#shance

Every now and then I could feel something beneath the surface, like an animal prowling behind bars. Waiting, longing to be set free.

That's how I found myself on the training deck at a crazy hour of the simulated night, staring down a hand to hand gladiator. I was wearing a set of breathable fighting clothes that Coran had programmed from the castle ship's replicator. I had done some stretches, and already done my nightly yoga that would loosen me up for a comfortable sleep, but sleep hadn't come.

Thoughts kept whirling in my head, too many thoughts. I needed to tire myself out, even if it ran the risk of turning into that dragon beast. My legs were restless, I shifted to the left. The gladiator shot forward, hands outstretched.

I threw myself backwards, narrowly avoiding the hit. I stayed on the defensive, weaving and constantly moving. It felt exhilarating the longer I kept away from the robot, looking for a good opening to give a quick jab, or swift kick.

The longer we went, the less track of time I kept, and the harder it became to dodge as fast, or keep away as far. A few hits would land, and I would stumble back, getting in a few hits of my own with my huge reach. Lethargy began to weigh down my limbs, and I sighed, my feet stopping.

"Simulation-" pain cut off my command, and I doubled over. Cramps were attacking my insides, clawing their way upwards. "End simulation!" I gasped, kneeling down to the floor. It felt the same as before, just perhaps more intense. Or maybe I had just noticed it later? Either way, I knew what to expect.

It built and built, exploding in the cracking sounds I remembered too vividly. The pain was agony again, too blinding for thought. My body thrashed as it changed, spasming and twitching as it elongated and grew new parts, replacing others. Ice exploded around me as it went, coating the ground and sealing the room.

Blue aggressively purred in the back of my mind, trying to comfort and soothe me. Remarkably it seemed to help, at the very least I wasn't focused solely on the pain anymore. Glancing down at my body as I had before, I watched as bones rearranged themselves underneath my skin; skin which was turning scaly. Feathers sprouted from my arms, and I merely continued to watch as I turned blue.

Finally the pain began to recede, and I was left panting on the floor of the training room, the floor coated in ice. I didn't hear any running footsteps, so I decided to stay where I was, allowing the echoes of pain to throb through me, distantly aware of Blue in the back of my mind purring away. At least this time she hadn't gone nuts.

Blue pushed a firm feeling of I resent that through our bond, and I laughed. Although the sound came out more high-pitched and screeching than I was prepared for. Startled, I scrambled into more of a "standing" position, crouched upright on the ice. Slowly I relaxed, skating over to the doors, sliding through when they opened for me.

Now what? I grumbled to myself, head twisting this way and that to look down either end of the hallway. Sighing, I decided to seek out Allura and Coran. They were probably on the bridge doing whatever it was they did when we weren't in battle. Probably making repairs to the ship, or steering.

Maneuvering through the halls wasn't easy. The claws that had replaced my thumbs didn't have good purchase on the smooth metal floors. My wings were ungainly, bumping into the walls and just being an overall nuisance. Luckily the powerful muscles in the rest of me kept me moving like a snake, my head low to the ground.

Reaching the doors to the bridge, I was relieved to have not run into anyone. The doors slid open, and four sets of eyes looked my way. I froze, watching as they all did the same.

Shiro, Pidge, Coran, and Allura were gathered around the main control panel, Coran having paused in whatever he was saying. What the hell was everyone doing up so late? Why were they having a meeting?

"Lance?" Allura asked hesitantly, frowning and stepping towards me.

I nodded my head slowly, curling around myself a bit to get the rest of my body in the room without getting too much closer to everyone else. The rest of the team looked at each other a bit before relaxing their tense stances. Pidge followed Allura, both of them approaching me steadily. Pidge's eyes ran down my form, eyes wide behind their glasses.

"So, how did this happen? Were you wrong about the trigger?" Allura finally asked, seeming at a loss of what to do. I didn't blame her, I had no idea of what she could do either.

I shook my head, grimacing that I couldn't properly communicate with them. Wait, can I? Opening my mouth, I attempted to speak, but all that came out was a strangled growl that startled everyone, myself included. Huffing, I curled up more, my eyes trained on Shiro, who had yet to look away from me. His eyes were comically wide, mouth dropped open slightly.

Maybe this was his first time really getting a look at me like this? I preened under his attention, ruffling my wings a bit.

"Well… since we don't know how to turn you back… we will have to figure it out." Allura sighed, running a hand through her hair. "In the mean time, we need to finish up here, it is quite late, even for us." Turning her back on me, she moved back to the others.

Pidge stayed next to me however, eyes eagerly taking me in. It would have been uncomfortable, but I could tell they meant it scientifically only. Well no, that's also uncomfortable. It took Allura calling Pidge twice to get them to pay attention to them talking instead of me.

I didn’t bother listening, if they had wanted me here for it, they would have called me there. At least they hadn’t stopped the meeting entirely, or tried to kick me out. Tuning them out, I let my mind go, just moving slightly. I nuzzled underneath my feathers, ruffling them a bit, then combing through some of them at a time. Am I seriously grooming myself right now? Sighing, I decided to go with it. Might as well. What's the harm? I didn't stop until I felt someone poke at me, my immediate reaction to rear back and snarl.

Barely repressing the urge, instead I raised my head just enough to look whoever was touching me in the eye. My head was bigger than Hunk's torso, but it was a polite attempt.

Ice blue eyes met silver grey. Shiro was smiling sadly at me, his hands carefully clasped behind his back.

"Lance? You want to come and try to get some sleep?" He asked, gesturing to the door. Almost everyone else was gone from the room, Allura and Shiro being the only two that stayed behind. Allura was working away at her console, completely focused on her task.

Sighing, I nodded. Allura wouldn’t be able to help anyway. At the very least it was late enough at night, everyone needed their sleep. We could figure things out in the morning.

…

Waking up as a dragon was almost as weird as trying to find which way was comfortable to sleep as a dragon. I had followed Shiro back to my room, and he had been kind enough to open my door for me since it wasn’t automatic. Once inside though, I had to basically just curl up on the floor, which wasn’t very fun.

Until I breathed a nest of ice on the ground at least. After that I was quiet comfortable which was a little disturbing.

Leaving my room for the kitchen proved to be a challenge as my door required a handprint. I did not have a handprint.

I settled for banging on it with my head in a pattern until someone noticed. Thankfully that someone was Pidge. They looked about dead on their feet, hair sticking up in several places it shouldn’t be. Leaning over them, I tried to lick it back down into place, but Pidge shrieked in alarm, causing me to backpedal a bit.

Why was I licking their head? My thought whirled in a panic, finally settling as I slithered from the room. Pidge wasn’t following me, so I decided to go to the common area since the door there was motion activated.

The room was empty, so I curled up in the middle of the circle of the couches, vaguely reminded of the ice nest I had made in my room. It was comfortable, not as comfortable, but enough. I closed my eyes, relaxing.

…

“Lance?” I was almost getting tired of hearing my name said in such a tone. A mixture of surprise, and alarm wasn’t always welcome. Keith’s black mullet came into view as I opened my eyes. “So this is where you’ve been. Shiro said you had changed into a dragon again, and we were worried when Pidge said they had let you out of your room hours ago.” He crossed his arms, shifting weight from one leg to the other.

I huffed out a breath, the cloud of ice vapor enveloping Keith and making him shiver. Raising my head from the ground, I leveled with him, moving to look at him directly with both of my eyes, one at a time. The image was sharper and full of different details I couldn’t see with my human eyes.

“Well? Are you going to come to breakfast?” He asked, shifting away from me. I could see the sweat gathering on his brow and upper lip, he was nervous. Afraid of me? Why?

Nodding, I nudged him as gently as I could with my snout towards the door. The gentleness was rewarded with a fond look and a snort.

“Alright buddy, let’s get you fed.”

…

Unfortunately none of us knew how I could change back. So I stayed a dragon for several days. At first we assumed that I would change back after the same amount of time had passed as the last time. But the hours came and went, and I remained scaly.

The only real problem came when a planet called for our help. As Voltron it was our duty to help those in need, but it would be difficult since we couldn’t actually form Voltron without Blue and I.

“Damnit!” Keith cursed, slamming his fist down on the meeting table. “Haven’t we figured out something by now? He’s been like this for a week now! Lance! Why haven’t you figured it out yet?!” He was frustrated, that’s for sure, but that didn’t mean he was allowed to be like that.

Rearing up, arm-wings straightened out, I roared, leaning in close to his face for optimal effectiveness. Ice vapor poured from my open maw, drifting down slowly to the ground. Keith flinched back on what was probably instinct, before reaching for his knife. Pulling it out, he launched himself at me across the table, landing on my long neck.

Before I could throw him off or claw him off, I yelped in pain. Keith that fucker did he just stab me?! Roaring in anger, I reached up, swiping him off of me. He hit the table hard, making an ‘oof’ sound that pleased my ears.

My head darted forward, grabbing him by the collar of his jacket. Keith slid out of it, hissing at me in warning.

“Guys! STOP!” Our team was yelling at us. Dimly I noticed my blood splattering to the ground and table, the dark blue color gleaming and standing out starkly against the white. I growled in response to my team, lunging for Keith again. He couldn’t do that kind of crazy shit to me, it was dangerous!

I made a grab for Keith’s shirt, but he danced out of the way before I could get a good hold on the black fabric. Keith ran from me, darting to the door. I scrambled after, my claws leaving huge marks in the floor. The shouting for us to stop continued as I chased Keith down the hallway.

If the others follow, they could become entangled in something dangerous, I’ll protect mine. Pausing momentarily, I breathed heavily, ice flowing from my throat to coat the ground in a super slick layer of ice. Just in case I also made a wall of ice that reached the ceiling at the space where the ice slick ended. Turning back, I caught Keith’s frightened eyes just before he darted around a corner.

