Part Four

To be clear, this was all Pidge's idea, but Keith wasn't above admitting that the idea of piloting more than one lion had its appeal: if someone were critically injured or there was no other lion nearby, the idea of anyone being able to step into a lion to pilot was pragmatic to the point of essential. On reflection, the idea seemed obvious - pilots could conceivably pilot any spacecraft because of their uniformity, it only made sense that the lions might be slightly similar.

Lance's lion was first, by Pidge's hypothesis, because it had communicated pictures to all of the paladins, and by that thought might be the most open to the idea of having someone else pilot it. Keith had asked if Pidge remembered if the cockpit was the same as their lions, but their first trip in Blue had been an uncomfortable, nauseating blur, and neither could remember clearly.

The secondary theory was that Keith, who had been able to sense the blue lion, might be the one most likely for Blue to let pilot. Keith still couldn't quite understand why he had been the only one to sense the lions.

"Well," Pidge said as they entered Blue's bay, "it's still just a working hypothesis, but I couldn't sense my lion until I was practically on top of it, and Hunk said he didn't know he was on the right track until he saw the cave paintings, and Shiro couldn't sense the black lion until it's shield was down. You not only sensed Blue but were able to find Red on a Galra ship - clearly your senses are more finely tuned, for whatever reason, to communicate with the lions."

That had surprised Keith - he hadn't known any of that.

… But then, he didn't exactly socialize, either. He winced, realizing another layer of Shiro's lesson.

Blue hadn't even sniffed at Keith when Pidge explained the idea to a silent lion, and didn't open up in the slightest. That had been disappointing, but then Lance hadn't been there, so perhaps that was the reason…? Still with Blue out of the picture the pair had brainstormed on which lion would be the most pliable.

"I think Green would be the best option," Pidge decided finally. "The green lion is supposed to be inquisitive, like me, so she might like the idea of the experiment."

Keith, after Blue's dismissal, was becoming more dubious. "I'm starting to wonder if this is a good idea," he said.

"Why not? It'll be fine, what could possibly go wrong? The worst case scenario is that Green doesn't open up like Blue - no harm, no foul."

And… Keith trusted Pidge. He had already learned the girl was brilliant beyond measure, and what she said made sense on a couple of levels, and he could admit curiosity. They entered Green's bay, however, and the uneasiness crawled over him again, discomfort washing over his body and creeping him out. He shook the feeling off, uncertain where it had come from, and followed Pidge as she started babbling at her lion.

"... And so that's my running hypothesis. What do you think, girl? Do you want to open up?"

Keith could feel the curiosity burning off of Pidge; his wrist was run ragged with all of her happy flailing at the idea of a new theory, and a part of him wasn't comfortable with the experience, a shiver ran down him but he forced himself to concentrate, to look up to Green and try and look as interested as he felt.

The green Lion bent her head down, head slightly tilted in curiosity, and Keith lifted his hand up, thinking vaguely of letting her scent him. Did the lions even have a sense of smell…? Discomfort washed over him again, and he realized that it wasn't his own. Red…?

He closed his eyes, turning inward, thinking about the plan, the experiment. Red was sending him a picture of… something, he wasn't sure what. Meanwhile a new energy was washing over him, intelligence, curiosity, excitement. He let that one guide him, knowing it was the Green lion saying hello. Keith had never tried to connect to two lions at once, had never felt two lions at once, and he thought his head was starting to throb before he heard a roar. His eyes snapped open but Pidge was just looking at him curiously, head tilted at the exact same angle as her lions.

"What is it?" she asked. "You were frowning so fiercely…"

How to explain it…?

"Red doesn't like this," he said finally, spreading his free hand helplessly.

"Oh," Pidge said, blinking twice. "I hadn't considered that." Her own free hand moved up to finger her chin, the familiar expression of rapid thought blooming on her face. Green retreated, sitting back up straight, and Keith almost thought there was a grin on the metal lion's muzzle.

"Oh!" Pidge said, more firmly this time, "What if we invited Red in on the experiment. We can get Red in here to ensure everything goes smoothly. The Red lion is supposed to be really protective right, that should help mitigate the concern."

That… actually made sense. Keith nodded and they turned immediately to leave Pidge's hanger and go into his. Almost as soon as he turned his back on Green he felt a relief of pressure, and he frowned, put out that Red had affected him so much. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, or rather his free hand when he remembered the cuff to Pidge, and hunched his shoulders slightly as he realized how put out this all was.

"You know, it doesn't work as well when one of your hands is free," Pidge said carefully.

