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As Color Fades Away

Chapter Seventy-Four

Lance jerked his head up from Hunk's chest as he heard rapid footsteps approaching.

They were too light to be Shiro's.

Dios, was it Haggar? His breath quickened. He knew he should have grabbed his bayard from across the room. Stupid stupid stupid.

What did he do?

His right hand clenched into a fist, nails biting into his palm.

A shadow crossed the doorway of the kitchen…

And then Pidge appeared.

She looked awful, face reddened and peeling and streaks of blood highlighting her cheeks, while her armor was dinged and damaged and she was clearly favoring her right leg and her left arm was hanging limp but…

Pidge.

He made a choked sounding gasp of her name.

Pidge.

She was here.

She was actually alive.

Pidge's eyes widened as she caught sight of him and she threw herself across the kitchen.

"Lance! Lance!"

She didn't quite plow into him but it was a near thing as she threw her arms about him and Lance barely caught himself before he tipped over. Her hold hurt and he could feel a new trickle of blood descending from her grip but he didn't care.

Pidge was here.

He swung his right arm about her, a hysterical laugh bubbling to the surface, and bowed his head over hers.

"Keith is alive," she blurted out, wasting no time. It was the right call as whatever tension remained disappeared in an instant and he practically slumped over her with a shaky sob.

"Shiro is too," Pidge filled in as she became the only thing keeping Lance up. "He's okay. We're all gonna be okay."

She cast her eyes to the side where Hunk lay, face pale beneath his complexion and blood bright on his lips.

"We're all gonna be okay," she repeated softer.

She felt Lance shake his head. "A-l-llura," he hiccupped out.

Oh.

So she had been right.

She had never wanted to be wrong so badly before.

She rested her head back against Lance's chest, feeling his arm tighten about her waist, his hand digging painfully into her undersuit.

She stilled.

His right hand.

His right hand that a few hours ago hadn't been able to so much as move a finger on its own.

She jerked back, Lance releasing her from his grip, and grabbed the retreating hand in her own.

The scar was still there, stark white against his mocha skin, and the burn took up his entire forearm, easily visible as his jacket and shirt almost up to his shoulder had been ripped clean off.

But his hand… as she held it she could feel it trembling but not with that unconscious waver and the fingers curled slightly over her own.

"How?" she breathed.

When she looked up though Lance's eyes were shaded. "Haggar," he whispered after a second.

"Haggar?" she repeated, glancing back down at the healed hand.

Lance just shook his head, biting his lip. Pidge didn't push.

But oh.

She should probably tell him.

"Haggar is dead."

And based on Lance's sudden choking breath that may not have been the best way to do it, but it was out now.

"She's dead," Pidge said again, watching as emotion after emotion crossed Lance's face.

"How?" he managed after a moment, glancing down at her hand holding his. Pidge hadn't…?

"Shiro," she said simply. "But," her gaze narrowed, "I'd have done it. If he hadn't. If I could have."

"Pidge…"

"It wasn't like last time," she told him. "And even if it had been… She's done too much to our family, Lance. She's hurt too many people. And I couldn't let her do it anymore."

She sighed, rubbing her thumb over Lance's palm. "But… I am glad I didn't have to. That Shiro…" She closed her eyes in remembrance of Haggar's final moments, her sick caress and address to Shiro, and the way Shiro had gone from avenger to horrified in a matter of seconds.

It wasn't a memory she would be forgetting any time soon and Shiro she was certain would never forget it.

Damn that witch.

But, she took a calming breath, it was over now. Haggar was dead.

Only memories could haunt them now and Pidge would take those any day over the real thing.

"Where is Shiro?" Lance asked quietly.

"Infirmary. Getting a tarp to move Hunk to a pod."

Pidge still wasn't sure how they were going to start the pod, but it sounded like Coran was still… still alive. Hopefully he could do it. Otherwise, she could put him in the pod Lance had previously been in where at least the numbers lined up with human biology, and hope for the best.

"Keith?"

"In a pod," Pidge murmured, and hopefully healing all right after the initial scare. "He'll be okay. He… he protected me in the explosion. I thought…" She swallowed. "He's going to be okay."

