Chapter Text
Lance soars through the canyon, eyebrows furrowed as he urges Red towards the Galra cruisers before them, all five ships spread out and swerving through obstacles. While he wasn’t entirely accustomed to the swap just yet, Lance believed he was getting a good grasp on it. There were only a handful of times Lance lost control of Red’s speed and sent him nearly flying into one of the other lions, but he’d say he’s gotten rather used to it… for the most part.
Not really.
…He was working on it?
Yellow and Black are at his side, and while he can’t see her Lance could feel Blue not too far behind through what remained of their bond. He could only assume Green was right beside her.
The cruisers before them had managed to steal sensitive from the coalition and the paladins were less than keen on letting them keep it.
Lance attempts to snap Red’s jaws around the ship in front of him only to undershoot and snap onto empty air. Red wasn’t much smaller than Blue, but Lance has quickly learned that even the smallest difference can leave an impact.
He tries to lunge for the cruiser again, only for the cruiser to swerve out of the way. Unfortunately, their swerve led them straight into Black’s swinging paw.
Idiot.
Yellow lunges forward and catches the cruiser between her jaws before chucking it into the canyon’s wall. It’s not long before Hunk’s anxious face flickers into view on Lance’s dashboard, his eyes wide. “ Uh, is it just me or is it getting a bit cramped in here? ”
There were two left and the canyon was beginning to grow thinner and thinner. Lance chanced a look up and couldn’t help but note how the rocks seem to have started forming a patchy ceiling above. It takes Lance a moment to realize Black has fallen behind him.
“ They’re trying to lose us, ” states Keith. “ We need to hurry things up. ”
Lance hesitates before letting his grip on Red’s controls tighten. “On it!”
He tries to ease into speeding up, but the faster he got the harder it was to avoid the walls that were slowly closing in. Lance gave an apologetic tap to Red’s controls every time his sides scrape against the chasm walls.
“ Guys- “
“I know, I can see it, Hunk.”
The Galra ships speed up, swerving and heading directly into a much narrower chasm.
Keith practically growls through the intercoms - or maybe that was a growl. Lance couldn’t tell - as Black shifted out of his field of view. “ We aren’t going to fit in there! ” he yells.
A rumble sounds at the back of Lance’s mind. A rumble that told him he could .
“ Don’t have to tell me twice! ” exclaims Hunk, and it only takes a few moments for Yellow to pull out of Lance’s view.
Lance’s eyes narrow at the chasm before them. “Allura, Pidge, and I can still make it,” he insists, flying forward. He can feel Blue hesitate before following him, Green hopefully not far behind.
“ Are you sure? ” Keith asks.
“Positive.”
There’s a beat of silence, and Lance prepares for resistance. “ Alright, good luck you three ,” Keith eventually calls out.
Red purrs as the three fly in, but Lance can’t help but eye the walls around them.
“Are you sure we can do this, Red?” whispers Lance, and all his lion does is give a reassuring nudge at his mind. “Alright.”
The three continue forward, sending blast after blast after the Galra as the walls around them begin to close in once more. Lance isn’t surprised when he feels Blue stop.
“ Keep going, ” is all Allura says before Blue falls back.
“ Is that really the best idea? ” Keith asks.
Lance’s grip on his controls tightens, unsure, but Red urges him forward. He attempts to swipe at the cruisers once more but groans when he once again undershoots Red’s range.
“ Lance, heads up! ” exclaims Pidge in his ear, and he barely has time to duck Red out of the way before a laser soars above him, hitting a stalactite and sending it falling onto one of the cruisers.
Lance laughs. “Nice shot, Pidge!”
The two race after the final ship. Lance lets out a laugh as he speeds towards it, painfully aware of the ever shrinking chasm around them.
“ Lance, I don’t think we can - ”
“Yes, we can!”
They were OK. Red and Green could do this. They’d be able to grab the ship, complete their mission, and-
A slam and a roar sounds behind Lance, and Red comes to a sudden halt.
A frustrated cry sounds from the intercom. “ Shoot! ” exclaims Pidge, and Lance whips Red around. While Red and Green were roughly the same size, there was one thing they hadn’t factored in.
“ Pidge? Is everything alright? ” asks Keith, worry bleeding into his tone.
“ Yeah, I’m doing great . I just love being stuck in a canyon .”
Green thrashes around, doing the best she can to wiggle out of the chasm she had lodged herself into. The shield on her back scraped against the stone above her, sending sparks below and reminding Lance of the only reason Red could continue on and Green couldn’t.
Lance flies back towards Pidge, rests Red’s paws on Green’s chest, and pushes. A frustrated cry leaves him when Green doesn’t budge.
“ We need to fall back and find another way to get them, ” suggests Allura.
“Will you get to the cruiser in time?”
Keith gives a shaky sigh. “ We don’t exactly have a choice. Hunk, Allura, let's go. Lance, help Pidge get out of there.”
