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Jason’s staff clattered to the ground for the second time in five minutes as Coran shut down the simulation. Breathing hard, he looked up at Hazel, who resolved her fighting stance to take a step back. ‘No such thing as beginner’s luck, then?’
She only shrugged in response, a sly smile playing on her lips. He took a moment to look down at his new weapon. Coran had guided them to the weapons cache hidden somewhere in the lower levels of the castle, on the very morning that the paladins had gone off to train with the Princess. The Altean staff had seemed swift and light in his hands; moving effortlessly almost of its own volition. In a fight, however, he found it betrayed him at times; the balance taking him by surprise despite the few times when he had practiced with it during warm ups. He would have preferred the sword, if there had been any sword other than the one Hazel wielded, that is, or the paired blades Nico had claimed. She had very graciously offered to give it up in favor of a staff, but they both knew that the staff, a good head or two taller than Hazel, would be no use for her in a fight.
No worries , he thought. Third time’s the charm. Twirling the staff in his hands once, he charged again at the training bots that had re-appeared in front of them. Hazel was ready as well, and went after the two figures immediately to her right with a silent ferocity. For a few minutes they moved in a fixed mechanization; until Jason managed to knock out one of the two bots engaged with him, only to turn around and be hit square in the chest by the other. He met the ground with a surprising force, his head taking the brunt of the fall, and for a moment, his vision doubled. With some effort he sat up, head swimming, and saw Hazel engaged in combat with both of the remaining bots, close to being overwhelmed. He took on the one nearest to him with a renewed vigour- the staff moving like a blur in his hands- until it scattered across the training deck floor in a spill of blue pixels. Hazel managed to take out the last of them with final thrust of the sword; the bot collapsing at her feet, and looked up at Jason.
‘Third time’s the charm,’ she grinned, breathing through her workout, echoing his thoughts from earlier. They walked out of the training arena and up the stairs to the viewing gallery, where they were greeted with a loud cheer from the others. He walked over to Piper, who was putting on her armour, seated beside Annabeth, who was being helped into her own by Percy. Jason removed his own breastplate with a relieved sigh. The armour was nothing like he was used to, restricting his movement in ways that caught him off guard and leaving him feeling oddly exposed in places he usually didn't have to worry about. It featured the same design as the armour Percy’s brothers and his friends wore, but without the distinctive Voltron primary colours or the “v” shape across the front. He set it to the side and looked around. Nico and Leo occupied a bench further back, Nico sitting eerily still next to Leo’s constant tinkering. Hazel had taken a seat besides Frank, who whispered to her quietly, prompting a bright smile.
Piper and Annabeth left the mezzanine and emerged out on the training deck floor. They each took a fighting stance, back to back with blasters raised, and waited.
Coran, on Jason’s right with a tablet in hand, activated the training bots. Jason barely had enough time to spare a glance towards the four or so towering humanoid robots dropping from the high ceiling before Annabeth and Piper moved. In unison, they stepped back, maintaining their distance from the bots as they opened fire. Annabeth’s grip on her blaster pistols was awkward and looked uncomfortable, but she held her own. Jason could relate to the odd feeling of brandishing a weapon that he had no prior experience with and no divine intuition on how use it. Piper wielded her blaster- something that looked like it wanted to be called a tiny canon or maybe a shotgun with a really short nose- with the same aptitude she had used wielding the Horn of Plenty, burying in laser fire any bot that came near.
In a flurry of movement, a matter of seconds wherein he saw Piper spin away from Annabeth while the latter crouched with both of her blaster pistols raised and two bots in her sights, the battle was over. The bots lay dispersed and disintegrating on the floor around them.
With some delay, Jason picked his jaw off the floor, only to look around and realise that the others were in a similar state of awe. Had they been practicing? Knowing both Piper and Annabeth, it was possible. Hazel looked proud, but not the least bit surprised. He beamed down at Piper from his elevated position. She winked at him before turning to Annabeth and appeared to congratulate the girl on her technique, though Jason couldn't hear the words.
