A/N: I'll get straight to point of my absence. I am cursed! Everytime I tried to write this story, things have happened! Weird things! My computer crashed when writing it, not once, but twice! And when I under went an update after that, the file somehow reverted back to a previously saved version that was about 6k words under what I had written before. And then after weeks of university work piling up, I finally found time and motivation to try to work on this again and suddenly my house's power went out because a mouse chewed through wiring. It's been weird. But alas, I never gave up completely. And now one chapter of a two shot story is finally here! Yay!
But for the people that read this, sorry for the wait, and thank you for taking an interest to this fanfic series. It means a lot.
Ok, now that the explanation is out the way, if you're here you'll know that this is the 3rd Instalment to the Agape series; a slow burn klance fanfic series.
I do recommend that you read the previous two stories, because otherwise this isn't going to make much sense.
In a nutshell: In the first one, Keith almost dies protecting Lance. They bond. Lance and Keith become good friends. And in the second one, Keith and Lance start training together and they get even closer and they bond and they almost kiss.
So without further adue, here is the 3rd instalment of Agape. Please Enjoy!
Lance stood in front of the mirror in his room. His paladin armour looked as good as new. He made a mental note to thank Coran about it later. He always did an amazing job fixing the armour after each rough mission. Continuing to stare into his reflection a frown was staring back and he knew exactly why. The reason: Keith.
Ever since the one strange moment when they were training together, things between them were... in a word, different. It had been only one night cycle since it happened, but a lot could happen in a day. It was a little awkward. It wasn't that they were constantly uncomfortable with each other, if anything it was the opposite, the two acted normally, but the only difference was that they avoided being alone together. They always had someone else in the room with them. The two spoke to each other as normal and still sat near each other for a good majority of the time, but once someone left and they were alone in a room they'd mutually leave.
The memory came creeping back into Lance's mind. He remembered finally winning at a round of sparring. He had pinned Keith down. Then they were laughing and throwing the odd joke, but then he remembered slowly feeling his head downward towards Keith.
No! No! No! No! No! NO! Lance internally shrieked. He slammed his head into the wall beside his mirror with each sentence that followed.
"Nope." Thud. "Don't remember." Thud. "Didn't happen!" Lance only stopped after his head began to hurt.
It's nothing! You need to forget it! He kept repeating it in his head like a mantra. It was Keith, his teammate, his friend. Whatever it was, it had to be nothing.
The castle's sirens were going and that meant one thing. Allura and Coran must have gotten the intel they needed. Finally, the long awaited new mission had come.
He grabbed his helmet from his bedside and turned on his heels to leave his room. Not watching where he was looking, Lance marched straight out of his room gently colliding with someone that happened to be passing his room. Out of everyone in the entire ship, it just had to be Keith. The two practically leaped a few feet away from each other.
"Oh-Keith! Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." Lance nervously babbled.
"It wasn't your fault, I wasn't watching where I was going either." Keith replied back just as nervously as Lance.
The two stood in silence, both looking at the ground.
"So.."
"So.."
Both stopped when they realised they were speaking in unison and let out nervous chuckles. They shared eye contact for a moment only for both of them to look away in opposite directions. Lance began to open his mouth about to suggest that they leave, but Keith beat him to it.
"Well, the sirens are going off so we should head to the control deck." Keith said, pointing down the hall.
Lance nodded. "Right! We shouldn't keep the princess waiting."
The two scurried down the hall, avoiding eye contact with each other. They both knew that with the new mission, they both knew that whatever odd thing was happening between them had to be put aside. They had to focus.
Everyone else was suited up and ready in the control deck. Hunk and Pidge found it surprising that Lance and Keith were walking in together. The two did not fail at noticing their odd behaviour, but they chose to ignore it for the time being. While Coran seemed preoccupied with another task, Allura didn't spare another moment and she explained the situation to the paladins. She brought up a hologram of the planet where their new mission would take place.
"This is the planet Faleea. Coran and I have managed to contact the Faleean king, King Heranel. They're in desperate need of our help," Allura brought up a hologram of a map with markings in blue and purple; the blue representing the Faleeans and the purple represented the Galra. "The Galra have attempted to seize control of their planet. They're in the midst of battle and they are beginning to lose the fight. Whilst the Faleeans have an army, they were not prepared for a galra invasion."
Coran finished tapping away at the main hub and added into the explanation.
"We've explained who we are and that we're here to help. After some persuasion from the princess, King Heranel has given the castle permission to land. He wants to speak to us in person."
The paladins all nodded in understanding.
"Alright. When will we get there?" Hunk asked.
"We just arrived." Coran stated. No one noticed the ship moving toward the planet, let alone the landing.
Walking out of the castle, they saw that the castle of lions had landed in a large field beside large white pillars. Along the ground looked like golden grass, lightly trimmed and well kept. Before the paladins could further absorb their surroundings, they were immediately met by a Faleean. Once the Faleean saw Allura, they gave a curt bow.
"Princess Allura. Welcome. King Heranel is expecting you and your paladins in the council chambers. Please follow me."
The Faleeans looked slightly like Alteans. The clothing they wore were like coloured and patterned togas. The clothes looked quite comfortable. The Faleean race were humanoid aliens with pointed ears, and strange markings, but unlike an Altean the markings were all over their skin with the same kind of pattern. The Faleean escorting them had dark blue circle shapes all over their orange body.
Lance couldn't help but lean in toward Coran and question it.
"So, what's up with their markings?"
"Those are their birth marks," Coran explained. "Many Faleeans can have blue, green, orange or even pink coloured skin. And all the shades of the colours are different to each individual. Their birth marks are also unique, their markings are always an assorted colour to their skin. Sometimes their markings can be all over their body while others might only get them across one limb."
Learning about other alien species and races was always interesting. Out of all the paladins, Pidge was the most fascinated by the other cultures and more specifically, their technology. From what the others saw from walking down the open halls of the Faleean castle, Faleea was a beautiful place. It was something straight out of a fairy tale. Through the open style halls, navy coloured vines and leaves curled around the pillars with teal flowers attached. The castle pillars and walls were made from a marble like substance, swirled with the colours of a sunset.
It was unfortunate that they had so little time to take in their surroundings as they finally got to the council chambers. The room only had a large table-like feature in the centre with a main hub access port on the side. It looked like a large sphere had been cut in half than hollowed out and placed on its side.
"Welcome to Faleea. I am King Heranel." The king gave a curt bow to the paladins. They all mirrored back the action in respect. "It is good to see that the rumours of you being alive are true, Princess Allura."
"Thank you, King Heranel. I just wish it was under better circumstances."
In a brief moment of silence, the paladins got to finally register what the king looked like. King Heranel looked like a large pink man with blue stripes across his face. His shoulders were broad and his posture was proper and upright. His face was stern but his gentle smile carried a sign of kindness. It was the kind of smile that held no evil, that's when they could tell for themselves that King Heranel was a kind king.
King Heranel introduced them to the Faleeans beside him. "These are my children. This is my son, Boulter. And this is my daughter, Arreina."
Prince Boulter was blue with orange markings along his left arm. The markings looked like the shape of butterflies. His slender face was a great contrast to his broad shoulders and defined muscles. His clothes did nothing but show off his strong figure. His face's only imperfection was a scar under his left eye, but many Faleeans would have argued that it made the prince look more desirable. Prince Boulter's eyes were almost hypnotic with their luminous glow of green. His starlight coloured hair was longer than his sister's, neatly combed back and tied back.
