Hello everyone, back with chapter eight! It's been awhile, but I hope everyone enjoys this update! Hoping to have things a little more consistent update wise in the future, though I will refrain from making any promises since I know how those turn out. Also be sure to check out my fic tumblr, over at discordiansamba dot tumblr dot com!
See y'all next update!
crimson
chapter eight
uncertainty
"Princess, the black lion, it's- it's left its hangar."
Coran's words were an impossibility, yet she could see with her own eyes that they were true. Rooted to where she stood, Allura watched as the black lion moved like a streak through the sky towards where the Galra cruiser had emerged- and where the blue lion was, defending itself against countless fighters, alone. Were Shiro still with them, she wouldn't question the sight in the least.
But he wasn't.
He was gone, and she was the black paladin now. Which could only mean that the black lion was operating without a paladin.
"Allura-"
Snapping out of her thoughts before Hunk could finish, she quickly regained her lost composure. Whatever was going on with the black lion, they could deal with it after they took care of the current threat. Getting Lance and Kyix out of there was more important.
But even as she thought that... she couldn't shake the knot of dread forming in her stomach. Zarkon's son had only claimed to be the Emperor pro tem, and not the true Emperor. So what if...
...what if Zarkon lived, and he was calling the black lion to him?
What if he was on that very ship?
"Coran," Allura began, forcing her racing heart to steady, even as it pounded in her ears, "-raise the particle barrier and move us closer. Hunk, Pidge, get to your lions. We need to give the blue lion time to escape."
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the two paladins exchange a look. "But what about-?"
"We'll worry about the black lion after we rescue Lance and Kyix." Allura said firmly. "Go."
Thankfully, they didn't waste any further time, racing for their respective access ways. She couldn't blame them. It wasn't only the black lion's strange behavior that had her heart pounding in her chest, though it certainly did not help. Lance had improved quite a bit since he'd first taken on the mantle of blue paladin, but one lion against so many fighters...
It just wasn't a good match. Especially not when she factored Kyix into the picture. Were he his regular age, things might be different, but as it was...
"He will be alright." Antok said, as if reading her mind. "Kyix has always been resilient."
Allura nodded, willing herself to believe that. He just seemed to small and helpless in his current state, that she couldn't help but worry.
But she had to focus. Right now, that was the best thing she could do, not just for Kyix, but for everyone. With Kyix out of commission for the time being, forming Voltron was out of the question. And with the black lion gone...
...retreat was their best and only option.
"Coran," Allura began, "-prepare the teleduv. As soon as everyone is onboard, we'll be making a wormhole jump."
Coran looked up at her, a question lingering in his mouth, but gave her a curt nod. She didn't need to guess what he wanted to ask. The black lion seemed to have left on its own volition, but there was no telling if it would come back to the Castle. She was certain that Shiro had been able to sever Zarkon's bond with the lion, but what if...
She shook the thought off. They didn't even know if Zarkon was still alive or not. He might very well be dead, and she was just overthinking things. It wasn't as if she couldn't still feel the black lion, although their bond was admittedly weaker than she would like it to be. She imagined that with time, it would get stronger- though quite honestly, she wasn't sure if she even wanted that to happen. It would feel too much like Shiro was actually dead, and that she was more than just a temporary replacement.
She wasn't sure if she could handle that.
"Princess," Coran's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, "-the black lion has begun to attack."
Eyes going wide, Allura snapped her attention towards the monitors. For a brief moment she feared that Coran had meant it was attacking the blue lion, but with a breath of relief, she realized that was not the case. Instead, the black lion had turned its attention towards the Galra fighters, moving in to protect the blue lion and its passengers.
If nothing else, it proved it wasn't Zarkon in control.
But if it wasn't him... then who was?
He'd admit it. He'd screamed.
In his defense, he was pretty sure that would have been anyone's reaction to a Galra cruiser just popping out of hyperspeed right in front of them. Or well, anyone sensible- proof in point, baby Keith's reaction to the sudden appearance of an enemy ship was not to scream, or even yelp, but to hiss. His hair was even puffed up, acting like the fur it actually was, his golden eyes wide.
"The Empire!"
"Yep, that's the Empire," Lance agreed, "-and also our cue to get out of here!"
He quickly turned the blue lion around, momentarily wishing it had the kind of reaction speed the red lion did. That could really come in handy right now. What was a Galra ship even doing here? Had it tracked them, or was it just a coincidence? Had it noticed-?
Oh, it was releasing fighters. So... yep, it had definitely noticed them.
"You're running!?" Keith blurted out, incredulous. "I thought you were a paladin!"
