(From Ashes) Chapter 8

Pride: From Ashes

Chapter 8

The Knight of the Earth

Pidge was rapidly becoming frustrated again—or was it still? He was a ninja. His specialty was hiding, not seeking. And so far, he'd been unable to find his commander in… a large alien castle he'd barely spent any time exploring. Stunning, that. He had, after a few wrong turns, succeeded in finding the guest wing again—doubtful Keith was just hanging around his room, but it was worth a try.

As he moved down the corridor, one of the more intact doors opened up. Romelle was tired of hiding in her room, just hoping to avoid any further awkward encounters with the Arusians. She was going to go back to the Falcon, or look around the meadow, or something. But all those thoughts vanished as she shut the door and looked up to see—

"Pidge?"

Startled, he pulled his knife and dropped into a defensive stance; then he realized who he was looking at and lowered the knife just as quickly. "Oh. Hi…?" Hunk had said that everyone was worried about him. "Sorry."

Romelle smiled. There was something oddly endearing about him when he wasn't glaring at her. "No, don't be. I'm—I'm glad you're back and safe."

Snort. "You don't have to pretend you like me." Then he winced again; he was not doing especially well at this attempting to be nicer thing. In fairness, he was still reeling from a giant mechanical cat lecturing him in a way that made him think being nicer might help.

She took a step back at his hostile tone; the not-glaring hadn't lasted long. "Why would I pretend? You're a lot less strange than…" She waved her hand around, indicating the castle in general, trusting he'd at least understand that.

"…Komora?" He stared at her, puzzled. The thought that she might actually like him was beyond his comprehension. "Because of manners, or my lack of them?"

"I have learned of late," she admitted quietly, "to put a bit less stock in appearances." It hadn't been manners that had gotten her here; she shook her head. "Arusians are just so… naïve."

"…Earthlings are like that, too." Sigh. "Cute, but not always optimal."

Romelle sighed too. Perhaps 'cute' was a good way to describe how Pollux looked at their cousins in general. A quiet—or sometimes loud—condescension towards these childish fools they'd left behind. "Yes. How… how have you learned to deal with them?"

Pidge cast a wary look at her; he was not entirely convinced she was any better, but what did he know? He snorted and pushed that aside. "I haven't, or I wouldn't be here." Green Lion growled softly. It sounded like a rebuke, but also reassurance. Which was strange and slightly irritating…

Before he could say anything more, Romelle bowed her head. "Well, for what it's worth, I'm sorry that you have had such a difficult time with them. I wish I understood better. Earthlings or Arusians, honestly."

Memories assaulted Pidge then. Flynn… but more of what Flynn did. What had always infuriated him, but why? Because he didn't know how to deal with it, because nobody had ever… though Vince had tried it, too. Even worked once or twice. And conscious realization abruptly hit him, why the hell he was trying this being nice thing at all…

"…You can't learn to deal with them. Not on your own."

"What do you mean?" She studied him curiously, head tilted to one side. "Not on my own?"

He shook his head. "Unless you can make yourself become just like them. The ones I knew—know how to work with, are the ones who tried to figure out how to work with me…" Guilt washed over him as he thought of Hunk. "…if I let them try."

"Hmm." Let them try? "That's an interesting thought, for sure."

Pidge cast a quick glance at her, then lowered his eyes. "It's still not easy."

Nod. "I can understand that. There's been such a… hatred, between Arus and Pollux. I'm not sure how to even get over that gap."

"If they reach out, let them." Green Lion growled approvingly, and he let that guide him. "I don't know what most Arusians are like, but most humans don't bother to try. The ones that do are…" …special? "…important."

Slowly, Romelle nodded. Princess Allura had reached out to her. "I will take what you've said into consideration. Arusians and humans are so strange, but they can't all be so incomprehensible, right?" Pidge silently nodded his agreement, looking distracted for a moment; she decided that was a sign to move on. "Well, um, I'm glad to see you're back. The others were worried about you."

He nodded again. "I'm trying to find Keith to report to him, but," he held up a hand to stop anything she might have said, "I'd rather find him on my own. I think wandering is helping me, I don't know…" …Process.

"I'm sure he'll understand." She smiled again. "So much strangeness here."

Snort. "Isn't that the truth." He rolled his eyes as Romelle left, hearing the lion chuckling in his head.

Knock that off.

She did not.

*****

The first time Hunk had learned the value of masks had been in third grade.

—"Hey Chunk, get off the swing!"

He'd ignored the altered nickname. Like always. "It's still my turn!" He hardly ever played on the swingset. Being on the swing meant taking turns, and that meant being around his classmates, and that meant they called him Chunk and tried to make him feel bad.

Like this.

"Teacher said you can't stay as long." Bray had been sneering, the best an eight-year-old could sneer. "You'll break it."

Yeah? He'd stopped swinging, but didn't move. It seemed like a shorter time limit on the swing was something he'd have been told about. It seemed a lot more likely Bray was just being mean, again.

"Get off the swing!"

He didn't feel like moving. He didn't feel like seeing that stupid smirky face win again. His brothers had told him to stop letting the bullies bother him, might as well start now. "Make me."

That had given him pause, which had only convinced Hunk it was just more of the usual. He was going to stay here until the timer beeped for the next turn or a teacher came to make him leave.

But the pause didn't last. Bray walked up and tried to shove him out of the swing—in retrospect, third graders didn't know a lot about physics. He went exactly nowhere. The second and third attempts hadn't gone any better, and then he'd run out of patience and shoved him away. Lightly.

Stumbling back, Bray had yelled at the top of his lungs. It wasn't calling for a teacher—who probably would've sided with him. But no, third graders didn't tattle. Third graders did their own dirty work.

"Hey look everyone, Chunk's stuck in the swing!"

It felt like it had gone through the whole playground in a split second. Probably hadn't really. His eight-year-old self hadn't been counting. What had held his attention was the laughter, the echoing of the taunt as his classmates gathered, causing enough of a commotion as he shrank back in the swing—uselessly, as always, he was too big to hide—to cause a teacher to come running anyway.

"Tsuyoshi, what's the matter?"

Before he could find an answer, Bray had jumped in. Of course he had. "Chunk wouldn't get out of the swing, maybe he's stuck."

"Bray, be nice. But Tsuyoshi, if you aren't going to swing, you ought to let someone else use it."

"Yeah, Hugeyoshi. Get off of the swing!"—

Hunk did not remember making a decision. He just remembered the overwhelming sense of unfairness, and then he was on his feet and lunging. The sharp crack. It was the first time he'd ever really hit anyone, and he'd done a hell of a job.

Bray hadn't said another word for six weeks—enforced by the wires in his jaw. And Hunk had learned two things: first that breaking jaws was only worth it in the most extreme circumstances. Never on his own behalf, anyway, and that much he'd managed to stick to.

Second, that it was very helpful if the other kids thought he'd do it again.

That had been the first mask. Chunk, the angry loner, who might shut you up with a quickness if you pushed him too far. But being treated like a ticking time bomb was no way to live…

What are you hiding?

He'd made a choice. Laugh with 'em. Play along. Why not? It was easier that way, safer for everyone. If he kept telling himself it didn't bother him, maybe it would stop—or maybe, at least, they would stop.

The mask had been exhausting at first. He'd worked at it. And eventually, it had turned out class clowns got bullied and feared a lot less than the huge quiet kid in the corner. Class clowns even made friends!

…Kind of. When he'd left there for college and the Academy, he'd damn well never looked back.

It had been the same thing there, anyway. Nobody expected to see him walking into molecular chemodynamics. He was supposed to be some muscles-for-brains moron. Fine. He could be that. Just a big idiot who thought kabooms were cool. And so long as he stuck to the mask, he was in on the joke.

But somewhere, he really had gotten in on the joke. It was fun to not worry, to not care. To just be Big Dumb Hunk and not have to think so damn much. Maybe he'd become the mask.

And now some damn magic lion wanted to take it away? Hell no.

It had been a long walk from the Falcon, but he was close now. The sand was in sight, an endless expanse of glittering dunes and swirls beneath the Arusian sun. For the briefest moment, he thought better of this whole thing—shouldn't he at least have brought some water? Whoops.