The princess was the opposite to her brother, being orange with blue markings down her right arm. Her markings looked as if lightening had struck her arm. She looked much like her brother, but her face was unscathed and her eyes made her seem kind. Her shoulders may have not been broad like her brother but her defined muscle physique made up for it.
While the princess and the prince may have been opposites in colour, they shared the same beauty. The royal siblings looked younger than Shiro, but also still slightly older than the other paladins. As soon as Lance set his eyes on the princess, his flirty façade awoke.
"Well hello, your highness. The name's Lance."
Lance placed a hand on his hip with an obvious cocky look in his eyes. As Lance winked, the princess was amused by Lance's forwardness, letting out a small amused laugh. Keith folded his arms and looked away, annoyed at the sudden display unfolding in front of him.
"Of course." Keith muttered under his breath. Pidge had the most unimpressed look on her face, as she hummed in agreement with Keith.
Shiro ended up stepping in. He gave a short apology and dragged Lance away to stop his flirtatious advances. Keith didn't stop frowning. And his frown only became more evident when he noticed the prince staring at him, looking at him up and down.
At first, Keith thought it might have been a trick of the eye, but once he finally looked at the prince, Keith noticed that the Prince Boulter was still staring. Keith furrowed his eyebrows and looked back at Prince Boulter. The prince may have been pleasing to the eye, but it didn't mean that it made Keith less uncomfortable. Keith gave him a look as if to ask 'why are you looking at me?'. Keith liked to think that he would have come across as quite intimidating, but Prince Boulter didn't seem to think so. If anything, Keith got the opposite of what he was expecting as the prince started to smile.
Pidge was the first to notice the exchange and she immediately knew what the prince was doing. She had seen Lance do it many times before to many girls back in the Garrison and a handful of aliens. With the look in Prince Boulter's eyes and the slight smirk, Pidge knew that he was definitely checking Keith out.
"Boulter. Arreina. You are dismissed for now. I must speak to them alone." King Heranel kindly demanded.
"Of course, father." Prince Boulter replied. The two royal siblings gave their father a short bow before leaving the room.
"You come in our time of need, princess," The king turned to Allura. "I do not know how much more my kingdom can endure."
"We're here to help," Allura affirmed. "So, what was it that you could not tell me before? Why are the Galra here on Faleea?"
King Heranel looked hesitant but he eventually spoke.
"Just know that what I am about to tell you may change how you percieve the situation," King Heranel warned. His hesitance made the atmosphere around them grow heavy. "We have knowledge on the location of the relic of Diesous."
"What!?" Allura's sudden alarm put the paladins on edge. "How can that be possible?"
"The relic of Diesous was said to be a mere myth." Coran blurted out.
The paladins knew that it took a lot to rattle both Allura and Coran. Whatever they were talking about was obviously something probably dangerous.
"Voltron was also said to be a myth and yet here you are," King Heranel pointed out. "My people have carried this secret for over fifteen thousand years. The Galra seemed to believe it was a myth as well, but if my sources are correct, they have found the key."
Shiro finally found an opening to speak, voicing what all the paladins were thinking.
"What's this relic you're talking about? Is it dangerous?" Shiro asked. Allura and Coran exchanged looks and they both frowned.
"Yes, it is extremely dangerous," The princess explained. "By legend, the relic of Diesous was said to be an item of great power being infused with pure quintessence when it was made. It's said to be an object that can focus the energy of quintessence, using the life and energy around it to transfer into power. It was made with the intention of protecting, but it only caused destruction and corruption. With word about this abundant power, many sought to take it for their own, but before anyone had the chance to find the relic, the very beings whom created it knew of their mistake and they locked it away and hid it so well that it could never be seen again. It's said that they locked it in an undetectable box that could contain the power and that the key is the only one of its kind. Following the legend of this relic, many beings sought to use quintessence as power, an example would be the witch, Haggar and her druids."
"If it was so dangerous, why didn't they just destroy it instead of locking it away?" Pidge asked.
It was King Heranel who answered Pidge's question.
"It was said that they tried, but it could not be destroyed. Before they could get close to destroying, they were close to being found by those who sought after the relic. They had no choice except to hide it, hoping that one day those with the desire to find it, but not use its power would be able to find the box and destroy it."
"If the Galra got their hands on the key to that relic, who knows what else they would be capable of." Coran grimly stated. It was unsettling hearing Coran sounding so serious. If they couldn't feel the weight of the information before the paladins most certainly did then.
Allura nodded, turning back to the king. She didn't look skeptical; she was more concerned if not anything else.
"And do you know the location of the box containing the relic?"
King Heranel slowly nodded.
"Yes," He nodded. "It was those here on Faleea that helped create the box to contain the relic over twenty thousand years ago. This secret has been carried down by the royal family for years. I am only telling you this because now is not the time for secrets. My ancestors left riddles of hints to the location on the key. The Galra have yet to decode it but they know that have discovered that the box and key originally came from Faleea. That is why they will not stop. At this point in time the Galra don't know with complete certainty that it is real. I'd like to keep it that way for as long as I can, but I do not want to risk the lives of my people for the sake of this secret."
Allura took a brief moment of silence to contemplate the situation. She let out a calm sigh.
"For now, I think we should just focus on getting the Galra away from Faleea and then we can worry about the relic of Diesous. It holds no harm for now as long as the Galra don't know of its location."
King Heranel nodded. "That, I can agree with."
The king didn't spend another moment pondering on the matter. He moved over to the main access port and tapped away. Suddenly a hologram shot out of the hollowed-out table. The hologram was of a tower that's appearance was clearly a Galran design.
"I trust that Princess Allura has spoken about our current situation," King Heranel received nods from the paladins. "Their communications tower must be taken out."
"When we spoke, you said that you found the location of the energy for the particle barrier was elsewhere." Allura stated. "Why would that be the case? Why not leave the power source within the tower?"
The king nodded acknowledging the logic in Allura's questions. He quickly went on to explain.
"That was my thoughts exactly, but then we found out that the Galran robotic soldiers can enter in and out, but nothing alive can pass through. It's a prototype of some sort," The king explained. "My best guess is that they didn't want to run the risk of electrical interference for the communications tower."
"I see." Allura thought aloud.
King Heranel brought up a hologram of what looked to be an outside of a base.
"The energy is funnelled underground from a generator within this base. We've only recently found its location. I've wanted to send in soldiers, but it's too heavily guarded. Without a proper plan I didn't want to run the risk of the Galra knowing that we know yet."
"I understand," Allura nodded and she suddenly smiled. "And I have plan."
"Which is?" King Heranel's expression grew hopeful.
"We'll take them out all at once." Allura confidently stated.
"How?" Shiro piped in, finally being the first paladin to speak up once more.
"We'll meet them on the battlefield, drawing the attention of most the Galra. This will leave a small opportunity to lower the guards at the locations." Allura explained.
"So a diversion?" King Heranel asked.
Allura nodded.
"With the lowered defences, we can take out the generator that's protecting the communications tower. Through the tower we can override the system and send out a mass shut down to the Galran soldier bots. This will only leave the few Galran Commanders to face the justice of your people."
"I wish it could be that simple," King Heranel sighed. "But my forces are not enough to be a lasting diversion while a small team are also taking out the generator."
"That's where we would come in, your highness," Shiro chimed in, finally understanding Allura's plan. "The other paladins and I can take out the generator and the communications tower."
