"GONE" AU I FRICKING LOVE THIS BOOK SO ENJOY

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Keith woke up.

He sat up, sweating profusely and shaking, taking deep breaths to calm himself.

Inhale, exhale.

Inhale, exhale.

Exhale, exhale.

Wait, too much exhale!

Keith took a while to breathe properly and at a regular pace. He looked at the wall clock opposite to his white IKEA bought bed. 10:42 am. His eyes went wide.

"Crap, I'm supposed to be at school!" He swore, jumping out of bed and sprinting down the hallway to the kitchen, which was unnaturally clean for mid-morning. Usually, there were dishes piled in the sink, the smell of peanut butter and jelly in the air and the TV ranting in the background at this time. But it smelt like Dettol. The tv was off. The sink was pristine. 

Keith looked frantically around the house for his parents.

"Mom? DAD?" He yelled, each call getting progressively louder until his throat was scratchy and sore from yelling.

He burst into their room, and found the bed readily made, like no one had slept in there for the past 5 years. Keith was shivering with fear, worry, and confusion.

He heard the doorbell ring.

"Mom!" Keith sighed a breath of relief as he ran to the door, throwing it open to let his parents in. They would tell him that guests were coming over. Everything would be fine.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

It was Lance, the neighbor that Keith had had a crush on for years, since they went to the Garrison together.

That was the moment Keith realized he was in boxers. And wasn't wearing a shirt.

Fuck.

"Oh, hey Lance." Keith tried to ignore the fact that it was 8 degrees out and his crush was making regular glances, you know, down there, with a red face.

Lance forced his eyes to meet Keith's.

"Hey. D-do you know where my family is?"

"M-my parents are gone too. I don't know where they are."

Lance's eyes looked sad, scared even.

"Do you think they went out together?"

"Doubt it, they were never close."

"Did you try the phone?" Lance suggested.

Keith slapped his forehead. Of course, the phone!

He beckoned Lance inside and walked at a steady pace to the phone, with Lance looking at Keith's derriere the whole time.

Keith picked up the phone, dialed his parent's number in and pressed the cold metal of the phone to his ear.

After a few moments, he looked at Lance, terrified. 

"The line is dead."

"Oh god, oh no.."

Lance began running his fingers through his soft brown hair, a look of great distress on his face.

He looked at Keith, clearly panicked, with Keith returning the look.

"What do we do?"

"I-i don't know. I should go get dressed, help yourself to the kitchen if you like." Keith stammers, dashing to his room and closing the door softly with a sigh.

Keith quickly pulls on some torn jeans and a Panic! At the Disco shirt before tying up his bangs out of his hair with a black hair-tie and sliding on his black sneakers before heading out to Lance making two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for them. 

Once Lance is done, he hands a sandwich to Keith and they head out of the house, Keith locking the door behind them and they head to the town square, thinking most people will head there instead of anywhere else.

Unexpectedly, Lance laces his fingers through Keith's right hand and pulls him along, a tone of urgency in his usual careless voice. Keith flushes red and follows behind, wondering if this was some sort of dream.

Halfway down the street to the square, they already have a clear view of the millions of heads in the crowd. Once they reach the plaza, they meet Pidge and Hunk, adorning the same confused, worried expression as any other kid.

There were kids of all ages there. There was a seven-year-old wandering around, calling for his mommy and a set of female twins shaking and clutching a rabbit, tears streaming down their faces. Thinking about how many babies were in those houses right now without anyone looking after them made Keith sick to his stomach.

Keith looked around and realized that everyone was just walking around. 

Wandering.

Waiting.

Keith cleared his throat and pulled up a chair from the French shop and stood up, calling the attention of the scared kids.

Once there was complete silence, Keith cleared his throat again and looked at Lance. He grinned approvingly and gave a thumbs-up.

"H-hi there." Keith stammers.

The kids blink.

"Does anyone have any idea what has happened? Where the adults are?"

A little girl with pink pigtails pipes up, "I just want my mommy."

A murmur of agreement floods through the crowd.

"Honestly, so do I," Keith admits shyly, "But they have disappeared. Your parents would want you all to continue your lives. To continue until they get back. So that's what you're going to do. We have enough food rations for a couple of months at the most, but we need someone to run the daycare too."

A girl called Amara stood forward. She was a curvy, short, fairly tanned girl with bouncy, curled brown hair and beautiful natural features, so nice she didn't need makeup. She was wearing dark blue jeans, black and white Nikes and a "Rolling Stones" shirt.

She swallows hard.

"I-i think I can run the daycare," She smiles at Keith, and Keith beams back at her.

Everyone's heads turn to the back as a voice calls out, "Hey Keith, being manly now huh?"

Keith let out an inward groan.

Great.

Lotor.

Lotor sauntered forward through the crowd, the crowd parting for him and the four people following.

Lotor and his gang were from the school at the top of Bayswater, which was called Mariandi School for the Troubled.

There was Lotor, his crush and colleague Axca, Ezor, Zethrid and Narti.

Lotor tossed his platinum blonde hair out of the way and folded his arms in front of Keith, his gang doing the same.

"These kids need someone to reassure them. And that person is going to be me." Keith growls lowly.

Lotor opens his mouth, but no words come out. It's only then that Keith realized that his hand was extended and aimed for Lotor's neck. Lotor gasped for air as Keith continued to hold his hand out.

Keith moved his hand upwards.

Lotor moved upwards, choking and spluttering.

Keith dropped his hand.

Lotor's fall was thankfully cushioned by Narti and Zethrid, Axca and Ezor already walking away embarrassed at the display from Lotor.

Everyone looked open-mouthed at Keith as Lotor and his crew headed back to Mariandi.

If Keith could look at himself, he'd probably be gawking at himself too.

"Now," Keith called out, "We need volunteers for the daycare." Immediately around fifteen hands shoot up.

"We need volunteers for defending the grocery store and the city," More hands shoot up.

"And we need a Jury and a court system," Keith looks at Lance, Pidge and Hunk, along with Shiro who joined later on in the talk.

"It's all sorted then," Keith sighs. "Everyone into their homes now, people who volunteered for defence?" Forty faces turn around as everyone leaves.

"We need you guys to check the houses. There could be babies in those houses. If you find them, bring them to the daycare." Keith exchanges a brief look with Amara, who nods as she herds the smaller kids into the daycare.

"Dude!" Lance squeals as Keith hops off the chair, grinning. Lance leans forward and gives Keith a quick peck on the cheek, making Keith go red and giggle.

Pidge looks worried, "Guys, this is scary. This isn't normal anymore." She looks gravely around at the four people around her, "Rations are going to run out."

"This is going to turn into a war."