Percy and Frank were next. They fought like a well oiled machine; melee and ranged styles working seamlessly together, their forms so distinct and yet totally synchronised that it was a delight to watch.
It was clear from the way they moved; they seemed to instinctively know what the other was about to do and where they were in relation to each other and it gave Jason an oddly bittersweet sense of pride. This harmony with one another was a testament to their history of fighting side by side; the Son of Poseidon and the Praetor of New Rome, working together in a way that transcended space, time and pantheons.
With another twinge of guilt, Jason remembered Reyna, Frank’s co-praetor, once again leading the twelfth legion alone. Frank was the third to take up the position since the war with Kronos, preceded by Percy and Jason himself. If they stayed out in space for much longer, Reyna would have to replace Frank, perhaps beginning to question whether the second praetor position was cursed. Sometimes, Jason wondered that himself. Was this all his fault for choosing the Greek demigods over his fellow Romans?
Movement beside him drew Jason out of his spiraling thoughts. Coran stood beside him, watching Percy and Frank fight with a critical eye that surprised Jason. He had thought the alien man to be a bit... scatterbrained, jumping from one task or topic to the next and leaving chaos in his wake like an overexcited child. The way Coran watched the bought below, however, with a laser focus and intelligence that Jason hadn't seen so far made him wonder whether Jason had been entirely wrong about the Princess’ advisor.
Coran still had that same sharp look in his eyes when Percy and Frank returned, victorious. ‘I thought you humans weren’t trained in combat from an early age like Alteans,’ he said, voice bordering accusatory.
Percy coughed awkwardly and shrugged. ‘Uh, we’re not exactly your average humans. The Voltron pilots haven’t been trained as far as I know, but as for us, we’ve been training to fight since we were, like, twelve, if not before.’
Coran looked aghast. ‘You were child soldiers? How barbaric!’
Annabeth raised a golden eyebrow, just the barest hint of danger written on her face. ‘And what would you call Pidge, Lance and the others?’
Coran swallowed carefully. His face paled, like he was feeling ill. ‘I... I wish it was different,’ he admitted. ‘I am sorry. We wouldn’t have asked you to fight the Galra Empire if there was any other choice.’
‘This isn’t the first time we have been forced to fight beings more powerful than us,’ Frank said. ‘If it means protecting our home, I am with you.’
Coran nodded gratefully. ‘If... If I may ask,’ he began, words stilted and hesitant. ‘How... How do you all work together so well?’
‘The threat of death and having to fight through two great wars was definitely an incentive,’ Nico replied from his corner. Coran jumped comically, like he had forgotten Nico had been there at all. Jason could well understand. Nico’s ability to blend in with the shadows, both figuratively and literally, had caught him off-guard many times. It was perhaps the most Hades-like thing about him, the way he could be both present within a group and yet not.
‘I meant,’ retorted Coran, feigning composure. ‘How exactly is it that you learned to work so well together?’
This earned him an amused look from Percy and Annabeth, and Jason immediately knew where this was going. He was proved right as soon as Annabeth met his gaze with a challenging smirk, and answered, ‘Have you ever heard of Capture the Flag?’
Lance crashed through the foliage after Keith. The ground was uneven and dense with underbrush, making speedy travel very difficult, not that Keith seemed to notice. ‘Come on, man, slow down!’ he complained. ‘It’s just a game!’
‘It’s also a race,’ Keith huffed over the sound of smashing alien branches. ‘We need to get their flag before they get ours.’
Lance groaned. ‘Seriously, this is supposed to be a team exercise! Pidge needs to keep up!’
‘Hey!’
‘Guys!’ Shiro snapped over the comms devices built into their helmets. ‘Be quiet or they’ll hear you.’
‘Yeah, and do what?’ Lance scoffed. ‘I’m not afraid of your little brother and his friends from summer camp. Bring it on!’
Keith growled. ‘ Lance! ’
‘ Oh my god would you two just stop !’ Pidge snapped. Lance frowned. ‘Seriously, you two. We’re off course right now. Stop a sec so I can figure out where we are.’
