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Lance groaned, Red was giving him problems in this mission and he had no idea why. She was working perfectly well yesterday when they were fighting the Galra, so why wasn't she working well today?
"Hey, guys! I need some help over here!" Lance yelled over to the coms. After a minute of no response, he swung Red around, seeing the other paladins busy in combat.
"Keith? Can you or someone else in the Blade help me, please?" Lance asked after switching over to his direct com line with Keith.
"Sure, Lance. I'll be over there in a minute." Keith responded halfheartedly. Lance smiled a little as he shot his blasters through some of the Galra ships in front of him. Lance could see Keith's ship make it's way over to Red's pit area and smiled, missing a beat and scrambling to hit one of the incoming Galra ships. Luck was on Lance's side this time and he hit the ship.
Lance's luck ran out when he saw one of the Galra’s big ships getting ready to fire at the planet that the paladins and the Blade were protecting. Lance threw Red in the path of the blast and held on for impact, directing his blasters to point at the ship, trying to fire it but only resulting in a sound of metal hitting itself.
"It's jammed-" Lance said softly under his breath, his eyes widening in fear as he saw that familiar light purple glow hurtling towards him.
The blast instantly fried Red’s systems and Lance and his lion was sent crashing towards the planet, most likely crashing Keith's ship in the process. Lance closed his eyes tightly, bracing for a possibly fatal impact on the planet.
When Lance woke up, he was greeted by the smell of burning wood, which back on Earth would have been comforting. It would mean that he and his family were on the beaches of Cuba, probably after being in the sun all day or helping his father with things around the beach by picking up trash that tourists had left. Lance always looked forward to the days that end in singing around the fire and playing with his older sisters and brothers, it was one of the things that he missed most about Earth. Of course, now that smell was just nostalgic and worrying. There wasn't any wood in space? Plus, weren't they fighting the Galra?
Reality came crashing in when Lance opened his eyes and saw that Red's screens were dead and noticed the lack of her in his mind, where she usually lay dormant was now just empty. Lance slowly unbuckled himself and located the exit, leaving Red the way she was, she probably needed to recharge after a blast like that. Before he left he grabbed his helmet and tried connecting to the coms. His trials were met with a deadly silence that could honestly probably kill someone if they were left alone in it for too long. Lance saw the trees around the lion either broken or in flames. It was times like these when he wished that he still had Blue so she could put some ice on these to make it stop.
Lance frowned and sat next to Red, his back touching hers. He closed his eyes, trying to remember what exactly happened. He remembered protecting the planet he was now on, calling for help and Keith- oh no, where was Keith? Lance shot up and began stumbling around, trying to look for signs of any more destruction like what he caused. He sighed in frustration and climbed on top of Red, looking around and seeing a path that was most likely made from Keith's ship. Before he thought twice about it Lance slid down the side of Red and took off in the direction of the path he saw.
Before long Lance ran into a clearing where several trees had been knocked down, when he looked to his left he saw some trees that were half down or just missing a few of their leaves off the top, when he looked to his right, however, he saw a ship that looked similar to the Galra's. He winced in pain as his shoulder throbbed, he looked down to see some of his armor torn up, which was honestly a surprise considering how strong it was with anything else. After a minute of contemplating what to do, he decided that it was best to deal with his armor after he had found Keith and hopefully restored the coms.
Approaching it carefully he winced at the sound of one of the trees letting go of one of the limbs that got hit by the ship, Lance slowly drew out his Bayard and held it close to him, keeping his finger on the trigger in case whoever was on board this ship was hostile. Lance kicked the door to the ship opened and got into shooting position, in his mind this was one of those 'better be safe than sorry' moments.
"Is there anyone in here?" Lance yelled into the doorway, not trusting to fully reveal himself yet. Lance heard a groan from inside the ship and his grip tightened on his Bayard.
"Lance? Is that you?" he heard a familiar voice question, Lance loosened his grip on his Bayard and walked in front of the doorway, deciding that if it was Keith then it was worth the risk and well, if it wasn't, then at least he was ready to fire.
"State your name!" Lance spoke, deepening his voice an octave to try and hide how scared he really was and to try and throw the person off if it wasn't Keith.
"Lance..." the voice said again, he heard the creaking of metal and footsteps slowly approach him, his grip getting tighter again, "It's Keith." he groaned out, getting into the light.
Lance sighed in relief and disabled his Bayard, tossing it on the ground behind him and running to Keith, hugging him. Keith fell back a little and hugged Lance back slowly, confused by the hug.
"Thank god you're alive! Are you okay? Are you hurt? I think I have some first aid supplies onboard Red, we can head back there if you need anything." Lance spoke in a rushed, worried tone, pulling away and using his eyes to scan Keith looking for any sort of injuries on him.
