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Chapter Text

"Keith! Watch out!" Lance shouted, just as Keith was shot. Keith dropped to his knees, his hands gripping at his paladin vest. Gasping from shock, Keith looked down towards his chest, eyes widening in horror at the realisation that he would not live through this. "No!" Lance screamed, his Bayard changing into a sniper, he shot at all of his enemies before running towards his boyfriend. "Keith!" 

"Lance," Keith breathed out, "Are you alright?" 

"Am I alright? You just got shot," Lance replied making Keith lay down, "We need help! Keith is shot!" Lance said over the intercom. 

"We're on our way," Allura said. 

"Lance, you and I both know that I'm not gonna make it," Keith whispered

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Lance said as he focused on putting pressure on the wound "Allura and Coran are on their way, just hold on," Lance said as tears gathered up in his eyes, threatening to fall. 

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine," Keith sang quietly, just loud enough for Lance to hear. "You make me happy when skies are grey," A sob broke out of Lance's mouth as Keith sang more, "You'll never know, dear, how much I love you," Keith started crying as he sang, biting back any sobs that came up his throat. 

"Please don't take my sunshine away," Lance cried out, tears falling onto Keith's face, who only lifted his hand to wipe them away.

"You can't give up!" Lance wept. 

Keith poked Lance's nose, giving a smile, "I gotcha nose," 

"Please, stop. Now's not the time to be silly," Lance replied, even more, heartbroken. 

"I just wanted to see you smile, just one last time," Keith said, his voice weak, his pale hands gripping weakly on Lance's. Lance gripped them back harder, a smile on his face as he looked towards his lover. 

"Please, don't leave. Not like this," Lance begged. 

"Lance?" Keith asked, looking toward the sky, "I will always be with you." 

"Just please don't leave me, I need you!" Lance cried out, but Keith's hand loosened and fell onto his chest, one last breath escaped his mouth. "Keith?" Lance asked eyes widened with panic as he gripped at his lover's hand "Keith?" he asked ones more, new tears gathering at his eyes. Lance quickly tried to find Keith's pulse, only to find nothing. "No! No, no, no. Please, no!" Lance wept. Lance gave up all hope and gave a scream full of anguish, hugging his dead boyfriend's body closely, rocking back and forth crying out. 

Only a few minutes later did Allura and Coran finally arrives, only to see the tragedy that had taken place. Coran walked up to Lance, hand on Lance's shoulder, Lance looked at him, tears streaming down his cheeks "He's gone. He's really gone." Lance got up and hugged Coran, weeping as he did so. Allura looked on in sympathy. 

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It's been a year since Keith's death in the war. It got progressively worse, they had lost Shiro and the rest of the people on earth, only three months after Keith's death. Lance didn't know why he was still alive, he just wanted to go and be with his family.

It had been three years since the fight with the Galra Empire started, and they have lost countless people, on both sides. The Voltron has very few members now, while the Galra seems to have plenty of spare. Hunk and Pidge were on a mission, but they hadn't checked in with the castle in a while, so Allura, Coran and Lance all go to check it out. When they arrived the Galra had already fled, leaving only the bodies of the green and yellow paladins dead on stakes above the building. It wasn't long until all hope was destroyed. 

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It's just Allura and Lance, against an army of Galra. Lance was ready for death, after watching Coran get tortured to death, he had just given up. He watched the world around him burn; it seemed the blood of his friends stained his hands. Allura, on the other hand, did not accept that this might be the end. "Lance!" She called out as she killed another soldier, "I'm going to do something, that you are not gonna like." She shouted. 

"What is it?" He called back, dodging a bullet before firing his own. 

"I'm going to send you back in time." She said into the earpiece. 

"You can do that?" He questioned, looking towards Allura, who nodded "Why didn't you do that to save our friends, our family?" Lance all-out screamed.

"It's a one-time thing and I can only send one person." She said, slightly annoyed at Lance shouting at her, "I want you to go back, to when you first arrived to meet me and Coran and help stop this from happening." She explained. 

"What about you?" Lance asked worriedly. 

"I'll be left here,"

"I am NOT leaving you!" Lance declared. 

"Too bad," Allura said running over to Lance, giving him a slap "Bye Lance,"

"Allura! No!" Lance shouted trying to grab onto Allura, only to skim her clothes and watching get shot up, leaving her to die, Lance disappeared into dust.

"Go get them sharpshooter," Is all Lance heard before his world went dark.

Chapter Text

"No!" Lance shouted as he burst forward, Hunk jumps back in fright. 

"Uh, Lance? Buddy, are you alright?" Hunk asked awkwardly, as Lance tried to gather his thoughts. Lance looked up at the sound of his best friend's voice, eyes widening as tears filled his eyes. He quickly turned away, remembering and realising what Allura had done. "Lance?" Hunk heard Lance take a few deep breaths, looking at his friend stare at his friends, creeped him out. 

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just a nightmare," Lance replied, still out of breath, brushing through his hair with his hand. 

"You want to talk about it?" Hunk asked, watching Lance get out of his bed. 

"No, it's alright," Lance said, looking around distractedly "What year is it?" He asked looking around the room for a calendar or something that would help to tell him if he was in the right time. Hunk looked at Lance as if he was crazy. 

"Are you sure you're, okay?" Hunk asked sceptically, worried that the nightmare did more damage mentally than anything. Lance just idly nodded, still looking around for something, anything to tell him the date. 

"What day is it?" Lance questioned, looking it the wardrobe for something to wear. 

"I- I think it's a Wednesday," Hunk answered, as he watched Lance take out his jacket, Hunk started to really worry about Lance's mental state since Lance was staring at his jacket with a weird smile. "Dude, you're acting weird." 

"Am I?" Lance asked surprised "Sorry, the nightmare kind of freaked me out," Lance looked at Hunk while scratching the back of his neck. 

"And you're sure you don't want to talk about it?" Hunk questioned, to which Lance just nodded. 

"We have class today, right?" Lance asked with a smile, trying to act 'natural'. Hunk nodded, "Alright then, I'm gonna get dressed," Lance then grabbed some of his old clothes and went into the bathroom. Once Lance was in the bathroom, he almost broke down, he looked at himself, his blue eyes seemed like they shimmered with secrets. He lifted up his top to see his countless scars from the countless battles he has had.

Lance traced over them before actually getting ready for the tough day ahead, thinking about it now, Lance realised that he practically broke down in front of Hunk, how was he going to react to seeing people he knew were dead, alive again? Lance kind of got excited as well, he was going to see Pidge again and Keith and Shiro and, and everyone else. He looked down at his wrist only realising that the tattoo him and Keith had gotten was still there, he smiled sadly before kissing it. 

"Lance? Can you hurry up?" Hunk banged on the door. 

"Right sorry," Lance spoke, sliding into his jacket and letting Hunk get through into the bathroom. He was once again left alone to his thoughts, he had to think. Was he still the red paladin or was he now back to being the blue paladin? When did everything change? How was he going to fix it? "Oh quiznak, why couldn't Allura be the one to change things," Lance muttered to himself, only putting on a smile when Hunk excited the bathroom. 

"Ready to go?" They asked at the same time, before laughing and leaving the room. They got to the simulation deck, where the lessons would be held and got in a line, Lance at the front then Hunk and then Pidge. Iverson came into the building, ordered the cadets about standing straight before telling Lance, Hunk and Pidge to get into the simulation. 

Lance walked in, a confident smirk on his face. He wasn't gonna get shouted at by Iverson this time, neither was Pidge. "You seem confident today," commented Pidge as she buckled up. 

"He's been acting weird since he woke up," Hunk replied. 

"I'm confident because we will ace this, Hunk this might get shaky, and it will most likely be a malfunction so be ready. Pidge, you grab the communicator now, so you don't have to unbuckle and risk getting hurt. Alright?" Lance ordered, Pidge and Hunk gawked at him but eventually nodded. 

'Simulation Start'

"Galaxy Garrison flight log 5-11-14. Begin descent to Kerberos for the rescue mission," And that's when the shaking starts.

"Lance, can you get a handle of this, please?" Lance nodded and sorted out the shaking, just like he has done for years.

"We've picked up a distress beacon," Pidge said as the machine in front of her beeped. 

"Alright, look alive, team! Pidge, track coordinates."

"Copy." 

"Hunk, we got a hydraulic stabilizer out so there will be a bit of shaking, I'll try to keep it under control, just try to fix it without throwing up," Lance commented.  Hunk unbuckles his seatbelt to fix the stabilizer before the shaking got to worse. Once it was fixed the shaking had stopped, Hunk sat back down. "Let's go in," Lance said as they start to descend. 

Lance dives the simulator towards the surface of Kerberos. "Look out for that overhang!" Pidge yelled, hoping that they won't fail again. Lance dived down with his eyes closed. "Don't close your eyes now!" Just as they were about the crash the simulator was pulled up, they looked towards Lance to him smirking. 

'Simulation Successful' 

And they knew why, for the first time, they had managed to be successful. "Roll out cadets," Iverson commands. "You did alright this time, unlike last time," Iverson commented before turning to the rest of the class "Galaxy Garrison exists to turn you cadets into the next generation of elite astro explorers, but their previous mistakes are exactly what cost the lives of the men on the Kerberos Mission." Iverson snapped. 

"That's not true, sir!" Lance spoke up right before Pidge could, she looked up at him shocked. 

"What did you say?" Iverson sneered looking at Lance, who stood up straighter, the smirk completely gone. 

"You and the rest of the Garrison are liars, what you said happened on Kerberos never happened, there is no evidence of a crash on Kerberos," Lance said. 

"Who do you think you are!?" Iverson snapped giving Lance a glare. 

"No! Who do you think you are!" Lance snapped back, shocking Iverson. 

"The only reason why your here," Iverson started 

"It because the best pilot in the class had a discipline issue and flunked out. Don't follow in his footsteps," Lance cuts him off, "Yeah, whatever. I don't take orders from anyone but my captain," Lance sneered out before walking away leaving his friends, classmates and Iverson to gape at him. 

Lance thought to himself, 'time to see blue tomorrow.'

Chapter Text

"Lance where are we going?" Hunk questioned as Lance and himself were sneaking around the corridors of the Garrison. Lance was in front crouched down, peeking around the corner. 

"We are going to get Pidge, then we are going to go to the town and celebrate our success," Lance replied before running around the corner, towards Pidge's room. 

"I'm just saying this is a bad idea," Hunk stated as he followed Lance. Lance crouches down to sneak by the instructor's Lounge, he motions for Hunk to follow, which he does reluctantly. As they were about to go into another hallway, they spotted Pidge exiting Iverson's office. 

"Where is he going?" Lance questioned even though he knew that she was going to the roof, even so, the two followed her. The two managed to follow Pidge up onto the roof of the Garrison, where they both saw her using technology that did not belong to the Garrison, with headphones on a look of concentration on her face. "You come here to rock out?" Lance asked removing the headphones to speak into Pidge's ear. 

Pidge jumps at the sudden noise, "Agh!- Oh, Lance, Hunk. No, um, just looking at stars," Pidge lied through her teeth, which Lance saw right through. However, he needed to keep up an act just a little longer. 

"Hey, where'd you get this stuff?"wha He asked even when he knew the answer "It doesn't look like Garrison tech," 

"I built it," Pidge stated smugly.

"You built all this?" Hunk asks in awe and goes to touch the equipment only for Pidge to slap his hand away, rather harshly. 

"Stop it! With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system," Bragged Pidge as she gazed at her own technology. 

"That right?" Lance narrowed his eyes, deciding to have a little fun, "All the way to Kerberos?" Pidge grumbles silently, looking away from Lance and Hunk. "You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up," reasoned Lance. 

Hunk goes to touch the equipment a second time, this time trying to be sneaky about it, in the end, Pidge still saw. "Second warning, Hunk," 

"Look, Pidge, if we're going to bond as a team, we can't have any secrets," Lance said, trying to not to cringe at the 'can't have any secrets' since he had loads, like how he knew Shiro is going to land on earth, in just a few more minutes. 

"Fine," Pidge relented, "The world as you know it is about to change," Lance held back a nod, he knew everything is about the go to hell, "The Kerberos Mission wasn't lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake--," Pidge continued, 'Yeah, the Galra abducted them' Lance thought bitterly. 

"--STOP TOUCHING MY EQUIPMENT!" Pidge yelled as Hunk once again tried to touch Pidge's equipment. "So, I've been scanning the system and picking up alien radio chatter," Pidge explained mystically. 

"Whoa, what? Aliens?" Hunk questioned, panicked, "You're insane," 

"I'm serious!" Pidge defended herself, "They keep repeating one word: 'Voltron'. And tonight, it's going crazier than I have ever heard it," She continued. They both looked at Lance who had been really quiet about it all. "Lance?" Lance, however, was not paying attention, he was staring at the same place, thinking about everything. 

"Shiro is coming back in literally a minute, I'm going to see Keith and Blue and, and. Oh my god, this is too much." Lance muttered lowly and quickly and soon begun pacing "'Lura and Coran are going to be there and Red,"

"Lance?" Pidge and Hunk called out at the same time. 

"I'm going back to space, when did everything change?"

"LANCE!" Pidge yelled while Hunk grabbed his shoulders. Lance snapped back into reality, looking at the two, sheepishly. "Okay, I understand that finding out about the existence of aliens is shocking but no need to mutter so much about it," She continued. 

"Sorry, guess I got carried away," Lance apologised.

An announcement, that echoed around the premises, made Hunk drop Lance, "Attention, students. This is not a drill. We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: All students are to remain in barracks until further notice."

"What's going on? Is that a meteor? A very, very big... Meteor?" Hunk questioned, his voice cracking, showing how scared he was.

"It's a ship and I think it belongs to them,"

"So, wait, there really are aliens out there?" It was then that the three watched the alien spacecraft crashed into the desert and they watched as the Garrison sent out land rovers to the crash site.

"We've gotta see that ship!" Pidge exclaimed as she ran towards the exit, Lance quickly following. 

"Hunk, come on!" 

"Oh, this is the worst team-building exercise ever." Hunk complained but followed. 'Just wait until we bond in the castle,' Lance thought evilly.

Chapter Text

Lance, Hunk and Pidge made it to a nearby cliff where they spied on the quarantined crash site. Pidge is sat down trying to set up her equipment once more, Hunk was crouched down as he tried to make out the smaller details. While Lance was looking at the alien craft through some binoculars. "Whoa... What the heck is that thing?" Lance asked, not slipping his act for a moment. 

Lance sighed in defeat "Man, we'll never get past all those guards to get a look," 

"Aw, man. Yeah, we- yeah, I guess there's nothing to do but head back to the barracks, right?" Hunk said, in fake sadness. 

"Wait. They set up a camera in there and I grabbed its feed. Look!" Pidge said making the other two look at the screen. They watched as Shiro struggled against the table he was on; they gave little comments and gasped when he spoke of Voltron. They were giving little ideas on how they could sneak in when some explosions burst in the distance. 

"Is that the aliens? Are- Tha- The- Is that the aliens! Are they here? They got here so quickly!" Hunk screamed. 

"No. Those explosions were a distraction, for him," Pidge stated before pointing at Keith's hovercraft, "The Garrison's headed towards the blast, and he's sneaking in from the other side!" Lance looks to where she was pointing through the binoculars, even though he already knew who it was. 

"No way... Oh, he is not going to beat us in there! that guy is always trying to one-up me!" Lance lied. In the future, right before him and Lance got together, they were equal. Lance was faster, while Keith was stronger, but they worked well together, which only grew when they finally asked each other out. 

"Who is it?" Hunk wanted to know

"Keith!"

"Who?" Pidge questioned

"Are you sure?" Hunk asked

"Oh, I'd recognize that mullet anywhere!" Lance answered, before sliding down the mountain, Hunk following. 

"Who's Keith?" Shouted Pidge as she quickly caught up to Hunk. By the time that the trio arrived, Keith had already cut Shiro out of the bonds and was trying to carry him. 

"Nope. No, you- No, no, no, no, no, no, no you don't. I'm saving Shiro," Lance quickly said as he lifted Shiro over his own shoulder. 

"Who are you?" Lance tried to make the hurt not show on his face, he really did. He understood that this wasn't his Keith, and that this Keith wouldn't know or remember him, but it still hurt. Keith was his Captain, his friend, the one he could trust but mainly Keith was his boyfriend and for him not to remember stung. 

"Who am I? Uh, the name's Lance," Lance said, covering up his pain, reminding himself that this was past Keith. While Lance suffered his inner turmoil, Keith looked at Lance without recognition. "We were in the same class at the Garrison?" Lance continued. 

"Really? Are you an engineer?" Keith asked.

"No, I'm a pilot. We were, like, rivals. You know Lance and Keith, neck-and-neck," Lance, carried on, 'Your right-hand man' Lance thought. 

"Oh wait, I remember you," Keith started "You're a cargo pilot," Lance silently fumed but didn't let it show on his face 'That's how you remembered me? As a cargo pilot? Why I ought to...' 

"Well, not anymore. I'm fighter class now thanks to you washing out," Lance replied bitterly. 

"Well, congratulations," Keith continued awkwardly. 

They all rush out of the building, where Hunk asks for a ride. They soon try to escape, going slower than normal. After a while they reached a cliff, everyone screaming (albeit Lance's scream was fake) while Keith smirked. Keith safely avoids crashing into the ground and continues flying into the desert towards his shake and escaping the Garrison.

Chapter Text

Early the next morning, Lance woke up at the sudden sound of Keith shutting the cabin door. Once he had gotten his bearings, he looked around the cabin, Hunk and Pidge were already awake and quietly talking, they didn't know that Lance was awake. Lance stared at the cloth covering Keith's board. It was then he decided to get up, just in time for Shiro and Keith to walk in. 

Keith then proceeds to show Shiro, Lance, Hunk and Pidge his board which was covered in maps, diagrams, and notes. "What have you been working on?" Shiro asked as he gazed at the board. 

"I can't explain it, really. After getting booted from the Garrison, I was kinda... lost and... felt drawn to this place. It's like something... some energy was telling me to search." Keith explains vaguely to which Lance froze. 'This isn't what happened last time. In the past, if I remember correctly, Keith just felt something and ran off telling us to follow him and that's how we found the blue lion. Did Allura make me go into the past or a different reality?' Lance thought to himself.

"... Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion, but they all share clues to some event, some arrival happening last night," Keith finished off before looking at Shiro "Then you showed up," 

"...I should... Thank you all for getting me out. Lance, right?" Shiro said as he offered Lance his prosthetic hand. Lance hesitates but then shakes it. Shiro then offers to shake Pidge and Hunk's hand. However, Pidge was the only one who did.  

"The nervous guy's Hunk. I'm Pidge," She introduced "So, did anyone else from your crew make it out?" 

"I'm not sure. I remember the mission and being captured. After that, it's just bits and pieces." Shiro explained to the rest. Keith and Lance stayed quiet, but for two different reasons. Keith was quiet because he wanted to hear what Shiro was saying but Lance was trying to figure out what the hell was happening. 'Everything was the same, except this time Shiro introduced himself, Keith didn't run off and we are talking instead of finding the blue lion.' 

Lance was stuck in his own thoughts until Hunk brought up looking through Pidge's stuff. "Well last night, I was rummaging through Pidge's stuff, and I found this picture. Look it's his girlfriend," Hunk said. Lance held back the urge to snort 'That's matt, bud.' he thought to himself, cackling on the inside. 

"Hey, gimme that! What were you doing in my stuff?" Pidge asked angrily as she took back the picture. 

"I wa- I was looking for a candy bar," Hunk reasoned "But then, I started reading his diary," Hunk said as he pulled out Pidge's diary, who stole it back.

"WHAT?" 

"And I noticed that the repeating series of numbers the aliens are searching for looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line," Hunk carried on, ignoring Pidge.

"Frown... Who?" Questioned Keith. 

"It's a number describing the emission spectrum of an element," Lance explained, making Hunk and Pidge look at him shocked, "But from what Hunk was saying the element must not exist on Earth. He must have thought that it would the Voltron thing," Lance continued making Pidge and Hunk wonder what the hell happened to their Lance. 

"Y-Yeah, and I think I can build a machine to look for it," Hunk managed to say over his shock, "Kinda like a Voltron Geiger Counter," Shiro than called Hunk a genius "It's pretty fascinating, really. Th-the wavelength looks like this," Hunk then pulled out a graph which held the wavelength. Keith snatches it from Hunks grip. 

"Give me that," Keith holds the piece of paper up to his board, it showed that the wavelength's appearance matched the array of boulders in a picture. With the place in mind, the group of future paladins travelled to the location, with Hunk's new device. 

Hunk uses the device to locate a cave with ancient carvings on the inside. "What are these?" Shiro asked looking around. 

"These are the lion carvings I was telling you about. They're everywhere around here." Keith answered. Lance knew that they were in the right place, one because he was here with the others in the past and two because he could feel the lion's presence. Lance approached one of the carvings and wipes away the dust, which causes the one he was touching and every other carving to light up, surprising everyone but Lance.

"Heh, they've never done that before," Keith stated, before the ground beneath the group collapsed, making the team fall into a cavern of water. Once everyone had landed, Lance was the first to look up to see the Blue Lion inside a force field. 

"Hello, beautiful," Lance muttered almost silently. 

"Is this it? Is this the Voltron?" Pidge asked as everyone got up, Lance tried to hide the smile on his face but failed. 

"It... Must be," Shiro answered.

"This is what's been causing all this crazy energy out here," Keith stated as he approached the Blue Lion, the rest of the group following at a slower pace. Keith touches the force field, but nothing happened. "I wonder how we get through this?" 

"Maybe you just have to knock," Answered Lance, who had a bright smile on his face. Lance knocks on the force field and something happened, the force field dissipated, igniting the area around them in blue. 

"Woah..." 

"Uh, did everyone see that?" Asked Pidge

"Voltron is a robot! Voltron is a huge, huge, awesome robot!" Exclaimed Hunk excitedly. 

"And this is only one part of it! I wonder where the rest of them are," Pidge spoke up. 

"This is what they're looking for," Shiro stated seriously. 

"Incredible," Keith said in awe.

The blue lion, who was finally meeting her paladin once more, lowered her head. Which terrified Hunk and Pidge. Shiro and Keith didn't react much, Lance, however, walked up to the lion and put his head on the lion's muzzle. "Nice to see you again," Lance stated out loud, making the others severely confused. This line opened her mouth to allow Lance and the other future paladins in. Lance gleefully enters and takes a seat in the cockpit. 

"Here we go," Lance said as the command console activates. "Hehe! All right! Very nice!" 

"Ok guys, I-I feel the need to point out, just so that we're all, y'know, aware: We are in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now." Hunk said making Lance snort. 

"That's rude," Lance started "She is obviously a lion, not some common cat and Blue deserves a little more respect. And it isn't that futuristic, the place where this beauty comes from is more advanced than us,"  

"Lance, you seem to know a lot about the Blue Lion," Shiro expressed suspiciously. 

"I'm one of the good guys," Lance said looking at Shiro "Now let's get you home," Lance presses a few buttons: making Blue stand up to give a mighty roar making Hunk and Pidge scream once more. Lance pushes on the handles to break Blue out of the cavern and off into the sky. 

From afar, Iverson and a guard watched as the Blue Lion flew off, "What in the Sam Hill is that?" 

"It appears to be a flying blue lion, sir,"

Lance, makes his lion fly up, towards space, "Where are you going?" Keith asks, annoyed. 

"Well, as I said, I'm taking my beautiful lion home," 

"What do you by 'my'?" Shiro questions. 

"There's an alien ship approaching earth," Lance revealed, ignoring Shiro. 

"Well, if this thing is the weapon they're coming for, why don't we just, like- I don't know, give it to them? Maybe they'll leave us alone. Sorry, Lion, nothing personal," Hunk said, making everyone sigh. 

"You don't understand. These mons-," Shiro started only to be cut off.

"The Galra, or how Shiro was about to say monsters, spread like a plague throughout the galaxy, destroying civilisation and everything else in their path. There's no bargaining with them, they will backstab you. They won't stop until everything and everyone, but the Galra is dead," Lance declared, his voice completely serious. 

"How do we know we can trust you. You know more about the aliens than I do, and I was captured," Shiro expressed his concern. 

"All will be revealed soon," 

"... Oh. Never mind then," Hunk muttered. During the time they were arguing, the Blue Lion was able to get out of the atmosphere only to see a Galran warship coming towards them. Everyone but Lance gasps. "Uh... Holy crow! It that really an alien ship?" 

"They found me," Shiro muttered. 

"Hang on!" Lance warned just as the warship started firing. Lance then skilfully dodges the onslaught of laser guns. 

"Be careful, man" This isn't a simulator!" Pidge exclaimed in Lance's ear. 

"I know that!" Lance replied before using Blue's mouth cannon to blast the length of the warship. And then using the Blue Lion's claws to tear up the warship's side. 

"Nice job, Lance!" Shiro praised

"Ok, let's get these uglies away from our planet," Lance muttered to himself. "And Shiro don't praise me, that damage is nothing, they can repair it within minutes," Lance starts heading in the direction of Pluto, where Galra warship follows. 

"Oh, no!" 

"They're gaining on us!"

"They are just chasing us," Keith asset 

"Ok, seriously, now we think having aliens follow us is good? I am not on board with this new direction, guys,"

"Where are we?" Keith wonders

"Edge of the solar system. There's Kerberos," Shiro stated, as Lance flew by the moon. 

"It takes months for our ships to get out this far. We got out here in five seconds,"

"There's a lot you don't understand about the life outside our galaxy, Pidge," Lance said after he laughed, he soon stopped laughing when he saw the wormhole that had appeared. 

"What is that?" Hunk asked, panicked. 

"It's a wormhole," Lance stated, slowing down just enough not to get caught.

"Where does it go?" Pidge queried. 

"Probably to Arus," Lance proclaimed "Shiro, you're the senior officer here. What should we do?"

"You know more than us Lance, and the Lion also knows what is happening. I say we trust it but we're a team now. We should decide together," Everyone looked at each other in silence.

"... All right, but I'll warn you, once we go through, we can't come back, and things will get really hectic," Lance warned but not voice rose up "Guess we're all ditching class tomorrow,"

Chapter Text

Everyone but Lance groans once on the other side of the wormhole. Hunk grunts and then vomits in the Blue Lion only pausing to apologise. "Dude, not in my Lion," Lance groaned. 

"I'm just surprised it took this long," Pidge said

"I don't recognize any of these constellations. We must be a long, long way from Earth," Shiro brought up. 

"That my friend, is correct. We are a long way from Earth," The Blue Lion then proceeds to blast towards Arus, entering the atmosphere, making the team huddle together from turbulence. "Welcome to Arus, but guys, personal space! Hunk your breath is killing me," 

"Um, is it just me or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious wormhole? Why are we listening to a robotic Lion anyway"?

"It got us away from that alien warship, didn't it?" Lance complained

"I don't know if you noticed, but we're in an alien warship," Keith replied angrily.

Lance gasped "How dare you to say Blue is an alien warship, half breed," Lance growled out, Keith's eyes widened. 

"What do you mean half breed?" Keith questioned. 

"I don't know ask your mother," Lance sneered. Keith went to attack Lance for bringing up his unknown mother but Shiro stopped him. 

"All right, knock it off! No one's happy to be in this situation," Shiro started and gave Lance a look when he was about to object "But we're here now. If we want to get through this, we've got to do it together," 

"So, what do we do?" Pidge asked. 

"First, we find out where we're headed. Lance?" 

"I've told you once, I told you again and now for the third time, we are going to Arus," Lance snapped back, as he flew towards the Castle of Lions, which had been his home for many years. Landing in front of the castle which makes the latent Castle ship reactivate, making the group stare at it in awe. 

"Wow," Keith gasped out, completely forgetting that he was angry at Lance. 

"Home," Lance said with a soft smile. 

"Keep your guard up,"

"Something wrong?" Pidge asked.

"My crew was captured by aliens once.  I'm not going to let it happen again," Shiro answered making Lance groan. 

"You and your team got captured by the Galra Empire, this is a castle that holds two Alteans and four mice. Calm down," Lance groaned out, as the group made it outside. The Lion got up, startling everyone but Lance.

"Oh no! Oh no! I knew it was going to eat us! No!" Hunk exclaimed as he tried to curl into himself, Lance slapped him over the head as the Lion roared, which opened the Castle's doors, "Oh, the door is open. Guess I was wrong about you," 

The team walked into the castle, it was dark and silent. "Hellooo?" Hunk called out, which echoed in the emptiness, making everyone look at Hunk who shrugged.

"From the size of the Lion, I expected these steps to be bigger," Pidge stated making Lance snort. 

"The Lions stay in their hangers, while humans and aliens walk around the castle," it was then a beam of light appears as the vestibule activates, once again everyone but Lance gasped, "you guys need to stop gasping,"

"Hold for identity scan," The computer said monotone. 

"What?" Pidge questioned

"Why are we here? What do you want with us?" Shiro asked

"Hello, Paladin Lance, good to see you returned safely," the computer spoke after the scan.

"It's good to be back," Lance answered. Everyone stared at him, which he noticed "What?"

"You've been here?" Shiro interrogated

"Not for a while," Lance replied, "It had been about a year, maybe a year and a half."

The lights in the hallway started to glow, the team started to walk down the lit hallway, every so often Hunk's voice echoed around them as he called out for someone, "Hello?... Hellooo?" 

The team arrived at the Sleep Chamber within the Castle in no time. "Where are we?" Questioned Pidge looking around, "Some kind of control room?"

"This is the Sleep Chamber," Answered Lance as he walked in front of Allura's pod that hasn't risen yet, the console that Pidge was looking at activated and two sleep pods rose from the floor. 

"Are these guys... Dead?" cried out Hunk

"No, just asleep," Lance replied calmly. 

The first pod, which Lance was standing in front of, opened revealing a young girl who fell forward, Lance caught her just like last time. 

"Father!" She called out

"Hello," Lance said, a soft smile on his face.

"Who are you? Where am I?" She questioned

"I'm Lance. And you're safe, you are within the Castle of Lions," 

"Your... Ears."

"Yeah, I know hideous," Lance joked. 

"That's right, What's wrong with them?"

"I'm human, not Altean, that's what wrong with them," 

Allura goes to grab Lance by the ears and put him in a restraining hold, but he did it to her before she could. "Lance?! What are you doing? Let her go?" 

"Who are you? Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my Castle?" Allura interrogated as she tried to break loose. 

"Blue brought us here, that's all the others know, but I know a lot more," Answered Lance as he let go of Allura "Sorry about that princess," 

"You have the Blue Lion? What happened to its Paladin? What are you all doing here? Unless... How long has it been?" Allura questioned getting up. 

"Yes, I have the Blue Lion. The paladins of old are dead. And if I remember correctly, you have been asleep for years" Lance replied calmly but everyone ignored him. 

"We don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help?" Shiro offered.

"I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea. I've got to find out where we are and how long we've been asleep," She answered as the placed her hands on the console making a screen appear. 

"Okay, that's how that works," Pidge stared at Allura and the console. The second pod opens to show Coran and he gasps at the sight of Lance. 

"My boy?" Coran asks when he saw the tears start streaming down his face. Everyone but Allura look towards the Ginger and the brown-haired-boy, to see what was happening. They were shocked to see Lance crying, as he reached out for Coran. 

"You're alive, everyone's alive," he sobbed as everything crashed down on him, it wasn't a dream, this wasn't some torture that Haggar put on him it was all real. Coran caught Lance as he fell to his knees, and hugged him, the others crowded around the two, all gazing in shock and confusion, "You're right here, you're breathing, you aren't dead." Everyone was so confused. 

"Hunk is Lance okay?" Shiro whispered. 

"I-I don't know, yesterday when he woke up he was acting kinda weird," Answered hunk hesitantly. 

"How weird?" Keith asked, getting involved in the small huddle.

"Well, he woke up and asked wh- what year it was," 

"And then he aced the simulator, which we always fail at. It was like he knew what was going to happen," Pidge butted in. 

"He also knew about the Lion, the Galra and he is known by this Castle, we need to have a talk with him," Shiro stated and everyone agreed. They looked over to see that Lance had calmed down and was just hugging Coran.

"It cannot be..." Allura gasped, looking at the screen. 

"What is it?" Asked Coran

"We've been asleep for 10,000 deca-phoebs," Allura exclaimed. 

"Deca-phoebs?" Keith muttered

"One deca-phoeb is one year in Earth time," Answered Lance with a croaky voice.

"Planet Altea and all of the planets in our solar system have been destroyed. Coran, Father is gone. Our entire civilization..." Allura gasps out, Coran looked upset and shocked at the news. "Zarkon!" Allura growls out. 

"Zarkon?" Shiro queries.

"He was the King of the Galra. A vile creature and enemy to all free people," Allura answered. 

"Is," Lance spoke up

"Huh?"

"Zarkon IS the King of the Galra," 

"He's still alive? Impossible!" Allura exclaimed in shock

"I remember now... I was his prisoner. I can't explain it, but it's true. He's searching for a superweapon called Voltron," Shiro said, backing up Lance.

"He's searching for it because he knows it's the only thing that can defeat him, and that's exactly why we must find it before he does,"

Chapter Text

Within the castle Allura and the others were still in the Sleep Chamber room, Allura was operating the console, while a plate of food goo floated nearby. "Princess, you must eat. It's been 10,000 years!" Pushed Coran.

"I'm not hungry," Allura answered focusing on the console in front of her. 

"I haven't eaten since breakfast and I'm starving," Hunk commented, looking towards the floating food.

"Yeah, but you've thrown up, like, five times," Pidge countered. 

"Hmm... Good Point," Hunk hummed before digging into the goo, making faces every time because of how it tasted. 

"I can't believe your civilization created such advanced technology 10,000 years ago. It must have been an incredible place," Shiro stated in awe. 

"Yes, it was... But now it is gone and we're the last Alteans alive," Coran replied dejectedly as he comforted Allura, as Lance put his hand on Coran's shoulder, tightly, as a sign of respect. However, Allura perked when she found four little Altean mice within her sleep chamber. 

All of a sudden, the alarms started to blare, as an image of a Galra warship appeared on-screen, making Coran twist around letting out a dramatic gasp. "A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us!" 

"How did they find us?" Allura questioned. 

"I'm not sure, but I bet it's Keith's fault," Lance joked but Keith took it seriously. 

"Say whatever you've got to say to make yourself feel better... after getting us stuck on the other side of a wormhole!" Keith snapped, ready to fight. 

"I'LL STICK YOU IN A WORMHOLE!" Lance shouted raising his arms up as if to say 'Come at me'. Luckily Shiro stops them before they could start fighting.

"Stow it, cadets! This is no time to place blame, it's time to work as a team. How long before they arrive?" 

"At their speed? Oh, well, uh, carry the two... I'd say probably a couple of days?" Coran calculated making Lance silently chuckle, as he knew that the ship would most likely be here in a few hours. 

"Good. Let them come! By the time they get here, you five will have reformed Voltron, and together we will destroy Zarkon's empire." Hunk then burped but apologized, blaming it on the food goo. 

"Princess, there are five of these Lions. How are we going to find the rest?" Shiro questioned, only for Pidge to speak up. 

"Lance might know,", everyone looked toward the brown-haired-boy, who froze at the attention, "I mean he knew about the Blue Lion and the Castle knows him," Pidge reasoned. 

"How did you know about the Blue Lion. You also knew about the Galra. How can we trust you?" Shiro interrogated. 

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me," Lance quietly stated, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Try me," 

"Iamfromthefutureandwassentbackintimetostopthings," He rushed out. 

"What?" Hunk questioned, confused as the rest were. 

"Repeat that!" Keith demanded 

Lance took a deep breath, "I am from," he sighed "the future." The simple statement sent chaos throughout the others. 

"Wait! What?"

"Really?" 

"Prove it," Shiro stated as he still stared at Lance with distrusting eyes. Everyone stared at him once again, expecting answers, making Lance panic and start to spill out random things. 

"Pidge is a girl," 

"Dude!" 

"Hunk ends up dating a rock!" 

"Huh?!" 

"Shiro's Gay!" 

"What does 'gay' mean?" Coran asked Shiro quietly.

"It means I like males,"

"Keith is a half breed,"

"Still don't know what you mean," Keith whispered, as he glared at the Cuban boy.

"Allura dates someone half-Altean," 

"There are others!" Both Coran and Allura shouted.

"Yes, one," He responded, "And Coran is just Coran." Lance blurted out making people look at him, some of there secrets were blurted out and then some were literally predictions of what will happen in the future. 

"Anyway, Lance do you know where the other Lions are?" 

"I don't think so," Lance let out quietly "Sorry, guys, things are changing," Lance explained.

"How so?"

"Well for one, back on Earth at Keith's shack, we didn't talk we rushed to the Blue Lion. But the Blue Lion was in the same place, the yellow was found on a peaceful planet, the Green Lion was on this planet in the Forest. The Black Lion is in the Castle and the Red Lion was on a planet infested with Galra soldiers," Lance explained, where the Lions were for him as Coran, Allura and himself lead the others to the Castle's Bridge, letting Allura stand in the centre.

"King Alfor connected the Lions to Allura's life force. She alone is the key to the Lions' whereabouts right now," Coran discussed as Allura activated the computer, opening up a map of the entire universe. 

"These are... coordinates. The Black Lion looks like it's in the same location as the Blue Lion," 

"Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage," Coran said out loud, Lance whispered 'Knew it,' a little loud, as Pidge glared at Coran- obviously not liking being called primitive.

"Very observant. That's because the Black Lion is in the Castle, as Lance had previously stated,"

"To keep the Black Lion out of Zarkon's hands, King Alfor locked it in the Castle. It can only be freed if the other four Lions are present." Coran explained. 

"As you have found, the Lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The Quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his Lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain," Allura explained before sending a hologram version of the Black Lion towards Shiro.

"The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion," Lance let out a silent sigh, it has been over three years since Shiro was the leader and honestly, Lance was not ready to accept Shiro as the leader again. The sigh went unnoticed by everyone but Hunk. 

Allura then moves the Green Lion's hologram towards Pidge, "The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion. The Blue Lion--" 

"Skip," Lance said quickly, effectively shutting Allura up who quickly moved on.

"--The... Yellow Lion is caring and kind," Allura explained moving the hologram in front of Hunk, "It's pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together," Hunk questionably points to himself. 

Allura made the Red Lion appear in her hands before sending it towards Keith, "The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone. Keith, you will fly the Red Lion," 

"Good Luck," Lance said towards Keith, making him glare at Lance. 

"Is everyone okay with the allocation?" Allura asked politely. Shiro nodded with his arms crossed, Keith did the same. Pidge was to busy looking around so Allura figured that it was okay, Lance sighed deeply weighing the options, on the one hand Shiro was the original leader and Keith wasn't ready to lead either but Lance wasn't ready to follow Shiro or ready to go back to Blue.
Don't get him wrong he loved Blue, but the lion he was used to was Red, that lion was fast, agile relying on his instincts, Blue wasn't like that, she was slower, and the lions thought through all your thoughts before letting you take the lead. But ultimately he nodded towards Allura. 

"Hunk?" Pidge asked, as he was the last to answer, Hunk snapped out trance. 

"I- I think Lance has a problem with it. I don't, I'm fine with it, but Lance took a while to answer and he hasn't looked up from the floor since he nodded to Allura, not to mention he doesn't look happy about it, but it could be that we're stuck in space?" Shiro noticing that Hunk could ramble on for another five minutes rose his hand. 

"Lance?" Shiro questioned before shaking the boy by his shoulder. Lance flinched, grabbing Shiro's arm and before anyone knew what happened, Shiro was on his back with Lance holding his hand around his throat. Snapping back into attention, Lance quickly got off Shiro a hand reached out to Shiro, offering to help him up and the other rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. 

"Sorry," Lance muttered quietly, "You startled me," Everyone gaped at Lance as Shiro got up. 

"It's okay, it happens to the best of us. We don't know what you experienced in the future so we can't judge," Shiro reassured, gripping Lance's shoulder while doing so, "Now, the reason that we- I grabbed your attention was because Hunk thinks you aren't happy with the arrangements with the lions. Can you tell us why?" 

Lance smiled slightly at Hunk, "You can still read me like an open book,"

"Well yeah, of course you're my buddy. It's just you also sighed when Allura said that Shiro would be in the Black Lion," Hunk commented while giving Lance a wide smile. 

"Do you not like the though of me leading, Lance?" Shiro questioned, confused as to whether he should be offended or not. 

"I'm just not used to it," lance returned staring at the floor as if he was ashamed, and when no one said anything he looked up to see everyone staring at him, questioning him with no words, "I- mean. I- just," Lance stammered out, while running his fingers through his hair before sighing, "For me, you. You haven't been the leader for three years. of course I'm not going to like it. I'm mean I'm no longer going to be-" 

"The leader? That you're not in the Black lion anymore?" Keith snapped and sneered.

Lance took a step back, "No! Not at all! I'm not going to be in the Red lion anymore! I'm no longer your right hand man. Allura isn't in Blue, and Shiro is definitely here," Lance snapped back angry and frustrated. He didn't like it here, it was too different. "I have lived through so much, so much death and sadness, I have lost so much in such a time so sorry if I don't feel ready to serve someone who I haven't had to follow in years!" Lance ranted, getting closer and closer to tears, and closer and closer to Keith. It took Shiro stepping between them to stop Lance's speech and advancements. "But I'm willing to try," Lance spat out. Before walking towards Coran who, even not knowing the boy long knew that he needed some comfort like he, himself had received when finding out he was one of the last of his kind, and so the ginger hug the boy who seemed so young yet so old. 

Shiro looked at Keith, "You can't just say that, Keith. He's obviously been through a lot and Lance is willing to try," He said as he looked at the two people hugging, "Just give him a chance," He said before turning to look at Allura, "Where do we find the Lions," 

"Coran will fix you up with the coordinates in a minute. Unfortunately, I cannot locate the Red Lion's coordinates yet. There must be something wrong with the Castle. After 10,000 years, it... might need some work," Allura stated trying to lift the mood.

"Don't worry, we'll find it soon. They don't call me 'The Coranic' for nothing. It's because it sounds like 'mechanic.' So... Coranic, mechanic. It's not- It doesn't sound... exactly like it. It's similar." Coran rambled, making Lance snort at the terrible wordplay, before moving back to an appropriate way away.

"Once all the Lions are united, you will form Voltron, the most powerful warrior ever known, the defender of the universe," Allura stated, ignoring Coran's little ramble.

"Awesome!"

"Oh..."

"Wait. Okay, we're going to be in there and flying lions. Got that part. How do Lions turn into legs? Also, is this going to be a long trip? Because I have to pee. Do you people pee?" Hunk questioned, quickly also trying to disperse the last of the awkward energy, while also being completely serious. Lance laughed before hooking his arm around Hunk's shoulders and explaining that Alteans do indeed pee, and that even he had no idea how the lions turned into legs.