"I am!" Lance said, unable to help but feel a little offended. "But I also know that's a lot of fighters. There's no way I can handle them all by myself!"
Especially not with pint-sized cargo in tow! He'd take back every single mean thing he'd said about Keith if it meant getting the full sized one back, because speaking of things that could come handy right about now, that would too!
Narrowing his eyes, Keith had the audacity to glare at him with suspicion. "But I thought Voltron could handle anything!"
"Uh yeah, Voltron can," Lance said, gritting his teeth as a lucky bit of laser fire skirted too close to the blue lion, causing it to shake, "-but in case you haven't noticed, we're not Voltron right now, mullet!"
Keith squinted at him, but before he got the chance to say anything, Lance had to quickly maneuver them out of the way of even more lasers, causing the tiny Galra child to shift in his lap. All of a sudden he became keenly aware of the shrunken red paladin's lack of armor, not to mention lack of anything that would protect him from say, the unforgiving vacuum of space.
Suddenly getting back to the Castle got a lot more appealing.
...even if he was pretty sure Allura would kill him the second he got back- that was, if Antok didn't do it first. At least with the princess, it would be a mercy kill. Antok would probably straight up throttle him.
This had been such a bad idea.
As if to reinforce that, another alarm went off, signaling that one of the enemy fighters had him on target lock. Biting back a swear that definitely shouldn't be said around young ears, he braced himself and Keith for impact-
-only for it to never come.
The alarm went silent, and Lance looked up just in time to catch the black lion rushing past, its familiar jaw blade a welcome sight as it sliced apart one of the enemy fighters. He felt relief crash over him like a wave, feeling a lot more secure knowing that he was no longer alone out here.
"Allura!" Lance cheered. "Man, am I glad to see you!"
There was no response from the black lion, prompting Lance to frown. She wasn't that mad at him, was she?
"Uh, Lance?" Hunk's voice came on the coms, filling him with a new wave of reassurance- at least it did, until the next thing to come out of his mouth was, "-that's not the princess."
"What?" Lance frowned, watching in confusion as the black lion ripped into another enemy fighter. "But if that's not the princess, then who-?"
"Shiro."
Lance startled, glancing down at the tiny purple bundle sitting in his lap. He'd nearly forgotten about Keith, and with a jolt, he realized that he'd basically blurted out not only Allura's real name, but also the fact that she was a princess, not a Blade. There was no way he hadn't figured it out after-
-wait, did he say Shiro?
"Keith?" Lance asked cautiously. "Did you just say Shiro?"
For a second, Keith didn't react, his gaze fixed on the black lion, eyes tracing its movements. Then all of a sudden he blinked, letting out a faint gasp as he came back to himself. Where he'd gone, Lance had no idea, but he was positive that at least for a second, he'd been somewhere other than the cockpit of the blue lion.
"Is that Alora?" Kyix asked, wonder in his voice. "That's her, right?"
"Uh," Lance hesitated for a second, before nodding, "-yep! That's definitely Alora! Right, guys?"
He had no idea what the hell had just happened with Keith, or why he'd suddenly said Shiro's name, but whatever it was clearly had kept him from hearing his screw up. Which, thank god, meant that he still had a chance to salvage things.
"Oh, uh," he heard Hunk put two and two together himself, "-yeah, that's her alright! Yup! Totally Alora!"
"Yeah, that's Alora alright." Pidge said. "Now why don't you take Ke- Kyix and get back to the Castle and let us deal with these guys."
"Copy that." Lance said. "En route back to the Castle now."
Keith frowned. "You're not going to fight?"
"I think the two- the three of them have this handled." Lance said, hastily covering up his mistake even as he cast a wary eye towards the black lion. He had no idea what was going on anymore, and with Keith with him, he couldn't exactly ask.
The black lion couldn't possibly be flying itself, right?
...could it?
"We just need to concentrate on getting you back to the Castle safely." Lance said. "Where I'm sure Antok will be waiting to throttle me for taking you out without permission."
Keith narrowed his eyes, hopping out of his lap to go sulk in the corner instead, clearly disappointed that he was being denied a battle. In hindsight, he wasn't sure why he was even surprised- battle seemed to be a pretty Galra thing and for all that he'd posed as a human for the past two years he'd known him, Keith was actually Galra. Frankly, he was almost kind of relieved that he was more disappointed than scared. He didn't want to be responsible for accidentally traumatizing baby Keith during the (hopefully) short time that they had him. Especially not after he'd boasted about being good with kids.
"He won't throttle you."
