Chapter Text
To say it had been a long day would have been a horrific understatement.
Keith’s body hurt so much he felt as if his blisters had blisters. The team had been woken up at the crack of dawn by an attack from a splinter fleet of Galra who were trying their luck taking on the Castle of Lions. It hadn’t taken all of ten dobashes to dismantle the forces, but the precious lost hours of sleep had worn heavy on the team as the day dragged on.
Following the attack, Allura had picked up a distress beacon from a nearby planet, Kolar – some invading forces were getting too numerous for the natives to continue holding off on their own. Once Voltron had dispensed of the enemy, the paladins had made their way to greet the planet’s leader and form an alliance.
Formalities were important, Coran reminded them, and so Keith and the others had found themselves hanging around for a long time whilst Allura went over the details of each party’s responsibilities. The older Altean had suggested they try to make themselves useful and help out with the wounded soldiers.
It was a good idea – What better way to show Voltron’s dedication to rebuilding the galaxy than with a classic bit of elbow grease? At least that’s what everyone had reasoned.
Several hours later and the whole affair had escalated into Keith winching timber to help restore the roofs of the damaged communities. From what he could tell, the main part of the settlement that had been affected was mostly storage facilities. Why the aliens were forcing the paladins to help out when the repairs weren’t urgent was anyone’s guess. Though as it was, Allura had glared at the team’s complaints, hissing that they had to make a good impression since negotiations were often very delicate. Refusing to do grunt work could reflect negatively on the self-proclaimed defenders of the universe.
By the end of the day, just thinking about hoisting another rope made Keith’s muscles ache in complaint.
Once the alliance had been made, the leader of the populace insisted on throwing a feast of celebration, despite Allura’s rather desperate assurances that festivities were not necessary. The whole team had found themselves dressed up in stuffy formal attire whilst they were paraded around and fawned over. Pidge had quickly acquainted herself with the local domestic animals, perfectly content to pet them quietly whilst she remained away from the crowds of aliens. Hunk had taken it upon himself to try the local delicacies after a dish was created in front of his very eyes by the chef effectively sewing ingredients together. Shiro was doing a medal-worthy impression of enjoying himself as the aliens forced him to partake in several traditions, the most notable of which involved him having to carry around a very old, very squat alien on his shoulders for an indeterminate amount of time. Keith considered rescuing him when Shiro had caught his eye and sent a pleading look his way, but the dark-haired boy had simply smirked and turned away, ignoring his friend’s obvious torture.
Keith made himself fairly scarce for the majority of the festivities. He propped himself up against a building as the party thrummed through the streets, one foot pressed against the wall to support him as he crossed his arms over his chest. The music playing was upbeat and melodious, though it sharply contrasted with the timbre, the foreign instrumenting sounding eerie and hollow. Not that the crowd seemed to mind – Apparently the band had turned to a well known tune, and a large throng of aliens had broken out into a collaborative dance routine. Keith guessed it was this planet’s version of the Macarena or something like that.
He tuned out the song, letting his eyes wander over the bustling crowd curiously. Allura was laughing openly at something one of the ambassadors had said, her earrings glinting pink in the red-tinted light from party. The ambassador themselves didn’t look particularly amused, and Keith snorted when Allura’s smile promptly dropped, her expression becoming equal parts apologetic and serious. Keith turned his head, spying Coran falling into step beside one of the locals.
“Ah yes! I remember this dance from back when your species lived on the planet Nuskurn!” Keith could hear him proclaiming loudly, missing a step and falling a little out of sync. “Had a few less shimmies back then. Though that was probably due to the intense heat of the atmosphere. Could wither a plant in half a tick! Not a lot of dancing happening when you’re trying not to boil alive, let me tell you.”
Keith just shook his head in amusement. Trust Coran to know some ancient war dance that had apparently lasted 10,000 years.
Keith turned his head a little more, eyes scanning the crowd in bored. They ended up landing on Lance.
His fellow paladin was leaning against the wall of a building, one arm pressed against the rough surface as he leaned forward to speak to one of the aliens. Lance had a wide grin on his face, talking animatedly as he gestured with one hand that held a drink, a few droplets of the maroon liquid splashing over the side. The alien laughed, throwing their head back in mirth as Lance winked at them. Keith tsked loudly to himself. Classic Lance. Give that boy any and every opportunity to flirt and he would do it, never mind how many ugly situations it had gotten him and the team into. He was about to march over and remind Lance that the last time he’d flirted with an alien, it had turned out to be the crown princess of Scavuria, only child of King Ola and heir to the throne. Lance had somehow managed to insult her and it had taken all of Allura’s diplomacy and a bag of chips for the Sovereign to let Lance leave the planet with all his limbs still attached.
Keith had not taken more than one step when he was grabbed by the elbow and yanked unceremoniously to the side. The boy let out a strangled yelp as he twisted to keep his balance, when he felt a solid weight plop onto his shoulders. The next thing he knew, he had two knobbly knees (or what looked like knees) knocking into his cheeks as Shiro stood back to give him a victorious grin.
“Keith, Paladin of Voltron and pilot of the Red Lion, I hereby pass you the honour of carrying his Holiness, The Great Mib,” he boldly announced, childish glee illuminating every centimetre of his face.
Keith opened his mouth to protest and quickly found himself almost inhaling a set of wrinkly old toes as The Great Mib moved to kick him in the face. Shiro wasted no time in turning his back and bounding out of sight, leaving Keith standing perplexed and weighed down by a very disgruntled priest. Mib kneed Keith sharply in the eye socket, eliciting a cry from the boy before he pointed ahead. Keith didn’t need to be told twice, taking a shaky few steps forward in the direction the little alien was gesturing.