"We don't have much time. Pidge and I will go after the Green lion. Lance, you take Hunk and get the Yellow one. Keith, you stay here. If you locate the Red Lion, I trust that you will go get it." Shiro stated. 

"In the meantime, I'll get the Castle's defences ready. They'll be sorely needed," Allura brought up as she went to the key panel, bringing up a holographic screen with a language that no one understood a part from Lance and the obvious Allura and Coran. 

As Coran and the others started to leave, Coran stated that he would ready and pod with coordinates so that Shiro and Pidge could reach the Green Lion. As the two teams took off into two similar directions, two worms hole opened up and Coran's voice came through the comes, "We can only keep the wormholes that lead to the other lions open for two vargas, so you'll have to be quick about your work." 

"How long is two vargas?" Pidge questioned.

Before Coran could answer, Lance interrupted "It's about two hours," He got affirmatives as a response. 

"The good news is that according to my readings, both planets are relatively peaceful. So, if you do get stuck, they could be relaxing places to live out the rest of your lives. Enjoy the trip!" Coran stated before shutting off his communicator.

"Wait--"
"I did not receive the memo on this." 
"Truth be told, those readings could be 10,000 years old. So be on your guard," Lance ordered before flying Blue through the wormhole.

Chapter Text

X~ With Shiro and Pidge ~X

It didn't take long for Pidge and Shiro to get to there destination, especially with the wormhole. The spacecraft that they were flying in, landed peacefully of the soft ground, that looked a bit like grass from Earth. They exited the pod, taking an Altean compass, that was mainly blank, a part from the occasional flash of light, which Shiro and Pidge guessed to be the green lion. 

After a while, Pidge pointed out a canoe with a lion carving. Before a sloth-like alien apparent suddenly, scaring Pidge so much that they jumps onto Shiro's back. "It's just a... whatever... that thing is," Pidge muttered to herself, but due to being on Shiro's back he heard it just fine, "I bet Lance would know" Pidge finished, already planning to ask Lance about the strange alien, hoping for an answer. 

The sloth-like alien, looks at the two unknown species in front of it, only to spot and recognize the Voltron symbol that was built into the Altean compass. And nodded at the two, before getting on the canoe, waving at the two.

"I... I think he wants us to get in his canoe." Pidge stated, getting back onto their feet.

"Then I guess we should go," Shiro replied, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. 

Pidge looked at him weirdly, "Huh?"

"I've been locked up with aliens for a year. Compared to that, this is nothing." Shiro stated as he got into the canoe. Pidge soon scrambled to follow, not wanting to be left behind. 

As soon as both future paladins sat in the canoe, the sloth-like alien started paddling through the clear water. Shiro and Pidge now took the opportunity to look at the scenery. It was a crowded forest, luscious and green, It looked like a rain forest from Earth but brighter and without the rain. It looked as peaceful as Coran said it would be. Distant noises could be heard coming from the natural species from the planet. 

"I wonder if Hunk and Lance are having as good a time as us." Pidge though aloud, to which Future Lance was loudly complain how Pidge had jinxed it. 

X~ With Lance and Hunk ~X

Now Lance didn't expect to have a planet that was peaceful, of course not, life would never be that nice to him. He hoped for a peaceful planet like Coran said it would be but he didn't have much hope for that, it had been 10,000 years and he didn't remember how much of the universe Zarkon controlled when they met Allura, the first time around.

But this isn't what he expected.

"Oh, no! No, no, no! Oh! Oh, no!" Both Hunk and Lance screamed as Lance weaved through the galran ships as the screen in front of him went red alerting them of the danger they could obviously see. A galra fighter jet fires some missiles, which hits the back of blue, making them fall, but only slightly. 

"I though Coran said these planets were peaceful!" Hunk yelled.

"Yeah but it has been 10,000 years!" Lance yelled back.

Lance dives straight down to avoid the next on slaughter of missiles, luckily missing them by inches. He soon brings blue back up to prevent her from crashing. Lance took a glance at the Altean Compass, which showed him that he was heading in the right direction, before heading straight to the galran mines.

"The coordinates show that we are on top of the Yellow lion,"

"Wait, so they were mining for ore? They don't even know that the lion is there? Or is it that they know the lion is here and are digging for it? What do you think, Lance?" Hunk rambled. 

"Don't know, don't care. All the matters is that you get to your lion as fast as possible after I drop you down there." 

"Me? Down there? No. No, no, no."

"I'll cover you, don't worry."

"No, what if the Yellow Lion doesn't work? Wh-What if I -- What if I can't get it the mine? What if I start crying? It's too late! I'm already crying!" Hunk once again rambled, looking super worried. 

"Look Hunk," Lance said as he dodged another blast from the Galra ships, "I know this is super difficult, especially for you, but you can do this. Trust me, you and yellow become really close. You are the right person for yellow, but the Lion will not activate to save you until you prove yourself. You got this." Lance finished before ejecting Hunk, not letting him back out." 

After Hunk stopped rolling, Lance quickly covered him, as Hunk got into the safety of the mine. Lance quickly set off back into the sky, firing his lasers. Soon he closed his eyes, bonding with Blue, just like he had before. It worked but he felt another presence, he clearly remembered there only being two presences when doing this before switching to Red, but now there were 3. Lance shrugged it off, to concentrate on the battle.

X~ With Shiro and Pidge ~X

Shiro and Pidge are still riding down the river, both of them silent. But of course the silence didn't last long. "I know the princess said that this is supposed be my lion, but what if she's wrong, she's probably not wrong. She's a princess and Lance didn't object the me being with green but, I'm not a pilot," Pidge let out a breath, "I mean I always wanted to be a pilot. I mean, I read all the fighter manuals, but never got to fly the simulator. But, hey, I can't be all that worse than Lance. He crashed all the time, at least he used to." Pidge added, "But what if the lion doesn't respond? What if I get in there and it's too but and my feet don't reach the pedals? What if there aren't even pedals?!" Pidge rambled, bordering frantic. 

Shiro let a soft smile take over his face, "You're rambling. Listen... Our commander on the Kerberos Mission, was the greatest man I ever met, and he always said, 'If you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great.'" Pidge smiles fondly. 

The canoe stops at a root-covered stone temple, Shiro and Pidge approach the steps; the lions carvings glow green from Pidge's presence. "Go. Be great." Shiro encouraged. Pidge grins him before running towards the temple's summit, occasionally climbing up the roots. Although nothing was found at the very, a growl echoed from the middle the roots, with a light green glow breaking through the cracks of the roots. Pidge laughs as they jumped inside of the temple, finally letting the Green Lion Break free from its tomb. Both Shiro and Pidge grab the pod before heading back through the wormhole, to the castle.

X~ With Lance and Hunk ~X

Lance narrowly dodges another laser, before taking down another Galra ship. After checking that the cost was clear, Lance settled down in front of the cave entrance, to wait for Hunk. Soon after the Yellow Lion broke through the ground, surprising Lance. And before he knew it, he sent a laser towards the other lion. "Hunk look out!"

Hunk tried to move, but failed and took the lasers to the back, Lance's face appeared on Hunk screen and vies versa. "Hunk, dude. I'm so sorry, I thought you were another Galra ship." 

"Lance! It's fine, I'm fine. Thankfully, what this Lion lacks in speed, it more than makes up for it armour." Hunk replied, as controlled the Lion into a standing position. 

"Paladins, please hurry back! I can't hold the Wormhole open much longer!" Allura said as she appeared on the command screen of the Blue Lion. The two Lions fly towards the wormhole, although Hunk didn't know all the controls and accidently made the Lion twirl. 

"Ah- ! Not this again...! Oh...!" Hunk got out.

"Quit screwing around, Hunk! The Wormhole is closing!" Fortunately, Hunk and Lance safely reached the Wormhole. 'Man I'm going to have to tell Coran to update the systems.' Lance thought.

Chapter Text

Lance and Hunk groaned as they entered the Bridge of the Castle. Both for different but at the same time for the same reasons. Lance because he had lost is touch in fighting and because he felt sick. Hunk, just because he felt sick.

"You made it!" Allura exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, just barely. That was a nightmare. I almost puked out there. I felt like Hunk!" Lance exclaimed out loud before muttering, "Man I need to hit the workout deck."

"Think how I felt. I am Hunk." Hunk replied, lightening the mood.

"Yeah... We had a tough time, too." Pidge and Shiro smile at each other. 

"You wouldn't be smiling if you it was tough, I bet I was right. The green lion was on a peaceful forest planet!" Lance replied after seeing the secretive smile. 

Pidge caved quickly, "Yeah, you were right! By the way, we saw this sloth-like alien. Do you know anything about it!" 

Lance looked at Pidge before giving her some of the knowledge she wanted to know, leaving out some information only because Shiro interrupted them, "Did we find the Red Lion yet?" Lance, turned all his attention to Allura, because it be damned if he wasn't going to fight to see Red, even if he isn't her pilot anymore.

"Allura just located it. There's a bit of good news and bad new." Coran started. 

"Let me guess, The good news is that the Red lion is nearby. However, it's on the Galra ship that you predicted would take days to arrive, however finger counting is more of an art than a science." Lance interrupted. Everyone turned to stare at him again after Coran nodded, "What? I didn't know the Red Lion was on the ship, until he said good news and bad news, so I took a guess,"

"That still doesn't explain how you knew it was the Galra ship, that Coran was sure it would take days to arrive. What are you hiding?" Keith questioned.

Lance took a step back, "You don't think I'm with the galra do you? Because if so, stop, I'm not. You seem to forget that I've known Coran longer than you." Lance took two steps forward, "I've known Coran for, almost 6 years, although he doesn't know it! He was like an uncle to me! So don't you dare, say that I'm with the Galra, because the only Galra I would ever stand by," Lance was interrupted as Allura and Coran gasped. 

"You just said that you were not with galra, before saying that you would stand by a Galra. How on Altea can we trust you?" Allura half sneered, half growled. All the humans were looking at Lance with different emotions. Lance turned towards Allura. 

"If you had let me finished, I would have said the Blade of Marmora." Lance gritted out. 

"Lance," Shiro started as Lance turned to him now, "Who are the blade of Marmora? Are they Galra? And if so how can you trust them?" 

Lance sighed, "There isn't much time, so I'll give you a run down, and explain in detail later, Okay?" Lance asked. After everyone nodded he continued, "Alright, so yes they are Galra, but we could trust them. At least when they were still alive. They helped Shiro escape from Zarkon, and we were allies. But someone was a double agent in the Blade and ratted them out to Zarkon, they were wiped out. I..." Lance let out a sigh, "I don't know if they are alive or dead, if they are rat inside their operations or not. But In the past? Future? My past, your future, we could trust them." Shiro put his arm on Lance's shoulder as a sign of respect. Everyone was quiet as they took in what they just heard.  

"Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire." None of the humans missed when Lance flinched and took a step back, "I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known universe. I am here to confiscate the Lions, turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet." And with that the sudden transmission ended. 

"All right, let's not  panic," Shiro stated with calming hand gestures. 

"Not panic? Th- The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship towards us. We only have 4 working Lions." Hunk rambled. 

"Technically, only three working Lions," Pidge added, but she was looking at Lance, who hadn't even blinked since the transmission ended. 

"That's right. Thank you, Pidge. Three working Lions an-and a castle that's 10,000 years old."

"A-actually, it's 10,600 years old. You see it was built by my grandfather --" Coran added. 

"Thanks, Coran. Thank you for that. See? Now is the perfect time to panic!" Hunk panicked. 

"Hunk, stop!" Pidge commanded, "Now isn't the time to panic about the Alien warship. It's the time to panic about Lance." Hunk stopped for a moment, and so did everyone else. They all looked at Lance, "We all saw him flinch at Sendak, and now he won't blink or respond to anything." 

"I'll handle Lance, you find out a plan of action," Shiro stated. He walked over to Lance, making sure he was loud enough to not startle the kid. Shiro slowly moved his human arm and wrapped his hand around the lower part of Lance's arm, loose enough that Lance could pull away but tight enough that it brought comfort. 

Shiro gently dragged Lance, to the edge of the room. "Wait! This castle has a particle barrier we can activate." Shiro heard Allura say before getting shut down by Coran. Shiro made sure that Lance sat down on the floor before kneeling before him. Lance was still staring a head of him, looking straight into Shiro's face but not taking anything in. 

"Lance?" Shiro called gently, "Come on Kid, focus. Look at me," Lance did look at him, which was progress but he didn't seem the register that what was happening. Lance's hands more before Shiro knew what had happened, but luckily he wasn't about the be flipped again, instead Lance clutched onto Shiro's sleeves tightly. "Hey... you okay?" Shiro asked lamely, as he tried to pry Lance's hands off of him. 

"Don't leave," Lance whispered, Shiro looked into his eyes, only to realise that Lance was only partly aware of what was happening now. Shiro once again tried to remove Lance's hand but they only tightened, "Don't move, Sendak will get you again and hurt you," Lance once again whispered. 

"I'm not going anywhere Lance, but you need to let go of me," Lance did let go, but only slightly. 

"B-but Sendak...?" 

"Sendak isn't here Lance. Everything is okay, but it won't be unless we get the red Lion okay?" Lance looked confused, 'did Shiro hit his head? Sendak is just in the room over, the Red Lion is stuck in the hanger, how is everything okay?' he thought. 

"If everything is okay, why does everything hurt?" Lance asked sounding like a little child. 

"Lance your hurt?!" Shiro asked, a little louder than necessary, gaining the attention of everyone else who then crowded him. Lance didn't even notice them, only taking note of Shiro. 

"D-did you hit your head Shiro? I- I protected Coran from the b-bomb," Lance stuttered, and everyone gasped, "I'm so confused," 

"Why are you confused Lance?" Shiro asked,

"I was in my paladin armour, and so were you. And, and you were hurt, but you look fine." Lance replied, gripping onto his hair. "Why aren't you hurt? Where is our armour?" 

Shiro gently, grabbed Lance's wrists and pulled them away from his hair, "Lance, I need you to listen to me carefully, okay?" Lance nodded "There isn't any bomb, and Sendak isn't here, he's on a ship, we don't have any armour yet, alright?" Shiro said gently, still holding onto Lance's wrists, slightly tightening them when he tried to pull them away. 

"B-But!" 

"No, Lance, look around you. Everyone's here, and no one is hurt." Lance took a look around, realising that Shiro was correct, and that what he had experienced was something from his first time being a paladin. Lance looked down at his knees, his wrists still being held by Shiro. 

"Sorry. I - " 

"You don't need to explain anything, if you don't want to." 

"Thanks, Shiro. Now let's get back to business."  Lance said unsteadily before taking a breath shaking the memory away. 'I breakdown later right now, they need me.' Lance thought.

"Alright."

Chapter Text

"So, what did I miss?" Lance asked, pulling his sleeves down, and looking at Allura. 

"Well, Lance we couldn't decide, on whether we should stay or leave, do you have any ideas?"

"Have you seen you father for help?" Lance asked, shocking Allura.

"My father?" After that Coran lead Allura to the Castle's Memory Chamber.

"Shiro, could I talk to you?" Lance asked once Allura and Coran left. Everyone turned to him but Shiro nodded and lead Lance to the opposite side of the room, giving the two of them some privacy. 

"What's wrong?" Shiro asked in a hushed tone, to which Lance shook his head. 

"Nothings wrong per say," Lance started rubbing the back of his head, "I just wanted to say thank you for doing what you did back there. I just-" 

"Panicked? Remembered something from your past?" Shiro interrupted. Lance nodded his head, not looking surprised that Shiro had gotten it in one, "Lance, listen. You ddon't have to tell me anything right now, just take your time. I may not know you very well, nor do I know what you had experienced. But you know me, at least to an extent. Just remember..." 

"Patience yields focus." Both Lance and Shiro said at the same time but only Lance continued, "I understand that, but, I want to tell you, at least I want to tell you what I remembered. So later could I tell you?" Lance questioned. 

"I understand and of course you can, we're a team now. Just a question, why don't you talk to Hunk, the two of you seem close?" Shiro asked, turning his head and gesturing to the others who were occasionally looking over in the two's direction, Hunk and Pidge looked slightly worried, while Keith looked more annoyed than anything. Lance also looked over before looking back at Shiro. 

"I would but, Hunk hasn't been out in space for even a day, not to mention he would also panic more about being in space and all of the aliens and mother hen me. You have been in space for a year, granted you were captured but you know what to expect to a extent, so you would understand more. I'll tell Hunk, just not now." Lance rambled slightly, but Shiro hummed in agreement before letting Lance do what he thought was best.

After Coran returned, Lance quickly stated that he was going to Allura before leaving, no one even tried stopping him.

"--Zarkon's hands. You urged me to keep them and fight, but, for the greater good of protecting the universe, I chose to hide them." Alfor finished as, Lance entered the room. 

"I think I understand." Allura replied, not noticing Lance enter. Lance himself moved towards the two slowly. 

"No, daughter, you were right. I made a terrible mistake, one that costed countless lives. Forming Voltron is the only way to stop Zarkon. You must be willing to sacrifice everything to assemble the Lions and correct my error." Alfor said, looking up to Lance. Which is when Allura also looked up. 

"Lance?" 

"Hey 'llura. Hello Alfor." Lance said with a slight bow of his head. 

"My boy!" Alfor said with joy, raising his arms to hug Lance before remembering that he was only a projection, Allura looked on in confusion as did Lance "My look how young you look again, my it feels like days ago since I last saw you!" 

"Wh- How?! How can you remember me? The last time I was on the ship was about a year and a half ago and the last I saw you was within the first months of being in the castle." 

"Well yes, but actually no. You see the last time you saw me was the first months but I was still within the castle's system, not enough of me to remember everything, but I knew you, I watched you grow, I watched as you trained, and fought and you fell in love and when you lost everything. I saw everything until, the very last days." Alfor explained, Allura just sat there super confused, and Lance wasn't that far behind. 

"B-but, I'm in the past. Nothing should remember, I brushed the identity scan off as a fluke, but there isn't any way for you to remember me." Lance blurted out, "I'll be finding out more but right now me, Allura and the other paladins have a job to do." Lance finished, as he helped Allura up from the ground, before walking out the room with his head up high, as a way to hide his insecurity of not knowing something. 

Lance made it to the command room before Allura had but he ignored everyone to go sit on the floor, with his back pressed against the floor, his feet kicked up onto the wall, only to try figure out everything he has known and how Alfor still remembered him. 

Allura put on a pink space suit before she returned to the Paladins who still sat quietly in the command room. "You five Paladins were brought here for a reason. The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by you and you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe's only hope. We are the universe's only hope." Allura commanded. 

"We're with you, Princess." Shiro replied, before everyone followed Allura to another room. Lance recognised as the armoury. 

"Your suits of armour."

"It's nice to see my armour again," 

"Outstanding."

"Nice."

"Oh, neat!" 

Four of the paladins says in awe. Only Hunk took a moment.

"Hmm... Mmm... hmm." Hunk made a few confused noises as he compared his body with the size of his suit. Doubting that the suit would even fit, Lance looked over and laughed. 

"Hunk, buddy, they grow and shrink to fit our sizes," Lance managed to get out before laughing again and everyone's surprised faces, while minus Allura and Coran. One by one the Paladins got changed, giving each other the privacy they deserved, however, for one red paladin curiosity got the better of them and they looked at the blue paladin. Only to freeze when he saw the scars that danced across the tanned skin, showing battle that hasn't been told yet.

Blue eyes met purple, and with it came an indignant yelp, "I thought we weren't looking at each other!" Lance commented, looking more annoyed than angry, the others looked over, and they only caught a glimpse of some scars before they were covered again. 

"Where did you--?" Keith started, before Lance cut him off, telling him that where he got his scars was none of his business, "No- no. I mean where did you get that tattoo?" Keith asked pointing to the tattoo on Lance's wrist. 

Lance smiled fondly as he looked at the tattoo, "Me and my-" Lance sighed, his heart aching as he thought of his lover's smirk and the mullet that was long enough to wear up, before looking at Keith, only seeing part of the man he loved, "My lover and I got matching tattoo's," Lance finished, the others gasped, again, "Seriously guys you need to stop gasping,"

"You had a lover?!" Hunk asked excitedly, "What is she like?" 

"I can't believe your flirting worked to get a girl." Pidge muttered. 

"Guys, we don't know if it's a girl," Shiro stated. 

Lance nodded, "Thanks Shiro. My boyfriend is the most brilliant person. I-I mean was, the most brilliant person. But enough about me, we got a mission to complete." 

Unknown to the Paladins, while they talked so did the Alteans. "Princess, are you sure about this? They aren't exactly the best that the universe has to offer." Coran asked in a hushed voice. 

"No, but they're all we've got." Allura replied before making her way in front of a podium, grabbing the Paladins attention, "The Bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron. It takes a distinct shape for each Paladin." The Paladins receive their Bayard's. Pidge's became a small grappling hook with a knife head. Hunks Bayard became a huge blaster, Keith's had become a sword that balanced perfectly in his hand. Lance's Bayard didn't change, until he thought through what he wanted to use.

There were many choices, in the past he didn't have time to perfect a single Bayard due to constantly needing to adapt to changes in war. And thus he had many choices, ultimately he decided to perfect each weapon before moving on, and as such chose the one he was most known for, a gun. However, for a moment it switched from a regular blaster to a sniper before turning back, Lance figured that it was because he didn't feel ready to take on the nickname Sharpshooter again.

"Shiro, I'm afraid your Bayard was lost with its Paladin," Allura stated, Lance bit his tongue in order to not ask who the old paladin was. They were never told directly by Allura who was the past paladin was. In the past they all bonded with their Lion to be able to talk to the old Paladin, however, all in agreement no one was tell another Paladin who their paladin of old was. 

"I guess I'll just have to make do." Shiro replied.

Chapter Text

After transforming their weapons back to the basic Bayard look, everyone gathered in the Bridge of Castle again. Allura went to the controls and brought up an image of the Galran warship that they had to somehow get inside and find a lion. "You'll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak's ship." Allura said, stating the obvious.

"That's a... Pretty big ship. How are we gonna know where the Red Lion is?" Keith asked.

"Oh, it's not a matter of 'we'. It's a matter of 'you'." Pidge replied.

"Pidge is right. Once we get you in, you'll be able to feel its presence and track it down." Hunk backed up. 

"Keith, remember, the Red Lion is extremely temperamental. You'll need to earn it's respect." Allura added.

"To start with, don't refer to Red as an 'it', Red likes to be either called a she or by her colour," Lance added, looking a little salty at Allura, Keith nodded. Now that he knew that Lance was once the red Paladin, his advice was most likely the best, not that he would admit that to Lance's face.

"All right. Here's our plan of attack," Shiro started, "The Galra Empire knows about the Blue and Yellow Lion, but they don't know that we have the Green Lion, too. Hunk, Lance, you'll act as a decoy by pretending to give yourself up." Lance looked displeased at the risk of two Lions, but nodded. "While Sendak is distracted, Keith, Pidge and I will sneak onto the ship in the Green Lion. Keith and I will find the Red Lion while Pidge guards our exit. Hunk, Lance, it's up to you to take down that ion cannon."

X~ With Lance and Hunk ~X

The Paladins made their way to the Lions, before flying away from the castle. Lance sent a transmission to the Galra, while Pidge docked the Green Lion on the underside of the ship undetected. "Attention, Galra ship. Do not fire. We're surrendering our Lions." 

 Pidge put a hold into the side of the ship, before Shiro, Keith and Pidge went inside. "Pidge, what's your ETA?" Lance asked through his head set.

 "We're in." Was Pidge's reply, before Lance concentrated on the sight before him. 

"What's that thing?" Hunk asked worried. 

"Tractor beam, move out!" Lance called out, flying away from the bright light, catching a glimpse of the Yellow Lion also flying away. Galra fighter jets exit the warship only to head straight for the Lions. "Hunk, you dismantle the ion cannon while I take these jerks on a space ride," Lance called as he fired the lasers are the incoming ships. 

"Ten-four!" Hunk called back,, heading straight for the cannon.

X~ With Shiro, Pidge and Keith ~X

Pidge, Keith and Shiro boarded the Galra ship, they looked around the hallways making sure that they wouldn't be caught. Both Keith and Pidge relaxed only slightly as they realised that they haven't been spotted, however Shiro tensed up more when he had a small flashback. "I've been here before. After I was taken by the Galra cruiser off Kerberos they took us here." Shiro brought up, much to the shock of the other two. 

"So, that means your other crewmembers, they might be held captured here. We have to save them!" Pidge replied, looking determined. 

"Pidge, we don't have time. We have to get the Red Lion and get back to the others." Shiro replied. 

"But we can't just leave prisoners here!" Pidge protested. 

"Look, no one understands that more than me, but, in war, we have to make difficult choices. Now, let's get moving." Shiro replied, as he and Keith went to move in one direction, Pidge stayed stubbornly where they were.

"No! Commander Holt is my father. He and my brother were the ones on the mission with you." Pidge revealed, which shocked Shiro more than it did Keith. 

"Commander Holt is your father?" Shiro asked, finally realising why Pidge looked so familiar. 

"Yes. I've been searching everywhere for him and my brother. And I'm not giving up looking when I'm this close. I won't!" Pidge argued. 

"I'm coming with you." 

"What?" Keith asked finally speaking up. 

"I remember where the prisoners are held. Keith you go find the Red Lion." Shiro stated turning to Keith. 

"By myself?" Keith doubted.

"Minor change of plans. You'll be fine," Shiro encouraged, " Just remember Patience Yields focus," Shiro said before telling them to run as they heard sentries walk in their direction. 

X~ With Lance and Hunk ~X

As Lance fought the small fighter jets, Hunk tried slamming into the warship's ion cannon but is blocked by a force field. "What the Quiznak? What is that? A force field?" Hunk muttered to himself. Hunk continued to bang his Lion against the barrier. "Lance any ideas on how to break this thing?" 

"Have you tried the mouth cannon?" Came Lance's reply before he went silent again. 

And that is what Hunk did, "Come on, just break, you stupid thing!" And with that the force field finally breaks. "Score one for Hunk!" Hunk then slammed his Lion into the ion cannon, disfiguring it.

X~ With Keith ~X

After separating from Shiro and Pidge, Keith ran through the warship blindly, but only ended up reaching an intersecting corridor that had a Galra emblem in the middle. "Great. Now, which way?" Keith huffed to himself, before running down one side because he heard footsteps of some sentries approaching his position. 

Keith after running down one corridor, had somehow looped round and reached the same intersecting corridor, with the very same Galra emblem on. "You've got to be kidding me!" Keith growled out, he then took a breath, remembering what Shiro had told him. "... Patience... yields focus..." In doing this he finally sensed the Red Lion, showing the way straight to the Lion. "Gotcha!" He grinned, running down the correct corridor this time. 

After running, and hiding from sentries, Keith finally came to the hanger which held the Red Lion. "Bingo. Let's get out of here. Open up." Keith said casually as he walked towards the force field. He placed his hand on the force field that refused to disappear. 

"It's me. Keith. You buddy. It's me Keeeeeeiiiiiith, your-- I. AM. YOUR. PALADIN." Keith shouted. Once again nothing happened, Keith knocks on the force field, just like Lance did with Blue. However, before anything could happen Galra sentries had finally arrived and started to fire laser towards him, with surprisingly terrible aim. Still, Keith brought up his armours shield. "I'm bonding with you! Hey! Come on! We're connected!" 

The Red Lion does not react, Keith bitterly noted. Keith summons his Bayard as a katar and fights the sentries. "You're not getting this lion! Lance would kill me if that happened." Keith shouted at the sentries.

Unfortunately, Keith got knocked back by multiple lasers. He brought his helmet down before activating the airlock doors. The sentries got pulled out, and soon enough Keith joined them after getting hit by bits of rubble. The Red Lion came to his rescue, catching him in her mouth, finally accepting Keith as her Paladin. Keith took a seat in the cockpit. "Good kitty. Let's roll." 

X~ With Shiro and Pidge ~X

After separating with Keith, Shiro lead Pidge to where the prisoners would be being kept. Only to come across a Galra drone. Pidge shot down the drone, before it could react. "That thing saw us. We should get out of here." 

"Wait. I think this might come in handy." Pidge replied as they reconfigured the drone, "Now, I'll just reset the controls... and it's working for us! I'm going to call you Rover. Follow me!" As Shiro showed Pidge where the cell is Rover followed obediently. "Open up!" Pidge told Rover, to which it activated the cell door, opening it wide enough for them to enter.

"Excellent, Pidge." Shiro congratulated. 

"Dad?" Pidge asked as they entered to cell, only to be disappointed to find only aliens. 

"Don't be afraid. We're here to help you escape." Shiro said, slightly towering over the prisoners. 

"It's you... It's you, the Champion. If anyone can get us out of here, he can." One of the aliens said. 

"Wh... What did you call me?" Shiro asked confused. 

"We don't have much time." Pidge brought up, still disappointed. 

"Let's get to the escape pods. Let's go. Come on!" Shiro encouraged, motioning for the aliens to follow them, which they did. After running through the halls, Shiro and Pidge brought the prisoners to the escape pods. 

"Halt!" Shiro and Pidge turned to see that they were surrounded by sentries. Shiro's prosthetic arm painfully activate, glowing an ominous purple, the pain left Shiro severely distorted. 

"Shiro? Shiro, what's wrong?" Pidge asked panicked and worried. Luckily, the pain subsides and everything settled around Shiro, once he got his balance again Shiro attacked the sentries, cutting them down one by one with his glowing arm. Once all sentries hit the ground, Shiro turned to the prisoners. 

"Thank you, Shiro." The same alien said as the pod left the ship.

"Wait! How do you...?" Shiro asked but it was too late. 

"Shiro, that was amazing! Where did you learn to fight with that?" Pidge asked, excited. 

"No idea." Shiro replied, before they both went back to the Green Lion. 

The Yellow Lion, started flying back towards the castle, when on his screen Hunk saw the other Lions. "You guys made it!" Hunk yelled happily, relived everything went okay. 

"Kitty Rose has left the stage!" Pidge replied. 

"Let's get the heck out of here!" Lance added.

"I hope I stopped that cannon. I could barely make a dent in it!" Hunk muttered but everyone heard it clearly.

Chapter Text

As soon as everyone got to onto the ship and exited their lions, the four reclaimed lions roared in order to activate the locked door which opened to reveal the Black Lion. The Black Lion then roars, showing that the lion had accepted Shiro as the paladin. Everyone cheers before the castle's alarm went of alerting the group that Sendak and his ship was approaching.

"Oh, Quiznak!" Coran cursed. Lance, unknown to everyone else was already running into Blue.

"Sendak is entering the Arusian atmosphere. We need Voltron now!" Allura commanded, before making her way up to the bridge with Coran. All the paladins, apart from Lance who was already making his way out of the castle, entered their own lions before making their own way out into the battle. 

Lance dodges the ion cannon, which blasts the castle ship, Lance murmured an apology into his headset before, flying around destroying any mini ships that headed for the planet. "Man, those Galra guys repair things fast." Hunk announced, as the group flew up to help Lance. 

Another round of blasts his the particle barrier, "The barrier gets weaker with every blast," Coran stated ,panicked, "Once that shield goes down, the castle will be defenceless," Lance huffed out a sigh, 'I had to do this for ages, why can't I get a break,' Lance thought but ultimately carried on.

"I can give you cover with the Castle defences for a while, but you have to form Voltron now or we'll all be destroyed." Allura stated, sounding a lot more confident than she felt. 

"Jeez, no pressure," Hunk muttered, as he dodged yet another blast from the mini ships. Another blast from the ion cannon flew through the air right next to Hunk before hitting the barrier, weakening it further. 

Shiro listened to Allura and Coran grunting at the castle shook and how Hunk and Pidge were panting, as they were not used to flying and dodging. He could even hear Keith breath a little heavy, Lance was silent, but his own heartbeat seemed like it was about to pump right out of his chest. "Listen up, Team Voltron! The only way to succeed is to give it all you've got, I know if looks bad, but we can do this! Are you with me?" Lance, Hunk, Pidge and Keith all nod silently. 

"I'm nodding. Is everyone else nodding?" Hunk questioned.

"Yes," The rest replied. 

"Let's do this!" Shiro shouted, pushing his own lion to get to the others. 

"Uh, how?" Keith asked. 

"Good question. Does anyone have any ideas of how to form Voltron?" Shiro asked, destroying another ship with the lions mouth. 

"I don't see a 'combine into Giant Robot' button anywhere on my dashboard," Hunk replied, looking at the dashboard just to double check. 

"Lance? Any ideas?" Pidge questioned, but Lance stayed silent as he weaved through the ships destroying every single one, 'Not gonna break..' Lance sang in his mind, killing the ships to the beat in his mind. 

"This is insane! Can't they just cease fire for one minute so we can figure this out, is that too much to ask?" Pidge shouted and attacked to two fight jets that followed them. Keith fires the Red Lions cannons to two more jets that Pidge didn't notice. 

"Lance we could use a little wisdom right now," Shiro called out, but still Lance flew around the sky as if his lion was dancing. 

"We've got to do something," Keith stated annoyed. 

"Combine!" Hunk shouted as he slammed the Yellow Lion into the Red Lion, knocking it over, Lance huffed out a laugh as he saw what happened. 

"Hunk, buddy, what are you doing? Red and Yellow did not appreciate that," Lance said with a smirked, listening as his own lion laughed. 

"Quickly, Paladins! Our energy levels are getting low!" Allura called out. 

"Lance, focus!" Shiro snapped, Lance's face fell, "How do we form Voltron?" 

"Well, we reach out our minds together and like hold hands with our mind, kind of. I don't know how to explain it, but like we're linked, our mind and body is one." Lance tried to explain, but only made it so Shiro was even more confused. 

"Okay, I don't understand that," Hunk stated, 

"Maybe if we fly in formation, we'll just combine." Shiro stated, ignoring Lance's little ramble, "Take off on my cue. One, Two, Three! Form Voltron!" Shiro shouted, and the lions took off, 

"Here we go!" Keith said.

"Come on, come on!" Hunk called out.

"Nothing's happening." Shiro replied, before noticing Lance wasn't in formation, "Lance what are you doing?!" Shiro raised his voice, but it was drowned out by Pidge. 

"Hey, wait! I feel something!"

"I do, too. I feel it. It's like we're being pulled in the same direction!" hunk agreed.

"That's because your caught in the tractor beam! I'm not in formation because I noticed it, and I thought you guys would as well!" Lance shouted in disbelief. 'Were we really this dumb at the beginning?' He questioned to himself. 

"Sendak's ship is sucking us in like a black hole!" Pidge exclaimed. The warship sends out another blast which hits the Castle of Lions particle barrier, destroying it. 

"Oh, no!" Shiro mutters,

"I-I don't care what you say, Shiro. I'm panicking now!" Hunk shouted borderline hysterical. 

"It can't end here!" Pidge also shouted.

"It's been an honour flying with you boys." Keith stated simply.

"This is it." Shiro gave in. 

"Nope! Not happening! Guys, we can do this! Do you think I have made it this far to just give up now? Of course I didn't. So get a grip, this is a battle that we cannot fail, we help each other, we fail together but more importantly we win together!" Lance shouted, grabbing everyone's attention. "Now, pause and think, you should feel something, It feels calm and if to give a colour it would be blue. That's me! Reach out!" 

Everyone did, they thought deep and hard, till they all felt the overwhelming calmness, and if they did picture a colour it was blue. Lance felt something fierce grab to his clam, 'Keith and red' Lance thought, now something hesitant 'Hunk and yellow', something strong 'Shiro and Black' but still no green 'Come on, Pidge.' Lance rooted around his own head, 'There!' Lance though as he shot his metaphorical hand out, wrapping around what would be Pidge, it was full of uncertainty. The green gripped to the blue. Lance smiled as the lions transformed, to form to one and only Voltron. 

As soon as they transformed, they saved the Castle of Lions from destruction by diverting the blast with a single punch to the ion cannon. "I can't believe it!" Keith exclaimed, shocked.

"We formed Voltron!" Pidge said excitedly. 

"I'm a leg!" Hunk shouted, to which Lance snorted.

"How are we doing this?" Shiro asked. 

"By connecting our thoughts, feelings and trusting one another, we formed, think, you can feel Keith is determined and shocked. Pidge is still uncertain but has some confidence. Hunk is slight excited but still nervous. Shiro is also determined." Lance explained. 

"And you are happy," Pidge started,

"But also sad," Keith finished. 

Lance shook his head, "don't worry about it, we got work to do!" 

With that Voltron flew through the sky destroying the final final fighter jets as well as the warship. They then landed in front of the Castle of lions, where Coran and Allura were waiting. "Good work Paladins!" Allura congratulated as the Paladins exited the Lions, Lance stroked Blue affectionately "Thanks, Blue," before moving to the group.

"We did it," Shiro said, relief filling his voice.

"Heck yeah, we did." Keith spoke up. 

"How did we do it?" Shiro asked.

"I was just, like, screaming the whole time. Maybe that did it." Hunk replied.

Lance laughed, "It's because we trusted each other," 

Pidge looks dejected from not finding either missing family member, Shiro and Lance notice, Shiro placed his hand on Pidge's shoulder, "We're not going to stop searching until we find your brother and father. Wherever they are, I know they'd be proud of you. Maybe Lance knows?" Shiro encouraged and then hinted. Pidge smiled, before making her way to Lance. 

"Hey Lance," 

"What's up Pidge?" 

"Do you know where my brother and father are?" Pidge asked once Hunk moved away. Lance's smile dropped. 

"No, I don't." Lance replied, to which Pidge looked devastated. "In my time, you found your brother, not sure where though, you wouldn't tell. But your dad," Lance hesitated, "We found him dead at a Galra camp, I'm sorry." Lance murmured, Pidge looked like they were about to cry, "But things have been different so far right? He could still be alive!" Lance amended, "Don't give up, we will find them both, alive this time," Lance placed his hands of Pidge's shoulders, before crouching down to eye level, giving them a hopeful smile. 

"Okay." Pidge accepted, getting a feeling of trust from Lance. 

"We won the battle, but the war has only just begun. I'm afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these Lions." Allura interrupted. 

"Good thing you Paladins know what you're doing, because you're going to have to form Voltron again and again." Coran followed Allura's example, completely oblivious that the Paladins (apart from Lance) thought that this was a fluke. 

"Totally -- Wait, what?" Hunk agreed before realising what Coran actually said.

"We barely survived forming Voltron this one time." Keith groaned. 

"And you only had to fight one ship. Wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of ships." Coran said, making it sound even worse," It's not going to be easy being the Defenders of the Universe."

Apart from Lance, the paladins looked surprised at the title, before looking at their lions, which seemed to show power and pride. 

"Defenders of the Universe, huh? That's go a nice ring to it." Shiro stated.

Chapter Text

Hunk shot up in his bed as the alarms in the Castle started to blare, quickly running towards the bridge in fear that they were being attacked. The Alarms continued to blast throughout the Castle, waking Pidge, who knocked their laptop off of their knees; they also made haste towards the bridge. Keith who was already awake, tracing the marking on his knife, the words "half-breed" echoing in his mind, wondering what Lance meant by that, however as the alarms started to blare, he quickly covered up his knife and ran straight to the bridge. The Black Paladin, Shiro was doing push-ups as the alarms went off, he quickly made his way to the bridge.

As the paladins made their way towards the bridge Allura's voice echoed throughout the hallways, panic in every word "Everybody up! Zarkon's attacking! The Castle's about to be destroyed! Go, go, go! We need Voltron now!"

Lance, who was giving his Lion a nice clean, shook his head smiling. "Come on beautiful, let's get out there, even though it's a test" The Blue Lion bowed its head, letting Lance take the helm.

"Hurry! We can't survive much longer!" Allura's voice called through the monitor. Lance took off out of the hanger making his way to the pathway just outside the door, the same one that Blue took them to when they first arrived. Lance had his comms open to the bridge but did not speak, but heard everything that was going on.

"You've got to sell it a little bit more," Coran encouraged, lifting his hand towards Allura, who gave Coran the microphone, "Oh, no! Allura is dead! Aaaah! It's horrible! Her head fell off!" Coran started, to which Lance had to mute his mic in order to snicker at how dramatic Coran was, "Her severed head is trying to speak to me! What is it, Allura's head? What are your final words?"

"Coran..." The sound of Allura's voice, which was monotone and just sounded fed up with Coran's antics, made Lance burst out laughing. By this time all the paladins, excluding Lance, made it to the bridge, just in time to see Coran on the floor, fake tears bubbling down his face. They all looked done.

"Oh, yes. Princess. I'm listening."

"It's over," Allura stated, with her arms crossed, a fed up look crossing her face.

"Oh, I know! Waaaaaagh! If only Voltron had been formed." Coran cried out dramatically, before getting back upright and suddenly looking a little more serious than he had been just a moment before, looking at the paladins as if nothing happened. Lance stopped laughing, and opened his mic ready to open a visual link to the bridge. "- Oh! Time!"

"I guess this isn't an actual attack," Shiro stated, sounding dead on the inside.

"And it's a good thing it wasn't because it took you..." Allura started before remembering she wasn't the one who was meant to be taking the time, "Coran?"

"Seventy-five degrees. Oh, sorry. No, this is a meat thermometer." Coran said, rubbing his mustache as he looked at the thermometer in his hand, before throwing it over his shoulder, the rest of the paladins looked exhausted but Lance just grinned.

"However long it was, it was too long. You must always be ready to do battle with Zarkon," Allura commented, "Look at you! Only Shiro is in uniform. Keith, Pidge, Hunk, where are your Bayards?" Allura questioned, before realizing one paladin was missing, "And where is Lance?"

Lance took this opportunity to open the visual link, everyone turned to look at the screen, "I'm right here princess, I'm in my Lion, in my uniform and I have my bayard. All ready to go!" Lance said enthusiastically, while Pidge muttered something similar to 'Show off'. And unlike the rest of the paladins, Lance looked well rested. 

"Coran and I have been up for hours getting the Castle back in order," Allura stated, ignoring Lance, "We had to run a test on the alarms, and we decided to test you as well. Guess which one failed," Allura complained.

"Hey!" Hunk started before yawning, "Yo got to sleep for 10,000 years, man. Monday night, I was on Earth." Hunk took a breath, "Now, I've flown through space, fought some evil alien named Zarkon, eaten goo in some weird Castle. That's a lot to process, uh... I don't know. What day is today?" Hunk stressed out to the Aliens, Lance winced in sympathy, he would've probably felt the same if he didn't go back in time and was used to waking up early.

"It's the third quintant of the Spicolian movement. Hump day!" Coran piped up helpfully.

"It's Wednesday, Hunk," Lance stated, after seeing how confused the paladins were.

"-It's a lot to process," Hunk reiterated.

"You must understand the stakes of our mission," Allura started seriously, before bringing up the map of the universe from the Castleship's computer and displays the amount of distress beacons, "Over the last 10,000 years, the Castle picked up the distress beacons front he following locations," Allura continued, and as she spoke plants, solar systems, entire galaxies turned red, indicating the the spread of the Galra, "So, we have to assume that Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe." Lance's smile dropped as he saw what Allura was getting at as he watched Allura move the map to the Milky Way where it appears barely out of Zarkon's reach, a pale blue surrounded by red. "Earth is here. An attack on your planet is inevitable."

