Author's Note;
Suggestion by bigtimedreamer101 who stated; It would be cool to see a story where Pidge and Lance get stranded somewhere, maybe with Hunk.
Takes place between Season 2 Episode 13, AKA Blackout and Season 3 Episode 1, AKA Changing of the Guard.
Enjoy!
Pidge glanced at the bucketful of berries that she held in her right hand, sighing as she pinched the bridge of her nose. They had been stranded here for two quintents, and already they were sick of the instant goo, and running low on it. The instant goo was supposed to help one person survive for two weeks, but there were two people, and one was given a larger ration then the other(Hunk). Pidge never ate her share to stretch out the rations. She was sure they were as clueless about that then about her arm.
The emergency tracker was fixed, but all it did was drain Green's energy broadcasting a signal that wasn't helping in the least. Still, Pidge refused to turn it off, holding on to hope.
Pidge heard the sound of a ship nearing, and ducked underneath a large tree as she watched ten Galra fighters soar overhead, their engines roaring. Pidge counted to a dobosh then took off running towards the Green Lion's crash site.
Pidge had also gotten the Green Lion's cloaking, camera monitors and engines online, keeping one Paladin stationed at her computer at all times. Pidge had hooked her computer up to the Green Lion's controls, so that they could control the Green Lion without the front of the cockpit. They had managed to use Green's thrusters to pull her out of the ground, and turned on cloaking whenever a patrol neared. Pidge had been awake the entirety of the two days and the exhaustion was beginning to catch up to her.
Pidge could run all the way to Green's hiding place beneath the trees purely thanks to adrenaline that coursed through her veins.
Pidge arrived just as the Green Lion shimmered back into view, opening up the trap doors on her underside. Pidge jet packed inside, wishing that, not for the first time, that the Green Lion could open up her jaw alas, they would have to wait to get back to the castle to have it repaired. Thank God for Coran's grandfather, who thought to put a lion-repairing machine inside one of the hangers.
Pidge made her way to the cockpit, where she discovered Hunk at her computer and Lance sprawled on the floor, sleeping. Pidge drew up the blankets that covered him to his shoulders, biting the inside of her lip.
"Welcome back." Hunk greeted her, glancing at the bucket she carried with her.
"Thanks. I got a collection of berries that the native animals were eating. I hope they're not poisonous."
"We could do without your blunt attitude." Hunk pointed out, plopping one berry in his moth.
"Yeah, yeah." Pidge grumbled, snarling. The pain in Pidge's arm was getting worse. Fortunately, in her eyes at least, the others didn't know she was injured, so she was able to go more freely and they didn't worry about her as much, allowing her to care for their wounds.
"You okay?"
"I had to dodge three patrols while I was out." Pidge sighed. "I'm just a little worn out, is all."
"You work too much. Sleep. I can take care of things until you wake up."
"No." Pidge shook her head. "I would much rather stay awake just in case anything happened."
"Once Lance wakes up, I INSIST you go to bed." Hunk glared, giving her the stink eye.
"I'm fine."
"I know for a fact you are most certainly not." Hunk snorted, mirth crossing his face for a few ticks. "These last two nights, I've woken up off and on about ten times each night. TEN TIMES, Pidge. And each time, you've been sitting at the computer or fixing some part of Green. Sometimes you won't be in this room at all, but I can hear you working away at another part of Green. You've never been asleep."
"I've TRIED, but I keep on getting worried about what could go wrong! What if the Galra come when we're sleeping?!"
"Then we have the cloaking device on all night long."
"What if the others arrive? And they try to call us and none of us are awake, so that we can't call it them back?!"
"Then one of us, THAT'S NOT YOU is awake all night long. Maybe Lance and I take shifts. I mean, you do all the work, we should be able to help in some way!"
"You already do by making sure Green doesn't over exert herself." Pidge protested.
"Look, Lance and I'll take care of everything tonight, okay?" Hunk decided, blinking at her as he thoughtfully watched her. "Then you can stay up for a few more days. Then we'll take over again. Sound good?"
"Once Lance wakes up, fine." Pidge sighed, crossing her arms. "Five hours, got it? Then you wake me up."
"Twelve. After Twelve hours you'll be completely rested."
"Five."
"Okay. How about, we just let you sleep for however long your body needs."
"Mm…fiiiiiiiine." Pidge grumbled, defeated.
"Also; I haven't seen you eat in…well, since we received this mission." Hunk pointed out, making Pidge feel a fleeting moment of disappointment that he had noticed. "You go, grab a bowl from the Lion's kitchen, and you come right back and fill it with these berries."
Pidge rolled her eyes, but she did as she was told.
"I'm going to eat these while working on Green's weapon systems." Pidge told him, and Hunk, grouchily, gave his permission.
Pidge, however, didn't eat it. She put it in the bucket she would use tomorrow, thus giving herself a head start. She couldn't bring herself to eat, instead working with an empty bowl beside her, lest Hunk came in to make sure she ate.
My Paladin. Green cooed, her presence feeling like a blanket covering Pidge. Another patrol is coming.
"Thanks for the heads up." Pidge grunted, pulling her off out of the alcove. Several of the wires in there were connected to the cloaking device, and would probably spark just slightly, thus electrocuting Pidge.
