Chapter 5 - In This Very Moment
Shiro's hand was warm and placating against Lance's shoulder, killing his excited high just so. "Lance," he said softly, his eyes narrowed and trained on the ship ahead of them. "You cannot engage with this."
The quiet stern of his voice did nothing to quell the buzz of encouragement Blue sent curling around him. Lance's fingers gripped the handles tighter, his mind had long sine been made. "I have to," he said, brows drawn together in concentration. "If we run, they'll go straight to earth and try to take it over. We have to stop this thing now."
"How do you know that?" Pidge wondered and Lance sent a telltale flick of his eyes up towards the ceiling.
"Lance," Shiro began, but they'd wasted far too much time. A large canon at the head of the alien cruiser pointed its barrel towards their viewport and fired; a violet laser beam came streaking towards them. Lance's eyes stretched and his fingers around the controls stiffened, completely immobilized. Without having to make any move at all, however, Blue jerked up and launched herself out of the way before the laser could land a potentially fatal blow. Behind him, Lance's company clucked at him to back down, but Blue's persistence outweighed their (perfectly valid) concerns. She couldn't do this for him. If he was going to fight he couldn't be prone to his fear; victory required action and nothing less.
Right, sorry. Lance's grip curled around the control handles and he forced the machine to dart forward before he could be swallowed by his own terror again. There was a roar through his veins, adrenaline thrummed like a drug through his mind, fogging any and all of his self doubts. Blue guided him, led him towards how she worked and which of her controls would function her correctly. Lance had never piloted anything so complicated before, it was as though every bit of her had its own button, switch, dial; the likes of which Lance was expected to understand within the bare seconds he had to recover from an attack. The enemy ship fired from different sectors, but Lance weaved and dipped around every line of purple that blasted towards him. Blue's claws extended outward, struck the ship's onyx walls, and dragged across the material. It split apart under the lethal curl of her nails and exploded down the line she'd created. Lance grinned wildly at the display and flew off just in time for another beam of laser fire to miss him.
"Dude, Lance!" Pidge was inconsolable; his grip around Lance's pilot chair was hard enough to bring the bones in his hands pressing against the surface, glasses skewered across his face. "You're only gonna piss them off if you keep-"
"Keep what?" Lance smirked as he narrowly dived beneath a narrow blast. "Kicking their butt? Yea, I'd be pretty pissed off about that too."
Blue's energy blended with his, and the mixture was so strange. Where Lance felt boisterous and foolhardy, Blue's excitement was more restrained, encouraging him with her glowing pride. She was happy to know him, happy to have him sitting in her chair and governing her every move. Lance didn't understand why she had chosen him, or how she'd drawn up the conclusion the Lance would be the most suitable for such a ludicrous task, but he was fiercely determined not to let her down. Once distance was put between them and the alien cruiser, he felt himself guided to one of the buttons at the right side of his handle. She was giddy to show this to him, she knew he would enjoy whatever came from it. He wasted no time pressing his thumb into it and Blue's jaws fell open.
A bright, azure light cut across the gap; thicker and much faster than the cruiser's own lasers had been. It sliced directly through the ship, then blew apart into a tremendous explosion as the vessel was cut in half. Lance whooped and nearly jumped out of his chair at the display, consumed by blithe and completely ignoring Keith's interjections to look in front of himself. A stray piece of the enemy ship hurtled towards them and struck Blue directly against the side of her mouth. The entire ensemble struggled and collided with one another in a clumsy attempt to keep their footing.
Blue's lack of appreciation watered down Lance's excitement and he smiled sheepishly, settling himself back into his seat. "Sorry, dama." He stroked the handles affectionately and she seemed to shy away from the pet name, embarrassed. Flattered. Lance drew himself up and grinned.
"Lance, buddy!" Shiro was breathless, flushed and gripping the pilot's chair like a lifeline, but smiling at him in a way that was more than just polite A way that, years ago, Lance had assumed was only reserved for Keith. "That was incredible, you took down that ship with barely any trouble at all! Seriously, spectacular performance. You should be really proud of yourself."
