So, how about that season six, huh? I think we can all agree that the two most important parts of the season was Keith showing up fifteen minutes late with his mom, a space wolf, a random Altean and the way Lotor just... fucking bounced after Allura threw him. There he go. They animation staff totally did not need to do that, and yet they did and every single time I think abut it, I literally cannot stop laughing.
On the other hand I gotta get into a fist fight with dreamworks for not giving Keith's dad a name. Consider this a call out post.
Oh right so... next chapter! Here we go! I actually changed the planned plot for this one like, halfway through and scrapped most of what I'd written because it wasn't working out like I'd hoped, so looks like we get Lance in this chapter as well as Hunk! There they are, them boys!
cosmic dust
chapter thirteen
roots
His travels were so without event, that it was almost boring.
It was a good thing, he guessed, taking a bite out of a candy bar that he had acquired at a gas station. Shiro would scold him about stealing if he could see him now, but at this point, he'd gone so far down the whole space pirate lifestyle that he'd kind of stopped caring.
Besides, if he could see him now, wearing the face of one of his captors, he doubted petty theft would be Shiro's main concern. Letting out a faint snort, he shoved the wrapper into his pocket- he was a thief, not a goddamn litterbug. Tucking his helmet back on, he started the hoverbike back up.
God, he'd missed this.
Flying the red lion was like nothing he had ever known, but there was something comforting about the hum of the hoverbike as he flew through the air. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed the sensation until he'd had cause to experience it again.
By his estimation, it wouldn't be long now before he reached the desert. There were some benefits to never needing to sleep- he could travel non-stop, or close enough to it. Sleep might be beyond him, but all his other bodily functions worked just fine- even if he suspected he could go without food for a lot longer than most people.
(Didn't mean he liked to. Starving himself brought back bad memories.)
Pidge had contacted him that first afternoon, telling him that she had gotten things sorted with their fake identities. Pidge Gunderson and Allura Altea were all set to attend the Galaxy Garrison's open house that weekend, and no, Keith was not allowed to make fun of her naming sense.
It chafed at him that Allura- an alien, with no human blood- could pass for one with more ease than he could, but he tried not to let it get to him. She'd had her entire people wiped out- he didn't feel right begrudging her over something so minor.
He told Pidge he'd send the coordinates to the rendezvous point once he scoped it out. He doubted things had changed much in his absence- it was close enough to the Garrison that it made for the ideal hiding spot, but far enough away that they would never find it unless they already knew what they were looking for. Under the cover of darkness, it would be a simple matter to land the green lion there.
They'd need it, if they were going to get the blue lion out.
As much as Allura wanted to keep things quiet, that was probably going to be impossible. There was no subtle way to steal a giant robot cat, he knew that much from experience.
But if he could steal one out from under the noses of Central Command, by himself, he sure as hell could steal one from the Galaxy Garrison, especially now that he had an actual team behind him.
For now, at least.
Pushing that thought aside, he took the next exit. It had been so long since he had come out this way, but he knew the path there by heart. Even if he didn't, he knew the coordinates, and this hoverbike had GPS, so either way, he wasn't about to get lost.
The closer he drew to the desert, the more excited he felt himself getting. Sure, he had been snatched up from the middle of it, while trying to trail some kind of weird energy- which in hindsight, might have been the blue lion- but to him, the desert was still home.
None of the other kids at the orphanage understood how he could be so fond of what to them was nothing more than a vast stretch of rocks and sand, but they had never seen the desert like he had. His father had taught him about its wonders and its horrors, and even now, he still caught himself clinging to the memory of watching stars on the roof of their tiny shack.
It would never be the same.
His father was gone now. And he was changed.
He couldn't even go out in the open without hiding his face on his own home planet. In space, he got hateful, mistrustful looks for being part Galra, but on Earth, they'd just see him as a freak.
Which wasn't wrong. He definitely was that.
No different than he was when he'd left, just way more obvious, he thought grimly. Being the weird kid was something that stuck with you.
