#assassin lance

Lance felt horrible. He was here to see Keith and now look what he did. He could blame it on Allura’s training sessions and the whole reason he was in Ba Sing Se. he had been handpicked by Allura, an airbender, to assassinate the Fire Lord and his heirs. Normally an airbender wouldn’t go to such measures, but anyone who knew anything about energybending couldn’t be found, and every rebellion was being stopped before it could rise. Also her tribe had been killed by the Fire Nation, leaving her the only one alive. The thing was, two of the heirs, where illegitimate sons and honestly, Lance didn’t believe they had to die. No one had even known they existed until Allura told them. Lance just saw it as them not wanting anything to do with their father but Allura say differently. She was the boss and she made the decisions. Nothing Lance could say would change her mind.

In the waiting game for more information to make a solid plan, he met Keith, who worked at the Jasmine Dragon in the Middle Ring with his brother. They had talked a bit, which then turned into flirting, which turned into an invite to come here to the fountain, which turned into meeting and seeing each other more and more and now Lance was pretty sure he was in love. He knew so much about Keith and his life with his mother and the man he thought was his father, to being taken to live with his real father and how he and his brother Shiro depended on each other. How they were able to get away from him to work here but he wouldn’t be surprised if he got dragged back for a few months only to be thrown aside again. Keith sat silent as he listened to Lance tell him about the Northern Lights that shone down on his village, how much he missed his family, the edited stories about what happened at the base in the Upper Ring. They had shared sweet kisses and whispered words and daring escapes from soldiers, but Lance was more than sure that he wanted to stay with Keith. He made him happy, forgetting the job he had. He was sure fate gave him Keith to counteract to horrors he was about to do, soon anyway.

“Oh La, babe, are you ok?”

Keith slowly straightened up still rubbing his sore stomach. “Whatever I did, I’m sorry.”

“No, no. I just reacted. I’m sorry. Are you ok?”

Keith waved it off. “It’s fine. I shouldn’t have sneaked up on you like that, especially with soldiers walking around. I just didn’t see you all day.”

Lance couldn’t help but smile at the pout Keith gained. “Aww, missed me that much?”

“Yes.” Keith answered, like it should have been obvious. Maybe it was.

With a shy smile, Lance wrapped his arms around Keith’s neck and kissed him, sighing at the feeling of Keith’s lips against his. La, he wanted to do this all day. The kiss got heated rather quickly, but neither minded. Keith rested his hands on Lance’s waist, squeezing, making Lance moan at the pressure. They pulled away, but still stayed close, their foreheads resting against each other.

“I’ve really wanted to do that all day.” Keith said, giving Lance an almost smug smirk as he watched Lance pant slightly.

“You have no idea how much I missed getting that this morning.” Lance said, nuzzling Keith, as he let his arms slid down so he could tangle his fingers through Keith’s hair. Spirts, the style it was in should have been horrible, but Keith made it work and it was so soft and fluffy. Lance didn’t think he ever swooned so hard for someone pulling their hair into a ponytail, but then again, Keith was different in everyway.

The two sat on the edge of the fountain, Lance snuggling up close to Keith to steal his warmth. If Allura just trusted a few firebenders who opposed the Fire Lord, he’d be able to snuggle up to Keith every night. For warmth on their travels of course.

“Anything interesting happen today?” Lance asked

“Other than another set of old ladies flirting with Shiro? Not much.” Keith said, pressing a kiss to Lance’s forehead, making Lance hum happily.

Lance was going to keep the conversation going but the two stilled at the sound of footsteps heading in their direction. Keith pulled them up and down the street, hiding them in a nearby alleyway, small enough to fit them both closely together.

“The lanterns at the fountain were lit again. Remind me why they aren’t kept lit anymore?” a solider asked

“Apparently it’s a sign of hope or something. Besides, anyone seen out past curfew is arrested.” The soldier’s partner explained, the two passing where Keith and Lance were hiding. The soldiers walked off, leaving the two alone and safe for the most part.

“That was too close. If they’re walking around now, it’s not best to stay out here.” Keith said, looking out a bit to make sure the soldiers were gone. He looked back at Lance, who looked crestfallen.

