Where the Treasure Lies Isn't in a Chest

by fabulouschat

Keith lived in a life where he couldn't help but feel hopeless. What happens after a man crash lands on his father's bar and gives him a map that changes everything. Full of love, adventure, heartache, and finally, treasure. But what treasure is Keith really looking for? Treasure Planet AU

Since Keith was a young boy, he had always looked up at the stars with adventure in his soul, and the yearning of leaving this place in his heart. It all started with a small story that opened up a whole other world in his eyes. About a place that was called Treasure Planet. Over a thousand year ago, one of the most dangerous pirates named, Zarkon of the Galra Empire jumped ships, stealing their treasure, killing many by the side of his best friend, Alfor. Only to disappear within the second the job was done. He always got away with it and was never caught in his own years. Keith had pondered with this information after reading the story twelve times, wanting to understand Zarkon's tricks better. Every night, he would open the book, and study the pictures, pay extra attention to the words, searching for something that would reveal anything that could lead to the answer of the quick escapes that Zarkon accomplished with such ease.

His study sessions were always stopped at an early time though, as his father would come in, shaking his head at the sight of his son being so engrossed in the book that he wouldn't even notice his father waltzing in to make sure his son was asleep. "Keith," his father would start, crossing his arms as his son would look up at him innocently. "It's late son, you need to sleep at some point." he chuckled. Pouting, Keith pressed the book against his chest.

"I was just reading the book, Dad." Keith whispered, handing the book to his father. Knowing his dad, he would argue with Keith about it being a legend and not real, all a story that the book told until he finally convinced his son to sleep. Smiling, the older man graciously took the book and placed it on the bedside table as he sat down in the bed.

"There's really no Treasure Planet, son." he repeated the same thing as he did every night. "There's….nothing out there. No pirates. No lost long treasure map. No Zarkon…" he continued gently. Keith slid back down against his pillow as his father talked to him.

"I know dad...a legend.." he said. Smiling down at him, his father gently kissed his forehead and got back to his feet, almost hitting one of the many ships that hung from his son's ceiling. Keith's whole room consisted of different models of ships, captains, and famous ports that were known across the galaxy, whether they were on posters, models, or drawings that Keith had drawn up himself.

"You get yourself some sleep now." his dad said, waving his finger in Keith's direction. Before he closed the door, he heard Keith pipe up.

"When is mom coming home?"

"Tomorrow, probably when the sun hits your window." his father said, a sad look in his eyes.

"Okay, I love you."

"I love you too."

---

Keith yowled happily as he did a flip on his hoverboard, barely missing an old building that was falling apart from the years of neglect. His long, black hair was tied back in a high ponytail, with the sides of his head being shaved. His father almost spit out his drink when he first saw Keith walk in the house with the new hairdo. Keith himself thought it was cool though, and made him feel more open to the world around him. His red jacket that was currently wrapped around his waist flapped behind him as he pushed through the air. Pulling back the hand stitched sail on his hoverboard and pressing his combat boots further back on the board, he shot up in the sky, extending his arms out as he felt the wind over take him. Oh, how he loved the feeling. The feeling of being free.

As he continued to move around the abandoned town, he made sure to avoid the already crumbled buildings, police tape acting like streamers against the pale stone. Keith carried on to shout in happiness as he flew around in the air. It was wonderful, truly a proud moment for him to get his hoverboard back and moving after he crashed it into a pile of rocks a week ago. It was truly wonderful….until the sirens of the police came up behind him. Holding back a groan, Keith slowed his hoverboard as the two policemen grabbed both sides of his arms and started dragging him towards his father's bar. Oh, he already knew his father was going to chew him out for this.

They approached The Galra's Bar, a small bar and eatery that ships flew into to get a good drink or snack as they traveled. It was named after the ship that Keith had read in his story all the time, the one that Zarkon had flown on while he was still alive. His father had scraped up enough money to actually open the place when Keith was ten. It was quite popular with travelers who were wondering around their galaxy. It wasn't that big. It was made out of old wood and metal, it used to be a repair shops for broken down ships. As the police opened up the doors, loud chatter filled his ears. "Mister Kogane!" one person shouted, waving their empty beer bottle towards his father. "Refill!"

The tall, gruff man let out a scratchy laugh, walking over to satisfy his customer. "Sorry about that, Iverson, it's been busy today you know." Mister Kogane explained, quickly wiping down Iverson's table as he took the empty beer bottle from the man's hand. When that was done, he handed Iverson a brand new beer.

"No one blames ya!" Iverson laughed, popping open the beer. "You've got quite the place here! With a legends name as well, it drives all the flyers crazy." Both shared another laugh as Iverson took a swig of the beer. A loud cough was head across the room, catching Mister Kogane's attention. There sat Lotor, a purple alien man who looked closer to human than most who stopped by. With his light purple skin that complimented his pitch white hair and yellow his hair was his pointy ears, making themselves seen to the others around him. In his hands held a book, probably about star maps that he had decided to study recently. Lotor was known to be one of Mister Kogane's best friends that stuck with him and Keith as the years went by since Keith was seven. He was like a second father to Keith, helping Keith with school and teaching him about mechanics while the younger boy was building his first hoverboard.

"Yes, Lotor?" Mister Kogane asked. Lotor only pointed in Keith's direction, going back to reading his book shortly after. Peering over to where Lotor had pointed, Mister Kogane let out a long sigh.

"Keith," he started.