Lance slowed to a halt, glaring at Keith as he walked back through the trees to where they were. Pidge crouched at the base of a large alien tree, tapping frantically on the display built into his suit of armour.
‘Come on,’ Keith grumbled.
Lance smirked. ‘Competitive, much?’
Keith flicked him a look. ‘Speak for yourself.’
Wow, rude . ‘I’m not-’
‘Uhhhhh guys?’ Pidge interrupted Lance’s retort with a wide eyed look at the branches of the nearest tree. ‘Keith, can demigods turn into animals?’
Keith frowned. ‘I don’t think so. Why?’ Pidge pointed at a bird in the tree.
Lance raised an eyebrow at her. ‘It’s a bird in a tree,’ he said. ‘Big deal.’
Pidge didn’t take her eyes off the bird. ‘It’s an eagle. It’s an Earth eagle in an alien tree .’
Keith paled. ‘Frank!’ He summoned his bayard and threw himself between Pidge and the bird.
‘Frank can turn into a bird?’ Lance laughed. ‘No way.’
‘Were you paying any attention back on Earth when they told us about their powers?’ Keith snapped. The bird flew away. ‘Stay alert!’
Lance raised his bayard, a cool looking blaster, to his face, looking around. ‘If the bird was Frank, where are the rest of them?’
Pidge scanned the area. ‘Maybe he was just scouting the area?’ she suggested.
‘Let’s move,’ Keith suggested.
‘Good idea,’ Pidge agreed. ‘This way-’ she was cut off by a scream as something flew out of the shadowy underbrush and threw her to the ground, a metallic looking net holding her against the forest floor.
‘Pidge!’ Lance cried out, rushing towards her as someone cackled through the trees. He caught sight of someone moving around them, accompanied by an evil giggle that sounded like Leo. It was like being circled by a shark.
Shots rang out from behind Lance and he dived for cover from the hail of blue laser fire.
‘That came from above!’ Keith called just as the ground rumbled.
Lance swore in Spanish.
A blur of cinnamon brown hair threw themselves at Keith and the forest was filled with the sound of swords clashing. Keith was blade to blade with Hazel. She was pushing him across the forest floor, backing him slowly into a tree.
More shots rang out.
‘Lance, behind you!’ Pidge yelled. Lance spun around and caught a glimpse of movement just behind the treeline. He let loose a volley of shots in that direction, hoping to catch Frank as he moved to his next hiding place.
‘ Ah! ’ Leo’s voice came as a sharp cry from somewhere Lance couldn’t see, followed closely by a thud as he hit the ground somewhere to Lance’s left.
‘Keith, get clear!’ Lance called, turning his sights on Hazel.
‘What? No!’
Lance took the shot. Keith yelped as the streak of light grazed his arm. Whoops . Hazel swooped in as Keith staggered back and Lance shot again, this time hitting her square on. She made a soft ‘ Oh! ’ sound and collapsed, stunned.
‘Lance, what the hell?’ Keith seethed. ‘I had her!’
‘And I had a shot!’ Lance countered. ‘I made a tactical decision!’
‘You missed! ’ Keith snapped. ‘You hit me!’
‘I wouldn’t have if you had listened to me!’
More shots from above their heads.
‘Lets just grab Pidge and go!’ Keith yelled above the noise of blasterfire.
Lance nodded. He turned his attention to the trees and laid down a spray of covering fire in Frank’s general direction, forcing him to retreat.
‘Let’s go!’ Keith called again. Lance glanced back to see him helping Pidge to his feet.
He stood up, still firing blind, and joined them. Keith tugged on his shoulder and Lance lowered his gun, turning tail and diving into the trees on Keith and Pidge’s heels.
Shiro swept his eyes over the southern end of the clearing. ‘Hunk, you seeing anything?’
