Chapter Text
Lance sighed on his way to training. It wasn't like he could control it. He and the other Paladins had been away from Earth for a few weeks now. Things had settled down and they were currently planning their next move against the Galra. At the moment Lance was more preoccupied with the dragging weight and sleeplessness that seemed to have settled in during his time in space. There wasn’t much that he could do about it. It had started back when he had started Garrison and had moved to the dorms. At first it was excused as homesickness but subtly and slowly it became worse and worse. It wasn't til Lance was able to go swimming, even for such a short time, as part of a exercise program the Garrison had set up for the students that he was able to calm down and get through the rest of the year. But now that he was in space, a long long way away from Earth, he had no way of relieving the sluggishness that was very much becoming a huge part of his day and life in general.
Halfway through the sparring match against Hunk Lance pulled off his helmet and literally threw it across the training arena. Hunk took a startled step back and let his bayard deactivate. Sweat dripped down Lance's face and frustration clouded his mind. He was about to let out a scream of anger when a large hand places itself on his shoulder. Lance looks up and sees Shiro's worried face look down at him compassion can also be found in his face.
"Lance," Shiro begins. "are you alright? You seem to have something on your mind and it's distracting you from your training." Shiro's voice is low so that none of the others can listen in on their conversation.
Lance jerks away from Shiro and starts to walk to the exit. "There's nothing wrong Shiro. Just leave me alone." Lance spits out, his voice just below a normal conversational volume.
He leaves the room in a huff and returns to his own quarters to try to calm down before having to face his teammates again. Ripping off the rest of his paladin armor once he had entered his room, Lance threw himself on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. Lance sighed again and closed his eyes. Thinking back to when he was living with his family on the coastline. Back before he had been accepted to Garrison and was forced to live in such a horridly dry place. Back before Blue had claimed him as her paladin. There was a familiar presence in the corner of his mind. Blue was always there, always. She knew everything about him, even some that he didn't know at the moment. Lance had a feeling that Blue knew why he was feeling the way he was at the moment.
Blue purred a soft, wordless lullaby and Lance felt himself being pulled from the conscious world to join her in a more soothing and isolated one. His eyes closed and he drifted off to wherever Blue was taking him. He felt his own quintessence mingle and mix with hers. Dancing to a melody that represented both of them. It was beautiful and breathtaking. At least it was until he was rudely awakened by an insistent alarm that was summoning him to the bridge. Grumbling as he completely changed out of his armor and into his civilian clothes, he headed to the bridge. After the short nap and a bit of bonding with Blue, Lance felt considerably less aggravated at everyone and everything that he came in contact with. Of course he wasn't quite back to his normal happy-go-lucky self but it was a good start.
Stepping onto the bridge Lance saw everyone else was already there and waiting. Allura caught sight of him and went into her spiel of why they had all been summoned.
"I know that we have been more careful when it comes to distress signals and answering them," Allura said in her lilting accent. Coran was by her side and adjusted the data pad in his arms to pull up a map of the surrounding stars and their systems. "But there has been one that has caught our interest and I would like to send you all down to investigate where the signal is coming from."
Lance stared at the planet's holographic image. It looked like the surface was ninety percent water the other ten percent were small islands scattered about the planet's surface. Staring at the planet gave Lance this pulling feeling deep in his gut. This feeling set off an alarm in his head.
Pidge stepped up to the hologram, pushing up their glasses. "What's so interesting about this planet? It looks like there's not much for us to do there. Most of it is just water, meaning we can't really land the lions, let alone the Castle of Lions."
"Actually, there's an island in this part of the planet that should be large enough to support the lions." Allura answered manipulating the image so that it showed a small group of islands near the equator of the planet.
"I guess there's no threat to us if we just take a quick look. As long as we all keep an eye out for one another there shouldn’t be any problems. Is that clear?” Shiro said in an authoritative tone.
Everyone agreed and headed off to their lions. Lance still had an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach, almost as if when he and the others landed on the planet’s surface everything was going to hit the fan. Now in the cockpit of Blue, she purred in his mind trying to comfort her paladin. Lance sighed and got ready for departure.
There were no problems with landing on the islands or even getting there in the first place. The problem was trying to find the origin of the distress signal. As far as they could tell there wasn’t any sort of sentient life on the islands So they turned to the oceans. Not long aster Pidge started a deep sea scan of the planet the sun set over the horizon.
Shiro looked off into the horizon at the setting sun that had dyed the sky blood red and deep orange. “I guess we should set up camp here. We can’t leave the planet until we find the source of the distress signal.”
“Wait. We have to stay here?” Hunk squeaked. He was not comfortable with that idea. He laughed a bit nervously.
Keith had been strangely quiet for the day but broke his silence now. “Might as well get used to it. From what Pidge said it looks like it’s going to take some time before this mission is going anywhere.”
There was a bit of an argument amongst the other paladins but Lance paid them no attention. Instead he turned to face the ocean lapping at the shore. A soft warmth settled over his mind. Everything blurred and his only thought was to get to the ocean. He was rudely awoken from the dreamlike haze by Keith pulling him back up to the surface.
"You idiot!" He sputtered. "Don't you know how to swim?!"
Lance's head was pounding and his thoughts were sluggish. His limbs had turned into dead weight yet they buzzed with energy from contact with the saltwater. Everything around him was still slightly blurred and muffled but it didn't do much to block out the panic when Keith finally got them ashore.
Shiro was demanding that he stayed awake and Hunk was clinging to Lance's left arm while Pidge took his pulse on his right. Lance could just barely keep his eyes open, all he wanted to do was float down into the welcoming darkness that was sleep. It was then that he felt Blue's presence in his mind. She beckoned for him to surrender to the sleep that tugged at the edges of his consciousness. And with little convincing Lance submitted to the darkness.