Screw it. Big Dumb Hunk didn't think better of things. So he brushed it aside, and moved on.

*****

His teammate may have forgotten about water. Sven was making up for that in spades. Would it be in spades, if it was water? In buckets? In ladles?

In—heavens forbid—spoons?

Whatever. He'd finally returned to the shore, dripping wet and glaring at the lake which was quickly becoming the bane of his existence.

"You are very dramatic. My lake is the bane of nothing."

"I'm not speaking to you at the moment," he announced with a frustrated scowl as he pulled his shirt back on. "Please take the hint."

"I've done nothing to deserve such ire," she answered, and he felt his eye twitch.

"You've been quite unhelpful in a task you want me to complete."

"It is your task. Telling you how to complete it would defeat its purpose."

Sven's eye twitched again, though he had to confess she hadn't sounded quite as smug as she could have. Maybe that was how he managed to push his annoyance down and ask a question. The question, really. "Which is?"

"You will learn."

…Of course. "Infuriating—" He was cut off by the water rippling and splashing him, and something poking up from the lake's surface. First it was a spiral shell, glossy and pale beige. Then more shells, some of which were swirled with brilliant colors. As he watched the shells, muted beige tentacles started popping up around them, waving in a way that could've been seen as friendly if that weren't completely insane. But then, 'completely insane' was the rule around here. "What on Earth—on Arus are those?"

"My companions," the lion answered simply. One of the shells tilted upwards just enough for him to see two dark, beady eyes peering at him.

"Your—you are friends with… octopus snails?"

"Yes."

Well, at least for once he'd gotten an unequivocal answer to something, he supposed. Not one that helped him with anything at all, but an answer nonetheless. A couple more of the octopus snails shifted to get a look at him, and though he wasn't about to say so out loud, he couldn't help but think that they were kind of ugly.

The Lion of Water gave a sharp, indignant growl.

Oh for… "I apologize," he said with a wince, then scowled at the water. Though in my defense, if you hadn't been invading the privacy of my mind, you wouldn't have heard that.

The lion growled again, though slightly less indignant, and he rolled his eyes. Why did he feel guilty for insulting an infuriating lion robot's pet octopus snails? In his own personal thoughts? But he did, somehow. Surrendering to the inevitable, he reached out to pet a couple of them; they wrapped and unwrapped their tentacles around his hand in response. It was all very bizarre even by current standards, but he felt her purring. Still angry, yet appreciative.

That was the scene Larmina walked up on. Her first study session with Nanny had been cut short by some storage issue in the shelter—thankfully, since it had taken exactly three minutes for it to start going poorly. Apparently, reading a book while sitting with incorrect posture made her unserious about learning. But she'd stuck with the reading for a bit, while sitting badly hunched over out of spite… and that had eventually started to hurt, so she'd gone for a run.

And oh, look! An offworlder!

Why wouldn't there be, really.

Well, she wasn't going to let some Earthling chase her off her jogging route. He seemed pretty preoccupied, anyway, staring at the water and talking to himself and… wait, are those…?

Pausing a little ways behind him, she took note of two things. First was that the offworlder was dripping wet. Second was that a whole cluster of gorcas—and even some Launi!—were peeking out of the water around him. Larmina had never seen a gorca willingly surface before, though she remembered hearing some rumors a few months ago of them swarming the beach.

"Bad idea swimming," she informed him before she could stop herself, then blinked as she realized what else he was doing. "Badder," no, that wasn't right, she'd just read—"Worse idea petting."

Sven didn't jump; he hadn't heard anyone approach, and the sun was not at the correct angle to see a shadow. He was just way past being startled by now. Turning, he saw the redhead from dinner—Larmina, hadn't it been? "I agree with you on the swimming," he acknowledged, frowning back at the lake. "I don't seem to have much of a choice, though."

"No?" She'd have happily thrown any of the offworlders in the lake—well, maybe except the big one, he seemed somewhat tolerable—not to mention, good luck—in any case she wasn't against the idea, but nobody had asked her.

"No." He hesitated a moment, debating whether he should elaborate. But… the Princess clearly knew something, maybe the Lady did too. And it felt obvious they were all on a collision course over Voltron sooner or later. "I have to find something, or someone, and they're down there…" Eyeing the octopus snails, he gave a small scoff. "And I would heed your advice on the petting, seeing as you'd know better than me, but apparently I need to make amends."

Larmina snorted; it didn't take much to guess what was going on here. And she had thoughts, but nobody had asked for those either. "Wants you pet poison fish. Nice someone." Unlike with the lizards, she wasn't lying about that one.

Exaggerating? A bit. Lying? No!

Sven yanked his hand back. Poison? he demanded in his mind. You're letting me pet poisonous octopus snails?

"Only when eaten," the lion answered with perfect serenity. "Or distressed."

…So, being nice to them was important. He supposed that made him feel a little better. "Not sure if I'd call her nice," he said in response to Larmina, and smirked a little as he heard the lion huff.

Scoffing, Larmina opted not to answer that; she wouldn't know. She was lucky she knew what he was talking about at all. As she grumbled to herself, Sven scooted forward a little, sitting in the shallows and letting the creatures swarm him. Even more of them surfaced in response, though the offended lion said nothing.

"Worser idea," Larmina murmured under her breath.

She was probably right, but there wasn't much to be done for it. Sven looked up at her and decided, prickly nobility or not, he was going to have a semi-normal conversation with somebody, dammit. He could deal with prickly, he'd been friends with Jace…

"Your Common is quite good," he offered. It was clear she was struggling with it, and did he ever remember that. "I wasn't expecting anyone here to know it."

Her turquoise eyes narrowed immediately. "Don't need mocking. Know it needs work."

Sven blinked; okay, she was really prickly. "I was not mocking," he answered in a stern tone that wasn't wholly unlike his mother. "Common is not my first language and it's a bitch to learn. The fact that you can articulate coherent sentences at all is an accomplishment."

"Bitch?" she echoed under her breath; that wasn't a word she knew, and the way he'd said it, it sounded like a useful one. Then she shook it aside. "Royal education," she explained. "Comprehensive." Me paying attention, not always so comprehensive, but hey.

"If it's anything like finishing school, I'm sure it is," Sven muttered to himself.

Larmina hadn't really heard him, and was preoccupied with something else that didn't make sense. "You learned Common? Aren't you Earthling?"

It wasn't an unusual question; speaking Common English did not imply knowing anything about the race—or even the faction—where it had originated. "Yes. But not every Earthling speaks Common at all, and not many grow up with it as a first language. There are thousands of languages spoken by humans; I grew up in Norway, and my native language is Norwegian."

"Oh." She nodded, mostly following. Whatever a Norway was, it didn't sound as useful as 'bitch', so she didn't ask. "You seem more nice than lizard hunters."

"Lizard hunte—oh! Thank you." He paused a moment to detach one of the octopus snails that had climbed up to his chest, because absolutely not. "They're not as bad as they seem." Are they, though? "Well, one of them is, but he's mostly harmless. Just really likes reptiles." He could practically hear Daniel and Lance arguing about Bokar.

Snorting, Larmina watched him peel the gorca off—it really didn't want to go—and debated the merits of being nice herself. Politeness would make Nanny happy, which was an excellent argument against it. But helping the offworlders would make Auntie happy, which was a better argument for it.

Well, why not. "Called gorca," she informed him, pointing to the swarming creatures. "Bright ones Launi. Very poisonous. Others Paukon. Safe but boring." Why was she always teaching offworlders about the wildlife?

"Gorca," Sven repeated, looking at the octopus snails. It did kind of suit them. "Launi and Paukon." He could handle that. "Thank you."

"You're… well?"

He hid a small smile that she'd probably take the wrong way; that was incorrect for multiple reasons right now. "If you'd like help with your Common, let me know. I'm fairly proficient and I know very well how hard it is to learn." A sly grin tugged at his lips. "I'll even teach you all of the bad words that I'm sure your royal education won't."

Now he could hear someone else. I'm so proud of you, Viking.

Larmina's eyes lit up immediately. This was definitely something she could work with. Looking to the sky, she gestured widely. "Drules—sinycka. Very rude." She gave a solemn nod. "Like they deserve."

