The team had landed on a lush planet with an arid atmosphere, similar to Earth. They had scanned for any known inhabitants, but it had come up blank. The rest of the paladins had agreed that this was the case, and had left their weapons in their respective lions, save for Keith.
Pidge was fairly trusting in the scans, but she lingered near her lion. There was still a margin of error; and if there happened to be natives here that didn't come up on any known database, that meant nobody had ever went on this planet, and since that seemed highly unlikely, that meant the natives had kept them from going back. To be perfectly honest, the only reason she kept her bayard in her lion was to keep everyone off edge. Allura had finally keened off her paranoia, even if it was slightly.
She was mulling these possibilites over when she heard rustles in the wooded area to her east. She ran into her lion, not being wary of the loud clangs her feet made on the metal. She threw off the papers littering an isolated box in the corner, and pulled out her carefully hidden bayard, activating it, and then running back outside.
She heard... Chattering. Like mice, or a rodent of some kind. She knew the space mice were with Allura, in her napsack.
Lance had made a comment about how things were bad when even the mice were hobos the other night, when they had gathered to eat on a nearby hospitable planet, a rare occurence. He had also gotten a face full of spicy alien food because of said comment. They were banned from that resteraunt.
She was taken out of her thoughts by a crawling feeling on her leg. She looked down, fearing some creature had taken hold of her.
She was right... Sort of.
She saw a little figure, which was latched onto her leg with a iron grip. The figure had purple wings of some kind, with pointy thorns sticking out on the edge of each one of the capilliares in the wing. The figure was wearing a tunic and skirt, made of some kind of leaf. The best descriptor for the leaf would be a maple of some kind, albeit jade colored.
Pidge's first reaction was to kick and thrash furiously, nearly tripping over herself trying to get the offender off her leg. Though she was mostly thinking about how sharp those thorns might be, there was also little thoughts of how this creature looked an awful lot like a fairy. She snapped herself out of it by thinking of how those thorns could potentially spear human flesh.
Pidge was thinking about waddling back to her lion and getting a fly swatter when the creature emitted a sensational yell, leaving Pidge's ears ringing. After her ears had gotten back to normal, she could hear the beating of wings. Not just one pair, though; it was a swarm.
"Oh, quiznak." Pidge cursed, running back to her lion, and grabbing her helmet. "Guys, we have a problem! Hostiles are on this planet, intentions are unclear, come back to your lions now!" Pidge yelled, grunting throughout the message in exertion at trying to pull the fairy off.
"Wait, hostiles?" Hunk questioned on the comm, seemingly oblivious.
"Yeah, there's inhabitants, but they aren't dangerous." Lance retorted, seemingly smug.
"Didn't you hear the comm line?" Allura asked, chattering of high pitched voices in the background.
"No... I left my helmet in the lion. I thought we agreed it was safe?" Pidge asked, incredulous. How could they have made a communication error this tremendous?
"That is no excuse for not bringing your helmet. There might be no emergency, but there also could be minor skirmishes not pertaining to alien threats we have to prepare for. If we have to travel this far to get back to your home planet, at least be cautious." That was Krolia. Pidge didn't know what to think of her, other than she was Keith's mother. She couldn't really think of her past that, but she was starting to see the no nonsense Blade of Marmora agent shine through.
"Okay, so why is there a pixie or something latched on my leg, and why is there a mob coming to swarm my lion?" Pidge asked, a bit of panic rising into her tone. A dark cloud was starting to move closer, and the chattering of something alien could be heard.
"The Frelionas Faes!" Coran brightly interjected. "They have been so gracious and kind to us, I've the faintest idea why they'd ever try to swarm you. Do you, Monhil?" Coran asked, prseumably to a fae. "He says no, by the way." Coran said after a beat.
"Why were they never recorded? This planet has been marked as uninhabited for decaphoebs!" Pidge asked, suspicions rising.
"We--wait--" Coran cut off, his comm malfunctioning.
"Coran? Coran! Anyone?" Pidge asked to the static. "Agh, come on, come on." Pidge grumbled, trying to readjust the antenna on the back of her helmet. She was interrupted by a big thump on her dash. The faeries had made it. Pidge cursed, launching her launch sticks forwards, sweeping the faeries out of the way. The fae latched knto her leg made a mewling sound, to which Pidge responded with a firm press against the metal compartment with her leg. "Can it, Tinker Bell." Pidge grumbled, dodging the clumps of faeries.
She then saw an alert come up on her dash. The sensors had saw the paladins below her, and they seemed to be tied up. "Knew it." Pidge groaned, lowering her lion down slowly. She got out of her lion quickly, the wooden sticks littering the floor scraping her ankles. "Guys!" Pidge exclaimed, running towards them. She first untied Allura, then Lance, then Hunk, and then the Koganes.