Looking up towards Keith, Lance arched a brow. "Yeah?"
"No," Keith met his eyes, and abruptly, Lance was reminded that he was dealing with an alien child, "-he'll just rip your limbs off."
"...thanks. That makes me feel so much better."
This was officially the weirdest day of her life.
And given what the past few months had entailed, that was saying something.
But no. If Pidge was being perfectly honest, it was pretty hard to beat this. Even learning that her family had been abducted by aliens, or learning that one of her teammates was an alien still wasn't as weird as having to deal with said alien teammate turning back into a child, and then having to deal with the black lion managing to pilot itself on top of that.
"At least it's attacking the fighters, and not us." Hunk observed. "That's a good sign, right?"
"I thought you said there was no such thing as a good sign in space." Pidge pointed out.
"Yeah," Hunk grunted, having to swing the yellow lion around to avoid a burst of laser fire, "-I might have said that. But I'm just, you know... trying to be optimistic."
"Since when were you an optimist?" Pidge asked, blasting a fighter with her lion's tail laser.
"Uh, all the time." Hunk said, slamming his lion into an unlucky fighter that had gotten too close to its backside. "Try to keep up, Pidge."
Pidge just rolled her eyes, turning her focus back on the battle at hand. She'd tried hailing the black lion, but predictably, there was no response. At least the battle was going well- she was sure that whoever was in command of that cruiser was more than a little freaked out that they couldn't call for backup right about now. Jamming their communications was one of the first things she had done upon getting to her lion.
Now they just had to take it out and-
A brilliant burst of blue light soared overhead, impacting with the cruiser. Its particle barrier flickered for a few moments, before it broke apart, leaving the cruiser virtually defenseless. With a bright smile, Pidge turned her lion around.
"Coran!"
"Thought you could use a bit of help." Coran remarked.
"How's-?" Hunk began.
"The blue lion is safely back onboard." Allura reported. "Change of plans. We should take out the cruiser while we still have a chance."
"And wormhole after that?" Hunk asked.
"So long as the black lion cooperates." Allura said.
Pidge grimaced. She hated to think about what might happen if the black lion didn't cooperate. Even without a paladin, she wasn't so sure if she, Hunk, and Lance would be enough to take it down, even with the Castle's assistance. And honestly...
...she'd rather avoid finding out.
(Also even if they could, then what? They kind of needed the black lion.)
"Copy that." Pidge said. "Let's hit this bastard where it hurts."
With the cruiser's shields down, she and Hunk made quick work of the Galra ship, blasting its engines with their lasers while the black lion took out the last of the fighters. Pidge watched it with a wary eye once the last fighter was destroyed, but it made no move to attack them, instead floating almost listlessly in space.
Its eyes, she noted, had stopped glowing.
"Did it... did it stop moving?" Hunk asked.
"I think so." Pidge frowned, carefully bringing her lion closer. "Scanning for anomalies now."
She held her breath, waiting for something to happen, but the only thing that did were the results of her scan. She wasn't sure if she was more relieved or frustrated to find that it came back negative- there was nothing wrong with the black lion, at least, not in so far as the green lion's systems could detect.
"Well?" Allura asked, her voice a touch on the demanding side. Not that she could blame her. She had to be freaking out right about now.
"Nothing," she said, "-there's no sign of any anomalies."
There was a long pause, during which she could swear that she heard the princess sigh.
"In that case," Allura said, "-tow the black lion back to the ship. I will be waiting to meet you in its hangar."
"What about the wormhole?" Hunk asked. "Because no offense, but I'm pretty sure getting the heck out of here is still a really good idea. Jammed communications or not, someone is eventually going to notice that one of their cruisers is missing."
"No worries there, paladins!" Coran chirped. "I can use Allura's residual essence to wormhole us far, far away."
"Got it." Hunk said, before switching to a line that was just the two of them. "Welp. Guess all we can do is hope it won't freak out on us on the way there."
Pidge huffed. She wasn't never much of one for superstitions, but even she couldn't help but hope that Hunk hadn't jinxed it.
He didn't. They got back fine.
Somehow that didn't comfort her as much as it should.
It felt almost as if she had been holding her breath this entire time. She barely even noticed the alert informing her that the Castle was about to make a wormhole jump, too focused on the sight of the black lion being towed back into its hangar. Only once the yellow and green lions lowered it to the ground with no signs of resistance, did she finally exhale.
That... certainly could have gone far worse.
But it also certainly could have gone better.
