"She's what!?" Pidge screeches, shutting her laptop and tossing it onto her pillow, leaping to her feet. "This isn't funny, Lance!" She adds in, fear in her eyes. Had Iverson figured her out? Was this her fault—?

"Allura said she looked like she caught a cold after swimming, and then she just passed out!" Lance explains. "The ambulance just left, Coran's going to give us a ride to the hospital. He really likes Allura and Romelle." He adds. Pidge nods, and follows Lance to the front of the dorm where Coran's car was parked. Hunk, and Allura were already inside.

"Are you ready?" Coran asked, igniting the engine. Pidge and Lance climbed into the back of the car. Pidge tapped her lap impatiently as they pulled out of the lot.

"Does anybody know anything else..?" Hunk asked with worry evident in his voice. Allura sighed and tapped her finger on her lap repeatedly.

"No, I'm afraid.." She responded as their surroundings shifted to Arus City. Coran pulled into the parking lot of Olkarion Hospital, and the teens filled out. They rushed into the building, and Allura reached the front desk first, her face creased from worry. "Romelle Colonia, is- is she okay?" she asked the receptionist. The lady smiled as she typed the name into her computer.

"Yes, she's fine. In fact you can head into visit her, if you'd like." She continues smiling as she stands up to take the group to the hospital room. Romelle sat propped up in a bed, dressed in a hospital gown She was attached to some IVs, and other instruments.

"Hey.." The girl weakly smiles, and Allura runs up to the bedside and hugged Romelle. Romelle squeaks and lightly laughs.

"You shouldn't be doing that, Allura." Romelle weakly smiled as she gestured towards the medical equipment. "You don't want to accidentally kill me!" She laughs, lightly punching Allura's shoulder.

Pidge, Lance, and Hunk remained closer to the door, and Coran was seated in a chair, smiling at Allura and Romelle's interactions.

The doctor entered the room with a clipboard and stood next to Romelle's bed. He looked around the room at the guests and deeply exhaled.

"You can tell them." Romelle smiles, looking away from Allura to face the doctor

"About five years ago Ms. Colonia was diagnosed with Leukemia. Leukemia is a form of cancer that targets blood, hindering the body's ability to fight infection. Ms. Colonia caught a cold, and her body failed to fight it, that is why she passed out." The doctor explains. The glint in Allura's eyes faded as she sighed.

"And doesn't Leukemia kill the patient within around five years since diagnosis?" She asks wearily. The doctor bit his lip and solemnly nodded. Romelle wasn't going to live much longer, was she?

"Guys, I'll be fine. Let's live in the moment, not the future." Romelle smiles brightly, and the feeling spread around the room, eradicating the solemn atmosphere.

"She's right." Pidge mumbles, adjusting her glasses. She walked up to Romelle and Allura. "Romelle will be out of the hospital later today or tomorrow, it was just a cold and she's fine. Let's head back to school before we miss dinner." She adds, resting her hand on Allura's shoulder.

"You're right. Romelle, I'll see you tomorrow." Allura exhales, standing up and walking towards the door. The group followed, and they headed to Coran's car. The engine was once again ignited, and they were off.

About forty five minutes later, they had arrived back on campus. Lance, Pidge, and Hunk were dropped off at Terra and Coran took Allura to Arus.

The trio entered their room and collected whatever they needed for nightly activities. All three of them had swimming, which Lance was joyous about.

"Bye." Pidge mumbles as she exits the room with her bag slung over her shoulder. She gently shuts the door and heads down the hallway. She checked her watch before opening the front door, a gust of cool September wind bristling into her face, sending a few hairs askew.

She stepped onto the paved sidewalk, a pattern of taps as she calmly walked across the sidewalks of the luscious campus until she had arrived at the dining hall. Pushing the doors open, she stepped into the mostly cleared out buffet line. Soon, she was handed a plate and ushered forward.

Pidge had selected a small caesar salad, alongside a fruit cup and a glass of water. Instead of sitting with Lance, Hunk, and Allura, she went to sit with Keith. Gently setting her plate and cups down, she took a seat and began mindlessly nibbling, staring off into the blank beige walls of the large room.

