Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Goodbye my dear family.” Lance dramatically flips the hood of his cloak over his head and spins around to the leather curtain signalling the exit.

“Okay seeya.” Veronica waves a hand dismissively.

“Byebye uncle Lance.”

Despite Veronica’s rude goodbye, it still beats most of his family who clearly don’t care enough for him. He spins on them angrily, pointing an accusing finger at his family members who - for the most part - are moving on with the regular duties in their lives.

“I can’t believe that you guys don’t even care that I’m leaving and you know what? This is exactly why I have to start a new life. I just can’t get with this program. Does no one realise what’s out there? What could eat me for breakfast?!” Lance rambles loudly. His mama wraps him into a comfortable hug and squeezes his arms.

“You be careful sweetie, and come back when you’re ready.” She says with a kiss to his cheek. He smiles warmly at her and hugs her back.

“Or we could come to you if we’re bothered. I heard earth-nation boys are packing HUGE muscles- OW!” Rachel cries out, rubbing her head after their mama clocked her. Lance laughs at Rachel’s demise and hugs his papa closely whose hands were dirtied from fat so Lance had to wrap his arms around him without it being reciprocated properly. With a final, albeit terrible, goodbye, Lance heads out of their igloo and towards the port. He boards a large ship filled with various fish, small and large. He beelines for the helm of the fishing vessel and passes his brother who is diligently packing away frozen fish.

“I still don’t get why you’re doing this,” Marco says with a sigh.

“I didn't ask you to get it Marco,” Lance responds.

Marco draws Lance's attention to a pile of boxes. “Help us out would’ya.”

Lance feels his temperature rise. “I was GOING to help just give me a moment to appreciate this turning point in my life!” With that, he stomps away because he just needs an uninterrupted dramatic moment to himself. Marco bends back down to seal in the boxes.

Lance finds a fairly secluded spot on the vessel and breathes in the cold, sharp air. His last breaths of home, at least for a long while. He had known since he was a young child that he wanted to leave this stifling city. Ever since Avatar Aang arrived accompanied by Sokka and Katara from their sister tribe, he felt a sense of unfamiliarity with his own home. Of course, the Northern Water Tribe was and would forever be his birthplace where his family, friends, and even lovers originated from but…the events since the avatar’s arrival truly made Lance realise that there was such a big world out there. He wanted to know how everyone lived their lives, if they also liked salted fish, and if they also had roles within their communities. Despite being a child at the time of the avatar’s arrival, he could comprehend that the women of his home all had their lives forever altered by Katara’s influence. If their lives can so easily be improved by the introduction of a single foreign value, what else could change? He wondered what their sister tribe was like and wondered what the fate of their brethren waterbender’s was in hands of the fire nation. How did they fend off the invaders? How did they fail? How vulnerable will his home be once the rest of the world moves along without them? He remembers seeing fire rain from the sky and remembers when the moon fell only to be replaced by a terrifying yet beautiful spirit of the ocean. He remembers as all his people, stripped of all their defences, had bowed down to the ocean’s anger embodied by Avatar Aang as it destroyed their invaders. He planned for years to leave his city and family, training hard and reading all he could about the outside world so he could find the home outside of home. Old man Pakku had returned from the war with news that the war was officially over and a few days later, Katara came to visit with congratulations. She had looked older, more confident, and Lance could feel the power emanating from her as a fellow waterbender. She told them of the new Firelord, who Lance remembered from the invasion. It was a little confusing because Lance thought the guy was trying to kill the Avatar but it seems like he's on the Avatar's side now so he supposes he remembered wrong.

“Aang and Zuko are setting up a city where non-benders and benders of any nation can live together,” Katara had told them with a big smile on her face. “If you’re interested, I’m sure they would be glad to have the water nation join their new city!” She said. That was the opportunity Lance was preparing his whole life for and since then, he knew his life was going to change entirely.

“Hey you’re Marco’s water bending brother right?” A fisherman interrupts. Lance sighs and turns on the man.

“That’s me.” He answers with lazily.

“Cool, can you help us freeze the large fish?” The fisherman starts to walk away, phrasing it as a question but ultimately it wasn’t like Lance had a choice in the matter.

“Yeees.” This wasn’t what he envisioned his life changing trip would start like.

In the weeks of travel, Lance was put to work fishing up schools of fish with his bending whilst the fishermen caught them and prepared them for sale. Everything from salted and cured to fresh and meaty, they were experts at turning the creatures into delicacies.

Weeks passed with life being pretty monotonous on the ship until they arrived in Republic City’s harbour which was signaled by an impressive statue of Avatar Aang positioned as if standing guard. Lance salutes the Avatar’s statue as he passes by, feeling a surge of respect and adoration. The fishermen watch the statue with awe as they pass by. It is always a sight to behold and sparks inspiration in the hearts of many.

“Pretty cool huh?” Marco nudges Lance.

“This is awesome!” Lance throws his arms up into the air and climbs onto the railing of the ship.

“What are you-” Marco is cut off by Lance diving overboard. “Lance,” Marco groans out. “You’re embarrassing me.” Marco looks around shyly at the other fishermen who are sharing a hearty laugh at the antics.

Lance rockets himself through the water's depths, swimming and twirling through with his waterbending. He muses at the fish that lack the fat he is so accustomed to and gawks at how the seaweed thrives. Seeing the ship getting away, he forms a water tornado and rockets out of the water to land in a sopping heap on deck. The fishermen hoot and holler at the brilliant show of their culture’s bending. Lance laughs and waves at the fishermen who are whooping at him. It reminds him that he will be separated from his community soon. He turns back towards the harbour with the city getting closer and closer. Oh gosh there really are so many lights!

“Don't be fooled Lance," Marco interrupts. "This place is too different from what we know and the people here can be dangerous. New land. New rules. New people. Be on guard buddy.” Marco ends with a sturdy fist bump against Lance’s shoulder before heading to unload boxes. Their vessel anchors at the dock and Lance helps them with the ropes.

"Don't worry about us Lance, just go check out your new home," the fisherman tells Lance and he happily shakes their forearm.

"Really appreciate everything," he nods firmly and then turns away to wander around the harborside. Everyone is dressed so differently but he struggles to pinpoint what it is. The colours are everywhere and the styles aren't aligned either. The streets are so full of life unlike his home where people prefer to keep wandering outside limited. A divine and unfamiliar smell of cooked meat catches his attention and he lets his nose guide him towards the stall. Standing by the grill is a man dressed in black with an apron on and a moustache decorating his upper lip. At the sight of the meat, Lance starts to drool. Juicy, glistening, and so red - what is the red?

“Could I get some of those?” Lance asks.

The vendor looks him up and down, “that’ll be 5 URC for one.”

Lance blinks in confusion for a bit before patting his pockets. “Oh um…I don’t have any money but I can offer my services in exchange?” Lance suggests. He had honestly not thought about getting coin especially since most trade back home was exactly that - trading. The man looks him up and down.

“No.”

“Okay okay, how about I show you my skills first and then you can decide.” Lance raises his hands towards the pitcher of water he spies beside the grill. He dramatically raises his arms, pulling the container’s water out and holding it together in the air in a spherical heap to hover in front of the vendor’s face. “Go on, take a drink!” The vendor tilts his head to the side with more judgement in his eyes. Lance relents, "Okay you don’t have to drink it, but what would you like to do with this?”

“I don’t want to do anything with the grill’s cleaning water you stupid primitive.” The vendor spits out.

“Oh my bad I thought it was clean...a what?”

“Scram, your kind isn’t welcome here. You’re just going to eat all my meat because that’s all you people do.”

“Excuse me??” Lance asks offended. The vendor lets out an annoyed groan and moves the heap of water to flick his hand in front of Lance’s face with fire trailing out from his fingertips. As if trying to scare Lance away like he was a bird trying to scavenge some food. Lance falters and drops the water back into the jar with a splash. “Fire bender-" A hand lands heavily on Lance’s shoulder and he flinches from the surprise.

“Hey Sal! How about we be amicable here?” The stranger says. Lance isn’t short per se but this man easily towers over him and, not only that, he’s packing an impressive heap of muscles with a tuft of white hair at the front. The vendor grunts as a response and the big man tugs Lance away. “I hope you don’t think poorly of our city, he’s a bad apple,” the stranger begins.

Lance glares back in the direction of the stalls. “What’s up with the way he was talking?! Did you hear what he said about me? He doesn’t even know me!”

The man rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Yeah so as you may have guessed he comes from the fire nation and he’s an older soul so he grew up surrounded by the fire nation propaganda and teaching.”

“Why does he hate me?!”

“Well…to put simply, they learn to dislike anyone outside the fire nation…it’s kinda how they justified the 100 year war. He moved here not too long ago to start a small business and he’s not used to living amongst others. Sorry,” the man holds up a placating metal hand and it briefly shocks Lance into forgetting his anger.

“Well he could’ve had an awesome waterbender at his beck and call but instead he made an enemy. He doesn’t even know how bad of an enemy I can be.” Lance narrows his eyes.

"It’s nice to meet you by the way. I’m Shiro.” The man holds his hand out and Lance notices that it’s not just the hand but seems to be the arm as well that's covered in metal. Or is metal?

“Lance,” he grabs Shiro's forearm tightly, trying not to be bothered by the strange metal. Shiro awkwardly grabs Lance’s forearm back.

“Well Lance, will you be staying with your group?” Shiro points towards the group of fishermen dressed in Water Nation attire sticking out like a sore thumb by the harbour. Lance looks down at his own clothing, with his blue traditional vest and his thick coat tied around his waist with his thick pants. He then looks over at Shiro’s plain black clothing lacking any fur, leather, or even fabric embellishments and makes a mental note that he will have to find some black clothing.

"No actually I'll be living here for the foreseeable future. Not necessarily here, moreso wherever my travels take me," he explains with a sheepish chuckle. "I haven't really figured it out yet."

"That's great! We're lacking the sort of cultural diversity you can bring here so I'm sure you will be a huge addition to this city. We'll see each other again, I have to take this ship," Shiro says as he points apologetically at a large passenger boat by another dock. "It was nice meeting you Lance."

"It was nice meeting you too Shiro! Thanks for the help."

Shiro waves before walking in the other direction from Marco and the fishermen. Lance runs back to Marco wanting to share what just happened but thinks against it for fear that his brother might just drag him back home. Instead, Lance makes idle chatter to comfort himself.

“Hey Marco, good trading?” Lance asks.

“Republic city is always the best. They love eating lavishly.” Marco says in a teasing tone. “You’ll be eating like them soon and then you’ll come back home unhappy with papa’s cooking.”

“Pshhh, I will always love papa’s cooking.”

“Sure you do, anyways we’re ready to leave now. Just taking a short break for the fishermen to stretch out their sea legs."

A sudden realisation dawns on Lance and the reality of his situation hits in full force. In a few minutes, he will be left alone in this unfamiliar city away from everything and everyone he's ever known in his life. He doesn't even have coin...

"Um Marco, I forgot to get coin."

Marco slaps his forehead and digs into his pocket to pull out a few coins. "I totally forgot you didn't have these, sorry Lance."

"Only this much?"

"What do you mean? One URC can get you like a room and more. You gotta transfer it to republic city coin which is smaller."

Lance's brows furrow in understanding. "That motherfucker tried to charge me five of these?!"

"Oh boy, please be careful baby bro. Live your lavish life until you're tired of it and write home okay?" Marco wraps Lance in a tight hug.

Lance feels the stress starting to get to his eyes and he tries not to cry. The hug is warm and familiar so he appreciates every bit of it until the last second when they part. “Until next time,” Lance smiles.

Chapter Text

As Lance is mapping out the illustrous city with wonder he doesn’t fail to notice the curious glances his way. He can’t help but develop a slight ego at the attention, pushing back his hair and puffing out his chest. He dares to give a charming smile at the ladies that glance at him and some of them giggle whilst the others try to ignore him. From an unlit alleyway that he passes, a trio emerges and stalks behind him. He narrows his eyes and turns on them cautiously.

“Can I help you?” He asks and notices that they’re dressed in a mix of blacks and red.

“We don’t see your kind around here often.” One of them says in a low voice, snapping his fingers with a brief flash of fire flicking out from the snap that briefly illuminates his face hidden from below his hood. Lance tucks his hand beneath his coat that had unintentionally concealed his water pouch, understanding the obvious threat.

“What do you mean by my kind?” Lance asks lowly. The people around them had started to scatter away, possibly recognising the trio or just recognising the tension between two opposing parties and not wanting to get caught in it.

“If you don’t want trouble then cough up your coins.” Crony number 2 threatens.

“This is awkward because I don’t actually have any.” He responds. The street goes dark quickly as one of them extinguishes the flames within the street lamps. Lance has to squint to make out their shapes.

“You’re full of shit.” Crony number 3 says as she opens out her palm with a flame. Lance pulls out his water in front of him.

“What a loser, you really think your primitive bending can beat us?” Crony number 1 taunts.

“It booted you guys from the North didn’t it?” Lance argues, getting annoyed.

“Huh? There are people in the North?”

“You need to know your place honey. The strong prevail.” Crony number 3 interrupts, then the dark street lites up spectacularly from the light of several balls of fire flying towards Lance. He crouches and dodges the fire’s trajectory as he methodically twirls his arms and snakes his water around to quickly whip at Crony number 3’s outstretched arm causing her to falter in pain. His attack doesn’t stop there as he transforms the water into a harmless stream that he slashes in front of the group in multiple successions causing them to back away. Crony number 1 aggressively swipes through the water to bolt towards Lance. He jumps into a spinning kick with fire trailing behind his heel, but before he can swing his leg down Lance smirks and flicks his hands sharply backwards. The slashing water abruptly pulls back into a concentrated stream that knocks directly into Crony number 1’s back. The weight and force of the water knocks him past Lance who smoothly side-steps out of the way. Lance then spins smoothly with the water spinning around him before mimicking his attacker and kicking his leg around. When Lance lands, the water rapidly slams down onto Crony number 1 causing him to crumble under the weight. Lance doesn’t miss how Crony number 3 had used the opportunity to aggressively shorten the distance between them so Lance crouches with a twist before quickly untwisting towards the sky with his arms guiding the water to slam into Crony number 3 who instantly buckles under the weight and is forced into the ground. Lance points two fingers into the sky in victory as the water washes miserably over Crony number 3 who coughs and splutters.

“Get shit on idiots! I spent my whole life training against your bending!”

“But not mine,” Lance hears before the ground beneath him rumbles and his feet sink in. Lance grunts as he tries to free himself, shaping the water in various forms of ice, slashes, and whips to dig up the ground desperately.

“You’re an earthbender?” Lance asks confused. “Why are you hanging out with these firebenders?! And for god sake dress in your nation’s colours have some pride!”

The firebenders start to get up but Lance gives up on freeing himself and wraps his water around their hands before freezing them.

“Fuck!” Crony number 3 yells out as she tries to melt the ice but the lack of movement within her hands makes it a futile effort. She resorts to slamming her hand on the ground but the earthbender grabs her shoulder to stop her and walks intimidatingly towards Lance.

“These are my siblings, you got a problem with that?” She asks with malice in her eyes. Lance’s eyes widen at the information and he lowers his head in shame and confusion, not sure what he should be thinking. “Let them go.” She demands and cracks open a boulder - that is illegally large Lance must say - and holds it over Lance’s head. He shudders in fear at the looming threat but grits his teeth. He bends a sliver of water from Sibling number 1’s hands to form a sharp icicle that he points between the earthbender’s eyes. They glare at each other in a tense stand-off.

“Hey!” A voice calls out from above. Neither Lance nor the earthbender are willing to look away to identify the source of the voice. “The Tozu triad is on Olly Lane!” The voice yells out.

“Shit.” The earthbender whispers.

“They’re going to kill someone!”

“I’ll remember your face!” The earthbender threatens before dropping the rock to Lance’s side and grabbing her siblings to run off. Lance breathes a sigh of relief and continues to struggle out of the hole he did NOT dig for himself. He notices that something big has landed nearby which seemingly dropped from the sky whilst a small figure runs towards him.

“Need a little help?” The person asks and from the closer distance Lance can make out that it’s a small androgynous kid with various tools and the most hideous, outrageous, black outfit he has ever seen in his life.

“What…are you wearing?” Lance crosses his arms and points a finger at the kid sassily.

“Techwear!” The kid turns around with pride, showing off the reflective fabric that doesn’t look comfortable at all to Lance.

“Sure sure, and what’s that?” Lance points behind the kid at the strange contraption. The kid looks between Lance and the contraption with confusion.

“...You really don’t know what that is?”

Lance shakes his head.

“It’s a hot air balloon, though mine is more efficient than others.”

“The hot air causes you to rise into the air? I can’t believe it’s enough to lift a person…”

“Haha, you’re clearly not from here. So you’re a waterbender huh?” The kid remarks as they get out what looks to be a sculpting tool and a hammer and begins hammering the tool in the ground by Lance’s sunken feet. “Man this could be so much easier if there was an automated way of hammering the chisel in…we could increase the size too since it wouldn’t be limited by swinging ability…I will call it…a Pidgehammer…yes that’s brilliant and it will be pidgehammering away at the ground…it could excavate so effectively…”

“Um yeah I’m a waterbender…from the Northern tribe not the Southern.” Lance clarifies after remembering the off-handed comment from the trio.

“Oh yeah cool cool, I’ve never met anyone from the North. Actually, come to think of it…I’ve never met anyone from the water nation. You lot are pretty elusive huh?”

“We’re just too far away, and a little cut-off from the rest of the world haha.” Lance rubs the back of his neck, suddenly self-conscious at being so foreign.

“That’s okay, most people are also cut off from the rest of the world take the Tozu triad for example, they probably don’t even know there’s a Northern water tribe! Most people only know about the South because of Katara…oh sorry I assume you know Katara?”

“Of course I do! Katara and Sokka come by regularly to hang out at my tribe.” Lance gloats.

“That’s awesome! See! Not many people even get the chance to meet them let alone live with them. But yeah…this city is a trial in seeing how our nations can all come together. So far we’re not exactly coming together…but we’re slowly getting there.”

“So the Tozu triad was it? Are they actually siblings?” Lance asks curiously.

“Huh? Oh yeah they’re siblings, I suppose it must be confusing for you but these days many families are made between Fire and Earth Nation people.”

“That’s crazy…why?”

“Well, why not? The Fire Nation and the Earth Nation have the biggest territories and the largest populations. It only makes sense also given the um…living situations.”

“Right but aren’t they too…different from each other?” Lance asks, remembering the stories he heard of what the people of the Earth nation was like versus the Fire nation.

The kid waves a hand dismissively up at Lance, “They’re different but the war made everyone live differently anyways so it’s not that outlandish for them to understand each other when stripped of both of their cultures. Besides, they’re not actually that different in the first place. Blockheads and hotheads go well together.”

“Haha that’s a funny way of saying it, blockheads and hotheads!” Lance tries it out on his tongue.

“...Okay don’t tell anyone I said that... I mean, I’m part of the blockhead group so I can say that but still… don’t tell other people cus I don’t want my reputation to go down. You shouldn’t be saying it either. Oh, by the way I’m Pidge.” Pidge hammers once more and Lance shakes his feet out before shaking Pidge’s outstretched arm.

“I’m Lance, nice to meet you and thanks for saving my butt out there.”

“It’s no biggie, that triad is always causing unnecessary trouble. I think you may be the only waterbender in this whole city isn’t that cool?”

“No wonder everyone was checking me out,” Lance holds his chin with a big grin.

“Alright calm down there, so because you seem cool and you’re new to this city I’ll show you what this place is really about.” Pidge crosses their arms, the awful reflective thin fabric crinkling loudly and Lance has to try to hold back his distaste. Pidge tucks their flying contraption to the side of the path and leads him to a shady alley. When they’re hidden in the shadows, Pidge takes off their large jacket before flipping it inside out to reveal a green underlayer with a traditional pattern that almost conceals the awful fabric. Lance whistles, impressed at the functionality of the clothing. Then Pidge tossles their hair and wraps a bandana around their forehead, partially concealing the eyes.

“Should I uh switch disguises?” Lance asks, concerned as he pats around his coat.

“Oh no no no, it’s just because I have a family reputation to uphold and I don’t want the public to misunderstand anything.”

“Okay cool cool…” Lance says with increasing concern.

“Come on.” Pidge leads them further in and knocks on a large metal door where a small slit for the eyes opens up. Pidge nods at the man stoically and points to Lance with their thumb wordlessly. The slit closes and the door opens up for them. The two venture into the poorly lit room and onto an oddly clean slate of Earth. The person at the door lunges with a heavy stomp of his foot causing the ground to rumble. Lance grabs onto Pidge at the commotion before they start falling slowly and despite the slow descent, Lance screams all the way down with Pidge pating his arm consolingly. Lance’s screams are slowly joined by others and eventually the shaft they descended through reveals a hollowed out massive arena filled with crowds of people jeering. Lance’s scream dies down when the ground stops moving and Pidge steps off the plate the fear instead replaced by wonder at the scene around him. The arena has a descending layout allowing everyone a view of the main show below marked by a crudely drawn white line with four people inside the large ring. The people inside hurl rocks and fire brutally at each other, punching and kicking without holding back. Lance cringes at the scene but when he looks around at the massive crowd, he sees that their screams are of elation and excitement. He watches with furrowed brows and Pidge grabs his hand to drag him down the steps and much closer to the action. Pidge leads him to a walled off pocket beneath the stands that allows them to watch at the same level as the action. “The guards know my family.” Pidge tells him as an explanation when some guards eye Lance briefly but see who accompanies him. Lance flinches as the heat of fire illuminates his face a little closer than he appreciates. “Welcome to the Rumble of Agni Kai.” Pidge gestures sardonically out at the scene.

Chapter Text

“What in the spirits is going on?!” Lance yells out.

“You know Agni Kai’s?”

Lance shakes his head.

“What about Earth Rumble?”

Lance shakes his head again.

“Ooh boy so there’s a lot of cultural context to explain this monstrosity going on,” as Pidge says this, Lance watches as one of the firebenders is knocked to the side violently by a large stone. Lance winces but lets out a cheer simultaneously.

“KICK THAT FIREBENDER’S BUTT!” He hollers out and it must’ve been loud enough given the proximity that the aforementioned firebender turns his masked face in his direction. Lance quickly shrinks from the attention, slightly afraid from the intimidating purple mask but nevertheless stands his ground by glaring back. Despite the brutal hit, Lance can’t tell if the firebender is in pain because his body shows no signs of slowing down.

“I guess it makes sense you don’t know Angi Kai’s cus it’s more for like higher ranking soldiers and the royal family. But Earth Rumble I’m surprised you don’t know. So the Agni Kai is a one on one duel usually politically driven or just honour driven. Legends say that Firelord Ozai grabbed Firelord Zuko’s face during an agni kai and that’s why his scar is so bad.” Pidge points to their eye.

“Awful!”

“Legends also say that because of that scar, his senses are heavily impeded on that side of his face. So he only lets his most trusted people walk on that side of himself like your very own Katara and Sokka.”

“Woahh, why does he trust them so much?”

“Oh so I guess you never got filled in after the Northern invasion. As Aang traveled around the Earth Kingdom for an earthbending teacher a LOT happened and eventually Zuko became part of their team and taught Aang firebending! Cool right?”

