AN: Aganju is the Orisha god of fire, volcanoes, and the desert from Yoruba mythology. "Smeg" is a curse word from the British TV show Red Dwarf and "frell" is a curse word from the scifi series Farscape.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He really should have expected the move. Well, that's not necessarily true. He had expected the move; he just hadn't expected it to be so frelling fast. One second he was all but breathing into Keith's mouth, the next he was thrown back against the cold, metal wall and held there by Keith's clawed hands gripping his shirt collar.
"I'm not scared!" Keith hissed, his violet eyes boring into the Altean.
Lance preened under the attention. He tilted his head and gave his best sultry grin. "Really?" he drawled, his lone eye flickering up and down Keith's body. The Galra uniform may have put him on edge, but quiznak, it made Keith's body look good. "Prove it. Escape with me. Fight Zarkon with me. No one will look down on you. We can do this." He winked, although it looked more like an exaggerated blink.
Keith was hesitating, his head shaking side-to-side slowly as he attempted to process what was going on. "Zarkon controls most of the known universe," he said. "He'll find us and kill us."
"Then what do we have to lose?" Lance said. "Die now or die later. We're both mortal. We'll die anyway with or without Zarkon. I choose to die free without Zarkon. What do you choose?"
Keith sat back, his eyes wide in surprise. Lance said nothing. This was something only Keith could decide. Lance wouldn't make the decision for him.
"I..." Keith gave a shaky sigh and swallowed, his eyes staring fixedly into Lance's. "I want to be free," he said softly.
The smile he offered Keith in response was gentle and encouraging. "Then let's get the quiznak out of here."
Keith nodded and stood up, offering his hand to help Lance to his feet after a moment of thought. "The escape pods are several floors down," he said quickly, as if afraid he would change his mind if he stopped to think things through.
"Then we'll go there. Lead the way, Keith," Lance said with a flirtatious smile gesturing to the cell door.
Lance watched Keith struggle with himself before his eyes became steely and he went straight to the cell door panel and activated it. The metal door slid open only to reveal four drones. For a moment, Lance felt real fear course through him. He stepped back as his stomach dropped. Had... Had Keith betrayed him?
Before he even had the chance to consider hardening himself and leaping forward to attack, Keith had pounced on the nearest drone, ripping one of its arms off and flinging it into another nearby drone. It was impressive.
Feeling hope surge back into his heart, Lance grinned and joined Keith in taking down the drones. He went in low, executing a spinning kick connecting at the back of the knee joint of a drone, knocking it off balance. As the drone fell, Lance dove forward and snatched the drone's weapon. He counted his blessings. It was a plasma gun; now the tables had turned.
He fired his first shot at the fallen drone before spinning on the balls of his feet, remaining low to the ground to minimize himself as a target. He blasted a second drone, then finished off the other two Keith had originally taken out. Next he took aim down one end of the hallway then the other end searching for any signs their scuffle had been heard. After a few ticks, when no one showed up, Lance stood and lowered his newly acquired weapon flashing Keith a grin.
"Now this is more like it," he said.
"Those drones were mine," Keith said in frustration.
Lance shrugged. "Should've been faster," he teased. He popped his eyebrows up and down. "Let's go."
Keith glared at Lance, his lips barely revealing his teeth, before shaking his head. "Idiot," he muttered. "Get them inside," he ordered pointing back to the cell. "If someone finds them, they'll sound the alarm."
"Oh." Lance blushed and rubbed his neck with an awkward smile. "Nice call."
Keith shook his head and bent down to start dragging a drone back into the cell. Lance took hold of another drone and together he and Keith piled the drones into the cell before Keith closed the door.
"Nice muscles there, Keith," Lance said.
"Whatever," Keith grumbled, grabbing Lance's arm and dragging him down the hallway towards what the Altean hoped were the escape pods.
Lance had no idea what a modern Galra battlecruiser looked like on the outside nor had any idea of its modern internal schematics. He made a mental note to find and memorize those soon after he escaped this place. Hopefully, Keith could give some insight into that endeavor.
