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Lance had never really thought through what he might do if he were in danger as a civilian. Without his armor, Bayard, lion, he could defend himself well enough, but when a truck is hurtling toward you as you cross the street–you know, simple civilian stuff–there wasn't much to do in terms of self defense.
He only had time to think This sure as hell wasn't how I expected to go when something rammed into him from the side. Definitely not the direction he'd predicted something hurtling into him, but at least like this he lived.
Lived long enough, it would seem, to see who his rescuer was.
“Watch out for cars!” the guy yelled at him before turning and bolting away, leaving Lance gaping.
“W-wait!” he yelled and he thought the guy wouldn’t stop. But he did. He turned back and, though his face was masked by a familiar purple hue, Lance could tell he was expectant, waiting. “Why did you save me?”
The answer took too long. Lance watched as Red seemed to freeze, held by the scrutiny of Lance’s eyes. His shoulders were rising… self consciously? Lance had never seen Red act this way. Then again, he’d never talked to him as a civilian.
“Why not?” Red asked and it most definitely was not what Lance had been expecting.
“You work for the Galra,” Lance pointed out, voice somehow even and nonjudgemental. He was simply stating a fact, something everyone in Altea knew. Red lowered his head at the words and his arms went to cross over his chest before he apparently thought better of it. He didn’t answer, so Lance spoke again. “You’re a villain.”
“And villains can’t help out a bit?” Red suddenly asked, voice coming out harsh and defensive. Lance’s head reeled.
“I don’t know,” Lance said, feeling like he had to come to his own defense. “Villains just don’t .”
“Maybe I’m not like other villains,” Red said softly and, again, it was like Lance was seeing a completely different person than the confidant guy he usually fought.
“That much is obvious enough,” Lance said and it sounded like he was suggesting something. Like it wasn’t obvious, but it should have been. “You’re a paladin, but you’re not with Voltron.”
At this, Red’s shoulders hiked up and he stepped back. “Anyway, you’re welcome.”
“Wait! You still didn’t tell me why you saved me!” Lance protested as Red went to turn away. Red looked over his shoulder, not bothering to turn back all the way. He shrugged.
“Guess I just wanted to play hero,” he replied and, with that, he ran back down the street.
Lance watched the black suit disappear with wide, unbelieving eyes. They didn’t stray until Red had gone and been gone for a while. Then, he looked around to see if anyone had seen.
Unless they had suddenly bolted, it didn’t look like anyone had been on the street.
Then, Lance whispered, “Red just saved my life.” And he still couldn’t believe it. Red had wanted to save him. With no ulterior motive at all–at least, that Lance knew of. “Holy fuck.”
His mind raced back to Red’s parting words. Guess I just wanted to play hero . Had he really? Then, Lance remembered how quickly he’d left, how he’d almost bolted off after tackling Lance. Was he going somewhere?
Guy’s probably up to no good , his brain reminded him. Red sure had been in a hurry to get out of there.
But Red had just saved him.
Not Blue, no. He didn’t know who he was. Red had just saved some random civilian, saved Lance.
So Red does have some good in him.
Lance would have cheered about how he was right, if not for the fact that he was right .
Red has good in him. The Red Lion hasn't gone completely off his rocker; he did sense good in his paladin.
Then why?
Red still worked for the Galra. Did they have someone with a mind control power? What if the guy didn't even realize he was working for the Galra half the time? They could control him to do their bidding and make him forget afterward.
Lance grimaced at the absurd explanation, but his mind wouldn’t stop going.
Red would have seen himself in the papers, right?
Not unless he didn't know he was a paladin at all. What if they locked up his lion? Can lions be locked away like that?
Where else might the Red Lion have been all this time? And why else would Black not come back to them, help them find Shiro?
It was possible. But so were many other things. So was a whole laundry list of reasons he could be doing this.
Maybe the Galra needed Lance McClain alive for some reason? Or maybe he was so insignificant that Red didn't think it'd be a big deal to help him?
Villains had other motives and Lance would do to not forget that.
Guess I just wanted to play hero.
But, either way, Red had saved him and Lance now owed him a debt. It was a very dangerous thing for a hero to owe a villain.
Perhaps one day he would repay it. Maybe by figuring out just who this guy was and why he did what he did, Lance could save him too.
-/-
“Red,” Keith said, eyes distracted by the clouds as he watched them pass them by. His lion nudged his hand, something Red always did. The familiarity of it was a comfort.
He wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to say; there was too much on his mind. Red didn't seem bothered, though. If anything, he probably knew exactly what was going through Keith's head.
He had been working for the Galra for months now; the biggest secret he had ever had to keep. He wasn't one for sharing things usually, and this shouldn't have been an exception.
But Lance was in the picture now.
Keith looked down from the clouds, down to his hands, which he had brought up from his sides, away from Red, to look at. His gloves covered most of the skin, which was good. He didn't like seeing what lay beneath.
He didn't like them completely covered either, he'd come to find. With the black of his suit stretched across them, leaving not a trace of human beneath, Keith almost forgot he was human. He forgot too much about Keith Kogane, instead turning into what the Galra needed him to be.
