spacebaloney | » in space, everybody can hear you scream

[Lance drops his gear on the bed and hurries out of his room and down the hallway to Keith's room. That explains the howling. Where it came from and why it was done. And he has other more important issues at hand to worry about than Shiro's nighttime fashion choices, not when he's rocking Lapras printed sleep pants and a tanktop himself.

Bursting through the door, Lance glances at Shiro and the Pokemon, then to Keith, then back to Shiro, utterly helpless and beginning to panic.]

Is he breathing?

[Of course he needs to ask, even if it's a sleep coma. He didn't witness it first hand with Hunk so Lance has no idea how it's supposed to physically work.]

[It's only been a few minutes since he found him, but... wow. It feels like hours. And it's telling as heck that when Lance busts in, there's no reaction. There's nothing from the person passed out in bed. It -- doesn't feel good. To say the least.]

[Shiro does look up when Lance enters, though, and there's a flicker of relief in his face. Just seeing him -- he's okay. Lance is still in one piece. Still conscious.]

Yeah. Still breathing.

[But that looks like all their teammate is doing. Breathing, and nothing more. He's torn, honestly, between standing up to comfort his friend and staying put. In case sitting here is going to do something. Anything.]

We should take him to the hospital.

[Or the Pokecenter. Whatever stands for a medical center in this godforsaken place. Lance just isn't in the mindset to search for the proper term when his future teammate--no, fuck that, Keith is his teammate no matter the timeline--is lying there unconscious and neither he or Shiro can do anything for him.

And Shiro can do anything in Lance's eyes. Anything but wake Keith up.]

Where's Hunk and Pidge?

They can't help. They couldn't help Jean. Or me.

[It... comes out a lot more grim than he meant for it to. Than he wanted it to. But it's the truth. And he doesn't know if moving him will help, or make it worse. Or if the pokemon would even let them do it. Torracat maybe... she knows him, she's more trusting.]

[Espurr's little noises of distress are killing him. And so is the helplessness building in his chest.]

Here. Probably asleep. I -- [He cuts off. Makes himself school his expression. Look stronger than he feels.] I'll keep trying to get through to him.

[Lance has a grimace that is one hundred percent confusion on his face.]

What do you mean Jean or you?

[Is Shiro saying that he and Jean both had comas too? This is the first time Lance is hearing about that and he wonders if the rest of the house knew all about this when he didn't. Why doesn't anybody in this house tell him things?!]

[... why does no one tell him these things? What is wrong with all of them?]

Jean was unconscious for a month. We had no idea until Krieg brought him back here... but nothing could wake him up.

[A hand through his hair -- the patented "I'm Uncomfortable" Shiro gesture.] For me, it was only a week. I... thought I got sent home.

I thought I was gone for months. I thought I was back, I thought... [He thought he'd never left at all. Hadn't remembered being here, hadn't remembered anything from this place. And he's tried with everything he has not to think about that.]

[That's a question Lance seems to be asking himself more and more each day. What else does only he not know? That no one saw fit to let Lance in on the secrets? If he wasn't in the midst of feeling anxious over strange and unexplained comas, it would burn a hole in his chest and fan the flames of that low self-worth of his.

No guarantee that won't happen later.]

So what happened?

[Did he dream? Did he just sleep for an entire week with no thoughts, feelings? How did he not die of dehydration and starvation? He asked all this of Hunk, but maybe the answers will be different from Shiro?]

We can't just leave him here, Shiro.

[If they did, Espurr would never shut up and Keith will be the only one to sleep ever again.]

[They need to have a talk. All of them. About where they are, what they know. What they want to hear about their timeline, what they don't. They need to all get on the same page about what's happening here and stop assuming the others are just going to fill each other in.]

[He doesn't meet Lance's eye. Keeps staring down at their teammate like it's going to answer a dozen questions and make him open his eyes again.]

One minute I was here... next I was just -- back where I'd been taken from. [Watching Allura's face disappear behind the shuttle bay doors.] I thought I was back for good. Until I woke up here again and everyone said I'd been out a week.

[That's all he can say without going too deeply into the matter. Without reminding himself of how it had been like all of this was just gone. Like it hadn't mattered at all.]

[We can't just leave him here--]

[Jean woke up and stayed. Hunk hadn't. Only one of them had stayed nearby, and what if that made the difference? What if keeping them close meant keeping them here...? Keeping them around people they knew, in a familiar, safe, place meant they stayed. this place has been good. For-- all of us.]

[What is he supposed to do? They're not medics here. Espurr has to quiet down sometime. But if something goes wrong? But if keeping someone in a familiar setting meant they stayed?]

[You have to make the call.]

Give me a day. If nothing changes... I'll take him in. You and Hunk can handle the house.

[Because he'd be staying at the center too, of course.]

[So... Shiro got sent home? Mentally? That doesn't even make sense. Lance isn't science-based and this would be something he'd ask Coran about, maybe ask him to explain in small English words so he would understand how a coma could send you back into time and bring you back like nothing even happened.

Lance rubs at his eyes and growls, dragging his hands through his hair. This is frustrating. Keith and he aren't best friends, but how is he supposed to sit around the house and just wait and see? How does Shiro have that type of strength and patience to do that?

He's torn. Shiro is their leader for a reason. Lance has never questioned Shiro's decisions before yet he's finding himself doing that right this moment as his eyes fall onto Keith's prone body.]

What about his Pokemon?

