Title: More
Chapter: 3
Rating: T
Summary: The need to be stronger, faster, better…the need to be MORE can drive someone. What if it drove them too far? What if it drove them right off a cliff?
Season 4
Lance stared at the bottle. He had woken up feeling stiff and sore from the beating he took in hall combined with the extra training slash impromptu tournament he'd almost won yesterday. Almost seemed to be a real theme for him lately. Almost won, almost there in time, almost good enough - he knew he was so much better than he'd been even months ago. He was stronger, faster, his training was going great, but it wasn't enough. He still kept failing, even if it was just by inches. He couldn't imagine how some herbs were going to make that better, but even if they just helped a little it would be worth it, wouldn't it? Sax said it was safe, safe for humans, no side effects, lots of people take it. So why not?
He flipped open the lid and looked in at the green square tablets. They were a little bigger than an aspirin, but other than being green and square weren't particularly remarkable. He picked one up and sniffed, yuck, smelled like herbs he guessed. He touched it to his tongue. No tingling or urge to puke, though also not a great flavor. Okay, so, down the hatch. He swallowed the pill and followed it with a huge drink of water. He looked in the bottle and found there were thirty-nine pills left. He shrugged figuring if it worked he'd get more from Sax another time. He stuck the bottle in the drawer of his desk. There was a lingering, nagging voice in the back of his head wondering if this was something bad. Why didn't Sax give the medicine to Shiro or Allura, why Lance, why was Lance hiding it in his drawer and not telling anyone? And the reason was simple. Lance needed the most help of all of the paladins and he was embarrassed to tell Allura or Coran or Shiro that people other than they had started to notice. Besides, it's not like this was some back alley drug deal, he'd just been given an herbal supplement by an ally. If it worked he thought, he'd tell them. If not he'd pitch the bottle and no harm done.
Matt was loading the newly freed prisoners onto one of the shuttles.
"This way, everyone find a seat and get into the harness. If you have trouble let us know. No one goes on without a harness. If you have any issues, just yell out and we'll get you some help." Matt thought they would need about 5 trips to get everyone safely to the surface. The people on this moon were working to establish a new colony and needed all the help they could get. There were basically jobs for anyone willing to work. The prisoners were unfortunately from a planet deep in Galra controlled territory and they weren't able to return them home just yet.
As Matt was assisting an elderly man up the ramp, he caught sight of Sax slipping into the hanger. His frowned and looked around for Olia. He spotted her over at the other side of the shuttle. As soon as he finished getting the old fellow buckled in he made a beeline for his fellow rebel.
"Olia," Matt spoke in a low tone, "what is Sax doing here?"
"He wanted to help Matt. I couldn't turn down his assitance, we needed the extra ships for the mission." Olia was well aware of how Matt felt about Sax.
"We don't need his kind. We sure don't need him on the Castle of Lions!" Matt glared across the hanger at the tall gray alien.
"Matt, you have no proof he's the one that supplied the Greenies to Tambo. In the meantime he has two cargo ships and four shuttles. We need him." Olia growled softly.
"I know he was behind it. He isn't trustworthy and he shouldn't be here! He shouldn't be in the same system as Voltron and he sure as hell shouldn't be on the same ship as my little sister!" Matt's fists were balled up at his sides. He'd just as soon send Sax for a short walk out one of the airlocks.
"Look, I'll send him on the first shuttle down? Okay?" Olia touched his shoulder. She understood why Matt was upset, the loss of Tambo had hurt them all, but sometimes the human was a little too black and white for working as a rebel. It's not like they thought Sax had murdered Tambo.
"Okay, just keep him away from me and my family." He growled and left the hanger. He didn't want to be near the slimy snake.
Lance was feeling great, like he'd slept a full night on clouds or something. He had so much energy he couldn't sit still. Hunk had kicked him out of the kitchen and told him to wait in the common room after he'd decided to dance around Hunk humming his own music as Hunk tried to cook. Now he was sitting on a stool spinning in circles. The lights danced around the room and he felt awesome.
Pidge was staring at him, "Did you eat glue?"
