Voltron Legendary Defender - You, Me and the Glass Between Us.

Hey everyone! So I got inspired to write a Season 5/Klance fic, it being not so much a canon compliant, so more as a 'Hey! Wouldn't it be cool if *this* is how the season could go from this point?'.

I know some fans weren't too happy with the writing quality of season 4, I won't lie, I see that myself. There were some rather poor/contradictory narrative decisions that I can only hope the writers will straighten out when Season 5 gets here.

In the meantime, why not follow this fic to tie you over until the next season does come along, and smashes this to pieces? :D

As this is my first time writing for the Voltron fandom, apologises if my characterisation is not quite right, or I mistake some world building aspect, please try not to be hypercritical. As Lance would say, "I'm just getting to get a feel for the stick."

Hope you all enjoy, and let's have some fun!

'I think it is time we had a discussion.'

Lotor's words still rung in Keith's ears, lingering like a bad aftertaste as he climbed out of the Galra fighter's cockpit and leapt out onto the rebel captain's ship, slipping into it's airlock tunnel just before it locked onto Lotor's docking station. His feet touched down when the artificial gravity engaged, and Keith nodded to the canine captain when the door hissed open to reveal him and Matt behind it.

'Think he'll come quietly?' The captain sighed and drew his gun, prompting Keith to do the same with his knife as they approached the docking door.

Matt gave a shrug, sweat droplets from the intense battle clinging to his forehead as he focused on unlocking the door from the outside. 'He did save us. If he hadn't arrived in time…' He trailed off dubiously, glancing over to Keith, who pointedly ignored him. He didn't need the grim reminder, not right now when it was so freshly branded into his memories. The battle had merged into a big, blurred mess; racing to secure the cannon, dropping comms with Voltron, flying to stop Haggar from blowing up the planet and Voltron. He had had barely time to breathe, soak it all in and reflect on how close he had come to losing everything.

He had nearly lost everything.

'I'm not taking any chances.' Keith muttered, and tightened his grip around his Mamora blade when the doors slid open with a rush of air.

The inside of the comet's cockpit wasn't so different from the cockpit's of one of the Lions'; dark, mostly made up of matt metal until the engine activated and the UI systems lit up. Opposite them, Lotor sat poised on a pilot's chair in all his regal glory.

Had he not been aware of the devilish, venomous snake that lay beneath the alien's purple skin, had he not been the enemy, in another life, Keith might have considered that there were those out there that would believe Lotor to be handsome; fawning over his sculptured jawline, prominent cheekbones and thick mane of white hair.

Prickling goosebumps rippled down Keith's back as he gulped and stepped over the threshold, determined to keep his face fixed in a neutral expression. He failed, with a line drawing between his dark brows, when he saw the unnatural angles that which the prince's limbs were bent at.

'Your arms are broken.' He blurted, and despite him being the one holding the knife, Lotor had the audacity to roll his eyes at them.

'Astute observation,' He sarcastically drooled before raising to his feet, a good head than Keith to tower over him and held out his wrists. 'Now, take me to your princess.'

Allura had deemed the bridge too risky to hold Lotor's hearing, so everyone; the team, The Blade of Mamora, and the Rebels had all moved into the entrance chamber of the Castle, the same one they had used to host the Arusians' party back on planet Arus.

Lance sighed. It made his heart ache to realise how far they come from that point. Things hadn't been so complicated back then. Allura hadn't been in paladin armour, they hadn't even known about the Galra prince that now knelt on the floor before them. And Keith—well…

Where could Lance even begin with Keith?

'That's not what you're here for right now,' The sensible part of his brain reminded him. It did helpful things like that. 'Concentrate on what's happening now.'

Lance blinked, zoning back into the room to catch the last of Lotor's explanation, which could be paraphrased into; Daddy labelled me a criminal to the Empire—Blah, blah—Everyone's turned on me—Boohoo—I have one part of the comet ship, my back-stabbing generals have the second.

'And where is the comet itself being kept?' Allura questioned, stood glaring at the head of chamber, Shiro, ever the white knight, to her right and Coran to her left. Hunk, Pidge and Lance himself fell in line to the right, whilst the Blades and Rebels completed the arrowhead formation on the left.

