Chapter Text
Everything had happened so quickly. At first, Lance was flying the Blue Lion, laughing and whooping as he soared through Earth's skies. In the a blink of an eye, so many events had past. He had rediscovered, along with the others, the legend of Voltron and the Lions. He had fought the Galra, defended the castle, liberated majority of the universe and had defeated so many enemies that stood in the way of freedom.
Around four or so years after everything that started on that fateful day, it seemed completely unreal that there was a time when Lance didn't worry about defending the universe. There was a time where he just woke up and was greeted by the smiling and happy faces of his family and friends. There used to be a time where he wasn't worrying about whether something would go wrong that day.
War could really change your perspective of everything in the world.
It was horrible, seeing everything Lance had seen. Entire planets who never knew the sense of freedom, children who didn't laugh over simple, trivial matters, and civilisations who had lived only under the Galra thumb. Lance had seen first-hand, the terror and malice the Galra spread.
Yet, Lance wouldn't have traded what had happened for the entire universe. Everything may had happened within a quick flash and had been a sudden change in Ance's environment, but it had changed him for the better, he felt. He got to know friends better, met Allura & Coran, improved his relationship with Keith to 'able to work together' and saved countless lives.
It was something he had gotten used to and as much as Lance missed the simple matters of his old life, it was something he was willing to continue by, for as long as the universe was unsafe for.
And judging from how everything was at, there would be one more enemy the paladins would have to face.
Haggar.
Allura spoke her name with such malice, her brows would furrow and her face would nearly twist itself into a snarl. It was clear Allura held a large disliking for the witch and Lance could only guess that the feeling was mutual.
What had happened? What had possibly happened for everything to turn out this way? Everything had fallen downhill soon after the Atlas and their crew had left Earth. Their original mission was to travel around the universe, freeing planets still under some sort of Galra rule.
However, one event soon led to the next and it was soon clear that their job wasn't as simple as they had originally thought. Haggar was still up and about, with her druids scattered all over the known universe, as the paladins had encountered.
What they weren't expecting was that she had wanted Keith for some strange, strange reason. He was taken, kidnapped, by one of the druids, during a clash with a group of them. The team was nearly overpowered, beaten to the ground. But they hadn't been killed. Instead, an injury worse than death was inflicted upon them. Keith's kidnapping.
Each paladin wouldn't ever forget the moment. The Black Paladin was ambushed from behind unexpectedly, hit by magic and he had lost his concentration. Then from the druid's hands emerged some sort of strange matter which looped itself around Keith, binding his arms together. Everyone had stood, frozen, unable to comprehend what was happening.
Keith had regained his footing too late. He had long dropped his bayard, lost in the chaos of battle, and his brows had furrowed in slight confusion. He eyes were darting from figure to figure, wide and confused.
Then the druid moved again and he was gone in a blink of an eye.
The aftermath of the battle was terrible. Each paladin withdrew and adopted their own way of dealing with the loss. Hunk confined himself to the kitchen, baking multiple cakes out of pure stress, worry and guilt. Pidge locked herself in her room, tinkering with absolutely anything in there. Allura didn't leave her room at all, worrying Coran endlessly. Shiro didn't seem to change, but those who knew him could see that his eyes no longer held the same glint of determination they used to have.
Lance, however, didn't know how to feel. On the inside, he felt like an empty shell, just responding blankly to questions or statements directed his way. In his stomach, there was a never-ending pit of terror clawing inside him. He used to see Keith as a rival, that was for sure. But it was back at the Garrison. What about now? His leader? Teammate? Friend?
He had collected the Black Bayard form the remains of the battlefield. It took much moving of wreckage and rubble, but the glow of the weapon had led Lance to it. Frequently, he held it in his hands, turning it over to look at it. Often, Lance would take out his Red Bayard and hold it up along with the Black one. It was the only thing that would pretty much scream 'Keith' on the Atlas and he wasn't about to let go of it.
It was obvious that Lance was broken. Like Shiro, his eyes no longer held the same light they used to shine. His face didn't quirk up into a smirk or open to shoot another pickup line or similar statements.
The rest of the Atlas crew were worried.
The paladins did have it worse off. After absolutely everything they had been through, of course one of their own had been taken by the enemy. Nobody knew the whereabouts of Keith or Haggar. His kidnapping left a particularly bad taste in everyone's mouth. With Shiro's 'death,' Keith leaving for the Marmora, and some other near-death situations, for something like this to happen when they were supposed to be safer wasn't something anyone liked.
