Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You know,” Zarkon began, staring down at the paladin in front of him. “Out of all the species from all the planets I've had the pleasure of visiting, I must admit that you humans interest me the most.”

The boy glared back at him, ocean blue eyes full of hatred. But he said nothing. The guards standing behind him forced him to his knees.

Zarkon got the feeling that if the paladin's hands weren't bound, he would've tried to take him down, right then and there.

Still so full of fire, even after the time that had passed.

Zarkon's smile only grew wider. The new red paladin, indeed.

“Lance, isn't it? I've only ever had the pleasure of keeping a handful of your kind in my custody in the past, but you are such interesting creatures. So full of determination and courage. Really, I have to say I'm impressed. I capture only three, out of a race of billions, and what happens? That race reforms Voltron, something no other species has been able to do in the past ten thousand years.”

Lance remained quiet, silently seething.

“I've been tempted on more than one occasion to pay a visit to your planet,” Zarkon continued. “I'm so curious as to what the rest of you are like. Not to mention the potential for... assets. What do you think of that?”

Lance's eyes grew wide, fear clouding them for a brief second. Then, the emotion was gone just as quickly as it had come, replaced by that burning fury. He spat on the ground in front of Zarkon's feet, a mix of blood and saliva. One of the guards behind him knocked him to the ground, but when he pushed himself back up, he was grinning.

Zarkon stood from his throne, and started down the steps. “You really wouldn't want to upset me, boy. From what I understand, you still have a family back on that planet of yours. If you don't want any harm to befall them, you would show some respect.”

Lance's smile flickered. “My team will keep them safe. Voltron will protect Earth.”

Zarkon nodded, before breaking out into another eerie grin. “But who's going to protect you?”

“My team will come for me, obviously. They're probably already on the way here.”

“They're not. You're lying.”

Lance flinched, smile finally gone. “No. They will. They have to, they wouldn't just—”

“Wouldn't they?” Zarkon interrupted, walking around the paladin slowly. “Who are you to them, anyway? Just an idiot that was dumb enough to get himself captured while trying to play the hero.”

Lance shook his head. “No, I'm the red paladin, I—”

“You are not the original red paladin. You were never meant to pilot the red lion, and you were never meant to pilot the blue lion, either,” Zarkon said, and with every word he saw that the paladin believed him. Good. “What are you? Certainly not someone worth wasting resources to rescue.”

“I'm...”

“They're not even searching. They've already been able to form Voltron without you, you know.” It was a lie, but it was also enough.

Lance's gaze dropped to the ground. “I'm the weakest link,” he said softly. “The seventh wheel, I'm... I'm nobody.”

“You would do well to remember that,” Zarkon said, crouching down to meet Lance's eyes. “If you would just join our side, your pain would stop. Tell us all that you know; your information would be invaluable to us. And then you could work as my general. All here would be forced to respect you.”

Lance's confident smile returned, though there was no way it was genuine. “Don't make me spit on you again. I'm never joining you. No way.”

Zarkon stood up, trying to contain his rage. He couldn't kill this paladin; he was far too important. But he was also infuriating. “You owe your team nothing! They have abandoned you! Why protect them, or their secrets?!”

“You really don't understand anything, do you?” Lance stared up at him, but something about it was almost... condescending. “Protecting the universe is the right thing to do. Just because my team may not be coming for me doesn't mean I'm going to betray them, and just because they don't care about me as much as I do for them, that's not going to change.” He huffed a short laugh. “I guess it's like you said. I'm playing the hero. But it's a hell of a lot better than trying to play the villain.”

Zarkon growled. “You know another thing I've learned about humans? Tthey're difficult to break. They always have the will to keep fighting, to never give up, but that always dies in the end. A weakness is easily found, exploited, and when they do break—”

He brought his hand up, clawed fingers circling around Lance's neck.

“They shatter. But you, Lance McClain, after weeks of torture and time spent in a cell, have still not given us any information. Almost everything you say is either insults or in some language none of my translators can understand. You are not strong, you have plenty of weaknesses, and yet you still refuse to give in. So why are you still holding out? How?!”

Lance laughed again. “Easy, pal. I was already broken. You're not special.”

Zarkon let out a shout of rage, striking the paladin to the ground. His head hit the floor, knockin him unconscious.

“Should we proceed with sending word to Voltron requesting the exchange, sire?” one of the guards asked. “The black lion in exchange for his safe return?”

Zarkon shook his head. “No. I've changed my mind.” He looked down at Lance. “Message them now, after you return him to his cell, and inform them that as their paladin  has refused to give us any information, he has been executed.”

The guard started. “You want us to... tell them we killed him?”

Zarkon returned to sit in his throne. “If I know anything about humans it's that they get...frantic when their own are in danger. One of the easiest ways to break a human?” He paused here, leaning back in his seat. “Kill someone they love.”

“But... you just said that they weren't coming for him?” Zarkon scoffed at the obliviousness of his own men.

“They've been searching ever since we took him,” he told them. “Quite amusing, really. I originally intended to use him to trade for something that could be more useful to us, but keeping this paladin could prove to be Voltron's demise.”

The guards stared at him, speechless.

“I was aiming for the head of Voltron, but I believe we found something much more interesting.”

The look in Zarkon's glowing eyes bordered on crazed.

“The soul. The stability. If the paladins of Voltron believe he's truly gone? That he's dead?” He laughed, cold and malicious. “They won't stand a chance.”

Chapter Text

Keith was beginning to lose hope.

He refused to give up on Lance, and he'd keep searching forever if he had to but... it'd been weeks.

Lance had been captured by Zarkon weeks ago, and since then there'd been no sign of him. They hadn't encountered a single Galra fleet since, and frankly it was... disconcerting.

Even working with the Blade of Marmora, they couldn't find him. All the active spies they tried to contact had given them no answer, just radio silence.

Kolivan acknowledged that Zarkon finding them out was a possible repercussion of a large scale attack, but that had been a risk they'd had to take.

Now that Lance was captive, they were paying the price.

Who knew what he'd had to endure during the past few weeks, or if he was even still—

Keith didn't let his mind finish that thought. Lance had to still be alive, Zarkon was probably planning to use him as a bargaining chip. But... at the same time...

Shiro had already asked Keith several times to return to the castle to try piloting the red lion. It was Shiro's disappearance all over again, except... worse, somehow, because they knew just what was happening to Lance, who he was with. But they still couldn't get to him.

And that was so much worse than the not knowing.

As if to answer his prayers, Kolivan knocked once on Keith's door before entering his chambers. “There has been word from the castle ship.”

Keith breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank god. Did they rescue him already, or are we going to help with the mission? Is he already on the castle? Is he... is he hurt? How—”

“They do not have the red paladin's location,” Kolivan interrupted, and Keith's elation was immediately replaced with dread. “From what I understand, both his and Zarkon's coordinates remain completely a mystery.”

“Then...” Keith was afraid to ask. “But if they didn't find him, then what are they calling us for?”

Kolivan hesitated, and Keith felt his stomach drop.

He never hesitated.

“Perhaps you should come talk to them yourself,” he said finally, and Keith was out the door in a second.

The video feed of the team immediately made Keith stall in his tracks. Fear and panic started to slowly seep into his veins, preventing from speaking, from asking the dreaded question.

But he didn't need to ask anything. Taking one look at them, he already knew.

“No,” Keith whispered. The eyes of his former team all turned to him, and Pidge whimpered.

She was sitting curled up in her chair, arms wrapped around her knees. Her eyes were red-rimmed, still welled up with tears.

Matt stood beside her, a shaking hand resting on her shoulder. He had his eyes squeezed shut.

Hunk had seemingly just collapsed on the floor, and was sobbing uncontrollably. Allura sat beside him, weeping into her hands. Coran was crying, too. The only person who didn't look absolutely devastated was Shiro, but Keith was barely paying him any attention.

Because the person they were undoubtedly crying over was nowhere to be seen, and Keith had a terrible feeling he already knew why that was.

“Keith.” Matt, surprisingly, was the first one to speak. He looked up finally, and their eyes met. “Zarkon sent us a message. I'm... I'm sorry.”

Keith's knees hit the floor. “No."

“Keith,” Allura spoke this time, her voice choked up. Keith knew she and Lance had grown closer since he left, but... he'd never seen her like this. “It's all my fault. We... if I could've found him, he'd—”

“No, it's my fault,” Pidge interrupted. “He took that blast for me, then got caught in the tractor beam and now... now he's...”

“Placing blame isn't going to bring Lance back,” Hunk said softly, then looked up from the floor, bloodshot brown eyes meeting an already tear-filled purple. “I'm sorry Keith. He's... he's gone. Zarkon sent us a message... a video, and he told us. He told us with a smile.”

“No,” Keith repeated, with a shake of his head. “No, he's not, Zarkon must be lying! We have to go, we have to save him, we have to—”

“We saw the body!” Pidge shouted, and looked sorry for it immediately after. Her voice shook when she continued. “He... he showed us Lance's body. He's dead.”

Something in Keith's chest just shattered at the word, and suddenly he couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe because Lance wasn't breathing, because, oh god, Lance was dead, Lance was dead, Lance was dead.

Why?

And then words came spilling from his mouth again.

“What...what happened? How did he... how? How long? Why?”

“We... we sent the Blade the video message,” Allura told him, her voice still trembling. “But he didn't.... he was still with us until very recently. According to Zarkon it... it was because he refused to give up any information. He was... he was tortured for weeks before they.... they—”

“If we had found him,” Pidge sobbed, voice muffled by her knees. “If I had found him sooner, then he'd still be alive. But I was too late.”

“You did all you could,” Matt whispered. “We all did.”

“It wasn't enough!” Hunk snapped, and the others stared at him, shocked. “I... I'm sorry, it's just. He's— he was my best friend.”

“What would Lance want?” Keith was surprised to find that the question came out of his own mouth, and even more surprised to see Hunk give him a watery smile.

“He'd say we shouldn't... we shouldn't argue. And he wouldn't want us to blame ourselves, either. He'd want us to keep going,” Hunk said. “He'd want us to keep fighting, for him.”