“WOAH I saw that guy when I was a kid. To think he would become someone so important to the avatar…so he’s the new Firelord huh?”

“Yup! Earth Rumble is a little less important culturally but a lot more people know of it. It was initially a smaller event where earthbenders will battle one on one in an arena in a tournament to eventually become the reigning champion. The avatar’s earth bending teacher was actually scouted from Earth Rumble so when they ended the war, Earth Rumble soared in popularity. Every earth bending kid dreamed of being like Toph.”

“So it’s a game for fun?”

“Yep, more like a sport for fun. The first thing the earth benders did coming here was create this arena, to set up their own Earth Rumble. The fire-nationers weren’t allowed in on the fun so they instead held Agni Kais on the street. They say they held Agni Kais but I think they were just tacking on a name to justify street fighting. Most of the citizens didn’t appreciate the street Agni Kais so there was heavy pressure on the ones organising the Earth Rumble to share the arena to get these firebenders off the street. They came to some sort of agreement evidently and now they’ve formed this new sport. For the honour of winning. See, blockheads and hotheads what a pairing.” Pidge jokes. Lance is flabbergasted, feeling incredibly out of his element here. He looks around at the stadium and recognises zero Water Nation clothing, once again self-conscious about how much he sticks out. He thought he studied all he could but turns out the world moved faster than he anticipated and cultures became more and more complex.

The earth bender with a purple bandana on her head is knocked back by a powerful blast of fire that she blocks with a piece of the ground she tears up. The blast is so forceful it knocks her off balance and then the earth below her rumbles to tilt her roughly out of the ring. The crowd begins to jeer exceptionally loud at that, shaking their fists clenched around bags of money.

“What’s with the money?” Lance asks, pointing at the crowd.

“Oh right, well the scummy part of this is that it’s mostly a gambling ring.”

“Gambling…?”

“Yeah so it’s entertaining but because each side is battling seriously for victory the onlookers decided to join in and place their own stakes on either side. If you bet money on the winning side you win a lot more money than you put in whilst if you bet on the side that loses, you lose money. It’s a thrill but some people lose all their money so that’s why it’s scummy.”

“I see I see, so the crowd is either really upset or really happy right now?” Lance gestures towards the scene before them with the masked firebender fending off brutal attacks from his two competitors.

“Yup. Wanna bet amongst ourselves?”

“But I don’t have any money.”

“We don’t need money to bet we can just have our word. I bet on purple here.”

“What? Purple is clearly outnumbered, I bet on the yellow team 100%.” Pidge shrugs with a smirk and Lance slams his hands on the sturdy wall in front of them. “No way purple wins!”

The masked fire bender smoothly dodges a punch from the opposing earthbender and takes the opportunity to swing a fist of fire into their chest that is quickly extinguished to the side by the opposing firebender. He doesn’t falter and wraps his arm beneath the earthbender’s body to swing them backwards and slamming into the ground. The earthbender tries to fling a large piece of the ground up at the man but he jumps onto it and uses it as boost to deal a devastating flying kick to his teammate. It collides into their shoulder and knocks them off their feet. Then the masked man continues his onslaught, firing fireballs at the opposition who is forced to step out of the ring. He spins on the earthbender who by that point has pulled themselves onto their feet. He swings a fire fueled punch at their head that the earthbender easily dodges but then an inhumanely fast knee knocks into them from below, boosted by a concentrated flame from below the foot. The earthbender falls onto the ground, unmoving, then the crowd erupts in a roar.

“So brutal, it’s just a game isn’t it?” Lance asks.

“It is a game but in this city, some people come from troubled backgrounds. They need money, they need to vent their anger, they’re self-destructive, they can’t get a job elsewhere…There are many reasons why someone would want to win so badly. Sometimes they just want to win because they enjoy it. It gets complicated but this city is still so new it can barely figure out its own rules.” Lance nods with contemplation, taking in all the new information. “Alright come on, let’s go greet the winner.”

“What?-” Lance is cut off by Pidge grabbing his arm and leading him around the arena and into a hallway that travels to another hollowed out cavern but this one littered with stones thrown about and walls scorched by fire. He sees the masked firebender at a bench nursing his side whilst packing away bags of coins into a sack.

“Good work out there, saw you deliberately not help your teammate. Tactical?” Pidge jokes.

The firebender looks up at her with his masked face and ignores her, favouring packing his belongings.

Lance crosses his arms and leans to the side. “Rude.” The mask flicks back up to him, studying him up and down before the man slings the sack over his shoulder and marches up to Lance, pushing into his space. “You’re not mad about the comment from earlier right?” Lance asks.

“You’re not from here.” The man says.

Lance sighs, already getting sick of the comments. “Astute observation, I see the hotheadedness didn’t impede your judgement.” Lance tilts his chin up at the man. From his close view, Lance can see that beneath the long dark coat that the man is wearing is a traditional fire nation top similar in style to his own top. It barely peeks out and Lance wonders what the secrecy is for since everyone knows he's a firebender.

“Okay okay, how about we get you somewhere private so we can talk properly, yeah?” Pidge points to the masked man who huffs and turns, heading to a shaft leading up to the surface. Lance gulps, already grabbing onto Pidge from the fear of being moved by a dodgy platform out of his control. The three of them hop on and the man sends a ball of fire up the shaft before the slate starts moving up slowly. Lance cowers and feels his legs shaking but he tries to hide it in front of the man. “You okay Lance?” Pidge asks.

“Yes!” Lance barks out but his tight shoulders betray his words. The trio arrive at the surface level but Lance doesn’t recognise it as the same entrance they entered through. From other shafts, other patrons pop out before the slate is sent back down. They walk with the crowd with various people patting the man’s shoulder or hurling insults at him. Lance watches with concern at how outraged or emotional the audience members seemed. They branch off quickly at an unlit alleyway with Pidge grabbing onto Lance’s hand so that he doesn’t get lost in the crowd. As they pass through, the man smoothly fires small blasts of fire from his fingertips to the lamps which catch the fire and light up their path. Lance realises just why this city has so many lights. Convenient huh? They arrive at what looks to be a tall clocktower, which appears to be similar in height to the watchtowers back home.

“Alright mask off Keith.” Pidge chastices as they make their ascent. “Sorry Lance, this guy is very adamant about no one finding out he’s the purple firebender.”

The masked man pulls off his mask with it catching onto his wild black hair causing his hair to push back and reveal his face. He looks at Lance, probably finally being able to see properly! Lance thinks. Lance’s mouth widens, not having expected the man to look the way he did. He of course looks masculine, but his features are still childish and sharp. Given the muscle on the guy Lance thought he’d look a lot more grizzly. The man sheds his long black coat to reveal his fire nation clothing underneath that sends an unpleasant feeling to Lance’s gut. Pidge elbows Lance in the side which shakes him out of his staring and the trio head up the winding steps.

“I’m Lance, from the Northern water tribe.” Lance greets.

“Keith.”

“…”

“Oookay so already off to a bad start. Keith here is an example of a halfie, father’s from the earth kingdom.”

“Pidge who is this guy?” Keith asks concerned.

“I’m Lance.” Lance responds annoyed and the two glare at each other for a bit.

“You can cut the tension with a knife - so Keith why don’t you tell Lance about how you’re not an imperialist fire child who wants to watch the world burn? I’m sure that will ease a lot of Lance’s worries.”

“I’m not worried, I can take him. I’m more worried why you hang around this guy Pidge.” Lance spits out and pretends not to notice Keith visibly rolling his eyes.

“What can I even say? I just happened to be a fire bender, I grew up here, and I’m not an imperialist fire child who wants to watch the world burn I guess.”

“Keith’s parents were together even before the war ended. True love.” Pidge makes a gagging motion. “Republic city didn’t exist when Keith was born, but his parents happened to move to an area that had a lot of similar couples so I guess firelord Zuko saw fit to plant their new city on top of the already existing community.” Pidge has to take a break during their ascent, huffing and cursing out the ‘primitive technology’. “I’m gonna…make something…the steps…they move…scale up…pidge-scale…no pidge-scale-ator…yeah…”

“You a waterbender?” Keith asks as they wait for Pidge to catch their breath. Lance glares at Keith and grabs Pidge’s arm to walk past Keith on the steps. They make it all the way to the top with Lance holding onto Pidge’s arm and are greeted by the smell of cooking as well as a man dressed in modest gray clothing.

“You guys sure were chatting a lot.” The man says as he turns around and brings bowls of stew over. Pidge flops onto the couch exhausted.

“Yep, was introducing our newbie here.” They explain.

Keith and Lance look to each other for a tense moment, both glaring but Keith breaks their eye contact to take his shirt off at the couch. Lance refuses to look at him.

“Keith, don't be rude.” The man says as he grabs two extra servings of stew, one for Lance and an extra one for Keith. “I’m Adam, it’s nice to meet you...”

“Lance.” Lance holds out his arm and Adam awkwardly grabs his hand to shake.

“Adam, they shake with the arms.” Pidge says.

“Oh sorry.”

“Oh no no I’m sorry I didn’t know you guys did it differently.” Lance says sheepishly. “I’m a little lost why I’m here to be honest.” Lance says sitting down and looking towards Pidge.

“I wanted you to meet Keith, and Keith only meets people when he’s comfy in his home isn’t that right?” Pidge teases.

“Shut up, I just had a match today so of course I need to go home right after.”

“Keith,” Adam sighs with a pinch between his eyes. “Do not for the love of god let Shiro know you’ve been going back to that awful arena.”

Keith pulls out hefty bags of coins from his sack and stands up to get something from the shelves that Lance notices seem to have been created by an earthbender.

“What do you think I’m doing now?” Keith responds annoyed. He picks up what seems to be a medkit and sits back down as Adam moves to store the bags of coins somewhere. Keith twists from his position on the couch to try and see his bruises with one particularly large one by his side.

“You said Shiro right? Big man, huge arms, black clothing Shiro?” Lance asks.

“Yeah that’s him,” Adam nods.

“Oh shit, I met him! He helped me out when this firebending schmuck was trying to scam me. That’s incredible, what a crazy coincidence.” Lance gushes. Keith glares at Lance’s comment and Lance only points his tongue out in response.

“Shiro must’ve seen you in trouble, he’s a kind man.” Adam says with a flush on his face.

“So when are you going to propose?” Keith asks.

“Wha- Can you not say this stuff so casually?!” Adam sputters.

“I’m getting tired of the back and forth, you guys should just settle it already.”

“You don’t get it Keith, once you actually find someone you like then you can talk to me.” Adam makes a zipping motion with his mouth and Keith rolls his eyes. “So what are you doing here by yourself?” Adam asks Lance who gladly turns back around to face Adam.

“Well, with the war over and whatnot my people have no reason to be so disconnected from the rest of the world. The world is changing rapidly and there’s so much for me to see. Even our sister tribe in the South are so much more different than we are. It’s time to learn what can change I think.” Lance reveals.

“Wow that’s a very mature reason, see Keith why can’t you be more like Lance?”

“Why would I want to be like him?”

“Excuse me??” Lance asks offended.

“You thought I was going to lose weren’t you?” Keith changes topic.

“What? Of course I did, you’re two versus one!”

“Always bet on purple.” Pidge pipes up, still slurping away at their stew.

“How old are you Lance?” Adam asks.

“19 cycles.” Lance happily responds, turning away from Keith.

Adam puts a hand on his heart. “What a good kid, you’re even younger than Keith.”

“By a single year Adam!” Keith yells out, he groans in frustration at not being able to reach certain parts of his back to apply cream.

“Put that down, I’ll heal you better than it can.”

Chapter Text

Pidge and Adam adjust their positions in anticipation of what Lance will do. Lance smirks at the attention, eager to show off his skills but when he looks up at Keith, the man looks grouchily away with his chin resting deeply in his hand.

“Do you have water nearby?” Lance asks Adam ignoring Keith’s attitude. “Preferably clean.”

“Pidge fashioned us a tap that allows us to take water from the rain. I’ve got some boiled on the stove.” Adam supplies helpfully. Lance moves the tea table aside and kneels in front of Keith. He closes his eyes and the room falls silent, no doubt eager to see what will happen. Lance raises his arms fluidly from the pot’s direction, the water following his arms’ movement, flowing across the room and swirling within itself. Keith watches in his peripherals with widened eyes and would swear that he wasn’t nervous.

“Woahh.” Pidge whispers under their breath.

Lance swirls the water in the air a few times, the movement dragging along the gazes of the room’s inhabitants, mesmerised.

“Show me.” Lance commands and Keith obeys by lifting his arm up and twisting his torso causing his muscles to proudly show off their outlines which Lance definitely doesn’t notice. Of course not.

The water descends slowly and lays across Keith’s skin which surprises Keith from its cooling feeling despite his skin barely absorbing the water. Keith watches with amazement at the tranquility and beauty of the water that swirls endlessly within itself across his body.

“It’s…so gentle.” Keith whispers to himself with a brief surge of admiration and the water seems to shudder. Keith looks up at Lance who has his lips pursed together with a slight blush dusting his cheeks, and refusing to look back at Keith. Keith blushes himself, embarrassed from blatantly expressing his tender emotions. Lance pulls the water away and swirls it again in the air a few times before containing it in a sphericial shape.

“How is it?” Lance asks. Keith gives his side a few cautionary taps, gradually getting rougher from the clear lack of pain. Pidge crawls along the couch closer to Keith and places their hands on Keith’s side, pushing their face into the faintly marred skin. Pidge’s eyes widen and Adam whistles.

“Do the stew do the stew!” Pidge pleads excitedly as they hold up one of Keith’s bowls of food. Lance drops the water back into the pot with grace and pulls up his hands once again, causing the soupy contents of the food to lift into the air with the motion. He drags it over to Keith and hovers it in front of him.

“Soup bending!” Lance says with a flourish, and Keith looks unamused back at Lance. Upon seeing his gleeful expression behind the soup he leans in with his lips puckering. Lance gently raises the soup in the air and Keith tips his head as he slowly slurps the soup. He raises a hand to Lance to signal that it’s enough and Lance pulls it away before dropping it back into the bowl with Adam and Pidge chuckling.

“How was it?! Did it taste good?” Pidge asks excitedly.

Keith swallows and rubs his lips on the back of his hand. “It was good.”

“Woohooo!” Pidge cheers. “My turn!”

“Come on guys, this isn’t even the best my waterbending can do. You should witness my true prowess!” Lance says.

“What incredible flexibility water bending has. No wonder your tribe has survived for centuries in those harsh environments.” Adam remarks. “Did you say thank you Keith?”

Keith throws up a middle finger to Adam and bashfully turns to an expectant Lance. “Thank you…also for the soup.”

“Heh,” Lance snobbily rubs his nose. “You can thank Katara actually cus she’s the only reason I was allowed to learn healing.” Lance smiles to himself at the thought and Keith doesn’t miss the sincerity in his expression which infects a smile onto his own lips.

“How much better would life be if we had all the elements in one room?” Pidge remarks offhandedly.

“Or how much more chaotic would it be?” Adam suggests insteadl.

“Hmm, but Avatar Aang must have such an amazing time. If I could bend even one element I would be travelling and creating who knows what! The possibilities are incredible.” Pidge slides down the couch in defeat and Keith pats their head consolingly. “That brings me to my ultimate question Lance.”

“Hm?”

“I saved you earlier because I’m a good person yeah? But I also saved you because I saw your bending…and well…I’d be very interested in having you on board to help out in my workshop! You can become a key figure in my family’s production too.”

“Hopefully not slave-like conditions like you did with me.” Keith comments.

“No no no not slavery, assistance! You help me design contraptions with your waterbending, you help our family produce new goods!” Pidge says trying to appeal to Lance.

“So who exactly is your family?” Lance asks slowly.

“You don’t know the Gundersons?” Keith asks curiously.

“Last I checked I’m not from here.” Lance replies annoyed with Keith huffing out an equally annoyed apology.

“The Gundersons are an up-and-coming elite family of mechanical producers from the Earth Nation. During the war, they began developing methods of transport that didn’t require bending in order to relocate displaced citizens which was a huge success and many businesses started investing in the Gundersons. So now they’ve moved beyond just transport and are in fields like construction. Of course, we still mostly rely on earthbenders to help rebuild like Shiro-”

“Shiro is a construction worker.” Pidge pipes in.

“He does have huge muscles.” Lance nods in understanding and Keith’s face immediately contorts in disgust.

“He’s Adam’s.” Keith says.

“I know! Geez I was just making an observation,” Lance huffs.

“Anyways! The Gundersons have become a crucial business partner to most of the world as we rebuild and improve after the war. Basically, it’s quite an honour to be a part of the family.”

“Yeah that’s right!” Pidge says with a cocky smile and nod.

“I don’t know a shred about new technology, what would you even have me do?” Lance asks confused.

“Oh just off the top of my head you would help us improve the quality of our ships. Maybe the quality of harbours too? Listen I haven’t really thought of anything because I’ve never really met a waterbender face-to-face but I guarantee that there are lot of possibilities. You’re our safety net when something goes wrong and you help streamline our ideas by showing us what’s possible! Nothing too manual laboury.” Pidge reassures.

“Pidge’s brother is currently working on developing something he picked up from the earthbenders. It’s called an ‘elevator’ and it will transport vertically without needing bending.” Adam says with sparkly fingers.

“Wow, so like when we went to the rumble thing how they made us fall and fly slowly?”

“-and Shiro’s his guinea pig.” Keith scoffs out.

“He’s not a guinea pig he’s just there if the design doesn’t work out and also to give Matt ideas.” Pidge defends before turning back to Lance. “We didn’t fall or fly we just stood on a plate that was controlled by the benders thus moving us. Why should we put in the effort to climb up or down when the ground beneath cus can do it?”

“...That’s not possible is it? Without a bender?”

“We’ll hopefully find out soon.” Pidge responds with a bright smile, “So if we have you Lance, think about what else we could do for the world!”

“That does sound pretty good…what will I get in exchange?”

“Housing, safety, money, and the opportunity to work with mwah.”

“She’s pretty brutal though be careful.” Keith scoffs out as Pidge emphatically denies.

“You’re a she?!”

“I am NOT brutal and I AM a ‘she’ but does it matter?”

“Deja vu, this is like when Katara came to our tribe all over again,” Lance grabs his head in contemplation.

“Katara is awesome.” Pidge clasps her hands together and looks to the sky as if hoping Katara would somehow drop from the avatar’s sky bison.

“The perks seem pretty good…I’m not staying here though?” Lance gestures around the room.

“Of course you are! Why do you think Shiro and Keith are here?” Pidge cocks her head confused. Lance glances nervously at Keith but then focuses on the incredible view of the city behind him. Come to think of it, he had never been this high before unless he tried to tornado out of the sea. He had to admit that the view was great. “You’re 5 minutes away from like everything, smack bang in the middle of the city and it’s private too. You won’t be bothered by the frequent street noise which I imagine for you will be a problem considering where you’re from- Ooh I suppose we should provide you a convenient water source huh? Shiro has plenty of earth to go around and Keith only needs himself…”

“Hold on hold on, just how loud is it? When do people go to sleep?”

“Well,” Pidge stands up and walks to the open window. “The lights let people move around at night, which lets people undergo business, which is convenient for everyone…so people sleep when it gets too late I guess? Some people even sleep during the day to be up all night. Welcome to republic city’s nightlife.”

“So weird…” Lance hums.

“So is it a deal?” Pidge asks. Lance pretends to contemplate before nodding resolutely.

“I think it is, but you guys aren’t going to do anything to my body will you?” Lance asks whilst covering his body shyly. Keith rolls his eyes and Adam chuckles.

“Gross no, just need you to lend me your bending and expertise,” Pidge responds. “Also you can teach us about your culture.”

“Well that sounds like a pretty good deal, count me in.”

“We have to wait for Shiro to come back before we can make a room for you.”

Lance sighs, “Being an earthbender seems so convenient.”

“Well being a waterbender probably seems pretty convenient to him too. Grass is greener.” Adam shrugs.

“Why is grass greener?” Lance asks with a cock of his head.

“It’s just a saying that the grass is greener on the other side to convey the message that the things we don’t have seem better than what we do have.” Adam explains.

“...Oh wow that’s a nice saying. We don’t really have grass back home so maybe we can say that the fish is tastier on the other side?” Lance suggests and Keith laughs heartily in the background.

“Sure,” Adam nods and stands up to put away his bowl with Keith and Lance joining.

“It’s already pretty late will Shiro be returning soon?” Lance asks as he nearly bumps into Keith mumbling about washing up.

“Oh…right. Sorry, he’s actually left for Ba Sing Se. Matt and him are travelling to observe the package delivery structure. That’s probably why you met him at the docks today. You’ll have to share a room, don’t worry they’re very spacious.”

“No problem, this city is very warm compared to home so I can sleep out here.” Lance moves to lay his coat on the couch.

“No you should stay inside the rooms, it’s even warmer because of the heater I created. Powered by our very own Keith’s fire bending.” Pidge shimmies her hands in the air.

“Mmm…No thank you.” Lance continues to make couch comfy by fluffing the pillows thrown around.

“Why not?” Pidge asks with a huff.

“Don’t like the sound of anything being powered by fire bending.” Lance strips off his belts and embellishments, stretching out his body but misses Pidge’s contemplative frown.

“...Lance… you have some pretty severe pre-conceived notions.” Lance flicks his head open-mouthed to Pidge. A mixture of confusion, shock, and offence painting his expression. Pidge jumps into the space next to Lance and rests her feet on the table. “When the Tozu triad was after you, you were confused if they were actually siblings and you couldn’t believe that someone from the earth kingdom could love someone from the fire nation right?”

“Mhmm.”

“You believe that all fire nation people can only be loved within their own nation?” Pidge points out with a hushed voice, briefly glancing towards the hallway Keith and Adam disappeared in.

“Well, I just don’t get what someone from the earth kingdom could see in them.”

Pidge sighs, “While you’re in this city, I want you to really get to know people and try to push aside your biases. That’s what Katara did for you guys isn’t it?”

“She did but-.”

“Okay sweet! So you don’t need to be cautious of Keith. He hasn’t tried anything has he? And you’ve seen what he can do.” Pidge levels him with a serious look.

Lance’s memory flickers between the images of Keith pummeling and getting pummeled mixed with the various glares that he’s already levelled Lance with by now. Lance shudders. “I guess that’s true…But wouldn’t that be more reason for me to be scared- I mean concerned?”

“It’s okay to be scared but at least give him a chance cus you have my word that he’s a good guy and hey- he loses a lot if he tries to hurt you…trust me.”

Lance nods with a gulp. “I’m not scared by the way,” he adds finally.

“Whoo okay so right this way sir. Allow me to lead you to your stellar accommodation.” Pidge jumps up and makes a show of bowing to Lance, directing him to follow.

Chapter Text

Pidge gushes about her heater as she leads Lance down the warmly lit corridor. “I’m really proud of this one, it was one of my first prototypes but turns out it works the best so long as you have a fire bender around- Keith! Roommate alert!”

“What?!”

“Huh?

Keith and Lance say simultaneously as they round the corner.

“Don’t be naked.” Pidge hollers jokingly and peers into the room with a cautious hand over her eyes. Keith looks back at her annoyed while holding a bucket with a towel inside, fully clothed.