‘Uhh….negative.’ Hunk sounded a little nervous, and Shiro couldn’t help feeling it too. He fell into a ready stance, waiting for the inevitable attack. It was eerily quiet inside the little clearing. They stood separated by a large boulder, situated right in the middle of the rough space; a bright red flag wedged into a crevice near the top.
The crunch of a boot in the dense alien undergrowth snapped him to attention. His eye scanned the trees encircling the clearing, searching for the sound, when the foliage to his right moved to reveal the form of a brown haired girl - Piper.
‘Hunk, we got company! Your 9 o’clock. I’ll engage. Keep an eye out for any more.’
‘Got it!’
Shiro charged at her. She had a blaster, but still held it loosely at her side and he was on her too fast for her to react. Their bodies connected and she let out a small ‘ oof ’ as they hit the ground. He pinned her to the ground with his knees, freeing his arms to grab at the blaster he had brought along for this particular exercise since they couldn't exactly set his strange new arm to “stun”. His movements faltered when she only smiled.
‘You don’t want to shoot me, Shiro,’ Piper said, a strange weight to her words he couldn’t define.
‘I don’t,’ he agreed. It was true. Under another set of circumstances, she was an ally and his brother’s friend. He didn’t want to shoot his brother’s friends. Piper’s smile, even in her disadvantaged position, didn’t waver. It made Shiro hesitate. He had never faced an enemy who smiled at him before. It was... unnerving.
He quickly considered what he knew of her. Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. So it was unlikely she would have any divine advantage in battle. Especially not over Shiro, who was twice her size and far stronger.
‘Let me up,’ Piper commanded, raising an eyebrow and Shiro immediately felt awkward. Her voice was gentle, but sure, worming it's way under his skin. He clambered off her, feeling suddenly remorseful for some reason. ‘You want to help me get the flag.’
Piper unleashed another blinding smile, eyes flashing green - no, brown - no, blue.
Shiro nodded without thinking, turning towards the rock in the center of the clearing. ‘You will fight with me,’ she said and Shiro’s breath caught uncomfortably in his throat.
‘You! You will fight now,’ a Galra soldier barked, yanking Shiro to his feet with a rough grip, blaster digging into his spine. Shiro didn’t say anything. It was always better not to speak on the way to the Arena. Instead, Shiro nodded, heart pounding in his throat, allowing himself to be marched down the corridor. This was always the worst part. The wait. Wondering who he would be made to face this time. A giant monster? A galra soldier wishing to prove himself? Another prisoner? Would he finally be killed this time? Shiro had seen so much death now, the idea didn’t scare him anymore. Sometimes - too often - he wished for it.
The Galra had a saying: “Vrepit Sa”. As far as he could tell it roughly translated to “Victory or Death”. In the Arena, that was the only rule. Victory or death. Kill or be killed. With each passing day, the second option felt more and more appealing.
The rough hand on Shiro’s shoulder dragged him to a halt. He stood in a familiar hall, the only exit leading to a cavernous space Shiro now knew intimately well. He tuned out the roar of the crowds, thousands of voices screaming for murder, baying for blood. A galran blade was pressed into his hands. It didn’t occur to him to use it to fight his captors. The soldier laughed, a low growl that rumbled in his ears as Shiro was pushed forward into the Arena.
‘Shiro! I would really appreciate some backup right about now!’
Shiro blinked back to reality, crouched on the ground. The sound of a battle echoed around him. Hunk was stood on the top of the stone in the middle of the clearing, laying down strafes of cannonfire. Vaguely, he spotted Jason’s blonde head sticking out from behind the massive boulder, out cold. Shiro fought to get his breath back. Another blond head ducked and weaved, searching for a way inside Hunk’s frenzied defense. She found her opening, slipping past Hunk’s defenses and landing a solid kick to his abdomen. Hunk stumbled backwards off the rock and down to the forest floor where Shiro was crouched, landing painfully on Shiro, knocking the breath out of him.
‘I had hoped for a fight, Shiro,’ Annabeth called over to him, making her way toward the flag.