Once the danger was clear, Pidge ducked her head back into the space. If she can just finish with these, she should be able to repair the tracker and send out a signal to the castle. Why, oh, WHY couldn't she had ended up crashing onto another trash nebula?
Pidge opened her eyes, her arm throbbed, she hastened to grab a pain killer, spotting Hunk slouched in the backed up pilot seat and Lance bent over the computer.
She sat up numbly, swallowing the pill in one gulp, rubbing one eye.
"You should be asleep." Lance said, turning towards her curiously, cocking one eyebrow.
"Yeah, well, I woke up." Pidge snorted. "I'm going to work on Green."
"Wait." Lance interrupted, and and Pidge let out a light groan. "You did eat the food Hunk gave you, right?"
"Yes." Pidge lied, blinking. "Why?"
"Earlier I saw our other bucket with berries in it. You weren't supposed to use it until tomorrow."
Pidge froze, her chest squeezing. "W…well…I have a good excuse." She stammered, her quick mind flashing. "The bucket was mostly full when I brought it back, so I decided to put the extra berries in the other bucket to help limit our rations."
Lance didn't look like he completely believed her, but he nodded knowingly. "Makes sense."
Pidge was about to move again when his voice stopped her.
"How old are you, again?"
"I'll be sixteen this year…why?"
"So. Fifteen." Lance sighed, closing his eyes in concentration. "You're…you're shouldering a lot of responsibility. Taking care of Hunk and I… but can I ask you to do one last thing?"
"Depends." Pidge smirked, cocking her head.
"Take care of yourself, m'kay?" Lance asked, placing his hands on her shoulders. "You're doing so good at tending to us that…that…I'm afraid that you're neglecting your own needs."
"I'm fine." Pidge brushed him off, turning away. She didn't need to look at him to know that he bore his hurt expression, and she felt a squeeze in her chest. "But of course I'll take care of myself, silly." She felt, rather then saw, his face relax into a gentle smile.
"Good." He whispered. "Hunk and I are both capable of taking care of ourselves if the need arose, Pidge. So you can take all the time you need to freshen up in you need to."
"Thanks, Lance." Pidge sighed with relief. It made her feel good to know that Lance and Hunk both cared enough for her to urge her to tend to her daily needs, but she still couldn't muster up enough strength to eat or sleep more then a few hours. They needed her. "I'll be fine, though. Green is more urgent then sleep right now."
"You sure?"
"Yep! I already wasted three hours sleeping, might as well get on with the day!"
"It IS technically the morning…" Lance agreed, glancing at the clock on her desktop screen, which read 1:03 AM. "Actually, I probably should wake Hunk up for his shift."
"Go ahead." Pidge nodded, waving him on as she exited the room. Lance was right; she needed to take care of herself. A shower was in order, but should she save the water for something else, or just risk the chance? The regular tracker was almost repaired, so should she spend her time on that, or on checking the necessary features? Should she eat the berries, or save them for the others to eat?
Pidge sunk down against the wall, burying her face in her hands. There were so many things she needed to tend to, and so many decisions to make! And…and…she didn't have the will to do it. Oh, Shiro…Pidge whimpered, sinking until she sat completely on the ground. Everyone is expecting me to take care of them, but there are too many variables! How did you manage it?!
The Paladins had talked about finding a replacement for the Black Lion once or twice in the past, and Pidge always gone with it, saying that perhaps she would like to. But honestly, she didn't understand how Shiro did it. It seemed that half of the decisions for the team rested on her shoulders, and, although she didn't complain, she felt burdened, dragged underneath their expectations. She always tried to stay strong for their sake, but it was hard. It was hard acting brave when her father and brother were taken, but now…now that Shiro was gone, too, she dissolved so much more easily. When everyone disappeared to their beds at nighttime, she often wailed, breaking into tears. She felt someone nearby nearly every time, but, when she looked, she saw nobody.
Shiro, where are you? I need you so badly…
Tears stained her eyes, and she had to flee from the hallway before someone heard her.
Keith groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. He only had to look for a little longer, then he could head back to the Castle. And then he'd receive another possible location from Pidge, and he'd head out again…
The Red Lion's coms beeped, making him raise his head curiously. What in tarnation was it this time?! Keith pushed the button that turned them on, resisting a sigh. "Yeah? What?"
"Keith!" Allura's voice broke through the coms, cracking as if she had been crying. "We need to to come back to the castle! The Paladins' signal just went dead!"
"What do you mean?" Keith asked, turning around Red. "What happened?"
"They…they…"
"Deep breaths, Princess."
Allura inhaled deeply, then exhaled. When she spoke again, there was only a tiny waver. "They went on an information-gathering trip. Their signal cut out temporarily when they went in, but I thought nothing of it at the time. But we haven't regained communication since, and the Green Lion's signal cut off about a day ago. It's too dangerous to go in to look for it without the lions, for the Galra ship hasn't moved since, but is still online."
"And you're just now thinking of contacting me?!"
"Of course not!" Allura snorted at his inquiry. "You're too far out for us to have a proper link with you."
"I'm coming back." Keith told her, pressing a few buttons on his dash board.
"Understood." There was a rustling sound in the background, and Allura signed off of the link.
"Crap." Keith hissed. "Shoulda asked her to open up a wormhole." He flipped Red onto auto-pilot, standing up to stretch his legs. Everything was falling into shambles around him; how much longer until Allura and Coran disappeared, too?!