Little Merman - Klance Mermaid AU

Chapter Nine

Keith would never admit to it, but he really was starting to warm up to Blue. When he had played the harp the second day he was there, he had transported Keith to the beach, watching Lance play. It wasn't the same song, but it was definitely close, making Keith ache for the light on the surface and the sand beneath his fins. When Blue had helped him get to that very beach a few days later, well, Keith was ecstatic. He almost hugged him.

The sixth day was filled with showing Blue some of his strategies in training, which Blue was happy to watch. After a few minutes of watching, he seemed to want to try and quickly grabbed a sword hanging on the wall.

He found out very quickly that he was not good at the training. The training dummy would attack him mercilessly, the coral sword hitting him in the side and sending him careening into the opposite wall. Keith laughed at first, but, when Blue started to actually look scared, he stopped the simulation and managed to calm him down with some food.

"How about we go to the surface?" he asked when he saw that Blue was still a little shaken up, "I know something up there that will definitely cheer you up,"

Blue nodded enthusiastically and followed Keith out of the castle and up to the surface, silently laughing when his head broke through the waves. The two swam over to the rock Keith would usually hide behind and watched the beach with intensity. Keith was trying to find Lance, but with every minute that passed that he didn't show up, more worry twisted through his gut.

"He should've been here by now," he muttered, turning to Blue, who was tracing patterns on the rocks.

Blue looked up and tilted his head to the side. "Lance," Keith answered him, "He's usually here by now,"

At that, Blue's eyes widened and he swallowed something in his throat, nerves seeming to get the best of him. He looked like he would explode any minute.

Keith took no notice. "I'm gonna go see what's up," he stated and began to swim over to the beach, but Blue grabbed his arm to stop him.

"What?" Keith growled, tugging his arm out of Blue grasp. Blue pointed towards the beach and Keith turned and saw two people walking down onto it.

"Hunk and Pidge, maybe they know what happened to Lance," Keith breathed and began swimming over anyway. Blue caught his arm again not too far away and Keith looked back, irritated. The look quickly melted off of his face when he saw Blue's distressed look.

"Okay, maybe we'll just eavesdrops," Keith said, seeing some of the tension in Blue shoulder let up. The other merman nodded and they swam over together, hiding behind another rock just within earshot of the two humans.

"Why did we even come here?" Pidge asked, irritated, "It will just make us sadder,"

"Because," Hunk said back, unloading a basket of flowers he was carrying, "Lance would've wanted us to,"

"I know, I just," Pidge began, choking back a few tears, "What if it wasn't really an accident.

Keith stared at the two with mild concern as Hunk went to give Pidge a hug, which they graciously accepted. What happened? Keith thought, a knot twisting in his stomach. He didn't like this.

"I know, I know," Hunk cooed, trying to calm Pidge down, "It probably was an accident, but, I know that there's a possibility that there isn't," He trailed off slightly, light tears tracing down his own cheeks.

"Why didn't we ever see it sooner!" Pidge wailed, pushing out of the hug and flopping down into the sand, "We're his best friends and we never saw when he was hurting!"

At that, Hunk began to cry forcefully, his face scrunching up and his fists curling in on themselves so that the knuckles turned white. "I don't know," he whispered, falling down into the sand next to him.

Keith silently swam to get a closer look at the flowers, much to Blue's silent protests. When he got closer, he was able to read the careful handwriting on a little note in the middle of the blue forget-me-nots.

Lance McClain, Born July 28 2001- Died November 18 2018 it read. Keith stared at it for a moment longer before the realization his him full force in the face. Died Died Died Died Died the work echoes in his head, along with the whole conversation Hunk and Pidge were having.

They're mourning he thought, tears pricking at the edges of his vision They came here to mourn.

He felt tight hands around his arm and turned to see Blue, who was giving him a pleading look, telling him to back away. His eyes swept over the card and he froze, his grip on Keith's arm going slack.

Died he mouthed, his eyes blowing wide and unreadable. He looked back up at Keith and quickly began to pull him away from the beach and back towards Altea.

"He's... he's dead," Keith mumbled when they stopped just outside of the city, "He died,"

Blue quickly ducked his head to look him in the eyes, but Keith pushed him away, wanting to get as far away from everything as possible. He let out a screamed that pierced through the whole city. It made his ears ringing, but he didn't care, all he could feel were the fears and anger and sadness in his chest that began to spread out through the rest of his body.

Blue let him, his eyes scrunched, like he was calculating a math problem. He looked like he was thinking, then a realization seemed to hit him, his eyes blowing wide in anger.

Keith payed him no attention as he swam back to the castle, attracting looks from nearby citizens. They watched as their young prince stumbled through the water, tears streaming down his face as he swam in almost record time to the castle.

"Keith, are you-?" Allura said, swimming up to him from the front of the castle, but she was cut off as Keith let out another scream and kept swimming towards his room. Allura, Shiro, and Coran all floated outside of the castle, silent as Keith's screams and wails filled the water. A door was heard shutting and the screaming became muffled, but it was still there.

Blue swam up not too long after, pity and something else in his eyes. Anger maybe?

"Blue, what happened?" Allura cried, swimming up to him, "Why is Keith so upset?"

Blue floated there for a minute before pointing to the surface with a solemn look, then dragging his thumb across his throat. He looked just as upset, but it a different way.

"The surface died?" Allura asked, tilting her head to the side on confusion.

"No," Shiro said from behind her, "That boy he's always talking about. He died,"

Allura gasped and covered her face with her hands, her own tears streaming down her face. Coran floated there silently, staring after Keith as if trying to communicate telepathically. Blue floated over to the castle after Shiro, passing by Keith's door on the way. His screams had subsided, but his sobs and wails had not.

"Leave him," Shiro said when Blue reached for the handle, "We need to let him do this himself,"

Blue stared at the handle and sighed, but nodded, floating into his own room with a frown. It was too early in the day, but he had someone he needed to see about this.

A/N: Believe me, I'm screaming while I write this, because I'm like "I know he's not dead, I'm so sorry my poor baby boy!" I really should take a nap.