shining like the stars

7

The emergency beacon was still blinking a faded amber light, sitting on top of a long-dead console. Keith brushed dust and dirt off the computer, but exposure to the elements had long since corroded it beyond any hope of repair. The knobs and dials were all labeled in unfamiliar alien script (as opposed to the slightly-familiar Altean he had grown used to seeing); and the beacon had no writing on it at all. Keith picked it up and turned it off.

The small civilization was long-abandoned. It was the only bit of settled land he had seen across the miles of wastelands, and it was little more than a collection of stone buildings. Most were still standing, although few showed scarring across the sides, burn marks from firefights. There were no graves, no bodies, and little by way of furnishings had weathered the ravages of time. Keith had found the beacon in what appeared to be a command room, which still had a large stone table squared off in the center of the room. He walked to an open window, a square hewn from solid rock and rested his hands on the sill, staring out into the wastes.

There was what appeared to be a forest of some kind, the vegetation the same color as the landscape. It looked dead, and really, Keith didn't have any desire to visit it even if he could. Which he couldn't, at the moment.

When he landed in the settlement's square and disembarked, the red lion as usual put up its protective particle shield. But when Keith went to return, the first time.... well, the lion did not drop its shield to allow him access. "Oh, come on," Keith said, and smacked the barrier with his open hand. "I'm your paladin, why are you doing this to me now?"

Of course there was no response, and it wasn't like Keith could radio the others and tell them he was currently locked out of his irritatingly recalcitrant lion, so he set about exploring the small area and clearing it to ensure that he wasn't about to be attacked.

There didn't appear to be any life, of any kind. Besides the fact that the settlement was abandoned, Keith saw absolutely no evidence of animals of any kind. The place was eerily quiet, the only sound the crunch of his footsteps on the dry earth, and the wind whistling occasionally through the buildings. The atmosphere was breathable, although it had an acrid, unpleasant scent to it so Keith hadn't taken off his helmet. He had spent a good measure of time by himself on Earth, by choice, but this was different.

He was completely alone, on a barren, dead world.

The daylight didn't seem to change, filtered through clouds grey and flat. Keith sat up on the roof and kicked his legs off the stone, wondering what happened with the others; if their lions kicked them out too or if it was just Keith whose lion had to act like a real cat and ignore him. He could imagine Lance's outright indignation if the blue lion did that to him, and Keith shifted a little, uncomfortable. But then he thought about Shiro and he grew really uncomfortable, and the weight of the fact that he was still in heat settled on him and Keith groaned.

This shit was obnoxious, how in the hell did Lance deal with it? Clearly the suppressants helped, but how did he deal with being so obviously horny all the goddamned time...?

Then Keith remembered it was Lance he was thinking of, and sighed. Okay, so Lance didn't deal with it, he was just annoying about wanting to get laid at anything that would even consider him for half a second.

A soft hum filled the air, a distant, faint vibration. The area was so quiet that it was obvious well before he could see anything at all that it was something approaching, and fast. Keith pulled himself to his feet quickly, bayard in hand and prepared for trouble; just in case. He relaxed a little once he spotted the source of the noise, and waved one hand in the air. It was the blue lion.

#

"Don't get out of your lion!" Keith called, running over to where Lance had set the blue lion down next to the red lion. Lance clearly didn't hear him, as he hopped down from the winch. "Red won't let me back in!"