Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lance can't see. The stygian space around him is suffocating.

Lance can't hear.

Lance can't feel.

Lance can't breathe.

He's floating.

...

He's dead.

His eyes jolt open and he takes a long, shaky breath. His cold hand grasps the oversized t-shirt he slept in, and Lance takes a moment to assess what's around him. It's so, so hot, and he realizes his sleeping bag is strewn across the uncomfortable floor. Lance's royal blue eyes dart across the unfamiliar terrain. This isn't the Castle. For a moment, he forgets where he is; but he catches a glimpse of The Red Lion, cloaked in darkness far from him, and remembers.

After the draining battle with Lotor, the Castle of Lions was reduced to a small diamond shaped crystal that was almost the size of Pidge's palm. Small, but infinitely important. For a long while, that was his home, and he felt sad seeing it gone, with all the memories attached to it, but it had to be done. For their sake. The paladins set a course for Earth to order to meet with Sam Holt, Pidge's father, as well as the Garrison to retrieve the plans to hopefully rebuild the Castle. That, however, wasn't what excited Lance; it was to finally be able to feel the cool rain against his skin, the sand between his toes, and eat his mamá's signature foods. Just thinking of home sent an uncomfortable pang through his heart.

Of course, this journey took some time: they were billions of light years away, and even with the Lions impressionable speed, it would take a week or two to get there. Along the way, they would stop at small, uninhabited planets to stretch their legs and camp out for the night. Earlier that night they stopped here, on a plutonian planet lush with odd colored trees, which Coran found out was named Virididus by the neighboring alien tribes. They all decided to camp out of their lions tonight, luxuriating in the short moment of peace before they set out again.

He snapped out of his thinking and focused on the fact that he was shaking violently, ugly, gross sobs racking his body. His lithe fingers felt numb and he realized he was holding on to his shirt too tightly. He instead brings his knees up to his chest, cradling his head in his hands. They were sweaty and shaky and he tried to make it stop, but it was too much. Everything was too much.

Lance had been having horrible nightmares; glimpses of his time spent dead in the Red Lion after taking a hit for Allura. It was only natural for him to do so: she was family, after all. He hates the hollow, feather-like feeling that haunts him in his slumber. In his dreams, he was condemned to float in eternal space, and no matter what, he couldn't shake off that feeling. He began to become very jumpy after the incident. The team all assumed that it was just him being nervous about Lotor's plans, but it was his lack of sleep. The smallest, insignificant sound sent him jolting out his seat, wide-eyed. Hunk joked that he looked like a deer in headlights, and the boy couldn't help but agree.

Lance always had trouble falling asleep back when he was in school. He spent countless nights at the Garrison staring at the ceiling, worrying about his classes and grades, although, it never got as serious as this.

The Cuban boy refrained himself from opening up to the team, fearing he would make them lose their time. They were all so busy, with the Coalition, the trip back to Earth, the mess that's the Galra Empire... Lance figured he would wait until things died down to try casually mentioning his awful nightmares. Though, as he sat there, shaking and crying, he wondered if it wouldn't be a bad idea to mention it sooner. Maybe he could wake Hunk up. He would go for one of his bear hugs right now...

No. He told himself. They won't take you seriously. Nightmares? That's something a fucking 5 year old would complain about. Pull yourself together, McClain. He took a faltering breath, one that made his chest squeeze painfully. Show them that you can be strong.

He'd fear he would disappoint Shiro, his childhood-hero-turned-mentor, by being weak. Voltron doesn't need a weak paladin. If he showed any sign of weakness during battle, it could be game over for his adoptive family. He felt as though he was already behind; he wasn't proficient in hand to hand combat like Keith, nor was he good in tech like Pidge and Hunk, and he sure as hell wasn't good in Altean alchemy like Coran and Allura. He's just Lance McClain, and that, for him, fucking sucks. They were already burdened with his shit skills; why make it harder for them by adding on a dash of PTSD nightmares? He opted instead to bite back his tongue when his teammates asked about the dark circles under his eyes.

Exhaling his breath, he shimmied his way into his now cold sleeping bag and let his head fall back on his pillow. His legs were shaking and tingling; he could see them move erratically through his covers, but he paid no mind to them. He stared out at the stars and the miniature moon that orbited the planet. His eyes stung with a burning pain that made tears well up in his eyes. He wiped them off with his finger all the while silently telling himself to keep himself awake. His eyelids were heavier than he anticipated, and he caught himself dozing off multiple times. Every time he would tell himself that going to sleep isn't worth it, that dealing with the uncomfortable side effects of sleep deprivation would be so much better than having another nightmare.

And so, Lance McClain lay on the ground, eyes wide open, staring at the sky until the sun shone over the horizon.

Chapter Text

Hearing the exotic Virididian birds sing their melody in the morning made Lance think of home.

It made him think all those times he spent sitting in the soft sand near the shore, watching the sun rise above the water, the salty breeze ruffling his hair. He would stay there, immobile, for hours, listening to the waves lap at the sand. The occasional crab would dart in front of him; he always thought they looked kind of funny with pincers the size of it's own body. He befriended one, once, when he was seven. He brought it inside and it gave his dear abeula such a scare he didn't bother befriending one ever again. The thought of home, his family and Earth sent a sad smile across his face.

It seemed like an eternity until his teammates roused from their sleep and started wandering about. Lance, on the other hand, didn't dare move from his sickeningly hot cocoon. Sleep held his muscles in a vice grip and it's like if he forgot how to move altogether, and he believed challenging it would only lead to worse problems. He buried his face deeper into the sleek fabric of the sleeping bag, trying to think of ways to forget about the grogginess that ate away at his very being. The sounds around him were muffled and he could only hear the occasional shuffle of feet as the Voltron team walked around his sleeping bag. They believed he was still fast asleep and didn't want to abruptly pull him from his dreams, however unpleasant they might be. He waited, his warm breath bouncing off the insides of the sleeping bag until a hand gently grasped his shoulder through the fabric. He jumped, feeling his heart beat out of his chest, and peered out. He was met with a soft face etched with the slightest trace of concern, complete with a mass of black hair.

''Oh,'' Lance said, his voice rough and raw from not using it in the past few hours. ''You scared me, Keith.'' The boy was quick to apologize, pulling his hand away from his shoulder, leaving a phantom trace of his fingers.

''Sorry. I wanted to see if you were still asleep. We're leaving in maybe 15 dobashes.''

The Cuban boy cleared his throat and sat upright.''Right. Has Hunk made breakfast or something yet? I'm starving.''

''I think Pidge saved some for you. I'll go check.''.

A minute or so later, as Lance was rolling up his sleeping bag and getting ready to go change in his lion, Keith came back with a neatly wrapped package. ''It's some sort of... space breakfast burrito.'' He quickly explained. ''It's good. But you might want to hurry up getting changed. Allura really wants to leave as soon as possible.''

Lance sighed, tucking his items underneath his arm. ''You can't rush beauty, you know.''. He finished this off with a smirk, already heading towards Red and he heard the faintest huff of annoyance.

Getting dressed was a hassle, mostly because Lance has a bad habit of not keeping his belongings in order. His socks were strewn across the floor and his paladin armor leg pieces seemed to be missing. In the end, he came out of the Lion with a full set of clothes, just in time for Allura's team meeting, too.

