Haunting
Coran scoffed as he left the medbay. As if the castle could be haunted! These humans could be quite ridiculous with their superstitions.
Still, he frowned as walked through the halls towards the engine room. The lights did seem to be flickering somewhat. That wasn't good. Perhaps I should check the power outputs; that could explain the fluctuations in the lights. He thought to himself. After all, it was still a pretty new crystal and the castle could be adjusting. Even if that had never really happened before.
Coran walked towards the nearest display panel. If there was a problem with the castle, he'd like a better idea of what was going on before entering the engine room.
A whisper reached his ears before he could even touch it. "Coran."
Coran froze. He would know that voice anywhere, even if it had technically been 10,000 years.
"Alfor?" Coran turned around and searched the empty corridor. A shiver went down his spine. Was the castle cooler than normal?
"Coran."
"Yes?" Coran knew it wasn't actually Alfor. Or at least, he mostly knew that. Alfor was long gone, probably dead before the Castleship had even landed on Arus. But his AI was still around, and the system wasn't set up in a way to confine him to one room. As far as Coran knew though, the AI didn't have a habit of leaving there.
And Coran had yet to work up the courage to face his king.
"Coran. Please."
"What is it?" Coran's nerves were on edge, a prickling sensation telling him something was wrong. Maybe Lance's worries weren't as farfetched as they had seemed. "Can you show yourself?"
Silence.
"Alfor?" Desperation laced Coran's voice.
"Coran." Alfor sounded more mechanical and staticky, as if the signal was being lost. Coran made a move to the panel to stabilize it, but it continued before he could. "I'm sorry."
"What – what for?" Coran couldn't help but ask, but he didn't get any reply. That was it, he was getting some answers as he finally reached the panel and pulled up some schematics.
It was weird, from what he could tell there was obviously something wrong. All the information he brought up was just a bit off, but at the same time, he simply couldn't pinpoint what was up.
And then he heard the sound of screaming.
Coran whirled around to see Lance and Keith, quite the unusual couple, sprinting down the hallway. They were screaming loud enough that Coran was shocked they had enough air to do it considering their speed.
Lance spotted him first, and he began to skid to a stop, catching Keith with his arm. They slid to a stop right in from of him.
"Coran! Are you alright?!" Lance was looking slightly crazed as his gaze darted over Coran. Despite the way his chest was heaving, he didn't seem too put out from the run.
"Is he alright?!" Keith looked at Lance with wide eyes. He too was calming down, but still seemed worried. "After what just happened to us?"
"Well, I thought he'd somehow been trapped in the airlock!" Lance said defensively.
"Is that what you were doing out there?"
"Number Three, Number Four." Coran cut them off. "What are you talking about?"
"Coran, this place really is haunted!" Lance desperately said. "It made me think you were in an airlock and tried to eject me into space and a robot nearly took Keith's head off!"
Coran's chest squeezed tight. This was more than just a malfunctioning cryopod and flickering lights. If the castle really was trying to kill the Paladins…
"I'm sorry."
Well, that would explain that turn of phrase.
Coran straightened. This needed more immediate action, trying to figure out what was wrong at one of the common display panels wasn't doing anything. "I'm fairly sure it's nothing as mystical as a haunting, Number Three. Where are Pidge and Hunk?" They would be the best bet at figuring out what was wrong, especially if they all went up to the bridge.
"Uh…" Keith's blank expression did not inspire confidence. On the other hand, Lance immediately turned thoughtful.
"Hunk wanted to get a snack, so he probably headed towards the kitchen." Lance said. "Pidge though, she wanted to…" Realization sparked in his eyes and he looked up. "She was gonna study the Galra crystal."
The three of them shared a look. The Galra crystal was certainly suspicious; it was an unknown element in these happenings. "We'd better look for her then." Coran concluded, turning towards the Green Lion's hangar. Lance and Keith quickly took the lead though as they headed down.
Coran knew they'd get to the bottom of this, though he worried at what the cost would be.
At the very least, Coran could say they had all survived. Not without some losses as Coran thought about Alfor's AI, but at least all the living on board were still alive.
It would probably take Allura a while to recover from losing her father a second time, though Coran couldn't claim to be feeling any better about it. He may not have been able to face the AI, but it did not make losing his friend again hurt any less. There had always been the possibility that he could talk to him in the future, but that was gone now.
The previous night Allura had needed him most, and Coran admitted that he had needed her close as well. Now, there was one more thing he had to face before he could put this all to rest.
Coran was surprised to find Lance in the library, frowning over the Altean texts and smiling at the occasional picture. Perhaps teaching the Paladins Altean would be a good idea considering the amount of technology in the castle that utilized it.
And it would be an opportunity to keep some of their planet alive.
Coran cleared his throat to prevent startling him and spoke once Lance finally looked up. "I believe some apologies are in order, Lance."
Lance frowned. "Apologies? For what?"
Coran found himself fidgeting. "It seems you were right that something was wrong with the castle and I didn't take you seriously."
Lance blinked in surprise. "Oh, no problem, Coran. It's fine."
Coran didn't see how not listening to his genuine points was fine. Besides, it was more than what Coran could bring himself to say. It was only when everything was over that Coran had been able to think about what Lance had said earlier when with Keith and then to the others.
The reason Lance had almost been killed in the airlock was because he had thought Coran was in danger, even after Coran had brushed his concerns aside. That made this the second incident where Lance had risked his life in order to try saving Coran's.
They hadn't even known each other that long, yet Lance still took those risks. It was very clear to Coran why Lance had been chosen by Blue, as he obviously cared for and trusted him already.
But something told Coran that if he tried to thank Lance for that care and those risks, it would be shrugged off as easily as his apology had been.
"Still, I wanted to clear the air between us." Coran insisted.
Lance rolled his eyes, but he still smiled. "How about you teach me how to read this then?" He held up the text in his hands.
Coran was hesitant to connect closely with the new Paladins. The loss of the old ones, of Alfor, was still too fresh for him. This war was dangerous, and just the boy in front of him had brushed close to death quite a few times already. Who knew how many times it would happen before this was all over?
But he had to get past that. To win this, they had to work together and getting closer was imminent. And if Allura could bring herself to let go of her father, then Coran could let go of his fears too. The ones that had kept him from visiting Alfor before it was too late and the ones that kept him from getting close.
Plus, Lance, in his own way, was clearly trying to reach out to him.
"Of course," Coran smiled and thought about what the best way to teach his now ancient language to Lance would be.
Lance smiled back. "Awesome!"
Coran wouldn't let himself be haunted by the past anymore.
AN: So somethings that always struck me about this episode was 1. we see the Castle messing with everyone except for Coran and 2. we see Lance and Keith run off screaming their heads off and the next time we see them they're relatively calm and have Coran in tow. So I figure that the Castle must have done something with Coran, except it was the real Alfor trying warn him of the danger that was going on. We know that Alfor and Coran were friends, but not much more than that, and I really wish we could learn more about that, hear some stories, or you know, address the fact, again, that Coran and Allura should be allowed to feel pain and mourn over those they've lost.
Also, on a different note, I found the image of Lance and Keith just continuing to run and scream until they found one of the adults on the castle kind of funny.
The second part I feel is something Coran would probably do. He probably started the whole number thing as a way to keep some separation, but I really don't think he'd overlook Lance risking his life for him twice. Pretty sure, after Allura, Lance is his favorite, so I decided to have a bit of a bonding moment between them.