Chapter Text
“And that, my friends, is what I call a job well done,” Lance joked while landing Blue and placing his helmet to the side.
“Yeah, but uh, Lance, you have a few fans outside,” Shiro joked.
“What do you- Woah,” Lance voiced. When he stepped out of the lion he was expecting everyone around the Black Lion examining them and trying to see the face behind its metal.
Instead, the King of the Mooi and his people were standing in front of Blue, staring up at Lance with wide eyes and glowing skin.. literally. They surround him, cheering and laughing.
Lance was mildly uncomfortable with the attention. Don’t get him wrong, he loved attention, being able to tell stories and speaking out, but those times he had control of the situation. This was completely different.
The Mooians petted Lance causing the later to curl back a little before allowing the others to hold his hand and inspect him.
He glared at Keith and Pidge who were holding on to each other trying not to fall over in laughter.
Hunk was panicking not knowing what to do and Shiro was talking with Allura.
“Apparently,” Shiro started to explain, “they liked how you flew, all flashy and stuff, and they realized you piloted the lion.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Lance called out. He shuddered in discomfort as one of the Mooians rubbed their face on his upper arm, though it didn’t last as one ran a finger softly across his stomach causing him to laugh.
“The people of Mooi are strangely obsessed with beauty and glamor,” Allura explained, “As the ‘most handsome’,” Allura quoted Lance,” they were naturally drawn to you.”
Lance smiled, “Well, of course, they did,” He joked. “Thank you, but this really isn’t necessary,” Lance tried to explain. He stepped away from the citizens.
They cleared away revealing the queen in her purple and gold robes. She carefully made her way through the crowd, nodding to certain people and acknowledging others. She made it to Lance and bowed.
Lance stepped back in shock while the citizen’s followed in the queen’s pursuit.
She stood up straight once more, “Someone such as yourself must stay young forever. Your beauty must be preserved.”
“Uh,” Lance froze. He wasn’t prepared for this, “Thank you, your highness, but I couldn’t accept something as valuable as this.”
The queen shook her head and pushed the drink into his hands. She stepped away and nodded her head expectingly.
Lance gulped when the citizens started to lean forward. He looked down at the liquid.
The purple liquid was far too dark for his liking and when he stirred it a bit in the glass it didn’t move. No light reflected off the surface and it smelt like gasoline. Beside him, Allura scoffed and nudged him. Lance took in a breath and downed the drink. He ignored the bitter taste and the stinging sensation it left.
People around him cheered and ushered him to the plaza where a celebration would take place.
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“Hunk!” Someone screamed in the castle. Keith jumped out of his bed, grabbed his dagger and ran towards the noise. The echo messed up his sense of hearing, making it harder for him to tell where it was coming from but small shuffling noises in Lance’s room told him everything.
Hunk came tumbling out of his room at lightning speed. He tripped before knocking on the door, “Lance?” The noises stopped. “Lance? Buddy? It’s me, Hunk! Open up!”
“H-Hunk?” Lance called from inside. The door slid open.
What the two expected was their normal lanky legged friend with a goofy smile and bright blue eyes.
Instead, a kid in their mid teens stood awkwardly staring at the floor. He looked up to Keith, taking a step back and then to Hunk.
“Hunk?”
“Lance?” Hunk stepped towards Lance, “What the heck happened?”
“Where am I? Who is he? Where’s Hunk?” Lance started blurting out questions, “Why do you look like Hunk? Why is everything in this room blue? Why-”
“Lance. Lance!” Hunk interrupted the younger male. “What happened to you?” Hunk questioned, “You look 15!”
“Well, that would be because I am 15!”Lance screamed. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “Where am I? Who are you?”
Keith coughed, snapping himself out of shock, “You’re in the castle. Do you really not-“
“What the hell?”
All three of the boys turned to the door where the youngest paladin stood.
“Lance?” they shouted.
“Pardon?”
Pidge and Lance screamed at each other; Pidge for shock and Lance for frustration. Keith tried multiple times to get them to be quiet, only to have Shiro come in and pull Pidge and Lance apart and bringing them into the bridge.
Allura was notified and Coran and her tried to contact the people of Mooi to get an explanation.
“So,” Lance tried to grasp everything he was just told, “I’m in a huge alien castle-ship.” Everyone nodded, “I’m supposed to be 17? I pilot some huge blue lion ship that I’ve bonded to, and I’m always happy and jokey?” Lance looked down, “Go me.”
“We found it,” Allura shouted, “Umioreo. Pidge, can you look it up on the pad?”
Pidge ran to her seat and pulled up a tab, “Erm…here! Umioreo was known as the Liquid of Gods. Blah blah… it is made from the Umi fruit found only on the planet Mooi. Mooians give it people who look like Gods to stay young for eternity and to preserve beautiful youth. It…” Pidge stopped for a moment. She took a shaky breath and continued to read, “It makes the drinker become younger until they cease to exist…therefore they stay youthful forever.”
Shiro stood up, causing Lance to shrink into his seat. “Can you tell us how to reverse it so we can get Lance back to normal?”
Pidge looked away, “There isn’t.”
“Pardon me?”
Pidge looked up from her screen, “There isn’t a cure.”