A/N: Chapter 2, right on schedule! This one's a little shorter than usual, but the next couple chapters are long, so...consider this a break.
Okay, it was official: the mermaid planet was the weirdest thing that had happened to Hunk in a while, and that was saying something since he'd spent the last month in space flying a magical alien warship and saving the universe. He was still having trouble believing what had happened even as he urged Yellow up towards the distant surface. Ice planets, real mermaids, rebel conspiracy theorist mermaids, giant brainwashing space eel monsters-he wouldn't have believed any of it if he hadn't just lived through it. So...yeah. Weird, kinda sucky couple of days. The best thing that happened, hands-down, was the mermaids turning out to have an energy beacon that the Castle could home in on and find them, finally . And, better than that, Yellow was picking up the Green Lion's energy signature now.
He'd never been happier to see Pidge and Green in his life. Yellow broke through the surface where the beacon had melted the ice at last, just as Blue surged past them and through the atmosphere to circle Green eagerly. Hunk pushed Yellow after them and joined the pair at the edge of the ice planet's atmosphere.
"Hunk! Lance!" Pidge exclaimed. "You guys are alright!"
"Where have you been ?" Lance shouted back. "We've been on this planet for two days!"
"...We've only been separated for-" Pidge started. "...You know what, we'll talk about it later. Let's just get back to the Castle."
"Lead the way," Hunk said. Pidge didn't make sense, but then again, she didn't make sense a lot of the time. But if she was questioning how long they'd been separated...well, the wormhole was some kind of harnessed space-time anomaly, it wouldn't exactly surprise him if he and Lance had been tossed out at some earlier time than the others, or if there was some kind of time dilation on their exits.
"Did you guys find Keith and Shiro yet?" Lance asked, snapping Hunk out of his train of thought.
"Yeah, they were way easier to find than you guys, probably because all that ice was blocking your signal," Pidge said. "Shiro was hurt pretty bad, so he's already in the cryopods." A pause, and then she added, "And you guys are never gonna guess who was in that fighter pod that helped us out at Central Command."
"Uhhh...an escaped Galra prisoner?" Lance suggested.
"Nope," Pidge said.
"A rebel fighter?" Hunk asked.
"Well, kinda." He could hear the laugh in Pidge's tone. "It was Sendak."
" What ?!" Lance squawked.
"Really?" Hunk asked.
"Yeah," Pidge said. "He's not telling anyone what happened to him or how he escaped, though, I think he said something about wanting to wait until everyone was back to explain because he 'didn't want to repeat himself' or something."
"...So he's alright?" Lance asked. There was a definite note of concern in his voice.
"I don't know," Pidge said. "He hasn't been complaining about anything, but that doesn't mean nothing's wrong."
They hit the wormhole, and for a second or two Hunk found himself tensed up on the controls, like he was expecting it to start collapsing on them or something. Yellow hummed soothingly at him, and Hunk shook his head to clear it. That was a one-time thing because of something the Galra did, not something wormholes did on their own. Well, he sure hoped it was. Once was enough. And the Alteans probably wouldn't use a technology that failed on you like that. Probably. And then they were out the other side of the wormhole, and there was the Castle, hovering in empty space.
Hunk urged Yellow on, back towards the hangar entrance, and they landed neatly on the floor. He winced at the furrows in the steel where Yellow's claws had dug in when the wormhole ripped them out of the Castle, but the damage looked like it was more cosmetic than anything. It wasn't that bad, all things considered. Yellow lowered his head, and Hunk made his way out of the Lion, pausing to pat one massive paw.
"Thanks, buddy," he said. "Wouldn't have made it out of there without you."
Yellow rumbled affectionately in response, and Hunk patted the paw again before he left the hangar.
Pidge and Lance were waiting in the hall, helmets off, both of them looking a little rough around the edges. A couple space battles and getting chucked out of a compromised wormhole would do that to you, he figured. Pidge grinned up at him. Then, to his surprise, she launched herself across the hall and all but tackled him with a hug. Hunk hugged her back.
"I'm glad you guys are okay," Pidge said, eventually detaching herself.
"Me too," Hunk said, shooting Lance a look.
