When they reached the control room Lance found his bayard lying among a multitude of shattered sentry bodies. He scooped it up and the two of them charged into the main mining area.
Keith wavered as they reached the open space. His head felt heavy and his thoughts were sluggish, as if they had to wade through honey to reach the next section of his mind. Lance charged on, intent on reaching their small group of friends in the middle of the cavern surrounded by Genopians.
When he squinted his eyes, Keith noticed that Shiro was actually the only one there.
He jogged for a few steps to catch up to Lance again and push through the aliens. They reached Shiro and the taller man immediately lost some tension in his shoulders. An easy smile came onto his face before his strong features were replaced with a frown.
"Where have you guys been?" The lecture began. His eyes darted between Lance and Keith for an explanation.
Keith thought about it for a minute but it seemed like whenever he tried to figure out what he had been doing 5 dobashes ago his mind tried to shut down. Keith shrugged when Shiro's eyes landed on him. Lance spoke up, sounding almost panicked.
"We'll tell you when we get back on the castle of lions. What's happening right now?" Lance shifted his bayard gun in his good arm, antsy.
"Alright. I expect the whole story though. Pidge is going to shut down this station while hunk is clearing out the left over galra. I was explaining what we were doing to the Genopians." As soon as Shiro finished the Keith noticed a loud noise erupting tunnel they came from before it was abruptly cut off. Pidge's doing, he would guess. A moment later Hunk emerged from the same tunnel.
"I guess we're finished then," Lance mused.
A hand settled onto Keith's shoulder and he turned to meet the four eyes of the Genopian who was trying to get his attention.
"The lions have been resurfaced and the sandstorm is clear. We can lead you out."
Keith nodded his head and turned back to Shiro. "We're going to go get our lions. We'll meet you at the Castle." Shiro gave them a nod and returned to his conversation with the aliens.
Keith didn't need to call for Lance, he was already walking by his side as he returned his bayard to his suit and cradled his arm to his chest gently.
They followed the Genopian through winding tunnels and caverns that they had no way of returning through. Without the escort they would never have been able to find their way around.
Eventually they began to walk at an upwards angle and dobashes later they were opening a rocky hatch to the dessert outside. The sky had settled into a blue-green color and the orange sand was no longer whipping through the air.
Their lions were sitting not too far off. How the Genopians got them out of the cavern, Keith had no idea. But he wasn't going to argue about it. Keith started toward his lion but Lance stopped him, grabbing his arm and pulling him back.
"Give me your crystal." He said with unusual urgency. Keith furrowed his brows but pulled it out of his pocket.
Before he handed it over he held it close to himself, feeling an odd attachment to it.
"Excuse me," Lance called the Genopian who had lead them out. She came closer to them. "Is there any way to un-connect a crystal and a person?" His voice was calm but Keith didn't miss the underlying desperation.
The Genopian's eyes widened and she reached out for Keith's crystal with her still gloved hand. Keith pulled it away from her before she could grab it. She didn't seem surprised.
"A dangerous thing you have done red one," She said. Keith didn't understand. Wasn't it a good thing? It healed him, right? It may have turned him galra but it saved his butt over and over again. Even in that cell.
Wait. Didn't he leave the crystal in the cell?
"There is a way but it is long and tedious. Has anyone else used this crystal?" Instead of asking Keith she asked Lance, which he found odd. Shouldn't she ask the owner of the crystal? Wouldn't Keith know better than anyone?
Lance nodded his head, his eyes going dark. Keith noticed a dark spot above his under suit on his neck.
When had he gotten that?
Focus. That's not the question you should be asking.
When had someone else used his crystal?
"When?" He asked Lance. Lance barely spared him a glance before speaking to the alien.
"Can you do it?" He asked.
He ignored me?!
"Lance." He turned Lance towards him by the shoulder. He wasn't expecting the severe flinch and how he squeezed his eyes shut when he did it. "When did someone use my crystal." He spoke much softer now.
Lance wouldn't meet his eyes. "After the cell," were the only words he spoke.
That didn't make sense. After the cell they went straight back into the main mine. Keith racked his brain.
Didn't they escape the cell though? But he remembers putting his helmet on in the cell…
What was going on?
