Disclaimer: If you recognize the character it isn't mine. Just playing in Dreamworks' sandbox. Credit for lines of dialogue from the show goes to the writers.
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As she guided the Green Lion toward the wormhole, it felt like every nerve in Katie's body was singing. Her heart was fluttering in excitement, her skin tingling, her stomach quivering with the trembles that came with hitting upon a really brilliant idea and anticipating pulling it off.
Her mind was full of images, of the times when a teacher or family member had listened and encouraged her. There was a constant buzz of goodnewfriendcleverquickjoy until the images began to coalesce and settle...into Matt.
A wave of sorrow crashed over her and Katie gasped. The presence in her mind halted, surprised, and seemed to pull back to think. Hesitantly, it approached again.
Sadfriendwhy? It nudged gently, as if asking permission.
Katie focused on memories of Matt. How he had shared with her what he was learning in school, knowing she could follow. How he had supported her when the other students in her classes reacted to her with jealousy or mockery. How she had missed him when he departed for the Garrison and grieved when the loss of the Kerberos mission was first announced.
The presence seemed to poke around in her mind, then a new image emerged. The face was a blend of her mother and Matt, giving a good impression of what an older Holt sister might have looked like. Katie grinned at that and the presence surged back in: togetherjoinedgoodfriend.
Katie laughed aloud when the mental older sister jumped and squealed, much like Katie herself had done when Matt announced his acceptance in the Garrison. "Yup, you got it. Good new friend!"
She followed Shiro's pod through the wormhole.
Lance was a little disappointed to see that the princess had placed the other end of the wormhole directly above the planetoid with the Yellow Lion. He was beginning to get used to the controls and wanted more time to fly the Blue Lion around. He felt his mind-sister essentially pat his head. Later. Focus.
Hunk was looking at the contraption in his hand, some kind of tracker. As was the norm, Hunk was babbling his nerves out. "According to the coordinates, we're right on top of the Yellow Lion. It's below there, where they're mining for the ore. They don't even know the lion is there. Or maybe they just got here and they're digging for the lion? What do you think?"
"It doesn't matter! Just go get it! I'm dropping you down there."
"Me? Down there? No. No, no, no."
"Yes, I'll cover you!"
"No, what—what if I—what if I can't get in the mine? What if I get lost in the mine tunnels? What if the Yellow Lion doesn't even work? What if—"
The mind-sister shook her head, amused at Hunk's antics. Whatever was down there was ready and waiting for him.
"Dammit, just go, Hunk!" Lance followed his mind-sister's guidance and twisted the controls in a way that dumped Hunk right out of the Blue Lion's cockpit, through the mouth, and into the entrance to the mine.
As Lance began firing at the squadron of fighters headed toward them, he marveled at the spirit that seemed to have taken up residence inside him. He could feel his own emotions and was still thinking his own thoughts, but inside him there seemed to be some new space, with this second presence echoing back at him. Keith's words as they stood in that desert shack came back to him.
Feeling each other. Is this what he was talking about?
His mind-sister threw up her hands in triumph. Together!
Her glee was infectious. Lance grinned and started trying more controls to see just how many lasers were on this ship.
Shiro charged onto the bridge, ready to scream at the two Alteans. While Keith was no longer transmitting terror through the bond, he was extremely tense and wary.
He found Keith seated in a tactician's chair to the far right. The red-haired man, Coran, was down on one knee next to him, speaking quietly. Keith was listening to him, but had his arms crossed tight over his chest and a carefully neutral expression on his face. Shiro recognized the body language from the Garrison, when Keith was listening to a teacher or superior officer only because he had to. Whatever Coran was saying, Keith wasn't buying all of it.
The princess was standing apart, watching them. Shiro brushed past her and strode over, reaching out to take Keith's hands and pull him up into his arms. "Are you sure you're all right?"
Keith nodded into his shoulder, sending his reassurance through the bond instead of speaking. Shiro also caught a hint of something… Keith was channeling yet another presence, like the Blue Lion.
The presence poked at him curiously and Keith was encouraging it. And then Shiro realized.
The Black Lion. He pictured the largest ship from the shared vision, soaring through the sky, a pair of red and white wings on its back.
The presence grew a little stronger in agreement.
