Keith's POV

I was in Lance's room thinking...

How can someone disappear?

It's been 2 months since he disappeared.

I remember when Shiro and the others contacted me during my stay at the Blade of Mormora. It was definitely a bolt from the blue for me since the only times they contacted me was when I was with Kolivan discussing over a mission.

I wasn't prepared for what came next.

Lance was gone.

They said that he vanished without a single trace.

Due to this, I had to return to the castle of Lions and take his place which is the last thing I ever wanted. For now, I was the Paladin of the Red lion

In these previous days spent at the castle everything was quiet... too quiet. I can't help noticing that without Lance, there was no spark in the air. Everything was dead silent.

The disappearance caused an impact on everyone. Pidge and Hunk began working quietly together, helping Coran to fix up the castle whilst Lotor and Allura kept discussing about their missions all day. This also left an impact on Shiro who become more reckless, paranoid and angry ever since Lance disappeared.

From all of this, I felt alone and unwanted. Is this what Lance felt when I joined the Blade of Mormora?

Obviously nobody talked about the mystery of Lance's disappearance. We don't know if he got captured or if he ran away. Nobody knew. I couldn't stop thinking about the things that Hunk and Pidge explained to me.

Flashback

Hunk was in the kitchen cooking something.I entered the room and asked,"Cooking again, Hunk?"

"Yeah. It helps with the stress and anxiety over what happened." He answered.

I knew what he meant about.

"How are you holding up about the situation?" I asked.

"Honestly I'm worried about him and I couldn't stop myself from thinking that it was my fault. I could have helped him more," Hunk said.

"What do you mean by you could have helped him more? " I asked.

Then Hunk explained,

"Well that week before he disappeared, he began acting different. Bad different. Every morning, I see him exhausted with huge bags under his eyes. He ends up with yells from Shiro and Allura about the importance of sleep which in my offence doesn't seem helpful in his current situation. After breakfast, I asked him about it and he just told me that he had nightmares and it was not a big deal.

That's when things got weirder. As I was on my way to the kitchen, I meet up with Lance who stood in the middle of the corridor shivering. I approached him slowly and heard him muttering,

"...pain...So...much pain."

I saw his eyes from the side. He looked frightened until I placed my hand on his shoulder. He looked at me with those wide dark blue eyes.I asked him if he was ok. He just nodded and walked away like nothing happened.

Lance began distancing himself from us in the castle. He's always in his room or at the training area. We only see him at breakfast, at meetings, on missions and at dinner.

Everyone noticed but did not say anything. He began getting worse every day due to his lack of sleep and those random times he froze with panic and fear. Obviously Shiro did not know about Lance' s state of mind since he kept yelling at Lance about his recklessness and irresponsibility. He even made him go on missions in his current state.

Lance didn't say anything. He just kept quiet. I tried to convince Shiro to not make Lance go to these missions. Of course, he wasn't convinced and said that it was a consequence for his actions.

Lance's state became more worse than Shiro's.One time, I found out that he couldn't tell the difference between reality and non-reality since he came into my room one night yelling my name and asking him if I was really real. As his best friend, I comforted him while he was shivering and shaking. The next day, he did not talk about it and acted again like nothing has ever happened.

He kept quiet, kept getting yelled at and kept getting worse. We all thought he was getting mad since..."

Hunk had tears falling from his eyes. I noticed that he couldn't handle talking about Lance anymore.

"Since what? What happened, Hunk?" I asked."Since our last mission with Lance." Someone interrupted.

It was Pidge.

She continued,

"We were on a mission to obtain a valuable item from a Galra base on a deserted planet that can give interesting information for us, Rebel fighters. As we arrived to the desert planet, we unexpectedly met a huge armada of Galra ships. Shiro demanded that we should get into our lions and attack whilst I, due to the cloaking device on my lion, go down there. We all nodded except for Lance who seemed troubled but didn't say anything.

Everything was going according to plan except that when I was about to destroy the base, Lance with Red grabbed me and pulled me upwards. Obviously not knowing what Lance was up to, I and Shiro began yelling at him until the Galra base below us exploded. It was a very big explosion which would have destroyed my lion if it weren't for Lance.

Nobody talked about what happened after except for Shiro who kept yelling at Lance for disobeying his orders and for his recklessness.That's when we first saw Lance snap. He clenched his fists with anger in his eyes and yelled,

" SAYS THE GUY WHO ALMOST LED US TO A DEATH TRAP WITHOUT CAUTION. YOU THINK THAT YOU'RE THE LEADER AROUND HERE BUT HONESTLY YOU'RE ACTUALLY NOT."

And then Lance left the room without another glance back. The next day he disappeared which later on I heard Shiro muttering, "Good riddance."

Hunk began crying out a fountain of tears whilst Pidge's hands were holding tightly onto the table in front of her.