Keith tried to return the smile, but found he couldn't. Even so, he pressed on. “Exactly. We're not going to let his death be in vain. We're going to take down Zarkon, once and for all. And we're going to do it for Lance.”

The others' eyes lit up, and Keith felt something he hadn't in a long time. Not since he gave up being the black paladin.

They trust me. They'll follow me.

It was a small comfort. The most important set of sparkling, ocean blue eyes were missing. The eyes he knew would have followed him anywhere, that still haunted him, even now that they were gone.

“Good. Keith, you should get back to the castle. We need you to pilot Red again,” Shiro said, and the others gasped.

Keith turned to him slowly, almost unable to believe what he was hearing. And from Shiro.

Shiro, who'd stood by him through everything, who had been the one person to support him, was prepared to brush off Lance's death as if it was nothing.

“What is wrong with you?!” Hunk demanded, rounding on Shiro. Keith had never seen the yellow paladin look so distraught. “We just found out that Lance is dead, and all you care about is reforming Voltron?”

“Like you said, we have to keep fighting,” Shiro insisted. “Lance's death was unfortunate, but having pilots for all five lions is the only way to do that. This is what he would want.”

“Unfortunate?! You're telling me that my best friend's death was unfortunate?! No! No way!” Hunk was yelling now, angry tears falling down his cheeks. “I know what Lance would want! He'd

want us to keep fighting, yeah, but not to just forget about him!”

“I never said we would forget—”

“That's exactly what you're saying!” And this time it was Pidge who exploded. “We'll never forget Lance! We're not going to just replace him! I can't believe you would even—”

“I'm not piloting Red,” Keith cut her off, voice firm. He couldn't stand to see them argue, and he already knew what he had to do. “I'm never piloting Red again. Find someone else.”

He ended the call, and only when he was alone did he allow himself to break down into sobs.

After what could have been minutes or hours, Keith felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to meet Kolivan's grim expression.

“Do you want to see the message?” he asked, voice low. “You do not have to, but—”

Keith was already nodding. He owed that to Lance.

Kolivan sighed, and pressed a few buttons.

Suddenly, Zarkon's eerily smiling face filled up the screen, and Keith felt a chill run down his spine. He had killed Lance.

Keith sort of wished he hadn't chosen to watch the video, after all. And Zarkon hadn't even begun talking yet.

“Paladins of Voltron.” The Galra emperor's voice was too loud in Keith's ears. Deafening. “I regret to inform you that your precious paladin has been executed.”

Not executed, Keith thought bitterly, a he let out a shaky sob. Murdered.

“I originally planned to offer him in exchange for the Black Lion, but I realized that you would just attempt to take that back once he was safe.” Zarkon looked aggravated at the thought, but he was soon smiling again. “But now there is nothing you can do to bring him back. Not even pure quintessence could save him now. Would you like a look?”

Keith shook his head immediately, but of course Zarkon couldn't see it. He moved the camera, pointing it at the floor below his feet, and... and....

And Keith's heart broke into a million tiny, irreparable pieces. It was as broken as the person he found himself looking at.

And Lance was broken. He'd clearly been shown no mercy in the past weeks, if the cuts and bruises all over him were any indication. His prison uniform was ripped and torn in several places, the material stained with both dry and fresh blood.

He lay in a heap on the floor, in a pool of it, his body limp and unresponsive. He wasn't moving; his chest neither rose nor fell in all the time the camera was trained on him, which felt like an eternity.

Keith wanted to throw up.

How could Zarkon take someone so... so good, and completely destroy them? How could they just take the brightest light in the universe and snuff it out like it was nothing?

How could they hurt Lance? How could they kill Lance? It wasn't fair. It wasn't right.

It shouldn't have been Lance. Keith felt selfish for thinking it, but he couldn't help it. He just wished it hadn't been Lance.

It would've been me, if I was still in the Red Lion, Keith thought, and the second it entered his head he was filled with crushing regret. It should've been me.

Zarkon kept talking, uncaring of the agony he caused with every word. “I wasn't originally going to kill him, though. Figured he could serve as bait, or give us information, or for Haggar's experiments, or at least be a source of entertainment in the Gladiator ring. But he just wouldn't stop talking.”

Keith's hands clenched into fists. He was dimly aware that he'd started shaking.

“I knew the last red paladin well,” Zarkon said, with a crooked grin. “He mouthed off much more than he should, too. But this one would never give up any information. He just got more and more annoying. So, I took care of him. But at least he died a hero. He wouldn't betray any of you, right up until his final moments.”

The tears were beginning to get in the way of Keith's ability to watch the video, but he still saw Zarkon's smile grow wider.

“His final words, after some nonsense about his family, were to apologize to you all, actually. He said he was sorry for messing up,” Zarkon said, and Keith let another sob escape him. “And that he loved al of you. What an absolutely foolish sentiment.”

Keith felt like he was going to be sick. He couldn't stop crying. He wanted to punch Zarkon in the face until he was covered in as much blood as Lance was. Or more.

“Let this be a lesson, Paladins of Voltron,” Zarkon warned, grin never wavering. “Surrender now. If you can't even save this one boy, this child, one of your own, then how do you hope to save the universe? You will fail, just as you failed him.”

The video ended, and the screen went dark.

Kolivan was still behind him, and Keith didn't turn to look at him when he spoke.

“Can you trace back to where that video was sent?”

“It'd probably take a few days, but with our knowledge of Galra technology, yes,” Kolivan told him, then clearly waited for Keith to elaborate on why he'd asked.

“I'm going to kill Zarkon,” Keith growled, eyes still fixed on the blank screen. “I'm going to kill him for.... for what he d-did.”

Kolivan started. “Keith—”

“Don't try to talk me out of it,” Keith snapped, tears still tracing across his cheeks. “He... he has to p-pay. I have to... I have to m-make him pay. I h-have to. F-for Lance.”

Kolivan closed his eyes. He knew Keith wouldn't change his mind, but...

“You're talking about a suicide mission,” Kolivan said. “Even if you manage to sneak in and catch Zarkon by surprise, there's no way you'll be able to get back out.”

The words fell on numb ears. As if Keith would care about his own life, when Lance was already gone. “I know. Please... please, just let me do this. For him. I... we couldn't s-save him, but... but... I can do this.”

“Are you sure you're acting on what Lance would want?” Kolivan asked slowly. “It sounds like your own desire for revenge. I know you tend to be reckless, but think about this first.”

“There's nothing to think about,” Keith said, voice firm. He wiped the tears from his eyes, setting his expression into a cold glare. The hopeless sorrow was quickly replaced by a burning fury, a need to act. “I'm going to kill Zarkon, if it's the last thing I do.”

Chapter Text

Keith's fists clenched around the controls of the small podship as the Galra base came into view. This was it.

This was the base that both the Blade of Marmora and team Voltron had been scouring the universe for, searching for weeks on end. This was the base Zarkon had somehow kept hidden from all of them, enabling him to keep Lance here, to torture him, to—

This is the place where Lance McClain took his last breath.

The thought just made Keith angrier. He fought against it, pushing it out of his head.

This is the place where I'm going to kill Zarkon.

That was better. Keith took a deep breath, and pushed forward, thrusters engaged. He aimed for one of the sentry fighter docking bays, an easy and open way to get into the ship... if one didn't care about subtlety.

Which Keith didn't.

He had to avenge Lance. There was no time to be inconspicuous.

The pod careened sideways, as the hangar was too small for it to pull down the runway. It tilted, crashing into the wall of the ship. It had probably just been rendered incapable of flight.

Keith didn't care. It's not like he was planning to leave this base alive, anyway.

He stepped out of the hatch, and was immediately greeted with sentries shooting at him. Keith rolled his eyes, ducked under their line of fire, and lunged forward to take them down with his blade.

The one real threat in the room appeared to be an actual Galra soldier, something Keith hadn't expected to see right off the bat, but the guy was all but quaking in his boots at the sight of him.

He got in close quickly, raising his blade to the guard's throat.

“Emperor Zarkon is currently based here, right?”

The Galra nodded, with a gulp.

Keith allowed his mask to fall, and the guard gasped at the sight of his face, clearly recognizing him as the same species as the paladins. Keith couldn't help a small smirk. So he knew what he was dealing with, then.

“Tell him a paladi— a member of team Voltron has boarded his ship,” Keith instructed, lowering his blade. The Galra stumbled backwards, hands raised slightly in the air. “Tell him I've come to kill him.”

With that said, Keith turned and left the hangar, going farther into the base.

Lance was bored.

It was almost funny, seeing as he should probably be glad that he hadn't seen Zarkon or Haggar at all in the past few days. The two of them did have a habit of bringing him to the brink of death, after all. But, as ridiculous as it was, he was sick of staring at the same four walls. The only excitement he got was the small amount of food unceremoniously thrown into the room for him each day.

The last time he'd seen Zarkon, Lance had almost bled out. But of course, he'd been dragged back to his cell and bandaged up, because someone as valuable as a paladin of Voltron couldn't be allowed to die.

He dreaded seeing the emperor, of course. And the witch even more so. But... he kind of missed it, too, if only because he no longer had anyone to talk to. Or... mouth off to, in this case. Getting Zarkon angry was entertaining, even if it did usually result in him earning a few more bruises.

But the silence... the suspense of the waiting was too much. If they were no longer trying to get information out of him, did that mean they'd deemed him useless?

And if they'd finally decided he wasn't worth their time... maybe he was just awaiting execution while he sat here in this cell. He knew it had to happen eventually.

It was surprisingly easy to think about. The possibility of death didn't really scare Lance, not at this point.

That was the only thing he found scary about it. How it didn't bother him.

Lance huffed a laugh. Man, he really was broken, wasn't he?

The door swishing open without warning made Lance tense up, and he almost expected a blast of Druid magic to hit him through the doorway. It wouldn't be the first time.

He took deep breath, squeezed his eyes shut, and reminded himself that no, they're not doing that to you anymore, this is just someone bringing food.

When he opened his eyes again, a tray with a cup of what seemed like water and a despairingly small amount of purple food goo was already sitting in front of him. He sighed, picking it up off the ground. Maybe he should stop eating the food they gave him. Let himself starve to death, before they started torturing him again.

The idea was oddly comforting.