Shiro felt eyes on him and looked up. The princess was staring at the two of them with a frown. He met her stare and tightened his hold on Keith.
She opened her mouth to speak, paused, and then said, "How is it that you are sharing quintessences? One of the most basic tenets of the universe is that it is unique to each individual, no matter how closely related."
"I'm guessing it's because we have a soul bond."
When Shiro didn't elaborate and the princess didn't reply, Coran inched forward timidly. "Princess, what exactly are you seeing?"
She gestured at them with a hand. "I thought earlier that their quintessences were extremely similar, as if they were from the same family. But the structure is literally identical. And… It's so strong! They should be collapsing from the overload, their minds fried like blown circuits! I don't understand!"
Katie entered just in time to hear her. She looked around, seeing the adversarial positions, and wearily repeated, "Not. Altean. Can you look at me and see the same thing?"
The princess focused on her for a moment. "Your quintessence is quite strong as well, compared to a normal Altean, but it's still nothing like what they are showing."
"So the working hypothesis is that Terrans have a naturally higher level of this quintessence than Alteans. And when you take into account that Shiro and Keith are soulmates, the logical theory for that is that they are sharing two quintessences that have combined and appear to be one. Hence, double the norm and something about the bond itself makes this possible. We won't be able to learn more until we go back to Terra where you can see more of us and more soul-bonded pairs." As she spoke, Katie moved to stand in front of them. Shiro put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, trying to convey his thanks.
"Go back? But we have to stop Zarkon!"
Katie shrugged and spread her hands. "I don't see those as mutually exclusive, given the existence of this wormhole technology."
The princess looked angry and Coran moved to stand beside Katie. "Allura, that's a fair point. We can discuss it once we deal with the Galra warship in orbit around us."
Shiro and Katie both snapped their heads around to look at him. Shiro burst out, "The what?! They're here already?"
Finally Keith broke his silence. "And they have the Red Lion on board."
Hunk tiptoed through the tunnel, trying to sort through the sensory overload. He felt tingly all over, like his blood would jump out of his skin any second. He was bathed in the warm golden glow of lion carvings like the ones back on Terra. He could hear the rumble of a voice, just out of range...or was he hearing it in his head? He put his hand to a wall, feeling a pull from the other side, and gold lines chased up to trace out a sun, indicating his direction.
"Okay, how am I going to get through this?"
Cleverboylookthinksee.
Hunk's memory brought up the face of Melo. He hadn't thought about Melo in years.
A four-year-old Tsuyoshi followed the teenager into the shallows, feeling the wet sand slide from under his toes as the wave receded. Melo dove into the next wave and surfaced, throwing his hair out of his face. Hunk ventured further, feeling the tug of the currents around his knees.
"Yoshi, wait! I'll bring you out!"
Melo came and picked him up piggy-back. "Always wait for me until you're strong enough to swim it yourself."
Tsuyoshi laughed. "Go through a wave!"
"Okay, but hold your breath! I'll count before I go in. One...two...THREE!"
They dove in, the water surging around them. He clung to Melo's shoulders, relishing the feeling, and then they broke through to the other side and Melo was laughing. "You okay?"
"Do it again!"
Hunk's hand clenched into a fist as he felt a wave of melancholy. Melo had been the main male figure in Hunk's life growing up. Melo had four sisters, none of whom enjoyed being outdoors or building things, and he and Hunk had gravitated to each other. They had lost touch after Melo left for college; the last he knew, Melo was in Asia working as an architect.
The Melo in his mind flapped his hands impatiently. Comehurrymovethrough.
Hunk looked around and his eyes lit up when he spotted the giant drill.
So far things were going according to plan.
Mostly.
Keith ran through the corridors, looking for any kind of sign that he was getting closer to the Red Lion. He could feel Shiro's sudden alarm at running into some kind of drone, then admiring fascination as Katie efficiently hacked it into a guide for them as they searched for the Holts. Shiro was certain that neither Commander Holt nor Matt was aboard, but he couldn't deny Katie's need to search. Shiro's unhappiness was growing as he tried to plan what he would say to her when they came up empty-handed.
This was the only reason Keith had agreed to splitting up. He knew Shiro and Katie were all right and they knew he was all right.