Deep into the desert, he yanked off the helmet, shaking out his hair- which, fine, it had stopped being hair a long time ago, but damned if you'd catch him calling it fur. For all that it had changed, the way the desert wind whipped through it as he drove his hoverbike was the same, and for a moment, if he closed his eyes, he could almost forget that he'd changed.
But then he'd open them, catch sight of his clawed, purple fingers, and remember.
He parked the hoverbike some distance away from the shack. It had been years since he'd last come here, so he couldn't say for sure if it were still safe or not. Making the rest of his way on foot, for once he actually felt grateful for his newly grown third eyelid, almost enough to wish he'd had them when he'd lived out here.
At the sight of the shack, however, he had to stop.
It was... the place had never been in great repair, there was only so much upkeep one could do to it, given where it was. But while it was showing its age, it was also very much just the same as when he had left it- after his father died, after he'd run out of food and had been forced to hike to town.
It was almost too much for him to bear.
Part of him yearned to go to it, to throw all caution to the wind and just sprint. It was the closest thing he had to a home, and here it was, before him, when he thought he'd never see it again.
But the other part of him wanted to shrink back, to go back the way he came and pretend he saw nothing. If he went there, as he was now, he couldn't help but feel as if he would be tainting it.
But he wasn't here for himself, and that was the tipping point. Drawing in a long breath, Keith squared his shoulders.
He had to go.
The trek to the shack was a short one, but one that was fraught with memories. He hadn't even been aware how strange his childhood had been until his father had died, but it was the one thing about his past he wouldn't change for the world. Maybe it had been isolated, but his father had been there, and for him, it was all he needed.
He didn't even think about his mother until after he'd died, when he realized that everyone else had something he didn't. When he'd been marked as an orphan with a runaway mother.
He wondered what he'd think if he saw him now- would he accept him, embrace him, just as he always had? He had raised him knowing that he was half-alien, half-Galra. He wished he could see him now- he had so many questions, about his mother, about himself.
Exhaling, he lingered in front of the door for longer than was probably necessary. After all this time, there was still a trace of his father's scent that clung to the place. Taking it in, he rested his hand on the doorknob, before steeling himself, swinging it open.
It wasn't locked. It never was.
Inside, things were much as he had left them- though covered now in a thick layer of dust and sand. The way the floorboards creaked underneath his boots... he knew that sound, bringing him back to another time.
A happier time.
Forcing himself not to dwell on it, Keith stepped inside. Everything was there- making his way over towards the wall where his father kept his books, he pulled one out, blowing dust off the cover. It proved to be a mistake, causing him to hack, reminding him just how much more sensitive his nose was now.
Ugh. At least his third eyelid was doing its job, bizarre as the new piece of anatomy was, keeping his eyes from watering, otherwise they surely would have.
Cracking open the book, he scanned it as if it would reveal some kind of clue. He had always known that his father was doing some kind of research out here, but he had been too young to understand what, and he never brought him with him. Setting the book back, Keith turned on his heel, gaze scanning the dusty shack.
He had to wonder if it were merely a coincidence that this place was so close to where the blue lion had been hidden. Glancing down at his hands, he balled them into fists, as if trying to hide the purple that stained his fingers.
He wanted to believe that his memories of his father weren't memories of a man who had been willing to betray his own people. Maybe it was naive of him, with all the darkness he had seen since, but he wanted to cling to that one last piece of his past that hadn't been tainted by the Galra Empire.
Even if that was a lie. He existed, so his father already had.
Unclenching his fists, his gaze landed on his father's corkboard, white cloth turned yellow from the thick layer of sand that clung to it. He only had vague memories of it, never having cause to see it often.
Striding across the room, he ripped the sheet off, sending dust flying everywhere. This time he covered his nose and mouth, keeping himself from breathing in sand, and even though he didn't need to, he found himself shutting his eyes.
When he opened them again, he felt his heart sink to the pit of his stomach.
