A/N: Guys. This is so much longer than I meant for it to be. Like, at least 2000 words longer.
But there was so much Paladin fluff I needed to include. So I hope you like fluff, with a side of angst.
Disclaimer: Again, I own nothing.
After Hunk had informed Lance and Allura of the plan it was quickly decided – by Hunk and Allura – that Lance was not in any condition to be piloting his lion (he tried to argue, but even his protests were weak and lacking the usual amount of hand gestures as it was clear motion still largely pained him). Within another few dobashes they were on their way back to the castle, Hunk and Allura in their respective lions and Yellow flying with Red clutched in her gigantic paws. Once they had all landed (in the large communal hangar typically used for visiting ships in the center of the castle as Hunk did not think it would be wise to try to fit both Red and Yellow in Yellow's hangar), Hunk left Lance with stern orders to not move before exiting his lion to go assist his friend. He was met on the ground with an anxious Shiro and Coran and an almost frantic Pidge.
"What happened?" she demanded immediately upon seeing him, "what happened to Lance? Is he okay? Why isn't he flying his own lion?"
Shiro placed a calming hand on her shoulder, "Pidge, I'm sure everything's fine. Hunk said he'd explain, but you need to give him a moment to do that before you start grilling him." As he said this though, he was looking at Hunk himself, his dark eyes asking just as many questions as Pidge's frantic words.
Hunk heaved another deep sigh. He didn't exactly know how to have this conversation, but he knew they couldn't avoid it. He saw Allura exiting Blue motioned for her to head into Red and help Lance while he explained the situation to the others. She nodded quickly and disappeared into Red, leaving Hunk with no more distractions to avoid the conversation at hand.
He looked at the small anxious group in front of him. While he was not terribly pleased about having to explain the situation to them, this was much better than the conversation they could have been having, had things gone a little bit differently. He shuddered a bit at the thought – it would keep haunting him, he knew that for a fact – but dove in to the story. There was really no "nice" way to start it, after all.
"When the power failed after we first got the shield up," he started, "the plate that Lance and Allura had fused back together shorted out, and ended up causing an explosion with all of the excess energy. Lance was keeping an eye out from higher up, and noticed that Allura was in the direct path of it, so he flew down and pushed her out the way."
He paused and looked at the three gathered around him. None of them looked particularly surprised by that revelation, more resigned (Hunk was so going to use this as evidence next time an argument with Lance about his disregard for his own safety came up – which was a lot).
He quickly pressed on, not wanting to have to stop for questions. Not now.
"So of course, Lance managed to get Allura and Blue clear of the blast zone, but not himself. He was hit was a massive electrical explosion, which flung Red outside of the shield and drained all the power from her. But the radiation belt was coming, and the shield needed to be fixed, so I couldn't get to him, and he wasn't answering his comms."
As he spoke, the feeling of helplessness he had felt on in that moment returned to him. It must have showed because Shiro gave him an encouraging, but sympathetic look. The black paladin knew better than anyone else what it was like to have to put your duty ahead of your feelings. He gave Shiro an appreciative smile before moving on.
"Allura was able to get to him though, but after she got into Red I didn't hear anything from either of them, so I headed over to Red as soon as I could. When I got there – well, apparently…Lance died. In the explosion. The explosion killed Lance."
There was a collective gasp from his audience and three looks of horror and despair met his eyes when he looked at them all. Quiznak. He didn't know how to best say it, and in trying to find a why to say it nicely he had not only failed, he had failed epically.
Quiznak.
Before he could try to back peddle and fix the error of his words, he was interrupted by Pidge, her face white and her eyes panicked, "But, you said he's okay? He's okay right? He's not…" she trailed off, unwilling to say it, unwilling to even voice the thought of loosing a brother.
"He is!" Hunk assured her quickly, "He's alive! The explosion killed him, but Allura found him and used some sort of Altean energy magic and now he's not dead?" He looked at Coran for help. Physics and mechanics he could do, but this space magic was beyond him.
Coran looked surprised, "Altean alchemy! The transference of quintessence between living beings! That is very difficult, I don't think I've ever heard of it being used successfully to revive someone like that before! How did Allura manage that without completely draining herself as well?" the older Altean asked in concern.
Hunk shrugged, "She said she was able to use her bond with her lion to provide enough quintessence. She also said something about it possibly only working because Lance had also bonded with Blue I think."
Another voice, clear and lightly accented sounded from behind the group before Coran could delve into the specific explanations of what had happened.
"I do not believe that it would be impossible to do with someone else, I simply meant that it was much simpler because of the bond between Lance and the blue lion and also because I was able to start so quickly. Lance's quintessence had not had the chance to dissipate much."
The whole group whipped around to see Allura and Lance painstakingly making their way down the ramp of the red lion, Lance leaning heavily on Allura.
