The desert sand was searingly hot under the afternoon sun, leaving Kovirak immensely grateful for the sturdy boots she was wearing, all that was left of the stolen armor she'd been wearing earlier. She could feel the heat even through the thick soles as she kept up a steady lope across the uneven ground. The lightweight tunic she'd been given, of an unfamiliar style, was likewise a blessing in weather hotter than anything she'd felt in many cycles.
Getting out of the Castle-ship and away from the cluster of damaged spacecraft had been the easy part, as she found a service hatch easily enough and blended in with the wide assortment of aliens already at work on repairing the larger vessels. Even the bandages on her face and shoulder hadn't made her stand out, with many of the repair crews sporting minor to moderate injuries themselves. She'd made her way from the shadow of one ship to the next, pausing twice to assist in shifting a particularly heavy piece of broken hull and once to pass up a case of tools. And eventually she'd reached the far side, away from the buildings and runways and hidden from the view of the Humans clustered along the distant fence line, and set off across the open ground without a single glance back.
Finding her way to her destination, on the other hand, had been somewhat harder. Sixteen years had altered landmarks and blurred her mental map of the area, despite how much time she'd spent systematically combing the area for useful resources after her landing. It took longer than she wanted to admit to find a rock formation she recognized well enough to use to orient herself, one of the same tall spires that had guided her back to her battered ship the night she left. Now she turned the opposite direction, letting it lead her to a place that had been home for five precious years.
Cresting a ridge, she let out a breathless laugh at the sight of a familiar house in the distance. She was almost there.
As Kovirak approached the small building, though, she began to feel the first stirrings of unease. There was no sign of Thomas's truck, and no tire tracks in the dust to show that it might have been there recently. The only vehicle was a hoverbike, and that stood half-buried in sand by the end of the house. Even the machine's hard-wearing paint was faded and peeling, abused by the sun's harsh rays.
The porch was likewise buried in sand, aside from a path to the door that might have been cleared a week or so ago judging by the thin layer of wind-blown powder over it. Thomas never would have let it pile up like this. Taking care not to slip, she approached the door cautiously, lifted one hand, and knocked.
There was no answer. Kovirak felt her ears lay back in anxiety. Something was wrong here.
After knocking again, harder, just to be sure, and receiving no response, she tried the handle and found it unlocked, only adding to the sense of wrongness. Pushing the door open, she ducked her head under the low door frame and stepped inside.
The cozy home she remembered was gone, some furniture missing and some replaced. A tattered couch. A battered table made of wood and cinder blocks piled with old computers. Peeling, cracked paint. And a wall littered with photos and notes connected with string. Gone were the comfortable double bed, the rocking chair, the crib, the paintings and the soft rug. There was nothing here she recognized. What had happened?
Fear filled her and she closed her eyes, scenting the hot air for any trace of her mate or cub. There was the scent of Humans, yes, two of them, several days old. Not Thomas, either of them. And not a trace of Keith. In mounting desperation Kovirak began pacing the room, testing everything that would hold a scent, searching for something, anything, that would reassure her that her family had been here. But the couch and curtains and the one towel she managed to find were devoid of any smell except two unfamiliar Humans and the heat and sand.
At last, tucked under the couch, she found a battered duffel bag filled with well-worn clothes, carrying a scent she'd begun to fear she wouldn't find at all. There could be only one being on this planet who smelled of both Human and Galra, even if it was far from the same scent they'd had as a cub. She clutched the shirt close, breathing her son's scent deeply to burn it into her memory.
The scent was old, though, and faded. Given that the clothes had been in a sealed bag, it had likely been a year or more since they were last worn, more than long enough for the scent to fade from the rest of the house. Why had it been so long? Why was this the only thing in the house that still carried her child's scent? Scrambling back to her feet, she resumed her frantic search.
Kovirak lost track of how long she spent combing through every inch of the small house before exhaustion caught up to her and forced her to her knees beside the duffel bag still sitting open on the floor by the couch. Slumping forward, she rested her forehead against the edge of the cushions and closed her eyes, a shuddering breath tearing from her lungs as she fought not to cry.
They were gone. Her cub, her precious Keith, had not set foot in this place for at least a year. Only the small stash of clothing still carried his scent. And of Thomas she could find no trace at all, no matter how hard she tried. Her family, the ones she had tried so hard to protect, were not here, and hadn't been for a very long time.
And she had no idea at all how to go about finding them now.
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Someone was poking his cheek.
Grumbling, he swatted the hand away and nuzzled into the warm pillow under his head. Someone giggled.
More poking. He made a small whining noise of displeasure. "Quiddit." More laughter as he tried to hide his face from the offending finger, which simply switched to his shoulder instead.