Eyes frantically scanning the corkboard, he felt himself take a step back. Carvings of a blue lion leapt out at him, captured in photographs. Pidge had told him how the temple of the green lion had been covered with carvings of it, ancient as the lion itself.
The sheet slipping from his grasp, Keith felt despair grasp at him- if his father knew about the blue lion, then his mother- his Galra mother- must have known about it as well. He didn't want to think, didn't want to believe that...
No.
Drawing in a breath, he felt the despair subside. If that was true, then something wasn't right.
The Galra had come back to this planet, to this place- but they hadn't found the blue lion, they'd found him.
The blue lion was still here, in Garrison hands.
The Galra Empire didn't know where it was.
His mother, whoever she had been... she hadn't told anyone about what she had found. Reaching back, he rested a hand on his knife, drawing in a another long breath. He didn't know what kind of person his mother had been, but at the very least, she hadn't sold out Earth.
She hadn't sold out hope.
Gritting his teeth, Keith took a step forward, grabbing the photographs, the maps, balling them all up. He hated destroying what his father had worked on, but he couldn't let the others see this. He wanted to believe that they would see it as he had, wanted to have faith in them, but he couldn't let himself do that.
He wanted to cling to their trust for as long as he could.
So instead he destroyed the evidence- all of it.
But not before getting a good look at the map. He still had plenty of time before nightfall, and there was something he wanted to confirm.
He didn't stop there either. Everything that could connect this place to him, he found, gathering in a pile outside. Pictures, old memos, everything- he took it and he burned it, lighting it all up with his father's old lighter.
Once it was done, he took a step back, collapsing in the sand. Burying his face in his hands, he took in a deep, shaky breath. For the first time since he had caught his reflection, pupilless, inhuman golden eyes staring back at him, he felt overcome by a sense of despair, of loss- of knowledge that he could never again go back to what he once had.
For however much it had been worth.
He wanted to cry, but he couldn't even do that.
So instead he forced himself to his feet, making his way back into the shack. Fingers grazing the now empty corkboard, they stopped on the one thing he hadn't been able to throw out- the picture his father had taken with him, shortly before he had died.
His human face, with human eyes, stared back at him.
Biting his lip, hard enough to draw blood, he yanked the photograph off the corkboard, nearly balling it up in his fist- before he stopped, his shoulders slumping.
Instead, he folded it up, carefully tucking it away in one of his pouches. He couldn't go back to the past, but that didn't mean he had to throw it all away.
With that done, and the fire put out, Keith drew in and let out a shaky breath, waiting until he was certain he wouldn't betray himself to contact Pidge, and send her those coordinates.
After moving the borrowed hoverbike closer to the shack, he set out on foot. Made to handle hostile environments, he muttered underneath his breath, hearing the echo of the witch's words in his own.
He didn't expect to run into anyone else this far out in the desert, so he left the tinted helmet behind. If any human did happen to see him, he was pretty confident he could knock them out before they had a chance to do anything.
If there was anyone this far out in the desert, then they were probably with the Garrison. The last thing they needed was for someone to go back and warn them.
His instincts proved right.
He caught the scent on the wind as he drew near, feeling his body tense in response. Humans- and no small number of them. Using the rocky terrain to his advantage, he pressed himself close against a boulder, peering down towards the mouth of the cave the map's coordinates lead him to.
He recognized those vehicles right away. Maybe he hadn't been with the Garrison that long, but he had a good memory. Even if he didn't, he'd clung to his memories of Earth so hard during his captivity, that even small details started to stick out after awhile.
The Galaxy Garrison was here.
Narrowing his eyes, he drew as close as he dared. The last thing he needed was for them to catch him. At best, they would identify him as a hostile alien. At worst...
...at worst, someone would remember him. Recognize him.
He'd already been a test subject once, he didn't care to repeat the experience with the other half of his heritage.
There were two guards posted at the entrance to the caves, and for a moment, he debated taking them out. He quickly dismissed it- if he did that, it would serve as a huge red flag that someone other than them was interested in the blue lion.