"I guess it's a good thing my quintessence isn't as speedy as I am then," Lance quipped, his voice strained.
The group stared at them in wonder for a moment before Pidge broke away, flinging herself at Lance and landing in a desperate hug that almost rivaled the one Hunk himself had given Lance.
Lance stumbled slightly, but smiled fondly down at the smaller paladin.
"Hey Pidgeon, you miss me?" he asked with a lightly teasing tone.
At that Pidge pulled away from him enough to be able to look up at his face. Then she scowled and hit him on the arm – much lighter than she usually would have. "Don't scare me like that! Why do you always do this?!" She sounded exasperated, and scared.
But before Pidge could continue her assault on the red paladin Shiro walked over, placing a hand each on Pidge and Lance's shoulders. "Pidge," he said lightly, "now's not the time to beat him up." Pidge scowled and Lance looked relieved before Shiro continued, "You can do that once he's been checked out and we know he's fine." At that, their expressions switched. Pidge gave Lance another, much softer hug.
"I'm really glad your not dead anymore," she told him softly.
Lance smiled and ruffled her hair lightly, "Me too, Pidgeon."
She scoffed and stepped away, trying to get her hair to lay flat again, leaving Lance to switch his attention to Shiro.
Before Lance could think of anything to say to the black paladin Shiro tightened his grip on Lance's shoulder, "Are you alright?" he asked the younger boy softly.
"Yeah, I am. I mean, a little sore and maybe not quite up to taking a long walk on the beach just yet; but I'm up and I'm breathing so I'll take it."
Shiro smiled at him and pulled Lance into a hug much gentler than the others he had received, "I'm glad to hear it. You had us really worried."
Lance looked sheepishly at the others over Shiro's shoulder, "I'm really sorry, I didn't want to worry anyone."
Shiro stepped back to look Lance in the eyes again. He looked like he had more he wanted to say, possibly about the inherent risks of always jumping in front of the explosion, but all he said instead was, "It's not your fault. You did a good thing Lance, I'm just really glad you're alright too."
With that he stepped away. Lance looked at the others assembled in front of him. " I really am sorry everyone, I really didn't mean to make everyone worry."
From her spot next to him, Allura spoke, "Lance, you did something noble. I, personally, truly appreciate that. If you had not done what you did, I would likely be dead. I am just glad I the alchemy worked, and that you are alright."
The other's nodded along with her words, and a blush started to creepy up Lance's neck. "Wow, thanks everyone. For the record, I'm glad I'm not dead too." Everyone chuckled at that and Lance grinned. "Now," he said, removing his arm form Allura's shoulders, "don't we have a shield that needs repairing?"
But his words were undermined by the fact that the moment he tried to stand on his own, he nearly toppled over.
There was a collective cry amongst the group as Allura, who hadn't moved, grabbed him again.
"Yes," said Hunk, "we do have a shield to repair, but you don't." Lance tried to argue, but Hunk carried on with much more force than usual, "Lance, you can't even stand right now. You were dead an hour ago. I'm pretty sure I speak for everyone else when I say that you are going no where but the infirmary right now." His words were followed with nods and noises of agreement from the others.
Lance opened his mouth like he was going to argue, but Hunk wasn't having it; "No buts. You are staying here with Coran. They rest of us are going to grab out supplies and fix the shield." He looked at Lance again, and his voice softened, "You've done more than enough today Lance. But you've also been through a lot, and none of us want to see you get hurt again before you've even had a chance to recover."
Lance sighed, but nodded. Sensing the resolution of the argument, Coran stepped forward.
"Come my boy," he said to Lance as he strode forwards and put Lance's other arm over his shoulders, allowing Allura to step away, "let's get you to the infirmary where we can see how you're doing." As they began to walk away, Lance – who had been trying to carry the majority of his own weight – stumbled again. He looked around at the assembled faces sporting worried expressions and mumbled another sheepish apology.
"None of that now," Coran said firmly before anyone else could interject. "Your body has been through a tremendous shock."
He paused and winced as he realized the unintentional pun, "I mean to say, that you were just electrocuted with an unimaginable amount of electricity, your body is going to be affected by that. It's only natural, nothing to be ashamed of and certainly better than the alternative." At the last part, the older man's voice grew softer and he tightened his grip on the lanky paladin.
Hunk had a strong suspicion that it was not solely for the purpose of getting a steadier hold on the boy in his arms. Though there had been no extraneous show of emotion from Coran in these past few dobashes, Hunk knew that he and Lance had a bond that was much different from that other the other human paladins. The royal advisor cared for Lance deeply; his affection for him only second to that of Allura, the princess he had helped raise and the only other remaining member of his race. He knew that once they were alone in the infirmary that Coran would let Lance know exactly how relieved he was, but he was not the type to put on public displays of emotion when there was work to be done.