"Oh no." Hunk mumbled, thinking of his family.

"Exactly. Our mission is to free all those planets. Coran and I are getting the Castle ready to leave Arus. During that time, you have to learn to form Voltron, so we can begin fighting Zarkon." Allura stated determinedly, but had a sympathetic look on her face.

"Wait!" Keith called out, everyone looking at him, "How much of this universe did you free?" Keith asked, moving to look at Lance. Everyone looked curious but at least Shiro tried to hide it.

"Keith, you can't just -" Shiro tried to back Lance up, before getting interrupted.

"Yes, I can. He came back to stop something bad. But how far did they get before they gave up! How many planets were freed?" Keith argued. Lance looked down, thinking. He took a breath, pulling up a file in the Blue Lion, 'How is this here? I went back in time, Blue should not have this saved,' Lance thought as he successfully brought up the star map on the bridge.

"I've been in this war longer than you Keith, maybe longer than Allura and Coran, if you ignore the technicality of sleeping for 10,000 years. We were young, just like you, inexperienced, naive. We were weak," Lance started, showing the same map Allura just had, full of red, the others looked at this map, confused and worried, Lance sighed, "But we bonded, quicker than you guys, but it might've been because we were thrown constantly in life and death situations. But I digress, we grew in many ways, quicker, smarter, stronger." Lance paused as he smiled, "We became a family, We depended on each other, and for a while we were undefeated." The map slowly turned more blue, the red growing smaller, as the map showed timestamps.

"We were in that war for years, it takes its toll, you know? We finally got back to earth, but it was too late." The humans gasped in fear and sadness, "Earth was taken over by the Galra, only a few were alive, Hunk's family and the Garrison were the only people alive. We lost our leader and our families in the fight for earth. The edge between freedom and Galra, stopped. The Galra took over other planets, but we healed and we continued, we stuck it out, until we got to the planet, Jul'brin. It was a trap." Lance stopped, as tears creeped into his eyes.

"Lance you don't have to continue," Shiro stated, seeing the distress that Lance was in. Keith looked guilty, but Lance continued on, as if he didn't hear Shiro.

"I lost him," Lance cried, "I lost the one I love. My heart," Lance took a deep breath, "My soul was gone. We, no I, didn't recover. And it just got worse from there." Lance took a breath, and then another and he kept taking another breath until he felt his breath even out. Wiping his eyes, he looked at Keith, "We took back over seventy-five percent of the universe, but we could only take so much loss before we lose hope," Everyone looked at Lance in sympathy, Hunk, Pidge and Coran were crying, while Allura and Shiro had tears beginning to form, Keith was frozen, never had he seen Lance look so sad, he did remember Lance from the Garrison, he was always smiling and never stopped talking.

"I'm sorry," Keith stuttered out, Lance shook his head.

"I'm sorry for rambling like that, but even though it hurts, it feels good getting that off my chest." Lance smiled, "Now get to your Lions and let's start training, this time we will win."

"But I want to talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship," Pidge blurted out, after wiping their tears.

"Ah, negative Number Five." Coran, now also no longer crying, started crouching slightly, hands separated between Pidge's head and feet, "I have you ranked by height, okay? The prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow." Coran finished twirling his mustache between his fingers. Pidge grumbled but made their way to their lion, everyone soon followed suit, Shiro was the only one to stop, "Lance, thank you for sharing, you didn't have to,"

"It's alright Shiro, we're a team, you deserve to know the truth, and maybe in time, I'll tell you guys the rest in not so vague ways," Shiro nodded.

Lance waited patiently, while the others made their way to their separate Lions. Keith and Pidge were out first, and then Shiro. However, after almost everyone arrived, they waited for 5 more minutes before Lance spoke up, "Should someone go in after him?" no one mentioned the slight crack still evident in his voice.

"Key, sorry, everybody. Seriously, though, can't they park these things, like, a little closer to the Bridge?" Hunk asked, only a little annoyed. Lance smiled and shook his head, 'Hunk never changes' he thought to himself.

"All right, guys. Let's just fly in tight formation until we're totally in sync." Shiro stated, as he moved the Black Lion's controls into flight, the others following suit.

"Feel the bond with your Lions and your fellow pilots until five become one unit and you form Voltron!"

"Yeah!" They called out excited, Lance knew this wasn't going to work, but he tried nonetheless.

"Yeah!" Less enthusiastic but still excited.

"Yeah!"

"Yay!" Lance resisted the urge to snort, there was no joy in the last one.
"Whoo... Am I the only one who's still pretending to be excited?" Hunk asked, to which no one replied.

"Clearly, this isn't working. Let's set down for a little bit." Shiro stated, sounding as if he was about to nose dive his Lion into the ground and stay there.

"Maybe we should be building Voltron from the ground up." Keith suggested.

"What do you mean?" Shiro asked.

"I mean, let's try literally building Voltron, like, stacking on top of each other," Lance resisted laughing at how ridiculous the idea sounded and how earnestly Keith sounded when suggesting it.

"Like a cheerleader pyramid?" Pidge asked, also trying not to laugh.

"You got a better idea?" Keith argued.

"Yes." Lance muttered.

"It's worth a try." Shiro agreed, clearly not hearing Lance. The paladins then changed direction, instead of wandering the air, they landed. Starting with Blue and Green Lions on the bottom, and the Red Lion on top the two, the Black Lion had its front legs on the Red Lion and the hind legs on the Blue and Green Lions. Hunk, in the Yellow Lion, balanced on the top. "Hunk, what are you doing?" Sounding like a tired dad.

"What do you mean?" Hunk asked, not quite getting what was wrong.

"You're supposed to be the leg, over there." Shiro argued.

"What? No. No, no, no. I'm pretty sure that when we did it last time. I was the head. Right?" Hunk stated, in denial.

"You yelled, 'I'm a leg!'" Lance declared.

"Yeah, I was yelling a lot of things,"

"Shiro's the head." Keith stated, sounding annoyed.

"All the time?" Hunk questioned, a little upset

"Let's just try it my way for now," Shiro compromised.

"Okay, but next time I call head." After relenting, Hunk then flew his Lion off of the Black Lion and everyone, but Lance moved their Lions into the correct positions. Shiro carefully hovers the Black Lion above the other Lions before slowly descending until the legs of the lion was resting on the Red and Green Lions' backs

"Okay. Arms and legs... and I'll form the head. Feel the bonds with your Lions. Now channel your energy into forming Voltron. Focus," Shiro muttered, getting louder as he told the others to focus, Shiro and the others closed their eyes, completely forgetting the advice Lance gave during their previous battle. Lance, already really close to his Lion, reached his hand out in his mind, trying to reach the other paladins, but failed due to them not knowing what to do, "Focus.." Shiro said again, Lance sighed as nothing happened. "Is everyone bonding and focusing?"

"Why was this so much easier before," Pidge complained.

Shiro sighed, "Let's take a break." Lance also sighed, a little annoyed that he was dismissed and everyone forgot what he said. Allura then appeared on everyone's screen looking as if she had an idea, Lance didn't sigh but he didn't almost groan, he knew that look and what was going to happen was not about to be fun.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I may be able to help," Allura started, grabbing everyone's attention, "Yesterday, you weren't able to form Voltron until you were in the heat of battle," Lance looked at the screen 'No we formed Voltron because we reached out to each other and became one, we don't need to be in the heat of battle to do that,' Lance argued in his mind.

"Yeah," Pidge agreed.

"I'm listening," Hunk urged Allura to continue.

"You're right," Shiro nodded

"Yeah, I guess," Keith shrugged.

"Perfect," Allura clapped, "Because I need to run a diagnostic test on all of the Castle's defenses. This should help!" And with that, the Castle of Lions' particle barrier formed allowing fire blasts to fly out bombarding the Lions. The paladins screamed and fled.

"Okay, go, go!" Lance urged Blue, before activating the thrusters, going into the Arusian atmosphere, out of the Castle's sensors.

"Allura, what are you doing?!" Keith yelled annoyed, looking briefly at the visual comm where Allura smiled, before looking back straight ahead just in time to dodge an explosion.

"Running a diagnostic test on the Castle defenses and inspiring you!" Allura stated as if it was obvious, "I believe in you, Paladins! Let fear be your guide! Form Voltron!" Allura cheered before disconnecting the visual comm to the lions.

"Oh, forget this! I'm heading back to the Castle," Pidge argued before piloting the Green Lion towards the Castleship, dodging the attacks easily, only to be thrown back by the particle barrier. Lance smiled as he saw the other struggled, before he felt a grumble of disappointment coming from Blue 'Hey, I had my fair share of this training, and think of it as pay back for ignoring and forgetting what I said' Lance argued internally with Blue, who sent another feeling of disappointment, but a slightly bit of sadistic glee 'I knew you agreed, I'll go help in a few minutes'

"Please stop! Please! Have mercy on us!" Hunk cried out, as he made the Yellow Lion jump from place to place dodging the bombardment. Allura appeared on their screens again.

"You think Zarkon is going to have mercy on you? He's probably on his way right now to destroy us all!" Allura fought back before pressing a button on the computer screen and walking away, once again disconnecting the comms.

"Auto - lock - on engaged." The computer said, through the Lions speakers. Lance came back down from the atmosphere to suffer the bombardment with the others. Only, unlike the others, he was having fun.

"Wooohooo!" Is all they heard from Lance.

Chapter Text

After 10 minutes of continuous dodging, all paladins including Lance were fed up and tired. Lance, although tired, was still having a little fun, but that was because he put on some Earth Music that was linked from his memory into the Lion’s sound speakers. Until finally the blasts heading their way finally slowed to a stop, and soon everyone flew back into the castle, Shiro stayed with his Lion while the others made their way towards the Castle’s Lounge, flopping down on the sofas, while Lance positioned himself so his back was on the bottom of the sofa with his legs going up the back of the sofa and over the top.

Looking at how exhausted the others were, Lance couldn’t help but wince, however before he could say anything Allura and Coran entered, however it took a minute for Allura to actually take notice of the Paladins, “Are we at full power on condenser number five yet?” she asked as Coran looked at the tablet.

“No, still just 84 percent.” Coran replied, frowning at the screen that was still showing an amber colour.

When Allura’s eyes landed on the paladins a smile donned her face, “You did it! You formed Voltron!” Clapping her hands together once as she scanned how tired they were, frowning for a moment when she saw how Lance was sitting before shrugging it, believing it to be a human thing. 

“No.” Keith, shutting down Allura’s hopeful thought before it could continue, “The shooting stopped and the particle barrier shut down, so we just flew in.” Keith finished, crossing his arms.

“What?” Allura questioned, her seemingly British accent sounding both annoyed and confused, turning to Coran for answers but only had him dip his head as he tried to look busy on the tablet, trying to avoid confrontation. 

“Oh, right. Uh, sorry, Princess. I had to turn off the Castle defences to test the fire suppressors.” Lance snorted at the expression Coran had as he tried to avoid looking at the Princess, however before Allura could respond the lounge doors opened once again only this time showing that Shiro decided to join them.

“What are you guys doing in here?” Shiro started to which Lance thought was a little unfair, ‘he also flew in when the firing stopped, he stopped training and he knew we were coming to the Lounge’ but deciding not to argue Lance just folded his arms behind his head and continued to relax, “We’re not taking a break.” Shiro finished, crossing his arms over his chest just like Keith did a few moments before. 

“Shiro’s right. You should be training,” Allura agreed.

“We’ve been training,” Hunk argued, “When are we going back to Earth?” Hunk asked, making everyone look at him. 

“I’m not going back until I find my family,” Pidge answered back, looking annoyed that Hunk would even suggest the idea of going back to earth so soon. 

Lance stood up, “If you’re going to argue then there is no point to all this, Hunk I get it, you miss your family. Believe me I do too, and I haven’t seen them in a longer time than you have. And Pidge, yes your family is important no one is saying they aren’t but you have to remember not everyone has their family in space.” Lance finished, making way more hand gestures than needed, and both Hunk and Pidge looked a little ashamed. 

“There won’t be an Earth if we don’t figure out how to fight Zarkon,” Shiro agreed. 

“How are we going to fight? You guys don’t even know how to form Voltron.” Lance argued back, he wasn’t about to pick sides between staying and leaving, he wanted both, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen. Shiro looked at Lance with an expression that was clearly a disappointed dad with a touch of ‘I thought you were on my side here’ . 

“Well, I’m not surprised. You know, the original Paladins fought hundreds of battles together, side-by-side. They were like a pack of Yalmors linked at the ears,” Coran chimed in. Lance nodded along, while the others looked confused at what a ‘Yalmor’ was. 

“Well, that isn’t us.” Lance replied bitterly. 

“During the last attack, your survival instincts forced you to work as a team, but that will only get you so far,” Coran easily ignored what Lance muttered, “You’ll have to become a real team to have any chance of forming Voltron and then beating Zarkon next time. You should try working out on the Training Deck.” Coran suggested already moving towards the door, to show them where the training room is. 

“There’s a training room?” Hunk questioned, following the others. Through the halls, Lance would start talking about anything and everything, mostly about how his team struggled at the beginning as well and how it soon became second nature, he was in the middle of telling the others about, one planet him and Keith saved and was about to say about how that was the day Keith proposed to him. 

“We were on this planet, it looked like Earth in reverse, like the ocean was green and the grass was blue, the sky. Oh my God the sky was beautiful, it was like you could see the stars, because the clouds were filled with some compound or something and it was just turning dawn. The day after the battle while we waited for the Castle to come pick us up, and like I was just watching the sunset, and then Keith, he just -” Lance stopped himself, before going oddly silent and reserved as if he just remembered something tragic. 

“What did I do?” Keith questioned after a few minutes. 

“You are so dense,” Pidge muttered, shifting their glasses. Already figuring out the relationship Lance had with future Keith. Hunk nodded, however, he did not figure out the relationship. 

“I am also wondering what happened,” Coran stated, the princess and Shiro also nodding. 

“Spoilers?” Lance shrugged with a wonky smile, to which everyone groaned at not hearing the rest of the story, “Anyway, we’re here.” Lance said as the doors opened and the lights automatically turned on. 

The Paladins plus Coran went to the control room, while the Princess went in a different direction, towards another part of the castle. Coran soon realised that the paladins had followed him up to the controls and told them to go back to the main floor, once the others got to the floor Coran cleared his throat.

“Two, two, one, two. Okay, listen up guys.” Coran started, after making sure that the microphone worked after 10,000 years and wasn’t about to screech in his and the others' ears, “The Paladin code demands that you put your team members’ safety above your own. A swarm of drones is about to attack,” Coran warned, Lance formed his shield, crouching slightly so that his  shield covered both his head and his feet, forming his bayard. He took a quick glance around and saw that while on guard, the others were not prepared, “It’s up to each of you to do everything you can do to protect the other members of your team.” Coran finished turning the mic off. 

A swarm of Altean drones then flew out of little pockets in the sides of the walls, Lance automatically started shooting, before even the drones started. Once the drones started shooting Pidge and Keith formed their shields. “Wait, wait, wait. What’s going on - Whoa!” Hunk said, trying to dodge the blasts before his shield formed, “Did you guys get one of these?” He asked, looking around, as Shiro finally formed his shield. 

“Focus buddy,” Lance said before shooting another drone, only to dive to save Hunk from being blasted, only to not get there in time. Hunk got hit and fell down the hole that redirected the paladins back to the control room, Lance froze, the scene of his friend getting shot was eerily similar to how so many died. Keith, who saw Lance freeze, moved towards his back, to protect him, in doing so Pidge also got shot and fell down the hole. 

“Protect your teammates or no one will be there to protect you,” Coran said as the Pidge and Hunk looked towards the floor where the last three were, standing in a triangle, two of them trying to stay safe and the other frozen in place. 

“Somethings wrong with Lance,” Both Keith and Hunk said at the same time, unknowingly copying each other. Pidge moved her focus to Lance and saw that his Bayard was gone, his shield flickering slightly against the blasts. Shiro did the same, however he noticed his eyes were shiny with tears unshed and that his entire form was shaking ever so slightly. 

Coran, not noticing anything wrong, nor hearing the conversation between the humans, warned the others, “Time to increase intensity,” Hunk and Pidge looked at Coran as if he was mad. 

“Lance! Come on Lance! Focus,” Keith said as he got pelted by the blasts, Shiro, staying silent, did the same. “Lance!” Lance blinked at the sound of his name as well as hearing the panicked voice of his lover, “Lance, you got to focus,” Lance turned his head, towards the voice, seeing that Keith was barely hanging on, Shiro also being in the same state, it was like a switch seemed to flip in his mind at seeing the one he loved getting shot at.

“Are you with us again?” Shiro asked, as he noticed some sort of awareness in Lance's eyes, Lance shook his head before nodding. 

“I’m good,” Lance replied shakily, gulping he formed his bayard again, once again starting to fire back, as the drones moved to fire at their heads, Shiro and Keith dodge out of the way, but Lance who only just getting his bearings back got hit and fell through the floor. Once back in the control room, Lance didn’t say anything, he just moved toward Hunk who already had his arms open and just hugged him, not moving from the hug. 

Hunk looked at Pidge, both having a worried expression. Back on the training floor, Shiro and Keith both get shot at the same time and drop onto the control floor, seeing that Hunk was hugging Lance, they thought it was best not to interrupt. Even though he didn’t know human customs, Coran realised that something had happened and that Lance was seeking comfort. 

“Are you okay to continue?” Shiro asked Lance, who still had his head in Hunk’s chest. Hunk, Pidge and Keith all glared at Shiro, Coran was already setting up the next exercise. Lance didn’t speak but his nod his head, moving away from Hunk, who looked at him, giving Hunk a shaky smile, Lance muttered “I’m not okay, but I will be,” Hunk frowned but nodded anyway, Lance turned toward Shiro, “Just give me a few minutes,” Shiro just nodded, sending both Hunk and Pidge down to do the invisible maze. Lance, in a moment of forgetfulness, turned and hugged Keith. 

Shiro tried not to laugh at how Keith went ram rod at the contact, Keith internally panicked at Lance hugging him but then saw Shiro trying not to laugh and glared at him. 

“You good?” Keith asked, his arms stuck to his sides, Lance leant back so quickly that Shiro was a little concerned about whiplash, his own arms dropping to his sides, seemingly remembering that this wasn’t his Keith and it wasn’t normal to just randomly hug someone. 

“Yeah,” Lance shook his head, “Yeah, I’m good, sorry about the hug.” Lance said, stepping away from Keith, nearly knocking into Shiro, who gripped his shoulder to steady Lance. Keith just waved his hand, letting Lance know that it was fine. 

“If I may?” Keith asked, to which Lance nodded, “Why did you freeze like that?” Lance who just started to relax again, stiffened up again, this time it was Shiro who looked at Keith, not quite glaring but still slightly annoyed. 

“Well - I. Well you know that I was the only one who came back right?” Keith nodded, “Well you all, kinda -” Lance paused “You kinda, die?” Lance wrapped his arms around himself, as Shiro dropped his arm from Lance's shoulder, and Keith nodded, already coming to that conclusion. Coran, off in his own world, didn’t hear that he died, “Well one of you - I’m not saying who - died in a similar way that Hunk did in training,” Keith’s eyes widened but nodded anyway, Shiro shook his head. 

“I can’t have died,” Shiro started, Lance and Keith turned to stare at Shiro, “I wouldn’t have died, I’m strong,” Keith looked at Shiro as if he grew another head, Lance just ran a hand through his hair ‘this is why I didn’t want to let them know’ Lance thought to himself sighing, “Lance, I can’t die.” 

Lance let out a small chuckle, “Everyone can die, Shiro. We aren’t invincible,” Shiro just looked at him, as if he was stupid. Making Lance grin, Keith just shook his head at Shiro as if he was the dumbass. The door opened showing Pidge and Hunk who both had bits of burn marks over their clothes, Pidge looked annoyed while Hunk’s face held a wince. 

“Your turn,” Pidge said as she poked Lance’s stomach before flopping onto the floor dramatically. Lance just ruffled Pidge’s hair, before making his way towards the training floor, where the walls of the maze rose from the ground and became invisible. 

“To form Voltron, you must trust in each other. This ancient Paladin maze will teach you that trust,” Coran reiterated, repeating what he had just said to Pidge and Hunk about 20 minutes ago, “Your teammate can see the walls, but you cannot. So, listen carefully. If you touch the walls, you’ll get a slight shock.” 

“Wait. Who’s guiding me through?” Lance asked, even though he knew the answer. 

“Take two steps forward,” Keith said. 

“Big steps? Or little steps?” Lance asked, grinning to himself.

“Normal steps,” Keith sighed, “Take two normal steps forward, turn right and take three normal steps that direction,” Lance followed the directions, “Lance stop!” Keith called, Lance halting midstep, “You made too many steps,” 

“Right, sorry.” Lance called back, sighing in relief as he moved back to a standing position instead of moving a step back. 

“Now, turn to the left, and take four steps forward, stop and then while crouching take another 3 steps, once you’ve done that you can stand back up,” As Keith called out the instructions Lance followed them to a T, and soon they had finished the maze, with Lance having not a single singed hair. Once back in the control room, Hunk had asked him how they did that, without Lance walking into the walls. 

“The maze is about trust. I trust Keith with my life.” Lance stated confidently, before moving into the seat Keith previously sat on, Pidge smirked as Keith made his way out of the room, his checks slightly pink with the obvious trust Lance had in him. Keith came out of the maze with one of two singed, which were because he thought Lance was messing with him and turned to walk another way, after the first two he knew not to doubt Lance. 

Coran had led Shiro through the maze, Shiro walked back into the room with smoke coming off him, Lance chuckled with the others. Coran looked at the Paladins, and saw that they still weren’t any closer, so instead he told them to go to their Lions, while he went to the bridge. 

The team flew their lions over the canyon-like terrain Coran started speaking to them through their comms, “You’ll never be able to form Voltron unless each of you had a strong bond with his Lion.” 

Lance smiled, “No problem. Me and Blue are best buds.” He didn’t say ‘for life’ this time, for the same reason why he didn’t call Shiro the leader, it just wasn’t right.

“Perfect! Then you won’t have any issues with this exercise. Everyone, put your Lions into a nosedive,” Once all the Lions did this, Coran continued, “This is an expert-level drill that you really shouldn’t attempt until you’ve been flying for years, but, uh, we’re in a bit of a rush, so here we go.” At this point Hunk and Pidge looked a little more concerned, due to only becoming pilots in the last day or two, “Activating training helmets!” Coran shouted before going silent. Everyone, but Lance, became slightly scared as their visor went dark. 

“Coran, what’s happening? I can’t see!” Pidge called out, sounding more annoyed than panicked.

“You must learn to see through your Lions’ eyes. The goal is to pull up right before you crash into the ground. Feel what the Lion feels!” Coran encouraged.

“Mine feels scared!” Hunk cried, already pulling his Lion out of the dive, Lance sighed knowing that yellow was a little disappointed that Hunk pulled up so soon, but felt the understanding that also came from Yellow. 

“You still going, Keith?” Lance taunted, falling back to usual rivalry. 

“You know it. You?” Keith replied. 

“Going? I’m speeding up!” Lance grinned, pushing his controls further forward.

“Oh, yeah?” Keith copied Lance and sped up.

“Must be getting close.” Lance spoke up, knowing that he was about to hit the ground, already connected with Blue. 

“Must be.” 

“You getting scared?” Lance smiled

“I’m not scared!” Keith shouted speeding up only to crash into the ground with his Lion half-buried. Lance, at this point, had already lifted his lion up and was smooth sailing. 

“Ow..” Keith muttered, to which Lance laughed, as he heard Red growl at Keith losing and hitting the ground.

“I win!” 

Hearing Keith hit the ground, Pidge panicked, “What was that noise? Did they crash?” Pidge asked before pulling out of the dive only to hit a cliff and hit the floor. Lance winced at the rough landing, however the Green Lion producing the image of one shaking their head, made Lance give a small smile. That’s when Lance felt Black practically beaming with pride, as Shiro pulled up out of the dive at the last second and flew through the rocky area without using his own eyes. 

“I think I’m getting this.” Shiro stated. 

“Excellent, Shiro!” Coran stated, before noticing that the Blue Lion was also flying through the rocky area, with more agility and speed than Black, and asked Lance, “You didn’t need this training exercise did you, Lance? You and Blue seem already connected” 

“Yeah, this is fun though,” Lance answered before landing.

“What’s next in this training session?” Shiro asked.

“The mind-meld.” Lance replied before Coran, sighing. “Can I skip this?” Lance asked, but was ignored. ‘I’ll take that as a no’ Lance thought as everyone flew back to the Castle. Once back in the training room, Coran made them sit in a circle with the headsets already on their heads.

“Now the most important part of Paladin training is being able to meld your minds and focus on one thing; Voltron. Everything else has to fade away,” Lance frowned, knowing that letting everything fade would be easier said than done, “This technique will be essential every time you form Voltron.” 

A screen depicting the thoughts of the Paladins appears before each one. Keith pictured his desert shake, Hunk’s shows some Earth food. Shiro’s was of the Kerberos Mission Launch. Pidge thought of the picture Hunk found of Pidge and his ‘girlfriend’. Lance, well he thought of his family, the one of Earth. However in some places it was blurry and every so often it would glitch, similarly Pidge’s would glitch out.

“So, relax and open your mind. No walls, no secrets between Paladins. Come on, everyone, clear everything. Now, focus on forming your Lion.” The Paladins sans Pidge and Lance manage to make their image turn into their respective Lion and move them to form Voltron. “Bring your Lions together a-and form Voltron. Keep your minds open, work together. Good! Keep focusing! Only two to go!” Coran encourages, but then Lance’s picture disappears altogether while Pidge’s still glitched. 

“Pidge, stop thinking of your girlfriend!” Keith snaps, making Pidge’s image disappear. 

“I wasn’t! Hunk was rooting around in my head!” Pidge argued.

“I- I thought we were open,” Hunk started innocently, “You can look in my head hole.” 

“Everyone had to be able to look in everyone’s head holes! Clear your mind!” Coran stated annoyed. 

“Well no one can even look into Lance’s head!” Pidge argued back.

Lance sputtered, “I have more to hide than you do! Like I don’t know, the future, the worst possible things that I could let you see!”

“Lance, just try,” Shiro said placentally. 

The paladins try again. This time both Pidge and Lance manage to form their Lions, Lance’s was still glitchy while Pidge’s was alright. The lions move together, and start to form a mental image of Voltron. “Good! Almost there.” Coran stated, Lance felt all the bonds, and was reminded of the past, “Now, form Voltron. Yes!” Lance’s lion started to glitch even worse, while Pidge’s only started to become static-filled again. 

“Pidge!” Keith called out annoyed at the same time Hunk called out Lance’s name. Pidge got up and threw the headset down onto the floor in frustration, while Lance took his off gently and placed it in front of himself. 

“I’m done with this! Look, I don’t like everyone grubbing around in my head!” Pidge grumbled. 

“Oh, come on, Pidge, we’re starting to get the hang of this.” Shiro encouraged

“I’m just…. I’m just tired, okay?” Pidge whined.

“Lance, I asked you to try, and you were getting there. What happened?” Shiro asked. 

Lance sighed, running his hand through his hair again before gripping the back of his neck, “I- I just don’t want people in my head, not now, not right after what happened. I felt your thoughts and the bond that was forming and panicked, all I could think of was the bad and I didn’t want you to see that. I can’t even remember my family,” Lance took a breath, “I couldn’t - God, I’ve been out in space for so long,” Lance’s hand went from his neck to his leg where he tried to wipe the sweat off of his hands.

Keith’s hand made its way to where Lance’ hand was previously, gently putting pressure on the base of the neck, not even realising the significance of him doing this, he felt Lance sag slightly in relief and the others watched on. Hunk and Pidge side-eyed each other both with worries about Lance, completely forgetting that Pidge also didn’t want everyone in their head. 

Shiro looked at Lance in empathy, “Okay. Let’s take a break.” Shiro suggested, as Coran handed everyone a water pouch.

Chapter Text

As Coran grabbed everyone a water pouch, the Paladins moved into comfortable positions, taking the mind meld off. Pidge sat back down and lent on Shiro’s shoulder, looking drained. Shiro and Hunk both sat crossed legged still in the circle, Keith stretched out his legs and rested his body on a hand behind his back. Lance laid stomach first on the floor, feet in the air, facing Keith. As Lance closed his eyes, resting his head on his arms, Keith looked at Lance contemplating what he had experienced. 

“Hey Lance?” Keith started, only continuing once Lance hummed, “You told us about a planet that you and I went to and then you went quiet, what happened that made you quiet?” Lance opened his eyes, looking into Keith’s purple eyes. Lance looked around, as the others looked at Lance. “I didn’t hurt you? Did I?” Keith asked, a little self conscious when Shiro moved his gaze from Lance to himself. 

Lance shook his head, “God no! I can’t tell you exactly what happened, spoilers and all that,” Waving his hand around, Lance smiled softly, “But I can tell you that it was the second best day ever, it was magical, and I would never trade that day or the memory for anything.” Lance looked back up at Keith, smiling before sitting back up, crossing his legs, “Like I said the planet was beautiful but then there was another planet, where there was snow, but like not Earth Snow, it was a baby blue colour and the way the sun glinted off it, was beautiful, we all went there, for once not to fight because this one never got targeted by the Galra we had snowball fights and the food the locals made us, tasted amazing but wasn’t too pleasant later on.” Everyone watched on as Lance thoroughly distracted them from work and the previous planet, the stories were all light hearted.

Keith smiled at the massive smile Lance sported, “And then Shiro fell down this cliff right into the jelly like sea, Keith panicked and jumped right after, and he-he,” Lance took a moment to compose himself for laughing, “He fell head first and it took us a while to get him out, and -” 

Lance stopped talking, when he noticed Allura storming over towards the group, “what are you doing lying around? You’re supposed to be training!” Coran stood up as Pidge and Hunk pouted at the end of storytime. 

“Just resting a bit. Y-you know, you can’t push too hard.” Coran defend, 

“What do you mean, ‘Can’t push too hard’? Get up, you lazy lumps! It’s time you faced the Gladiator!” Everyone slowly got up, Lance shook his head at Allura when they locked eyes. The Paladins grabbed and formed their bayards waiting, while Coran and Allura both went up into the control deck. 

“In order to defeat the Gladiator, five paladins must fight at one.” Coran voice echoed around them, before dropping the Gladiator robot down onto the floor, quickly adjusting itself the robot ran towards Hunk quickly knocking Hunk out of commission with the polearm staff that it wielded, Pidge managed to dodge a few stray bullets from Hunks Bayard before charging at the Gladiator managing to hold her own for a few seconds before also being knocked out.

 Keith then followed Pidge’s lead and fought the robot, who knocked Keith to the side as if he was a pillow. Lance ran towards Keith, checking his head for any wounds as the robot ran towards Shiro, who froze. Lance, recognising the same faded look, ran in front of Shiro blocking the Gladiators' attack. Keith quickly followed suit, reaching Shiro’s side “Shiro, are you okay?” Shiro didn’t answer and the Gladiator knocked Lance’s bayard to the side, Lance ducked resulting in Keith and Shiro falling to the floor. Lance backed up, dodging another swipe from the staff, before grabbing the staff, yanking it out the Gladiator’s hand. 

The Robot realising that it lost it weapon, went on to grab it, Lance took the opportunity to go on the offensive, slamming the robot with staff, before lifting the staff back up and taking another swing, as if it was a baseball bat. Everyone stared as Lance kept swinging at the Robot, even when the robot started sparking from where the arm had broken off, not stopping even when the metal of the Gladiator started to become dented, only stopping when Pidge cried out in fear, “Lance stop it, please!” 

Lance stopped mind swing, he looked up at Pidge who was crouched as if she was about to run up and take the staff, Lance looked around at the others, realising that there was fear all around, judging by the the others expressions and body language, Lance took a breath, hands shaking as he apologised. Pidge walked up towards Lance, grabbing the staff, before giving him a hug, Lance didn’t return the hug, he just kept apologising, Even as the other came and gave Lance a hug, he just kept apologising. “It’s okay,” Pidge kept repeating after Lance apologised. Soon Lance stopped, and Shiro grabbed his hand and guided him to the hallway, the others staying back at Shiro’s look, even though Hunk looked like he wanted to argue. Once outside, Lance slid down the wall to sit down, Shiro copied the action next to Lance. 

“Want to tell me where you went?” Shiro asked as Lance gazed at his hands, which sat on his knees. 

“Not until you tell me where you went,” Came Lance’s quiet and tentative reply, Shiro sighed, rubbing the scar on his nose. They both sat there in silence for a few minutes, idly wondering if they would stay like that. “Guess we’re both broken.” Lance broke the silence after a few minutes, huffing a slight laugh.

Shiro also laughed, “I guess we are,” Silence overtook the two again for a few more minutes, “I went back to the Gladiator ring, where we were forced to fight others. It is one of the more unpleasant places on the ship,” Shiro replied, to which Lance snorted.

“The entire ship is unpleasant.” Lance replied, before sighing, ”I went back to a place I’d rather not remember, a mission went wrong,” Lance gripped his hands together, “Someone got killed, and I took my anger out on the last Galra that was left on scene.” Shiro grabbed Lance’s hands as his knuckles went white. 

“You went through some fucked up shit didn’t you?” Shiro replied, Lance gaped at Shiro’s language, “And so did I, maybe not as much as you.” Lance covered Shiro’s mouth. 

“Don’t compare trauma, what we both went through is equally terrible.” Shiro nodded as Lance dropped his hand.

“We both went through terrible things, but we are both alive. And we have people that care for us, we don’t have to go through this alone, no matter how much we might not want to lean on others.” Lance smiled, as Shiro put an arm around Lance’s shoulders, “It’ll take a while and the experience will never truly be gone but we will get better, and I may not be the leader you're used to, but you got to trust me to protect you. I will always protect you.” Shiro held up his pinky finger, “Pinky promise that we always protect each other,” 

“Pinky promise,” Lance said, wrapping his pinky around Shiro’s human hand before adding, “Dad.” Shiro blinked, as Lance laughed, “You’re the space Dad,” Lance replied as if it answered everything. 

Shiro cracked a tired smile, “Are you ready to go back in?” Shiro asked, getting up. Lance shook his head, “that’s fine, I’m going to go back in, I won’t tell them,” Shiro added at Lance’s panicked look, “that’s your secret to tell, I’ll be back out in a bit, okay?” 

“Okay.”

Once the doors closed behind Shiro, Lance sighed, running a hand through his hair. ‘It hasn’t even been 72 vargas and I’ve already broken down like 3 times. I didn’t think this would be this hard, but I’ve got Shiro.’ Lance thought to himself, looking down at his tattooed wrist, running his thumb over the top, Lance felt Blue and Red comfort him through their bond, making him give a defeated smile. 

“Never back down, never stop, keep fighting.” Lance repeated to himself out loud, standing up Lance dusted himself off and faced the door, ‘Let’s go’ With one last thought he walked through the doors. As the door opened, everyone turned to look at Lance, Hunk ran up to Lance and gave him a hug, Pidge followed suit. 

“Are you okay?” Hunk asked, although it was slightly muffled by the fabric on Lance's shoulder. 

“I’m fine,” Lance replied, only to backpedal at Pidge’s glare, “Okay maybe not fine, but better than twenty minutes ago.” That answer was enough for Pidge, as Lance returned to hug, he looked at Shiro, who looked more amused and the answer, while the other three still looked worried. “How about we get some food now?” Lance asked, to which Coran and Allura both agreed, walking towards the door Lance was standing in front of, Hunk and Pidge peeled themselves off of Lance but stuck close either way.

Once they arrived at the dining hall, Lance immediately went to the third seat along the right side of the dining table, Keith moved to sit on the chair to the left of Lance right after Lance sat down, the others soon followed suit. “Ahoy, young Paladins! I’ve whipped up a big batch of focusing food. After this meal, you’ll be forming Voltron six times a movement and twice on the astral conflux!” Pidges face scrunched up in confusion, while Lance nodded understanding every word.

“Smells great, Coran, Thanks,” Shiro replied for everyone, even though Lance was already stuffing his face Keith looked at the food dubiously ‘how is he eating this’ Keith thought to himself looking at Lance, however before he could ask his question, Coran pressed a button, handcuffing the Paladins together. 

“Hold the phone!” Lance called out, ‘I completely forgot this happened’ he thought to himself, sighing inwardly. 

“I saw a lot of solid individual performances today, but you’re still struggling to work as a team. So, welcome to the final bonding exercise of the day,” Coran stated, shifting his eyes from Paladin to Paladin. Hunk pulls his left hand away from Lance, pulling Lance’s right arm with him, only to repeat the same with Shiro’s left arm. Lance just flopped his arm down, as if he was a puppet. 

“Coran, I want you to think about what you’re doing,” Hunk stated seriously, once again lifting his arms and bringing Lance’s and Shiro’s arms up as well. 

“Oh, this one’s a classic. You get to feed each other, like a pack of Yalmors!” Coran exclaimed excitedly before sitting down to eat himself. 

“We aren’t a pack of Yalmors!” Lance argued disgusted at the thought of being a Yalmor. Lance, still letting his arms dangle, just sighed, knowing that he wasn’t about to eat anymore. Hunk brings the spoon of food goo up to his mouth, but overestimated the weight it would be and flung it making Lance’s hand hit his face. 

“Ow!” Hunk said, before trying to eat again and ends up with Lance’s fingers up his nose and mouth, “Ew! Ugh..”

“Dude, we’re close but not that close,” Lance replied, bringing his hand away from Hunk’s face. Hunk retaliated by trying to break the bonds, only to bring Lance with it, who then brought Keith's hand, only for it to land in his food, “Keith, my man, my food,” Lance said as he looked down, “You defiled it,” Lance looked at Keith, who glared back.

“It’s your fault! This is ridiculous,” Keith argued back, trying to cross his arms only to bring Pidge’s and Lance’s with it, groaning he gave up. Allura growled as she ate, obviously annoyed at the noise. 

“Do Earthlings ever stop complaining?” Allura moaned, putting her utensils down. 

“Do Alteans ever stop to think that us ‘Earthlings’ have different limitations to them?” Lance argued back, gaining a look of surprise from the others.

“Can’t you just give us a break? Everyone’s been working really hard today.” Shiro said, backing Lance up in a polite way. 

“Yeah! We’re not some prisoners for you to toy with, like… like..” Keith argued standing up, although due to being locked up angled, his body to standing in front of Lance

“Like a bunch of toy prisoners!” Lance continued, briefly looking at Keith's ass, Only to look back up when he caught Pidge smirking at him. 

“Yes! Thank you, Lance!” Keith replied, turning around looking at Lance, wondering why he was slightly red. 

Coran stood up, yelling “You do not yell at the Princess!”

“Oh, the Princess of what? We’re the only ones out here and she’s no Princess of ours!” Pidge argued back, Allura looked offended before flinging a spoonful of food goo at Pidge. Keith sat back down and both glared at Allura. 

“Go loose, Pidge!” Keith said as they both grabbed Pidges bowl and fling it at Allura, Coran moved in front of Allura and smacked the bowl back towards the paladins, Lance already expecting it, ducked down. 

“Oh, it’s on now.” Hunk replied, grabbing a bunch of food goo within his mouth before firing it at the Alteans. 

After all the goo was anywhere but the plates, Allura falls back into her chair, the others laugh at each other. “Enough! Do you see what you’re doing?” Allura yelled, wiping the happiness off the paladins faces, only to sigh in relief as Allura looked up smiling, “You’re finally working together as one!”

“Hey, she’s right!” Lance replied smiling at Keith, 

“I actually don’t hate you right now,” Keith replied, missing the wince Lance pulled at the words.

“You guys thinking what I’m thinking?” Hunk replied, grinning at Lance and the others.

“Let’s go form Voltron!” Replied Shiro, to which all the Paladins agreed. 

“Hunk smiled sheepishly, “Actually, I was thinking of dessert. But, yeah! Let’s do it!” Hunk cheers, lifting his arms up, forgetting that they were all still tied together, making all the Paladins fall over. Keith landed on Lance’s stomach, with Pidge on his feet he couldn’t move, both blushed at the position but soon moved at Allura and Coran helped them up and uncuffed them.

Once cleaned up, the group made their way towards the Lion hangers, Shiro took control of the Black Lion, “Everyone ready to do this?” 

The Green Lions eyes lit up as Pidge responded, “Roger that!”

Blue greeted Lance with a purr, “It’s on!” 

Red powered up with Keith grabbing the controls “Yes, sir!”

The Yellow Lion was already moving before Hunk replied, “I was born ready!”

Shiro grinned as he and the others reached outside, “Then let’s go!”

While in the air Lance reached out to the others, feeling the excitement of the other Paladins and the other Lions who were also reaching out, the group flew around as Voltron for a bit, before Lance, Pidge and Hunk started yawning and Shiro called off the exercise, telling everyone to meet in the Lounge. 

Lance sat down with one foot on the floor and the other on the sofa leaning against Hunk, who was sitting normally but with his arms wrapped around the back of the sofa, Keith sat next to Hunk with his arms crossed but the smile gave him away. Further down the couch, Shiro and Pidge sat next to each other. “Man, that was so cool! I’m so charged up!” Lance called out, even though everyone was relatively close.

“When my head hits the pillow, I’m going to be lights out.” Keith voiced out. 

“I just want you to know that I realised when we were in Voltron, we’re brothers, man. You know? Like we’re totally connected. No secrets, no barriers, no nothing, brothers all the way. I love you guys.” Hunk rambled hugging the two next to him tightly. 

“G - force mess with your head a little bit?” Keith asked after he stopped struggling in the hug. 

“Yeah, maybe a little. I-I don't know. It’s been a tough few days,” Hunk replied, letting the two go, as Lance snorted at the irony. Before moving to go to bed, Lance ruffled Pidge’s hair, smiling at the others, he waved as the doors closed, leading Hunk and Keith to their rooms. He said goodnight and laid in bed, closing his eyes, hoping for an easier day tomorrow.

Chapter Text

“Come on Lance, we gotta get back to the castle before it gets dark,” Keith complained, dragging Lance across a field of purple and blue sunflowers. Only to a stop with a huff when Lance dragged his feet across the floor.

“I know but look!” Lance said pointing to the stream ahead, “the bridge is broken,” Lance continued, Keith turned to look at where Lance was pointing, only to see that the bridge had indeed been swept away wondering how it happened when they had crossed it just a few hours before. Keith just shrugged and continued dragging Lance towards said broken bridge. 

“We’ll just have to find another way over, seeing as we don’t have our jetpacks,” Keith stated, Lance nodded at Keith who had finally let go of his hand. The two started to look around, Keith had no luck at trying to find another way over, turning to see if Lance had any luck, only to see him playing with the water, “Lance,” Sighing Keith moved his way to Lance, “Stop playing with the water” Lance looked back up at Keith.

