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Chapter Text

I witnessed much when I was taken into Helheim’s gate, onto the island of the dragons. Too much of it, I can’t yet write down for my own sake. I fear it’s too fresh on my mind to recount without another episode. But ever since I got back, I’ve been having… dreams. Visions? I keep seeing that terrible, terrible dragon from the island, armies of other vikings from a tribe that doesn’t exist in any of our books. But they all bore a purple flag with a dragon that looks just like the one in the nest. Like the people that attacked your [REDCATED], [REDACTED].

 

Do they want war? Why do they use that horrible beast as their symbol? Are they coming here? [REDACTED], when they attacked your [REDACTED], you didn't tell me they might be a threat to Arus. So much doesn’t make sense. But the thing that most confuses me, is another recurring dream that disrupts those previous visions. One of a black and white dragon with red wings and yellow eyes. I think I know what it may be, if the stories you told me are true.

 

While I’ve never seen this dragon in real life, she it looks like the one that had been terrorizing the village ever since I’ve returned. If they're supposed to be our protectors, why are they being acting as a weapon against us? 

 

[REDCATED], I don't know if I am the right person to do this.

 

– Translated page from The Riders of Arus, A Collection of Letters by the Riders of Arus, Chapter One published by Shiro Kirogane

Welcome, to Arus.

It’s twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It’s located solidly on the Meridian of Misery, in a small corner of the world hidden away by a mass of fog no one but the bravest of Viking’s dared to sail.

Unfortunately, those that lived on Arus didn’t quite have a choice in the matter.

The ocean roared, cold and unforgiving as it crashed into the steep cliffs of Arus. Bonfires burned, torches flickered in the wind. Buildings, new and few old, stood tall and sturdy against the coming storm.

Thunder cracked in the distance and heavy footsteps came stomping down the stairs. Urgent and moving with purpose.

Lance blinked awake, his eyes adjusting to the low light of the room. He caught just a glimpse of a big body opening the front door and slamming it shut. The lanterns rattled in response, a spear falling to the floor from the force of the slam.

Still half asleep, Lance sluggishly tossed the covers off and tugged his shoes on. Fixing his faded blue tunic, he adjusted the hood and prepared to step into the chill of the night.

He opened the door, forcing his eyes to stay open–

A flying mass of red scales, bright markings and fur barreled past, breathing a scorching plume of fire at the house across from Lance’s own. Lance, understandably, let out a yell in surprise.

The creature swiveled its head to Lance, and if he had time, he would’ve spoken every curse known in his vocabulary. Of course, the creature had other plans, and unhinged its jaw– green sulfur hissed, low and threatening– and Lance slammed the door shut just time to lock it before throwing himself to the ground.

The heat was unbearable and smoke was already making its way into the room. The onslaught stopped after a long, tense, blistering moment, then Lance heard hefting wings flying toward its next victim. Only then, did he let himself stand, albeit shakily.

See. While other islands had giant wolves and massive, bucking horses… Arus had:

Lance breathed, adrenaline coursing through his veins excitedly as his body shook with fear and anticipation. A smile crept up his lips and he whispered, “Dragons.”

—

Lance ran through the burning village, coughing dryly as he fought his way through the masses to Uncle Coran’s Armory.

Vikings, pale and dark, big and bigger, ran past with battle-axes in hand, swords, and nets. Each one shouting and jeering at him to get back inside as he sprinted towards the armory, trying his best not to stumble over his legs too long for his body.

One knocked him over, and Lance bit his tongue as he took the fall. “Shit– seriously?” He called to the Viking as they ran past without so much as a glance. Lance wasn’t stuck on his ass for long, because before he knew it, he was lifted right back up by his armpits and pushed straight into a run.

“Your dad is so going to kill you, dude!” Hunk said, running side by side with him. The armory was just across the plaza. “Are you really that eager to get yelled at in front of the whole village again?”

“Thanks for the reminder, Buddy,” Lance rolled his eyes, flushing at the memory while they ran. It wasn’t his fault that Balmera decided to target him at the last raid!

Narrowly dodging another plume of flame from a dragon Lance couldn't make out before an axe found its head. Right on each other's heels, they tripped right into Coran’s Armory.

“About time, boy!” Coran said, immediately handing him a sword to sharpen as Lance hopped the desk to get behind the counter. “I was startin’ to think you’d been carried off.”

“Thanks, Coran,” Lance said, frowning at the sword. “I knew I was popular with the ladies, but it’s nice to know you're confident in my skills with the fire-breathing lizards, too.”

Hunk snorted, wasting no time in getting to work on repairing the crowd of Viking’s weapons. “Lance almost got turned into roasted dragon breakfast as soon as he stepped out of the door.”

Lance hummed considerately, jabbing Hunk in the side and hefting the sword onto the speeding rock to sharpen, sparks flying into the air as he forced it down. “Anyway, I was thinking,” Lance ventured, eyes flitting from the sword in his hand to Coran’s ginger hair. “Maybe I could… I don’t know… promote to dragon killing today?”

Coran didn’t spare him a glance as he barked a laugh. Lance cringed as a Balmera spat a giant lump of bright teal lava, sending it hurling into the building just across from the armory. The ground shook. When Coran finally caught his breath, he turned to Lance. “Oh, my boy, you really do have a sense of humor. Even if your father doesn’t appreciate it. Promote to dragon killing,” He snorted. “Why don’t I go ask your father to lend me his favorite axe, eh?”

Hunk shot him a glance, his brows furrowed in pity.

Lance bit his lip, sweat already beginning to trickle uncomfortably down his spine from the scalding heat. Why couldn’t they have had ice-breathing dragons instead?

“Hah, well, funny thing,” Lance tried again nervously, eyes glancing at the sword in his hand. Man, how long did this thing take to sharpen? “I wasn’t really joking–”

“Coran!” 

Lance was interrupted by a short figure bounding into the armory, bursting through the backdoor. Pidge (Katie, but no one called her that) hauled a giant crossbow with a net in the bundle of the catapult.

“I finally finished the catapult!” She grinned manicly. “I was thinking of testing it out tonight, what with the whole dragon’s attacking the village again or whatever– or maybe we can use it for dragon training–!”

A sharp, whining whistle rang in the air. Lance and every other viking turned to the noise as someone called, “Verndari!”

“Get down!” 

Shields went over heads in protocol of the most feared dragon on Arus. A giant boom resounded in the distance, and Lance could see one of their watch towers go down in a blue, fiery mass, and the heat seemed to double.

The Verndari was a special type of dragon, even worse than the Monstrous Robeast. No one has ever seen it in person. It came from the ocean, blending in with the waves and the mask of darkness. The only thing they knew was that it never missed.

 Pidge eagerly ran to the desk where Vikings were still piling dull weapons and such in need of fixing impatiently, but even their heads were still turned.

Maybe Lance should try thinking before doing something sometime. Or, well, usually he did. Usually. But maybe the poorly concealed hurt of so easily being overtaken by Pidge quickly erased any memory of the lectures his father gave him, and, well, he didn’t think.

The sword Lance had been staring at dumbly because he’d forgotten to take it off the sharpener, had a giant indent as the metal threatened to snap and clatter to the ground was thrown to the side in seconds. The giant catapult was in his hands, and suddenly, he was rolling it outside, out the backdoor, past raging fires, giant dragons, furious Vikings, and up, up, up the hills and cliffs. He could faintly hear Pidge yelling his name, and he could perfectly imagine Hunk being the one to hold her back.

Lance couldn't help but linger past the blur of black hair and slightly tanned skin as he rushed across the burning grass, almost growling just as ravenously as the dragon he fought. He slashed his sword in front of a massive Olkari and its sharp teeth. Shouting at the child behind him to get inside.

Lance tripped at the sight. 

Keith Kogane. Practically the star of their village, was one of the only Viking teens their age that continuously broke the rules and ran out to fight during nearly every attack. And here he was, defending a child and trying to fight a seemingly full grown Olkari. But Lance realized just as soon as Keith that he couldn't protect him and the kid at the same time.

Lance wasted no time before abandoning the catapult and running toward the roaring Olkari and Keith.

“What the– Lance! What are you doing?!” Keith growled, hitting the Olkari in one of its many horns and spikes. “You're not supposed to–”

“Be out here. I know!” Lance shot back before diving and scooping the little sobbing girl into his arms. “Hey, sweetheart,” Lance said, his tone immediately taking a softer note. “Don't you worry. We're gonna get you to Mom, alright?”

The girl continued to sob, latching onto Lance's tunic as her snot and tears stained the collar. 

“Hey. Come on,” Lance nudged her head, urging her to look at him. 

“Lance.” Keith said in warning, pushing them back as he called for help.

“Shut it, Mullet.” Lance glared, failing to stamp down his irritation. “Hey, hey. Look at me, baby girl. I'm going to need you to tell me which clan you're from, so I know what to tell the nice old lady in the Dining Hall. Mom can get you after this is all done.”

“I've been trying to ask her this whole time, she's not going to–”

“W-warband,” She choked out, screaming when the Olkari got too close.

“The Bjorn Warband?” Lance said, patting her back soothingly as he stuck his tongue out at Keith. “That's great, sweetheart. You're so brave. We'll get you there “

Their village was large, made up of various viking clans who sailed here to Arus and made it their home over the years.

Keith gave him a deadpanned expression, but when Lance turned to look for a safe route to the Dining Hall– That's where any kids, lost or not, were taken during fights. Easily barricaded and defendable– Keith’s eyes softened.

“Hey!” 

Keith and Lance both startled, Keith just barely dodging a slash from the Olkari's razor sharp tail. They turned to find an older Viking with short cropped black hair and– Holy fucking– “Shit! Shiro!” Lance gaped, slapping his free hand over his mouth in embarrassment.

Shiro ignored him, and Lance tried not to feel too hurt. They were in the middle of a battle, after all.

“Keith, go with them!” Shiro ordered, commanding and firm as he fought the dragon before them. “Keep them safe until they get to the dining hall.”

Keith hesitated only for a moment before coming to the conclusion that Shiro could protect himself just fine. Lance could not.

“Come on,” Keith grabbed his wrist, pulling him alone through the blazing chaos of screaming Vikings and bloodied dragons. Lance shushed the girl in his arms, asking her questions to keep her mind off the battle going on around them. 

"What's your name, love?" Lance panted as they ran. His arms were aching now, but they were so close now. 

"E-Emily," She hiccuped, squeezing her arms tighter around Lance's neck as she screamed when an Unilu landed nearby. A woman with nearly white hair swung her axe around, drawing its attention away. "I'm Em-Emily!" She sobbed.

"Well, that just so happens to be my favorite name, Emily," Lance smile wobbled, trying his best to hide his wincing even though she couldn't see it. "What's your favorite flower, Emily?" But all she could do now was cry and sob against his neck for the next minute that it took to get to the dining hall. Finally, after setting the girl down from his aching arms, he patted her blond head before passing her over to one of the senior Viking’s, an old lady called Bodil. 

Keith watched as the girl gave Lance a hug, sniffling and wiping her tears now that she knew she was safe. She looked up with big, beautiful gray eyes and said, "My f-favorite flower's are snowdrops," She hiccupped.

Lance cooed, bending down to meet her eyes properly. "And why's that, Emily?"

"B-because they grow, uhm, even during the winter time," She replied, nodding as if to be sure with herself.

"Well, I think those might just be my favorite flower's now too, Emily," Lance grinned, then ushered her off inside. Emily took Bodil's hand and they began walking toward the table filled to the brim with children. "Bye bye!" She called, her eyes red-rimmed.

"Bye, sweet girl," Lance waved, his smile more genuine this time.

They stood there for a moment silently after the giant door closed.

Keith glanced at Lance. “So. Uh, why are you out here?”

Lance raised a brow, crossing his arms before leaning lowly to look Keith in the eyes accusingly. “Wouldn't you like to know, Samurai?”

Keith scoffed, opening his mouth to retort when a sharp whistle echoed into the night. 

Lance gasped, eyes immediately shooting up toward the sky.

“I gotta go,” Lance rushed out, booking it down the path where he left the (hopefully still intact) catapult.

“Wait. Lance, where are you going?!” Keith called, beginning to jog after him when an Unilu landed right in front of them. Lance nearly tripped over himself coming to a halt with a nervous smile.

“Uh, hey, precious,” Lance said, slowly backing toward Keith. “Come here often?”

The Unilu, decidedly not liking his poor attempt at a pick-up line, roared before rearing back. A familiar hiss and green smoke began to fall from its mouth.

“You know. A no would have sufficed,” Lance scoffed before screaming as Keith shoved him aside and took on the Unilu, using the butt of his sword to jab it harshly in the neck. The dragon choked, sufficiently losing the beginning of fire breath.

Lance blinked before sprinting right past, calling a quick thanks to Keith. “I owe you one!”

“Lance!” Keith shouted. “Don’t fucking die!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it!”

The sky was a deep, dark blue. Stars twinkled down at Lance as the cold air kissed his skin, far from the fighting.

Did he feel guilty for leaving Keith to battle an Unilu by himself? A tad. But he knew Keith could handle it. Everyone in the village and their mothers knew it. The guy killed dragons all the time, didn’t he?

With that in mind and the familiar, comforting feeling of jealousy and irritation back in his stomach, Lance got back to work. “C’mon,” he murmured to himself. Searching the mass of blue for any sign of a dragon. “Give me something, universe. Come on…”

There!

Lance shoved his eye into the scope of the weapon, his tongue sticking out as he followed the figure.

Now, Lance’s eyesight was amazing. Give him a crossbow and suddenly you had a reason to be afraid of being on the other end of his arrow. At least that was something he could do right– but of course, Viking’s were expected to wield heavy maces and giant axes. Not sleek, stealthy arrows. Well, what Lance was trying to get at was, when he was following the dragon overhead, it wasn’t entirely based on his eyesight and skill. No. 

Something in his chest was pulling, tugging him along to follow through the scope easily without challenge. And when his fingers found the trigger, Lance choked at the sudden sense of wrong in his body.

The dragon overhead roared, likely gearing up to strike, and Lance knocked himself out of his stupor, praying his momentary hesitation didn’t just ruin all of his chances. The invention seemed simple enough. Just crank it back, aim, then pull here–

A shockwave of pushback sent him sprawling to the ground, careening over himself as he landed in a heap of long limbs. The wind whistled, whipping as the net launched into the sky.

Lance’s eyes adjusted seconds before the dragon roared, her (her?) form plummeting like a shooting star to the forest below.

“Holy…” Lance whispered in disbelief, then he launched from the ground with a whoop! “I hit it! Oh my gods, I really actually hit it. Did anybody see that?”

A low growl rumbled behind him, and Lance slowly turned, mentally compiling a list of the people he wanted on his will. Hunk, Pidge… Keith? Nope. Scratch that. Hunk and Pidge.

The catapult was crushed beneath large, wicked talons like it was nothing. Lance gulped, smiling nervously at the beast. “Hah… fancy seeing you here…”

The hiss of sulfur and fire was all Lance needed to turn right around. His scream echoed throughout the island as Lance sprinted down the hill from the Monstrous RoBeast.

“Holy CROW–” Lance’s chest threatened to burst, his long legs useful for once in his life as the RoBeast geared up its long, red neck to hurl blazes down Lance’s back.

The red blur on the battlefield halted, only momentarily, as it looked in the direction of the yells.

“Lance?” Keith said, furrowing his brows.

Keith grunted as a hulking mass barreled past him in Lance’s direction.

“Chief Alfor is going to kill Lance if that RoBeast doesn’t do it first,” Hunk winced, carrying a bucket of water to the armory. A Balmera may or may not have set part of it on fire. “Or Pidge,” He added, remembering Pidge’s shriek when her catapult and Lance coincidentally went missing at the same time.

Lance sped past a corner, skidding on the ground before catching his footing, narrowly avoiding the blast of scalding fire. Eyes catching on the closest leverage of shelter. Slamming his back into a wooden pole. Just when the word wooden registered in his mind as he peeked behind him to reassure himself that he lost the dragon, a warm rumble just by his ear sent goosebumps down his spine.

“Lance!” A gruff voice warned, just as Chief Alfor slammed into the head of the Monstrous Robeast with his body. Lance only stuck around to see the man throw hooks and pummels into the dragon’s snout, dodging plumes of blazing fire and tiring the thing out before hands wrapped around Lance’s waist and began to pull him away.

“Woah!” Lance startled, his heart jumping at the thought that maybe he really was going to be kidnapped and taken away to a dragon island and be fed to dragon babies and oh gods, he was going to end up just like Her–

And he maybe slightly preferred that option when he looked up and met Keith’s dark eyes. He stopped struggling for a moment as his heart made its way up his throat and his face was warming up just fine without the whole being hunted by a giant dragon thing.

“You okay?” Keith asked, still pulling him away from the fight. “You almost died back there. Like I specifically asked you not to do.”

“Uh, yeah,” Lance said, forcing himself to gulp down his obscene thoughts and push his bravado back out as armor. “I noticed.”

He wormed out of his grip, stamping down the disappointment of the loss of contact around his waist. Lance pretended to dust off his ashy-blue tunic and dirty leather armor straps.

“What’re you doing here, anyway?” 

“Fighting… dragons?” Keith said, phrasing it like a question. His hair was pulled back into a short ponytail as he crossed his wrapped arms. “Saving you? Should I be doing something else?”

Lance blinked, opening his mouth to retort and completely deny the saving part, when the pole creaked harshly, a last battle cry before it tumbled to the ground with a giant boom that shook the island.

Wincing, Lance turned to find the RoBeast flying away, the battle suddenly over as soon as it began. Fires crackled everywhere without the same intensity as before as the dragons picked themselves up, carrying what they came for: livestock, and disappeared into the distance.

Chief Alfor stood in the center of the mass of Vikings, watching with a glare as the dragons left. Lance tensed as he turned, blue eyes searching for something. Someone.

Lance bit down a yelp, hiding behind Keith as his eyes glanced his way. 

“What are you doing?” Keith asked, smart enough to whisper and not look behind him where Lance was ducked.

“Shh!”

Keith hummed, swallowing.

After a moment, Alfor’s eyes swept past them and to his left.

“Uhm…” Keith said. “He’s not looking, if that’s what you’re waiting for, but why exactly are you hiding from your–”

Lance resisted the urge to plant a giant, fat kiss or big punch to the face on the sweaty boy and took the chance for what it was, and high-tailed it through the crowd of Viking’s to his hopefully still intact home.

Keith followed him with his eyes as he disappeared behind one of the burning houses and into the cold morning, the sky turning hues of oranges and cool blues.

“Dad.” Keith finished, ignoring the growing pit of disappointment and confusion in his gut.

—

Lance was this close to throwing his sketchbook into the nearest river, eating it, and then spitting it back out.

It was nearly afternoon, his stomach was growling, his head hurt, his body ached, and he’d been searching for the dragon he’d shot down for hours. He was sketching every possible place it could’ve landed on his makeshift map, and so far, nothing.

“Alright, Lance.” He said, shoving his sketchbook inside his satchel with frustration. “You lost the dragon. You lost it! The gods hate you and you lost a whole. Entire. Dragon.”

Lance scowled, kicking a stone. Unfortunately, he overestimated, and slipped, falling on his ass. Hard.

Biting his lip, he growled and nearly pulled his hair out. 

“This is stupid. Maybe I imagined it,” Lance muttered, thinking bitterly of the strange pull in his chest at the sight of it in the night. “Stupid.”

He picked himself up with a sigh, dusting his leather pants off and pulling his coat closer around himself, the fur lining of the hood giving him some semblance of warmth in the face of the oncoming winter. Once he’d made it home, he made sure to put it on now that he wasn’t in danger of being set on fire.

Lance climbed over a giant rock, overlooking the forest before his eyes caught on something big and blue below him. Wait.

He gasped, his heart launching into his throat as he scrambled down from the rocks. The cool stone froze his fingertips as he forced his breathing to steady, overly aware of every noise he made as he sat and waited for imminent doom.

After a solid ten seconds, nothing happened, and Lance should really get his curiosity under control. That was Pidge’s thing.

Slowly, Lance crept up, cringing at every little noise until his eyes landed on the dragon below. The longer he stared and admired, the closer he got until he was just a couple of feet from its body.

"I did this," Lance felt a smile creep on his face. This, oh this fixed everything.

The air whooshed in his ears like the world itself had released a breath it’d been holding. Though Lance had finally brought down a dragon, this wasn’t like any dragon Lance had ever seen.

It's whole body was fluffy with blue fur that seemed to shift to white whenever it moved, unlike any dragon Lance could recall. It's red horns were long and thing, curling up and close to its head. It's overall stature reminded him of a cat of prey, from its snout, lithe and thin body, long tail and all the way down to its bright yellow eyes that were... oh. They were narrowed into slits. But all Lance could think was...

“You’re beautiful,” Lance breathed like a secret, before biting his tongue. “And you are also very much awake.”

And for the first time, Lance’s eyes traced the expanse of its wings. They definitely weren’t the largest of the dragons he’s seen, but they were still pretty damn big. And they were astonishing and folded and resting at a stiff and awkward angle and– Oh.

Lance had done that.

This time, when Lance met the dragons eyes again, they looked different. They were beautiful, but they were afraid. Lance could see his reflection in its large eyes. He saw his hands palming the dagger without thinking. And while he might’ve had the upper hand here, it took him not a moment longer to realize that he, too, looked scared. 

“I did this,” Lance whispered, less like a secret and more like a shameful admission, now. The sound of his dagger sheathing itself reached his ears.

Nearly stumbling back and hitting his head against the rock, Lance gulped back a wave of vomit. Lance felt claustrophobic just looking at the poor thing, and now, he didn’t know how in the world he thought he could ever kill such a marvelous beast.

Lance turned around and took a few steps before stopping.

His mind and common sense told him to keep walking and save himself the trouble, but every other fiber of his being screamed in outrage at the mere thought.

And really, really, really, Lance should start to think before acting.

It took less than a second for Lance to whip right back around and swiftly pluck the dagger from its holster on his thigh and fall to his knees beside the dragon. He could hear its breathing quicken, could feel the cold, calculating trail of ice it left on Lance’s body, the flexing paws with razor-sharp talons. And still, Lance continued to cut away at the net constricting it.

He marveled at the freedom in his chest when the last piece of rope snapped, but only for a second. Next thing Lance knew, she got was on her paws in a flash, whipping to face Lance before opening her giant jaw to probably eat him for brunch and–

Lance tripped, hitting his back on the rock from before. The shock of cold seeping through his coat, and that’s when Lance also registered the fact that it was snowing. Now, this wouldn’t be such a shocker if it weren’t for the fact that Arus wasn’t supposed to be expecting snow for at least another month.

But at that moment, snow was falling from the gray sky, covering the surrounding trees in the thinnest coat of white, the ground collecting the rest.

The dragon growled, circling Lance with a look in her yellow eyes that he couldn’t decipher. Her tail lashed behind her, making indents in the ground, and her wings fluffed up, making her seem larger than she was. The snow falling softly on her thin coat made her shimmer in the dapples of light making it through the clouds and trees above.

Lance’s heart was in his throat, but he couldn’t help but be drawn in by the beast. He was terrified, don’t get him wrong. But delighted, excited almost. Goosebumps raised along his arms, and he relished in it.

And to think, Lance had wanted to kill this creature. 

No. That was a lie, and every atom in Lance’s being knew it. Lance wanted to want to kill the dragon before him, and every dragon he came across. But the truth was, with each pool of blood spilled from any dragon made him want to drown in his own bile. Lance couldn’t help it, truly. He felt bad if Pidge killed a dragonfly, for the gods sake.

That was dangerous. He was dangerous– for all the wrong reasons. Feeling this way for vicious creatures like these could put everyone around him at risk. It already had.

And finally admitting that to himself lodged something in his throat, made him heavier than lighter. For a fleeting moment, Lance didn’t mind the inevitable teeth that would rip into him.

But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, it was ripped away with a growl in front of him. Lance’s eyes found the dragon again and furrowed his brows at the way her pupils seemed to dilate.

“You’re… kind of strange, ya’know?” Lance said quietly, unsure and afraid that any sudden noises might make her pounce, but of course, when Lance McClain was nervous, he talked. A lot. “Any other dragon would’ve killed me by now.”

The dragon cocked her head, ears twitching: listening. Lance went on, drinking in the trickling courage the action offered.

“And not that I’m complaining, but, I’m just wondering.” Unable to keep himself from fidgeting, he grasped at the hem of his coat as the dragon finally decided she’d had enough of looming over him and instead began to circle, circle, circle. Like she was picking him apart, until seemingly having enough and stopping in front of him. Oh, gods above, she was at least double his height. She had to lower her head in order to look him in the eyes.

Lance shifted uncomfortably, feeling like her eyes were boring into his very being and easily slipping past any mental barriers he might’ve had. Which was totally silly and way out there, she was a dragon, what was Lance thinking–

The dragon reared back and roared.

The sound was shrill, almost. Powerful, like a tsunami threatening to crash and drown anything that dared to stand before it. Yet, here was Lance, standing before it, and even though his head was screaming at him to run in the other direction, his feet stayed planted on the ground, barring the brunt of the hot air and saliva that flew at him and stuck to his face.

Birds flew from the trees with haste, cawing. The leaves rustled, and his ears rang. Yet, Lance continued to stand until the dragon closed its jaw and spared him from a life led with deaf ears.

They locked eyes again, and like the dragon was commanding him to speak, she plucked the single word chanting in his head with ease.

“Beautiful.” Lance breathed, then fumbled to fix his hair, looking back up at her with a giant smile.

The forest was quiet for a moment. A kind of quiet that warned of a predator nearby. The forest continued to wait with bated breath, as if it were excited to see whether Lance was about to get eaten or not.

The dragon’s eyes seemed to soften like ice melting, and suddenly, Lance’s right leg began to ache. Then itch, and Lance cried out when every nerve screamed at him that his leg was on fire.

“Fuck!” Lance dropped to the ground in seconds, attempting to tear away at his boot. Untying the lace that kept the boots on tight, he kicked the boot off and shoved up his pants. He was sweating now, and the pain immediately dulled to a sore ache when he found nothing but irritated skin as he itched at it. Carefully, he lay it in the snow, breathing out a sigh of relief when it cooled the blazing heat. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

He opened them a moment later when he realized maybe closing your eyes around an undocumented dragon– no, that wasn’t right. He knew what she was; a Verndari. The only one they knew of, anyway. Still, definitely wasn’t the smartest move– but he blinked when he found nothing.

Lance looked all around him, squinting his eyes and glaring in the distance, trying to find the dragon disguised in the snow or behind a boulder. But he came up empty, even after walking around when his leg wasn’t begging to be chopped off.

“Huh.” Lance sucked at his teeth, rubbing his still aching calf. “I barely even opened my mouth and she left. I think that’s a new record.” Pouting slightly, he opted to not tell Pidge and Hunk when he got back to the village. He did not need his friend’s spiraling the interaction into what it wasn’t and say he managed to annoy a Verndari in a matter of minutes.

(Hunk would be devastated, demanding that Lance give him every detail so that he could add it to his card collection and finally add a visual to his Verndari card. Lance chose peace and sleep instead.)

When he finally made it back home, he was beyond exhausted. While the encounter had been magnificent, it had also run Lance on an adrenaline high, and he was finally sobering down from it.

I am taking the longest, fattest nap known to Viking, Lance promised himself as he turned the knob and opened the door to his house. The sky was beginning to turn a pretty pink, melting into purples and blues as the sun faded on the horizon.

He was met with the sight of his father, Chief Alfor, throwing his giant bag of supplies over his shoulder with a grunt. Wait. Supplies?

When Alfor’s eyes landed on Lance, he prayed to every god that a black hole would appear beneath his feet and suck him up. But, of course, when that inevitably didn’t happen, he gave his father a nervous smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Uhh, hey, dad.” Lance waved awkwardly. A second passed, and Alfor sighed in response. Lance gripped the straps of his satchel as Alfor came forward, heavy steps thumping against the wooden floor. He could swear that the room got colder as he set a hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“Lance.”

Lance gulped. “Father.”

Alfor’s icy eyes seemed to crack, his tense posture relaxing slightly, and Lance allowed himself to hope he would get more than–

His father opened his mouth, and Lance leaned forward almost eagerly for once. Alfor’s brown skin creased at his brow like it was a physical struggle to say more than… more than…

“Take care, Son.”

The hand slipping from Lance’s shoulder was like salt to an open wound as he slipped past him and closed the door.

Lance stood there for a minute, biting the inside of his cheek to keep himself from dropping the invisible weight his father had left him with for a parting gift. Well. More like what his father had added on to the weight. It’s always been there.

The moon was high by the time Lance got to bed, his desk littered with sketches of the dragon in the woods and its majestic wings and swirly patterns. Yellow eyes followed Lance into his dreams, his right calf and upper thigh wrapped and covered in a rash cream.

After the third time of being woken by yellow eyes and a blue dragon in the depths of the freezing ocean in one night, Lance lit his lantern and stumbled into his seat. He ripped out a few pages from his larger journals and began to draw. For a couple hours, he retraced all that he remembered of the Verndari, until finally, sleep begged to take him.

Almost nothing was known about the Verndari. What limited knowledge they had on it was from a special Viking who was captured by dragons when he was only seventeen. He’d made it back nearly two years later in an old ship that bore a symbol none of them recognized with right arm missing from the elbow down. Keith’s adoptive brother, Shiro Kirogane. 

And with him, came the Verndari– no one blamed him directly of course. But, at least for Lance, it was obvious. The Verndari first appeared the day after Shiro had returned in a raid.

The man had documented his knowledge of the beasts he’d encountered in the Dragon Manual. A giant book passed down from generation to generation, describing everything they knew about every dragon they knew of, including ones Shiro had discovered during his time… away. Every way to recognize a dragon and each and every way to take one down. But Lance wasn’t particularly interested in that part, no.

 If Shiro had added the dragons he’d discovered to the Manual, That had to mean the Verndari was in there somewhere, right?

Lance wanted to find the Verndari again. Was he totally pushing his luck by intentionally searching for it after it had let him go once? Definitely. But something in his chest was pulling him, urging him to find the dragon again.

What exactly was he hoping to get out of this? Well, details were details, and Lance liked to follow his heart lately.

But the first step in this plan (if you could call it that) was to find out everything he could about the Verndari. And to do that, he needed to get his hands on that manual.

The only problem was that only dragon fighters and cadets were allowed to read its contents. And Lance was neither of those.

However, lucky for him, dragon fighting classes were beginning next week for any young Vikings interested in learning to take down a dragon.

Sub-problem: Lance was banned from ever taking them.

He was banned from a lot of things. 

And frankly, he was tired of being treated like he needed to be shoved into a bubble and kept safe from anything too sharp that might pop it.

Lance blew the lantern beside his bed out and pulled the scratchy blue blanket over him, curling up on his left side, using his hands as cushioning for his head.

