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The black lion shudders violently as Keith takes another hit, his helmet bouncing off the back of his seat. Warnings light up all along Black’s dash as incessant beeping pounds away at Keith’s already weakened concentration. Keith knows he won’t be able to take another hit like that, but he fears he might have to as another Galra battlecruiser blinks into the space in front of him.
“Keith!” Lance calls, his voice cracking as the comms sputter, “We’ve gotta retreat!”
Keith glances to his right, panic blooming low in his stomach as he watches Red dive and dodge around Galra fighters. Red is fast, but there's too many ships and he's slowly becoming surrounded.
“Blue’s sustained a lot of damage, I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to keep her running,” Allura shouts over the comms, panic leeching into her usually calm voice.
Keith swivels his head to find Blue. She's across the battlefield, her lasers firing quickly, taking out huge portions of the swarm of enemy ships, but Blue is slow. She doesn't have the same maneuverability as Red or even Green, and with the battlecruiser that just arrived, Keith fears that she too is going to quickly become overrun.
“Green is going offline, guys,” Pidge’s voice shakes with fear, “I’m a sitting duck—” She’s cut off as her comms die and the green lion can be seen slumping in the distance. Keith's stomach drops and the world slows down.
An explosion lights up the sky in the right of Keiths peripheral and Lance screams over the comms. Hunk is bashing his way through messy squadrons of fighters, screaming Pidge's name. Allura lets out a battle cry as she releases a volley of shots into the fray. Despite the carnage Keith know's they're inflicting, the fighters never end. The swarm seems to never shrink no matter how many ships they take out, the holes and the gaps in space are always being filled again.
Keith doesn't know what to do.
“Shit, Keith, we need to leave now!” Lance yells his voice panicked and urgent, as Keith watches a laser fly straight for where Hunk and Pidge are. Hunk manages to shield the green lion from the worst of the blast, but Green still goes careening into space, sparks glinting off her hull.
We’re all going to die, Keith realizes. With the green lion out of commission, forming Voltron is no longer an option. And even if Green was functional, the rest of the lions are so scattered right now, that they wouldn’t be able to get close enough to form. They’ve been out-manned, out-gunned, and out-matched and it’s all because of Keith.
“There’s only one battlecruiser, guys,” Keith had said as they had approached the ship, “I say we divide and conquer. This way, we’ll get practice in for if we’re ever in a situation where we can’t form Voltron.”
“Maybe we should practice that sort of thing with Coran and the castle?” Pidge had offered.
“Yeah, at least then we’ll know we won’t die,” Lance quipped, as they approached the single Galra cruiser.
“We’ll keep separated,” Keith pressed, “This is an easy ship to take out, and if anything happens, we’ll just form Voltron.”
“Keith, perhaps—” Allura started, but Pidge cut her off with a loud,
“Incoming! On your 10!” A second battlecruiser winked out of warp and into the space beside the first.
“I think forming Voltron sounds pretty good right about now!” Hunk had said, his voice shaking with panic.
“Stick to the plan!” Keith shouted, shooting lasers into the swarm of fighters pouring out of the cruisers.
“What plan?” Lance shouted back, firing into the fray.
And for a while, the not-plan worked. Lance was dancing Red between fighters causing them to collide with each other, and fall into enemy or friendly fire while also taking them out with his own lasers. Pidge’s lasers were taking out large squadrons of fighters, their entrails blooming into tree parts, while Pidge cheers and cackled over the comms. Allura was alternating between firing lasers, ice blasts and sonic waves into the oncoming tide of fighters, making her attacks almost impossible to predict and therefore almost impossible to defend against. Hunk’s shoulder cannon was making significant headway in blasting through the battlecruisers particle barrier to destroy the ion cannon—which had only been used once and had take out more Galra fighters than anything.
They were winning—and they all knew it. Lance was cheering, filling the comms with happy cheers and laughter. It was a hard fight, and Keith’s muscles were sore form all the rough piloting, but his heart was pounding, elated at their victory. It was so close.
