Can y'all believe that season seven comes out like, at the end of next week? And it's going to be like, thirteen episodes if what I've heard is right? I don't know if I'm going to be ready for it, but I am excited! I hope season 7 brings us lots of Romelle and Krolia, and that nobody dies, except for maybe Sendak. Sendak can die. He's allowed. Permission granted.
cosmic dust
chapter eighteen
blue lion
"Just remember to breathe."
"Lance."
"You can do this."
"Lance."
"This is your destiny."
"Lance!" Snapping his eyes open, he totally didn't let out a faint yelp, no sir, not him. "We haven't even breeched the Garrison's perimeter yet."
"Oh uh," Blinking, he cleared his throat, putting on a show of straightening his back, like Keith hadn't just spooked him, "-right, yeah. I know that. Just, you know. Image training."
"You've already connected with the blue lion. Why would you need to image train?" Keith asked, his tone nearly as dry as the desert air. Judging from the way he was leaning against the large rock they were using for cover, arms folded in front of him, he must have kept him waiting for awhile.
He was right, though- they hadn't breeched the Garrison's perimeter yet. Nope, right now they were hiding behind a giant rock, getting ready to breech the Garrison's perimeter. Pidge and Allura were in the green lion, monitoring the situation from there. They had gone over the plan like, three times back at the shack, so he wasn't about to forget it anytime soon.
Pidge would cut the alarms, Hunk would trip the mechanisms for the lockdown drill, while Matt and Keith snuck him into the Garrison proper, getting him to where the blue lion was being kept. From there, Pidge would hack into the systems that controlled the retractable roof- and apparently, the retractable floor, since the blue lion was being hidden under a false room or something, and then boom!
He'd take the blue lion- and Matt and Keith- and fly right out of there. Follow the green lion to the rendezvous point, and they'd be home free. Easy peasy.
Still didn't make him any less nervous.
"Hey, cut me some slack here." Lance said, glowering at him. "I'm about to break into the Galaxy Garrison, and steal an alien spaceship. I'm nervous!"
Keith merely rolled his eyes at that. "It's just the Galaxy Garrison. It's not like it's hard."
"Oh yeah?" Lance asked, stepping inside his personal space, glowering at him. "What have you stolen lately, huh?"
Arching a brow, Keith smirked. Actually, honest to god, smirked. Seriously, who did this guy think he was? "Where do you want me to start?"
"Where do you- what does that even mean?" Lance asked.
"Keith's a space pirate." Matt supplied- and Lance jerked his head around, wondering if he was hearing him right. "Remember how Pidge mentioned they were basically on Zarkon's most wanted list? That's why."
"Wha- you're a space pirate!?" Lance blurted out, turning his head back towards Keith so fast, he nearly gave himself whiplash. "Space pirates are real!?"
What the hell!? That was so cool!
But this guy? Cool? With that jacket, and those gloves? Not to mention his hair- un-uh, nope, no way, no how! Couldn't be right.
Keith just shrugged. "I've been known to steal a few things from the Galra Empire."
"Keith, you stole the red lion from Zarkon." Matt pointed out. "Pidge showed me how much GAC the two of you have stockpiled. You could buy an entire planet for that kind of money."
"Okay, first of all," Lance cut in, "-you can buy a planet?"
"If you know the right people." Keith said. "And I wouldn't say a planet. More like a small moon."
"Right, I don't even want to know if you know the right people or not." Lance began- and hell, he probably did, since apparently, he was a space pirate. "Also, what's GAC?"
"Galra Authorized Currency." Keith told him, like that somehow explained everything. "Besides, it's not like I do it alone. Pidge helps. She's the brains of the operation."
"Wha- Pidge's a space pirate too?" Lance blurted out, turning on his heel to look back at Matt. "Your sister's a space pirate? But she's so tiny!"
"You know," Pidge's voice cut in, "-I can hear you."
And this time he would admit to yelping.
