Been wanting to write this for aaages!

Not entirely canon-compliant, please bare with me on that front. Info on why my updates for… everything are spotty is on my tumblr for anyone who's interested!

They'd been in space for months, now.

Arus was now a distant memory, and Earth even further. How much time had passed on Earth? Hours? Days? Months? Years? They had no way of telling. They'd probably never go home again.

Even though no one admitted it, or even spoke about it, they all wondered how everyone reacted to their disappearance. Did anyone recognize them on the speeder that Keith used to retrieve Shiro? Were they considered fugitives? Were their families being interrogated? Did the world think that they were dead?

Blue had been seen, though. Were they hunting for Blue? Did they know that the two were linked; the Blue lions appearance and their disappearance? Did the public know about Blue? Did their families know about Blue?

There were so many questions, but they weren't getting answers.

Allura was persistently steering them away from the Earth, sending them away to planets further and further away until Earth was simply an idea, and the map no longer scrolled across enough to include their quant little galaxy.

Little by little, Lance stopped talking about the beach. He stopped talking about his mum's hugs; the way the sunlight sparkled on the surface of the waves, and how his hair felt after a day in the surf. Lance stopped tasting salt.

Hunks cooking slowly moved further and further away from Earth cuisine. When Pidge had asked for lasagna, it took him a few minutes to remember what lasagna even was. Hunk stopped talking about his family, too; Shiro had never mentioned any to begin with. Pidge gradually stopped mentioning her brother and father. She still insisted that she had to find her family, but every so often she would falter, and a confused look would flash across her face.

It bothered Keith.

They were forgetting.

The further from Earth they got, the more memories they lost. Keith didn't remember how sand felt, how it scratched across his skin, the way it slipped through his fingers, the way it irritated his feet when it got into his socks. He remembered the blistering sun, the way his skin bubbled and turned red when he spent too long outside, waiting, listening, searching.

He didn't remember what he was looking for.

He didn't remember how he got here. All he knew was that Lance had brought him here, and that Red was his. That Red was all he needed, and he absolutely could not lose her.

"It's pretty creepy, you know." Lance had suddenly said one day, sat down on a rocky ledge overlooking a crystal lake with Keith.

"What is?" Keith had replied, looking up from where he was polishing his bayard.

"That we have Sendak in the basement."

They didn't exactly have a basement. Keith chose to not comment on that.

"Would you rather he be somewhere else?"

"No." Lance shot back. "It's just… weird. Knowing he's that close to us. Do you think he listens to us?"

"He's unconscious."

"He may not be!"

Keith put his bayard away and stood up, knees clicking. "I wonder if you can swim in this lake." He didn't really want to talk about Sendak. He still wanted to punch the furry bastard in the face.

Lance's forehead creased as he frowned for a second.

"It looks pretty solid to me, we'd probably skate on it instead."

"Didn't you live next to a beach?" Keith asked. "I didn't think the sea froze."

Lance frowned at him. "I didn't live by a beach."

Keith fixed him with a look. "Yes, you did."

"I think I'd know where I lived!" Lance snapped back. "Go back to your desert, Anakin." He roughly stood up and stalked away, a hand feverishly rubbing at his head.

"Who's Anakin!?" Keith shouted after him. Grumbling to himself, he looked back at the crystal lake.

He was pretty certain Lance had lived by the sea. Had their memories been degraded this badly? How come he remembered where his house was? The little cactus that grew just under his window? The pictures pasted onto the wall?

He didn't remember what the pictures were of.

Eventually Keith pushed himself up too and trailed after Lance. Maybe Hunk would remember?

Keith found Hunk in the kitchen, the bulky man rummaging in the cold store. The dull ache in his stomach told him it was almost dinner time, and Hunk was probably on dinner duty again. A welcome change from the goop the castle supplied.

"Hey, Hunk?" Keith asked. Hunk peered out from the cold store, ice clinging onto his fringe.

"Oh, hey Keith." Hunk cheerfully replied. "I was just looking for these tubers we found the other week on that yellow planet, the one with the furry things? Do you know where they are? I know a great recipe for them."

"I... Have no idea." Keith stuttered in reply. "I was actually gunna ask you something."

"What's what?"

"Do you remember your house at all?"

Hunk frowned at him, his eye twitching in a wince. "I think so? Why do you ask?"

"Just curious." Keith waved him off. "Good luck finding the tubers."

Hunk replied with his thanks before diving back into the cold store. Keith watched him for a moment before turning to leave the kitchen.

Allura politely smiled at him in question.

Keith simply nodded at her and set off to find Pidge and Shiro.