Rolling Hunk off of him, Shiro lunged forward without even standing, taking a swipe at Annabeth’s ankle, which, luckily, she dodged as the movement made him realise he had activated his mechanical hand, the sickly purple glow streaking through the air as Annabeth’s feet sailed over the top.
Shiro felt himself smile. ‘I'd hate to disappoint.’
Then he charged.
She sidestepped his attack, training one blaster at his chest, the other at his feet and he rolled just in time to avoid the shots. Standing up, he reached to knock the blasters out of her hands, successfully sending one skittering across the floor of the clearing, but she was already running toward the boulder. He followed suit, coming up beside her, shoulder to shoulder. Through the adrenaline and near-hysteria leftover from the flashback, Shiro fought the urge to laugh, coming back to his senses to see, from the corner of his vision, Annabeth raise her blaster excruciating slowly, and before he knew it, she fired another shot right at him- deflected easily enough by his metal arm, but a trifle too late. It took him square in the shoulder, and the force of it slammed him back down to the ground. He landed on his back, and the air rushed from his lungs, leaving his head swimming for a moment. It was all the pause she needed to reach the flag first. She raised it victoriously above her head.
‘Nice work, Shiro,’ she grinned. ‘Shame you lost.’ Her voice was light and teasing, a reminder that this wasn’t a genuine life-or-death situation. Shiro found himself grinning back, accepting the implicit challenge in her words.
‘Let’s go!’ It was Jason, blinking blearily but conscious, held up by Piper.
‘Later, Takashi!’ Annabeth waved and disappeared on the other side of the boulder. Shiro heard three sets of footsteps sprinting into the trees.
Struggling, he got up to follow, but his vision swam, making him fall back on his knees.
Hunk stirred, slowly coming up to a sitting position. ‘What the hell was that? You okay?’ he asked.
‘I have no idea.’ he admitted and blinked to clear his head. ‘Come on, after that flag!’
They found the demigods’ flag on the beach, Percy and Nico the only guards in sight. Lance watched Nico patrol for a few moments from where he was perched on the tall branch of an Arusian tree, each bough as thick as an oak trunk back home.
‘Hey, this is good,’ Lance whispered from his vantage point. ‘We outnumber them.’ Keith crouched next to him, looking decidedly less pleased with the situation. Pidge was on Keith’s other side, the holoscreen on his wrist scanning the surrounding area for... something. Lance hadn’t been paying a lot of attention as to what exactly the other paladin was looking for.
‘I don’t see anything good about this,’ Keith murmured. He frowned down at the scene, arm braced against his knee. ‘It would probably take Shiro and I just to get Percy out of commission and it’s been a while since I’ve seen Nico in action but that kid is... scary.’
Lance scoffed. Keith was intimidated by someone smaller and younger than he was? No way .
‘Don’t underestimate these guys,’ Keith insisted. ‘You’ve seen how they fight in the training room, but they were trained for battle on terrain like this. Them being on the beach is no coincidence. Trying to fight Percy on the beach is a suicide mission.’ Lance wanted to protest. There was no way that some kid barely a few years older than he was could be so dangerous, but Keith spoke over him again. ‘Seriously, dude. This is bad. I’ve seen Percy do things with the sea at his back that you wouldn’t believe.’
Pidge diminished his holoscreen. ‘Okay then, new plan.’
Lance shrugged. If Keith and Pidge were this worried, then it obviously meant this was his time to shine. ‘Fine then. We’ll just have to take them out from afar. Looks like you’re sitting this one out, guys.’
‘What?’ Pidge asked.
Lance raised his blaster. It wasn’t exactly built for accuracy, but hitting two targets couldn’t be that hard, right? ‘If we can’t take them directly, I’ll shoot them from here, then we jump down and take the flag without having to fight them at all.’
‘You’ll never hit them from this distance,’ Keith said.
Lance grinned. ‘Oh yeah? Watch this.’ He squeezed the trigger, sending a barrage of bullets in Percy’s direction. Percy leaped out of the way and shouted something in a language Lance did not understand.