"Pidge! Come join us!" Allura's welcoming voice entered Pidge's senses. The small girl put down her fork alongside the barely touched food to face the platinum haired girl. Allura's grin was obviously forced, a sign that she had truly not believed Romelle would be okay.

"Uh, I guess it wouldn't hurt…" Pidge mumbles, picking up her plate, and Allura grabbed the cups for her. Pidge slung her bag over her shoulder, and trudged towards the table where Lance and Hunk sat, deep in a conversation. Allura daintily returned back to her seat, as Pidge pulls out the chair next to Allura and plopped down.

"Are you worried about her?" Allura asked, her face creased with worry for her dear friend. Amongst the buzzed chatter of the surrounding students, Pidge had barely even heard her.

"Allura, she'll be okay." Pidge soothes, pushing her plate away. She wasn't hungry, plus she did have swimming directly after lunch. Allura exhaled, and rested her chin in the palm of her sunkissed hand.

"I suppose you're correct.." She whispers, staring off into the vast horizon that lay past the large windows near the south end of the Dining Hall. Birds soared through the blue streaked skies, fluffy clouds rolling across the sun, emitting different colors and shades of blue, as well as pink.

"I always am." Pidge jokes, attempting to lift the heavy burden that surrounded the group of friends. Wait, friends? No.. this was already falling apart. She's put everyone in danger of being expelled or arrested. She needed to slowly and gradually back away, returning to her corner of isolation.

"Yes, I suppose that is also somewhat correct." Allura smirked deviously, and Pidge clasped her hand over her heart as if she'd been shot through it. Allura giggled lightly, showing that she was improving her her upset state.

"Agh, nightly activities are starting soon, I must head off to the tennis courts, they're all the way across campus.." The tanned girl mumbled, dropping her dishes off at the conveyor belt and picking up her sports bag. Pidge watched as she exited the dining hall, and she too dropped off her plate. She walked into the bathroom and changed into a silky swim shirt, along with shorts.

"You ready, man?" Lance asks from outside the door. Pidge shoves all of her clothing back into her backpack and lazily tosses it over her left shoulder, feeling it flop into her back. Pidge exited the bathroom, and nodded.

"Yeah, let's go." She mumbles briskly, speed walking out of the building, and walking across the street to the athletics center where the pool was located. She gently placed her bag on a bench in a seemingly forgotten area of the locker room, and met up with Lance and Hunk, who just simply took off their shirts, because they had put on their swim trunks prior to dinner.

"Pool is just through that door." Lance informs her, and she groans with annoyance. She kicked Lance in the kneecaps and smirked as he buckled over with the shock of her hit.

"Don't baby me, Lance. I know more than you." She mumbles, which was completely true. She knew the Garrison was planning on killing most of Earth, or enslaving it. Which ever one it was, Pidge didn't understand why. She didn't even think she wanted to.

Hunk chuckles for a few seconds before verifying Lance was okay, and not going to pass out or anything. Pidge entered the pool room and was hit with the strong scent of chlorine, which disappointed her. They should at least get a saltwater pool. If you mixed chlorine with the wrong chemicals, they can kiss their school goodbye.

"Jeez, is he okay?!" Lance hisses at Hunk, who simply shrugs. Lance groans and drags a stunned Hunk into the pool room. It was the first day, and they were informed they had a free swim.

"Where's Pidge?" Hunk asks, scanning the water. Lance recognized Nadia and Ina from dance class, and they were with two boys. One of the boys had brown hair, with a lock of it pulled over his left eye. His skin was relatively pale, and he had brown eyes. The other boy had chestnut brown skin with an emotionless expression upon his face. His dark brown hair sat in wet dreadlocks as Nadia giggled over something that nobody else found funny.

"I don't see him." Lance shrugs, dipping a toe into the pool water. It was warm, but not too warm. It was the temperature of a sunny spring day, it felt like sunshine was embracing you gently, but was engulfed in a warm, gentle, breeze. Lance smiled as the sensation reminded him of Varadero Beach back in Cuba. He removed his toe and climbed up a diving board, stretching before he decided to leap in.

Hunk didn't jump in, he simply slowly entered through the staircase. A group of girls were huddled in one area of the pool, probably gossiping.