''Everyone.'' She spoke up. ''We're going to have to pick who goes where for this trip. We'll simply do like before.'' Out of an old Altean knapsack tied at her waist, she pulled out a bundle of neatly trimmed sticks. ''Whoever picks the shortest one has no passengers. No peeking, please.''

Drawing straws was Shiro's idea. They were set off track last pit stop when a fight erupted about who goes where. Most of it was Pidge complaining about having Kaltenecker in the Lion with her.

''She'll chew my wires. Look, I love Kaltenecker as much as the next person, but I have a shit-ton of important equipment in there! That cow eats anything she sees!'' Pidge complained.

''Give her enough food and she'll be fine! You won't even hear her.'' Lance had replied.

''My Lion's smaller than yours. There's barely enough space for equipment. She's bound to go nuts in there.''

An annoyed grunt has escaped from Shiro. ''Alright, enough. How about we draw straws? That way, it's fair.''

''Ok, fine.''

Lance came out with the shortest straw, and let's just say he wasn't too happy about that. The fact that he had to be alone in his Lion with his thoughts scared him. He didn't even have Kaltenecker; they got moved to Hunk's lion. He had the comms, yes, but eventually, his teammates would grow tired of him speaking; they always did at some point. He bit back his words and swallowed hard. Whatever. Just deal with it.

''Alright,'' He said, putting his helmet on, determined to change the mood he was settling in. ''Let's get this show on the road!''

Very soon they bid goodbye to Virididus and set out on the course marked by Pidge, one that would bring them closer to home. The thought of finally seeing his family again after long years in infinite space made him gush with happiness. He set his Lion on autopilot, letting it drift peacefully through the empty space, and reclined in his seat. The others were talking; mostly Coran, Pidge, Hunk and Allura, though sometimes Krolia or Shiro would butt in to give an opinion. Romelle seemed preoccupied with something in the background; tinkering with some equipment, Lance theorized.

He stayed silent, admiring the wonderful view around him. To his left, he saw the distinct shape of a galaxy. It was astonishingly bright and colorful. For a moment, he thought it was the Milky Way, but before he could get too excited and swerve for it, Coran piped up.

''Oh! It's the Caeruleum cluster. It's multiple different small systems all grouped together. That's what gives it it's wide array of colors.'' Lance knew something was different about the cluster, he just couldn't pick up what. He sees it now: Caeruleum was a little short of a rainbow. It reminded him of arts and crafts back in kindergarten. Splotches of color dotted the group of systems, from blues to light pinks to deep greens.

''Wow.'' Was the only thing that he could muster as they passed by it.

''It looks like if someone threw up Crayolas.'' Pidge said, laughing.

''Way to go and ruin the mood, Pidge.'' He half-joked, and he wished that the lions weren't as fast so he could stare at the cluster for a while longer.

Two hours in and they were already bored out of their minds. Allura attempted to spark up a few rounds of ''human'' games like 20 Questions or I Spy but to no avail. They plunged yet again into an awkward, forced silence, none wanting to speak up. Lance felt this was partially his fault; he was the goofball, after all. He was known for his jokes that managed to cheer his teammates up no matter the situation. Now, he sat, arms on his knees, silent and morose. They had always depended on him to crack the jokes and they never bothered to learn a few. In order to clear up the crushing silence, Lance spoke up, his voice cracking slightly.

''Hey, guys, when you like, think about it, shovels really are a ground-breaking invention. Huh?'' It took them a moment to process what he had said, but they erupted in laughter soon enough.

''Oh my God,'' Keith muttered. ''That was the worse joke I've ever heard.'' He finished his sentence with a short, high pitched laugh.

Lance felt a slight blush warm up his cheeks. He didn't know why Keith's laugh made him blush in the first place. It was an odd but likeable feeling.

The following conversation flowed smoothly, the unpleasant silence having disappeared. Hunk sent a few pictures Coran took of Kaltenecker in the Lion, most of them her trying to force her way in the cockpit. Romelle sent her share of mice pictures through Allura's lion as well, the team melting into a chorus of ''aww!''. Krolia reminiscened about her time with the Blades, telling stories about the antics the younger members.

As they neared the next solar system – one belonging to the Pelliram galaxy, as Coran said – Lance began to feel uneasy. He ran a quick scan of the area he was in to see if there were any ships about, but it came back negative. Haven't seen any Galra ships in a while. Weird. He could only describe the feeling as being watched by some unseen force. The thought of them not being alone in this lonely stretch of the universe made the hair stand up on his nape.

''Sorry to go off topic, but don't you guys find it kinda weird that we haven't seen any Galra ships? Like, at all?''

''It is unusual, yes,'' Allura started. ''But I wouldn't worry too much about it. They can't patrol every square inch in the universe at the same time. The odds of them finding us here are quite low.''

''Yeah...'' Lance said, moderately reassured. ''Yeah. I'm not going to worry about it too much.'' His last statement was more to himself than Allura, trying to console himself.

He had grown silent of the conversation, though it still thrived in the background. He lowered the audio on his comms and grabbed the controls of Red, turning her around so he could look at what was behind him. His eyes flickered over the area in front of him. Nothing.

Though, as he turned around, he swore he saw a faint glint.

He did a double-take, turning around again but he was met with the same darkness that engulfed most of the universe. Huh. I must be more tired than I thought. He decided to pay no mind to what he saw. Lance blamed it on his lack of sleep and went back to following his friend's lions. He set the Lion on autopilot yet again and leaned back in his chair. His eyes were starting to sting. He rubbed them mindlessly, wiping away the few painful tears that spilled. He started to become a bit nauseous from his lack of sleep and closed his eyes, preventing him from looking outside the cockpit, where there was too much movement. He took a deep inhale, steadying himself, and exhale a shaky breath. He felt as though he was going to puke today's breakfast and hoped his body wouldn't act upon that. He waited for the wave of nausea to pass, all while listening to his friend's voices talking about anything and everything. Coran eventually told some stories about back when he was a kid in Altea. Granted, they weren't very interesting, but it was better than hearing him sing for 30 minutes straight.

''How far are we from Earth?'' Hunk questioned.

Pidge's reply was quick. ''Gimme a second.'' Lance imagined her pulling up their coordinates and matching them up with Earth's. Of course, this was exactly what she was doing. ''Ok. We're approximately-'' She was cut off short by Hunk's muffled scream, followed by Allura. Startled, Lance pried his eyes open and looked around. A blast of purple engulfed his vision for a brief second. A weak rumble shook the Lion and Red's statistics came up screen. He glared at them for a short while, no damage, thankfully, and turned his attention on Hunk.

What happened became apparent as the Yellow lion's body floated limply across the space in front of him.

Chapter Text

''Shit, shit!'' Lance hissed under his breath, grabbing the Lion's controls until his knuckles turned ghostly white. His head spun and he felt bile rise up at the back of his throat. He suppressed it, shaking his head as to clear his mind. He swerved violently right as a purple beam grazed his lion’s flank. ‘’Hunk! Do you hear me? Please-’’ His voice faltered. ''Answer me.''

Everyone was silent as the comms crackled. Hunk’s voice shined through.

‘’I’m good, we're all good!’’ There was a collective sigh of reassurance. ‘’Yellow isn’t, though. She’s completely down. Whatever beam they sent-’’ The space in front of Lance illuminated in a purple hue. ‘’It shuts down the Lion’s entire system. Try to dodge them. I’ll try to get her back online.’’