And then two more battle cruisers showed up. Then another. And then another. Six battlecruisers. Two mostly defeated, four fully powered, fully functional battlecruisers and their entire fleets of untouched fighters, pouring out of the larger ships like angry wasps.
Five mostly functional, battle worn lions and their tired, aching pilots. Four people, too young to be fighting a war, relying on the leading prowess of an inexperienced, hothead with abysmal social skills.
One battle, almost won, now definitely lost.
“Keith!” Lance calls, “What’re you doing? We need to leave! Keith!”
I’m the reason they’re all going to die today.
“Keith—” Lance breaks off with an angry growl, “Fuck.”
“Lance, we’re going to die,” Keith manages, breaking from his spiral, panic plain in his voice.
“Keith—” he calls, cut’s himself off, and he dodges enemy fire. He switches to a private comm line, “No, Keith, buddy we’re not going to die. We’ve just got to retreat, call this battle a loss, and live to fight another day. We’re getting out of this one. I just need your help.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Keith panics, shooting down a squadron of fighters gaining on Lance.
“We just gotta get outta here, okay?” Lance's voice is so calm, and Keith wonders how the hell he can do that as his eyes blaze, the red lion blasting a line through a squadron that had been gaining on Keith.
“We’re surrounded,” Keith says.
“We can do this,” he’s so sure, “We can fix this,” he’s so firm, “We make a great team, after all,” he’s sends Keith a soft smile, “Just follow my lead, Mullet.”
Keith nods, sending Lance a soft smile back, “Okay,” Keith clutches Black’s controls tighter, feeling his panic subside in favour of his usual steely determination, “Lead the way, Sharpshooter.”
Lance sends Keith a final wink before he opens the group comms, “Hunk get Pidge back to the castle, now! Allura, you follow to clear a path and provide cover.”
“Got it!” Hunk and Allura chime.
“Keith and I will stay here and provide additional cover,” Lance has to pause to execute an elaborate series of flips and dives to avoid a volley of enemy fire, “Princess, as soon as you get back to the castle, get a wormhole ready. Keith and I will follow.”
“Affirmative!” Allura shouts, escorting Hunk and Pidge back to the castle.
“Okay, now all we have to do is hold these guys off, stay together, and stay alive,” Lance says, shooting his way to be right next to the black lion.
“Easier said then done, Lance,” Keith shoots back.
“Now is not the time to suddenly get funny, Keith!” Lance teases.
It couldn't have been very long that Lance and Keith fought, back-to-back alone against six battlecruisers, but it felt like thirty years. If the swarm was bad with five separated lions, it's even worse with two lions back-to-back. Somehow, Keith and Lance aren't dead yet, but Keith fears that with the way Black's shuddering and the way Keith's arms feel like wet noodles, it won't be for long
“Hey, Allura, how’re we doing on that wormhole?” Lance calls narrowly avoiding getting destroyed by a blast form an ion cannon.
“Just about ready,” Allura calls, “Hold on boys!”
“We’re holding, but I don’t know how much longer we’re gonna be able to do this for, Allura!” the black lion shudders again as a blast nicks her back end. Keith still isn’t used to how much slower than Red, Black moves.
“Alright, the wormhole will open on your seven! Be ready!” Allura calls.
“Way ahead of you!” Lance darts Red in that direction, just as the Wormhole blinks into existence, Keith hot on his heels.
“Go, go, go, go!” Keith and Lance are shouting, pushing their lions to their very limit as they pull up next to the castle in the wormhole. The tunnel closes milliseconds after Black breaches the opening, marking the end of their retreat.
“Holy shit!” Lance crows, “Holy shit, we're not dead!”
“Holy shit,” Keith mumbles, patting his hands down his limbs, his chest both light with relief and tight with guilt. They made it out of there, not because of him, but because of Lance. Lance saved them all from the giant mistake Keith made.
If it wasn’t for Lance’s quick thinking out there, everyone would be dead, and Voltron would be lost, all because of Keith’s piss-poor leading.
“Keith,” Lance’s voice crackles over the comms, “Hey, buddy, what’re you waiting for out there?”