It was only when it was mentioned that there was a faint flicker of hope of rescuing him when the paladins seemed to return to their normal stations. The change was painfully obvious. They all had a glint of hope in them, that their leader, the paladin of the Black Lion would be able to be returned to them.
There were various reports of spikes of quintessence in the Inthralian system. It wasn't a terribly large clue, but it was still one, considering Haggar's past dealings with quintessence and her apparent obsession with the strange energy. Regardless, the paladins weren't going to let this chance slip out of their grasp. They were willing to chase it to get Keith back, to get their leader back.
The Inthralian system was far, far away, definitely considered to be in the outskirts of the known universe. Travel took a long while, but the faint glimmer of hope kept the crew going.
Once there, it was painfully obvious to all that something wasn't right. A strange sort of matter seemed to coat the majority of the system, spreading some sort of fog-like substance all over. The Atlas was forced to rely on simply maps and coordinates previously inputted into the database. There was a sense of dread in everyone. What had happened? The strange quintessence levels were strange and were off-putting to most in the Atlas.
But the paladins, were determined. They had been split up far too many times in the past and it had never been a good thing. They had had enough near-death experiences for the rest of their life.
Thus, in order to save time and to scout a larger radius, they unanimously decided to split up and head towards a different planet for each Lion. Data showed the planets were relatively stable in terms of oxygen and gravity levels. The quintessence was the only worrying matter.
But that wouldn't have been close to enough to stop them from trying.
Each paladin set out in their respective Lions, hands held tight onto their controls and eyes scanning ahead for any sort of clues. There wasn't any particular order to which they decided to investigate, each paladin and Lion setting out in the general direction of north, east, south and west (or some form of that, considering they were in space). Shiro gave them all stern directions to simply search, not to engage and to return. He also gave a firm reminder that it was highly likely that communication would be down.
Lance didn't know how long he sat in Red for, searching for any signs of some sort of flat surface Keith (if Keith was even in the area) could be. Doubt swirled inside his mind as he mentally jumped from possibility to possibility. What if this was just a trap? A red herring? What if this had absolutely nothing to do with Haggar and was just a complete waste of time?
Lance could only push his thoughts away and focus on simply searching.
After who knew how long, Lance and the Red Lion could the the dark shadow of a circular shape - a planet. Taking deeo breaths in and out, Lance urged Red to go just a bit faster, hoping to get there quicker. After all, the quicker he went and discovered that Keith wasn't there, the quicker he could get to searching the other lonely planets, right?
As it turned out, Lance's suspicions were the complete opposite. Emerging from the Red Lion, he could see that there were buildings, most of them old and crumbling apart. However, they were all purple or some shade of purple. If there was anything Lance had learnt in his time at space, it was that purple tended to mean Galra.
And Galra didn't mean anything good.
Lance took out his bayard in preparation for enemies and cautiously weaved his way through broken parts of the building. There was rubble everywhere and Lance had to be careful to look carefully above and below him to ensure he wasn't stepping into a zone where certain death awaited him.
The building was obviously abandoned. Lance's heartbeat picked up speed as he went through the possible options. It was highly likely this was some Galra outpost that had been long abandoned since the Galra empire's 'fall.' In another case, it was equally as likely that it was some sort of lab for Haggar to pull off her witchy magic and Lance was not keen on that idea. He just desperately hoped that he would find an unconscious Keith without any other Galra to bother the rescue.
As Lance moved about, he could definitely hear movement from somewhere else. It wasn't much. Just simple shifting around and small growls. Yet, it worried him. What was it? Lance's bayard changed into its classic rifle shape. He wouldn't fare too well in a close ranged battle, but a weapon was a weapon.
The shuffling was getting closer. Well, it was more like Lance was the one getting closer. He picked his steps carefully, turning his head as he tried to pinpoint where the sound was coming from.
Then as Laxe turnes a corner, he saw. And he stopped right in his tracks. There was what seemed to be a closed off prison. The roof had collapsed halfway through and half the bars were broken and the other half was essentially blocking off entrance and escape.
But that wasn't the reason why Lance stopped.
It was the sight of the figure curled up in the corner furthest away from him.
The figure was sitting on the ground, knees pressed up to their chest, head bowed down and arms wrapped around their legs. But that wasn't the only thing. Lance would've recognised that mullet from a mile away.
"Keith!" Lance didn't know what to feel. After everything, he had found Keith just sitting in here?
At the sound of his name, Keith slowly lifted up his head. His hair hung down in small tufts, dirty from whatever he had been through. "Lance...?" his voice was feeble and dry from lack of use. As soon as he had croaked out Lance's name, his eyes widened and he shifted to press himself into the wall. "No, stop! Get away, get away!"
