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Chapter Text

Destination; Havana, Cuba

Year; 2545

"Lance! Get down here you useless little shit!" 

Lance awoke with a startle at the sound of his shout. 

He was supposed to clean the house and make dad dinner but he had fallen asleep.

Sucking in a breath, Lance quickly went downstairs into the kitchen.

He reached downstairs and saw his dad Alastor, with many empty alcohol bottles on the kitchen counter and living room table. Looking up from the table Lance saw Alastor glaring at him bitterly while holding an empty bottle in one hand

"Yes, sir?" Lance questioned staring up at him.

"Don't 'yes sir' me! The house is a mess and where is my fucking food?!" Alastor nagged, throwing the glass beer bottle at Lances head.

Lance ducked down, avoiding the glass shards as they shattered on the beige wall behind him. Crouched low, Lance let out a hiss as multiple pieces of glass imbedded themselves in his skin. Small cuts littered his hands, while two larger pieces had pierced his face. Lance rose slowly, removing the pieces from his face.

"S-sorry, I fell asleep b-" Lance was interrupted with a shout.

"You and your stupid fucking excuses! You have one fucking job, be useful. Yet you're still a waste of space an time! Get in that kitchen right now and make me some food! Afterwards you can see about being of use and cleaning this shitty place." 

With that Alazor made his way back out of the house, shutting the door with a slam. Flinching at the noise, Lance quickly fell into habit of making dinner and cleaning the house.  As he went about doing his taxing job, Lance dazed, remembering when this all started.

Destination; Havana, Cuba 

Year; 2535

"Lancito! Vamanos! You have to hurry if you want to get ice cream!" Rosa shouted up the stairs to her, newly turned, 5 year old child.

A loud squeal was heard before the light padding of tiny feet came tumbling down the stairs. Lance, donning his new Lego Ninjago T-shirt and overall shorts, jumped off the last two steps with a shout.

"I'm ready Mama!" 

Smiling at Lances antics Rose proceeded to leave the house, before following Lance shouted, "Te amo Papa!"

"Te amo Lancito!" Alazor yelled back cheerfully.

Rushing to his mother, who had been standing outside the door, Lance latched onto her hand. Lance started ahead of his mother, tugging on Rosa's arm in anticipation.

***************

As the blue-eyed mother and son duo reached their destination, Lance stared in bewilderment. It seemed that no matter how many times he and his family would visit the small ice cream shop, located in between a bank and a jewelry store, the decorations lining the walls would forever bring a shine to his eyes.

As Rosa and Lance approached the counter, with Lance's excited chattering about getting ALL the flavours,  a sudden bang ran throughout the shop. Taking notice of the bullet hole, deliberately placed in the center of the owners forehead, Rosa hunched over her child.

"Lance!" Rosa exclaimed, "Everything's going to be okay. Don't worry, I'll protect you."

(Edited)

Lance started crying hysterically, adding to the sounds of glass shattering, people screaming and gunshots. 

A group of people covered in purple and black clothing holding a  wide range of firearms broke through the giant glass windows. Leading the charge was a man with wide shoulders and a giant figure, with skin dark as midnight and one eye of gold. The other a blood red, covered with a rugged scar. Sendak.

The customers recognised them as part of the Fire of Purification. A  widely known terrorist group spread throughout the world terrorising anyone and everyone with no known motive.

They all trekked forwards with heavy steps. Each one of there guns pointed towards the patrons. And then. Bullets once again rained down on each of the individuals like the climax of an orchestra screams, breaking glass and gunshots raged around Lance and his mother.

And quiet. The only remaining noises was Lances rapid breathing. He was frozen, for he had just witnessed his mother get penetrated with bullets. Hundreds. Millions. The blood of Rosa stained his face, his hands.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH MAMAAAAAAAAAAA" Lance wailed, "MAMAAA!! POR FAVOR DESPIERTA!!" (PLEASE WAKE UP!!)

Sendak quickly took notice of him and stalked forwards until Lance was shadowed by the vile figure. 

Wide eyed. Lance looked up at him slowly. Horrified. Tears gushing down his face in waterfalls. 

"P-p-por qué? I-I mamaaaaaa" 

Annoyed at his screams, Sendak reached down and grabbed Lance by the scruff of his shirt and proceeded to wack him across the face with his gun. Throwing him in a random direction afterwards.

Leaving him for dead.

This day was supposed to be one of joy and laughter. The celebration of Lance's existence. However Lance would forever remember this day as the murder of  his mother and the start of a terrifying new life with his

                                                                                                                                          b̷͕̤̙͔̺̭̰̟̞͕͌͆̏͒̄̈́̅̈́̌͗̐͘͝͝r̶̡̧̹̝̙̹̜̬̬̗̪̳͓̿̍̒̓͑͠ͅǫ̶̬̯̬̰̺̝̞̜̠̾͒͒͑ḳ̶̡͚̪̙̿̈́͘ẽ̶̮̥̺̱̰̮̺̱̰͎̓̀̀̒n̷̢̡̛̙̮͙̭͚̩̈̐ͅ  family.

Chapter Text

The only sound heard for miles was the alarms of ambulance and police rushing towards the targeted area.

Stepping on the brakes, the ebony haired police officer briskly got out of his car and shot towards the scene of crime. Flashing red and blue lights greeted him. Sounds of emergency vehicles and first response officers trying to control the situation.