The element of surprise had worked before, the last time he stole a lion, so he figured it would work out here too. Especially since all he would be doing was taking it from the Galaxy Garrison, which was basically a piece of cake after snatching one from under Zarkon's nose.
Granted, he could pilot that one, but still...
Blowing out a breath, Keith pushed aside the thought. He wasn't doing it alone this time. He would have thought that after spending so much time working together with Pidge, he'd grasp that a little easier, but the idea of people having his back was still alien to him.
Ear twitching, he turned his head, catching a faint sound. Voices, two of them- and close. They must of been upwind, considering the fact that he couldn't smell them. Checking it with a finger, he scanned the area, trying to determine where the voices were coming from. They were close, but not close enough for him to make out what they were saying.
Gaze lingering on the entrance to the cave for a moment longer, he silently crept away, sticking low. They didn't seem like scouts, and their voices, when he began to make them out a bit clearer, sounded young. Maybe a year or two younger than him?
(God, how was he eighteen? He felt like he'd been held captive a lot longer. His sense of time must have been more fucked than he thought.)
Cadets? It wasn't impossible, but what would a pair of cadets be doing out here?
Sure enough, when they fell into his line of vision, there they were, clad in Garrison orange. Crouching behind a boulder, Keith frowned, able to listen in on what they were saying just fine from this range. He might have been altered against his will, but he couldn't claim that some things didn't come in handy.
"-I'm telling you Lance, this is a bad idea," the bigger one said, and even if he couldn't tell it from his scent, he sounded nervous, "-what if we get caught?"
"Oh come on," the thinner one- Lance, if what the other cadet had said was correct- whined, "-aren't you the least bit curious about what's going on here? I mean, we're the ones who found that thing, right?"
That thing? Narrowing his eyes, Keith studied the cadets more closely. They couldn't be talking about the blue lion, could they?
"I mean, yeah, but-" the other cadet began, "-they were pretty specific about the whole forgetting about it part. I, for one, think we should be doing just that."
"What, forget about something as cool as that?" Lance hissed. "I'm telling you Hunk, that thing called out to me."
Now that caught his attention.
"Are you sure that wasn't just a weird dream?" The bigger cadet- Hunk- asked. "I mean, it was Meatloaf Monday, and you did eat the meatloaf, so maybe it was just, you know... indigestion?"
"Indigestion doesn't cause weird dreams, Hunk." Lance told him. "...but yeah, that was a mistake."
Fighting the urge to let out a snort, Keith knew he couldn't leave this alone. If what this Lance said was true, then there was a very good chance he could be the blue paladin.
At least, if the whole paladin thing worked the way he thought it worked.
(And also a goddamn idiot, if he ate the Garrison's meatloaf.)
He needed to talk to them, that much was clear- but he couldn't do it here. They couldn't have gotten here on foot, not from the Garrison, so they must have taken a hoverbike. It would have made too much noise, so they had probably parked it somewhere further away from here so as to not attract attention.
The scent of oil and metal leapt out at him. Gaze flickering back towards the cadets, he watched them for a moment longer, before he crept away, making for their hoverbike. They'd done a lousy job of hiding it, probably having not thought through their little espionage activities in the least.
Running a hand over it, he frowned, trying not to let it bring back memories. It had been on a hoverbike like this that he had flown with Shiro- back before he'd even joined the Garrison.
Back when he was just a runty shrimp of a kid that Shiro had taken pity on.
(He would never claim it was pity. Keith knew better. It was always pity.)
Talking to the cadets was a risk, but a necessary one. Even if the lanky one wasn't the blue paladin, from the sound of it, they had information that they could use.
He wasn't worried about them getting away- he could overpower the both of them before they got so much as a chance to scream. He'd... rather it not come to that, but he was hardly oblivious of his own appearance, so he'd do it if he had to.
Not everyone was Pidge, so determined to find answers about her family that she was willing to come back to talk to an alien that had held her at knife point. He worried about her common sense sometimes.