Fixing her gaze on the black lion, Allura watched it with a tight frown. She was unsure what to expect, but she had to admit, she'd expected to at least be able to feel something different. Instead the black lion felt much the same as it did when she had first connected with it- noble, yet also steady and reassuring, though the latter didn't actually do much to reassure her this time.
Not when it had flown on its own.
(And if it could do that, did it even truly need her?)
Biting down that feeling of inadequacy, Allura pulled her gaze away from the black lion, focusing it instead on Hunk and Pidge. They had landed their lions next to the now dormant black lion, and were watching her from some distance away- though the second she met their eyes, they pretended they hadn't been. Heaving a sigh, Allura motioned for them to come closer, which they did after a brief moment of deliberation.
"So is," Hunk nervously began, "-is everything okay?"
"I cannot sense any anomalies within the black lion," Allura merely stated, "-and it seems to be responding normally to our bond. But if I am being perfectly honest, then I am entirely at a loss as to what just happened."
"Oh," Hunk frowned, exchanging a brief look with Pidge, "-cause Pidge and I figured it might be, you know, magic or something. Kind of out of our area of expertise."
Allura gave him a faint smile. "Well, if it is, then it certainly isn't anything I'm familiar with. I've never even heard of something like this happening before."
"The red lion flew itself a few times." Pidge pointed out. "What about that?"
"Yes, but on all occasions, it did so in order to save its paladin." Allura said. "Neither Keith nor Lance are the black lion's paladin, so unless Shiro has been hiding in the blue lion all this time, it seems unlikely to be the case."
Something about her own words tugged at her. Allura frowned, trying to pick out what it had been, but before she got the chance to dwell on it, Hunk was drawing her back into the conversation.
"Hm, fair point." Hunk frowned, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Well at least its not doing anything now."
"Yeah, but who knows if it'll start moving by itself again." Pidge said.
"Could be worse," Hunk said, "-it could be evil."
He paused, almost seeming to consider his words before anxiously glancing towards Allura. "...it's not, right? Evil, that is."
In spite of herself, Allura let out a faint laugh. "No. Whatever is happening with the black lion, I have no reason to believe it is because it has suddenly decided to turn evil."
That was one thing that she was at least somewhat confident about now that she had connected with it again. Something had happened with the black lion, to be sure, but whatever it was, there were no dark magics involved.
"Good," Hunk said, "-because honestly, fighting against a possessed lion does not sound like my idea of a fun time."
"So... where's Antok?" Pidge asked, peering over her shoulder as if she expected to see him there. Allura had to bite back a laugh, briefly overcome by the mental picture of the massive, hulking Galra attempting to hide behind her much smaller frame. "I thought he'd be with you."
"I sent him to check on Kyix." Allura explained, her lips twitching into a frown as she thought of the shrunken paladin in question. "I can only hope he wasn't too frightened by the battle."
"Keith?" Pidge just snorted. "He's fine."
"Yeah, pretty sure I heard him calling Lance a coward over the coms." Hunk said. "Also I'm pretty sure I heard Lance say that he was afraid of Antok throttling him, so..."
Allura paled, Hunk's words sinking in. Perhaps sending Antok to greet them hadn't been the best idea in hindsight.
"Oh," Allura said, "-perhaps I should-"
"-check on them?" Pidge finished, rolling her eyes. "Please. After what he pulled, Lance deserves a bit of a scare."
Allura frowned, thinking it over for a moment. She was positive that Antok bore no ill will towards Lance, so it was unlikely that any actual throttling would go on. And Lance had defied a direct order, leading them however unwittingly into a spot of trouble...
...perhaps a bit of a scare was exactly the kind of punishment he needed.
"In that case," Allura began, "-I believe Coran wanted to speak with the two of you. Something about antidote ingredients."
"On it." Pidge said. "The faster we can get them, the better."
"Yeah, don't get me wrong, baby Keith is cute and all, but," Hunk held up his hands, "-I think that last fight just proved how much we need him at you know... actual size."
"I couldn't agree more." Allura said. "Which is why I took the liberty of instructing Coran to set our coordinates close to one of the planets we'll need to fetch ingredients from."
"Good call." Hunk agreed, before shifting on his feet, glancing at her with a slight frown. "...so you saw the list, right?"
Allura blinked, tilting her head slightly. "Briefly, yes. Why do you ask?"
"So were there like... any ridiculously hard to get ingredients on it or anything?" Hunk asked.
"Hunk wants to know if he'll have to do any mountain climbing." Pidge said bluntly.
"Hardly." Allura said, attempting to recall the list she'd glimpsed at briefly. "If anything, it all looks rather simple to collect."
