Chapter Text
The sound of laser fire outside his Lion pounded in his ears. Adrenaline rushing through his veins, Keith pulled up as hard as he could, narrowly avoiding being hit. The Galra were coming in droves, and no matter how many ships they took out, it seemed like ten more took their place. The chances of winning were diminishing - now it seemed like even the chances of surviving were minimal.
It seemed like he wasn't the only one thinking it, though. Pidge's face suddenly appeared on a screen beside him. "Taking heavy fire! This is crazy, guys! We can't win!"
Hunk's face appeared next. "Agreed, you guys! We need to get out, like, now!"
Keith watched out his viewscreen as the Blue Lion darted forward to block the Green Lion from the line of fire, taking a heavy hit in the process. Visible sparks flew from one of the Lion's limbs, and Keith felt tendrils of anger wrap around his chest.
"Lance!" He yelled. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? He said get out, not charge in!"
Keith's eyes flickered to the side for an instant to see Lance's smug face appear on the screen. "Calm down, bro. The most I'd lose is, like, an arm or something."
Keith moved out, flanking an enemy ship and taking it down with his Lion's claws before firing a laser at another ship moving in behind the Yellow Lion. "This isn't a joke, Lance!" He bit back, sharply, before a smirk crossed his face. "Besides," Keith grumbled, "That might be a problem, considering your secret hobby--"
"Hey now!" Lance cried, voice cracking. "Wait, was-- was that supposed to be a dirty joke?!"
Keith let a breath of a laugh escape him, the familiar sound of Lance's light-hearted hysteria more calming than he'd originally thought. "I was just trying to anticipate your needs." He faintly heard Lance's angry shrieking of his name before Shiro's voice came on loud and clear.
"Enough, you guys," he said. "Hunk and Pidge are right. We need to get out of here, now. Allura? Can you make an emergency wormhole here?"
"Like the time at the Galra central command?" Pidge asked.
Allura appeared next on the screen, looking weary and worried. "Yes, but... last time--"
"We're not going to get away from this easily," Keith threw out. "It's all we've got."
"Agreed," Shiro said. "Team?"
There were quiet, tentative murmurs of agreement from the other three. Lance came on next.
"Okay, but if we're all separated again, I just want it to be known that I am only agreeing with this plan because everyone else is agreeing."
"Me too," said Hunk quickly. "Me too!"
"Alright, wormhole opening. Paladins, hurry!" Allura called out, and Keith turned his lion towards the wormhole along with everyone else. Nerves on edge, he hung back to cover the others as they went in - The Yellow and Green Lions went first, and Keith moved to follow Shiro into the wormhole next once Lance, who was the furthest away, was in range to enter right beside them.
Unfortunately, the Galra weren't ready to let them leave - his Lion warned him of incoming fire from behind, and he pulled up immediately. He saw Shiro dive down to avoid the fire, and Lance--
Keith's heart dropped as he watched Lance's lion take a final hit before the wormhole closed behind them, scrap ingthe wall of the wormhole, Lance yelling "woah!" as he began to spin out of control. "Guys, my Lion, it's--"
There was static and a flash, and Keith had to look away for a moment - the wormhole dissipated, and he immediately leaned forward in his chair. "Lance?"
No reply.
There was a prolonged silence until he tried again. "Lance?" He called again, more desperate, turning then to see with a rush of relief that the Blue Lion was with them, completely intact (well, mostly. It still had taken a bad hit earlier).
The entire team fell silent as they waited for a reply, everyone holding their breath. None came.
"Lance? Are you okay?" Pidge asked, tentatively, and Keith could see the Black Lion move forward and grasp the Blue Lion gently in its maw.
"He might be hurt," Shiro said. "Let's hurry."
There was an uncomfortable feeling that settled in the pit of Keith's stomach as they all docked at the castle. He fumbled with his controls as he set down and stumbled out of his Lion, pulling his helmet off and running towards the hangar and meeting with everyone else.
"Lance?" Hunk called, looking up at the Blue Lion's unexpressive face. "You in there, man? You're scaring me! C'mon, open up?"
Still no reply.
Keith frowned. If this was some elaborate joke Lance was playing on them, he swore to kill him personally. Still, though, staring up at the silent, impassive Blue Lion left that uncomfortable sensation in his stomach boiling up into his throat. He hated it.
Stepping forward, Keith's fists clenched at his side. "If you won't open up, we'll have to force Blue to let us in!"
Shiro stepped forward as well and put a hand on Keith's shoulder, and he frowned slightly as he watched their leader look up to meet eyes with Blue, a worried expression on his face. "Blue?" He asked gently, "Can you let us in? We're worried about Lance." At last the Lion bent down and let them in. Shiro moved in immediately, and Keith was hot on his heels. He dully noted the others stayed outside.
Something felt off, though. Keith couldn't control how his heart sped up, or how he ended up stepping past Shiro to check for Lance. The part that bothered him most was the fact that Lance didn't seem to be on board. At all. Nowhere.
"Lance?" Shiro called, sounding very distressed, as he moved through the interior of the Lion back and forth. It wasn't big enough that someone could hide inside for this long, was it?
Keith bent down to the pilot's chair and pressed a hand to the material. It was still warm - Lance had been in the cockpit just a few minutes ago. It wasn't like it was an illusion or something.
"Lance, if you're hiding, it's not funny. No one is laughing." He called out, and it sounded clipped in the enclosed space. Shiro looked back at him with a frown.
"I don't think he's here," Shiro said, falling horribly quiet.
