Entranced {Klance au}

Chapter 23

"You shall be executed."

"Hmm?" Lance hummed. Tuning back into the conversation., having understood the words but not let them sink in.

The commander looked at the soldier on his left. "Is my translator not working?" He asked in Galran, his voice low and gruff. 

"Your translator is fully operational, sir," She reassures him, in Galran again. "I believe the creature is merely unintelligent."

"Wha?" Lance butts in again. "Are you guys talking in tongues or something?" 

Keith looks at Lance oddly, having understood every word of the two soldier's conversion. "Did you hit your head?" He asks. Was loss of hearing a sign of concussion?

Lance looks back, equally confused. "No! But that's no the problem, the problem is that these guys are speaking making no sense!"

"Silence!" The commander snaps in English before Keith can continue interrogating Lance. "State your name for the records." The soldier next to him pulls out a metal rectangle which ignites with the press of a button to reveal a holographic data pad. 

Keith stares on in silence defiance, while Lance has other plans.

"Princess Consuela Banana-Hammock," Lance says, fighting back a smirk. 

The  commander shares a look with the Galra next to him before clearing his throat. "Well than, Princess Consuela Banana-Hammock and..." he looks at Keith, but is hesitant to ask his name "companion. You both have been sentenced to death, and shall be executed immediately due to the threat you pose." Without further explanation he nods to the soldiers behind the human's backs, who promptly force the teens to their knees. 

"Wait, right now?! What about parley! Or um... we come in peace?"  Lance stumbles out, looking at the commander with his best, innocent eyes. 

Whatever the commander grunts back Keith misses, too busy scowering the ground around them for a weapon of some kind, or at least a plan?

The sound of guns being drawn forces him back into the present, which sinks in like a ton of bricks dropped from the top of a building falling into flesh. They were going to die. Lance was going to die. Lance was going to die. Without further thought Keith threw his elbow back, hoping these aliens shared the same tender spots as humans -- unfortunately for  that Galran solider, they do -- before pouncing on the soldier with a gun to Lance's head. 

Lance rolls forward -- after a moment of amazement at the amount of guts Keith has -- and kicked out at the commander Galra's knees, taking him by surprise. Lance is about to start celebrating when he remembers there were four soldiers, not three, and spins to find himself face to face with a very angry alien. Lance scrambles backgrounds on the ground as she approaches, only stopping when he runs into Keith. 

"Keith, I'm-"

"Don't you dare say you're sorry again."

"I'm... thank you." 

The two boys stare down the barrels of the soldier's laser pistols, not daring to blink. Lance gives in when the guns light up with charge and shuts his eyes firmly. Keith hooks an arm around the other boy, more so to comfort himself than Lance, and tricks himself into thinking it will help. 

"Thank you, too," Keith says quickly as he watches the alien pull the trigger and the laser race towards them and... suddenly be blocked from view by a rock? 

Keith twists around, trying to find the source of the rock formation that had risen from the ground just in time to save them, meeting eyes with Hunk. Lance takes a second to realize they weren't dead yet and opens his eyes to see Hunk as well. Lance smiles giddily and laughs loudly as he jumps up and runs to his best friend. Tapping Hunk's glowing amulet in thanks before nearly tackling the boy in a hug.

"I knew you could do it!" Lance declares as he pulls away. 

Keith comes over after checking the state of the last soldier. The eruption of earth had knocked her off her feet, successfully knocking her out. "Yeah, yeah," he interrupts the fangirling. "Now let's get the hell out of here." 

"Wait," Hunk says, seeing the fallen soldiers for the first time. "Their not -" he gags. "Dead, right?"

One of the Galra groan, answering his question.  Suddenly the fear of seeing a corpse is replaced with the fear of facing a very alive alien. 

"Never mind, I agree with Keith," Hunk says, already bustling up a less steep part of the crater wall.

"For once, I do too," Lance decides and follows after with Keith. The hike up is draining, especially as their adrenaline slowly leaks out. Hunk makes it to the portal first -- this time, seeing as there were no walls around, they found the intricate stone embedded in the ground with a design similar to the first one -- and quickly slots his amulet in place. The three jump through the portal one by one, landing back on Mount Zubraz before it closed behind them. The trio had stood on that ground less than two hours ago, but it felt like days since -- or years, writing wise... -- they had been there last. 

Looking out over the mountain range, Hunk sighed. "Do you maybe want to take a nap?"

Lance groaned. "So badly." 

"We should really get back, get injuries check out." Keith sends Lance a pointed look. 

Lance shrugs his look off. "I personally think that beauty sleep is the best medicine." Without waiting for Keith's answer, Lance flops onto the ground. Hunk yawns as he follows more sluggishly, using his arm as a pillow and closing his eyes. Keith stands there for a moment before giving in.

"30 minutes," he says firmly before settling down on the ground as well. He's almost too tired to notice that Lance's face was a foot away. But, come on, Keith's too gay to ever NOT notice Lance.

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Yeepers, another chapter! Of course, written at 3 am again. 

Stay healthy,

--TheGirlBehindTheMask

Word Count: 1000