"Does Allura know I don't really know how to pilot anything? I mean I read the books at the Garrison but I get carsick so I'll obviously get space-lion-sick too. And anyway just because I understand the Garrison ships doesn't mean I understand the magic alien warships. Do you think she chose me just because I was wearing yellow? Coran had some yellow on him, she could have chosen Coran. Oh man, what if-"
"Hunk, calm down," Lance said as they walked into the Blue Lion's cockpit. "You're going to be fine. You're like, a genius, so you'll be able to figure out the Yellow Lion in no time."
"We were all colour-coded," he said mulishly.
"Coincidence," said Lance. "Shiro is totally leader material. Pidge is a tiny brave nerd dude, I'm obviously confident and cheerful, Keith is temperamental and unstable, and you're totally a pillar of strength and niceness and all that."
Suddenly, Coran's voice filtered over the comms, "Alright, Paladins! We can only keep the wormholes open for a few vargas! You'll need to be fast, but luckily both planets are rather peaceful, so if you do get stuck, they'll probably be a relaxing place to live out the rest of your lives! Enjoy the trip!"
"Wait, no-" Pidge protested over the comms.
"I don't wanna live out the rest of my life on Yellow Lion Planet!" lamented Hunk.
"Coran, wait a second!" Lance exclaimed.
Too late. The wormholes opened, and Blue shot through without Lance's permission. He scowled, and Blue sent him smug, triumphant feelings. Then alarms set off, much to all of their alarm.
Blue howled in alarm in Lance's mind as ships started shooting at them. Lance tried to calm her down and manoeuvre her at the same time, which was getting exceedingly more difficult with both her and Hunk screaming in his ears.
"No, no, no, no, no!" wailed Hunk. "I'm too young to die!"
"Blue, calm down!" Lance blurted, dodging another laser blast. "I know you're not the scaredy-cat lion so quit acting like it!"
Oh, he could practically he feel her offense at that statement, but it did snap her out of her panic. It became much easier to dodge when his lion was working with him.
"I thought Coran said these planets were peaceful!" Hunk managed.
"Well, maybe that means something different in Altean!" said Lance. This planet was definitely the opposite of peaceful.
Hunk leaned over his shoulder, a bit too green for Lance's liking but holding himself together well. "According to the coordinates, we're right on top of the Yellow Lion- it's down where they're mining, I bet they don't even know the lion is there. Or- or they just got here, and they're mining for the lion? What do you think? Lance? Lance?"
"I don't really care!" Lance said. "Just grab it. I'm dropping you down there."
"What- me- there?" stammered Hunk. "Oh, well, actually, today's not good for me, maybe later-"
"No, Hunk, now," exclaimed Lance. "I'll cover you, don't worry!"
"What if the Yellow Lion doesn't like me?" Hunk asked in horror. "What if- or, what if I can't get in? What if I get shot? What if I start crying- no, it's too late! I'm already crying!"
"Hunk, no time for questions!" Lance said. "Blue?"
"Dude, no-" Hunk's protests came too late as Blue dropped him onto the planet. Lance was pleased to see him making his way into the mine relatively unhindered, muttering to himself as he went.
"Alright, Blue, let's take care of these fighters!" Lance said.
Blue roared in agreement, sending images and thoughts to Lance: revenge, revenge, my pilot, my creator, I will avenge you-
Lance smiled grimly. "Don't you worry, Blue. We'll definitely avenge your old pilot and your creator, and we can start with these guys."
They fired at the fighters, keeping careful watch to cover Hunk and keep themselves safe as well. Fighting with Blue was exhilarating, even if Lance didn't know all the controls. Blue tried to send signals of what to do, but even she had to sheepishly admit that she didn't know everything. Not even her creator had known everything she could do from what Lance gathered.
Lance really wanted to know who this creator guy was that he could create robots without knowing how they worked.
Then the worst happened. One of the fighters fired a shot at the mine shaft Hunk had gone down, and it collapsed. Lance screamed before he could stop himself, Blue picking up on and mimicking his horror.
"Hunk- no, Hunk!" he yelled.
Hunk was his best friend- he couldn't lose Hunk- magic space robot lions were really cool but they weren't worth losing his best friend.
"Come on, Hunk," Lance pleaded, watching the rubble for any sign of movement.
Blue yelped an alarm in his mind, but before either of them could do anything, they were hit and spirally to the ground. Lance tried to pull Blue back into the air, but he wasn't having any luck.
"Mayday, mayday!" he screamed, even though that wouldn't do him any good. "We're going down! We're going down-"
They hit the ground and skidded. Lance braced himself in his seat, but was still thrown forward. He sat up, and glanced outside in alarm. Several ships were aiming at him now. There was no way he could move in time.
"Oh, no," Lance breathed.
Blue was howling again, a mantra of NOT MY NEW PALADIN, NOT MY PILOT buffeting Lance like waves on a particularly windy day- or perhaps during a hurricane. Lance wished he could do something, anything to console her, but all he could to was brace for impact and wonder if this was really it, if he would ever see his family again-
The lasers never hit. Explosions sounded, but no pain followed, and Lance dared to crack his eyes open to see the Yellow Lion standing protectively in front of him, largely unharmed from taking the hit that might have killed Lance and Blue.
"Lance!" Hunk's voice came over the comms, and moments later his face popped up near the controls. Lance had never been more relieved to see his friend in his life. "Are you okay?"
"Thanks to you!" he said, letting out a relieved laugh. "I thought you were dead! And- and you jumped in front of all those shots- for me!"