The parade of aliens following Shiro resumed their chorus, trailing after Keith in a jostling pack complete with whoops and cheers. Keith’s body already ached deep in his bones from all the physical labour he’d been doing, but now the small being atop his shoulders was sitting on a particularly nesting kink in Keith’s neck, his bony joints digging into soft flesh.
Keith twisted his head a little, attempting to stretch the little ball of niggling muscle. Mib smacked the top of his head harshly, and Keith bit down on a cry that tried to jump from his lips, grinding his teeth in quiet fury.
The noise of the company was loud, filling Keith’s eardrums so much that his head felt like it was ringing. All that couldn’t stop the loud bark of laughter that came floating over the crowd. Keith turned his head, ignoring the accompanying smack from the priest to see Lance watching him, eyes bright with amusement as he openly pointed at the spectacle. Keith opened his mouth to shout at him, and was met with a hard yank of his hair. It seemed that The Great Mib was attempting to steer him. Keith grumbled to himself, clenching his jaw to stop a barrage of protests from falling out of his mouth. On the plus side, Mib’s rather crude tug of his head had effectively snapped the little ball of tension out of Keith’s neck, and the red paladin sighed as he rolled his shoulders to dispel any lingering tightness.
When he was finally allowed to pass Mib along (apparently the priest was considered too Holy to walk on unhallowed ground, and therefore must be carried at all times), Keith stretched his back, feeling the stiffness of his vertebrae relax slightly at the squash and stretch of his body. He scanned the crowd idly, trying to locate his teammates.
Allura seemed to have given up any lingering allusion of interest as the alien diplomats droned on at her, slumped in her seat with nothing more than a wan smile to encourage their chatter. Shiro was deeply immersed in conversation with what appeared to be one of the squadron leaders, the alien making a ridiculous amount of gestures at once with its four arms. Hunk was similarly engrossed – He appeared to be talking with one of the chefs about the kind of machinery involved in their practice. He’d even gone so far as to reverse engineer a piece of their apparatus, inspecting the individual pieces like they were diamonds. Pidge had all but disappeared, and Keith would wager she had slipped away to somewhere quieter, malcontent with the large number of people that wished to poke and prod at her.
Keith’s eyes finally found Lance – he was standing under a row of dimly glowing lanterns, still talking to the same alien from earlier. The blue paladin seemed to have shed some of the bravado he usually wore like a second skin; eyes softer and mouth quieter as he listened to the alien speak.
Keith watched as Lance waited for them to finish talking before politely asking a question, his face open and inquisitive. It was rare to see his teammate so… Reserved wasn’t the right word. Lance often acted up, and it grated on Keith’s short temper like sandpaper on wood, wearing and abrasive. Keith wasn’t used to seeing the taller boy behave so genuinely, without the apparent need for praise and attention.
“Hey,” a soft voice said in his ear, jerking Keith out of his reverie.
He span around to see Shiro looking down at him, and he relaxed his stance.
“I think we’re just about ready to leave,” Shiro said, his eyes looking a little fatigued.
Keith nodded gratefully, exhaling long and slow. The length of today’s mission was beginning to creep into the fringes of Keith’s body, a steady lethargy making his bones feel like lead. Shiro swept round the party swiftly gathering up the rest of the team. Allura’s eyes sparkled when the man gently took her by the elbow, steering her away from the monotonous diplomats.
“Thank you, Paladins of Voltron!” the leader gushed, Mib sat askew on his head. “You have our allegiance, should you ever call upon us in a time of need!”
Keith could barely manage a half-hearted wave as they made their way back into the Castle of Lions, his arms feeling 11lbs heavier than usual.
“Oh man! ” Lance huffed as he threw himself onto one of the sofas. “I’m so tired I could sleep right through the next Galra attack.”
“You barely did anything!” Keith argued. “You mostly carried bandages and flirted with the soldiers!”
“Uh, it’s called having a good bedside manner, Keith. Clearly not something you understand.”
Keith bared his teeth, ready to snarl back a retort when Shiro sighed loudly, interrupting their squabbling.
“C’mon guys, we’ve all had a long day. I think we should all get some rest so we’re ready for tomorrow,” he said, brushing back his bangs with one hand.
“Oh yeah, I’m right there with you,” Hunk managed to say around a yawn.
“I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” Keith said, making to stand up.
He glanced at Lance quickly to see the other boy staring curiously at Pidge. Keith followed his gaze to where the small girl was sat cross-legged on the opposite sofa. A heavy frown tugged at the corners of her mouth, her troubled eyes staring fixedly at her feet as her eyebrows pinched together.
“Hey, Pidge. You okay?” Lance asked, a note of concern in his voice.
Pidge chewed her lip anxiously.
“I just thought I felt-“ she started.
The world tilted violently as a rolling wave of nausea hit Keith, strong enough to make his legs buckle. His knees hit the floor with a loud thud as he doubled over, one hand clutching his churning stomach. A thick metallic taste flooded his mouth as his vision swam, and he blindly threw out a hand to catch himself as he fell. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Keith registered Lance making a startled noise as Pidge toppled gracelessly off the sofa, a low groan escaping her lips as she clutched her head. Keith felt his throat constrict, muscles seizing and he finally slumped on the cold floor of the common area. His body jerked with every spasm of his nerves, and his tongue tasted like rust and sand with the threat of impending vomit. Just when Keith was sure his stomach was going to twist and forcibly expel his last meal, the feeling swiftly subsided, jitteriness seeping out of his body like oil through cloth.