Keith cursed in the same language. ‘Great shooting, idiot,’ he snapped and jumped the ten feet to the ground with the help of his new jetpack. ‘New plan!’ Lance and Pidge shared a dumbfounded look as he ran, charging at Percy.
‘I guess we go help him then,’ Pidge said and leaped after him. Lance grimaced. If his teammates were going to throw themselves into danger, that was fine. He glanced around, spotting a tall column of stone further towards the beach and on his left. He jetted towards it, landing with a terrified yell and scrabbling to keep his footing on his new perch. Nico was closest, closing in on Keith and Percy. Lance shot at him and missed, but it was enough to catch Nico’s attention so Pidge could help Keith with Percy. Nico grinned up at him and the ground seemed to shudder beneath Lance’s feet. He yelped and threw his arms out to keep his balance. In Lance’s moment of distraction, Nico had crossed the distance to where Keith, Pidge and Percy were battling it out, trying to steer him away from the shore. Back towards where Lance was standing.
‘Keith!’ Lance cried out as Nico’s twin blades sent Keith’s bayard flying. He laid down covering fire, forcing Percy and Nico to backtrack, retreating towards the flag. Pidge darted between craggy rocks, shooting her bayard at Percy’s ankles, trying to trip him and Nico. It almost worked, but at the last second, Nico batted the projectile blade harmlessly to the side and Lance realised they may have a problem. Keith looked like he was getting ready to take on Percy, who was advancing on him, and Nico had just about reached Pidge, who waited in a battle-ready stance.
Lance made an executive decision.
He leapt down from his vantage point, landing between Keith and Percy and opened fire. Percy jumped out of the way, tucking into a roll to avoid being hit and came up directly in front of Lance, shaking sand out of his hair and eyes. All Lance could do was bring up his suit’s shield to block the incoming blow and wish his bayard could transform into something smaller.
‘Lance, what the hell are you doing?’ Keith snapped, but didn't wait for an answer, darting around Lance’s shield, bayard now in hand.
Lance turned briefly to fire at Nico, who had Pidge on his back, cornered, with the tip of each sword point planted on either side of his neck. Lance’s lasers hit Nico directly in the chest. He let out an ‘ Oomph !’ at the impact and crumpled onto Pidge’s legs. As Pidge freed himself, Lance turned back to the fight between Keith and Percy. Their blades clashed in a repetitive loop as they moved up and down the beach. It wasn't as uneven a match as Lance had previously thought. Keith wasn't getting any hits in, but at least he was able to prevent Percy from getting any either, forced onto the defensive by his brother’s superior skills. Taking aim, Lance fired at Percy, missing him, but managing to distract him long enough to let Keith get a swing in. It didn't do much good though. Percy kicked out at Keith, sending him tumbling down the beach, and twisting to run at Lance who was entirely unprepared to fight an angry Jackson brother with a sword.
Lance tried to fire at Percy but missed, and, realising his mistake, raised his shield and braced for impact. The clash was oddly noiseless, a collision that Lance felt reverberating up his arm, rather than heard. Riptide glanced off the shield, sliding sideways and slicing through the black fabric of his undersuit as Lance tried to leap back out of the way. He felt the blade cut into the skin beneath his ribs, just enough to draw blood and Lance gasped. ‘Ow, Percy! What the cheese?’
Percy froze in place. ‘Did I hurt you?’ he asked, like he hadn't expected it. ‘I can’t have hurt you.’
Lance straightened and pulled the sliced fabric apart to reveal the thin red line marring his brown skin.
Percy gaped. ‘ Holy Hades. ’
‘Lance! Keith!’ Pidge yelled. ‘Look!’ Lance glanced up to where he was pointing. Above them, he could glimpse the blonde heads of Annabeth and Jason sprinting towards the ancient Arusian bridge behind Piper, who brandished the purple banner emblazoned with a white Voltron “V” like a weapon in front of her. Behind them, Shiro and Hunk were chasing at their heels, but neither of them seemed to be fast enough. As they watched, Piper passed under the first arch and Lance’s face fell. They had lost.