Although Lance was banned from taking the classes, his father was also away on another three-month-long expedition in search of the Dragon’s Nest; the island the dragons had taken Shiro to when he was captured. Supposedly, the dragons that attacked Arus so frequently, called the island home.

Chief Alfor’s plan? Find the Nest, and burn it to the ground.

Lance’s plan?

Completely disregard the rules his father had placed for his safety and get his hands on that manual... and perhaps befriend the very creature his father sought to destroy. 

Chapter Text

The village only knows as much as I’ve told them. They don’t know about my visions, or that I might be the reason that this new Verndari has been attacking our village. If they knew… Gods if they knew. 

 

 Not only that, but since I began having those visions, a rash began to spread across my back. I thought it was just that, a rash. But, finally, the day before I began teaching the new cadets, I had a new dream. This time, my brother was there. So were the cadets that I was tasked with teaching. They're hardly any younger than me. There was this… strange blue barrier, and Chief Alfor’s son, yes, your [REDACTED] brought it down. Then, not just the [REDACTED] Verndari was there, but so were four others. I just wonder which one has been attacking our village.

 

That night, I woke up with scars, so bright they were golden across my back. They might’ve been beautiful, with the way they curved and swirled and danced to form dragon wings across my shoulder blades, if it were not for the fact that the village might just throw me to the dragons if they ever saw it. [REDACTED], when you sent me back to Arus, you never told me I'd be a part of your plans.

 

– Salvaged page from The Riders of Arus, A Collectionof Letters by the Riders of Arus, translated by Keith Kogane

Lance was starting to think that maybe his plan might have just been a bad idea.

The sky was free of any clouds, yet the sun did little to melt the snow around the village. Luckily, the arena was shoveled earlier in the morning, leaving the stone floor barren and the weapons wall uncovered.

The arena was large and circular with a dome of metal bars to keep anything inside from getting out, and anything out from being dragged inside. The interior was made entirely of stone with metal doors at the far edge of the arena across from the entryway. Lance cringed at the growls and yowling that came from the shaking doors.

“I still can not believe you are doing this,” Hunk whispered from beside him, tying his orange bandana extra tight. “If your father found out, he would strap you to a pole and–”

“Kill me, feed me to the dragons, et cetra. Yeah, yeah. I heard you the first time, man.”

Hunk shook his head, “I’m just trying to look out for you, Lance. We both know you don’t exactly have the best track record with dragons.” Lance sighed, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.

“If anyone knows that, I think It’d be me.”

Hunk winced. “Sorry.”

Lance shook his head with a half smile before looking around. They were the first ones here, and probably two of very few. Dragon fighting classes were designed based on age groups, so when a certain brunette with glasses came striding in, Lance was more than a little surprised.

“Pidge?!” Lance gawked. “You’re only fifteen! How did you get in?”

Pidge shrugged. “Something about being advanced for my age.” Her eyes hardened. “Plus, I still need to teach you a lesson about stealing my inventions without asking.”

“I already said I was sorry, dude. C’mon!”

“Watch your step, Lance.” Pidge decidedly turned her back on him, her hair, tied up in a ponytail, flicking at him angrily. “If your weapon just so happens to break when you’re about to get eaten alive– again, I’m sorry, dude.”

Hunk patted Lance on the back as Pidge walked away to observe the weaponry wall on the far side of the arena, gently poking his open-jaw shut.

“She’ll get over it, you know her,” Hunk reassured, sympathetic eyes tracing Lance’s figure.

“Yeah,” Lance sighed. “I know.”

Hunk walked away, observing the shaking doors with wonder. He put his hand out, as if to touch it, before pulling it away with a yelp as the dragon behind the barrier screeched.

Lance snickered until a hand landed on his shoulder and he nearly jumped five feet out of his skin.

“Dude!” Lance pressed his hand against his racing heart. “Don’t sneak up on a guy like that!”

Keith’s hand was hung midair, blinking owlishly at Lance. “Uh. Sorry.”

Lance narrowed his eyes, straightening himself and crossing his arms. He waited a long moment, cocking his eyebrow when Keith still hadn’t said anything. “Well? What did you want, Mullet?”

Keith bristled at the nickname, scoffing. “Well, I was wondering what you were doing here. Since when were you interested in fighting dragons?”

“Since always!” Lance said defensively, lying straight through his teeth. Well. It was a half-truth. Lance had always wanted to be a part of the dragon fighting cadets, but up until he’d encountered the Verndari a week ago, he realized that he never truly wanted to. He just wanted to belong somewhere and be accepted. Maybe get rid of the giant ball of empathy in his heart that leaked and left a trail everywhere he went. But Lance wasn’t about to admit that to Keith Kogane of all people. “I just, you know, never joined the class until now.”

And really, he couldn’t even if he wanted to. This was the first year the classes were opening up to Vikings as young as fourteen. The war against the dragons was growing out of hand, the death toll from the battle a week ago coming up with nearly thirty dead and sixty injured. Now, they were a big village, but damn.

Luckily, Lance wasn’t as unfortunate to be that young. This class was for the seventeen to nineteen-year-old Viking’s (plus Pidge.)

Keith’s dark eyes, almost like lilac, bore into him. Lance squirmed beneath his gaze, heat rising beneath his skin like a trail of fire blazing everywhere Keith looked.

Finally, when Lance couldn’t take it anymore, he scowled. “What?”

“Nothing. I just,” Keith squinted, like he was trying to open his chest and inspect the soul lying there. “Don’t think you’re telling the truth.”

“What’s it to you?” Lance tried to hold onto that anger, trying his best not to be put off by the way Keith seemed to rip his sleeve away from the heart he kept there. Or how something in him buzzed in guilty pleasure that Keith was the one searching for it.

“Just try not to die, Lance.” Keith watched him before narrowing his eyes and poking him in the chest. “And I mean it this time.”

As Keith walked away, Lance’s eyes followed. There was something swimming in Keith’s gaze, and if Lance didn’t know any better, he could say it almost looked like concern.

Five minutes later, Hunk had to click Lance’s mouth shut again when none other than Shiro Kirogane walked into the arena and announced that he would be teaching this year’s class of dragon fighting cadets.

“Holy shit, Hunk!” Lance nearly squealed. “Shiro, the Shiro is going to be teaching us!”

“Yeah, I was kinda here when he said it, Lance.” Hunk said, but he looked equally excited, his eyes sparkling as he turned to Pidge.

“Think about all the–”

“Stuff we could learn from him? I’m already five steps ahead of you, buddy,” Pidge beamed. “We can finally learn more about that Verndari! Did you know that–”

“There’s only been one recorded Verndari in all of Arus’s history?” Hunk finished, smiling from ear to ear as he geeked out with Pidge. “I know! And did you know–”

“There's been rumors from other islands of never before seen dragons that look almost identical to the Verndari in shape and power?” Pidge jumped up and down. “I know!”

Lance nearly tripped over himself when he heard that. He whipped around to ask just what the hell they meant other Verndari. But their eyes were too full of stars that were trained fully and completely on Shiro, who was currently speaking with Keith, his brother. Lance was even more amazed by the pout playing on his lips. Keith Kogane didn’t pout. But here he was.

“You didn’t tell me you’d be teaching our class,” Keith said, his tone slightly accusatory, biting the inside of his cheek when a bite of cold wind whooshed past.

“I didn’t know up until this morning, Keith, trust me.” Shiro looked tired. “You know Coran would usually be teaching, but Chief Alfor requested his aid on this season’s expedition.

Lance nearly fainted. Everything was working out! He was convinced he’d have to fight his way into staying here once Coran realized he’d signed up without permission. But with Shiro here, he didn’t have to worry!

“Alright, everyone!” Shiro’s voice boomed across the stone arena. “We’re going to take it easy today,” Shiro leaned over to Keith. “Mostly because I just got this position and I need to find Coran’s old lesson planner before Wednesday’s lesson.”

Keith snorted.

Lance tried not to faint again.

Shiro cleared his throat. “Can anyone tell me how many crystallized shots a Balmera has?”

“Uh, eight?” Lance called.

“Seven?” Keith looked at him.

“Six!” Pidge and Hunk said in unison, high-fiving each other when Shiro nodded.

“I can understand why some of you may be confused. Balmeran’s can recharge a hell of a lot faster than most dragons. Can anyone tell me how and why that is?”

Pidge shot her hand into the air, using Hunk’s arm as leverage to jump up and down and wave Shiro’s attention down to her.

Shiro shot her an amused grin, nodding.

“Balmera have a unique connection to the earth because of their Dragon Class: Boulder. They regenerate their fire power faster than other classes because all they need to do is land on dirt-grounds, from which they pull their power from the earth. However, this puts them at a disadvantage when fighting because they’re stuck grounded until they regenerate. As they grow older, however, the need to regenerate their power decreases!"

Everyone but Hunk looked at Pidge with shock, Hunk wiped fake tears from his eyes. “They grow up so fast.”

“Exactly… correct, Cadet…”

“Holt!” Pidge chirped. “Katie Holt, but everyone calls me Pidge, Sir.”

“Alright, Pidge. Nicely done.”

Shiro went on to discuss the basics of weaponry when fighting on the field, be it against dragon’s or other Vikings. And when the question of whether to choose between a sword and a shield came up, the group was split by their answers.

Keith and Hunk chose shield.

Lance and Pidge chose sword.

“Alright. Perfect,” Shiro nodded before grinning. “I was afraid that wasn’t going to work out how I wanted to. Well, anyway. Let’s get started, shall we?”

Shiro cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulder’s before making his way over to the door that Hunk was poking at earlier.

“Uhh, Mr. Shiro, Sir?” Lance called. “What are you doing over there?”

“Cadet McClain, Chief Alfor’s Son, correct?” Shiro phrased it like a question, but Lance stood there, a bit confused at the look Shiro was giving him. He couldn't quite decipher it. “I didn’t recognize you at first." Lance knew immediately that was a lie... How did he know that? And what reason would he have to lie? "You don’t seem much of the dragon fighting type– and there’s nothing wrong with that, of course,” Shiro doubled back when he caught the look on Lance’s face. “But never mind that.”

Shiro’s hand dug in his pockets and pulled out a golden key. “I believe,” He inserted the key, and everyone began to back away. “In learning on the job.” He twisted, and the lock clicked.

Shiro immediately did a roll to the side just as the door burst open, and a growling Balmera roared, making Lance’s ears ring.

“Like Cadet Holt informed us, a Balmera has six shots!” Shiro called out, dodging a blast of teal lava barreling his way. Lance was momentarily distracted by the way it immediately began to freeze, glimmering and solidifying until it was as shiny and hard as crystal, like water frozen in time. Lance just barely managed to throw himself out of the way as the shot shattered like glass against the wall.

Shiro wiped a thin sheen of sweat from the heat it cast. “That’s enough for each of you, plus one. Nice job, Lance."

Everyone yelped and ran in opposite directions, splitting up as the Balmera turned to face them.

“Alright! I want everyone to pair up. One sword with one shield!” Shiro called.

Lance looked around frantically as the Balmera rushed toward him. Bright yellow eyes glared at him hungrily, its skin thick with spikes. It wasn’t the largest dragon, but it’s body was made up of sharp spikes and jagged claws and it could easily crush him with its weight if it wanted.

And it looked more than ready to do so as it rushed toward him, and Lance was going to die on his first day oh gods he was never going to live this down–

“Lance, duck!”

Lance didn’t have to look to know who it was, and he almost hated how he obeyed without question. He shoved himself up against the wall and fell to the ground. If he had any choice in the matter, he probably would’ve ran in the other direction instead. But something in him burned, a push in his mind that urged him to trust Keith, and wasn’t that just the most ironic thing?

Keith was there in the blink of an eye, back pressing against Lance's chest, his shield up at the ready. Lance didn’t have time to dwell on the way Keith’s hair felt against his neck as Keith was shoved further into him by the force of the blast, the wall pushing into Lance’s back. Keith’s head twisted to the side and into Lance’s neck to escape the blazing heat. The flush of his body against his own, warm and there, made him shiver despite the Balmera’s best attempts.

It ended almost as soon as it happened. And when Lance opened his eyes again, the shield had near icicles surrounding the edge of the round wood. It was frozen in place, Keith had to let it go from the sheer weight of the crystallized lava.

They were breathing heavily, and Lance registered Shiro’s compliment’s on their teamwork and Keith’s quick thinking, but he couldn’t get the fact that Keith had willingly put himself in harms way to save Lance. Their proximity sent an unprecedented wave of pleasure rushing down his body. He dutifully ignored it.

Ten minutes later, the Balmera shot its last spew at Pidge and Hunk, and Shiro was wrangling the creature back through the metal door before slamming it shut.

Shiro stretched, whistling as he turned to everyone else. “Great work today everyone, how are you guys feeling?”

Everyone was shaking like a leaf. Gods, even Keith. And he was renowned for his dragon killing skills, yet shared their incredulous looks at Shiro. Everyone had at least one near death encounter with a dragon, but for the most part, only Keith went out during battles. Hunk and Pidge usually helped in the armory, and occasionally Lance, though he was usually in the Dining Hall tending to the children.

The fact that, Shiro, who was only two years older than them, was already used to it, said a lot.

Shiro’s eyes softened sympathetically. “You all did great for your first time,” He said again. “And you’ll only get better with time. Now, can anyone tell me what you’ve learned today?”

“Don’t pair up with Lance and get downed almost immediately?” Pidge piped in.

“Hey!”

“Don’t sign up for dragon fighting classes?” Hunk said next.

“Apologize for being born in a world ridden with dragons that want to kill us for no reason?” Lance butted in.

“Always have a shield.” Keith sighed, but Lance could see the quirk in his lips at their comments.

“Correct. Thank you, Keith. And a B+ for participation for the rest of you,” Shiro chuckled. “You’re all a humorous bunch aren’t you?”

“I don’t know about this guy,” Lance said, pointing to Keith. “I’m not sure if he has a humorous bone in his body.”

Keith scoffed, rolling his eyes but Lance couldn’t ignore his growing smile. Or the wave of pride that washed over him when he realized that he was the reason for it.

“Gods,” Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose, but there was no real exasperation behind his words. “Remember this before your next class and preferably for the rest of your lives.” Shiro gestured for them to follow him to the weapons rack to put their weapons and shields away (Keith and Lance winced at Keith’s shield abandoned at the edge of the arena, not at all salvageable.).

“If you ever have a choice between a sword and a shield,” Shiro nodded, satisfied once they put their equipment up, decidedly ignoring Keith’s shield as he rolled the rack out of the arena with the rest of them following alongside him. “Choose the shield.”

They followed him all the way to the armory where Shiro locked up the equipment, and continued to follow him. Everyone badgered him with questions galore, so no one noticed when Lance stayed behind in the armory, a plan formulating in his head.

(It wasn’t really a plan, more of an impulsive decision.)

One that involved Lance grabbing a shield from the armory, his satchel from his house, and raw fish from the dock’s barrels. An hour later, he was off, running into the forest, unbeknownst to the dark eyes following him from the group surrounding Shiro, entering the mess hall.

—

“Here, kitty, kitty!” Lance called out into the forest, holding his shield close and the fish up in the air. The sun was high in the sky now, but it did nothing to warm him from the cold. The grass was nearly frozen beneath his feet, crunching with each step he took.

He’d been out here for nearly two hours now. And still, he had nothing but the increasingly smelling raw fish in his hands.

Lance came back to the same place he’d encountered Blue (Yes, he named the dragon. Sue him.), but now, he was thinking that this might’ve been a mistake. Plus, his right leg was starting to act up again.

Thirty minutes later, Lance’s leg was on fire, and he was more than sure he was lost. The sun was no longer high in the sky, and the blue above began to turn pink and orange with each passing minute.

Lance was not so quietly cursing as he limped, dragging his shield and the fish. Then, he nearly jumped for joy when he saw a clearing, a dip in between rocks. Lance recognized it, inside would lie cove with greenery and mud and a pond. Water.

“Thank the gods,” Lance sighed, licking his chapped lips. He could build a fire, just until he warmed up. He knew where he was now, he would find his way back to the village soon.

Posture straighter, his body alight with a new purpose, he hoisted his shield up, debating if he should try and cook the fish for dinner as he carefully began to slide down the steep rocks, landing with a thump on the mossy ground.

He looked around suspiciously for a moment, his neck hairs raising with a prickle of static. An innate instinct that said something was here. Watching him.

However, nothing big and blue met his eyes. And besides, his stomach was growling now.

Walking out into the open, Lance found a spot with decent coverage of a tree overhead and began to gather firewood. He placed his fish on top of a pile of crunchy leaves (he would wash it before roasting the thing, he wasn’t an animal) and went to grab a scoop of water from the pond.

Small fish darted around, occasionally hopping out of the water when something spooked them. He dipped his dry, brown hands into the water, hissing at the sting the cold brought, but ultimately relieved to have something to quench the parchedness in his throat.

Scooping small handfuls of water into his palms, he drank it eagerly. The fish flitted around, watching him curiously as he scooped more. Lance grinned, waving for a moment before the fish darted away in a flurry.

“Well.” Lance frowned. “That was rude.”

Then, a shadow loomed over him, casting darkness over his reflection, and Lance regretted not listening to the gut feeling kicking at him to be careful, and maybe he should find somewhere else to rest.

(Something else in his chest lured him here, teasing him with a taut string. Maybe him ending up here after being lost for the past two hours wasn’t a coincidence.)

Slowly, slowly, Lance turned.

The Verndari looked down its head at him, sending a huff of cool air straight at Lance’s face. It tickled him, like flurries of snow. Lance’s right leg burned again, the cream doing nothing to soothe it now.

“Hey, Blue,” Lance whispered, almost too scared to look her in the eyes, but she did it for him. Lowering her head, she puffed another steam of chilly air into his face. Lance gulped, inching away and toward the campfire he’d made, plumes of smoke rising into the air.

But something told him that Blue had found him all on his own.

“I, uh,” Lance shivered, pulling his fur hood over his head. “I brought you… a fish?”

He gestured to his small campsite where the large fish lay on the ground next to his bonfire, as if it were sunbathing. Blue turned her head, eyeing the fish ravenously.

Lance waited for her to go ham on it, but when she simply stared, her tail swishing behind her, Lance found it in himself to move his body and grab the fish himself.

“I don’t know if you like them roasted or not,” Lance said, dangling the fish away from him, more than ready to be rid of the smell. “So… here you go.”

Blue cocked her head at him before slowly walking over, more cautious now that Lance was offering her something. Slowly, step by step, her mouth opened eagerly.

Lance watched in awe of her sharp teeth and the fact that she was actually accepting the food to begin with.

“Huh. Blue, you’ve got some canines on you,” Lance said offhandedly, shrieking when she launched said teeth forward and yanked the fish out of his hands and chomped it down in a matter of seconds.

Lance blinked, his hands clutched to his chest. He laughed nervously, “Hungry?”

Blue gulped the last of the fish, smacking her mouth considerately. She blinked her large eyes at him, her pupils blown wide, then began walking toward him, eating up the distance with ease. “Oh, uh, hi, hey–” Lance began to back away before inevitably hitting a rock and wincing. “I don’t–” Blue sniffed him, “I don’t have anymore.”

Blue watched him with those yellow eyes, cocking her head again in the way that told him she was listening. Then, breaking up contact, she began to regurgitate and Lance almost threw up.

A second later, the head of the fish he’d just fed her slipped off her dark tongue and into Lance’s lap. Yuck.

“Awugh,” Lance voiced just as much, hands moving up and away from the fish as it quickly began to warm in his lap. Odin, he was going to hurl.

Blue blinked at him, nudging her head in his direction before mock-swallowing. Lance’s eyes doubled in size.

“Oh, no. No, no, no. I’m okay, really. I actually ate a few hours ago,” Lance rushed out when he got the message.

Blue continued to watch him, not relenting. She swallowed again.

And who was Lance to disobey a dragon.

Lance’s face scrunched up before picking up the fish head. He sat there for a solid minute bargaining with the gods as he worked up the courage to finally take a bite out of the warm, slimy animal.

It was wet. It was disgusting. It almost came up about four times. That’s all Lance deemed to say about it.

When it finally went down and stayed down, Lance shook himself out, wishing more than anything for a jug of ice-cold water. He looked up at Blue, smiling as if he wasn’t about to bring the fish right back up his throat.

Blue flicked out her tongue, squinting her large eyes at him. Then, she did something Lance would’ve been shipped off the island for merely recounting. Her lips quivered, like her muscles were working overtime… and she smiled.

It was anything but perfect. Wavering and unfamiliar, but she was smiling. And Lance couldn’t think of anything more beautiful.

Lance huffed a breathy, disbelieving laugh as he sat a little straighter. "As far as any dragons I know, and I’ve met a lot, trust me. You’ve got the most dazzling smile of them all.”

Blue chuffed, and Lance thought he saw a trickle of amusement in her eyes. Could dragon’s be amused? Was that a thing?

Lance nearly choked again when Blue rolled her eyes and began walking toward the campfire.

“Did you just– can you– Lance sputtered, following after her, attempting and failing to wrap his head around the fact that the dragon had done something so human. “Woah, woah, woah. You can’t, like, just drop that on me, beautiful. Seriously, can you understand me? Did you just read my face? What was that?”

—

Lance had a dream that night.

One of a blue dragon asleep in the cove before him.

Lance was trying to get through the barrier, but no matter what he did– pushed, shoved, kicked, shouted– it wouldn’t budge. He tried calling out to Blue, but she remained asleep beneath the blanket of darkness above them.

Lance sat there for a long moment, brows furrowed. Then, an idea popped into his head. One that he swore gave way to Pidge’s voice telling him there was no way it would work.

It was worth a try, his dream state told her voice. Because maybe…

You just have to knock.

Lance tapped the barrier three times with his knuckles, biting the inside of his cheek. With each knock, the barrier glowed brighter, brighter, and brighter still.

The barrier fell all at once, and Lance gasped when a vision of dragons much like Blue stood before him. It was quick, gone within the second, but Lance saw a giant dragon– a black one with red and yellow accents. A dragon slightly bigger than Blue with the fluffiest yellow fur with orange and blue accents. Another, this time one much smaller than Blue with green with yellow accents. Finally, one just bigger than the previous with red fur, mixed with black and yellow.

All five of them flew into the air in a tightly knit ‘V’ before disappearing from view into the sky.

He blinked, and suddenly they were gone.

Lance awoke, a broken yell of pain tumbling from his lips. His right calf burned with a new fury, and Lance bit his tongue so hard he tasted blood. He threw the covers off with fervor, pulling his pants leg up hastily.

Almost immediately, the pain was gone.

In its place, was a mosaic of scars.

Winding around his leg like waves and fire, graceful and long. It was almost magical, something ethereal, nothing like the intricate carvings in almost every wooden object on Arus could capture. They were wispy, seemingly shimmering in the lantern light. The scars were lighter than the rest of his body, nearly gold.

Lance breathed, long and low. He lightly caressed the markings, like they might smear if he pressed on them too hard. His skin was smooth, like he was born with them.

They were… extraordinary.

Lance’s dad was so going to kill him.

Chapter Text

 

There’s one thing I don’t think I’ll ever be able to tell anyone. Not even my brother. 

 

I wasn’t living in the dragon's nest the whole time I was gone. I was able to salvage a mostly intact boat near the shore of the island after weeks of surviving on my own. I tried to sail back to Arus, or any of the neighboring isles.

 

A storm hit me. The winds were so strong, the waves crashing into the already frail boat. A particularly large wave hit me, and I crashed into the post and everything went black.

 

I woke up. But this time, on another island. This one was cold. I was sure I would’ve frozen to death if I were by myself. But I wasn’t. 

 

She was beautiful. Her hair was white, her curls falling down her back. Her brown skin made her glow, her blue eyes nearly purple. She helped me, once she realized I wasn’t a threat. She and her dragon had saved me from my wreckage before I drowned.

 

She nursed me back to health and taught me much about the world. About its creatures that we feared so much back home. All the while, her own creature of white and snow, regal and swift as a ghost, studied me like a toy it didn’t know what to do with.

 

When a group of [REDACTED] attacked the [REDACTED] we were able to leave a boat intact. She gave me supplies and prepared me for my journey back home. She wished I would stay, but she knew that I had to go back home. When I was finally set to leave, she told me three things.

 

One: That we would meet again, when I set the events in motion

Two: To keep in touch, but to never send letters… whatever that meant

And Three: Never mention her name anywhere, even in writing

 

– Translated page from The Riders of Arus, A Collection of Letters by the Riders of Arus, Chapter Four, published by Shiro Kirogane

 

Lance returned to the cove after that day, and the day after that. And after that. But not before checking his leg every morning, just to be sure that the tattoo was really there and not just a figment of his confusing imagination. Sure enough, each time he woke, it was there. Shining, nearly golden, and eerily perfect. 

Each day, Lance covered it up. Stared at it during dragon training– like it might just make an unannounced appearance and out him for all he was worth. Which wasn’t much.

“Hey, girl,” Lance asked some days after his… dream, and the tattoo appeared. He was back in the cove, cooking fish while Blue caught them, as if sensing he hadn’t been eating. “You wouldn’t happen to, I don’t know, know anything about more Verndari’s, would you?”

Blue growled at the pond as her teeth clamped over nothing once again before sniffing at the fish, harsh and quick. Like she was irritated. Lance realized a while ago that she more than likely was. She sauntered over to him, sniffing the cooking fish as he spoke.

“I mean, it’s not that hard to believe, right? I found you, so…” Lance continued to ramble, eventually getting to his dream. He retold everything he could remember, pouting when Blue gave him nothing but an impatient look, one that suggested she was more than ready for the cooked fish.

The first time he’d fed her cooked fish, she frequently refused to eat raw fish while Lance was there, shoving her prey from the pond into his lap until he got the message. Lance dared to say she acted like some pampered queen. Perhaps she was.

“Yeah, yeah. Alright, guess we can talk about it after lunch,” Lance smiled, fond as he stabbed the fish with another shaved stick and stuck it over the fire.

Lance poked his stick in the wet dirt, his journal wide open in front of him with scribbled sketches of poor excuses for dragons. He dragged the stick through the dirt, eyes narrowed as he fought his hardest to remember the details from his dream. It didn’t take long for him to sketch up a vague idea of the smallest dragon he’d seen– the green one. Just from the neck up, though.

By the time he finished all of the dragons, including Blue, he finally noticed the presence behind him. A huff of cool air tickled his neck and ruffled his hair.

Lance didn’t face her as he spoke, “I know there are more of you. There has to be, I mean. I understand some dragon species being hunted to extinction, but– you’re just so powerful. And I have no doubt the others would be as well. I can feel them.” Lance shoved the stick into the ground beside his dirt drawings, frustrated. “There’s no way you're the last one. You can’t be.”

Lance felt something swell up in his chest, a ball of emotion. A sea ready to be explored. He couldn’t accept that Blue was one of the last of her kind; it didn’t feel right. He felt like he only had a quarter of a puzzle, and it made him want to scream.

Blue’s gaze drifted from the drawings to Lance, sending a shiver down his spine. Lance waited for something, anything, just to blink in confusion when Blue left him in favor of the other direction.

Lance turned, only to yelp when he was nearly whacked in the face by a giant tree branch being dragged by none other than Blue. 

“What the…” Lance shivered for another reason, this time, the wind hitting him in the face like a not-so-gentle reminder to keep his hood up. Lance stuffed his hands into his pockets as he watched Blue fight for a better grip on the tree limb in her jaw before dragging it through the dirt just as Lance had.

At first, Lance found it cute . But as she continued, Lance’s mouth fell agape. The sunlight disappearing over the walls hiding them lit up her work perfectly, and when she was done, she sat several feet across from Lance, admiring her work with a self-satisfied nod.

Shakily, Lance stood from where he sat on a mossy log and let out a sharp exhale. Blood rushed in his ears, stinging as Lance removed his hood even as the wind urged him to keep it on.

In the dirt, shaky and messy, was a perfect copy of the markings on his calf. Lance knew it because he’d spent the last week studying and drawing them, trying to figure out what they could mean. The sunset gave way to a perfect golden hour, bathing the dirt drawing in a near glittering illusion, as if trying to mimic his tattoo. It was extraordinary.

Lance took a step forward to get a closer look, jumping when he heard a snarl. Immediately, he lifted his leg instinctively. Blue stopped growling.

Huh.

Lance put his foot right back down on another swirl, and Blue had the same reaction. Lance lifted his foot. She stopped. Now, Lance loved to test boundaries, don’t get him wrong. But if Blue had drawn this, he didn’t want to mess up the chance to learn why.

Carefully, Lance put the toe of his boot down in the space between the lines. Blue rumbled deep in her throat, and Lance could’ve sworn he felt his own chest lighten in satisfaction.

Oh, yeah. Lance for the win.

Lance put another foot down in a space, and when Blue continued to watch him with her yellow eyes, he only felt his confidence rise. Her tail swished calmly, as if urging him to continue.

Almost like a dance, Lance concentrated on meeting Blue at the end through the maze of swirls and art he knew were burned into his skin. He twisted and turned, catching himself when he nearly tripped, only to continue with a grin as it slowly became a routine. 

Step, twist, turn. Turn again, catch himself before he tripped over his own feet, find another space. Step, turn again, then twist and step again.

By the time he felt a looming figure directly behind him, his cheeks were red from the growing wind and cold. He could see his breath in puffs, and he felt elated. But the huff of chilly air from the dragon above him brought him down to earth, and Lance slowly took a step forward before turning around.

Blue’s large form stared down at him, her neck bending to look him in the eye. Lance’s breath hitched when she bent lower and sniffed his pant leg, going as far as to nudge it. She knew it was there.

Lance took a deep breath before bringing his thoughts out into the air. It was the only possibility, even if it went beyond all of Arus’s logic and what they knew about dragons. But then again, they didn’t exactly know about Blue, did they?

“You did this,” Lance whispered, craning his neck back up when Blue arose. “Didn’t you? You gave me this… thing. But why?”

Another question hung in the air, one that Lance refused to speak into reality because that just made his self-worth issues all the more real. Like the words might scare Blue off, make her realize that Lance was just some kid who didn’t deserve to be this close to something as bewildering as her.

But he had a feeling Blue heard it anyway.

Why me? Out of all the powerful Vikings back home, out of the smart and inventive like Hunk, the sharp and resourceful like Pidge, the deadly and born leaders like Keith and Shiro. Why Lance?

He didn’t have anything to offer.

A pleasant light trill resounded from Blue’s chest, soft yet stern. Like Shiro. It brought him back to his senses, and Lance nearly jumped out of his skin when he realized just how close Blue was. Her eyes bore into Lance’s, and when he tried to avert his gaze, she merely followed.

Gulping, Lance squeezed his eyes shut. He hadn’t come so close to Blue since the day he found her in the woods, and she’d roared loud enough in his ears to do some temporary damage.

