Well, fuck. And this day started off SO well. "You're not giving the orders anymore, Keith," I snap, "and we don't have a damned thing to talk about. What are you doing here, anyway?" My blood freezes as cold metal touches my temple; a blaster barrel. A FUCKING BLASTER BARREL! "You bastard," I hiss. "I should take you straight to Wade right the fuck now! What are you doing?"
"Get going, Lance," comes the cold, flat reply. "I don't have time to discuss this in committee, and I WON'T repeat myself."
Well, only one thing I can do, then. Yanking the controls, I launch the fractal into the atmosphere, calling my supposed brother every name I know—and I know lots, believe me—and making up new ones. "Where the fuck are we going, Kogane?"
"Far side of Pollux will do; my ride will find me there after we talk." The voice is casual Keith again, like he doesn't have a blaster glued to my right temple. I do as I'm told in silence, landing at the coordinates he gives me and killing the engines before knocking the blaster aside and spinning to face him.
"Now. I did like you asked, not that I had a choice since you pulled a fucking gun on me. I've been a good boy, I've been patient. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT, KOGANE?" Now that I'm not distracted with flying, I'm so pissed my hands are shaking. Bad enough he abandoned us. Worse that he broke Allura's heart and didn't give a damn that he did. But . . . he pulled a gun on me. On ME, his second, his supposed best friend, the guy he's fought and bled with for three years, for what? I want to kick his ass, beat him to a pulp and dump the bleeding remains on Wade's desk with a "Fuck you" attached to whom it may concern. But . . . I can't. BECAUSE I'm his second. BECAUSE I'm his supposed best friend, the guy he's fought and bled with for three years. I have to hear him out. "Talk, I'm waiting."
Keith folds his arms, the blaster disappearing into his waistband. "I stayed in the Castle last night," he says neutrally. "Heard some of the gossip . . . what the hell was Allura doing in your room all night?"
"None of your business," I snap back, feeling my temper rise. "And how dare you come to the Castle! We're walking a damned tightrope, trying to help you with this goddamned lone knight quest of yours behind Wade's fucking back, all of us putting every damned thing we have on the line, and you just fucking stroll into the damned Castle? What the fuck, Kogane?"
It's like I didn't even open my mouth. "You slept with her, didn't you? Another conquest for Casanova McClain. She's the Princess, Lance! She deserves better than being a notch on your damned bedpost!"
That's IT. Before I even know what I'm doing, my fist connects with Keith's jaw and he goes flying. He manages to flip in midair and land on his feet in a crouch, eyes locked with mine. "Touched a nerve, did I? Come on at me then, McClain; you've wanted this for YEARS."
Can't say he's wrong about that. Me and him, we've circled each other like a couple of junkyard dogs since the Academy. So, with no more words, we launch into the fight that's been brewing between us since we were sixteen. Nothing graceful, nothing precise, not even from Bruce Lee Kogane over there. Just the two of us, trading kicks and punches until we're both dripping blood, bruised, swaying on our feet.
Keith glares at me, wiping his bloody nose on the back of his hand. "I mean it, Lance; stay away from Allura. She deserves better than you."
"Fuck you," I snarl, ignoring my own bloody lip and busted knuckles. "What, you don't want her, but nobody else can have her either? That's bullshit, Keith, and you know it. Here's a couple newsflashes for you, Commander. Allura's a grown woman; you don't own her, neither do I. You're not her damned guardian, and you sure as hell lost any right to dictate to me when you pulled this 'go off to look for Black' stunt, leaving the rest of us to twist in the fucking wind." I turn and spit blood—and a tooth fragment or two—onto the deck. "Go back to your hunt. Stay the fuck out of my personal life and Allura's." I face him again, seeing the same fury—and weariness—in his eyes that I know is in my own. "We're still behind you, we'll still help you . . . but you have no right of command over us. Not anymore. Maybe-maybe one day we'll let you earn it back. Maybe."
He opens his mouth to say—Gods know what, but closes it again when he sees my blaster pointed at him. "This isn't over, Lance. We'll talk again, count on it. And I will get Allura away from you." He picks up his blaster and storms from the cockpit; a few minutes later I hear the roar of another fractal's engines.
As the sound recedes, I collapse into my seat, body protesting Keith's damages as the adrenalin wears off. Pushing the pain aside without a second thought, I pull up Pidge's special com program and quickly send a message to the Den, setting a meeting for when I get back to Earth. Acknowledgement comes almost immediately, meaning one or both of the Trouble Twins are working down there, and I lift off.
Good gods, what do I tell Allura? Part of me doesn't want to tell her at all; what she doesn't know won't hurt her. But I barely finish thinking that before my words to Keith about her being a grown woman that neither of us owns echo through the cockpit. McClain, sometimes you're too damned smart for your own good. Stifling a curse as a bruise twinges, I put in the call to Arus. Surprisingly, Sven's with Allura when she sits down to the com.
"Ve vere about to call you, min bror. . ."they get a good look at my face and Allura lets out a little shriek; Sven erupts in some of the foulest Norse I've ever heard from him. "Vhat in all hells HAPPENED to you?"
"That would be why I'm calling. . ." I sigh and tell them the story of mine and Keith's encounter, blow by blow, including the fact that he pulled his gun on me. When I finish, they're both white as our old uniforms, and Sven's absolutely expressionless, even for him.
"Gud i himmeln," he breathes. "Never vould I haf tought. . . are you all right, min bror?"
I don't answer for a minute, trying my best to reassure Allura with my gaze. "Physically? Yeah, I'm beat up, but I'll live. I've had worse. I just have to lay low and keep away from Wade for a few days. Which is easy enough. Emotionally? Hells no, I'm not all right. My commander, my brother in every damned thing but blood just kidnapped me at gunpoint and beat the hell out of me. And I have no fucking idea where we go from here. None."
Allura leans forward. "Come home, Lance. You're in no shape to fly; come home, rest for a day or two. I'll send an excuse to Marshal Wade."
I shouldn't. I REALLY shouldn't, and I know all the logical reasons WHY I shouldn't. But I also know she's right; I can feel my muscles starting to tighten, my eye's swelling shut—if I were one of my students, I'd ground me. And beyond the physical. . . . I'm stunned, my heart's broken . . . and I want nothing more to than to cry on someone's shoulder. And the two best people for that are watching me worriedly from five lightyears away. Making my decision, I input the course changes and turn the fractal. "I'll be on the ground in thirty. Then . . . then we can talk about what the hell's going on, and what the hell we're going to do about it. McClain out."