Title: It wasn't you

Rating: T

Summary: He was back on the astral plane, standing across from himself? "Welcome back, Shiro." The other him snarled. "Who? What are you?" "Oh me, I'm the program Haggar put in poor old Kuron's head. That's what you call him right? Kuron? Clone?" The other him laughed cruelly. "How confusing for you."

Author's notes: This is a fix it kind of fic for the whole Kuron thing. I just feel like it ended to abruptly and wasn't really resolved. And I mean part of the clone was like Shiro, he just wanted to be the paladin :), and then there was the part that was evil. The clone program was started long before Haggar could have anticipated needing him to save Lotor, so that couldn't have been her original plan…right? Anyway here's my attempt at making it fit and throwing in a huge scoop of Langst cause I can.

Chapter 1

Shiro couldn't help but notice the shocked looks, the flinches, the timid way Lance would act around him. Something was wrong, and he didn't know what it was. It was almost like Lance was afraid of him. And that couldn't make sense, why would he be afraid of him? In all other aspects it was clear that Lance had matured and grown while he was away - dead - whatever, and wasn't that weird and awkward.

He felt old, tired, drained. Allura assured him that his quintessence was low and that with time he would regain his vitality. He was looking forward to it. He didn't like feeling like a feeble confused old man. He didn't really like that was how Keith was treating him either, but he had to be understanding. He could imagine how he would feel if the situation had been reversed.

He wondered why Keith had left Voltron. Had the clone him…okay awkward more…Kuron…yeah that works… Had Kuron and Keith had a falling out before he left? He had heard that Keith had been the one to subdue this clone body. He knew the new scar on his brother's face was the fault of the body he now occupied. Keith didn't flinch around him though, so why did Lance? He sighed and leaned back into his bed. It had only been a couple of days since he'd been reattached to his body, since his soul had almost rejected this body. This body that wasn't his. It was his now. He needed to sleep, maybe it would make sense in the morning. Then again, maybe not.

There was a whole piece of life missing. A piece this body lived, but he didn't. So many things had happened while he was gone. It was overwhelming trying to catch up to where they were. Their lives had gone on without him and he just had this huge hole. Keith had lived even longer because of some space time thing. He couldn't remember the last time he didn't know everything that had happened in Keith's life. He'd left the people he was responsible for alone, in a war, with a weird clone replacement of himself. He closed his eyes and his nightmares were filled with visions on himself fighting Keith.

Lance laid in his bunk in Red. He couldn't sleep. He felt so stupid. How could he be so damn stupid?! Of course it hadn't been Shiro. Looking back it was all there for him to put together, so many clues. Quiznak, the clone practically told him and he was just too stupid. He couldn't sleep.

He stood up and slipped into his armor, maybe he'd just go for a walk. The planet they were on was wooded. There were some predators, but nothing large and they seemed to be easily scared off by light and loud noise. He mentally reassured Red. He just needed some fresh air, maybe run off some nerves, then he'd be back.

He was just stepping out of Red when a voice stopped him.

"Lance?" Keith stepped out of the shadows.

"Oh, hey, I just needed some air, thought I'd go for a run." Lance answered nervously.

Keith frowned, it was pretty clearly not the entire story. "How about I run with you?"

Lance shrugged. "Suit yourself, but I'm not slowing down for you."

They took off at a slow paced and then worked up to speed. Lance knew he was starting to leave Keith behind, but he needed to push himself. He needed to feel his heart pound and his lungs fill completely, he needed to feel something-anything. He kept running until he just couldn't. He couldn't. He fell to his knees and then to his hands panting. Keith caught up to him a minute or so later.

"You…are…fast…when…you…want…to…be." Keith leaned over, putting his hands on his knees, panting.

Lance nodded. He couldn't talk yet.

Keith sat down and started stretching, "You're going to cramp if you don't move."

Lance managed to get himself seated. He practically laid flat against legs. Keith was constantly jealous of his flexibility. It was like he could just fold himself in half. Lance said it was from years of yoga.

"So, going to tell me why you can't sleep?" Keith asked.

"No." Lance moved and stretched to the side.

"Why?"

"Don't want to." Lance closed his eyes and pulled his feet together and folded himself in half again.