There was nothing that involved mountain climbing, at the very least.
In spite of her best attempts to suppress it, she couldn't help but let out a faint giggle at Hunk's sigh of relief. He didn't seem to mind, instead choosing to return Pidge's earlier favor, lightly ribbing her on her own dislike of the outdoors. They continued like that on their way out of the black lion's hangar, until she was left alone with nothing but the lion in question.
Well, not alone. The yellow and green lions were still here, she supposed. But she couldn't sense them, not in the same way she could sense the black lion. She tried to take heart from the fact that she could still sense it, and that in fact, its presence was stronger than it had been when it had been flying seemingly under its own power, but if she was being perfectly honest... it was rather difficult to do so. Perhaps if this situation had happened after she'd had more time as the black lion's paladin under her belt, things would be different, but as they stood, all she could think was that perhaps it had already changed its mind.
That she wasn't worthy of the mantle of black paladin, not even temporarily.
Perhaps the lion had sensed what she already suspected- that not only would she never be half the alchemist her father was, but that she would also never match up to him as a leader either. After all, it had been her own failures that had put Kyix in the situation he was in now- if she had just been smarter, she wouldn't have allowed herself to be lured into that trap.
And now they were all paying for it.
She was just grateful nothing more had happened today. If even just another cruiser had appeared... shaking her head, she forced the thought aside. There hadn't been another cruiser, and Kyix would be fine. Coran had already figured out how to cure him, so it was all a matter of finding the right ingredients to do so. She couldn't allow herself to focus on what could have been.
No matter how tempting it was.
Turning on her heel, Allura gazed up at the black lion- her lion, at least, until they found its true paladin once more. Swallowing her insecurities, she took a step forward, then another, until she was standing right in front of the mighty lion.
For a tick, nothing happened.
Then it shifted, its eyes glowing gold as it stood up. She felt herself tense, but forced herself to remain perfectly still, waiting as the black lion knelt before her.
And once more, allowed her access.
Letting out a breath, Allura felt her shoulders slump. At the very least, it hadn't rejected her. But then if not that... what, she wondered, had actually happened?
Oh, he was so screwed.
At the top of the blue lion's ramp, Lance froze, internally cursing himself for letting his guard down. He'd thought the hangar was empty! And seriously, how the heck had he even missed someone of Antok's size?
"Antok!"
Keith beamed, scampering down the ramp and practically launching himself at the Blade in question. Antok caught him, and he swore that for just a second, that unexpressive face melted into something that almost seemed like genuine happiness. He shifted his arms so that Keith was perched on his forearm, the shrunken red paladin practically dwarfed in comparison to the single limb alone.
Limbs. Lance gulped, recalling Keith's earlier words. That had been a joke, right?
Sure, he knew that Antok knew that Keith wasn't actually a real kid- he just thought he was a real kid because of that freaky space tree and its weird toxins or whatever. But he also hadn't exactly forgotten that time Naveera had captured him and tied him up because she thought he was trying to infiltrate the Blade nursery, so clearly, being protective of children was like, a Galra thing. Or at least a Blade thing, since from the way Keith talked about the Empire, they didn't exactly have the same standards.
But still... that had been a joke, right?
Right?
"Hello there, youngling," Antok said, "-did you enjoy your little escapade?"
Keith flinched guiltily, seemingly only just now remembering that he'd left without permission. His gaze dropped to his feet, and he mumbled something that Lance couldn't quite make out- but he could still make out the spirit of it. If it weren't for his own impending sense of doom, he might actually be able to take some amusement from Keith, of all people, asking if he was in trouble.
"No," Antok said, "you are not in trouble."
Keith's face lit up, relief washing over his tiny features. Lance wished he could share that feeling, but it was hard to when Antok had turned his attention towards him, that one single golden eye almost seeming to gleam with malice.
He was seriously hoping that was just his imagination.
"Blue paladin," Antok began, "-I thought you were under orders to keep Kyix in the Castle."
"I mean," Lance blurted out before he could stop himself, "-if you think about it, the lions are sort of part of the Castle, so it's not like he technically left it."
Wow. That sounded like a lame argument even to him.
"Strange," Antok said, "-I was not informed of that technicality."
The Blade's tail swished behind him, in what Lance hoped was a calm pattern and not just a deceptively calm one. Maybe Keith had been a lousy spy, but he was pretty sure the same couldn't be said of Kolivan's right hand man. Plus the whole one eye thing so didn't exactly make his face any easier to read.
Also, that tail was massive. Something told him Antok wouldn't even need to use his hands to rip this limbs off. Just the tail would do fine.