In the meantime, Lance trusted Keith to guide him through the hallways. There were several close calls with flesh and blood Galra, but most of the personnel on board appeared to be drones. The drones were easy targets. Thankfully, Keith seemed to know all the nooks and crannies to hide in to avoid the Galra. It made Lance wonder how often Keith had to use these hidey-holes to avoid bad situations in the past. Considering how many there were, it left the prince with a nagging feeling that there had been quite a few bad situations.
They were having good luck avoiding detection so far. Naturally, that was when things began to go wrong. They passed another door that looked strikingly similar to Lance's former prison cell, except Lance was willing to bet this one was much less comfortable than his had been. There were probably prisoners in there; innocents who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lance remembered the Great War with intense clarity. He knew what happened to prisoners back then. It wasn't pretty. He would bet prisoners' fates these days were just as bad if not worse.
"Wait," he said, stopping by the door.
"What are you doing?" Keith demanded. "We can't stay here. Come on."
Lance neatly avoided Keith's attempt to drag him further down the hallway. "Is there anyone in there?" he asked, pointing to the cell door.
"Yes," Keith said, as if the answer was obvious. "They're probably being ferried to the nearest trade post to be sold."
"Slavery?" Lance breathed, horrified by the idea. "That was outlawed decaphoebs ago."
Keith gave the Altean an odd look. "How long were you out?" he asked. "Slavery has been legal longer than I've been alive."
"Do you agree with it?"
Keith stood straighter and schooled his expression to impassivity. "Why?"
"Yes or no?" Lance asked in a curt voice.
"No," the halfbreed answered after a moment. His ears twitched, falling back against his head. "But there's only so much I can do."
Lance nodded. "This is one of them," he said. "Help me."
"Help you?"
"Open the door," Lance said.
"Wha- No," Keith said, shocked by the suggestion.
"I'm not leaving without them," Lance said simply.
"We don't have time for this," Keith said, glancing over his shoulder impatiently. "It's only a matter of time before someone goes to check your cell or look for me and find one or both of us missing. The last place I want to be when that happens is on this ship. I made the decision to help you. Don't make me regret it."
"You want to help me?" Lance asked.
"Yes."
"Then free them."
Keith glared and bit his lip, forcing himself to take a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth. "Fine," he bit out. "But if we get caught, I'll kill you myself."
"And I'll kill you, if that's what you want," Lance said.
Keith's eyes widened, the violet irises dark against the yellow. He nodded slowly. "I'd prefer that to what they'd do to me actually," he admitted slowly.
Lance hefted his gun so he could watch for any unwelcome guests while Keith approached the cell door and activated the panel. The cell door lifted revealing a pitch black room lit only by the light from the hallway streaming in through the opening. Lance looked at the captive aliens in the cell in sympathy. There were at least ten prisoners total all of different species.
"This was your idea," Keith said, snapping Lance's attention back to him. "Get them to come out. If they aren't out in ten ticks, I'm closing this door and we're leaving without them."
Lance grimaced but walked into the cell. "My name is Lance," he said to the prisoners. "This is Keith."
"Keithek," Keith mumbled. Lance ignored him.
"We're getting off this ship," Lance continued. "If you want, you can come with us."
"You're Galra," one of the aliens said. It had four arms, each with four fingers and its skin was gray and amphibious in nature. Thin, darker gray hair hung around its face in lank strands. An unusual, bulbous extension grew from its head like a blow hole.
It was subtle, but Lance noticed Keith's flinch. "He's a halfbreed actually," Lance offered, ignoring the burning glare Keith shot him. "I'm Altean."
"Altean?" the alien gasped. "Impossible. Your species was wiped out."
Lance gave a pained smile. "Interesting how impossible things are actually possible."
"Is it true then?" the alien asked, hoping kindling in its eyes. "The legend?"
Lance's smile fell. "What legend?" he asked carefully.