'’I’ll try to see what sort of technology they’re using.’’ Pidge said, and Lance could hear the little chirp of three different screens popping up in front of her. ‘’Allura, could you watch me?’’

‘’Of course.’’ She said, falling back to guard the stationary Green Lion.

The Black and Red Lions advanced closer to the ships. Lance did a quick survey of the area. A decently sized planet with forest-y looking land was not to far from the battle scene. A good area to retreat if they need to lose them. It looked livable. Hopefully it was. Three galra ships; one mother-ship, two medium sized fighter ships equipped with small beams. He saw Keith advance towards the mother-ship.

‘’Keith!’’ He called through the comms. The lion slowed down a bit. ‘’Let’s get the fighters out of the way first so we can focus on the bigger ship.’’

‘’Good idea. Let’s get ‘em.’’

A sense of pride rose up in him and he gloated to himself. He slammed sideways into an upcoming fighter ship, sending it spiraling farther away from the Lions. He fired a small beam towards the ship Keith was fighting. One of its wings tore off in a fiery blast and it fell under them. Meanwhile, the other fighter jet made its way towards the both of them, hitting Red in the side and knocking Lance into Keith.

‘’Lance,’’ Hunk called, his voice strained as he tried to rewire the Lion’s system. ‘’They’re sending more jets. Out of the mother-ship. Oh m-’’ Lance didn’t hear the rest since Keith yelped on the comms loudly. Three additional ships were circling them. He sent a sweeping beam; it only landed on two. He was getting overwhelmed. The Galran jets sent more and more beams. They kept on peppering the Lion’s surface. His screens turned red as multiple error messages popped up. Left back leg, right flank, left shoulder damaged. He started breathing heavily. He couldn’t even send a beam out; they’d shoot him in the muzzle, stopping the beam from firing. He couldn’t do anything. He felt so useless.

‘’Allura! Pidge!’’ Keith said, his Lion shaking. ‘’A little help?’’

‘’We can’t!’’ Allura answered, her voice strained. ‘’They got us, too! They sent out five jets. I don’t-’’ Something rumbled near Allura’s lion. ‘’I don’t know where the mother-ship is. Watch out for it.’’

The tired boy swerved around backwards, looking for the faintest gleam of the mother-ship. Nothing. ‘’I think-’’ Lance heaved. ‘’I think it has an invisibility cloak or, or something. It straight up disappeared.’’

Lance’s chest crumbled on itself. He was overheating, sweating profusely from his forehead. His hands were clammy; he lost his grip as swerved the jet’s multiple beams. He felt out of breath and struggled to get a few good breaths in. He recognized this as a panic attack, something familiar to Lance. He'd have the occasional one every once in a while at the Garrison. His mother always said he was a naturally anxious person.

‘’I’ll scan the area again.’’ Pidge said. ‘’Lance, you ok? Did you get hurt?’’

His heart faltered. ‘’I’m… I’m fine, really, just tired from the battle. Fine.’’

He could tell, even without Pidge replying, that she wasn’t convinced.

He started firing off random beams, only a few actually hitting. It was a miracle he could even fire some without getting intercepted.

‘’Lance.’’ Keith’s voice was clear, without worry. How does he do it? Is he secretly scared shitless? Lance would probably never know. ‘’Take the two to your right. Don’t fire your beams, they suck your power. Body slam them or something. I’ll take the rest.’’

‘’A-alright.’’

He swerved violently, yet again, to his left, hitting one square in the middle and hooking the other one’s wing. The wing bent unnaturally, metal and unknown alloy splitting and breaking. The ship he slammed did some sort of half flip, before coming back to him full speed.

‘’I can’t-’’ Pidge said. ‘’I can’t get rid of them. There’s just more and more coming in and I don’t even know where they’re coming from!’’

‘’The mother-ship!’’ Keith said, impatient. ‘’Did you find it?’’

‘’No!’’ Lance’s heart dropped. ‘’Sonar scans, thermal scans, nothing’s fucking showing up, and now I have five of these bastards after me!’’

‘’Keith!’’ Allura called. ‘’What do we do?’’

Keith hummed to himself, trying to think of something. ‘’We can’t beat them, not without Yellow. We’d need to form Voltron. Hunk, any luck?’’

‘’No.’’ Coran answered instead of Hunk this time. ‘’He’s in the back with Krolia. I’m trying to reconfigure the main board. Nothing’s working. It’s unlike something I’ve ever seen.’’

‘’Damn.’’ Keith whispered hoarsely. ‘’Guys, I think we might have to make a run for it.’’

‘’How?’’ Pidge asked. ‘’There’s at least six after Allura and I, and I imagine the same for you two. That, and Hunk’s offline.’’

‘’Pidge, Allura, hook him up to either of your Lions. Just scatter on the count of three. Towards the planet. Maybe we can lose them in the dense forest there.’’

Hey, that was my idea! Lance thought quickly.

‘’Alright.’’ He answered, still feeling out of breath and weak.

''Sounds like a plan.'' Shiro said.

‘’One,’’ Lance dodged another beam, not bothering fighting back. ‘’Two…’’ In the background, Allura chirped something about how she successfully hooked up the Yellow lion to hers. They were ready. ‘’Three!’’

With all the force he could muster, he pushed on the controls and sped forwards towards the planet. Keith followed behind him, shooting one final stray beam. The blue lion zigzagged between the jets, Yellow in tow behind her. Green stuck in the middle. They were getting closer and closer towards the planet. He felt a slight tug forwards, what Lance realized after that it was just the atmosphere pulling them towards the planet. He pressed harder on the controls even though it probably wouldn’t do anything. They were about to start slowing down as to not crash right into the planet when a large Byzantium purple blast shook Lance to his core. He felt the rumble shake his ribs and he swore his heart dropped to his knees. Everyone let out loud, pained screams and Lance watched as all of his friends Lion’s powered off. The mother-ship, hidden underneath it’s invisibility cloak, towered over them. It had succeeded. The five lions made their descend towards the planet at breakneck speed. Lance tried to open up his Lion, as he’s always done, but to no avail. Nothing was working.

''Please.'' He muttered. ''Come on, Red.''

'’What happened?” Lance could hear Krolia in the background of Yellow’s Lion.

‘’We got hit,’’ Lance’s breathing was getting more irregular. ‘’The mother-ship. It’s behind us. We’re all gone. Shit. Oh my God. We’re-’’

He was panting at this point. The red alert message made his eyes water with how bright it was. The alarm was deafening and he thought his ears might start bleeding if he listened to it for a second more.

Pidge was the first to hit the exosphere. She was mid- sentence when her comms briefly disconnected. Then, it was Allura. Romelle was screaming bloody murder in the background, followed by Allura. They both desperately tried to revive the lion but nothing was moving. The cable holding Yellow snapped with a metallic noise.

‘’Oh, no, shit, the cabl-’’ Hunk cut off. He entered the exosphere.

He watched with teary eyes as his friends all plummeted to different locations. Pidge landed in a dense patch of forest; a small cloud of dust could be seen from the surface. Allura’s lion spiraled in a nose-dive towards some sort of lake. Hunk’s lion skidded across some plains, leaving a long streak. Lance and Keith were the last ones to fall. In the corner of his eye, he saw the Galran ships make their retreat.