"Knock it off, Edmundo, 'm tryna sleep." The poking finger faltered at that for a moment, hushed voices speaking too low for his sleepy brain to process, before someone firmly shook his shoulder.
"Come on, buddy, time to wake up." A pause, the pillow under his head shaking a bit. "You're gonna be late for Schoenfeld's class, and we have a test today."
A test? Today? Shit! Lance bolted upright in a panic. "What?! But I haven't studied, like, at all! What is it even on?!"
Raucous laughter greeted him and he blinked a few times, looking around in confusion before his surroundings sunk in. Hunk was beside him on the couch, grinning from ear to ear as his shoulders shook with silent laughter, a drool stain on his thigh giving away why Lance's 'pillow' had been so warm and wiggly. On the floor next to the couch, Pidge was doubled over wheezing, red in the face as she tried to breathe. And everyone else was watching the byplay with obvious enjoyment and in several cases outright laughter.
Lance felt his cheeks go crimson and he hid his face in his good hand with a groan. "Hunk! That was mean!"
"Worked, didn't it?" His best friend's tone was entirely unrepentant. "That never, ever gets old, either." He grinned at Pidge, who gave him a thumbs up since she was still laughing too hard to speak.
He pouted. "So much adrenaline is not good for my heart, asere, you know how terrifying Schoenfeld's tests are!" He clutched dramatically at his chest, or tried to, but the sling got in the way. "I think I still have nightmares about the last one!"
Hunk snorted, but nodded. "Yeah, that one was pretty bad, I'll give you that. Didn't like three people cry?"
"Four. And one threw up."
"Alright, you guys, settle down." Shiro's voice was shaking with barely contained laughter. "As nice as it is to know that you guys suffered as much as Matt and I did," There was a snort from the younger male, who muttered something about final exams and running away into space, "now that Lance is awake it's debriefing time."
Lance felt all his laughter drain away in an instant, the smile wiped off his face. Sitting up properly, he gave a small nod to the black paladin and pretended not to notice the concerned look Hunk was giving him. He knew he couldn't avoid this conversation forever, but that didn't mean he wasn't dreading it with every fibre of his being.
Around him, the others were rearranging themselves as well, sitting closer where they could all see and hear each other. Pidge picked herself up and settled on the couch next to him and Lance realized that while he was asleep Iverson, Ryou, and Colleen had disappeared. Iverson had probably gone back to the Garrison to keep an eye on things, but he couldn't imagine Pidge's mom would have gone far from her kids now that she'd gotten them back. Maybe Allura had given them temporary rooms. It had been pretty early in this part of the country when they arrived, hadn't it?
Across from the couch he, Pidge, and Hunk were on, Matt was tucked on one side of Shiro, idly massaging his bad knee, while Keith sat on the other. The red paladin's arms were folded, tucked close to his chest, and Lance noticed that he kept making furtive glances at both Lance himself and Shiro, as though reassuring himself they were both still there. The black paladin he could understand, given how close the two were, but he was surprised Keith seemed to be worried about him as well. Then again, the distant teen finally seemed to be opening up to the idea of having close attachments to his teammates. And part of being family was worrying about each other.
Kurogane was on Keith's other side, with Alejandro on the arm of the couch beside him. The older red paladin's gaze was also flicking to Shiro periodically, and had been since they got back to the Castle. The pair had met them in the hangar when they got back, and a startled black paladin had found himself subjected to a vice-grip hug from the old timeline's Keith the minute he left Black. Not that Lance, or anyone else, could blame him for needing that reassurance any more than they could Keith. The low neck of the tunic the former paladin was wearing did nothing to conceal the handprint-shaped scar wrapped around his throat, and Lance hastily looked away from that uncomfortable reminder of how things could have turned out earlier.
Allura settled in next to Pidge, and Coran was already sitting on Hunk's other side with a data tablet in his lap. The Princess looked tired but collected, probably from operating the defenses, and whatever the advisor was feeling was masked by his usual aura of calm amiability.
"Alright, let's get started." Shiro's voice was calm and level, but Lance didn't miss the hints of strain around his eyes as he surveyed the room. Neither of them were looking forward to this, apparently. "First things first, Keith, Pidge, how did things go with Mars and Luna?"
The two exchanged a glance, and Keith sighed. "Mars station is mostly okay. A couple storage buildings got destroyed, and some machinery, but the main structure didn't get hit. No casualties, I checked in to make sure before I left."