"Yeah, I guess you're right Coran. Still sucks though," Lance said forlornly.
Coran chuckled at that, "I'm sure it does, but it's nothing we can't fix." With that the pair headed out of the hangar and into the infirmary. The remaining paladins looked at each other.
"So…what know?" Pidge asked, breaking the silence.
Shiro looked at Hunk, "What do we need to complete the repairs, Hunk?"
Hunk mentally shook himself. Lance was fine. He was in the infirmary, he was safe, he was alive. But there was still a shield that needed to be fixed. And he was still in charge of this mission.
"We should be able to find everything we need in yellow's hangar," he informed them – he had established quite a stockpile of scrap and other useful materials in their months in space. "After we get everything the repairs shouldn't take too long."
And with one last look in the direction of the infirmary, he led the remaining members of the team to his hangar and on to the end of the mission.
A few vargas later the shield had been fully repaired. The paladins were making one more stop at the castle to return the materials before returning to meet with the Galra at the shield base for a debriefing. At least, that is what Hunk had told Commander Bogh. Truthfully, he wanted to check on Lance and he knew the others felt the same way.
They all landed in their respective hangars and without discussing the matter, they all headed towards the infirmary. Hunk looked at Red, still in the central hangar, as he walked by. She was still sitting there, ominous and imposing; a reminder that this had not been a normal day.
The journey to the infirmary had been a silent one for the four remaining paladins. The radiation had still been messing with their comms so they had had no communication with the castle during the repair job. They really had no idea what they would be walking into. While logically Hunk knew that Lance should be fine, better than he was when he left him, there was still a sense of fear nagging him from the back of his mind. He wasn't even fully assure what it was that he was afraid of – some sort of death relapse maybe? All Hunk knew was that he was slightly terrified they'd get to the infirmary and find that Lance was not there, not okay, or not alive.
When they finally turned into the infirmary, it was silent and empty.
There were no occupied cryopods, not sign of Coran or Lance.
Hunk took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. The empty infirmary did not mean anything. In fact, it was probably a good sign. It meant that Lance was well enough to move to another part of the castle. Hunk took another look around, just to be sure that his best friend and Coran were truly not present, all the while ignoring the voice telling him that Lance wasn't here because Coran couldn't do anything for him.
Yeah, that particular voice needed to shut it.
As one the group migrated to the bridge (also empty) and finally to the kitchen, where they found the two people in question sitting at the table, chatting over mugs of something that was steaming. Lance was the first to notice them.
"Hey guys," he greeted warmly, "how did the repair job go?"
Hunk wanted to punch him just a little bit. Last they knew he was getting treated in the infirmary after a nearly fatal incident and then they couldn't find him and he was acting like everything was fine?!
Of course he was, the much more logical side of his mind reminded him, he's Lance. It's what he does. Move on and make others feel at ease.
Hunk swallowed down his panic and let his features settle into a smile. Lance was fine. He was chatting in the kitchen with Coran. Nothing to see here.
"It was fine, pretty simple actually. But now their shields are all operational and they should be good, at least until some other crazy Galra commander comes by and shoots out the shields."
"So, about a week then," Lance said, nodded with mock seriousness.
Hunk ignored him. "We're actually heading back to debrief with them in a few, we just stopped by first to put the materials away and—"
"How are you feeling?" Pidge asked from Hunk's left. She was apparently done with beating around the bush. Hunk could respect that.
Coran jumped in then, likely not trusting Lance to give an accurate account of the situation. Which in Hunk's opinion was a very valid concern.
"Number 3 here is fit as a phlonkovin now. Just a few ticks in the cryopod to allow him muscles to heal and stop spasming from the electric current they were exposed to and a bit of rest, and he is back up to fitting speed!" He paused here to level Lance with a serious look, "not that you will be participating in any fighting today, you've been through more than enough and you could use more rest."
Lance put up a defensive hand, "No worries Coran, I am not looking to get into any more fights today." He turned to look at the rest of the team, "But really guys, I'm fine! No big deal!"
Judging by the various bodies he felt tensing around him, Hunk was going to take a wild guess that everyone else felt as appalled by that statement as he did. Before he could even form the right words to open his mouth with however, Pidge' voice exploded from his left.
"No big deal?! Lance, you died! Of course it's a fucking big deal you—!"
"Language," Shiro said mildly, not taking his eyes off of Lance, "Lance, what you went though was traumatic, and not just for you. We all are shaken by it, and it is important. You don't have to ignore it, and we don't expect you to."
Allura spoke up next, "Lance, this is not a usual occurrence. As far as I know there is no precedent for what we did today, and it is indeed a 'big deal' as you say. This is something that no one quite understands, and we are going to work through this together. As a team."
