Nyma looked around in wonder as they walked into the Castle. Lance didn't blame her – it was pretty amazing. Somehow, while the place was alien and cool and futuristic, it still managed to feel as much like home as, well, home. He wondered if Nyma noticed it too, or if that was just him.

"This place is incredible," she breathed. "It's really Altean?"

"Yep," said Lance.

She gave him a curious look. "So are all of you Altean, as well? We thought your kind extinct."

"Oh, no, no, no," laughed Lance. "I'm not Altean – the only Alteans are Allura and Coran. Me, I'm just a plain old human."

"Well, I don't think you're plain," she offered.

Lance felt his cheeks turn scarlet. "O-oh, well, thanks, Nyma!"

She giggled. "Show me more! This place is so big! It must take you ages to get to your lion."

"Actually, it's really fast," said Lance, trying to get his cheeks to cool down because it was kind of embarrassing that she could make him blush so easily. "Come on, I'll show you!"

He led her through the Castle to the entrance to the zip-lines. Some little part of him in the back of his mind said this was a bad idea and he'd only just met Nyma, but the rest of him was cheering him on because it was certainly looking like he was about to get a hot space girlfriend, so he didn't listen to that little part.

He was very bad at listening to it, anyway. Hunk was ninety-five percent of his impulse control, after all.

"Hold on," he told a starry-eyed Nyma as he grabbed onto the zip-line. She wrapped her arms around him, and he unsuccessfully fought down another blush. It should be noted that Lance has never actually had a pretty girl cling to him like this before (besides Leida, and she was his sister, so it didn't count and, anyway, it usually meant she wanted something). This was a big step.

They reached Blue as quickly as Lance had expected.

"Incredible," breathed Nyma, stepping towards Blue with awe on her face. "Take me on a ride around the moon?'

Lance hesitated. The little part of him in the back of his mind that, as a side note, sounded exactly like Hunk, was a lot louder in warning him this time. "I don't know. We should get back. Hunk's a fantastic mechanic, he's probably about done fixing your ship."

She sighed and deflated. "You're right. Well, maybe Keith will give me a ride."

That was a low blow.

The sad thing?

It worked.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Lance hurried to say. "What's one spin around the moon going to hurt? Come on. Blue's the best lion, anyway."

Nyma beamed and followed him into Blue. Blue welcomed her curiously, again reminding Lance of Nacho the way she seemed to ask about the newcomer. Then she caught Lance's interest in the alien, and her curiosity turns sharp and teasing in a way much more reminiscent of all of Lance's relatives every time he mentioned a new name (because, yes, every time, it was, "Oh, does Lancey-Lance have a new crush?").

Shush, Lance grumbled mentally.

"She's impressive, isn't she?" Lance said proudly to Nyma.

"She really is," Nyma agreed. They shot out of the hangar, and Nyma laughed excitedly. The sound was music to Lance's ears. The moon looked really pretty from above, and Nyma's grin was contagious.

Hunk was probably going to be mad at him for this, but no harm done.

"Look!" Nyma exclaimed. "A kinetic spring! They are beautiful – let's land there."

Lance, again, hesitated, but he pushed the hesitance away and nodded. "Alright, beautiful, clear for landing."

She giggled again. Blue sent more teasing nudges towards Lance.

You are such a mom, he told her mentally.

She seemed more than pleased with this and sent an image of what must have been some sort of Altean wedding cake his way. His cheeks heated up again, and Blue's smugness practically radiated off of the dashboard.

They landed near the spring, and Blue let them out. Lance dropped his helmet and walked over to the spring. It really was beautiful, the water reflecting a ton of different colours in a rainbow. It wasn't anything like home, and the sight of water sent a sharp pain through his heart for a half a second before it dissipated and he let himself admire the alien spring.

"Hey, Lance, come check this out," said Nyma brightly. He wandered back towards her. What she seemed to want him to check out was a tree. He raised an eyebrow. "Here, give me your hand."

Naively, stupidly, he trusted her and gave her his hand. Then, before he could register the betrayal, she handcuffed him to the tree. The sting of hurt is quickly replaced by outrage.

"What – hey!" he protested. "Nyma, what are you doing?"

"Sorry, Lance," she said. "Maybe we'll meet again."

"Nyma!" he yelled.

Blue's barrier went up as Nyma approached her. Frustration bloomed in Nyma's expression. Lance winced as Blue growled threateningly, though Nyma couldn't hear it. Of course he would be the one to fall for her tricks – she was the femme fatale, the pretty lady who seduced the hero and then ruined them, and Lance hated that he'd been the one seduced.

"Okay, kitty, let me in," said Nyma softly. "Come on, kitty."

The roar Blue let out said everything. Even Nyma could hear it; she stepped back in alarm.

"Let me in, you stupid thing!" she exclaimed.

Lance felt a spike of indignation at this. "Don't you dare call my number one girl stupid!"

Then there was a gun pointed at him. He froze, eyes wide. Nyma wasn't looking at him. "Let me in, or I shoot your paladin."

Don't let her in, Lance begged mentally. But, as he said earlier, Blue was such a mom. The barrier fell. Lance closed his eyes. Dammit, Blue, she's working for the Galra.

I'm sorry, my paladin, said Blue back to him, even as she let Nyma inside. Trust me, my paladin.

Lance hated it. This was his fault. But Blue was thousands of years old, and wiser than he'd ever be. So he told her, I trust you.

Then, he had to watch as his lion, his connection to Earth, his friend was taken away.

He wallowed in his guilt for at least a half an hour before he decided he couldn't just sit around and do nothing. Granted, he couldn't do much – he was handcuffed to a tree, after all.

