Chapter Text
Lance awoke the next morning feeling incredibly tired. He hadn’t slept well that night, replaying what had happened with Keith in his mind. He had tossed and turned the entire time, unable to drift off for hours. Finally, his body just gave in and he was at least able to rest for an hour or two. His eyes were red and puffy from crying, and he knew that nothing he had in his bathroom would even remotely help that. So, with a sigh, he got up and headed to get breakfast. Back on Earth when his heart got broken, he would lay in bed and mope for a day before getting up and being productive. Out in space, fighting to defend the universe, he didn’t have that luxury.
He knew he wouldn’t run into Keith, as Keith was the earliest riser aside from Shiro. Lance slunk into the dining room and just sat down in his spot, spooning out the goo that was in front of him. He ate slowly, trying to keep himself together and not thinking about how he hurt Keith and how Keith would never forgive him and then they wouldn’t be able to form Voltron again.
He was panicking, and barely felt the cold hand that landed on his shoulder. “Lance…”
Lance turned up to see Shiro. He couldn’t tell what kind of expression Shiro had exactly, but it made him uneasy. “Hey Shiro…morning.”
Shiro squeezed Lance’s shoulder. “Can you come with me for a sec? I wanna talk.”
Lance just nodded and got out of his chair, ignoring the concerned glancing Hunk and Pidge were shooting him. Shiro led him to the longue where they could talk with little likeliness of getting interrupted. Shiro motioned for Lance to take a seat, and that felt all too much like going to the principal’s office. Lance prepared himself for a scolding, because of course he should have known Keith would have told Shiro. He had intruded on Shiro’s privacy just as much as he had with Keith’s, and he could only imagine how upset Shiro had to be at him. “I’m sorry…”
Shiro sat down beside him, not even remotely surprised that Lance knew what he wanted to talk about. “I know you are, Lance.”
“You’re really mad at me too huh? If you want to find a new blue paladin, that’s cool. I’d understand. I’ve probably fucked things up so badly that we can’t form Voltron anyway…” Lance’s eyes were burning, and he was trying desperately not to cry in front of his hero.
“What? Who said anything about me being mad at you?” Shiro was genuinely confused where Lance even got the idea. “And there’s no way we would ever get someone to take your place. You’re needed on this team.”
Lance couldn’t help the few tears that fell down his face. “But…but I was nosey, and I listened in on something I shouldn’t have. Keith hates me now, so now we couldn’t possibly even try to form Voltron. Why would you want to keep someone that betrays the trust of his teammates around!?”
Shiro stayed silent for a while, and allowed Lance to calm down some before he spoke again. “I do agree you probably shouldn’t have eavesdropped, and I’m a little disappointed you didn’t tell Keith and I right away that you did, but I think you are being way too harsh on yourself. Yes, Keith is upset right now and he is hurt, but he doesn’t hate you, Lance. Nor do I, so please never think that.”
Lance sniffed. “But…”
“But what about forming Voltron? It will be tough, and probably not possible today, but give it some time and things will work themselves out. I promise you, Keith will realize you didn’t mean to cause any harm and you two will be okay. Just give him some space and time to cool down, and it will be alright. No one on this ship wants to see you leave us, okay? So, promise me no more of that kind of talk, okay?”
Lance didn’t reply verbally at first, just allowed himself to silently cry a little more and hug Shiro tightly. Shiro returned the embrace, rubbing Lance’s back in a soothing manner. Lance mumbled sorry’s and thank you’s into Shiro’s shoulder. Once he calmed down enough, he pulled back from Shiro and wiped his eyes. “Sorry…and thank you.”
“Don’t apologise for having emotions, Lance. It’s okay to break down sometimes.” Shiro ruffled Lance’s hair. “Now chin up and let’s take it day by day. Don’t stress too much on what happened, just focus on what you can do right now, rather than what you can’t. I promise things will be okay with Keith.”
“Thank you, Shiro. And I promise I won’t talk about getting a new blue paladin. Sorry.” Lance gave Shiro a weak smile.
Shiro smiled back. “Good. Now, go finish eating. Good thing about that goo, it doesn’t really lose or keep temperature…” Shiro grimaced as he stood up. “Allura will probably want to run some more training today, so be prepared for that. I’ll see you then.”
Lance sighed, he knew that meant he’d have to be in a room with Keith for hours, and that could only mean trouble. He wondered if he could fake a stomach-ache, but doubted it; Coran would probably just shove him in a pod and have any ailment cleared in no time.
He made his way back to the dining room, where Hunk and Pidge were still there; finished their meals and waiting for his return. “Hey man…you doing okay?”
Lance shook his head. “No, but I’ll be alright. Just messed things up…but Shiro told me not to fret and it’d work itself out…somehow.”
Hunk nodded and scooped up more goo for Lance; as he had barely taken any to start with. “Well, we’re here for you no matter what dude. Right, Pidge?”
“Always.” Pidge had moved from her space at the end of the table and sat beside Lance. “So, finish up, and then you can come help Hunk and I finish our machine.”
Lance wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders and pulled them into a tight hug. He didn’t say anything, just hugged his friends close. Once he let them go, he shoveled down as much goo as he could possibly stomach. He helped gather all the dishes and followed Pidge and Hunk towards the kitchen to clean up and assist where they needed. Lance mostly kept quiet, only adding quips and remarks when they were direct at him. He was trying to do what Shiro suggested of not stressing about Keith, but he couldn’t help it. All he could think about was the look on Keith’s face before he left the training deck the previous night.
As his friends tinkered, he mostly just sat himself on a counter and watched. He knew they didn’t really need his help, but instead were trying to take his mind off things. They did ask him to get them tools or parts at random, so he couldn’t say he wasn’t doing anything, but it wasn’t enough to completely take his mind off things either.
Allura’s voice came over the coms not half an hour into their tinkering. “Paladins, meet me in the training deck in five minutes.”
