It was another beautiful day on Arus. The skies were clear and a cool breeze swept the meadows. The birds sang beautiful melodies and the flowers bloomed, showing-off their magnificent colors.
Lance, Hunk, and Keith were lying-down on the lush, green field near the castle's lake and relaxing after exhausting themselves in lion practice. They had worked on several maneuvers that day, all of which took a lot of time and both physical and mental effort to get right.
"Hey, I wonder where Pidge and the princess are?" Hunk suddenly asked.
"Pidge said he wanted to get a book first. Something about this being a perfect setting to read his book on nature." Lance said. He continued, "As for the princess... I wouldn't be too surprised if she were locked in her room again." He chuckled a bit. "After what happened during practice, Nanny and Coran must be giving her another lecture on the 'shoulds' and 'should-nots' that rule the life of royalty."
Hunk nodded. "Hey, I'm going over to castle control to check some things out then I'm going to the kitchen to get us something to eat. I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry."
Hunk pretended not to hear him as he stood-up and started walking towards the castle. About a few meters away he asked, "You guys want anything?" he shouted over his shoulder.
"No, thanks!" Lance answered. "You'll end-up eating my share anyway."
Keith remained quiet. In his mind, he was going through the events of lion practice. He had requested Coran to assist lion practice that morning. The castle was to aim and fire half-filled missile shells at the lions as they either shoot or evade them. He warned the team that this kind of ammunition would make the battle seem real enough without totally damaging the lions. And he instructed Coran that he program castle control at the setting that they were the enemy --- missile launch at this program was continuous and accurate.
Everything seemed to be going well, until one of the missiles hit the blue lion. It shook the princess, but she recovered fast enough. She was able to dodge the other aimed for her. Unfortunately, though, she wasn't ready to avoid the third, and the fourth and the fifth.
He felt his heart constrict when he watched the blue lion speedily plunge down, taking the unconscious princess with it. His and the other's lions plunged after it, able to slow-down its decent by each grabbing a paw of the blue in their own lions' mouths. Once down, all of them hopped out of their lions and headed for the blue lion. He personally went in and brought the princess out. She was still unconscious, and a cold sweat covered her forehead. He gently laid her on the ground, supporting her upper body with his arms. Pidge slowly took her helmet off. He said a silent prayer as he shook her a bit to bring her back to consciousness. She winced and slowly opened her eyes. He let out the breath he didn't know he was holding, as a smile slowly bloomed across her slightly pale lips. He found himself smiling back. They continued to stare into each other's eyes, completely oblivious to everyone there, until Nanny's frantic cries broke the spell.
Keith sighed. He didn't know what came over him that moment his eyes met hers. It seemed like time stood still. It seemed like nothing else mattered. It seemed like... NO! He scolded himself. This isn't the place nor the time... nor the person. He continued to stare at the sky as he debated with himself.
Lance watched the expression on his best friend's face. Usually, no one was able to read what was on their captain's mind. But at that moment, Lance could have sworn he read confusion written all over Keith's normally impassive face. And he had a feeling that he knew why...
"It isn't your fault."
Keith looked to his right and arched an eyebrow at him. Lance bit back his chuckle when he saw the sudden change in expression in Keith's face. It was blank again. Lance closed his eyes and grinned. Just like him to hide what he's feeling...
"Maybe it is, Lance."
Lance opened his eyes and met Keith's troubled ones. It was his turn to arch an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"
Keith sighed. "I push her too hard. She didn't train with us at the academy. She's the royal princess of Arus, for crying out loud! She shouldn't be up there flying the lions with us. It's not her place to risk her life..." he stopped, realizing that Lance wasn't listening to him anymore; Lance was laughing; really hard.
"Did you know that you're starting to sound like Nanny and Coran?" Lance managed to choke-out while clutching his sides.
Keith shook his head and looked away.
"C'mon, Keith. You gotta give the princess a little more credit than that." Lance said, suddenly sober, rubbing his eyes to clear them from the tears that formed from all the laughing he did. "She's made it this far. And, you've got to admit; she's one helluva pilot. So she made a few mistakes along the way," like the one this morning, he silently added, "but, hey! We make mistakes, too."
"I don't know, Lance." Keith said, looking back at him unconvinced. "If something happens to her..." he trailed-off. All of a sudden, he didn't know what he was going to say.
Lance gave him a complacent grin.
Keith looked away again.
His trail of thoughts was interrupted by Pidge's shouts coming from behind them. He abruptly stood-up, expecting bad news.
"Hunk wants us at castle control."