“I think this is the island where Katie found their Lion,” Lance stated, only continuing when Keith gave him a look of disbelief, “Yeah, I know, it was like 2 years ago, but look. A temple with vines that were overgrown got destroyed and now have slightly regrown, as well as a canoe with a Lion head on it, and this planet is how she described it,” Lance reasoned, pointing everything.

“Possibly, but how does that help us cross the stream?” Keith asked.

“By going over those giant rocks.” Lance replied as if Keith asked the dumbest question, gesturing vaguely towards the rocks that lined the stream. Keith shook his head, and this time Lance was the one dragging Keith by the hand as he dragged his feet across the ground.

“Nope, no! No way!” Keith complained, regretting ever coming to the planet.

“Oh, come on, you are just like a cat!” Lance said to which Keith hissed at the comparison.

“I’m part Galra, not part cat!” Keith argued.

“Well with the way you’re hissing, the way you avoid water whenever possible, unless it’s a pool, and the way you were purring as we relaxed in that field says otherwise,” Lance grinned, when Keith went red, “Don’t worry, it was adorable,” Lance reassured, letting go of Keith’s hand as he jumped onto the first rock, “Just follow my lead.”

Keith looked into Lance’s eyes briefly before the blue paladin turned and jumped onto the next rock, Keith sighed growling slightly before jumping onto the first rock. After a few minutes, Lance and Keith were almost to the other side, “Careful this one is a bit slippery,” Lance warned as he jumped off the slippery one, and onto a drier one. Keith then jumped onto the slippery rock, only to slip.

“Lance -” Keith started as he fell backwards, only to have an arm wrap around his waist and a hand grab is arm, Keith looked up in Lance’s eye, noticing he was grinning, Keith glared right back, “Shut up,”

“I didn’t say anything,” Lance argued as he righted both of them, Keith sent one last glare at Lance before jumping to the next rock, Lance who just smiled at Keith, continued after him. Keith who finally made it back onto solid ground, turned to look at Lance who was on the last rock smiling at him. 

“What?” Keith asked, “Do I have something on my face?” 

“I love you,” Lance replied, landing onto the ground in front of Keith, who was blushing.

“I love you too, idiot,” Keith replied, looking embarrassed and fond at the same time.

Lance opened his eyes, sighing as the memory drifted out of his head. ‘It was a nice dream at least’ Lance thought to himself as he got up to put in armour on, as he got ready, he thought about the memory, ‘A nice planet, on a nice day. Can’t believe Katie is the one who thought of sending me and Keith on a date’ Lance snorted quietly to himself, ‘she doesn’t have those feelings. Lance grabbed his bayard, taking a deep breath, before leaving the room to go to the training deck before team training could take place. 

A few hours later, Lance, Shiro, Hunk and Keith walked into the dining room. “So, you pilot the red paladin at some point?” Hunk asks to which Lance nodded, “So who pilots what then?”

“Well, can’t tell you why because it might not even happen but Keith pilots Black, I pilot Red, you and Pidge pilot the same lions that you do now, but Allura, she ends up piloting Blue,” Lance explained as the group sits down, taking off their helmets, they looked towards Lance in surprise, “Yeah, and she’s amazing, she unlocks abilities that I could never.” Lance gushed with pride. 

“Did you ever find out who the paladins of old were?” Shiro asked, gaining the attention of Coran, who had just entered.

“Yeah, kinda.” Lance replied.

“Kinda?” Keith questioned, “What does that mean?” 

“Well, we all bonded enough to our Lions to unlock a different ability, this ability then came with being able to meet The Paladins of Old but only the one that flew the Lion, So I know the Blue and Red, Keith knows the Red and Black, Shiro, Allura, Hunk and Pidge you guys only know the one.” Lance explained, looking at the meal Coran gave them in disgust, “But we promised never to tell each other who the Paladins were.” 

“Can we know the Red and Blue Paladins from you now?” Coran asked, even though he knew the Paladins personally, Lance smirked, shaking his head miming locking his mouth shut and throwing the key, making everyone sigh. “So how is the Voltron Workout going?” Coran said changing the subject, feeling that Lance wouldn’t talk anymore if he didn’t want to.

“We’re getting there. Just need to open up a little more,” Shiro pointedly said, looking at Lance who just shrugged, “Are you and Allura almost done fixing the Castle so we can leave this planet? I feel like we’re sitting ducks here on Arus.” 

“Just about. In the meantime, to get your minds off those duck seats you’re worried about, why not eat the meal in front of you,” Coran suggested watching as everyone’s nose wrinkle up at the smell.

“Coran, you just got me hooked on that goo and now you’re switching it up?” Hunk moaned, “We’re on a planet now with fresh herbs and spices, now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to head back to the kitchen and spice things up.” Hunk continues before moving towards the kitchen. 

“None for me Hunk!” Called Lance, as he stood up. 

At the same time Shiro asked about the whereabouts of Pidge, “He’s probably checking on those prisoners we rescued from Zarkon. They’ll all be waking soon in the infirmary.” Coran replied easily, while eating the paladin Lunch, Shiro followed Lance’s actions and moved to stand, turning to move only to have a spoon of the food in front of his face, “Open the hatch. Food Lion coming in!” Coran moved the spoon as if it was flying, making jet sounds, expecting Shiro’s mouth to open. 

“No. Just… No.” Shiro replied, moving his head back away from the spoon and inching his body away from Coran, Lance snorted before moving to pat Shiro on his shoulder, giving a small nod as he did so before disappearing out of the room.

Making his way through the castle corridors Lance thought to himself all that had happened so far that seemed too odd, even compared to time travel, ‘I still have my scars, luckily my tattoo is still there, Blue remembers me and the data I had on there is still saved, the bloody Castle remembers who he is and so does Alfor’s AI’ Lance turned another corner, ‘Heck I still have a bond with the other lions, it just doesn’t make any sense, if I went back into the past, then nothing should remember me, but it can’t be an alternative reality because it would be the same.’ Lance huffed before speeding up, ‘Alfor should hopefully have some answers, or at least know where I can get some answers’ Lance opened the familiar doors in front of him.

Once inside Alfor’s projection buzzed to life, “Allura it is so nice to - Lance? My boy, what are you doing here?” Alfor asked, sounding a bit disappointed that it wasn’t his daughter that came to see him. 

“Sorry to disappoint, but I came here for some answers.” Lance replied, watching as Alfor’s face scrunched up.

“May I ask, answers to what?” 

“How do you remember me? Why does the Castle and the Lions remember me?” Lance questioned, “If I’m truly in the past then how?”

“The Lions remember you because they are something that cannot be explained by science, you are indeed in the past but you’re still on the same time stream, only difference is that you are changing things,” 

“How do I know that I’m changing things?” 

“There are a few books in the library that should answer that question my boy, now the reason that the Castle and I remember you is -” Alfor started, only for the image of Altea forming as the door opened showing Allura, “Daughter! It so nice to see you,” 

“Lance? What are you doing here?” Allura asked, getting closer to the pair, Lance sighed as he crossed his arms. 

“Getting answers, but you’re here now, so Alfor isn’t going to say anything. Isn’t that, right?” Lance questioned turning to face the late King, who grinned and nodded, “You aren’t getting away scot free, I will find out the truth.” Lance pointed his finger accusingly at Alfor before nodding at the two royals, taking his leave. ‘Damn it Allura, well at least I know where to start looking’ Lance thought to himself, going straight to the library. 

The doors to the library opened smoothly, which didn’t surprise Lance. Looking at the rows upon rows of shelves filled to the brim to books, Lance winced. Tapping on the side of his armour on his arm, a screen appeared in front of him, Lance quickly brought up the library feed shifting through the covers and descriptions under the section of ‘Time’. ‘Children’s book, kids' book, kids' books, another kids book, oh what’s this?’ Lance thought as he swiped stopping at one of the books, quickly reading the description ‘It’s a bloody kids book again’.

Lance started to think that Altean children were terrible with time, but luckily found one about time that wasn’t directed to children. Only to hear the alarms blare, bringing up the feed, Lance saw that it was just an Arusian and decided to continue in his little hunt. After a while, Lance finally had a decent stack of books about time, some were journals, others looked like university texts, sneezing as the dust floated around him. Lance moved to take the books out of the library and into his room. ‘This is going to take a while’

Chapter Text

Once Lance managed to get all the books he needed to his room, he went to find the others, finding them at the steps on their way out, “Is it time for the apology dance already?” The others turned towards Lance as he jumped down the stairs in his urgency to catch up.

“The apology dance?” Hunk asked, as Lance waved him off. The group took off on the small trek to the Arusian village.

“Oh, Lion Goddess, I, King of the Arusians, formally beg your forgiveness. Please have mercy on us and accept our traditional Dance of Apology as atonement for our wrongdoings.” The King clapped before Allura could reply, Moontow moved into the empty space between the top groups, “Commence Dance of Apology! Hoorah!” The music started and Moontow started to dance, Lance sat down on the floor enjoying the dance more the second time. 

“Please, there’s no need for this.” Allura stated, making the music stop.

“Moontow, halt!” The king ordered, freezing Moontow stopped the dance on one foot.

“Allura,” Lance brought the attention to himself, “This is their planet, these are their customs, do not disrespect them because it isn’t something you’re used to.” 

“The Goddess has refused the apology,” The King cried out, “Start the sacrificial fire.” The fire lit up, making Allura panic as Lance waved his arm in an ‘I told you so’ manner, “We must throw ourselves in.”

“My King,” Lance said moving to his knee, the King looked at him, “Please take my humblest apologies, the Goddess is not refusing the apology,” He started, giving a glare at Allura, “Please continue on with the dance,” The King looked toward the princess to see if she agreed with the blue ones statement. 

“No- no sacrifices!” Allura relented, at seeing Lance’s glare, “Please continue with the dance,” At the princess's agreement Moontow started to dance again as the Arusians bow to Allura, Lance sat back down into his relaxed position. “Oh, my! Please, please, rise. Thank you for that, but I am not a great being worthy of your worship,” Allura told the Arusians as they began to rise again. Keith shot Lance a look when he muttered ‘Debatable’ at Allura’s last sentence just slightly too loudly.

“I accidentally put you all in danger. It is I who should be apologising to you. I am Princess Allura, and these are the Voltron Paladins. Although we originally came from different worlds… and have very, very, very different traditions, we wish to live alongside you as friends,” Allura amended.

“But the mighty robotic angel… has it not come to destroy us because of our immoral ways?” The king asked confused,

“Voltron?” Allura started, “No. In fact, that mighty robot here is here to protect you. Let it be known that Voltron will protect every innocent being throughout the universe!” Allura declared, Lance snorted with distaste ‘Every innocent being? She’d turn her back on a baby Galra’ However, the Arusians took Allura’s word and started to celebrate. One of the Arusians jumped and hugged Keith, making Lance smile. 

“I don’t… usually hug strangers, but, uh… Man, you are cuddly.” Keith said awkwardly, one arm hugging the Arusian the other ramrod on his side. Lance snorted at how awkward Keith is.

“Thank you.” The Arusian said in a very deep voice that contrasted with the cuddly exterior, Lance started to laugh at Keith’s shocked face. Said person heard the laugh and turned to glare at Lance. 

“Shut up,”

“I didn’t say anything,” Lance argued, smiling softly as the Arusian let go of Keith. 

“Team, come in! We need backup!” Shiro’s voice came through the comms, “Hello?”

“Shiro?” Allura asks, Lance grabbed his helmet right away, starting to run towards the Castle, Blue already knowing Lance needed her exited the Castle coming to meet Lance halfway. 

“Where is everyone?” Shiro asked.

After seeing how Lance ran off and how Shiro panicked, Keith questioned Shiro, “What’s going on?” The ground started to shake and rumble, Keith and Allura finally saw the incoming spacecraft. “Oh, no. We gotta get to our lions!” Keith called, as the Arusians ran past him in a rush to hide.

“Everyone get inside and stay down!” Allura called, directing the panicking Arusians towards a cave.

“I’m on it!” Hunk replied following the Arusians, only for Keith to grab him by the neck of the Paladin armour, dragging him towards the Lions.

“Not you!”

Lance, who was the first to leave, was the first to arrive as the Beast formed and attacked. Lance fired his ice cannon making a wall in front of the two stationary Lions and the Paladins, feeling the gratitude from Green and Black, Lance began an assault on the beast. “How did you do that?” Pidge asked, shocked, as she flew the Green Lion into the sky, already laying down fire. 

“It’s an ability that can be unlocked once you're close enough to your Lion, it changes with each Lion,” Lance replied before the ball smacked into the side of blue’s face, causing him to call out in pain as the Blue Lion hit the ground. The RoBeast went to attack the fallen Lion, only to retreat slightly when attacked by the other Lions who finally arrived on scene. 

“Lance! Lance, come in!” Shiro called. 

“You okay buddy?” Hunk panicked. 

“Lay down some covering fire so we can check on Lance,” Keith ordered as the green Lion landed next to Blue. Firing the mouth cannon to distract the beast.

“I’m on it!” Hunk replied, firing the tail cannon, “Check this out! Battle -lion head-butt!” Hunk called out as he charged the Yellow Lion in the Beast, knocking it forward.

“You guys okay down there?” Shiro asked, toward Pidge.

“Still alive, but Lance he was unconscious when I arrived, he’s still slightly out of it,” Shiro cursed under his breath.

“I hate to ask this, but is he okay to fight?”

“I’m fine,” Came Lance’s voice, slurring slightly. Pidge shook her head at the Paladin, peeling his helmet off.

“Ignore him, I’ll do a scan,” Pidge replied, mid-scan already, muttering under her breath about how it was reckless to attack the beast without the others, and how Lance couldn’t die when he made her a promise.

“Pidge,” Lance tried, but was ignored, “Katie,” Lance knew he had her attention by the shocked look that was coming from the Paladin, “Don’t look at me like that, I’m fine to fight, see?” Lance replied pointing out several green lights on the scan. 

“Fine but you will have another scan after the fight!” Pidge ordered, to which Lance put his hands up in surrender. “We’ll be joining the fight in a minute,” Pidge told the others, entering the green lion. Lance shook his head, wincing at the throbbing in his head. 

“And you’re sure he’s, okay?” Hunk asked, getting an affirmative from both Pidge and Lance who was no longer slurry at least, the Lions Lined up in front of the RoBeast, “Are the Galra behind this?” 

“I think so,” Shiro started at the same time Lance replied with ‘yes’, “But I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“So, what’s the plan, Shiro?” Lance asked, dodging the ball as the others dodged the Beast, “If we form Voltron we will focus on the ball and get hurt by the Beast, but when we focus on the Beast we get hurt by the ball,” 

“How did you defeat it last time?” Keith questioned. 

“I don’t exactly remember,” Lance replied sheepishly, “I remember that we used a sword, but it’s been a few years since we fought this RoBeast,” Shiro sighed at the reply, while Keith growled.

“I understand what you’re saying Lance, but the only way we will defeat the monster is by forming Voltron,” and as he said that he reached out to the others, following an action they had practised, grabbing the red, green and yellow presences, Shiro struggled to connect to Lance. “Come on Lance,” Shiro urged, making Lance sigh, allowing the others to grab onto his Presence. 

“Ow,”

“What the hell?”

“I was right, you aren’t feeling well enough for a fight!” Pidge’s voice said through the comms.

“Enough!” Shiro called out, “Remember, we are one unit, we take each other's pain, burden and pride, we fight with one goal,” From there the RoBeast and Voltron fight, seemingly at equal strength until Voltron gets hit by the energy orb. Panicking, the Paladins only narrowly dodge the attacks.

“I thought Voltron was the most powerful weapon in the universe!” Keith was annoyed.

“Yeah, so how is this monster kicking our butts?” Hunk replied.

“It’s because we focused mainly on forming and control, not fighting,” Lance replied as the throbbing turned into an ache. Distracted by the orb, Voltron is hit by the RoBeast and thrown near the Arusian village. 

“Oh, no! The Village! We have to protect those people!” Shiro called out before Voltron took another hit from the orb, narrowly missing landing on the village as Lance and Hunk pulled their controls making the thrusters take off towards the ground allowing Voltron to fly away and lure the Robeast away from the village. “That was close!” Shiro said with relief.

“We got him away from the Arusians, but we can’t take him down,” Pidge argued back.

“Shiro come on! You know how to defeat the Beast,” Lance encouraged, before taking another hit from the orb, making his vision blur for a second, the link connecting to the others weakening slightly so they hopefully don’t notice the change.

Luckily for Lance, the others were too distracted, “Pidge, fire lasers now!” Shiro commanded, ignoring how Lance called out that it wasn’t going to work.

 “Got it! Fire!” Pidge called out, only to summon the Shield of Voltron instead, “Oops! Ah! Uh...!” Pidge panicked, as they pressed buttons to try to dismiss the shield. 

“No! Lasers! Lasers!” Shiro replied, as if Pidge just wasn’t listening. 

“Pidge has the shield; Keith has the weapons!” Lance shouted as the RoBeast hit Voltron twice. 

“Every time we focus on that orb, we’re blindsided by the monster, and every time we focus on the monster, the orb hits us!” Hunk repeats what Lance said earlier.

“I already said that” Lance muttered, “Then what do we do?” Lance questions louder.

“Orb!” Hunk cried out, as the two Paladins tried to push the thrusters, unfortunately Voltron didn’t move fast enough, getting knocked into a cliff. Lance’s connection slipped for a moment as he blacked out for a second, the throbbing coming back with the ache, fortunately he wasn’t out long enough for the connection to break. 

“Shiro, we gotta move! Shiro, are you there? Shiro!” Keith called out and panicked.

“That sound… I recognize this monster from my time in Zarkon’s Prison. I know how to beat him!” Shiro replied after a few moments, easily dodging the attack the RoBeast throws at them, “Listen, there’s a loud sound when the orb returns to the base of the weapon, and every third time, the orb needs to charge up. That’s this monster's weakest point. That’s when we strike.”  Shiro explained and strategized. 

“Okay, so what do we do in the meantime?” Hunk asked

“Defence!” The Robeast threw the orb again, “Pidge, we need that shield,” Pidge managed to get the shield back up to take the orbs strike just in time, “That’s one. Two more to go!” 

“We can’t take much more!” Hunk alerted as the second strike hit the shield.

“Last one! Everyone brace for impact!” Was the only warning they got before the last orb hit the shield, “Now!” With that Keith pushed his control stick forward, firing a laser from red’s mouth cannon, which hits the RoBeast but doesn’t do any damage.

“It didn’t work!” Pidge complained.

“Now what?” Lance huffed, as another orb hit Voltron.

“Lance, are you -” Shiro started

“I’m fine,” Lance replied through gritted teeth, even as his vision blurs in time with the thumping in his head. 

“Orb! Orb!” Hunk called out.

“Keith, listen to me,” Lance called out, getting a hum, “You’re bayard, there should be a side of your control panel that’s raised, put your bayard in and twist,” Lance instructed, as Voltron got hit by the orb again.

“We can’t take another shot like that!” Pidge cried out, as Red urged Keith to do as Lance said. Doing as Lance said, Keith inserted his Bayard into the Red Lion’s keyhole console, summoning a sabre for Voltron to wield, slicing the Robeast once so it explodes, causing everyone to celebrate.

“How did you know that would work?!” Keith asked breathlessly, after quietly thanking Red, “Lance?” The Lions disbanded by force, as Lance’s connection broke off completely, shocking the others, as blue gently flew to floor, the robotic flying and the quietness alerted the others that something wasn’t right. “Lance, come in!” Keith called before flying down to the blue lions, the others following shortly. 

As Keith reached the cockpit of the Lion, he noticed that Lance’s helmet was on the floor, a crack on the visor but a red colour dripped from the right side of the helmet. Quickly going to Lance’s right side, he saw that there was blooding sluggishly dripping from a cut a few centimetres above his ear. The others came in, as Keith grabbed Lance’s face gently, “Come on Lance,” Keith whispered, “Wake up,”. 

“Pidge, Hunk, get the Princess and Coran from the village to the castle, and tell them that Lance is hurt.” Shiro ordered, knowing that his brother in all but blood wouldn’t leave. The two looked like they wanted to argue but left without complaint at Shiro’s look. “Keith, he’ll be okay,” Shiro places his hand on Keith's shoulder, trying to guide him away so he could examine Lance. 

“You don’t know that” Keith snapped, “Damn it, I should have gotten here quicker.”

“Nothin’ ya’ could have done,” Lance whisper, slurring, looking at Keith. 

“You’re awake,”

“Not dead yet,” Lance whispered, closing his eyes, “ ‘m tired.”

Shiro moved onto Lance’s left, looking him in his half-shut eyes, “You need to stay awake,” 

“ ‘Kay,” 

“I’m going to black; you need to get too Red, we’ll tow Lance to the Castle,” Shiro ordered, forcing Keith to leave, “Lance the line is open, I want you to keep talking. You can do that, can’t you buddy?” Shiro asked, leaving the cockpit with a reluctant Keith. 

“... Can do,” Lance replied, “Wha’ should I talk abou’?” 

“What did you dream about last night?” Keith suggested

“My lover,” Lance replied, “It was a date, we went on…” Lance trailed off going quiet.

“LANCE!” Shiro yelled,

“ ‘m here, it was a forest, picnic in flowers,” Shiro and Keith pushed their Lions as fast as they could without, injuring Lance more, thankful that they weren’t too far from the Castle. Shiro after landing the Black Lion, gently grabbed Lance, following Coran who had been waiting for the trio. Landing in the pod, the door raised, allowing the information to dot the page letting Coran know how Lance was doing.

“Well good news!” Coran said, gaining the attention of the others, “There is no damage to his brain, nor skull, what is the expression?” Coran thought, pulling on his moustache, “ ‘Tis but a flesh wound,”

“Why did he black out then?” Keith argued back.

“Because he has a small concussion,” Allura replied after looking at the information, “Not enough of one to be picked up by the scanner in the Paladin armour, which is why it was missed by Pidge, I assume it was because the battle took a lot of energy from Lance.” Keith stormed off, with a mutter about being in the training room, “In the end, he’ll be fine, it isn’t life threatening,” Allura said to the others, who slowly exited the room as Coran started to go back to cleaning. 

After an hour or two, the Paladins were congregated in the lounge, each talking to each other. The door opened showing Lance, who had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and book in his hand. Everyone but Keith got up, “Lance thank god you are alright,” Hunk said as he wrapped him up in a hug. Pidge nodded along before adding to the hug. 

“Glad you’re okay,” Shiro said, putting his hand on Lance’s shoulder, “But do Coran and Allura know you’re out of the Pod?” Lance shook his head gently. 

“Coran might, but not Allura,” Lance replied as everyone let go of him, Lance wobbly walked towards the sofas. 

“Are you sure you’re meant to be up and about?” Pidge asked worriedly to which Lance shrugged, wrapping the blanket around him a bit more, before sitting next to Keith, leaning his head on Keith’s shoulder. Keith, still not used to the contact, froze, Lance ignored him and opened his book. 

“Oh. OH my god!” Hunk said loudly, as the relationship between Lance and future Keith finally dawned on him, looking at Pidge and Shiro to see if they knew as well. The smirk Pidge replied with gave away that answer. 

“What?” Shiro and Keith asked at the same time oblivious to the revelation the two were sharing. Lance looked up at the two briefly.

“Who figured it out first?” Lance asked.

“I did!” Pidge answered first, and before Hunk could argue, “I figured it out, on the way to the training room when we first got here!” Hunk’s mouth snapped shut.

“You knew since then and you didn’t say anything?” 

“Lance has kept a secret of mine, so, and I didn’t know if it was alright to tell people!” Pidge replied.

“What’s going on?” The two brothers asked.

“Don’t worry about it.” Lance replied, moving back to his book. Shiro looked at the cover, curious.

“Through time and Alchemy. What is that?” Shiro asked.

“I need answers about some question I have, and Alfor told me something in the library might tell me, this one is a journal book made by what the Alteans refer to as ‘The Ancient Ones’ they basically formed Altea and its culture, and they're the ones who knew most about Altean Alchemy, which is what Allura used to send me back in time.” Lance replied, before going silent, focusing on reading. 

Taking that as the final comment in that conversation the others went back to what they were talking about before Lance arrived. Slowly Keith relaxed more with Lance on his shoulder, even going so far to put his arm around him. Not too long later, Allura and Coran came into the lounge, to find that Lance and Keith had fallen asleep next to each other, starting to cuddle. The others weren’t in the room, so Coran snapped a few pictures before the two went to bed themselves.

Chapter Text

It was still dark in the lounge when Lance woke up, the morning lights not yet on. Lance opened his eyes slightly to see that he was still in the lounge, going to move. Lance realised that there was a weight around his stomach, turning to look at who or what it was, turning red as he made out Keith’s face in the darkness. Keith pulled Lance closer, snuggling into his shoulder, purring while doing so. 

Deciding that the imminent danger of waking up Keith was more important than his mind bonding with Blue and Red, Lance turned so he faced Keith, closed his eyes before falling back to sleep, sending an apology to the two lions who just shook their heads.

Shiro entered the lounge half-an-hour later, the lights in between stages of being dark and being on, allowed him to see that Lance had moved to be on his back, and Keith had shuffled slightly on top, his head resting of Lance’s chest, his left arm hanging over Lance’s stomach before hanging loosely off the side of the sofa, his right arm was bent upwards landing next to Lance’s head. 

Lance had his left arm wrapped comfortably around Keith’s back, the other resting on his stomach. Both had their legs entangled with the other, it was then that Shiro’s mouth opened with a silent gasp as it dawned on him what Hunk and Pidge were going on about the night before. 

“Shiro?” Keith muttered confused, gaining the attention of said person, “What are you doing in my room?” Still not realising his surroundings Keith snuggled back into Lance’s chest, “It’s not training time,”

“Keith, I think you need to get up,” Shiro stated, moving a few steps closer. 

“No, I'm warm and comfy.” Keith replied stubbornly, Shiro sighed, he really did want to do this. 

“Help! Zarkon is attacking!” Shiro yelled, Keith ignored him knowing the trick, Lance who was asleep bolted upright, pulling Keith’s blade from the floor, swinging at Shiro, who dodged easily because Lance wasn’t completely lucid. As Lance bolted up, Keith fell slightly to the side, legs still wrapped around Lance’s. Keith, now realising the position he was in, with Lance on the sofa moved to get up, in his panic he forgot about the entangled legs and fell to the floor. 

“Shiro,” Lance said, gaining the attention of the older man, who was making sure Keith was okay. 

“Yes Lance?” Shiro asked innocently, already moving back slightly. 

“You better run,” Was Lance’s reply, before Shiro could ask, Lance had turned his back to him, wrapped himself in the blanket again and fell back to sleep. Shiro shrugged, but soon realised his mistake, looking toward the teenager on the floor, Shiro went pale before moving back even more. Keith now looked murderous, Lance who wasn’t completely asleep, held up Keith’s blade, “Here you go babe, don’t kill him,” Came Lance’s muttered response.

Keith grabbed the knife, grinning at Shiro, “No promises,” with which Shiro turned and ran from the direction that he came from, Keith hot on his trail. After about 10 minutes of failure to sleep, Lance got up, the now vibrant lights blinding him slightly. 

Pidge and Hunk entered the room, “Why is Keith chasing Shiro?” Pidge asked as she sat down. Hunk followed her lead and sat down, while Lance stretched, clicking most of his joints much to the disgust of Hunk. 

“Dad woke up the cat,” Came Lance’s response as he yawned. The two blinked at him, confused, “I better go save dad. Hunk could you make sure that there’s breakfast on the table in like 10 minutes?” Lance muttered as he left the room through the door Shiro, and Keith had run through. Turning around the corner and into the control room, Lance saw that Shiro was behind Coran's console, while Keith crouched slightly, knife in hand, in front of the console. Allura and Coran stood to the side, just as confused as Pidge and Hunk. 

“What’s happening?” Came Allura’s question with a thick British accent, Lance just replied with the same thing he told Pidge and Hunk before moving towards Keith. Grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, Lance started to drag Keith to the dining room, Keith growling towards Shiro before crossing his arms and accepting his fate. Shiro physically relaxed, “Care to explain?” Allura asked, crossing her arms like a mother telling off a child. 

“Never wake Keith up, unless there’s an emergency,” Came Shiro’s warning, making the situation a lot more explained. Shiro bent down, hands on his knees and he got his breath, “I keep forgetting that he’s fast and has great stamina.” Shiro muttered. As Lance entered the dining room, Keith in tow, still being grabbed by the back of his neck, Pidge and Hunk had more than a few questions.

“Keith?” Pidge asked, hoping to get more of an accurate telling of what happened, “Why on Earth were you chasing Shiro?” 

“Shiro woke me up,” Keith started,

“Which, unless an emergency, is something you don’t do,” Lance finished, to which Keith nodded, drawn to the promise of food. Lance finally let go of Keith’s scruff, both moved to the table, where Hunk handed Keith a bowl of food goo. Lance grabbed some green, bread tasting circles, eating slower than the others. 

“Why’d you call me babe?” Keith asked, after swallowing his food goo, Hunk started to choke on his meal, making Pidge bang on his back as Lance went red.

“No, no I didn’t!” Lance argued back, taking a big bite of the bread to avoid the conversation. 

“Yes, you did. You said, ‘here you go babe, don’t kill him,” Keith replied easily, “I didn’t realise it earlier, but you did.” Lance motioned that he was still chewing and wouldn’t answer, but once the bread was swallowed, Keith looked at him expectantly, luckily being saved by the door opening to show the others.

Keith glared at Shiro, hand going back to his knife, Lance already knowing where this would go, grabbed the scruff again, making Keith go slightly limp, “Not at the table,” Lance ordered much to the amusement to the others, Keith nodded, “Knife,” Lance held out his hand expectantly, smiling as it landed in his palm, “You get this back after breakfast.”

Pidge and Hunk started laughing at Keith’s face and attitude, to which Keith glared at them, “I’m sorry dude, but you look like a scolded child!” Hunk said through his laughter. Keith turned his head away from the two and went back to eating. 

“Great news! We are throwing a celebratory party this evening with the Arusians,” Allura clapped, smiling, the others perked up at the word party. “So, you get to relax today,” Lance, hearing all that he needs to, stood up, Keith looked up at him and so did the others. Lance dropped the knife onto the table before moving back towards the door to the lounge, saluting the group as he left. Keith grinned ferally as he picked up the knife, Shiro gulped. 

Later that evening the group were gathered in the ballroom by the door as the Arusian King told his citizens his version of the battle against the vicious beast, two groups stood fighting, “The monster fell from the sky! It was an spic battle, but Voltron was victorious!” The Arusians pretending to be the RoBeast knocked the Voltron Arusians down, the king frowned, “No, I said, Voltron was victorious!” with actors redid the scene correctly, making the Arusians cheer. 

“Thank you, Your Majesty, for that… Please accept this gift. This will allow you to contact us anytime you need help. Arus will be the first planet in the Voltron Alliance,” Allura said, handing a blue and white device to the leader, the Arusians let out their team cheer. Hunk, Keith and Lance stood as a group surrounded by the Arusians, talking about their own team cheer, but as Keith went to take a sip of the nunvill in his cup, Lance took it out of his hands.

“What the hell Lance!” Keith cried out; Hunk also looked like he wanted to speak up.

“Trust me when I say this, it tastes like Hot dog water and feet,” Hunk looked a bit sick, and Keith grimace, Coran who walked by also added that it was a great hair tonic, making the others feel a bit sicker.

Across the room, Allura was standing on the balcony watching as the others had fun, “... I must portray strength, so no one can tell how concerned I am about the fate of our mission,” Allura stated, looking a little defeated, the blue mouse next to her squeaks, panicking slightly she added, “let's… Keep that a secret.” The mouse nodded before squeaking again, “Who else had secrets?” Using the other mice, the blue one demonstrated what Hunk’s secret was, “Hunk tried to eat what? That is rather amusing. What other secrets?” 

The mouse pretends to be adorable and girly, “Pidge is what?” Allura blurted out, before taking a closer look at Pidge as they put food in their bag and sniffing the earwax on the stick before retching slightly, “Hmm… Are you sure?” Allura asked to which the mouse nodded, “I’m getting to the bottom of this.” But before she could move the mouse grabbed her attention. 

“What other secrets are there?” The mouse pretended to be Lance and then made love motions towards another mouse who was pretending to be Keith, “Lance’s mysterious lover is Keith?” Allura almost shouted in shock, the mouse nodded its head towards the trio, where Lance’s undivided attention laid on Keith, the look in his eyes reminded Allura on how her father would look at her mother. “It’s true, good for Lance. Now back to Pidge,” Allura replied, moving down the stairs and meeting Pidge where she was now talking to Lance. 

“Do not take Rover outside,” Lance warned, Pidge nodded to him, Lance waved at the princess before he left to go to the bridge. Once reaching the bridge, Lance sat down on one of the steps, sighing as he looked at the nice sky, running his fingers over his tattoo, Lance wondered how his family was.

“Mind if I join you?” Coran asked, standing just behind Lance.

“How far away from Earth do you think we are Coran?” Lance asked. 

“Let’s take a look.” Coran replied easily, bringing up the holographic map of the universe, “Earth is over here. And we’re all… the way… over…” Coran dragged out moving the map but still not reaching Arus, making Lance sigh.

“I’ve freed all of this, I worked hard freeing those planets, and now I’ve got to do it all over again,” Lance ranted quietly, Coran stopped moving the map to look at Lance, “When do I get a break? When do I get to go back?” Lance questioned hands wrapping into his hair as he took deep breaths, “I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t know when everything changed. And everyone expects me to remember everything, so I can stop it, but I don’t, I can’t” Lance stressed out. 

Coran walked towards Lance, wrapping his arms around him, Lance wrapped his arms around Coran in return, crying into Coran's shoulder, not knowing what to say for once Coran stayed silent, “I just want to go home,” Lance whispered, making Lance seem younger than he is, reminding Coran that the paladins are just children, and Lance was going through the war a second time. 

“You miss Earth. I understand, I miss Altea,” Coran replied, gripping tighter onto Lance. 

“I know we’re supposed to be brave Paladins and Defenders of the Universe or whatever, but honestly? I just want to see my mum,” Lance breathed out, “Earth got destroyed last time, what if this time it’s already destroyed,” 

“It’s valid worry, but you’re changing things, you’ve said so,” Coran reasoned, “I promise you, you will see your family again, even if I can’t go home, I will make sure you do.” Lance smiled, breaking from the hug. 

“Thank you,” 

“No problem my boy, tell me what you miss most about Earth, aside from your family.” 

“I miss the rain.” Lance replied easily.

“Rain?”

“It is water that falls from the sky.”

“We had that on Altea,” Coran started, “Only, it wasn’t water, ore like rocks. Razor-sharp and boiling-hot. Oh, they could knock a hole right in your head,” 

“That sounds fun, and strangely beautiful,” 

“It was,” Coran replied, leaving the two in silence, as they sat down wrapped up in a side hug watching as the star map moved, so every few minutes they saw different galaxies. After a few minutes, Coran and Lance made their way towards the door, in order to go back to the party.

Chapter Text

As Coran walked out the door, with Lance a few steps behind, the bomb drone came flying in, “Quiznack, Pidge you said you wouldn’t go outside,” Lance muttered, shutting and locking the door, to make sure that Coran wouldn’t get injured, Lance formed his shield just in time as the drone explodes, making Lance go flying into the wall behind him. Gasping in pain as Coran manually overrides the door, making his way to Lance immediately. 

Coran wanted to both treat Lance’s injuries and throttle him for the stunt he just pulled, “My boy, are you okay? How could be so stupid!” Coran ranted as Lance shakily dropped his shield, breathing heavily, as he tried to breath, “My boy?” Lance shook his head, trying to get up only to fall onto his knees, “Number 3, you must let me help you, what’s wrong?” Lance, looked numbly at the damage the bomb didn’t slowly panicking. His entire body started to shake, grabbing onto his paladin chest plate, breathing becoming more erratic. 

“Can’t breathe,” Lance muttered when he saw Coran’s panicked look, which only got worse with Lance’s reply, Lance saw Coran’s lips move but was too out of it to focus on what was said, the ringing in his ears got louder. 

“What happened?” Shiro asked in alarm as they burst through the door. Coran whipped around to look at the others, visibly deflating at the others being safe. The smoke cleared allowing the others to see the crystal which lay in crumbs.

“There was bomb, a copy of Rover,” Coran started, Pidge looked horrified as realisation dawned on them as they remembered Lance telling them not to go outside. “Lance locked me out, and he covered himself with his shield, but now he’s saying he can’t breathe. He won’t move and he’s unresponsive.” Coran explained quickly, Shiro moved towards Lance, who was staring at the destroyed crystal breathing rapidly. 

“Lance. Hey, Lance?” Shiro started when he crouched down next to Lance, noticing the blood coming out of his ears, Shiro went to grab Lance’s face, keeping slow and in view of Lance as to not startle him. Lance grabbed Shiro’s hand, looking into the cool grey eyes. 

“It’s happening, I-I-I,” Lance said quite loudly, breathing getting quicker, “I couldn’t stop it,” Lance finished, “I’m sorry,” Lance’s breath kept getting quicker, until it seemed like he wasn’t breathing. The grip on Shiro’s hand kept getting tighter, borderline painful if it was the human hand that was grabbed. Shiro kept trying to get Lance to breathe, letting out reassurances and the others looked on in fear. 

“His eardrums must be blown, he can’t hear us,” Shiro said dejectedly. 

“We have to get Lance to the infirmary!” Pidge said moving back to help Coran get a pod ready.

Allura stopped Pidge from going any further, “Without the Crystal, the castle has no power.”

“We need to calm him down!” Hunk cried out as Lance continued to panic. Shiro responded with a quiet mutter, Keith moved slowly in front of the crystal which Lance was staring at, grabbing Lance’s helmet and then walked closer to Lance, kneeling down when he got in front of him, next to Shiro. Lance now stared at Keith; Keith kept his eyes locked onto Lances as he put Lance’s helmet on him. “What are you doing?” Hunk asked, ready to step in, “He can’t fight, not like that!”

“There’s a function, just watch,” They all watched as the screen lit up with an assessment of Lance’s condition, “Lance?” Keith asked, Lance’s eyes darted to the corner of the helmet, where some text popped up before looking back at Keith, “Give me your hand,” Lance read the sentence and followed the direction, making the others look on in shock, putting Lance’s hand on his heart, “You need to breathe, follow me,” with that Keith took a deep breath in, Lance didn’t copy the action, “Breathe in Lance,” Ordered Keith, and finally Lance did. Thankfully after a few minutes, Lance, while still not being able to hear, was able to think rationally.

“How did you know to do that?” Shiro asked as Lance let go of his robot arm, still occasionally breathing in deeply when on the verge of spiralling again.

“Lance told me about it earlier, when taking me to breakfast,” Came Keith’s reply, as Lance read the words that popped up on his visor. 

The Arusian King burst through the door, “Lion warriors, our village is under attack! We need help!” Shiro swore under his breath, as did Coran.

“Let’s get to the Lions!” Keith said, helping Lance up, who wobbled.

“You can’t. They’re sealed in their hangers. There’s no way to get them out. We’re defenceless.” Allura looked lost.

“Allura it’ll be alright,” lance said, gripping on Keith as he got dizzy, “Hunk and Coran take the pod Pidge was loading to leave, Keith, Allura,” Lance closed his eyes, to stop the pounding groaning in pain, “Go help the Arusians, Shiro and I, will hold down the fort,”

“I can use the scanner in the pod to see if there’s a Balmera nearby, great work Lance!” Coran replied, before rushing out with Hunk and Pidge following. Keith and Allura nodded at Lance’s orders, Shiro wrapped one of Lance’s arms around his shoulders, put one of his own arms around the smaller male as Keith stepped away reluctantly, before following Allura and the Arusian King to the village.

“Let’s get you to the front so you can rest,” Shiro said, having Lance at least know what was said was a big help. As they reached the entrance, he laid Lance to one side, “Hang on, buddy. Help is on the way.” Lance made a humming noise before closing his eyes, while Shiro went to fight Sendak. 

‘Blue? Red?’ Lance thought drowsily as the concern of the Lions flooded him, ‘Shiro needs help’ Lance groaned as pain danced along the edges of his limbs, he could feel both arguing about how Lance needs more help making him smile, ‘I’ll heal, but I need your help to fight’ Lance replied in his mind, energy started to fill Lance as the Lions relented. 

Lance opened his eyes once more to find Haxus standing in front of him, hands out in front of him. Throwing a right hook into Haxus’s face before the Galra saw that he was awake allowed Lance to move more into the middle of the hallway, relying on sight and the Lions to get through this battle. Lance spread his legs, crouching as he put fists in front ready for a fight as Haxus righted himself.

Haxus was the first to run forward, not sharing what he was going to do first until the last second, Lance barely dodges the left foot that came inches from his face, before going in to fight with his Bayard forming into the bo staff that the Gladiators use in the castle. Smacking it out, before angling his body away from a punch. 

Neither could get a hit on the other, being more evenly matched than each thought they would be. ‘My old self would be better than this’ Lance thought bitterly. “Stand down,” Came Sendak’s voice, making Haxus pause which in turn made Lance pause and look over, “Or this Human dies,” Lance froze as Shiro dangled from where Sendak had grabbed the back of the chest plate, Haxus took the moment to punch Lance in the stomach, before throwing him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“Voltron is ours,” Sendak called out, as Lance forced his body to loosen, closing his eyes pretending to be knocked out. Pidge, who saw the fight, felt dread crawl up her spine, whispering her condolences before moving towards a different part of the Castle.

Lance laid limp from where Haxus roughly dropped him, opening his eyes, he pressed a few buttons to initiate the darked visor, allowing him to see out while disabling others to see that he was awake. He watched as the Galran sentries plugged in the Galra crystal, allowing Sendak to control the castle. 

He watched as Zarkon popped up on the screen, changing the frequencies on his helmet so he was able to read what was being said. “My mission is complete. I’ve captured the Altean Castle, along with all of the Voltron Lions. I am currently preparing for launch and will be delivering them all to you shortly,”

“This news is most pleasing,” Zarkon paused, “What paladin is that in the back?” 

“It is the blue one, he will be most entertaining in the ring,” 

“Leave him to me, Vrepit Sa!” With that the transmission ended, Lance internally panicked trying to figure out how he managed to grab the attention of Zarkon himself. The frequencies restarted themselves, enabling him to know what the others were doing as Sendak started to get the Castle ready for take-off with the Help of Haxus. However, as the ship was getting ready to take off, Pidge breaks the engine turbine, Lance grinned ‘Well done Gremlin’ 

“We have a saboteur. Find him and take him out,” Sendak said as he pulled up the feed of the Central Energy Chamber, seeing Pidge flee from the room. Lance focused on the feeling his lions were having instead of the pain, dancing in his body. Hoping that this will end shortly and in Voltrons victory, Lance kept a vigil eye on Sendak and Shiro, waiting like a predator in an ambush.