But this time felt different, for many obvious reasons. This time was different. And the reality of the situation was– he was the one here. He was the one who shot her down and decided to let her go. Not Pidge, not Hunk, not Keith, or Lance’s idol, Shiro.

Lance McClain.

Turning his head away, scared of what might happen next– metaphorically and literally, he didn’t want to end up like Shiro, respectively– Lance lifted his hand. He couldn’t fully extend it, and he was afraid to poke Blue in the eye, so he got as close as he dared before his instincts told him Blue was just a few mere inches away. Lance waited for her to meet him in the middle.

Lance was surprised by the ease with which Blue had no hesitation in lowering her head into his hand. Naturally, he tensed before relaxing and turning back to face her. He watched her open her eyes, pupils dilated and content. So sure of whatever she was doing here. With Lance.

Lance lifted his other hand to cup the side of her jaw, gently scratching her fur. He laughed softly when she leaned into it, purring.

And for just this moment in time, Lance felt just as sure Blue looked until she leaned just a little too forward into him, and Lance fell to the ground with an oof , just for her to drop to the ground and land her top half over his body. 

Lance grinned, scratching her chin as she continued to purr even louder. “You like that, girl? Oh, I always knew you were a big softie!” 

Blue mocked him, meaningless, deep whines coming from her throat. Lance cackled.

—

While Lance loved to visit Blue, and had more than enough time, seeing as he didn’t have to plan escape routes to get out of Coran’s attempts to teach him the arts of weapon crafting, nor his father’s awkward attempts to talk to Lance, he still had to sneak around in between his dragon fighting classes.

“Pidge, watch out!” Lance shouted, yanking Pidge by her arm behind him as an Olkari nearly gutted her. Sharp teeth missed her by inches, and a sharper tail had the two running toward the other side of the arena while Keith drew its attention away.

"Thanks, Keith!" Pidge’s strangled voice called as Lance squished her face in his hands to make sure she was alright. She batted him away, screaming when the Olkari charged toward them again.

Pidge threw Hunk her shield as the Balmera hurled another blast of crystallized lava, Hunk’s previous one already discarded to the side. Hunk caught the shield, just in time for the next round of lava to hit it dead center, reminiscent of their first training exercise with Keith and Lance.

“Thanks, Pidge!” Hunk called through gritted teeth.

“No problem, man,” Pidge flashed him a thumbs up before backing away with a nervous smile as the Balmera turned an accusatory glare her way.

“Pidge,” Shiro called nervously.

The Balmera roared before charging a screaming Pidge.

Shiro left the safety of the entryway, where Lance was currently bandaging a boy who’d gotten a little too cocky and gotten himself cut on already crystallized lava while trying to waste the Balmera’s shots. Keith had rolled right into the stuff and had to be dragged out by Shiro.

Lance had to hold his stomach as he cackled at Pidge, hitting Keith on the shoulder in his laughing fit. Keith winced.

“Oh, man. Oh, man,” Hunk whimpered, his back against Lance’s. “We are so dead.” 

“Shh! You’re gonna give us away, Hunk!” Lance said, eyes darting around the wooden maze around them.

Suddenly, the arena grew quiet. No longer could they hear the background noise of Pidge and Keith fighting the dragon, a recent capture from the raid where Lance had shot down Blue.

If Blue looked like an overgrown mix of cat and dragon, this dragon, the Yupper– creative name, yes, was the opposite.

A bellowing roar was their only warning before the wall in front of them shattered, and a giant dragon with small wings, an underbite, and big, floppy ears appeared in front of them.

If a dog ever somehow managed to breed with a dragon, this might just be the outcome.

Lance and Hunk looked at each other, and for the third time that week, ran screaming in the other direction as the Yupper chased with quick, low roars that sounded strangely like, ‘Yup, yup, yup’.

“Lance!” Keith called, gruff and exhausted from the past thirty minutes as an Unilu scampered toward Lance on its four legs, two forearms reaching for him with claws like daggers. It was fast, and Lance would’ve surely been Lance Meat if Keith hadn’t swung his sword at the claws coming straight for him–

Lance gagged as the smell of blood attacked his nose.

The Unilu screamed, so agonizingly retched that it sent goosebumps all along Lance's body, his hair standing on edge. Blood spurted from the wound and it collapsed. The doors holding the other dragons shook with such a violent force, that Shiro had to usher them out in fear they would find a way to break through.

While Lance had seen bodies and blood and even more bodies, he was never really there for the moment the blood would fly onto the soil to eventually grow new life from old.

Before Shiro had gotten them out of the arena, Lance stood there with his hands over his nose, eyes wide and pupils small as he watched the blood pool. Keith stood a few feet away from him with blood speckled across his face like cruel freckles, his sword in his shaky grip, and his knuckles white.

Lance didn’t visit Blue that week.

And much to Lance’s surprise, Keith didn’t show up to classes that week, either.

While Lance took nearly every free moment he had to visit Blue, he of course had other things in his life that kept him busy. He was quickly realizing that their relationship as a team was growing despite the worlds best attempts. They were learning to have each other’s backs with the help of Shiro guiding them with a gentle yet stern hand. They even began hanging out as a group outside of their classes. 

Before, where it was usually Hunk and Lance with the occasional Pidge, it was now more likely for the village to see a group of four cadets in training laughing and dragging Shiro into mischievous things he never got to do before he was taken by the dragons. And when he’d gotten back, he’d felt too old to try– Keith was obviously dragged right into the middle of it.

Setting buckets of water to flip over when the doors to the dining hall opened after a long meeting with the adults that stayed behind from Chief Alfor’s expedition– Lance’s personal favorite. It was simple, classic, and never got old.

Setting the sheep free to rampage throughout the village, watching in the bushes as the village attempted to wrangle them up, while the younger kids shrieked with laughter as they rode the jumping sheep, right in the middle of the chaos. 

Starting a food fight with the kids in the dining hall, one of which had turned into a war with their new group of five versus every little child from every. Single. Clan. In the village.

(Lance felt his face heat up and his stomach swoop when he and Keith were hiding beneath a table, just for Lance to get hit in the face and for Keith to laugh, loud and bright.) 

Lance recovered from his awestruck state and grabbed the mashed potatoes from his face and shoved them right into Keith’s. Lance grinned, unashamed and victorious when Keith gasped before attacking him right back.

“Traitors!” Pidge called. “We have moles within our ranks! Our team has turned on one another!”

“Lance, Keith, c'mon, knock it out, you guys!” Hunk pleaded, shielding himself with his plate as something that looked a lot like green goop dripped from it. “This is what the little demons want, don’t give in!”

In the end, they had to forfeit. Shiro protected them all by carrying one of the tables sideways, while Hunk helped to get them out. They snuck out into the night in laughter as the children continued to fight amongst themselves.

Another time, they’d cooked freshly caught fish meat over a campfire in one of the watch towers as Shiro retold stories of what he’d experienced beyond the fog of Arus that separated them from the outside world. How he lost his arm.

(They were all banned from eating in the dining hall for the next month.)

Throughout the month and a half of newly blossoming friendships and further growing familiar ones, Lance found that he didn’t mind Keith all that much as he thought he did. He hadn’t for a while now, really. He just never said it aloud until one night.

The rain of an oncoming storm thundered outside, water pelting the roof harshly, but Lance welcomed it. Despite the coldness of it all, the rain was always something he looked forward to, even if he got sick from time to time because of it.

The torches flickered warmly as the older Vikings began filing out of the mess hall, ready to turn in for the night, but not without leaving them with a suspicious glare. 

There were still food stains from the Epic Food War three weeks ago.

Lance and Co. had just gotten done sneakily eating dinner themselves when Shiro walked in with a satchel. He sat across from Keith at the table.

“No attacks tonight, everyone. If you want, you can head to bed and stay there. With this rain, it doesn’t look like it’ll let up until this time tomorrow.”

“Aw, man,” Hunk yawned, stretching his hands high above his head. “The gods are taking pity. I haven’t been able to sleep in in forever.”

“You said it, buddy.” Lance agreed, trying to keep his eyes open as he leaned his cheek against the heel of his hand. The warmth of the atmosphere was doing everything in its power to bring sleep dragging upon Lance’s eyelids, and before he knew it, his body was leaning against Keith. When Keith stiffened beneath his touch, Lance peered up at him lazily.

“What about you, Mullet? Have you ever slept in before?” Lance chuckled, imagining Keith with the worst bedhead known to Viking.

“Uh. I mean.” Keith met his eyes before looking away, and Lance felt Keith’s shoulder dip, like an open invitation. Lance blinked in surprise, but quickly took it without thinking, humming in satisfaction as he rested his head on his shoulder. When Keith thought Lance was comfortable, he continued. “Sometimes Shiro won’t let me not sleep in, so I guess I kind of have to. Something about overworking myself…”

Lance snorted, the motion tickling Keith.

Pidge had her legs tucked into her chest, her back leaning against Hunk’s side across the table. She yawned, cracking her neck and knuckles.

“Man,” Pidge grinned, wiping the tears her yawn had forced from her eyes. “Shiro force-sleeps you? That’s cute.”

Keith whipped his head to face her, glaring. But there was no real fire behind his eyes as a soft flush crept up his neck. “Watch it, I’m sure we can goad those kids into another food fight. We’ll make you the target this time.”

“Oh, bring it,” Pidge dared, grinning mischievously. “If I can survive The Great Chop, I can survive a bunch of kids plus some.”

Lance snorted, glad that she could joke about what had happened enough to give it an infamous nickname.

One day during another training session with the Yupper, Keith had saved her from nearly getting her neck torn off by it. It wasn’t without its repercussions. Before he’d gotten to her, the Yupper had already gotten hold of her hair, pulling harshly and whipping her back and fourth across the floor while Pidge kicked and screamed. She’d gotten away, but she was stunned, making her still the perfect target for the dragon. In which Shiro had stepped in.

But the beast hadn’t gotten away with nothing. Pidge had to cut herself free using her dagger, and her hair still continued to dangle from its mouth. 

When Pidge didn’t show up to classes later that week, the gang went to her home to check on her. Her mother was with Chief Alfor, along with her brother, Matt, and her father. So that left her alone, but they were more than a little surprised to find her in the kitchen using a basin full of water to see her reflection as she was mid-cut with a pair of clippers. Her hair was uneven and choppy, just past her shoulders. Her hair littered the ground and floated in the basin.

Her eyes were red, and snot dripped down her nose. Her hands were shaking.

Lance stepped up first to try to calm her down, or– well – anything to get the clippers out of her hands, but Keith put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Later, Pidge confessed her new fear of her hair being a way for a dragon to incapacitate and kill jer. So it made sense that the sensation of long hair would discomfort her now. Long hair was a liability on the battlefield.

After a bit of coaxing, Keith managed to get the clippers out of her hands. He guided her onto a stool as they lit her chimney. Hunk cooked them some stew, and they fell into easy conversation. They didn’t try and get her to talk until she began to join in herself while Keith cut and fixed up her hair. It was nice, and Lance felt like maybe this was what it was like to have a loving family– not that Alfor didn’t love him. He just… showed it differently than others. Differently than what Lance wanted, maybe needed.

Lance also liked to think that that’s when he started to view Keith a bit differently. Then, after that day, is when they really began to hang out outside of dragon-fighting classes.

Which is also why, when everyone began to turn in for the night and prepare to walk through the treacherous rain, he wasn’t all uncomfortable or nervous when Keith asked him to wait a moment.

Hunk had just shouted, Go! Pidge sat on his shoulder, hooting and hollering, as she held Hunk’s coat above them like a shield from the rain. Hunk held fast onto her, but they still nearly slipped several times down the path. 

Lance watched them, a fond smile curling his lips at his friend’s laughter echoing from down the hill. It was nice. This was nice.

Turning, Lance caught Keith’s eye. Walking back to the table, he sat next to him with a curious glance. “What’s up, Samurai?”

Keith crinkled his nose at the nickname, and Shiro chuckled.

“Well, Lance. I was planning on showing Keith something before our next meet-up so he could help you guys around the glossary and everything since I’ll be busy helping to herd the sheep in the morning.” 

Lance piped up as he spoke, having a sneaking suspicion of where this was going. 

“But,” Shiro smiled fondly at his anticipation. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt for you to help Keith out.”

Lance gripped Keith’s arm, bouncing his leg up and down as Shiro opened up his satchel and pulled out a thick book that shook the table when he tossed it down with a thump.

“Oh my gods, oh my gods!” Lance shook Keith back and forth without once taking his eyes off the leather-bound book. “Are you serious?” Lance’s eyes were shining, and Shiro’s smile only grew softer. (Even more so when he realized Keith only gave the journal one look of wonder before turning his eyes to Lance, eyes syrupy and warm as he smiled at his excitement.)

Lance stopped shaking Keith and hit Shiro with a deadpan look. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this?”

“Uhhh…” Shiro quirked an eyebrow.

“Trick question: a month and a half.” Lance let Keith go and snatched the book before adjusting it between him and Keith. The leather book had golden illustrations of dragons on the spine. The front cover had a singular dragon with its tail curved in a circle, almost as if the dragon were eating itself. The hard corners were adorned with golden corner protectors.

Keith scooted closer to Lance, his chin resting (hesitantly) on Lance’s shoulder as Lance opened to the first page with awe. He did it cautiously, like the book might just crumble to ashes in his hands if he wasn’t careful.

“I’ll leave you guys to it,” Shiro nodded. “Don’t stay up too late, you two. Lance, I want my brother back home within the next two hours.”

“Aye, aye, Sir,” Lance nodded vigorously as his eyes devoured the contents of the page, completely ignoring the implications of Shiro’s words, but Keith wasn’t. He shot Shiro a look, but Shiro only whistled and made his way to the door. The heavy wood slammed shut by the howling wind.

For the first thirty minutes, they sat in near silence, one that was almost intimate, only broken with a whisper to turn the page from time to time. Then, when Lance was getting antsy to get to the section he really cared about, he was about to ask Keith if they could skip to the Verndari section when Keith beat him to it.

“I know this is gonna sound kind of weird, and you can totally say no,” Keith lifted his chin from Lance’s shoulder, and Lance bit back a gasp at the sudden ache made noticeable by Keith’s absence. His shoulder was numb, like static, but he was still a little sad to lose the warmth of Keith’s presence.

“Yeah?” Lance said when Keith was visibly biting the inside of his cheek nervously. “Come on, Keith, I don’t bite… normally.” Keith rolled his eyes, but Lance smiled as he relaxed a bit. “If you got a question, just shoot.”

“Can we skip to the section about the Verndari?” Keith blurted. When Lance looked at him with wide eyes he darted his away, stressing at his hair. “I know it’s weird. I just– they’re fascinating, you know? And yeah, the red one always tries to burn our village down and all that, I get it. But, still, I just… I want to know more about her– them.”

When Keith found the courage to look up again after his ramble, he could feel another wave of warmth enveloping his body when he found Lance grinning back at him.

“Hell yeah, man!” Lance slapped him on the back, nearly forcing all the air out of Keith’s lungs. Keith watched, catching his breath, as Lance flipped through the pages, muttering beneath his breath while he searched for the Verndari section.

“The Verndari: Guardian Dragon of Water. Tidal class.” Lance read, hand ghosting over the paper. “Elusive and renowned for its speed amongst dragons. The offspring of The Deep Sea Ancients and the Stars Above themselves.”

“Extremely dangerous,” Keith interrupted. Lance glanced at him, realizing how close they were, leaning over the book in their eagerness. Their arms were completely pressed together, and if Lance inched just a little bit closer, he was more than sure he’d be able to feel his breath on his cheek. Lance batted away the thought, forcing himself to listen as Keith continued. “Do. Not. Approach this dragon. While it hasn’t been known to kill directly, it is well within its capabilities to do so. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you.”

Keith’s voice was low and gravely as he read from the page, and Lance couldn’t ignore the determined light in his eyes as he read. It was stupidly attractive, and Lance nearly undid all of their progress right then and there so he could hate him for making Lance think such a thing.

The rest of the section for the Verndari was clean. Under size, strength, and speed, it all read: Unknown. It wasn’t surprising, really. They’d never captured it, not even at least long enough to get a rough estimate of its traits. Simply a vague idea for its description from the raids it participated in.

Lance narrowed his eyes as he noticed the leftover space in the Verndari section. Lance voiced this to Keith.

“It’s almost like they still had more to add,” he said. “I mean, it’s way too much space for just one dragon. There has to be–”

“More of them,” Keith finished. They turned to face each other, their faces mere inches apart. 

“Exactly,” Lance breathed, and a small smile crept up his lips, more than a little elated that he wasn’t the only one who thought this.

Lance could’ve sworn he wasn’t imagining it when Keith’s eyes dipped down before he backed away, restoring the space between them that had gone on vacation for the last hour with a nervous cough.

“I, uh. I need to show you something,” Keith said, looking around the dining hall just to be sure they were truly the only ones left. He reached for his coat that had been discarded on the bench in favor of the warmth the hall provided. Slowly, he pulled out a bound black journal.

Lance made a noise in the back of his throat. “What’s that?”

Keith bit the inside of his cheek, pushing a stressed hand through his hair, pushing his bangs back before they fell right back into his face. “Shiro’s journal. The one had kept while he was… away.”

Lance breathed sharply. “Oh. Oh, wow.”

“I know it’s wrong, but just look!” Keith rushed out, opening the journal. He flipped through the pages, but not before Lance caught glimpses of entries dated during the time Shiro was captured. The further Keith went, the messier the writing became. “Here!” Keith stopped at a page.

Lance raised an eyebrow at Keith before pulling the journal closer to him to read.

“November 11th. I’ve been on [REDACTED] island for two months now, and I’ve seen many dragons I never knew existed, not even on the nest,”

Lance read slowly, trying to decipher the messy scrawl.

“But today, she’s shown me something life-changing.

(Lance didn’t notice, but Keith watched him as he read with a look of caution. Like he had taken a chance, and now he had to see how it panned out.)

“She told me legends, ones that told stories of a legendary species of dragons, one rarely seen by Viking kind. A group of five dragons, each belonging to a different class. Dragons she’s convinced that they are the ruler of dragon kind. The alphas. She calls them–”

 

Lance’s mouth went dry, and he had to swallow before he continued.

 

“The Verndari: Defenders of the World.”

 

Verndari (Vern-Dar-EE): Protector; Guardian.

 

They were silent for a long moment before Lance launched up, slamming his hands on the table, startling Keith. “There are more of them! I knew it! This is freaking amazing!”

Keith’s expression of worry that Lance hadn’t caught on initially morphed quickly into relief, and then, a smile as he joined in Lance’s infectious enthusiasm. When Keith had first read it, he didn’t know what to think.

(Keith tried not to seem disappointed that Lance wasn’t as intrigued as Keith was about the fact that Shiro apparently wasn’t living in just the nest for those two years he’d been gone. If the dates he looked through scarcely this morning were anything to go by, he was on an entirely different island with some… girl, for half the time he’d been missing.

As keen as Keith was to learn the entire truth about his brother’s journey, he felt bad enough stealing his journal to talk to Lance about it. He didn’t have the heart to read through everything else for more information, even if he was hurt that Shiro hadn’t come forth to tell him himself.)

“Oh, this, this changes everything,” Lance laughed before lifting Keith right off the bench and straight into his chest as he twirled him around. “Holy shit!”

Keith allowed himself to bask in Lance’s warmth, more than a little warm himself at Lance’s spontaneous hug, before sobering up. “Yeah, it does… uhm. Lance?” Keith said, biting back a sigh when Lance let him go to look him in the eye. 

“Yeah?”

“... I know this is life-changing and all, but,” Keith forced his shoulders to relax. This was Lance. He would understand. “We can’t tell anyone.”

Lance blinked, about to ask why the hell not when he sobered up along with him. If Arus knew that there were more Verndari, they might start hunting for them if they knew there were only five in all existence. If the Verndari really were supposed to be the alphas one day, if they weren’t already, then if Arus or any other island killed them… well, their dragon problem would either double or the dragons might just submit and leave.

They might kill Blue. 

And the look in Keith’s eyes told him it wouldn’t look too good for Shiro either, having withheld such vital information from Arus.

“No. I mean, yeah. You’re right. No one can know. Absolutely, definitely, not. Bad news, real bad news,” Lance said, shaking his head.

Keith sagged in relief, nearly falling right into Lance’s arms again. “Yeah. Definitely not. I knew you’d understand.”

Lance’s eyes widened, and he suddenly felt a lot more ashamed. Here he was, thinking about a dragon's safety over his friend’s– Keith’s brother. And yet. Blue was just as much his friend as Shiro was. Man, Lance was really in deep, huh?

Lance brought Keith in for another hug, hooking his chin over his shoulder. Keith fit against him near perfectly, like his body was carved specifically to be slotted against Lance’s.

“Hey, man. Thanks for trusting me with this,” Lance said gently. “I know I’m not strong and stupidly brave like you and Shiro, and my brain isn’t the sharpest axe in the armory, so I don’t have a lot to offer, but it means a lot.”

Lance could feel Keith gulp before his own arms came up to rest over Lance’s shoulder blades. From there, he melted against him. “Yeah. Yeah, of course.” 

Lance hummed contentedly before Keith made a sound before pushing Lance away. Lance blinked, cause come on, they were having a moment!

“What do you mean?” Keith asked, his brows furrowed. “You can’t mean all of that, right?”

“All of what?” Lance cocked his head.

“The bullshit about you not being as strong or brave as me and my brother? And basically calling yourself dumb?” Keith said it like it was obvious, and now he was a little concerned that it seemingly wasn’t for Lance.

But Lance was frozen. Sure, he made self-deprecating jokes all the time– but not to Keith Kogane. Of course, he didn’t have a lot to offer– but he was not supposed to let Keith know that. God, whatever happened to the Lance that would rather get locked in the arena with a pissed off Yupper than tell Keith any of these things? It had slipped out. It was a mistake.

But it was a little too late now.

Lance shrugged, averting his eyes. “I mean, it’s not exactly false, right?”

“Of course, it is!” Keith immediately shot back. “And the day you’re right– and you are, I’m not saying you’re always wrong, but you’re really wrong about this–, is the day Vikings fucking fly. Lance, do you seriously not see–” But Lance had already tuned him out.

The day Vikings fly, huh?

Lance’s gears began to turn, and soon his mind was running with the ideas and possibilities flooding his mind. 

Keith noticed finally that Lance wasn’t listening and was instead staring at Keith’s shoulder like it had given him the best idea in the world. “What’s with that look?” Keith asked, furrowing his brows in confusion. “Were you even listening?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, Keith-y, I’ve got it all under control.” Lance nodded, patting Keith’s cheek like a mother would. Keith fumed. “Allll under control.”

“Are you okay–”

“Come on, Mullet! You’ve got a curfew, and I don’t want an upset Shiro comin’ after me for stealing his brother all night!” Lance packed up the Book of Dragons into the pack and shoved it into Keith’s arms, pulling his coat tighter around him to shield the book from the rain. He then stuffed Shiro’s journal into Keith’s coat pocket.

“You do realize what he was implying, right?” Keith grumbled, feeling like a child waiting for his big brother to finish his nagging before letting him go outside in the snow.

“Nope!”

“Of course.”

Chapter Text

I’m not too sure how I’ll be able to teach a dragon fighting class without teaching them not to [REDACTED] dragons. It’s not what she would’ve wanted. It’s now, not what I would want. My brother, who I know might just be like me– like you. But he is still impulsive. If the need arises, he would [REDACTED] a dragon. 

 

I don’t quite know the other cadets well enough to say they’d do the same. I don’t know what she wants me to do… what events I have to set in motion.

 

I have to do the best with what I have. I just have to teach them how to defend themselves, teach them about dragons like she would have wanted. 

 

Gods, [REDACTED], what do I do?

 

– Translated page from The Riders of Arus, A Collection of Letters by the Riders of Arus, Chapter Six published by Shiro Kirogane

A couple of days after he and Keith had their bonding moment(?) in the mess hall, Lance initiated his plan.

“Hey, beautiful,” Lance whistled when he entered their alcove. He grunted as he hefted the basket full of fish one last time before dumping it on the ground in front of Blue. “Brought you some fish, the best in the village!”

Blue narrowed her eyes in obvious disbelief at his words. Lance chuckled, putting his hands up in mock defense. “Okay, okay. You got me. They’re from the dock you dragons love to steal from so much.”

She chuffed, swishing her tail before digging in.

Lance waited a few moments before he began to pace in front of her, trying to keep himself from rambling too much.

“So. I had an idea while I was with a… friend,” Lance nodded. “Now hear me out on this one, it might sound super crazy and super stupid. But you and I both know there’s more of you. So… why not, you know. Look for them?”

Lance paused, waiting to see Blue’s reaction. She continued eating.

Lance frowned and sighed. “Come on, girl! I talked to Hunk and Pidge last night– something about rumors on the nearby islands. You and I could find them together!”

Blue raised her head, looking Lance straight in the eyes. Lance gulped.

“Uh, so. What do you say?” 

Blue blinked and then–

She sneezed, gruff and hard, and Lance had to duck to miss the sure germs that would’ve gotten all over him. 

“I’ll take that as a maybe.”

Lance yelped as Blue suddenly ducked beneath him, lifting him off the ground with her snout and up into the air before Lance landed and slid into the natural saddle above her wings.

“Oh, Thor,” Lance gasped, immediately latching onto Blue’s neck fur to keep from sliding off. The sudden height he had above the ground from Blue’s neck was startling. “Oh, man. We’re really doing this?”

Blue craned her neck to give him a look that said ‘you asked for this’ before bending down to stretch her back, legs, and wings out like a cat. The sun was high, and the wind was perfect, which really should’ve been a sign for Lance when he asked, “How about we take this nice and slow, huh? Maybe just walk around a bit–”

Blue’s wings snapped open, large and magnificent.

In the next minute, a lot of things happened.

Lance screamed, and he was more than sure he could be heard all the way to the village. He nearly fell, the sudden vertical Blue taking them in, sending him careening backwards before he latched on and forced his stomach flat against Blue. Lance found it in himself to peek an eye open, then he slowly lifted himself higher as Blue flew swiftly around the cove. Lance grinned, toothy and wide, pumping his arms in the air– and then Blue banked sharply. Lance fell into the lake. Lance was soaked. Lance was smiling.

Once Blue pulled Lance to shore, Lance began to rebuild their bonfire from a couple of days before to dry off and cook the rest of the fish Blue had left behind. When the fire finally began to grow and Lance deemed the tiny sticks he threw in to be sufficient enough, he heard a sharp yowl.

‘Woah, woah!” Lance jumped right back up, going in between backing away or stepping forward and finding the source of the problem. She was hissing at the bin of fish– since when did she stop liking fish in the last twenty minutes?

Blue whipped her tail at the bin, tipping it over and howling as a bright yellow and black striped eel slinked away from the rest. Lance rushed forward and resisted the urge to gag as he snatched it up with his bare hands. It was dead alright, but still slimy. And gross.

“It’s dead!” Lance tried to get across, shaking the thing in front of him as if to show her. “See?” 

Blue’s eyes narrowed into slits, and Lance quickly backtracked. Looking around frantically, he threw the eel into the pond. 

“It’s gone! All gone, you’re fine!” Lance grinned nervously. “All better, no eels here.”

Blue chuffed, eyeing the pond where Lance had thrown the eel. She turned her snout on Lance. He looked at her for a moment before forming an ‘O’ with his mouth. “That was the only one, don’t worry.” Lance carefully stepped forward, cringing as he sorted through the fish in front of Blue. “Yep. Nothing but good ol’ fish here. No eels.”

Blue sniffed it one more time before walking away from it and settling on Lance’s other side as he began to cook the fish. No eels.

Lance hesitantly petted her fur as he thought, zoning out on the cooking fish as he turned it over the fire with his free hand. Then, Lance perked up– Blue following him with her eyes as Lance leaned over to grab his satchel and pulled out his journal, scribbling his ideas like they might just fly away if he weren’t quick enough.

The fish burned.

Keith was… confused, to say the least.

They were in the middle of a training exercise. This time, they were up against a Mergyar, a species of dragon that resided underwater. The thing is, they could exist both above and below land. Which is one of the many things that made them such a tricky and dangerous species.

Yet, Shiro took them to the catacombs. Where they kept dragons like the Mergyar who relied mostly on water to survive. This part of the catacombs was large enough to fit twenty large dragons comfortably. It wasn’t dissimilar to the arena they usually used, but it was dark and cold. The cave was carved naturally by the elements years ago, and this particular system was a circle shape with a deep, large pool of water in the middle. 

Shiro had opened the bar latch they kept above the water ten minutes ago, and to say that watching a dripping, slim creature with two legs, a thick tail, and spiny wings crawl out like bones didn’t exist, wasn’t completely terrifying to witness. Well, whoever said that was an idiot.

See, their goal was to incapacitate it with a net specifically designed for its slick scales that made it easy for it to slither into tight spaces. But that was hard to do when you couldn’t see anything. That was only partly the fault of the cave having zero lights.

While most dragons could breathe fire, the Mergyar could not. Instead, it released steam, an almost fire. But their body was simply too cold to produce actual fire, so instead, they were left to stumble around in a humid fog that stuck to their skin and made it difficult to breathe.

Keith was paired with Pidge, each of them holding one side of the net. Lance was paired with Hunk.

Keith was still trying to get out from beneath his and Pidge’s net that they had tripped over when Keith and Pidge were startled by the high-pitched shriek of the Mergyar. Keith was telling Pidge to calm down before they tangled the net to the point they’d have to call Shiro over, when he heard a screeching echo throughout the cavern.

Everyone stopped, blinking as the fog began to dissipate just enough for them to see the Mergyar and… Lance.

“Lance!” Keith called, now clawing at the nets above him. “Lance, watch out!” His heart thundered beneath his ribs, a new kind of sweat breaking out all over his body. Lance was going to get himself killed, where the hell was Hunk?

The Mergyar stalked closer to Lance, its head rearing up as it screamed horribly. “Lance–”

“Calm it down back there, Mullet!” Lance snapped, and Keith immediately shut his mouth with a click.

Now that Keith could see a bit more clearly, he realized the Mergyar was backing away from Lance, not walking toward him.

So, Keith was confused. Because dragons typically didn’t scamper away from a scrawny human half its size. But that’s what it was doing, scampering. Like it was scared. Of Lance.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Lance boasted, circling it until it was backing away toward the enclosure. “Just a bit more, girl.”

Keith let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding when the Mergyar nearly choked itself trying to slip into the opening and away from Lance. The water splashed as it disappeared into the depths.

“What the fuck?” Pidge said, making Keith flinch beside her.

And Keith agreed.

What the fuck?

“... Great job, Lance,” Shiro said like he couldn’t quite believe what he’d seen either. “That was amazing.”

“How in the world did you manage that?” Keith asked next.

“Yeah! No dragon in the right state of mind would be afraid of Lance!”

