3. One Step at a Time

Her head was pounding as she slowly shifted back into the land of living. Her gaze took in her surroundings as she felt a liquid against her leg. Was that blood? Pidge could not be sure because her vision still wasn't too clear, and her skin felt like it was being pricked by an uneven surface. Coughing a little, she pressed her hands against the rocky surface, ignoring the fact that it scratched her hands as she sat up. She knew what happened, the fall had not damaged her memory, but the question was why had it happened? Shiro…why would Shiro betray them? Everything she knew about him; it did not make logical sense for him to do this but then why had he?

She didn't even get the time to think it through when she saw lights and immediately tensed, attempting to stand. Bad idea. A sharp pain ran through her body causing her to stumble and fall to the ground. Dammit, if she was attacked right now, she would be killed. Was this it? Had they lost already? Her body visibly relaxed as she recognised the pilot on the ship. Oh, thank god. It wasn't some dangerous Galra prick and even though she wanted to kick Keith in the behind for running off to the Blades right now, she knew it would make her look like a hypocrite.

Keith hurried out of the pod and to her side.

"Pidge! Thank god, I found you," Keith said softly, voice cracking a little. Dammit, why did Keith have to be soft that she couldn't even stay mad at him? "Try not to move, ok? I can help, I know first aid."

Pidge nodded. Well, technically he was making up for running away and if he could make this pain go away, she wasn't going to complain about it. She winced slightly as he tended to her wounds, hissing like a strangled cat. That hurt, dammit.

"I'm sorry," Keith said quickly. "Your injuries are pretty deep; I know it's my fault all of this happened and for leaving but I want to make up for it."

Pidge chortled. "Good observation there, Keith. It is your fault." She sighed as he flinched. Well, she had never been the comforting one of the group. "But I forgive you."

"You do?" Keith asked, staring at her and Pidge shrugged.

"I'm not that big of a hypocrite, am I?" Pidge said, leaning against him slightly as she was trying to focus on her breathing so she didn't focus on how much it stung even though Keith was being as gentle as he possibly could. Though, her words made him chuckle a little.

"I wasn't even thinking of that," Keith admitted, and Pidge sighed. Somehow, that didn't surprise her. Keith could be a lot harder on himself than he was on others especially after Shiro had…now that she thought about it Shiro had been different. He had not been the same Shiro who they had rescued from quarantine and maybe it wasn't just trauma. Maybe he was no longer on their side and had been biding his time so he could make them vulnerable.

"Then what now?" Pidge asked. "Shiro's betrayed us. Lotor didn't look for us and we're all separated. Where do we go from here?"

Nothing like this had happened before and what just happened defied every logic she had in what she knew about Shiro. In science, if an experiment went wrong because of one item, they'd remove the item and use something else to replace it. But she couldn't just remove Shiro. He had been like an older brother to her, guiding her at the times when she was lost – was she supposed to just accept that the Shiro they had come to know had never been real?

"Haggar could be controlling Shiro," Keith said quietly. "Maybe she has been this whole time."

"Control?" Pidge said frowning. "Like…" Well, it was space, and magic was involved but they had also never come across anything like this before, so she was a little unsure about it to be honest but at the same time, it did make the most sense. It would explain the change in behaviour. "Haggar is Altean so maybe Allura knows if Alteans have that kind of ability or if it's something that manifested from her quintessence being corrupted."

Keith exhaled and glanced back at the space pod as others stepped out. "About that, Allura and Coran aren't the only Alteans alive. Lotor lied to all of us. He knew there were other Alteans. He's been using their quintessence for their own personal gain. Draining it to use for his experiments."

Pidge felt her stomach sink. "I…dammit, why don't any of you ever listen to me?"

"Pidge?" Keith began but she cut him off.

"I never trusted him!" Pidge scowled. "No matter how much he helped us, it didn't seem genuine. I just had the feeling. But Shiro trusted him. Allura trusted him and you were nowhere near around when we needed you. No one listens to me. This is why we're in this damn situation."

Keith flinched. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, I know you are, they probably will be too when they find out, but it's just…" Pidge trailed off, turning away from him. She couldn't even explain why she was so angry about all of this; she just was. It was like nothing had changed for her – like even those she called her friends were the same, they didn't take her word seriously.

"Pidge," Keith said seriously. "You have a right to be angry. You do but Allura's in danger and I need yours, Lance and Hunk's help to save her. We made a mistake not listening to you and we're paying for it, but will you help us fix this mess?"

