Sorry I'm late! Here's the chapter!
After changing out of their clothes into their Paladin uniform, everyone heads toward the command deck. When Lance came in he saw Allura type in the coordinates to, what he assumes, the Balmera.
As Allura does her helmsman duty, Lance watches Hunk wringing his hands as he concentrates on the Princess. Allura pulls up the hologram, showing them the quadrant that they are in. She taps on the controls at the edge of the command deck, causing a lot of the planets to turn red. He sees Allura's eyebrows furrow and Coran frown as they look at the screen.
"This is all the planets that Zarkon took over," Shiro states after looking at the map for a second.
"Yes and no. Those are the distress signals over ten thousand years, and so many planets have been sieged under Zarkon's reign. This also includes any distress signals from ships long ago." Allura explains as she sets course to a planet a varga away.
"This is why we need Voltron, to stop him from expanding and to help everyone." Pidge says as she raises her glasses.
"And we will, we'll form Voltron and destroy Galra influence," Keith says as he clenches his fist. His anger toward the Empire is impressive, it looks like he can rival Allura's sediments about the alien race.
A red symbol suddenly appears on the map and the two Alteans look at it. Lance gets the idea that Zarkon just took over some other planet.
"We must go help the distressed ship on the moon!" Coran exclaims and Lance looks at the map.
'That's a moon? There's too many symbols to tell what's what.' He thinks before he glances at his ansty best friend.
Hunk's eyes darted to Allura and the map before her. He is biting his lip and Lance reaches up to grip Hunk's forearm. His best friend is still jittery, trying to contain his anxiousness.
"What about Balmera?!" Hunk exclaims, no longer able to contain himself.
"Balmera is still our priority Hunk," Shiro starts, "but we need to help these people"
"Shiro is right, rarely anyone uses the distress signal. There are plenty of pirates around that can come and plunder their ships!" Coran says as he swipes his hand in the air, his fingers curled like a hook.
"But Shay. She needs us. She needs Voltron and we can go help her and her people."
"And we will, we'll just take a small detour. Our mission is to save as many people as we can." Allura states and Hunk's face pinches before he sighs.
"Fine." Hunk curtly replies.
Lance knows his buddy is angry, he rarely loses his temper. Hunk is the type of person to bottle things up. Normally he would press Hunk about the topic, to reassure him about whatever's bothering him, but that would involve the two of them going somewhere alone. They can't do that if they are going to go to the Lions' hangers if they are sending them out to assist in whatever distress signal is coming from the nearest satillite.
"I understand you want to help the Balmerans Hunk, truly do I. But a ship sent out a distress signal, and we aren't going off course at all. It won't take even a varga."
"Alright." He said with his shoulders slumped.
"Full speed ahead!" Coran declares as he points to the darkness of space before tapping on some buttons on the table.
Lance clenches his fist and touches Hunk's arm. His best friend looks at him and he tilts his head toward the door.
"Man I'm still starving, I could eat a horse. Hey Hunk, why don't you help me cook up something? You are the best at making things edible for me." He says with a wink and made a convincing growl from the back of his throat.
He mastered the art of faking his stomach growling, it got him out of a couple of awkward situations back in the day. Making a lame excuse to get food to abscond from whatever conversation he was in.
He saunters out of the room and he hears a second pair of footsteps behind him. As the two leave the room, Lance turns back to Hunk and leads them to a random room.
It is a semi-large room where there are six circular devices that are about a foot raised off the floor and a lectorum a few feet away from them. Lance leads Hunk towards the closest device and sits on it. Hunk follows his lead and he looks at his hands.
Hunk sighs before blurting out, "I hate this. Like I know Allura is right, but damn it Lance you should have seen it. It's just horrible the Galra colonization, and I knew that we were going to fight against this. I knew that ever since we signed up, and I thought I was prepared at the party. No, it's worse. The planet looked sick, the Balmerians looked weak, no just tired. They are a strong sort of aliens, people, but they resigned to the fact that nothing good is going to happen to them."
Hunk grips his hair, tugging on it, and he grinds his teeth. Immediately Lance reaches over to put his hand on top of his, to reassure Hunk that he is still here before he shuts everything out.
"The sheer hopelessness out of most of them, and the only thing they have is each other. The only thing that is strong is their bonds, and what if the Galra starts breaking that apart? They already took Shay, what if they start acting out? Putting themselves at risk and then being captured or killed. Everyone will mourn for them and it will just continue and continue." Hunk rushes out and then he goes silent. He stares out in front of him, his irises are shaking, his eyes are starting to water, and he is gripping his chest as he clenches his hair tightly. He can feel Hunk trembling. "I hate this. I hate this so damn much. Look at me, even with Yellow's help I can't help but be furious."
'Shit.' It's dangerous for Hunk when he gets quiet. He's ruminating and it might trigger an episode.
Lance gingerly move his fingers under Hunk's iron grip of his hair. He interlaces Hunk's hand and squeezes it-Hunk clutching it as his life depends on it-and he uses his other to hug Hunk. "Hunk we'll get there. It'll just be a little while. We'll save them."
"When we save them we'll help the planet. Allura will hand them a communicator, we'll call them whenever. Take a couple of selfies, and find out a way to distract Pidge from her laptop to download the pictures. You think she'll be pissed with us messing around with it?" He leaves the question hanging. Hunk is still quiet. He presses on, "Pretty sure she'll chase me around and try to zap me with her bayard. No wait, I beet she'll try to get Shiro to corner me or use the Castle's cameras to corner me before taking me down. Maybe she'll kick me in my gonads?" Lance shivers, "Man that would suck."
Hunk snorts and Lance figures he took a step in the right direction.
"Is it bad that I imagine her doing that? Like she could totally do it. Remember the time that Pidge went without sleep for three whole days? It was crazy, she was biting everyone's heads and she barely managed to scrape by with five demerits. Seriously thought she would have a lot more by causing everyone in the lunch line to fall down and then instigated that huge food fight." Lance recalls and he really did not like that day. He got mashed potatoes in his hair and the only reason why Pidge didn't get a heavier sentence was that she managed to shift the blame to someone else.
Truly Pidge is a devious devil when sleep deprived.
"Remember we were caked with barbeque sauce and it was the one day where we got some decent food."