Lance inclined his head and turned back to Hunk.

"Can you help me keep him warm? It's… it's not good." His voice broke and Pidge squeezed his hand with a nod.

"Of course. "

She went around to Hunk's other side, mindful of the large puddle of blood that made her stomach turn over, and laid her head down over Hunk's shoulder and saw Lance cuddling in on Hunk's other side. She could see damp patches on the yellow sweatshirt that covered Hunk's upper half that had nothing to do with blood.

"Oh, Lance," she whispered.

He sniffled and rubbed his head against Hunk's barely moving chest.

"Thought I killed you," he barely whispered.

And Pidge hated that she had been right again.

"This wasn't your fault," she said quietly. "You know that, right?"

He shook his head. "She came after me."

"She came after all of us," Pidge countered gently, sliding her hand up to rest in Hunk's dark hair and move through the locks, offering what little comfort she could to both of them.

"The Lions were offline because of me," Lance continued voice barely audible, either not hearing her or ignoring her comment. "If they'd been there then… then…"

"Who knows what would have happened," Pidge said. "No use wondering what ifs. We're okay. We made it."

"Allura didn't," came the sob. "My fault."

"Well maybe she did," Pidge fired back. "Haggar thought she killed me and Keith too, huh? Did you see Allura die?" her voice caught on the last word. "Did you?" she pressed.

"N-no."

"Then… then let's believe she's alive."

Pidge could ignore Shiro's omission. Maybe it had been that Allura was hurt, badly. Maybe he thought she wasn't going to make it.

But Allura was strong. Pidge believed in her.

Somehow, someway, they were all going to make it out of this.

She sighed, a new wave of exhaustion crashing down, but she pushed through it. Because if Lance lost his way now, if he gave into the despair that was threatening to drown them all, then she knew they weren't going to make it out. He was their heart, their light.

They needed him to shine.

"Allura is strong," Pidge said quietly. "You trust in her, don't you? Just like you trust in all of us?"

"Yes."

And the word sounded more assured then and Pidge smiled.

"Then believe in her," she whispered. "Believe in our family. Not Haggar. Not her lies."

All was quiet for a few moments and then Lance quietly called her name and she gave a tired hum in response.

"Gracias," he murmured. "Pidge… I... thank you."

Her words had rekindled the light inside of him, stoking embers into a warm glow. She was right. Haggar was a liar. Just because she had said Allura was dead did not make it true. He chose to believe in hope over despair, in the power of love over hate.

They were all going to get through this.

One way or another.

xxx

Shiro went as quick as he could to the infirmary, a new sense of adrenaline lending him strength to save the rest of his team.

He would do anything to make that happen.

He'd had the faint hope that he would find Coran in the infirmary, Allura inside a pod and somehow okay.

But there were no Alteans to be found. Just one cryo-pod in use, its glass blackened with frost. Shiro still rushed over to it and pressed his bloodied glove up against it, taking comfort in the bite of cold.

"Keith," he whispered, bowing his head to rest on the glass. "K-Keith."

He knew he didn't have time for this. Hunk didn't have time, rather. But he needed a moment to just breathe, to reassure himself that although he could not see Keith that he was in there, that he was healing and he was alive.

Alive and not dead.

How they had survived the explosion Shiro had no idea, but he had never been more grateful.

Not dead.

God.

It had been so close.

Still so close.

Shiro pulled himself away and picked up a corner of the tarp. He needed to hurry. He could feel his strength flagging – little sleep from the previous night not helping matters at all – and it was only a matter of time until his body could not be pushed any further and he collapsed.

Hunk needed to be safely in a pod before that happened.

Where was Coran?

Shiro couldn't acknowledge the flutter of hope in his gut that said because the advisor had not returned to battle – and Shiro knew he absolutely would – meant that he was still with Allura because she was still alive. But the fact they hadn't made their way to the infirmary squashed it because Allura's only faint chance had been a cryo-pod and Coran had not pursued that.

Shiro felt his stomach bottom out. Had Coran taken a fatal strike and he'd been unaware? Was he down there dying too?

