Finally a new year! I think 2017 sucked big time.

I stayed up to like 04:00 and now my head is throbbing because of the fireworks so sorry if this chapter is bad written.

So to begin 2018 in a kind of good way, I now give you a Lance POV.

But wait, you thought I was going to make this chapter happy? Nah.

O O O

This is ridiculous.

And not just this whole Keith is gone and so is his lion situation, but also our pathetic attempt to find him. Even if I'm only sitting in Blue and not moving much at all - floating in space with no idea where to fly - I'm still exhausted. I don't know how long we've been flying like this with no motivation whatsoever, but I feel like Blue is as exhausted as I am and I'm thinking she will shut down any second.

"This is useless", I whine for the hundredth time and I hear everybody sigh in the intercoms, probably annoyed with me but I'm annoyed with this whole situation so I guess we're kind of even. "We have just flown around in vargas. We don't even know where we should fly."

"But that's the whole point of this, Lance", Pidge says and she sounds as tired as I'm feeling. "We don't know where we should fly to so we're trying to find the right direction."

I huff and sink further down into my seat, my arms aching because they have been outstretched for so long. I need a shower again, and probably a whole moment for myself just to clear my thoughts because they are a complete mess right now.

This shouldn't have happened, this is so unnecessary. But of course unnecessary things always happens and something even worse could have happened than this but this is already bad. We have no idea where that stupid bastard is and for all we know he could be dead by now.

I shudder and try to focus on the black outside my window, on the white dots that makes me think of the hologram in the control room. On the bigger dot that is Earth. I think of Keith's words and his way of seeing Earth and I find myself wondering what his life really was back there. I only assume how his life is by how he acts but it's all probably a shield to protect his true self. I wonder how his family looks, how it is in general.

I hope that his shack isn't always that lonely like it was when we visited him and that he has parents to come home to. I couldn't see them before we saw Blue and I hope that him being alone in his home was just a happenstance.

There is no happenstances.

"Guys!" Shiro exclaims and I flinch. I have never heard him this hopeful before. "Guys, I found something! Follow me." I watch as he dives right down with the black lion with a speed too fast for my brain to process. But I don't hesitate to dive right after him, sharing the hopefulness with him. I hope he really found something, and that's it useful.

We fly right down to a very depressed looking planet and I try to see past the smoke and all the grey but it's hard to see anything, really. We fly through all the layers of air that I have no idea if we can breath and the sky looks to be a light pink but has more grey now.
There is no clouds, or maybe what I think is smoke actually is clouds. The four of us fly in formation and soon land on dry stone ground, making dust splash all around us. This whole planet looks to be destroyed, maybe once looking absolutely beautiful.

"The garla", Shiro says my unspoken thought. "They were here."

"There is... nothing here..." Hunk says slowly and he sounds shaken. "It's really creepy. Does anybody even live here?"

"I doubt there is anything alive here", Pidge mumbles.

"I thought you said you found something, Shiro", I say to get everyone to focus because I want to get something out of all of this. I look out the window and at the emptiness, at all the rocks and holes in the ground and nothing else that indicates a sign of life. "There is nothing here."

"I swear I saw something red down here", Shiro baffled says, and his voice is filled with so many emotions it scares me. He is always so collected and level-headed, being calm as a true leader. But now...

Now he sounds so damn concerned for this idiot we are trying to find and it just doesn't suit him to be this emotional.

"Well, there is no sign of red here", Pidge points out like it wasn't obvious enough. "Are you sure you..."

"I saw it... I saw something red, and now it's just..." Shiro doesn't continue his sentence and I can only hear his heavy breathing in my ear, making me feel like he's just beside me.

I gulp. This is definitely scary as hell. If the leader can't calm down in this scenario, how the hell are the others going to do it? I'm sure as hell terrified.

"Let's go out and explore the planet by foot", Hunk suggest and I appreciate it very much that he tries to give us hope, to continue the search of the lost red paladin.

We wait for Shiro to accept Hunk's idea but his line is just silent. I frown and wish I could see how Shiro is doing. It sucks that he can't have a breakdown in front of us because that's not how a leader should be and that the most bad with it. It sucks that he needs to push his emotions away and just carry on.

"Shiro?" Pidge hesitantly says, sounding as worried as we all are right now.

Silence for another seconds, and my thoughts are screaming.

Then:

"Let's go."

O O O

"Hunk... ", I say as we trudge behind Shiro and Pidge several meters ahead of us. "Do you think he is okay? Do you think that he's... alive?"

Hunk kicks away a rock by his feet and we both watch it roll away before he sighs and hold onto his cannon tighter.

"Believing he's doing okay is the only thing we should do, if we want to keep going", he says and I hate everything about this conversation. I miss having more normal concerns than worrying where your friend is in space or if that friend is even alive. I miss worrying about what grade I would get on a test I felt went bad. I miss worrying about if I would have time to buy the whole family Christmas gifts. I miss normal conversations with Hunk about animes we watched together, or just tease each other with spilling awkward things that happened to one another.

I miss everything back in Earth and I want nothing else but to go back.

I look up at the exact same second as I see something red before us, but then it disappeares as fast as it appeared and I start to doubt I even saw something in the first place.

I hear Shiro gasp in front of us and that's enough proof to me that I'm not crazy.
Me and Hunk look at each with hope on our faces and we quickly catch up to the black and green paladins.

