[C][AU][Future AU] Messages

"Yeah, just slip it in between telling him how I was non-stop tortured by Galra, and the exact details of watching Anna be murdered right in front of me. Would have gone down a treat."

He hadn't even told Dick the details about those months he spent captured by Galra. He wouldn't.

He didn't want to see Dick anywhere near as broken as he had been after those months.

"Mine got decked out ages ago. Tawaret fixed me up when she was in a really good mood."

"You said it yourself, down like a treat."

He raised an eyebrow at Fleck - impressed.

There was a few seconds of silence as Lucas mulled over his thoughts before he pushed himself up, jostling the man in his lap, before he pulled out Fleck's communicator.

"I couldn't be arsed to find a good hiding place."

He plopped it on Fleck's chest.

"Fuck off. It's not like you've never fucked up."

His hand snapped up to snag the communicator when it bounced off his chest. "You were the sort of kid that was shit at hide and seek, weren't you?" he guessed as he flicked the thing on and began scrolling through the hundreds of contacts he'd accumulated in the past few years.

Mostly they were contacts of leaders of whatever group or planet they'd saved. Too many to count now.

He paused over Krolia's name before starting the call.

"I did't play it because it was shit."

He was bad of it.

There was a long pause before it, miraculously answered. Lucas made a small noise in the back of his voice, supprised.

Krolia. Make this quick.

"You were shit," Fleck corrected knowingly.

He knew his Paladins pretty damned well by now. There was no way he could admit otherwise.

"What, you don't miss me? It's been almost a decaphebe. I could just hang up if you don't want to talk."

Then hang up. I dont have time for a chat right now- shit.

The call cut off.

"I think she might be a bit busy," Lucas suggested, a touch of humour in his voice.

But he was still a little concerned for the galra. He knew she was more than capable, but not knowing what was going on on the other end was nerve wrecking.

Fleck's communicator lit up again.

Krolia to Fleck. I'm going to repeat myself; make it quick."

Fleck's lips curled upwards when she dared him.

That woman was a stubborn one.

"Have you met that woman? She's always busy. It's a wonder she doesn't think up battle plans during sex."

He tapped his fingers idly against his stomach as he waited for her to call back. He knew she would. Their relationship was still close, despite not being physical after that one time.

"Are you typical Blades busy, or in-the-thick-of-the-war busy? I need a ride back to the castle."

No one from the castle will?

There was no need for her to question that they had trained that first.

Currently in a fight. Reason classified. I could have a blade member cover me, but I still need to find a ship to wormhole to you.

"You think you'd be anything but my first choice, Krolia? I'm hurt."

She didn't need to know that this wasn't a stupid mission gone bad.

"So... Should I expect pick up in a couple vargas then?" Pickup, and a few choice words, none of which would be particularly nice, he was sure.

I'm a soldier, not a miracle maker. Make it at least five. There was a distinct sound of shooting and cursing. Lucas rapped his fingers against Fleck's head. Never mind, at most four. I'll as for your coordinates in three.

It was cut off again.

Lucas downed half of his can.

Fleck's lips kicked upwards.

"You're the best Krolia," he murmured to the dead communicator.

He dropped the communicator back on his stomach and tipped his head back to look up at Lucas.

"So, what are we doing for the next three vargas?"

They had a ride home.

"Shit, I don't know. I didn't think she would receive our message."

The possibility of leaving Earth in a couple of varga's was...

"Shit. We're really going to leave?"

They couldn't piss Krolia about by getting cold feet. They were going back to the castle; home.

"Krolia's the most reliable person I know. If she didn't receive my message, I'd be worried."

Even when she dropped off the grid, he could still almost always count on her to get some reply back to him if he needed it.

"Without a second thought." He wanted to be home.

"Shit. Shit."

It was truly happening. It wasn't just another drunken talk.

"I'm going to- I need to see my sister. I owe her that rather than going off the radar, again."

Fleck nodded and shifted out of Lucas' lap.

"I'm going to head to the Garrison, tell Emilia. She'll tell everyone else."

His hand slid around the back of Lucas' neck and pulled him forward until their foreheads pressed together.

"We're going home, Red."

[C] - - - - -[/c]

Lucas wasn't sure how one is supposed to say goodbye to family you have only rekindled with in less of a month, telling them that you were going leaving earth to live on a castle-spaceship filled with a ragtag team of aliens, all the while drunk on a half a bottle of whisky and two cans of shitty beers, but he gave it a go.

But giving it a go doesn't wasn't enough. There was not heart felt good by, just a wonderful, sisterly response of: "Go home, you're drunk."

So he ended up stumbling from her appatment back to his and looked to see if their was anything worth taking.

He took a backpack and slung a few clothes in his bag. It turned out finding clothes that fitted humans were not easy to come by, and he never liked how form fitting Altean clothes were.

The communicator was the only other thing worth taking, but they were easy to come by. He left it on a table with a note attached:

Sorry for being a mess and disappearing, and sorry for crashing back into you're life a bigger mess. Call me if you miss me, Lucas.

For the third time that late afternoon, he called an uber.

Fleck was more put together in his goodbye than his red counterpart. He was allowed into the Garrison as soon as he approached the gate and led through thr halls to his sisters office.

The conversation was short and quiet. Emilia shed her tears. Fleck muttered his comforts.

Then the emotions were buried. Business went on. Emilia had to make rounds of classes. Fleck was dragged along. It wasnt long before they foubd themselves stood at the edge of a matted area in the large gym, watching a class on offense and defence.

Fleck tutted lightly, watching the scene with critical eyes. "These are your fourth years? Theyre useless."

"Theyre the most promising bunch we've had in years, Hank."

He wasnt impressed. "If these are who will be defending our planet then Earth is a little more screwed than I thought."

