Archive of Our Own

Work Text

Lance asked him, when it went from casual but sort of obsessive crush to love. Keith had laughed and said when they kissed the first time, but the more he thought about the more he knew he'd been in love with him for a lot longer than that. In fact, an embarrassingly long amount of time longer than that.
He sat crossed legged on the floor in front of the healing pod thing. Coran said that Lance would be fine when he came out. That the pod would heal all his injuries. It was a little hard to believe. Lance had been hurting, whimpering with pain as Shiro had carried him back to the pod area. Then they'd had to sit and wait for Coran and Hunk to get back, for the new crystal to be installed. It had taken nearly two hours. Two hours of Keith trying to calm someone and quite frankly he sucked at it. "Lance, hey, it's going to be okay. Coran and Hunk are coming, and they'll get you all fixed up." Keith tried smiling but judging from the look on Lance's face he probably failed."I'm fine," he muttered, two tears tracking down the side of his face."Fine? Seriously?" Keith stared at him in shock. He'd been blown up, been in a coma, was crying out from pain and he said he was fine."Okay, so fine's an understatement. I'm damn fine." He managed a grin through his tears."I can't believe you are making jokes." Keith shook his head in bewilderment."Ah come on, Mullet. Laugh or cry man, never heard of it? Laughter is the best medicine? Nothing?" Lance's breath hitched and his body shuddered for a moment before he was still again, more tears joining the first ones."Okay, you are officially not right." Keith gave him a little grin."Well now you get it. I have never been right." Lance rolled his eyes. "I'm left handed.""Ow. That was bad." Keith smiled a little more.Lance closed his eyes tight and his hand flailed for a moment before Keith grabbed it. He squeezed tight and Keith squeezed back."So a horse walks into a bar?" Keith tries tentatively."Yeah?" Lance grits out."Yeah, the bartender says, 'why the long face.'" Keith's voice wobbled a little. He actually was pretty freaked out.Lance blinked hazy blue eyes open and stared at Keith for a moment before giving a breathy laugh, hand tightening around Keith, "Oh ow, ow laughing hurts. That was like the worst joke ever.""Then why are you laughing." Keith frowned down at him."Because the look on your face,” Lance blinked back more tears, but was still smiling. "Thanks for that.""Keith, the pods are on-line!" Hunk shouted from behind the device. He, Coran and Shiro came over to where the two boys were waiting. "Ready?" Keith asked Lance."Ready as I'm going to be." Lance flashed a nervous smile."Don't worry, Number Three, we'll have you out of there faster than you can say Yershplectizambly." Coran bubbled smiling."Coran, I'm not sure that one translates very well." Hunk offered with a perplexed look."I'm going to pick you up, okay?" Shiro asked."Yeah." They'd already wrestled him into the white suit, so he was ready to go. Lance had insisted Keith and Hunk to leave during that part."Pidge and Allura got the crystal up and they are monitoring it and finishing the rest of its connections." They had all agreed to get the pod area powered first. "Coran, Shiro, and I got the pods going good. Did you know Shiro can weld with his hand?" Hunk looked over at Shiro with awe.Lance gave a little chuckle. Shiro rolled his eyes.They leaned him up into the pod. Keith realized he was still holding his hand and gave it a little squeeze. "See ya on the flip side?" Lance tried for nonchalant, but Keith could see little tremors in his arms and shoulders. He was afraid."Maybe the cryopod will make you cooler?" Keith tried snark, he was better at that then jokes.Lance gave him a genuine smile, not a bit of the fake over the top one Keith hated, "How is that even possible? I could not be more cool."Keith patted his hand and pulled away as Coran sealed the pod shut and activated it. Lance's eyes slid shut and his body relaxed like he was sleeping.So he sat in front of the pod, staring. How was it even possible for someone to be so loud and annoying and brave and sweet and stupid and charming and…Keith's brain stuttered to a halt. Oh, this was bad. He shivered. He was not in love with Lance. It was a crush, just a stupid crush. He was good looking, and Keith had a crush. He was funny and friendly and nice, and Keith had a crush. He was a good friend and took care of his team and Keith had a crush. He basically threw himself on a bomb and woke up from a coma to save his friends and Keith had a crush. He lay on the floor of the infirmary in pain and making jokes and Keith just had a crush. It was just a crush. Keith reached out a hand to touch the glass again right over Lance's hand and remembered the feel of it in his, remembered holding him with fear in his heart that he was going to die in his arms, remembered that feeling that he'd do anything for him, anything for that smile…it was not just a crush.
"Earth to Keith?" Lance smiled at him as he waved a hand in front of his face, "so I'm such a good kisser, you just fell in love in that moment, huh?"

Keith laughed easily and met Lance's eyes, "Well it might have been a little longer ago than that."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It had been a long hard year. A year since Allura had sacrificed herself to save everyone, everywhere, and everywhen. Lance took a deep breath the familiar tears prickling at his eyes. He let a couple fall before wiping them carefully away. It was okay to be sad. It was an anniversary. It wasn't wrong to feel bad. He took another deep breath and shook his arms loose feeling the tension leave. He didn't need to pretend everything was okay. He just needed to be him. It was okay. He rolled his eyes at his reflection in the mirror, his counselor would be so proud.He checked once more and his hair looked good, skin shining, teeth perfect. The counselor had talked with him about his self-care. He'd started back his skin care about a month ago. It did help him feel more normal, more him, and it made him feel just better. The smile on his lips was real not faked. It was okay to be happy and sad both.He moved back to check his bag again. He had everything he needed. He was ready to go."Lance!" His mami called from downstairs."I'm ready." He grabbed the bag and rushed down. Veronica was there waiting for him. She gave him a smile as she caught site. "Looking good." She gave him a wink and he laughed. She relished the sound of his real laugh, nothing fake or forced."You ready?" He felt a thrill of excitement remembering that they'd been given permission to take Red to Altea through the Holt Bridge as they had named the teleduv set up at the Garrison. He could feel the warmth of her at the back of his mind snuggling around him like the sunshine on his back at the beach. "Did you get anything for Axca?""What?" Veronica tried to look shocked, but Lance just raised an eyebrow and she laughed. "I'm bringing her some disks of MMA fights and a giant tub of bubble gum.""Yep, Axca came to kick ass and chew bubble gum." Lance giggled a little at his joke. "I am certain she would just give me that blank, confused look if I tried to get her to watch that movie." Veronica rolled her eyes."I'm pretty sure she wears that look every time I talk to her. Actually, a lot of the Blade do, come to think of it." Lance shrugged and ignored Veronica's giggle as they waved goodbye and headed out the door and into Red."So, what about you, did you get gifts for anyone?" Veronica inquired lightly. She didn't want to push, but she knew he'd been getting orders together and having stuff sent."Well I wanted to get everyone something to celebrate Allura Day." The name only twinged as he spoke it and after a slight hesitation he continued. "And it's a new holiday and after talking with Coran we decided it would be most appropriate to give something living like a plant or something, I mean we're celebrating life and the universe and peace and…it just seemed right." Veronica nodded. Lance was so much more than people saw when they just looked at the surface. "I think that sounds great. It's perfect." She gave him an encouraging smile."So, I ordered plants for everyone. I'm having them delivered on Altea, which was actually harder than I thought it would be but turns out a lot of people are willing to do favors for a past Paladin." He ran a hand through his hair like the concept confused him somehow."So, what did you send them." Veronica settled next to him leaning on the pilot's seat as they slipped through the wormhole."You'll see. We are presenting them at the ceremony, to introduce the concept as a part of the holiday. I've never created a holiday before, it's kind of fun coming up with the ways to encourage what Allura stood for, what this day is supposed to mean. We, of course, went with pink ribbons and juniberry decorations. Hunk created this special tea and cookies menu. Once we had it all figured out, we had to get shipments out to all of the coalition planets that were celebrating." Lance's arms waved and his face was animated and happy as he went over the details. Veronica smiled watching him. When they had arrived back without Allura and she'd found him curled up on the floor of Red, well she wasn't sure she'd ever see him like this again.At the ceremony, Lance spoke eloquently and if there were tears in his eyes, it was only appropriate. Keith watched with a smile and maybe a tear or two of his own, not that he'd admit it. When he was done speaking, he presented a box to each of the former paladins and Coran explaining the significance of giving a living gift as a celebration of life and living, enjoying the worlds Allura believed in, and growing and becoming all that they could be.The ceremony concluded in a whirlwind for Lance, it was like he blinked, and it was done. He found himself being escorted over to a table Coran had arranged for them, away from the crowds and the noise at the foot of the statue. He looked over to find Keith at his side his arm wrapped around him."Hey." He half whispered.Keith flashed concerned amethyst eyes to him and give him a tight grin, "Hey, doing okay?""Um, I'll get back to you on that." Lance leaned into Keith's shoulder a bit. "Thanks for helping, I guess I kind of drifted off there."Keith nodded and tightened his grip on Lance; reassuring him with a gentle squeeze, "I got you, Sharpshooter." He pulled him around with him and pulled out his chair, pushing him in before sitting down between him and Shiro."So, can I open now?" Hunk had his gift from Lance sitting in front of him. As Lance looked around the table, he could see that they all did. Coran must have asked them to wait. "Yeah, man, go ahead." He gave him a smile and waited with anticipation. Hunk opened his box. He gave Lance a bright smile as he pulled what looked like a dwarf sunflower only with more oranges and reds in a bright yellow pot."I love it!" Hunk gushed."I wanted to get you a real sunflower, but those are hard to pot, so I got you this daisy. I did, however, plant an entire field of sunflowers for you at the farm, you'll have to come visit when they are in bloom." They had all been to visit him over the last year on the farm with his family."I wouldn't miss it, thank you, a whole field?" Hunk brushed a tear off his face. "I wish I'd know about this whole gift thing, I'd have gotten you something.""Next year, it's a new thing, the idea is to kick it off." Lance smiled easily and looked around the table to see if everyone else was enjoying their gifts. Shiro was smiling at his white orchid and nodded to Lance. Coran had a heliotrope that was full of oranges and reds. Pidge had a Venus fly trap and she was already explaining how and what to feed it Coran. Keith was frowning at his plant, turning it from side to side. "It's an aloe plant." Lance offered. "If you break off a piece the inside is good for burns, you just rub it on.""Thank you." Keith nodded and touched the plant carefully. He turned the plant around in its black and red stripped pot. "I, um, I didn't think you'd like just a regular flower, so I got you something more practical." Lance couldn't help but feel he'd missed the mark on this one. The others seemed so much happier. Keith mumbled something. "What?""I said I like flowers." Keith frowned, "Why wouldn't I like flowers?""Oh." Lance searched his face. "So what kind of flowers are your favorite?"Keith paused for a moment and then a sly smile slipped onto his face. "Nope. You didn't even think I'd like them. I'm not just telling you.""What? Are they tulips? Um…daisies? Lilies?" Lance narrowed his eyes and started listing flowers, but Keith just shook his head. "Seriously, you aren't going to tell me?""Nope." Keith grinned and ran his finger over the aloe again. "Thank you for this.""Forget that, I need to know the flower." Lance growled."Not going to happen." Keith laughed back."Shiro, what's Keith's favorite flower?" Lance asked loudly stopping the conversation at the table.Shiro, for his part looked surprised at the question, but with one look at Keith's face he shook his head, "Sorry Lance, I'm not ratting.""I am going to find out, Mullet." Lance declared."You can try." Keith gave him an aloof look, his eyes danced with mischief.Lance felt something warm inside his chest, something new, something he hadn't thought he'd feel again. It was surprising and at the same time felt like it shouldn't have surprised him at all. "Oh, I'll do more than try." Lance assured him with a grin and a wink. Keith's aloof look faded to something more flustered, but the smile remained.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"And then when we get back, I'm going to drink five gallons of that punch stuff Hunk made, you remember the red kind that tasted like strawberries and oranges mixed together." Lance hummed and plowed on. "After that I'm going to take a three hour long shower, and then go swimming for four hours, and then take another shower until my skin threatens to fall off from being so waterlogged."They had been on the planet for five varga. The first three had been spent in the pod. The last two, with Keith dragging his sorry butt across a quiznacking desert. "Keith, you hear that?" Keith grunted. He really had done much other than grunt for the last two varga. To be honest, Lance was a little more than concerned at this point."Keith, grunting all manly like might do it for some guys, but I'm really more of a conversationalist?" Lance tried again.Keith made some other kind of sound that was closer to a whine. "Never mind, grunting was fine." Lance swallowed back his fear. "You need to take a break?"Keith looked back at him, eyes squinted nearly closed. There was still blood seeping from under the hastily wrapped bandage at the hair line. It was mixing with the sweat and running down the right side of his face. He seemed to evaluate Lance for a moment and then making some sort of decision turned and started pulling their makeshift travois forward again. Lance grabbed at his leg as the pain flared at the restart and took shallow breaths around what he imagined where broken ribs. He hadn't been strapped in properly when the pod ejected from the Galra cruiser and had taken more than a couple nasty bounces around the inside of the thing as they went through the atmosphere and crashed into this planet or moon or whatever it was. He had vomited seeing the white of bone sticking out of his impressively twisted leg. The vomiting had revealed two additional problems one being vomiting with broken ribs sucked and two being vomiting blood is not a good sign. Even more concerning though was even though he was sure he had screamed and puked and then probably screamed again, he hadn't heard word one from Keith. Then he saw the Red Paladin's helmet rolling around in the back of the pod with him. That wasn't good.He'd managed to get a hand on it and half scoot crawl his way up to the front of the pod. Keith was strapped in, but his helmet wasn't on for some reason and it looked like the seat broken at the base and Keith's head had smacked into the console or the floor or both. There was blood on both, and he was laying still on the floor now, still strapped in the chair.There had been some tears, some more screaming, and a couple more rounds of vomiting, but he'd made it to Keith's side and was able to get his glove off and check for a pulse. Which there was and at which point he'd passed out.When he woke up. Keith hadn't been in the chair and Lance had freaked out more than a little. He'd tried to sit up and ended up screaming and blacking out again. The next time he came to he heard something moving around in the cabin and he'd called out to Keith. Keith had come over and sat beside him. He ran a hand through Lance's hair and hummed a bit. It gave Lance a chance to get a good look at him. He was three shade paler than usual, he had blood running down the side of his face and his left pupil was crazy bigger than the right. He'd managed to talk him into bringing him a bandage and let him warp his head. That had been awkward as Keith basically had to lay on the ground in front of Lance and let him wrap the bandages around. His eyes had drifted shut a couple of times, but he kept jerking back awake and popping them open. By the time Lance had him wrapped he was sweating and out of breath. Keith had dragged the travois in and sat it next to him. Then he'd grunted a bit and Lance got the idea that he was supposed to get in. He'd done his best to shift over into it, but Keith had to help and jarring his leg up over the pole of the travois had knocked him into darkness again. He was pretty glad that he'd been able to miss the trip out of the pod, because there was no way they didn't run into a bunch of stuff and the drop from the door had to have been two foot. Not bad for walking, real sucky for dropping a travois. Now here he was on the travois being drug across the desert by a brain damaged Keith carrying Keith's helmet and he had no idea why they were moving or where to, or quite frankly how they got into the pod or why…shit maybe he'd hit his head too."Keith, where are we going?" Lance panted. It was getting hotter and between the blood loss, vomiting and desert he was crazy thirsty. Keith grunted, but the travois didn't stop. It had been nearly three vargas of walking at this point. Keith had to be thirstier than him. They needed to stop."Keith, did you bring water?" Lance hoped.Keith slowed slightly, but then started pulling again a little faster. Lance yelped as the change in speed shifted the pressure on his leg a bit. Keith grunted again."Keith if you pass out at here, we're both going to die. If you have something drink it." Lance tried whining, it usually got Keith talking when he wasn't brain damaged.Keith didn't say a thing.Another varga passed and Lance thought maybe the heat had leveled out or he'd stopped caring. Keith was still walking, though slower than before."Quiznak Keith, please stop, you need a break." At least that's what he tried to say, his words were really slurring together at this point, but it was hard to focus.Keith whined and moved faster."Damnit, that is the opposite of what I asked, come on Keith, if you die from this, I'm going to kill you." Lance tried to threaten, but his voice was tired and weak, and it just sounded like more whining.Less than a varga later some static buzzed in his helmet, of course maybe it had been more than a varga because he'd apparently closed his eyes at some point. The buzzing continued as Keith slowly plodded forward. Then it resolved into a word."In." Pidge's voice spoke."Keith, stop, radio." Lance breathed out. Keith actually stopped. Stopped and faceplanted into the desert."Come in." Pidge spoke again."Oh, Pidgey, so glad voice. Please help. Keith." Lance was finding it hard to gather enough air to speak."Shiro! I've got Lance on radio and I'm picking up a signal. You're the closest." Pidge yelped."I see them, going in." Shiro's calm voice answered."Lance? Lance are you okay? Where's Keith?""Hunk? Fine. Keith hurt." Lance managed."You're not really sounding fine there buddy. We've been searching the planet for vargas, there is some kind of crazy magnetic thing that's in the sand and was blocking all of our sensors and communication, you must have moved to an area that wasn't blocked. Remember from the briefing?"Lance blinked and looked around, it did look different, more dirt, less sand, "No. Forgot. Keith moved us." His eyes were getting heavier and heavier. "Nap.""NO! No napping, Shiro will be there any minute just hold on." Pidge squeaked."Keith nap. Tired." Lance muttered."Hey, almost there Lance, Hunk is coming too okay?" Shiro spoke as Lance watched the black lion fly above them and land not far away."Right here." Yellow must have thudded down behind him.Lance blinked as he saw them moving toward him and Keith, he reached out an arm and managed to latch onto Keith's, "Did good Mullet." He mumbled.Keith grunted and Lance smiled before his eyes slid shut and he welcomed the darkness knowing he'd wake up on the other side of a healing pod soon.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Seriously, quit staring at Shiro and focus! Geez, Mullet." Lance teased as they spared in the training room of the castle."I'm not staring. I'm looking out for him." Keith snarled back. "Right, well look out for this." Lance dropped low and spun his leg around dropping Keith to the ground on his back. He pounced on him and Keith promptly wrapped a leg around him and flipped him onto his back. He pressed his arm under Lance's chin and held him."Saw it." He laughed as he bounced up and left Lance choking and sputtering on the ground."Ugh. I swear I don’t know how." Lance cringed and stretched his neck."Mabye because you warned me?" Keith raised an eyebrow and waiting, falling back into a defensive position to see what Lance would do next.Lance growled and kipped up and charged at Keith, ducking his head to the side, he used his long arms to wrap around both of Keith's knees and try to lift up to throw Keith down. Keith, however, saw it coming a mile away with Lance's frustration pushing him to attack without thinking. Keith pushed his legs back and pushed forward on Lance, wrapping an arm around his neck and putting him into a headlock. Keith took a moment to check on Shiro, he was doing some bot training, honestly the other paladins weren't enough of a challenge for him yet."Quiznak Keith, are we even sparing here?" Lance pulled back out of the headlock and found Keith staring at Shiro again. "I mean, I get it, he's super-hot, but can you calm your crush for a moment and get back to this?""I do not have a crush on Shiro!" Keith's eyes flashed dangerously in Lance's direction."Yeah, right, you are constantly staring at him. You play second to his fiddle all day. And let's be honest he is certifiably fine." Lance gave Shiro a look for Keith's benefit, only, really.Keith growled and rushed forward executing the move Lance had attempted earlier, landing the blue paladin on his back with the red Paladin pinning him to the ground. "I. DO. NOT. HAVE. A. CRUSH. ON. SHIRO." Keith practically spit at Lance. "And it doesn't look like I'm the one not taking the sparing seriously or paying attention.Lance huffed and pulling a knee between him and Keith sent him flying off with a kick, "Fine."The remainder of the sparing continued in silence and if both boys had a few more bruises than usual at the end well they didn't tell Shiro.***"HHHHHUUUUNNNNKKKKK!" Lance whined. "Why is Keith being a dick?""What now?" Hunk asked not even looking up from whatever it was he was working on in Yellow's hanger."Ah, ow, I'm wounded. Don't you care, bestest bud in the world? Is my pain nothing to you?" Lance flopped on the bench Hunk had set up by his tools."Lance, you are the moon and stars, you mean everything. Please, tell me of your pain." Hunk deadpanned."Cold." Lance stuck his tongue out at him. "What did Keith do?" Hunk asked looking up at Lance finally."He got all pissy at training and was like actually causing damage here. My bruises have bruises and he stopped like instructing. It felt a lot more like just getting beat up." Lance rubbed at a particularly painful bruise on his wrist."And what did you do?" Hunk raised on eyebrow. If Lance had been really hurt he'd be in the med bay, but Keith generally didn't leave bruises and not talk if he wasn't pissed."I was just teasing him about his crush." Lance shook his head in confusion."Why would you do that, that's just mean?" Hunk frowned surprised on Lance's coldness."What why? I mean I get it Shiro is ripped, who wouldn't have a crush on him? Well except you, my straight like an arrow friend." Lance gave him a grin and the finger guns, but Hunk was staring at him like he was in shock."You, teased Keith. About his crush…on SHIRO?!" Hunk's face turned red and laughter threatened to spill out of thinly pressed lips. "I gotta tell Pidge." "What?" Lance looked even more confused as Hunk pulled Pidge up on his computer. She was frowning at him and eating something when he told her about Lance teasing Keith about his crush on Shiro. Pidge literally did a spit take."Thanks for the support." Lance muttered and stood to walk away."Don't go." Hunk grabbed at him as he tried to leave and caught his wrist, Lance flinched. "Hey, let's got get some cream, he really did bruise ya, huh?""Yeah." Lance moped still feeling he was being made fun of somehow."Look, Keith does not have a crush on Shiro. I promise, they are like brothers." Hunk offered."Brothers? Oh." Lance filed this information away. "He still didn't have to get mad, he could have just said it.""Well would you get mad if I said you had a crush on one of your brothers or sisters.""That's gross." Lance frowned."Exactly, and Keith's not so good at feelings or talking or getting along with you, so just try to be considerate maybe?" Hunk offered."Fine. I'll try." Lance huffed as Hunk found the cream for bruises and applied it to his wrist.***"So, Lance made fun of you for your big crush on Shiro huh?" Pidge giggled into Keith's ear."Pidge." Keith warned."Oh, I won't tell him." Pidge soothed. "Of course, I was supposed to be cleaning pods with him tomorrow. I could be working on something else for a price." "Pidge are you blackmailing me or asking for a bribe so I can spend time with Lance." Keith responded."A little of both." Pidge rubbed her hands together wandering how much mileage she could get off Keith's crush on Lance.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Sunday morning, rain is falling
Steal some covers, share some skin
Clouds are shrouding us in moments unforgettable
You twist to fit the mold that I am in
Sunday Morning - Maroon 5 Lance basked in that kind of luxurious and delightful warmth between asleep and awake. He stretched out his legs feeling the muscles tighten from his toes up his back as the stretch made its way up through his arms and his fingertips. He felt good, a little sore, but more like the good kind of sore from a workout. He leaned up on an elbow and closed his eyes to feel the warmth of the sun on his face as it streamed through the window. A murmur and a shifting of the sheets caught his attention and he opened his eyes again. He smiled softly and watched Keith roll over onto his stomach, one arm stretched up over his head under the pillow the other folded under his chin. The sunlight through the curtains left dappled patterns across Keith's back that was bare to his waist where the silky white sheets were lying slightly rumpled around him. Lance smiled as his muscles rippled and he shifted and pulling one leg up until his knee brushed Lance's leg. Keith made a happy satisfied kind of murmur and Lance's eyes were drawn to his face, framed by dark hair shiny in the light. His lips drew up into a slight smile and then relaxed into a sleepy sigh. He stilled and seemed to have fallen back into a deeper sleep.Lance pulled the sheet back and slipped out of the bed. He grabbed a blanket from the foot of the bed and draped it over Keith's shoulders. Smiling happily, he slipped on his lion slippers and his robe and stretching again opened the door to the bedroom coming out into the sitting area. Coran had given them a suite in the castle for the night. It was a little over the top elegant for Keith's tastes, but he knew Lance would like it so he had agreed with minimal objection. He and Keith had been together for a year today, at least officially, Lance tended to count it as longer, but Keith insisted that they day they told their friends was their official start date. It was the day before Allura Day. Lance accused him of trying to make it an easy to remember day and that they should use the day they first kissed, but Keith had smiled and said no it had to be more official than that. A smile played on Lance's lips just thinking about how serious Keith took their relationship. He'd always known Keith was a passionate and intense person, but he'd never thought what it would mean to have that personality turned toward a relationship. It was overwhelming and breathtakingly perfect.He activated the castle com and requested breakfast be sent up to their suite. The Altean who answered had smiled slyly and said he would leave the tray in the sitting room. Lance nodded and could feel the dopey grin on his face, but he really just didn't mind. He was too happy to care what anyone else thought.That chore managed, he went to the bathroom and ran through his morning routine of skin care and grooming. He and Keith had taken a long bath before sleeping last night so he wasn't worrying with a shower this morning. All done he slipped back into the bedroom and smiled indulgently at Keith sprawled at an angle across the king-sized bed. In here there weren't life and death situations, there weren't scars, they weren't warriors or war-scarred veterans. In here he didn't worry about tomorrow or yesterday. He could just be here right now. He slipped off the robe and slippers and pulling back the covers slid in along Keith's side. Keith rolled slightly to accommodate Lance and his arm slipped around Lance's waist."Morning." He whispered his head tucked against Lance and his breath blowing against the hairs on the back of Lance’s neck."Good morning." He returned snuggling into the embrace."Where'd you go?" Keith asked sleepily."Just ordered some breakfast. They'll bring it to the sitting room later." Lance ran a hand through Keith's hair and left it at the base of his neck."Wanna snuggle." Keith pulled Lance in tighter and he responded with a soft laugh."I would never have guessed you for the snuggle type you know, but I think you are worse than me." Lance melted into his arms, he rarely turned down a chance to be close to Keith and he relished how much it meant to his partner."Not the snuggle type, just like you." Keith grunted out still not entirely awake. "Love you." He clarified before drifting back to sleep."I love you, too." Lance whispered into the crown of his head before allowing himself to relax into sleep again.That may be all I need
In darkness, he is all I see
Come and rest your bones with me
Driving slow on Sunday morning
And I never want to leave

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Sunset – Day 6Lance named the planet Texas. Keith frowned and Coran corrected him and said it was called Tethanias. Lance didn't care he said there were cowboys and rustlers and shootouts, and it was Texas. Keith pointed out he was from Texas and was not a cowboy, had never seen a rustler and nobody said anything about shootouts. Lance was not going to let Keith ruin his fun.They landed on the surface of the planet midmorning. It was a simple mission. That really should start setting off alarms for anything referred to as simple at this point. Anytime someone said easy or simple, they should probably just fire the pods up, put up the particle barrier and wait for all hell to break loose.The people of planet Tethanias were essentially ranchers. They raised an animal that looked like a purple cow the size of an elephant with antlers like a moose. The Tethanias themselves were bipedal humanoids with black skin and yellow eyes. They were similar in stature to the Galra. They were also kind and welcoming and very happy to have Voltron respond to their distress signal. The Galra had been funding a group of bandits on their planet. The bandits were attempting to overthrow the government and using terror tactics and thievery to accomplish their goals. The people were further hampered in their efforts to stop the bandits because they were migratory most of the year and spread out across much of the primary landmass on their planet. It made them all easy targets but was essential for proper grazing of the thranbeasts. The technology level on Tethantias was what Pidge kept calling steampunk. They had some things like laser pistols, but also didn't have running water. It was an odd mix really and the tech they had seemed very haphazardly cobbled together. The Tethantian leader was named Regip. They had sent the distress signal. Twice a year the people on the planet would gather for a huge festival. The grounds stretched for miles around a central circle. It was then that the people traded for goods they would need throughout the year and were able to meet and socialize with those they would not see otherwise. There were many weddings arranged during the festival and it was considered a time of joy. This year however, there was an undercurrent of fear. Regip had no doubt that the bandits would attack. They weren't the largest or strongest, but according to the others they met with Regip was the smartest Tethantian on the planet. The paladins were simply there to protect the festival, patrol, keep the peace, and watch out for the bandits. Regip sincerely hoped that the presence of Voltron would be enough to keep the bandits from attacking at all. Allura had easily agreed to the request. Shiro had suggested that if they did locate the bandits, they could do more than just keep them away, perhaps capture them and turn them over to the leadership. Regip was thankful for the offer but insisted that they not take the risk. He had said Voltron was too important to the universe for hunting bandits on a little planet like his. Allura had smiled and laid her hand on his shoulder and told him that Voltron was here to help everyone and that they would do all they could to help him and his planet.***So, Lance found himself leaning against a fence post on a dusty street watching space horses in a corral. Even if they weren't called space horses and they didn't call it a corral it's totally what they were. He reached out a hand and the pink dappled one with the purple hair nuzzled into his hand. He smiled softly and reached around to scratch behind her ear. "That one's called Gert." An older Tethantian spoke from behind Lance startling him."Oh, sorry, is it okay if I pet her?" Lance asked belatedly."Sure, no worries, son." He leaned against the fence next to Lance. "You seem to have a way with animals, do you ride?""Well, I've never ridden one of these, but they seem similar to our horses on earth and I used to ride those. My family has a little farm." Lance happily supplied."Want to give it a try? She's gentle." The old man offered."Could I?" Lance asked with a longing in his voice."Sure, lest I could do for you that's helping us with those bandits. Name's Ibo." The old man patted Lance on the head, in what he'd learned was a greeting one would receive from an elder on this planet. He returned the proper greeting of placing his hand on the elder’s forearm. "It's nice to meet you Ibo."Ibo walked Lance through how to saddle Gert and what commands were used for what. It wasn't that dissimilar to riding at home. The bridle was attached at the ears, but worked pretty much as he remembered, he should say brup instead of whoa and supsup instead of giddyup, and Ibo had to find a child's saddle for him to get the stirrups in to the correct length.Lance took Gert for a couple of easy laps around the corral, getting used to how it felt to ride her. It wasn't the same as horse on earth, her muscles didn't work the same way, so it just felt different. He then eased her into a trot and finally let her take the lap as fast as she wanted. He whooped as the wind blew threw his hair. His helmet had been left carefully sitting in the grooming area. Finally, he brought her back to Ibo."Thank you!" He gushed. "It's been a really long time.""Take her with you today then, you'll be patrolling the festival, right? It would be easier with Gert." Ibo offered."Are you serious? I would love that." Lance's grin was as wide as possible nearly splitting his face."Sure, there are water troughs and tie outs all around the festival, stop her and let her drink every two varga or so and take good care of her." Ibo patted Gert's neck. "She's a good gal, she'll take care of you too.""Thank you so much!" Lance would have hugged the man if it had been culturally appropriate to do so. Ibo handed him his helmet and opened the gate."Have a good day. Bring her back after sunset at least." Ibo called and waved to Lance as he rode away.***"What is that?!" Pidge shrieked. "A space horse,” Lance smiled haughtily as he came riding up to where the others were gathered."Why do you have it?" Keith asked pulling back slightly."Oh, this nice old guy said I could borrow her for the day. Her name's Gert." Lance leaned forward and patted her neck."And is it, are you sure it's safe?" Hunk aske curious and a little nervous."Sure, she's sweet. I don't think she'd hurt a fly." Lance assured Hunk."I think she's a carnivore. She has pointy teeth, Lance." Pidge noted."She's pink and purple and the guy said she was gentle." Lance countered with a frown."I'm just saying I think she's more dangerous than she looks." Pidge said keeping her distance."Well so's Keith, but we keep him around." Lance snapped pointing at the boy in question."Um…thanks?" Keith answered perplexed.Pidge covered the laugh that tried to escape and turned away. Hunk gave Lance a kind of sideways look, but let it go."You're sure you can handle the animal and take care of it?" Shiro asked. "You know how to ride it safely?""Sure, I'm a good rider. I rode horses a lot back home." Lance smiled over at Shiro. "No problem.""Alright, but I've been calling you on the com for the last several ticks and you can't hear it strapped to your saddle. You need to wear the helmet up there.""Aw, but Shiro, I wanna feel the wind." Lane whined."You can feel the wind in your hair another day. I want you to have a functioning brain under that hair when this day is done. Helmet or no riding." Shiro crossed his arms."Fine, Dad." Lance snipped slipping on his helmet.Shiro ignored the Dad part and pulled up a map on a holoscreen for them all to see, "Okay so I have the festival ground divided into three sections. Pidge, you and Hunk take this area here. It's mostly booths and vendors, so it's going to be crowded, keep your eyes open." The two nodded. "Allura and I are going to take the main camp area here. This is where the families have tents set up. There are a lot of people and a lot of innocents here." Shiro looked back to see Allura coming to join them, she'd been on the com updated Regip of their plan. "Lance and Keith, since you have the yegrat to ride you get the largest area. This will cover most of the grazing fields and the main street. The shops in town are all closed up for the festival and as I've been told there aren't even many people staying in town other than the ones who live there year-round. Everyone clear on the plan?" The all nodded. "Be safe paladins, Regip says that the bandits are ruthless and willing to do anything to take over. The Galra have promised them much to deliver this planet." Allura cautioned."Why do they even want it? Space cows? What they need a good burger?" Lance huffed."They don't want it that badly or they would be here themselves. I fear the reason would be to harvest these people for slave labor, they are hardy and strong." Allura said with a sad frown."Oh." Lance thought of these people who lived in the fresh air being forced into some dank mine and shuddered. "Alright everyone, meet back here at dark. Pidge has sensors you can set up in your areas that will alert us to any issues during the night." Pidge handed Keith and Allura bags, "I've marked the places these need to go on your maps. They just stick into the ground. Shove them down all the way so they don't stick up any." "Alright, let's go, everyone stays on the coms." Shiro cautioned again as he and Allura moved off to the camp area. Pidge grabbed Hunk's arm and Lance heard her say something about a food booth before they were off as well."So, want a ride?" Lance offered an arm down to Keith."You're sure she can carry us?" Keith looked skeptical."Sure, she's stronger than an earth horse and one of those her size wouldn't have any trouble with us. Have you ever ridden before?" Lance asked curious."No." "Huh? I thought you were from Texas.""I already told you I wasn't a cowboy. Do I look like a cowboy?" Keith growled in frustration."Nope, just stereotyping." Lance asked with an easy grin. "I'll pull you up behind me. The saddle is pretty big so just sit here and hold on with your legs to the horse and your arms to me."Keith muttered something but held his arm up and with some scrambling made it up onto the space horse’s back and settled in, his arms tentatively wrapped around Lance. "Okay back there, Vaquero?" Lance asked slightly amused."I'm fine." Keith gritted and tightened his grip as if proving it wasn't an issue."Good. It's fun, really, I'll go slow." Lance honestly wanted Keith to enjoy this, and if having Keith ride a horse with him happened to be a little fantasy of his, well, he didn't need to tell Keith that.He started Gert off to a slow walk and headed off to the area they were to patrol. There really weren't very many people at all. Apparently, space cow-elephants were very well mannered. When they swung around to the main street it was pretty much empty as well. They could hear the noise from the festival booths and the more muted noises from the camp, but their area aside for the snorting moo sound the space cow-elephants made was pretty quiet."Feel like trying something a little faster?" Lance offered. Keith had quickly gotten comfortable riding. Lance could feel when he found the rhythm of the horse’s movement and had settled in more fully. His grip had loosened a bit but was still warm around his waist. He'd pulled up away from Lance and had been looking around more. Lance kind of missed having Keith's torso pressed against his back."You're on." Keith tightened his grip and leaned back in closer. Lance tried to keep the shudder out of his body at the contact, but he wasn't sure he'd achieved it entirely when Keith blew on the back of his neck and asked with a laugh if he was cold.Lance answered by clapping his legs against Gert and yelling "supsup" and they took off at top speed. Keith had yelped a little and his grip tightened further. "Don't worry, Mullet,” Lance laughed. This thing between them was still new and awkward and they hadn't told the others yet, though Lance suspected they all knew. Shiro smiled at them too much, Hunk occasionally gushed and dropped too many awwws, Pidge raised eyebrows and smirked, Allura didn't press, and Coran had said a few things that made Lance think he didn't even realize they were supposedly keeping it a secret. The only one that probably thought it was still a secret was Keith.After a few ticks, Keith had loosened his grip, but was still holding tight and pressed against Lance. Lance smiled as they neared the canyon that they had ridden through on their first round. He kept Gert at a quick run but backed off the full gallop as they spun around the corners. Keith laughed, not the sarcastic bitey one or the shy awkward one, no a full I'm a teenager having a good time laugh. So really there was no way Lance couldn't turn to try to catch a glimpse of this rare occurrence and Gert was a good space horse and wasn't going to run them into a wall. However, if he'd been looking forward, he might have noticed the ambush before the tree limb swung in his path and smacked him in the chest sending him and Keith flying off Gert's back and into the rocky floor of the canyon.As his helmeted head connected hard with the ground, Lance made a mental note to apologize to Shiro for thinking he was over protective, maybe he was just the right amount of protective. The bouncing was enough to disorient them both and allow the bandits to get the upper hand. By the time his head quit spinning, Lance found himself with his hands tied behind his back and tethered to a stake in the ground. Keith was bound in a similar manner, and Gert's bridle was also anchored with them. The space horse looked ticked and several bandits were sporting bite marks. Tethantians apparently had blood the color and consistency of Pepto Bismol. A large bandit stepped up to them and sneered down at them, "So these are the Paladin's Regip called to assist him. He further scorns our traditions by bringing such weaklings to aid him."Lance remembered that Regip had told them the bandits adhered to an ancient code on their planet that the strongest should rule. Regip had been elected in a new practice and the more enlighten people of their planet had chosen for leadership ability verses ability in battle. Apparently, it bothered Regip a lot, because he said if he had been stronger, he could have challenged the leader of the bandits to a battle. The winner would become the default leader of the bandits under their code."Execute them." The bandit leader announced suddenly."Whoa, wait, what?" Lance scrambled back as bandits approached him and Keith with large knives in their hands. Keith growled and tried to pull free of ropes. "Hey, the Galra will pay big to get their hands on a couple of Voltron Paladins." Lance offered, not really wanting to be in the hands of the Galra but needing to at least buy his team some time and really wishing they hadn't had to leave the lions on the ship to avoid spooking the cow-elephants."I don't need a payment. When I secure this planet, I will have all I need. They will be grateful that I cripple Voltron with your deaths." The leader sneered."I wouldn't be so sure. Zarkon will probably have you executed for not turning us over." Keith hissed."Totally, the guy has a thing for the black lion and anything that gets in the way of him getting to her is…well I wouldn't want to be you." Lance backed."You are trying to save your lives. Your lies mean nothing." He dismissed them with a wave and turned to leave."NO!" Keith pulled frantically at his hands as the guys with the knives moved in closer."Wait! I challenge you!" Lance spit out frantically."What did you say?" The leader growled and turned."I challenge you to a duel. You have to accept, unless you are an honorless piece of crap." Lance taunted pulling back from the guys with the knives."You, pathetic excuse for a Paladin, challenge me, Yretzi the Bold, to a duel?" He laughed."Well, I can see you're afraid and you should be." Lance's voice deepened and ended his light-hearted approach. Yretzi snarled and stepped over to Lance, "Very well. I accept. Choose the weapon.""Pistols." Lance answered, knowing it was a common weapon on the planet, "And I want to use mine.""Lance, what are you doing?" Keith hissed."No. You will be provided a pistol." Yretzi shook his head."How do we know it will be functional? How do we know you won't cheat?" Keith snarled."How's this?" Yretzi pulled a pistol from the belt at his waist and fired it at Keith hitting him in the leg. “He can use this one.”"Hey!" Lance ran to Keith."I'm okay." Keith gritted. "Yeah, okay, right." Lance put pressure on the wound and turned to glare at Yretzi. "So much for your honor," he spat."Don't fret, Paladin. I will provide bandages. It is not a fatal wound. I could have killed him." He turned to one of his flunkies, "Wrap his leg and then bring them to the town main street. We will have our challenge in the traditional manner."And that's how Lance found himself back to back to a bandit leader with a pistol strapped to his thigh and ready to make 10 paces and turn to fire. Lance felt sweat running down his back, he was a sharpshooter, not a quickdraw. All he could say for sure was that if he lived long enough, he wouldn't miss. Keith was oddly silent staring at him from the sidelines, re-staked on a shorter rope next to Gert. His leg was wrapped and had quit bleeding already. Apparently, the bandit had a little honor."The duel will commence when I begin counting." The bandit speaking was large, if not as big as the leader, he must have been his second."One, Two, Three," Lance paced forward with the count his entire body trembling. "Four, Five, Six," he took a deep breath and steadied himself preparing to fire. "Seven, Eight, Nine," Lance felt calm, like crazy I'm not going to die in one second calm. "Ten."And the shit hit the fan. Lance spun around pulled the pistol and brought it up to fire. A blast struck him in the gut as he pulled the trigger, but his aim was true and Yretzi fell a smoking hole between his eyes. Lance curled forward around the wound falling to his knees. Keith screamed and Gert screamed and then the bandits started screaming. Lance wasn't really sure what happened at that point. He remembers Keith talking to him. He remembers Gert nuzzling his head, and then Hunk was there and then he was somewhere else. It all kind of felt like a series of pictures and not an actual fluid memory.