Chapter Text
“Knock! Knock!” Lance turns his head and sees Keith standing there, with a gun and papers in his hand. “Sorry for coming in through the window. Dreadful etiquette, I know.” Lance runs to his closet, and closes the door, putting his clothes and some boxes in front of it so Keith can’t get in. “Get out of my house, Keith!” He screams and Keith just laughs and he moves closer to the closet. “Hiding in the closet? Come on, unlock the door.” Keith says knocking on the closet door a few times. “I’ll scream and my parents will call the police!” Lance threatens but Keith just smiles. “All is forgiven, baby! Come out and get dressed! You’re my date to the pep rally tonight!” Keith exclaims. “What? Why?!” Lance asks and Keith looks at the papers in his hand. “Our classmates thought they were signing a petition, but you should come out and see what they really signed!” Keith says and Lance starts shaking.
“You threw me out like I was trash, for that you should be dead! But then it hit me like a flash. What if they all just went away instead? Those assholes they're the key, they’re keeping you away from me! They all made me seem like the bad guy when I’m really not!” Keith starts and Lance starts sobbing in the closet. “You left me all alone, you said you wouldn’t do that! And so I built a bomb! Tonight our school will be Vietnam! We can guarantee that none of them ever see their senior prom!” Keith continues and steps closer to the closet. “I was meant to be yours, and you were meant to be mine! We were meant for each other! C’mon, don’t give up on me now!” Keith cries out, and that gets Lance almost out of the closet. Almost. Lance can’t tell if he’s scared or angry right now. Everything is a blur.
“So when the high school gym goes BOOM with everyone inside, we’ll just plant this note explaining why they died! “We the students of Westerberg will die. Our burnt bodies may finally get through to you. Our society churns out slave and blanks. Signed the students of Westerberg High, Goodbye!” We’ll watch the smoke pour out the doors, and we can cuddle while the fire roars!” Keith shouted and hit the closet door, making Lance flinch. Think Lance, think! Lance looked around the door, and he saw some rope. Why does he have that, he doesn’t know. He crawls over the rope and makes a noose out of it. He gets a stool and steps on it. He ties it around his waist and puts his shirt on it so it doesn’t show. Then he ties it to the ceiling and puts the noose around his neck. He kicks the stool away and just hangs in the air. It’s not very comfortable, but it’s not that uncomfortable either. He can manage until Keith leaves. He closes his eyes and focuses on Keith’s voice once more.
“We were meant to be one! You were meant to be mine! I’m all that you could possibly need! You carved my heart open, so don’t just leave me to bleed!” Keith shouts and starts banging on the closet door. “Lance, open the- the door! Lance open the goddamn door!” Keith shouts and bangs to it. “Lance, can we not fight anymore, please? Just open the door, and everything will be okay! Lance sure, you’re scared, I’ve been there! I can help you get over it! Don’t make me break the door down! Please!” Keith shouts, and sniffles. “I’m gonna count to three!” He shouts and Lance takes a deep breath. “1… 2… FUCK IT!” He shouts and kicks the door handle, so he can get in. He takes a while to get past all the stuff that was in front of the door but when he sees Lance he lets out a bloody frightening scream.
“No! Lance… oh my god!” Keith sobs and bangs his fist to the floor. “Please, don’t leave me alone! You were all I had, all I trusted… no... I can’t do this alone!” Keith exclaims and looks up to Lance. Keith then stands up and wipes his tears with his sleeve. “But, I will. I’ll go on without you for you.” Keith says and gets out through the window, and Lance starts taking off the fake noose. “Lance, I brought you a snack- AHH!” Mrs. Sawyer screams and drops the plate and runs to Lance. “No, don’t do it!” She shouts and Lance rolls his eyes. “I wasn’t going to- I uhm. It’s a joke, I’m sorry.” He says and takes the rest of the rope off him. “It’s not funny!” She shouts and Lance nods. “I know, I’m sorry.” Mr. Sawyer comes in. “You’re sorry for what? I heard a scream, is everything okay?” He asks and Lance nods. “Yeah, I’m sorry for being a horrible person.” He says and starts walking out of his room. “Wait- where are you going?” Mrs. Sawyer asks and Lance shrugs, “out.” Lance is almost walking off when he notices something under the clothing pile. He goes over and picks it up- it’s Keith’s gun. He puts it under his shirt to the waistband of his pants, and then runs away.
