Katie felt…awkward to say the least.
Lance was by her side, one of his hands absentmindedly rubbing circles into her shoulder as he looked over her screen. It wasn't him that she minded, oh no. It was everyone staring at them.
She held in a sigh, continuing on with her work on the Galra finder. Hunk had said that everyone knew— he even said that it seemed everyone approved. But from their stares, she wasn't so sure.
Maybe it would just take them a while, she told herself. Quiznak, it took her some time to get used to it, too. Was it really so strange, though? She and Lance had always been close…but she supposed that this was rather different from their normal banter and high fives.
Her laptop pinged, and Katie cleared her throat. "The ship is staying in the beta quadrant hiding behind this planet," she said as she made a hologram appear. The map showed the planet she referred to, as well as the stray Galra ship's location. They'd received a sighting a few vargas ago, but they almost didn't believe it until Katie found some radio chatter to back up the claim.
"How is this possible?" Allura asked, sounding frustrated.
Coran shrugged. "Guess this straggler got left behind at their post. Even they may not know what's happened."
"Doubtful, the Galra's communication systems were top notch," Shiro hummed.
Keith scoffed, "They were probably cowards. Didn't wanna get in the fight."
"Uhhh, can you blame them?" Hunk remarked. "We didn't exactly go easy on the rest of their people."
"And for a good reason," Lance muttered quietly, so that only Katie could hear.
She smirked a little, then refocused on the hologram. "Our best point of entry would be here-" she pointed, "-from behind this asteroid belt. It's pretty stable, so navigating it won't be a challenge."
"Need cloaking?" Matt suggested.
Katie shook her head. "Not likely. The light from the nearest star reflects off the dust created by the astroid belt— they won't see us coming with that glare."
"You genius," Lance said affectionately, squeezing her shoulder.
There was an awkward silence, and everyone blinked simultaneously at them. Katie wanted to groan out loud. Seriously? What was so weird about that? Why are they all reacting this way?
Finally, Shiro cleared his throat and nodded. "Then it's settled," he said. "Allura, Coran— get us to that planet. Everyone else? Suit up and get to your lions. Keith and Lance, switch back to your originals. I'll take Black this time."
A combination of "yes, sir!" and "on it!" rang throughout the room, and everyone set about their business. Katie shut down the hologram and got up from her chair, not at all surprised when Lance took her hand.
"You know, I've been thinking," he started as they walked down the hall, "do you think Blue will accept me? I mean, I know we've been doing this whole switch-back-and-forth thing for a while now, but sometimes she's fussy."
Katie laughed, pushing the button to enter the room where they kept their armor. She reached up and grabbed her black under suit. "It'll be fine, Lance. But if it would help, then I'll come with you."
"Really?!"
"Yes," she chuckled, walking into the room off to the side to get changed. She popped out a minute later, noticing how Lance stared at her for a moment and then turned away, blushing. "Saw that," she teased.
"Yeah, yeah," he muttered bashfully. They put on their armor, all except for their helmets, then turned back to one another. Lance stepped forward and took her hands in his. "I'm just glad Keith and Hunk aren't here yet," he murmured, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
She frowned. "Yeah, where are they?"
"Doing important stuff, I'm sure," Lance waved it off. "Come on— let's go visit Blue!"
Katie laughed again, allowing herself to be dragged along by her enthusiastic boyfriend. She could remember her last encounter with Blue like it was yesterday. The day after their first date, her and Lance had decided that they needed to inform Red and Blue of their latest development. Red had welcomed her warmly— if not a bit hesitantly at first. But Blue— well, Blue was over the moon. Lance had blushed bright red, stuttering out something along the lines of "talked to her about you a lot…always tried to get me to tell you…"
As they drew near Blue's hangar, Katie felt one of the new doors at the back of her mind open up. It was weird…her and Lance still hadn't figured it out entirely. These new bonds seemed to be controlled by the lions, not themselves. Only the lions could decide when it was open and when it was not. In the end, her and Lance shrugged it off. Stranger things had happened, and the magical powers of the lions weren't to be questioned.
The moment they entered the hangar, Katie chuckled. Blue had her barrier up, and her side of the bond was exuding loads of annoyance at Lance.
"Oh, come on, Blue!" Lance groaned. "What do you mean I haven't been seeing you enough? I spent all day yesterday washing you!"
"Yeah, but then you left early to see Red," Katie reminded him. "Blue doesn't like feeling like she comes in second place."
