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"Yes...?" Lance replied slowly, looking at Ernesto with curiosity.

"Lance McClain?" Ernesto's hands had frozen on the boat's steering wheel.

"Yes again."

"Oh... oh, my god. Lance, you- I'm- you're so-?" Ernesto scrambled to stop the boat, hands shaking as he hurried over to Lance, who was slightly freaked out. Ernesto carefully cupped Lance's cheeks in his hands, looking at him closely. "You're really..." in a millisecond, Lance was being crushed against the man's chest, squirming a bit.

"Do I know you?" He asked, alarmed. The man pulled back, nodding. He was crying.

"It's me. Your uncle. Federico."

"What?!" Allura burst out, suddenly appearing on the deck, wearing a short sundress. Her hair was dripping over her shoulders and back.

Lance's felt like his whole head was being flipped upside down. What the hell was going on? "My uncle?" He asked, confused as hell.

"I know it sounds crazy, I do. Ms. Altea, please sit." She did quickly, taking one of Lance's hands in her own.

Ernesto- or, now Federico, talked quickly. "When I was banished, they sent me to Hawaii. I never thought I'd see my family again. So I applied to become a human. As long as I wasn't a mer, I could go anywhere I pleased. I could go back home to Santa Monica, I could live there and hope to see one of you. By a stroke of luck, I was chosen, and the witch guy, Lotor, changed me so I could come home. I've been waiting there for years, always keeping my eyes and ears open. It's been so hard, Lance, not seeing you, Carlos, Elena, your brother and sister, and everyone else in the village. But now you're here! I've missed you too much. Too much." Federico hugged Lance again, and it felt like his father. It felt so much like Carlos that Lance couldn't help but hug back, squeezing his eyes shut.

Allura was the one to break up the moment. Lance could tell that she was antsy- he didn't blame her. "I'm sorry to have to say this, but Mr. Federico, we really should get going."

Federico jumped back, embarrassed, and nodded at Allura, almost like a salute. "Yes, sure, of course, I'm sorry."

For the next few hours, Federico pelted Lance with questions, making him talk about his father, his family in general. He was mind-boggled when Lance told him how he'd been selected to stay on land, and even more surprised when Lance told him about Keith. His uncle had been completely understanding, of course, ruffling Lance's hair and saying, "You take after me."

Federico also mentioned that Lance would probably be able to change back and first as usual soon, he just had to heal some more first. "You put so much stress on your human form that your mer form started to fall into disrepair. So now that it's healing, it doesn't want to reverse the process by letting you change again. I'm sure if you really wanted to change, you could, you'd just have to do some meditation stuff and think really hard about it, I guess. I've seen it happen before, back on Hawaii." That was a relief.

The boat that the three rode in was a small motorboat with two powerful propellers, speeding across the inky, black water. Federico sat in front on a white swivel chair, hands on the wheel, and the bench that Lance and Allura sat on was on the other side of the boat, parallel. The small deck had a hatch with a ladder that led down to an even smaller cabin with a hammock and a bathroom.

They'd been going at a pretty fast pace for the past three hours, but Federico was in control, and he seemed to know exactly where he was going. However, he mentioned a few times that this was probably illegal, which was worrying.

When Federico stopped drilling Lance for a few minutes, Lance took the opportunity to ask Allura a question that had been nagging him for a while. "Allura, why did you choose me to be your guard?"

Federico laughed, "Because you're family, silly!" Allura stood abruptly.

Lance blinked. "Pardon?"

Federico looked over at the two mers, and regret dropped over his face. "Mierda. Do you not know?"

Allura's face was stone. "We were planning on discussing it once the war was over," she said cooly, and Federico ducked his head, ashamed.

"What are you talking about?" Lance asked warily. He didn't think he could handle another surprise that night. Already, he was overwhelmed.

Allura shot another glare in Federico's direction, then sat down next to Lance, inhaling shakily. "Well, Lance," she started, "There's something that Father has been meaning to tell you for a while now."

Lance felt his stomach drop. No. "You're freaking me out, Ally."

Allura, agitated and nervous, spoke slowly. "Lance, don't be mad. I didn't know either. Father told me right before he left. It's not something I ever wanted to have to tell you, I wanted to wait until Father could, but I guess I need to tell you now."

"Have you ever wondered why you have so much luminescence, Lance?" Of course, he had. How could he not wonder? He didn't want to sound insensitive, but neither of his parents were especially gifted when it came to luminescence. It was just something that was accepted. Genetic mutation this, 'from your mother's side' that. Just like his tail.

Something about this talk was going in a much more serious direction that Lance had anticipated. He didn't know if he wanted to listen to it.

"You come from a very powerful family, Lance." Allura bit her lip, looking pained, "Not Elena and Carlos. You come from my heritage, the Altea line. Your father is Alfor's brother. You're my cousin, Lance."

Lance's mouth went dry. Please, no. He couldn't handle this. Laughing humorlessly, Lance was able to choke out, "What?"

Allura kept eye contact. "Your father, my uncle, Aldridge Altea, was a powerful leader. He was married to a mermaid named Catrin, and they didn't live very far from our village. When they had you, everyone was excited. You were going to be the heir to the community, and I was going to be the heir of my father's."