Shiro's hand clapping against his shoulder was the only thing grounding Lance to the knowledge that this was his reality. That something close to a crisis had been completely overturned with Lance's skill to thank for it. He wanted to brush it off, play it as though this wasn't as big a deal as it really was to him, but he beamed in a way he simply couldn't bite back and stumbled over his words; searching in vain for the right way to say 'thank you' that would give Shiro a clear indication of just how much his approval meant to Lance.
Pidge made a strange, uncharacteristic sound from behind, drawing Lance's attention. He was pulling himself back up from the ground, fixing his glasses and glaring towards the ceiling. "Please," he grumbled, voice low. "Don't encourage him."
Lance smiled back at him, still high from his own endorphins, and something about it appeared to startle Pidge because he quickly pulled his glasses off and went about cleaning them with his shirt. "Is that it?" Hunk's voice carried from the corner he was huddled into, his knees pressed protectively into his chest. "Did we. . .did we defeat it? Is it over?"
Lance frowned and inclined his head towards Shiro curiously, but further dialogue was interrupted when, very suddenly, the lion shot forward. Deeper into space. Putting a greater distance between themselves and their home. "Lance!" Keith shouted and the boy in question turned a scathing pair of eyes towards the source of summoning, wondering silently if Keith would ever manage to say his name without that angry note of disdain. "Where are you going?!"
The stars blurred past them, a mesh of white against a black void. Blue's encouragement still lingered, but the foreboding cloud that lingered over their connection left a clear message: this was far from over. "I'm not going anywhere," Lance replied. "Blue is taking us someplace, but I don't know where." His emotions file together in a way that makes him think of beach waves - misty blue and wreathed with a dreary morning fog, rolling up waves of white bubbling foam. His own bedroom floor rough and scratchy from the sand he could never rid his clothes of. Nachos made from scratch, sticky with hot melted cheeses in a tiny shack of a restaurant, crowded and lively with conversation. Lance smiled fondly to himself. "Home."
"What?" Glasses replaced delicately on the bridge of his nose, Pidge broke Lance from the embracing memory of Varadero Beach.
"Um, I think she's going home," Lance reiterated.
Blue's jaws parted and she released a roar that shook the titanium floor under everyone's feet. The foreground shimmered, then burst altogether into a swirling vortex, cerulean and twisting with an energy that drew Lance in like magic. The lion slowed until it floated lifelessly, returning complete control to Lance's hands. She nudged for his decision, to travel through the mysterious circle of light if he had the willingness to do so. Internal panic welled up to greet him almost immediately and he cast a reluctant, fear-induced gaze out towards Shiro. "She. . . she wants us to go through. But she's giving us the choice."
Shiro flicked his attention to the wormhole, steady as ever, inexplicably unafraid. "Well," he started. "Personally, I think we should see it through. We've come this far, I'd like to see what else might be waiting for us. But, I want us to make this decision as a team. Whatever's on the other side of that wormhole, we might not come back from it. I want us all willing to take the same risk before we make any rash decisions."
Lance reviewed everyone's expressions, gauging the internal conflict he found there. The line that deepened in Hunk's throat when he swallowed thick. He raised a brow towards Pidge, but there was something lost in his eyes; as though he'd already sent himself floating through the vortex, exploring the wonders that awaited them there. Lance was about to insist on his opinion, but Pidge reacted before he could even breathe. Lance watched curiously as the smaller hand reached out to grip his shoulder, their eyes met and a single nod of confirmation was all Lance received. The only bit of pressure he needed to subdue his indecision. "Alright," he said, gripping the handles with a new resolve. "Guess we're all ditching class tomorrow." It took the barest hint of encouragement for the vessel to fly forward and plunge them all into the unknown.