Slowly, using one arm to balance, Keith propped himself up into a sitting position. He blinked rapidly against the brightness of the lights, taking in the sight of his teammates in similar positions, all hunched over and rubbing at their heads.
“Is everyone okay?” Shiro asked from somewhere on the other side of the room.
His voice was strained despite his collected words, and Keith’s eyes flicked over to see his leader pressing a hand to his mouth. He seemed to be making a very conscious effort not to be sick.
“Oh no-“ Hunk warned.
He managed to take one breath before swiping his helmet off the floor and promptly voiding his stomach into it. Keith grimaced, the sound of Hunk barfing making his own insides want to eject themselves. He turned away, eyes raking over Pidge as she adjusted her glasses a little with shaky hands.
“What the hell was that?” she asked. She sounded almost indignant.
“I don’t know,” Shiro admitted, getting to his feet. “But we should consult Allura and Coran in case it was something to do with the Galra.”
“Uh, guys,” Hunk started, voice thick with worry. “Has anyone seen Lance?”
Keith’s head snapped up immediately, despite the resulting dizziness. He blinked laboriously, trying to chase away the blurriness of his vision as his eyes darted around the room. Sure enough, Lance was nowhere to be seen.
“Maybe he wasn’t affected like we were?” Pidge suggests.
“That’s impossible. We were all effected,” Keith rebuts. “There’s no way he didn’t feel that too.”
Pidge frowns at him, opening her mouth to speak when Hunk interrupts with a nervous stream of babbling.
“He can’t have just disappeared, right? I mean that isn’t- That’s not like a thing that can happen is it? Because that’s seriously bad, dudes. Like what if one of us goes missing when we’re Voltron? I mean? He’s gotta be around here somewhere, right? Lance?”
Hunk’s head swivels round nervously as he picks up one of the sofa cushions, as if somehow Lance could have been hiding underneath it.
“Lance?!” he calls again, louder.
“Everybody calm down,” Shiro’s firm voice rings out. “We’ll find Lance, we just need think logically. I say we head down to the bridge and ask Coran to run a full scan of the castle.”
Hunk’s shoulders relaxed a little, though his stance remained stiff with uneasiness.
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” he said, tapping his fingers together in agitation.
The team quickly made their way to the bridge, Hunk occasionally cupping his hands around his mouth to call Lance’s name into the empty hallways. Keith’s hands curled into fists and his thoughts swirled. There was no way Lance could have just disappeared… Could he? Keith shook his head, as if to physically relieve his mental constipation. Lance had been right there, sat in front of him with a glowing complexion and a whiny complaint. Keith vaguely remembered the gasp of surprise Lance let out right before the vertigo had caused Pidge to keel over. Had that been when he’d…?
The whoosh of the sliding metal doors alerted Keith to their arrival on the bridge, and he looked up to see Allura and Coran staring at them in surprise from their positions on the deck.
“Paladins! I’m glad you’re here!” she cried, giving the group a once over before adding. “Where is Lance?”
“Actually that’s what we’re here about,” Shiro spoke up. “Did you feel a weird sense of vertigo a couple of minutes ago?”
Allura’s face darkened with concern, and she glanced over to share a look with Coran.
“So you felt it to,” she murmured. “”I had hoped that I was merely feeling the stress of the day, but it appears we have all been affected by the same thing.”
“Do you know what it was?” Pidge piped up.
“I’m afraid not,” Allura admitted, turning her face towards the various Altean symbols flickering across her screen.
“Well whatever it was, it took Lance!” Hunk chimed in.
Allura whirled round, her eyes wide.
“It… Took Lance?” she repeated, as if she were checking to see that she’d heard correctly.
“Lance is missing,” Keith said, voice low and even. “We all felt the same strange queasiness, and when it was over, Lance was gone.”
Allura’s eyes widened in shock, and she raised a hand to clutch gently against her chest.
“Princess, can you run a full scan of the castle to see if Lance is aboard?” Shiro asked, urgency colouring his voice.
“I’ll do it right away,” Allura confirmed, snapping into action.
She span around, smoothing her arms through the air to bring up an assortment of different sized screens that beeped and ticked as she ran her fingers nimbly over them.
After a few minutes, he brow furrowed deeply.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” she said, frustrated. “Lance is no where within the castle.”
“What about the blue lion?” Shiro pressed.
“Still in its hangar.”
“Check the pod bay,” Keith said suddenly.
All eyes turned to him, and Keith felt a little on edge at the accusatory stares his team were giving him.
“He wouldn’t have left, ” Pidge defends, her face incredulous.
“There’s no harm in checking,” Shiro said gently.
He rested one hand consolingly on Pidge’s shoulder, letting her deflate a little under his touch. Allura flicked her wrist, bringing up the video feed from the pod bay. He eyes scrutinized the image on screen, bright and sharp as he fingers hovered over a few buttons.
“All pods are accounted for,” she said tersely after a moment.
Hunk hopped skittishly from one foot to the other, tapping the tips of his index fingers together rapidly with rising panic. Lance’s unexplained absence seemed to be affecting him quickly, and his shoulders hiked up to his ears.