Lance nodded and reached out to ruffle Pidge's hair. "Yeah, me three," he said. "So, you said Shiro's in the med bay, right? Where's everyone else?"
"Up on the bridge," Pidge said.
"I can't believe Allura actually let Sendak up there," Hunk said.
"Well it's not like we can really do anything else with him," Pidge retorted. "Shiro's in cryo, Keith's bushed, I had to go get you guys, and I think Allura and Coran would rather have Sendak where they can keep an eye on him right now."
"Yeah, that makes sense," Lance said. "Come on, let's go."
Pidge led the way back up to the bridge, and when the doors opened Hunk paused and took a second to look everything over. Keith was curled up in his chair, head tucked against his knees. He stirred a little at the sound of their footsteps and peered at them through his dark bangs, then settled back into his original position. Allura stood at her command podium, running some kind of scan. She didn't glance up, intent on the readouts from her screen. Coran and Sendak were up by Coran's control panel, leaning against the counter. Coran's gaze was fixed on the stars out the viewscreens. Sendak seemed to be looking at the floor, but he looked up at them as they came in, ears flicking upright immediately.
"Well, look who made it back," Sendak rumbled, sounding pleased.
"Speak for yourself, dude, we thought you were dead !" Lance exclaimed, maneuvering around the chairs to get across the bridge. "How'd you make it out?"
"Good fortune and a friend in the right place," Sendak said. He tilted his head, clearly studying the two of them. "Have you and Hunk been in a fight?"
"...Yeah," Hunk said. "How could you tell ?"
Sendak gestured vaguely at them. "Your armor is scuffed in places it wasn't when I saw you last."
"You will never believe what happened," Lance said. "We crash-landed on this frozen ocean planet, and there were actual mermaids there, real, actual mermaids, and we totally saved the whole planet from this giant underwater monster that was mind-controlling everyone to eat them, and-"
"Woah there Lance, slow down a bit, I think he's still working through that," Hunk said, grinning at the way Sendak's ears tilted and his brow furrowed in confusion.
Sendak shook his head slightly. "...Either my translator is glitching, or I'm too tired to process things properly, because nothing you said made sense," he said. He turned back to Coran and said, "Could I go back to my cell now? I think I need to sleep for a couple quintants after all of this."
Coran blinked, then frowned. "Why would we put you back in a cell after what you've done to help us today? I'm going to set up quarters for you on the residential floor, hold on a tick."
"If it would be more convenient to return to my cell for now, really, I wouldn't mind. I don't want to cause you any inconvenience-" Sendak started, but Coran held up a hand to stop him.
"Ah, ah, ah, I won't hear of it! Come on, let's get you set up somewhere more comfortable than a holding cell."
"Really, it's not important-" Sendak protested.
"Just shut up and quit fighting," Pidge interjected.
"Can it, runt," Sendak snapped back, flattening his ears. Pidge glowered back, baring her teeth, which Hunk thought was a little weird until he noticed the way Sendak's ears lowered in response. "...Fine. I'll accept your offer."
"Come on, then," Coran said, taking hold of Sendak's elbow and pulling him away from the control panel.
Sendak pulled his arm out of Coran's grasp but followed him without protest. He looked tired, Hunk thought, swaying with each uncertain step. What had he been through, to look that beat? Sendak had been more put together after they'd taken the Castle back, and that was saying something.
Hunk fell into step behind Coran, and Pidge and Lance joined him a second later. Keith stumbled up to Hunk's side and leaned against his shoulder, wiping the sleep out of his eyes. Hunk grinned and slung his arm around Keith's shoulders to keep him upright. Coran led them back to the elevators and down onto the main floor, then took a left out of the elevators instead of a right, heading away from the Paladins' rooms.
They only made it a few doors down before Sendak's knees buckled. The Galra went down hard on his left side without trying to catch himself, and for a minute everything seemed to freeze. Then Sendak gasped and curled in on himself, breaking the paralysis, and Hunk found himself hurrying forward to help Coran roll Sendak onto his back.
"What just happened?" Lance demanded from somewhere over Hunk's shoulder.
"Are you alright?" Coran asked.
Sendak nodded, eye still screwed shut. "Fine," he said. The word came out strained and harsh.