"The legend of the Defender?" the alien pressed.
Lance cleared his throat. "Look, we don't have much time so let's go."
"Is it true?" the alien pressed, desperately.
The Altean winced, feeling Keith's gaze on him like fire. He sighed. Might as well admit it. It wouldn't be a secret for much longer no matter what happened anyway. "It is," he said. "I'm the Blue Lion's paladin."
"Lion?" Keith murmured.
"Are you coming with us?" Lance asked the alien.
"We'd never make it," the alien said, shaking its head.
"We will," Lance disagreed with a determined gleam in his eyes. "I promise."
"Look, make a decision already," Keith commanded. He tensed and growled at something over Lance's shoulder, fingering his knife. "They found us."
Lance whirled around and raised his gun up to take aim and fire at the Galra foot soldier racing towards them. Unfortunately, distance shots were harder to make accurately due to his still swollen right eye. Close shots weren't too bad but the farther away the target, the less accurate his shots became due to his lack of depth perception. His shot went wild, and he let out a colorful curse that had Keith lifting his eyebrows, impressed.
There was a small stroke of luck. Lance may have botched the shot, but the soldier still dodged to the side. Keith used the opportunity to throw his knife, striking the soldier in the face. In was a remarkable throw.
"Nice skills you have there," Lance said, flashing Keith a smirk as the soldier fell dead to the floor. "You have any other skills involving good aim?"
"I'm a good shot and can fly through tight spaces," Keith answered mildly, pulling his knife out from the dead soldier's face and wiping off the blood.
"I bet you're excellent with tight spaces," Lance said, smirking.
Keith hesitated, watching the Altean suspiciously. He was clearly missing something but he had no idea what. He lifted an eyebrow when Lance knelt and began to remove the Galra's armor.
"What are you doing?" he asked in confusion.
"Blending in."
Before Keith's eyes, Lance's skin morphed into a light purple, his shoulders became a bit broader, and he grew another inch or so. The Altean wasted no time pulling on the fallen soldier's armor, fitting the helmet on last.
"What do you think?" he asked, twirling around and striking a goofy pose.
Keith blinked. "You have blood on your chest plate," he said flatly.
Lance visibly wilted. "Whatever," he groaned. "Everyone's a critic. So," he called over Keith's shoulder, "You all coming or not?"
Keith turned back to the prison cell to see the aliens gathered out in the hall watching the two of them with mixed expressions of awe, confusion, and suspicion. They didn't have time for this.
"Look," Keith snapped. "Come if you are or stay if you want. But we're leaving now." He grabbed hold of the Altean's wrist and practically dragged Lance along beside him.
"Ooh, forceful," Lance said in a sing-song voice. "I like it."
"I'll be more forceful if you don't move your smeg, idiot," he grumbled.
"Smeg?" Lance repeated, feeling the word out with his voice. "I'm not sure I know what that means."
Keith flushed and rolled his eyes.
"I believe it's the Galra word for the part of the anatomy that excretes waste," the alien from the cell offered, catching up to Lance and Keith.
Lance snickered. "So my butt?" he joked. "Aw, Keith. You noticed my butt? Or should I say smeg? Is it a nice smeg?"
"Just kill me now," Keith grumbled. He glanced back to see all of the alien prisoners had elected to follow them. "Why did I think this was a good idea?"
"You didn't think," Lance replied.
"What?" Keith snapped, baring his teeth at the Altean who shrugged off his threatening move with a chuckle.
"You acted on instinct," Lance continued. "It's a very base thing. You should be commended."
Keith could swear he saw Lance eye him through the dead soldier's visor and couldn't stop the resulting blush from coloring his cheeks.
"We'll need more than one escape pod for this group," he said, hoping to distract the Altean. "We can't fit this many in one pod. We'll need at least two."
"We can do it," Lance said, never losing his enthusiasm. "Just lead us there, Keith."