(Not that he was one to talk.)
What he was most worried about was them recognizing him. But it had been four years since then- someone had to have shattered his records by now, right? He doubted these guys were even around when he had been a cadet there.
Maybe he should make up a more Galra name? Nah, that'd be blown the minute Pidge walked through the door.
Just as he was thinking about that, his ear twitched, picking up the sound of approaching footsteps. For a moment, he considered hiding- but there was nowhere to hide, so he scrapped that plan.
At least they were only able to see the back of his head.
"Uh, Lance, I don't want to alarm you, but I think there's someone by our bike." Hunk whispered- and Keith had to let out a snort. Astute observation.
"Yeah Hunk, I can see that, I have eyes." Lance hissed. "What the- do you see what's going on with his ears, or is that just me? That's not just me, right?"
"No, no, it's not just you- those are... those are definitely some weird ears." Hunk whispered. "Do you- you don't think he can hear us, can he?"
"I can hear you." Keith spoke up. "I just want to talk."
He could almost hear the two cadets exchange glances, and most definitely could feel their suspicious gazes on his back. There wasn't any venom to it, not like he usually felt, but they were similar enough to what he usually got that he could pick up on it.
"How do we know you're not with the Garrison?" Lance asked.
This time he did let out a snort, turning around. "Do I look like I'm with the Garrison?"
Alright, so he'd be lying if he said he didn't get some form of amusement at the way the cadets' jaws dropped. Maybe his sense of humor had gotten just a little bit warped over the years- maybe.
"I- uh, you look, uh-" Hunk stammered, clearly caught in between wanting to ask what the hell was going on, and being polite.
His companion, however, was not so subtle. "Holy shit Hunk, I think that's an alien." He not-whispered, before fixing his full gaze on him. "Are you an alien?"
Folding his arms in front of his chest, Keith tilted his head. Not in the technical definition, maybe, but he sure as heck wasn't human. "Sure am. Heard you saying something about finding a blue lion."
The two cadets flinched, exchanging glances between them. Finally, the bigger one swallowed, hesitantly speaking. "Do you like... come in peace?"
"Promise." Keith told them. "Which is more than I can say for the other guys who might be interested in that blue lion of yours."
"Other guys?" Hunk asked, exchanging another, even more nervous glance with Lance. "What other guys?"
"Look, I'll make you two a deal," Keith began, "-you come with me, and tell me everything you know about the blue lion, and I'll tell you everything I know."
The two cadets exchanged hushed whispers between them then, and Keith didn't know how to tell them that he could still hear everything they were saying. Trying not to look too much like he was eavesdropping on their hushed conversation, Keith glanced in the other direction.
Before realizing that they had no way of knowing that. Heaving a sigh, he physically turned his head, muttering underneath his breath about his stupid eyes.
It had taken him months of watching them in the mirror to establish where he was looking, and he was the one doing the looking. The fact that he had seen Galra with pupils chafed at him, knowing that it was possible, and yet he'd been stuck with these soulless pieces of shit.
His father had once let it slip that he had his mother's eyes. Which meant she had pupils, and yet, here the fuck he was, without them.
One of these days, he was going to get payback on Zarkon's witch.
But that was neither here nor now- because from the look of it, the cadets had reached some kind of decision.
"Okay." Lance said, stepping forwards. "We'll come with you."
"Just- one quick question, where exactly is it that we'll be going?" Hunk asked. "Is it space? Because we kind of have a curfew, so... yeah."
"Don't worry." Keith promised them. "It's not space."
It wasn't space.
It was a fucking shack, out in the middle of the desert.
Honestly, this week had been one hell of a fucking week for him. Starting off with the disaster that was Meatloaf Monday and ending with a fucking alien.
A real live, goddamn alien.
(Oh god, had the alien heard them talking about Meatloaf Monday? Did the alien even know what meatloaf was? Or a Monday?)