“Is there anywhere else he could be?” the yellow paladin asked desperately. “Like, maybe he went to go get a sandwich? He can get pretty snack-y sometimes, when he’s extra tired”
“He would have shown up on the castle’s scans,” Coran called from where he was inspecting a screen, plucking at his moustache absently. “Perhaps he wasn’t finished with the party?”
“Whatever has happened, we can safely conclude one thing,” Allura said gravely. “Lance is not on the ship.”
The team feel silent, uncertainty thick in the air, hovering above them like a fat grey storm cloud threatening to rain.
“Can we contact the leader from Kolar? See if Lance has made his way back onto their planet somehow?” Shiro asked.
His jaw was set, and Keith could practically see all the feasible explanations for Lance’s vanishing act flitting through his brain like a teleprompter at maximum speed.
“I can try,” Allura replied. “But unless he took one of the pods, I think it’s highly unlikely that he’s returned to the planet.”
Shiro’s eyebrows lower, and it was only because Keith knew him so well that he caught the flicker of dread in the older man’s eyes.
“Contact them anyway. We’ll find him,” Shiro said after a moment, his voice firm and resolute.
It was meant to reassure the team, but Keith didn’t miss how Pidge and Hunk exchanged a doubtful look, a thousand and one unspoken words passing between them in a glance.
“Maybe the castle’s systems are faulty?” Keith offered. “Can you scan again?”
Allura pressed a few buttons on her screen, her mouth set into a hard line.
“He’s not coming up,” she said, voice hollow. “And there’s nothing on the system to indicate a fault.”
Keith’s skin felt prickly, agitation crackling through his veins like popping candy, setting his nerves on edge. The slow creeping feeling of helplessness was working its way up his spine, coiling in his muscles with a sudden urge to do something. He spun on his heel abruptly, startling the team and he strode towards the door.
“I’m going to check his room,” Keith announced without a backwards glance.
The doors to the bridge slid shut with a soft hiss, effectively cutting off anything that might have been shouted after him. He strode down the corridors of the castle, pausing only to glance into any rooms he thought Lance might be hiding. Logically, Keith knew that the scans were most likely right – That Lance was not on board the ship. But he couldn’t just stand on the bridge hoping the other boy would just show up out of the blue. Besides, if nothing else the walk was helping dispel some of the anxious tightness in his muscles. Keith had never been a great one for inaction.
He walked until he found himself outside Lance’s room, only half aware that he’d been headed there. Keith pressed his hand gently against the panel next to the door, the smooth metal parting with an accompanying hum. He didn’t even need to step inside the room to see that it was empty. Lance’s bed lay untouched, the covers folded immaculately with barely a wrinkle to mar their surface. Keith let out a sigh he hadn’t been aware he was holding, his body sagging, physically drained. He hadn’t expected Lance to be there, not really, but at least now he had confirmation that the blue paladin was not in his room. Keith stepped back, letting the doors to lance’s room close again as he turned around and set off in the direction of Blue’s hangar.
The blue lion sat in the middle of the space, silent and stoic, the hangar illuminated by the soft blue glow of her particle barrier. Keith surveyed her quietly, crossing his arms across his chest. He could feel Red faintly in the back of his mind, a constant reassuring presence that helped Keith anchor himself. There in Blue’s hangar, he could feel the low thrum of energy resonating from Lance’s lion like a white noise machine, and he clumsily reached out to Blue through the mental link with Red.
“Where’s Lance?” Keith asked aloud.
He felt a little silly, speaking to a giant robot like it was going to crouch down on its massive paws and say, “Oh babe, don’t worry! He just went to the mall”. But he reminded himself that there was no one else there to see him. Keith closed his eyes, focusing on searching for Blue in his mind. He could feel a disconnect in his mind’s eye, a brick wall that had been thrown up between him and the blue lion. He pushed against it experimentally, searching for any cracks that he may be able to peek through. The wall pushed back, a firm shove that had Keith frowning and gritting his teeth.
“C’mon, Blue,” he muttered under his breath. “Where is Lance?”
It was unlike Blue to be so stubborn – She was heralded as the most accepting lion for a reason, and Keith often found himself thinking how perfectly matched her and Lance were. Rarely had Keith seen the blue paladin have a problem with anyone, usually taking their beliefs and customs in stride without batting an eyelash. He’d only ever seen Lance get riled up in the face of fascism, at which point the taller boy took zero prisoners.
Keith tried to break through the mental wall again, giving it a hard jab with his mind. The response was not what he had hoped. Blue effectively slapped him across the brain, and Keith’s eyes blinked open with a short gasp, though not before he felt a whisper of something slip through.
Fear.
Blue didn’t know where Lance was, and she was scared for him.
People didn’t just disappear.
Keith grit his teeth, sternly telling himself that he was NOT going to kick the particle barrier out of sheer frustration.
Turning on his heel, he made his way back out of the hangar, insisting that Blue’s ignorance wasn’t a loss. He’d made it down three corridors when Shiro’s voice rang out over the castle, halting Keith’s footsteps.
“Keith. Please report to the bridge. Allura thinks she may have found something.”
Without a second thought, Keith broke out into a sprint, weaving his way back through the castle hallways with the confidence that only comes with having gotten lost one too many times. He was on the bridge in less than two dobashes, the doors whizzing open as Keith approached.
Hunk and Pidge were seated at their stations, both flicking through their screen with urgent curiosity. Hunk was scrolling through a camera feed of the commons area, the image grainy and jumpy as he scrubbed back and forth over the timeline. Keith could make out the footage of their group, conversing lightly before lurching forward as the strange sensation hit. He saw Lance open his mouth in what was presumably a yelp before the screen went white. Hunk drew his finger back, flicking through the footage frame by frame.