Pidge was sat by her lion, surprise surprise, and was tapping away on her laptop. She waved off Keith and told him to come back later. She was busy, she insisted. His questions could wait until she had finished decoding whatever her little hands had gotten hold of this time.

Shiro was nowhere to be found.

With a grunt, Keith slumped down outside the ship. He distantly heard Coran doing something on the exterior, the tinkling of bolts and the clanging of metal on metal reaching his ears. Lance was nowhere to be found, either.

Keith hated this. He knew something was wrong, people just didn't forget like this. They didn't forget where they used to live, for christs sake, they didn't forget what their home looked like or even where it was. It didn't happen.

Slowly but surely, all they were going to be left with were memories of Voltron. It would be as if Voltron was their life, and there had been nothing else before that.

It was wrong. It was so, so wrong.

"I thought you'd be training." Someone said as they walked towards him. Keith glanced up at them, the blue registering faster than their voice. Lance.

"Allura's recalibrating the programme." Keith replied.

Lance slowly sat down beside Keith. "I think you were right, before. About the beach."

"About you living there?" Keith asked.

"Yeah. I totally forgot. It's been so long."

"Come on," Keith said as he hauled Lance to his feet. "We should check out that lake."

Lance was about to protest when he saw that Keith wasn't looking at him. He saw Coran in the reflection on his eyes and bit back his words - Keith had reason to not trust Coran, and Lance had a feeling he should be trusting Keith's instincts.

"I'll race you!" Lance wriggled his hands out of Keith's grip before sprinting away, Keith only having a moment to register what had happened before he quickly dashed after him.

"L-Lance!" Keith tripped over his feet before he quickly regained his footing, Lance only outpacing him because his legs were so damn long. Who even needed legs that long?! Keith certainly didn't, they just made bigger targets. The two raced down towards the shore, Lance leading the way and hastily jumping from rock to rock, his hands expertly gripping onto the rock face for balance. Keith's hands quickly became sore. He didn't seem to care.

"Come on, slow poke! Fastest paladin my ass!" Lance jumped down onto black sand, the saturated sediment splashing up onto his stark white shoes. Keith jumped down next to him a moment later.

"My lion is the fastest." Keith corrected. Lance just rolled his eyes and waved him off.

"Details, details." Lance walked towards the lake and poked the surface with his foot. It rippled. "Huh, what do ya know? It's liquid."

Keith knelt down and picked up a fistful of sand, letting it run through his fingers. It felt so, so familiar, but he just couldn't place it at all. He knew it was home, he knew he should remember this, but… he couldn't put the two together. Glancing up, he saw Lance was doing the same, his face twisted in confusion before his eyes widened and he looked decidedly panicked.

"This is so weird." Lance looked up at Keith. "I know this feeling, but I don't know why."

"I think Allura is hiding something from us." Keith replied, letting all the sand in his hand drop to the floor before brushing his hands off. "Nobody just forgets like this. Not unless there's something wrong."

"Do you think something happened to us?" Lance asked. "Shiro lost his memory from trauma, could've happened to us too."

"Maybe." Keith replied, squishing the wet sand between his hands to make small mounds. This was new to him – wet sand in the desert meant he was wasting water, so he didn't do it. "But surely we'd have some memory of that?"

Lance plopped down onto the sand next to Keith. "Did Shiro?"

Keith shook his head. "I don't remember." He crushed the mound he was making with the heel of his palm. "His memories were triggered by similar events, though." He poked his finger into the black sand as far as it could go, relishing in how cold it felt.

He could feel sand in the creases of his glove.

Keith looked out over the lake, only now realising that it was a spectrum of colour. He absently wondered what it looked like to the natives.

The sky was a rich plum colour, one of the three suns that illuminated the planet now slowly sinking below the horizon. Coran would be done with the repairs soon, and they'd have to get back on board before they continued on their journey.

"Do you think we'll ever go home again?" Keith asked.

"The castle is our home now." Lance replied, looking out over the lake. "We have to accept it."

Keith frowned. That wasn't what Lance would have said a month ago.

When the second sun had begun to set, Lance chattering Keith's ear off about some alien girl he had met and how she was so totally into him, Keith suddenly pushed himself back up off the wet sand. "I'm going back."

"Aw, you jealous?" Lance teased as he followed suit. "Don't worry, I'm sure some girls would like your mullet."

Keith felt a pang go through his chest, but he wasn't entirely sure why. He elected to ignore it.

"I'm not jealous." Keith spat, "I don't care about that kind of thing."

