Under the Sea

Chapter 3 Rewrite

It'd been a few hours since the fight. And Keith was tense. He had to get that necklace back as soon as he could, so he could go back home. Without it... He wouldn't be himself. But there was no way he could ever manage to get it before the sun set. But, at least with the way he was about to be, Keith could find the bastard Lotor and his ship more easily. He hoped.

For the moment, he was still against the mast, and the small girl in green from before was watching him. Keith had tried for conversation, but the girl was so invested in her hunk of metal she was tinkering with, he could barely get her name. Which  was Pidge. He wondered if she was like this all the time. The captain, Lance(he introduced himself after he'd welcomed him to the boat), said he'd do some more explaining after dinner and the rest of the crew had gone to bed, which didn't settle well with Keith. He was worried that Lance would just kill him once he'd shed his tail. Though, maybe not, since Keith had saved his life.

Keith's thoughts were inturrupted by footsteps, and he looked up just in time to see Lance again, walking up to him with a different smile, more polite than the cocky grin from earlier. He scolded himself for how his belly warmed a bit, he should be afraid of the man. He still tensed when Lance crouched before him, despite the warmth in his belly.

"Hey, uh." Lance rubbed the back of his neck. "Do mermen eat? Can you eat human food at all? If not, I'm sure we can find something for you, but if you can I can go grab you some grub."

Keith frowned a bit, and shook his head. "I'm not hungry," he muttered, turning his head to look at the water, where he belonged.

He heard a sigh, and had to resist looking at Lance. "Fine then. Do you need water? We have uh... Not much, actually. There's probably a barell somewhere we could fill-"

Keith inturrupted Lance, shaking his head. "I'll be fine for another few hours," he said quietly. Which was true. He would be fine out of water for another few hours, until the sun finished setting. The merman ignored the little bubble of panic he was starting to feel, seeing the sun start to touch the water.

"Fine. Let's find out how to get you to my room for now, yeah?" Lance stood, looking down at Keith to figure out how to get him there.

They ended up needing the help of the larger man, Hunk, Keith learned, to carry Keith. Lance tried to do it himself, but Keith's tail was to long for him to be able to do much.

Keith was sat on a chair in Lance's captain quarters, where he got a chance to look around. It had only taken them about ten minutes to get Keith to the captain's room, but it was ten minutes to long. Soon, the painful shedding would happen. Keith never thought he'd have to suffer with that experience, but look at him now.

Lance was in the doorway, talking to Pidge and Hunk about getting the rest of the crew settled, which took more of Keith's precious time. He finally came back, and sat on the bed infront of Keith, leaning back to look at him curiously. "So. You're probably wondering why I had Hunk bring you here," the tan boy said smoothly.

Keith shrugged, crossing his arms. "To sell me, or more specifically, my tail, I'm guessing?"

Lance just frowned. "What? No, why would I do that?"

"What else would you do with a merman?"

The pirate captain grinned. "Well, mister grumpy pants, it turns out that I need your help. Or, more specifically, the kingdom of Altea needs your help."

Keith's brow furrowed, and he pursed his lips. "Altea? Like, the Alteans? Don't they have some rivalry with the Galra Empire?"

Lance nodded. "It's more than a rivalry. Altea and the Galra Empire have been at war for the past few years, and right now, the Galra are winning. But," Lance leaned forward. "The Princess, soon to be crowned queen, after her father's death, has a plan."

"What kind of plan would involve a merman? Or, any kind of merfolk?" Keith asked slowly.

"Well- I'm not completely sure," Lance admited. "Allura refused to tell me everything immediately, and made me look for a mer- what would it be, merperson? I think so. Anyways, I need a merperson, and to go back to Altea for the rest of the plan. But what I know now is what exactly this plan is to do. Do you know who the King of the Galra Empire is?"

"Zarkon," Keith said distastefully, his nose scrunching up. "He sends men to hunt merfolk every once and a while, to sell tails for money. Probably for his war. I'm with the Blade of Marmora, our job is to protect the kingdom and our colonies from those ships."

Lance looked surprised, and he grinned happily. "You're with the blade? That- fuck, that's awesome! Allura is gonna be glad to hear that! Anyways, yeah, it's Zarkon. But Allura's plan is to infiltrate the Galra Empire, find where Zarkon's base of opperations is, and assasinate him."