Lance woke up the next morning, feeling rested and content in his bed. That very fact made him jump to his feet because who the fuck wakes up well rested? He immediately hurried to put on clothes, stumbled into his trousers, and forgot to tie his shoes.

Why the hell had no one woken him up if he was this late? Lance had slept like hell ever since their first week in the castle of lions. Part of that had to do with him almost dying from a bomb attack. The other with his growing concern for his friends and therefore staying up late more often than not. And yesterday had been a long night.

The castle greeted him with soft silence. Lance skidded down the hallway, lungs almost out of breath as he rushed into the kitchen. Heaving for breath, he came to a halt in front of the table. Cleaned and only carrying some of Hunk's snacks that he had made the night before, the metal table stared back at him. Then, Lance turned his head to the space oven that was telling the time. It was 4 am in space time.

"What?" Lance stared at the display, mouth slightly gaping as he tried to make sense of it. The room echoed his word back to him. Suddenly, the silence no longer felt like silence but like the heavy blanket of soundlessness that always befell the night.

Scratching the back of his head, Lance went to fill himself a glass with water. It hydrated him, tasting almost heavenly. Lance got the feeling that if it started to taste any better, he'd never ask for any other drink again. He wasn't even hungry. In fact, the thought of eating suddenly put him off and he sat down at the table. With one hand, he held his glass, with the other he let a few drops shape stars in the air.

Not being tired, not being hungry, the change of taste of water... Whatever this was, it was definitely connected to his new powers.

The sound of squeaking, then suddenly stopping shoes made Lance look up and let the water fall back into its glass. Black hair and a red cropped jacket caught his eyes and a pleased smile stole itself on Lance's face. "Morning, Mullet. Up for training so soon?"

Keith was staring at him. "You're up?"

Lance chuckled and shrugged. "So are you. It's 4 am. What the fuck, Keith?"

Keith blinked once, then hesitantly moved one step into the kitchen. He slowly walked to the fridge and got himself one of the gooshakes that no one liked. Their only benefit were the nutrients they provided, the taste was horrid. Lance grimaced just watching him.

Keith closed the fridge door with a clack and leaned back against it. "I went to bed early, remember? I just woke up and thought I should get some training in. Why are YOU up?" His brow twitched, almost in worry.

Lance shrugged. "Maybe I'm up to train early too."

"I thought you were 'working'-," Keith made air quotes, "all night." Lance rolled his eyes and drank more of his water. Keith's eyes seemed to follow the movement, then he looked at the empty table. "Is this your breakfast now?"

Lance raised his brow. "Is it so wrong for me to start the day with a good old glass of water?"

Keith crossed his arms, adjusted his stance and staring Lance down. "You're eating a lot less than usual and you're drinking a lot more water. And unless you did go to bed early, you're sleeping less too. Does this have to do with your new powers?"

Lance let one of his fingers slide over the rim of the glass. Damn, he had caught on quick. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Keith pushed himself off the fridge and leaned over the table to glare at Lance. "The castle scan said you're no longer human, Lance! It has EVERYTHING to do with it! If you don't need to eat any longer, if you need OTHER things to function, then we need to know!"

Lance felt the words like a slap to his face. 'No longer human.' He winced. Keith was once again trying to make him tell the others. Figured.

"Look, Keithikens... I'm flattered that you're worried for me and all that... but I'm pretty sure that I only need to drink more water. Because Karak'nirir was the goddess and made OF water. So, I suppose I just need to make sure I don't dehydrate too much."

Keith breathed out of his nose. "And what if we're on another desert planet? We've been to planets like that! We'll have to pack more water packs for you then! We need to be prepared!" He seemed overly concerned and more grumpy than usual. It was almost touching.

Lance softly shoved Keith back from the table as he got up. "Then we just do that. You've got my back, right?"

"Lance!" Keith's voice almost broke. "How much are you going to change? It's JUST a glass of water today, just an hour less sleep for now. But what about tomorrow? Next week? What if you become unable to sleep? You're already dissolving in water if you don't focus enough! What if you become unstable? What if you turn into a cloud?"