End of flashback

I was interrupted by my mother who entered the room. She came to visit to exchange some information of Haggar's whereabouts to Lotor and wanted to meet my friends.

Things began akward ever since our last mission together. We didn't talk much to each other.

"So, is this your friend's room?" She asked.

I nodded.

"What's his name?" She asked.

"Lance." I said.

"You care about him, don't you?" She asked.

I blushed and nodded.

"I see." She said with a small smile.

Before she left, she said, " There's something off about your friend Shiro. Maybe you should go check on him."

As I nodded, she left the room.

I began to think about what my mother said. She was right. Shiro has become more reckless and more angry ever since we found him. From Pidge and Hunks story, he really mistreated Lance.

I couldn't believe but wonder if he's behind Lance's disappearance.

Then came the quietness. There was no sound but silence which was weird for me. Usually I hear footsteps of anyone passing but this time I hear nothing.

I exited Lance's room and walked until I find drops of blood on the floor forming a part of a trail.

I followed the trail of blood leading me to the training room which is where I found a horrible sight.

I found Coran, Pidge and Hunk all wounded and all lying horizontal on the floor. Luckily, all of them had a pulse and were breathing slowly.

I kept heading foward trying to find the others for help until I found Lotor and Allura injured and unconscious on the floor of the common room.

I heard my mum's grunts and cries. I followed the sound of her cries echoing throughout the castle until I saw something which completely made me on edge.

I saw Shiro grabbing my mother who was lifted off her feet by the neck suffocating her. She saw my eyes full of horror and said,

"Keith...run."

Shiro let go of my mother onto the floor who was fortunately still alive but weak. He turned facing me with a grin and yellow eyes with no pupils.

All the pieces came together.

He was not the real Shiro.

His Galra arm lit up purple and made his first move.

For a split second, I grabbed my bayard which turned into a sword and blocked his glowing arm from harming me.

It was a tense fight which included me trying to block Shiro's on going and quick attacks. Some I managed to block but others hit me. Finally I became so weak that I was cornered. Shiro managed to throw my sword away. He kicked me in the chest which made me crash against the wall, panting,

"You should have listened to your mother." He said with a familiar voice.

It was Haggar's. She was controlling him.

We had no help. There was no hope. That's it. This was the end.

My Mother was yelling my name as Shiro was about to strike me with another blow until...

"Leave Keith alone.'

He was grabbed by another Shiro and thrown across the room. Then he turned to me and asked,

"Keith, are you okay?"

I nodded and smiled.

He smiled back.

He was the real Shiro and he was in his Black Paladin armour.

Fake Shiro stood up and said,

"YOU! How did you get here?"

That's when I hear a familiar voice over the comms.

"Shiro! I found the others. I'm putting them in the healing pods."

It was Lance.

"Great job, Lance. Now if you excuse me , there's a fake me that I gotta take care of." Shiro said.

"Kick his butt for me." Lance said.

I chuckled.

There was hope again. With Lance and Shiro, we were going to win.

"I'll make you and your blue paladin pay." Fake Shiro said.

"We'll see about that." Shiro said.

They both attacked each other.

It was a brutal battle. Slashes and gashes were given to each Shiro. They both knew each other's strageties and fighting tactics which was the main disadvantage for both Shiros.

Suddenly Shiro was caught offguard which made fake Shiro struck a harmful blow onto his chest.

Shiro was thrown back onto the floor clutching his wound. He was weakened and tried to remain conscious.

I couldn't help him since I was so weak and numb from my fight with this tyrant. The same goes for my mother.

"Now, where was I? Oh right, my plan on making you suffer." Fake Shiro said. "This one is definitely one to die for."

Fake Shiro turned to me. He started approaching me with his glowing arm glowing very weirdly.

This is it. This is the end for me. No more hanging out with my friends. No more bonding with Shiro. No more going on missions. I never even got to tell Lance the truth.

I hear Shiro and My mother yelling my name trying to get up and stop Fake Shiro.

Fake Shiro was about to struck me with the final blow while I closed my eyes.

Slash.

I felt nothing. I was still breathing. Still alive.

I opened my eyes and saw the person that sacrificed himself for me.

It was Lance.

In a flash, Lance activates his bayard which turned into a sword and pierced through Fake Shiro's chest.

Fake Shiro gasped and fell backwards onto the ground with yellow eyes still open and a sword through his chest.

"Hasta la vista..." Lance said and then he fell.

I catched him and cradled him into my arms with tears in my eyes.

"Lance.." I said.

He was losing so much blood.

I couldn't lose him... not now.

"I love you guys. Every single one of you. Especially you, mullet." Lance said.

"You're hallucinating Lance. Hold on, we're gonna get you to a healing pod." Keith said.

"...This is exactly like the bonding moment." He said.

Then Lance closed his eyes.