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“HUNK! I need some back up right about now!” Lance yelled through the intercom, Lance’s head ached. The constant shouting and fear tore at his brain, he had barely managed to escape an energy beam as he called for hunks help. “Yeah buddy I’m coming now! You’ll need to distract them though!” Hunk was panicking just as much as the rest of the team, “You got it buddy!” Lance swerved to avoid another energy beam, Lance piloted his lion to keep the cannon distracted. “Hell yeah Hunk! Amazing shot!” Lance called out after Hunk crashed into the cannon of a Galra battle cruiser, the cannon completely detached itself from the ship and was now just a useless piece of metal floating in space. “Paladins! The castle of Lions had just picked up 20 more battle cruisers incoming!” Coran interjected with his thick eccentric accent. “Hunk! Two fighter jets on your flank!” Keith called out as his lion shot an energy beam at a fighter jet that was attacking him. Hunk harshly put the brakes on his lion and the fighter jets crashed into the lion with a small explosion, “Thanks Keith.” Hunk said happily. Lance yelled loudly, His lion had just been struck by a battle cruiser's cannon. Keith turned his lion around to see the blue lion floating without any power, “Lance what the hell!” Keith yelled angrily. “Shut up, would you mullet! I just saved your ass, but I have a bigger problem now. My lion doesn't have its power back yet, I need to get back to the castle. Mind giving me a hand? Please.” Lance was still groaning in pain from the energy blast, with a quiet sigh Keith responded. “Yeah, yeah I’m comin’ hold tight for a few seconds.” Keith destroyed a few more fighter jets before he was able to get to Lance’s lion.“Coran, open up the castle. The blue lion is damaged. Oh and Lance, thanks for saving my skin back there.” The red Lion placed the blue lion gently in the castle’s hanger, “yeah no worries no go help the others. I’ll be out as soon as I can.” Keith made eye contact with Lance through the eyes of the blue lion and gave Lance a small nod. “Come on blue, help me out girl. Please.” Lance whispered, Lance could still feel his connection to blue and wasn’t willing to let his friends fight Zarkon alone. Lance pressed different buttons and flicked a few switches suddenly there was a roar of energy and blue had power again. “That’s my girl!” Lance called out excitedly, “Whoohoo! We’re back baby!” Lance laughed as he returned to the fight and took out more fighter jets. “Just in time!” Pideg said with a laugh, “Lance I need you to freeze this cannon and Hunk I'm going to need you to knock the cannon off. Keith and I are kinda busy and it’s becoming a real problem!” Pidge manoeuvred so their Lion could point out the cannon, “You got it pidge!” Hunk and Lance Said in unison. “Shiro! How long is this going to take! We can’t hold off much longer! Lance has already had to go back to the castle.” Keith yelled as he tried to avoid several energy beams from fighter jets, one beam managed to hit the back of Keiths Lion knocking him back. “Shiro!” Keith yelled again. “I’m trying Keith, there are a lot more guards than usual. Somethings not right.” Shiro was suspicious. “That’s it! I’m coming in!” Keith yelled as he directed his lion directly where the fighter jets were emerging from, “Keith, No!” Shiro responded loudly but it was too late. The Red lion flew back to the castle swiftly while Keith broke into a battle cruiser. “Keith! Stop! Ugh, perra estúpida (you stupid bitch)!” Lance called angrily.The amount of fighter jets had decreased since Keith entered through the hanger door, he must’ve jammed the computer sequence. Pidge, Hunk and Lance and the castle of Lions were still fighting as best they could given the situation of their lions. Pidge and hunk’s lions were in much better condition than Lance’s was. Pidge had lots of scratches and a few dents while hunk had a lot more dents from crashing into the cannons but his lion still had plenty of scratches. The castle of lions was holding up the best, the particle barrier had low health but was still holding on Lance’s Lion however had serious damage, after all he was getting targeted to most. The blue Lion was missing a few panels of metal revealing lots of wires, the body of the lion was littered with dents and scratches. On the back left hip of the lion's body was a large burn mark from when the cannon's energy beam had hit him, the eyes of the lion were also cracked from when broken fighter jets crashed into his lion. “Hey guys, I’m back. Let's get this over with!” Shiro said as he emerged from the battle cruiser in the black lion, “Uhh, hate to break it to you but we’re still missing Keith…” Hunk said urgently. “Keith! I’m coming back for you now.” Lance flew in front of Shiro, “Wait, let me go. Blue isn’t going to hold up much longer if I stay and fight. Plus you're a better pilot than me, go help them I’ll get Keith.” Shiro nodded and flew to help the others.“Keith, get your ass back to the hanger now!” Lance yelled, he had landed in the hangar and fought off the remaining sentries. “As much as I would love to do that, I'm blocked in, I’ll send my location to you now.” Keith replied, the sounds of blades slicing metal were heard through the intercom. “Ugh! Jeez, I'm coming to you now.” Lance groaned, Lance managed to narrowly escape almost all the sentries. Lance! Watch out!” Lance turned just in time to avoid a sword through his throat. “Thanks Keith!” Lance quickly shot down the Galran soldier, “You got two at 12 o’clock!” Keith reacted to Lance's words quickly and easily avoided the blaster shot to his leg. “Shit, got any ideas?” Keith whispered as his back bumped into Lance’s back. “Not a good one.” Lance whispered back, “it’s all we have at the moment it’ll have to work.” Lance stifled a giggle, “You asked for this just so you know.” Keith struck down a sentry before turning to Lance with concern. “Hey guys we need you to attack the ship we’re on.” Keith froze, “Lance do you want us to die?” Keith yelled, still trying to fight the soldiers. “You got a better idea, McMullet?” Lance yelled back, Keith rolled his eyes. “Go for it guys. Hate to admit it but Lance is right, we won’t be able to get out until you disrupt the ship's functionality.” Keith sighed, Shiro could just be heard cursing under his breath through the intercoms. “You heard them, we need to attack that ship. Coran, Allura, do you think you can cover us?” Shiro asked quickly. “Yes, Shiro the Castle has regenerated most of its power and shield health. We shall protect you and the rest as best as we can.’ Allura answered politely.“Keith! This way!” Lance ran and slid under a few soldiers legs, when he stood up he shot a blast through their chest. When the soldiers fell to the floor Keith stood frozen, he was a little shocked at Lance's ability to do what he did as swiftly as he did. “Praise me later Keith, if we don’t get going we’re going to be Zarkons dinner.” Keith scoffed out a laugh and ran to join Lance. Pidge sent a shot to the ship's engine and the whole ship shook, the shaking caused Lance to trip. Keith also stumbled but fell over Lance’s legs, Keith fell on top of Lance’s back with a loud groan. Keith quickly scrambled off Lance and helped him up, the ship shook again this time they didn’t trip over each other but Lance ran into a soldier. “Shit!” Lance reached up to his cheekbone, he could feel a large bruise forming from where the Galran soldier’s blaster rammed into his face. “Guys we’ve distracted them for as long as possible. You need to get out of there. If we shoot at the ship now it’s going to explode and you're going to die.” Hunk screamed in a panic. “Shoot! I can see the blue lion from where we are!” Keith called back. Keith used his bayard to attack one of the sentries attacking him and threw his other knife to Lance. ‘Lance! Catch!” Lance turned in time to see the purple dagger flying towards him, in a panic Lance grabbed the Galran soldier by its chestplate and pulled the soldier forward to block the knife. Lance pulled the knife from the face of the Galra soldier with a shocked smile. “Aha! That actually worked! Dude, that was awesome!” Lance laughed a little from shock. “That’s not what I meant but hey it worked. Now let the the fuck outta here!” Lance nodded in agreement.“Come on almost there!” Keith yelled as he ran beside Lance. They would both feel the rumble of the explosion rattle through the ship making its way to the fighter jet hanger. Lance managed to get into the blue lion's mouth first, Lance reached a hand out to Keith and managed to grab Keith's hand just before the Blue lion took off. Had they left in the blue lion any later they would have died from the force of the explosion that had caught up to them. “Got him! Keith and Lance heading back to the rest of the lions.” Lance had run to the cockpit of the lion to continue piloting, Keith on the other hand took his hand getting to the cockpit. When Keith eventually got to the cockpit he fell heavily on the bench-like table, and Lance could faintly hear Keith groaning. When Lance took a short glance towards Keith he saw a pool of blood forming on Keith's armour. “Allura get a wormhole ready! We need to get out of here now! We’re not going to win this fight, we’ve risked too much already and Keith is seriously hurt!” Lance was forceful, “Lance I'm fine.” Keith’s voice was weak and shaky through the intercoms. “No estas bien maldito idiota! (Your not fine you fucking idiot!)” Lance had resorted back to swearing in Spanish, something he did when he was annoyed. “Keith it’s fine, we’ll finish this fight later, Allura let’s get that wormhole going.” Shiro said politely, within a few seconds a large wormhole appeared. The castle, Hunk, Shiro, Pidge and finally Lance and Keith entered the wormhole. Once they were in the wormhole Lance left his seat and grabbed the small first aid kit all the lions were equipped with, “Shit Keith that's bad!” Lance whispered more to himself than anyone else. Keith took his helmet off and threw it off to the side, “I’m fine Lance-'' Keith's complaining was interrupted with a sharp yell of agony, Keith threw his head back against the wall and bit his tongue. Keith yelled in more pain as he moved to stand up. “Stop you idiot! Now who wants to die? Stay still, you need stitches.” Lance kneeled in front of Keith, his face level with Keith's navel. “Get away-” Keith’s words were once again disrupted but screams of agony“Allura, what was that?” Pidge asked frantically, “I'm not quite sure Pidge.” Allura responded, “One of Zarkons mages must have stuck the wormhole once we entered because the structural integrity is failing. Which means we have no idea where we’re going!” Coran yelled in a panic. “Pilot this damn Lion back to the castle then help me. We can’t afford to get separated again.” Keith groaned, with a frustrated huff Lance agreed. “Everyone, try to get to the Castle, we need to stick together.” Lance said through the intercoms, “Lance is right, we can’t afford to get separated.” Shiro commented, Hunk and Pidge managed to get to the castle quickly and landed in the hangar. “After you Shiro, I’m right behind you.” Lance said as he flew behind Shiro, after Shiro had landed Lance flew to the entrance of the hanger but felt something pulling him back. “Ugh guys, what’s pulling me back? I can’t get in any further.” Lace tried to get his lion to burst through the tension but failed. “Lance, there's nothing holding you back. Now is not the time to joke.” Lance rolled his eyes, “Thanks for that Pidge, but I'm not joking. Something is pulling me back. Oh shit!” The blue Lion was forcibly pulled away from the entrance of the castle’s hanger entrance and forced into the walls of the wormhole. “Lance!” the team called out in a unified panic.
No, no, no this can’t be… separated again. No clue where the hell we are, and Keith is injured as fuck, what am i going to do… ok, lets just breathe. I’m smart, I can problem solve, just stay calm. I can do that. Right?
“Try to hold on Keith, this is going to be a bumpy landing.” Being forced out of a wormhole into a random planet’s atmosphere had messed with blue’s energy, she was much weaker than a few minutes ago. “Come on Lance, you can land this.” Keith was stod clinging onto Lance’s chair, Keith looked like shit. Blood dripped from his stomach, his hair oily and scruffy from his helmet. Lance pulled back harshley on the controls the blue lions blasters engaged, the force from the blasters slowed their descent to the unknown planet. “Pess that.” Lance couldn't tell if Keith was delirious with blood loss or he was just a raging lunatic but he listened and pressed the button that said ‘off’. The Blue Lions engine and blasters stuttered to sleep and all power had been turned off, Lance squealed in fear as the lion’s descent speed increased dramatically. Nothing was stopping or slowing the blue lion from falling from the sky until Keith slammed his hand on the power button and the lion roared to life and the blasters managed to slow them down just in time for them to crash onto the desert planes of the planet.
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Lance almost flew out of his seat from the impact of the crash. Keith however had been thrown across the cockpit, Lance looked around the cockpit and saw Keith splayed across the control panel of the blue lion. Lance quickly got up and hoisted Keith off the controls and gently mauvered him into the pilot's chair, removing his helmet Lance placed it onto Keith's head. “That better give you oxygen. Now please don’t fight me.” Lance said gently, Keith could only grunt as a response. Keith had lost too much blood to remain consistently conscious, and Lance took this as an advantage as it meant he could provide Keith with first aid without having to worry about getting smacked. Lance had to remove Keith’s chest plate and cut the under suit of the armour just to get a proper look of Keith’s wound. When Lance helped Keith into the mouth of the blue lion earlier a shard of a broken fighter jet must've blasted towards them and hit Keith. How did he know? Well because a shard of sharp metal half the size of a dinner plate was sticking out of Keith's side. Luckily it wasn’t edged too far in, Lance cleaned the wound and stitched it as best he could with the limited first aid supplies. “Keith. Keith, come on. Wake up.” Lance lightly tapped Keith's cheek, Keith slowly gained awareness once again. “Come on, stand up. I need to wrap this bandage around you.” Keith was slightly disoriented but stood anyway, Lance quickly got to work bandaging Keith’s abdomen.Keith swayed a little as Lance pulled the bandage tighter, “Lance?” Keith whispered innocently before his head fell heavily onto Lance’s shoulder. Lance stumbled slightly from the sudden weight leaning against him, Lance finished bandaging Keith’s abdomen. Lance somehow managed to get Keith on his back and carried him to the bedroom in the lion. Lance gently put Keith down onto the bed and moved him so he was lying in what looked like a comfortable position and brought the duvet covers up to his shoulders. Lance sighed loudly and fell heavily next to Keith, “Keith, what am I supposed to do now? I fucked up, like I always do. Shiro’s probably so disappointed in me, and you're stuck with me and so is blue. I wish only I got sucked out here. I mean if that happened you could still pilot the red lion after you healed and I'm sure blue would’ve let Allura pilot her. They would have been able to replace me, like they should've done already. Ugh! This is bullshit!” Lance complained to himself, Lance looked at keith. Asleep and unaware of what Lance had just said, he still looked like shit. His hair was still oily, his mullet looked like a soft yet tangled mess, he had small eye bags, soft lips, small nose, a small scar next to his right eye. No- Lance didn’t think Keith was cute, right? Lance quickly stood and left Keith in silence. “Ok, where to start?” Lance asked himself as he stood at the entrance to the cockpit, “Probably the blood, yeah definitely the blood. Hey blue, do you have a mop somewhere?” Lance giggled at blue’s response, ‘in the cleaning cabinet’. Lance found the mop and started cleaning the cockpit, the sun was setting by the time Lance finished cleaning.With a sigh, a lance sat in the pilot's chair, he put his helmet back on and opened the intercoms. “Castle of Lions, Members of the Voltron coalition. This is Lance McClain, Pilot of the Blue Lion of Voltron. I am requesting assistance, can anyone hear this transmission?” Lance said professionally, no response Lance tried again. “Castle of Lions, Members of the Voltron coalition. This is Lance McClain, Pilot of the Blue Lion of Voltron. I am requesting assistance, can anyone hear this transmission?” Still nothing, he must be very far away from the castle of Lions. Oh well, he might as well try to sleep. Falling asleep was the hard part, staying asleep was the easy part. Lance woke to what he assumed to be this planet's equivalent to the sun blaring light into his eyes. Lance yawned loudly, “mornin’ blue.’ Lance giggled, he stood and stretched his back until he heard a pop. Lance wandered out of the cockpit and found himself walking towards the bedroom, leaning against the doorframe. Lance saw Keith still fast asleep, Keith mumbled something unintelligible which made Lance giggle. Lance found himself walking towards Keith and placing the back of his hand against Keith's forehead, a fever. Shit. Lance returned to the cockpit and got his lion to show him a map of the planet they had landed on, the map showed a small water hole close by. Lance put his helmet on and grabbed an empty bucket, Lance constantly listened for anything approaching him and kept his Bayard at the ready. Nothing approached lance, the trip to the water hole was successful and quick. Lance made his way back to Keith with the bucket and a small towel thrown over his shoulder. Lance sat on the edge of the bed and dipped his towel in the water before ringing it out and patting down Keith’s arms, neck and face. Dipping the towel in the water and ringing it out once more he laid the towel on Keith’s forehead. Lance had taken care of his many siblings and cousins many times before so this was light work for him but still something felt off, like a tingly feeling in his chest.Lance fell asleep on the chair in the cockpit again, the sun woke him once more, this was their third day on this unknown planet and they hadn’t made any progress. Lance had tried to contact the other paladins and even the coalition at least 20 times each day so far. They were also quickly running out of rations, even though Keith was still asleep. Lance finally made the decision to go into the town not too far from them, yesterday Lance noticed a trash pile with plane parts and what he thought was clothes. He would need a disguise so that's where he was getting it from, the clothes he found were not fancy by any means but they didn't have to be. Lance sported his paladin under bodysuit with loose fitting pants, a ripped shirt and a thick cloak-like piece of fabric. The town was run down but it felt comforting. The chipped paint of the buildings reminded him of his old family home back in Cuba, the kids playing in front of what looked like a school reminded him of childhood neighbourhood also back in Cuba. In fact the entire town reminded him of his home in Cuba, “Now hiring! No experience needed! Paid daily! Come have a go!” Lance's attention turned to a tall alien with yellow hair, wearing baggy pants and a crop top with gold bands around her arm holding a now hiring sign. “Excuse me. What is this job for?” Lance asked politely. “Bartending. No experience needed at all! You don't even have to recognize the name of the drinks to do this job!” The tall alien was polite. “Do you think I could do it? I’m not from around here, so I don’t really know anything about the area.” the alien smiled widely.The alien dragged Lance into the bar without much warning, “Rolo! We have a new hire! He’s not from here so he doesn’t know anything but he seems nice." Another alien appeared from what looked like a kitchen. He had light purple skin with patches of darker purple, an open vest with no shirt underneath, baggy pants and what looked like a belt with lots of storage pockets attached. Rolo put his weight onto one of his hips, “Hmm, fresh meat? Have you ever worked with drinks?” Rolo asked, void of any emotion. “Yeah, on my planet. But not anywhere around here.” Rolo shrugged, “Ok, you're hired. Nyma, you and Beezer can teach him the drinks.” Lance smiled, “thank you! When do I start?” Lance asked. Rolo looked at Nyma with a blank expression, “You can start now if you want? The more time you have to practise the drinks the better, we can discuss pay at the end of the day.” Nyma said politely, Lance agreed and followed Nyma behind the bar of the restaurant. The day went by quickly, Lance had always been a fast learner when he could find patterns or it related to one of his natural strengths. He found that the drinks that they practised only used 3 or 4 different alcohols or ingredients, “Ok, your shift is over for today. What is your expected pay?” Nyma asked. “Umm, enough to buy food?” Lance said cluelessly, Rolo smiled for the first time since Land had met him. “How about 9GAC every varga?” Lance shrugged, “Sure.” Lance held a hand out for the pay. Rolo looked at his hand and his smile dropped. “Rolo… we agreed that we would pay the new hire daily.” Rolo rolled his eyes and handed Lance his pay.Lance made his way back to the blue lion cautiously, dark had fallen quickly since he left the bar. “Keith? Are you awake?” Lance called out as he entered the blue Lion, Lance heard movement and walked towards it. Lance held his Bayard tightly as he entered the cockpit but found Keith asleep in the chair, Lance giggled. It looked like Keith tried to wash his hair in the bucket of water that he had left next to the bed, Keith’s hair was half wet half dry. The towel rested in Keith's lap, Lance picked up the towel and quickly dried Keith's hair, he didn’t need to deal with a sick, injured Keith as well as a new job on an alien planet. Lance carefully picked Keith up and put him on his back and carried him to the bedroom just like the night they crashed on the planet, “Lance?” Keith said barley above a whisper. “Lance? Is that you?” Keith whispered slightly louder this time, Lance giggled at the feeling of Keith’s warm breath against the back of his neck. “Yeah, it’s me. What’s up?” Lance sounded gentle, Keith had never heard Lance like that. They were always fighting, even in Keith’s delicious and exhausted state he found Lance's voice cute and oddly comforting. “It hurts, it hurts a lot.” Keith sounded like he was about to cry, Lance carefully put Keith on the bed and kneeled in front of him. “Can I look at the bandages?” Keith was about to fall asleep again but nodded, Lance gently lifted the ripped under armour bodysuit to inspect the bandages. No blood was visible which was a good sign, “Come on, get some sleep.” Lance said as he put his hand behind Keith’s head and lowered Keith's head to the pillow gently.