Percy whooped. ‘Come on,’ he said, heading up the slope to meet them, cheering. He stopped to help Nico to his feet, and Lance offered a hand to Pidge once he was free.
When they reached the others, Frank, Leo and Hazel had arrived and Piper had plunged the shaft of the flag into the dirt where Allura and Coran had appeared and were congratulating them.
‘I... demand. A rematch!’ Lance complained, bracing his hands on his knees and wincing every time he aggravated his cut as he breathed in. ‘And this time I want Percy on my team to even the numbers!’
Coran grinned. ‘Don't be too hasty there, paladin! The idea of the exercise was to get you working together with your fellow paladins, fighting side by side!’
Lance scowled. ‘How does that matter? We still lost.’
‘I don't think so,’ said Pidge. At Lance, Keith and Hunk’s confused looks, he continued, 'Think about it. By the end there, we were fighting together as a team, looking out for one another.’
She had a point, Lance reluctantly admitted. If they were ever going to form Voltron again, they were going to have to learn to work together. Still, his competitive streak rebelled against the idea that losing could still be counted as a victory. They'd had their asses handed to them by a few overpowered (but awesome) nerds in camp shirts.
‘I'd say it was a pretty successful ordeal,’ Pidge sounded like he'd just finished some sort of debrief that Lance had totally tuned out of. Shiro watched him proudly. He had what looked like a set of statistics brought up on the display built into the wrist of his armour-
hey, could Lance’s armour do that?
‘Good job team,’ Shiro said, annoyingly unaffected by what was probably at least a half-kilometre sprint.
‘Yeah, we may have another problem,’ Percy said. He pointed at Lance. ‘Show them the scratch,’ he instructed.
Thoroughly confused, Lance removed his hand from his wounded side so everyone could see the leaking red line.
‘I did that,’ Percy announced gravely. ‘With Riptide.’
The demigods began murmuring among themselves. Even Keith and Shiro looked at each other in surprise.
‘Awww come on it's just a scratch,’ Lance straightened up properly and waved a dismissive hand. He grinned at Allura, resting his hands on his hips in what he was dubbing his “hero pose”. ‘Got cut with a sword. No biggie.’
‘Lance, you don't understand,’ Annabeth said. ‘Riptide can't hurt mortals.’
‘Mortals? I...’ Lance scoffed. ‘That’s crazy.’
Perct shrugged. ‘Keith, gimme your hand.’ without a word, Keith removed his undersuit glove with his teeth and extended his left hand. Percy grabbed his wrist and pressed the blade of his sword against Keith’s palm and either Keith was much more badass than Lance gave him credit for or he literally was unable to feel pain because he didn't even flinch as Percy sliced his palm with the sword. ‘Look.’ he let go and Keith held up his palm for everyone to see, totally unmarked.
‘Woah...’ Hunk breathed. ‘How does that even work though? Like, does it just not touch mortal skin or does it just pass through on a molecular level or what?’
‘It's magic, Hunk, you can't explain it,’ Keith shook his head, cutting off Hunk’s sudden flood of questions.
‘Okay so what does that mean Lance is?’ Shiro asked. ‘Is he a demigod?’
‘Hell yeah!’ Lance whooped. ‘I wanna be a demigod. What do you reckon? I'm totally a son of Poseidon right? I mean, Percy and I are already best bros.’
Annabeth shook her head at him. ‘You being a son of Poseidon is extremely unlikely. There are a lot of things that can be cut by Celestial Bronze including Gods and, demigods, legacies, monsters, ghosts and zombies. Without more information, it will be impossible to tell which one Lance is.’
‘Why can't I be a demigod?’ Lance complained.
‘Dude, you have both your parents,’ Hunk pointed out.
Lance shrugged. ‘Okay, yeah, but still.’
‘You haven't been claimed, have you?’ Jason asked. ‘No glowing symbol floating above your head some time in the last five years. No monsters coming to kill you?’
