The Purple Paladin

Chapter Seven : Tricked

I wake up to see blue in front of me. I put out my hand and the blue dissolves allowing me to step out of the healing pod. Stumbling, I look around and see the others aren't watching the pods but comparing... 'Are they seriously comparing an Earth clock to an Altean one to see which is faster!' I think as I watch and listen to them.

I'm about to speak and get their attention when I hear a faint hiss next to me and Lance's pod opens. He's not quite awake yet so he starts to fall forward. I catch him as he opens his eyes and see what's the others are doing, "Are you guys having a clock party?" he asks groggily as he pushes off me to stand on his own.

"Aw, Lance you ruined it." Hunk complains then realizes who he's talking to, "Lance!" He then engulfs his friend in a hug. Then he notices that I'm awake too and hugs me just as tightly.

"What happened?" Lance asks.

"We'll explain, but first let's head to the dining room and get you something to eat. You haven't eaten since the celebration yesterday," Allura says.

As I start to follow everyone out of the room I feel a hand on my shoulder. Glancing behind me I notice Keith, "You alright?" he asks me.

I smile, "Yeah, I was just a little worn out from using so much magic."

"You had a red mark on your neck from when Sendak grabbed you," he says, "From the look of it, he had almost crushed your windpipe. Not to mention that your eyes were completely purple as you had your little mental battle with him."

I tense a little, "The purple light was from my powers it's nothing to worry about and the injury is in the past now. I'm healed and I'm also hungry so how about we go catch up with the others?"

Keith nods and we both run down the hall to catch up with the others. Reaching the dining room, I grab a plate of food goo for myself and start to eat while listening to the others explain things to Lance.

"Sounds like Pidge and the mice did more than you," Lance teases Keith after Pidge explains what he and Allura's mice friends had done to save the castle from being taken.

"I fought Sendak and saved the villagers!" Keith argued.

"Yeah and apparently I emerged from a coma long enough to save Pidge from that jerk. Plus from what I've heard Victoria put out the fire in the village," Lance counters.

I sigh, "Knock it off you two. Lance, I may have put out the fire but Keith killed the soldiers that were threatening the villagers."

Alec nods, "If anyone didn't pull their weight it was me. I couldn't even protect you from being used against Shiro in his fight against Sendak. They beat me and then threatened to kill the two of us in order to make Shiro surrender."

"Don't blame yourself, Alec. You just need more training with your battle claws, that's all," I try to comfort him but he doesn't listen and lays his head on the table with his lion ears down in sadness.

Lance watches us then slumps in his seat again, "So what happened to Sendak?"

"He's frozen in a cryo-pod. We're keeping him here in the castle," Allura answers.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Alec mumbles, raising his head slightly.

Allura sighs, "No, but he's too dangerous to be set free. Plus we might be able to get some information about Zarkon out of him." Alec simply puts his head down again and I hear him sigh.

"So what now?" asks Lance, looking up.

"We need to go back to the Balmara and save Shay and her people!" Hunk exclaims.