Chapter 12
"Ugg… Why did I agree to this?" Lance asked no one in particular from his place on the floor. Keith looked down to him with a small smirk before offering him a hand.
Despite the fact that Keith had just flipped Lance over his shoulder and slammed him to the ground, Lance took his hand and allowed him to hoist him up.
"Maybe a bit gentler next time?" Lance rubbed at the small of his back.
"That was amazing!" Pidge shouted.
They had been learning from Keith for almost an hour now. The small group had learned at an extraordinary pace. Choke holds, Elbow strikes, and Takedowns had been a quick lesson, along with a few more offensive type moves, and they were now being taught how to flip someone over their shoulder. Lance being, well, Lance, had volunteered to help demonstrate. He had assumed that he would be the one flipping Keith and had been quite surprised when he had suddenly gripped his hand and forearm and launched him over his shoulder.
"Thanks Pidge." Keith said modestly.
"Yeah, yeah. My turn." Lance said and smiled wickedly. Keith looked at him, raised an eyebrow, and twitched his ears curiously. Lance's smile lost a bit of its wickedness at this as he grinned crookedly.
Cute.
"Your turn?" Keith asked and cocked his head to the side blinking his violet eyes widely.
So cute.
"Yeah, to um… you know." Lance offered, dancing around his words.
"Spit it out Lance! I want to try it too." Pidge complained. Lance looked to Pidge slightly hurt.
"My turn to flip Keith." Lance said with an overly confident and cocky voice to cover up the feelings inside him. He earned an eye roll from Pidge.
"Well, then do it already man." Hunk said. He didn't mean anything hurtful by it but Lance couldn't help the small pang of hurt his words created.
"Haha, I was getting there." He smiled dully. His shoulders were stiff and his finger twitched against his legs.
"It's alright Lance, go ahead." Keith said quietly in a soft and steady voice as he held his arm out for Lance to take. All of them turned to look at him in confusion at his curious behavior.
Lance raised an eyebrow and let his stance loosen as he approached cautiously.
A trick? He wondered. Keith continued to stand with his arm out as Lance circled around him. Maybe he knows that... No, I know how to hide my emotions well enough.
"Get on with it Lance." Pidge jabbed at him. Her words shocked him out of his investigation and he sent a glare her way.
"You're just jealous that I get to flip someone before you, shortstack." He jeered.
No, she's just annoyed by you like everyone else.
He tried to chase that particular thought away and focus instead on Pidge, who was vibrating with fury. He knew that he had a few problems with self-esteem, but he was handling it, right?
Okay, so he wasn't handling it very well, but it's not like the team had time to talk about his feelings. They had an elusive lion to find, and an entire universe to save. Not really a lot of time for 'emotional talks' in between.
He was used to it after all. His family consisted of him, two brothers very close in age to each other, a much older sister, and his mother and father. The brothers were into sports and always in need of transportation (they could do it themselves if they weren't such reckless drivers who failed their driving tests every time) which he helped provided once he got his driver's license. His older sister was always getting into some sort of trouble and even though she was four years older than Lance he was often guiding her down the right path. His father worked two jobs and never got home until after 11. His mother had her own job but was left most nights to wrangle the children to bed, make dinner, clean the house, and all the other things that a mom is responsible for.
She somehow always found time to talk with Lance though. Whether it be late into the night after the younger children were in bed or while he helped her cook dinner, she was always there to listen to his silly little stories and let him vent or just have a genuine conversation.
But he had been afraid. Afraid that she wouldn't treat him the same if she knew. If she knew that he thought of himself as weak, or worthless. Afraid to find out if she thought of her son as useless as he thought of himself.
So he said nothing to her, not even after he qualified for the Garrison. A dream come true, but at the cost of his family. He smiled a forced little smile that he had begun to master and told his family goodbye, and that he would be fine without them.
His mother had been against the idea of him leaving her, but agreed because she knew that he had been after a position in the garrison since he had known that it was possible for him to join. All he had ever wanted was a chance to be with the stars.
"Buena suerte. Ten cuidado." She had told him as she hugged him goodbye for the last time. "Come back to me hijo." She had whispered to him.
"I promise I will madre." He responded. He lied.
"Come on Lance!" Keith said loudly. He was still holding his arm out but there was a line of annoyance creasing his brow. Lance must have zoned out a bit.