He felt like crying.

He needed to check on Allura and Coran, needed to get Hunk into a pod, needed to assess Pidge and Lance (for while they were both conscious and somewhat moving that did not mean they didn't need medical treatment immediately), needed to sit down, needed to breathe, needed to scream—

He took a shuddering breath.

Hunk first. The rest would follow.

Get to Hunk.

He made his way to the kitchen, praying that Hunk was still alive to be put into a pod.

There had been so much blood.

The scene he came upon was heartwarming in the most bittersweet of ways; Lance and Pidge pressed against Hunk with their heads resting on his chest looking like they could have fallen asleep in a cozy pile if it hadn't been for all of the blood and the pain and fear etched into their faces.

They were so young.

Both weakly picked their heads up at his footsteps and Shiro gave them just as weak of a smile.

"Hey," he greeted softly. "Can you guys sit up for me? We've got to get Hunk on the tarp." He dropped said tarp to the ground and Pidge was there a moment later, smoothing it out, while Lance merely sat back, a new tremble to his form from before.

Shiro wasn't the only one on his last legs.

He wanted to ask what happened inside the barrier but he held his tongue for now. None of them were in the right state to be rehashing what they had just gone through. What mattered was that Lance had come out of it all right. Everything else right now was just an unnecessary detail.

As carefully as he could, Shiro lifted Hunk up from underneath his arms and pulled him backwards onto the tarp. His shoulder cried where it had taken the blaster shot and Shiro grit his teeth as he felt it gush anew.

"Shiro," Pidge gasped.

"'m fine," he bit out, pulling Hunk all the way to the top. The large boy didn't so much as twitch. Shiro tried not to think the worst.

"Come on," he instructed, grabbing hold of the edge of the tarp and pulling, relieved when it slid without resistance on the floor even with Hunk's weight. Just a tug on his shoulders but nothing he couldn't handle. "To the infirmary. All of us."

He needed to go check on Coran and he was half-tempted to send Pidge, who while clearly exhausted was moving about as well as he was, but he blanched at the idea of her finding Allura, her entire stomach blown out.

No.

He didn't want her to see that.

Pidge helped Lance up from the floor, nearly falling down herself, and placed her right hand around his lower back as much to comfort him as to try and support him. She could feel him shaking upon just standing and she wasn't sure he was going to make it all the way to the infirmary.

They made a sorry procession, she thought, Shiro doggedly towing Hunk and smearing the blood trail that he'd left from earlier, while she and Lance moved as slow and awkwardly as a pair of zombies.

But they were alive.

That was what mattered.

She glanced up at Lance's face, his lips pressed into a thin line, and one of the only spots on him that did not have blood splatter besides his eyes, which were a dulled sort of blue.

She knew all of the purple blood marring him was not his own but the rest… was it just his? Or Hunk's too?

She was afraid to find out.

What had happened to them all?

She had seen the dead Galran, the commander, in the kitchen, and Lance had clearly engaged with him at some point as evidenced by the purple splatter. Had he been the one to kill him? Had Hunk? Shiro? Who had fought Haggar?

It made what happened to her and Keith almost seem like a picnic. At least out there their biggest enemy had been the void of space and possible secondary explosions. It hadn't been leering eyes and sharp teeth and words that could cut deep.

And she had no doubt words had been said. Haggar liked to talk. The Galran commander had shown a flair for the dramatics.

What had they said?

"Hey," she squeezed her fingers against Lance's side, and tired eyes dragged themselves to her. "It's going to be okay."

Lance managed a small nod.

They made it without incident to the infirmary and Pidge hurried over to the cryo-pod Lance had used a few days ago. "I have basic schematics," she said, hitting several buttons, "and I can start the sequence but I don't know how to calibrate it to reach that point."

"I do," Lance said quietly. A ghost of a smile tugged up his face. "Coran has been showing me since I'm cleaning them all the time." His expression turned a touch rueful. "And in them."

"Good," Shiro said, opening the glass door. "You two get on that. I'll get Hunk in."

Somehow, he added silently. He wasn't sure he could even lift Pidge at this point.

