Chapter Text
“Wake up. Keith, wake up!”
Keith opened his eyes reluctantly, squinting at the soft dawn light that fell upon his bed, still too blinding for him when his eyes had been accustomed to the peaceful darkness behind his eyelids.
“It’s time to get ready for school,” his mother’s warm voice greeted him. “Hurry and get up.”
Keith sighed, wishing he could sleep longer, just as he wished every morning. He shut his eyes again and rolled away from the bright light hitting his face. Groggily, he reached out to find the warmth of his brother so that he could cuddle against him and hope that Shiro would convince their mother to let Keith and him sleep just a few minutes more. However, his wandering fingertips didn’t find Shiro’s sturdy shoulder, but rather brushed against the empty space under his blankets. Then it came back to Keith with a dull pang deep inside him: Shiro wasn’t here anymore.
Keith pulled his hand back against his chest and curled in on himself, letting the icy numbness spread through him as he kept his eyes shut tight, refusing to look at the empty space next to him. His mother must have noticed his movements, because she reached a hand out to stroke lightly against Keith’s cheek.
“Come on, my child,” she murmured once more. Her voice was laced with pain and sadness, but there was still strength to it. Keith found himself obeying her words, and slowly he rose from the bed, no longer having any desire to stay there with nothing but his thoughts.
Unsurprisingly, Keith’s father was already up and situated in the chair he barely left, next to the window and bookcase. He was a little over a decade older than Keith’s mom, his age being 52 and hers 41, but he still appeared abnormally old compared to the the kind and sturdy woman who had woken Keith up. His hair was graying rapidly, so that only the sideburns were still black like they had been in his youth, and there was a large bald spot crowning the top of his head. He had a scruffy, badly-shaven beard that was clearly a product of lack of effort rather than style. His face was wrinkled and sunken with pain. The man’s dark eyes barely seemed to see at all, but stared almost endlessly at nothing, overflowing with tiredness.
“Morning, father,” Keith said out of habit. As on most days there was no answer, or even a single sign that the old man had heard him at all.
His wife cast a despairing look his way, but made no attempt to speak with him. She instead crossed over to the corner with a table and makeshift cupboard and began to pack loaves of dry bread into bundles of cloth and string. She hummed a tune under her breath as she busied herself, her plump form swaying along and her long, beautiful black hair tied up neatly in a bun behind her head.
Keith pulled the large traveling trunk out from underneath his bed where he kept his clothes and tried to wipe thoughts of Shiro and his father from his mind. He dressed himself quickly, then scrubbed his face in the washing basin on top of his parent’s dresser next to their bed. Through the thin wall that separated the two halves of the barracks, he could hear their neighbors beginning to rise as well. When they had first come here almost two years ago, both families had been squished within the tiny single-roomed dwelling. Since then they had constructed a makeshift wall to give both households more privacy, but there still wasn’t enough space for more than one room each for the dwellings of the two families.
“Here’s lunch,” Keith’s mother held out one of four wrapped bundles she had arranged. “Make sure to go the mess hall at lunchtime to get some soup or something to soften the bread.”
“Thanks,” Keith smiled, taking the bundle and picking up his book bag. “Are you volunteering in the mess hall again today?”
“Of course! I’m going to walk the Fujita’s over in just a moment so that they can grab a bite to eat.” She nodded in the direction of their neighbors, concealed by the flimsy wall.
“Okay. I’ll say hi to you, maybe,” Keith joked.
“You better!” Keith’s mother swatted him on the shoulder playfully. “Now get going. I’ll see you at lunch.”
“Bye, mom,” Keith kissed her on the cheek before heading to the door. He didn’t say a word to his father as he passed him, who likewise didn’t seem to notice his son’s existence.
Keith heard his mother whisper to his father just before the door shut behind him, “I’ll bring you some breakfast in a bit, Itsuki.”
The dirt roadways between the small barracks were quickly filling with children on their way to school and workers heading to their jobs. Keith spotted the camp manager outside of the council building, pausing to read a newspaper. A few young children kicked a ball through the streets and some workers were busy unloading goods from a supply truck parked in front of the co-op store. He passed by the Buddhist church, then the Catholic one, which was empty of parishioners since it wasn’t Sunday morning. Keith slowed his pace a bit as he grew closer to the school, reluctant for the sight that was coming next.