Lance continues to push at Green, limbs tense as Pidge’s lion attempts to help his efforts through wriggling.
He wished he could do more. He wished he didn’t have to leave chasing the cruiser to the others. But they were stuck back here, unable to continue their chase-
He feels a brush against his mind, a rumble following soon after. A rumble telling Lance that they can still go after it .
But could they really?
Yes, we can.
What if they get stuck?
We won’t.
Lance sighs. “I don’t know Red, Pidge needs our help.”
Red roars and Lance is reminded that even more people will need their help if they don’t stop that ship.
So Lance narrows his eyes, shifts Red around, and bolts after them.
“ Lance, what are you doing? ” he hears Pidge cry out.
“ What’s happening? ” he hears Keith ask.
“Red thinks we can keep going. I’ve got this.”
“ Lance!”
“Sorry, I’ll come back to get you, I swear!” He shuts off his comms as the cruiser comes into view once more. It flies through the chasm, expertly dodging any lasers Lance hastily sends its way.
You need to go faster .
Lance glances down at Red’s controls before setting his gaze back in front of him. He gives Red another push forward and winces as he’s thrown further than he had anticipated.
He doesn’t mean to do it but he crashes into the cruiser, sending it tumbling away from him. He groans as it quickly rearranges itself and continues on, but one of its wings has clearly been damaged.
Perfect.
But what wasn’t perfect was that the chasm was continuing to narrow down, and this time Red was growing worried about his own size.
Lance takes in a breath and races towards it, not giving it much time to properly recover its bearings. He lets Red open her maw and prepares to snap it shut around the cruiser, but hesitates.
He could still see the entirety of the cruiser in front of Red’s maw. His attack wouldn’t hit.
He was going to undershoot again.
Grip tightening on his controls, Lance pushes forward - not by much, but Red lets him know it's enough - and snaps down on the cruiser, his lion shaking as it explodes in her grasp.
Lance lets out a cheer as Red continues to soar through the canyon. “Hey, guys I got the... Oh quiznack !”
Lance only barely manages to send Red out of the way of the rock pillar before them, wincing as his stomach scrapes against it. “Sorry about that,” he whispers, letting his index finger give another gentle tap to his controls.
A smile tugs at Lance’s lips as Red gives a comforting purr in response.
“I got both the ship and its metal,” states Lance, reactivating his intercom as he turns Red around. “How are you doing over there, Pidge?”
“ I used Green’s laser to help break free .”
“That’s great!”
“ Yeah, but it would’ve been better if I had somebody to help me, ” she snaps, her face appearing on his dashboard. Lance can’t help but avert his eyes from her glare.
“…At least I got the cruiser?”
“ Let's just go .”
It doesn’t take long for Lance to exit the canyon. The adrenaline that was once coursing through him has begun to wear off by the time Lance makes it to the castleship and his shoulders tense at the sight of his teammates standing in Red’s hangar.
He takes a moment after Red lands and places the remnants of the cruiser onto the castleship’s floor. Lance pulls off his helmet, runs a hand through his sweaty hair that he will definitely need to wash later, and leaves her cockpit.
“Lance-”
“No no no, stop the applause. It was all in a day’s work,” he says, sauntering out of Red.
“Are you stupid?” Keith grumbles. “What if you had gotten stuck in there? None of our lions could fit into that last stretch of the chasm. Black and Yellow couldn’t even follow you through most of it! We wouldn’t have been able to get to Red, and then what would you have done? You could have gotten hurt-”
Lance raises his hands up, eyes wide. “Woah, calm down, Keith. Red was the one telling me to keep going. You really need to have more faith in him.”
He sputters. “I-I do have faith in him!”
Lance gives a skeptical hum. “If you did you wouldn’t be freaking out on me.”
“I’m not freaking out on you!”
Red rumbles above them, and there’s a teasing tone to it.
A teasing tone that only backs up Lance’s argument.
Keith glares up at him. “Traitor.”
“Look, Red and I are fine,” starts Lance, resting a hand on Keith’s shoulder, “you and I both know he would have tried to stop me if it was too dangerous. Heck, I could feel when he started to worry about the walls in that last stretch, but Red knew we could handle it.”
Keith pauses before letting his shoulders slump. “Yeah, I know. Sorry, Pidge getting stuck… freaked me out.”
“And me flying off made things worse. It’s all good, everything worked out in the end. Nothing to worry about,” Lance pats Keith’s shoulder. “Now can we get our debrief over quickly? I need to wash my hair.”
Keith rolls his eyes and turns back to the others. “Alright, let’s head to the bridge.”
Lance watches as the group walks out of the hangar, but hangs back and turns to look up at Red.
He feels Red's warmth brush against his mind and Lancee reaches up to pet his still open maw. “You did good out there today, Red. Thank you.”
His warmth grew and Lance knew that even if he wasn’t used to the size difference between Blue and Red yet, he was getting there. Even if he stumbled a little along the way, he knew Red would be there to help him get back up.