"Hey Pidge," Matt grinned, tapping the device wedged into his ear. Before they had left, she had given them each one, including one for Hunk. "-good to hear you. Guess you got our coms up and running?"
"Just in time, too." Pidge remarked. "What's this about me being tiny, Lance?"
"Nothing." Lance quickly said. "Nothing at all. You're a perfectly good height for your age."
"Smooth." Keith observed- and proceeded to totally ignore the glare that Lance shot in his direction. Seriously, what was this guy's deal?
"Yep, I'm with Keith on this one." Pidge said. "Smooth."
Letting out a loud grumble, Lance just hung his head. "Okay, fine. We've got the com line working, I'm in position with Matt and Keith, and I'm pretty sure Hunk is back at the Garrison-"
"Ten four, good buddy." Hunk's voice chimed in.
"-right, Hunk's back, so can we maybe just get this started already?" Lance finished.
"Not unless you want to trip alarms left and right, we can't." Pidge told him. "And there we go. Alarm system disabled. All their cameras feeds are now on a loop."
"Great, thanks sis." Matt grinned. "Hunk? How you coming on that lockdown mechanism?"
"Going to take just a bit longer." Hunk's voice crackled over the coms, sounding a bit apologetic. "So just sit tight. It should- okay, right, there we go. Lockdown drill initiated. Or well, it will be, in like five minutes or so. Yeah. Don't go until then, maybe."
He could faintly hear the sounds of the drill from here. It was bound to alert the Garrison, but odds were, they'd probably pass it off as a glitch or a prank of some kind.
"We got you buddy." Lance told him. "Thanks, Hunk."
They had already said their farewells- Hunk had embraced him for a long time, and cried for nearly just as long. It had been in front of Allura, which had been kind of embarrassing, but hey- Hunk was his friend, and if he needed to bawl his eyes out in front of a space princess to make himself feel better, who was he to stop him?
"Anytime, buddy." Hunk told him. "You need me for anything else, you know what channel I'm on."
"Will do." Lance promised. "See you on the flip side."
"Come on," Keith's tone was curt, "-we should get ready."
Nodding his head, Lance took in and let out a deep breath. He'd borrowed one of those gauze medical masks from the infirmary before they'd left- it wasn't much of a disguise, but he was kind of doing this on short notice. It wasn't like he just had a cool mask like Matt's, just lying around- and besides, Keith's bandanna basically served the same function, so as far as he was concerned, he was doing great.
Why Keith needed to hide his face, he had no fucking clue.
If anything, it just emphasized those glowing eyes of his. Which yeah- they were totally glowing. Super freaky.
At least it gave him, like, crazy night vision or something. Because the dude could move in the dark.
"Alright," Matt spoke, his voice sounding distorted through his mask, "-we're heading in."
And holy heck, these two were fast. Letting out a faint yelp, Lance scrambled to keep up with the pair of them, keeping one hand on his hood to make sure it didn't just fly down. They had found a weak point in the Garrison's perimeter wall that they would use to bust in, and from there, they would take the shortest possible route to where the blue lion was.
"Okay," Pidge's voice crackled over the coms, "-I have visuals on you. Looking good, Matt."
"What, just Matt?" Keith cracked.
"Shush, I've seen you in action like, a million times before." Pidge told him. "This is the first time I've gotten to see Matt do his thing. I'm supporting him, like a good sister."
"Aw, Pidge, that's so sweet of you." Matt said, like this wasn't some kind of super serious operation where they could all get shot.
Guess fighting a space empire gave you a different sense of what was dangerous.
Letting out a snort, Keith just shook his head. "Yeah? What's the catch?"
"...I ate his share of cake." Pidge admitted.
"...wow Pidge. That's cold." Matt said. "I take it back, you are a horrible sister. Still love you, though."
"Uh, guys?" Hunk's voice piped up, "-no offense, but can we maybe like, focus? Your small talk is making me nervous, and the only thing I'm doing is hiding in the broom closest."