The sun woke Lance up to the sun in his eyes again, before leaving for work Lance checked in on Keith. Keith was splayed across the single bed, his head was tilted to the side with a small pout. Lance smiled, the badass dropout Keith Kogane sleeps with a pout on his face. Lance decided it was best to lease as early as possible, the town of the bar he now worked at wasn't particularly far from where they had crashed but it was still a decent walk. Especially considering that no one has investigated the giant mechanical blue lion that fell from the sky, “hey Rolo.” Lance said as he entered the building. Rolo didn’t respond verbally; he just gave Lance a quick nod. Working all day became a normal occurrence for Lance, Keith even managed to come in and help every now and again if his wound wasn’t too painful. Lance worked day in day out for about 2 weeks and still nothing from the castle of Lions or the coalition, and Lance still had to try and finish the patch work on his lion's body. Keith was also still healing from his wounds and he didn't want to risk getting off the planet and running into Galra forces. Somehow Lance and Keith had managed to be teleported to a planet that wasn’t Galra occupied, one of the very few strikes of luck they managed to get. “Lance? How do I make this drink again?” Lance turned to a confused Keith, Lance managed to pick up how to make the various drinks rather quickly while Keith struggled a lot of the time. Or that's what he told Lance, totally not because he felt a pleasant tingling in his chest each time Lance put his hands on Keiths hips when he needed to squeeze behind him in the small bar area.Keith and Lance generally walked back to the blue lion in silence after the day's work was finished but it wasn’t awkward, they had developed somewhat of a friendship. They still argued often but it was more often than not about trivial things that didn't matter, it was more friendly banter. They made it back to the blue lion and both headed to the bedroom, Lance fell heavily onto the bed and sat with his back against the wall. “What do you think they’re doing?” Keith sat on the floor with his back against the wall. “What?” Keith didn’t look up as he adjusted his gloves. “I mean Voltron, I mean come on they can’t even form Voltron! They’re probably stuck doing rescue missions. It’s all my fault, I wish I could just send you and blue back to them.” Keith looked up now, “any why wouldn't you send yourself back as well?” Keith almost sounded defensive. “Well I mean I caused this mess. And you pilot the red lion and I'm sure Allura could pilot blue then you guys would be able to form Voltron and well I'd be getting the fate I deserve.” Keith stood up quickly and walked over to Lance. Lance looked up at Keith who was suddenly in such close proximity to him, then Keith slapped him in the face. “I- What was that for!” Lance stood up and invaded Keith's personal space. "You're a fucking idiot!” Keith almost yelled despite being only inches away from Lance's face. “And you're not?” Lance raised an eyebrow, despite the fact the two had gotten closer they still had bad fights almost every second or third day.“No, I'm not the idiot here. Because I know your worth! You're talented! Lance, you really don’t know how talented you are, do you?” Keith took a step back and spoke more gently. “Ok, now I'm confused.” Lance fell back onto the bed, Keith sat close beside him. “Look, I'm sure you know this but I’m not exactly good with people.” Keith looked at the floor as he spoke, Lance scoffed. “That's totally shocking.” Lance was sarcastic, “I’m trying to be serious here. Yeah, I'm not good with people but I know when someone has talent. And yeah you have a shit ton of talent, really you do.” Lance scoffed again, he moved back so his back was against the wall and his knees pressed against his chest. “Yeah I'm amazingly talented in fucking up and hurting people.” tears forced their way into Lance’s eyes but he wouldn't let them fall, not in front of Keith. “Would you just shut up and listen?” Keith turned his head towards Lance but didn’t look at him. “You don’t fuck everything up, trust me everyone fucking loves you. Do you know how many times people have said good things about you when you weren't there?” Keith sighed, “after each fight you look over blue’s framework and your connection with her meanwhile the rest of us are in the lounge of the castle talking about what we could’ve done better or who really stood out and helped the most. I don’t think I can even tell you a time when someone said something bad about you. It’s always positive, in fact I'd make a bet with you to say that most of them are jealous. I mean who wouldn’t, you don’t get frustrated easily, you can adapt quickly and you're always helping!” Lance tried to hide his giggle but didn’t do very well, “Is the badass drop out Keith Kogane complimenting me?”Keith looked at Lance with a shocked face before bursting into laughter, “This! This is what I mean!” Keith continued to laugh and gave Lance a playful punch. “This is the Lance I know, the Lance that is the paladin of the blue Lion, the Lance that's always in a good mood and the Lance that always bounces back.” Lance laughed quietly, “Thanks, McMullet.” Keith’s face dropped, however he still laughed, “Seriously, I just do all that for you to call me something that should be on a McDonalds menu.” Keith sighed, “And the Lance that’s always making fun of my hair.” Lance laughed with his signature bright, gorgeous smile.
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It had been 25 quintants already, almost an entire month and they still haven't found Voltorn. “Keith! Get your ass up! Blue needs work done to her!” Lance had convinced Rolo and Nyma for a day off, and Lance intended to get as much work as he possibly could done. He had been able to fix or support the majority of the damage on his lion’s body. “Ugh, I'm up.” Keith walked out of his room, his hair a mess from sleep, his shirt wrinkled from lying on the floor all night and wiping a bit of drool from his mouth. “I hate you, how do you look like a functioning member of society this early?” Keith yawned loudly, Lance laughed. “Beauty sleep my boy, being this pretty isn't always easy.” Keith rolled his eyes, “Do we at least have some alien coffee left?” Keith slurred his words, “Right here!” Lance happily handed one of the two mugs he was holding to Keith. “Oh my, you're a fucking angel!” Keith took a quick sip of the hot liquid, “Oh I know.” Lance winked, “On second thought, you're the devil.” Lance shrugged happily. “I can work with that, now let's get to work.” Keith groaned and took another sip of his alien coffee, “yep, definitely the devil.” As the day went on the more productive they got, “Lance, give us a lift?” Keith asked, holding a large piece of metal. “Yeah sure.” Lance walked over to Keith, both of them were sweaty from the heat of the desert. “Ready? 3…2…1… and lift.” Keith and Lance lifted the large piece of metal with ease.
“Stop right there!” a stern voice shouted, Lance turned around first. “Shit! Keith… Galra…” Lance whispered loudly, Keith turned quickly to see 3 Galra soldiers. They were soldiers, right? Neither Lance or Keith recognized the uniform they wore. “What do you think you're doing destroying the blue lion of voltron?” the stern voice spoke again. “Destroying it?” Lance looked at Keith with a confused look, “we’re fixing it. This is my lion.” the front two Galrans looked at each other, “Antok, grab the short one.” The tallest Galran moved forward, his tail swayed casually. Within a few steps he was close enough to grab Keith by the arm, the Galran restrained keith. “What is that?” the female Galra asked, pointing to the dagger Keith carried with him everywhere. “Thats mine, fuck off.” Lance laughed at Keith’s attitude, only he would tell a Galra solder to fuck off while he’s restrained. The female Galra soldier moved forward and reached for the dagger, and Keith sent a forceful kick to her stomach. It was strong enough to make her stumble. “Krolia, are you ok?” the stern voice asked, the woman didn’t respond. “Leave us alone! We didn’t do anything wrong!” Lance yelled out. The man with the stern voice looked at the one called ‘Antok’ and almost immediately Lance was restrained by his tail. The woman approached Keith once again but managed to dodge the kick this time and steal the knife from keith. Her face turned from blank to shock when she removed the fabric on the daggers handle, “Where did you get this?” The woman sounded angry but also sad. “It’s mine! Give it back!” Keith yelled and squirmed, “That's not what I asked. Where did you get this?” The woman held the dagger tauntingly in front of keith. “It was my mothers, now give it back!”
The woman stood straight and put the knife in a holster on her hip that had been missing a knife. “Put him through the trials.” The woman looked disappointed. “What?” the stern voice questioned, “If he is telling the truth, the blade will reveal it to us. Put him through the trials, Kolivan.” The Galran with the stern voice nodded and motioned for Antok to follow. Keith and Lance squirmed in Antok’s grip the entire walk back to the Galrans base. “Who the fuck are you guys?” Lance finally blurted out, “some sort of taskforce thing? You haven't tried to kill us yet, which is weird considering you guys are Galrans.” The Galran, Kolivan moved and stood in front of Lance. “How do we know we can trust you?” Kolivan raised an eyebrow, “Likewise, gilipollas (douchebag).” Lance spat back. Kolivan turned to Keith, “I told you already, that was my mother’s blade. And if you don’t plan on killing me I’d appreciate it if I could get it back.” Keith squirmed more and kicked Antok, unfortunately he didn’t budge. “I gave this knife to my husband, who did you steal it from?” the woman said taking a step forward, “unless you’ve been to earth and your husbands name is Heith Kogane I didn’t steal shit!” Keith was furious, he has had that knife since he was a baby and he didn’t like anyone touching it. He didn’t even let Shiro near it. The woman stumbled on her words, “Keith…” She whispered, “How do you know my name!” Keith was yelling furiously, “You've grown so much since I Last saw you-” Krolia handed the knife back to Keith gently after Antok let him go. “Please tell me how my husband is? Is he doing well?” Keith took the knife, a single tear fell from his eyes. “My father is dead…” Keith's voice shook, “He’s been dead for at least 10 years.” Keith forced himself not to cry, Lance gently put a Hand on Keiths shoulder, Kolivan did the same to Krolia.“So you're Keith's mother, so you're half Galra?” Lance asked, “Guess so… whatever that means.” Krolia gave a soft smile. “It means you gained a new ally, we are the Blade of Marmora. We are a rebellion group made up of fellow Galrans who don’t agree with Zarkons ruling.” Krolia spoke in a monotone voice and was concise with what she said. “We believe we can trust you but how can we trust this so-called Paladin?” Kolivan asked as he walked towards lance, “Not a step closer.” Keith’s demand was firm, his arm held out in front of lance acting as a barrier. “Uhh, keith what the fuck did you just do?” Lance asked with a hint of fear, Lance used one finger to move the sword in front of his face further away. “The sword has been activated, only those with Galra blood in them can activate these swords.” Keith inspected his dagger which had morphed into a sword, “And what does that mean exactly?” Kolivan let out a soft sigh, “Welcome to the blade, you are now a member of the Blade of Marmora.” Keith finally looked up, “But I'm a paladin of voltron. How does that work?” Keith looked between Antok, Krolia and Kolivan. “You’re a paladin? Of Voltron?” Keith nodded, “Yeah! We both are! Why do you think we were fixing the blue lion before?” Lance interjects, “You weren’t destroying it?” Kolivan asked scepticaly. “What is it? Nobody believes Lance day? Yeah, we were fixing it until you guys took us.” Lance said impatiently, “Wait! That’s it! Keith, I know how to find Voltron!” Lance repeatedly slapped Keith's arm, “You guys said you were a rebel group right? So you must have a radio or a satellite that you use to monitor Galra movement and talk to your other rebels, right?” Lance looked at Kolivan expectantly. “Yes we do, Why?” Kolivan inquired, “Well if we could use your radio system to get in contact with Voltron, we could give you more allies. Voltron is making a rebel coalition to fight against Zarkon so with The blade of Marmora’s help we’d have a much higher chance of taking him down.” Kolival didn’t respond, after a few moments he turned around. “Follow me.” Keith and Lance shared a look of hope before following.“What channel are you wanting to speak on?” Kolivan asked, “I’m not sure, but if i could use the control panel i'm sure i can find it.” Kolivan looked at Keith, “You can trust him.” With a sigh Kolivan allowed Lance to touch the controls. After a minute of searching Lance recognised Pidge’s voice and squealed with excitement. “Castle of Lions, Members of the voltron coalition. This is Lance McClain, Pilot of the Blue Lion of voltron. I am requesting assistance, can anyone hear this transmission?” Lance bit at his nails nervously waiting for a response. “Lance? This is The Castle of Lions, can you hear me?” Pidge’s voice sounded through the comms, “Yes! Yes! Yes, we can hear you!” Keith stood beside Lance with a smile. “Shiro! We found them!” Pidge's voice called out happily. “Keith we found them!” Lance embraced Keith in a hug, Keith wasn’t expecting the hug so he awkwardly patted lances back. “Shiro, it’s good to see you.” Keith said as a visual comms was brought onto screen. “Keith, Lance and …” Shiro’s sentence slowed, “we found some new allies, but i think introductions can wait until we see each other in person.” Shiro nodded, “Coran, Allura? Can we get a wormhole to their location?” further in the background of the video Coran could be seen making calculations. “Yes, it does look like it. We’ll get it ready now. We should be with you within around 5 doboshes.” Coran replied. “Awsome, we’ll get prepared on our side. See you soon.” Lance said excitedly. Lance squealed a little.“We found them Keith! We’re going back to voltron!” Lance pulled Keith into a quick hug, “Yeah, we are.” It felt surreal, after a month of being stuck on an unknown planet he was going back to Voltron. For a month he had been stuck with Lance who used to think they had some sort of rivalry but now they were…friends. They had learnt alot about each other, it had mainly been Keith learning about Lance’s family because he felt homesick but it had been nice. Ketih felt like he understood Lance so much more than he had when they crashed down onto the planet, now they were going back to the team. How easily do you think they’ll fit back in given the amount of time apart? “They should be here soon, you should prepare. Now we truly know you are a paladin of voltron we shall be in contact with you.” Kolivan said professionally, “Wait, you're not meeting the team? I personally want you to meet them. I mean without your help we wouldn't have been able to find them.” Lance sounded slightly disappointed, “I’ll meet with them if you wish.” Krolia said blankly, “I wish to see who my son has spent his time with since I've been gone.” Krolia looked void of emotion, apart from her eyes. Her eye gave away what she truly felt, a trait she shared with Keith, however it seems only Shiro and himself knew this about Keith. Kolivan nodded slowly, “Then we shall accompany you.” Krolia nodded in response.Krolia, Kolivan, Antok, Keith and Lance made their way back to the blue lion. Kolivan spoke to Antok, Krolia and Keith seemed like they were catching up on some long overdue mother-son time so Lance busied himself with pretapreing his lion. “Please excuse me for a moment.” Keith excused himself from the conversation with his mother and walked to the blue lion, once inside he called out for Lance. “Oi! Lance, they’ve just entered the atmosphere. Put your armour on.” Keith left the lion quickly and returned to his conversation with his mother. Lance emerged from the blue lion in his paladin armour a few moments later and joined Keith with Krolia, “Yeah, you guys are good to land. You will need the stabilisers though, it’s all sand out here.” Lance said through his intercoms. Lance stood next to Keith smiling at the castle that was landing, Krolia stole a quick look at Lance. Krolia silently took note of the close proximity between Keith and Lance and the small glances Lance would steal of Keith, Krolia also noticed the small smile that creeped onto Keith’s face when Lance accidentally nudged him and frantically apologised to him even though it didn’t hurt. The hatch of the Castle of Lions opened and Lance was sprinting, “Hunk!” Lance crashed into Hunk harshly, but Hunk was able to stabilise himself because he had predicted the hug. “Lance! How are you? It’s so good to see you!” Hunk said happily as he let Lance go gently, “I’m good! I’m great even now that you guys are here!” Lance had a wide smile but was soon tackled to the ground. “Pidge?” Lance had been tackled by Pidge in a hug, “You goofy idiot. We missed you!” Lance let a loud laugh bubble out of him as he and Pidge laid in the sand.“Ugh Pidge! Now I'm going sand everywhere!” Lance joked as he helped Pidge up, “Pay back for getting sucked into a wormhole and leaving the castle boring and without stupid jokes. It sucked without you and Keith.” Lance pulled Pidge into another hug, he could tell Pidge had almost been brought to tears from happiness. “Why are you looking at him like that?” Krolia asked quietly, Keith jerked in surprise from the sudden voice. “Oh uh I- uh. I-it’s just he doesn’t really believe that he’s valued so it’s- I guess it’s just nice to see that he can hear how much people actually like him.” Keith didn’t look at his mother as he spoke, his eyes naturally rested on Lance’s smile, Krolia could only describe the look in Keith's eyes proud. “Keith!” Keith reluctantly tore his eyes away from Lance to see Shiro, Coran and Allura approaching him. “Shiro.” Keith let a smile fall upon his face as he embraced the man he considered his brother. “Allura, Coran. It’s good to see you, I Hope you’ve been well.” Allura nodded and Coran played with his bright orange moustache. “Likewise my boy! And who is this Galra soldier that is not attacking us for some reason.” Coran said happily. “Oh, right, I guess we should do introductions. It’s best if we do this on the bridge of the castle.” Keith nodded his head towards the castle, Shiro agreed. Once everyone was on the bridge the air felt tense, Shiro, Allura, Coran, Pidge and Hunk stood a few metres away from Keith, Lance and the Blade of Marmora members.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Well, everyone meet; Kolivan, Antok.”Keith pointed to the Galrans as he said their respective names, “And my mother, Krolia.” Keith looked down at his feet. He didn’t want to see anyones reaction to him being half-galra. “Wait, so your part is alien?” Hunk asked innocently, Keith nodded. Silence. “Anyway!” Lance loudly interrupted, “These guys are part of a rebel group fighting against Zarkon. They’re pretty cool.” Lance crossed his arm and put all his weight onto one of his hips while smiling brightly. “You're a Galran rebel group? Fighting against the Galra? Am I getting this right?” Shiro asked, rubbing his temple. “Yes, that is correct. The blade of Marmora has been around for almost 10,000 years, secretly disrupting the Galran empire. We have rebels on the inside of all Galran operations.” Kolivan took a step forward, his voice still stern. “It sounds like you could be a very important and helpful ally. That is if you are up for some discussions. However, how do we know we can trust you?” Shiro took a small step closer to Kolivan. “Keith has proved himself to be trustworthy, if he believes you are trustworthy then we shall trust you.” Kolivan says blankly. Shiro turned to Keith, “When they found us they interrogated us because of my dagger.” Keith reached into his holster and pulled out his dagger, “They said I had to prove that I was trustworthy. Although once we discovered that I’m half-Galra and a paladin they kinda trusted me, I couldn’t say the same about Lance though.” Keith was now standing next to Kolivan, the height difference was comical and Pidge had to stifle their laugh. “They tried to get closer to Lance but I blocked him and well…” Keith fell silent.“He almost stabbed me in the head because his dagger kinda just swooshed and it was then a sword.” Lance spoke with his hands and dramatically acted out Keith's dagger changing into a sword, the rest of team Voltron looked confused so Keith held out his blade and activated it so it would morph into a sword. “Only those with Galra blood can activate these swords.” Kolivan stated. “So do I need to start cooking so we can discuss a allyship over dinner?” Hunk asked innocently, Lance nodded quickly. “Yes please! I’ve missed your cooking buddy, sure smoked snifflack is pretty good but man do i miss your cooking!” Lance walked over to Hunk and pulled at his arm. “I’m not sure we have the time to finish this conversation today.” Allura sternly interjected, “Or ever” she whispered loud enough that only she could hear it. “We are very busy, and with the return of the blue paladin we really must get back to helping the universe.” Allura bit back from insulting the Galrans in her castle. “Awe, come on Allura, we just met some new allies. Keith has recently reunited with his mother, plus I don't know about you but I am rather hungry.” Lance whined, Shiro walked up to Allura. “Lance is right, we could all use a break. It’s been tough for us all, I’m sure both Lance and Keith are wanting some proper sleep as well.” Shiro sounded sympathetic, everyone turned to look at Allura. “Very well, Hunk you can cook dinner for an alliance meeting.” Allura said slightly begrudgingly. “Oh, joder si (fuck yeah)! My buddy's cooking is the bomb!” Lance called out excitedly looking at his friend.“Is the blue one always this… puppy-like?” Krolia whispered to Keith. Keith giggled slightly, “Uhm, yeah actually he is. He’s kinda the team's mood booster, somehow he’s always happy.” Keith giggled at the comparison of Lance and a small excitable puppy. Hunk and Coran disappeared to the kitchen, Antok and Kolivan talked to Shiro, Pidge and Lance were catching up on all gossip that Lance had missed out on, Keith continued to talk with his mother and Allura stood at the control panel of the bridge that Coran is always standing at. Keith could feel someone looking at him, he turned to see Allura quickly turn away from him, this happened several times until the dinner had finished cooking. “So, Keith? If you don’t mind, how did my husband die?” Krolia spoke softly, she had always been stern and strong willed but she found that when her husband was involved she would smile and become more easily swayed by her emotions. “A hero.” Keith said softly. “What?” Krolia had heard Keith but she wanted to hear it again, it felt comforting. “He died a hero. The entire town knew him before he passed and I don’t think a single person hated him. He was a firefighter, he went back into a house that was on fire and about to collapse to rescue the family's baby.” Keith’s hand automatically raised to his dagger. “He managed to save the baby's life, but the effects of the smoke of his body were too severe. He died a week later in hospital.” Keith’s voice was quiet, almost regretful. “I’m sorry, I wish I was there with you. Unfortunately sometimes, in order to protect the ones you love you need to leave them. As much as it hurts to do so.” Krolia grabbed Keith’s hand and gave him a soft smile.“Dinner is served!” Coran called out happily in his thick accent, Coran led everyone into the dinning area. “Tonight’s dinner is seared gairin steak with mashed flooplar and topped off with an Altean red wine infused honey sauce. I hope you enjoy it.” Hunk said in a happy professional tone, Kolivan, Krolia and Antok bowed their heads in thanks. Lance and Keith situated themselves in their usual seats next to each other, somehow Krolia ended up sitting next to Lance and opposite Shiro. “So Lance, Keith, how was being stranded on this planet?” Shiro asked curiously. “Well I mean it sucked being separated from you guys but I can’t deny it wasn’t pretty cool. We even got jobs! And we found the alien equivalent of coffee which has been so helpful, especially for me. Also- If anyone knows a space chiropractor, let me know.” Lance giggled, “Why do you need a chiropractor, you're like what? 17?” Shiro asked, “Well, yes. I mean trust me I love my lion but sleeping on the chair in the cockpit for an entire month is less than ideal.” Lance stretched his back until he heard a pop, Shiro was surprised when heard the pop as well. “Did you not have a bed?” Shiro asked after finishing his bite of food. “We did, but Lance insisted I used the only bed because of my injury.” Keith shrugged before shovelling food into his mouth. “I’m sorry you're injured?” Shiro raised an eyebrow. “Uhhh, no-” Keith lied, it was an obvious lie. “Keith.” Shiro had that condescending tone in his voice. “They’ve always been like this, it’s quite funny actually.” Lance leaned slightly towards Krolia and instaged a conversation while Keith and Shiro argued. “I hope it doesn’t sound too rude, but Shiro is like the dad Keith didn’t have growing up. Well i guess they act more like siblings but If you ever want to know more about Keith as a child. Ask Shiro, he practically took Keith in and has taken care of him since.” Lance gave Krolia a soft smile, Krolia was shocked at how calm Lance was while talking to her even though they had only met that day and given the stigma around the Galran population.