The hum of the castle's mechanics sang its lonely song throughout the empty halls. It may or may not have been night, unknown to any of the paladins seeing as it was constantly dark outside and the concept of time had long been forgotten, but everyone had agreed to at least try and sleep at that point. Lance tried and failed.

He'd watched the sapphire glowing lights pulse in the corner of the- well, his room for the past hour or so, but every night in a month doing so desensitized him to the distraction. They all called it his room, even Lance at some point, but the truth was he never had acknowledged it as his own. The castle would not and never would be home. Ever. Earth was home. His home, where his room was.

Rolling on to his back, Lance pushed a deep sigh from his chest. Then he shut his eyes. Nope, still nothing. Dammit. He thought about sneaking down a few doors and checking if Hunk was up, although knowing Hunk, he was probably out cold by now. Everyone was probably asleep, maybe Keith- but there was no way he was turning to that asshole anytime soon. He was already stressed enough as it was.

Lance found himself humming an old song his Abuela used to sing to him. He could only remember the first words, as she'd often just rub where he'd hurt himself and whisper "Sana, sana.".

"Sana, sana." He said, to no avail.

He longed to fall asleep to the sounds of rain, or wind, or cars. Maybe birds, or rushing water. Just something other than the nothingness of space, or the hum of the castle's unending lullaby. Maybe he would wake Hunk up. Or Pidge, they're always up for a round of video games. Lance was just overcome with longing for home that he was up anything at that point. Maybe even Keith.

But he couldn't find the energy to get up, to cross through the hallways of the castle and to stand awkwardly outside their doors until someone- or no one- opened. So Lance just continued staring at the walls, humming a little louder than the castle was.

It might have been morning when Lance next regained consciousness. He heard a few doors whirr open, a few footsteps patter. Once the noise had settled, he made his way out into the illuminated hallway. The shape of someone had just disappeared behind a corner. By the way it slumped off, presumably Keith. He was probably going back into Shiro's room, to check on him. The missing leader had only been back a few days and was rarely seen outside his room. Sometimes, Lance saw the silhouette of him trailing into the Lion hangar, but even then he'd lock himself in there for what might have been hours at a time. For all Lance could tell, Shiro was not well. And Keith was worried.

And when he ran into Keith on his way back from Shiro's cave, it was obvious. Lance might have tried reaching out to him, offering him comforting words or a friendly hug, but even he could tell that wouldn't cut it. Keith was growing more and more stressed, not only with Shiro's return but something was just getting in that guy's head. Lance already knew that for all his rivalry with the boy, inside Keith was a tortured soul. And for that, Lance hurt as well.

And just as quick as he disappeared, so reappeared the substitute leader, and he stormed back with his glance focused just away from Lance.

"Hey, man-"

Keith kept walking, turning his head away.

Lance watched him walk away, just as he had the past few times. He hoped Shiro would regain himself again soon, for the sake of everyone.

It might have been night again, when Lance sat down on the bed and swept aside the days thoughts so that he could maybe sleep in peace. Gentle steps outside his room caught his attention enough to distract him for a while. Jumping at the opportunity, Lance opened the door to find Coran patrolling the hall.

"Lance! Everything alright?"

Lance sighed and laughed gently.

"No, I'm fine! Just, uh, thought I heard something."

"Just me," said Coran, "Having a little stroll, you see. Want to join me? You look like you could use it."

"Sure."

He walked alongside the Altean in silence for a few seconds as Coran droned on about some creature or some planet- Lance couldn't tell. He watched the walls passing, counted each door.

"...and I just thought 'Quiznak! That's the end of me' when I saw that thing. Well, anyway. Are you sure you're alright?"

"Me? Yeah, of course. Just lost in thought."

"Care to unload them?"

"Well," he started considering telling him about his worries about Shiro, about Keith, telling him about his homesickness, loneliness, the crippling, crippling loneliness. Would he tell him about the fear, the anger and the slipping grip on reality? Could he tell him about the swallowing feeling of being lost all the time?

"No, its stupid. Really, I'm okay. Just haven't been sleeping well."

Too much was happening at the moment for all these thoughts to be addressed. Lance didn't have the energy to start unpacking them.

"If you insist. Let me walk you back, at least."

Lance nodded, giving him a wave as they arrived to the room.

The next maybe-weeks were spent with differing renditions of the usual events: Voltron formed, deformed, enemies defeated, alliances gained, planets visited, stars destroyed, nights not slept, Keith still pacing, or missing, or training. He had been in and out all week, despite the grumbling of the paladins.
Shiro was 'back', at least thats what Lance believed although he secretly had his doubts about the returned leader. He would never dare to vocalize them, but something just seemed off. Whatever. It was nice to see Shiro cooperating again, as well as Keith more relaxed (although he still seemed very stressed with the Blade of Marmora traning), but with Shiro back and Allura piloting the blue Lion... something had to give. And it was probably Lance. God knows how he'd even come to address that urgent worry, seeing as he already had so many internalized.

But that was something to worry about later. Lance just enjoyed the momentary peace within Team Voltron and let himself gently drift off to sleep. He would wake up to a new day, and that was good enough for him now.