Using my belly, I slithered down the metal hallway, leisurely following Keith. It wasn’t a desperate dash. My scales scraped pleasantly over the surface of the floor, making a rasping sound that echoed far in front of me. A thought occurred to me, and I frowned. He could go to Red, and she would let him in, and I would be able to do nothing about it. He would escape punishment.

Moving faster, I turned corners, my nose delicately picking up where he had freshly stirred the air with his scent.

Ah, he’s gone to the training room, those doors there aren’t the best at keeping me out, but he could have a surprise waiting for me inside. I thought to myself, halting for a moment outside of the doors. Pushing on the button that would open the training room doors, I slithered inside the brightly lit room.

Keith was nowhere in sight. But his fresh scent was here? Confused, I twisted and turned. Finally looking up to the control balcony, I saw his form moving about. Launching myself into the air, I made myself slam into the windows. They didn’t break, but startled him backwards in alarm.

I stayed aloft, pouring ice onto the balcony. Once it was too cold, he would come out and then I would punish him for the bleeding wound on my neck.

“Sorry Lance,” His voice hurt my ear holes, echoing too loudly over the speaker system in the training room. I flinched back, reeling away from the balcony.

Form the ceiling emerged plasma guns, the kind we trained with when we were practicing on how to avoid the hallway drones on most Galra ships, and to avoid fighter pilot fire when we were on the ground. They swiveled around, aiming for me. I was a huge target, it would be mostly impossible for me to dodge.

What the actual fuck was Keith trying to do? Kill me? The pain in my chest was soon blocked out by physical pain, as two shots hit behind my wings. I shrieked, the sound crisp and thin like ice itself. It was painful to hear.

More shots fired, and I did my best to avoid them, weaving in and out. I fired my own ice back at them, destroying several with deadly precision. Why is Keith doing this? The thought wouldn’t leave me alone, haunting as it echoed in time with each shot.

I screeched as several more hits landed, one of them hitting on my arm wing. It was too painful to continue flying, my arm wing refused to cooperate with me, barely staying open enough to keep me in a glide that wouldn’t have me slamming into the ground. I still skid, a couple more shots finding their homes on my neck and tail.

Shooting a few feeble ice blasts at the ceiling I finally noticed how weak I was becoming. Blood pooled around me, and my movements were sluggish. I couldn’t fit inside a healing pod, if I didn’t get help I could bleed out. Keith needs to learn his lesson! A voice whispered to me, and I realized I had been listening to it for a while without knowing that it was subtly different from my own usual inner monologue.

Sluggishly I slithered to the doors, hoping they would open for me. Why is Keith doing this? They opened, but a few shots too close to the joint of my arm wings had me collapsing forward with a weak roar of pain. My neck was at least in the hallway, and the door wouldn’t close with an obstruction in the way. Why is Keith doing this?!

I couldn’t think clearly anymore, my vision swimming. At least there weren’t any more shots hitting my scales.

“Lance! What did you do to Kei-!” Shiro’s voice cut off in a strangled yell, probably catching clear sight of me, or the blood. “Lance-” Shiro gagged, skipping back almost.

…*…

Dark blue blood smeared the hallway a little bit, but there was an alarmingly huge pool gathering underneath Lance's dragon body. My knees jolted against the shock of my feet pounding into the training deck. Lance wasn't moving much, just small twitches here and there. It was cause for panic, especially when I saw the number of shots he had taken.

"How did this happen?!" I yelled, kneeling down next to my bleeding friend. My hands didn't know what to do, I didn't know what to do. Lance couldn't fit inside a healing pod at this size, there was no way. Is Lance… is he going to die?

PREVIOUS!

I searched his face, head tilting this way and that.

Breathe and think warmly. Blue suggested, her emotions soothing as always.

My maw opened, and I breathed deeply, thinking of the sun and Varadero Beach. The ice covering Shiro rippled, and began to melt away as though it were being dissolved. Shiro gasped as his mouth was uncovered. I breathed a soft breath of relief, careful to aim the freezing breath away from him.

My eyes met Allura's, and she nodded slowly, seeming to come to an understanding.

"Keith no!" Allura cried, lurching forward, her hand reaching out as if to stop the Red Paladin.

I looked down at Keith's bayard, where it stuck out of me. Instantly I could tell that I wasn't in danger of dying from this wound. It hadn't struck anything major, no organs at least, and the scales covering my skin had stopped it from going too far.

Keith tried to yank his sword out, but I leaned my head down closer to him, and he fell away, scrambling back. Shiro caught him, now fully thawed. He was shaking with cold, but appeared otherwise unharmed.

I grasped the hilt of his bayard between my teeth, pulling it out in one smooth motion. Blood oozes slowly from the wound, and I breathe gently on it, sealing the wound with ice.

Looking out at my frozen teammates, I sigh internally. I obviously can't stay on the ship while I'm like this.

Escape.

Surging forward, I snap my wings open, ignoring the flare of pain in the joint Shiro had touched. My team screamed, falling back in alarm, and making way for me to dart past.

I fly back through the tunnels, extending my senses as far as they'll go. I need an out here, need to leave the ship. I follow my nose, pausing in Blue's hangar. Her eyes follow me, and they almost seem to roll.

With a soft roar, the doors open, allowing me to escape from the castle ship.

…

The planet is hot. It's melting my ice almost as fast as I'm breathing it. I can feel myself getting dehydrated. This ice is going to run out of juice soon enough. I feel lethargic, limbs heavy.

It seemed subtle at first, but now there's a growing pain in my body, reminding me of how this had all started. I groaned at the feeling, the sound coming out as more of a growl. The pain grew, and I heard snapping again. Pain lanced through me, and this time I roared, spraying the area around me with ice thick enough to keep out a shot from Hunk's bayard and Shiro's fist.

Mounting pain drove my body to writhe into the sand beneath me, uncaring of the wounds I had received by accident-on-purpose from my teammates. I thrashed, feeling my limbs shrink and change again.

Blacking out was a blessing, even though I knew it was more dangerous to have done so out here.

…

Making it back to the castle with a sword wound and your arm burned so badly you can't move it was quite the challenge. But I made it, and inside even. I was stumbling to the healing bay when someone finally found me.

It was Allura, she seemed to have been waiting for me. With her superior strength she hefted me into her arms.

"Wow, normally I'm the one trying to sweep pretty girls off their feet. Never met one that could sweep me off of mine," I joked weakly. Her grim expression faded somewhat, a tiny smile tugging at the edge of her lips.

Setting me inside the healing pod, she closed the door.

…

Stumbling out, I almost lost my lunch. My stomach rolled, and my head went with it, making me groan.

Gentle hands caught me, and I jerked, noticing it was Shiro.

"Shiro?" I asked quietly. He looked fine, the small smile on his face as gentle as his hands.

"Hey there buddy, glad to have you back with us. When Allura told us all you had been found and put in a healing pod, we were all so relieved. How do you feel?" He asked, his voice soothing me as much as Blue's purrs.

"Ugh I think I'm about to throw up," I groaned. Switching species within twenty four hours probably put quite the strain on my body. "I also might pass out," I said faintly, black dots swimming in my vision momentarily.

Shiro held me close, gently rubbing circles in my back. "You were pretty banged up. I'm glad you were able to get away from that dragon. Who knew? Dragons. In space." Shiro sounded like he was trying to force it, which almost made me laugh more than his pathetic attempt at a joke had been.

"Lol, let me stick to the jokes, okay?" I wheezed, teeth clenched as I tried to keep myself conscious and not sick all over Shiro.

"Alright," he murmured, his hands still rubbing against my back. It felt really nice if I was being honest with myself. I melted into him, sighing. Shiro continued to hold me for a while, then when he shifted I pulled away.

"Thanks man, I think I'm good. Either way though, I need a shower and then some sleep. Did…" I hesitated, but pushed on, "did my toiletries get retrieved from the frozen bathroom?" I asked, biting my lip.

Shiro raised one eyebrow, the prick being able to do it perfectly. "I don't think so. I'm sure you can ask Coran for replacements." He replied, a comfortable smile tugging at his lips. I wanted to melt right there, the look of concern fading from his face to be replaced with happiness made me want to swoon for different reasons than the healing pod.

"I'll go find him, thanks Shiro." I marched off, needing to put some distance between Shiro and I. I had to find Allura, she seemed to know most of what happened to me.

As expected, I found her on the bridge. She turned as I entered, a concerned frown on her face. Seeing how green I looked, she helped me over to sit at the steps of the command center, kneeling next to me for a moment before she began pacing.

I watched her in silence for a while, trying to let my stomach settle, and keeping the black dots away.

"You were that dragon correct?" Allura asked bluntly, swinging to a stop in front of me, her expression unreadable.

It seemed pointless to deny it at this point. I nodded, biting my lip and looking away from her. I should have told her about that alien cursing me. I shouldn't have assumed it was going to be nothing.

"None of you informed me humans could do that!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air, then frowning down at me. "But judging by their reactions, they did not know either. Is this a rare ability? Why did it happen?" Her questions were only jumbling my brain further, and I bid her to stop, raising my hands.

"That was the first time I've ever done that. Humans aren't supposed to turn into dragons, ever. This isn't natural Allura and I'm scared!" I shocked myself by admitting that, closing my mouth with a snap.

Allura looked stricken, and came to sit down next to me, holding her knees. "So then, do you know why it happened at all? Could it happen to the other Paladins?" she asked softly. Allura seemed to make herself smaller, reaching to gently grasp my trembling hands.

"That planet… the one we saved that had all those women on it? The people with magic?" I made sure she knew which one I was talking about before continuing. "I accidentally said something wrong. One of the women, her hair was done so beautifully, I wanted to know how she had done it," I took in a deep breath.

