Borderline

chapter three.

Yaaayyy, it's getting darker earlier now :D 

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"What?!" I exclaimed, and the word rang through the castle corridor. Some guards walking past us eyed me strangely, and I cleared my throat, leaning closer to my sister and lowering my voice. "What do you mean you can't play hide and seek?"

"I'm sorry Lance", Allura said, but I saw how she eyed me warily. "But right now I'm quite busy. Coran ordered another lesson in the control room. He wants to go over the functions of the control panel again, since I had some adversity last time."

I sighed dramatically, failing in hiding my disenchantment. Well, todays plans were officially blown, and the disappointment I felt was quickly replaced with anxiety; what would Keith think of my absence? Was he even waiting for me, and would he even feel something if I didn't show up? Maybe he couldn't care less about whether I showed up or not.

"What with the eagerness, anyways?" Allura asked, crossing her arms over her chest, but still she maintained a royal posture, which confused me.

"I was just beginning to get really good at hide and seek. I was eager to beat you again." The lie came out surprisingly easy, and I didn't know whether to be happy about it or not. 

The turquoise diamond in the middle of her crown glistened for a second under the artificial light when she turned her head slightly upwards, eyes looking down at me. "Maybe we can play after my lesson. But isn't it my turn to hide? I've been the one searching maybe three times in a row now."

"No no no!" I hastily said, a little bit too fast, and I shook my head. "Absolutely not. I've come to the conclusion that I like to hide. You do the searching. No changes."

Allura frowned in utter bewilderment.

I sighed again, massaging my temples. "Just... When do you think the lesson will end?"

She blinked, trying to shake the surprise off from her, and for a moment she looked lost. But then she said: "Oh... I don't know... It starts just after luncheon. So maybe like... two vargas, to a minimum..."

"Two vargas?!" I shouted, and a guard that was about to round the corner halted to a stop, throwing a questioning look over her shoulder at me. I gave her a reassuring smile, before looking at my sister in front of me, hissing: "Two vargas?!"

"A lot to go through", she said with a shrug.

I grimaced, bringing my hand to my face, biting down on my knuckle, looking to the side. "Okay... Just meet me in the garden when you're done."

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Never in my life had two vargas been that agonisingly slow. I had lost at least five hundred brain cells in only one dobash of waiting, and by the time Allura walked out of the castles backdoors, I had turned completely imbecile. I swear my brain had started to rot.

But I waisted no time when she showed up; As soon as the counting started, I ran. Faster than I had ever done in a while. Glancing up at the sky, I hated to see that the sun had moved slightly down, and that the sky was a darker shade of blue, turning slightly purple at the horizon. Why did luncheon have to be so late for us, and why did Coran order a two and a half vargas lesson just today? I ran faster.

Relief hit me like a big wave when I saw that the inside of the cave was faintly lit up with a yellow familiar light. I sprinted inside, heart fluttering in elation as I neared, body pumping so much adrenaline that it felt like my feet would leave the ground any second. 

"Keith!" I huffed as soon as I stopped, doubling over as I gasped for air, gobbling every drop oxygen like I was on the verge of dying. My lungs swelled with every intake of air, and my panting sounded too loud around us. I tried to straighten my back, but my chest still heaved and sank remarkably. "I'm... I'm, here..."