"Wha- why are you hiding in the broom closest?" Lance asked.
"Small. Dark. Cozy." Hunk told him. "You know. Brooms."
"You couldn't make it back to the room in time before the lockdown drill started, could you?" Lance asked.
"Nope." Hunk told him. "So uh, yeah, if you need me, I'm here. In the broom closest. Just saying."
"Now who's making small talk?" Keith quipped.
Letting out a snort, Matt crouched in front of a door. "Okay Pidge, we're at the entry point. Get us in."
"One second." Pidge said- and a moment later, the door lock flashed green. "Okay, you're in. You have a clean shot from here to where the blue lion is held."
"Got it." With a curt nod of his head, Keith cracked open the door. One hand hovering on the hilt of his knife, he peered in, confirming the hallway was empty, before he opened the door, letting both him and Matt slip in before him, before he followed, shutting the door behind them.
"Alright Pidge, we're in." Matt told her.
"Uploading area map to your mask now." Pidge told him.
"Got it." Matt said. "Keith, bring up the rear. I'll guide us through."
Huh. Made him feel like he had bodyguards. Now that he could get used to.
Making their way down the corridor, they kept their steps quiet. This section of the building wasn't used much, and it was currently after hours. Pretty much all non-essential personnel would have gone home for the evening, which was why they had picked now to make their move.
It involved breaking curfew, but eh- not like he would be here for much longer.
Holding up a hand, Matt stopped them short. Watching as his hand darted into his cape, he pulled something out- and not a second later, a pair of guards came around the corner. Patrol.
Matt took the pair of them out quick, extending a staff that he didn't even know he had. Watching as Keith dragged the unconscious bodies into the next room, shutting them in there, in the back of his mind, Lance couldn't help but wonder just one thing.
"Seriously?" He hissed, keeping his voice low. "First a knife, and now a staff? I thought you guys came from space! Where's all the cool laser guns?"
"Uh, I'll have you know my staff is very cool." Matt protested. "Besides, we can't just go around shooting people."
He didn't even know how Matt knew that Keith had even opened his mouth, what with the bandanna, but he must have, because he cut him off.
"Or stabbing them."
Out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn that Keith was sulking. Guess half of him was from some kind of evil alien race bent on universal domination after all, if the thought of not being able to stab people upset him that much.
Which, by the way, still a weird choice for a paladin.
Not that he'd say it to his face. Keith scared him.
...not that he'd say that to his face either. Too much pride.
"...okay, fair point." Lance admitted.
Because it was, damn it. But listen- when he got up to space, there had better be some laser guns, or he was just going to be very disappointed.
Still, this place was like a maze. It was a good thing they had those schematics Pidge had downloaded, or they would have gotten lost for sure by now. The good news was that they didn't run into any other patrols- the bad news was that it made the whole thing kind of boring.
Where was the excitement? The thrills? This was a heist, damnit, shouldn't there be like, heart-pounding action or something? There should at least be a-
...wait.
"...did you guys hear that?"
"Hear what?" Matt asked, glancing behind him. "I didn't hear anything. Keith?"
Shaking his head, Keith peered down at him. Great, now he was going to make fun of him for hearing things.
"What did you hear?"
...or not. Huh. Maybe he'd had the guy pegged wrong.
"I- I don't know." Lance told him, before frowning, his brows knitting together. "It's- it's like some kind of rumble, in the back of my head. I think... I think it's purring?"
"Good," Keith said, "-means we're on the right track."
"Uh, it does?" Lance frowned. "Okay then. Guess you're the expert."
"That's Allura." Keith noted.
"Yeah, where is Allura anyways?" Lance asked. "I haven't heard her on the coms like, at all."
"I am here." Allura's voice chimed in, causing him to start- but thankfully, he avoided yelping. "I am on the same line as Pidge. At any rate, Keith is right- the blue lion is likely calling you."
"Calling me, huh?" Lance asked- and now it was his turn to smirk- take that, mister space pirate. "Sounds pretty good to me."