"Lance, I'm fine. Just a little dazed is all," Keith said, rubbing his head and stretching a little bit before his eyes widened "Wait! Lance! You could've killed yourself! What were you thinking? I would've lost you because your dumb self-was trying to save the day like always and then I would've-" Keith cut himself off, realizing that he was revealing too much about his inner minds workings.
Lance looked at Keith curiously and smiled, "Go on, Keith." Lance said and chuckled lightly. Keith blushed and shook his head not budging.
"We should go see if we can find civilization, my guess is both of our ships are down for now at least, so we should see if we can find who we were protecting," Keith said, moving away from Lance and beginning to walk the way that he came. Lance groaned and followed Keith on his angsty walk.
The walk was mostly quiet, Lance was tailing Keith most of the time because each time they were close to each other Keith began walking faster and after a while, Lance gave up trying to walk together for both of their sakes.
Lance stopped in his tracks when he heard a small whimper over to his right. "Hey, Keith? Did you hear that?" Lance asked Keith, he kept walking until Lance grabbed the back of his uniform, "Listen..." Lance whispered.
This time whatever was making the noise let out a soft sob, which would have been inaudible if they were still walking. Lance's face instantly softened and he began scanning his surroundings, looking for any sign of movement. Out of the corner of his eye, Lance saw a bush move and then another soft sob. Keith looked confused at Lance as he started slowly moving towards the bush.
Lance cautiously moved some of the leaves to the side to reveal a little purple-skinned girl with black bob-length hair. He moved slowly towards her and scooped her up in his arms, holding her close to him. "Hey... it's okay... you're safe..." Lance whispered to her, wiping her tears from her face and smiling comfortingly.
At first, she moved away from Lance, a frightened look glazing over her eyes, but then after a minute her eyes softened again and she curled into his figure, calming herself down.
"Lance, that's a child. You just pulled a child out of a bush. We have to return this child to the village, they probably have family that's worried about them and they need to get home." Keith said, trying not to look too much at the child, remembering how he was in a similar position many times whenever he'd miss his mom.
"Shhh, Keith, she's sleeping." Lance smiled at Keith and stood up, holding the child close to him and beginning their journey back towards where they saw some smoke in the sky that they knew was not from either of their ships.
After walking for what they guessed was another hour they came across the outskirts of a town. At first, a few of the people looked at Keith and Lance in confusion, probably wondering who these people were that came out of the forest, but once they recognized Lance's armor there was a hum of excitement between the villagers.
When the three got into what could be described as the town center it seemed like the news of a Paladin had traveled and they were met with happy cheers. Lance's face automatically lit up and he smiled at some of the villagers, holding the child closer to him.
An alien with grey skin and bright blue hair came over to Lance and bowed, "Hello, Paladin," he said, his voice was smooth like honey and it sent a wave of calmness through Lance, "I am the King of my people and we are honored to have you here. However, that child that you are holding is not welcome here. She stole from our markets and is facing charges." the King's tone went from sweet to being laced in venom. The child started shaking in Lance's arms.
"Is there anything I can do to help her not face charges? She's a child and children make mistakes, I'm sure if I can work something out with her parents and you that will benefit us all." Lance offered, trying to make sure that whoever this child was would have a good life.
"She has no parents, she was left when the Galra abandoned our planet to fight Voltron. The only way that she would be able to avoid the charges that our courts have rightfully given her is by having a family that could either pay the fine or faces the charges for her." The King said, smiling down towards Lance.
"Lance, she's a kid, she'll grow up a little worse than the rest of us, but she'll be fine." Keith shrugged. Lance glared towards him and growled in anger.
"Keith, we are saving this child. Every kid deserves a family and to live a good life, this is your chance to save a kid who grew up in a situation kind of like yours and you're throwing it away." Lance spoke through clenched teeth, rolling his eyes a little at Keith when he frowned.
"We'll pay the fine," Keith said, looking at the King.
"Saving our planet is payment enough, I think," the King started, looking upon his people who nodded in agreement, "so the child is yours and is free of charges. Welcome to our village, Paladin and... Keith, stay as long as you'd like." the King finished and smiled at them before turning away.
Lance smiled for a moment before thinking more about what the King said, "Wait! What do you mean she's ours?" Lance yelled towards him so he could hear.
"I said that family was the only people who could get her out of the charges and by agreeing to pay the fine she is now your child." he smiled towards Lance before making his way away from them again.
Lance held his breath for a minute, unsure of what just happened was real. He looked over towards Keith who was wearing the same confused expression as himself.
"We should find somewhere to change and to eat, we're gonna be stuck here for a while anyway. In the morning I'll try the coms again." Lance said softly, looking down towards the young girl in his arms.
After a bit of searching around Keith found a sort of roadside motel like thing that they could settle down in. As soon as they got into their room Lance put down the girl on the bed and smiled down at her, moving some of her hair out of her face.
