A few weeks of weekly meetings with Dr Anderson passed for Lance. He found that, every night, after his recurring nightmare reminding him about Allura's death, he woke up with the Altean marks. When he discovered them, he didn't stop crying until the tears had lulled him to sleep like some sort of messed up lullaby. In the morning, Lance would stumble out of his bed to the mirror in the bathroom but the marks were always gone by then. A tiny part of him wondered if the marks were Allura's way of comforting him from wherever she had ended up after the sacrifice. The thought was nice but Lance knew he was just trying to latch onto the only fragments of hope he could reach.

Life seemed gradual. Lance got absorbed in the routine of being stuck in his house with his family with them on his every case. Lance, have you eaten dinner? How are you feeling? How much sleep did you get last night? It was nice to know people cared but sometimes Lance just wanted to be in his own company: the questions got tedious after awhile. It was almost like his family didn't trust him on his own, as someone was always with him. If his parents were working or had gone out, Luis or Veronica would sit with him and force him to play stupid board games or video games. If Luis and Veronica were at school, his parents would keep him busy with chores or they'd ask him to watch a movie.

Then, one day, everything got flipped on its head.

Lance had just been scrolling through Tumblr and listening to music when his mum had pushed his bedroom door open. He turned his head to face her, pulling the earphones out of his ears so he could listen to what she had to say. He expected her to ask if he wanted tea or if he wanted a movie; he certainly didn't expect what actually came out of her mouth. "Lance, the police are here to speak to you," She forced a smile but that didn't ease the anxiety swirling inside Lance's chest. He thought his parents understood that he didn't want to speak to the police. Why were they showing up at his house all of a sudden? Clearly seeing Lance's fearful expression, his mum continued to explain. "Don't worry, you haven't done anything wrong. They just want some information."

"I thought you were starting to believe me, mamá..." Lance slammed his laptop shut and refused to meet the gaze of his mum in an attempt to block her from seeing his frown.

"I am, hijo... the police just need to know what happened. They think they've found some more evidence for the case."

A lump began to form in Lance's throat. "There is no case... how do... how do they have evidence?"

"Three kids are missing. There is a case."

"No... I know where they are. I've already told you. They're in-"

"Lance, imagine how their families feel... you know how much Hunk's family worries but with their son missing too? They're probably making themselves sick with worry. As for the other two, I'm sure their families are in the same boat." Lance could just about imagine Hunk's mum chewing on her nails like she always did when he and Hunk had been late home after curfew as kids. She always seemed to jump to the worst conclusion, assuming that if they were five minutes late, something terrible must have happened.

"Maybe I should speak to their families. I could tell them that they're all safe and..." Lance trailed off when his mum slowly shook her head.

"Fine... I'll talk to them but I'm going to tell them the truth. I'm not making it up and you will understand that one day. Why would I make something so crazy up?" Lance pulled himself up with an exaggerated sigh, heading straight downstairs to the living room. A single policeman was sat on the sofa, fully clad in his uniform. He had a bushy moustache lining the top of his lip that almost looked like one of the ones you'd buy from a joke shop and slap on with a sticky underside. He was wearing a pair of thick sunglasses, despite them being indoors under artificial light. Lance's dad was sat opposite him, talking to him about some sports that had been on the TV the night previous. His dad had tried to rope him into watching it but Lance would rather have been kidnapped for real than to have to watch an hour and a half of dramatic people who earned way too much money kicking a ball around.

"And you must be Lance," The policeman stood up and held out his hand for Lance to shake. Lance stared at it for a moment before forcing a smile and shaking it. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Officer Bentley." Lance nodded before sitting down beside his dad. He ensured to keep about a quarter of a metre of space between them. "We know this has been difficult for you but we need you to submit a statement." His soft voice was sickly like a piece of too-chocolatey cake that made you want to throw up. It was obviously forced; it wasn't like Lance needed sympathy either. They had no idea what had happened in space and it wasn't anywhere near as traumatic as everyone seemed to think it was.

"I don't want to submit a statement."