He was damn sure Keith just rolled his eyes. How did he even do that without pupils?
"Allura's right." Pidge came back on the line. "From the look of the schematics I pulled, you're close. The bad news is, there's guards standing watch in front of the door, and it's a straight shot down the hall to them. There's no way they won't see you coming. If they call for backup, you could have trouble on your hands."
"So we'll just have to be fast." Keith cut in. "I can do that."
"Keith-" Matt began.
"No stabbing. I know." Keith said. "I have fists, Matt."
And for all that he said that, he proceeded to promptly not use said fists. Instead, he kneed the first guard in the gut, and then took out the second with a literal boot to the face.
Though man- he wasn't kidding about the fast part.
"Neutralized the guards." Keith reported.
"Are they still alive?" Pidge asked.
"Yes." Keith said, a bit too quick.
Definitely a bit too quick, because he then proceeded to kneel down in front of them, and check their vitals. Glancing back towards Matt, he gave him a silent thumbs up.
Matt returned it.
How were these guys the defenders of the universe again?
"Wait, wait," Hunk interjected, "-was Keith killing the guards like, an option?"
"No." Keith replied.
Even as Pidge responded, "-yes."
"Doesn't look like I can give you guys access from my end." Pidge added, getting back to the topic at hand. "Matt, you'll have to get into the system yourself."
"No problem." Matt said, pulling down his mask, leaving it to hang around his neck. "I've got this. Just give me one second and... we're in."
Getting to his feet, Matt put his mask back on just in time for the doors to slide open. It looked like whatever research team they had working on the blue lion, it had gone home for the night.
And there it was.
Racing into the room without a second thought, Lance's mouth hung open. It was somehow even more impressive seeing it for the second time, now that he knew what it was. That weird force field thing that had surrounded it when he'd first found it was back, and from the look of things, the Garrison wasn't having much luck in getting through.
He could, though.
"Hey there Blue," Lance grinned, "-you miss me, buddy?"
In response, the force field around the blue lion dissipated, and he had to fight the urge to bounce on his heels. Oh man, that was so cool. It had been cool the first time, but now that he knew this was like, a destiny thing, it was even cooler.
When the blue lion lowered itself, revealing a ramp- oh man. This time he did let himself bounce- but just like, a little. He didn't want to look lame.
"Well boys," turning back towards Matt and Keith with a grin, "-looks like our ride is here."
"Let me guess," Keith deadpanned, yanking off his bandanna, "-you've been waiting to say that line all night."
"Uh, all day, actually." Lance corrected.
"Uh, guys?" Pidge butted in- and oh no. That was a bad news voice if he'd ever heard one. "Bad news." Yep, he knew it. "Somebody found the guards you knocked out earlier."
And cue the alarms.
"And I think that's our cue to leave." Matt said.
It felt like they barely had a chance to get into the blue lion, before pursuit caught up to them. Seriously, how did those guys even get here so fast? He knew he had been complaining just before about a lack of thrills, but he hadn't been serious!
"Any time you want to take off." Keith noted.
"I can't take off, there's still a roof in the way!" Lance interjected. "Pidge?"
"...I've got some more bad news."
Oh no.
"I can't get into the system that retracts the roof." Pidge told him. "It looks like it's all internal. I'm locked out."
"Wait, so you're saying if we want to get out of here, someone has to go to that room, and retract the roof manually?" Lance asked. "Because that sounds like what you're saying."
"I'm guessing that's a problem." Pidge noted.
"Uh, yeah, kinda?" Lance said, peering out of the cockpit. "Because we're kind of like, surrounded by angry Garrison guards. With guns."
"I could-"
He didn't expect Hunk, of all people, to cut Keith off, but guess that was what was happening today. "Is there something I can do to help?"
"I- yeah." Pidge said, only the slightest note of hesitation to her voice. "If you can get to the control room, you can retract the roof there. I can get you there without having you run into any guards, there's a direct route to it through the ventilation system, but there's no way you'll be able to take it back."
