Here, Lancey Lance

Chapter 8

"Hunk!" Lance jumped on the poor man's back. "I'm bored!"

Hunk sighed and put down the cooking utensils. "What am I supposed to do about it?"

"Dunno." Lance hopped down and looked at the counter. "Watcha making?"

He smiled as his best friend began to explain what he was cooking. He was happy Hunk was doing something to take his mind off from their new find. For the last couple of days everyone has been busy looking into the pictures and feeling drained.

After Hunk was done explaining, he and Lance continued to cook until everything was done then went around delivering snacks to each member of the castleship.

"I've been thinking," Lance began, plopping down onto the couch. "Those pictures..."

Hunk sits beside him with a hum. "Those pictures."

"What if-" Lance touches his ears. "What if that's what's gonna happen to me?"

It was quiet for a moment before Hunk jumped up. "Holy cow! Lance!"

"What?" He dashes out of the room and Lance follows. "Hunk?"

Hunk leads Lance to where Pidge is and slams open her door. "Holy shi-! Hunk? You can't just do that, man!"

"Say it again," Hunk demanded of Lance but he just looked confused. "What you said, like, two seconds ago!"

"About the pictures?"

"Yes!"

Pidge looked between the two and Lance sighed a little. "I was just thinking that, what if what happened in those pictures will happen to me," he said slowly.

Pidge thinks for a moment. "I- what if? The cat on the table and the experiments. It makes sense and then you get shot by that canon and now you have cat parts! Lance, I think you might be right! Let's go get the others!"

The three ran around to get the other people and explained their thoughts.

"So, what you're saying is, they're trying to give people cat features," Shiro asked.

"Not quite," Pidge said, crossing her arms. "I think they're trying to turn people into cats. If you think about it, those people that were in the pics looked a little more deformed than an extra limb or two. They looked so different from their original bodies."

"Right. And you're saying Lance is part of this experiment?"

"Yeah, like the final product or something."

"So, Lance is going to turn into a full cat," Keith butted in and Hunk made a choking noise.

"My best friend is gonna turn to a cat," he whimpered.

The room became silent. Lance chewed the inside of his cheek. He was going to keep changing until he became an animal or worse. Coran seemed to notice his distress and leaned forward.

"Are you alright, my boy?"

Everyone's attention turned to the blue paladin.

"Uh, well, no. Not really. You see I kinda don't want to be a cat." He chuckled dryly, ears flat against his head and tail hanging limp. "Also, what if I don't turn to a cat but worse?"

"What do you mean," Shiro asked quietly.

"Like, what if I end up like those guys in the pictures? All deformed 'n' stuff and possibly die? Then I'll be gone and the team might fall apart and the Galra will take over and-"

"We won't let that happen," Keith growled. He and Lance locked eyes as Keith walked closer. "We're gonna find a way to reverse this. You're not going to be deformed. You won't turn to a cat." He stopped in front of Lance and grabbed his shoulders. "And you won't die. You got it? I'm not letting that happen."