"Drules are sinycka," he repeated, nodding his own understanding. "If you want to be extra rude, you could use 'fucking sinycka', I would think. Just like they deserve." He was enabling very bad behavior right now, and he wasn't the least bit ashamed.

"Fucking sinycka," she echoed, and her grin widened. "I like. Thanks." As she spoke, a couple of the Launi gorcas were trying to crawl up into Sven's lap, much to his obvious discomfort. Best to leave him to that. "Should keep on my run. Good lucking petting fish for water lion." With a cheerful wave, she jogged off.

…She did know something! "Thank you, I'll need it," Sven murmured as she left, then turned to look back at the gorcas. He half expected to hear from the lion again, but there was only silence. Which he'd thought he wanted, but…

Shaking his head, he patted one of the Paukon and sighed. Octopus snail appreciation it was.

*****

Keith had climbed one of the tallest towers. One that overlooked the mountains to the north, that were covered with clouds that seemed to keep calling him. He placed his hands on the edge of the battlement, leaning against it. How do I find you?

"You will know in time."

Keith closed his eyes and bowed his head. So unhelpful, but if this had to be the way it had to be…

"Patience."

"I'm trying, believe me." He was answered with a chuckling purr. He looked back to the mountains, watching the clouds and the lightning. "Patience." How was he supposed to be patient, with all that was at stake?

Patience was not coming easily to Allura either—how could it? She still hadn't spoken to the man from her vision, and it was making her anxious. Coran approved of him, but… he'd been quiet at the dinner, when so many of his companions had clearly been hearing whispers. Had she been wrong?

No. She had hope, she believed. But she had to see it for certain. We need the Great Lions to wake. Please, be the answer to our prayers…

"Are you sure you saw him come up here, Chitter?" she asked the mouse perched carefully on her shoulder.

It replied with a confident chitter-squeak that may have had some bearing on its name.

"All right," she murmured and kept climbing. Reaching the top, she quietly cracked open the door and peeked outside. Then, with a smile, she glanced at the mouse again. "You were right. I owe you a treat, my friend." It would have to wait. For now, she pushed it open the rest of the way and stepped to the battlement beside Keith, looking out at the mountains.

He'd heard her footsteps, and looked over at her as she joined him. "Hello, Princess."

She looked up at him and smiled. "A beautiful view, don't you think?"

Nodding, he couldn't help but imagine what it would have been like without the scorched patches and wreckage. "Probably better if the Drules hadn't destroyed so much?"

Allura looked down at the landscape between the castle and the mountains, sadness entering her eyes. "Indeed." A long, slow sigh escaped her. "No matter what, we'll come back. Rebuild everything to its old splendor once more."

That determination was admirable… he watched her for a few moments, in silence, before turning his gaze back to the mountains. "What can you tell me about those mountains with the clouds?"

No question which mountains he was referring to. The aura of the Lion of Storms, her vision… she felt something like relief flooding through her. "That is known as the Thunder Ridge. A harsh bit of terrain cut from the Kyva Mountains by the river. The peaks are almost constantly covered in storms."

"So, one could be up there," Keith whispered.

Allura glanced at him, fighting to hide her excitement as the relief became certainty. He is hearing Black Lion. I knew it. "One what?"

"The Storm Lion. I think he's up there."

"Oh, really? Mmm, it does seem like a place he might like." It ached not to be able to say more. She wanted to confirm it, she wanted to tell him everything—no! She knew she mustn't. "It's said if one did get to the top of the peaks, there is a grand and endless view to stand guard over… but I doubt that, due to the clouds and other things." She looked back to him. "Are you thinking of going there, perhaps trying to find him?"

That… had not been subtle, but it had certainly been a nudge.

He frowned. "I was told… patience."

"Hmm." She tapped her chin. Would Black mind if I lead him to the paths? She didn't have to tell him which path led to the Lion of Storms. She didn't have to tell him a great many things. But…

"Go ahead, Daughter of Arus. Let me see what he does with that knowledge."

She nodded. "I might know of a path or two."

What? Keith startled a little. It can't be that easy, can it? "…Where might these paths be?"

Immediately the princess' expression became purely businesslike. "Follow me, but make sure no one is behind us." She turned and led him back into the castle proper, through rubble-filled corridors and what may have been an emergency staircase, and down to the lower areas of the castle. In a room that was now wholly unidentifiable as to its purpose, she walked to a hidden panel in the wall; air hissed out as she opened it, ruffling her hair.

Keith paused and checked behind them, before following her into the darkness. The architecture here seemed immediately different from the rest of the castle, leading them deep underground. "Wow…" There had been other mentions of tunnels. "Is this where you hid from the invasion?"

She looked back over her shoulder; the golden markings on her cheeks seemed almost luminous in the dim light. "Sort of. We have many of these underground tunnels, leading to many places and for many purposes. But this one is special." She pulled a light from her pocket as the ground evened out, revealing what lay ahead.

Keith's jaw dropped.

A huge artificial cavern stretched before them. Five shuttles were clustered in the middle, settled in launch mechanisms that wouldn't have looked out of place in an Alliance carrier bay—it was like nothing they'd yet seen on this planet, nothing they'd even had cause to imagine. But the instruments around them were dim and silent; no doubt power had been cut to this place long ago. Each shuttle faced what looked like a tunnel opening, but the light didn't extend far enough to get any sense where they led.

"Whoa." What else could he say?

"Only a very select few have ever been in this area. In fact, you may be the first person outside of the House of Raimon since these tunnels were built to lay eyes on them."

Keith stopped in front of one tunnel, looking down into the darkness. He shivered. The static was so strong just standing here, yet it didn't feel… right, somehow. "This is quite impressive." He paced around, looking down each tunnel, for all the good that did. He was drawn back to the one where the static felt strongest, making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end…

Allura stood quietly in the center of the room, watching him. What now? He had stopped at the correct tunnel, but somehow she knew he shouldn't follow it. Not now.

Slowly, he turned away from the tunnel. No, it felt wrong. Too easy, too simple… you must prove yourselves. "I… don't think I should go this way. At least not yet." He shook his head and looked back at her. "You said there's another path?"

Nod. "It is a distance away, and it is quite dangerous. You will need to be well prepared, but I can lead you to it once you are ready…" She turned back to where they'd entered. "I can help you, at least in some small part. Come."

Keith cast one last look down the tunnel before turning to follow her. The growl was deep and clear in his mind, and the static danced. As if the Lion of Storms approved of his decision…

He would take it as a promising sign. He had to.

*****

The desert was very, well… desert-y. Hunk didn't mind that. What was odd was how it had seemed to just start out of nowhere, like a knife had separated it from the grass behind him. Surely there was some logical reason for it, wasn't there? Something he'd know if he hadn't goofed off through most of geology.

"Won't be important, I said." He looked over his shoulder, the grass and hills almost completely invisible now. "Knowin' how which terrain got where ain't got much to do with blowin' stuff up, I said…"

Maybe it wasn't the biggest concern right now. But it was better than thinking about how featureless the expanse of sand was, wondering if he would even be able to find his way back out. Or, for that matter, watching the vultures circling overhead.

"Don't get your hopes up," he muttered grimly, and forged on.

At least the walk wasn't difficult. The sand was mostly flat, dotted occasionally with drifts, or cacti that bore shimmering red flowers. Hunk wasn't really stopping to look at the scenery, but had to admit it wasn't so bad out here at all.

If only he knew what he was accomplishing out here. He had no idea where he was going… yet for some reason, he didn't feel lost. And he had his suspicions about that.

"Here, kitty kitty kitty…"

That's probably the wrong way to go about this, dude.

Almost the moment he finished thinking it, the earth shook violently around him. "Whoa! Hey!" He jumped back just as the sand split open in front of him, a massive chasm opening in the otherwise featureless desert. "Okay okay, I'm sorry!"

"Do you think me so petty?"

And there he was. "Well you just threw a bottomless pit at me!" He glared at the pit in question. "And I may have ignored a lot of geography and geology and whatever but I know that ain't normal!"

The voice didn't address the point. "Have you found what it is you're hiding?"

"…Nothing." Hunk narrowed his eyes, starting to walk along the edge of the chasm. "Already told you that."

"Which of us are you lying to?"