Lance just started up at the ceiling, where he assumed the coms were, and groaned. There was no part of this that was going to go well. Pidge and Hunk waited from him by the door, looking worried. “It’ll be okay man…lets just focus on not getting the crap kicked outta us by bots…or Allura if we don’t show up on time.”
Lance hopped off the counter he had been perching on and slowly made his way out of the kitchens following his friends. They tried to lighten the mood and talk about tactics on how not to suck together during training, but Lance mostly tuned it out. His main concern was how he was going to be able seeing Keith for the first time since their fight.
When they got into the training deck, Allura and Shiro were deep in conversation. Shiro’s brows were furrowed as he spoke, clearly frustrated with what Allura had been saying. She shook her head and spoke back at him in their soft tone. From where the other three were standing, they couldn’t hear what was being said much. But the last thing they heard from Allura was, “Just trust me, alright?”
Shiro sighed, but nodded none the less. He turned around and headed over to his team members. Pidge, ever inquisitive asked, “So what was that about?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Shiro said in a final tone.
Pidge shrugged and didn’t ask further…for now. She knew that if she bugged him later she could find out, or guess herself if it was something she would be able to witness. Knowing Allura, that might be the case. She’d just have to wait and find out which option presented itself first.
They mulled around and waited for their last paladin; who they were all surprised wasn’t already there like normal. By ten minutes, Allura was visibly annoyed. “Where is Keith?”
“Don’t know…I haven’t seen him since last night.” Shiro answered.
Same here. Lance thought mournfully. It was something else that Keith wasn’t right there on the deck already, and even more concerning that he refused a direct order from Allura about the timing. He wondered if maybe Keith was locking himself in his room like he had wanted to. Or worse yet, maybe Keith had snuck away and taken one of the pods; never to return to their group again. Lance felt sick at the mere thought, that he could potentially be the cause of Keith running away from the team.
Coran came in just before Lance was about to suggest they search for Keith. He was whistling and tune and dragging Keith into the room by his collar. “Sorry we’re late everyone! Keith here said he wasn’t feeling well so I had him in the pods for a few ticks and he seems to be in better shape now. Isn’t that right Keith?”
“Just peachy.” Keith mumbled, clearly pissed off at the situation.
Coran released him and winked at the princess before whistling his way right back out the door he came in. Keith gave the door a calculating look; as if questioning his ability to flee the area before someone caught up to him. Allura cleared her throat, arms crossed as she narrowed her eyes at Keith. “So nice of you to join us.”
Keith sighed and knew he wasn’t going to be able to escape so easily. He fell in with the rest of them; but as far away from Lance as he possibly could muster. Arms crossed and scowl on his face, he waited for Allura to give her instructions and get the session over with.
Allura could see his malice, but she could care less. If he wanted to act like a angsty teenager, he could. As long as he did what was needed of him in their fight to save the universe. “I’d like you all to do more in groups of two. You all need work on protecting your own backs, as well as your fellow paladins. So, I’d like Shiro and Keith first please.”
Shiro and Keith fell into place silently; engaging their shields and Keith activated his bayard. The bots were activated and as usual, they had no issued preforming the simulation. Allura smiled brightly. “Perfect! Now, I want all of you to be able to do that. So, lets have Shiro and…Hunk next.”
Their run was by far Hunk’s overall best. He was ecstatic, and both Pidge and Lance congratulated him. Everyone’s turns went smoothly, with near perfection and hardly any mistakes. No one had lost a simulation yet, but there had been some close calls. Finally, it was the pair up that Lance knew was coming. He would have to be paired with Keith. He knew before Allura had even called for them to get into position. He shuffled back into the ring where Keith already was, having just finished his turn with Pidge. Keith wouldn’t look his way, just focused dead ahead. Lance got into position behind Keith, and felt Keith move away from him.
“Keith! Move back into position. Your backs are wide open.” Keith didn’t budge. Allura scowled. “Keith, move back now or I will move you myself.”
Keith took one small step back and didn’t move any closer than that. He wouldn’t look at any one else in the room, just focused dead ahead and waited for the bots to come in. Allura huffed and Shiro shot her a look that screamed ‘I told you so’. She started the simulation and waited to see what happened.
Lance was having a hard time focusing on anything but Keith’s presence behind him, but tried to make sure he did his job and protected them both. That’s what teammates were supposed to do. However, it didn’t matter in the slightest. As soon as the first bot shot at Keith, he dropped his shield and just let it hit him in the chest. The hole in the floor opened up and he dropped in. Lance was stunned that Keith would just give up like that, that he didn’t even bother trying to protect himself from the next shot.
When they came back up Allura was absolutely furious. “What was that?! You cannot afford that kind of behaviour while we are in the middle of a war! You two will try again, immediately!”
Lance hung his head and got back into position. Keith emitted something akin to a growl and moved back into his space slightly further away from Lance than he should be. They managed to get half way through the simulation before Keith sabotaged them again by moving his shield just enough out of the way to get hit again. Lance did try to fight off the bots himself, but it wasn’t easy and eventually got hit himself.
Allura looked like she was going to tell them to go again, but Shiro stepped in. “Okay team, five minute break and then we’ll move on to something else.”
He grabbed Allura by the arm and led her away from the team so they could talk away from prying ears. Lance made his way back to Hunk and Pidge, while Keith walked over to the furthest wall from everyone and sat down. Lance tried not to glance his way, but couldn’t help it. Keith was starting moodily at Shiro and Allura while they chatted. Lance turned back just in case Keith happened to look over, and hunched in on himself.
Allura and Shiro finished their chat with Shiro still looking peeved. Allura just strode over to the three of them and glared at Keith until he came closer. “Alright paladins. I was going to have you go against each other in combat, but it has come to my attention that there may be some issues if we do. So, I’ve decided to do more mind melding. In pairs. Shiro and Pidge, Hunk and I, and Lance and Keith; since you two can’t seem to do simple battle exercises today.”
