WHAT. Lance gets the worst notification to get. WHERE. Dino Island! WHEN.Immediately following the disappearance notifications yesterday. WARNINGS. SADS. Abandonment. More sads. STATUS. Complete!
Lance had long since changed the sound his phone made for the notifications to something just for that. So it was clear when it happened. And it was a pang of anxiety every damn time. Even if he was sitting right next to the people he always worried about being on the list. Luck had been mostly on their side for the most part. At least until lately. The list only a few days prior had been.. Hard. Really hard, and it still more than lingered.
So when the noise came again, so close to the last time, it was a larger than normal spike of worry. A feeling of dread as he pulled his phone out, hoping that there wouldn't be anyone else on the list to make this harder on Atreus.
What he didn't expect though, was to see Atreus on the list. The edges of his vision went blurry and dark. His own worst nightmare staring right up at him.
It was always a possibility. The kind of awful thought that would creep in on some of his worse nights when sleep eluded him. That kind of worst case scenario Lance knew they all had. The sort of special hell Vallo gave them, that at any moment it could all be ripped away. Though Lance, after losing Allura, knew all too well it was the kind of terrible possibility that wasn't just Vallo's. Not that it made it any easier, if anything it made it harder. He'd done it. He'd gone through it before, and he knew how terrible it was.
He'd be hard pressed to even be able to describe how it felt later, the sheer panic that had all but gasping for air. Like everything in him wanted, needed, to scream but no sound could come out. Distantly he knew he was on the verge of a full out panic attack, one that threatened to completely engulf him. And through all that the gut wrenching thought Yrsa was with Atreus.
It was that which prompted him into action. Body moving before his mind could even catch up. Thoughts a jumbled mess of what if she was gone too and the equally distressing what if she wasn't and all that implied.
Red was already there when Lance all but fell down the treehouse stairs. The flight over to the island in Red wasn't usually a long trip, but it felt like a damn lifetime to him, and it was only knowing Yrsa might be alone and terrified that kept him from completely falling apart.
Thankfully Red had a better handle on the situation and didn't let Lance bolt from her the instant the treehouse was in sight, instead keeping him in until it was safe to leave. He stumbled out of her mouth and all but ran up the stairs.
"Yrsa?" he called out, frantic as he burst through the doorframe, eyes darting madly around. "Yrsa?" he called out again, voice breaking.
It was a small space, there were only so many places to look and most of them visible from any spot in the room but he methodically checked it all regardless, panic growing all the while. There were sketchbooks on the table, pencils and crayons, drawings in progress and half filled glasses of juice. Like they were thereā¦ and then suddenly just gone, because neither Atreus or Yrsa were clearly there. Like he had a family - a future - one moment, and then nothing the next.
"This isn't happeningā¦ fuck..." Lance got out, eyes burning and voice cracking. He tried to breathe through it, tried to slow the way he couldn't get enough air in his lungs, knew that tingly feeling in his fingers was probably not a good thing.
He started back down the stairs, determined to scour every damn inch of the island - knowing that Yrsa was prone to taking off and fuck if that didn't feel like the most duanting thing in the world right then.
She was practicing her stealth. Her silence. Her composure. It was difficult for a toddler, which meant there was a great deal of squirming and giggles that threatened to burst through, but Atreus was there, holding her steady in the tops of the trees, teaching her how to watch nature, how to appreciate it, how to climb higher and further and faster. It was a good distraction from everything that had happened lately, and necessary for a toddler that didnāt know how to moderate their emotions yet.
Atreus had just been trying to get ahead of everything as it came, and moved forward one step at a time.
Theyād wandered, and heād shown her some dinosaurs, carried her around, talked a little about his father. She was too young to understand most of it, but it didnāt stop him from talking anyway. It helped ease the hurt. But it was only an hour or so in before she was pointing at trees for climbing and he was powerless to do anything but climb.
Being so high up was how he noticed Red coming in. āPapaās here,ā Atreus had whispered in a conspiratorial tone, already coming up with ways to prank Lance. They needed this, the laughter that it would bring. Atreus just assumed that this was a surprise āI finished work early, got your note, came to surprise you guysā moment, not one of frantic search and rescue.
Atreus had guided her across the trees, through some forest, around a few of the more dangerous carnivore roaming areas. When they got close to the treehouse, he sent her back up a tree and followed. It wasnāt until Lance was emerging and making his way down the stairs that Atreus whispered āNowā in her ear, and this time she did giggle.
He didnāt notice the look on Lanceās face until Yrsa had already taken off, until she took an impossible leap off of the branch of the tree in an effort to divebomb her papa. Atreus couldnāt stop her by that point, so he merely followed her down and landed softly in the leaves and damp forest ground, just a few feet away. Now that he was even closer, there was no mistaking the pain on Lanceās face and Atreus felt his gut knot painfully. āWhat happened? Is it someone else-ā Please, not someone else.
It didn't compute in his mind. The sound of Yrsa laughing as suddenly she was launching herself at him. Though the confusion, the instinct to catch was there, just belated enough that he couldn't catch Yrsa and maintain balance so down they went in a pile of limbs. Which brought on only more giggles from Yrsa and Lance had no idea what to make of that. "You're okay," he whispered though, maybe more to himself, as he tried to get them both back to their feet. A hard endeavor when he also found himself not wanting to let go of Yrsa, that terrifying thought that if he did she'd be gone.
