Chapter 14

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Art credit in picture

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The four paladins stood in a somber silence, tears still streaming down their faces. Keith let out a deep growl of anger from deep in his throat. He wiped away his tears angrily and began pacing around the room.

"Why does Lance have to be so selfless all the time?! Doesn't he see he's hurting us by doing this?" Better to be angry than allow myself to be vulnerable, right? "Putting himself in danger doesn't help anyone! God he's so stupid!"

Hunk was quick to Keith's side, placing a sympathetic hand on his shoulder and stopping him in his tracks. "I know, buddy, we're all gonna miss Lance too." Hunk smiled warmly at Keith, who returned a quick smile.

The red paladin slumped down into a seat, exhausted. His outburst had given everybody else enough time to wipe their face and begin to sort themselves out.

Allura and Coran had long since excused themselves, taking comfort in each other's familiarity to get them through this loss.

Pidge rushed up to Keith's side and began rambling loudly, diverting her sadness into her work. "I could start to trace Lance, I know the ship they were on and if I had access to castle records I would get most of the information I need to figure out where they would be now. Of course it would take some time but if I start now I have a pretty good chance of finding them in the next couple vargas. I'll start doing that now, I'll let you know as soon as I've found anything." Without letting anyone get a word in edgeways, Pidge sprinted from the room: gathering the equipment she dropped on the floor earlier.

Shiro sighed, "I've got to make sure she doesn't overwork herself... Keith are you okay?" Keith nodded and Shiro left the room, in an attempt to help Pidge.

Hunk took it upon himself to console Keith. If Hunk was going to be sad, making someone else feel better was the least he could do. He sat down next to Keith and just started talking. He spoke about how he met Lance and all the mischief they got in together, almost exclusively caused by Lance.

It made Keith chuckle to hear about the amount of trouble they would get in. Although, it did concern Keith how much Lance would take the blame, regardless of the punishment.

"Oh man," Hunk giggled loudly, wiping away tears of laughter, "I've never seen Iverson so mad! And Lance just strolled into class soaking wet and says "Oh hey sir, bit damp out isn't it?" and the fish just drops out of his jacket!"

Keith and Hunk both bellowed with laughter, whooping loudly. As their sniggering died down and they began to regain composure Pidge jogged into the room. She was more composed than she was when she left all that time ago but she looked completely fried. She had clearly been gripping and pulling at her hair, based on how it stuck up it tufts towards the top of her head. Her glasses had been discarded somewhere and the bridge of her nose was pink from where she must have been pinching it.

She slammed her laptop down on the table in front of Keith and pointing at a mark on a map. "He's here." She announced. "They're out in the open, with only a couple ships surrounding them which should be easy enough to avoid. They're not cloaked or anything; they don't seem to care if they get tracked or not. Lotor did strike me as arrogant, I guess he thinks he can take anything coming."

Keith instantly stood up, not wanting to waste any time. They had already wasted so much time and seeing how Lance was being treated while they waited around made his blood boil.

He checks the map one more time before Pidge hands him a small black cube. "Everything you need should be on there, it has their location, a cloaking device and also has a built in distress beacon so if you ever need help, just twist the two halves of the cube and we'll come and help you."

Keith smiled gratefully at Pidge and prepared to leave. "Bring him back for us" Hunk said, smiling sadly, "and we can't cope with one of us gone so you better come back safe too." He demanded.

Keith nodded, thankful for their support. Just before the red paladin walked out of the door, Pidge grabbed onto his arm. "If I knew where my brother was right now," she started, "I would do everything in my power to get him back. I know how you must feel so I'm going to stall Shiro enough for you to sneak out and get far away from the castle. Don't blow it." She said with a grin.

Pidge walked into the hallway before Keith and called out. "Shiro I still can't locate them! But my vision is going blurry, is that normal?" Pidge turned and nodded at Keith. "Go." She said with a nod. Keith darted off to get his armor and debated whether to use his lion or a pod.

He was suited up and just heading to his lion when he heard Shiro yelling at Pidge from down the hall. He sniggered to himself and boarded his lion. He placed the tiny black cube in the middle of his controls and it automatically gave him a route to Lotor's ship. To Lance.

The journey there was slow and tedious and left Keith with plenty of time to overthink what may have happened to Lance. It was only when he narrowly avoided crashing into a Galra ship did he snap out of it.

He slipped in between the remaining ships before activating the cloaking device. He flew the lion somewhere safe and out of the way before exiting the ship and using his jets to propel himself into the exterior of Lotor's ship.

There was no time to look for an entrance; Keith cut a hole in a window of the ship and wriggled through it. He dropped to the floor painfully and slowly picked himself up, brushing off the shards that had stuck to him.

He surveyed the room he was in. It was large with an enormous dining table dominating the majority of the space. A large window (the one Keith had cut into) made up one entire wall. Keith recognised it as the room he first saw Lance and Lotor...

A door slid open behind Keith and three galra guards walked in. The moment they saw Keith, they sprung into action.

Two of the guards charged at Keith, knocking him off balance and making him stumble a few steps. The third took this moment to fire at the red paladin, hitting him square in the side of his head. Keith could feel blood beginning to pool under his helmet but had no time to lose.

One of the guards was beginning to call for reinforcements and Keith was forced into action. He kicked the guard hard in the side, summoning his bayard and cutting into anything in range. The three guards where all caught in the blow and forced backwards, clutching at their rib cages. Keith took this moment to dash out of the hall, searching for Lance in every room he passed.

After turning multiple corners and checking every room he came across, Keith was beginning to lose hope. It wasn't until he heard Lotor's room echoing down a corridor that he felt a glimmer of faith, Lotor was always going to be with Lance right?

Keith began to slow, his injuries starting to ache and wear him out. He turned into the room that Lotor's voice came from and leant against the doorframe. He looked up at Lance's shocked face and couldn't help a smile from crawling onto his face. Blood pounded to his head and droplets of the red liquid slid down his face.

"Told you we were coming back for you."

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Wow i actually stuck to my plan! Im schocked, especially considering i wrote this chapter in like a day, mostly while at school. This may also have a bunch of typos in lmao

Sorry this is kinda dull, i just wanted full disclosure on everything that happened in the story so there was no confusion (also i didnt really have enough time to write something 100% and engaging)

What time is it for you when i upload this? Bc i always say I'll upload on a friday but its almost always a saturday morning (2:00am etc)

Thanks for reading, byeee

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