Story bits

"James." Keith said. "James will go with me on the mission." Lance raised an eyebrow. "Um, you sure you don't want one of us to go with you?" "What's wrong with James going with me?" Keith asks, narrowing his eyes.
"No offense Griffin, but I don't trust him. And this is a high stakes mission, we can't have any mistakes. If he screws up, we lose you." "I'm with Lance. This doesn't seem like a good idea." Shiro asserts. Keith crosses his arms. "I just think that me and James are the best pair for this mission. And I trust him. Isn't that the important part?" "Yeah, what's wrong with James going?" Nadia asks.
"He's had.. questionable judgment in the past when it concerns Keith. I'm not sure I Want to put them in a life or death situation together." Shiro explains. Nadia scoffs. "They were kids. James is a great leader, and would never intentionally do anything that would put any one of us in danger."
"If he's such a great leader why does he need you to fight his battles for him?" Lance shoots. Nadia glares at him, opening her mouth to say something back.

"Nadia." James says. "It's not worth it." "Why? Scared of a little fight?" Shiro asks. "No. But I'm not going to justify you and McClain's remarks and bad attitude by giving you a response. We have more important things to worry about than who likes who. Coran, you were saying something?" James says. "Yes, thank you my boy. Now, this is an ancient mystical artifact. I do not recall it's exact power, but it would be better if we had it in our possession than if a Fire member had it. So we need to send a team of two, James and Keith, to retrieve it." Coran explains.
"But what if they can't get it?" Pidge asks. "Then we set up a barrier around it. And have some droids guard it." Coran answers.
"If we did that, we should probably hook them up to the Garrison and Blades transmission. And we could use some of Pidge's new drones to scout the area before we head in. I know they've been meaning to give them a field test." James suggests. "Yeah! And maybe they could get a reading on it, and tell us what kind of power it has." Pidge says, pulling up a small screen.

"But are Keith and Griffin really the best choice for this? I mean, Griffin is a shooter, and Keith is a swordsman. If it gets to a hand-to-hand fight, won't Griffin be useless?"" Lance asked. "Actually, statistically speaking, they have the highest success rates on missions where they work together. And in the sims, they have the highest scores in both hand to hand combat and long range combat." Ina reports.
"But Keith can't shoot that well!" Lance says. "James has been teaching me. And he's been training with me, Ezor, Zethrid and Axca. He can throw Zethrid across the room, and take me and Ezor in a two on one. Believe me, neither of us has any issues with fighting." Keith states. "Right. I can't even hear either of you when you come in the room, so the whole stealth thing is there too." Axca says. "Yeah. I'm with Keith. Griff is a good choice for the mission. He'll protect him, and they make a mean couple. Even we have trouble taking them on." Zethrid admits. "Yeah! Jamie is great with a sword and dagger, and Keith can now snipe drones! They'll be perfect!" Ezor chirps.

"Then it's settled. Keith and James will go on the mission. Unless anyone has an objections?" Hunk says, looking around.

No one said anything.

"Good. You guys go get ready. You'll be briefed at 0800. Uniforms, not armor. We don't know what this planet will be like."

THE NEXT DAY 0800
"Alright. Well, good news, the planet is safe." Iverson said. "Bad news?" Nadia asks. "The mystical artifact is in a kind of fortress. It might take some time to get through it." "It'll be no problem." Keith assured. "We've got this." James adds. Iverson sighs. "Alright. Go suit up."

Three hours later, Keith and James are approaching the artifact.

ITs a glowing white sphere, with blue wisps coming off of it. "Be careful guys." Pidge warns over comms. "We still don't know what this thing does." "I'm always careful." Keith says. "Yeah, and I'm the queen of England." James scoffs. "You know, I can just say you got lost in the maze and leave you here." Keith suggests. James chuckles. "We both know you'd never do that." "You're very lucky I like you." James chuckles again. "I know."
"Hey, you guys can have your little bromance later. Right now, get the glowing ball thing." Nadia orders. "Yes ma'am." James says jokingly, holstering his gun.

The sphere is maybe 10 feet away now, and on a three foot tall podium. It flashes, and a bright white light fills the room.
"Keith? James?" Pidge asks. "Come on guys, answer."

They hear giggling, and see two little hands grab the sphere. "Whoa." A little voice says. "What is it?" Another asks. "I dunno. But it's pretty." The first voice says. "Be careful Jamie. It might be glass." The second voice said. "I know Keith. I'm not stupid." The first said.

"James? Keith?" Pidge said over comms.

"Did you hear that?" The second voice asks. "Yeah. Pidge?" The first voice said. "James?" She asked in disbelief. "Yes?" The first voice asked. "Holy shit." Pidge muttered. "Hey, that's a no-no word! You owe me a dollar now!" The second voice said. "Keith, be quiet." She snapped. "You two stay right where you are. We'll be there soon." "She's not leaving, is she?" James asked. "No, she's coming to get us." Keith assured.