"I think on that planet their hair means something very different than on Earth. I wanted to know how to do her hair so I could… so I could replicate it on my little sisters. She was angry at that, and she 'cursed' me." I finished simply, looking at Allura's impassive face.

"We save them, and they dare to attack a Paladin of Voltron?" Allura's face had turned thunderous, teeth clenched. "It does not matter that you insulted her, you did not know any better! Those fools should not have assumed we knew everything about their culture! You are not Altean, do not look Altean! Just because you are with the last- the last two Alteans does not mean you know as much about diplomacy as we do!" Allura was ranting now, back on her feet, and pacing angrily back and forth. She reverted to a different tongue, one which sounded like flowing water, but clearly was still angry.

I shrank back, relief flooding through me that she didn't blame me, but still wary of whatever conclusion she might come to.

"Why did you not tell me, or anyone else, that you had been cursed?" Allura suddenly asked in English, her voice much kinder than it had been a mere moment ago, but still mostly fierce.

I flinched back. "I couldn't tell that anything about me was different. I thought it hadn't been literal Princess, otherwise I would at least have come to Coran about it." Lowering my head, I closed my eyes, concentrating on breathing. "We need to figure out what caused me to shift forms," I murmured, running my hands down my legs to clutch at my ankles.

Allura made a sound of agreement, her feet moving to resume her pacing. "We need to make sure that we know what triggers it so we can do it at the right time for it to be helpful to us in our fight against the Galra."

I blanched, head snapping up. "You want to what?" I demanded, sitting up straighter when she paused to look at me. She looked confused, as if this should all be obvious to me.

"Use this to our advantage Lance. We need to harness this new power of yours, and use it to help our fight." She repeated, cocking her head to the side when I began to shake my head in denial.

"I can't keep doing that Allura. I don't even want anyone else to know I have this curse. Hell, I want to figure out how to break it, not trigger it!" I exclaimed, now very alarmed at what she was proposing. The very idea of enduring that pain over and over again had me gasping and slumping over my bent knees.

My body was shaking, sweat dripping down my back. Fear lanced through me, and a stroke of clarity brought some of my troubles into focus.

"I know the trigger." I stated, cutting into whatever Allura had been saying. I wasn't paying attention anyway.

"And?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Not perfectly like Shiro could, thank god.

"I'll only tell you if you promise not to use it on purpose. I need you to actively help me in keeping away from it." I ordered strictly, eyes narrowing on her own.

Allura sighed, but nodded anyway. "I promise not to trigger the transformation Lance."

"Heat. I need to be really hot to transform. Like, overheated," I explained, wiping the sweat off my brow. "I have no idea how much is too much though, and I don't know what causes me to turn back either," I finished, glancing up to see her calculating face.

"But yesterday was definitely too much? The extra training with Keith? You take cold showers yes?" Allura questioned, her tone more of muttering than directing at me, until the last question that is.

"Yeah, I had started to cool down, but the transformation had already started I guess." Shrugging, I breathed a sigh of relief when I felt myself begin to cool. I relaxed somewhat, looking up at Allura again.

She wasn't looking at me, but had her chin grasped in a hand, deep in thought.

"Whether you like it or not, we will have to punish the one who did this. You were ignorant of their customs, and they should have taken that into account. And Lance," Allura was frowning sadly now, her brow crumpled a little. "We need to tell the rest of the team. If at the very least to explain why your training routine will be changing."

I bit my lip, feeling my teeth sink into the flesh until I tasted blood on my tongue. They can't know! My mind screamed at me, but before I could open my mouth to protest, I felt the comforting purr of Blue in the back of my mind. She fed me images of them hugging me, and I swallowed, nodding.

"Alright, but let me tell them. I don't… I don't want them to feel guilty for hurting me. Let me think how to tell them okay?" I sighed, hanging my head.

"Of course, I know how much they care for you. Finding out they hurt you will probably be a shock to them. I will give you until the next training session, alright?" Without waiting for a reply, her expression darkened. "While you plan that, I have a call I need to make to the Enri'ians." Allura growled, turning to Coran's control panel.

I took that as my signal to leave, and made my way quietly to my room. I would figure it out there, and in the morning, I would be ready to tell everyone.

…

I was not ready to tell anyone.

Hunk had made my favorite alien meal, in celebration that I was back and out of the pod. Keith was even acting friendly towards me. I winced, looking from everyone else to Allura's expectant gaze. She kept raising her eyebrows, and Coran had already taken notice. Thank god for the fact that he was a diplomat too, and patient enough to wait for me to speak.

I bit my abused lip, thoughts racing. I had no idea how to do this without them all feeling horrible! And it wasn't their fault really, they hadn't known. If I don't spit this out soon however, Allura is going to force me on the spot.

Clearing my throat, I stood up, catching everyone's eye.

"Hunk, thank you. That was amazing buddy," I gulped, looking down at my hands. "I have to tell you all something though. My training will be different now, and Allura said that you all need to know why," I shot a baleful look at her, letting the Princess know that I really was not a fan of this decision.

"That dragon you guys fought the other day-"

"Where did it go anyway? You killed that thing right?" Pidge interrupted, adjusting their glasses.

I gulped again, eyes wide and breathing shallow. I clenched my fists tightly, nails biting into my palms. They'll think I'm a monster. One glance at Allura however, and I knew I couldn't back out now. Why can't the alarms go off when I need them to? I begged mentally, feeling my chest tighten in a manner I knew wasn't good.

"Lance?" Shiro's voice was right next to me, his gentle hands touching my arms. Without wanting to, I flinched away from the Galra hand, the memory of the searing pain still too fresh. His eyes tightened, but he didn't move closer.

"God, I don't know how to say this, but um that dragon was… uh, me," I finally blurted. My eyes darted around the room, catching everyone's expressions. They ranged from shock to horror. "So yeah, my training is gonna have to be adjusted a bit, and that's why I had to tell you guys so you weren't like 'oi Lance what are you doing' or whatever," I finished in a rush, still breathing heavily. I pulled further away from the table, rushing from the room.

No matter how much I loved them, I couldn't bear their looks of horror any longer.

…*…

My hands were shaking. My eyes were glued to where Lance had been moments before. Those injuries make a lot more sense coming from us than the dragon. My mind helpfully supplied, twisting around that little flinch Lance's body had made when I had tried to touch him.

"Oh," Hunk's voice was loud in the silence of Lance's hasty retreat. The gentle giant looked as though he was about to have a breakdown. He was holding his head in his hands, rocking back and forth. Hunk didn't make more sounds, but the fine tremors of his body let me know all I needed to know.

Pidge's face was completely blank, a quirked eyebrow the only sign that they hadn't turned into a machine. Their mouth was slightly open, as though to question something. They probably wanted to bombard Lance with a million questions, but the more pressing matter that we had attacked and injured him seemed to be plaguing them too much to form any kind of coherency.

Keith seemed equally as blank, his eyes glassy as though he were fighting back tears. His grip on the table made his knuckles white, and his neck strained against the tension he was under. He might think the entire thing is his fault, he led the chase after all.

Allura didn't look any different. Coran looked mildly surprised, but not too shocked. Allura did tell us to stop, and Coran is perceptive enough to figure it out on his own. My mind supplied, eyes glancing down at my hands which had clenched into tight fists in a failed attempt to stop the shaking.

"The injuries… he was in the healing pod for almost a week because we- we hurt him," I murmured, eyes now on the closed door Lance had run through.

Allura finally spoke up, a grim expression on her face. "On the planet Enri'ia, they are able to shape Quintessence inside living things. They also have a number of customs that when seemingly insulted, have dire consequences. Lance accidentally offended a very powerful one, or her ire was so great that she put everything into it for the curse to be this extreme." Holding up her hand to halt Keith's indignant interruption, she pressed onwards.

"I have already spoken with their queen, and if its this severe, they will be unable to undo the curse. This does not mean its permanent, it can be broken, but they are not able to untangle everything artificially without doing further damage to Lance.

"I know it was a shock, and that all of you feel guilty for hurting him, but he does not blame you. You must know that he cares for all of us deeply and that he knows none of you would have done so if you had known it was him. Please, he would not want all of you to feel this way about what happened, it was an accident." Allura sighed, clasping her hands together, squeezing them tightly until I could see the knuckles go white.

Looking around the table, I watched as we all began to nod, myself included.

"I need to speak with him," I stood from my chair, making my way out of the room. I headed to where I thought Lance may be, opening the door to his room.

The room was empty. Next I checked Blue's hangar, and let out a soft sigh of relief when I could see his foot dangling from the top of her head.

"Lance?" I called up to him, concerned.

I heard his sigh from all the way down here, and watched as he climbed down from his lion. He stood a little ways away from me, looking falsely confident. His shoulders were tense, yet he had his hands loose, rocking back and forth on his feet.

"What can I do you for?" His grin was painfully fake, and I wanted to grimace at the expression. I held myself carefully still however, my eyes roving over his clothed form.

There's probably a handprint on his arm. My mind whispered darkly to me, and I closed my eyes, breathing deeply.

"I'm sorry, I didn't… I didn't mean to hurt you."

I heard a small gasp of breath, eyes snapping open to meet his. He looked completely shocked to say the least, eyes wide, hands stretching out to me.

"Shiro, I know you didn't mean to, I know you thought you were protecting everyone and trying to find me. I don't blame any of you for what you did. For what any of them did," he corrected himself quickly, scrambling to reassure me.

How had I not noticed this about him? Lance's very persona seemed to revolve around keeping everyone else happy, making them feel okay, no matter the cost to himself. It was painfully admirable. I tried to offer a smile in reassurance myself, not moving any closer. I kept eyeing the arm I had hurt, and I knew I needed to stop, Lance would notice, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

He noticed and sighed, pushing up the sleeve of his jacket. Sitting right above the joint of his elbow, was shiny skin just a shade or two lighter than the surrounding area. Just on the edges of it I could see where my palm had turned into my fingers, and wrapped around the appendage. The sight sickened and fascinated me.