"Hunk," Lance began, sensing what his friend was thinking, "-buddy. You don't have to do this."
"Nope, I'm doing this." Hunk said. "Pidge, send me that path. Lance, buddy, hang on just a little longer, I'm coming."
"You won't be able to go back to the Garrison." Keith spoke up. "I can get to the control room just as easy."
"Uh, Lance mentioned something about guns, so no, no you can't." Hunk pointed out. "Pidge, how long will it take me to get there?"
"Maybe three minutes, calculating for the drop time." Pidge supplied.
"Wait, what do you mean, drop time?"
Hunk's question was answered by the sound of a loud scream coming from his end of the com- followed by a loud thunk, followed by a groan.
And one very faint ow.
"Are you alright, Hunk?" Allura spoke up.
"Yep, yep, I'm fine." Hunk told her. "Okay Pidge. I'm in. Where's this control panel?"
"Uh, according to the schematics, it should be in the center of the room." Pidge supplied.
"Right, yep, I see it." Hunk said. "Hang tight Lance."
"Hanging tight, buddy." Lance said.
"Oh man," Matt whispered, peering out the cockpit, "-there's Iverson. And he does not look happy."
That was an understatement. Because yes, that was Iverson, and yes, he had a loudspeaker, demanding that they step out of the lion, and give themselves up. Which uh, no thanks. Not with all the armed guards. With guns. Pointed at them.
Yep, he'd just stay in here, thank you very much.
"You know those won't be able to pierce the blue lion's armor, right?" Keith asked, as if picking up on his nerves. What, could he smell them or something?
"Knowing that and being able to take comfort in it are like, two different things, okay?" Lance said. "We can't all have nerves of steel."
"-and there we go."
Hunk's voice was like an angel's song piercing through the heavens, as the roof above them began to retract. Shoulders slumping, he took, like half a second to relax, before he gripped the controls tight- and promptly realized he had no idea how to fly this thing.
Thankfully, the blue lion picked up the slack.
He didn't know how, but it was like... it was like it was feeding images into his brain. Letting out a long breath, he did as he was shown, launching the blue lion, readying to meet Pidge and Allura at the rendezvous point.
But first things first.
Hunk wasn't hard to find- the control room that retracted the roof was like, right on his way out. Opening up the lion's jaws, he brought it as close to the building as he could, allowing Hunk to scramble out a window and into the lion.
By the time he got into the cockpit, he looked like he was about ready to collapse.
"Just for the record," Hunk said, "-I'm never doing that again."
It didn't even take them an hour to reach the rendezvous point. Considering that it was in an entirely different state, that was saying something.
He also hadn't expected it to be a lake house.
He was dealing with aliens here, okay? He'd thought they'd have like some kind of super secret base, but no- what they had was a shack out in the desert, and a lake house. A very charming lake house, but still.
A lake house.
One owned by Pidge and Matt's mother. Who, as it turned out, was a very nice lady, so he had to wonder just how it was her daughter had turned out to be such a little spitfire.
Not that they'd be here for much longer. They had only stopped here to regroup, and to give Pidge and Matt a chance to say their goodbyes. He tried not to feel too bitter about it, how they got to say goodbye to their mother, when he couldn't do the same, but he fought it back.
It sounded like their father was still being held by the Galra Empire so like, how jealous could he possibly be? At least he knew where all of his family was.
Besides, Mrs. Holt had promised to send the letters that he and Hunk had written, Hunk scrambling to write his at the last minute. He wasn't sure if his mother would believe anything that was in his letter, but hey- it was better than him just dropping off the face of the Earth, right?
Speaking of Hunk.
He'd made a hell of a choice, in the spur of the moment, no less. For someone who wasn't usually known for taking risks, it caught him by surprise.
Maybe it shouldn't have. Hunk had always come through for him in the clutch in the past, so why would this time be any different?
"So," Lance began, "-you're really going through with this, huh?
