Hidden Messages [Klance AU]

29: Something Happy, Finally

He turned to Lance, a look of worry on his face. "Are you sure you want to do it? You'll be okay?" Lance nodded and grasped Keith's hands in his as a reassurance.

"If she's been corrupted, I want to give her a chance to live again."

Keith chuckled, a heat rising to his cheeks. "You have a heart of gold, you know that right?"

Lance only smiled, a bright flash of his sharp teeth. He knew.

With a swift movement of his tail he swam next to Haggar. Krolia and Keith swam to the opposite wall, with Keith putting a hand over Shiro instinctively.

Lance lifted his hands and held them over the Galran's head. He took a breath, then tried to focus his energy on the mer in front of him. He wasn't exactly sure what to do. It's not like he'd done this before.

In a second a yellow glow came from Lance's hands. It was like a snake of light, that slithered down to Haggar and coiled around her head. Sparkles filled the water around them, and Lance closed his eyes from the bright light. He felt something on his hands, a power that graced his fingertips.

He heard a gasp from across the room, interrupting him. Lance opened his eyes to see his fingertips aglow with the light from the quintessence. It was strange. It didn't look tainted, or corrupted, but when inside a body it manifested into something horrible. He quickly touched his hand to the machine next to him, and the quintessence flooded into it, little trails of light that slithered out from his fingers.

Before him, still unconscious, was a mer that did not appear to be Galra at all. Her skin was no longer purple, but around the same shade as Lance's, only a little darker. She looked younger— only by a little, though, as she still appeared to be around the age of Alfor, maybe. She had all of the defining features of an Altean— pointed ears, v-shaped marks beneath her eyes, that were more specifically red for her, and a scaled tail with a shimmering silky fin at the end that was the slightest bit transparent. The only tell of who she had been previously was her hair, long and white. She still wore the cloak that was torn in places from their fight.

Lance flinched when she moved. He stepped back to be next to Keith. They all watched as her eyes opened. The mer sat upright, raising a hand to her head.

"Ugh... where— Zarkon—" She gasped and jumped up quickly. Her eyebrows furrowed when she laid eyes on the three mers and unconscious human in the cave. "Oh, dear. Do I want to know, what happened to me?"

After a moment of silence Krolia swam forward. "You were corrupted by an over-exposure to quintessence. Do you remember anything?"

The mer hesitated. "I- I remember Zarkon. We went for a lovely date on the beach, and..." She gasped, hands raised to her mouth. Krolia swam forward, concerned. A bell went off in Lance's mind like a firework.

"Are you... Honerva?" He asked tentatively.

The Altean nodded, "Yes. How do you know my name? If I was corrupted, then... what year is it? How much time has passed?" When no one answered, Lance swam forward, and helped Honerva up from the ground. Krolia held a confused expression on her face.

"It's been a long time. The year is 2019. I don't understand though, how are you alive?"

Honerva seemed as uncertain about that as Lance did. Her head moved side to side in disbelief.

"I am not sure." She pressed a hand over her eyes. "There are small memories... I think... Zarkon kept me alive all that time. With the quintessence, he saved me."

It was Krolia's time to interrupt. "That's impossible. Zarkon has been dead for thousands of years."

Honerva chuckled, "Do you not even know the name of your own king?"