Chapter Text

When Shiro awoke he was on the bridge, blinking wearily at the purple lights Shiro looked around at his surroundings, finding Lance slumped against the wall, chest barely moving and Sendak ordering Haxus to find the saboteur that’s thwarting their plans. “Commander Sendak, I’ve received a transmission generated from somewhere inside.” Haxus replied automatically playing the transmission.

“There’s not much time before they get the ship running again,” Came Allura’s voice, “You must shut off the particle barrier so we can get in.”

“You got it. Tell me what to do.” Pidge replied easily. 

“The particle barrier generator is beneath the main hull.”

“She’s telling the intruder how to take down our defences.” Haxus spoke annoyed.

“Yes,” Sendak relented, “But she’s also giving away his location. Find that room. Kill the Paladin!” Sendak ordered the sentries moving out the room right away, “Repair the engine. Emperor Zarkon has commanded us to bring him Voltron. This ship will rise before day’s end.” Sendak vowed much to Shiro’s dread.

Shiro listened closely as Allura directed Pidge through destroying the generator, her getting shot at and cleverly escaping, before moving towards the central energy chamber again, this time seeing Haxus, who was communicating with Sendak, “Powering sub panels.”

“Sub panel energy transducer is go,”

“Aye, sir. Opening pathway to link with the Bridge. Initialising main cluster reboot.” Taking advantage of Sendak’s distraction, Shiro discreetly moved towards Lance. Bringing two of his human fingers up to Lance’s neck, sighing with relief at the heartbeat. Knowing that talking would be fruitless and dangerous, Shiro shook Lance instead. 

“ ‘m awake,” Lance murmured, eyes fluttering open, looking at Shiro who tried to get his message across, “he drugged me,” Lance whispered, looking between Sendak and Shiro. Shiro nodded, Lance moved his eyes around the room, blinking more often in an attempt to stake awake. 

“Initialising complete. I’m set for main power up,” Haxus’s voice echoed around the room, Shiro’s look of panic wasn’t missed by Lance, who wondered what was happening. 

“The Bridge is go.” Came Sendak’s reply, pressing a few buttons.

“Powering up,” Haxus said before alarms started to blare, “Sir, something is wrong,” The sound of the engine overloading and exploding echoed in the bridge but the transmission ended before they were told what happened. Shiro felt a tap on the shoulder, turning to Lance he saw the tilt to his end, making a phone in his hand and then an explosion, Lance understood what had happened.

“Haxus, report in!” Sendak commanded, as he saw multiple red signals popping up. 

“Haxus is gone, and you’re next!” Pidge’s voice replied, making Shiro smile with relief, gesturing that Pidge was talking by making the phone motion pointing to his symbol and the number 5, which is the number Coran gave her, Lance nodded in understanding.

“You’ve slowed me down, but this ship is mine! You will turn yourself over to me immediately!” Sendak barked out.

“Never!” Came Pidge’s defiant reply.

“Well, then, maybe your leader can convince you,” Sendak said as he walked toward where Shiro and Lance were, smirking as Shiro crouched in front of Lance to protect him. Grabbing Shiro’s arm while pointing his Galra one at Lance, making sure neither made a move to fight

“What do you want?” Shiro bit out.

“Your friend here wanted to hear from you.” Sendak replied. 

“Shiro?” Pidge hesitantly called out.

Shiro paled, “Pidge? Pidge don’t listen to-” Unable to finish the warning due to screams ripping out of his throat. 

“Is that not enough? What about the other one?” Sendak gritted out, dropping Shiro and grabbing Lance, who was looking more awake as time went on. Lance turned his, so Sendak could see the dried blood by his ears and so his face was towards the speaker.

“Foxtrot - Charlie. Golf - Hotel. Tango - India. Echo - Charlie - fife - Mike.” Lance said, taking pauses, to allow Pidge to know it wasn’t all together, Sendak shook Lance in anger.

“What did he say?” Sendak ordered to two Paladins that could hear, Lance’s smirk disappeared and Sendak flung him across the room, hitting the wall with a thud Lance cried out in pain, seeing the word ‘ALPHA’ pop up on his visor brought the smirk back as Sendak looked to scream as the screen went blank at the end of a transmission.

Pidge went back to the entrance of the castle just in time to see the particle barrier deactivate allowing Keith and Allura to enter. “It worked!” Keith said with relief, Pidge said the code Lance said to Keith, who nodded while Allura just looked confused. The three of them move towards the bridge pausing just outside the door, Pidge made a hologram of themself and got Sendak’s attention before running off, making him run after. 

The group went inside, Pidge going to check up on Shiro, who waved her off knowing that Lance was more hurt than he was. When she turned to Lance, who was sitting upright waving with a grin, doubted Shiro’s statement. “You really thought your little hologram trick would work with me?” Sendak grinned as he stood at the doorway.

Keith formed his Bayard straight away, running and attacking Sendak who was slowly overtaking the Red Paladin, Pidge formed her Bayard and went straight in to help while Allura went and helped Shiro. Lance stood up on shaky legs, forming his blaster he shot at Sendak’s back, before transforming the Bayard into a similar weapon to the bo staff where instead of a pole there were two swords joined in the middle to form a staff, before walking into the fray calmly. 

Allura thought through a plan, looking at the computer and Idea came to her, reading the computer as the others fought, when the opportunity arose, Allura called out to Keith, “Keith, now!” Hearing the urgency Keith kicked Sendak into the centre of the bridge and Barrier rose up containing the furious Galra. Lance allowed his Bayard to disappear before falling to the floor, Keith dropped to his knees as he helped Lance up.

“Lance, are you okay?” Keith asked, watching as Lance read the words on the screen took a minute to process and think.

“We did it. We are a good team,” Lance sighed giving Keith a smile, “Lions are giving me energy, but Sendak gave me something in that syringe,” Lance said pointing towards the plastic syringe, “So I’m gonna pass o-” Before even finishing, the Lions pulled some of their energy from Lance making him pass out and making Keith worry, the energy the Lions now fuelled went straight to keeping Lance stable.

Allura helped Shiro get to the med bay while Pidge and Keith did the same for Lance, once they arrived, Coran and Hunk arrived shortly after, greeting the others over the intercom but going straight to the Bridge to hook the new crystal up. “Alright Princess the pods should be up and working, we are making our way down now,” Coran said, ending the transmission and moving towards the med bay quickly.

“After a day in here, he should be fully healed,” Allura said much to everyone’s relief, “Now Shiro time for you to get in one as well,” Shiro looked like he was about to protest, “You aren’t hurt badly so a few minutes will do,” She relented, when she doubled checked with Coran who nodded at that assessment. Shiro got into the second pod and 15 minutes later Shiro walked out feeling refreshed, moving straight to Pidge.

“Pidge, we can’t thank you enough for all you did. I can’t help but feel that you were meant to be a part of our team… But I understand if you want to leave.” Shiro said as he sat next to Pidge putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Dad used to tell me how close he was with his crew members. They were like family,” Shiro smiled down at Pidge when they smiled at him, looking at how Coran and Allura were catching up, and how Hunk and Keith were talking about their adventure, then looking at Lance who promised they would find her family, she added, “Now? Now, I understand what he was talking about.” 

Walking up to the be in the middle of the groups, Pidge announced, “I’m staying with you guys. Let’s stop Zarkon for all of our families!” Allura and Keith smiled proudly at Pidge, while the other three looked on with smaller smiles.

“Good to have you back on the team.” Keith replied.

Chapter Text

The next day, the group hovers around Lance’s pod, apart from Coran who was watching Lance’s vitals, finding something rather intriguing as he did so. “I can’t tell if he looked healthy… Or not.” Hunk started moving to look at Lance closer.

“I think he’s breathing weird,” Pidge added, moving their glasses further up as if that would help her see better. The others looked at Lance’s chest which did rise and fall more abnormally than it should, however seeing how Coran wasn’t panicking they assumed everything was fine, Keith however wanted to get Lance out of there.

“Oh, come on!” Going to tap the pod, which would have manually removed Lance, Allura grabbed his wrist, making Keith glare at her. 

“Not yet!” She insisted, “A few more ticks,”

“How much better do you think he’s gonna get in a few more ticks?” Keith questioned, crossing his arms.

“And what exactly is a tick?” Pidge asked.

“You know, a time-slice.” Allura replied.

“What, like a second?” Shiro asked, coming a little closer.

“What is a… ‘second’?” 

Pidge pulled out her Altean phone, bringing up a human clock which showed the seconds go by. “Like this.”

Allura looked at the phone closer, thinking, “I’m not sure. I think ticks are bigger, Coran, do you have a ticker?” 

“Right here, Princess,” Coran pulls out a ticker from one of the draws, bringing it over to the group, the ticker and second counter both moved out of sync. 

“I think ticks are a little slower.” Hunk said after a few moments of watching.

“I can’t tell. We have to start them at the same time.” Pidge suggested.

“Okay. Ready. Go!” Coran said, making both Coran and Pidge re-start the counters at the same time this time, everyone huddles around to watch. Unbeknownst to the group, Lance’s pod opened, stumbling slightly as he gained his bearings.

“Yes! I think we’re winning!” Hunk cheered.

“Winning what? The intergalactic time-measuring competition?” Keith replied sarcastically, making Lance muffle a snort.

“Yes.” Hunk said, dead serious. As they watched the clocks go around, Lance snuck out of the room, making his way towards his room. The pod beeped, alerting that the pod was empty and ready to be updated, had everyone turning around, now realising that Lance was missing.

“Where’s Lance?” Shiro asked

“How’d he get out?” 

“Did anyone see him?”

“Where did he go?” The group panicked, as they then split up, in order to find the blue paladin. Keith was tasked with looking in the rooms, without knocking Keith walked right into Lance’s room in a hurry, pausing as Lance turned towards him, shirt off, a sheepish look on his face. The two went bright red, Keith stared at Lance’s eyes in order to stop himself from looking down. 

“Sorry.” Keith coughed out, trying and failing to return back to his rough exterior, “The others were worried,” Keith added.

“And you weren’t?” Lance asked, as he put his shirt on.

“No,” Keith said stubbornly, making Lance smile, “Why didn’t you let us know that you were out?” 

“I didn’t want to interrupt the intergalactic time-measuring competition,” Lance replied easily, slipping his jacket on. 

Keith didn’t know what to say, but the next thing he did probably wasn’t the best, “Your scars.” 

Before Keith could continue, Lance wrapped his jacket around him tightly, insecure. Lance’s jaw tightened as a defensive look crept on his face, “What about them?” Lance bit out, a little more harshly than it should have been, making Keith look a little surprised, and slightly hurt. 

“The one on your back, it’s gone.” Keith replied hesitantly, Lance paused, blinking at Keith. 

“What.” Neither knew what to say, just blinking at each other for a few minutes, “You’re lying,” Lance replied.

“No, I’m not!” Keith insisted, “The pod must’ve healed it.”

“The pod doesn’t heal scars Keith,” Lance replied with gritted teeth, “I know it doesn’t.” 

“But I’m not lying!” Keith hissed. Shiro turned the corner of the hallway, seeing how Keith was stood out of the door and both voices came down the hallway, sighing with relief Shiro walked towards Lance’s room. 

“Scars don’t just heal, Keith! Just stop lying to me!” Lance argued, growing angrier and more frustrated.

“I’m not lying!” Keith argued back. 

“What’s going on here?” Shiro asked as he stopped. Lance and Keith were both glaring at each other, both had their arms crossed, Shiro resisted the urge to laugh at how similar the two were.

“Keith is lying to me,” Lance replied instantly, Keith opened his mouth to argue back. Shiro held up his hand, silencing Keith.

“How so?” 

“He keeps saying that the scar on my back has disappeared! But that isn’t possible!” Lance replied, getting less angry but more frustrated. 

“Keith, how do you know the scar has disappeared?” 

“Well you know when we got our armour and we all got changed in the same place,” Shiro nodded, “Well I saw that he had a massive scar on his back,” Keith replied, “And I just walked into Lance putting on a shirt,” Keith continued going red once more, Shiro looked over at Lance who was also going red, sighing, Shiro gestured to continue, “And the scar was gone.” 

Lance looked ready to start arguing again, while Keith just looked at Shiro. Said man, sighed putting his hand on the bridge of his nose, “I saw the scar too, the others caught a glimpse. So if it’s alright with Lance,” Shiro started looking towards Lance, “Then I can have a look. If there is a scar, we have Keith check his eyes.” Lance looked humoured at the idea, knowing that that’s what’s going to happen, “However, if the scar is gone then we got to Coran for help.” Shiro finished looking at the two, who both nodded. 

Keith and Shiro entered into the room, allowing the door to shut behind them, Lance sighed as he took his shirt off, turning around to let Shiro take a look. At Shiro’s gasp, Lance knew that the scar was still there due to how gruesome it looked. “Is it alright if I touch your back?” Shiro asked, walking forward slightly, Lance nodded. Lance tensed as cold fingers touched his back, “Amazing,” Shiro whispered.

“It’s not amazing,” Lance muttered back.

“It’s gone, Lance. There’s no scar,” Shiro replied, making Lance whip his head around to Shiro, opening his mouth the argue that there wasn’t any possible way, “We have an agreement,” Shiro stated.

“But Dad -” Lance groaned, putting his shirt back on. Keith smirked at Lance’s reaction. 

“No but’s Lance.” Shiro said, grabbing Lance’s hand, pulling him along to the med bay, as if pulling a child out of a supermarket when the child didn’t want to leave. Keith followed behind the two. Coran looked up from the console as the three came into the room. 

“Number 1, 3 and 4. What a nice surprise, the others are still looking for number 3.” Coran greeted, the others gave their own greetings, “Now what seems to be the problem,” 

Lance opened his mouth to answer but Shiro beat him to it, “The scar on Lance’s back has disappeared, Keith is adamant that the Pod healed it,” 

“I’m afraid the pods don’t heal scars, especially pre-existing one,” Coran replied. 

“I told you so!” Lance replied, getting a look from both Shiro and Keith, for different reasons.

“I’m I alright to take a look, my boy?” Coran asked and at Lance’s nod, lifted the back of his shirt, taking a picture on the Altean phone he had. Moving back slightly, Coran brought the camera feed from the armour room, from a few days ago, pausing at the point where you can see Lance’s scar. Showing the others, the feed, Coran pointed out the Scar, making Lance wince at how bad it looked, Coran then brought up the picture he had just took, bringing the two next to each other.

Lance himself gasped as he looked between the two pictures, which showed that the scar had indeed disappeared, “Holy Shit,” Lance whispered, before looking at Keith, “I’m sorry that I doubted you,” Lance said, before looking at the images again, missing the look of surprise that Keith had. “B-But how?” Lance asked, looking at Coran. 

“I’m afraid, I don’t truly know my boy, I myself noticed it when looking at your scan, but didn’t want to bring it up until I saw it for myself,” Coran replied, making Lance sigh in disappointment.

“How did you get the scar?” Shiro asked, resting a hand on his chin the other crossed over as he thought. 

Lance furrowed his brows as he thought, “I got it,” Lance’s eyes widened comically as the dots connected, “The explosion. I got it when the fake rover blew up, the first time around,” Lance explained. “But that still doesn’t explain why, or even how?” Lance thought to himself, aloud. 

“You’re changing things,” Keith replied, looking as enlightened as Lance did. Everyone looked at Keith waiting for him to reply, “You said you had to change things, to avoid losing the war, right?” Keith started, continuing at Lance’s nod, “And Allura, with some sort of Alien magic sent you back,” 

“So, when I change something significant, that causes a physical scar, it disappears,” Lance finished, watching as Keith smiled.

“Exactly,” Keith agreed.

“Keith, I could kiss you right now!” Lance shouted excitedly, doing as he said, Lance kissed Keith’s lips before running out of the room to look through his books for something that could explain the situation more. Keith stood frozen, wide eyed as Lance ran from the room, Coran smiled and shook his head before taking his leave. Shiro held in his laugh as he poked Keith, who didn’t even acknowledge the feeling. As Pidge and Hunk entered, coming back at the agreed time to see if the others had found Lance, saw that Keith slowly got more and more Red, soon looking like the colour of his Lion. 

“What happened?” Pidge smirked, moving to where Lance was a few minutes before. 

“Did you find Lance?” Hunk panicked. Shiro stopped poking Keith and turned to the two Paladins. 

“We found Lance, found out something Lance would be better at explaining, but Lance then kissed Keith,” The other two looked shocked, but soon started laughing at how Keith froze. 

“Keith.exe has stopped working.” Pidge said in a robotic voice, crumbling into laughter once more. 

Keith blinked slowly as what Lance did dawned on him, “Lance kissed me!” Keith whispered, only to repeat it a moment later, a little louder “He kissed me!” The group looked at Keith as he started to respond to the environment, “Shut it!” Keith grunted, glaring at the three who were laughing, as Keith started to walk out the room he muttered, “Why would he kiss me? He’s straight. Why would a straight man kiss me?” making the three explode into hysterical laughter.

Once the group calmed down, they made their way towards the dining room, refusing to look at each other in fear of the laughter reappearing. Keith and Lance were already in the room, also refusing to look at each other or make any other noise other than eating, Coran and Allura were also eating, although they were talking. The group of three sat down and started eating, “So, what happened to Sendak?” Lance asked out of the blue, breaking the silence that had befallen them. 

“He’s in a cryo-pod. We’re keeping him here in that Castle,” Allura replied, making Lance freeze at the news. 

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Lance muttered, moving his hand over the injection point, remembering the fire that spread across his body, making him shiver.

“He's too dangerous to be set free. Besides, we might be able to get some information about Zarkon from him,” Allura reassured.

“You won’t though,” Lance replied, taking a breath, “Although Sendak is on the fringes he has quite a bit of respect from the Galra, he would rather die than give us information,” 

“So, what’s the plan now?” Keith asked, pushing his empty plate to the middle of the table. 

“We have to get back to the Balmera and save Shay and her people.” Hunk insisted, making Lance smile, at the protectiveness Hunk has for Shay even though they weren’t together yet. Seeing Lance’s knowing smile Hunk continued, “No, it’s not like that.” Lance snorted, muttering a ‘not yet’ which only the mice heard, “Look, guys, when you see how Zarkon has treated these people and destroyed their home - They’ve been under his thumb for so long, they don’t even know what it is to be free. It’s up to us to set this right. This - This is what being a Paladin of Voltron is all about. It’s time to man up!” Hunk said with dedication.

The last part made Pidge frown, which only Lance noticed. The others smiled proudly at Hunk, understanding his dedication, willing to follow the man into battle. “Then let’s get moving. Time to go defend the universe.” Shiro stated, but as they left Pidge stopped them. 

"Wait! I have something to say first, I need to come clean and... I'm afraid this may change the way you all think about me. Just so there are no secrets between us anymore. I can't 'man up'... I'm a girl." Pidge declared, making the others smile, however Allura and Coran looked confused.

"I- I mean, I can 'man up' because that's just a figure of speech. I don't have to actually be a man to 'man up'. I just have to be tough. But what I'm saying– "Pidge rambled only stopping to look at Lance, who had his hand on her shoulder.

Smiling Lance looked won at her, "It's fine Pidge,"

"You knew?!" Pidge asked, incredulously.

"Kind of. I'm surprised that I didn't know that I knew sooner, I mean I did call you Katie when you were scanning me for injuries."

Pidge stared at Lance for a moment before risking a look at the others nervously. "Yeah, I figured." Hunk shrugged.

"Oh, yeah, me too." Keith added, crossing his arms.

"Pidge, owning who you are is going to make you a better paladin," Shiro confirmed, making Pidge sigh in relief.

Coran twirled his moustache, "W-we were supposed to think you were a boy?"

Allura nodded to Coran's statement, already accepting Pidge, before adding, "I've known for some time, but I'm glad you've shared it with everyone."

"Now let's get off this planet!" Lance cheered, already moving towards the door, after double checking that just like last time, there was no issue with Pidge not actually being a boy.

Chapter Text

The group sat down in their seats as Allura and Coran initialised the take off, helping to make sure everything was stable, although the Paladins, aside from Lance, didn't understand the writing on their screens. However once on their journey the paladins gathered around the steps to talk, Lance decided to stay in his seat until he was needed, having a lot on his mind and an online book in front of him Shiro thought it was fine to leave him be for a bit.

"There's been something on my mind," Pidge started the conversation, hand on their chin, "When we fought that Galra beast, Lance made an ice shield, but how?" Pidge questioned getting the attention of both of the Alteans. Who while staying where they were turned to look at the smallest Paladin.

"Well," Allura said, moving her hands from the pillars to rest in front of her, the group turned to look at her instead, intrigued, "Each Lion is bonded to an element. The Blue Lion is connected to water and ice, so that's why Lance's was able to use an ice beam." Pidge nodded her head, already figuring that would be the case especially after the answer Lance gave but wanted a confirmation.

"What are the other Lions connected to?" Hunk asked, curious to what ability he may gain.

"Well, the Black Lion is the guardian of the Sky," Allura started. Shiro looked curious as to what that would be like as a beam. Seeing the confused expression, Allura smiled, "Not all your abilities come out as a laser. The Green Lion, is the guardian of the Forest," Pidge frowned at that, thinking about poison oak and sunburns. "The Yellow Lion is the Guardian of the Land," Hunk nodded, already connecting how Yellow and the Earth would be similar, "The Red Lion, is the Guardian of Fire." Allura finished, making Keith freeze.

"What?" Keith asked shakily, making Lance get up to make his way over, the others also looked at Keith. Shiro's eyes softened at how shook up Keith was.

"Yes," Allura's eyebrows furrowed together, "Is that a problem?" The Princess asked innocently. Pidge and Hunk looked at Keith worried about what could cause this sort of reaction, Lance, however was already at Keith's side, hand on his shoulder as he both glared at Allura and kept a watch on Keith to make sure he didn't do anything rash.

Keith gritted his teeth, tensing his shoulders as he remembered the flames that coated his house all those years ago, the same flames that took his father away from him, the pain around his stomach from where a person had stopped him from running back to get his father. Tears gathered in his eyes as the smoke from his memories hit him, making the others panic, the breath getting caught in his throat causing his shoulders to shake.

The reaction of Keith, made Lance wrap a gentle hand around the base of Keith's neck, his finger gently rubbing his scalp before glaring at Allura. Shiro moved forward as Keith took a choked breath but stopped as Keith grabbed Lance who was the closest to him gripping him in a death grip, hiding his face from the others as he tried to compose himself. The others moved to get out of their seats, getting close enough that they weren't crowding Keith but close enough to give comfort.

The two Alteans stayed where they were, knowing that they were not close enough to Keith to adequately give the Red Paladin comfort. Lance stared at Allura as he returned Keith's hug, whispering reassurances to the smaller man who had finally calmed down enough to be conscious of the people around. Shiro moved forward ruffling Keith's hair before hugging him, moving Keith away from Lance and into a hug between just the two. Lance glanced at the two as Shiro moved Keith, before glaring at Allura again.

Pidge and Hunk looked between Lance and Allura, standing awkwardly to the side, "Keith, I'm -" Allura started moving forward towards the two brothers, but stopped as Lance moved between the two.

"Yeah, no." Lance started, crossing his arms putting more of his weight on his left leg, "You can stay there,"

"Lance, buddy, I think she's apologising," Hunk interjected, moving towards Allura, only to put his hands up in surrender as Lance looked toward him.

"I'm with Lance," Pidge declared as she moved towards Shiro.

"Lance, this is very unfitting of a Paladin," Allura argued, "I am quite capable to apologise,"

To which Lance snorted, rolling his eyes, shifting his weight to his right leg. Lance looked right at Allura as his eyes glowed golden, "You don't deserve to apologise," Lance replied, making Allura flinch as she took a step back.

"Woah, Lance! Y-You're eyes, they're glowing!" Hunk pointed, making Lance bring his hand to probe around his eye, looking surprised himself, but grinned as he realised that the Lions agreed with him, especially Red.

"Yeah, I'm not the only one pissed," Lance replied,as the glow died down. Keith moved to sit on the ground, Pidge sitting next to him with Shiro stood above them as Lance carried on, "The Lions also aren't impressed,"

Shiro looked back at Lance, nodding as he had the same feeling from Black, Allura however looked offended, "How on Altea did I annoy the Lions?" She asked, crossing her arms, "I didn't didn't mean to upset Keith,"

Lance squinted at her, feeling fairly annoyed himself, "But you did upset Keith," the answer made Keith sputter, putting his hands up to cover his red face, Allura glared right back at Lance. "You didn't ask if they wanted to know what their elements are, you just assumed,"

"Just let me apologise,"

"No,"

"Lance -"

"No,"

"Please -"

"Nope,"

"Just let me -"

"Nada,"

"Lance!"

"Nah,"

"Can I just say-" Allura tried, growing even more frustrated,

"No," Lance replied, crossing his arms.

"Children please!" Shiro called, making Lance pause to snicker, only to get a glare from Shiro. "Allura, you did upset Keith, whether you meant to or not" Lance opened his mouth, only for a metal one to cover it, Allura also opened her mouth but Shiro continued before she could speak,"It is not up for me to say why, but you did. Now apologise." Pidge and Hunk covered their mouths at the situation, while Coran turned away from the situation, not being able to contain the laughter. Keith finally let his hands fall from his face, as he stood up.

"Sorry Keith" Allura grumbled as she went towards the pillars once more, Keith nodded his head in response.

"You licked my hand didn't you?" Shiro asked, looking at Lance who had a wince on his face, the Blue Paladin nodded, making the other Paladins snort, "Did you forget that, that wouldn't work?" another regretful nod, "Now if I remove my hand, are you going to be quiet?" Frantic nodding came from the boy on the floor, making Hunk and Pidge finally break out laughing, no longer being able to contain it. Shiro moved his hand off of Lance's face, wiping it on the boys suit before standing up and moving back to join the others. Lance made a face at the swipe but didn't comment, "Thanks Dad!" Lance called moving away from the older man and towards the floor where he decided to lay down.

Chapter Text

After composing themselves, Hunk started pacing as a serious expression laid on his face, Lance smiled to himself as watched Hunk pace, thinking to himself ‘He never changes,’ “Okay. So, when we get there, what do you think? Do we just roll up and like start blasting? Or do we land and some… kind of public address system, like, ‘Attention, Galras. This is Voltron. Turn yourselves in!” Hunk ranted, facing Shiro, who just raised his hands in a mock surrender, the others coping Lance in grinning at Hunk.

“Hunk, calm down. And yes, blasting.” Keith replied putting a hand on Hunk’s shoulder, Shiro smiled at the two, while Pidge continued rocking on the balls of her feet.

“I think we should do the address system.” Lance said in response.

“Why? Did the attack fail the first time so you’re suggesting a different approach?” Hunk asked worriedly. Lance righted himself before replying.

“No nothing like that, it worked. But what if there are children in the base?” Lance questioned, gaining the attention of the Alteans.

“Well there are balmeran spawn on the planet,” Coran explained, “But giving out our intentions right away would make any surprise attack fail,”

“No, not balmeran children, Galran.” Lance faced Coran, whose face pinched at the reveal, which was considerably more tame compared to Allura’s who looked aghast at the thought. “I mean surely–”

“You want to save Galran citizens?” Allura stated her voice sharp, which made the other Paladins tense looking between the two. “The Galra destroyed my home, and have taken over the majority of the universe,”

“Not all of them,” Lance argued back, taking a step towards Allura who did the same thing, Coran moved towards the pair, looking like he was about to separate the two, Shiro doing the same as the rest of the paladins gathered as a loose circle around the pair.

“They are monsters!”

“They’re Children!” Lance shouted in response making Allura flinch, “They are not born monsters, Shiro,” Lance turned away from the Alien to face his leader face begging, “What if here was a child who is scared and alone down on that planet,”

“Like the balmera’s are?” Allura butted in

“Y-yeah Lance, buddy. The Galra are the enemies,” Hunk defended Allura, making Lance whip around to look at his friend.

“What is someone we knew was Galra?” Lance muttered but everyone still heard, Keith froze as the words ‘half-breed’ echoed in his head, the other humans paused to think about the possibility as did Coran, Allura wasn’t taking it.

“Then they would not be a paladin of Voltron.” Allura stated coldly, “So if you know if one of the paladins is even partly Galran, you tell me now.” Everyone looked at Allura as if she just kicked a puppy, before turning to Lance who quickly turned white.

Lance’s eyes widened as he looked at the others, hands shakily scrunching into fists at his sides, closing his eyes and turning towards the floor, “No,” Lance paused, biting his lip which Pidge and Hunk noticed, “No one here is part Galra,” Lance lied, Allura watched him warily as if she didn’t believe him.

“We go in blasting, a surprise attack is our best option,” Allura responded, turning back to the main screen, her hands hovering over the pillars, the others stayed where they were for a few more moments, only pausing at Lance’s response.

“Then the blood of all those innocent children is on your hands, Princess.” Lance replied coldly, turning to go sit on the stairs , where the others were stood, “And I will let it be known that Voltron will protect every innocent being throughout the universe,” Lance continued, copying what Allura said to the Arusians, which the others apart from Shiro and Pidge recognised, “Unless you’re Galran,” Lance added, looking straight at Allura with his left eyebrow raised, making Allura tense at the feeling of eyes of her back. Coran shook his head at the princess and her attitude before going back to his station.

“Hunk’s just excited to see his girl-friend-” Pidge mocked, trying to break the tension that had formed in the room, making Hunk gasp in defence.

“She’s not my girlfriend! She’s just a rock that I met and admire very much.” Hunk replied, crossing his arms in mock anger, making Pidge laugh as Shiro smiled. Keith put his hand on Lance’s shoulder, making him look up at him, Keith tilted his head silently asking if Lance was okay. To which Lance nodded looking back at Pidge and Hunk as they bickered.

Alarms starting to blare caused everyone to tense, the talking ceasing in response, “A distress beacon?” Coran muttered to himself as Allura explained the noise to the new Paladins.

“Whoever it is will have to wait. Shay has first priority. We can check back on them when we’re done,” Hunk argued, worried about the balmera and its people.

“The Paladin Code states we must help all those in need.” Allura replied diplomatically, Lance without making a sound mocked the princess, which made the younger Paladins cover their mouths in order to stop themselves from laughing, Shiro who also noticed cuffed Lance around the back of his head, making Lance pout.

“My boy?” Coran called, gaining Lance’s attention, “Do you know who is in distress?”

Lance nodded while speaking, “Nyma, Rolo and Beezer,” Lance grinned, “They’re space pirates.” Making Pidge and Hunk gasped out in excitement, while the Altean’s looked horrified, “They are good Allies to have, very resourceful but if I remember correctly then currently they are currently running from the Galra. So be on guard.” Lance warned dusting himself off as he stood up.

“Maybe we should help Shay first,” Allura muttered to herself.

“We help everyone in need,” Keith said in response, making Allura sigh as she activated the external comms as they neared the moon.

“Attention, damaged craft, this is Princess Allura. We are coming to assist you.” Allura turned the comm off as the group returned to their seats helping where they could to aid in the landing of the ship, as they came out of the Castle, they could faintly hear Rolo whistle at the sight of the ship.

“You don’t know how glad we are to see some friendly faces. Most folks don’t want to get tangled up with anyone who’s on the run from the Galra.” Rolo greeted, shaking the Princess’s hand.

“So, you guys are fighting the Galra?” Keith questioned, subtly helping Lance know if the pirates were the same as last time, to which Lance gave a subtle nod when Keith gave him a side-eye.

“Well, I don’t think Zarkon is exactly quaking in his boots at the three of us, but we do what we can, this is our cyber-unit, Beezer.” Rolo was introduced as Pidge went straight to interact with the robot. Lance watched passively as Nyma wrapped herself around Lance’s arm, Hunk and Shiro watched eyes widened slightly at the interaction, Keith crossed his arms as he avoided looking at Lance, “And that’s Nyma.” Rolo finished gesturing to the alien smiles at Lance.

“Was your ship damaged in a fight?” Lance asked before Shiro had the chance.

“Yeah, we’ve really been through it with the Galra. Parts are hard to come by. Luckily we were able to limp to this moon about a week ago. If you didn’t pick up our distress signal, I didn-”

“We’re happy to help,” Allura waved off,” I am Princess of Altea, and from now on, you won’t be alone fighting the Galra. You’ll have the Paladins of Voltron by your side.” Rolo then looks at Shiro who tried looking friendly, Keith who glared in response, Hunk who tried making himself bigger than he was, before side-eyeing Lance and Pidge who were interacting with Nyma and Beezer before looking at the Princess again not looking impressed.

“Okay?”
“I don’t think they’ve heard of us,” Shiro muttered to Keith.

“It has been ten thousand years,” Keith replied.

“Voltron? Five robot Lions that combine into this big robot…guy?” Lance tried to explain, intentionally making himself sound dumber than he was.

“Sounds impressive. I’d love to see it. Or - or him. Them.” Rolo responded,

“Why don’t we just get to work on your ship? I’m sure we all have places to be.” Hunk said bluntly, keeping an eye on Lance and Pidge.

Opening up the ship, Rolo gestured to a part of the ship that seemed to be blackened with ash, Hunk looked into the ship looking at the part suspiciously. Leaving Hunk to it the others turned to converse amongst each other.

“You have very pretty eyes,” Nyma stated, still holding onto Lance’s arm.

“Thank you?”

“And your hair is so soft,” Nyma said, running a hand through the human hair, Lance’s eyebrows raised at the flirting, “And you’re so strong,” She continued feeling up Lance’s arm.

“You have nice eyes as well,” Lance replied, making Nyma smirk. Shiro looked at Lance in disbelief, until he realised that Lance was uncomfortable.

“Hey Lance?!” Shiro called, making the pair look at him, “Why don’t you go help Hunk grab what he needs?” The relief on Lance’s face confirmed that he was uncomfortable with the flirting. Lance detangled himself from Nyma before making his way over to Hunk who just finished explaining why Rolo wasn’t allowed on the ship, whispering a quiet ‘Thank you’ as he passed Shiro and Keith.

Leaving the group behind, Lance and Hunk went towards the storage area of the castle where the ships parts would be, “So,” Hunk started stretching out the word making Lance look at him before entering the room, “Why'd you lie to Allura?”

Lance sputtered as he tripped on his own feet, “Why would you think I lied to Allura?”

Hunk raised his eyebrows at Lance, as if to say ‘You’re really going to go down this route’ before turning to grab the needed parts, “Well for starters, you wouldn’t have brought up a teammate being part Galra unless they were,” Hunk started, holding his hand up when he heard Lance make a noise of protest, “Secondly, you averted you’re gaze, which you never do unless you’re lying or feeling guilty,” Hunk turned and put the parts he had in his arms into the hover trolley, “Finally you were biting your lip, which you only do when you lie.” Lance opened his mouth to argue. “Pidge noticed it too.”

“What?” Lance questioned dropping his armful as well, “I didn’t lie” Lance turned before he could avert his gaze. Only to be turned towards the bigger paladin, who had grabbed him by the shoulders, looking at the floor Lance scuffed his shoe against the floor.

“I’m not going to make you tell me,” Hunk stated, making Lance freeze before looking up at his friend, “I wished we didn’t have any secrets, like we promised.” Hunks' eyes dropped to Lance’s chest, “But I understand you are protecting our friend, so I won’t push.” Lance wrapped his arms around Hunk.

“I’m sorry.” Lance whispered,making Hunk shake his head.

“You’ve been through a lot, just promise me that you’ll tell me one day.”

“Promise.”

“Great, now let's head back,” Hunk replied, already making his way out of the room. Lance bit his lip, sighing as he watched the door shut behind Hunk, before slapping his cheeks grabbing the trolley and following Hunk, stopping briefly at his room to grab his book before running to catch up with Hunk, who joked and laughed with Lance before separating when they reach the outside.

“- But not before I lost something.” Rolo finished, tapping his prosthetic left leg as Lance entered the group again.

“I know exactly how that feels,”

“Hey Handsome,” Nyma said as she clung on Lance’s arm again, Lance nodded to her, ignoring the handsome part, “How about we go someplace quieter?” Nyma asked, biting her lip with a shy smile.

“I’m good,” Lance replied, moving to sit neck to Keith, only to pause when Nyma made herself comfortable on Lance’s lap. Lance’s lip curled in disgust, ‘She will not get the hint’ Lance thought to himself, as he opened up his book ignoring everything that was going on around him. Only glancing up when Rolo, Hunk and Shiro walked over to the rebels ship.

“Will you take me to go see one of the Lions? I want to see how the Lions work” Nyma asked, whispering into Lance’s ear, making him shake his head, “Please? For me?” Nyma said, pressing herself even closer to Lance.

“No sorry, the Lions and the Castle are off-limits for the time being.” Lance whispered back, re-reading the same page due to the distraction which was Nyma.

“That’s fine, I’ll get Keith to show me his Lion,” Nyma grumbled, making Lance snort as the image of Nyma flirting with Keith, who undoubtedly was oblivious to the advancement.

“Go right ahead,” Lance urged with a smile, watching as Nyma got off his lap, before curling into Keith’s arm on the opposite seat that Lance was sitting on. Lance folded his lips into his mouth in an attempt not to laugh as Keith unknowingly shot her down. Lance stood up, walking up to Nyma, bending down to talk into her.

“I don’t particularly want myself or my teammates tied to a tree with a Lion stolen out from under them,” Lance muttered using the cuffs that Nyma had in her back pocket to tie her down to the pole that was behind the pair, smiling sweetly Lance pulled back. Lance and Keith share a smile as Nyma realises the Paladins knew what they had planned and how it failed, laughing as she tried to get away only to see her handcuffed.

The group returned to where Keith, Lance and Nyma were, looking confused at Nyma who was still cuffed, Shiro looked towards Lance for an answer, “Pirates.” Lance said with a shrug after seeing Shiro’s look, “Didn’t want to be down a Lion,” Lance continued looking at Rolo who avoided his eyes.

“Sorry.” Rolo muttered, “You may not believe this, but I hope you do stop Zarkon,” Rolo continued looking at the surrounding group, “It’s a lifetime of fighting the Galra that led me to where I am today.” The team looked at him with sympathy, all of them moved towards the Castle, Lance paused, turning towards the three pirates.

“Pidge lets go!” He called, and waited for the Green Paladin to pass him before addressing the three, “I hope that when the time comes, we can count on you,” Lance stated, turning and entering the ship before either could respond.

As Lance entered the bridge the others looked at him with smiles of their own, before a look of confusion and concern took over as Lance’s skin went pale, his knees buckling as he walked, Keith managing to catch him before Lance could truly fall. Lance gripped onto Keith’s suit where possible, “Lance, you okay?” Keith asked worriedly, making Lance blink, colour returning to his face.

“Yeah,” Lance breathed out, brows furrowing as he took a deep breath in, shivering slightly, as he unknowingly felt the effects of the Komar Haggar and Zarkon just used on a planet.

“What was that?” Pidge asked from where she was on the steps looking like she was about to grab Lance.

“I don’t know,” Lance replied, “But whatever that was it wasn’t good, it felt like-” Lance paused trying to figure out the right word.

“Felt like what buddy?” Hunk asked when Lance didn’t finish.

“Like an entire planet just died,” Allura said from where she stood, leaning on Coran slightly, making everyone look at her, Lance nodded.

“Not just dead, but drained of everything,” Lance continued, Lance gulped, “We’ll do a bit more investigating after we save Shay.” Lance promised, making Shiro nod. Everyone was still worried but they had more important things they needed to focus on.

Chapter Text

Coran stood with Allura while Keith half walked, half dragged Lance towards his seat, both still slightly out of it. Shiro looked towards the two helpers, who both nodded in reassurance. Allura got the castle in the sky before allowing Coran to leave her side to enter in the coordinates, letting the castle go into autopilot before sitting down where she stood. Seeing the tense moment Lance brought the attention to himself, “Want to hear a story?”

After getting multiple forms of yes he began, “As you know, at one point Keith was the pilot of Black, myself in Red and Allura in Blue right,” Lance started, moving his gaze to the different areas of the bridge, “Well on one of our missions, Allura almost died,” the gasps from the others dew a smug smirk from Lance, “I saved her of course.”

“You?” Pidge asked incredulously, before Lance could continue. The others also looked intrigued, although Keith tried to hide it under indifference, Lance nodded looking offended, “How?”

“I’m getting to that,” Lance huffed out a laugh, ”We were on a planet called Higxlin, it’s mainly a forest planet but there is a massive ocean, which causes storms like hurricanes back on Earth.” Lance described to the others.

“Obviously, we were fighting the Galra, well, while fighting one of these storms rolled in, faster than any storm I have ever seen.” Lance added.

“The Galra retreated and Allura and myself moved to do the same, one strike from the lightning would kill you.” Lance stated, being deadly serious, making the more mature members of the group frown, while the younger ones looked slightly scared at the imminent threat, “While escaping red notice a difference in the heat building, and Blue let me and Allura know about the change in frequency in the air,” Lance put his hand up, stopping any questions on how to lions could tell things like that before they can be voiced.

”Blue and Allura were about to be hit, head on. But I got to her first,” Lance lifted his shirt up, showing the lightning scar that went down his chest from his left shoulder to the centre of his torso, “We both got hit, which distributed the energy into something less harmful. We were both down for the count, but at least neither of us died, we got stranded in the forest for a week!”

The group looked aghast at the story, only chuckling when they saw the look of horror on Lance’s face when he mentioned being stranded, especially after the comment of having greasy hair and no beauty products. Lance saw that his trick worked and everyone looked marginally more relaxed compared to earlier.

Lance continued the story about how Allura and Lance survived on the island until the storm had passed allowing the others to come rescue them, it was then Lance brought up that the storm only happened twice in the planet's year which was roughly the same as Earths.

“We’ll be arriving at the Balmera soon,” Allura interrupted, bringing everyone’s focus back to the task at hand, making Lance sigh, “Liberating these Balmerans from Zarkon’s grasp will not be easy.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Lance asked seriously, looking at Shiro, pausing before adding on, “We go in there and just- Pow, pow pow!” Lance made finger guns as he imitated the laser fire, keeping the tension low.

“What was that noise?” Keith asked, turning around to look at Lance incredulously.

“Laser guns.” Lance replied grinning, doing jazz hands.

“No, Lance, I think you mean-” Hunk then imitated a huge laser canon, also using his arms to demonstrate the way that they fire, “-Pow!”

“That sounds like fireworks!” Lance argued, throwing his hands up.

“Technically, they’re more like - ba-choo, ba-choo, ba-choo” Pidge piped up, Lance pulled a face at their demonstrations before grinning as the group joked around instead of being tense and afraid.

“Okay, enough with the bad sound effects.” Shiro said as he turned around, “Besides, it’s more like - Blam, -blam, -blam.” Shiro mimicked making tiny guns with his hands.

