Paladins of the past.

Chapter 9:

Chapter 9: King Alfor. (Part One).

Lance and Hunk groaned as they entered the Bridge of the Castle. Both for different but at the same time for the same reasons. Lance because he had lost is touch in fighting and because he felt sick. Hunk, just because he felt sick.

"You made it!" Allura exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, just barely. That was a nightmare. I almost puked out there. I felt like Hunk!" Lance exclaimed out loud before muttering, "Man I need to hit the workout deck."

"Think how I felt. I am Hunk." Hunk replied, lightening the mood.

"Yeah... We had a tough time, too." Pidge and Shiro smile at each other.

"You wouldn't be smiling if you it was tough, I bet I was right. The green lion was on a peaceful forest planet!" Lance replied after seeing the secretive smile.

Pidge caved quickly, "Yeah, you were right! By the way, we saw this sloth-like alien. Do you know anything about it!"

Lance looked at Pidge before giving her some of the knowledge she wanted to know, leaving out some information only because Shiro interrupted them, "Did we find the Red Lion yet?" Lance, turned all his attention to Allura, because it be damned if he wasn't going to fight to see Red, even if he isn't her pilot anymore.

"Allura just located it. There's a bit of good news and bad new." Coran started.

"Let me guess, The good news is that the Red lion is nearby. However, it's on the Galra ship that you predicted would take days to arrive, however finger counting is more of an art than a science." Lance interrupted. Everyone turned to stare at him again after Coran nodded, "What? I didn't know the Red Lion was on the ship, until he said good news and bad news, so I took a guess,"

"That still doesn't explain how you knew it was the Galra ship, that Coran was sure it would take days to arrive. What are you hiding?" Keith questioned.

Lance took a step back, "You don't think I'm with the galra do you? Because if so, stop, I'm not. You seem to forget that I've known Coran longer than you." Lance took two steps forward, "I've known Coran for, almost 6 years, although he doesn't know it! He was like an uncle to me! So don't you dare, say that I'm with the Galra, because the only Galra I would ever stand by," Lance was interrupted as Allura and Coran gasped.

"You just said that you were not with galra, before saying that you would stand by a Galra. How on Altea can we trust you?" Allura half sneered, half growled. All the humans were looking at Lance with different emotions. Lance turned towards Allura.

"If you had let me finished, I would have said the Blade of Marmora." Lance gritted out.

"Lance," Shiro started as Lance turned to him now, "Who are the blade of Marmora? Are they Galra? And if so how can you trust them?"

Lance sighed, "There isn't much time, so I'll give you a run down, and explain in detail later, Okay?" Lance asked. After everyone nodded he continued, "Alright, so yes they are Galra, but we could trust them. At least when they were still alive. They helped Shiro escape from Zarkon, and we were allies. But someone was a double agent in the Blade and ratted them out to Zarkon, they were wiped out. I..." Lance let out a sigh, "I don't know if they are alive or dead, if they are rat inside their operations or not. But In the past? Future? My past, your future, we could trust them." Shiro put his arm on Lance's shoulder as a sign of respect. Everyone was quiet as they took in what they just heard.

"Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire." None of the humans missed when Lance flinched and took a step back, "I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known universe. I am here to confiscate the Lions, turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet." And with that the sudden transmission ended.

"All right, let's not panic," Shiro stated with calming hand gestures.

"Not panic? Th- The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship towards us. We only have 4 working Lions." Hunk rambled.

"Technically, only three working Lions," Pidge added, but she was looking at Lance, who hadn't even blinked since the transmission ended.

"That's right. Thank you, Pidge. Three working Lions an-and a castle that's 10,000 years old."

"A-actually, it's 10,600 years old. You see it was built by my grandfather --" Coran added.

"Thanks, Coran. Thank you for that. See? Now is the perfect time to panic!" Hunk panicked.

"Hunk, stop!" Pidge commanded, "Now isn't the time to panic about the Alien warship. It's the time to panic about Lance." Hunk stopped for a moment, and so did everyone else. They all looked at Lance, "We all saw him flinch at Sendak, and now he won't blink or respond to anything."

"I'll handle Lance, you find out a plan of action," Shiro stated. He walked over to Lance, making sure he was loud enough to not startle the kid. Shiro slowly moved his human arm and wrapped his hand around the lower part of Lance's arm, loose enough that Lance could pull away but tight enough that it brought comfort.

Shiro gently dragged Lance, to the edge of the room. "Wait! This castle has a particle barrier we can activate." Shiro heard Allura say before getting shut down by Coran. Shiro made sure that Lance sat down on the floor before kneeling before him. Lance was still staring a head of him, looking straight into Shiro's face but not taking anything in.

"Lance?" Shiro called gently, "Come on Kid, focus. Look at me," Lance did look at him, which was progress but he didn't seem the register that what was happening. Lance's hands more before Shiro knew what had happened, but luckily he wasn't about the be flipped again, instead Lance clutched onto Shiro's sleeves tightly. "Hey... you okay?" Shiro asked lamely, as he tried to pry Lance's hands off of him.

"Don't leave," Lance whispered, Shiro looked into his eyes, only to realise that Lance was only partly aware of what was happening now. Shiro once again tried to remove Lance's hand but they only tightened, "Don't move, Sendak will get you again and hurt you," Lance once again whispered.

"I'm not going anywhere Lance, but you need to let go of me," Lance did let go, but only slightly.

"B-but Sendak...?"

"Sendak isn't here Lance. Everything is okay, but it won't be unless we get the red Lion okay?" Lance looked confused, 'did Shiro hit his head? Sendak is just in the room over, the Red Lion is stuck in the hanger, how is everything okay?' he thought.

"If everything is okay, why does everything hurt?" Lance asked sounding like a little child.

"Lance your hurt?!" Shiro asked, a little louder than necessary, gaining the attention of everyone else who then crowded him. Lance didn't even notice them, only taking note of Shiro.

"D-did you hit your head Shiro? I- I protected Coran from the b-bomb," Lance stuttered, and everyone gasped, "I'm so confused,"

"Why are you confused Lance?" Shiro asked,

"I was in my paladin armour, and so were you. And, and you were hurt, but you look fine." Lance replied, gripping onto his hair. "Why aren't you hurt? Where is our armour?"

Shiro gently, grabbed Lance's wrists and pulled them away from his hair, "Lance, I need you to listen to me carefully, okay?" Lance nodded "There isn't any bomb, and Sendak isn't here, he's on a ship, we don't have any armour yet, alright?" Shiro said gently, still holding onto Lance's wrists, slightly tightening them when he tried to pull them away.

"B-But!"

"No, Lance, look around you. Everyone's here, and no one is hurt." Lance took a look around, realising that Shiro was correct, and that what he had experienced was something from his first time being a paladin. Lance looked down at his knees, his wrists still being held by Shiro.

"Sorry. I - "

"You don't need to explain anything, if you don't want to."

"Thanks, Shiro. Now let's get back to business." Lance said unsteadily before taking a breath shaking the memory away. 'I breakdown later right now, they need me.' Lance thought.

"Alright."