"Hey Lance could you try this for me?" Hunk giggled. Lance walked over and popped the fruit into his mouth, eating it in one bite. "How do you feel?"
"Like killing myself," Lance said immediately. Hunk paled. "Too bad I wouldn't be able to do that properly." Lance looked horrified at what he said. "That....that came out of nowhere...I swear it's not true."
"Lance..."Hunk trailed off. Lance left the room. "Crap."
Time skip
"Good morning team," Shiro called. "How was your night?"
"Good," Pidge smiled.
"I managed to fall asleep for the first time in three days only to wake up from a nightmare causing me to have a panic attack. After that I trained for five hours straight and I think I broke my wrist." Lance said calmly. His eyes then widened at what he said. Everyone was looking at him with worry written all over their faces. "Um....that was random...I'm gonna go....do something now..." Lance got up and left.
"What was that?!" Keith says, looking horrified at what the blue paladin just said.
"I think it might have something to do with the truth fruit I gave him..?" Hunk says sheepishly.
"Hunk!!" Everyone shouts. Hunk raises his arms defensively.
"Okay I think we need to be careful about what you say around Lance," Shiro said, claiming the attention of everyone. "It's not fair to force him to share his secrets."
"Okay." Hunk sighed. "I'll go apologize." Hunk walked off to find his best friend. He saw Lance sitting in a corner looking at a photo. "Hey Lance, I'm sorry about giving you a truth fruit. Are you mad?"
"I'm not mad," Lance said. "Just depressed and suicidal. Like always."
Hunk paled. "W...what?"
"Well, I suppose I'm more suicidal now than I was on Earth because I ran out of antidepressants." Lance shrugged until he realized what he said. "I mean.....I...."
"Lance..." Hunk tried to get close to Lance but Lance got up and ran away. He fought the urge to cry. Why did he tell Hunk all of that? Wait...didn't he say he gave Lance a truit fruit? Damnit! He ran right into the training room, startling Keith and Shiro who were training.
"Lance what the hell?" Keith cried. "What's wrong with you?"
"My severe anxiety, crippling depression, my suicidal thoughts. My ADHD and my self harm problems." Lance answered immediately. Lance snapped a hand over his mouth and backed away from Keith who was in shock. Shiro stepped forward and tried to grab Lance but Lance ran.
"Lance!" Shiro called, but he was already gone. Shiro turned to look at Keith.
"What the fuck was that.." Keith asked himself. He was in shock. Lance? Lance the happy go lucky flirt was depressed? And suicidal? What? But the more Keith thought about it the more obvious it became. The way he always faked a smile. The way he always wore long sleeves. Everything was so obvious now.
"Keith, I know you're just as surprised as I am, but we need to find Lance," Shiro gulped. "And make sure he doesn't hurt himself."
XXX
Lance ran, ignoring Shiro's call. He ran trying to fight the tears that threatened to roll down his cheeks. He ran until he tripped over something that sent him tumbling down. He looked back and saw that he had tripped over Pidge's legs. She was underneath a booth.
"Lance?" she asked as she crawled out from underneath the booth. "Did you just trip over me? Are you okay?"
"No," Lance said. He brought his hands to his mouth but he couldn't stop the words from escaping his mouth. "The fall tore open some cuts that I made earlier today."
Pidge paled as Lance's words sunk in. She approached Lance carefully and grabbed his wrist before he could run. "What do you mean, Lance?" she asked, knowing full well that he couldn't lie.
"I cut myself again this morning, and when I fell I reopened them." Lance said. He fought against Pidge's grip but damn, she was strong.
"SHIRO!" Pidge screamed. Lance fought back even harder.
"Pidge no! Please don't call Shiro." Lance begged. Pidge ignored him and continued to yell for Shiro.
"SHIRO! SHIRO!" Pidge screamed. Lance heard loud footsteps nearing them. Lance became hysterical. "SHIRO COME QUICK!"
"Pidge?" Shiro called. He was just behind the corner. "Pidge what's wrong?"
"Lance hurt himself! On purpose!" Pidge said. Shiro had come into view and his face fell as he took in the appearance of Lance. Lance was shaking and tears were rolling down his face. Shiro looked and saw blood flowing down his arms and pooling on the foor. Shiro gently lifted up Lance and rolled up his sleeves.
Shiro felt his stomach roll.
There were so many. They were everywhere. Some were words. Useless, worthless, die, Seventh wheel, were written all over his arms. Shiro carried the boy, who was now fighting to stay conscious into the med bay.
"Coran! Get a pod ready!" Shiro called.
"Of course," Coran called. "Who's it for?"
"Lance," Shiro said. "He hurt himself." Coran looked at Lance, curious as to what the Black Paladin meant but stopped when he took in the appearance of Lance. He prepared the od immediately, and ignored the pit in his stomach. Shiro stuck him in and sighed when the pod began to heal all the cuts on Lance's arms.
"What do we do now?" Pidge asked softly.
"We help him." Shiro said. He was confident that they could fix their beloved blue paladin. They had to.