"I don't want you blaming yourself Shiro. You could have had no idea it was me." He murmured softly, pushing down the sleeve again.

How could I not blame myself when my handprint was literally burned into his skin? I nodded anyway however, as Lance was clearly expecting some form of answer from me.

Sighing, Lance shook his head. "I know you don't believe me, but in time you will. Now, maybe lets go and join up with the others for a game night?" He suggested, offering me his right hand.

Hesitantly, I grasped it with my prosthetic, watching for any kind of reaction. Lance huffed, dragging me away from Blue and out the hangar doors, off to find the others.

PREVIOUS!

NEXT!

My eyesight was bleary as I opened them, staring into my best friend's face. Nausea lurched in my stomach, and I lurched to the side, hurling everything in my stomach outside. Luckily Hunk danced out of the way, wincing as I coughed. Pain still echoed in my body, throbbing with each cough.

Looking around, I saw we were at the front doors of the Castle of Lions. Remembering A'mi and her "curse" my hands flew to my head, clutching at the hair that didn't budge when I tugged on it.

Stomach loosening, I looked up at Hunk, a sheepish smile on my face.

"Sorry buddy… I guess the food and drink didn't agree with me," I tried to reassure him, but I could tell that Hunk wasn't quite convinced. He patted my back, knowing just where to rub to make me feel better.

"Well… let's go ahead and get on the ship. Everyone else will be back soon." Hunk grabbed my hand, helping me to my feet.

I smiled gratefully, following behind him as he stepped into the castle ship. Worry knotted my gut. What had that alien woman meant when she cursed me? It wasn't literal was it? Was she going to make my hair fall out? Or something worse?

Slipping into my room, I worried on what 'something worse' could even be.

…

Soon enough the worry faded into the background. Nothing happened for several weeks, and I relaxed somewhat. The rest of the team didn't noticed anything new about me, so I was even further reassured that the curse was purely metaphorical, and nothing that could be real.

Oh how I wish the universe didn't love to prove me wrong.

"Lance! You need to duck faster! What is your deal? We've been running this drill over and over again and you're only getting worse!" Keith shouted,  his hands clenched at his sides as though he wanted to hit something. Probably me.

He stalked forward, halting the simulation. His fist drew back, and I dodged as it swung past my head, shocked.

Definitely me!

Pain had begun to tingle up and down my spine, spreading slowly. Sweat poured down my neck and over my brow, stinging my eyes. Keith swung again, but I caught his fist, panting and stumbling back at the force of it.

"Dude chill out, unlike you I get tired after a while. Plus I think my legs are starting to cramp. Not to mention sweat is getting in my eyes." Releasing his hand, I backed away. "I'm hitting the showers, I won't be able to do much more today than get beat up."

Keith scowled, but surprisingly let me go.

As I made my way down to the communal showers, the cramping pain got worse, spreading to all of my limbs. I winced with each step, hurrying along to get to the relaxation of the shower.

Stripping down, I froze, noticing that my skin looked cracked in a few places. Wrinkling my nose, I grabbed an extra tub of moisturizer to bring into the shower area. It wasn't unusual for my skin to react negatively to being forced in the space suit and rubbed against sweat. Maybe unusual for it to be so advanced, for me to not notice, but it happened.

The water was pleasant on my skin, helping to soothe the pain momentarily. I liked to shower cold after I overheated during practice, and it always soothed my aching muscles. Unfortunately the water didn't remain soothing for long, as the pain came stabbing back, worse than before even. Gasping, I fell to my knees, hearing several sharp cracks. What followed was agony.

Blue roared in the back of my mind, concerned. It was too much pain to even scream, my mouth opening and closing as it felt as if every bone in my body was breaking, as though my skin was being peeled off. I screwed my eyes shut, feeling as though my head were being split open with Pidge's bayard. My back arched to an angle that would have been painful had pain not covered literally every other surface of my body. Tears ran down from my eyes, mixing with the shower water.

Eyes flying open to look down at myself I realized dimly that it wasn't that far from the truth. Cracks and snaps filled the shower, barely drowned out by the pounding water. I watched as scales grew over my skin, felt as my bones began to elongate, stretching impossibly. My skin stretched, snapped, reformed, grew foreign textures.

My body was twitching on the ground, seizing up in movements that probably looked as painful as they felt. Is this an alien seizure? Is this some kind of illness picked up from an alien planet? Is the food goo finally killing me? My thoughts raced wildly as my body continued to spasm and writhe on the floor.

I was pretty sure I blacked out for a few moments, awakening as the pain began to fade away. It was gradual, the pain leaving in ebbing flows that I didn't want to trust.

Gasping for air, I immediately looked down at myself. Screeching, I let out a gust of air so cold it froze the water and the shower head. Thick ice now coated the entire showering area even, almost entrapping my… my body?

My legs were gone, instead my body was more like a snake's, except huge. My arms weren't really arms anymore either. They were giant, feathery wings. Like a bat, but with feathers. My mind supplied to the rest of me. Dark blue claws extended from the end of the joint, acting kind of like a thumb. They flexed when I moved them at least, and seemed to hold some considerable strength.

Dark blue feathers that matched my wings decorated the end of my tail, fanning out where the muscle ended in a point. Like a rudder. My mind continued to supply, quite helpfully actually. Light blue scales covered my underbelly, gradually coloring darker as they neared my spine. Snow camouflage, or ocean camouflage. My neck was incredibly long, I was able to turn it around completely, eyes wildly taking in every new feature.

So this must be the curse A'mi had been talking about. She… turned me into a dragon? My thoughts were a little fuzzy, panic trying to break through to take control. Panic made my heart constrict in my chest, breathing heavier and heavier clouds of ice.

Blue spoke suddenly into my mind, her emotions soothing enough to help me calm down. If someone came in here right now, what would they even do? How would they react to seeing a giant, ice-breathing dragon in the communal showers?

The thought almost made me snicker until my thoughts wandered to how I was supposed to get out of this room. I didn't have a hand anymore, and the vents were too small for me to squeeze through anymore.

Alarmed at the thought of being trapped, something deeper within myself flared to life. Slithering over to the door that lead out into the hallway, I breathed deeply onto it, watching the ice encase it. Pressing against the metal, I winced mentally as it screeched before giving way.

Someone was bound to have heard that, or the door breaking probably sent some kind of alert to the bridge.

Slithering off, my deeper self growled at how cramped the hallways were. My wings were helping me along, dragging my body in larger motions than mere slithering would have done, but they weren't meant to bend in this manner for long periods of time. My wings ached to stretch and take flight, but I knew I would just end up hitting everything on my way to…

Freezing, I realized I had no idea where I was going. I couldn't go back to my room, I would have the same problem as the last set of doors I had gone through. I didn't want to be found either, and a giant hole in my doors wasn't exactly subtle.

I'll have to find some kind of secluded place, deep in the castle until I can… can I turn back? I didn't want to focus on something I couldn't fix right this moment, instead I focused on hauling myself deeper into the ship. Thoughts of if I could even turn back would have to wait until I felt I was safe. Safe from my own teammates that would probably start looking for me when they saw the state of the bathroom, and be hunting down something with claws. Aka: me.

Shortly after I left the main hallways that everyone used, an alarm began to blare throughout the building. It wasn't the usual alarm that would announce an attack, so I relaxed somewhat. It actually probably meant that someone had discovered the doors I had broken and the destroyed shower area. Sorry Coran, another thing to add to your list of repairs. It also meant they knew I was gone, and when the other Paladins responded, the hunt would be on. The sound rang painfully inside my head as I moved faster.

Maybe they wouldn't be too worried, after all, Blue's special ability is an ice ray. Maybe it's kinda normal for Paladins to have some kind of power like that? I hoped, twisting down new hallways and deeper into the castle than I had ever gone before.

The hallways were darker, the turquoise crystals dimmer, as though to conserve energy. Since this part of the castle wasn't really used it would be silly to keep the entire thing completely lit up the entire time.

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I noticed that the hallways were getting a little wider. The deeper self whispering in emotions urged me to take flight, spread my wings. Listening, I gave a few powerful thrusts of my wings before taking off.

Flying was instinctual and exhilarating. My wings were surprisingly silent, allowing me to fly quickly through the widening hallways, my serpentine body twisting in the air to help control direction. Soon enough I found myself lost within the castle.

The alarms had stopped this deep, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Which accidentally froze a section of the floor. Cursing, I tried rubbing my wing on it, which did not help. Instead it left deep gashes in the ice that my deeper self purred at the sight of.

Jesus Christ I cannot be pleased with marking my territory when my friends, my space family, could be hunting down a beast aka: me, with claws! I cursed to myself, growling low in the back of my throat.

Resigned to leaving the ice there, I curled up, closing my eyes. I hadn't lied when I told Keith I was tired, and adrenaline especially will drain you. I fell asleep with my wings tucked tight around me, head hidden underneath one of them.

…*...

Lance just kept messing up. At least they aren't big mistakes anymore. I growled to myself, slashing apart another gladiator. At this rate a Galran is going to spear him through the chest before I can teach him to defend himself properly. This time I kept hacking at the gladiator, confused when a strange sound reached my ears.

It came from the showers, where Lance had been. It had sounded like a cry.

Heart in my throat I turned away from the showers. Lance was crying in the showers because of me, I had hurt his feelings to the point he would wail…. Dejected I ended the simulation completely, sitting down heavily against the farthest wall.

Everyone else had gone to bed by this point most likely. Shiro had seen Lance fumble a few too many times during practice however, and had asked me to give him a few extra lessons to help him keep up. My teaching methods probably sucked if Lance's reaction had been any indicator.