He rounded a bend, and there it was. The tall, barbed wire fence enclosing them all. A guard was walking along the other side of it on morning patrol, his rifle pressed against his shoulder. Keith dropped his eyes quickly and hurried by, desperate to get away from there. The guard ignored him, like they usually did. That didn’t make them any less intimidating.
A few short minutes more and he had arrived at the school buildings, mercifully out of sight of the barbed wire fence. Like most of the other buildings in town, they were barracks that had been re-purposed, now housing the elementary, junior high, and high school. Keith noticed the crowding around the entrances to the two high school buildings and silently cursed his bad luck. It looked like he wasn’t getting a desk today.
Classes passed the way they always did, Keith being quiet and attentive while taking lots of notes. Some of his old friends tried to catch his eye, but like every other day Keith stared straight ahead, pretending not to notice. When lunch came he rushed out of school and to the mess hall in the center of town before any of his classmates had time to stop Keith and try and talk to him. There he sat and ate lunch with his mother, then brought some lunch home to his father. It looked like the old man had barely even touched his breakfast. Keith exchanged no words with him. He raised his hand as if he was going to pat his father’s shoulder, then hesitated and pulled away. After that, Keith went back to school for the rest of his classes.
Once school was out, he continued his daily routine of dropping his book bag off at home before heading to his job. Keith was an electrical lines worker, in charge of maintaining the power lines that brought electricity to the internment camp. He spent his days after school climbing ladders and repairing these power lines and any power malfunctions within the town’s buildings, earning the money needed to support his family. He enjoyed the work since his coworkers left him alone for the most part, and it was able to distract his mind from unwanted thoughts. That day there was a power issue in the office of the camp’s hospital that was extra tricky, so Keith stayed late until it was finally resolved. It was around ten when he got out, not looking forward to the homework still awaiting him. Still, he headed back through the mostly empty streets, wanting nothing more than to get this final task done so that he could finally sleep.
Keith’s mother wasn’t in their room when he got back, but he could hear her voice next door, fussing over the elderly couple that lived there as she always did. His father was already in bed, but his open, albeit, unfocused eyes indicated he had not yet fallen asleep. Keith spread his homework out on the floor and began to tiredly trudge through each assignment. He was nodding off when the door to their room opened.
“Keith,” his mother smiled. “You’re back later than usual. Did you have time to get dinner? I didn’t see you at the mess hall.”
Keith shook his head sleepily and his mother sighed. “Thank you for your hard work,” she stooped to pat his head, ruffling his mullet. “I think I have some leftover bread crusts in the cupboard, but that’s all. I’ll need to stop by the store tomorrow.”
“Thank you, mom,” Keith smiled. He got up and pulled out the crusts, scarfing them down.
“Keith,” his mother spoke up as he was finishing the last crumbs. “You’ve been working so hard lately, you never have time to do anything for yourself. Wouldn’t you like to play baseball with your friends again on the weekends?”
Keith stiffened at her words. “Not really,” he mumbled.
“But you used to love baseball!” His mother pressed on. “I think it would be good if you got out of your routine a little and had some fun.”
“Really, I’m fine,” Keith said flatly. He didn’t look her in the eye.
His mother hesitated before she spoke. “I-I know you used to always play baseball with S-hiro,” her voice broke when she said her other son’s name, “but you still played it without him until-”
“I don’t want to play baseball!” Keith snapped. “Not ever again!” His anger fizzled away when he noticed the tears that had been rolling down his mother’s cheek since she’d first mentioned Shiro’s name. “Mom, I’m sorry. I just-”
“Its okay,” she smiled weakly at him, waving away his apology as she hastily wiped at her tears. “It doesn’t have to be baseball. Maybe you could play soccer or join the choir. Just something other than school and work.”
“I’ll be fine, mom, really. I like my job, and school is good, too. I don’t need anything else.”
The older woman sighed, knowing her son was too stubborn for this argument to be of any benefit right now. “Alright. But it’s late, and you need sleep. Whatever homework you haven’t finished can wait until tomorrow.”
