Author's Note: Sorry, I'm new at this so some of the formatting and stuff might be weird. Any helpful suggestions or constructive criticism is much appreciated!

Chapter One

A few hours earlier…

"Hey, guys!" Lance said, strolling into Pidge and Hunk's workshop with his hands stuffed into his jacket pockets. They were both hunched over something small on Pidge's desk. He got a little closer and looked over to see that it was some kind of circuit board. "Whatcha doin'?

Pidge was holding a tiny screwdriver in one hand, delicately poking at the circuit board. "Shh!" she said, waving her free hand at Lance.

"It's a very delicate process," Hunk explained. He was using both hands to hold the circuit board still.

"What is that?"

"Can we please do this later?" Pidge snapped. "You really, really do not want me to mess this up."

"Oh, well, okay." Lance straightened up. "Catch you guys at dinner?"

"You betcha, buddy," Hunk said, his eyes still on the circuit board. Lance smiled and waited just a moment longer. When they didn't say anything else, he walked away, frowning.

Everybody in the castle had been so tense lately. Allura, he could understand. She'd just had to heal a whole planet and then basically re-lost her father only a few days later. But everybody else had been kinda off too. Even Coran, who normally cracked at least as many jokes as Lance, had been unusually somber. Maybe it was the whole castle-going-crazy thing. That had sure freaked him out. Lance shuddered as he remembered nearly getting sucked out of the air lock. That had been truly terrifying. His shoulders still ached a little bit from getting yanked around in there.

The ache reminded him that he hadn't tried bothering Keith yet. He was always slightly annoyed by Lance, so he probably couldn't get too much grouchier, right? Decision made, Lance headed towards the training area. He could hear the sounds of fighting before he even got in, grunting and the pings of Keith's sword as it hit the gladiator robot. Lance stuck his head around the door and was surprised to see Shiro there too. He was just about to say something when he heard what Keith was talking about.

"-I just feel like everything is a joke to him. He still acts like we're still at the Garrison, on some simulated mission or something. You'd think almost getting killed would have knocked some sense into him, but it seems like it only made him worse." Keith blocked a slash from the gladiator and kicked it back against the wall.

Shiro wiped sweat off his forehead and took a defensive stance as the robot got up and headed towards him. "People react to trauma in different ways. And Lance is just a kid, you know." He easily fended off the robot, sending it back towards Keith.

"He's only a few months younger than me."

"Yeah, but you've had to grow up a lot faster than most people. He'll get there, just give him some time."

Lance had heard enough. He quietly closed the door and stepped back, fuming. Keith was not more mature than he was! He'd gotten himself expelled from the Garrison, after all. Lance let out a huff and set off down the hallway towards the control room. Maybe Coran would be in a mood to talk by now. The last time he'd seen him, he'd been hard at work fixing the castle's heat shields, which had taken a real beating after their most recent near-death experience. He'd been polite, but made it clear that he didn't have time to talk to Lance right then.

"Coran?" Lance stepped into the room. It looked deserted, but Coran could still be under something working. "Are you in here?" There was no reply. Maybe he'd gone to get something. Lance walked up to the crystal in the center of the room. After seeing the Balmera it came from, he realized what a risk Hunk and Coran had taken in getting it here. Thinking about that brought back other memories. He'd been standing right here when he'd seen the fake Rover, heard the beeping and realized it was about to explode. Lance shuddered, remembering the bolt of fear that had hit him just before he'd called out for Coran and . . . everything after that was a blank until he'd woken up in the healing pod.

"Lance?" It was Coran, standing in the doorway, holding what looked like a bunch of wires. "Did you change your mind and decide to come help?"

Lance rubbed the back of his neck. "Um, yeah, something like that."

"Great! Hold these for a tick." Coran dumped the wires into his arms and then ducked under the main control panel. "I just need to . . . ah, that could be a problem."

"What?" asked Lance, crouching down to see what he was doing.

"Hand me the yellow wire, will you?" He did so, and watched for a minute as Coran shifted around, muttering to himself. Soon he found himself looking up at the crystal again. A strange feeling came over him and he remembered seeing the room filled with smoke, the crystal missing. Lance shook his head. He hadn't seen that. He'd been unconscious after the explosion.

"Now the red," said Coran, sticking out his hand. Lance handed it to him. "Where's your chatter, Lance? Normally you talk more than a hyperactive yelmore on sloshjuice."

"Should I be offended by that?"

"No, I was always quite fond of yelmores. When I wasn't trying to shoo them out of my garden back on Altea. Blue wire, please."

"Right." Lance smiled. Coran, at least, was being as unintelligible as usual. "I'm just glad you aren't making me clean the healing pods. I do not want to end up trapped in one of those again."

"You should show more respect for those pods! They did save your life."

"Before one almost froze me to death! Not cool, really not cool."

Coran's chuckling was broken off as a loud beeping came from the control panel he was working on. "Oh dear," he said, emerging and squinting at the little red light that had just started blinking.

"What is it?"

Coran pressed a few buttons and the projector came on, surrounding them with stars. He pointed at one of the stars just above them. "We have a new distress signal coming from a planet right about there." He pressed another button. "Paladins, Princess, you're needed in the control room. Looks like we've got another planet to save!"