***He does remember falling out of the cryopod into Keith's waiting arms and looking up into his very angry face."What the hell were you thinking?" he growled."Um…which part?" Lance asked with a sleepy smile."The duel at high noon?" Keith snapped."Oh, um, something like, oh quiznak they are going to kill us, stall, stall, oh shit I hope he's a bad shot?" Lance muttered."You hoped? Bad shot?" Keith stuttered."Well, I guess he was, I'm alive?" Lance offered."No, he just didn't know anything about human anatomy. That shot would have been right through the main heart for one of his people!" Keith yelled."Oh." Lance blinked, so shear dumb luck."Is that all you have to say, oh?!" "Please stop yelling at me?" Lance was starting to get irritated and it showed, generally falling out of a pod resulted in a love fest not an inquisition."You could have died." And then Lance wished for more yelling because Keith was crying. Keith Kogane was actually crying, and it really sucked."I'm sorry. I was trying to buy us time. I…" Lance blushed and started offering apologies, but on the third sentence Keith pressed his lips to Lance's and he forgot what he was trying to say."Keith, is he…oh." Hunk laughed having walked into the med bay and caught them. "I'll let the others know Lance is out. Regip wants to present us with medals at the festival tonight, so get him some food and some rest. Might want to let him breath there Keith he's turning funny colors."Lance sucked in oxygen when Keith backed off, somewhat grateful and annoyed at Hunk at the same time. ***Several vargas later they are standing on a wooden stage in the center of the town circle having metal stars pinned on their chests, the planet's version of a medal of honor. Gert, the space horse, even gets a special recognition and Ibo smiled proudly from the crowd. Lance has a short speech to give demanding that the bandits, those that lived through the Keith and Gert rampage, all pledge their allegiance to the planetary government, because he was now their new leader, having defeated their old one, and they were required by their arcane code to follow him. Lance wasn't entirely convinced this would stop them, but Regip seemed to think it would help. The festivities were wrapping up and Lance was feeding Gert bits of some kind of hamburger type thing, she was a carnivore, when Keith slipped up behind him and wrapped him into a hug. "Having a good time?" He asked."Yeah." Lance smiled as he continued petting Gert leaning back into Keith's arms a little."Wow, did you see that sunset?"Lance turned to see the red sun sitting on the horizon with reds and pinks and oranges all swirled in the clouds around it."Keith, we have to!" Lance exclaimed."What? Have to what?"***Hunk and Pidge were sitting next to each other on the steps to the stage they used earlier. Hunk was eating some kind of pastry and Pidge had a drink that tasted like butterscotch and was warm. As they watched down the street, Keith climbed up onto Gert and then helped Lance on in front of him, basically sitting him across his lap. They slowly began riding out of town."Where are they going?" Pidge asked between sips."Pidge! They're riding off into the sunset!" Hunk pointed all misty eyed."Um…they know the shuttle is the other way, right?" Pidge pondered. "Are we supposed to go get them?""Pidge, the sunset! Look it's like their silhouette there against the sun, riding out of town!" Hunk kept trying to make Pidge understand pointing at the obviousness.Pidge just shook her head, "Ah never mind they have to bring the space horse back anyway, right?"Hunk stared at her, face dead."Am I right?"Hunk shook his head and walked away."What'd I miss?" Pidge giggled knowing exactly what she had done to Hunk. She looked back at the sunset and Lance and Keith riding off, they deserved it. Smiling she took another sip of her hot butterscotch and hummed happily to herself.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It was late, so very late, Lance worked his shoulders back and forth to ease the tension and headed for the kitchen. As he suspected Hunk was busy puttering about."Hunk, my man, what is the late-night kitchen serving tonight." Lance asked sliding into a stool."Oh, hey Lance," Hunk nodded to muffins he was pulling out of a pan and putting into a container. "I just made these ahead for in the morning.""Oh." Lance tried not to look disappointed."Hey, but there's extra, want one?" Hunk passed one to him."Well, if it's extra." Lance snatched the muffin and took a big bite. "Oh wow, now I will not have trouble waking up in the morning, these will be so worth it."Hunk smiled proudly as Lance made obscene noises while he finished the muffin."Speaking of getting up, dude, you better head that way, hadn't you? It's like 1:00 castle time." Lance added."Oh, oh wow, I didn't realize. I guess I just got to thinking about today's mission and needed to do something to not think about it." Hunk muttered looking a little embarrassed. "Nah, don't think about that anymore, think about how much we are all going to love these muffins and how you are going to have to make sure you have the ingredients around to keep making them, because they are going to be in demand!" Lance exclaimed dramatically while slipping an arm around Hunk and steering him toward his room."Oh, I can add the ingredients that are new to the stock list for Coran. He does a really good job keeping the pantry full when he knows what I want. I'll add the recipe to my file." Hunk yawned. "I bet I could modify the flavor as well, use it as a base recipe." Hunk crawled into bed and Lance pulled the cover up over his friend. He could tell how tired the big man already was, because he hardly noticed when Lance yanked his shoes off and turned the light out."Sleep tight." He murmured and headed off for his next victim."Piiidddggggge?" Lance called sticking his head into Green's hanger. The person in question looked up from her laptop, eyes bloodshot and hair sticking out every which way."Go away." She snarled."Pidge, you need sleep. Come on. You just got out of the cryopod and I know how tired that makes you."Pidge's eyes softened a little, reminding herself that Lance had been in the pods too many times already."Sleep, Pidge, you are a genius, but even geniuses work better on sleep. You'll probably go twice as fast." He grinned elbowing her. "Not unless the computer gets faster." She laughed."Come on, piggy back ride?" He offered and she jumped at his back."Giddyup!" She laughed the way she only did when she was really tired and out of it. Almost like for a moment she forgot everything going on around her and was just a young kid playing.By the time Lance got her back to her room she was pretty much drooling on his back. He flopped her onto the bed and tossed the covers over her. He tried not to think of her floating in the cryopod or the tears she cursed at when she was sitting on the table in the med bay while Coran set her broken leg. He huffed a sigh and pressed a kiss to her forehead, the thought of something happening to her filled him with icy dread. He shivered and made his way out of her room. She was too much like one of his sisters, just like Hunk was his brother and they were both as precious to him as his biological family.Speaking of family, he saw Shiro wondering the hall, headed toward the bridge."Shiro?" Lance ran up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. The older man swung back with an elbow and yelled before falling forward onto the ground."Shit." Lance flinched at the pain in his cheek where the elbow connected and kneeled in front of Shiro. His eyes were open, but he really didn't seem to be seeing him. Must be sleepwalking again, or a flashback, or both somehow, what did he know he wasn't a shrink. "Hey, Shiro. Hey man, you're in the castle. It's just me, Lance. Hey, it's okay. I think I'm not supposed to wake you up, but I don't know how else to get you back to bed. So…" Lance reached out and touched Shiro's hand softly speaking quietly and rhythmically until Shiro's eyes seemed to focus on him."Lance?""Oh, hey Shiro, I think you must have been sleepwalking, ‘cause I just found you out here. You okay?""Oh, yeah, sorry, I was dreaming." Shiro blushed. "Sorry, thanks for waking me. Guess I should lock the door huh?" Shiro tried to joke, but he sounded sad and tired."What were you dreaming about?" Lance asked carefully."I was looking for someone, but I couldn't find them." Shiro answered eyes averting down and to the left, obviously not something he wanted to give details about."Oh, I can see why you were wondering around then, huh?" "Why are you up?" Shiro asked making note of how late it was."Oh, just getting some water, going to bed now. Want to walk with me?""Sure, I'll walk you back." Shiro stood and helped Lance up from the floor. Lance smiled, he'd never get Shiro to just go back to his room, but he would never turn down walking Lance back if he asked. Of course, Shiro's room was just one down, so it worked out great. Lance waited at his door until Shiro slipped into his. He then sat on his bed for a few dobashes to be sure Shiro wouldn't hear him when he went back out.He did this almost every night. It wasn't the same people every night. Pidge was pretty common and actually was usually a lot harder to get to bed. Hunk could be found after anything stressful. Shiro was random. Allura was rare, but he'd found her twice just walking the halls complaining she couldn't sleep. Coran he'd only found once, after the whole haunting thing, going over code in the pods crying. There was only one that was there almost every night, the one he still had to go get.He took a deep breath and stood, his own weariness weighing him down, but he'd need to shake that off to move this one, especially tonight. Pidge had gotten hurt when she and Keith had infiltrated a computer hub on a Galra ship. Keith would be blaming himself, though it was not his fault in any way. It had been a trap and they'd been caught in a crossfire. Keith was contrary at the best of times, he'd be downright hateful tonight or this morning or whatever it was in the middle of late-night hell.He got up from the bed and made his way to the training room. Sure enough, there was the sound of metal crashing into metal coming from the room. He slipped in and watched for a few dobashes as Keith destroyed the training bots in front of him. Lance had no idea what level this was, but he was almost sure Shiro would not approve of Keith doing it on his own. He'd once made the mistake of stopping him mid simulation and Keith had not spoken to him for three days. Lance shuddered, how he found out the silent treatment was the best way to torture Lance he had no idea, but it had sucked.When the last bot cleared and before the next set could drop Lance called out, "End simulation!"Keith whirled on him dark eyes flashing and sword still held in his grip, "I wasn't done.""Dude, it's 2:30 castle time, we have to be up at 6:00. Even you need sleep, Mullet brain." Lance snarked. "I'm not tired. Why don't you just leave me alone?!" He snarled."Just go to bed Keith." Lance sighed yawning."Sounds like you're the one that needs to go to bed. Just go and leave me alone." Keith turned back like he was going to have another go."Keith, I can always just go get Shiro." Lance pulled out the big guns."Why can't you just mind your own business? Why can't you leave me alone? I swear, mabye if you did a little more training yourself you wouldn't have to go get Shiro to make me leave." Keith jabbed."Look, you want to fight fine." Lance grabbed a staff from the rack behind him and threw one to Keith. "Bring it on, Samurai.""Oh you think you can take me?" Keith growled."I think my little sister could take you right now, you're exhausted and completely unfocused." Lance snapped back."Like you'd know!" Keith drove at him and brought the staff down, Lance parried, but the hit jarred his arms."Does that even make sense?" Lance swung the staff around and blocked Keith's attempt to hit his knee."You are never focused, you never pay attention. It's like you don't even care!" Keith spat."I care, just because I don't have a meltdown and smash things doesn't mean I don't care!" Lance backed up a bit as Keith drove forward hard and his words stung."Whatever! You care about yourself! Why are you even here?" Keith snapped bringing the staff around and connecting with Lance's side.Lance hissed and wrapped an arm around his side, dropping his staff. "Well unless you have another paladin up your sleeve, I guess you’re stuck with me." Lance choked out the words, “Just go the fuck to bed." "That's not what I…are you okay?" Keith realized maybe he'd pushed a little too far. He was angry at himself and he shouldn't have taken it out on Lance. He'd meant why was Lance trying to get him to go to bed, not why was he here on the team. Lance laughed hollowly, "Whatever. Just go to bed, Mullet. I'm tired." Lance left the training room and Keith stared after him for several ticks before heading off to his own room.***The next morning, he was sitting at the table enjoying the new muffins Hunk had made when he realized Lance wasn't up yet and it was almost time for training. The boy in question came tearing around the corner into the kitchen out of breath, hair a mess and marks from his pillow still on his face."Shit, sorry Shiro, I slept through the alarm." Lance announced looking somewhat embarrassed."Get something quick, Lance then meet us in the training room when you've had a chance to change." Shiro patted him on the shoulder as he went out. "I know you were up late." Keith narrowed his eyes. Usually Shiro would be mad at someone for being late. Pidge gave Lance a quick hug on the way past and hurried off to change. She seemed more rested than usual.Hunk dropped a muffin in Lance's hand, "I know you like them."Keith frowned. Hunk had said they were a new recipe. Lance fell into his chair at the table, Keith looked a little closer and startled. "Do you have a black eye?" Keith walked over next to him and got in his face."Oh, you noticed that,” Lance gave a nervous laugh, "totally hit myself in the face with a staff yesterday. Kind of embarrassing, if you don't mind not mentioning it. I thought I got it covered up." "Oh, okay, well I guess it's pretty hard to see." Keith wondered how bad it looked without the makeup. "You sure you don't need Coran to look at it.""Nope, fine." Lance shoved a muffin in his mouth, "Shouldn't you be getting to training?"Keith narrowed his eyes and stared at Lance for a good ten ticks before he walked out the door. He wondered if Lance had even gone to sleep after he'd left the training area. He cringed remembering some of the stuff he'd said. He didn't really mean it. He was just upset about the mission gone wrong and had wanted to take it out on the bots, then Lance had gotten in the way and he'd taken it out on him instead. He sighed as he slipped into the training room remembering the hit, he'd given Lance to his side. He wondered if that had left a bruise, probably. He felt guilt worm its way around his gut. Lance'd just been trying to help."Hey Hunk?" Keith asked."Hmm?" Hunk turned his head, he was already going through the warm up stretches Shiro usually had them doing."How did you know Lance liked the muffins? I thought they were new?" "Oh, he was up last night when I finished them. I stress bake and I was a little upset about the mission." Hunk admitted."Yeah, me too." Keith nodded a suspicion forming in his mind."Pidge?" He called her over to where he and Hunk were sitting. "Did you see Lance last night?""Yep, he literally carried me to bed." She smiled sadly. "Matt used to do that." Then gruffly swatted Hunk, "Get moving I want to spare.""Great, Keith, now she's going to pretend she's not upset by beating me up." Hunk huffed good naturedly and headed over to Pidge quite willing to take a beating to make her feel better.Before Lance slipped in to join the training, Keith had come up with a plan.***Later that night, Keith snuck out from his room to the training area as usual. He wondered why he hadn't noticed before, but almost every time he trained overly late, Lance had showed up to kick him to bed. There were a few exceptions, nights when Lance had been in a pod, nights when Shiro came and got him, nights when he only trained for about an hour and crawled into bed around 1:00. And to be honest, he wasn't usually very gracious about it. Sure, some nights Lance would say "lights out" or something and Keith would be tired enough to put his bayard down and tromp off to bed, but a lot of nights ended with complaining, arguing or fighting with Lance about him training too much or not sleeping enough.Keith sighed and apparently Lance was following up on the others as well. He'd managed to wheedle out of Shiro that he'd seen Lance up at night too. Keith knew Shiro had night terrors and had caught him sleep walking a few times himself, so it wasn't hard to imagine the circumstances where Lance might find him and the reasons Shiro really didn't want to discuss it. It also explained why he knew Lance was tired sometimes, he'd seen him up in the middle of the night and was well aware he hadn't gotten enough sleep.Sure enough, around 2:00 the Blue Paladin slipped through the door to the training area. "Keith, Samurai hour is over, go to bed." Lance whined."Okay." Keith smirked a little at the shocked look on Lance's face when he just agreed. "I was getting ready to quit anyway. You're up late?""Oh, I um, yeah." Lance shrugged. "I guess the clashing of sword on bot woke me up.""Can't hear that from our rooms." Keith pointed out as he walked out of the training area."Well maybe I could." Lance blustered."Nope." Keith stared at him and waited."Okay, fine I was up anyway. I was dragging a little gremlin to bed and heard you training." Lance huffed."You do that a lot?" Keith asked quietly."Not too much, just sometimes, I mean she'd never sleep if she could get away with it." Lance smiled fondly."And me, you come here a lot and get me, don't you get tired? I usually take like a nap and then get up and train, you're just staying up?" Keith frowned."What? No. I nap." Lance waved him off but refused to meet his eyes."Okay." Keith realized they had walked all the way back to their rooms. "Goodnight.""Goodnight." Lance ducked into his door and Keith slipped into his. ***Even after a shower and dressing in his comfortable sleep pants and a t-shirt, Keith still couldn't relax. It was like there was something off, missing, he'd missed something. Lance had been lying about napping, but then how much was he sleeping, and why wasn't he sleeping. Huffing in annoyance Keith barged out of his door and headed to Lance's. He paused just outside hearing muffled sounds from inside, groans and muttered words, it sounded like a nightmare. He knocked at the door, but when no one came he let himself in. Lance was thrashing in his bed, yelling words he couldn't make out, his face contorted and angry or fearful looking in turn. The worst were the tears streaming down his face from his closed eyes."Lance?" Keith rushed to the bed. He'd learned from Shiro not to startle someone in a night terror. He tried calling out to him again louder. "Lance!"Lance stilled and blinked. His arms shook and the tears were still falling. His eyes flashed away, and he scooted away from Keith when he saw him there."Hey, sorry, you were having a nightmare." Keith offered quietly."Oh." Lance wiped his face, like maybe Keith hadn't seen the tears. "Huh."Keith reached out a hand and laid it over Lance's hand on the bed, "You okay?""Yeah, totally, fine." Lance lied really bad.Keith bit his lip, he was horrible at comforting people, it's just not a skill he'd really developed as a child. He wondered what would Hunk do."Um…you want a hug?" Keith held his arms awkwardly open.Lance stared at him for a moment, like he was trying to decide if this was some kind of trap, but something in Keith's face must have reassured him because the next thing he knew he had his arms full of Blue Paladin. Keith wrapped his arms down around Lance and squeezed gently. Lance was still crying against his shoulder. Keith scooted up and onto the bed so that it was easier to hold him."You want to talk about it?" Keith asked calmly. He'd tried to get Shiro to talk after his nightmares, but he did not want hugs and he did not want to talk. Mabye though, maybe Lance would."I just miss my family and home and I keep having these dreams that the Galra are there on Earth and they are taking my family. Sometimes they hurt or kill them, sometimes they take them as slaves, sometimes I'm there and sometimes I get there and just find their graves." Lance sobbed."Oh," Keith tightened his hug and began rubbing what he hoped were calming circles on Lance's back. "I get it.""It's just, I mean, I want to be out here saving people and the universe and I feel like I'm doing good, but part of me really wants to know they are okay and that Galra ship was there and so close to Earth. What if they go back and we're out here? Earth wouldn't have anything to stop them or anyway to contact us." Lance shook in Keith's arms."Hey, you know Allura and Coran are monitoring movements in that area. If the Galra even get close, we'll know, and we'll stop them before they even get there." Keith whispered fiercely. "We won't let them hurt Earth as long as we're here."Lance's tears had slowed and some of the tension had drained away. "Thanks." He sat up then, pulling away from Keith. "I'm sorry I went all blubbery on you.""You don't have to say sorry. Lance, you've been taking care of us, of me, for weeks. I'm the one that should be saying thanks to you." Keith managed to catch Lance's eyes to be sure he understood he meant what he was saying."Oh, I mean, it's not the big of a deal. I was up anyway, and I just noticed you guys weren't taking care of your selves and you particularly are crap at it." Lance elbowed Keith with a little smile."Hmm…am I? And I'm going to say you're not that hot at it either. Already up? How long have you been having these nightmares?" Keith frowned.Lance muttered something."What?""Um…since we got here?" Lance blushed and looked down.Keith cringed. How had he not noticed that, that many weeks without sleeping properly, chasing after everyone else. "That how you got the shiner? Fall asleep and fall or something?" Keith asked trying to lighten the tone."Oh, no, but I don't recommend touching Shiro when he's sleep walking." Lance frowned."Oh, oh shit, does he know?" Keith asked concerned."No." Lance glared, "What am I a jerk? It's not his fault.""Yeah, well, don't startle him awake if he's having a bad dream either. Other side of the room and call his name is best." Keith warned."Duly noted." Lance nodded."Now, back to your issue. You need to get some sleep." Lance sighed, "It's not like I wasn't trying.""Would it, um, would it help if I stayed?" Keith offered. He figured he was already there and comfy and Lance hadn't exactly let go of him yet, just sat up."You don't have to do that." Lance blushed."But it would help?" Keith was pleased, what he was doing was working."Yes, probably." Lance admitted."Good." Keith snuggled down into Lance's bed and looked up to where the other boy was still sitting staring at him. "I mean, if that's okay?" Suddenly Keith was a little concerned he'd gone too far with the whole what would Hunk do thing."No, yes, I mean, it's fine." Lance was still staring at him a little as he eased himself into the bed and laid his head on the pillow. "I…thank you.""Someone has to take care of the guy that's taking care of everyone else." Keith whispered eyes falling shut already.Lance smiled softly watching Keith's breathing even out as he drifted off to sleep.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"So Kolivan and your mom?" Lance asked coming to sit next to Keith at the mouth to the creepy Druid's cave."They're going to take Kolivan's ship and see what they can do to help what's left of the Blade. Axca is going to join them." Keith answered, his head propped up on his hand, elbow on a knee. He was staring out into space like he could see where they were."I'm sorry." Lance muttered."What? Why?" Keith turned to look at him with a frown. "That they had to leave? That they couldn't come with you? That you couldn't go with them? It sucks being away from the people you care about." Lance rambled."Yeah, I guess, but it sucks less than not having them at all." Keith whispered. "At least I know they’re out there. I know my mom and what happened and why she left and knowing she's out there still fighting; it's hard, but it's a lot better than wondering why she left or who she was.""So, I'm sorry for that too." Lance bumped his shoulder. "There's a lot to be sorry about in this stupid war.""I think that could be said for any war." Keith murmured."I suppose, but this is the only one I'm dealing with right now. What do you think it will be like when we get home? I mean, Shiro didn't exactly get a warm welcome and we've been gone so long. Do you think they listened to Commander Holt? Do you think they'll be ready?" Lance's anxiety bled into his voice."Well, given what we know about Pidge, I doubt we have anything to worry about them listening to her dad or being ready." Keith smirked and returned the shoulder bump."True." Lance's mouth twitched up in a grin. "When did you get so wise, oh mighty leader Keith?""Two years riding a space whale with my mom and a wolf for company gives a guy a lot of time to ponder wisdom." Keith returned to staring in the stars. "Sometimes I wondered if we'd ever get back.""I'm glad you did." Lance smiled.Keith laughed as he felt Black echoing Lance's comment in his head. He was surprised when Lance laughed as well."Sounds like Black is glad you are back too." Lance chuckled."Wait? You can hear her? Since when?" Keith turned to look back at Lance."Since Shiro tried to contact me on Naxzela. It's not so much she talks to me as she just has a really loud voice and it kind of echoes." Lance shrugged. "Her and Red were pretty pissed with you that day.""About what?" Keith ducked his head not making eye contact."Don't give me that shit, you know about what. Just because you weren't piloting a lion didn't mean you weren't a paladin and it didn't mean they weren't listening for you." Lance swatted Keith on the shoulder. "The only worthwhile thing Lotor ever did.""He did save the Alteans, even if it wasn't exactly because he was a good guy." Keith offered with a frown, this was a touchy subject for Lance, and he felt like he'd walked into a minefield.Lance snorted.Keith scrambled for a different subject, "So Red worries about me? I can't hear her." "Sure, she does, and I bet you could hear her if you tried opening up to her. Just be careful not to piss off Black. The first time I talked to Blue again after the switch Red had a serious jealous moment." Lance cringed in remembrance. "My head was killing me for days.""You can hear Blue too?" Keith stared at Lance."Sure. She shut me out for a while during the switch and after. I think it was so I could bond with Red and Allura could bond with her, but now I can hear her fine and not just like Black, she talks to me." He smiled fondly. "My beautiful Blue girl never gonna forget her Lancey Lance.""That…ew…weird." Keith sputtered."Hey, don't mock our bond. She still calls me her cub.""What does Red call you?" Keith asked curious."Paladin. What did she call you?" Lance turned his blue eyes to Keith.Keith blushed and answered quietly, "Igniculus.""And…what?" Lance looked confused."It's Latin, it means little fire." Keith answered looking a little embarrassed."Aww! That is like so cute. Seriously, Red you are not so cutesy with me?" Lance looked in the direction to where the lions were resting.Keith felt it then, Red's amusement and he smiled, "I felt her.""See. Told you." Lance gave him a self-satisfied smirk."So, can you hear the others, Yellow or Green?" Keith was genuinely curious."Sort of, not really. Yellow is kind of like standing next to a fire. I can feel stuff like rolling off her like emotions, but not words or ideas. Green's like trying to watch a fly buzz around a room. I can hear it, but I can't usually tell where it is." Lance frowned in concentration trying to describe each of them."I bet you could pilot any of them." Keith shook his head in wonder."What? Why do you say that?" Lance frowned at Keith now."No one else can do that. No one except Allura hears them all. Geez, Lance I can't believe you ever wondered about being a paladin. It's like you're so made to be a paladin all of the lions want you." Keith looked at him with something like amazement."Do you want something? Are you trying to butter me up for something? Am I dying and you're trying to break it to me gently? What's up with the over the top compliments?" Lance looked Keith up and down warily."It's not an over the top compliment, you underestimate your value all the damn time. No more dying for you, like ever. And I might want something, but it doesn't have anything to do with what I said." Keith grabbed Lance by the shoulders and looked into his eyes."Oh, and what do you want?" Lance asked smirking slightly his face blushed red completely from the praise.Keith made a funny huffing sound before diving forward and pressing his lips to Lance's firmly. Lance blinked in surprise and then wrapped his arms around Keith. Keith moved his hands to Lance's face and deepened the kiss. He could feel Black purring in his mind and warmth from Red rushing through him with her approval. Eventually he pulled back to look into Lance's eyes."That." Keith smiled.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Pidge and Hunk sat on the couch in the common room. Hunk's eyes were round, and he clutched a pillow to his chest. Pidge's left eye twitched every once and awhile and she wasn't paying nearly as much attention to her tablet as usual. As they sat, the door swished open, Keith staggered in, carrying what looked like a small red gift bag, before falling into the chair across from the couch."Well that goes down as one of the more horrifying experiences of my life." Keith stated hollowly before looking over at Hunk who nodded. "You too, huh?""I…I…yeah, I guess." Hunk stuttered."Yeah, I had to talk to Allura, guys, I just, wow,“ Pidge’s eye twitched again. "This is not how I pictured this happening.""Oh, well at least I've heard half of this from Shiro before, just need the updated expanded talk." Keith shook his head, "And apparently the care package Coran and Allura made." Keith held up the red bag he had carried in with him, on the front of it was a drawing of a smiley face and it said, "A Safe Paladin is a Happy Paladin."Hunk held up a similar bag in yellow and Pidge kicked at one on the floor in front of her in green."Yeah, I mean I already got the safe sex talk from Shiro once on Earth, I just needed the version with aliens." Keith sighed grabbing the back of his neck with a hand and looking down."Yeah." Hunk shivered. "Coran was…um…detailed?"Pidge snorted, "You have no idea. Allura was dramatic.""I can image." Keith cringed."No. No, you really can't." Pidged shook her head, as if trying to remove the memory. "Not only did I get the safe sex talk, but we had to go over menstrual cycles and the requirements that go with that. Alteans and humans are not completely alike.""Oh yeah?" Hunk asked."Yeah, all I'm saying is that once a year, when Allura says she needs to be alone for a couple of weeks, leave her the hell alone. Apparently Alteans only cycle once a year, but the hormones and PMS are like ten times worse. I would murder all of you if it was me." Pidge actually blushed."Comforting, Pidge." Keith frowned."Yeah, well Coran felt that given my feelings for Shay, I needed an explanation of Balmeran courting rituals and anatomy and the five ways she could accidently break some bits of my anatomy that I find very important." Hunk blushed and wrapped his arms around himself. "It's not like I've even asked her out yet."Keith looked on in sympathy and Pidge chuckled."Where is Lance?" Hunk asked."Oh, Shiro was going to find him after we finished our talk, he's probably getting his talk." Keith shrugged."Oh, that should be good." Pidge grinned wickedly.Almost two vargas later Lance walked into the room carrying a blue bag. His face wasn't so much blushing as pale, and he walked silently over and sat next to Hunk stealing his pillow and clutching it to his chest. After several dobashes of silence, Hunk reached over and patted him on the back."Lance?" Keith asked.Lance looked up at Keith and quickly looked away blushing."You okay?" Pidge asked curious now."I think Shiro broke Lance." Hunk poked him in the shoulder."Shiro, then Coran, then Allura…" Lance blinked repeatedly. "I know things I shouldn't know.""You got all three?!" Pidge looked shocked."Yeah, I mean, Shiro was giving me "the talk", which was already really weird and awkward," Lance was definitely blushing now, "but then weird and awkward took a different level when he asked…" Lance shuddered."What?" Hunk frowned."Well, I think he just wanted to be specific with his talk and was asking, if you know, I was straight or…anyway so I said…" Lance stopped again, staring into space for several ticks."That you're bi?" Hunk tried to help.Lance grimaced, "No, what I said was something like 'Lancey Lance likes all the beautiful peoples', you know how I get when I'm embarrassed.""Oh." Hunk blushed for him."Well apparently that means I needed a lecture on ALL of the beautiful people." Lance turned desparate eyes to Hunk. "Did you know that the merpeople we met don't have separate male and female biology? In fact, they are all the same, but when genetic material is exchanged the recipient genetically adapts to carry the offspring." Lance seemed to be reciting something he'd been told."Okay, interesting." Hunk frowned not finding it that traumatic."Hunk! Do you know how they 'exchange genetic material'?!" Lance stared at him with wide eyes."No?""Kissing!" Lance gestured dramatically."OH." Hunk's eyes widened."So?" Keith frowned looked between the two of them."So, I almost kissed one of them!" Lance blushed again. "I could of…I mean…" Lance shuddered again."You could have gotten knocked up." Pidge smirked. "Did you get Altean birth control too?" Lance muttered something."What was that?" She grinned."Yes, alright, yes." Lance was bright red now. Pidge snickered. "I don't know why, though, I swear after all of that I am staying a virgin. I mean there were diagrams and tentacles. Hunk, there were tentacles!" "I know." Hunk nodded solemnly. "I'm with you man.""Whatever, I've got better things to do anyway." Pidge shrugged, sex was not a priority.At Keith's silence, the three found themselves turning to find him leaned back in the chair blushing."So…Keith, not joining us on our virgin vow?" Lance asked curiously."No.""Why's that?" Hunk dug seeing the Red paladin blush harder. "Someone special in your life?""What? NO!" Keith defended. "I just, I'm not, a virgin, that's all.""OOOOHHHHH!" Hunk smiled. Pidge and Lance giggled."Hey, I'm older than you guys. I lived on my own. I had a boyfriend." Keith threw his hands in the air. "Ugh! Grow up." He stomped out of the common room not even pausing as Lance commented."Wait! Keith is gay?!" "Wow, Lance for a sharpshooter you are not particularly observant." Pidge snarked.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Day 10 – JacketsTwo angsty tales of two jacketsKeith's jacket"He left his jacket." Lance sat on Keith's bed holding the red jacket. Hunk stepped inside and let the door close behind him."I found him, Pidge." Hunk spoke into a com as he sat next to Lance."Where is he?" Pidge channeled her worries into anger and Lance cringed at her voice."Keith's room." Hunk answered."Oh." Pidge deflated over the com in that one word. "I'll be there.""He just left it behind, Hunk." Lance held the jacket up, like it was to blame."I see that. Do you think we should send it to him or something? I mean, maybe we can drop it off sometime at a Blade outpost?" Hunk offered, though his doubt crept into his voice."I don't understand why he left it." Lance stared at the jacket, eyes as round as saucers like somehow under all the stitches there was an answer hidden.The door slid open and Pidge stepped in. She met eyes with Hunk who shook his head sadly and she looked away. She took a deep breath and climbed onto the bed behind Lance and wrapped her arms around him. "Found you." She whispered."Wasn’t hiding and I think you mean, Hunk found me." He huffed."Could have fooled us." Pidge leaned against him. "We were looking for you for the last varga.""I'm sorry. I was going to…I left a t-shirt in here last week and I wanted to come and get it and then I found…" Lance just held up the jacket. "Why'd he just leave it?""He probably can't wear it with his Blade uniform, you know?" Hunk offered. "You should keep it safe for him, till he comes back.""Is he? Coming back?" Lance looked over to Hunk. "I mean, did he say anything to you about coming back?""No." Hunk bowed his head and broke eye contact."He'll be back Lance. He'll visit at least, right?" Pidge tried."It's my fault." Lance whispered."No! No way." Hunk argued "Why would you think that?""I told him there were too many paladins. I wanted him to see that I should step down." Lance started"NO!" Pidge snapped. "No. Just no. There is no way you should step down.""Pidge, it's…I mean…you and Hunk are geniuses, Keith and Shiro are better pilots and better fighters, and Allura is a serious bad ass not to mention how awesome her and Blue are doing. It just made sense. It's not like I would have run off. I could have stayed and helped Coran with the castle or gone on missions where you needed cover, just wouldn't have been a paladin." Lance tried to explain."How does this make Keith leaving your fault?" Pidge asked, still a little angry about Lance suggesting he step down."I told him. I was nervous and I don't think I explained right. He said to leave the math to you Pidge." Lance gave her a sad smile. "And then he left. Did he think I wanted him to leave?" Lance asked desparate."No." Hunk denied. "Nothing you said suggested that and you guys were working together great as Red and Black paladins. Him leaving was about him Lance, I'm sure."Lance nodded, looking back at the jacket. "He just left it behind, like it didn't matter. I thought he cared about this thing. I thought it was important to him and he just left it." Lance's eyes were shining with unshed tears. "How could he just leave it? Did something change? Did he decide he didn't like it anymore? Doesn't it fit right anymore?" "Lance,” Pidge rubbed his back with her hand.Lance's shoulders shook and the tears started to fall. "We're here for you." Hunk leaned over put his shoulder against Lance's shoulder."I don't understand why he just left it." Lance sobbed before turning and burying himself in Hunk's arms. Pidge curled around him and they let him cry until he fell asleep clutching the red jacket.Lance's jacketKeith sat in front of the cryopod still wearing Lance's jacket and wondering how this day had gone so spectacularly wrong. Keith had been on a Blade mission in the same area as the castle and it had completed early. Kolivan said that he wouldn't have a transport for him until the designated time, two quintents from now, and that he should see if he could stay at the castle.Allura and Shiro had been happy to let him stay. Allura said that they were taking a much-needed break and wondered if he would join them. They were going to a local festival to relax. There weren't supposed to be any issues.Keith had agreed. He'd been a little surprised to find his room still intact, but he'd changed into some casual clothes, jeans and a long-sleeved black shirt, he couldn't find his jacket, and went to the common room to meet the others."Keith?" Hunk asked from the kitchen and then Pidge echoed from the couch. They both rushed over and gave him hugs. Hunk's warm and all encompassing, Pidge's sharp and near rib breaking."Miss me?" He laughed. He knew he had missed them a lot. The Blade weren't much for hanging out during free time and he had been spoiled by his time in the castle. He wasn't the loner he used to be, and the solitary time was hard."Oh course, you dope." Pidge slugged him in the arm."Ow. Been working out more I see." Keith rubbed the sore spot on his arm, ever amazed at the power Pidge could put behind her fist."Eh, you know how it is." Pidge scoffed, but her smile was pleased."What?" Lance's voice echoed behind him. Keith turned and smiled and waved."When did you get here?" Lance asked with his face frozen in shock."Um, just a few dobashes ago. I finished my last mission up early and Kolivan didn't want to send transport early. So, I needed a place to stay for a couple of nights. Allura and Shiro said it was okay and invited me to go with you to this festival?" Keith shrugged."Oh, so just visiting?" Lance's face went from frozen to frown. "Nice to see you." Only when he said it, it didn't really sound nice at all.Keith returned the frown, "Yeah, you too. Don't get emotional or anything, not like I haven't seen you for a few months.""Yeah, haven't seen or heard from you. Your communicator must be broken." Lance snarked. "Hey, guys, let’s get on down to the shuttle, Shiro is flying us down for the festival and we don't want Space Dad to leave without us, right?" Hunk offered wedging himself between the two frowning boys."Yeah, festival time. Keith, Allura said they had something like a carnival with games and all kinds of junk food." Pidge pulled his arm dragging him to the door."I like junk food." Keith muttered, still stinging from Lance's reception."I know, so come on." She grinned up at him as the left, throwing a worried look back at Lance before they turned the corner into the hall."Lance, hey," Hunk started."Don't. I know. I'm being an ass. I just." Lance blew out a breath and ran his hand through his hair. "I thought for a moment he'd actual come back, but he's not staying.""Not this time, not now, but maybe someday. And do you really want to miss out on the time he is here, worrying about when he won't be again." Hunk put an arm around Lance and steered him into the hall."Oh, wise and warm Hunk, I will heed your advice." Lance mocked chuckling as they made their way to meet their friends.The festival was something like a country fair. There were baking contests, games, animals, rides, and a diverse group of people. This planet was home to a variety of species that had settled here as it was a crossroads of sorts. There was a decent sized space port, space mall, places to stay, and warehouses that handled shipping all over the quadrant.Lance had seemed less angry by the time they'd gotten to the planet. Keith did feel bad about not having talked with him, but it's not like the Blade gave him a phone or any communication time whatsoever that wasn't either and emergency or part of a mission. This was the first time since he'd left that he'd been in the same quadrant as the castle. Generally, if Voltron was in the area, the Blade considered it covered and didn't run a lot of ops under Allura's nose.They'd walked together for a while, but then Hunk and Pidge had peeled off to see some sort of technology display, something about the robotic systems in place in the warehouses. Allura and Coran had seen a delicacy that they needed to try, which smelled like gym socks to Keith, Shiro and Lance. The three of them were making their way to the game area. Shiro was watching some sort of throwing game involving rings and a series of colored hooks. Keith and Lance were standing back a bit and Keith shivered as a breeze blew across the stand."Should have brought a jacket." Lance mentioned looking over at Keith."Oh, I couldn't find mine earlier and then I forgot." Keith shrugged wondering why Lance blushed."Here, I'm not cold." Lance shrugged out of his jacket and offered it to Keith. "This blue thing is thicker than that shirt you're wearing." Keith looked over and Lance was wearing essentially a sweatshirt and he was cold, "Um…Okay, thanks." Keith slipped the green jacket on, the sleeves were too long, but it was warm, and it smelled like a mix of sunscreen and sandalwood, just like Lance's skin cream.Keith closed his eyes to breath in the scent and that's when he missed it. The breeze picked up suddenly as he felt a gust push against him. An angry shout and suddenly Lance was on top of him pushing him to the ground. There was a sound of something crashing and falling and it then was dark. He woke up in the shuttle on the way back to the castle. He'd apparently taken a hit to the head when the stand behind them had been blown over by the sudden windstorm. It had rolled across the pedestrian walkway. Keith’s frantic eyes found Lance laying on the floor with his head pillowed in Hunk's lap. Hunk was stroking his hair and whispering to him, though it didn't seen Lance was awake enough to know."Lance?" Keith reached out a hand and cringed when he felt Lance's jacket still over his fingers."He pushed you out of the way of the main part of the booth. It came down across his chest. We need to get him to a pod." Coran answered his unspoken question. They had put him in the pod and Coran said he would be out in about forty varga, give or take a varga. It was then Keith realized he wouldn't even be there when Lance got out. He'd be away again with the Blades. So, he had sat on the floor of the med bay determined to stay here as long as he could."Keith?" Hunk sat next to him. "Kolivan called. They'll be here to pick you up in a few dobashes.""Okay." Keith wiped a tear from his eye. "I can't believe I'm leaving him here like this. He pushed me out of the way. He gave me his quiznaking jacket.""I'll let him know you stayed with him until you had to leave." Hunk offered."Would you?" Keith turned hopeful eyes to him. "Do you think it will help?"Hunk paused before answering carefully, "I think it will help, some."Keith's shoulders fell. There was no way Lance wasn't going to be hurt when he woke up and Keith wasn't there. He stared down at the sleeves of Lances jacket for several ticks before slipping it off and handing it to Hunk."Please, tell him I'm sorry.""I will. Keith, you don't have to go. You could stay you know. We'd figure it out." Hunk tried grasping Keith's arm."No. I have a mission. I leave tomorrow. We have a lead on something important. I have to go and it's solo. I've been prepping for the last phoeb. Maybe, after that mission." Keith stood and waited for Hunk to let go of his arm."If you're sure." Hunk let go with a sad look."I'm not really." Keith returned the sorrow and walked away, leaving Hunk waiting in front of Lance's cryopod feeling like he might just have made the worst mistake of his life for a second time.