A note before you begin:
This chapter is not the best chapter. I've been suffering from severe writer's block and decided to just power through it tonight and try to give y'all an update so I greatly apologize because I know for a fact this chapter is going to be absolute garbage compared to the other ones especially the last one and I apologize but I dot believe I will be rewriting it because I want to finish this story as soon as possible so I can move onto other projects and I personally feel like this is a good idea since I'm very busy IRL and don't really have time to keep rewriting chapters. Enjoy this late update and again, I'm sorry :(

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"Smile at the camera, Keith!" A photographer stated in a very annoying and very loud voice as they tried to get the young boy to look over at them in order to snap a photo.

Keith simply crossed his arms over his chest and puffed his cheeks out in resentment. He hated it here. He hated all the bright lights they shined on him and he especially hated the stupid outfits his adoptive family and photographers made him wear. He wanted to go back home to be with his father again.

"No!" Keith exclaimed and furrowed his eyebrows together. He didn't care if he was supposed to be a fifth grader, he didn't want to do this and they were not going to force him to do what they wanted.

Sandra who had been standing a few feet away with Vivian in her arms sucking on her thumb sighed slightly and pinched the bridge of her nose. She looked exhausted from juggling two children who differed greatly in personality and age while she tried to keep her job and make sure she was successful.

Sandra slowly approached Keith and knelt down in front of him in order to place the second grader in her arms onto the floor. "Keith," Sandra gave a gentle and reassuring smile to her new son who had been with them for a few months now. "Mommy needs you to do this. Vivian will take pictures with you if that's what it takes. Please do it, for me."

Those words were always his kryptonite. 'For me.' Those two words could get Keith to do anything if spoken in a tone only a mother could speak in. It was Sandra's trump card and she used it well even when Keith was seventeen years old and holding a pink stuffed animal hippo in his arms and holding a tall, tanned boy in front of him in order to hide from the camera Sandra had pointed in his face.

"Keith take a photo for your Instagram, we have to keep your fans updated on your status!" Sandra exclaimed in annoyance.

Keith was holding Lance by his shoulder making sure that his body blocked his pale face from his mother. Lance, on the other hand, looked displeased and slightly embarrassed as he struggled against Keith's grip. "Leave me alone Sandra, I don't want to take photos!" Keith grunted.

Sandra scowled as she locked eyes with a very awkward Lance. "Alright, twig-boy I need you to move for the photo because it needs to be of Keith, not a random kid from the street."

Lance's face screwed up in anger and shame as he stopped struggling against Keith and lowered his head. Keith felt the adrenaline rushing through his veins as he glared at his mother in anger, "He isn't going anywhere and he isn't a random kid from the street Sandra, he's my best friend!"

Vivian looked up from where she sat in a chair a few feet away and stood up holding her hands out with a taut smile on her face, "Let's take a breather, stress isn't good for Keith since he just got out of surgery mother," she went over to Keith and Lance before gently pulling Lance from Keith's grasp. "We should wait on taking photos until he's had his first meal, I'm certain he's famished anyways."

Keith felt relieved as he gave a small smile to his little sister. "Fine," Sandra let out a deep sigh and began to text her assistant, "But after I get Mila to get us some lunch you're taking the phone. Please," Keith felt his face scrunch up as he remembered the next words that would come out of his mother's mouth, "For me?"

He cringed inwardly and furrowed his brows at his mother. Why couldn't she just be a normal mother, one he never had? "Fine," Keith stated reluctantly causing Lance to flash him a look of concern.

"I say we order something greasy," Vivian practically drooled as she crawled into bed next to Keith and pulled Mr. Bubbles into her lap before reaching over to ruffle Keith's hair, only to have the back of her blonde head get slapped.

Sandra shook her head as she tucked her phone into her purse and began to fish around for her sunglasses, "Not happening, we have to keep you looking presentable for your women's tennis team tryouts tomorrow, especially after your stupid little stunt that went viral. It took us forever to get it to blow over you know, and we don't want any more of your sponsors to pull out simply because you're too fat to play your matches!"

Keith rolled his eyes at their mother, "Because one burger is going to make her swell up to the size of a whale."

Vivian pointed her finger at Keith while Lance stood in an awkward silence. "What he said," she stated before she shrugged nonchalantly, "I was defending Keith's honor when I fought that girl so I don't think you should be so upset over it, mom."