He was sorely tempted to just walk away, and couldn't fully explain why he didn't. But he wasn't going to play along, either. "Why should I answer your questions? You ain't answered one of mine yet."

"You have no faith."

Hunk drew up short, frowning at the pit. Where the hell did that come from? "Do you just like, say things at random?"

"You are not ready for the answers. You have no faith."

"Uh huh." He returned to trying to circle the chasm. "And what are you wantin' me to believe in, exactly?"

That growl that was a lot like a chuckle echoed in his mind. "It is not belief you lack. You followed my voice."

"Dude, you just said…" Hunk's protest trailed off as he realized he wasn't making any progress with the chasm. In fact, if he hadn't known better he'd have said it was actually getting bigger as he tried to follow it. "…Okay look, if you didn't want me here why the invitation?"

"Your conclusions are too harsh." A shadow passed over him; a few vultures were taking notice of the proceedings. "There is a path you must follow, if you would reach my den. The path is hidden. The path is faith."

His den? That felt like information, but nothing he could really do anything with. "That plan can change if you keep this up, y'know."

"And yet you are still here." It chuckled again. "You will seek me out."

Hunk's eyes darkened. "You think this is funny, that it? Watchin' me stumble around lookin' for answers to your riddles?" He kicked a lump of sand into the pit, watching it vanish in the blackness. "Bet they don't even have real answers. This is just a big joke to you. That's why you let this planet die in the first—"

A roar erupted from the pit, shaking the earth, nearly flinging him to the ground. "WE ALLOWED NO SUCH THING!"

Hunk stumbled back, staring wide-eyed at the chasm. "…Struck a nerve, huh? How do you like it?"

"You know nothing of which you speak. But you will learn."

"No." For the first time, the voice didn't have an immediate answer for that. Hunk stepped back to the edge of the chasm, glaring into the darkness. "I'm done playin' this game, jackass. You can find another pawn, or not. Go to hell."

"Ah, there it is. Do you see it?"

Hunk hesitated just for a moment, then shook his head. No. Don't. "I said I'm done." He turned away, squinting into the distance, the castle now far beyond his view.

"Because you tire of the game? Or because you dislike what you become when you step onto the board?" Hunk froze mid-step. "Who are you, cub? What are you?"

…The question hurt. He was supposed to be long past that question affecting him, but the voice in his mind seemed to pierce straight through everything. "You know, obviously," he said quietly. "Why ask me?"

"I see what is hidden within you. The deeper things are buried, the greater the pressure. This is the way of the Earth. But what will you do with it? Will that which you've buried become coal, fuel for a consuming fire? Or a diamond, a beacon of light?" The growl softened. "I ask again, cub, what are you? Do you know?"

Slowly, Hunk found himself turning back to the chasm. "Do I know?" he echoed quietly. "You're meowin' up the wrong cactus there, dude."

"Am I?"

"Yeah. You are. I know what I'm doing, okay? That what you want to hear?" He shook his head. "This wasn't an accident. Everyone's gonna figure I'm just the dumb muscle no matter what. May as well have some fun with it, yeah? I made my decision a long time ago." Again he scowled into the darkness, eyes narrowed. "I'm not hiding a damn thing. The mask's glued on. Leave it the hell alone."

"And yet, if you'd truly become your mask, it wouldn't crack like glass when challenged. I am not the first to see."

…No. No he wasn't. There had been moments, but those moments had always thrown him just as badly as whoever saw through him. He wanted the damn mask intact. He needed it.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

As usual he didn't get an answer. "You have no faith. In yourself, nor your Pride."

My Pride?! "Dude. I've got teammates who mostly get along with me. Ain't got a Pride."

"You are illustrating my point."

…He didn't have a good answer for that one.

"You wondered if you had a choice? You do. Perhaps you are not ready to make it, but here you are." The soft growl echoed from the pit again. "Reject my call if you will. Turn around. Return to the world and the life that requires the mask that you wear. Or choose faith… and come to me."

Hunk blinked. That was a hell of a thing to try to take in, even with everything else that had happened so far. "Wait, right now? What happened to the Earth bein' patient?"

No answer.

"…You gotta be kiddin' me."

Okay. Think. Since apparently he wants you to do that. He clenched his fists, looking out over the sand. But we don't know enough to think! What the hell would it even mean if he went down there? There might be a robot lion. Good! Or was that even a good thing? They'd pretty much already determined that this was going to be a lot more complicated than just find Voltron, bring it home. The mission had changed. But what had it changed to?

We don't know anything…

Realization dawned.

…And that's why the path is faith.

"Okay." He took a deep breath, looking into the shadowy depths of the chasm. "But you make me regret this, I promise I'll find a way to make you regret it."

He stepped forward.

The chasm wasn't.

Part of him had expected pure illusion and solid earth, and that part was thrown off balance. The other part of him had expected nothingness, and he stumbled as his foot landed on something-ness. A rocky ledge had appeared about a foot beneath the level of the sand. More were appearing in the darkness, forming a rough stairway.

"Neat trick," he muttered, forging ahead into the darkness. If stepping into a bottomless pit hadn't stopped him, the creepy magical staircase sure wouldn't.

He started out counting the steps, but lost count at one hundred and twelve. It was enough to make the point anyway—the cavern he was walking into was massive. The bright sunlight of the desert was far behind him, only a faint glow following him this far. Just enough to see he was finally approaching the bottom.

Okay…

It was enough light to see that the cavern was empty. Well, not exactly empty. There was a huge chunk of what looked like sandstone in the center, with a pair of large vultures perched on top. Any other situation and Hunk would've brushed it off as unimportant, but considering he'd been talking to the Lion of Earth, he suspected this was what he'd come to see.

"Okay, I'm here."

"Yes. I see you." The voice gave a growl of amusement. "You are unimpressed."

"Well the stair trick was neat. But you've been yakkin' at me nonstop, being all cryptic and ominous and stuff, and now you're just a big rock? Kinda anticlimactic, yeah?"

"It would be. Come closer."

"You're bein' cryptic and ominous again." Hunk did as it said anyway. As he stepped forward he felt a tremor that he didn't really think was in the ground beneath him. It was something that seemed to echo on the rock voice's words in here, and lingered long after, reminding him he was probably totally insane.

Near the top of the huge rock, a gathering glow caught his eye. It was pale blue and seemed to be centered on two points deep within the stone, which…

Which…

…Stone doesn't do that.

What he'd taken to be sandstone was suddenly flowing like sand. It poured down around him, drifting on the rough stone of the cavern floor, revealing glimpses of metal beneath. The vultures squawked and fluttered down to the stone, sitting on either side of him as he watched the sand finish falling away.

What. The. Hell.

A huge metal cat was sitting sphinxlike in the center of the cavern, sand still trailing from several crevices in its form. It was both bulky and graceful, sleek silver limbs attached to a massive barrel chest sheathed in yellow armor. There was some sort of cannon on its broad back, a weapon Hunk couldn't identify.

He gave it the best once-over he could, but eye contact seemed like it might be wise. The lion had glowing blue eyes; a deep scar was visible in the armor over the left one. It had a sharply jutting jaw that somehow made it look gruff and a little endearing at the same time.

And it was purring.

"Is this more to your liking, my cub?"

Hunk whispered the only thing that seemed appropriate at the moment. "Holy shit."

"I am the Yellow Lion, Lion of the Earth." It growled softly, filling the cavern. "And you will be my Knight of the Earth, from this day forward."

Wait, what? "Okay, hold up there, dude. I just got here, yeah? Let's slow it down." He shook his head. "My name's Hunk."

The lion chuckled. "Mortal names are so small and simple. You have time, cub. You will be the first… the Earth is the foundation."

Well, the cryptic and ominous hadn't changed. "Yeah, okay." He circled a little, trying to take in everything about the lion he could. It was an incredible machine, and he'd have been geeking out if only it hadn't been talking to him… as he came around the left shoulder he froze, his eyes tracing up to the joint. Set in the armor was a familiar symbol: the yellow anvil sigil from the stolen relic, from the temple.

This is really…

"You still doubt."

"I have a lot of doubts right now, dude! Pretty sure you know what the original plan here was, considerin' you've growled at me about it."

"Yes." It felt like the lion was watching him, somehow. "You did not know what you sought. And what now?"