Keith rolled his shoulders and stalked forwards, doing his best to ignore the things that happened to his body whenever Lance said his truncated name. It was a couple more doboshes of sneaking around before they finally made it to a row of escape pods. He moved to get in the first one when Lance stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
"The prisoners first," he said.
"What? Are you crazy?" Keith cried.
"Get in," Lance ordered the aliens.
Keith pulled Lance aside and whispered fiercely, "Are you insane? If we don't leave right now, we could get caught in the slipstream when the ship makes the jump."
"We're not leaving until they do," Lance said calmly but firmly.
Keith hissed and gripped Lance's currently purple chin and yanked the temporarily taller Altean down to his level. "I didn't come this far just to get caught."
"You won't be," Lance said sincerely. "I promise."
"Thank you."
Startled by the unexpected voice, both Lance and Keith turned to the speaker. It was the alien from the prisoner cell. The alien smiled and waved.
"I will spread the word of your return blue paladin," the alien said. "News of the Defender shall spread. You have our gratitude and support."
Lance felt his shoulders slump as if a heavy weight had suddenly settled on them. Nevertheless, he nodded in silent acknowledgement. The alien pressed a button inside the pod which caused the door to slid shut and the pod was ejected.
"Our turn," Keith said, hurrying towards another escape pod.
He never made it.
A sharp jolt shook the whole battlecruiser tossing anything or anyone not prepared for it to the ground. Galra personnel would have received a warning, but apparently prisoners and halfbreeds weren't important enough to receive the warning. That was the only reason Lance could come up with to explain how he and Keith had ended up on the opposite side of the hallway in a groaning mess of limbs.
"I take that back," Keith said, slumping against the wall. "We won't be getting out in an escape pod at all."
"What the quiznak was that?" Lance groaned rubbing his head. He would have a bump there despite the helmet's so-called protection.
"We just entered a slipstream," Keith said morosely.
Lance tensed. It was too dangerous to leave a ship while in slipstream. They could be lost in some unknown area of space, or inside a star, or ripped apart by the forced bending spacetime to create the warp bubble in the first place. No matter what, it was almost a guaranteed death sentence.
"Quiznak," he whispered.
"We should've just left them behind," Keith muttered. "You and your bleeding heart."
"Hey, this bleeding heart is going to get us out of here alive," Lance said sitting up abruptly.
"Oh yeah?" Keith said sarcastically. "And how do you plan on doing that, you quiznak?"
Lance sat up all the way. "Did you just curse me?" he asked, stunned.
Keith threw his hands up in the air. "We're stuck on this frell forsaken ship with no way out and you're worried about me cursing you out? Quiznak you."
"Love to," Lance answered promptly. "Later."
Keith jolted as if electrocuted. "What?" He did not squeak that.
Thankfully, his not-squeak was drowned out by the sounding of a ship-wide alarm. Alright, so that wasn't a good thing.
"They figured out we escaped," Lance said, staring up at the ceiling where the alarm speakers were located.
"No, really? Are you sure?" Keith snarked.
"What about the main hangar?" Lance asked urgently. "A larger ship might break through the slipstream."
"And end up in a star?" Keith exclaimed. "No way. I'm not that crazy."
"Quiznak," Lance cried in frustration. "I'm not giving up. Not now. I'm too close." He stood and began making his way back down the hallway the way they came. "I'm going to get out of here, get the Blue Lion, and get back home."
"We can't leave," Keith insisted, getting to his feet. He didn't move from his place however.
"I'm not giving up until I'm dead," Lance called back. "I will not give up. I will not submit myself to that."
"Then what will you submit to?" Keith couldn't help but yell over the alarms at Lance's retreating back.
The Altean paused. This had gotten serious fast. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. This wasn't how he was supposed to die. He couldn't leave Keith here. He had to get Keith out at least. He'd promised that much.
"This Lion that alien mentioned," Keith said, suddenly much closer to Lance. He spoke softly, but it was still audible over the blaring alarms. "Do they come in colors other than Yellow and Blue?"
Lance glanced at Keith with his one good eye suspiciously. "Yes. Why?"