But then he looked up, and found that the door to his cell was still open. Not only that, but two utterly unfamiliar guards stood outside it. One of them was wheeling a containment unit in front of them, and Lance's eyes widened when he saw what was inside.

His armor .

“Do we just give him the food?” one asked, seeming unsure. “That's it?”

“Apparently. I'm supposed to take this stuff to the docking bay,” the other replied, gesturing at the paladin armor. “Zarkon wants to send it to the paladins.”

Lance frowned. That was strange.

But the contemplation over why they'd send his armor back to the team was fleeting, because soon his head was full with another thought.

If his armor was in there, that meant his bayard was, too, though it was deactivated. But... if he could somehow manage to get his bayard... and since for once, it wasn't Haggar or a Druid coming to his cell...

He could actually escape.

It was the first hope Lance had felt in a very, very long time.

He'd come to terms with the fact that his team wasn't looking for him long ago, after all. Even if Zarkon hadn't told him, Lance would've been an idiot not to realize it himself. As stupid as his team would've been to look for him.

He was unessential in forming Voltron, and in everything else. Trying to find someone they were better off without anyway was a waste. Why look for a lost cause?

But maybe... maybe he could get out himself.

A plan began to form in Lance's head, and he found himself suddenly fighting to keep a smile off of his face. He had always been a rather fabulous actor.

Lance faked a cough, and then another, drawing both guards' eyes to him, then allowed himself to descend into a coughing fit. It wasn't that difficult to appear sickly and weak; he was still covered in bruises and cuts, and he could guess that his skin was pretty pale due to all the blood he'd lost in recent days, blood that was still all over his prisoner uniform.

With a final shuddering exhale, and making sure that he still had their full attention, Lance's eyes fluttered closed, and he toppled sideways onto the floor.

There was a moment of silence, in which Lance wondered breathlessly if they would take the bait.

And then loud footsteps, two people hurrying into his cell.

Lance resisted the urge to smirk. Hook, line, and sinker.

He had missed two weeks of the third grade for a stomach ache he'd never really had, after all. And the Galra, who had no knowledge of how human sickness worked, were panicking.

“What do we do?!” one demanded. “Is he dying?! I told you that if they kept treating him like this, eventually he'd—”

“This is bad, this is bad, this is really bad,” the other repeated over and over again. “Of course, the first time we're assigned to his cell, he goes and collapses! Do we... do we just leave him like this? Pretend we didn't see anything?”

“Are you crazy?! If Zarkon finds out his prized prisoner died under our watch, he'll execute us! We have to summon him! Besides, it's not our fault!”

“But... but if we summon Zarkon, he'll be angry then, too! Why couldn't this idiot just stay alive?!”

Sensing that their dilemma would cost him precious time in which he could be escaping, Lance began faking convulsions.

The guards gasped, and the first one spoke again. “You... you go and get the witch, she'll know what to do. I'll stay here with him, and make sure he doesn't die. This is the first paladin Zarkon has ever captured, and he thinks he's getting close to cracking him.”

“Vrepit Sa,” the other affirmed, and she ran out of the cell.

He waited until he could no longer hear the echoes of her footsteps, and then lay abruptly still. After a few more seconds, he opened his eyes. Slowly.

The male Galra guard blinked down at him. “Good. You're not allowed to die yet.”

Lance risked a half-smile. “I thought victory or death was the Galra way. When're you guys gonna put me out of my misery, already?” He took stock of the soldier with his eyes, and saw that he still hadn't taken his gun out of its holster. Good.

Lance was still pretty weak, and for good reason, even though he tried to seem even more pitiful than he actually was by swaying slightly in place. But this Galra would be able to overpower him in hand-to-hand as soon as he was given the chance, so Lance really only had one shot at this.

No problem. I'm an excellent shot.

His entire chance of escape was riding on one move. It was fitting.

The Galra shrugged. “Guess not until you finally talk. Or maybe the boss just has something special planned.”

Lance nodded, seeming to consider this. He inched his hands toward the discarded metal tray, still full of food goo. “Sounds fun. I hate to miss it, but unfortunately, I can't stick around.”

The guard had just enough time to blink in confusion, and then Lance swung the tray up to connect with his head.

With a resounding crash, he fell onto the floor, knocked out. Lance grinned.

“Sorry man,” he muttered, leaning on the wall to help get onto his feet. “Nothing personal, but I have to get going.” He debated waiting, and trying to seal Haggar and the other guard in the cell so they wouldn't be able to sound the alarm but... they could probably get out quickly anyway, and he didn't want to risk getting caught by the witch. Hopefully, he'd have enough of a lead that he wouldn't be found out before he could steal pod and fly it off the base.

Well... he didn't exactly know how he'd steal a ship, and he had no idea where this base even was but...

“It's okay,” Lance told himself, walking over to the containment unit that held his bayard and armor. “I can just... wing it. Yeah. That's never led to disaster, ever .”

The entire plan so far was almost entirely improvised, anyway. What did he have to lose?

Lance was, admittedly, pretty worse for the wear. He could feel what were probably two very noticeable bruises on his face, and dull aches over the rest of his body were evidence of his overall poor treatment. Cuts littered his arms, legs, and torso in varying depths and lengths. Though most were healed now, they'd left several blood-coated tears in the already ragged prisoner uniform. Not to mention the fact that it'd now been over twenty-four hours since he'd actually eaten.

And that wasn't even the worst of it. Lance guessed he probably had a mild concussion, some broken or at least bruised ribs, and of course, the lump of bandages at his side that were definitely due for a change. They covered the biggest injury Lance had received while here, from the last time he'd seen Zarkon in the past several days. The Galra emperor had just... stabbed him. No warning first, no questions, just pain . He didn't understand the purpose of it if they'd just patched him up afterwards, though he didn't remember it. He'd blacked out from pain and blood loss right there at Zarkon's feet, but... he could distantly remember him talking to someone.

Lance shook his head to clear it. Injuries be damned, he had to get out of here. He could still move. He was still alive, and as long as he was breathing, then he wouldn't give up.

He peered into the open top of the hovering containment unit, and his eyes lit up when he saw his bayard. “Hello, beautiful,” he said, with a smile. He took out the gauntlets, too, and slid them onto his arms over the prison uniform. Despite all the protection the armor would provide, he didn't have time to put it all on. At least this way, he had his shields. Maybe once he got out of the open...

The thought set Lance into motion. There were no sentries in the hall, which struck him as a welcome oddity, though he knew they must still be close by. He activated his bayard, holding the blaster out and ready to shoot anyone who approached. He couldn't run, not with his injuries, but he still managed to move at a fairly quick pace. Being in mortal danger will do that to you, I guess, Lance thought.

He headed in the direction he assumed the hangar was, something he hoped his general knowledge of Galra bases would enable him to find. Lance quickly took out all the sentries he saw along the way with his blaster, making sure that none of them were operational long enough to send out any sort of alert.

Still, after he'd only gone down a few corridors, the alarm sounded. Lance cursed. Haggar and the other guard couldn't possibly have gotten back yet, could they? He really had to move.

In the next hall, however, he saw several of the robots running... away from him, and he could hear Galra soldiers shouting farther off. Lance caught nothing but the words 'intruder' and 'crashed.'

So... the alarm had been sounded by someone else, then?

Lance couldn't believe his luck.

Sure, it was diverting attention from him, but it also meant that there would be more guards in the base now, particularly in the hangar. Well, perfect! That was just what he needed. As if escaping under the current circumstances wasn't already bad enough.

Lance froze when he heard something coming from yet another adjoining hallway. Running footsteps, this time coming his way and definitely not from a robot. He whirled around towards it, but the sudden movement sent a stab of pain to his side and a throb to his ribs. His vision tilted, and he placed one hand on the hovering containment unit to steady himself while the other raised his bayard.

His finger was already lightly pressing down on the trigger when none other than Keith rounded the corner.

Lance blinked, for a second positive he must've been hallucinating. But no, it really was him, hood up but mask down, his blade held at the ready.

“Keith?! What're you doing here?!” Lance blurted, without thinking, as he lowered the gun automatically. Belatedly, Lance realized that was a pretty stupid question. He was clearly on some sort of mission for the Blade of Marmora.

Keith's eyes were impossibly wide, his lips parted in disbelief. “What am I...?” he echoed, still staring at Lance blankly. He glanced at the containment unit, at his prisoner's get-up, but ultimately his gaze went right back to Lance's face. The look in his eyes was starting to make Lance uneasy. Keith... looked as if he'd seen a ghost.

Oh . Right, Lance had been missing for over three weeks now. He'd almost forgotten about that. The team had probably forgotten about him , and Keith was just surprised that he wasn't dead yet. Honestly, Lance was pretty surprised about that, too.

But... wait. If they'd reformed Voltron without Lance like Zarkon had said, then why was Keith still wearing his Blade armor? Why weren't the others with him?

Hope, and something else, swelled in Lance's chest. Maybe... maybe they hadn't stopped looking for him, after all. Maybe he really could get out of here, with Keith's help. He had no idea why the other was still incapable of speech, but seeing as they could both very well get killed if they stuck around for any longer, Lance chose to try and move the situation along.

“Well, as long as you're here you may as well give me a ride back to the castle,” Lance said, with a small smile. “I was planning to hijack a pod, but if we're heading to the same place, we may as well carpool, huh, Mullet?”

Keith stared at him for a second longer, and Lance abruptly became aware of the tears welling up in the other's eyes. Maybe he shouldn't have tried to defuse the situation with humor right off the bat. Lance opened his mouth to speak again, but then suddenly, Keith's eyes went from disbelieving to cold. And then to furious .

He grabbed Lance's shoulder and shoved him roughly into the wall, then lifted his blade and pressed it to Lance's throat.

“Ow! Hey , what the quizna—”

“Don't,” Keith spat, and his tone immediately shut Lance up. For all their bickering... Keith had never sounded so angry at him before. “Don't you dare . Get rid of the illusion, Haggar. Shiro told me you could do this, but I can't believe that you— that you would—”

“Dude, it's me —”

“Shut up !” Keith yelled, shaking Lance's shoulder. “Stop— stop talking in his voice, with his face! What are you trying to do to my head?! I know he's gone, I... I saw the... stop it !”