"I can disconnect it. It will take some time though."
"Could we just leave it with you?" Lance asked. She said yes.
Lance held out his hand for the crystal but Keith didn't give it to him. He cocked his head to the side. "Keith?"
"Why do we have to disconnect it?"
"It's dangerous."
"It has healing properties."
"Among other alien things that don't bode well for you." Lance narrowed his eyes at him.
"Like what?"
Lance snapped his mouth shut, his jaw tensing. His hand reached up and touched his neck.
"The blue one is right. Even we try not to connect with the crystals. When you create a connection by touch others can corrupt the connection."
Keith didn't understand. "Lance?" Lance snapped his eyes to Keith, his hand dropping.
"Give her the crystal. Please." Lance voice was steady and Keith could feel him pushing a feeling of distress.
He gave in. There was a twisting in his stomach as he let the crystal go.
"It should be cleansed in a quintant or two." She said, bowing her head to Keith. "You will know the exact moment when." And with that she left.
"Let's get back to the castle." Lance began walking away.
"Lance. Please tell me what happened. I feel like…" Keith trailed off as Lance stopped moving. "Like I'm missing something important. Like its right there in my mind but I can't grasp it." Keith was frustrated. He was confused and his head felt foggy and he didn't know if he wanted to sit in quiet contemplation or blow up and start pulling his hair out.
"The crystal has mind control properties. The galra soldier found it and used it against us. I don't think you can remember anything while you were being controlled." Lance frowned.
"What did he make me do?" Keith was beginning to worry. He just wanted to understand what happened.
"He hurt the crystal and it hurt you." Lance stared at his feet. "Then he told you to kill me." Lance turned and began walking, Keith stayed close, waiting for the rest of the story. "What does this spot mean to the galra?" Lance asked after a moment of silence. He pointed to the juncture of his neck and shoulder. Keith felt his face heat up slightly.
"That's where the galra mate-mark goes."
"Mate-mark?" Lance asked, waiting for a further explanation.
Keith didn't give him any. "What's this have to do with anything?" Lance bit his lip.
"When you were supposed to be killing me you…" He sighed and began to talk faster, trying to get it all over with as quickly as possible. "You grabbed my neck but then you," He paused, searching for the right word. "Mouthed at that spot. I pushed you off when you tried to bite me and then you tried to choke me to death." Lance placed a hand over the choke marks that Keith couldn't see clearly. "I think that you were trying to fight it but it didn't work. Then I…" Lance bit his lip.
"Do you ever feel like you can give someone an emotion? Like if you try hard enough and feel it strong enough you can like, send it out?"
Keith was stiff as he walked with Lance. There was a lot to think about and he was trying to think about it all at once. He almost didn't answer Lance's question- he was so taken back by the way that he described sharing emotions through a soul bond that he couldn't form the sentence he wanted.
"You probably don't. I'm probably just crazy. But I tried to break you out of it and you let go long enough to stop the galra." Lance summoned Blue down to him. "I'll meet you back at the Castle Keith." He gave him a weak smile and climbed up blue's ramp.
Keith watched him for only a moment before he was calling out. "Lance!" Once he turned back Keith said what needed to be said. "I'm sorry I did that to you."
"It's alright. It wasn't really you so you don't have to apologize." With that blue shut her jaw and Lance was gone from sight. Keith climbed into red and directed him back to the castle.
…
After debriefing and explaining what had happened to the red and blue paladins (excluding a few select details) Lance took a turn in the healing pods for his shoulder and throat. While he was doing that Keith asked Allura for a more thorough document on the Genopian crystals (Which she reminded him were called polenit crystals)
As he read through he tried to separate the important things from the useless information. A particular paragraph caught his eye.
The Polenit crystals also offer a strange mind control effect. Whoever touches an owned crystal to their bare skin can create an overpowering bond that can control the other. However, commands are limited to primal things to an unexperienced controller. Emotions like rage, sadness, fear, and lust are a few of the things that can be activated.
Keith couldn't stop thinking about the last sentence. He had been forced to kill Lance, but instead he tried to… mark him. That didn't make any sense if the soldier was just saying 'kill.'