Emilia glared at her younger brother for a long moment before she stepped forwards, clapping her hands to gain the class' attention. "Youre in for quite a treat today, class. This here is my younger brither, Hank. Hes going to show you what a real fight is. Good luck Hank."

Fleck pursed his lips at his sister but stepped forwards anyway, stripping of his jacket and fishing his communicator from the pocket before tossing it aside. "Okay then. To keep it a morr fair fight well go melee," he explained, clipping thr communicator to the front of his shirt. "You wont learn much if Im just batting you away so I want thr fourteen of you to just come at me with everything you got."

He wss met with a lot of riposte from the students but he held a hand up to stop them.

"Worry less about me and more about you. Your goal is to get this from me. Lets be fair though. We're not a bunch of wild Snekards, so lets not go for blood. No broken bones either. Got it, kids?"

He fell into a loose fighting stance when he was met with hesitant agreeing. Clearly fourteen on one wasnt good odds in their eyes.

A grin came to Flecks lips. Even just sobering as he was these little quiznacks werent gonna win. "All right then. Vrepit sa and all that. Bring it."

Fifteen minutes into Fleck flash training session, the communicator lit up again.

Krolia to Fleck. I've acquired a ship with a warp engine, but it's only powered to make two jumps - that's how many this ship needs to make to get to earth. We may be on here for a while while it recharges unless we can find some quintessense.

There was a few seconds of silence. If someone were listening intently, they would here the sounds of activation noises.

I need you're coordinates of where to land on Earth. Will be there in a varga.

Fleck flipped over a group of kids bounding towards him, landing lightly on his feet and ducking away from another round of 'attacks.'

Fifteen minutes in and four had already given up. The other ten were still trying to go at him individually.

You'd think at least two of them would figure out that working together was going to be much better than going in guns blazing. Weren't they teaching about teamwork in the Garrison any more?

He'd love them to try some of the training exercises he had to go through when he first became a Defender. These kids wouldn't last ten seconds being trained by his half Galra mentor. Giacinto would chew these kids up and spit them back out.

The incoming broadcast had his hand flying to his shirt, turning the communicators' volume down enough that not many of the kids were likely to hear it. This one would be hard to explain. Yeah, just talking to this alien chick I'm friends with. Don't mind me, just carry on.

"Kro! Nice timing. We've swapped." He frog-leaped over a young man, using his momentum to throw him into three other teens trying to get at him. "Bet you wish you were here for a training session with me."

He knew she'd chew him out for the nickname. Krolia wasn't one for enjoying nicknames or petnames in any way. It made him use them more, honestly.

He skidded under a dive, taking out another two students with a leg sweep.

"Uhh... Think you can get about five miles due... East of my communicator coordinates if I send them to you? I'll try and get there before the varga's out to meet you. Don't leave right away if I'm not there."

There was a grunt from the other end of the communicator, but she let the nickname slide for just this once.

Don't tempt me. A beat of silence. I will make you regret ever calling me Kro. Okay, maybe she couldn't let it go.

Vage, but good enough. And you better be there, I need to go back to my mission once I've played taxi service - so there better be a good excuse as to why the castle couldn't pick you up.

"The same way you made me regret calling you Lia?" A wicked grin spread across his face. "You gonna do that thing with your teeth again? That really showed me last time."

Two cadets came racing towards Fleck with fire in their eyes. Simultaneously they split, and attacked him from either side.

"Yes!" He performed a (perhaps a little flouncy and over the top) backflip to avoid the dual attack, but his excitement was clear when he landed. "Finally, some teamwork! Great job kids." He pointed at the two of them, slumped together in pain after attacking each other because of his evade, leaning back so he could address his sister. "These guys are shaping up to be your planets best hope."

Another kid, one of the last left on her feet, came at him. "Woops," he dodged with a light side-step, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"I'll be there. Just can't guarantee I'll be right on time."

Krolia let out a short burst of laughter.

I'm not entirely sure if that showed you if you still utter that nickname.

The communicator remained silent as Fleck trained the kids, with the exception of a few hums.

I'll give you an extra ten doboshes then.There was still the light tone of amusement in her voice. That is my limit. Keep beating some sense in those trainees.

"Guess you'll have to try again. Maybe this time it'll stick and I'll stop calling you Kro, or Lia."

But then again maybe it wouldn't. Lucas was right. There was just something about the Galra, especially when they were testy. They were just naturally hot.

"Okay, okay. A varga and ten doboshes. If I'm not there, I have to find another taxi. Heh, wonder if Uber travels across the universe..."

Lucas was waiting outside, impatiently. The Uber on the other hand was pretty content waiting around meter went up. Not that it mattered. He will have no need for Earth currency in space. He was pretty sure novelty earth products were worth more.

On second thought, maybe he should have filled his backpack up with random shit.

"Look, can you just let me in to see Fleck - you know? Hank? The commander's brother?"

Lucas raised an eyebrow at the security gaurd as he named dropped. The gaurd raised an eyebrow back.

"With all due respect," Lucas groaned, "you not exactly in your 100% sober. Even if you were, we wouldn't let you in without a visitors pass or a superiors permission. I have sent a message since the first time you requested it. If you don't stand back, I will escort you off the premises."

Lucas opened his mouth, the temptation to kick off on the tip of his tongue before he closed it again. With heavy recognition, he slumped against the car.

It only took a couple minutes for a jeep to drive up to the other side of the large gates.

Fleck leaned out of the driver's side, calling out Lucas' name as the gates opened. "Need a ride, Red?"

He pulled the jeep up alongside the uber car. "We only have twenty doboshes to get to Krolia before she fucks off back to the arse end of the universe for the Blades, so we should probably get going."

Emilia sat in the passenger seat, shaking her head slowly at the alien words. It sounded like gibberish.