Keith's trembling hands were making Lance a bit scared that he would accidentally slit his throat.

“Woah, woah, hey.” Lance lifted his hands up in an attempt at a placating gesture. “Hey man, it's me. I promise. Not some Druid trick. I faked a seizure when they were giving me food— horrible excuse for food, really, I'd even take your horrible cooking right about now —and got out when there was only one guard. Kinda funny coincidence that I managed that the same day you came in to rescue me, huh? Guess Zarkon's really slacking off on security.”

Keith's jaw clenched. His resolve was beginning to waver, Lance could tell, and a glimmer of hope shined in his eyes. But the tight hold on Lance's shoulder didn't go away. “...How did you manage that unarmed?”

“Duh, I am armed. I got my bayard back, and from there it was a piece of cake for someone who's as good of a shot as me.” He lifted up his bayard, and deactivated it. “If I give this to you, could you maybe drop the weapon? I've dealt with those plenty over the past few weeks, I can assure you. I only just got mine back, but here. Take it.”

Keith stared at the weapon with wide eyes, then looked between it and Lance in shock. “That's... this is the red bayard.”

Lance blinked. “Yes? The rest of the armor is in this.” He gestured at the containment unit, which he really wished he could still reach. Being able to lean his weight on the hovering bin had made moving a lot easier.

“But... if you can activate that bayard, then you're...you're really Lance?”

Lance scoffed. “Well, obviously. I've only been trying to tell you that this whole time. Can you drop your blade now, Samurai?”

Keith laughed, but there were tears in his eyes. His blade, the only link to him and his mother, fell from his hand and clattered to the ground, all but forgotten. “It really is you.” His voice was no more than a whisper.

Before Lance could say anything, Keith's arms wrapped around him in a crushing hug. He'd never pegged the other for a fan of physical contact, but right then he held onto Lance like he'd disappear if Keith let go. Hesitantly, he returned the gesture.

“Wow, I didn't realize you missed me that much,” Lance teased, though his voice was soft.

“I thought... we all thought you were... dead,” Keith said, voice muffled in the crook of Lance's neck. The fabric of Lance's prison uniform there had begun to get wet, but he didn't mind.

“You guys thought I'd only last three weeks? Hurtful. I'm too important for them to kill.” Even if Lance didn't believe it, he did his best to sound reassuring. “Too much information, even if I wouldn't give them any of it.”

“No, you don't understand,” Keith shook his head and stepped back a bit, looking into Lance's eyes. “You were dead. Zarkon told us... he told us that they'd executed you. I... I thought I was never going to see you again.”

Lance's mind went completely blank. He'd been wondering since early on in this whole mess if the Galra had contacted his team about him, assuming they'd probably attempted a trade, and Voltron had refused to give him a lion or... something like that. But he'd never thought... never even considered that they might...

“I'm here,” Lance assured Keith. “I promise, I'm here. I'm okay.”

Keith lifted a hand up to his cheek, fingers ghosting over a bruise he knew was there. Lance flinched away from the touch, and Keith's gaze hardened. “No, you're not.” He took another step back, looking over Lance's battered form. His eyes snagged on the copious amount of bandages around his side, stained with blood, and filled once more with that burning fury. “What did they do to you?”

Lance winced, crossing his arms over his chest. “Um. Well, I said that I didn't give them any information, right? So, yeah. And mouthing off at the Galra emperor was probably... not the best idea in hindsight.”

Keith seethed. He looked the same way as right before he attacked someone, or something. Lance tried to backpedal.

“But... I'm fine! Really, it's not as bad as it looks! I mean, you should see the other—”

“Stop.”

Lance's mouth snapped shut.

“You... please, don't lie. Don't ever feel like you have to lie about how much you're hurting. Not to me. There's no way even you could be fine right now,” Keith said softly. “And... that's okay. You're allowed to not be okay.”

And to Lance, someone for whom a fake smile came almost as naturally as a real one, hearing that he didn't have to put on a mask for the sake of everyone else was... freeing.

Tears welled up in his eyes, even as he tried to cling to a grin. “Th-thanks, Keith.” The former paladin placed grounding hands on each of Lance's shoulders, and he let out a shaky sigh. “I'm... I'm alive. And I'm tired. I'd even take an Altean pod, right about now. I just... I just want to go home .” And home, for the first time, meant the castle. It meant a place where he could exchange rambling stories with Coran, where Allura could tell him all about the ways of her people and teach him how to be better, where Pidge typed away at her computer and played videogames with him when he convinced her to take a break, where Hunk cooked amazing meals and told lame jokes that somehow always cheered him up along with his hugs, where Keith...

Where Keith used to call home, too. And here I was, teasing him for missing me .

Lance rubbed at his eyes with the heel of his hand. “Where's the ship you came in, anyway? We should really get moving.”

Keith froze. “Um. I crashed it.”

“You... what?”

“I crashed it? Into the wall, when I was pulling into the docking bay?” Keith tried for a sheepish smile, but Lance wasn't having any of it.

“ You crashed,” Lance repeated, in disbelief. “Keith Kogane, arguably the best pilot in the entire damn universe , crashed.”

“Uh. Yes?”

“Bullshit. How were you planning on getting back out of the base, without a ship?” Lance demanded.

Keith averted his gaze, instead looking at the floor.

“Hang on,” Lance said, mind getting over the initial surprise of seeing Keith there and starting to question it instead. “If you guys all thought I was dead, then you didn't come to rescue me. So... what are you doing here?”

Again, Keith didn't answer.

But he didn't have to. It had already clicked in Lance's head.

“Oh, Keith,” Lance breathed, relief suddenly replaced by the now all too familiar feeling of dread. “Keith, please tell me you weren't.”

Keith bit his lip, still not meeting his eyes.

“You weren't planning to leave this base,” Lance whispered. “Were you?”

“I thought he killed you!” Keith finally said, the words practically exploding from his mouth. “I thought you were dead , and Zarkon was the one responsible! Did you expect me to just let him get away with it?!”

“If letting him get away with it is the safe route, then yes!” Lance shot back. “Taking him on yourself isn't the answer, that's not going to solve anything! If I was really gone, we couldn't afford to lose anyone else! You, especially, because they need you to pilot Red! For the good of the universe, you guys have to keep going!”

“I was doing this for the good of the universe! Zarkon is the leader of the Galra empire! We have to take him out!”

“You were just doing it for revenge! You acted recklessly, just like you always do! This isn't a plan that's for the good of the universe, Keith! This is a suicide mission! You would've been killed!”

“Well, maybe I didn't care !”

Lance must have heard wrong. “Wh... what?”

“Maybe I didn't care if I got killed! You were already dead , Lance, and I didn't... I didn't...” Keith broke off into a sob, and when he continued, he wasn't yelling anymore. “I couldn't go on without you. I couldn't live... I didn't want to live in a world without you in it.”

“Keith...” Lance had no idea what to say. “You have to. You're too important.”

“And you're not?!” Keith shook his head, as if denying the very thought. “You're the one who's a paladin now, Lance. The universe needs you. I'm just in the Blade, and they go on suicide missions all the time. I bet... I bet the universe would be thrilled to have one less Galra among them.”

“ Don't say that,” Lance replied immediately. “The universe needs you too, Keith. You're still one of its defenders. You being Galra, or in the Blade, has nothing to do with it.”

“How can you even say that?!”

“Say what?”

“Say that me being Galra doesn't matter! They're the ones that captured you! They hurt you, they tortured you! And you're saying that doesn't matter?! How ?!”

Lance's smile was small, but brighter than anything Keith had seen in the past three weeks. “Because a Galra is also about to save me, idiot,” he said, with a laugh. “How could I not think you're important? As far as I'm concerned, your life is worth a million of mine. After all, I'm just the seventh wheel, the sixth paladin. A broken human.”

Keith shook his head again. “Lance, no —”

He was interrupted by a loud roar, somewhere outside the base. They both recognized it immediately. Lance grinned, but Keith couldn't, not after what he'd just heard.

“Lance—”

“Speaking of saving me, I think our ride is here. Guess the two of us here together was enough to send Red over the edge. We should get going.”

“ Lance —”

“This appears to be a most heartwarming reunion.” The voice sent chills up Lance's spine. He turned to see Zarkon striding down the hall towards them,a wicked grin on his face. “But I'm afraid I cannot let you leave. This... 'broken human' is my favorite prisoner. I'd hate to lose him.”

Chapter Text

Keith saw the look in Lance's eyes before he recognized the voice, and he froze, hoping against hope that he had imagined who spoke to them. But of course, they weren't that lucky.

Luck was something they seemed to be running a little low on, lately.

Zarkon stood down the hall, smiling at them. Keith had never seen the leader of the Galra empire smiling before, not once.

It sent a chill down his spine.

Keith mentally cursed himself for wasting time arguing and hugging when he should've been trying to get Lance out of there. He'd been trapped for weeks and now, because of Keith's own stupidity, he'd be in the Galra's clutches again before even really escaping them.

No. Screw that. Keith had come here to kill Zarkon, to make him pay for what he'd done to Lance. Another glance at the injuries covering the red paladin's body were enough to solidify that thought once more in his brain.

It was also enough to make him want to get Lance back to the castle, right that second.

In order to do that, though, they'd have to fight their way out.

But... but Lance looked terrified. Instead of his typical bright smile and positive words before going into a battle, or even the less common quiet determination, fear was written all over his face. Keith thought he'd seen Lance scared before, and he had, just... never like this.

Lance's eyes were wide, fixed on Zarkon, and his face was already getting even paler. His hands started to shake, and he took a step backward.

Keith still wanted to talk to him more, about what had happened. He knew Lance probably wouldn't want to, but... the damage from an experience like this wasn't just the cuts and bruises. But they didn't have time for that, not right now. He lifted his blade, edging a little in front of Lance.

Zarkon's sinister grin grew wider. “Make this easier on all of us and come without fighting. Lance,” he paused, turning to focus entirely on the red paladin. Keith tensed. “If you return without a fuss to your cell, I will forget this rebellion, and you will not be punished as severely for it later.” He held a hand out to them, and Lance flinched.

The action was involuntary, clearly a reflex Lance had developed in the past three weeks. Keith didn't exactly blame him.

