The castle doors closed behind Shiro and he broke into a run. He needed to get back to the others quickly for all he knew they could be pinned down behind some rubble while the Galra lit up their hiding spot.

An explosion to his right caused him to stumble a little as the ground shook beneath him. In that split second that he stopped himself from falling flat on his face, a flash across his vision of Pidge emerging from behind a piece of rubble. A layer of dirt covered her entirely making her wide caramel eyes pop out even more so. A section of her hair was matted to her forehead.

He gritted his teeth as the image faded from the front of his mind. Pushing himself to continue he quickly came to the recently destroyed room.

Ducking behind a piece of rubble leaning against the wall he caught a glimpse of red armor doing the same. A few seconds later the ground was being littered with blasts sending dirt and sharp rocks flying.

As quickly as it had come it stopped. Shiro crept forward his eyes immediately catching Keith, Lance, and Hunk creeping out into the open as well.

They met in the middle glancing around half expecting a surprise attack.

"What's the plan?" Keith asked.

"Regroup back at the castle?" Hunk suggested.

"Are the Galra gone?" Shiro asked glancing up to the sky. All he saw was the empty blue sky being partly clouded by the smoke that rose from the charred ground around them.

"Let's be honest is the Galra every really gone?" Keith inquired rolling his eyes.

"True," Shiro glance around one last time, "Okay let's regroup back at the castle, asses our resources, and then see what we can do to help the Olkari recover."

Walking to the castle the paladins kept their eyes trained on the sky and on the forest line. A movement to Keith's right caused him to activate his bayard, the others following his lead. The brush continued to shudder with movement as an Olkari child stumbled out of the brush landing on their knees.

They were shaking their hands gripping their ripped tunic as they stared at the Paladins wide-eyed. The child didn't speak, it just sat there waiting to see what they would do. Their copper eyes flicked over each one of them. The paladins could see a scared traumatized child, while the child saw intimidating soldiers that had weapons that could easily kill him. Hunk was the first to drop his weapon kicking it away. Slowly he dropped to his knees holding his hands to where the child could see them.

Seeing that they were no threat the child ran to Hunk throwing themselves onto him and holding on tight before breaking down in tears. Hunk held them close giving unspoken reassurance.

XxX

The castle doors opened upon approach and they entered. The group followed Hunk to the Med bay who was still holding the child they had come across. They had managed to calm down but sniffles could still be heard. The child hadn't said a word since they started walking they just observed the paladins with wide eyes.

Just as they were about to enter the Med Bay the doors opened. Coran was exiting the room a tattered green dress draped over his arm. He caught sight of the child clinging to Hunk his eyes wide with curiosity. "Oh! Who do we have here?" he asked closing the space between them quickly glancing over the small being.

"We found him just outside the city," Shiro replies quickly, "Coran, how's Pidge doing?"

Coran appears to not have heard Shiro and continues to look over the child checking for injury. "He appears to be fine although it wouldn't hurt to put him in a pod just to be safe,"

Hunk nods and moves past Coran to the med bay mumbling encouraging words to the Olkari. Lance and Kieth are on either side of Shiro their gazes fixated on the dress still draped over Coran's arm.

"Pidge is doing okay. She should be out soon," Coran starts as he moves down the corridor away from the medbay, "I was surprised she got into the pod with no argument." He glanced back at Shiro before returning his gaze back forward. Shiro smiled at the floor his lips fighting to stay neutral.

Coran turned the corner and stopped in front of a blank wall. Pressing his hand on a single panel, there was a small click before a panel about medium size slide up. The panel revealed a flatbed of red hot coals. The heat wafted out making everyone step to the side or step back. Coran tossed the dress onto the coals, it immediately went up in flames.

"Coran?!? What are you doing?!?" Shiro stared at the blacking fabric.

"The fabric was ruined beyond repair. There was no point in fixing it. Besides...She asked me to get rid of it." Coran whispered the last part turning his body slightly away.

Shiro glanced between Coran and the flames that licked at the dress making it smaller and smaller. Soon there wasn't going to be anything left. "Wh-Why would she do that?" he asked his brows furrowed in concern or was it confusion?

"She agreed with me that it was beyond repair. She had another reason she wanted to rid of it but she refused to tell me." Coran replies shrugging.

Keith stepped forward, "Why don't we get changed and then we can ask her once she gets out of the pod?"

Everyone agreed except Lance who seemed to have disappeared at some point during their trek to the incinerator. Not bringing to much attention to it Shiro made his way to his room slipping out of his armor and into his usual vest and pants.

XxX

The way to the med bay seemed longer than he remembered, he ended up blaming it on the fact that he was worn out from the day's events. As he came closer to the doors they picked up his movement and slide open upon his approach.

The doors opened to reveal Hunk passed out by the pod that held the mysterious child, but that's not what caught his attention. What caught his attention was the two people embracing just in front of an open pod. Shiro felt his face grow warm with the embarrassment and quickly looked at the floor. He should've known that Lance got to her first. He risked another glance and he felt something snap. He couldn't stand how close they were to each other, how their arms wrapped around one another with no awkwardness.

Without alerting them to his presence he stepped back and allowed the doors to close in front of him. He turned away feeling defeated, he thought he was on the right course to win Pidge over but it turns out he was on the wrong one. He must've always been because someone else was ahead of him and that person was Lance. He recalled the comment that Lance made about Pidge opening up to him about what was going on and he ran his hand through his hair.

"Why him of all people?" He spoke aloud to himself. The corridor seemed to echo the question over and over again.