Lance sighed. "Keith. Seriously, it's just me. You don't have to worry so much." Truth be told, Keith's words really hit home. Lance was doing his best not to focus on all those things. He was trying to accept the change as it came and went and not focusing on what it would turn him into. What it would mean.
The most important part was that he could still pilot the blue lion and he didn't want to think what would happen if his quintessence had changed so much that he couldn't. "If it'll really come to that, then you can still tell the others."

Keith huffed out a breath. "It could be too late by then."

"Jeez, Keith. What do you want?" Lance turned around to face Keith head on. "We talked about this! You promised you would wait."

Keith averted his eyes. Then, finally he sighed. "Fine." He turned on his heels, walking past Lance and muttering to himself. "I'm gonna go train."

"Don't overwork yourself." The words came out more hissy than intended. Lance felt irritated as he watched Keith leave the room. What a hypocrite. He hadn't eaten breakfast either!

.....

In hindsight, Lance was wrong.

Since Lance had some extra time, he decided to check up on the lions. Blue's hangar was vacant as usual. It was funny how the hangars had become their second rooms. Pidge's was full of her tech stuff, as she tended to work on her lion's defences quite often.
Hunk was similar, only that the man tended to build a kitchen into his lion, in case they ever got stranded on an isolated island or something. Don't ask Lance how that made sense.
Shiro's and Keith's hangar were usually as empty as Lance's own. Out of all the paladins, Shiro was probably the only one who actively worked on his mind connection to the lions the most.

Lance smiled as blue's eyes lit up at his arrival. "Hello, beautiful, how are you?" Blue's purr was somehow overshadowed by a quiet giggle, making Lance pause. "Hello?" Curiously, Lance looked around. "Is there someone here?" The lions did not giggle. They projected feelings and pictures into their minds. Ergo, it couldn't have come from Blue.

The blue lion blinded him for a moment with her lights. "Oh..."

Lance halted in his step. "Blue? Was that you?"

"Oh my. You can finally do it?"

"You can talk?" Lance crossed his arms over his chest and moved backwards. "Am I hallucinating?"

"I have talked to you before, my paladin. This is the first time you're seeking out my voice yourself." Her voice was melodic, almost like a cat's.

Lance laughed nervously. "Okay, this is awkward." Yet... not the oddest thing that had happened in the past few weeks. Lance found himself oddly unsurprised. He had always known the lions were sentient, and his new powers made him expect nearly anything. To find his lion talking back to him was still kind of... surprising.

Blue seemed to smile. Lance could still feel her emotions as he always had. "You're growing into it, my paladin! I am so proud of you! I always knew you would be able to bear it."

Lance blinked. "Bear... what? The water? Why, should I... not be able to?"

The lion seemed to smile. "Not many can bear the burden of the ocean. Most others would have gone insane."

Lance gulped. "Insane?" That was unnerving.

"Power is a tempting thing to acquire. There have been people stronger and braver than you who could not bear it. Who would not be able to change for the greater good, who would not accept their role as gods of creation and overflowed and bursted with their might. There have been people who wished to change too much and dissolved into the universe, never to be themselves again."

Lance's eye twitched. "Has... Karak'nirir tried this before?"

The blue lion nodded. "Many times. She can not cease to exist before you fully grow into your powers. You must become the ocean and yet remain yourself. You must connect with all living beings and yet -" Blue paused but grinned widely. "You've already come further than the last one."

Lance opened his mouth, half in offence. "I could... die?"

"Or disappear," said Blue cheerfully. "But you won't. I know you won't."

Lance stepped back in fear. "How can you be so sure? How- YOU told her I would be a good match! You're risking my life for this?"

Blue tilted her head, seemingly unfazed. "I'm not. You're not going to fail."

Lance's heart was beating fast. Then he pulled at his own hair in a sudden panic. Before he knew it, he had turned around. Blue yelled after him, but he ignored her. Lance drifted around one corner after the other, before the training deck came back into view.

Even from here, through the hallway and his raging pulse could he hear Keith's sword clanking against a gladiator's. Lance burst into the room, panting heavily and finding Keith grimacing and sweating from concentration. He was still pushing against the gladiator, not focussing on who entered the room.