What the papers referred to as the unwanted Red Paladin or that Blade guy. What the Galra didn't even bother giving a name, only instructions and dismissals. What Blue called Red.
Perhaps it was for the best that the man in that suit wasn't Keith. He could not mix the two if he were to survive this, survive all that he has done.
But the two sides were not equal and, lately, he couldn't be sure if Keith was winning. Keith had been through a lot in his life, but he couldn't help but feel as though Red was taking over.
It was with a shock that he had realized that the Red Paladin could kill Keith Kogane.
Keith ripped his eyes away from his hands, dropping them and willing nothing else to become red. His heart felt like it had two hands on either of its sides, squeezing. Squeezing squeezing.
Red nudged his hand again, pulling Keith back down. Pulling Keith out of the grasps of the Red Paladin. And he breathed.
He looked down and the color red did not frighten him, not when it was his lion.
“Thanks, Red,” he said softly, turning away from the skies and back into the alley where they had only just left Galra HQ. Keith never allowed Red to accompany him; he waited outside. Bringing his lion would only give the Galra more leverage over him. “Go get some rest, Red. I'll be fine.”
His lion looked at him, wholly unconvinced, but Keith rolled his eyes and walked away, out of the alley. Red couldn't follow him and the lion knew it. Not into the public street.
In reality, Keith was probably just going to go back to his apartment and Red could have definitely given him a lift. Instead, Keith had wanted to walk, so, with his suit tucked into the old backpack over his shoulder and definitely no phone on him, because he'd left it in his apartment where he and Red had taken off, Keith did just that.
It felt nice to be around people who saw him as what he was, what he really was. He was Keith. He was a civilian just like any of them like this. He could be normal and leave the Red Paladin locked up for now.
It was a weight lifted from his shoulders. He wasn't normally a people person, and he hated crowds, but strolling down the busy street relaxed him a bit. Surrounded by so many people who wouldn't look twice at him, there was no room for that villain to show up.
The Red Paladin didn't belong here, not with the civilians, and Keith didn't have time to dwell on it with his mind trained on sidestepping impatient pedestrians and keeping his focus on where he was going.
He wasn't good with crowds and that kept him focused. He traded one evil for another.
But then there wasn't time for crowds or Red. Then, the whole street beneath him turned to goop.
“What the-” Keith muttered, lifting a foot and watching the yellow substance stick to it like gum. He wrinkled his nose in disgust, then attempted to step, only to figure he was stuck.
Then, something else odd happened. He looked up and the pale grey sky had a far away dot, a very familiar far away dot. Then, there was a much closer dot.
It was a woman, masked and smiling widely in a deranged sort of way. She looked like she was having the time of her life, wiggling her fingers to and fro. Then, goo shot from those fingers and landed in the hair of some guy’s stylized hair.
“Hey!” the man protested, hands shooting up to the hair and the goop. Keith doubted that was the only goop in his hair, but probably the only unwanted one.
More goop flew from the woman’s fingers, covering the crowd beneath her. Keith looked around and noticed the entire street hadn't been covered, only the small section he and about fifteen others had occupied. Anyone else on the street had fled.
Lucky him.
Goop flew to people's eyes and over their mouths, making it impossible to speak or see. Sometimes it landed on shoulders or legs. Overall, it seemed to be thrown randomly, randomly enough that Keith got a thick blob all over one hand.
Without thinking, Keith tried to swipe at it with his other hand, causing the stick to spread between and binding them together. Clever, Kogane. Absolutely-
That was when, overhead, something collided with the woman sending her away from the crowd and back. She could float, a weird power to have alongside whatever this goop thing was, so she somersaulted out of Blue’s grasp where he was perched on his lion.
Keith watched as the woman eyed the now present paladin, weighing her options. Blue smirked and commanded her, “Give up. We don't have to fight.”
Then, that smile was back on the woman’s face and Keith knew Blue was in for more. He wanted to warn him, despite being the rivals they were in the field.
Because, right now, he wasn't the Red Paladin.
He was Keith.
“Blue, watch out!” he yelled and Blue froze at the sound. Keith's heart stopped. Had he recognized his voice? Oh no, maybe that hadn't been a good idea-
But, then, the woman stopped midair, just as she had been going to ram into Blue and his lion. Her smile widened.
“I almost forgot we had a crowd,” she practically sang, but Blue was looking down now, scanning the crowd.
And his eyes connected with Keith's.
That was all Keith saw because, the next moment, his eyes were covered and his world was black.
“This one will do!” the woman announced and she was a lot closer now, louder, and Keith was yanked up.
Shitshitshit-
Keith was dangling, his feet suspended into nothing and only a ferocious grip on one of his wrists, still bound to his other hand, kept him from falling. The wind at his cheeks signaled that he was being lifted, higher and higher. Maybe it was for the best he couldn't see at the moment.
He should call Red. Red could save him, keep him from falling, get him away from this psycho, but then everyone would know. All the onlookers from the street, any journalists who had come to film the scene, the villain he knew didn't work for the Galra, and Blue.
Blue would know his identity. And he would get arrested and Shiro would be stuck with the Galra forever.
No, he couldn't call on Red. Blue didn't know who he was; Keith would have to count on him.
