Author's Note:
Hello all and welcome to another chapter. This one has a bit more Paladin interaction, as well as some insight into this AU's past events. Thank you for your continued support, and I hope you enjoy the chapter.
I own nothing.
Chapter 11
It was late in the artificial night of the castle, when it cropped up.
The four teenage paladins were camping out in the lounge one evening (another one of the things on 'the list'), having reached the stage of quiet but not asleep, (when deep conversations usually came up), and Kieth asked the question.
"Hey, Lance."
The Blue Paladin glanced up at him, indicating for him to carry on.
"You don't have to if you don't want to, but what can you tell us about your parents?"
Lance blinked, the question taking him by surprise, then he tilted his head and responded that his mother died some time ago.
Instantly, Keith was apologetic, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."
The other boy waved his words away, indicating that it was a long time ago, and he'd dealt with it, deciding it was best not to go any further.
By this time, Hunk and Pidge had also stirred out of half-sleep, and the youngest spoke tentatively, "And what about your dad?"
Lance pulled a face, then shrugged.
"You don't know?" Hunk stared at him, "Like, not at all?"
Lance scratched the back of his head, unsure as to how he could explain this. The truth was, there were a great many people who could've been his father, and he didn't think even his mother knew herself who it was. However, he didn't particularly want to explain this.
Pidge saved him the trouble, by cutting into the awkward silence, "Doesn't matter, when we find my dad and brother, you can be a part of our family!"
"Hey!" Hunk instantly responded, "You can't call dibs! I know my parents will love Lance!"
"Shiro's parents would happily take him in." Keith threw out challengingly.
"Well, me and Princess Allura have a castle for him to live in, so top that!"
Somehow, Coran's voice joined the argument, and all of them jumped and found him standing in the doorway.
"Coran! What are you doing here!?"
The man fiddled with his moustache as he answered Pidge's almost shouted question, "I came to check if you lot needed anything, before I went to bed myself." He stepped into the room, "But more importantly, I think Lance should stay here."
"But he'll have a mom, dad, brother and sister if he joins my family." Pidge argued.
"Well, with my family, he'll have a mom, dad, two brothers, an uncle and a niece and nephew." Hunk challenged.
Keith pouted, "Well, Shiro's parents are really cool, and he'll have relatives in Japan."
Coran responded pointedly, "Highly advanced castle that can travel all over the universe, just saying."
"Guys, what's going on?"
Shiro's voice entered the argument, and all eyes fell upon the Black Paladin, who was watching the debate.
Keith immediately appealed to him, "Shiro, don't you think your parents would happily take Lance in when we get back to Earth."
The man merely sighed, then addressed them firmly, "Guys, I think its best to give Lance time to decide for himself where he wants to go." He gave them a look, "Now, we have a full day tomorrow, so you should all get some sleep."
There was silence for a moment, then Pidge spoke incredulously, "Wait, are you actually sending us to bed!?"
Shiro folded his arms sternly, "Yes, now settle down and stop talking."
With a nod, he left them room, Coran following suit, and the teens all stared at each other, Hunk remarking with bewilderment, "Did Shiro just pull a 'dad move' on us?"
Lance shrugged, and Keith nodded, "Yup, I think he did."
Pidge folded her arms grumpily, "Well, I'm not going to listen."
"Guys, I can still hear talking!"
Shiro's stern voice rang out from the other side of the door, and Pidge was the first one to place her head down and shut her eyes. The others chuckled quietly and copied, and soon silence reigned as the Paladins fell into slumber.
Commander Iverson leafed through the files of Shiro's return to Earth once more.
To say it all went wrong was something of an understatement, two cadets, one former cadet, and an unknown teen breaking their missing pilot out of quarantine and promptly vanishing, just before the appearance of a large blue robot of some kind, certainly counted as a problem.
He dropped the files on the desk and leaned back heavily, what ifs echoing in his mind.
When Shiro landed, his gut had told him something serious was up, they knew full well that 'pilot error' had nothing to do with the Kerberos Mission failing, and Shiro's return only confirmed it.
However, he'd been the good soldier and followed protocol, not taking Shiro's frantic warnings seriously, even though his instincts screamed at him to listen. In the end, their only link to the truth disappeared and the mysterious blue ship appeared, then vanished from their sensors, along with a huge, unidentified vessel.
Naturally, Admiral Sanda was furious, and Iverson was reluctant to point out the fact it might've been avoided if it wasn't for the protocols she'd helped create. In the end, the usual smokescreen lies were used, and the commander wondered (not for the first time) if they were really the best option.
There was a smart knock on his office door, and Iverson swiftly stowed the files out of view before speaking.
"Enter."
A young officer entered, "Commander, the labs wish to discuss something of importance with you sir."
Though slightly confused, Iverson nodded, "Understood, I'll make my way there immediately."
The officer saluted then left the room, message delivered, and the commander frowned briefly before standing and beginning the journey to the labs.
What would the labs want with him, unless they'd found something new about the events of Shiro's return and second disappearance. He quickened his pace and soon came to the labs, striding in with purpose.
No-one was present, except the chief scientist who was waiting for him, and the woman stood, "Commander."
Dr Williams had served the garrison for about the same amount of time as Iverson, the two having a strong, professional relationship, so she dispensed with most formalities and went straight to the point.
"We've found something of note while looking into the events regarding Officer Shirogane's return to Earth." She led him over to a screen and brought up an image of the unknown teen, "Due to his presence at the time, the Garrison has been looking into the identity and background of this boy, to see his connection, if any, to what happened."
Iverson looked at her expectantly, "And?"
She frowned, "We found a little, but that's it." She brought up a file, "About six years ago, he cropped up when he was taken in by a charity that works with street kids. It seems that he was recently orphaned when his mother died and was visiting a soup kitchen for food. Naturally, the authorities were called, and they took him into hospital to be treated for malnourishment. They discovered that he was medically mute, with no possible method of that being changed, unfortunately, he vanished before they could find a suitable home for him. The most they discovered was that his name was Lance."
She brought up another picture, one taken from their own security cameras, "He reappears again here. It seems he's been occasionally sneaking into the base and stealing food, and the occasional piece of equipment, probably to sell." She inclined her head thoughtfully, "Have to hand it to him, he did a good job of avoiding the cameras. We only have this image because it just caught him for a second, before he slipped out of view."
She returned to the original image, "Then, he was found near the crash site. I assume he was on his way here and got swept up unintentionally in what happened. As per protocol, the scientists on site took a blood sample to check for anything unusual, and that's where the issue I want to speak with you about crops up."
She hesitated, and Iverson eyed her, "Well, what's the issue?"
She returned the stare, then spoke carefully, "About seventeen years ago, when you were considerably more hot-blooded than you are now. You ended up falling for the advances of a young woman while under the effect of a lot of celebratory drinks."
He looked away, in shame, "I know when you're talking about, though I remember little of the night in question."
That night in question, he'd been promoted, and had gone out with his comrades to celebrate in the bars. Young as they were, they'd ended up drinking a lot, and when a stranger had offered to spend the night in his company, in his drunken haze, he'd agreed.
Dr Williams was one of the few who about this particular part of his life, the young man he'd left behind a long time ago, hence his patience with her bringing it up now.
Williams sighed, "Well, it seems that part of your life has decided to come back around and haunt you."
She brought up a final page, a report upon the results of test carried out on Lance's blood sample.
"According to this, along with the DNA data we have on you. You are biologically this boy's father."
PS-And so, the bombshell drops. To be honest, I'm unsure about this chapter, but we'll see. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.