Demolished

Chapter 8

Hiatus over!! I hope to finish it before, or the day after S8 premiers, but no promises.

I will try to update every Saturday and at least get to Earth arrival.

...I didn't remember the dialogue all that well. Please don't kill me...

---

Pidge took Krolia leaving very well, and used it to her advantage.

About a week after the incident, six days of endless begging on Pidge's part, the Paladins relented.

"Are you sure?" Keith asked over the comms, his voice containing no hints of emotion.

"Mmhmm." Pidge nodded, beaming at nothing in particular. "I'm sure. I don't want to be a burden any longer."

"You're not a-" Shiro began, but Pidge interrupted.

"You know what I mean. Unable to do stuff, like Romelle."

"Ouch." Romelle mumbled.

"You know, Romelle kinda cursed us." Lance suddenly realized. "She said something like...what was it Romelle? Something about breaking a leg..."

Romelle cleared her throat. "I said "But what if you need to go to the bathroom, you break your leg, we're attacked, and I have to save the day?!"

"Yeah! That. She kinda jinxed it." Lance shrugged, sighing. "Romelle should be gagged for the rest of the trip..."

"It's not like if I say "Cosmic Storm" suddenly a cosmic storm occurs." Romelle huffed.

A moment of silence.

"What's that?" Lance asked, curious.

The was a bit of panicked silence, then "LANCE!!" Filled the comms, causing Pidge to wince.

"Whaaaaat? We all know we're going to eventually run into one, no matter what."

"Yeah, well, how about YOU don't jinx it, Lance?" Keith growled.

"...you bring a fair point, master." Lance murmured.

"Don't call me that."

"Call you what, master?"

"Mmm..." Keith grumbled. "Going back to our previous conversation, Pidge, if you feel like you can do this, go for it."

Pidge smirked at Shiro, who was still hesitant, and crossed her arms. "You heard Gold Leader."

"Don't call me that either."

Shiro sighed, scooping her up. "I still don't like this." He made sure to voice his discomfort, glancing at Pidge.

"Eh." Pidge shrugged. "But Keith said it's okay, and he's next in command after Krolia."

"Krolia wasn't in charge..." Shiro started uncertainly.

"She sure acted like it." Pidge huffed.

"Yeah, she did!" Lance agreed loudly.

"You said it." Hunk hissed.

"Don't get me started." Allura hummed.

"She didn't bother me at all!" Romelle chimed.

"Guys, she was a good leader." Keith grumbled.

"Ha! See?! She WAS our leader!" Pidge crooned in victory, chuckling maniacally.

Shiro didn't grace that with a response. Instead, he carried her to the cockpit of the Green Lion, settling her down in the seat to insure she didn't hurt her legs.

"Krolia wouldn't approve." He said aloud without meaning to.

"Whatever." Pidge sneered, tightening her hands on the controls.

It never ceased to amaze Shiro how the lights and holo screens appeared the moment the Paladin seated themselves. It was crazy.

"I still don't like this idea." Shiro grumbled, pulling back from Pidge as she adjusted herself.

"Yeah, well..." Keith probably shrugged. "If Pidge thinks she can do this, she probably can. She's the best at evaluating her limits then all of us..."

"Thank you, Keith!" Pidge beamed, turning to face Shiro. "See? I'm good."

Shiro looked blankly at her. The point was, she would overstep her boundaries if she wanted to prove herself, if she didn't feel secure enough.

---

It took several days, but, eventually Shiro let her fly the Green Lion without his ever-watchful guardianship. He still stood by her side, but he managed to break himself away to take naps - that made him sound like a toddler, but he was recovering! - and to go to the bathroom.

Pidge made small talk with the others, laughing at their jokes.

After about four movements, everyone finally snapped.

Shiro walked in on her just as she shouted "IT'S ONE AND A HALF YEARS!!!"

He took a step back, but she didn't take any notice of him.

"Although there's a margin of error of about one month give or take if we run into any time problems, yes, it'll be a year." Pidge continued, her voice still frosty.

"Oh." Lance mumbled, not appreciating being yelled at. He glanced outside the window, trying to ignore Romelle, who was simply sitting, staring at her legs but at the same time fidgeting with her skirt.

Outside his window, there wasn't much of a view. Just endless black with about one, maybe two stars in the entire void. "Pidge?" He asked, trying to keep his voice from trembling.

"What?" Pidge was exasperated, angry, even.

"Why is this section of space so dark?" Lance didn't mention how scary it was, the infinite void closing in around them.

"Eh. It's probably just from lack of any celestial bodies around."

"Oh. Must be some of that dark matter I've heard about."

"Laaaance..." Pidge groaned, shaking her head. "That's not what dark matter is."

Lance frowned, confused. What was dark matter, then?

"But, I guess it's so DARK that it doesn't MATTER much anymore." Hunk chimed, laughing at his own joke.

Though Lance smiled, he didn't answer his best friend with a laugh.

Nobody else did, either.

"Heh... heh...this is why nobody rides with me anymore, is it?" Hunk sighed, falling silent after his remark.

There was a bit of silence, then Hunk sighed again. "I want an adventure. I don't usually like them, but when we're out here for this long I get bored."

Pidge ducked her head slightly. She just knew they'd leave her behind again if an adventure did come their way.

"Don't worry, Hunk." Lance chimed, deadly serious but keeping a light tone in his voice. "If there's anything I've learned about space, it's that something always comes around to kill us. Always."

Meanwhile, an idea began to form in Shiro's head.