"Damnit, and I had just gotten him to stop thinking of me as his stupid 'rival'." I huffed, running a hand through my sweaty hair. How much damage had I done to our fragile bond? Shaking my head, I decided I didn't want to know right now.

Another sound from the showers had me snapping my head up in alarm. It was a screech, like metal breaking apart. Panic pushed me forward, and I sprinted to the door. Placing my hand on the pad to open it, I almost screamed when it wouldn't budge.

Rushing over to the door leading to the hallway I slammed my hand down on the pad there. The door couldn't slide open fast enough. In the smallest possible hole I could slip through I dashed into the hallway. Bayard at the ready I skidded to a stop in front of the doors that lead to the showers.

They had been frozen off. Ice covered the surface of everything inside the bathing room. The doors were on the floor, ice so thick that I couldn't even see the metal of the door. I gaped at the mess inside, before instinct kicked into gear.

"Lance?!" I yelled, entering the freezing room. I looked around, trying to find any trace of the Blue Paladin. His clothing was folded neatly on a bench outside of the shower area, frozen solid, as were the rest of his toiletries.

I sank to my knees inside the communal shower stall, eyes wide. There was blood mixed in with the ice, frozen so thick I had to step up into the shower area to get a better look.

"LANCE!" I yelled, panic making my hands shake. No other trace of him could be found.

PREVIOUS!

The battle hadn't been very difficult, just the usual distress signal received that Galra were attacking some planet in a far off galaxy. The Galra had been drawn to the planet due to it's inhabitants ability for magic. For several generations, the Galra had been kidnapping thousands of their young, and handed them over to the Druids to be trained. Or tortured. Or both.

Voltron had stopped the ship leaving, Pidge and I had crept on board and freed the kidnapped children, taking them back with us in our lions.

After destroying the enemy ship, we had delivered the children back to the planet's surface, where the population was almost insane with gratitude. Due to the kidnapping, their population numbers had suffered, but they were sure that with us to protect them, or at least with us to bail them out whenever the Galra were attacking, they were positive they would recover.

And so we were invited to another party full of beautiful women eager to show how thankful they are that we saved them. Unfortunately not that kind of showing how thankful they are. Well, unfortunate for me. I was pretty sure no one else would have enjoyed it anyway if they had, but people surprise you.

Allura and Shiro were busy entertaining the higher ups, the Queen of the planet and her closest advisers. Allura was already beginning preliminary alliance talks with Shiro more there as the head of Voltron than a diplomat. Hunk was hovering by the food table with Coran, discussing the different dishes and how we might be able to acquire the ingredients to make some of them. Pidge was sitting down talking to several of the planet's scientists, discussing different Galra technology and their techniques in combating it. Keith was huddled in a corner of the room, nursing a drink in one hand while his other rested on the paned glass of the window he was leaning against.

Pleasant music and pleasant food aromas filled the colorful room. Ladies took up the majority of the room's population, something I could never complain about when they were all so lovely.

I sighed in contentment, taking a sip from some sort of fruity drink that Coran had assured me was safe for consumption. Three alien women were crowded around me, hanging off my stupid jokes and giggling at whatever I seemed to say.

A few came and went, but a couple stayed constantly with me throughout the party. Some cooed over my skin, at how delicate the pattern of freckles looked on my already dark skin. Others would touch my hair lightly, seeming to marvel at how soft I made sure to keep it.

And the rest of the team would scoff at my religious beauty care routine. Well ha.

Their skin was all a light lavender, swirling patterns distinguishing them from each other in brilliant shades of silver or blue. Their hair was varying hues of black, either left down or twisted up in a complicated updo I was itching to ask about. Their eyes didn't have pupils, or irises, instead they were large angled black holes that strangely didn't unnerve me. Angular faces with cheekbones sharper than a blade, and chins slightly pointed, they didn't have any eyebrows to speak of either.

If I could learn how to do that complicated do for my sisters… I smiled, and worked up the courage to ask about their hair.

"So ladies, I couldn't help noticing how lovely your hair is, how did you get it to look so beautiful?" I spoke to the one in the middle, the one I could vaguely remember had called herself A'mi.

She blushed, her entire face turning blue for a few moments. A coy smile slipped into place on her thin lips, and I felt something tug in my gut.

"Oh Paladin, you flatter me!" She and her friends giggled. "I've known how to do this knot for years, would you like to come back to my room so I can show you the process?" She asked, something seductive burning in her black eyes.

Her friends pouted, one of them murmuring that it wasn't fair I had noticed A'mi's hair. They flounced off in a huff, clearly offended.

I tried to backpedal, but something was dragging me in. An insistent tugging behind my navel had me nodding my head and following her from the party, from the rest of my team. I gulped in nervousness; the idea that this was a bad idea crossed my mind as though through a fog, but I ignored it.

The alien woman lived in an ornate mansion near enough the palace the party was being held at, I relaxed slightly. Someone so close to the Queen wouldn't dare endanger her position by harming a Paladin of Voltron.

The inside was a little bit of a blur, until suddenly we were in a dim room with giant pillar candles thicker than I was wide, around the walls. The room was large, and in one corner held a bed draped in dark blue, heavy material. Bookshelves lined almost the rest of the room, heavy tomes and smaller volumes in numbers I could never hope to read. A table sat in another corner, more candles and what looked like an altar set up with a cup and something shiny I hoped wasn't a knife. There was a chest at the foot of the bed, it was closed, but the ornate carvings on the outside nearly took my breath away.

A lump formed in my throat, but I followed A'mi to a side room that turned out to be a bathroom. She smirked as she let her hair down, the thick charcoal waves tumbling down her back. Her hair reached down past her waist, and I marveled at how she was able to hold her head up straight with all of that. Her neck must be crazy strong. Will my sister's even have enough hair to make it look that good? I wondered, standing still.

"Come closer Paladin, let me show you how this is done." She teased, sitting down in front of what looked like a vanity. It was silver, and seemed to have its own glow. Decorating the surface were various bottles and pots. There was a box overflowing with decorative combs, and at least three different types of brushes. Hanging on what looked like a branch were bracelets and rings and necklaces of all sorts of designs, many of which seemed to match A'mi's own skin pattern that looked quite a bit like traditional Navajo designs I had seen on blankets and pottery.

My smile was tremulous, but I did as she bid me. So close behind her I could almost feel some sort of energy pulsing around her slender body. It felt intoxicating, and I was worried for a moment that I wouldn't be able to focus on how she was doing her hair.

I shouldn't have worried, in a moment my mind sharpened, as did my eyes. They zeroed in on her hands as she began twisting different sections, placing pins in strategic positions to hold the twists in place. I was amazed at how deftly her incredibly long fingers moved. As she carried on I worried I wouldn't be able to remember every step, so I tried to focus harder, watching as she pinned up several of the smaller braids.

The sight made something familiar bloom in my chest. I didn't realize I was crying until A'mi stopped, whipping her head around.

"Paladin? What's wrong? Why is your face secreting poison? Are you reacting badly to the food at the party?" Her voice was earnest as she reached for my hands, fingers smoothing over the surface. Her hand was warm, and smooth as stone. A'mi's eyes searched my face, clearly alarmed at my tears.

I shook my head, trying to smile to show her it was all alright. "I was just reminded of my mom doing her own hair. I wanted to learn how to do yours because it was so beautiful, and I know my sisters would love it." I explained, looking down at my clenched fists. I missed the storm cloud that consumed her features, instead I was still lost in memories of my family.

"Your sisters? You wanted to know how I did my hair so you could replicate it on your sisters?" A'mi's voice had turned venomous. My head snapped to look her in the eyes faster than I thought my head could move.

The silvery blue designs on her skin seemed to writhe and glow, casting the angles of her body into a ghastly light.

You done fucked up Lance. A tired mental voice rang in my head, and I sighed internally. Time to deal with the repercussions of fucking up something I didn't know I could fuck up.

"That… I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that's not a good thing. I'm sorry for upsetting you, on my planet it's somewhat normal for older brothers to do their sister's hair." I cringed back as that didn't seem to placate her at all. At least it didn't seem to make it worse. I grumbled to myself.

"How dare you insult my honor by announcing to make your sister's hair?! Is my hair not good enough for a Paladin of Voltron? Some measly little thing with barely any hair of his own? You don't deserve any hair at all!" She screeched, her hair now tightly bound away from me.

I gulped, stumbling back as the energy I felt around her before seemed to envelop me. It stabbed at my skin, invading me through my very pores. It was painful, and I couldn't move at all.

"I curse you Lance, Paladin of Voltron. I curse you with all the power of my being!" Her voice echoed around me, and blistering pain slammed into my body. It felt like my skin was melting off of my body, like she was flaying me alive. Blue roared to life in my head, attacking the foreign energy with a fervor I was grateful for.

Falling to my knees, I gasped, mouth opening and closing in alarm. The pain was still there, Blue having no effect on the energy trapping me. A'mi was beyond pissed, her shrieks echoing in my head. Black dots swam in my vision, growing in size until black enveloped me as surely as her energy had.

MASTERPOST!

Glancing up, I noticed that Pidge had sat down, followed by Shiro. Not wanting to be last, I sat down too. Keith copied my movement at the same time, and Fee protested feebly. Really? We're just moving the same, get over yourself! Last was Hunk, who had been looking at the doors expectantly until Pidge snapped at him to get a move on.

One by one we placed the devices on our heads.

A link flared to life, and I felt like I could breathe easier. Everyone was here and better, and everything would be okay.

"Okay, now, visualize forming Voltron." Shiro ordered calmly, his eyes closed. I quickly followed suit, remembering myself in Blue. She rumbled in my mind, and I felt the echoes of the other lions through the link. It felt amazing. The steadfastness of Yellow, the probing of Green, the intensity of Red--

Keith.

