Okay, so (Season 2 spoiler ahead) when we were told Haggar is Altean, I absolutely sat up until three in the morning and ended up doing some author parkour in the story 'Many Happy Returns' so it didn't completely screw up what I'd tried to do with the 'Lost Paladins' series.

This fic - really, all of it - came about mostly because I realized I could Make. This. Work. Again.

What follows is a whole bunch of angst and feels. Brace yourself. It gets pretty intense.

Matt tapped his fingers against his knee in a nervous rhythm.

Aurelis bore it with relative good grace for about five minutes before he decided to try and reassure the boy.

"Your sister will be fine," he assured him, and Matt glanced over at him, one eyebrow raised.

"Really? The last time the Lions went out, Lance got taken by Haggar. I'm not sure I could call that a reassuring track record, Aurelis."

Aurelis wasn't quite sure what to say to that, but he certainly didn't wish to make Matt's worries worse.

"…true…" the healer admitted, as he came to sit on the couch across from Matt. They were both in the lounge. "But - now the Lions have cloaking devices - ones your sister made herself - so they are far less likely to be noticed -"

Matt nodded his head, as if to grant a point.

"…'s true…" he muttered, and Aurelis continued, his voice growing more confident as he went on.

"- and besides, it's just the two of them, out on a simple scouting mission - very quick, very simple, very safe. We're nearby, and ready to help at a moment's notice - so really -"

Matt winced and seemed to think about what he wanted to say next. "…Aurelis…I know you're trying to help me feel better…but I'll be honest with you..."

Aurelis settled himself more comfortably into his seat. "-I'd prefer it if you were-"

Matt nodded again in acknowledgment, and continued. "-I won't feel like Katie's safe until she gets back to the Castle."

Aurelis raised one eyebrow. "Are you saying that because she's out on patrol, or because she's out on patrol with the Red Paladin, specifically?"

Matt blinked, and then shook his head from side to side emphatically. "What? Oh, hell no, it's not because she's with Keith. It's just - she's out there, and I'm not with her, so of course I'm going to worry. It's in my job description."

Aurelis blinked at that, but Matt saw it when the healer's eyes cleared and he nodded back in understanding.

"Ah…yes. You're her brother."

Matt shrugged and looked away. "Yeah…but…I guess that I'll just…have to get used to it."

Aurelis glanced back to the door that led to the main bridge, where Rayzor and Allura were monitoring the star systems around them. The healer's fingers tapped out a nervous rhythm of their own before he spoke again.

"You know…I find that…projects…help me…not to focus on the worry," he said. Matt looked over at him, interested.

"Projects, huh?" he asked, and Aurelis nodded. "Everyone's working on one right now, and I'm currently trying to update and organize the inventory in the medical bay. I could really use some more help. Beyris is - well, enthusiastic - but - "

Matt half-chuckled as he rose to his feet. "-you don't want her to carry around the fragile stuff, huh?"

Aurelis shuddered expressively as he and Matt left to go to the medical bay. "Stars, no, who knows what could happen?"

"Yeah," Matt said, and Aurelis was glad he could hear that the Green Paladin's brother seemed at least a little more like his usual self. "An energetic five-year-old probably shouldn't be carrying around glass beakers and bottles full of alien medicine unless she has to -"

In the hallway, they passed by Sam, who was carrying a bunch of papers back to his room. He waved at them as they walked by.

"Thought I'd use this time to try and brush up on some Altean," he said, and Matt made a mental note to start doing that too at some point. He really should get at least a few of the different scripts around the Castle figured out. A thought occurred to him, and he glanced at the healer curiously.

"…hey…Aurelis…" he said. "…so…how do you know what medical supplies are in the infirmary?"

Aurelis opened the door, and Matt saw a beaming, mustached face turn towards him.

"Ah! Matt!" Coran dashed over to him and shook his hand enthusiastically. "Pleased to see you wanted to drop by! Come in, come in, we're working on cataloging the medicines today -"

Matt had to smile at how pleased Coran was to see him, and then Beyris' head popped up from where she sat in a nearby chair, and she waved at him cheerfully.

Matt waved back.

He'd forgotten how nice it was, to have people know your name, to have them smile at you when you entered a room.

It was really, really nice.

Allura wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. She and Rayzor were on the main bridge of the Castle while the others were on working on various projects, and the readings she was getting on the Castle's scanners were not what she was expecting.

"Nothing here," she said, and she glanced over towards Rayzor. "Any luck?"

He shook his head, scowling at the readouts on his chart. "None. It's strange, though. These star systems should have at least some Galra activity…"

Allura bit her lip, considering.