Lance is walking to the school, all alone, with Keith’s gun. He’s not entirely sure what he’s going to do with it, but he hopes he’s not going to kill anyone this time. He wanted someone strong who could protect him, but now he has to protect himself from Keith. Keith’s solution is a lie, no one here deserves to die, except for him and the monster he created out of Keith. Lance goes inside the school, and you can hear the music and the cheering come from the gym. Keith was not very smart when he told Lance his plan, what a dumbass. Lance is walking towards the gym, and he bumps into Mr. Coran. He helps Lance get up. “Lance? Keith Dean told me you’ve just committed suicide!” He exclaims and Lance shrugs. “Yeah well, he’s wrong about a lot of things…” Lance says and Mr. Coran smiles. “I threw together a lovely tribute, especially considering the short notice.” Mr. Coran tells him and Lance smiles. “Uhm, Mr. Coran, what’s under the gym?” Lance asks and Mr. Coran raises an eyebrow. “The boiler room.” He says and Lance’s eyes lit up. “That’s it!” He shouts and starts running to the boiler room. “Lance, what’s going on?!” Mr. Coran shouts after him, but Lance is already gone.
Lance goes down the stairs and spots Keith planting the bomb. Lance takes out the gun and points it to Keith. “A Norwegian in the boiler room. Just like your dad.” Lance says and Keith turns to him and he smiles. “I thought you’d lost your taste for faking suicides.” He smirks and Lance glares at him. “Step away from the bomb, Keith!” Lance exclaims and Keith smirks almost proudly. “This little thing?” He asks pointing to the bomb trigger next to him. “I’d hardly call this a bomb. This is just to trigger the packs of thermals upstairs in the gym. Those, are bombs. People are gonna see the ashes of Westerberg high and they’re gonna that ‘there’s a school that self-destructed not because society doesn’t care, but because that school was society’! The only place where people like the Paladins and Romelle can get along is in heaven!” Keith shouts and Lance takes a deep breath before stepping forward.
“I wish you mom hadn't left so early… I wish she stayed around a little longer. I wish your dad were good! I wish grown-ups would understand!” Lance shouts and steps a little closer. Keith’s eyes are wide open, and a tear left his eye. “I wish we’d met before, they convinced you life is war! I wish you would just come with me and leave all this…” Lance continued and offered his hand for Keith to take and leave all this behind. Keith looked between Lance’s face and his hand. “I wish I had more TNT!” Keith shouts and hits the gun from Lance's hand. “Ahh! Shit!” He screams, and both of the boys look at each other, then the gun, then again each other and then they’re both running to the gun. When Keith was almost at the gun, Lance grabbed his mullet and threw him away from the gun. Lance was so close to the gun, and then Keith grabbed his ankle, and he lost balance and fell face-first to the ground. Keith gets up from his position and runs to the gun but Lance was faster, he kicked Keith’s feet from under him and crawled to take the gun.
His vision is a little blurry, and his nose and forehead are both bleeding, he may have a black eye too and his back will surely have a bruise after this. Lance points the gun to Keith’s head, and Keith looks at it with wide eyes. Keith furrows his brows and tried to attack Lance, but Lance shoots him in the side of his ribcage. “ARRGH!” Keith shouts and grabs his bleeding his side. A mix of salty water, sweat and blood drip from his face. “W- was it good for you? Kind of sucks for me…” Keith joked and let out a breathy chuckle, and then starts gasping for air. He falls to the ground and groans in pain. Lance takes the bomb and runs off leaving the gun there.
“The irony here is that I didn’t get a chance to write my own suicide note,” Lance mumbles and collapses on to the football field. “This would be peaceful if this bomb wouldn’t be ticking and reminding me that I’m going to die,” Lance mumbles again and stares at the sky. Now Lance has time to really think. He thinks how much he regrets joining the Paladins. If he wouldn’t have joined, Allura, James, Ryan and now him wouldn’t have to die. This was all his fault, huh. People always say things like “die without regrets”, and Lance has nothing but regrets. “Smart thinking.” Lance sits up and looks at Keith. He has his hand on his wound, and his limping and all bloody. “Drag the trigger out to the football field, that way nobody dies. Expect you if you keep holding on to that thing.” Keith says and moves closer to Lance. Lance doesn’t move at all, he’s going to die, why not waste the last second of his life with a psychopath. “I killed people, and I’m going to pay for that!” Lance shouts and wipes his tears off, but they just keep coming.