"KEITH!" Lance yelled, making Keith lose concentration and he was knocked down by the gladiator.

"End training sequence!" He turned to Lance with wide eyes. "Lance, what the fuck?"

Lance already had tears in his eyes. Before he knew it, he began to ramble at him, half apologising, half explaining what had happened earlier. With each word, Keith's eyes grew wider in fear and the fear spurted on Lance's own.

In his panic, Lance gestured widely and a wave of emotion washed over them both, raining down on them quite literally like a soft drizzle.

Before Lance could break down at the news, Keith put his hands on Lance's shoulder and stared him down. "Lance, calm down, okay? We'll figure this out!"

"Telling me to calm down is not going to calm me the fuck down, Keith!" Lance nearly yelled at him and saw Keith's frown deepen. Sometimes Lance forgot that Keith lacked a severe amount of social skills. Lance sighed. "Hug me!"

"Huh?" Keith's eyes widened before Lance collapsed into his arms.

Lance clutched at Keith's shoulders desperately, his own form shaking from the knowledge that this change of his was far more severe than he had believed. And then, Lance's cheek pressed into Keith's.

The rushing of Keith's blood echoed loudly through Lance's ears. Thoughts, feelings, confusion, longing, anxiety. Lance quickly pushed away. "Fuck, sorry."

Keith was still staring at him. "What -"

"People... water... You're made of water. I didn't... Sorry."

Keith immediately flushed. Then he took a deep breath, clearly on the verge of bursting into an angry rant. "It's okay-," he gritted through his teeth. "It's fine. Totally fine. Just you looking into my head again. We're paladins, we do this all the time, it's fine." His mutters were directed at himself and he took another deep breath. "Okay, Lance. We should... urgh... sit you down."

"Water. I need water."

"yeah, sure." Keith hesitated, then he led Lance to the nearest bench and ordered Lance to sit down before he handed him his water bottle. Almost greedily, Lance emptied it, feeling the rush of water calming him more than anything else could.

"Lance... don't you think this warrants telling the others?"

Lance gritted his teeth. He felt himself melting and noticed how his feet had turned into a puddle on the ground. Keith saw it but wisely didn't comment. "Maybe it does."

Keith relaxed. "Then why don't you?"

"BeCAUSE!" Lance flailed his arms and reeled his feet back in. Then he sighed. Maybe it was because he was desperate and emotional, but Keith was the only one he could currently tell about this. "Because if I can barely keep myself from feeling your emotions, when I PROMISED I wouldn't, how do you think I'll feel when I kill someone with my powers?"

Keith's relaxed expression fell and his mouth opened slightly.

"YES, we kill Galra soldiers all the time because we HAVE to. But if my powers are to decide this war for us, then what will Allura expect me to do? Commit a genocide, just because I CAN?"

"I-" Keith paused. "You think Allura would do that?"

"What else does it mean?" Lance looked up from underneath his hands. "Fighting with these powers means DROWNING people. It means cutting them up, suffocating them within myself! And I will FEEL it. When I became one with the pool, I became one with everything inside it! I don't think I can handle feeling the deaths of thousands of people! I don't think I can handle seeing their memories and feeling their pain and the reasons for siding with Zarkon and just murder them!" Lance had tears in his eyes. "I can't do this, Keith!"

Keith quietly sat down beside him. He hesitated for a moment, then he grabbed Lance's shirt and pulled him into another awkward hug. Lance leaned against him, trying with all his might not to pry into his mind.

"I won't tell them," Keith promised quietly. He was shaking himself, clearly torn by some things he wasn't telling Lance. "Not until you're ready to tell them yourself." Then, Keith bit his lip. "And I think Blue is right."

Lance tensed.

"Both her and Karak'nirir were confident that you can do this! I've never met someone who was able to adapt so well to unknown terrain, who has ever been so sure of who he is and yet knows when to step away to make space for others."

Lance looked up to find Keith averting his eyes.

"You know people. And... Allura may be our ambassador, but I often think that you do most of the work anyway. She talks to their leaders, but you..." Keith paused, his voice turning smaller. "You convince the people."