Pidge paused at that. He was accepting her feelings, he wasn't being impatient and telling her to get over it because they didn't have the time, but he was also telling her what the facts were. Somehow, that lessened the feelings for the moment because she did know how to prioritise. And she would rather Allura be with her to be mad at her rather than in Lotor's hands who they had discovered was a liar. Allura didn't know it though, and that would make her an easy target. Crap, no wonder Keith needed her help.

"Ok," Pidge said immediately. "I'll get introduced to your new friends later. I think I should focus on getting Green back up and running."

Keith chuckled. "Good idea. Krolia and Romelle won't mind, right guys?"

"Can we help somehow?" The Altean asked, peering at the Green Lion. "Like give her energy or something so she can poof back into power. It always used to happen in my storybooks!"

Pidge stared for a moment at the Altean. While she was very different from Allura, Altean magic was similar to a fairytale and magic could do difficult things that she would never have even thought possible on Earth. She nodded. "Maybe you can. I'm going to use my connection to her, but your powers may help restore some of her energy back. Put two hands on the side of her head or anywhere really, while I focus on my connection."

Romelle nodded at this, reaching out to put her hands on the Green Lion's ears. Pidge closed her eyes. She couldn't hear Green, and it felt as if she was very far away. This had never happened before even while the other was injured before so what had happened now? Was it a deeper injury than she had imagined or was there something else that was wrong? No, wait, the voice was becoming louder, she was coming closer to her again as Romelle's hands glowed. Maybe she was just really low on energy and at the same time, injured from how big that blast was.

'Green, can you hear me?' Pidge asked in her mind, focusing on all the battles they had won before this. Their connection was too strong for it to falter now, no matter how confusing everything was right now because of what happened with Shiro and now being confirmed about Lotor.

'I'm…I'm trying, this is a lot to take in. So much of this makes sense but at the same time, it doesn't. It's like there are no clear-cut answers.' Green's voice sounded winded but that was normal, they had been sent blasting through space and while Pidge herself had suffered a good amount of injuries, she knew Green had taken the brunt of it.

"Tell me about it," Pidge sighed, speaking out loud. "All of this lacks any form of serious logic. I still can't figure out what's going on with Shiro. He's a much bigger puzzle than Lotor is, even with Haggar involved." She exhaled as she opened her eyes to see Keith watching her. "But I can't solve this without you, Green. I need you. We all do so we can make this nonsensical situation make some sort of sense. Will you help me?" She concentrated even harder as she saw Romelle's hands glowing brighter than ever. Her words had some effect because Green roared, coming back to life and her heart lifted. Her friend was still on her side and in all the crazy, somehow she was the constant and that was something Pidge could work with.

"You did it," Keith sighed in relief and Pidge grinned.

"Did you have any doubts?" Pidge asked. "Does your ship also have a tracker? I'm going to use Green to try and track the other lions as well, so you can just follow me, but it'll be easier if you have a tracker somehow. Oh, and thanks Altean girl…Romelle, was it? I appreciate the help. I don't think I could have gotten Green back up and running on my own, so thanks for that."

Romelle beamed and pulled her hands away and nodded. "I just wanted to help!"

"Yes, our ship does have a tracker," Krolia answered. "Still, you are injured so you should not be alone right now."

Pidge blinked. "I'm fine now. Keith's pretty good at first aid."

"Krolia is a higher up member of the Blade of Marmora," Keith explained before he shifted. "She's also my mother."

Pidge couldn't help but smile at that. "Nice to meet you. I'm glad you running away helped you with something in the end." She extended her hand toward Krolia who took it and shook it in return.

"I understand you are upset with Keith, and I will not tell you not to be," Krolia said simply. "But allow me to come with you. That way, if you are attacked, you will have someone by your side immediately. Keith and Romelle are not in a lion, after all. They'd be able to be stealthier in this situation."

That was a logical point, and Pidge knew she was not at full strength right now. And she wouldn't be able to help with Allura if she wasn't at full strength herself. She waited for Green to open her mouth to let her in before she nodded.

"That's a good idea," Pidge agreed softly. "We need to get going now though. Because I don't know how much you know but Lotor acted as if he had feelings for Allura and she seemed to like his company too, so he could use that trust in bad ways." Her eyes locked with Keith's as she said this, frowning as she saw his fist clench, but he nodded.

"Yeah, I can imagine," Keith said softly. "If anything happens to her, I'll never forgive myself. Let's go." He moved to head to his pod and Pidge watched him for a moment before heading to take her seat in Green. She could walk with much more ease than she had been before even though it still hurt to walk but she was a lot slower.