“Pidge, I’ll throw you right in with the dragon if you don’t shut your tiny trap.” Lance threatened as he walked toward them. Toward Keith.

Lance bent down in front of Keith with a sigh and a small smile, like it was meant for Keith specifically. “Man, you really got yourself in a pickle, huh?” Lance snickered, beginning to untangle Keith and Pidge from beneath the net.

“Yeah,” Keith breathed, ignoring how close Lance was, praying the boy couldn’t hear his heart from this close. “We heard the dragon and Pidge tripped and took me down with her.”

“It was an honest mistake, would you please!” Pidge crossed her arms, and Shiro patted her back consolingly as he worked on untangling the other side.

“Pidge,” Lance gasped, mock offended. “You? Making a mistake? Oh, man. What has the world come to?” Lance dodged a punch from Pidge before he finally lifted the net over Keith and Pidge. Lance stood and offered his hand, and Keith took it gratefully.

“Lance, I would tell you to sleep with one eye open, but it would make my job a lot easier if you didn’t.” Pidge glared, dusting herself off as she stood with Shiro’s help.

“Oh yeah? Try it, Katie.”

Keith eventually drowned out their bickering voices as he looked down at his and Lance’s clasped hands. And gods, his heart was racing again. The damp cave suddenly seemed a lot warmer with Lance here, and his face definitely felt a lot warmer. He should really let go, but Lance still hadn’t either– Keith didn’t want to offend him, and frankly, he didn’t really mind–

“Uh, great job, Lance. So cool. My hero, really. And Pidge, please don’t kill my best bud, that would really suck.” Everyone whipped their heads to the corner of the cave. A large, bulky figure was hopping toward them, and Lance and Pidge both burst into a laughing fit as Hunk stepped into the light. “Now, if we’re all done celebrating, could we get Hunk out of here?”

Poor Hunk was tangled up worse than Keith and Pidge had been, his arms twisted in awkward angles where he tried to get out himself. One leg was tied behind him, and honestly, Keith was impressed he was able to hop on one foot over here.

Hunk allowed them a few more moments of euphoria before pleading again for help.

Pidge was in hysterics, giggling as she forgot her irritation, and Lance wheezed, leaning his weight on Keith when his chest couldn’t hold the force of his laughter.

“Hunk. Man,” Shiro was laughing now, too.

Pidge choked on her laughter, wiping tears from her eyes as she went into another laughing fit as Hunk tried to take another hop toward them. He promptly slipped on the sleek, wet floor, and went crashing down. 

Shiro got them to settle down eventually and they all helped Hunk for a solid five minutes before he was set free. Not without more than a few sore muscles and bruises, though.

Later, when they were all making their way back to the village, which regrettably was a fifteen-minute hike from the catacombs, Keith asked again:

“So, how did you do it?”

Lance blinked at him before realizing what Keith was asking, and looked away, deciding that the dead grass and snow were far more interesting at the moment.

“I guess dragons really can’t tell a beautiful face when they see one,” Lance shrugged, laughing nervously at his own joke.

Keith cocked his head. That couldn’t be it, definitely not.

“Lance. Seriously, I thought you were a goner for a second. How did you–”

“Oh, Hunk!” Lance called, cutting Keith off. “I had a few more questions about those islands…” Lance jogged ahead, leaving Keith behind. Keith pretended it didn’t hurt just a little bit.

(He also pretended he didn’t see the bright yellow stripes of an eel hidden in his jacket. Or the smell.)

It continued on like that for a few weeks.

And to say it gave Keith more than a few heart attacks was an understatement. 

A week after the Mer incident, they focused on trapping an Arusian: a tiny dragon that was more on the chubby side but did nothing to put a damper on its speed.

“You’ll encounter all kinds of dragons, big and small,” Shiro had said. “And some will be too quick for you to kill, so capture it.”

All too reminiscent of the Mergyar lesson, they were given nets, the gaps too small for even the Arusian to slip through.

“I’ve barely seen these guys anywhere,” Pidge called to Shiro, jumping out of the way when Hunk and Lance nearly barreled into her, trying to capture the tiny beast. “What’s the point? They never do any damage when it comes to raids– they’re too small.”

“Sounds like someone I know!”

“Shut up, Lance,” Pidge growled.

“Ah, well, Katie, these little bastards are tiny, yes, but while they may not do as much damage as our bigger neighbors,” Shiro gestured to Lance and Hunk as they stumbled over each other’s nets, knocking straight into Keith as they fell to the ground in a heap. The Arusian stopped, almost snickering, before scampering over to them with sparkling eyes. The tiny dragon snatched something from Hunk’s pocket: a small dagger.

Keith, Lance, and Hunk looked at each other before jumping up and running away. Hunk yelled, and Lance was already climbing up his back for higher ground, while Keith did his best to guard them with a nervous look as they backed away from the Arusian with the shiny dagger.

A minute later, they were being chased around the arena by the Arusian.

Shiro shook his head with a fond smile. “These critters go after your valuables, be it coins or… well, I didn’t know that they would chase you with your own weapons but, there’s that–”

Pidge snorted.

But then, it looked straight at the duo with a glint in its eye.

“Uhhh, Shiro?” Pidge nudged his side.

“I see it, Pidge,” Shiro frowned, putting his hands out nervously.

The Arusian kicked its back feet like a horse. Pidge and Shiro began to back away when a shiny light came in between them and the tiny dragon.

Keith blinked, looking behind him.

Pidge was clinging onto Shiro’s back, still climbing up onto his shoulders to mirror Lance.

And to the side, where the sun was setting, Lance stood with a newly shined shield. The sun refracted at the angle Lance had it, making a tiny dot of light that moved as Lance did.

(When did he climb off Hunk’s back and find a shield?)

“What is he doing?” Hunk whispered, but Keith hushed him as Lance moved the light side to side in front of the Arusian. The dragon followed it with wide eyes, dropping the dagger in an instant in favor of trying to jump and capture the light in between its paws, only to be confused when the light moved.

Everyone watched as Lance coaxed the critter toward the tiny door that led to the enclosure, the light fooling it into the door where Lance held it shut with his foot.

It was silent before everyone crowded around Lance, Keith, and Shiro following behind.

“Dude, that was actually so smart!” Pidge praised– a rare occasion. “Do you think we could use that trick on other dragons? Shiro, let the Balmera out, I wanna try–”

“Absolutely not.” Shiro chuckled.

“Lance, buddy, that was amazing! You totally saved our asses!” Hunk hugged Lance, squeezing the air out of his lungs as he picked him up off the ground.

“No… problem… can’t bre… breathe!”

“Oh, sorry, my bad.”

Lance gasped, forcing air back into his lungs.

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of that, Lance. Nice job,” Shiro ruffled his hair with a proud smile. “I didn’t even see you grab the shield.”

Lance took their compliments with a red face, brushing them off as he tried to get out of the arena because he had something he needed to get done and guys it really wasn’t that big of a deal.

“Lance, they’re right. You really did think pretty fast to notice its interest in shiny stuff. How did you–”

Lance’s face grew redder by the second as Keith cut his path off. Lance stumbled back a few feet before throwing him a thanks, gotta go! Next thing everyone knew, Lance was jogging out of the arena and toward the forest.

No one spoke for a moment, not until his form was nearly gone in the distance. Keith didn’t look away until he couldn’t see Lance anymore.

“Uh,” Shiro said. “Has anyone noticed… Lance has been acting kind of weird lately?”

Hunk nodded. “He’s been going to the woods an awful lot, I even caught him sneaking out two days ago in the middle of the night. I’m quite concerned, honestly.”

“... What were you doing up, Hunk?” Pidge asked, turning her curious eye to him instead.

“Well, uhm–” Hunk whistled, looking away. “I actually have somewhere to be, too, so, uh, bye!”

Shiro, Keith, and Pidge watched Hunk leave before looking at each other.

“... You guys wanna see the new invention I’ve been working on?” Pidge asked with a shrug.

The week after that, Lance managed to interrupt Pidge’s attempt to knock out a Puigian with a shovel by getting close enough for it to bite him and… scratching it? Keith was midway to grabbing a sword and getting Lance out of there when the dragon collapsed onto the ground, belly up.

“What in Loki’s name…” Shiro muttered.

Keith was thinking the same thing, dropping his sword and jogging toward Lance. Grabbing his shoulder, he hauled him a safe distance away from the dragon.

“Lance, what was that about? It could’ve taken your arm off!”

“But it didn’t,” Lance shrugged. “Anyway, I’ve got somewhere to be…”

“Lance!” Keith called futilely for the boy, but he didn’t stop.

He picked up his satchel and went straight toward the forest for the third time that week. It was Thursday.

Keith let out a frustrated huff before picking up his sword to help Shiro usher the dragon back into its cave.

It happened again when Lance grabbed a sword for the first time since their first class… only to wave it around like a godsdamned toy for the Unilu. Turns out, the shiny thing works for those, too. And they like to play fucking fetch. Who knew? Keith certainly didn’t.

But Lance somehow did.

And he nearly gave Keith a heart attack when he decided to test that theory and nearly got his head chomped off for his troubles.

“Lance–”

“See you guys later!” Lance called, already out the door before Keith could say anything besides his name.

Keith watched him go.

Again.

Lance subdued the Balmera with a thistle, a plant you could find out in the woods. It made anyone who touched the pricks sleepy instantly, who would’ve thought it worked on giant beasts, too?

Clearly, after Keith pulled Lance out of the way of a Balmera shot, Lance did. Because he went straight toward it as soon as Keith saved him, and Keith’s heart was in his throat, and… the dragon was asleep by the time he got to Lance again.

And again. Keith had to pull Lance out from between the coiled tail of the Mergyar after it wound around him, snuggling him as he fucking sang to it. Keith would admit, he had a good voice.

And apparently, Lance knew dragons liked to be sung a lullaby every now and then. No, really. It was Keith’s fault for trying to save him when he should’ve been backing him up on melody.

When Keith tried to find Lance once the Mergyar was back beneath the water, he was already gone. Shiro came up behind him and put his hand on his shoulder consolingly, but Keith shrugged it off.

And finally, Keith was on his last straw when Lance did it yet again.

  The Olkari nearly stabbed him with its tail spikes, but Keith used a shield to protect Lance, until he, get this, ran away from Keith and swung onto its damn back.

The crowd that had formed gasped in horror.

“Lance, what in Odin’s name are you doing?!” Keith nearly screamed as he tripped over himself trying to get to the boy.

“Don’t worry!” Lance called, narrowly dodging the Olkari’s sharp teeth as it snapped at him, roaring. It reared up on its hind legs, its tail curling toward Lance like a scorpion. Its tail lashed like a whip, catching Lance on the cheek as he winced. “Okay, maybe worry a little bit!”

Keith’s heart plummeted as Lance grabbed its horns. 

“C’mon, man. This isn’t funny!” Hunk called. “Shiro, stop him!”

Lance squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself.

“Lance, this isn’t the time to show off!” Pidge yelled.

“Lance, get off of that thing!” Keith demanded. “You’re going to get yourself killed! Shiro, stop him!”

Shiro was watching with tense muscles, but he shook his head. “No, let him do this. I trust him to handle himself. I’ll step in if it looks like things are getting really bad–”

Lance promptly threw all of his body weight to the side, tumbling to the ground with the Olkari. 

“Lance!” Keith shot up from where he rolled to avoid the mass of limbs coming his way. His heart jackhammered as the beast thrashed beneath Lance, tail whipping to catch Lance’s coat sleeve and slice clean through. Lance grunted, but only sunk lower, tossing his gloves to the side before searching its neck for… something.

The Olkari was thrashing every which way, making it near impossible for any of them to get near it. Its tail cut through Lance’s pants and Keith was nearly ready enough to jump at the creature himself when the scent of blood filled his nostrils.

But then, Lance let out a whoop as he found what he was seemingly looking for. 

Lance began scratching at a particular spot behind the Olkari’s head.

It took all of five seconds for the creature to shiver beneath his touch and flop its limbs limp to the ground, its wings splayed around it.

Lance hummed, satisfied before hopping off.

“Well, that’s a wrap. Good job, everyone–” Lance’s sentence was cut off when Keith ran toward him, squishing his face in between his hands.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Keith growled, eyes roaming his body as he scouted for injuries. Besides the one on Lance’s cheek, his arm was cut up in two different places, his right thigh and leg calf, too.

“Aw, man. Blood is so hard to get out,” Lance pouted, his words slightly slurred from being squished.

Keith scoffed, anger, fear, and adrenaline swirling in his eyes. He swiped the blood away from the cut on Lance’s cheek with his thumb, eyes scouring for any more.

“Come on, we’re going to the infirmary.” Lance yelped as Keith grabbed his wrist and dragged him away from everyone. Shoving through the crowd that had begun forming a couple of weeks ago ever since Lance suddenly knew a lot of things about dragons. 

“Do you know how dumb that was?” Keith went on as they left the crowd behind. “Its tail was this close to cutting you open!”

Lance blinked, stumbling as he tried to keep up with Keith. “I mean, well, I got out alive, so. Plus, I’m fine, you’re overreacting, man.”

“But you almost didn’t! I don’t care if this was just a training exercise, Lance!” Keith’s voice rose with his pent-up anger and anxiety. “You don’t just jump onto a fucking dragon!”

“But I did!” Lance snatched his wrist away, his own anger bubbling. “What’s so wrong with it? It got the job done, right? Sorry if I don’t want to result to flat-out violence, Keith, I don’t swing that way!”

“And since when have I?” Keith whirled around to face him, and Lance was stunned by the hurt in his eyes. The fear. 

“Since– well, you know!” Lance’s tongue tied, catching in his throat as he tried to sift through memories and ignore the way Keith was looking at him and how that made him feel.

“No. Tell me, Lance. Since you seem so fucking sure of yourself nowdays!” Keith stepped closer to him, grateful that practically the whole village was back at the arena. No one was around to hear them, and if someone so happened to stumble upon them, they left as soon as they got a whiff of the tension in the air.

Lance bristled, heat rising to his cheeks as the familiar irritation that he thought they’d worked past rose up to fuel his indignation. “You’ve killed tons of dragons before! Why are you acting like some saint, Keith?!”

Keith stopped for a moment, his face contorting strangely from anger to confusion, then back to anger again, like he couldn’t decide which one to be. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Lance swung his arms out on either side, raising his brows as if to make a point. “During the raids? All I hear from anyone is about how great you are and how many dragons you killed!”

“Lance,” Keith deadpanned. “Just who did you hear that from?”

Lance sputtered, regretting the words as soon as they came out. “The kids?” He said it as more of a question now, like he was starting to second guess himself. And as he said it out loud, it didn’t take him long at all to recognize why Keith had a sudden face of exasperation. 

Keith gave him a long moment to get to that conclusion though.

Lance, if he wasn’t in the armory– and that was often, given how bad he was at anything to do with making weapons, was usually with the kids in the dining hall. If there was anything he was good at, it was shooting a bow and arrow, and comforting the frightened children barricaded in the dining hall until their parents returned. Some days, it was Lance who stayed to comfort them when their parents didn’t return. 

Those were always the worst days.

But besides that, the older kids were usually gushing about how cool Shiro was and how many dragons Keith must’ve been killing and how they wished they could be just like great and amazing Keith.

‘I heard he’s killed three whole dragons in just one raid!’ One boy had grinned.

‘Nuh uh!’ A girl had chimed in. ‘More like six!’

‘Eight!’

‘Twelve!’

‘Twenty!’

Maybe, Lance should look into his sources more when they were children getting into his head when he was already knee deep in insecurity and a made-up rivalry with Keith.

Keith quirked a brow at him, and a mean little part of Lance wanted to bring up one, specific memory that he had been there for.

The memory from a month ago resurfaced, one of an axe spraying dragon blood across the dirt and stone and Lance’s face. One of Keith locking himself in his home for the next week.

Keith’s eyes were hard, like he knew what Lance was thinking about. The memory of Keith’s shaky form and wide eyes. The memory of regret and disgust coming off Keith like the plague.

No. Not once could Lance think of a time that Keith had truly wanted to hurt or kill a dragon. Anything he did was to protect, because that’s what Keith did, wasn’t it?

Lance looked down, his face flushing red.

“You haven’t.” It was a statement. The truth.

Keith let some of his anger ooze out as he took a deep breath, taking a step closer to Lance.

“Come on, let’s just get you to the infirmary–”

“Keith,” Lance blurted. His eyes stared harshly at the floor, his brows furrowed. “Why do you try so hard to protect me?” Lance tried to focus on the question instead of the guilty pleasure that rose in his gut at the knowledge that he had Keith’s protection, even if was convinced he didn’t really need it.

Keith stopped still, and now it was his turn to sputter and scramble for words. “What? I mean, well. Uh, well. I don’t– I mean…”

“Before we even really became friends,” Lance cut him off. “The night of that raid, even then, you protected me. You got me away from the Robeast.”

“Well, that was really more your father–”

“And even before that! That one time an Unilu snuck into the village on its own. Most of the elders, including my dad, were off on another expedition. You heard me scream, you must have. Your house is just down the road!” Lance shook his head. “You got there before anyone else and shouted and waved your stupid sword all over the place until the Unilu followed you outside.”

“Yeah, but, like you said– I was just down the street! And, anyway, Coran took over from there–”

“Then you came back to make sure I was alright,” Lance continued. “I remember you slapping me to get me out of my shock.”

Keith flushed, looking down. “I was panicking, sorry–”

“And that other time a Mergyar trashed the fishing docks when I was cleaning out the shacks,” Lance looked up now, meeting Keith’s eyes. “You were the first one to get there. Hel, even my dad got there later than you!”

“Lance, I get it, okay? Can we just get you to the infirmary?”

“And I swear to all the gods I could keep going, but what I don’t understand is why,” Lance took a step forward, his mind reeling. All those times, it had been happening for years. Ever since they were young. Before, the memories only served to fuel Lance’s inferiority complex whenever Keith would be praised for saving him and Lance would get reprimanded for daring to step outside.

But what he refused to acknowledge before, was that Keith had only ever looked to Lance in those moments. Like he just wanted to know that he was okay, that he had done right by him. No one else. Him. 

Keith only stared, and Lance stared right back. Waiting. Waiting.

“Lance…”

“Keith.”

Lance’s eyes were crazed and shining in the most endearing way, like a child who just figured out a puzzle.

Keith looked embarrassed. Like he was caught taking an extra serving of sweet bread in the middle of the night. His fists were clenched at his sides, and his shoulders were tense and taught. And yet, he couldn’t ignore the mix of excitement and horror mingling in his chest at being caught so outright after being ignored for years.

Evidently, it showed on his face. Although, maybe it was just mostly horror, because Lance’s excitement suddenly died down when Keith couldn’t give him an answer. Lance took a step back, and it felt like watching a bridge collapse in the middle of rebuilding. Like a hand retracting when no one met him in the middle.

Lance was about to apologize and suggest they go to the infirmary like Keith wanted when something in his chest tugged. He gasped, and Keith perked up with concern.

He hadn’t felt the pull in a while, the familiar tug that he knew all too well was from Blue, but it was back tenfold. A presence in his head pushed him toward Keith, urging him forward until suddenly his hand moved down, and Keith’s hand was in his.

The feeling only grew stronger when he met Keith’s eyes again. Dark. He could see his own reflection in them. Though, he didn’t fail to notice Keith’s face growing red again. Lance admitted, red suited him quite well. Red like the sky when the sun set, red like the raging fires of their village during a dragon raid, red like the blood running through his veins.

Another presence, sharper and bolder, made itself known in his mind. And it roared. The sound was so real and there and Lance had to look down and squeeze his eyes shut, push the presence back so that he could breathe. What was this? Who was this? It wasn’t Blue. It didn’t quite fit, no. This one was much more thrilling and spontaneous. Feral.

“Lance…” Keith crouched, hands reaching for Lance’s chin without thinking. “What’s happening? Are you alright? Shit, come on, let’s get to the infirmary–”

Lance grabbed the hand that moved to cradle his cheek, yanking Keith so close his face was just inches away. Keith’s breath was hot on his face like Lance took the air out of his lungs.

And Lance, gods forbid it, kind of really wanted to.

“Lance?” Keith whispered, his eyes wide as they dropped to his lips.

“Keith,” Lance said just as gently, holding his name with a tenderness. But the… whatever was in his head, shoved him like a trigger, and Lance closed his eyes, trying to clear his head. 

If Lance did this, he might just lose everything he’s worked toward, and the one that gave him wings and the burning, beautiful scar hidden beneath thick fabric. If he trusted Keith, and he was wrong–

A softer presence in the back of his mind curled around his anxiety, easing the tension in his bones. Yes, this one was much better. Lance breathed, deep and slow. He opened his eyes and found Keith already looking at him. 

Lance couldn’t imagine those lilac eyes betraying him. If Keith really was a protector, if he really was this deadset on protecting Lance for whatever reason– then Lance could take the risk and let him in. Who else could he trust if not the person who had shown time and time again that he would lay down his life for someone like Lance.

“Keith, buddy,” Lance said, straightening his back and guiding the hand on his cheek into his own. He was holding Keith’s hands right now. Wow. This was happening. Lance smiled shakily. “I’m gonna need you to come with me.”

Keith blinked, but he found himself nodding. And when Lance began to lead him down the trail he took up to the woods, he had a feeling they were done with secrets now.

—

A few days ago, Lance was flying.

A week after Lance’s dip in the lake after his first flight on Blue, they were soaring over the cliffs of Arus.

The wind made his eyes water, pushing through his hair and ruffling his clothes harshly. His face was red from the pressure, and his arms were pumping in the air as he whooped and hollered.

Blue roared with him, mimicking his wide smile the best she could as her wings pumped before she dove toward the waves. Lance yelled, sea spray tickling his nose, tasting salty in his mouth. Blue dipped the tip of her wing into the water before climbing up, up, up into the sky.

Lance’s scars glowed, bright and golden. His pants were rolled up, letting his skin be kissed by the sun and sea. Up here with Blue, he didn’t have to hide what she’d given him. Up here, it was something to be proud of. Up here, he was free. Up here, he was flying.

Up here, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t supposed to be flying alone.

Chapter Text

The cadets are doing great, [REDACTED]. It’s almost like I don’t even have to find a way to incapacitate rather than kill. They just… do. There’s one specifically, that I think you'd take a special interest in... His name is Lance. He’s Chief Alfor’s son, and yet, each day, he’s the best of the class.

 

While I’m proud of him for his… unique ways of incapacitating the dragons– he hasn’t even lifted a sword once against a dragon… he’s been disappearing after classes lately. He isn’t quite himself, and it seems he might be isolating himself from his friends, choosing instead to wander into the forest for hours at a time, coming back later and later.

 

I’m afraid that his way with the beasts– no, [REDACTED], that isn’t me insulting dragons… well. I’m afraid it might get him killed.

 

The cadets don’t know this yet, but on the final day of classes, one of them will be chosen. The most promising cadet will be given the ‘honor’ of killing their first dragon in front of the entire village.

 

– Translated page from The Riders of Arus, A Collection of Letters by the Riders of Arus, Chapter Ten published by Shiro Kirogane

Lance may or may not sentenced Keith to an early death.

Kidding! Kidding. Blue would never do that... but she was face to snout with him, a deep, rumbling growl resonated through her chest. Her eyes were feral, like she had finally found the perfect moment to go in for the kill on prey she’d been hunting for weeks.

Maybe bringing Keith to meet Blue hadn’t been the best idea known to man, but what was he supposed to do? Lance was convinced his head would’ve split right open had he not brought Keith along.

Plus, for all the fear and anticipation in Keith’s eyes, Lance thought he saw awe there, too. Lance began to wonder if this was what Blue saw in him that day months ago.

Eventually, so much time had passed that Lance was beginning to think he was caught in time when Blue eventually chuffed, turning away from Keith and instead, to where Lance stood off to the side. Lance was leaning against a rock, a knowing smile playing on his lips.

Lance felt something pass in the air between Blue and Keith as she gave him one last, thoughtful glance, and turned to pad away to the lake, lapping at the water with her purple tongue. Lance felt a bit of sympathy for the way Keith’s chest was rising and falling rapidly. But when Keith finally met his gaze, something of an adrenaline-induced smile crept up his lips.

“So this is what you’ve been doing,” Keith breathed, forcing his shoulders to relax. “All this time. You’ve had dragons.” 

Keith said dragons in a way that most would when talking about their gods.

“Well, I wouldn’t say I have dragons,” Lance shrugged, a little nervous now. It was like he finally had every bit of Keith’s attention, not one thing to take it away from him. It was exhilarating. Lance had to look away, his face beginning to burn as he gestured to Blue. “It’s more like she has me. And it’s just her.”

“How long have you been here?” Keith asked. “Weeks? Months?”

Lance bit his lip, taking a moment to respond. He felt like he was admitting to betraying Keith in a way. It was ridiculous, but he couldn’t help the way his gut twisted in guilt. It wasn’t like he’d been lying to him this whole time, but it still felt that way.

(Lance found himself trying to push out the real reason he felt so guilty about lying to Keith of all people. And now, he had to wonder, had to really think. Why was it that Keith brought the vulnerability Lance kept tucked beneath the surface with ease nowadays? Why did Lance not feel like the world was about to end when he was seen by Keith? And he meant really, really, seen.)

“Ever since the night the dragons attacked our village.”

“Lance, you’re going to have to be more specific here,” Keith shook his head, a fond smile working its way into Lance’s heart. “We’ve been at war with the dragons since Vikings first sailed to Arus.”

Lance rolled his eyes, a mock scowl on his face. But his lips were twitching with a repressed smile. “The most recent one. You know, the one where I used you as a human shield when my dad was looking for me after the whole almost-getting-killed-by-a-robeast incident?”

“Oh,” Keith snorted. “Yeah. You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

The sun was warm, and the beams of sunlight were perfectly crafted to hit Keith’s face at just the right angle. Lance cocked his head as he… admired. Yes. He would say it. Admired how utterly beautiful and kissable Keith looked right then and there. Lance smiled softly, his voice dropping to a quieter tone without his permission. “That seems to happen a lot, Samurai.”

Keith looked momentarily abashed. He was shy, and it was so unlike him that Lance had to remember to breathe until Blue nudged him from behind, her snout wet from the lake, reminding him herself.

Lance allowed himself to be distracted from Keith as he turned to face Blue. “Hey, beautiful.”

Blue preened as Lance found that special spot behind her head and beneath her ears. Blue shivered beneath his warm hands before dropping to the ground, nearly taking Lance down with her.

Keith recognized that move. Hell, Lance had used it in the arena on that Olkari a few weeks ago, and just today in the arena. And while Keith had figured out that Lance must have learned everything here with Blue, it hadn’t quite clicked that he would have to get close enough to the island's most feared dragons known to date… and find their secret sweet spot that had them on the ground in seconds.

Lance felt familiar eyes on him and turned to find Keith staring again. But this time, Lance could definitely recognize that look in his eyes. If there were a way to see his reflection all the time whenever he wanted, Lance would’ve seen that same exact look in his own eyes on the day Blue let him touch her for the first time.

Lance grinned, but it was soft. Walking over to Keith, he gently grabbed his gloved hand and led him to the big blue dragon currently fighting off sleep.

“Uh, Lance?” Keith said, stamping down the instinct to pull away from the big dragon. “What are we doing?”

“Come on, just trust me,” Lance said, waving away the concern in Keith’s voice. “She’ll love you. You just have to show her a bit of love back.”

And when Lance gently scratched the thick tufts of fur, urging Blue to open her yellow eyes and meet the outstretched, intertwined hands of Keith and Lance, it only took a few moments of hesitation before lifting her head off the ground, making sure she had to look down at Keith.  

Keith had a vague sense that he was being assessed, in a different way than she had assessed him earlier.

A soft presence in the back of his mind made him flinch, but Lance only squeezed his hand in reassurance. Comforting blue wisps phased through every mental wall and barrier with ease, looking for something. Looking for something that would confirm that she could trust Keith with something so precious. 

Keith didn’t quite know what it was yet, but she must’ve found it. This time, her eyes were blown wide instead of narrowed into slits. Her breath was cool against his face, tickling him. He nearly gasped aloud when she closed her eyes and willingly nudged her head beneath Keith’s pale hands.

Keith smiled warily, and Lance beamed, letting go of his hand until it was only Keith touching Blue.

It lasted a long moment until Blue slowly leaned back, giving Keith a look like a mother would when she was staring down her child's first lover brought home, only to leave them at the mercy of their family while they went to do anything that could definitely be done later and Keith was really hoping Lance would grab his hand again because he felt transparent, pinned beneath Blue’s gaze and–

Blue sneezed, wrinkling her snout before sauntering away toward the basket of fish that Lance had brought.

Keith felt like he could breathe again.

Lance squawked when Keith whipped around, marched right up to him, and grabbed him by his forearms on both sides like he was more than ready to shake what Keith wanted out of him.

“Tell me everything,” Keith said.

Lance blinked before nodding his head, taking his hand again and leading him to the tree he and Blue liked to rest beneath. They settled down, and Lance got to work on lighting the fire.

After all, who was Lance to refuse Keith?

—

Keith clung onto every word that fell out of Lance’s mouth. The way he retold the story of meeting Blue, how after dragon fighting classes, he always found himself here, following that mental pull, Keith began to wonder if he had it too.

Lance spoke animatedly, hands painting pictures in the air after abandoning the stick in the dirt where he was previously drawing his memories for Keith.

(Keith traced the tiny trenches in the dirt with his eyes, watching an ant crawl in and out of them. The dirt was cold and moist beneath his fingers. He didn’t know Lance could draw.)

How Blue didn’t like eels, and he’d been too keen to test it out in the catacombs weeks ago.

Keith thought back to the day with the Mergyar in the cave, and Keith shook his head with a smile. The signs had been there all along; Keith had just been too eager to dismiss them before in favor of trying to figure Lance out.

How he and Blue went exploring on the far side of the island in a giant field near a cliff. Blue had brushed against a thistle, and Lance had to stay by her side for hours before she woke again.

When Lance had been playing with some trinkets he brought from the armory while Blue rubbed her entire body in a mass of fur against the lush, soft, green grass. The sun had caught on the silver of it so perfectly, creating a tiny dot of light on the ground.

Lance took special pleasure in the snorts and laughter he got out of Keith when retelling the horrors of having a full-grown Verndari pounce on you when he accidentally managed to drop his trinket in such a way that the tiny dot of light landed smack in the middle of his chest.

After, he poured over his journal that he kept with him at all times. He showed Keith the pages he’d documented all that he learned, and with just a hint of hesitation– mostly because he thought Keith might find his theory ridiculous– but he showed Keith his theories of other Verndari like Blue. All the rumors he, Hunk, and Pidge could gather.

“This is… amazing, Lance,” Keith finally said, his eyes drinking in the islands he’d sketched. “And these islands aren’t far from Arus, either. They all surround the Meridian of Misery!”

