Let Me Go: Mer!klance AU

VIII

Keith sputtered with contempt as he clawed his way above water. His clothes clung to him mercilessly, as if he wasn't already at a disadvantage in the inky black that encompassed his lower half.

"S-sorry!" Shouted Lance. "I wasn't really thinking, and I thought it would be romantic-" Lance blushed at that last bit. Keith looked confused.

"No, uh, what I meant was, y'know, like in books, when everything just kind of works out and everyone's happy? Yeah, that's what I meant." He was clearly flustered and was talking a mile a minute.

Keith sighed. "Like a bonding moment," He smiled.

"Yeah! Like that," Lance nodded in agreement, grateful for his friend's more eloquent verbalization of his feelings. Bonding moment. Yeah.

Suddenly his black eyes bugged out in shock. "Keith!"

"What?"

"You're doing it!" Lance pointed at Keith, who was treading water seemingly instinctually. 

Keith looked down at himself. It felt silly, really- swinging his legs around like propellers- but he was doing it! He was swimming. He hadn't been able to do that before. 

"Yeah," He stuttered, trying to match Lance's enthusiasm. He remembered the water. Inky black and suffocating, he could feel it tugging at him, pulling him down further and further, just like his dad.

His pulse quickened, his eyes dilated. He was beginning to black out- ironic, seeing as he was surrounded by nothing but the color.

A pair of warm hands found their way under his feet, ripping off his shoes with considerable unseen force. Long nails scratched his calf, giving the illusion of a bite. Keith screamed and kicked away his attacker, surprised when he propelled himself much farther up than normal.

"Lance!" Keith sputtered hopelessly. "Where-"

Lance's angular face appeared gently from beneath the water with steely conviction- his jaw was clenched, almost as if he were restraining himself. He made no move towards his floundering companion.

"Help me!" 

Lance muttered something under his breath, and from the look on his face it seemed to have been rather difficult for him to say.

"What the hell?!" Keith struggled to keep his head above water, even with his newfound buoyancy. For once, he was asking him for help, in a dire situation no less. So why wasn't he-

He couldn't finish the thought. 

"I can't," Lance's voice broke as he struggled to find the right words. "You have to do it yourself. You have to need to swim; it has to be instinctual, like before. I-" He stopped. "I'll be here. I promise. But you have to trust me."

Keith didn't say anything as he was dragged underwater, nor did he struggle, for fear of squandering what little air he had left. He knew he could not stop this. There was no point. 

Lance's ropy arms tightly grasped his friend's waist as he pumped his tail harder and harder, the thought of Keith dying weighing heavily on his mind. And as he reached the bottom, Lance did the unthinkable.

He let him go.