"I mean, I guess?" Hunk frowned, looking back at him. "It's not like I can go back to the Garrison. I mean, I guess I could go home, but I'm pretty sure they'd like, follow me there, and somehow I don't think I'm exactly cut out for living life on the run."
Letting out a faint snort, Lance couldn't help but agree.
"Trust me, I'll be glad to have you along, Hunk." Lance told him. "I think Pidge and Matt have started to go a little local. I mean- what the heck even is a varga?"
"Oh man, that reminds me, we're going to have to like, learn space lingo, aren't we?" Hunk asked. "Oh man. What if they don't speak English? I mean, Allura and Keith speak English, but what if the rest-"
"Oh come on, Hunk, they're like aliens." Lance told him. "They probably have some kind of cool universal translator or something."
"Hm, good point." Hunk frowned- pausing for a moment to mutter under his breath, doubtlessly something to do with the specs of a prospective translator. Frankly, Lance didn't understand like, any of it, so he just sort of tuned it out. "So, guess you're a paladin now, huh?"
"Yeah," looking up at the blue lion, Lance didn't fight the urge to beam, "-guess I am."
"Pretty cool." Hunk told him, elbowing him lightly, beaming with pride for the sake of his friend- even if there was still no small amount of worry in the corner of his eyes. "You think maybe they'll need like, a cook? Or a spare engineer?"
Patting Hunk on the shoulder, Lance grinned at him. "Trust me, I'm sure we can find you something to do."
"Good, because I'd hate to just be a freeloader." Hunk said. "As long as I don't have to like, storm a bunch of imperial bases or something, I'm good. I mean- probably? Probably. It's space man, I don't know what to expect!"
Yeah, neither did he.
"Nervous?" Lance asked, and god, did that sound like a stupid question now that he'd actually said it out loud. Of course Hunk was nervous! Who wouldn't be?
"Yup." Hunk admitted, right away. "Very. What about you?"
To anyone else, he would just lie, brush off the nerves he was feeling. But this was Hunk, and Hunk was his best friend, and he had been dragged into this because of him, so hey- the least he could do was be honest with him. "Nervous enough to barf."
"Yep, I know how that feels." Hunk said, nodding his head. "...I guess I should uh, apologize to the blue lion for that, huh?"
"It's okay, Blue understands." Lance assured him. "Don't you, Blue?"
...huh. Maybe it was for the best that he was the only one who could understand her. He'd just... not mention that response to Hunk.
Didn't help that clean up duty had been assigned to him. You're his friend, you do it, Keith had told him, before shoving a roll of paper towels into his hands.
And okay- maybe his piloting hadn't been the best. But listen- he'd never flown a giant mechanical cat before! Or like, anything that wasn't a simulator for that matter. There was a learning curve here!
And he'd got here in one piece, right? So there- definitely not the worst pilot ever, Keith could just suck it. Besides, he hadn't even seen him pilot anything yet- who knew, maybe the guy actually sucked?
Yeah, he bet that was it. He was all talk, had to be. After all, what were the odds there could be two prodigy pilots named Keith?
"Shouldn't we be finishing getting ready?"
He had been in the kitchen, helping Allura pack up supplies, when Pidge had all but cornered him. She allowed for no arguments- just grabbed him by the wrist and told him to come with her. He could have sworn there had been a conspiratorial glint in Allura's eyes, but maybe he had just been imagining things.
"We'll have plenty of time for that once we get done with this." Pidge assured him.
Frowning, Keith let her drag him along. He could break free if he really wanted to, but whatever Pidge wanted to show him, he assumed it had to be important.
When she just lead him into the yard, where the blue and green lions had landed, he just grew perplexed. "...you wanted to show me the green lion?"
"No dummy," Pidge told him, rolling her eyes, "-I want to show you what's in the green lion."