"We all do."

Keith sighed and turned to Lance. "How can you be so confident and cocky all the time, but think so little of yourself?"

"I am confidently realistic." Lance twitched a smile but Keith's eyes remained soft. Lance leaned his head against Keith's shoulder, making the man gasp slightly. Lance looked up at him, feeling himself relax. "But you can compliment me more if you want."

Keith chuckled. "Lance... You were a terrible pilot, your math was awful, you can't build things for shit and you're not a leader."

Lance's smile fell somewhat. "Wow, thanks, Keith."

Keith shook his head. "And yet, you made it into the GARRISON. The Garrison who only takes the most talented of the bunch. The place that Pidge had to HACK herself into to be accepted. The same school that threw me out because I misbehaved once! They only accept remarkable talents. And if you're all of the above and still made it, then you must have left quite the impression. You are valuable, Lance. You always have been."

Lance sighed and closed his eyes. "No. Not like that."

Keith blinked. "Why?"

"I was chosen by the Garrison because I have a thing for languages. I pick them up easily. I was meant to help them communicate with aliens, should they ever find some. I was meant to dissect what I heard and translate it accurately. THAT was my purpose and the reason why they let me become a pilot. For a planet like earth, who are still figuring out how to fly, I was valuable. What am I in a castle that has a universal translator?"

Keith's expression fell.

"Besides, it's not like you can't learn Altean or Galran yourself. It would just take you longer. Look at Pidge, she's already picked it up. I'm only useful for the first few months, maybe. We've long exceeded that limit."

"Lance-"

This was going too far. Lance leaned away from Keith and stretched himself. "Well, nothing to get overly emotional about. We should focus more on the part where I might die ... or disappear in my process of turning into a god." He put on a smirk, feeling more comfortable now that he was standing on solid feet once more.

Keith watched him for a moment but seemed to be getting the hint. As he got up, he grabbed his sword and held the blade towards Lance. "Let's spar."

Lance turned back around to him. "Spar? I don't even have my bayard on me!"

"With your powers."

Lance paused. "What? Keith, didn't you listen-"

"Not like that." Keith shook his head. "I don't want to drown, Lance." He tilted his head to smirk at him. But if you can turn into water at will, you can use it to evade attacks, right? Which parts of you turn into water? Just your body or also your clothes? When you dissolve, how long does it take you to find your form again? Can you use this to shapeshift? Blue told you that if you forget yourself, you may disappear. And if you're too firm, you may die from all the might you now possess. We should train on that account. Have you get used to switching on your own will."

In that moment, Lance felt himself rooted to the spot, but there was something about that smirk he couldn't quite look away from. He had never been able to before, but when it was directed at him, Lance always lost his footing. "That's - actually a good idea."

Lance hesitated for a moment, unsure what to think or feel. "Cut my hand first."

Keith's challenging grin wavered. "Cut your hand?"

"I don't know if I still bleed. And I don't want you to strike at me before I know."

...

It turned out that Lance bled water. He could quickly reel it back in as if he had never been hurt. They slowly worked up from that. Lance would willingly turn into a puddle on the ground, then regain his form. His clothes turned with him.

But when Lance was a puddle, it was hard for him to keep conscious. The first time, it had taken a lot of coaxing from Keith's part for Lance to remind himself that he was human. Once even the threat of Keith drinking him. The more often they tried the transformation, the easier it became to keep his mind in tact.

After they figured out how Lance could willingly turn into water and even move as a puddle at will, they moved on to him only turning parts of his body into water. They worked up to the point where Keith would try to strike his arm and swished right through without Lance's arm taking any damage. At that point, it was already time for breakfast.

Keith seemed satisfied for now. "We should work on it again tomorrow morning."

"Okay." Lance was really grateful that Keith was doing this with him, for him. It made him feel less hopeless and alone. He was glad that Keith knew.

"But make sure you don't sleep in a glass. It would be horrifying to know one of us accidentally drank you." It was probably meant to be a joke, but even Keith seemed to realise how unfunny that one was.

Lance smiled despite it. "Thank you, Keith."