"Lance, you should shower. I'll watch her." Keith whispered, Lance, nodded in agreement and sent a thankful look over to Keith before moving towards the bathroom and taking a shower.
After the quickest shower in the world, Lance put on his black body suit that always goes under his armor and left all of the big pieces off because he guessed that they wouldn't exactly be fighting anyone while they were visitors on this planet.
"Keith, you can shower now," Lance said softly, looking down towards Keith, who was holding the girl's hand. Keith looked up towards Lance, a light blush swept across his cheeks and he pointed at one of Lance's collarbones.
"It's ripped," Keith said simply, Lance looked at him with a puzzled look and looked down to where Keith was pointing. Sure enough, that area was torn open and his collarbone just barely peaked out from it. Lance blushed softly and looked down, a little embarrassed that he had to have Keith tell him that it was there.
"Yeah, I guess it is," Lance spoke softly, looking at Keith their eyes connecting and he stayed there, looking into Keith's eyes and smiling, caught up in the moment until Keith shook his head and looked away.
"I'm not gonna shower yet, but I am hungry." Keith looked back at the child, "She probably is too, maybe if she eats then she'll talk." he smiled a little and looked for Lance's approval. Lance nodded and Keith began to shake her lightly. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and looked at them.
"Hey, we're gonna go get food, is that okay?" Lance questioned, she nodded and got up, walking over to the door and waiting for Lance and Keith.
"I'm Zara," she said in a small voice, looking down a second after she spoke. Lance looked towards her and smiled.
"I'm Lance and this is Keith and we are your... family? I guess?" he said, looking over at Keith with a confused look on his face, Keith nodded back towards him.
"My family..? I have a family!" she spoke excitedly, bouncing a little in one spot. "You guys are my dad's! I have a dad now! Two of them!! This is so cool! I've never had a family before!" she shrieked in happiness and ran over to Keith, wrapping her hands around his waist and hugging him. "Thank you for saving me, dad." she whispered before moving away from Keith and hugging Lance, "You too! Thank you!" she giggles and let's go, going back over to the door.
Lance follows her and smiles, happy that he gave this sunshine of a girl a real family.
It didn't take the crew very long to make their way to the market square, the main street was littered with people and vendors. It was one of the busiest places that Lance had seen since he started his quest in space. He looked over towards Keith to see him smiling and looking at a stuffed animal that Zara was pointing at. They both looked so happy and they honestly deserved that happiness.
"Hey, dad?" Zara asked, looking up towards Keith and Lance, they immediately looked down at her and smiled softly; their attention which was previously soaked up in the scenery was now all on the little girl- their little girl.
"Yes?" Keith and Lance spoke in unison, both blushing and looking at each other before directing their attention back to Zara. She smiled and giggled a little. Lance smiled and took her hand, Keith followed Lance and they looked at each other for a minute before smiling.
"Can I get that stuffy?" She asked shyly, looking down a little bit. Keith nodded before stopping and looking at Lance, who let out a small chuckled and then nodded as well.
"Thank you!" She said excitedly and smiled, Keith motioned at Lance to continue on while he got the stuffy, he nodded and started walking more down the square where they came to the edge of a cliff.
The scenery was breathtaking, There were hills that broke the skyline and there were so many stars in the sky. A lot more than Lance had ever seen in the sky on the beaches of Cuba. The sky was a soft yellowish gold color that slowly melted into a deep purple-blue. Over the cliff was a field of blue trees and on one of the mountains, he could see the sparkling water cascading down the side of it. Where they stood held hundreds of tiny oddly colored flowers, some were yellows and green while some were more fluorescent orange and a vibrant pink.
"Can I have that one please?" Zara questioned, looking up towards Lance with a puppy dog expression. Lance instantly fell weak to the trick, one which he had pulled hundreds of times with his own parents and siblings. She was pointing toward a pink and blue flower, the only one in the patch it looked like.
"Of course, princess." Lance smiled and leaned down, picking the flower and tucking some of her hair behind her ear before placing it in her hair, "You look even more beautiful now if that's even possible." he said confidently. Zara giggled and hugged Lance tightly.
"Thank you so much for saving me" she spoke softly, the tone of her voice made it almost sound like she was crying. Lance pulled away and looked towards her, noticing a tear rolling down her cheek. He wiped it away and kissed her cheek.
"We got you and we will always be here for you," Lance said softly, trying to comfort his daughter. She nodded slowly and pulled away, wiping her eyes and looking back towards the street a smile spreading across her face.
"Dad!" she yelled excitedly and ran towards Keith, colliding with him and hugging him. He laughed and smiled, handing her the bear she wanted as they started making their way towards Lance.
"Wait, if you call me dad, then what are you gonna call him?" Keith questioned, tilting his head to the side and looking towards Zara. She shrugged and looked towards Lance.