Tilting his head, Keith's frown deepened. Pidge didn't relinquish her grip on his wrist, so he just let her drag him inside the lion, and down to its cargo hold. The green lion had about as much space inside of it as the red lion did- the blue lion, on the other hand, was just a bit larger than the both of them.
Two arms and a leg.
Any thoughts of Voltron were put aside, however, when he saw just what it was that Pidge had brought him here for. "Is that-?"
His father's hoverbike.
"Yup." Pidge said, nodding her head. "What, did you really think we'd just leave it there? After all the effort you put into restoring it?"
"But I didn't-"
"I know you didn't." Pidge said, folding her arms. "Allura told me how excited you were when you got it working." And in spite of himself, he could feel his cheeks heating up at that. "There was no way I could leave it behind. Not when it's important to you."
"Besides," she said with a small shrug, "-it could come in handy."
Opening and closing his mouth, Keith honestly couldn't think of anything to say. He wanted to thank her, but at the same time, he wanted to insist that she didn't have to do this for him. So instead of saying anything, he brushed past her, running a hand over the frame of the bike.
He thought he'd have to leave it behind. Sure, he'd got it working again, but that was just because- because why, exactly? Some part of him that wanted to try and reconnect with his father? To maybe get a handle on just what it was he could have been thinking, when he decided to fall in love with a Galra?
When they chose to have a child together.
If they even chose- for all he knew, he could have been a big surprise.
"You know," Pidge piped up, "-generally when someone does something nice for someone, they tend to thank them."
There was no malice in those words, no sense of her not feeling appreciated. It was her way of telling him that she'd chosen to do this, so yes, it was very necessary.
He still remembered the first time Shiro bought him something just because he'd wanted it. It hadn't been anything important, or even expensive- hell, he could barely remember what it was now. It didn't matter, though- what mattered was that he didn't know how to react, so floored by the fact that he'd done it without a second thought, with no expectation of getting anything in return.
It was just a simple gesture of kindness, but that kind of thing had been absent from his life for so long. What kindness he got was rooted from pity, or a desire to look good- a kind of tainted, self serving kindness. At least the people who had been cruel had been honest.
But Shiro wasn't like that.
Neither was Pidge.
Nor her mother, or her brother.
There had been no kindness in Central Command.
Almost none. He still didn't know what that officer's objectives had been when he'd freed him, but he hadn't needed to give him back his mother's knife. That, he sensed, had been a kindness, whatever other objectives he might have had.
He'd gone without it for so long, that honestly, kindness terrified him. He didn't know how to respond to it, didn't feel like he deserved it.
But if he was the narrator of his own story, then he was an unreliable one. The idea that he deserved to be loved- he still couldn't believe it, but... if there were people out there who were willing to do so even when he had a hard time liking himself, then the least he could do was give them some credit.
Or well, try.
Emphasis on try.
Huge emphasis on try.
"Yeah," turning on his heel to look at her, Keith gave her a smile, "-thanks, Pidge."
For a moment, she looked dumbfounded- and briefly, he had to wonder just what kind of face he was making, fighting the urge to touch the corners of his mouth to find out. She quickly recovered, shaking it off. "Hey, that's what friends are for, right?"
"And don't just thank me," she added, "-Allura helped get it onboard. Honestly, that's part of why she was so quiet for most of the heist."
Now that took him by surprise. He was still under the impression that she didn't like him all that much, not that he'd blame her. "Allura did?"
"I mean, you took the key with you." Pidge told him. "And I didn't want to hot wire it and risk frying something- the last thing I wanted to do was undo all your hard work. So yeah, Allura helped."
"Huh," Keith blinked, "-guess I do owe her a thanks."
Maybe he'd been wrong about her too.
...maybe he'd been wrong about a lot of things.
Shaking it off, Keith pushed all such thoughts inside. He'd think about them later. Maybe. "We should finish getting ready. I don't think the Garrison has any ships that can actually catch up with the lions, but the less time we give them to prepare, the better."
"And then we can find the yellow lion!" Pidge grinned.
"And your father." Keith added.
And Shiro.