“Exactly!” Lance sat up straighter, flipping through other pages. “I was thinking of taking Blue and island hopping to find them. I mean, some of these rumors say that the Verndari only consist of–”

“Five dragons,” Keith breathed, reading from his journal. “And they only resurface in dire times of need. Like some mythology story. But why?”

“I haven’t quite figured that out yet,” Lance scratched the back of his neck. “But if I go to these islands, maybe we can figure that out. Arus is the furthest from the other isles, maybe they know something we don’t. Maybe there are other people like me, with these…” Lance trailed off. “Well, something happened the first time I really flew with Blue.”

Keith scooted closer to Lance, eagerness shining in his eyes. “Tell me.”

Then, Keith’s eyes reflected the very night sky when Lance told him about the first time he flew on Blue, how the wind had come out of nowhere, nearly causing Lance to fall right off and Blue to fumble her balance. Lance didn’t know how he did it, just that in the moment of pure survival instinct, he’d grabbed onto Blue’s fur, leaned into the natural saddle of her body, and leaned all of his weight every which way in order to stop the collision of dragon and man into a column maze of boulders.

Luckily, Lance and Blue had gotten out unscathed. Mostly, anyway.

“What do you mean ‘mostly’?” Keith asked, eyes already wandering his body for any injuries he didn’t know about.

Lance let himself sit in the warmth and certainty that Keith Kogane was worried for his wellbeing before untying his boots and lifting his pants, rolling them until he revealed his right calf.

Keith gasped at what looked to be a tattoo, but when he reached his hand out, looking up at Lance, a silent question in his eyes. Lance nodded, and Keith traced the intricate markings. He realized that the thick swirls enveloping his skin like a fire were in fact scars. Forever emblazoned into his skin like frostbite. The marred, raised skin was lighter than the rest of his body, slightly bumpy beneath his touch.

When goosebumps began to follow everywhere Keith’s fingers trailed, Keith looked up. But Lance was already staring at him, and Keith felt that familiar feeling of tension and longing catching his tongue. The feeling he’d tried suppressing for years was coming up his throat like vomit, and Keith didn’t know if he could stop the words from falling right out of his mouth.

But Lance rolled his pants leg back down, tying his boot back on before giving Keith a mischievous grin that might just make Keith melt into a puddle on the floor if he didn’t stop to think about what Lance was doing to him.

“Maybe there are other Vikings like me out there. That knows that dragons aren’t all that we thought they were… maybe we can find them.”

Keith blinked. “We?”

Lance kicked at the dirt, biting his cheek. “I mean, if you want. I’m not saying you have to, but maybe you can come with me?” Keith felt like he couldn’t breathe. “Maybe… we can find them together?”

Keith swallowed, resisting the urge to pull Lance forward and make him breathless instead. Sparing him, however, from his silence and Lance’s awkward waiting, Keith nodded. A smile spread across his face, and then he coughed.

Lance stood, holding out a hand to Keith.

“Have you ever flown before?”

—

Lance would like to think that maybe this had been his last moment of pure, peaceful bliss before the Balmera crystal exploded and the fire engulfed him.

He also thinks that this was when he realized he loves Keith.

—

Keith thinks he might’ve forgotten to breathe in this moment.

His legs were working to keep him steady on Blue, his hands wrapped around Lance’s chest for security. Well, as much security as you could get on the back of a dragon.

But none of that mattered, not with the cold wind in his hair, biting at his nose and whistling in his ears. The sun gleamed over the horizon as it began to set, and Keith had to remind himself to close his mouth when his hair began to get caught in it. He couldn’t be bothered to put it up with a leather tie with the way the sky was painted.

(Something bubbled in Lance’s chest, making it difficult to swallow as he watched Keith watch the sunset. The pink and oranges, and yellows blended in the sky just to make the setting sun shine in Keith’s. And while Lance originally thought Keith was built for the night and its ferocious fires that the dragons would bring with it, he thought that maybe Keith was built for the softness, the ever glow of the sun setting on a beautiful day, too.)

Blue kept a steady wing beat, calm instead of wild like the first time Lance flew with her. He had a feeling it was for his benefit. The water glimmered and winked as they began to rise up into the air until the sun was beneath them.

The clouds were cool and wet against Keith’s skin as he reached his hand out, breaking the white mist. They were heavy, like wading your hand through water. Funny. He thought they would be fluffier, lighter.

The cozy warmth of Lance’s back against his chest was more than enough to make up for it. Keith’s body must’ve felt like ice, but all he felt was warm this close to Lance. It was the closest he’d ever been, the closest he only dared to be in his dreams when they weren’t plagued with wildfires and a familiar roar that seemed to command them.

(The night after the raid where Lance had knocked Blue down, Keith had a dream. A dream that included people that he didn’t really talk to besides Shiro. Pidge and Hunk had been there, and so had Lance. Something about knocking, a big, blue barrier, a flash of light and… Dragons.)

Blue roared, but it wasn’t meant to shake earths and raise tidal waves. No. This time, it was happy and gentle, ending in a purr before she started back up again. Keith could feel the rumble beneath him. The soft ripples on a lake after a storm, the gentle lapping of waves against a sandy shore.

Her wings beat strong and steady, sure of herself even with two humans on her back. She was certainly large enough to carry the two of them without much issue. 

Everything was pink and orange and white, and Keith felt freer than he ever did on the ground with a sword weighing him down.

Who knew that Lance would be the reason he would one day defy gravity?

Hours went by in relative silence, but it was strange. Lance said not a word to Keith, yet it was like they didn’t need to open their mouths to speak. Red and blue intertwined in their minds, strings of stars twisting and curling around each other. It could be stronger. Like there were colors missing, but for now, they were more than content with what they had.

Lance almost jumped when Keith settled his head on his shoulder, his hair tickling Lance’s neck. Hot air stuck to Lance’s cheek, and the unmistakable sound of yawning reached his ears.

Turning slightly, Lance offered Keith a half-grin-half-smile as he cooed, “Is someone getting tired? Past your bedtime?”

Keith whacked Lance noncommittally, word vomit creeping up his throat all over again when the music of Lance’s laugh threatened to swallow Keith whole.

And really, with how exhausted he was, paired up with how nice and warm and, dare he say it, safe he felt up in the sky where nothing could reach him. Just him and Lance and one ferocious dragon, who didn’t seem so ferocious in the moment– could he really be blamed for how slippery his tongue was?

“Hey, Lance,” Keith whispered, but the wind took his words and flew away with them.

“Did you say something?” Lance asked, his voice rising to overpower the sudden gusts of wind, making it hard to hear. 

Keith burrowed his head into Lance’s neck, seeking warmth as he tried again. Blue chuffed from beneath them, like she was humored by the situation, and Keith had to remind himself that throwing his boot at the dragon that terrorized their village with fires whenever she wanted to throw a tantrum probably wasn’t the smartest of ideas. 

And maybe calling her attacks tantrums wasn’t the smartest idea either.

The sky was getting dark now, the sun nearly gone as a blanket of night began to descend. And with it, stronger winds. Nighttime always brought strong winds. Keith bit the inside of his cheek, and the words he’d kept so carefully wrapped tight and shoved into a box for all these years unwove in seconds.

“I love you.”

Lance shivered, pulling his fluffy hood up. It did little to battle the cold from the coming night and harsh winds, but it was something. He hummed, peering over his shoulder at Keith with furrowed brows.

“What was that?”

Keith resisted the groan clawing up his throat.

“I love you.”

Blue growled as she began to beat her wings just a bit more harshly to match the wind that was now roaring just as loud as she was.

“You’re going to have to speak up, Keith!” Lance was shouting now, gritting his teeth as the wind slapped him. “We should probably land soon, too, we usually only have this much wind when–”

“Lance!” Keith picked himself up from Lance’s shoulder and used one hand to grab Lance’s chin and force Lance to look at him. “I. Love you!”

Lance blinked, widening eyes boring into Keith’s. The words processed and his brain tried to send his body signals, and his heart swallowed the words nearly too quickly for Lance to savor and taste on his tongue.

But the rising heat in his chest, traveling up his neck and then his cheeks, went toe to toe with the freezing cold. It was enough to snap him out of his momentary stupor.

“W–what?” Lance sputtered, his heartbeat skyrocketing with excitement and surprise. 

Keith was pleased with the flush turning Lance’s brown skin a deep maroon, and he chuckled at his wide eyes. “What? Arusian caught your tongue?”

“You’re making jokes now, too?!” Lance nearly kissed him right then and there, and, well, maybe he could now.

When Lance instinctively leaned in closer, following the coolness of Keith’s hands against his heated skin, Keith seemed to realize the same thing. Lance felt his lips quirk up slightly when Keith had that look again. So shy. So unlike the Keith Kogane the village knew, but Lance was quickly growing familiar with the Keith he thought the boy behind him wanted him to know. Maybe for a while now. He’d just been a little too blinded by minor jealousy and a teensy rivalry that existed only in his mind.

The wind only served to shove Lance in Keith’s direction, his hand moving from Blue’s neck fur to Keith’s neck, and up into his hair–

Keith nearly whined when Lance launched back just as Blue yowled, loud and high pitched. 

“Lance,” Keith said gruffly, brows furrowed for an entirely new reason now. He looked stressed, eyes flitting around nervously. Lance felt the same way, and Blue was just as agitated.

(Keith was still new to this new presence in his mind, sending off warning bells and disrupting his ability to think through danger. Wait. Danger?)

And that’s when he felt it. Lance could only discern the gentle, motherly presence in his mind as the dragon beneath him: Blue.

The bond turned sour with nervousness and agitation. Lance turned away from Keith, leaning down until his stomach was flat against Blue’s neck.

“What’s going on, girl?” Lance had to shout to be heard. Blue spared him a glance before roaring in no real direction. Lance and Keith sat, a bit dumbfounded while the dragon seemed to converse with herself in growls and rumbles. Then, Keith yelped, launching himself forward before he fell, wrapping his arms tightly around Lance’s midsection as Blue dived.

“Woah, shit–” Lance forced himself onto his stomach, bringing his elbows in, holding Keith’s arms in place as best he could as his chest met Lance’s back harshly. Blue’s sudden burst of speed left him breathless, squeezing his eyes shut against the onslaught of winds so fierce, Lance was sure they were going to be launched into the Sea of Misery in the next few minutes. 

When Lance gathered the courage to open his eyes, he choked on a gasp as Blue launched forward with a new speed. She twisted and turned past rocky pillars as fog quickly began to overtake their vision. Lance tried and failed to calm his thundering heart, aware of Keith’s own thumping hard against Lance’s back. Wherever Blue was taking them, he had not one good feeling about it.

Because only the bravest of Viking’s went past the borders of Embla and into Helheim’s Gate. The four islands, including Arus, that surrounded it, all knew what lay somewhere in its depths. 

The dragons nest.

Yet, Lance could do nothing but concentrate on Keith against his back and the wind fighting to throw them both off of Blue’s saddle as the mist consumed them.

For the first few minutes, they sat in silence as the wind grew harsher.

In the next ten, Lance remembered what he had been about to tell Keith before the words were taken right out of his mouth.

(The stench of dead carcasses and fresh kills filled their nostrils. Lance gripped Keith’s hand as his chest constricted, his throat stinging as bile threatened to crawl up.)

Thirty minutes in, Lance whispered to Keith the only reason the winds were ever this strong back at Berk. So harsh they could be mistaken for a storm.

A dragon raid.

Lance and Keith almost screamed when Blue nearly flew into an Olkari. Then the next minute, a Balmera. Minute by minute, more and more dragons began to surround them as they flew. Ten more minutes, and they were surrounded by a cloud of them.

Encouraging Keith to lay as flat as he could as he whispered, not entirely eager to have the attention of the hulking mass of dragons flying all around them. Lance’s eyes widened when the island came into view.

When Blue landed, tail flicking from side to side, Lance had to pray their scent would cover his and Keith’s long enough till they could get out of there.

They’d landed on an island. One uncharted in any of Berk’s maps. No, this one was festering with every dragon species Lance could remember from the Dragon Manual. Some he didn’t even recognize. This had to be it.

The inside of the mountain Blue flew into was steaming, hotter than any of the raging fires dragon attacks could conjure. Lance peered around, eyes watering from the heat and sulfur. His clothes quickly began to stick uncomfortably to his skin.

It was like a winding circle staircase with caves and caverns dotted around. Each one filled with a dragon or two. Lance had to do a couple of double takes when he realized they all looked… scared.

The more he looked up, the smaller the winding circle would get. But at the very bottom, a fiery pit lay. No matter how much Lance strained his eyes, he couldn’t see past the ash and heat waves.

Lance watched, momentarily shocked out of his fear when an Olkari flew over the pit, dropping a dead sheep into the pit. Then, a Puigian flew in and dropped a– Lance held his breath to keep from vomiting and giving them away– a viking carcass. Almost like a lunch line, dragon after dragon, they all dropped their game into the pit.

“Nice to know our food has been put to good use,” Lance muttered to Keith as another sheep was dropped down.

Keith squinted, cogs turning in his mind. “This can’t be right. They wouldn’t raid us or hunt at other islands just to chuck it down a giant fire chasm in the middle of nowhere. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Believe it, sweetheart, cause that’s what’s happening,” Lance muttered in disgust as they continued to watch, wiping the thick sheen of sweat from his forehead and wishing desperately that he could chuck his winter coat off.

(Keith ignored the new nickname.)

A few minutes later, a scrawny Balmera flew lazily over the pit.

“What’s it doing?” Keith scoffed, fiddling with the hem of Lance’s coat as sweat trickled down his back steadily, sticking to his neck and plastering his hair to his face. 

The Balmera looked tired and hungry. From what Lance could see, it was definitely an adult. The rock-like spikes on its legs and tail told him that much. But it was far skinnier than the rest he’d encountered.

“I think it’s… hurt? Or at least sick.” Lance bit his lip, a pang of sympathy shooting through him. 

The Balmera looked stressed, flying in a circle before eventually opening its mouth. A singular, skinny fish slid down its dark tongue before falling into the pit.

The whole mountain seemed to wait with bated breath until the place began to rumble. Lance couldn’t bite back a yelp when rocks and rubble started to crash uncomfortably close. Dust coated the air and Lance and Keith coughed harshly, their bodies trying their best to expel the dirt from their bodies.

Blue growled, low and terrifying. Her wings launched out, her legs bending as she geared to take off. 

The dragons all began to scream and moan and roar as they all took flight, some galloping to the numerous entrances that led to the cool air outside. 

“What in Loki’s name is going on?” Lance shouted, hands gripping Blue’s fur tightly in anticipation. The hundreds of dragon wings no longer gave way to a harsh cold, but a wave of heat and ash, forcing its way into Lance and Keith’s lungs.

“Lance!” Keith shouted, shaking his shoulder’s. “Look!”

Lance choked down a scream as the fiery, orange pit turned an unsettling purple-violet. He could hear a deep, rumbling growl echoing in the chamber, shaking the ground below their feet.

Then, Lance was sure he would have nightmares for the rest of his life when the head of a dragon rose up from the chasm. Its fur was a deep purple, burnt at the edges. Sharp, dark ears not unlike Blue and Red’s were flat against its skull. Bright yellow eyes glowed in the growing darkness as its mouth sucked the light from the cave, leaving the growing purple-pink of fire building up in its lungs. 

“Hey, Blue?” Lance yelled over the roaring dragon’s, tracing the lighter purple of scars and what he assumed to be natural markings on the gigantic dragon as it sniffed the air. Lance squeaked when its eyes snapped toward his little invading group. The giant purple whatever-the-fuck dragon growled, sharp teeth baring at them as its lips curled backwards. “I think it’s time to get our asses out of here!”

The dragon launched up. Lance and Keith yelled themselves hoarse as teeth rapidly came forward to meet them, jaw open wide. The stench of death and rot and blood attacked their senses.

The bond glimmered in agreement as Blue whipped around, shoving dragons left and right, using her wings to keep away any dragons that got too close to Lance and Keith. She snapped at a Balmera that decided now was the time to grab a light snack and snapped at Keith’s back for her liking.

Lance heard the sound of a jaw clamping down. He forced himself to look forward as the cries of unfortunate dragons were dragged down. The unmistakable rip of flesh and crunch of bone brought tears to his eyes.

“Hold on tight, Keith!” Lance shouted, bracing himself as Keith tightened his grip. Escape. That’s all he could focus on right now to keep from breaking down.

“What exactly did you think I was going to–” They launched into the air, strong wings working against gravity to climb above the stampede of dragons in every color. The rest of Keith’s sentence was lost to the wind, but Lance thought he heard him drag the ‘do’ in a shout that Lance was sure would echo if it weren’t for the dragons as Keith fought to hold on.

It was like a hurricane.

And hurricanes always ended in casualties.

A dragon Lance didn’t recognize, barreled into them, and Lance slipped.

A strangled yell that Lance thought might’ve come from him was lost to the storm of dragons as Blue roared. Something like an order forced its way through the haze of panic in Lance’s mind, and suddenly, his hands were gripping Blue’s paw like a lifeline. And really, they were. She was.

“Holy fuck! Oh, great Odin’s ghost,” Lance gasped, and then screamed when Blue tossed him in the air. Lance was flying, spinning, and threatening to projectile vomit when he landed harshly in the saddle between Blue’s wings and neck.

“Oh my gods, oh my gods,” Lance chanted like a manta, leaning forward to hug Blue tightly. “I love you. You’re actually amazing, holy–”

Lance stopped short.

His heart skipped several beats when he looked behind him and found no one there. The sight of dragons, only a couple dozen stragglers left behind, was all that Lance was met with.

“Keith!”

Lance was sweating for every reason but the heat now. His heart was stuck in his throat, his head light and dizzy, and now, his vision was blurring. Because Lance fell, not Keith. Lance let out that strangled shout when they were hit. Not. Keith.

“No, no, nonono.”

Lance couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe and he couldn’t think, and normally (yes, it had become normal) Blue would come in and take over for him. Act where he couldn’t. But all he felt was that motherly caress of a soothing hand in his mind. Calm.

But Lance didn’t feel calm.

His breathing turned ragged as he choked on the moist, warm air and his panic. Blue stayed suspended in the air, yellow eyes trying to find Lance’s as she continued to encourage him to be calm.

Lance continued to call for Keith in the thick fog, like his name was the only thing he could think to get out, that his throat would let past the gates of quickly growing grief– No. Not grief. Keith wasn’t gone. He wasn’t, Lance would let him be.

The sudden, striking belief and certainty that Keith was alive broke the haze, and Lance’s brain finally got sick of playing the worst that could’ve happened and instead helped him analyze the situation.

“Okay, Keith is fine. He’s fine,” Lance began to talk to himself, trying to calm down like Blue was telling him to. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, wiping the blur of tears away as he squinted through the night and mist. “He’s fine, Lance. But how would he be fine? We’re high up, and there’s no water– he would’ve died hitting that anyway– so he must’ve caught onto something. But what? There’s nothing up this high besides…”

Lance blinked, and just as his brain came to his conclusion, one that Blue was waiting for him to calm down for, he heard a groan from beneath him.

“Lance?”

Lance felt a firm nudge in his mind that made him look behind him again, and then beneath him. Beneath Blue. There, Keith was groggily waking up– he must’ve hit passed out. Blue’s tail was curled around Keith tightly, his arms hanging awkwardly atop her fur.

Lance felt his whole entire body sag with relief, his blood still roaring in his ears as he laughed with wet eyes. “Oh, Thor, you’re alright,” Lance wiped his eyes, reaching for Keith as Blue brought him as high as she could. Keith cursed as he took Lance’s hand and heaved himself up in front of him so that his back was against Lance’s stomach.

“Did we seriously almost die?”

“No, but you gave it your best shot,” Lance huffed, making sure Keith was secure. “Did you hit your head?”

“I think so,” Keith touched the back of his head with a wince, but his hand came away clean. Well. If you discounted the ash and smoke covering most of their bodies.

Lance and Keith watched each other for a long moment, and Lance was about to blurt words and phrases and even more words that would probably leave the both of them red in the face and all over each other in seconds when a guttural roar shook the mountain behind them, and they were reminded of everything that had happened in the past hour and a half.

On the forty minute flight back to Arus, they discussed a lot of things. The realization that they must’ve found The Nest. The very island that vikings searched for since the first dragon attack. The giant purple dragon they’d encountered, and what that meant for Berk if it were to ever find them. When they were trying to decide what to name it, the dragon beneath them supplied Lance’s mind with one word.

Galra.

Blue landed in their alcove, close to the pond. When Lance stumbled off, helping Keith slide down, she immediately sniffed him. Lance had a feeling she was looking for injuries, for the scent of blood before finding nothing but a few cuts and bruises. She lazily walked toward the pond, chugging the water. 

Keith’s body went rigid for a long moment, hands at his sides in a fist. Keith blinked before hesitantly bringing his hands up to Lance’s back and laying his head on Lance’s shoulder, his cheek squished in the muted blue fabric.

Lance was shaking, that much was obvious. Keith supposed with what they went through and nearly losing him would do that to Lance, but it was still a surprise. 

Keith let himself melt into his arms and the smell of sweat and freshly baked bread and seasalt. It was all he could breathe in. All he was aware of. They stood quietly in each other's arms for a while. Cicadas sang and the stars danced and winked above, the darkness like a blanket enveloping them in their own little world for just that moment in time. 

Lance pulled back first.

Keith couldn’t ignore the way the glistening in his blue eyes as Lance sniffed, trying to desperately pull together his facade of bravado. A shaky smile tried to build on his lips, never reaching his eyes that refused to meet Keith’s.

Stutters of coping humor went in one ear and out the other as Keith watched him with dark eyes. It took not a few moments until Lance crumpled, a weary and tired look carving years into his face.

“I’m sorry,” Lance eventually whispered, his voice shaky.

“For what?” Keith asked.

“You know what, Mullet,” Lance laughed humorlessly.

Keith did.

“Lance,” Keith shook his head, taking a step closer when Lance took one back. It was unusual to see Lance make distance. To watch him try and fail to build up crumbling walls. That was Keith’s thing, not Lance’s. “Lance.” Keith said again, and this time, Lance met his eyes.

And oh, Keith had definitely not mistaken the glimmer in his eyes. The moon reflected sad tears threatening to pull over and Keith thought he felt his heart break a little bit.

(It soared, too. Because here Lance was, about to cry in front of Keith. A few months ago, this wouldn’t have been imaginable in the slightest. Anytime Keith tried to talk to Lance, it always ended in harsh words and grating on each other’s nerves. But now, Keith got to see the side of Lance he wasn’t sure anyone else saw. And in turn, Lance got to see Keith. Maybe it was a bit sadistic to enjoy the tears about to spill, but he likes the vulnerability. He craved it. Sought after it for years. And now, Keith finally had it.)

Slowly, Keith reached up and cupped Lance’s cheek, and Keith nearly cried with how Lance leaned into it. Then, gently, cautiously, like Lance might just run for the hills if Keith moved too fast, Keith moved forward. When Lance’s eyes dropped down to his lips, Keith only felt his confidence surge. 

Warm hands wrapped around Keith, bringing him closer, closer. Relishing in the warmth of bodies flushed together, Keith took the lead. 

Just for a moment, he waited just inches away from Lance’s lips. Hot air mingled, hair tangled, and Lance practically whined before Keith surged forward and brought their lips together. 

A couple of tears slipped, tracing down Lance’s cheek when he closed his eyes. Keith wiped them without a second thought, kissing him gently, not yet desperate. That could wait for later. Lance needed softness right now. Reassurance. 

Lance gasped when Keith nipped at his lip.

The pace was slow and steady, yet Lance was more than ready to be set ablaze by Keith's fire. The taste of salty sweat and saliva and Keith was almost too much.

Eventually, they broke apart. Both breathless and in need of air.

Blue eyes met brown so dark they were almost black, and silent words were passed between them. It didn’t need to be said, it just was. 

Keith loved him.

And while Lance didn’t think he was quite there yet, he knew, given just a little more time, the courage to fully acknowledge those feelings for what they were, would give Keith exactly what he was looking for.

But for now, this was enough. They were enough.

Because they both knew there was something bigger waiting for them. They’d seen it. But they had each other now, no more secrets. They would fight through it and hope against hope that it would be enough

This time, Lance was the one who kissed him. Drunk on the reckless care that was Keith. Then he kissed him again, then again, and again until Keith was batting him away with warm laughter.

Eventually, they said goodbye to Blue and with bumping hips and sides and what Keith thought were stupidly dumb flirtatious pick-up lines, they walked back to the village.

Chapter Text

Dear, [REDACTED]

 

I messed up. 

 

From, Shiro Kirogane

 

– Salvaged page from The Riders of Arus, A Collection of Letters by the Riders of Arus, translated by Keith Kogane

It’s been a month since Lance trusted Keith enough to meet Blue.

And within that month, came a lot of things.

Keith and Lance weren’t exactly… official. No titles yet, but that didn’t stop them from sneaking away together when there were no classes and their friends were busy. They hadn’t kissed since that night they discovered the nest, but they were obviously much closer to anyone with working eyes.

Pidge wasn’t too surprised, really. While she didn’t dabble in other people’s affairs, it was getting sickening to watch the two boys circle each other ever since dragon training began. Even before then, really. But she wasn’t close enough with either of the boys before to call them out on it. Again, she also just didn’t care enough at the time.

Hunk was terrible at staying quiet about their newfound closeness. He’d always been a bad liar, but this was just sad. Anytime Lance and Keith went off alone together after classes, or sat together during lunch, Hunk made all sorts of faces and noises that would be on par with a squealing gerbil. Still, he found it sweet and adorable, even if he hadn’t initially expected the outcome.

Shiro was more than happy. Unlike Hunk, and more like Pidge, he’d known this was a long time coming. More so on Keith’s part, because he was his brother. For years, he’d had to endure Keith’s rants about how stupid Lance was, how irritating, how his dumb smile kept distracting him and how annoying it was when Lance got upset with him every time he’d only tried to help! It had only gotten worse when they began classes together, but this time, in a much more smitten way. Shiro knew Lance was a good kid, and he trusted him with his brother.

Lance and Keith, both thought they were hiding their change in dynamic pretty well. Little did they know they were terribly wrong.

Other than that, their classes continued much the same. With their dragon training coming to an end, the classes changed from every other day to twice a week. And each time, the entire village crowded around, cheering for the Viking they had once thought the worst of their kind like he was their new favorite celebrity. And honestly, he was.

Now that Keith knew where Lance was getting his vast dragon knowledge from, he had learned to trust him more. He didn’t stop being protective over him, of course. If there were situations he deemed too dangerous, he got Lance out of there. But most days, they became a dynamic duo in the arena.

The leader and his right hand man, really.

Some days, it wasn’t clear which was which.

Pidge and Hunk still got their days of spotlight, but when it came down to dragons that knocked them metaphorically out of the running, and it was just Keith and Lance left, they cleared the show in no time. With no secrets truly left between them, they became a new kind of dangerous. It was exhilarating to watch, even more so to be them.

Shiro hardly needed to step in anymore, and he couldn’t have been prouder.

(She couldn’t have been prouder, if she were here.)

Outside of the ring, and outside of their duo, they had all become a better team. Together. 

They had also fixed up a plan to find the other Verndari.

And it was going to be put into motion this week.

It also happened to be the week before Chief Alfor and the expedition to find the Dragon’s Nest would return. While Lance wished they could’ve had more time to train– what with Keith learning how to ride Blue all on his own and with Lance, Lance himself still wished he could practice more on his own.

See, while Lance put on a show of being overly sure of himself, and don’t get him wrong, there were things he truly was confident in himself about, he still wanted to be prepared. Pidge was starting to rub off on him each time he asked her about the other islands, Helheim’s gate, and occasionally, the ‘rumors’ of other Verndari.

The more Lance had time to dwell on it, the more he realized he and Keith could very well die searching for them. And if not then, then they might meet their fate in the dragon’s nest. The monster that lived there seemed impossible to beat. For a while, Lance thought that maybe… they could just ignore it. Leave it alone.

But two weeks ago, his wonders had been quickly shut down. 

Another dragon raid occurred. This time, Blue wasn’t a part of it, obviously. He had a feeling it had to do with their bond. But that didn’t stop the other dragons from attacking.

It had happened in the middle of the night, as they often did. It was bloody and terrible, one of their worst. Like some breaking point had been reached when Lance and Keith had stepped foot onto their island.

The death and injury tolls were at a record high.

Pidge had almost been taken.

It had happened at the armory. The sheer amount of dragons attacking the village was too overwhelming, too dangerous for even them to be outside. They’d ordered everyone under the age of eighteen to evacuate to the dining hall with the rest of the children.

Lance was running through the streets with Hunk at his side. They’d managed to slip past the Viking’s standing guard at the doors when Pidge and Keith had yet to show. They were running, running, running past the blistering fires, ducking behind buildings and narrow alleys to get to the armory where Hunk had last seen Pidge.

Hunk caught Lance by his collar just as the small corpse of a Viking girl they didn’t recognize landed with a sickening splat right in front of them. Blood sprayed the air like red mist, coating their clothes and skin. Lance let out a cry when he realized suddenly that he did know this girl. She was the same one from the night Lance had shot Blue down, the very same one Keith and Lance had saved. 

Emily. Her name was Emily. And her favorite flowers were snowdrops because they grow even in the winter time.

Their already ragged breathing suddenly felt like too much and not enough. Why hadn’t she been taken to the dining hall? Lance personally had helped get any stragglers off the street, how had he missed her? Fuck. No, no, no. Fuck.

They stood there for a few, long seconds, grief threatening to eat Lance alive when they heard her scream.

Lance’s head whipped up, forced out of his mind so quickly it gave him whiplash. His eyes immediately found the terrifying sight of an Unilu with one claw tightly wrapped around Pidge’s left foot. Pidge was suspended in the air, the only thing keeping her kicking and trashing form from being carried away was Keith. He himself was close to being picked up with her, but one arm was holding tightly to the counter of the armory where people usually threw weapons in need of repair. He was yelling from the effort of keeping Pidge in his hand.

Pidge screamed louder as the claws of the Unilu slipped, ripping past her pants and into her skin. Next thing Lance knew, he was running forward and yelling to Hunk to help Keith keep Pidge down. He jumped over the counter, hearing Keith yell his name. Lance’s eyes were darting back and forth across the weapons rack, the fires incidentally aiding him as he found what he was looking for.

An elegantly carved bow and arrow that Lance kept just in case of emergencies. Well, this was definitely an emergency. Notching an arrow, he ran outside and pulled the string taught. His hard thundered in his chest as he struggled to get a good aim. The Unilu was moving all over the place, trying to wrestle Pidge away from Hunk and Keith.