'It was admittedly lost during my escape when my father launched his assault against me. It now resides in his hands.' Lotor answered, his startling white hair shimmering in waves down his back with every movement. Perhaps when Lance got the chance, he'd be able to add 'shampoo and conditioner brands' to the list of interrogation questions before the real gritty stuff started; and from the way Kolivan and the other Blades were eyeing up Lotor, it didn't seem like anyone would be waiting long.

There was a groan from said Blades, and one adjacent to Keith (as much as Lance appreciated the form fitting Mamora suit, he would rather it be replaced with his red paladin armour any day.) with four arms stepped forward. 'His value is worthless. If the prince cannot be used as a hostage, then we should torture him for information. Make him feel the pain of every planet, every life the Galra has brought suffering to!' His deep, reverberating voice boomed and his fellow Blades, bar Keith and Kolivan, roared around him in agreement.

Allura waved a hand for silence, and motioned for the Blade to take Lotor back to his cell so that the paladins could discuss in privacy. Once everyone had left, including Keith and Matt with the rest of the rebels, the talk began again.

Hunk wrapped his arms around himself. 'We aren't going to torture him, are we? That's like, what the Galra do.' He quivered, shaking like a leaf.

Allura's mouth was set into a hard line. 'Well, I say that we throw Lotor to the Blade. Let the Blade pick him apart for every scrap of information we can get.' She argued, and Lance's gaze wandered outside where Lotor's comet ship could be seen parked alongside the others. The comet ship…Lotor's was only one part of it.

'Guys, you're all forgetting the most important thing Lotor said.' Lance pointed out.

'What's that?' Shiro asked with a raised brow.

'Lotor's generals still have the second piece of the comet ship, and they aren't going to be running back to the Empire anytime soon without their bargaining chip back in, which means—' Lance explained, pausing to give a moment for thought.

'Which means that their comet ship is still up for grabs.' Pidge finished with a gasp, her lips curling into an impish grin at the thought.

'Of course! If we could use Lotor as bait, we could lure them to us and take the ship for our own.' Allura delighted with a clap of her hands.

'Uh, um—okay, only problem is, that ship is way too slippery. We saw the way it moved back at that Galra outpost. It's gonna be impossible to capture it without scratching the paintwork.' Hunk remarked and Shiro folded his arms.

'We'd have to get them to land and out of the ship before using the Castle's tractor beam.' He strategised.

'The real question is, how do we alert Lotor's generals to his location, but not the Galra?' Coran asked with a twirl of his carrot-orange moustache.

'Maybe Lotor could tell us.' Lance distantly proposed, and winced at the resounding "WHAT?!"

'You want to ask for Lotor's advise, our enemy?' Allura all but shrieked, and Lance dug his finger into his ear to check it was still ringing.

'Hey! Lotor is the one who recruited them, ego, he should know the most about them, right?' He laid down. 'If anyone is gonna know how to draw them out, it's gonna be him.'

'I dunno Lance. Yeah— I know "The enemy of my enemy is my friend", but this is Lotor, the guy who nearly blew us up on that gas planet.' Hunk emphasised around chewing his bottom lip.

'Yeah. We can't trust that he'll cooperate with us.' Pidge nodded, and Lance turned to Shiro with wide eyes.

'Shiro, please. Just let me try.'

Moments passed with all eyes on Shiro, before the Black Paladin gave Lance a single, curt nod. 'Do it.'

Lance gave a grateful smile before he turned around and jogged for the Castle dungeons.

When it had came to who would take first watch of Lotor, Keith had been the first to volunteer. Just the mere sight of Lotor walking through the Castle corridors, even handcuffed, even surrounded by lethal Blade members, set his teeth on edge. This was his home—team Voltron's home, their stronghold.

The last time an enemy Galra had entered it, Lance had almost died and Sendak had nearly taken the ship, all the lions and him and Shiro prisoner; it was a day that Keith both looked back on with equal measures of guilt and fondness. Guilt, over his inability to recognise the Galra threat, allowing himself and Allura to be locked outside the Castle, all but helpless. Fondly, because that had been the day he had felt a real connection with Lance for the first time; their bonding moment.

Lance may be in denial about it, but Keith could never forget the soft light that had winked in Lance's blue eyes as their gazes met; how electricity tingled from their intertwined hands, running down Keith's arm straight to his heart to make it race; when Lance slumped against him unconscious, and Keith had gathered him into his arms and carried him to the cryo-pod; how his dark curls had nestled in the crook of Keith's neck, hot, deep breaths splaying against his pale skin there.

Keith tapped his index against his forearm.

