Hello all! Sorry for the big delay between posting the first chapter and this one! School is officially out so now I can dedicate A LOT more time to Pidge and Lance VS the Dark. Thank you all for the reviews and feedback. Please leave more so I know on what to improve. I may have made this chapter insanely fluffy hehehehe...

Also remember to check out my tumblr(s): fandomthesickness/thegardenerofvoltron (plance blog)

and my Amino: fandomthesickness

Pidge woke up feeling drowsy but more energetic than before. She noticed Lance's jacket on top of her but no Lance to be seen because of her dark surroundings. She smiled and put it on to escape the coldness surrounding her. Pidge noticed a light green light coming from the far back of the lab illuminating Lance's face. She slowly crept up behind him in hopes to scare the living daylights out of him while he was looking for supplies.

"BOO!" She screamed right behind Lance.

"AHHH!" Lance screamed. Pidge started cracking up with laughter and soon noticed that that scream sounded familiar to her.

"I totally got you!" She said in between laughs.

"Ha ha, very funny Pidgeon," Lance said trying not to be embarrassed.

"Lance, were you the one screaming earlier right as the power went off?" Pidge questioned grinning.

"I..I have no idea what you are talking...about." Lance stammered uncomfortably.

"YEA..SURE Loverboy." Pidge said still grinning. "Did you find anything useful?"

"Yup found the flashlights," Lance said as he threw one over to her. He also threw her Bayard over as he didn't need it anymore.

"Nice!" Pidge exclaimed.

Lance found himself staring at Pidge. She had a glow of excitement on her face and didn't seem stressed as she normally was over the last few days.

"Well turns out I was right." He said calmly.

"You...right? In the same sentence? About what?" Pidge said laughing.

"That you would feel better after a short nap Pidge. I take credit for your beautiful smiling face." He exclaimed.

"I…", Pidge stammered as she found herself cornered. Lance was actually right. She did feel better, but she didn't want to confess that he was right. "Wait.. did you just call me beautiful?" She questioned.

"UHH...I MEANT YOU LOOK….I MEANT IT AS. OH SHUT UP." Lance said trying not to blush. He could tell other girls they looked beautiful and could be smooth with them anytime anywhere. Why did he flip out just to tell Pidge she looked beautiful? He never felt nervous about a girl before. He started stammering like an idiot.

Pidge started blushing. No one had called her beautiful, except her family whom she missed very much. Pidge actually did have a crush on Lance after spending time with him at the Galaxy Garrison but over time, she programmed herself to just forget about it because she had no chance.

"Uhh..we should probably uh.. Start looking outside the lab for the main castle grid.." She stammered.

"Oh uh yea, yea you are right." He said shakily.

As Lance held one flashlight, Pidge put her bayard in her back pocket while holding the other flashlight as the Bayard didn't produce nearly as much glow. Both of them walked out of the lab and into the hallway in awkward silence. As Pidge and Lance were walking through the hallways, Lance started shaking weirdly. He had always been afraid of the dark ever since he was pretty young and the number of horror movies Pidge, himself, and Hunk watched, only contributed to it.

"Woah..Lance are you alright?" Pidge asking with worry.

"No..I..Uh..I'm fine….promise.", he answered in a shaky voice.

"No you are not, If something is wrong you can tell me, Lance," Pidge said as her eyes locked onto Lance's eyes with only the flashlight's illuminating their faces.

Lance couldn't keep up the tough guy act. Plus, he trusted Pidge ever since they arrived on Arus and formed Voltron. As he looked at her hazel eyes, he confessed.

"Ok, I kinda have a slight fear of the dark, and the whole silence thing isn't helping." He said as he waited to get made fun of.

"Oh, well don't worry. We are in a heavily guarded castle, Lance. I promise everything is fine. And hey, I am here! Sharpshooter and Tech genius? No stupid ghost would even try to come at us got it?" She said with joy.

Lance smiled at her and ruffled her hair. She instantly started holding onto his hand in hopes to make him less afraid. Lance's face started reddening. 'What's wrong with me today? I'm usually never this awkward around other girls? WAIT...AM I SICK?! Wait..No, I don't feel sick.' He thought in panic. All these thoughts were scattered all over his brain as he was contemplating why he felt so weird. They made it to the main castle's grid which was located near the very end of the hallway. Sure, the teleduv powered the ship but it was connected through a series of wires and circuits making the castle actually function.

"Oh crap, this looks bad," Pidge said as she looked at the grid.

"Whats up?" Lance asked.

Pidge remained silent. She could try explaining to Lance what had happened to the grid but honestly, she didn't think he of all people would understand. It is not like she thought Lance was dumb, it was more so that she was the techy person in the group. As she was thinking of various ways to fix the system, Lance interrupted her flow of thoughts.

"Oh, crap that looks bad Pidge... the circuits are completely busted. It almost looks like someone set fire to a circuit located in the motherboard's energy hub completely overexerting its energy load." Lance stated in deep thought.