Pidge grimaced. "Wish I could say the same. I think four or five substations got wiped out before we could even get there, and a few others had to be evacuated due to damage. I know one of the secondary domes at Luna Main got breached, too, but I didn't have time to check in there. Too busy." The look on her face betrayed her guilt at failing to protect the far-flung Lunar habitats, and Lance quickly put his arm around her shoulder comfortingly. Civilian casualties were an unfortunate fact of war, something that happened no matter how hard they tried to prevent it, but it was definitely worse when it was your own people. He knew, though, that she'd done everything she could.
Shiro obviously agreed, judging by his sympathetic expression. "You did well, both of you. You were put in a very difficult situation, with many vulnerable targets and a lot of enemies, and you saved a lot of lives. I'm proud of you both."
Although she didn't look entirely convinced, the green paladin nodded and ran a hand through her hair. "Those domes are gonna be a pain to set up defense systems for, there's so many of them." She paused, glancing over at Allura. "We are setting up defenses before we leave, right? We can't just leave Earth defenseless, and I don't trust Haggar and Lotor not to come right back, even with the Weblum's Breath out of commission. Even just particle barriers and emergency bunkers would be better than nothing."
"Of course." The Princess assured her quickly. "It will take a little time to figure out what defense systems can be built and operated with existing Earth technology, but I had no intention of taking us anywhere until at least some protection is in place for your home." Lifting her head, her gaze drifted in the direction of the Icebringer ships, not visible through the metal walls. "Shiiar'keh and the others may have some ideas as well, and I know they'll want to help."
Most of those present relaxed at the Allura's confident reassurance, and Shiro sighed. "Alright. Is there anything else Lance and I missed while we were on the Weblum's Breath that we need to know about?"
Hunk shifted, straightening a little. "Well, I already told Lance this, but, apparently the link between him and Alejandro goes both ways. We know part of what happened while you guys were on the ship because he used it to look and see what was going on."
"Speaking of, you promised me an explanation, Pidge." Alejandro exclaimed. "What is up with that link?"
The green paladin groaned, flopping back on the couch as both Lance and Alejandro pinned her with expectant stares. "Okay, okay, fine! I'll tell you what I know." She held up a hand in warning. "Which isn't all that much, okay?"
At Lance's nod, she continued, sighing and crossing her arms. "Basically, ever since you two arrived, Lance has been having nightmares. Based on conversations I had with the both of you on a day you didn't have nightmares," She shot a meaningful look at first one Cuban, then the other, and Lance felt his cheeks going crimson. He'd been trying to forget about that particular incident! "You guys are having the same dreams at the same time. Alejandro, what did you dream about your first night back here?"
The time-traveller paled, swallowing hard. "...The Weblum's Breath." He said quietly.
"So did Lance. He's been sharing your nightmares ever since." She straightened, turning towards Lance and fidgeting with her glasses. "That's why you didn't have one when you napped in the hangar that one day. Alejandro wasn't asleep."
"Okay, so I'm sharing his nightmares, and I was able to get into one of his memories. To find out how long we had during the battle." He added quickly in explanation, seeing his counterpart's startled expression. "And Hunk said he was able to get in and see through my eyes." He glanced over for confirmation, and the older male nodded. "That's...I don't suppose you have any idea why we have a link?"
Pidge shrugged helplessly. "Not a clue. I can make some guesses, but there's no way to prove them. Obviously it's related to the time travel somehow, but Kurogane and Keith aren't linked, and Kurogane can't feel this timeline's Red like Alejandro can with Blue. So the Lions may have something to do with it too. I just don't know."
Something nudged at Lance's memory, some whisper of conversation, but it flitted away from him before he could grasp it. "Alright, so we don't know why it happened or what we can do about it." He groaned, slumping back on the couch. "Helpful."
"Hey, don't complain. It came in damn handy today." The small paladin straightened, regarding him intently with an odd twist to her lips. "If Alejandro hadn't been able to see what was happening, and if Shiro hadn't managed to break Haggar's control…" She paused, drawing in a shaky breath. "You both would've…and we wouldn't have known. You'd be gone and we'd never have found out what happened to you both."
Lance's eyes widened in dismay as Pidge let out a soft sound of distress and rubbed roughly at her eyes, too overwhelmed by the day's events to rein in her emotions. Quickly, he reached out and pulled her against him again with his good arm. "It's okay, Pidgey, we're here and we're safe." He murmured. "You didn't lose either of us."
Behind him, he felt Hunk shifting closer as well, a strong arm wrapping around them both. And a glance to the side showed him Matt lacing his fingers with Shiro's and Keith abandoning all pretense of collectedness in favour of pressing up against the Black Paladin's side. Even Allura's calm demeanour had slipped, her hands fisted in her skirts as she regarded them both with suspiciously bright eyes, while Kurogane hid his face against his partner's shoulder.