"Impossible." Keith replied. "The seat is still warm. We talked to him just before we went in the wormhole. That was only a few minutes ago. He has to be hiding somewhere around here."
"So what happened?" Shiro said lowly, more to himself than anything, and Keith bit his lip as he looked out the viewscreen of the Lion, trying to imagine what might have been going through Lance's head, or what events led up to this... whatever it is. "Do you think... the Galra...?" Shiro started.
Keith's head snapped around and he shook his head, moving up this time to put a hand on Shiro's shoulder instead. "No way." He declared, willing that uncomfortable churning of his stomach to go away. "He flew the Lion into the wormhole with us. He was definitely here. There's no way they could have gotten him out that quickly."
Shiro's face was still pale. "But he isn't here. So what...?"
Shiro was right, and Keith knew it. He swallowed hard, looking back at the empty cockpit. It was wrong, and the longer Keith stared at the empty space around him, the smaller and smaller it seemed to become. It felt hot and constricting and Keith immediately had to walk as fast as he could out of the Lion and took a sharp breath the minute he was out. It didn't help.
"Keith?" Hunk asked, sounding scared. "Is he okay?"
Frowning, Keith's eyebrows furrowed. Was Lance okay? Where was he? As Keith searched for words, Shiro appeared behind him and stepped past, closer to the others.
"Lance isn't here." Shiro said, sounding a lot more solid than his face let on. "Whatever happened, he's not in his Lion anymore."
Allura and Coran appeared in the doorway and ran over, only to hear what Shiro had to say. Keith watched with a sinking feeling as everyone's faces fell into various states of disbelief and fear.
"But his Lion is here." Hunk said, desperately, now running up to see the cockpit for himself. "If, if something bad happened, wouldn't his Lion be gone too?"
"I... I don't know," Shiro replied, turning back to look at the Lion with a sad expression on his face. "But something went wrong. I don't know what."
This time, it was Pidge's turn to follow Hunk up into the cockpit. "There might be a log or something. I've tinkered with the Green Lion enough to know my way around." Everyone followed, cramming into the small space just like the first time they had found the Blue Lion. Except it was a lot emptier without Lance. At least, it was emptier until Allura and Coran shoved their way in also.
"Ah, yes, the logs! I remember lecturing the paladins of old about what the proper uses for their logs were, for example they're not to be used to record--"
"Coran, please," Allura said, and he fell silent for a moment until Pidge speaks up again.
"Got it!"
Everyone's eyes turned up towards the screen that appeared, showing Lance in his cockpit just before he followed everyone into the wormhole.
"Okay, but if we're all separated again, I just want it to be known that I am only agreeing with this plan because everyone else is agreeing."
Keith watched with a hollow feeling. He searched Lance's face for anything off in his expression, but there's nothing unusual. Just... Lance being Lance.
"Me too! Me too."
"Oh, that's me!" Hunk announced, and no one said anything in reply as they watched Lance concentrate into following the others into the wormhole. They saw the flashes of light splay across the digital image of Lance, indicating his successful entry into the wormhole, until suddenly there was a loud crash and the image was rocking as Lance clung to his chair, yelling in surprise. That must have been when he took the last hit from one of the Galra ships - Keith watched the screen as the Blue Lion's alarms started going off, red lights flashing in the background of the image. The screen was still rocking, and Keith recalled the Blue Lion hitting the side of the wormhole - was that the reason? Lance regained his bearings and reached for the controls, and his face paused for a moment before his eyebrows went down and he was pushing and pulling at the controls more frantically.
"Guys, my Lion, it's--"
Without a warning there was a bright white flash and everyone watching the screen recoiled, except for Keith, who squinted his eyes and tried his hardest to see what happened. There was nothing to see - except that the second after the light subsided, the chair in which Lance had sat just a moment prior was empty, the alarms still flashing red silently in the background of the empty picture. The recording kept playing, and a horrible silence fell over the team as the quiet video stretched on.
"I, I don't want to watch this anymore," Hunk said, turning away and pushing his way out of the cockpit. Keith watched him go, understanding his need for fresh air. Keith had felt that just before.
"I don't understand," Pidge murmured. "It's like he just... vanished. Is that even possible?"
"I don't know," Allura said, putting a hand to her chin thoughtfully, a worried expression on her face. "I've never seen anything like that happen before."
"Is it possible he was ejected into space? Or somehow affected by the wormhole independently from his Lion?" Shiro asked quietly, hesitantly, like he really didn't want to be suggesting it in the first place. Coran shook his head and crossed his arms.
"Nope, not possible. You would've seen him get sucked into space if he was ejected, and I just don't think it's possible that his Lion didn't go with him... wherever he went."
Keith locked eyes with Shiro, and it was like there was a message he was trying to convey, but Keith did not get it. He turned to Coran angrily. "So you're saying he's just, gone? That's not possible!"
"I didn't say that," Coran said, touching his moustache. "Well, I guess I kind of did, but not in those exact words--"
"Like hell he could just vanish!" Keith felt hot with anger, and he just wanted to punch something. Very badly. "He can't just--"
"Calm down," Shiro said, stepping forward. "We'll find him. Pidge, can you work with Coran and see if it's possible the wormhole could have affected him?"
There was a silent nod in reply, and the two disappear out of the Lion.
"I'm going to the training deck." Keith snapped, stone-faced, but hiding a storm of swirling emotions he couldn't name underneath. Whatever it was, he was ready to punch something until it went away. He left Allura and Shiro alone in the cockpit as he turned his back on them and left.