Lance took a long, deep breath, trusting his instincts as aimed for the creature's achilles heel. Pidge’s screams turned broken with sobs and wear, and Lance let the arrow fly. It cut through the Unilu’s heel, and it let Pidge go like it no longer had control of its claw. Pidge came flying down, landed on top of Hunk and Keith.

With Hunk carrying Pidge, they had made it back to the dining hall in one piece where a medic took her in alongside the other injured Vikings.

That night, it became clear that doing nothing wasn’t an option anymore. While Lance was sure that dragons weren’t mindless, killing creatures. It also became increasingly clear that they were at war. And it needed to end, one way or another.

(After the raid, when the dead were carted off the roads to be buried, Lance made sure to pick the most beautiful flowers for Emily. Snowdrops, a type of flower that grows on the island even during winter.)

That week, Lance had thrown himself into his research about the other isles and which Verndari might live on each. How best to approach them, anything. Keith had to talk him down from more than a few spirals and angry outbursts that ended in tears and Keith soothing him alongside Blue in the cove.

But it hadn’t been for nothing. Although, while Lance was pretty satisfied with all that they were able to get done, he still was… well, unsure. Keith had tried to steal Shiro’s journal back again to see if there was anything else in there that might help them, but he couldn’t find it anywhere. It was like Shiro had hidden it on purpose.

For now, they had to do with what they had.

The first island they would venture to was called Urskog, otherwise known as the ‘forest-isle’ for it was made up of a giant forest that took up the entire island. There were rumors of a green, cat-like dragon that lurked around a temple lost to the people of that island, deep within the most tangled parts of the forest. This dragon was supposedly very elusive, and sightings were well and far in between. Some even dared to say the dragon had a rare power to camouflage itself.

The second island was called Hellir. This island was the largest of them all. Its village sat atop of a giant cave system that existed below the island. The word here was of a large, yellow dragon that resembled a large mountain cat that dwelled beneath the surface. Stories told of its deep roars and moans that echoed throughout the caves at night.

The third island was named Bruni. It was Arus’s main trading partner, and most like it in its island’s climate and geography. While every island that surrounded the Meridian of Misery experienced the woe that was dragon raids, this one was on par with Arus in its death and injury tolls. Bruni sent word, apparently, that their raids were led by a fiery, lithe, feral dragon that matched the appearance of the previous island’s Verndari rumors.

These islands were luckily, the closest to Arus compared to the other island farthest from Arus. Regrettably, the last island, Overa, had no rumors of a Verndari, which left Lance and Keith stumped as to where the last, Black Verndari might be. But they didn’t exactly have time to sit around and figure it out.

They were set to leave after tomorrow, when their last training exercise took place. Apparently, this one would truly dictate whether they might graduate or not, is what the Vikings in the village were saying. Which Lance found dumb, by the way. Why would this one day dictate whether or not he passed dragon training when he’d nearly gotten killed several times over the past couple of months!

It didn’t seem that Shiro was all that happy about it either. Maybe he couldn’t do anything about that little fact. Whenever he was telling Lance, Keith, Hunk, and Pidge about it, he looked rather… devastated. Maybe even a bit angry and frustrated. 

Lance couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something he wasn’t telling them.

When Lance bid Keith farewell at his door– Keith had insisted on walking him home every night since the last raid, Keith looked particularly on edge.

“Keith?” Lance stopped him before he left, one hand on his door just as he was about to shut it. “You alright, man?”

Keith blinked, opening his mouth like he wanted to say something, then closing it again. “No, it’s nothing. I just… I don’t know. I have a bad feeling about tomorrow, that's all.”

“Hey, I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Lance reassured him, stepping forward so that he wasn’t towering over Keith from atop the steps leading inside. “You and I can get through anything, we’re freaking badasses, dude!” Lance playfully punched Keith’s shoulder with a smile. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Keith huffed, a smile creeping up on his face despite himself. “Just, you know. Whatever happens tomorrow, be careful.”

Keith bit his cheek, and before he could think better of it, pulled Lance in by his collar and kissed him.

Lance was surprised for all of a second before melting into it. He snaked his hand around Keith’s waist, pulling him closer still. Lance was just ever so slightly taller than Keith, but he still reveled in how he had to look down to deepen the kiss. Keith licked Lance’s lip, practically begging when Lance gasped and obliged.

Just as Lance began to lead Keith into his house, Keith broke the kiss and Lance whined. 

“What was that for?” 

Keith rolled his eyes, but his face was red and heat was still pooling in his gut. “An incentive to not be an idiot tomorrow.”

Lance jutted his bottom lip, and Keith pushed him inside with a smile and shake of his head. “Maybe we can continue depending on how tomorrow goes,” Keith said after a moment.

Lance beamed.

—

When they entered the arena that morning, it was more than a little overwhelming. Things had gone wrong very badly and very quickly.

Before they even stepped foot into the arena, the horns had sounded from the lookout towers, stopping Lance in his tracks. He’d run outside with gods-speed and found his fathers fleet, or, well, what was left of it, pulling in out on the horizon.

One whole week early.

Which meant Lance and Keith’s whole plan to visit  the neighboring islands in search of the Verndari and their help was royally fucked. The whole village went to greet the expedition and help them unload the boats before the cadets ‘graduation.’ 

Lance stuck around only to ensure that his father had made it back himself before booking it to Keith’s house. He ran into him on his way over there alongside Hunk and Pidge who were already walking down to the arena. Shiro, after all, told them to get there early.

When his friends had asked him what was wrong, Lance only met Keith’s eyes for a brief moment before getting the memo. Act normal and walk.

And so, here they were, standing beneath the archway entrance with the wooden gate waiting to be opened in front of them. It didn’t take long for everyone to make it back to their seats, cheering and celebrating. Lance didn’t understand why their demeanor was so different than it usually was during their training exercises. He understood this was the final one, but wasn’t this just a bit overboard?

Lance chanced a peak through the gate just in time for his father, Chief Alfor, to stand up from his seat to address the crowd. Shit, it was starting now.

“What a way to finally show my face again!” Alfor thrust his arms out, laughing heartily as the crowd cheered. Lance was more than a little surprised to see him so cheerful. After all, he heard that the expedition had been unsuccessful yet again. 

Alfor motioned for the crowd to quiet down with a warm smile, one that Lance so rarely saw at home. “Well, who would’ve thought that, in just a few, short months, that our dear Shirogane would be able to whip up the finest batch of dragon fighting cadets we have had in a long, long while if the rumors are to be believed.” Alfor motioned for Shiro to step up to his side from where he stood beside Coran in the shadows beside Alfor’s wooden throne. He clapped him on the back, and the village cheered, and Lance thought the arena might just come crashing down.

Lance swallowed hard. He was beginning to sweat now. Odin, did his father know he was here? That he had gone behind his back and joined the class? If he did know, was he proud of him? Was he finally worth more than awkward small talk and eyes that could hardly meet his since he could remember? And if he didn’t know, how would he react? Would he be angry, and demand he leave the arena in front of the whole village? Or scold him right then and there.

Once they had quieted again, Alfor continued. “Before we begin, I want to take a moment to highlight this year's cadets.” And like his father could hear Lance’s internal panic, his eyes swept down from the crowd and directly to where Lance stood. They met eyes, and Lance went stiff as a tree. But the most shocking thing happened that sent the air out of his lungs.

His father smiled at him.

“While, I admit, I didn’t expect much, given that we were forced to extend the ages permitted to be cadets to allow our younger generation a chance due to our… casualties during the raids,” Alfor shook his head, frowning before looking up and sweeping his eyes all across the arena stoically. In them, shone a certain stubborn defiance and resilience that the village always looked up to, that even had Lance’s heart pounding. “We have lost a great many honorable Vikings to this war. Children. But despite the bloodshed, up came four very brave cadets who took to the challenge. Who witnessed the terrible ferocity and merciless beasts that have taken away so much from us, and chose to fight.”

The crowd roared, and Lance took a step back. He felt an arm on his shoulder, but he couldn’t quite register who’s. 

If Lance and Keith found the Verndari and the nest, and were able to find a way to get the dragons to leave… What then? He’d thought that that might be enough, but now, with Alfor’s words thundering through the air and the crowd answering just as loudly with stomps and hollers… would the war ever truly end without one side completely eradicated? What had Lance been thinking, believing that he could solve a centuries long feud with peace. Both sides were too hurt and too scared to give in.

The night he and Keith had found the nest, one their walk back to the village, Keith had tentatively told him his theory for why the dragons raided their, and the surrounding islands villages.

The giant purple dragon that lay beneath that mountain. The Galra. It was like their queen. The dragons raided their islands because they had to, or risk being eaten themselves.

The dragons wouldn’t just stop, would they? And too much blood had been shed on either side for the Vikings to give in, either.

Lance felt nauseous.

“Now, I’ve hardly been here to see not one example of their strength and bravery that I’ve heard so much about,” Alfor nodded to someone on the side, and Lance heard a click and whirring of pulleys. The gate began to rise.

“Oh, man. Oh, man,” Hunk whispered.

Pidge was muttering to herself, her hands in fists and her eyes hard and defiant.

“Shit. This is getting out of hand,” Keith said, and it was his hand, Lance registered, on his shoulder as he squeezed. “Something isn’t right here.”

Lance didn’t answer, his blood roaring in his ears and his nerves buzzing all over his body.

“So here is what I propose,” Alfor clapped his hands together with a wide smile. “You, my people, my friends. Tell me, who do you think is most worthy of facing the Trial of Fire?”

—

One by one, they were called out onto the arena floor by Shiro.

Hunk was first. As soon as he stepped foot onto the stony ground of the arena, everyone began to cheer. They stomped and roared and whooped and hollered. Lance was half convinced that the rest of them wouldn’t get the chance to step out onto the floor and allowed himself to relax. But then, Shiro called Pidge. The cheers got impossibly louder.

“Shit, shit, shit, oh for the love of the gods,” Lance whispered beneath his breath. Keith only had time to squeeze his shoulder in reassurance one last time before he was called out.

The roars of the crowd were deafening. A pebble hit Lance’s head, dust making him cough as the crowd jumped and stomped in between their ear-shattering yells of favor. Keith walked out with a blank face, his head held up high. He looked every bit of the stoic prodigy the village believed him to be as he took his place beside Pidge in the middle of the arena, facing the throne and the Chief.

Surely. Surely, they couldn’t get louder than that. And if they could, they wouldn’t. It was Lance for Thor’s sake! Him! He was the scrawny kid they sent on children’s errands because they couldn’t trust him to do anything else, and even then, trouble still managed to find him. He was the failure son of the Chief. The one that should’ve been stolen away by dragons that night instead of her. Instead of his sister.

Lance didn’t quite know what was more terrifying. The possibility that the crowd might find a way to cheer louder for him, dooming Lance to whatever the hell the Trial of Fire was, or the possibility that they might not cheer at all.

Somewhere in the sober parts of his mind that weren’t dancing on his every nerve's edge, a familiar presence for once in his life didn’t soothe him. It was angry. Furious. And every bone in Lance’s body told him that he did not want to be chosen for this surprise trial.

Finally, finally, his father called:

“Lance McClain!”

Lance thought that the crowd might’ve stopped cheering all together as his body forced himself onto the stone floor of the arena. But really, he thinks it might’ve been the pure force of his heart screaming in his ears that truly blocked out just how the crowd had bellowed for him.

He realized, just then as the light temporarily blinded him, that it was snowing. And yet, his furred hood, tunic, boots, and pants, suddenly seemed to want to suffocate him with heat. He almost wished it did.

Lance had to force himself not to keel over and cover his ears with the pure force with which the village answered to his name. He could’ve sworn the ground was shaking. Or maybe that was just him. Maybe both. Both.

Lance shakily took the space beside Keith, looked up, and met his fathers eyes. Alfor smiled down at him.

Lance thought he might lose his lunch.

Alfor turned to Shiro. “Do you agree with the village’s decision, my friend?”

Shiro’s blank gaze met Lance’s eyes. Lance poured every bit of pleading into his own steady stare. He hoped against hope that despite the roaring of the crowd and the Chief beside him, that Shiro would be able to understand him. That he would turn right around to Alfor and tell him that no, he did not think Lance was the right fit. 

But something shifted in Shiro’s eyes, and it reminded Lance of their first day of dragon training. When Shiro had pretended to not know who he was. The same look that told him that he knew something Lance didn’t, and that he was sorry.

Shiro lifted his chin, and without breaking Lance’s stare, he nodded. “I do.”

Lance didn’t remember grabbing the dagger in his hand, nor the shield. Didn’t remember someone putting a Viking helmet on his head before ushering him back into the arena. He didn’t remember his friends wishing him good luck, or Keith fighting to stay beneath the archway behind the gate with the older Vikings.

When he stepped back onto the arena, there was already an inch of snow covering the floor.

He didn’t remember a lot of things by the time his father spoke to the crowd once more. It was a simple sentence, really. Sentences. But they were enough to knock Lance’s consciousness back into his head and out of his mindless state.

Lance suddenly could breathe again as his father spoke. 

“As some of you may have heard, our neighboring island, Bruni, has been suffering a terrible series of raids led by a dragon that sounded all too familiar to the monster we have lurking here,” Alfor gestured to the man who held the lever to lift the large gate that was currently stalk-still, normally shaking with the rage of a trapped dragon. “Well, they were able to catch said dragon.” The crowd applauded, some of them banging their weapons on the chains above the arena. “And not only that, but they asked us if we could take the dragon into our custody…”

Lance furrowed his brows, and the wisps of Blue’s presence began to grow again. Anger, so much anger, but now, an urgency that had Lance on edge for a different reason now.

“And what better way to showcase it, then here?” The crowd cheered their agreement. Alfor turned his attention to Lance, his voice low and fatherly, it was strange. “You, my son, have won the greatest honor a young boy can earn on Arus.”

Lance breathed, and he could’ve sworn he could hear Blue growl deep and guttural in his mind.

And the worst part was, Alfor genuinely looked happy for him. Like he wasn’t sentencing his only son to certain death if things went wrong.

Lance registered the words that fell from his lips just as a lever was pulled from the side and the gate began to open. 

“Lance McClain, my son, you will kill your very first dragon in front of the entire village!”

A hiss of flames so bright and red, Lance had to squint as the gate worked to reveal the creature inside. Blue yowled.

“Today, you become a Viking!”

The gate stopped with the ache of old wood and rusty metal, and Lance saw a long, red, white, and orange tail slither out from the darkness, as if testing the space where the gate had been just moments ago.

In his mind, Blue was roaring. All he could understand was one simple order that flooded his head without any real words being spoken.

“Today!” Alfor bellowed, his brown skin flushed with pride.

Survive.

“My son becomes…”

Survive.

“One of us!”

Survive.

Lance thinks he might’ve heard someone’s voice screaming his name from the gate when the Red Verndari slithered out of the enclosure.

The crowd momentarily went silent as it stalked forward. It looked nearly identical to blue, if only smaller and full of the blazing colors of the sun. Its eyes were anything but beautiful to Lance in the moment, however. All he saw was death when they landed on him.

Fire leaked from its mouth like saliva, as it stalked forward. Snow evaporated as it landed on her fur, and every step she took had the snow melting beneath her talons. Its shoulder blades rippled with strength and a lethal elegance as its eyes tracked Lance like prey. 

They had captured the Red Verndari. They expected Lance to kill it.

Lance stood still as it came forward. Not because he was scared, or more eager to let the creature kill him first rather than the other way around. No.

If Lance was going to find a way to end this war, it had to start here. On Arus. If not with Blue and her comfort, her peaceful waters that soothed his hurts. Then with Red, and her(?) fiery fury.

The sound of his dagger clattering to the floor met his ears, then his shield followed. The Verndari blinked, its eyes tracking the movements. Surrender? So soon?

(“What is he doing?” Alfor said, leaning forward on his chair. Confusion sat between his brows as he looked to Shiro, then back to Lance again.)

“Hey, girl,” Lance said, his voice rough and soft. Not like he was trying to placate a feral animal, no. He didn’t think Red would like that. “I know you know who I am, because I know who you are.” He was trying to understand. Help her understand.

Lance took the helmet off from his head, making sure Red saw as he tossed it to the side as it clattered across the floor. Red lifted her head, tilting it to the side as she growled.

The crowd's cheers began to turn silent.

It was now or never. 

Slowly, so that Red didn’t snap, he slid off his boot and rolled up his pants leg.

(“Lance, no,” Keith breathed from the gate. “No, no, fuck.”)

(“Great Odin’s Ghost,” Pidge breathed, her hand gripping Hunk’s arm. “We were right!”

“And Lance might get himself killed,” Hunk hissed, his head light with worry for his friend.)

As if the snow clouds parted just for him, the sun bathed the arena in a golden light as he revealed the swirling scars that marked his calf. The marred skin seemed to swirl in the sun. Red grumbled deep in her throat, his pupils blowing wide from slits. 

The crowd gasped in horror.

(“Stop the fight,” Alfor said, rising from his chair as his eyes widened in disbelief of the scene before him.)

“No!” Lance said, his voice low, so that he didn’t spook Red, but stern and loud enough to carry across the quiet of the arena. “I need you all to see this.” Red dipped her snout to sniff his calf, and Lance could’ve sworn he saw her satisfaction. “They’re not what we think they are.”

Red rose after a few seconds, her eyes meeting Lance’s. Lance slowly, slowly, put his hand out. Just far enough so that Red was given the choice whether to meet him in the middle.

“We don’t have to fight them.”

Considering him for a hard, long moment, Red purred deep in her throat. Then, just as she began to move forward to meet him as everyone waited with bated breath, Alfor shot up from his seat. His commanding voice boomed through the arena as he bellowed, “I said stop the fight!” His hammer hit and dented the metal bars that reinforced the chains of the arena, and Red’s eyes turned to slits.

She snapped.

Lance yelled as she reared back and roared, coming far too close to comfort to biting off his arm.

Somewhere in Lance’s mind, the chanting of Blue’s last order began to rise like an orchestra. Survive. Survive. Survive.

“Lance!” Keith screamed, searching and finding an axe on the wall amongst swords and hammers. He forced the tip of it beneath the gate, then the whole axe until there was a space large enough for him to get through.

Red pounced off the walls of the arena, blasting plumes of blazing flames that instantly melted the snow all around the arena. The floor was suddenly very slippery. Blue’s presence in his mind was animalistic now, growing stronger with each passing second. As Lance dodged the fire, the sudden need to bank left was roaring in his ears. He obeyed, and not a second later, Red had blasted the spot he’d just been in and left behind only a black spot of ash.

Red raced after him, and Keith ran to the wall of weapons, grabbed a small hammer, and threw it straight into the Verndari's face. It whipped around with a seething expression, its snout wrinkled with rage. But then suddenly, it stopped.

Keith’s chest was heaving, but even he, too, had stopped in his tracks where he’d made to go after Lance and get him to the gate. It might’ve been mere seconds, minutes, hours even, but all of a sudden, much like when Blue had let herself into Keith’s mind, Keith’s head was filled with fire and a commanding presence that seared every dark corner of his thoughts. He screamed as it took him to the ground, and an agonizing pain began to take over his right arm. 

Suddenly, he was grateful he hadn’t worn his long sleeve tunic. Because next thing he knew, his skin began to raise in a heated rash. Trails of fire seemed to curl around his arm all the way up to his elbow in the same exact markings that made up Lance’s calf. Only, where Lance had told him it’d taken a couple weeks for his rash to form his scars, the rash that enveloped Keith’s arm became then left in an instant. Like whatever was doing this to him was too impatient to wait for the less painful process. Dead skin flaked his arm, grew, then flaked again. In a matter of moments, new, nearly golden raw skin matched Lance’s perfectly.

The crowd was screaming.

“Keith…” Lance breathed, momentarily distracted from the fight for his life when the mantra Blue was sending him suddenly became louder, louder, louder.

“Run!” Alfor ordered, deep and furious. “Run for the gate!”

Lance tried to shove Blue’s orders down as he ran to grab Keith and get behind the gate where his father was now running out of.

Red screeched as she ran toward Keith and Lance.

Keith’s head was pounding, all he could hear was–

Mine. Mine. Mine.

Alfor got to Keith first, reaching his hand for Lance when Red pounced, cutting Lance off as he slipped on the sleek ground. Alfor rolled out of the way with Keith in hand, yelling Lance’s name.

Lance tumbled out, narrowly missing Red’s teeth. Red yowled as she tackled him to the ground in the middle of the arena. One, large, white talon pinned him to the ground and Lance groaned. 

Survive. Survive. Survive.

Red reared her head back, and Lance’s chest burned. He could feel the heat coming off her body in waves as she geared to strike. Lance closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. Then he heard it.

The familiar, high whistle in the air that was usually only ever heard at night. The crowd looked up just as a strike of blue power hit the top of the arena and broke through the chains and bars. Smoke blasted across the arena, masking the view of what was going on inside. All anyone could hear were growls, shrieks, and roars.

Lance coughed, and when the smoke cleared, no one could believe their eyes.

Two Verndari’s were grappling it out in the middle of the arena. A blur of red and blue wrestled with each other, biting and scratching. Keith was screaming now, and so was Lance.

The crowd was yelling, chaos ensuing as people ran to get down into the arena.

Blue, larger than Red, whacked her down with her tail and raised her wings high as she screamed. The waves surrounding the island crashed against rock as if to answer her. Red tried to roar back, but Blue silenced her with a deafening roar of her own.

Red snarled, but ultimately bowed her head as her eyes found Keith in Alfor’s arms behind the gate. She looked back up at Red, chuffed, then with a swift, powerful flap of her wings, shot out of the stadium. She was gone within moments.

Finally, Lance could open his eyes and choke air into his lungs. His head was pounding, his vision was dizzy. Blue padded over, nudging him with her snout. Lance couldn’t move.

“Get it!” Someone yelled.

“Grab the nets!”

“Don’t let it escape!”

Blue turned away from Lance, growling at the Vikings that began to pour into the arena. Lance tried and failed to get up, his body weak from… whatever just happened. It was like the mental barrier that Blue usually gently slid past was shattered, and her presence had been too much for him without a shield.

His eyes moved to find Keith’s limp form, now in Shiro’s arms behind the gate. Shiro was staring from Keith to Lance to Blue in abject horror. Not in fear of Blue, but something else.

(Fear of what he’d done.)

Lance figured the same must’ve happened to Keith, if what he witnessed with him and Red, the scars blossoming on his arm was anything to go off of. Keith had never truly been introduced to Red’s bond in his mind, of course it would’ve taken a far worse toll than it did for Lance.

Lance turned his attention back to Blue just as she began to fight the Vikings off. She was flipping them off of her back, barreling into them, smacking them away with her tail as they tried and failed to throw nets on her, to weigh her down for capture.

Then, Lance saw his father join the fray. Lance also saw the moment Blue’s eyes locked with Alfor’s.

Gods above.

Lance tried to crawl, to use his voice as Blue met Alfor’s challenge and pounced. They rolled across the arena, Alfor fighting uselessly. When they stopped, Blue was on top. Her neck raised, green smoke falling from her mouth. Lance could see the fire in her throat glowing beneath her skin.

“No!” He said weakly, trying to send the word down their bond, though he’d never thought to try and see if it went both ways. “No!”

Lance saw the fear in his fathers eyes, like he was looking death in the face and he knew he couldn’t escape it this time. It was a look Lance had never seen on his fathers face.

“NO!”

Blue choked on her fire, smoke blowing into Alfor’s face, turning his white curls gray.

She turned, craning her neck to look at him, rumbling in confusion. Her pupils blew up from slits, and Lance got to meet her eyes for just a moment before they overtook her.

Lance strained to get up, to force his body to work. How could he be so damn weak? What was happening to him? Why couldn’t he just move?

“Lance!” He ignored the forms of his friends rushing to pull him up from the ground and out of the way. Lance heard Blue’s cries and growls, he heard a punch and the sound of her body being forced to the ground.

“Blue,” Lance moaned, his head swaying as Pidge told Hunk to pick him up. That he needed to go to the infirmary.

“No. Blue.”

“We got you, buddy. Don’t worry,” Hunk’s voice said from somewhere far off.

No, this was wrong. This was all wrong. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. What has he done?

Lance’s muscles officially failed him as he was carried out of the arena by Hunk, with Pidge following close behind. He thinks he might’ve seen Shiro holding Keith in a similar manner.

None of that mattered. It didn’t matter. He had to get back to his dragon, and yet his body refused to get the message. Darkness was beginning to overtake his vision, his hair was stuck to his face with sweat. His clothes were suddenly too tight, choking him. He thinks he might’ve lost a boot in the arena. 

The last thing Lance saw before he blacked out was Blue’s fighting form trying to get to him, whining as he was taken away.

Chapter Text

Dear, Shiro

 

I know this letter will not reach you, for I will not be sending it. But I know that you've done right by all that I told you. I can sense it in the tides and the stars. I know it is time to send you the last piece. Thank you for all your letters. Darling White went to collect them for me last night.

I cannot wait to meet you all. To see you again.

 

I know it is soon, for I myself cannot wait any longer.

 

Do tell my brother hello, will you?

 

Love, Allura

Winter was here.

The harsh blizzard could be seen on the horizon, roaring in Lance’s ears and pinching his face pink. Snow was falling, dancing in the wind, and making its home on Lance’s thick fur coat and hair.

The sea was eerily silent as it lapped at the cliffs of Arus. They were weak despite the coming storm. It was unnatural and unsettling. Too quiet.

Then again, maybe that was just Lance’s head.

His gloved hands squeezed into shaking fists as he let loose a long breath, the air turning white as he exhaled. His head was the quietest it’d been in months. It was strange. The bond in his mind had been a bit difficult to get used to, but in no time at all, Blue had become a welcome and constant presence in his mind. Always there to lean on for reassurance, or just white noise when the house got too quiet.

Now, there was nothing at all.

Well. That wasn’t completely true.

He could still feel her if he really sifted through his head and dug for her. But she was so far, now, that it was hard not to panic and think she was really gone.

Lance took a step forward toward the edge of the cliff. The snow crunched beneath his boots. Another step. Another. Like if he could just walk right over the edge of the cliff, he might be able to feel Blue again.

Chief Alfor left a couple of hours ago with the largest fleet of ships he could muster. Ever spare Viking for one last expedition to find the dragon's nest. Except this time, they had a special compass to ensure they’d get there.

Just a few short hours after Lance had woken up after the arena, he was sprinting from the infirmary where Bodil had been caring for him and out onto the cold streets of Arus. He could hardly feel his feet as he ran, his chest constricting from the sudden shock of the cold. He couldn’t feel much of anything but the sweat freezing on his body and the bone-deep fear of what they might’ve done to Blue.

He’d burst into his home with a mission. A plan that was really just a string of pleas and a dream.

Lance squeezed his eyes shut as a harsh wind blew him backward, as if to protect him from the cliff's edge.

‘Dad, please,’ Lance begged, tears springing to his eyes. ‘I know I messed up, I know that. Take it out on me, be mad at me– just don’t hurt Blue.”

‘Blue?’ Alfor scoffed, fury and indignation overtaking his shock at Lance’s sudden appearance in their home. He’d been pacing back and forth, just back from a meeting with the other clans in the great hall. They were discussing what to do about the Verndari now chained up in their custody down at the arena. ‘You’re worried about that dragon? After everything, all the lives it could’ve taken! Look what it's done to you!’

Lance looked down at his leg, where his father had gestured with a great sweep of his hand. He gulped. He hadn’t missed the cream and herbs that had clung to his leg in the infirmary, as if the physical representation of his bond with Blue was some sickness to be rid of. The herbs had flown away in the winds as he ran over here, his pant leg rolling down and clinging to the cool, minty cream.

‘Something is wrong with you, Son,’ Alfor’s voice broke, as if the admission was too much for him. Lance looked up, meeting his eyes as his stomach sank. It felt like every ounce of happiness he’d experienced over the past three months was sucked away with his father’s next words. ‘And as much as I loathe that beast you call your friend, I don’t think it's entirely to blame.’

Lance was speechless for a moment. He’d always known he was… different. He’d heard the villagers nearly every time he’d messed up, and that was often. Lance was broken, or perhaps he was always born that way. Maybe the night his sister was taken, trying to protect Lance from a dragon that had broken into their house during a raid, maybe that had been his turning point. His reckoning.

He’d learned to ignore them as he grew older. What else could he do? As much as Lance loved his father, despite their differences and limited interactions beyond what was required of a decent father and son relationship, Lance knew his father thought the same thing. He was just too kind to say it, allowing the village to say such cruel words about him rather than say it to Lance himself.

And yet, hearing him say it aloud… for the first time in his life, Lance finally heard something in him crack just large enough to let those whispers through to really cut him clean.

Lance heard himself speak his next words as he saw his father shake his head, his shoulders trembling. Lance realized Alfor must’ve been speaking, and he hadn’t been listening. He picked out a few words. If only… taken… maybe… I… been there… you… could’ve fixed…

‘She was protecting me,’ Lance whispered, clenching his teeth. ‘The Red Verndari would have killed me if she hadn’t saved me in time. She saved me.’

‘Dragon’s don’t save humans,’ Alfor hissed, his eyes rimmed red. ‘They take. They steal, and they kill.’ 

‘You don’t know that–’

‘Son. We have been at war with these monsters for generations. I have seen them gut my people, my friends, without mercy. Do not tell me what I do or do not know. They have killed hundreds of us!’

‘And we’ve killed thousands of them!’ Lance shot back, his voice rising with desperation and frustration. ‘They raid us because they have to!’ Lance threw his arms out, searching wildly in his father’s angry eyes for a sign that he was listening. That he could be reasoned with. Alfor scoffed, batting a dismissive hand as he turned around, and it was like having a door slammed in his face.

Lance felt the words tumble out like vomit before he could stop them. ‘If they don’t bring enough food back to their islands, then they’ll get eaten themselves!’ An image of the galra flashed into his mind, and he shivered. ‘There’s something else on their island, Dad. It’s huge, it’s–”

‘There island,’ Alfor whispered, whipping around to face Lance again. Lance sputtered as he advanced toward him. ‘So you’ve been to the nest?’

‘Uh,’ Lance choked, stepping back. He looked anywhere but at his father’s eyes as he tried to do damage control. ‘Did I say nest? I meant–’

‘How.’ Lance’s mouth snapped shut, his body rigid and shaking. ‘How!’

Lance squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head. He had to make him understand. This wasn’t a fight ships and catapults could win. ‘It was Blue!’ Lance blurted. ‘She did. Only a dragon can find the island.’ 

His heart seized as his father frowned, the familiar look dawning on his face that said a plan was forming, and nothing was going to stray him from it.

And still, Lance tried.

‘No, no, Dad, no,’ Lance followed him around the house as he began to look for his favorite sword. He pulled his long hair into a low ponytail as he searched. ‘Dad, listen to me. Their island– the dragon that lives there, it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen!’