Lance frowned, walking up to the barrier and placing a gentle hand against it. "I'm sorry, girl, I didn't mean it like that. I guess I have too many ladies vying for my attention these days," he chuckled, giving Katie a fond look. She gave him an encouraging smile.
He turned back to look up at Blue. "Will you forgive me, girl?"
Blue's eyes twinkled, and there was a soft growl. The barrier came down, and Lance sighed with relief.
"I still don't understand how you get my lion more than I do," Lance told Katie, shaking his head.
Katie smirked. "Female intuition. Now listen, I've gotta get going—" she said, grasping his hands in hers. "I'll be fine, okay?"
Lance gave her a nervous smile. "Well of course you will. What made you think I was worried?"
"Your emotions are pouring over the bond," she told him, and he winced. Katie sighed, getting up on her tiptoes and cupping his face. "I'm going to be fine," she said firmly. "And if I'm not, then I know you'll save me."
Lance's worried eyes suddenly turned fiery with determination. "One hundred percent," he stated. He leaned down and kissed her forehead, and she responded by kissing his cheek. When her lips left his skin, they brushed close to his, and she swore both of them sighed wistfully.
"I'll see you on the comms," she whispered.
He nodded silently, and she had the feeling it was because his voice wouldn't cooperate if he tried to speak. She squeezed his hands one final time, then forced herself to walk away. The second the door shut behind her, she felt Blue cut off the bond. She sighed with relief, holding a hand to her heart. Lance's anxiety had been so overwhelming, she nearly couldn't stop herself from holding onto him and never letting go.
By the time Katie arrived at Green's hangar a few minutes later, though, she was grinning ear to ear. Green had felt her distress and decided to send her all the happy vibes she could. She knew her lion had been getting a little stir crazy lately, and this mission was just what the daring duo needed!
The comm line crackled, and Katie put her helmet on just in time to hear Shiro ask, "Paladins, are you ready?"
Katie all but ran into the cockpit, hopping into her seat and calling, "Ready!"
Green rumbled happily, and Katie grinned. "Let's go, girl!"
Green roared, and they were off. Racing through the inky darkness of space, swerving to avoid each astroid that was in their way. Katie was vaguely aware of the other lions— particularly, Blue— by her side, but she focused on her own. If she was honest, she'd missed this. Not the war, but the feeling of being one with your lion, flying along and feeling like you'll never have to slow down.
There was a sad purr, and Katie patted the handles. "I know, we'll have to get out more," she thought aloud. "Maybe we could take a day trip to Olkarion with Lance and Blue?"
Head in the clouds, my Paladin?
Katie blushed, squinting her eyes into the distance to try to focus. "Let's talk about my love life after the fight, okay?"
There was an amused rumble, and Katie let out a breath, knowing that the subject had been dropped. They came to a gentle stop on an asteroid, and Katie took in the view. Sure enough, just as they'd thought— a Galra ship was there, lurking at the side of a small purple planet.
"Everyone have a visual?" Shiro asked.
"Yeah," they replied, before Keith asked, "What's our play?"
Shiro came up on her screen, looking hesitant. "Pidge, are you absolutely sure we shouldn't use cloaking? This astroid dust doesn't seem bright like you said."
"The rays from the star refract and cause the glare only at a certain angle, and we're facing opposite of that angle," she rattled off. "They shouldn't see us coming."
Nodding, Shiro said, "Alright team, we'll go in with our lions. Keith, you rig an explosion on the main engine. The rest of us will distract and disable. Understood?"
"Got it!" they shouted.
The comm screen disappeared, and Katie tightened her grip on the handles. "Ready girl?"
Always, my Paladin.
Katie let out an excited whoop, and with one punch forward, they were headed into battle. All was still for a moment, and she grinned, knowing that her theory had been right. But then—
PEW PEW PEW
She gasped, directing Green into a barrel roll to avoid the shots. Where had those come from? Katie turned them upright, and her heart stopped.
An entire Galran fleet was raining down on them in droves. They were everywhere— left, right, above, below. There seemed to be no end.
"Shiro!" Hunk shouted. "What's happening?"
"I don't know," Shiro said, then grunted when a blast hit him. "Keith- forget the explosions! We've got to— agh!"
The scene turned to chaos before her eyes. The Galran ships were firing at them every which way, and that's when she noticed it— the angle they were coming at was forty five degrees adjacent to them, not parallel like she predicted.
Her eyes widened in horror. She'd made a miscalculation.
"Katie!"
Lance's voice brought her out of her daze, and she shook her head. "Yes?"
"Get moving!" he shouted, and she suddenly realized that he'd been blocking hits with his lion in front of hers the whole time. Blue turned around, eyes twinkling. "Go! Go! Go!"