"What doesn't?"

"The whole mopey-emo-loner thing," Pidge replied. "You can't pose as well when one of your hands is bound."

… What? "I'm not posing," Keith said, turning away.

Pidge simply shrugged her shoulders. "If you say so. It's not like I had to spend a lot of time studying how to be a guy or anything."

…

"Yeah, well, you don't always do a good job at acting like a know-it-all."

Pidge was, of course, unaffected. "I don't try to act a know-it-all," she countered, "I kind of am one, or at least I had to be in order to find my family, but I don't have to be one here. That took me a while to figure out, you know? That it was okay to relax and let everyone else chip in."

"And, what?" Keith asked. "I don't have to be a… a mopey-emo…?"

"Mopey-emo-loner," Pidge repeated.

Keith turned away. "I am not."

Pidge looked at him for a long second, Keith could see it out of the corner of his eye; but she just turned and focused on where they were going. Keith had a brief thought that there was meaning in her turning away, but he had no functioning idea of where to even start interpreting something as simple a a head-turn and just focused on walking himself.

Red didn't move when they entered his bay, but he did open up for Keith and Pidge and they moved into the pilot chair.

"Woah, it really is the same layout," Pidge said, moving around the back of the seat as Keith positioned himself. "Is this the port for the bayard? Neat!"

"Don't touch anything," Keith said. "We don't know how Red will handle it, remember? The whole point was to get to the same bay with Green to watch and make sure everything goes fine and-" He turned and saw Pidge had already opened up a console and was rifling through menus. What…?! "What are you doing?" he demanded, swatting her hand away.

"Sorry!" Pidge said quickly, lifting both hands up and jerking his arm away from the controls. "I was just curious!"

Keith… decided not to say anything, just powered up Red and exited the castle, taking a quick arc up and over the spires to Green's port. Pidge was giving an almost nonstop litany of words, and it was starting to wash over him the way her coding did, and he landed before he glazed over completely. They exited Red's mouth and Pidge was still talking.

"... And Red not only let me in but also didn't seem to have a problem with me being in the cockpit while you were flying and even let me rifle through a few menus so I think things should go really smooth with you and this is really exciting think of all the things we could do if the pilots are interchangeable like that and-!"

"I get it," Keith said quickly, before all her happy words morphed into another experiment. He ran his hand affectionately over the controls, and he could imagine he felt a response in kind. Standing, he lead Pidge out of the lion and for a moment just stood between the two arms of Voltron, looking up at them. These were the lions who defended Shiro, kept enemy weapons and beams and destruction at bay. If he could control either arm… that would give him an added sense of security.

He nodded, mind settled on the task for more than just idle curiosity or pragmatism, and he turned to Pidge. The girl was looking up at him again, face open, questions reflecting off her glasses. "Are… you okay?" she asked slowly.

"Yes," Keith replied firmly. "Let's see what we can do."

Green was staring at him again, head tilted before curling down and opening up. Pidge patted the lining of her maw and talking to her affectionately under her breath.

The lighting was different, of course, Keith's a subtle, warm red and Pidge's lion was a cool, calming green. Pidge's eyes looked more gold than brown in the light and she swiveled into the seat of the cockpit. Keith looked at her in confusion.

"Sorry," she said, fond smile on her lips. "Habit. I guess, now that we're actually doing this… I'm a little nervous to let her go."

So Pidge could feel Green's energy, too, whether she knew it or not. The Red Paladin nodded, giving her time, but Pidge eventually relinquished her seat and Keith sat in it. He just sat at first, eyes darting over the console, noting how perfect a copy it was visually, but how it subtly felt different. Red was in the back of his mind - now that he recognized what to look for he could pick it out quicker. He tried to find a new sensation, tried to find Green. He reached out to touch the console finally, eyes heavily lidded as he reached out.

Red growled and Pidge physically flinched the moment he touched the console. Both reactions made Keith wince and his fluttering connection disappeared. "What?" he asked, at who he wasn't sure.

"Sorry," Pidge said. "Red kind of startled me." She shook her head, straightening and shaking it off. "What did it feel like?"

Keith shrugged, trying to find the right words. "It's like there's a separate piece in my own head. That's Red, and sometimes I feel things that aren't me. Red's really nervous about this, I think, and that's why it's hard for me to feel Green. What does she feel like?" That last question was more curiosity than anything else, he wanted to know if Pidge realized her own emotions were affected by her lion.