Spinning his goddamn wheels in a random search, but all right.
He heard clanking footsteps echoing down the corridor and ducked down a different hallway that looked promising…until he saw the same giant Galra insignia from several minutes ago.
Shiro sensed his frustration and sent back encouragement. Keith didn't need words to know what his soulmate was thinking.
Patience yields focus.
Keith paused, closed his eyes, and concentrated. He followed the internal pathways that had led him to the Blue Lion and then the Black Lion. His mind and his heart began to zero in…
"Gotcha!" He turned and ran again, a grin spreading across his face.
The newly-christened Rover opened the door and Katie ducked and ran inside, not waiting for the door to lift completely. "Dad? Matt?"
Behind her, Shiro called out, "Don't be afraid, we're here to help!"
"Shiro?"
A gray alien with a weird appendage on his head and an extra set of arms uncurled his protective stance around a smaller, one-eyed green alien.
"Xi? Ch'varr?" Shiro was looking around, astonished. "What are you—no, never mind. Do you know if there are any other prisoners on board?"
An alien that was Shiro's size with long, curling horns, rose to his feet. "No, just us. They said we were on our way to Baxoma to fight one another in the arena there. We were winning too much in the old arena."
Katie tried to tamp down her defeat. Shiro had warned her that the odds were low, that his last known intelligence on her family was that they'd been sent to work camps. She joined Shiro in helping the aliens to their feet, noting how they all moved to greet Shiro in some way.
A brown one with way too many arms paused in front of her. "You're related to Matt."
"He's my brother! Do you know what happened to him?"
The alien shook its head. "All we know is they took him. It sounded like they were going to try and fix his leg from where Shiro injured him…" The alien trailed off, uncertain whether it was revealing a secret.
Katie patted it on the highest left shoulder. "Shiro told me about it."
"Come on! We need to get to the nearest escape pod," Shiro called over to them.
"Come on, just break already!" Hunk shouted in frustration as he kept the beam from the mouth laser focused on the force field protecting the ion cannon. In his ears Lance was practically hooting in glee as he dodged fighters and took them out.
In his mind, the Melo image huffed and blew his bangs out of his eyes before screwing up his face in concentration once more.
"Shiro, Pidge, Keith! What's your status?"
Pidge's voice came back. "We found some prisoners of the Galra. We're getting them to an escape pod. Don't shoot it!"
"Copy!" Hunk jumped a little as his hand moved and squeezed a control, producing a second laser coming from...the tail? "Keith? What about you?"
No answer.
Hunk drew breath to repeat the call, but Pidge broke in. "Shiro? What's Keith's status?"
"He's a bit busy at the moment, trying to talk the Red Lion into letting him in, but he's—" Shiro broke off suddenly. "Keith!"
Keith paused in a recess, looking over the large hangar doors across from him. The pull was definitely coming from the other side. As he waited, uncertain of his next move, the doors opened and two Galra soldiers came out. One of them put a hand to a screen on one side and the doors closed again.
Okay, simple enough. I hope.
Once the soldiers were out of sight, Keith ran across the passage and put his hand to the screen. The doors opened obligingly and he hit the control a second time, slipping through before it closed.
On the other side of the hangar, inside yet another bubble-shaped force field, was the Red Lion.
Keith stepped up and laid his hand on the barrier, looking for the jolt of light and energy that had appeared for Lance. "Hey, there. I'm here."
The presence was there, but very faint. Keith had the impression of a feral cat, unloved and fighting for so long that it no longer trusted anyone.
Noneveragainprotecthim… An image of the Black Lion sprang into Keith's mind.
"Black? We'll protect him. Shiro's going to be his pilot. Will you let me help you?"
Neveragainkilledhimkilledmypaladinnomore…
"I'm sorry. I can understand that, kind of. My dad died of illness, he wasn't killed, but I still lost him."
That got a definite reaction. The feral cat in his mind's eye hissed and swatted and Keith felt a blow that rocked him. "Hey!"
NOT THE SAME!
"I said kind of! But look, we can help you! Black said you'd been betrayed. Was it through Zarkon's orders? Did your paladin try to protect Altea when the others left? We've agreed to help Princess Allura try to end his empire. If you let me in, I can help!"
BETRAYED! FORSAKEN!