He kept reading.
Though the crystals can control the owner completely, there have been cases where an order isn't carried out. This is found in people with strong bonds. Mated species under control of the crystals are unable to harm each other and the stronger the bond the more likely they will be able to speak with one who is being controlled.
Sometimes if the bond is strong but not fully developed the sent command is able to morph into a different primal urge. Instead of rage and the desire to kill it can change into another emotion like sadness.
Or lust.
Okay. He didn't hurt Lance at first because he's his Kalan. They aren't fully mated so it couldn't keep Lance completely safe but he was able to change the order to kill him into…
"Keith?" Lance's voice rang out behind him and Keith fumbled with his tablet, thinking of a way he could hide it before he remembered that it was all in galra characters and Lance wouldn't be able to read it.
"Are you alright?" Lance asked with a small smirk. "Did I catch you reading something naughty?" He waggled his eyebrows at Keith and rolled his eyes- which were human like most of him, the effects of the crystal finally wearing off.
"No." He turned the tablet off and tossed it beside him on his bed.
"You ready to start?" Lance asked, referring to the Spanish lesson Keith had forgotten he had promised a few quintants ago.
"I guess. As long as we aren't still talking about the alphabet." Keith moved over so that there was room on the bed for both of them to sit with their legs dangling off the edge. Lance pulled out his own tablet and opened it to the alphabet he had drawn out and Keith groaned. He hated all 27 letters of the damned thing.
"I'll make you a deal. If you can sound out two things correctly we will move on."
"Deal."
Lance smiled mischievously and pointed to ñ. Keith thought for a moment before sounding out the letter. "N-yayh." Lance nodded and then pointed to L. "L-lae."
"And if there were two L's how would you say it?"
"Eh-yeh. Come on Lance, I got this."
"You say that, but can you roll your 'r's?" Lance teased him as he tapped away on the tablet. Keith pouted.
"I'm working on it."
"Oh, would you like to show me your progress?" Lance stopped tapping to lean in close. Keith pouted even more, going as far as to cross his arms and look away. "If you can do it by the end of the lesson I'll tell you how to say one phrase in Spanish." Lance bribed.
Keith cut his gaze back to Lance. "Any phrase I want?" He asked hesitantly.
"Any phrase you want." He said it like a lion promising a gazelle he could come over for dinner- except the gazelle was dinner. "But if you can't do it then you have to do something for me."
"What?"
"Hm… Oh!" He smiled evilly. "You have to sing happy birthday in Spanish to the first person you see that isn't me. And you can't tell them what's going on."
"I would sing the words happy birthday to someone? That doesn't sound too bad."
"Oh no, not the words. The song. Humans have a song. I personally like the simple English version of happy birthday and it is shorter, so I'll teach it to you in Spanish and watch the mayhem unfold." He rubbed his hands together, already anticipating his victory.
"But it isn't anyone's birthday." He mumbled to himself.
"No but that's what makes it more fun. So, deal or not?" He held his hand out to shake on it. Keith honestly felt like he was getting the short straw here but he had a particular phrase in mind that he wanted to know.
He grabbed Lance's hand and shook it once. "Deal."
"Alright hot stuff. Show me what you got."
Keith raised his tongue to the roof of his mouth and began trying make the sound of a 'rolling r.' Mostly all he managed to do was blow a bunch of air out of him mouth while making a stupid sound in the back or his throat.
While he tried to readjust and make it work Lance started singing softly, getting progressively louder the longer he went.
"Feliz cumpleaños a ti, Feliz cumpleaños a ti," On the third verse he sang louder and drew out the 'años.' "Feliz cumpleaños a Keith-" Before he could say anymore Keith gave up rolling his 'r's and put a hand over Lance's mouth to shove his face out of Keith's own.
"Shut up." He laughed before he let out a shout of surprise when Lance licked his hand. "Ew!" Keith vigorously wiped his hand over Lance's shirt as Lance laughed loudly at him.
"Feliz cumpleaños a ti!" He finished with a cheer.
"You're nasty."
"No, I have siblings." Lance rebutted. His smile softened. "You didn't have any brothers or sisters, did you?" Keith shook his head.
