Chapter Thirteen:
"But this is wonderful news!" Allura exclaimed, clapping her hands together, her eyes suddenly bright and starry.
"It is?" Lani asked. "How?"
"I had assumed he had died with Altea…" Allura said. "But if he is alive, there may be other Alteans who survived as well!"
"Even if it's been ten thousand years?" Shinji asked skeptically. "How long exactly do you Alteans live for?"
"A few centuries at most, but then again, so do the Galra, and Zarkon is still alive." Allura said giddily, spinning in a circle in her excitement.
"Allura…" Shiro said, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder, his face grim. "Even if Blue says we should trust him… We don't know where he is."
"Then we find him!" Allura said.
"And you just said, he'd have been living well past the usual Altean life-expectancy." Shiro said, voice painfully calm.
"Well, I imagine he would be quite elderly, but perhaps he has advice or—"
"Allura." Shiro said, voice firm now as he put his other hand on her shoulders, looking her in the eye. "Allura, you also just said that the only other being in the universe that you know of that has lived well beyond their race's life expectancy was Zarkon."
"Where are you going with this, Shiro?" Keith asked.
"We don't know how Zarkon has been alive this long. And we learned from the Red Lion that Zarkon wasn't against holding his former teammates as prisoners." Shiro said. "The Original Blue Paladin may be Zarkon's prisoner."
"You don't think he would've executed him, though?" Pidge said, frowning. "He executed Ryla."
"Perhaps Zarkon sees him as a sort of trophy. He defeated King Alfor and the Alteans. He may not have Voltron, but he has the only other original pilot, and for a while the only known living Altean. Keeping him alive for that reason alone." Shiro said. Allura's sudden joy disappeared and she stared at the hanger floor, fists at her side.
"I… I concede to your theory…" She said softly. "I do not like it, but it may be possible."
"Then it may be possible to launch a rescue mission for this guy." Hunk said. "We'll just keep an eye out when we go over the prisoner data we've gathered."
"Knowing our luck, he's not too far from Zarkon. Which means we'd need to get as close to Zarkon as possible to get to him." Lance said with a frown. "And we've only just barely made it in and out of what is probably the most secure place in the entire universe."
"And 'out' came with a corrupted wormhole that kept us—and Voltron—separated for nearly a month." Pidge said. "Not an experience I'd like to repeat."
"Same!" Hunk said, putting a hand in the air.
"You're also assuming he'd want to be rescued." Shinji pointed out.
"What do you mean?" Shiro asked, turning to look at his younger brother.
"Well, if Blue represents trust and loyalty, and Zarkon was once the Black Paladin, maybe the first Blue Paladin still trusts—and is still loyal—to Zarkon." Shinji pointed out. "Then he wouldn't show up on prisoner data if he was helping the Galra. It'd also make more sense to keep him alive longer."
"Wow… That's… Yeah, I don't want to think about that." Hunk said.
"The Blue Lion just said that, whenever we meet this guy, we can trust him." Pidge said, fists curled beside them.
"And… you're going by what's said by a giant magic lion who speaks to you all through voices and images in your head?" Shinji said, arching his eyebrow. "I imagine there are quite a few people in the universe who would see that as a sign of insanity."
"Okay, it does sound a little crazy when you put it that way…" Lance conceded with a shrug. "It's something you've got to experience to know for real, though."
They all turned at hearing the sound of the hanger door open and Coran strode in.
"Ah, there you all are. Rather convenient." Coran said.
"Is there a distress signal?" Allura asked.
"No, but there has been a communication signal sent out," Coran said. "And it is addressed to Shiro and Pidge specifically."
At the confused looks on the two Paladins faces, Coran smiled and said,
"Apparently, a friend of yours has some information that you will find very beneficial."
They gathered in front of the communication screen, Pidge sitting in the chair while Shiro stood behind them, hand on their shoulder.
The screen flickered to life and Pidge's face lit up.
"Jebbins!" They exclaimed. "Hi!"
"Greetings, Paladins." The fish-like alien said with a smile, lifting his hand in a two-fingered gesture of greeting.
"It's good to see you," Shiro said with a smile. "Have you finally made it back to your home planet?"
"Yes, and I must extend my gratitude for arriving to discover that Voltron had liberated my people." Jebbins said. "I cannot thank you and your team enough."
"It's what we do." Pidge said. "Comes with the 'Defenders of the Universe' title."
"And you do both very well, from what I have seen." Jebbins said. "But I did not contact you just to thank you. Several days ago, we received an unexpected visitor to my planet."
