part one
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The slow and careful creaking of his door opening is what wakes Coran from his slumber. The next thing he hears is quiet footsteps, slow and careful, like a lion cub carefully sneaking up on its mother.
Coran grumbles, squeezing his eyes shut tighter and tensing in wait. He knows exactly what’s coming.
“Coran!” comes a whispered yell, right before 140 pounds of scrawny Latino human comes running and landing on top of Coran’s poor body in a flop. “Coran Coran Coran you need to wake up –” Lance needles, shaking the Altean’s shoulder.
“Oof,” Coran groans, feeling his very bones creak. He sighs, although he can’t help the smile taking over his face. “It is early, Lance. I am old. Go back to bed. Wake me up in the morning.”
Lance’s knee digs into the Altean’s back as he moves, turning around to flop on his back (still on top of Coran, of course).
“But the sky’s awake, so I’m awake,” Lance huffs theatrically. Coran can imagine him throwing a dramatic elbow over his eyes.
"It’s the middle of the night, child. You are growing. You need sleep.”
“That’s not true anymore!” Lance says excitedly, squirming around some more. “It’s past midnight! It’s my birthday! I’m 18 years old!” He shakes Coran’s shoulder again, and Coran opens one bleary eye, taking in Lance’s blinding beam and flapping hand. “I’m an adult now!”
18? Adult? Please.
“If your argument to your newfound adulthood and lack of further growth is that you have completed 18 trips around your sun, then I have some shocking news for you, dear.”
Lance pouts at him, and Coran groans one more time, before hefting himself up.
“No need to pout, Number Four. I’m up.”
Lance claps his hands, elated, and Coran smiles fondly as he drags himself out of bed.
“Okay okay okay! Meet me at the bridge! I already went to three locations, but I need your help to get to the fourth, so meet me there!”
…Locations?
Lance rushes out of the room before Coran can ask further questions.
Suspicious.
Coran shrugs, changing out of his blue silk pajamas into his royal attendant uniform. He doesn’t have to wear it, not anymore, but he likes wearing it. It was designed especially for him, after all. (And any memory from Altea always brings him deep comfort, even with the accompanying painful sting of loss).
Coran takes his sweet time strolling to the bridge, enjoying the quiet of the night. He finally arrives after several minutes of walking, and he pauses at the door, grinning as he watches the Blue Paladin dance around the bridge.
Lance twirls around, humming to himself, stopping abruptly when he sees Coran, nearly falling right over.
“Coran! You’re here! Let’s go!”
Coran squints at him.
“Leandro Agustìn,” Coran scolds as he’s heard Hunk do several dozen times, “is that a scar on your face?”
Lance smiles sheepishly. “Location 2 was a dragon’s den, it was wicked. She thought I was attacking her at first so she scratched me, but then we bonded and we’re friends now! She even let me keep this cool diamond.” Lance pulls a diamond seemingly from thin air, roughly the size of his face. Coran raises an eyebrow. He decides not to address the fact that Lance approached an actual dragon on his own, because honestly Lance is excellent with dangerous animals and has yet to give Coran a reason to doubt his abilities, and he has remained in one piece, so Coran’s not going to push the matter.
“Lance, child, you have not yet explained what these ‘locations’ are,” Coran reminds him. “I’m a little lost.”
“Oh! Right!”
Lance strides over to his station, grabbing his holopad and hurrying back to Coran. He flips it over, showing Coran a document with nothing on it but a few coordinates, no context at all.
“So this future version of me visited me at midnight,” he says casually. “We chatted for a bit, but he told me the reason he contacted me was because there was a list of locations he needed to show me that I am not, under any circumstance, meant to visit. So I ignored him immediately, obviously. The first location was this cool beach planet about a twenty minute flight from here – the time there ran differently, so I got to spend like two days scuba diving and it was my birthday the whole time! Only, like, a half-hour had passed when I got back to the Castle. Isn’t that cool? And look, these are all the shells I got!”
He pulls out a huge bag of shells, also seemingly from nowhere. Coran blinks at him.
“Oh, wow,” he says, leaning forward to inspect them closer, “these are beautiful shells! Excellent eye, my boy!”
Lance beams at him. “Thank you! They were fun to collect.” He sets the bag down carefully on his chair, then turns back to Coran. “The last location I’ve been to so far was this piercing place! Look!” He sticks out his tongue, showing off a blue stud nestled proudly in the muscle.
Coran grins. “That explains the lisp.”
Lance closes his mouth, smile sliding right back into place. “Yep! I don’t mind it though, I look so cool. My sister has a tongue piercing, I’ve always wanted one, so I was so pumped to pull up at the parlour.”
“Those sound like excellent adventures, Lance.”
“They were! The rest of the coordinates are too far to reach in Blue, though. That’s why I need your help!”
“For wormholes?”
“Yep! The next set of coordinates is in the Seflarn quadrant.”
“Oh, that’s quite a distance away,” Coran agrees, walking over to the podium. He stands with his hands above the controls, and Lance sits on the floor (he has informed Coran in the past of his hatred for chairs). Coran’s eyes glow as his palms make contact with the controls as his quintessence connects and intertwines with the quintessence from the Balmeran crystal. In one second he’s envisioning the notorious emptiness of the Seflarn galaxy, in the next, they’ve arrived. Lance is the first of them to move, rushing forward to the control board and leaning as far as he can over it.
“Whoa,” Lance says as he takes in the galaxy before him, “this bitch is empty. Yeet, I guess. Damn.”
Coran doesn’t know what half of those words mean, but he understands the sentiment. “Yes, child. This galaxy is very, very old. Most of it has already faded away. In a few thousand years, it shall simply be empty space.”
“Hey, what’s that over there?” Lance asks, pointing to a growing flash of bright light a ways to the left. Coran squints at it, considering, and they both realise what it is at the same time, gasping.
“A supernova! Happening right now! At this very second!” Lance exclaims. Coran rushes over to join him by the giant window, so he can see it better.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a star go supernova,” Coran comments.
“This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Lance breathes, and Coran chuckles.
“I take it you’ve never seen one before?”
Lance shakes his head, not taking his eyes off the star for even a second. Coran smiles, quietly taking in the boy’s wide-eyed wonder. To say Lance looks awed is an understatement.
It’s very sweet.
“Coran, Coran, look! It’s really starting to explode! Oh, wow, it’s so bright!”
Coran glances at the star, briefly, but finds himself looking back at Lance. He’s seen a supernova before, but it’s been a long time since he’s seen Lance look so elated. He knows which sight he will cherish more.
Lance continues to supply a running commentary, eyes glued to the fiery explosion. As the life of the star comes to an end, and the light finally fades away, Lance looks back towards Coran. He is shaking with glee.
“That. Was. So. Cool!” he yells, pumping his fists.
“That it was, dear boy,” Coran agrees, although the brightness he’s envisioning did not come from a star. “That it was.”
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