"What?" He asked after he stopped the stool. He was still dizzy and his body was swaying around a bit.
"You are acting nuttier than usual." She snarked eyes narrowed.
"Ah, Pidge, I just feel good. I've been having trouble sleeping and I finally got a good night in." He was a little surprised at how easily the lie slipped off of his lips.
"Oh." Pidge's eyes softened. "Well, I'm glad you are feeling better."
"Thanks Pidgey-poo." Lance spun the chair around again. "This feels good."
Pidge rolled her eyes and went back to her tablet. If this was well rested Lance he hadn't slept this well since ever. She wondered how many nights he hadn't been sleeping.
Keith glared at Lance the entirety of breakfast, he never stopped moving. It was crazy annoying.
"KKKKeeeith," Lance called, "I bet I can beat your obstacle course time today?" Lance challenged. The last time he'd run the course he had only been 8 seconds from beating Keith's time. With all this extra energy he had no doubt he was going to crush it today.
"No way, besides, that was my time like four months ago. I can beat that time." Keith's eyes narrowed at the challenge.
"Care to put a wager on that?" Pidge asked.
"Pidge!" Shiro admonished from the other end of the table.
"Shiro!" Pidge whined. "It's not like I'm betting on baseball or something."
"No betting." Shiro frowned at her.
"Fine." She was grumbled.
"Pidge, at least tell me you were going to bet one me?" Lance asked with eager eyes.
"With the way you are acting right now? I'm afraid you are going to run into a wall before you even get there." Pidge frowned at him.
"Oh." Lance frowned for a moment before slapping the smile back on. "Well, you'd best just come down to the gym and see for yourself then." Lance bounced up.
"Lance, I'm not done eating." Keith complained, fork partway to his mouth.
"Finnnne." Lance whined. "I'll just go do some warm-ups till you are ready." He walked out of the common area with a bounce in his step. Matt was coming in as he was leaving. "Good morning. Oh, hey," Lance paused and a hand reached out for Matt, "thanks, by the way, for riding with me back the other day."
"No problem, Lance, I'm glad you're okay." Matt smiled back at Lance, glad the ice between them had been melting.
Lance gave him some kind of sloppy salute and took off down the hall at a jog.
"Well, he's in a good mood." Matt chuckled as he sat at the table. Hunk handed him a plate full of food. "Thanks, Hunk, I get spoiled eating with you guys." The not bacon smelled so good his mouth was watering. "Shiro, the first shuttle just left. I think four more trips to send everyone securely so, by the end of the day we'll be ready to ship out."
"So soon," Pidge pouted. "I haven't hardly gotten to spend any time with you."
"I have some free time this afternoon, how about a video game challenge after lunch?" Matt offered with a wink.
"Oh, you are so getting your butt kicked." Pidge grinned wildly.
Keith had finally shown up and then insisted on doing about a hundred stretches, or at least it felt that way to Lance. Shiro had sent him to the other side of the gym, something about it wouldn't be fair if Keith killed him before their race.
"Okay, you two." Shiro called. "The obstacle course is set up and Coran is ready with the timer. You ready?"
"Oh yeah!" Lance called bouncing in place.
"Yes, Shiro." Keith walked up stretching one last time before the race.
"On your marks!" Coran called from the control room. "Ready, Go!"
Lance took off like a shot, the first portion was a sprint. He always beat Keith in this area and he wanted to get a head start for the next section. He climbed up the ladder to the platform about 15 feet off the ground. There were a series of ropes hanging across a span of about fifty feet. He had to swing from one rope to the next to get across. This wasn't his strongest section and it was Keith's. He started out across before Keith reached the top of the platform. He was 1/4 of the way across when Keith started, but Keith only finished a second or so before him. He knew he was doing better than his last time. The next section was a zip line down to a narrow board about thirty feet in length with arm holds above it. He and Keith were neck and neck after that. The next section was a series of jumps across varying height platforms with uneven tops. He was ahead of Keith with one wild leap at the end. Next was a crawl through alarmed wires. One touch and his run would be void. He was pulling away from Keith. The last section was a climb up a shaft. He had to brace his back on one side and feet on the other and climb to the top. He was sweating profusely and panting when he hit the bell to indicate his completion. It was only then he turned to see Keith wasn't even halfway up.