Allura's breath shuddered, "And then there was a shark attack." Lance felt his skin grow cold, goosebumps raising on his arms and back. He didn't want to hear this. But he did. "Your father and mother were so brave, Lance." She's silent for a few minutes.

"You were safe at home. You were 2. After your parents passed, Father took you under his custody, but your parents, Elena and Carlos, that is, told him they'd be more than happy to raise you as their own. And so they did.

"You still have the rights to your home village, Lance, and they'll wait for you if you want to be the leader. I've met the current council there before- the ruler there right now was your father's right hand man." Allura spoke softly, comfortingly, but even still, Lance felt lightheaded from overwhelming shock.

He was Altean. Not only that, he was adopted, his real parents were dead, and he could be a leaders of his home village. He was Allura's guard, they were going into the warfront to make a deal with the witch Lotor, and they were being driven by his uncle who was now a human that was banished decades ago. His father was fighting and still thought Lance was mad at him, he'd been separated from the boy he loved, and there was a high chance that he wouldn't survive this battle. He couldn't change into a human at will, he carried a trident, and he had the blood of an ancient family of leaders.

Lance's eyes rolled up into his head. Everything went black.

...

"How close are we?"

"About an hour. Get some some sleep, Ms. Altea."

"Once Lance wakes up."

Lance opened his eyes gingerly, rubbing his hands over his face. His gills and tail felt dry as he lifted his head off Allura's shoulder.

"Hey, Lance," Allura said softly, rubbing his back with her cold palm. He nodded hello, yawning.

"Back from the dead," Federico joked exuberantly. He was still excited that he was with his nephew. After so long... Lance thought that he and Carlos were too different to be brothers. He laughed anyways.

Looking out over the ocean, Lance sighed. Now that he was awake, Allura felt comfortable to fall asleep, leaning heavily against Lance's arm. Federico has quieted down a considerably, focusing on the dark stretch of ocean. If Lance squinted, he could make out faint lights to the left of the boat, far in the distance. When he asked what they were, Federico told him that those were the harbors.

"Gotta keep them in sight so I don't end up in Australia," Federico said, putting on another burst of speed. Lance jolted back, wind whipping in his ears. He wondered how he'd slept so well while it was so loud.

Keith's shirt was drying out, and was now just a little damp. Lance rubbed his bracelet again, sighing. If he couldn't change... Lance frowned. He didn't want to think about that right now. He had more important issues at the moment. Like how the fuck he and Allura were supposed to make a deal with the prince of the Dark Kingdom.

One hour passed quickly with his mind preoccupied and Allura sleeping quietly on his shoulder. He knew that when she woke up, she'd blame herself for being groggy, but he wasn't about to wake her up. They still had a long night in front of them.

Lance blinked out of his daze as Federico slowed the boat. He nudged Allura awake and she startled, blinking rapidly. "Did I really fall asleep?" She asked nervously, cursing under her breath. Lance smiled softly.

"We're here. The battle is going on a mile that way," Federico pointed to the right, away from the harbor. Lance felt his nerves tighten. "I'll wait here until 5am. If you're not back here by then, I'll leave." Federico walked over to Lance and took over a watch on his wrist. It was blue, scratched, with four buttons around the face. Lance looked at the time. 12:17.

Federico leaned down and hugged Lance tightly, smelling like shampoo and deodorant. Lance closed his eyes tightly. "I'll be back soon," he said.

"You'd better," Federico replied fiercely. He stepped back, shook hands with Allura, and then helped to carry Lance to the ladder that led over the side of the boat. With a heave, Lance slid into the cold water. The ocean washed over his gills, his tail, his skin, refreshing him and wrapping him in a cold blanket of security as he sucked in water through his gills, breathing deeply.

A few seconds later, there was a splash, a flurry of bubbles, and Allura was in the water next to him. She pulled off her dress as soon as she'd transformed and surfaced, throwing the sopping fabric over the side of the boat.

"Alright," she said as soon as she dunked back underwater, "Ready to go win a war?"

...

guys, thank you for 600 followers!! If you guys wanna present or something, give me some ideas and I'll do something for you :))

uhhh anywayssss I meant to mention this two chapters ago, but this fic is officially longer than Beat Drop haha. We're on chapter 31! For those of you who've read both, which do you prefer? (I won't be offended at all lmao) I'm only asking so I know which elements to add into my next fic haha. Like, would you guys prefer a realistic au or a fantasy au?

Also, I want to put a disclaimer here. Lance is bilingual. I am not, by far. I take spanish class but that's the extent of my knowledge. I use google translate and a spanish dictionary and try my best to include a diverse character in this fic. So please, if you're spanish, or if you're fluent, and you see an error, please tell me about it, but please don't be nasty about it. Many of the bilingual speakers here have been nice about corrections, but I've gotten some pretty explicit dms about my wording. I'm just trying my best here, guys, but thank you for the respectful speakers who've corrected me gracefully. I do appreciate it.

Anyhoo

Qotd: what's your favorite hobby?

iiii looove you!!