"Galra?" Shiro asked.
"No," Jebbins said. "A former prisoner. He is badly injured and healing, but our equipment is nowhere near as advanced as what is in your Castle. Before he fell unconscious, he declared that he was looking for you, Shiro, and that he had something important to tell you. However, we do not know how he came to know your name, and I am wondering if it is possible that he may know information about the one you seek called Matt."
"Shiro, we have to meet him." Pidge said, looking up at Shiro with wide eyes.
"I agree." Shiro said. He looked over his shoulder. "Allura, can we make another wormhole jump?"
"Not until a full day cycle has passed since our last one." Allura said with a frown. "But we can travel in that direction to make a smaller, less energy-consuming jump by morning."
"The Healers do not expect him to awake for another sun cycle." Jebbins said.
"Then we'll have plenty of time." Shiro said. He then turned to Lance. "Lance, the Blue Lion is the best suited for water. Do you mind taking me and Pidge down planet-side when we get there? That way, we don't have to land the Castle."
Lance smiled some and nodded.
"Yeah, Blue and I can do that, no problem." He said.
"We will prepare for the Blue Lion's arrival, then." Jebbins said. "Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you both again soon."
With a final exchange of farewells, the screen turned dark.
"So, who was that?" Lani asked.
"Jebbins was part of a group of prisoners we rescued when we were looking for the Red Lion." Shiro explained. "And, apparently, he, Matt and I were imprisoned in the same complex for some time."
"It is so weird to think of you having prison buddies." Tali said, shaking her head. "Matt, eh, I always figured it was a matter of time until he blew up the wrong thing or messed with the wrong computer system. But that just seems all so surreal."
"That's the part that's surreal about all this?" Shiro asked, arching an eyebrow. "You do realize you're standing in an alien spacecraft, right?"
"What can I say?" Tali said with a shrug. "I'm adjusting to the new normal. But that still doesn't include you saying so casually, 'Oh, yeah, he and I were in prison together'."
"Why aren't we all going planet-side?" Shinji asked.
"Doesn't make sense to," Shiro explained. "We'll only be gone for a few hours maximum. We've been to this planet before so we know it should be safe and Galra free now, and we try to regularly keep in touch with the planets we've been to to check on the rehabilitation process. If they needed all of us, then we'd all go."
Shinji frowned slightly at this answer, but said nothing.
"It's getting late enough that I should go start dinner." Hunk said. "And, I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to asking this question, what should I make tonight?"
"Anything that's not green." Pidge said. "I'd like to continue to pretend that food goo does not exist for as long as possible."
"Agreed." Hunk said with a nod. "How about spaghetti?"
"Sounds good." Keith said. "You want help?"
"Nah, it's easy enough," Hunk said, waving his hand.
"I'll help you though," Lani said. "I said I'd pull my weight around here, and by golly I'm gonna do it."
"Alright, then," Hunk said, a grin starting to form on his face. Lani also grinned and the two left, starting to divvy up the tasks.
"Well now…" Pidge said with a smirk. "Our help's not good enough, apparently…"
"Well, we did nearly destroy the kitchen the last time we tried to cook in there." Keith said.
"Oh, no, there was no 'we' in that one, Keith. That was you, because you were too impatient and turned the heat up on everything so it would cook faster." Lance said. "It was the closest I've ever seen Hunk get to seriously hurting someone."
"And… you people are the Universe's only hope?" Shinji said, arching an eyebrow.
"Don't be jealous of us because we are the best pilots in the universe and officially hashtag-blessed by magic robot space lions." Lance said dramatically.
"Trust me, I'm not." Shinji said, turning on his heel to stride out of the room. "I'll see you all at dinner."
He was barely out the door when Lance shrugged and said,
"I'm going to go make sure Blue's ready for when we get there."
With that, he strode out of the room with his usual air of confidence.
This made Keith frown some with concern, then he headed out of the room as well.
He figured he had enough time to get in at least one round with the gladiator before he went to check on Lance.
Half an hour later, Keith walked into Blue's hanger, walking up and affectionately patting the Lion on the paw.
"Hey, is Lance around?" Keith asked. In response, Blue lowered her head and opened her mouth for him to enter the cockpit.
Keith found Lance sitting in the pilot's chair, his knees to his chest and staring blankly out the windshield.
"Hey, dinner's almost ready." Keith said, putting his hand on Lance's shoulder. Lance gave a small grunt of acknowledgement. Keith frowned and knelt down beside Lance. "Hey, you okay?"