“Yes, mom,” Keith smiled weakly.
His mother stepped up to hug him goodnight and he returned her embrace. Keith quickly gathered up his things and put them away before crawling into bed. He huddled under the covers, grateful for their warmth as his mother turned out the light. Despite his tiredness, it was a while before Keith fell asleep, memories of Shiro and the days before he had left still clouding his mind.
‘One more year,’ Keith thought to himself. ‘Just gotta get through one last year before I can leave this camp and join that damn war. Don’t you worry, Shiro. I’ll make them pay. I’ll make every last one of those bastards pay!’
“That has to be the stupidest haircut I’ve ever seen.”
‘Wha-’ Keith thought groggily.
“Hey you! Mullet. Wake up!”
Was it time for school already? It felt like Keith had only just shut his eyes. Then again, that voice didn’t sound like his mother’s. And why the hell would she be calling him mullet? So, was he dreaming then?
“I won’t hesitate to throw you in the ocean.”
What a weird dream.
Just then something wet and cold splashed across Keith. He bolted upright, his eyes flying open. “What the hell?!” He yelped, tripping over his own feet and face-planting into the sand. Laughter rung around him and he lifted his head up hastily, only to be blinded by bright light. “Shit,” Keith hissed, squinting as he waited for his eyes to adjust.
“Well, I guess that means you aren’t dead!”
“Who are you?” Keith growled, eyes starting to finally register his surroundings. He was on a beach. But not like the beaches back in Oregon where he’d grown up. This beach was tropical, surf crashing against it and rimmed with lush green jungle as the sun beat down overhead. “Where am I?”
“Lance,” the voice informed him, “and good question. I want to say we’re on the south side of the island, but honestly, I’m not sure. I was too busy appreciating the day to really keep track of where I was headed. Well, at least I was appreciating the day until I caught sight of your hair...”
“Lance-?” Keith mumbled, glancing around him from his position on all fours in the sand. The beach was empty; not a soul in sight.
“Up here, genius.”
Keith looked up and yelped, scurrying back. Above him was a boy around his age, floating several feet off the ground. He had tan skin, dark brown hair, and piercing blue eyes that rivaled the sky behind him. He was also dressed in one of the cheesiest outfits Keith had ever seen: forest-green tights and a tunic with a stupid-looking pointed cap. The only good part was the red feather that stuck out from said cap, a color Keith could always approve of, but in that moment his poor clothing choice didn’t matter so much as the fact that he was literally floating.
“What the hell?” Keith cried out, stumbling to his feet and backing away.
“Well that’s rude,” Lance frowned at him. “I’ll have you know I’m the resident pretty boy around here. They call me the panther.” He made a ridiculous clawing motion with his hand.
“What?” Keith stared at him blankly for a moment. “Wait, no, I mean, how the hell are you floating?”
Lance grinned. "You want to know my secret?” Keith just stared at him, which Lance seemed to take as a yes. He floated forward, causing Keith to back up more. However, Lance reached out and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him close so he could whisper in his ear. “It’s a little something called faith, trust, and pixie dust,” Lance murmured, sounding entirely too seductive for someone who was babbling about pixies while in green tights.
“Um, yeah, okay,” Keith removed Lance’s hand from his shoulder and took a big step back. This had to be one of the weirdest dreams he’d ever had. It was a dream, right? It felt so real, but there was no way that it could be.
“So, yeah- This was a nice talk,” Keith continued, backing further away from crazy tights guy, “but I really need to go, uh, somewhere that’s not here, so-”
“Not so fast,” Lance interrupted, flying at Keith again. However, all the humor had gone from his face as he latched onto him. Keith didn’t even have time to think before Lance was behind him, something sharp and cold pressed against his neck as he lifted Keith into the air with him.
Keith gasped at the sudden lack of solid ground under his feet and squirmed around until he felt the sharp object prick into his neck. He froze, fear taking over him as a single drop of blood trailed down to his collarbone. He turned his head slightly and found Lance right there, grinning maliciously at him, his face only an inch away.
“I just need to ask you a few questions. Hope you don’t mind.”