Our minds brushed together, and for a moment I registered nothing as I felt how different it was from everyone else's. Not too different, but just enough that it was noticeable.

Pain seared through my body as I was forced to change. Panic and fear surged through me as Fee struggled against mine and Blue's soothing control. The device fell from my head, clattering to the floor. I was bent over, my hulking form shuddering slightly as I forced my breathing back to normal. Calm down Fee, everything is okay. The Galra won't hurt you anymore. I tried, my claws scraping a bit against the metal floor.

"Fucking fuck quiznak! Lance! What in the love of science was that!" Pidge's voice rang through the dim remnants of pain that sparked in my body.

I looked up, shocked to see Hunk prone on the floor, Keith shaking somewhat, and Shiro with his eyes closed, hands pressing tightly against his temples. Pidge was panting, a glare on their face that slowly morphed to a dawning horror.

"Wait…? Is that..?" They trailed off, not able to wrap their brains around some concept.

Shiro seemed to be shaking something off, his eyes opening slowly to meet with mine. "Is that what it feels like for you, every time you change?" He asked quietly, drawing everyone's attention, minus Hunk, whom was still prone on the floor, slowly regaining his breath.

I fidgeted as best I could, not meeting their eyes. This wasn't good. Was it? Maybe it could-- no no, this was terrible. They had all felt it, through the device we used to link our minds, the link had been open long enough for them to feel a flash of what it took to change forms so extremely, and so rapidly.

Keith was staring at me with wide eyes, lips parted in shock. "Lance? Is that… does it always feel like that?" he asked quietly, not moving closer.

My monstrous face twitched as I tried to move it. I wasn't sure what the expression I made read as, but my focus shifted to Shiro. Our leader was staring at me, expression crumpled.

"We… we had no idea. Fuck, you've fought Galra after one of those– done training– how–?" Shiro looked wrecked, as though he was the one that had gone through the whole process and not just the first two seconds.

I let myself shrug, the easy movement also allowing a few more muscles to shift into a more comfortable position.

PREVIOUS!

Hunk had heard me arguing at it, calling it a freeloader, and decided that wouldn't do. He had been the one to nickname it Fee so it sounded like an actual name. At the time I was a little too bitter about the whole situation to agree that a real name was a good idea, but it grew on me. No pun intended.

Luckily being the Guardian of Water that I am, it means I'm adaptable. It only took a few more transformations for Fee to get it down to a few seconds, and me to not pass out from the pain and even be able to fight afterwards. My muscles still wanted to mutiny, but I could push through it until the battle was won.

Blue and Fee were on okay terms. She did not like the fact that its presence meant I was in a lot more pain, but she did like the extra protection it provided. She was excellent at trying to soothe it whenever it decided to panic over something that really did not warrant a transformation. Usually she was successful, but sometimes she wasn’t.

“Keith? What happened over there?” Everyone was anxious, we had finally made contact with the rebel Galra forces, and after Red had started attacking the base, we were on high alert. Shiro looked uneasily at Keith, who’s head was drooped.

Stepping closer, I put a hand on his shoulder, pleading with him to tell us. Bending lower, I could see his shell-shocked expression, which only confused me more. What could be so shocking that they had learned? Was Pidge’s family okay? Was that what it was? Why wasn’t Shiro saying anything?

“I’m part Galra,” He blurted, shoulders beginning to shake. Galra?!

Pain ripped through my body as well as blinding panic. Fee was freaking the fuck out, and my conscious mind was losing the battle against the overwhelming sensations running rampant. I shoved myself away from Keith, probably shoving him back in response, and roared, my transformation already complete. Panting, I moved where Fee nudged me, unable to process anything through the panic.

“Lance!” Shiro’s voice was alarmed, but I felt a body beside me, reacting similarly. “Princess?!”

Turning, I saw the Princess launching herself at Keith, only to be hauled back by Coran. But no one was trying to stop me, too aware of the deadly claws and teeth that I had to use. Wait, what am I using them for…? Abruptly I stopped moving, muscles frozen.

Overriding Fee’s panic, I looked to see Keith crouched against the wall, bayard out and activated. His expression was grim, and angry.

Shiro stood near him, his own arm reaching out to cover in front of Keith. “Lance, I know Fee is the one panicking, but Princess, what the hell was that?”

Pidge and Hunk were frozen, looking uncomfortably from Keith, to me and Allura.

“What are you talking about? He is Galra!” Allura spit, morphing herself so that she had fangs that hung from her mouth. Hissing, she thrashed against Coran, face contorted into something ugly. “Lance and Fee have the right idea!”

At my name I began to shake my head, stepping away from Keith’s corner. “No,” I groaned, turning my back on Keith. Fee shrieked in panic, images and sensations of agony sparking throughout my body as if the Galra were tearing me apart. Tamping down on Fee’s reaction, I got in a defensive stance facing Allura. This wasn’t right, just because Keith had Galra in his ancestry didn’t mean he was going to hurt us suddenly.

Fee wasn’t listening, and Allura looked as though I had slapped her in the face. Fee continued to panic, trying to force me to turn around and attack the Galra before it could hurt us- Keith is part of Voltron, our team, he won’t hurt us. Nothing was calming it down, and I had to breathe through gritted shark teeth, gills flaring in pain.

I growled at her, leaning forward, trying to reroute Fee’s panic with something to attack. It was hesitant, but Blue’s urging helped to calm it just enough so I would maintain control. With me taking a side, Pidge and Hunk seem to have unfrozen, as they moved to stand with Shiro and I, hesitant but determined.

With people between me and Keith, Fee relaxed further, but still remained on high alert.

Spitting to the ground in a remarkably human move, Allura wrenched herself from Coran’s hold, and stalked from the room. My eyes followed her out, and Fee longed to join her, but I made my feet turn to face everyone else. They all looked uncomfortable staring at my mutated face, Hunk and Pidge not really meeting my eyes. Keith was hunched over, his eyes staring into mine however.

Fee took it as a challenge, and wrenched control away for a moment. Our mouth opened and we roared, the sound slowly tapering off into a scream as we sank to our knees.

“Lance- Lance? Are you okay? Buddy?” Hunk rushed over, kneeling down by my crouched form.

I snarled at him, warning him to back off. Fee was too unstable right now, and I could hurt someone without meaning too since just the smallest thing could set it off.

Backing away slowly, Hunk looked nervously to everyone else. They remained silent for the most part, Shiro looking uneasily at Keith for only a moment.

“Keith, just because you have Galra blood in you, it doesn’t mean-“

“You saw how the Princess reacted Shiro, what the fuck do you think it means? You saw how Lance’s stupid parasite reacted! How are we supposed to form Voltron like this?” Keith hissed, his tone wounded in too many ways.

I shook my head, opening my mouth. “No,” I groaned again, slowly reaching for my friend. “Same. You are not different.” My voice was guttural and had a horrible lisp from the gaps in the shark teeth, but it was still just barely understandable.

Everyone was frozen at my words, Keith the only exception as his shoulders began to shake violently.

“Same!” I insisted, angry at myself for the limited words I could say like this. Turn me back already! Keith won’t hurt us! I roared at Fee, lashing against him mentally. Pain twinged up and down my spine, almost like a warning, and I wanted to scream in frustration.

Keith shook his head, but stood up, and didn’t keep insisting that this was wrong.

“As for if we can still form Voltron… I think we’ll be fine Keith. Allura isn’t involved with the bonding process, and Red chose you. You think she wouldn’t be able to tell you had Galra in your veins? It’s about who you are as a person, not your ancestry.” Shiro’s voice was gentle, and almost perfectly reflected how I would have said it to Keith.

Keith allowed Shiro to pull him in his arms in a tight hug, and my stomach panged in response.

“And if you’re still not convinced, it’s something we can work on. We can use those headbands in an exercise, honestly we probably should anyway to make sure Fee can deal with all of this too.” Shiro let go of Keith, and gave a strained smile. “Even if it isn’t exactly the same, we’re all willing to work on it to be better than before.”

…

Getting back to my room was an ordeal. None of the other teammates really knew what to do with this mutated form of mine. Fee was still very worked up, and did not want to calm down at all, even when I climbed into bed. Too soon I was drawn from my bed by the fact that I wouldn’t be allowed to sleep tonight. Fee was too agitated, insisting that I be alert because there was an enemy onboard.

So instead of trying to sleep, I made my way to the upside down swimming pool.

Once there I was able to work off a lot of Fee's panicked energy, and some of my own agitation. It shouldn't be so difficult for people to treat Keith the same, he had been Galra all along, and more likely than not wouldn't change now that he knew. I sure as hell didn't want to change how I treated him. Keith didn't deserve to be ridiculed for something he couldn't control.

He does deserve to be ridiculed for his hairstyle though. He can control that. I humphed mentally, completing another lap. Fee didn’t seem to understand why I thought Keith was so funny, nor why I didn’t let them tear Keith limb from limb. Its complicated. I settled on, allowing my mind to drift as I continued to work off the extra energy Fee had pumped into my system.

Our system? Do I have to include you when talking about my body?

…

Exhausted, I climbed from the pool, almost passing out right there next to it. I had used more energy than I thought. Fee was mostly calmed down, now just a small panicked buzz at the back of my head, warning about the Galra on the ship.

Sighing, I hauled myself up, stiffening when I noticed Keith standing there uncomfortably. He was holding his elbows, shuffling his feet, and refusing to look up, even when I cleared my throat.

Fee had gone right back to high alert, but I shut them down, too tired to really entertain ideas of moving with any kind of ferocity that it would require to take down my friend.

Glancing up at us, Keith growled in frustration, kicking at the ground. “Damnit,” he muttered, clenching his fists. He was fully dressed, so I knew he was here specifically for me.

