lance could hear his mum's sob through his parents' bedroom door. It was a sound so foreign and terrifying that it made him want to take back all those times he had cried to her. She cried loudly and without a single ounce of hope; something that was so uncharacteristic of the woman that had given Lance so much of his hope over the years. Tentatively, Lance stepped towards the door before pushing it open. Upon seeing his mum's tear-stained face and his dad's red-rimmed eyes, he found himself opening his mouth and closing it again. He wasn't sure what he was meant to say. Never had he put his parents through so much misery; not even when his parents found out how poor his performances were at the Garrison. "Lance..." His mum began but she wasn't able to say anything else as her words were morphed into a colossal sob.