“Wait wait, I agreed to use the room with the heater but you didn’t say that it was also Keith’s…” Lance whisper-yells at Pidge. When Lance notices that Pidge isn’t scandalised by the sight inside the room he chances a look inside. The first thing he notices is how warm it is, and the second is how spacious the room is but still looking relatively homely with belongings strewn around. The third thing he notices is Keith’s glare.

“I mean I told you it works best with a fire bender around.” Pidge defends whilst pointing a thumb to Keith who scoffs annoyed and marches out of the room pushing past them.

“There’s another heater in Adam and Shiro’s room just go there if you’re so mad.” Keith says with an annoyed tone as he heads down the hallway. Lance turns his chin up and crosses his arms.

“Yap yap yap, whine whine whine,” Pidge mocks and then leans into Lance. “This is your perfect opportunity to start learning about the Fire Nation people and push aside your biases okay?” Lance gives Pidge an unimpressed look but sighs and then nods resolutely while pushing his hair back.

“Okay let’s freaking do this.” Lance says with a breath out. He waltzes into the room, really taking in his new abode.

It truly is so warm and cozily lit.

He spies books and scrolls thrown onto a large shelf but clearly, there’s organisation to them given how they’re not in the way nor do they seem haphazardly thrown around. “As long as it works?” Lance mumbles to himself. He notices all the candles lit around the room and the closet showcasing an impressive array of five or so garbs of red, black, and more black. Lance cringes at the sight but Pidge elbows him and he tries to mask his distaste for the red colour palette. And the bland clothing. Equally bad.

“Okay Lance, make yourself comfortable. I’ll check in on Keith to hash things out with him. “Ta ta.” Pidge waves her hand and leaves Lance alone in the room.

So warm.

Lance doesn’t remember ever feeling this warm and cozy since he was a kid swaddled constantly in his mama’s coat. He closes his eyes and breathes in the smell of the fires burning around him. An onset of drowsiness overtakes him and he decides to make himself comfortable just as Pidge said. He lies on the cushions laid on the floor near the fireplace and watches the fire flicker inside what he presumes is the heater Pidge is so proud of. The burning embers scare him and there’s no doubt that they would hurt if he were to touch them…but when they’re contained he can’t deny how comfortable it is. His eyes shutter closed and he relishes in the noises around him like the flicker of the fire and the soft sound of the heater working its magic with ever-so-slight chatter in the background coming from the city beneath them.

Pidge knocks on the bathhouse’s door. “What are you scheming?” Keith asks with an accusing tone and a toothbrush in his mouth. He tears the door open to reveal himself - thankfully with his pants on - and the steam swirls majestically around the room at the newly introduced disturbance.

“So quick to judge, I just want Lance to get along with you and - come to think of it, he would go crazy for the Fire Nation’s bath culture, no one can resist,” Pidge says to herself while rubbing her hands together.

“And why me specifically? You know how I am.”

“Why not? You guys are the same age and you’re probably the only one who knows the ins and outs of the city whilst not being a total asshole.”

“...”

“...and I want you guys to get along because your bending styles have strange synergies. Him and the earthbenders are pretty straightforward I imagine, but you and him? There are so many experiments to run with fire and water. Do you even know how the sharpest steel is formed?? Anyways, do not mess this up for me, he is the only waterbender in like a 20 kilometre radius.” Pidge unwillingly relinquishes the thoughts brewing in her head while Keith sighs through his nose. “I’ll get you a good deal with the fireflakes vendor.”

“Fine, deal.” Keith nods his head slightly and Pidge bows back.

“Alright I’m gonna tell Lance about the bath, he’s gonna love it!” Pidge waves to Keith before heading back to their temporarily shared room. “Lance! If you like the heater you’re gonna absolutely go crazy for this other thing-” Pidge prances happily but stops when she sees Lance breathing lightly with his eyes closed and laying comfortably on the ground. His head leans ever so slightly towards the heater and his body seems fully relaxed. Pidge’s eyes soften and she cautiously approaches closer. She observes Lance’s breathing and the state of tension in his muscles, concluding that Lance was indeed gone from the world and into the dreamscape. She gives a cautionary poke to his cheek which he doesn’t respond to, not even a grumble.

“Leave him alone,” Keith says quietly from behind her and she looks up at him with a glisten in her eyes.

“He loves the heater,” she says quietly with pride. “He loves the heat from your fire,” Pidge wiggles her eyebrows at Keith to tease him and she knows it works because Keith hides his face under the guise of drying his hair with the towel.

“Yeah well, he’s not going to love it when he overheats from being that close.” Keith points out.

“Shit, you’re right. He probably doesn’t realise how hot it can get once it’s been going for a while. Give me a hand would ya?” Pidge beckons Keith to help her as she grips the cushion below Lance’s head and tugs to move him away.

“Where are you even going to put him? He’s not sleeping on the floor, is he? That’s kind of cruel.” Keith mentions.

“Sleeping on a hard floor is good for your back.” Pidge points out.

“Ohmygod, you owe me and you better have another bed ready for tomorrow night,” Keith points accusingly at Pidge who nods quickly. Keith comes to Pidge’s aid and hoists Lance up with an arm holding his shoulders and another beneath his legs.

“Princess treatment,” Pidge teases and moves aside the blankets on Keith’s bed to allow him to put Lance down on the soft mattress. Then Pidge tucks Lance in with a pat and bounces away to help Keith gather cushions for him to lay comfortably on the floor for the night. “Extra fire flakes for you sir, and I’m sure Lance will be very grateful for your effort.” Pidge smiles up at Keith which he can’t stay mad at once he sees, so he instead sighs and gestures to Pidge to leave.

“Good night Pidge.”

“G’night Keith.” Pidge tiptoes away whilst Keith grabs a book and sits himself down on the cushions. She closes the door quietly and Keith can hear her footsteps fade away, off to her place. Keith reads a while and when he feels the day’s exhaustion creep into his mind he flicks his hand around in the air and the small fires clinging onto each candle drag themselves away, snuffing out the room’s light and leaving only the faint glow of the heater’s internal fire. Keith tucks himself on his side into the cushions, pulling a spare blanket over himself and watching the fire flicker for a bit before he drifts off.

Lance wakes with the sunrise, blinking his eyes blearily and briefly forgetting where he is. He stands up and walks around, planning on getting some water to drink but winds up tripping on something big at his feet. He falls onto the body and groans, pushing away at the being beneath the blankets annoyed.

“Thanks a lot, Rachel,” He mumbles and flicks the blanket open to force the perpetrator awake.

“Fuck,” the person beneath breathes out lowly as they rub their face and take loud breaths to wake themselves up at the commotion. Lance’s eyes widen and he slowly covers the dark-haired man with the blanket before standing up slowly. Keith’s hand shoots out to grab at his ankle.

“I’m sorry Keith!” Lance whispers loudly.

“What the fuck happened?” Keith asks annoyed with half-lidded eyes.

“I may or may not have tripped on you and maybe crashed onto you?” Lance whispers.

“Watch where you’re walking stupid,” Keith mumbles and relinquishes his grip to turn to his other side before promptly going very still and quiet.

“Creepy,” Lance shudders and continues his mission to get a drink of water but now with a renewed understanding of where he is and why.

Once he had a good chug from a cup of water, he wanders around to find the bathroom and takes it upon himself to observe the layout of the hallway. The view of the city catches his eye as he passes the windows and it takes his breath away. The beautiful city is packed with buildings and houses and cobbled streets. The sun rises and shines illuminating the multicoloured greens and reds of each house’s outside decor. The harbour in the distance swishes familiarly yet at the same time so foreign. A cool breeze passes through and Lance shivers, gripping his arms and noticing that he has no coat which is so unlike him. He resumes his mission of finding the bathroom and returns quickly to the warmth of Keith’s room. Finding himself to be quite restless he opts to sit in front of the heater and meditate. After a while of that and with the sun rising higher he opens the shutters slightly to poke his head out, observing the gradual hustle and bustle of the city below as various sounds and smells drift in the wind. He spies a woman in green below struggling to carry a bucket of water down the street and he pokes his arm out to free his hand from behind the shutters. He drag his hand upwards gracefully which causes the woman to startle as the water is suddenly lifted from her bucket. She panics slightly until she notices that the water doesn’t continue to lift and instead hovers slightly over her bucket. She notices Lance and squints her eyes up at him to see him better. Lance smiles and waves with the water protruding to wave at her cutely. She giggles and waves back at him with a bright smile before a man in Fire Nation clothing gets her attention and approaches her to give her a kiss. Lance cringes but the woman directs her partner’s attention to Lance and then waves happily at him, forcing him to return a well-mannered wave back though the water doesn’t wave with him. The woman holds up the bucket and points to the man, signalling to Lance that he can let go of the water which he does albeit slightly aggressively so that it splashes a bit on the man. He doesn’t get upset, however, and instead, he and the woman laugh with each other at the mishap and the two wave at Lance good-naturedly as they walk off to their destination. Lance rests his head in his hand on the windowsill and watches the two as they disappear into the city. Strange emotions swirl within him and he feels like he’s caught in a rip current only able to follow where the water takes him. The shutters open wider and Lance is shaken out of his thoughts by Keith standing next to him with a drowsy look on his face.

Chapter Text

“Good morning,” Lance greets dismissively.

Keith doesn’t pick up on the rude tone and yawns blissfully unaware. “What are you watching?” He asks.

“Mmm, just people-watching,” Lance answers. Keith sighs and stretches his neck out with a groan prompting Lance to eye him and the pile of cushions on the floor. He mentally bashes himself at his rudeness once he comes to a realisation. “Did you give me your bed?” He asks with a sigh.

“Yeah, Pidge didn’t exactly prepare us for having you around.”

Lance turns back to the window, “…Thanks, it was comfortable.”

“I know-.”

“The heat was also comfortable,” Lance says quickly to get it out of his system and Keith chuckles.

“Yeah you were out very quickly, Pidge was very happy with the review.”

Lance blushes, “Your fire was comfortable too I guess,” he clarifies and pointedly doesn’t look in Keith’s direction.

“Oh, I uh- thanks.” Keith responds before shuffling around the room presumably getting changed.

“I’m not scared of you by the way.”

Keith pauses in his movement and blinks to himself, “I didn’t think you were?”

“I’m not scared of your bending I mean.” Lance doesn’t hear anything from Keith and panics for a moment. “Um…what kind of fish do you like?”

“Lance, don’t feel like you’re forced to talk to me.” Keith sighs out.

“Maybe I’m not forced to talk to you and maybe I just want to get to know you.”

“Fine, I like lobster.”

“I asked for fish but okay nice nice I can respect a good lobster,” Lance nods to himself but has yet to turn away from watching the city. A long moment of silence filled by Keith’s shuffles around the room passes. “Can I just say some things?” Lance asks.

“You already are,” Keith responds, “but yeah go on, I don’t care.”

“...Yeah um…I’m not scared of you but when the Fire Nation invaded my home I was less than a decade old…I remember the fire raining from the skies and my Mama’s burnt arms that made it painful for her to bend with. My papa and brothers were meant to be on the fortified wall but when it collapsed we knew we had to accept their deaths. Then we all lost our bending. We were doomed. Our home was invaded, our bending was stolen, our people were suffering, and the Fire Nation soldiers were getting further and further into the city.”

Keith listens carefully, not wanting to be insensitive. He crosses his arms and leans against the wall inside, almost trying to hide in the room’s shadow. Lance finally turns to him and Keith is taken aback by the look in his sunlit blue eyes as if he wasn’t looking at Keith but past him.

“The ocean protected us that day and someone dear to all of us returned our bending,” Lance looks up at the sky before continuing. “We nearly lost Avatar Aang and our entire home to the fire…but I sometimes forget that the fire cooks our fish and keeps us warm during the harsh winter nights. That we light a torch to see in the dark.” Lance turns to Keith again and this time Keith feels Lance’s eyes on him and only him. “I spent my whole life since then learning how to bend better than any fire bender but there is so much to bending than its violence. I think I’m beginning to learn what else firebending can do…I’m trying to learn at least.” Lance sighs. “Yeah, that’s it I guess. That’s me.”

A beat of silence as Keith thinks for a moment.

“I uh- I didn’t know those things. My mother didn’t have the most comprehensive education…and I grew up in this city…Uh sorry I don’t know what to say.” Keith admits.

“That’s okay, I don’t know what I want you to say anyways.” Lance smooshes his cheek into his hand resting on the windowsill.

“...Thank you for telling me though,” Keith adds awkwardly and Lance turns to him with bewilderment.

“Well aren’t you very well-mannered?” Lance teases after he overcomes his surprise.

“Ugh shut up,” Keith says feeling the heat rise to his face. He quickly busies himself with extinguishing the heater’s fire. Lance chuckles and the two of them head out of their room into the main living room where Adam is lazily drinking something with a newspaper in his hand.

“How’re you going Lance?” Adam asks casually.

“Pretty good! I was out like a light,” Lance chuckles.

“That’s good,” Adam turns to Keith with a serious look in his eyes and Keith furrows his brow before turning to Lance.

“Wanna try the hot bath?” Keith suggests.

“A hot bath?!” Lance perks up with curiosity.

Keith smirks and gestures for Lance to follow him out into the hallway where he introduces Lance to the bathhouse.

“Woah! That’s a big bucket,” Lance admires.

“Not a bucket, a bath. This is from my mother’s culture…Fire Nation culture.” Keith corrects carefully as he removes the lid from the top of the tub, eyeing Lance in his peripherals. When he sees that Lance still has his interest peaked he moves on. “This water should be very warm and you go in to relax your body after washing up. If the water is too cold we heat the bath up with fire so that it’s nice and steamy. It’s supposed to be very hot.” Keith runs his hand through the warm water.

“You go in already clean?”

“Yeah, the point is to relax you. My mother used to say that it would heal your bones and mind,” Keith smiles to himself sadly, “so ideally you don’t use it for cleaning since we try to share the water.”

Lance joins Keith in dipping his hand in the water and shivers at the warmth that seems to thaw his arm.

“Wanna get in?” Keith asks.

“Yes please, I haven’t washed since two days ago,” Lance crunches his nose in disgust. “Perfect one-two combo.”

Keith squats down and his hands alight with fire that he holds up to the base of the oversized pot. The water heats up around Lance’s hand and he recoils with a slight hiss.

“Sorry! Was it too hot?” Keith stands up quickly and grabs Lance’s hand to examine the damage.

Lance gives a reassuring smile back, “I think it’s fine, just got me by surprise.” Lance chuckles at himself then curls his pink-tinted fingers in awkwardly.

“Sorry, it’s meant to be hot but you should have a comfortable temperature.” Keith dips his fingers into the bath and swirls it around. “You can wait for it to cool down while you wash up,” Keith suggests as he pulls out various washing equipment for Lance.

“Gotcha, I’ll be fine. Never been hurt by water before.” Lance chuckles to himself. Keith hands him a bucket and spare towel with his eyes seemingly tracking Lance’s fingers. “Oh come on Keith, it wasn’t that hot.” Lance rolls his eyes and hides his hand by turning his body sideways.

“If you insist, and don’t stay for too long you might shrivel up.” Keith ends with a curt wave and Lance bids him farewell with a dramatic flare before the door closes.

Chapter Text

Keith sits down across from Adam and leans his elbows down onto his knees. “Description.” He demands and Adam sighs.

“So rude, I don’t think they’re after you anyways…”

“Description, Adam.” Keith insists in a more demanding tone.

“Hooded woman, thin build, long red cloak, that’s it.” Adam shakes out his newspaper in front of him to signal to Keith that he’s no longer interested in the conversation anymore. Keith gets up and starts pacing the room. He grips his biceps in thought and his brows furrow deeply.

“Please just eat your breakfast like a normal person,” Adam says. Keith relents and dishes himself a porridge portion. “Don’t forget Lance,” Adam adds and Keith grabs another bowl to fill up.

“Do you even know if he’s going to like this food?” Keith asks back.

“How dare you- even if he doesn’t he’s learning about culture isn’t he?”

“Fair.”

“Keeiiith!” They hear a long drawn out call of defeat coming from the bathroom.

“What’s he done to himself?” Keith mumbles before immediately heading to answer the call. “Are you dressed?” Keith asks from outside the door.

“I only have the towel.”

“That’s fine,” Keith then opens the door to see Lance leaning precariously from the window with a pout. The towel is wrapped tight around his waist allowing Keith full-view of his lean muscles. Keith shakes himself out of his admiration, “What’s wrong?”

In response, Lance lifts his arms out of the window to bring back a long rope of water and just points out towards the ground, directing Keith’s attention there. Keith pokes his head out and sees that Lance’s clothes have fallen to the ground sadly. Keith levels Lance a look of confusion and judgement.

“In my defense, I didn’t know the wind was that strong.” Lance huffs.

Keith sighs, “can’t we just dump a bunch of water on the ground and you lift the clothing up?”

“I basically did that already, they were soaking when they fell cus I was washing them. Now they’re not”
Lance says bouncing off the final T and gesturing to his very dry clothes on the ground.
Keith nods and tucks his chin between his fingers. Unbeknownst to him, the anxiety from previously has yet to resurface.

“Can you just go outside and pick it up for me please?” Lance pleads with his hands clasped. Keith sighs again but nods.

“I’ll be back.”

“Thank you!” Lance mock worships Keith in gratitude.

When Keith passes Adam, Adam voices his concern at Keith leaving their abode. “Don’t cause too much trouble.”

“I won’t- I’m not going to! I’m just picking up Lance’s clothes. The dumby dropped it out the window.”

“Oh, how nice of you Keith!”

Keith counters with a middle finger and an annoyed expression at Adam’s switch-up. Circling around the base of the clock tower he finds Lance’s clothes and looks up with a squint. Lance is leaning against the window frame, enjoying the breeze, and cutely waves to Keith with a grateful smile. Wait, no- not cute. That was weird Keith, he’s just mildly happy with you, and maybe a little bit attractive but that’s it. Keith grabs the clothes and calls out to Lance with a hand cupping his mouth to boost the volume.

“Can you catch it?” Keith asks.

“Yeah gimme a sec!” Lance responds and briefly dips into the room before emerging with a long coil of water. “Alright, send my babies up!” Lance grins, arms out and ready for action. Keith throws the clothes into the air and Lance cries out, “NO! One at a time, it’s too heavy!”

“Huh?!” The clothes fall back down onto the ground miserably. Keith tries again, throwing up a shirt first which Lance wraps the water coil around and whips back into his arms quickly. The movement is fascinating to watch for Keith who’s never seen anything so rapidly move like a slimy hand. “Nice.” Keith breathes out and throws up the other items. A small item falls out of the pants and lands in Keith’s hands.

“AHH Keith, please!” Lance cries out embarrassed. It dawns on Keith that what he’s holding is Lance’s underwear and he blushes.

“Uh, I won’t throw it,” Keith reassures before scrunching it up in his hand and pushing his hands into his pockets to avoid suspicion as he heads back into the house. He wraps on the bathroom door gently and it opens to Lance blushing with a hand held out. Lance has his top on but the towel is still wrapped around his waist. Keith catches himself looking down and averts his eyes whilst returning the garment to Lance’s possession.

“Thank you!” Lance says quickly and shuts the door. Keith breathes out slowly with his eyes closed, trying to quell the rising heat. He opens his eyes with determination, focus renewed, and moves to leave the home again. Adam eyes him suspiciously but doesn’t try to question him more. Keith shoves his hands in his pockets and tries to blend in with the bustling crowd as he covertly watches his surroundings.

Lance leaves the bathroom feeling refreshed and renewed. His muscles lack their soreness and there’s a comfortable energy thrumming deep in his body. He enters the main room looking around but not finding Keith.

“For you,” Adam gestures to the bowl Keith prepared on the table. Lance takes it with gratitude and eats by the window to continue watching the city. He spies a hooded figure moving suspiciously against the crowd.

“Do people usually wear hoods here?” He asks Adam.

Adam groans, “No…usually it means something’s up.”

Lance nods and turns his attention back, carefully watching the cloaked figure’s movement and direction. As he’s watching he also spies a familiar black head, this one looking for something amidst the crowd, “Keith?”

“That brat!” Adam huffs out and puts his newspaper down annoyed which startles Lance. “Keith is after that cloaked figure.”

“Sounds like an adventure! Sneaking around in the shadows ninja-like,” Lance makes a crawling motion with his fingers.

“Not you too,” Adam mourns. “That’s probably all Keith’s going to do until he’s happy.”

“Don’t worry Adam, I’ll get whatever it is done fast.” Lance stands up with his hands on his hips and a gloating smile on his face.

“Yeah yeah, have fun. Just be careful and try not to cause trouble.”

Lance gulps down the rest of his food and refills his water pouch before heading out with a wave to Adam who waves tiredly back. He swishes out the water from his pouch and jumps up boldly before creating a smooth ice slide that catches him on the top of the stairs. He makes a mock salute motion to Adam who chuckles before Lance is rapidly sliding down the stairs. He soon reaches the base and jogs slightly to gradually reduce his momentum as the water fluidly slides up into the air and then into his pouch. He briefly scans his surroundings before heading off with a quick pace to the last place he saw the cloaked figure.

As Keith loiters by the entrance to an alleyway by a busy intersection he spies in the background the top of a red hood. He inconspicuously shifts his weight off the wall and marches to follow the figure before they have the chance to lose him. The figure slinks around the edges of the crowd before departing into an alleyway that Keith casually follows behind. He chances a glance into the alley and sees that it’s mostly empty so he opts to wait just around the corner until the person moves.

“No no no no, *I’m* tailing this mysterious person.”

Keith turns slowly to the voice that seems to be directed at him.

“Lance? What are you doing here?” Keith asks, baffled.

“Well someone abandoned me after my bath and I found this suspicious person rightfully by myself so I’m allowed to interrogate them.” Lance scrambles out defensively with his arms crossed and a sassy pout.

“What? That’s stupid, just let me-”

“I know you’re following me.” The hooded figure says with a pristine and intelligent voice. Lance grabs Keith back with a hand around his mouth, holding Keith’s head hostage as the two of them look at each other with wide eyes. Keith regains his bearings and struggles against Lance’s grasp.

“What are you doing?!” Keith whisper-yells into Lance’s hand.

“I don’t know! Maybe she’s just saying that in every alleyway she goes into?” Lance suggests.

“Ugh,” Keith throws Lance’s hand off and steps out from behind the corner. “Who are you?” He demands from the hooded figure. The woman turns revealing two blue marks beneath her eyes and a glare masking her glistening blue eyes. Keith blinks, slightly taken aback, and looks to Lance to confirm that the recognition he felt from looking into her eyes. The woman seems to falter at seeing Lance but keeps her expression strict as she turns and leans into a battle position all too familiar to Keith. Keith immediately raises his arms and lowers his stance, the tension rising between the two.

“Woah woah woah, hold on okay? Both of you, we don’t want any trouble,” Lance waves his hands up to convey to her his friendliness but she ignores him.

“You from the Fire Nation?” She asks with a low voice.

“What if I am?” Keith spits out.

“Hellooooo? I am literally right here? Can we take a chill pill for just a second and talk a bit.”

The woman sighs and stands back up which Keith follows.

“Where is Zarkon?” The woman asks.

“No clue who you’re talking about. Tell us who you are and what your intentions are.”

“...Please?” Lance adds on hopefully.