Half an hour later, Pidge, Nadia, Lance and Ryan are standing in front of little Keith and James. "What the hell happened?" Lance asks. "Hey! That's another dollar!" Keith says. "Keith be quiet! You're gonna make him mad." James hissed, glancing at Lance nervously. "Okay." Pidge sighed. "Let's just get out of here. Come on boys, let's go." She extends a hand towards the boys, and James backs away. Keith takes her hand, and together the group walks back to the ATLAS. James stays close to Keith, never once leaving his side.

Shiro walks up behind them and James stiffens before bolting out of the room. "James where are you going?" Nadia asked, sticking her head out the door. But he was nowhere to be seen.
"Jamie?" Keith called. "Where are you?"

Half an hour later, they found him curled up in a ball under a table in the corner of the mess hall. "James get out from under there." Ryan scolded.
"No! Go- go away!" James shrieked. "I-I didn't do anything!" "James Griffin, this isn't funny. Get out from under there right now." Shiro demanded. "NO! NO MORE! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" "James, come on, get out from under the table." Ina said. "No! No more! STOP HURTING ME!" James shrieked. "James, we're not going to hurt you." Veronica said. "You always say that! You always say you're not going to hurt me but you always do! I don't wanna stay with Ms.Jones again! I don't want to talk to Mr.McCoy again! I don't want you to come near me! Just just GO AWAY!" He yelled.
"James, please come out." Ina pleaded. "NO! YOU'RE GOING TO HURT ME!" "James, we would never hurt you. We love you." Ryan said. "No, you hate me! You say it all the time! You always say you hate me, every day! It's not my fault! ITS NOT MY FAULT! I DIDN'T TELL MOMMY TO LEAVE! I DIDN'T TELL DAD TO BE MEAN! JUST STOP SAYING YOU HATE ME AND STOP HURTING ME!" James screamed, curling in tighter on himself and covering his head with his hands and arms. "ITS NOT MY FAULT! STOP HURTING ME! STOP IT!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, curling more into the wall.
"JAMES ALEXANDER GRIFFIN GET OUT FROM UNDER THAT TABLE RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL BRING YOU OUT MYSELF!" Shiro roared.
"NOO! NO! GO AWAY!"
Shiro growled and kneeled down, reaching under the table. "James, get out here right now." He ordered. James screamed, scrambling back. "GO AWAY! GO AWAYYY!" "James, this isn't funny. Get out, now." Shiro said. "NO! DAD I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! DON'T HURT ME!" "JAMES!" Shiro yelled, reaching for him again.
James screamed and tried to back up more, tears streaming down his face. "NO!" He screamed shrilly. "NOOOO! DON'T HURT ME! NO MORE, NO MORE! STOP ITT!" He shrieked, more tears falling.

"Guys, back off." Nadia ordered.
Shiro, Ryan, Veronica and Ina backed away from the table, and Nadia knelt next to it. "Jamie?" She asked softly. "N-na Nadia?" He stuttered. "Hey bud. Whatcha doing?" She asked. He sniffled and wiped his nose. "N- nothing." "Why are you hiding?" "I- I'm not h-hiding." "Then why are you under the table?" She asked. James sniffled. "P-promise you won't tell?" He asked. She nodded, smiling softly. "I promise." "Not even Mr.McCoy or Ms.Jones?" She nodded again. "I promise."

James wiped his eyes. "Dad still gets really mad sometimes. Him- him and Charlie throw the bottles at me. But- but I didn't do anything. They just get m-mad at m-me. And and Ally says she h-hates me, and so-so does everyone else and-and ev-every-everybody hates m-me and they-they s-say it a-all the-the t-time and-" James started letting out hiccuping sobs. "I- I d-don't know wh-why. And and Cameron says- she says its my f-fault Mommy le-left, but-but I-I nev-never met her, so-so how can it b-be my f-fault?I I just w-want them to-to be n-nice to-to me, but they- they all h-hate me." He sobs.

"Jamie, nobody hates you." Nadia says softly.

"Uh-huh. They-they say it ev-every day. And every-everyone at school but-but Keith d-does too. And and Dad says he he loves eveyone- everyone but m-me, and he- he's always m-mad at me."

"Who's everyone?" Nadia asked.

"Dad. Charlie. Matthew. Ally. Cameron. Erin. They- they're always ma-mad at me. They-they th-throw the b-bottles at me, and-and they h-hit me an-and they steal my stuff, and and t-tell their f-friends I'm dead and-and they all hate m-me. My-my wh-whole fa-family ha-hates me. And I don't kn-know why." James whimpered. Big tears are falling down his face now, and his nose is dripping.

"Aww, Jamie. Come here." Nadia says, opening her arms.
"P-promise you-you're not going to-to hur-hurt me?" He hiccups.
She nods. "I promise."

He hesitaintly crawls over to her, and she pulls him into her lap.
He buries his face into her shoulder and sobs, little body shaking, heart-wrenching sounds leaving his mouth and red hot tears streaming down his face. The others can only watch the sad scene.

"I told you." Keith whispers to Lance. "Jamie's family is mean." "I know buddy. I know." Lance says. "Come on. Let's get out of here."