"Didn't you say you were hurt there earlier?" Pidge asked, and when Hunk glanced back her eyebrows had arched suspiciously.
"I said, I'm fine," Sendak growled, pushing himself back to a sitting position and looking around at them. His ears flattened again. "I'm fine. I'm just tired, a couple vargas to rest and I'll be alright."
"Then what's with the blood on your uniform?" Keith asked, making them all jump. Sendak shifted his arm across his abdomen, drawing Hunk's eye to it-and to the stain across the front and left side, a shade or two darker than the rest.
"...Dude, I think you need to go to the infirmary," Hunk said.
Sendak's ears flattened further. "I said -"
"I think what you've said and the truth are two very different creatures," Coran said. He patted Sendak's shoulder gently. "What about this: you come to the infirmary, and if it's nothing serious you can come back up here and rest."
"None of you are listening to me," Sendak muttered.
"I understand you're frustrated, but we're concerned for your health," Coran coaxed. "It won't take more than a couple of doboshes, and if you're as fine as you say you are, you should be back here and in bed before you know it."
Sendak's shoulders slumped. "...Alright," he muttered, looking away.
Coran tucked an arm under Sendak's shoulders, helping the Galra back to his feet. Sendak stumbled slightly, but stayed upright under his own power, and Coran stepped away. He stayed close, though, and Hunk fell into step at Sendak's other side. Sendak looked uncomfortable-his ears flattened themselves close against his skull, and his head tilted as if he was looking from side to side for an escape route and trying to hide it. He kept it together down to the infirmary, though, and Coran opened up a side room none of them had noticed before and guided Sendak inside. A quick glance said it probably wasn't big enough for all of them-just a bench, a cabinet-slash-sanitation station, and that was it. Coran looked them over and waved Hunk in.
"Just in case," he said quietly in Hunk's ear. Then, to Sendak, he said, "Alright, let's have that uniform off and see what we're dealing with here."
Sendak looked displeased, but obeyed. The guilty look on his face and the length of bandage wrapped clumsily around his abdomen outed his lie. Coran's brow pinched with concern.
"Sendak," he said sternly.
Sendak glowered back. "It's not serious ," he growled.
"Then let's have the bandages off and see these "not-serious" injuries."
Sendak folded his arm across his chest, tucking his hand under his stump and frowning petulantly. "No. Why don't you just take me at my word and let me go?"
Coran crossed his arms, eyes narrowing. "Bandages off. Now ."
"Uh, you better do it," Hunk said, shooting Sendak an emphatic look.
Sendak flattened his ears and complied, tugging on the loose end of bandage and hissing with pain. He growled at them when Coran offered to help and haltingly unraveled them on his own, eventually unearthing two wide gauze pads pressed inexpertly to his side and stomach, which he made no move to peel away. Coran tapped his foot on the floor.
"Well?" he said. With a wince, Sendak removed the pad on his stomach.
Hunk almost threw up. A wide, ragged-edged expanse of fur and skin had been stripped away, revealing oozing, bluish flesh underneath. He looked away, staring up at Coran's face to gauge his reaction. Coran's eyes had narrowed further, but the quirk of his mouth said he was worried rather than angry.
"...What did this?" he asked, taking a couple steps forward to inspect the injury.
"Druid," Sendak mumbled. He ducked his head and stared intently at the floor.
"And just what is a druid?"
"Stars if I know."
"And is the other injury like this one?" Coran moved closer, stooping to get a closer look and blocking Hunk's view.
"Did he say druids?" Lance asked from the doorway.
"Yeah," Hunk said, looking back at the others.
Lance and Keith exchanged a worried look, brows creasing sharply, then peered further into the room to get a glimpse. Behind him, Sendak yelped, and Hunk spun back around. Coran had apparently yanked the gauze off the other injury, and from the look on Sendak's face he wasn't pleased.
"Alright, alright, you've had your look, now may I go rest?" Sendak snapped.
"You can go directly into the pods, young man," Coran snapped back. "These are serious injuries, I can't in good conscience let you leave the infirmary in this condition."
"These aren't serious at all, I've had much worse than a couple scrapes-"
"And just how long have you been bleeding?" Sendak went quiet, and Coran repeated, more gently, "How long have these bled, Sendak?"