It had been a bittersweet day, just like this one.

'Tell me,' Lotor's clear voice called out from behind the light-blue electric forcefield that acted as the cell's bars. 'how is it that I know you to be a paladin of Voltron, yet you wear the Blade of Mamora's colours?'

'I'm not a paladin anymore.' Keith bit back, and glared daggers when mock-sympathy softened the prince's face.

'It's a terrible thing. I to, know what it is like to be abandoned by one's team.'

Keith straightened up, hand wrapping back around to unsheathe his knife, when the Blade who'd been assigned guard with him, grabbed his arm. 'Patience. You will get to take your turn when Princess Allura turns him over to us.'

Lotor let out a thoughtful, almost amused, hum before the cell block door's slid open. Keith froze when he saw Lance there alone, a determined set expression on his face. What was he doing here?

Lance's sights fixed on the Blade. 'I've got the green light from Shiro to talk to the prisoner,' He raised a fine brow when the Blade didn't move. 'Alone,'

The Blade stayed still for a second longer, before he gave a huff and breezed past for the door. Keith's palms broke into a fresh sweat when Lance scrutinised him. 'Need to clean your ears out Keith?'

'I'm not leaving.' Keith stated as a fact with a cross of his arms, an urge tempting him to pull his lips back over his teeth at the way Lotor's leering eye ran up and down Lance.

Lance's eyes narrowed for a second before he rolled them. 'Whatever,' He relented and pushed past, shoulder barging into Keith's to stand front and centre to Lotor's cell; the prisoner inside sporting a pleased smirk.

'Lotor.'

'Blue paladin, to what, do I owe this pleasure?' Lotor smiled, and Keith watched how Lance shifted his weight from one foot to the other; one of his few nervous tells.

'Don't let the armour fool you. I'm actually the Red paladin. The name's Lance.'

Lotor's smirk curled at the corners. 'Well, Lance, is it my time to die?'

Lance shook his head, and Keith strangled the impulse to pull him back away when he took a step closer to the forcefield, Lotor mirroring the action.

'We're up for giving you a chance at an alliance, if you can prove that we can trust you.'

'Oh?' Lotor mused whilst Keith blinked at the back of Lance's head in shock. What?

'We want your help to lure out your generals in a way that won't tip off the Galra Empire.' Lance continued.

'You mean, you want to use me as bait so that you can take the second comet ship for your own, without publicly broadcasting your plan.' Lotor corrected with an airy laugh, and Lance's jaw opened and closed wordlessly.

'I mean—that's one way to put it if we've being technical.'

'I accept.' Lotor announced, and it was Keith's jaw that fell open this time.

'What?!,' He hissed, glancing between the equally stunned Lance and the smiling prince. There's—there's no way it could be that easy. 'You do know what you're agreeing to?'

'Quite. I am agreeing to a plan that will prevent my father from procuring yet another piece of the trans-dimensional comet. Something, I assure you, I have no desire to see.' Lotor cooly replied.

'Uh—okay, great. Is there like, a secret comm frequency that we can use or?' Lance asked, and Lotor shook his head.

'My generals will more than likely be searching my safe houses. I expect they believe me to cower away to lick my wounds. Tell your princess that I would be willing to provide a list of the locations they will be certain to look into first.'

Keith took a step forward, hands balled into tight fists. 'And you expect us to let you walk if we say yes?'

'I was going to request that I merely be allowed out of this cell every few vargas, but I am more than open to suggestions.' Lotor rumbled, and Keith's boots scuffed forward when there was a touch on his shoulder. Lance.

'I'll pass on the message.' Lance confirmed, shooting Keith a look before he spun on his heel and strode out of the door. Keith shot Lotor a final glare for good measure, really not liking how sickly smug the Galra looked as he to turned to follow after Lance, the hair's on the back of his neck prickling where he was positive Lotor was staring after him.

Their footsteps echoed eerily off the high ceiling hallways as Keith walked alongside Lance in silence, the former stubbornly refusing to meet the frequent side-eye peeks that Keith sent him. Keith's throat felt as though a ballon had inflated inside it, making the inside his mouth dry. He desperately wanted to break the bad air that hovered between them, the silence that stretched on and on seemingly without an end was maddening. Was Lance actually going to ignore him?

Keith hadn't realised that he'd said the thought aloud until it was too late, and Lance responded with a sharp hiss. 'Oh, that's rich coming from you.'