Lance thought about it. ‘There was that one time my neighbour’s dog attacked me...’
‘Could have been a hellhound,’ Nico suggested. ‘What did it look like?’
‘A fox terrier?’
Nico laughed. ‘Okay no. Hellhounds are way too big for the mist to make them look like that.’
Lance raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh yeah? Like how big?’
Nico shrugged. ‘At their biggest? Half the size of Pidge’s lion.’
Lance whistled in awe.
Allura took the opportunity afforded by the moment of silence to gesture in the direction of the castle. ‘Shall we?’
In silent agreement, the group started heading back up the hill.
‘Do you think Iris messages work here?’ Leo asked. ‘We could make a rainbow and see if we could get a hold of someone back home who might know.’
‘You have a way to contact Earth?’ Lance gasped. ‘Why didn't you say so?’
‘I already tried,’ Annabeth sighed. ‘We're so far out of the gods reach there's no way to get in contact with anyone, god or mortal.’
‘Oh,’ Hunk hung his head. ‘Okay then.’
‘Lance,’ Frank asked slowly. ‘Does your family have any special abilities?’
Lance shrugged. ‘I don't know. My mom's a nurse at the local health center like my grandparents. My great grandma was an army nurse during the second world war. Taught everyone in her family over the age of fifteen how to shoot too.’
Nico raised an eyebrow at Percy. ‘Healing and accuracy,’ he said significantly.
Percy groaned. ‘No. I'm so done with that guy, please no.’
Piper laughed. ‘Would explain a lot though.’
‘What?’ Lance demanded. ‘What am I missing? What are you talking about?’
Hazel smiled. ‘Each god in the pantheon has a particular area of influence so sometimes families that are very good in that particular area can catch that god’s eye.’
Jason grinned. ‘For example, Leo’s mom was an engineer and he’s a son of Hephaestus, god of the forge.’
‘My mom was a soldier,’ Frank said. ‘And my father is Mars, god of war.’
‘Okay...’ Lance frowned. Just what did any of this have to do with him? ‘And this would mean... what exactly?’
‘The descendants of all those demigods that survive into adulthood are called Legacies,’ Frank explained. ‘Mortals that are descended from the gods but aren’t precisely demigods because they belong farther down the family tree.’
Lance frowned. ‘And you think that's what I am?’
‘That’s one theory. If one of your ancestors was particularly talented at something that comes under one of the gods’ spheres of influence, it could explain why Riptide could hurt you but you were never claimed,’ Annabeth admitted. ‘But we can't know for sure without some confirmation from your godly ancestor. Without that, we can only guess.’
‘Does it really matter?’ Keith asked. ‘I mean... if it's that far down the line does it really affect anything?’
Jason shrugged. ‘Depends on the god or sometimes the demigod you're descended from. In all likelihood? Not really.’
Lance couldn't help feeling disappointed. ‘Okay, so it doesn't matter. Cool. I'm hungry. Can we head back to the castle?’
Coran brightened immediately. ‘Of course! I've made a special Paladin lunch for you all!’
They had been in space for less than a week but Lance already knew what that meant. ‘Oh no. Nope I changed my mind. I'm not hungry. Uh uh.’
‘Thanks,’ said Percy, ‘But I'm gonna take a shower. See you guys later.’
Everyone started heading back towards the castle, breaking into smaller groups, chatting amiably. Lance’s stomach grumbled and for a brief moment he considered actually taking Coran up on his offer.
Hunk threw an arm over his shoulder. ‘Hey, that's cool you're all godly now right? Hazel, Frank and I were gonna see if we could put something actually edible together in the kitchen. Wanna help?’
Lance sighed in relief. Honestly, bless Hunk and his kitchen wizardry. He grinned. ‘Oh god, yes!’
Hunk lead him back up to the castle and for a while it was easy to forget where they were, what they were up against and all the questions they couldn't answer right now. They were just kids having fun and it was the best feeling in the universe.