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Oh my…Pidge! It should totally be illegal to be that cute!" Hunk gushed as the image of Pidge as a toddler gnawing on a calculator played across their mind meld. "I know." Pidge grinned wickedly. "That was Matt's calculator.""That was wonderful, now your turn Hunk." Allura directed. Replacing the little gremlin with giant eyes and plastic green glasses was a dark toned little man dressed in brightly floral swim trunks."Awww!" Lance cooed. "Hunk, it's so much better than your picture album."Hunk had sprained his ankle early in the training session. He'd come down wrong dodging a hit from the gladiator. Coran had put some cream on it, wrapped it in something that looked like seaweed and said that by tomorrow morning it would be fine, but that he should elevate it and stay off it as much as possible. Shiro and Allura had decided that made for a perfect opportunity for some team bonding training.Lance had whined about how boring that was and Allura had snapped at him to come up with something better. So, smiling like he'd planned it all along, he suggested that instead of forming Voltron in their minds over and over that they get to know each other better. Shiro had nodded and told Allura he thought it was a good idea, that knowing more about each other would make them closer as a team. Hunk had smiled, Pidge had groaned, and Keith had frowned and crossed his arms. Allura had asked that since they were not forming Voltron, maybe she could join them for the exercise. Shiro had readily agreed. It was a great opportunity for Allura to understand more about her human paladins.Allura had suggested that they each have a turn to pick a topic and then each share something. Shiro had let Lance go first since it was his idea. Lance had chosen an easy topic of share a happy memory.Lance went first and they were immersed in the smells and sounds of his brother's wedding. There were so many people and tons of food and Lance was laughing and dancing and blushing from a kiss on the cheek from his new sister-in-law and then finally the memory faded with Lance dancing with his mother. Hunk gushed and Pidge called him a big sap.Hunk had shown himself with his mom and aunt in the kitchen making dinner. His aunt put flour in his mom's hair and batter on Hunk's nose. Later Hunk had distracted his aunt while his mom snuck up and stuck an ice cube down her back. There was a lot of laughing and it was clear how happy they all were.Pidge shared a family outing to a science museum. Her and Matt climbing some kind of dinosaur thing, which may or may not have been allowed, her hair standing on end holding a static generator of some kind, her dad happily explaining why the explanation on one of the plaques was wrong, and her mom brushing her hair out of her face as she fell asleep almost as soon as she was buckled into the car.Keith had shared a memory of him and Shiro riding hover bikes across the desert. The wind whipping around them, both sailing off a cliff in perfect sync and jetting off across a plain as fast as they could go. Then they were eating pizza in a little restaurant and laughing about the day. Shiro had looked so pleased to be a part of Keith's happy memory.Allura then shared on of her own. She was at a dance of some sort and there were hundreds of people in the castle. She looked lovely as always. She was walking around talking with people and smiling and seemed to be having a good time, when King Alfor surprised her and led her out on the dance floor, the memory faded with them spinning around dancing.Shiro's memory was next. He was a small boy sitting on an older woman's lap. She was working on repotting a little tree. She guided Shiro's hands as they moved the tree and added handfuls of rich soil around it. Then together patted around the tree securing it in the pot. The smells of soil and the plants filled the memory.Pidge picked next saying that little boy Shiro was so cute they needed to do baby pictures, which is where they found themselves now. Shiro's baby memory was an even younger version of himself wearing a stained white t-shirt and a diaper. He was barefoot and toddling along behind a woman in a faded yellow dress. "Shiro, is that your mom?" Keith asked. "Yes, she loved to let me play outside. She said the fresh air would make me grow faster." He chuckled a little. "I'm not sure that she ever got used to how dirty I managed to get though.""Eh, my mom said eating a little dirt never hurt anyone." Lance offered."Well, if you're the example we might have evidence to the contrary." Pidge teased."Please, my mud pies were delicious." Lance then shared his memory of himself covered head to toe in mud being dipped into a five-gallon bucket of water by his older sister. Pidge about fell over laughing, "Of course, your first mud mask." Lance elbowed her. "Fine. Allura show us you. I bet you were a cuter baby than Lance." She elbowed Lance back."Oh, mabye not." Allura grinned. The image of a little girl covered in some sort of reddish-purple goo appeared. You couldn't even tell what color her hair was, but she was laughing and had the jar of whatever in her hands licking it with her tongue and smiling. "It took over a month for the berries to wash all the way out of my hair, it was stained pink. Mother thought she was going to have to cut it, she was so mad at me." "I stand corrected." Pidge pushed her glasses up."Keith?" Shiro asked raising an eyebrow. Keith blushed but the image came up anyway. A tiny little boy in diapers with a plastic firefighter’s hat on. His eyes were too big for his face and his skin was pale. In short, he was adorable."Oh, come on! Seriously, Keith do you have to be the best at everything. I mean, you just had to be the cutest baby." Lance huffed gesturing broadly at the image."I'm sorry?" Keith looked confused and the rest of them laugh."I'm not sure Keith can help this, Lance." Hunk laughed. Lance crossed his arms and pouted. "Who's next?" Shiro asked."I can go." Hunk offered. "How about favorite food?" He pictured his mom serving him what a roll from a pan fresh out of the oven, the smell of coconut wafted through them all as she flipped it over onto a plate revealing the white coconut milk sauce."Panipopo," Hunk practically drooled."Good choice,” Lance also looked longingly at the roll. "Okay, I can get behind this." Pidge grinned and showed her Dad pulling a pan of fresh peanut butter cookies out of the oven. She'd grabbed one and tossed it from hand to hand until it cooled enough to hold and then had taken a bite, holding her mouth open as it was still warm enough to burn.Keith laughed, "If you want burn." His memory showed a huge pot of chili on a stove. There were several over men all getting bowlfuls. Keith stood on a stool stirring the pot, a wicked grin on his face and a can of hot peppers behind his back. At the first sound of distress he laughed and ran out of the door. He sat by a large red firetruck and opened the jar of hot peppers, pulling an orange one out he happily put it in his mouth and chewed enjoying every minute of the burning feeling."Keith, spicy is good, but it needs to have flavor too!" Lance admonished. His memory was of some kind of stew served from a large pot, he'd taken his bowl to a table and poured in almost half a bottle of Tabasco before taking a huge bite."Lance, we've talked about your Tabasco problem." Hunk shook his head sadly. Lance laughed."Shiro, what about you? Spicy? Sweet?" Lance asked."Um, neither, I have more of a junk food problem." Shiro's memory was a pizza parlor with a huge slice of pizza covered in more toppings than could be identified. He got sauce all down the front of his shirt when he bit into it. The sound of someone laughing filled the background."Okay, Allura, what's your favorite." Shiro smiled at her."Oh. Yembrem." She concentrated and the image was of a bowl of purple blobs wiggling around in a bowl."Are they moving?" Lance asked in horror."Oh yes, I loved the way they wiggled when you swallowed them." Allura giggled. "It tickles." Hunk turned a slight shade of green."Who's next?" Allura asked. "And this time pick something more specific. I want to see you work harder to pinpoint a memory with the devices.""Why don't you pick one, Allura?" Shiro offered."No, go ahead Shiro." Allura offered. "Do humans have holidays or celebrations?""Sure, several, but we might not all celebrate the same ones." Shiro answered."We all have birthdays?" Pidge offered."Okay, a birthday." Shiro said."Make it more specific if you can?" Allura requested. "A specific year?""OH, how about 10, I got a new chef's coat that year." Hunk was saying as Shiro's eyes widened and he was shaking his head no, but it was too late. They all felt the sorrow hit them like they'd been punched in the gut. "Keith?" Shiro asked concern pouring from his body.The red paladin sat with hands clenched into fists and his eyes tightly closed. The image in their mind was of young Keith dressed in a black suit. His face was pale, and his eyes were wide and filled with unshed tears. People were walking by shaking his hand. There were flowers in the background. He was shaking. He looked back over his shoulder at the casket laid under a bed of roses. It was closed, but there was a large picture of his father in front of it. Keith threw the headband across the floor and ran out of the room."Fuck." Pidge wiped a tear."On his birthday?" Hunk asked horror on his face."The funeral was on his birthday; his father died a few days before." Shiro explained with a deep sigh.Lance stood and slipped his head set off before turning to leave."Lance, where are you going?" Allura frowned, this was not the time to pick at the red paladin and Lance and Keith only seemed to do that to each other."This was my idea." He shrugged. "I just…I'm going to go find him." He walked away leaving Allura looking confused. The other three exchanged a wondering glance, but let it go as soon as Allura turned their way."Keith?" Lance knocked at the door. "Um, can I come in?" The door slid open, so Lance took that as an invite. Keith was sitting in the dark on his bed. "I just wanted to say I was sorry; this whole memory thing was my idea."Keith didn't answer. Lance shifted nervously, "I…um…I…""Just sit down." Keith gestured, his voice sounding rough. "You're making me nervous standing there.""Oh, okay." Lance sat next to Keith."Why'd you follow me?" Keith asked looking up finally. Lance could see the red puffiness around his eyes and knew he'd been crying."I felt bad and wanted to apologize." Lance signed. "I didn't mean for anyone to get upset or hurt.""It's not your fault. It was an accident that it even came up." Keith shrugged. "And it's not like the memory isn't there anyway and that sure as hell isn't your fault.""I know. I guess, I just wanted to check on you?" Lance offered."I'm here." Keith snarked."Okay, well, just one more thing." Lance turned and quickly wrapped his arms around Keith and pulled him into a hug. "I'm really sorry that happened to you." He whispered into Keith's hair and then he was up and out the door before Keith could even react.Keith sat on the bed, his face flaming with a blush, feeling the warmth where Lance had been pressed against him and wondering what, if anything, that meant.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"So, you've never seen Dirty Dancing…ever? Not even one of the remakes, I mean it's been done like five times now?" Lance stared in mock or maybe real outrage, Keith was not sure."No, Lance, I've never seen the movie or any of the other ones. I didn't watch romantic crap movies." Keith snarled."AHAH! Hunk, take the bad man away." Lance cringed and waved a hand at Keith."Can't you said you'd teach him to dance." Hunk answered from the kitchen where he was busy making their afternoon meal."Yes, but that was before I knew he was just so…evil." Lance narrowed his eyes and stared at Keith."Lance, please, how does it matter?" Keith huffed exasperated."Oh, Keith, I could have at least started knowing that you know where your space was and that I didn't have to call you spaghetti arms or explain how to feel the rhythm like your heartbeat." Lance rolled his eyes. "But no, we must start from the very beginning."Keith glared."Fine, whatever." Lance stood. "Come here. First one hand here and one hand here. And now I have spaghetti arms already. This would be so much easier if you had seen the movie." Lance proceeded to instruct Keith in some basic steps. Nothing too complicated. Allura said that there was to be a ball. Keith had freaked. He said he couldn't dance. And considering the throbbing in his toes, Lance was inclined to agree. "Keith, I swear, if it's the last thing I do you are going to learn this basic step before the end of this practice session. I don't care if you break all of my toes!" Two vargas later and Lance was reconsidering if he or any other person would ever be able to teach Keith to dance. It was just a salsa. Just a simple salsa that anyone could learn or at least that's what he used to think. "You practically dance with that quiznacking samurai sword, why are you so horrible at this?" Lance yelled."I don't know! I told you I couldn't dance; did you think I lied?" Keith snarled."No exaggerated, maybe, but not lied." Lance tried once more to lead Keith through the simple basic step. Keith's foot landed hard on top of his right foot.Lance swallowed hard, "Okay, this isn't working. Take a break. Go stick something with something pointy. We'll try again after lunch.""Fine." Keith spun around and left the room, shoulders hunched in defeat.As soon as the door swished shut, Lance leaned forward taking a long deep breath. "Um, Hunk?"Hunk looked up surprised by Lance's change in tone. He thought he would have started ranting about Keith's lack of dance ability already. When he looked over Lance was bent over taking slow deep breaths, his face kind of pale and sweating."Lance, are you okay?" Hunk rushed over concerned."So, don't tell him, ‘cause it would probably really upset him, but I'm pretty sure he just broke my foot." Lance whispered."What?! Why are you standing?" Hunk waved his hands around unsure what to do."Because walking sounds like a bad idea and falling isn't fun either." Lance managed. "Think you might help me down to the med bay. I'm sure Coran can fix me right up."Hunk lifted Lance up over his shoulder and carried him down to the med bay. Pidge saw them going down the hall and tagged along, poking at Lance while he hung unable to reach her. He swore vengeance; she laughed and did it more. Coran determined he had three broken bones in his foot and warned Lance that when they were dancing in the future either both should wear their armored boots or neither, because Keith wearing them, and Lance wear tennis shoes was a bad idea.Coran decided it would be best to put Lance in the pod, he said it would only take a couple of varga. Lance complained, but in the end, there wasn't much else to do unless he wanted to try to fight bad guys with his foot in a cast.Hunk hurried back to finish the dinner he'd been in the middle of and had it ready to go in less than a varga. He called the others. Keith was the last to show, looking like he'd just gotten out of the shower. His hair was towel dried and he had on a white t-shirt and sweats, his feet were even bare. He looked around for Lance, having decided to apologize for earlier, because after all Lance had been trying to help him."Where's Lance?" Keith asked confused as Hunk served the food."Oh, he's going to be late." Hunk answered not meeting Keith's eyes."Why?" Allura asked from the other side of the table."Um, reasons? He was working on trying to figure out other ways to teach Keith to dance." Hunk scrambled for an excuse."Well, tell him just to come down, he can do that later, we have two days before the ball anyway." Allura answered, "There is no need for him to miss a good meal." She smiled at Hunk in praise of his food.Keith cringed because two days was way too soon. Hunk cringed because he couldn't go get Lance. Pidge let out a long-suffering sigh."I can't go get him." Hunk admitted."Why ever not?" Allura asked."What Hunk is avoiding saying is that Lance is in the cryopod." Pidge supplied with a frown."Pidge! I promised." Hunk cried looking at her in horror."I didn't." She snarked. "Why is he in a pod? What happened?" Allura and Keith asked at nearly the same time.Pidge resisted the urge to yell jinx. "Apparently dance instruction is dangerous and he has a broken foot.""I broke his foot." Keith stared with his mouth open, begging them with his eyes to deny it.Hunk nodded slowly, "He didn't want you to know. He was afraid you'd get upset.""Upset? Upset! I broke his damn foot! Why wasn't he upset? You see!" Keith turned to Allura. "I told you dancing was a bad idea!" Keith got up to leave."Your food?" Hunk questioned, holding up a bowl for him to take with him."I'm not hungry." Keith turned and marched out of the room."Well that went well." Pidge muttered as Hunk glared at her.***When Lance stepped out the cryopod, he was more than a little shocked and angry to find Keith waiting."I told Hunk not to tell you." "He didn't, Pidge did." Keith answered reaching out to steady the wobbling paladin."Quiznak. I'm fine. Okay, don’t go getting all broody." Lance looked knowingly into Keith's frowning face."Lance, this is a bad idea, I just can't dance." Keith said defeated."That's just it, you can. I see you do it all the time when you are doing hand to hand or practicing with that sword. It's all like dancing." Lance sputtered."But those aren't steps, I don't have to do anything a certain way. I just feel it." Keith tried explaining."Alright fine, I've been going about this the wrong way. Come here." Lance instructed. "Give me your hand. Now hold me up." He grabbed one of Keith's hands and wrapped the other around his waist. "Stop worrying about steps and what you are supposed to do. Just follow me.""We don't have any music and you're still wobbling from the pod." Keith protested."Don't need music." Lance smiled and brought their joined hands over to rest on his chest. "Got a beat."Keith stared at him for a minute still confused."Just close your eyes. Okay. Feel my heartbeat?" Keith nodded. "Good now move when I move, pretend like I'm teaching you a new hand to hand combat move or something, just follow me." Lance stepped and Keith stepped, again and again, around the med bay. Lance started added quicker turns and swaying and moving more. Keith never opened his eyes and just followed along with the steps. "You're doing it you know." Lance whispered.Keith opened his eyes and looked into Lance's smiling face. "I guess so." He smiled back as they continued dancing to the rhythm of Lance's heartbeat.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Sir." The guard stood at attention outside of the cell."Report." The general glared at the guard, in the background a loud and annoying voice echoed."The collars have been attached to the prisoners." The guard cringed as the voice got louder."Then why is it still speaking?" He growled."I'm sorry General Crex, the prisoners, or rather the prisoner wouldn't stop talking no matter what I did. I don't believe they can be trained?" The guard cowered."Everything can be trained. You just need to know what you are doing!" Crex swung his fist and smashed it across the face of the guard sending him back into the bars and then sliding down to the floor. He didn't even look back as he walked down the hall to the occupied cell. There were two prisoners in the cell, both wearing the black jumpsuits and purple shirts assigned to Galra prisoners. They both had golden bands around their necks with blinking purple lights. The shorter one sat in the corner, arms crossed over his chest glaring at his cell mate. The other one though, he was talking and talking and talking. Crex growled."The service sucks, and these necklaces don't fit, and why aren't there pillows?" The prisoner griped. As Crex stepped into view, he re-directed his comments toward the general. "Oh hey, room service, I ordered a pepperoni pizza, like a varga ago!" Crex took great pleasure in pressing the button on the control in his hand.The prisoner screamed, he fell back, clutching at the band around his neck. The other prisoner rushed over growling at Crex."You will be silent." Crex let up on the button."I’m not so good at silent. I have a real….ahhhh!" Crex pressed the button again. He smiled as the prisoner squirmed on the floor writhing and screaming. The other prisoner rushed the bars."Stop it!" the other one screamed.Crex smiled again and pressed another button. The shorter prisoner fell to the ground joining his mate."No!" The tall one reached over to the short one and Crex pressed the button again for the shorter one. "Hey, what the I was…" Crex continued to hold the button for the shorter one and his body tensed and seemed to suspend as the energy poured through it. And Crex noticed the taller one had finally stopped talking.He turned an evil grin upon the taller one who sat silent staring at his cell mate. Crex let up on the button."That's better." The tall one turned and glared at him. "Tell me prisoner, where are the Lions? I know you are paladins, where are your Lions?" Crex growled."Quiznak you!" The tall one spat, Crex smiled as he pressed the button and the shorter one screamed again."Stop!" The tall one yelled and then slapped his hands over his mouth. Crex held the button for several dobashes, before finally letting up on it. The tall one knelt by his cell mate and put a hand against his throat seeming to relax after a moment."So, you don't want to tell me." The tall one nodded its head. "What does that mean? Yes?" The tall one nodded again. "Then you must want me to break your finger, is that it? You want me to break your finger?" The tall one shook his head from side to side. "Does this mean no?" The tall one nodded. "Ah well then." Crex reached over and grabbed the shorter one's hand, bending back the smallest finger until it snapped. The short one screamed again. And the tall one shook his head over and over."Oh, so you do want me to break your finger? Or was it you wanted to tell me where the lions are? I promise not to shock your friend if you tell me where they are." Crex grabbed the tall one by the front of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. "Do you want to tell me where the lions are?" The tall one shook his head, no. Crex smiled again, "So you want me to break your finger?" The tall one looked over at his cell mate, cringing, and slowly nodded, yes. Crex heard the guard walk into the cell behind him, "You see, you pathetic moron, they can be trained.” He threw the tall one on the floor and climbed over him holding his left arm down with his knee. He pulled back on one of the fingers until it snapped. The tall one screamed. “Doesn't he scream well?" The guard glowered and turned his back on the sadistic general as he methodically broke the prisoner's fingers one at a time, switching at one point to the right hand and all the while laughing as the prisoner screamed.When Keith woke again it was to the sound of Lance screaming. Keith shook his head, his body still not completely recovered from the long shock. He blinked his eyes and he heard it again, Lance screaming. He turned his head to find the Galra from earlier had Lance pinned to the ground with a knee on his arm, breaking his fingers on his right hand. Keith blink again, the Galra wasn't looking at him. He was concentrating on Lance. He was laughing. He was enjoying hurting Lance. This was not going to continue. Keith blinked again, his hand hurt. He didn't care. The Galra had a knife. Keith pulled the knife and drove it into the Galra's neck before he even noticed he'd moved. The blood dripped from the knife, Lance had curled up cradling his hands, but not making a sound. Keith turned holding the bloody blade out in a defensive stance to see a guard standing in the door of their cell. The guard looked from the knife to the general and nodded."This way." He gestured out the door. Keith kept his eyes on him as he helped Lance up and helped support him as they walked through the door. "Wait." The guard called grabbing something from the general's body he held up the remote. "I'm going to de-cuff them, okay?" He waited until Keith nodded and then pressed the button. The golden bands fell onto the floor. "Take two rights and you will be at the escape pods.""Why?" Keith asked."Not all Galra are evil. Your friend, he is honorable. Crex was not." The guard turned away from them."Lance, you with me?" The head next to him nodded and they moved as quickly as possible to the escape pods. Lance settled into the back. Keith closed the door and dropped into the pilot seat."Ready?" he asked, turning back to Lance. He was sitting with his hands against his chest and his head down, but he nodded again. "Okay." Keith steered them away from the cruiser. They were orbiting a gas giant, but he saw a small moon that registered as being highly magnetic. He knew it would hide their signal. He landed and climbed back to Lance.Lance looked up at him, he still had dried tears on his face, but seemed calmer than before."Hey, you okay?" Lance nodded. "He break all of your fingers?" Lance held up his right hand and wiggled the little one. "Okay, not all of them. Lance?" Lance looked up. "You okay?" Keith asked again nervously. Lance nodded and looked away. "Hey, talk to me?" Lance reached out a hand and touched his face. Lance shook his head. "Why?" Lance looked over at him, he opened his mouth and then closed it. Tears formed in his eyes and slid down his cheeks. "Hey, it's okay, you don't have to." Keith wiped the tears away from his face with his thumbs. He hissed a little when his right hand moved and realized he also had a broken finger."Hey, I'm going to go around this moon on a low orbit to avoid detection, then duck through the gas giant's atmosphere. Once we're on the other side we'll try to contact the team, okay?" Lance nodded again. "Okay." Keith shivered as the unnatural silence unnerved him. "Can you feel your fingers?" Lance nodded frowning. "Yeah, I know they hurt, but as long as you can feel them, I think we should leave them alone until we get back to Coran." Lance nodded again.Keith lifted off and was surprised by how well his plan went. He wondered if the guard had done something further to cover for them. On the other side of the planet he set up a distress beacon on a prearranged frequency they'd establish in case they were separated. One that blended with the "space noise" or something and would only be detected if you knew where to look for it, or at least that's what Pidge had said."Keith is that you?" Shiro's worried voice echoed in the pod. "Shiro? Yeah, me and Lance, we're in a Galra pod." Keith answered on the same channel."Okay, we've got you. I'll be there in ten dobashes." "Lance, you hear that?" Keith asked as he moved back to Lance, the pod was just floating in open space right now as they waited. Lance looked up at him and opened his mouth, but quickly clamped it shut again. "Hey, you can talk, okay? The guy is gone, the collars are gone, it's okay." Keith knelt in front of Lance and looked into his eyes.Lance shook his head and the tears started again. "Hey, I'm okay. Look at me. I'm okay." Lance's tears just got harder and his shoulders started to shake. "Please, talk to me Lance?" Keith begged."I'm sorry." he whispered.Keith's relief almost made his miss the words. "What? Why?""My fault. He broke your finger because of me, and you almost died with that quiznaking collar because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut." Lance sobbed."No. No. Hey, no. Don't take the blame for what that quiznacking sadistic Galra bastard did. He broke almost all of your fingers and they shocked you too." Keith sputtered."But the time he did it so long, I thought he'd killed you. I couldn't even tell you were breathing, and I already knew he'd shock you if I talked, but I forgot and then he just wouldn't quit. And then he asked if I wanted him to break my finger, so I shook my head no, but then he just went and broke yours instead and you were unconscious, and you screamed anyway, and it was my fault." He couldn't seem to stop now that he'd started the words flowed with the tears. "And then somehow you woke up and saved me. He kept saying things he'd do after he finished my fingers and I wasn't sure if I could keep saying yes, but if I didn't then he'd do those things to you and I was going to die and it was going to be my fault, because I was going to tell him to do it.""Lance, okay I know I said I wanted you to talk but stop." Keith put his hands on his face again. "You protected me. You let him break nine of your fingers to protect me. You're the reason that guard helped us escape.""I…what?" Lance looked at him confused."He was so impressed with you that he helped us escape." Keith smiled at him."Oh. I did okay?" Lance asked."Yeah, you did okay, we make a good team, remember?" Keith teased."Oh, no not really, but I believe you." Lance smiled. "I won't forget this bonding moment." Lance leaned his forehead against Keith's."You'd better not."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Three thousand five hundred and forty meters, that's how far away Lance was when the Galra soldier got the drop on me. That's how far he was when his voice whispered through my com."Don't move."My heart pounded and muscles tensed with the need to move, to defend myself and my team from the threat I could feel at my back, but then, even before I could finish that though a loud pop sounded and something heavy thudded on the ground behind me. Over two miles and I turned around to see the Galra, wicked blade still in hand, with a perfect hole between his eyes.I look back in the direction I knew Lance was and whispered over the com, "Thanks.""Got your back, Samurai," echoed back to me.Pidge and Hunk were kneeling a few meters in front of me. Allura was on the other side of the street. We weren't even in place yet, there wasn't supposed to be any resistance yet, I had not expected Lance to make that kind of shot. I guess, maybe I had underestimated his ability. He'd whined as much at the mission prep, but we'd dismissed him. A kernel of guilt wormed its way in my gut. He'd found a suitable spot for a sniper nest at about half that distance away from his drop off point from the one I’d picked. The one he was headed to required he move a significant distance alone, but we hadn't expected resistance in that area, of course we hadn’t expected resistance in the area I was in either. "Keep your eyes open, Sharpshooter, if we have unexpected company here, you could there." I hissed in concern."No worries, just using my ninja skills to bypass the unfriendlies." came the reply.Shit, bypass, meant leaving people at his back."Impact on your escape route?" I snap."Could be interesting?" His nervousness edged into his attempt at humor."Quiznak." Why couldn't anything go as planned?"I got this, I'm good." Lance muttered."I don't like it." I really didn’t."I know, but so far, there isn't anything here that says no go to me. I got this." He restated firmly."Okay, but you let me know as soon as it changes, right?" I asked just a touch desparate. I trust Lance for a lot of things but telling me when he's in trouble isn't really one of them."Would I risk this beautiful body?" Lance asked mock indignation dripping through the com."Yes!" I, Hunk, Pidge, and Allura all answered at nearly the same time.Lance made some sort of sound, but wisely chose not to comment further.I'd like to say the plan had been simple, but in truth it hadn't. We had received word from the Blades that there was a high-ranking political prisoner on this world. We have hopes that it could be one of the Holts or Shiro, but either way, high ranking prisoner seems worth extracting. The prison, according to the intel, is in the basement of one of the bombed-out buildings in the center of this dead town, that sort of looked like Chicago, if the buildings in Chicago were green and Lake Michigan was yellow, oh and if it had been bombed and destroyed about a thousand years ago. Due to the obscure location and top-secret nature of the facility, the guard was supposed to be relatively small, with very few patrols in the city surrounding, most concentrated in the two-block area surrounding the prison. The plan then was for Lance to take up a cover position in a ten-story building about 1000 m from the prison. It had a covered garden on the roof and Lance would be able to move all around the building without risk of being seen by anyone from the ground or the air. Lance had originally picked a twenty-story building about 1600 m away where he had argued he could switch floors or sides of the building easily as it was all glass, but I had been concerned about the distance and him having to move so much. We had dropped him off at a site that provided a direct route to the building and then the rest of us were on the ground team, move in and take the prison and free the prisoner. Except now we had met their third patrol since the one that got a drop on me. Lance had mentioned at least one as far out as he was. Either their intel was bad, or something had changed. I was getting a very bad feeling about the whole situation.Two thousand meters, the distance to the cloaked Green Lion on the shore of the weird yellow lake. Hunk had pondered whether it was natural or pollution. As he had said, it wasn't a very nice kind of yellow. Pidge called it Piss lake, and I honestly couldn't argue with her, it smelled too."I've reached the building. Starting up. I won't have good eyes on you." Lance warned.I nodded to Allura who had point and she nodded back. She had heard and understood. I had asked the others to go radio silence as we made our way through the city and I would maintain contact with Lance to reduce chatter and our chance of discovery. I was bringing up the rear, so in theory it meant I shouldn't risk discovery. Of course, that hadn't played out exactly like that a few dobashes ago, but I stand by the theory."Okay, Lance, let us know when you reach the top. We are still two thousand meters out." I returned.The rubble was thicker here and moving had to be slow or we would be causing a lot of noise and dust. Given the patrols we'd observed, that didn't seem like a good idea. Allura held up her hand and we all took cover. Allura practically blending with the wall. I think she may have actually used her shifting ability like a chameleon. Pidge just disappeared and Hunk, well he found a door to duck into, subtlety and sneaking were not his things. I crouched behind a large chunk of building as the patrol moved through the street. All droids, six of them. The feeling of something being wrong was building. Droid patrols were hard to miss, even in this environment with the buildings. They were too routine, timed - there was no reason this shouldn't have been included in the intel. So again was it a change or bad intel and at this point bad intel pointed to betrayal."Guys, I'm not liking this." I muttered into the coms. "The intel stinks, either they've been warned we are coming are this has been a set up all along.""I'm there." Pidge whispered."Me too." Hunk chimed."The problem is if it's just that they know we are coming, is the prisoner still real?" Allura asked.And that was the real question at this point. It was a trap, but what was the trap baited with? Would I walk into a trap for Shiro? Hell yes. Would I lead the team into one for him? I didn't want to have to answer that."Keith, if we can get closer, I can scan for the prison. I can get a good reading on the basements of these buildings and about four buildings ahead. So, either I'll see it, or see where I'm being blocked, or I'll see nothing." Pidge offered."Okay, move forward, eyes open." I decided. We needed more information I told myself."Eyes in the sky." Lance chuckled. "The patrol is well past, you are clear to move." He was more than a little winded and I wondered if he had run up the whole ten stories.One hundred meters to target we had run into three additional droid only patrols, and now we found our first actual soldiers. "Patrol, and this one had two live ones in it." Lance called. We dove into hiding."Hunk, I can see you man, try the doorway behind you and to your left." Lance advised the yellow paladin. I watched him scurry to the new location, hand tightened around my blade fearful of hearing the patrol coming. "Further back, Hunk." I heard Hunk sigh and movement. "Okay, good, you're good Buddy." Lance seemed relieved. I felt my grip relax. If Lance couldn't spot him, then he was safe.The patrol made its way slowly through the street and we managed to go undetected. The two live soldiers kept their eyes roaming but did not see us. I let the rest of my body relax when they were a block past us.When they were three blocks and had turned the corner, Lance gave us the all clear to move. This was about the point I had expected to run into patrols, but the feeling of wrongness wasn't leaving. The guards were too alert. They didn't look like guards assigned to patrol a prison that no one knew about. My skin crawled."Pidge, before we move, can you run a scan here, just see if you can get a read on what's ahead?" I asked quietly."Yeah." A few moments passed. "The terrain matches the intel we received. I picked up on at least six patrols moving in the about hundred-meter radius I can pick up their signatures. That won't account for any patrols that might not have droids. This isn't lightly guarded, this is locked up tight." Pidge worried. I knew she wanted this as bad as I did, probably worse as even if it wasn't Shiro it could be a family member."Lance, what do you see?" I asked."Be still and I'll look around." He ordered. "Okay, confirm, five, no six patrols, all mixed droids and live. They do seem to be circling a central point, that matches the intel…give me a dobash or two." We could hear movement from Lance. He must be changes angles for another view on the target. "Something's wrong." He muttered."What? What do you see?" I whisper."I can't put my finger on it. I'm seeing it, but I just feel something wrong. Sorry, I'll let you know if it comes to me. I'm moving back. Wait till I'm in place, okay?" Lance moved again and after a dobash or two. "Okay, you are clear to move. Plan to stop at the next block to wait out the next patrol."Fifty meters to the target and the second patrol had passed. Lance had shifted to his secondary location now and was covering our final approach. "Clear." Lance called. At this point I could see the target. The building was leveled. There was a stairway behind about a two-foot wall, all that apparently remained of the previous building. "Okay, how close for the scan, Pidge?" "I can try here, but about ten more meters would be better." She whispered back."The building on the right, with the long windows." Lance spoke through the coms. "It is clear, and you could take some time to get the scans done and not worry about patrols.""What if someone goes in?" Hunk murmured into the coms as they entered the building.No one answered him and Pidge began her work."What if…" Lance mumbled something."I didn't copy Lance, what was that?" I felt my gut churning at this point my instincts said run."It's just what Hunk said, what is they go…Quiznak! Get out of there. It's a set up. It has to be. That is what was bothering me. No one has gone in or out of that quiznaking stairway!" Lance snarled.Just as he said that Pidge echoed, "It's just a basement, just like all the others in this area, and it’s empty," concern coloring her tone. "This is a trap, nothing more." Allura stated flatly disappointment coloring her tone. "There was never anything here to find. We need to pull out and contact the Blade. Their agent has either gone to the other side or been discovered."I cringed. Blades didn't get turned, but they did get killed, far too frequently, "I'll send them a notice as soon as we reach Green.""Lance, you read, that's a fall back." I turned as I spoke checking the door. "Okay, you have a patrol, that needs to pass, and then…this is a really bad trap, I mean did they think we were stupid and would just come in guns blazing, where is the trap?" Lance worried. "Be still while that patrol passes, let me get a look around." We waited as the patrol outside went past - ten droids and two galra this time. As soon as it was far enough past, I made my way over to Pidge. "Anything change on the scan?" "What, no the basement is still a…what…wait a minute? That was the only patrol in my radius?" Pidge looked up shocked."Quiznak!" Lance nearly yelled."What?""I found your patrols. They are surrounding Green. She has her particle shield up, but there are at least 100 droids and probably twenty flesh in blood soldiers around her." Lance spat the words. He knew they'd been played. "I should have been watching where they went. I'm sorry Keith.""Not your fault." I reassured. The last thing I needed right now was him taking blame. "Lance, I…have you checked your neighborhood?" The bad feeling was starting to get a lot worse."I…no." A brief pause in which I really hoped he'd laugh and tell me I was wrong. "Oh, fuck." "Lance?" I breathed."I'm surrounded." He stuttered. "They have the building surrounded, probably twenty droids and five soldiers at least. I'm going to have to move. I've got incoming up the stairs. I can't cover you.""The quiznak, Lance, get out of there, we will worry about us." I snarled."Yeah, I'm going to try some rooftop jumping with the jet pack, see if I can get clear of them and get down. I don't know if I can get to you." He sounded unsure, nervous."The jet pack is a good idea." I assured. "Don't worry about finding us. We'll get to you.""Pidge, can we contact the castle?" Allura was asking in the background. "I can't get a signal out. They must be blocking us." Pidge snarled in frustration."Okay, going." Lance's voice called over the com. "I've got company coming up the stairs." I could hear the sound him running and breathing heavily, and the background of shots being fired.Fifty feet was approximately how far Lance had to jump between buildings. The jet packs could do that no problem, I had jumped much further. However, Lance was being shot at."Ow." Lance whispered between breaths. "Okay, made it to the next roof. I need to keep going. I'm going to try to get ahead of them enough to get to the ground and get better cover. I'm not enjoying target practice when I'm the clay pigeon.""Lance, are you hit?" Somehow, I knew that answer before I even asked."Armor caught most of it," he muttered."And what it didn't catch?" I rolled my eyes at his avoidance."Pretty good graze on my leg, not critical, but," he paused."It's slowing you down." I answered. "Look try to head toward us and we'll head to you. Okay?""Yeah. Got to make another jump." I could hear him breathing harder and the tension in his voice was clear. "Shit.""Lance?!" Lance generally didn't swear much more than quiznak and if he did there was usually a good reason."…dio…damage…d…" and static filled the com. His radio is just damaged I told myself, he's fine, just damage to the radio in his helmet on his head, no need to be concerned. I turned to the concerned eyes of the team. "Okay, we're going for Lance first. Pidge see if you can track him. Sounds like his radio is out, so it would be good to have a way to pinpoint him. We'll want his help getting Green and getting out of here." As I spoke, I could see them pulling themselves together, pushing their own fears and concerns to the side. We would do this for Lance. We only had approximately 1000 meters to go. This story will be continued in Day 16 Rivalry