In a flash, she shifted the gear around and blasted off the asteroid. As she rushed in toward the center of the battle, it was all she could manage to avoid the constant barrage coming from the Galran fighters. Then finally, she found a clearing.
Katie spun Green around, thrust her bayard in, and unleashed a rain of their organic rays. Green held out a steady stream, hitting fighter after fighter all in a line. Grunting at the exertion, Katie forced herself to hold the bayard in. Just a few more seconds, and there'd be a clear path for the others to fly through…in three, two, one!
She pulled the bayard out, breathing heavily. She patted the control panel. "Good girl," she panted. "Now come on, let's get back to everyone els-"
SCHHZOOM
Katie screamed, flying forward out of her seat at the impact force of the blast. Her helmet fell off mid flight, bouncing against the floor. She heard a loud crack, then static. Then—
tssssssssss
Her eyes flashed open in a panic. No, no, no, no, it couldn't be—
She pushed herself up from the ground, gazing up at the control panel in horror.
The oxygen tank had been hit.
Lance was whipping around as fast as he could, Hunk on his right providing protection and Keith on his left setting fire to anything Galran in sight. Lance fired off a few more rounds of his laser, each one hitting their intended target perfectly. He was in the zone, focused on the mission and nothing else, not even his querida Katie. Maybe that's why he nearly keeled over when the door at the back of his mind slammed open.
You must come here! My paladin is hurt!
Panic from an outside source was flooding through, and Lance stilled when he realized who it was.
Green, what's wrong?! Tell me!
We were hit— my Paladin forgot to strap in— her helmet is damaged— the cockpit is depressurizing— PLEASE HELP.
His heart twisted painfully. He knew it! He knew this would happen eventually! They'd seen him protecting her earlier— they'd targeted her, his Katie, they'd—
A fury like he'd never experienced before seized hold of him.
Get her back to the Castle, now.
He felt Green nod, and he pushed the button to comm Shiro. The leader appeared on the screen, looking confused.
"Lance, wha-"
"Katie's been hit," Lance said through gritted teeth. "I told Green to take her back, but you have to go with her to get her out once they land. The cockpit is depressurizing, and she won't last longer than three minutes."
Shiro mastered his confusion into a solemn nod. "I'll go, but you should come too. Paladins," he said, opening up the channel to the others, "Fall back, Pidge has been hit-"
"No," Lance ground out. "I'm staying. They're gonna pay."
He didn't wait for a response, charging forward and shooting every purple ship he saw. One hit, three more. Two in one shot, then another. He didn't stop— couldn't stop, not until every single one was down. Not until they knew what happened when you messed with his girl.
Lance knew he was out of control. He knew he had to stop, think rationally and get into formation to finish the job. But then, the image of Katie wheezing on the ground for lack of oxygen filled his brain, and he began firing even more relentlessly. He wanted to make sure every last Galran was dead. Quiznak, he'd infiltrate the ship himself to make sure of it. He'd—
"Lance, get out of there!" Hunk shouted. "Keith's rigged the bomb— let's go!"
He came to a full halt, his chest rising and falling rapidly. This anger— his anger— wouldn't change anything. And Katie was waiting for him, back on the ship— but what if she wasn't? What if she wasn't okay? What if she hadn't made it?
Hunk's words registered in his mind, and Lance shook his head. He had to get back and make sure she was okay.
"Coming," he panted.
Hunk and Keith were waiting for him on the outside of the blast zone. He didn't need to see their faces to know that they were shocked at his rage. Lance was too.
The blast of Keith's bomb echoed hollowly as they flew away, and Lance found that it gave him no comfort.
The second he landed, he ran. He ran and ran and ran, one thought and one thought only on his mind: Katie.
When he finally stepped into the pod chamber, his heart stopped. One of the pods was up, sealed shut and frosted over. Shiro was there, talking softly with Coran. They looked up as he entered.
"She got back just in time," Shiro told him, but it all sounded fuzzy in Lance's ears. "Her oxygen levels were nearly depleted. We…we think she'll be okay after a few days."
And that's when he broke.
A gut-wrenching sob found its way up Lance's throat, and he dropped to his knees. He was surrounded immediately— Hunk rubbed his shoulder, Shiro was in front of him mumbling words about how it was going to be alright, Allura rubbed his back, Keith placed a hand on his other shoulder, Matt hugged him, and Coran bowed his head solemnly.
The tears poured down, and even as his family surrounded him, Lance couldn't stop whispering, "Por favor, Dios, por favor…"