"Exactly," Allura confirmed. "And you and your forces will not be alone, your highness. The Galra don't know that we're here yet, that gives us the element of surprise. In my castle, I'll be able to provide additional air support and distraction."
King Heranel looked reluctant, but he slowly nodded.
"I have my doubts, but I'm going to put my faith into your plan. So how will it be done?"
Allura gave Shiro a curt nod and his expression immediately switched to that of a leader.
"We're going to have to split up if we're going to do this effectively. We're going to take the stealth approach. Hunk, you'll stay with here with the princess and the soldiers. While Allura and Coran give the air support, you're going to help lead the charge here."
Hunk's eyes immediately looked as if they were bulging from his head.
"Wait what? Really? Me?" Hunk nervously asked. Shiro placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring nod.
"I trust you. You can do this."
Hunk still looked unsure, but he nodded. Hunk may have not felt ready, but when he could keep a clear head, he could do it. He had more potential than he realised.
"Lance. Keith," Shiro had half of a smirk on his face as he looked to them. "The both of you will be taking out the generator so Pidge and I can deactivate the communications tower."
Lance and Keith exchanged a glance. It was the first time that they managed to hold eye contact since the odd incident at training. Both of their eyes were filled with determination and confidence. The two may have had some odd feelings arising from each other, but none of that mattered in that moment. All the two knew was that together they needed to complete their mission.
The king nodded.
"Very well. I shall assemble my troops. Please make sure you are prepared, paladins. And may the stars watch over us." King Heranel dismissed the meeting.
"Alright, paladins to your lions. Remember to try and remain unseen for as long as possible. This mission is a dangerous one." Allura warned.
When they were walking out, Keith overheard Lance talking to Hunk about Princess Arreina, saying something along the lines that he hoped that he didn't make Allura jealous by winning over Princess Arreina's favour. Keith felt a horrid feeling rise within him. And it was a feeling that he did not recognise nor one he could keep control of.
Shiro noticed Keith's sudden frown and change of attitude just moments prior. He placed a hand on Keith's shoulder.
"What's with the long face? Is everything okay?" Shiro's concern wasn't hidden. Keith knew it was something he didn't want to talk about, especially with Shiro. He made himself nod.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just thinking about the mission." Keith didn't completely lie. He had been thinking about the mission, but Lance's comments about the princess had quickly interrupted his train of thought. Shiro lightly pushed Keith by placing a hand on his back as if he were guiding him out.
"Have you and Lance been fighting again?" Shiro asked. "You seemed like you were getting along just fine yesterday."
Keith felt like Shiro had looked straight through him. He quickly shook his head at Shiro.
"No, we're okay. It's just that he and I -" Keith didn't know what he was going to say, but he stopped himself from finishing his sentence. Shiro didn't fail to notice this.
"Both of you will have to be on the top of your game for this mission. After seeing the two of you working together during our last training, I have no doubt that you'll both keep each other safe and kick some butt in the process. I have faith in the two of you. It'll be fine." Shiro had this way of saying things that had double meanings. Keith heard it loud a clear. Shiro was hinting at whatever obstacle he and Lance were facing in that they would surpass it by working together.
"Thanks, Shiro."
Shiro gave a small encouraging slap at Keith's shoulder and mentioned something about discussing a few last minute things with the princess. Keith picked up his walking speed to catch up to the nearest paladin, Pidge. As he got closer, he overheard Lance still talking to Hunk about the princess.
"Do you think that Princess Arreina would kiss me as a reward for saving her planet?"
Pidge overheard and her nose wrinkled as she stuck out her tongue is disgust.
"Why does Lance always hit on someone on every planet we go to? He does know that it'll go nowhere, right?" Keith suddenly said. Pidge almost jumped three feet in the air. She didn't know how long Keith had been walking beside her, but either way he still startled her. And on top of that, she wasn't sure if he was talking to her or himself.
It took a moment, but the venom in Keith's voice caused something to click in Pidge's brain. If she didn't know any better she would have thought that Keith was jealous. Then suddenly as if Lance had some sort of sensor at the mention of his name, he burst into the middle of the two, throwing his arms over both of their shoulders.
"I don't know about you two, but I have a good feeling about this mission," Lance toothy grin did not lack a small shine. "I'm gonna kick some major Galra butt today, just you wait."
Keith felt that horrible feeling again as he had sudden thoughts rise in his head.
He just wants that princess's attention. That's all he cares about. What did you expect?
Where had those thoughts come from? Keith didn't know but the next thing he knew he felt words rise from the pit of his stomach like vomit.
"Just keep your focus on the mission and try to keep up." Keith snapped. He picked up his pace, letting Lance's hand fall away from his shoulder in the process. Lance's smile disappeared the moment his hand had fallen from Keith's shoulder.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lance called out after him trying to sound mildly mad, but instead he just sounded more confused.
Keith remained silent as he continued to march down the hall way, picking up his speed. Lance's felt his cocky confidence crumble away.
"What's his problem?" Lance asked Pidge. She shrugged, but she knew that three things were certain. One: Keith was more irritated with Lance's flirting than usual. Two: Lance's crestfallen expression when Keith had walked away almost looked like guilt. And three: After the mission she was definitely going to tell Hunk about it.
The Faleean army were doing their last preparation for battle while the paladins prepared to leave in their lions, going their separates for their mission. Lance and Keith were keeping their distance from each other, until it was Pidge that forced them to stand side by side.
"Lance! Keith! Get over here, I need to give you these." Hunk passed Lance a small metallic sphere. "This should deactivate and disable the generator for the particle barrier. Just set the charge once it's attached and it should work its magic."
"Thanks Hunk," Keith stared down at the sphere in Lance's hand. "Anything else we should know?"
"Well," Hunk suddenly had a mild kind of unsure expression. "Pidge and I didn't have a lot of time to work out all the kinks so the charge might be too powerful."
Lance cocked an eyebrow up at him.
"Meaning?" Lance asked.
"Meaning, that it might cause the generator to implode due to an overload, but you should be fine." He reassured. "But on the off chance it does happen, I suggest you take cover."
The blue and red pair both stared down at the device with worried expression. A few moments later they were set to leave, Shiro discretely pulled Lance to the side when Keith was being distracted by talking to Pidge.
"How are you feeling?" Shiro's concern didn't go unnoticed by Lance. It just made him confused.
"Me?" Lance cocked an eyebrow upwards. "I'm okay, why the sudden ask?"
"This is our first official mission since Zilate. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay." Shiro explained.
Zilate. Oh, how Lance wished he could forget that mission. As long as he lived, Lance knew that he would never get the image of Keith dying while he just helplessly watched from the sidelines out of his head. The only good that came out of that horror was that he and Keith became closer as a result, but was a near-death experience worth a closer friendship? All that Lance knew is that it made him wish that he reached out earlier because maybe it could have been avoided, but he couldn't afford to keep thinking about 'what if's'. At least the ordeal was over and he and Keith were alright and closer as teammates. Lance let out a long breath.
"I'm in tip-top shape, Shiro. I won't let anything like that happen to Keith ever again. You have my word." Lance's voice sounded almost too serious.
Shiro frowned. "I'm not just worried about Keith. I'll rephrase my question, will you be okay on this mission?"
Lance understood and sincerely nodded with a smile appearing on his face. "Yeah. I'm more than ready and I know that Keith is too, Shiro. So, relax. We won't let you down. You worry too much."
Shiro nodded, letting Lance go, watching him walk over to Hunk.