“Keith,” Shiro’s voice broke the red paladin out of his immersion. “Allura has something to report.”
Keith turned his attention on the princess, approaching her slowly as her fingers tapped away at the buttons in front of her.
“I think I may have found something,” she announced, her voice steady, betraying nothing. “Right before Lance disappeared, the castle systems detected a huge energy spike in the common room.”
She illustrated her point by bringing up a chart with a wave of her hand, the readings hiking up so much in one point that they disappeared off the top of the screen.
“More importantly, they appear to have been localised to Lance’s position.”
Keith frowned as the implication of Allura’s words sank in.
“I think that whatever’s happened, we can safely assume it targeted Lance specifically.”
“Yeah that makes sense,” Hunk called from his station. “Look here! Right before the video cuts out, there’s this white light. It’s pretty hard to tell because the picture’s so blurry, but I’m pretty sure it’s coming from around Lance.”
Keith turned his head as Hunk blew up his screen for everyone to see. Sure enough, on the one frame Hunk’s frozen a bright light fills the screen, Lance at the centre of it, nothing more than a dark smudge amidst the white.
“Do we know what type of energy it was, Princess?” Shiro asked, breaking the silence.
His eyes raked over the disconcerting readings on the chart, steel glinting off the grey of his irises. Allura tapped a few more buttons, her face darkening slightly with displeasure at the results.
“No. I can’t seem to make heads or tails of the energy that was present. Whatever created such a spike, it’s not like any technology I’ve seen before.”
Keith could feel a migraine coming on, a tight little bundle of nerves digging itself into his temple, and he sluggishly lifted a hand to rub at the dull throb in his skull.
Without Lance, they couldn’t form Voltron, and if they couldn’t form Voltron then they couldn’t take down Zarkon. How were they meant to take down the Emperor of the Galra Empire when they were short one valuable member of the team? Keith ground his teeth restlessly – a bad habit he’d developed living in the desert – as he tried to think of a way to fix the situation.
Lance was the thinker, Keith reminded himself. If Lance were here, he’d know what to do. Then again, if Lance were here there wouldn’t be a problem for them to think their way out of in the first place.
Maybe we can get a new paladin?
Keith clamped down on the thought immediately, thick iron doors closing his mind off from the very idea of replacing Lance.
It was the logical thing to do, Keith knew. But at the same time, there was something that felt so inherently wrong about simply finding a new paladin to pilot Blue.
How would they get on with the team? What if they weren’t as good of a pilot? What if they were better? The thought made Keith feel uncomfortable in his skin.
Annoying as he was, Keith could admit that Lance was the glue holding the whole team together. The boy was the bridge between them, setting the foundations of friendship for the rest of them to build on, even at the expense of his own pride. If they were all laughing at Lance, then they all had something in common to talk about. Keith could appreciate the intelligence behind that even if Lance’s actions could go overboard.
“-eith?”
Keith shook his head to clear his thoughts, catching the tail end of his name, and he looked up to see Shiro frowning at him, concern colouring his features.
“You spaced out there for a bit buddy. You okay?” the black paladin asked.
Keith managed a weak nod in response, the fatigue of the day settling into his bones like tar settles on a riverbed, thick and immovable.
“Just tired,” he assured the older man.
Shiro didn’t seem impressed with the response, but he didn’t push. Not that Keith blamed him. How long had it been since they’d returned from Kolar? A few hours? The guy looked about as tired as Keith felt, dark circles staining the delicate skin under his eyes like bruises.
Keith was about to open his mouth to ask a question when there was the telltale whoosh of the bridge doors opening behind him. All heads turned towards the noise, and Keith’s mouth dropped open as he saw Lance standing there clad in full paladin armour. His eyes were wide, jaw hanging open in shock as he took a second to register his surroundings, and then in a heartbeat he was dashing over to where Pidge is seated.
“PIDGE!” Lance cried, gathering the small girl up in a death grip as he buried his face into her shoulder.
Pidge wheezed as the air was squeezed out of her lungs, belatedly lifting a hand to tap Lance gently on the back. The act looked more like a submission than a consolation, and Lance eased up his bear hug, leaning back a little to peer at his teammate.
“Are you okay?” he asked, and there was a definitive crack to his voice.
Pidge balked at him, her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish out of water as Lance surveyed her with obvious worry. It was in that pause that Keith’s eyes refocused, taking in Lance’s armour.
It was markedly more worn than the last time he’d seen it, a few parts around the legs blackened from god knows what, and there were clear scuff markings over the cuirass that Keith wasn’t sure he wanted to know what from. Not only that, but there were subtle differences about the design: The blue highlights of the wrists were a little narrower, extending further down the forearm. Much the same as the shoulders, the blue caps of the sleeves stretching out along Lance’s traps to meet the stiff white collar. Keith narrowed his eyes. Since when did paladin armour change?
Lance was still holding Pidge, his eyes glimmering like two pools of water as he looked at her.
“F-fine,” she managed to stutter out, reaching up to adjust her glasses a little.
The tension in Lance’s shoulders eased a little, but still he refused to let go of the green paladin, as if she would fly away should he release his hold on her.
“Oh thank God,” he breathed, the barest hints of a smile ghosting across his features before his brows pulled together in confusion. “Did you cut your hair? And what the hell are you wearing?”
Allura was the first to shake herself from the stupor that had halted the team.
“Lance!” she said loudly.