To lighten the load he set about unclasping Hunk's armor, the chestplate lifting easily thanks to the fact it was no longer connected at the back from whatever had caused that level of damage. An explosion?

He pulled off the arm braces next and then the shoulder pads. Lance joined him silently a moment later and set about unclasping the footgear. Shiro took a doubletake as the hand cradled to Lance's stomach this go around was his left while his right, and yes, he was not imagining the large burn scar on it, was the one that was deftly undoing buckles.

Later, he told himself. Hunk first.

Between the two of them they managed to remove all of it save for the utility belt, which was just below the gaping wound across Hunk's stomach and Shiro didn't dare touch it in case it was holding something vital inside, and they kept the immediate blood-soaked towels where they were congealing against the undersuit and dumped the rest in a macabre pile atop the tarp. Lance very gently eased Hunk's orange headband free, clutching it tight in his fist with a look of regret before carefully putting it on one of the counters and out of the way.

"Ready," Pidge said a tick later. "I… I think it should work. Coran can adjust it later, right?"

She put the name out without inflection and Shiro gave a hum of affirmation, confirming that it was indeed Allura that was their missing puzzle piece as to the safety of their family.

Shiro took a deep breath, crouching down alongside Hunk. He could do this. Hoist him up into his arms and in the same movement lift him high enough into the pod and get the door closed before he tipped back out.

His back and shoulders were already protesting.

But his discomfort was nothing compared to the pain Hunk was in.

Shiro shifted his arms underneath Hunk; one under the bend of his knees and the other against his upper back. He took one last deep breath and then surged upwards, his calves crying out now too.

He would have over balanced if Pidge hadn't been there, catching hold of his elbow and Lance placing his good hand against Shiro's by Hunk's legs and pushing up with all he had.

Grunting, Shiro shifted Hunk so his feet went into the pod and then shoved upwards with all of his remaining strength so Hunk went vertical. Lance was there and slamming the door a tick later and Shiro collapsed against the still clear glass, panting.

That was it.

They really needed to get horizontal cryo-pods.

Pidge was at the control panel and a few ticks later the glass frosted over, blacking out Hunk's form. Pidge let out a deep sigh of relief as all of the buttons this time glowed teal and blue. Whatever she and Lance had set up it at least seemed to be in the right direction, rather than whatever it was she had initially subjected Keith too.

She glanced at the other pod currently in use, still dark. She had no idea how to read the Altean numbers on the pods to give an accurate turnaround of when the occupants would come out but she had to guess at least a day for each of them, maybe more.

Probably more, she amended. Both had suffered very near-fatal injuries.

At the reminder of injuries her right ankle gave a sharp twinge and Pidge took that as an invitation to sit down, right where she was standing, with a none too graceful oomph.

"Here, drink," and a water pouch was thrust into her line of sight connected to Shiro's prosthetic a minute later. She took it gratefully and dragged down a swallow.

Lance had been given one too although he was merely holding his, back propped up against Hunk's pod and gazing in the direction of Keith's, something unreadable in his expression. Pidge shifted over to sit next to him and he gave her a small, exhausted smile, as she laid her hand against his leg.

Shiro finished his own pouch from the medical supplies in a few quick squeezes, tossing back a glornack seed too as he knew he wasn't making it into the pods for a while. He slowly moved over to the cabinets and dragged out two of the light but still warm blankets. On second thought he grabbed another and carefully shook it to put over his own shoulders.

He knew that both Pidge and Lance needed actual medical attention but he was not the person capable of doing so right now. That would be Coran and he needed to get him. Blankets though were both comforting and could help ward off the chill that he could feel settling into him.

He jerkily offered the blankets to them and Lance reached up – right hand, again, and Shiro couldn't fully see his left as he had it tucked against him but there was something strange about it that he could not focus on right now – and accepted them, with Pidge's help placing one over their legs and spreading the other out to mostly cover both of their shoulders.

"Stay here," Shiro said tiredly, already heading for the door.

"Where are you going?" Pidge's voice had risen slightly in pitch and Shiro wished he knew how to take away all of her fear.