Keith awkwardly smiled back. "No problem."

The moment stretched a bit too long before Lance ripped himself away from the gaze and shoved Keith out of the training room and towards the kitchen. "Now, breakfast, Mullet-man. Don't think I didn't notice how little you eat!"

"You're one to talk!"

"Water doesn't eat, Keith!"

Bickering, they entered the castle kitchen together. The others were already waiting for them and Allura glanced at Lance with only a small bit of disappointment. "You're late."

Lance raised a brow. "Aww, Princess, did you miss me?"

Allura frowned, but quickly relaxed. Even if Lance HAD overslept, she wouldn't chastise him for it, not while knowing WHY he had been up late. "Just hurry up and eat, won't you?"

Lance saluted and hurried to get both himself and Keith a plate of goo. Keith watched him with concern but took his plate without comment. Then, Lance did eat his good, despite his body screaming at him how disgusting he found it. It welt a bit like eating dirt or drinking polluted water. Yet, he forced the food down as much as he could.

Allura meanwhile reeled the attention back to herself. "Well, now that everyone is here, I would like you all to attend another mind melding session with you. It has been a while and I feel...," she side glanced at Lance, "- that we have fallen apart lately."

Pidge was the first to speak up. "Huh? What do you mean? We're closer than ever!?"

Allura shook her head as everyone else exchanged worried glances. "No, please, Pidge. Don't get me wrong. I noticed that there are things that some of us... I mean, I, don't really share with you. And I've noticed that I keep isolating myself for no real reason, while I preach that we should be open with each other. I have the feeling that I'm not the only one who is keeping secrets. Last night I learned something that I had never thought possible."

"And what was that?," asked Pidge.

"Did you guys know that Lance speaks Altean?"

Lance stopped eating as everyone in the room turned silent, and stared at him. Lance swallowed down the bite. "You guys didn't know? Allura, what do you mean you've only known since yesterday? You've been talking to me in Altean for months!"

Allura flushed. "I didn't know you understood me! And if you've known the entire time, why haven't you answered me in Altean before yesterday?"

Lance blinked. "Huh? But I have." He paused. It could happen, sometimes, that you would be so emerged in your language that you forgot which one you were talking in. It had happened to Lance quite a lot of times when he was calling his mother. He'd speak Spanish with her for over an hour and when he turned to text Hunk after, he'd forget to switch. It didn't happen often and he usually noticed it while texting, but it did happen. Most often, however, he'd just start mixing the languages because he forgot some words.

Pidge was the next to interrupt. "Hold on... You speak Altean?"

Lance frowned. "Yes? How could I not? Nearly everything on this castle is written in Altean! I need to know the language if I ever want to watch movies, don't I?"

"Holy shit, Lance!" Hunk grinned brightly. "That's amazing! Not even Pidge has mastered Altean yet!"

Lance rubbed his neck. This was turning awkward and Lance didn't like awkward. "Haha, yeah, I know I'm a genius, thanks guys." He feigned finger guns at Allura who only rolled her eyes fondly.

"I wouldn't say genius," Pidge muttered to herself.

Lance ignored that comment in his mind and overshadowed it with a fake response. "HEY! I AM a genius!"

While Pidge rolled her eyes, Shiro stepped between them. "Guys, cut it out. Allura wanted to share something with us about her isolating herself, right?"

Keith shot Lance an incredulous look.

"Yes, thank you Shiro." Allura smiled and sat down on the breakfast table, where only Hunk and Pidge were sitting at. Lance, Keith and Shiro stood at the counter top.

"Recently, I've been struggling more and more with the loss of my home planet. It's nothing I can change and it's nothing I want to burden you with- but...," she looked at Lance once again. "I noticed how I hate being alone through it. And I would like to request that we schedule regular meetings where we can just... talk. About our homes. I know you guys miss your own home too. You all struggle with your own problems... And I think we should share them more. I learned that it helps... To just be listened to from time to time."

The other paladins exchanged glances as Allura couldn't help nodding in Lance's direction. Shiro spoke up next. "Princess... Are you hanging out with Lance at night?"