Lance didn't know how to react. Keith sounded scared, something Lance himself had never witnessed, especially with someone like Keith. What had happened for their leader to turn into this? Lance softened his voice, "Keith, it's me. It's going to be okay." He lowered his bayard and moved in closer towards the bars. "I'm going to get you out of here and we can head back to the castle with the others."
Keith didn't respond. He shivered and rubbed his arms, fingers digging into where he could just touch his skin, not blocked by the white armour. "Lance, I'm telling you, just go."
Lance's brows furrowed in confusion at Keith's plea. "Keith, what are you talking about?" He took ahold of the bars and pulled. It was fairly stable, but he was pretty sure it would give in with force pressured on it. "Can you help me?"
Keith didn't respond, his arms clutched at his sides and his eyes stared dead ahead. Lance frowned, deciding not to ask about what had happened. He continued to tug at the bars, managing to wrench a few of them free. "Keith, c'mon, do you need any help?"
Keith visibly shivered once again. "L-Lance... Get out..." He voice was falling deeper into a growl. Lance stepped into the room (if it even could be considered a room). Keith's head snapped up and Lance stopped.
His eyes were no longer the violet Lance had known. Keith's eyes and sclera were a familiar yellow. The yellow they had seen in almost every other Galran. The bottom of Keith's face was tinted with purple splotches that seemed to be spreading, fast.
"Keith!" He couldn't help but call out to him.
"Lance, I said get away now!" Keith's voice twisted into a brutal snarl and he lunged straight for Lance, teeth out and hands outstretched.
With a yelp, Lance was just able to dodge Keith, who no longer seemed like his normal self. Lance quickly darted out of the small room which he had found Keith in, said boy chasing after him clumsily.
Thus began a small game of cat and mouse, Keith being the cat and Lance being the mouse. It was small, but it hadn't turned deadly yet. Lance was forced to run about, using only his limited knowledge of the layout to navigate. Keith bounded around on all fours, much like a cat, snarling, growling and generally terrifying the wits out of Lance as soon as he got close.
Lance was forced to scramble away as Keith started growling. From a distance, he could see that Keith's skin was completely purple, the splotches he had previously seen had spread all the way across his face. Keith's eyes had changed, his pupils nearly invisible and the yellow sclera Galra were known to have was still there.
In short, something had happened with Haggar and Keith for him to be turned this way.
Lance didn't know what to do. Run? Plead for Keith to stop? Attempt to get back to the Red Lion? No. That option wasn't one. He wouldn't leave Keith.
After what seemed like forever of dodging, weaving and terrifying moments of Keith nearly getting to Lance, Lance had managed to duck away and into a corner. He was next to a set of stairs which he had come down, which meant that Keith would surely come down by there.
Steadying his breathing and attempting to calm his heartrate, Lance closed his eyes and counted down from ten. He pulled out his bayard. He frowned at it, unsure. Would hurt Keith, even when he was like this? The best he could do with his rifle was to shoot Keith from a distance and at a place where it would only knock him unconcious. Knowing Keith's skills and the disadvantage Lance had, that was extremely unlikely.
"Lance..." Keith's voice was low, much lower than it normally was. "P-please..." His voice was choked as he tried to force out his words. Lance didn't know what to do. What was he supposed to do when his friend seemed to have been corrupted by some strange force and was now attacking him?
There was silence for a moment. Despite that, Lance's grip on his bayard didn't loosen and instead, he held it even more tighter. He couldn't hear Keith. Frowning, Lance stood up and made his way to the bottom of the stairs. Keith was nowhere in sight.
Then Lance heard footsteps. They were slow and heavy, and he could tell that the owner of those footsteps were dragging their feet. And that person was Keith.
Lance could only stand there, frozen. Keith held his Marmora blade, almost casually as if he wouldn't be thinking about stabbing Lance with it. Normally, Lance would have been glad to see the Blade of Marmora blade, knowing that they were allies to Voltron (although most were gone). However, in the hands of this Keith, he wasn't so sure.
Keith's face was completely purple, with no hint of his original skin colour anymore. His eyes were still the strange Galra-like yellow, but they seemed different now. They were narrowed and filled with a mixture of disdain and hatred. Lance nearly flinched. To see Keith looking at him like that, it didn't feel nice.
It couldn't be, Lance couldn't believe it, no, he refused to believe it. The person standing in front of him wasn't the paladin he knew. Their looks were similar, but the man standing in front of him, was definitely not the Keith Kogane he knew.
It definitely wasn't the Red Paladin Keith that he had felt inferior to.