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Day 15 – StormLance's POVBigger than life on the viewscreen on the control deck of the castle, one of my worst nightmares was playing out for the world to see. Okay, so my world only consists of six other people right now and one of them is up on that screen, but still - Whole World! Keith could not look more pissed if he tried. His eyes are narrowed, his lips pressed into a thin line, every muscle tense, especially obvious with his arms stretched over his head in those quiznaking chains and his shirt hanging shredded from his waist. I think he just growled."So, as you can see, I have your paladin. Now, what is it that you are offering me?" A creature appeared on the screen. It was grey, with five eyes, two big ones, that were relatively human or actually more Altean looking and three small ones across its forehead that were completely black. At least I figured they were eyes, since they seemed to have eyelids. It didn't have a nose, so much as a single horizontal slit in the general area it would appear on a humanoid face. The mouth when it opened revealed rows of small needle-sharp pointed teeth."Return my paladin at once!" Allura's eyes flashed. She was not messing around and I could see the alien flinch. It probably ticked him off that he was afraid of her."Not much of an offer. I will give you time to consider what you are willing to trade. But, perhaps a demonstration of who is in charge here, might be in order?" The alien stepped further away from the camera. He was taller than Keith by at least two feet. He was thin and had four narrow arms, two at the shoulders and two at the waist. I saw Keith's eyes widen slightly and my gut clenched. Fear? Keith was afraid? That was so wrong. A second of the creatures appeared on the screen from the front, carrying something. He stepped behind Keith and Keith struggled against his bonds. The long whip uncoiled behind him and the creature cracked it behind him a couple of times, either to scare him or for practice, I don't know which."No!" Shiro gritted out. His Galra arm put a new dent in the console as he slammed it down."Oh, but you are not in a position to make demands, are you?" The first alien sneered. "I am Captain Treyflex and this is my planet and you will not speak to me with disrespect. I have captured your paladin and if you want him back, you will pay, dearly. I expect your offer within the varga. I will expect a reasonable offer. If it is not good enough, I will give you another varga to improve your offer. For each offer that I refuse, your paladin will suffer for the waste of my time." Treyflex snapped one set of his fingers, there were four on each of the hands, and the creature behind Keith cracked the whip across his back. Keith screamed.I really don't remember anything after that. I don't. I've been told what happened, but that's it for me until I woke up in Blue with Keith in front of me yelling my name. So, at this point I'm going to have to let someone else take over the story. Pidge's POVOkay, so what the fuck! Shiro looks like he is having a flashback, face slack, fallen to his knees. Allura looks like she is having some kind of guilt-induced coronary as she is grabbing her chest, face crumpled in pain. Lance just fucking snapped, like growling, lunging at the screen, Hunk is restraining him. And part of my brain has registered that there are little blood colored freckles all over the guy with the whip because about five cracks in he is apparently flipping Keith's blood back on him. Keith stopped screaming and his legs aren't holding him up anymore. The guy doesn't stop until after 10 lashes."We will have what you want." I snarl at him. "Do we contact you or are you contacting us?" I am not going to miss the details and go through this again. Panic later; fix now."I will contact you." Treyflex focuses his attention on me with a lewd smile. "Little one." He actually licked his lips, freaking pervert. Now Shiro is growling."Fine." I answered and the com goes black. I was concerned Shiro was about to break it. Lance has finally broken free from Hunk's arms and is pacing the room. Hunk is wringing his hands, his eyes following his friend back and forth. Allura is pulling herself together. Shiro is blinking his eyes, seemingly trying to focus on now. "Well what are we waiting on, let's go?!" Lance finally snapped."Go where? How?" Allura responded not unkindly. We knew that Keith was being held on the planet, but not where. We had gone down about four varga ago in a trade attempt. The outpost was known to be a little black market, but we needed a part that was hard to come by and we'd gotten a lead that it was here. Luckily Coran had gotten the part. It was essential to keeping the healing pods functioning and he said that it would last like another 10,000 decaphoebs or something like that. Unluckily Keith had disappeared. We'd searched everywhere but had not been able to find him. One minute he was at a booth looking at knives and the next just gone. We'd come back to the castle to re-group when the "Captain" had contacted us, saying he had goods we wanted."Pidge?" I realized Lance had said something to me, but I'd missed it. He was now glaring at me with his hands on his hips."I…what?""Can you track their signal?" It was a legitamate question."I…let me see. Give me a couple dobashes." I pulled up a set and began running every type of scan or trace I could think of on the data from the recording. I should have been doing this live. Stupid, Pidge. I cannot keep making mistakes like this I need to keep my head in this.I could hear Hunk and Allura trying other scans. Hunk was searching for Keith's communicator. I wish our armor wasn't so easily recognized because if Keith had been wearing that then tracing him would have been a breeze.Three dobashes later and I could feel eyes on me. I looked up for a second to see Lance staring at the screen over my shoulder. His entire body was tense like a bow string. I've seen Lance sort of mad before, but not like this. This was like watching the angry clouds build up on the horizon, knowing that all hell is going to break loose soon."I've got something." I said just as his finger pointed to a dot on the screen. "Yes, there." The others gathered around, and I throw my screen up onto the main display. "Is that him?" Shiro asked hopefully."It is where the signal broadcasted from." I state carefully. "I cannot guarantee he is there, but the signal was live, so it seems likely, but if they were really good, they could have bounced the signal and I would not have the place of origin. The only way to be sure…" the words stuck in my throat."Is to wait for the next message." Hunk choked out in horror. I nodded."Well the quiznak we are doing that." Lance yelled."Lance." Allura held up her hand in caution. "We can't just rush in, if he isn't there and we try to take the location, they could kill him." "We can't just wait for them to come back to us either. Allura, no matter what we offer them it isn't going to be enough. He is just going to keep upping the fucking trade until he thinks he can't beat Keith anymore without killing him!" Lance snarled. I couldn't argue with his logic, but I couldn't fault Allura's either."Pidge, what can you tell us about that site, any scans, layouts?" Shiro, ever the leader began trying to work through the problem."I'm sorry. It's shielded.""See! Why would it be shielded if he isn't there. We need to go." Lance pointed again at the screen and nearly shouted at Allura. Hunk came back behind him and tried to put an arm around his shoulder, but Lance wasn't having it and shrugged him off. He began pacing again."We will continue with scans. Pidge see if you can pick up any other communications, perhaps there will be an indication of where Keith is being held. Hunk, scan for any possible secondary locations based on the shielding technology used at this spot." Allura wasn't giving up, but she wasn't going to have them rush in blind either."We should come up with a barter as well." Shiro added. "What do we have that we can offer, maybe they will be more reasonable if we have something they want?""Yes, we should involve Coran in those discussion as well. He has been involved in a great deal more trading than I. He may have an idea of what they could want." Allura nodded. "Okay, we have about fifty dobashes. Pidge, Hunk, if you find anything let us know immediately. My first choice is to extract Keith prior to the trade negotiation if we can confirm the location, but I won't risk someone else being captured or being in the wrong place. Shiro and I will be in the med bay where Coran is working. He will need to complete the pod repair for Keith." Allura looked down to the ground as she said it and Lance growled.In my mind the little voice said, and the part of Keith will be played by Lance today. Given the look on his face, I'm glad my brain to mouth filter caught that one. Lance resumed pacing, throwing his arms up in the air, apparently giving up. Something about that felt wrong. I think Shiro noticed too."Lance, do you want to help us?" He offered. I think he just wanted to keep an eye on him."Help what? Count how many Altean aspirin we think Keith's life is worth?" He snarled."Lance." Shiro stared him down for a moment."I'm sorry. I know. I think I'd rather just wait here. Pidge and Hunk are going to find something, and I want to be here when they do." He blew out a breath and stopped pacing to face Shiro.Shiro's face softened and a kind of understanding flitted across it. "Okay." He agreed and then they turned to leave, and Lance went back to pacing.Twenty dobashes later I had nothing. I wasn't getting past the shielding. Hunk wasn't finding any matching shielding, which meant most likely Keith was there, but it wasn't proof. And at that moment I noticed a distinct lack of pacing in the room. "Hunk?" I looked over to my companion who was equally focused on his task. "Where is Lance?""Oh quiznak." Hunk muttered finding the room just as empty as I had when he turned to look.Keith's POVThey had apparently put me back in my cell after the whipping. I woke up lying on my stomach on the dirty cot. The smell of the blanket was almost enough to make me gag. The pain that burned like flames up and down my back when I moved was enough to push me over the edge and I tilted my head and vomited on the floor.I have no idea how long I've been out. I know I'm due for another session in less than a varga. I can take it. There is no way the team can get to me in that time. I need to buy them another window. Just another round with the whip. It won't be that bad, no worse than the first. Only it will be because it already hurts from the first and right now just the idea of raising my arms over my head sends racks of pain shivering through my body. I can do this though. I have to. Just stay strong, stay alive, and the team will come. Shiro will come. He would never leave me behind or give up on me. Pidge and Hunk will find me. Allura will walk in and demand my return, making these jerks shake. Even Lance will come and get me. I didn't miss the anger on his face when that freak started in on my back. He'll defintely be here.Later, I don't know how long because I zoned out, I could hear screaming coming from the hall. Maybe the team had found me already. I tried to focus on the words."What is going on? Where is he? What do you mean they are all dead?!" A panicked voice echoed. "Get back here! You cowards, you cannot run away! This is the biggest score we have ever made. That princess will practically hand over the keys to the castle when we are done with this!" The panic was being replaced by anger in the voice, which I now recognized as the leader, Treyflex."Captain, I don't know what happened to the other men. We have six missing now. Two others were found dead at the gate." Another voice."Captain, let's take him and leave, move him?" Another voice suggested."And miss the next check-in? No. We can move after that, we'll have time. You have ten dobashes to get him back into the com room and chained. We contact them in fifteen." Treyflex ordered and then Keith heard booted heals walking away. The door rattled and opened. The creature that had beaten him earlier and another of similar coloring opened the door and stepped inside. Everything in me wanted to jump up and fight them, but my body refused to obey."Come on then." One of them said as he lifted me up by my shoulders and I groaned. "Just a few more lashes this time and the next." They laughed. "And the next and the next until you are almost dead, or the boss thinks your princess has run out of money." "Yeah, and then we'll kill the lot of you and take all we want anyway." His friend laughed with him as they dragged me through a hall and toward the com room."Huvbray?" Another voice called. "Have you seen Ulert? I swear they were behind me and then gone." The voice quivered. "What is going on? We need to get out of here. I told you attacking Voltron was a bad idea, that princess is a witch, all Alteans were they had magic powers." "Don't be ridiculous, Grebday." One of his guards snarled. "Do what the boss says, or you'll have him to worry about, do you want that?"The other guard made a sound like a whine in his throat and scurried down the hall."That guy could die, and we'd be better off for it." Huvbray laughed and jerked on my arm, making the lines from the whip burn down my back. I tried to bite back the cry but wasn't entirely successful. The guards laughed. I really didn't like them. I'm trying to stay alert, all this talk of missing and dead guards seems to scream rescue, but when and who. Death wasn't Shiro's usual style, though given the look on his face earlier he might have made an exception. Making Space Dad mad really isn't healthy. My thoughts were interrupted as we arrived in the room. I felt my wrists being locked back into the shackles. It hurts. They were pretty cut up from the last time. I wonder how long they let me hang by them before they moved me. I'm good with all of them being dead after this and I really don't have a problem picturing myself running them through with my sword.I had expected to take another round of lashes, but hanging here, I can't seem to gather my thoughts. I don't want to do this again. This sucks. I twist against the shackles, even though I know they won't give. Maybe the blood from my wrists will give me enough slip to get out. Maybe I can dislocate a thumb or something and get a hand free.I heard the main guy enter and the door be locked and closed behind him. This is it. I don't want to do this again. The screen activates and Allura and Shiro are standing there at the com. Coran is in the background."Where are the others?" The leader snarls."They are young. They are not involved in the trade and they do not deserve to see their friend in such a state." Allura snapped primly."What is your offer?" Treyflex looks nervous, but he doesn't press the location of the others. He wants out of here."I have five cases of medicines which include three hundred doses of vaccine against the Varulien virus, which I understand your species is particularly susceptible to that illness, additional a variety of healing creams and pain medications. I also have three barrels of food stuffs, which is enough to feed a crew of fifty for a year." Allura held her head high as she made the offer. She was aware it was worth a fortune in gac. She had not held back at all."It's a shame you don't care about him." Treyflex looked back at me. A cruel smile was forming on his face as he nodded to someone behind me. I heard movement and struggled against the bonds again. My heart thudded against my chest. I did not want this to happen again. I yanked at my hands trying to free them. Treyflex laughed. I glared at him, wishing him as much pain as I could imagine."I have offered you a king's ransom and you know it." Allura spat."Do I?" Treyflex laughed again. "I don't have a king though, I have a paladin, a young one, I'm sure he'd auction for a very nice sum on the market." "Don't you dare." Shiro's voice was ice, even I shivered. Treyflex visibly pulled away from the screen as Shiro's face loomed. "You take this offer and consider yourself lucky." "No." Treybek countered angrily. "I don't think so." He turned to watch the faces of my friends as he had me beaten. He was a pig.I heard the whip crack behind me, and I flinched anticipating the coming pain. This was going to hurt worse than yesterday. It cracked one more time and then it stopped. I had closed my eyes waiting for the pain, but it didn't happen. A strangled sound came from behind me, gargled and choked. Treyflex turned and saw something behind me. His eyes widened and he slammed the button on the console turning off the feed. He pulled a pistol and fired at something behind me. I heard a grunt. I pulled at the restraints again, I could feel the blood warm on my wrists, but they were so tight, I couldn't get my hands to move. I pushed my thumbs in and pulled again. Treyflex was firing more. I could hear a struggle behind me. I screamed as I pulled again feeling the thumb joint in my left hand give way and pulling that hand free. I was able to turn and to say I was surprised might have been an understatement. One guard was on the ground, a knife in his throat, eyes glazed looking nowhere anymore. The second guard was grappling with Lance. Lance had apparently picked up a blade from somewhere and was using it to try to slice at his opponent. The guard was using his extra set of arms to pin Lance back against the wall, while he pummeled him in the gut with his other set. Lance had blood running from a wound at his shoulder. I couldn’t tell where else he was hurt."Hold him." Treyflex snarled and lined up his shot. The hell with that. I gave a hard yank and felt the thumb on my right hand give and with a snarl I ran forward and tackled Treyflex to the ground. His shot went off and I heard Lance cry out, but I couldn't tell how badly he'd been hit as I had my hands full. Treyflex was trying to pull the pistol around to get a shot at me. I had two of his hands, including the one with the pistol pinned, but I couldn't manage to hold him down and get the other set held.The noise changed from Lance's side of the room and I heard something hit the ground. Treyflex used my distraction against me and landed a hit to my back, knocking the wind out of me and allowing him to grab me. He pulled me around into a head lock and held my body over his. I could see Lance now, standing over another dead guard. I'm not sure how he did it. His eyes snapped over to me and to the scum holding a gun to my head. His eyes were so cold, grey and turbulent as a storm. I have never seen him like this. Lance is the beach, warm and gentle, waves lapping around in comfort. Warm water that relaxes and holds you up while you float. He's spring rain that falls and soaks and nourishes the ground. This Lance is a hurricane, a tsunami, a blizzard. He is devastation and anger and death. Looking in those eyes I knew the creature behind me was already dead."Stay back! I will kill him." Treyflex warned and I wondered if he knew he was dead.Lance blinked and smiled. I mean, smiled, like creepy I'm going to kill you smiled, and I have never been so glad to know that Lance was on my side of this war."Reap the whirlwind." Lance spoke calmly and then faster than I could even follow he'd pulled his bayard forming a smaller gun and blasted. The creature behind me went limp and fell, unfortunately I wasn't really holding myself up at that point, so I fell too."Keith?" Lance was beside me. The fall had landed me on my back, and I think I blacked out. I realized Lance was bleeding from a wound to his forehead. It looked like a graze that started above his left eye and continued back over his temple and his ear."You're hurt." I reached out. I have to admit to being a little fuzzy at this point. "You too." He smiled. "Was the line too over the top you think?" He muttered. He helped me up and slipped his uninjured shoulder under mine. "Where's everyone?" I asked, surprised to not see the rest of the team. There had been fifteen creatures in this base at least.Lance didn’t answer he just sort of made a sound."But, why aren't they here?" Something was off."I may have snuck out." I think he actually blushed. The man I watched cut down three soldiers and likely killed a dozen more, just blushed and admitted to…what?"What?""We need to go." His eyes seemed to lose focus for a moment, and I know I felt him stagger."Lance?" I searched his face."Head hurts." He answered shortly and we began moving. About halfway down the hallway, Pidge and Hunk came running towards us."Lance? Keith?" Hunk was giving us the once over and not looking happy. He took my other side from Lance, which was good, because I wasn't really sure who was holding up who at this point."Blue is here. She came with is." Pidge looked over at Lance. "Good." He blinked over at her. "I don't feel so good."She hummed and nodded, "Let's get home. I've set a little something to blow this ship. No reason to leave questions behind."Hunk shuddered. "Questions?" I frowned."There are a lot of dead people here and we don't want to deal with the questionable authorities. Better to leave no evidence and hightail it." Pidge answered, her nose curled in distaste."Good riddance." Lance snarled."Yeah, okay buddy." Hunk looked over at him in concern."Lance?" I tried to get a better look at him, but it wasn't really working with the leaning on each other."They hurt you." He answered as if that explained it all. Pidge made a bit of a choked sound. We made it back to the lions and Hunk helped me up into Blue with Lance. He went on to Yellow. Green was already in the air. Lance grabbed the controls and lifted off. On the screen I could see Yellow toting a shuttle pod from the castle as well. I wondered what exactly had happened here.We made it back to the castle with no run-ins. The enemy vessel blew sky high as we were leaving the planet’s atmosphere. Pidge chirped that it was one of her better explosions. Lance hadn't said anything the whole way back, he was just kind of staring ahead. When we landed and he still didn't move I got more concerned."Lance?!" I touched his good shoulder. "Lance?!" I tried shaking him. "Lance, damnit answer me!" I knelt in front of him and yelled. His silence was enough to make me ignore the pain coursing through my hands and back.He blinked slowly and ocean blue eyes tried to focus on me, "Keith?""Yeah.""When did you get back?" His eyes rolled back in his head and slumped in the pilot's seat. I could hear Hunk come running up the ramp into Blue."HUNK!" I yelled. "He just passed out.""Okay." Hunk answered grimly. "Shiro, I need a hand." Hunk must have been talking on the com. The next thing I knew I was being helped off the floor of Blue by Shiro, "Shiro?""It's okay. We're going to get you healed up, okay?" Shiro laid his forehead against my forehead and I could almost feel calm flowing into me from the contact. "I'm glad to have you back." I leaned into his touch. I was not going to cry. Nope, not. Damnit not. Fuck. Stupid tears.Lance's POVI fell forward from cold into warmth. Arms wrapped around me and held me close. It felt good. There were several sets. A large soft set that hugged tight. A large hand on my shoulder steading me and keeping me from falling. Two small ones wrapped around my waist. Another hand almost the same size as me gripping my arm. I blinked until my vision cleared. Purple eyes were directly in front of me."Thank you." He said, smiling."What for?" I swear I don't know. I'm glad he's back, but how he got there or why I was hurt or in Blue earlier, it's all kind of blurry."Are you kidding me?" He frowned at me."No?" and I had to wonder, should I have been teasing him?"You don't remember?" He just stared at me like I had two heads. I could hear laughter in the background."He did get shot in the head Keith." Shiro's voice seemed to be trying to offer reason."I got shot?" I blinked over at him and frowned."Yes, and we are going to have a very long talk about it,” He looked at me sternly and I wondered what exactly I had done. "But for now, you need food and rest.""But he forgot! Again!" Keith's face was red, and he really looked upset."Sorry?" I offered I'm not sure what I did, but I didn't mean to upset him. What I didn't expect was for his face to crumple like that or for his eyes to get shiny with tears. "You idiot." He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close in the tightest hug I have ever received in my life. I'm not sure what I did, but if I warranted this kind of reward, maybe I should do it again.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Day 16 – Rivalry (Part 2 continued from Day 14 Distance)I leaned back against the wall. I needed to catch my breath. I'd finally gotten far enough ahead that I had moved down off the rooftops. That was a good thing because getting shot at every time I took a jump across roofs sucked. And while I hadn't lied about the first graze not being that bad, the second was worse and the third wasn't a graze at all, it was a solid hit to my right thigh. Fortunately, laser blasts cauterize pretty well so bleeding wasn't the issue that it might have been but burns hurt and burns that leave a hole in my leg hurt a lot.I wondered what the others were doing. They should be most of their way to Green now if they'd gone the way they should have gone. I know they didn't though, Keith said they would be coming to me and I was supposed to try to head to them. The sad thing was that it was easier to tell which way I was going from the rooftops and panicked running made it a little hard to stay on course. I knew one thing for sure. I was not letting Keith beat me to the halfway point. I know we've moved a little past this whole rivalry thing, but not that far past it.I pushed off the wall and began making my way down the alley between two mostly intact buildings. I didn't hear anything coming. I could do this. I needed to stay ahead of the Galra. The team was in a relatively Galra free area and moving right into one crammed with all the idiots looking for me, putting themselves in unnecessary danger. They should have just gone straight to Green. They could have picked me up after that. Coming after me added additional danger and unknown. The Galra could move Green or change their minds and try to move in on the team. I shook my head. Now was not the time to let negative thoughts get in my way.My leg crumpled and I fell to the side when I tried to crouch down, knocking over some crates. I cringed at the sound and scrambled back. I could hear footsteps moving quickly now. Steeling myself against the pain I scrambled up and ran away from the sound. I didn't have time for quiet and before I made the turn into the next street laser blasts were flying past me again. This was not my day. I kicked up the speed and ran flat out down a street, zig zagging to throw off the laser blasts heading at me. The armor soaked a couple of hits for me and I managed to get enough of a lead to duck into an alley.I felt like I could hardly suck in enough air, but I had to keep moving - fear of death is a powerful motivator. I wonder what kind of speed records humans would be capable of if only someone was shooting at them as they ran. There was a door into a building that was slightly ajar. I slipped in and pulled it closed behind me. I still couldn't hear my pursuers, so I took the time to brace a fallen beam from the building against the door. It shouldn't look like I'd gone this way.I crept deeper into the structure. It wasn't horribly stable, there was a lot of creaking and one too many of what looked like support beams on the floor or cracked and hanging down from the ceiling. A good wind would take this place down, but hopefully not today. I found myself in what must have been a bedroom. There was a crushed bed in here anyway. I pulled the cover off of the bed. It was dirty and the green was yellowed and gave me a great idea because it was almost the exact color of most of the buildings. I tied it around me like a cape. It should help cut down on any glare or reflection from my white armor. I grinned and imagined myself like Frodo and Sam hiding under the elven cloaks. I'm not sure it was going to work that well, but it should help.I waited until I heard the sound of the patrol that had been chasing move past the building, I was in. I sat hunkered down by the side door, ready to make a run for it if I needed. I didn't. They moved past at double time, still hot on my trail. I smiled, maybe my day was improving.A few dobashes later and I left through the door I had entered. I doubled back two blocks, cut over three and tried to get myself back on track for meeting up with the team. I really wish the coms in the helmet hadn't gotten fried by that blast. I guess it being fried verses my head being fried was really a reason not to complain, but I couldn't help but wonder what was going on with the team. What were they doing? Were they okay?I made good progress for the next several blocks. I only had to duck into an alley once and the bedsheet cloak was surprisingly effective. The patrol passed by the alley without a pause. I felt like I was getting close to the halfway point and no matter what I'd tried to convince myself I had been pretty sure Keith and the team would beat me here. The fact that I hadn't heard or seen them made me wonder if there was a problem, or more likely I was lost. There was only one thing to do. I needed a better view. Two blocks over was a building that would work, about ten stories, taller than any other building in the area if I was remembering the map right. If I was in the right part of the map to remember. With a quick check I double timed it over to the building. Maybe I shouldn't have double-timed. Maybe I shouldn't have thought that things were going better. Quiznak, did I hit my head, oh, you know probably the blast that fried the com. Huh, I wonder if my bedsheet cloak is not as cool as I had imagined?I made it to the building, it seemed to be relatively stable, at least way more stable than the last building I was in. I was on the second floor, when I realized that I had been followed. It was only one set of footsteps, but they sounded really big. Quiznak, I need a better day. I hurried up two more flights. I wish I could say I was being quiet or actually fast, but I'm not that big on lying. By the fifth floor I knew I wasn't going to win this race. I ducked off into a room two doors away from the stairs. I waited bayard transformed and ready. The Galra that stepped up the stairs was one of the biggest I've ever had the misfortune of seeing, and bonus he was mostly metal, like seventy percent, where the quiznak am I supposed to shoot this guy, metal! I took aim and shot him in the shoulder. Looking back going for the kill shot would have been better, but I couldn't just kill someone like that, not without giving him a chance. Unfortunately, I think I pissed him off and he charged, and Metal Galra was freaky fast. I didn't have time to get another shot off before he plowed halfway through a wall and into me. I'm glad I wasn't in an outer room, because I'm pretty sure he would have plowed me right out of the building. As it was, I went through another wall and if I wasn't previously suffering from a head injury, I can be certain that I am now. As my back connected and passed through the second wall, I was able to transform the sniper rifle into something a little more close-quarters. The pistol pressed against his head was sufficient. I vomited. Seeing someone's head blown off and having part of it land on me was not in the job description. Having to do it so that I didn’t die sucked. I wonder what Keith's doing. I hope he's okay. Vomit stinks. I blinked a few times and found myself lying in a puddle of Galra blood next to a pile of vomit. Gross, gross, gross, I scrambled back."Keith?" I asked into coms that I remember now weren't working and a helmet I had strapped to my side because it was broken."Lance?"Wait, broken radios don't talk."Lance!" I blinked again because my brain cannot make this make sense. I look inside the broken helmet because maybe Keith is in there? How did he fit?"Lance!" Now Pidge is in there?"Pidge, how are you and Keith in my helmet, it's broken but you can't be there, and I can hear you so…I don't remember was there…you…I hit my head." I can't focus on the stupid helmet, it's so blurry."Lance?" The voice is much closer."I beat you!" It seemed important to let Keith know. "I got to the halfway point first and you weren't here, but you always beat me and are you dead? Are you dead and like a ghost hunting me, because that is so unfair Keith! You don't get to win every time! I get to win! I beat you here! You aren't allowed to be dead!” Oh, quiznak were they dead? Tears were pouring down my face and the helmet fell from my hands. "Please don't be dead.""Hey, we're not dead." Hands, Keith's hands, were on my face.I swallowed back the sobs and looked up and he was there. Purple eyes and stupid mullet and all beautiful and based on Pidge's laugh I think I said that out loud. "It's okay buddy." Hunk, was there, I tried to turn and look at him, but that made me really dizzy and I think I puked on his shoes."Sorry." I muttered. "It's okay." Hunk's voice was warm. "Vomit is not something I am afraid of." He chuckled and I couldn't figure out where he was, but he was close."Hey." Keith again. Is he still in front of me? "I'm here." I felt one of my hands being lifted and laid against his face."So, I did beat you?" I asked."Yep. You beat us all." His voice sounded rough, like he was crying."Don't cry man, I never win. It won't happen again." I tried to reassure him, but I think my voice was a little slurred."Okay, see that it doesn't." He murmured and I felt myself being pulled into a hug. I felt like the room was spinning around me, but Keith was holding me to the ground, and I knew I was going to be okay.TO BE CONTINUED in Day 20 TEAM

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Keith and Cosmo were driving down the long lane that lead back to the McClain family farm. Sure, Cosmo could have teleported them in, but sometimes Keith actually liked to drive. He'd picked up an old motorcycle and had a special side car made for Cosmo. He wasn't sure how much longer the space wolf was going to fit in it, so they had to use it while they could. Pidge had already asked if she could buy it off of him when Cosmo outgrew it.The bike sped along the dirt road kicking up a trail of dust behind them. Keith grinned as he stepped on the gas, it was going to be fun sliding a bit around the curves, not too much though. The last time he'd slid at too steep of an angle for Cosmo the wolf had blinked them both out and the bike had wrecked.The summer sun was beating down and it must have been ninety degrees outside, but with the wind whipping around him, he didn't even feel it. He'd taken off the helmet when they reached the lane and his hair was whipping around in the wind. It all felt so good and relaxing. He needed this vacation. His work with the Blades was great and he really felt that he was doing good, but it was stressful at times and he still saw a lot of the bad out in the universe. He needed some time to recharge.One either side of the lane rows and rows of plants stretched out bright green. Just past those fields, at the end of the lane was the big two-story white farm house, complete with picket fence around the front yard. There were flowers blooming in beds and a huge garden at the side of the house. Beyond the house was an old wooden barn and two metal sheds. A hay elevator was set up into the hayloft of the wooden barn, an empty wagon sat next to it. Behind the wooden barn stretched pasture and Kaltendecker and her cow buddies were out in the field. It looked like there were several calves as well. Keith didn't know thing one about baby cows, but they looked cute. Beside the pasture were the hayfields. Keith could see two tractors out in the field. One tractor had a large contraption behind it and as he watched it dropped a huge stack of hay out onto the ground behind it. The other tractor had a smaller contraption and small rectangular bales of hay were spitting out of it and back to a wagon that was hooked behind it. Two people were on the wagon picking up and stacking the bales. Even from this distance Keith was sure one of them was Lance. He was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved blue t-shirt and a straw hat of some kind. Keith smiled and watched them for a little while before parking the bike next to a silver van by the house. There was a red sports car, a beat-up old truck, and a sedan parked nearby as well. As he was getting off the bike, he heard a voice from the house."Keith!" Veronica waved from the house. "Hey, glad you could make it!" She stepped out of the house wearing a t-shirt that said, "My girlfriend can kick your boyfriend’s ass". "Axca get you that?" He asked laughing."Maybe." she grinned. "Why aren't you out in the field?" Keith wondered. She looked dusty and her hair was pulled back and sweaty."Oh, Luis, Papi, Nadia and I just finished unloading a wagon. We just needed a lemonade break and some air conditioning." She waved toward the house. "Lisa is inside with the new baby, or rather she's getting a nap and Mami has little Laura. Rachel is making stacks, Slyvio is driving the baler and Lance and Marco are on the wagon. They'll be back in a bit with another load. You might as well come in and get some lemonade.""Slyvio is driving?" Keith turned and shaded his eyes to look at the tractor in question. "He's gotten tall.""Yeah, and he's not doing too bad with the driving either. I think he's only knocked Lance off the wagon twice." She laughed as Keith frowned. "Don't worry, Keith, a little fall from a hay wagon isn't going to stop Lance.""Yeah. I guess not." Keith shrugged and pretended he hadn't been concerned, but Veronica had spotted the quick frown and tension. The idea of Lance getting hurt still freaked him out, a lot.He went inside and was greeted warmly by the family waiting. "It's nice to see you." Lance's dad smiled."Keith." Luis nodded."Keith, hold Laura for a moment, would you dear?" And Keith found himself with his arms full of baby, while Lance's mom got him a glass of lemonade. He smiled down at the sleeping little face, her skin was as dark as her father, but her hair was a little lighter, more like her mom's. She looked so sweet that he was completely shocked when she opened her eyes and screeched at him."Um…help?" Keith looked up with slightly panicked eyes and Luis rescued him, by sweeping the baby into his arms and swinging around with her."It's okay Keith. She's a little cranky and doesn't like to be still." Luis explained laughter dancing in his eyes."Pick me up, Tio Keith, I won't scream." Nadia tugged at his sleeve and he smiled as he lifted her up onto his shoulder and she squealed happily."I thought you said you wouldn't scream?" He teased."Happy screams don't count." She explained.About an hour later he heard the tractor pulling into the barnyard. He and everyone but Lance's mom, Lisa and Laura made their way outside, and Cosmo, the big traitor laid in the living room and refused to go back into the heat. Lance was sitting on top of a wagonload of hay that was at least twelve feet from the wagon bed up in the air. Marco had taken over the tractor and Slyvio was sitting on the big wheel-well next to him."Keith!" Lance waved from his perch.Keith waved back. Marco stopped and Lance shimmied down the front of the bales and hopped down from the wagon. He disappeared for a moment and the popped back up waving at Marco, who pulled the tractor and baler away leaving the wagon behind."Come help me push?" Lance asked and Keith walked over to the empty wagon. Lance had picked up the wagon tongue and was using it to steer as he tried to push it and get it moving."Where?" Keith asked unsure what he was doing."Just step up to the wagon and push till it gets rolling, then help if it slows or anything. It's just hard to get them started, then it will roll pretty good, just don't go too fast, it's been years since I ran one of these into the barn, but I don't want to repeat." Lance laughed. Keith nodded and pushed. It did take some effort to get it started, but it was easy after that. Lance parked it next to the barn, letting the tongue down to stop it from moving."Lance, your turn in the hay-mow!" Veronica yelled. She was already unhooking the full wagon from a four-wheeler she'd used to pull it up next to the elevator. Nadia had scampered up to the top of the hay bales like a little monkey and sat there smiling. Marco had climbed down from the tractor."I gotta go! I have class tonight!" He waved to everyone and Lance groaned.Luis laughed as he climbed onto the tractor. "You haven't had a turn yet, take Keith.""Sure, take Keith." Lance grumbled. "Hey Keith, did you want to get super sweaty and exhausted on your vacation?"Keith laughed and possibly blushed, it was hard to tell in the sun, "Tell me what to do and I can help.""Well first, do you like that shirt? Cause it make get a hole or something." Lance raised an eyebrow and pointed to a couple of holes in his own t-shirt. "Second, never mind, I'm not letting you do this in short sleeves. I'll get you a shirt and gloves to wear." "Okay." Keith shrugged. "Why long sleeves? It's hot." He wondered.Lance chuckled darkly, "You think this is hot, just wait until we get up in the hay-mow, it's downright cozy. The long sleeves are so your arms don't get too scratched up." He pulled his sleeves up to reveal several red marks on his wrists and a few up his arm. "They aren't armor, but they help."Lance returned shortly with a long-sleeved red shirt and a pair of soft leather gloves."I have gloves." Keith objected."And if you want to have pieces of hay shoved under your nails until they bleed, please feel free to wear them." Lance snarked."Fine." Keith muttered changing gloves and following Lance up the wooden stairs of the old barn. The metal roof let some light in around the edges and old light fixtures dimly lit the interior. Lance flipped a switch and a rattling sound came from above them as a conveyer began spinning. Lance climbed up a stack of bales against a wall and stuck his head out the window where the elevator came in. He waved and then climbed back down. "Okay, they're starting. We just need to stack the bales here. They'll drop down off the conveyor here, see where it kicks them off?" Keith nodded there was some sort of metal thing up where Lance pointed. "Make sure it doesn't fall on your head." Lance smirked and then watched as the first bale dropped from the elevator onto the conveyor and then plopped with a heavy thunk onto the floor. He grabbed it and lifted it by the strings and carried it over to the stack, slotting it neatly into place. Keith watched as the next one fell. He quickly moved to pick it up and was a little shocked by the weight. It was well over a hundred pounds. Still he could lift that without issue. He moved over to the stack and place the bale."Oops, sorry, need to change direction on each layer or it will just fall over." Lance corrected. Keith adjusted his bale as Lance brought another over and he heard his next bale fall. He hurried over to grab it and just was out of the way as the next one fell. He huffed as Lance laughed and managed to get this one in the right place. Some hundred or so bales later, Keith was panting. It was like a furnace up there, the heat collected under the metal roof and it had to have been over a hundred and ten degrees. His hair was soaked, sweat dripped in his eyes, his shirt was soaked, even his pants were soaked with sweat. On top of that the dust from the dried grass stuck to him everywhere. He felt like he was coated in it. It was in a word gross."This is cozy?" Keith huffed.Lance grinned at him. His face darkened from the dirt and just as sweat soaked and filthy as Keith. He climbed down and grabbed a water jug, pushing it at Keith."Drink. I'll see where we are at with the next load." Lance laughed at Keith's groan as he made his way down the steps.Keith swigged the water. He was sure it wasn't completely clean, the jug had been sitting up here after all, but the ice-cold water tasted divine in his dry throat and he drank almost all of it. Only stopping when a guilty thought that Lance might want some too passed through his brain."Okay, good news and bad." Lance shouted as he pounded up the stairs. "Good first." Keith requested."Only one more load." Lance gave him the finger guns."Bad news." Keith sighed."It's already here." Lance took a quick swig from the jug as the first bale appeared and Keith groaned.The second load went faster, and Keith was glad to see he seemed to be getting the hang of it. When Lance turned off the conveyor, Keith was shocked by the stillness."Mom says be sure to get cleaned up before dinner!" Veronica yelled. "It'll probably be awhile for the shower!" She laughed. "There are like six people in front of you in line."Lance sighed and sat back on a bale, drinking some of the water."Isn't that gone?" Keith frowned, worried he'd drank too much earlier."Nah, more of it melted." Lance passed him the jug as he peeled off his shirt. Keith found himself missing his mouth as Lance's defined abs appeared in front of his face, glistening with sweat."In your mouth is better,” Lance chuckled."Yeah, guess I'm tired." Keith managed to get the next mouthful down as Lance used his shirt to wipe his face."You okay?" Lance questioned."Sure. Fine." Keith managed to squeak.Lance sat next to him so that his bare shoulder touched Keith. He turned and smiled slowly. The Altean marks on his face were nearly glowing in the dim barn. "Thanks for helping." Lance smiled as his eyes met Keith's. "No problem." Keith found he couldn't look away. "You okay?""Sure." Lance answered easily."You okay if I kiss you?" Keith asked breathlessly."I'm like gross and sweaty,” Lance frowned."Sweaty yes, gross no." Keith murmured a hand reaching to brush Lance's sweaty bangs from his face."Oh." Lance's face got even redder than it had been from the heat."So, okay?" Keith asked again."Um, yeah, okay." Lance blinked as Keith pressed their lips together, his hand gently cupping Lance's chin.Keith leaned into the kiss, his other arm reaching around Lance and pulling him closer. Their bodies were sticky with sweat and heat and the contact almost burned. Lance leaned into Keith and they overbalanced falling backwards onto the hay bale. Keith rolled slightly propped up on an elbow and pressed Lance into the hay deepening the kiss. Eventually Keith had to stop to breath."So cozy?" Keith smiled."Yeah, cozy." Lance reached up and pulled Keith back down into another kiss.