And in between that? Oh, how about a giant robotic blue lion for starters? How about that, huh? One that had gotten taken away from him, by the way, one that Iverson wouldn't even keep him in the loop about.
He'd been the one to find it! You'd think that would like, entitle him to updates or something, not being threatened with expulsion from the Garrison if he so much as breathed a word about it!
And now, here he was, out in the middle of the desert, in a shack, with an alien. Oh, and Hunk. Hunk was there too. God bless Hunk.
Could life get any weirder than this? Maybe, which was why he was kind of afraid to ask.
The alien seemed to go ahead and make itself- himself? it sounded like a dude, at least, but who the fuck knew how it worked with aliens- right at home, collapsing on a rickety couch that he didn't think could hold the weight of more than one person.
Which made exactly one of them at ease. For all that the alien was shorter than him- only by a few inches, barely enough to gloat, but still- he was pretty sure that overpowering him was out of the question.
"So uh," Hunk broke the silence, shifting nervously on his feet, "-I'm Hunk and this is Lance."
Great, Hunk. Just tell the alien our names, why don't you.
"Keith." The alien supplied.
Wait. What.
"Keith." Lance repeated. "Your name is Keith."
Ugh, he felt like he knew that name from somewhere too. He didn't know why, but there was something about the sound of it that ticked him off. Did he even know anyone named Keith?
Tilting his head back, the alien eyed him- or at least, he thought he did, who even fucking knew with those creepy ass eyes of his. "Got a problem with it?"
"No, no problem!" Hunk quickly said, elbowing him in the side. "Right, Lance?"
Shooting his friend a look, Lance rubbed his side. "Yeah, no problem. Now how do you know about the blue lion?"
Okay, so he didn't know it was even called the blue lion until the alien- Keith, what kind of alien was named Keith- mentioned it. But he was not going to let him know that.
"Because I pilot the red lion." Keith told him, as if that explained everything.
"Wait, are you saying that there's like... more of those things?" Hunk asked.
"Four more, to be exact." Keith told them, holding up four fingers. Or maybe he was just trying to remind them that he had claws, as if he could somehow forget the claws.
Okay, so maybe following an alien back to his hideout was not his best idea ever, but hey- there was something weird going on here, and he wanted answers, damnit.
Because listen- he couldn't explain it, but he was damn sure that thing had been calling to him. And if that didn't sound like some kind of incredible, totally awesome, super cool destiny, then what the hell did?
"So uh, I can't help but notice you said something about someone else being interested in the lion." Hunk spoke up, cutting to chase. "And from the way you put it, they don't really sound friendly."
"They're not." Keith told them, his eyes narrowing. "Trust me, they're the last people you want to see get their hands on the lion. It puts the whole planet in danger just by being here."
Yeah, that- that sounded really bad. Still-
"How do we know we can trust you?" Lance asked. "Maybe you're lying."
"You're just going to have to." Keith said, as if that somehow settled that. "You said you felt the lion?"
Frowning, Lance narrowed his eyes, wondering just how much he should tell this guy. Once he got a better look at him, he seemed almost eerily human- if it weren't for the eyes and the ears, not to mention the claws, he might have even mistaken him for one. He was even dressed like a human- a fashion impaired one, maybe, but a human nonetheless.
"Why should I tell you?" Lance asked.
"Pretty sure those were our terms of agreement." Keith pointed out. "I tell you what I know, and you tell me what you know."
"He's got a point." Hunk supplied, oh so helpfully.
Grumbling, Lance glowered at the alien, who just looked downright indifferent to it. At least, he thought so- ugh, the more he looked at those eyes, the more they gave him the creeps. "Fine."
"Yes, I felt the lion." Lance told him, before hesitating. "I mean... I guess? It was... I had a dream, that it was calling me."
"Let me guess- you stole a bike from the Garrison and forgot to disable the tracker?" Keith asked. "You did disable the one on this one, I hope."
"Uh, yeah, we're not stupid." Lance said, rolling his eyes, wondering if an alien without pupils would even understand what the gesture meant.