"...I don't know," Sendak said quietly, looking away.
Coran sighed. "Are you hiding any other injuries?"
"Does it matter?"
"Well, I think we'd all like to know how long you're going in the cryopod for."
"I'm not going in the cryopod."
Dead silence.
Then Coran said, very calmly, "What?" Hunk had never heard that tone of voice before, low and firm and eerily cool, and it sent shivers up his spine.
"I'm not going in the cryopod," Sendak repeated. "I refuse."
"Well I don't know where else you think you're going, because you're not leaving the infirmary like that," Coran said.
"I'm not going in the pods," Sendak snapped. "I don't care what you have to say, I'm not going in the pods. I refuse."
"And why not?" Coran asked, his tone still cool.
Sendak froze up, then snapped, "Because I don't want to. I'm not going in the pods, and that's final."
"I think the blood loss may have disoriented you. Come on, on your feet. We're going to the cryopods right now ."
"No!" Everything seemed to freeze at once. Sendak hadn't raised his voice before, but he did now-and he sounded panicked. "No, I won't-no-" Coran grabbed for Sendak's arm, and the Galra jerked it out of his grasp. "No, please !"
That made Coran pause. "...'Please'?"
Sendak wrapped his arm around himself and looked at the floor, shoulders shuddering with each breath. "Please," he said softly. "I-I can't do it. Not now. Not after...please, just give me a varga or two to rest and calm down and then I will be ready, but…"
"Not after what ?" Hunk asked. "What happened to you?"
Sendak's head snapped up to look at him, and his ears flattened against the sides of his head, eye widening with...fear? "Don't ask me that again," he said, so quietly it was almost impossible to hear him.
"Wait a tick," Coran said. "Let me see your arm."
Sendak leaned away from him, ears flattening further. "No. Don't touch me."
Coran held his hands up. "It's alright, I don't intend to do you any harm. I just want a look…" He shifted to Sendak's left side and crouched, peering intently at the gleaming cybernetic ports in the stump of his left arm. "...Are those burns?"
Sendak flinched back, moving to cover his stump. Coran sighed.
"You don't need to tell me what happened, but I do need to know whether or not that's a burn," he said, taking a step back. Sendak relaxed infinitesimally.
"He said he got electrocuted earlier," Pidge chipped in from the doorway.
"Is that true?" Coran asked, his tone deceptively mild.
"...What will you do if it is?" Sendak replied.
"Will it change whether or not you allow us to help you?" Coran asked. Sendak didn't respond, and the Altean sighed heavily. After a long moment, he said, "What is it you're afraid of?"
Sendak curled in on himself and made a quiet hiccuping sound. He looked...almost small, like he was trying to compress himself out of existence, and at second glance he was trembling. He didn't look away, though, and stared up at Coran with an uncertain look on his face. His lower lip wobbled.
And then he said, in a very small voice, "I just want it to stop ."
Hunk's throat tightened in sympathy.
Coran crouched so their faces were level and said gently, "I understand. None of us are going to hurt you here, I promise you. We want to help, but we can't unless you let us." A pause, and then Coran said, "Will you allow us to help you?"
Sendak let out a faint, breathy sigh. "...Please, just let me go," he whispered.
Coran crossed his arms. "I'm sorry. I can't allow you to leave the infirmary in this condition."
Hunk hesitated, then tapped Coran on the shoulder. "Uh, dude, I don't think that's gonna work the way you want it to."
Coran jumped and turned to face him. "Oh?" He paused, glanced back at Sendak-who somehow managed to look miserable and pissed off at the same time-and said, "I think I see your point. What do you suggest?"
"...Hey, Keith? You think you could help?" Hunk asked, turning to look over his shoulder at the door.
"I could try," Keith said.
Coran began moving toward the door, and even if Hunk hadn't been watching Sendak he would have noticed the way the Galra's ears perked back up almost immediately. Keith maneuvered in past him and stopped next to Hunk, well out of reach of Sendak, and tilted his head thoughtfully. Sendak tilted his head in response, and the hard furrow between his brows relaxed.
"You should have gone back to your room to sleep already," Sendak said.
Keith shrugged. "Didn't want to before everyone got back." A pause. "What about you?"