Shiro remembered cold, steel fingers curling into his hair and tugging hard enough to arouse a growl through his teeth, his body stiff and compliant as a board. The violet haired monstrosity above him rumbled with approval, as he always did whenever Shiro's subservience was displayed; grinning down at him with a row full of white fangs. Sharp enough to split diamonds, Shiro had once considered, although he didn't know the reason behind such an observation. Perhaps to make the nightmares worse, maybe because he wanted to keep the image of monsters in his mind so he would remain afraid. So that his pride and willingness to fight back wouldn't undo him, especially when his friends were still suffering captivity from somewhere else on this ship.
But there was a light through the darkness. His keeper had another pet, one Shiro got along with plentifully. He remembered six fingers, and the flood of hope that had filled him the very first time he made her laugh. He couldn't procure a face from the everlasting fog, but the reminder of her existence made him think of rosy pearls collecting light, reflecting unbending vibrancy. . .
The wormhole propelled them forward, blurring and warping their surroundings with a mesh of blues and whites. They were spit out of the other side fairly quickly, and left once again to float aimlessly through space. Shiro's eyes cast out towards the flicker of starlight and he found, much to his astonishment, that they no longer patterned into the shapely constellations he'd spent years memorizing. He blanched and flicked a panicked set of eyes down towards the young cadets he was surrounded with, wondering if they'd noticed just how much distance they'd achieved from not just their planet, but their entire galaxy. In spite of his successes - awards and honorable mentions that had given him the name he carried with pride today - Shiro didn't pertain a reliable record when it came to making responsible decisions. As for that matter, his reckless abandon had been exactly what led him to interstellar victories and various discoveries that would progress a brighter future for space explorers everywhere.
But leading had never been a strong point for Shiro, he was too fast and eager and focused on his self appointed missions. There had never been any time to worry if everyone else was keeping pace. And though he braved a face for everyone here, the way they all glanced back at him for questions and guidance dropped a weight in his gut he couldn't quite shake. These were someone else's kids. Brothers. Other things, he thought with a brief glance towards Pidge. Since Shiro was the oldest, and held the most experience, of course they would want his opinion on every little matter while they were lost out in space.
Having convinced them to fly this alien crafted vessel through a mysterious, undocumented vortex was another great example of thinking before acting on his behalf. When Lance had asked for his advice on what they should do, Shiro should have had them turn around and return to earth before an admittedly good thing could have the chance to go so terribly wrong. Now they were probably lightyears away from formidable safety, and they expected Shiro to have the solution to fix it all. What made it all the more terrible was the fact that Shiro had been suddenly left in charge of these cadets' well being, and his mind was far from functional. He couldn't even fully recall the torment and trauma he'd suffered during his imprisonment on that ship, but events suffocated him in dramatic flashes he couldn't bring himself to escape. PTSD, his mind supplied, although it did little to help him. Knowing the definition of what he was going through was not the same as treating it.
"Okay everyone," he said, standing a little straighter, hoping he radiated a bravado he wasn't actually feeling. "Everything's going to be just fine. I'm sure there's a good reason we've all been brought here. I'm positive we're going to find it."
"Yea, you sound like it," Pidge muttered, earning a sharp glower from Keith.
Pidge's clear disdain for Shiro perplexed him, and ultimately drove home some of the theories of who he was actually being faced with. But that would have to be a concern he relayed later on, when they weren't floating helplessly through an unknown galaxy. For now, he took Pidge's snark in stride and offered his team a smile of good nature. "Lance," he summoned, earning his hum of acknowledgement. "do you have any idea where we're going?"
"There's something in the distance straight ahead," Lance offered, nodding towards the viewport. "Blue's really drawn to it, she took over the controls again so I guess that's where we're heading."
Shiro bent over the pilot's chair and squinted in the distance, making out a gleaming white speck too large and misshapen to simply be a star. He supposed this was as good a sign as any. Much better than having no set destination to where they were headed. "Okay, that's something," Shiro looked back towards where Hunk was still huddled by the wall and smiled. The other boy gave a brief thumbs up, then shrank back down; as though he could successfully transport himself back to earth merely by making himself smaller. It took some time for them to cover the distance between them and the unknown object straight ahead of them, and they'd ridden in uncomfortable silence. At least, Shiro thought it was uncomfortable. But he was also unwilling to be the one to break it first.
