For The Stars

Chapter 7: Paladin or Blade

"Yea, the bright lights hurt my eyes."

Lance looked at him for a moment, taking in his expression and seemingly noting how Keith's eyes gave off a faint glow in the dim lighting. If he shifted them back to yellow the glow would be stronger. "Cause you're Galra right?" Keith nodded in response and Lance looked back down at his apparently very interesting hands. "Was it, like – hard?" Rings of sapphire made their way back to him, staring into confused amethyst as a Keith experienced something rare, something almost mythical; a moment of vulnerability from Lance.

He quirked his brow, not fully understanding the question, and the Blue Paladin elaborated. "Being away from your family. I – I'm really having a hard time with ..." he trailed off into indecipherable mutterings, uncrossing his legs and pulling them up to his chest. Lance buried his face in his knees and the rest of his words were lost.

He watched the boy, because that what Lance was – a boy. All of them were really. Just kids, teens, thrust into a war they didn't know anything about, forced to fight as more than just soldiers, but as symbols of freedom. Keith was the only one of them who had any actual wartime experience, while Shiro and Coran were the only ones who classed as adults. Sure, Allura and Coran had been around for the start of the war, but Alfor had sheltered the princess and the latter was an advisor, not a soldier. Watching Lance was like looking back in time, he remembered this feeling.

"When I was a kit I was reassigned to the Thaldycon system because I broke the rules. It was a punishment, but it was also the catalyst I needed to make me grow up." Lance looked up at him with confusion, clearly wondering where the story was going. "And when I came to Earth I felt so disconnected and alone, I couldn't tell anyone about myself and I had a terrible time trying to adjust to the cultural differences. I missed my home so damn much it actually hurt sometimes. Having my dad around helped, until I'd remember that I'd eventually be leaving Earth and probably wouldn't ever see him again. I spent a lot of nights crying myself to sleep out of loneliness - "

"You were lonely?" Lance interjected. "I thought loners didn't get lonely."

"I'm not a 'loner' Lance. I just had a hard time connecting to Humans and it was easier to be alone than to makeup an entire backstory that didn't scream 'hey guys I'm an alien'. I was terrified the Garrison would figure out I'm only part Human and take me down into the more classified areas of the base to run experiments on me."

"Is that why you puked when we dissected those frogs in biology?" He asked and Keith nodded, growing slightly pale at the memory.

"It hit a little close to home. I kept picturing myself as the frog ... that and the smell. My senses are stronger than yours and I couldn't handle the intensity. I can still smell the formaldehyde when I think about the it." This time it was Lance who paled and nodded. "Normally that kind of stuff doesn't bother me. I've been trained to kill without hesitation, but I don't know – it was just, a little too similar to what my dad said the Garrison would do to me if they ever found out what I am." Now Lance was staring at him in shock.

"I don't think the Garrison would do that."

"Well, that makes one of us."

They sat in silence for a bit, Lance made the odd attempt to speak but ultimately aborted each of them. After almost 20 dobashes he finally broke, his voice barely above a whisper. "What do you think they said about us?"

"Huh?" Lance looked up at him again, this time he appeared to be on the brink of tears. "Who?" Keith asked, softer this time.

"The Garrison. When the Kerberos mission failed -"