"They'll be fine." Shiro suddenly said. Allura stepped out of her hiding spot, sheepishly walking over to Shiro, knowing that he knew she had been eavesdropping.
"I may be a princess, but you're better at this than I would ever be." Allura admitted.
"You shouldn't cut yourself so short, princess. Lance and Keith are more alike than they think they are. They both bottle up how they feel because they don't want to burden others, but this time around I think they're telling the truth." Shiro reassured. It wasn't that she didn't understand others, it was just the paladins as individuals that she began to learn she needed to tread carefully.
Allura smiled, clasping her hands together. "Thank you. And goodluck, Shiro. Stay safe."
"The same goes to you, princess." Shiro politely bowed and their eyes lingered a moment longer at each other then they needed to be.
They wished the others luck and the plan was whisked into motion. Lance and Keith were going the the generator base while Pidge and Shiro went in their lions toward the Galran communications tower, while Hunk, Allura and Coran stayed behind in the Faleean's castle. Lance immediately noticed that Keith was giving him the cold shoulder when he attempted to speak to him.
While on the way to their destination, Lance flicked his communicator to a private channel just between him and Keith.
"What's been going on with you? Are you okay?" Lance was genuinely concerned and Keith knew it.
"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Keith did not sound pleased, but more importantly Lance detected a hint of sarcasm.
"Well, you sure sound happy, grumpy." Lance teased, hoping to get some sort reaction. Whether it made Keith madder or not, Lance hoped that it would coax the truth out of him.
Keith let out a large groan not saying a word. It left an uncomfortable silence between them for a good few seconds, but suddenly Keith sighed and his voice noticeably lightened up.
"I'm serious, it's nothing. Let's just focus on the mission."
Keith knew how foolish he was being. He didn't even know why he was still angry about Lance flirting with the princess. He flirted with someone on almost every planet they visited. It wasn't like it was a surprise; Lance did it all the time. But it made his blood boil just a little more and he couldn't place why. Keith shook off those thoughts. He needed to keep his head in the present.
"Is this because of..." Lance trailed off. "Nevermind. You're right, we should just focus on the mission."
"Because of what?" Keith pushed at the question, he wanted to hear it.
Lance groaned, knowing that Keith wasn't going to let it go any time soon and that he shouldn't have mentioned it. Lance had always thought he was stubborn, but then he met Keith.
"Because of our last mission on Zilate." Lance cautiously said. He expected a nervous reply to come from Keith admitting to his concerns about the mission because of their previous mission. But that was not the reply he got.
"What? No. It has nothing to do with what happened in our last mission." Keith's bluntness only emphasised to Lance that it was the pure truth and this confused Lance.
"What? Then what's wrong?"
"I already told you, it's nothing." Keith snapped.
"It's not because of what happened yesterday, is it?" Lance regretted saying it the moment it fell from his lips.
Suddenly the memory of the previous day flashed in Keith's mind. The image of Lance slowly dipping his head closer to his and the recollection of a foreign feeling welling inside him suddenly rushed back. Keith felt a heat rush to his ears and cheeks.
"No, of course not!" Keith sputtered the reply. "Why would you think that?"
"That's-well- I just thought..." Lance stuttered and could not form a sentence.
"Do we need to talk about it?" Keith asked with such a tone of sincerity that it made Lance immediately screech.
"No!" Lance was silent for a moment. He would have been lying if he said he wasn't wondering if it meant something. "Unless...Unless you want to talk about it."
"Not really." Keith's reply was blunt, but rushed.
That's how Lance knew that Keith was wondering the same thing, and that fact itself made Lance feel a bit better about it. But what Lance also knew is that it couldn't interfere with their mission. It was something that they probably shouldn't have been discussing on their way to a Galran base.
Something happened and it was nothing. That's it. End of story.
Lance shook his head and forcibly changed the subject. "Y-You're right, we should just focus on the mission." Lance's eye brows furrowed in an attempt to increase his focus in flying his lion.
"I'm glad you finally agree with me over something." Keith replied, trying to sound as calm as possible.
If they had been talking face to face, the two of them would have seen that they were as red faced as the other.
Hiding there lions a good distance away from the base, Lance and Keith remained keeping down near a small hill behind a few boulders, giving them cover so they could scout the area. They were just waiting for Hunk's signal. Lance noted that there were about ten guards around the perimeter. Before he could say something to Keith about it, suddenly six more came out of the base. Lance sighed knowing that it was now sixteen.
"So much for the stealth approach," Lance muttered. "We're going to end up attracting a lot of attention one way or another."
Keith's eyes skimmed over the guards. "We've just got to hit them hard and fast once the other Galran forces reach the castle. The quicker we get through this base, the better." The deadpanned seriousness was evident in his voice.
Lance pulled up a digital schematics. "If there's this many soldiers out here, there has to be at least triple in the lower corridor, here." Lance pointed at the corridor on the map, showing that it was the one before the generator room.
Keith let out what sounded to be a groan of acknowledgement. Lance didn't have to look at Keith to know that he was tense. So Lance attempted to try and defuse the tension in one of the only ways he knew how; teasing.
"I bet I could take out more bots than you." Lance challenged with a smirk on his face. Normally Keith would have groaned and rolled his eyes at the challenge, growling at him to focus, but instead Keith decided to play Lance's little game.
"I'd like to see you try." Keith's own smirk seemed to mirror Lance's own smirk. Lance did not expect the reply and while he was surprised at the response, but it wasn't unwelcome.
"You and that mullet of yours are going to eat my dust." Lance teased as a large grin began crawling up his face.
Keith let out a small huff of laughter. "After this mission I think we need to talk about your weird obsession with my hair."
Lance felt a smile begin to crawl up his face. This was good. They were talking like they normally would. For a moment things felt normal between them again.
"C'mon dude, who has a mullet these days?" Lance teased him once more. "There's this thing called a haircut."
"I'm aware, and I think I just figured out why you have such an obsession with my hair," Keith's voice was monotonous. "It's because you hardly have any hair yourself."
And in that moment, Lance knew that Keith had not just threw back at the banter, but rather Keith had just slammed him in the face with it.
"Well excuse me, Mr emo," Lance couldn't help but laugh it off. Honestly, with Keith's delivery with the comeback, he couldn't even be mad. "You seriously do not have any chill, do you? I don't know whether to be proud of the grace of that comeback or offended."
Keith still had a smirk on his face. "You're not going to deny it?"
"Well, I'll tell you my hair is just the way I like, thank you very much," Lance defended. "Just because I don't have a mop like you do, it doesn't mean I don't have a lot of hair. I take very good care of it. And what about you? Do you even condition your hair? Wait, I'm sorry, do you even know what shampoo is?"
Keith slowly turned his head and stared at Lance with the slightest ghost of a smile.
"Are we really going to start this now?" Normally, Keith would have become annoyed with Lance and his tone would become snarky, but it didn't. Keith just sounded playful and Lance wanted to take advantage of the rare occasion.
"Start?" Lance sarcastically scoffed. "Oh, no. I plan on finishing this."
"Finishing it? Come on, I've already won."
"Really now? Maybe I should just -" Lance suddenly cut himself off midsentence. He didn't know what was going to come out of his mouth, but he stopped himself from saying it before he could finish. Lance turned his head back toward the base. There was a brief silence.
"Just what?" Keith slowly asked, the teasing tone still remained.
