A Bonding Moment

1-Lance

Standing on the edge of the water, I can feel the sun on my face. It's so warm and so bright. I shield my eyes with my hand, the sunlight breaks through the cracks of my fingers. My feet are bare and buried in the sand. The waves rush up and cold water runs over my toes. I can smell the air. It's salty and smells of sweetness and summertime and... something so familiar. Something I've been away from for so long I can't quite place the smell of... home?

"Lance!" Pidge's voice pulls me from my sleep. I snap my eyes open to see them standing in the doorway of my room, arms crossed.

"What?" I say, almost with a pout. I rarely have dreams about home. It felt so real this time.

"You were supposed to be at breakfast half a varga ago. Allura is going to brief you and Keith on the mission today."

"Remind me again why I have to do this with him?" Keith sits back in his chair, a scowl on his face. Not that there ever isn't a scowl on Keith's face.

"Because," Allura starts, "you two are two of our most skilled Paladin's, I wouldn't trust anyone else with this mission."

Pidge scoffs in the corner, "Meaning, we are all busy working on the ship, and you guys don't have anything to do."

I slump down in my chair with a pout, "Yeah that sounds about right."

Allura tries for a smile, "So, we discovered a secret storage center on planet Entuk that we believe belonged to the witch Haggar. Our hope is that it contains information on Zarkon. Maybe we can figure out their next move before they have a chance to make it."

"Entuk? I thought that was just a planet of Altean ruins. Why would Haggar hide something there?" I take a bite of food goo and raise my eyebrows at Coran and Allura.

"Which is why is would be the perfect place to hide something. It should be an easy mission just in and out to make sure we're not missing out on all the intel we can get."

Keith sighs and crosses his arms, "I can go alone if it's so easy. Lance can train. He needs it."

"Now that was uncalled for!" I start but Allura shushes and rolls her eyes.

"Both of you are going. I'm the princess and my word is final so shut up and listen!" the room is silent. I hear a small chuckle from Pidge. "Now, go suit up. The castle is landing in twenty dobosh."

Keith is so full of himself. Last time I checked, I wasn't the one who got kicked out of the Garrison. I know he and I were rivals back then but we need to be a team now. We all have to have a connection to form Voltron. Keith and I specifically need to work on that. I tuck my helmet under my arm and head for the exit bay. Maybe this mission will be our chance to.

Keith is waiting for me by the drop door. His helmet already locked on, a look of determination on his face. I swear the man only has two facial expressions. Distain and determination. We stand side by side, waiting for the door to open.

"Let's try to make this quick." Keith says, glancing my direction.

"Why? Have some place to be? Need to spend more time sitting in your room, writing in your diary about how annoying and untalented I am?" I scoff and shake my head.

"Lance," Keith turns to me, "I don't actually think-"

Just then the door slides open, a barren planet is revealed before us. A wasteland. We step outside and the castle door shuts behind us.

"Keith? Lance?" Allura's voice sounds through the radio in my helmet, "Can you hear me?"

"We hear you." Keith says, moving towards the ruins just ahead.

"I've got the coordinates of the entrance to Haggar's storage center ready. It should be in the basement of the Altean outpost ruins ahead. Good luck. Someone will be standing by if you run into any trouble but we are going to be orbiting the planet. We don't want to stay in one place for too long."

The outpost is... creepy to say the least. The basement is only worse. It's just an old filing room but the overhead light is flickering and the floors creak below our feet.

"Do you see any kind of entrance?" I ask Keith. He shakes his head and we continue searching. I run my hands over the walls, there has to be some kind of trigger. Something that would reveal a door or a hatch or some kind of creepy secret passageway that an evil witch would build.

"Lance! Come here I found something!" Keith calls from the other side of the room.

I find him kneeling over a floor tile, he strains, "It's... really heavy."

I hurry over and help him lift it off, the stones grind together as we push the tile to the side, revealing a long dark passage and a ladder.

"Good find." I mutter to Keith, "Let's go."