“If you don’t have the information I need, I don’t believe it’s necessary for you to know who I am.” The woman turns to leave but Keith feels the irritation creep up and punches out to send a fireball to skim her. She reacts quickly, leaning aside and throwing her arm up in a cutting motion as a puddle of water rockets out of its resting place and sharply skims Keith’s side. Keith’s expression hardens in understanding but before he can act again, Lance is roughly pulling Keith back by his shoulder.

“You’re a waterbender,” Lance breathes out in awe.

“Move.” She demands Lance, who unwittingly blocked Keith.

“What? We just want to know who you are because you’re very, very, VERY suspicious.” Lance argues back.

The woman turns away from him and lowers her head to hide her expression beneath her hood.

“Where are you from?” The woman asks.

“...the North.”

“...South.” She answers and turns away. Lance frowns dejected and looks back at Keith to see his expression. “I’m Allura,” the woman says grabbing Lance’s attention.

“Lance.” He nods in gratitude.

Chapter Text

Keith watches the two interact with furrowed brows. “You with the Dai Li?”

Allura returns a baffled look and answers a curt, “No?” Keith narrows his eyes in mistrust but finds that her response and body language elicit a sense of relief in him. “You really don’t know who Zarkon is?” She confirms with them, more so in disbelief. Lance nods furiously whilst Keith crosses his arms and glances away with a bored expression.

“Who would know then?” She pushes and Lance’s mouth opens and closes as he twiddles his fingers. At a loss, he looks to Keith.

Keith avoids making too much eye-contact with the man and says to him, “Well I have an idea who might know…”

“Keith might know!” Lance offers up happily and Allura looks pleased at the response. Her face drops when behind the two, thundering footsteps and murmurs engulf the street as people flock in groups heading the same direction. Keith turns around and watches with a confused but calculating look as he tries to make sense of the sudden commotion. “Keith?” Lance whispers with a soft lilt.

“Stay here,” he orders and heads out of the alleyway to join the groups of people.

Lance looks to Allura with a pout but the woman doesn’t share the naive confusion he does nor does she seem confused by the commotion. Instead, she bites her lips and looks at the crowd with eyes seeing something else entirely. “A-Allura?” Lance questions but the woman doesn’t seem to hear him. He flicks his attention back to the crowd which Keith had disappeared in and decides that - with whatever’s going on, he should not leave someone like Keith alone. “Um- Stay here okay? Keith and I will figure things out!” He offers up with uncertainty, shooting a two-fingered salute Allura’s way and then slinking into the street to join the flow of people. Being a fairly tall man himself, he scans the various groups of people from above and tries to find the familiar horrendous, black mullet. Still no sign of him, the crowd brings him towards the harbour to join the large forming crowd at the docks. Finally, Lance spies Keith who is pushing the crowd aside aggressively as he makes his way through to the front. “KEITH!” Lance calls out concerned and he immediately chases after him. “Excuse me!” He says as grabs people’s shoulders to tilt them aside. A person rams into him, throwing themself around his waist and before he can spew insults at the person his eyes widen in delight. “Pidge!”

But Pidge does not share the same delight and instead looks up at him with a desperate and pleading expression. “They have Matt!”

“What?”

“My brother! And they have Shiro too!”

“Shiro?! Who has them?! What’s going on?”

“The fire nation! I don’t know why but they’ve captured the ship my brother and Shiro were heading back on and are holding it hostage! Keith’s gone after them and I couldn’t stop him! Oh my spirits, you have to stop him - holy shit he’s going to get killed!” She wails as realisation dawns on her.

“Oh fuck oh fuck,” Lance mumbles out to himself as he pats Pidge’s head soothingly and hurriedly resumes his chase after Keith with even more rigour. He yells out apologies as he violently pushes through the crowd and ignores their complaints towards him. Closer and closer he’s reaching the dispersed crowd where Keith has carved out a path and calls out again, “Keith!” He cries out at the back of the man’s head but Keith refuses to turn around and keeps pushing through. Lance pulls up his hand and whips it out in front of him with a water whip forming and wrapping itself tightly around Keith’s shoulders.

“What?!” Keith cries out aggressively as he turns his glare to Lance.

“Think for a goddamn second!” Lance yells out, ignoring the looks of the bystanders surrounding them. Keith grumbles and yanks his body against the whip which jolts Lance forward but Lance finally pushes through the final few people to wrap his arms around Keith’s shoulders and physically pull the man back. In front of them, in clear view, Lance can now see the soldiers dressed in gaudy attire hovering over a few people kneeling with their limbs tied up. “Shiro…” The beaten down man kneels amongst them with bruises littering his face and arms - well, singular arm now. His limbs are weighed down by what look like heavy metal balls. Lance can feel the rage radiating off Keith’s body and he squeezes the man tighter to stop him from freaking out. Lance immediately takes stock of the number of soldiers and where they stand. Five pushing back the crowd, a dozen slinking around the sides to position elsewhere, one general hovering over the hostages, and an unknown amount still on the ship. His eyes spies a suspicious figure in cloacked in dark green with a wide-brim hat obscuring their vision. The person is barely visible and only stands within Lance’s view for a moment before they slink back into the ship away from sight.

“Republic city,” the general begins. Murmurs settle through the crowd at the dark and commanding voice of the man but are quieted down quickly by the threats of the other soldiers. “I ask one thing of you, yet I can take so much more. It is smart of you to follow through,” he pulls off his helmet revealing an eyepatch with a long scar streaking out from beneath it, reflecting the man’s rough nature. “We have captured a ship full of your city’s residents and what we do with them is up to you. No doubt amongst them are your friends and family. What we want? Just a waterbender who doesn’t belong here,” he says with a snarl. Choked sobs can be heard amongst the crowd and angered looks can be seen around. Keith and Lance look to each other, instantly understanding that the soldiers are looking for Allura.

“We can’t,” Lance says with a pleading look to Keith.

“She brought them here!” Keith whisper-yells.

“She did not!”

“They’re looking for her!”

“All the more reason to not comply!” Lance hisses out. The people near the two start eyeing them oddly, and one of them looks Lance up and down carefully.

“I’m sure this won’t be a difficult task, after all your city is made up of so many capable people,” the soldier continues with insincerity.

“Fuck you!” A member of the crowd yells out and a boulder goes flying towards the leader. The crowd turns to see who had thrown it and Lance recognises it as the earthbender who had tried to mug him just yesterday! As the boulder flies through the air, two firebenders step up from behind the woman to wrap the boulder in a spectacularly terrifying blaze of flames. The foot soldiers draw away the flames and the leader raises a bulky arm that smashes against the rock, destroying it into harmless smaller pieces. The tozu triad is then pulled out from the crowd by the soldiers who pull out heavy metal rods to beat them in front of everyone before they can try to resist. The sounds of their wails and of the metal hitting against their bodies sends the crowd into stunned silence as most people retreat a few steps away.

“As you can see, resistance is futile and cooperation is simple.” The leader says indifferently. Suddenly, Lance’s arm is grabbed and lifted into the air.

“This one! This is the waterbender!”

Lance looks dumbly at the citizen and realisation dawns on him as his head whips to the soldier who is approaching him with haste. Keith can see the fear painted on Lance’s expression and remembers the story Lance had told him earlier about his childhood trauma but a terrible thought overcomes him that maybe they will free Shiro in exchange for Lance and he finds himself at a crossroads. For maybe the second time in his entire life, Keith didn’t know what to do.

As the soldier pulls a stumbling Lance from the crowd they turn to their leader expectantly.

“Hmm, what an interesting surprise.” The leader says approaching closer and Shiro’s eyes widen in recognition. The leader grabs Lance’s face with his unusually bulky arm and at the contact, Lance can feel that there’s something mechanical about it with a worse feeling than Shiro’s arm - but that’s all Lance can register in his fear-numbed brain. “No marks?…Also clearly a man. Clearly from the water tribe,” he says eyeing Lance’s clothing. “We’ll take him for other purposes,” the leader says with a nod towards the soldier.

“Wait…please,” Lance croaks out as he’s roughly tugged along by the soldier. When the general turns around, Keith lunges out and tackles the soldier pushing Lance along. He pulls out a purple knife and points it to the soldier’s throat as he retreats away.

“Lance come this way!” He orders and Lance complies as he backs himself into Keith’s safety.

The general levels Keith with a cold gaze which is almost indifferent. “Are you stupid?” He asks Keith and Keith glares harder as he holds the knife closer to the woman’s throat. The general stares at the knife for a moment before a wicked smile crosses his features. “A rebel brat…” He says far too delighted for Keith’s liking, then he makes a motion with his fingers which causes some soldiers from the ship to file out and approach Keith and Lance. “We’ll take both,” the man says as he points to Keith and Lance.

“Sendak!” Shiro yells with a guttural cry as he picks his heavy body up to stomp on the ground before collapsing again. A spectacular wave erupts in the ground, rippling violently towards the soldiers as they are forced to dodge or be knocked aside. A couple of soldiers jump onto Shiro to hold the man down but he raises his head anyways to yell out to Keith, “RUN!” Keith’s heart drops as his vision is obscured by a cloaked figure dashing out from the crowd to push him away. Shiro mouths to the figure, “I love you,” before the soldiers are dragging him into the captured ship.

“Let me go!” Keith yells out as he sends an anger fueled burst of flames towards the soldiers who easily parry it with their own bending. “Adam!” He yells out insistently and Adam ignores him as he grabs onto Lance’s bicep and pulls him with them. Lance shakes himself out of his fear and pulls out a stream of water from the harbour before solidifying it to form a makeshift ice wall as they escape. “SHIRO!” Keith screams with his voice breaking as his last sight is of the man being pulled onto the ship.

Adam aggressively pushes Keith’s head down. “What can you do huh?! Just do what he says and run!” Keith grits his teeth and pinches his eyes as he obeys unwillingly and sprints away with the others.

“Sire, what shall we do?” A soldier asks Sendak and he thinks for a moment before answering indifferently.

“He has been an utter pain this whole capture…but…it seems he has quite a bit of worth.”

Chapter Text

After the trio run all the way to the woods located on the outskirts of the city, they finally stop to catch their breath. Adam slumps against a tree with an arm holding himself up as a million thoughts cross his mind. Keith pulls back his hair and stalks to the man.

“Keith?...” Lance blurts out which serves as the only warning Adam has before he is pushed to the ground by the fire bender. “Keith?!”

“What’s your problem?!” Keith yells at the man who tiredly knocks his head against the ground.

“Shut up you brat,” Adam responds with a groan and with his arm covering his eyes.

“Shiro was RIGHT THERE! You ran from him! If we worked together we could’ve retrieved him!”

“You idiot. They have hundreds of citizens on that ship. We pull Shiro out successfully then terrific! We’d be on the run with an injured man for AGES and risk literally everyone else there including the ones who aren’t even hostages yet!”

Keith grinds his teeth. “But who knows what’s going to happen to him! Because we left him!”

“Because YOU had to jump out and play the hero! If you could’ve just waited patiently by the side, we would’ve come up with something better than this and maybe we wouldn’t be on the run right now!”

Lance hangs his head is dismay, coming to the realisation that it was because of him that the last few events happened. Keith glances at the man for a second before turning his anger back to Adam.

“Well sorry some of us aren’t cowards,” he hisses.

“Some of us are brats who can’t think straight! For god’s sake they have Matt too! Are you going to just forget about that?”

Keith angrily slumps onto the ground against the tree and buries his face in his arms with a huff. “Why are they even after her? What’s so special about her that they break their peace vows?”

“Who are you even talking about?” Adam sighs out.

“He’s talking about me,” a woman’s voice says.

“Allura!” Lance cries out and scrambles to greet the woman.

“What’s your fucking deal?” Keith asks with boiling rage.

“I’ll explain everything - who’s this?”

“Adam, he’s a friend,” Lance answers and Allura nods.

“You’re right. They’re after me. There’s nothing special about me to break the nation’s peace vows because these people are working separately from the new Firelord’s regime. They’re imperialist outcasts on a mission to spread the previous Firelord’s agenda once again.”

“So why should we not turn you in?”

“...”

“Lance, get away from her.”

“No.”

“Lance,” Keith warns as he stands up and Lance steps in front of Allura to block Keith. “You heard her, there’s no reason to not turn her in.” Lance pulls out the contents of his leather pouch and swirls the stream around him with outstretched fingers pointed towards Keith. Keith lowers his stance and holds up his fists. “Why shouldn’t we turn her in?!”

Lance gnaws on his lip for a moment before answering, “because she’s a good person!”

Keith blinks at him. “And how would you know that?!”

“Because…because I feel it! She’s not unnecessarily cruel, she’s cooperative, and clearly intelligent, and beautiful, and she’s from the water nation! How can she be bad?!” Keith levels Lance with a complicated expression that speaks of disbelief, guilt, and awkwardness.

Adam sighs, “So why are they after you?” He asks tiredly.

“It’s a long story…” She answers with an expectant glance towards Keith who lowers his arms and flops back onto the ground exhausted. Lance glares at the man before holding out a hand to Allura to guide her to sit down with them. Keith rolls his eyes at the contact. “As most of you know, all the waterbenders were stolen from the Southern tribe leaving only Katara. My father was one of those people.”

Lance chokes back his guilt. “I’m sorry Allura, if only my tribe helped sooner…”

“There’s nothing that the North could’ve done,” she says with a strain in her voice. “The general that you had all met is called Sendak,” she continues. “I honestly don’t know much about him but just that he holds a man called Zarkon up to high standards and is called his loyal dog. Sendak’s infamous in the fire nation for being merciless and efficient and I suppose you can see why…My mother was the warden of the facilities my father and his people were sent to. I’m not sure how but somehow my father managed to woo her resulting in their escape together but that triggered Zarkon’s tyranny. Once a disgraced military commander, he had become my mother’s assistant and hated her because of the power she held over him. When they escaped, he had to take full responsibility but quickly became the tyrannical overseer of the prison. A twisted mind that fellow has…As part of his tyranny he sought to hunt down my parents to serve as an example to the other waterbenders and the other soldiers of what would happen if they attempted to disobey him. But he failed over and over again until the turn of the Fire Nation’s royalty. We let down our guards. We thought that with Firelord Zuko leading us we were now able to live in peace. But we were wrong, the deep hatred and twisted nature of the fire nation runs deep and can’t be snuffed out in a mere few months. Zarkon found us and my parents were slaughtered whilst I escaped.”

“And he’s still after you? Even after all the new laws in place?”

Allura nods. “He’s a twisted man, obsessive and insecure. My escape is merely another stain to him that needs to be washed away to bring the Fire Nation back to its previous glory.”

Lance lays a gentle hand on her shoulder and draws her scowl towards himself which morphs into a tender look.

“Are all our people free?” He asks.

She nods but with a sad smile, “whilst they are all free, many of them are left physically and mentally damaged from Ozai’s rule. They don’t remember how to live outside the fire nation anymore and they barely remember how to enjoy life. Whilst much of the Fire Nation is moving towards a better future, many of them are like Zarkon and want things to be the way they were. Discrimination is ever pervasive and these people need all the help they can get to even more forward but they have to climb the mountain by themselves. It’s truly…a tragedy.”

Lance pulls Allura in a hug and tries to hold back his tears as she clings to him. Keith turns his head away whilst biting his cheek, feeling the distance between him and Lance grow exponentially. There is a comfort and deep affection that seems to arise between these two waterbenders despite having known each other for less than a day. This is something he can’t hope to replicate or be a part of.

Allura sniffles slightly as she pulls away from Lance. “I am very happy to have met someone from our nation’s lands. It brings me joy that there is hope for our people to move forward.”

Adam eyes Keith and knocks his leg. “Feel bad now that you were going to turn her in?”

Keith grumbles and slouches miserably. “What can we even do now?”

“About that…It is my belief that the reason Sendak is taking such severe measures to find me is because soon there will be a full moon.”

Lance’s eyes furrow in confusion. “When we are the strongest?”

Allura nods and adds, “when I can blood bend.”

The trio look at her stunned. “I-I thought it was impossible…” Lance stutters.

“Why didn’t you say so sooner!” Keith stands up with newfound hope. Lance’s eyes flicker in distrust to create a complex expression on his face that Allura catches. To not offend her he gazes to the ground. “To what extent can you do it? Tell us everything! Then we can get Shiro and Matt out!”

Allura lowers her head in shame after seeing Lance’s reaction but cooperates with Keith. “I’m not the best but it’s becoming easier and easier because of how many times I’ve had to use it. I can influence five people at a time but their movements stay stagnant. I can control one person at a time to make them move the way I want to. It lasts for however long the moon is not outshone by the sun.”

“So nighttime is when we strike then,” Keith nods his head.

The group retreats further into the forest whilst Adam heads back to their home to pick up useful supplies for their infiltration, leaving behind his cloak that the soldiers had seen. As he’s walking back trying to act nonchalant, he notices the gloomy atmosphere that blankets the city that is now distinctly lacking its liveliness. Less citizens can be seen on the streets, instead replaced by the soldiers waltzing around and cackling to themselves.

“Man our people have sure lost their edge,” one of the passing soldiers remarks.

“Tell me about it, do you know how many primitive couples there are? I intercepted at least three by now. Disgusting. What do they even see in those dirt sniffers?”

“That waterbender looked so exotic…” One muses with a giggle. “I’d like that waiting for me at home!”

“Gross, he probably smells really bad.”

“He actually smelt very fresh!” She responds defensively.

“Like fish?” One snickers.

“Too bad another firebender’s got him huh? Willing to slice your throat for him,” another says with a motion cutting his throat.

“He wouldn’t do it. He’s not the victory or death type, he’s too soft. The next time I see him I’m going to pummel him to the ground and then take that pretty thing with me back home.”

“Woah there miss bachelorette, don’t get too ahead of yourself. What home are you talking about?”

“Surely not the one overrun by those cringe hipsters,” the soldier at the end of the group adds on.

“Hm, once we restore the Fire Nation’s glory we’ll take a nice plot of land in each nation and I’ll bring the primitive with me for our vacation trips,” she suggests.

“Haha, that’s the spirit!”

Adam could very well vomit from disgust at listening to their conversation. He coolly returns to the clock tower and is surprised when Pidge is waiting on the couch.

Chapter Text

“Keith?” Lance says with a small voice.

“Hm?” He hums in front of the man as they trudge through the thick forest.

“I know I said Allura’s a good person and all…but blood bending is something else entirely…”

Keith whips his head around and pauses in his tracks and Lance ‘oofs’ as he bumps into Keith. Their faces come level with each other as if forcing Lance to appreciate every minute detail. At that moment, Lance realises that he’s far more distracted by his rapidly beating heart rather than the usual anger that would arise from a firebender invading his personal space. He has only known the man for a total of two days but already the man has been mentally separated from the terrifying soldiers of whom he resembles. Sure Keith is hotheaded, impulsive, and kind of an asshole, but he’s also so obviously loyal, caring, and reliable.

Lance watches as Keith opens his mouth and hears the low rumble begin to exit his throat which bobs slightly. “Whatever your feelings are, we need to get past this hurdle first. The captured residents’ escape is our priority,” Keith says bluntly. Lance’s soft expression drops and he frowns up at Keith.

“But blood bending is a taboo form because it’s based on taking life away. To get to that point, you learn by taking away control from smaller things like plants and animals. It’s an awful thing to be able to do.”

“As long as she only uses it on those soldiers, I’m okay with it,” Keith answers turning around.

Lance flicks his head around suspiciously in order to check if anyone’s around. “I suppose so…” As they continue their trek, they finally come across a quiet flowing river and Lance sits by the edge to dip his bare feet in the slow-running water. He sighs out in comfort. “Long day,” he muses. Keith hums in agreement and grabs a stone to throw across the surface of the water but it sinks right in.

“We can call it here, it’s good that we know where to go in a fight.”

“It’s a damn relief to not have to rely on the same gross street water I’ve been using this whole time,” Lance shakes his water pouch and dips it into the water. Keith spends the next few quiet moments finding pebbles to throw into the water and Lance raises a hand to him. Keith eyes it and pouts before passing Lance a pebble and pointedly ignoring the smirk on the water bender’s face. Without adjusting his relaxed posture, Lance flings the pebble along an open stretch of the river and it majestically bounces thrice before hitting against the surface of a rock jutting out from the river.

Keith flops down next to Lance. “...Whatever,” he mumbles and Lance chuckles with his whole belly. Lance grabs Keith’s hand and twists it upwards to slot in another pebble.

“Here, follow this motion,” Lance gently moves Keith’s hand back and forth, tracing a throwing line for him before letting go. Keith pinches his lips together and seriously copies the motion again before speeding up and releasing the stone towards the river. It bounces twice before sinking in and Lance cheers. Keith can’t help the joy that spreads across his face at such a menial and childish accomplishment but dammit can’t he be proud of himself?

“Thanks for saving me,” Lance interrupts.

“Hm?” Keith turns his face to Lance who is looking out at the river pensively with a sad smile.

“I thought I knew how to fight fire benders but when it actually came to it…being stared down by those soldiers made me…freeze.”

“Mmm,” Keith hums in acknowledgement and lowers his head. On the tip of his tongue there is so much he wants to say, ‘don’t freeze next time’, ‘well now you know how they are up close’, ‘freezing could get you killed’ and more but he doesn’t feel that in this moment those are the right things to say. He can already hear Adam’s ridicule and Shiro chastising him. Shiro…

Lance tilts his head up. “I suppose I’ll always be that frightened kid looking up at the sky helplessly as it rains fire.” Keith can hear the choked-back emotion in his words and cringes at himself. Stupid, heartless man how can you not figure out something to say…anything?!

“The war might be over but can we even learn how to live in peace when all we’ve known is to be scared of each other?” Lance muses. Keith bashfully places his hand on top of Lance’s which catches Lance by surprise.

“Um,” Keith begins whilst not looking at Lance. “My mom and dad loved each other very much and they were on opposing sides of the war. Dad was a rebel from the Earth nation and mom was a soldier of the fire nation. They should have hated each other but they gave each other a chance and realised that neither of them actually hated each other, in fact, they both hated the war that was going on.” Keith ruffles his hair. “What I’m trying to say is that there are probably way more people in the world that want to live with each other in peace than you realise and in every nation and city there are always going to be bad people as well as good people. There are countless fire nation soldiers who don’t agree with the 100-year war and are happy that Firelord Zuko is now in charge so…they’re not all as scary as you think?” Keith looks at Lance with shy eyes and it strikes at Lance’s heartstrings, reminding him of the baby turtle seal their family nurtured.

Lance breathes out deeply and squeezes Keith’s hand with a serious expression. “Who knew you could be so cute?”

“Oh fuck off!” Keith yells embarrassed.

“-and thank you.”

Keith was initially going to snatch his hand out of Lance’s grasp but at seeing how much better Lance seems to be feeling he decides to let Lance squeeze his hand as much as he wants.

“Am I interrupting something?”

The two of them look up at the voice but neither move their hands away.

“Why did you come find us?”

“Adam came back along with a kid,” she answers Keith with narrowed eyes. She flicks her gaze to their joined hands and glares back at Keith who narrows his eyes in response.

“Pidge? We better head back now that we’ve found a water source,” Lance says as his fingers slip from Keith’s and he stands up. The three of them shuffle around, cleaning up the area of traces of themselves, and as they’re heading back to rendevous with Adam, Lance seems to remember something. He pauses and turns around to reach a hand out towards the river before raising it into the air. Allura and Keith watch as Lance pulls out a small stream of water that snakes towards them.

