Lost Time

Twelve

"So, Lance, tell me where you're from," Allura prompted, frowning when Lance refused to start the conversation himself. Her question seemed to startle the teen, though, as he flinched and looked at her like she'd lost her mind.

"Well, my moms adopted me when I was little in Cuba, but then we moved to the United States so that I could try to get into the Garrison," Lance stated carefully. "I don't really remember much before that, though. Just some silly dreams I'm sure everyone has."

"Oh, did you also wish to be- er- whatever it is that Pidge has endeavored to be?"

"Pidge wanted to rule the world. She's got the brains to do it, she just needs to work on her diplomacy," Lance brightened as he spoke about his friend, taking special care to pause as they came upon the Black Lion's hangar. "But no, I wanted to be a marine biologist. My moms used to have to drag me out of the water, they hated it. I can hold my breath a lot longer than everyone I know- uh, knew, I guess- so they always thought that I was drowning or something."

Allura nodded, her face trained on Lance as he went about securing anything not bolted to the floor. He paused beside the Black Lion's maw, smiling at empty air and shifting as though something was pushing against him. The teen stopped abruptly when he realized she was staring, his gaze narrowing as it landed on her. Allura winced, quickly averting her gaze. Thankfully, Lance said nothing about her odd behavior, giving her the perfect opportunity to mull over the information that had been given to her.

Now that she looked, this Lance shared a lot of similarities with her little brother. His eyes were the same, down to the exact shade of blue, and while he didn't seem to have scales, Allura was fairly certain he was hiding them out of habit. "You know, Lance," she tested carefully as they moved from the Black Lion's hangar to the Red Lion's. "I may not appear to be, but I'm quite trustworthy. I could help you with anything you'd like to know, if you needed to."

Lance just stared at her, looking bewildered. "Princess, with all due respect, I don't trust you. You're mean to me, so even if I knew what you were trying to get out of me, I wouldn't tell you." With that, the paladin breezed past her, waving again to the space beside the Lion.

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Lance gave Allura another odd look as they finished securing the Lions. She hadn't spoken again since he told her outright that he didn't trust her, only followed with this sad expression in her eyes. On top of that, he had to ignore her inquisitive glances whenever he acknowledged the Lions- the enormous feline ships were dormant, but they all had almost a spiritual form, brightly colored auras that purred and pressed against his legs.

"Princess, I didn't want to hurt your feelings. I guess me almost dying has you all apologetic and nice, but I can't just jump blindly into trusting you. You've done nothing but belittle me since you came out of that cryopod, and I don't even know why. I didn't do anything, or, I don't think I did? Coran seems to like me just fine, it's just you! So- so if me not trusting you is why you're upset, then... I guess try to show me that you're not just being nice because I saved Coran." He let out, forcing the words past his lips. It made him sick to think that Allura still hated him but was faking this sudden kindness because he'd saved her advisor-slash-uncle, and her silence wasn't helping. "I didn't help him to impress you, I did it because- because- I don't know why, I just didn't want anyone else to get hurt."

"Oh, no, Lance! I just realized, while you were in the healing pod, that you were-" Allura stopped short as they began to head back up to the bridge. "I realized that you were just as in need of kindness as your friends. It was unfair of me to focus my own feelings on you, and I would like to formally apologize. If we could start over, I'd really like that."

Lance wouldn't be ashamed to admit later that relief flooded him, and he quickly nodded to show his agreement.

"Alright, Princess. My name's Lance McClain. I have two beautiful moms, Ezmeralda and Andrea, and my best friend is a genius, both of the culinary and mechanical kind. What's your name?" Lance quickly put his hand out, smiling brightly at Allura, who looked mildly shocked at his willingness to comply.

"I-I'm Princess Allura of Altea. I had a very close relationship with my younger brother before he was sent away, and while I've somewhat come to terms with the deaths of my parents, I've yet to do the same for him." She admitted, smiling wanly. "You remind me of him a great deal, actually. I imagine he'd have grown into someone just like you." Her words sent a jolt of something hollow through Lance, making his chest ache at her sad expression. He hadn't known a thing about Allura, of course she'd react so coldly to his presence if he reminded her of her dead younger brother.

"I'm sorry for your losses, Princess. But I hope we can be friends, now," Lance said, forcing a bright grin onto his face. Allura simply nodded at him, shaking his hand after realizing that was what he was silently asking for. Embarrassed, Lance tugged her hand to drag her along. "They're waiting for us."

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Takeoff was a strangely nostalgic experience for the crew- at least, Lance felt it was. The rumbling of the castleship breaking through the ten-thousand years' worth of growth felt almost like the simulator back home. Pidge went almost boneless in her seat, somehow still managing to make her fingers fly across the holoscreen she'd been working on. Hunk made a pleased noise, wearing the noise-cancelling headphones that he'd borrowed from Lance so that he could relax without the fear that the noise from take-off would hurt his ears. Shiro tapped his prosthetic fingers over the armrest, his shoulders tenser than Lance thought they should be- then again, Shiro didn't exactly have a great track record when it came to spaceships, so it wasn't out of the question for him to be nervous.

A shiver traveled down Lance's spine as he studied his fellow paladins, and he whipped his head around to see Keith staring at him intently. Caught off guard by this, the Blue paladin shot the other teen a wink and some finger guns, hoping to confuse the other enough to get that wrinkle between his eyes to smooth over before it stuck. It didn't work.

"How are you real?" Keith asked softly, bringing heat to Lance's face.

"U-uh, I guess my parents made me?" He responded. Keith smiled, a small, shy little grin that made the whole bridge brighter.

"Yeah, but I mean, you shot a moldy space chinchilla after coming out of a coma. It was- it was really cool." Keith lifted a hand, scratching nervously at his nape. "I woulda died without you there, Lance. So... thanks."

"Oh. Oh! Keith, we're a team, you don't have to thank me. I'll always be there to help out, even if we don't really get along. We're friends, now." His response seemed to only fluster Keith further, and the other teen finally tucked himself into his seat for the remainder of liftoff.