“I hate to disrupt this lovely dinner prepared by our lovely yellow paladin but I would like to move on to discussing our alliance.” Allura stood from where she sat, Kolivan nodded. “I agree, whilst this dinner was very pleasant and it was greatly enjoyed I do believe an alliance would benefit us both. I have been communicating with Shiro while dinner has been prepared and we have revised a plan. We thank you for your welcomeness today but my colleagues and myself should be off now. “Please contact us if you make a decision.” Kolivan, Krolia and Antok stood and bowed in thanks, “I will try to keep in contact with you.” Kolia gave Keith a hug before she left, “Thank you, it’s nice to finally have met you.” Keith tightened his grip slightly, after the hug Krollia ruffled Keith's already messy hair. “Take care of yourself.” Krolia said quietly, “You too.” Keith smiled slightly. “She reminds me of you quite a lot.” Lance said as he stood next to Keith. “Ah! What the fuck! Lance, stop sneaking up on me.” Keith screeched just when Lance suddenly appeared next to him. Korlia briefly looked back at her son and his puppy-like ‘friend’ and smiled, it looked all too familiar. “I didn’t sneak up on you but ok. Now I know you guys are related, you are quite similar despite not being around each other for 17 years.” Keith rolled his eyes. “Keith.” Shiro said in his ‘dad’ voice, Keith flinched. “Are you going back to your room?” Keith turned slowly to face Shiro. “Shiro, I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me.” Keith complained, Shiro looked at Lance. “Lance, do you think Keith should heal from his injuries in an Altean pod?” Lance shrugged, “I mean yeah, probably. He hasn’t really had any medical attention apart from my pestering and I only know so much about taking care of stitches. I was also going to go in one, at least for one night. I was hoping it would help with my back from sleeping on the chair for a month.” Keith threw his arms up in defeat. “You were supposed to help me.” Keith complained, “I did help you thank you very much. I saved you from bleeding out in the cockpit of the blue lion. I saved you from infections to the wound, I found painkillers for you. Plus the Altean pod is gonna help a lot.” Lance retorted. ---- “Lance, do you mind if I speak to you before you go into the pods?” Allura stopped Lance before he entered the healing pod, Lance looked at Keith who begrudgingly prepared his pod. “Yeah, what’s up?” Allura sighed and pulled Lance further away from Keith. “What are you doing?” Allura whispered angrily, “What do you mean?” Lance asked, he was seriously confused about how Allura was acting. “Why are you acting like you trust Keith and those Galrans?” Allura seemed like she was taking her anger out on Lance. “Because I do? What is going on with you? Those Galran’s aren’t like Zarkons soldiers.” Lance furrowed his eyebrows, Allura let out a loud irritated groan. “They are Galran, we can't trust them! These people destroyed my planet. My people. Do you not care about what they did to me, they took my father away from me! And atop all of that how long have they been around? And yet they haven’t made any progress.” Allura took a step towards Lance, she was intimidating. “Yes, of course I care about you and what they did to your people. But would they lie about fighting Zarkon? All of Zarkons soldiers that we have met have all believed in Zarkons legacy or wanted to take over Zarkon. Not one of the Galrans we met today made any movement to hurt us.” Lance sighed heavily, “Do you really believe there isn’t good Galran’s?” Lance squeezed Allura’s upper arms lightly but she shrugged his hands off. “What about Keith then? Do you trust him? Do you really believe that he hasn’t been coercing with the empire?” Allura almost pushed Lance to the floor from her anger, “Are you fucking kidding me?” Lance scoffed loudly. “Are you really saying that you think Keith has been in contact with Zarkon this entire time?” Lance laughed at Allura.“Keith only just found out that he was part-galra today! And you think he’s been talking with Zarkon. Keith wants to stab the guy to death.” Lance laughed a little louder this time. “I appreciate that Zarkon has hurt your family and eradicated your people but you can’t truly believe that there aren’t Galrans fighting for the right cause. Plus it’s keith! The hot headed, talented, would kill any Galran soldier that tried to hurt him or any of his friends Keith. He’s still Keith, the only difference is he now knows who his family is.” Lance gave Allura a look of disappointment before he walked back to the healing pod he was preparing earlier. Lance ignored Allura’s presence in the room as he prepared the pod, “Keith? Why haven’t you gotten in the pod yet?” Lance asked as he noticed Keith walking towards him, “Why did you do that?” Keith gave no context to what he was talking about. “What the hell are you saying?” Lance asked, “Why did you defend me like that? She has every right to be mad at me based on what she was saying.” Keith crossed his arms defensively. “What are you talking about? No she doesn’t! Nothing has changed about you, you didn't just turn part Galra. You’ve always been part Galra but you didn’t know until now. It’s not fair for her to disrespect you because of something you couldn’t even control. Besides, she's trusted you for so long now, almost 4 years. It’s wrong that she’s just stopped trusting you when you’ve done nothing wrong.” Lance spoke with a little more force than he had wanted to but he felt that Keith needed to know that he was being serious. It might have been delusions from lack of sleep but Lance thought he saw Keith relax his shoulders and even smile a little. Keith scoffed out a laugh and gave Lance a friendly punch in the arm, “Thanks for defending me.” with another huffed out laugh Keith spoke again. “Goodnight Lance.” Lance smiled, “Night, mullet man.” Keith laughed loudly. “Keep commenting on my hair and I might think you like my hair.” Lance laughed gently, “Night, Keith.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Shiro! Come on, please! He’s my brother and he was your friend, please let me find him.” Pidge begged Shiro to let them go on a solo mission to find their brother. A week or so prior Pidge had found security footage of their brother and have been dedicated to finding the whereabouts of him ever since. “Fine, but please let someone come with you. Please?” Shiro tried negotiating with Pidge but as usual it failed. “No, this is my mission. I need to do this alone. If I really need help I’ll call for help. I promise.” Shiro caved, he allowed Pidge to go on the solo mission to find their brother. “Thank you!” Pidge tightly squeezed Shiro in a hug. “Coran, what’s the status of the others?” Shiro asked as Pidge ran out the room. Zarkon hasn’t pulled any major attacks recently so Voltron focused on small solo missions that would help them in the long run, Keith had started going on more missions with the blade when time allowed for it. “Ah yes. Well number 5 has just left to find their brother, Hunk is on his way back from providing a recently freed planet with food, Keith just spoke with me and he’s on his way back and Lance…” Coran looked through a few more data files before speaking again. “Lance hasn’t communicated with us for two weeks. His mission was to provide first aid to a damaged town, he said that there weren't many injured. Do you think something could’ve happened?” Coran asked as he pulled up the data on Lance's solo mission.“Coran, open a hailing frequency for the Blue Lion. Let’s hope he’s just forgotten.” Shiro walked beside Coran. “Hey Shiro, Coran. What’s up?” Lance asked, he answered the hailing frequency but didn’t face the video. “We’re just checking in, we haven’t heard from you in almost 2 weeks. Is everything ok? Do you need help?” Lance finished bandaging a small child's arms and encouraged him to follow his mother before responding, “Uhm, if you guys want me to finish this mission soon. I shouldn’t need anything. But people are coming here thinking this is a first aid refugee which is why i've been stuck here longer than planned. Next!” Lance looked concerned as he spoke, “Let me look at you.” Lance said quietly to a child that walked up to him, Lance held a kind and welcoming smile on his face. “Oh, looks like you’ve scraped your arm pretty badly. Let me help you, this is going to hurt ok. Do you think you can be brave for me?” Lance asked gently, Lance waited until he cleaned and bandaged the small child’s wound before speaking again. “I think we need to make a permanent first aid refuge. It’s becoming too dangerous, I've even had to help members of the blade.” Shiro froze, “How many blade members?” Shiro asked urgently. “At least 20. Keith included…” Shiro shared a concerned look with Coran. “Keith had to go to our temporary first aid shelter? That’s unlike Keith to even ask for help, how bad was the wound?” Shiro asked, which led Lance to let out a heavy sigh. “He dislocated his shoulder… and got a small stab wound to his lower back.” Lance sighed heavily again, “He was the one with the least severe injuries out of most of the blade members I've treated while here.” Lance was solemn, Keith was an amazing fighter so for him to have one of the less severe wounds is greatly concerning.“Ok, keep treating everyone you can. Coran and myself will organise with some of the rebel groups to create a permanent first aid refugee-” Shiro spoke calmly. “Help! Someone please help! My brother! He’s dying! I need help please!” a young girl's voice was heard yelling through the hailing frequency, Shiro and Coran stood frozen as a young boy was being carried on a stretcher in the background. His arm mangled, skin torn and blood pooling heavily everywhere. Before either Shiro or Coran could process the extreme severity of the wound Lance was running. He sprinted to the boy and urged the people carrying him to bring him back to where Lance was treating his other patients, Lance didn’t bother closing the hailing frequency. He had no time, luckily his lion closed the call because if he didn’t act now the boy would be dead before Lance could say his family's name. “Everyone out, except you.” Lance pointed to the alien that had aided him with some of his previous patients. Lance quickly put some gloves and a mask on and started to clean the large wound, the boy suffered from deep thin gashes all over both arms. It looked as if he got caught in a wire trap and tried to pull himself free but caused the wire to cut through his arm. “I need you to clean and tightly bandage his other arm. I will stitch up this arm then move to his other one when I'm done.” Lance said as he began stitching the left arm. The balmarian nodded and quickly got to work, Lance and the balmarian worked as quickly as they could while still being effective. After 5 minutes Lance finished stitching the boy's first arm, “Lance.” The familiar voice started Lance and he knew his lion had accepted a hailing frequency from the Castle of Lions.“What is it Keith, I’m kind of busy right now!” Lance was frustrated, he was halfway through stitching the second arm and his line of patients was quickly getting longer. “Hey, can you get started on the other patients? I can finish this myself.” Lance quickly looked at the balmaran who nodded and moved to the other patients. “Holy shit! What happened!?” Keith yelled in surprise when Lance moved his back out of the view of the video to reveal the young boy Lance was working on. “Take a guess, hot shot. The fucking Galra, they’re getting more bold. Someone who brought him in said someone from the blade rescued him from the arena.” Lance sighed, hiding his tears. Lance tied off the last stitch and cleaned the wound before looking pitiful at the boy “He’s 7 Keith. Only 7 and forced to fight for his life for the Galra’s entertainment. He’s the same age as my brother.” Lance paused to take a deep breath before he continued to help the boy. “Lance…” Keith whispered gently, “I’m so sorry.” Keith continued to whisper. “Hey, don’t apologise. It’s not your fault, it's just really sad. Also, have you been checking your stitches like I told you to?” Keith faltered, he hadn’t listened to Lance. “Oh. My. God. Keith!” Lance scolded, “Do you ever listen to anyone? And don’t answer that, I already know the answer.” Keith laughed softly, Lance had grown to understand Ketih on a level that only Shiro had managed to do before. How this happened Keith wasn’t sure but he didn’t complain. It made him feel special. Keith told himself it was because someone recognized that he wasn’t a walking problem, just that he was misunderstood. Keith tried to force out the thought that it was because it was Lance, that it felt special. “Lance, how is that young boy doing?” Coran asked politely as he stood next to Keith. “Better, but I want to bring him back to the castle and put him in one of the pods. I would also need to bring his sister with him. Recon I could do that?” Lance asked. “Go ahead, bring him and his sister back as soon as you can. I’ll get Shiro off your back for you.” Keith interjected before Coran could say anything. “Thanks, Keith.” Lance’s voice was gentle and it soothed most of Keiths worries.“Keith! You're not the leader, why did you agree to that? They would have followed him!” Shiro chastised, “So what if he was, we could fight them off! Pidge is on their way back now and with Lance Back we would’ve been able to form voltron!” Keith yelled back. “That’s not the point Keith.” Shiro sighed, “Ok, so what is the point?” Keith argued. “Excuse me? Are you guys the one who saved my brother?” A young alien girl asked quietly, Shiro and Keith looked down at the small child. “I’m sorry, we’re not. But I can help you find the person who did. Would you like that?” Keith kneeled down next to the girl, he had no clue what he was doing. Keith could only think ‘what would Lance do?’ and Lance would help, he always did. The girl nodded and reached for Keith’s hand, Keith led the girl to the healing pods. Luckily he found Lance sitting and leaning against the healing pod the girl's brother was in, “Want to see something funny?” Keith asked quietly, the girl nodded. “Ok, but we’ve got to be quiet.” Keith raised a finger to his lips. Once Keith and the small girl stood close to Lance Keith reached forward and stole the marker in Lance’s hand. Keith smiled at Lance, even though he was asleep and so completely unaware of everything. Keith took the cap of the marker and brought it to Lance’s face, his pinky resting on Lance's cheek to stabilise his hand. Keith proceeded to colour a small circle on Lance's nose and add a few lines on Lance’s cheek as if they were whiskers. “Cute!” The girl squeals not very quietly, “Yeah, it’s pretty cute isn’t it?” Keith whispered more to himself than the girl.“Paladins! Get ready for an attack!” Allura said loudly through the intercoms of the castle. Keith jerked back in surprise when Lance woke up and screamed. “Fuck, Keith don’t stand so close to a person sleeping!” Lance huffed out, “Uhh, you might want to clean your face before you get to your lion…” and with that Keith ran off leaving the girl alone with Lance. “What have you done…” Lance whispered to himself, “Ok, let's get you somewhere safe.” Lance gently held the little girl's hand and led her to his bedroom. Lance almost yelled when he saw his face in the mirror but managed to refrain. Lance explained that the girl had to remain inside his room while he was gone while he washed his face. “What about my brother? Will he be ok?” the girl asked innocently, Lance Kneeled in front of the girl sitting on his bed. “Yes, he is safe. I promise to keep you and your brother safe but you have to stay here while I'm gone so I can do that.” The girl nodded and embraced Lance tightly.“PALADINS TO YOUR LIONS IMMEDIATELY!” Allura was frantic, after giving the girl a small smile Lance ran out of the room to his lion. As soon as Lance left his hanger in the red lion he was attacked with heavy fire. Keith flew past in the black lion and shot down the fighter jets that were attacking Lance and Hunk. “Thanks Keith!” Hunk called out. Shiro was flying with Pidge, he couldn’t risk trying to pilot the black lion after destroying Zarkons connection so recently. “Pidge, 10 o’clock!” Allura yelled from the blue lion, “Got it! Thanks princess!” Pidge turned quickly to react to the oncoming attackers. “Hunk, Pidge and Allura get those plates back into position! Lance and I will get the fighter jets off your back!” Keith instructed and quickly sped up to destroy an oncoming battle cruiser, “Right behind you Keith.” Lance followed Keith towards the oncoming attackers, Coran helped to defend Hunk, Pidge and Allura while they reconnected the plates of a force field that protected a Glaran base and planet. “Uhh, guys I don’t think we’re going to be able to get them back in place in time. Plus we still need to join them properly.” Hunk called out in a panic. “Allura secure the plates that are in place with your ice, I have the fastest lion so i’ll get the last plate then weld them together.” Lance called back. “Coran. Help Keith he’s going to get slammed when I leave to get the plate.” Lance called out as he destroyed 5 fighter jets. “You got it number 3!” Coran called out proudly. “Hurry it up Lance! We only have 50 ticks left until the radiation band!” Pidge yelled out as they tried to hack into the Galran system. “You got it, Pidge, on my way.” Lance sped to the last plate.Lance managed to retrieve the plate quickly and put his full boosters on to get it back in time, “Allura, I need you to freeze the plates. Can you do that?” Lance asked as he arrived with the last plate. “Yes, Lance.” Allura responded politely. “Pidge, Shiro. You guys better be ready! I’m welding the plates now!” Lance spoke as his lion started shooting flames at the ice and eventually the metal. “Shiro, get your hand ready.” Pidge said calmly, “Yeah, I'm all good. Lance, how are we looking?” Shiro asked as he placed his glowing hand on the control pad. “Done! And just in time by the looks of things!” The plates started to glow and they had power, “Shiro!” Pidge yelled as Shiro passed out and his hand fell off the control panel. The shields lost power and the radiation band was only getting closer, Pidge managed to pull Shiro back to the control panel with the help of their jetpack. “Allura, no!” Lance yelled as he saw a flicker of energy shoot out from the plates he shoved Allura and the blue lion out of the way just in time to avoid a large dangerous electrical surge. Lance let out an ear piercing scream of pain. “Lance! No!” Allura tried to fly to Lance but was stopped by Keith and his Lion. “Allura, you go there now. You will die, the radiation band is about to pass over. Lance is within the shield but the other Galra aren’t.” Keith said through gritted teeth, he wanted to scold Lance for his impulsive decisions that could’ve endangered his life. Yet the urge to make sure he was ok was far greater. “Lance? Do you copy?” Keith spoke calmly after the radiation band came over the shield. The band had destroyed most of the Galran ships and the rest retreated on order from Sendak. “Lance, do you copy?” Keith asked once more, his panic growing and becoming obvious.It was quiet… and so very calm. No one was screaming, no one was panicking, no one was fighting. In fact no one was anywhere… Where was he? “Hello?” Lance called out but he wasn’t sure if he had made any sound, “Hello? Is anyone here? Where am I?” Lance called out once more, still not trusting his own voice. “Lance?” A voice whispered, “Yes, that's me. Who’s there?” Lance spun in a circle trying to find the voice. “My brother… Is that you.” the voice whispered and there she was. “Veronica!” Lance and his sister embraced tightly, they both started to cry. “Lance-” Veronica whispered through tears, “I’ve missed you. Where have you been? Our family is so worried about you.” Veronica pulled out of the hug and cupped her older brother's cheeks, wiping his tears. “I never meant to leave! I promise I didn’t want to. B-but i’m a paladin now. I help fight to protect the universe, to protect our family.” Lance openly cried in front of his sister. There was always a sense of vulnerability that Lance knew he wouldn’t get judged for when he was with his sister and he missed it dearly. “I believe you, but you need to come back home soon. People are starting to forget you, I don’t want that to happen.” Lance looked up to see his baby sister crying with a sad smile. “You wouldn’t let them forget me… Would you?” Lance pleaded quietly, “No, of course not.” Veronica lifted Lance’s face slightly and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead. “I can’t help anymore. Get back to earth and protect her for me.” Veronica’s figure began to fade. “Wait! Take care of who! Don’t go! I don’t want to leave you again.” Lance yelled in sadness as his sister disappeared. Lance cried, he cried loudly and for a long time.“No…” Lance whimpered and fell to his knees crying, he punched the ground as hard as he could. He wanted to break something, he wanted to feel something. He wanted to feel pain. He had left his family, he had left his sister. He was no more than a reject from his own family, and who was he supposed to protect when he got home. Why couldn’t Veronica help make his family remember him? Lance was left with so many questions yet no answers. “Lance.” A voice whispered gently. “Veronica!?” Lance shot up and looked around for his sister. Nothing. “Lance, thank you.” the voice spoke again. “I-i wha- what’s happening?” Lance fell to the floor again, “Hey, hey. Everythings going to be ok.” a gentle hand was placed on Lance’s shoulder. Looking up, Lance immediately recognized the kind alien in front of him. He recognized every single alien in front of him, there weren't many but he remembered everything. Each patient. Each story. Each different account of suffering. Each death. There, stood before him stood the aliens he didn’t have the skill or equipment to help recover or save. “You saved us Lance. And we couldn’t be more thankful.” the oldest of the group spoke, “No I didn’t. I couldn’t even save you, you all died because of me.” Lance removed the gentle hand from his shoulder and started to walk away from the aliens. “You’re wrong. The Glara killed us, but you tried and tried to save us. You made us all feel like we were worth something. You made us feel comfort in our death and for that we are forever grateful.” All the aliens smiled at lance, some cried. Some smiled but they all looked happy. And the reason was because of Lance. “You guys were all worth something! Everyone has a purpose, everyone is worth something!” Lance argued. A young alien walked towards Lance and held his hand. “Then it’s time you start believing that for yourself.” the small alien smiled and faded away, one alien after the other. The small group of aliens faded and Lance was left alone once more… Lance was left in silence.“Lance?” There was a familiar voice, “Lance?” there it was again, this time there was a warm feeling in his chest. “Lance, come on. Please” It was Allura, the princess was talking to him. But why? “Lance. Wake up, please.” Lance groaned, adjusting in his seat. Wait, his seat? What happened to the white abyss he was just in. Where was his sister? Where were his patients? “Ugh, I'm here. What happened?” Lance groaned in pain as he spoke, “Oh my, I thought we lost you. Well, I mean we did lose you. For almost a full two doboshes (2 minutes). But I got you back! My powers brought you back! I didn’t even think that was possible!” Allura was rambling, Lance was silently crying. Lance felt like he had truly seen his sister, he felt like what those aliens said was true. Now Allura is saying Lance was imagining it? “Are you saying… I died?” Lance whispered almost too quietly to hear. “You-” Lance had to take a deep breath before he began to speak again, “You should get back to your Lion. I’m sure we’re due at the Castle of Lions soon.” Allura nodded and walked off as if nothing had just happened. Once Lance was back at the Castle he avoided the other Paladins. While everyone went to the bridge to discuss the mission and the two aliens that Lance had brought back from his mission, Lance went elsewhere. “Hey, little girl. How are you?” Hunk asked politely as he opened Lance’s bedroom door, Both Keith and Hunk instantly noticed that Lance was missing. Their worries started to grow, “Hey, Hunk? Can you take care of her while I find Lance? I’m not much of a child person…” Keith asked sheepishly, Hunk agreed. But where was Keith even going to look, it’s not exactly like he was friends with Lance. I mean sure they had gotten a lot closer since being stranded but still, they weren't officially friends. Were they?“Ugh!” Lance yelled through his furious tears as he shot a training droid dead centre in the chest. “Lance?” Keith entered the training deck when he heard someone shooting the bots down. Lance didn’t hear Keith. “Stop training sequence.” Keith said loud enough for Lance to acknowledge his presence, “Keith!?” Lance was surprised and a little annoyed. “Is everything ok?” Keith cautiously walked closer to Lance, “I- uh. Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired” Lance lied, Keith was cautious of how Lance tightly gripped his activated bayard. “Are you really ok?” Keith asked gently as he placed a hand on Lance's and lowered the weapon. His bayard deactivated and fell with a loud thud, “no.” Lance cried, he couldn’t hold back his tears. “I couldn’t save them Keith! I saw them, the patients I couldn’t save. I saw them. They died, and I died but I got to Live again. It’s not fair.” Lance cried heavily, he was embarrassed. Why was he crying? And in front of Keith no less. “Calm down. It’s ok, you did what you could and that’s what matters. The fact you tried to keep them alive probably means the world to them. Now it’s time for you to rest.” Keith embraced Lance, it felt awkward to initiate but it felt so comfortable. Even though Lance was a wreck, Keith felt so calm and safe in Lance's arms. Lance cried for almost an hour in Keith’s arms but Keith never made any indication of leaving.