And now Keith was overwhelmed by images, driving him to his knees. Two figures fighting while a city burned around them, the larger driving a sword through the smaller. A tractor beam from a Galra ship pulling the Red Lion in. Ten thousand years of Zarkon throwing candidates in front of her, looking for someone who would unlock her heart again. The emotions whirled around his core, surrounding him. As if from a great distance, he felt Shiro's sudden concern.
Keith fought through the pain and grief and started shoving back, pushing himself to his feet. Memories of him and Shiro, discovering each other in that self-defense class. The first time they held hands while walking across the Garrison campus. The movie marathon that had turned into a sleepover when Keith had drifted off, his head on Shiro's shoulder. Their first kiss, weeks later, that Keith had initiated because he'd realized that Shiro simply wasn't going to. The last kiss before Shiro departed for Kerberos, intense and long.
You'll never have to face that situation again as long as it's me and Shiro. We won't betray one another, it'll never happen. I promise you, we come from the princess. We want to help.
The feral cat was back, on guard but still except for a lashing tail. Considering.
And Keith was jerked out of the connection when an energy bolt caught the pauldron of his armor and spun him around.
A half-dozen sentry robots were moving to surround him.
Keith brought up his shield immediately as they kept firing, backing up against the force field. "Come on! I'm trying to help!"
He summoned his sword and charged in. He was able to take two down immediately with one swing forward and another back, but the others increased their assault and the shield broke apart and vanished, the backlash throwing him to the floor.
They paused in firing, slowly approaching him. Keith looked around frantically, then spotted the controls on a panel near him. Stowing the bayard and sealing off his helmet with a thought, he slapped the switch.
The hatch below parted, drawing the air from the hangar with gale-level force. Keith clung to the panel, his arms and shoulders screaming in pain, as the remaining sentries were swept into space. Now he could feel Shiro's fear as he strained to reach the switch and close the hatch again…
...and a crate hurtled toward him, striking him and breaking his hold. He soared into the starry expanse with absolutely no lifeline.
Shiro was now close to panic.
The jetpacks!
Keith mentally slapped his forehead and fired up the thrusters in the armor, steering himself back toward the ship and trying to calm Shiro down. I'm okay, it's okay, I got this.
The blast from a fighter that had noticed him missed, but the energy kickback sent him hurtling farther from the battleship.
A second fighter had broken off its pursuit of the Blue Lion and Lance's voice screeched in his helmet, "Dude! What the hell are you doing?" They started to turn toward him, then gyrated wildly to avoid the crossfire of yet more fighters.
The two going after Keith began firing, but kept missing as he was a very small target. Keith used the jetpack to dodge and adjust his momentum, trying to get back to the ship and through the hatch. The fighters switched tactics and closed in on either side, apparently ready to smash into each other with him in between. Keith pushed the jetpack to its limit, knowing it wouldn't be fast enough to get out of the way.
He sent one desperate surge of love and apology to Shiro, who was almost wailing in desperation.
NO!
A burst of intense heat seared into his head and chest. A lion's roar rattled his brain and suddenly he was sprawled inside huge metal jaws.
Mine! My paladin!
Yes, Keith thought back. Your paladin.
The responding purr vibrated through him and Keith reached to share it with Shiro, to let him know he was alive and safe for the moment. He staggered to his feet and started climbing toward the cockpit.
"Shiro, come on!" Katie grabbed Shiro's arm as he lagged behind the prisoners, hugging himself as if in pain.
The tall horned alien, Ch'varr, looked back and saw Shiro stagger. To Katie's amazement, he ran back and pulled Shiro upright, slinging one arm over his shoulders. "Come on, you can't help him if the sentries catch us here!"
"He's...outside the ship...escape pod…" Shiro was fighting to get the words out.
Katie helped the last of the other aliens in. "Green will be faster!" She pushed at Ch'varr. "Get in! Go to the castle on the planet! We'll meet you there!"
"But Shiro—"
"I got him! Get to safety!" She managed to get him inside and shouted, "Rover! Close it and send it down!" The little drone obeyed and the pod slid into the launching bay.
Behind her, Shiro collapsed to his knees and screamed, "NO! KEITH!"