"S-steak day, rewarding everyone's e-efforts a week after mid terms," Hunk says, as he salivates.
"Mhm, not as good as yours, but still it was better than anything else they had." Lance nods.
He's happy he's finally getting through to Hunk.
He cradles Hunk closer to his body. "What was your favorite meal over there? Mine was the steak obviously."
"It w-would have to be the limited time cinnamon rolls. They're always so fresh and they actually make it by hand."
"What? Seriously?"
"Yeah, they get up early to do that. Why do you think on exam days that they have that? Only to students who wake up early."
"That's why they are always moist." He says, recalling that is one of the few times where the food is completely warm, he thought they reheat the cinnamon rolls.
"I even got to see them make it."
"When did that happen?"
"You tend to exfoliate early for exam days. I slip away whenever that happens."
"Managing to leave undetected and come back in, man you are impressive. Looks like our outings were a positive thing after all, besides sneaking out to grab some pizza."
"But that isn't the point."
"It still got you to the cafeteria and back."
"That's because you took too long in the bathroom."
"Hey hey," Lance pokes Hunk, scowling a little. "Don't make fun when I'm keeping my skin perfect."
He notices two tracks of dried tear tracks and he hesitates. They already started bantering and he doesn't know if he wipes the smear if the bantering will unravel.
Sometimes it's hard to see what he should do. He knows Hunk needs to feel that he's there, he's past that stage, but it feels too soon to bring the attention back to the discord Hunk felt. Maybe in a little while so he won't relapse, but it won't be as bad as the panic attack. No, he doesn't want Hunk to feel bad again.
"It's funny because you're oblivious when you're inside."
"Tch no I'm not," Lance scoffs and he bites his cheek to prevent a smile from escaping, "I don't remember anything like that."
"I had to burst inside even though I was calling out to you outside and warned you I was playing those old musicals you love."
"You broke the sacrality of our altering movie weeks!"
"I warned you an hour before we started at night." Hunk rolls his eyes as he pokes Lance's cheek. "But someone didn't listen."
"In my defense Jose messed with my products. Little shit. Mixed everything up and it was horrible. I had to see what I could salvage or not."
"But that isn't the other times," Hunk teases and Lance stiffens.
"Man you are never going to let that go."
"Nope."
"I don't know if I love you or I hate you."
"Aw you could never hate me."
Lance stares at Hunk. Hunk raises his eyebrow. Hunk leans in and sticks out his tongue.
He snorts, "Who would ever hate that adorable face."
"I prefer the word handsome."
"Fine handsome." He attests.
"Where's the waxing poetry? You seem to be good at it in the mirror."
Lance scowls indignantly as his cheeks heat up. "Can it."
"'Look at this handsome face, I swear a goddess allowed my Mama to bestow me of this beauty. If only everyone can see my beauty and worship me.'" Hunk says, pitching his voice an octave higher.
"I did not say the end part." Lance protests as he touches Hunk's face and wipes his cheeks. "And I don't sound like that."
"I don't know about that." Hunk tilts his head and mirrors Lance's action, placing his hands on the side of his friend's face. "Thanks for cheering me up. I feel bad, Yellow's always been with me, constantly there, but she's trying to show me images then feeling her there."
"So you actually feel Yellow huh."
"It's like she's giving me a hug or she's right behind me. She rarely shows me anything besides this time," Hunk sighs, looking at the ground.
Lance recognizes that his friend will start to berate himself again. "Just remember I'm here and Pidge. Rant at us or something. Take a load on us so you can keep warm in the all enclosing presence of Yellow," he says before whispering, "I hate it when you bury your feel"
"Technically I wasn't burying them. It's just been intense the past few days."
There are times where Hunk becomes hyper focused and will become demanding if the project he is working on isn't met. Lance suppose that this situation took things to another level with his best friend.
"No kidding."
"Don't worry it was just stress and things are starting to sink in. It's one thing to talk about stuff and another to experience it." Hunk sighs before getting up to stretch. "Come on, we wasted enough time here, we need to get back from our kitchen escapade."
'Has Hunk ever been this mature?' Lance wonders as he stares at his friend's back. He knows that Hunk is a worrywart, who can be serious, but funny at times. He is intense when he's focused on one of his projects, but he is easy going once he's doing something else.
He clenches his fist, 'Looks like I have to step up my game.' He nods, affirming his thought, he needs to keep things together with Hunk and the rest of the team. He can't fall behind, but he has to make sure that others aren't going to just be focused on fighting all the time.
"There you two are!" A familiar voice shouts. Coran comes through the door with two bottles just as Hunk was about to leave. "I've been looking all over for you two."
"Sorry Coran, we kind of explored a bit of the ship," Hunk lies as Coran hands a green bottle to Hunk.
"No worries. But Hunk, I want you to try my new concoction. You did say you have a superb palate on the Castle." Coran winks as he shoves the bottle into Hunks hand.
Hunk takes a tentative sip of the drink as Lance walks towards them.
"Didn't know what this room is, but it's a lot of empty space." He comments as he keeps an eye on Hunk's face. His friend turns a bright red and he's fanning his mouth.
"Ah the documentation room. Holographic images of planets we explored and the inhabitants on it." Coran says wistfully before noticing Hunk panting. "Careful, the mixture is a bit hot, but it rejuvenates the body."
"Ah fink ah burn mah tongue." Hunk says, as he clenches the green bottle.
"Forgot to give you the cooling agent. Just a drop so you don't freeze your whole mouth." Coran cheerfully states his disturbing message as he hands him the orange bottle.
Hunk snatches the bottle from Coran's hand and holds it over his mouth. He shakingly uncaps the bottle and tilts it to his awaiting mouth. Hunk is hyperfocused, his eyes are practically crossed as his tongue waves out of his mouth frantically in hopes of having some sort of relief.
Lance watches raptly as the orange gel that smells like cinnamon slowly leaves the container. The moment it does Hunk tilts the container up as his tongue touches the liquid. He pulls it inside his mouth and he shivers.
"Sweet but super cold. Feels like my teeth are aching." He comments, rubbing his face.
"Well that out of the way, the Castle has docked on the moon, so let's meet our distressed companions!" Coran cheerfully says and before he turns around he says, "Come on Lance. No use in hanging back. The room may be cool but there's a time and place for everything."