"Just peachy." Lance said flatly.
"Okay, I'm gonna ask that question again and you're going to answer it honestly this time." Keith said, crouching down next to Lance. "Are you alright?"
"I've got a lot to think about." Lance said. "I don't know what the first Blue Paladin did to lose Coran's respect, I just know I don't want to do the same thing. And even if Allura's right, and it was the entire first Team Voltron that had some sort of contribution to their downfall… Well, even though they're a team, they were still individuals, too. Five parts to make a whole."
"Which just means you're one of five." Keith said. "Which means you've got four people who always have your back. And if one of us does mess up, that just means that there are four other people to help fix it. Whatever gets weak, we'll strengthen."
"Yeah, I get that." Lance said. "But it's just… I'm kind of upset that Blue won't talk to me. Won't tell me what happened. She's never done this to me before. We talk a lot, but never about Paladin Numero Uno. But, she still loves him, regardless of what exactly went down ten thousand years ago. He was her Paladin first. I mean, I don't think she treats me differently than she treated him, or cares about one of us more than the other, it's just…" Lance sighed. "We've got our bond. I don't… I don't think it's strained or anything. Yes, I was mad earlier, but it's not going to be a problem for us in battle or forming Voltron. But I thought I knew just about everything about Blue up until this week. Now I'm not sure if what I do know will be enough, and if what I don't know could be even more important than what I do."
"So we bond with the Lions more. We'll struggle through trying to decode all those ancient Altean texts about the Lions and Voltron." Keith said. "Look, I know the saying 'those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it', but I think in this case we don't have that much to worry about. You heard Coran the other night; we bonded much faster with our Lions and each other than the Original Paladins. We're already stronger than them, and connected by fate. We're going to be okay, Lance."
Lance frowned and looked away. Keith huffed and grabbed Lance's hand.
"You're wasting a lot of emotional and mental energy worrying about this. Blue loves you and obviously thinks you're the best pilot for her. She trusts you, and is going to keep you safe. And, besides, no matter what it was that made Coran not like the first Blue Paladin, it obviously has nothing to do with you. I'm pretty sure you're his favorite out of all of us, you know. Well, except Allura, of course. You're always swapping stories and did you have to introduce him to memes, by the way?"
Lance chuckled at that, looking a little proud of that.
"Hey, it was either me or Pidge." He said. "And I'm not wrong, they are an important piece of Earth culture and communication."
"Yeah, sure." Keith said dryly. "But I think I know what you're really worried about. You're worried you're going to do something to lose the respect of your teammates, including the Princess and Coran."
Lance was quiet again, and Keith gave his hand a squeeze.
"That's not going to happen. Never." Keith promised.
"I'm always the screw-up." Lance mumbled.
"No, you're not. We all share that role. I can't even guess how many times you've prevented me from being a screw-up even more than I already have been." Keith said. "We all make mistakes. Everyone. The problem with being at war is that when those mistakes are made, they seem to be just a little bigger."
Lance sighed and ran a hand over his face before turning to look at Keith, a small smile on his face.
"Dude, you're starting to sound like Shiro, with all this logical pep-talk and rational thinking stuff, you know." He said.
"You are the second person to say that this week, and Shiro would be happy to know after all this time, his logic and rational thoughts finally started to rub off on me." Keith said. He leaned over and kissed Lance's cheek, Lance's smile growing. "So stop pouting over nothing, and let's go get some food."
"Alright, alright." Lance said, standing up and stretching his arms over his head, making Keith wince at the sound of Lance popping his joints. Lance gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry. I wasn't trying to do that."
"It just sounds painful." Keith said, shuddering some. "It hurts my ears, but it sounds like it should hurt you."
"Nah, feels good, actually." Lance said. "But thanks for the concern."
Lance threw his arm around Keith's shoulder and they left Blue's hanger. They hadn't gotten too far when Keith paused.
"You good?" Lance asked, frowning at Keith's sudden stop.
"Yeah, it's just… I want to make a quick detour to my room." Keith said, dragging Lance down the hallway. "I need to grab something. Pidge said that they would do me a favor, and I was hoping to cash in on it after dinner."
"What kind of favor?" Lance asked as he fell back into step beside Keith just for the shorter teen to stop in front of his bedroom door.
"The kind that, hopefully, leads to a couple of answers about my father." Keith answered.
I couldn't find an official name for the alien prisoner Pidge and Shiro rescued in the first episode, the one who was with Shiro and Matt at the arena. So when my 10 year old brother decided to just make up a name for this alien, I decided to use it.