Keith turned on his heels and made for the exit without a word. Allura grabbed his jacket and yanked him back. “You’re not getting out of this Keith. So sit down and do as I ask.”
Keith pulled his arms free from the jacket and continued his way out. “I’ll pass.”
Lance wanted to cry out, beg Keith to just stay and let them work it out, but it wouldn’t be any use. Shiro intervened instead, stepping in front of Keith and the door. They could all see Shiro talking in a rushed, quiet manner to Keith; who looked like he wanted nothing more than to shove Shiro out of the way and keep going. Keith knew that was impossible though; Shiro could easily overpower him and wouldn’t think twice about doing it.
Lance watched as Keith just scowl at Shiro with saying nothing back. They stared at each other for a while before Keith turned back around and came back to the group. Shiro looked like he wanted to scream and lose it, but was holding it together for the sake of the team. Allura handed Keith the mind melding set and pointed to one corner of the room. “Go over there with Lance, and get to it. I want to see at least some of the teamwork you’ve shown over the last week.”
Keith didn’t respond and just marched over to where she wanted. Lance got up slowly and followed at a distance. He didn’t want to get too close to Keith so as not to set off the boy any further. He was clearly pissed that Allura was singling them out, but Lance wasn’t all that surprised. She was probably just trying to make sure their bond wasn’t completely screwed so that they could at least form Voltron.
Lance sat down across from Keith and waited patiently for Keith to set up the small device. He watched the others do the same, to make it seem like he wasn’t hyper aware that he was away from the others and close to Keith. He wanted to say something, beg for forgiveness, but Shiro’s words about giving Keith space kept ringing through his mind. Shiro was looking their way as Pidge did the set up, watching how they were doing.
Keith all but through the headpiece at Lance’s face once he had set up and arranged his own. Keith was still refusing to look at him, choosing to have his eyes closed and waiting for Lance to get things going. He didn’t want to keep Keith waiting and hurried to put his headpiece on and wait for Coran to start their session from the control booth. “Right, okay. You’re going to be working on strengthening your mental protection. So, whoever is shortest will defend, and the taller one will be on the offense.” Coran’s voice boomed through the room.
Keith huffed and furrowed his brow. Lance closed his eyes and concentrated on pushing into Keith’s thoughts. It was hard, since Keith was naturally good at it, but this time was different. After only a few minutes, Keith’s mental barriers came crashing down and Lance was able to see exactly what was on Keith’s mind. The images rushing through his mind were of the previous night. He could all but feel the hurt from Keith. He saw everything through Keith’s eyes; how he was nearly in tears as he left the training deck, or how he ran to Shiro’s room right away. How Shiro held him close as Keith screamed against Shiro’s chest and let out more angry tears.
The connection was severed when Keith threw off his headpiece and ran out of the training deck. “Keith wait!” Lance cried after him.
It was no use, and Keith had left the room without anyone being fast enough to stop him. Lance was about to go after him but Shiro shot him a look that froze him in place. A look that screamed at Lance to just leave Keith be. Lance focused on slowly cleaning up the gear instead. His heart ached at the reality that he made Keith cry, that he had hurt someone he cared about so much they were in tears. He had never ever thought he could cause so much pain to someone else before, and seeing it as a reality was one of the hardest things he would probably ever experience in his life.
Keith stormed his way around the castle, not really having a course in mind, just walking. He couldn’t work out to keep his mind off things while the training deck was being used, so he instead just wandered around in a huff until he finds himself down at his lion’s hangar. Red’s presence did very little to sooth him in his current mood, but he went to go sit on one of her metal paws and brood. He could feel her in the back of his mind, poking to see if Keith was alright. “Ugh, Red don’t. I’ll be fine…I’m just…pissed off and hurt and…feeling like an idiot.”
A questioning rumble ran through his mind from his lion. “Look, shit happened last night and it seems that the universe still hates me. You are literally the only thing good in my life.”
Red pushed images from her perspective into Keith’s mind. They were all of Keith and Lance together on Oshornia. Of Lance in Keith’s lap inside red, of them holding hands just outside of her. Keith scoffed. “That is probably the worst thing in my life right now. Doesn’t mean shit. He was drugged anyway.”
Red pushed more images at him. Of just Lance looking at him while he was drugged; a dopey love-struck gaze that screamed pure adoration. Keith pushed the thoughts out of his mind. “Stop it, Red! He doesn’t give a shit about me. That was all the drug! He’s selfish and doesn’t think about how badly he can hurt someone with the choices he makes! I just…wanted it to be real…”
Red made a noise that reminded of Keith of a purr as Keith just let lose and vented. “I’ve never had a relationship, and I was so sure that I could have with Lance. That I could have genuinely loved him and that he could maybe even love me back. But now? Now I know he was just being my friend to get whatever he wanted from me and that none of it was real. It was just me projecting the feelings I wanted to see from Lance, even though they weren’t actually there.”
He leaned back against Red’s leg. “But god did I want them to really be there. I haven’t felt this way about someone since I fell for Shiro all those years ago…and this felt more. And now…now I can’t even be in the same room as him.”
Red showed Voltron breaking apart, unable to keep their formation together. Keith sighed. “I know…I know that I shouldn’t let my personal issue affect things. I know that not talking to Lance anymore will help absolutely no one. But it hurts so much, Red. I don’t even know if we can fix this…if I want to fix things.”
Keith hopped off Red’s leg and looked up at her. “Thanks for listening, Red. I think…I think I should just have some alone time right now though.”
Keith left the hangar and headed to the kitchen. The remains bits of Hunk and Pidge’s machine were scattered around the area. Keith stepped over everything and snagged a water pouch and a protein bar. He wouldn’t be joining the group for lunch and knew he should probably lay low for a while. He considered going back to his room, but then he knew Allura or Shiro would just let themselves in, and he didn’t want that. So, he headed to a place where he could be alone. He knew Allura could find him if she really wanted to, as could Lance, but he had a feeling Lance wouldn’t come after him. He hadn’t the previous night, nor just a few moments ago on the training deck. Why go after someone you don’t really care about.