They all shared a collective breath when the thing in question solidified the closer they came, forming tall pristine towers all interconnected; spires stretched delicately towards the scatter of stars. A castle carried by the never-ending flow of space remained hauntingly silent; deluded from a lack of remembrance. Keith looked over Lance's head and caught Shiro's eye, his thumbnail clamped fretfully between his teeth. "Do you think, er, is it safe to go in there?" he wondered.
Lance answered before Shiro could offer his opinion. "We don't actually have a choice," he said, keeping his eyes locked ahead. "That's where Blue is going, so you'll have to suck it up."
Shiro watched their eyes briefly shift towards one another; an unfriendly display of mutual dislike, and Shiro worried his bottom lip. He might've reminisced just how difficult it had been for Keith to get along with the other cadets while he had been at the Garrison, but his thoughts were quickly distracted as the lion landed hard on her claws on a platform nestled into the side of the castle. The floor moved forward, dragging them along and opening the wide wall to reveal a stretch of darkness within. They held their breaths as they entered the castle, the wall sliding shut behind them and, momentarily, keeping them swallowed by shadows. Lights eventually flickered on overhead the further they were carried ahead, revealing what Shiro immediately recognized as a hangar. There were five empty ports, one straight ahead that appeared that much larger than the others.
Blue stepped off of the floor on her own and settled into a port off to the side, gently lowering her head and parting her jaws. A tiny ramp extended and clanked to the floor, she didn't move again.
Shiro rubbed the back of his neck, knowing he would once again have to be the one to make this decision. He supposed it was a relatively easier choice. They couldn't very well stay here forever. "Alright guys," he started in a lowered tone of voice. "We're gonna take a look around this castle. But there will be no-"
"Great!" Pidge stated, already starting away towards the exit. "I was so hoping you'd come to that decision. I'll take upstairs while you guys do literally whatever. I don't care."
"Pidge hold on!" Shiro reached out and snatched the back of his shirt before he could get too far and received, at once, a scorching glower through thick clear lenses. "I know you're excited," he continued, slowly relinquishing his grip. "But we have no idea what to expect from a place like this. We have to stay together, no separation." He swept his gaze along the rest of the crew, who all nodded in quiet agreement to his choice. Regarding Pidge one last time showed his mouth had thinned into a hard, straight line. Even still, he submitted with a single, curt nod, and didn't argue any further.
The castle was a twisting, darkened maze of the absolute unknown; it made Shiro think of places back on earth left abandoned. Dust collected in every corner and crevice; an eerie silence lingered in a ringing that nearly seemed deafening, only relieved by the gentle touch of their feet against the floor. A sigh carried across the hall, Shiro glanced over his shoulder to address the source and noted Pidge had lost his interest, fallen victim to disinterested boredom. "So," he started, his voice bouncing off the walls and echoing back at Shiro louder at a much louder pace. "When we find absolutely nothing-"
"Pidge," Lance shot him a glower, but the smaller boy remained stubbornly indifferent.
"I just wanna know what comes after this," he shrugged, and Shiro thoughtfully ran his tongue over the inner wall of his bottom lip.
"Well," he started, scratching a little awkwardly at the back of his neck. "I haven't. . .really gotten that far." Which, he realized, wasn't something a leader should say. In all fairness, Shiro was entirely too out of his comfort zone, and there were only so many answers he could provide when it came to an undocumented castle floating by its lonesome out in space. "Hey look!" He quickly batted aside the topic of a curious future by pointing to the steel doors directly ahead of them. "Let's see what's through there, yea?" He swiftly trotted ahead to review the sensor against the wall.
It stared back at him dark and indifferent, giving no indications when Shiro waved his hand in front of it. He'd never been much of a tech whiz, but he doubted he had the inner patience that might be needed to learn about alien technology. Instead, he changed tactics and reached for the doors. "Hey Hunk," he called over his shoulder, looking back to see the summoned boy's eyes round with surprise. "Come help me get this open."