The officer's kind demeanour seemed to drop for a few seconds before he pulled it back up. "We need you to. You've been missing all this time and three other children are still out there."

"I don't know what you think happened but I wasn't kidnapped or whatever."

"We know that's what you've been saying but," The policeman leaned forward, eyes suddenly thinning as the 'good cop' image vanished into thin air. "Families have been torn apart and you could put their minds at ease. If you know anything, you need to come forward."

"They're in space," Lance admitted, letting out a dramatic huff. He made sure his voice was a complete monotone so it was objectively serious. "I've told you already."

"Oh, of course. They're in space. Hilarious. Now tell me where you really went for that year you went missing."

"Space."

"This isn't a game, kid. Those kids could be dead."

"I know they're not!" Lance didn't mean to raise his voice but he was just so frustrated. He knew Pidge, Hunk and Keith were all still in space, flying their lions, very much alive.

Lance's dad placed a hand on his knee, eyes softening into a sympathetic look. "Come on, Lance. Tell him all you know."

"I'm trying! No one will believe me!"

"We think this is a kidnapping case and there could potentially be murder involved. We need you to tell us everything."

Lance barked out a shaky laugh but the officer didn't appear to be joking. The sheer idea of his friends being kidnapped and murdered seemed fairly bizarre when Lance had seen them not so long ago. There wasn't even the slightest chance that any of them were dead. "What evidence could you possibly have for that?"

"We found evidence of your fingerprints, along with the three other children in Kogane's shack in the desert. We know that, roughly a few hours after you all disappeared from the Garrison, you were all there together. The Garrison have already admitted that Takashi Shirogane's death was a cover up and we think he may have kidnapped each of you, considering you all have ties with the school. We think Kogane might have potentially lured you to the shack and assisted Shirogane, considering their relationship and his destructive past."

"That's bullshit. Shiro wouldn't do that. He's the most kind-hearted person I know," As someone who had spent so much time in space with Shiro, Lance knew him better than anyone else on Earth. He was aware that Shiro was as soft as a teddy bear and only hurt people when he really needed to. He was protective of the ones he loved and acted as the father of the other paladins up in space. There was no way he was a criminal. "And Keith? He may seem impulsive and rude but he's a good guy beneath it all." Lance had to admit that he had thought Keith was a bit of a jerk the first few times they had met but, once you tapped away at Keith's hard shell, you found someone who had a massive heart but a truckful of trust issues too.

The policeman shook his head, taking a long sip of the coffee Lance's mum had brought him. The bags beneath his eyes suggested that he needed as much caffeine as he could get a hold of. It made sense that the case kept him up at night because it consisted of a bunch of dead ends. There wasn't any evidence: there wasn't any case. "We need you to come to the station so you can make an official statement."

Lance's mum waved the policeman over before whispering something into his ear. Lance knew he wasn't supposed to be able to hear but it was heard not to when they were a few metres away.

"Maybe you should speak to his psychologist. Lance seems to think those sessions are going well so maybe he knows something. Lance won't tell us anything except that stuff about space and... we're really worried."

Lance scowled and glared at his lap. He wished that someone- anyone- would believe him because he was telling the truth. Did his family not trust him?

"I'm sure you are, ma'am. We would appreciate it if you gave us his psychologist's details."

Lance's mum backed up with a forced smile, ignoring Lance's frustrated appearance. "I'm not crazy." Lance murmured, though it went unheard as his dad got up and started to speak.

"I think that's enough for today. I think Lance is getting stressed and needs some more time."

"I don't need time! I know what happened! We went to space. Why won't any of you believe me? I'm telling the truth!"

The policeman let out a sigh that basically screamed exhaustion before holding out a card with a phone number scrawled across it. Lance might as well have been screaming at a brick wall for how much his opinion was acknowledged. "If you think of anything- and I mean anything- that might help the case, give us a call. Someone will pick up 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, got it?"

Despite Lance's mind urging him to keep shouting to get his point across, he just hung his head and mumbled a tiny, "yeah."