The observation deck was far enough away from everyone and everything that he could just sit and figure out how to control his thoughts enough that it wouldn’t affect the entire team. Just because he was hurt didn’t mean he had to let the others down. They were in a war, and there was no time for romantic feelings, or even sexual feelings, to get in the way. He would go and sit and figure out how to function with Lance being around; being part of the team. Keith knew that he would have to let go of any ridiculous notion he had of Lance liking him back. He’d get over Lance, as that was the smart move to make.
As soon as he stepped into the observation deck, however, everything he once thought was completely ripped away from him. He walked slowly into the room towards his usual spot, not believing his eyes. A bouquet of the most gorgeous flowers he had ever seen, resting prettily in the handle of a rectangular case. The case was open, and Keith dropped to his knees to take the item from it with shaky hands.
It was a guitar; Probably the most gorgeous one that he had ever seen in his life. The body was made from a wood that clearly wasn’t from Earth as it was practically silver in colour, while everything else aside from the strings was made from amber. The neck had vines encased in the amber, twisting together and ending in a heart at the top. He made to grab the bouquet as well, and noticed the letter sticking out from it. He carefully retrieved the letter and held it in his hand.
Keith didn’t dare read the letter right away. He was too confused and scared to want to try. There was only one person that could have left this for him, and that was the one person he was trying so hard to ignore. The person who he was so sure didn’t feel a thing for him. Yet here was a guitar, and flowers, and a letter, all for him.
Slowly, Keith opened the letter.
Dear Keith,
Sooo I know that things in space kind of suck sometimes, and that it’s hard to feel at home. At the ball last night, I wondered if the instruments were made here. And they were! So, since you said you missed your guitar, I thought I would get you a new one. I know it’s not like the one you probably had on Earth, and it may not even work right since I don’t know jack about instruments, but hopefully it works.
The flowers were given to me by the royal florist. They have a meaning…but I’d rather tell you that in person.
I’m not good at letters, and I’ve got so much more to say in person, so I’ll end this here. Hope you like the guitar, and I’m sure I’ll see you very soon. I’d love to hear you play some time!
Yours truly,
Lance.
Keith probably read the note over three times before he put it down. He looked back at the flowers and down at the guitar in his lap. He was now more confused than he had ever been. Lance had left him a gift, just so that he would find it before they met up. Lance had said he wanted to talk in person, and Keith’s imagination ran wild about all the things Lance might have wanted to say. Was he going to tell Keith about his eavesdropping, or was there something more? He didn’t want to think he was still reading too much into things, but how could he not assume that maybe he had been right, and that Lance maybe did feel the same way.
His legs felt like lead, keeping him in place. He idly began plucking at the strings of the guitar, tuning it as was required. Keith’s mind was racing a million miles and hour, along with his pulse. He wanted to stay here forever with the guitar and flowers, he wanted to get up and find Lance and just hold him tightly and apologize for being an asshole. Yes, he was hurt that Lance had listened in on a private conversation about his personal life, but in hindsight maybe he had just blown up and acted on emotion rather than really listen to what Lance was trying to say.
Lance wasn’t a cruel person, and Keith felt ashamed he could even assume that Lance had any ill intentions towards him. He had told Lance about his past, what he knew anyway, because he felt comfortable with Lance; because he trusted Lance. Yes, he was still hurt, but completely ignoring Lance was probably the worst thing he could do for both of them right now.
“God, I’ve been so stupid!” Keith groaned. He gently placed the guitar on the ground and got up.
He had every intention of just running to the training deck and finding Lance, but fate had other ideas. The ship rocked violently and the alarms blared; lights all around turning red. “Galra ships are attacking! Everyone, get to your lions! Allura, we need you back up here.” Coran yelled.
Keith’s heart sank. Of course, the Galra were attacking right now, just when he needed to fix things with Lance. He raced towards the bridge as fast as he could, hoping he could catch Lance for a second before they headed out into enemy fire.
Keith wasn’t so lucky, being the last person to make it in. He saw Lance’s elevator close as another blast hit the barrier. There wasn’t any time to waste, so Keith hopped in his own elevator and headed down to Red.
The others were taking down the fleet surrounding them as Keith joined the fray. Keith shot down Galra ships with his teammates, being sure to concentrate on what he was doing and not what the Blue Lion was doing off in the distance. The paladins were taking quite a bit of damage as they continued their fight.
“Paladins, you need to form Voltron. I’m afraid the castle’s shields can’t take much more.” Allura bellowed into their coms.
“Right. Team, lets from Voltron!” Shiro declared, a little hesitantly.
They all got in formation, and attempted to fuse into the might Voltron, but it failed. Hunk ended up ramming into the black lion by accident, sending it spiralling out of the way. “Ooo, sorry Shiro!”
Shiro huffed. “Okay, looks like we can’t do this right now. Lets just keep firing and take them down. Lance, Hunk. You take the left fleets. Pidge and Keith take the right. I’ll work with the castle for the ones in the middle. We can do this.”
The paladins broke into their groups and laid down a powerful barrage of attacks. They were sure to utilize all their lions’ powers to be able to take down their enemy. It wasn’t easy, but when they last ship exploded from the black lion’s jaw blade, there was an audible sigh of relief across the coms. Coran cleared his throat. “Great work Paladins!”
Shiro sighed. “I’m sensing a ‘but’ in there…tell me I’m wrong.”
“But…while we were fighting the Galra, we received a short distress signal from Gostoria, the planet we’re beside.” Coran explained.
“We must go to them at once. If the Galra are wreaking havoc on these poor Gostorians, then it is our duty to protect them” Allura declared.
