(Let's begin, then, shall we? >:3)
Maes Hughes was dying. He could feel his life ebbing out of him along with the sticky, red blood. Dammit… he thought, Why'd they…it…whatever…have to turn into Gracia? He'd been unable to kill the thing, even though he knew it wasn't really his wife. His senses were leaving him, and fast; he barely acknowledged the pale white shard fall down from the ceiling of the phone booth he was slumped against. As a blinding light flashed through the booth, but Maes's world turned to darkness, the man just registered a falling sensation and a shout through the telephone dangling next to where his head had been sitting.
"Hughes? Hughes?! MAES!!
A single thought flashed across the dying man's mind, the name of his best friend. The man he'd promised to support until the end, no matter what.
Roy…
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"Phew! Long day, huh, guys?" Hunk said over the comms in the Yellow Lion. They were connected to all the other Paladins through this, which was useful for missions or just for chatting. Lance, the Paladin of the Red Lion, replied first.
"Yeah! I thought we'd have to work even longer. I bet Blue's exhausted. Allura, you got any plans for later?" he asked.
"Actually, yes. I'm planning on trying to help Coran and Commander Holt with the plans for the Castle once we get back to the Garrison," the princess and Blue Paladin replied.
Pidge, of the Green Lion, laughed. "Maybe next time, eh, Lance?" she teased. Ever since Lance's crush on Allura had been brought to light, remarks like this had become common from Pidge and Keith, the latter of which piloted the Black Lion. They were all in good fun, and mostly just because the two liked watching Lance and his love interest squirm.
"Pidge." There was a note of warning in Keith's voice, though the laugh hidden in it wasn't 'hidden' very well. "But…better luck next time, Lance."
Pidge snorted with laughter.
"Guuyyys…" Hunk said, not really one for all this joking at Lance and Allura's expense.
"Ha, ha, ha," Lance said. Hunk didn't have to see him to know that he was blushing furiously, a pouty frown on his face.
"C-cut it out," Allura added. Hunk couldn't be sure, but he assumed that she was probably pretty embarrassed with the situation as well. Before anyone could say anything more, something strange happened.
A wormhole appeared in the sky, a man falling through it. He appeared to be wearing some sort of old-school–very old-school–military uniform. "What the heck?!" Hunk shouted, though he was already piloting his Lion as fast as he could towards the man. The yellow lion's massive metal jaws opened up and nabbed him, the man landing with a thud.
"What's his condition?" Keith called, concern in his voice.
"Pulling up the camera now, and…" A hologram of the cargo hold appeared on Hunk's dash. "Looks like he's unconscious, and–holy crap!" Hunk recoiled, feeling very sick all of a sudden. "He's–he's bleeding! He's bleeding a lot! Like, we need to get to the Garrison now or he might not–"
"Hunk. Calm down," Keith said. They were already on course to the Garrison, an accelerated one at that. "I'll call in and tell them to get the infirmary ready. Can you see what kinds of wounds he has?"
"Uh, um, they almost look like bullet holes. Yep, definitely bullet holes." Ohmygodohmygodohmygod…
~ ~Three days later~ ~
Maes groaned, opening his eyes with herculean effort. Everything hurt…his head, his chest…Taking a deep breath–ouch, let's not do that again–he tried to focus. Soft beeping noises echoed around him, and something was wrapped around his chest. He was laying down, and his military uniform had been replaced with something else. Cords seemed to be protruding from his arms. What the hell…? he thought. A door opened on his left, and heavy footsteps followed. Oh, no…was I captured?
After a few more steps followed by the closing of the door, the footsteps stopped. A second or two passed, and then a relieved sigh escaped Maes's assumed captor. "You're awake!" the stranger said.