He made it back to the front and sighed, looking up at the huge silver claws. "I was gonna ask you that." Now that he was standing here, his earlier ideas felt… silly. "Tellin' the Arusians where you are and goin' home isn't gonna be a thing, is it?"

"Is it?"

"Dude, you are not helping!"

The Lion of Earth growled low, and he felt it seeming to echo from everywhere. "Your choice must be your choice, cub. Is that not what you wished it to be?"

Wasn't it? Maybe. But if he'd understood what both the choices were, he'd have felt a lot better. "And say I wanted to… do whatever it is you need me to do." he asked finally. "Be your earth knight or whatever you said. What've I gotta do next?"

"…There is, as it happens, a small task I require of you. And it is one you can accomplish before you commit to anything further." For the first time, the lion actually sounded a little apologetic. That was interesting, no doubt, though it ought to sound apologetic if it was asking him for a favor after all this. "There is a key."

A key? "And lemme guess. It's hidden in the Cave of Wonders, past the Bottomless Pit of Despair, up the Towering Mountains of Evil Badness, and it'll be a long and dangerous quest but that's okay, cuz the Earth is patient."

Yellow Lion gave a puzzled growl. "…No? It's down the tunnel behind me."

"Oh." Pacing around the lion again, Hunk saw the tunnel in question; he'd been a little too preoccupied to notice it before. "That's all?"

"There is a complication."

"Of course there is."

"I have recently come to share my den with an interloper. Unlike my feathery associates, it is not receptive to conversation."

Feathery associates? Hunk looked at the vultures, which looked back at him with what had to be the bird equivalent of raised eyebrows, and slowly raised one of his own. "Dude, you managed to get my unreceptive butt down here."

"True, but the cave serpent lacks faith… and higher reasoning functions."

Cave serpent, that didn't sound so bad. They'd already done the evil snake thing once this mission. "So I've gotta sneak around a snake? I think I can handle that."

"Ah, there is your faith! Return to me with the key, my cub."

Somehow, the way the lion said that worried him. But he'd already committed now, so… shaking his head, he started down the narrow tunnel, with the vultures trotting behind him on ungainly talons.

He still had a lot of questions.

*****

Daniel was trying to quell his growing anxiety. But the M-word of a man standing next to him was in a mood, which didn't bode well for his current need—no. He didn't need Lance's praise. He just really, really wanted it.

He'd been feeling notably bitter lately, and it just seemed to be getting worse. Mostly it was just when he thought of their current situation, the 'stuck on a ransacked alien planet' situation… which was a lot. His standard practice of ignoring his feelings until they went away wasn't working, and Daniel was self-aware enough to know that a little bit of positive attention from Lance would chase away the bitterness. At least for a little while.

For his part, Lance was unusually unaware of his sidekick's anxiety; he was too focused on his earlier conversation. His eyes still stung from crying, but the fog had finally started to lift. Maybe it was Arus' familiar blue sky, or the long walk, or even just that he had Daniel next to him. Who had come with him, no questions asked.

Feeling himself settle a little more, Lance put his entire focus into his current task. He had a volcano to check out. Though he'd been tense when they started, his shoulders began to relax more and more the closer they got. It was almost as if he could feel the warmth and flame of the lion getting stronger.

Daniel was wondering if he should just shove his new shiny cast in Lance's face, but he wasn't blind. He could see the pilot's puffy red eyes. So he coaxed himself into staying quiet. Mostly by reminding himself that begging for praise was also semi-humiliating.

"Thanks for coming with," Lance said abruptly, eyeing Daniel with a little bit of guilt. He'd asked him along for the company, but he was being pretty shitty company himself. He was way too wrapped up in his own problems to realize how much the kid was craving attention right now, but he did realize he'd been quiet.

Daniel smirked. "No problem. Hanging out with you isn't that bad." Oh, screw it, begging wasn't that humiliating. "So… guess what?"

Lance narrowed his eyes. Shit. "What?"

"What is with the suspicion?!" That had not been the response he'd been wanting. "I've been so well behaved since we got here!" It was true! Mostly. Excluding the ghost town excursion—which had actually turned up useful information!—there had been no schemes, no pranks, no nonsense. Okay, there had been crypts, but still. He'd practically been an angel.

The pilot wasn't having it. "Kid? Come on." He wasn't in the mood for this.

Daniel narrowed his own eyes, bitterness hitting him full force. He shoved his injured arm forcefully out towards him, showing off its new dressing. "I found a doctor, and he gave me a real cast." Smugness filled his tone. "And I did it all on my own. I was responsible and shit."

Lance blinked. Then blinked again. "I…" You've been caught up in yourself. "Wow." He gave it a good examination. "It looks fucking great, way better than that fucking Drule bullshit." The pilot gave Daniel a smile that twitched into a smirk. The kid was obviously looking for attention, and he could make up for lost time. "You were very responsible. I'm seriously proud. We should ask Keith if you can borrow his Crystal Spur."

"Thanks." Daniel fought off a blush. That was nice, it chased away the bitterness, but he wanted more. "I even made friends with other Arusians while I was there." He didn't even care that he was blatantly begging for approval at this point. If there were other people there to witness the humiliation, he might've, but there weren't, so oh well.

"And diplomacy at that…" Lance grinned, patting his shoulder. "Arm feels better then?"

"Yeah, it does. The doctor was not a fan of the Drule 'treatment' either." He was loving the cast. Apparently, keeping a fracture stabilized minimized the amount of pain it gave you! Who knew?

Lance frowned a bit at that; he wasn't sure how he felt about the idea of a new doctor. "They alright? This doctor?"

"Doctor Gorma. He's okay." He wasn't Jace, though. "Very bossy." Sort of like Jace, just less cursing—maybe. The guy did speak a different language, so there wasn't any way to know for sure. He could have been cursing up a storm! Daniel hoped he hadn't been; that would be too similar. "He said I used it too much. That I shouldn't have been moving it at all. I'm on strict instructions for no strenuous activity for at least six weeks." He wasn't sure why he was telling him that. Maybe he wanted to actually follow the advice, and Lance knowing would help with that. Or perhaps he was just talking without thinking.

Yeah, that seemed more likely.

Six weeks of what? Lance winced. They'd been walking for over an hour, and that seemed to fall into the category of strenuous activity. "Huh, guess I fucked that up."

"No, I can walk around all I want, I just have to be careful with the arm," Daniel reassured him.

"Yeah, well, I doubt there'll be any heavy lifting—"

"—OH!" Another thought hit him, and he pointed an accusatory finger. With his good hand, of course. "I almost forgot. I have to yell at you."

"Uh oh. What?"

"So, you know Captain Sarial? The militia lady who's been babysitting us? She's the one who took me to see Gorma." His complaint took a small amount of backstory.

"Right?" Lance hadn't formally met Captain Sarial, himself, but he remembered the name.

"She caught your stupid expectations disease. Gorma was like 'Don't use the arm for six weeks,' and she was all 'I think you can handle that' and 'I have faith you can do it.' Like, what the fuck?!" Lance snorted and then started to really laugh, to which Daniel just rolled his eyes; of course, he thought this was funny.

"This young cub lifts your spirits easily."

Lance grinned at Daniel as he heard the lion's voice. He couldn't argue. "Kid, that's what you get for being all responsible."

"I know…" He sighed, feeling sad. This was the price he paid for acting like an adult. Being an adult sucked. And it hadn't even just been about expectations… "Oh yeah! And she brought me having skills into it. How am I supposed to disagree with high expectations when they're tied into me being awesome?"

Lance let out another peel of laughter. "The horror of being skilled! Which skills, though? Sarcasm or foot in mouth?"

Daniel took a moment to remind himself why, exactly, this man's approval meant so much to him. "First of all, sarcasm should be, and by certain people is, considered a highly respected skill. And second, the skills in question were my ability to use explosives." He wasn't even going to comment on the 'foot in mouth' thing. Mostly because he didn't have a snappy response to it, and the last thing he needed was his skills in smartassery coming into question.

"She wants you to blow something up?" Lance asked, a little worried.

"No," which was a shame, "she… one of our crew members was apparently disparaging my skills in explosives." Daniel paused to narrow his eyes again. "I think it was Sven, but I don't have proof." He wasn't quite sure how he was going to get that proof, but he would.