"I heard that Romelle girl is in the hospital because she's pregnant!" one girl said snarkily. Her hair was pulled into four ponytails, but loosely hung to give it a more natural look. She had violet eyes and very pale skin, light pink lipstick on her lips.

"But we're freshman…?" Another girl replies, shaking her hair. It was cut in a pixie cut, and dyed magenta. She had olive skin and brown eyes. She wore large hoop earrings, and crossed her arms.

"Luki, Nyma, It can't be true, Romelle is too sweet to do that." A girl who Hunk recognized as the one and only Shay mumbled with sincerity. "Trust me." she added, pleaing with her eyes. The other two girls, Luki and Nyma rolled their eyes before they began a new conversation. Hunk waded away from them and reached Lance, who was flirting with Nadia.

"Lance, stop." Hunk facepalmed, latching onto the Cuban's arm as he dragged him away from the group. Nadia appeared confused, and Hunk apologized for Lance's actions.

"Aww, Hunk!" Lance whined, pushing water into the Hawaiian's face. Hunk deviously smirked as he picked up some of the water with his large hands.

"Oh, you're on!" he laughs, tossing it at Lance. The two began a water fight, and Pidge observed from a seat on the shore of the pool. She sat down, covering herself with her towel. It was becoming freezing, and if there was one thing the world should know about the Holt's, it's that they absolutely resent the cold.

The cold was unforgiving, and murderous. Great NanNan always told her grandchildren stories about how one winter they'd been caught in a terrible blizzard, and barely escaped with their lives. The story was most likely the reason for the resentment, but nobody really knew for certain.

And of course, that was when Hunk and Lance had spotted her. Lance eagerly waved towards her, as Hunk shoved him off his feet. Pidge giggled lightly as Lance emerged from the water, shaking the pool water out of his hair as if he were a dog.

"No thanks!" she called over the echo of the room, and she could tell Lance was whining. She put on a straight face and shook her head. Lance slumped, and continued his war with Hunk.

"Tweet!" the lifeguard called, signalling it was time to get out of the water. The teens trudged out of the pool, dripping wet. They collected their towels and dried off. Pidge entered the locker room to collect her bag. She picked it up from where she left it, and exited the athletic center.

She took in the evening breeze and wrapped her dry towel around her tighter, goosebumps running down her pale and freckled arms. She shivered once more, and pushed open the door to the dorm.

"Greetings!" One of the boys in the dorm, Slav, she think it was, greeted. She waved and trudged down the left hallway, opening the door to her room. She gently closed it, and walked over to her bed. She quickly slipped on her comfy green pajamas, relishing as the warm fabrics met her cold skin. She exhaled with relief as Hunk and Lance burst in, surprising her.

"Hey, Pidge. Lance and I are just gonna wash up and go to bed, mkay?" Hunk mumbles, exhaustion evident in his eyes. Pidge nodded and collected her supplies for washing up as well.

Pidge, Lance, and Hunk had all gotten ready and had climbed into their beds. Pidge collected her laptop and phone. A ding went off as she received a text. She opened it, and it was a photo of Romelle and Allura.

'Romelle's back!' was what the text said, and Pidge understood it to have been Allura as the sender.

"Romelle's back." she announced as she went to check herr other messages. There were a few taunts from Max and his friends. Pidge hesitantly opened them and sighed with slight annoyance as rude messages came up on screen.

She deleted them, and shut off her phone. She gently lifted the metal lid of her laptop, allowing the luminescent screen to illuminate the room before she dimmed it. She began re looking through the files with her headphones, running a program that would uncover any similar codes to the one prior.

"Hey Pidge?" Lance drowsily asks as Pidge removed her headphones to give her ears a break from the weight the headphones had added.

"Hm?' She replies in a similar tone, getting up to collect an energy drink from one of her drawers.

"Could you sleep? Your keyboard is keeping me awake.." he mumbles, turning around pulling his sheets gently closer to his chest. "Please?" he adds for good measure.

With a defeated sigh, Pidge put the drink back in her drawer and shut her laptop, putting it onto her desk. She pulled the sheets over her, and curled up against her pillow. Lance smiles as he shuts his eyes, allowing the soft lulling melody of sleep pull him under.