Lance looked like he wanted to say something, but now it was Hunk's term to give his idiotically noble best friend a piece of his mind.
"Lance," he said firmly, "it is a big deal. It is important because you are important. If you had—if this had gone differently," Hunk couldn't bring himself to actually say the phrase if you had died, "I don't know how we would have gotten through it. You are so important Lance, not just as a paladin, but also as a friend. You are indispensable. You keep us together, you keep spirits high; you're our glue and our sanity. And—" Hunk paused again here, swallowing against the tears that threatened to spill, "you're my best friend. I don't know what I would do with out you."
Lance closed his mouth. He opened it again as if he was going to say something, but couldn't figure out what.
Well, Hunk counted that as a victory. Making Lance McClain speechless was a feat not many could hope to pull off.
Finally, Lance was able to form words, "Guys, I…don't really no what to say."
Well, mostly form words, it would seem.
Lance continues, "I'm really sorry for worrying you, and it's nice to know that you all care so much. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to keep protecting you all whenever I think I can, because you all mean a lot to me too." He looked at all of them with fondness, and determination.
No one bothered to counter him. They all knew Lance, and for all of his bravado and seeming immaturity, they all knew that he would always take the extra risk, go the extra mile, if it meant that one of them didn't have to. Hunk just hoped that the war would end before he could make another big sacrifice play, the one that would ultimately get him killed. They were unlikely to get this lucky again. Next time, death would be permanent.
Hunk just hoped they never had to face that. He knew that he wouldn't be able to handle it, and neither would the team.
The kitchen was silent. Hunk wondered if the others were having similar thoughts. He wouldn't be surprised if they were. Lance's reckless protective tendencies were no secret.
It was Lance who eventually broke the silence, "what was this about a debriefing, Hunk?"
Hunk struggled momentarily to bring himself back to the here and now. "We need to go back to the base to discuss what we did with Commander Bogh and make sure everything is good to go before we leave. Shouldn't take long, we should be back in a under a varga."
Lance stood up from the table, "Great, let's get going then."
Shiro stepped forward, "Hold on, where do you think you're going?"
Lance looked at him, "to the debriefing," he said, the unsaid sarcastic obviously evident regardless.
"No, you're not," Shiro said evenly, "Coran said you need rest."
"Coran also said I was as fit as a phlonkovin – what ever that is."
Coran attempted to interrupt, no doubt to explain exactly what a phlonkovin was, but Lance continued, "If we're just doing a debriefing, there's no reason I shouldn't come. It's not a battle, it's just standing around and talking. You should have the whole team there anyways."
Hunk and the others looked to Shiro. Shiro set his jaw, but after a few moments of thought, his expression relaxed, "Fine, if you're feeling up to it you can come. But," he added as Lance scrambled around the table, likely heading to get changed back into his armor, "you're not flying there on your own. You can ride with Hunk."
Lance did not look put out by this suggestion in the slightest, "Whatever you say oh Fearless Leader! Hunk, buddy, I just need a few ticks to get my armor on. I'll meet you at Yellow's hangar." And with that, he disappeared down the corridor.
The rest of the team and Coran watched him go.
"He seems better," Pidge said with uncertainty.
"Do you really think he's going to be alright Coran?" Allura asked the other altean.
"He's recovered from this quite nicely, physically speaking that is," the advisor assured her. "We just spent the past varga talking and I think he'll be okay in other regards as well, just," he paused to look at them all, "keep an eye out for him, will you? I know has a tendency to put up a good front, but if he starts to show signs that something is bothering him…"
"Don't worry Coran," Shiro said firmly, "we'll be there for him. No matter what."
With that they separated, each heading towards their own hangars. Though it wouldn't come up today, or even tomorrow, they all knew that if it did they would all do whatever they could to make sure that Lance was okay.
As Hunk neared his hangar and saw Lance leaning on the doorway, waiting for him, eh couldn't help but smile. His best friend was here, they were going to go ride in a sentient lion robot through space, talk with some giant purple aliens, and come back only to do it all again tomorrow.
Someday – Hunk had no doubt – Lance would finally make a reckless sacrifice he couldn't come back from. Today had almost been that day.
But it hadn't been.
For reasons Hunk knew he would never fully understand – space magic, fate, whatever – Lance was alive and here with him.
And Hunk was going to make the most of it, for as long as he could.
He was going to do his absolute best to make sure that Lance made it back to earth, no matter what. The Galra may have taken over most of the universe, but they were not going to take Hunk's best friend, not if he had anything to say about it.
A/N: There it is, finally done (seriously, I've been working on this for so long). I'm fairly pleased with it, but interested in what you thought of it. Let me know in the comments!
Also, I really struggled with Shiro and Coran, which is way they don't talk much even though I love them (Coran in particular) so sorry. Again, appreciate any feedback you have!