Lance snorted again, and decided it was best to let that go. Looking ahead, the landscape was starting to change a bit. He could see smoke billowing up into the sky if he squinted, but they were still pretty far out. It was definitely a volcano, though.

"…So, what are we doing out here?" Daniel asked, following his gaze. They'd been walking for so long, and the gunner wasn't even sure what they were walking to, or for.

"Um…" Had he not even told him? He pointed to the sky. "…Walking to a volcano."

What.

"A volcano." Daniel stopped walking and stared. First at the smoke, and then at Lance. He took a deep breath, trying to summon a calm that did not come. "You're taking me to a volcano? And you're just now mentioning that?! We've been walking for hours! Hours! It was so boring, and your mood sucked! Which means it was boring and silent!" He could have spent all that time fantasizing about how cool the volcano would be, instead of freaking out over whether Lance would be in a good enough headspace to give him the proper amount of attention for his admirable adulting decisions.

Lance just shrugged in slightly sheepish acknowledgment; yeah, his mood had sucked. It still kind of did, but the lion in his head was right. The kid made him feel better. "Yeah, I, um… have reason to believe the lion I'm looking for is… maybe inside it," he explained. To the extent that it was really an explanation.

"We're going in a volcano?!" Daniel sounded far more excited than he probably should have. "That's awesome!"

Were they? He grinned; the kid's enthusiasm cheered him up either way. "I don't know. I was thinking maybe there's a temple or something, like the Murder Garden." He paused and made a face. "Also thinking it was lucky Jace and I didn't fall into a pit of lava." What the hell would that fire sigil have led to, anyway?

"Lava's way cooler than plants," Daniel asserted.

That murder garden liked Jace a lot more than me, Lance thought, before shaking his head at the kid's excitement. "Just keep your eyes out, and be careful…" He looked up towards the sun. "We probably shouldn't stay out here too much longer." No reason to add sunburn or heat exhaustion to the kid's list of ailments.

Without a moment's hesitation, Daniel took off at a run towards the smoke. "Come on! Or are you too old to keep up with a wounded youth?" He paused before adding, "And I'm always careful!"

"Says the wounded youth," he countered before running after him.

Running at Daniel's fast pace got them there relatively quickly, but also left them both hot and covered in sweat. Not that it mattered much. Daniel shrugged it off; Utah was worse.

Lance was too distracted with the volcano to care. It was all he could see as he looked around. Smoke and a few small magma streams in the distance. No temple, no lion, no nothing.

But you feel closer than ever.

"I am."

"Then, where is the door?!" Lance practically screamed.

Daniel jumped and then turned towards him, angrily. "Bro!? Can you give a little warning before you yell randomly?"

Wince. "Sorry… frustrated with the voice in my head." He sighed. "He's closer, I can feel it, but there's nothing here but a volcano that would kill us if we climbed up. How the hell are we supposed to get in?"

"I do not remember… if I knew."

Oh, that was just great.

"Oh yeah…" Daniel had momentarily forgotten that Lance was one of the magic-affected crazies. "Wait, you can feel it?" What did that mean? He swept his gaze around the rocky landscape. "There's nothing here but a volcano and a bunch of smoke and—OH MY GOD, LIZARDS!"

Lance jumped and whirled around at his screech of happiness. "Now who's shouting?!" he demanded, then blinked. There was movement at the base of the volcano—lizards, dozens of them, in varied shades of gray and reddish-brown that blended in well with the surroundings. "Oh, hey, Lizzies."

"Wow! There's so many!" Daniel moved forward and reached out to touch one, fully prepared to jump back when it either ran away in fear or tried to eat him, but it let him. Excitement swelled in his chest. This was even better than Lance being proud of him!

…Okay, maybe not, but it was close.

Shrugging, Lance knelt to look one of the lizards in the eyes. "Have you seen the Lion of Flame about? Might be metal and shiny?" It seemingly burped up a few embers—wait, really?—and turned its head to look at the volcano, which wasn't really helpful. "Uh, thanks, I guess."

He was certain he heard the lion chuckle.

"Wait…" Daniel wasn't listening to Lance ask the lizards about magical robot lions. Which was probably for the best, because he would have felt compelled to comment. He was more focused on the lizard he was touching—it didn't feel rough like he'd expected. It almost felt moist. And warm, very warm. "Weird." He reached out to touch a different one; same thing. "I don't think these things are lizards."

Lance, getting nothing else from the maybe-lizard, had been watching Daniel's excitement, and his own smile got wider. It almost made up for this trip being a bit of a loss. A confusing loss. "What are they, then?"

"I don't know. They're kind of slimy-ish, like salamanders. But I've never heard of salamanders hanging around volcanoes, or having claws and scales like lizards." He gave the one he'd been focused on a little poke, and it flexed its claws in the ash.

"Huh? Well, alien lizards or salamanders." Lance offered it as if the word 'alien' answered everything, which it might.

"Either way, they're awesome. Reptiles, amphibians—do you think they've got frogs here? Never seen an alien frog!" To say Daniel was excited would be an understatement. He was practically bursting with joy.

Lance looked back at the unhelpful maybe-lizard and shook his head slowly. He was certain it had spit up embers. Were these things somehow…

"Yes. Mine."

Huh? "The lion just claimed them… I think," Lance informed Daniel blankly, adding that to the long list of confusing things.

"That's kind of weird. Hope it doesn't mind me doing this?" Daniel went to see if one of the maybe-lizards would let him pick it up; it did, barely even reacting. It was so docile and so warm… grinning, he gently lifted it and placed it on his head. And it stayed! By now he was vibrating with happiness. This might've been the best day of his life. "This. Is. Awesome!"

Lance heard the Lion of Flame chuckling, and had to agree. Was the lion trying to make the kid happy for him? That seemed weird, but… "I don't think he minds at all, really. Just wish I knew how to get to him." He looked around, scowling in frustration. "Where the fuck is a murder garden temple when you want one?" Then he noticed what Daniel had actually done with the salamander-lizard, and grinned. "Ever think about going into zoology?"

"Can't fly ships in zoology." Not that he got to fly ships for the Alliance either, but he didn't have time to be bitter about that. There were lizards—or salamanders—or… whatever they were, there was one on his head! "And maybe he's inside the volcano? Like, actually inside." He was only half-serious; Lance had mentioned that earlier, but he hadn't sounded like he meant it.

It was definitely on his mind again. "At this point, I don't even find that weird… he's made of mystical warm metal." He stared at the volcano. Anything was possible at this stage, wasn't it?

"I mean, they've stayed hidden for a really long time, right? I feel like if he was in a temple, he'd have been found. Maybe there's a secret passageway or something. I don't know." Daniel was just throwing out half-assed ideas as quickly as he could come up with them. His mind was in overdrive. There was an alien animal on his head.

Lance made a face. "A secret passage! Huh? Maybe, how the fuck am I supposed to find that…" He growled in frustration. It sounded so obvious now that the kid suggested it, but… he wasn't feeling anything more. Just the volcano. "I can't deal with it anymore today. Pick a salalizard to keep, and let's head back."

The constant talk of all the weird was bringing back the sense of unexplained bitterness, and Daniel sighed. It was probably explainable, if he thought about it, but he didn't want it explained. He just wanted it to go away… wait, had Lance said he could keep one of these? He brightened and picked up another salalizard—which was the perfect name for them—and hugged it tight to himself. "Just one!?" He wanted all of them.

"Alright," Lance laughed. How could he say no? "As many as you can carry, one-armed Dan."

Daniel narrowed his eyes at the nickname. He had strong opinions on that name, and they were well known. "We've discussed that name and its unholy existence, but I will let it go this once because SALALIZARDS!"

"It was the phrasing," Lance defended, watching with a broad grin. He felt like he was catching a glimpse of what the kid must've been like on Christmas morning.

"Yeah, yeah. You get a pass." Daniel had one salalizard across his shoulders, one on his head, and one in his arms. Not even being called Dan could ruin this moment. "Let's go."

"Can I have one?" Lance asked, still grinning. He'd pick one up himself, but why risk picking up one that might not like it? Daniel seemed to be the salalizard whisperer. The kid smirked and handed him the one in his arms, then quickly picked up another to replace it.