“Um Allura, not to like, step on your authority or anything, but we barely managed to fight just now,” Hunk interjected. “What if we get down there and we need Voltron and we can’t form Voltron again and we all get shot down, and the Galra take our lions away and then Zarkon has control of our lions and-”
Allura cut of Hunk’s panicked rambling. “You will just have to try harder next time. I believe you can do it, Paladins. When push comes to shove, you never let your team down.”
“We’ll follow you down for back up, just in case.” Coran added.
The collective groan from the paladins did not go unheard by the Alteans, but no scolding followed. They guided their lions down into Gostoria’s atmosphere, taking down any fleet ships that came their way. Coran directed them to the location the signal came from. It was difficult to navigate and see where the enemy was. There was rather dense cloud cover for what felt like an eternity, and as soon as they were cleared from the clouds, they encountered dozens of floating islands. Pidge nearly collided with one as she sped her way to the surface, narrowly avoiding a tree that was precariously close to the edge. The planet’s surface was no where near as lush as the small islands. All they could see was sandy and mountains as they neared the ground. There were small villages spread out from what they could tell, and they were headed straight for one. In the middle of the small town was a large Galran base.
As soon as the lions came within range, the base began to fire its defensive cannons at the lions. Small fleet ships poured out from the base’s hangar; giving the paladins a lot of deal with. They all knew they wouldn’t be able to form Voltron, and they all knew why. Keith felt guilty, but now was not the idea time to talk to Lance; not when he was being flanked at every angle, and could barely keep up with taking down the enemy. Every one else was in a similar predicament, with the castle taking the most fire from the base itself.
It felt like it took hours before they all managed to take out the entire fleet and base. They knew more were probably on their way, but Shiro landed his lion and got out to free the Gostrian people from their shackles and cages. The others were on look-out; watching the horizon for any movement. Keith knew he was supposed to focus on the sky, but was also looking around and mentally asking Red if she could privately link him to Blue so he could talk to Lance alone. Maybe if they were able to talk, even quickly, they would be able to form Voltron again. He hated letting everyone down like this, and he was positive that Lance felt the same way.
Just as Red pulsed the right part of his screens at him, Shiro’s voice came back on the group com. “Alright team, so it seems like this was only one base the Galra have. There were seven in total, and now we have six more to deal with.”
Pidge groaned. “What do they even want with a desert planet anyway?”
“Apparently under all this sand there are very valuable and rare gems deep underground. The Galra have build these bases so they can drill into the ground and use the Gostorians as slaves to mine out the gems.” Shiro explained.
“So we have to take out each base one by one.” Hunk moaned. “That’s going to take forever.”
“No, it is not. We are going to split up and each take one down.” Allura chimed in.
“That doesn’t sound like a good idea Allura. I don’t like the idea of us being split apart when we’re…vulnerable.” Shiro noted.
Allura looked torn. “I know, and I would normally agree with you. But right now, I think the best thing to do is take down the bases simultaneously. If we take them out one by one it will alert the Galra to our whereabouts more so than they already are. I don’t think we should take that risk.”
Shiro was silent for a while, speaking with the locals once more. When he came back on the coms, he didn’t sound any more reassured. “There are explosives just outside the base here. If we take some explosives and place them on the main power grid at each base, it will overload and blow the whole thing.”
“Is that like, safe though? Not to be the worrywart here, but shouldn’t we at least have some back up? I mean how are we going to get in the base anyway? Is there some like secret entrance that the Gostorians know about?” Hunk questioned.
“I agree with Hunk,” Pidge chimed in. “Plus, where are we going to leave our lions. If this is a stealth mission, only my lion has cloaking. Are we just going to leave them in the sand and hope the Galra don’t come by an take them?”
They could see Shiro turn and talk to the Gostorian he was beside. He was waving his arms about and pointing to the lions. The others might have thought it amusing if it wasn’t such a tense situation.
“Uh, guys? We got company.” Lance began firing off ice blasts in the direction the ships were coming from.
Keith turned Red to face the way the enemy was attack and began to fire away in tandem with Lance. Pidge and Hunk joined while Shiro got the Gostorians inside and away from the fight. While Pidge and Hunk were communicating with both Lance and Keith, neither of them would communicate with each other. It wasn’t as if they had the others communicate for them, it was more like they just didn’t speak up. Even when an enemy was coming at Lance’s back, Keith hesitated to speak up. Instead he just shot down the ship and carried on firing until the group was alone again.
Hunk groaned. “It’s not going to be long before more come. Shiro, any ideas?”
“Yeah, I got something. While you guys were taking care of things out there Klimmos here helped me devise a plan. Each of us are going to take two Gostorians in our lions and fly up to a floating island closest to the base. We’ll be guided down with one Gostorian while the other keeps watch. You’ll each infiltrate the base with your partner-and yes there are sort of secret emergency exits Hunk, and destroy the base simultaneously with the rest of the group. Once you’re done just head back to the island and they will fly you up. The Galra should all start flooding out to find their saboteurs, and we’ll be waiting for them together at the mid point.”
“Isn’t there six bases left though?” Allura asked. “What of the last base?”
“Klimmos said he would lead a small troop in and take that one out themselves. Their people have been enslaved for a very long time. They want to fight back in any way they can,” Shiro replied. “It’s risky, but it should work. Just focus on the mission, and don’t get distracted. We can do this team, it’s what we do training for.”
“Uh, I don’t think any of our training covered sneaking into a Galra base and blowing things up, but yeah let’s do this!” Hunk said with subdued enthusiasm.
They all lowered their lions so two of the winged aliens could come aboard. The Gostorians were a large dark-skinned bird like species. Black beady eyes and long beaks for their nose and mouth. Thick legs and very large wings with small three taloned hands at the end. Their wings colours were all vastly different, with no two Gostorians having identical feathers. Keith was skeptical when the two aliens climbed on board his lion. He had no idea how in the hell they would be able to carry him or anyone else up for that matter, with their hands being attached to their wings. He didn’t ask though, as he didn’t want to offend the creatures that were about to put their lives on the line.