What time is it? Did I spend all night here? I thought idly, waiting for Keith to make a further move. He didn’t for a long while, until I sighed, and moved closer to him.

“Thanks,” he blurted, eyes meeting mine for a moment before looking away quickly. “For, for defending me even though that parasite…” Shaking his head, Keith frowned, looking from me to the floor a few times.

“Welcome,” I rasped, hating the lisp and the exaggerated way I had to speak in order for my words to be understandable. “Keith, it’s okay. You’re Keith.” I stated firmly, moving closer and holding out my hand.

He took it hesitantly, and in a show of warmth I’m sure Fee hated that I felt, I pulled Keith close. He was stiff as a board, but only for a moment. He clutched me tightly, hiding his face in my broad chest. It was odd being so much taller than Keith, but I felt like I could comfort him so much better this way.

Fee was absolutely losing their collective shit, thrashing violently against my vice control over my body. Blue was doing her best to soothe the parasite, but it wouldn’t listen to her, too preoccupied with the Galra in our arms.

Growling, I pulled away, breathing heavily. “Fuck, sorry- Fee-“ I continued to breathe, trying to force ourselves calm.

Keith looked hurt, but seemed to understand at least on some level. Nodding, he turned away. “Sorry for agitating Fee again, I’ll see you down at breakfast in a few minutes yeah?”

I cursed mentally again. I didn’t sleep even a little bit. Fuck.

…

As I debated on trying to put on my normal clothes I had brought or not, I felt the shrinking pains and sighed in relief. Fee must be too exhausted to keep me like this, even though he remained afraid in the back of our joined mind.

Pulling on my shirt, I made my way down to breakfast, muttering to Fee out loud about how he wasn’t allowed to freak out like that around Keith. Keith was still just Keith. Knowing something new about him didn’t change who he was. He had killed plenty of Galra, wasn’t that enough?

Entering the dining room, I saw that Allura wasn’t there, but everyone else was. They all looked up and stared as I entered, fully human, and sat down. I must have looked like hell, because no one made a comment on my un-mutated state. Fee made feeble protests as I sat down near Keith.

Pain twinged in my jaw and down my body, but I was too tired to really take notice of what Fee had managed to change in his weakened state. So, sleep deprivation is his weakness too? Makes sense to me, we do basically share a nervous system now.

The goo was tasteless, and slid down my throat uncomfortably. Fee protested more, my stomach rolling and clenching as well. Not only did the parasite using my body hate the food goo, but my own stomach was turning against it too. I sighed, forcing down my whole bowl.

The dining room had remained mostly silent, with only a few murmurs, and the clinking of spoons against identical bowls. Rising to my feet, I put away my dishes, and left the room without saying anything. I headed for the training deck, I knew Shiro would want to get started on this as soon as possible.

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No one is around, I fall to my hands and knees, breathing heavily. Impressions flash through my mind, unsafe unsafe, hide run fear fear RUN! Obeying, my back drags up, and I run from the medical bay, heading to my own room. There is no one in the halls, and that same small part of me is sighing in relief at that fact, pushing me onward even though exhaustion from the healing pod clings to me like a shroud.

In the hallway where my room is located, I feel an odd prickling up and down my spine and neck. The feeling extends into my limbs, all the way down to my fingers and toes. I stumble, hitting the wall ungracefully, and panting. The prickling isn’t pleasant, or even easy to ignore, the sensation is growing, turning more into jabs.

Did I get out of the healing pod too soon? I wondered, pressing the bio pad outside of my room, stumbling inside. As the door closed, the jabs that had felt like finger jabs turned into stabs from knives. I fell to my knees, gasping. Crouching forward I pressed my hands to the cool floor, hoping to get rid of the sensation, or numb it.

Holding back a scream, I bit my tongue only to scream more as my teeth almost cleanly sliced through the muscle. Dragging myself to the ensuite bathroom, I hauled my torso up enough so I could see myself in the mirror.

My ears were pointed, teeth like a shark’s, and my nose was shifting before my eyes that had taken on a light blue glow. My skin was the same color as ever, but now there were dark brown leopard blotches that reminded me distinctly of the native aliens I had rescued. Had I contracted some kind of virus from handling them? Did the dying one I hadn’t been able to save infect me with something?

Agony made my vision white out for a moment, centering on my spine. Reaching back, I clawed at the area, almost feeling something move underneath my fingers. The pain continued to spread and intensify, it felt as though my skin was boiling off from being too close to Keith’s lava ray. I fell back to the ground, writhing.

My muscles are tearing themselves apart. I gasped, screaming louder as sickening cracks erupted in the small space.

My bones are breaking too. There was no escape from this agony. I continued to claw at my back, distantly noticing that I was, in fact, clawing at my back since I now had claws. Something was inside me, and it was decidedly not friendly.

I couldn’t even hear Blue’s concerned, then panicked croons and roars. Instead I felt something washing me with panic pain panic no safe pain distress fear pain no no fear. It wasn’t my own feelings, but my body was reacting as if they were, seizing up even as the muscles continued to rip apart, and my bones continued to break.

With the last ounces of my strength and will, I forced myself to move. The pain was only increasing, but if I could get outside of my room, the rest of the team would be able to hear me scream. Gripping the sink wasn’t my hand but it moved like it was my hand. It was a huge thing, much larger and wider than my hand. The fingers were webbed and tipped with wicked sharp claws. From the wrist outward, up to my elbow, was something that looked a lot like a fin. Covering the skin was the same slightly-darker-than-my-skin-tone-brown leopard blotches.

Standing, I was a lot taller, my feet weren’t my feet anymore, the toes were longer and also webbed, looking like they could grip like a monkey. The same pattern covered the skin there too.

Glancing at myself in the mirror, I froze, even the lava pumping through my veins not enough to make me scream more than the image I was faced with.

Once again the world dimmed, the pain spiking, my vision tilting sideways. Why in the ever-loving quiznak do I look like a cross between a land shark and those native aliens?

…

My eyes opened slowly, and I smiled, stretching. I was tucked into my bed, snuggled deep beneath the covers. My hands were mine again, my face was human. My heartbeat was calm, and I breathed deeply, feeling a deep and painful soreness in my muscles that was reminiscent of the last time I had been in a healing pod.

It was just a nightmare. Praise every god, it wasn’t real. I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. My limbs felt heavy, and I didn’t want to get up yet. The nightmare had been terrifying, and so agonizingly real feeling that pain. I didn’t feel even remotely rested.

Turning over in my bed, I snuggled deeper, almost cooing at the warmth and comfort.

The lights changed, and I had a split second to realized what was happening before the pain came back, this time more intense than before. The alarm was blaring, and I was screaming and thrashing in my bed.

It wasn’t a dream oh fuck why couldn’t it have just been a dream?! With the intensity of the pain being upped by ten, I felt my vision swim in and out dangerously. This time I didn’t pass out, but I was completely overwhelmed by this force inside of my head that was screaming in fear, anger, and hate. Whatever it was, was so afraid of the alarm, screaming about safety and needing to protect protect protect protect.

I must have blacked out for a moment, but when I opened my eyes next, the pain was mostly gone. Only an extreme soreness in my muscles, and a queasy yet ravenous stomach. Not a fun combination.

Stumbling from my bed to the door, I realized the healing pod suit was in tatters, only barely clinging to my lower half. I shuddered at the violent gashes I could see in the fabric and on the ground in the doorway to the bathroom. It wasn’t pleasant, and I was positive there was some blood.

The alarm stopped, and I wanted to scream at Allura. Why the fuck does she feel like it’s a good idea to do these? A growl rose in my throat as I left my room, heading to where I knew she was lecturing everyone on their times. They probably weren’t even expecting me to come since I was still supposed to be in a healing pod.

What are they going to think when I show up looking like this?  The thought almost stopped me in my tracks, but fear and anger pushed me onwards again. They would know what to do, how to help, it would be okay.

The doors to the bridge whooshed open, and everyone inside turned as one, confusion, wariness, and concern the chief emotions projecting forth. They quickly turned to fear and determination.

Shiro shifted his stance, Galra arm at the ready, the sickening purple glow sending another round of screams through my mind. Keith had his bayard in hand, activated, his legs ready to lunge. Hunk and Pidge were further back, but their weapons were at the ready as well. Allura had taken a defensive stance as well, and was barking orders at the others.

“How did that thing get into the castle?! We detected nothing entering when we had gone to fetch Lance or Shiro and Keith! Coran I need answers! Shiro, Keith, keep that thing back- Pidge help Coran. Hunk be the long range support since Lance isn’t here to do that.” Her words stung, but my vision was swimming with emotions and white dots that mingled with black dots.

I stumbled, claws raking against the metal of the wall I had fallen against. The emotions were foreign, but I felt myself responding to them. Danger danger safety must safety protect self pain warning pain pain pain stop pain no.

As soon as Shiro and Keith stepped forward, I let out a roar, swiping at the pair with my longer reach and clawed hand. They were well out of range, but leapt back anyway. I needed to keep them away from me, these claws could potentially do serious damage to my friends.

Growling in warning as they began to circle, I pinned myself in a corner, foreign instincts tugging at me that this was a bad idea. Opening my mouth, I tried to call out to them, tell them this was me, and that something was very wrong with me. My jaw wouldn’t move right, opening too wide, showing off my razor-sharp teeth, my tongue wouldn’t move right either, just undulating in my mouth oddly. A low hissing sound came out, rumbling higher into some kind of garbled mess.

Shiro and Keith looked to each other before closing in slightly. Too close, the Galra arm was too close, destroy it get it away TEAR IT APART! I lunged for Shiro, jaws wide open  and hands out ready to grapple with him.

Behind! I whirled, catching Keith’s sword and ripping it from his grasp, maybe I could back up some and get them out of range for close combat.