For a few moments the only sound was Pidge's ragged breathing and occasional sniffle, muffled in his chest, before she finally straightened up again. She made no move leave his lap, though, instead regarding him unhappily. "...Seriously, though, what even happened in there?" She demanded, fingers tightening on his shirt.
"I think we'd all like to know the answer to that." Alejandro put in grimly, stroking Kurogane's hair with one hand as he surveyed the group. "Because if it wasn't the prosthetic, which it can't have been, since it's gone, then what the hell was she using to control you?" He turned his attention fully to Shiro, obviously desperate for an answer.
The black paladin shook his head and sighed, expression apologetic. "I don't know. While she was controlling me, I could see what was happening, and I could feel, but I couldn't hear or speak. It was like I was a passenger in my own body." He shuddered. "I did hear Haggar a couple of times, but only when she was giving orders." His hands clenched involuntarily, and he looked slightly ill at the memory.
Kurogane's hand came up to touch the scar on his throat, his face pained. "Lance? Do you know?" There was a pleading note in his voice, the former red paladin as desperate as his partner for a way to prevent this from happening again.
Lance swallowed hard, staring down at the floor. This was the part he'd been dreading. He had an answer for them, but it wasn't a pleasant one. "Yeah." He sighed heavily. "I do."
A thick silence fell on the room. He could feel nine pairs of eyes on him, but refused to meet any of them. He could feel tension in Pidge's small frame against his own, and in Hunk's arm across his shoulder.
"It was never the arm." Lance said slowly, trying to put off coming right out and saying it. "There was no built-in override. We were wrong about that this whole time." He heard a strangled noise from Alejandro, a confused murmur from Pidge, and let out a wry laugh. "Guess those techs had it right. It really was just a standard prosthetic."
"Then how was she controlling him, Lance?" Matt's tone was patient, non-judgemental. Would he still sound the same once he knew the truth?
"...An aspect."
The stunned silence that followed sat like a weight on his chest, stretching out painfully around them. It was Hunk who finally broke it, asking the question they were all afraid to know the answer to. "Which one?" He said it softly, and something told Lance that his best friend had already put the pieces together, that he already knew what he was going to say.
The words were bitter on his tongue as he finally lifted his head, looking straight at Alejandro and Kurogane where they sat hand in hand on the other couch. "Blue. The blue personality trait. That's what Haggar used to control Shiro."
All the colour seemed to drain from his older counterpart's face in an instant, blue eyes going wide with naked horror. His mouth worked soundlessly, and he seemed to curl in himself, fingers going slack in his shocked partner's grip as he processed the revelation, and its implications.
"...aspect? But that would mean Haggar has…"
"As if she wasn't…"
"...do you block an aspect?"
"... same to any of us…"
The frantic discussion seemed to flow around the edges of a pocket of silence containing only the three of them, Lance, Alejandro, and Kurogane. The raw guilt and shame written plainly across the older blue paladin's face was brutally obvious, and mirrored the sharp pain in the younger's chest. Lance could understand all too well what Alejandro was feeling right now. To know that the thing that had cost Shiro his life in the old timeline, had forced him to brutally injure and nearly kill his own teammates, and had nearly done the same again in this one, was an ability that you were supposed to have as well? Something that you were physically capable of doing?
He didn't understand it. Every aspect so far had seemed like such a positive thing. Upgrades to the Lions. Abilities that let them help each other and protect their team. Pidge's healing touch, Hunk's BLIP-sense. Keith was supposed to have teleportation, once he unlocked it. And who knew what Shiro was capable of, now that they knew his arm hadn't been what they thought it was. But this?
Sonic cannon. Maneuvering thrusters. Bayard merging. Hell, even time travel could all be used in positive ways. All the other aspects of blue quintessence unlocked such useful things, things that he could use to help his team. But straight up mind control? He couldn't see a way that could be used to do anything but hurt, the same way it had been used against Shiro. Being forced to turn against your allies, having them turned against you, was terrifying, and he wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy, not even the one who had used it against them.
Alejandro was trembling now, his arms wrapped tightly around himself and his eyes screwed shut. Kurogane reached for him, tried to pull him into his arms, only to be shrugged off sharply. The former red paladin pulled back slightly, hurt flashing across his face. "Alejandro…"
"Don't." The word cracked out harshly, and Lance winced. "Just. Don't." A deeply inhaled breath as the older blue paladin fought for calm. "I can't believe...that's...that's really our last ability?" His voice broke on the last word, his eyes seeking out Lance's. All Lance could do was nod, hand clenched into a white-knuckled fist, and look away when his older self's eyes darkened with despair.
