Based on the content preview above!!

Lance gulped at the sight of his new Bayard. It had come as a surprise to him, what had happened. He turned the longsword over in his hands. A sword. The red Bayard had turned into a sword.

There was nothing wrong with it. He was happy to get some praise from Allura, and he'd be lying if he said it wasn't super badass. Besides, he loved the idea of a sword. It would be better in close combat, and Hunk already had a gun. He was no Sharp Shooter™, but he knew his stuff. There would be no problem working with a sword on the field.

Well, there sort of was.

The problem was that he was the red paladin. With the red Bayard. Which was a sword. It seemed too familiar, an uncanny coincidence that just screamed "REPLACEMENT!" A coincidence that just called attention to Lance's worst fear (which was no longer the boogie man, thanks to growing up and fighting an intergalactic war).

Then again, maybe he was just overthinking things. After all, Keith wasn't the first human being to use a sword, and Lance knew he wouldn't be the last. So it was a coincidence and nothing more. Something to tell Keith next time he showed up and laugh about, maybe show off some moves to each other. That's all it was.

Or, that's all it would be, if not for Lance's overactive imagination and extreme anxiety. In his mind, it wasn't as simple as a coincidence. It just couldn't be. He would have to figure out why this had happened, why he was given a sword that clearly shouldn't belong to him.

He stuffed the Bayard under his pillow, letting out a small sigh of relief as he heard the muddled hum of deactivation. He began to pull off his armor, changing back into his everyday clothes, which, now that he thought about it, needed to be replaced. He counted four holes in his jeans and a three suspicious stains on his shirt. Somehow, his jacket was okay, but he didn't know how or why that was spared.

Lance hummed to himself, pushing away his thoughts for the time being. He had dwelled enough on the training session that changed literally everything, and he decided it would be nice to drink some orange juice and take a nap.

Unfortunately for him, he was in space, and had to skip the orange juice. Better luck next time, he supposed as he drifted into unconsciousness.

°•°

It wasn't the gentle shaking of the yellow paladin, nor the blaring of the castle alarms that woke him. Instead, it was something, or, someone, unexpected.

Keith.

It was too dark to really tell, but nobody else would gently shake him awake only to stiffen and stand completely silently over him. Besides, he smelled almost like burned cat hair, which made sense if he had been hanging out with the Blades.

"Mornin'," Lance yawned, stretching his arms out until they hit the wall behind him.

"It's the middle of the night," Keith countered. Lance grinned to himself, silently applauding that he got it right.

"First of all, there's no night or day in space. Second of all, if it's the middle of the night, why'd you wake me up?"

"Well, first of all, you operate on Castle Time, so there is a night and day. Second of all, I only have about two hours and wanted to catch you before I have to leave," Keith explained, crossing his arms. Lance studied him for a moment, doing his best to take in the details in the darkness. He wondered for a moment if he should tell Keith abiut the whole sword thing, but... yeah, maybe not.

"You make some good points," he admitted, swinging his feet onto the floor and hopping out of bed. Keith raised an eyebrow, as if to say I know.

"So," Keith began, turning the light on. Lance cringed at the sudden brightness, but said nothing.

"So?" Lance repeated after a moment of silence.

"Well, isn't there anything you want to tell me?" Keith furrowed his brow, as if he were expecting Lance to suddenly tell him something super cool and amazing, but honestly, Lance had nothing.

"Not really?" Lance said tentatively. This clearly wasn't the answer Keith was looking for, as he huffed almost angrily.

"What about your sword?" Keith asked, leaning back on the wall. Lance frowned.

"Oh, yeah. That," he said, trying to play it off as no big deal. Another day, another sword! Stab, stab, blam! Lance cursed his weird imagination.

"Allura told me about it. She said it's an Altean longsword - mind if I take a look?" Keith seemed suddenly more excited than Lance had ever seen him, and then it clicked.

He's not here for you, he's here for the sword.

"Sure," Lance muttered. "Knock yourself out," he grabbed the Bayard from under his pillow, throwing it to Keith. It turned into the longsword in mid-air, and Keith took great care in catching it by the handle.

"Lance, this is awesome!" Keith said enthusiastically. Usually, Lance would mock him for using such an out-of-character word, but he just didn't care right then.

"I bet it is," Lance forced a smile onto his face and opened the door, walking down the hallway and away from Keith's confused looks and questions.

I guess it makes sense... All I'm good at is replacing him.

°•°

Hey guys! Charlie here. Sorry for the absence recently. I'm sorry to say it will continue, and I don't know when I'll be regularly active again. *Cough* spring break *Cough*.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this (though I'm pretty rusty atm and wouldn't be surprised if it's shit), and I hope you all enjoy season five, dropping on Friday! Y'all know I'm staying up all night to see it.

Again, sorry for being gone so long, but... BYE FELICIA.