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Ok, Shiro” Pidge started suspiciously, “Promise me you won’t over react?” Pidge asked cautiously. Shiro nodded, “I’m not much of an over reactor but ok. What’s up?” Shiro asked genuinely. “Ta-da- '' Pidge said sheepishly, directing everyone's attention to the door to the bridge with their hands. “Hey guys how- Shiro…” Matt stopped frozen in the door, “Captain…” The words felt odd as they fell off Matt’s tongue. He hadn’t called Shiro 'captain’ since they had been captured by the Galra. “Matt…” Shiro’s voice was weak and barely louder than a whisper, Shiro discarded Matt's hand that was held out for a handshake and brought him into a tight hug. Shiro almost cried in the younger boy's arms, “I’m so sorry for what I did. I-i just wanted to protect you and it was the only thing I could think of. I-i just i-.” Shiro stuttered on his profuse apology. Matt laughed, it was a loud ugly laugh. Sorry Matt. “It's ok Shiro, it really is. I know why you did it, and honestly if you didn’t injure me. I wouldn’t have found the rebel group and so Pidge wouldn’t have been able to find me.” Matt smiled kindly. “You-” Shiro pointed a stern finger at Matt’s face. “You… are too kind for this world. Just like Hunk is.” Pidge snorted out a laugh at Shiro’s statement. “No he’s not. He’s just a fucking dweeb.” Pidge laughed. “Language!” Matt and Shiro scolded at the same time, this caused them to burst into laughter. They had instantly clicked upon meeting again after 3 years, they returned to the same dad joke telling nerdy friends they had once been before. Despite there being at least a 3 year age gap between the two they had just clicked when they met. It was probably their dorky humour.“Ok so what now?” Keith asked blankly. “We find my dad.” Matt addressed the group, “With all due respect. Matt, was it? I do not believe it is appropriate for you to be making decisions on behalf of us.” Allura interjected, frustration hinting at her voice. “Matt’s right. We need to find him, he's a very smart person and might be able to help us get back to earth.” Pidge said as they moved to stand next to their brother. “Pidge and Matt are right. When I worked with Matt and their father he was a genius. If we can find him we could probably find a way to get rid of Zarkon and get back to earth.” Shiro placed a gentle hand on Matt’s shoulder. “Rightio! It sounds like we need a plan, anyone have any ideas.” Coran interjected excitedly with his ridiculously eccentric accent. There was a pause. “I have an idea.” Pidge pushed their glasses up the ridge of their nose, “Matt you have intelligence from the rebel groups, right?” Matt nodded, “Then we should start by cross referencing the intelligence we have and then we can double modulate and colour code it.” Pidge sat in their respective chairs on the bridge and brought up the holographic computer. “Because I mean what are we? Animals?” Matt said that at the same time as Pidge. They laughed, even being separated from each other for 4 years they still had their sibling humour. Hunk sighed, now Matt was taking Pidge’s side on how they should modulate the data. “Ok, so it looks like if we cross reference our intel, the blades intel and the rebel groups intel we get this…” Pidge had accessed the data on the usb drive Matt had made before they left his secret hideout and added to their current intel. A large mind map appeared. “Woah.” Lance stood eyes wide, mouth hanging open. Keith snickered at Lance's face, he looked like one of those carnival game clowns but slightly more human like.“It looks like a lot of the information is similar but there is also a bunch more stuff we didn’t even know about.” Shiro observed the mind map with a critical eye. “What’s this?” the tapped a small base a few lightyears away from Zarkons main base, the mind map changed to a close up view of the base. “That is where my father is. Or well I assume that’s where he is.” Matt said as he took a step closer and zoomed in even closer on the base. “From the intelligence I have received, this is a prison that holds geniuses. They are being forced to create weapons that can suck the quintessence from planets almost instantly as well as a mega weapon that could get rid of Voltron. Once and for all.” Matt fell silent. “It’s ok, we'll get Sam back. That’s a promise.” Shiro spoke gently. “It better be.” Pidge laughed. “Pidge!” Matt turned to his younger sibling in shock. “What? I didn’t even swear.” Pidge shrugged their shoulders innocently. “That’s not the point! You need to at least try and respect your elders.” Matt scolded, “Ouch, way to make me feel young.” Shiro teased. “Well actually, Allura and myself are the oldest by far. We were stuck in cryo pods for 10,000 years after all.” Coran interjected happily and unaware of Shiro’s sarcasm. “It’s ok Matt, they respect me when they need to. Plus we wouldn’t have been able to do half of what we’ve done without Pidge. Or Hunk, or Keith. Or Coran and the princess.” Shiro spoke proudly. Lance noticed that no one was aware of his presence so heretreated out of the bridge swiftly, nobody noticed him leaving. “Fine, as long as you don’t bully anyone.” Matt gave up. “I don’t.” Pidge said happily, “Most of the time” They whispered to themselves.“Ok, so do we know anything about this base?” Keith moved forward. “Yes, these droids around the base are actually sensors. They all connect and create an invisible shield, if something passes through it sends out an alarm. Fighter jets will be released and attack you, and even if you deactivate the shield they have cameras on the sensors.” Matt zoomed in closer, “And the base is completely run by centuries, so if we can disable them it shouldn’t be too difficult.” Matt said with a sense of determination. “We should go to the green lion. I was tinkering with her the other day and I managed to get a cloaking feature that turns the entire lion invisible. But it only lasts for 30 ticks.” Pidge saidabsentmindedly. “But what if you need backup?” Hunk asked. “Well, I think I can hack everything from the green lion and sneak in. I’ll take Matt with me but we’ll probably need someone else to come with. Just to keep an extra eye out. You know?” Pidge turned to Shiro. “Take Lance.” Keith spoke. “What? Why would we send Lance?” Shiro questioned a little too harshly. “He’s extremely experienced with his bayard. He’s also got a keen eye because he has to attack people from a distance. Plus he’s creepily quiet when he wants to be. I say he’s probably the best for a mission like this.” Keith said plainly, he didn’t know what urged him to say it. However he did believe every work he said, especially about Lance being creepily quiet sometimes. “It’s true, he is very sneaky sometimes.” Hunk smiled as he remembered his life back on earth, “His sneaky-ness is kind of the reason we are all in space right now… I remember playing hide and seek with him and his nieces. We had to give up after an hour because we couldn't find him.” Hunk spoke fondly, he missed playing stupid games with Lance's family. He missed his own family. He missed everything about earth. “Lance? Are you up for it?” Pidge asked and turned to face Lance, but he wasn’t there. “Ugh, he can’t just pay attention for 20 minutes can he?” Shiro complained, “Calm down Shiro, he’s probably still recovering from his injury and his mission. Seeing wounds like he did really isn’t easy, I'm sure you’d understand. Right?” Keith subtly motioned to Shiro’s prosthetic. “Ok, yeah- It is hard, just make sure he understands the mission we will be doing within the next two days or so.” Shiro dismissed Keith.Keith found himself walking to the training deck, he wasn’t sure why though. Maybe he was hoping he would be able to hug and comfort Lance. Probably not, that's just weird. As Keith got closer he could hear drones and droids alike falling to the ground with loud thuds. Keith looked at his hand as he placed it on the entry pad, once he looked up he froze. A gun was pointed directly towards him, Lance hadn’t heard him enter last night but he definitely heard him today. Lance relaxed slightly, Keith went to alert him of the incoming droid but Lance swiftly and smoothly turned and shot the droid down with ease. “Stop the training sequence.” Lance huffed out in exhaustion, Keith walked in and handed Lance his space water that was sitting on the outside of the training platform. “Thanks, mullet.” Keith scoffed at the repetitive nickname. “Why did you leave?” Keith asked as he sank to the floor beside Lance who let out a confused noise. “The meeting to discuss the plan. Why’d you leave and when?” Lance tried to hide that he choked on his water before responding. Lance sighed loudly and fell to lie on his back. “Right about when Coran said he was the oldest by about 10,000 years. Plus I wasn’t needed in the meeting, I never am.” Lance played off his disappointment as understanding. “Well, you're wrong. Everyone is needed. Plus if we’re going to get Pidge’s dad back, you are the only other paladin going on the mission.” Lance shot up into a seated position. Keith explained the mission and all the details, eventually taking Lance back to the bridge to show him the details of the base.— — — —“Lance, Pidge, Matt. Are you guys ready?” Shiro asked as Pidge put their helmet on and Lance looked over his bayard. “I guess as ready as we’ll ever be.” Pidge let out an anxious sigh, “Hey, Pidge.” Lance had walked over to Pidge, “We’ll get him back. I know we will, and I'll do anything I can to make that true.” Lance was kind, gentle, and reassuring. Even to Matt who didn’t really know who Lance was, Pidge laughed quietly. “When did you stop being cocky and start being sentimental?” Pidge teased, “Look, I know I'm the lazy goofball of the team but I want to help. I would give anything to see my sister again, to see my family again. I’m sure anyone on this ship would agree with me, so I'm going to do everything I can to see you reunite with your family.” Pidge hugged Lance loosely, “Thanks. Now Let’s get going.” Pidge smiled and led Lance and their brother into the green lion. "So- Lance… you have a sister huh?" Matt toyed, "yeah! Three actually, my twin Veronica. And one who's 14 and one who's turning 10 this year." Lance said proudly, "And I've got 2 brothers as well." Lance turned to Matt with a smile. Lance had never actually met Pidge's brother but even the slightest glance he could see the uncanny resemblance. "Oh, nice. Your twin, is she single?" Matt asked, faking the innocence behind the question. "OH HO NO! Absolutely not! You are not getting with my sister when we get back to Earth!" Lance yelled defensively, "Pidge, tell your brother my sisters are off limits!" Lance whined and gently shook Pidge by their shoulders. "Matt, don't go after Lance's sisters. I don't want to be siblings with him." Pidge didn't look away from the window as they spoke, Lance faked an offended gasp as placed a hand on his chest to add more exaggeration. Matt laughed and the playfulness of Lance and Pidge, he wasn't going to lie he was proud of Pidge for making friends."Ok, you guys are approaching the barrier. Proceed with caution and get ready to put the cloaking on." Shiro spoke from the castle intercoms, "Lance take us in slowly." Pidge instructed from their computer, Lance and Pidge had swapped so Lance was piloting. Obviously with permission from the green lion. So now Pidge was at their computer with their brother hacking the sensors and cameras. "Activating the cloak now, we have 30 ticks before it turns off" Pidge spoke from their computer and Lance sped up slightly so they could get to the base before the cloaking wore off. "Lance? Matt? You guys ready?" Pidge asked as they stood at the mouth of the green lion, Lance nodded but Matt stayed silent. "Hey man. Trust us, we'll get you dad back. And! Pidge is gonna' prove how quiznaking awesome they are." Lance placed a gentle reassuring hand on Matt's shoulder, Matt let out a small relieved laugh. "Alright, let's go then." Matt was the first to step out of the lion. Lance walked slightly ahead of Pidge and Matt, his gun at the ready. Lance was in the zone, he noticed even the slightest of changes or noises. "Get down!" Lance whispered loudly as he shoved Matt and Pidge behind two large boxes, "What are you doing Lance! You're wasting time!" Pidge whispered furiously. "No, I'm saving your life. Look." Lance pointed to the hallway around the corner, it appeared empty. That was until four Galran soldiers marched past them, "What?" Lance turned to see a shocked Pidge. "But how did you know? My scanner didn't pick up their signal." Pidge tapped quickly as the small screen projected from their armour. "Only the centuries show up on your scanner, for the most part. Sometimes actual Galran soldiers show up, but not often." Lance responded without looking back at the siblings behind him,Lance carefully snuck behind the soldiers and attacked them from behind.One headshot, one in the chest. A hit against his own arm. The third soldier got the hilt of Lance's Bayard slammed into his face, "Where is he!" Pidge yelled as they managed to tackle the last standing soldier and held their taser Bayard against his neck. "Holy shit sis!" Matt whispered from shock. "I- what- who?" The soldiers panicked. "My father! Samuel Holt! Where is he!?" Pidge was yelling and almost at the point of tears. "I- i- I don't know! Please! Don't hurt me! I- I'll take you to the prisoners. Just please don't hurt me!" The soldier pleaded frantically. "Move, quickly." Pidge slowly allowed the soldier to stand and lead them into a small room that was occupied with at least 20 other Galran soldiers. “¡Mierda! ¡Los Bastardos nos engañaron! (Shit! The Bastards tricked us!)” Lance practically growled in anger, “What do we-'' Matt started to yell but was stopped by an oncoming attacker, Matt swung his metal staff harshly towards the head of a Galran centurie. Clang and bang. “Ahah oh my god.” Matt laughed loudly when the head of the robot soldier hit the floor, “Matt! Pidge! Over there.” Lance called out and pointed to a door that held a sign. ‘Development Room, Keep Door Locked’. “Dad…” Matt whispered as he looked at Pidge. They both ran towards the door, only fighting if they absolutely had to. “Dam it! It’s locked!” Matt yelled in frustration. Matt punched the metal door with such force he could’ve easily broken some bones had he punched slightly wrong, he let out a loud frustrated groan. “Ugh! Go away already!” Lance complained as he punched one soldier and elbowed another. Lance took a small glance towards the Holt siblings to find them struggling with the door. Breath. Focus. Aim. Shoot. Pidge squealed loudly when an energy beam shot and melted the lock on the metal door. “Hurry up Pidge! I’ll get them off your back while you find your dad.” Lance called out from the furthest side of the room where he had taken the shot from, Pidge didn’t argue. “How the hell did he do that!” Matt asked as he ran into the development room. “I don’t know. He’s kinda just always the sniper / long range gun-man.” Pidge shrugged, they were too focused on the task at hand. Although they did admit it was a brilliant shot, especially considering there was a soldier about to attack him.Lance cheered himself on, that shot was amazing. “Oh no.” Lance’s excitement quickly fell as he saw an unarmed soldier begin a physical attack on Lance, “This is really bad, like really, really bad.” Lance whispered to himself as he was slowly getting cornered. Lance had no space to line up his Bayard for a shot, he was becoming weak. He had been nicked by several shots from the soldiers while trying to get an opportunity to shoot the lock in the door and now he had no room to shoot. The physical attacks were starting to get painful. I mean Keith's punches during sparring matches were harder so it wasn't too bad but the repetitiveness of the punches began to grow in pain. “no no no. No puedo morir de nuevo. Te lo prometí, Verónica, voy a cumplir esa promesa. Por favour creeme (no no no. I can't die again. I promised you, Veronica, I'm going to keep that promise. Please believe me)” Lance took a deep breath and raised his bayard to aim, just as Lance was about to shoot his bayard morphed. Lance’s slim snipper-like bayard shifted to a large broadsword, noticing the drastic change Lance only had a split second to react and so he swung his sword with no aim or much power. Surprisingly the panicked and weak swing knocked the attacker far enough for Lance to run into some space. Lance squealed as he ran into the open space, when he was away from the flock of Galran soldiers he adjusted his stance and grip on the broadsword. Lance took a deep breath and waited for the soldiers to approach him. Lance had managed to disarm most of the soldiers of their blasters and so the majority of the Galrans had no weapons. Lance had no official training with a sword but he used to play with a plastic pipe offcut when he was back on earth. How different could it be, right? "Ahh!" Lance screamed as he felt a harsh, blunt force crash into his back. "Blood!" Lance squealed, the force of the metal bar hitting Lance's back caused him to cough up blood. "Oh! Come on! Do you guys ever stop?" Lance complained loudly to himself as he slowly stood, "All Galrans start training as younglings to give us proper skills and training to fight Voltron." The soldier retorted robotically, despite not being a robot. "Ok, let's just get this over with." Lance rolled his eyes and took his fighting stance once more, without hesitation the soldier took an uncalculated swing at Lance's torso. As soon as Lance saw movement he responded by manoeuvring his arms to swing the sword to his unprotected side of his body. The movement resulted in his sword pointing down to block the blow. The soldier recalled quickly trying not to get stuck by Lance's Bayard."Lance, we need to go!" Pidge yelled as they emerged from the hallway they had entered about 10 minutes ago. "Yup! Couldn't agree more." Lance dropped to the floor and swiped the soldier he was fitting off his feet with his leg, the soldier was winded and struggled to stand. "Ok. Run!" Lance called out after plunging his sword into the chest of the winded soldier. Matt, Pidge, Lance and an older male ran frantically through the corridors back to the green lion. Lance allowed the others ahead of him so he would be able to get rid of any incoming attackers. "Allura, we are about to get to my lion. Start preparing a wormhole." Pidge said as they climbed into the jaw of their lion, Matt hoisted his father up and Pidge pulled him the rest of the way. Matt jumped in the jaw and looked back to help Lance. "What are you doing? Lance, we need to go!" Matt called out. "I-i I'm going to pass out…" Lance almost whispered before landing one last shot against a control panel that stopped any soldiers getting to the fighter jets. Matt barely heard Lance before he collapsed against the cool metal of the base. "Come on-" Matt whispered as he managed to lift Lance onto his back and climb into the green lion's jaw just before Pidge flew off.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
"Wormhole is ready when you are Pidge." Allura said professionally, "Thanks princess, we're coming back to the castle now." Pidge swiftly piloted the lion back to the rest of Voltron. "Hey Pidge, you might want to hurry. Lance just passed out. I think he hit his head." Matt spoke quickly as he gently laid Lance’s limp body on the table-like platform towards the back of the cockpit. "You got it Matt." Pidge sped up and managed to get back to the castle within a matter of minutes. "Matt follow me, we'll take him to the healing pods." Pidge ordered, Pidge's father was confused and so he just continued to follow his kids to the healing pods. "Pidge, Matt? Sam… what are you guys doing here, I thought things were going well?" Shiro asked as he turned away from Keith, "It was going mostly to plan but then Lance just passed out just before we left." Matt interjected. "Do we know if he's ok?" Shiro asked carefully, Matt shrugged as he placed Lance to stand in the healing pod Pidge had quickly prepared. "Error! Error! Healing pod cannot begin if the patient is impaled." The pod spoke loudly, "What!?" Pidge scanned the front of Lance's body, no signs of anything penetrating his skin. "What's going on?" Keith asked as he finally walked towards the commotion."Lance is injured and the pod won't heal him while he's impaled but I can't find what's wrong." Pidge continued to search Lance's body, "Fuck!" Keith whispered to himself. "Let me see." Keith gently moved Pidge out of the way and lifted Lance out of the pod. Keith practically hugged Lance just to support his body to lie on the floor, as he removed his hands from Lance's back Sam finally spoke. "Blood…" Keith turned his head to see blood stained hands, "Shit!" Keith whispered, he gently moved Lance to lie in his stomach. Blood. There was so much blood, the force of the metal pipe hitting Lance's back had been so great that it had broken his jetpack and armour. The armour had been forced into Lance's back, the sharp edges of the armour pierced Lance's skin in unglamorous ways. Keith carefully used his dagger to slowly pry the wedged armour out of Lance's skin, once the armour was free from the skin Keith removed the rest of the armour. Blood began to pool over Lance's under armour suit, the floor and Keith's hands as he was lifted back into the pod. The pod sealed itself, "Healing in progress. Estimated time left… two movements (two weeks)""What. Happened." Keith turned and spoke firmly, almost accusingly. "Woah Keith, calm down. The Intel I had was wrong, the base had actual soldiers not just centuries. Since we couldn't hack the soldiers Lance fought them off so we could find our father. Even then he managed to destroy the control pad for the landing deck so no one could follow us just before passed out." Matt spoke quietly hoping that Keith wouldn't snap back at him. "He's got a lot of determination." Matt smiled sadly, "you can say that again. He woke up from a coma to shoot Sendak's arm off." Keith scoffed out a laugh. "Always the hero." Keith let a small smile form on his face, "I'm afraid your mother can't wait any longer." Shiro placed a hand on Keith's shoulder as a reminder of what responsibilities he has. "What's going on?" Pidge was sceptical of the situation, "I'm going on a blades mission, Krolia and myself are going through the quantum abyss." Keith sighed heavily, "What!" Pidge yelled. "You can't leave now! Look at him! He's still recovering from that electric shock!" Pidge yelled, they were furious. "Look, I don't want to. I really don't want to go, especially not now. But it's my duty as a member of the blades." Keith sighed and looked towards Lance solemnly, "What about Voltron? You are a member of Voltron before the blade." Pidge was sad and defeated. "You better come back alive." Pidge moves out of Keith's path, "You know I will." Keith ruffled Pidge's hair, much to their dismay. "I should be back in two weeks or so." And with that Keith left the room.— — —"What happened here?" Keith asked as they flew past large wreckages, ships smashed to pieces. "Something must be out here that doesn't want anyone to get through." Krolia spoke as she looked for anything that looked like it wanted them dead, "We’ll progress as far as we can, just keep an eye out." Keith said as he piloted away from an asteroid. The flight was quiet but not awkward and they were progressing relatively well. "Keith!" Krolia yelled suddenly and pointed to the flying piece of metal that was shooting towards them. Keith managed to avoid getting hit by the metal directly, unfortunately it took out the left wing of the hijacked Galra fighter jet they were flying. "Shit! Hold on!" Keith called out as he started to lose control of the fighter jet, Keith grunted loudly as they crashed into an asteroid. Krolia managed not to get thrown across the cockpit, "we need to get out!" Krolia pointed to the side of the jet. There was a large hole where the wing had once been, the hole ment that oxygen wouldn't last very long. Keith gave Krolia a small nod and followed her out, "Watch out!" Krolia tackled Keith to the ground of the asteroid as a beam of light fell upon them. Keith cowardly fell into his mother's arms as the beam of light brought him into a vivid flashback of him watching his father run into the burning building that eventually killed him. Krolia loosened her grip as she felt her emotions rush in, Keith stood breathing heavily. No. Not now.Keith turned away from his mother and placed a hand on his chest, his panic was rising. Keith had forced that memory down wishing he never had to feel that pain again. The memories sent Keith into a deep panic attack, this was not good. His oxygen levels were decreasing quickly. "Keith, it's ok." Krolia gently embraced her son, "I'm sorry, I wasn't able to help." Keith let a few tears fall. His mother's embrace calmed him. "Let's go, we only have so much oxygen." Keith looked back at his mother. After 10 more minutes the oxygen levels were almost critically low. "What the hell is that?" Keith pointed to a giant… Space whale? "It looks like our ride through, it's practically got an entire ecosystem on its back. It has to have oxygen." Krolia commented, "get down!" Keith called out calmly. The light flashes past them, this time it wasn't a memory. It was Keith playing along with a little girl, Lance was recording him. Why was Lance in a wheelchair? "Agh!" The light beam affected Keith more than it did Krolia, the glances into the future were giving Keith a massive headache. Keith used his jet pack to propel himself towards the space whale, Krolia wasn't far behind. They landed on the space whale and took a few moments to appreciate the wild beauty of the ecosystem. "What. Is. That." Krolia took a few steps back from the blue fuzz she pointed towards, Keith tilted his head slightly and saw a face. "It's a… it's a wolf cub. What are you doing out here all by yourself?” Keith asked the bundle on blue fuzz, the wolf cub slowly shifted towards Keith. Keith had always liked animals but was never allowed to have any, he wasn’t sure if he had any pets while Krolia lived on earth. However none of his foster homes wanted or liked animals and well, Shiro is allergic to almost every damned animal with fur or feathers. The blue ball of fuzz crept forward slowly, Keith leaned down a little more to get a proper look at the wolf's eyes. “Oh- Oh, hey.” Keith giggled quietly when the blue fuzz ball started to lick his face.