The Life Of A Galra (Galra!Keith)

Missing the Red Paladin (Chapter 15)

Hey guys! Sorry about the last short chapter, but this is much longer, so I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to vote/comment!

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Lance and Blue were the first to land on the planetoid, quickly followed by the Green and Yellow Lions. Allura stayed in the Castle, since only she could pilot it, and Coran stayed to keep her company as well as make a few adjustments to the Castle's defense systems.

Lance hoped the adjustments were unnecessary, but Coran was already fearing the worst.

"Coran," Lance called through his Lion. "This place is completely deserted. There's no signs of life here. Are you sure the pod crashed around here?"

"We don't even know if it actually crashed," Pidge interrupted. "What if the pod already took off again?"

"I lost it's signal there, which means it most likely crashed or lost power some other way--" Coran protested.

"Coming to this planetoid was your idea, Lance," Allura pointed out. "If you don't see it, then come back--"

"No, we're searching," Lance muttered back. Why did Allura seem like a mother to Lance at times? She always seemed to scold him like he was a toddler.

"Keep searching. We can't stay here too long. This galaxy isn't safe," Coran added.

"You heard him, guys, fan out. Let us know if you find anything out of the ordinary," Lance ordered. For some reason, with both Shiro and Keith gone, he found himself taking charge. He didn't have time to goof off or lounge around anymore, and he hated it.

Blue crept along, head swivelling non-stop as Lance watched for anything amongst the rocky cliffs and pillars of the canyon-like surface. "Man, when we find Keith, I'm gonna give him a buzzcut with my blaster--"

"You know your channel's open, Lance," Pidge replied, annoyed.

"Yeah, I want you guys to keep me true to my threat," Lance muttered with a grin.

"Uh-huh," Pidge snorted sarcastically. "Suuure..."

"What are you talking about now, Pidge?" Lance sighed.

"You seem to be a lot more worried about Keith than Shiro," Pidge giggled. "I'm just saying..."

"That's not-- it's not like that, Pidge," Lance growled, his face automatically reddening. "I'm more worried about him because unlike Shiro, he doesn't think things through. Keith is so hotheaded and impulsive--"

"Guys, I think I found something," Hunk muttered amidst their arguing. He sounded, scared. Well, more than normal.

"On our way," both Blue and Green Paladins answered in unison. Lance whirled around and sprinted across the planetoid towards the small yellow dot in the distance.

Me, into Keith? What would even give Pidge the idea...?

Pidge did have a good argument. He was more worried about Keith, the hot headed, selfish, strong, kinda cute--

No, no, no, nononono, nope! That's not happening. Forget that, I've got to get to Hunk!

In a few minutes, the Lions were together. Lance didn't even need to ask Hunk what was wrong.

There was a deep trench cutting through the rock. It trailed all the way to the cliffside, and was littered with glass shards and torn metal.

"Coran, take a look," Lance said before projecting the feed to the Castle. "Is it escape pod wreckage?" The Green Lion strolled to the edge of the cliff, and looked down.

"It's hard to tell--"

Pidge's loud gasp cut Coran short. Lance immediately leapt towards him, and followed his Lion's gaze. "Found the pod," Lance noted.

"Hurry and see if Keith is there!" Allura commanded. "He could be fatally injured after a fall like that!"

Lance and Pidge positioned their Lions and cautiously descended into the gorge. It was a bit more cramped than it appeared to be from above, so progress was definitely slower than any of them would've liked. Lance barely fit in the gap, and Pidge had a bit of a better time, but they still struggled.

"Guys, there's no way I can fit down there," Hunk said nervously.

"Stay up there and take a closer look for any clues to what happened," Lance offered.

"Got it."

Lance and Pidge landed their Lions, the walls mere inches from scraping their sides. They dropped out of the Lions' mouths, using their jet packs to get close to the pod.

It was definitely totaled. The wings and engines were crunched together, and everything had scorch marks on it, like it exploded.

Lance pulled out his bayard, and looked into the cockpit through the shattered windshield. No body, no thrown objects. Only torn and beat up metal shards littering the charred inside.

"It looks like it exploded, but there's no remains here. Keith must've escaped before the drop," Lance informed. He turned to leave before Pidge leapt in.

"Pidge--!" He stopped as Pidge held up a tattered picture of the five Paladins together, one of the few times Lance had ever seen Keith smile.

Lance took the photo from Pidge, and they returned to their Lions and lifted back to the surface. Hunk was on all fours, staring at one spot of the rock with obvious fear on his face.

Lance stepped back out of his Lion and stepped towards the Yellow Paladin.

"Hunk...?"

"B--Blood," he whispered, pointing to one spot at the base of a column. A few red spots stained the ground and the side of the rock pillar, like something had to lean against it for support. Lance looked down, and just barely spotted the few purple hairs caught on a rock piece.

"Galra," Lance growled as he knelt for a closer look. "Guys, Keith was here. So were Galra. They probably injured him, which explains the blood."

"The pod, through the obvious engine fire burns, looked like it had been blasted before the implosion," Pidge informed.

"Let's head back," Hunk begged, trembling now. "Please?"

"Yeah, I think we're done here," Lance agreed as the pilots flew their Lions back to the Castle.

"What happened to you, Keith?" Lance whispered, his communication channel off this time. "And where are you?"