But, scientific as she was, she wasn't completely connected to how her own feelings worked. She shrugged, asking, "How should I know? I don't feel the lions the way you do."

That meant this fell completely on his shoulders. Keith was the only one who could parse what was going on. He frowned in determination, set his jaw, and tried again: looked into himself, searching for the part that wasn't really him and wasn't really Red. He reached out to the console, searching, and a hand clasped over his own, snapping his attention. Pidge had stopped him, and when he looked at her she looked down at her hand in equal parts shock and fear.

"Uh…" she said, blinking. "Not that screen," she said - not at all quick enough to cover the action, "The protocol screen might be easier to start with. Are we sure this is a good idea?"

Keith was getting curious now. "Yes," he said. He wanted to see how much Green could affect Pidge, just as much as he wanted to see if he could pilot another lion, just as much as he wanted to see if Red could handle it.

The Paladin didn't take his time for the next attempt, just opened a window on the screen Pidge had suggested and started pressing buttons, and felt Red roar; the cockpit shook with the sound as did the chambers of his own mind. A shiver shot down his spine and he felt Pidge do the same.

"Geez, Red, don't be so possessive," he muttered.

"Possessive?" Pidge demanded, incredulity making her voice crack up an octave. "That's Red being possessive?"

"Don't worry," Keith said. "I got this." He reached out again, this time to the corner of his mind that belonged to Red, and sent his Lion reassurance, respect, understanding. This was an experiment, nothing more, he just wanted to see if one pilot could fly multiple lions. "I'm not replacing you," he murmured, as his free hand went to Green's windows.

A dangerous, predatory growl sent Pidge skirting over Keith's field of vision and calling up a communications window.

"Uh, Shiro?" she asked, hesitant.

"What is it?" Shiro demanded, all business as always. Keith irked to witness the cry for help - the whole point of the exercise was to see if Paladins could pilot other lions, specifically if Keith needed to protect Shiro, and he didn't need Shiro of all people to swoop in and either fix or stop this.

"Uh, we might have a small situation here."

"We can handle is, Shiro," Keith said quickly, cutting off Pidge's sentence as fast as he could. "You're busy. Stay put. We'll figure this out."

Red growled at the very idea, yellow eyes staring directly at Keith through the view screen.

"What that a Lion sounding upset?" Lance's distinctive voice came over the comms, sounding petulant and incredulous all at once. That was all Keith needed.

"Back off," he said, voice slightly harder than he wanted. "We got this."

"Uh, no, Keith; we kinda don't," Pidge hissed back, turning to give him a dirty look.

"Just stay put," Shiro replied sternly, "I'm on my way."

The line ended and Keith was furious. "You didn't have to call him! We can handle this-"

"Keith, your own Lion is yelling at you! You aren't stopping - how is that in control?"

"You didn't have to get Shiro to come down!"

"He's the only rational person on this entire ship!"

"I'm rational!"

"Not if this is any indication!"

"What is your problem? Don't you trust me?"

"No, I don't!"

Both of them froze, the words sucking the air out of the argument and pulling them both out of their own anger. Keith blinked, the declarative sinking in slowly, before he sank back into the seat of the cockpit, looking away.

"... I see," he said softly.

"No, no, not like that!" Pidge said quickly, voice higher than normal and head shaking violently. "I'm sorry! It just came out!"

"I get it," Keith said quickly, shutting down further demural.

"No, you really don't."

"What, like I don't know what I'm doing with the Lions?"

"No! You're putting words in my mouth - would you just listen-"

"I think you've said enough," Keith said, low and dangerous.

"Would you just shut up!" Pidge shouted, leaning into Keith's personal space. The Red Paladin froze, face inches from hers, and their bound hands awkwardly twisted into his chest. He couldn't escape, tied to her, he couldn't walk off or end the conversation or even turn his back to her. All he could do was look up at her, golden eyes fierce and frustrated, and listen.

Pidge didn't say anything at first, face flush with emotion and filled with too many emotions for Keith to guess at. She breathed heavily through her nostrils before twisting away, turning her back to him before their tied hands prevented her from making a full rotation. She settled for sitting next to the console, leaning against it and drawing her legs up. "Kerberos," she said, brown head tilting down to her knees. "I've been like this since Kerberos."

Keith hadn't expected to hear the name of the doomed mission that had taken Shiro from him. No, he corrected himself: taken her family from her.

"It's just… My brother was my world, and my dad was my hero. And after… Mom could barely function and…"

Keith turned around in the seat, angled his head to try and see around her thick mass of hair, tried to see the face she was making to better understand what she was reaching for, a little afraid of what he would find.