“Here,” he says and grabs one of the pebbles carried over by the water before depositing the water back into the river. “It might not be the one you threw but it’s the memory that counts right?”

Keith grabs the rock that Lance stretches out to him with a dumbfounded expression and Allura forcefully shuts her agape mouth. At Lance’s sincere expression, Keith can’t help but think the man is so immeasurably cute at this moment and has to cough to not choke on his spit.

“Thanks,” he says with a shy voice and pockets the rock.

“Heh,” Lance wraps an arm around Keith’s shoulder and leans on him heavily. “Maybe if you keep practising then one day you’ll be as good as me.”

Keith rolls his eyes and huffs. “If I care that much,” he jokes back as they lead the way back.

Allura’s eyes shine with a mixture of emotions at the sight but the most pervasive one she feels is anger and she clenches her hand into a tight fist before trailing after the men.

“You guys are on a watch list now,” a voice says from afar as the group reach closer to their rendevous point.

“Don’t scare them like that,” Adam sighs.

“Pidge!” Lance runs up to them and envelops them in a hug. Pidge’s chipper demeanour is betrayed by her sunken expression and red-rimmed eyes. Lance ruffles Pidge’s hair and squeezes their head to his chest.

“The whole city is crawling with those bastards,” Adam scoffs as he throws a bag at Keith. “They’ve got a perverted interest in you,” he says as he flicks a finger towards Lance who shivers. “They’re not just after Allura anymore but now the two of you. Change.” He orders with a point towards the bag he threw at Keith.

“Disguises are all the more important now but it’s also important that the disguises help you blend in, which I suppose you already know,” Pidge gestures at Allura’s Fire Nation clothing.

Allura sighs with a nod, “they already know what I look like but at least I don’t stand out from a distance.” Keith goes through the bag’s contents and pulls out a single change of clothes along with a purple mask.

“Adam?..”

“It’s suspicious if I carry around too much and how do I explain myself when if they investigate our houses and see a room missing all its clothing?” He waves his hand at Keith to dismiss him. “It’s for Lance, and the mask is for you since your alter ego might prove some use.”

Keith doesn’t argue back and hands Lance the clothing who takes it with a sigh. “What will happen to my current clothes?” He asks saddly.

“Burn.” Adam answers.

Lance almost hiccups. “My jacket is so warm though, and there’s no other water nation clothing here, how am I supposed to feel connected to my home?”

“It stands out too much.” Adam answers again.

Allura rests a placating hand on Lance’s shoulder and offers some comfort, “when we’re finished here I would love to go to the North Pole or we could go together to the South?”

Lance sighs but places a hand on top of Allura’s and smiles at her. “That sounds nice, I would love to show you our culture.” Keith looks away from the sight awkwardly and shuffles through the bag’s other contents.

“What should we do?” Pidge asks Allura but the question is posed towards the whole group.

Chapter Text

“No, be gentle!” Lance moans out loudly.

“This is going to be hard no matter what,” Keith responds.

“...If you go slowly it will be easier,” Lance says with a tight grip on Keith’s arm.

“Is this okay then?” Keith asks quietly.

Lance stifles his cries resulting in a muffled mess. “This sucks.”

“Ohmygod Lance please stop talking like that!” Pidge yells out. “We’ll get you water-nation clothing again and a nice - even warmer jacket!”

Lance sobs quietly as he clings to Keith who is depositing a steady stream of fire towards Lance’s clothes that is slowly becoming a pile of charred black ash. Meanwhile, Adam folds the paper he had been scribbling on with his brush.

“So that’s it then?” Allura asks in disbelief.

“Yes,” Adam answers curtly.

“...But we’re not guaranteed to succeed and then you’ll forever be on the run.”

“Better on the run having tried something than hiding out in the forest,” Keith answers as he waltzes back to the group with an upset Lance clinging to him. Adam holds up the paper between his two fingers towards Keith who snatches it out but before he can peek at the contents Adam admonishes him.

“Nah ah, that’s for Shiro’s eyes only.”

Keith raises an eyebrow and pockets the paper. “Just tell him yourself.”

Adam looks down in dismay. “Be realistic Keith, I might not see him again so at least if you have the chance my words can be passed along.”

Keith frowns and turns to Pidge. “What about you?”

“Nah, I don’t want to jinx anything and Matt and I aren’t exactly penpals so I don’t even know what I would write.”

“We’ll get them back somehow,” Lance promises and Keith nods in agreement but Pidge and Adam look Lance up and down for a moment, observing his ill-fitting clothing hanging awkwardly off his shoulders and the sash around his waist tied sloppily. Pidge sighs and presses her cheek into her fist whilst Adam directs his annoyance towards Keith instead.

“For spirit’s sake Keith, would you teach the boy how to tie the sash!”

“What’s wrong with it?” Lance asks curiously as Keith motions for him to turn towards him. He obeys and holds his arms up as Keith undoes the fabric forcing the water bender to awkwardly press his lips together to combat his rising body temperature.

“It’s not a big deal, just not what a typical person from the fire nation would look like,” Keith reassures.

“It is a big deal because he needs to lay low,” Adam adds and Keith grumbles. “In case you’ve forgotten, the streets are crawling with those soldiers. Blending in as much as possible could be the difference between life and death.” Silence falls over the group at the harsh words and Adam sighs, “Sorry, I know you’re all young but your youth is not going to keep you safe. This will be a tough moment in our lives.”

Lance frowns and lowers his eyes, missing the tentative look Keith flicks upwards towards him. Lance yelps as Keith tightens the sash suddenly and is about to throw insults Keith’s way until he sees Keith’s serious face. “We’ll get through this,” Keith says and Lance nods back.

“It’s okay to be afraid,” Allura’s gentle voice adds. “When I first was confronted by those soldiers I was trembling in my hands. The shaking wouldn’t go away and I struggled to bend properly,” she says as she approaches Lance and grabs his hand. “To this day I am still afraid but at a certain point, I realised my hands had stopped shaking. Part of being human is adapting and who knows how to do this best if not us from the water tribes?” She gently traces her thumbs against Lance’s hand and smiles at him warmly. He shyly smiles back and squeezes her hand in his own.

Keith turns to Adam and says, “I will make sure Shiro meets you again.”

Adam scoffs but offers Keith a hopeful smile. “I hope so.”

“When is the full moon?” Pidge asks.

“The fourth night,” Allura answers as Lance holds up 4 fingers with a nod.

“If they’ve been after you all this time they’ll expect us to strike then and if we wait for afterwards they should already have their measures in place. It’s annoying but we have to rely on absolutely no blood-bending and treat it as an unreliable trump card.”

“So our plan’s timeline will be tonight and tomorrow with us striking soon after.”

“So soon…” Lance comments.

“It’ll have to be like that, unfortunately,” Adam says. “Is that doable?” He asks Pidge who has her chin held between her fingers.

“Hm…it’s a stretch but Dad and I can make our preparations in a day if we focus on it. It’s doable,” she nods.

“Good, then let’s head back and get started.” Adam and Pidge stand and dust the dirt from their legs.

“Be careful Adam,” Keith warns and the older man smirks at him with a glint from his glasses.

“Who do you think I am kiddo? Get some rest, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Keith slings the bag over his shoulder and the trio make their way further into the forest towards the river they had previously come across. Stopping a little away from the river where the trees are abundant, Keith shakes out the thin blanket scrunched into the bag. Looking to Lance and then Allura, he holds out the blanket to the two.

“You guys share, I can keep myself warm.”

Allura takes the blanket as Lance cries out, “Nonsense we can make a small tent and share the blanket.” He then moves to look for sticks to craft a makeshift roof with. Keith subtly glances at Allura who has a bothered expression on her face and grabs Lance’s hand.

“A tent will make our stay too obvious, you two just share,” he insists.

Lance looks to Keith with hurt and quietly whispers, “why don’t you want to share with us?” Keith doesn’t answer and drags Lance further away.

“It’s not that I don’t want to share! It’s that I don’t think Allura particularly enjoys the company of people like me,” Keith says with a lowered voice.

Lance sputters, “Um! T-that’s not true! How can you say something like that?” He averts his eyes, feeling guilt.

“You didn’t want to room with me last night so what makes you think she would want to share a blanket with me?”

“Keith! I didn’t know you last night…but look at us now! We’re homies! Maybe Allura thinks the same,” Lance turns to start foraging.

Keith sighs, “If you’re going to make a tent don’t assume she’s going to enjoy me being there.” He turns away and walks off in another direction. Lance doesn’t have the guts to turn around and call out after him so he instead pretends to focus on assessing the sturdiness of a stick. Once Keith is gone he lowers his arms by his side and stares out into the forest blankly. So many emotions and thoughts cycle through and even though he can distinguish the thoughts it’s still a jumbled mess likethe flavours in Rachel’s fish stew. On one hand, he’s relieved that Keith is willing to distance himself from him and Allura because he had admittedly picked up on her discomfort towards the man. On another, he feels angry at Allura for causing this rift between them yet he completely understands where she is coming from. He feels sadness from imagining Keith always having to distance himself from them in the future but also fear at the thought that maybe all of this will push Keith to become like all those terrible fire nation soldiers. Lance ruffles his hair and groans out.

“Stop it,” he tells himself and keeps moving.

When Lance has accrued an impressive stack of dried twigs and sticks that require both his arms to wrap around them, he treads back to where he had come from and sees only Allura waiting.

“Lance, I caught some fish from the river and gathered some piles of leaves to rest upon,” she shows him as he throws the sticks down.

“Awesome, Keith can make us a fire and we can grill the fish easy peasy. Where is he by the way?”

Allura’s demeanour becomes more closed off at his question and she averts her eyes when she answers, “I’m not sure.”

“...That’s okay…Help me with the tent please.”

Allura gladly follows Lance’s guidance every now and then but the two work in silence for the most part as they assemble the structure together.

“Um,” Lance begins. “Keith really isn’t a bad dude.”

Allura’s eyebrows furrow but she doesn’t respond.

“I was also sceptical when I arrived but I learnt a lot of things about the world like how some earthbenders can be real assholes haha…” He glances at her but she doesn’t make eye contact with him. “I think it’s a bit sad that Keith is a fire bender because he really doesn’t seem like one.”

“Really?” Allura responds incredulously with a raised eyebrow.

“...I guess he does seem pretty similar to those hotheaded people but what I mean is that - had he been from any other nation then we wouldn’t be so concerned about him right? He spent pretty much all his life in this city and his parents were apparently against the war so to me it seems like he’s a bit of a victim to the circumstances like us. His dad was actually from the earth kingdom.”

Allura snaps a twig in her hand. “His home wasn’t invaded by fire-benders and his people weren’t stolen from their lands,” Allura says through gritted teeth. She continues, “he doesn’t know what an invasion looks like or what it looks like to have your parents murdered with flames.”

Lance chews on his lip.

“He may not have been an imperialist and his father may be from the earth kingdom but his bending roams the world oblivious to the mourning the rest of us go through over our lost homes and communities. He didn’t have to do anything to benefit from the sins of his nation.”

Lance hears a crunch in the distance as Allura continues her rant.

“I’m not saying he is the one who burnt my parents to ashes but he certainly is not one of us,” she says with a serious gaze directed towards Lance. His mouth opens once, and then twice but no words come out. “I’d prefer to not fraternise with the likes of him and I suggest you do the same,” she says with a pointed look.

“I agree with most of what you said Allura but that’s where I draw the line,” he pauses in his work to focus on expressing his thoughts to words. “I can’t just start ignoring him because of those things. He’s my friend now…he saved me back there and…I recently learnt that fire bending is not all bad. He can warm us up in the cold nights and he can light up the dark. Fire can be so useful we’re just not used to it coming from a person. Pidge is from the earth kingdom and her family struggled a lot during the war but she sees just how diverse people can be and her family has been able to take advantage of that fact and employ people like Keith to help them develop technology and engage in trade. I think we need to start thinking that not all fire benders are bad or scary people and we should give Keith a chance to show us how great a friend he can be. He can be our own Firelord Zuko to our little gang,” Lance suggests with a light chuckle. Allura quietly continues her work but doesn’t disagree with Lance so he takes it as a win.

“I found some greens we can eat,” a small voice says from afar.

“Keith!” Lance looks to Allura to see her reaction. She seems a bit shaken at his sudden entrance but withholds any words of surprise. Lance walks towards the man and meets him halfway to see the food in Keith’s hands up close.

“What is this?”

“It’s some spinach, some herbs, and a LOT of mushrooms,” Keith says with emphasis on the ‘lot’. “I know how to cook it don’t worry,” he adds and Lance offers sheepish gratitude towards the man.

“Allura got some fish for us too - if you will kindly grill that pretty please?”

“Of course, it’s my specialty,” he smirks to Lance who giggles back but before Keith continues towards the makeshift camp, Lance clamps a hand onto his shoulder.

“You heard?”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Keith answers and gently shrugs Lance’s hand off as they make their way back but it doesn’t hide the hurt hidden beneath his serious expression.

Chapter Text

Night soon falls after their makeshift abode is completed. Lance had welcomed the tedious distraction but now that it’s over, all he can think about is all the ways their plan can go awry…and it’s always him as the cause.

“I’m gonna cool off,” he announces as he heads towards the riverside. Lance’s departure grabs Keith’s attention away from the fire being nurtured and Keith watches the man leave suspiciously.

At the sight of the water, Lance kicks off his shoes and walks into the shallow end. Then dips his face in and traces the mossy rocks beneath languidly. The day’s events replay in his head. So much happened in so short a time and whilst he supposes he should be grateful for the excitement that he expected from this city, he finds himself stuck in the moment he had been caught by the fire nation soldiers at the docks. He cringes. Had he gotten a hold of himself, he would have shown Sendak a thing or two but somehow he couldn’t pull himself together. Allura had said that her hands shook but he had simply frozen and no matter how much he willed himself to fight back and defend himself, it didn’t happen. His feet wouldn’t move. His arms wouldn’t move. He had become that useless and pathetic child yet again. Who’s to say it won’t happen again? He can’t rely on others to keep saving him and what if he needs to save someone else instead? Can he do it? He is a crucial element in their plan to free the citizens of Republic City but if he freezes up like that again, everyone else is doomed including them. The water is cold. He squeezes his eyes shut and screams until the water takes all his breath.

“HAH!” He flings his head out of the water gasping for breath and puffs heavily with his eyes half-dazedly watching the moon as if it would guide him.

“Are you trying to drown yourself?”

He flicks his head back in shock causing his wet hair to plaster on his cheek. Only a mere metre away is a handsome black-haired man sitting with his feet in the water.

“When did you get here?!”

“A moment ago- saw you acting like an ostrich horse.”

Lance turns his gaze away from the man and stares into the water as droplets from his hair drip into the river below, mixing with the moonlight’s reflection on its surface. As the quiet drags on, Keith suddenly plunges his head into the water and a muffled cry erupts with bubbles outlining his head. When he resurfaces aggressively, his hair drags up a trail of water that is about to flick onto Lance but he holds a hand up and stops it in its tracks. Keith gazes at Lance with wet eyes and the waterbender levels him with a bewildered expression.

“I used to do this when I was younger…to get the frustrations out before I could go to the pit,” Keith explains as he flops onto the bank with his arms stretched out. “When you can’t kick or punch your way through, all that’s left is to tear it out of your soul. Water can’t take souls though,” he says with a dismissive wave and Lance ‘hms’. Keith covers his eyes with his wet hands but then he feels a slight pull that causes his wrists to float slightly. When he opens his eyes he sees the droplets on his skin floating into the air and watches curiously as Lance flings the water away. Then he watches as Lance drags his hands soflty down his own body which causes the water soaking his skin to converge into a floating heap. Lance flicks it to the bank beside them. Keith must have watched too obviously, because Lance throws a smirk his way.

“Impressed?”

“Sure,” Keith quickly responds with an eye roll. Lance hums to himself contently and lays down next to Keith with his palms wrapping around the sandy bank beneath them. Only the sound of the running river and bats squeaking in the distance can be heard. Lance watches the moon for a while before tilting his head towards the man lying beside him. Keith has his eyes closed and seems to be breathing deeply and purposefully.

“I hope Shiro’s okay with us saving him,” Lance muses. “Is he the type of guy that doesn’t like others helping him?”

Keith scoffs, “opposite, but he does tend to take on more than others can handle so I don’t think he’s used to the help.”

“That does seem like him…Keith, If I freeze up I give you permission to slap me or throw me overboard.”

“Good.”

“Hey!”

Keith snorts and tilts his head towards Lance which catches Lance by surprise to suddenly make such intense eye contact.

“You must be cold,” Keith says with an outstretched palm.

“Oh I suppose the water did cool me down,” Lance says as he meets Keith’s warm hand. When their hands wrap around each other Lance feels a warmth blossoming from the contact, literally. “Wow,” he sighs as he feels a comfortable heat radiate from Keith’s palm. “Would be so handy in the snow.”

“You deal with the wetness and I deal with the cold,” Keith says.

“Life’s made too easy by that point,” Lance hums. In this moment Lance is painfully reminded of his human nature. He can’t help that he finds certain people attractive and certain moments romantic, it’s simply evolution. It’s evolution telling him that Keith is attractive because he’s a healthy and strong man and that he is a safe choice to keep in the ‘Lance community group’ and that maybe he would be worthwhile being extra close and special with. He shouldn’t be so embarrassed or as giddy as he is in this moment. This is just another one of those moments that he misunderstands like all the teenage loves he had in the past. No Keith is just being extra nice with him and besides, the guy might not even be into men which is totally fine! He needs to chill out but it’s so hard when the man is literally warming him up right now. “We should head back soon to eat and we left Allura alone which might be dangerous.”

“She’s the most dangerous one out of all of us,” Keith remarks but he moves to stand up and holds a hand out to a slightly bashful Lance. Lance takes the warm hand and allows himself to be pulled up but is hyper-conscious of how his hand might feel in Keith’s. Did he grip too strongly? Was his hand sweaty? Is he holding on too long? Oh damn he is isn’t he? He snatches his hand back and immediately makes a beeline towards his shoes.

“Alrighty! Food time!” He says and awkwardly leads the way back.

…

“I hope you boys don’t mind that I already grabbed a bite?” Allura says in her gentle voice when they return.

“That’s a-okay!” Lance throws up an overly enthusiastic thumbs-up.

“...okay.”

Lance takes an aggressive bite out of a tenderly grilled fish. “Damn, this is so good.”

“Thanks,” Keith smiles cutely to Lance and Lance flicks his head away lest his mouth says something stupid.

“So um Allura, what do you think of the plan?” Lance asks, changing the subject.

Allura hums and twirls a moist leaf around in the air, a feat that requires great control over her bending to not tear the water out from the leaf. “It’s straightforward but risky. Little room for error, unfortunately.”

“Luckily you’ll have Keith around for the most part.”

“Yeah…” Allura acquiesces. “I’m a bit reluctant because I think your part is the most dangerous Lance.”

“Really? But I don’t have to engage with the soldiers it’s like a game of tag except I have the overwhelming advantage,” Lance puffs out his chest.

“Still, if it goes as planned you have all eyes on you and if we mess up inside you’re the only one out there that can do anything about it,” Allura says concerned. “I’m happy to take over your job-”

“No no no, don’t worry Allura. I’m more scared of going into the ship into who knows what. There’s a reason Adam suggested Keith and you go because your guys’ part is the more finicky and crucial one. If you mess up, the operation is doomed but if I mess up only I get punished…”

Keith sighs, “Let’s not worry about this too much.” Lance nods in agreement and turns away from Allura to continue enjoying his fish but misses the glare Allura sends to the back of Keith’s head. The sound of scuttering and beating wings can be heard above them and Lance looks around to try and see the source of the sound.

“There,” Keith points for Lance to see the animal hidden in the dark, given away by its shining eyes. Lance recoils in shock but leans back in out of curiosity.

“What is it?”

“Racoon crow. So ugly.”

Lance chuckles, “Never heard of it before I guess people don’t really like it that much?”

“To each their own, I prefer cat owls - ever seen one?”

“Nope, I didn’t even think about all the animals I get to see now. Man, the world down here is so full of life so you have to point out everything for me.”

“Do I even get a choice?” Keith jokes. “What kinda birds do you have back home?”

“Not really any, birds have more migration potential so I guess it makes sense they wouldn’t want to stay up there. We have almost entirely sea creatures, some of which can share the land with us but that’s pretty much it.”

“Hm, are they furry?” Keith asks.

“Oh yeah definitely, very furry but you should not be cuddling with them at all. They’re pretty scary,” Lance shivers from a distasteful memory.

“My father told me that the South has mostly penguin creatures,” Allura chimes in.

“Oh yeah I heard about that, I think the South has more friendly animals compared to us. I guess we are pretty far apart after all.”

“I wish to see the penguins back home and to see what kind of creatures plague your home Lance.”

“Of course, I would love to venture to the South and then we can visit my home too,” Lance throws a boyish smile over his shoulder towards Allura who smiles warmly back. “We gotta take Keith so we never get cold,” he adds and Allura averts her eyes.

“Who said I was coming with you?”

“Well what else are you doing?”

“Saving Shiro.”

“Then we can go after you’ve saved him enough, maybe Shiro wants to come too to take a break from city life and you know...capture”

“Mm,” Keith hums in agreement.

Chapter Text

Watching the two converse by the fire, Allura sees her mother and father cooking stew late into the night ready for the next morning. Her face twitches and she closes her eyes, tucking herself into bed and disassociating. Sleep takes her quickly and she allows it lest she think unsavoury thoughts.

After a while of quiet chatter between the two men, Keith suggests they rest and he slaps his hand onto the fire to send them all into darkness apart from the moonlight peeking through the tall trees. “She’s already asleep,” Keith whispers.

“Come on, I’ll sleep in between.” Lance holds up his hands in front of him to try to wade around in the dark, and Keith’s hand grabs his wrist before the small world around them briefly illuminates from a soft flame flickering on top of Keith’s palm.

“I don’t want unnecessary trouble,” Keith insists with narrowed eyes.

“I’ll tell her you’re there and that I’m in between,” Lance shrugs and pads his way towards their makeshift tent. When he makes his way successfully to Allura, he waves back at Keith who snuffs out the flame in his hand. “Allura?” He asks gently and she responds tiredly, not even opening her eyes. “We’re going to sleep now, I’ll be next to you and Keith will be on the end okay?”

“Mhm,” she confirms and Lance turns to the vague direction Keith was in and says his name quietly. A flame comes alight in the dark and Lance can see Keith’s flickering figure make its way towards them. A sudden thought crosses his mind of a younger, smaller Keith holding up his weak flame for himself when the world around him went dark. Maybe it’s the ease at which Keith lights up the path for himself that makes him think of all the times in the past the boy must have had to create light of his own but whatever it is, it makes Lance’s heart ache. How often was he alone in the dark with no one to light the way for him? When Keith gets closer, Lance reaches out a hand and Keith snuffs out his flame. In the dark, their hands meet and Lance guides him into the tent without hitting his head on the structure. Keith tucks himself into the blanket and the two of them lay in silence with their backs against the forest floor.

“You asleep yet?” Lance whispers and Keith pokes him in the thigh in response.

“I’m trying to so shut up.”