“What?” Keith asked confused

“You’re crazy” Pidge called from their seat

“No, way”

“Nuh- wrong.” Hunk added in agreement to the other paladins

“I would know, I’ve been fighting longer!”

“Paladins, focus!” Allura called out, as she stood up at the controls again, making everyone's smiles and grins drop but ,to Lance’s relief, not tensing back up like it was a suicide mission.

Hunk nodded towards Allura, “Besides, we can’t just shoot at the Galra. This Balmera, it’s, like, alive. And from what we’ve seen, it doesn’t look very good.” Hunk explained, as Coran loaded up a picture of the Balmera to show the others.

“Yes. It’s an atrocity what the Galra have been doing to this grand beast. Stealing its crystals, it’s very lifeforce, without ever performing the energy rejuvenation ceremonies to heal it.” Coran stated bitterly as the Paladins looked at the picture. Lance inwardly gasped at the sight of the balmera, the surface seemed duller than he remembered, mulling over what he remembered about the battle while the others talked.

“Okay, so we can’t go in guns blazing,” Shiro paused thinking, “Plan B. We figure out how to draw the Galra up to the surface and battle them out there.”

“I know! If we attack all of the big mining stuff on the surface, the Galra troops will have to come out to defend it. Then we beat them up, head down to the tunnels, Voltron saves the day.” Hunk expanded on Shiro’s idea.

“It won’t work.” Lance said, making the group look at him, Lance bit his thumb nail eyes squinting as he remembered the battle vaguely, “We attacked the outside, but no one came up, we had to go into the tunnels either way.” Lance started, moving towards where Coran was, typing in a few codes before swiping at the screen to bring a hologram which he could interact with, “We need to use a Biothermal Life indicator point technology,”

“Oh, Blip Tech!” Pideg called from where they were getting up, with Hunk and Keith to get closer.

“Exactly,” Lance nodded in Pidge’s direction, “So Pidge, with the Green Lion using your cloaking ability,” Lance started, as the hologram of the green lion moved around the planet, pausing to look at Pidge who just stared at him, “You need to stop giving me that look when I know things I shouldn’t.” Lance added before continuing his plan, “So the Green Lion flies around the planet, dropping the Blip tech into the tunnels, showing us where to avoid and where to attack, and where the prisoners are being kept.”

“We have the ability to cloak our Lions?” Shiro and Hunk asked at the same time, Lance shook his head, making them frown.

“I modified the Green Lion, after I reverse engineered the invisible maze.” Pidge explained, at the looks she got.

“So unless you can do that, within the next 20 minutes, then Pidge is the only one who can do it,” Lance continued, “We still need to destroy these rigs,” bringing up the mining rigs Hunk pointed out, “Simply because some work as communications, me and Keith should handle that'' Lance pointed out the ones they needed to destroy, marking them green in the hologram.

“Shiro you have the best fighting skills, without a Bayard, and Hunk knows some of the Balmerans, making you the best to go straight into the tunnels, Pidge, Keith and myself will join once we’ve dealt with our tasks,” Lance explained explaining the different roles. The Paladins looked shocked at the plan before nodding their heads.

“We’ll stay in cloud cover and give tactical support. With the castle’s defences weakened from Sendak’s crystal, we won’t be much help to you,”

“Speaking of that, I want you to land on one of the asteroids closest to the Balmera, if they do manage to call for help then we won’t be much help from the ground.” Lance explained, Allura nodded.

“Yeah! Okay, let’s do this! Let’s go kick some alien butt!” Hunk exclaimed, moving towards the opening of his Lions hanger, the others going to their individual ones. Shiro paused at his opening, looking back at Lance who stood staring at the hologram with a deep frown.

“What’s wrong?” Shiro asked moving back towards him, Coron and Allura also standing nearby.

“I’m forgetting something,” Lance replied, arms crossed and his foot tapping on the ground, moving one of his hands towards his face, biting his thumb nail “Something important, but I don’t know what it is”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine my boy,” Coran reassured, placing his hand on the younger boy's shoulder.

“We cannot second guess ourselves.” Allura added.

“The plan will work,” Shiro said smiling slightly, “And if we do encounter what you’ve forgotten then we will deal with it when we cross that bridge,” Lance nodded, not looking reassured but moving quickly to his lion. Shiro and Lance joined with the others in entering the balmeran atmosphere.

“This is it. Get your heads in the game. Remember, the Balmera is a living creature. Make sure you aim from the Galra installations and not the surface.” Shiro ordered over the comm as the five separated into three groups.

“Initiating cloak.” Pidge responded as they flew away from the others, silencing their comm.

Lance and Keith reached the surface headed straight to the communication towers as well as the power grid, while Shiro and Hunk flew Black and Yellow into the nearest tunnel, getting out into their hovercrafts as Pidge sent over the affirmative for the sensors, before the Green Lion dropped into a tunnel to join the search as well. Lance grinned as he and Blue moved flawlessly through the Galra tech hitting the buildings in the right place to destroy them and not cause structural damage with the mouth blade.

An overwhelming feeling of proudness filled Lance from his bond with Red, and from the corner of his visor Lance saw Red fire its heat ray, melting the cannon’s tower, Lance heard Keith’s breath hitch at the sight of the fire before hearing his cheer over the comm, “Whoa! Lance, did you see that? I got fire power!” Keith called.

“We know, love.” Lance replied, relieved that Keith, while not completely over his past fear, was working towards seeing the good fire can do, instead of only the bad. “But you have to be careful,” Lance continued as he froze over the tower which was falling, “Saved your ass with rays as cool as me.” Lance cheered, making Keith huff at the joke.

Once the buildings were destroyed, Lance and Keith flew their lions into one of the tunnels, exiting the Lions the same way Hunk and Shiro had. ‘Put your shields up, ladies’ Lance said in his head towards all of the Lions.

“Shiro, me and Keith are in the tunnels, making our way to close the hanger doors, radio if you need help,” Lance reported as He and Keith got off their hovercrafts and walked into the cave on foot, neither noticing the crystals that grew behind them.

Chapter Text

After reporting their situation to Shiro, Lance and Keith moved to where the hanger was, seeing all the ships sitting idly made Lance tense, a numbing feeling in his stomach, “The entire hanger’s only being guarded by a few sentries.” Keith stated as he looked around the hanger, summoning his bayard Keith prepared to move for an attack, “Let’s go!”

Lance grabbed Keith, pulling him back from the entrance, back into the cave, “Cool your jets, love.” Keith glared at Lance at the nickname, “The Balmera is alive, we can’t blow things up like a psycho,” Lance continued exasperated.

“Oh, right.” Keith muttered putting his bayard away, “You got a better idea?”

“Always dear,” Lance smirked, “The Control room has one sentry, we sneak in to dispose of the robot and close the bay doors, trapping the ships,” Lance explained pointing out the room that was on the other side of the hanger, Keith stared at Lance.

“That- !” Keith sighed, “Actually, is a better idea,” Keith muttered resignedly. With that Keith moved towards the hanger, Lance only a few steps away, not wanting to walk across the catwalk, which would obviously bring attention to themselves, Keith and Lance entered a small cave where they had to crawl.

“We’re almost there,” Keith said, as he saw the cave get slightly bigger, with the familiar purple of the metal the Galra use.

“I’m not complaining,” Lance replied, as he looked at Keith and his ass, huffing out a laugh at the distressed noise Keith replied with when he realised what Lance was on about.

“Stop staring at my ass,”

“You’re in front of me! Where else am I meant to look?” Lance asked as they reached the metal, where Keith summoned his Bayard, ignoring Lance’s question as he created a hole in the ceiling, Lance kicked the hole open, crushing the sentry under the metal's weight, the two paladins then entered the control room. Lance took one look at the controls before sighing ‘I really need to learn Galran, or get Pidge to update the translators to understand written text’ Lance thought to himself and Keith orientated himself.

“Alright, I’ll keep an eye out for those guards. You sort out the hanger doors,” Lance ordered, summoning his Bayard moving towards the window, Keith did the same as Lance, taking one look at the keyboard before grabbing Lance’s wrist.

“I can’t figure this out,” Keith hissed out, making Lance turn towards him.

“Why not?” Lance asked, genuinely confused, even tilting his head slightly.

“They’re galran!” Keith gestures wildly at the control panel.

“That shouldn’t stop - oh,” Lance started before cutting himself off, “Oh,” his eyes widened as he slowly nodded his head, “Yes, that would be a problem for you. Past Keith. Not older Keith. Who does not know galran.” Lance uttered out in a robotic voice, blinking slowly at Keith, who did the same back.

“Follow your instincts,” Lance offered unhelpfully, clamping his hand on Keith’s shoulder giving a bright smile before turning back towards the door, making Keith fumble for a moment before he himself turned towards the control panel grumbling to himself.

“Why do you call me half breed?” Keith asked, as he looked through the controls, Lance froze at the question, turning around to look at the shorter boy.

“I- uh.” Lance hesitated, “I can’t tell you,”

“Why not?” Keith turned to look at Lance

“Because finding out and the experience that you have afterwards is something you didn’t want to change,” Lance explained turning back to the window, “You’ll hate me for not telling, once you do find out. But we all talked about things we would and wouldn’t change if we were able to go into the past, not that we knew that it was possible at the time,” Lance added, “but the truth of your heritage and they way you found out, you didn’t want to change that,”

“So you’re keeping a promise to me, which I haven’t even asked you to do yet?” Keith replied smirking as he placed his hand on the controls where the hand print was, seeing Lance nod from the corner of his eye, “Alright, I won’t push” Lance whipped around to look at Keith shocked, “I want to know, don’t get me wrong. And once this mission is over, you will be giving me a hint, but from what I know about you, you aren’t the type to break a promise if you can help it,” Keith carried on.

The comm to the others crackled to life, “They’re drawing us into an ambush, but we don’t have a choice if we want to save Shay. We have to follow. Lance, Keith, get to the core. I think we’re going to need everyone together to get through this firefight.” Shiro ordered, making the pair run out of the room, Keith destroying the control panel as Lance gave their affirmatives, before destroying the door lock, making it so that the Galra are unable to get it.

Lance yawned as they re-entered the caves, this time heading to the core, “You okay?” Keith asked, when Lance yawned again, slowing down.

“Tired,” Lance replied through another yawn, Lance slapped his cheeks before jogging to catch back up with Keith, who was frozen looking in his direction.

“Lance, you’re healing the balmera,” Keith stated, moving his eyes from the glowing ground to Lance, who whipped around to look at the ground where his previous footsteps were glowing, letting beautiful crystals sprout from the ground.

“What? How?” Lance muttered, looking down to his own feet which had the same eerie glow, which was quickly growing into the surrounding area.

“How are you doing that?” Keith asked in awe.

“You think I know?” Lance retorted back, taking a step away from Keith watching as the glow followed ‘Not another mystery’ Lance groaned inwardly, dreading having yet another thing to research.

“Your face…” Keith trailed off, taking a step towards Lance taking in the subtle glow emitting from under Lance’s eyes, too subtle for Lance to notice. Lance in response wiped frantically at his face.

“What about it? Do I have dirt on my face? Or one of those cave bugs? Please don’t be a cave bug,” Lance responde frantically, making Keith smile.

“It’s,” Keith hesitated, “Nothing, just dirt,” Keith lied.

“Don’t scare me like that!” Lance squawked, swatting Keith around the shoulder, making him chuckle. Lance huffed as he moved towards the core, only to be pulled back by Keith, who sighed in relief when the laser bullet missed Lance, “Holy quiznak!” Lance shouted, as more bullets flew by, “Thanks Keith,”

“Their shooting is destroying the Balmera, we gotta do something,” Keith responded, summoning his shield to try and stop the laser before it could hit the Balmera, while Lance summoned his Bayard, quickly shooting at the Glara, headshotting each of them, making the fire cease. The two looked at each other, Lance giving a grin with a thumbs up, while Keith gave a small smile.

Lance let out another yawn as he deactivated his Bayard, eyes dropping slightly, yelping when Keith smacked his back, “What was that for?!”

“To keep you awake,” Keith responded, moving around the sentry bodies on the floor, Lance followed at a slower pace, “Why are you so tired?”

“I’m currently healing a planet that has both feet in the grave,” Lance replied bluntly, making Keith snort, “And nightmares,” Lance added quietly, which Keith missed. Lance caught up to Keith when the other paused to peer around the corner for any sentries, only moving once the coast was clear.

“What does it feel like?”

“Huh?”

“Healing the Balmera,” Keith elaborated, “What does it feel like?”

Lance paused for a moment before moving again, staying silent as he thought about how to word it and the feelings that were currently moving around his head, “Exhausting,” Lance started, before overtaking Keith in the cave, letting out yet another yawn, “tingly, it feels as if my entire being is on some sort of high but at the same time I feel like I’m about to snap,” Lance replied, nearing the doors of the core, “Earlier on the bridge, when it felt like a planet got drained, it feels both the same and yet so different from that. Ya know?”
“No, I don’t know, that’s why I asked,” Keith replied, before the door behind him shut making the two flinch, before turning towards the others who stood at the very core with Shay.

“Not an ambush, more like a trap,” Hunk replied to Shiro as Lance and Keith neared the group. The group turned to the pair, seeing the light glow under Lance’s eyes, as well as the bright glow on the floor which has new crystals sprouting, “Uh, Buddy?”

“I know, my steps are glowing,” Lance responded, leaning on Keith, his eyes shutting.

“Is he okay?” Shiro asked, directed at Keith, who wrapped his arm around Lance’s waist, easing him down to the floor.

“He’s exhausted,” Keith replied, motioning to the group not to mention the markings on Lance’s face, the paladins nodded in response all looking confused.

“Amazing,” Shay muttered, “The Blue one heals Balmera,” Shay said louder, as she watched the glow around Lance grow.

“He’s what?” Pidge asked loudly as she poked the crystals growing, Lance made a shushing noise to the area, which was clearly aimed at Pidge.

“Coran?” Shiro asked in the comm.

“Yes Number 1?”

“Theoretically, if someone could heal the Balmera what would happen?”

“Well, if they were unknowingly doing it, there would be an ever present glow around where they touch the ground, if they knowingly do it then it would only be present when they intentionally do it, either way where there’s a glow, crystals form, which give the balmera energy. Why do you ask?

“And the side-effects?” Keith asked, shaking Lance, who opened his eyes slightly.

“Exhaustion, which gets worse the longer they give energy to the Balmera, some get loopy but nothing life threatening.” Coran responded, making the group sigh in relief.

“Is there something going wrong down there?” Allura asked from her place at the pillars, ready to move at the first sign of trouble.

“We’re trapped at the core,” Pidge stated, “And Lance is giving energy to the balmera unknowingly,”

“Pidge you little rat.” Lance muttered grumpily, “I’m fine,” getting up from his place from the floor almost falling over, where Hunk moved quickly to stop the fall, “Thanks bro,” Lance responded.

“We need a little assistance,” Hunk stated nicely.

Chapter Text

After Hunk asked for help from the Castle, Allura stated that they were on their way down, leaving the paladins to entertain themselves for a bit, “So how’s everyone's day going?” Lance asked, breaking the awkward silence.

“It would be better if you stop getting yourself in weird, unexplainable Situations,” Shiro replied, sounding exactly like a dad.

“This was not my fault!” Lance muttered offended, “Sorry, I’m not perfect,” Lance said louder, pushing away from Hunk, wobbling as he moved away from the group, silencing Shiro’s protest, leaving the group in silence.

“Being trapped isn’t an ideal day of mine,” Keith replied, “But it’s better than death,” Lance snorted at Keith’s nonchalant shrug.

“Fighting in a space war isn’t what I had planned,” Pidge responded moving towards where Lance stood, “Fucking mint,” Pidge responded, making Lance look at them in shocked awe.

“I got sent back in time to fight the war again,”

“Fucking mint,” Pidge responded, making Lance huff out a laugh while Pidge and Hunk snorted, leaving the other three confused.

“You got blown up by a robot, twice.” Hunk added.

“Fucking mint,” Pidge and Lance replied.

“My family got captured by Aliens,”

“Fucking mint!” Lance and Hunk said loudly, before the trio dropped into a fit of giggles.

“I lost an arm.” Shiro said quietly, but the group still heard.

“Fucking mint,” Lance replied bluntly, before joining Hunk and Pidge in their cackling, making Shiro smile at group.

“What the fuck?” Keith asked quietly to himself, noticing Shay shrug at his question.
“Sorry to interrupt, whatever that was,” Allura started sounding as confused as Keith and Shay felt, “But unfortunately, we cannot help, as we are currently surrounded by Galra ships and are taking heavy fire,” Allura interrupted, making Lance and the others groan.

“How is it, she stills sounds so calm and unaffected when she is getting shot at?” Lance voiced, to which everyone stared blankly at Lance unimpressed.

“Allura, we’ll get there as soon as we can” Shiro responded.

“Perhaps my people can help us get out.” Shay said as they looked for a way out, Shay moved towards the glowing core of the Balmera, which had a few crystals growing on it thanks to Lance, laying her hand on it as she explained, “This is how we communicate. The Balmera senses our vibrations and sends a message to those in the tunnels.”

“Are you sure someone will be able to hear your… hand from all the way down here?” Keith asked, sceptical at the idea, making Lance snort.

“The Balmera will deliver the message.” Shay replies determinedly, Shay then goes quiet as she focuses on the message she wants to send, the area around her hands glows.The Balmera groans as I send the message to the other Balmerans.

“Ooh That’s weird,” Lance said, making everyone turn to look at him where he was shifting shaking his hands and arms out, “I felt that,” Lance explained, “It’s tingly,” The others didn’t know how to responded to Lance saying he could feel the message, and being super odd and as such stayed silent.

“Like earlier?” Keith asked crouching and putting his hand on the floor to see if he could feel what Lance was feeling, noticing the nod from Lance, who was poking at the crystals he was growing with his feet.

“Paladins, do you copy?” Allura’s voice broke the new silence, “There’s a battle cruiser locked onto us. If it fires with its ion cannon, I don’t know if we can survive.”

“We copy,” Lance replied before the others could, dropping the mystified expression,“ Allura you need to retreat,”

“We will not abandon you,”

“You aren’t abandoning us, but, no offence, protecting the Castle will just be another distraction for Voltron,” Lance explained.

“We aren’t leaving you.” Was the stubborn reply, Lance gritted his teeth to stop himself from sighing, crossing his arms angrily ‘It’s tactical,’ Lance thought to himself.

“Shay, are you sure the Balmera is sending your message?” Shiro asked, only for one of the entrances to collapse as the Balmera crushed it, revealing Rax and his family.

“Rax!” Shay cheered.

“We must make haste. We know a shortcut through the tunnels.”

“Allura, stand by,” Shiro ordered, overriding Lance, “We’re on our way up.” The Paladins then split back into the original three groups that they entered in, as they followed Shay’s family through the tunnels and back towards their Lions, the threat giving everyone a boost of adrenaline.

“Paladins, hurry! They’re taking off with the Lions!” Allura cried out over the comms, in response Lance tugged on the bonded with Blue who easily followed Lance’s wish of fighting off the Galra who were trying to steal her and Red before the paladins could arrive, and then taking off into the sky to start the battle with the other fighter jets that look to take down the Paladins, Keith gave the area where the Blue Lion was a look before noticing Lance was getting into Red with him.

“What are you doing?”

“Blue is in the sky fighting and climbing out of the cave will take too long, so Red is giving me a lift,” Lance explained as Keith pulled at the controls, bringing the Red Lion out of the tunnel.

“Guys, did everyone make it to the Lions in time?” Shiro asked as Hunk and himself flew yellow and Black out of the tunnel they were in. In time to see the Blue Lion already fighting the Galra, neither the Red or Green Lion in sight, “Lance how did you get to Blue so quickly? And where's Keith with Red?”

“I’m not in Blue!” Lance responded from his place next to Keith in the Red Lion.

“What?! How is Blue flying then?”

“I’m in Red, with Keith,”

“You know what? I don’t want to know, I don’t want to know.” Shiro responded, listening to the others giggle at his exasperation at Lance.

“Drop me off here,” They heard Lance tell Keith, only to see a vague figure jump out of the Red Lions mouth.

“We’re in the middle of open air, don’t jump!” Keith argued.

“Keith, he jumped.” Pidge remarked.
“He Jumped!” Keith, Hunk and Shiro shouted as Lance landed in Blue, quickly situating himself in the cockpit before continuing to fight.

“I’m fine!” Lance replied

“We are going to have a long discussion on why you don’t jump out of ships mid-flight! And this reckless behaviour has to stop!” Shiro ranted.

“Yes Dad.” Lance muttered as the group flew their lions at the large fleet of Galra fighter jets, engaging in yet another battle.

“Hunk, watch out!” Pidge calls out as they protect Yellow from the laser fire with the Green Lion’s shield.

“Got you covered!” Shiro replied as he used the Black Lion’s jaw blade to destroy the fighter jets, Hunk thanked the two as Red and Blue flew towards the battle cruiser, which was preparing to fire the ion cannon.

Allura called out for all power to the bow, preparing for the fire, only for Lance and Keith to destroy the cannon using their lions powers to metal the cannon and freeze it, leaving it permanently disfigured.

“Okay, team, let’s form Voltron!” Shiro called, bringing the other Lions towards where he was, Lance felt the bonds snap in place,

“Holy shit you’re knackered!” Pidge yawned,

“Language!” Shiro replied.

“Yeah well you ache!” Lance retorted.

“Kids please!” Shiro groaned, as the Castle blasts the warship, causing it to explode and destroy the closest fighter jets.

“Yeah!” Keith and Hunk called out.

“Nice shot, Princess!” Pidge congratulated.

“Woohoo!” Lance whooped as Voltron destroyed the rest of the fighter jets, before separating and landing.

“Mission accomplished.” Keith stated as they landed beside the Castle, getting out of their Lions and high fiving each other.

“And just in the tick of time. The Castle’s defences are battered and will need to fully recharge.” Allura sighed in relief.

“Now let’s discuss what made you think that jumping out of a flying Lion, with no parachute was a good idea.” Shiro started turning towards Lance, hands on his hips as the others ‘oooh’ at Lance getting lectured.

“Climbing out of the cave would have taken too long.” Lance argued

“Why not get Keith to drop you off at the surface then?”

“Because Blue was in the air, it was quicker.”

“You could have been hurt, or killed!” Shiro lectured,

“I’ve done that trick like a thousand times before,” Lance moaned out as he gestured to Blue with his right hand and Red with his left.

“That doesn’t change how reckless it was!” Shiro argued, crossing his arms.

“But if Keith did it, you would congratulate him on the cool move?” Lance asked, coping Shiro in crossing his arms.

“Don’t bring me into this!” Keith argued.

“I- I would not!” Shiro sputtered.

“Really so diving off a cliff with a hovercraft was not taught to him by you?” Lance replied, making the brothers freeze.

“That is completely different!” Shiro argued.

“How so?”

“Because I trust Keith to be able to do a trick like that!” Shiro shouted, making everyone who heard pause even the muttering from Coran and Allura over the comms stopped, Lance took in a sharp deep breath, jaw tense as a hurt expression overcame his face.

“Oh.” Lance responded, “I see,” Lance gave a small hurt smile, before moving towards Blue, shrugging Keith's hand off his shoulder.

“That was too far Shiro!” Pidge said angrily as they moved to Blue, Hunk doing the same.

“Fuck!” Shiro muttered, running his hand through his hair, closing his eyes.
“You don’t mean that,” Keith said, looking at Shiro, “Right?”

“Not in the way it came out,” Shiro sighed, “I know what to expect from you, and I trust that you know not to do something that you weren’t capable off,”

“But you don’t trust Lance to do the same?” Keith asked

“I don’t know Lance, as well as I know you.” Was Shiro's response. Keith shook his head in disappointment, making his way to Red, ready to take the Lion back to Castle after a long battle, Pidge and Hunk exited the Blue Lion, ignoring Shiro as they made their way to their own Lions, Shiro made his way into the Lion, to see Lance pressing what seemed like random buttons on his console.

“What do you want?” Lance muttered, as he typed more codes.

“I’m sorry,”

“Don’t be, it was a reckless move, but my Shiro trusted me,” Lance replied, “Even before he got to fully know me, I don’t know if he was lying to me now” Lance tapped his fingers against his leg, avoiding Shiro’s eyes, “I won’t do it again,” Lance promised, “Not until you trust me.”

“I do trust you,” Shiro whispered, making Lance shake his head, “I do, but not to the extent that I can just let you jump out of an airborne ship. I just want everyone to stay alive to get back to home on Earth,”

“Shiro, Earth hasn’t been my home for years,” Lance replied, “I barely remember my family,” He turned to look at the older male, “There faces are blurry, I don’t remember much of the language, I missed each graduation, my nephews first steps, the birth of my niece. It’s hard to want to go home, when you’re at home.

“Lance -”

“You guys are my family, the Castle is my home,” Lance breathed in and let it go, “I’m fighting to get Hunk home, to get Pidge’s family back, to give you and Keith a place you can call home. I stopped fighting for myself ages ago,” Lance confessed, “I was ready to quit, to give up,”

Shiro couldn’t stop himself from hugging Lance at the confession, “I won’t give up on you, any of you. And if you won’t fight for yourself I will.” Shiro promised, “I’m so sorry for what I said, it didn’t come out right.”

“It’s fine, I’m fine,”

“It’s not fine though, you are worth it, I do trust you,” Lance gripped onto Shiro’s paladin armour, “You’re just a child,”
“I’m not to one whose a 6 year old,”

“Lance,” Shiro said warningly, “Yes you've been in this war longer than me, and you have more experience, but if you continue being reckless then no one will survive.”

“Guess I need someone to pull me back sometimes,” Lance muttered, making Shiro nod.

“It can be any of us, but we can’t do anything if you do stunts like that.”

“Okay,” Lance replied

“Now, let’s put this behind us, okay?” Shiro asked, pulling back from the hug holding out his pinky, which Lance gripped with his own, “Let’s get back to the Castle,” Shiro paused, before kissing Lance’s forehead before rushing out of the Lion.

“Love you too Space Dad,” Lance chuckled into the comm, which made Shiro go red as the other paladins 'awed’ at the adorable moment. Lance sighed quietly to himself, feeling the tightness in his chest as he replayed Shiro’s argument, ‘stupid, stop thinking about it, he apologised’ Lance thought to himself as he let Blue go into autopilot hugging himself, as he brought his feet up onto the chair.

“Alright, when we get back food and then bed, understand?” Shiro ordered.

“Yes, dad.” The others groaned, making Lance give out a weak grin.

Chapter Text

Lance opened his eyes taking in the foreign environment, the purple skies shining brightly with a golden moon giving the planet a brilliant light, the blue grass waving innocently in the gentle wind that ruffled Lance’s hair into his eyes, in the distance great mountains towered over a red sea and a pink forest, ‘it’s beautiful’ Lance thought to himself, but that beauty changed as he turned around.

Fire and smoke prevailed in the air, burning all it touched, plasma bullets soaring and the grass trampled, the beauty Lance could see over his shoulder destroyed once facing forwards, the peace turned to war. Galra falling one by one due to one figure, a blaze of red and white moved as if dancing in the chaos striking down the enemy one by one.

Lance brought his hands up to his face to wipe away the sweat he felt dripping down his forehead, only for his Bayard shaped as a sniper hit his face instead, “Earth to Lance,” Came a voice from the comm on the helmet that Lance didn’t even realise he was wearing, “Lance I need some cover!” Keith’s voice called as he backed away from the hoard in front of him, “Lance!”

On instinct Lance brought his Bayad up to his eye, shooting the ones closest to Keith first allowing his partner to catch his breath, some of the Galra moved towards the area where Lance is only to get shot down, the others dropping when Keith came in swinging once more. Only for the Red Paladin to freeze, when a blooming pain came from behind.

Lance sprinted forward as the shot collided, “Keith!” Lance screamed as he tripped over a root, Keith looked down at his hand which was pressed against his armour to see blood exiting his body quickly, falling down to his knees as Lance skidded up to him.

“No, I can’t lose you!” Lance cried out after hailing the castle to help.

Keith dropped his hand away from his wound, looking directly into Lance’s eyes, “You shot me.” Keith uttered, making Lance pause, shaking his head as more tears came out, his hands gripping tightly onto the wound. “You killed me.” Keith said, dead serious, “You. Killed. ME!”

Lance bolted up, his blankets falling to be around his lap, hands coming up to wipe away the tears and sweat off of his face, stopping when Lance saw the blood on his hands, ‘I- I -I killed him’ Lance thought shakily as he scrambled out of his bed and towards the kitchen, which had a closer sink than going to the communal bathroom. ‘He’s dead, because of me’ Lance tripped over air as he passed Shiro’s bedroom door, exhaling loudly but struggling to get more air in as he got back up.

Immediately turning on the tap, Lance flinched at the cold water before starting to scrub at the blood on his hands, not hearing the doors open as Shiro entered slightly dazed. Lance cried as he scrubbed the blood that just would not disappear, Shiro turned off the tap moving Lance’s hands out of the sink as the distraught boy looked at the other, “It- It won’t come o-off,” Lance said shakily as Shiro dried his hands.

“What won’t come off?” Shiro said gently, as he put the towel down, guiding the other to sit on the counter.

“The blood,” Shiro paused at the response before his eyebrows furrowed as tears sprung to his own eyes as he gazed at Lance in sympathy, who was struggling to take in a breath.

“Lance, I need you to breathe,” Shiro stated, moving one of Lance’s hands onto his chest over his heart, “Breath with me kiddo,” Lance tried to copy Shiro’s breathing, he really did, but he just couldn’t get the air.

“I killed him!” Lance shook his head, trying to pull his hand away from Shiro, “How are you so calm? You should be angry, I killed him, Shiro, I killed Keith!” Lance shouted, hitting Shiro with his other hand. Shiro moved closer, taking Lance’s other hand into his own, before letting go of both and instead hugging Lance, shushing him as he whispered reassurances and kind words to the kid that was shaking. Running his hands up and down Lance’s back as Shiro tightened his grip, while Lance just gripped Shiro’s shirt from behind, clutching it as he cried.

“You did no such thing, Keith is still alive,” Shiro whispered into Lance’s ear, continuing to do so until Lance’s crying slowed, and air started to make its way into his lungs, “It’s okay, he’s alive.”

Lance’s grip on Shiro’s shirt loosened as the two pulled apart, Shiro kissed Lance’s knuckles before turning around to grab the portable first aid kit that was kept in every communal area, opening it up and grabbing two different packages. The two remained silent as Shiro disinfected the scratch marks on Lance’s arms where he caught himself on his nails in his frantic hand washing before putting some pink bandages with blue flowers over the bigger cuts.

Ignoring the way that Lance was still sniffling and wiping away his tears as he took in some shaky breaths, Shiro turned back around packing the first aid kit back up, before opening the Altean fridge, grabbing a water pouch before turning to the young man on to counter, closing the fridge with his foot. “I woke you up. Sorry,” Lance muttered as Shiro forced Lance to drink the water.

“I was already awake,” Shiro shook his head, as he looked at the time which showed that it was five in the morning, “I always wake at four, I did hear a thump out in the hallway, and I saw you dashing off somewhere, so I came to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine,” Lance said, biting his lip, looking away from Shiro as he fiddled with the sleeves of his shirt, new tears in his eyes as he swallowed the lump forming in his throat.

“You’re not fine,” Shiro stated, grabbing Lance’s chin making them stare in each other’s eyes.

“I’m fine,” Lance snapped, “This isn’t the first time,” Lance muttered bitterly.

“You’ve had other nightmares?” Shiro asked hesitantly, Lance nodded slightly, head still in Shiro’s hand, “How often?”

“Every night,” Lance admitted almost silently, the door opening stopping Shiro from replying. The two paladins froze, when they saw Coran walk into the room cheerfully, who then paused as he took in the two humans as well as the situation. His eyes darted from Lance's red eyes that were still wet from tears, the shaky rise and fall of the Blue paladin's chest, the bandaged hands and the worried look from Shiro.

“Is everything okay?” Coran asked gently as he moved towards the two.

“Fine.” Lance replied, getting a look from Shiro, who hesitated to answer.

“No, not fine,” Shiro then spoke up looking at Coran ignoring the face that Lance pulled, “But that’s to be expected, and it will be okay soon.”

Coran nodded, “Let me know if I can be of assistance, whether it’s to rant, or cry or even for a laugh,” Coran said as he reached up and ruffled Lance’s hair, who nodded in thanks. After that, Coran moved to do his usual morning routine, leaving Shiro and Lance to their own devices. Lance shuffled forwards until his feet were almost touching the floor, making his way to stand, throwing the water packet into the bin, and then towards the door.

Shiro stopped Lance, “If you have another nightmare, you can always come to me,”

“Thanks Shiro.” With that Lance made his way back to his room, grabbing a change of clothes before going in the opposite direction towards the communal bathroom, which Lance begged to be empty. Lance turned the water on making sure the heat was high before undressing and standing under the shower, Lance sighed at the numbness that was spreading from his mind, into his chest and stomach, tying everything into one emotional knot.

After getting changed, Lance made his way back to the kitchen, this time for food, grabbing the blanket on the back on the sofa and curling it around him as he passed through the living room. Lance sat in his chair missing the worried looks from the other paladins as he stared blankly at the table, arms clinging onto the blanket making sure it’s closed. Pidge noticed the bandages on some of his fingers, eyes squinting at Lance in worry, while Keith moved his chair closer to Lance who didn’t notice.

Hunk placed the plates of food goo down as Allura, Shiro and Coran entered to room and made their way to the table, as everyone ate,Lance moved the goo around the plate, not actually eating, which the others picked up on. “You okay buddy?”

Lance blinked at Hunk as if seeing him for the first time, “Yeah, just not hungry,”

“You must eat.” Allura stated, ignoring any grievances she and Lance may have in worry.

“I’m okay,” Lance muttered as he brought his feet up onto the chair, bringing the blanket much closer. The group looked between themselves before looking at Shiro, who looked just as worried.

“Kiddo, just a little,” Shiro tried, making Lance shake his head which caused Shiro to sigh quietly. The group paused when they saw Lance’s face in the goo, with Keith’s hand on the back of his head, “Keith let him go”

“Not until he eats a little,” Keith replied, but either way moved his hand away from Lance’s head, who didn’t move.

“Look what you did!” Pidge called out, waving their hand at Lance, “You killed him!” Pidge jokes, making Shiro and Lance freeze, Lance’s shoulder’s bunched up to his ears as he sat back up, fresh tears falling, making the others panic.

“Whoa, buddy what’s wrong?” Hunk asked as he moved out of his seat, crouching down next to Lance as he wiped his brothers face, “Keith was only joking”

“I killed him.” Lance whispered gripping at the blanket until his knuckles went white, Hunk pulled away in confusion. Shiro got out of his chair as the others looked at Lance worried and confused, wrapping his arms around Lance as he crouched down next to Hunk.

“Lance?” Keith asked, as Lance cried, “What do you mean?” Lance shook his head in response, making Shiro grip tighter and start muttering the same reassurances as before. The others heard all the same in the quiet room, “I’m not dead, you didn’t kill me.” Keith said, placing his hand on Lance’s hair, making him look up.

“I’m sorry,” Lance hiccupped as he calmed himself down, “Sorry,”

Shiro was pulled away by Keith who went and hugged Lance instead, “I’m fine, it’s fine.” He said, before feeling another pair of arms wrap around them, seeing Shiro and Hunk join the hug before feeling Pidge, Coran and Allura also join the hug. Soon enough the hug broke apart, but Lance refused to let go of Keith, who just continued to run his hand through Lance’s hair, “We’re going to the lounge,” Keith stated, not waiting for a response as he guided Lance through the hallways and on the sofa.

Every few hours one of the group would come and check on the pair, maybe even sit with them for a bit before leaving, Keith and Shiro muttering quietly between themselves about Lance who was fast asleep curled up on Keith. Shiro picked up Lance, who squirmed slightly before going still once more, “He’s been asleep all day?” Shiro asked, as he and Keith made their way to the bedrooms.

Keith shook his head, “Occasionally he would wake, but all he would do is stare of into space, he didn’t realise when someone joined us or when they left, he didn’t even realise when I tried speaking to him,” Keith looked troubled as he said this, “I wish I knew how to help.”

“You are helping,” Shiro responded easily, “By being there for him, this is something that cannot be easily fixed,” Shiro hesitated, “He saw all of us die, and then he wakes up to find out we’re all alive but he needs to fight another war, you’re just kids, all of you are. And you shouldn’t have to do this,” Shiro admitted, “That’s why we stay together, and we help in whatever way we can.”

Keith motioned from Shiro to come into his room, moving the quilt to the bottom of the bed, gesturing to put Lance down in his bed, “It’s probably best he doesn’t wake up alone,” Keith reasoned quietly, Shiro nodded in agreement as he put Lance down, kissing his forehead, doing the same to Keith when he was in bed, ignoring the grimace Keith’s face made at the kiss.
“Sleep well,” Shiro said as Lance and Keith curled up into one another. Turning to go to his room Shiro was greeted with Pidge and Hunk, “You guys okay? I know today was tough.”

“Can we stay with you tonight?” Pidge asked quietly, “I don’t want to be alone,”

Shiro’s eyes softened at the two teens in front of him, “Of course. Whenever you need to, you are both welcome to join me.” He replied, guiding the two to his room where they got under the covers snuggling into each other, giving each other the comfort they didn’t know they needed.

Chapter Text

Lance turned onto his stomach, wrapping his arm around the thing next to him bringing it closer to him before falling back to sleep. Keith on the other hand struggled to breath, scared that he would wake Lance up if he did so too loudly, blushing as he looked at the arm that was wrapped around his torso, feeling Lance wrap their feet together made him exhale slowly. Looking at Lance he couldn’t help but notice how peaceful Lance looked now compared to at breakfast yesterday.

Running his hand through Lance’s hair watching as he relaxed even further letting out a hum as he leant his forehead on Keith’s arm which was currently trapped to his side. Keith smiled, only to glare at the sound of a snap from the vent, moving his hand from Lance’s hair to under his pillow where his knife was, he threw the knife at the vent, earning a familiar scream that was muffled by their hand, “Pidge what are you doing?” Keith asked.

“Hunk wanted me to grab the two of you for breakfast,” Pidge replied

“And you couldn’t use the door?”

“I couldn’t get any adorable pictures if I use the door,” Pidge admitted as they opened the vent and crawled out, Lance made an unhappy groan at the noise, opening his eyes at the two trouble makers, “Morning sleepy head,”

“It better not be early,” Lance muttered darkly which Keith heard, blushing as Lance got up slightly stretching over the other to grab the phone which was on the side, unknown to the two Pidge was filming. “Quiznak, how did I sleep so late?” Lance said, turning the phone off.

“Shiro ordered a rest day,” Keith replied, watching Lance take in the room from under him. Lance’s sleepy mind didn’t really notice anything wrong with being in Keith’s room. With that Pidge repeated why she was here before leaving, “Are you okay?”

Lance made a noncommittal hum, “I don’t know,” Lance replied honestly, as he went to get up, falling a little at the tangled legs, “Hello,” Lance turned to red from where he caught himself, looking Keith in his eyes.

“Hi,” Keith gulped, feeling where their noses brushed slightly, before Lance pushed himself up, untangling his legs this time before getting up, apologising, “Ya’know that if you ever have a nightmare, my doors always open.” Keith said awkwardly, looking away as Lance stretched showing his stomach.

“Really?” Lance turned looking slightly shocked as if not expecting the offer from this Keith, earning a nod from a red Keith, “Thanks, dear.” Lance said, “Ready for breakfast?”

After getting an affirmative from Keith, the pair moved their way back to the kitchen, Keith tapping Lance’s hand when they went to pick at the bandages on his hands, the other looking guilty every time. They didn’t say anything to one another but it wasn’t awkward it was pleasant, at least that’s what Keith thought. The group looked up from their places on the table as the door opened.

Hunk got out of his seat and hugged Lance, who snuggled into his chest returning the hug tightly. “I’m okay,” Lance whispered, almost sounding as if he was trying to convince himself. Hunk pulled back, only to lift Lance into his arms and carry him the short distance from the door, through the kitchen and to his chair, Lance didn’t know whether to protest or laugh, instead crossed his arms giving a little huff, which Hunk ignored when he saw Lance’s smile.

“Feeling better?” Shiro asked as Lance was handed a plate of goo.

Pidge looked scandalised, “I thought we weren’t meant to mention it!” She said loudly,

“Pidge, it’s fine,” Lance said putting his arms up in surrender which was the pose Shiro was in, taking a moment to think about how he currently felt, trying to find the right words, knowing ‘I don’t know’ wouldn’t be accepted by Shiro like it was Keith, who understood not being able to tell what he was feeling and instead say ‘I don’t know’, “Better? Yes. But don’t ask me how I’m feeling because I don’t know.” Lance responded.

Shiro nodded as if he was expecting the response, Allura clapped, “Brilliant because I’m going to need your help,” Allura stated, pulling Lance up from his seat, shoving his plate into his hands before guiding him to the door, much to the paladins displeasure.

“How come he doesn’t have to eat at the table!” Pidge yelled, looking at Shiro.

“I’d prefer it if he rested a little more,” Hunk called as he followed the Princess, dropping his own plate on the kitchen side

Shiro sighed, shaking his head, “We eat at the table Pidge, no arguments, I’ll be reminding the princess later, now eat,” He said gesturing to Keith’s and Pidge’s plates which still had goo on them.

Lance held onto his plate with one hand as Allura pulled him towards the bridge with the other, when turning his head Hunk could be seen catching up to the pair, looking displeased. Gripping onto his plate tightly as to not drop it as Coran hugged Lance when he entered into the bridge, “Whoa okay, nice to see you to,” Lance said, taking his hand back from Allura to wrap around Coran.

The sound of a snap went off making the two Alteans and Lance turn to the door, where Hunk was guilty holding up a phone looking sheepish, “So what do you need from me Princess?” Lance asked as Coran peeled himself off the younger boy, making Allura once again look excited.

“Nothing, because you should be resting,” Hunk argued, nudging Lance as he looked sternly at Allura who paused at the words, looking between the two paladins.

“Ignore him, he’s being a mother hen. But before I agree to do anything,” Lance started, patting Hunk’s arm, “What is that I would be doing?” He compromised at Hunk’s mock hurt look.

“The Balmeran rejuvenation ceremony” Coran piped up before Allura could, making her pout and the two paladins laugh.

“Okay, but why me?” Lance asked, moving closer towards where Coran’s console sat.

“Because you were healing the Balmera when on your mission,” Allura responded in her tone making it seem like the answer was obvious. Hunk just about heard Lance muttering to himself about Pidge being a little snitch.

"I may have healed it then, but I had no idea how to do it again, let alone on purpose, or if it will even work again," Lance rambled, just loud enough for the others to hear, "But if the first time was accidental then, maybe the second time would be too?" Lance questioned to himself, looking at the console, showing that while Lance had healed the Balmera it wasn't significant enough to last and the planet was deteriorating once more.