— — —“Shiro? Any news about Keith?” Lance asked as he walked up to the front of the bridge, everyone was starting to get worried. Keith had been gone almost an entire month, his mission was only supposed to be 2 weeks. “Hello? Castle of Lions, can you hear this message?” a stupidly familiar voice asked through a hailing frequency, “Yes we can hear you. Why have you contacted us?” Shiro responded professionally. “Shiro, it’s me, Keith. Krolia and myself managed to salvage a jet from the quantum abyss, our mission has finished. We are heading to you now, can you send us your location?” Keith asked. “Keith! Is that really you?” Lance asked excitedly, the energetic, bubbly personality made Keith feel a warmth in his chest. Did he miss Lance? Surely not, I mean it’s not like Lance had a cute personality or a positive way to look at things or a nice face or a smile. Nah, that sounded nothing like Lance. “Yeah it’s me, how’s your back?” Keith responded absent mindedly as he plotted a course for the Castle of Lions from the location Shiro had sent him. “Yeah, not horrible. Still pretty bruised but it’s getting better, the healing pod can only do so much.” Lance shrugged casually, “Speaking of the healing pods. You and I need to have a talk.” Lance was stern and almost scary, “Uhm, am I in trouble or somethin’?” Keith questioned cautiously. “Usted es de hecho (You are indeed)” Lance responded plainly, Keith wouldn't lie if someone asked, he was a little scared of Lance at that moment. He was genuinely terrified. Lance had a special talent where he could light up the room almost instantly, but he could also just look at a person and they would immediately think they've stuffed up. It wasn’t the ‘dad’ look or voice that Shiro did but Keith couldn’t place what it was, all he knew was that Lance could be scary sometimes.“Hey Keith.” Lance said with a smile, but it wasn't his regular happy smile. It was more of a ‘You’ve fucked up’ kind of smile. “Let’s talk.” Lance kept the smile as he walked to a private area. “Wish me luck.” Keith whispered to Shiro as he followed Lance. Keith looked down when he entered the private area with Lance. “I’m glad your back safe.” Lance whispered gently as he embraced Keith tightly, Lance squeezed Keith tighter just before he let go. “Ouch-” Keith held his palm to his cheek, Lance had just slapped him. “That’s for leaving without saying goodbye.” Lance crossed his arms and pouted, Keith wasn’t sure if Lance was aware of the pout or not but it made him smile. “Look, I'm sorry. I tried to stay longer but I wasn’t allowed and then the mission didn’t go according to plan. Plus all I really did was remove the armour that was stabbing you. Have you even asked how scared Pidge was when they found out you were bleeding?” Keith spoke. “You saved them, their brother and father.” Keith continued defensively. “Are you suggesting that I wouldn’t have tried to save you?” Lance instigated. “Because, I'd catch a grenade for ya, Throw my hand on a blade for ya, I'd jump in front of a train for ya, You know I'd do anything for ya, Oh, I would go through all this pain, Take a bullet straight through my brain, Yes, I would die for ya, baby!” Lance sang playfully. “Did you just Bruno Mars me…” Keith sighed, Lance laughed. “It’s true though!” Lance laughed. Then Lance flinched wildly back when there was a small spark. “What the hell!” Lance called out in shock when his eyes rested on a blue wolf. “Several questions. How did that wolf just appear? Why is the wolf blue? And why do you have a wolf!” Lance questioned not even looking at Keith, “Well uhh, teleporting wolf, i'm guessing it’s blue because it's a space wolf. And I found him in the quantum abyss.” Keith spoke casually as he stroked the wolf’s head. The wolf leaned into the touch, Does… He? Have a name?” Lance asked, taking a small step back. “Not yet, I just figure he’ll tell me when he’s ready.” Keith shrugged, “Dude… I don’t think that's how that works. I’m pretty sure only the lions work that way, you being made of a dimension travelling comet and all.” Lance said calmly while keeping an eye on the mysterious blue wolf. “What about Cosmo?” Lance asked, “What? He will tell me his name when he’s ready.” Keith argued. “Cosmo.” Lance called out happily and the wolf teleported next to Lance rubbing his head on his thigh. “Ugh, Cosmo it is, I guess.” Keith sighed.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Do we have any snorlax left?” Lance as he walked into the lounge, his jumper half zipped up and falling off one shoulder. His hair was a mess, he looked like he hadn’t slept in days. “Snac-lax Lance. It’s called snac-lax. Not snorlax!” Keith didn’t look at Lance, “Why are you guys talking about pokemon?” Pidge asked as they looked up from their computer, Keith sighed. “We’re not, Lance keeps calling the alien coffee snorlax. It’s called snac-lax.” Keith still hadn’t looked up, “There has been alien coffee and no one told me!” Pidge almost yelled, “Ugh, Keith, make them shut up.” Lance flopped onto the couch and fell onto Keith’s shoulder and flailed one arm out in Pidge’s direction. Keith finally looked at Lance. He was sitting close and leaning against himself, Lance’s eyes were shut as if he was trying to sleep. “Why are you practically sitting on me?” Keith asked, “Warm, and quiet.” Lance mumbled as he moved slightly closer to Keith. “Sorry to interrupt this adorable bonding moment but I still want to know about why no one told me about alien coffee.” Pidge complained, “We thought you knew, plus what do you think Lance is always drinking?” Keith spoke quietly as to not disturb Lance who was slowly falling asleep but loud enough that Pidge could hear him. Pidge shrugged, “We should still have some left, top left hand corner of the pantry in the kitchen. You won't be able to reach it though, get Hunk to help.” Keith still spoke quietly. “Oh come on! You're just saying that so I don't drink it, aren’t you?” Pidge whined. “No, I'm saying that because I can’t reach it either. Lance put it there so I didn’t drink all of it, I have to get him to grab it for me.” Keith said matter of factly, “Oh.” Pidge laughed and left to find the Snac-lax. Pidge had left Keith alone… with Lance. With Lance hugging his arm and falling asleep. “What am I supposed to do now?” Keith asked himself, Lanced mumbled something. Keith had no idea what Lance said but he assumed Lance wanted him to shut up, besides Lance just tightened his grip on Keith's arm so he wasn’t going anywhere. Might as well try to sleep, right?Lance was sleeping the best he had in ages, he wasn’t sure why though. Maybe Keith’s body heat reminded him of when his younger siblings had nightmares and slept in his bed or maybe it was because Keith. Maybe it was his body heat reminding Lance that he’s not alone, maybe it was Keith’s steady heartbeat that sounded like a calming melody in Lance’s head. No, it wasn't Keith. Lance had just slept properly for the first time in a while and he happened to be cuddling Keith at the time, nothing unusual. “Hey Keith? How are we supposed to make this space alien coffee thing?” Pidge asked as they walked into the room with Hunk. “oh! Sorry guys, we'll come back later.” Hunk whispered loudly as he dragged Pidge out of the room, “At least they're not arguing.” Hunk shrugged. “That’s it! That’s your reaction!” Pidge whispered very loudly, “I mean, yeah. Lance used to hug my arm and fall asleep on it all the time back on earth.” Hunk spoke quietly as he walked back to the kitchen. “Wait, really?” Pidge asked, they were very confused. Hunk nodded, “It’s not really my place to say but Lance didn’t have the best home life before we left earth. He hugs people and falls asleep on them when something troubling him. However he only does it with people he trusts, I've only ever seen him do it with his twin and myself.” Hunk spoke gently, he really hoped he hadn’t crossed any lines by telling Pidge. “Oh, I hope he’s ok. He hasn’t really seemed to be himself recently, but I'm glad he can trust Keith.” Pidge spoke softly, they would never have guessed that Lance had a tough home life. I mean he’s always talking about his siblings, although he doesn’t bring up his parents often.Lance groaned quietly as he rubbed his eyes and lifted his head. Oh shit. “Lance?” Keith mumbled, not moving a muscle, “Uh, yeah. I’ll get off you now.” Lance tried to push himself up from where he lay on Keith’s chest. “Don’t.” It wasn’t forceful, it was gentle. It was a request, Lance smiled. Lance didn’t respond but he found himself settling back against Keith’s chest. Despite being taller by a fair amount Lance was lying on top of Keith. His head rested by Keith’s collar bones, his breath was warm and soothing against Keith’s skin. Keith had tilted his head to the right to allow for Lance’s head to rest in the crook of his neck, one of Keith’s hands rested on the back of Lance’s head. Fingers occasionally toying with Lance’s hair. His other hand rested at Lance’s hips. Keith’s leg that was the closest to the back of the couch was raised slightly as a result of somehow moving from sleeping upright to on his back. “Why?” Lance whispered sadly, “Why, what?” Keith questioned. “Why are you letting me lie down like this? Why are you not angry?” Lance whispered, his voice shaky and unstable. “I’m not a monster Lance. I could tell you needed to sleep so I let you, I didn’t plan on myself falling asleep though.” Keith smiled, he hoped Lance knew. “Plus it feels nice knowing you trust me enough to fall asleep around me.” Keith tightened his hug on Lance slightly. “Thank you.” Keith could feel Lance smile, it made his heart flutter and he couldn’t give a damn if Lance could feel his heart beating quicker.“Paladins, Matt and Samual to the bridge asap. We have news about the trip back to earth.” Coran spoke gleefully, “I uh guess we better go.” Lance carefully lifted himself off Keith, “Yeah guess so.” Keith smiled and took Lance’s hand that was held out for him, “Before we go, I just want to say thanks. You know for letting me sleep on you.” Lance giggled, it sounded weird saying he slept on Keith. “I used to hug my sister's arm all the time, I guess I was so tired that I did it to you but fell asleep.” Lance was quiet as if it was preventing Keith from getting angry at him, “Like I said before, I’m not a monster. Besides, I slept well, can’t really complain, can I?” Keith chuckled as he walked off. “But what about the others, what if they saw? Aren’t you worried about what they’ll think of it?” Lance was anxious, Keith paused. “If you don’t want me to mention it, I won’t. Your choice.” Keith was gentle, “I- i’d prefer if we didn’t mention it.” Lance stuttered anxiously, Keith nodded and urged Lance to continue walking to the bridge. “Wonderful! Everyone is here!” Coran called out happily. “We’ve just had contact with earth.” Shiro was smiling brightly, “They are preparing for our arrival, everyone's families are being informed and brought to the Garrion.” Shiro continued to smile. “You're awfully happy.” Keith commented with a cocky smile, “Your boyfriend answer the call?” Keith teased with a raised eyebrow, Shiro went pink. “Commander Adam, answered the transmission. Nothing more, nothing less.” Shiro turned away from Keith and his teasing, “Home? We’re going home. I can see my family, I can see my sister…” Lance spoke solemnly.Tears started to form in Lance’s eyes. He missed his family dearly, he wanted to see his sister. He had to see his sister, she was the only one from his family that he saw when he entered the white abyss. Lance had to meet who he was supposed to protect. “Does this mean the war is over?” Hunk asked with a hopeful smile, “I don’t know, but we’ll have back up now.” Shiro smiled. “We’ll finally be with mum again.” Matt smiled with tears falling down his cheeks, “Oh no… I’m going to be grounded for years!” Pidge whined playfully, they were truly scared of getting grounded though. Matt and Sam laughed, “Well, to be fair you did just leave. At least we were supposed to go to space.” Sam commented, Pidge’s jaw dropped. “It’s not my fault! Lance was the one who snuck out!” Pidge tried to shift the blame elsewhere, “Hey! Don’t blame me! Sure, I'm the reason Hunk is here but you had already snuck out and you found out about Voltron before we even left earth.” Lance accused, Matt laughed. “Well, technically speaking all of you are at fault. You were the ones who followed me into that ship.” Keith pointed out, Shiro wasn’t a hundred percent with the conversation. After all he was knocked out at the time, “Well… you snuck out of the garrison too. So, meh.” Lance stuck his tongue out at Keith. “I wasn’t a student, I got kicked out. Remember. Which you should because that’s what got you into the fighter pilot course.” Keith teased. Lance faked being offended. The friendly banter between everyone continued for a while even during the wormhole trip.—“Commander Adam, this is pilot Takashi Shirogane from the Castle of Lions requesting permission to land.” Shiro spoke kindly while the castle floated just outside Earth's atmosphere. “Commander Adam speaking. Yes, permission to land, granted. Transportation vehicles will meet you when you land.” Adam spoke professionally. “Ok, Allura. You're all good to enter the atmosphere and land.” Shiro looked at Allura then the rest of the team who sat in their respective chairs. They were finally home. Maybe not free from war, but they were home. Everyone walked out of the castle to meet the drivers of the cars taking them back to the Garrison. “Who are you? We were told we’re meeting Shiro, Matt, Samuel, Hunk, Pidge, Keith and Lance.” One of the drivers said in a sour tone. “Hey, James.” Lance rolled his eyes. James had never taken a liking to Lance, “You? You’re Lance?” James questioned. “Yes, now can we please go. I want to see my family.” Lance groaned, “You look… different.” James commented as he walked back to the vehicles. “Yeah, well fighting a war does that to people.” Lance said backhandedly. “Can we just go?’ Lance spat angrily. The drive back to the garrison was quiet and full of anxiety. “Are you guys ready to see your families again?” Shiro asked happily, everyone nodded and Shiro opened the door. “Hunk! Over here!” Hunk stepped out of the car and turned to see his younger brother, Hunk ran over and embraced his brother tightly. “Where’s mum and dad? Are they ok?” Hunk asked full of anxiety, “Yeah, they should be here soon.” Hunk’s brother called out happily. “We’re here! We’re here!” Hunk’s dad called out as he walked up to his son. “We had to make our baby boy some fresh banana bread!” Hunk’s mum fussed, Hunk let out his tears. “Awe guys you didn’t have to.” Hunk cried into his family's arms.“Mum!” Pidge practically threw themselves out of the car and into their mother’s arms, Matt and Sam joined the hug embracing each other tightly. “Finally we’re a family again.” Pidge’s mum cried, “You’ve all grown up so much since I last saw you.” PIdge’s mum smiled, “Coleen…” Sam whispered. “Samual.” Coleen hugged her husband tightly. “You're proud of them aren’t you.” a deep voice spoke after a loud sipping noise, Shiro turned to the voice. Shiro froze, he watched the man that spoke put his coffee down and walk closer. “I’ve missed you.” the man said before putting a gentle kiss on Shiro’s cheek. “Adam!” Shiro cried as he hugged Adam tightly, Adam returned the hug. “I am so sorry for leaving.” Shiro was firm but gentle at the same time, Adam smiled. Adam pulled out of the hug and ran a hand down Shiro’s prosthetic, “I forgive you, it seems karma got to you before I could.” Adam chuckled, Shiro smiled and kissed Adam. “Not a family person huh?” James asked Keith, “More like, I don’t have a family.” Keith said absentmindedly, “Oh- I uh, I didn’t mean to uhh.” James panicked. “Don’t worry, I'm used to it. I’ve got my wolf.” Keith hadn’t realised his wolf wasn’t with him until it had teleported in front of him and James. Safe to say James was shocked.“Lance! Over here!” a young girl called out, “Uncle Lance!” a young boy called out. Lance turned his head to see a small crowd calling out his name, Lance ran as quickly as his legs would let him. He almost tripped but he didn’t, he was however tackled by his family. Sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews hugged him tightly and cried openly. “¡Oh mi! ¡Os he echado mucho de menos a todos! Lo digo en serio, ha sido un infierno sin todos ustedes. (Oh my! I have missed you all so much! I'm serious, it's been hell without all of you)” Lance cried loudly, his tears staining his face. His family hugged for a few more minutes before anyone even considered moving and when they did that’s when he noticed. “Where is Veronica?” Lance looked around to see if he had missed her, he hadn’t. “Where is she!” Lance cried, he needed to see his sister. She was the person he was closest to out of everyone in his entire life, including Hunk. “Lance, we have some news…” Commander Iverson spoke plainly, “I suggest you sit down-” Commander Iverson was interrupted. “Where is she! I want to see my sister!” Lance yelled. “Veronica… She was a noble and loyal pilot. Unfortunately she didn’t win her fight.” Commander Iverson was being frustratingly vague. “What. Happened. To. My. Sister.” Lance asked slowly but commandingly. “Veronica, passed away. 4 months ago, she developed lung cancer. Her treatment was unsuccessful.” Commander Iverson spoke quietly as if it was going to soften the news. Lance faltered, he took sudden steps back. The person he missed and loved the most. Dead. Is that why Lance saw her when he was dead for a few minutes. “No.” Lance whispered as he took a step back, his legs gave out and he fell to the ground.Keith saw Lance fall, he thought nothing of it until he heard sobs. Loud, unnerving sobs of someone who had just lost a loved one. Keith knew those tears all too well and so he rushed over and knelt beside Lance. Keith rubbed Lance's upper arm but was shoved away. This had to be a cruel joke, his sister couldn't be gone. Lance wept loudly, not caring if anyone heard or saw him. He was mourning, he was allowed to cry. "Lance…" Keith was gentle, he didn't want to hurt Lance. "No!" Lance yelled in response, he wiped his tears from his face but it was pointless. They just kept flowing, "Lance, please how can I help?" Keith hadn't moved any closer. From his own experiences he knew that Lance needed space. "Leave! Leave me alone!" Lance flung his arms out trying to push Keith away and when he couldn’t feel Keith within arms reach he stood and ran. He ran quickly and far, he needed to escape. He needed to be free, he needed to be with his sister. There was only one way that was going to happen. "Take me to him." Keith said sternly to his wolf as he placed a hand on his wolf's fur. Keith ran. He ran hard, and fell even harder. "Keith what are you doing!" Lance yelled, "Saving your dumbass, like you've done for me so many times before." Keith was forcibly holding Lance to the ground, for someone with such a slim figure Lance held a lot of hidden strength. "She's gone Keith! You don't understand how I feel!" Lance cried as he tried to escape Keith's tightening grip. "I know exactly how you feel! I lost my dad, my mum. The only people who truly understood me! There gone, there was nothing I could do." Keith felt a sting in his chest, he hated reliving the emotions he felt when his father died. Lance just cried louder, "I grieved my family just as much as you're grieving your sister, but killing yourself isn't going to change that!" Keith yelled, he wouldn't lie. He was pissed that Lance's first thought was to kill himself. Keith released his grip slowly and helped Lance to stand. "I- i- I don't know what to do. I'm-" Lance sputtered through his heavy tears, Keith pulled Lance close and gave him the hug he needed when his father died. "I'm scared Keith." Lance whispered, his tears starting to slow. "I know. And that's ok." Keith whispered reassuringly as he pulled Lance closer.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
A few days had passed since Voltron had returned home, everyone had met new people and made new friends. Including Lance, although he had new family members. Dalia. She was Veronica's daughter. A year after Lance had unwillingly left earth Veronica had fallen pregnant as a result of a not so nice boyfriend. Before Veronica had passed she taught Dalia about Lance and his personality. Veronica talked about her brother so much Dalia felt like she knew him before she had even met him. The first meeting between the two was… emotional. Lance was still grieving his sister and Dalia looks almost identical to Veronica. "Tio Lance?" Dalia asked when she first saw Lance. "Hmm?" Lance turned to see a small girl, no older than 4 looking at him. Lance looked at his older brother who stood next to Dalia. "Lance, meet Dalia. Your… god-child…" Lance's brother spoke gently, Lance faltered. "Me? A god-father? Why?" Lance was baffled, "It was what Veronica wished for in her will. She wrote, 'I hand over guardianship to Lance McClain upon his return. He shall protect her." Lance's brother spoke a little too robotically. His brother's words sent him back to the white abyss, he had seen Veronica. She had told him to protect someone, she was talking about Dalia. Lance knelt down to look at Dalia, tears stinging his eyes. "Hey, how are you?" Lance asked gently, Dalia came rushing towards him and embraced him tightly. "Tio Lance!" The girl cried, "You look like my mama." Dalia spoke. Lance laughed, tears straining his eyes "That's because I'm your Mama's twin." Dalia looked up at Lance and giggled. "You're taller!" Dalia smiled, it was so similar to Veronica's smile it made Lance's heart hurt. "Can I call you Papi?" Dalia asked without a second thought, "I see my sister was teaching you Spanish… Of course you can call me that. I'm going to take care of you from now on." Lance smiled and ruffled Dalia's hair."Hey Lance, we need to- oh." Keith walked up to Lance while looking at a stack of paper, "Hey Keith, what's up?" Lance stood and moved closer to Keith, their arms touching. "Who, uh, who's this?" Keith asked cautiously, "He's my protector!" Dalia called out happily, Keith tilted his head in confusion. "She's my sister's daughter but because of… well you know. I'm a god-father now. Keith meet Dalia. Dalia meet the Black paladin of Voltron, Keith." Lance gently pulled Dalia forward. "I like your hair." Dalia smiled as she pointed at Keith's hair, his slightly longer than shoulder length hair sat messily yet somehow gracefully. Keith giggled and knelt down. "And I like your hair, it's very pretty." Keith smiled and pointed to the braid that sat on Dalia's shoulder. "Thank you! Ooo, wait here." Dalia said happily as she walked away, "Dalia! Don't just walk away, that's dangerous!" Lance called out as he quickly scuffled to Dalia. "Look!" Dalia smiled and pointed to a bright blooming flower, Dalia picked the flower and looked to Lance hoping to get picked up. "You want me to carry you?" Lance asked, he was surprised. This was his first time meeting his god-child and she already trusted him so much. Dalia nodded. Lance walked back to Keith with Dalia held in his arms resting against his hip. "There, now you're even more pretty!" Dalia giggled, Keith smiled. Dalia had tucked the flower she picked behind Keith's ear, Lance snickered. "Excuse me." Keith raised an eyebrow, "I got the flower not you, guess I’m the pretty one." Keith teased. "Anyway… what were your trying to say before?" Lance changed the subject, "oh right, the blades are planning to send me on a mission soon. I just wanted to go through the plan with you." Keith said as he looked at Lance holding his now legal child. She just looked so familiar and not because she kind of looked like Lance, like he had seen her somewhere before. "Why me? I'm not a member of the blades?" Lance glanced at the documents in Keith's hands."I know that, but Pidge is busy and you are the next best strategist." Keith said pointedly. "I'm flattered." Lance placed his free hand on his chest and smiled, Dalia copied. It made both Keith and Lance laugh a little. "You gonna help or not?" Keith started to walk backwards slowly and teasingly, Lance laughed. "I'm comin' geez." Lance quickly caught up with Keith. "Is Dalia allowed to come with?" Lance asked, Keith shrugged. "I guess, we could probably find some colouring in for her to do I guess." Keith wasn't sure how to deal with kids. Although that's not very surprising. "Does that sound good to you? Drawing?" Lance turned to Dalia who was still resting against Lance's hip. Dalia nodded quickly with a smile. The trio found an empty office like room, Keith sat in the spinny chair that was at the front. Lance sat Dalia in a chair that didn't spin, just as a precaution. Keith started speaking while Lance was still fussing about trying to accommodate Dalia. It didn't bother Keith, they often had to talk in the middle of a commotion so Lance walking around wasn't a big deal. Keith and Lance talked about the mission for about an hour and a half before Dalia stopped drawing and wanted a hug from Lance. Lance lifted Dalia up and she cuddled against his torso, eventually falling asleep. Lance gently caressed Dalia's head as she slept, "you have a natural talent with kids." Keith said off-handedly. "Not really." Lance giggled, “but I was one of the oldest kids so when my parents were out. Which was quite often, I would take care of them. Veronica and myself were practically my younger siblings' parents." Lance laughed, but it was a pained laugh. He had never really wanted kids, but as he got older he became more responsible for his siblings. His parents were at fault, they became more absent as Lance got older. Despite not really wanting kids, Lance found a love for taking care of his siblings. He could feel that love starting to bloom with Dalia, despite not knowing her that long.
