Langst One-Shots

Every open book has invisible ink

Prompt - Lance isn't as sheltered as he plays off to be.

xXx

Lance may seem immature to the team, but as everyone says, or rather what his mama used to say, "Every open book has some invisible ink."

Lance never knew what that meant until he turned fifteen and Lance lost his innocence forever, gone in the screams of agony of his fellow friends. Everything hurt when he thought of then but he never told anyone. Nobody needed to know. Lance was okay with that. Only one person did know and that was the therapist he was forced to go to when he was sixteen. He was already at the Garrison back then. Lance made her promise that she would never mention of it again unless Lance wanted to talk about it.

It amazed Lance how he managed to hold back a scream in the middle of the night. He didn't want to wake up his roommate, Hunk. Hunk had his own things going on, and Lance didn't want to feel like a burden. His nightmares were usually very detailed, and it felt exactly like that memory was being repeated. It brought Lance to tears just thinking about it.

The only reason why Lance had these panic attacks and nightmares was because he had already seen a war. War is a terrible thing, definitely something that Lance wishes that he would never have to go through again. It was a horrible experience, he was thankful that he managed to to actually get out of alive. Sadly, most of his family was not as fortunate; only his mother was left, and she was just as scarred as he.

He was only fourteen when he was drafted into the army in Cuba. At first he was trained to be a medic, which was better than what others had to go through for training. Lance found it okay to be a medic; he found it to be easy or rather interesting, in some cases. He made friends in his groups but as the troops left for the front lines, some of his teammates went along with them.  They could help them if anything happened to the soldiers that were risking their lives.  

As his team members were sent off to the front lines, they never came back. War was slowly turning into a rabid fight for survival. Cuba was not only losing in the war due to casualties, but many cowered away in fear of death. Either way, Lance was losing his friends and people he cared deeply for. He watched them all die right in front of his eyes. Soon enough Lance was the only medic left on the main base and soon enough, Lance was sent off to the the front line as a fighter. He was forced to learn how to use a gun and forced to become the best sniper on his team.

Lance made a vow that day. He swore to his fallen friends and family that he would never allow anybody he cared about to die.

He hated every little bit of killing people, none the less slaying people he used to know. Lance was just a medic that wanted to help people, not kill people.

He was only a young boy.

xXx

When Lance first found out from Allura that they were now in another war, he wanted to scream. He didn't want to do this again; it was emotionally draining the first time but now that he knows what he's doing, it's still going to be even worse. Why does God hate him so much?

As much as Lance was tempted to beg Blue or Coran, hell, even Allura to send him back home, The only reason why Lance wouldn't leave is because Hunk was here and Hunk needed him at the moment. To be honest, Hunk would always need him, as stuck up as it sounded. Lance couldn't just leave Hunk alone, He was the best and Lance wanted to be there for him.

The first night that Lance was supposed to sleep but Coran's and Allura's words kept echoing in his head, "Get lots of rest Paladins! You have team training tomorrow!" Oh, how Lance wanted to sleep. He physically couldn't close his eyes and let his brain settle down. The fear of nightmares was too much for him. His brain was too high-strung, maybe Hunk was awake or rather maybe He would let Lance cuddle with him.