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Day 18 – DanceLance straightened the bow tie on Keith's sort-of-tux. "There." He smiled over at the other boy who was blushing like crazy and looked so uncomfortable in the get up that it wasn't even funny. "You look nice." Lance offered trying to help."Sure." Keith practically collapsed in on himself in discomfort. "I feel like an idiot. This is not me.""Then pretend to be someone else." Lance offered back with a smile. "Someone suave and sophisticated and who looks awesome in a tux…oh hey, just pretend to be me." Lance did a quick spin turn and finished with finger guns. It had the desired effect as Keith choked on laughter, sputtering something about hell freezing over."It's like going to prom." Shiro declared from the other side of the room. He looked stunning in his solid black tux and black tie. But he was also wearing a frown."What you didn't like prom? I figured you would have been the Prom King?" Lance puzzled."I was." Shiro blushed. Hunk chuckled, "I can totally get why, you were their golden boy.""But then why didn't you like it? I would have loved to have been Prom King." Lance asked eyes full of stars."Well, I…it…um…so as the guy that was supposed to be the Prom King, I was pretty much expected to take the girl that was supposed to be the Prom Queen." Shiro managed."You took a girl to prom." Keith stared eyes wide."Yeah. I did. I thought we could go, as friends, and just have fun and get pictures and not worry about it." Shiro ducked his head and rubbed the back of his neck. "She had, um…other expectations.""How? I mean didn't she know?" Pidge had wandered in and joined the conversation. She was wearing a tux that Coran had altered for her. The pants legs were overly wide, and the jacket cropped at the waist. It was actually darling on her."I told her. I just guess she didn't believe me or thought she was going to turn me straight or something?" Shiro blushed even harder when Lance practically fell over laughing. "Yeah, that didn't work out so well. She really didn't like me after she caught me making out with someone else in the hall." Keith snorted."You were the Prom King, ditched your crazy Prom Queen and hooked up with someone else? Sounds like a great Prom!" Lance giggled."So, Keith, how was your Prom?" Hunk asked trying to give Shiro a break from blushing."I didn't go." Keith frowned. "I don't like dances or dancing or dressing up or that many people." "Okay, antisocial Emo boy skips Prom. Not the most shocking headline ever." Lance teased, though he sounded almost sad."So, what was your Prom like, we know you weren't the King." Keith turned back to Lance."My Prom was awesome and awesome." Lance smiled easily. "Me and my good buddy Hunk here went together.""You were his Prom date?" Keith raised an eyebrow at Hunk."Sort of." Hunk smiled fondly at Lance. "I didn't have a date.""Their loss, my gain!" Lance chirped."And Lance couldn't pick a date." Hunk laughed elbowing his friend. "So, he suggested we go together, and I have to admit we had a great time. Lance is a pretty good date.""I am a great date. I brought flowers." Lance corrected."Yes, a great date. He did bring a boutonniere and he made sure I had fun the entire night. We danced - he had me dancing with all kinds of girls and he was dancing with everyone. I'd been to that kind of thing before and just ended up being a wallflower, but not with Lance around.""Shiro, you may have ditched your date, but Hunk and I, we stole so many hearts that night it was a felony." Lance joked complete with crazy eyebrow wiggles.Pidge snorted."Sorry, Pidgie, you weren't there for Prom, were you?" Lance turned regretful eyes to the Green Paladin."She's been to Prom." Shiro looked over suddenly amused."Yes. I have been." She answered mysteriously."How and why do you know?" Lance looked confused."Matt took her." Shiro supplied. "He told me about it.""Really? Why? I mean, you're great and all, but you're his sister." Lance looked dumbfounded, no doubt imaging taking one of his siblings."His date dumped him, literally the day before Prom." She supplied, her smile was sad but fond. "He'd already made reservations that couldn't be cancelled, had a limo and a tux and the whole nine yards and she dropped him for a football star." Pidge sniffed her distaste."That is cold." Hunk sighed."Yeah, but Matt, he's not the type to let someone get the best of him. So, he knocked on my door, and asked me to accompany him to the Prom. I was going through a phase, so I happened to have something to wear." Pidge blushed a little."Wait. What kind of phase?""I believe Matt called it the Disney Princess years." Shiro supplied slyly and Pidge chucked a comb at him. He dodged it easily laughing. "The dress was lovely Pidge, you looked nice in green then too."Pidge smirked mollified for now, "Anyway, he was sweet, and I had a good time and that bi…""Language!""Not nice person,” Pidge correct with an eyeroll, "got drunk on spiked punch and spent most of the evening puking in the bushes outside.""You spiked the punch didn't you." Keith stated looking over at her grin."There is no proof." "Proof of what?" Allura asked as she breezed into the room. The pink ball gown she wore would put Cinderella to shame."Wow!" Lance jumped up. "You look beautiful!" "Don't drool." Pidge elbowed him."Thank you, Lance." Allura smiled at him. "You all look wonderful as well. Are we ready?""Do I get to dance with you?" Lance asked with a wink."I'm afraid not. As the official negotiator of the alliance we propose, I am not permitted to enjoy the dancing, I must sit at the negotiation table. It is up to you all to mingle and dance and make friends with the people of Umbelan.""So, we have to dance?" Keith asked.And at the same time, "I'm sorry you'll miss the fun." from Lance"Yes, you must dance. Thank you again Lance, but there will be other parties. The people of Umbelan are convinced that dances are the best way to get to know anyone. You will be observed by many and asked to dance many times. The dances are simple, and they are aware you are not from their planet and will not be familiar with them, so do not be worried about being judged for your dancing talents." Allura gave Keith a soft smile as he was clearly uncomfortable. "Use the dance time to talk and get to know whomever you dance with. It is expected that you will ask them questions as well as answer questions that they have for you.""Great." Keith muttered."Keith, if you could at least do, two dances?" Allura offered. It was clear the situation was distressing for him, under his usual forceful nature was an undercurrent of uncertainty and genuine discomfort. "Okay. I can do that." When he met her eyes there was gratitude there and she smiled back at him.She did not miss the look of relief on Shiro's face or the way Lance's shoulders relaxed. Lance's first dance was with an older Umbelan. She said she was an ambassador for a nearby planet. She asked him about the alliance and what planets he had visited and about earth and its culture. No military secrets, just diplomatic questions about languages and cheeseburgers. Lance smiled and laughed and when it was his turn, he asked about the dancing custom and manners and what was okay to ask and what wasn't. By the time they had finished the dance, Lance bowed gratefully, he felt like they had both learned a lot. He didn't have to look far for his next partner. A smiling young man was waiting to step up. "Hi, I'm Rex." He bowed."Lance." Lance bowed back and moved to take his partner’s hands as the dance began. He found the steps easy enough and was soon able to focus on his dancing partner."You learn fast." He complimented."Thanks, I like dancing." Lance smiled easily."So, I'm Rex, like I said already. My mom is a general in our military. She's in charge of security tonight." He offered. "So um, you're the Blue paladin?""Yes. I pilot Blue. She is awesome, one of the legs.""So, the lion is a she? Does she talk to you?" Rex asked eyes wide."Yeah, I feel like she's a she and she doesn't like talk out load, more like in my head." Lance tapped the side of his head with his finger."That must be weird." Rex frowned."Sure, but no weirder than finding out about this war and fighting Galra and 10,000-year-old evil guys." Lance shrugged."So, your planet did not have space travel?""Well, yes, but very limited. Nothing like what Blue or the Castle of Lions are capable of doing. We didn't really even know there were other inhabited planets. So, coming out here was a really shock." Lance laughed a little. The young man across from him was purple, as all the male Umbelans were. They were basically humanoid in shape, but about an average six inches taller and completely covered in fur. His fur was shaved short over his face and neck, but long at the top of his head which was plaited into a long braid that hung past his shoulders. The shaving of the furs seemed to vary a lot between individuals and offered a lot of variety in hair styles. He wore a plain black tunic that hung past his knees and was belted with a simple gold cord. Clothing seemed to be more uniform and functional."That would be a shock. I've grown up around space and wars. I think it might be nice to not have to focus on anything like that for once. Mom is always so worried about what might happen and planning for the worst." He rolled his deep blue eyes. "I love her, but I don't think she has any idea how to relax.""What kind of things do you do to relax?" Lance asked."Oh well, I love painting and riding Herxbirds." Rex smiled."What's a herxbird?" "Well, they are about half the size of your lion and covered in fur that is super long and soft. They come in all colors and have big leathery wings, two on each side and four legs. Their heads are long and narrow and the have big noses and tongues. We strap a seat onto their backs, and you can ride them. They are trained to follow commands, but really good riders learn to communicate with them with their minds." Rex explained excitedly. It was clear that he was really into this."I would love to see one, sounds like a giant horse with bat wings." Lance returned the excitement level. He was setting up a time to go flying with Rex when something caught his eye. Keith was dancing with a very large Umbelan male. The guy was a foot taller than Keith. This fur was shaved short in a stripe between his eyes and down to his chin. There were several small braids hanging from his chin. And Keith, well Keith just looked pissed. He wasn't talking, he was barely moving and everything about his body screamed he didn't want to be there. "Who's that?" Lance asked Rex, not really an appropriate question, but his worry over rode any worry about decorum."Oh, that's General Wythop." Rex answered with a sneer."Don't like him?" Lance turned with concern."No. He's a pompous ass." Rex frowned. "He danced the first dance with your friend, he shouldn't still have him." "Oh." Lance looked over even more concerned."I would get him out of there if you could. Wythop has a lot of power in the government. And…" Rex seemed to shrink back into himself."What? And what?" Lance pressed something dark circling in his gut."He's…um…forward?" Rex's face turned a shade of green. Lance wasn't sure if he was blushing or nauseous."Forward? Like pushy or mouthy or forward like he's capable of hurting my friend." Lance asked turning serious."I…we should get your friend away from him." Rex looked down. "No one's ever come forward to speak against him, but there are rumors." "Okay, well Allura, told Keith he only had to do two dances, so after this one, he should be out of there. I'll keep an eye on him. Thanks for the dance, Rex, and I do hope to see one of those Herxbirds tomorrow." The song ended and Rex bowed to Lance and Lance returned the gesture. He turned to watch Wythop bow to Keith and Keith glare back at him. The Ubelam had Keith's wrist grasped firmly in his hand and was not letting him go. Keith frowned and tugged and the Ubelam said something while frowning. Keith looked down at the floor with another glare and the next song started. Wythop grabbing Keith's other arm and starting the dance. Keith didn't even pretend to move. He just stood there and didn't speak.Lance frowned and scanned the crowd. He saw Pidge over by the punch bowl and rushed over to his side, apologizing to the young woman that had started to walk up to him with a grin and a wave. He practically grabbed Pidge and pulled her out onto the dance floor."Lance!" She protested trying to pull away."Shush." He whispered, getting her attention. He watched the dancers around him and soon fell into the appropriate steps for the song. Pidge struggled but tried to match. "We have an issue.""What?" Pidge narrowed her eyes and looked around."See that guy with Keith?" Lance asked quietly maneuvering so that she could see them over his shoulder."Why is he even still dancing?" Pidge asked frowning. She knew he didn't want to be out there, and he'd filled his quota."I don't think that guy let him go. He had ahold of his arm when the last song ended." Lance frowned. "The guy I was dancing with explained he's a real jerk and we ought to get Keith out of there, but he's also really high up in the government. So, we need to get Keith away without letting him know that's what we are doing and not piss him off." Pidge nodded agreeing with the plan so far, "So, what do you have in mind?""Going to break in at the end of the next dance. Accuse Keith of hogging the General and say that he forgot he promised to dance with you. Then you use the next song to dance him out of here and figure out what exactly is going on." Lance plotted."Yeah, and what about you?" Pidge narrowed her eyes."I'll just dance with General Pushyface there and then when the song ends explain I have to go and that will be that." Lance nodded."Okay, but aren't we getting Keith away because the General might be dangerous? Why is the plan for you to put yourself in danger instead?" Pidge hissed."Well, I'm better with people. I'm sure I can talk my way out and if not, Shiro and Allura are like right here, I'm pretty sure a good yell for help and they'd be right on the guy." Pidge nodded slowly. She didn't like it, but she didn't have a better plan. "Okay, I'll do it, but if Keith says anything wonky, we are going straight to Allura and if you don't get out of that dance at the end of the song, I'm sending Shiro over."Lance smiled, "Okay Pidge."Lance moved them across the floor until when the song ended, they were right next to Keith and the General. When the guy bowed and still held Keith's arm again, Lance went into action."Oh, hey Keith!" Lance moved to stand between them. "You have totally been hogging this big guy's time. That is not good manners, man." Lance winked at the general. "On top of that you promised Pidge a dance and she's pretty upset."Pidge put on one of her angry faces and crossed her arms and tapped her foot.Keith looked completely confused and when he got Pidge's glare, he sputtered an apology. The general's grip had loosened on Keith's arm in the confusion and Lance slipped his hand in between, pulling the general's hand into his."Go on, Keith. I've been waiting for my chance to dance with General Wythop here." Lance waved his other hand at him over his shoulder dismissing him. Keith frowned and glared back at the general while Pidge slipped in front of him and pulled him away.Lance pretended not to notice the glare the general was now directing at him. He didn't however appreciate the near bruising grip the guy had on his hands."Hey, big guy, lighten up." Lance tried to wiggle his fingers to loosen the general's grip.The general narrowed his eyes and tightened the grip, stopping Lance from moving his hands at all and smiling at the wince he saw in the young man's face. "Why did you interrupt my dance?" He growled."Oh, well, I'm sorry. As I understood, it wasn't nice to keep the same partner dance after dance." Lance answered evenly."It's also not nice to interrupt or to not answer questions. Your friend was quite rude to me. He wouldn't talk or dance." The general growled, looking down at Lance."You are in luck because I love to talk and dance." Lance plastered the best fake smile he could. This guy was giving him some serious creeps. "Perhaps." The general smiled then, and it was not pleasant. "Please tell me about the Castle of Lion's defensive capabilities.""Oh, hey now, that's like top secret military stuff, man. If you are a spy you need to work on subtlety." Lance blanched."This is supposed to be an open discussion. I think I find you paladins to be closed and defensive. I'm not sure I can vote in favor of an alliance." The guy had the nerve to tighten his grip even further and Lance ground his teeth together feeling the bones in his wrist grind together unpleasantly."Now don't be that way. I'm sure there is something we can talk about. For instance, the Castle of Lions has some great medical technology that I know Coran will be happy to discuss with your people and very efficient food production. You must understand handing out a list of our defenses to just anyone isn't feasible. You wouldn't hand me the defensive playbook for your team either." Lance tried to reason out of the anger he could feel building in the other guy."I don't know what this playbook is that you speak about, but I assure you that I am not playing." The general growled and Lance realized he'd been moving him slowly to the edge of the crowd. "I want you to call your friend back. I was not done talking with him and he owes me a proper dance. I will not let him leave until he has satisfied my demands." "That is just really not going to happen. If you keep this up, we are going to have a situation here. I mean, have you seen the Black Paladin. You do not want to mess with Space Dad." Lance pulled uncomfortably at his wrists, his hands were turning purple and tingling from lack of blood flow. "I don't care about your father or the Black Paladin. I am not afraid. Get your friend now." The general growled. Lance started to respond when the jerk twisted his left wrist sharply and Lance was certain he actually heard the bone snap."Let me go! That's enough." Lance pulled away with his other wrist, his eyes flashed angrily."No." The general sneered squeezing his broken wrist so hard that Lance felt his knees go weak and struggled to stay standing. "You have like two ticks and then I'm yelling, and you can explain." Lance spat, his eyes dancing with spots."Scream. No one will hear you in here." The general laughed and Lance realized they had entered a hall. He looked around wondering if anyone could hear him. After all he could be pretty loud, and the guy might be bluffing. Talking a deep breath, he screamed at the top of his lungs."LET ME GO!" The general growled and letting go of his broken wrist swung a fist into Lance's stomach knocking the air out of him. After a few ticks when no one came, the general laughed and hit Lance again."See. No one heard. Now take me to your friend." He pulled Lance up by his good wrist and lifted him off the ground. Lance groaned, but he'd seen movement behind the general. Someone had heard him."No." Lance spat and the general shook him by his arm. The pop that sounded from his shoulder seemed really unfortunate to Lance. He saw movement again. His breath was coming in gasps from the pain and he was having trouble keeping track, but if someone was back there to help, then he needed to give them an opening and maybe get out of the line of fire. Gritting his teeth against the pain he knew it would cause he swung himself back and kicked forward with all his might, aiming for what he hoped was a sensitive spot on the Ubelam people. Apparently, it was. The general's face turned a shade of blue and he flung Lance away from him. Lance collided with a wall and slid to a stop at its base, not moving."Lance!" Pidge's voice echoed as she ran for him. The general turned to grab her and was surprised when his hand went straight through the hologram."Hey, asshole." Keith appeared from around a corner, bayard drawn. "There you are." The general growled. "We could have been friends. Why do you insist on making this difficult? Perhaps you just enjoy pain." "You aren't interested in being friends and I'm not interested in what you are offering." Keith spat."Well come on then, if you think you can take me." The general crouched into a defensive posture drawing a large knife."Oh, I'm not going to attack you. I'm the distraction." Keith grinned as the Green bayard connected with the general's back sending jolts of energy convulsing through his body. When he fell to the ground Pidge was standing behind him willing the bayard to shock him into unconsciousness."Nice, Pidge." Keith complimented as he passed the fallen general on his way to Lance.Pidge kicked the guy in the knee for good measure as she went to join Keith.Lance was groaning and moving when they got to his side."Oh hey." Lance winced. "This prom sucks, can we go home."Keith smiled softy and Pidge smirked. "Come, on." Keith managed to get under Lance's good shoulder and help him up. Pidge snaked an arm around his waist. "Let's let Shiro know what is going on and get you back to the castle." Pidge spoke softly eyeing his obviously broken wrist and the bruises forming.Lance nodded."Now you know why I don't like dances." Keith muttered."Seriously, this is why you don't like dances? This has happened before?" Lance asked eyes wide."No, I mean, sort of, she wasn't that big, but she had some seriously sharp nails and promised to ruin my reputation at school." Keith answered blushing."I." Lance blinked mouth opening and closing. "That sucks." He finally managed."Yeah it would, but I totally just made that up." Keith looked over at Lance face bland. "Seriously, I'm just a bad dancer and I don't like doing it."Pidge snorted and burst out laughing. Lance shook his head, "Okay, you got me. Thanks for confusing the guy with the concussion." "Sorry." Keith smiled. "No, you aren't." Lance huffed. "Just for that, you owe me a dance." Keith's smile softened and he met his eyes, "I owe you more than that. Thank you." "Yeah well, I'll be cashing in on this dance, don't forget." Lance leaned further against Keith as they entered the ballroom. He could hear Shiro yell over the crowd and Allura demanding answers. He caught Rex's wide eyes and the young man nodded to him. It was going to work out. Keith leaned over to whisper into his ear, "I'd like dancing with you I think." Lance smiled feeling a blush rise in his cheeks, yeah it was all going to work out just fine.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It didn't happen in slow motion. He didn't get a time-lapsed forever to weigh his options and make his decision. It was not like the movies at all, but even now as his air and time were running out, he would not have made a different choice. Even now he knew that split-second decision had been the right one.Three Varga ago…The plan was solid. They would infiltrate the Galra cruiser when it was docked at the fueling station on Alien Waterworld. Lance did not remember the name it had way too many consonants in it to pronounce properly and besides it was totally alien Waterworld, covered nearly entirely in ocean. The fueling station was a tower that soared up out of the water into the pink sky. The water was somewhat surprisingly blue, and Lance really appreciated its resemblance to Earth water. Pidge explained that the tower was converted electrochemical energy produced in the alien ocean to fuel. It was not ecofriendly, and they were slowly killing the planets ecosystem with the three fueling stations towers. She had suggested that once they completed the mission with the cruiser data retrieval that the castle blast the other two towers as well. The towers were manned primarily by droids according to intel and scans. The team would use Green and her cloak to get into the tower and then sneak aboard the cruiser as it was docked. Then Lance, Keith, and Hunk would place a series of detonators in key spots around the ship while Pidge and Shiro hacked the mainframe and copied the prisoner records and troop movement information they needed. When they had the information they needed, they would take a pod and drop down to the ocean where Green waited and Pidge would set off the detonators. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. And Shio had rolled his eyes when Lance said it, but it was, it was supposed to be.Another brilliant plan ruined by stupidity - Galra stupidity. One of the detonator's was discovered, one on the starboard engine. The brilliant detective decided to mess with the bomb and set it off blowing himself and the engine to bits. Lance is sure that's what happened, because Keith apparently saw the bomb go off as he was trying to stop the idiot from setting it off.Now, Lance thinks, maybe being next to the bomb going off wasn't Keith's best plan and that they definitely need to get that boy a long-range weapon of some kind. At this point Lance thinks a sling and some rocks would be better than nothing."Shit!""Keith, are you okay?" Shiro yells in the com."Yeah, yeah, mostly." Keith's breathy voice almost echoes. "Blast busted my helmet. The visor is cracked. Stupid patrol set off the bomb. I think we're going down.""No kidding, did the free fall clue you in?" Lance snarked as he clung to the wall in the hall he was in, not far from Keith. "Everyone to the pod now, we need to get off of here before we hit the water." Shiro ordered.Keith was the furthest away and had to make a detour around damaged sections of the ship as doors were sealed in attempt to keep the thing in the air. It wasn't working, but it was causing Keith a lot of issues. Lance wasn't having much more luck as he wasn't much ahead of Keith. About two dobashes after the ordered retreat they found themselves in the same hall."Pidge? Help?" Lance asked."I'm in the pod with Shiro. I can pull up a map." Pidge's typing could be heard over the com."I'm almost there. I see the pods." Hunk yelled."Shit, we have three dobashes to waterfall." Pidge yelled frantic."Go then!" Keith yelled as he and Lance moved faster, still not sure how to get to where they needed to be."Don't wait for us." Lance echoed."We can give you one more dobash." Pidge snarled."Won't make it. Get Hunk and go." Lance panted."Hunk's on board." Shiro stated."Go Shiro!" Keith yelled."Pidge, launch." Shiro ordered."No, we can give them…""They aren't going to make it in time. Keith, Lance - You are too far out to get to the pods. Find a secure location and brace for impact. We will give you the count." Shiro commanded, sounding sure that they would be okay."Fuck." Pidge cursed as she pressed the button to launch the pod. "You have 2.5 dobashes.""On it." Keith answered, though his voice was weak.Lance could see the blackened marks on the red paladin armor and the shattered visor and cracked helmet revealed bleeding cuts on Keith's face."Here?" Lance nodded to a small room to the left of the hall. It looked like a dorm room, complete with desk and bed."Yeah." Keith agreed.The bed seemed to be bolted into the wall. They both crawled under it and braced themselves."This sucks." Keith growled. His breathing seemed shallow and Lance worried that there was more wrong with him than he had told."Yeah, I've heard of hiding under the bed from a monster or a tornado or maybe a fire, but not a shipwreck and the others never work out either.""Lance, you're babbling.""I'm not babbling, I am pretending not to be freaking out about our imminent deaths by talking about random things to distract myself. Where you aware that cows have four stomachs?" Lance knew he was babbling, he didn't care."No.""They do, it's so they can digest grass and stuff, which humans can't because of just the one stomach. I had to have my stomach pumped when I was six and drank an entire bottle of tequila that I found in the kitchen cabinet.""Really." Lance wasn't entirely sure that Keith was paying attention, but he did seem to be humoring him, "Yeah, I got a popsicle and a night in the hospital. Hospitals aren't so bad when the nurses are nice. I went out with a nurse once when I was at the Garrison. She was like five years older than me. I'm not sure why she said yes when I asked. She was a good dancer. We went to three clubs and did shots of tequila. Then at like 3 am we went cow tipping.""Are all your stories about cows and tequila?""Important hallmarks for my childhood." Lance snarked, though his voice shook slightly."One dobash, are you guys safe." Shiro asked over the com."We found a good spot. Riding this thing in." Lance came back trying to sound confident."Okay. Hold tight. Get to an outer area of the ship as soon as possible and we will get you out if we have to make a door." Shiro responded.Something about their leader's voice seemed to fill him with a sense of safe. Shiro wouldn't let anything happen to them. "Okay, Shiro, be careful yourselves." Keith responded. He was well aware that Shiro would throw himself into fire if he thought it would save his team.Pidge's voice shaking came over the com, "Ten, nine, I love you guys, five, four, three, two, one."At one the world shook. The sound was like a thousand trains running into a thousand cliffs and blowing up. The paladins were bounced hard against the bed and back down to the floor several times. Clutching desperately to the bed and each other they tried to minimize the impact and stay contained in their little corner. They didn't realize they were both screaming at first, the sound covered by the monstrous noise of the crash.When Lance came to, he was pressed between the wall and Keith, clutching the former like his life depended on it. The bed had apparently come loose at some point and Keith was clutching the bed in front of them like a shield. All in all, Lance decided he wasn't doing too bad. He felt stiff, his back hurt and his arms and hands were so stiff he had trouble convincing his fingers to let go."Keith?" Lance jostled him a little as he tried to remove his arms from around the Red Paladin.Keith groaned and apparently let go of the bed as it went crashing to the floor."LANCE!" Pidge's scream left his ears ringing."We're here Pidgie. I'm okay, a little stiff but no damage. Checking on Keith now." Lance answered."Quiznak don’t scare me like that again!" She growled."'m 'kay” Keith slurred."Yeah, not convincing, mullet." Lance carefully climbed around so that he could see Keith's face and the rest of him. He didn't see anything new, but that didn't mean he was okay. Keith blinked a couple of times and then managed to focus on Lance. "Okay, so head injury from explosion or crash?""Um…both? I think my helmet's damaged or maybe my headache is just getting worse." Keith answered squinting at Lance."Okay, well, definite helmet damage because the explosion blew out your visor. Can you sit up?" Lance reached out to steady him when Keith wobbled, but he managed to sit. He closed his eyes and then snapped them open."Dizzy." He muttered."Okay, you guys get that?" Lance asked."Yeah, we hear you." Shiro answered."Lance, we need you guys to get out of the ship, Pidge is sending you the quickest route to an exist. The blast left a pretty big hole and the ship is starting to sink heavily on that end." Hunk came over the coms nervously."Route sent." Pidge returned almost immediately."Okay, Keith, we gotta go." Lance helped him up. The fact that he didn't say a word and just did as Lance asked kind of freaked him out a little. "Moving.""We read you. I'm monitoring your progress." Pidge offered."Okay." Lance was nearly carrying Keith by the time they got to the second hallway. He wasn't sure if it was the head wound or something else, but he was worried."Guys! You need to hurry!" Hunk's panic bled through the com. "The ship is breaking up.""What?!" Lance leaned down and managed to lift Keith up over a shoulder. "Quiznak you are heavier than you look!""Lance?" Worry colored Shiro's voice."Keith's too slow, I'm going to try to move us faster." Lance panted managing to move to a jog. Keith growled from his back but broke off into a whimper. Lance tried to move faster.The sounds the ship had been making were getting louder. The rocking from the waves made on impact had accompanied groans and creaks, but now there were louder metallic noises that filled Lance with a kind of dread."LANCE!" Hunk called out just as the floor in front of him split open with a shriek.Lance may have joined the floor in shrieking as he scrambled backwards. The ship in front of him split and tilted forward, falling away and forward. He scrambled as the ship rocked hard sliding them back and forth across the hall. Lance clung to Keith."LANCE?!" Hunk cried."Ow! Quiznak!" Lance slammed hard into the wall and the two section of the ship separated. The far section moved farther away bobbing like a cork in the ocean. While the section they were in shifted and started tilting forward, trying to drop them into the ocean below. "No, no, no." Lance tried to push them back away from the edge, Keith was clinging weakly to him and despite his efforts they were sliding forward. "Lance?!" Hunk yelled again."Falling, falling, shit." Lance's outstretched arm managed to grab the corner of a door, but the jolting stop caused Keith to slide out of his arm and he was now clinging to his legs. "Stopped," he grunted."Lance, where are you?" Shiro called. Lance couldn't focus enough to answer, his arm burned, and Keith was slipping. He saw another hand hold further down and letting his one go, he managed to get a grip on Keith again and grab the next door. This time expected the jolt he was able to brace himself and keep his grip on Keith. Keith groaned."Hanging on." Lance muttered. The water was rising. They were about thirty feet above it. Their part of the ship was continuing to tilt, and Lance wondered if it would go completely upright and if he could hold on if it did."We are coming to you." Pidge gritted out. "We've made it to Green."The ship jolted and it was as though an entire level disappeared into the deep blue ocean. The ship shuddered and shook, and Lance found his grip loosened again and they were sliding and Keith was sliding faster. Lance gave up all pretense of trying to stop their fall and desperately grabbed for Keith.They were almost to the edge and Lance almost had him. He saw Keith reach out his hand and Lance reached out his. They were less than an inch apart when Lance's armor hung up on debris from the hall and he was jerked to a stop and Keith slid off the edge and out of site."NOOOO!" Lance jerked himself free of the debris and slid to the edge. Keith was just visible sinking into the water almost thirty feet down."LANCE?!" This time it was Shiro that yelled."Lance, Keith isn't showing up on the scan!" Pidge shrieked."Water must block the scan, Pidge, you'll have to fix that." Lance spoke calmly and stepped off the edge. He crossed his arms over his chest and kept his legs tightly together trying to aim himself after Keith. That was the moment. No slow motion, no questions about their fate, no thoughts other than "go"."What? Lance? Water?" Hunk sputtered.It hurt hitting the water that fast, but he his armor protected him. He searched for Keith and spotting him began swimming for all he was worth. Keith was sinking further into darkness. His eyes closed and face slack."nonnonnononnonononononono…" Lance didn't even realize he was talking until another voice answered."Lance. What's going on? Talk to us, buddy.""nonononononononnonononnonononononono…." Lance finally reached Keith hands grasping his armor and pulling his body to him. As he did the water around him darkened like night falling."Lance, the ship!" Hunk yelled. "Please!"Lance looked up to find the ship and tilted on over and was now coming his way at an unfortunate speed. He grabbed Keith and began trying to swim away, but the water displaced from the ship was pulling them back. He had to get Keith air, he had to get him out of the water."nonononononono.." Lance panted breathlessly. The ship was getting closer. Soon Lance was swimming up into the ship, dodging between halls. He realized about two ticks later that the ship had stopped moving. He just needed to find some air."Need air." He growled."Air? There are pockets in the ship, try to reach one. I don't know where you are because you are in the water." Pidge fretted."Keith?" Shiro uttered his name like a prayer."Needs air." Lance gritted out. He broke the surface of the water in a hallway. Up and to the right was a doorway. Lance managed to pull Keith up with him and hauled him out of the water. Later he would wonder how he managed it, but at the time it was just what needed to happen.He pulled Keith's helmet off and his hair spread around wet and dark behind him. His face pale and unmoving. A sound came out of Lance like a wounded animal before his lifeguard training kicked in and he began CPR."Breathe damnit!" Lance hissed as he felt Keith's ribs crack under the pressure. "Breathe, you stupid mullet!" Lance wailed. "BREATHE, PLEASE KEITH!"And then he was sputtering and spitting out water, his body jerking and moving, and Lance rolled him to his side sobbing in relief."Lance?" Shiro begged."Breathing, he's breathing." Lance choked out."Thank you." Shiro whispered, Lance wasn't sure if he was talking to him or Keith, but it didn't matter at least the idiot was breathing.