Lance continued to prod him the entire climb back up the cliff, Keith growing more and more annoyed before he had whirled and snapped at him to shut the hell up. Lance looked slightly taken aback, his eyes lingering just a moment too long on Keith's flushed face before he backtracked and promptly changed the topic.

Once inside Lance had excused himself to go find Hunk, which suited Keith just fine. The red paladin tapped his armour on the ground just outside the castle, shaking off any loose sand before he went inside and headed towards his room. He had a shower unit in there he could get the more stubborn bits of sand off in.

He felt like he was being watched. The castle walls seemed to be closer, more stifling than usual. Walls loomed over him, threatening to crush him under their weight.

Keith sped up.

Thankfully, his quarters were a safe haven. The walls opened back up, allowing him to breathe again. The lights filled the room with a familiar hum and crackle as Keith wriggled out of his armour and chucked it towards the bathroom door. He peeled off his clothes and grabbed his towel from the end of his bed.

Breathe, Keith. Just breathe.

The shower squeaked on, water pattering against the stark white tiles. Keith grabbed his sandy armour and dumped it into the cubicle, scrubbing at it with his hands as the water warmed up. Once deemed warm enough, Keith finished cleaning the sand up and hopped in himself, relishing in the warmth spilling out over his hair, down his back and shoulders. He ran his fingers through his dark locks.

…. Did he really have a mullet?

He scrubbed off the day's dirt and sweat, almost missing the scent of his tropical shampoo that sat in his bathroom at home. He wondered if anyone had stumbled across his house, if they'd used his shampoos and soaps. If anyone had brushed their teeth in his sink, if they'd drunk that can of grape Fanta he'd been saving.

Keith could have bitterly laughed at how he remembered that stupid can of Fanta, but he didn't remember what the desert felt like.

"Watch yourself, Lance!" Shiro warned.

As per usual, the Galra had managed to find them in the lone corner of a galaxy Keith couldn't remember the name of. Did Sendak have a tracker on him or something? They always managed to find them, no matter where they hid.

"I'll be fine!" Lance shot back, his voice cocky with laughter. The blue lion span around in the air, Lance's laughter ringing out over the comms. Keith would have found it annoying if he wasn't so preoccupied with the fight at hand.

His lion purred at him, a constant reassurance. I wont let these bastards get you, she whispered in images and emotions. They'll never get you too.

Keith closed his eyes and breathed in deeply to steel himself, Red taking the controls for a moment as she spat hot plasma at a Galra ship that got too close for comfort. He slowly released his breath, and when he reopened his eyes they flashed gold.

Let's do this.

He slammed the controls forward, Red hurtling towards the oncoming Galra.

"Remember, we're a team." Shiro's voice rang through his head. "We work together. Don't get separated, watch each others backs."

Keith tuned out the chatter that followed. Pidge had said something about cloaking herself to take out an ion cannon, Hunk had replied with something that made Lance laugh.

Don't let his laugh distract you, Keith.

"I won't." Keith groused back, not caring that he had spoken aloud as he tore through a drone.

"Who ya talking to, Keith?" Lance chirped, Keith watching him freeze a few drones from the corner of his vision.

"… Red." Keith reluctantly replied.

"You do realise you don't have to speak aloud to them, right?" Lance teased.

"Lance." Shiro snapped in warning.

"I'm well aware." Keith shot back before closing his end of the connection. Jackass.

He is distracting you.

"He gets under my skin so easily."

Then get under his.

Keiths face flushed a bright red to match his lion. "I don't think it's that easy." Keith mumbled in reply, directing Red back towards the others. He didn't want to get too separated.

Then learn. Learn how to pick him to pieces.

"He's my team mate!" Keith adjusted his grip on the controls. "I can't hurt him, it'll alienate myself even further."

He has no issue doing it to you.

Keith didn't reply.

Cat got your tongue?

"Let's… just finish this." Keith hissed back. "Then we can talk."

Red purred in reply as Keith enabled his comms again.

They fell into a pattern. Dodge. Attack. Destroy. Next target. Wash, rince, repeat. The Galra drones were beginning to thin out, the warships beginning to retreat when they realized they were losing more forces than it was worth, especially when they couldn't keep the ion cannons on for longer than five minutes before the gremlin they called Pidge disabled them. Keith managed to fool himself into thinking it was safe to relax a fraction, and he sighed in relief at the thought of the fight nearly being over. He could go back to his quarters and flop down on his bed, wrapped up in his blanket and finally finish that nap-

"Oh, shit!" Lance shouted out, Keith flinching in his seat and whacking his head around so fast his neck clicked.

"Lance!" Keith shouted out, whacking the controls forwards as he sped towards him.

