"I should really get going!" Pidge informed, walking back towards the castle. "I'm going to finally get Chip up and running tomorrow so I want as much rest as I can get!" Keith waved goodbye as he watched the girl run off in anticipation, after watching her return to the castle Keith turned his attention to the final paladin left. Lance stood by the base of Allura's statue, looking up at the confident pose she was in, that's how he always remembered her, confident.
"Hey Lance, you ok?" Keith asked, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. Lance quickly wiped the tears from his face before turning to Keith, smiling.
"Sure, yeah, just admiring Allura's statue," he informed, "you planning to head back too?" Keith glared at Lance for a moment, his expression stone cold before it softened up, becoming concerned.
"What's wrong?" Keith asked again. "Are you still hurt by her death?" Lance deflated slightly, looking down at the ground. "Lance, it's ok, you don't need to hide your tears from me, from any of us. I know you're still hurting."
"But that's just it," Lance replied, tears pricking the corners of his eyes. "It's not hurting as much anymore." Lance tried to cover his face as the tears rolled down it. "She died to protect all of us, to save every reality. She's gone and it doesn't even hurt me anymore, am I that horrible?" Lance collapsed to the ground, crying into his arm. Keith kneeled down beside him, was this when he was supposed to hug Lance for support? Friends did that right? He wasn't sure, this was all too new for him.
"Lance, you're not horrible," Keith corrected, "you're amazing and funny and generous and a whole lot of other nice things that I and everyone who's ever met you could list off for hours. You're not hurting as much by her death, but do you still love her?" Lance looked up at Keith with his teary eyes.
"Yes," he answered. "No matter what, she will always hold a special place in my heart, I love her so much, so why doesn't it hurt?"
"Because you're learning to move on," Keith informed. "You've been mourning for a whole year and now that hole in your heart is starting to fill back up, but you still love Allura and remember the sacrifice she made, that's all she would want, Allura wouldn't want you to spend your whole life mourning her, she would want you to move on and live your life like you always do, to the fullest and with a large smile." Lance smiled as he looked into Keith's lilac eyes.
"Thanks Keith, you're pretty good at this whole comforting thing," Lance complimented.
"I know you," Keith reminded, "I have to be." Lance chuckled as Keith helped him up. "Don't be ashamed of moving on, that's what Allura would want." At that moment, a gust of wind picked up around the area, sweeping the petals of the Juniberry flowers into the air around the paladins. "See, Allura's telling us that she's proud of you," Keith informed, "she's proud that you're starting to move on."
"Thanks, for everything," Lance hugged Keith, surprising the black paladin for a moment before he hugged Lance back.
"We should probably get going," Keith announced. "I'll see you around Lance."
"See you," Lance waved back.
~10 Months Later~
Keith chopped the final piece of wood down the centre, letting the two halves fall to the ground before picking them up and placing them atop the pile on the trolley.
"Thanks for helping with the firewood," Lance announced, wiping the sweat from his brow.
"No problem, it was nice of your family to let me stay over for a while," Keith replied, "helping with chores is the least I could do."
"Well, you'll be on Earth for about a week while that diplomatic meeting thing is on," Lance explained, "And there's no way my mum was going to let you spend it in that rundown shack of yours."
"She's a pretty exceptional woman," Keith informed, "just like her son." A light blush passed over Lance's face before he quickly turned to the trolley.
"We should get inside," Lance announced frantically, "Rachel and Lisa have probably finished dinner." Keith cocked an eyebrow as he watched Lance race off with the firewood, that was weird even for Lance. At dinner, Keith watched as everyone happily ate their food, talking amongst themselves and laughing, except for Lance. He was acting uncharacteristically quiet and for some reason avoided eye contact with Keith at all cost, the one time they did manage to lock eyes Lance frowned and turned away. Now, Keith was used to Lance being upset with him, Lance was almost always upset with him, but at least most of the time he knew why; this time it seemed to come on suddenly, they were happily talking while cutting the firewood before Keith made the comment about Lance's mum being amazing, was that why he was mad? That didn't make any sense. After helping clean up dinner Keith searched the house for Lance, trying to get answers from the taller boy. When he couldn't find him anywhere he went to get help.
"Lance?" Veronica asked. She turned to the side and brought her finger up to her chin. "He did seem out of it during dinner, maybe he's at the beach."
"This late at night?" Keith asked.
"Lance likes to look up at the stars and listen to the waves when he's troubled by something," Veronica explained.
"Thanks Veronica," Keith announced, making his way for the door.
"No problem!" Veronica replied, waving him off. Keith ran down the road towards the beach, the full moon illuminating the otherwise dark streets in a blue hue. He looked towards the water to see a figured seated by the edge. Walking slowly up to them he noticed Lance was crying.
"You ok?" Keith asked, taking a seat next to Lance. "Look, I'm sorry if I said anything that offended you, I didn't mean it."
"No, it's not that," Lance replied, wiping the tears away. "It's pretty stupid."
"I doubt that," Keith smirked. After a moment of silence, he sighed. "Lance, we've been through this before, you don't need to hide anything from me, you're clearly got something bothering you, you should let me help you."