The blue paladin turned to face the princess, a frown still tugging down the corners of his mouth.
“Where have you been? ” Allura asked.
Her voice was a few decibels louder than usual, and Keith could spot the genuine distress lining her features.
“I dunno, there was this white-“
Lance’s voice cut off abruptly as he turned to face Allura, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion.
“Allura, what the hell?” he squawked, unceremoniously dropping Pidge in surprise. “Can all Alteans do that with their hair? Because that’s just cheating at this point!”
Allura self-consciously grabbed a lock of her shiny hair, fingers smoothing over the long white gossamers as she frowned.
“What are you…?”
Allura trailed off, her eyes widening to a near comical size as she stared at the blue paladin. Keith followed her gaze and suddenly understood her reaction.
A thick scar carved it’s way down Lance’s face, travelling all the way from his cheekbone, over his jaw and down his jugular until it disappeared beneath the black collar of his under-suit. It split Lance’s skin like a fissure in a rock, dark and jagged. Keith could imagine receiving a cut like that – It would have taken days to scab over, the mark sunken and weeping before flaking away to reveal shiny pale flesh underneath. It would have taken many months more to develop the weathered appearance it had now, the soft brown of Lance’s face tapering it either side. There was no way Lance could have developed a scar like that in a matter of hours.
“Lance…” Shiro finally spoke up, his tone full of uncertainty.
When Lance’s eyes snapped over to their leader, his jaw dropped like a stone.
“Shiro…” he breathed, something like anguish flittering across his scarred face. “Your arm …”
Shiro gazed own at his prosthetic, confusion pinching at his brows as he opened and closed the metal fingers experimentally.
“What’s going on?” Keith snapped, drawing everyone’s attention. “Lance, what happened?”
“KEITH!” Lance shouted, his eyes lighting up like fireworks.
Keith had half a second to prepare himself before Lance bounded across the distance between them in two leaps, colliding bodily with the shorter boy. Keith tensed as Lance curled his arms protectively around Keith’s back like an octopus, clutching him tightly as he twisted his face into Keith’s neck and let out a shaky sigh. It was like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders, and Lance leaned on him heavily. It took everything for Keith not to let his fatigued legs buckle under the weight of the taller boy.
The red paladin’s breath came out in a huff as Lance clung to him, frozen in surprise. One of Lance’s hands left his back to weave its fingers into the long hair skimming the base of Keith’s neck. It was a gesture far more familiar than what Keith was used to. When the blunt tips of Lance’s gloved nails scraped across Keith’s sensitive scalp, the short boy shuddered involuntarily. His hands flew up to push harshly at Lance’s shoulders, and the Cuban stepped away from him, his face devoid of understanding.
“Babe, did you get shorter? ” Lance asked incredulously, his gaze dropping to Keith’s feet and back up again.
The casual endearment threw Keith for a loop, and he felt a hot wash of some foreign emotion flood his veins.
“I’ve always been an inch shorter than you!” Keith said hotly. “You never fail to point it out!”
He took a step back, desperate for the extra distance between them. Lance behaving so friendly was weird, and Keith didn’t like it. Lance’s arms hung in the air a moment where Keith had been before he slowly dropped them by his sides. Keith thought he saw a flicker of hurt shine in the other boy’s eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come. He pulled his helmet off, giving his head a shake to clear the stale air out of his face.
“Seriously, guys? What’s happening? I feel like I’ve been zapped into the past or something, look at all of you!”
His tone was joking, but Keith could hear a singular note of anxiety tainting his voice, his humorous demeanour a little too stiff.
At this distance, Keith could clearly make out the subtle changes in Lance’s appearance. His hair was definitely longer for one; the brunette locks just brushing the base of his neck and the tips of his ears. He was broader, too, though not by much. The flex of his jugular had deeper definition, and offered a whisper of indication at the strong muscles lying beneath his shoulder pads.
Lance seemed to collect himself then, turning in a half circle to slowly observe his teammates.
“What’s going on?” he said finally, and Keith was surprised at the authority in his tone.
The team looked between each other, faces perplexed.
“We were hoping you could tell us,” Shiro answered. “You disappeared after we returned from the planet Kolar, and you’ve just showed up now.”
Lance frown was severe, a muscle rippling in his jaw as he clenched his teeth.
“Kolar…” he murmured, eyes drifting down to the floor like he was trying to remember something. After a second, recognition gleamed in his gaze, and Lance lifted his eyes to stare wide at the others.
“The Kolar mission! The party!” he cried, head whipping round in panic.
“Yeah!” Hunk piped up from his station. “We answered that distress beacon, and then we had the party, and then we came back here and there was this bright white light and everyone felt really sick, I think I barfed like five times? And the you just disappeared! ”
Lance chewed his lip frantically, eyes darting between each of them. He looked like he was working up the courage to say something but was second guessing himself.
“What do you remember?” Coran offered.
As soon as Lance’s gaze fell on the older Altean, his stance relaxed a bit.
“Me and Pidge were answered a distress beacon from a dying planet and we accidentally activated some of their technology,” he started slowly, making sure his words sank in. “There was a big white light and I pushed Pidge out of the way. I remember feeling really sick and then… Nothing. Next thing I knew I was waking up in my room and that’s when I made my way here.”
Keith looks around at everyone as Lance finished speaking. They’re all sharing equal looks of bewilderment, and Keith feels some comfort in knowing he’s not the only one stumped by Lance’s story.
“We never went on a mission to a dead planet, Lance,” Pidge informs him.