[Espurr is still wailing and Torracat is still pacing. Getting them into their balls is not going to be an easy feat and not something Lance can do. He knows for a fact he makes Espurr nervous.

Another place where Lance finds himself useless to help.]

[The lack of verbal response for a few moments has his heart drop down to the floor. Lance is expecting answers and a plan and he has... nothing.]

Feed Espurr. Torracat might settle if one of the Incineroars can distract her.

[He's honestly surprised at how steady his voice comes out. But that cracks, a little, at what comes next.]

I'm sorry.

[Quietly. Simply. Because he's at a loss. He's done what he can, he's done everything he can. But people still keep slipping away. He still keeps losing people. Lance may think he's being steady and patient, but he sure doesn't feel like it. Maybe he's just that practiced at shoving it all down. Hiding it all.]

[And once again, it's a grim reminder of what happens when he lets his guard down. When he tries to be human. They had a party like normal human beings and the next day, someone else has fallen through his fingers. He tried to do what Ford and Harry and Heather did. And people disappeared.]

I don't know how to fix this.

[He'd thought he was doing right by them. All of them. Keith did too. And now? His team just hurt.]

[Because he's let himself be something other than just their leader. Isn't it.]

[Lance is shaking his head. No, this isn't a plan he likes.]

Espurr doesn't like me. She's not gonna let me do that.

[Maybe because she can read Lance's mind and see how weak he is. Maybe she needs a strong trainer like Keith, like Shiro. Lance can never be on their level. He couldn't even convince Hunk's Espurr that the food he was offering her was safe without help. What the quiznak could he possibly do for the heartbroken cats?]

Ask the network?

[It sounds like such a stupid fucking idea the moment it comes out of his mouth, but Lance is throwing anything out there in a fit of desperation because between Keith and Shiro apologizing for something that isn't his fault, he's dying here.]

Can you get one of the Incineroars, then?

[There's an unspoken "please" there. Because... he doesn't want to leave. Doesn't want to take the chance he moves and suddenly they've lost someone else. That letting their guards down might mean letting their teammate down. Torracat is dedicated and devoted, but she's not as withdrawn as Espurr. Either of the big muscle cats here might be able to do something for her.]

[Ask the network Lance says.]

[It's something. It's better than sitting here helpless.]

Right -- right that's. That's a start.

[Maybe it would really help. Getting another perspective that isn't this close. Wouldn't change that it's his fault, somehow. Because there's no one else tangible to blame.]

[But it might help.]

[Lance nods. An Incineroar. There's quite a few of them still on the island and while he's not familiar with any of them, they seem okay enough with Lance's presence that maybe he can get one to come and collect Torracat. He can do this. He's got to do this.

And the please doesn't need to be aired for Lance to hear it. He isn't expecting Shiro to move from Keith. Keith would do the same for Shiro. Lance just has to shove that little voice in the back of his head that whispers that no one would do it for him back into its cage. Not now. It's a really bad time.

A quick turn on his slippered heel and Lance is off to go outside, hoping on the way there, he'll run into one of the big cats and make this an even quicker trip.]

[If any of them come, it's probably going to be Shiro's. Blue has talked up his hero to literally all of his teammates so... if nothing else, they know him. They trust Kuro and Haunter's estimation of him a bit more than Blue's, but still. She's probably sunning herself outside, like a true cat.]

[Lance won't have a hard time convincing her to come in, basically. Possibly give him a few headbutts of greeting, lick him. Chuff a little at the notion of leaving her sunny space. In the end, she'll follow willingly.]

[Shiro won't have moved. Neither will Keith, or the pokemon. But he's sitting like a statue on the edge of the bed. Like that's going to do something to fix this.]

[Luckily Red happened to be the one Lance ran into first. It doesn't take much to get her to follow him, especially after telling her that Shiro needed her help. So Lance returns with Red in tow, stepping aside to let the Pokemon through first, then comes in behind her to stand off to the side.

There's nothing more he can do for anybody in this room right now so he'll just be here. Standing. Waiting. Worrying.]

[The big Incineroar barrels in, and promptly exchanges some cat greetings with Torracat. A lot of purring and consoling licks. It does end up working, a bit, to calm the poor thing. She stops howling, at least.]

[Shiro ... really hasn't said anything. That doesn't mean he's not aware of what's going on. Or who's all here.]

[He reaches a hand out, almost absently. But with the intent to grip his teammate's shoulder. Pull Lance in for a hug. He needs one. Even if he doesn't know how to say that out loud.]

... thank you.

[Lance almost kicks back a "For what?" in response to Shiro's thanks because it doesn't feel like he's done anything. Wow, go call a giant freakin' cat in. Big whoop. Keith is still dead asleep and Shiro is breaking down in front of Lance's eyes and nothing Lance just did helped much of anything.

But right now if clearly not the time to make this about him and even Lance isn't a dick like that to do it. So he shoves that automatic response down and wraps his arms back around Shiro because his leader needs comforting and sometimes, they all do.]

Don't mention it.

[For being here. For supporting him. For running to try and help, even if it seemed like just a band-aid for now. Being here helps. A lot. He meant it when he said he missed his teammate. He can try to pull himself together, this way. With someone to pull together for.]

Right.

[Still. It's a bit longer than a usual Shiro Hug. And when he pulls back, it's not that far. Like he's trying to assure himself they're both still here.]

Either a week... or a month. We'll know.