"No. But Aubr was like a sister to me."
They both sat there for a moment. Their vulnerabilities out for each other to see.
"What about Chorrol?" Lance asked, settling back against the wall again and readjusting his legs over the covers.
"Ha. I uh… I had a crush on Chorrol for… a long time." Keith found that he wasn't as embarrassed by this statement as he thought he would be.
"You two are really close… Do you still have a crush on him? I mean, he is really hot after all."
"Lance!"
"What? I know how to appreciate fine goods. And his butt is- mmmph." Keith shoved his pillow into Lance's face, finally feeling the blush burn his cheeks.
"I don't like him like that any more and don't say that about him!"
Lance removed the pillow from his face. "How about you then? Cause if his butt was silver then yours would be gold." His cocky words earned him another pillow smothering. "Uncle!" Could be heard over and over again, muffled behind two layers of fabric.
To prevent sending Lance back to the healing pods he relented and pulled the pillow away, but not after hitting him with it once more for good measure.
"Ouch!" Lance complained.
"It's a pillow."
"You can make anything a weapon if you throw it hard enough."
"Yeah, yeah." Keith tossed his pillow back to the top of his bed and grabbed Lance's tablet. "So what are we learning?"
Lance snatched the tablet back and began navigating it. "Well now that you know the letters and how to pronounce them, not counting the rolling r, I figure it's time you learn some words." He pulled up a chart with ten Spanish and galran words on it. "I managed to get Pidge and Allura to help me translate the galra. She changed the English to Altean and then Allura changed the Altean to Galra and now you have a vocab sheet. Here." He grabbed Keith's tablet and tapped the screens together, sharing the image. "I'll pronounce these and you say them back. I figured, every time you learn a set I can get you a new one."
"Sounds good to me."
"Alright then. Let's start."
Together they pronounced the words 'Yo, Mi, Tu, Nosotros, ellos, ellas, ella, él, usted, ustedes.'
Keith looked over the galra translation, noticing the words were all forms of people. I, me, your, they, ect.
"There are no objects on here." He noted.
"Yeah. I feel like getting these down first might help."
"Why are there two ways to say 'they'?"
And so, Lance taught him. He answered his questions and they told stories and smiled. Keith tried a few times to roll his 'r's but to no avail and by the end of the lesson he was getting desperate.
"Come on Lance, give me a hint, a tip, something!" Keith whined. Lance sighed and gave in.
"Fine. Sometimes its easier to do it if you have a word to say it with."
"Like?"
Lance thought for a moment. "The word that means 'to run' has a short one. Correr." Lance trilled the r perfectly and Keith was taken by how soft it sounded.
"Can you say it again?" Keith asked quietly, listening closely. Lance did and Keith resisted the urge to ask for a third demonstration.
"Correr." Keith spoke flatly. "Correr. Correr. Correr. Correr." Keith chanted the same word over and over again, still failing on every try until.
Cute.
A foreign thought entered his mind. He slowly turned his head to catch Lance looking at him fondly. Lance quickly looked away and tried to pretend like he was very interested in his tablet.
"That thing you said earlier about sending emotions- It isn't stupid," Keith said. Lance's dark face turned slightly darker on his cheeks and when he opened his mouth to speak again Keith cut him off louder than necessary.
"Correr!" Keith trilled his r sloppily but well enough that it could obviously be heard. He let out a cheer and shoved Lance's shoulder playfully. "Ha! I win!"
"Aw man! I was so ready to hear happy birthday..." Lance pouted. Keith just smiled and continued celebrating by himself.
"Now for that phrase."
Lance turned his eyes towards Keith and heaved a sigh.
"Yeah, yeah. What do you want?"
"I want you to tell me how to say, 'Will you go on a date with me.'"
Lance thought for a moment before saying, "¿Quisieras salir conmigo?" then he added, "You trying to impress some space boys? Some Blade boys?" He waggled his eyebrows.
"Lance." Keith said seriously. "¿Quisieras salir conmigo?"
Lance's eyes widened and he laughed nervously. "Yeah. That's how you say it. Great pronunciation too. You're really getting the hang of it."
