Chapter Text
“To have our alliance, you must pass a test.”
“What? I didn’t even get to study!” Lance complained.
“This is custom. For us to trust you we must be sure you trust each other, know each other.” The alien seemed to stare at him, though he had no eyes that Lance could see.
“What the blue paladin meant to say was we will welcome any challenges you have for us. We understand your support is not given to just anyone, and we will be glad to prove ourselves.” Allura did her best to pivot from Lance’s slip-up.
“Very well. You all must proceed into the next room. There will be a chair for each of you.”
Allura nodded and led the paladins through the door into a dimly lit room. Sure enough, there were 6 chairs, though they were distant from each other.
“This is kind of… spooky.” Hunk said. There were a few hums of agreement.
“Allura briefed us all on how important this alliance is.” Shiro reminded them. “I’m sure we can handle whatever they have for us.” He was the first to sit. The others followed suit. No sooner had Pidge filled the final seat than they were blinded by lights.
Clamps came out of the chair and secured each person to the seat by their waist and arms.
“Hey!” Lance yelled.
Keith grunted. “What the hell is this?”
“Welcome, newcomers, to our test. Here’s how it works. Soon your chair will descend into an individual room below you. Here there will be some questions. For each you must give your answer, and you must decide what each other team member was likely to choose. You must answer honestly. At the end, your answers are revealed one by one. Predicted answers that end up correct gain points. If your team accumulates 50 points, we will consider your alliance. If not, the one with the lowest score will die.”
“What?” Pidge yelled.
“We agreed to a test, not to risk a paladin’s life!” Allura’s eyes were filled with fury.
“If they don’t know you that well, we will only be strengthening your team by weeding them out. Besides, we can’t trust you if you aren’t willing to take risks for us. The test has already begun, there is no room to argue.”
Then the floor fell out from under them.
Lance landed in a room with what looked like a tablet computer. It read “Question 1: Who is the weak link on your team? Please drag each answer to the box for the proper teammate.” The choices were Allura, Pidge, Hunk, Shiro, Lance, Keith, and No One. Lance gave a halfhearted laugh and his right arm was released. It was time to get this over with.
…
“Welcome back, I see you all finished your answers. Now, we-”
“Yeah, yeah, we’ve all seen game shows. Speed it along.” Lance said, a little annoyed at this point.
“Very well then Question 1: Who is the weak link on your team? You could have picked any individual or none at all. Let’s see what you predicted Princess Allura would choose!”
A television came on for them to see, and there was a box for each paladin. Shiro, Pidge, and Hunk predicted No One. Lance and Keith each predicted themselves.
“Aaaaannnnd her real answer is… No One! Three points for the team!”
“Next, let’s see what you thought Shiro decided.”
There were three answers of “No One,” but both Keith and Lance responded with Lance.
“Lance, you okay? Did you just see your name and pick it without looking at the question?” Pidge tried to joke, but their eyebrows still contained worry.
Lance gave a halfhearted chuckle. “Huh. Yeah.”
Shiro’s answer was revealed to once again be “No One.”
“You’re up to six points now.”
Lance was next, and he squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. Keith and Shiro both responded with “Keith” and the others kept the trend of trusting that no one thought there was a particular teammate holding everyone back.
His answer was revealed to be himself. He grimaced as he felt eyes on him.
“Buddy,” Hunk started.
“Don’t.” Lance said.
Keith was next. Lance and Pidge both predicted he said Lance, and the rest chose no one, which was his answer.
“Really?” Lance asked. “You’re kidding me, even you- you think I’m terrible at missions!”
“You’re annoying sometimes and you get distracted, but you have gotten us out of situations we couldn’t have overcome alone.” Perhaps Keith was being a little cheesy, but they were all worried about Lance by now.
Pidge followed. Everyone predicted No One from them, except Lance, whose answer stayed the same. Pidge’s real answer was also no one.
“Oh, come on!” Lance yelled, frustrated.
“Are you mad I think you belong on the team as much as the rest of us?”
Finally, it was Hunk’s turn. When the predicted answers came up, he looked hurt as he turned to Lance. “Buddy, even with me?”