Lance giggles quietly to himself. “My siblings and I would snuggle at night when we were cold. This reminds me of those times. We would also annoy the hell out of each other too, making it impossible to sleep but we always did at some point.” Lance’s mind clears and his heart swells at the playful and ridiculous memories. Then he remembers that he will have to make sure he returns to them which reminds him of the soldiers…

“...Shiro used to do that for me sometimes. When we were a lot younger I had a lot of nightmares so he would hold my hand and sleep next to me so I felt safe.”

“Shiro’s a great dude huh?”

“He is.”

“...I’m cold. Can you hold my hand again?”

“Mhm,” and Keith reaches a hand over to Lance who grips back tightly.

…

Allura wakes first from the world warming up around them. She blinks blearily up at the sunlight leaking through the small cracks in the sticks. She turns to check on her companion but sees that he’s sleeping soundly and comfortably curled up with her other, less favourable companion. Lance has his face pressed deeply into Keith’s back with his dark limbs tangled in the other man’s and their matching red clothes blending into each other’s. A wave of nausea overcomes her as she is reminded of her mother and father cuddling under the shade of a tree whilst her godfather Coran tossed fruit down from atop the tree’s branches. The image cuts quickly to her parents’ dark figures embracing at the centre of a blazing fire and Coran calling out to her, urging her to climb the branches faster. She sees Zarkon’s scarred face but he doesn’t even look at her. Her fingers curl in and her eyes dig a hole through them as she imagines grabbing Zarkon by the neck and forcing him to see the face of the two people he tortured loom over him. How his final moments will be a send-off from the two people he tormented. She huffs quickly, her chest feeling tight and her mind clouded by red. The red of the fire, the red of their clothes, the red of the blood that pours out of Zarkon’s eyes…How she could torture the man, make him bleed out only to bend the blood back in and allow him to bleed out longer.

Keith feels his consciousness kicking in and feels a weight on his back. He gently turns to see half of Lance’s face peeking out from where it's pressed against his own back and observes how Lance’s tanned arms are wrapped in his own. He slowly untangles an arm to reach over and twirl a finger in Lance’s hair but as he does, Allura’s blurry figure comes into full view and he violently twists and pulls Lance closer to him towards the edge of the tent.

“ALLURA!” He yells out causing Lance to jolt awake and clutches onto him. She turns to him with malice in her eyes.

“Allura?” Lance croaks out, and at that, her eyes shift to regret and horror then she immediately drops her hands and with it comes a miserable splatter of water against the ground. Lance can blearily see that the leaves serving as cushioning for their bed are shrivelled and bony and even the ground beneath is dry as if a drought had occurred. “Did they find us?!” Lance asks as he unwraps his arms and Keith briefly has the same thought so scans their surroundings.

“No they’re not here, I…I just got lost in some thoughts that’s all,” she tries to laugh it off with a smile.

“Those thoughts make you bend out of control?” Keith comments doubtfully. She grits her teeth and clenches her fist but Lance reaches over and curls his thumbs under her fingers which forces her to relax her body.

“Hey hey,” he whispers and turns to Keith, “give us a moment?” Keith huffs but pushes back his hair and leaves their makeshift tent to wander around.

“I’m sorry Lance, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“That’s okay, I think you spooked Keith more. Your bending can’t hurt me,” he offers with a hopeful smile.

“My memories…the fire nation has wronged me so. Every single reminder torments me and distorts my reality. Even wearing this clothing makes me want to hit my head against concrete so I don’t have to think of all the terrible thoughts. I can’t forget what they’ve done, so I can never forgive them,” she says angrily before turning her angry eyes towards Lance. “I don’t want to give Keith a chance…I don’t want you to be around him any longer. Please, Lance, you don’t know what can happen to you if you associate with them. Every day I wish I could go back in time and stop my father from loving my mother - every day! He can hurt you! He can ruin your life!” She pleads desperately, huffing from a shortness of breath.

“Wh-What do you mean..?”

“My father…he was a water bender from the South who was stolen by those fire nation bastards. My mother was a soldier and had he never met her, none of this would’ve happened,” she clenches her teary eyes shut.

“What would have never happened?”

“Zarkon,” she spits out. “He was my mother’s colleague but because of everything fucked up in the world he had to…I wish I could go back in time and just stop my mother from meeting my father then maybe he would still be alive and maybe he would be with his tribe…But now I am stuck with these horrible memories and only the image of Zarkon’s scarred face in my mind. Lance, please! You cannot associate with Keith, you have such a bright future - you can be with your tribe! You do not have to suffer because of him!” Allura grips Lance’s biceps ferociously and stares at him with a desperate look but because of the haze that covers her expression, it doesn’t seem like she’s looking at him.

Lance grips her arms back. “Allura please, what your parents went through was terrible but that’s not your mother’s fault or the fault of the fire nation. It’s Zarkon’s fault! Keith isn’t even part of the Fire Nation, he’s like us! You’re the one who said we are the best at adapting and this new world requires us to adapt to living with those from other backgrounds. The world is moving so quickly now and we have so much to take advantage of. Please Allura…Keith is only going to be an ally so don’t mistaken him as your enemy. He doesn’t want to hurt you or me.”

Allura sucks in a short breath and closes her eyes. “Father please,” she whispers to herself. In her muddled head, Lance’s face becomes her father’s. She sees him as a younger man, enamoured with a younger version of her mother. She sees her father being approached by his mother in her fiery red uniform and she unknowingly squeezes Lance.

“Ouch Allura- you’re pulling me too hard,” Lance hisses out.

“Listen to me! Don’t go! Stay with your people, please! Go back home!” She yells out at Lance who is getting more and more creeped out by the second. Then she turns her head to the side to someone behind Lance. “Don’t fall for him,” she begs the person. Her mother’s figure, though blurry, reaches out her arms and she feels strong hands wrap around her.

“That’s enough,” her mother says in that familiar soothing voice and her heart aches miserably at the tone. She lets go of the man in front but her breathing quickens more at the loss of control.

“You can only love him if you can protect him!” She yells out to her mother and her mother nods. At the firm nod, she feels oddly reassured in this confusing moment and breathes in deeply.

“Have some water,” her mother says and she gladly takes the cup offered to her and sips the whole cup quickly. Finally gaining her own breath back, she begins to gain awareness of where she is. She sees Lance looking at her with sad eyes clutching at his biceps and behind him, Keith is kneeling with her wrist in his hand. She blinks slowly and feels overwhelming tiredness wash over her.

“You promise,” she says tiredly as her tears flow out but she finishes the water and tucks herself back into the blanket.

When Allura’s shoulders rise and fall, signalling her sleep, Lance turns to Keith with confusion and pity in his eyes. Keith looks at him back but somehow his expression speaks of understanding rather than judgment. Keith reaches a hand over and places it gently on Allura’s forehead and does the same to Lance with his other hand.

“She’s feverish,” Keith says matter-of-factly. “I’ll wake her up to drink more water,” he says but is cut off by Lance.

“No need, help me bring some water over,” he says as he bends the water out of his pouch and hands the leather to Keith.

“I’ll get us some food too,” Keith says before leaving the tent.

Lance squints his watery eyes as he gently lays the water over Allura’s forehead and neck, swirling the glowing mass in a gentle motion.

Chapter Text

“Here,” Keith tosses what looks to be an overgrown leaf towards Lance who takes it and nibbles on the end. He voices a tone of surprise and chows down the whole thing.

“Yum.”

“A little bit of herb and salt goes a long way,” Keith explains. “I blanched it too, which removes the earthy taste.”

Lance answers with a satisfied hum. Keith glances towards the tent.

“The plan can’t work without her…” Keith points out and Lance sighs as he ruffles his hair.

“...I don’t know. I’ve seen this before, the mind induces it and my bending can only do so much to keep her body from worsening.”

“Anything medicine can do?”

“...yes but it will inhibit her thinking,” Lance explains reluctantly.

Keith squints at the ground, remembering times when he had ingested the wrong things and ended up on the other side of town with bruises littered over his body but at least he had a calm mind.

“Do it.”

Lance bites his lip and reluctantly stands up. “Where’s the medicine then?” He catches the purple mask Keith throws his way.

“I know a place.”

When they reach the city's edge, Keith gestures with his head towards Lance to put the mask on. Lance groans but obeys.

“Ugh it’s so stuffy.”

The two of them casually make their way through the city with Lance trailing behind Keith.

“Are you sure people won’t recognise you?” Lance asks.

“Most people don’t care and if they see me they probably wouldn’t sell me out…you on the other hand,” Keith says slowly.

“Yeah yeah I get it.”

“I mean your eyes make you stand out even more,” he clarifies as he points to his own eyes.

“My eyes?” Lance blurts in surprise and briefly touches the wood of the mask.

“Yeah, your eyes are blue it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

Lance can’t help the excitement that courses through his body at the comment and clears his throat briefly to set himself straight.

“So why do you wear this to the arena?” Lance asks curiously.

“It’s a mix of reasons that just make my life easier. Shiro doesn’t want trouble leading back to us and sometimes the people you beat in the arena try to come after you in real life. Also helps to get me into the zone you know…strip away the humanity for a bit and just become a faceless fighter.” Keith notices a group of soldiers extorting a shop owner in front of them and slyly slows down his steps in tandem with Lance before they disappear down another alley.

“That sounds awful,” Lance says.

“It’s like my uniform and safety net,” Keith answers with a shrug.

“I’m surprised this sport doesn’t already have a uniform. I mean - can’t some people have something hidden in their clothes? Or what if the clothing serves as an advantage?”

He waves an annoyed hand, “Those guys in charge are just fighting enthusiasts so they just want to fight and avoid intercultural scandals. They can’t decide on a uniform to issue out without worrying about causing drama again with a particular side.”

Lance cringes, “yikes seems complicated.”

“It’s political,” Keith agrees. “Sorry about your clothes by the way.”

“It was a necessity,” Lance sighs. “I’ll just find my tribe’s clothing again another day. Besides, when am I going to have another chance to wear authentic Fire Nation garbs?” He sways the loose pieces around and offers Keith a smile beneath the purple mask. Keith can hear the smiling face behind the mask and returns it.

“Here,” Keith rounds the corner and points at a small shabby building. “I’ll stand watch, you go and find the medicine.”

“Yes sir,” Lance mock salutes and catches the pouch of coins Keith throws to him. He enters through the creaky door which causes a bell to jingle.

“Welcome,” a bored little girl says whilst looking down at her book.

Lance quickly realises that he’ll probably have a better time finding the right medicine by himself than with the storekeeper’s help. He scans the shelves, looking at the herbs in the jars and reading the labels on those that look unfamiliar.

“Woah,” he gasps as he grips a particular jar containing an abundance of colorful herbs. “Holy crow, Marco’s ship should be trading with these!” He clears his throat and returns them, remembering that he’s spending someone else’s money and thus should stay on task.

“You a purple fanboy?” The little girl asks whilst still facing her book.

“Oh uh, yep - huge fan!” Lance answers pumping his fists.

“What’s his favourite finishing move?” She challenges, crossing her arms.

“Uh…the…head…splitter?”

“Who’d he team up with in the 14th Winter Tournament?”

“That would be…his long-time rival!”

“Who was dating him during the 16th Autumn games?”

Lance blinks slowly as his mind goes blank.

“Well?” The girl presses on. The silence drags on for longer and she kicks her feet onto the table and leans back her head to rest on her arms. “Knew you were a fake, real fans don’t go around parading his likeness on the normie streets. That mask is a cheap knockoff so whatchu want?” She asks getting up. Lance stutters out of anger and embarrassment but doesn’t manage to get any words out lest he lose his temper at a kid. He gestures towards the herbs and she raises an eyebrow at him but goes to pick it up and brings it over to her work-station to crush.

“What’s your plan with this fakey?”

“Medicine.”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s not for me,” Lance answers annoyed.

“...Fine, that’ll be 8 URC, scram kid,” she growls out as she hands over the folded-up paper with the crushed herb’s contents.

The irony is not lost on Lance to be called a ‘kid’ by a literal child. He pays for the medicine with annoyance and gladly leaves the store to meet with the very beloved Purple himself.

“How’d it go?” Keith asks and Lance wordlessly chucks the money pouch at him.

“The shop owner in there is a big fan of yours,” Lance says with an eye roll as they make their way back through the back alleys.

“Really?”

“A real asshole too.”

Keith chuckles, “What did you expect from people who love watching the fights?”

Lance huffs annoyed. “Why do I need to know all that stuff about you to be a fan? Can’t I just have watched you once or twice and liked your fights? So pretentious, and what’s that about dating?! What does that have to do with your matches?! Why do I need to know that?”

Keith continues laughing at Lance’s rant. “There there, they’ll never know just how close you are with the man himself,” he says jokingly.

“Yeah for sure, and let’s keep it that way otherwise they’ll stalk me too. Jokes on them, all my dating history is back home and they’ll never hear about it.”

“Is dating common where you’re from?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, is it considered normal to date when you’re younger or do you have a partner for marriage..?”

Lance thinks for a moment. “I hadn’t really taken notice of that stuff before. We’re a pretty big community but we’re traditional so you have to prove your worth to the parents of your potential partner. That being said, it’s not uncommon for people to grow apart and choose someone else but it makes it a bit awkward for the family because those parents still know you very well.”

“I see…and how do you prove yourself?”

“If you’re a warrior you show your worth through battle or a show of strength but if you’re not a warrior it’s usually through gifting your craft whether it be food, art, performance, or prayer. You just have to show off basically. It’s super old-fashioned,” Lance rolls his eyes.

Unbeknownst to the duo who are engaged in idle conversation, stalking behind them are three silhouettes. As the silhouettes get closer and closer they suddenly speed up to close the distance. The wall near Lance rumbles and a shadow grows over Lance’s face before the wall seals him in a makeshift cage. Keith barely has time to react before he’s bracing himself to be slammed against the wall by rough hands.

“Why the fuck are you helping that outsider?!” The earthbender screams at Keith.

“Keith?!” Lance yells out from inside his coffin.

“The tozu triad…” Keith narrows his eyes at the woman in front of him and her siblings standing by her side who all look extremely beaten out of shape.

“Why are you with that waterbender?! I bet he knows who those soldiers are actually after, just make him give it up!”

Lance feels around himself in the dark and with one hand bracing against the wall, his other forms a sharp icicle and he starts swinging at the wall.

“Fuck, this isn’t the time to be fighting amongst each other you bastards. Pick literally any other time!” Keith groans out before the woman is slamming his shoulder back into the wall.

“As far as we know, those bastards will piss off if we just give them what they want,” she turns to her siblings who seem to share a knowing look. “...I seem to remember that they wanted you too for whatever reason.”

Keith’s eyes blow wide before his anger overtakes him. “You can’t be serious?! You’re going to sell me out?!” He shoves against her.

“What else do you want us to do huh?!”

“Help us!” Lance yells out, muffled. A hole bursts out and Lance continues to chip away at the surrounding earth.

Lance rips the purple mask off. “There’s a reason you confronted us now isn’t there?”

“Who do you think we are?” One of the siblings cracks his knuckles and looks menacingly at Lance but receives an eye roll in response

“You could’ve sold us out way earlier and you couldn’t brought the soldiers to us without having to interact with us. I think that you don’t want those soldiers to get what they want.”

Silence falls between them all.

“You want to get our people back? You let us go and shut your mouth so we can handle it,” Keith spits out.

The earthbender clenches her fist and crinkles her face.

“Nia? What do you want to do?” The brother asks.

She whispers out a ‘fuck’, “I can’t forgive them and I don’t want to give them what they want on a fucking platter but what can we even do?!” Nia looks towards her younger siblings with remorse. “They beat us senseless and we couldn’t do anything. They’re bad news and we’ll be better off if they just piss off so what are you suggesting YOU can do for that to happen?” She challenges.

“You have to trust us, we’re going to release the prisoners and teach them a lesson,” Keith responds.

Nia scoffs. “So typical of you to talk big before you get pummeled to the ground and big bro is sent to clean up your problems,” she smirks mockingly. “News flash, your brother couldn’t win against them and is probably being beaten every day for even trying to.”

Keith swings a punch and Nia tumbles to the side at the hit, clutching at her cheek as her siblings move to protect her. Keith glares daggers down at her and a weak flame flickers out from his nose as he breathes out sharply.

“Stop!” Lance yells out and holds his hand up at Keith before approaching Nia slowly and holding out a gentle hand. The siblings look at him confused but Nia takes the hand with a tight grasp and is shortly pulled to her full standing height. Lance pulls water out from his pouch to flow it over her cheek with nimble fingers. The siblings watch suspiciously but soon their mouths fall agape as they watch their sister’s swelling cheek go down and the bruising shrink away. “There. I can’t promise that we’ll win but it’s better to take a stand than to let them have their way,” Lance levels her with a serious look that she returns. “My home was invaded by them and I watched helplessly as they stormed through our city and set the skies ablaze. But we won. Compared to that, a single ship of outcast soldiers is nothing and besides,” Lance looks back at Keith. “With water bending, fire bending, and earth bending aren’t we basically the avatar fighting against those bastards?”

“What makes you think those soldiers aren’t trained to fight against every bending style? The avatar got so far because he was unpredictable. He was an air bender when there were none.”

“We’re unpredictable too!” Lance yells out and he briefly cringes and bites on the inside of his lip before he finally relents. “We can bloodbend,” he reveals.

Chapter Text

“You can…bloodbend?” Nia repeats slowly and the siblings lean in with a faint sparkle in their eyes that contrast with Nia’s scornful expression.

“No…yes - It’s complicated. That’s all the information I trust you with,” Lance rushes out as he flicks his head to the side with a pout and folded arms.

The siblings look at each other contemplatively. Keith grumbles and yanks Lance’s shoulder towards him.

“Don’t follow us,” Keith says with a glare towards the trio and Lance glares too.

Only one of the siblings looks towards them as they leave whilst the other two seem to be engaged in deep conversation. Lance begins to wonder if it was a good idea to tell them that but Keith snaps him out of his worry.

“Fuck those guys,” he hisses out. Lance turns his attention back to Keith and catches the whispy tail end of smoke being blown out with its trail tracing back to Keith’s lips.

“Long history?” Lance asks with a nosy smirk.

“Just a ragtag troupe of bullies. Harrassed any kid they could and still do. It’s pretty pathetic.”

“I get that,” Lance grumbles. “There was this one kid back home who was always bigger than the rest of us boys. He was the fastest kid and had such a knack for spear fishing,” he explains as his face sours. Keith snorts at Lance’s obvious misery. “All the girls liked him, and all the adults praised him growing up so he grew a massive head and picked on every boy. Well, that’s if you weren’t his lackey.”

“Heh, you didn’t feel like sucking up?”

“Heck no! I have way more self respect than that. Also I was very shy when I was younger so I just faded into the distance. Well, everything truly did change after the fire nation attacked. I got a wonderful and rich personality whilst he lost his big head. Imagine the most self-obsessed and egotistical person you know becoming a dutiful wall patroller who actually voluntarily helps out his community - oh how the spirits have their ways,” Lance muses.

“Probably still an asshole though. People don’t change their nature.”

“Some do,” offers Lance with a smile and Keith flushes slightly at the unexpected genuine positivity.

“...How big is he now?” Keith asks with narrowed eyes.

“Oh man, he’s HUGE,” Lance spreads out his arms. “His size growing up definitely was an indication of what was to come. His biceps alone are like THIS big,” he indicates with a cupped hand around Keith’s bicep.

Keith flicks his arm away from Lance’s hand and huffs, “bigger means they fall harder.”

Lance snorts and slaps a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “I know you’re a great fighter and all in those pits, but you’ve never seen how we fight up there.”

“Then I’ll have to go up there and see for myself what you guys have packing.”

“Is that a direct challenge mullet? I just remembered that you and I have yet to face off,” Lance cocks his head to the side.

The side of Keith’s mouth tilts upwards. “You want to taste Republic City dirt already?”

“You want to taste…these hands?” Lance tries to counter but the attempt is weak and Keith’s eyes are almost forced to roll themselves. “It’s okay I get it, you’re imagining losing to a guy seas away and it makes you feel-” Lance cuts himself off by wrapping his arms around Keith and hauling him back into the alley.

“What’d you-!” Keith is about to yell until Lance eyes him seriously and slaps a hand over his mouth. There is idle chatter and a clinking of metal armour passing them by. When the soldiers pass, Keith grabs Lance’s wrist and pulls him out of the alley to slink past from behind. They sprint whilst crouched down through the first few rows of trees until they get far enough. Lance breathes out a sigh of relief and shrinks to the ground with his arms hanging over his knees and his face buried in them. “Hey,” Keith says and brushes a finger against Lance’s cheek so that he looks up at him. Lance turns to him with a relaxed chuckle which is a relief to Keith who thought the man was in a much worse state. “Come on, Allura’s waiting.”

They trudge through the foliage and hop over bushes to reach their makeshift camp.

“I never dated anyone by the way - about the thing you got tested on? It was a rumour being spread because Pidge followed me around. I got my growth spurt and Pidge started wearing that awful clothing so people squashed those whispers pretty quickly.

“There are definitely a lot of people who don’t just tolerate you but would adore you ya’know?” Lance says with a yelp as Keith jabs his side annoyed. Lance continues, “I thought I was pretty hopeless but qhen you just be yourself and don’t shy away from that, it draws people in. In my case, I draw in pretty incredible people- that guy I told you about? His girlfriend flocked to me after him,” Lance muses with a smug smile to himself.

“They say opposites attract,” Keith adds.

“What are you trying to say?” Lance flicks a sassy point his way with a pout.

“Nothing,” Keith smiles to himself.

“Whatever - but seriously, you will 100% find someone who will like you, the question is if you’ll like them back,” Lance says and he offhandedly flicks Keith’s hair which causes the man to look his way. Lance’s eyes go wide at the realisation of what he’s done and he quickly readjusts himself to appear more casual. “Hey I wonder if that little girl knew that about you?”

“Who knows,” Keith says with a shrug. “So you’re popular back home?”

“Excuse you, I would be popular here too if I wasn’t on the RUN from the city!”

Keith chuckles as he bats away a low hanging branch playfully, “How would you know that?”

“Not only am I strong and reliable but I’m suave and fun to be around.” He looks around sneakily and then waves towards Keith to urge him closer. “This culminates in my dancing skills,” he says with a tongue peeking out through a ring he makes between his thumb and index finger.

Keith’s shoulders shoot up to his ears as his eyes widen. “Gross,” he mutters out and tries to avoid looking at Lance. Lance giggles as a response with a hand on his stomach. Keith twitches and pushes Lance’s face away which causes the man to giggle more as he tries to free his head.

“Aw, you could learn a thing or two for that future partner of yours.”

“Why would I learn from you when you probably suck at it.”

Lance pinches Keith’s thigh from where he’s bent over, still attempting to shake Keith’s hand off his head as they step over a large tree root in tandem. “That’s what you think baby,” he counters with a sultry voice.

Keith flushes - whether it’s from anger or excitement he doesn’t want to know - but he finally stops smothering Lance’s head. They see legs sticking out from between two trees which reveals Allura to still be laying inside. At the sound of their footsteps, the legs jostle and a head pops out.