"Did you guys see the red thing too?" Pidge breathes out and when she looks at me her eyes are twinkling behind the glass of the helmet.

"Not just anything", Shiro says and he looks to be wanting to run over there immediately but have to hold back. "It was the red lion."

"Whatever it was, it's not here anymore", Hunk states and I glare at him, wondering where the hell his motivation went. He doesn't seem to notice me, just looking at the spot where we just saw a flash of red. "And why don't we just track the lion down? That would be so much more easier."

I sigh.

"We can't keep track of it because the line between us broke, which means that the red lion is shut down." Shiro lowers his head. "Or in the worst case... destroyed." His words are almost too quiet to hear even through the intercoms in our helmets.

"Oh... Right. Of course..." Hunk lowers his head as well and I see how his face is scrunched in embarrassment. "Sorry guys, I'm just worried."

"That makes four of us", Shiro speaks up and I look over at him when he sounds more determined to do anything than before, standing with a straight back and keeping his head high. "But that shouldn't stop us from trying to find Keith." He tries for smile and it immediately fills me with calm. "If anything, the worry for him should make us keep going."

We all smile at each other, relieved that Shiro is back in track and I think we're all filled with a new kind of motivation. I look forward again and my smile melts down from my face and I can't even gasp. I stand completely still.

"G-guys..." I shake my head to shake in some sanity in myself and everyone looks over at me. With my empty hand I slowly point at the red moving figure. I can't see what it is but it sure ain't familiar. Or human, for that matter. But still...

"Quick, hide!" Shiro hisses and we all jump behind a big piles of rocks, kneeling down and looking at each other. I'm the one nearest the edge and therfore the one to be looking over at the red figure. I look over at Shiro and he nods at me, commanding me to scout.

I exhale and slowly peek from the corner of the piles of rocks seeing that the red figure has stopped and us looking down at something. I can distinguish something round as the head but it's still formed in a weird way. This must be an alien but it's definitely not a garla. But something tells me it's something bad.

"What should we do?" I whisper even if that creature is very far from us. I place my blaster in my lap and continue to look at the red figure."

"What do you see?" Shiro whispers back and place his hand on one big stone in front of him to lean in so he can hear me better.

I try to focus. I see the creature moving again, in a odd way. The back seems arched and the whole body seems sunken. If possible I can almost hear it growl, like a wild animal. This creature is dangerous.

I tell Shiro everything and he nods again.

"Then shoot it", he lowly says and we all frown at him. "Just in the leg. Don't kill it. If it turns out it's not evil, we can always provide medical support in the castle. But it's too risky to approach it. Maybe there is more of them."

I look away from the leader and bite my lip, almost drawing blood. This is weird. This is not how Shiro acts. He wouldn't suggest shooting something that might be innocent. He would approach it even if he new it might be dangerous.

But still a big part of me want to obey, thinks that this creature is indeed danger.

"You want me to shoot it?" I say when everything falls into its place in my head. "I might miss."

"There is always a chance for all of us to not succeed, but your still our sharpshooter, right?" Shiro smiles again and I can't help but to smile back. I look down at my blaster and nod once, picking it up and weighting it in my hands.

It feels like power, like capacity. I will for sure not miss.

Hunk gives my back one pat and I look over at my teammates, knowing they really believe in me. I nod again and peek around the corner again, lifting up my weapon and closing my one eye to see better. My index finger is resting on the trigger and I just need to wait for the right moment. I see past all the smoke and dust and focus on the moving target only.

My eyes lock on the one leg and I wait for it to stand still. My breathing fills my ears and it's surprisingly steady, like I'm a real pro when it comes to this. I may have classified myself as a sharpshooter but am I really one? Does anybody else even think that for real?

Only one way to find out.

Right there. I got my eyes on the target and I can shoot now.

Now. Right now.

I pull the trigger and break the stillness.

We all freeze when a scream fills the air, sound like a human scream.

I drop my blaster and we don't care about being quiet anymore.

"That sure as hell didn't sound like an alien scream!" I say worriedly and jump up, making small rocks fall to my feet.

All the others hastily get to their feet and we all make a bolt for the red creature now laying too still on the ground. I even leave my blaster behind.

My heart is almost jumping out of my chest and my legs moves faster, running ahead of everyone and as I get closer, I want to scream.

I fall down to knees and whimper when I see it, I see everything red and open eyes looking up at me in agony. I let out a strangled voice and place my hand on the wound I caused, feeling my whole body burn and my eyes sting.

"Keith!" I hear behind me and I just stare at his face, seeing it get paler and paler. He's looking straight at me but I know he's not seeing me. The smoke over us is reflected on the surface of his helmet and I see the long crack on the glassy surface and it surprises me that I started crying this fast, when I see my one tear hit his helmet.

"Oh no, o-h no... Keith, please, I..." It feels like acid in my throat and I inhale weirdly, like a hiccup except I can't get air all the way in. "KEITH!"

I place my head on his stomach when his eyes slowly close and my whole chest is aching. His stomach isn't moving and that means he's not breathing anymore. I hear nothing else but my pulse going crazy in my ears.

I'm not a sharpshooter. I was supposed to hit his leg.

But instead I hit his heart.

O O O

And with this chapter I just wanted to say happy new year :)

:'))))))