Matt smiled at her as she embraced him tightly, avoiding pulling anything necessary off of his backpack. It was the end of the year senior camping trip, and Matt being the weeb he was, became psyched about the trip, making sure he was prepared for anything. And oh boy, Katie meant everything.

"What's the fireworks for?" she had asked him, and he smiled brightly, gazing towards the sky as if he were some superhero.

"Just in case I need to do something illegal." he finally shrugged, and Katie snorted out a laugh, and Matt had joined in. "What? I must be prepared!" He had reasoned, stifling his laughter

"Or you literally want an excuse to buy whatever you want." She had added, giving him one last hug goodbye as he and dad entered the bus that would take them off the the campsite. Katie was twelve, why should she suspect things would go wrong?

A few days later there was a knock on the front door. It all happened so quickly that Katie didn't really remember what happened.

And that was the night she broke. She punched her mirror, it shattered cutting her knuckles open. She had other intentions that night, but couldn't bring herself to leave her mother.

Though her mother felt differently. Two days later Colleen collapsed, because she'd been starving herself. It all went down quickly; Colleen was taken to the hospital, and Katie was left alone with pain and memories.

Was she even loved?

Pidge jolted awake, tears in her eyes. Her chest rapidly moved up and down as she choked on her sobs. She commanded herself to breathe, but it wasn't working. Her brain was betraying her. She screamed, not realizing that she took in air as she did so. She hugged her knees and leaned against her wall, her eyes widening in pure fear. Of what?

What was she scared of? She was going to die now, her breaths were short and choppy, and she continued to choke on sobs, tears rolling freely down her pale cheeks.

"Pidge?" Lance mumbled with exhaustion, rolling over as rays of moonlight hit the small figure. His eyes widened and he scrambled down the ladder, and sat down next to Pidge. He rubbed circles into her back, yet her breaths remained ragged. "Hey, Pidge, can you tell me who that is?" he asked, gesturing towards a sleeping Hunk. the large man had slept through her screams and sobs, and she took in a deep breath.

"H-Hunk." she whispered. Her breaths evened out and Lance sighed with relief, swarming the small girl with a tight hug.

"You okay? You had a panic attack.." Lance asked, and Pidge wiped away her tears, pushing Lance away from her.

"I'm fine, go back to sleep. It was just a nightmare." she lied. Lance exhaled and returned to his bed. He pulls the covers up to the crook of his neck and listens as Pidge does the same.

"Night." he whispers gently, shutting his eyes once again. Sleep pulled over him as he heard a gentle voice.

"Goodnight, Lance."

The day had passed quickly with nothing eventful. Coran was joyous about Romelle's healthy return, yet shocked she only needed one night to recover, given her condition. Shaking it off as luck, the day continued. Though, after dinner there was a bonfire.

"Pidgey!" Lance whined, roasting a marshmallow. Though, he paid no attention to the snack as he whined for the girl to sit with them.

Pidge insisted she stay near the torches that drove away mosquitos, due to the fact she hated getting bitten by the vial creatures, as she's claimed

Since Lance had paid no attention, his marshmallow soon caught on fire, yet still remained unaware of the flaming stick in his grasp. It wasn't until Nadia had pointed it out as if it were no big deal that Lance had freaked out. The flame had spread up the wooden stick, and the end with the marshmallow had already collapsed into the fire pit.

With a shriek, Lance had dropped the stick, setting the surrounding grass on fire. Keith had grabbed a seltzer can and doused the fire out, yet the students were still frozen at the face the grass was just on fire, thanks to Mr. McLame.

While the fire incident was over, the students began where they dropped off, serving barbeque, hamburgers, and other snacks that you'd have at a bonfire. Over the screams and roars of the partying kids, nobody noticed Slav Traz disappear.

Things were getting a whole lot worse, and it would only be a matter of time before more kids began disappearing thanks the the Garrison's master plan.

"Okay kids, party over!" Iverson yelled with annoyance over the loud partying, and everything stopped. The teens packed up whatever they brought and trudged back to the dorm.