"...I've survived worse," Sendak said, ears twitching.
Keith crossed his arms, and Sendak's ears lowered almost immediately. The corner of his mouth quirked up. Keith's head tilted the other way. Sendak sighed and let his shoulders slump.
"...It's the enclosed space," he said finally.
"Yeah," Keith said. Sendak nodded. Keith shifted his weight from one foot to the other, then added, "Coran's not gonna let up until you agree."
"Coran should learn a little patience," Sendak retorted, but there was no venom in it. A pause, almost uncomfortable in length. Then Sendak said, "I know it won't harm me, but I can't uncouple not being able to move and what they...how they tried to force me to talk."
"Shiro's in the pods, and he's fine," Keith said. Then he yawned, jaw-crackingly.
All the tension in Sendak's face dissolved, and he pushed himself carefully to his feet and reached out to ruffle Keith's hair. "If I go, will you rest?"
Keith almost seemed to press his head up against Sendak's palm for a moment, then said, "Yeah."
Hunk's jaw dropped. He...hadn't just seen that, had he? No way. But by the time he'd actually gotten around to a double-take, Sendak had withdrawn his hand and was beginning to make his way towards the door and the main part of the infirmary. He hurried to catch up, sticking close behind Sendak. Just in case he collapsed again. And so he could keep an eye on Keith, who'd stuck to Sendak's right side like a shadow.
He almost bumped into Sendak at the door-the Galra had stopped dead just inside the doorway to flatten his ears and scowl at Coran. Coran stared back levelly, and Hunk could see the muscles in Sendak's back tensing up.
"So you've decided to cooperate?" Coran asked.
"I'm not doing this because of you ," Sendak spat.
Coran leaned back, looking stunned. "Wh-I beg your pardon ?"
"I said , I'm not doing this because you pushed me into it," Sendak said. His head tilted toward Keith, ever so slightly, and though Hunk couldn't see his face he could imagine the look on it.
"...Ah, I see," Coran said. There was a pause, and then he added, "I'm going to have to ask you to finish taking that suit off before you go into the cryopods."
Sendak sighed and moved out of the doorway. Hunk hurried out to rejoin Lance and Pidge, who immediately moved to flank him. Keith took his time to join them, lingering beside Sendak until the Galra shot him a look with his ears flattened.
"You don't need to stay and watch," Sendak said, shooting them all what could only be interpreted as a dirty look.
"Ah, wait a tick, before you all go," Coran said quickly, holding up a hand to keep them from taking off. "Does anyone else need medical treatment?"
Pidge shook her head. It took Keith a second or two to respond, but he shook his head and mumbled something about sleeping for a week. Hunk mumbled the negative and eyed Lance, waiting for him to speak up. He didn't remember what happened while he was brainwashed that well, but he was almost certain…Lance shook his head 'no', and Hunk decided to leave it. He'd ask Lance himself later, just to make sure he wasn't misremembering things.
Coran nodded, still watching them thoughtfully. "You four should get some rest while you can."
A pause. The Keith rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand and mumbled, "'M heading to bed. See you guys tomorrow." Then he turned around and stumbled out of the room, back toward the elevator.
"You ought to rest too, Pidge," Coran said.
"Alright, alright," Pidge grumbled. "I'm going. I'll be up in time to see Shiro out, though, I'm not that tired."
Hunk glanced sideways at Lance, noting the beginnings of dark circles under his eyes. He probably hadn't slept as much as Hunk had on the mermaid planet, with the being kidnapped by the rebel mermaids thing, and he was starting to look it. Hunk sighed and slung his arm around Lance's shoulder.
"C'mon, dude. Let's go get a nap and some food goo or something."
"Just as long as it's not Baku, huh?" Lance said, grinning wryly, and Hunk chuckled.
"Oh yeah. No more mind control aliens," he agreed. "See you later, Coran."
They were out before Coran could actually answer; the Altean had returned his attention to Sendak and the cryopods and only looked up once they'd left the room. Lance shrugged out from under Hunk's arm halfway to the elevator and slouched against the wall once they were in, studying the wall with uncharacteristic intensity. Hunk's gut clenched.
