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The arrival of the new Blade member was, to say the least, a huge shock to the team. Perhaps it was her domineering demeanour, or the terrifying way she would look at you, as if you were a puzzle she was figuring out and was only one piece away from reading your soul. But nonetheless, to say the team was unsettled was an understatement.
They all knew who she was instantly. From her all too familiar stance, to the way she’d cross her arms or scrunch her nose in annoyance, it was clear she was Keith’s mom. In fact, with the way he stood beside her now as they discussed future plans for the Blade, it was almost comical how alike they were. What was even more comical was the sheer height difference between the two, and Keith caught a suppressed smile from Lance out of the corner of his eye as the red paladin snorted into his hand.
The plans Shiro, Allura and Krolia were discussing didn’t seem to concern him much, so he took to watching his ex-teammates, the initial shock of the discovery of his mother quickly fading into a deep ache for the family he’d made for himself with the paladins. There was Hunk, listening intently but twiddling his thumbs in an odd juxtaposition of attentiveness. He looked to the casual viewer to be distracted, or perhaps in another world, but after months of fighting with him Keith could recognise his bright eyes that showed he was quietly listening, and was silently judging every word. Pidge stood pressed against him, tired as usual, but ears still perked up in case she was needed. From her low gaze and the bags under her eyes, Keith instantly knew that she had been up late working on a new lion upgrade, or perhaps an update on the Castle’s defence systems.
But Lance, boisterous, loud, funny Lance, was nothing like Keith knew him to be. After what felt like hundreds of team meetings, Keith was accustomed to the frequent interjections from the red paladin, whose lips had first elicited only jokes that had soon developed into meaningful additions to missions. Yet, Keith recognised nothing of that Lance in the boy standing on the other side of the room from him. This Lance was quiet, almost stoic, and watched with hard eyes and a bit lip. His hand started tapping erratically at the side of his paladin armour, the only part of his body that moved, and Keith just about caught his eyes and cast him a curious and concerned look.
A sad smile graced Lance’s lips, but faded as quick as his tapping as soon as Shiro sent him a disgruntled look.
“We’re going to need more time to work on this, team. Pidge, Hunk and Lance - you can head out for a while as I doubt you’ll be needed in this part of the planning. I’ll call you when you are.” Shiro ordered, and Keith raised his eyebrows as Lance was the first to leave. Glancing back at Krolia, Keith met her gaze and she nodded towards the door, winking before going back to her planning.
Keith checked the kitchens, the gaming room, Kaltenecker’s field and the lounge. Lance was nowhere to be found. He’d even stomached his pride and knocked on his bedroom door, only for there to be no answer. It was on his second round towards the kitchens that he heard the faint sound of fighting coming out of the training room doors. Curious, he pressed his ear to the door only to hear the sounds of blasters and numerous training bots falling to the floor.
The logical side of his brain told him that it was probably Lance - those higher-pitched blaster sounds could only come from Lance’s bayard. But Lance didn’t train in silence; he always jeered at the bots or laughed like a lunatic, always pulling energy from some unknown source as he joked, even when in pain.
There were no voices coming from inside.
Fascinated, Keith opened the door and silently slinked inside, eyebrow raised in confusion. Quickly, he ducked into a small dugout in the side of the wall, crouching down and mouth gaping as he watched.
Lance was in a similar position, crouched in a cut out in the wall several metres above Keith’s head. An army of training bots were marching towards him, each armed with weapons that were being shot out of their hands with every step. Sniper rifle at the ready, Lance was pinning them down easily, each with a neat, circular hole in the centre of their chests. As if sensing his high capability, the training sequence sent in more training bots still, and even threw in a few flying drones for good measure. From where Keith sat, he could see Lance gritting his teeth as he sniped a few down, but as they got closer his bayard transformed into the usual blaster and he started mowing them down with ease.
However, they were getting faster, and closer to him with every second. Heart rate quickening, Keith leant forward as his view started to get obstructed with the amount of bots surround Lance.
And suddenly there was the sound of metal against metal, and the bodies of some of the training bots fell to the ground, cleanly sliced in two.
Keith couldn't believe his eyes, for there stood Lance, shield activated and stance confident as he raised his sword, purpose in his eyes as he rushed forward slicing enemies to and fro. Amazed, Keith watched even more eagerly as Lance fought, grin forming as he noticed techniques that Keith himself favoured and demonstrated a lot in his own training. The thought of Lance watching him and copying his sword fighting techniques caused his insides to go fluttery - or perhaps it was watching Lance wield a broadsword with confidence that made him melt inside.
Despite the strength of each swing of the sword, Lance looked the tiniest bit clumsy which was understandable - it looked to Keith as though the bayard changing was only a recent event. But because of this, the number of bots were slowly building up, and before Keith could think he was running towards the crowd, towards Lance, and was sprinting with knife already in hand. He expertly cut a path through the troops and drank in Lance’s face of surprise before they were pressed back to back, swords out and matching grins on their faces.
“I got your back.” Keith grinned, and Lance flashed him a smile before they got back into the battle, metal clanging and bodies dropping like flies. It’d been a while since Keith had had a partner in battle, and a rush of emotions overtook him as every movement, every dodge and every thrust of the sword was completely in sync. They just seemed to know what the other would do before they even moved, and their manoeuvres flowed from one to the other like water, but burnt with such a fierce energy that their blades met their targets with each slice.
They were flying, light as air as they moved freely, feet shifting their balance and pulling each other to and fro like magnets. Yes, that was the right way to describe them. Magnets, charged by each other’s presence and moving together as one. Keith ducked just as Lance impaled an attacker over his head, and Lance spun to the side just as Keith thrusted into another one. The controlled movements of their arms and feet made it look like a dance as they moved in time with each other’s heartbeat and grinned every time they made eye contact.
Krolia watched from the observation deck, arms crossed and eyebrows quirked. Her son was talented, anyone could see that, most of all her. But there was something about the blue one, the one whose heart is blue yet flies a lion of red, that seemed to make him fight harder, faster, with that cocky grin on his face and with complete trust in his partner. It reminded her of herself and Keith’s father, and she looked on, wistfully, as the two boys defeated the training sequence and celebrated by high-fiving and cheering.
She decided that she quite liked the blue boy. The boy with sadness in his eyes but love in his heart that ached for sunset beaches and warm hugs. Perhaps sunsets were a bit of a reach, but Krolia smiled softly as her son enveloped the boy in a hug that he seemed to melt into, weapons dropping to the floor as the blue one pulled him closer and whispered something in Keith’s ear that made him snort into his neck.
And for once, Krolia had a feeling that her child would be okay after all.