A few weeks later, just before Keith was supposed to leave for his blades mission, Lance lay in his bed exhausted. Feeling like something was wrong he slowly got dressed and went outside where he heard frantic and panicked yelling, “Hunk buddy what's going on?” Lance turned to survey the surrounding area of the garrison and before Hunk could intervene Lance was sprinting. “Get off her! Off! I said get off!” Lance was furious. Lance was close to his target but crashed into two security guards who struggled to restrain him. “Let her go! Please~” Lance struggled against the grip of the guards holding him to his knees. “Papi! Please don’t let them take me! I don’t want to leave!” Dalia called out between sobs, Lance's mouth opened and closed but no words formed he seemed defeated so quickly. “No. Lance Fight. Fight for her. Fight for Veronica. Fight for what you love!” Lance didn’t have to turn to know who was calling out to him, but he did. Keith stood restrained by Shiro with tears drying against his face. “Dalia. I'm not letting you leave with them.” Lance laughed quietly, and Keith soon joined. Keith took advantage of Shiro’s concern and broke free of his hold, “Go to her, she needs you.” Keith said as he punched a guard that held Lance back, and with a forceful kick to the shin the second guard let go. Dalia yelled a high-pitched scream that made the several guards holding her flinch.Dalia saw Lance only a hundred metres away and knew he wouldn’t let them take her no matter what. With another scream Dalia bit the closest guard's arm and almost pierced the skin. Yelping in pain the guard let go of Dalia, having watched Keith attack the guards she copied the action of kicking a guard in the shins, with only one guard left and Lance only a few metres away Dalia punched the last guard in his privates. Finally, free Lance slid on his knees and embraced his godchild tightly. Tears flowing freely, “Lance let go, she’s going.” Lance pulled out of the embrace and slowly stood to face a random garrison officer. “You can fuck right off!” Lance didn't yell but his voice was filled with venom and pure hatred, “You have been deemed unfit to work and take care of a kid in your line of duty.” The officer reached for Dalia but stopped when he felt a blade next to his chest. “Feisty, and where did this come from?” the officer glanced between Lance and the blade, “That’s for me to know, and a sign for you to fuck right off.” Lance smirked, thankful he had taken the advice from Keith to always keep a knife with him. “Papi? I’m scared.” Dalia held Lance close, Lance sliced the officers uniform as a warning before he bent down and cradled Dalia’s face in his hands. “Officer, I’m delighted to inform you that you are no longer welcome in the Garrison.” Commander Iverson handcuffed the officer before he could turn around.“Lance, Dalia! Are you ok?” Keith ran beside the pair and quickly looked for any surface wounds. “Fuck.” Keith whispered under his breath, thankful no wounds were visible, “Thank you, Keith.” Lance’s voice was barely a whisper. “Thank you so much. I owe you my life.” Lance hugged Keith desperately, he needed Keith to know how thankful he truly was. Lance hadn't seen Keith try to help Dalia but he could tell by the tears on his face and his heavy breathing. “We may not be blood-related but you and all the paladins are family. Family protects each other.” Keith whispered, Lance began to cry once more, Lance fell to his knees, and Keith and Dalia were quick to follow. “Family…” Lance thought as he was embraced. “Papi?” Dalia whispered, “Yes, sweetheart what’s up?” Lance looked at Dalia with a tear-stained face but a happy smile. “Can we have take-out tonight?” Dalia asked innocently, Keith huffed out a laugh. “She’s definitely a McClain.” Keith stood up and ruffled Dalia’s already messy hair, “Yeah, she definitely is. But yeah, I think we deserve a bit of take-out.” Dalia smiled and hugged Lance. Keith smiled at the small family before him. “Can papa Keith join?” Dalia now clung to Keith’s leg and looked at him with a similar smile she reserved for Lance.Lance looked at Keith with a genuine smile and nodded, “Keith is family, and family is always welcome.” A faint blush appeared on Lance’s cheeks, “Come on let's get home.” Dalia skipped ahead of Lance but never too far away. Lanced scoffed, “How did you shimmy yourself into the role of ‘papa Keith’?” Lance leaned slightly against Keith as they walked, “If I’m being honest, I have no fucking clue.” Keith kept watching Dalia as he spoke. “Actually, Yeah that might be my fault. I watch the videos of our battles and try to find patterns or weak points that we can manipulate, so yeah she’s seen you quite a bit but through a screen. "So she likes me because I'm always saving your dumbass?" Keith laughed, "Considering she's related to me it's highly likely, even I can't deny that you look pretty attractive while fighting. Or maybe it's because of your half-gala?" Lance shrugged with a chuckle. "By the sounds of things you just have a thing for aliens. Frikin weirdo." Keith playfully punched Lance's arm and ran ahead, "I do not!" Lance shouted and began chasing Keith. Lance had always been a faster runner than Keith because of his long legs and quickly caught up catching him in an embrace. Dalia saw Lance and Keith chase each other and wanted to join. "Papa Keith! Catch me if you can!" Dalia yelled with excitement, with a smile Keith started to slowly chase Dalia. He made sure she wasn't caught as soon as he started chasing her, Dalia ran and hid behind Hunk, “Come get me now Papa Keith.” Dalia laughed and stuck her tongue out. Keith Laughed and sidestepped around Hunk but Dalia did the same, managing to narrowly escape Keith’s embrace. “Oh no, you don’t Keith. I the yellow paladin shall protect the queen Dalia of earth.” Hunk had caught onto their game and acted as if he was pledging allegiance.Dalia laughed loudly, Hunk picked up Dalia and held her up as if she was in a rocket ship. “Let me- let me down!” Dalia stuttered between her laughing. “It makes you proud doesn’t it?” Lance turned to the familiar voice, and with a small laugh, “It does. I remember when I told him to ‘shut his quiznak’. I told him to shut his fuck, I mean what was I thinking.” Lance laughed before turning back to watch Keith and Hunk playing with his godchild. “You were interesting, to say the least when we all started. You have no idea how much you have changed yourself.” Shiro placed a soft hand on Lance’s shoulder, “How have I changed? Other than me now having a kid.” Lance didn’t look at Shiro and continued to watch Dalia, Hunk and Keith, “Well for starters, you do have a kid now. However, that's not the biggest change that I see. You always try to help those in need, and you’ve learnt so much in so many aspects. You could barely hold a sword a few months back and now it’s practically your first choice.” Lance laughed, “Yeah Keith was pretty bossy during training. He did, however, improve my skills dramatically.” Shiro laughed, “That’s what I mean. You would have never listened to Keith in the beginning. Now, look at you both. Your kid calls him papa. I’ve seen Keith grow up and not once have I seen him this happy around a child.” Shiro turned to Lance with a smile. “Papi! Uncle Hunk killed papa Keith!” Dalia dramatically pulled Lance away from Shiro to where they had previously been playing. Lance pretended to cry and fell to his knees, slapping a fist onto Keith’s chest. “No~ Not papa Keith! I must save him! I, the paladin of the red lion call upon the healing abilities that I somehow now have.” Lance raised his hands and started speaking Spanish gibberish that meant nothing, Lance then placed his hand on Keith’s chest and started poking him. “Ah- Hey no poking!” Keith started laughing when Lance tickled him, “Tickle pile!” Dalia flopped herself heavily onto Keith's stomach. Lance laughed and watched Keith laugh until he winced from a previous injury.
“Dalia, come on be careful. He’s still recovering.” Lance gently lifted Dalia off Keith and allowed him to stand, “Papa Keith? Am I allowed to call you that? I never asked and I know you two aren’t together but I still want you to be my papa.” Keith smiled and ruffled Dalia’s hair, “Of course it’s ok, plus who else is going to keep him in line?” Keith punched Lance gently in the arm, “Hey! I’m not that bad, you are worse. I mean do you even remember when you became the black paladin the first time, you listened to no one.” Lance laughed, “You can’t blame me! My brother fuuuuuuding died.” Lance laughed at Keith’s attempt to not swear in front of Dalia. “But you don’t have a brother. Do you?” Dalia asked, “No not biologically, but I was orphaned around your age. Shiro over there took me in and well, I didn’t see him as a father figure but more of a brother. Therefore I call him my brother.” Dalia was still confused. “But Shiro is there, how is he dead?” Dalia looked at Lance, “To put it simply, clones and magic are real and you do not want to come in contact with them.” Lance’s tone was firm and warning, “But Shiro is nice, you can trust him.” Lance laughed, Dalia smiled, “I would hope you could trust me.” Shiro appeared behind Lance with a laugh, “Clone? Is that why you have a robot arm?” Shiro was taken aback by the abruptness of the question. “Uh- Well technically yes but also- You know what I’ll explain when you're older.” Shiro sighed, Dalia held Lance's hand and smiled, agreeing with the deal.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Don’t go.” Dalia pleaded, she didn’t want Lance to leave. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I’ll come back as soon as I can, ok?” Lance kneeled in front of Dalia and cupped her cheeks. “I have to go help the universe, this is how I protect you.” Lance smiled and wiped away some of Dalia’s tears, “You’re going to get hurt! You might not come back!” Dalia cried loudly, “I don’t want you to leave.” Dalia was only 4 and a half but she truly felt like something horrible was going to happen, and it wasn’t just because she didn’t want Lance to get hurt. “I will do everything I can, just to get back to you.” Lance hugged his daughter tightly and gave her a kiss on the cheek before saying goodbye and walking reluctantly to his lion. Lance and his family had made an agreement that Dalia would stay with them while he was on missions so she was still with the family. Dalia didn’t mind her tías, tíos o tu abuela o abuelo (aunts, uncles or your grandmother or grandfather). But they weren’t Lance. He was just so similar to her mum, it made Dalia comfortable.— — — —The room was chaos. Pidge was trying to hack into the Galra system to stop the self-destruct mode on the ship, Hunk was surrounded by centuries and was receiving heavy fire, and Shiro was still the Cryo pod in The Castle of Lions. Keith wasn't on this mission, he had a mission with the Blade of Marmora. He needed to be on that mission. Lance was hiding behind cargo containers, he was afraid but he hadn't stopped fighting. Using the cargo as cover he accurately shot down Galra soldiers one by one, he focused on freeing Hunk from heavy fire but didn't notice the mage appear behind him. The mage quickly shocked Lance into a state of unconsciousness, the team didn't notice Lance's missing presence. "Haggar, I have captured the blue paladin. How should I dispose of him?" The mage asked, the old woman with long white hair, who wore a purple cloak covering her face responded in a raspy voice. "Take him to the interrogation room. I have some questions for him…" the mage did as he was requested. Lance was strapped to a metal platform, soon after Haggar entered the room. "You may leave." Haggar dismissed the mage and turned to Lance who had started to wake up."I see you're awake." the woman didn’t sound nice or forgiving, Lance groaned as he woke up, everything hurt. "That's a mighty wound, shall I fix it for you?" Without Lance understanding what Haggar was talking about he screamed in agony, Haggar had just sent a shock through an open wound. Lance hadn't noticed the wound before so he assumed he must've been shot around the time the mage took him away from the fight. Lance screamed again when Haggar shocked him once more. "Where is the pilot of the black lion?" Finally getting a break from immense pain Lance huffed out an answer, "I don't know!" Haggar shocked him again and asked the same question. Lance responded the same despite the increase of pain. Lance was dangling over the edge of unconsciousness or death. Even a slight increase to the shocks Hagger was sending through Lance would mean his second death. "Your efforts are futile, you will break soon. I promise that. Why do you insist on protecting them? They don't care about you, they would have noticed you had gone missing if they did." Haggar motioned towards Lance's Paladin helmet, there had been nothing about his missing presence. Haggar shocked Lance once more with enough power that Lance's body went limp, but he had not passed out, nor had he died. Although at that moment he wished he had died, the pain was barely tolerable. "I protect them because I care about them! I protect them because they are my family!" Lance had yelled loud enough to go through the intercom on his helmet."Was that Lance? Hunk is Lance not with you?" Pidge asked, "Yeah- wait no he's not! Oh no! Pidge you need to find him! I'll try to get out of this mess." Hunk was frantically trying to get rid of the centuries. "Hold on. There, all the centuries should be deactivated now. I'm pinpointing Lance's location and sending it to you Hunk." Within a few minutes, Hunk had gotten free and Pidge had given him directions to find Lance. The torture continued for Lance until Hunk arrived, Hunk broke into the room Lance had been held in to find his limp, weak, pale and unconscious body. Blood pooled on the floor, Lance’s wound hadn’t been cauterised by Haggar's torture so blood still streamed down his leg "Lance! Come on buddy, wake up!" Hunk shook Lance trying to wake him up but was unsuccessful. "Hunk! You need to get out! Galra soldiers are coming straight to your location, I can pause the self-destruct mode but it will only last for 5 minutes then it's game over." Pidge was frantically trying to find Hunk and Lance a way out, "Go for it Pidge, I'll figure it out on my end." Hunk said as he carefully untied Lance and lifted Lance onto his shoulder. Hunk carried Lance to an exit point where he met with Pidge. "We need to get him into a Cryo pod as soon as possible!" Hunk spoke frantically as his best friend's blood began to stain his armour. Pidge agreed with Hunk as they used their jetpacks to fly out to their lions, only narrowly missing the explosion."Ah- Paladin's welcome back! How did the mission go?" Coran greeted Pidge, Hunk and Lance with his usual chipper attitude. "Lance is hurt! Badly, he needs to get into a Cryo pod." Hunk started to carry Lance to a Cryo pod, "Wait! What happened to him?" Allura stopped Hunk but Hunk was in a panic about his best friend's condition, "Sorry Allura but we don't have time for questions." Hunk continued to rush to the Cryo pod room. Pidge activated a Cryo pod for Lance and he was placed gently in the pod. Hunk sank to the floor, "I didn't even notice he was taken. I'm such a bad friend!" Hunk had tears falling slowly, "You're not a bad friend Hunk, you couldn't even see him when he was there. He must've been captured." Pidge comforted their friend, "But he didn't even call out, surely he would've yelled or something?" Hunk was a mess, he believed he was the reason for his friend getting hurt. "I think we should take him back to Earth, the Cryo pod can only do so much. He should get checked by a doctor trained for your kind." Coran said gently not wishing to hurt the paladins any further. Hunk and Pidge nodded their heads. "What's all the commotion about?" Shiro slowly walked over to the rest of the team, "Shiro!" Hunk jumped up and gave Shiro a tight hug. "Uh hey, Hunk? What, uh what happened" Shiro slowly pulled away from Hunk to look at the others, "We went on a mission and they managed to get Lance and we heard him screaming and telling someone why he didn't give away your location?" Pidge said matter of factly."So you're telling me that Lance risked his life to protect you guys as well as Allura, Coran and myself? And now he's in a critical condition that the Cryo pod might not be able to heal. Is that right?" They all nodded, "we should let Keith know we're headed back to Earth. I'll open a hailing frequency now." Allura said before heading to the bridge of the ship, "No, it could jeopardise his mission." Allura turned to Shiro blank-faced, "But he needs to know! If he doesn't, how will he stay safe and protected?" Allura was slightly angry at Shiro's calm nature. "No, that's final. We are not opening that frequency, we cannot afford to risk their lives for a chat about what has happened on our end. Once it's safe for him, Keith will be in contact with us. Plus it's Keith, he's a strong fighter he can protect himself and he's with the Blade of Marmora he'll be fine." With a huff Allura let the subject go. "We should at least let Samuel know. Shouldn't we?" Allura turned to Shiro, "Actually that would be a smart choice, my dad would be able to get the best available treatment when he has been notified. I think we should leave Lance in the pod for as long as possible until the care has been confirmed from earth." Pidge interjected proudly knowing her dad would be able to help her friend. “Then it’s settled, we go back to earth to get Lance treated. And we don’t contact Keith, it would probably just send him into an uncontrolled frenzy anyway.” Shiro sighed.— — —"He has suffered severe nerve and muscle damage to his right leg. It looks like the torture he received greatly increased the damage to his leg." The doctor said to Shiro, Pidge and Hunk, "So what does that mean for the future?" Hunk asked curiously, with a sigh the doctor responded. "He might not be able to walk ever again. And if he does he will be considered crippled and will need mobility aids." The group looked at each other, the room filled with a sad atmosphere, guilt washed over Hunk. Lance was going to be crippled for the rest of his life and it was all his fault. “Hunk, It’s not your fault. If it weren’t for you he would be much worse off.” Pidge rested their hand on Hunks arm, Hunk let tears fall before tightly hugging Pidge. "I have a question… Does Keith know about this? Or that we're back on earth?" Hunk asked. Shiro sighed softly, "He knows we're on earth but he doesn't know the full extent of the situation. Neither does Dalia… Iverson and Adam are getting her now." Shiro sounded worried and it concerned Pidge and Hunk. There was a knock at the door before it slowly opened, "Hello all, Dalia is here to say hi. Is that ok?" Adam had a sad smile, he let Dalia in after Shiro nodded. Dalia slowly walked into the room unsure of what she was going to see, as soon as she laid eyes on Lance she ran over to him and began crying. "Papi? Wake up. I- I want to see you smile, you promised! You said you would come back to me! Please! Hunk? What's wrong with him?" Dalia turned to Hunk who was also crying, Hunk kneeled and held his arms out for a hug. Dalia accepted the hug, "Hey sunshine, Lance is healing. Your father is very brave, he risked his life to protect everyone in this room. Including you. But because of his bravery, he got into a dangerous situation and got hurt." With his thumb, Hunk carefully wiped Dalia's tears. Hunk's own words helped to calm him and feel slightly less guilty "However, your father is so brave that he's going to get better. So we all need you to be brave and hope for a quick recovery. Can you do that?" Hunk gave Dalia a soft smile, and she nodded. "You are just like him. You’re so very brave." Pidge walked next to Dalia and smiled. "Sorry to interrupt but we should let him rest, we suspect that he's going to exit his coma in the next few days. The less stimulation the better." The doctor interjected."Adam? Do you know where my Papa Keith is?" Adam looked between Shiro and Dalia before answering. "He should be coming in within the next few hours. Would you like to wait for him with me?" Dalia nodded and followed Adam to the landing ground. Adam and Dalia talked about how Adam and Shiro became a couple while they waited for Keith, Kolivan, and Krolia to arrive. After about 2 and a half hours a ship landed, Dalia shot up from where she sat when she saw Keith and ran to him. "Papa Keith!" Keith caught Dalia in a hug and spun her around, eventually holding her on his hip with a wide smile. “Hey, sweetheart!” Keith laughed. Despite not being a legal guardian or remotely related to Dalia, Keith felt a sense of responsibility and love for Dalia. He blamed Lance for trusting him to be around her. Dalia hugged Keith tightly "Adam, how're things around here?" Keith asked, completely unaware of Lance's condition, "Uhh, well it's been better. You should come inside." Adam turned to head back inside and Dalia hugged him tighter. "When were you going to tell us you have a child?" Krolia asked as they started walking, Keith laughed a little. "I don't. Dalia here is Lance's godchild, but she calls me 'papa Keith' so I kind of help take care of her." Krolia looked at Keith then looked at Kolivan who shrugged. "How are the rest of the Paladins? Are they ok?" Keith asked when he saw Shiro inside, Shiro didn't answer but led Keith towards Lance's room. "We'll give you some time, he's not awake yet?" Shiro looked at the floor when he opened the door, Keith saw Lance in his coma and carefully put Dalia down.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