They’re not even coming after us.

The lion’s muzzle started to heat up as he got closer and closer to the exosphere. He scrambled to his controls, desperately trying to make a last resort move. Suddenly, Keith popped up on his screen. A video feed.

His eyes were red and puffy. He sniffled once. Lance came to the quick conclusion that he had been crying. It was a slap to the face to see Keith like this, let alone the fact that Keith allowed Lance to see him like this. He used his gloved hand to wipe away a few tears threatening to spill again. Something inside him wanted desperately to climb into the Black Lion's cockpit and wipe his tears away for him, to tell him everything would be ok.

‘’Keith.’’ Lance said, his voice hoarse. The alarms beeped louder. There were more alerts popping up. Overheating in the head area, damaged tail, the whole one-two punch. ‘’Keith.’’ He clung on to the presence of his close friend.

‘’Lance, I love you.’’ His whole world slowed down. Time was altered in a way he couldn’t describe. A light feeling swirled in his chest, almost like a thousand little butterflies. Three words he’s yearned to hear for years. He wished they weren’t in this circumstance, but despite the situation, Lance wouldn’t give this moment up for the world. He cherished this sweet moment in what would be his last waking minute.

‘’I love you too.’’

And all was black.

Chapter Text

Lance awoke to the smell of smoke, the searing, bubbling pain in his side and a killer fucking headache.
His first breath of air was choked, and he instinctively brought his hands up to his throat. He coughed deeply, making his chest tingle with pain. He said there on the metallic floor, steadying himself. It didn’t take long for him to remember what happened. It’s not something you forget easily. Slap that on the list of trauma he’s endured. Carefully, he sat up, his head spinning slightly. Alright, no getting up then. A cold current blasted behind him. The boy turned around behind him, where he noticed a huge tear in the Red Lion’s flank.
He dragged himself to the rip. The sturdy, thick metal tore apart like paper, shredded to pieces. Below him lied a deep gorge, black as space itself. Around the lion’s limbs were thick, forest green vines with beautiful golden flowers blooming around it. Through the rip, he could see the Lion’s jaw held open by a thick amalgamation of the plant. The Lion swayed slightly in the soft breeze. One quick move and he plummets to his death. His heart dropped in his chest and he looked away before the vertigo really got to him. His palms became slick with sweat and he dragged himself away from the ledge before he lost his grip and fell. He propped himself up with one arm on a spare crate, smashed open on one side. He ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the knots and dried up blood. Biting his lip, he swore quietly.
‘’How the fuck am I going to get out of this one?’’
His helmet, tossed aside in the crash, looked relatively okay. He picked it up and placed it with a bit of pain on his head. It flickered open and that’s when Lance noticed one large crack snaking its way through the glass. He tried communicating with the rest of the group.
‘’Hello? Anyone there? Keith? Hunk?’’ He waited a second. Static. ‘’Pidge?’’
Nothing. Radio silence.
He contemplated the silence for a while, hands in his hair yet again. Would he die here, alone, in a broken ship? He can’t get up, he can’t go down. He’s stuck. He could try to climb the vines, but he wasn’t quite sure where they’d lead him. That, and he’s got some injuries he should take care of.
He deserted his chest and arm pieces. He threw them off into the mess at the back of the Lion. The boy hitched his shirt up, exposing the bruised and cut skin around his left ribs. He prodded it a bit, hissing quietly when he accidentally brushed against the open wound. It wasn’t fatal, he determined by a hasty self-evaluation, but it still needed to be cared for unless he wanted a nasty infection. And in this neck of the woods, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get the things he needed to heal it. He slid off the crate and towards a half empty water bottle. With his teeth, he ripped off part of the under-suit at his ankles and wet it. The cold bite of the rag was enough to make him audibly yelp. It stung, at first, but he grew used to it quickly. He wiped off the dried blood, revealing a less than pretty gash the size of his bicep embedded in his ribs. It throbbed with pain and he looked away. He cleaned up his cheek, where the blood from a small wound in his head was smeared around like some sort of modern art piece.
He drank the rest of the water in greedy gulps. Once he was done, he crushed the bottle between his hands, just to feel something other than pain. The three suns of the planet shone through a tear in the ceiling. He moved towards it, basking in the soft, yellow rays.
‘’Lance? Lance!’’ The call was distant but he heard it nonetheless. <em>Don’t tell me I’m going crazy</em>.
‘’Lance?’’ The call came closer and closer. He tilted his head up towards the sound.
‘’Keith?’’ His voice was scratchy, raspy, unused and somewhat dehydrated.
‘’Oh my God, Lance. Lance, where are you?’’
‘’Keith? Shit, Keith, holy shit, I’m down here. Are you ok?’’
Some footsteps shuffled towards the ledge of the ravine.
‘’I’m ok, I swear. Are you ok, though? Are you hurt?’’
‘’I’m not too peachy right now, dude… I…’’ He trailed off.
‘’Where are you? Wait, are you in the Lion?’’
‘’Yeah, I’m down here. I can’t get out. I’m hurt.’’
A few rocks tumbled down the ravine. He watched them fall from his spot in his ship, and waited for the sound of the rocks hitting the bottom. But it never came.
‘’Are you alright? Ok, wait one second, I’ll be right back, ok? Don’t move.’’
Lance heard Keith sprint off into the distance. The Lion was eerily quiet again. Keith came back in what Lance assumed was 5 minutes tops. The Cuban boy shuffled to the rip in the flank. He looked up, and he could see Keith’s silhouette.
‘’Alright, Lance, I’m going to throw a rope down, ok? I want you to tie it around your waist. And hold on. I’ll try to pull you up.’’
‘’Listen, I know you’re all strong and mighty but I still weigh a fuck-ton.’’
‘’I don’t care. I’m going to get you out of there. Try to scale up the wall at the same time.’’
The rope landed squarely next to Lance. With fumbling hands, he tied a slip-knot and tightened it on his waist. With moderate difficulty, he stood up, only swaying slightly.
He looked down at the abyss below him. ‘’Keith, I’m scared.’’
‘’I know. I am too. But the rope attached to this huge boulder. Is your knot tight? You should be fine.’’
Lance took that as a sign to quadruple-tie his knot. ‘’What should I do?’’
‘’Ok, uh, this might sound really crazy but I want you to just let yourself fall. The ropes going to run out and I’ll pull you up from there.’’
‘’Holy shit, are you… are you serious?’’
‘’I don’t know how else we can go through with this. Is there a ledge you can hold on to?’’
Lance scanned the stone wall, desperately praying he’d find a little overhang so he wouldn’t have to fling himself into the deep dark unknown. None.
‘’N-no.’’
Keith audibly sighed from up ahead. ‘’Alright. You’ll… you’ll have to jump. Please. Just trust me on this one.’’
‘’Ok, ok, I’m good.’’
‘’You’re good.’’
Lance sat down, letting his feet dangle in the emptiness. He wrung his hands together.
‘’Whenever you’re ready.’’
Inhale. Keep it in. Exhale.
‘’Alright.’’ The brown-haired boy said. ‘’Alright. One… Two… Three!’’
He let himself slide off the lion. The wind whipped his face and he let out the shrillest screech he’s ever heard. Even with closed eyes, he managed to find the rope and held on to it like a koala to a tree. After what seemed like hours of falling, he finally stopped. His heart started beating so fast he could feel it in his whole body, all the way to his toes and fingers. First, he looked down. It was pitch-black and he was momentarily disoriented. He craned his neck up, slowly but surely, squinting at the light.
‘’Lance? You ok?’’ Keith was practically screaming. He has to be far down.
‘’I’m good!’’ He yelled back.
There was a soft tug at the rope and he noticed himself get hoisted up. He grabbed the rope with his two hands and started scaling the wall vertically. It took a lot of work, especially in his arms, but he didn’t want to make Keith do all the work. He tripped a few times scaling up, dangerously dangling in the dark. But every single time, Keith had his back. By the time he reached the top, he broke out in a cold sweat and a thin veil of it has appeared on every square inch of his body. With the last of the power left in his arms, he pulled himself over the ledge and flopped on the sandy earth. Keith did the same, falling next to him, and Lance rested for a while, listening to him breathe heavily. Finally, the black-haired boy turned around, facing him for a brief moment before sitting up. Lance followed suit.
‘’Keith-’’ He squeaked out his words. He started shaking, on the verge of tears, shaken up. He couldn’t continue his sentence. Keith darted towards him, wrapping him in the tightest hug. His fingers squeezed at his shoulders and he buried his face deep in the crook of his neck. Carefully, Lance slid his hands towards him to hug him back.
‘’It’s my fault.’’ He says when they break the hug.
‘’What?’’
‘’It’s my fault.’’ He repeats. ‘’If I would of just… paid attention to my surroundings we wouldn’t be here. I saw the fucking ship, Keith, but I didn’t know it was the ship. If… If that makes sense.’’
Keith looked at him blankly, trying to decode what he was trying to say.
‘’I’m sorry.’’ A tear threatened to spill, and he wiped it away before he could notice.
‘’You don’t need to apologize.’’ He murmured. ‘’It’s not your fault the Galra came.’’
‘’But it’s my fault we’re here.’’
‘’No, it’s not. Nothing is your fault, ok?’’ Keith was being uncharacteristically soft.
He nodded. The Black Paladin’s gaze shifted to the wet, reddish spot on his ribs.
‘’Are you hurt?’’
‘’Yeah. Nothing big though.’’
‘’Oh, right, ‘nothing big’ my ass. It looks like you have an open wound.’’
With a grunt, Keith got up and dusted himself off. ‘’Can you walk?’’
‘’Yeah.’’ Lance took his friend’s outstretched hand and got up as well. His knees cracked softly and briefly wondered if Keith heard it.
‘’My Lion crashed a good ten minute walk from here. The cargo’s pretty intact. I think I should be able to find something for you.’’
Too tired to answer, Lance nodded. Keith playfully grabbed Lance’s shoulder. ‘’Save your breath. We have a lot to talk about.’’