"Ok." Keith didn't think pushing was going to help. He wasn't sure what to do when the most talkative person he knew wouldn't talk. "It's Shiro, right? You're still feeling guilty about not knowing it was him."

"Wouldn't you?" Lance asked.

"I do." Keith felt his own guilt welling up again.

"You didn't live with him. I did. You didn't see him when he had his headaches and spells. He told me he wasn't himself. He called out to me on the astral plane. I should have at least gone back to the astral plane to look for him. I should have known. I should have known that Shiro wouldn't act like that." Lance yelled up at the sky in frustration. "I WAS SO STUPID!"

"Lance."

"Shut up, Keith." Lance wasn't ready to be coddled or comforted. He was so angry with himself and ashamed he just couldn't see past it.

"Lance."

"I said SHUT UP!" Lance stood abruptly.

"What are you going to do? Hit me?" Keith stood up toe to toe with Lance.

"I might."

"Oh yeah!"

"Yeah!"

And then Keith stuck his tongue out at him. The Black Paladin, leader of Voltron, just stuck his tongue out at him. Lance couldn't stop the laughter the bubbled up out of him. Keith wrapped his arms around him and his laughter turned to sobs. They sat in the woods on the alien world and cried and laughed until the sun came up.

"We should get back." Lance muttered.

"Yeah, they'll be looking for us." Keith stood and offered Lance his hand. "We got him back. We didn't fail him. We did what we had to do."

"Yeah. What we had to do." Lance echoed. His thoughts on other things.

"Lance? How could we have known? He acted like Shiro. So much like him, I didn't see it." Keith took a deep breath.

"Most of the time." Lance whispered. "Most of the time he was Shiro."

"Most of the time?" Keith frowned looking in concern at Lance.

"Let's get back." Lance turned and began walking back to camp, leaving Keith questioning just what had happened when he hadn't been acting like Shiro.

Shiro was sitting by the fire. He was cold. He couldn't seem to get warm. He had been sipping a soup Hunk had warmed up for him, when he realized his hand was shaking. Then the cup fell as he couldn't grip it. He was staring at the liquid spilling on the ground. His vision had completely tunneled to that point, there were voices buzzing around him, but he couldn't hear them. His body started to shake even harder and he felt himself fall.

He was back on the astral plane, standing across from himself?

"Welcome back, Shiro." The other him snarled.

"Who? What are you?"

"Oh me, I'm the program Haggar put in poor old Kuron's head. That's what you call him right? Kuron? Clone?" The other him laughed cruelly. "How confusing for you."

"What are you doing in my head?"

"Oh, I've been here the whole time, waiting. Kuron died. I didn't. It's not that easy to stop me." He moved until he stood directly in front of Shiro. "I'm going to kill you, just like I did him, and then I'm going to use your body to destroy your family. My job hasn't been completed, just complicated."

"I won't let you hurt them!" Shiro yelled.

"Don't you mean hurt them more?" He laughed again. "After all how long did I live with them? Did you think it was all sunshine and roses?"

"What did you do?" Shiro growled

"Well, I pushed away one Paladin, didn't I? Keith left. Then it was just a matter of breaking up your team, I had control of the Black Paladin so all I had to do was push away another Paladin and then Voltron was finished. I had to do it right though, couldn't make him a martyr. Had to isolate him, make him doubt himself, turn the team against him, and when the moment was right I would have disposed of him and they would never have questioned it." He paced as he spoke, "but then Haggar had to have me save her dear Lotor. Such a waste of my efforts." He shook his head.

Shiro felt his anger burn. He'd pushed Keith away. He'd targeted and tried to eliminate…Lance…it had to be. It explained so much. No way was he letting this guy hurt them ever again. "I won't let you."

"How are you going to stop me?" He laughed.

Shiro dove forward swinging at him with all his might. Then he was on the ground. The wind was blowing and Allura was looking down at him.

"Shiro are you with us?" she asked.

"Allura?" he croaked.

"Yes. It's okay now. You can rest." She patted his chest with her hand.

"It's not, Allura, he's in my head. The thing Haggar made, he's still in there." Shiro whispered as his eyes closed, his body exhausted.