Allura tilted her head, then her eyes widened. "What no-...I mean... it's not like THAT!"

"Holy shit, are you dating?" Hunk's eyes were even wider than hers. Lance's own eyes widened in surprise.

"NO!" Allura shouted into the room, face red. "He's just... THERE for me..."

Lance put down his plate and bit his lip feeling somewhat uncomfortable. After all, Allura seemed irritated and alarmed just thinking of dating Lance. To someone who used to sorta crush on her... that hurt. It hurt deeply. Lance kept quiet, waiting anxiously for Allura to sort this out herself. She didn't.

Keith looked grumpy, his arms crossed like that as he spoke up loudly. "Lance can't be dating her. He wouldn't shut up about it if he did."

The attention was drawn to him for that and Lance could see Keith grimace. He didn't like being the centre of attention. Lance honestly couldn't be more grateful for his little sacrifice. So, he shouldered all the fake confidence he could muster and shoved himself into the spotlight. "You wound me, Keith." He turned back around and sent Keith a playful smile. "Anyone would be honoured to tap that." He gestured down at his body to show off. "It would be the princess who wouldn't be able to shut up, am I right, 'llura?"

Lance glanced at Allura who rolled her eyes exasperatedly. When he turned back to Keith, he saw the man flushing and avoiding his gaze. Though his eyes did flicker over Lance's body twice.

An excited bubble thrilled Lance to twitch a smile. Interesting.

"Whatever." Keith moved past Lance and walked towards the door. "Is this enough bonding for today, or do I have to look inside that head, too?"

"No, no. Of course you can leave." Allura hurried to say, sounding relieved at his intermission. "But I would like us to talk more like this, if possible. Especially you and Lance should sort out your differences. Get to know each other better."

Keith startled. "What?"

"I know you probably have some reservations against it, since you two keep fighting all the time, but I feel like you could be great friends if you put your minds to it." Even Lance was caught by the sure confidence in which Allura said that.

Irritated, Lance exchanged a look with Keith. Then, Lance shrugged. "Princess is right, you know?" He grinned at him. "We should really BOND more! What do you say about a spa night? I could paint your nails, you could paint mine... Maybe we'll invite Shiro and he shows us how to do eyeliner."

"What is wrong with my eyeliner?"

"Very funny, Lance." Keith said but Lance could see the twinkle in his eyes even as he rolled them towards the ceiling. "But no one can rock that eyeliner as well as Shiro."

Hunk nearly choked. "Was that a joke? Did KEITH just make a joke?"

Shiro seemed confused as Keith finally left into the hallway. "Seriously, is something wrong with my eyeliner?"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lance was melting. It had nothing to do with sweating, he simply had problems with keeping his form during group training. After their little training session that morning, Lance was starting to feel his body differently.

Since he had to focus on which parts of his body he kept steady and alert, he couldn't focus as much on dodging as he did before. His instincts told him he could take the hit, so he didn't move when he should. At the same time, he needed to keep his disguise up and told his body to stay as it was.

Lance got hit over and over again, even worse than usual. He took the blows on purpose, somewhat irritated by the sudden change in expectation he had of his own body. Keith had been right, he needed to get used to keeping his body and shifting in quick successions at will, if he wanted to gain some form of control over his new powers.

Lance was starting to feel that the more he experimented with his powers, the more he needed to focus on what a body was supposed to be. While he had ignored the change in the beginning, he had just continued being himself and that had made it easy to keep form. Now that he was beginning to open up to the change, that he accepted that he was no longer human, he was struggling with it. But Lance was someone who heeded warnings. Blue had told him that strictly keeping form would break him and if he didn't fight for his conscience, he would dissolve. It was as simple as that and Lance was starting to truly internalise what that meant.

"Lance, focus!" Shiro's voice rang over the other's as tiny orbs continued to shoot at them. "Our defence is falling apart!"

"Got cha!" Lance shook himself out of it and tried to focus on his job. Shiro had no idea how right his comment was. Lance's feet were solid, digging into the ground, as well as his arms. But his core, his spine, his eyes, they were literally swimming. Lance was lucky that he was wearing his paladin armour, otherwise he was sure the other's could tell. The problem was that he also struggled differentiating between his body and the armour.