Lance turned back to Keith, ready to just say something to brush it off, but yet again, he stopped himself from saying anything. Maybe it was the way Keith was smirking or his tone or by the fact that their faces were so close to each other that Lance couldn't help but not answer and stare.
"It's nothing." Lance didn't even register that he was still staring until he realised that Keith was staring back with a small smile.
"Sure it was." Keith mumbled back.
It was a few moments of a blissful silence, but before either could do anything or say something, Hunk's voice came over the comms.
"Guys they're here. It's time to get into position."
"Okay. Keith and I are about infiltrate the base. Just keep them busy, buddy." Lance replied, his voice back to his usual tone rather than the soft tone he was just using. "Ready?"
Keith thought that Lance must have had a switch in his brain due to how quickly he had ignored whatever moment had just happened between them, but he quickly brushed it off.
"Just try to keep up." Keith stated, materialising his bayard with a smirk.
A Galran soldier bot doing a perimeter check was suddenly shocked and disabled, falling to the ground. Shiro pulled the bot behind the pillar that he and Pidge were hiding behind.
"Nice work, Pidge." Shiro commented.
Pidge gave a small smile and plugged a cord into the Galran bot, connecting it to her small wrist device.
Whilst the tower would contain more information, her and Shiro thought that it would be a good idea to scan through the bots to see if they had any information as well.
Shiro and Pidge landed their lions a good distance away from the tower. There was no way that the sensors would have picked up on them. Hiding behind the pillar as Pidge tapped away at codes of her device, attempting to hack the bot, Shiro counted about thirteen lingering Galran bots guarding the tower. Four of the thirteen soldiers were in the particle barrier.
There wasn't much else they could do until the particle barrier was shut down.
"Anything yet?" Shiro asked, his eyes still watching the nearby sentries to make sure when they would notice that one of the other sentry bots were missing.
"Just standard rotations so far. I don't think there will be much else I can extract from this guy." Pidge kept tapping away, suddenly pausing at something. "Wait, I take that back. I think I've got something."
Shiro quickly tore his gaze away from the sentries and he crouched down beside Pidge, looking at the screen.
"What've you got?" Shiro couldn't understand a word of the technical jargon, but it was lucky for him that Pidge quickly translated.
"Well, it's coded, but it keeps repeating these words, well, I think they're words." Pidge turned the screen toward Shiro. On the screen it showed an array of lettering with words that neither of them knew.
CAEIEC NO LERCI DEHIS EMSYST ELENOPT
"Do you have any idea what it means?" Shiro asked, blinking at the screen.
Pidge shook her head. "No clue and there's nothing else about it."
"Do you think it's about the relic? Maybe it's one of the riddles the king was talking about." Shiro suggested.
"Maybe," Pidge agreed. "We won't know for sure until we get into the system. The sooner that Lance and Keith take down the barrier the better."
It started off like a stealth mission, but that was before Keith went charging in before Lance could stop him. They were in the base, so that was a bonus, but they were also surrounded by the Galran soldier bots in a hall way with two doors; the one they entered from and the one they needed to get through.
Back to back they fought against them, instinctively pulling the other out of danger of a blaster or blade. In the midst of their battle, Lance immediately noticed the door beginning to shut. He knew that there wouldn't have been enough time for him to get there. Keith was closer to the door, he was just in the middle of plunging his sword right through a Galran bot's chest.
"Keith!" That was all Lance had to say. Keith took one glance in the direction Lance was looking in and saw the door closing.
"On it!" Keith shouted, pulling his sword from the Galran bot.
Lance gave Keith some cover fire as he ran toward the door. Keith knew that there wasn't going to be a lot of time to stop the door so he did the very next thing he thought of, he slid under the closing door. He got in before the door could be sealed off. Lance didn't have time to react; all his attention was on the remaining bots.
All he could have is to have faith in Keith. He trusted him to be able to take care of the bots on his side. It was a few moments before Lance finished the remaining three bots off. Taking a moment to breathe, he overheard sounds coming from the other side of the door before it got very quiet. Suddenly the door began to open once again and Lance immediately got his blaster back into position ready to shoot. He instantly relaxed when he saw it was just Keith, panting with an array of dismembered bots behind him.
"This way." Keith gestured down the hall. Lance almost laughed. He knew he could leave it to Keith to do something cool and brush it off like it was nothing.
They barely made it past the next corner before they had more Galran bots firing at them. Lance pulled Keith back in time to miss the enemy's fire. Lance took cover in the corner and shot at them when he could, taking out the three sentry guards with deadly precision.
Keith gave him a nod of approval and the two made their way down the hall. At the end of the hall, Keith saw a staircase leading down to the lower level. He was about to bolt down it if it weren't for Lance grabbing him by the back of his collar.
"Woah! Cool your jets, where are you going?" Lance's question made Keith stare at him like he had grown a second head.
"The stairs lead down. That's where we need to go."
"Or we could take the elevator." Lance pointed over to the elevator just a few feet to the side from the staircase.
Keith stared and blinked at the elevator for a few moments before letting out a short, "Oh."
While going down the elevator it was strangely peaceful. Part of the way down, Lance realised that it even had it's own music playing through speakers like back on Earth. Lance whistled along to the tune as the elevator continued to go down to the generator's floor while Keith impatiently tapped his foot.
As soon as those doors opened, the two immediately noticed that the floor had no Galran bots anywhere. The two exchanged a suspicious glance and short nod. With their bayards out, the pair stuck close together. The area appeared to be empty, but the two kept their guard up. Lance pulled out the spherical detonator and he began setting the charge.
He was about to make a remark of how easy it was, but that's when suddenly someone leaped at them from the shadows. Keith turned in time to have their blades clash with one another. Not even a moment later, Lance shot at the figure. The figure backed off, dodging the blasts as he leaped back.
"Paladins of Voltron? Why does this not surprise me. I guess we were bound to meet one way or another," The figure walked out from the shadows. It was unsurprisingly a galra soldier. "I am commander Farsh's first in command, the great Salog. He will be pleased to hear of me gaining both the red and the blue paladins as my prisoners."
Lance couldn't help but snort with a laughter at how close the Galra's commander's name came to the word 'fart'. Keith picked up on this as well and elbowed Lance in the side to silently say 'I know it's amusing but we need to be serious right now'. The Galra seemed almost too cocky as well. Keith was hoping to use that to their advantage. Luckily for the two of them, the Galra did not notice Lance's stifled laughter and he pulled out a heavy metal sphere attached to a chain.
"Shall we begin?"
In the meanwhile back near the castle at the battlefield, it would have been a grand understatement to say that Hunk was stressed. The king had not been joking when he said that his armies would not be able to provide a distraction for long. Whilst the Faleean soldiers fought valiantly, they were no match for the Galra defences. A large majority of the Faleeans were close range fighters while the Galran bots were a mix of both close and long ranged.
It was in those kinds of moments that he wished he had Lance with him. Lance always had a knack for strategy, both back at the Garrison and even more so as a paladin (even if Lance himself didn't realise it). Lance may have not been with him, but Hunk quickly figured out what he had to do.
He still tried to wrap his head around why Shiro had chosen him to stay behind and advise the armies. Confidence boost? Probably.
'Thanks, Shiro.' Hunk sarcastically thought to himself, wishing he was stress baking something in the kitchen rather than in the heat of battle. Pulling back out his bayard's cannon, he shot down some incoming Galran bots so it would give him a moment to focus. He and Allura had to draw the fire away from the Faleean village.