Inside her head, Green seemed to be pleading. NOMOREFEARHE'SYOURSGETHIMTAKEHIMRED-SISTER!
As Katie dropped to Shiro's side, Rover began beeping urgently. She looked up to see sentries closing in on them. She started pulling on Shiro's shoulder. "Shiro? Shiro? We've gotta move!" He didn't respond—was she seeing a soulmate witness his partner's death?
She could not let herself fall apart now. She could not. She had to get Shiro to safety.
YES! Green's presence exploded in triumph.
A split-second later, Shiro gasped and grabbed for her hand, getting to his feet. "He's safe...Red got to him…"
"Halt!"
Katie summoned her bayard, unsure of what she could do with it. Those sentries were awfully tall.
Beside her, Shiro lifted his prosthetic. The hand began glowing purple and Shiro stepped forward.
Only to fall to one knee again as he clutched the metal wrist with his other hand and cried out.
The relief of being inside Red, feeling the bond between them roaring like a forest fire, was short-lived. The first interruption was Lance screeching in his ear through the helmet. Keith ignored that in favor of concentrating on Shiro; he and Katie were still on board the Galra ship.
The second interruption was white-hot pain shooting up his right arm.
Red immediately cocooned herself around him. Where she had been a feral cat before, she was now a full lioness. The pain receded and she pushed behind him as he poured strength into Shiro.
Green-sister? Where?
Keith let Red guide his hands on the controls and the Green Lion came surging from the other side.
"Finally!" Hunk's voice came through the comm. "I got the force field down and bashed the cannon in. I hope it's really broken!"
"Help Lance with the fighters! Protect the escape pod with the prisoners! We're going after Shiro and Katie!"
"Copy!"
Keith focused on the bond with Shiro, trusting Red to do whatever was needed. Coming, we're coming, hold on!
The pain flared around his right wrist and Keith grabbed it with his other hand, trying his best to drain it away from Shiro.
As he groped frantically for ideas, the Green Lion took matters into her own paws and rammed into the side of the ship.
Shiro felt Keith absorb the worst of the pain. He realized now; the witch was not stupid. They wouldn't have given him constant access to a deadly weapon if it could be used against them. During his captivity he had never dared, but now some kind of failsafe had been activated and was weighing his hand down, sending waves of agony through his body.
He could sense something behind Keith in the bond, something that was pushing back against the restraint. He clenched his teeth against another scream, knowing Katie was right beside him and probably terrified.
And then with a snap that felt like bones breaking, the pain vanished and the hand glowed with power.
The sentries began firing and Shiro didn't hesitate. He blocked the first blast from the rifle, then deflected the second one back into the sentries, taking one down. And then he was among them, slashing with the weaponized hand as he avoided their attacks. Keith was still focused entirely on him, just as he had been during many of the arena battles, lending power and tactics.
Shiro quickly discovered that a head or chest hit dropped the sentry immediately and focused his strikes. Something green entered his vision from the side and he heard Katie's incredulous "Whoa!"
He spun, taking two sentries down with head-strikes at once, and saw another fallen sentry wrapped in a glowing green cable that crackled with energy. Shiro sent his hand through the chest of the last sentry and let the arm power down. He bent forward, hands on knees, gulping in air.
"Wow, Shiro! How did you learn to fight like that?"
"Arena," he gasped out without thinking and immediately felt guilty as he saw comprehension and then horror cross her face. But before he could say anything else, purple energy bolts from a fresh wave of sentries shot past them.
Come on! Keith's presence, oddly overlaid with something warm, urged them to move. The ship shuddered, as if something huge had struck it.
Katie did something to retract the cord of her katar-shaped blade and seized his hand. "This way, through the launch! Open it, Rover!" Her visor glowed briefly as the open part vanished to cover her face again.
Shiro sealed his own visor and followed her into the tunnel, feeling the drag from decompression tug him along. He blinked when he realized what he was seeing: the Green Lion had bitten into the hull around the launching bay and was holding its jaws open, ready for them. Katie was already in and racing up the ramp to the cockpit, the little drone zipping behind her. He followed and lurched as the lion immediately let go and closed around him.
"Let's get out of here!" Keith's voice sounded in his ears as the bond was suffused with relief.
"Agreed, everyone back to base!"
Thank you as always for reading!