"To get Coran."

That was all he said and he hated how he saw Lance bow his head and Pidge's lips thin at who it was he was not getting. Neither said anything though and for that Shiro was thankful. He couldn't offer false hope or reassurances.

Even though he was still praying for a miracle himself.

He trudged like an old man from the room, hand trailing along the hall wall to keep himself upright. The stairs down to the Alteans' level was the hardest and Shiro ended up taking a hard sit in the middle of the flight when his vision wavered.

He was nearing his limit.

Just get to Coran.

He reached the hole in the wall that Haggar had made and peered in, expecting to see Coran sitting with Allura in his arms.

But both Alteans were on the floor.

"No," he gasped, stumbling over the uneven hole and into the room. Coran couldn't be…

A series of quiet squeaks caught his attention and he swerved his gaze towards the sound.

The mice.

All four of them were curled up on Allura's chest, and all of them were definitely more washed out than he remembered. But while they looked exhausted they looked happy.

The large one, Shiro couldn't recall his name at the moment, patted his large stomach and looked pointedly down from his perch.

Shiro followed the gaze towards Allura's stomach.

Smooth flesh greeted him.

Blood was still in puddles around the floor, bits of gore and innards too. But Allura's stomach was a smooth pane of brown, several shades lighter than normal though and with a puckered line around the edges.

What?

The mice were squeaking again and he looked to them once more. The small pink mouse, almost a satin color now, was standing atop a piece of paper. Shiro blinked at it.

A rune circle?

And atop the rune circle was a pale hand that connected back to Coran, clearly unconscious but still breathing.

Coran had…

Coran had healed her.

Shiro remembered his desperate words to Coran as he dashed off in pursuit of Haggar. Save her.

"You did it," he whispered, tears once more stinging his eyes and this time he let them. "Coran, you…"

They didn't look to be in any immediate danger, and a check of both of their pulses showed them to be strong, if fast (although Shiro had no idea what was normal for an Altean) but the fact it was there and fierce against his hand was enough relief for him.

Shiro decided to leave them there. He was in no condition to carry them and they would be fine. He did maneuver Coran to lie down more comfortably and pulled Allura away and out of the blood puddle.

He draped his blanket over her, feeling a slight pink highlight his cheeks, as now that the danger was past he was more than aware that she was wearing almost nothing; her nightgown shorn just past her thighs, the entire middle missing and where the rune circle had activated the top of her gown had disintegrated away and he realized the mice had been strategically placed to give her some modesty.

Now his ears were pink and he swore he heard the mice laughing at him.

Coran's pajamas – and the fact they had fought a battle for their lives in night clothes was amusing now, in a dark, dark away – had fared slightly better although both arm sleeves were entirely gone from his morphing of his skin and taking Haggar's attacks head on. Shiro still wished he'd brought two blankets.

He looked back to the mice, who had clambered atop the blanket and nestled back down.

"We're in the infirmary," he told them. "All of us. Keith and Pidge too," his voice cracked still with the sheer relief of that statement. "Can you tell them when they wake?"

The tall skinny one gave an exact Garrison salute and Shiro idly wondered if it had been Pidge or Lance that had taught him that.

"Thanks," he nodded.

He was even more tired going back up the stairs and to the infirmary, but his heart felt lighter and his steps the same.

They had all lived.

Somehow, against all of the odds, all of them were going to walk away from this. Haggar and Theodek were dead. They could never hurt them again.

A soft, warm smile filled his face, sweeping away the pallor of exhaustion.

His family was safe.

xxx

Author's Notes:

And Shiro *finally* knows Allura is safe. Aww. Time to go spread the good news :D Lots of reunions and feel good moments here. I'd love to hear what your favorite was; please do drop a comment before you head out. I really appreciate it!

Also, I'm hanging out at Kitsune Kon this weekend (Kimberly Brooks, your autograph is mine! I'm so excited!) in the artist alley so drop by the table and say hi if you're in Green Bay! Otherwise, hope to see you in the comments! Winkwinknudgenudge Gracias! (it's been a long, long week over here, guys. Hearing from you would make it much, much better, truly).