"Got it." He said.
"Everyone's heading to the entrance, meet them up there."
He didn't know that they already landed, then again, he wasn't paying attention.
Hunk is already walking in the direction of the entrance of the Castle. Lance leaves the room, as he goes through the door Coran gives him a thumbs up. He's confused but he figures it's just one of Coran's quirks.
Lance catches up to Hunk and the two of them power walk to the group. Lance turns around to see if Coran is coming with them, it looks like he left the corridor to another room.
'Guess he has something to do. Prep the Castle if the distress call is fake and we get jumped. He was so happy to see it though,' Lance recalls the determined look that Coran had when it was announced that people were still using distress signals. 'What am I thinking? He's getting some stuff up and running again from the invasion.'
As Lance and Hunk are going down the halls, Lance noticed that Hunk is starting to tense up. He comments, "We'll be out quickly you know. Find out what they need help with, it might be them stranded or in the middle of a fight."
"If there was a fight Allura would be on the coms telling us to get our Lions."
"I guess they're stranded. Luckily we have the best mechanic around."
The two manage to catch up to everyone as they were about to leave, they had to run so that the entire group can go together.
"Wait up!" Lance shouts.
"What took you so long?" Pidge asks.
"Had to make sure that we had everything in our pockets." Lance says as he pats his pants.
His bayard is there, along with his phone in a separate compartment. Sometimes a man wants to take pictures in space.
They walked in relative silence, Hunk was vigilant, along with Shiro, Keith, and Allura. Pidge was scanning the area in front of them, and Lance has his shoulders squared back. He might as well try for Hunk even though he doubts that whoever sent the distress signal is really out to gun them down.
Unsurprisingly, Pidge is the first one to point out a damaged ship and Lance sighs in relief. It was a false alarm, no need for everyone to be tense and ready for an attack. He glances to his best friend from home. Hunk relaxes a bit, but there is still suspicion in his eyes. It's unwarranted since even Shiro quickens his pace due to the validity of the distress signal, and Allura keeps pace with him. Keith is right behind Shiro and everyone walks toward the ship.
Three figures are in the distance, and Lance sees that one figure is purple, another yellow, and the last white. As they get closer to the three stranded aliens-two Lance corrects himself-he notices that the purple alien looks handsome in a rugged way.
'Catherine would have loved him,' his thought begins before Lance banishes it. He gazes at the gorgeous woman with the biggest purple eyes. He forces his eyes away from her, he shouldn't get distracted by her. He glances at Hunk who is frowning as he stares at the space ship.
Lance doesn't realize that everyone is talking to the stranded aliens and their robot. Said robot looking uncomfortable with Pidge all over it as she is asking various questions. He seriously shouldn't have spaced out-ha-and he should pay attention now.
"We can provide assistance in any way we can Rolo," Allura informs the purple skinned alien, whose eyes widen a bit.
"Thank you Allura. Our ship needs some work before we can fly. Do you, perchance, have someone who can fix it?" The alien, Rolo, formally asks and Lance can't help but think that Allura introduced herself with her title first.
"I'm on it." Hunk shouts, already stalking toward the side of the broken ship where there is smoke coming out of it.
Lance winces. At least Hunk kept his tone even. Pidge glances at him then to Hunk and back again. Normally Lance would use one of their code words with her, but there isn't one for Balmera or Shay yet so he just jutted his hip to the side and quirked his eyebrow twice.
Code: Do not engage. Aggressive.
Aggressive can be interchanged with stress, but given how Hunk was earlier, Pidge can assume the code is for aggressive. Technically she would be right, as people get aggressive when they are stressed. More snappish, but with Hunk...he internalizes. The three of them use it constantly at the Garrison, and their instructors didn't even have a clue of how they were communicating. With the situation as it is now, they shouldn't bother Hunk quite yet. He may have helped him earlier, but the big guy needs time to process things. It'll be better for him if he or Pidge can keep an eye on him in public rather than bombard him with their talking, then have him be alone.
Shiro starts to make a campfire and everyone-sans Hunk-gathers around the fire. Lance keeps away from the group, eyeing Hunk and occasionally sneaking glances at the female alien.
Pidge turns her head back to the robot she was on, praising it once again. He knows she understood the exchange, she was the one who would give the signal to them whenever she was finishing up with a personal project and didn't want to be bothered. That didn't mean that they didn't bother her so that she can get out of her dorm and can actually have a break. Lance recalls the hard textbooks being thrown his way.
He tunes into the conversation. "-planet destroyed by Galra. I managed to escape," Rolo says, telling his tale. "Before I lost something." He taps at his left leg.
"Got some things ready." Hunk calls out, a little more cheerful with the parts beside him. No one at the fire really heard him and Lance saw Hunk frown before getting to work.
"What can you tell us about Zarkon's forces?" Allura asks and Lance sees Pidge climbing on Breezer and riding it.
'No one's concerned about her?'
"Zarkon's command ship is at the center of the Empire. He mostly sends out his generals to other quadrants to keep up the status quo." Rolo declares, clenching his hand tight. "This quadrant is under Sendak's reign."
"We met." Keith crosses his arms and gazes into the fire.
"I'm sorry but we're kind of in a hurry," Hunk says as he approaches the group by the fire.
Just as Hunk was going to confront them, Nyma gets up from sitting on one of the chests. Nyma walks over to him, and she props her elbow on the tall box that he is leaning against. "I can't help but notice I didn't catch your name tall one." She says with her lips quirked upward.
Lance coughs. "Sorry about that. I was taken with your beauty." He doesn't wink like he'd usually would when delivering his solid one-liners. He can still see Hunk working on the cargo ship, but he can't leave a lady hanging. "The name's Lance."
"Well Lance, do you know my name?" She maneuvers herself to lean toward him slightly.
"Of course I do Nyma. How could I ever forget a pretty name like yours?"
"Oh you are too kind Lance." Nyma chuckles, "Unfortunately Nyma is a common name from my home planet."
"And what planet is that?" He inquires, wanting to know so then he can find out what is in the Castle's database.
