Little Merman - Klance Mermaid AU

Chapter Twelve

Lance watched as Keith was shot into the other wall by the lightning Haggar had shot at him. It pained his heart to see that, and he began to pound his fists on the bubble even harder, drawing some blood from his knuckles and fingers. It was no use, because the bubble held tight, not even moving as Lance smashed his whole body into the side.

He turned to Haggar to tell her to let him go, but she had raised her fingers and snapped, sending a sharp pain through Lance's skull. Lance's eyes snapped shut out of habit and he clutched his head, trying to will it away. It was gone almost as soon as it came, and he was able to open his eyes, devastated to see that they were at Haggar's hut on the surface.

"Now," Haggar said, allowing the bubble to pop and letting Lance fall to the ground, "I need you to get me some firewood," Lance opened his mouth to protest and maybe give her some choice words, but a pain went through his whole body, causing him to drop to the ground. If he still had his voice, his screams would've echoed throughout the whole town and maybe caused an avalanche, even though there were no mountains nearby.

"I probably should've warned you," Haggar laughed out quietly, squatting down to where Lance writhed, "If you refuse, this searing pain will go on until you agree,"

Lance looked up at her, tears streaming down his face as the pain increased. He was barely able to form a single thought, but when he was finally able to think yes, the pain stopped and he laid on the ground, trying to compose himself.

"There," Haggar cooed, gently patting his cheek with a cold hand, "Now, go get me the firewood I need," Lance was only able to nod and heave himself up to the best of his abilities. If he was going to be like this forever, he might as well get used to it.

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Keith swam through the castle, his tail pushing him faster than he should've been able to go, but he was filled with a cold, hard determination. He swam until he got to the throne room, bursting in with a shout and quickly swimming towards Shiro.

"Woah," Shiro said when he nearly ran into him, "What's wrong?" He bent down and saw the angry tear tracks going down keith's face. His face was red, and his eyes were slowly turning yellow in his anger.

"Someone took Lance," Keith said through gritted teeth, knowing he had to explain what was going on before going crazy.

Shiro's eyebrows knit into confusion and he straightened. "I thought Lance-" he was cut off as Keith held up a frustrated hand to silence him.

"Blue," he grit out, "Blue was Lance and he got taken," His breaths were becoming labored as he tried to keep his cool. It took all of his strength not to lash out at someone.

Understanding dawned on Shiro's face and he held up his hand, the one made of magic coral. "You want to go to the surface to save him," he said, knowing his son well enough to phrase it like a statement.

Keith's tears increased and he was nearly smashing his teeth together to keep from screaming out in agony. "Please," he managed, "I need to be human again,"

Shiro looked up from studying his fingers and frowned, knowing full well what Keith meant. "Are you sure?" he asked, placing both hands on his shoulders, "You have no idea how to operate a human body,"

Keith looked up at him with a hard look and nearly glared. "I can figure it out," he said softly, "I just need to save him,"

Shiro sighed, but relented, swimming back to get some room. He held out his hand and began to chant some words under his breath, ones that he had hoped he would never have to use. A soft beam of purple light shot out of his hand and wrapped itself around Keith, like a blanket. Keith closed his eyes and allowed himself to be taken by the warm blanket that was beginning to work its magic on his body.

He felt his tail split into two and shrink, his toes being the first thing he felt. His gills closed up and he was left with just his mouth to breath out of, the purple blanket providing a bubble for him to breathe in. His hair didn't change, but he felt the markings on his face disappear, the little that had been illuminating the bubble gone after a moment.

After a few minutes of that, the blanket stopped swirling and slowly went back into Shiro's hand, seeming to step back to admire its work on Keith. He floated there, his legs limp in the water while he looked down at his new body.

"There," Shiro said, sounding exhausted. Then, he handed Keith a red and purple shell that looked like a horn. "Blow this when you're ready, and I will come get you,"

Keith examined the shell for a minute, then smiled, throwing his arms around his father. "Thank you," he choked out.

Once the hug was done, he turned around to swim out, but found that he was just as useless at swimming with two legs as Lance was with a tail. Shiro chuckled behind him, then called Coran into the room. After a brief explanation, Coran was more than happy to help guide Keith to the surface.

They swam for quite some time, Keith sometimes looking back to look at his new body, causing them to crash into a rock or two, but Coran was more than helpful. After what felt like forever, their head broke the surface, and Keith's bubble popped, allowing him to breathe in air from the sky. It felt weird inside his nose, the cool feeling a little different when it wasn't also flitting through his gills.

"Here you are," Coran said when they got to the beach, gently pushing Keith into the sand, "I've got to get back to the castle. Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"I'll be fine, Coran," Keith said, gently wiggling his toes, "This'll just take some getting used to,"

Coran nodded and silently swam back to Altea, the worry of what Keith was doing eating at his insides. That left Keith alone on the secluded beach with nothing but a small tarp nearby. First, to learn to walk.

He had seen Lance and his friends do it a million times, so he thought it would be easy. Oh, how wrong he was. The most he could get without falling was 7 steps, then his legs would turn to jelly and he would hit the sand with a thud. He was persistent, though, and was practicing throughout the day, until someone came by and messed him up.

The gasp carried down from the top of the dune and down to Keith's ears, and he turned to see who had come to his practice range. At the top of the dune stood Pidge and Hunk, baskets in hand, presumably for a picnic. They stood there with their mouths hanging open, until Keith realized who they were and called out to them.

"Hunk! Pidge! I need some help!" he called, forgetting that they had no idea who he was.

"How do you know us?" Pidge said in her loud voice, shooting Keith a terrified glare.

"Oh, right," Keith mumbled, remembering the situation, "Can you come down so I can explain it better?"

"No, I'm good just staying here," Hunk called, but Pidge slowly walked down the dune, prompting Hunk to follow, despite his protests.

When they got there, Pidge had to avert her gaze away from Keith, since he hadn't been wearing anything when he transformed. "My name is Keith," Keith stated, scooting around to face them fully, "I'm a friend of Lance,"

At that, the two friends visibly deflated, looking to the sand with tears in their eyes. "So, he told you about us?" Hunk asked, wiping away at his eyes.

"Not exactly," Keith said, looking up at the two with another hard look, "Lance is alive, but he won't be if you don't help me,"

At that, the two friends looked up and nearly dropped their baskets, watching Keith with looks that looked of hope and doubt and fear. They stood there for another moment before Keith told them to sit down and they obliged with shaky legs. Once they were seated, Keith took a deep breath and told them everything.

A/N: *takes a deep breath* *screams for a million years* I JUST LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!