'Is this about me leaving with the Blade of Mamora? I thought we were all past that?' Keith pressed, silently relieved that they were speaking again, even if it wasn't now he wanted to.

Lance stared at him blankly, before he shook his head. 'You don't have a clue, do you?'

Keith bristled when they rounded the corner and the door to the bridge came into sight. 'Look, I've already explained myself once. Shiro's back in the Black lion, like he should be. You get to keep a lion, like you were worried about. I don't see the issue here! With the Blade, I can be useful—'

'Yeah, but are you happy Keith?,' Lance cut off, his blue, blue eyes unreadable. 'Look me in the eye, and tell me that you're happier with the Blade of Mamora than you were with us.'

Keith tried, he did. But no words came to him, his tongue too thick, too stupid to figure out the tangled mess that was his thoughts. The pause drew out for several painfully long seconds before Lance shook his head again and took a step away from Keith, it taking everything Keith had not to reach for him and pull him back; keep him from slipping any further away from him.

'Y'know, back then when we formed Voltron with Allura, I really thought that we were getting somewhere,' Lance gave a bitter half laugh, 'I guess that was just me though.'

'Lance, wait—'

'Keith, Kolivan has called for a de-briefing,' A Blade who had emerged from the bridge's doorway interrupted, marching for Keith and the corner he'd just come from. 'We are to report to the ship immediately.'

Keith turned back to Lance, but he was already gone, walking for the bridge and passing the Blade in the progress. Keith seriously debated going after him and risking Kolivan's wrath, but his decision was made for him when the Blade grabbed him by the hood and began to drag him away.

And just like that, Lance, and Keith's opportunity with him, were gone.

Everyone was back in the same places as they had been before, making it seem to Lance as though a recess had never been called in the first place. Well, actually, that was lie. The Rebels, had taken their leave when their captain had received an alert about a small Galra fleet attempting to take back one of the newly captured outposts.

From the opposite side of the room, Lance could feel Keith's intense violet stare on him, demanding his attention, but Lance stubbornly kept it on Lotor before Allura. He was not in the mood to be dealing with that drama right now.

'And everything that Lance has told me is true?' Allura demanded, and Lotor gave a simple nod in response.

'Yeah, okay, what's the catch?' Pidge sniped, a line of suspicion drawn between her thick brows.

'Your protection. This plan deals one rock to two zulas. I assist in preventing the second part of my comet ship from falling into the Empire's hands, and as your prisoner, I remain in a position that no Galra nor bounty hunter is able to get to me.' Lotor evenly returned, his expression a practised one of diplomacy.

There was a chorus of murmurs throughout the room, and Hunk leant into Lance's ear. 'I mean, he's not wrong.'

'So, just to be clear here. You are content to help us capture the second part of the comet, so long as we continue to keep you captive?' Coran clarified, and Lotor bowed his head in confirmation.

'Sounds too good to be true.' Keith's voice snapped.

Lotor cocked his head, a devilish glint in his yellow eyes that Lance knew, that had it been aimed at him, it would of turned his bones to jello. 'Doesn't it just?'

'Princess, yield Lotor's custody to the Blade. We will have no issues extracting this list of safe houses he speaks of.' Kolivan put forward.

Allura's hand came to cup her chin as she thought, her steady gaze alternating between Shiro, Lotor and Kolivan before she gave her answer. 'No. We are not Zarkon, and we will not follow his example.'

'We have an accord then?' Lotor smiled, and held up his hands to be released of their cuffs.

Allura shook her head. 'No. I will allow you to be moved out of the cells, and into a proper room as a gesture of goodwill, but have no delusions about roaming the Castle freely.'

'The time that you will be allowed, you will have someone to guard you at all times. I trust you don't have a problem with that?' Shiro added on, a raised eyebrow daring the prince to refuse.

'Not one, Black paladin.' Lotor smiled, and Allura nodded to Lance and Coran to take him away, concluding the hearing.

'Shiro.' Keith jogged to catch the man at the exit of the entrance chamber after everyone had dispensed from the chamber; Allura and Kolivan and the other Blades hanging back to speak privately, and Pidge and Hunk headed in the direction for the kitchen.

'Keith, what's up?' Shiro asked, and Keith was taken aback by the nonchalance in his tone. Because, it wasn't as though he'd nearly run his ship into a Galra command ship, and probably wouldn't be here talking to him if it hadn't been for Lotor (He was trying not to think about that part).