He's interested in alien lifeforms when they aren't being hunted down by Zarkon. The feeling of wanting to know more was spurred on by Coran who told him so many stories of his adventures. Some of them were outlandish-like the time where he fought off two grizzle size Morinals which are reptilian creatures with two tails that have spikes shooting out of the tails that are coated with a chemical compound for paralysis and sharp claws-and by all accounts he should have died. Still, stories that Coran tells is something he loves. It makes him feel connected when he's only texting his family, bothering his team, practicing his suave moves when he saves a distressed alien, and training aka gun tricks.
Nonetheless, Lance would love to know the name and maybe there is a basic picture of the planet surface. He wonder if there are others who look similar to Nyma, a population full of beautiful men and women. Heck, he'd bet his left shoe that the kids are adorable.
Lance notices that Nyma takes in a sharp breath and he gives her a concerned look. She says, "Cizar. It isn't what it once was."
'Shoot, backtrack. Really put my foot in my mouth there. Good going me, you deserve a reward.' Lance quickly says. "Sorry. I shouldn't have asked something like that."
"It's alright Lance," Nyma flashes him a small smile, "you didn't know. It seems though the more planets we pass the more they are under Zarkon's rule."
"Not Arus. There must be plenty of planets out there without the Galra."
"Not to sound like a pessimist, but that is few and far between."
"It won't be for long. Voltron will annihilate the Galra." Lance flexes his arm. "You can count on us."
"Isn't that a child's tale?" Nyma asks, her eyebrows furrowing slightly.
"Heck no, you're talking to one of the paladins." He points his thumb to himself, smirking.
Nyma is quiet for a moment. Lance notices that she looks at Shiro, Pidge, Keith, Allura, and Hunk before glancing at him. Her purple eyes widen. "Is that why most of you are coded to the supposed limbs of Voltron?"
"You bet."
Nyma cocks her hip toward him and her lips curl upward. She taps his chest, where the blue V of Voltron is. "I'm guessing you are the Blue Paladin."
"The one and only." He winks at her.
"Hard to believe that a Paladin is around in this day in age."
"We aren't going anywhere." Lance declares before looking at Hunk. His friend is working on the spacecraft, and then he glances at Allura, who is talking animatedly to everyone. "Let me show you something. Follow me."
He moves away from the crate and slips out from the group. He glances behind him to see that Nyma is silently walking a step behind him. Her yellow hair trails behind her and he slows down a bit to stay step-by-step beside her. The two of them head to the Castle and Lance whispers to her.
"Let me tell you, you are going to have a once in a lifetime opportunity, well maybe more." He admits before shrugging, "To see my partner."
"Partner? I thought the members of Voltron are already partners." Nyma inquires as the two of them stealthily heads into the white spaceship.
"True, but my partner, along with the others, is an unsung hero. People tend to forget about that gorgeous woman."
"Gorgeous? Should I be jealous?" Nyma teases startling Lance.
He knew his charms are potent, nothing can mask his 100% awesomeness coupled with sensitive masculinity, and he wasn't even using his maximum game. He was using half of his charms, and he has to admit, playing coy and interested does bring a lot of ladies. Not enough as being blunt and pulling all of the moves in his arsenal.
"Maybe if you're jealous of someone who is white and blue and is shaped like a lion."
His response left Nyma quiet for a long moment., The two quickly slip through the front door and Lance guides Nyma to the command deck. As the two amble through two corridors, Nyma finally says, "Your Lion?"
"Bingo."
"Is this the same sentiment that Rolo has when he calls his blaster Hellina? I swear boys and their toys." Nyma shakes her head before she sharply inhales. "I just didn't assume that you would be like that Lance. You don't seem like the type to do such a thing."
Lance chuckles as they go up a corridor, "I don't name my things like some guys-" 'Not going to tell her about Manny the Musket' "-but Blue is a special girl."
"How is i-she a special girl?" Nyma asks, and Lance can't help but feel his heart warm for the beauty beside him.
She actively trying to see things his way, which touches his heart, especially when she was adamant about her opposition with her partner's blaster. People like that are hard to find in his opinion, and even if he and Nyma can't get close-which he doubts it-they'd still be friends.
Lance bites his cheek, pondering on the correct analogy to describe Blue's wholesome self. A thought strikes him as they are four hallways away from the command deck. "Breezer. He acts like he has his own personality right?"
"Of course, he has some a.i. programming for emotions. He isn't the top of the line stuff, but he's a core part of the group." Nyma says as her arm brushes against Lance.
"Blue's kind of like that, but more. It's hard to explain."
'How does one explain that your partner literally shows you her emotions when your distressed or providing you contentment when you are both lazing around in the hangers or anywhere in the Castle?' Lance thinks as he struggles to verbalize his intimate emotional experience with Blue. 'Most people would think I'm crazy. Not that I am and I love our relationship Blue.' He sends out joy, contentment, and love.
An image of him lounging in his pilot seat in Blue flashes in his mind's eye.
Happiness. Languid.
His lips quirk upward and he scrunches up his eyes to draw up an image of Nyma. 'You're going to meet a new friend of mine.'
Interest.
An image of Lance wiggling his eyebrows.
Mirth.
Lance would be huffing because Blue is being sassy, but he's in some company. He would think about how Blue managed to bring up a short memory of him wiggling his eyebrows in a short video he took to send to his family-along with Hunk's parents and his friends-when he was in the kitchen. He was messing with the food goo machine with his hand covered in the stuff as he wanted to show them what he and the others were eating if Hunk wasn't cooking.
Immediately he focuses on Nyma. The blonde alien is staring at him intently and he felt like smacking himself. He shouldn't spaced out like that when talking to an interested lady.
"Sorry about that. Trying to think about how I should say how Blue's so different without sounding like a lunatic." Lance chuckles as he scratches the back of his neck.
He realizes that they are close to the command deck, just straight ahead.
"Come on Lance, I won't think anything like that." Nyma says as she touches her upper arm. She's giving him a wide smile.
"Well, Blue can send me her emotions. Like she can't express them physically like Breezer can, but mentally." Lance holds his breath as he watches Nyma's face intently.
The easy going smile on her face, one that morphs into pouting as she studies him intently for a second. She stops walking to stare at him before she finally opens her mouth. "That is certainly odd, but I can assume it's because Blue is an important part of Voltron. Obviously she would have something special about her that makes her different from regular ships. Although, having an ability of empathy found in some races is surprising."