Hold up.

Lance startled to a halt, his body solidifying as he suddenly got hit in the head by one of the laser points. Even though they were set to stun, Lance could feel it all. It was all drowned out by the sudden realisation that Lance could turn solid metal armour into water!

And suddenly, it started to make sense. The goddess of creation, that was the title of Karak'nirir. Everything in the whole universe was well within her grasp. Every object, every living being, they were all made of the same cosmic dust. Was that not a lesson they had learned on the Olkari planet?

Suddenly, Lance could hear the heartbeat of a space fly in his ears. He closed his eyes. He could hear several heartbeats. The Altean ones just a tad bit slower than the human ones, the mouse's hearts just the more quicker. He could feel the entire castle, every room, every molecule of water in the air. He could hear the water rushing through the pipes, could even feel the goo slushing when the castle moved just a tiny bit further.

That objects could turn into water shouldn't make sense on a bigger scale of things, but somehow Lance understood it. It was a little bit like Quintessence, just magic. For a moment, Lance was lost in the void of his mind.

At the same time, Lance felt it become much more clear who he was. He was connected to all of that, but he wasn't IT. When he wore armour, the amour became part of himself, part of his self expression, an extension of himself, but it wasn't HIM. It was easy to forget that he was dressed at all, but it was just something he could apply to himself and push away when it was no longer needed.

The answer was so simple, yet enormous in it's revelation.

"Lance?" Suddenly, Keith was leaning over him, holding out his hand. Someone had ended the training session. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Lance felt a bit dazed.

"You got hit in the head, are you sure?" Pidge chimed in from the side.

Lance rose to his feet. "I'm okay." He blinked at Keith. "Sorry guys, I was just a little distracted. We can continue."

Hunk leaned over Pidge's head, eyes narrowed. "He's not joking. Lance doesn't not joke! As his best friend I think it is essential that we put him in a pod."

"No!" Said Keith far too quickly, but Lance interrupted him. "I feel fine, Hunk." He sent an adoring smile his way. "But if it makes you feel better, I'll go." He turned to Keith. "And mullet here can take me there."

Now, Hunk looked really worried and Keith overly confused. "Keith?"

Lance wiggled his brows, this time at Allura. "Princess over there ordered us to bond, didn't she? Come one, Mullet, you can cradle me in your arms."

Keith's frown darkened. "I hate you."

To elaborate his point, Lance grabbed Keith's hand and pulled himself up, then he nearly jumped into the man's arms. Keith startled and stumbled as he caught him. Then he blinked at the boy in his arms, face reddening madly. "Are you for real?"

Lance grinned up at him. "But Keith! I'm severely harmed, I can't possibly walk."

Keith looked at Shiro for help but the man only fondly rolled his eyes. "Just take him to the pod, Keith. I'm sure he's fine, but better make sure. He got hit in the head after all." He smiled at his brother.

Everyone else was laughing and daring him to follow through, so Keith exhaled a deep sigh but let Lance fall. "Fine, I'll take him, but Lance has to walk on his own."

Lance quickly saluted him once he jumped back up. "Okey dokey." Then, he followed him out of the room.

Already in the hallway, Keith was already hissing in his direction. "What the hell was that?"

"What was what?"

"Everything! Why did you ask me to take you to the pod? Shouldn't you AVOID going there?" Keith's face was still sporting a lovely shade of red and it satisfied Lance greatly.

"Why would I?" Lance crossed his arms behind his head. "I take wounds very seriously. If we as a team can't take care of ourselves, then the whole universe will suffer. I won't ignore that, not even as a joke."

Keith halted. "Lance... you bleed water. The castle system doesn't recognise you anymore! They will KNOW. Pidge works on the castle system all day! She'll see!"

"Only if I gain their attention by being weird about it. Pidge doesn't check up on the medical records unless she thinks something is wrong. Besides, an unidentified being is already documented inside the castle records. It doesn't really matter what I do at this point." Lance kept walking and let Keith slowly catch up with him.

"Do you do this often?"