"I had to do it all myself," she said, free hand running through her hair, hiding herself even more. "I was all that was left…"

The words pierced into Keith, he was suddenly a child looking up to his father in the cabin, realizing that his world was breaking apart; he was suddenly staring up at the orphanage, knowing that the only person in the world who loved him were now gone. The empathy surprised him, he had never expected to find someone in the world who understood him - not after Shiro. So many things flooded through his mind, too fast and too strong, and all he could do was stare at the back of her head, eyes wide and mouth open to say… something. The pause drew out, and Keith was dumbfounded on what to do after this revelation. Was he supposed to offer support? How? Tell her it would be okay? Why? How did Shiro do any of this…? But he didn't know, and he was perfectly still to prevent somehow breaking such a fragile confession.

"I'm sorry," Pidge mumbled. "I only just decided to stay with the team… when Sendak blew everything to hell. It's been, like, what: a week? I can't just get used to this overnight like you did."

Keith prickled that anyone even thought that. It wasn't that he was used to this - no one sane would be used to flying across the universe piloting half-magical lions and fighting aliens to save the…, well the universe. It was just… Shiro was all he had, and he would follow that man to the end of the universe, simple as that.

"You're assuming Keith gets used to anything quickly," a new voice said.

Both Paladin's startled at the new voice, and their heads whipped around to see Shiro entering the cockpit, running a hand through his shock of white hair.

"Shiro?" Pidge demanded. "How did you get in here?!"

The older man gave a small smirk. "You left your Lion open," he said.

The two looked at each other… no they hadn't.

… The Lions were making a point. Both of them made faces.

"So what, exactly, are you two doing?" Shiro asked, voice light but tone anything but.

Keith's earlier irritation returned as he remembered why Shiro had come in the first place. "We're conducting an experiment. Pidge was chickening out."

"I was not!"

"You were letting Green's nervousness take over your own curiosity," Keith countered, voice more petulant than he wanted to admit. "You went from excited at the idea and fiddling with Red's controls to calling for Shiro at the first sign of trouble."

Pidge blinked, surprised to hear that, as her mind skittered to a halt.

Shiro was not so quickly deterred. "You're trying to pilot someone else's Lion?" he asked, tone dangerous.

"Yes," Keith said without any shame. "If one of us is injured and can't pilot then it would be helpful to know that any paladin can step up."

Shiro stared for a very long time, and Keith refused to back down. He stared up at Shiro, holding as much of this as he could with Pidge lost in thought as she was. Finally, Shiro relented, shrugging his shoulders and uncrossing his arms. "It's a good idea," he said, "But you might have considered letting people know what you were doing - in case, say, someone heard Lions growling and were worried what was going on. Or, say, having someone in a Lion as backup in case something went wrong. Or, say,"

"We get it," Pidge said, voice slightly softer than normal. "We're sorry. We got a little carried away."

Shiro softened slightly, and put a hand on the back of the chair and leaned on it. "So," he drew out, "How far have you gotten?"

Pidge happily dived into explanation, energy slightly subdued as she explained what they had done and not done since lunch, and Keith slowly tuned it out as he closed his eyes and once again began hunting for Green. Now that Shiro was here - and he would never admit this in public - he was more relaxed, and he could sense that Red was more relaxed, too. Was that because the pilot of the Black Lion, the head of Voltron and by default the decision-maker, was here? That was an interesting thought to pursue and his curiosity finally pointed him to a very small part of his brain. Was that Green?

A hand touched his shoulder, and he looked over to see Shiro smiling at him encouragingly. Keith reached out and touched the panels, and now that he found Green (he thought that was Green…) he asked it to fly.

There was a mighty roar - which Lion Keith didn't know - and everything heaved, Pidge collapsed onto his lap with a yelp and Shiro's arm clenched on his shoulder and there was so much motion and Keith would later completely deny that he was shouting along with Pidge as they took off. Wait, took off?

Keith… was piloting the green lion. He was piloting the green lion! He shouted in excitement as he grabbed the controls, jerking Pidge's hand with him as he started to take Green for a run, but the lion didn't respond, just kept flying, and there was another jerk to one side - Green was twisting her head around, and Keith realized this might have nothing to do with him.

"What's going on?" Shiro demanded.

"I don't know!" Keith shouted. "I thought I was piloting her!" He tried to reach into his head, to figure out what was happening, but there was too much noise and too much motion; he couldn't concentrate.

"Pidge! Take over!"