"It's... one of those unspoken things?" Lance said, cold sweat trickling down the back of his neck. Could Galra smell fear? He hoped Galra couldn't smell fear.
"An unspoken thing." Antok repeated. "I see."
Lance swallowed, resisting the urge to shift nervously on his feet. He was supposed to be a defender of the universe! Bold! Fearless! He couldn't let one Galra intimidate him!
(Even if said Galra's hands were bigger than his head.)
"Antok," Keith huffed, "-stop teasing him."
...wait. What.
Antok chuckled. Actually chuckled. Or at least, he was pretty sure that odd chortling noise was the Galra equivalent of a chuckle. He hadn't exactly been chronicling odd alien noises.
"Ah, you spoil my fun." Antok said. "My apologies, blue paladin, but you made it easy."
Caught somewhere between wanting to let out a sigh of relief and being offended, Lance leaned towards relief. It wasn't like it was just him or anything. Even Shiro would probably be intimidated by someone who was more than three times his size.
Actually, speaking of Shiro...
"So uh, where's All- Alora?" Lance asked.
"Alora," and he swore there was the faintest trace of amusement to the Blade's voice, "-is in the black lion's hangar, with the rest of the paladins."
Keith frowned, his eyes narrowed in confusion. "Where else would she be?"
Where else would she-? Oh! Oh right, he'd told him that Allura had been the one piloting the black lion. Right. Man, he really had to try a little better at keeping up with all of these lies. The last thing he wanted was to screw things up even more by blowing the truth wide open to someone who probably didn't need that right now.
"Right," Lance nervously chuckled, "-the black lion's hangar. Of course. That makes sense. And speaking of that, any chance you want to go and check the black lion out?"
Keith's eyes lit up, and he practically jumped out of Antok's arms. "Could I?"
"Sure!" Lance said. "I'm sure Alora would love to show you her lion! And I promise," he added, glancing up towards Antok, "-we'll stay on the Castle this time."
"No... technicalities?" Antok asked, and now he was positive that was amusement.
"No technicalities." Lance promised. "There's something I need to discuss with Alora anyways."
Antok narrowed his single eye, seeming to read between the lines of that statement. Guess everyone knew about the weirdness with the black lion then.
"Very well," Antok said, "-I suppose I can allow it. I must contact Kolivan and inform him of recent developments anyways."
"Yeah, you can tell him Lance is a chicken." Keith grinned, baring his teeth like the little imp he was.
"Hey! I am so not a chicken!" Lance protested, glowering at Keith.
Ugh. He took back everything he said earlier about baby Keith actually being kind of cute. Clearly he was the annoying kind of precocious after all. The sooner they could get full size Mullet back, the better.
(And how the heck had he forgotten who everyone was, yet still remembered what a chicken was? And how to use it in the right context?)
"Are too!" Keith stuck his tongue out. "You ran from battle! I would never do that."
His expression faltered, digging his hands into his tunic and balling them into fists. "I would never run."
Why was he-? Oh.
Oh.
Lance's shoulders slumped, the annoyance washing right out of him. It was still hard to believe that at this age, Keith was supposed to have been so sickly that he couldn't even leave the med bay. He couldn't even imagine what that must have been like- growing up confined to isolation because there was a genuine risk that doing something as simple as going outside could potentially kill him. It would suck for any kid, but for one like Keith?
Maybe he couldn't exactly blame him for being a brat.
"Trust us, youngling," Antok said, placing a hand on Keith's head and ruffling his fur, "-we are all quite aware of how brave you are."
"Really?" Keith asked, peering up at the Blade.
"We sure are." Lance said. "I bet you could have beaten those fighters no problem."
Keith ducked his head, but not before Lance caught the edge of a smile. Huffing, he just smiled himself. He'd let Mullet have a little praise just this once, considering the circumstances and all. He'd better not get used to it though- once he was back to normal, he'd definitely be paying him back for that chicken comment.
(And maybe if he kept telling himself that, he could pretend it hadn't actually stung.)
"Ah, paladins! You're just in time!"
If Coran noticed the apprehensive look he shared with Pidge, then he definitely didn't make it known. Allura's assurances that the antidote ingredients were easy to get had helped... up until the point where he remembered that humans and Alteans apparently had very different definitions of easy to get.
Well, at least she hadn't said it was hard. He was already intimately familiar with the Altean definition of hard.
(Sometimes he swore he could still smell the Weblum gunk on his armor.)
"Allura said you had something for us?" Pidge asked.