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"It's a good plan Keith." Allura urged."I don't like it. It splits us up too much, look what happened when we split up!" Keith growled pointed over to where Lance was lying on the floor. They had managed to get him bandaged up, but he was not in good shape. The wound in his leg was serious and he would not be going anywhere very far. Quite frankly Keith was shocked he'd gotten so far on it. Sometimes he underestimated Lance's stubbornness. But the most concerning injury was the head wound from being slammed in or rather through the wall."I know, Keith." Allura placed a hand on his shoulder. "But that doesn't mean this isn't the best idea for getting us all out of here.""Keith, man, you know I'd be happier if we were all staying together, but I can't see how we can do that and get out of here alive." Hunk frowned, willing Keith to agree."I know Hunk, and I keep trying to think of a reason not to split up or go with your plan, but I don't have a good one. Your plan is solid." Keith sighed. "Okay. Let's do it."Hunk's plan involved splitting the group three ways. They would first find a safe place to keep Lance. Keith would stand guard over him. Hunk would provide a distraction. He would move a relative safe distance from the troop lines around Green and start blasting them, providing a distraction as long as possible. When the Galra move to attack him, he will have to lead them away and then make a break for it and loop back around to a prearranged safe spot. Pidge and Allura would sneak into Green while the guards are distracted and make their way to the castle bringing back Blue and Coran.It was risky, especially for Hunk, Pidge and Allura. Keith wanted to be out there on the front line taking the risks, but he also wanted to be with Lance. It was frustrating and he kept doubting whether his motives for the decision to move forward with the plan were the right ones."Keith. He's awake and asking for you." Pidge called him over to Lance's side. She'd been sitting with him as they talked, having loudly declared her preference for the plan and left them to finally decide to come to the correct decision and agree with her."Keith?" Lance blinked bleary eyes, trying to find the boy in question."Hey, I'm here." Keith knelt and grabbed the hand that had reached out searching for him. "How's the vision?""Are there five of you?" Lance asked shakily."No, still just the one.""Then it sucks, also that's probably for the best. I'm not sure the universe is ready for five Keith Koganes." Lance's voice was weaker than usual, but his humor remained the same."Better that than five Lance McClains!" Keith retorted."Ha, as if! The universe would collapse under our sheer awesomeness." Lance managed to grin back. Sometimes Keith remembered how much humor kept Lance grounded, kept him sane when everything around him was too much to deal with."Did you get the plan?" Keith asked, humor wiped away."Hunk's the distraction, Allura and Pidge are the message in a bottle of Green Lion, and you're stuck guarding the dead weight." Lance sighed.Keith closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He'd been expecting this. Hunk had been expecting this. Lance was prone to such thoughts on a good day, but combine head wound and blood loss and it was inevitable that it would be bad."Lance. I would be dead right now if it wasn't for you and most likely we would all be captured. You are not dead weight." Keith stated firmly and evenly. Everything he said was true."Okay, granted, but then I went and got myself hurt and now I'm keeping us on this rock and putting Hunk's life in danger and leaving Pidge and Allura to get us help and…" He signed. "I just wish I could help.""You can help. Pidge has a pretty good rendering of the area around Green from the scans we made when we landed. We need to choose our locations, where Hunk will attack from and the safest and easiest place for Hunk to hide after the attack." Keith pulled the map up on a hologram from the device on his wrist.Keith had some spots in mind already, but Lance was an excellent strategist and the team's sharpshooter, his input in a plan like this was priceless. Keith had found that reassuring Lance of his importance through words helped but give him something to do and an opportunity to prove himself and it was like a cure to his self-doubt. And Lance never failed to prove himself."Okay,” Lance squinted and blinked. "Here, this is where we should be, fifth floor.""Lance we aren't looking for a sniper’s nest. I'm a lousy shot and you can't see straight." Keith frowned."Maybe not, but my rifle still has an awesome scope and we can keep an eye on troop movement and the others as the plan goes down." Lance argued firmly. "Good. That's a good addition to the plan." Keith nodded in agreement."Okay, good." Lance flushed with Keith's praise and seemed surprised as always by the compliment. "Hunk should start here. It's a long haul for him to get there, but his weapon has awesome power and range, and this will optimize the effect." Lance pointed to a high rise further within the city. "He'll want to use his jet pack instead of the stairs when he leaves and use these buildings,” Lance pointed to the map, "to stairstep down and then move over to this area to lay low.""Why that area?" Keith wondered as he looked at the map."It's blocked as far as line of sight to Green. I hope they will find it an unlikely place to hide." Lance finished a little out of breath."Hunk, Pidge, Allura, come here, Lance has some improvements for the plan." Keith found it easy to admit that the only place that matched his original picks was Hunk's point of attack, but all of Lance's suggestions were good and he was prepared to implement them.The others gathered round, and they reviewed the plan. Keith showed Lance where Pidge and Allura would be moving in from and Pidge outlined her back up hologram distraction that could be used if needed. They were all in agreement. They could do this.Lance insisted that he walk. Hunk wanted to carry him, but Lance wasn't having it. He said Hunk needed to be fresh for his role and wearing him out by carrying Lance was a bad plan. Keith hitched Lance up with an arm over his shoulder and said then by that logic he should help him since they would just be sitting and waiting for the rest of the team anyway. Lance scowled, but a few dobashes into the trek could not deny that he needed the help. Each step was agony. His leg throbbed mercilessly, and his back felt like all the muscles were pulled too tight and neither of those held a candle to the agony that was his head.Allura took point and Hunk brought up the rear. Pidge stuck near Keith and Lance as they slowly crossed the broken city. The Galra that had been searching for Lance were either more spread out now or most of them had given up and headed back to Green because they only once had to hide from a patrol.It took nearly a varga to reach the building Keith and Lance were supposed to hide out in. Lance got progressively slower but refused help. They had stopped at one point to rest when Pidge adamantly declared she needed a break, though it is not clear if she thought she was fooling anyone as her eyes kept creeping back to Lance's pale sweating face."Okay. From here we split up." Keith took a deep breath. "Stay on the coms, follow the plan and stay safe. We'll be out of here and these Galra will be regretting ever thinking they should mess with Voltron before nightfall." He met each team member's eye and each nodded with him in turn. Allura took his hand and squeezed it before leaning in and whispering in his ear, "Keep him safe." Keith nodded while Allura leaned in to hug Lance as well.Pidge slugged Keith in the arm and smirked at him, "Don't you too get any ideas, just because we got you a hotel room." Keith blushed and sputtered something. While Hunk laughed and ruffled Pidge's hair, "Inappropriate humor check." Pidge moved on to Lance who was grinning but also blushing, while Hunk gave Keith a full bear hug."Hunk," this time it was Keith whispering. "Be careful, move when you have to, don't wait too long." Hunk nodded, the anxiety in his eyes was not hidden from Keith. They were both aware this was the role that Lance would normally have taken, the longer distance sniper rifle was less likely to be spotted quickly and the lanky sharpshooter could run circles around Hunk.Hunk moved to Lance, giving him a gentle wrap that could hardly be compared to his usual hugs. Lance rested his forehead against Hunk’s."I'm sorry." He breathed."Why? You have nothing to be sorry for." Hunk tensed."I just wish I was able to go with you. I don't like you being alone." Lance sighed."I got this." Hunk met his eyes and though Lance read worry he could also see the determination. Lance nodded and gave Hunk another squeeze, "I know you do."Keith and Lance made their way slowly up the stairs to the fifth floor. Hunk reported in, Allura and Pidge reported in, progress was being made and so far, little resistance. When they made it to the floor, Lance picked a room with a large window from which they could see Green. There were less tall buildings on the outskirts of the city, as though the original planners had intended to provide many with a view of the large lake. Lance wondered if it had been a pretty color before the world had been wiped out.Keith helped him sit near the window and made sure that they were not visible from the street below. Lance formed his bayard and looked through the scoop of the sniper rifle for Allura and Pidge. Hunk would be at the wrong angle to see right now, but once he was in position, this room offered a view of him as well."I've got a patrol coming up two blocks ahead of you." Lance reported to Pidge and Allura. "I can't give you an accurate count though, sorry, vision is still wonky.""Is that a technical term?" Pidge laughed."What's wonky?" Allura inquired honestly. Pidge laughed more."He's saying he is still seeing at least double. Can we bypass them, or do we need to wait them out?" Pidge came back."Wait. They are moving your way." Lance answered calmly"Copy that." Pidge and Allura ducked into a building and waited while the patrol came and went."Clear." Lance chirped when the patrol was safely out of sight. He could feel Keith hovering at his shoulder, tense. Keith did not like having nothing to do."We've reached our location." Pidge reported about half a Varga later."Almost there guys, few more stairs." Hunk had puked once on his way up and Lance had snapped at him to slow down. He didn’t need to run up the stairs so fast he made himself dizzy."Okay everyone, once Hunk is in place and ready, we'll be a go. Allura, Pidge, be sure to give the troops time to move away from your location. Hunk when they hit that line we talked about; you move out of that building as fast as you can. No waiting." Keith reminded everyone."Got it." Hunk answered."For the twentieth time." Pidge snarked."We understand." Allura assured."Okay, I'm in position." Hunk announced.Lance was being unusually quiet, but then again, he was hurting and trying to focus on watching Pidge and Allura, so Keith let it go. "Alright team, let's do this." Hunk's blasts rocked the line of Galra surrounding Green. Several flew back from the first blasts as they landed right on top of the soldiers guarding the lion. They moved and ran for cover as the shots continued to rain. Hunk started blasting the nearby buildings they were using for cover and there was debris and dust everywhere. The damage was too much for the Galra to ignore for long and soon Lance could see large groups of them moving off to where Hunk was stationed."Coming your way, Hunk. I'd say two thirds of them if I had to guess." Lance spoke into the coms."Give it another dobash or two." Keith cautioned, "I'd like to see at least another group leave before you go in. Keep doing what you are doing Hunk. It's working."About three dobashes later, "Another group moving out, and great job keeping up the dust, Hunk." "Okay, we are moving in." Allura announced. She and Pidge began to slowly make their way to Green."Hunk, can you see where the first group is?" Keith asked."Um, no not really." Hunk admitted. "Quiznak. Hunk how can you tell if they're too close if you can't see them." Lance reproached. "I'm going to the other side of the building, Lance, see if I can spot them from there." Keith started moving, "Be ready to go if I say, okay Hunk?""Yeah. Okay. How are Allura and Pidge?""They are moving, too close to be talking right now." Lance added. He was watching Allura and Pidge navigate the rubble. They were within a football field of reaching Green's particle barrier. There was still a small contingent of guards at the front of the Lion. They would notice the particle barrier dropping. "Pidge, looks like you need to use your hologram plan. There is a group right on Green's front doorstep, they will definitely notice the glowy green wall behind them disappearing." Lance blinked he was still seeing three Green's and it was a bit disorienting.Pidge hummed into the com. It wasn't long after that the guards at the front started running away. Lance guessed Pidge had set off the hologram, but it didn't really read in his scope, interesting to note. "Hunk, you need to move. I still can't spot them, but they have to be at the mark or past, stop firing and go." Keith ordered."Okay, going." Hunk answered. The sound of his jet pack activating could be heard over the com. "By the way this sucks." Everyone could hear the little whimper as he was forced to jump from the roof and use the jetpack to guide himself down to the next roof and they all breathed a sigh of relief when his exhale indicated he'd landed safely.Lance watched as the particle barrier dropped and Pidge and Allura scrambled into Green. Her eyes lit up and she leapt into the air. He tried to get up to go to Keith so he could keep an eye on Hunk, but his head spun, and his leg refused to even try to move."Keith, help me over there and I can cover him." Lance requested, though his voice sounded weak even in his own ears. He heard footsteps coming into the room and didn't even look up, expecting Keith to be there. The sound of a metallic clank had his head whipping around and staring at the Galran droids that had entered the room. It looked like there were ten or more, but then maybe there were only three it was hard to tell. He spun the bayard rifle around and fired at the droids, trying to aim for the ones in the middle. He knew he hit at least one, because it looked like there were several on the ground, but they were still coming and getting closer.Then there were the Keiths, all three of them, running into the room blades swirling and catching bots, throwing them around in bits and pieces. Lance decided this is what it would be like to watch a fight through a kaleidoscope. He had stopped firing for fear of hitting Keith."Guys?" Hunk's voice echoed."Got some droids, must have been the ones that were looking for me." Lance answered though he thought his voice might have slurred some, between his injuries and everything that had happened he was really wearing out fast now."I've reached my location. I think I'm secure, but I can come your way if you need me." Hunk seemed unsure about staying where he was."No stay, if you come out, they will see you. Besides all these Keiths seem to have this covered." Lance answered noticing there were no longer any standing droids."Lance, there is only one of me." Keith huffed."Yep, one of you and then there's one of you and another one of you." Lance pointed to nothing on either side of Keith."Fine." The Keiths shook their heads. Hunk snorted in laughter."Paladins?" Coran's voice echoed in the coms. "Coran?" The Keiths answered happily. "Did Pidge and Allura get to you?""Indeed, they did, Number Four and are on their way back to you now. Number five will be arriving cloaked to retrieve Number Two and then the princess will be there in Blue to fetch you and Number three.""Hunk, I'm here." Pidge announced a couple of dobashes later. "Okay, Allura, I have Hunk."Suddenly Blue appeared in front of the window Lance had been looking out of, her mouth open and waiting for them. Keith smiled as he helped Lance to his feet and with the help of the jet packs, they leapt into her waiting mouth."Clear, Coran." Allura spoke as they entered the cockpit. "Blasting." Coran fired the castle weapons destroying a Galra ship that had landed on the outskirts of the city, assuring that they would not be followed into space.Later that evening when Lance fell out of the cryopod into the waiting arms of his team he couldn’t help but wonder at the amazing group of people that surrounded him. Keith was holding up one side of him and Allura had the other side."I love you guys." He smiled sleepily. Keith leaned forward and brushed a kiss to his forehead. "We love you too.""Yeah, expect the rest of us don't love you in a kissy face kind of way." Pidge snarked."Pidge, that was tame for you." Hunk smiled at the Green paladin."I didn't want to ruin the moment with a sex joke." she deadpanned."Okay, moment ruined," Keith blushed. "Nothing could ruin this moment, Mullet," Lance laughed."Kiss him already,” Allura pushed Lance up into Keith's arms, luckily Keith was fast enough on his feet to react and keep him from falling. "Sounded like an order from the Princess," Lance smiled."So, it did." Keith pressed his lips against Lance's warm lips. He smiled into the kiss and closed his eyes deepening the pressure and slightly parting his lips to slip his tongue against Lance's.In the background Coran laughed, Pidge hooted, Hunk cheered, and Allura simply nodded. Never let it be said that they did not have the complete support of their team in everything that they did.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Do you have a map, ‘cause I've been lost in your eyes all night." Lance batted his eyes at Allura who put a hand on his face and shoved him away."Lance, really,” She couldn't help the giggle that welled up inside her at his silliness. She had long ago learned that his cheesy pick-up lines were not to be taken seriously and to either take them as a compliment or a joke. He meant no harm and he was usually pleased as long as he got a positive reaction from her.Hunk snorted with laughter and Pidge smirked. They were very used to Lance's lines and had heard many of them at the Garrison. Lance was a legend at the local club they frequented. Every other Friday night they let in anyone over 16 for Karaoke night. Of course, they had to forge Pidge's ID, but then that would have been needed even if she hadn't been underage given her secret identity. Lance would give pickup lines to anyone that stood still long enough to listen. Usually it went over well and enough people at the bar knew him to cover when it didn't."Wouldn't it be rather gruesome to be in someone's eye?" Coran asked, eyebrow raised. Lance was nearly certain he was making a joke."It's an Earth saying it means to like stare into each other's eyes and just,” Lance put a hand to his forehead dramatically and fell back into Hunk's arms, "fall in love.""Oh, I see." Coran's moustache twitches, "And is the actually falling required?"Lance chuckled and Hunk dropped him. "Sometimes I suppose it feels that way." Lance commented glaring back at Hunk and rubbing his bum.Pidge snorted, "Romantic crap.""Ah, Pidgie McPidgeface, not all of us are as aromatic as you love." Lance reminded."Blah." She stuck her tongue out at him, but a smile twitched at her lips."So, are Lance's pick-up lines, considered romantic?" Allura asked curious."No." Hunk and Pidge answered at the same time Lance said "Yes". Lance frowned and the others laughed."It depends. Most of what Lance says are really cheesy and meant to be funny." Hunk offered elbowing Lance."Alas, tis true, but at heart I am just a poor romantic searching for the other part of my soul." Lance sighed dramatically."Now that sounds romantic!" Allura smiled over at him."Yeah, but I’m better at cheesy." Lance grins and shots finger guns at her."Okay, give us your best cheesy lines." Coran challenges.Hunk and Pidge groan, but both are smiling brightly."Just remember you asked for it." Lance laughed. "Alright, ready? Who's first?" "Me." Allura smiled, "I hear so many, you have to come up with a new one.""Allura, are those space pants, because your legs are out of this world!" Lance gushed as Allura blurted out laughing."Very nice. I'll give it an 8." Hunk judged."Golf clap?" Pidge inquired."Golf clap." Hunk agreed and they both clapped slowly one hand against the palm of the other."Next?" Lance challenged."Coran!" Pidge volunteered."Coran, you must be from Tennessee, because you are the only Ten I see." Lance tried."Coran, Tennessee is a particular place on our planet and being a ten is like being perfect or exceptionally beautiful." Pidge explained."Sorry Lance, not scoring high on one that needs explained." Hunk shook his head sadly."Fine, you're up Hunk." Lance sauntered over to him. "I must be a magnet, because I am attracted to your buns of steel." Pidge snorted and laughed as Hunk actually managed a blush."Ah Pidge, you'd better have a license, because you've been driving me crazy." Lance wrapped an arm around her and pulled her over to him.Shiro and Keith managed to enter the room at just that point and the looks on their faces was enough to send everyone into another fit of laughter."What is going on?" Shiro asked in a weary kind of Space Dad voice."Lance has been challenged to deliver a pick up line to each of us. I still think he owes Coran a better one." Pidge nodded to the other man. "Go on, Lance, two new victims!""Shiro?" Lance asked eyebrow raised. Shiro shrugged giving permission. Lance sauntered over to him and tripped part way landing in a somewhat obviously planned way in his arms."Shiro, I've fallen for you so hard, I can't think straight."Shiro stared at him for a good ten count before dropping him and putting his hand over his face. It was clear though that he was hiding a smile and the rest of the room, minus the Alteans started laughing."Why is that one funny?" Coran asked."In human terms, straight generally means guys like girls and girls like guys, whereas some other arrangement wouldn't be straight. So, it's a play on words because not thinking straight is a generic saying for being confused like you might be if you actually fell." Hunk offered up the explanation."I see and so for a male to like another male is not straight?" Coran still looked confused."Nope." Pidge popped. "Lance, negative points for confusing the Alteans, bonus points for making Shiro smile.""Alright, Keith's turn." Hunk declared. Lance glanced at Keith warily. The other boy had his arms crossed and was frowning. Lance was nervous about this. "Hey, guys, Keith doesn't have to play if he doesn't want to. It's only fun if everyone is enjoying it." Lance backed away from Keith."I don't mind." Keith blurted out."Oh, okay then." Lance smiled and walked past Keith, winked and then walked past him again before coming to stand right in front of him, “Do I confuse your sexuality yet, or should I walk by again?"Keith looked at him, frowned a little, and then shook his head, "Nope, not confused at all.""I had better luck with the Alteans." Lance sighed turning away. "Well Lance, you're batting over .500." Hunk offered. "Pretty much failed on Coran and Keith and got a maybe on Shiro, but Pidge's, mine, and Allura's were pretty good.""I get why I failed with Coran, and I'm working on that and the same with Shiro, but what about Keith, why did I fail there." Lance looked over at the mullet in question, who was smirking at him."Because having a guy flirt with me does not confuse my sexuality. I'm gay." Keith shook his head in amusement.Lance blinked three times, his mouth formed an "O", and then he smiled. "Alright fine. I need to redeem myself here." Lance shook out his arms, stretched and cracked his knuckles. "I got this." "Coran, are you tired?""No." Coran answered mouth twitching to hide a grin. "Why?""Because you have been running around in my mind all day." Lance smiled as Coran burst into laughter."Redemption." Pidge nodded offering another golf clap. Hunk joined her."Alright." Lance turned to Shiro who took a step back at the intense look he was getting. Lance staggered over to Shiro and tripped up against him this time, like he was drunk. "I'm not drunk, I'm just intoxicated by you.""Eh, not your best, but we'll let it go." Hunk judged. The rest of the room laughed."Fine, fine, need to pull a good one out for Keith then." Lance spun around a couple of times before seeming to come to a decision. He turned and walked purposefully over to Keith. Stopping when he was standing right in front of him, bodies touching. He leaned in and sniffed Keith from his neck up to his ear, before looking over with a smirk, "I've got a thirst baby, and you smell like my Gatorade.""Bravo." Pidge clapped."Here, here!" Hunk added.As the others were laughing and clapping, Keith blinked and looked up into Lance's eyes. Lance felt his breath catch and a weird little flutter in his stomach as he stared into those violet eyes."Wow, you have really beautiful eyes." Lance breathed."Game’s over, Lance." Keith frowned as he pushed him toward the group."Oh yeah, right, game." Lance blinked and turned to the others, taking a bow for his performance. He glanced back over at Keith, who now had a thoughtful look on his face. Lance gave him a wink and a little smile and now he got a full Keith blush. After all there was flirting for fun and then there was the other kind and Lance wasn't that bad at either, no matter what anyone else said.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Day 22 - Fireworks There were fireworks in the sky, bursts of reds and oranges and yellows against the black of night. Lance lay watching them through the window. He couldn't move. His arms felt trapped and his head fuzzy. The blanket over him was warm, but heavy weighing him down. He blinked and more fireworks appeared streaks of red and yellow, green and blue, sparkling and shimmering, but without sound, without the smell of smoke. He blinked again and tried to raise his hand up to them, but he only lifted it for a few inches when it was stopped. He managed to turn his head to see, his wrist was wrapped and bound to the bed. He was in a bed. He blinked again and a voice echoed from beside him."Mijo? Are you awake? Do you see the fireworks? Happy Fourth of July, my love.""Fourth? What? Mama?" Lance turned his head slowly the other direction, sitting in a chair next to his bed was his mother. Her hair was frizzy and unkempt, there were dark circles under her eyes, and they glittered with unshed tears."Oh, you are awake. Hello." She reached out a hand to gently cup his cheek."Where?" He managed to croak."You're in the hospital, at the Garrison. Don’t you remember?" Her face crumpled into a frown."No, how? Where's Blue?" Lance's thoughts felt jumbled and out of control. He couldn't seem to catch any one of them long enough to understand what was going on or where he was."Oh no. It's okay love, the doctors said there would be bad days." She tried to smile, though tears had started to fall."What do you mean?" Lance's heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest."Honey, there was an accident. You and Katie and Hunk snuck out of the Garrison. You went on a hoverbike ride with another boy, Keith. There was a malfunction with the bike, it wasn't his fault, but there was a horrible wreck." She explained gently holding his hand. He blinked again, phantom pain flaring across his face."A wreck? No, we found Shiro. We found Blue. We went to Arus." Lance cried."Mijo, lo siento, the doctors said that your mind was having trouble accepting what had happened. You created that reality to escape. It's not real. Commander Shirogane died, honey, in the Kerobos mission. You know that." She shook her head and patted his hand then reached up and brushed a hand down what felt like a scar on his face."Where's Hunk?" Lance pulled away from her as far as he could with the soft restraints holding him."He died. He and Katie were both killed in the wreck." She met his eyes evenly, willing him to believe."No. No. That's not right, what about Keith? Where's Keith?" Lance felt like he could hardly breathe."Do you want to see him? I can get him?" She offered."Yes, I need to see Keith." Lance nodded. Keith would know what to do. Keith would have a plan or at the very least a pointy sword and lots of anger. "Let me up, I need to go see Keith."His mother’s shoulders jerked back like he had struck her, and a sob choked out of her mouth. She patted his hand and then guided it down to his leg, or rather where it should have been, where they should have been, the blankets dropped off shortly below his pelvis. Lance doesn't really remember what happened at that point, he thinks he probably passed out or hyperventilated or both. The next thing he remembers is Keith being wheeled into the room. Keith looked whole. He was wearing a hospital gown and had one of those plastic bracelets around his wrist. "Keith, am I glad to see you, what the quiznak is going on?" Lance begged tear tracks still dried on his face, making his cheeks stiff.Keith just looked at him, kind of confused."Keith? Please?" Lance begged wetting the old tracks with new tears."Mijo, Keith hasn't spoken since the accident. He can't help you." His mother supplied."No, come on man, this can't be real, right? Pidge and Hunk are okay, aren't they? Please Keith?" Phantom pain streaked through his left leg and he screamed. "Please, how can my legs hurt if they aren't there? What's going on?" Lance met violet eyes with tears of their own running down, but not a sound. Keith didn't make a sound. Lance felt his whole body shaking, was this real?"Baby, you need to rest. The pain is worse when you are upset. Rest." His mother urged him. The pain was getting worse, both legs hurt and his face and his chest. He found it was getting harder to breathe through the pain. He screamed again."Keith?! Help me?!" Lance turned and stared into those eyes, when he met this time though they were not crying, they were fierce, fierce and determined and Lance drew strength from them. "Okay, we can do this." Keith nodded. Lance passed out.When Lance woke again, he was lying in a bed. The window looked out into the night sky again. He wondered if he had slept an entire day. He heard a sound and realized he wasn't alone. Keith sat by his bed. He was holding Lance's hand in his. Lance tried to turn to him, but while he did not find the restraints from earlier, he couldn't manage to make anything move. His whole body ached a deep throb that made breathing tiring."Keith?" Keith gave him a funny little eye squint and a couple of tears streaked out."Hey, don't cry, Mama said it wasn't your fault. Mechanical problem, nothing you could do." Lance managed a brief nod for Keith's sake, but it didn't seem to stop the tears. The violet eyes widened briefly, closed for a dobash or two, and then opened back up to stare at him intently. "I wish you could tell me what you are thinking." Lance sighed.Keith leaned in and rested his forehead against Lance's. Lance felt like he was trying to transfer his thoughts directly into his brain. "Don't think I've learned to talk through osmosis yet, but nice try." Keith started to pull back. "No, I mean, you don't have to go, it feels good, calm." So, Keith leaned back in. One hand brushed the hair away from his face, the other rested on a cheek. "I'm glad you didn't die too." Lance whispered. He felt tears touch his face that weren't his. "Don't cry. I'll be okay." Lance's eyes grew heavy and he felt himself drifting off again.The next thought was of pain. Fire seemed to lick across his legs that weren't there. He woke screaming."Mijo, please, it's okay. It's not real. Look at me. It's not real. I'm here. You're with me. You are safe." His mother held his face placing kisses on his forehead and his hair, making soothing sounds. "Breathe with me baby, breathe in and hold it. Okay, now breathe out slow. Again." She walked him through breath after breath until his heart stopped trying to jump out of his chest and the pain faded to the burning throbbing background, he had been keeping it in."Mama?""I'm here." She wiped tears from his face. "You remember me today?""I never forgot you Mama, just misplaced you." Lance leaned into her hand and breathed deep, smelling the lavender lotion she preferred.She began to hum a song to him, something she used to sing when he was falling asleep at night.Aruru mi niño, arrurú mi amor
Aruru pedazo de mi corazón
Este niño lindo que nació de día
Quiere que lo lleven a la dulcería
Aruru mi niño, aruru mi amor
Aruru pedazo de mi corazón
Este niño lindo que nació de noche
Quiere que lo lleven a pasear en coche
Aruru mi niño aruru mi amor
Aruru pedazo de mi corazónWhen the song finished, he looked across the room and found that Keith was there again. Eyes staring intensely at him. Lance wished he knew what was going on in that mulleted head. He wondered when Keith had taken to wearing purple. The pain grew from the background again drowning him and sending him back into darkness."Keith!" He screamed trying to sit up, trying to get to him. He'd dreamt that Red was crashing falling through the sky. He and Blue had been desperately trying to reach them pushing to get between them and something, something bad and then an impact and nothing. A hand grabbed his and held him. He blinked his eyes open, a weak cough burning through his chest. Violet eyes stared down at him. "Hey."Lance reached out a hand and finding it unrestrained reached out to Keith's face. He frowned when his hands didn't touch soft skin on his cheeks, but what felt like leather, maybe a strap, he felt around, and it seemed like there was something covering the bottom half of Keith's face. He couldn't see it, but he could feel it. Frowning and concentrating on his fingers his vision faded, the lights dimmed to a deep purple the walls went from white to silver black and Keith's face from clean and uncovered to filthy and covered by a muzzle of some kind. Lance pulled his hand back afraid and the room snapped back into place, clean, white, and bright.He looked away from Keith, anywhere but at Keith and his eyes drifted back to the window, why were there still fireworks? Is there a celebration? Why were they still going off?Lance started to hum and then sing softly to himselfDo you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting thought the wind
Wanting to start again
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards
One blow from caving in
Do you ever feel already buried deep
Six feet under scream
But no one seems to hear a thing
Do you know that there's still a chance for you
'Cause there's a spark in you
You just gotta ignite the light
And let it shine
Just own the night
Like the Fourth of July
'Cause baby you're a firework"Keith? Can you see the fireworks?" Lance pointed to the window. Keith placed his head against Lance's hand and shook no. "I feel like they're important." Lance closed his eyes and drifted away again.
Lance dreamed again. This time he was in a Galra cell with Keith. They were both pretty busted up and were leaning against a wall.
"Lance," dream Keith spoke. "The team are coming; we just need to hold out for a few hours.""Seventy-two is not a few and I think varga are longer than hours." dream Lance answered."I thought they were shorter?" dream Keith frowned."I'm not sure it matters when there are seventy-two of them." Dream Lance sighed."They are coming. We just…we can do this." Dream Lance gave him a look that said who are you trying to convince.He dreamed they were taken by Galra soldiers from the cell, dragged to another room. There was a robed figure that hissed at them."That one." She pointed at dream Lance and he felt himself being strapped to a table."Hey, I'm not really into bondage, but shouldn't we at least start with a safe word or something." Dream Lance's eyes flipped to Dream Keith's eyes. He was being tied to a chair. Dream Keith met his eyes steady and he could breathe again. "Safe word, right Keith?""Really seems only appropriate,” dream Keith agreed."Right, so what eclipse? Nah too hard to say, Keith suggestions?" his dream self cringed as the robbed figure drew clawed fingers along his leg."Fireworks." Dream Keith offered."Fireworks, really?" dream Lance looked at him like he was a little crazy, "Okay, fireworks. That good with you?" He addressed the creature that now had a sharp looking knife in its hand. It drew the blade along his thigh cutting through the material of his suit and leaving a thin line of blood."So not to wuss out early, but Quiznak! Fireworks!" Lance yelled as it removed one pants leg and started on the other."You will tell me much." The hissing voice replied."What are your favorite fireworks?" Keith yelled."What?" Lance blinked back tears as the robed figure started carving lines into his leg. He was concentrating really hard on not screaming."Fireworks, I like the red ones that are really big and then turn like gold and sparkly at the end." Dream Keith's voice was hard, determined."I…um…I like the ones that look like a big flower and then they shimmer, and it looks like sprinkles falling down." Lance answered closing his eyes and leaning his head back as his body tensed through another slice."Tell me about Voltron." The hissing voice demanded."How about the ones that make that really loud noise and just have one flash of white?""Those shouldn't even be qualified as a firework. They are tricks. Liars in firework disguises." Lance ranted back, ignoring the robed figure.The figure did not like being ignored. Black and purple lightning lit across dream Lance's body and he felt like he was on fire. He screamed. "Lance! What's the best shape one you ever saw? I saw a really good heart once." Keith yelled over his screaming."I…ahhh…I saw a smiley face." He managed breaths coming in short gasps."Shut him up." The voice hissed. Lance woke up screaming again. "Mijo. I'm here." Mama's voice sounded tired, maybe it was night. "Is the pain back?""Yes, Mama it hurts so bad, why?" tears streaked out of his eyes."I don't know baby, the doctors tried to explain, but it didn't make sense to me. It's not real. Just focus on me. Focus on my face. You are strong. You can do this." Her kind eyes looked into his and he smiled through the pain."I can do this." She smoothed back his bangs, "Mijo, do you remember when you feel out of the tree in the neighbor’s yard?""I had to save the kitten." He smiled as another wave of pain washed through him."Yes, what did you call her?" "Blue, her name is Blue." Something in him itched with that name, longed to be let loose."The doctors said you had broken your back. There was so much swelling that they could not tell if there was damage or if the lack of feeling in your legs was from the swelling. Do you remember what you told them?" She smiled with sad eyes."I told them that since I might be a cripple, they could at least let me hold the cat I risked my life for." Lance grinned. "Worked too, they had the little thing brought in.""Yes, and as soon as they left you told me they didn’t know anything. You were going to be fine and I should not worry." She laid her hand on his face and the next wave of pain was hardly noticeable."I was right about that too." He laid his hand over hers. "I'll be fine now too Mama; you don't have to worry." Lance looked out the window again. "Why are there still fireworks?""I told the students that you liked them. They have been setting them off every night for you. There was a young man here named Ryan. He was helping to organize them. It seems you have many people who care about you, Mijo. I am so proud of you." She kissed his forehead. They watched the fireworks together and he ignored the pain. It wasn't real.Time seemed to skip ahead and the next thing he is aware of his Keith's hand on his face. He blinked and looked up into the sad violet eyes. He was so tired. He felt like just looking at Keith was a challenge."I wish you could talk to me." He whispers.Keith nodded and a tear streaked down his face."I wish you could see the fireworks. You like red ones that turn gold, right?" Lance looked past him, out the window, there was a huge red firework lighting up the window.Keith leaned down and wrapped arms around him so gently that Lance felt like he was made of glass that Keith was afraid to break. He could feel Keith's hitched breathing. He was sobbing. Lance managed to get an arm to lift enough to lay it on Keith's back and tried to rub circles, but he settled for short little movements, he didn't have the energy for circles."Did you ever go to a ball game and stay to watch the fireworks at the end?" Lance asked. Keith shook his head no. "We should go to one, when we get out of here. I think you'd like it, but you have to cheer for the team I pick, I won't sit next to you if you try to cheer for the other team." Keith nodded. "Okay, it's a date…. or rather…" Lance faltered.Keith lifted his head up and looked into Lance's eyes. He didn't smile, but it almost seemed like his eyes did. He nodded yes."Yes? Yes, it's a date?" Lance asked mouth dry. Keith nodded again with the whole eye smile thing going. "Geeze, you got smize just like on Top Model." Keith cocked his head to the side and Lance let out a little huff of a laugh. "Okay, date two we can binge watch a few of the early seasons." Keith gave him another smize and nodded. Lance was about to plan date three when the room started to shake. Keith pulled away and seemed to be putting his hand against a wall, mabye checking that it was safe? Lance was confused. Then he heard voices that he couldn't hear because they were dead."Lance?" Hunk called."Keith?" Shiro's voice.Lance began to tremble. It wasn't real, was he having a breakdown. What was going on?"Stand back." Now even Pidge's voice. Keith came over and leaned over top of him as the wall exploded. On the other side were Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge in paladin armor. Lance blinked up at the dirty, beaten Keith leaned over him, wearing Galra prisoner garb and with some sort of horrible muzzle cutting into his face."I didn’t think Keith would be the one they worried about talking too much." Pidge gave him a look and gestured for him to kneel. She pulled out a small knife from somewhere in her armor and used it to saw through the back of the muzzle. Keith groaned as she pried it from his face. It had cut into his face and was stuck with scabs in multiple places around his cheeks and chin.Lance was too busy staring at them to notice Shiro and Hunk hovering over him."Lance?" Hunk had tears on his face and Lance realized so did he."You're not dead." He breathed in relief. They weren't dead. It wasn't true. He felt Hunk trying to prop him up and the pain in his body was staggering. He looked down to find that he did still have legs, such as they were, a bloody mess of cuts and burns just like most of the rest of him. "Oh.""Lance? You with me?" Shiro nervously touched his face."Not really sure. I…don't remember which is real." Lance muttered."Okay." Shiro swallowed. "We're going to get you back to the castle, okay. I'm going to carry you. This is going to hurt.""S'okay Shiro, I'm goin' pass out," Lance slurred and he did despite their protests.When he woke again, Lance was falling out of the healing pod and into waiting arms."Hey guys,” Lance didn't even bother opening his eyes just snuggled into the warm blanket and hugs."It's good to have you back, buddy." Hunk snuggled right back, pulling Lance closer."Stop hogging the snuggles." Pidge squirmed her way in between them and latched onto Lance from the side.Lance laughed, blinking back tears and put an arm around her. "Missed you too Pidge," he choked out a little brokenly."Lance." Allura's voice was somewhere behind him. He turned to look at her and found her smiling at him. "We all missed you both.""Keith?" Lance suddenly felt fear clutch at his heart spinning around he found the mullet head standing next to Shiro."Right here." He answered smiling softly and Lance's felt himself relax again."Now, let's have him over here then Number Two." Coran patted a medical cot. "I just need to run a couple scans, my boy, and we'll have you off to get some nourishment and rest.""Okay." Lance smiled as Hunk lifted him up onto the table. "I'm not that wobbly Hunk." He swatted at him, but Hunk just grinned."Let him help you." Shiro smiled at the Yellow Paladin. "It makes him happy."Lance looked up into his friend’s warm brown eyes and smiled back huffing, "Fine, for you Hunk."Coran ran the scans. Keith had managed to work his way over next to Lance while Coran finished and went to check the readouts. Pidge and Hunk had wondered over with Coran, still learning how to read the Altean systems."So, you remember where you are?" Keith asked, a little nervous. Shiro was hovering in the background, clearly interested in the response as well."Yep, at the Castle." Lance turned to Keith, his face serious, "I remember what happened.""So, yeah, what was that?" Keith frowned."Sniper training?" Lance shrugged. "One of the mental techniques they taught us was to put yourself in a virtual world. Helps you stay focused and you can actually watch a target for like three days straight without sleeping if you are good at it.""So, you did that?" Keith's frown only deepened, "but you slept.""Well, it wasn't exactly the same, but I thought if it worked for that." He shrugged again. "It has to be real, can't be too perfect, has to fit the situation, but still give you a reason to focus." He sighed."That's kind of incredible." Keith answered surprising Lance. "They didn't get anything out of you, except a lullaby and a lot of things that didn't make sense. Nothing they could use at all.""That's amazing." Shiro reinforced. "I'm so proud of you both.""Keith gave me the idea, really." Lance smiled over at him. "He was distracting me until they made him stop." Lance reached up and brushed his hand across a faint scar on Keith's left cheekbone. "I wish I could have done more." Keith looked down at his hands."Hey, you both held up under a situation no one should ever be put in. I am so impressed by both of you." Shiro pulled Keith into a hug and then moved to Lance. "Really, guys, when you are feeling up to it, I want to talk with the team and if you can give us any advice on what you did or help us learn that virtual world technique I think we could all benefit from it."Lance gave him a sad smile, "It's hard though, I kept thinking Mama was there and now I…just makes me remember how much I miss her.""You'll see her again. We'll get back to Earth again." Shiro hugged him again and Lance realized he had tears running down his face again."We will." Keith spoke with a level of certainty that surprised Lance a little."How do you know?" Lance asked softly. Shiro moved back giving a funny grin to Keith before walking over to where the others were gathered."You owe me a date." Keith answered, a little less sure than before. "Remember, ball game and fireworks."Lance thought he might melt into the table. Keith remembered, Keith wanted to go, Keith was so dang cute when he was trying to look more confident than he actually was. "Well a promise is a promise." Lance smirked.Keith hummed slightly moving closer to Lance until he was standing between his legs with his arms wrapped around his waist. His eyes met Lance's and seemed to hold him there as they crinkled up with a smile Lance didn't even need to see his lips to know was there."There's that smize again. You keep that up and we might have to change one thing." Lance whispered."What's that?" Keith's voice was low and slightly breathy."Don't think I want to wait to get back to Earth for our first date." Lance tilted his head and pressed his lips lightly to Keith. He could feel Keith's lips twitching in a smile."I think I could live with that change."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Hands fluttered in front of his face, like birds, too nervous to alight, flitting from side to side. His eyes roamed the darkened room. It was wet, the whole room seemed wet. He had a helmet on, but it wasn't broken. He was certain his helmet was broken. A droning sound in the background kept getting louder. He tried to swat at it, but his hands didn't want to move. He could barely get them lifted off the floor. Was this a purple room? Was he still on a Galra ship? Wait, why would he have been on a ship? What was happening? Why did his chest feel like he'd been kicked by a horse? The droning was getting louder, like the hand birds were buzzing around like bees. Suddenly there was a face in front of him. He knew that face."Keith? Can you hear me?" Lance, that's right, this is Lance. Keith blinked up at him."Hey, you breathing okay?" Lance looked totally freaked out."Yeah." His voice sounded strained even to him. He coughed a little to clear his throat and felt like he'd lit his chest on fire. Tears streaked down his face he couldn't stop them."Oh, Keith, come on man, slow down, breath, okay…. just here." Lance grabbed his hand and squeezed. "Breath in when I squeeze, out when I let go okay." Lance squeezed and he breathed in, stars were dancing in front of him. Lance released and he let his breath go. In and out until the stars went away and the pain faded. Keith realized Lance's hand in his was shaking."Lance?""Keith? Hey, okay?" There were tears in Lance's eyes. He was not wearing a helmet."Yeah, thanks. Where are we?" Keith tried to set up and found he couldn't without Lance's help. He got him propped up against a wall."The ship hit the water. It broke up. We are in a part that's floating like a bobber. Sitting on the wall in a sinking space ship…" Lance seemed to lose his train of thought and was staring around him."Lance?""What? Oh, sorry. I was in contact with the team earlier, they know where we are." Lance turned to Keith and he noticed the damage on the other side of his face."Your head?" Keith frowned."Huh?""You're hurt." Keith tried to reach up again and failed."I am?" Lance reached up and flinched. "Oh, guess I banged my head.""Where is your helmet?" Keith frowned."On your head." Lance laughed."What? Why?" Keith tried to turn to look at the helmet, but of course from the inside, but it didn't look any different from his on this side."You stopped breathing. I…um…got you breathing again, but you were really out of it. I thought getting you some oxygen would help and your helmet was broken." He shrugged. "Unfortunately, the coms in your helmet aren't working, plus apparently the helmets are totally interchangeable, and I had to kind of ram that one on you and it won't come off…. sorry?""Oh. Don't be sorry, you saved me." Keith huffed. He tapped the com. "Shiro?""Keith? Where are you? Where is Lance?" Shiro's voice near panicked echoed back at him."We're apparently in the ship still, it's floating?" Keith offered."Not well." Pidge replied. "It's sinking, slowly for now, but I don't know at want point it's going to gain enough weight to go faster.""Okay, then we need to get out." Keith blinked."Yeah, we are working on a way out of there for you. Pidge has been looking through the schematics trying to find a path to the exit for you. What about Lance, is he okay?" Keith looked over at him, "He's hit his head and seems a little off, but okay. He put his helmet on me. Apparently, it's stuck and mine's busted.""Okay." Shiro sighed. "If only one of you has a helmet, we can't just send you out into the water.""What are they saying?" Lance asked."We can't just go scuba diving since you don't have a helmet." Keith snarked."Well duh, but tell them I am an excellent swimmer and can hold my breath for a really long time so don't rule that out, okay?" Lance urged."Okay." Keith relayed the information."How long?" Pidge snapped."Lance, how long?"