But there – there was his helmet, just a few inches away from him. And with his helmet he could contact his team. So he stretched as far as he could, reaching for the discarded helmet with his feet.

"Just – a bit – further," he strained, before finally reaching it. "Yes!"

He pulled it towards him, mentally thankful for all the gymnastics he'd done back on Earth, because it made it easier to bring the helmet close to him without using his hands. He managed with a lot of struggle to get it onto his head.

"Finally," he murmured, then, hoping his comms would work, "Guys?"

Nothing.

"Hello?" he tried again. "Some help?"

"Lance?" came Shiro's voice, finally. Lance deflated with relief. "Lance, what's going on? Where are you?"

Lance grimaced. This was going to suck. "I'm – sort of chained to a tree on the other side of the moon."

Silence.

Oh, boy, they hated him.

"I knew it," said Hunk.

"Also Nyma took Blue," Lance added quickly, trying to rip the bandage off.

"I knew it!" Hunk said again, this time even more forcefully.

"But how?" said Allura. "Surely the Blue Lion would not go willingly."

"Blue told me to trust her," Lance admitted. "Also, Nyma may have pulled a gun on me."

All of Hunk's smugness bled away. "What? Are you hurt? Oh, no, you're dying, aren't you!?"

"Woah, Hunk, no, I'm not hurt," said Lance, before adding quietly, "physically, anyway."

"Where are they?" said Shiro.

"She's probably meeting up with Rolo," said Pidge. "He took his ship for a test run."

"I knew we couldn't trust them," said Hunk, righteous anger and smugness back now that he had been reassured that Lance wasn't hurt. "I mean, at first it was just this gut feeling, but then I was replacing the pipe, it was cracked, but all the hardware was okay! And–"

"Okay, we get it!" said Keith.

Lance should have known. Hunk's gut feelings had never led him astray before, after all.

"I'm just saying, if the thermal pipe is cracked, the whole thing should be totally roasted–"

"Okay," said Keith again, "we get it!"

"We should have had to replace just about everything in there, so I knew then that this had to be foul play–"

At that point, it seemed everyone was fed up, because they all yelled, "Okay, we get it!"

"And I was right," Hunk had to add.

"We must go retrieve the Blue Lion," said Allura. "Paladins, to your lions. Lance… just…"

"Hang tight?" Lance suggested resignedly. "Alright, Princess. I'll wait right here… not like I can go anywhere else."

Waiting was never fun. One time, Lance got stuck at the airport on his way home for the holidays from the Garrison. It had been kind of surreal, because nobody was really at the airport at three o'clock in the morning, so it ended up being him and Hunk and some homeless guys and that was about it until Marco could get his car fixed and come get them.

This was a lot like that, except he didn't have Hunk or even the homeless guys. Just Lance and a tree and a rainbow spring and the sound of the battle that seemed to be going on with the others.

It sucked. He could only hope they wouldn't, like, kick him off the team for this.

Way to go, Lance, he thought to himself. Fall for the hot people's tricks.

Finally, after what felt to Lance like forever, Keith addressed him over the comms: "Hey, Lance, I got your lion."

"Thank you, Keith," said Lance – words he never really imagined himself saying unironically. "Now, can you come unchain me?"

There was a silence. It was a familiar silence – the type of silence that said, "I am about to be a piece of shit." He was a younger brother, he very much knew that silence.

"What?" said Keith. "I can't hear you. You're – bzzt – cutting out!"

"Did you just – Keith!" Lance yelled. "Keith! I thought – you said we bonded!"

"Concussion, doesn't count!" Keith practically sang.

"Keith, you jerk!" Lance yelped.

Keith laughed. "Calm down, lover boy, I'm on my way."

Lance had to wonder if he had a concussion now, because no way did Keith just call him lover boy.

It only took a few minutes for Red and Blue to both land by Lance. Keith ran over to him, clearly trying not to laugh, and undid the handcuffs. "Did know you were into that."

Lance turned scarlet. "I cannot believe you, Keith Kogane."

"Come on," said Keith. "Everyone's waiting for you. Hunk's pissed."

"Great," muttered Lance, even though he was expecting it. He climbed into Blue, who purred and sent him a very smug, I-told-you-so feeling. "Hey, Blue, miss me?"

My paladin, she said, before they took off and fly back to the Castle. It wasn't a far flight. Nyma and Rolo were still there, their ship definitely broken this time. Lance glared at Nyma as he got out, and she at least had the decency to look apologetic.

Hunk punched him in the arm, then hugged him. "This is why you need me."

Lance chuckled. "You're not wrong, bud."

Coran smiled and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "I'm glad you're alright, my boy. Don't be too embarrassed. Alfor and I did stupider things for less of a reason."

Somehow, Lance believed this.

"Since your ship is actually shot this time, you'll have to wait for a rescue," said Keith, arms cross and face sour.

"Thank you," said Rolo, which sounded really out of place to Lance, "for sparing our lives."

"We're not the Galra," said Shiro. "You were only trying to survive."

Rolo bowed his head. Nyma looked away.

"Well," said Hunk, "now that this is done, let's get to the Balmera and save Shay and her family."

"Your girlfriend and in-laws?" Lance offered.

"Shut up!" Hunk managed.

"Hey," called Rolo. They all stopped. Lance furrowed his brow. What did he want now? "You may not believe me, but I really do hope you stop Zarkon."

"We will," said Allura.

Rolo inclined his head. "Good."

A/N: Hey, guys! This chapter ended up being more fun than I expected. I will readily admit that the little airport anecdote comes from experience. Write what you know, right? I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! 3