Pidge was shell-shocked at Lance's comment and he took note of that.

"How did you..I thought you…" Pidge stammered.

"Like I said Pidgeon, I have helped the 'Coranic' with the castle against my will. I guess in those hours of boredom, I picked up a few things." Lance said proudly.

"Well call me impressed Lancey, what you said is strangely correct. But no one would set fire to a castle circuit. Not even Keith in angry mode…" Pidge said.

"You sure about that? He's like a volcano ready to explode every time I see him." Lance stated laughing.

"I'm pretty sure that it's because you are around him," Pidge said smirking.

Both Lance and Pidge started taking out the wires from the burnt up circuits. At times Lance just watched Pidge because he was in extreme awe of how effortlessly she took everything apart. After a good solid 30 min, wires were scattered everywhere and Pidge was still in deep thought as she had run out of ideas.

"Hmm...I guess I could rewire..no..how about..no...gah I feel useless!" she yelled.

"Pidge calm down. You are not useless, I probably wouldn't have even gotten this far if it weren't for you. Let's just try venturing to the other circuits in the castle and fix up those. We can then come back to the grid and make the repairs." Lance said calmly.

"Lance, I think we just flew into a parallel universe because that was actually a good idea." Pidge chuckled.

"You're killing me Pidge," Lance said sarcastically. He and Pidge started walking over the wire mess they made until Pidge tripped on the last wire knocking Lance down in front of her. They both tumbled down until Lance found himself accidentally pinning the poor Pidgeon on the ground. It was in the heat of the moment as his blue ocean eyes were locked onto her hazel eyes with only a small flashlight and a glowing Bayard being their light. Pidge's face was about as red as a tomato. Lance's cheeks started blushing and he was spaced out at Pidge's face. He never even thought about Pidge in this way. They were friends at the Garrison but not as close as Hunk and Pidge. Lance tried to submerge his feelings of jealousy for Hunk when he saw him and Pidge getting along and being very close to one another. Being this close to her face he noticed her small dainty freckles and her beautifully messy hair. Her bags significantly decreased but then again, He never cared much on just looks when it came to crushes. Was this even a crush for him?

"L-Lance?" Pidge stuttered.

"Yea?"

"W-we should probably get going… you're kinda heavy." Pidge started to laugh a bit to lighten the awkward mood.

"Oh, yea. YEA! Of course… must be all that muscle I have been building" Lance exclaimed. He quickly retracted himself from Pidge and pulled her up. At the back of his mind, he wanted to be that close to her again mentally, and physically.

"Or all those garlic knots you have been eating.." She muttered.

"I heard that," Lance said elbowing her.

"That's why I said it." She said smiling up at him.

Even though Pidge was carrying on normally while saying her snappy comebacks, she was still a bit riled up from being pinned down by Lance. She had tried so hard to repress her feelings about him at the Garrison which did work out in the end as she stopped crushing on him. But not as she started noticing again his warm smile, perfect hair, sweet attitude, and his enjoyable presence, she started falling for him again. He also always smelled like mint probably because of all the cologne he used. She suddenly realized that she was still wearing his jacket from when she was sleeping. She smelled the collar which made her smile as she loved the scent of mint. She and Lance kept walking down the eerie hallway to find the other power circuits in the castle. She stopped in her tracks as she felt guilty that she had been hoarding the jacket.

"Hey.. I still am wearing your jacket, do you want it back?" She asked.

"Wha? Oh, it's fine don't worry about it. Plus it suits you." He said with a grin.

Pidge's face was about to turn red again and this time she couldn't repress it.

"Thanks? It's a nice jacket by the way." She said trying to sound as calm as possible.

Lance noticed Pidge's blushing face and started to scratch is head awkwardly with his face turning red too.

"Ahh.. uh… don't mention it… It was a birthday present from my mom before I left for the Garrison." He said.

"Really? Didn't know that… well, she has good taste I guess." Pidge replied.

"Yup that's my mom. Man, she was perfect Pidge. Made the best food, gave the best hugs, and even picked out the best clothes. There was this one time where me and my sister Veronica got completely soaked in the rain and it ruined our favorite clothes. Of course, I loved rain but I was pretty distraught because of my clothes. She quickly made our favorite soup and the next day, cheered us up by buying new ones that didn't get messed up in the rain." Lance said. He quickly noticed that he was ranting and stopped himself.

"Oh sorry, didn't mean to bore you with the pointless story." He said quietly.

"You are not boring me, Lance. That was a sweet story. I miss my family too. But just think, once we return to earth, we can eat all the best food and go out in the rain!" She exclaimed.

Lance grinned at Pidge. He thought it sounded like heaven.

"Thanks, Pidge." He said softly. He quickly pulled her closer for a small hug.

Pidge was shaken by the sudden embrace.

"Don't mention it." She said with a smile. 'Ahh, the sweet smell of mint' she thought.