Chapter Text
Chapter 1
“Lance McClain, you fucking idiot.”
It had been about two weeks, or 14 quintents according to Pidge, since their fight with Zarkon - since Shiro had disappeared without a trace. The only thing that was left of him was his bayard in the Black Lion. We have searched everywhere for him, Lance thought sorrowfully. Or maybe not everywhere, cause the universe is like infinite, how could we search everywhere? They hadn’t even gotten a signal from Shiro’s suit. If he’s out there we would have gotten some sort of signal from his tracker, wouldn’t we? Lance sighed out loud. Every day they spent looking for Shiro, Zarkon’s army got bigger, but he didn’t want to be the one to bring up that Shiro might actually be gone. Lance didn’t like the thought of that, but what else were they supposed to do? We are sitting ducks .
Then there was Keith. Stubborn as he was, he would never allow them to stop searching.
“Shiro told me to lead Voltron if… if something were to happen to him.”
“You gotta be kidding me!” Lance burst out.
The words didn’t sit right with Lance, and he was furious about it. Why would Shiro ask Keith to lead Voltron?
“Lance, relax buddy, we don’t know-” Hunk started, but Lance cut him off.
“No, I’m not going to accept this!”
It had sounded a lot harsher than he meant it to. Sure, Keith would do great as their leader. He was already a really important part of the team -- he always gets to do the cool stuff -- but if he could replace Shiro that easily, how little would it take for the rest of them to be replaced, too? If they don’t think I’m cut out for the team, will they just replace me with someone else? Lance never said that out loud, though. Not even to Hunk, who probably knew more about Lance than he knew he did.
They put all their effort into finding Shiro. He couldn’t have just disappeared like that. Or so they thought.
Lance sighed again and got up from where he was sitting. More like hiding . They had gotten back from another search, without any luck, again. He was used to this by now. Going for search, after search, and in the end; nothing. This time wasn’t any different, but everyone were getting tired. They all missed Shiro, and were worried about him, but it had been two weeks without anything to suggest that he was even out there.
They had all been really tense coming back after the day’s search, and Allura had warily pointed out that they might not be able to find him any time soon and that they needed to shift their focus elsewhere. Keith had lost it at that. Problem was, Lance had reacted even worse to Keith’s attitude, and kinda stepped in it. Which would be why he was currently hiding from everyone.
“Lance McClain, you can be a real jackass sometimes,” he said out loud. No one was there to hear him and let him know he was right, but he knew his teammates would agree.
“We are not going to stop looking for him.” Keith had more or less hissed the words out of his teeth. He looked like a cat; ready to attack at any moment. The rest of them had backed off a bit, and Hunk seemed to be prepared with a soothing comment.
“I am not suggesting that we stop entirely,” Allura told him; poker-faced and calm, holding her hands up in front of her in defence, “but I think it might be a good idea for us to focus some of our energy on stopping the Galra. We don’t even know what happened to Zarkon, and for all we know, his army could be increasing even as we speak.”
Lance couldn’t help the feeling of relief that flooded through him the moment Allura said that. I’m not the only one who’s thinking this.
“We can’t FORM Voltron without Shiro, how are we supposed to stop the Galra?” Keith practically spat the words at her.
“Okay, who died and made you the leader of telling us what we can or cannot do?” Lance regretted the words just as he spoke them, but the damage had already been done. He had had it up to his eyeballs with Keith’s obsession with finding Shiro, but Lance had really stepped in the salad with this one.
“Lance!” Hunk looked at him, shocked.
“We have tried to find him, and I’m just as worried as you are, but we are supposed to defend the universe here.” He shot out his arms as he spoke.
“I’m not going to pilot the Black Lion.” Keith said with a low voice.
“Oh, I’m not saying you should.” Lance had no self-control at this point. Everything just gushed out all at once. “I don’t understand what Shiro was thinking, we won’t last a tick with you as our leader!”
“So what, you think you can do better?” This time Pidge spoke up. She had been quiet alongside Hunk since they got back. “What exactly are you even implying here, Lance?” She glared at him. He didn’t know how to answer that.
A lot better than “shoot first, ask questions later” over here. He shot his arms out to the side, but shrugged and put the thought aside. “All I’m saying is that we can’t keep this up, and I’m sure as hell not going to accept this part-time Galra as the leader of Voltron.”
If Lance had been able to go out of his own body and slap himself in the face, he would have. Keith didn’t say anything. He just glared angrily at him, and Lance swore that if looks could kill, he’d be dead. Keith had walked out after that, and so did Lance. He felt the shocked glances from the rest of them as he walked out, but he didn’t care, he just needed to get out.
“Lance McClain, you fucking idiot.” He said to himself in frustration as he walked further into the castle.