"Is red one of them?" Keith asked.
Lance stiffened. "How do you know that?"
Keith took a deep breath, coming to a decision. "This way," he said, snatching Lance's wrist and dragging him down the hallway the opposite direction Lance had been going.
Lance was getting a little miffed about the whole yanking around thing. He tolerated it for now because this could involve the missing Red Lion. That was the only reason why he didn't demand an explanation from Keith. He just kept pace and shot down anyone who crossed their path. His shots still weren't as accurate as he preferred, but they did the job.
When Keith stopped, it was so sudden that Lance slammed into the halfbreed's back. Keith ran his hand over a panel on the wall and a large door slid open. On the other side was a huge hangar with a very familiar Red Lion sitting serenely within a red, hexagonal-patterned particle barrier.
"The Red Lion," Lance murmured. "How-?"
"Don't ask me," Keith said, hurrying inside and closing the door behind them. "It's been here for a movement or so. We found it on the volcanic planet Aganju and brought it aboard. The Commander's been obsessed with it. Or he was until he found the Yellow Lion, then you."
Lance didn't reply. He just placed his hand on the barrier, not surprised when it remained in place. Allura had chosen him to be the Blue Lion's paladin, not the Red Lion's. At least he knew where the Red Lion was now.
"Can you get the shield down?" Keith asked.
Lance turned to Keith and shook his head. "No," he said reluctantly. "Only the red paladin can."
"Okay, so who's that?"
Lance's shoulders drooped and he turned back to the dormant Red Lion. "No idea."
Any hope Keith had vanished.
Then the doors burst open and bolts of purple plasma blasted the Red Lion's particle barrier, narrowly missing Lance and Keith. They both took cover behind a control panel mounted on a pedestal near the center of the hangar. Lance did his best to fire at the oncoming drones, but there were simply too many of them and his aim was still maddeningly off.
"Jurt it all," he cursed angrily.
Keith felt useless without a weapon of his own. He only had his knife and he couldn't afford to throw it. If he did, then he'd be completely weaponless. This was hardly a fair fight. He refused to be captured. He refused to be forced to submit to Sendak or Haxus or any other purist Galra. Though he was loath to admit it, he didn't like the thought of the Altean idiot submitting to them either.
He looked at the darkening marks around Lance's neck and felt a rush of something that was simultaneously thrilling and electrifying. "Do you trust me?" he said suddenly.
"What?" Lance called back, still firing at the enemy that was getting too close for comfort.
"Do you trust me?" Keith said louder.
Lance paused, ducking behind the pedestal to look at Keith directly. "Yes," he said after a moment.
"Then hold on," Keith commanded, holding out his hand.
Lance didn't think about it. He grabbed hold of the offered hand. Keith gave what could have been a smile, then slapped his hand on a large button on the pedestal. Instantly, the air rushed passed them with the force of a gale. Keith gripped the pedestal for dear life as the unprepared drones were sucked out of the now open hangar bay doors into the abyss of the slipstream. Unfortunately, the vacuum of space was also sucking Lance towards it.
Lance may have screamed- Keith certainly did- but neither could hear the other over the roaring winds. Keith risked freeing one finger to poke at the button, but he couldn't muster up enough strength to press it. It was then that the weight of what he'd done crashed into him, filling him with horror. He had condemned both himself and Lance to death.
Something black and metal smashed into the pedestal right where Keith's hand was with enough force to break his fingers. Screaming in agony, Keith instinctively let go and flew out into space. Lance flew up beside him screaming and Keith reached for him with his free hand.
Then the terrible silence of space deafened them. They couldn't breathe. They were going to suffocate or hit the edge of the slipstream and be ripped apart. Well, if they were going to die, then what was there to regret?
Keith pulled Lance towards him and in the silence of space, instants from slamming into the slipstream, he bit the Altean's neck hard and held on. They would die together.
Something huge and red flashed across his blurring vision. An instant later, they hit something with enough force to end everything.