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Maybe Lance was a selfish man. It didn’t matter. If he had known that saving the universe would cost him this then the universe could go screw itself to hell and back. Perhaps that made him the most selfish creature alive, but looking out at the destruction of his home he could only think that it wasn’t worth it.
He flew over beaches burned, where the inferno burned so hot it turns sand into glass. He learned to swim on that beach. Marco taught him how to make sandcastles and told him scary stories about ghost sailors wanting to drag him into the depths of the unknown there. The beach as he remembered it, complete with a kid him surrounded by family and friends overlaid the remnants of destruction that now assaulted his vision.
Lance tightened his grip on Red’s controls before he forced himself with no small effort to tear his eyes away and inland. He adjusted Red’s course towards home. With tears in his eyes and despair in his heart he pleaded with the powers that may be (the god that he stopped believing in after seeing the horrors the Galra Empire put so many innocents through). His family had to be alive- the universe owed him that much.
Lance had decided to split off from the rest of the group when they finally saw Earth. He was so happy that he pushed Red to go faster, and she easily outran the rest of the lions. He could hear his team call him back, but by then he was seeing it. He was home. He could see the different continents and the green, and he searched for Cuba’s beauty but by that time there was none left. Even from space Lance could see the damage done to his vibrant country. That’s when he switched off his communications and urged Red to go faster because it couldn’t be right. It couldn’t be.
Now Lance flew above his home in a silence that was deafening and he felt numb with horror. It was a good thing that he had a sentient ship to help him pilot or he would have probably crashed by now. Even Red was quiet as they took in each crater, each field of ash that was once a forest, each dead body of water.
In reality it only took Red about two minutes to get to his hometown but every second felt infinite to Lance.
When they finally arrived Lance couldn’t believe his eyes. His town that was once bursting full of life now just… gone. There was nothing left of his childhood- of his home.
He landed Red in front of what he thought was house. Red was still silent, but he had to press the button twice before she let him leave.
When Lance’s feet made contact with the Earth, stirring up the ashes on ground, and took in his childhood home everything snapped back into painful, nauseating focus.
He walked up to the broken remains of his home. ‘Remains’ was putting the state of the house lightly as there was nothing left. All four walls had collapsed into a pile of ash and burnt bricks. He took a couple of steps towards what may have been the entrance while fighting back the scream trying to escape his throat.
This couldn’t be his home. He had to be wrong. Maybe his house was a couple streets down(not like it would matter. Every house looked the same if not worse off). Lance looked down at his feet and on instinct cleared away the ash sitting there.
Sitting under all of the ash was an old welcome mat, partially burned it’s a miracle the smiling sun wearing sunglasses was still recognizable. Lance fell to his knees at the sight of the mat his mother loved so much. A cry fell from his lips- filled with such pain and grief no one would be recognize it was human (if any one was still there). Twin stream of saltwater drew paths down his face before falling to mix with the ash now covering his hands and armor.
He couldn’t deny it anymore. Not when the evidence of the destruction of all the good in Lance’s world was right there before his eyes. Not when he knew, deep in his soul, that his family was dead. His brothers, his sister, his mother and grandmother and nieces and nephews were dead, and it was his fault. That was the worst part- his family’s blood was on his hands because he decided to fight in a war that was not his. The galra may have done this, but they did it to get to him and so he was to blame. They didn’t destroy Earth because they wanted him to know that his family's deaths were his fault. He knew that like he knew that he was dead. He may have a heart that beats, but it pumps blood that no longer holds a will to live. He is dead because everything that made Lance Lance, everything that defined him, was gone. The being that sat in ash sobbing though his tears long ran dry was a shell containing only one thing. A promise of revenge.
The Galra will pay. Everyone who ever helped them will pay. Sendak will pay. Haggar will pay. Whether they meant to or not, they had unleashed a creature worse than they could ever imagine.
For there is no one more dangerous than someone with nothing left to lose.