Keith clears his throat, feeling an odd numbness roll over his body. “Right, on my way in.”
Keith lands Black in the hangar, his heart pounding, and his head filled with cotton balls. Thoughts of Keith’s failure rolling around in his brain as he makes his way out of Black and to the common room where they’ll have a debrief.
They failed the mission. Keith failed the mission. The green lion went out of commission in the field today, and Pidge could have died. All of them could have died. Voltron could have been destroyed in one fell swoop and all because of a decision Keith made.
This is why Keith never wanted to lead. He’s too inexperienced and he’s too stubborn. Keith consistently makes the wrong call and he knows this. This is why someone like Lance or Allura should have been the new black paladin.
Allura is royalty. She was learning how to be a queen before the war started and her training shows. From the way she gave orders when Voltron was still new, to the way she flawlessly conducts diplomatic talks. Allura is poised under pressure, and sure of herself. She’s smart and knows how to lead. So, why didn’t Black choose her?
Or Lance? Lance cares about everyone. He knows people's strengths and weaknesses. He knows when and how to help his teammates—a skill that can only be learned by being around large groups of people. Lance is kind and charismatic. He’s a total goofball, but when it comes down to the wire, Lance is probably one of the most reliable people Keith has ever met. Lance is a natural leader and he would have been perfect as the black paladin, perfectly showcased today.
It may not have been Keith who gave the orders to retreat today, but it was the black paladin who did. The rightful one. Because a leader knows what needs to be done and when; and today, Lance showed he knew, and he saved everyone’s lives.
“—into a healing pod just in time,” Keith catches the end of Hunk’s shaking sentence.
Keith dashes around the corner and into the common area. “He's going to be okay,” Lance leans into Hunk, pulling him into a hug.
“Yeah,” Hunk breathes out shakily, “She just had a few scratches otherwise, but she was in-and-out of consciousness.”
“What happened?” Keith’s voice breaks and his step falters as their eyes slide over to him.
“Pidge got banged up pretty badly inside Green,” Lance helps Hunk onto one of the couches, “Probably a concussion.”
A searing rod of guilt rams through Keith. He did that. He’s the one that put Pidge into the healing pod.
Lance sighs lightly, resting his head briefly on top of Hunk’s, “Pidge’s made of tough stuff. She’ll be okay.”
“She’ll be okay,” Hunk parrots, nodding his head against Lance’s.
With their eyes no longer on him, Keith manages to walk his way over and sit on the opposite side of the couches, curling into himself. Lance pulls away from Hunk, turning to send a look at Keith that he can’t decode before seating himself next to Hunk.
They sit in silence for a few beats, just listening to each other breathe before Allura strides in, a data pad clutched in one of her hands. “Today’s mission was not a success,” Allura starts, a scowl firming on her face. Keith sinks deeper into the couch.
“Allura,” Lance starts, his voice soft and heavy with meaning, “There was no way we were going to win that fight—”
“Lance—” Allura starts, her voice matching his.
“No, we were severely out-numbered, whether we would have been able to form Voltron or not!” Lance’s voice is harsher now.
“I’m not saying we should have stayed—” Allura shoots back.
“Then what should we have done? The outcome would have been the same except we would have been blind-sided as Voltron,” Lance stands, “And one large target is easier to hit than five tiny ones.”
“That is not the point,” Allura crosses her arms, indignant.
“Then what is?”
“If we would have formed Voltron sooner, we would have been able to take out the first two battlecruisers before they could have called for back-up,”Allura states.
“We don’t know that,” Lance shoots, “For all we know, those cruisers could have been on the way from the very start.”
“Look, guys, I really think we shouldn’t fight about this,” Hunk tries to placate, “We lost today, and there’s nothing we can do now, except learn from this one and be ready for the next.”
“Thank you, Hunk, voice of reason, as always,” Lance throws an arm in his direction.
“You can’t learn from a mistake if you never talk about what went wrong,” Allura says, her calm voice sending shards of ice into Keith.
