The Stars Between -- (VLD)

"Hello? ... guys? Does anybody copy? Shiro? Allura? Anyone?"

Lance waited with bated breath, listening as Pidge called out to the rest of the team. She may not know it, but her voice was getting clearer to Lance, the static fading slowly as the distance between them closed. If Lance was correct in his suspicions, it meant that she was getting closer to Hunk. He tried his comms again, hoping that she would hear him.

"Pidge?" he started quietly, refusing to get his hopes up. "Do you read?"

"Ugh, stupid comms!" Pidge snapped, and Lance perked up, thinking she may have heard a flicker of his voice. A loud crash followed her words immediately after. Pidge must have thrown something in her anger.

"What was that?" Hunk's voice came through again, slightly panicked, "Can anyone hear me?"

"Hunk! Thank god!"

"Pidge!"

Lance smiled, a bittersweet feeling blooming in his chest and threatening to explode. He was glad they had found each other, but jealously washed over him as he listened to them talk. He only wished he could join in, but he knew it was no use.

But he guessed that the universe was just against him. Maybe he wasn't supposed to be found. 

Dejected, Lance fell back in his seat, slouching down as far as he could without pushing weight onto his injured leg. He let it roll back along its rail, away from the console, and sighed deeply.

Lance felt- rather than heard- Blue's assurances covering him like a soft blanket, safe and warm. 

Soaking in her calm, he exhaled, pushing the negative emotions to the back of his mind. He couldn't think about that now.

He slid out of his seat onto the floor, his injured leg spread out before him. It was a position that was rather reminiscent of a different paladin, and he nearly laughed at the memory. Instead, he levelled his breathing and closed his eyes, trying to connect with his lion. He delved into his mindscape, doing his best to reach out fully to Blue.

Her engines needed his attention. And her weapons system was offline.

He sighed before slowly getting to his feet and stretching his neck. He would start with the engines.

Lance gave a cheer as the engine roared to life. He could finally move! He ran quick diagnostics of Blue's other systems, taking note of which ones were working or not and listing them in level of importance before he let his hands rest on the familiar controls, ready to go.

But then he frowned, slowly taking his hands off again. He didn't have anywhere to go. He had no idea where he was, and Blue's navigation systems were still down.

He had no idea how to fix that.

He was lost in unfamiliar space with no contact to the other paladins or the Castle ship. And even without his Garrison training, Lance knew that when you were lost you didn't move from where you were. It could only lead to worse things.

A light flashed on the radar to Lance's left and he scrambled over to see what it was.

He had been wrong in his previous statement. He was meant to be found. Just not by a friendly face. Lance's smile faded as the unidentified vessel came into visual range. Two more blips of light followed onto the radar, and this time he didn't need to see them to know what they were.

"Girl, I know you're not up to your best, but we've gotta go," Lance said, checking over his systems one last time. Nothing had changed, but that didn't matter. He had the engines going, and for now, that would have to be enough. "Just work with me, okay?"