"Indeed I do!" Coran said. "I finished compiling the list of ingredients we'll need in order to reverse Number Four's current condition. The good news is that it looks like a number of them can be synthesized right here on the Castle! We'll only have to visit about two or three planets or so to get the rest, depending on the seasons, of course."
"Uh-huh," Hunk nodded, "-so what's the bad news then? Because whenever anyone starts out with the good news, that typically means there's bad news too."
"What happened to optimism?" Pidge asked, arching a brow.
"Hey, there's optimism, and then there's being realistic." Hunk shrugged. "I'm just saying that in my experience, usually the two come hand in hand."
"Well, I'm afraid Number Two is correct in this instance." Coran observed. "Thankfully, the bad news isn't too bad this time around. More like an inconvenience, really."
"An inconvenience?" Hunk asked. "What kind of an inconvenience?"
Coran hummed, bringing up a holoscreen with what looked to be the list of ingredients. Unfortunately, since all the writing was in Altean, he couldn't read a word of it. Squinting at the screen, he tried to figure out what the problem was but to no avail. Maybe he really should take Pidge up on that offer to join her in her Altean language lessons, especially now that she'd reset the program so that it didn't try to attack every time someone mispronounced a word.
(Getting attacked by food goo was still scarier, in his opinion.)
"No offense Coran, but what exactly are we supposed to be looking at?" Pidge asked.
"The problem lies in this last ingredient," Coran explained, bringing up an image of an odd purple-blue tree with spiky leaves, "-the sap of the atpa tree."
"Not another tree." Hunk groaned. "Please tell me this one isn't evil."
The rire had been bad enough. He was just grateful he had missed the whole drain the energy from its captive prey thing that Allura had described- no amount of therapy would ever be enough to make that sight okay. Just knowing what it had done to Keith was bad enough, thanks.
"No, no evil trees this time." Coran promised. "Unfortunately, while the sap of the atpa tree has a number of medicinal uses, it also loses its potency very quickly."
Pidge frowned. "Which means..."
"Which means there's no way to get it back to the Castle before it becomes useless." Coran said. "In other words, we'll have to make the antidote on the planet itself."
"Well that doesn't sound too bad." Hunk said, feeling vaguely relieved. He'd been bracing himself for something worse, honestly. "We can just bring it back to Keith once it's done, right?"
"Unfortunately, no." Coran said. "The sap's potency doesn't extend even after being mixed with other ingredients. We'll need to have everything ready beforehand if we want it to do what its supposed to do."
"And by everything, I take it you mean Keith." Pidge stated.
"Well, that and the other ingredients, of course." Coran noted, pulling on one end of his mustache. "But yes. We'll need Number Four to accompany us to the surface of the planet if we are to have any hope of reversing his condition."
"Oh." Hunk frowned, exchanging another look with Pidge. "I mean... it should be fine, right? I thought you said that there was nothing wrong with him."
"Oh, it should be." Coran said. "At least, that is what I would like to say. But the truth is that we know realistically so little about the rire's toxin that it's hard to say exactly what the full extent of its effects could be. I know we can reverse it, however..."
"...you don't know for sure that Keith's okay." Pidge finished.
"Precisely." Coran said.
"But if he gets the antidote and goes back to normal, it'll be fine, right?" Hunk asked, nervously shifting on his feet.
"More than likely." Coran agreed. "But I can't deny that there is a certain amount of risk involved with this procedure."
"Then I guess we'll just have to take it." Pidge said. "I mean, it's not like we can just leave Keith like this. I think today proved just how much we need him around."
"Yeah, something tells me Keith wouldn't appreciate it too much either if we left him as a kid." Hunk said.
Even if he was extremely cute. Who knew baby Galra could be so fluffy?
(Okay, so he actually knew that already. But still, it was one thing to see fluffy baby Galra and an entirely different thing to see a fluffy baby Galra who was also your friend.)
"So where's this planet anyways?" Pidge asked.
"It's quite the lovely planet, actually!" Coran chirped. "It used to be home to an ancient society of mystics before they all just up and vanished one day. Now it's home to some of the universe's most expansive and gorgeous ruins!"
"Okay, so clearly we have an extremely different definition of that word." Hunk said, not in the least bit surprised by this development. "I'm sorry, but how is a planet where an entire race of people disappeared supposed to be lovely?"
"Oh, there's nothing worry about." Coran said. "It happened eons ago now."
Hunk frowned, still not entirely convinced. In his experience, whenever someone said there was nothing to worry about, there was always something to worry about.
"So what's this planet called?" Pidge asked.