“It’s us,” Keith announces with a hand holding Lance’s arm back. Lance briefly glances at the hand and suddenly recalls that morning when chaos was unleashed. He scans Keith who seems to glow in the sunlight peeking through the trees and recalls being woken up from Keith’s voice and how he had felt safe within his arms. Come to think of it, he had been so close to Keith’s chest but didn’t get the chance to actually realise that fact given Allura’s state. Keith’s words when Allura begged him to protect Lance rush in with full clarity. ‘I will,’ he had said. Lance’s eyes widen and he realises he’s staring at Keith for what must be more than comfortable. He averts his eyes to look at Allura and immediately reality dawns on him and he starts feeling guilty. Allura had a terrible breakdown and a key part of it was him getting dangerously close to Keith. She had begged him that morning to not go with Keith and here he was showing up next to him as if they were best buddies. Fuck, he’s screwed up.

“Allura please don’t sleep yet, we got you medicine,” Lance explains as he rushes over to her. When Lance examines her state he catches the exhaustion in her face and the sweat sticking to her skin. He grimaces and hurriedly shows her the contents of the unwrapped paper. Allura recognises the herbs and tucks herself back in.

“I don’t need that,” she groans.

“You do,” Lance insists and starts to tightly roll the paper.

“I’m fine,” Allura says with a hoarse voice and Lance can tell there are tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

“You’re really not,” Lance says and caresses her head which she doesn’t seem to mind. He moves aside the pile of bone dry leaves - courtesy of that morning’s incident - and pokes a hole in the middle of the ground beneath. He looks around for Keith who is loitering in the distance and ushers him to come closer. Keith obeys albeit with some hesitation. Lance then slots the rolled up herbs into the hole where it stands by itself and gestures to Keith who gets the message and leans over the top of the waterbender to flick a flame onto it. A pungent, thick smell starts to rise along with the smoke and Lance switches the blanket with Allura’s cloak in order to create a makeshift curtain with the larger fabric.

“Try your best to breathe it in,” he tells her.

Chapter Text

“Lance…tomorrow’s the night,” Keith begins with a worried look in his eyes.

“I know, we’ll get Shiro back,” Lance tries to offer with a weak smile.

“She doesn’t want me around, you already know that,” Keith whispers accusingly.

Lance’s eyebrows pinch together and he rests his forehead against the cloth with a deep sigh.

Keith roughly pulls back his hair. “I need to get Shiro back.”

“Shush I know, I KNOW,” Lance sighs out and his eyes shimmer with unshed tears. “Just give her time.”

“Lance!” Keith yells which snaps Lance’s attention towards him. “You know why she’s become like this,” he accuses. “Time is not going to fix THAT problem.”

“Don’t start this here,” Lance says through gritted teeth and a finger shoved in Keith’s face.

Keith swats it away. “It’s the truth. We don’t have time, Shiro needs us, Pidge’s brother needs us, all of them need us and the person that started it all is lying in this tent half-dying,” spits Keith.

“They need us?! SHE needs us!” Lance snaps back and he shoves Keith away from the tent. Keith shoves him back.

“She needs YOU and wants nothing to do with me!”

Lance’s mouth opens and closes but the words won’t come out. “Come on,” he orders and pushes Keith towards the river.

“I’m not wrong.”

“You are,” Lance insists.

“She fucking hates me for being a fire bender, just like you did.”

Lance spins on Keith and points an accusing finger at him. “I didn’t hate you because of that! I hated you because you had a shit vibe! You were the one that villainised me first!”

“I never villainised you! I had no clue who you were and had no opinion of you!”

Lance doesn’t respond and turns back around towards the river.

“What do you want me to do? Grovel to her feet? ‘I’m so sorry for what happened to you by people I’ve never even heard of in my life. Can you pull yourself together and not freak out because of me so that we can rescue my family since you’re the reason they’re locked up in the first place?’”

“It’s not because of her!” Lance yells back.

“Who brought the soldiers here?!” Keith tosses his hands into the air angrily. “Are you trying to say that the spirits brought her here in order to lead the soldiers so that they could imprison Shiro?”

“You know what I mean!”

“I know you’re going to take her side no matter what,” Keith bitterly spits out. “She could kill me and you would probably be happy about it.”

“No!”

“I already know how it is! It’s nothing new! I never should’ve been born. The only one that cared for me is rotting in that ship because of HER,” says Keith with a cracking voice. “You couldn’t fathom how Pidge could be friends with me and you’d rather sleep in the cold than be warmed with fire created from my hands. You already told me you’re scared of me, so why would you care whether or not I get my family back?” Keith crouches and splashes the river’s water in defeat as his eyes start to sting. The next thing he knows, Lance has shoved him into the water and he’s splashing around so that he can sit upright. The moment he does, Lance is already standing over him and suckerpunching his cheek. Keith punches Lance right back which sends the man flopping into the water and he stands up with a stumble to wad over to Lance but when he grabs Lance by the collar he sees that the man is crying. Keith stares down at him in disbelief. “Why are YOU crying?!”

“B-because you’re being an idiot!” Lance yells out angrily but his soggy voice makes it sound more like a tantrum.

“You-!”

“Don’t say these things about yourself!” Lance hiccups. “And I’m sorry! I’m the real idiot- I don’t know how the world works and I can’t make both of you happy let alone one of you! I keep making mistakes and fucking up and I miss my clothes and my siblings and I just wanted to explore the world but it’s like the invasion never ended!” Lance squishes his wet palms against his wet eyes. “I know you want Shiro back and I know Allura didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I see how much he means to you and I see how much suffering Allura has been through too. Allura’s scared of you because of what you are but I know you can’t control any of that and that you’re an incredible person. I want to knock some sense into her too but she’s already so beat down and is alone without us!”

“I’m the one who’s alone! Who has my back?!”

“I do!” Lance yells back. “Pidge does! Adam clearly does too! Your city loves you! Did you forget your fan?!”

Keith growls. “Then let me clarify. Who has my back when I’m no longer useful to them?! The answer is ONE person and he’s STUCK on THAT ship!” Keith roughly drops Lance back into the water and climbs back to dry land. When he doesn’t hear any splash to indicate Lance resurfacing, he turns back in confusion and sees that, indeed, Lance has yet to resurface. “The water bender’s trying to drown himself? That’s something you don’t see everyday.”

“I’m thinking!” Lance yells back with a jolt up. Keith flicks his eyes away and proceeds to ignore him. “Don’t you ignore me now.” Keith continues to ignore him and strips off his wet top and shoes. “Keith turn around.” Keith shakes the clothing out which sends water flying everywhere. “You want to burn this bridge so bad? Fine. But I’m getting the fire bender beat down I deserve.” Lance pulls himself out of the water and pulls up a frozen stream of water that he slices and throws the pieces towards Keith. One hits his head and the next one hits his bare shoulders until he turns around and hits away the next ones with bursts of flames. The both of them stand with their arms raised facing each other. “What, you scared of me?” Lance provokes with a shrug.

“I’m not scared!” Keith punches towards Lance sending a myriad of fireballs and Lance pulls up the stream’s water to flick them away from him. With a leap into the air, Keith dodges a grab from one of Lance’s water whips and twists to deliver a precise kick. Lance stumbles back but doesn’t fail to wrap water around Keith’s leg to flick the man roughly to the river bank. Lance then wraps his arms with water and flicks them at Keith but he manages to dodge every hit and propells his legs upwards to land up onto his feet. He barely has time to recover when Lance slams a heavy blast of water into him that knocks him into the river. Lance stomps up to the man angrily and Keith raises an arm out of the water but Lance flicks it to the side with a column of ice and it causes the blast of fire to spew out to the side. Keith tries again with his other arm but Lance flicks his hand to the side and the same thing happens. Keith uses the restraints as support to lift his knees to his chest and burst out flames to the waterbender in front. Having expected it, Lance circles his arms at the same time and the water beneath creates a circling, swirling wall that soaks the flame. Lance steps to the side to dodge Keith’s reattempt and closes the final few paces between them. He pushes Keith’s forehead with his palm which sends Keith bending backwards as the restraints curl to accomodate. Water wraps around his legs and ties him to the river before freezing and, despite struggling, he finds himself lying helplessly in the water with all his limbs out of commission. Lance pinches Keith’s nose with a look of sympathy on his face.

“I can very easily drown you you know?” Lance tells him. Keith aggressively pulls at his limbs and flexes the muscles in his arms and legs to slowly burn through the ice. “If I really wanted you gone… you don’t think I would’ve made it more obvious?” Lance asks with a hurt expression. Keith breathes in and blows out a puff of flame at Lance’s face. Lance instinctively turns his face to the side and raises up an arm with the weak flame seems to gently carress until you hear his cry of pain. Water bursts over Keith’s mouth and freezes as Lance tends to the minor burn on his arm. “One hit is all it takes for you!” Lance cries out frustrated. “It takes one moment of weakness - one moment when your guard is down - and your body never recovers.” Lance yells with pinched eyes as he swirls water around his arm.

Keith stops struggling and lays in the water watching Lance heal himself. There are hundreds of things he wants to say - ‘I didn’t mean to hurt you like that’, ‘It’s not my fault I’m like this’, ‘I was born evil’, ‘I deserve to die’, ‘Stay away from me’, “It’s not my fault you can’t handle the heat” - but with the frozen water around his mouth he can’t voice any of these. So when he can’t express his feelings with his body, and his words are locked away too, what’s left? He just thinks. His fingers mindlessly open and close and he continues to emit a steady heat from them and eventually they loosen up enough that his hands come out of the water. He points one of them in Lance’s direction and for a moment the intrusive thought that he could win right here right now flicks through his head but every other feeling in his body and every other thought going through his head is screaming that he wants Lance to hold his hand. He sighs heavily through his nose and closes his eyes. Then he reaches up to the block on his mouth and breaks it between his fingers. He sits up, dragging the water around him and Lance finally notices he’s free but the man only looks at him with a glare and nothing else.

“Well you got the fire bender beat down you wanted. I lost.”

Lance wordlessly flicks the water he used for healing back into the river, revealing a reddish mark on his skin.

“I’m littered in bruises now if that makes you feel better,” admits Keith who stares at the flame touched skin.

“...”

“Can you release me?” Keith points to his feet. “I’m not going to try anything.” Lance obeys and the restraints on his legs go away so Keith stands up and drags his soaking body out of the river to make his way back to camp. He picks up his shirt and shoes that he thankfully took off before their tussle.

“That’s it?” Lance calls out. Keith stops, unsure what to say or more like which words to say. “All that and this is what you want to say?”

Keith gnaws on his lip and walks away.

“I only won cus we were right by the water,” Lance offers with a slightly irritated tone.

“The ship is right by the water,” is what Keith ends up saying and disappears into the treeline.

Meanwhile, a person clad in dark greens and a wide brim hat patrols the ship’s deck. He is unknowingly watched from afar by a man sitting in the branches of a tall tree.

At the sight, Adam lets out an audible, “huh?” He tracks the man’s movements around the ship, hoping to catch a glimpse of the man’s face but the hat covers it. What he observes are the man’s hands concealed within his own wide sleeves, most likely to stow away the unmistakeable gloves of a dai li agent. Adam lowers the telescope from his face and rolls up the piece of paper pinned to the tree branch with a drawn diagram of the ship. He tucks the telescope into a large crevice of the tree’s trunk before dropping down the branches one by one. Before he drops down onto the ground, he crouches and scans the area and lo-and-behold a pair of patrolling soldiers have stopped nearby to smoke. Adam climbs back up and nimbly moves to another tree via its protruding branches and keeps doing this until he’s out of range. He tries not to think of what’s happened to Shiro since yesterday and wipes a tear from his eye as he makes his way to Keith.

Chapter Text

“News,” Adam says as he shakes the rolled-up paper in his hand at Keith who is leaning against a tree with his arms crossed. “Where are our waterbending friends?” Adam asks with growing awareness of the lack of companions accompanying the boy.

Keith gives Adam an exhausted expression.

Adam taps his own cheek with a frown. “And how’d you get that nasty bruise?”

“What do you think?”

“I’m guessing those two questions are related huh?” Adam rhetorically asks with dismay creeping in.

“Where’s Pidge?”

“Matt got recognised so the Holts are being watched like hawks.”

Keith runs his hands down his face with a groan. “What happens to the plan then?!” A flicker of flames bursts out briefly before fading quickly away.

“Before they put her on a watchlist, she managed to procure a military vessel for Allura and she’s going to pass on some tools to me tomorrow. We’ll have supplies but we’re one man down…and I really really hope you didn’t just push away our surviving allies.”

Keith closes his eyes and breathes heavily between his two clasped hands. “We’re going to get him back.”

“We are,” Adam nods. “There’s something else…”

“Say it.”

“You’re really not going to like this because neither did I. Somehow, for some reason, the dai li are involved.”

Keith’s eyes widen. “Why?!”

“I only saw one on the ship but he’s there alright. Any ideas?”

“I don’t think like a cockroach so I have no clue.”

“I need Allura’s opinion. If you guys had a fight, you need to make up because she is a terrific ally to have,” Adam points to enunciate every couple words like how Keith remembered he did when Keith was caught in trouble as a teenager.

“There was no fight.”

“Oh really now?” Adam questions sarcastically with a tap on the cheek.

“Not with Allura,” Keith clarifies.

“Really? Just Lance?” Adam asks in disbelief.

“...”

“May the spirits have mercy on you Keith, what did you do?”

“Nothing.”

“You definitely started it.”

“What?! No!”

“You probably said some shit, provoked the boy, then doubled down am I right or not?”

Keith’s eyes flick away from Adam. “He wasn’t listening to me.”

“Keith…you guys were doing so well together.”

“I’ve known him for two days.”

“At some point in the past you only knew everyone for two days.”

“My relationships are my relationships,” says Keith as he starts leading Adam further in towards their camp. “My issues are my issues.”

“And as a guardian, I advise you to start learning that you live in a community where your actions impact others and their actions can impact yours. Whatever your issue is you made it Lance’s issue and he punched you in the face as a reminder that it’s not just your problem!”

“So what do you want me to do?! You know how I am, you know my issues run deep, you know I’m just a street urchin!”

“Fix it!”

“How?!”

“Talk. To. HIM!”

They stop walking and glare at each other for a bit then Adam turns away with exhaustion. “Talk to him, like you would to Shiro - how about that?” Adam says with a firm pat then crosses the few metres towards what is obviously a tent. Keith stands there with fists clenching and unclenching. He yells out and swings a flame fuelled fist at an innocent tree followed by another punch below and another to the side then a kick.

“Hey Allura,” Adam greets gently as he enters the medicine filled tent. Despite how tired Allura looks, she still has a grace towards her that makes her look regal.

“Adam,” she greets.

Adam quickly takes stock of the situation and it’s clear that something unexpected happened which Keith and Lance handled to the best of their abilities.

“I have something I want to discuss with you and I’m sorry that it’s while you’re having a health scare.”

Allura waves her hand, “it’s fine.”

“To start, I want to know if you aware if anyone else is after you besides Sendak.”

“Sendak and his soldiers are under Zarkon’s orders so Zarkon is personally after me. It’s possible he rallied more like-minded soldiers since Sendak is by far not the only one loyal to Zarkon but in his quest for power, it’s not sensible to allocate so many resources to tie up a loose end like me.”

“That makes sense. The reason I ask is because I witnessed Dai Li patrolling Sendak’s ship. Are you aware of who they are?”

Allura’s eyes widen in shock. “I- If I were to reason this from what I know of them it would be that the Dai Li believe in a cause that Sendak or maybe Zarkon can help them deliver. To them, it’s not about picking a side, it’s just what benefits them the most. Does that align with your understanding?”

Adam scoffs to himself. “Of course.” His bitter reaction tells Allura that there is far more history Adam knows of but she tempers her curiosity in favour of brainstorming the next steps.

Outside, Keith’s grunts become more fragmented with each consecutive hit on the abused tree. His limbs start to ache from each impact but he jumps on his toes anyways, busy visualising an opponent in front of him. Adam emerges from the tent which signals an end to Keith’s training/anger-management/stress relief regime. Whatever is the most convenient excuse.

“Lance,” Adam greets and Keith whips his head around to see Lance sitting against a tree not too far behind himself.

“How long have you been there?!” Keith yells out as he glances to the scorched tree nervously.

Lance’s eyes narrow at Keith with a pout and he pointedly ignores him to talk to Adam. “How’s Allura?”

“Not the best, but she’s conscious and thinking straight.”

“That’s good.”

“You two come here, we need to talk about things,” then Adam takes a seat by the campfire and holds an expecting hand out to the fire pit. Keith obeys without argument and squats to carefully light the kindling. Lance sits on Adam’s left side with a sassy leg cross and Keith steps over the firepit to move to Adam’s right side. “Ohmygod,” Adam sighs deeply with his hands hanging off his knees reflecting his exhaustion. “Pidge can only play from the side. The soldiers figured out pretty easily that the Holts were involved and have been ‘guarding’ them since. Really it’s surveillance. Pidge will still provide us what we wanted in the first place but we have to pick up the slack of missing a person.”

“...Should we wait for the full moon afterall?” Lance asks with a small voice.

“Even if they expect it, who’s to say they don’t expect it the night before?” Keith adds.

“I propose we get an earthbender,” Allura interjects with a little lift of the fabric laying over the tent. Her tired eyes only damper her determination by a fraction.

“Allura!” Lance cries out in relief and moves to help lift the blanket covering the tent which wafts the medicine out.

“This is republic city. There are hundreds of earthbenders here, they could be of real value right now especially knowing the Dai Li are onboard.”

“What is a Dai Li?”

“They’re a shitty organisation of shitty earthbenders who do shitty things,” Keith answers and stands up.

“Where are you going?” Adam asks indignantly.

“To find our earthbender!”

“You can’t just get anyone! We have to trust them! They have to be willing to risk themselves!”

“I know someone.”

Lance twitches in realisation as three bruised siblings come to mind.

“Who?!” Adam yells out.

“The triad,” Lance answers and Adam looks to him in disbelief.

“Them?!”

“Yep,” he sighs.

“Ohmygod,” Adam rubs his eyes.

“Allura…can you bloodbend without the full moon?” Lance asks.

“A little.”

“Okay, we should show that off to her.”

“...Okay?”

Lance ruffles through the leaves to find Keith’s purple mask and puts it over his face before saluting to Adam and following behind Keith.

“I know some acupressure points, let me help you relax,” Adam suggests to Allura tiredly.

Chapter Text

“Keith,” Lance whispers as he treads through the foliage and almost trips on a tree root.

“Go back,” Keith orders.

“I would love to but I don’t want you to mess our chances up.”

“Okay I get it, I’m a screw up just keep your voice down when we get out of here.”

“I’m not saying you’re a screw up.”

“You’re definitely implying it!”

“Spirits…you’re such a jerk.”

“...Whatever.”

At Keith’s lacklustre response, Lance squeezes his lips together to hold back the barrage of insults he wants to chuck. As the youngest child of five and an uncle of two shitheads, he admits that whilst temper tantrums feel good in the moment they don’t help in the long term. He tries to breathe slowly and deeply to calm the rising adrenaline but the mask has Keith’s smell buried in it and it pisses Lance off so he chucks it on the ground in frustration and moves to bend the water in his pouch.

“What are you doing?!” Keith grabs Lance’s wrist and tugs it outwards which causes the water to fall lamely out to the side and their faces to pull closer.

“Cleaning.”

“Why?!”

“It stinks!”

“You can’t just use any water, it'll get moldy!”

“No it won’t dummy.”

“It will!” Keith insists and shoves the mask back onto Lance’s face. Lance goes ‘pwah’ as he throws it back off.

“Dude?!”

“Don’t like it? Then don’t wear it and go back!”

“No!”

“Then put it on,” Keith hisses.

Lance begrudgingly gives in and puts the mask back on as he mutters to himself in annoyance. They trample through the unkempt forest in silence and are about to breach the edge when Lance quickly pulls Keith’s shoulder back with a finger to his lips.

“What?” Keith whispers.

“Suspicious,” Lance answers with a tap to Keith’s red cheek. He then swirls out the remaining water in his pouch and roughly grabs Keith’s jaw in between his other hand to hold Keith’s head in place. Not that he needs to but Keith figures Lance just wants to take out his anger in some way. Even though Lance’s face is covered by the familiar mask, Keith doesn’t want to stare too much into the eye holes where he knows he will be able to see a peek of blue eyes. Despite Lance’s rough treatment, the water gently caresses his cheek and feels akin to when he healed him a couple days ago when he had been a stranger. Now, Keith feels he can’t believe the person he knows now. It forces him to think about his emotional outbursts and his poor communication. Why is this the case? He thinks about everything that’s happened since he first met Lance. Lance’s calloused hands tells of a life elsewhere and it’s now when Keith remembers that Lance was dropped into this mess the moment he stepped out of home.

“L-”

“There,” Lance announces and flicks Keith’s jaw aside. The gap between the tenderness of how Lance heals and the harshness in which he treats Keith is hard to grasp. Should he be mad or should he be grateful? They exchange tender words and vulnerabilities only to punch the life out of each other. Maybe, the man inside is clawing out because of Lance and now he’s reckoning with an internal conflict he doesn’t want to begin to figure out. Maybe it’s the same for Lance. There’s this electricity between them that so easily connects yet bursts too fast. What would Keith know, he’s never touched electricity in his life. Keith leads them through the alleyways where they dodge the metal clinking of soldiers. The path diverges from the one earlier that day, winding more and without light. At a sharp turn, Lance stumbles into Keith who grabs him to stabilize.

“Sorry,” Lance blurts out then remembers he’s meant to be mad at Keith. The firebender doesn’t answer which Lance accepts because they are meant to stay on the down low but when Keith grabs his hand and pulls him along, Lance’s excited heart wants to scream out. Lance shyly touches his fingers to the mask to check it’s on properly, just in case.

Keith tempers the thrum of heat threatening to spill into his hand. It wants to engulf what it touches but a strong feeling of embarrassment and harsh logic of them being on a life-or-death mission stops this stupid heat. He pulls Lance into a dimly lit street and pauses for a moment, glancing casually at the masked man who leans forward at the sight.

Lance gawks at the sight of the red street lit up entirely by the creaks in the windows and doors that litter the walls. The sight is so simple yet so magical and his eyes have to adjust to the dim lighting. Not for long because Keith pulls them further in where the light gets slightly stronger. He stops by a wooden window and peeks into the crack.

“One of the siblings,” Keith confirms and the blatant invasion of privacy shocks Lance but he refrains from commenting. Keith taps on the window lightly and flashes a finger flame repeatedly. The window creaks slightly open and the brother of the triad looks at Keith with narrowed eyes.

“You want to actually do something about those fuckers?” Keith asks and the brother glares down at Keith before closing the window.

“Is that really the best thing to say first?” Lance asks.

“That’s the type of relationship we have,” Keith explains half-heartedly. Then the door opens revealing the three siblings in the doorway.

“Explain,” the oldest, Nia, demands.

“We need an earthbender, the Dai Li are involved too,” Keith reveals and Lance almost yells at him to shut up but just knocks his head lightly against the stone walls. Let the man do what he thinks will work he supposes.

“Well shit, how desperate are those soldiers?!” She responds.

“There’s clearly an agenda involved, I personally would love to give a pummeling to those agents but, with a crew of fire nation soldiers, I would appreciate the ground support. So, you in?”

Nia looks back to her siblings who, surprisingly, don't dismiss the idea completely. Lance’s masked head peaks out from behind Keith and it startles the woman briefly.

“Will bloodbending change your mind?”