Once everyone was set and ready to go, they took off from the area an were guided to a floating island by one of the Gostorians on their lion. Keith wondered if the universe had it out for him, as the two who were with him were apparently a sappy couple who had been kept separate once they got old enough to be put to work in the mines; since, from what Keith gathered, the men and women were kept far away from each other, but the kids were all raised in the same area. Certain pairs were allowed to breed once a year to make new workers, but that was about it.
“I’ll never let those Galra brutes chain your wings again, my beloved Sezti.” The male cooed, stroking the feathers that made the Sezti’s hair.
“Oh, my sweet Tuoma. I’ve longed for your arms to be around me once more. Being kept away from you was the hardest part.”
Keith had to deal with their mushy love declarations and kissing the entire time as he flew high in the cloud cover. They were supposed to be guiding him, but so far they had only told him the general direction to fly and left him alone. “Okay guys! Where exactly is this island? I’m way too far up to see where I’m going.”
Tuoma scoffed. “You should have hit the trees by now. Perhaps you didn’t follow our directions well enough.”
“I followed them exactly like you told me! Maybe if you guys were less preoccupied with each other, you’d be able to help!” Keith snapped.
Tuoma glare at Keith and turned his back to him. “You can figure it out yourself then.”
Sezti looked between the two males and shook her head. She moved closer to Keith’s chair and lowered her head so she could speak to him softly. “Please excuse us. We fell in love at a young age and said once we were of age we would be together no matter what and break out the others. Being able to be part of this mission means a lot to us. However, it had been a long while since we have been reunited.”
Keith sighed. “I get it. I’m sorry for snapping. I just…want to get back to La…the others.”
“It sounds as though you really do get it. Which one is your love?” Sezti inquired.
Keith flushed. “I uh...wouldn’t quite say love yet…but I think I want to be? I’m really confused, we’re in a bit of a fight at the moment…and I need to apologies for over reacting. And I just….”
Sezti placed a hand on his shoulder. “I understand. Sorry for being distracting. Lower out of the cloud cover a bit so we can see where we are.”
Keith could hear Tuoma turn around and move to his other side as he brought Red down so they could see. The resounding horrified gasp at what they saw was enough to tell Keith that things were bad over here. All the floating islands as far as they could see were currently in craters on the ground below them. They appeared to be dried up and cracking, like all the life had been drained. “It’s worse than we had thought….”
Keith looked to Tuoma, who looked angry. “What do you mean? What happened to these islands?”
“The islands float because they have a different level of energy than the rest of the planet. Somehow, the Galra have taken the energy for themselves. We heard talk that one quadrant was devoid of floating islands…I guess we now know which one.” Sezti replied, face paling at the sight before her.
Keith surveyed the area. “How am I supposed to hide Red if all the islands are down…?”
Tuoma looked ready to tear Keith a new one, and opened his mouth to start shouting, but Sezti hushed him. “Look there,” She pointed to the deepest island crater that was close to the back of the base. The island itself was mostly just rubble and it looked like it had fallen on it’s side rather than straight down like the others. “That’s the closest one to the emergency exit. If you speed down and land softly behind the rocks, they shouldn’t be able to detect you.”
Keith hoped she was right and put Red into a nosedive. They shot down to the ground and break-neck speed, with Keith pulling up just before Red slammed into the sand. He lowered her down and waited to see if they had been detected. After ten minutes of waiting, the contacted the rest of the group. “The Galra have drained the energy of the islands where I am. I’m on the ground, about to infiltrate the base.”
“Stay there until we’ve all reached out islands.” Shiro commanded.
Keith confirmed that he would and surveyed the area while his two passengers spoke in hushed tones behind him. Shiro confirmed next, then Pidge, Lance, Hunk, and Klimmos; who Shiro gave a com to. The plan was to contact the group again once they made it to the main panel. Keith muted his com and turned back to the other two. “So, who’s going with me?”
“I am,” Tuoma said, winged arms crossed. “Sezti said she would rather guard the ship, so I will join you. Although I guess I won’t be flying you back down, since we’re already on the ground.”
“Yeah that’s fine. Just show me to the entrance, give me the bombs, and I’ll figure it out from there.” Keith replied.
Tuoma scoffed. “Do you even know what the main power grid will look like or where it will be located?”
“Tell me then, and then you two can get somewhere far away from here where you can be together.”
“No,” Sezti said. “Tuoma will stay with you. It is safer that way. I would hate for something to happen to you and you not to be able to see your…to be love because you were captured or killed.”
Keith opened his mouth to retort, but found he had nothing to say. He closed his mouth in resignation and started heading out. “Let’s go then.”
Tuoma followed him out of Red, but not before kissing Sezti goodbye and promising to return to her side as she gave him the rucksack that contained the bombs. Keith waited on top of Red for his companion to finish. “Okay…so how are you going to get me up there. Is Red tall enough to jump off of?”
Tuoma rolled his eyes. “Just grab onto my middle and do not let go. Or move.”
Keith begrudgingly did as he was told and waited. Tuoma took a deep breath and crouched. “Use your jet pack on the count of three, alright?”
At Tuoma’s counting, Keith did as was instructed and activated his pack; before gripping back onto the Gostorian for dear life. The added boost from the pack combined with the sheer power in Tuoma’s legs was enough to get them airborne. Keith was impressed that Tuoma seemed to be doing this effortlessly. “I figured your wings wouldn’t be of much use since you’ve been cooped up for so long.”
“Honestly, this is barely a fifth of what I should be able to do. My people are used to taking flight from the sand, no need for higher elevation or boosts from anyone else,” They dropped in elevation some before Tuoma beat his wings to get them back up. “Please keep your pack running, I don’t think I can fly us without it.” Tuoma grunted, voice strained from the effort.