"I wish I could say anything for you, bud, but, well, I was actually trying to get out of the way," Hunk said sheepishly. "Luckily what this thing lacks in speed, it more than makes up for in armour! Man, it can take a beating- oh, crud, incoming!"
Allura's voice filtered over the comms just in time. "Paladins, please hurry back. I cannot hold these wormholes open much longer."
"You don't need to tell us twice!" Lance exclaimed.
Hunk groaned. "I hate wormholes."
Both of them sped through the wormhole. Yellow took a glancing hit and sent Hunk spiralling- luckily towards the wormhole. When they re-emerged, they were back near the castle. Lance breathed a sigh of relief as they landed and exited the lions.
Hunk ran over and grabbed Lance in a crushing hug.
"Woah- hey, dude," Lance laughed, hugging his friend back.
"Sorry," said Hunk. "It kinda scared me when all those shots almost killed you."
"Scared me when the caved in the mine," said Lance. "I thought I'd lost you, buddy!"
"Agree to never repeat the experience?" said Hunk.
"Agreed," nodded Lance.
They made their way back into the castle and up to what must have been the control room. Allura's shoulders dropped in relief when they walked in. Shiro and Pidge were already back.
"You made it," she said.
"Barely," said Lance with a wince. "That was a nightmare. I almost puked- felt like Hunk!"
"Think of how I felt," said Hunk, face going green in remembrance. "I am Hunk."
Lance patted him on the shoulder comfortingly. Pidge and Shiro exchanged looks.
"Yeah," said Pidge, "we had it rough too."
"Have you found the Red Lion yet?" Shiro asked the Alteans.
"Actually, Allura just located it!" Coran said brightly. "There's good news and bad news. Good news: it's nearby! Bad news: it's on the Galra ship now orbiting Arus. But, wait, more good news: we're Arus!"
"They're already here?" Shiro asked in horror.
Coran winced. "Ah, yes. Guess my calculations were a tad off. Finger counting- well, it's more of an art than a science, really."
It was as if on cue that a screen flickered to life in front of them. On the screen was a man with purple fur, rather cat-like if you asked Lance, with glowing yellow eyes- his mind automatically labelled him as Galra, and from there Lance was sure to tack on evil to the description.
"Princess Allura," the Galra said formally, "this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire.I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe."
Both Allura and Coran's faces twisted into something between anger and grief, but they were each quick to try and hide it. Lance mentally winced. To everyone in the universe, it had been ten thousand years since the fall of Altea. To Allura and Coran- it had been mere hours.
"I am here to confiscate the lions," Sendak continued. "Turn them over to me, or I will destroy this planet."
The screen flickered away. Allura's fists clenched.
"Alright, let's not panic," said Shiro.
"What? Not panic?" spluttered Hunk. "The scary purple alien dude is driving his battleship towards us and we only have four lions-"
"Technically only three working lions," Pidge offered.
Hunk's right eye twitched. "Right, thank you, Pidge. Three lions and a castle that's ten thousand years old-"
"Actually, it's ten thousand six hundred years old," said Coran, puffing up proudly. "You see, it was built by my grandfather-"
"Thank you, Coran," Hunk gritted out. "Thank you for that. See? Perfect time to panic."
"Wait!" said Allura. "We can activate the castle's particle barrier-"
"it won't hold against Sendak's ion cannon forever," said Coran gravely. "The Galran technology must have advanced since we last fought them."
"So now we panic?" asked Hunk in a small voice.
"No," said Shiro. "We just have to figure out our plan of action quickly."
"We could pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day?" Lance suggested, even though he subconsciously hated the idea of leaving the castle behind. There was something familiar and nice about it, and he didn't want it destroyed like the rest of Altea.
How did it even get on Arus, anyway?
"Yes, I second," said Hunk. "We tried, right? Yeah? Gave it our best shot, couldn't do it, only got three, can't form Voltron. We could- we could make a snake. Or a worm. To go through the wormhole."
"We can't just abandon Arus!" Pidge protested. "These Galra will just keep destroying planets and taking prisoners until we stop them!"
He was right, of course, but Lance didn't know how they could possibly manage to stop them.
"Maybe if we run, Sendak will follow?" said Hunk hopefully. "Leave Arus alone? Like with Earth?"
"Or he could destroy the planet and follow us anyway," said Keith. "We have to stay. It's our only option."
"Here's an option- shut your quiznak," Lance snapped at him, briefly amused by the Altean's terribly offended looks.
"I don't think you're using that word correctly," Keith retorted.
"What do you know, Mullet?" Lance shot back.
"We're staying," Keith said.
"Leaving!" Lance exclaimed.
"Staying!" Pidge cut in.
"Snake!" Hunk yelped.
"Cadets!" Shiro snapped. All four of them snapped to attention. Lance's face burned in embarrassment for having to be called out like a kid, but at least all the others had been too. Shiro nodded and turned to Allura. "These are your lions, Princess. You've dealt with the Galra Empire before. What do you think is the best course of action?"
"I- I- I don't know," she managed, looking between them worriedly.
Coran's brow furrowed, as if thinking, and then his face lit up.
"Perhaps," he said, "perhaps your father can help."
"My father?" said Allura almost hopefully.
Coran nodded solemnly. "Follow me, Princess."
The five humans watched quietly as the two Alteans left the room. Lance wasn't sure if Alteans had like, ghost summoning machines or something, but he wasn't complaining.
They needed all the help they could get.
A/N: What? Two updates in a day? Well, honestly, forgot to post last chapter when I wrote it... oops. Hope you guys like this chapter too! It was fun to write- lots of Lance and Blue and Hunk freaking out.
Love you guys! Thanks for reading!