When Two Worlds Collide

Chapter 12

Everyone in the room had their eyes on Lance. And for once in his life he didn't want to be the center of attention. "Does, .. does that mean that Keith and Lance are..?" Hunk asked. The doctor took a minute to respond but ultimately did. "Yes, based on our data and the information that your Red Paladin has given us, it seems as if you two are fated pairs." At that moment Lance was really starting to believe that he was going to faint. They couldn't be fated pairs, could they? They've only been on halfway decent terms for a couple of months now, how could they be in love? Hell, Lance only just realized that he was in love with him a couple of minutes ago? He wasn't even sure if Keith felt the same way as he did. It was at that precise moment that Lance knew he was completely and utterly screwed. 

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are fatted pairs?" Hunk questioned. "Well, fated pairs have been part of our race for as long as I could remember." Meegen said. "I don't know exactly how to explain it in your native tongue, but I think the term is soulmates?" She told them. "Are you familiar with this term?" "Yes, but where we're from, it's just a myth." Pidge told her. "They're just stories that people read for fun, and entertainment, there's no truth to them at all." "Well, they are quite real here Green Paladin." Meegen informed her. "It's part of the reason that we allow the Krachtige liefde to thrive on this planet." What do you mean?" Lance asked. "Many of the fate pairs on our planets and some who have traveled from other worlds have been bitten by this bug." "So it's like a love bug then?" Pidge asked as she fixed her glasses. "Love bug?" Justitie asked. "Another myth, or a story from our home planet of Earth." Pidge told them. "Person A is bitten by the bug and they fall in love with the first person that they laid eyes on." "That sounds similar to the Krachtige liefde then." He said. "So you're saying that Keith got bitten by essentially a love bug and I just so happened to be the first person that he looked at?" Lance questioned. And by the looks on the other's faces, he really didn't want to know the answer, or he already knew it, but he just didn't want to admit it out loud. This was turning out to be a very interesting and a very long day.

"What are you going to do Lance?" Hunk asked him. And Lance couldn't get mad at him for it, he was only being concerned for his friends after all, typical Hunk. Choosing to ignore the question at hand, he chose to move on to a different topic. "Were you able to check for any other health anomalies?" Lance chose to ask instead. "Well, other than that bite he sustained to his neck, your Black Paladin seems to be unharmed." the Doctor told them. "Though that's probably not what you were looking for though was it?" Lance shook his head in response. "Does he have the gene or not?" Lance asked him. The doctor took a few minutes to flip through the data on his little digital chart he had in his heads. And this was some of the most nerve wracking moments in his life. He just wanted to know if Keith had the gene or not, and then he had to figure out a way to tell him about it. Even though this was Keith's business, he knew that Keith was less likely to freak out if one of them sat him down and told him than the random alien doctor that he's never met before. "Well," The Doctor said. Lance wasn't sure if he was stalling for dramatic effect or not but if he didn't tell him in the next 2 seconds he was going to shoot him. "He does in fact have the hybrid gene." He told them all. "Which is very surprising since you come from a species where only the female can carry young correct?" He asked them. They all nodded their heads. "Well, I suggest that we inform your friend as soon as he wakes up, or things might get tricky." And somehow Lance couldn't understand how things could get way worse than they actually are.

Due to all of the meds that they had Keith under, it would be a couple of vargas before Keith would wake up. Meegen and Justitie were nice enough to treat the Paladins to a tour of the palace and offered them some food. Everyone agreed, but Lanc politely denied and decided to stay back to be with Keith. Even though he knew that they would probably be back before he woke up, but he couldn't leave him alone. He knew that Keith didn't do well in places that he wasn't familiar with, especially if he didn't know anyone there. So he pulled up a chair next to the hospital bed that they had moved their leader to, and waited. He didn't know what to do with all of the information that he had learned today. It was a lot to process for anyone. Finding out that your old rival/enemy turned friend and kind of crush, is somehow destined to be with him forever. And the fact that all of it could just be the venom from the bite and after about a week everything would go right back to normal. Lance didn't know if he was able to handle something like that. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life harboring a heartbreak because him and Keith just... he couldn't even really put his thoughts about that into words anymore at this point. That would kill him, almost definitely, and Lance didn't think that he could handle it. He is a very open and affectionate person, who tends to wear his heart on his sleeve more likely than not. He wasn't made for stuff like this, and he was very, very vulnerable to stuff like this.