Strange. To rely on the one man he'd been fighting for months to save him.
“He dropped, just like a penny in a well,” the woman whispered and, being so close, Keith could hear her. “I can't be in a world without him.”
And, hearing those words, Keith's heart dropped. Just like the penny, just like whoever this woman was talking about, just like he was about to if Blue didn't get him soon.
“Will you be missed?” she asked and Keith knew she was now talking to him. Maybe she had been the whole time. “You don't know who will miss you when you do it. Did he know I would miss him?”
And that was when Keith realized, she was sad. She was lonely. And she was mourning.
She was almost like him, in a way. He had become a villain to save someone and she had because she couldn't. Could he have done the same if Shiro had been killed?
But he was different from her. Keith had become a villain with purpose, because he hadn't given up, because he still had hope and still had things to fight for. He would never put others in danger for the hell of it, because he was lashing out.
But maybe the Red Paladin would.
Keith, blinded with the woman’s strange goop and suspended in darkness, saw red momentarily. His palms itched with it, his ears rung with it. He could taste it on his tongue.
Keith could no longer keep track of what the Red Paladin was. Could he be like this woman? He had lost something too, after all.
“I am sure you will be missed,” she whispered and it sounded like a goodbye.
Keith's eyes widened behind his yellow mask and he said, “Wait-” before he was released and dropped through the air.
Red! his mind shouted, as loud as it could, but he knew it would be too late. His lion wouldn't make it in time. He should have called earlier. Screw his secret if it meant he was going to die.
But, maybe it would be for the best that this secret would die with him. No one would know that side of him–the side of the Red Paladin. The part of him that was slowly erasing Keith Kogane, killing him.
But who will rescue Shiro? his mind asked and regret blossomed in his chest. He couldn't die yet; not when his brother still suffered.
He hadn't gotten to say goodbye. To Shiro. To Lance.
He'd known his soulmate for just a few months, but he couldn't imagine his life without him. Could Lance imagine one without Keith?
He would have to, it seemed.
But Keith had forgotten one crucial piece of information now, hadn't he? One that took shape of a familiar dot in the distance, a rival who would save any civilian, his unknown enemy or not. And, so, Keith was caught.
“Are you alright?” Blue asked, voice coming from his helmet strangely. He sounded a bit panicked. Maybe Keith had gotten pretty close to the ground.
“Fine,” Keith said with a definitive nod. “Put me down and go after her,” said his one-track mind.
“What?” Blue asked, sounding thrown off. “But you've got that stuff in your eyes and on your hands! We've got to get it off; what if it's dangerous?”
“Not your problem,” Keith shook his head and he wondered where they were. There was an arm at his back and a familiar but new form beneath him. Were they on Blue’s lion? That would make the most sense. “A bunch of people got hit. I'm sure they've got an ambulance on the way.”
“Not my prob-” Blue protested only to cut himself off. Then, he cleared his throat. “Um, yeah. Yeah, I'll set you down then.”
Keith nodded but said nothing else as they, supposedly, descended. With help, he got off of the Blue Lion and someone else came forward to assist. Keith didn't trust whoever it was, as well-meaninged as they must have been. Keith wasn't good in the trust department.
Still, he was blind, so he let them take his hand.
But he paused for a second.
“Blue?” he called, then froze. “Erm, Paladin? Blue Paladin?” Damn was that a mouthful. Did civilians really use that all the time?
“Yeah?” Blue answered quickly and Keith sighed in relief. He hadn't left yet.
“She-” Keith started, then stopped. How was he supposed to say this? What was he trying to say even? “She lost someone. She's sad.”
Wow, perfect, Keith. He'd definitely get it now.
But, somehow, Blue did.
“I'm here to help,” he said and Keith could hear a smile in his voice, just the same way he could always hear that smirk or that scowl or that confidant smug grin behind his helmet when they fought. “That means I'm here to help everyone .”
Keith nodded. Blue told the person with him to take care of him and, like that, the paladin was gone. Keith couldn't even watch him go.
But he was left feeling a little better, a little worse. Because Blue was out there to help that woman. He was out there to help everyone who needed it.
Keith needed help, and for more than just the goo in his eyes. Blue would help Keith because Keith was just a civilian.
But, Red. Could he help Red, who grew farther away from Keith as time went on? If Blue was willing to help that woman, who had let her emotions rule her into doing horrible things, what about Red?
Red hadn't lost someone he loved, but he had lost a piece of himself. The part that made him whole, made him human.
Keith thought on this as he was led to paramedics, who worked to remove the goop from his face. Keith removed his gloves, which, with his eyesight back and the time to examine them, he found that most of the goop had conglomerated on the material instead of his skin. Now, with his hands released, he was free to go.
And he started walking back to his apartment, just as if none of this had ever happened. He examined his gloves and decided he would have to get the rest of the goop off once he'd gotten back.
Even out of the suit, Keith could feel Red creeping in. His spiking emotions, that aftershock that came with the fear of nearly dying, was now being smoothed over in apathy and resignation.
And, when he looked down at his uncovered hands, the clear skin and the sweaty palms, all he could see was red.