The bayard grew in my hand, adjusting itself accordingly. Shiro and Keith stared at me, and an idea hit me like a truck. My bayard. Focusing on the bayard, and my connection with Blue, I made the bayard shift. First into my blaster, and then into my rifle.

The room was silent, everyone staring with wide eyes.

“…Lance?” Shiro looked horrified, stepping away further, the purple of his Galra arm fading.

I sagged with relief, gasping as my knees hit the floor. The bayard left my hand and clattered on the metallic ground.

"Lance what… what's going on?" Hunk asked, having dropped his defensive stance, bayard out of sight. I relaxed further, the small presence in the back of my mind somewhat settling, pressing confusion and fear to the forefront of my mind.

I shook my head, shrugging. Lifting up a clawed hand, I gestured to my huge teeth, opening and closing my mouth. They wouldn't be able to understand what I said if I couldn't even make a rational sound.

Frowning, Pidge stepped away from where she had been using a tablet with Coran. Coran looked forcefully cheery, stepping around Pidge and marching right up to me.

"Ah, so that's what the healing pod was detecting. This makes much more sense now," He declared, clapping his hands together.

Everyone else looked baffled at his demeanor, but remained silent, waiting for the Altean to continue.

"When looking over his scans, I noticed that the healing pod had picked up on an anomaly  in our Blue Paladin. It had been a concentration of quintessence along his spine and leading up into his cranium. The healing pod wasn't picking up anything dangerous from the concentration, but I decided to investigate further. Unfortunately, I had too many options as for what could have caused this," Coran sighed, twirling his mustache.

"One of the options I remember seeing however, seems to be correct. I had been leaning towards it, given the planet and the native species known to inhabit that region." Gesturing for Lance to lean down, Coran gently tapped at where my neck meets my torso. "Ah, just as I thought. Lance, my boy, you have become the host of a parasitic species known commonly as the Mutate Parasite. As you can see, they have the ability to mutate their hosts, and in some cases completely control their movements, in order to better protect itself and its host."

I stared at him in horror, maw open in shock. Prickles began to ease down my spine, the presence calming further.

"Yes, it's quite fascinating! Calling the species a parasite is a bit of a stretch in this case, considering that the drain to your quintessence isn't even noticeable to you. I bet it could mutate you every few seconds and your quintessence levels would barely drop." Coran continued to explain about the parasite, but I was focusing more on the fact that I was pretty sure I was about to transform again.

Shaking my head, I backed away, hitting the wall. I had forgotten I had backed myself in like this. No where to turn, I felt panic rear its head, and as it did, the pain faded away. Confusion clouded my mind for only a moment before I figured it out. It had picked up on my distress, and probably couldn't discern from real danger. As long as I was distressed I would most likely stay like this.

"-ance? Lance? My boy, are you alright?" Coran's voice was smooth and way too close to me.

I shook my head, reaching out to Pidge, gesturing for them to come closer. Once in range, I grabbed the tablet, quickly going to the function where I could type something out.

I was about to turn back, since its reacting to my stress levels. Let me go back to my room, and then once I'm normal looking, we'll talk more. I didn't leave it up for debate, instead shoving the tablet in Coran's hands and dashing from the room.

The moment the door closed behind me, I began to force myself to relax. It was going to be painful turning back, but I needed to figure out how to get rid of this thing.

…

I lay panting on the floor in my room, muscles so sore it was too much to ask of them to move. The cold floor felt good on my aching back, and I splayed out, trying to get as much of it covered as I could. Sighing, I mentally probed at the presence I felt in the back of my mind that definitely wasn't Blue.

There was no real response except a feeling of contentment.

A knock was heard on the door, and I groaned low in my throat. I must have been taking too long. Hopefully I wouldn't have to move much.

"Lance? Buddy? You doing okay?" Hunk called through the door, stepping inside once it had opened for him. Seeing me on the ground, unmoving, he rushed to my side, panic in his voice. "Lance?! Come on speak to me!"

"Hunk! Don't worry- sorry, I'm really sore from transforming." I told him, voice raspy and strained from screaming so much. Thank whatever space gods there were that the walls were soundproof.

Hunk took my hand, helping me to my feet. I winced as sore muscles were pulled. At least they didn't start to cramp. My stomach cramped, and I doubled over, unsure if I was hungry or about to throw up. Hunk's large hands rubbed over the small of my back, and I let out a low groan of appreciation.

"No problem buddy," he sighed gently, helping me to the doorway. "Do you want me to carry you?" He asked, already half crouched to pick me up. Considering for a moment, I nodded, relaxing into his arms.

"Oh man, this is heaven. Thanks bro," I sighed, going limp. Hunk yelped in surprise, clutching me tighter with a frown on his face.

We made our way back to the bridge, where everyone was gathered. Instead of the hurried Paladin armor they had all been sporting, everyone was dressed in their civies, lounging near the raised dais Allura usually controlled the castleship from.

Shiro and Keith both jumped up in alarm when we entered, taking quick steps forward.

"Don't worry guys, muscles are just sore as hell. Hunk is the real bro-VP." Waving them off, I stood painfully slowly, stretching as I went. "Alright Coran, lay it on me. What am I dealing with here?" I asked, plastering a grin to my face.

"Ah yes, this parasite is able to fuse itself to any organic material it deems fit for a host. How it's able to mutate, and sometimes control their host, is for the fact that it completely fuses and takes over the nervous system. Usually it allows the host body to go about its daily business, rarely stepping in for anything except to protect itself from danger." Coran was smiling, probably having forgot that the host body was ME.

I cut in, "Hold on a second there, you're telling me its fused with my nervous system? How are we supposed to remove it?"

Coran paused, and I could almost see the sweat beading on his brow. "Ah yes, well you see, the thing is, we don't. If we tried, both you and the parasite would perish." Coran cringed back, his cheerful tone obviously forced.

Distress built up in my body and mind, skin beginning to prickle. I pushed away the panic as best as I could, allowing worry and grief to overflow and take control of everything else. The stupid freeloader that was leeching from me ceased the transformation, but I could tell I didn't look human anymore.

Covering my mouth by pressing my palm against it, I looked down, squeezing my eyes shut. Taking in a few deep breaths, I forced calm over myself, bringing up my bravado I was sure in this situation people would know was fake.

"Are you telling me, I'm going to be stuck with this thing forever, and it isn't even going to pay rent?" I chuckled weakly, looking up at Coran, my hand rubbing the back of my neck in a soothing motion. Could the parasite feel my touch through my skin? I hope I never fucking think that kind of messed up sentence ever again.

The room lost its tension, and I let out a small sigh of relief.

“Not entirely true, the parasite will, as it has demonstrated, mutate your form to defend itself. I am guessing it picked that particular mutation for several reasons, not least of which is your status as the Blue Paladin.” Coran chirped happily, moving back to his communications hub, tapping away at something.

Apparently finished, the room fell silent. Everyone seemed to be taking the news differently, but no one wanted to share verbally what they thought. Forcing a smile at everyone, I watched their faces shift from being so gloomy.

“Well isn’t that something? I’ve got an official thing now!” My laugh was fake and forced and I could almost tell that no one was buying it, but I kept going. “I’m the mutated guy!”

“Lance…” Hunk murmured, looking concerned, his lips softly pressed together. He held his hands up, as if offering for me to jump in once more. I couldn’t bear to be in this room anymore, skin prickling uncomfortably at the stares.

Turning from everyone, I left the bridge, hurrying to the hangars, ignoring the throbbing pain of my sore muscles. Blue had been mostly quiet, but I could still feel her back there. She would know how to help me. She could do anything.

The soothing wash of her ocean thoughts washed over me in soft waves, drawing me deeper inside the closer I got to her imposing and regal form. She knelt down, opening her jaw for me to enter. Pidge and Hunk had helped fix her up after the crash, but I had been the one that personally scrubbed her down, making sure my girl was spotless. Inside of her was awash with soft blue light, somehow she had even gotten it to look as if we were underwater, the lights moving in such a way that would mimic the waves and wind.

I sighed in relief, sagging against the back of the pilot chair. The second presence in my mind probed curiosity and longing, making my skin itch to be covered in water, in the cool silk feeling of being submerged. I shoved back, almost spitting in anger as that freeloader tried to bond with me through our mutual love of the water.

Blue sent a wave of disapproval, her own mind reaching out to the freeloader. It recoiled in alarm, and I felt pain flare from the base of my spine. Whining, I arched my back, rubbing at the spot. Blue persisted gently, and the freeloader responded with curiosity, the pain ebbing away.

They seemed to talk with each other, and I’m sure that if Blue hated the freeloader that she would be able to get rid of it. Which meant I really was stuck with the damn thing. Groaning, I laid out on the ground, my spine pressing into the cool metal. This problem wasn’t going to go away. I would have to figure out something by myself.

I did save its species, and by extension itself. What happened to that whole attitude? Sighing, I relaxed myself, scooting over on my back to the wall. Swinging my long legs up, I let them rest against the wall, getting in a comforting stretch. My lower back popped, and I sighed in happiness, feeling my muscles stretch out their soreness. Maybe with time it wouldn’t hurt so much after and during a transformation.

Both Blue and the freeloader seemed to croon at me, trying to reassure me it wouldn’t always suck. The freeloader expressed remorse for the pain it was putting me through, and I grudgingly accepted it as an apology. The thing couldn’t communicate in concrete images or words, but it could share feelings. This I knew acutely.

“What am I supposed to do? Just live with a freeloader for the rest of my life? I don’t even look normal anymore- what’s going to happen when I’m home? My family- what will they think?” A low whine left the back of my throat, and I curled up into a ball. Fear and sadness was all I could feel; I was almost grateful the freeloader didn’t freak out about the fear.

I had no choice in the matter, we were stuck together. Forever.

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