Taking A Chance

A Small Portal Appeared

Standing on either side of Kosmo, Keith and Lance slipped their fingers into his fur.
Then they were gone. Seconds later Kosmo appeared again, alone.
Shiro folded his arms and kept an eye on the Carandian ship. They could hear Keith and Lance, but not see anything. He thought his heart was going to fly out of his chest, but like a good leader he kept his calm exterior.
Keith: Let's go for that one.
Lance: Oh my god, this place stinks. I'll be bathing for a week to get the stench off me.
Keith: Let's get out of here before I throw up.
An explosion rocked the Carandian ship, and all they got for the boys mics was static.
Keith: Lance...on...shit…no…fuck...
They all tensed, and the Carandian ship began to list. Explosions blew out parts of the ship where the hangers were.
Keith: Don't...go...shit…
Lance: God damn...close...Keith…down...
There was blaster fire, yelling, and agonising screaming, but they couldn't tell who it was or where it was coming from.
Keith: Lance, move. Okay, time to go.
Lance: Jesus, fucking, christ. There's a half eaten hand in here.
Keith: I think I just found their foot. This is so wrong.
Lance: Shit, shit, shit, shit.
Keith: What?
Lance: There's a god damn penis back here with NO BODY ATTACHED TO IT.
Keith: I hate this place. How the hell do you fly this piece of shit.
Lance: You better figure it out fast. We got more company coming. Weapons, weapons, weap...oh there they are.
Keith: Okay, got it. Shiro we could use some cover.
‘We're on our way,' Shiro said.
As Keith and Lance shot out of the Carandian ship, the other paladins kept them covered, and picked off the fighters that managed to follow them.
The battle was short lived and soon they all returned to the Castle.
Everyone ran down to the hanger where Keith and Lance landed. They popped to top and they all covered their mouth and nose with a hand at the stench.
Keith and Lance couldn't get out of the ship fast enough, and almost tripped over their own feet in their haste.
Their armour was filthy, there was blood dripping from various body parts, and they were both pale.
‘Dump your amour here and I'll get it decontaminated,’ said Shiro, ‘I'll come and collect the undersuit in ten minutes.’
They gladly did as instructed and headed to their room for a hot shower, and they were still in there when Shiro in.
‘Do you two need the pods?' called Shiro.
‘No,' said Keith. ‘Just minor cuts and bruises.'
‘Hunk’s cooking, it'll be ready in 30 minutes, and the Blade have just arrived,’ Shiro said, leaving again.
‘I don't think I'll ever feel clean again,' Lance said, as he turned off the water and they both stepped out. ‘How can they live like that?' They dried and went out into the bedroom.
‘I don't even want to think about it,’ Keith said. He grabbed clean clothes out of the wardrobe for them and threw them on the bed, and they dressed.
Lance sighed as he dressed.
‘What's wrong?' asked Keith.
‘Right now, I don't feel like we're ever getting home,' Lance said.
‘Well we better be home by the 28th or I'll be pissed off,' Keith said, as they left the room.
‘Ooo, I bags top on the honeymoon,’ Lance said, playfully.
‘Provided we get to go on a honeymoon, what makes you think you're topping the whole time?’ asked Keith.
Lance draped an arm over Keith's shoulders. ‘Because mullet, you like it, and I like the way you purr.'
Keith laughed. ‘Fine, you can top.’
‘Oh, damn,’ said Lance, ‘I left my datapad in the behind. I'll meet you in the dinning room.'
‘Okay,' Keith said.
Lance kiss him, then turned and hurried back to the bedroom.
Keith met up with Shiro, Collins, Malay and her mate Naran further down the corridor.
'We were just on our way to see you,' Shiro said.
‘We have picked up a number of transmissions in the last hour,’ said Malay, 'the Carandians know what's happened here and are assembling to attack Earth.’
‘How soon?' asked Keith.
‘There will be five ships here within the hour,’ Malay said.
‘That doesn't leave us time to get reinforcements,' Collins said.
Keith was about to say something, when he turned and looked back up the corridor.
‘No,' he breathed and ran.
The others followed.
Keith burst into his and Lance's bedroom to find Greg punching and kicking Lance. Keith grabbed the bigger man by the back of his shirt and thew him out the door. Greg hit the wall on the other side of the corridor, and crumbled in a heap on the floor. Keith advance on the prone figure only to be stopped by Naran.
‘Leave him to us,' he said. ‘Look after your mate.’
Keith turned and scooped up Lance, but instead of taking him to the healing pods he walked in the other direction.
‘Keith, what are you doing?' asked Shiro.
They hurried after him and followed him to the bridge. Keith ignored the commotion around him and sat on the floor in front of the windows, and cradled Lance's unconscious body in his arms.
Within minutes everyone in the Castle was on the bridge.
Keith's eyes and marks began to glow, then Lance's marks. From the Carandian ship, gold threads of quintessence, floated across space towards them.
‘How is this possible,' Allura breathed.
When the threads were almost at the window, Keith raised his hand and made a slow circle gesture and a small portal appeared in the window allowing the threads to pass through. They surrounded Keith and Lance, and they watched as they both began to heal.
‘What's happening?' asked Commander Andrew Singer.
‘Keith is drawing quintessence from the Carandians to heal Lance,’ Coran said.
‘Why do some of the quintessence turn red then disappear?’ asked Pidge.
‘Because the person has died,' Coran said.
‘I thought you needed to touch the thing you drew quintessence from,’ Hunk said.
‘You do,' said Allura. ‘Well, normally you do. Keith's powers appear to exceeds anything we know about how Ancient Alteans use quintessence.'
Lance's eyes flickered open, and they glowed brightly as he gazed at Keith.
Slowly, the quintessence stopped flowing from the ship and the portal closed in the glass. Keith hugged Lance to him.
‘I'm sorry,' Keith murmured.
‘You didn't do anything wrong,’ Lance said.
Shiro and Adam helped them to their feet when they looked a little shaky.
Overhead, the alarms started blaring and they all turned to the window as Carandian ships started to appear.