Chapter Text

The walk there was horrible. It was awkward. Lance wanted to talk. He wanted to apologize, to ramble, to cry, to scream, to throw a fit, to yell at the world and the fact he was still alive, but he couldn’t bring himself to. He just gripped the wet cloth at his ribs.
Keith kept on looking back to make sure he was following him. He was slightly banged up too; a superficial cut on his cheek bled earlier, though it had dried out. The vague outline of a bruise appeared near his temple. Apart from that, he just looked tired.
He had to stop often to catch his breath back. The wound send a numb, pulsing pain throughout his entire body. He bit the inside of his cheek until it was raw.
Soon, through the jungle like foliage, he could see the wreck of Keith’s lion. It fell in a clearing, the body of the machine resembling a sleeping cat, nestled between two trees. It’s flank was torn open from the bottom, although the metal was still there, thankfully. It didn’t look that hard to fix.
“Come here.” Keith said, motioning to the inside of the lion. “I have first aid.”
Tired, Lance followed. He sat down on a spare crate and peeled his shirt off his ribs so they could fix it.
“Do you… Do you want to do it yourself?” The Black Paladin murmured sheepishly.
“Yeah.” He said, grabbing the kit out of his hands.
He disinfected the wound. It stung, and tears welled up in his eyes, but he forced them back down. With a clean towel, he wiped the blood and cleaner off, then applying bandages. They didn’t have band-aids, so he had to wrap an entire roll of bandages across his stomach.
“There.” He said. “There’s an extra roll, if you need it.”
“No, I’m fine. Just the head, but nothings bleeding.”
“Good.”

They fell back into an awkward silence, Lance bouncing his leg anxiously and Keith folding and refolding his hands in his lap. Finally, Lance spoke up again.
“What are we going to do?”
Keith took a while to answer. He sighed, rubbing his face with his hands, tousling his hair around.
“I really don’t know. My headset, it’s barely functioning. And I don’t think yours works either. I don’t want to venture too far. I don’t have Kosmo with me. Especially if you’re injured, too.”
Lance felt bad. All of it - truly, all of it - was his fault. If he would of been a good pilot, a good team player, a bit more careful, a bit more attentive - they wouldn’t of gone through this.
He felt like crying. A choked sob escaped his lips, though he quickly forced it down.
“What's wrong?” Keith said.
That’s what opened the floodgates. Lance cried into his hands for what felt like an eternity. His warm tears were a shocking contrast against his icy cold hands. He was shaking, he was nauseous, he was a mess. Never before had he felt this bad.
“Lance, what’s wrong? W-“
“All of this -“ He sobbed. “All of this, its my fault, Keith. All my fucking fault. If I wouldn’t of been so stupid-“
“What the hell are you talking about? Lance, you didn’t bring in those Galra ships-“
“No, but I could of stopped it. I could of stopped it. Everyone else, they might be dead right now. We might be the only two left. I can’t live not knowing. I… I just… What the fuck…”
Slowly, he stopped crying and rested his head on his hands, looking out into the treeline, tears still brimming his eyes.
Keith sighed, doing the same. “I don’t know what to say, Lance.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be.”

Tonight’s going to be very long, Lance thought.