Alfor narrowed his eyes as he grabbed his weapons and turned, walking to the door and ignoring his son. ‘Dad, stop!’ Lance felt tears rise up and blur his vision once again as his father continued to ignore him. Just as Alfor opened the door, Lance grabbed at his arm, trying and failing to haul him back. ‘Oh my gods– for once in your life would you please just listen to me!’

Lance was thrown down to the floor, the air knocked out of him in one fell swoop. He choked for a moment as he shakily looked up. 

The snow outside made the light blinding. The shadow Chief Alfor’s form towered over Lance. And he saw the rare sight of what his father’s enemies must’ve seen, and it made him let out a breath as his glare pinned him to the ground.

‘You’ve thrown your lot in with them,’ His father said, his stare leaving Lance feeling like ice was freezing the blood in his veins. ‘You’re no Viking.’

‘You’re not my son.’

(He slammed the door shut behind him, staggering back as if hit by the sudden weight of what he’d just done. What he’d said. His heart ached at his cruelty, and what might She say?

He took a deep, shaky breath and plowed on.

‘Ready the ships!’)

That was two hours ago.

After that, Chief Alfor loaded the ships and gathered his best men.

One hour ago, Lance watched helplessly from the cliff as he witnessed them load Blue onto Alfor’s ship as she thrashed and shook against her binds, growling aggressively through the muzzle they shoved onto her.

Lance watched and watched as the ships set sail and disappeared beyond the horizon.

Now, he was here.

Now, he heard the crunch of snow behind him. He didn’t turn to see who it was.

Keith stood at his side, watching the sea beyond. They stood there silently until they both broke the silence at the same time.

“Are you okay?” They said in unison.

They looked at each other, and Lance might’ve met Keith’s small smile with one of his own if the situation were different. Lance let out a poor, amused huff and looked down.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up.”

“Lance. You don’t need to apologize.” Keith hummed, his hand itching to intertwine with Lance’s. “But… where were you? I was worried.”

Lance bit the inside of his cheek, then spilled everything that had gone down when he’d booked it from the infirmary building back to his house. To his father. 

Keith listened intently as he spoke, furrowing his brows at the glisten in Lance’s eyes. Lance shook his head, wiping his eyes with his arm as he switched the topic. It was strange to see him this way. Keith had thought they were over walls.

“Anyway. It doesn’t matter anymore.” Keith was about to object when Lance suddenly asked about his arm. “Does it hurt?”

Keith blinked thoughtfully before shrugging off his coat. The sun caught the curling scars. They no longer burned, but they were still warm. Still fresh. “I feel okay. It’s just, you know. Weird. Does this mean she…”

Keith didn’t want to bring Red up. He knew the answer just as Lance finished his sentence for him. But it felt a bit like shoving it in Lance’s face after everything that had happened.

“That she chose you?” Lance’s lips twitched upward. He finally turned to face Keith properly, snaking a hand into Keith’s to lift up his arm so that the other could slide over the scars. They were beautiful. “Yeah. There’s no doubt about it.”

Keith tried to catch Lance’s eyes, but they kept darting to avoid him. “Lance,” he breathed. The white fog that escaped his mouth blew into Lance’s face, and he reluctantly looked up. “What are we going to do?”

Lance dropped his hands, and Keith almost cried at the loss of contact. “We aren’t doing anything.”

“Lance. You can’t mean that.”

“I almost got us both killed, Keith!” Lance burst, but Keith didn’t flinch away. His eyes only hardened. “I almost got so many people killed in that arena, all because I couldn’t kill that dragon when I found her in the woods!”

The wind whistled in their ears, blowing Keith’s hair from behind. His face read all the stubborn Viking that he was, and Lance hated himself for finding him so beautiful in that moment. He turned his back on Keith like the coward he was and began to walk away.

“You’re right!” Keith called, throwing his hands in the air. “So why didn’t you? Why did you choose to bond with a damn Verndari instead of killing it?”

Lance growled, memories of unpleasant Vikings whispering beneath their breaths as he passed. Just loud enough so that he could hear. “I’m weak!” Lance didn’t turn around. “I’m stupid, I’m a coward. I wouldn’t kill her.”

“You said ‘wouldn’t’ that time.”

Lance turned around and found that he’d barely made any distance at all and Keith hadn’t moved from his spot. Like he knew that Lance couldn’t really walk away from him, not very far, anyway. “Okay, whatever,” Lance shoved his hand through his hair, sputtering. “I wouldn’t! Three-hundred years, and I’m the first Viking who wouldn’t kill a dragon.”

Keith waited, meeting Lance with an unwavering gaze that told him to continue. That he knew there was more.

Lance muttered in frustration, seeing no point in arguing further. He knew he wouldn’t win. “I wouldn’t kill her because…” Lance thought back to that moment in the woods. Her bright yellow eyes narrowed into shaking slits as they stared Lance down. How, when he’d cut her free, she didn’t kill him. In fact, she seemed more human than most Vikings back at the village. “I wouldn’t kill her because she looked just as frightened as I was. I looked at her, and I saw a boy who didn’t know what he had to offer.”

Keith’s gaze softened, but he stood his ground.

Lance, now, thought back to the moment that solidified his knowledge that it was he who was meant to find Blue. He, who had stepped out of the never-ending cycle of war, bloodshed, and killing. He, who decided to befriend the beast everyone was so convinced was nothing more than a mindless monster. Just to find that she was no monster at all.

“But she looked at me,” Lance gulped, feeling his eyes water for another reason now. “She looked at me. She sees me.” Lance stood tall, now. His head was clear. Quiet, but not entirely because Blue was so far. It was quiet with confidence, with what he now knew he had to do. “And she knows I am more than what this village thinks of me.”

Keith smiled, and Lance could feel his own growing. Keith walked to close the distance. “So. What are we going to do?”

“Probably something stupid,” Lance shrugged.

“Well,” Keith huffed. “You’ve already done that.”

Keith turned around before Lance heard it. Heard her. The Red Verndari launched up from below the cliff and landed with a ground-shaking boom on the cliff behind them. Lance was half-surprised the ground didn’t collapse from beneath them. Red prowled, the snow melting where she stepped. The air suddenly felt much warmer.

Lance grinned. “Then something crazy.”

—

Hunk screamed.

The air was thick with snow now. The blizzard was here, and it was ravaging not just Arus, but the entire sea all around the isles. Lance was gripping onto Keith from his midsection with all his might, and he felt like he was about to suffocate from how hard Pidge was holding onto him. Mostly, that was Hunk’s fault.

“We’re going to die, oh, we’re dying!” Hunk wailed as Red flew at dizzying speeds against the storm like she didn’t feel anything. “Why did I let you guys pressure me into this!? This thing is insane!”

Red growled, and Hunk yelled again. “I’m sorry! So sorry!”

“Lance, are you sure bringing us along was the right idea?” Hunk said when he’d calmed down a bit. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad you were able to tell us the truth and everything, but how do you know that I– we, me and Pidge, are gonna be able to bond with these other Verndari?”

“Well,” Lance called over the freezing wind. “It’s just a hunch!” Lance didn’t think it was a very good idea to tell them that it was either they bond with the Verndari or everyone on Alfor’s fleet died. Maybe. Kind of a damper on morale, he thought.

“WHAT?!”

Maybe it was a good thing that Shiro wasn’t here. As much as Lance would’ve preferred to have his calm demeanor and natural leadership take over, he didn’t think Red could handle all five of them on her back. He was surprised she could hold the four of them to begin with.

(Keith had gritted his teeth in anger when they went to find Shiro first before Hunk and Pidge, only to find that he had been taken with Alfor’s troops to the nest. Back to the horrors he’d had to survive and escape, just to be taken right back. To more than likely die if they didn’t get there in time against the Galra that lived beneath the surface.)

(When they did find Pidge, she was more than ready to hear them out. After all, her brother, Matt, had been taken to the nest, too.)

Pidge was whooping and hollering with joy, and she laughed at Hunk. “Dude! I think you offended her!” Pidge risked leaning to the side to yell to Keith, asking what she said.

“It’s not like she’s actually speaking words, Pidge,” Lance said, though he was smiling all the same. “It’s more like she sends her intentions down the bond. Kind of like sharing a brain!”

Pidge was beaming, looking down at Red with another wave of wonder. When Lance and Keith had brought her and Hunk to the woods to meet Red, she’d helped them hold Hunk down to keep him from running before they could explain. She’d listened to their whole story– albeit shortened, given they only had eight or so hours, give or take, to complete their totally insane, highly likely to fail plan. That was two hours ago.

“Yeah, well,” Keith called back to them. His grin was feral, the wind blowing his hair behind him. It had smacked Lance more than a few times, but how could he complain? Keith was made to fly with how easily he had taken to Red. “I think I can sense her intentions well enough to tell you that you’re all heavy, and the ‘Big-Guy’ needs to shut up before she has an early dinner!”

Pidge cackled. Hunk continued to stammer apologies to Red with fear lining every inch of his body.

Thirty minutes later, Lance was convinced they would’ve frozen to death in the storm if it weren’t for Red’s built-in heating. Hunk nearly cried in relief, and so did Lance, when Urskog, the ‘forest-isle’, came into sight.

They made sure to skirt past the village, relying on Pidge to tell them where to land. The towering trees made it difficult to find anywhere to land in the first place that wasn’t the village entrance. Luckily, they had a good enough guess as to where the temple that supposedly housed the elusive Green Verndari was hidden. Surprisingly, Pidge had done the most research into that one in particular.

When they landed, the snow had caked the forest in so much white it was blinding. The blizzard in itself wasn’t helping.

Following Pidge’s expertise, they found the River of Snakes, which Lance and Hunk hadn’t been too happy to hear, led to the temple. The whole time they were on edge, jumping at any sound that was remotely close to a hiss.

(“I don’t know if they forgot or the cold is seeping into their brains,” Pidge whispered to Keith as she hung back to watch the show of Lance and Hunk exchanging ‘did you hear that?’ and ‘I think I saw something move’. “But snakes hibernate during the winter. There’s no way they’d survive in weather like this.”

Keith snickered, nodding with a smile as Pidge told him not to tell them before scamping off back to the front when Red hissed at her. He neglected to mention that he, too, had been watching for snakes nervously. He’d just hidden it better than the two boys in front of them. Plus, having a giant, fire-breathing dragon of legends did help to ease his worries.)

By the time they found the temple, another thirty minutes had passed. Lance was shivering so badly that he was risking walking closer and closer to Red every other minute. She was a walking heater, and Keith was hardly shivering at all. He glanced apologetically at him when Red noticed how close he had gotten and snarled. Lance yelped, pouting as he rejoined Hunk and Pidge at the front.

“This has to be it, right?” Pidge squinted, looking from her journal that she brought with her research, then up to the temple. The drawing she had perfectly matched the towering, overgrown fortress above them.

“Okay, then. What are we waiting for?” Keith said, walking toward the temple. He yelped, and everyone screamed when Red picked him up by the scruff of his furry hood and lifted him several feet into the air, rumbling her disagreement. She chuffed, then fixed her bright eyes directly at Pidge.

Everyone turned to face her, scooting back and leaving her alone at the foot of what might’ve been the path inside the temple, were it not hidden by a foot of snow. “W–what?!” Pidge shrieked. “You can’t be serious!”

Hunk winced. “Yeah, I mean. Don’t get me wrong, Miss Red,” Red blinked at Hunk, and Lance could’ve sworn he saw her quirk her brow. “But is it really safe to send Pidge in there looking for a Verndari alone?”

Red growled.

“Well, off you go, Pidge!” Hunk smiled, a little too brightly, as he shooed her toward the temple.

Pidge pouted, and Lance gave her a smile. “I know you haven’t exactly had the best experience with dragons. Hel, we’ve been at war with them for generations. You don’t live on Arus and call yourself a citizen without having had a few near-death encounters with them.

“But trust me, Katie. Red here might be a biiit temperamental, but the only difference between them and us is our bodies.” Pidge didn’t even wrinkle her nose at Lance when he used her real name. She listened, biting her lip nervously. “If Red thinks you’re the one to find the Green Verndari, then I bet you’ll find her. And even though you can be a smartass sometimes, I think she’ll like you.”

Pidge scoffed, but ultimately nodded. She turned around and walked into the dark temple.

They all watched, nervous for her safety as she disappeared from view. Lance startled a bit when Keith’s voice spoke from above him. “I’d come and reassure you that you did the right thing, but Red, I’m learning, is a bit territorial.”

Lance let out a surprised laugh to find Keith still hanging awkwardly from Red’s teeth. But he still nodded in thanks, and Hunk squeezed his shoulder. Together, they waited.

An hour later, just when Keith was about to take everything back and storm in to find Pidge, they heard a holler that could only be described as a joyous echo from inside the temple. They all watched as Pidge came flying out on the Green Verndari from the top of the temple, pumping her arms and whooping as her dragon roared gleefully with her. Lance beamed when he saw the familiar gleam of curving, golden scars, glimmering beneath the too-big sleeves of her coat.

Then Lance squinted, confused as he saw the fur and scales of the Green Verndari glimmer in and out of existence. His eyes widened in realization, and he yelled.

“Your dragon can actually camouflage!? Dude, that’s no fair!”

Lance was flying with Pidge this time, and Hunk with Keith. He’d decided it would be better to fly with her so he could help her stay on without falling. She had zero training besides the brief instructions Lance had given them when they first took off on Red. But she was in the front now, nestled in the saddle of her dragon, flying it for the first time in a blizzard.

She was doing relatively well, and Lance barely had to teach her anything. Green was also a rather calm dragon compared to Red and even Blue. She wasn’t as fast as Red, so they had to slow down to stay together– much to Red’s displeasure, but Green was rather sweet. Energetic, but moreso in the way that Pidge was always jumping from invention to invention with vigor. Luckily, still, the next and last island was already appearing over the horizon.

Hellir, the island of jewels.

“Hey, Pidge,” Lance leaned in so that she could hear him. “Any idea where that Yellow Verndari could be?”

Pidge sheepishly admitted to not studying the Yellow Verndari as much as Green– and now they knew why. But still, she told them what she knew. They had three hours left to find the Yellow Verndari and get to the nest before the Galra killed every single person on those ships. His dad. Shiro. And Blue.

Pidge told him that there was an old, collapsed cave system that the village used to mine jewels and other valuable gems and stones. Hellir was, after all, where the other isles got their valuables they couldn’t find at home. The village sat at the very top of the island, nestled in the mountains there. Below, cavesystems, manmade and natural wound beneath.

Apparently, a raid by men who bore flags with a purple dragon had attacked the east side of the island years ago. They were fended off without any help from the other islands; they’d only gotten word of the attack after it had happened. But as a result, the east mining system collapsed. Since then, there have been echoes of what initially the villagers thought was a ghost. Later, they began to associate the new dragon that appeared on their island with the growls from the cave.

“Are you sure Hunk’s up to trying to bond with that thing?” Pidge looked over her shoulder at Lance. They both looked at Hunk. He looked greener than the dragon beneath them, seemingly trying his best not to puke on the great red beast. And Keith.

“You know, I’m not really sure how I knew you guys would be able to bond with the other Verndari,” Lance shrugged, meeting Pidge’s curious gaze. “Something in me just… knew.”

Pidge watched him for a moment. “Do you think it’s her?”

Lance paused, but nodded. “Yeah.” He looked off toward the direction his heart was pulling him in. Somewhere toward the Meridian of Misery, inside the fog, where Blue was waiting for him. “I think so.”

They flew, skirting the island and hiding in the cover of the trees. They landed in an open grove, where Lance imagined it would've been a beautiful, lush green with flowers had it not been snowing. Beneath the curve of trees, just barely hiding the cave’s entrance from view, they found it indeed collapsed.

“How are we supposed to get through there?” Hunk asked nervously. “And are we sure it’s even in there?”

“I sure hope so,” Lance said as they walked to the collapsed entrance. It looked like a large hobbit hole. Lance imagined it would go down in a steep decline if there weren’t large boulders blocking the path. “We only have a few more hours.”

They sat there for a moment before Keith told them to start looking around for another entrance. There had to be one if the Yellow Verndari was able to survive using it as its home for so long.

For the next ten minutes, they searched and searched. Lance was stressing so hard at his hair, he thought it might just start falling out soon, when they all heard a roar. Not a loud, demanding one. No, this was Green letting them know she’d found something.

They all stumbled toward Green, all the way across the grove. Lance looked up, up, up at the tallest tree he’d seen on this island. Green was pawing at where he imagined the roots would be. “What is she doing?” Keith asked, squinting and fighting to stay upright as another harsh wave of white wind crashed into them.

“I don’t see anything–”

“Shh!” Pidge cut Lance off. “There’s something here. I think it's another–”

“Cave!” Hunk blurted, just as Green pounced her front legs on the snow. Her weight had the snow and ice beneath come crashing down into the ground. Below the roots of the tree, there was a massive hole. Big enough for a dragon of Blue’s size to get through.

“Whoa,” Lance breathed. “Nice job, girl. You’re pretty smart.”

“Of course she is,” Pidge said, wrapping her arms around Green’s fluffy neck and scratching her. “She’s the smartest girl around!” Green preened, purring at Pidge’s affection.

“Yeah, yeah. Smartest girls around more like it,” Lance scoffed, but his gaze was fond. 

“Hunk,” Keith interrupted. Hunk looked up from the hole in the ground like he’d been zoning out. “How did you know there was a cave under all that snow? I get how Green would know, but how did you?”

Hunk wrung his hands together, looking off to the side. He pulled his hood up over his head. “I don’t really know. I just… did?” Hunk frowned.

Lance pursed his lips. “I’m guessing we’re not going to be able to go down there with him?” He looked from each of the dragons to their riders. The dragons growled in disagreement, and Pidge and Keith shook their heads.

“Alright, buddy. This is all you,” Lance clapped his hand on Hunk’s shoulder. “You ready?”

Lance waited for Hunk’s trembling reply to give him a pep-talk like he had given Pidge, but his friend only stared resolutely at the hole beneath them. “Yeah, man. I think– I can do this.”

Everyone blinked in surprise. 

“Okay. Yeah. That’s right, you got this,” Lance smiled. They watched as Hunk lowered himself down into the hole, then dropped. They heard a thud, a roll, and some shuffling. Hunk called:

“I’m okay!”

They breathed a sigh of relief, then waited.

Thirty minutes had passed. Lance had walked a small trench into the snow from his pacing, and his friends were resting against their dragons, relying on their warmth and fur to keep from freezing. 

They were running out of time. They only had two hours to get to the nest, and who knew how long it’d take to get there in this storm? What if they were too late? What if–

Lance shrieked as a hand landed on his arm. 

“Whoa!” Keith said, putting his hands up. “Just me.”

“You’ve really have got to stop doing that,” Lance nearly whined. He was tired, he was on edge. He was sure they all were.

Keith grinned, and that was all the answer Lance needed to know that he was indeed not going to stop. “To be fair, I don’t even mean to, half the time.”

Lance rolled his eyes, but he smiled, too. Then it faded as his worries crept back in after his initial shock at them.

“Hey,” Keith said. “We’re going to be okay, Lance. We’ll get there, don’t worry.”

“I don’t get how I’m the one who’s worried here,” Lance sighed. “I thought you’d be all over the place trying to get to Shiro.”

Keith frowned.

“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean it like that,” Lance said. “I just… I’m scared we’re going to be too late. We have too much at stake here,” Lance gestured over to Pidge, who was currently curled up against her dragon, dozing off. “Pidge’s brother. Your brother, and our friend. My father, Blue,” Lance rubbed at his exhausted, frozen eyes. “What if we get there, and we still can’t beat it?” The Galra. “We still don’t have any idea where the last Verndari could be. What if we aren’t enough?”

Keith looked at Lance. And he really, really looked. He put both of his hands on Lance’s shoulders and said with the most honesty Lance had ever heard from him. “I’m scared, too, Lance. We all are. But the difference between you and the rest of us,” Keith gestured to himself, then Pidge. “Is that we know we’ll be okay, because you’re leading us.”

Lance stared, dumbfounded. “What?”

Keith scoffed, shaking his head. “You know, after that whole speech you gave on the cliff, you really don’t seem to get it.”

Lance frowned. “Hey. Rude.”

“Lance, I don’t know if you realized it, but you’re the one leading the charge here,” Keith said, as if it should’ve been obvious. “And we trust you to do it. We trust that you’re going to get us through this because you always have.

“You protect us in the ring, hel, you saved Pidge’s ass more times than I can count. You patched me up after I got too ahead of myself, I’ll admit that.”

“That was more you doing the protecting–” Lance heard himself say.

“You’re there for your friends, and me when it counts. Whether it’s dragging us down to Pidge’s house after that Yupper incident, or giving them pep talks when they’re about to bond with a dragon from literal legends.”

Lance gulped, opening his mouth, but Keith didn’t give him the chance to object.

“And most importantly, you’re the one that Blue chose,” Keith pushed his finger into his chest. “You started all of this, Lance. And we’re going to follow you to the end, wherever it might be.”

Lance clamped his mouth shut, his lip trembling and his eyes watering, and if he didn’t spit the words out now, he was going to die with them because, gods– “I love you,” Lance whispered.

Keith’s eyes widened, but his face broke into a shy smile. “I love you, too–”

The ground beneath them began to shake and tremble. Lance and Keith yelped, grabbing onto each other for stability. The dragon launched up, and Green quickly picked Pidge up by her coat and launched out of the way just as the ground broke.

They all watched in unabashed amazement as Hunk soared on the back of the Yellow Verndari, yelling and whooping just as Pidge had. Lance grinned, bringing his hands to cuff his mouth, shouting, “HEL YEAH !”

Hunk cheered, and Lance knew without a doubt that he saw a golden glow shining from beneath the thick fabrics of his left leg.

—

The fog was thicker than it ever had been.

The boats moved forward, rocking back and forth. Everyone could hear the roaring of the storm outside of Helheim’s Gate. It was strange, though. The storm didn’t even make it an inch past the fog, almost like something was protecting the island from the blizzard.

Alfor would’ve been grateful for it if it hadn’t left such a bad taste in his mouth.

They’d been sailing for several hours now. The sky was beginning to grow dark, and the air colder. Coran had asked twice now what exactly the plan was. And if– this wasn’t him wondering, it was the other men, of course– there actually was a plan at all.

Alfor clapped his trusted friend on the back, giving him a grim smile and no answer. Everything was going according to plan.

Alfor watched as Blue– the Verndari’s catlike ears twitched, its head turning to the right. She looked to be fighting her natural instinct to follow the call of her queen, but you can’t fight DNA.

Shiro watched from beside Alfor, his jaw aching from how long he’d been clenching his teeth in wait for what was to come. Matt was beside him, glaring down into the fog. But he could see the fear in his eyes, too.

The longer they sailed, for the first time they began finding wrecked ships. Crashed into giant, black rocky pillars protruding from the deep, murky waters. Arus boats, and even boats from the surrounding isles. Mere trading vessels, too.

Shiro could’ve sworn he saw the stain of blood on the rocks. The further they went, the harder it became to breathe. Like the fog itself was trying to choke him from the inside out. All he could do was separate himself the best he could from the Vikings around him, and breathe. Remember to breathe.

He gripped the sides of the boat, staring into his reflection in the water. He squeezed his eyes shut. In one, two, three. Hold, one, two. Out, one, two, three, four, five, six. Repeat…

(‘Follow me,’ She said. ‘Listen to my breathing, Shiro. You’ll be okay.’)

Fuck. What was he doing here?

“Land!” He heard someone call.

What.

Then, all at once, Shiro heard it. The trill and humming of the dragons inside the volcanic mountain. Like cicadas, if they were able to kill you in a heartbeat.

Shiro looked up, just as Matt came over to shake his shoulders. “We’re ashore, Shiro. We’re here!” He whispered.

No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. They were going to die. 

They continued forward, the fog clearing the closer they got. The hums continued to rise. Louder, louder. Like a warning.

When the ship finally hit the beach, Shiro heard the rustle of chains and looked to his right. The Blue Verndari was trembling, trying to break free of her collar as she yowled. Her claws dug into the wood, and she was whining. The legendary Blue Verndari was terrified.

And Shiro knew all too well why.

Chief Alfor held his right hand up, signaling for silence and to wait for his command. He stepped up to the front of the boat, his steps creaking against the wood. He grasped the side, then hauled himself over and onto the black, rocky sand.

As soon as his foot touched the ground, it went quiet. Dead silent.

Nature’s warning to turn back, go home.

A warning that a predator lurked on that island. And it was no man.

The crew watched in bated breath as the Chief walked onto the island, surveying the endless black sands and caves carved into the volcano. They watched as he climbed up the mountain and onto a ledge. 

“Alright, lads,” Coran said. “Bring down the catapults. Keep your wits about you.” Vikings began to set up their equipment quickly. Catapults were rolled off the ships, and sharpened sticks were plunged into the sand around the fleet of ships. Everyone gripped their weapons with a white grip. Then, they waited.

Alfor pressed his ear against the volcano’s wall,  knocking his hard, worn fists against the rock. Without turning, he raised his hand in signal for the catapults to load. Then, he signaled for them to cut loose and sail boulders through the air.

Shiro’s heart thundered in his ears as the rocks hit the volcano, one by one, until a large hole was blasted into the side. The rocks came tumbling down, and Alfor didn’t move as they all missed him by inches.

Alfor gripped his sword and shield, then raised his arm for another catapult, but this time, with fire. He ordered it, and one large rock wrapped in flame was sent flying through the hole. Shiro’s heart stopped at the sight of hundreds of dragons resting like a bunch of bugs on every inch of the wall for a mile.

The troops began to move quietly until all of a sudden, Alfor was yelling. Loud and bellowing, befitting of a Viking Chief. He ran into the volcano, swinging his sword like a madman. Shiro was outside of his own body as he followed, dead silent.

All at once, waves and waves of colorful dragons were flying out of the nest. For a long minute, it was as if you couldn’t see the sky. Men charged at the creatures, and a few were carried away. Shiro heard the sick squelch of swords and axes meeting dragon skin, and forced himself to look away. The stench of blood filled the air in a matter of moments.

It was over as soon as it began. It was quiet, aside from the yells of Vikings who’d been carried off into the mist. Those screams were cut off so abruptly that Shiro got whiplash.

Then came the cheering.

(Alfor peeked into the cavernous Volcano, surprised to find that the inside did not glow with the flames of red fire. Instead, he saw a glimmer. A shine so beautiful that he thought he must be imagining it. He rubbed his eyes, taking a step closer– Oh. It was a… crystal? It glowed, shining a color that reminded him of the teal lava produced by the Balmera.

Then. He saw something move.)

Shiro was shot back into his own body when Matt came running up to him with a bone-crushing hug, which was surprising, given how much smaller he was compared to Shiro.

When he looked down at his smiling friend, Shiro nearly had a heart attack when he thought he’d seen Pidge. They really did look alike.

Shiro might’ve smiled at the thought if he were oblivious to the real monster beneath the surface of that volcano.

All at once, the very island began to shake and tremble with such force that full grown Viking’s began to fall. Shiro swallowed hard as he held his friend up, gripping his arm so tightly that he was sure it might leave bruises.

Then, it stopped. 

Chief Alfor came running, sliding off the side of the volcano just as it broke through.

A tremendous beast of purple scales, pointed ears, and snarling teeth. Its roar boomed across the entire island, sending Vikings to the ground and the ship’s carreening back away from the island. Had they not been anchored down, Shiro was sure they would’ve sailed away from the island all on their own.

“Odin, help us all,” Alfor whispered, then he turned to his men and did all that he could do. “RUN!”

Too late, catapults were sending another load of boulders shooting at the devil above. But to it, they were little more than pebbles. Nuisances. The creature narrowed its tiny, yellow eyes and bellowed a giant plume of violet flames straight at the ships.

“Jump!” Shiro yelled. Ordered. “JUMP!”

A few heard him and listened.

Most did not.

“Holy shit,” Matt murmured, “Holy shit.”

The air was mixed with sulfur, heat, blood, and the smell of charred skin. Shiro was going to retch.

He didn’t have time to empty his lunch, however, because the beast was more than a little happy to have such a wonderful serving of Vikings galore on a silver platter. Next thing Shiro knew, its giant head was dipping to scoop Vikings up in bunches. It tossed them into the air, swallowing them easily.

Shiro felt his heart stop as its eyes seemed to find him in the crowd of fleeing Vikings. He thought it might just recognize him, not by sight, but by his smell. After all, Shiro had been living on its island for a year before he was able to escape and be rescued.

“Move, move, move!” Shiro yelled, yanking Matt into a run alongside him. The sand made it difficult to run, almost like his feet were sinking into the earth beneath him. They, and a few other Vikings– some weren’t so lucky– made it behind another giant spire of rock just as it launched another wave of blazing hot flames.

…If this is what you meant by setting the events into motion, Shiro thought back to the giant island of ice. Of dragons and peace and home and a beautiful girl with brown skin, white hair, and purple eyes. Shiro looked at the shaking Vikings around him, heard the screams of those being crushed by teeth and giant claws, and charred by fire. The nauseating smell of death hit him, and Matt yelled his name as he fell to the floor and retched. 

He coughed as Matt tried to help him up. He ignored him, glaring up at the monster he thought he’d never have to see again.

I hope this is worth it.

Just as he heard distraught yells and people shouting as they pointed to the sky, Shiro fell into his own puddle of vomit as he croaked. 

“Allura.”

And like he’d summoned her… well, not her. Her dragon. A dragon, nearly pure white, stared at him from the fiery remnants of the burning ships. What were they thinking? They would be seen…

But as the dragon, pale and quiet as a ghost, unnoticed by the screaming Vikings around them, nudged something round and hard into his arms, his vision blacked out.

—

“Take the men to the far side of the island!” Alfor ordered, turning around without waiting to hear Coran’s response. But his friend grabbed his arm.

“You won’t survive, Alfor–”

“I can buy the men a few minutes if I give that thing something to hunt,” Alfor grunted, looking up at the towering creature above them as it sent another shockwave through the ground with just a step of its large talons.

He was going to die here beside his men. He was going to die an honorable death with no regrets. Except for two. Two for his twins, his daughter, his son–

Coran clasped his best friend’s hand, giving it a firm squeeze as he looked defiantly into his eyes. "Then I can double that time.”

Alfor blinked, then smiled and nodded, squeezing back. Then, together, they ran towards Death yelling like cavemen. Just before they could start down their long list of insults that would’ve made the children back on Arus proud, a fire was shot at the monster. Point blank.

“What in Odin’s name…” 

They stopped, in fact, most of the Vikings stopped as a result of the giant dragon’s distraction. And the fact that four Arus children were riding on dragons.

And leading them all was Chief Alfor’s son.

“Well,” Coran said, seemingly a little disappointed that they were interrupted, but mostly shocked. And yet, not at all. “He’s every bit the stubborn Viking you ever were.”

Alfor could only nod. 