"My boy, sometimes thinking about something makes the thing too complicated, just breath, and think it through logically." Coran butted in, "But first finish your breakfast," Lance held the plate with two hands as Coran lightly pushed him towards his seat, Hunk who followed to the chair nodded in agreement, Allura looking sheepishly at the three. While Lance ate, the others could almost see the cogs turning in the young mans head, who as he ate squinted into the distance, bit his lip, shaking his head every so often.

"I'll give it a go," Lance relented, setting the plate on the side next to him, "I have no idea how I managed to do it, so if we see if I can first, maybe we can amplify it with the Lions."

"What about the Castle crystal? Wouldn't that work better than the Lions?" Allura asked looking fascinated

"Theoretically, yes. It would be better. However, practically, no, see I'm connected more to the Lions, then I am to the castle," Lance explained, waving his arms slightly to emphasize his point, "Not to mention, you'll need to crystal," Lance stated pointing to Allura, "I can't do it by myself, even with the Lions help. I mean, I'm not an Altean!" Lance snorted at the end, missing Hunk's wince at the proclamation.

"So, how are we doing this?" Hunk questioned.

Allura brought up a 3D model of the ship and the Balmera, "We'll land the ship, then Lance, Coran and myself, as well as anyone who wants to watch, will go down to the planet and perform the rejuvenation ceremony."

"And you're okay to do this?" Hunk asked worriedly, turning to look at his best friend, "I mean mentally before you can argue."

Lance closed his mouth at the ending of Hunk's sentence, turning away from the three people looking at him instead focusing on Coran's control panel, tapping his fingers on the edge repeatedly, "I'm fine," Lance replied tensely, "It was a nightmare, nothing life threatening."

"Lance, you were catatonic the entire day." Hunk reasoned, "No one expects you to be fine."

"But I am!" Lance said loudly, the dull ache in his hand echoing the bang from the table, turning to look at the others in the room, "So can you stop treating me like I'm made of glass!" Lance snapped, "I'm fine, the war isn't going to pause because I don't have my shit together."

"I- Lance, I didn't mean it like that," Hunk stuttered, "I'm just worried."

"I know, I know," Lance sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped, I'm sorry. I'm gonna go put my plate in the kitchen, and we can meet on the ground." Lance decided, speaking as he moved, making his escape before anyone could say anything.

"I've never seen him act this way," Hunk said downtrodden, looking at the two Alteans who looked between the door and Hunk in worry, "I don't know what to do."

Coran moved forward, grabbing onto Hunk's hands pulling them apart from where they are pulling at opposing fingers, "It is difficult. It's harder to handle then wicklesplit on ice. But give him time, no one knows what he went through and he might still be coming to terms with everything, just give him time." Coran consoled, as Allura placed a hand on Hunk's shoulder.

"My father. he changed when Zarkon declared war on Altea. He thought he had the whole universe on his shoulder's and that he had to bear it alone," Allura explained, "It wasn't until Coran and I forcibly stepped in, where he went to rely on us. I'm not saying that it's the same, but Lance is probably feeling something similar. It wasn't his fault, no one's fault but the Galra's," Allura added bitterly before continuing, "But he lost the war, and now he's doing it all again, I bet he's feeling a lot of pressure and fear from that alone, be there for him but don't treat him like glass." Allura advised, squeezing Hunk's shoulder before returning to her post, smiling with a nod when Hunk expressed his gratitude. 

Chapter Text

Dropping his plate into the sink, Lance sighed, overthinking what he had said to Hunk, 'I shouldn't of snapped, he's just worried. Not that he should be worried,' Lance thought as he tapped the surface on the side, 'I'm a soldier for Altea's sake, I know how to handle myself, and now he's just looking at me as if one wrong word will cause me to break. He's walking on eggshells on me, does he not see that I'm fine, does he not see that I can handle myself?'

The methodical, yet harsh scrubbing was interrupted by someone grabbing his wrist, "And what did the poor plate do to you?" Shiro asked with a smile, before crossing his arms leaning against the side, "What did Allura want?"

Lance sighed, turning to put his plate on the drying rack, "The rejuvenation ceremony, that's what she wanted," came the snipped reply, Lance watched as Shiro watched him with an eyebrow raised, "the rejuvenation ceremony will use quintessence to heal the heal." Lance explained further.

"And?"

"And what?" Lance asked, looking at Shiro suspiciously.

"What did the plate do to you?" Shiro asked, standing straight, arms still crossed, Lance sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose, looking years older than he should be, "Are you okay?" Shiro watched as the tired exasperation turned into annoyance as Lance dropped his hand away from his nose and into a fist at his side.

"I'm fine," Lance replied curtly, inwardly biting his tongue as to not snap at Shiro, "If you'll excuse me, I need to get to Red," Lance said brushing past Shiro, "I mean Blue," Lance breathed out just loud enough for Shiro to hear before the door shut.

Lance quickly made his move towards Blue's hanger, hoping that he wouldn't bash into anyone else, but luck was never on his side, "Hey Lance," came the voice from the newly opened door, Lance wanted to carry on and ignore them but couldn't bring himself to and instead nodded in their direction.

"What's up?"

"I was talking to Hunk a few minutes ago," Pidge started, spotting but ignoring that way he tensed at that, "I wanted to know more about the rejuvenation ceremony,"

"Oh," Lance blanked on what to say, clearly expecting another worry wart, "Yeah, course I can, but we'll need to walk and talk," Lance replied and started to walk in the direction of the hanger's again, just this time at a more relaxed pace, "So what did you want to know about it?"

"Well to start with, What is it? and how does it work?"

"Going straight for it are ya? Well okay, the rejuvenation ceremony is typically performed when one is taking a crystal from the balmera, as producing and then technically losing a crystal takes a lot of energy, depending on the size of the crystal, the person taking the crystal would give up some of their quintessence to the Balmera in return for the crystal. It works like equivalent exchange from the anime Full Metal." Lance explained using some hand signals to emphasize his point, Pidge nodded along writing notes as quickly as she could, barely dodging the corner when they turned.

"Can anyone do this ceremony? Or is it just certain Aliens like Alteans? How long does the ceremony take and why did the Galra never do this ceremony? Pidge rambled, only pausing when Lance let out a snort.

"I guess anyone can do the ceremony obviously they need to have some sort of connection to quintessence, and you don't have to be Altean, I mean I was doing the ceremony unintentionally," Lance said with a smile, "But Alteans do have an affinity to quintessence, The length of the ceremony also depends on the size of the crystal as well as the amount of quintessence you have and any training you have had. What we're doing is healing a planet, so it can take a while, not to mention me and Allura haven't had any formal training." Lance explained as he walked up the ramp of the Blue #Lion.

"Some Galra do, The Blades do, but the empire? As far as I'm aware they don't care, they run the Balmera dry and leave the people on a crumbling planet." Lance replied solemnly, watching as Pidge nodded finishing her sentence, "Did you want to come with?" Lance said, changing the subject.

"If that's okay."

"Course it is," Lance replied, pushing the controls forward, pushing the Lion forward and speeding out into space, "Why haven't you asked me if I'm okay?" Lance wondered aloud.

"Did you want me to?" Pidge questioned, watching as Lance shake his head," After the Kerberos crew was declared dead, pretty much everyone would ask me if I was okay. It only caused me to seclude myself from everyone." Pidge explained, "I was guessing you didn't want that."

"Thank you," Lance sincerely said.

"It is annoying, but it's what most people do when someone they care about is hurting."

"I get that, but it isn't necessary annoyance I feel when asked," Lance started ignoring Pidge's mutter of 'ew feelings', "It makes me feel pissed and weak and some other emotion I don't know the name of," Lance explained clutching the controls till his knuckles went white at the thought.

"No one thinks that." Pidge whispered, resting her hand on his shoulder, feeling him take a breath and relax slightly, "we're just worried, and you know Hunk has always been a worry wart, and Shiro, he knows better than anyone what you're feeling, but he doesn't know you the way you know him, it's a learning curve for him. Keith well he socially inept on his worse days and introverted on his best. As for me, I worry, you've been through war and you're still going through it, and I don't know how to act around you but I don't think you're weak." Pidge explained watching as Lance turned away slightly, his shoulder's tensing slightly.

"Let's go heal this planet," Lance muttered in response as they landed both ignoring the slight redness and sniffles.

"Right." With that the two left their heartfelt conversation in the cockpit, instead focusing on the mission to come. The pair ignored the looks they received from the others, as Allura started to explained what they would be doing.

"I asked Keith to bring Red to the surface as well, due to your connection with her," Allura explained turning to Lance, "I figured two Lions and a castle should be enough energy to join to ours to heal the planet,"

"Probably," Lance shrugged, walking to Red, ignoring the others who watched the transaction. Lance placed his hand on Red's snout, connecting with her quintessence once more, before laying his forehead against her cool metal, even as her fire filled his body, "I see you Red," Lance whispered, before turning around to see that the others weren't just idly watching but instead staring, flushing red, Lance turned away from the group to stand exactly in the middle of the Lions. "Let's get this over with," Lance said louder. ignoring the Blue light that sprung up around him.

The Voltron group moved to one side, leaving Lance between the Lions and Allura under the Castle, various Balmeran citizens bowing around the pair. Lance and Allura briefly locked eyes with each other, before falling to their instincts. Lance gathered all his quintessence into his chest, connecting to both Blue and Red at the same time for the first time ever, the contrasting temperatures burned at Lance's chest, the overload of quintessence pushing Lance to his knees, as a pained groan escaped. Redirecting the quintessence from his chest into the floor, relieved the pressure, Lance looked up to find himself on the astral plane.

The purple colour swirled around him, occasionally turning back into the separate colours of Blue and Red before reconnecting. Movement to the side, caused Lance to twist his head violently in that direction only to see the Red Lion, turning to the other direction, Lance watched as the Blue Lion manifested, "Look at you, always stronger than any of us,"

Lance turned his head towards the voice, "I didn't know he could do this," came a second voice, Lance's eyes widened with shock, tears gathering in his eyes, breath halting not wanting to disrupt what was clearly a dream.

"It's not a dream love." Said a deeper voice.

"You look like you saw a ghost, sharpshooter," followed a feminine voice,

"Keith? Allura?"

Chapter Text

The Voltron gang didn't know who to watch, the alien, doing something mystical or the human who shouldn't be able to do the ceremony. The Blue that surrounded Allura and Lance grew when they locked eyes, Allura's eyes dropping to the marks in confusion before following the supposed human in closing her eyes. focusing on her energy connecting it to the mechanical wiz of the crystal in the castle, directing it to the ground before looking up to Lance only to see the others rush towards Lance as he pitched forward a pained groan being able to be heard from where she knelt.

Worry gnawed at her insides, wishing she could check on him but knowing that he would want her to continue. The paladins had no conflicting emotions and rushed towards their friend, ready to drag him away from the balmera. "Don't touch him!" Came the surprisingly calm voice of Coran.

"And why the hell not?" Keith shouted back, marching towards the advisor, "I thought this was meant to be safe, that's the only reason why I brought red to be used!" The others hovered but didn't touch the blue paladin while twisting to look at the interaction between Keith and Coran while also keeping an eye on Lance.

"Waking him up could kill him," Coran replied, watching as Shiro grabbed the back of Keith's jacket

"How come Lance seems catatonic and in pain, while Allura looks somewhat fine?" Pidge asked, watching as a tear ran down Lance's face, not realising that Lance was no longer in pain and instead experiencing something completely different.

"I can't say for certain." Coran responded sheepishly, straightening out his shirt

"But you have an idea right? Because he doesn't look alright to me!" Hunk fretted, "I knew I shouldn't of let him do this!"

"Hunk, this was Lance's choice, he'll be fine." Shiro intervened.

"Indeed number 1, The fact that he isn't withering in pain and screaming is a big indicator that  he'll be fine." Coran piped up, ignoring Pidge's and Hunk's incredulous shouts of the symptoms, "the most likely case is that this is the first time his body has taken on this much quintessence at once," Coran explained.

The glow from the ground finally surrounded the surrounding area, going past the two lions as well as the Castle, reaching the galra machinery that stood a way away. "Lance?" Pidge asked, reaching out but still heading Coran's warning of not touching him, the others looked at Lance watching as he stared straight forward unblinking and golden. Pidge waved her hand in front of his face, they were greeted with no movement.

"What's happening to him?" Keith demanded, turning back to Coran, gesturing to Lance.

"His eyes were like that on the bridge, and and he said it was because of the lions, right?" Hunk fumbled, frantically looking towards Lance and Coran. They watched as Lance unsteadily got to his feet, looking more like a zombie than a living human.
_____________________________________________________________________

Lance wiped the tears away from his eyes looking at the pair in front of him, "How?" he breathed out.

"The same way you met the paladins of old," Allura said gently, moving towards Lance kneeling down in front of him.

Lance paused, staring at Allura like she was insane "But aren't you technically alive, I thought only dead people stayed in the astral plane?"

"Time is a weird thing, alternate realities more so," Keith started walking to stand next to Allura, looking down at his lover, ignoring Allura's mutter of 'we should know', "We died" Keith stated bluntly, glaring at Allura when she smacked his leg.

"As crudely as Keith put it, we did pass and doing so our quintessence came here, to the astral plane. When I sent you back in time, I got some things..." Allura paused looking hesitant, "Wrong." Ignoring Keith's snort, Allura continued, "Some other things from the future that weren't mean to come here did."

"Such as the lions and the castle," Keith gestured to the surrounding area, they watched as Lance nodded and bit his lip.

"And Zarkon," Lance sighed as he muttered the two words.

"What?!" The pair asked at once.

"When the castle got invaded, Sendak contacted Zarkon and he seemed more interested in me than Shiro," Lance explained.

"Shit"

"And he knew that I was sending you back in time," Allura asked, already knowing the answer but wishing she didn't.

"He might not," Lance replied optimistically, as he stood up, "All he knows is that you intended only to send me, but you didn't, so he probably doesn't even know if you succeeded in bringing me back. It doesn't matter either way, I don't plan to lose this war."

They stand in comfortable silence before Keith slyly asked about the "newer" him, leading to Lance ranting about how everyone is so different and how they were treating him differently, Allura and Keith backed up some areas while dismissing others and explaining others. Over all Lance was happy to have been given this opportunity. "The planet is nearly healed," Allura stated looking off into the distance as if she could see herself healing the balmera.

"Will I see you again?" Lance asked looking back and forth between the two.

"Probably not," Keith replied softly taking Lance's hand, "Not until you die anyway."

"The only reason you saw us this time was because you're body didn't know what to do with the quintessence, it does now." Allura explained wrapping her arms around Lance, "We will always be here for you Lance, but do not get stuck in your past," Allura said before saying her farewells, waving as she disappeared, in a nicer fashion then previously Lance thought.

The couple stands in comfortable silence for a few minutes, before Lance initiated the hug, gripping on Keith so tightly that Keith thought he might die a second time, "I see you and I will always be with you, I love you, my Lancelot. Keith lovingly said, kissing Lance's forehead, breaking out of the hug, smiling sadly, "Forge a new path and don't forget about the Robeast." With that Keith disappeared, leaving Lance alone in the astral plane for a few moments.

The blue swirls disappeared, getting rid of the purple, leaving only the red and soon the red fade from view leaving Lance in the dark. He knew he had to leave but wished he didn't have to. He wiped away the last of his tears as he closed his eyes.
_____________________________________________________________________

The blue glow shined brightly as the ritual was completed, the group watched as Lance's eyes returned to normal. The pair pitched forward, fortunately for them into the arms of their companions. Both breathing heavily, "Oh I feel like being sick," Lance muttered, watching blearily as Pidge took a step back.

"Don't be sick."

"Are you okay?"

"What happened? Your eyes went golden again!"

"Guys give him room to breath." Lance watched tiredly as Shiro stepped in front of him, blocking his view of Allura, Coran and the freshly healed planet, "How are you feeling bud?"

"Like I just swam from America to England," Lance muttered, his head dipping forward before shooting back up, "Keith told me what I forgot!" Lance said louder than normal, ignoring the mutters of confusion from the garrison pair as well as Keith's' statement of 'I did nothing of the sort' "The thing I forgot," Lance giggled a little leaning a little more on Hunk.

"What was is Lance?" Shiro asked patiently, "what did Keith remind you?" Shiro shot a look at the others who shrugged in response.

"He loooves me~~" Lance replied, easily.

"And that made you worry about the mission?" Shiro asked confused, watching as Keith turned bright red and Pidge snicker.

"No no. That wasn't it, What was it?" Lance muttered to himself, the distant rumbled distracted Lance as he turned his head to look past Shiro and up to the fire covered object heading straight for them, the tiredness seemingly vanished, "Robeast," Lance looked at Shiro, panic flooding his eyes, "I forgot the Robeast and it's heading straight for us." Lance said in a straight voice, pointing a shaky finger a the metal object.

The others turned to look at the object in horror, they were two people down, one who offered support in the castle and the other a paladin. Shiro's shoulders dropped in resignation, trying to fit a plan together quickly, turning to look at Allura who was steady on her feet, "I can fight." Allura stated determinedly, despite the protests from Coran, Shiro nodded. Before turning back to Lance who was still wobbling on his feet.

"Me to." Lance replied, ignoring the way the others looked at him with 'are you insane' expressions.

"No, you can't" Shiro stated bluntly, "You can't even stand, you're sluggish and uncoordinated, you keep thinking like a soldier. In my position Lance what would you do?"

"I- uh, I, I would -"

"See you can't even think clearly. Keith," Keith looked at Shiro, standing straighter, "you'll drive the red lion and take Lance and Blue back to the castle. Pidge, Hunk and I will go with Allura and Coran to get to the Lions, try and get any information about the Robeast from Lance and meet us on the field. Understood?"

"Ten-four!" Shouted the three cadets, shooting their hand up to salute before moving into position.

"Fine, good luck." Lance relented, leaning on Keith as they moved to the Red Lion.

'We're going to need it.' Shiro thought as the hover lift closed.

Chapter Text

"Alright, Lance I need you to tell me everything you remember from your fight against this Robeast," Keith demanded as he picked up Blue from within the Red Lion, "Lance?"

"I'm thinking," Lance hissed out in return, ignoring how Keith muttered 'That's new', "The Robeast's name is Drazil, and it's made using alchemy and an alien lizard." Lance started, rubbing his eyes, sighing.

"It has a name?" Came Pidge's voice over the comm

"Yeah, it made it easier to distinguish between them," Lance replied, before going quiet, connecting with Blue in order to get into the files he knows he has saved, "Drazil is a long ranged fighter, it's covered in eyes and wicked fast,"

"These don't sound like good things, why couldn't the Robeast be filled with space candy, or empty! Empty works!" Hunk rambled, sounding panicked.

"It's not a piñata Hunk," Lance replied dryly, "The eyes all fire a laser so it can hit multiple people at once, but can also converge these lasers together to form one big laser that is stronger than Voltron's shield, at least at the power level we are now," Lance explained moving to leave Red, waving Keith off as he moved to help Lance, "Get back out there, I'll stay on the comms," Lance muttered, before quickly making his way towards the Bridge.

"Weaknesses, Lance. How did you win?"

"We didn't." Lance stated, moving to his seat as the Castle took off, leaving the Lions closer to the ground while they provided air support

"What?!" Came the collected shout, even Allura and Coran seemed concerned.

"Allura performed the ceremony while we fought," Lance continued ignoring the worried mutters coming from his teammates, "The Balmera then covered Drazil in a giant crystal, but in the future like a year later we fought him again."

"Did you win then?"

"Yeah, we did, Keith, have some faith."

"Great, how?" Keith replied quickly, Lance gave a quick reply of 'give me a minute' before connecting with Blue once more, seeing through his lion's eyes as he joined the fight, providing long-rang support as he combed through all of the mission reports labelled 'Robeast'

"Lance I told you to stay in the Castle! You are in no condition to fight!" Shiro shouted, when he turned to face the Lion who just saved him from a blast, before refocusing back on the fight.

"I am in the Castle!" Lance replied indignantly, "Even ask Coran!"

"I can confirm Number 1, Lance is sat with us in the Castle," Coran backed up before Shiro had a chance to ask.

"Then how?" Lance wanted to laugh at the groan that came over the comm, as Shiro tried to figure out the enigma that was the Lions.

"Magic," Lance snorted, "But in all seriousness I just have a strong bond with Blue, I can do this with Red as well, but obviously don't need to because Keith is there piloting." Lance rambled, "Ah Ha! Found it!" The sounds of fighting grew, as did the shaking as the Castle repeatedly got hit by the stay lasers from the Robeast, the others went silent aside from the occasional groan of pain as Lance read through the report, "Fuck...." Lance moaned belatedly.

"What's wrong Lance?"

"T- That doesn't sound good."

"Pidge was the main component in Drazil's defeat>" Lance replied with a hefty sigh, closing out of the files and focusing more on the battle.

"And that's a problem how?" Keith asked

"Yeah, I'm right here!" Pidge added on.

"The problem is Pidge hasn't developed the skill or bonded enough with Green to be able to do what is needed to defeat Drazil," Lance stated, sounding older than he looked. The collective 'Oh' made Lance want to face palm.

"hat if we formed Voltron? Would that work?" Keith asked.

"We should give it go," Shiro replied at the same time as Lance said 'no'.

"What I want to know is where does Zarkon get these beasts from? And how do they keep finding us?" Allura piped up as she moved the Castle, narrowly dodging a rogue laser

"Princess, the particle barrier won't sustain much longer."

"Keith, try to draw its fire! I'm coming in from above!" Shiro ordered.

"Roger!" Keith replied as he used the Red Lion's heat ray to draw the Robeast's attention while Shiro sneaks in from behind with the Black Lion, prepared to fire its mouth cannon. Drazil rotates its eye cannon around and  tries to blast the Black Lion. Shiro pulls away at the last second to avoid being hit.

"What do we do? Fighting this thing is like fighting an entire fleet at once!" Pidge asked as she dodged multiple lasers at once

"I think we've got to aim for those laser eyes and take them out." Keith replied, steadily ignoring how Lance was muttering to himself. The Castle of Lions fires lasers at Drazil; the Robeast retaliates with an onslaught of laser fire against the Castle ship's particle barrier.

"We've lost the spectral generator! Going to reserve! There's a fire in VIN bay three! Suppressors on! Suppressors out! Princess, the ship is being torn apart!" Coran yelled urgently

"We're taking heavy fire up here! We're in trouble!" Allura called over the comms, tone filled with worry.

"Princess, pull back! Get out of its range, now!" Shiro ordered, watching as the Blue Lion left the battle, "Lance what are you planning?"

"He's gone, Number 3, has gone!" Coran replied, trying to get the systems back online.

"Lance report!" Lance ignored the calls for him to report in, only hearing and feeling how the fight was dragging everyone down.

"Oi, Lancelot answer us!" Pidge shouted, dodging more lasers now that the Robeast had one less target. Lance bit his tongue, to stop himself from answering, he knows what he's about to do was reckless, he knows that Shiro will be disappointed and Pidge and Hunk will be worried. But he doesn't care, not when his family was getting attacked. Lance ran through all the scenario's of how to beat this Robeast without Pidge's vine power, he knows Blue's ice won't work, but he has to try.

Lance smiled at the warm feeling that came from Blue's bond, as she realised what he planned to do. "I have to do this," Lance muttered to himself, not realising that while his helmet comm was off, Blue's comm was on. "I'm not where I'm meant to be, this is one big unknown, this could kill me, I might never see my blood family again, and that's okay, I just need one shot." Lance rambled to himself, blanking out the others even though they went silent. Once he got closer to the fight with the Lions, Lance started a report.

"We can't beat this Robeast, not without Pidge's power from Green, but we can trap it." Lance stated, sounding more confident than he felt, "Keith, you and Red can use fire now right?"

"Yeah, why?" Keith asked hesitantly, tone filled with suspicion,

"Great, once the Robeast is covered, I'm gonna need you to fry me."

"Wait hold on!" Shiro tried to intervene

"That could kill you!" Hunk shouted

"Okay." Keith whispered, sounding equally as nervous as Lance felt.

"okay? You can't be seriously considering this!" Pidge shouted. Lance and Keith ignored the protests that came from the others, including the objections both Allura and Coran voiced.

"Shiro go to the left, Hunk to the right, Pidge you need to be opposite me. Keith with me," Lance ordered, the others reluctantly following the orders, sufficiently distracting the Robeast, as Lance bonded with Blue as closely as possible, to the point it felt like Allura, his Allura was with him, guiding and helping.

The group watched as an ice blast left the Lion hitting directly into the Robeast's chest, Drazil went to retaliate, only to get distracted by the lions still flying around, the ice seemingly staying still went straight through Drazil's armour freezing the Robeast from the inside out, before coating the rest of the Robeast in ice. The paladins paused, as the Robeast froze in place, and then watched as the beast slowly got covered by a layer of crystal.

Lance closed his eyes with a sigh, feeling as he grew weaker, the cold biting at his limbs, frost clinging to his hair and armour, as if glued on, his hands going slack on the controls, leading to the Blue lion falling towards the ground. It was then, that a fire rushed over the Lion, melting the frost and heating up the cockpit to even more uncomfortable temperatures, before that to disappeared.

"I-- If, someone c-c-could take me to my room, t-that would be great-t." Lance said as his teeth chattered, the lingering cold not vanishing due to the quintessence exhaustion. Lance quickly assured the others, that while he was still slightly cold, he would be fine, before closing his eyes and slipping into a deep sleep. Coran then assured that the others that Lance was indeed fine and has just fell asleep.

'What am I gonna do with you, Lance?' Shiro thought to himself, as the others and himself sighed in relief, now that the threat was neutralised and their teammate was confirmed to be okay.

Chapter Text

When Lance awoke he noticed he was buried under a couple of thick blankets as well as Shiro sat on a chair reading. Lance closed his eyes again, not quite ready in getting up and moving and listening to everyone worry about him. "That was a very reckless move." Shiro said, turning the page of his book glancing at where Lance had froze. Lance opened his eyes, looking at the book, realizing it was one from his bedside table.

"You better not have lost my page," Lance muttered with a sigh, 'of course he knew I was awake' Lance thought to himself, as he sat up, wrestling with one of the blankets before wrapping it around his shoulders, looking at Shiro who watched the movement with a critical eye.

"You page is fine," Shiro stated, flipping the box forward where it then opened to show a improvised bookmark, "but that has nothing to do with what I said,"

Lance stayed quiet, waiting for Shiro to continue, "What would you of done if Keith wasn't there? Or if he couldn't use fire? What if instead of freezing to death, you got burned alive?" Shiro ranted closing the book and putting it to one side, "You said that you would listen to me. You said that you would stop being reckless."

"I had a plan." Lance whispered.

"Then talk me through it." Shiro snapped frustrated.

"What?"

"What was you're plan?"

"It was a mix of the two times we encountered Drazil," Lance started looking directly at Shiro, as if giving a mission report, "The first, he couldn't move because of the crystal, the second he was destroyed because Pidge destroyed him inside out with their vines. This time, I tried to destroy it from inside out with my ice and stop them from moving because it used it on the outside as well."

"And you needed Keith to fire his fire at you, why?"

"The only way to get a thick, cold ice was to drop Blue's internal temperature," Lance bit out, remembering how the cold seeped into his bones, making him shiver, "Blue would have been able to warm up naturally, but I would have died if I did that,"

Shiro rubbed his fingers across his scar, eyes closed as he sighed, "and you didn't say this because you knew I would stop you." Shiro stated, looking into Lance's eyes, who nodded. "Fine,"

"Fine?"

"Fine," Shiro shrugged, "If you want to risk you're life. Go for it," Shiro stated, gesturing to the door, "Go get yourself killed, but know that by doing so you leave the rest of us to the same fate." Lance stared at Shiro in shock, tears springing up into his eyes as he looks away from the other Paladin, biting his lip. Shiro's eyes soften at that, taking a breath, "You said you were fighting to get us home, but you can't do that if you're dead."

"I'm sorry," Lance muttered, wrapping himself up tighter, feeling his chest restrict itself as lump formed in his throat.

"No, I'm sorry, I crossed a line there," Shiro responded, standing up. Lance looked up to him, as Shiro frowned down at him, "I shouldn't of said that, no one wants to see you get killed." Shiro said ruffling Lance's hair, pulling away when Lance tensed, "Food?" Shiro asked awkwardly, as a rested his arms over his chest crossing them over each other. Lance nodded, moving to get up, leaving the blanket around his shoulders before the pair awkwardly made their way to the kitchen.

The pair was greeted with five heads swivelling in their direction, "You are so fucking stupid." Keith said bluntly, placing a hand on Lance's shoulder, ignoring the raised eyebrows from Shiro and the snorts from the garrison trio, "Glad you're okay." with that Keith moved back to where he was previously, scooping the green goo from the bucket.

"Why aren't ya using the machine?" Lance asked innocently, tilting his head in confusion, eyes narrowing when he noticed Hunk and Pidge shiver.

"There were multiple issues caused by Galran crystal." Allura answered, evading the main question while still giving an answer.

"Right, the malfunction," Lance breathed out, "Training bot gone rogue," Lance said pointing at Keith, "Food goo machine and zero G," the finger pointed at Hunk and Pidge before moving to Coran, "cryo pods freezing themselves randomly and the A.I going bad," Lance finished pointing at Allura, ignoring the shocked expressions, "Why in the hell wasn't I woken up?"

"Keith tried, if you weren't still visibly breathing, he would have thought you had died given how still and unresponsive you were!" Pidge snapped, worry in here voice only just over taking the anger.

"Sometimes, I forget that you know what is going to happen," Hunk muttered placing a plate in front of Shiro and Lance's seat, gesturing for the pair to sit and eat with the rest of them.

"What did you experience last time, my boy?" Coran asked, with that everyone was looking at Lance more focused on the story than eating.

"Well first it was the cryo pods, I got frozen and it wasn't until you came to clean it, that I was saved."

"Are you sure you didn't accidentally active that function, you need not be embarrassed it happens to everyone." Coran asked, twirling his moustache, watching as the boy went red at the snickers from the other paladins.

"I didn't do anything!" Lance shouted in defence, sparking some chuckles, "Anyway, then Alfor tricked me into thinking Coran was trapped in the airlock. I got trapped and the airlock started to count down." The others stopped laughing at that, even with how casually Lance said it, "thankfully, Keith and the gladiator helped, in which the last thing is trying to stop Allura from driving the castle into a sun." Lance finished, shoving a spoonful of goo into his mouth, before taking in the shocked expressions and slowly taking the spoon out of his mouth. "What?"

"How many times have you nearly died?" Shiro asks, breaking the silence, only to regret that question once Lance finished counting his fingers the first time. "You know what? Don't answer that." Shiro sighed watching as Lance sheepishly lowered his hands, the others also nodded, having watched the same thing.

"Anywho..." Lance sang, breaking the silence, "How goes breaking into Sendak's memories?" Lance asked Pidge, watching as a grin breaks out on their face.

The group watched as Pidge opened her laptop bringing up a string of symbols that only the Alteans, Lance and Pidge understand, "We were only able to salvage bits and pieces."

"It's better than nothing," Lance assured, squeezing Pidge's shoulder with a smile.

"We need something to work with. Right now, we don't even have a decent map of the empire." Keith butted in grumpily, arms crossed.

Lance snorted, looking over at Keith, "Who needs a map? After 10,000 years of conquering, I could probably fire my Bayard at like any random point in space and hit a Galra ship."

"If we could just find troop locations or supply routes, small targets we could hit-and-run, then we could start to free planets one by one." Shiro stated, ignoring the two bickering paladins and focusing on the green paladin. "Zarkon's been building his empire for 10,000 years. We're not going to tear it down overnight with five inexperienced pilots and one support ship. Hitting him where he lives would be a huge mistake."

Lance opened his mouth to retort to Shiro about how hypocritical that was before Pidge interrupted him, "Okay, I've cross-referenced Sendak's memories with the info I got from the downed ship back on Arus. Most of it was a garbled mess, but one thing kept repeating, something called a "Universal Station.""

"Universal Station? Like, the kind of station that controls the entire universe?" Hunk asked, pushing away his now empty plate.

"Well, we are translating it from Galra, so it could also be "Galactic Hub."

"ugh why did you have to get the same memories as last time?" Lance moaned with a frown, "The galactic hub sits between two planets. However, the gravitation between the two planets warps the electron emission spectrum enough to keep the planet off the deep space scanner." Lance explained.

"so you can only see it if you know where to look?" Pidge asked

"Yeah basically." Lance nodded a frown still one his face, "The result of this mission can change the war, maybe not completely but enough."

"How so?" Allura asked.

"Well in my timeline, you and Shiro infiltrate a ship that was about to depart to Zarkon's central ship," With the beginning out of the way, the others also joined in on the comber mood, "Shiro's hand sets of the alarms, the two of you try to escape. But," Lance paused for a split second, "Allura sacrificed herself to safe Shiro and was kidnapped." The uproar that followed made Lance almost regret saying anything. Almost, "Quiet!" Lance shouted, silencing everyone, "Allura was taken and we went straight to where Zarkon lives, with five inexperienced pilots and one support ship," Lance continued, looking right at Shiro only slightly mocking, which Shiro picked up on. "We almost didn't make it out, but we did, but in doing so we revealed the fact that Zarkon had a spy at central command."

"How do we fix this?" Shiro and Allura questioned at the same time.

"Simple, Shiro doesn't go on the ship, I will." once again everyone had something to say, but everyone seemed against it, "Think about it, if Shiro goes, then his hand will flag up, no matter who he is with," Lance said giving a look at Shiro and Pidge who wilt, "I go with Allura because, like Shiro, I know their patrol patterns," Lance stated, "I won't go in recklessly, we can make a plan." Lance stated, ending everyone's arguing.

Allura sighed, looking older than she is, "Fine," She said, ignoring the sputtering coming from Shiro and Hunk, "The only one way to find out what we're walking into is to go take a look, and form a plan" her tone of voice left no room for arguing, not that she stayed long enough for any to fight back. Lance smirked in triumph, sticking his tongue out at he stood up and left the room, breaking out into a run as Keith, Hunk and Pidge came charging after him. Lance vaguely heard Shiro and Coran converse as the dinning room door shut behind them, before he got too far and all he hear was the others chasing him, surprisingly a laugh bubbled out of his throat as he skidded around a corner, into the direction of the bridge, which he knows will be the next place the group talks.

Chapter Text

The laughter from Lance died down as he reached the bridge, skidding as he turned towards his seat, giggling to himself when the trio breached the door, Pidge and Hunk slipping, similarly to Lance, only to fall on their asses. Keith, being lucky managed to catch himself before he fell. "How are you so fast? You weren't this fast on Earth!" Hunk panted as he got onto his knees.

"I've been hitting the training deck at every opportunity," Lance explained, kicking his feet up onto his console, "I'm so much weaker now then before,"

"What are you on about? You're stronger than all of us!" Pidge huffed from they were sat cross-legged on the bridge.

"I'm really not, but even if that was the case, I'm still weak compared to future me. I have to get back to that level." Lance declared, trying to not to look too annoyed at the lack of his abilities, 'I know how to fight, and shit but my body can't keep up' Lance thought to himself.

"What training bot level did we get to?" Keith asked, being the only one not out of breath out of the trio.

Lance squinted off into the distance as he thought, "It depends, in the general one Pidge was level 49, Hunk was level 50, Shiro, surprisingly was only level 52. You and I got to level 57." Lance said, tapping his chin with his finger tip. "Our specialised ones though were different, like Pidge's was 56, Hunk's was 55, Shiro's was 60. Yours was 61, and mine was 66."

"Why is yours so much higher?" Hunk asked.

"Well, Shiro is the leader so he worked mainly on democracy with Allura, you and Pidge were always helping with something techy, so you didn't spend as much time in the simulator. Keith got to 61, because he took over as leader after Shiro -" Lance paused, regret clear in his expression, before shaking his head, forcing himself to look more cheerful, "I got to 66 because - because I didn't feel adequate enough to be on the team." Lance finished honestly with a sigh.

"You are more that adequate, we would struggle without you Lance!" Keith declared before Pidge or Hunk could respond, Lance smiled shakily at Keith.

"Thank you."

"This looks like a deep conversation, did you want me to go?" Came the voice from the door, the small group turned to see Allura, dressed in a fight suit, stood awkwardly at the door.

"No, no! Come in. It is your castle," Lance insisted, Allura nodded in return, walking into the room before sitting on the steps near the middle console off to the side where Hunk and Pidge were still sat. Everyone sat in silence, looking at each other in awkward silence.

Thankfully, Allura broke the vow of silence everyone seemingly took, "Lance, you seem insistent that the Galra aren't all evil," she started, looking at her hands, ignoring how everyone was staring at her, "And you told me off for my prejudice, and I spoke out of turn to the point even Coran had to speak to me about it. I have done some thinking, and previously spoke to my father about it, and I -I think I'm ready to listen." Allura finished looking up to Lance, seeing him and the others stare at her in shock caused her to go a deep red.

"I'm honoured that you'll listen to me," Lance started, easing the redness on her face as he moved to sit on the floor in front of the princess, "I know what you're going through. The lose, the pain, the guilt." Lance paused, steadily focused on just Allura and not the others, "I lost everything to the Galra. My home, my friends, my family. I only had you left, and even then I lost you in the end. Because of the Galra," Allura breathed in deeply, eyes matching Lance's as they filled with tears.

"So yes, I know exactly how you feel. But I couldn't hate the Galra, not all of them at least. My allies were galra, my lover, your lover was part galra. And children aren't to blame for how they were raised." Lance continued, steadily moving past his mistake and hoping the others didn't catch his slip. Although by the looks of shock Pidge and Hunk were giving him and more subtly, Keith, the two genius's didn't miss it.

"My lover was galran?" Allura questioned, looking as gobsmacked as she felt.

"He was a half-breed. Half- Altean, half-galran." Lance nodded, "Each of the Galra that we fight have been raised like a pig for slaughter, raised to thrive off the victory of the kill, they were taught that it was better to die then to lose. Children, who shouldn't care about a war, are raised to fight and kill. Taught a one-sided story. Monsters aren't born, they are made." Lance explained, "And not all monsters do monstrous things," Lance finished.

"But what about Zarkon? He's bad right?"

Lance's eyes soften at the princess, 'she's the Altean version of a teenager, to young to be in this war' he thought to himself, forgetting that he too was too young to be in the war, "Yes, Zarkon is bad. My point wasn't to say that all Galra are good or bad. My point is that not every single one is bad, there are galra that chose to not participate it the war. Some are evil, like Zarkon and Sendak, others like Kolivan and Krolia aren't and some like Linek and Vorlin just want to be free."

"Kolivan?"

"Krolia?"

"Linek?"

"Vorlin?"

"Right, you don't know them. Kolivan is the Blade or Marmora's leader and Krolia is a commander within the Blades. Linek is a young Galra, he should be about to graduate the academy, he and Vorlin are best mates, they both want out of the army but they don't know how, Vorlin, she - she's amazing with a knife and Linek is an excellent hacker. I miss them." Lance explained with a bitter smile, the other noticing decided it was best not to ask for more clarification.

The door opening distracted them all, turning to see Shiro and Coran casually walking into the bridge, only to freeze at the group, who look like a deer in headlights, Shiro narrowed his eyes at the group before sighing, "What problem did you guys create now?" Keith, Pidge and Hunk started to protest at the accusation, while Lance and Allura locked eyes before bursting into a fit of giggles. Allura snorting, caused both of them to pause before cracking up again, leaving the others to gape at the pair, both shocked and happy to hear the sound coming from the two.

"I hate to be the one to interrupt this giggle-fest but we should get going to the space hub," Shiro said, killing the laughter, the two  tried to avoid eye contact with each other as they moved to their station, only to lock eyes together again and break into sporadic giggles, the others soon joined in, Shiro sighed at their antics but a the fond smile on his face gave him away.

As the group moved through space, the laughter and giggles slowly dropped off into comfortable quiet. Everyone in their own thoughts, Allura's being of what Lance said, Hunk's and Pidge's both revelling in the reveal of Keith being at least a little galra. and the other's on the mission ahead. As the got close to the hub, Allura slowed down the castle, just outside of the close range scanners. "We should be close enough to get a good scan, but far enough away to avoid being noticed." She explained, as Coran started the scan.

"We need to make a plan," Allura stated as the scan fully loaded. The group, aside from Lance turned to stare at the princess, "What?"

"I'm sorry, Princess, did you say 'we'?" Keith asked, the others nodding in agreement.

"I'm going with you. I've travelled through the Galra transportation hubs many times with my father before the war began. I know more about them than any of you." Allura replied. Lance looked up, from the galra ship blueprint on his screen to look at Allura in suspicion 'why would she travel through Galra transportation hubs, I thought their people were always at war'

"Princess, I'd rather you stay here." Coran insisted

"Yeah, isn't it like super dangerous?" Hunk asked nervously.

"How can we know that you can protect yourself?" Keith stated.

Lance snorted, gaining the attention from the others, "She's stronger than all of us, Altean strength and all that," Lance gestured with his hand at Allura, "She could beat your ass black and blue before you could utter Voltron." Lance said looking at Keith who went bright red with a furious look on his face.

"Thank you Lance! I am a part of this fight against Zarkon as much as anyone. I'm going. Does anyone have a problem with that?"

Lance whistled innocently, clearly not having an issue if his previous remarks were anything to go by. Coran stammered as he tried to find some reason as to why Allura wasn't able to join them.

"Fine." Shiro relented with a shrug of his shoulders, ignoring the way Coran screamed in defiance and horror at the prospect.

"Did you forget she gets kidnapped if she goes?!" Coran argued.

"She didn't have a proper weapon last time," Lance defended as he stood up, "She had a faulty sentry gun and Shiro's arm." He walked over to Allura, "She won't be defenceless this time," Lance stated, summoning his Bayard, holding it out of Allura to take.

"Lance, you can't just give her you're Bayard!" Shiro barked in protest. The group voicing similar protests.

"I can. And I will." Lance replied, looking at Allura expectantly.

"It won't work for me Lance." Allura stated quietly, but everyone still heard.

"You are the Blue paladin, just as much as I am. I know for a fact Blue misses you." With that Allura hesitantly took to Bayard from Lance. The group watched as the Bayard transformed into a whip.

"what will you use?"

"Aside from my dashing good looks?" Lance joked running a hand through his hair, making Allure giggle and Shiro sigh, "There are weapons in the armoury, that I've trained with,"

Shiro sighed, looking at Lance in defeat, "We go in low, fast and undetected. Coming around the dark side of the nearest planet should keep them from getting a visual on us. Thanks to Pidge's modifications to the Green Lion, we';; have 30 seconds of cloaking." Shiro started with the basics.

"I can floor their short- ranged sensors with a radiation burst. That should buy you a minute or so, while they assume it's cosmic interference. But after that it's up to you to be out of sight." Coran added, Shiro and Lance nodding their thanks to the ginger-haired man.