He gave a loud howl and danced around the top of the platform.
"Yes! I knew it!" He crowed.
He walked over to Keith's side and offered him a hand up which he took.
"Good job, Lance. You've really improved." Keith smiled at him.
"Wow, really?" Lance was surprised that Keith seemed geniunely happy for him.
"Yeah, you've worked really hard and it's paying off. Shiro's been telling me how hard you've been working." Keith patted him on the back.
"A new record! You both beat the old record and Lance set the new record down by twenty ticks! Well done!" Coran called from the control booth.
Lance smiled broadly, but underneath his gut clenched. He couldn't have done it without the pill. He couldn't help but feel he was getting praise he didn't deserve. He felt his cheeks burning and knew he was blushing.
"Oh, it…well…um…Thanks." He suddenly didn't really want to be here. "I'm going to go finish my cool down and hit the showers. Thanks for the race." Lance awkwardly shook Keith's hand and left the platform.
Keith stood staring after him wondering what had just happened. He had expected to have his nose rubbed in it or at least have Lance squealing and jumping up and down for at least fifteen dobashes.
After lunch the siblings Holt were preparing for battle, there was the requisite smack talk, the presumptuous posturing, and of course the childlike name calling.
"Poor wittle Pidgey."
"Pathetic loser."
"Are you sure you can see, maybe we should get you a booster, short stuff."
"I'll be able to see just fine, are you sure you shouldn't sit, you won't be able to for awhile after I kick your butt, terd munch."
"Monkey Butt."
"Horse's Ass."
"Pidge, language!" Shiro called from the hall as he walked by.
Hunk had his mouth covered trying to hold back the laughter, but that was the last straw, "You two are ridiculous. Can we start this?"
Lance came sliding into the room, almost bowling over Hunk in his rush. "Did I miss it?"
"No, Lance you are just in time to see my brother shamed." Pidge smiled.
"Oh, sibling rivalry, how I have missed you." Lance grinned and pulled up a seat, grabbing a bowl of popcorn from Hunk.
Hunk, pulled up his chair next to Lance and his own alien popcorn (which was actually some kind of puffed rice, but it tasted pretty close when he added the alien butter).
"Let's get ready to rumble!" Lance yelled.
Pidge cackled and the game started up.
Three hours, much cursing, some weeping, and a few handfuls of tossed popcorn later the game ended…in a tie.
"I can't believe it!" Pidge stomped her foot. "How do we handle a tie! I need a rematch!"
"Sorry, Pidge, but I really have to go." Matt smiled and gave her a hug. "I promise a rematch next time I'm in the castle, okay?"
"Okay? You'd better, or I'm going to track you down and bring this game to you!" She grinned wickedly hugging him back. She suppressed the tears that really wanted to come out at his leaving.
"I'll miss you too, Pidge." Matt gave her another squeeze, waved to Lance and Hunk, and started toward the door. She nearly tackled him with another quick hug.
"Be careful out there."
"Always." He put his arm around her and she walked him out to his shuttle. As they neared the hanger bay something reminded Matt he needed to warn Pidge. "Speaking of careful, Pidge, did you talk with Sax?"
"The big grey snake guy, yeah, he helped with one of the prisoners that was crazy." Pidge frowned remembering the woman screaming.
"Pidge, don't trust him. Not all the rebels are nice guys and Sax is really not a nice guy." The hard edge to Matt's voice surprised her.
"Okay, Matt." she gave him a reassuring pat, he was not usually like this. Her brother was not the angry one in the family.
"Just don't trust him. He didn't try to give you anything did he?" Matt looked at her searchingly.
"No, nothing." she cocked her head in inquiry, but he didn't fill in the gap.
"I'll miss you. You be careful out there too!" He gave her one last hug and headed over to the shuttle where Olia was waiting for him.