Keith kept as still as he could and watched as they just barely made it out of the crater. As soon as he was set on the ground, Tuoma dropped beside him. He seemed slightly winded and Keith turned off his jetpack and waited a moment for Tuoma before trudging forward. He was used to walking on sand on Earth, but the sand felt so much softer, and he sank deeper as he trudged along. He wondered how the Gostorians seemed to have little issue since they were clearly a lot heavier than the average human. Keith glanced over at Tuoma who was dragging his wings behind both of them, covering their tracks.
The emergency exit was located in a pile of rocks a decent distance from the base. Keith opened it and waited to see if there was an ambush. No one came out so he slowly stepped in. “So how do you guys know about these entrances anyway?”
Tuoma followed behind and closed the door behind him. “These are Gostorian mines originally…the Galra just build bases over them. We had these tunnels long before the Galra set their eyes on our planet, and our people did our best to close them up so they wouldn’t be noticed.”
“We gonna be able to even get into the base this way?” Keith questioned.
Tuoma shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out. Now come on, I don’t want to waste any more time.”
Together they silently made their way through the dark tunnel. The only light came from ancient looking lamps that had been probably left going since the Galra had shown up. It wasn’t much light, but it was enough. The tunnel came to an end at a plain stone slab, with a handle carved out. “Okay, this is probably the door. We’re only going to be able to leave it open a crack to get back into it.”
Keith nodded and slowly slid the rock over some. It was heavy, and Tuoma ended up helping instead. They peaked around and noticed the entrance to the base was across and to the left of the cavern from them, guarded by two sentries. This seemed to be an area that had been taken for all it was worth, and it didn’t seem like there would be more guards than there currently were. They slipped into the cavern and silently closed the door nearly all the way. Together they ran over to the entrance, just as the sentries spotted them. Keith activated his shield and blocked their blasts as he charged forward. He sliced through them with his bayard before they caused too much of a ruckus. Taking one of their arms, he used it on the scanner beside the door to get in.
Once inside they were greeted with a few more sentries, but they were quickly taken out. “Alright, we’re not going to have a lot of time to do this. Which way are we headed?”
“Go…straight, left, right, up, right again and you should be there. These bases were supposed to be built identical, So I shouldn’t be mistaken.”
Keith stalked forward quickly, taking out anything in his path that looked like a threat. Tuoma snorted when he took out a cleaning drone which he mistook for another type of sentry. Keith breezed through the base, following the directions given while Tuoma watched their back and checked that his directions weren’t faulty.
Eventually, they wound up at a large room, filled with computer grids, generators and things Keith couldn’t even begin to know the purpose of. Once the doors shut behind him and the guards were taken out, Tuoma read the alien language until he found the correct set of computers. He placed a bomb on a set of four computers, using the last two on the other side of the room just in case. “Okay, these will blow once I push the detonator. Let’s get out of here before they find and disarm the bombs.”
“Got it,” Keith turned his com back on. “Shiro, bombs have been planted and armed. We’re going to get clear and back to Red and wait for your signal.”
“Roger that Keith. Lance and Hunk have just gotten back to me too. Waiting on the others. Keep your com on, I’ll tell you when to blow them.”
Keith confirmed he understood his orders and took off the way they had come. It seemed to go a lot quicker, they had been in and out in a matter of minutes, and it didn’t seem anyone on patrol had hit the destroyed sentries yet. By the time they got back to the tunnel, Keith was beginning to have a sinking feeling in his gut that it had been too easy. There should have been a lot more guards about.
Once out of the tunnel, Tuoma took off ahead of Keith, basically running through the sand. Keith followed as fast as he could, but even with ad added boost of his jetpack, he wasn’t gaining on the winged creature any faster. Keith kept checking over his shoulder to see if they were being followed, but nothing was coming. This only heightened Keith’s sense of unease.
As there were sliding down the crater, Keith realized his gut was on the right track. There were noticeable footprints heading towards where Red was, and he knew it wasn’t from them. That meant they probably had Sezti and Red, and that they were probably waiting to ambush them. Keith used his pack for and extra boost to speed down to yank at Tuoma’s wings. “We’ve got company.”
Keith pointed at the tracks leading to their hiding space, and Tuoma swore. It didn’t slow him down in the slightest, if anything it spurred him on faster. Keith chased after him, and sure enough as they rounded the corner, a whole troop of Galra soldiers waited with Sezti in their grasp.
“Just as I thought. Another Gostorian, and a Paladin of Voltron. Lord Zarkon will be most pleased when I deliver the red lion and it’s paladin to him directly,” The commander said pompously. “Now seize them. You can kill the Gostorian if you need, I have no use for him.”
Keith’s com crackled in his ear. “Alright everyone, blow them!”
“Tuoma, now!” Keith called as the guards charged forward. Keith launched himself into the fray. Tuoma took the few seconds that Keith granted him to press the detonator; hoping it would cause at least some form of distraction. The ground trembled and explosions were heard from where they were standing. It did cause some of the soldiers to be distracted, but most were trained to be on task. Tuoma pulled a knife from the rucksack and joined the fight. He fought his way to the solider holding onto Sezti and threw his knife into the soldier’s knee. This was enough to make the Galran let go of Sezti. She turned and snapped his neck while he was on the ground. She did not run right to Tuoma, just yanked the knife out of the dead solider and grabbed his laser rifle. She tossed the rifle to Tuoma before charging after Galra soldiers herself. Tuoma was awestruck if not for a moment before firing away at oncoming solders.
Keith was having a hell of a time keeping the Galra off his back. While he was trying to slice down a guard at his front, he felt a sharp pain in his side. Wheeling his blade around, he sliced down the enemy behind him before turning to take out the one he had previously been fighting. The commander had long since fled from the scene, taking a few guards with him. Keith was getting backed up against the fallen island when Tuoma took down soldier after soldier with the laser rifle. Most of their enemy had either fled after their commander, or were already taken out. There were only a handful left to fight, and with three of them, it took no time at all.