The Fire of Purification had already fled the scene leaving an ocean of red behind. Through the panic, civilians stood around the caution tape, filming and screaming. The officer ducked underneath the tape, flashing his badge to nearby personnel, he approached a detective with cocoa-coloured skin, black glasses and caramel hair.

"Wright! Do you know anything?"

Wright flinched out of his horror filled stare and looked up at Kashi. "We were too late...again."

"But we were here when it happened. We're catching up to them, and soon we'll be one step in front of them. You don-"

"Look around!" The shorter man interrupted, " People are dead, dying! We NEED to be in front of them now! We can't afford to stay one step behind for any longer! We can't afford to lose more innocent civilians!"

"Ad-"

"When I joined I thought I'd be able to help others, yet we're not doing anything. We're not helping anyone, simply following behind The Purification and cleaning up the corpses." Wright finished with a sigh.

"I...I-i know it's hard.......but we're getting there. Listen Ad- Wright look at where we were two years ago , we've already established their identities and their patterns, to a point." Kashi stated, " We're close. Really close. OK? Wright this will help so many others in the long run."

"You're right, sorry I just..."

"It's fine. But we have a job to do, anything you can tell me? Survivors? Clues?"

Taking a deep breath in Detective Wright put himself together and gave his report. "Yes there's one survivor, A young boy with tan skin and cocoa coloured hair. He hasn't been identified yet but he's currently on his way to the hospital. There are a total of 35 deaths, including what may of been that boy's mother."

"The deaths, anyone of importance?"

"Not that we've seen so far but some still need to be identified. They were all killed the same way, a gunshot to the head or heart. I don't think The Purification was after one person in general."

"You're right they would've left a mark of some sort, still once they all go through autopsy inform me anything new."

Looking up from his report Wright gave made a worrying sound.

"What is it?"

"Kashi. If they weren't looking to assassinate someone specifically, what did they want? What reason could they have for attacking an Ice cream shop?"

"...I don't know Detective. But we'll figure it out"

----------------

(With Lance)

"This is the only survivor"

"Yeah, Lance Estrada"

"How old is he?"

"...Today's his birthday, so 5."

"Fuck. Poor kid. For his birthday to become something so traumatic."

Wright sighed, " I know. But there's nothing we can do about it."

"Was his father contacted?"

"Yeah, he should be here any minute now."

"Alright, let's wait outside the room."

Nodding, Detective Wright followed Officer Kashi out the boys room and into the antiseptic smelling hallways.

The detective stopped and looked towards the hospital bed, taking in the even toned beeping of the heart monitor before looking way and closing the door silently behind him.

Hardly 5 minutes had passed when multiple rushed footsteps could be heard approaching their destination. Both Detective Wright and Officer Kashi glanced at each other before rising slowly right as a panic streaked man came a round the corner. Their eyes met allowing both the Government workers to take in the tear filled glowing yellow eyes of the man.

"Mr.Estrada?" The officer asked stepping towards him.

Nodding firmly, the man spoke, "Where's my son? My wife? What Happened?"

From Behind Alastor a childish voice spoke up, "Where's Lance? ¿Dónde está mi hermano?" (Where's my brother?)

Stepping to the side the voice was revealed to belong to a young girl, looking to be 6 or 7 years old, with long light brown hair in two pigtails and a sunflower patterned sleeveless dress. Standing besides her was another child, a boy who looked 11. His teeth were clenched and he was glaring in their direction. The boy had a curly brown hair covering half his forehead and freckles dotting his nose.

"Rachel, no hables con exra-." (Rachel, don't talk to stran-)

"Ambos estén callados." (Both of you be quiet.) Mr.Estrada interrupted glancing down at them quickly.

Clearing his throat, Officer Kashi stepped forwards, "Mr.Estrada I'm Officer Kashi and this is Detective Wright. We were the ones to accompany your son to the hospital."

Detective Wright took a step towards Mr.Estrada, extending his hand to shake.

"Call me Alastor. Now what happened where's my son and wife?" Alastors eyes hardened and he looked at them questioningly, ignoring the offered hand completely.

"The-" Suddenly Wright stopped taking a couple glances between Alastor and his children behind him, the son still glaring. "Is it ok for them to listen?"

"..You're right let us take this down the hall." They walked further down leaving Officer Kashi with the two children.

Once there the detective continued, "The Fire of Purification attacked Sunset Plaza today at 12:34 PM there were 35 casualties, among them was one Rosa Estrada. The only survivor was one(1) Lance Estrada."

Alastor was starting to look faint, his skin losing colour at a rapid pace and the glow from his eyes fading. He took a step back rubbing his temple and as he looked back up at them the officer noticed that his eyes were unfocused and dilated.

Wright took a step closer to Alastor whispering words of comfort, then he softly took the man's hand and placed it on his chest, "It's ok. Everything going to be ok. There you go just like breathe with me. You got this Alastor."

With a jolt Alastor snapped out of the panic. And with barely a whisper asked,"Thank you....i'm ok now. Where is my son?"

"....Your son is in the room behind us. He's not awake but I can get the doctor to inform you how he is?"

"Yes please. I'll go in now." Alastor started off back up the hallway, approaching Kashi who sat with Rachel and Luis, "Luis, Rachel ahora vamos a ver a tu hermano." (Luis, Rachel we're going to see your brother now.)

"Lance is ok? We can see him?!"

"It's complicated Rachel, but we'll see." Alastor nodded towards the Officer, "I appreciate your help."

With that alastor and Lance's sibling stepped into the hospital room.