Later that night, when the twin suns started to set, Keith had started a fire not far from the lion’s entrance. He didn’t want to start it inside, for fear of burning down his supplies, but the warmth still swayed in. They sat around it, staring at it; sometimes, when conversation would fall short, Lance would occupy himself by burning sticks he’d find.
“I was thinking we could go back to Red tomorrow and see if we can go back and get whatever supplies are left.” Keith piped up, throwing another small bundle in the fire. “If you’re feeling better, of course.”
“We can see tomorrow.” He replied.
Keith abruptly got up, heading back inside, towards the cockpit. The boy shot a confused glance at him, watching him go inside then come back out. He sat back down with his helmet in hands. A long, silvery crack snaked its way across the glass. On the back of the head, there was a huge dent the size of a small rock. It was broken, of course, but could probably still work.
“I’ll try to contact the others before the sun sets.” Keith said, booting the software back up again.
The Cuban boy heard the crackle of the comms come from inside the helmet. Keith spoke into the void for what felt like an eternity.
That’s when everything truly hit again. There was a possibility they really were alone here, that everyone died in the crash. He couldn’t imagine a way back home. Maybe they’d never come back home.
He felt like crying again, but Keith sliding the helmet back inside the cockpit brought him out of it.
“Nothing?” He asked.
“Nothing.” Keith confirmed. “Shit.”
The horizon went from blue to black in a matter of minutes. Soon, they couldn’t even see the trees surrounding them; only pitch darkness, the fire being their only source of light.
It freaked him out. It reminded him of his nightmares. The darkness, the silence, the suffocating feeling; it all came back to him in one wave. He felt like he hit a brick wall.
He started panicking again. His hands shook and became clammy. They barely supported his weight as he got up and went back into the Lion. In there he made his way to the sleeping area in the back, where he found one handheld lamp. It would have to do.
The room was a mess, it’s contents were strewn about, the bedframe broken. At least the huge mattress was still intact.
He opened it and held it between his legs and stared at the light it emitted. Eventually, his eyes started to water. He closed them and he saw the strong outline of the lamp burned into his eyelids.
Keith came in the lion next to him. “What’s up?”
“Don’t like the darkness outside.”
“Me neither.”
There was another moment of silence. They would have to learn how to talk to each other if they were to cohabit like this.
“How about we hit the hay?” Lance suggested. “I don’t want to be awake much longer.”
It was such a lie. He didn’t want to go to sleep, not for a million years. The truth is, he just wanted Keith next to him, he just wanted the comforting feeling of another human being next to him, to hear someone else breathe and know he wasn’t alone. He didn’t want what he felt in his dreams to mirror his real life.
“Sure.” He answered. “There’s a blanket in a crate someone. I’ll go see.”
He watched as the black haired paladin rummaged around for something warm. He brought back two bundles.
“I have a sleeping bag and a huge blanket. Which one do you want?”
“I don’t know. Either one.”
“I don’t know either. Pick.”
“Fine. Blanket.”
He unrolled the blanket and made himself comfortable on one side of the mattress. He was fortunate to find himself what remained of a pillow.
Keith made himself comfortable on the opposite side of the room, on the floor. Lance sat back up and watched him, puzzled.
“Aren’t you going to be cold? And uncomfortable? Just come here.”
“No, its fine, really-“
“No, come here. There’s enough space for both of us.”
Deafeated, Keith made his way on the mattress, where he bundled up and closed his eyes.
“Night.”
Lance watched the ceiling. He didn’t want to watch him; it was weird.
His mind raced too fast for him to even process. The events of the day unfolded in his find at an alarming rate. He found most of them just blurred into each other.
“Can you close the lamp?” Keith asked.
He felt scared again. Now that Keith has set out the fire outside, it would be pitch black.
“Can we keep it on? It's too dark.”
“Fine.” He groaned, turning around so his back would face the light.
“Sorry.” Yet again, he felt incredibly bad. Keith had a lot of patience with him lately.
“No, it's alright. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
He could hear him slowly fall into slumber next to him. He couldn’t follow suit. His eyes watered and burned, but he refused to fall asleep. He was too scared.
He turned around to face Keith. He noticed his hands were shaking.
The air had a sharp bite to it. The sleeping bag didn’t do much to shield him from it, however, Lance’s space wool blanket did. It was horribly hot underneath.
He draped the blanket over Keith’s sleeping back, watching him slowly go back to his normal temperature.
Lance turned back towards the ceiling and sighed. That night was effectively very long.

Chapter Text

Surprisingly for him, he slept a few hours. He dreamt of the cold, the pitch blackness, almost like a baby back in the womb. It wasn’t familiar, but it wasn’t comfortable, either. It was as if he was floating in the space above him.

He found himself covered by all the blankets. For a split second, he imagined himself back in his Lion; the beast on autopilot, the stars sparkling around him, not a worry in the world. However, the sounds of some birds singing in the distance, a cool breeze flowing in and the still-present smell of burnt metal and rubber brought him back to his situation.
He sat up slowly and the bandages beneath his shirt crunched and moved around. He brought a cold hand to his sides, which, a few seconds later, he reeled back due to the freezing touch. He lifted his shirt to get a better view and saw that some blood bled through the fabric. He sighed, rubbing his eyes and looking at his surroundings.
The empty space next to him was bizarre. Keith was gone.
He got scared, at first. Was it all a dream? Was he really the only one left alive? He decided to peer out the beast to see where he was.
His legs shook and he felt as though he could puke. He chalked it up to not eating in a while, though it could’ve of been anything else, at this point.
Outside the lion, it was eerily quiet. The birds had stopped signing, and everything felt suspended in mid-air. Fear coiled itself deep into his bones, planting a tight iron grip and not letting go. He had to fight the feeling of running away; there was nowhere to run to.
He sat down where he was still hidden by the lion but could still assess the clearing. He watched one spot, almost catlike, the one where Keith and him had walked through only the day before. He expected him to walk through any moment now, but he never did.

As time passed on Lance got increasingly nervous. He bit his nails until they bled, and then had to bandage one up. While he was there, he changed the bandages on his ribs, too. They healed, but only slightly. Underneath the wound was a deep purplish bruise, and he hissed through clenched teeth trying to clean it. It was gross. How he wished he had a healing pod right now.
He then started picking at his skin. The various scratches he got during his fall yesterday were reopened and stung like hell. He had to stop himself before he got an infection.

He must of waited about an hour or so before he heard some branches crackling at the edge of the treeline. His first instinct was to retreat back in the room in the back, and hide as if no one was there; however, before he could even get up, he saw Keith’s familiar black hair peek through the trees.
He felt at ease. His muscles relaxed almost instantly, and, having been tense for more than an hour, it felt like heaven.
“Keith.” He called out, though it had a bite to it that didn’t mean to come out. “I’ve been worried sick. Where were you?”
Keith appeared fully in the clearing, holding a bag on his back that seemed to be filled with various things. He noticed that he also put his hair up in a ponytail. It was… well, cute. He blushed at the thought, but shook it away before he could notice.
“Oh. You’re awake.” He simply said, climbing up to where Lance was sitting and setting his bag down. He rubbed at his chin. “Morning.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Oh, sorry. I went back to your Lion,” He pulled out another med kit out of the knapsack.
“Why didn’t you take me with you? I could of helped.”
“You were sleeping pretty soundly. I figured the extra sleep wouldn’t do any harm.”
He stopped and analyzed his answer for a second. Keith was being uncharacteristically soft lately. He wondered if it was just pity for his crying earlier.
“Oh. Thank you.”
He set it down with a loud thump, then swore. “What’s in the bag? Other than the med kit, of course.”
“Got what I could salvage. I got your extra clothes, some leftover food, whatever could help us. Oh, also,” In the bottom of it was his jacket. It was torn at the back and one of the sleeves was hanging on by a thread. There was some discolouration at the bottom of it, and he could barely recognize it until Keith told him what it was.
Keith placed it in Lances hands. “I’m sorry about your, uh, jacket. I can try to fix it, if you want. I don’t know if it’ll be that good, though.”
Lance felt tears prick at his eyes, about to spill. Keith noticed.
“What’s wrong? I’m sorry about your jacket, when we get back, I’ll buy you another one, al-“
“No, it’s not that. It's just… Thank you for getting it for me. It means a lot.”
The Black Paladin looked confused. With eyebrows raised, he answered. “You’re… welcome? I didn’t know you loved this jacket so much.”
“It’s the sentiment, Keith.” He said, voice laced with a small laugh.
“Oh.”

He was clueless. He knew Keith never had much conversation skills, but he was talking as if he wasn’t had a normal healthy conversation in years. Did he make him nervous? He hoped not; he considered Keith as one of his closest friends, and of course, he had to live with him for God knows how long know that they’re stuck here.