"Now Lance you gave us a little rundown on what happened last time, but we need more detail, even if things are changing."

"Right," Lance nodded, looking at everyone before starting, "Flooding short-range sensors work, we get in that's fine. We arrived just as a transmission ended, so depending on our timing we got to be careful not the get in that transmission and set off an alarm," The others nodded, " After that, Pidge hacked into the console it self to get any information from the Hub database, while you and Allura snuck onto the galran ship. Our comms got shut off here, but the end result was your hand alerting the database and you managed to escape on  a pod, while Allura was captured." The group looked downcast at that.

"While Shiro and Allura are on the ship, Keith ran off the find out what a druid was doing with a canister. I can't remember what he found out about it, sorry." Shiro waved off the apology, "After we reconvened at the castle we went and stormed central command, you're lion wouldn't respond to you, I don't know why," Lance explained, looking at Shiro for the last part, "We don't defeat Zarkon, but we don't lose either, but a barrier stops us from forming a wormhole, that's where the blades come and help, but Zarkon finds out about the spy and sends his own. We need to avoid that if we can."

"Is that everything?" Allura asked with her hands clasped in front of here, Lance nodded. The quiet that followed didn't last long as Shiro thought of a plan.

"Lance will be going with Allura onto the ship," Shiro stated

"Why is Allura going onto the ship, wouldn't it make sense for someone else?" Keith interrupted.

"Because I can walk right through the front, you cannot." Allura responded before transforming into a taller more purple version of herself.

"How the heck did you do that?" Hunk asked, gobsmacked.

"The Alteans are a chameleon-like people who can blend in with the local populations. It's the ability that's made us great exploders and diplomat throughout our history." She explained before shrinking herself back down.

"How many different colours can you be at once?" Pidge asked excitedly.

"Aren't you afraid you'll rip your pants?" Hunk questioned, making Lance snort.

"Can Coran transform?" Keith blurted out.

"No he can't," Allura replied, ignoring the way Coran huffed and crossed his arms with a pout, "Just one colour at a time, and I will need a change of costume."

"You can use the guards uniform as a disguise." Lance stated, before turning to Keith, "That's why she's going."

"Yes thank you for explaining," Shiro stated, only slightly sarcastically, "Pidge, Hunk I want both of you to do what you did last time. Keith and I will find out about that canister." Shiro planned, to which everyone nodded.

"Allura, Shiro, could I speak with you out in the hall quickly?" Lance asked, the others looked at the trio curiously, but they ignored the others as they went into the hallway.

"What did you need to speak about?" Shiro asked politely, smiling encouragingly at Lance. Allura doing something similar.

"If I mess up and the alarms go off, I want you to escape Allura." Lance blurted out nervously.

"If the alarms go off, I expect both of you to come back," Shiro stated seriously.

"Lance, no, I can't just leave you." Allura gasped.

"I know that Shiro, and I will fight tooth and nail to escape as well, but I have a gut feeling that the alarm will go off and someone will be captured." Lance explained, "And if it has to be someone, I'd rather it be me,"

"Why are you so desperate to get captured?" Shiro asked, trying not to get frustrated.

"I don't want to get captured." Lance stressed, "But I need to see if what future Allura told me was true or not?"

"What?" The two leaders asked.

"In the ceremony, I saw my Keith and Allura, and they warned me that the spell 'llura did on me went wrong slightly, it brought back things that shouldn't of come back, I suspect Zarkon was one of those things especially after the transmission Sendak had with Zarkon when he took over the castle," Lance explained.

"Why did you not tell us?" Allura asked.

"And why would you want to go into his company if that was the case?" Shiro questioned.

"I need to know if he did, the only way is to interact with him, obviously if I can avoid it, I will. I didn't tell you because there wasn't anytime, the Robeast needed to be taken care of."

"Fine, but Lance, if I find out you did not try everything to not get captured, I will save you just to kill you myself. Understood?"

"Aye aye captain?" Lance saluted. Shiro left the hallway and re-entered the bridge, Allura was about to follow but Lance grabbed her wrist.

"What's wrong Lance?" Allura asked as she turned to face him.

"If this mission goes south and I do get captured, I want you the fly the blue Lion."

"I can't do that to you Lance, you'll need your lion once you escape."

"I understand that, I do. But we will need Voltron as well, Zarkon thinks we're useless without one paladin, we need to prove him wrong, and it will be only until I get out of the command central, then I'll take you back to the castle."

"I don't know how to fly a lion." Allura admitted shyly.

"I know you don't." Lance smirked, hiding any information he already had of her starter flying, "But you did fly blue, in my time at least. Trust Blue and trust yourself. You'll be fine." Lance reassured. "Promise me Allura." He pleaded.

"I promise." Allura whispered.

"Thank you, truly." Lance responded, pulling Allura into a hug, which she hesitantly returned, "We'll be okay. everything will be okay." The words tasted like ash on his tongue, as he hid his true worry and fear from Allura in their hug.

Chapter Text

The two broke their hug, giving each other a fake smile before moving back onto the bridge, "You guys okay? You look like your saw a ghost." Keith asked, drawing attention to the pair, who looked at each other meaningfully before turning back to the others.

Hunk deciding they stayed silent too long declared, slightly terrified, "Oh no! You actually saw a ghost?"

"No, buddy, we didn't." Lance sighed, turning to walk to his seat, not even turning to Hunk.

"Then why do you look worse then you did before leaving?" Pidge asked, crossing her legs onto her seat. The pair stayed silent, Lance stared back at the others who stared at him, while Allura shuffled anxiously under Coran's and Shiro's looks.

"He wanted me to fly the blue lion should he get captured." Allura blurted out, shoulders relaxing in relief.

The paladins, slowly took in what she said as Lance let out an indignant wail, "ALLURA!" he turned to look at her betrayed. It finally digested for the others, who slowly turned to look at Lance with wide-eyes.

"Lance," Shiro warned, glaring at the blue paladin.

"Yes daddy dearest," Lance said, put on an innocent façade, Pidge, Hunk and Keith went bright red, as they tried not to laugh, knowing that Shiro would just turn their anger to them. Allura and Coran flittered between looking at Shiro and Lance, before shrugging and turning to their respective consoles.

"Is what the princess said true?" Shiro asked, looking a picture of calm to any who didn't know him, sadly Lance did, and he saw his eye twitched and the smile seemed a bit too forced.

"I don't know any princesses," Lance said, looking way to innocent to be true.

"Allura, Princess." Shiro gritted out, squeezing his hands into fists by his sides.

"She's a queen, Shiro!" Lance gasped dramatically, hand on his heart, Pidge disguised her snort as a cough, turning away innocently when Shiro snapped toward her. From where Lance was sat, he could see Hunk's knuckles going white as he gripped them over his mouth tightly, and Keith looked like he had no lips with how he turned them inward to stop himself from laughing. Allura went bright red.

"Lance." Shiro stated seriously, after taking a deep breath.

Lance slumped in his seat, looking away from Shiro when he answered, "Yes, I did." That made the others stop laughing,

"Why?" Came the single word.

"Because she's the blue paladin," Lance stated simply, looking at Shiro as he stood up, "We're wasting time, you guys get changed and head down to Green, I'll meet you there." before anyone had a chance to respond Lance left the room, only hearing Shiro sigh before the door closed. With that Lance headed down towards the armoury, his only thoughts on the mission ahead. Quickly grabbing his best weapons, Lance made his way towards Green's hanger, where the others were all ready to set off.

"Flooding short-range sensors now," Came Coran's voice, as Pidge piloted Green off of the castle and around the nearest planet.

"Initiating cloak." Came Pidge's response as she pressed a couple buttons while the others stood in tense silence. They landed as close as they could to the hub without being in sight and made their way quickly and quietly to the building.

Lance grabbed Keith's wrist, forcing his hand onto the key pad, opening the door. Ignoring the way, Hunk and Pidge looked at Keith strangely. The group entered the building, Lance taking the lead and Shiro taking the rear.

Dodging the sentries, the paladins and the princess made their way steadily towards the control room. Getting to the next door with a scanner, Lance gestured Keith to the door. Even Allura looked at Keith in suspicion as the door opened. The guard turned around, only to get stunned by Lance, who shot him, the sentry didn't follow the same fate and was disabled.

"How's it look out there?" Shiro asked as they pilled into the room.

"All clear." Responded Keith.

"It shouldn't be clear." Lance said looking at the console, in irritated confusion.

"We'll have all the information we need in a few minutes." Pidge replied.

"It shouldn't take too long," Hunk tact on. As they both typed on the board in front of them, soon enough they managed to get into the mainframe, the computer beeping as it gave them access.

Pidge spoke as she and Hunk continued in their download of data, "Hunk and I have made some improvements since the last time I tried to download Galra info. We should get a nice, clean translation immediately. Hunk had a great idea about how to do it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, do you guys remember when we studied algorithms at the Garrison, and Mr. York told us that joke about the ghost learning symbolic logic and innumerably infinite sets?" Hunk replied, turning to the others

Lance shook his head, with a fond smile, "I don't remember it but from what I remember about the joke, it was boring."

Hunk hesitated before continuing, "Right, yeah, totally, it was boring. Anyway, the joke goes..."

"Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt, but I think we got company." Keith declared, as he watched the ship land at the dock. "Think we should get out of here?" he asked, turning to Lance and then Shiro.

"No, they only need a bit more time," Lance replied for Pidge as he peered over her shoulder and at the progress they had made.

Shiro nodded in agreement to Lance "Stay low. We need this intel."

"Get down!" Keith shouted as he saw a transmission feed start to flare up, the team hastily scatters, ducking under consoles. Lance and Keith turned to look at the others, only to ended up looking at each others eyes, as they instinctively went to the one the trusted the most in a battle, Lance flushed slightly before turning to look at the transmission.

"He's still looking, I think he's waiting for a signal or something," Lance muttered.

"I got it!" Hunk replied as he scooted out from beneath the console and edged toward the fallen sentry, staying out of the camera, lifting the sentry, who only flopped slightly, the hand of the sentry was then guided up with a thumbs up. The group heard the confusion from the soldier in the transmission disappear, and was replaced with an affirmative before the transmission ended. "Whew."

"Nice job, Hunk!" Lance said being the first the exit from the floor, 'that must of been the transmission that we only caught the end of last time,' Lance thought to himself.

"Thanks," Hunk replied, getting back to hacking with Pidge. The others got out from under the console, tensely looking around, to make sure they weren't about to get caught.

After a few more minutes, Pidge and Hunk made a triumphant noise, "Okay, download complete. It looks like Lance was right, the ship it scheduled to be here for about half an hour, then it heads off to the central command," Pidge said looking down at her information.

"That's where they have the information we need, that's where Lance and I are going," Allura declared, already moving to grab the unconscious sentries armour.

"How will you use the console?" Pidge asks, "Shiro's arm is made from Galra tech. It's the only way for us to interface with their systems and gather intel," Pidge reasoned, holding up Shiro's arm, who get let it happen.

Lance bent down, grabbing the robot sentry, grabbing it's power module before ripping of it's arm, connecting the two before the arm lit up in the familiar purple, Lance grinned turning to the others who looked vaguely terrified but completely proud, "This is how. Now lets shove me into a box!" Lance said cheerfully, igniting confusion from the others.

"Stay safe," Keith ordered grabbing Lance's wrist, looking him right into the eyes.

"Always, love." Lance said, moving Keith's hair behind his ear with his other hand, loving the way Keith burst into a red colour and the others look at the two fondly. Keith dropped Lance's wrist. Who turned to the group as a whole, before standing up straight, saluting at the others, who quickly returned the gesture before the pair left.

The rest of the paladins watched from the control deck as Allura carried the box with Lance inside. Holding their breath for a minute as the they paused as a canister is pushed down the ramp, breathing a sigh of relief as they made it aboard the ship, "They're in," Shiro said.

"What do you think they have in all those giant containers?" Keith questioned, looking at the glowing canisters.

"Well, I suspect that it's sporks," Hunk replied instantly, making Shiro and Keith look at Keith in disbelief and confusion "What? This is an advanced race we're talking about here. surely, they've learnt that it's foolish to have forks and spoons when one tool will efficiently do the job." Hunk defended, only slightly dramatic.

"Maybe this guy will tell us," Pidge said, making the others turn towards her where she typed on her computer that's hooked up to the robot, "What is coming in and out of this station?"

The lights on the drone beeped, "Interrogation detected. Initiating lockdown."

"Not talk, eh?" Pidge grinned manically before going back to typing, leaving the other three to turn back toward the canisters.

"Whoa. Check out this guy. Whatever's happening here that requires the base to be kept secret must have something to do with that scary dude. I'm going to go check it out." Keith said getting up to leave.

Shiro sighed, "This must be the canister Lance was talking about, let's go." Before the two could fully leave, Shiro turned back to the pair, "Stay here, contact us if you need help,"

"Ten -four." Pidge and Hunk replied before going back to focusing on the robot.

*With Allura and Lance*

Once on board, Allura found a secluded hallway, where Lance scrambled out of the box, grabbing the sentry arm before kicking the near empty box into a random room. "Let's go." He muttered, taking the lead. Pulling Allura to the side, when a sentry neared.

"How do you know their pattern?" She asks as another sentry finished passing them.

"Well after last time, when we did this, you and Shiro realised how important it was to know and Shiro taught us. Other than that, it's simply experience." Lance replied, ducking into the necessary room, leaving Allura at the door to guard it. Walking up the console, Lance laid the sentry arm flat onto the console, watching how the purple spread across he alerted Pidge, "Okay, Pidge start the download."

"Generating access code," She replied, Lance watched the screen change rapidly as Pidge made her way through the system, "We're in." As Pidge made their way through the system, Lance separated the screen into two, allowing him to do his own search, getting any and all information he could about Sam and Matt was his own personal mission, all information would be downloaded to Pidge's screen either way.

"What's going on here? Who are you?" at the sound of a galran soldier, Lance briefly turned to look at the door before continuing his search, one hand however reached for the fun strapped to his waist.

"It's about time you got here. Where is the rest of your squad?" Allura said, taking charge, moving around enough so the soldier couldn't look past her to see Lance.

"Uh, What squad?" The soldier asked confused.

"Hurry up, Pidge." Lance whispered, logging out of his side.

"Almost there." She replied.

Allura huffed slightly, acting offended, "The squad that is to escort me and my associate to our ship." She replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe.

"Who's back there? What's going on?" The solider demanded, stepping forward to go into the room, however was stopped when Allura lightly pushed him back, a finger to his chest.

"We are part of Zarkon's high command. Our work must not be disturbed." She replied forcefully.

The soldier however stood up straight and equally forcefully demanded, "Where's Chief information Officer Plytox?"

Allura stumbled over her words slightly, thankfully not enough to be suspicious, "Uh, he's in there. Say hello, Plyrox."

Lance watched as the Pidge logged out, her download finished, "It's Plytox!" He replied gruffly, making his voice deeper than normal.

"Oh, sorry. See?" Allura said, turning to the soldier who looked slightly shocked.

"Oh. Vrepit sa, sir!" He said with a salute, before whispering to Allura, "I get his name wrong all the time, too." He replied, before walking off slightly. Allura turned to look at Lance with a look of relief, Lance just grinned in return, making his way towards Allura. Allura blinked in surprise when Lance darted to the wall. "Do you think I could get assigned to Zarkon's unit?" Allura jumped slightly at the voice, turning to look at the solder, "Nothing happens on this ship."

"Oh, well, I don't know. What's your bloodthirstiness on a scale of one to five? One being, "No, thanks I'm full' and five being 'unquenchable'." Allura glanced at Lance, who looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"Hmm... If I'm being honest, about a three."

"We can work on that." Allura replied, sounding far too into the roll, Lance rolled his eyes, no longer feeling like laughing but still had a grin on his face, "Myself and Officer Plytox, will talk to Zarkon about you're promotion. What is your name?"

"Really? It's Linox," The soldier answered, before saluting once more and leaving, Allura didn't relax until the solder Linox disappeared around the comer.

"How bloodthirsty are you?" Lance asked with a chuckle, dodging Allura's hand when she went to swat him.

"Shut up! It's the only thing I could think of, now lets go." Allura said peering around the corridor before leaving the doorway, Lance following on her heels.

"Based on how long that the download took, it would be best if we get to the escape pods, instead of the front entrance." Lance reasoned, looking at the timer he had set previously on his wrist.

"Right." With that the two made their way, through the ship. Around Four hallways away from their destination, Allura miscounted the sentries steps and moved before it was clear, Lance reached out to stop her only to graze her wrist. The two sentries spotted Allura instantly, the alarms blared as Lance pulled Allura back making the bullets miss her and instead let them hit the wall.

"Shit." Lance muttered to himself, aiming his gun at the two sentries, two headshots and two crashes later, Lance and Allura continued there way to the escape pods, "Pidge, we're gonna need an extraction ETA 3 minutes," Lance reported, getting and affirmative, before punching a sentry, losing his gun within the fight. Allura picked up a sentry gun and went to fire it, only to be holding it wrong, "Allura don't"

However it was to late and Allura had fired the gun, only for it to his the wall behind her, instead of the sentry Lance was fighting. Lance broke the sentries neck, before dragging Allura further down the hallway, "You don't know how to fire a gun! I gave you my Bayard, use it!" Lance shouted, as he pulled the extendable bo staff from his waist.

"I'm tense! This is a tense situation!" Allura snapped back, forming a whip with the Bayard, taking out the pair of sentries in front of them while Lance dealt with the ones behind them.

"You bitch!" Lance shouted as he go grazed by a bullet, whacking the sentry around the head before bending into a crab to dodge a secondary bullet. They reached the pods with seconds to spare.

"Formulating navigation. All crew assume secure hyper-speed positions." Came a galran voice over the announcement system, Allura managed to get into the pod, turning back to see Lance running towards her, encouraging him as the pod doors slowly shut. The princess watched in horror as a cloaked figure appeared next to Lance, wrapping a hand around his throat, making him struggle to breath but fighting to get away none the less. She watched as Lance smacked the mask off the cloak figure before the pod escaped into space.

*With Pidge and Hunk*

Hunk laughs as he pushing two leads together, making the sentry in front of him hit themselves, "Why are you hitting yourself? Stop hitting yourself! Quit hitting yourself!"

"Stop torturing it, Hunk." Pidge responded as she tried to re-write the sentries code to help them.

"I'm sorry," He apologised, "I just... I need something to keep me busy, so I'm not worried about Keith and Shiro getting caught, or Lance and Allura getting blasted by robot things, or someone finding us here, like, right now..." He fretted.

Pidge sighed slightly 'why do I have to deal with people's feelings', "Stop it, Hunk! They will be fine. We'll be fine, I think we can teach it to help us. Would you like to help us, Mr. Robot?"

Both Hunk and Pidge let out a groan of disappointment as the sentries head span instead of replying. "Quick question. Did you catch what Lance said when talking to Allura?"

"You mean, when Lance was listing people he knew were Galran and his lover was on there?" Pidge asked rhetorically, already knowing that that is exactly what Hunk was on about.

Hunk nodded frantically, "But the only person he has said to be his lover is -."

"Keith." Pidge finished, "It makes sense, Lance did bring it up before the balmera about one of happening to be part galra."

"I guess, do you think Keith knows?" Hunk asked, however a part of him already knew the answer.

"I don't think he does, I mean he got confused and defensive when Lance called him a 'half-breed'." Pidge replied. The two Paused their conversation briefly, as Pidge set up the download for Lance, once the radio was silent once more they continued.

Hunk put together a few different wires, "How much of a galra is he?"

Pidge sighed, "I don't know Hunk, at the moment the only person who knows is Lance, and he's been pretty tight lipped about the future, until it comes to the present."

"I worry about him," Hunk whispers, before the pair goes quiet, waiting for a signal from either Lance and Allura or Keith and Shiro. Having the conversation with Shiro and Keith about the canisters, was nice in a way of knowing that the pair were alive but the topic worried them. The extraction notification from Lance made the pair share a worried glance, before they packed up and left for the green lion. First to pick up Shiro and Keith and save them from the druid and then save Lance Allura from the ship.

*With Shiro and Keith*

The pair stealthily made their way through the building, using the same counting technique that Lance was using to dodge the sentries, until they reached a massive room lined with multiple yellow canisters and a few purple ones. "Coran, you need to see this." Keith muttered, setting up a visual feed to both the castle and to Pidge.

"I've never seen anything like it." Coran stated.

"What is that?" Pidge asked, looking at the feed from her wrist, Hunk looking over their should to have a look as well.

The sentry beeps before replying, "The material is quintessence, the substance with the highest known energy per unit volume in the universe."

"And Lance just forgot the Galra could do this?" Shiro whispered, sounding far more tired then he should. Pidge and Hunk quietly high-fived at the success of the sentry.

"What? Impossible." Coran muttered to himself, still loud enough for the others to hear.

The sentry didn't miss a beat before continuing, "Raw quintessence material is transported here from throughout the galaxy, and refined into standardized Galra fuel requirements." With that the sentry shut itself off again.

"Did you guys hear that?" Pidge asked, sounding quite worried.

"I can't believe it! They've found a new way to acquire quintessence!" Coran shouted shocked.

Keith started to move forward after cutting off his visual link, "Guys, I'm going to steal some of this quint-whatever." With that the comms went back to being silent.

"Are we sure we should do this?" Shiro asked stopping Keith.

Keith looked at Shiro weirdly, "Why shouldn't we? Maybe Coran can figure out how they are getting it."

Shiro sighed as he relented, "Fine but we leave as soon as I say so." Keith nodded and the pair made their way, using the wall, to get to the yellow canisters. As they made their way around the yellow canisters a druid was seen in the middle of the room, draped in cloaks and mask over their face. The druid was seen condensing the yellow liquid into a purple liquid, using lightning.

Keith managed to grab one of the purple canisters, "Okay now, let's go." Shiro ordered quietly. As they turned to leave the way they came, a bolt of purple lightning came from the druid, hitting the purple canister as Keith dodged. The liquid splattered onto the surrounding area, the skin the liquid touched on Keith turned into a deep purple, as if there was a bruise on there.

Thankfully, before a fight could ensue, the druid turned into the direction of the ship before disappearing, just in time for the Green Lion to come crashing through the ceiling, "Pidge what are you doing?" Keith barked as he and Shiro climbed the ramp.

"Lance has called for an extraction, ETA 2 minutes now, we gotta go!" Pidge replied, not waiting for them to get comfortable before taking off to the sky, just in time to catch an escape pod before the Galra ship disappeared into hyper-speed.

Pidge wastes no time and steers the Green Lion towards the castle. Allura moved from the pod to the cockpit, to be met with confused and worried looks, "Where's Lance?" Keith questioned automatically.

Allura stayed quiet as she looked to the floor, tears welling up into her eyes, "Allura?" Shiro questioned, looking like he was just slapped across the face as he came to the correct conclusion.

"A cloaked figure, grabbed him before he could reach the pod."

Pidge slowed the Green Lion slightly and turned to Allura, her hands going white from where she held the controls too tightly, "So, he's still on that ship?"

"The ship that's headed to Zarkon's Central Command?" Hunk asked, looking heartbroken.

Keith snarled, "The place that's way too dangerous for us to attack?" he asked furiously. Allura held her head high as she nodded.

Shiro bit his lip, terrified of what will happen to Lance, 2It doesn't matter how dangerous it is. We can't let Zarkon get Lance." Shiro stated, sound and looking more confident and determined than he truly felt.

"But you said going there would be a huge mistake. You said for us to attack that place head-on would be the dumbest thing we could ever do." Hunk ranted slightly.

Shiro gripped his should in comfort, only to be pulled into a hug by Hunk. Shiro looked at the others, "I kno2, but now we don't have a choice." He replied, as Hunk straightened himself out.

"Looks like this is an event that is meant to happen." Pidge muttered to herself.

"What?" Allura asked.

Pidge pulled the Green Lion into the castle, "Lance came from the future, and he said things are changing, but there are things that haven't changed, like the Lion placement and the castle take over. So this must be something that happens, no matter what. Someone gets kidnapped and taken to the command centre. Only this time it's Lance. Pidge responded as the group left the Lion to the Bridge, in order to make a plan.

Chapter Text

The group rushed to the bridge, Shiro started barking orders as soon as they entered, "Pidge, scan the download from the ship. Find out where Zarkon's central command is. Allura get ready to wormhole."

"On it!" Pidge called as she slid into her seat, she looked confused briefly by the additional information but ignored it for the moment in favor of finding Lance's coordinates.

Coran walked up to Allura as she stood at the castle control, her hands shaking slightly, "What happened? Where's Lance?"

"They captured him," Keith spat out as he started to pace.

Coran gaped at him for a moment before turning back towards the princess, "How is that possible?"

Shiro moved towards Coran, gripping his shoulders tightly in a form of comfort, "I'm sorry things didn't go as planned but we can't focus on what went wrong. We've got to figure out how to make it right." Shiro said, turning to Pidge who stared at her screen looking hopeless, "Pidge, anything?"

They shakily nodded, as they upload the screen up front for everyone to see, "Yeah, look at this."

The all gasp as the screen zoomed out to capture the entire ship, "Look at the size of it!" Coran whispered horrified.

"I think we should go in right away. Every minute we waste gives Zarkon time to prepare for us." Pidge stated.

"But how, we have no idea what we're walking into. The only person who could know is on that fucking ship." Keith shouted, Allura subtly flinched feeling as if this was her fault.

"Um, do you guys not remember the Balmera? We could barely take out one fleet. But this... a base this size could hold a thousand fleets!" Hunk argued, gesturing the size of the center. Shiro watched the group argue, not knowing what to do.

"Or maybe we shouldn't go on this mission at all," Keith muttered bitterly, making everyone stare at him gobsmacked, "Think about it. We'll be delivering the universe's only hope to the universe's biggest enemy."

Hunk made a sound of disgust, "Keith, that's cold, even for you. It's Lance, we can't just leave him? He wouldn't leave you."

Keith crossed his arms, his knuckles going white from how hard he was gripping his arms, "I'm not saying I like the idea. I'm just thinking like a paladin."

"No, you're thinking of yourself because you're too scared to do what's right!" Hunk snapped at him.

"Lance knew he was going to get captured, that's why he gave Allura Blue! He wanted us to be able to form Voltron!" Keith shouted back, "Fuck sake, I don't want him gone! I need him! But this is obviously what he wanted!"

Pidge stood up, moving between the two, "Okay, we're all upset because we lost Lance." She said trying to get everyone to calm down.

"No, Allura lost Lance!" Keith argued, gesturing to Allura, who glared at him.

"ENOUGH!" Shiro bellowed, hands clenched at his sides, "This isn't helping! ?Bickering isn't going to do anything! The longer we stand here and argue, the longer Lance is Zarkon's hands, Zarkon who Lance thinks is from the future." Shiro revealed, making everyone who didn't know gasp. Shiro took a deep breath, "Let's focus. How are we going to get Lance?"

*With Lance*

Lance kicked and punched at the figure who held him by the neck, managing to knock of their mask to reveal a grotesques face. From the corner of eyes he saw Allura manage to escape, before the ship lurched forward as hyper-speed was reached.

The speed made the druid stumble, Lance taking advantage of this, dug his fingers into the hand on his throat tight enough to start bleeding. The druid dropped Lance who crouched down into a fighting position, picking up his bo staff he charged forward. Just as the blow was about to hit, the druid teleported across the room and went to struck Lance with lightning.

Fortunately he dodged, and went to attack again, his staff managed to hit his target, knocking the druid down but a shot to the back made Lance stumble. The last thing Lance saw before getting knocked unconscious was the druid's face grinning at him.

When Lance next opened his eyes, he noticed he was in a dark cell, no light reached inside, which he was grateful for. He laid there for a few minutes just staring up at the ceiling, waiting for the ceiling to stop spinning. However he never got a chance for it to stop before the door opened, letting in a bright light, Lance cursed to himself as he saw Haggar walk in, with only a sinister smile on show. "Come with me." She ordered.

Lance never got the chance to get himself up as two sentries gripped his arms and dragged him up, the dizziness caused him to throw up, narrowly missing his armour and feet. 'Oh fuck me,' he thought to himself, as he stumbled in time with sentries through the corridors up to the throne room 'This will leave a bruise,' he thought as he tugged on the sentries to try free himself, only for them to tighten their grip.

By the time they reached the throne room, Lance felt a lot better. Maybe not to frightening standard, but enough to stand tall in the face of his enemy and be snarky to him. Zarkon watched Lance silently and Haggar moved to his right. "Well you aren't the one I thought to get captured," Zarkon said, breaking his silence. Lance watched him warily. "You seem scared paladin." he sneered at the human who defiantly stands with his head held high.

The statement threw Lance off a little, "Well when you're stood in front of a 10,000 year old alien you tend to hold a little fear." Lance snarked back.

Zarkon smiled, sending shivers down Lance's spine, "So you do know me?" Lance fought not to show the panic he felt at that statement.

Lance shook his head, "Just what Allura has told us," Lance admitted, only continuing when Zarkon stayed silent, "Like how you killed her dad, destroyed her planet and took over almost all of the universe," Lance said, slowly realizing that, that is all he truly knew about Zarkon.

"Oh?" Zarkon paused, seemingly shocked, although Lance couldn't tell by his facial expression. "So she didn't tell you about my past?"

"What? The past before the 10,000 years?" Lance asked sarcastically, before gritting his teeth as his knees gave out, glaring at Haggar as she struck him with lightning. 'I will not give them the satisfaction of screaming.' he thought to himself and the pain died down to back ground ache.

"Yes, before the destruction of Altea," Zarkon replied normally as if the paladin in front of him hadn't just be electrocuted, watching the paladin get back to his feet, Zarkon grinned, "So she hasn't told you that I am the black paladin?"

Lance froze, wide eyed as he stared at the old galra, "Wh-what?" he stuttered. Zarkon let out a booming laugh 'Fuck, fuckity fuck fuck,' Lance thought to himself, as all his past experiences ,where Shiro struggled for control when Zarkon was near, slotted into place. "You're lying! Allura said that all the old paladins were dead!" Lance shouted, trying to escape the sentries hold.

"Yes, she seems to have told you that," Zarkon said thoughtfully, "But alas its the truth, the human pilot has a weak bond, nothing more than that, but I have control."

"What do you want with me?" Lance asked, Zarkon narrowed his eyes at the human, "When Sendak took control of the castle, you said you wanted me alive, Why?"

Zarkon stayed silent, as he watched the boy for a few minutes, "Indeed I did. There has been some recent information that has come to light recently, some rogue galra have infiltrated my command," He watched as Lance's eye-widened with shock and a grin came across his face, "What do you know about the Blade of Marmora?"

Lance couldn't help it, maybe it was the pain or maybe he finally lost the last of his marbles, but whatever the case was, he started giggling, "You can't even control your own people!" He said once he saw Zarkon's questioning look, Zarkon raised his hand, and the next thing Lance felt was a fire spread across his nerves, "Motherfucker!" he shouted, squeezing his eyes shut as he jerked in place.

"What do you know?" Zarkon bellowed.

"Nothing!" Lance shouted back as the pain died down, "I don't know what the Blade of Marmora is!"

Haggar whispered something to Zarkon but Lance was too far away to hear it, "The princess sent you back! I know it, tell me what you know."

The pain in Lance's system grew and grew until he was biting his tongue to stay quiet, tears sprung up in his eyes, "I don't know anything," He cried out, "I've been in space for a couple of days! I don't know what the Blade of Marmora is. Please!" Lance begged as he tried to pull away from the sentries, only to cry out when the sentry holding his left arm tightened to the point that the bone snapped. Lance begged and pleaded with Zarkon that he didn't know anything, that he was sorry and to stop as Haggar continued to torture him.

Soon enough, Zarkon forced the witch to stop, "He doesn't know anything, her spell obviously malfunctioned and sent you back instead of the boy," He ordered and Lance wanted to sob in relief as the pain stop increasing, as well as, the information that Zarkon wasn't the one sent back, but Haggar.

"What do you want me to do with him?" She asked, looking right into Lance's eyes, which were wide and clearly showed that Lance was disorientated.

"I don't care, make him into a new champion for all I care." As much as Lance wanted to cry at the sadistic glee on Haggar's face, he held his head high and tried with all his might to seem unbothered at this new development.

*With the team*

As everyone settled down after the arguments, Shiro stood at the front facing everyone, "Everyone, eyes front. We've got a plan to get Lance. We're going to jump to the heart of the enemy, unseen and undetected,"

"We'll hide the Castle here, inside one of these giant gas planets in Zarkon's command system. The gas is so dense, we'll be hidden." Coran explained, bringing up the gas giant that the castle will be hidden in as a reference.

"From there, we'll use the Castle to scan for Lance on Zarkon's ship and attack before Zarkon knows what hit him."

Pidge held up her hand, drawing everyone's attention, "I hate the be the bearer of bad news but how are we meant to fight when we only have 4 lions, and Lance also warned us that you lose control of the Black Lion during this fight."

"I will pilot the blue lion," Allura said looking down at her hands, "Only until we get Lance out of the ship though, he told me that this was the plan if he got captured,"

"That's fine and all but we can't form Voltron with Allura," Keith stated.

Shiro wanted to sigh but held off on doing so, "It doesn't matter. We're not leaving without him." With that Shiro gestured for the others to take a seat before sitting down himself, Allura opened up a wormhole to the gas giant and headed in, the group gasp at the size of the command center, it being bigger in person. "We're here."

Coran pressed a few buttons before bringing up a visual of the command center, "I'm detecting Lance's energy signature. From this distance, the signal is pretty weak, but he's somewhere in Zarkon's main ship." Shiro took in a deep breath as he wiped his hands on his thighs, worried for what Lance may be going through.

"Gives us a starting point." Keith muttered to himself.

"Once we get closer, we'll be able to narrow down the location where number 3 is being held," Coran explained, using a simulation for what will happen.

"Okay, guys, this is it. Voltron is going to come in fast and without warning. We'll smash our way into Zarkon's ship and grab Lance. Before they know what his them, we'll have Lance and be on our way." Shiro directed.

"Still can't form Voltron," Pidge stated, pushing up her glasses.

"Right," Shiro paused, his confidence slipping, not that he showed that to the others, "We go in as our lions, find Lance's signature, free him, form Voltron and get away."

Hunk played with his fingers, "I feel like this is going to go very badly," He said before moving to get to Yellow, the others following suit.

"Allura, trust yourself. We got you're back." Shiro stated before they went their separate ways. The main paladins got into their Lions and went, already joining the fray. Allura however stood in front of the Blue Lion, who had her shields up. She hesitated briefly, before knocking on the particle barrier, the shield went down allowing Allura to enter.

Allura got the feeling that she was being welcomed back to something she previously knew, "I'm not the Allura you know," Allura whispered to Blue, "But Lance needs our help, so please help me." She begged, a feeling washed over her, like a blanket being wrapped around her shoulders, guiding her to press certain controls. Soon enough Allura flew the Blue Lion right into the battle, almost as if she had done this for years.

"What is that?" Hunk asked as a purple dome formed around Zarkon's command center and the surrounding area, even trapping the castle.

Pidge made a noise at the back of her throat, "I don't know, but I hope once we get Lance, we can find a way out of here." Pidge said into the comms, as she dodged a fighter ship only to fire at another, "They're going to fire!" She warned, seeing the main ship power up to fire a laser.

"Dodge!" Shiro commanded, steering the black lion closer to the main ship but in the opposite direction from the laser, the others did something similar, working their way through the Small fighter jets as well as the bigger fleet ships. 'You're a fool to bring Voltron here' Shiro heard Zarkon say in his head.

"Paladins, I hate to be a bother but look ahead." Allura said, the others moved their lions to face the same direction as Blue, only to see a hoard of fleets, as well as a frozen Black Lion.

"Why do I get the feeling these guys knew we were coming?" Hunk groaned, as the fleet got closer, releasing more fighter jets.

"There's no end to these guys!" Keith shouted, hitting yet another ship, only to be replaced by two more ships.

From the corner of his visor Keith saw the castle fly into the battle. "Coran attack! I've waited 10,000 years for this!" Coran yelled taking out majority of the smaller ships, the others rejoiced briefly.

"Something is overriding the controls! My lion is not responding." Shiro declared, sounding panicked.

Keith flew the Red Lion in between the small ships heading straight for Shiro, "Shiro's in trouble! I'm going in!"

The group, now separated, fell apart slightly, What do we do now, guys? Our plan isn't really working out as... well planned!" Hunk cried out as he got hit, only for Pidge to cover his back, by killing that ship. then turning and destroying the ship that was trying to sneak up on Allura.

"I'm going for the Black Lion. You guys get Lance, now!" Keith ordered.

"I've identified Lance's exact location. Uploading the coordinates to you, now. In the meantime, I'll provide covering fire from out here, all alone, against an entire fleet. So, yeah, do you mind hurrying?" Coran asked, slightly rushed as he maneuvered the castle around the ships, auto-lock engaged.

Static came out of the comm before Allura's voice broke through, "Would now be a bad time to say, I've lost control of the Blue Lion?" She asked, watching as the controls moved themselves.

"Are you sure Allura, you look like a pro?" Pidge asked

"Quite sure," She replied panicked, first Shiro and now her? Something was going on, as she watched the Blue Lion fly through the ships, destroying the ones too close to herself or her team, she slowly realized that they were heading towards both Lance's position and Shiro's.

Blue slowed down slightly as she grabbed Shiro before speeding up towards the command center. "Whoa! Who is that?" Came Keith's question, distracting Allura and Shiro briefly as they checked each other over for injuries.

Coran gasps as he zooms in on the figure walking on the outside of the ship, "It's Zarkon! Keith, get out of there, now! Zarkon's too powerful!"

"This is my chance to put an end to the Galra Empire! I have to take it!" Keith argued, switching off his comms not that Coran realized as he continued to rant. Allura and Shiro held onto different parts of the inside of the Blue Lion, as she destroyed part of the ship, right where Lance's location was.

The two exited the Blue Lion and into the hallway of the center command, "Lance!" Shiro called out, not worried about anyone finding them, as he assumed they were all out in the ships fighting the castle and the other lions.

"Shiro! Allura?" They heard Lance call out, running down the hallway, playing a sick version of marco polo wasn't fun, but thankfully they managed to get into the correct room. Shiro rushed in, giving Lance a tight hug, only to let go of him when Lance let out a pained groan.

Pulling the kid away and looking him over, Shiro paled at the state of him. His armour was cracked in multiple places, and his under suit slashed, but the worse was the hazy eyes and broken arm, "Oh, Lance." Allura whispered, as he walked towards he giving her a one arm hug.

"I'll be fine," Lance blinked, "But we gotta go now, before the witch shows up," he stated holding his arm, stumbling towards where he knew where Blue was, "Sorry for taking over the steering, but any longer and we'd be screwed," He muttered when Allura stabled him, helping him move towards the lion.

Shiro stood frozen as he watched Lance and Allura start to leave, Lance turned around to look at the older man, tilting his head slightly before giving him a smile, "You coming, Shiro?" he asked, knocking sense back into Shiro's head who nodded as he caught up. The trio entered the Lion with Lance sitting down, Allura took up the side with the broken up while Shiro took the other side.

Taking off, was a shock but so was hearing the comms, "Keith, get out of there!" Coran shouted, as alarms started to blare in the background, "Keith, do you copy? You don't know what you're dealing with! He's too powerful! Listen to me, it's imperative that you don't engage the..."

"Coran he can't hear you, his comm is off." Lance interrupted

"Lance!" Pidge, Hunk and Coran cried out in relief, at the sound of his voice. Lance took a moment to look at the battle before him. "Are you okay?" Hunk asked.

Lance didn't respond to that, which worried Hunk and Pidge, "Hunk, I want you to take the left flank, fleets 1-3 there. Pidge same on the right. Coran take front and center, cover us, I'm going to drop Shiro off in Black, take Allura to the castle and then we get out here."

"Ten-four!" The cadets shouted, moving into position, fighting their new quadrants, more organized now that they had a plan. With that Lance sped through the ships once again destroying the ones that go too close and on occasion firing at Zarkon to distract him long enough for Keith to get space between the two or to get in an attack.

"Once in your lion, grab Keith, we all meet at the castle." Lance ordered as Shiro entered the Black Lion, getting an affirmative, Lance made his way to the castle, providing light aid but not fully joining the battle.

"I got you, buddy!" Shiro said as he swooped in, grabbing the Red Lion and heading straight for the Castle, the others joining shortly. As soon as Lance landed the Blue Lion, Allura ran to the bridge ready for a wormhole as soon as the others also land. Lance relaxed in his chair, the adrenaline wearing off slightly to the point he didn't realize the others had landed until they started arguing about a wormhole.

"The Galra barrier is jamming our ability to create one!" Coran replied to Hunk who asked where the wormhole was. The fleet moved around the castle, "They have us completely surrounded!" he cried, only for the purple shield to start coming down seconds later.

"What just happened?" Pidge asked as the last of the purple faded.

"Who cares? Wormhole!" Hunk ordered, which Allura was happy and quick to do so. As the left the surrounding area a bolt of lightning struck the wormhole, turning into an angry red colour, with vicious shaking.

"Coran, what's happening?" Shiro asked, his lion starting to slip.

Various beeping came through the comms, "the integrity of the wormhole has been compromised. It's breaking down"

"Listen to me!" Lance shouted, "Pidge, make a satellite, Hunk don't trust any mermaids, Shiro stay inside the black Lion, Keith make your way to Shiro as soon as you can!" Lance ordered, to the confusion of the others, "We have no control over where we're heading! If you land in the same place as last time, use my hints!" Lance shouted, falling out of the castle first unwillingly exiting the wormhole.

The others groaned and screamed as their lions slipped and fell out of the castle, all of them wishing for just one day off. Lance gripped onto Blue as she spun out of control with one hand, Looking at the planet he was plummeting to his stomach twisted violently 'Jul'brin' he thought to himself, before hitting the surface and being knocked unconscious.

The End

Chapter Text

Hiya,

First of all can I say thank you for reading the book, it's been a pleasure to write.

Second of all, I understand that I have said that Book 2 would come out in January and being almost the middle of February, I can understand that some are eager for the new story and some are concerned for me for no uploading.

Now, I am not hesitant to say that I have never been the best at uploading chapters. But I have always stayed consistent to some extent.

Can I just say, I am completely alright and Book 2, while not written has been planned. In fact I've already planned all the way to Book 4 😂. I have some reasons as the why I haven't written and uploaded the new book.

The reasons are:

1) Shortly before Christmas my laptop stopped working, like full on refuses to turn on.
2) I started 2024 with a cold
3) Once I got better from the cold I had to catch on uni work.
4) 3rd week into January I got an infection, it's all good now.
5) I have to catch up on more uni work 😅
6) People at work on holiday so now I'm working overtime
7) Writers block/no motivation.

So yes, I promise Book Two is a work in progress. But unfortunately it won't be uploaded for a bit longer. Thank you for being patient. You guys are amazing.