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Everything happened so quickly. Lance could feel his throat tightened as tears threatened to fall.
After killing so many innocent lives for the empire- for Lotor- he was shocked to see that for the first time in a while his hands were shaking. He wasn’t foreign to this feeling. The feeling of dread and the hesitation before killing. Knowing that the person at the other end of the gun has a family they cherished and loved, and yet still pulling the trigger. He knew the feeling all too well, but how he hated it. So when he knew that he would be doing this for a long while, he decided to shut off most of his feelings.
Things were finally going well, he didn’t think much while on a mission. No feelings or morals to hold him back. It was just aim, shoot and kill. That is until a certain someone decided to show up. Now, as his gun pointed at the face with a familiar mullet head, he felt like the 17 year old Cuban boy he once was.
“Lance! What are you doing? We’re here to save you” For a short moment, Lance really believed that’s what it was. That everyone was finally rescuing him from this hell hole. But when Lance’s eyes saw Keith’s hand reach for his bayard. He knew it. Keith wasn’t here to save him. He was here to finish him. As if leaving him here with Lotor wasn’t enough for them, but they were probably here to kill him. Make sure he didn’t divulge any information on Voltron. If this was how it was going to be, maybe it wouldn’t be difficult to kill Keith after all.
“Save me? With what? That sword you’ll be pointing at me once I let my guard down? Don’t make me laugh. You were always something Keith, but I never knew that you were such a liar.” Lance said sharply, his arm getting more shaky despite him trying to collect himself.
“What? No, Lance I don’t want to hurt you.” Keith’s hand immediately moving away from his bayard and in front of him instead.
“Lance, please you’re scaring me. We...I just want you back on the ship with us.” Keith’s words almost made Lance drop his gun and run towards Keith. He probably would have if he was that infatuated Lance he was before. But he didn’t. How could he? How could he trust someone who he had believed would save him but waited so long to finally do so? He just couldn’t.
“Ha, just drop your pretence Keith. You expect me to just believe you? Shiro...Hunk...Pidge...Allura and You...Keith, I trusted you. All you you. And what did I get in return? 20 years of imprisonment and torture by the Galra. Just...how do you expect me to believe you? You left me here to die!” Lance moved his gun a little higher, so that it aimed directly at Keith’s head. Rage, fear and sorrow that he had shut off 20 years ago was just building up in him and he could barely think straight at the moment.
“20 years? Lance, what are you talking about? It’s only been 5 minutes. Look, I’m sorry that I can’t explain everything now but we have to go now!” Keith desperately pleaded Lance.
Had Keith finally lost his mind? Did he even know what 5 minutes were? Lance refused to believe him and yet when he took a good look at Keith, he noticed that Keith had barely even changed at all.
Even if Keith was Galra, without the Galran technology that Lotor had “provided” Lance with to keep his youth, Keith would have still aged. Then why did Keith looked almost the same as when Lance last saw him 20 years ago? Nothing was making sense right now.
“Keith! Have you gotten Lance yet? The planet is about to disappear again! You better hurry up, man!” Lance could hear Hunk’s voice through Keith’s helmet intercom and almost cried in joy hearing his best friend again.
“Master Lance!” A Galran member suddenly shouts, accompanied by the pitter patter of many footsteps. They were probably sent by Lotor to check on him after hearing the crash. To think Lotor would’ve trusted him by now that he could fend off an enemy by himself.
“Lance, the Galra are coming, we can’t stay here much longer! We need to go!” Keith was getting more anxious by the second, hand reaching for his bayard as he turned to face the door instead. Keith was prepared to fight of the Galra to save him and Lance knew that this was his chance to finally escape. He just needed to help Keith out and he could be back with his friends again.
Why are you trusting this betrayer? Have you forgotten what they’ve done to you? A ringing voice reverberated in his head when he tried to take a step forward.
Why were they gone for so long? Why didn’t they try to save you after 20 years? Face it, they left you. They left you because they didn’t need you. You were useless to them. The voice was his and yet it wasn’t. There was something off about it, something much more malicious. It got louder with every sentence and Lance felt as if his head would explode in any second.
Get rid of them. Just like they got rid of you. You don’t need them. As the voice continued on, Lance felt as if he was losing control of his body and he hated it. He hated how he couldn’t control his legs from walking forward with steady steps. And how he raised his gun above Keith’s head. He didn’t want to do this and yet every fibre of his being was telling that this should be what he wants.
Yes. This should be what he wanted. Kill Keith and get his retribution on all of Voltron. Heck, maybe he could even climb higher in Lotor’s ranks. Yes...all you have to do is pull that trigger. It’s so easy. You’ve done it so many times now.
And yet...He couldn’t do it. How could he? How could he kill the man he had been in love with? Despite having been 20 years of feeling betrayed, he never could forget his feelings for Keith. And at times he hated himself for that. What kind of person was he, to still love the person who left you for dead?
The footsteps were getting louder and Lance knew that it was only a matter of time before things get messy.
Without any warning, Lance muttered a soft, “Sorry Keith,” before he slammed his gun straight into Keith’s head.
Thud! Keith’s body dropped to the floor. Keith’s unconscious body lay motionlessly on the ground as Lance towered over him, as if he was some sort of sick victory winner and Keith was his defeated opponent.
With the steadiest hands his body could allow, Lance picked Keith up from the ground. Looking down at Keith’s face, free from all its frowning and brooding, Lance smiled to himself. He hoped he wouldn’t forget this face.
As if on cue, the Galra soldiers stormed into the room, ready to take down any potential threat. But their tensed shoulders relaxed upon seeing the scene before him.
“Master Lance, are you all right? We heard a loud noise after the crash and Prince Lotor ordered us to check on you. But I see that you’ve taken care of the pest.” One of the members, Lance could only assume was the supervisor of the group, stepped forward, looking down in disgust at Keith. Lance wanted to punch him in the face right there and then.
But instead he remained calm, hoping that they wouldn’t realise the feelings resurfacing in him.
“May we dispose of him for you?” The Galra said it with such indifference, Lance could practically feel his blood boil.
“No, send him back to Voltron.” Lance stayed neutral, trying to adopt his apathetic voice he had cultivated through the years.
“But, Master Lance, Prince Lotor said that we should not spare any of the Voltron members. Surely you haven’t forgotten what would happen if we defy his orders?” The Galra had a smirk plastered across his face. The other Galra never really liked him all that much, with him being human and all. It was obvious that they wanted to get him in trouble.
“I’ll deal with Prince Lotor myself. Make sure that this paladin gets back with the team.” As much as Lance hated to say it, he knew he had to. He didn’t want to face Lotor’s punishments but there was no other way to save Keith.
“Very well. We’ll take him out of your hands and inform Prince Lotor of your... decision.” The Galra paused mid-sentence, almost as if mocking him for still having feelings for his old team.
The other Galaras took Keith from Lance, shutting the door on their way out. And not a few minutes later, Lance could see a shuttle pod heading towards the the Altean castle. Before he knew it, both the castle and the pod disappeared. Lance could only pray that Keith made it back safe and sound.
But Lance shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to think about them. As Lance heard the familiar clacking of boots, loud and purposeful footsteps charging towards to his room, he readied himself. He needed an explanation to all this, and Lotor would have them.