"I mean... we did kind of forget about it the first time." Hunk pointed out. "That is kind of how we got into this mess in the first place."
"I know, Hunk." Lance told him, shooting him a look. But did the alien seriously have to know that? And how the hell did he even know the Garrison put trackers in all their bikes anyways?
"Great, because I'd rather the Garrison not find out I'm here." Keith told them.
It wasn't hard to guess why. Given how the Garrison had reacted to just finding an alien spacecraft- or what was presumably an alien spacecraft, he couldn't imagine how excited they would be to find an actual alien.
"Well they're not about to hear it from me." Lance said. "The blue lion called out to me, and they just took it like it was theirs."
"Yeah, do you know what's up with that?" Hunk asked. "I mean, if you pilot another one of these things, you would like... know, right?"
"Kind of?" Keith frowned, his brows knitting together. "The princess would know more than me."
Now that caught his interest. "Princess? What princess?"
The edge of his lips quirking in a grin, Keith rose to his feet. "The princess whose father built the lions, apparently."
A princess. An alien princess, from the sound of it. Holy shit, maybe this wasn't such a bad week after all.
Was she cute? Oh man, he hoped she was cute.
"Princess?" Hunk asked, gaze flickering around the shack, as if there was anywhere to even hide in this place. "Is she... is she here?"
"No." Keith said frankly. "Right now it's just me. I'm the advance scout."
"So, that means this princess... she's coming, right? Like, here?" Lance ventured.
"Tonight." Keith replied. "She'll probably want to meet you."
An alien princess? Wanting to meet him? Okay, week officially forgiven.
"Why would she want to meet Lance?" Hunk asked, ever the cautious skeptic. He almost wanted to complain- when would he ever get the chance to meet an alien princess again?- but he knew that he was just looking out for him, so he kept his mouth shut.
Keith frowned, and for the span of a moment, he was damn near certain he was staring at him. "Because the blue lion called to him."
"You're not too good at this whole explaining thing, are you?" Lance asked.
"It's not my forte." Keith admitted, with a frankness that caught him off guard. "The lions are... they're important. More than you know. Like I said, the princess could explain it a lot better than I can."
"So what, you're backing out on your end of the deal?" Lance asked.
The alien glowered, and he couldn't help but flinch underneath it. "I didn't say that. I just said I wasn't good at this."
"But this princess is, right?" Hunk interjected, as if sensing a possible fight and wanting to do anything to stop it.
Keith gave him a curt nod of his head. Wordlessly, he crossed the shack, stooping over a table and yanking open a drawer, pulling out a pad of paper and a pencil. Jotting down a series of numbers, he tore it off the pad, passing it over towards Hunk. "These are the coordinates for this place. Come back tomorrow, and she'll tell you everything."
"Why can't she just tell us tonight?" Lance asked, frowning.
Keith merely blinked, expression blank. "...you have a curfew?"
Oh. Right. He'd forgotten about that. Good point.
"So will you come back?" Keith asked, tilting his head. "Because we might need your help."
Exchanging a glance with Hunk, Lance frowned, thinking it over for a moment. On one hand, alien princess- on the other hand, part of him still didn't trust this guy.
His curiosity won out, in the end. "You can count on us."
He didn't expect Keith to smile- but he did just that, and for a split second, it was almost enough to humanize him. It was gone just as quick, replaced by a stern expression. "Great. I can trust you to keep this quiet though, right? We don't want to attract any unwanted attention from the Garrison."
"My lips are sealed." Lance told him. "Right, Hunk?"
"Oh yeah, definitely." Hunk promised. "One hundred percent sealed."
The alien's frown lingered for a moment longer, before he shrugged his shoulder, seeming satisfied with that. "Good."
"So uh," Hunk piped up, "-what is it that you're planning to do, exactly? You know, just so we have some idea."
There was a glint in the alien's eyes, the edge of his lips pulling back in a smirk. "We're taking the blue lion back."