"You can call me Papá? That's what I call my dad" Lance offered, Zara tilted her head and looked at him for a minute before nodding.
"Papá... I like it!" she said giggling. Lance let out a relieved breath and looked lovingly towards her. She smiled widely and sat down in the flower patch, talking to her bear.
Keith came closer to Lance and smiled at him, "You make a pretty great dad, I hope you know that." he said laughing a little.
"Thank you, Keith, it means a lot," Lance said. They stood in a comforting silence for a minute before he spoke again "You make a great dad too, Keith." Keith blushed and looked away.
"Well, uh, I bought a toolkit and some food." Keith moved away from Lance and handed him something that resembled bread, but was blue.
"Thank you, Keith." Lance took the bread and took a bite of it, looking back towards Zara.
"Lance... I like you," Keith started, taking a breath "I like you a lot and I know that you probably don’t feel the same, but being here with you and her has really made me come to terms with it. So, thank you I guess..?" he said in a rushed tone, his eyes widening when he thought about what he just said.
Lance laughed and looked at Keith, "I love you too, Keith." Lance smiled.
Keith shook his head and looked down before his head shot up and he looked at Lance "Wait, what?" Keith yelped in a surprised tone.
Lance laughed loudly and smiled "I love you too, Keith." he repeated. Keith looked at him with wide eyes before closing the space between them with a kiss.
"Ew! Gross!" Zara yelled, looking at them and laughing.
"Typical kids." Lance laughed and blushed, offering her some bread. She took it and gave Lance her stuffy, he packed it up with the toolkit in a bag that he had brought.
After Zara finished her bread Lance introduced the idea that they should get back to the motel before it got too dark. The two others seemed to agree with each other and they walked back towards the motel hand in hand.
After a good night’s sleep, the three packed up and checked out of the motel. They stopped in the market square again to get breakfast before heading into the woods.
When the three got to Lance’s lion Keith took Zara on a walk while Lance tried to fix his coms, Red was finally back in his mind, so he guessed that she was well rested as well.
After fiddling around with the controls for a long while he finally got static and the sound of worried voices filling the coms, he let out a victory yell and put his helmet back on.
“Hey! Hey, guys! Can you hear me?” he yelled into the coms.
“Lance! You’re okay! Where are you? Is Keith with you?” Hunk’s worried voice dominated the noise on his coms. His best friend truly was the best. Lance laughed, thinking back to the night before how Lance and Keith kissed on the edge of the cliff that was overlooking the beautiful planet.
“Hey, Hunk! Yeah, we’re good. Keith is here, we kissed and adopted a kid, do you think you could make a cake for her, Hunk? It would really make her world. Her name is Zara and she’s the most precious person you’ll ever meet.” Lance grinned.
“You did what?” Hunk asked, his voice sounded soft, almost like he was surprised, “I mean, not shocking with the whole you and Keith thing, that was a long time coming, buddy. You adopted a kid though?” he questioned.
“She was an orphan on the island and she stole food to eat, Keith and I had to save her somehow and we accidentally adopted her, but she’s great. It was the best choice that I’ve ever made if I do say so myself. The only thing I’m worried about is how she’s going to react when she realizes that Keith is with the Blade and won’t be around much…” Lance trailed off, looking up and seeing Keith and Zara in front of him, he winced and took his headset off.
“Dad… you’re not gonna leave me, are you?” Zara spoke softly, her words edged with fear. Keith looked at her and frowned.
“I’ll talk to the Blade… no promises though, but I’ll stay for you, Zara,” he said softly, picking her up and holding her.
Lance smiled softly and mouthed thank you to Keith, he smiled back and motioned towards the lion with his head, Lance nodded and put his helmet back on before walking over towards the lion and climbing inside.
“We’re on our way back to you guys,” Lance said happily through the coms, happy cheers came through them in response.
When they finally got back to the Castle, Zara was beyond impressed, but more importantly, she was excited. The paladins and the three ended up meeting on the bridge in a reunion.
“Papá, who are these people?” she questioned, tilting her head to the side.
“Well you see, the girl over there is a real-life Princess named Allura, the one with the big orange mustache is Coran, the short gremlin over there in the green is Pidge, the tall one with the little bit of white in his hair is Shiro and then there is my best friend and in my opinion one of the most dashing men alive, Hunk. They are all your family too.” Lance laughed and she smiled, waving to each of them as he introduced them.
“Do you think dad is handsome, Papá?” Zara asked Lance. He blushed and nodded, looking towards Keith who was also blushing. She giggled and hugged them both.
“One more thing Zara,” Hunk started, he left the room for a minute and came back with a cake that had the words ‘Welcome Home Zara’ written on it “We all helped make this for you since you’re the new addition to the team.” Hunk said happily.
Zara smiled and giggled, thanking all of them before they all set out to the dining room to eat the cake and learn more about each other.