Not letting another moment pass he backed up to Keith and grabbed his arm from over his shoulder before using all of the power he could muster to yank him over his shoulder. Keith's body flipped gracefully over, but unlike Lance, he managed to pull his feet under him so that he landed standing with his arm in an awkward position.
"Not bad." Keith offered as he pulled his arm from Lance's grip. Lance looked at him warily for a moment before cracking a smile.
"Did you see that? Yeah, I'm awesome!" Lance looked to Hunk and Pidge (She was still glaring a bit at Lance for his earlier comment)
"I honestly didn't think that you would be able to get him off his feet." Pidge grumbled.
The group did a few more exercises like this. Lance was flipped again, by Hunk. Keith was almost flipped by Pidge, but she couldn't quite get him over her shoulder. She was just too weak.
"Just you wait. I'm gonna lift so many weights that I'll be able to flip Hunk by the end of the month." She swore, jabbing her finger in Lance's direction.
"How about we try a level on the simulator and use what you've learned?" Keith suggested. The group nodded in understanding and Lance started the simulator on the easiest setting.
One bot appeared. Together the group of four gathered in a loose circle around it.
The battle was quick and efficient and the group prevailed. Keith had been attacking as little as possible to try and let the rest of them try out their attacks, but ended up fighting just as hard as the others. They each worked together, pushing it and catching it in its blind spot. They took calculated risks that worked well when they had others to trust if they failed. When the bot finally dissolved into computer code and disappeared the group slouched down on the floor to catch their breath.
"Damn. It feels like that thing never has an 'easy' setting." Lance commented.
"Keith, that was amazing!" Hunk said as he sat up. "You were all like, punch, kick, pow! You kicked its ass!"
"Yeah." Keith breathed, seemingly just as tired as the rest of them.
"Thanks Keith, without those moves we would have gotten out asses kicked. You're a good teacher." Pidge commented, but didn't sit up from where she was staring at the ceiling from the floor. Lance tried to ignore how Keith was getting all of the praise for teaching them, when Lance had never even gotten so much as a thank you for teaching them earlier.
"No, you guys are just good at learning." Keith responded.
Lance sat up and pulled himself to his feet.
He's better than you. He could easily replace you. Then what would you be? Nothing.
He shook his head. The thoughts were getting worse. It was time to separate himself from the problem. That always helped.
Running from your problems. Nothing new there.
The voice sighed in his head as he grabbed his helmet from the floor and headed to the door.
Soon, you will be a simple waste of space on this ship. You have nothing to offer this team.
Lance screwed his eyes shut and forced the sting of tears to go away. Now was not the time for this to be happening.
"Lance?" Keith's voice rang out questioningly. Lance didn't turn around. He forced the voice to go away, smothering it with memories of his sibling's laughter after a game of fútbol.
"Where are you going?" Keith's voice was closer. Lance was almost out of the door.
"Just gonna hit the showers and cooldown." He offered vaguely. He kept the emotions swimming in his mind behind a wall as he spoke.
"Good idea." Hunk mumbled from further back in the room.
Great. He thought to himself. So much for some time to myself.
It was probably for the best. He wouldn't be able to stew in his room for an unhealthy amount of time.
"I'll come with you, I could do with a rinse." Keith offered and a sniff could be heard as he emphasized his point.
"You guys go on." Pidge said, most likely talking to Hunk. "I'll just-" She gasped suddenly.
"Guys! We forgot about Shiro's arm chip!" She exclaimed and ran over to the group. "It should be unencrypted by now."
Lance glanced over to Keith to gauge his reaction. Keith's ears were tilted slightly back and his eyes were slightly wider than normal. He placed his hands on his belt.
"Oh. I guess we can get in contact with the Blade then." Keith said after a moment of decisive silence with no particular infliction. Lance tried to decide if he was just seeing things when he thought he saw a flash in Keith's eyes.
"Come on. I think that the computer is still in the command room."
The group followed Pidge to the command room.
Hunk fell into step beside her and Keith and Lance walked side by side. Keith sighed quietly before pulling his hair back with a small black hair tie, leaving it in a tiny pony tail just above his neck. He rubbed at the back of his neck as the cool air hit the skin.
Lance forced himself to look away from the mesmerizing action.
"So, do you know any higher ups in the Blade? Will you be able to get them to believe we are allies?" Lance asked, trying to get his mind on other things.
Keith grimaced.