Wordless (and seemingly embarrassed about having been chosen for the task), Hunk sheepishly crossed the floor and ducked under Shiro's metal arm. If it bothered or disgusted him, he certainly didn't show it. Maybe you're the only one who's upset with this, he shook the thought aside and started to heft apart the doors. When he managed a slither of space, Hunk stuck his fingers through and granted his own assistance. It still wasn't an easy feat, but they managed to pry apart the doors with force alone, creating room for entry. Shiro looked towards the waiting cadets stationed a considerable distance away.
"Come on in," he guided on a huff of air, nodding towards the other side of the masses. Pidge was the first one inside, slipping between him and Hunk without struggle. Keith went next, and Shiro noted his practiced caution in keeping from accidentally making any form of contact with either of them. When Lance went, he batted his lashes down towards Hunk and crooned 'you're so strong' in a voice like helium. When Hunk threw him a dirty look, he laughed and swept inside after his comrades.
"Alright Hunk," Shiro said, lifting his leg up over Hunk's head and pressing the doors open a little more. "In you go."
Hunk hesitated merely a moment before offering a shy smile and filtering in after his comrades. Even still, it was enough for Shiro to realize what sort of person he was; soft and thoughtful where Keith had been razor sharp and unforgiving. The weight of the doors bordered on crushing once Hunk's support was no longer a variant, Shiro clumsily made his way through and the masses slammed shut behind him, a grimace crawled over his face. However long he'd spent imprisoned had diminished his grace, a feat he'd see to getting back once the chance presented itself. Shiro had taken a mere few steps into the space when he heard the low whispered bickering between Lance and Keith, dark eyes lifted to interrogate the scene with an exhaustion he was not quite old enough to be suffering from. He and Adam had never actually reached the point of discussing children during their long term engagement and yet . . . He was getting to test the reigns before actually deciding if he'd ever pertained an interest in the first place.
"Why do you always have to touch everything?!" Keith's voice was sharp and insistent, and Shiro realized - with a very brief lapse of amusement - that they were keeping quiet specifically so he wouldn't hear them. They stood before a darkened panel standing lifeless in the very center of the room, Pidge sniffed its detailing with an interest that went ignored and Hunk stood off to the side with his wrists crossed behind his back, his eyes flicking between the two in clear distress.
"Me touching things has gotten us this far, Mullet," Lanced hissed in return. His wrists were easily restrained in Keith's grip and, from the savage tug he gave here and there, it was quite obvious he preferred his freedom. "Let go, you're freaking jealous that, for once, something doesn't have anything to do with you."
Keith's eyes narrowed in dark aggravation and Shiro took that opportunity to step in. "Let him go, Keith," he said lightly and earned, in response, an immediate glower that bordered on betrayed. His fingers loosened and before Shiro could do anything to ease his tempers, Lance lurched forward and pounced on the sleeping control panel. Shiro reached out and shouted for his halt, but long fingers had long since danced across the keyboard until it glowed with activity. He flipped a switch in his haphazard exploration and only the abrupt sound of air being released was the only thing with enough power to flinch him out of his starry eyed wonderment. The group turned to investigate the sound in simultaneous suspicion, a circle in the floor had opened and from it rose the makings of a pod, filling the space with a questioning whir and then, suddenly, stilling in silence.
Everyone exchanged glances, no one breathed or dared to move when the possibility of disturbing the air seemed so easily made. Shiro decided, since he was currently the senior in their mix, that he would have to be the one to probe. Motioning with a single hand for the others to hang back, Shiro began forward and cleared the space between himself and the pod. A button blinked its repetitive show just on the front, all it took was a single press of his index finger for the pod to beep in confirmation and swiftly lower its reflective shield. A solid figure fell forward and Shiro instinctively stepped back to avoid whatever awaited inside. The shape hit the floor with an audible slap and from it came what sounded distinctly like a male groan. Shiro panicked, but it was Hunk's voice that formulated the words before he had the chance to.