He sighs in relief. "You believe me."
"Why shouldn't I? Lance, you've been honest this whole time, so why shouldn't I believe you?"
"How do you know that?" He teases as he leans toward her before stepping in front of the door to the command deck. It opens and the two of them go inside.
"I'm an excellent judge of character." She banters back, as she follows him to his portion of the room to get to Blue.
Not that she knows, but Lance can't help but feel excited of showing someone the zipliner to get to Blue's hanger. It was fun going down it, even though the first time was an emergency when they had to destroy Sendak's fleet.
"I don't doubt you. Now let me show you something cool." He steps in front of the opened wall and beckons the alien to come with him. They go down a short elevator shaft.
"Where are we going?" Nyma asks as she stares in wonder at the blue lights surrounding us in the elevator.
"To see Blue. Come on, we're going to get to my favorite part." He says as the elevator stops. The zipline is right above his head, and he turns to look at Nyma. "Hold on tight to me." He puts his hands on the thin metal and waits until he feels strong hands wrap around his chest.
He pushes off from the platform, and the two of them are zooming past everything. Lance hears her laughing. He joins in with her, howling out, "WOOHOO!"
They are descending fast, gaining momentum and Lance can see the light at the end of the tunnel. 'Come on Blue you know what you got to do,' He communes and he sees the familiar Lion's head at the end. He nods his head as he sees an image that she sent him.
"You ready? I'm going to let go right about...now!" Lance calls out and Nyma screams as he does so.
Blue opens up her maul and they soar into her mouth. He sees his chair move toward them before it stops, as Blue already calculated where they would land. During their fall, Nyma's grip on him turns vice-like. The two of them fall into the chair, Nyma on the seat while he is sitting on her lap. He tries to correct himself as the chair immediately goes inside, and Blue takes control to put the pilot seat back in it's position by her controls.
Nyma releases her grip on him and he situates himself to be more comfortable as Blue opens the hatch to the control room. "So how was that?" He asks as the chair stops moving.
"It was...exhilarating!" Nyma declares, she gushes out, "I want to do that again!"
"Looks like Blue pulled out all the stops for us. Got to thank you girl." He says, and the controls are online the moment he acknowledges his partner.
He feels Blue purring, the slight vibrations around them, and it seems like Nyma couldn't feel it or thought it was nothing.
"And you do this all the time?" Nyma asks, her eyes dilated as she looks at him.
"Yep." He says and realizes he should have said yes. It would have been cooler to do that, but he doubts that Nyma would really mind. She's interested in him, she's open to new things, and she trusts him when he showed her one of the most important part of his life.
"Then that means Voltron is actually true." She whispers to herself, and Lance catches it. She looks at him and says, "This is amazing. Lance, you're amazing."
"You bet I am. Now I happen to be a guy who keeps on giving, and why don't I give you a test run of what Blue and I can do." He says as he situations himself, going to the edge of the seat this time.
He's a pilot, and he knows it's best to sit up and fly. Even though he liked sitting in Nyma's lap.
'Come on Blue, why don't we give her a good show?' He thinks as he touches the controls.
Blue takes off from the hanger, and out of the Castle. Not even a few seconds and they are already making headway off the moon. Lance is focused on the screen, but he keeps his ears open for Nyma's gasps of amazement. He bets that the cargo ship she, Rolo, and Breezer fly in can never be as fast as Blue or any of the other Lions.
Blue has a burst of speed as they leave the moon in a corkscrew. Nyma's crying out in joy as they are dodging asteroids and doing aerial spins. Lance spots a planet a fair distance away, and he flies near it. He figures it would be nice to see some wildlife. Hopefully the fauna on the planet won't try to kill him.
Statistically speaking, plantlife shouldn't be carnivorous. Lance is willing to bet on that, otherwise his impromptu session of showing Nyma how cool being a paladin is will bite him in the ass. 'Or ruin the date if she see's it as a date.' Lance thinks before glancing at Nyma again.
"I'm going to land on that planet there, maybe a little sightseeing before going back to the moon." He suggests as he eases Blue down to the mesosphere of the planet.
"That would be great, not to mention I'd like to feel how smooth Blue's landing is."
Lance can feel Blue's pride from the comment. It bolsters his own and he descends into the stratosphere and then the troposphere. He spots a clearing that is a short distance away. Landing on the purple colored grass-carefully and he didn't have Blue make the trees that are a fair distance away move-Lance gets up from his seat.
His ass may be a bit squished, a pilot seat is not fit for two, and he holds out his hand for Nyma like a gentleman should. She accepts saying, "Thank you," to him.
He flashes her a smile and the two of them walk out of the control room to the ramp of Blue's mouth. Lance stops for a moment, putting up the visor on his helmet specifically for readings and oxygen, to survey the planet's oxygen levels. There is sufficient oxygen here and he deactivates the visor. and sees a reading on his helmet saying that there are oxygen levels on the planet that are enough for him. He takes off his helmet-the visor automatically shuts down-and looks around the beautiful planet.
He can't help but feel lucky that he get's to experience things that the majority of humans never got to experience. Even if fighting in a intergalactic war is a downside, at least he'll be helping out aliens-meeting new people-and saving them from the Galra.
He and Nyma walk in the clearing, and he follows her to a single tree in the middle of it.
"I want to show you something special," Nyma declares fervently, and Lance can't help but smirk.
"If that's what the lady wishes then go for it." He says and she walks closer to him.
She gets in his personal space, and he never noticed that Nyma is half a head taller than him. She is a few inches from his face and Lance knows what she's going to do.
He closes his eyes and purses his lips.
In a second he feels deft fingers hold his wrists-his helmet escapes his hands-and something cold is around his wrists. He opens his eyes to see he is cuffed to the tree and he leers at her, "Kinky."
Nyma takes a small object from her pocket, presses one of the buttons, and looks at him. "Sorry about this hotshot, but don't take this personal."
Lance's eloquent response is, "What?"
Nyma ignores him in favor of tapping away on the object and Rolo's face appears on a small holographic screen. 'A communicator,' Lance figures, his eyes widening.