It was probably the most tranquil the Terra dorm had been as of now until the dorm councillors called a meeting. Everyone gathered into the common room, sitting down in the sofas and chairs, looking at the councillors with curiosity for the reason behind the meeting.

"One of our students has gone missing." Ryner said with authority. The elder woman looked over the room at the student's confused faces, as they themselves looked around the room trying to figure out who was missing.

"Yoohoo." Sven mumbled in his strong Australian accent. He leaned against a wall, his arms crossed.

"It was Sven's roommate, Slav.." Ryner added with dismay, yet nobody in the dorm batted an eye. Sure, it really was terrible, and probably the most terrifying thing they'd every experience, but nobody could argue with the fact Slav was a perfectionist, and annoyed everybody with his constant complaining.

"Oh no." James mumbled with fake sarcasm, and his roommate, Ryan silently nodded along. The two boys left the common room and went for their room. The other kids in Terra followed along, until Pidge, Hunk, and Lance were the only students left in the room. Ryner smiled and looked at them.

"I trust that you will notify me with any information you may gather." she nodded with honesty, heading down the right wing to her apartment at the end of the hall.

"That's scary.." Hunk said, biting his nails. Lance cracked his neck and sat up from the sofa, Pidge and Hunk soon following. They walk to their room and get ready for bed. Nobody speaks a word that night. They climb into bed and sleep.

"Goodnight."

Before anybody knew it, the first week of school was over and everyone was exhausted. Pidge found a coffee shop nearby campus, and decided to spend most of Saturday curled up in the corner of the shop with coffee and her laptop.

Lance had roamed around with Hunk, exploring the extending campus.

Romelle and Allura went shopping a lot, and did a lot of 'Girls Night Out'.

Pidge managed to get into the Garrison's database by hacking through their website. She kept uncovering different layers until she uncovered a second website. It had lists of students, alongside their scores and IQs.

"What the—" she mumbles as she scrolls through the list. Some names were red, which confused her. That was until she read over the names in red.

Matthew Holt

19yrs

IQ-273

Samuel Holt

57yrs

IQ-289

Slav Traz

15yrs

IQ-196

And that was when she stopped reading the names. The Garrison was taking these people, and she had to stop them. And she hates herself for thinking this; but she needed help. She couldn't do this alone.

She opened her phone and turned on her VPN. She opened and sent a text.

Pidgeon Guys, I have something really important I need to tell you. Meet me at Starbucks.

Lance k? Me hunk will b there in a few mins.

Princess Of course!

Keith Uh, am I supposed to be in this?

Pidgeon Yeah, just hurry up.

She shut off her phone entirely and shut her computer, to save the battery until the others arrived. Romelle and Allura arrived first, followed by Keith, and then Lance and Hunk. The four teenagers sat around Pidge.

"What?" Keith asked, annoyed that he was asked to come out in public.

"The Garrison has been lying to all of us. Remember last year when the camping trip failed and Takashi, Sam, and Matt disappeared?" She asked, her eyes serious so nobody dared ask a question.

"Yeah." Romelle replies, her blonde hair spilling over her back as she leaned forward. "Why?" She adds.

"Because they didn't disappear. The Garrison is kidnapping people with high IQs in order to build some weapon." She adds, pushing her glasses further up her nose.

"Hold on, we don't know that for certain—" Hunk reasons, holding his hands out in a balancing gesture. Pidge shook her head.

"No. I know." She sighed, opening her laptop and showing them her screen. Allura's eyes widened, as well as Lance, and Hunk. Keith leaned in.

"What about Shiro?" He asked, looking over the list. "He was taken. Why isn't he on it."

"I… I think he was taken because he was with Sam and Matt… as far as I know, all of the disappearances happened near the woods. The camping trips, the bonfires, graduation…" she lists, counting off her fingers. "All of those took place on the dates of disappearance. And all of them are next to, or in Daibazaal Forest."

"And that means..?" Lance asked, looking around the room. "Are you sure this isn't a prank, actually?" He adds. Pidge scoffs.

"I know my dad and brother. They wouldn't just get killed by a bear." She retorts.

"Sam and Matt Holt are your family?!" Hunk gapes, looking at her again. "I can't believe I didn't see it!"

"Katie?" Keith asked.

"Yeah?" She replied