"It doesn't work like that," Lance replied, tightening the grip around his knees.
"Why not?" Keith asked, frowning.
"You wouldn't understand," Lance informed.
"What makes you think I wouldn't understand?" Keith asked, raising his voice.
"Because I like you!" Lance shouted, "I mean, no, I. Ugh!" Lance tried getting up to run away but Keith stopped him by grabbing his shoulder.
"You...You like me?" Keith asked, surprise and a glimpse of joy in his voice.
"I don't know," Lance deflated, "I still love Allura, I will always love Allura, but, when I'm with you, I feel sort of like I did when I was with her; like this is where I belong. But that's stupid, you're a boy, I've only ever liked girls."
"There's nothing wrong with liking both," Keith reasoned.
"I don't know what to think," Lance sighed, "I've actually liked you for a while; when Allura and Lotor were...you know...I started thinking, what if they did make a better couple than me and her? What if she was supposed to end up with him? And then I started thinking of you, missing you more than usual, wondering why I bothered starting our stupid rivalry and wishing I could hold you in my arms the way Lotor did to Allura. When you came back and Lotor turned out to be evil, I was so confused, I liked you both and couldn't make up my mind, but in the end, I guess I loved Allura more, but now that she's gone..." Lance began crying, Keith wrapped a hand around the crying boy, pulling him in closer. "I still love her, I know I do, so how?"
"Becuase you've got more love in your heart than anyone I've ever met," Keith replied, resting his forehead on Lance's. "You should probably know, I kind of like you as well."
"You do?" Lance asked, the same shock and joy in his voice as Keith.
"Yep, you're arrogant, annoying, loud and overall an amazing person," Keith explained, gaining a chuckle from Lance. "I don't expect you to want to date me now, I can wait for you to be ready, to fully heal. But if you'd allow me, I want to be there beside you the whole way, to help you heal and fill your heart back up with all the love that died with Allura. It's up to you, we can take it as slow as you'd like." Lance wrapped Keith up in a tight hug, the tears still rolling down his face.
"I'd like that," Lance replied. "I'd like that a lot."
~4 Years Later~
Lance looked up at the mighty statue of Allura, smelling the sweet scent of the Juniberries. After a moment of silence, just admiring the statue Lance finally decided to speak up.
"Hey Allura, a lot's happened lately," Lance informed. "Sylvio will be starting year ten soon, we're all super excited and anxious for that, he's almost the age I was when we met." A sad smile graced his lips, looking down and fiddling with the object in his pocket. With a deep breath, he looked back up to Allura. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm planning on proposing to Keith," he pulled out the small purple box and opened the lid to reveal the ring inside. "I know, the ring is sort of ugly, I just hope Keith will like it. I hope we'll be able to hold the ceremony here if he says yes, I want you to be there with us." Lance pocketed the box and looked up at Allura again. "I wanted to thank you. I never really understood love, to me, it was just a game, trying to get as many girls to fall in love with me as I could. But after meeting you, I found out what true love was, you showed me what true love was. I know I may have come off as a flirt most of the time, but I really did love you, still do. But now I love Keith too, because of the love you showed me I was able to love Keith and move on like I know you would have wanted." A gust of wind picked up the petals of the Juniberry flowers and spun them around Lance, he smiled as he remembered what Keith said about that being Allura's way of saying she was proud of him. Tears of joy ran down his face. "Thank you for being a part of my life, I'll never forget how special you are to me."
~15 Years Later~
"Allura! Don't run off!" Lance shouted, running after the nine-year-old girl, catching her and lifting her up into the air while making plane noises. The young girl giggled as she was being waved around in the air before finally being sat atop Lance's shoulders. Behind them, Keith and a fourteen-year-old boy caught up, the boy looking up at the statue of Allura.
"She looks more impressive each time I look at her," Keith informed, "don't you think so Diego?" The boy nodded.
"I can't believe this was once Papa's girlfriend," the boy replied.
"I know right, she's way out of his league," Keith smirked.
"Hey! I am not!" Lance shouted. Keith chuckled before planting a kiss on his cheek.
"Just kidding babe," Keith assured. Diego gagged before looking away.
"Will I be as pretty as her?" Allura asked, looking up at her namesake.
"Definitely," Lance assured.
"So when did they start dating?" Diego asked.
"Well, it took a while for Papa to finally win her over," Keith informed. "This one time, he tried to get a good luck kiss from her and ended up kissing a mouse instead."
"Keith! They don't need to hear about that!" Lance shouted, though Diego was already laughing hysterically.
"And then there was the time Lance told the mice about his huge crush on her, but forgot that they could talk to Allura telepathically and so they told her everything," Keith continued. Diego continued to laugh and even Allura giggled.
"That was silly Papa," she informed.
"There's loads more embarrassing stories I could tell you," Keith replied. "You should hear about how he proposed to me..." Lance could help but smile at his family, not necessarily the family he imagined back when they were paladins of Voltron, but a family he loved with all his heart. The petals of the Juniberry flowers twirled around them, she was proud of him, she was proud of them. They found each other in all the chaos and sadness and started a family together, she may not have been able to be there in person, but she was always with them, keeping an eye on them.
And she could never have been happier.