"I'm upset because we lost our biggest sponsor!" Sandra unfolded her sunglasses violently and placed them on her face before slinging her bag onto her shoulder, "When I get back I better not find a greasy wrapper in this room or you'll be running four miles!"

Keith watched as Sandra hurriedly walked out of his room with a scowl on her face and her cheeks puffed out. He frowned slightly and pointed to the door, "What's up with her Viv?"

"You asking me why she's got a stick up her rear?" Vivian raised one of her blonde eyebrows slowly and then pursed her lips, "Dad went on a business trip to Japan and since he usually manages my tennis career he dumped it on her to probably meet some pretty Geisha's and have some affairs."

Lance blinked in surprised at how easy going Vivian was acting about what was going on with her life. "Wait, he cheats on Sandra? Why are you joking about that?" He asked with a very shrill tone almost like he was upset to even hear about it.

Keith nodded, "They both cheat on each other, it's no secret. They really only stay together because they work well together in the business industry but not at home," Keith grumbled quietly. He was clearly not as okay with it as his sister was.

Lance looked at the siblings and opened his mouth to say something, but when nothing came out he shook his head slightly. "Let me guess," Vivian sighed as she began to play with the arms of the hippo she held, "You've had an experience with a cheater? You look beyond furious right now just hearing about our parent's unhealthy marriage."

Lance clenched his jaw and looked away from the Kogane siblings. Keith felt a weird stabbing feeling in his gut as he watched Lance's reaction. The tall boy's brows were knitted together tightly and the creases on his forehead were deeper than the grand canyon.

Keith glanced over at his sister with annoyance as he thought about pinching her to force her to apologize, but decided against it as he reached out to tug on Lance's sleeve, "How are things with you and Nyma?"

Lance looked down at Keith and smiled in relief slightly before his cheeks turned a dark red and his eyes wandered over to Vivian. "I wanted to talk to you about that actually, but it can wait for a more appropriate time."

Keith stared at Lance for a long moment before looking over at Vivian in confusion. "How isn't it an appropriate time right now?" Keith inquired as he looked back over at Lance.

Vivian raised her hands in the air defensively, "Hey I would leave if I didn't want to stay with my brother, but I do, so I'm going to stay here," she stated.

Keith felt stupid for asking this question as he realized Lance wanted to speak to him privately about Nyma. "Oh right," he mumbled.

Lance pulled up the chair he had slept on earlier and sat next to Keith and Vivian, "On another note I spent a long time with Pidge and god he's a weird kid. He carries peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in his pockets!" Lance said with a very confused and horrified face.

Keith stifled a laugh as he nodded slightly in agreement, "That kid loves his peanut butter. We should buy him an industrial sized jar for Christmas!"

"We should also get him more technology stuff since he's like the tech wiz in your group," Vivian added.

The three of them laughed at the ideas they came up with for Christmas presents for each of the support group members. They wanted to buy Shiro eyeliner and other stuff from Sephora as a joke since the guy could do killer cat eyes (he gave Keith tips on eyeliner because he used to do his sisters), they wanted to buy Allura a giant pink and fluffy sweater so that way she could feel all warm and safe inside of it when she was feeling better, and they opted to buy Hunk a gourmet dinner along with a new yellow bandana because that boy loved his food and old bandana. They continued talking like this for a while until Vivian excused herself to go to the vending machines outside leaving Keith and Lance alone in silence.

Keith didn't know what to do with his hands as he played with his fingers nervously. He wanted to rant to Lance about how much he liked him but it wasn't exactly his place to do so, was it? The guy was dating someone after all.

Lance was the first one to speak as he quietly stared at Keith's hands that wouldn't keep still, "There's something I need to tell you, well two things actually, but I'll start with the most important thing," he let out a long breath and raised his blue eyes to look at Keith.

Keith stopped fiddling with his fingers and raised an eyebrow, "Does this thing relate to Nyma?" He asked.

Lance shook his head slowly, "Not this specific thing. This thing relates to you and something Pidge found out."

Keith cocked his head to the side and placed his thumb between his index and middle finger. "What is it, Lance? You can tell me..."

"He found your father."

Keith was dumbstruck. What the hell did Lance mean by that? That man was deader than dead to Keith, he literally abandoned his own son without a word and disappeared off the globe without a trace. How did Pidge, a simple fourteen-year-old find Keith's father when child protective services couldn't?

"You're lying," Keith frowned and shook his head in disbelief. This had to be some sort of sick prank concocted by that little snot-nosed brat, Pidge. Right? "My father is gone, Lance."