"Sending my coordinates now as I have the package." Nyma says, her voice devoid of the playful undertone since he met her. She taps something on her communicator and it takes about half a minute for Rolo to respond.
"Good work. I'm already off the moon, have been for ten doboshes. Heading to Planet T25J-04." Rolo states and Lance can't help but glare at the communicator before Rolo's face immediately blinks out.
'To think I thought he and Nyma looked hot.' Lance scowls at himself, he should have realized that there is some truth to the hackneyed saying of never judging a book by it's cover. The two were friendly enough, but they were really backstabbers.
'Package? What package? Unless they mean me, but how are they going to take me out of the tree. Sure Nyma has the key, but why would they want me? I'm handsome and all, but I shouldn't be this popular.' Quickly his thoughts flash to Nyma's disbelief about Voltron actually existing and his eyes widen. 'Holy crow she's going to try to take Blue.'
Lance sees from the corner of his eyes that Blue activated her particle barrier. 'At least she'll be safe.'
He struggles against his binds, "You're not going to get away with this." Lance glowers at the female he thought was his friend.
"Funny. It seems like I have you exactly where I want you." Nyma says before walking toward him. She touches his face, "Really Lance I do like you, but I like GAC a lot more. The Galra are bound to pay a few thousand for one of the Lions."
"Why are you doing this? Voltron will save the universe!" Lance shouts and Nyma puts her fingers under his chin and lifts it up.
"What makes you think we haven't already tried? Resistance is futile against the Galra, everyone I cared about is dead!" Nyma responds, barely restraining herself from yelling. Her eyes mist over, recalling a time long since past.
"It may not be much now, but we are going to free everyone from the Galra's tyranny." He declares, and Nyma snorts.
"Like that'll ever work. The Galra Empire has been around for 10,000 years, what can you do? Free a planet here and there? But the universe will never be free." Nyma turns away from him and walks toward Blue. The cargo ship that was broken is already entering the planet's atmosphere. "Voltron can't start a war, the most likely scenario is that causes a skirmish."
"You know I sort of had this conversation with Hunk the other day. You know the big worrywort."
"Your friend is wise. It seems that he is the only one with enough sense in your team. Your Princess was a bit too optimistic for this war." Nyma says, not even bothering to turn around as she heads toward her ship when a tractor beam is lifting Blue into the air.
Lance can't help but bristle at the comment. Allura and Shiro are wise too, not just Hunk. Shiro just got back from escaping from the Arena and Allura was there at the beginning of the war. The Princess is only trying to remain positive for a dire situation, she's doing the best she can. He recalls seeing her sullen face when she thinks she's alone, but the moment she notices him she has her guard up.
Blue is already in the ship and Lance struggles again. He feels Blue's anger and her frenzied agitation. He sees an image of her being in the cave they found her in, a distorted image of her pilot leaving her, her loneliness.
"Blue!" He yells out mentally and verbally.
He feels his partner give out a acute calmness before she returns to anger and agitation. He stares at her disappearing form as she is taken into the ship.
Even in dire situations she manage to try to keep him level headed.
He grinds on his teeth. Anger bubbles in his chest, and he looks down to the ground. His helmet is there and instantly a plan forms. He just needs to get his helmet. Contact his team and then they can go save blue.
With that in mind he manuvers his leg to bring it closer to him. Stretching himself at odd angles before moving around the tree to get closer to his helmet. He manages to touch it with the tip of his foot and awkwardly. He flips it upward, and the helmet falls on his head. The helmet is on the ground and Lance lowers himself to angle his head through the helmet, straining his neck and back. Finally the helmet is on.
"Communication activate," He says, thankful that there is a voice activation option besides touching a button to talk to his team. "Guys, Nyma and Rolo stole Blue."
"What?" Keith says.
"I knew we shouldn't have trusted those guys." He hears Hunk declaring his sediment toward the two aliens.
"Rolo just left this satellite, we should be able to catch him," Pidge mutters, and that provides Lance some relief.
The chase won't take too long and he doubts that on the cargo ship there is wormhole technology in there.
"Regardless we need to bring back Blue." Allura commands and he hears everyone chorus out "Yes."
Lance hears his team running, to the Castle or they are already inside it and are heading into the command deck.
"Alright team, once we are in our Lions keep an eye out on our long range sensors. Fan out to pick up their signal before converging back." Shiro declares and the comms remain open.
Lance keeps his mouth shut, he doesn't want to distract anyone right now. His heart hurts, his friend betrayed him and she took Blue away from him.
'Why do I think she's my friend?'
He's furious with her, her actions betrayed the trust he had in her. She stole Blue away from him, the only girl he felt an instant connection with when they got into space. He felt that way with Hunk and Cicero when he first met them. They're his best friends-Pidge is to but he has to be honest with himself, the girl is slow to warm-due to that.
He sort of understands why Nyma did that. She alluded that she tried to overthrow the Galra Empire. She lost a lot of people that she cared about, people close to her, who could understand her.
She lost hope. The will to fight, and she trusts no one. 'Maybe Rolo,' Lance corrects himself as he stares at the sky.
He sends comfort to Blue, and a short snippet of the conversation he heard from the rest of the team. She needs reassurance, but Lance figures she knows that she's going to be saved. If Black could wake up with the help of the Lions, then all of them should sense their sisters. Lance will eat his slipper if he's wrong.
Lance can feel Blue purr in acknowledgement, and he still feels her agitation. It lessen somewhat and he wonders if she listened to her musings.
Sometimes Blue doesn't know when to butt out of his thoughts.
Lance sees an image of Pidge rolling her eyes.
"Someone's a sassy Lion," he mutters to himself before sighing.
"What was that Lance?" Hunk asks, and Lance turns his attention to him.
He forgot that the comm was on, then again Hunk was talking to himself a lot and he tuned him out.
"Nothing!" Lance chirps out, thinking momentarily before lying, "Just wondering what Lou would say. Something sassy."
"I'm going in!" Keith declares and Lance is puzzled.
"What's going on?" He asks.
"Rolo and Nyma flew into a asteroid belt and Keith's the only one agile enough to get to them." Pidge says, 'Weren't you paying attention?"
"I'm trying to make myself comfortable here."