Before he could ask anything, Keith piped up again. “Alright, the pièce de résistance - that’s how you say it, right?” An affirmative nod put him on the right track. There was a round mass at the bottom of the bag. He tapped on it lightly; it was hard. Keith slowly pulled it out as to not break it.
“Your helmet.”
“But it’s busted.”
“I know.” He sighed, removing the broken glass from the visor at the front. “It’s a miracle that you didn’t get more than a few cuts on your face.”
“It’s useless, though.”
“Not really. I thought we could salvage some parts, mostly the ones that make the comms work. The insides seem to be alright. If we switch them out for yours my helmet just might reach the others, or at least another civilization.”
He hummed in agreement. “That’s actually… pretty smart, Keith. I’m impressed.”
“Thanks.” He said, already busied by something else. “I think I saw Hunk do this once, for fun. I thought it was dumb, but it might just work.”
“Are you sure it’s completely dead?”
“Yeah.” He said, heading over to a storage trunk in the back and pulling something out. “Tried it at the Lion. Nothing. I can’t get it to open.”
“I hope it works.” Lance said. “I’m really scared for the others.”
Keith immediately looked up from where he was working. He set the screwdriver he was using, one which he pulled from a rusty kit in one of the trunks in the Lion.
“Oh, don’t be, Lance. They’re strong people, too. I’m sure they’re fine. They’re probably worried about you; your fall was pretty nasty.”
“Yeah.” He breathed out, barely a whisper escaping his lips. “Yeah.”
He hoped and he prayed he didn’t let them down, especially in their final moments: their death, caused by his negligence, his stupidity. It would be his ultimate regret.
The thought of it made his stomach drop. They put their trust in him, and he had let them down. He failed them.
“Come.” Keith said, gesturing towards him with the rusty screwdriver. “Come help me with this. It’ll ease your mind off it.”
He was incredibly thankful Keith was there to distract him. That’s exactly what he needed right now to keep him from going insane. It's almost as if he read his mind.
He stopped for a second. Was he? Did he hear that he called him cute earlier?
Lance figured he didn’t care if he found out.

After an hour or so of blood, sweat and tears, - well, mostly sweat: it was high noon, and the two suns shone right into them, like a pair of eyes in the sky - they finally managed to transplant the parts from Lance’s helmet into Keith’s. Keith’s ponytail fell out halfway through. He quickly got tired of the hair tickling his nose and had to tie it back up again, and which just made Lance blush an even redder hue.
It was a hassle figuring out which part was which, and what went where. There were hundreds of microscopic pieces that needed to be intact during all this, and Lance nearly went blind looking at them for so long.
“Alright.” His friend said, screwing back the protective panel on his helmet and putting it on. “Time to see if this works.”
The helmet booted back on. It took a while for Keith to see anything, but the screen went from black to an array of colours.
“Good, at least it can turn on. I hope we put the pieces in right.”
“Don’t jinx it.” Keith laughed.
It was a nice laugh, he noticed. There was something about it that made him relax, like the sound of waves hitting the beach, or silk on smooth skin. All his worries momentarily disappeared; that is, until he heard the crackle of the comms turn back on again.
“If this works properly we should have more range.” Keith said, fiddling with the controls.
He heard the familiar crackle yet again, then silence, then the crackle.
“Is it working?”
“Should be.”
He sent out a simple hello as a test, making sure the sound was picking up at least on his own device. It was.
“Hello?” He spoke in the comms. “This is Keith, pilot of the Black Lion of Voltron...”
“I think they know who you are.” Lance giggled.
“No, it’s incase it’s picked up by another alien civilization… Of course they know who I am. I hope they do.”
“No, never heard of this pilot of the Black Lion fellow.”
“Oh, shush it.” He laughed. “Hello. This is Keith, pilot of the Black Lion of Voltron, as well as Lance, pilot of the Red Lion. We’re stranded. Is anyone there?”
The silence was the scariest part. He didn’t know what he feared the most: the silence, knowing no one was there, or the answer, not knowing who was there. He anxiously nibbled on his knuckles.
There was a crackle. Keith’s eyes lit up, but it was nothing.
“I’m going to shut it off.” He said, defeated. Keith looked crushed. “I don’t know if this thing takes batteries or not.”
He was about to take it off when he heard the faintest sound on the other side. He put his hand over Keith’s head to make sure he didn’t take the helmet off.
“Hey - what’s the deal?”
“Listen.” He shushed him. “Listen. Real closely.”
They both shut up for a second, the only wound the sound of the trees blowing in the wind.
“There’s nothing, Lance.”
“Yes. Put the sound up.”
He did, as high as he could. The white noise coming from the helmet was unbearable at this point, but it was worth it if they could communicate with at least someone.

Lance was right; very faintly, almost as if being whispered, he heard his and Keith’s name being called.

Chapter Text

He couldn’t believe it. His heart skipped a beat, then plummeted when he couldn’t get the voice to talk again. Had they lost them already?
The look on Keith’s face mirrored his. He was relieved. Someone had survived, and that was enough to relieve some of the weight on his shoulders.
“Hello?” Keith spoke in the mic. “Who is this? Hello?”
He had gotten used to the crackling by now, but he noticed it was a bit louder than usual.
“K…Ke...Keit-“
“Yes!” He yelled in, desperate for at least some sign of help. “This is Keith. Who’s this?”
“H-“
“What?” Lance said. He swore he could hear the starting of a name, although the crackling and the interference was too much to handle.
“I don’t think it’s us,” Keith said softly, turning around to face Lance, who was looming over his shoulder. “They can hear us but we can’t hear them.”
This was hopeless, he thought. It was like trying to send a text in the middle of the desert; no chance of it getting delivered anywhere.
“Whoever this is, clear up the comms, man.” He said, leaning it so they can hear him better.
There was one loud, deafening beep; siren-like, like the ones in the drills back at the Garrison, loud and persistent and always the same tone.
As soon as it came it was gone, except this time, there wasn’t any more interference on the other end.
“Hello? Are you still there?” Keith must of thought the same thing; did they disconnect?
His heart raced yet again. They had come so close, tasted the bitter yet sweet taste of another person's company, only to lose it a few seconds later, and for what?
“Y… Yeah, I am… Lanc-, Kei-“
It was better than before. He could make out full sentences, and the voice behind it. Ingrained and intertwined as deeply as the veins in his own body, his best friend, Hunk.
“Hunk?” He said in disbelief. “Hunk, is that you? Are you ok?”
“Yes! Hol… on I’m try… to get cl… clarity...”
He let out a sigh of relief and stopped chewing at the insides of his cheeks. He didn’t realize it, but he had tensed up every single muscle in his body.
“Alright… I think we’re good. Lance? Keith?”
It was, without a doubt, Hunk’s voice shining through the receiver. It was an ethereal feeling. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why it made him feel that way. Maybe it was the sudden removal of his guilt, maybe it was something else. He’d have to think of it later.
“Hunk! Are you alright?” Keith said. He spoke up again without leaving the other Paladin the chance to respond. “Where are you? How are the others?”
“I’m alright, apart from a few scratches. How are you? What about Lance?”
“I’m fine.” Keith answered. “Lance got hurt in the crash, but he’s-“
“It was traumatic, Hunk. My life flashed before my eyes!” He butted in jokingly.
“Happy to hear you still got your humour, bud. No but really, are you good?”
“Yeah, yeah. Nasty gash in the ribs but I’m good.”
He could hear Hunk suck in air through his teeth on the other end. “Yowch. Did you at least clean it or something?”