But he did blame Zarkon.

And Keith was livid.

He took another step in front of Lance, shielding the other's body with his own. “Over my dead body,” he said, through gritted teeth.

Zarkon glanced over at Keith, seeming to consider him for a moment. “That can be arranged,” he said finally. “A paladin of Voltron is a valuable asset, but I have no interest in...” He stopped, and surveyed Keith's armor with distaste. “Whatever you're supposed to be.”

Zarkon seemed to still not know of the Blade of Marmora's existence, then. But... Keith had much more pressing concerns, so that was a very, very small comfort.

“Red paladin,” Zarkon addressed Lance again. “If you come quietly, I promise to let your... friend go.”

And Lance actually hesitated.

“Lance,” Keith hissed. “You can't possibly believe him, right? Do you seriously think he'd let me go?”

Lance shrugged. His mouth twisted up into a clearly forced half-smile. “Isn't it our best shot? If you can get out, then—”

“I'm not leaving you,” Keith cut him off, appalled at the very idea. Why... why would Lance think that Keith would just abandon him here? They seriously needed to have a talk about his self-worth, after all this. Not... not that Keith was much better, though. “I'm not leaving you again, not ever. From this point on, you're not fighting alone.” Keith lifted his blade, offering a small smile of his own. “Because you've got me.”

Lance's eyes looked from the blade, to Keith, and back again. Then, they welled up with tears. “Right,” he agreed. “Let's take him on together. We're both getting out of here. We're going home.”

Keith nodded, and they both turned to Zarkon.

The Galra emperor laughed. “You are fools.”

Keith shook his head, still smiling. But it no longer reached his eyes. “You were the fool, the second you decided to mess with my family.”

With that said, Keith lunged forward, and his blade clashed against the arm Zarkon lifted up to block it, barely even scratching his armor. Keith's eyes widened, and Zarkon threw a punch that he just barely managed to dodge.

Zarkon was strong, and Keith knew that. He'd fought the guy while in his lion, and still hadn't won. But this? Fighting him hand to hand?

It was all but impossible.

He brought his blade up, aiming for Zarkon's head, but was blocked once again.

Keith wasn't able to get out of the way fast enough this time.

A fist connected with his stomach, and sent him flying backwards with the force. He hit the wall, then the floor.

Black edged in around his field of vision momentarily, and his head throbbed.

“Keith!" Lance exclaimed, and though Keith couldn't see him, he noted the worry in the shout. Then, “K-Keith...”

Lance's voice had changed from concerned to afraid, and Keith turned to see what had happened.

Zarkon was rushing towards Lance now, and though his helmet now made his expression unreadable, Keith would've bet he had the same crazed grin as before.

Lance activated the shield from his gauntlet, which he'd thankfully thought to put on over his prison uniform. The hit was still powerful enough to force him back a few steps, though.

Keith pushed himself up off the ground from the floor, readying to charge at Zarkon again. The Galra emperor was apparently focused on Lance, hitting at the shield again and again.

With a sinking feeling in his gut, Keith realized that Lance wasn't even attempting to bring out his gun. He was all but cowering behind the shield, clinging to it like a lifeline with his eyes squeezed shut.

Keith rushed forward, coming up behind Zarkon with his blade. Before he even had time to turn around, Keith was slashing at the back of his armor.

Once again, however, it hardly did more than glance off the surface. Sure, Keith's blade was a formidable, but the suit of armor that Zarkon used to keep his body functioning was just too strong in comparison. Without knowing where the weak points were, he wouldn't be able to do much damage.

Zarkon whipped around, catching Keith's blade mid-strike and tearing it from his hands. He shouted in protest as his only weapon went skittering across the floor, and Zarkon threw another punch his way. Keith blocked it with his arms, but the force of it knocked him off balance, and he stumbled backwards.

He heard a familiar shout of protest, then a crash, and turned just in time to see Lance ramming his shield into Zarkon's body, actually managing to force him back a little.

Unfortunately, when Zarkon aimed another blow at the current red paladin, the shield shattered on impact, and his fist connected with Lance's side.

And Lance screamed.

He dropped like a stone, and curled in on himself, wrapping his arms around his abdomen.

Keith's heart dropped with him.

The bandages... Lance's injuries...

Keith shouldn't have let other fight at all. Lance was already severely hurt, not to mention malnourished. He was in no condition to be in any sort of fight, let alone a full-scale battle with Zarkon.

What had Keith been thinking?! He should've sent Lance to Red immediately, and told him to go back to the castle.

But deep down, he knew Lance never would've left him, either.

Still, when he saw the fresh blood seeping out from between Lance's fingers, Keith could hardly breathe.

He needed to get Lance back safe. He'd only just found him again, after so long... he couldn't bear to lose him. Not again.

Lance needed a pod. He needed a pod days ago, but now...

Keith had been so relieved that Lance wasn't dead that he'd hardly even stopped to consider that it might still be a possibility.

Keith's fist clenched around the handle of his blade as he picked it up again. He'd come here to kill Zarkon, and he'd do exactly that.

But this time, it'd be to save Lance, not avenge him.

“Get away from him!” Keith shouted, rushing toward Zarkon again, where he stood over Lance's body.

“You humans never know when to quit, do you?” Zarkon asked, picking Lance up from the floor by the throat. Lance tried to gasp for air, clawing at his hand. “Can't tell when you're beaten. I can't for the life of me tell why your species isn't extinct already.”

“Don't touch him!” Keith was still going forward, but stopped short as Zarkon turned to look at him and his gaze met with the cool stare of glowing purple eyes behind the metal.

“I'd stop, if I were you. Unless you want me to crush his windpipe.”

Keith's hands shook, wanting nothing more than to fight, to hurt this horrible being in front of him. But it was Lance, so of course he didn't move. “You... you wouldn't. You need him.”

“Do I?” Zarkon asked, that lilt of arrogance back in his voice. “I guess was right. You humans would do anything to save the ones you care about. But he made it pretty clear he won't be talking, and he's already served to bring me another prisoner. Maybe I could actually use you. How do you think— GAH!”

Keith was confused by the shout at first, until Zarkon stumbled back, clutching at a bleeding stump where his hand used to be. The hand that had been pinning Lance to the wall.

Lance, for his part, stood gasping for air with one hand clutched to his chest, and the other holding his bayard, activated in the form of a sword and dripping blood.

Keith stared at him. “I.. I didn't know you could do that,” he said, only a little embarrassed by how impressed he sounded.

Lance shrugged. “Neither did I.”

Keith looked at Zarkon, who'd backed a considerable distance away and was nursing the limb. He looked back at Lance, with his side that was bleeding almost as rapidly.

“We could... make a run for it?” Lance offered, still catching his breath. “He's hurt pretty bad...”

Keith shook his head. “No. With you being injured too, there's no way we'd outrun him before he starts coming for us again. Besides, we should take advantage of this opportunity and take him down. Can you get to higher ground? I don't want you getting more hurt.”

“Nope. No way. You are not fighting Zarkon by yourself.”

Keith sighed in exasperation, but it was fond. “I won't be by myself, idiot. I mean so you can support me from above. You're supposed to be our sharpshooter, aren't you? See if you can find a chink in his armor, and target it. I'll hold him off down here.”

Lance hesitated, but ultimately seemed to realize it was the best option they had. Keith found himself resisting a smile, despite everything. Lance had always been a better strategist than him.

“Fine,” Lance decided. “But if you're in danger I'm coming back down to support you directly. You may be the best at hand to hand combat, but that's still Zarkon.”

“You— wait. You think I'm the best at hand to hand combat?”

Lance just rolled his eyes at him, before going back to containment unit with his armor in it. “I guess I should get the rest of this on over the prisoner uniform. I'm gonna need my jetpack. Cover for me, yeah?”

“Do you even have to ask?” Keith muttered, as he got into fighting stance.

“You... you insolent creatures,” Zarkon seethed, taking a shaky step towards them. Keith's eyes narrowed. “How do you always fight?! Your forms are so fragile, yet you refuse to give in, even if you know you won't succeed! It's pitiful!”

“We're humans, fuckface!” Lance shouted back, using the jetpack he had hastily put on to fly to a ceiling ledge above them. He activated his bayard again, and this time it took the shape of a sniper rifle, familiar to Keith's eyes. “It's just like you said. We don't know when to quit!”

Zarkon made a noise that was something like a growl, and Keith sighed again. “Lance, please don't antagonize him.”

“Oh, Samurai, we are way past that.”

Keith didn't get a chance to respond before Zarkon was charging in again. But, due to his injury, his movements had become much more sloppy, and sluggish, so he had no problem avoiding them. His blade still wasn't doing any damage, though, not in any areas covered by the armor.

“Are you seeing anything through your scope?” Keith asked, raising his voice so he could be heard as he dodged yet another swing.

“Maybe!” Lance called back. “There's the area at his wrist, which is how I cut off his hand, but that'd be almost impossible unless he stood still, which is probably not going to happen. And it would just slow him down a little bit more. I can try and see— wait.”

“What?” Keith had just tried to go for Zarkon's side, which had prompted him to turn around. Lance was looking at him from the back.

“I think... I think there's a spot, in the back of his armor,” Lance said, and Zarkon froze a bit. “Probably how it comes off. That'd definitely be good, but... I... I don't know if I can.”

“Lance, now is not the time to be doubting your skills,” Keith said. “Even if the opening is small, I know you can hit it, even if he is moving. You're an amazing shot.”

“No, Keith, I mean— I don't know if I can,” Lance said, then took a deep breath when he still wasn't getting it. “It... it would kill him.”

There was a beat of silence.

Then, Zarkon laughed.

“You're afraid to kill me, paladin?” he asked, and Lance winced. “Even after all you've been through? After all I've done to you, you still hesitate?”

Zarkon stopped fighting. He walked over to where Lance was, standing below the ledge and looking up at the red paladin, whose fingers shook on the trigger of his gun.

“You humans really are weak,” Zarkon spat. “Too spineless to even kill your tormentor. It's pathetic. That is why you will lose to the Galra.”

The look on Lance's face just made Keith angrier. Before Zarkon could continue, he stepped forward.