Loyalty and trust, ha. What a joke. How could anyone trust someone who had an ability like that? Or had the potential for it? He could see his own fear mirrored in his counterpart's face, in the way he leaned away from the man he loved as though afraid to hurt him, hear it in the whispered apologies muffled behind his hands.
"Alejandro, it's not your fault." Kurogane was saying, an edge to his tone. "We didn't even know what the aspects were back then."
"I know that!" Alejandro snapped back, and his partner flinched, making the blue paladin curl away further with another flash of guilt crossing his features. "But the thought of that whole awful mess being because of an aspect? My aspect? That I could do something like that to another person?" He sounded as though he were going to be sick.
"You don't know that your-"
"Yes I do!" He all but yelled, stopping the other conversations and drawing attention back to the pair of them as the older blue paladin drew in a harsh breath. "Malrento doesn't think the aspects change from person to person. Two non-paladins with the same pure quintessence will have the same abilities. And since the personality trait doesn't affect the lions at all, we have to assume that one will be the same for paladins too!" The darker-skinned man's tone was high with unhappiness, words clipped and pained. "I could do that, Kurogane! I could take someone over and turn them against their friends and make them hurt them!"
"So what if you could?!" The former red paladin snarled back with surprising vehemence, making the other fall abruptly silent. "Just because you could doesn't mean you would!"
There was a strained silence, Alejandro's jaw clenched tightly as he stared at the other with wide eyes.
Kurogane sighed, leaning forward to rest his forehead against Alejandro's, who didn't pull away this time. "And you wouldn't. I know you, Sharpshooter, better than I know anyone in this whole god forsaken universe. You may share the colour of your quintessence with Haggar, but you are not her. What she did, you would never even consider. This is proof enough, right here, that you feel guilty for something you never could have prevented." Dark eyes shone as he lifted his head to gaze up at his partner. "I am not afraid of you, Alejandro. I trust you. I always will."
There was a pregnant silence following that firm declaration before Alejandro hiccupped and teared up. Abruptly he wrapped his arms around Kurogane's neck, mumbling rapid apologies into his partner's ear. Lance hastily looked away from the emotional intimacy of the moment.
For a brief moment, he found himself making eye contact with Keith. Just that morning the red paladin had said he trusted him. But that was before all of this had happened, before the discovery that Lance's aspects, his very quintessence, were going to be a constant reminder of how close the orphaned teen had come to losing, once again, the first person he had ever considered family. Kurogane may have trusted Alejandro despite this, but they had six years of fighting side by side and staying together through pain and loss that Keith and Lance did not. Swallowing hard, he held the other's gaze for a long moment before Keith looked away, turning dark eyes toward Alejandro, who was being offered a tissue by Allura.
A sharp ache settled around his heart. Yeah. Lance wouldn't trust himself either after that.
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Coran frowned, noting the flicker of hurt and sadness cross the young blue paladin's face. Lance had always had an amazing propensity for self-doubt. While unfortunate and untrue, the lad's feelings of guilt by association were hardly unexpected.
He'd been afraid of this. From the moment he'd stumbled across that memory of the overheard argument between the old paladins, he'd suspected that this particular aspect would be an unpleasant revelation. But he'd avoided bringing it up due to his inability to give any real information beyond what one of the blue aspects could potentially be used for, and out of a vain hope that the teen would stumble across it himself in a form that would be less distressing than Acalli's usage.
Apparently, however, there wasn't one. Mind control was mind control, however one might use it. And to say that the blue paladins were distressed by the thought of having such an ability at their disposal would be like saying that Gylackian flitzers were mildly averse to seeing kelwigs near their nests. Kurogane's words were the absolute truth-Coran couldn't for a second imagine either blue paladin using the ability the way Haggar had, or Acalli, for that matter-but getting the two to believe it was another matter entirely. Only repetition of reassurance and further displays of trust would get that into their heads, and that would take time.
In the meantime, they couldn't afford another emotional blow like this one, or like the one that the black paladin had yet to open up about. The old advisor had seen the shadows hiding in the young man's eyes, but Shiro was even more reluctant to burden his team with his emotions than Lance was. He could only hope that Matt would be able to get through to him and chase away whatever demons this battle had brought to the surface.
He tightened his hands on the edges of the tablet in his hands. Tonight, he would return to the holoprojection chamber. He needed to continue to search his memories. There had to be something there that would help them, if not to move past this more easily, then to prevent something like this from happening again. There was so much they didn't know, and every piece of missing information or strategy based on flawed assumptions was a potentially deadly pitfall waiting to happen. They wouldn't get this lucky twice.