“But I haven’t seen you all day.”

“Come see me tomorrow. Early, so we can have a bit of time together.” Lance still looked upset but nodded anyway. “I can walk you back to house.”

“I’d love that really, but let’s not risk getting the soldiers to catch us. But I will definitely be seeing you tomorrow.” Lance meant only for the kiss to be brief, but he felt Keith wrap his arms around his neck, holding him there for longer, not that he was complaining. “Hmm, I’m getting more of that tomorrow. I’ll see you soon ok?”

Reluctantly Keith let go and let Lance head off. It didn’t take him long to get back up to the Upper Ring and sneak back onto the property. When he closed his window, he let out a scream when he turned to see Allura sitting on his bed, with a knowing look on her face.

“You’re back late.”

“What in the Spirts’ name are you doing in my room?”

“One, I own this house so I can go wherever I want and two, I came to get you for a meeting and Pidge mentioned that you might of snuck off to go see your boyfriend. Is it the same person you go see at the tea shop every day? Coran loves tea and you never see him go as often as you.”

Lance felt mortified. He had been so sure that he had been able to keep it a secret but apparently not. “It-it’s none of your business.”

“Alright,” Allura said, a smirk on her face, “come on, we have an actual meeting. We’ve been waiting for you and this is important.”

“How come?” Lance asked, as he followed the airbender out of the room.

“We’ve finally got information on the sons. We’ve been looking it over and Coran thinks it’s best if you and I go after them. We’re splitting the rest of the group to go after Lotor. Once the sons are dead, we’ll join up and all attack Zarkon.”

An uncomfortable feeling grew in Lance’s stomach, like it was telling him to be careful. He guessed it had to do with the fact that he was actually going to do this; he was going to kill someone. They walked into the living room which doubled as the meeting room. On the table were papers with maps and coded letters. On the very end were two open scrolls. Lance walked over and looked at them, feeling his whole world come to a halt when he saw the sketches.

Not noticing Lance, Allura said, “the oldest is Takashi and his brother is Keith. As far as we know Keith is a firebender and Takashi is a bender, but he hasn’t been seen bending so we’re not sure what kind. So I’ll be going after him and Lance, you’ll take care of Keith.”

Keith, his Keith, his Keith’s face was staring back up at him from its fixed position on the scroll. His Keith, was the Fire Lord’s son? This wasn’t right. This had to be a joke. How? How could this be true?

“Lance?” he looked up to see Pidge looking at him from her spot on the table. He noticed he was sitting on the couch and the room was empty except for him, Pidge and Hunk.

“What?” he noticed he sounded a bit breathless.

“You kinda blanked out when you go here. We thought something was wrong when you kinda collapsed on the couch but you didn’t look like you passed out or anything.”

Hunk, who was crouched on the other side of Lance continued, “I felt your heartbeat and it sounded like you were panicking. Lance, what’s going on, what happened?”

Feeling like he was moving slow, he reached around Pidge and grabbed one of the scrolls that were still sitting on the table. He looked at the open sheet, looking at the familiar face. “This can’t be happening. No, no, no.” dropping the scroll, Lance hid his face in his hands, hoping this was all a really bad dream. This couldn’t be real.

“Lance, I can hear your heart. What’s wrong? Is it your target?”

“He’s not a target Hunk, that’s my boyfriend!”

The room was silent, Lance not even moving from his hands as he felt tears come to his eyes. How? How was this happening? Had Keith been playing with him this entire time? Had all those stories he told him been lies? No, Lance prided himself on noticing when a person was lying and everything Keith told him was true, he knew it. It had to be right?

“Lance? Do you actually know Keith? Like, you’ve met him before?” Hunk asked gently.

“I met him here, at the tea house. I’ve been meeting with him every night and I know everything about him and this can’t be right. He can’t be the son of the Fire Lord.” But, Keith told him that his father was a high class person who controlled their lives whenever he wanted. How he and Shiro would be dragged by his father’s guards back to the Fire Nation. Lance hadn’t even thought that it sounded strange that high class people would have their own guards, but palace guards were something else. They were usually bigger and scarier, making their jobs easier. “How could I have been so stupid?”