“Not yet we haven’t,” Lance says with a sigh. “But we will. One year from now.”
He runs a gloved hand through his brown hair in clear agitation, sighing loudly before he open his mouth to say his next words.
“Because for me, the Kolar mission happened a year ago.”
_______
The bridge is so silent in the seconds following Lance’s statement, Keith could have sworn that time itself had stopped. If Lance, the other Lance were there, he would have taken the opportunity to crack a joke, breaking the disbelieving tension surrounding the situation. Except Lance was there, and his face was so stony he might as well have been carved out of marble. Hunk was the first one to speak.
“That’s impossible,” he said, ducking a little as if trying to hide behind his seat. “Right? That’s impossible? Because if the Kolar mission was a year ago for you, then that would mean that you’re from the future, and that’s just- Y’know, that just doesn’t happen. That’s right, isn’t it Allura? Time travel isn’t, like, a thing. ”
Hunk trails off, the uncertainty thick in his voice as he looks to Allura for confirmation. The princess’s frozen face cracks, dropping into a contemplative frown.
“Not necessarily,” she says slowly.
She lifts a hand to draw up a new screen, rapidly flicking through the energy readings like she’s shuffling a deck of cards.
“Not necessarily?” Pidge yelps. “Are you saying that Lance travelled back in time? Seriously?”
Allura hummed as she scanned the records in front of her, mouth set into a determined line.
“It’s not common,” she conceded. “But it’s not impossible. I believe that whatever Lance claims to have activated on his mission with Pidge is clearly responsible for this… Unlikely circumstance.”
“That still doesn’t solve the problem of where Lance is,” Keith cut in.
Six pairs of eyes swivelled towards him, each with varying degrees of puzzlement. The Other Lance waved a hand in front of Keith’s face, close enough that the air stirred the hairs on his forehead.
“Uh, Keith. Hey. I’m right here,” Lance said.
“ You’re here,” Keith shot back, “But where’s our Lance. You said you were from the future, right?”
Lance blinked at him, the cogs of his mind slowly turning behind those bright blue eyes.
“I… I don’t know,” he admitted. “Maybe we switched places?”
“If you switched places with our Lance, then logically you should remember this happening, right?” Pidge asked.
It made sense, Keith thought. If this Lance was from the future, then he should remember a point in the past year of his life in space where he was thrown back through time.
“I mean…” Other Lance began, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. “Sort of? It feels kinda fuzzy. Like when you think something might have been a dream but you’re not sure?”
Keith groaned, ignoring how Other Lance shot him an annoyed look.
Shiro took a step forward, folding his arms across his chest as he levelled Lance with a stern gaze.
“You need to tell us everything you know,” he commanded. “And then we can see how we should go about reversing this.
Lance’s eyes bugged at Shiro’s stance, and he threw up his hands as he took a few skittering steps backwards.
“Oooooh no. Nooope. Nonono no, I’ve seen disaster movies and let me tell you. Talking about the future is a bad idea. It’s in like, every time travel movie I’ve ever seen. Nope, I’m not saying a word.”
Keith could feel irritation prickling under his skin, and he grabbed Other Lance’s arm to spin the paladin around before he backed up into Keith.
“If you don’t tell us what you know, how are we supposed to help you get back?” Keith barked.
Lance’s eyes sparked, and he opened his mouth to fire back a retort the way Keith knew he would. It seemed like the words were on the tip of Lance’s tongue, about to leap into the communal airspace when suddenly… Nothing.
The fire drained from Lance’s eyes, and he slowly closed his mouth with a sigh.
It left Keith feeling off kilter.
“You’re right,” Lance relinquished, and Keith immediately felt as if his world were spinning.
Never in his entire time being a paladin had he heard those two words from his self-proclaimed “rival”.
Other Lance’s shoulders sagged, and he tapped his fingers anxiously against his helmet.
“I can’t tell you everything,” he said firmly, and Keith knew then that it was something his fellow paladin would not negotiate on. “But I can tell you what I remember, and maybe that will help.”
________
The team met in the dining hall once they’d changed out of the formal attire. Lance had ditched his paladin armour in his room, since his armour from the present was still occupying its chamber on the bridge. Keith ran into him in the hallway, wriggling at an odd angle as he apparently wrestled with his jacket.
He looked up when he noticed Keith staring, shooting the shorter boy a lopsided grin.
“Feels a bit tighter than I remember,” he said with a short laugh.
“Do you… Not have your jacket in the future?” Keith asked with a frown.
“Well I would if someone hadn’t stolen it,” Lance huffed, though there was a fondness to his voice that implied he wasn’t all that angry.
“Someone stole your jacket?” Keith asked bluntly. “Who?”
Lance shot him a blank look, snapping his jaw shut firmly in the face of Keith’s confusion.
“Nothing,” he muttered, turning away. “Never mind.”
Keith didn’t push it, instead falling into step beside the new Lance as an awkward silence settling between them. He kept sneaking side-glances at the other boy, mentally cataloguing as many tiny differences as he could see.
The Other Lance walked a lot taller, his stride more confident than the lazy saunter of his past self. Keith vaguely wondered if it had anything to do with the battles he must have fought. Their team was being forced to grow up very quickly, after all.
When they arrived in the dining room, the rest of team Voltron was already there, chatting quietly amongst themselves. They turned their heads as the two boys entered, eyes wary and curious. Lance wasted no time in throwing himself into a seat at the head of the table, kicking his feet up onto the smooth white surface despite a displeased frown from Allura.