"It's had many names in the past," Coran began, bringing up another holoscreen with an image of a shining blue and purple planet on it, "-but on Altea, we called it Elzat."
The black lion, she decided, must still hold her in some regard after all, since it was only its warning that prevented her from being caught off guard when Lance entered the hangar with Kyix in tow. Otherwise she would have missed their entrance entirely, too wrapped up in checking said lion for any visible external damage to notice. If the warning felt slightly... different from how the black lion's energy usually felt, then that thought was lost in her initial haste to resume her disguise.
Clearly, she needed to have a word or two with Lance about timing.
"Lance!" Allura exclaimed. "And Kyix! What brings you here?"
"Kei- Kyix wanted to see the black lion." Lance said. "Also I figured I should probably deal with you being mad at me sooner rather than later."
Allura quirked a brow, unable to help but feel vaguely amused at the statement. "Well, at least you're aware. Perhaps next time you will think twice before taking Kyix out on an unsanctioned flight."
"I'll keep that in mind." Lance said, rubbing the back of his neck. "So any chance you figured that thing out?"
Arching her brow, Allura was about to ask, before Kyix cut her off, unable to keep in whatever it was he wanted to say any longer. She was starting to see where the roots of his impulsivity began.
"I saw you in your lion!" Kyix blurted out. "You were so amazing!"
"I-" Allura began, opening her mouth to point out that she hadn't been the one in the lion, before she promptly shut it, "-thank you. That is very kind of you to say."
Catching Lance's eye, he just gave her a sheepish shrug. Heaving a slight sigh, she forced herself to smile, holding out a hand to Kyix. "Would you like to see inside?"
She barely even needed to ask. Kyix took her hand without hesitation, and in spite of herself, she felt her stress melt away. If this truly was what Kyix had been like as a child, then she was starting to understand just how he'd managed to endear himself to so many senior Blades. She wasn't sure he'd even realized as much himself, but she was almost positive that Kolivan was far more merciful with Kyix than he was with the rest of the Blade.
Either that, or it was simply because of his young age.
(Or perhaps, she couldn't help but think, it was because of his own guilt.)
Guiding Kyix up the black lion's ramp, she couldn't help but notice Lance trailing after them out of the corner of her eye. He caught her gaze, mouthing something, but whatever it was, she wasn't well-acquainted enough with the lip movements involved with Earthling language to determine what it was he wanted to tell her. Whatever it was, it clearly wasn't something that he wanted to say within earshot of Kyix.
"Why don't you go and have a seat in the pilot's chair?" Allura asked, glancing down towards Kyix.
"Can I?" He asked.
"Just so long as you don't touch anything." Allura told him.
Nodding his head, Kyix stayed in place for exactly one tick- before he made a beeline for said chair. He was so small that she couldn't even see him once he sat down in it, and in spite of herself, her lips quirked in a faint grin. Somehow she got the feeling that once he was back to normal, Kyix would be rather embarrassed by his behavior.
Ah, well. That was a problem for another quintant, she supposed- and not her issue to solve anyways.
Turning towards Lance, she paused for just a tick, a slight frown on her features. For just a tick, it felt almost as if the black lion was amused, but the feeling was gone as soon as it had come. Tilting her head, she glanced back towards Kyix, abruptly realizing that the black lion had felt far more welcoming than it had before he'd stepped foot on it.
Strange.
"Allura?"
Oh, right. Lance.
Turning to look back at him, Allura smiled at him. "Yes?"
"Actually, there's something I wanted to talk to you about." Lance said, keeping his voice at a whisper. "It's about Keith. And I guess kind of about the black lion too?"
Allura arched a brow. "Go on."
"Okay see, the thing is, you know how I was out there with Keith when the black lion flew out, right?" Lance asked.
"Without permission, I might add." Allura said.
"Yeah... that's my bad. Sorry." Lance apologized again. "But well, I don't know if it means anything or not, but while we were out there, Keith said Shiro's name."
Allura blinked. Then blinked again. Whatever it was that she thought Lance wanted to tell her, it hadn't been that.
"Are you positive?" Allura asked.
"Positive." Lance nodded. "But when I asked about it, he didn't seem to remember doing it."
Frowning, Allura tilted her head in thought. "Strange. I was under the impression he didn't remember any of us."
Then again, he always had been closest to Shiro, so perhaps...
"Yeah, that's not really the weird thing." Lance said. "It wasn't just a random thing. It was like... it was like he was answering my question."
Allura's frown only deepened. "And what question might that be?"
"If you weren't the one flying the black lion... then who was?"