"Allura, we'll need to draw in the enemy fire while the Faleeans prepare a long ranged assault." Hunk had to admit that it felt odd to order around the princess.
"Right!" Allura yelled back in the comms. The Faleean general luckily was running past when Hunk had come up with the plan.
"General!" Hunk stopped him in his tracks. "We need everyone to fall back now and get the archers ready! We need to keep them away from the village!"
"Fall back?" The General sneered, puffing his chest out to make himself appear bigger than he was. "If we do that, our race shall be seen as cowardly! And it's far too late for archers!"
Hunk may have had a kind heart, but he was ready to yell some harsh words at the general.
"Any closer and the Galra will be in the villages! Don't you care about the safety of your people? We need to take the long ranged approach!"
Hunk didn't have to say anything further as the Faleean prince, Boulter, entered the scene immediately approached the General.
"The king's orders are to listen to the paladins!" The prince snapped. "Are you attempting to defy your king!?"
The General immediately dipped his head down in shame. "Of course not, your grace."
"Then listen! Tell the troops to fall back and tell my sister along with the other archers to get ready!" Prince Boulter ordered.
The general scrambled away, yelling orders to the nearby soldiers. Hunk watched in awe at what unravelled before him.
"Thanks." Hunk said with a small smile.
"Don't thank me just yet," Prince Boulter replied, placing a reassuring hand on Hunk's shoulder. "I hope this new strategy of yours works, I do. Don't let us down, yellow paladin." And with that, Prince Boulter spotted a limping soldier and immediately went to help him walk.
Hunk had to have faith that it would work because if it didn't, more Faleeans would be captured or hurt.
No pressure. Hunk thought to himself. Hunk buried his anxious doubt down within him. He had to get to his lion and hopefully stall enough time for the mass shut down.
It may have been two against one, but the Galra had been stronger and smarter than both had previous anticipated. Keith had been the one to charge first, but it was Lance who took the first hit, pushing Keith away from harm. Keith knew that Lance was going to keep trying to protect him, so Keith always kept leaping in before Lance could catch up. The Galra, Salog, must have had some blaster resistant and that it was only more effective when he was at a close range.
Keith was thrown against the wall for a fourth time by the ball and chain. A pained gasp escaped from his lungs on impact. Keith fell to the ground, his vision blurring and his hearing was fading. Keith could hear the distant call of his name, but it sounded so far away.
It took Keith a moment to realise that Lance had rushed in, stopping the Galra soldier from continuing to make Keith his own personal punching bag. Lance slammed his bayard across Salog's head and shot at his kneecap. Salog screamed at the searing pain.
Keith forced himself to regain what was left of his consciousness. He couldn't leave Lance to fight alone. Keith's vision was clearing up and the very first thing he saw was the Galran commander holding Lance up by his throat. Lance was pinned to the wall by Salog.
A rage overcame Keith. It could only be described as pure rage because never had flashes of red appeared before his vision so quickly. The newfound rage replenished his energy and strength. Back on his feet he grabbed his sword and hissed at the Galran commander gripping at Lance's throat.
"Get away from him!" Keith twirled the handle of his sword in his hand. "Your fight is with me!"
The Galran snapped his head toward Keith. He saw as Keith discarded his helmet to the side with a fire burning in his eyes. Salog knew that Keith was initiating a silent challenge. As a Galra, he was not going to back down.
The Galra abruptly released Lance from his grasp. Lance gasped, taking in a large breath of air, coughing in the process. His lungs burned in his chest, but he still tried to regulate his breathing. While Lance tried to catch his breath, both Keith and the Galran commander had begun their fight.
It was sword against sword. Keith was more prepared a second time around. The swords collided over and over again. The two were evenly matched in strength. While stuck in the middle of blocking the Salog's sword, in the corner of Keith's eye he saw Lance pulling up his blaster getting ready to shoot at the galra.
"No! This is my fight!" Keith hissed, pushing back against Salog's sword, making him back off momentarily.
Lance could tell from the fire in Keith's eyes that he should listen to Keith and not interfere. Lance kept his finger near the trigger of his blaster, ready to step in if he had to, but he had faith in Keith. He wasn't going to lose the fight.
Keith barely had time to dodge, weaving out of the blades path, but not before it nicked the right side of his cheek. Keith barely flinched, the adrenaline blocking off any source of pain. Keith blocked the blade and parried with his own, finally managing to disarm the galra. As the Galra's blade went skidding across the floor, he turned his head back to Keith in time to see his fist before it connected with his face.
Salog fell to the ground unconscious as Keith grunted in pain. While knocking out the galra with a punch had been satisfying, it felt like he was punching a wall that was made out of steel. However, the pain went numb quickly. He won the fight and that's what mattered to him. While Keith was rubbing his knuckles, Lance made his way over to him.
"Nice going, samurai," Lance encouragingly slapped the back of Keith's shoulder. "I didn't know that you had that in you."
Honestly, neither did Keith. Where that sudden push of strength came from was a mystery. All he knew is that Lance was in trouble and he needed to stop it.
"We should set the charge." Keith stated, changing the subject.
"Right." Lance nodded, running over to the detonator.
While Lance was resetting the charge, Keith saw a pair of handcuffs hanging from the unconscious commander's belt. He cuffed the commander to a nearby pillar.
"It's set." Lance turned his communicator off of radio silence. "The particle barrier is about to come down, guys. Shiro and Pidge, you guys better be ready."
Once Lance activated it, both he and Keith backed away. The electrical pulse shot through it, overriding the generator. But the sparks quickly got out of hand. The pulse was too strong like Hunk had guessed. The overload was too much for the system. The main hub began sparking and smoke began rising from it. It was going to blow and there wasn't enough time to get out of there.
"Get down!" Lance shouted, tackling Keith to ground using his own body to try and shield him as the main hub finally imploded, bursting into flames.
After finally getting Lance's signal, Shiro and Pidge watched as the shield disappeared.
"Let's move!" Shiro stated, immediately letting his robotic arm glow, taking out the Galran bots near the pillar where the two were hiding. Shiro and Pidge immediately invaded the tower. Shiro easily took out the lingering guards in the halls. Pidge managed to get a few of them down herself before Shiro could take them down.
Running up the tower was a tiring job. It was all stairs. But with what was at stake, the two did not slow down. Shiro took as many of them down as he could.
Finally getting to the top of the tower, Pidge shocked the remaining Galran bot.
Pidge practically tripped over and landed on the control panel of the main hub. Pidge began to work her magic on the main hub once Shiro placed his hand against the panel. Pidge groaned at the codes appearing on the screen, it had been like she previously had guessed. She needed to go through more than a few layers of security in order to initiate the override. She worked as fast as her hands could type.
In the meanwhile, Hunk and his lion flew over the Galran bots, taking heavy fire in the process. Both the yellow lion and the castle provided cover fire for the Faleean soldiers as they shot arrows at the bots. The arrows were working, but there was too many of them. But it did keep them at bay and away from the village nearest the castle, long enough for the other villagers to be evacuated.
"We're taking too much fire. We're going to have to pull back!" Coran informed as Allura had to pull the castle up and away out of range.
Hunk knew that he wouldn't last too much longer either. He quickly switched his comms back on.
"I'm not trying to rush you guys, but the castle and my lion can't take much more enemy fire." Hunk nervously yelled into his comm. Hunk took another hit as soon as he said that. The yellow lion's alarms were blaring and the everything began to glow red, warning him that the armoured lion wouldn't last too much longer. A few more hits and he would become a goner.