“Lance, does he know what you do?” Pidge asked.

Lance shook his head, finally removing his hands from his face, but still not looking at his friends, “I told him I was a butler for Allura’s code name but he knows I’m a waterbender and I’m from the Southern Water Tribe.”

“Lance, I need you to listen to me.” Pidge said, planting her hands on his shoulder. He looked up into Pidge’s tawny brown eyes, which were filled with something, determination maybe? “You said you know everything about him right? Do you think he’s lying to you?”

“I don’t know. What if he is lying but I’m so stupidly in love with him that I can’t tell?”

“Listen,” Pidge said, shaking him, “don’t think about it, just answer. Do you think he’s lying?”

Lance shook his head. “No,” he answered weakly, “I don’t think he is. I really think he doesn’t agree with what the Fire Nation is doing and that he hates how he’s just a thing for his father and not important and…I think that he isn’t using me. That he might actually love me like I do him.”

“You haven’t told him you love him, have you?” Hunk asked, watching Lance shake his head. He rubbed Lance’s back, “if it makes you feel any better, I think he’s telling the truth too. I don’t think him or his brother agree with this.”

“But what am I going to do? Allura said I have to kill Keith. How can I do that?” he felt lighter knowing his two best friends weren’t angry with him that apparently he had been dating the illegitimate son of the Fire Lord for a while.

“Maybe you should tell Allura. Ok hear me out,” Pidge said, seeing the distressed look on Lance’s face, “I don’t agree with killing these two. I mean they have nothing to do with their father and I don’t know how much you were listening to, but apparently because they don’t live in the palace, they’re being picked up to be brought back for this huge ceremony the Fire Lord is having. It’s happening in a few days and it takes like three days by boat to get to the Fire Nation, they’re going to come get Keith and Takashi soon. Maybe if you tell Allura and you explain to her what you and Keith have, maybe she’ll change her tune about how the Fire Nation is. I mean, she can’t get rid of an entire nation, there has to be balance. There’s a reason there’s an Avatar.”

“And if she doesn’t? I thought…I thought that fate brought me to Keith as a way to have something good when I’m supposed to be killing somebody, but instead they brought me Keith so I could kill him even though I love him. And I still don’t even know if he’s telling the truth, even though I feel he is.”

“Well, what are you going to listen to? Fate, that you dealt you the worst hand? Or your own free will, cause I know you Lance. You never wanted to kill him then and you definitely don’t want to now.”

She was right. Pidge always was. Even knowing what he did now, he couldn’t do it, he couldn’t kill Keith or Shiro. But, he needed to talk to Keith, before he could make a decision on what to do.

“Hunk, can you come and talk to Keith with me? Hearts don’t lie and, I wanna be sure. I don’t want to regret my decision.”

Hunk nodded, looking at Lance sympathetically. “Of course I will.”

“And I’ll be there for backup.” Pidge promised.

But backup or a human lie detector weren’t needed the next morning because they weren’t there. Keith and Shiro disappeared over night. Except they didn’t disappear as much as they were picked up. A merchant who worked at the store across the street told them that late the night before, Fire Nation soldiers put them in a carriage, but not before Keith ran over and handed the merchant a letter for Lance.

 “Dear Lance, I’m so sorry that this had to of happened when I was with you. I’m being pulled into play by my father, who wants to look like the doting father everyone thinks he is. Of course he does this with no warning or even thinking about us. I have no clue when I’ll be back, but please don’t forget about me. I know you told me that Lady Sol was moving soon, so I hope you’re still there by the time I get back, but if not, know that the time we had together was some of the best moments of my life. I won’t forget you and I pray to the spirits that we’ll meet again, because Lance, I love you. I’ve wanted to tell you but it always felt too soon, but now that I’m being pulled away from you so suddenly, I realised that I want you to know this. I hate that I can’t know if you feel the same way but I hope that I can hear you tell me how you feel soon. Yours Keith.”