Tangled Plance (AU)

Part 6

Lance followed Pidge as she crawled into the boat, it titling side to side. "Are you sure this is safe?" he asked, tapping the boat with his toe.

"Have you never been in a boat before?" She asked curiously, looking at the boy. He shook his head before sheepishly rubbing his neck. "I've never been out of the tower before." Pidge almost let herself feel sorry for him, but he didn't need that. This was the most important night of his life. Besides, she was enjoying it too and didn't want to ruin the moment by worrying about the past.

"Are you scared?" She asked with a playful smirk. Lance merely scoffed, insisting he was never scared. He came barreling into the boat, his long hair flying behind him. He jumped in, nearly crashing into the small girl already in the boat but didn't. The two shared a smile and Pidge took a paddle, and stuck it into the water making the boat move gracefully through the clear lake.

"Where are we going?" Lance said, scooting closer to her.

"To the center of the lake. It has the best view of the lions." She explained as she diligently continued to row. Lance nodded in understanding, leaning back in the boat watching her. She was really beautiful, especially with the sunset making her glow.

They got to the center of the lake and Pidge leaned down, putting her hand through the water as they waited. Lance watched her and fingered the chip in his pocket. Maybe it was time...

"Pidge I-" Lance started before they heard a loud thud. Across the lake they could see the large black lion land roughly on the small island over there. Lance and Pidge both lit up.

"It's starting!" Pidge called. She turned to look at Lance. "You ready for all your dreams to come true?" She said with a teasing grin. Lance felt his heart flutter and wasn't sure if it was because he was about to see the Lions up close, or because of the way Pidge was smiling at him.

The lions suddenly launched upward. The black lion in the lead with the other multicolored lions following suit. They made complicated twists and flips and Lance was in awe.

"Wouldn't it be so cool to pilot one of those." He said. Pidge nodded. "Yeah. I think I like the green one." She said, pointing to it.

"Why? Because its small like you?" Lance teased. Pidge rolled her eyes and jabbed him in the side again. What she did next took her completely by surprise as she scooted closer to Lance and leaned into his chest. He instinctively wrapped an arm around her and when they realized what was happening they both turned beet red. Pidge quickly sat back up and scooted away from Lance and looked up at the Lions. "Uh- Cool Lions and stuff." Pidge said followed by an awkward "Yeah" from Lance. They stayed silent for a while.

Lance glanced at Pidge. "Hey Katie-" He said, trying to get her attention. She turned slowly to face him, kinda taken back at him using her real name.

He pulled out the chip and flashed it around in front of her. He gave her a toothy grin. "I know I probably should've returned this to you early but-" Lance hesitated, he had never spoken these words to another human before- "-But I was scared. But the funny thing is, I'm not that scared anymore. You know what I mean?" Lance said, looking up at Pidge. She gave him a smile.

"I'm starting to." She said, carefully grabbing the chip from his hand. "Thank you Lance."

"Anything for you, Shortie." He said, sending finger guns her way. She rolled her eyes. "You had to ruin our special moment." She said jokingly. She somehow let herself lean into the long-haired male's chest again and his arms hugged around her again. He looked up and continued watching the show and she did the same. They stayed in that position as the show was starting to end and her attention was stolen by the chip.

This small little device probably had all the information she needed to find her brother. It was a dream come true. But she felt Lance's warmth around her and couldn't help but think that maybe looking for her family didn't mean she had to push everything else away. Maybe it'd be good to let someone else- Lance- in-

She saw something across the lake that broke her train of thought. She thought she saw a person, on the other side of the lake that looked way to similar to Matt. She felt her heart leap and sat up from her position. "Hey Lance. I have to go check something out over there." She said, pointing. She immediately took up the paddle and began rowing towards shore.

Lance looked down at her skeptically. "What's up?"

"Don't worry Lance, it'll just take a second." She said as the boat hit the sand. She stood up. "I'll be right back." She assured.

Lance looked at her and smiled weakly. "Okay..." He couldn't help but feel that something was off. Was she trying to run off with the chip now? Was Honerva right? He watched as she wondered off into the darkness.

"Matt!" Pidge called. She had sworn she had seen him. Maybe she was just hallucinating? She looked around again and no one was around. She felt her heart drop, and decided it was best return to Lance. But, she didn't get the chance.

She suddenly felt strong arms grab her. She tried to fight back when she noticed a familiar face in front of her. Ezor and Zethrid. She couldn't fight them off for long, especially because she left her bayard on the boat. "Hey. If it's my prize money you want... fine. Just don't hurt Lance." She said. The duo chuckled. "And miss the opportunity to get magic, healing hair?" Ezor said with her hand on her hip. Pidge stared at them wide-eyed and worried. She did all she could to fight them off when something hard hit her head and she blacked out. They tied her up to a boat, before setting it off directly to the guard tower.

Lance noticed someone coming from the shadows and his heart leaped, until her realized the silhouette was much bigger than his Katie. And there were two of them.

"Not you again-" Lance said. "Where's Pidge?"

"Oh your little friend?" Zethrid began. "She left you." She chuckled, gesturing toward the boat that was now sailing off. Lance squinted in the distance and could see her small body steering a ship away. He felt like he was going to throw up. Honerva was right.

"Now we believe you have something of value to us." Ezor said threatingly as they both approached him. Lance looked at his hair. "No. You aren't taking my luscious locks!" He said, trying to get his mind off Pidge.

The two bounty hunters lunged at him, and he tried to fight back. Unfortunately, they were beginning to overpower him. Suddenly, they both crumpled to the ground. Lance looked up in astonishment to see Honerva standing in their wake, her arms extended and glowing with magic. She dropped them suddenly.

"Lance!" She called, running up to hug him. "I just saw those two coming to att-"

"Honerva. You were right-" Lance with his cracked voice as he finally broke. Tears tempted their way down his cheek. "Ka- Pidge left me." He said.

Honerva sighed, breaking away from the hug to look at Lance. "I tried to warn you but you don't listen." Honerva scolded.

"Well, we should get going back to the tower then." She started walking off and Lance followed solemnly behind her. He took one glance back at the boat, which still held Pidge's bayard. He forced himself to look away as he followed behind his guardian. A smug look was plastered on her face as they entered the dark forest.

Author's Note:

Hello and thanks for reading! I don't have too much to say but I've just become adjusted to always writing Author's Note. Also, since I'm bored if any of y'all have a question for me about this fic, or me in general please feel free to ask. Also if you have any requests for things y'all want to see come to pass but are too lazy to write, hit me up and maybe I can write it for you :) (Especially once this fic is over, I'll need to find something else to write)