"How exactly did Nyma get the best of you? I thought you would be all alert and like a panther." Pidge says and Lance can feel his face heat up.
"Later." He curtly replies, not wanting to hear this conversation.
Sometimes Pidge can be a little shit. Maybe it's because he annoyed her one too many times in the Garrison and on the Castle, but he is not saying anything over the comms. Shiro would hear this, and while he's old enough to know about flirting-he could care less about Keith-he is not going to have the man's respect toward him lower. He wants to be his prodige, his right hand man, and if Lance is being honest, his relationship with Shiro is still not that strong.
Sure they have the mind meld. Everyone trusts each other with their lives, but respect is a whole other ballpark in his opinion. Not to mention Allura and Coran can hear this. He does not want Allura to know that she is not the only woman he flirts with, she may be the lady in his life, but he wants to love everyone. Flirting with someone isn't exclusive, and people do it for fun all the time. He wouldn't mind saying that in front of everyone-sans Allura because she would think of him as the lowest of the low even though his intentions were purely fun-but the humiliation of thinking of being kissed and being in this situation.
Everyone will talk about this for weeks.
"Surrender you have nowhere to go!" Lance hears Keith yells out-he's broadcasting to the cargo ship-and he lets out a sigh of relief.
"Good going Keith!" Pidge says, and Lance assumes she's not broadcasting it.
"Yeah, I would have never caught up with them." Hunk said, "Yellow's built for taking down ships not chasing them."
"I'm going to follow them out of the belt. Be ready if they do anything," Keith says through the comms before broadcasting, "Rolo, Nyma get out of the asteroid belt. Failure to comply and I'll assume you'll attack."
Lance hears something faint. "I read you loud and clear."
'You hear that Blue? You're going to be free!' He makes sure to emphasis his joy toward his Lion.
Slight annoyance. Worry.
He's perplexed. Why would Blue be worried?
Blue doesn't bother to explain herself through images, and Lance sighs. Blue will open up to him when she's ready.
Mirth.
'So you do get a kick out of me being confused.' He thinks which he hears something akin to loud rumbling aka Blue's laughter.
Sometimes having a 10000 year old being-or over, he doesn't really know how old Blue is, she never gave him the exact year of her birthday-linked to your mind is not worth it. He has an inkling that she can see all, and occasionally chooses not to show her emotions or images.
'Sorry about you getting catnapped.' Lance apologizes as he tries to sit up while being cuffed to a tree. 'Sorry for being useless. I should be able to get out of this, if only I had my bayard in hand. Then again some of the tree could fall on me if I shot it.'
Acceptance.
'You're seriously not going to hold this over me? Weren't you angry that you were catnapped?' Lance would not accept something so readily unless whoever messed up was one of his best friends or close friends.
Unless the slight annoyance was Blue processing what happened.
Lance sees a short image of Shiro sighing and an image of Coran waving his hand to a question immediately replaces it.
'Fine you win.'
An image of himself with his chest puffed out exaggeratedly.
Lance rolls his eyes, sometimes Blue can be a bit ridiculous to her constant emotional comfort.
Lance clears his throat, "So is anyone going to come pick me up? I'm kind of chained to a tree."
"What do you mean kind of? You tied to a branch or what?" Keith asks.
"Well I'm tied to a tree."
"There we go." Keith says facetiously.
Grumbling Lance says,"What is with everyone giving me sass today?"
"What sass? I'm just clarifying something." Keith huffs.
'Were you annoyed about the whole cradling me in your arms and just holding me thing? Holy crow you are.' He grins, he is so going to hold this over him. "Right."
"So you don't want me to come pick you up?"
"No no no no, come get me. I'm on planet uh-" Lance tries to recall what Nyma said and Blue saves him.
She replays the image, leaving the sound, and he parrots what Nyma said.
"Planet T25J-04. Please pick me up, my knees are hurting," he finishes lamely.
"Since you asked so nicely." Keith said and Lance's eyebrow twitches.
'What's he talking about? I am always nice.' He wisely keeps his trap shut, he wants to be off this planet. "Thanks," is his clipped reply.
"Is Blue on the moon yet?" Lance asks, he might as well ask his team.
He could ask Blue, but it is a hit and miss with her. 'Blue you want to show me where you're at?'
Nothing.
'You mad?'
Nothing.
'Blue? You there? I guess you're tired.'
"Yeah. Rolo reversed the tractor beam. She's safely there. Allura is talking to Rolo and Nyma down below, not sure what." Keith said.
"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that everyone's communicator is off."
"Maybe. What you don't like talking to me?"
"I have the faint assumption that they're keeping quiet because they want to know about the tree."
"-wear to the heaven's Pidge if you do not unmute me." Hunk warns and Lance raises his eyebrow.
"You're unmuted now." Pidge says.
Lance doesn't realize the amount of power that Pidge has. She can mute people, she muted herself and Hunk from them. Lance knows she is a tech genius, but she is scary good.
"Good. Anyway as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by someone, I was right-" Hunk is muted again.
"Seriously Hunk?" Pidge says and she clicks her tongue.
"I thought he would have learned his lesson by now," Keith said. "I'm guessing Shiro took off his helmet."
"Yeah he did. He's talking to the three of them with Allura. Coran's in the back giving them the stink eye."
"So that's why it's been awfully quiet." Lance muses aloud.
"You got to tell us, how did you get tied up to the tree?" Pidge asks.
"Uh I'll tell the person who is going to save me. Who has to pinky swear to never tell anyone how this happened, even to their best friends." Lance quickly says.
"I bet it's an interesting story, especially with the scene I see."
Lance looks up to see the rapidly approaching red figure in the sky.
"Don't say anything!" Lance shrieks out.
There is no doubt in his mind that Pidge will hold this over him.
"Say what exactly? It's not like I can't hack into the Lions to see the feed." Pidge says and Lance gasps.
"Wait you can do that?!" Lance and Keith chorus out together.
So much power in one little person's hands. Pidge is truly a terrifying gremlin.
'Blue you better resist if Pidge hacks into you. It's not right to do that. You're your own person.'
Red lands in the clearing and lowers her head. After a few moments Keith walks out of Red. His eyebrow is quirked upward, and Lance thinks he sees the teen smirking.