Red’s shot was right on point as it struck the Galra right at the base of its head. The Galra roared, deafening and ear-shattering. “Yes!” Keith called. “Good kitty.” Red growled, and Lance could’ve sworn he saw her roll her eyes as they dove.

“Pidge, give me a rundown on the Galra!” Lance yelled from behind Keith as they flew in. Just in the nick of time, apparently. Lance tried not to look too hard at the dead bodies of both dragons and Vikings. The air was full of more smells than Lance could agreeably stomach describing.

“Uh, okay!” Pidge leaned over as they flew around the dragon to get a better look. “Heavily armored skull! Large ears, so there’s definitely no use in the element of surprise anymore!”

They all yelled as the Galra sent a burst of violet flames right for them. They scattered before regrouping.

“Violet flames!” Pidge said in wonder. “Definitely don’t want to get burned by that.”

“Pidge!” They yelled.

“Sorry! Heavy tail, great for bashing and crushing. Small eyes– relies on hearing and smell!”

Lance nodded. “Hunk, find its blind spot and hang in it. Be loud, make lots of noise! Try and keep it confused.” Hunk gave him a thumbs up, before thinking better of it as Yellow dove for the Galra.

“Pidge, stick with Hunk! When I find Blue, find any survivors on the ships and get them out!” Lance looked around at the crowd of Vikings and where they were running. “I think they’re heading for the east side of the island. Take them there!”

Pidge flew after Hunk, and Lance leaned into Keith’s ear. “Take me over the ships like we planned. Drop me, then I need you to distract the Galra, find out if it has a shot limit. Make it mad.”

Keith grinned.

They flew down, coughing in the midst of all the smoke and smell of burning bodies. Lance could hardly see, and he almost missed Blue. Luckily, his bond was back, stronger than ever, and he knew exactly where to look. “There!” He pointed to the ship where Blue was yowling and struggling against her chains.

“Be careful!” Keith said, and Lance kissed him on the cheek before sliding down Red’s side and rolling onto the skip.

“Hey, girl,” Lance said, surprising even himself with the fondness and affection in his voice. “I’m so sorry. For everything.” Blue rumbled in her throat, and Lance could immediately feel his guilt be washed away as if by a soft, gentle wave. Lance smiled, resting his head briefly against hers. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Firstly, he pulled off the muzzle with hardly any effort at all. Then, he began looking around. He found a crowbar and began to pull at the base of the chains.

Pidge and Hunk were both banging shields with a mace and sword they’d snatched off the ground. They were flying right above the Galra’s ears, trying and failing to disorient it.

“This isn’t working!” Pidge yelled, frustrated. Looking at the shield and sword in her hand, she threw them at the Galra. “C’mon, Green. Maybe we can weaken it and find its sensitive spots.”

Green trilled in agreement, and they flew down and around the Galra’s body. Pidge gasped when Green’s scales began to shift, and suddenly, it was like she was flying on air. “Oh, gods. Oh, gods!” Pidge whispered. “Focus, Katie!” She tucked herself into the invisible fur and hoped it would hide her enough for the Galra to ignore her. It already had poor eyesight; maybe it would work.

Together, they flew, firing shot after shot after shot. Pidge could feel herself waning, could feel her left arm begin to burn. It didn’t take her long to figure out, with the help of Green, that they couldn’t keep this up for long.

They hadn’t gone over what to do in the case that the rest of their bonds weren’t strong enough to sustain their combined power for long. Crap.

Still, together, Pidge and Green cheered when they were able to deduce a sensitive spot right at the base of its stomach. Turns out, fattening yourself on food and barely moving for decades wasn’t too good for your stomach. There was a noticeable bulge, but Pidge wasn’t one to judge.

Just as she was about to fly up to Hunk to tell him what she’d learned– she could hear him and his dragon firing their own shots at the creature–, to perhaps help her shoot, the Galra reared its long neck and bellowed. Pidge smacked her hands over her ears and cried out. Green’s scales and fur shifted back, and suddenly, they were right in front of the Galra’s hideous mouth.

Pidge screamed as it unhinged its jaw, and sulfur hissed in the back of its throat. She thought she might’ve heard a voice call her name– not Pidge, her real name, from down below, just as the fire blasted for her.

A shot of Yellow barreled into her, and Green just as the violet fire singed the air where they had previously been flying.

Down, down, down they went until they crashed into the rocky sands.

Pidge careened over herself and fell into a heap. Hunk fell right beside her. Their dragons rolled and rolled before stopping several meters away.

“P–Pidge?” Hunk heaved, like he was trying to force air into his lungs. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Pidge coughed. “I’m okay. I’m here. Thanks, Hunk.”

“No problem–”

Then suddenly, they were both screaming. Off to the side, their dragons were roaring in pain. Pidge clutched her arm, and Hunk was clawing at his pants where his own golden scars hid. They were searing, and for a long moment, they both thought that they had been hit by the Galra’s fire.

Finally, it ebbed to a pulsating throb, and they could speak. But they didn’t. They both knew what this was, what it meant.

Their bonds were too new. Too fragile. They had pushed their limits, however small they were at the moment. They were down for the count, and it was up to Keith and Lance, now.

“Uh, Pidge?” Hunk said, wincing as he sat up.

Pidge looked up and nearly screamed again as the Galra’s tail came rushing down to beat them into the earth when another, fiery hot strike of fire boomed, hitting it in the crook of its wing. The galra roared in pain, and suddenly, its tail veered off course and hit the row of burning ships instead.

Hunk called out his watery thanks to Keith.

Pidge turned as she heard her name called, beaming when she saw her brother. In no time, they were both on their dragon’s, but on foot this time. No more flying. They’d help the wounded or in any other way they could.

Lance jumped when Blue suddenly roared at him, and the sudden urge to move made his muscles jump to the side of the boat. He looked up just in time to see the tip of the Galra’s spiked tail eradicate the part of the boat he’d been standing in before the water took them.

Lance crashed into the water, forcing his eyes to open and search for Blue in the icy darkness. He saw her sinking, sinking, sinking, and he dove after her. In no time, Lance was back to trying to free her. He’d already gotten the chains and wing binds off. He just needed to unlock the wooden collar that kept her chained to the ground, unable to wiggle out of the metal bars curving over her body.

He was learning quickly that it was no use.

When they finally hit the sandy floor, his head was light, and he could feel the pressure crushing his lungs. The more he pulled, the weaker he got. He wasn’t strong enough. He wasn’t strong enough. They were wrong. They shouldn’t have trusted him. She shouldn’t have trusted him…he’d…failed…

Blue watched in horror as Lance was overtaken by a lack of oxygen, bubbles rising from his mouth as he began to twitch, unconscious. She roared and was startled as a large man grabbed him and took him away to the surface as she roared.

Alfor waited only long enough to ensure that the water was expelling from his son’s lungs before diving back into the water.

He swam and swam. And when he made it back to the Verndari, he hesitated only for a second as he locked eyes with the creature. He looked into the eyes, not that of a monster, but his son’s best friend. Perhaps more human than Alfor had been for his son.

He wrenched the collar off, ripping it in two. Next thing he knew, he was being pulled up and out of the water and thrown to the black sand.

He looked up to see Blue shake herself off, then roar impatiently for Lance. His son grinned, “You got it, girl.” He launched up her back and into the saddle between her wings and neck. Just as they were about to take off, Alfor grabbed his hands.

“Son,” he gasped. His white hair was dripping everywhere, and with much effort, he met Lance’s eyes. He opened his mouth, and for a moment, no sound came out. But then, “I’m sorry,” he said. “For– for everything.”

Lance blinked, then smiled sadly down at him. “Yeah. Me, too.”

“You don’t have to go up there,” Alfor said. Like some last-ditch attempt to save the only child he had left. But he knew what Lance’s answer would be. He knew what his son was thinking for the first time in a long, long time.

“We’re Vikings,” Lance grinned. “It’s an occupational hazard.”

“You sound just like your sister,” Alfor chuckled, and Lance was temporarily stunned by the love in his eyes. Then, he registered the fact that he had mentioned his sister. He hadn’t done that in years! “I’m proud, to call you my son.” He said.

And Lance could’ve cried. He might’ve, actually. “Thanks, Dad.”

Then, Lance was off.

“Lance!” Keith called, joy in his exhausted voice. He could feel it now, too. The burning in his right arm. He’d lasted longer, somehow, than Keith and Pidge. But he had a feeling his time would be up soon.

Just as he thought that, suddenly, he and Red were flying… backwards? Keith looked behind him and saw the giant purple tongue of the Galra. Its mouth was wide open, sucking in air with such ferocity that it was sucking Keith and Red in too. “Shit!”

Red was flying with all her might, but she was exhausted. They both were. And maybe they had reached their limit a while ago, they had both just been too stubborn to see it.

Suddenly, Keith was thrown off Red’s back by a shockwave of firepower. He was falling, spinning in the air and toward the rapidly approaching ground, and–

“Did you get him?” Lance called, looking over the side of Blue to find Keith upside down, his foot hanging in Blue’s claw. Keith smiled from ear to ear as Blue dipped her head to mirror him with a happy chortle.

Blue flipped Keith in the air, readjusting him before letting him go at a run on the ground. Lance thinks he might’ve heard Keith cheer and call him something that sounded suspiciously like ‘babe’.

“LANCE!” 

Lance turned, frowning at the noise. Then, he found Pidge waving her arms madly. “AIM! FOR THE! STOMACH!”

He hummed, wondering just how Pidge had figured out its supposed weak spot before turning back around. Then, he and Blue flew up, up, up into the sky. He was freezing, adrenaline was singing in his veins, and now he was wondering…

“That thing’s got wings,” Lance said, amazed that something that big would even bother trying to get off the ground. “Let’s see if it can use them!” Then, their ascent stopped, they flipped over backwards and were flying toward the Galra at lightning speeds, he was sure even Red would be proud of. Then, Boom!

A giant ball of blue fire sent the Galra falling over itself and onto the ground in a wave of smoke and dust. Lance and Blue were already flying back up into the air, and by the time they were at a height Lance was comfortable with allowing himself to look behind him, the Galra was already in the air.

“Well!” Lance called. “It can fly!”

Blue grumbled beneath him as if to say, obviously, then dipped and blasted toward the water. They leveled out, flying through rock pillars, swerving just as the Galra gained up and chomped the air where they’d just been. Blue flapped her wings hard and fast, dodging and weaving with grace.

(The crowd of Vikings that had gathered watched in horror and wonder at his maneuvers. “Ooo-h!” They said collectively as Blue and Lance whooshed past.

“Ooo-h…” They said again when the dragon equivalent of death came crashing in behind him.)

When it became clear that simply trying to tire it out wasn’t working, Lance looked frantically around. With a nudge from Blue, his brain urged him to look up at the stormy clouds that had formed. No snow. Just gray, dark clouds. “Okay. Okay, okay, girl. Time to disappear!”

Blue growled, and they whipped up, flying high in a steep ascent to meet the foreboding clouds. The Galra followed, if not a bit slow. But its size and distance, its wingspan, helped it eat perfectly, making up for it.

As they climbed, it chomped and roared at them. Then, the hair on Lance’s neck stood up as he heard that familiar hiss. “Blue!” He shouted, and she banked to the left just as clouds of fire whooshed past them.

Finally, finally, just as the Galra had caught up yet again, they met the clouds and vanished.

Silently, Blue flew through the smoky clouds of ash, courtesy of the volcano below them. The Galra roared angrily, its wings breaking the clouds around them as it looked this way and that.

“Let’s see if we can tire it out now,” Lance said, patting Blue’s neck. Then, suddenly, the sky lit up like bright-blue lightning as they fired blast after blast, hurling them at the creature. “Oh!” Remembering what Pidge had told him, they readjusted their aim to hit the base of its stomach when they could. The Galra’s roars of rage and pain had him reminding himself to thank Pidge if they survived this.

Blue growled angrily. When. When they survived this.

Like the Galra had heard that particular thought and declaration and had decided on a more physical ‘fuck-you’, it began to spin wildly, purple fury blasting from its mouth and lighting up the sky. Lance knew from Blue’s certainty and urgency that they were not going to be able to dodge this.

(His right calf was burning hot. He hadn’t noticed it until now, but he had to continue to ignore it. Whatever it meant.)

Lance’s yell was muffled as Blue suddenly bucked him into the air, “What-the–” And was now tucked between her legs. The last thing he saw was bright purple fire coming straight for his face when Blue tucked her wings and encased him in a cocoon.

Funnily enough, when the fire hit them, he felt cold. Not the freezing cold that he’d spent the better half of his day in, the kind that helped you fall asleep at night. That kind that had you cozying up in your furry blankets with childish giggles.

When the fire had subsided, Blue’s wings shot open. She righted herself and slowed just enough to throw Lance back in the air and onto her back. Then, they were racing against time as the clouds broke and the Galra was on their tail again.

They could crash it into the volcano, but would it work? Would it die or just pass out temporarily? What if, with its armored skull, it just got right back up for another round? What if–

Then, he heard it again. And Lance felt himself be dragged into a memory from months ago, when he had his first successful flight with Blue. Before he had really begun to steal the show in the arena.

The smell of cooked fish filled his nose as he turned it over the fire. His stomach was ravenous, but he knew better than to feed himself before Blue– “Ow!” She smacked him with her tail. “How did you hear that?” Lance pouted. Fine, fine. He was kidding. But she deserved the first fish, so it was okay.

Plus. The pile of raw fish sitting in front of her was starting to kill his appetite. 

Just as he was about to give Blue the cooked fish, the sound of buzzing and trilling like bugs met their ears. Blue growled, and Lance looked up to find several Arusians flapping their tiny wings toward them.

Lance watched, a bit on edge despite himself, as they all landed around him and Blue. One of them snatched a fish Lance was about to cook from beside him, fighting over it before eventually ripping it in two. 

Then, Lance blinked as he and Blue watched a fish from her pile begin to walk away. Then, he felt particularly dumb when he saw it was an Arusian trying to sneak it away.

Blue growled, latching onto it and winning it back from the Arusian (it wasn’t much of a fight) and eating it raw, just to spite it. Lance huffed. “You’re spoiled, you know that?” Blue chortled, whacking him with her tail again.

The Arusian kicked its back legs like a horse, its eyes narrowing. It opened its mouth and then– 

Blue, with the most unimpressed look Lance had seen her muster, shot a tiny plume of blue flame right into its mouth. “Blue!” Lance had cried, hitting her side softly. The Arusian walked drunkenly, smoke oozing out of its mouth as it coughed. 

“Not so fire-proof on the inside, are you?” Lance picked up a fish from her pile, daring her to object before throwing it to the Arusian. It gobbled it up in less than a minute, in which Lance gaped. Then, it scampered over like a shy dog, nuzzled itself beneath his arm and on his leg, and fell asleep.

It was that day that truly solidified that the dragons they were so afraid of were truly not all the nightmares they were cracked up to be. As long as you weren’t actively fighting them, that is.

Lance knew what to do.

The hiss grew louder and louder, and Blue was nervous beneath him. But this time, it was Lance who sent out the reassurance, the order to calm. To trust him.

“Hold,” He said. The hissing grew louder, he could see the ground approaching rapidly. “Hold.”

He heard the crack of fire igniting, and Lance shouted, “NOW!”

Blue flipped around and shot a blast of fire straight into the Galra’s mouth. Lance saw it explode from the inside, and the Galra roared so terribly that Lance almost felt bad. Almost.

“Blue, go!” He yelled, and Blue shot her wings out and narrowly avoided the Galra’s teeth as the force of the air took her flying back up and away from the ground.

The Galra had noticed too late, though. By the time it shot out its ripping wings, the ground had met its head straight on, and the island shook with a ground-breaking BOOM!

The side of the volcano exploded in a mushroom of fire, sending a sonic boom across the surrounding area. Any debris left went flying, and the water crashed and cried.

Blue was flying up, faster, faster, and faster still. Flying up the curve of its tail and up into the open sky–

Except Lance was screaming from the agonizing pain in his leg. He couldn’t breathe. He could barely see with the black spots overtaking his vision. It was too much. Too much pain that he could no longer ignore. Or maybe it was, and the fact that the fire had burned through his coat and his shirt. The fire was licking his back with a tongue made of sharp needles that were penetrating his skin–

Lance saw the end of the Galra’s tail too late. He screamed, “No, no, NO–” and it all went black.

Blue screeched as they hit the bulb of its tail, sending Lance veering off of her saddle and down, down, down into the fiery plumes of fire and shards of crystal flying through the air.

She flipped and beat her wings for all she was worth as time seemed to slow down. She wasn’t going to make it, she was going to lose him–

Darkness.

He coughed, stumbling through the sand on uneven footing as he called again, his voice hoarse. “Lance!” Alfor yelled, again and again. He was careful to avoid the shards of crystal littered all around the beach where the explosion had occurred, worrying that they might’ve impaled him somehow or–

“Son!” His voice broke as he coughed again, but this time, his eyes caught on something. The large, furry form of the Verndari. Blue.

“Lance!” He breathed, tripping and racing to Blue and… Lance?

Alfor searched, his eyes desperately going over every inch of the dragon in a crumpled heap on the ground. Blue was still breathing, but the seat in front of her wings where Lance had sat. It was empty.

A wave of dread washed over Alfor. It was like the sheer certainty that you had lost something very important, and you didn’t know where it had gone. If you’d ever see it again. See him. 

Alfor shook his head, and he could feel his throat begin to clog up as he fell to his knees. The sand burned, and it was the only thing keeping him from being swallowed whole by the tsunami of grief as it crashed into him. “Oh, son,” He whispered, because it was all he could do. “I’m so sorry…”

Keith burst through the crowd of gathered Vikings. His hair was a mess, sticking in all sorts of directions and clinging to his forehead with sweat. He, Pidge, and Hunk had spent the past several minutes searching the fog for Lance and Blue.

(Keith had found the injured Vikings. He found Shiro, passed out, but okay. And in his hands was… Oh. Odin’s ghost.)

Keith slid off of Red at a jog when he saw Blue, his heart soaring. Wherever Blue was, Lance would have to be! Surely…

But Alfor was on his knees. And no one could mistake the trembling of his body and the shaking of his shoulders as anything but tears. Sadness. Grief.

Keith stopped dead in his tracks. “No,” he whispered. “No!” His legs surged forward, but then, suddenly, Hunk was wrapping his arms around his midsection and holding him back, and he screamed. “NO!”

Blue sniffed, rolling over as she opened her eyes blearily. First, she saw Keith, screaming and fighting against a sobbing Hunk’s hold. Pidge was trying to talk him down with tears in her eyes. Red, Green, and Yellow only watched Blue. They knew.

Exhaustion and overexertion weighed on her bones like the sky itself was holding her down. It was an effort to turn her yellow eyes to the man kneeling before her.

Alfor was crying, his tears running down his soot-stained face and leaving tracks. He met her eyes, and Blue only stared, and stared.

“I’m sorry,” He whispered, his voice breaking and cracking. His heart ripped at the seams at having lost yet another child. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Blue waited, just a moment more, before rumbling in satisfaction. Her wings opened, revealing the unconscious boy in her arms. The blistering scar on his back. She’d stopped the burning with her temperature, but it would leave a scar forever.

Keith stopped screaming.

Alfor gasped, launching forward and bringing Lance toward him with impatience and care. He leaned down to hear, to feel his breathing. He couldn’t, his hat– he tossed it to the ground and pressed his head against his chest. Searching, listening.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

There.

“He’s alive,” He choked, then looked at Blue, then back to his boy. A fresh wave of tears ran down his face. “You brought him back alive!”

The Vikings erupted into cheers, and Hunk set Keith down. Together, all three of them raced forward. He was still unconscious, but this was better. They needed to be closer. To see him, feel him for themselves.

They sobbed and laughed and cheered with the rest of the crowd, but not without a few curses and ‘you fucking idiot, Lance,’ and ‘I’m going to flay you’s. All in good love.

Alfor let them have their best friend back, with Keith cradling him in the middle of their trio. Alfor didn’t have to remind him to be careful, even as he stayed close by. They sobbed and sobbed and wailed, but he was alive. 

Lance was alive.

—

Lance was awake, but he couldn’t move his eyelids. It was like they were cemented down with… he didn’t even want to know. 

He heard a sniff, then he felt them. With all his might, he raised his arms and knew immediately who it was. “Hey, girl,” Lance said, and finally, he broke the crust on his eyelids, using his free hand to wipe them away with disgust. He usually never lets it get that bad.

Blue purred, her tongue licking him as he groaned, but ultimately smiled. Then, she got just a little too close and crushed the air out of his lungs as she stepped on him. 

“Odin,” he croaked, groaning as his muscles ached at the sudden reflex to sit up and cover his stomach. Blue was buzzing with excitement, purring and preening impatiently. Even her tail was wagging.

Wait.

“Am I in my house?” 

Blue rumbled.

“You’re in my house!”

Blue nudged his arm, urging him off the bed even though that was quite literally the last thing he wanted to do at the moment. “Does my dad know you’re here?”

Blue yowled, nudging him again and again.

“Okay, okay, let me just…” And that’s when Lance noticed it. He frowned, lifting the blankets away and standing up. He stretched, and his back ached, and he swore he could feel his skin tightening up uncomfortably. 

Slowly, on sore legs, he hobbled over to a large, polished, golden disk with his family's crest on it. Ironically, it was a dragon. But he turned, lifting his tunic and straining his neck to see… a scar. 

This one wasn’t pretty, like the one he knew lay beneath his right pant leg. This one was ugly, like a burst of raised, pink marred his skin. There were a few cuts in random places, but it took up his entire back.

Lance breathed shakily, feeling tears well up in his eyes as he remembered just how he’d gotten that scar. 

Blue nudged him again, but this time gentler. Lance felt that familiar wave of reassurance wash over him. Love, love, love.

Lance tucked his shirt back down and grabbed his boots, limping outside. His left leg hurt too much to put too much weight on.

He swung the door open and was instantly blinded by the harsh beam of the sun. When his eyes finally adjusted, he realized the snow was melting. Gods, he could see flowers blooming already. Just how long had he been out?

And that wasn’t even the damndest thing, because then, Lance saw dragons. Dozens of them all around just his house. Some were eating from new contraptions Lance had never seen before that held barrels' worth of raw fish. Some were walking beside other Vikings, like. On purpose. Without either one of them attacking!

“I knew it,” Lance deadpanned. “I’m dead.”

“Nope,” Alfor said with a smile, coming up from somewhere behind him and putting a hand on his shoulder. “How do you like it? We still have more dragons coming in by the day. After all, it’s going to take some gettin’ used to. The villager’s more for the most part…”

“Lance!” 

Lance groaned as fifteen-year-old Pidge came bounding up the path, announcing his presence to the whole passing village. She threw her arms around his midsection, squeezing tight. Lance smiled and hugged her back, despite his lack of oxygen. Pidge rarely hugged anyone. Period. He was not going to waste this.

Next thing he knew, he was surrounded by villagers. They all wished him well, expressing their gratitude and how they were happy that he was doing okay. By the time the last few had finally left, Lance was already exhausted. 

“Why don’t you head back inside, get some rest?” His father said. “I’ll have food be brought up. Lance nodded, thanking his father. 

“I’m gonna go get the others,” Pidge said, bouncing from one foot to the other. “Oh, that reminds me. Blue,” Pidge turned to Lance’s dragon, and she tilted her head at her. “Green wanted me to tell you that–”

Blue rumbled in her throat, nudging Pidge affectionately before pressing her forehead to Lance’s, then taking off.

Lance blinked. “Wha..?”

“It’s a dragon thing, you’ll understand. Wait here!”

Lance watched as Pidge bounded down the steps and off into the village. He shrugged, watched Blue fly toward the forest, then went back inside. He had just turned on the last lantern when his door burst open.

“Holy crap–!” Lance didn’t have time to fully turn around before Keith’s lips were on his. Lance hummed in surprise, smiling into the attack as he snaked his hands through Keith’s hair.

They broke apart, and Lance smiled drunkenly at Keith. “Well, hello to you, too.” Keith poked him in the ribs with a growl, and Lance yelped. “Hey!” Then he kissed him again.

They only broke apart the next time they heard hurried steps coming up the steps. They only had a few moments to fix their clothes and their hair before Hunk burst through the door. Pidge and Shiro were behind him.

It was another session of hugging Lance with tears in their eyes, this time with Shiro. When they were finally done, Lance asked. “Soo, you guys obviously have something to tell me, so spit it out.”

Shiro huffed. “How’d you know?”

“Cause Hunk looks purple and about ready to burst,” Lance pointed at their friend, who indeed looked ready to implode. “I’m giving you the opportunity to tell me before he spills the beans for you.” He shrugged, and Keith punched him lightly on the arm.

“Well,” Shiro said, then he retold the story of his waking up in the infirmary a couple days prior to Lance. Lance had been out for five days since the fight. 

He told Lance all about how he’d woken up with a dragon egg in his arms. “Wait, a WHAT?!”

“Shh!” Pidge flicked him on his forehead.

Jeez, what was with everyone and hurting the guy who’d been in a coma for nearly a week?!

Shiro continued on, explaining that the Vikings in the infirmary weren’t able to take the egg from him since the island. Apparently, to anyone else but Shiro and the Verndari, it burned. Hot.

“So, what kind of egg is it?” Lance asked.

“A dragon egg, weren’t you listening?” Pidge said. “Did you fry what was left of your brain cells on the island, or what?”

“I know that, smartass. I mean, what kind of dragon!”

Shiro smiled sheepishly, turning around and lifting up the back of his tunic to reveal scars. Lance gasped as the achingly familiar swirling patterns that decorated the skin of his shoulder blades. Except that Shiro’s were different, his formed dragon wings.

“Dude!” Lance grinned. “That’s fucking sick! So, what? You guys found the Black Verndari after all?”

“Lance,” Keith touched his shoulder. “Shiro says he got those scars after the fight against the Galra.”

Lance nodded slowly, waiting for them to continue. But no one said a word, not even Hunk. They waited for him to put the pieces together and realize–

“Oh,” Lance said. Then, his eyes widened to the size of saucers. “Oh!”

“The egg is–”

“The egg is the Black Verndari!” Hunk shouted, then slapped his hands over his mouth, but no one spared his outburst a glance, just a roll of the eyes and a fond ‘Hunk.’

Lance sat down at the foot of his bed, looking down in astonishment as he worked his head around it. “So that’s why we couldn’t find anything about where the Black Verndari would be! It wasn’t even born yet!” Lance turned after contemplating for a moment. “But then, how did you get it?”

Shiro looked away as everyone turned to him. “Well, uh. That’s the thing. I don’t know. Apparently, no one was with me when I passed out on the island. But when Matt found me while everyone was looking for any survivors or injured, I just… well. I had the egg.”

Lance blinked, then frowned. “That makes no sense. How could it just appear like that?”

“Hunk and I have been poring over it for days!” Pidge said, and even she looked a bit frustrated that she hadn’t found the answer yet.

“Yeah,” Keith said slowly. “It just doesn’t make any sense… unless,” Keith whipped his head up and met his brother’s eyes, and Shiro looked away.

“Anyway!” Shiro clapped his hands together. “What we really wanted to come tell you is that the egg is hatching.”

“WHAT!” Lance shot to his feet. “When? Now? Where!?”

“Right now. Yes. In the forest, in the weird little alcove, Keith showed us while you were out.” Pidge said matter-of-factly. “And, if we don’t want to miss it, we have to go. Like. Ten minutes ago.”

Lance immediately got to his feet and ran for the door. “Then what the hel are we waiting for?! Let’s go!”

“Says the guy who’s been in a coma for five days!” Pidge said, following Lance down the pathway, the rest of them on her heels. “Took your time, sleeping beauty! Did the feeling of being cradled in Keith’s arms just lull you into a week-long nap?”

“Keith did not cradle me in his arms!” Lance rolled his eyes as they ran through the streets, ran through Coran with a tray of food going up to his house, and ran up the path and into the forest. 

“Uh, yes, I did?” Keith said. 

“It was pretty cute, the perfect bonding moment,” Hunk sighed dreamily.

“Yeah,” Keith frowned, pouting just a little. “A bonding moment!”

Shiro snorted. “Wish I was awake to see that.”

“Nope! Nuh uh, don’t remember! Didn’t happen.”

They argued the whole way there, going back and forth, back and forth, until finally, Keith tackled Lance to the ground. They went rolling in a ball of limbs down the hill until they went flying up a slope and up high into the air. They flailed, yelling as they plunged into the water.

By the time they climbed out and the others had arrived– Pidge was wheezing, Hunk was too, and Shiro was checking them for any injuries, while holding in his own laughter– they heard a crack.

They all looked up to where their dragon’s were crowded in a circle, decidedly ignoring them as they watched a large, gleaming black egg shake and dance and roll in the grass between them. Then–

Crack!

Thump.

A small, fluffy black and white dragon with small red wings came sprawling out in a heap of dirt onto the ground. Big, yellow eyes and blown-up pupils met theirs across the ground.

They were silent for a long, long moment. And then…

“Mreowrrr,” A low growl rumbled in its throat, then it promptly sneezed.

All hel broke loose.

“He’s adorable!”

“I want to hold him!”

“No, Hunk, he’s my dragon. Therefore, I should be the one to–”

“Shut up, Shiro!”

“Move, Lance!”

“Aahh..ahh…” Everyone stopped, still and silent as death, as they watched Black’s nose twitch and quiver. It sounded like a backwards growl.

“Oh my gods, it's going to sneeze again!” Hunk squealed. 

Keith furrowed his brows as the dragon began to back up. “Uh, guys. Why are the–”

Too late.

“CHOO!”

A giant plume of bright orange fire engulfed them, disappearing the second it appeared, but not without leaving them soot-stained and unrecognizable with smoke.

Everyone but Shiro launched back and ran for the pond, coughing and heaving, washing their faces.

Shiro stepped forward and swept Black into his arms, crooning. “He’s perfect.”

—

Later that night, long after they left the cove, they stayed together to relax and bask in the fact that they were all alive. That they'd made it out. They were living the best-case scenario.

This is what she wanted. What she had planned all along.

Keith kissed Lance goodbye, eyeing Shiro curiously before leaving.

"What's up, man?" Lance asked, smiling as he leaned on his door frame. The warm red and orange of the fireplace inside caressed his brown skin, the shadows dancing all around.

Shiro stood there for a moment, then hugged Lance tightly. "Hello, Lance," He said. Squeezing him once before letting go, turning, and walking down the steps to where Keith was waiting with a quirked brow and his arms crossed.

Lance watched them go, confusion creasing his forehead. Then, he felt a whoosh of cool air, and he looked out to the sea. He squinted, trying to force his eyes to focus on what he thought was a large, flapping white figure in the distance. But when he rubbed his eyes and tried to look for it again, it was gone.

"Huh." Lance stood there for another minute, feeling oddly vulnerable. Like he had just become aware that he was being watched. Shivering, Lance whispered, "Creepy," then closed the door.