“So where do you wanna start?” he asked casually.
As if travelling through time wasn’t a big deal to him.
Allura shot his feet on the table one last scolding look before speaking.
“What planet were you on when you… Um… Switched?”
“Dunno,” Lance said, idly picking at his nails. “Next question.”
“Well that’s helpful,” Pidge snorted. “How are we supposed to find where the energy came from if you can’t even remember the damn planet’s name?”
“Hey!” Lance barked in protest. “You’d be disorientated too if you were thrown through a space time blender!”
“It’s actually more like a fold,” Hunk said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin in contemplation. “Like a fold in reality, the way you fold laundry.”
“Space washing machine then,” Lance compromised.
“Guys, we’re getting off track,” Shiro reminded them. “Can you remember anything else about where this planet was?”
“Nothing much about the name,” Lance replied, screwing his face up in concentration. “But I remember that it’s in the Tarantula Nebula.”
“Just a second there, dear boy!” Coran chimed. “As well as I remember it, that nebula has been abandoned for at least four decathebes. Why on earth were you there?”
Lance just shrugged, apparently not concerned with the revelation of the abandoned planet.
“Answering a distress call,” he hummed. “Turned out to be this big empty room with a set of rudimentary Altean instructions on the wall. Me and Pidge followed them and ba-da bing ba-da boom, here I am.”
“You speak Altean?” Allura asked incredulously.
Lance shot her a cheeky smile, opening his mouth to say, “ᎧᎦ ፈᎧᏬᏒᏕᏋ Ꭵ ᎴᎧ ᏰᏋᏗᏬᏖᎥᎦᏬᏝ.”
Allura blinked in a surprise, her eyelashes fluttering madly before her face morphed into a scowl.
"It would appear that some things about the future have not changed," she said tersely. Lance just shot her a pair of finger guns.
“Anyway,” Hunk continued, interrupting the stunned silence. “What are we supposed to do with an abandoned nebula? I mean, should we go back there? It’s abandoned so…”
Shiro sighed heavily, rubbing at a kink in his neck.
“I think first, we should all get some rest. It’s been a long day. Tomorrow we can go and check out the nebula Lance described and see if we can track down the planet.”
The team nodded, much to Keith’s strong dissatisfaction. He wanted to stay and grill Lance about the future. He had so many questions – Had they defeated Zarkon? How had Lance got his scar? Had they returned to Earth yet? They burned at the back of his throat, scalding his tongue with each inhale. Keith felt like he would choke with the effort of keeping them in his mouth.
“Yeah sure,” Lance agreed as he stretched his arms over his head. “But first I’m just gonna-“
He stood, grabbing a plate and making his way over to the goo dispenser. Pausing at the wall, he tapped a small screen that Keith hadn’t noticed before. A second later, he let out an indignant noise, startling his teammates.
“You guys are still eating the space goo?” he demanded.
“Yeah?” Hunk replied, apprehension in his tone. “Do we not do that in the future?”
The Other Lance opened his mouth to say something, but instead just sighed heavily, lifting the dispenser off the wall as he stared dejectedly at the luminous green goop filling up his plate.
“Just know that it’s not gonna be this way forever,” he said, and his tone was so tragic that he might as well have been talking about the End of Days.
The party disbanded shortly after that, Lance hanging back a little. He kept shooting Keith sideways looks, and it was only when the red paladin made to leave the dining room that he stood up to walk after him.
“Sooooo,” Lance began, the plate of goo clutched firmly in front of him. Keith’s heart sank at the drawn out word. “How’s it going?”
Lance winced at his own words, the scar crossing his cheek curving to accommodate the expression.
“How did you get that?” Keith blurted out.
Lance turned to him with wild eyes, a question in his look. Keith gestured lamely at Lance’s face, suddenly feeling very foolish.
“Ah-“ Lance began. “It’s… Kind of a long story. And one you don’t really need to know since I guess you’ll find out, right?”
He finished his sentence with a grin, clearly hoping to ease some of the awkwardness that had settled around them like a lead blanket, though it fell short when Keith didn’t respond.
“Looks like it hurt,” the dark haired boy said after a moment.
He internally cringed at his own voice. Obviously a wound like that would have hurt. Lance didn’t seem to take offence though, instead humming in vague agreement. He stopped when he reached his room, feet pausing in front of the threshold. Keith kept walking until he heard Lance let out a strange noise.
“Uurgh- Where are you going?” Lance asked.
His face was the picture of befuddlement, eyebrows drawn together and mouth pressed into some sort of pout.
“To my room?” Keith said gruffly.
A flash of understanding crossed Lance’s expression, and his face promptly drained of all emotion. His blue eyes somehow looked duller, their usual vibrancy muted in the luminescent lights of the castle corridors.
“Oh of-of course. Right. Yes,” he stuttered, tone unreadable. “Good night,” Lance said abruptly, and without a backwards glance he stepped into his room, the doors closing with a certain finality behind him.
Keith frowned to himself, his brain picking apart the details of Lance’s strange reaction.
“Whatever,” he grumbled under his breath.
Pressing his hand to the wall pad, Keith stepped into his own room, shucking off his jacket as he went. The events of the day swirled together in his mind, making a messy concoction of thoughts. It felt as if someone were mixing a bunch of colours together to create a muddy swamp of hues, and Keith felt them sloshing against the inside of his skull.
Whatever today’s problems were, he’d deal with them in the morning. With a resigned sigh, Keith fell face first onto his mattress.
He was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.