"Lance?" Keith asked with a sense of fear, seeing Lance in a hospital gown was not what he had wanted to see. "Lance? What happened to you?" Keith could feel himself shaking and start crying, his hands were shaking as he moved his hand to rest on the bed rail. "H-how did this happen?" Tears started to flow, and Keith slipped his hand into Lance's hand. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry!" Keith was about to fall to the ground in tears when he felt someone hugging him. "You need to be like Papi. You need to be brave." Dalia had walked into the room and held onto Keith's legs, after a pause Keith huffed out a sad laugh. Dalia was crying, she hated seeing her papa’s sad. "You are… you're amazing Dalia. Don't you forget that!" Keith fell to the ground to hug Dalia. "Dalia? Keith?" Keith looked up at the faint mention of his name. "Lance!" Keith and Dalia shot up to see Lance, "you're awake! Oh, thank god." Lance looked around the room with confusion. "Where am I? I should be on a Galra ship, held captive…" Keith helped Lance sit upright, "what do you mean? We're on earth." Lance looked around once more and smiled when he saw Dalia, "that's going to be a paladin conversation. How are you guys?" Lance strained a smile when Keith allowed Dalia to stand closer to him. "Better now you're awake, how do you feel?" Lance smiled that same strained smile, "not as horrible as I probably look. A bit hot and tired-" Lance groaned in pain as he struggled to flick the thin blanket off his right leg. The lack of a blanket meant that Lance’s wound was revealed, Lance had finally seen his wound. Dalia was frozen with shock and horror, her fathers leg was mangled with scars. Lance faltered, his leg had lightning like marks, with stretched and leathery skin scarring Lance’s leg . Keith froze, his hand impulsively hovered his hand over the large scar. Lance silently started to cry, he knew what his injury could mean and he didn’t want to admit it. “Dalia, I think we should let your papa rest. Hey, we’ll come back later.” Keith led Dalia out of the room, and he closed the door behind them. “Is Papa ok?” Dalia asked, she was worried for her father. Keith nodded and led her to Hunk and Pidge, “I’m leaving Dalia here with you guys, I’ll be back soon.” Keith didn’t leave anytime for Pidge or Hunk to argue before he left, not that they were going to argue.Keith left the group quickly. “Lance!” Keith burst into Lance’s room only to be met with a weeping boy. Lance was distraught, he felt his life was over. His purpose, gone. His meaning in life, gone. He was now just a boy with a scar, nothing more. Nothing less. “Lance… forgive me.” Keith walked over to Lance’s bed slowly. “I-i I’m broken! Keith. What am I supposed to do now?” Lance was horrified by the scaring on his leg, tears didn’t stop. Keith cautiously sat next to Lance, with one hand Keith moved the blanket to cover the scar. “No, stop, I need to see it!” Lance tried to force Keith away so he could see the scar, but he was unsuccessful, his heavy crying had exhausted him quickly. “No… please listen to me. Lance, it’s me Keith, I want to help. How can I help?” Lance shivered he could feel himself getting weaker. “I don’t know, I don’t, I just-” Lance burst into tears once more, Keith hated the sight of Lance crying. “Then let me try, please.” still crying Lance nodded, “Thank you.” Keith let a tear fall, “I’m sorry…” Keith whispered just before he held both sides of Lance’s face and kissed him. “Don’t be. Thank you. All you’ve ever done was help me.” Lance quickly returned the kiss before Keith pulled too far away. “Can I get you anything?” Keith spoke softly still slightly surprised that Lance kissed him in return. “A glass of water would be nice please.” Lance sniffed, Keith nodded and gave Lance a small smile before getting up, Keith gently closed the door behind him. Keith made his way to the canteen where he bumped into Hunk and Dalia, “Papa Keith! Where were you?” Dalia ran to Keith, “Sorry sweetheart, I went back to your father. I couldn’t let you see him like that.” Dalia let out a sob, “Can I please see him?” Keith sighed, “I’m sorry, he’s not in the right mind today. Maybe tomorrow? He’s too fragile at the moment, I'm afraid if he sees you he will only get worse."“How is it my fault?” Dalia felt angry, she had warned Lance not to go. She knew something bad would happen. “No, it’s not your fault at all. He just loves you so much. You are the only family he truly loves.” Keith whispered, “You're wrong! I’m not the only family he has, he has you, and he has Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro! He has you, Papa… He loves you.” Dalia was crying again, Dalia weakly punched Keith. Dalia wanted to release all her emotions but the crying had weakened her and so she punched Keith weakly, Keith let her. He knew she was sad and he was going to let her process her emotions how she wanted to. Tears began to flow freely again, “I’m sorry sweetheart, tomorrow. I promise.” Dalia still cried but agreed, “I better get this water to Lance.” Keith smiled a little, Keith gave Dalia a kiss on the forehead. “Sorry, that took so long. Dalia really misses you.” Keith whispered as he approached Lance’s bed. Lance accepted the water, “I miss her too, I just don’t think I can. I want to see her but I just can’t.” Lance started to cry once more, "I know. Come on- Let the tears out. It will make you feel better." Keith sat next to Lance once more, "How are you so sure? Because I currently feel like shit." Lance tried to stop his tears and control his shaky voice, "When my dad died I felt like shit. I thought showing emotions made me weak and repulsive, but I was wrong. So very wrong, It got to a point that I felt so bad about what happened and myself. Let's just say I started some not-so-healthy coping mechanisms." Keith leaned slighter closer to Lance to try and give him some reassurance, "what's the point of this?" Lance asked, Keith scoffed a gentle laugh "I was just about to get to that. What I mean is if you don't acknowledge your feelings you won't get better, it's ok to cry. Take it from me." Lance started to laugh but the laughing soon turned to crying, Keith moved to wrap an arm around Lance's shoulder. "It's ok, let it out." Keith whispered as he pulled Lance closer, Lance cried heavily. Lance cried onto Keith’s clothes, tears soaked Keith’s clothes but he couldn’t care less. Keith wanted to focus on Lance. Eventually, Lance started to mumble words but Keith didn't bother trying to understand, he knew Lance was trying to accept his feelings, as hard as that may be.Lance had fallen asleep while crying. "Your awake, good. Breakfast is on its way." Keith spoke softly, he was blushing at the sight of Lance. "What? Wait you stayed?" Lance opened his eyes fully and noticed he was hugging Keith, Keith nodded and brushed some of Lance's hair out of his face. The pair turned to the door as it slowly opened, "Papa, is it ok for me to come in?" Dalia stood by the door with a plate of food, a tear fell from Lance's face. "Of course sweetie. I'm sorry for yesterday." Dalia smiled and carefully walked with the tray of food to the bed, "It's ok Papa. You're being brave. That's what matters." Dalia smiled and handed Lance the tray of food. "How are you so amazing sweetheart?" Lance giggled as he slowly adjusted to sit upright, "She takes after a certain someone." Keith nudged Lance and smiled, Lance started laughing. "I'm not that good, have you met the rest of the team?" Lance said sarcastically as he carefully cut a sausage on his plate. "As a matter of fact, I have met them. They’re all awesome, truly they are. That includes you." Keith smiled and leaned closer to Lance. "Oh my god, carñino." Lance laughed giving Keith a playful punch, he loved seeing Dalia and Keith. "What does that mean?" It took Lance a few seconds to realise what he said, "Can't remember. It just felt right." Lance shrugged and ate a mouthful of food, "Dalia, what did Papa say?" Lance choked on his food a little at what Keith had said, Keith was looking at Dalia and didn't notice Lance shaking his head at Dalia. "Don't know. My Spanish isn't that good." Dalia shrugged, "here's an idea, Lance teaches us Spanish while he heals?" Keith teased as he turned to Lance waiting for an answer. After he finished his food Lance responded, "sure, I need to practise my Spanish more so it would be nice for people to actually understand me." Lance laughed at his own statement."Mr McClain?" The doctor entered the room, "You're awake, wonderful. How are you feeling?" Keith stood up and led Dalia away from the bed so the doctor could get to Lance. "Oh you know I could be better. Pretty tired and so very sore. I'm going to guess that it's normal with my…" Lance didn't finish his sentence he only looked down at his leg, he hadn't seen it since yesterday. "Ah- yes that's very normal. You are a very lucky man Mr McClain. I hear if you hadn't been in one of those Altean pods you might not have even survived." Lance was shocked, he had no idea how bad his condition had been, I mean he was unconscious for most of it. "Is he going to get better?" Dalia walked up to the doctor with tears about to escape her eyes, "Yes. Your father will get better, however, this will take time and a lot of patience. I do warn you, Mr McClain, physical therapy will test you mentally. I suggest making plans to do something you enjoy at least 3 times a week. Whether it's reading a book, watching a movie, or eating a certain food. You will need to make that choice." The doctor looked at Lance, "I-i think I can manage that. I have a question for the doctor. Can I be discharged soon?" Lance looked at his legs sadly, "within the next week I would assume. We still need to do a few tests to make sure everything is ok. In the meantime, I suggest some adjustments be made at home for better access to a wheelchair. Can that be arranged, Mr Kogane?" The doctor finally turned to Keith, "Of course, did you want anything brought here before you get discharged, Lance?" Keith looked at Lance and noticed his saddened nature."No." Lance whispered, "I will take my leave now, however, do not hesitate to ask me if you have any questions." With a small wave the doctor left, small sobs left Lance's mouth. "Dalia? Can I get a hug?" Lance whispered as he tried to hide his sobs, Keith gently lifted Dalia to sit next to Lance and give him a hug. "Can you please lend me some of your bravery? I could really use some right now." Dalia started to cry, "I'll give you guys some space." Keith spoke softly so as to not ruin the mood, and quietly Keith left the room. Keith walked around aimlessly not sure of what to do or who to speak to. After about 10 minutes Keith found himself in front of Lance's apartment, Keith lifted the doormat and saw a door key and let himself in. Keith walked through the apartment slowly remembering the brief time he had to live with Pidge, Hunk and Lance. Keith stood at the doorway of Lance's room, the familiar smell of Lance's skincare and aftershave made Keith emotional. He never thought he would have missed the smell of Lance's insistent use of skincare. He missed it all. He missed the late-night conversations when neither of them could sleep, he missed watching Lance cook authentic Cuban dishes. He missed Lance's laugh, he missed Lance's smile. He missed making cocktails with Lance on that random planet, he missed Lance’s ability to light up a room. He missed Lance.Keith entered Lance's room and sat on his bed, finally taking in the atmosphere he noticed something red in the corner of his eye. His jacket. Keith laughed, "I remember when you took this, have you seriously not returned it." Keith put his jacket over his blade uniform, "I know you said you didn't want me to bring you anything but I think this will make you feel better." Keith laughed to himself as he grabbed a few things from Lance's room. Keith left the apartment and locked the door behind him, walking away from the apartment Keith looked through the things he had grabbed giggling slightly. "Oh hey, Pidge. What are you up to?" Keith noticed Pidge heading to their apartment, "Keith! I feel like I haven't seen you in so long. I'm grabbing my hard drive, I've been asked to help design a mobility aid for Lance. What about you?" Pidge asked, taking note that Keith was carrying something, "That's really cool Pidge! I'm sure you'll do an amazing job. I was just grabbing Lance some things, speaking of getting things, do you know where the nearest mall is?" Pidge thought for a second before responding. "It's about 20 minutes from the garrison, why do you ask?" Pidge looked at Keith with confusion, he hated going to malls. "I need to grab a few things and some new clothes. I'm pretty sure mine blew up on a Galra ship." Keith laughed slightly, "Fair enough, well I'll catch up with you later then." Pidge waved goodbye to Keith and walked off.Keith walked around the garrison for a few minutes before finally finding his motorbike. Keith lifted the seat to open the storage compartment underneath, and he found his helmet and keys. Keith missed the buzz of adrenaline he got when he rode on his bike, Keith followed the speed limit while on Garrison grounds. As soon as he left the perimeter he sped up dramatically, Keith knew he would be able to get away with his dramatic speed because of how long the road was to the nearest town. Meanwhile, Lance and Dalia were having some very overdue father daughter time. "Papa? Yesterday you said ‘Carñino’ to Papa Keith, what does it actually mean?" Dalia looked at Lance curiously, "Oh sweetheart," Lance giggled and ruffled Dalia's hair, "That's for me to know, I'll tell you when you're a little bit older." Lance continued to giggle before giving Dalia a kiss on the cheek. "Ok. Can you at least tell me a story about you and Papa Keith?" Lance smiled, he knew exactly what story to tell. The story went on for about 5 minutes, "We had a Bonding moment, but if Keith ever asks. It never happened." Lance put a finger to his mouth and laughed, and Dalia laughed too. It was their little secret. "Knock, knock." Keith said as he opened the door, "what are you two laughing about?" Dalia snickered, "You're not allowed to know! It's a secret!" Dalia put a finger to her mouth and Lance copied with a wide smile."Ok, let's pretend I believe that. Anyway, I got food and a little present for you Lance." Keith smiled, placing two bags on the bed, "it better not be a leg based pun. I will kill you if it is." Keith laughed, "you think so lowly of me red paladin. But take a look, I think you'd like it." Lance seemed sceptical but looked through the bag slowly, "a frog?" Lance started laughing, "hey, that one's for me, Dalia has the unicorn and you have the puppy one." Lance laughed at Keith's gifts and urged Keith to put on the frog makeup headband. Dalia laughed along with Lance at Keith wearing the headband. His hair stuck up in every direction, it was quite funny. "How did you know what I use?" Lance looked through the various skincare products, "well first I went to your room and saw them, second I took my jacket back. Thanks for stealing it by the way. Then I took the ones I found in your bedroom to the closest skincare shop. Let's just say when I said it was for you they just gave me what you usually get." Lance laughed, "do I go there too often for them to actually remember what I get?" Keith shrugged, "probably, but I guess it pays off. I have never seen you with bad skin." Lance smiled. "That's the point." Keith scoffed out a laugh before handing Dalia her unicorn headband. "Ok, cleanse your face Papa Keith. Then we can do a face mask, then eye pads, then serum and finally moisturiser." Dalia looked at the array of products in front of her and handed it to Keith. "How long have you been training her for this?" Keith looked at Lance with scepticism, "long enough, now come here. I know you're not going to do it right." Lance shrugged and held a hand out for the cleanser.Lance helped Keith apply the beauty products while Dalia put it on herself and watched the two people she considered family. Once the face masks were put on they had to wait 15 minutes, they passed the time by talking, laughing and making jokes. "Gahh, Princess Dalia must be protected from the wicked evil Lance McClain!" Keith picked Dalia up and put her on his shoulders and pretended to fight Lance with an imaginary sword. Lance played along laughing the entire time until the door suddenly opened. Keith turned to the door wide eyed, making eye contact with commander Iverson. Iverson stood at the door staring at Keith wearing the frog headband, a unicorn print face mask and holding Dalia on his shoulders. "Oh um, carry on. Sorry for interrupting." Iverson said awkwardly before leaving and closing the door, Lance burst into a loud laugh. "Oh my god!" Lance struggled to breathe through his laughing, "you should have seen your face! Oh my god, wait till I tell Pidge! They are so getting that footage for me!" Lance was still hysterical with laughter, Keith carefully moved to hold Dalia in a hug. "What's so funny?" Dalia asked, looking at Keith. "Let's just say, when I was still a student here at the garrison. Iverson was not a fan of me, but he had every right not to like me. I was a problem child. And he's never seen me smile, let alone have fun." Keith sat on the edge of Lance's bed with Dalia still in his arms, "you still are a problem child Carniño." Lance laughed. "Actually I'm a problem adult, technically speaking." Keith poked Lance's arm with a laugh."I'm tired." Dalia whispered through a yawn, "ok, come here. We'll skip the eye masks, and the serum today. We still need to moisturise though, then We can get you to bed." Lance gave Dalia a soft smile, Keith moved closer to Lance so he could reach Dalia. Lance carefully removed the face mask and applied the moisturiser to Dalia's face. Keith stood up and carried Dalia to the empty bed in Lance's treatment room, gently placing Dalia in the bed. Keith tucked her in and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight sweetheart." Keith said with a smile, he got a mumbled assortment of words in return. "Come on, you should get some sleep as well." Keith said softly as he turned to Lance, "what? Why are you smiling at me like that?" Lance had a gentle but proud smile plastered on his face, "it's just, I don't think I've ever seen you be this gentle. You're always angry at something, you know back when you first became the black lion's pilot. You were so headstrong and didn't want to listen to anyone, now seeing you with Dalia… it makes me wonder when did you become so gentle?" Keith smirked, "I wouldn't say I've become gentle, more like I'm showing a side I hate most people seeing. Now come on, get some sleep." Lance started to whine, he was slowly becoming himself again. "Come on, I know you're tired. I'll come see you tomorrow." Keith instructed as he began tidying the skincare products. Lance pouted even more, "can you stay the night please?" Keith was taken aback by the question, "do you really want me to stay the night?" Lance nodded and held out a hand for Keith to grab, "please?" Lance sounded so innocent and genuine that Keith immediately caved in and agreed.Lance moved slightly so Keith could fit in the bed, Keith adjusted himself carefully. Lance struggled to turn onto his side to face Keith, he then moved Keith's arm underneath his head. "Is this ok?" Keith blushed slightly at Lance cuddling him, even though technically it wasn’t the first time "uh yeah. It's fine." Lance smiled and moved his head closer to Keith's chest. Keith kissed Lance's forehead gently, "what was that for?" Lance asked not moving from where he lay, "not sure, I just remembered my dad doing that to me when I had a bad day. And when he was alive…" Lance giggled. "Awe, you do care." Lance whispered, "Does the fact I'm literally letting you cuddle me not prove that?" Lance giggled but didn't answer Keith, he only snuggled closer. Keith laughed and gave Lance one more kiss on the forehead before attempting to fall asleep, Keith couldn't sleep very well but he wasn't mad. He discovered a few things about Lance when he slept, they all made Keith blush. Number 1; Lance doesn't move around in his sleep, unless he's hugging Keith tighter. Number 2; Lance sleeps with a pouty face. Number 3; Lance sleep talks, actually more like sleep mumbles. Keith could only decipher a few of Lance's mumble words, they consisted of; soft, mullet, sharpshooter, loverboy, knife, Keith, pretty. An assortment of words Keith struggled to tie together, so he gave up and focused on Lance's breathing to help him sleep.
