When they arrived at the coordinates Allura sent them, Keith immediately understood why she had called. The documents were stored in a building located in the extreme south of the planet, in a region way more guarded then the Paladins were originally informed.
Allura and Pidge were surrounded by around 20 alien soldiers, being gradually closed in, like an animal finally being caught by its predator. They weren't going down easily, Keith could tell by the amount of already fallen soldiers around them, but it was simply too many for the two of them to tackle alone.
He and Lance were hiding behind a snow hill, still unnoticed by the battle happening in front of them, and Keith was using precious seconds to try and come up with a strategy that wouldn’t get any of them killed. He couldn’t think of anything fast enough.
If he just went head on, he could startle and consequentially distract the girls, which could get them killed.
He couldn’t sneak around either, since his uniform was too much of a contrast with the icey snow for him to go unnoticed for long enough.
Panic started rising in Keith’s chest as time was passing and Allura and Pidge were getting closer and closer to being completely closed in by the enemy.
And he couldn’t think of anything he could do.
Suddenly, a soldier fell down.
The first 5 fell so quickly that the enemy didn’t even notice.
Keith couldn’t understand what was happening, until he looked to his left.
Carefully watching the battlefield, Lance stood with his gun, fingers laying steadily on the trigger.
Keith watched and Lance aimed the gun towards an alien who was slightly separated from the group. He watched as Lance confidently pulled the trigger, and watched as the enemy fell, the moment he hit the soft ground going unnoticed by any of his compatriots.
In the blink of an eye, a third of the soldiers surrounding his friends were gone.
Eventually, the soldiers noticed that their colleagues were falling, but by that time, Allura and Pidge were able to get the upper hand. And, of course, Keith was more than willing to go and help them with the one-on-one combat, now that he knew he would actually be able to help.
But before he left, he looked up at Lance.
“Do what?” Lance asked, fiddling with some switches on his weapon.
“Take down half the enemy without any of them barely noticing.” Keith answered. He didn’t remember Lance being able to do that before he left.
“Oh. Uhm. I’ve been practicing this for a while." He said, avoiding Keith's gaze. "Pidge and Hunk helped me create this sort of silencer for my gun. It’s pretty effective, but it kind of messes up my aim.” Lance finished what he was doing and paused for a second before continuing. “When you disappeared I-well, I couldn't really sleep, so I just practiced non-stop. Today was the first time I was actually confident enough to use it in battle.”
Keith was speechless. How long had Lance been trying to improve his aim without him even noticing?
Not only that, but he couldn’t help but feel ashamed that he never considered that Lance could help him handle the situation. He got so used to working alone, that he didn’t even realize he had a partner. One that, in fact, was a lot more useful than him that day.
Keith didn’t know what to say
But he could at least try.
“I’m sorry that I’ve been so distant. I’m not… used to having a partner anymore.”
Lance finally looked at him, the small sun finally lighting all of his features.
“But I am obviously better when I am with you. I think I forgot that. I'm sorry.” Keith finished, trying not to think about how much he had actually missed Lance in those two years, thoughts buried so deep in his brain that he knew it would take a while to dig them all out.
Well, they could talk about it later.
“It's alright, man. But we can talk about all of this later.” Lance said, smiling softly. “Let's first kick some alien ass.”
Keith laughed. “I think you just read my mind.”
“Huh. I guess I still got it, then.” Lance whispered, more to himself than to Keith.
A wave of relief washed over Keith, that he didn't even understand what it meant. But it meant something.
Yeah. They will talk later.
But right now, Lance was brighter than the Earth’s sun. Lit in full light.
And, one more time, Keith was glad he was back.
