Guys, this book is slowly approaching its end :( Omg, I have come this far, and soon it will just end. But I really couldn't do it without you - you reading this encouraged me to write more even when I sometimes didn't feel like doing it, and as a first fanfic, I will always look back at this. Thank you for everything! But do not worry, my other book is in progress and will be realesed maybe even before I finish this.

Lance's POV

O O O

I feel completely limp as I get out of the cave, the light outside hitting my face as hard as I hit Keith's. I have been away long enough for my intercom to crackle with my teammates worried cries. It's only now that I actually turn my intercom on so they can hear me.

"I'm not dead", I inform them with a monotonous voice, raspy and cracked. Technically, I'm dead on the inside, but they don't have to know that.

"Have you been crying?" Hunk asks in a high-pitched voice. Of course. There is no escaping Hunk's observations.

"I found the gem", I say instead. My hand is shaking as I look down at the shining object in my hand. 

"It sounds that you found something more", Shiro says and it annoys me that everyone just cares about my condition and not the fact that I found the thing we came for. "More like someone."

"He's gone, Shiro", I whimper and the tears wells up through my eyes all over again. My throat burns and my voice is quivering and unbalanced as I speak again. "He really l-left us. He won't let us h-help him. He just left. That stupid b-bastard."

"Lance", the softness in Shiro's voice is almost enough to make me calm down a little. "Please go to your lion and get to our meeting place. We will sort this out. I promise you that."

But the hesitance in his voice tells me he might not be so sure in his own words.

O O O

"I know Keith has a very good reason for leaving us", Hunks says and pats my head on his shoulder. I close my eyes and curl into him more, nuzzling my face in his soft chest. "I know he wants you to know that, too."

"Being an idiot isn't a good reason, Hunk", I protest and I can feel Hunk shake his head. 

"Don't be so hard on him, Lance. Keith may be impulsive and think after his actions, but when it comes to his teammates, he will always have a good reason as to why he left us. He sees us as our family."

"He does?", I ask and hug Hunk's arm tighter. I can't really picture it in my head. It's like it's too imaginary to even fit inside my head.

"Yeah. He told me once, but then acted like he never said it. It may be embarrassing for him, but it's true." The happiness in Hunk's voice drops. "I think we may be his only family, actually."

I push myself off Hunk's shoulder and look into his big eyes. He meets my eyes softly, and his words awakes a inquisitive side of me. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it", Hunks says and sits cross-legged, holding his feet. "He never talks about his family, and whenever we talk about ours, he always finds an excuse to wriggle out of the conversation or get out of the room."

I don't want it to be right, I just don't. I have this meaningless little tad of hope somewhere inside of me but it doesn't do much. I want to believe that what Hunk says isn't true, but a big part of me knows it might be.

I look back at Keith's pained and shadowed face in my room, the tears that fell down onto my cheeks like my own, and his way of looking at his life. How he thinks he didn't deserve all the tragedy that might have happened throughout his life back in Earth. Returning to Earth maybe wouldn't means as much as it would to us. Maybe he has no home. Maybe his "home" can be anywhere.

"It may be other reasons behind it", I utter in a paltry try to prove my thoughts wrong.

"Yeah, maybe even worse reasons", Hunk chitters and his big eyebrows wrench upwards. "Maybe that's why he trains so much. To get really good at defending himself."

I inhale sharply and the big amount of dry air makes me cough violently and Hunk pats me on the back to get my bronchus working properly again. 

"Keith didn't get hit back on Earth!" I shrill and shake Hunk's hand off my back, hating how the words I just said tasted so disgusting on my tongue. The whole thought is disgusting. I won't - I can't - think about someone laying a single hand on Keith. 

"How do you know..."

"No, Hunk, I think your first theory is right", I interrupt and I look up at my bestfriend sitting in the exact same spot Keith sat on a month ago. Where he told me about his trust issue, where his face was so beautifully light up by the stars he counted outside the little window in my room and where he bit those lips I kissed. "I never wanted to believe it, but I think you might be right. Keeping all of this for himself is maybe messing up with his head."

Messing up with his head. I hold my breath, and Hunk sees the imaginary bulb over my head. 

The Jomboni's is messing with his head. What Shiro told me. Right, all this is going on inside his head and it's harder to fix than just giving him different cures that would heal him physically. It's much harder to cure him mentally, and maybe that's what Keith doesn't want us to do. Because he knows we will still fail. 

"The Jomboni's is... messing with his... head. Hunk!" Hunk flinches at my sudden loud tone. "Hunk, I think I got it! I think I know what's wrong!"

"You know, I'm kinda hungry, so can we like discuss this over..."

"Hunk!" I bolt up from my bed and drag Hunk with me, out of my room. "Hunk, the Jomboni's, I think they're telling Keith to do stuff. I think they're the cause as to why he left."

"Lance..." I pull on his arm so he keeps up with my speed as we run through the corridors and I can already hear him pant and puff. "I hate to break it to you, but I think he would have left us nevertheless."

"It's still worth digging into", I insist. "Let's find Coran."

O O O

Coran holds up a finger for us to wait as he's flipping through pages through the holographic book displayed in the control room. Everything is written in Altean, so I can't read with him. My mind gets all topsy-turvy when seeing all the weird letters flash before me so fast. Sometimes I can see pictures of different - beautiful - places, like meadows or hills over a blithesome city with effervescent aliens. In every picture, it's pink. Until Coran skips several pages and the pictures over the hills and city and meadows turns grey and depressing. A dusty and bleak environment, emptied in life. It's not pink anymore. 

"Hm", Coran thoughtfully hums as he's rubbing his chin and leaning in closer to the displayer, mouthing at the words he's reading and then flips to the next page. Me and Hunk look at each other, like we're both waiting for another clue. We look deeply into each other's eyes, but then a loud grumble breaks through the silence. I winch and look at Hunk, startled.

He's timidly holding his hands on his stomach while smiling in an excuse. Both me and Coran is looking at him.

"I told you I was hungry", he says slowly and I sigh, telling him to go and eat, and he doesn't need to be told twice before he's out of the room, shouting a good luck after him.

When he's out of the room I sigh and turn around, opening my mouth to say something but Coran beats me to it.

"You might just be right, Lance." He's dragging a page to another hologram to display it bigger for me to see, and then he presses more buttons in the air and all the weird looking letters turn into something understandable.

The first thing I read is the title MIND CORRUPTERS

"It appears my words held a bigger meaning than I could know myself. I guess I didn't know much about the Jomboni's after all." He's looking solicitous as he's twirling his mustache between his long fingers.

"What is it?" I say in anticipation and scurry over to his side. "Is it a clue?"

"Oh, a clue it is indeed", Coran notes and he looks at me and I look back at him. "A big one. Big enough for me to know how to save Keith."

O O O

Guys omg I'm going for a school trip to Spain on Thursday for a whole week so sorry if there won't be any update for a while :(

And when I return home it's still going to be very hard to publish more chapters cuz my teachers show no mercy when they throw everything I'm going to miss at my face.