"Gracias a Dios, habia pensado yo era carne frescos por los hadas " Lance said quickly, shuddering. Pidge and the rest of the group gave him a confused look, not comprehending what he said. Lance crossed his arms. "I thought I was gonna be fairy food, that's the gist of it." He chuckled. "Funny how little Miss Hacker over here can't ev-"
"Lance, now is not the time." Keith interrupted sternly, walking ahead of the group. "If we don't get back to the lions soon, we might still be at risk at being swarmed."
Krolia nodded, looking at Pidge. "How far is your lion from here?"
Pidge made a more or less gesture. "About a mile, give or take. There's almost no clear land, I'm lucky I found one so close."
Krolia looked to the rest of the team, sizing them up. "Are you all ready to run?" She asked. The team murmured yesses, though Hunk gave noises of disapproval.
"Let's go. Pidge, lead the way. I'll give you the briefing of what went down." Keith said, and Pidge nodded. She started running, Keith and Krolia at a steady pace alongside her. Lance was closely behind the three, with Allura and Coran right behind him. Hunk was a good distance away from the two.
After a good five minutes of running, Pidge finally broke the silence. "So, about the briefing?" She asked, trying to lead Keith on.
Keith sighed, pointing at the fae still clenched on her leg. "That fae is an infant. We had a cultural exchange before they went heywire. Apparently baby faeries leave their mothers in search for milk. Typically they don't actually find anyone and return home after a few vargas, but..." Keith looked up a Pidge. "We came, and it seems to think your leg is a source of, uh..." Keith trailed off, not finding the words.
Pidge waved him off. "Okay, okay, so I have a mysterical baby fairy thing trying to milk my leg. Gotcha. Why is there a bunch of adult fairies trying to murder us?"
"You." Krolia added, looking at Pidge pointedly. "If we left you, we'd be safe." Keith gave Krolia a confused look, to which she responded with a sigh. "As for your question, the screech an infant releases once they find a source is a siren of sorts. The adults come and look at the source. Typically they'll leave it alone if it looks harmless, but humans nor galra are that way. The fae were terrified when they let us into their dwelling."
Pidge nodded, looking behind her. "One, two, three, four, five, six..." She counted under her breath. "Where is Hunk?!" She yelled, stopping in her tracks.
"R-right here guys!" Hunk yelled, putting his hands on his knees. "This is a workout. How far are we Pidge?"
"About two minutes, as long as we don't stop." Pidge replied, pushing her hair out of her face.
"Okay. Okay, think I can do this." Hunk exclaimed, standing up straight and breathing heavily. Pidge nodded and continued running.
"So, did they say a way to stop it?" Pidge asked worriedly.
Krolia shook her head. "Not explicitly. But, they did say all fae who leave the atmosphere will die, no matter the age. The adults will stop swarming once they lose the track. Just flying out of here would solve the problem."
Keith nodded, pointing at the lion appearing in front of them. "You go in that lion, and exit the atmosphere. We can manage running back to where we landed." Pidge could hear Hunk groan in the background, and she chuckled.
"This better work." She said.
"It will." Keith replied, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Just comm us if you need backup. In case the faeries can still track you."
Pidge nodded, and entered her lion. The trash floofs went towards the entrance, greeting her. She gently pushed them aside. "Not now, guys. I've got trouble behind me." She pushed her flight sticks forward, making the lion go up. "Hope this works." She mumbled, her hands fidgeting on the flight sticks. She crossed her legs so she could see the fae still on her leg. A couple moments later, the fae started to fade, particles of sparkly dust in it's stead. "Aw man, it even bleeds glitter?" Pidge asked herself softly, feeling pangs of guilt run through her.
She looked behind her, seeing the confused mob retreat back to the ground. She sighed, turning on her comm. "Mission complete. Mob has retreated."
Keith's comm crackled to life. "Got it. We're coming in on your trail."
Pidge ran her fingers through her hair and leaned back in her chair, nonchalantly wiping off the glitter. "No more rest stops, right?" She asked, jokingly.
Krolia deadpannedly said, "It would not have turned out this way if you took precautions."
Pidge crossed her arms, setting the course back for Earth, and turning on autopilot. "Guess I've started taking after Lance."
"Mhm, yep." Lance unabashedly replied, before noticing his mistake. "What's that supposed to mean? I'm not the one who got milked by a fairy!" Lance retorted.
Pidge sorted throughout her options for a comeback, but found none. She had done that, he wasn't wrong. All she could do was hope she wouldn't make a fool of herself again.
Life is fickle, however.