A Brief Enquiry Into Klance Disorders

Dissociative Identity Disorder (2)

I had to continue it because I find this concept very interesting

Also I'm really sick so don't come near me

"Uh... what's wrong with Keith?" Pidge questioned as they attempted to look over Lance's shoulder into Keith's bedroom. "Why aren't we training right now? Has something happened?" Pidge placed their two palms onto Lance's chest and tried to shove him back but he was too tall and strong.

"He's fine, don't worry your little head about it, Pidge. Can you please leave?"

"No. You have to tell me what's wrong. Is Keith hurt?"

"NO!" Lance raised his voice in an attempt to cover up the noises Keith and Shiro were making behind him. "He's fine. It'd be really cool if you turned around and walked away. Nothing suspicious is happening here."

"You know that only makes it sound more suspicious." Pidge finally managed to duck beneath Lance's arm and shove him out of the way, allowing them to dive into the room. As soon as their eyes laid upon Keith and Shiro practically cuddling in the room, their mouth fell open and they muttered, "What the fuck." Eyes tracking down to the stuffed rabbit in Keith's hands, they raised their eyebrows and were at a loss for assumptions as to what was going on.

"Pidge, why can't you just respect our privacy?" Lance snapped, grabbing their arm and attempting to pull them out of the room but it was too late. Pidge had seen.

Keith was gripping Shiro's jacket so harshly that his knuckles were turning white. He had his head tucked into Shiro's chest and was making himself as small as possible as his entire body shook violently. He was mumbling something that only Shiro could hear due to their proximity, "Please don't let me get taken away. Please. I don't wanna go there again." Shiro softly ran his hand up and down Keith's back, trying to help him calm down.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing that's any of your business. I really think you should leave."

"Lance," Shiro warned, raising his eyebrows so Lance knew to calm down before he got angry. They were seriously going to struggle with calming Keith down if someone started to raise their voice. "Pidge didn't know. It's okay. I think we need to tell them."

"It's not our secret to tell."

"They're going to find out eventually and we should probably explain ourselves to Pidge. They've already seen enough."

"Keith has dissociative identity disorder."

"Multiple personality disorder?" Pidge furrowed their eyebrows and they diverted their gaze between Lance, Shiro and Keith. "But he doesn't- he seems-"

"He had a traumatic past," Shiro began to fill in, running one of his hands through Keith's soft hair. "We can't go into detail but it meant that he developed DID as a way to... cope, I guess. He has multiple different alters that come out at different times, depending on his emotions and other things like that. Right now, you're seeing Tommy. He's basically just a frightened little kid."

"Oh... I'm so sorry... if- if I had- I wouldn't-" Pidge seemed at a loss for words so Lance pulled them into a gentle hug.

"You didn't know. It's okay. Just... don't make a big deal out of it, alright?"

"I won't."

"And don't worry, it shouldn't hinder the team. It hasn't so far so I think all the training and battling might actually help him."

-

Hunk raised his hand to knock on Keith's door, waiting for a few moments but not receiving a response. Eventually, he just pressed the panel to open the door and walked inside. "Keith..?" He questioned, glancing around the bedroom for any signs of life. He couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips once he saw Lance's jacket draped across Keith's bed. He knew they had been getting closer lately but he hadn't realised how close.

Calling the red paladin's name out a second time, he headed towards the door to Keith's bathroom, knocking. Silence. Trying to suppress his anxiety, he opened the door in search of his friend. Immediately, his eyes settled on Keith but he wasn't in a good state. "Keith. Keith. Can you hear me?" Hunk raced forward and bent down onto his knees. He began to tear off his jacket to wrap around Keith's bleeding arms.

Just as he was about to do exactly that, Keith spoke in a menacing tone. "Get away from me." He pulled the knife that had clearly done all of the damage to himself out of his pocket and waved it towards Hunk.

"You need to listen to me. I have to take you to a pod. You've lost a lot of blood and if I don't cover the wound-" Hunk stopped talking mid-sentence as Keith's knife sliced his cheek. The sensation of the warm blood dripping down his cheek was enough to trigger further anxiety. "I'm going to get Lance, o-okay?" Keith didn't say anything as Hunk raced out of the bathroom. Within minutes, he had returned with Lance and Shiro.

"Keith," Lance started, slowly reaching out to touch Keith's arm. The red paladin flinched back but kept a firm grip on the blade. "Or is it Akira?"

"Leave Keith alone. He doesn't want you anywhere near him. You're going to hurt him."

"No, we're not going to hurt him. We're going to help him. He could- he could die if we don't get him to a healing pod."

"Don't you dare put him in one of those things! You're going to kill him. Every single one of you want him dead."

"No, no, we don't. He's our friend. We want him alive and happy." Lance's voice was beginning to waver but he was determined to get through to Keith. They weren't going to lose him. "Come on. I don't even have to touch you and you can look at the settings if you really think we're going to kill him. We love him as much as you do."

Keith didn't have time to reply because his eyelids had suddenly become heavy.

-

"I hurt you..." Keith murmured, eyes glossing over as he stared at the cut across Hunk's cheek. He couldn't remember cutting Hunk but who else would have done it? Noticing the broken look on Keith's face, the yellow paladin just grinned and shook his head.

"Now I have a cool battle scar. All I care about is that you're okay."

"You don't... You don't even want an explanation of why I did that?"

"Nope. You were terrified and I could see that. I'm sure it was just a defence mechanism kind of thing."

"I have DID. Dissociative Identity Disorder." Keith blurted out before he could think about what he was doing. Hunk's face flashed with multiple emotions all at once before settling on a sorrowful expression.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Lance and Shiro have been helping me out. I understand it all a bit more now."

"I'm really glad to hear that. If there's anything I can do to help, just come and find me, alright? And, if you ever need food to cheer you up, I'm right here."

"Of course you are." Keith broke out into a grin, realising something. All of his life, he had been tossed from foster home to foster home, experiencing trauma after trauma but, finally, he had found his real home. The Castle of Lions was where he was meant to be and the other paladins were his family.