“It was my fault,” the words grate along Keith’s throat, “I should’ve just listened to you guys, and I’m so sorry.” Keith has to close his eyes against tears. “Fuck, Pidge could have died out there. We all could have died out there and I froze up. If it wasn’t for Lance—”
“No, Keith, this isn’t your fault—”
“But it is,” Keith screws his eyes closed before forcing them to open again, “I’m not the leader you guys need. I’m too inexperienced—I don’t know what I’m doing—”
“Keith, we all went along with your plan. We’re all to blame for not fighting you harder.”
“But that’s the problem!” Keith shouts, suddenly so angry at himself and at Lance and at the whole fucking universe. “A team shouldn’t have to fight their leader to not make shitty decisions. And that’s what happened. I made a shitty decision that almost cost us our lives. It almost cost the universe Voltron!”
“And it could have happened to the best of us,” Lance retorts.
“It would have never happened to Shiro,” Keith can feel the tears burning behind his eyes, “And it probably wouldn’t have happened to you or Allura, or Hunk or Pidge—” Keith stutters, “O-or anyone else!”
“Keith—” Allura starts, her voice gentle.
“I’m going to get us all killed!” Keith shoots, angry and guilty and miserable.
“But you didn’t,” Lance says, his voice calm and firm.
Keith rolls his eyes aggressively, and presses an angry sigh, “Because of you!”
“Yeah, because of me,” Lance shoots, his eyebrows crashing together in a scowl, “And no matter what I’m always going to be here!” He pauses, his chest heaving, “I’m your right hand man, Keith. I’m not going anywhere. It’s my job to help you when you freeze up, and when you don’t know what to do.”
“I should just know,” Keith sighs.
“It’s okay that you don’t,” Lance takes a step towards Keith.
“It’s not,” Keith presses.
“None of us died,” Lance repeats, “And with the two of us at the helm, no one ever will.”
“You can’t promise that,” Keith says weakly, looking away form Lance.
Lance places his hand on Keith’s shoulder, squeezing lightly, “Maybe not,” Lance concedes, “But my point still stands; Voltron works best when we work together,” he pauses and his vice softens, “So, let’s work together.”
Keith’s eyes slide up to meet Lance’s, and Keith’s breath catches in his chest. Lance’s face is the softest Keith has ever seen it. His eyebrows are tilted down and his eyes are this unendingly soft deep blue. His lips are quirked up into the smallest of smiles and Keith can feel the guilty grip on his heart loosening.
Keith still feels guilty, but he no longer feels like he’s completely unfit to lead. Because Lance is right: two heads are better than one, and despite their bickering, Keith can acknowledge that Lance balances him out. They’re a good team, and Voltron works better as a unit, not a hierarchy.
“That’s really cheesy,” Keith says instead of anything helpful.
Lance rolls his eyes, “Some cheese might be good for you,” he playfully pats Keith on the shoulder, “Might strengthen your bones, a little.” A playful smile lights up Lance’s face, and Keith’s chest decompresses further.
This is familiar and Keith knows how to play this game, a small, teasing smile growing across his face as he says, “I’m lactose intolerant.”
“Oh, you’re intolerant alright!” Lance throws his arms up, rolling his eyes playfully, “We’re clearly having a bonding moment right now—one I’ll remember, by the way—and you’re cracking jokes!”
“I told you Galra Keith is funny,” Hunk pipes up.
“I’ve always been funny,” Keith rolls his eyes and crosses his arms, good-naturedly.
Lance hums, unconvinced, “Yeah, okay, sure, Mullet,” Lance leans into a melted Allura, “I think I’m starting to get to him.”
“Lance, I think you’ve been ‘getting to him’ since day one,” Allura quips.
“Yeah, getting under my skin, maybe,” Keith shoots and Lance squawks indignantly and Hunk pipes up to make more playful jabs at Lance and Keith lets himself relax for a moment. Things aren’t perfect. Pidge is in a healing pod and the lions still need some major R&R before they can go back out into the field, but, come what may, Keith knows that he’s got the support of his team, and Lance, behind him.
And that seems pretty good to him.