Keith shakes his head and smiles sadly. “Not you. Me. I destroy things, just like my dad, it never occurred to me to try building anything. But you’re different.” Keith kneels in front of Lance, and while Lance’s distracted Keith takes the bomb and crawls away. “Go do something with your life, okay?” Keith says and hugs the bomb close to him. “Keith! No!” Lance shouts and tries to crawl to him, but he doesn’t have any energy left, what a shame. “I'm damaged, way too damaged! But you’re still not beyond repair! You have to make things better!” Keith shouts and crawls even further away from Lance, who’s still lying on the ground. “Please stand back now,” Keith begs and Lance accepts his defeat and goes a little further back. “‘Little further.” Lance gets up from the ground and limps further away from Keith.
“Hope you’ll miss, I wish you could kiss me. I really do worship you, and now I’ll trade my life for yours…” Keith says between pants. “oh my god-” Lance sobbed and fell to his knees. “And once I disappear-” Keith grunts and Lance is wiping his tears aggressively. “Wait- hold on!” Lance tries to shout, but his voice is already hoarse from all of this, so it gets out between wheezes. “Clean up the mess I’ve made!” Keith says and Lance lets out another sob. “Not this way!” Lance shouts as loud as he can. “Our love is god, remember me,” Keith says and they both notice there are only 10 seconds left. “I love you, Keith! I really do!” Lance shouts and lets out a sob. “I know, I love you too,” Keith says and smiles.
Then everything exploded, Lance wasn’t sure if it was him or Keith at first who was screaming, but after the explosion, he was sure it was him. Everything was first red and then black, he probably shut his eyes. His ears are ringing, and it feels like he’s on fire, maybe he is. He opens his eyes and looks around. There’s blood everywhere, and Keith’s clothes are all around the football field and they’re on fire. Black thick smoke is covering Lance’s surroundings, and it’s hard to see through or even breath. Lance gets up on his shaky legs and starts making his way out of there. His coughing and limping all the way to the front doors. He looks back to the football field and screams again, but this time it’s only coming in a wheeze. Like he has no voice left. Lance then smiles, then he chuckles, and then he laughs. Lance starts laughing and once he stops he looks at his reflection on the glass door.
His hair is a mess, it’s like a bedhead but 10x worse. His forehead has dried out blood on it, and so does his nose and his lip. Half of his face is covered in ash, and his clothes too. He is also bleeding from his right arm. He opens the door and starts walking inside. The bell rings and everyone gets out of the gym, Romelle with crutches, and Hunk, and Pidge as the first ones. When they get out, they stop in front of him. “Where have you been? People are saying you killed yourself! What happened?!” Hunk exclaims and Pidge scoffs. “You look like hell.” She says and Lance glares at her. “I just got back..” Lance steps closer to her and pulls the red scrunchie off her hair, and she shouts at him, “Hey, what are you doing?!”. Lance doesn’t answer her, but puts the red scrunchie on his wrist, since his hair isn’t long enough to put it in.
“Romelle, are you free tonight?” Lance asks and turns his whole body to face Romelle. “What?” She asks and blinks a few times, checking Lance from head to toe. “UHm, my date for the pep rally kind of blew- mE OfF. So, I was wondering, if you weren’t doing anything tonight. Maybe we could pop some Jiffy Pop and rent a video, something with a happy ending?” He asks and Romelles smiles at him sadly. “Are there actually any happy endings?” She asks looking Lance up and down again. “I can’t promise that there wouldn’t be any more Paladins. Hell, high school may not ever end! Still, I miss you. And I’d be honored to call you my friend again.” Lance says and smiles at Romelle. “Did we ever stop being friends?” Romelle asks and smirks at Lance. Lance chuckles and shrugs. “No, we didn’t.” He says and starts chatting with Romelle just like the old days, with Pidge next to him complaining how ‘he tries to replace Allura.’ and how ‘he doesn’t have any right to touch the scrunchie.’.
Maybe Lance can try and fix things here, just like Keith wanted him to.