"No Lance. ¿Quisieras salir conmigo? For real." Keith pushed. His stomach was churning nervously and he was beginning to think Lance was going to say no.
He had honestly been expecting Lance to react one of two ways.
One: Lance would say no. He would look at Keith kind of how he was looking at him now, confused and unsure. Then he would ask Keith 'why would I want to date you' and Keith would promptly fall over and die. (Not really)
Two: Lance would say yes. It would be cautious and he would be scrutinizing Keith with his eyes before nodding and telling Keith, 'I guess. No promises for anymore after the first one though.'
Keith had gotten it into his head that those were the only ways that Lance would react, so when things went completely haywire he had to take a moment to recompose himself.
"Why would you want to date me? Of all the people you could date in the entire universe... All the people that would die to date you! Are you pranking me?" Lance started off confused. Then he turned angry at the thought that Keith was joking.
"I'm not! I'm serious Lance! If you don't want to date me then just say no!" Keith was getting flustered and he didn't mean to say the last part but his heart was pounding so hard in his ears that it was difficult to think.
Lance was silent. He stared at Keith before turning his head to watch his fingers fiddle with the hem of his jacket.
"Yeah." He looked up with a tentative smile. "But," His eyes turned dark. "If this is all just some joke and you fuck with my feelings, I'll have Hunk and Pidge beat you up."
"It's not a joke and you won't have to worry about that." Keith promised him, unfazed by the threat because he knew he would never hurt Lance.
"Good, 'cause Pidge might be small but she isn't afraid to kick a dude where it counts." Keith laughed at that, noting how true it was.
"I guess that's enough Spanish for today." Lance said after a moment. Keith nodded his agreement. "Want to get some food? Hunk should be finishing up dinner right about now."
"Sounds like a plan." Keith pushed himself off the bed. The two of them left the room and started towards the kitchen. They didn't speak at first but then Lance nudged him with his shoulder.
"So where are you going to take me on this 'date.'"
Oh yeah. He actually needed to take Lance somewhere. Frack.
"It's… a surprise."
"Oh, is that code word for 'I haven't thought of a place and I don't have any plans but I accidentally asked you out in a spur of the moment decision'?" Lance teased.
"No. I have thought of a place and I do have a plan."
He had thought of a place. Somewhere with rain. But that wasn't specific and he really didn't know of any planets with such a thing off of the top of his head. If he had to he would just take Lance to the space mall and they could goof off in there.
If Allura gave them a day off anytime soon that is.
"Hey Hunk, how's it going in here?" Lance asked as he walked into the kitchen.
"Almost done, just have to put the food on the plates." Hunk's apron was tied around his waist and Keith's eyes were drawn to the words even though he already knew what they said.
"Nice." Lance stood by Hunk's side and watched him plate everything.
"You guys know the rules." Hunk looked between the two of them. "If you're in here its to help, not hinder."
"Ug, fine." Lance grabbed a bowl and began to help Hunk. Keith sat down on the stool across the counter, deciding that it was kind of crowded over there and it would be best if he just stayed put.
"Any clue what Allura has us doing tomorrow?" Lance asked.
"She told everyone earlier, I think you guys were still doing the Spanish lesson. She was going to mention it to you at dinner."
"Mm. Anything crazy?"
"Yeah. She said we were going back to Blade HQ since we're close by and she was going to tell them about those wonky crystals that the Galra were using. Some of the rebel forces are also going to meet us there, Matt included."
He was going to be visiting home? Allura should have told him sooner.
Lance stiffened for a moment before putting food into the last bowl. "The mind control crystals?"
"Yep. She had Shiro bring back a few crystals so that we could examine them and show them to Kolivan."
"Oh."
"Alright, lets get to the dinning room." Hunk stacked all of the dishes on top of a cart and lead the way.
At dinner Allura did tell the two of them about visiting Blade HQ. She didn't really go into detail but she mentioned that they would be there for a quintant or two to make sure everything was sorted out and to also run some maintenance on the castle that couldn't be done while it was actively moving.
"You can visit your family Keith. We'll have time." She told him. He was pleased that she had thought enough about it to leave him a little bit of time with them. When he looked away from her he saw the other Paladin's gazes. Hunk seemed distant as he stared into his food and Pidge played absently with her spoon, deep in thought. Lance gave him a soft smile but he could see the longing in his eyes.