Keith saw the girl curled across his lap and realized she couldn't get up. Grunting, he thrust himself out of the chair, ingloriously dumping her on the floor and giving her space to get up. The youngest Paladin scrambled to her feet and into the cockpit, Keith quickly having to twist himself around to compensate for their bound arms before she grabbed the controls and yanked them back, jerking Green's reigns and begging her to stop. "It's me!" she shouted. "It's me, slow down!"

Green jerked to a stop so quickly everyone was sent flying forward, Keith bumping his head against the edge of the console as Shiro made a grunting noise and nearly flipped over the chair of the cockpit.

For a moment, everyone just breathed.

And, dimly, Keith realized someone was still screaming. He looked up, rubbing his nose and searching for the owner of the voice. It wasn't Shiro, nor Pidge, and he noticed belatedly there was some audio distortion that meant it was coming from the comms.

"Oh, thank God." … Hunk? "Okay. Okay, how do we-"

Shiro leaned over Pidge's shoulder and to the active communication screen. There was no picture, just audio. "Are you two alright?" he demanded. "Hunk, Lance, can you hear me?"

"Oh, we're just fine!" Lance shouted, voice an octave above what he normally sounded. "Nothing like a life-threatening fall through unknown HVAC units into a giant open-where are we anyway?"

"Engine room I think."

"Engines? That's a crystal!"

There was a garble of stactic and voices, Keith thought he recognized Coran's voice, but Shiro cut in to repeat himself: "Are you okay?"

"Peachy," Lance retorted, indignant.

"We're fine, Shiro," Hunk added. "Probably a little sore in the morning."

"We most certainly are not fine! I'm barely holding on by my fingernails! We can't hold on like this forever! How do we even get on the catwalk from here?"

"Uhhh…"

"Exactly!"

Shiro's eyebrow twitched, a sign Keith new very well, but the Black Paladin put the irritation aside and instead sounded confidently reassuring. "You can do it," he said, "I'm on my way, but it will take a while."

A pause, then,

"A while?"

"Why?"

Shiro looked at Pidge, who was fiddling with the view screens awkwardly with her right hand. She gave a small, sheepish grin. "We're kinda across the galaxy at the moment."

"... Huh?"

"Okay," Shiro said, cutting off the comms, "How far is across the galaxy?"

Pidge frowned, looking at the read out more closely. "We flew for approximately three and a half minutes, but Green's speed is way past was I normal clock her at. Was that Keith's influence? It should take us about four and a half minutes to get there, then there's just navigating the castle."

Shiro nodded. "Okay, then let's get moving."

Lance grunted. He hadn't been kidding about holding on by his fingernails. The tips of his fingers were the only thing stopping gravity from pulling him down to break Hunk's leg and his own. He pulled, trying to get a better grip, but he only went from one knuckle's grip to two on the edge of the catwalk and even that felt more pull on the leg tied to Hunk. He muttered some very impolite Spanish words, then created a few phrases on the spot for just this situation. Hunk grunted, feeling the strain as well, but Lance didn't dare loosen his grip.

"Okay," Lance called back, "You count! On three, I'll push off and swing back and over you to land on the catwalk!"

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Hunk cried. "That won't work!"

"We have to do something! Now start counting!"

"Lance, it won't work! The human legs are the strongest part of the body because they have to hold and carry all the weight and even with that and a perfect push off, you wouldn't be able to overcome 9.8 meters per second squared!"

"I don't care about math, we need to move!"

"I'm saying that once you reach the apex of your period, you won't be able to keep going! You'll just fall back and won't have enough momentum to grab the catwalk again!"

"Dude, I'm not a girl! I don't have a period!"

"Don't you remember physics?!"

Oh yeah. "Excuse me for not being able to do that level of math in my head for an instant!"

Lance's fingers slipped from a two-knuckle grip to a one knuckle grip. His reaction was a manly scream. A totally manly, not-at-all-high-pitched, manly scream.

"We have to do something!" Lance called (screamed) back. "It's' the only idea we have right now, so we might as well try it!"

"No! No, no, no! Each apex of your period will be lower than the last until you come to a dead stop hanging upside down and just hang there until both of our ankles break!"

"I don't hear you coming up with anything!"

"Because you're not giving me time to think!"

"Okay, you know what, I'll count myself! Five!" Lance felt himself slip a micrometer and pulled himself as much as he dared, trying to get to a two-knuckle grip again. "Four!"

"Of course! Lance, don't angle to go all the way around me!"

"Three - What?"