Hunk used some evasive manuverises and continues to lead the soldiers into the range of the arrow fire of the Faleeans, but the bots still got a few shots in. Each blast inched Hunk closer and closer to the complete shut down of his lion.
Pidge knew this and she pushed herself to the absolute limit her brain would allow her to go. And it was just like that she finally found a way to crack down the coded security walls like a pack of dominoes.
"Hold on, Hunk! Almost..." Pidge sped up her typing the Galran text for 'access granted' appeared on the screen. Pidge slammed her fingers against the final keystrokes. "Got it!"
Hunk squeezed his eyes shut, ready for the final blow, but it never came. In the span of a few ticks, the Galran bots dropped down to the ground motionless and the battle field became quiet. Hunk let out a massive sigh of relief as he listened to the cheers of the Faleeans that they had finally won a battle against the Galran invaders.
"They did it!" Hunk exclaimed, resting his hand on the control pad of his lion. "Nice going out there."
With his eyes tightly shut, Lance couldn't tell how long it was lasting. He tightly clung to Keith as the left over debris blew across the room in flames. He had one hand on the back of Keith's head forcibly holding Keith to his chest while the other hand was wrapped around him. If they hadn't been surrounded by debris than someone could have assumed that they were a couple, intimately embracing.
After the main hub imploded, Lance and Keith stayed like that a few moments longer than they had to.
"Are you okay?" Lance asked, loosening his grip around Keith but he still held Keith in his arms.
"I'm fine." Keith sat up, looking over at Lance. "What about you?"
"I'm good." Lance replied.
Only after knowing that Lance was unharmed did Keith then realised that he was in Lance's arms. Keith swiftly pulled himself away. Keith didn't want to admit it to himself, but there was just something about being in Lance's arms that felt...right. But he pushed that thought to the deepest crevice of his mind.
The two got up from the ground taking a look at their surroundings. It wasn't as bad as they thought. The generator was in pieces scattered across the room with the main computer panel blown and in flames. By some miracle, Salog was unscathed by the whole ordeal.
"We should leave him here for the Faleeans." Lance suggested.
Keith nodded in agreement. There would have been no point in taking the galra with them. It wouldn't take long for the Faleeans to arrive after the mass shutdown. Lance picked up Keith's helmet, he was in the middle of silently passing it over to Keith when he noticed blood seeping out of the cut from Keith's cheek.
"Your cut is starting to bleed a lot."
Without thinking, Lance gently wiped the blood away with his thumb. Once Lance realised what he did, he retracted his hand away.
"We should head back to our lions." Lance suggested. Keith noticed the shortest limp in Lance's step. Keith immediately forced Lance's arm over him and helped him walk.
Instead of denying it, Lance attempted to down play it. "It doesn't hurt that much. I can walk."
"Sure. Whatever you say." Keith muttered, not letting go of Lance. And it wasn't that Lance put up much of a fight.
The two remained in a silence that was neither awkward or pleasant. It was as if they were both still processing the whole mission they had just completed. Once they were outside the base, the sunlight of Faleea's sun shined over them. It was a pleasant heat that the two welcomed after coming from the cold of the Galran base. They silently communicated with each other as Lance decided he didn't need Keith's help anymore.
"How's your throat?" Keith finally asked, breaking the silence between them.
Lance brushed one of his hands across it.
"It's alright, but I've had better days." Lance shrugged it off.
"You might want to go in a healing pod for a while. It's going to leave one nasty bruise." Keith stated, still staring at the red around Lance's throat.
Lance just shrugged.
"Nah, what would be the fun in that? It's my battle wound. I'll live," Lance said. "Besides, I think the chicks will dig it." Lance joked.
Keith left out a short huff of laughter that almost sounded real. Lance was still Lance, that wasn't going to change.
"What about you? You got knocked up pretty bad." Lance pointed out.
It was Keith's turn to shrug it off.
"I'll live."
But the thing about the light of a sun is that it illuminates certain features. Lance saw the large bump on Keith's head and the cut on the side of his face still had a trail of dried blood.
"Are you sure that you didn't want to go in the healing pod for a while?" Lance didn't even bother to hide his concern.
"Why?" Keith asked. "Do you think that the cut will scar?" Keith meant it as a joking jab, knowing if the roles were reversed, Lance would be complaining about scarring his 'beautiful face'. But Lance didn't take it as a joke, he took it quite literally. The next Keith knew was the Lance was taking off his helmet. Lance placed the helmet in Keith's hands. Before Keith could ask what he was doing, suddenly Lance was holding his face in place as he inspected the cut.
"Hold still for a second." Lance quietly commanded.
Keith immediately froze at the contact. Lance didn't notice how Keith's eyes had widened for a moment. Keith had expected Lance to be frantic and rough, but that was not the case. Lance was calm and his touch was gentle. He was treating Keith not like he was fragile, but rather something precious. Lance gave him all his focus and attention in doing everything he could not to harm Keith as he brushed his fingers against the cut. Even through Lance's armour gloved hands, his touch to Keith's face was placid and smooth. Lance used his thumb to try and wipe away some of the excess blood.
"Does it hurt?" Lance asked. His tone of voice was kind and soft, much like his touch. It was a different side to Lance that Keith hadn't seen before. It shocked him.
"N-No," Keith wanted to curse at himself for stuttering. He attempted to recover the sentence. "I can barely feel it."
Lance let out a small hum, acknowledging that he had been listening.
"It's not too deep. You should be fine." Lance smiled.
Lance let his hands fall away from Keith's face. Lance slowly pulled away remembering that there should be some sort of boundary between them. Oddly enough it wasn't because it was something too intimate to be doing it to a friend, but because he knew how Keith would push away physical contact. But then suddenly there it was again; the silence. The silence made them both experience a feeling that couldn't be explained. The same silence that had appeared during their training session the previous day.
Lance was going to force himself to step away to create more space between them, but he just didn't move. If it weren't for Keith's helmet between them, they probably would have gotten closer to each other. But even with the helmet between them they were closer than they should have been.
Keith couldn't help but wonder how Lance could be so different in a matter of moments. One moment he could be a flirtatious joker with a childish sense of humour. And the next he could be a competitive pilot with shooting abilities that could rival Keith's talent for the blade, and the next moment after that, Lance could be a kind, gentle, caring person that would desperately fight for his friends. And yet, all those different sides of him were still all the same old Lance. To Keith, Lance was a one of a kind person. No one in the universe could compare to him.
To Keith, it was just a fact that Lance was special.
Shiro's voice came over their communicators.
"We've taken down the tower. Good job team Voltron. We did it! Mission accomplished."
They mutually stepped away from each other, but unlike the last time there was no awkward tension. If anything they just grew comfortable with whatever it was.
Allura's voice came over the communicator after Shiro's.
"You all did great, paladins. We'll meet you back at the castle."
Keith placed his helmet back on his head and he was the one to answer back.
"Got it. Lance and I will see you there." Keith turned off his comm and turned to Lance. "We should head back."
Like they were listening to Keith, on cue, a few Faleean speeders arrived base. Lance's sudden smile made something go off in Keith. He felt as if his chest tightened with a tension like he had forgot to breathe for a moment. Keith didn't know what he meant, but he didn't like it.
What is this? Keith internally panicked.
"You know," Lance began. "I can beat you back to the castle in a race, easy."
Keith smirked, "Really now?"
"Yes, I do," Lance grinned. "Ready? 3, 2, 1, GO!"
