Don't You Trust me?

Forgiveness?

Cold.

That's what Keith felt seeping into his precious skin. Wasn't he supposed to be warm? And where was the brilliant light? As he stood there in the profound silence his mind wandered aimlessly from one thing to the next. Did his team find him? Was he in a cryopod? Was that why he was so cold? That must mean he was in the Castle of lions. But why was he in a cryopod? Wasn't he dead?

A distinct beep sounded and a breathless rush of air passed around him. Without sufficient warning, he fell to the ground. His eyes flashed open, and he sucked in a breath of fresh air. He was alive.

Sitting up he found metal that reminded him of his hair and not the polished grey colored metal of the castle. He carefully looked around the room. In the small room, the lights were dull which made it hard to see what else was in the room. Directly behind him was a authentic replica of the cryopods on the castle.

"How did they build this?" he asked himself reaching out to tentatively touch it. His hand met the metal, and that's when he noticed the white sleeve covering his arm. He followed it to his chest, "they even have the special suits," he whispered impressively.

The door slid open behind him, and he whipped around. Standing before him was a galra figure. He had purple skin and milky eyes. Keith jumped up into a fighting position his fists raised.

The galra carefully held his hands up, "Relax, I'm not here to hurt you," he said calmly.

"Then why are you here?"

"To make sure your okay," he replied not moving towards or away from Keith.

Keith scoffs, "Yeah, right."

"Does the name Lance McClain ring a bell?" he asked gently lowering his hands.

"Yes..." Keith replies hesitantly. How many people did Lance associate with?

"Good. My names Jarep, my team and I saved you from that Galra ship."

"Wait. Hold up. You? Rescued me?"

"Yes."

"I genuinely thought I died," he said undoubtedly looking at the Galra with apparent confusion.

"You did," he replied bluntly. "but we managed to get your heart going again," he pauses, "You were dead for about three minutes."

Lance was sitting gloomily against the wall her eyes looking down in her lap. She had known it would only be a matter of time before the team figured her out. Jarep had even suggested she take a break, but she had promptly declined and continued to take on missions.

"I thought I was being extremely cautious," she mumbled incoherently. This was part of her training to make sure no one could figure out she was part of an elite team of spying aliens trying to destroy the Galra. And for a considerable while it worked on earth no one suspected a thing when she would typically disappear for three or four days. When she came back, she would say that she needed some time to think out in the beauty of Cuba's nature. She smiled gently to herself as she recalled a time when she had come home from a successful mission with a cut on her arm. She smiled to herself as she recalled a time when she had come home from a mission with a cut on her arm.

The fond memory is cut short as a door slides open and Shiro strides up to the cell. As he approaches Lance stands up and meets him at the door.

"Change your mind about me?" she asks smirking.

"He wasn't there."

"Excuse me?" she politely asked confused.

"Keith, he wasn't on the ship you had information on," he replied bluntly. Originally we weren't planning on checking it out, but then we thought, what the heck, And when we got there, we found no Keith," he turned to face her his eyes narrowing, "You know where he is, don't you?"

"Possibly," she says holding her hands up defensively, "If I'm right about the people who took him then he shouldn't be far."

"And if you're not?"

"In that case I'm on the same page as you."

Shiro looked suspiciously at her contemplating whether or not he could trust her. Lance stood there uncomfortably glancing around the room.

"Can I trust you?" Shiro asked finally startling Lance who had become accustomed to the profound silence.

"Can you what?" she asked recovering her balance.

"Can I trust you?" he asks again.

"Come on Shiro. You know me. Why wouldn't you be able to depend on me?" Shiro only gave her a look before opening the cell door.

"You're riding with me."

Lance looked at Shiro with disbelief, "What about blue?"

"The blue lion will be fine," Shiro stated before walking out of the room. Lance stood there a moment. What had happened to her leader? It is possible someone kept a secret from the team for several months. A voice said in her head. She sighed and hid her disbelief with fierce determination.

"Shiro, wait up!" she called. The black paladin stopped instantly and turned to face her. She ran up to him, promptly stopping in front of him.

"I'm so sorry I lied to you for so long. The organization that I work with has to remain top secret and if I had told anyone, everybody associated with that organization would be put at risk. So I guess what I'm saying is I had no other choice. I was merely protecting both teams. I hope you understand."

Shiro stayed quiet before gesturing for her to walk alongside him. "I understand completely. I had to do the same thing when I was in the Galra hands. For the weeks before I had not uttered a word to Matt. He didn't understand at the time, but I was defending him. Naturally making it seem like I didn't care about him, so the Galra wouldn't use us against each other." Lance sighed in relief so Shiro did understand what she had to do.

"Thanks, Shiro,"

"Presently I may understand what decision you had to make, but that doesn't mean the team will. That's why I took the necessary precaution and said you were riding with me."

Lance nodded although something wasn't adding up, "What's with the change?"

"What do you mean?" he asks.

"A few pleasant hours ago you had me pinned on the ground."

"Oh, I was caught up in the moment, and I guess it never occurred to me to hear you out then."

"But Pidge said it had," she reasonably asked now confused.

"It had occurred to us to talk to you before that moment but not right at the moment. I guess we let our emotions get the best of us and we jumped to conclusions."