Soon it was just the three of them left. Sezti ran to Tuoma and threw herself in his arms. She sobbed against his chest about how she was so worried they would kill him, and how they would force her to live in a cage once they got the red lion. Tuoma shushed her, and stroked her feathers. Keith stood awkwardly off to the side, trying not to think about the pain that was spreading from where he had been hit. He couldn’t see exactly how he was injured, given the place of the injury, but it hurt something awful.
“Are you two coming back with me or…?”
Tuoma looked up at him. “No, I think we should fly back and regroup with the others.”
Sezti tightened her grip on Tuoma. “I cannot fly. When they grabbed me, they sliced through my flight feathers…”
Tuoma reached out to her wings and examined them carefully. Keith watched the concerned expression on Tuoma’s face turn into rage. “I’ll kill them all…Galran bastards hurting my beloved!”
Sezti shushed him. “Don’t go after them in rage, my darling. It only brings sorrow. We should meet back with the others, but I think we should be taken there.”
Keith was already walking to Red. “Well let’s go then. Before the Galra come back in their ships.”
The two Gostorians followed Keith and boarded the lion. The pain was starting to worsen, but Keith didn’t have time to think about that. He felt Red’s concern as he sat down in his seat. He brushed it away and got them out of there as fast as he could. His take off could have been a little better, but the ground conditions were in no way ideal. Red shot through the skies, racing where Keith steered her up in the clouds. Sezti and Tuoma were having a conversation behind him, but Keith couldn’t be bothered to hear what they were saying.
Tuoma tapped Keith on the shoulder. “I am going to fly Sezti out the rest of the way. I should be able to carry both out weights far enough. Taking us all the way would be out of the way.”
“You sure?”
“You’ve done enough for us, for our people. We thank you, mighty paladin.” Sezti said warmly.
Keith smiled lightly. “Ah, it’s Keith. And thank you guys for the back up. Pretty sure I would have been dead without you.”
“Any time. It was an honor fighting along side you.” Tuoma said before leading Sezti out to Red’s mouth.
Keith slowed some to allow them a less turbulent jump. As soon as he could see them take off, he tore through the sky towards the arranged meeting place. The yellow lion and blue lion were already there, with the black and green lions coming into view in the distance. “Everything go alright, team?”
“There were Galra every corner I turned! I’m just thankful that Egae brought a sword with him.” Hunk said.
“I had a similar experience,” Pidge noted. “Harsi didn’t bring any weapons, but she was really good at hand to hand apparently.”
“The base I was in was flooded in most parts. It was practically abandoned. Kannarc didn’t have to do anything.” Lance said dully.
“Keith, what about you?” Shiro asked.
Keith sighed. “It was well guarded, but that was mostly fine. There was an ambush waiting around Red. We took care of it.”
“Glad to hear you’re all alright then. I had a similar situation as Pidge and Hunk. As did Klimmos. He sadly lost one of his men.” Shiro noted.
“Wonderful to hear Paladins, but heads up! You have Galra coming in from all angles.” Allura called.
Allura had not been exaggerating. The horizon was almost black with ships headed their way. This would be an idea time to form the universe’s mightiest defender, but they all knew that was basically impossible at the moment. Instead, they backed up into a circle and began to fire away at the oncoming ships. The castle aided in any way it could from above.
It was too much, too quickly however. It didn’t matter how many they took down, more swarmed in and took shots at their lions; with most shots hitting. “I don’t know how much longer we can take this…we need Voltron now!”
“We know, Allura! It’s not that simple right now.” Shiro snapped back. “Team, we need to at least try. Just concentrate on our bonds as teammates and nothing else. We need this.”
“Right!” They called in unison and shot up in formation to form Voltron. They managed to get together, but it lasted seconds before they were forced apart. Keith gritted his teeth; he knew that was partially his fault. He had been thinking of the team, and not letting them down. His mind betrayed him and trailed to Lance however, his hurt expression when Keith stormed off the night before and in the training deck a few hours ago.
The Galra continued to fire at them, with their hazard light flashing in all their cockpits. A few more hits and they would be dead in the air with no hope of fighting back. Red got slammed back with a blast from a Galra ship. He felt the pain worsen, and he really didn’t have time to think about a stupid cut. “Lance!”
There was silence for a moment. “Keith…?”
“Lance…I know things suck right now…and yes I’m still a mad. But we will never be able to work through this if we’re both dead. So please…as soon as this is over, I promise we will talk. But for now, we need to concentrate. Alright?”
“…Okay,” Lance said lowly, voice cracking slightly. “Shiro, can we try again?”
The team had heard the entire exchange, as Keith didn’t bother with a private link. They chose to say nothing though. “Let’s form Voltron!”
The shot higher, away from the enemy fleets and concentrated on their bond. Once they had formed the giant robot, they waited to see if they would just break apart like last time. Keith put extra concentration into keeping them together; into being the arm of Voltron. Once Shiro was sure that they wouldn’t just break apart, the fight changed completely. “Keith, activate sword. Pidge, I need that shield up.”
The two complied and with the power of Voltron, and the support of the castle, they were soon taking back the day. “Keith, switch out. Hunk, I need that blaster!”
Keith removed his bayard as Hunk inserted his own. There were able to decimate the remaining ships in the fleet in a matter of minutes. The collective cheer from the team was loud, and just what they needed as they watched the last Galra ship crash into the sand below them. “Nice work paladins! Let’s dock your lions and we’ll land the ship to thank everyone for their help.”
“Roger that, Allura.” Shiro said.
Voltron broke apart and they each flew towards their docking bay. The wound Keith received was feeling a lot worse than it had been a few moments before. He was starting to feel a little bit hazy as he steered Red into her hangar. While they landed the ship, he figured if he slipped into a healing pod for a while, no one would be any the wiser that he had let himself get hurt.
As soon as he stepped out of his lion, however, his whole world felt like it was spinning. Stumbling, he reached out to place a hand on the wall beside him, but missed, falling straight onto the floor. As soon as he hit the ground, the world went dark around him as he slipped from consciousness.