"Do you think there's some kind of plan being put into place? Something that would require them to cut back on their presence here?"

Rayzor shrugged. "I'm not sure. I can't think of one."

Allura sighed and pushed a strand of white hair behind her ear as she spoke. "Well, I suppose that I can handle it from here. Rayzor, do you think you could check on the teleportation device?"

Rayzor nodded. "I can. Or at least, I can run a systems check. Without Keith here to power it up, I won't be able to do much else."

Allura nodded again. The teleportation device that had allowed them to beam up the prisoners from the unstable mining planet had been constructed so that Keith could use his teleportation powers more efficiently, essentially channeling his abilities through the machine so that he could teleport multiple people out of danger at a time.

It was a draining process, and they only planned to use it when absolutely neccessary, but when they had seen that the mining planet's seismic activity had reached dangerous levels, there had been no other choice. Allura had helped take some of the strain off of Keith by sharing some of the burden from her station on the main bridge of the castle.

"-so - how exactly - did we - do that - again?" Keith had asked her later, once everything had calmed down, and she had explained that she'd tapped into her Altean ability to open wormholes to help him.

"…uh…" Keith had said, still looking confused. "Could you maybe say it a little simpler?"

It had been right after Pidge had drawn out that diagram about how Keith was human, and Galra, and Altean. Allura had laughed, but in a kind manner, and pulled the chart closer towards her, and Shiro, coming to sit by her, had handed her one of the pencils that Katie had left on the floor.

"Yes, I think I - oh, thank you, Takashi - well, let's see...Keith, here's what each of us did."

She used the pencil to write the word 'teleport' in the Galra section of the circle Katie had drawn.

"That's what you did, because of your ability to draw upon Galra magic."

Keith nodded. "Okay. I understand that part."

Shiro leaned over to watch too as Allura wrote down 'portal' in the Altean section of the circle.

"And that's what I did, because of my Altean magic. It's similar to opening a wormhole, but it's not exactly the same - and it's also definitely not the same as teleportation."

Keith had sat back and looked at her, confused. "Why?"

Allura tapped the pencil against one of her temples as she tried to think of how to explain it.

"Well, teleportation is…hmm…well, it's a shortcut between two spaces. When you teleport, many steps become one, and you appear where you want to in less than an instant. It's efficient, but it's inherently limited in its abilities."

Keith nodded. "Yeah, okay, I get that."

Allura looked over at Shiro, and he nodded too, telling her that he understood her analogy even as he asked the question that was on his mind as well as Keith's.

"So…what's a portal like?"

She tried to think of a good way to explain it, and she did her best. "A portal is more like…a…fold in space. Instead of many steps becoming one, it's more like the distance becomes - more - more fluid - and that's how the Castle is able to move across entire galaxies by going through just one wormhole."

Keith pointed at the castle around them. "Is that why it looks like we actually disappear into the wormholes? The whole 'distance becomes fluid' thing?"

Allura nodded excitedly, pointing the pencil at him. "Yes! Yes, Keith, exactly!"

Shiro looked down at the paper again. "Is it possible that - I don't know - maybe someday Keith could use either one of them?"

Allura shrugged expressively. "I don't know. To be honest, I've never even heard of someone having the capability to perform two separate kinds of magic before."

Keith's eyes had been wide with interest as he looked at the paper.

"Cool," he said, and he glanced back towards the Holts. "Well, however we did it, I'm glad it worked."

Allura nodded, and when she had leaned back, she leaned against Shiro's side. The three of them had watched the Holts talking, and Allura saw again how very, very glad Keith was that Pidge had found her family.

"Frickin' electrical interference," Keith muttered to himself. He slammed a fist against his helmet in an effort to clear the signal.

"Pidge! Hey, Pidge! Do you copy?"

They had landed their Lions on a moon that had been labeled as an old Altean supply outpost, way back in the days of King Alfor. Coran had said something about having extra wormhole lenses on hand being a good idea, or something. Keith hadn't quite understood what Coran had been talking about, but he and Katie were out scouting this moon to see if there was anything of value left.

Pidge had been able to land her Lion first and had headed into the tunnels ahead of him, and Keith was following behind her. With the comms shorting in and out like this, he was starting to get worried, but then his friend's voice sounded over the comms again, and he let out a breath of relief.

"Keith! Keith! Do you copy?"

The Red Paladin kept his bayard out and ready, but he felt his shoulders relax at the sound of her voice.

"Pidge, I'm here. What's going on?"

"Sorry for the - delay - my armor - it got caught on some sort of - magnetic rock - in the tunnels - can you come and - uh - you know - help me out?"

"No problem. Be there in a tic."