Nia sucks in a breath and looks to her siblings. “Prove it now.”

“You need to come with us,” Keith explains.

“Bastard, why would I go anywhere with you guys.”

“Please,” Lance adds and he hopes that his boyish charms thus far will come in clutch to help his case. The sudden sincerity always worked on his older siblings.

Nia shuts the door and they can hear hushed chatter inside before the door opens again and Nia steps out. “Just me then, not them,” she demands and Lance confirms with an “of course”.

“Don’t trust us?” Keith mocks.

“Absolutely not,” Nia replies with a smile.

She follows them through the alleys with their feet pattering against the stone ground like the sound of rain. Keith doesn’t grab Lance’s hand again and Lance tries to stick close to the two without getting in their way. The sound of boisterous laughter makes them flatten against the wall of a juncture.

“Those fuckers act like they own this place,” Nia hisses and Keith holds her shoulder against the wall. Lance zeroes in on this contact and looks between the two. Just like when Nia and her siblings first jumped Lance a couple days ago, he still can’t believe she’s an earthbender. When he looks at her and Keith, they look like a pair. The fiery temper, the clothing, the hair, the way they walk…it just seems like a match that makes sense. He looks down at himself; his darker skin, the way Keith's red and thin clothes don’t feel familiar, and how he clearly doesn’t know these alleyways. He twists his heel - somehow, it even feels like the way he walks is different.

“Keep that attitude for later,” Keith whispers to Nia and they continue slinking through the dark alleyways until they reach the forest’s edge.

“So this is where you guys have been hiding? It’s only a matter of time before they decide to search here.”

Keith grabs Nia’s collar aggressively as she grabs his wrist with bruising strength. “If you betray us and rat us out, I will kill your siblings, you understand?”

“Keith?!”

“Try and you’re dead,” she flicks his hand away. Lance stares at them in disbelief.

Chapter Text

Keith warns the tenants at the campsite of the group’s approach. A few overgrown tree roots later and a flickering fire signals the clearing acting as the so-called ‘base of operations’.

Adam can’t say he’s particularly happy to see the earthbender but her familiarity is welcome at this moment. “You’ve grown up.”

“Yeah yeah just show me the party trick already,” she demands.

“Not him, her,” Adam points to the tent and Allura peeks out with a quaint ‘hello’.

Nia looks to Keith and then Adam. “Who’s this?!”

“The bloodbender,” Keith answers with a smirk.

“How do you want me to do it?” Allura asks politely.

“You’re harbouring another outsider?!”

“Hey cut it with the attitude,” Adam chastices.

Nia points at Adam accusingly. “Nothing good comes from outsiders apart from their money.”

“Hey!” Lance cries out.

“Do I need to remind you that you’re an outsider too?” Adam sasses back.

“I grew up here!”

“Well I didn’t, so you’re going to have to be clearer with your category.”

“Don’t care, all I know is I DON’T know who she is.”

“So the truth comes out.”

Nia scrunches her face in offense and confusion.

“Do you want to see some bloodbending or not?” Keith asks impatiently.

“If you’re lying to me I’m ratting all of you out,” she threatens.

“If you make it out,” whispers Keith, which is so snarky it makes Lance snort a little.

“Hurry up and prove it.” Nia steps towards Allura with her hands patting against her chest in challenge. Allura’s eyes lower and she stands with both her hands raised like a puppeteer. Seeing the unfamiliar stance shifts Lance’s mood instantly and he finds himself overcome by a guilty anticipation. Adam’s eyes narrow behind his glasses and Keith ever so slightly slides a foot back. Lance’s eyes widen as Nia’s hand looks to be pulled out by a string whilst twitching fingers indicate a grossly unnatural presence. A bead of sweat trails down her temple but she scoffs. “That’s it?” Allura understands the implicit command and twists her hands which causes Nia’s arm to twist in on itself and her feet to stumble about. The somewhat composed Nia who would never admit weakness so openly flails in protest of her own arm. As her feet stomp around, the earth beneath springs up in desperate attempts to somehow pull back her own arm.

“Okay! Let go!”

Allura drops her hands and when Nia’s arm drops too, Lance lets out a deeply held breath. The earthbender clutches her arm and moves it around experimentally.

“I’m sorry,” Allura apologises. Lance looks between her and Nia, who is still feeling around her arm uncomfortably.

“Are you okay?” Lance asks.

“Don’t tell me you’re too afraid now,” Keith chastices, but truth be told he’s become more wary.

“No, I’m in,” Nia affirms with a clenched fist. Keith looks to Lance in relief that quickly morphs into a smug expression then he throws his hands in the air towards Adam.

“We have an earthbender.”

“Good job,” Adam says to Allura then begrudgingly turns to Keith. “and good job to you.”

“Good job hey?” He parrots to the waterbender.

“Who, me? I know,” Lance sasses back and Keith snickers with a whimsy look to Adam who smiles back at him. Keith quickly snatches his trailing expression back and clears his throat.

“Come on, we gotta fill you in,” Keith says whilst passing Nia.

“We’ll discuss the plan,” Adam gestures towards the fire.

The night before the full moon is what they decide afterall. One more night, just one more night. Any element of surprise that exists they want to take. Lance will be ‘turned in’ by Nia’s sibling before escaping and leading them away from the ship. He will lure as many soldiers to the chase as possible.

“Is that okay?” Adam asks.

“A little scary but running is easy,” Lance reassures (himself).

The siblings will help lure more soldiers away by enlisting the soldiers’ help to chase Lance down but unbeknownst to them captures and mazes await in the alleys.

“They’ll enjoy that,” Nia laughs.

Then with a conflicting duty and dispersed workforce; Keith, Allura, and Nia will board the ship and locate the prisoners. Prepare to face any guards, the Dai Li, and Sendak.

“Who’s Sendak?” Nia questions.

“The guy with the nasty arm,” answers Keith.

“The Fire Nation industrialised beyond the comprehension of other nations. One such advancement they made was enhanced metal limbs. The metal is rare which makes it hard to manufacture and then they stopped completely when they saw Toph Beifong mastered metal bending. It may be clunky but it’s incredibly durable and in the hands of someone like Sendak, it’s sure to be used efficiently,” Allura explains. Understanding washes over Nia that what they’re up against is not a simple rogue troupe of soldiers then realisation hits and she looks to Keith and Adam.

“Is that where Shiro’s arm comes from?”

“Shiro’s arm?” Lance repeats inquisitively as he recalls the cold metal arm Shiro greeted him with.

Adam shakes his head, “the Gundersons. After Shiro lost his arm in the war, he learnt to bend earth when he needed to use that limb. The Holt family before they became Gundersons were very close with Shiro and knew he would find a way to put his body and skills to use with or without an arm so they were always coming into our shabby hut with new models and ideas. Pidge’s brother saw the Fire Nation’s artificial limb for the first time and like the genius he is, understood how they attached the metal to the arm to keep it in place. Matt came up with the inner workings of the arm so that it could bend and move how Shiro wanted, then they just filled it with what Shiro has always been bending.”

“It’s a real shield then, not the fake those bastards have,” Nia notes with a proud nod.

“Woah,” Lance’s eyes twinkle.

“Let’s not count on Shiro being in any condition to help, just focus on helping him escape,” Keith interrupts.

“It is an important consideration how we will face Sendak,” Allura sighs as she rubs her hands together.

“Bloodben-,” Nia is about to point out when Adam huffs in annoyance.

“I keep telling you that it’s not going to solve everything. There’s too many of them and too much to lose so we can’t always rely on that.”

“I cannot control so much without the full moon,” Allura helpfully explains to Nia.

“Even the full moon is not enough to take them head on,” Adam adds. “Let’s say in an ideal world you three locate the prisoners…”

Using chain cutters supplied by Pidge, the prisoners will be freed from whatever confines they’re in and then head underwater. By tomorrow night, there will be an underwater ship waiting and they will escape via that ship.

“Treat the ship like a bargaining chip, it’s a crucial part of the mission. They will either stay on our shores without any leverage or they will chase after the ship. If they stay, the opportunity to rally against them becomes extremely plausible but if they chase…Allura, you sink them at sea.”

“Where do we go with the ship?” Keith asks.

“Anywhere away from that motherfucker.”

“Not meaning to be a downer but what if they somehow don’t find the prisoners? Or what if they can’t free everyone?” Lance asks.

“We have to escape no matter what, with whoever we have.”

“Okay…”

“We’ll figure it out,” Keith tells Lance.

With plans talked through and promises for tomorrow, Adam accompanies Nia home, Allura strolls around to stretch her body, and the boys rest by the fire. Allura passes by a tree with burnt, crushed bark and glares discreetly at Keith.

“How’s your arm?” He asks Lance as he reaches around to add more fuel for the fire.

Lance briefly feels his arm and Keith, thankfully, only sees the same woody skin tone instead of a pink blemish.

“I treated it immediately and looked after it afterwards…I guess the fire you put out against me wasn’t as hot as the stuff you did to the tree.”

Keith dips his head and taps his heel against the ground. “Yeah, I guess so.” The reminder that Lance had been watching his anger fueled pummeling session doesn’t feel great in this moment when he was hoping to make some peace with the other man.

“Were you…” Lance stretches his shoulders and in doing so wraps his neck in between his hands.

“What?”

“...imagining the tree was me?”

“No!”

“Okay, I just thought that maybe you were mad about how the fight ended so you wanted to continue it in your head or something like that and you did seem really really angry at that tree so given the timeframe I thought that your anger was probably resulting from what happened before that but yeah I mean maybe you were practicing too and you just seemed angry I don’t actually know you that well to really see the difference and I’ve only seen you fight once when Pidge introduced us it was pretty cool actually which I guess explains why you hit really hard maybe I’m just not used to that sort of fighting or maybe it’s called training-”

“Lance…um, sorry, are you afraid of me?”

Lance pauses and thinks. The first time this was asked or insinuated he had jumped to defending himself, challenging the other man and promising that he had nothing to be afraid of. Even when Pidge knew he was afraid, he couldn’t admit it. He even denied whilst explaining just why he was so afraid all the time. He had argued with Keith that morning because, in truth, he fundamentally understood why Allura was so upset but he denied it because it was the same as his own feelings.

Keith watches the man across him think deeply, all without looking his way. Adam told him that at some point, you only know people for two days but did he consider that those two days were enough for everyone to not want to be around him? He found an interesting character in Lance. This obnoxious guy who was immature and rowdy had so many interesting things to say and little, cute things that he did that was charming in its totality. He wasn’t afraid to point out Keith’s flaws, which many do, but he wasn’t afraid to also make up for it and to face it head on. He would listen so carefully with those sincere blue eyes and it made Keith want to share more. But now he has to understand the boundary between them. Lance’s silence is what he needed to cut whatever this is off before it gets too deep. He pulls out the rock Lance gave him from their stone skipping moment together and tosses it into the fire pit which makes Lance finally look at him.

“I’ll turn in for the night,” he says whilst hoisting himself up.

“Um!”

Lance hurriedly stands too and Keith doesn’t know what he wants to hear at that moment but nevertheless he carefully watches Lance’s expressions as they contort and his hands fumble around his own body. His heart beats heavier in anticipation.

“I don’t really know what I want to say,” Lance chuckles.

With a deflating tone Keith says, “you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.” Lance is quiet but then nods his head. Keith drags his feet to the tent, half-expecting Lance to say something again but nothing comes so he tucks himself into the cold ground.

“For hundreds of years our people have lived separately from others,” Allura says as she approaches Lance. “It only changed because we were stolen, pillaged, and almost eradicated by the Fire Nation.”

“What are you saying?” Lance asks with a small voice.

“I’m saying that they don’t deserve what we have to offer and everyone is just fine that way too. This messed up world we have where people have lost their identities and origins is not healthy for any of us. We fundamentally cannot understand each other and why should we? It just creates room for that loss and destruction to happen.”

Lance furrows his eyebrows and gazes into the crackling fire at the rock Keith tossed in. Allura pats his back.

“I don’t know why you came to this city Lance, but I suggest you take what you came for and go back home when you can.”

The words sink into his head and it creates a tight coil of tension that punches him right in the gut. In this moment, he feels that if he holds onto this it will shape the future into what he doesn’t want. He waves his hand to push off Allura’s comforting pat.

“Allura, I came here because I know that I can’t understand others. I’ve known that for so long,” he explains with a crack in his voice. “But that’s exactly why I’m here…just because we’ve done it for hundreds of years doesn’t mean we should keep doing it. You’re right that they don’t deserve what we have to offer but then do we deserve what they have to offer?” He kicks a nearby twig into the fire. “I don’t think identities are messed up, I think they just change over time like the North and South which used to be one but split in two. These people have families and friends and community and even though Nia is an earthbender, she deeply cares for her firebending siblings and would rather be with Keith than either of us. It’s complicated but it’s not our place to say if it's right or wrong or at least it shouldn’t be.”

“Nevertheless, there is no real benefit to mixing,” Allura tries to reason.

“No, we need difference! Difference becomes change and change can be good. Before Katara came my tribe was so different…so backwards. She was different, she was an outsider, and she was what we couldn’t be for so long.”

“Lance it’s not the same-”

“I know where you’re coming from Allura, and I really empathise but I’m trying to say that there exists a good kind of difference too and you’re denying it even exists. I don’t want to go back as soon as I can, I want to explore and meet more people like Keith and Adam. I don’t want to label everyone who’s different from me as ‘outsider’. I understand you Allura and I agree with your caution but I can’t agree with how you talk about Keith-”

Allura’s face contorts angrily. “I am not talking about Keith!”

“But you are! You’re talking about firebender this and firebender that and about people from the Fire Nation and you can’t see past this label!”

“Why should I?” Allura yells and then softens her voice into a weak whisper. “When they have hurt me so much.”

“You can’t forget what Zarkon has done to you, and you can never forgive him. But Allura, HE is not the Fire Nation!” Lance grabs Allura’s hands whilst lowering his voice too. “You told me that none of it would have happened if your father didn’t love your mother but isn’t that such a cruel thing to say about your own parents? The way you talk about Keith I- I’m sad to say that I agreed but I don’t want to. It doesn’t make sense and it’s completely not fair. I want to learn the good and the bad but if you can’t support that, then…I’m sorry…I won’t want you around…no matter how much I care about you,” Lance lets go of Allura’s hands. “You will always be welcome in my home and in my family but these kinds of opinions won’t be welcomed in my life…I want my life to be colourful and I want to be around interesting people so that’s why this is a line I have to draw with you,” Lance hopes his voice didn’t waver as he stares into Allura’s eyes that flicker in the firelight. She lowers her head and her fingers clasp each other gently, shedding the maturity that she often exhibits and making her look more like her age. It breaks Lance’s heart but he holds firm. “Would you like to head to bed now?” He offers softly.

Allura gently shakes her head and Lance shuffles on his feet a bit before asking, “do you want to talk more?” She pauses but then gently shakes her head again and sits down. “Are you feeling okay Allura?”

“I think I’d like to be alone for now,” she answers quietly.

“Of course, I’ll be there for you when you want.”

She nods and starts to pick at the singed leaves on the ground. Lance separates from her hesitantly but wills his feet to move as he heads into the tent. Entering the dark space, he sees blinking eyes signalling Keith peering at him. He crouches and unfolds himself next to the other man who turns on his side and a deep exhale is only the beginning of Lance’s anxiety filled night.

Chapter Text

Lance shimmies his shoulders trying to find comfort but the cold hard ground and dead leaves don’t make for comfortable bedding. He crosses his arms to maintain warmth and tries to concentrate on his breathing but with his mind racing, emotions in shambles, nerves kicking up, and his neck freezing, it doesn’t help much. ‘Please, please, just rest’ he tells himself. Panic starts to set in because his train of thought starts to lead to tomorrow night’s potential carnage. What if because of what’s happened tonight, Keith and Allura somehow fail their mission? What if he created an even bigger rift between them? What if he becomes too tired tomorrow and the soldiers capture him? What if he’s forced to choose between people and he can’t? He feels his breathing start to stutter so he breathes deeper to quell the panic.

In, hold, out, hold, in, hold, out, hold, in, hold, out, hold - it’s starting to help - in, hold, out, hold, in, hold, out, hold, in

Beside him, Keith turns again and the sudden movement nearly makes Lance choke on his own spit. Lance tilts his head and recoils when he sees Keith’s eyes blinking at him.

“What’re you doing?” Keith whispers.

“I’m trying to sleep,” Lance answers and reorients himself to continue his breathing meditation. Keith pouts and watches the careful swell and fall of Lance’s chest.

“Is that helping?”

Lance raises an arm to cover his eyes. “I think so.”

“Okay.”

Okay he says. In, hold, out, hold, in, hold, out, hold, in, hold,

“Keith.”

Keith slowly blinks his eyes back open and gazes at the dark silhouette of Lance’s face. His eyes begin to adjust and lines of Lance’s tense lips sharpen.

“I think it’s worth it to be brave sometimes,” Lance breathes out.

Keith’s gaze trails upwards to watch the taunting movement of that hand concealing Lance’s blue eyes.

“What do you mean?” He asks and raises his arms to rest comfortably around his cheeks, allowing him to stare at those tantalising fingers curling in and out.

“Just with all this rescuing stuff…and you.”

Keith sleepily blinks. “Me?”

“Yeah, I’m scared of it all - and you - but I think it’s worth being brave for…is what I’m trying to say.” Lance raises his arm to his head but it bumps into Keith instead. “Sorry,” he whispers and opts to use the arm resting on his forehead to cushion beneath his head.

Keith feels relief wash over him and a deep comfort warms him from inside. Before Keith even really registers what he’s doing, his fingers graze against Lance’s head and the other man finally tilts blue eyes his way. Then Lance raises his head and Keith slides his arm beneath Lance’s neck. To his joy, Lance shuffles closer to him for comfort and for a moment they just gaze at each other. Two bodies thrumming next to each other in red. Black hair spilled out and brown hair tousled by an arm. Blue and purple eyes melding like the sky after the sun sets.

Always this back and forth between them.

“You’re freezing,” Keith comments.

Lance’s eyelids shut gently as drowsiness creeps in. “Yeah,” he responds.

Keith twists Lance’s body to face away from him. “Is this okay?” He asks.

“Mhm,” Lance affirms and he unwillingly feels the tips of his toes tingle as if throwing a celebration.

Keith wraps his other arm around Lance and pulls the man into his chest as he blankets Lance’s back. Lance turns his face into Keith’s arm and Keith feels he could get dangerously addicted to the feel of soft lips grazing gently across skin. They both know that lines are being crossed but neither of them feel like stopping the momentum. Before he thinks against it, Lance grabs Keith’s hand resting on the ground and presses it close to his chest as he curls in, almost bracing himself for something. He feels Keith’s fingers squeeze into his pounding chest as if trying to caress it directly and the man wraps himself tighter around as a comforting heat on his skin blooms. One more night of this escape adventure, and possibly one more night of this. But that doesn't matter right now.

The familiar chirp of the morning birds prompts Keith to transition into a lighter sleep. He briefly comprehends a warmth bracketing his head and leans into it comfortably. Snuggled, if you will. Movement makes Keith squint over Lance’s shoulder and see Allura sit up and shuffle out of the tent. Keith glances towards Lance’s sleeping face and out the tent then scrunches his face back into Lance’s chest.

“Fine.”

He ducks his head under Lance’s arm and shuffles out of his narrow spot. Outside, Allura has already picked out edible nuts and plants which surprises Keith given it took Adam a couple years of regular camping for him to learn.

“You seem to know your way around food,” he announces.

She looks at him with what Keith supposes is as little of a glare as she can muster. “It’s what happens when you’re chased by soldiers everyday.”

Keith rubs his hands then moves to light the fire. “Right…yeah that sucks.” Allura’s face twitches and she turns back to her task at hand. “Pass it over here,” he beckons with a raised hand but she doesn’t turn around.

“I can eat it raw, can you not?” She asks with her words strutting in a way Keith doesn’t appreciate but he clenches his raised hand and knocks it against his forehead with pursed lips. He side-eyes the tent before his gaze falls on the smooth pebble inside the now flaming pit. A reminder of the fun time he shared with Lance skipping rocks and the friendship he tried to reject last night. Yet It was the one Lance gave him after he skipped water for the first time and the one he dramatically tossed in an act of rejection last night. “Look,” he begins with a lower volume. “...you and I have stressed Lance out a lot.”

Allura’s eyes lower but she continues to expertly identify each plant she touches without turning back to the firebender.

“He is risking his life and safety for us when he doesn’t need to. We kinda got him involved,” Keith continues. “For the sake of his peace of mind and for the sake of tonight’s life or death stunt, we need to work together - at least for tonight.”

“For tonight then.”

“That’s not what I mean. We have to start now. Show Lance that there’s nothing to worry about.”

Allura recalls Lance standing against her last night. It was so genuine and so shocking because she didn’t know he was thinking the things he said, at least, she didn’t know how strongly he had felt about those things. She turns on her heel and stomps towards the fire before holding out her foraged goods towards Keith.

“So why can’t you eat them raw, is it an intolerance?” She asks.

Keith scoffs and takes a few items from her grasp. “You can, it just tastes way better when slightly cooked and Adam says the nutritional value improves with a little heat.”

Allura watches as Keith tosses the nuts into the fire and places some of the plants in a waterskin that he throws by the fire’s edge.

“Now we wait a little bit,” he says with a slight flourish.

She sits by the fire with her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. The flickering flames and the heat on her face reminds her of her own tears and screams so she buries her forehead in her knees to stop it. Keith bends the fire out of the pit and it disperses into the air after swaying a few times and Allura feels the obstructive heat dissipate. He flicks out the nuts with a stick and blows on it before cracking one open and tossing it to her.

“Try it,” he suggests.

She picks up the roasted nut that has turned a beautiful brown colour and is emitting a strong and delicious smell. She chews it and it’s almost a completely different flavour from what it tastes like normally but not disgusting at all. In fact, she would even eat these as a snack rather than eating out of necessity.

“...It’s good,” she admits and Keith’s mouth quirks up. He then holds out one of the vegetable leaves pulled out from the waterskin and Allura takes it directly from his hands.

“Whether you like it or not I am a firebender but it’s things like this I hope you’ll remember me for instead of…I don’t really know to be honest.”

“Your hostility when I first met you?” Allura asks with a raised eyebrow.

“What? Oh, that. It’s not personal, I just,” he pauses. This is exactly what got him in trouble with Lance so many times - his reluctance over the man underneath himself. “Just struggling with personal issues that maybe I take out on others,” he blurts out.

“It feels personal when you corner a stranger in an alley and demand answers,” Allura adds.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” he drawls out a little annoyed. “But the sentiment is shared when you distance yourself and show visible disgust.”

She glares at him and he glares back but winces when he catches himself doing it.

“Personal issues are a pain but it’s worth it to be brave sometimes.”

“I would say we’re plenty brave,” she chuckles sardonically.

“Yeah but like, I guess in a personal sort of way. A feelings sort of way…or something,” he flushes at his failure to express the meaning of Lance’s words said to him in the dark of night.

“A feelings sort of way,” repeats Allura and they fall quiet as they chew on their morning meal. Keith wordlessly moves to the tent, still munching on his food, so he can escape the awkwardness. He slides himself next to Lance who is laying on his back which Keith appreciates because he can chew while looking at Lance’s unobscured features.