Lance held the salalizard up to his eye level. It was dark gray, with orange-red spots, and it did feel kind of slimy… maybe it made sense. Living around a volcano would have to be kind of dehydrating without some countermeasures. And the lion had called them his… "Do you know where the door is?"

He could've sworn the salalizard winked at him. But that was all.

*****

The tunnel was long and the silence was awkward. Hunk didn't feel like getting Yellow Lion's attention again. His eyes were adjusting to the dimness; he could see some light coming from up ahead, and something was starting to tug at his mind.

"So uh… Baldy One and Baldy Two?" One of the vultures turned its head and made a little squawk-squirk sound. He assumed that meant the nickname was accepted. "You're obviously pals with the Yella Fella out there, how's come you couldn't grab this key for him? Gonna need higher reasoning functions?"

The other vulture squirked. They were both still walking alongside him—the tunnel had widened considerably from where he'd entered, but it still wouldn't comfortably allow for their wingspans. They looked ridiculous toddle-hopping their way along, and he kind of appreciated it.

The light was getting stronger, and the tunnel curved gently. It didn't look like what they'd seen of the shelter tunnels… he wondered how and when the den had been constructed. Alliance standards would've called for a secondary shaft, for air circulation and safety purposes. Maybe Arusian standards were similar.

Then he rounded the corner.

"…Oh you've gotta be kidding."

It was another cavern, though a much smaller one. Light poured in from several gaps in the cave ceiling—he could see framework around a few of the gaps, and even what looked like stained glass covering one. The walls were covered in half-ruined murals, and there was an enormous pile of rocks in the center—rocks that didn't match the rest of the cave, like a central monument of some sort had been demolished.

Hunk would've taken more time to try to puzzle the place out, but his attention was held by the gigantic, spiky serpent curled around the rocks.

Fuzzmuffins. "Why did I not ask questions?" he grumbled, and Baldy Two squawffled in agreement.

On the plus side, the cave serpent appeared to be asleep. Now he just needed to find a key in, well… all this… his eyes went to the pile of rocks.

"Yes," the lion confirmed, and he jumped. "It is not buried deep, but deep enough to keep my helpers away."

Oh. Great! So you know where it is? Like, exactly? Speaking out loud seemed like a thing he should stop doing right now.

"Yes. I will guide you."

That wasn't too bad. Hunk started carefully making his way through the cave, avoiding the serpent's tree trunk-sized coils. And what's it doing in here, exactly? Weird storage decision.

A pause. "It was… hidden. There was a reason…"

From the Galra?

He half expected to be roared at, like when the Arusians had mentioned the Golden Gods. All he actually got was confusion. "That name is familiar. But…" The lion gave a frustrated huff. "We have slept for a very long time, cub."

Obviously. Shaking his head and deciding it didn't matter for now, Hunk began to circle the pile of broken stone. He could feel where he was going, like the rocks were calling him… he had to climb a little way up, and was more than a little relieved to find the pile was mostly sturdy. He started digging through the stone, doing his best to make a nice structurally sound hole that wouldn't all cave in on him before…

One of the vultures shrieked.

"Dude!" he hissed, whipping his head around. "Baldy, keep it down over—" His own words cut off as he found himself staring at something that was not a vulture.

The cave serpent was staring back at him.

"Oh, fuckin' fuzzmuffins. Um… nice snakey? I'm just here to grab a little somethin', then—"

"Cub, it will not listen to me!" As Yellow Lion called out in his mind, he saw the serpent shake its head, as if throwing an unwanted voice aside. "You must return!"

"Ain't gotta tell me twi…" He paused as the serpent reared back. Wait. What was going to happen became all too clear, and his eyes widened.

He didn't move.

"Cub!"

"Have some faith, dude."

At the last possible second, he kicked off the rocks. The snake lunged at where he'd been, smashing through the pile, sending rock fragments spraying everywhere. And as he dropped to the ground, he saw something gold glinting in the air.

"Hey! Baldy!"

With a squawk, one of the vultures launched into the spray of stone, dodging shrapnel and snagging the gold thing in one of its talons. And Hunk booked it.

The cave serpent was fast, and it was quiet. He only knew it was following him because its shadow kept moving. The vultures were following as well, and he saw their shadows smacking into the serpent's as they tried to distract it. One swooped down just overhead, dropping the gold thing into his hands; he caught it without breaking stride.

The tunnel was close… he heard the vultures shrieking and moving away from him, echoing through the cavern. It sounded like they must have gone back to the holes in the ceiling. Maybe it would keep the cave serpent occupied—

SMACK.

—Maybe it wouldn't.

Glancing over his shoulder just long enough to see the serpent shaking off a momentary daze—courtesy of its head slamming right into the stone wall behind him—Hunk picked up the pace. The narrow gap between the tunnel and Yellow Lion's den was close now, it was just ahead of him…

"You cubs are mad," the lion growled approvingly.

"Dude, you better be able to hear all the things I'm calling you in my head right now!" He lunged through the opening and threw himself into a roll, glancing back just in time to see the cave serpent rearing up for another strike. Scrambling off to the side, he really hoped the damn snake didn't have much peripheral range, or this was really gonna—

The key in his hands emitted a flare of amber light, and Yellow Lion roared—and it wasn't just in his mind.

"Uh…?"

With a shriek of ancient gears, the huge lion rose up from the ground. Something silvery flashed overhead—a tail? Did this thing have a tail?

Yes. Yes it did. A long, slim tail that ended with a gigantic hammer. He had just enough time to comprehend the fact, then the hammer-tail smashed into the stone above the opening and sent a shower of rock and debris raining down. A pile of broken sandstone filled the tunnel entrance, and shook violently as—Hunk could only assume—the serpent slammed into it and got nothing but a headache for its trouble.

A second attempt did little better, and everything went still.

"What were you calling me, cub?"

"…Totally standin' by it," Hunk snorted, though he was staring at the lion with wide eyes. "But that was awesome."

The gravelly chuckle filled the den and his mind. "I have wanted to do that for decades."

"You're welcome."

That got another chuckle, fading into a soft and contemplative growl. "Yes. You did very well, cub. But now we return to the true question on our paws… have you made your choice?"

Hunk took a long breath, letting himself come down from the adrenaline. Had he made a choice? He looked down at the key—a segmented metal disc bearing the same yellow sigil. It felt heavier than he would've thought. After what he'd gone through to get this damn thing… no, that was hardly even part of it.

Return to the world and the life that requires the mask that you wear. Or choose faith…

And if I do?

The team hadn't talked about this. And somehow, he couldn't help feeling it wouldn't have mattered if they had. This wasn't something they could reason out, something they could decide like some regular mission tactic. It was something that had to be felt…

And as hard as he tried to fight it, Hunk knew what he felt.

Faith.

"What do you need me to do?"

The lion purred. "Come closer. Stand before me."

Nodding, he circled around to the front of the lion. His nerves were all on edge, but this was right. Terrifying, but right… Yellow Lion pushed one paw forward, and he understood, moving forward himself to lay a hand on the silver metal.

—The earth surging and trembling, the stone itself rippling, he could feel the desert pressing in from above and the distant mountains and something else, a presence, many presences, the ancient lion and a hundred others who had made this choice, and choices not yet made, and it was overwhelming and he couldn't pull his hand back and the earthquake knocked him from his feet and then it was over—

He was still standing, gasping for breath, feeling something like gravity racing through his veins and the lion's presence deep in the back of his mind. Not the unwelcome barging in he'd been growing used to, but something quiet, comforting, solid.

"Holy fuzzmuffins…"

"You are now the Knight of the Earth, and the Paladin of Faith," the lion growled softly. "My first Bonded in centuries…"

Hunk shivered as the voice ran down his spine, and looked up into the lion's glowing blue eyes. "Slow it down, dude," he said shakily. "I told you, my name's Hunk."

"Perhaps that is so," the lion agreed. "And yet… your name shall be Earthwarder."

"Earthwarder?" he repeated, blinking, and he felt the weight of the desert again. It felt strong, it felt right, it felt… "…That is a lot of syllables when just one will do, dude!"

The Lion of Earth just chuckled.