"Hey, Lance," he started. "About the mind control thing-"
"It wasn't your fault, man," Lance said, cutting him off. "The Baku and the queen were controlling you, there's no way you would've done that on your own."
"Yeah, I know, but," Hunk hesitated, gathering his thoughts. "I didn't hurt you too bad, did I?"
"Nah," Lance replied. "My armor had me covered, it took most of the damage. Dude, you knocked the air out of me like once and that was it."
"That's, uh, that's good?" Hunk said. The elevator dinged, doors opening on the residential floor, and they stumbled out together, bumping into each others' shoulders and knocking each other off balance.
"Yeah," Lance said. "Come on, let's go get something to eat! I wonder if we can get the kitchen to do anything other than goo."
As it turned out, they couldn't. The food synthesizer wouldn't do anything but the regular food goo, no matter how Hunk fiddled with the settings, which was a disappointment. It almost made him wish for the Baku again-he was getting sick of green goop, and from the look on Lance's face he wasn't the only one. They took their bowls back to the table and ate them as fast as they could manage. Hunk tried not to cringe at the texture, slimy and somehow gritty, like the particles stuck to the inside of his mouth. He was never going to get over the taste of it either. He'd never say it to Coran or Allura's faces, but most of the Altean foods he'd encountered smelled at least a little like a compost heap. The food goo was somewhat fresher in smell, not quite rotten and fermented, but not exactly what he'd call appetizing either. Bitter, while also being sour and slightly musty. Not his flavor profile of choice, not by a long shot. He ate anyway. Not like there were many options shipside when they hadn't stopped by a planet in a while.
Man. He was going to have to pick up supplies the next time they landed, and figure out how to preserve at least some of them for shelf stability while they were in deep space, because he wasn't going to be able to keep doing this food goo thing. Good food was a foundation, his mom had said when he was younger, and he wasn't going to give that up just because he'd left the planet. No way. Which meant figuring out space food. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't excited to try it out. New planets, new ingredients every time they touched down...there were whole worlds opening up, literally.
Lance shovelled down his last spoonful of goo a full minute before Hunk did, but he stuck around, tapping his spoon restlessly against the rim of his bowl and staring at the wall behind Hunk, brows furrowing thoughtfully.
"Hey, Hunk," he said, once Hunk finished his own goo. "What do you think Pidge was talking about when she asked how long we'd been separated from the group?"
Hunk shrugged. "I think she might have been talking about some kinda...space-time distortion from the compromised wormhole."
"...I don't get it," Lance said. The crease between his brows deepened.
"Okay, so the wormholes are basically a tunnel through the fabric of space, right? It's like...sewing, like we pinch the fabric of space and push through to the other side of the fold almost instantly. But according to basically all theories of relativity, bending space has a warping effect on time, too, so it moves differently on the thing going through the wormhole than it does on the rest of the universe." Hunk paused, watching Lance's face. "You with me so far?"
"Yeah," Lance said, nodding. "I think so."
"Right, so because something went really wrong with that wormhole, it chucked us all out at different points in space. And I think Pidge was asking because she thinks it might've chucked us out at different points in time , too, like some of us might have left the wormhole at an earlier point in the rest of the universe's flow of time, and some of us might have left it at later points."
"Wait wait wait," Lance said, holding up his hands. "You think the wormhole might have chucked us back in time ?"
"Not us , and not back ," Hunk said. "I cross-referenced our suits' chronometers with the Lion's chronometers, and we left the wormhole with about ten minutes after we entered it, rest-of-the-universe time, but the way Pidge was talking, the rest of them have only been out of the wormhole for, like, twelve hours, tops."
"So you're saying the others got thrown forward in time, and we stayed almost the same?" Lance asked. "Weird."
"...Yeah, I think that's what she meant," Hunk said. "I only sorta get it, we only have math and thought experiments on space-time distortion and none of us can read Altean to study their research, which...kinda sucks."
Lance snorted. "Yeah, I bet. Pidge would be all over that kinda stuff."
"I think she said something about wanting to learn to read Altean once," Hunk said.
"Well, if anyone can do it, it's Pidge," Lance said, leaning back in his chair and stretching. "Man. All this space-time weirdness is making me tired."
Hunk chuckled. "Yeah, me too. Let's go get a nap or something."
