τHΣ ϢΔRRIΟR ϢIτH ϢIͶGς

taking flight

rhys was watching the others crowd around lance's cryo chamber, arms crossed across her chest as she observes them in amusement. they had a whole little time competition, but as they were distracted, she sees lance get released from his chamber. she quickly moved towards the boy to stop him from falling as he says, "you guys having a clock party?"

"aw, lance, you just ruined it. hey, lance!" hunk exclaims, the commander chuckling softly as the yellow paladin excitedly hugs his friend.

"calm down, hunk. he's still disoriented."

"ah, right, sorry," he says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his encircled with an embarrassed smile. rhys shakes her head, helping bring the lanky boy to the dining area while one of the others gets food.

"down you go, kid."

"hey, don't call me kid!" he whines, but she just smiles softly and moves to the side. she knew better than to crowd around him like the others were.

"well, you wouldn't have survived the explosion if rhys hadn't healed a lot of your wounds, and if hunk and coran hadn't gotten a new crystal," pidge explains to the boy, followed with lance giving the three of them grateful smiles.

"wow. thanks, everybody. sounds like the mice did more than you, though."

that last part had been directed at keith, who scowls at lance. "i punched sendak!"

"yeah, apparently after rhys used some freaky healing magic on me and i emerged from a coma and shot sendak's arm off."

"we had a bonding moment. i cradled you in my arms!"

"nope. don't remember, didn't happen."

rhys snorts softly, earning a slightly shocked look from pidge and keith who both heard her, but was cut off by lance.

"so, what happened to sendak?"

"he's frozen in a cryo-pod. we're keeping him here in the castle," allura responds, a serious look on her face, and rhys goes back to being impassive as usual.

"are you sure that's a good idea?"

"he's too dangerous to be set free. besides, we might be able to get some information about zarkon from him."

"so, what's the plan now?" the blue paladin skeptically asks, earning a heartfelt answer from his best friend, "we have to get back to the balmera and save shay and her people."

"wow. you are really hung up on this lady."

"no, it's not like that. look, guys, when you see how zarkon has treated these people and destroyed their home— they've been under his thumb for so long, they don't know what it is to be free. it's up to us to set this right. this is what being a paladin of voltron is all about. it's time to man up."

the noxian nods in affirmation of his little speech. "he's right. i've seen and been to many planets where the people had no will of their own, and didn't know what to do with themselves when i sent a couple portions of our army to help liberate them. it's heartbreaking to see, over and over again. you two didn't get to see that, because zarkon had just recently come to power and hadn't started taking over when he destroyed altea. i grew up with this war, and it is not pretty," she says, directing the last part to the alteans, who look down sadly.

shiro nods along with hunk and rhys, saying, "then let's get moving. time to go defend the universe."

pidge stops them from leaving the room. "wait. i have something to say first. i need to come clean, and, i'm afraid this may change the way you all think about me. just so there are no secrets between us anymore, i can't man up. i'm a girl. iThe mean, i can man up because that's just a figure of speech, i don't have to actually be a man to man up. i just have to be tough."