“Four minutes, maybe longer." Lance answered easily."Four minutes, while swimming?! No way!" Keith scoffed."Lance, be serious, four minutes?!" Pidge barked at the same time."Really, ask Hunk." Lance defended."He can." Hunk replied to Pidge."Okay, really four minutes." Keith clarified looking almost impressed."I will take that into consideration." Pidge hummed."Keith, you guys just need to keep moving up through the ship." Shiro spoke strength and resolve in his voice. "Pidge will find the answer."Keith pushed and sit up further, his arms shook with the effort. It wasn't until that moment that something completely terrifying came to his attention. He hadn't moved his legs; he couldn't feel his legs."How…Shiro, I don't think I can do that?" Keith stared at his legs, his breath seemed to catch, and he felt a chill go down his spine."Why not? What's wrong?" Hunk this time, fear in his voice."I…um…I can't feel my legs." Keith blinked back tears. "I can barely move my arms.""Hey, it's okay, I got you." Lance's hands rested on his shoulders. "How do you think you got here? You just hit something when you fell earlier. The pods will fix you up as soon as we get back." "Keith, Lance will help you. We will try to find the easiest way for you guys." Pidge answered without any doubt in her voice."Keith, it's going to be okay." Shiro reassured.Keith stared down at his own hands, curling them into fists, at least he could still do that. He took in a deep breath and then looked up into Lance's blue eyes."I got you, okay?" Lance's eyes held nothing, but solid strength, gone was the fear and worry from earlier."Okay." Keith breathed.They rested in that room for a few dobashes before Keith had to question the plan."How do we get through a door in the ceiling?" Since the ship was sideways there wasn't an easy path."Well the last room we waited and let the water lift us most of the way, but I’m hoping there will be more rooms like this one. See the grooves in the wall, I'm pretty sure there are enough handholds to climb out." Lance answered. "As a matter of fact, now is as good a time as any to find out." Lance hefted Keith up onto his back, so he was piggy back riding, sort of, his legs refused to grip, but he managed to lock his hands tightly to Lance's chest, helping to hold his weight. "No offense, but you are heavier than you look, at least I am taller." Lance managed to get up the wall without too much trouble. The handholds were well spaced, and he didn't seem to have that much trouble hauling Keith despite his complaint. The real challenge was the door. It wasn't in the middle, closer to the wall they climbed, but still not right above them. Lance managed to reach out one arm and get a good grip, but then he had to swing over carrying him and Keith before getting other hand attached. It had to have put a strain on his shoulder, but he just grunted and did it. Once he had both hands, he was able to brace against the floor, Keith guessed, and pull up high enough to get his elbows over the edge. He kind of flopped Keith over onto the floor before climbing the rest of the way through himself. They were in a long hall, or rather a tall hall. There was a door to the side halfway up on the left, but the hall was a thirty-foot climb, even with a break half way it would be a challenge."Tell Pidge I think we found that main hall and we are going up and left unless she has another option." Lance spoke as he caught his breath.Keith relayed and Pidge only grunted, so their plan stayed the same. Lance stretched before picking Keith back up."Lance, are you sure? Should we wait for the water?""No!" Pidge snarled at the same time Lance shook his head. "Keith if the water gets too high, it will sink too fast and then we will have to figure a way to get you out from deeper or worse it will collapse under the pressure when it sinks. No, you have to keep moving.""I assume Pidge filled you in based on the look on your face." Lance sighed. "No choices, need to keep moving.""You could…" Keith started."Don't you dare say that I could leave you." Lance snarled, anger lighting his eyes. "Just shove that shit and focus on getting out.""Okay." Keith blinked. Of course, that's what he was going to say. It made sense; Lance would have already been out of here if it wasn't for him. In fact, Keith wasn't sure if Lance would have been trapped at all if it wasn't for him. Keith wasn't used to angry Lance and it offered a different perspective to the usually easy-going paladin.Lance huffed and started pulling some tubing off the wall."What are you doing?" Keith looked over curious. It looked like some kind of vent tubing that was metal, but flexible."Well, you hanging off of my neck is hard on my neck and your hands. I thought if I could make something that could,” Lance manipulated the tube into a u-shape. He held it against his waist and hummed. "Okay let's try this." He held the tube in one hand and got Keith onto his back. Then he slipped the tube behind and around him, under Keith's posterior and around his waist. Once he had it at the front, he twisted the end together, taking some of Keith's weight off of his arms. "Smart." Keith admired."You feel okay? It help?" Lance asked."Yeah, what about you? Easier?" "Yeah, actually a lot more balanced feeling. Ready?" Lance reached for the wall."Let's go."They made it up through the hall, stopping for a break at the halfway point, but Keith could feel the strain in Lance's back and the way his breath huffed by the time they reached the top. Thankfully the next room was some sort of long conference room and they were not only able to walk along the wall for a significant distance, and the table and chairs had made it easy to climb to the door, so no Tarzan swinging in this room. Two more halls and two smaller rooms later and Lance was pouring sweat and gasping for breath."I need a break." Keith declared, worry for Lance knotted inside him."Oh, sure buddy, sorry." Lance helped lower him to the floor before basically collapsing beside him. "Breaktime." He closed his eyes and Keith was almost certain he'd passed out. Thankfully his breathing remained strong and evident."Keith?" Shiro called, "you okay?""I'm fine. Lance basically just passed out from carrying my butt around." Keith huffed. He still couldn't feel or move his legs and his arms felt like jelly. Only his hands seemed to have any strength at all. "I feel so useless. I can't even help him.""You know you'd do the same for him." Shiro reminded gently and true or not it didn't make Keith feel any better."Keith, I have an exit. Two more halls straight up and then there is a long barracks to the left, at the end of it were escape pods. Looks like the pods got used, but you can get out through the openings. Right now, that part of the ship is only about ten feet under water. Lance should be able to swim you both up and away from the ship. We will be at the surface ready to get you both." Pidge burst out with her plan."Lance,” Keith nudged him. "Pidge has a plan.""Good, plans are good." Lance muttered before groaning and pushing himself back up. "We can do this." Under his breath he barely whispered, "you can do this." "You got this." Keith encouraged as Lance picked him back up. "Two more halls and then a long room and out.""Easy peasy." Lance huffed, but Keith thought he said it with a smile.They managed the first hall without too much trouble, but by the second Keith could feel the trembling in Lance's muscles and there were a couple of moments when he was more than a little concerned Lance was going to lose his grip. He didn't though, he stuck it out and they made it up into the barracks. Lance sat Keith down and bent over to vomit back down into the hall."Lance?""Just give me a minute. I just," his breaths heaved in and out as he vomited again."Keith, what's going on, you stopped?" Pidge asked quietly."Lance is puking." Keith answered bluntly. He didn't know what else to say, this sucked. His injury was pushing his friend beyond his limits and it just sucked."Oh." Pidge's voice sounded small. "Almost there, still only fifteen feet under." "Almost there, Lance." Keith encouraged. Lance straightened and managed to get Keith back into his makeshift seat before heading down the hall. They were halfway down when the world went sideways, literally. The entire ship shifted throwing them to the side of the room or the floor or ceiling or whatever direction it was. Keith felt himself fall and start sliding away before Lance's hand grabbed his arm and gripped hard. Keith was certain there would be bruises, but it was better than the alternative. They bounced up and down a few times before settling again, the room now upside down from its original intended direction. Keith hadn't even realized they had both been screaming until they stopped."KEITH!" Shiro's yell cut across Hunk and Pidge's excited chatter."Here, we are here." Keith answered looking over into the huge blue eyes across from him. Lance was prying his hand off Keith's arm and Keith tried not to wince too much."The ship tipped over." Hunk whispered."You think?!" Keith snapped."You need to move now! It's sinking fast! Hurry!" Pidge yelled."Lance, it's sinking you have to run!" Keith's panicked eyes begged Lance to leave him behind. Lance huffed and threw him over his shoulder not bothering with the harness. He ran the length of the room and through the door. There were three escape pod areas."How far?" He asked looking out into the murky darkness beyond the sealed door."How far, Pidge?" Keith yelled."Too far. It's too far." Her voice sounded hallow. "Lance can't swim it.""Wait, what about the jet pack?" Hunk called out."That could work, you have to try it." Pidge yelled back."Lance, Pidge says you need to use the jet pack to get us there. We are too deep." Lance nodded. He grabbed Keith and held him tightly. Keith locked his hands behind Lance's neck and gave him a nod."See you at the top." Lance gave him a smile before taking a few deep breaths and holding one. He opened the door, the water flooded in fast and Lance held onto the door until the force flowing in slowed and he was able to make his way out of the ship. They were apparently at the top at the ship as Keith could look back and see it falling away into the darkness. Lance activated his pack and they shot up. It wasn't far enough. It wasn't fast enough. Keith could tell they were in trouble. Maybe it was the pull of the sinking ship slowing them down, maybe Lance's pack was damaged, but whatever it was they were not getting to the surface and it was taking too long. Lance's eyes widened and he blinked them a few times. The first bubble escaped his lips, and he looked over to Keith."No. Please no." Keith whispered. He tried to get his own arm to his jet pack, but it didn't want to move. His hand clutched at Lance, willing him to use his pack too. He grabbed a hand and squeezed. Lance squeezed back and more bubbles escaped. He looked over and met Keith's eyes. He gave him a sad smile. Keith squeezed again desparate and tried to get him to activate his pack, Lance seemed to catch on, but as he was reaching the last bubbles left his mouth, his eyes widened in panic and he shook his head in denial. His hand worked out to the side desparately trying to swim upward, toward the surface, toward air, but one remained clinging to Keith. Keith watched in horror as the tension in his body increased and he took that first breath of water. His entire body convulsed, and Keith is certain he screamed. Lance breathed again and shook and shook and shook, before going completely still.Keith stared at blue eyes that didn't see him. He screamed and screamed. He could hear other voices calling out to him, but they didn't matter. This couldn't be real this could be happening. He pushed and pushed willing his arms to move, willing to be able to reach his pack until finally he felt his hand on the control. His hand that actually worked. He held one hand clinging to Lance and the other to the jet pack; he pushed, and they shot up again, faster it seemed this time, and the water was getting lighter. They were close, so close when it stopped. Keith stared in horror at the surface only feet away as they began to sink back down. It hadn't been enough. Lance was dead. A sob choked its way out of his throat. He couldn’t save him. What mattered if they saved the rest of the universe if Lance died. Lance could have lived. He had stayed and tried to save Keith and now they were both going to die anyway, and it was so stupid because he wasn't worth that. Lance should have left him. He wasn't anyone special. Lance had an entire family waiting for him that loved him. How dare he sacrifice that for Keith? His hands clutched at Lance's unmoving body and shook. This was all so wrong. He closed his eyes. He didn't want to see it anymore. The pain from his back and his head and his chest swelled around him and he drifted into darkness.He was not aware as strong arms wrapped around them and pulled them to the surface. As a second strong arm and a metal arm lifted them into the jaws of the waiting Green lion he slept on. As a best friend begged and pleaded pumping life through his brother and cried when he coughed, and water fountained out of his mouth and air flowed back into his lungs he remained deeply unconscious. His mind was not willing to fight against the pain and damage done to his body. He did not feel nimble fingers finally pry the wrong helmet from his head and he did not know that he was placed gently into a healing pod doubts dancing around behind the moustache about whether he would walk again.He awoke to falling forward from cold into warm arms and a soft blanket. "What?" He blinked up into blue eyes. "Am I dead?""No, Mullet, I hope heaven is nicer." The eyes smiled at him."But you died, drowned, I saw it." He frowned two tears leaking out."Hey, I'm okay." A hand reached out and wiped the tears away. "I'm okay. Hunk saved me. My bestest bud pulled us out of the water and managed to get me going again.""Shiro helped." Hunk's happy voice echoed somewhere in the room."Shiro?" Keith blinked and swiveled his head to the side to find his pseudo brother was holding up his other side. He smiled down at him, "I'm here.""Now then Number four, lets have you over here for a quick check." Coran's normally boistrous voice seemed to be edged with anxiety. "How long?" Keith managed."In the pod? Five days." Shiro answered with a sad frown. "We were really worried about you. You had a skull fracture and five broken vertebrae and four broken ribs."Shiro and Lance helped him up onto the medical bed. He was laid gently down and waited. Coran hummed as he ran some sort of lighted wand over his body. He nodded a few times and then was off to look at a screen. Pidge snaked forward and grabbed his hand squeezing it in her smaller one."You okay?" She asked."I'm…I…I think so." He thought about it. Nothing hurt. He was still shocked to see Lance walking and breathing. His eyes kept drifting over to him."Hey." Lance gave him a smile and patted his arm. It's like he could tell what he was thinking. "I'm okay, really."Keith blinked and smiled. That was really good to hear.Allura appeared in his line of sight and gave him a smile, "I heard you were awake. I am glad. I have hardly managed to move these four out for meals or sleep. They practically lived outside of your pod." She gave a fond sigh at their antics. Keith smiled a little more. It felt good to know they cared so much. He had spent most of his life without someone to miss him. Maybe he had a family too now."The scans look good, no lasting damage indicated." Coran smiled broadly delivering his good news. The collective sigh of relief around him had Keith wondering if he had just beat the odds.He found his eyes back on Lance. The blue-eyed boy smiled at him before reaching a hand out and grabbing his. He pulled Keith up to his feet and gave him a tight hug. "I'm glad you are okay." Lance huffed in his ear."I'm glad you are too." Keith whispered back.Lance pulled back and looked into his eyes with a sort of surprise followed by a soft smile and a hint of a blush. Keith reached out and found his hand again, wrapping his own in it. Lance looked down and the smile widened. "Food and sleep." Shiro ordered, smiling he pushed the two paladins, hands still clasped, forward. "Take him to the kitchen Lance and make sure he eats." "Okay, Shiro." Lance answered absently pulling Keith forward by the hand.Keith looked down at their hands together. They made it. They were alive. Lance's hands were really soft. He smiled again softly. "Keith?" Lance asked."I'm okay." He smiled back up at those blue eyes. "I'm okay."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Where did they even find those jackets?" Keith asked bewildered."At the space mall." Shiro answered in a similar state of disbelief."I fear we may have pushed them too hard." Allura stuttered."It does seem some downtime might be in order." Coran nodded flinching as Lance pulled out a blonde wig and put it on for the next "scene" in the musical the youngest paladins had decided to put on for their amusement."Lance isn't good as a blonde." Keith commented. "The poodle skirt fine, but the wig is just off.""I'm not sure whatever it is that Pidge is wearing is much better. How many socks did they stuff in her shirt?" Shiro blinked."More than Lance's." Keith answered. "You'd think Hunk would have taken off the headband, it doesn't match his jacket at all." Allura puzzled."I'm having trouble keeping track of which part they are playing at which time." Shiro admitted."I'm pretty sure Pidge is Rizzo. Lance is Sandy and Kenickie. Hunk is Danny and Frenchie and maybe Marty. I'm really unclear on the other parts. I think they keep forgetting to change clothes." Keith muttered, earning a surprised look from Shiro who didn't think he'd ever seen Grease before.***"Lance, does dance rather well though." Coran pointed out as he was switching wigs between playing Sandy and Cha Cha.The others hummed in agreement, trapped watching the youngest three sing and dance their hearts out. To be honest for an impromptu musical with no instruments, sets, scripts from memory and a cast of three they were really doing a pretty good job.***"Are those real cars? Pidge!" Shiro hollered over the revving engines, before Hunk and Pidge flew off down the hall in their race.Keith laughed.***"Is the message of this show that you should change yourself to match your friends?!" Allura asked outraged.Shiro and Keith were not capable of responding given Lance's appearance in the black leather outfit.***Coran had happily joined the end song and the four of them were giggling and singing about always being together.Shiro, Allura, and Keith sat watching them dance away, clapping mechanically. "So, vacation?" Shiro asked still staring straight ahead."Vacation." Allura agreed."Leather." Keith muttered watching Lance dance away.***And so, a week later…"I have an announcement." Allura stood at the head of the table after dinner. "As it turns out we have no scheduled missions for the next three days and we are near a resort planet that I used to visit as a child called Sabra.""What?" Hunk blinked."I have arranged for us, barring any emergency of course, to have rooms at the very same resort I used to visit. And no worries, Coran went and made the reservations himself to assure that it is still as nice as it was ten thousand years ago." Allura smiled at them."Actually, it's nicer. Apparently, it was rebuilt recently and is the best of the hotels on the shore." Coran assured."Shore?" Lance asked in awe."Yes, the resort sits on one of the planets many oceans. Each has a different color. This one is lavender and was always my favorite. The entire planet survives on revenue from visiting tourists. It is considered a non-conflict zone; no weapons are allowed on the planet. Oh Coran, is the carnival still on the beach?" Allura asked a childlike gleam in her eyes."Yes, indeed Princess, bigger and better than ever.""A beach? Ocean? Carnival?" Lance's eyes blinked open and closed like a doll."I think you broke Lance," Pidge snarked."I am soooooo excited!" Hunk grabbed Lance's arm which seemed to snap him out of his shock. He in turn grabbed Hunk and they were soon screaming and jumping up and down."Oh, I need swim trunks? Coran?" Lance stopped jumping and turned dramatically to Coran."No worries, there is an entire section of resort wear in the castle storage, you may come and choose what you like." He answered with a dramatic twirl of his moustache. "I will, of course, be able to provide guidance on what is really fashionable."Lance jumped up and he and Coran were off and ranting about packing for the trip for everyone. "Don't worry guys, I'll keep an eye on them." Hunk offered with a wave and headed after them.As it turns out someone should have had an eye on Allura as well."Exactly what is in here?" Shiro asked exasperated as he lifted the universe's heaviest suitcase/trunk into the shuttle they were using."Industrial size hair dryer." Pidge muttered trying to cram another of the princess’s cases into the back."A princess needs to be prepared for all circumstances." Allura answered primly batting her eyes before laughing and helping pack another huge trunk into the shuttle."Is there a weight restriction?" Hunk asked in awe."This is fine." Coran nodded. "You should have seen her mother pack for vacation." Coran shook his head then. "We had to take three shuttles to fit the family and their luggage.""Sounds fair." Lance smiled at Allura. His own trunk was much smaller, but still twice as large as any of the others. Lance had on a huge pair of blue sunglasses, a white button-down shirt and blue and red shorts that hit near his knee. He'd managed to find some kind of Altean sandals that were brown and wrapped around his feet and ankles."Shut up, tourist." Pidge snarked. She was wearing a green t-shirt and long khaki shorts and the Altean equivalent of flip flops."Be nice you two." Hunk's own bright yellow tank, white shorts, and flip flops made them the post card for beach travelers."Are we ready?" Coran laughed, his own blue and orange striped attire looked like a bathing suit from the 1800's or something. He even had a blue hat to go with it."Shotgun!" Lance yelled.***Two varga later…They had parked the castle in an asteroid belt, hidden from sensors and well protected. The planet had assured them it would be safe to orbit, but they were unwilling to leave it unmanned like that and they had all deserved the vacation. However, the three varga shuttle ride was turning out to be a little much for them all in a single shuttle, crammed into two rows of seats due to someone's excessive packing."I called shotgun. It isn't fair." Lance complained for the fifth time from the backseat where he was shoved between Keith and Hunk. Pidge was sitting on Hunk's lap her legs stretched over the top of them."Sorry, Lance, the grown-ups got the front seat." Allura echoed back, not sounding the least bit sorry."Like you are so much older!" Lance huffed."At least 10,000 years." Allura quipped."That does not count. Keith, quit touching me!" Lance elbowed his neighbor."Exactly how am I supposed to do that. We are packed right against each other." Keith growled elbowing back."Would you quit! I'm already dying back here. Shiro, are you sure you can't turn up the air? I have a Pidge blanket." Hunk whined."It's all the way up, Hunk, and we are freezing up here. Coran matches his hat." Shiro sighed.Coran did look an interesting shade of blue just then.Pidge shifted in her sleep tickling Lance's legs with her shorts. He laughed loudly and jerked at the sensation, elbowing both Keith and Hunk in the process. The other two boys snarled. Hunk shoved Lance so hard he ran into Keith again. Keith jabbed a sharp elbow into Lance's stomach making him pitch forward and sliding Pidge's legs into the back of the seat in front of them."STOP KICKING THE SEAT!" Shiro was close to losing his shit."Ow." Lance breathed giving dirty looks to both Hunk and Keith.Pidge snored and rolled back over onto all of them.Lance scooted back and spread his elbows and legs as wide as he could pushing against the other boys."Enough with the man spread, Lance." Hunk griped shoving his leg over and leaning on him."I'm squished. You guys keep pushing me around." Lance growled."Then stay in the middle." Keith stomped on his foot."OOW!" Lance yelled and drove an elbow at Keith's middle, which he blocked and pinched Lance's arm. "OWW! QUIT! You guys are being jerks!""IF YOU DON'T QUIT FIGHTING BACK THERE I SWEAR I WILL PULL THIS DAMN THING OVER!" Shiro yelled from the front seat.Keith, Hunk, and Lance all shared a look before they burst out laughing at him. Shiro groaned. Pidge sat up and yawned, "Are we there yet?"***The resort and beach were everything that Allura had promised. The resort hotel stood fifty stories high, reflective glass windows covered the building. The pale purple water of the ocean washed onto the shore in waves that had Lance and Hunk yelling about surfing. The white sands of the beach were pristine and stretched as far as they could see. When they landed the pod several different types of aliens all dressed in the same crisp white uniforms rushed out and began moving their luggage. Allura said that they had condos reserved along the beach. They were given three small vehicles that looked like hovering golf carts. They received a map of the resort with locations and times for activities and a reminder that there was a feast planned in their honor for that evening.Shiro loaded into one cart with Allura and Pidge. Coran tried to take the wheel on the next, but Keith beat him, which prompted Lance to take the third wheel with Hunk at his side and challenge Keith to a race. Unfortunately, or fortunately as it may be, the carts were very slow, and the race was a pathetic tie.Allura and Pidge took the first condo, Shiro and Keith the second. That left Hunk, Coran and Lance in the third.Lance walked in enjoying the beach themed decorations, of course it was all in purples and not blues, which he would have preferred, but they were soft colors with bright white accents and wave designs over everything, even some oddly square shells. He noticed two beds and a couch in the main area."I call the couch." He announced making it sound like a preference, and not a preemptive move to avoid being stuck with it, as the youngest in a family of five this was not an unusual arrangement for him. Hunk gave him a grateful smile aware of what he was doing."Oh, good choice." Coran crowed. He pressed a button and the couch cushion lifted to float about five feet from the ground and fluffed out to look like a cloud bed. "These are supposed to be wonderful to sleep on, though, I'll admit I don't relish the idea of floating in my sleep.""It's great." A huge grin split Lance's face and he rushed over to the other condo to tell Keith and Shiro about it. ***At the banquet that evening, there was a huge bonfire and lots of food, dancing and music. Hunk said it was like a Luau. Lance said it was like a family beach party. The others just thought it was fun. There was some sort of beverage in a red coconut looking thing that Shiro objected to at first, but after a brief discussion with Allura he allowed. Lance took a sip and smiled, "It tastes like a Pina Colada!""Why do you know what that tastes like?" Keith frowned."My sister-in-law used to let me drink a little of hers, not a lot, just a taste." Lance sipped happily. "This tastes almost exactly like the ones my brother would make."Hunk sniffed and sipped tentatively, "It is good.""Please don't get carried away, no more than three or make that two for you Pidge." Shiro frowned unsure if this was the proper thing to do."Shiro, you are not my parent. You are like an older brother. Act like it, be a bad influence once in a while too." Keith grinned as he sipped."Yeah, be the older frat brother that rolls you over, so you don't choke on your vomit after he gets you to drink way too much." Lance offered.Hunk, Pidge, Keith, and Shiro stared at him."What? Am I the only one that had a life?" Lance chugged the rest of his drink and smiled, "I'm dancing." He rushed back out to where others were already dancing around the bonfire.Hunk shrugged looking at the others, "He's not wrong, we are social rejects.""I wasn't." Shiro objected quietly."Yes, but what are you now, Space Dad." Pidge snarked.Shiro glared at her, downed his drink, and laughed, "Dancing." He walked away to join Lance, who looked surprised but happy to have Shiro grab him and spin him around."Huh." Keith offered."It does look like fun." Hunk decided."Where are Allura and Coran?" Pidge asked before spotting them lounging at the bar watching the two dancing paladins. Pidge waved them off and headed over to the Alteans. She was not dancing."So, may I have this dance?" Hunk asked offering Keith his hand."Why not?" Keith smiled and they both finished their drinks before heading out to join the other two dancing.***Lance woke the next morning sleeping on a cloud. He smiled and stretched. He'd danced with everyone he thought, so many smiles and laughs and new dances and Pina Colodas. He found himself grinning in realization that he had not gotten that drunk and did not have a head ache or naseau this morning, the alien booze must not have been very strong. He lowered his bed back to the couch and slipped on a hoodie. The morning was gray and looked chilly. He didn't bother with shoes. He went out to beach and walked along the edge of the water, watching the water come and go and walking in and out of it. Leaving footprints in the white sand. The colors were wrong, but it reminded him so strongly of home that he half expected his mama to call him to breakfast. He closed his eyes thinking of the many mornings he had woke before everyone else and done just this, ever since he was deemed old enough to be trusted to stay out of the water when no one else was around."Lance?" Keith's voice was quiet, but Lance still jumped."You really want to give me a heart attack, don't you?" Lance shook his head, wiping tears on the sleeve of his hoodie. Keith was dressed in workout clothes and had probably been running as he was sweating and panting a bit."No. You okay?" Keith frowned."Yeah, just really reminds me of home. It's good, but sad too." Lance sighed. "I wonder when we will get to go home again or even if we ever will.""We will." Keith stated like it was a fact."You can't know that. Zarkon has been in power for ten thousand years, do we really think we're going to beat him in a year or two and go home?""Sure, Voltron hasn't been around all that time. We kick his ass and then go home." Keith smiled slyly."Sure." Lance shook his head."Seriously though, we have the weapon he has always feared and there has to be a reason. He knows we can beat him. We will get back home. It might take a while but we're going." Keith put an arm around Lance."I like that you're sure." Lance offered. He wasn't quite convinced, but it helped that Keith seemed to be."Tell me something you used to do on the beach? Something we could do today?" Keith pried."Well, sometimes in the summer we would have sandcastle building contests, Mami would judge them." Lance smiled at the memory and the crazy things he and his siblings had created."We can do that." Keith nodded. "I've never done that before." "You've never built a sandcastle?" Lance asked shocked."Lance, this is the first time I've ever been to a beach like this." Keith gestured to the horizon. "It just keeps going. It's amazing really."Lance took several moments to recover, "Okay, so we are building sandcastles, then I'm teaching you to swim in a current like this, and then we are going to make some surfboards. Oh, and we have to bury you in the sand." Lance rattled off happily."Bury me?" Keith raised his eyebrows and frowned."Don't look at me like that. You cover up like half of the person with sand or maybe up to their neck, depending on what you are doing. You can just make it look weird like a head in the sand, or make them look like something else, like a mermaid or something. It feels cool and it's fun and you've never done it so you're trying it. Also, we have to hunt for seashells, do they have those here? Well even if they don’t, we can still hunt for them and then we'll know."Keith smiled in amusement as Lance continued rattling off important things to do as one by one the others joined them. The sandcastle contest was something to behold. Pidge had declared that picking teams sucked and had them draw straws. Team one was Keith, Pidge, and Hunk. Team two was Lance, Shiro, and Coran. Allura was the official judge, as obviously a princess knows a lot about castles according to Lance.Team One's castle was huge, easily eight feet tall at the peak of the highest tower. It bore a striking resemblance to Cinderella's castle, though not enough to worry about a copyright. Pidge had created a draw bridge that opened and closed and installed some kind of luminescent shells to the interior to give lighting. Keith had gathered shells and layered them on the towers to act like tile roofs. It was overall very striking.Team Two's castle looked like a flying alien city. It wasn't as tall only about six foot at the top of the central spire, but the towers were decorated with glass and there were spirals of glass in different colors that shot up throughout the castle. Pidge argued it was cheating. Lance argued it was just hot sand and why shouldn't they make it since they had Shiro on their team.Allura declared it a tie over their bickering and told them to come to lunch. She had a picnic delivered to the beach and they sat on blankets and ate something that looked like peanut butter and jelly - if the peanut butter was made with beans instead of peanuts and the jelly was bacon flavored.After the meal they all laid out and took a nap. It was crazy to relax like this and it had really been too long. Pidge had started to creep away to a laptop, but Allura caught her by the wrist."Pidge, everything needs to recharge sometime, even you. Give yourself this time and when you get back you will be more prepared and will work faster." Allura begged. "We can't work ourselves to death; there is no one to take our places."Pidge paused pondering what Allura had said and then nodded, curling back up on the blanket and snuggling into Hunk's side. Allura allowed herself to relax again. This was something they all needed.The swimming lessons commenced after. Keith wasn't a bad swimmer and Lance only had to rescue him once before he listened to his fellow paladin about the dangers of the undertow. Hunk splashed right along with them as did Allura. Coran, Shiro, and Pidge stayed on the shoreline. Pidge said she was part robot and water was bad for her. Shiro waved his own anchor of an arm as an excuse and Coran simply laughed and said they couldn't teach an old warbraxlian like himself any new things. Lance was an amazing swimmer and Keith had a hard time keeping his eyes off of him. He even challenged the princess to a race. He lost, but he claimed her shifting into something with flippers was cheating anyway.Keith was shocked at how exhausted he was when he came out of the water and how heavy his body felt. Swimming in the ocean was really a lot more tiring than a pool, Lance had been right. Lance grabbed him a towel to lay down on and declared it was time to bury him, so he could take a nap.When Keith woke to a mermaid tale and breasts he had to clamor out of the sand and chase Lance around the beach for a while until he caught him and dragged him back to the towel and declared it was his turn. Lance complained he would have been fine with the mermaid body, but Keith gave him the body of a middle-aged man with a beer gut. Pidge carefully documented both, though the boys were not yet aware of it. They would be when she needed something.They were making preparations for the evening meal when an alarm sounded on a device Allura was carrying. She frowned and tapped at it, before sighing and turning to the others. "I'm sorry everyone, but we will need to cut this short. There has been a Galra fleet detected in the vicinity of an alliance planet. We need to get there and be ready to defend them if needed." Allura smiled sadly at the paladins, to their credit they all nodded without complaint. She was proud of them. "Let's have everything packed and be in the shuttle as quickly as possible. I would like to wormhole out tonight."The packing went smoothly. They had all been aware that this was a possibility and had made accommodations to allow for quick pack ups. Crowded back in the shuttle on the way to the castle, Lance leaned his head against Keith's shoulder, "How was your first beach trip?”“It was good.” Keith smiled softly.“Sorry we didn't get to go surfing or hunt sea shells." Lance frowned"It's okay." Keith shrugged. "There wasn't anything we could do.""I know, but I guess we did a lot." Lance suddenly quirked a smile, “We can go surfing and hunt sea shells when we get home.”"I would like that. I could see myself living on a beach someday." Keith smiled over at Lance."Oh yeah, maybe we could be neighbors?" Lance smiled thinking about his dreamhouse on the beach.Keith hummed and turned so that his violet eyes were staring straight into Lance's ocean blues, "Maybe we could be closer than that.""Oh yeah?" Lance blinked and licked his lips, before grinning mischievously, "So roomies, huh?" Hunk choked on laughter and Pidge swatted him in the back of the head, but Lance just laughed at the frustrated look on Keith's face, before leaning back against his shoulder and closing his eyes."I could find room for a mullet in my dream house." Lance muttered as his breathing slowed and evened into sleep. Keith smiled down at him and wondered what he was getting himself into.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"No.""Seriously? I’m not going to drop you." Keith sighed exasperated with his partner in the current training exercise. Shiro had been telling Allura about types of bonding exercises for teams on earth and upon hearing about trust falls she had decided it would be a great team exercise. There was only one problem with that - one rather loud problem."I'm not doing this." Lance folded his arms and glared at Keith."I let you catch me already. What's the big deal?!" Keith threw up his hands. He'd been having this fight since they had split off. He'd let Lance catch him like five times and still the Blue Paladin flat out refused to fall back for Keith."I DON'T DO THIS." Lance bit out the words angrily."Please, Lance?" Keith asked quietly. He didn't understand how Lance wouldn't even trust him enough to catch him in a stupid bonding exercise."Keith,” Lance sighed. "I trust you. This is not about that. I trust you with my quiznacking life all the time." Lance tried again to make Keith see. He just didn't want to have to explain why he didn't do these. Hunk kept shooting concerned glances his way. Hunk knew."Fine, whatever. I guess we should switch partners." Keith huffed.No matter what Lance said, Keith was hurt by this and that was not what he wanted. "So, who do you need? Hunk? Shiro?" Keith's voice sounded betrayed."No. It doesn't matter who, I told you that." Lance crossed his arms. He was starting to get frustrated with Keith's insistence on taking this personally."Lance! Keith!" Shiro called over, he and Hunk had done several rounds each and Pidge and Allura looked like they were done as well. It had been amusing to see Allura shrink as part of her shapeshifting abilities to make the exercise easier for Pidge."Great," Lance muttered."Hey, how come Lance hasn't gone?" Shiro had clearly been keeping an eye on the situation and decided to intervene. Hunk started chewing his nails and looking between Lance and Shiro."I don't do these." Lance stated in what he had hoped was a calm voice but judging from the look on Hunk's face it may have come out wrong."Why not?" Shiro frowned."Please, Shiro, I just really don't." Lance knew that one came out whiney."Lance, everyone else has demonstrated their trust, why won't you?" Allura frowned, she would not have pegged Lance for someone untrusting. She had been far more concerned about Keith, but he had done fine."So, I have to prove I trust you?!" Lance was really getting tired of this and just wished they would accept what he said."Guys." Hunk's voice tentatively tried to break in"Well, right now it just seems like you are proving that you don't trust us!" Keith really wasn't getting over this anytime soon. He thought that he and Lance had gotten close. He cared about him. He thought Lance felt the same way."Keith." Hunk was really chewing at his fingers now. "Lance?""No, fine. Perfect. Just let's move over to the padded area." Lance growled as he stepped up onto the training mat."I will not drop you!" Keith nearly shrieked."Yeah, that's what they all say." Lance whispered."Lance?" Hunk moved to stand in front of him."I can do this. I guess I have something to prove." Lance answered staring at Hunk.Hunk could see the fear building up in his eyes, "No you don't." Hunk whispered."Yes, apparently I do." Lance sighed quietly. He closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest and he just stood there."Lance? Any day now?" Keith frowned waiting to catch him.Lance took another deep breath and Hunk could see him trembling now. He was muttering under his breath "I can do this." About two dobashes later, Lance looked up at Hunk, there were tears in his eyes, "I can't do this. Give me a push, please." His voice strained."Lance, you don't have to." Hunk tried again."Lance, what's going on?" Shiro seemed to realize there was more to this than a team bonding thing."Please Hunk, I just need a push." Lance begged."Are you sure?" Hunk was not sure.Lance nodded. Hunk pushed. Lance fell back, only about halfway down his body seemed to change its mind and tried to curl around himself. Keith had to dive forward but managed to catch him at least mostly and his head did not hit the floor, just one shoulder.Lance was breathing heavily and clearly shaking at this point."Lance?" Keith was genuinely confused and worried."Good catch." He managed to mutter before Hunk wrapped him in a hug. "I'm fine.""Okay." Hunk said not letting go or loosing up at all."I really hate that." Lance murmured into Hunk's shoulder. "I'm so stupid.""No, you aren't." Hunk shook his head. "Am I stupid from being afraid of ferrets?"Lance chuckled wetly, "No. I totally have seen the scars on your arm.""Right, and this isn't stupid either."Lance sighed and seemed to be relaxing some."I'm sorry," he managed a little louder to the team."No, I'm sorry." Shiro knelt next to them. "I shouldn't have forced you into this situation. It's clearly bothering you.""I'm sorry too." Keith reached out and touched his shoulder."It's okay. I'm just, I know it's weird, but I'm really afraid of doing that and it doesn’t have anything to do with not trusting you. I trust you so much. I just, it's not like rational.""Why does it scare you?" Allura asked, her face open and caring."I had sort of a bad experience with it once." Lance turned so he could look at them."I'm not sure bad covers it,” Hunk frowned."Yeah, really bad?" Lance shrugged."What happened?" Keith leaned into his shoulder."It was like a prank, or an initiation kind of thing,” Lance shivered, "I wasn't supposed to get hurt.""Who hurt you?" Keith's eyes flashed and Lance had a brief image of the Red Paladin stalking down and beating every kid that was ever mean to him."I was new on the swim team at my school. We were supposed to do trust falls and I guess I'd made too many jokes or was too loud…""Or they were just a bunch of jerks." Hunk filled in growling a little."Or that. Anyway, so they decided to trick me. We had to close our eyes and they were trying to move me around and I got kind of disoriented and dizzy. Apparently, they wanted me to just fall back in the pool, but I was so dizzy I fell kind of sideways and cracked my head on the side of the pool." Lance shrugged again."He means, cracked, like broke his skull, gave him a severe concussion and landed him in the hospital for nearly a month and made him miss his entire season." Hunk corrected."Oh, Lance." Allura cried, hand flying to her mouth."Yeah, so I guess it just kind of freaks me out. It really hurt and then I fell in the pool and couldn't swim up out of the water. It's just,” Lance shivered. "I guess I'm just afraid." The words dripped in his disappointment in himself."Who the hell wouldn't be?" Pidge snarked."Language." Shiro sighed."Seriously, Lance, you could have just told us that." Pidge put her hand over his."It's embarrassing." Lance huffed."No, it's not." Keith frowned. "Embarrassing is that green facemask you put on.""That is not embarrassing that is exfoliating and it wouldn't hurt you to try it!" Lance snapped his eyes up from where they had taken residence staring at the floor.Hunk laughed, then Pidge, and it snowballed until they were all giggling and laughing about skin care and random fears and why Keith had perfect skin and it was so not fair. Later as they were leaving the training deck, Lance leaned over to Keith and whispered, "I do trust you."Keith smiled and whispered back, "I know. I trust you too. I'm still kind of new to this trusting people thing. I'll get better."Lance smiled back and took his hand, "You don't have to prove anything.""You either." Keith squeezed his hand.