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Lance had been forced out of Voltron because of the severity of his wound, he was almost as recovered as the doctors predicted he would get. Lance had been doing physical therapy to learn how to walk again, unfortunately he would never be able to live without mobility aids. Lance was at the point of his recovery where he was strictly wheelchair bound, he wasn’t allowed to walk unless he was strictly supervised or during physical therapy. “Next Please!” Lance called out loudly, he had been sent back to aid with the first aid refugee he was once assigned to before. An elderly alien hobbled towards Lance, the alien adorned an old wooden cane. The soft pat of the cane hitting the dirt floor of Lance’s medical tent was unnerving. The continued patting of the cane against dirt felt reminded Lance of a time bomb, waiting to go boom. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.“I can’t see. Am I going in the right direction?” the elderly alien asked, “Yes you are, ma’am.” Lance responded gently, he rolled himself forward slightly. It was only enough so he could direct the alien into a chair. “What seems to be the problem today?” Lance asked politely. “My arm. It’s very sore, I'm not sure if it’s because of my age though. Would you be able to help?” The woman asked quietly, “Of course. I’ll just roll myself next to you, so please don’t be startled.” Lance instructed. “Wheel yourself? What does that mean?” The woman asked as she continued to tap the floor with her cane. “I was injured in battle and now I have to move around in a chair with wheels.” Lance spoke, he tried to hide the pain in his voice but he didn’t do too well. The lady reached out a hand and rested it against Lance's arm, “You are very brave to fight against the Galra. And to survive no less.” The woman spoke. “Well, it was my duty as a Paladin of Voltron. Didn’t really get a choice.” Lance retorted.Lance assisted with several patients after the elderly alien, he grew more exhausted by the second. On each patient he used small parts of the magic that Allura had accidentally transferred to Lance when she woke him from the white abyss. “Next!” Lance called out and a young, strong alien walked into Lance’s tent. He was rather handsome, Lance wouldn’t deny him that. “Hey. I just have a burn on my arm, I was told you were the one to come to. Ya’ know to get fixed quickly. Right?” The tall, muscular alien asked. Lance nodded, he was silent as he admired the alien in front of him. Tall, muscular, handsome, long black hair that cascaded down his back. Baggy pants held up with a thick strip of mulberry purple satin. The satin rested against his hips and travelled from one hip over his opposite shoulder and back down to the original hip. The alien's bare chest was exposed and it made Lance falter. “I- uh- yeah!” Lance spoke a little too loudly, “I mean yeah, that's me.” Lance tried to cough out the awkwardness. It kinda worked. Lance directed the alien to sit in the chair opposite him, Lance rolled himself closer.The handsome alien's burn wound was just below his shoulder but it was a decent size. “Did you get hit by a blaster?” Lance asked casually, “I- yeah… I did. How’d you know that so quick?” the alien asked sceptically. “I would recognize those wounds a mile away.” Lance said as he absent mindedly lifted the side of his shirt to reveal most of his torso and a large harsh purple scar. The scar ran from low on Lance's waist to his upper torso. “Woah, that must’ve hurt. Like a lot.” The alien said as he began reaching to touch it, Lance dropped his shirt and gave the alien a warning look. “Yeah, hurt like a quiznaker.” Lance said as he returned his attention back to the alien's wound. Lance hovered his hand over the wound, the flesh around the wound started to grow. The wound was healing from the magic that Lance was expelling magic from his hands. “Are you ok man? It was going pretty quickly before.” The alien asked as he pointed out that the healing had ceased. “Hello?” The alien waved his hands in front of Lance, his eyes were glazed over. Marks similar to Allura and Corans glowed on his cheeks. He was frozen and unresponsive.— — —“Hello? Is anyone here?” Pidge called out. “Pidge, is that you?” Keith asked, he looked around and saw nothing. All he could see was a black speckled plain, it reminded him of a starry night back on earth. “Pidge?” Keith called out as he began walking, “Over here! Wherever that is.” Pidge called out. It was freaky, they had been in their room in their lion and now they were in some sort of space abyss. “Are we the only people here?” Keith asked, Pidge shrugged. “Is anyone else freaked out? Like I was just in the kitchen, now I'm here.” Hunk asked as he slowly faded into view, Shiro by his side. “So everyone but Lance is here? What the hell is happening?” Keith complained. Everyone shrugged. “No- No- Not this again!” Lance tripped backwards and fell into Hunk. “Lance? What’s wrong?” Hunk asked cautiously when he noticed Lance’s panicked behaviour. “Someone is dead.” Lance whispered, “It’s just like when Allura saved me, I entered an abyss. This is almost the exact same. There is no start, no end. It’s just nothing, it's an empty abyss. Only emptiness and pain.” Lance recited. His words of caution worried everyone. “How do we know who’s dead?” Pidge asked, then looked at the computer on their paladin armour. “They show themselves.” Lance was quiet. “You're all here.” a familiar voice spoke, no one was seen. “Congratulations. The war, it’s over. I’ve stopped the pain, the regret and the suffering.” the same voice spoke, still not showing themselves.Lance used Hunk to help himself stand, he walked. He walked? He was able to walk in this abyss despite his real world injuries. “Allura… Why?” Lance whispered, the rest of Voltron looked at each other. How could Lance recognize the voice? Allura slowly walked into view with a saddened smile. “Hello, Lance.” Allura smiled. “What did you do?” Lance asked accusingly, “I saved us all, the Galra wanted me dead. They want my power to be gone, so I sacrificed myself. I stopped fearing my death.” Allura spoke solemnly, “Protect my heritage Lance.” Allura whispered. She took a step forward and held Lance’s cheeks in her hands. “Why me?” Lance asked, Allura didn’t respond. She rested her forehead against Lance’s. Her marks faded. New marks formed. Lance’s face became stained by blue marks that were almost identical to Allura and Corans. “Allura! ¡no te vayas! porque te vas! (Allura! do not go! Why are you leaving)” Lance cried, Allura faded. Then she was gone. “Lance-” Keith reached out to comfort Lance but he faded. They all faded, except Lance. He was alone. Abandoned. Forgotten.— — —“Hey? Hello?” The tall, handsome alien asked once more, “You ok?” The alien was worried. Lance had frozen mid healing, his eyes went glassy. Then there were strange marks under his eyes. “I- uh…” Lance whispered weakly, he raised a hand to his nose. Blood. “Oh no-” Lance whispered, he had a blood nose and was about to faint. “Call Keith.” Lance whispered only just audible to the aliens' heightened senses. Then he fell forward harshly, he would’ve fallen out of his wheelchair if the alien hadn't stopped him. The alien panicked, his wound only partially healed and now he had the person healing his wounds unconscious. “Help! I don’t know what to do!” the alien yelled in a panic, the alien helped to sit Lance upright. The alien found a small device on the table behind Lance, “Hello?” the alien said. He had managed to answer Lance’s phone just as he picked up. “Uh, who is this? You're not Lance.” Pidge said plainly, “i- uh. He’s hurt! He just- he just fell out of his chair with wheels.” The alien panicked.“Quiznack!” Pidge groaned through the phone, “He asked me to call someone. Keith? I think.” the alien questioned. “Ok, just stay there. I’m on my way, just make sure he’s still breathing.” Pidge huffed out before hanging up. “Pick up damn it!” Pidge complained, “Finally you idiot! Get to Olkarion as soon as you can! We have a situation.” Pidge demanded, they were flying to Lance’s location as quickly as they could. “I- wha- what happened?” Keith asked, “Lance-” Pidge spoke. Keith’s breath hitched, this wasn’t going to be good. “I’m on my way, i’ll be about an hour at the earliest.” Keith responded without letting Pidge finish their sentence, Keith sped up and entered the coordinates. Pidge was rather close to Lance so they managed to get to him quickly, unfortunately because of their size Pidge had to get the alien Lance was supposed to be healing to carry him into the green lion. “You're coming with me, I'll need you to carry him out as well.” Pidge commanded, “Besides, you get properly healed there.” Pidge said absent mindedly. Pidge managed to get to Olkarion within 30 minutes of leaving the first aid refuge.“Ah, Pidge. What a pleasure to see you again, how may we help today?” Ryner asked politely as Pidge emerged from their lion. “Hospital please. And quickly.” Pidge left no room for gossip, they were urgent. “Very well, follow me.” Ryner understood the rush and led Pidge and the other alien to the hospital, “We’ll take it from here, thank you.” A doctor said politely as they were given control over Lance’s wheelchair. “I- I am here!” Keith called out through laboured breaths as he ran through the hospital doors. “I… I'm here.” Keith huffed out, he was exhausted with worry. He also just ran about a mile from where he landed his lion. “Where is he? Is he ok? When can we see him?” Keith bombarded Pidge with questions, “Keith! Calm down! I think he had just been overworking himself, plus he seemed pretty distressed when we were in that abyss kinda thing.” Pidge comforted. Keith took a deep breath, it only calmed him slightly. “But he's ok?” Keith asked, “As far as I'm aware, yes.” Pidge said as they placed a reassuring hand on Keith's back.— — —“Hey! Excuse me!” Keith called out calmly, “Yes, you! Can I please see Lance?” Keith asked. “Only family is allowed to see him at the moment unfortunately.” The Olkari doctor said, “Wait- I uh- I’m his husband.” Keith wasn’t sure what he was doing. But it was worth a shot. Right? “Husband? I don’t mean to sound rude but where is your ring.” the doctor spoke gently, “uhh- We eloped? Didn’t have time to get a ring.” Keith had forgotten about that detail. Whoops. The doctor looked sceptical but smiled. “Very well then.” The doctor led Keith into Lance’s room, “Hey Lance.” Keith smiled. “Lance, your husband is here to visit.” Keith blushed hard at the doctor's words, Lance was only just starting to gain consciousness. Keith had to play the part until the doctor left, so he held Lance's hand. There was a soft blue glow. It was emanating from the marks under Lance’s eyes. Keith looked down at his left hand where a cold feeling appeared. A ring? “Is this normal for your species?” the doctor asked, “uh, yeah. I think so.” Keith replied.— — —“Come on Keith!” Lance whined, “Nope, the doctors let me have the documents.” Keith teased. “Oh please, why would they do that?” Lance complained. “Because I think I look the part, besides I’m apparently your husband.” Keith waved his left hand in Lance’s face, “Yeah, yeah. You're very sexy Keith. Now let me see the documents.” Lance rolled his eyes. Keith adorned a red button up shirt with the top two buttons undone, tight fitting pants. And low and behold a pair of black boots. “I- what?” Keith was taken aback by the comment. “I’m your husband, I'm allowed to tell you how I think you look.” Lance waved his left hand in Keith's face, mimicking what Keith had just done to him. Keith laughed, “Very well, I'll let that one slide.” Keith continued to laugh as Lance walked to catch up to him. “Please, I just want to know what it says!” Lance complained, “Ok, you've earned it.” Keith said with a cocky grin and handed Lance the documents. “What?” Lance looked at the documents, they weren’t actually documents. It was just a small stack of papers and the top one had 3 words written on it in bold. You’re an idiot. “Seriously! What’s that for!” Lance slapped the documents onto Keith’s chest who hadn’t stopped smiling. Keith tilted his head to look behind Lance, “Congrats. That’s a new record.” Keith smiled. Lance turned to see he had walked about 10 metres away from his wheelchair, with only minimal assistance from the handrail. “I- what?” Lance’s legs started to give out and fell into Keith’s arms. Keith giggled as he caught Lance, “Hold on.” Keith said as he manoeuvred to move one of Lance’s arms around his waist. Keith slowly helped Lance back to his chair. “Is that the only reason you dressed up nicely? To mock me?” Lance huffed. “It was more to add a little ‘Lance flare’ to me congratulating you on your progress. But yeah, sure let's go with what you said.” Keith teased.
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"Hey, you guys. Are you all good for dinner tonight?" Lance asked over the video chat. "Sorry Lance, I forgot I promised to take Shay on a date, she's so excited. I couldn't say no…" Hunk apologised. "Hey don't worry about it. Take Shay on the best Earth date you can. I want all the details after." Lance encouraged. Hunk left the call shortly after. "Anyone else who can't make it?" Lance asked politely. "Me." Pidge, Coran and Shiro said in unison. "So then that leaves just me and Keith." Lance said, "I'm still okay to go for dinner if you want." Keith shrugged over the video call but it wasn't very obvious. After all, he was halfway underneath a car fixing it. Thanks, Iverson for not paying Keith to fix your car. "Really? You're okay with that, even though Dalia won't be there?" At this point, it was just Lance and Keith on the call. "I mean yeah, I don't talk to you just because of your kid Lance. Besides, we're friends are we not?" Keith asked promptly before swearing under his breath. "Are you ok?" Lance asked completely unaware that he avoided Keith's question. "Yeah, Iverson's car is just a shit box. I also just had a bunch of oil fall on my face." Lance had to force down his laugh. "So seven?" Lance asked. "Yup, sounds good. What's the dress code for this place? I don't really wanna show up to a nice place covered in grease and oil." Keith asked as he slid out from underneath the car. Lance couldn't help but laugh. Keith had gone to wipe the sweat off his forehead but unintentionally smeared grease over his forehead. "You look like Simba from that one part in The Lion King." Lance continued to giggle. "Oh shut up you prick." Keith teased, "Uh how 'bout no. The dress code is smart casual, so no oil and grease please." Lance laughed loudly. Keith dramatically acted offended. "You don't want to see my hard work, I think it looks sexy on me. Don't you think?" Keith teased, Lance's acting lessons had done wonders to aid Keith's humour. Lance burst into laughter, he almost fell off his chair in the process. "Oh shit! You good?" Keith asked frantically, "Yeah man, I just keep forgetting you're actually funny." Lance said through his remaining laughter. "Uh, rude. I've always been funny." Keith mocked. "Daddy! Daddy!" Dalia yelled from off-screen. "Hey, sweetheart." Keith cooed, "Are you taking Papa on a date?" Dalia asked excitedly, “Yup, the best one he’s ever going to go on.” Keith teased. “Ooo, is that right? You’ve got your work cut out then.” Lance teased as he picked Dalia up and sat her on his lap, Keith shrugged. “Eh, not really. I’ve romanced several people without even knowing they were there.” Keith laughed. “Oh is that right? I look forward to getting spoiled then.” Lance smiled.————"Sorry Keith, I was going to dress up a bit more but it's a bit hard. With…you know." Lance looked at his plain boring crutch, "I actually have something for you, Please sit down while I grab it." Keith directed Lance to sit down before leaving the room. "Ok, close your eyes!" Keith called out from the other side of the house, After a few seconds Keith entered the room. "You can open your eyes now." Keith stood with his present to Lance with a smile. "Oh my…" Lance wanted to cry, "Now it looks as beautiful as you do." Lance laughed at Keith's corny words, "Thank you, it's perfect!" Lance took a few moments to appreciate the crutch that was painted like the beach with the ocean and a small heart keychain hanging from the handle. "Take a look at the keychain, I can guarantee it's corny but… Well, it just felt right." Keith giggled to himself, "Come day or night, in space or at home, you're my favourite star. Mi Carniño." The words sounded gentle to Keith and he couldn't help but smile, "It just felt right…" Lance repeated the words and started laughing, "You don't even know what that means." Now it was Keith's turn to laugh a little. "Actually, I do know." Keith kneeled in front of Lance to get closer to his height, "your mother, is a very good Spanish teacher." Lance's eyes widened and his mouth hung open. "That traitor, when I see her next she's getting a dirty sock in her mouth!” Lance pouted but Keith laughed at Lance's threat. "Do you want to know why I asked her to teach me? It's because I wanted to ask if you-" Keith paused, unsure if he should say it, "it's okay take your time, but if you're asking me to be your boyfriend… I accept. I was actually going to ask you later tonight." Both Lance and Keith laughed a little. "Please tell me that's what you were going to ask though. I feel very embarrassed right now."Keith huffed out a laugh and cupped Lance's face with one hand, the other rested on his scared thigh. Keith leaned up to Lance and gently kissed his cheek. "Of course, that's what I meant. I realised I've loved you for a lot longer than I thought I had." Lance immediately blushed hard, "if you don't mind me asking, when did you realise you had feelings for me?" Lance was still blushing, "if I'm being honest I think I've had feelings for you since the start… but I only realised they were romantic feelings when I saw you in that coma. I felt like I had failed you, I thought and still think it's my job to protect you. Protect you and Dalia, I think she helped me realise my feelings. Lance smiled, "In that case, you won't mind me doing this." Before Keith could respond Lance pulled Keith into a kiss by the collar, "I uh, wow uhh. Please do that again." Keith was frozen, a hot pink blush sat on Keith's face. Lance gently pulled Keith back into another kiss, this was a more gentle and sentimental kiss. "Do you want me to kiss you again?" Lance whispered against Keith's lips, "Yes, I do but I think I'm going to explode if you do that again." Keith was breathless, he had never imagined what it would be like to kiss Lance. Let alone how much he would enjoy it. "You know, you've never let me down. Confused me and angered me, yes you have. But never let me down." Lance spoke softly as he fixed Keith's collar, "Thanks, but I'm still going to feel like I need to protect you." Lance giggled, "I feel that same need as well. Come on, now's not the time to get emotional, how about we start that date?" Lance kissed the corner of Keith's mouth with a smile. "Sounds good, mi Carniño." Keith laughed at his horrific pronunciation.— — —It had been about a year since Allura had sacrificed herself for the universe and about 9 months since Keith finally mustered up the confidence to ask Lance out.— — —"Marry me…" Keith blurted out, and the entire team turned to face Keith. "I uh, what?" Lance stuttered. "I uh said marry me…" Keith spoke softly, he was embarrassed by the volume and suddenness of the question. "I'm sorry I think I'm drunk…" Keith's face was bright red, Lance stuttered for about 5 seconds before he was able to form any actual words. "Yes. Of course yes! A million times yes!" Lance had officially become hysteric with emotions, ranging from excitement to tears, to disappointment that he couldn't propose first. "I-i uh guess I give this to you now then?" Keith pulls a box out of his pocket and opens it to show a silver band embedded with Sapphires. Lance knocked Keith over with the force of his hug, Keith embraced Lance as he fell off the bar stool he was sitting on. Keith groaned when he made contact with the floor, "I hope you like it." Lance smothered Keith's face with several kisses, "CARNIÑO!! How could I not love it!?" Lance yelled as he helped Keith stand, Keith was no longer bright red but a blush still sat on his face. Keith grabbed Lance's left hand and slid the ring on his ring finger, tears fell from his face. "Happy birthday Lance." Keith gently kissed Lance, then there was a click. "Ew." Pidge said bluntly making the whole group laugh, "No I'm being serious. My phone is contaminated with photos of you guys kissing." Pidge waves their phone in the air, "If you don't like us loving each other why take photos?" Keith asked as he moved to pull Lance closer and rest his hand on Lance's ass. "Blackmail for when I give the best man's speech, duh." Lance looked at Keith, "Well technically you can't do a best man's speech or a maid of honour speech but you can do a Gremlins guide to how you tolerate us." Pidge laughed, "a what?" Pidge was confused, "I'm going to take a guess and say Lance means you can have your own special speech because you're non-binary." Lance nodded, "Really? Thank you!" Pidge jumped up and hugged Lance and Keith, the rest of the team was soon to join. "Can I be In charge of the cooking?" Hunk asked in the hug, everyone laughed. "Who else is going to do it buddy?"
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
"Daddy! Daddy!" Dalia yelled happily as she ran to Keith, "Hey gorgeous!" Keith laughed and picked Dalia up swinging both of them in a circle. "Mornin' babe-" Keith smiled as he leaned over to kiss Lance on the lips, Lance giggled. "I have a present for you! It's the best present ever!" Dalia said loudly, "A present? What for?" Keith questioned. "Your birthday silly!" Dalia smiled, "My birthday? Is it my birthday?" Keith asked turning to Lance who sighed. "Yes Keith. You know it is, you can't avoid it. Besides, Dalia got you an amazing present." Lance responded, "come on open it!" Dalia interrupted. Keith sighed out a giggle reached for the small gift Dalia was holding. "Uh ah. What's the rules?" Lance swiftly took the gift from Dalia before Keith could grab it. "Food first, presents second." Dalia said sadly, "good girl, beside Keith won't be able to function when he sees what you got him." Lance smiled and gently pinched Dalia's cheek. "What's that supposed to mean?" Keith asked with a raised eyebrow , Lance shrugged and walked into the restaurant without a response. "Hey guys!" Hunk said happily, "hey, you guys order yet?" Lance asked as he found the end spot of the bench the group sat on. It was a small thing that Lance had to do since the incident and he had to carry a crutch around. "Not yet, we were waiting for the birthday boy." Shiro teased, "oh my god, Shiro. Stop." Keith groaned as he put Dalia down. "Daddy's going to get the best present ever!" Dalia cheered, "oh yeah, what is it?" Pidge asked. Dalia shook her head furiously, "that's a secret!" Dalia put a finger on her lips. The group laughed, "hey folks, what can I get for you today." A polite waitress asked, "A mimosa, for the birthday boy." Pidge teased devilishly. "No, no. Absolutely not." Keith argued, "just the strongest coffee you have please." Keith groaned into his hands. "I'll have a mimosa though, please." Lance spoke happily. "It's like 7:30 and you're already having alcohol... You have a problem." Pidge commented, "No, it's a solution." Lance retorted happily, "it's early and technical I'm having a breakfast drink. You know with the orange juice, the champagne just makes it classy." Lance said with a proud smile. The waitress struggled to keep her laughter down, "ok, come on keep ordering. I'm paying." Lance said as he waved his hands at the menus. "Sweet-" Pidge said with that oh so familiar devilish smile, they then proceeded to order one of the most complex sets of alterations. The rest of the group ordered and the food came quickly, several conversations were happening at the table. Anyone who looked at the table was confused by the calmness of everyone when their conversations seemed so chaotic. "Oh, sorry could I please get a mimosa for the birthday boy-" Keith asked a waiter while pointing at Lance. The waiter nodded and soon returned with a mimosa and a small cake, "Happy birthday to you-" a group of 4 workers started to sing as they placed the cake and mimosa in front of Lance. Keith started recording the entire thing, Lance however was frozen. He didn't know what to do, "blow out the candles-" an older waitress said. "Keith, Dalia care to share the honour?" Lance asked sliding the cake slightly closer to Keith. "Sure." Keith smiled, Dalia moved to sit on his leg. "Ready? 1... 2... 3..." On the count of three the trio blew out the candles, "happy birthday-" a waitress said politely before leaving with the rest of the staff. "You- are evil." Lance accused while pointing at Keith. "Can we open presents now?" Dalia asked impatiently, Lance giggled.
"Yeah, why not. You guys go first." Lance looked at his friends with a smile. "This is a gift from me and Hunk, courtesy of yours truly." Pidge teased, Keith reluctantly opened the gift to see a book. "How to lead Voltron?" Keith asked, "yup! A book filled with things you actually said while we were in space. You should appreciate that, it took a stupidly long time to make." Pidge giggled. "I do. I do appreciate it... I need to punch something, brackets, looks at Lance, end bracket. (I need to punch something (looks at Lance)" Keith laughed, "did I actually say that?" Keith asked still laughing. "Yes." Lance responded plainly, his arms were crossed and he was acting defensively. "Oh, my bad. Sorry." Keith apologised before leaning over and kissing Lance's cheek. The rest of the group shared their presents, then it was Dalia's turn. "Come on hurry up!" Dalia whined impatiently, Keith looked directly at Dalia as slowed his movements. "Keith." Lance looked at Keith with his 'are you serious ' face. "Ok, fine." Keith smiled and continued to open the gift properly. "Ok, card first. Happy birthday daddy! I hope I have the best present! Signed your favourite person!" Keith read aloud, "Awe, Love you sweetheart!" Keith ruffled Dalia's hair and passed her back to Lance. Keith carefully opened the envelope he was gifted. "Dear Mr Keith Kogane- geez that sounds like I'm in trouble." Keith retorted only to get playfully slapped by Lance, "come on this is serious." Lance argued, "yeah, yeah. Dear Mr Keith Kogane, it is my greatest pleasure to congratulate you on your achievement. As of October 23rd 2018 you and Lance McClain are officially the legal guardians of Dalia Grace McClain. Congratulations." Keith recited, he said every word he read. Keith dropped the paper on the table and brought his hands to his face, he was crying. "A-a- are you serious!?" Keith turned to Lance with tears falling quickly, Lance nodded. "This was all Dalia's doing. This is what she wanted." Lance smiled, Keith cried harder. Despite Keith's childhood, he had always wanted kids. Being gay also didn't help with that, but now? His wish had been granted. He was officially a legal guardian. "I- I really don't know what to say." Keith stuttered through tears, "Happy birthday daddy!" Dalia called out happily as she embraced Keith tightly. " Did I have the best present?" Dalia asked innocently, Keith laughed through the tears. "Yes, by a long way. I don't think anything will ever be better than this!” Keith cried happily.