'I, um—I was wondering if I could talk to you.' Keith muttered, averting his stare when Shiro's sharpened.

'Is there something wrong?'

'No! No, I just—I just wanna talk.' Keith trailed off, and Shiro nodded and motioned him to follow him. The same old routine, almost as though they were back in the Garrison. The path they took was one Keith was intimate with, as it was one that led him back to his room.

Shiro held the door open for him, and Keith shivered when he stepped inside. The chilled air inside was stale, and a fine layer of dust had collected on the surfaces and on his red paladin armour, still sat in the same spot he had left it in the day he had left.

Whilst Shiro fiddled with getting the lights and heating back on, Keith beelined for his dresser and pulled out his pyjamas, that was namely his regular black t-shirt and a softer pair of long shorts.

'Okay, talk to me.' Shiro proclaimed as he propped himself up against the wall, right beside the hook where Keith's jacket hung.

Keith drew in a deep breath, and sighed it out as he stripped off his Mamora armour. 'I…don't know where to begin.'

'Is this about the Blade of Mamora? If Kolivan's giving you a hard time, I can step in and—'

'No, it's not that. I can handle the missions, I mean they're hard, yeah, but nothing too—y'know.' Keith put down, his voice muffled as he tugged his t-shirt over his head and then pulled on his shorts.

'Then, what is it?' Shiro prompted, and Keith's stomach knotted itself twice over. He inhaled another breath to try to relax it.

'When I decided to train with the Blade of Mamora, I was so sure that it was the right thing, for myself and the team. They were making progress on Lotor and, I thought that was what Voltron needed. I never wanted to replace you as the leader, Shiro, no matter how many people told me that I had to. You lead Voltron better than I ever could, and you belong with the Black lion on the team.'

'Are you having doubts about being with the Blade?'

Keith pushed off the dresser and collapsed onto his bed, fiddling with his knife. 'It's different from being with the team. "Knowledge or death", "Victory or death", there's no middle ground with them. It's the mission, and only the mission, no matter who gets left behind.'

'You don't agree with it.' Shiro guessed, and Keith gave a weak shrug.

'Some part of me, probably the Galra part, clicks with it. I get it. But I also can't completely accept that that is the way things should be done. Coming back to the Castle hasn't helped with that.'

'Keith, if you need to, you can come home at anytime. You know that. If you need to take a step back to sort things out, you can. No one will hold it against you for it,' Shiro insisted firmly, his smile soft with patience. 'You have good instincts, listen to them. What is your gut, your heart telling you?'

Keith's brows furrowed, and he closed his eyes, as though literally listening out for words.

'It's telling me not to trust Lotor.' He said after a pause.

Shiro smirked despite himself. 'Well, I think that's a given.'

'I mean, it's really telling me not to trust him. Like "Don't even let him look at you, or Lance, or the team.",' Shiro said nothing about the elephant in that statement, and allowed Keith to go on, 'I look at him, and every part of me says no. It makes me not want to leave the Castle,'

Keith blinked as the fog in his head finally cleared. 'I don't want to leave you guys. I have to be here, close, where I can protect you if I have to…But the Blade—'

Shiro placed a hand on Keith's shoulder. 'I will talk to Allura and Kolivan to get a work around, see if the Blade would be willing to stay on the Castle until we have more permanent arrangements for Lotor elsewhere.'

'Thanks Shiro,' Keith breathed, the world lifting off his shoulder along with Shiro's hand. 'I mean it, thank you.'

'I know. But Keith, I'm not always going to be able to do this. You can't stay on the fence forever, you're going to have to make a decision,' The door slid open and Shiro paused in the doorway, tapping the lights to plunge the bedroom into darkness, and cast a long shadow in. Keith curled up under the covers, screwing his eyes shut and stretching under his pillow to grasp his knife; his own deadly sharp security blanket.

'When the time comes for that, make sure it's one you know you won't regret.'

Yoohoo! First chapter done! Please let me know what you thought, did you like it? etc. Really stoked to join as a creator in the fandom, there are some superb artists and writers that I worship with their amazing content.

I'm afraid I won't be able to put a date on when the next chapter will be up (I attend uni and have an ongoing Hetalia fic running on the side), but motivation is still high and I guarantee that your reviews and kudos will shorten the wait period :D

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you did, please consider leaving a review telling me your thoughts, opinions and questions. Once again, thank you for reading, and as always,

Until next time folks!