"The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them." - Ernest Hemingway

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"This place gives me the creeps.""You've said that already, Lance." Keith grumped."Like five times already," Pidge added."Well it does." Lance whined. He felt like his skin was crawling and something was lurking around the next corner and bad things were coming and all of those other bad feeling clichés had wrapped up into a ball and splatted right into him."It's an abandoned city, that stretches for miles, it gives all of us the creeps." Shiro sighed. It was unnerving building after building after building of nothingness. He didn't blame Lance for feeling off."I'm right there with you, but please stop talking about it. Talking about it is not making me feel better." Hunk whispered."Sorry, Hunk." Lance felt another shiver go down his spine. Someone or something was watching them. They had come down to investigate a distress signal. They'd loaded up in Green and Black and headed down. There didn't seem to be a reason for all of the other lions and though Green was the best for doing scans, she was a little small and Black was big enough they could all comfortably ride along. They found the distress signal embedded in a giant spire in the center of town, but apparently, they were a little late. There was no one here. It was weird, there weren't any bodies, there wasn't sign of a battle, just empty nothingness. So now they were doing some snooping trying to figure out what had happened to the people who lived here."They must have been about human sized. See the steps and doors are all the right size for us." Pidge commented."The windows are triangles." Keith frowned at the buildings and their oddly shaped eyes."The buildings are made of something like concrete. It's a mixture, there is some of the local stone mixed in it." Hunk commented. "I don't see any cars, wonder if they walked everywhere or there was some kind of public transportation.""Or maybe they were just fast or maybe they flew." Lance offered sharply, still uncomfortable. "Either way they are gone. How long are we going to stay here?""Lance, if this is some new weapon of the Galra we need to understand what it was or what the tactic was or why all these people are gone." Allura was watching from the castle. She was saddened by the state of the planet. Empty places reminded her of what she had lost."I am still not able to get any scans past the atmosphere." Coran's voice spoke through the coms. "At least it is not interfering with the communications.""I just don't see what else we are going to find here?" Lance fidgeted. "Maybe we'd find something in one of the houses? Like a newspaper or something? Or mabye a computer?" Hunk offered."What about like a government center or something?" Keith tried. "I mean the signal was just in that statue in the middle of town, but maybe there's some kind of office or something?""All solid ideas lets split up and go check them out. Pidge, you and I will start checking the residences. Keith and Hunk search for some sort of government center or offices. Lance…""Shiro, I'd like to head up one of these tall buildings. I can use the scope to keep an eye on things, see if there is anyone further out or just maybe avoiding us." Lance thrummed his fingers against the sniper rifle that appeared in his hands."Okay, Lance,” Shiro nodded. He wasn't feeling quite as off as Lance, but he respected the kid’s instincts, and something was obviously bugging him.Lance entered the building of his choice. It was about fifteen stories high and was one of the tallest in this part of the town. The building was open in the center all the way up to a skylight. There were balconies for each floor all around the edge. He shrugged and activated his jet pack, using it to jump up from balcony to balcony until he reached the top. Stairs were overrated. He smiled to himself. He found a door that led to a ramp that went up and out onto a flat roof. The middle was glass, but the outer edges were covered in rooftop gardens, divided into little squares, probably one for each apartment below. Lance walked the parameter and then picked a spot where he could see both Shiro and Pidge's area and Keith and Hunk's. Lance made himself comfortable and started scanning the area. The feeling of his skin crawling had slacked, but he still felt he had missed something, and he was worried.Two varga later he was beginning to think it was all just in his head."Okay, so I'm still confused. It looks like everything was situation normal and then just poof, gone. No notes, no warnings, no hey something bad might happen, I haven't even found a conspiracy theory." Hunk sighed."We have not found any significant clues either. It's strange. I mean they activated that signal." Pidge hummed, worried. "To just disappear, it's wrong." Allura spoke over the com."Lance, anything?" Shiro asked, looking up to the sky where Lance was somewhere above him in the building."Nope." He popped the P at the end in frustration."Alright, I'm calling this. Time to head back to the Lions." Shiro did not like leaving behind a mystery, but there was only so much they could do."So, we call it Roanoke and pack up?" Lance quipped."Roa…what?" Allura asked."Ancient earth history. It was a colony that all the people disappeared from there. No one ever figured out what happened to them." Keith answered."Keith got a reference?" Lance's smirk could be heard in his voice."I know stuff." Keith defended."Keith knows stuff." Pidge defended. "Weird history, conspiracy theories, mothman, bigfoot…""Just stop helping Pidge." Keith huffed."Shiro, I'm going to hang up here until you guys get to the lions." Lance announced."Okay, Lance." Shiro didn't think there was any reason to worry. They were nearly back to the Lions when it all went sideways."Paladins! We have a Galra fleet incoming. Three cruisers and fighters." Coran called over the coms. "I have the particle barrier up.""We can hold them until you get here, but please hurry." Allura already sounded strained."Double time, Paladins! Lance move it." Shiro yelled.Lance jumped up and ran to the stairs. He took a flying leap from the top balcony and glided down to the ground floor with his jet pack. He bent his knees and landed a little roughly putting his hands down to stabilize himself. He shrieked when he felt something touch his back."Lance?!" Keith and Shiro yelled for him.He spun around pulling his bayard up level as he did and came face to face with a small creature. It was about three feet tall with blue feathers and a beak. Its eyes were wide and intelligent. Its legs were human like, but it had wings and arms. It was wearing a soft pink shift and that's were Lance decided to shift to they and not it, because this clearly wasn't an animal."Hey, there." Lance lowered the bayard and stretched out a hand. "Hi. I'm Lance.""Are you leaving?" The bird person chirped at him."Yeah. We were leaving." Lance spoke softly, the person before him seemed frightened."Will you take us with you? We are afraid." Two big tears rolled out of their eyes."Okay, who are you?" Lance asked quietly."Trill, I am the oldest of us. We don't know why everyone left us behind. We are afraid." Their little body had started shaking."Who left you?" Lance frowned."Mommy and Daddy and everyone. We were in our day place, where we stayed when they worked, but then something happened, and they were all gone, and we were alone. We don't have any more food and we are hungry.""Lance are you okay?" Keith demanded."Yeah, but you guys head up without me. I've found some natives. I need to get them somewhere safe.""Lance, we need you in Blue, they can wait until we return." Allura responded sharply."Allura, they're kids." Lance corrected. He was not just leaving them here."There are only three cruisers we can take them." Keith stated confidently."Alright, as soon as Shiro drops Keith and Hunk at the castle, Coran will come down to you with a pod to load up the children. How many are there?" Allura asked."Um…Trill, how many of you are there?" Lance turned back to the child."This many." Trill held up ten fingers and four feathers, "Oh wait, I forgot me." They added a fifth feather."Fifteen Allura, and Trill said they were the oldest and they are only about three feet tall, so I don't think it will be an issue for the shuttle pod." Lance provided.Meanwhile with the lions…"Pidge, we need you to run interference while I take Keith and Hunk to their lions." Shiro ordered."On it. I have something new I've been wanting to give a good trial; this will be perfect." Pidge rubbed her hands together with what Lance often called "evil glee". "Sounds good Pidge, just be careful." Shiro worried. He flew toward the castle but kept his eyes on the Green Lion and her pilot. Black knew where she was going. The Green Lion cloaked and then suddenly reappeared on the other side of the ships approaching. They turned to fire and the fighters moved to intercept, before they got there and before any shots hit, the Green Lion cloaked. A couple of dobashes later she appeared in a completely different sector of space."Pidge, either you've got some new holograms, or you've figured out how to fold space." Hunk laughed from behind Shiro, apparently, he had been watching over his shoulder."You like them?" Pidge smiled."Love them." Hunk answered."Very nice work, Pidge." Shiro commended. Shiro hurried to the castle and barely stopped long enough for Hunk and Keith to exit Black before turning and heading back to help Pidge."Guys, a contingent of fighters is headed toward the planet." Pidge called out, unable to distract all of them at once."I'm heading back,” Shiro called to her. "Lance, get to cover, I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull them all back.""On it." Lance turned back to Trill. "So, is there somewhere safe you can go? Some place strong?""Why?" The little bird creature's feathers fluffed out and they shook again."There might be some trouble coming and we just want to keep you safe. I'm a Paladin of Voltron and it's my job."Trill cocked their head to the side and chirped, "Okay. There is a place where we would go for storms?""That sounds perfect,” Lance smiled his approval and watched was the feathers smoothed themselves out again. "Let's get the rest of you and go there now."Trill nodded and grabbed Lance's hand with his little one pulling him forward to a door. Inside there were fourteen more little bird creatures ranging from about a foot tall to nearly Trill's height. They were all sorts of bright colors - yellows, greens, blues, and reds were dominant. "You are all beautiful." Lance smiled. "I'm Lance. I'm a Paladin of Voltron and with Trill's help we are going to take you somewhere safe." Lance spoke carefully noting a lot of fluffed feathers and shaking in the room. Some of them with cheeping like baby chicks and he wondered just how young they were."We need to go to the storm shelter." Trill announced confidently. Their little head nodding to several in the room. They moved to pick up the smallest, a little red bird. "Lance, could you carry Trex and Ywella?" Trill brushed a wing across two smaller yellow birds. "They don't walk well yet. Everyone else can walk." Trill noted proudly."I can do that." Lance smiled gently at the two shaking babies and gently lifted them. They were so light it felt like he wasn't caring anything at all, definitely lighter than a human baby that size would have been. "Okay Trill, lead the way."They moved out of the building and down the street. Trill said it was only a few moments walk ahead. Lance didn't know how long a moment was on this planet, but hoped it wasn't too long."Lance, how's it going?""We are moving to the shelter." Lance responded."There are still two fighters in bound, hurry." Shiro warned."Okay." Lance looked back over his shoulder, practically expecting to see the fighters there already, but it would take them a little longer to reach them, that was if they even knew to look for them or where just scanning the planet to see why Voltron had been down there.Trill chirped up ahead and Lance saw him pointing down. As he got closer, he could see a metal hatch of some sort embedded into the concrete surface. Lance set the little ones down and went to open the door, it was heavy and he had to strain, but he managed to get it flipped open, dropping it rather ungracefully to the ground, thankfully everyone was out of the way and it was on hinges. He looked down into the hole and was surprised to see it set up very much like the building he had been in earlier, an open area down the middle with balconies all around.Trill made some sort of sound and about ten of the other bird children started flapping their wings and jumped into the hole, gliding down to land on the third floor down. He did not see any stairs. He hoped his jet pack could handle it. He looked back to the five remaining."These can't fly." Trill noted. "I can carry the three smallest, but these are too big for me." The two in question ruffled green and red feathers and made a sad little chirp sound that was almost apologetic."Okay, Trill, go ahead and take the littlest one there first and I will wait up here, okay?" Lance pulled his bayard and watched the sky as Trill made his first trip. He didn't have too much trouble, though he had to flap hard to get back up. Lance again worried about how young these creatures were. "I need to catch my breath." Trill announced when he reached the top."Then I will take these two." Lance gathered the two, in question, "What are your names?" He asked."Brew." Chirped the green one. "Pip." He barely heard squeak from the red one."Alright, Brew and Pip. Hold on. I have to use one hand to control my jet pack and it might not be as nice a ride as flying with wings, but I'll try." The two nodded and settled under his right arm. He jumped into the hole and activated the pack just before the landing he wanted. It was a little jerky and the little ones squawked in alarm. Pip actually managed to claw him a little, but it wasn't bad. He got his feet under him and sat them down apologizing. They cooed at him and Pip brushed a wing up against the scratches they had left that had torn into his under armor. The other children took the two, literally under wing and he jumped out and fired the pack again heading to the top."Trill, you ready?" Trill nodded and picked up Trex before moving down into the bunker.Lance was watching him land when the sound of the Galra fighters approaching reached his ears. He knelt down and pulled Ywella behind him to watch for the fighters out of his scope. "Trill, sorry to rush you, but we need to hurry, can one of the older ones get Ywella?" Lance called down. He watched the fighters approach, they weren't firing yet and buzzed overhead before turning sharply and heading back there way. It was unlikely that they weren't spotted being out in the open like this.A little green bird child appeared at the top along with another blue one. Between the two of them they grabbed Ywella and awkwardly dove back into the bunker. They chirped and squawked, but Lance heard Trill talking to them and offering support and they yelled up when they had landed safely."Everyone back away into a safe room." Lance yelled. When the first fighter took a shot, he knew they'd been spotted. He fired back, moving to the door. He had to drop the rifle to get the door lifted, but once it was far enough over, he just let it fall, grabbing the rifle again and shooting off more rounds. He managed to wing one of the fighters and it wobbled off course, pulling up and away, but the other barreled toward him. He fired and moved, trying to draw the attack away from the bunker and find shelter for himself. The fighter and its blasts followed him. He ran to one of the surrounding buildings and dove forward around a corner as the warmth from a too close hit lit up his back."Quiznak." Lance peered around the corner and waited for the fighter to make a return, but it didn't. In fact, he didn't hear it at all anymore."Lance, what's going on down there." Keith's voice interrupted his thoughts."I have the kids in a bunker. There were two fighters, I winged one, but now they've both disappeared. I don't know if they landed somewhere or just took off.""Why aren't you in the bunker?" Keith snapped."Wasn't time. I'm going there now. I'm not sure how good the signal is going to be from down there, so I'm sending you the coordinates." "Okay, be careful, if you have Galra on foot and they saw the bunker…" Keith paused."I know. They'll be coming. I think I can set up a pretty good spot to cover the door once I'm down there. Just don't take too long, huh?" Lance chuckled a little nervously."We're doing our best." Pidge's voice cut across the conversation. "Keith, focus, we need Red over here.""On it." "Be safe, Lance." Hunk called, though the noises in the background indicated clear distraction."Lance, Coran can't get through with the pod. There are too many fighters and the pod just doesn't have the maneuverability to avoid them." Allura apologized."I get it, we're good for now." Lance managed to get the door opened and through a sweat inducing, muscle straining feet of acrobatics and jet pack usage, pulled the door closed behind him as he entered the bunker. He could hear the children below chirping quietly. "Guys?" Lance tried the com. "Keith?" No answer just static. Lance sighed and began preparation to guard his position.On the other side of the town the second fighter lander next to the downed first. The Galra soldiers climbed out and waited for the undamaged droids that had been aboard to join them. "Commander?""Report.""One fighter damaged, but we spotted a Paladin and at least one Braxarian.""Are you sure?!" The Commander's voice nearly echoed it was so loud."Yes, they are hard to miss.""I need them. Capture and bring every single one of them to me!""And the Paladin?""Bring him if you can, if not eliminate the threat. He will not stop me from getting my prize. Are you orders clear?" "Yes sir, vrepit Sa!""Vrepit Sa!"To be continued in Day 27 MAGIC

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Day 27 – Magic"So, Trill, tell me about yourself." Lance sat at the edge of the balcony, bayard in gun form resting on his lap. Trill sat in the doorway to the room the kids had moved into. It was large enough for all of them and they had pulled all the cushions from the chairs in the room and made a large pile in the middle where they were now currently resting. There was also a staircase in the back that led out of the room if they needed to hide more. The two larger children that had helped with the flying earlier had gone through the rooms on the floor and returned with pouches of something that the kids slurped up, but Lance thought smelled like creamed gross. Lance had told the kids to lock themselves in, but Trill wanted to sit by him. They said they would close the door if trouble came. Lance understood that they didn't want to be alone, that maybe they were afraid of being abandoned again."What should I say?" Trill turned his head almost completely sideways, not getting Lance's question."Oh, it's something people on earth say when they want to get to know each other." Lance smiled. "That's where I'm from.""Oh, I'm a Blue Braxarian. My nest mates and I were hatched here on Novertia.""You were hatched here, like from an egg? Do you all have the same parents?" Lance asked curious."I don't know. The Noverts found us and brought us here." Trill shrugged."So, your Mommy and Daddy aren't Braxarians?" Lance frowned."No, they look like you, only with the soft stuff on your head on their whole body. They are Norvert." Trill had rubbed their head against Lance's earlier and seemed very happy with his hair."So, they found your eggs and brought you here to hatch? Do you not have a home planet or something?" Lance frowned."Mommy said our people used to have a home, but that we are almost all gone. They rescued us from bad people. She said people would try to hurt us, because we are special, but that she and Daddy and their people would help protect us." Trill sniffled a little. "Did Mommy and Daddy get hurt because of us? Did they change their minds and leave us? Do you know where Kotta went?""Who's Kotta?""My nest mate. She went outside to see what was wrong. The alarms went off and we went to the safe place, but she wanted to see what was wrong. She is the biggest of us and our flock leader." Trill answered sadly."I don't know why your Mommy and Daddy aren't here, but I don't think they would leave you. Not if they were trying to protect you. Sounds like they loved you a lot." Lance smiled. "Maybe wherever Kotta went, they are there too?""You think?" Trill whispered. "Kotta would disappear sometimes.""Disappear?" Lance's eyebrows shot up, "How?""Magic." Trill answered with a smile. "We all have magic. Green Braxarians can make things grow, Yellow Braxarians can make heat, Red Braxarians can heal, and I can make a shield. Kotta was the only Black amongst us and we know she could disappear. She said she went somewhere else, but we didn't know where.""Huh? Well maybe that's what happened. We couldn't find any clues, but I know a Princess that knows a bit about magic and maybe she can help you?" Lance smiled at the little bird."Do you think she would?" Trill cooed."No promises that she can fix anything, but maybe she can at least help you figure out what happened if she knows what to look for. I know she wanted to find out." Lance didn't want the kids hopes up too far, in his experience empty planets didn't suddenly get repopulated.As Lance was turning over the information in his mind, the door above them started to rattle and bang, "Trill get in the room, close and lock the door, stay quiet and don't come out no matter what. I will open the door when it's safe, okay?"Trill nodded and Lance turned back to the hatch, listening as Trill closed the door and several latches were slid into place. He placed the rifle on his shoulder and aimed at the opening ready, to take the shot when it was presented.***"Keith!""I'm okay." Keith responded from Red, shaking his head against the jolt they had just taken. "Who are these guys?""I'm with Keith, if these were regular cruisers and fighters, we'd have ended this by now." Hunk spoke as Yellow smashed another set of fighters."There seem to be a larger contingent of fighters. Maybe they are carrying extra or it's our luck and they are a training ship for fighters?" Pidge guessed."Great, Galra Top Gun." Hunk sighed."Focus, we can do this." Shiro encouraged. "Hunk, Keith, focus on the closest cruiser. Pidge, I'm going in to distract the fighters, pick them off around me. We can do this!"The plan works on the first cruiser and Pidge is able to pick off nearly half the fighters around Black, but Black takes heavy damage and the other two cruisers join in firing at Yellow, who takes a hard hit."Pull back,” Shiro calls, scooping Yellow up with Black. "Hunk, can you hear me?" Shiro swallows back his fear at the lack of response from the Yellow Paladin."Paladins, we need to retreat." Allura calls."No, no fucking way, we can't! Lance is still on the planet!" Keith yells."Keith, we need to get Hunk back to the castle. We need to regroup." Shiro tries reasoning with him."No, then let me go and get him.""Keith, if you do that then you will lead them right down to him. Right now, he's holed up somewhere safe, right, defensible? It's the best we can do. We need to regroup and come back at them.""Keith, look out!" Keith had been distracted by the conversation and didn't see a fighter driving right at him. Green fired at it and it blew, but the blast knocked Red hard. She had already been damaged from the earlier hit and it was enough for her to power down. "Pull back now, Pidge grab him." Shiro yelled. "Allura, we are coming in hot; they will be right on our tails.""We are ready. We'll give you some space." As the lions approached the castle weapons fired at the fighters blowing a few up and slowing the remainder, giving them time to get in the castle and wormhole away.***"Paladin! Lay down your weapon. Surrender! It's hopeless." The growling voice called down from above."You're just saying that because I've blasted all of your droids. Afraid your furry head is going to be next?" Lance lashed back. He was sweating with effort and had taken a couple of glancing blows from the sentries’ blasters. The one across his back burned and felt stiff. The one on his thigh ached. "The fleet just called in. The castle has fled. They left you. I have reinforcements coming and you are alone." The voice laughed."Nice try. My team wouldn’t leave me." Lance growled back and they wouldn't leave kids either his mind supplied."Really, even if the Yellow and Red Lions were out of commission. I wonder what state their Paladins had to have been in for the other two lions to have to carry them to the castle." The voice mocked.Keith and Hunk, hurt. Lance blinked back tears and sucked in a breath. Yes, they would pull back if they had to, but it shouldn't have gone that way there were only three cruisers. It should have been fine."You're lying. Four lions can take out three cruisers in their sleep." Lance snarled."Three regular cruisers, maybe. Three of our new prototype cruisers with improved weapons and double the fighter squadrons along with the most elite pilots in the Empire? Clearly not.""Some elite pilot you are, I shot you down." Lance snarked, but the fear in his heart was very real. The team had needed Voltron. They had gotten hurt and now he was stuck here. One of the other Galra stuck his head over the opening to say something or try to take a shot at him. Lance's weapon fired and the Galra tumbled down into the opening and down to the floor below, its body making a thud as it landed amongst the droid wreckage below. "I can do this all day." Lance assured, though it wasn't true. He was already starting to tire."I will break you." The voice growled, apparently killing off his buddy had ticked him off."You can try." Lance offered with a laugh and fired a shot that hit the metal just in front of where he knew the voice was coming from.***Keith felt himself falling forward and then being caught. Voices murmured in his ears, but he couldn't quite make them out. He was carried and felt the stiff infirmary mattress under his back. He blinked and blinked trying to focus his eyes."Keith?""Shiro?" He tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness stopped him. "What?""Hey, you just got out, give yourself a minute." Shiro put an arm behind him and helped him to sit. "Coran says you'll be okay, but you took a really bad hit to the head and you might be dizzy or nauseous for a while. Do you remember what happened?""Lance?!" He remembered. They had left Lance on the planet. He needed to get to him. "How long?!""You've been in the cryopod for two varga. Allura has been monitoring the planet. She moved us into a nearby meteor field." Shiro supplied."Lance?""He's still on the planet. Pidge is monitoring his armor. We can't get a signal to him. They have landed one of the cruisers." "We need to get to him now." Keith tried to grab Shiro's arm but missed and nearly fell off the table."We will get him. We have a plan, but you are not going anywhere right now." Shiro's tone left no room for argument, but then that had never stopped Keith before."The hell I'm not!" Keith did fall off the bed that time."I can see how well this is going." Keith could hear Pidge from somewhere in the room. "I'm ready to go.""Keith, I'm going. Hunk will be out of the pod in about 30 dobashes. Help him out and if you can walk after that then go find Allura on the bridge and maybe you can help us." Shiro sighed."Are you just going to leave me here? Shiro?" Keith called after them not quite focusing. "Shiro, I want to go. Shiro, I'm on the floor!""I'm sorry, Keith, but I have to go now and at least you won't fall down there." Shiro offered sadly.***They had rushed him. Too many and too fast for him to get them all, the pile at the bottom of the shaft showed that he'd done an impressive job, but it hadn't been enough. The droids slammed into him beating until he stopped moving. Now he dangled from the grip of a Galran commander."Tell me where they are!" He shook Lance again."No," He breathed. He felt broken. Nothing hurt really, not anymore, just a dull feeling of wrong. His head swam and he felt like vomiting, but there was nothing left to vomit."I want my prize!" The commander slammed him against the wall. "Cut off his hand." A droid grabbed Lance's hand and stretched his right arm out to the side as far as it would go. He screamed and tried to pull it back. A second droid took a knife from the commander and placed it against his wrist."Last chance." The commander growled."F.." Just as Lance started to speak an explosion echoed from above them. Droids and soldiers rained down into the hole, some shot, some blown up, a couple nearly cut in half. "Put him down." Shiro stood at the opening to the shelter. Coran was at his side a practical cannon aimed right at the Galran holding Lance."Why should I?" He growled, pulling Lance close to him and between Coran's gun and his chest."If you release him, we will let you and what's left of your crew go." Shiro offered. "I want the Braxarians." The commander's eyes narrowed. He was not leaving without them. They were the key to his future. With them he could have anything he wanted. He would have Zarkon's attention, all the money he could stand, and he would take some of their magic for himself."That's not the deal. You leave, you live." Shiro had no idea what the Braxarians were, but he knew Lance was protecting children. Shiro nodded and Hunk fired at the droids by the commander. All but two of them fell.The commander growled and held Lance out over the ledge. "I will have your ship destroyed." Shiro met his eyes. The commander knew it was true. The Champion would let him go if he left now, if not he would lose everything. He growled again and turned to meet the steely eyes looking down at him. He smiled."Victory or death!" He yelled as he dropped Lance. Shiro screamed and jumped trying to use his jet packs to get to Lance in time to slow his decent. Coran blasted the commander and the last of the droids. It all happened too fast. Shiro couldn't reach him. Then he saw something blue fluttering around Lance. Then red and green joined. Lance's fall was slowing. Shiro was catching up. More feathered bodies were joining the first, until it looked like Lance was floating on feathers. Shiro reached out and grabbed his arm and pulled him close. The little birds fluttered around crying shrilly in alarm."Can you reach the top?" Shiro asked them as he started to use the pack to get himself and Lance back to the top. "Not all of us." The larger blue one answered."We'll get you there then, don't worry." Shiro tried to smile as he clutched Lance to him, he needed to get him to the castle to a pod. He was hurt bad. He hadn't made a sound since he'd fallen."Shiro?!" Coran called."I've got him, some of these kids need help getting to the top Coran, can you help them?" Shiro answered."Shiro, the cruiser is taken care of. Green and I took it out." Pidge echoed in his helmet."You took it out!?" "Keith, what are you doing out here?" Shiro sighed."Hunk is up, he got out quicker than you thought and Red's fast. Besides, Pidge needed my help with the fighters. Allura took out the cruiser in orbit as well. We are clear. Do you have Lance?" Keith breathed the last in hope."He's hurt. I don't know how bad yet." Shiro answered carefully. "Come to us.""On our way, Shiro." Pidge answered. Keith didn't respond, but Shiro had no doubt he'd beat her here.Shiro landed and laid Lance on the ground. He still hadn't regained consciousness. There were obvious hits from Galran blasters, at least three. His face was bruised and bloody, there were bruises on his neck. He was so limp, scuffed and dirtied armor showing cracks and breaks from what was likely a wicked beating. His breathing was shallow and rapid. It reminded Shiro so strongly of the crystal explosion his breath hitched in his chest. He brushed a hand against Lance's cheek. "Lance?" There was no response from him, but he found he was not alone. The little blue bird was there cooing and rubbing its wing against Lance's arm."Lance?" He asked quietly. More of the little birds arrived cuddling together and against Lance. Their feathers puffed up and their bodies trembling. By the time Coran got them all up, they nearly surrounded Lance."Let's get him to the castle." Shiro stood and prepared to carry Lance. "The rest of you can bring the kids.""Wait." The largest blue one spoke softly. "We can help." The little red birds in the group started singing softly. They warbled a sweet and sad song and as they did their feathers began to glow. Even the very smallest of the red birds sang. They stretched their wings over Lance's body, then the green ones and yellow ones joined them and finally the blue ones, until Lance was completely covered."Shiro?" Keith gripped his arm. He hadn't even heard him coming."They are helping." Shiro whispered."Is he?""I don't know Keith." Shiro didn't bother to keep the fear from his voice."Shiro." Keith begged reaching out to where Lance was laying under the feathers.The birds began chirping softly and their wings retracted from Lance. Keith scooted in beside Shiro to reach Lance who was fluttering his eyes."Lance? Can you hear me?" Keith touched his face softly."Keith? What?" Lance blinked and tried to sit up, Shiro put an arm behind him to support him."Lance, do you feel well?" Trill chirped. The little red birds were practically preening around him. "My nest mates have healed you.""I," Lance paused considering. "I feel fine. It worked. Thank you." He smiled brightly at them and the birds chirping trills made him laugh."Lance?" Keith stared at him wide eyed."I'm okay. Really. Just tired." Lance's eyes drifted down and closed. Keith panicked for a moment, but his hand confirmed a strong and steady pulse and Lance's breaths were deep and even."Let's get him back to the castle." Shiro smiled clasping Keith on the shoulder and pulling him close in a tight hug. Keith nodded relieved.***"So Black Braxarians…""Control the astral plane, apparently. The one they had got scared seeing the Galra ships in the sky and somehow managed to shift the entire city into the astral plane. There was no warning, so no clues for us to find. The people saw the ships, activated the alarm and then poof were floating around in the astral plane." Keith shrugged from beside Lance's bed.The Blue paladin was still weak from his experience and tended to sleep a lot. Apparently the Braxarians heal through manipulating the patient’s own quintessence and it uses some of it up in the processes. He was going to be fine; it would just take a few quintants to recharge. "So anyway, moving all of those people wore the little one out so bad they couldn't get them back right away. When Shiro and Black were able to reach them, they were just getting back on their feet so to speak. Black was able to give them a boost and now the city is full again.""And Trill and the others?" Lance asked."Well the room they were in was apparently somehow shielded from magic. Allura got really excited about that part and tried to figure out how, not sure if she had much luck. Anyway, so the kids in the room weren’t affected and ended up stuck alone. Trill is back with their Mommy and Daddy and very happy. They were sad we were leaving, and they wanted you to have this." Keith held up a blue feather. "One of their feathers?" "Said it was for good luck." Keith laid it on Lance's table. "I've got to go to training. I'll check back on you later.""You don't have to." "I know that. I want to." Keith smiled and waved as he went out the door.Lance snuggled down into his comforter and sighed, content. Sometimes magic is real and fairy tales can come true.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Keith, please tell me you didn't do it." Hunk begged."Do what?" Keith looked up from his space oatmeal at Hunk's horrified face. "You know." Hunk accused."No, I don't. That's why I asked." Keith frowned, puzzled.Pidge snorted as she walked through the door to the dining area to find the two, across the table from each other, glaring, while they ate."So, what'd Keith do?" She asked, as she flopped down."You'll see." Hunk growled ominously."I didn't think he'd really try it. I mean there is no way he can keep it up. Right?" Keith looked over at Pidge appealing for her help."Keep what up?" Pidge narrowed her eyes."Keith," Hunk spat his name, "bet Lance that he couldn't sing Disney songs all day - like literally from when he woke up to when he goes to bed.""YOU WHAT?!" Pidge drew back in horror. Keith cringed, "So, he can do it?""He could probably do it for longer if he wouldn't lose his voice." Hunk snapped. "He knows like every Disney song from every Disney movie ever."At that moment the paladin in question breezed through the doorway singing, "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, Zip-a-dee-ay! My oh my, what a wonderful day!" He sat down next to Keith and proceeded to serenade them for the next several minutes."Lance, please eat something,” Hunk requested kindly as Lance was in the middle of singing something about being a cat.Lance shook his head."Lance, you have to stop to eat. Keith, tell him he can stop to eat!" Hunk demanded."Nope. No breaks, that was part of the bet." Keith crossed his arms and frowned. There was no way that Lance was winning this bet, it was too hard.Lance just shrugged and proceeded to a rousing rendition of “Be Our Guest”."What did you bet?" Pidge asked morbidly curious and considering getting cotton to stuff in her ears. It wasn't that Lance was a bad singer or that she didn't like Disney, just all day was going to be too much."If he loses, he takes pod cleaning duty for the next month." Keith smiled to himself knowing he was going to get out of this chore that no one enjoyed."Who gets pod cleaning duty?" Shiro asked sharply as he walked in."Uh…hi Shiro." Keith looked a little nervous."Lance and Keith have a bet." Hunk filled him in."Lance bet me he could sing Disney songs all day without stopping." Keith nodded. "There is no way he can do that, so I called him on it."Shiro blinked a couple of times and then sighed, "And if he loses, he's supposed to clean the pods, what if you lose?""Won't happen." Keith stated."It will." Hunk stated just as confident."You are so going to lose," Pidge giggled."Okay, but if at any point this interferes with training or we have an emergency I am calling it off, clear?" Shiro rubbed the bridge of his nose. He didn’t want to stop their rivalry or flirting or whatever they were calling it today, as long as it didn't put anyone in danger or interrupt their work.Training that morning to the soundtrack from Mulan and Hercules was almost amusing. Lance would at least sing quietly and seemed to be paying attention when Shiro gave out the instructions. If anything, his hand to hand movements were improved, though the singing was impacting his long-range shooting and stamina, at least during the long or high notes. Shiro let it go as minor. He'd never seen Lance look quite so determined and Keith was starting to look nervous. Shiro secretly thought Keith underestimated Lance too much and it would do him good to lose something easy like this to remind him that Lance usually backed up his boosts with action.Coran and Allura were mesmerized with the songs they had never heard before and had joined them in the training room to listen and ask questions about the stories the songs were from. At lunch when Lance stood at the head of the table and started singing “Candle on the Water”, Shiro found himself taking his bowl of food goo and making excuses to leave. He couldn't help but think of Adam and well, tearing up in front of the team wasn't high on his list; he may be a big sap, but he was still their leader. Apparently Allura had no such concerns because she had tears running down her face when Shiro got back and Lance was in the middle of “You'll be in My Heart” and Pidge was whispering the relevant story points.Apparently singing “It's a Small World After All” is a highly effective way of getting Keith annoyed and off guard. Lance beat him twice in hand to hand combat signing that annoying little ditty that was never going to leave Hunk's brain and Hunk was glaring at Keith again. Pidge was strangely quiet during training until Shiro discovered and ordered her to remove the cotton from her ears. She instead began calling out requests for the most annoying Disney songs she could think of and, of course, a grinning Lance played right along. Shiro pointed out that the team needed to learn to work through distractions, even annoying songs. Lance was currently going through some of the less politically correct songs from Lady and the Tramp and Peter Pan. Then it was “Heigh-Ho” and “I Got No Strings” and “I Just Can't Wait To Be King”. Lance actually followed Shiro around to sing “Following the Leader”. Keith sighed as he turned the com off in Red. They were doing flight drills and Lance was singing “Let's Go Fly A Kite”. He was starting to get concerned that he might actually lose this bet. It had started out as a simple conversation about movies. Lance liked movies, lots of movies, and he liked to tell Keith about them. Keith had not seen a lot of movies. It wasn't his dad's thing and then it’s not like his foster families took him out to movies and then at the Garrison he didn't have money to go. The few movies he had seen had been courtesy of Shiro or Adam and it wasn't that he didn't like them. He just didn't get why it was important or why Lance cared so much about them. Lance had been going over the storyline to Hercules when Keith had snapped something along the lines of, he had something better to do than listen to some kids movie.Lance had frowned and a genuine hurt look had crossed his face before it flickered to anger. They had fought. It hadn't been a nice fight. It had been one of those, use what you know to make it hurt more, kind of fights. Lance had at some point claimed to be a movie expert and especially a Disney expert and it wasn't his fault that Keith was an uncultured pig. Keith told him Disney was overrated and so was Lance. Lance had cried out as if in pain and somehow, they had reached a discussion of Disney music and Lance's love of said music and then there was the bet. Keith had said if Lance lost, he had to clean the pods. He knew Lance was afraid of them. He knew it. He'd talked to Lance about it before. Lance had confided his fear to him, as if it wasn't obvious every time, he came up with fifty excuses to avoid using it if he was injured. It usually took an order from Shiro to get him into one. Keith knew Lance wouldn't want to do it. He knew it would hurt him to have to clean the pods, but he made that the bet anyway. And then Lance had to go, and one up him. He picked something Keith never would have dreamed of and to be honest he was a little terrified it was going to happen at this point. Keith was not used to this kind of fear and he didn't like it. It made him uncomfortable and an uncomfortable Keith is a cranky Keith.It was at the evening meal when Shiro realized Lance had not stopped to eat or drink anything all day. He practically growled at the two of them. "It was part of the bet." Keith offered shrinking back."And I said I would call it off if I needed to." Shiro snapped.Lance scribbled on a piece of paper while somehow still singing “Hakuna Matata”. "Please Shiro, I don't want him to weasel out on a technicality. I'm almost there!" Lance gave Shiro his best puppy dog eyes."No, you need to eat and drink. I'm not sacrificing your health for this game. We trained for hours and you didn't even get a drink of water?!" Shiro turned on him. Lance shrugged."Drink." Shiro ordered. Lance looked over to Keith who had his arms crossed. "He drinks and it doesn't call off the bet. He eats and it doesn't call off the bet." Keith glared and muttered something about cheating.Lance huffed mid song and scribbled on his paper again as he switched to “Part of Your World”. "Compromise? How about a rhythm song I can tap out while I eat and drink?""Fine." Keith huffed before Shiro could even force him to agree."Better. No more bets that involve not eating or drinking, got it?""Yes." Keith turned back to his food goo.Lance nodded. As soon as his current song finished, he began tapping out “Trashing The Camp” with his hand while he gobbled his food goo and slurped down three hydration pouches. Shiro cringed half certain that all of the food was going to make a reappearance, but Lance managed to keep it down and have it mostly swallowed before the song finished and he launched into “A Whole New World”.While settling down on the couches after the evening meal listening to Lance sing “Can You Feel The Love Tonight,” Keith found himself cringing. It was almost over. He was man enough to admit he was going to lose at this point. Lance's voice was a little rough by now, but not "about to lose my voice" rough. By the time the others were getting ready to turn in and Lance was singing and dancing to “Let It Go,” Keith decided to just tell him it was over."It's the end of the day. You win." Keith muttered, despair coloring his tone.Lance looked over at him eyes gleaming and nodded. In the spirit of the bet he continued singing all the way to his room and Keith could still hear the strains of “When You Wish Upon A Star” as the door slipped closed.The next morning came way too soon for Keith. He barely slept a wink. It was time, as they say, to face the music. He sighed and climbed out of bed. He slipped on something comfortable and moped and pouted his way to breakfast. Lance was sitting at the table when he got there. When he saw Keith, his eyes widened and he gave him a friendly wave, before pulling out a pair of scissors and snipping them at him."After breakfast, okay?" Lance asked with an eyebrow raised."Yeah, okay." Keith's shoulders drooped even further, and he went to get his food."What's after breakfast?" Hunk asked eyeing the scissors."Keith has to pay up. He lost the bet." Lance answered."We still don't know what he bet. We know what you would have had to do, but not him." Pidge narrowed her eyes."You'll just have to wait and see." Lance offered mysteriously."You know my rule. I'll call it off if I feel like I need to." Shiro warned."I won't hurt him Shiro." Lance looked shocked that he would even suggest such a thing."Okay." Shiro answered warily.After breakfast Lance ushered Keith into the common room. There was a chair sitting in the middle of the floor. Lance gestured for the others to sit on the couches and Keith flopped into the chair. "Now. Keith agreed that if he lost the bet, he would allow me to, in front of all of you, cut his hair!" Lance finished the sentence with a dramatic draping of some kind of cape around Keith's front. Keith's face burned bright red and he wouldn't meet anyone’s’ eyes."Keith, are you sure?" Shiro sighed. Everything about the Red Paladin screamed that he wanted to run away right now. He did not like being the center of attention and no matter how much Lance teased him about it, he actually liked his haircut. "Yes. I made the bet. I'll see it through." Keith answered determined. He was not going to back out now."Cool." Lance produced a spray bottle, a comb, and the scissors. "I do actually cut my own hair and Hunk's so it's not like I haven't done this before. I promise no mohawks." Lance set to work. The others watched grins slowly working their way onto their faces as Keith cringed and Lance worked, tongue stuck out the side of his mouth as he concentrated. "There. Done." Lance announced about fifteen minutes later. Keith looked down at the hair scattered around him and wondered what Lance had done to him. Would it be super short? Would he have cut it crooked? Would it be cut like Lance's or Hunk's? He wasn't sure he wanted to know."Hey." Lance stepped into his line of sight like he'd been trying to get his attention. "Don't you want to see?" Lance pointed to a mirror set up on the other side of the room."I…um…yeah I guess." Keith sighed.Lance slipped the cape from his shoulders and proceeded to cleaning up the chunks of hair from the floor. No one else in the room was saying anything. Keith looked around to each of their faces, trying to get a hint, but they all seemed carefully blank. He walked slowly to the mirror and then stood in shock at his reflection. It was still his hair cut. It was shorter, but definitely still his style, just more like it was before they got onto the castle and he'd let it grow for all these months without a trim."But, it's still, I mean, I still have a…?" Lance looked over at him in amusement, "Are you admitting to having a mullet, Mullet?""What? No." Keith snapped back, but he couldn't keep the smile off of his face. "I just thought, I mean you always complain about it, but you didn't change it. You just trimmed it?" "Of course, I trimmed it. Why do you think I wanted to cut it? Those split ends were awful." Lance mocked, though his eyes were softer than his words. "Besides, if I gave you a different style what would I call you? I mean, I'm too used to calling you Mullet, Mullet.""Oh, um, well thanks." Keith gave him a soft smile in return.