As Lance took off running, well, more like his attempt to run with an injured leg, toward the blue lion. It took Keith a moment to realise what was happening. Keith almost laughed as he called out after him as they ran.
"That's cheating!"
It didn't take Keith long to catch up to Lance. The tension in Keith's chest vanished as he ran, but the memory of it lingered in his mind. He thought that maybe it was just the adrenaline still pumping through him, but deep down, Keith knew that it wasn't.
Once they got back to the castle, they agreed to a draw, but Lance still labelled himself the winner.
Team Voltron all met out the front of the castle, greeting each other with smiles as another mission was accomplished. After how badly it went down on Zilate, they were all relieved to see each other still in one piece. Lance gave a brief explanation of what went down between him, Keith, and the Galra: Salog.
"I'm proud of all you. You've all done a remarkable job," Allura praised. "Especially you, Hunk. You lead the army surprisingly well."
"It's more like I just gave them some advice. I wish I could have done more."
"Don't say that. You just praise from the princess. That's a very high honour, buddy," Lance threw an arm over Hunk. "If anything, I'm so jealous right now." Lance joked. Keith noticed that the oddest part was that normally, Lance would probably be jealous, but in that instance, he wasn't. Maybe it was because it was Hunk, or maybe it wasn't. Either way, Keith didn't humour the sudden thought anymore than he had to and he let it slip away quite quickly.
"I managed to copy the data from the tower on to a hard drive. I'll need some time to decode it, but I think after going through a few files that I found something on the relic that the Galra are after." Pidge informed.
"We should go find King Heranel." Coran suggested. "Our next objective is making sure the Galra don't get their hands on it. It is far too dangerous."
"Agreed." Allura nodded, leading the way to find the king.
As the paladins were leaving the front courtyard the Faleeans that arrived at the base as Keith and Lance left were leading the Galra they had fought, Salog in chains. Keith felt like that Galra was going to try something so he trusted his instincts and lingered behind.
What the Faleeans and even Keith failed to notice was that the Galra had a pick and he slowly picked at the lock of his cuffs discretely. The king had already been on his way out when the team were going to go look for him. The king and Allura became engaged into a conversation as the Faleeans lead the Galra prisoner to Prince Boulter.
"So, you're the prince? Interesting. You look just as Commander Farsh's report said you would look like." The Galra, Salog sneered.
"Take him to the dungeon to await trial." Prince Boulter commanded, ignoring the threatening tone of the Galra.
As Salog was passing the prince, he finally got himself free from his cuffs and he seized the dagger of the Faleean soldier beside him. The Galra was quick, he knocked out the soldier and charged at the nearest target; the prince.
But before the Galra could get close to the prince, Keith immediately shoved the prince out of the way while barely having enough time to dodge the blade. Keith grabbed on to the Galra's arm, disarming him. Before Keith had a chance to do anything else, the other soldiers had grabbed a hold of Salog.
"You're all fools!" Salog laughed. "Commander Farsh will find the relic! He will stop at nothing!" The Faleean soldier finally managed to knock out the Galra and subdued him.
Keith turned away from the Galra and extended a hand toward the prince.
"Are you okay?" Keith didn't ask it in any unique way, but for some reason, the prince seemed to see something like sparkles around Keith like a halo of light.
Prince Boulter had previously thought that Keith was the most handsome out of the paladins, but that was just an aesthetic opinion. However, that moment he saw a hero that had just saved his life. The prince believed that life was made from many moments, and in that moment in particular he believed that it was the beginnings of love.
"Yes, thank you." Prince Boulter accepted Keith's hand, getting back to his feet. "And may I ask for your name? I would like to know of the name of my rescuer."
"Keith."
"Thank you, red paladin: Keith." The prince was not subtle with his affectionate tone, attempting to subtly caress Keith's hand with his thumb. However, it just left Keith looking at him strangely before he finally pulled his hand away from the prince. The others rushed over, overhearing the commotion.
"Are you both okay?" King Heranel asked, frantically looking over to his son.
The prince nodded.
"What happened?" Allura questioned, seeing the Galra being dragged away. Lance shot a glare at the unconscious Galra before he was about to ask, but before Keith could answer, Boulter did.
"I am fine, father. I should have been more alert. The red paladin saved me from the Galra." Prince Boulter smiled once again at Keith.
King Heranel turned to Keith.
"Thank you for saving my son. I will not forget this."
"It's no problem at all," Keith had to be lightly nudged by Shiro to be a bit politer. "Your majesty." Keith added.
King Heranel looked toward Allura and the others.
"I would like to have a celebration tonight at the castle to celebrate our victory here today and to honour those who fought. We would be beyond honoured if you and the members of Voltron would join us." King Heranel smiled.
Allura was about to interject saying something about how much time they had, but that's when the king leant in close to Allura so only she could hear.
"I will tell you all I know during the celebration. I have reason to believe that the Galra have ears within my castle walls. I have faith in my people, but my trust does not make me blind. An exchange of information during a gala is something they would not suspect and it'll be the safest way of telling you this information," The king pull away and stopped whispering. "And besides, the heroes that helped save Faleea deserved to be celebrated, even if it is one night."
Allura noted. "You make a compelling argument, King Heranel. I and the paladin, humbly accept your offer."
"I will begin arrangements," King Heranel gave a curt nod. "A victory gala shall be in order. Boulter. Arreina. I'll leave the arrangements to you."
As the king left, the paladins began to question Allura as to what was happening while the royal siblings were left to discuss plans of the gala.
"Gala?" Shiro asked, previously overhearing part of the conversation. "With everything we still need to do?" Shiro tried to keep it as discrete as possible since Prince Boulter was only a few feet away, talking to his sister.
"Yes, the king would like to honour us. It would be rude refuse. I will tell you about the details of proper etiquette once we're back in the castle. So, we shall discuss it back at the castle." By Allura's tone and her use of repeating herself, the paladins knew that there was something more.
It wasn't that Allura felt like Heranel implied at his own children when he suggested spies in the walls of the castle, but from their meeting previously before the battle, Heranel didn't want his children to hear about the relic. He was merely a father trying to protect his children and Allura wanted to keep it that way.
"I suggest that you all rest as we prepare," Princess Arreina suddenly said to them. "At sundown, we shall send for someone to come and get you."
"Thank you for your kind hospitality." Allura forced a smile.
"I'm looking forward to this. The Faleeans are known from how enjoyable their celebrations are. I haven't been to one in decapades!" Coran commented. "Well, it would technically be ten thousand years and a few decapades by now, wouldn't it?"
"We shall make it the grandest party you have ever been to. For foday is a celebration. The galra have terrorised us for too long, well, that was until all of you brave paladins came along." Arreina laughed.
Lance couldn't help that the remark was meant for him at the end of that sentence.
The prince nodded, "I look forward to the gala tonight." Boulter looked directly at Keith as the words fell from his lips, but it was lucky for him that Keith wasn't looking at him when he did.
A/N: Next chapter is the gala and things get...well, no spoilers. I hope you enjoyed this and that you'll stick around for chapter 2 of this two shot.
Also, confession: I've never been a big fan of OC's in fanfic, well, more so writing OC's in my fanfics I mean. It was with this fic in particular it couldn't be helped because Voltron (the show itself) is a space adventure and characters are going to be in and out of the show all of the time. So I'm trying to keep as close to how I think the show would be like in my fanfics. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, that they will only be in this story (and maybe mentioned briefly in future instalments).