He managed to get them both up though, and hugged Yrsa tight to him. He was so lost in his relief that Yrsa was there that he didn't even hear Atreus land.
It wasn't until Atreus spoke that he noticed, eyes darted upward, wide with surprise. He damn near dropped Yrsa with the shock but managed to set her down gently and then all but ran the short distance to Atreus, colliding into him and holding him tight. "You're - you're here - " he managed to get out. Though part of him, the part that knew loss intimately and that you didn't always get your happy ending, bristled. Convinced he was just imagining things.
He pulled back a little, hands coming to Atreus' face. There had been a question asked, Lance had to think a moment to get back to it. Is it someone else.
"You," he answered shakily. "It said you were gone." He paused, took a few deep breaths. "You're real, right?" He asked quietly after a moment, terrified that maybe this was all just his mind playing a trick on him.
āWhat?ā Atreus looked dumbfounded for a second, because that sounded like the worldās cruelest trick to play on someone. Especially with how this place could be. To show a disappearance notification for someone that was still here?
Unless it was a glitch. But Atreus wasnāt the one to ask about these things, he barely understood the tech that came along with it as it was. He didnāt let go of Lance, not for even a half second, but fumbled to pull his phone out of his pocket. There was rarely any service out here on the island, and nothing had updated on his phone yet. āNothing here, but I donāt have any bars.ā
The phone was gone again, tucked away, and Atreus wrapped Lance a little closer. He pressed a kiss into the side of Lanceās fluffy hair. āIām sorry, Iām sorry. Iām here. I havenāt gone anywhere.ā It only took a few seconds before he felt something wrap around his and Lanceās legs - Yrsa had attached herself to them.
Lance was glad for the continued contact, it helped to ground him little by little. If he could feel Atreus, the hand on his arm and his own fisted tight into Atreus' shirt, then that meant Atreus was real, and there. Not blipped out of Vallo and out of the life they'd built together. His arms moved back around Atreus when he was pulled in closer, hugging him tight. Probably a little too tight but he didn't dare let go right then.
"I thought I lost you," he said quietly, a little broken still. Atreus was there, and the relief was immediate, but it would still take some time to get past the sheer anxiety and that awful feeling of loss, Lance knew that. He still felt wired in an absolutely terrible way, could still feel the worst parts of his own mind trying to take hold and make him think he was just doomed to repeat losing the one he loved.
He only pulled back when he felt Yrsa join in on the hug and he took a moment to cup Atreus' face, offering him a shaky little smile. "I love you, so much," he said and leaned in for a kiss. "I don't want to do this without you," he added, letting his forehead fall to Atreus'.
There was a little laugh as he felt Yrsa tug impatiently on his jean leg. "Okay, okay.." he said and let go of Atreus to lift her up more into their little family hug. "Ditto for you."
āIām sorry,ā Atreus whispered again, into Lance. Anything he could get of Lance. He held his partner with a vice grip and then he was holding Yrsa too and it was like theyād never have to let go. He was in no hurry, not after the loss heād already experienced lately, and the feeling that it caused. He didnāt wish that on anyone and it seemed like a cruel joke to be played on Lance.
āI love you too. Both of you. Iām not going anywhere,ā Atreus knew he couldnāt promise that, but he was determined to do it anyway. Even when the rain started down on them, abruptly.
He still didnāt let go of Lance, but did glance up into it. āIt wasnāt supposed to rain today. Who else was on the list?ā
There was a soft chuckle as the rain suddenly hit them, Lance was fully aware of the ridiculousness of standing out in the rain clinging to his family but also wasn't in much of a rush to move just yet. He was pretty sure he'd spend the rest of the day being obnoxiously clingy, but he was also sure he could get away with it.
"I'll hold you to that," he said, a little lighter and with a bit of a teasing note. The longer he clung to Atreus and Yrsa the more his initial panic started to fade, the more himself he felt.
At Atreus' question he had to think back to the list, having mostly zeroed in on his own loss there. "A lot of good people," a pause. "Adoraā¦ fuck, I hope they were all just glitches like you." But Adora wouldn't cause a random rain storm. "Jake," he settled on. "This is probably Thor."
As if on cue a giant crack of thunder sounded and the rain picked up. Reluctantly Lance let go of Atreus a little and moved Yrsa to his hip as he took Atreus' hand. "Come one, let's get insideā¦" he said as they started off towards the treehouse. Lance knew they'd have to deal with the fall out of this, make sure the others knew Atreus was still here - make sure the others on the list were just a false alarm too, but it was all so much better than the fall out of the alternative.
Atreus didnāt let them go as Yrsa buried her head into Lanceās shoulder, but he did pause and look towards Vallo. āDefinitely Thor.ā That thunder was always familiar to him, would alway haunt him in a way that only repeated visions and nightmares could. His hand squeezed Lanceās.āThe blankets are warm inside. We can cuddle and chase away the shit day before we head back.ā