"Yes. I will be able to get them to believe that it would be the most beneficial for either of us to become allies." He said flatly.
"Did you rehearse that or something?" Keith's brows drew together as he caught Lance's eye. Lance explained further. "Because that sounded really fake."
"Fake?"
"Yes, like there is something else that you aren't saying. So you use those other things in place of what you really want to say. You're being fake." Keith narrowed his eyes at him.
"You would know a lot about that wouldn't you Lance." Keith spit.
"What?" Lance took a step back and came to a stop. Keith narrowed his eyes further in confusion.
"I said that I had never heard that word used like that before." Keith seemed confused as to why Lance had stopped.
It was in your head. You've been stressing too much again. Lance told himself and began to walk again.
"It's a slang word. It sounds really stupid when you use it like that, but it was perfect for the situation. So, what do you really want to say?" Lance pushed.
Keith gnawed on his lower lip. Lance didn't know if Keith was unaware, or just didn't care, but whenever he thought over things seriously his skin would take on light shades of purple. The shades moved and faded over his face and neck and hands. It was almost as if the colors where Keith's very own thoughts moving about and deciding.
"I… I think…" Keith trailed off and didn't meet Lance's gaze until he finally found his words. "The Blade probably thinks I'm dead. I have family there, and they are worried about me, I'm sure. But, their judgements will be clouded by their emotions." Keith looked forward and didn't say anything more.
"And?" Lance prodded.
"And… They will want me to leave here and stay at the base if they find out that it was you who captured me in the first place and it will make it harder to get them onto your side." Keith sighed.
"Oh." Was all Lance had to offer in the way of conversation.
Lucky break. He can't stay here forever. You might be of some worth if he isn't here anymore.
The voice was so loud.
"So, you'll leave once we get to the Blade?" Lance questioned. He tried to keep his voice flat and toneless. If Keith left before Lance could repay him for saving his life he would still be indebted to him. It wasn't so bad, but Lance felt like there was some other reason that his stomach was in knots at the thought of him leaving.
Keith said nothing as his skin danced purple. Lance didn't have any more time to pry because they had reached the command room.
Shiro and Allura were in the middle of what seemed to be a deep conversation when they noticed the rag-tag group enter.
"Is something wrong?" Shiro asked as they all approached and looked around the room for the computer.
"The results should be ready. The ones from the chip." Pidge answered, semi-distracted and not really taking the time to specify what she meant.
Shiro figured it out though.
"Oh, the computer is sitting by that chair." Shiro gestured. All eyes followed where he was pointing.
Pidge darted over to her computer and quickly booted it up. Everyone gathered around, even Allura, to see the message.
Coding and numbers that only Pidge seemed to be able to read took over the screen. Pidge squinted her eyes at it before humming a soft, thoughtful noise to herself.
"I think these are coordinates."
"Allura!" A voice called from the hallway. The group turned and was met with the sight of a very disgruntled Coran whose mustache was smoldering at the ends. "We have a problem with the communicator. It seems that some of the circuitry has been melted beyond repair and other parts have shattered into such tiny pieces that they can't be put back together." Coran stood a bit away from the group as he delivered his message.
"What of the spare parts?" Allura asked, ever the level-headed problem solver she was.
"I can't find them! I have searched the entire castle. I think that I used the last of the extra parts to fix the particle barrier earlier."
"That takes priority over the communicator. It's alright. The next time we find ourselves near a trading star we can get more supplies." She sighed. "Until then there is nothing we can do. Try to fix whatever else you can. I will continue to reboot the systems from here." She gestured to the two pillars that had a projected screen between them.
"Yes, Princess." Coran saluted. "What are you all looking at?" Coran dropped his hand and curiously came closer to get a better look at Pidge's computer screen. "Coordinates?"
"That's what it looks like." Pidge answered.
"That's only two sectors away from where we are now." Allura said.
"Well… Maybe we should pay the Blade a visit." Shiro suggested. Allura looked to him with so many emotions that Lance couldn't even pick out one from the other. Lance looked over to Keith. Keith's skin was a soft lilac and his mouth was set in a firm line. Keith nodded ever-so-slightly, as if he had decided something for himself.
Allura took a breath, and if anyone else had asked to go to the Blade her response would have been negative. However, it was Shiro who had asked. The Black Lion's Paladin and head of team Voltron. The attractive, intelligent, Space dad. So her answer was this instead:
"Maybe it is."
fixed a bug