“You're wrong,” he said determinedly, staring the Galra emperor down. “Refusing to kill isn't weakness. It's strength. When Voltron wins, they're not going to do it by stooping to your level. Hurting people, torturing them— that's weak. It's cowardly. You are the pathetic one.”

Zarkon stared at him for a moment, then laughed again. “What are you going to do? Leave? I won't let you do that, not while I'm still alive. Victory or death is the Galra way, remember?”

Keith didn't back down. “I remember. But do you want to know something?” He didn't give Zarkon a chance to answer before plunging his blade directly into the weak spot of his armor. “I'm not human.”

Zarkon let loose a scream of outrage, pain, and fury before collapsing to the floor and going still.

“Not entirely, anyway.”

“Holy shit— Keith!” Lance cried, half falling, half flying down from the ledge and racing towards the former red paladin. He looked down at Zarkon's body. “Is he...?”

“Dead,” Keith answered, with a nod. “Let's get you out of here.” He draped one of Lance's arms over his shoulder, and they started walking toward the sound of Red's roar that they'd heard not to long ago.

Several minutes of walking passed in complete silence.

“You didn't have to do that,” Lance mumbled, finally breaking it.

“Yes, I did,” Keith replied shortly. “It was the only way to get out.”

Lance seemed to hesitate. “You... you shouldn't have had to do that. Not for me. Not because I was too... too weak to kill him myself.”

“Hey,” Keith said, finally looking at him. “I meant what I said. You're not weak. You weren't able to kill him. That makes you a good person. There's no shame in that. Besides, I came here wanting to kill him, and I accomplished that. He deserved it, for what he did to you.”

Lance still seemed unsure. “Well, yeah. No arguments here. But... you're a good person, too. You know that, right?”

Keith snorted, as if trying to laugh it off. But there was something bitter in it he hoped Lance wouldn't pick up on. “Yeah, right. I'm hardly even a person, Lance.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“It means I'm half Galra, like I said. A monster, remember? Just like him. Why else do you think I was able to do that, and you weren't?”

They had come upon the red lion, finally. The particle barrier descended the moment they entered the room, and all the sentries had already been taken down by the lion herself. Lance seemed to be seriously contemplating this question as they entered into the hatch.

“Hey, Red,” Lance said fondly. “Missed you, girl.”

Keith would be lying if he said the happy purr from Red at seeing both of them mostly in one piece didn't make him feel a little bit better.

“And you're not a monster, Keith. Not in any way, shape, or form. That's not why you were able to do it, either,” Lance said, and he sounded so sure of it that Keith was almost inclined to believe him. “You killed him because you're human.”

Keith raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. “And how exactly does that work?”

“Zarkon said it,” Lance replied, with a small smile. “We'd do anything for someone we care about. It's not like you killed him because you'd get some kind of sick joy out of it. You're nothing like him, because you did it to get us out. To get me out. To keep me safe. That doesn't make you a monster. That makes you a hero.”

Keith didn't know what to say. He should be comforting Lance right now, and yet...

Lance quirked a half smile at him. “But what else is new?”

There was a sharp stinging behind Keith's eyes, born from so many things piled up on top of each other that he could hardly tell everything he was feeling apart anymore. But at the forefront of them all? Just a pure, unchecked relief and happiness at the words, and the person who was saying them.

“Thank you,” Keith whispered.

“It's just the truth, Mullethead,” Lance told him, with a small laugh. “Would you mind piloting us home?”

Home.

“Of course,” Keith replied, without hesitation. He set Lance down gently on the floor, and slid into the pilot's chair. Red let him activate the controls immediately, which sent a feeling of warmth through him. He felt the bond open back up, almost as strong as it had been as before he started piloting Black—

But the joy was replaced with confusion, as Red's feelings seeped into his consciousness. She was alarmed, worried, borderline panicking. He knew she got agitated in times of danger, and they were in Galra base, but why...?

Keith felt another jolt of panic, this one entirely his own, and he turned around just in time to see Lance's eyes roll back into his head, and he collapsed onto the floor.

In his already weak state, the reopened wound had gone unchecked for too long. Lance had finally succumbed to the blood loss an exhaustion, passing out.

“He really needs a pod,” Keith said, both for himself and Red. He grasped the familiar controls, and sped the lion forward. “Alright, girl. Let's get back to the castle. Let's... let's go home.”

Chapter Text

Keith had never flown so fast in his life.

He could feel Red in he back of his mind, pushing herself to go faster, to get Lance to the castle as soon as possible.

He hardly had to pilot the lion, in fact, since she was just as panicked as him. After making sure they were on course to the castle, he got out of his seat and raced to where Lance was slumped over on the floor.

He grimaced when he saw the wound up close. The amount of blood would've been worrying under any circumstances, but with how little food and water Lance must've been getting, mixed with hardly any sleep and all his other injuries...

“This is really bad,” Keith mumbled, both for himself and Red. He pressed his hands to the wound, and willed her to get back to the castle as fast as she possibly could. “Hang in there, Lance.”

Lance's breath stuttered, and a trickle of blood slid from the corner of his mouth.

Keith forced down a sob. He had no time to panic, no time to cry.

“You can't die here,” Keith insisted. “Come on, just... just hold on a little longer. Please. I just... I just got you back. The others don't even know you're alive. You... you can't leave me again. You can't.”

Red roared in his ears then, and Keith looked up to see that the castle was in sight. He let out a sigh of relief, and looked back down at Lance's unconscious form.

“Thank you,” he whispered, as Red flew them into her hangar.

Keith was carrying Lance in his arms as he rushed out of Red's hangar and into the hall.

Surprisingly, the others weren't there waiting for him. Keith would've assumed that they'd have noticed that the red lion left the castle, and when she came back.

But he didn't have time to stop and question it, he didn't have time to stop at all. He was running as fast as his legs could go with Lance's added weight, heavy and limp.

Keith was painfully reminded, yet again, a similar circumstance when he'd cradled Lance to him as they rushed him to the medbay to take care of his injuries. It felt like eons ago, and yet he still knew the way.

And if he'd been worried then... it was nothing compared to this. Lance's blood still hadn't stopped since the wound reopened, and it was all over Keith's armor at this point. The longer he looked at Lance, the worse the other appeared.

Keith gritted his teeth, and ran faster.

It wasn't long before he burst into the medbay, already making a beeline for a pod.

He stopped short, however, when he nearly ran into Hunk as the yellow paladin was leaving the room. “Keith?” he asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Then he looked down, and his eyes went wide at the sight of who was gathered in Keith's arms. “Lance?!”

He immediately took Lance from him, and Keith had to bite his lip to keep himself from protesting. It's safe here, Keith reminded himself. Hunk wouldn't hurt him.

Even so, his hands hovered in the air, feeling suddenly cold.

“What happened?!” Hunk demanded, his voice a rough mix of anger and concern that Keith had never heard before. “How is he—?”

“Zarkon lied,” Keith said. “Lance is alive. But... he needs a pod.” And then he spurred into action.

Keith knew by now how to activate a cryropod; he'd seen Coran do it twice in the past. Once for Lance, after Sendak. And once for Shiro.

Two times where Keith thought one of the most important people in his life could die, and this was no different. Hunk removed Lance's armor, leaving him in the prison uniform that he still had underneath. Without anything over it, it was easy to see all the bruises and cuts on him under the small tears in the fabric, not to mention the thick bandages on his side that failed to stop the blood gushing out of his reopened wound.

Hunk's eyes welled with tears at the sight. “He must've been so scared... what did they even do?”

Keith shook his head. “I wish I knew.” Though he wasn't sure if he did.

With Hunk's help, it was easy to get Lance into a pod. The wall sealed, suspending Lance inside. The two of them waited for a moment with bated breath, and then the heart rate monitor picked up on the screen outside that displayed his vitals.

Hunk breathed a sigh of relief. “He should be okay. Well... alive. The minor contusions should go away fairly quickly, and while he lost a lot of blood because of the reopened gash in his side, it should also heal with time. A week or so, maybe more. He's going to need a lot of food and decent sleep when he gets out, though.”

Keith nodded. Lance didn't deserve this. Not any of it. But he would live... and that had to be enough.

He tried not to think about how Shiro still had nightmares over his time with the Galra.

He tried not to think about how, even though it'd only been for about a month, Lance would've suffered much more brutality as a paladin of Voltron.

He tried not to think about how Lance would undoubtedly fake a smile, and not talk about anything that had happened in favor of pretending to be okay for their sake.

Keith stared at Lance, his chest slowly rising and falling and his breath fogging up the glass. “He's alive,” he said, as if assuring himself. “He's here.”

Hunk wrapped his arms around Keith without warning, breaking down into sobs as he pulled him in for a hug.

Keith didn't even hesitate to melt into it, his limbs turning to jelly as Hunk supported his weight, and his own eyes began to sting. “He's alive.”

Hunk drew back after a few moments, searching Keith's face. “How did you get him back?”

“The Blade was able to trace the signal of the message and find the coordinates of the Galra base there. It was cloaked, so without their inside intelligence we wouldn't have known how to find it. We couldn't have at all, if Zarkon hadn't sent that video.”

Hunk's eyes darkened at the name of the emperor, and Keith couldn't blame him. After seeing the state Lance was in firsthand... he had been absolutely furious. He still was.

“Okay, but how?” Hunk asked again. “How'd you even know Lance was alive?”

Keith hesitated. “I... didn't.”

“...What?”

“I didn't know Lance was alive when I went to the base,” Keith said, then took a deep breath. “I went to kill Zarkon. Because of what he did.”

Hunk's expression briefly flashed into one of surprise, and then became unreadable. “Did... did you?”

Keith tensed, taking half a step back. “I did.”

He had no idea what Hunk's response would be, but he definitely didn't expect what came out of Hunk's mouth next. “Good.”

Keith stared at him, shocked.

“I mean, I... the universe is much better off for it, obviously. And... and Lance. After how Zarkon treated him... how he's treated everyone, he deserved it,” Hunk said, then looked at the ground. “But I'm sorry you had to be the one to bear that burden. Even if he was evil... it must've been hard.”