Keith didn't see where the shot had come from. All he knew was that Blue had a hole in her side, electricity arching over her body, and that she was being drawn into the atmosphere of the planet below them.

"Keith, wait!" Shiro shouted, but did Keith listen?

No.

He never was any good at listening.

Lance had said it himself. He was the fastest paladin. He'd get there the fastest; he'd be able to get to him before it was too late.

"I can do this, damn it!" He shouted back, pushing Red to her limit as he raced towards Lance.

Blinding pain shot through his side, a phantom ache radiating out across his abdomen.

What the hell?

"Keith!" Pidge shouted out, her lion jumping forward a step before she remembered what Shiro had said. Keith could her hear grit her teeth.

"Hunk, find out where those shots are coming from." Shiro ordered, Hunk spluttering out a reply that sounded like an affirmative before he went silent. Keith could only imagine what he was doing inside his lion.

"We're getting caught in the planets gravity!" Lance panicked, his lion twisting and turning as though trying to wriggle free. Keith belatedly noticed that her thrusters weren't working, shooting sparks out instead of the blue flames they should have been. He tested his to no avail – they were in the same predicament.

"Our thrusters are shot." Keith calmly informed them. "What's the likelihood of us surviving the impact?"

"You can't be serious!" Pidge demanded.

"I am. You'll probably get shot at if you try to get us." Keith replied. Lance was strangely quiet.

Pidge made a grumbling noise before she reluctantly replied. "You'll have a few bruises if you hit a fluid, the lions will take the brunt of the impact. I'm not gunna say the same for if you hit something solid."

"Oh, that's so comforting." Lance choked out.

"You two, try to aim for a body of water. We'll come and get you when we can. Pidge, will you be able to track them?"

"Maybe? I don't know. Allura will know where their lions are, though." Pidge replied.

"I think the shots are coming from the planet," Hunk said, "are you sure it's a good idea to not try to get them?"

"What?! You're letting us fall onto a hostile planet?!" Lance shrieked.

"We're not letting you guys do anything-" Shiro tried to soothe him, but to no avail. Lance had already activated Panic Mode.

"Lance, stop!" Keith hissed at him. "Panicking isn't going to help the situation. Shiro, is there anything you could throw to us to try pull us away?"

"Not that I know of." He admitted. "Would the momentum of you firing at the planet be enough to knock you out of its gravitational field?"

"I don't think so," Keith replied. "We're in too far."

Lance was far too quiet, now.

I thought his voice annoyed you? He's a distracting little boy.

'It's distracting not being able to hear him now', Keith replied. 'I'm not sure if he got hit by that shot.'

My sister ensures me that he is fine, however she is a pathological lair.

'So that translates to 'he's very much not okay'? That's just excellent.'

She would be more panicked if he were severely harmed.

'So Lance is just being a drama queen? That's comforting.'

"We'll meet you on the surface." Shiro said, his voice steeled. Keith swallowed hard, not sure if he liked his tone. "We'll try and do what we can."

"So we're just going to let them fall?" Hunk protested.

"What else can we do?" Pidge shot back. "We get close and then we'll be in the same position!"

"Allura assures me that we can communicate with them from the castle and gain safe access to get you guys back," Shiro cleared his throat. "Until then, just… try to get along, okay?"

"I hate you guys so much right now." Lance sulkily replied.

Keith kept his mouth shut.

It felt horrible, watching the other three retreat back to the castle. Watching flames begin to lick over his lion, blocking out his visuals with dancing reds and oranges. Lance was but a blue smudge in his vision.

He regretted running after him.

Lance pinged him with a private communication. With a heavy hand, Keith reached out to accept it.

"Lance?"

"Where do you think we'll land?"

Keith tried to turn his lion, but the forces acting on it forced him to stay put.

"Hopefully somewhere soft. Can you see where we're going?"

"Nope. Can you?"

"Nope."

A heavy silence fell over them.

Red purred, grabbing his attention.

The ground is close. Please be safe.

Keith adjusted his safety harness to better hold him in place, and made sure there was nothing close to him that could fly around and knock him out. "Red says the ground's close."

"Blue just said the same thing." Lance replied with a nervous laugh. "This is going to hurt, isn't it?"

"A lot."

Lance audibly swallowed. "See you on the other side?"

"See you."

Red snarled and curled into a ball, tucking her head in between her legs.

I wont let you be hurt. Not you too.

Keith didn't know what she meant, but he closed his eyes none the less and covered the back of his neck with his hands.

I'm Klance trash and I'm taking this paring to hell with me. What is it with me shipping characters associated with red and blue?!

~Llama