"Angle sideways! Aim to reach the catwalk on my left or right! Just let me know which side!"

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"I can't explain quick enough! Go to my right! You're left! Towards the engine! Swing towards the engine!"

"There's no way I can make that!"

"Trust me and do this! Three! Two! One!"

"Raaaaaaaahhhhh!" Lance didn't have a clue what he was doing but he swung his arms and pushed off towards the engine with all his might. Gravity, that nine point eight meters per second squared that Hunk had been talking about, was more of a pull than his arms could accomplish, but he was at least going in the direction, even if it was down instead of properly sideways. Tension on his leg loosened, as expected, given the direction he was going, but in the millisecond it took to realize that, tension returned to his leg as it was pulled… was that upward?

Lance didn't have time to look, as he pushed his fingers and arms as far as they could reach to try and grab on to the other side of the catwalk.

Unsurprisingly, he didn't make it, but as his swing continued to curve into an ellipse, he rammed into and tangled with - Hunk's free leg?

What the quiznak?

His voice hurt, but Lance realized that maybe he should stop screaming for that to stop.

"What happened?"

"Ergh!"

Lance was still swinging in an ellipse, and not only that, he was rotating as well. He grabbed Hunk's free leg to at least stop his body from rotating, even as they both continued to swing. With his body finally facing one way, Lance tried to glance up and around, blood rushing to his head with his upside down position.

"What the?!"

Hunk had their shared leg up on the catwalk. "How in space did you-"

"Less talking!" Hunk grunted, "More helping!"

"Right!"

Oh, he was going to feel this tomorrow. Their swinging was starting to slow, so Lance took a deep breath. Hunk needed his weight gone. It was going to put a lot of strain on Hunk's arms and the one leg that was on the catwalk. This was entirely on his upper body. This would be like doing handstand push-ups. His face already sweating with all the blood rushing to his head, He slowly started to push himself up Hunk's leg and trunk. Once he was at Hunk's thick waste, Lance reached and stretched out his arm, grabbing the railing of the catwalk above, and levered himself up to something more upright and just stopped.

Hunk was already breathing a sigh of relief, since Lance was finally supporting his own weight. Both were panting heavily and their bodies were at incredibly awkward positions, with Lance's joined ankle on one side of Hunk and his arms on the catwalk on the other side. Lance was stretched thin, but he was, with a great deal of tension, holding his own weight.

"Ohhhh, thank God that worked," Hunk muttered.

"Wait, you didn't know?"

"Can we argue after we're both on the catwalk?"

Lance grunted. With Hunk sandwiched between himself and the catwalk, Hunk wouldn't be able to move, so Lance moved his trembling arms. He eased his way back over his portly friend so that he was all on one side and, finally upright, stepped over and braced himself. Hunk was all sweat, and it was clear that the past five minutes had been even more work for him than it had been for Lance. Lance wanted to offer a hand for Hunk to get over, but with the awkward balance of their shared leg, that just wasn't an option.

So, with one leg partly still over the catwalk with Hunk, Lance waited, and held firm to being on this glorious and safe side. Hunk used their shared leg to lever himself up and then looped his free leg over the catwalk. They both pulled their joined leg up and over and promptly collapsed into an exhausted pile, panting and heaving.

Finally lance weakly lifted his limbs into the air with a vaguely drained "Whoo-hoo!" and then collapsed back.

"You know," Hunk gasped. "Shiro would be telling us to stretch after all the exhaustion."

"Yeah…." Lance agreed. "Don't see him here to make us…."

One could clearly hear Hunk's smile. "Yeah."

"Take a break?"

"Take a break."

"Whew."

Author's Notes: and, after a heavy Lance/Hunk chapter we now have a heavy Keith chapter. This part perhaps clearly explains why we did this fic: getting into people's heads. Keith may be Mirror's favorite, but Image was the one to write this scene to better understand the Red Paladin and understand his headspace. There's a scene later with Pidge that Mirror does in a similar vein, and anything we can do to understand Hunk and Lance is a plus.

This is also a nod to events later in the series, the idea of pilots switching lions has now been planted, not only in Keith's head for the Season 2 opener but for Shiro as he takes the ever-fatalistic approach and plan for the worst eventualities. We also get to see Pidge and Keith have a legitimate argument - and then watch them sort of make up; that's right in our wheel house. Hope you all enjoyed.

Also, this and all subsequent chapters are going up unbeta'ed. If someone catches a mistake let us know.

Next Chapter: the day may be over(ish) for the Paladins, but it's not over for Shiro.