'Is he laughing at my predicament? Not cool man. Then again I would be laughing on the ground if he, Pidge, or Hunk was like this.'
"You look comfortable," Keith states as his eyes travel up and down his form.
Lance is still on his knees. It's difficult to get back up because he has to raise his arms, he would have to squat awkwardly. His thighs can't handle it, and he knows he has to hit the training room.
"Can you help me?" He asks, raising his arms a little higher.
"Let me see if I can cut you free." Keith says and he takes out his bayard.
He crosses the distance and slashes at the laser like chain. The bayard cuts through the tree and the chain breaks. Lance falls onto the back of his knees, and he sighs in relief.
"Thanks dude. You're cool." Lance said, flashing the short teen a smile.
Keith returns it with a faint grin, and deactivates his bayard before it goes into the space pocket on his uniform. He offers his hand and Lance takes it.
"Thanks I guess?" Keith says like he never got a compliment before.
The two of them walk to Red and Lance feels uneasy about this. It feels wrong going into the supposed headspace of a being when he wasn't chosen. 'She isn't going to expel me right Blue?' Lance thinks as the two step into Red's mouth.
An image of himself shrugging.
He'll take that answer. Lance tentatively walks behind Keith as he goes into his chair.
"So," Lance starts as Keith touches the controls. "You want to know how I got cuffed to the tree."
"I thought you were literally tied up." Keith said as Red shifts from her crouching form to standing up.
"I wish I was." He said as he clenches on the back of the seat as Keith takes up, but the take off is smooth. "It would be less humiliating."
"What did you do?"
"I might have thought we were going...to kiss." He coughs, looking away from
"Lance." Keith drags out his name. He doesn't bother to look behind him as they are already leaving the planet.
"Well first it was fun. You know, show off that I'm a paladin. Now don't look at me like that, we did that with the Arusians too. Just, not how I did it." Lance said, attempting to defend himself.
"That was different. They saw Voltron and not the Lions."
"Potato tomato."
"That isn't how the saying goes."
"Well it rhymes and it's pleasing to the ear." Lance flips his hair dramatically.
"Of course," Keith says as he rolling his eyes.
"Anyway back to my story. I was reading the signs you know, and she said she had a gift. A universal signal for a kiss."
"You do realize that we are in space. Different cultures from the ones on Earth," Keith remarks as he directs them to one of the moons.
"I know that but she even leaned in before going for the cuffs." Lance says and he thinks, 'I should seriously learn how to be good at hand-to-hand in case something like this happens.'
He looks at Keith, who is concentrating on the moon up ahead of them. He was the top student at hand-to-hand combat in the Garrison, and while Lance got better, he knows that Keith got better if he was in the shack for a whole year because he felt Blue's energy.
Maybe he should ask for some pointers in training from him later.
"Sounds like a whole lot of bad luck." Keith says and to Lance it seems like he's saying, "Looks like she played you."
"I guess," Lance sighs before continuing, "just don't say anything to them. I don't want everyone to think I'm an idiot."
Keith opens his mouth, about to say something as they approach the moon that the Castle is on, before closing it. Finally he speaks, "It isn't that bad."
"Seriously? I thought she was a friend, sure I was showing off, and I thought she was actually interested in me. Then I find out that she used me for Blue. Blue! I lost her, and I couldn't do anything to get her back. I felt so helpless, you ever felt that before?" He rants, something heavy is in his chest.
He should have felt this in the moment that Nyma took Blue. Instead he thought about her, and why she did this. He should have been distraught that he would have lost one of the few things he felt a actual connection to. How many people could feel emotions from another? To see images from another's eyes? To communicate via thoughts to one another? He would have lost someone essential in his life, someone he didn't know he was missing until he found her.
Blue is someone that people on Earth would romanticise about their platonic soulmate. Maybe Keith was supposed to bring him to Blue, that's why they had similar reactions. Hope rises in his chest. It's nice that Fate managed to give him a guide to Blue.
"I have." Keith whispers out and he lands Red.
Immediately the hope in his chest vanishes. He is horrified about what he said.
Fuck. He forgot that Keith was waiting for Shiro for a year. Hoping that Shiro would appear from the Kerberos mission safe and sound.
"Think of it this way. They are both safe thanks to you." Lance tentatively says as Keith gets up from his seat.
"Yeah, I guess they are." His violet eyes meet his blue before walking ahead of him.
He stares at Keith's back a few moments, snapping out of hit when he feels vibration from the floor. Lance takes his que to run out of Red, passing Keith completely. He halts for a second and spots Blue. He immediately heads toward her, bolting past everyone.
Her particle barrier is still up, and as he draws near, it lowers. He runs to her, to her paw, and he hugs it. "I'm so sorry! That'll never happen ever again! I'll do everything in my power to never leave you like that!" He declares fervently as he clutches her paw.
Even if Blue forgives him, he'll never forgive himself. He needs to get stronger, otherwise incidents will happen again and again. He refuses to be the weak link in the team, to be useless in any situation, and captured with the need to be saved like some damsel.
"As touching as to see a Paladin reuniting with his Lion," Allura calls out and Lance turns to her, "there are other duties we need to fulfill. Everyone bring the Lions back into the Castle, we have a Balmera to save."
AN: Dealing with a panic attack you either try to get the person to talk to you about it-but it's difficult-or you distract them from their worries. It's a scary thing for the person having the attack and the one who is comforting them because they both feel helpless.
It's scary seeing someone you love becoming trapped in their mind, and sometimes they're unresponsive or you can't make out the words they are trying to say. Lance happened to be there with Hunk, and he knows that he was going into one, and he tried his best to negated it.
If anyone is interested, Coran did know that Hunk was in the middle of a breakdown. It's why he brought those two drinks.
Nyma's part. Honestly she was a difficult character to write. She has an act, to be seductive/manipulative, and be friendly. No doubt in my mind that she can be friendly, but this girl fought for her planet, joined a resistance group, lost, met Rolo and the two of them are their own little team, and the two are trying to get by. That is why they took Blue, even if they are going to damn the universe if they succeeded. To be fair, Lance wasn't his usual energetic self. He did not tell them about Voltron being made up of Lions. She would have thought that Voltron was just being 5 Lions who do not combine to make a giant mech.