“It wasn't,” Keith said. “Maybe it should've been, but... Lance and I were fighting him, and I knew we had to take him down so we could escape. Lance... he's too good. Even after everything, he couldn't do it. So I did.”

Hunk clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You're a good person too, Keith, you know that?”

It was almost exactly what Lance had said to him earlier, and it was enough to bring tears back into his eyes.

Hunk offered him a smile, but it was gone as quickly as it came. “You... you weren't planning on leaving that base alive, were you?”

Keith shuddered. He'd been so absolutely ready to die. And he knew he'd still do it again. “I... I didn't care. I just wanted Zarkon to pay for what he did. But then I ran into Lance, and he was alive, and... and I had to get him out of there. The moment I found out he was still breathing, that became the most important thing. To keep it that way.”

Hunk's smile was genuine this time, though still strained. “Thank you, Keith. Thank you for bringing my best friend back to us. I don't... I didn't know what I would've done without him.”

Keith smiled back. “You don't think the others will be mad at me? For acting on my own?”

“Well, a little, but you're both more or less okay. And I think that's all we could ask for,” Hunk said. “Shiro has been... odd, lately, but I'm sure he won't lecture you too much. As for killing Zarkon, I'm sure they'll be ecstatic. Well, maybe not Allura, because I'm pretty sure she wanted to kill him herself, but— oh my god. Oh my god, Keith, everyone else still thinks Lance is dead! We have to tell them!”

As if on cue, Allura burst through the door. “Hunk! I got an alert that a pod was in use. What happe—”

She stopped short, lips parting slightly and her eyes widening at the sight of who was in the pod.

Keith immediately noticed the disheveled state of her appearance. Her typically neat hair was gathered in a messy bun, and her electric blue eyes were red-rimmed, as if she'd been crying recently.

Of course. They, too, had just lost one of their closest friends just a day or two prior.

Keith felt a stab of guilt, part of him wishing he hadn't shut the team out. Instead of going to the castle to mourn together, he'd been selfish and acted as if Lance's death was only difficult for him.

“Lance,” Allura whispered, her voice impossibly soft as she stumbled forward. “Lance, Lance—”

She stopped right in front of the cryropod, and Keith was struck with a memory. Allura, toppling out of a pod and Lance catching her in his arms.

Except now, it was reversed. And the pod stayed sealed tight.

Allura's fingers ghosted over the pod's surface, and she hesitated before she brought up his vitals.

Keith noticed her eyes darken when they surveyed all the injuries Lance had gotten, and they darted down briefly in alarm to the wound in his side, but the most overwhelming emotion written on her face was a confused sort of happiness.

“He's alright,” she breathed, as if she didn't quite believe it until she looked at his status herself. Keith didn't blame her. After all, he hadn't thought it was possible either. “How?”

“The Blade traced the signal,” Hunk said for him. “Keith went to the base, and got him out.”

Allura's eyes moved to Keith, and she visibly flinched at the blood covering his armor. Then, they narrowed. “You knew he was alive, and you didn't notify the castle?”

“I didn't know he was alive,” Keith told her, and her face set with understanding, catching on much sooner than Hunk had. “That's... that's not why I went.”

“I see,” she said. “And... what of Zarkon?”

“Dead.”

Allura let out a slow breath. “Thank you.”

And that was that. Hunk's eyes darted back and forth between them, seeming unsure what to say. Luckily, he didn't have to say anything, because Coran came in the room next, having followed the princess.

He, unlike the others, saw Lance immediately, and went to rush forward towards the pod.

“Coran,” Allura stopped him. “I checked. It's really him. He's going to be okay.”

The older Altean sagged with relief, letting Allura support the majority of his weight. “Thank the stars,” he said softly. “I thought... I thought I'd lost my family to Zarkon all over again.”

“Zarkon is dead,” she told him, and Coran's eyes widened. He looked over at Keith, who looked slightly battered from the fight and was still covered in blood, but he said nothing. Just wrapped an arm around Allura, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

The sound of running feet echoed down the hall, before Keith had time to even speak. It was accompanied by a familiar voice shouting.

“The red lion's barrier is down!” Pidge shouted, as she barreled through the doors. “It hasn't done that since... since he was taken! I just stopped in to check on it, and I had no idea why, maybe he's—”

Her words died in her throat and broke off into a loud gasp as she followed their gaze. Her hands moved up to cover her mouth, trembling.

“Maybe he's alive,” she finished, and her voice was so small. Keith always forgot how young they all were, but in that moment Pidge was just a child who had been brought back something she dearly missed. “Oh, Lance.”

Her knees buckled under her, and she sat there on the floor sobbing into her hands, overcome with emotion. 

Matt came into the room not long after her. “What's— Lance!” He, unlike the rest of them, immediately smiled, though it wavered when he took in the prison uniform, the various bruises. No doubt he had personal experience with those. But he seemed to push that aside, kneeling down and wrapping his arms around his little sister.

“I didn't lose him, Matt,” Pidge sobbed, burying her face in his chest. “I didn't lose him after all.”

“What happened?” Matt asked then, and Keith told them. He told them everything, or at least what he'd been present for.

When he finished, they were all staring sadly either at Lance or the ground, at a loss for words.

“Thank you for saving him,” Hunk said, finally, and enveloped him in another hug. The six of them sat there together, on the ground outside Lance's pod, in a comfortable, grateful silence at the miracle.

Shiro walked through the door sometime after that, confused until he saw who was in the pod. “Oh! Lance! When does he get out of the pod? We can start up training as usual soon.”

Everyone's eyes turned to him, and Keith felt that same surge of anger as when Shiro asked him to pilot the red lion.

Had this been how Shiro was leading them?

“Shiro—” Matt began, sounding absolutely appalled.

“How could you even—” Hunk started, voice dangerous. But it was Allura whose voice was the most vicious of all.

“Get out,” she said coldly, staring Shiro directly in the face.

Shiro looked taken aback. “What?”

“You heard her. Leave,” Pidge ordered, pushing herself to her feet. “This is a room for people who actually care about Lance. You're not welcome here.”

Matt hesitated. “Pidge—”

“No, she's right,” Keith interrupted. “Shiro, you should go.”

Shiro's confused gaze hardened into a glare. “I am your leader. You can't just—”

“Lance is our family!” Hunk snapped. “If all you care about is training, then leave!”

Shiro closed his mouth, looking furious. But he turned on his heel, and walked out. Keith watched him go, beginning to have a thought.

He had just realized something.

Lance was familiar with the feeling of waking up in a cryropod. First, he became aware that he was freezing cold, and then felt the walls surrounding him, and a feeling of weightlessness.

After that, his eyes opened and he just had enough time to see the clear blue wall as they disappeared around him. And then, he fell.

Lance caught himself on the edge of it, shuddering at the lasting cold. He still had a faint ache all over, and he was absolutely starving, but overall his body felt much better than... than...

What mission had he gotten hurt on? He couldn't really remember through the fog in his mind.

But then he looked down, and saw that he was still wearing the slightly torn up Galra prison uniform. And everything came rushing back.

It was almost enough to make him lose his balance again. He remembered it all, every excruciating detail.

The freezing cold, small cell. The small trays of purple food goo and water that were supposed to sustain him for a whole day. The guards kicking him around every chance they got, and him trying to fight back but just getting progressively weaker, weaker until his body would no longer agree to punch back.

The booming voice and evil smiles of Zarkon as he ordered another blow to fall. Being in a lab of sorts with that... that witch and her Druids, electricity sent straight through him.

Weeks without any end or rescue in sight. And all of it completely, utterly alone.

The memories alone were enough to make Lance feel sick to his stomach. He almost wished they could stay forgotten.

He... he had thought that he would die there, in that base. He almost did.

But he was back. He was home.

Lance realized, abruptly, that no one else was in the medbay. He would've been a bit hurt by it, if the entire room wasn't completely dark. Clearly, the other paladins must be sleeping.

Obviously. When else was the castle ever quiet?

Then, his eyes snagged on a fluffy, yellow blanket lying on the couch by the pods, and he smiled despite everything.

Lance slowly made his way over to it, and wrapped it around himself. The fabric smelled just like Hunk's hugs and somehow, he already felt a lot better.

He spotted a familiar red jacket on the couch beside it, and felt something in his stomach flip. In a good way, this time.

Keith was still here, then.

Good. Lance still needed to... to thank him for getting him out of there. Right.

Lance had no idea how long he'd been in the pod, but evidently it had been at least more than a day, if Hunk had been sleeping on the couch outside.

They others were in the castle, but it would be a while before anyone else would wake up.

Lance considered, for a split second, going to sleep in his own room. He was still exhausted, after all. He also wanted to change out of the prisoner getup. And maybe get some food goo— it'd been ages since he'd had a meal with decent portion sizing.

But as much as he knew he should do those things, what Lance wanted most of all was to not feel so crushingly lonely. He knew that if he let himself fall asleep, his dreams would send him right back to that horrible place.

So, instead, he walked out of the medbay, with Hunk's blanket still around him, and headed to the bridge.

It took him longer than it normally would. He still knew his way around the castle, even if he hadn't seen any of it in a while. He was still slow-going, though— every step felt like fighting against the push of a strong wind with the strain it put on his limbs.

When he finally got to bridge, he let out a fond sigh as he stared up at the crystal, then activated the star maps. It seemed like a million years ago, but Coran had taught him how. Lance could never forget.

Because even though Lance had missed the castle, missed the other paladins, so much, he'd missed something else even more.

Something that he held on to, while he was still imprisoned, as a reminder that as much as he wanted to give up, he couldn't. He had to live, just so he could see them again.

His family. His home. His real home, his first home, back in Cuba.

Lance scrolled over until he got to the Milky Way, then zoomed in the map until he was looking at the solar system, his solar system. His hands moved through a series of actions he'd learned by heart.

And then suddenly, he was facing a small, rotating, three dimensional hologram of the planet he missed so much. Earth.

“I miss you,” Lance whispered, with a small sigh. He'd started coming up here frequently, after the day Sendak had bombed the crystal, moments after Coran first showed him the star maps. It always made him feel better.

Ever since Keith left to join the Blade, he'd found himself here more and more often. It helped him escape the loneliness, and he hoped it could do the same now.