"It's a guy!" He startled his peers when he pushed forward and approached their newest discovery without even a minor shred of terror; very different from the boy Shiro had witnessed hardly an hour previous. It was clear, helping others was where his strength brewed. Shiro followed in suit and lowered himself to a crouch to regard the pale man struggling to lift his head. Ginger hair hung over his face, limp and dry as his skin; both Shiro and Hunk took him by his wiry shoulders and assisted him in sitting up. Gently scoring his hollow cheeks were twin azure markings, familiar in ways that struck Shiro like a blade against his bones. He inhaled, sharp, but Hunk didn't notice in his reviewing.
"Hey man, are you alright?" Hunk pressed to fingers against his neck, most likely checking for a pulse, and all at once the man's eyes flew open and he jolted upright of his own accord. Shiro and Hunk leapt away at the sudden jerkiness of his movement, and raised both their hands as a sign of peace when his attention flickered between them both in obvious distrust.
"It's alright," Shiro started gently. "We're not here to —"
"Hyretruders! Hyretruderos ehnheveb hyrvad'hast ae esthip!" The man's voice chirped through the air so sharply, Shiro actually flinched, and then the man shot up to his feet and performed with a swiftness more shocking than the punch Shiro received directly to the face. Grabbing his jaw, he turned around in time to watch him grab a bumbling Hunk by his broad shoulders and swing him with paralyzing strength, deftly weaponizing his girth by flinging him directly at Keith and Lance; who both ran forward to confront the madness the second it happened. They collided and fell with shouts of protest, and then the man was flipping over their subdued forms and aiming directly for Pidge.
"Wait wait wait —!" his hands raised uselessly and the man took him immediately by his thin wrists; forcing them out of the way and wrapping keen digits around the exposure of his throat. He was lifted off the ground and Shiro was at his feet at once, apparently only a tad bit slower than Lance; who threw himself forward and grabbed their sudden attacker by his shoulders, pulling fiercely.
"Hey! Let him go —" The man did precisely as demanded and swung around, slamming Pidge into his lithe figure and sending them toppling back towards the floor. Initially, this caused Hunk to trip over himself in a hapless attempt to not stampede his friends; swinging out a thick arm that struck Keith directly in his chest and sent him sprawling. Hunk turned, opened his mouth to - Shiro presumed - offer an apology. This mistakenly left him wide open for the hand that tangled into his hair and forced his face down, connecting his forehead to the pointed structure of a knee.
Hunk knelt and grabbed the injury, the man flipped skillfully over his hunched form to deliver a smooth uppercut towards Keith the minute he rose back up in defense. Shiro darted forward, not entirely sure of what he was doing, and threw a calculated punch. This man, clearly anything but human, caught his fist with pitiful ease and twisted until Shiro relented with a gasp, stepping back and grabbing his hand with astonished peril. Clearly, they were terribly outmatched in battle, and if Shiro didn't think of something soon then —
Bright cerulean and dark purple. Shiro had never seen eyes like that before; shuttered delicately under long, ivory lashes. A hand lifted and pressed softly to her chest as she said to him —
"Allura!" He shouted it without thought, resurfacing abruptly from the fog and blinking up in wide eyed adversity as the fist flying towards him stopped very suddenly. The man's eyes, green and yellow, stretched weakly and, all at once, Shiro saw his age. Much older than himself, crows feet crinkled with experience at the corners of his eyes and he slowly lowered his limb, awash with visible sadness. It was a feeling Shiro realized he shared, grief filled and replaced the marrow in his bones, and he straightened with deliberation. "Allura," he said it again, softer this time, noting the way his shoulders stiffened in response. "I . . . I know where she —"
The man hurtled forward and delivered a swift kick to the side of his face. Shiro fell heavily to the ground, and then everything faded to black.
A/N: Don't worry guys! Coran won't stop being comedic relief, per se, but he's going to be just a tad less ridiculous than he had been in the show. I know you guys love your weird space uncle the way he is, but he deserves some fleshing out and I'm honored to deliver!