Maes grunted, and the person walked over to him. "I was going to put these on your bedside table, but since you're awake…" he handed Maes something. He grasped the narrow, metal object in his hand and felt it to figure out what it was. Combined with his poor eyesight and the fact that if he strained himself to open his eyes more than halfway his headache would be even worse, Maes had to rely on touch. They were…his glasses? Grabbing the other arm and placing them on his face, the man blinked to clear his vision and looked at whoever had come inside. He was already leaving. "I'll be back with–"
"Wait."
The word was barely a rasp, but it was all Maes could do. He winced, but the person that gave him his glasses paused and turned around. The boy had to be an adult, but just barely. He had long, dark hair and an orange headband was tied around and through it. Maes had no idea how to explain what the boy was wearing other than it was black, white, and yellow. He gave Maes a look of concern, maybe even pity. "Huh?"
Maes tried to clear his throat, only causing himself more pain. "Can you just…tell me…where am I? Who…are you?"
The stranger looked back out into the hall, then back at the bedridden mess that was Maes Hughes and sighed, closing the door. "Iverson's gonna kill me for this…" he muttered, then sat on the foot of Maes's bed and began explaining.
~ ~Four more days later~ ~
Maes was now able to sit up, even walk. The doctors still wanted him in the hospital room, however. Not that Maes really minded–he didn't exactly have anywhere else to sleep. The boy from earlier–he'd told him that his name was Hunk–came by frequently to visit, sometimes accompanied by other people. For the most part, his companions wore similar suits of varying colors. Hunk reminded Maes of Alphonse a bit, if he was being honest. Compassionate, generally cautious, and just a gentle giant in general.
After asking Hunk, his fellow "Paladins", and the military personnel that had come in to talk to him, Maes and everybody else made an assumption that would cause a normal person to be checked for alcohol influence: the Lieutenant-Colonel had been brought from his own reality into this one. The jury was still out on what could have caused this, but it explained the incredible technological capabilities of this world and why his Amestris Military uniform seemed so out of place.
A knock came on the door, followed by it creaking open. A familiar face peered through. "Hey, just bringing you something to eat," Hunk said, smiling. Maes sat up.
"Thanks, Hunk," the man said, accepting the tray of food. "How'd it go?" Hunk and the other Paladins had been due for a huge rebuilding project the previous day–apparently there had been some sort of huge war that had wrecked most of the planet.
"Oh, getting rid of the Galra base? It actually went a lot easier than we'd–" Hunk was cut off as something seemed to appear out of thin air and drop onto his lap. "What's this thi–AAAAAHHH!!" Just like that, some sort of wormhole appeared right in front of him. Maes shouted in alarm, but the vortex sucked him through as well. Last and probably least, his uniform, cleaned and fixed thanks to the Galaxy Garrison, was drawn through.
Keith burst through the door, drawn by the screams of Hunk and Maes to see a strange wormhole close right then and there. "What the quiznak?!" he exclaimed.
———————————————————–
Maes landed roughly, tripping and tumbling but ultimately landing on his feet. And thank you, combat training, he thought. Hunk landed a little more awkwardly, with his face planted in the grass. "Are you okay?" Maes asked, hurrying over to check for himself.
Hunk grunted. rolling onto his back and sitting up. "I've been better, but yeah," he said, accepting Maes's extended hand and getting onto his feet. "Any idea at all where we are?"
"Well, it would appear that we're in a forest," Maes said, stating the obvious. To be exact, they were in some sort of clearing in a deciduous forest, based on the trees that surrounded them. Other than that, there wasn't really anything to go off of.
Noticing his uniform on the ground, Maes picked it up. "I'm going to go put this on. It's better than these." He gestured to his hospital clothes, which were clearly not built for falling through wormholes and had several tears from his landing. Quickly finding a place to change, he put on the uniform. It was strange. Back home, the Lieutenant-Colonel had thought the wool uniform scratchy and uncomfortable, but in this new place, it was welcoming and familiar.
Heading back to Hunk, Maes kept an eye open for anything out of the ordinary. This was strange new land, and he had no idea who or what might be out there.