"Getting check ups? No, not really."

"No, I mean..." Keith growled. "Making jokes like that! Tomorrow too, what was that with you and Allura? You were avoiding the entire topic! And what about you knowing Altean? I don't know you well enough, so I figured it makes sense I wouldn't know. But what about Hunk? Isn't he like... your best friend? How come I was the FIRST to find out?"

Lance sighed, then he stopped himself, inside the hallway and waited for Keith to stop beside him. "Keith, my buddy, my man..."

Keith frowned. "Are you avoiding the subject again?"

"NO!" Lance relented quickly. "I just didn't want to put Allura on the spot. I know she basically asked for it, but SHE has the right to tell us her problems on her own, it's not up to me to expose all those things she's told me."

Keith's eyes widened. "So, you DO hang out with her?"

Lance frowned. "Keith, everyone on this fucking castle is an insomniac. Allura has her nights, sure, but Shiro is much worse of. Hunk isn't much better and I sometimes have to drug Pidge to get her to sleep. And YOU, you train way too much, Keith! The only way I can get you to take a break is by locking you out of the training deck."

"That was YOU?" Keith's eyes were wide. "What? Why would you do that?"

"I JUST told you! We are paladins! If we don't function properly, then we can't save the universe. So I make sure everyone sleeps and talks themselves out!"

"How do you even know how to program the door?"

"I was almost thrown out of an air lock, you think I wouldn't check up on how to open these doors in emergencies after that?" Lance crossed his arms. "Now, stay calm, come with me. And I'll show you something cool!" He sported a smile, watching as Keith bit his lip.

"So... you're really not dating her?" He was so awkward about it, it was really cute.

Lance smirked. "I like Allura, and she's super good looking and everything -"

"Lance!"

"But no, we're not dating. If those night talks count as dates, then I'm five timing with all the rest of you. Well.. except you, because I only need to shut you out of the training deck to get you to get some sleep."

Keith nodded slowly, thoughtfully. "So... this is what you do at night. You mentioned it. At the pool. That you have a job. That job is us?"

"Your mental health. Yes." Lance smiled widely. "BUT, that's not as cool as what I'm going to show you. Look at this!" Then, Lance reached out and grabbed Keith's hand. Upon the touch, Keith's skin suddenly turned purple.

With a shriek, Keith pulled away, shaking the hand in front of him like it was poisoned or like he wanted to cut it off.

"Keith, stop!" Lance was laughing and grabbed the hand again to turn it back to normal. "That was me, I did that!"

"I... what?"

Lance's grin stretched all over his face. "I can CHANGE things! I can CREATE things! I just figured it out while I was trying not to turn into a puddle! I can transform objects into water, and I can do the reverse! Do you know how cool this is?!"

"You had problems not to turn into a puddle?" Keith paled.

"Yes... for a second. But I figured it out! I think I now know how to differentiate! It's really cool!"

Keith grabbed Lance's hand back. "Lance, this isn't cool! This is dangerous! Are you sure you've got this? Aren't you ... getting too far into this?"

"No no! The opposite! I need to go further! On the next planet, I should try to connect with a real ocean! Not just a pool or one person, I need to connect to something bigger! Karak'nirir was the goddess of ALL the oceans, of creation itself! If I am to replace her, I will have to grow into that role!"

"But... an entire ocean? Are you sure? You said you would feel everything!"

"YES. But I can't avoid connecting with things! It will destroy me if I don't, Blue said that! I've got to reach out."

"You might dissolve." Keith's voice was small and afraid.

Lance was breathing heavily. "I'm not saying I need to jump into the water. Little pun there, did you get it? What I mean is, we should work up to it."

"We?"

Lance nodded. "You're already a part of this, if you want to be or not! If I am to trust you with this secret, you're going to help me with it! If I get lost in the ocean, I will need something to hold on to! And it should be something I will recognise."

"Or someone." Keith's eyes widened slightly.

Lance waggled his finger in front of Keith's face. "I'd recognise that mullet anywhere!"

"..." Keith stared at him. "You're joking."

Lance clapped his shoulder. "Yes! Exactly!"