It definitely wasn't the Blade of Marmora Keith he had said goodbye to.
It definitely wasn't the Garrison Cadet Keith he had absolutely hated.
And it definitely was not the Black Paladin Keith he had grown to respect.
This Keith was not Keith.
Gritting his teeth, Lance began to contemplate the unthinkable. A fight was inevitable. He looked to his bayard in his hand. If he were to fight, it would be best to get an early shot in and distract Keith before he attacked.
As his bayard changed, Lance soon realised that it wasn't the rifle he had gotten used to all this time. When he lifted his hands, in them was the shape of an Altean broadsword, the same one that his bayard had changed into back when the Castle still existed. Lance gulped. The situation had changed. He had barely any idea how to use an Altean broadsword and suddenly he was to fight Keith, someone who had been using a bladed weapon for so long? Lance slowly moved his trembling hands to hold the ends of the weapon and looked up to Keith.
He was still standing there, staring down at Lance and his new bayard form. Lance stared right back. He knew what was possibly about to happen, but he didn't want any of it to happen. "Keith, please, I don't want to hurt you..."
"Lance," Keith's voice didn't waver at all, his low voice now strong and steady. "I would say the same back to you-" Lance neaely let out a sigh, "-but then that would be a lie." Without warning, Keith lunged forwards, blade outdrawn.
Lance was forced to move his broadsword up to block the attack. Both blades clashed against each other, forcing both paladins in a temporary stalemate as both pushed to topple the other other. Lance used this chance to attempt to break through to Keith. "Keith! Wake up! I know you're still in there!"
"Lance, there's no use." Keith's face twisted into a sinister grin as he watched Lance's expression falter. "I've seen my true side, the one which Allura was the only one smart enough to reject." He scowled as he mentioned Allura. Lance furrowed his brows and grunted as he pushed against Keith.
Lance may have been stronger, but Keith ultimately was the one who knew how to fight with a bladed weapon. Keith turned his blade to the side and caught Lance's broadsword and twisted it out of his grip, the broadsword clattering off to the side. Lance lunged off after it, ducking down to dodge a swing of Keith's blade and snatched the broadsword off from the floor. He then bolted off, hoping to lengthen the distance between the two of them.
He could hear Keith's footsteps and his breathing, but kept on running, attempting to weave in and out of structures. Lance soon lost him, managing to duck into a small cervice. It would have been disasterous if Keith knew were he was, but lance was fairly confident in his hiding abilities.
Lance didn't know how long he crouched their for, listening out for any signs of Keith. He could hear gentle footsteps and the slight clanking of his blade. There was the occassional scrtchhh as Keith dragged the end of his blade across the ground. Lance couldn't help but to cringe away from the noise. It wasn't long until he could hear Keith's voice echoing about near him. "Lance? Where are you?" The voice was... off. It was Keith and it sounded like normal Keith, but Lance knew that it was the corrupted Keith calling out. "Please Lance... I can't-"
"K-" Lance nearly called out Keith's name. The voice had sounded so much like the Keith he knew that he nearly spoke. But no, he had to remind himself that whatever this Keith said, it was with the thought of drawing him out, most possibly to kill him.
"Lance~" 'Keith' was switching tactics, his voice changing back to the low pitch it was and calling out in a sing-song voice. "Lancey Lance, come out, come out wherever you are~" It was definitely unsettling for Lance, considering Keith was using a nickname only Lance ever called himself, so he continued to stay in his position.
"Poor Lance... Always the one in the team who doesn't have a special something to give." Keith's words struck something in Lance. "Always there for the comic relief and just the goofball of the team. He's really just still there because he has jokes! Well, that's what he thinks. In all honesty, no one could care less if he just disappeared!" Lance's insecurities came crashing down on him. Keith was, in a way, right. He wasn't really anything. In their group, he was the seventh wheel. Shiro was responsible, Keith was a strong fighter and half-galra, Pidge was smart, Hunk was kind, a good cook and even an engineer, Allura was a freaking princess who also fought and was a diplomat, and Coran was the one who pulled them together, took care of them, their main source of information and was also tech-savvy.
But what was Lance? Just comic relief and as Pidge said, the goofball.
Even if Keith wasn't the real Keith at that moment, he was right.
And Lance felt that in his heart. It had been something he had been fighting against for so long and to hear it from someone like Keith, from his body, from the leader he respected, it hurt. There was unsteadiness in his heart. A fight against Keith was likely to end in his death. If he never returned from this, Keith could very much take Red, his old Lion, and fly back to the Atlas to rejoin everyone else. Keith would tell the others about how Lance fought to save him and Keith was forced to take Red and had back towards-
Wait.