Lance felt tears welling up in his eyes, and he rubbed at them as if to prevent them from falling.

“I miss you so much,” Lance said, his fingers hovering over his entire world. “I miss the beach, with the sand between my toes, and the ocean. I miss the rain, the crazy thunder storms that we would run outside in even though we weren't allowed. I miss the sun, and cloud gazing, and... and looking at the stars, at night. I've seen so many stars up here, but it's not the same. Not without all of you. I... I miss the pizza shack, the garlic knots... and Mom's cooking, most of all. I miss her hugs, and Marco's smile. I miss braiding Veronica's hair, or helping Luis with his English. I miss you.”

Lance took a shuddering breath, and touched a finger lightly to the Earth. The hologram flickered with the interference, and the entire star map took it as a signal to turn off. It disappeared around him, leaving him all alone in the darkened bridge of the castle.

He stared out the window at the dark, empty, endless expanse of space.

Lance was wrong— it hadn't made him feel better. He felt more alone than ever.

He wrapped Hunk's blanket tighter around himself, and sobbed into the fabric.

Lance was too lost in his thoughts and memories, drowning in them, to hear the footsteps coming from the hall until they stalled outside the room.

“Lance?!”

The voice was on edge, seeming winded somehow, and slightly panicked. But it was also familiar. Lance wiped his eyes hastily with the blanket, and turned to look at him. “Oh. Hey, Keith.”

“Wh... what are you doing here?”

“Well, uh... I woke up from the pod a little while ago. No one else was awake, so I... I came here,” Lance said, and Keith's eyes narrowed.

“Why wouldn't you— you're crying.” It wasn't a question. Keith seemed to have just noticed it himself, and his expression quickly shifted from confusion to concern.

“Am I?” Lance asked, though he was painfully aware of the tears that refused to stop rolling down his cheeks. “I'm... I'm fine. Really. I'm—”

“Lance,” Keith interrupted, voice soft. He had rushed over to the other's side, and grabbed the hand that Lance been attempting to rub at his eyes with. “I already told you. You don't have to pretend to be fine. Not about this. You're allowed to hurt.”

Lance sighed, and tried for a smile. “I know, I know.”

Keith smiled back. It was strained, and Lance could tell there was something Keith was keeping himself from saying. “What're you doing down here?” he asked gently. “Why didn't you go get some real rest, or a decent meal?”

Lance hesitated. “I know I need that stuff, but I wanted to come up here. I thought maybe it'd... cheer me up a little. Take my mind off of what... what happened.”

Keith's brows furrowed. “How would the coming to the bridge help?”

Lance almost laughed. Keith really could be blunt sometimes. But instead, wordlessly, Lance brought up the star maps once more. It was still zoomed in on Earth's location.

Keith's eyes widened. “Oh.”

Lance nodded. “It, um. It helps me when I'm feeling alone, you know? I come up here a lot, and I just look at the Earth. I feel like it keeps me connected to everything, everyone I left behind.”

“How come I don't remember you ever doing this?” Keith asked, a hint of teasing to his tone. “Do you just wake up in the middle of the night and sneak to the bridge?”

“Actually, I... I didn't start doing this regularly until...”

“Until?” Keith prompted, nudging him.

Lance sighed, and met his gaze. “Until after you left.”

The smile dropped from Keith's face, and neither of them said anything for a moment.

“Does it help?” Keith asked finally, quiet and staring at the ground.

“...What?”

“Does it help you to do this, when you feel alone?”

Lance didn't want to lie. “No, not really,” he admitted, with a small, forced laugh. “Not as much as I'd like it to.”

Keith seemed to consider this for a moment. “...Would it help if you had someone here with you?”

Lance wasn't sure to say, so instead of speaking, he just nodded.

Keith nodded back, and sat down, gently pulling Lance onto the floor with him. He adjusted the blanket so it rested around both of their shoulders. “Better?”

With Keith next to him, space didn't look quite so dark and empty anymore. “Much.”

Another spell of silence passed, and Lance almost didn't want to break it. But also knew he would regret it if he didn't ask.

“So... why were you awake, at this time of night?”

He could feel Keith tense from their closeness. “I... couldn't sleep. I was going to go train.”

Lance was unimpressed. “Keith, I know you haven't been back at the castle in a while, but the training deck is on the other side of the ship. You were walking decidedly toward the... the medbay. Oh.”

“Yeah,” Keith muttered, his cheeks flushed red. “Oh.”

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—”

“No, no, it's fine. I... well, you've been in the pod for a few days. We didn't think you'd be out for a while, so I thought you'd still be there. But obviously, you're awake now. So here I am,” Keith told him, then took a deep breath. “Like I said, I couldn't sleep. I had a nightmare, about... about what happened. About you. I wanted to see you.”

Lance was speechless.

“I've been getting them a lot, since... since you were captured in the first place, actually, but it's been almost every night since we got back. About Zarkon, and you being hurt again, or me not getting there in time...” Keith trailed off, and his blush deepened. “Sorry, I know, it's stupid—”

Lance grabbed his hand before he could stand up to leave, and Keith looked up at him.

“It's not stupid," he assured him, still holding Keith's hand in his own. “You're the one telling me I'm allowed to not be okay, but you've been through a lot, too. I'm... I'm sorry you've been having nightmares, but I'm glad you're here. I wanted to see you, too.”

And Keith's eyes shined. “You did?”

“Of course,” Lance said, with a real smile now. “I wanted to thank you for saving me. For getting me out of there. I wouldn't be standing here right now, if it weren't for you. Or... sitting, I guess. But you know what I mean.”

“I wouldn't be here without you, either,” Keith said. “If I hadn't found you at that base, I probably would've died trying to kill Zarkon. But now... we're both back safe. And even after everything you'd gone through, you still were making me feel better. If someone like you thinks that I'm a hero... then maybe I really can be one.”

Lance took Keith's other hand, and squeezed them. “Of course you can, Keith. You're one of the bravest, most selfless, strongest people I know. One of the best paladins Voltron has ever seen. No one else could've gotten us both out of there in one piece. I... I never thought I'd see any of you again. You saved my life.” He looked away, and let out a sigh. “I'm really gonna miss you.”

Keith didn't seem to understand him. “What?”

“When you go back to the Blade,” Lance continued. “I lo— I really liked getting to see you again. Talk to you. Fight with you. It was like we were team again.” He stopped. Took a deep breath. Met Keith's eyes again. “I just... I wish you could stay.”

“What if I could?” Keith blurted the words out, as if afraid of them.

Lance had no idea how to respond to that, at first, but then nodded eagerly. “You should! The team needs you. I'll stop flying Red so that—”

“What? No. Lance, you were meant to be the red paladin,” Keith said, voice firm with certainty. “You are extremely valuable to this team. You have a really strong bond with two lions, and you're our best marksman. You've gotten way better at close combat, too, not to mention how your positive attitude always boosts everyone else's mood. Stop doubting your place on this team. You deserve a lion more than anyone. You... you deserve the world.”

Lance's brain short-circuited. Whatever came out of his mouth next was hardly a coherent sentence, but Keith gave him a small, shy smile, so it was worth it.

“I've been wanting to say that for a while. I know you're never going to stop putting others before yourself. Selflessness can be a great thing, don't get me wrong, but you should hold more value to your own life. You kept telling me stuff like that at the base, but you don't even realize that you're the exact same way! You're strong, you're brave, you're a hero! You don't even realize how important you are. How special. But I do. That's... that's part of why I want to come back. So I can see it every day.”

Lance wasn't sure his voice would work when he tried to speak, but Keith continued before he could.

“I would never take Red from you. I... I wanted to see if maybe I could fly the black lion again, actually.”

Lance didn't know what he'd expected. But it wasn't that. All the words he wanted to say flew out of his mind. “You... what?”

Keith's face fell. “You don't think it's a good idea?”

“No, no no no, Keith that's a great idea! You have to come back— nothing has been the same without you here. You were a wonderful leader. A little rough around the edges, at first, maybe. But when you started listening to us, we worked so well together as a team. And you didn't take any of us for granted either; you learned our strengths and knew just how to be the most successful. You were meant to do this. And Shiro... I don't know if he should lead us anymore. He's... well, I still want him on the team, but I'm beginning to think he might not be right for the black lion.”

“Yeah, I've noticed that too, since I've been back,” Keith said, his eyes darkening for a brief moment before he shook his head. “I'm not sure if the others will go for it, though.”

“Trust me, they will,” Lance assured him, thinking back on all the times Shiro lashed out at every member of the team. True, it was directed at Lance more often than not, but the others were definitely noticing. “And if they're unsure, I'll convince them. I got your back, man.”

Keith snorted. “Don't you always?”

“Hey!” Lance protested, as Keith continued to laugh. “Alright, I may not have always been you're biggest supporter, but things are different now. They have been for a while. We're a team, and partners always watch each other's back.”

“Partners?” Keith echoed, and it was Lance's turn to blush.

Lance almost denied it. He almost backpedaled immediately, because he'd said too much. But Keith looked so hopeful, and so Lance nodded. “Yeah. Partners. We'll stick together from here on out.”

“No leaving?”

Lance's heart broke for him, a little bit. Here was someone who'd known nothing but abandonment for his entire life.

Lance had always been surrounded by people who loved him, but after what happened he felt more alone than he ever had before.

Keith probably knew what that feeling was like, even if the circumstances were drastically different.

No wonder Keith had left. He'd only ever been taught to not get attached to people.

But instead of pitying him for it, Lance saw an opportunity. He wanted to be the one to show Keith that love didn't have to equal loss. That being attached didn't mean he would be abandoned. That sometimes, some people stayed.

Keith had told Lance that he didn't have to be alone, that he was special, that he deserved the world. In reality, Keith deserved so much more than that, so much more than he'd been given, and Lance wanted to be able to show him that.

Maybe they could show each other.

“No leaving,” Lance said. A part of him wished they could stay there like that, side by side under a blanket and surrounded by stars. Just the two of them, forever. “I'm not going anywhere.” He had no idea how he'd been okay with Keith leaving the team, but he had no intention of ever letting him go again.

“Kiss me,” Keith said, his voice not even a whisper. Their faces were so close now, noses almost touching.

And Lance did exactly that.