Lance sat up straight and stared at Keith with such seriousness on his face Keith barely recognized him. "I'm not joking. Pidge found your father and mother, your father works here as a janitor," he stated before continuing. "Ryan Nellis. That's his name right? And your name is Keith Nellis."

What the hell was this? Was this a sick joke from God himself? There was no way in hell that Lance and Pidge knew his birth name and his father's name without actually having to do the proper research, which meant that the guy in front of Keith was indeed not joking.

Keith's hands instinctively balled into two fists as all the pent-up rage from over the years began to resurface. "Don't speak that name to me," Keith growled in anger as he glared at Lance. "I bet you're going to tell me he's successful and has a whole new family or something. You're going to tell me how my mother and father have this whole new and better life without me there to drag them down, right?" He began to raise his voice with each word.

Lance stood up in shock and shook his head, "Keith, your mother is dead and your dad is just a janitor, they're not living in the riches because they got rid of you, why would you say that?"

Keith felt as if his entire world had been put on pause, as if God had to take a little bathroom break before he continued watching this extremely screwed up situation unfold. "Dead? W-What? How long and why?" Keith slowly placed the palm of his hand against his forehead and quietly stared down at his lap in silence. It was too much to process.

"She died giving birth to you," Lance slowly reached out and took Keith's free hand in his gently. "Listen, I know this is a lot to process and comprehend, but we're all here for you and you can-"

Keith didn't even realize what had happened until it was too late. Lance stared at the wall in dismay as he blinked wildly, Keith had slapped him with the hand that had once been pressed against his forehead. He was so angry that he didn't even feel it inside of his body anymore, but rather it just made his hands shake uncontrollably and his heart beat at speeds he never knew before.

"Get out," Keith whispered quietly as he pulled his hand away from Lance. He wanted to strangle the tall boy, he wanted to choke the life out of him and beat him to a bloody pulp, but he didn't have the energy to do so nor did he want to injure Lance to the point where one more of his friends would be hospitalized.

Lance placed his hand against the red mark on his cheek and stared at Keith, "Why? I'm just trying to help you find your dad and find out what happened to-"

"Get out, I won't ask you again."

"Keith I-"Lance's voice caught in his throat as he locked eyes with Keith and froze. Keith must've looked like he was truly about to commit a murder in that moment because Lance slowly began to shuffle away, but not before saying one last thing. "I just thought it would help you and Pidge wanted to repay you."

Keith slowly pushed the stuffed hippo from his bed and pulled his blanket over his head as he rolled over on the bed. He wanted to hide from the truth. He didn't want to know any of this. He had created up false identities for his parents and had spent his life believing in them only for them to be shattered in an instant by the person he thought he had trusted. He didn't know what to do and the thought of him hating his mother over a lie his father had told him so many years ago was absolutely devastating to him. He had led his life believing that woman was nothing but pure evil, a wolf in sheep's clothing and yet he was wrong and hated her for no reason.

He felt a tear slide down his cheek as a shiver ran down his entire body and shake him to his core. Why did his father lie and why was he stuck in the hospital with him? Keith knew who it was without Lance even having to point it out, he was dense but not that dense. Ryan was the janitor he spoke to the other day, wasn't he?

Keith thought that man was kind in his own way, but now he hated him. He wanted to watch Ryan fall to his death with a bowl of popcorn in his lap and a coke in hand.

He wanted the truth to go away.

He wanted to hide behind the wall that had been broken down.

Again I'm sorry for the poor quality but I really did try. I didn't have a good inspiration for this chapter and it killed me to write this chapter and force it out like this in such low quality but I need to get over writer's block by powering through it so I promise the next chapter will not be as bad.

In other news, I have been working on a new project on the down low which is why I've been so inactive on wattpad. Once this story (or Wicca Trouble) is over, I'll be moving onto my next AU which happens to be an Avatar AU. I'm a big fan of the Avatar series and after watching TLOK again I had an AU idea about a month ago and I have been planning it since then. I've done character charts, created new bending subclasses, and am currently working on the world building portion of it before I finally get a chance to write out the entire plot and plan each chapter. This is probably the most work I've ever put into a fan fiction to be honest so I'm extremely excited about it and I want it to be out by April of 2018 at the latest.

Again, sorry for not posting and not giving you a good chapter. There will be no featured readers this chapter because I haven't found the time to read any of your works but I will be contacting the next featured reader probably by next week Friday in order to ask them questions :)

Have a great weekend!
❤Anri