Wash This Over Me

Chapter 7

Keith stood on the bridge of the Castle, looking out of the window. Despite his insistence to find and get Lance back, the rest of the team started to drift away from that goal after several weeks. They got distracted with information and missions that The Blade of Marmora had given to the team and it took priority over getting Lance back.

It still pissed him off that the team did that again. They pushed off finding a teammate, an important one at that, once again. He thought after the whole thing with Shiro, that they would be more willing to get a teammate back.

As Keith started to pace back and forth, silently seething about the team, he didn't notice anyone enter the room. Mumbling to himself curse words and half baked threats to get his team to get back to prioritizing Lance's rescue for a time being, he nearly cracked his skull against the window when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

He whipping his head around to glare whoever gave him such a scare. As he saw Coran's face, full of concern along with his orange hair and mustache, Keith sighed. While he was mad at most of his teammates for not focusing on a plan to rescue Lance, Coran was one of the few who seemed as desperate to get the paladin back as much as Keith did.

"Sorry for scaring you out of your wits my boy. Just checking in on you." Coran said softly. It was always odd to see the man without his cheerful attitude when they talked one on one. In a way it was similar to how Lance would tried to brighten up everyone's day at the Castle. Sometimes it was needed and other times it was not.

Still Keith missed the comments that were at many times too corny to not laugh at that the other boy would provide.

"I'm fine." He got out, not sure if he wanted spill how much frustration he was currently feeling. Coran just gave a small nod at his comment before heading towards control panel that the bridge had.

They stayed in silence for a few minutes. Keith stared back out into space, wondering where Lotor was keeping Lance and if he was treating him well at all. While the comment that Lotor had said about using kindness to gain Lance's name made him angry beyond anything, he still wanted Lance to be treated with as much kindness that the Galra Prince might have.

Keith didn't want Lance to be broken by the very people they were fighting against. Not this early in the war.

As he took a deep breath in, he heard Coran shuffling behind him. And then he heard a sound of exclamation before the room turned dark. Keith turned around to see the hologram map that Allura had shown him and the rest of the team the first time they had been on the Castle. Coran was standing off to the side of the hologram, smiling brightly at it.

"I knew I could get it to work again!" Coran said, his eyes looking over at Keith.

"Why did you? I mean Allura really hasn't used it since we entered the Castle the first time." He said. While it was an impressive to see it again, he wasn't quite sure why the orange haired man brought it up during this moment.

"I wanted to cheer you up of course! It seemed to help Lance the last time I did this for him. Homesick for your planet and all." The older man said as he walked around to the other side of the hologram map that showed the solar system they were in currently.

Keith raised his eyebrows at the new information he was given. While he wasn't quite homesick for Earth since he was considered an outcast for most of his life, someone like Lance who was as the definition of a social butterfly didn't seem as susceptible to fall into homesickness that Coran was describing.

"He was homesick?" Keith questioned quietly.

Coran heard him and gave a sad sort of smile that Keith never seen on the man before. "He said that he missed the ocean that he visited with his family yearly. Also the water that fell from the sky."

"Rain." Was what he breathed out.

It was starting to click into place the subtle little things that Lance had done to make sure the team was happy. That they weren't quite suffering the homesickness that he must have been feeling. His shoulders started to tense up at all the thoughts that churned around in his mind, wondering why he didn't notice earlier.

Softly a voice said in his mind "A leader can not take on everyone's problems by themselves. All they can do is help their teammates with their problems."

He only relaxed slightly at the voice of the Black Lion. Still even the advise wasn't enough to ease his guilty conscious. He looked over at Coran and still saw the same sad smile that the Altean wore as he played around with the hologram map.

And then the words from the Black Lion also clicked into place in his mind.

"Hey Coran, do you think we could plan something to rescue Lance?"

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Keith lead Coran to the hanger where the Black Lion stood. It was currently off, but he hoped that it would turn on for him to discuss a plan to help get Lance back. They walked up to the machine and suddenly he felt unsure if he wanted Coran to know that the Black Lion was talking to him telepathically.

Before he could change his mind and drag the Altean out of the hanger, the Black Lion's eyes light up. It shifted its body from the usual sitting position that i t had to laying down. With its head closer to the ground, it felt like the Black Lion wanted to be as close as it could with the conversation.

Keith took a deep breath before he spoke to his lion. "You said that leaders shouldn't take on everyone's problems by themselves. Well I'm here with you and Coran to get help to save our teammate."

"That was my advice. Though I wish there was more than the one person to help you try and rescue your teammate." The Black Lion said, their voice showing their disappointment.

"Well Coran seems to be the only one at the moment whose willing to help with the rescue mission. The rest have their own thing or helping with missions with The Blade of Marmora to come help with this." He said back. He glanced over at Coran to see the Altean gaping at the both of them. For a few moments all three of them stayed silent, waiting for someone to speak up.

"This is truly amazing Keith. I've never seen a Paladin talking with their lion like this before." Coran said. In that moment he looked like he embodied amazement at this discovery. "When did this happen?"

"It was when we tried to take Lance back a few weeks ago." Keith said. "Right before I joined the battle to be exact."

"My Paladin was filled with so many emotions that I could not ignore him. So I spoke to him, wanting to reach out." The Black Lion said to the both of them. The look on Coran's face as he heard the lion's voice was one that Keith would never forget.

"This is truly amazing." Was all the Altean could say.

Keith put a hand on the other's shoulder, trying to keep Coran grounded so they could get through a conversation. Through his fingers, he could feel blood flowing quickly in excitement. "After we get this whole rescue mission planned out, I'll let you come to some of our talks. It would be nice to have someone else for a change."

"I'll do my best with helping rescue Lance then!" Came the proclamation. All Keith could do was smile at the excitement that Coran had.

"Shall we start with planning our rescue mission?" The Black Lion said, amusement clear as day in their tone