When dinner was over they all said their goodnights and went to their separate rooms. Keith plopped down on his bed, messing up the covers beneath him as he let out a long sigh. He was pretty tired but his mind was racing.
He pulled out his communicator and scrolled through his few contacts. He decided to call Chorrol.
He picked up on the second ring, his light purple face filling the screen as he smiled, the long scar on his cheek pulling at his mouth as he did so.
"Hey." Keith said with a wide smile that he always had when he talked to Chorrol. He was his best friend after all.
"Hey! What's going on?"
"Are you going to be going with the group of rebels to Blade HQ tomorrow?"
Chorrol nodded. "Yeah. They wanted at least one field operative and a bunch of the rebels are scared of the blade, so I volunteered. And it probably didn't hurt that I used to be a blade."
"Good, I'll meet you there then."
"Yep." Chorrol's soft smile turned playful. "So…"
"So?"
"Have you done it yet?" Chorrol shifted the communicator as he sat forwards in his chair.
Keith cut his eyes to the side.
"You did! Fates Above! He said yes didn't he?"
Keith nodded and smiled softly. "He did."
"Ah! How did you do it? Was he surprised? Also, I told you he totally digged you. Did you kiss-"
"Chorrol, one at a time!"
"Ha sorry, you know how I get." Chorrol scratched his cheek bashfully. Keith did know how he got, it had just been a while since he had been able to see it and he couldn't be more grateful. Chorrol had a way of getting him to speak with such earnesty and truth and not many people could manage that.
"He was teaching me Spanish- I already told you how we were doing that- and I won a bet so he had to tell me how to say one phrase in Spanish that I choose. I asked him how to say 'will you go on a date with me' and he told me. I asked him in Spanish and he didn't get it."
Chorrol laughed at him. "Oh, I can see his face now."
"Yeah he thought I was joking when I asked a second time but he finally said yes."
"That's awesome dude! You were worried for nothing."
"Actually, today probably was the worst day to do it. We had a rough morning." Chorrol raised his scarred eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. Keith let out a sigh. "You'll be hearing about the crystals tomorrow- they have mind control properties and I got caught up in it. A soldier told me to kill Lance."
Chorrol's face turned worried. "But you obliviously didn't."
"No. Somehow the Kalan bond got in the way. He said I tried to mate-mark him while I was being controlled." Keith rubbed at him face. The thoughts had been weighing down on him and he really just wanted to get them out of his head.
"But you didn't. Right?" Chorrol understood the severity of the situation. If he had bitten Lance then…
It wouldn't have been good.
"I don't remember anything if I'm honest. Lance said he pushed me off before I could and then I…"
"Hey." Chorrol called out to him, sensing his distress. "You didn't mark him. He forgave you if you're dating- That's like human courting, right? And it wasn't you who were doing those things."
"Yeah." Keith said distantly.
"Yes. Keith, I know you're going to get hung up on this. If Lance can forgive you then you need to forgive yourself and move on."
Keith knew Chorrol was right. He couldn't even remember what he had done, so why should he agonize over it?
Because he had done something unforgivable.
How could he have hurt his Kalan? That was like tearing off a piece of his own soul. He was a terrible-
"Keith cut that out. I can see you over thinking it from here. Look, I'll see you tomorrow so if you still want to talk about it then we can." Chorrol promised.
Keith nodded. He needed to think of something else. "So, how's it going over there?"
"Ah, you wouldn't believe the crazy stuff they're making us do over here-"
He and Chorrol talked for a varga more before they both decided it was best to turn in, they both had things to do in the morning after all. They said goodnight and hung up.
Keith brushed his teeth, took off his day clothes and boots, and tugged on the Altean sleeping pants that Allura had given him.
He laid in his bed, looking up at the ceiling for a while. He blocked out all of the bad thoughts that tried to invade and focused instead on the good ones.
He had a date with Lance. He had a chance to show Lance just how important he was to Keith. To show him how much he cared about him.
He had a chance to do things right.
And he wouldn't give it up for anything.
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