He could sense Keith was getting impatient with all the small talk. He didn’t blame him; he didn’t know how long the helmet could last, especially with scrapped pieces.
“Yeah, he did.” He answered for him. “Hunk, where are you? And where are the others?”
His answer was quick. “I don’t know. We’re in some sort of field, next to some woods. Also, about that, Keith… I really don’t want to worry you, but, uh… Krolia - I mean, your mom… she’s kind of… gone missing.’’
He said it slowly, as if not to upset him, although he knew it would have no effect. Keith was taken aback for a second, reeling away from the helmet as though it was dangerous, then, with fierce emotion, managed to strain out:
‘’What do you mean, she’s kind of missing?’’
Lance agreed Hunk’s words didn’t make much sense. He thought he probably wanted to soften the blow. Krolia meant a lot to him, he knew that much. After losing his mother for the majority of his life, he found her again, only to lose her on an alien planet, lightyears away from home. The news made him scared too, mostly for Keith.
‘’She was with us when we crashed, I swear. She got out of the Lion and said something about having to find you. I wanted to go after her, but Coran held me back. We thought she’d come back at like dawn or something, but she’s not here.’’
‘’Where’d she head to?’’
‘’The forest. The treeline.’’
‘’We’re in a forest.’’ Lance chimed in. ‘’But we’re pretty far in. I doubt our forest is the same as yours…’’
‘’I hope so. I’m debating heading out and finding her.’’ Hunk said solemnly.
‘’Well, I’m about to. We don’t know what the fuck’s in these woods, let alone the forest-’’ Keith was cut off by Coran yelling something about in the distance. From what he could tell, he was coming out of the Lion. He seemed agitated.
‘’No, no. Don’t do that. No. We don’t know our way around this planet just yet.’’
‘’But Krolia!’’ Keith said, now shaken up. He didn’t know if he was shaking out of fear or anger. He suspected a mix of both. Unable to help, he placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
‘’Krolia’s a fine fighter.’’ Coran answered quickly. ‘’She can take care of herself. Stay put. If you walk around, then we might have two lost people on our hands. The chances of her finding you are significantly lowered if you move.’’
‘’But we don’t know what’s out there!’’ He pleaded. He sounded scared; more scared than ever before.
‘’I think Coran’s right, Keith.’’ Lance whispered softly. ‘’She’d want you to stay here.’’
Keith huffed out something under his breath, but seemed to calm down, albeit only slightly.
‘’Listen to the boy, Keith. I know you want to find her, but it’s for the best right now.’’

They all fell silent for a moment, everyone suspended on a pregnant pause, waiting for someone to say something. Coran spoke up again.
‘’How are you two? Well, I hope?’’
‘’Yeah, we’re good. Nothing too serious.’’ Lance answered for the Black Paladin. He could sense he was done with talking. As if he read his mind, he handed Lance the helmet and retreated back into the Lion. He was concerned. He shot him a look behind his shoulder, but he had already gone in where Lance couldn’t see.
He sighed. He’d have to go talk him done his anger later.
‘’Good to hear. Have you managed to find the other Paladins yet?’’
‘’No, you two are the first ones we could contact. I bet it’s because you’re the closest.’’
‘’It would make sense. I’ll see if I can try to get through to the others.’’ Hunk said. ‘’I might be able to get Pidge. Not sure, though.’’
‘’If you do, call us back. I want to know everyone’s safe.’’
‘’I will.’’ His friend reassured him. ‘’I have to go, I’m sorry. I don’t know how long the helmet will last like this. I have to fix it.’’
‘’Same here. Call us if you need anything. Or if you find anything.’’
‘’Will do. Stay safe, bud.’’
And with that, the clearing fell into a stiff, odd silence yet again. Scrambling to get away from the silence, Lance got up and went to find Keith.

Although the Lions look massive on the outside, the inside is pretty easy to navigate. He figured he was in one of two places: the cockpit and their makeshift sleeping quarters. After not finding him in the bedroom, he went to the cockpit, where he found him sitting in the Paladin’s chair, head rested back and his eyes squeezed shut.
‘’Hey.’’ He said, nearing him on his side. ‘’I’m sorry.’’
‘’About what?’’
‘’Well, this. I know you must feel scared.’’
‘’I’m not scared. I’m just… I’m not scared.’’
‘’It’s ok to be scared, Keith. You don’t need to hold up this image of yours like this.’’
‘’Yes, I do! I’m Voltron’s leader. I have to be strong, for everyone…’’
‘’It's just the two of us, Keith. It’s ok. I won’t tell anyone anything if you want to cry or whatever.’’
He turned his head to face him, locking eyes with him for a split second. What Lance saw as sadness wasn’t actually that. There was a spark of fear in his eyes, glistening like the stars.
‘’I don’t want to cry. I don’t like to cry.’’
‘’Sometimes, you need to.’’
He could see tears brimming at the edge of the Black paladin’s eyes. He tried to reel them back it, to conceal them, but like always, the harder you try, the faster they’ll spill out. And they did.
Lance could only see his face for a split second before he covered them with his hands. Even then, he was beautiful, ethereal, in a sense.
He sobbed quietly, choked up, as if not wanting to make sound.
‘’Let it out.’’ He kneeled down next to him and placed a hand on his wrist, as softly as he could. ‘’Keith, look at me, alright? It’s ok. We’ll find her. I’ll make sure of it, ok?’’
He peeled his hands away from his face, wiping the few remaining tears that were falling.
Without thinking, Lance’s hand shot forward and gingerly cupped Keith’s cheek, as if he were some sort of fragile animal. In a sense, he was. He wiped the tiniest of tear from his eye.
Lance immediately felt self conscious about his actions. Reddening at the face, he took his hand off slowly, his fingers sliding across his cheek.
‘’I’m sorry.’’
Keith smiled, then let out the smallest laugh. ‘’It’s ok. Thank you, Lance. You should be like this more often.’’
‘’Like what?’’
‘’Soft.’’
He was reddening so much he was convinced his whole face was red. He looked away before he could do something stupid again.
‘’I’m sorry for acting all… weird back there.’’
‘’It’s nothing. It was justified.’’
‘’I still want to go out and find her, though.’’
‘’Keith…’’
‘’No, no, I know. Not too far. I still want to do something, though.’’
Lance got back up and wiped the dust off himself. ‘’Where do you want to go look?’’
‘’Well, not farther than your Lion.’’
‘’That’s fine, as long as you can come back.’’
Keith followed him out the cockpit, eyebrows knitted in confusion. ‘’Oh. I was hoping you could… come with me. If your wound hurts too much, though, it’s alright, I can just go alone.’’
‘’What? Oh, this?’’ He motioned to his bandaged ribs. ‘’No, no, I’m good now. Not as bad as before. It’s actually healing.’’
They both stepped out of the Lion, where the two suns had risen since their last time outside and shone brightly in the sky.
‘’Well.’’ He said, hand resting on Keith’s shoulder. ‘’Let's get a move on.’’