*****

Vince had returned to the Falcon, and was sitting on his bed; he was avoiding the castle for the moment. He'd walked around a corner while wandering it a bit—it was hard not to wander a deserted castle, he found—and had seen a ghost. For about three seconds, he'd tried to remember what Romelle had told him, to stay calm. But it was no use. He hadn't really run back to the Falcon… but he'd definitely run back to the Falcon.

He felt ridiculous.

But it was just too much, and he'd dreamed about those constellations again… staring up at an unknown sky. He'd checked Arus' sky at night and while it was beautiful, with two moons, he hadn't seen those constellations. Strange shapes that were both familiar and unfamilar…

Vince was so tired of weird.

So he stared at the ceiling.

Maybe he was pouting. He thought maybe he should talk to Hunk about it all, tell him about the visions, but the rest of them seemed to have their own weird things happening. He didn't envy it—the last thing he needed was voices in his head. He was cracking up enough as it was.

Sighing, he tried not to think, but it was no use. He wasn't sure what to do and it made him miss Flynn and Jace, because he could talk to them without having to explain too much… and that just made him wonder how he'd survived when they hadn't. Him, of all people? He really wished his look into meditation had worked, because he'd give anything to be able to turn off thinking. Because he was of course overthinking and rethinking and it felt like an annoying loop.

Even Pidge would be welcome right now. Maybe. At least they could commiserate about not being able to turn off their thoughts.

He stared at the ceiling and felt like maybe his eyes were getting droopy; he hadn't slept much at all. Too much going on. So good, maybe now he'd get lucky and not dream. Not think… he closed his eyes, only too happy to surrender to sleep.

But suddenly he felt a jolt—an odd burst of gravity that made him rise up on the bed, feeling it from his feet on up and then he was standing, his feet planted solidly on the ground…

Only he was lying down in bed.

He squawked and fell off the bed in a startled panic; sparks shot from his fingers, scorching ten little marks into the floor. "Fuzzmuffins…"

He sighed. It just figured, didn't it, him freaking himself out enough that he had some bizarre new episode. And of course everything was getting weirder, of course he was sparking again, what else could go wrong?

Suddenly he felt trapped in his own dark mood, almost like he needed to be outside or he was going to go crazy. Before he knew it, he was standing outside the Falcon, looking at his feet on the ground. Everything just seemed so… normal now. He frowned, then he heard footsteps and looked up.

"Hello."

He stared at the woman, Captain Sarial, he thought. "Hello."

She held a package. "I was asked to bring you a bit of food. We had some surplus that shouldn't go to waste."

He wasn't sure if he was hungry but it'd be impolite to refuse, so he stepped closer to look at what she had. Maybe it would settle his anxious stomach down, anyway. He saw some light brown food that looked a bit like berries, except for the color. He remembered them from the dinner; he'd liked them, and took a handful before accepting the rest of the package. "What are these?" he asked absently before popping one into his mouth.

"Onpira," she answered, "one of the foods we're able to grow in the caves. I believe they would equate best to mushrooms?"

Vince gulped. Swallowed. And stared at the mushrooms—the very tasty mushrooms—in his hands, feeling even more betrayed.

Did it ever stop?!

*****

As he was still trying to come to grips with Earthwarder—never mind Knight of the Earth and Paladin of Faith or whatever the hell all that was about—Hunk was absently looking at his reflection in the lion's claws. And suddenly, his vision was washed out in yellow. Just for a moment. Through the distorted colors, he could see one thing clearly enough: his eyes had just glowed.

"What the hell?!"

"The Bonds are powerful things, Earthwarder. They are volatile now, with you as the sole Bonded. They will stabilize in time…"

Oh. Wonderful. "Did you send me in to have fun with the local wildlife first because you figured this… glowy eyes thing would get in the way?"

"It may have been a factor."

"Well, I appreciate that, anyway." He crossed his arms. "And since you're givin' me answers here, I'd like some more—and I didn't even make 'em a condition of this bonding, because faith, so are you gonna prove me right or wrong?"

Somehow, Yellow Lion actually felt a little taken aback in his mind. Then he chuckled again. "You are a clever cub, but I knew this. Ask… but know there is only so much I can answer."

That was halfway encouraging, he guessed. Where to even start? Maybe, he decided after a moment's indecision, the very inability to know where to start was a question. "Why," he gestured widely, "did we hafta go through, y'know, all this bullshit? You couldn't just say hey, come down here and find this key and we'll talk?"

It sounded like he'd expected that question, as he probably should've. "And would you have made the same decision, had you not been forced to confront what you are? You had to be tested."

"I'd get that a whole lot more if we didn't have Drules about to drop on our heads. Couldn't do a waiver? This is an emergency situation."

Now he paused. "You misunderstand. The tests are neither a conceit, nor our choice. They are our nature…" The lion growled softly. "The power of the Defender is immense. To Bond with one unworthy, or even merely incompatible, would be a grave danger to all."

Hunk blinked, looking up at the lion's glowing eyes. "The Defender?"

"The sacred knight… that which mortals know as Voltron."

Holy fuzzmuffins. Now they were really getting somewhere. "And uh, what exactly is Voltron? You lions aren't Voltron?"

"We are not, and yet we are. You will see…"

…Why had he not anticipated that?

He opted to try a different topic, because one thing for sure didn't make sense. "Are you sayin' there was nobody worthy on this whole planet before we turned up?" Among other things, it seemed like a mathematical impossibility. If worthy people were that hard to find, how had they just come rolling in with five without knowing it? For that matter, if they were worthy, the lions' standards couldn't be that high—

"I can hear you, Earthwarder."

Right. "Good, so… answer?" Not that he was expecting one. But to his surprise, he actually got one.

"Our standards are quite high, but as to this planet… no. There are worthy ones. But something… went wrong."

Went wrong? "What d'you mean, exactly, by 'went wrong'?"

"That, my cub, is an answer I would gladly give you if I knew. We called out to the people of this world. But they could not hear."

Well hell. That sounded… very, very bad. "But doesn't the princess talk to you?"

"To all of us? No…" Again there was a long, frustrated pause. "I lack these answers, Earthwarder."

"…Okay. One more question?" He looked at the key in his hands and hoped to anyone who might be listening—so probably the lion, but faith or whatever—that this question would be safer ground. "What's this thing for?"

There was a pause. Then a snarl of agitation. "It is required, yet not meant to be… no, that is not what you asked." Hunk raised an eyebrow; that was a first. "I will show you. Come." With another low whirr, the lion crouched in front of him, and the silver jaws opened up.

"…Uh, you're joking." He didn't answer. Maybe because his mouth was wide open. "Dude, you are joking, right?" Still nothing—the flash of yellow filled his vision again and he grimaced. Did faith really include letting a giant robot lion eat him?

…Probably.

Clambering over the jaw, using one fang for support, he looked around and blinked. Ahead of him was a sort of metallic wall, and he could make out what seemed like parts of a weapon mechanism… but somewhat more to the point, there was something set deep into the metal that was unmistakably a hatch.

"Down the hatch?" he muttered, shrugging, and spun it open. A small tunnel greeted him, sloping upwards to a second hatch, and he opened it up to reveal…

A cockpit.

"Wait." He looked around. It looked a lot like the inside of a Fractal fighter, and also a lot not like the inside of a Fractal—the main screen and controls were recognizable, yet alien at the same time. "Wait…" There were two seats—the back one had a console of its own, though it wasn't like any RIO setup he'd ever done maintenance on. "Wait. You're a—you're a ship?!"

"That is a… simplification."

Snort. "You're a giant mythical robotic elemental lion that's also a ship?"

"Better."

"And you went through all this testing crap to bond to me without asking if I'm a pilot?!"

For what felt like a very long time, there was no reply. Then, a slight tremor ran through the cockpit; the lion was laughing. "I know you are not… yet."

Before he could even find a response to that, Hunk's eyes glowed yellow again. "Oh for…" Stepping forward, he sank into the back seat and shook his head slowly. "What. The. Hell. Did you get me into here, my dude."

"You will see soon enough," the Lion of Earth chuckled. "The Earth is patient."

*****

*No chapter next week, going to try to settle down some recent scheduling glitches. We’ll be back the week after!