Lance furrowed his brows. If that really did all happen, what would happen to those on the Atlas when this Keith found them? This Keith wouldn't hesitate in slaughtering everyone else. Lance's grip on his broadsword tightened even more as he thought about the bloodied bodies of Allura, of Hunk, of Pidge, of Shiro, of Coran. And then there were those who came from Earth and then there were the miscellaneous aliens who joined them. Lance couldn't let any of that happen. No, he had to stop Keith or risk the lives of those on the Atlas.
It was then when Lance realised his heartrate had sped up. No. Red is your Lion now and she would recognise that Keith isn't the Keith she knew. He reassured himself that the reality he just possibly thought of wouldn't happen.
Lance peeked out of his crevice and scanned the area. There were no signs of Keith. He headed out and tried to prepare himself for some sort of surprise attack. Keith hadn't made any move so far, nor had he made any sort of noises, which worried Lance. What was he planning?
Then there was an animalistic growl, a yell and then there was Keith lunging right at him. Lance only managed to just bring his broadsword up to block it. Once again, it was another game of who would push the hardest.
However, Keith had changed his tactic and swept his feet to knock Lance off his feet. Keeping a strong hold on his weapon, Lance fell on his back, stunned.
Keith raised his blade above his head, ready for the kill. Lance's eyes widened. After everything he had been through, after everything he had possibly done to prevent this, this was his end? Death by the hands of Keith? He had wanted an out to this war, but it seemed that the war would take him before it ended.
As Keith brought his blade down, Lance snapped back to reality quick enough to block it yet again.
Keith was above Lance, a snarl clear on his face, showing his definitely-not-human canines. Lance was desperately blocking his blade which was possibly centimetres from cutting his head off.
Both boys struggled. Broadsword and blade was pushed up and down, both paladins hoping to win.
The close proximity of Keith let Lance look at him closely. Whatever Keith he had known wasn't in this one. The cruel yellow eyes were narrowed at him with such hatred and with such determination to kill that Lance nearly faltered. This wasn't Keith. "Keith... Please..."
Lance's pleas were met with another growl from Keith. "There's no point anymore, Lance."
But deep down, Lance knew there was a point. Keith was still in there somewhere, wasn't he? He had tried to warn Lance, shouting to get away from him. There was a part of Keith who was still the Keith he knew. So then Lance swallowed his pride and decided to pick his next words carefully.
"Keith, I know you're still in there." Keith opened his mouth to say something, but Lance was talking too fast for him to interject something. "Keith, I know you don't want to do this, and that it's probably something Haggar did to you, but please, fight back!"
"The Keith you know is long gone."
Lance kept going, not caring for anything this Keith was saying. "Keith! Remember everything? You can't give up now. Remember how much of a good team we are? Our bonding moment? Our talks? Everything?"
"Y-"
"Keith, listen to me!" Lance faltered. "You're our leader, my leader. Hell, our future, my future! Our Keith, paladin of the Black Lion, the half-galra paladin who doesn't give up!"
"The-"
"Keith!" Lance took a deep breath, "I love you!"
Those three words struck something in Keith. His eyes softened to a look of confusion and his snarl relaxed. On his face, Lance could see that Keith was startled, stunned by Lance's sudden confession. He stopped momentarily from pushing his blade to kill Lance and just stopped.
Lance took Keith's distraction to his advantage. He twisted his blade and used the same move Keith had pulled on him to knock the Blade of Marmora blade of to the side. He then moved up and knocked the non-lethal part of his broadsword on Keith's head, knocking him out unconscious and falling, but not before Lance caught him from falling onto the floor.
Lance's breathing was heavy, still recovering from everything that had happened. He had dropped his broadsword, needing two arms to hold Keith up.
The Black Paladin started to cough. Letting out a quick yelp, Lance gently placed Keith onto the ground onto his side. Keith was still coughing. After a few coughs, a small black creature was spat out. It was small and was a mixture of black and purple. Without hesitation, Lance picked up his broadsword and squashed it flat.
Turning back to Keith, he saw the boy was still unconscious and still probably would be. Sighing, He saw that Keith's skin colour was returning to what it originally was, the purple fading off.
Lance returned his bayard away, went to retrieve Keith's blade and gently repositioned himself and Keith. Grunting, he did manage to pick Keith up. Seeing the boy not moving in his arms, Lance couldn't help but chuckle.
"I guess this is me cradling you in my arms now."
There would be a long road of recovery for Keith and explanation of what happened for Lance when the two of them returned.
But Keith was back and that was all that was important.