Lost Time

Seven

Hunk's room was empty when Lance checked in on him that morning, as well as Keith's and Pidge's. He hadn't checked Shiro's room, mostly because he didn't know where the man's room actually was. They were probably already awake, so he simply decided to head down to the bridge and familiarize himself with his new teammates, but only after stopping for a quick drink in the kitchens.

They were all gathered on the bridge, Hunk wearing bright yellow pajamas and missing his headband, Pidge and Keith wearing the outfits they'd had from Earth, and Shiro in his paladin's armor. "Good morning, everyone," he greeted casually, though the looks on everyone's faces told him he'd missed something.

"How thoughtful of you to join us," the Princess hissed at him, her glare positively venomous. "You're late, and the only one in uniform is Shiro!"

"Princess, if I may," Shiro replied to Allura's rage. "These are all teenagers. I understand your urgency, but they're stranded in space with relative strangers, I don't think this aggressive tactic is going to work." He smiled sheepishly, but Allura's face remained stoic. If Lance thought she'd had excellent posture before, she was statuesque now, her pale eyes flashing dangerously.

"Of course," Allura corrected saccharinely. "What could I possibly know about being an adolescent thrown into an intergalactic war alongside people I've never met. How foolish of me to believe any one of you could take this seriously!"

"None of us asked for this!" Keith growled at the princess, stepping into her path to Shiro.

"Y-yeah, if we blame anyone, blame me," Lance piped up. "I'm sorry I slept in, my headphones are noise-cancelling. It won't happen again."

"See to it that it doesn't," Allura hissed at him before addressing them all, her tone abruptly formal. "I will be on the bridge, testing our systems. Coran, if you would take them to the training deck?"

"Of course, Princess," her advisor immediately replied, bowing his head. "Try not to stress yourself too much, eh?"

-----

"Alright, paladins, welcome to the training deck. I'll be keeping an eye on you during the more physical aspects of training up here, in the observation room," Coran said diplomatically. Keith scoffed, and for some reason, it made Lance bristle. The man was just doing his job, how dare Nightmare McEdgeLord disrespect him like that?

It reminded him of that first day at the Garrison- Hunk had been positively ill with nerves until he'd seen that his roommate was to be Lance. Contrarily, Lance was positively floating. Space, he was going to go to space, it was so close he could taste it, and he didn't hesitate to tell anyone who greeted him. He'd smiled so widely his cheeks hurt, and then-

"-protect your teammates or there won't be anyone there to protect you!" Coran was finishing.

As punishment for distracting everyone, Lance was first in the invisible maze. Unable to see his enemy killed him, especially with Keith's voice ringing in his ears, flat and commanding. He had no right, no right, Lance was the prince-

No, he corrected silently. Those are just dreams. You aren't special.

"I said go right, Lance, damn," Keith snapped. Lance growled to himself, whirling a little too quickly and losing balance. His shoulder slammed into an invisible force while his foot jerked into another solid mass opposite him.

"Fuck off, Kogane!" He shouted, throwing himself bodily to the ground. "I'm sick of your shit!"

"Lance, this isn't the time for you to be a-"