"Dad," Keith opened his mouth only to be silenced by one of the police officers.

"Mister Kogane, your son here was found flying around on his hoverboard in the abandoned town and breaking law five in chapter thirteen paragraph six. Again. One more time and we're going to arrest him." the officer warned, letting go of Keith before the two of them left. Rubbing his face, Mister Kogane looked at his son with disappointment welling in his eyes.

"Keith," he repeated. Keith just huffed, walking toward Lotor to pick up his empty cup. "You can't keep doing this. Do you really want to end up in jail?"

"No Dad, of course not. Am I not allowed to have a little fun?" Keith didn't raise his head, going around to other tables to pick up trash and empty plates.

"You are, just not in the illegal way." his Dad sighed. "Come on Keith, you need to focus on your future…"

"Oh really? What future? All I do is stay here." Keith hissed, walking into the back room. Mister Kogane dropped his shoulders in defeat.

Lotor watched as the boy disappeared. "Don't feel too bad Teysha, your son is just having a tough time." Mister Kogane, or, also known as Teysha, didn't say anything and only waved as most of the customers piled out of the bar. Rubbing his big hand over his face once more, Teysha sat across from Lotor.

"He always seems to be having a rough time." he murmured. Closing his eyes, he listened to the start of light rain hitting the metal landing dock. Opening his dark brown eyes, he clicked a button that made the window change into a sun surrounded by the blue sky. "He's extremely brilliant Lotor, he really is! You saw him build his first hoverboard all by himself. He's brilliant in school, he just doesn't give the effort he needs for it."

Giving his friend a sympathetic smile, Lotor reached across the table to squeeze Teysha's hand. They sat there in silence, not knowing that Keith had gone outside and was leaning against the building. He silently tugged at his fingerless gloves as he listened to the two men talk. "It's just…" his father spoke again. Keith pressed himself harder against the the wall to be able to hear better. "Ever since his mother left...it's just been so hard on him. He hasn't recovered. Quiznack Lotor, I haven't recovered. Krolia was the love of my life…" he hiccupped. "I don't think I can ever feel something like that again." he suddenly let out a sob.

Pushing himself off, Keith tried to shake the image of his father crying out of his head. He thought back to his mother. He placed his hand over his belt, where a knife that his mother left behind. It was his now, his father not wanting anything to do with it. When he really stood there and thought about it, he realized she was never really there in the first place. It was always his father who tucked him into bed, told him stories of things that happened millions of years ago, who gave him hugs and kisses on the head, watched with proud eyes as he built things, and who told him that he was loved. His mother...she was just a reason why he was alive. She had never been around, she didn't care. And eight years ago, when she flew away on that ship and never came back, maybe it didn't make that much sense to miss her. Yet, he did. For some reason that he couldn't quite figure out.

Loud whining noises snapped him out of his head. Looking up, he gasped as he saw as burning ship fall to the landing docks, landing on its side as it slid harshly. Metal against metal made a ear splitting sound making Keith wince. Once it stopped moving, the boy jumped into action and ran to the ship. "Hello?" he called, hitting his hands against the metal. "Are you alright in there?" In response, the door slid open and a large, dark purple alien fell out. He had large ears and a robotic eye, instead of his skin being purple like Lotor, his purple came from fur that was all over his body. He had a yellow coat hanging off his body. That wasn't the most weird feature though. It was the dark red splotch that was forming on the man's side. "Holy Quiznack! Sir, are you okay?" Keith yelled, kneeling down to grab the man's hand.

"My...chest." the man croaked in response. Surely enough, there was a dark red chest that was next to the man. Lifting his hand, the man brought the chest closer to him.

"Sir, we need to get you help." Keith said as he pulled up the man with him. With chest still in his hand, the man and Keith made their way back up to the the bar, rain pouring down their backs. "Dad's going to love this…"

Kicking open the door, Keith yelled for his father. "He's hurt!" he explained as both Lotor and Teysha ran over.

"Son...the chest." the man croaked as he collapsed to the ground. Quickly pushing it over, they all watched as the man opened the chest and pulled out a golden sphere. He laughed weakly to himself. "They couldn't catch old Sendak oh no…" suddenly, his hand shot up and clutched onto Keith's arm, causing him to yelp. With his other hand, he shoved the golden sphere to Keith. "Beware the cyborg son…" he gasped before he dropped his hand down with a hard thud and his breathing stopped. The three remaining men stared at each other in shock.

"What...just happened." asked Lotor. The only response he got was a loud explosion outside the bar. All three flinched back. Distant yelling started outside, and the rain seemed to pour harder.

"Find him!"

"He's not in the ship!"

"Look in the bar!"

At that, Lotor grabbed the Kogane's and started to pull them back. "We have to get out of here!" he whisper shouted as they all turned to run up the stairs. Keith quickly shoved the sphere into his pocket as he fell behind the two older men. As they made it to the top floor, they heard the door slam open and more yelling come from the main floor. Pushing open the a window, Lotor waved down to the large cat like creature below who only started jumping when it saw its master. "Kova! Stay!" he commanded. "We have to jump." he told the father and son. Teysha's eyes widened as he took a shaky step back. Lotor shook his head and yanked his friend forward. "On the count of three we'll jump into the carriage Kova is holding. One, tw-"

"Three!" Keith pushed the two men forward, falling shortly after as they jumped out of the window. They all landed butt first on the seat. Lotor didn't pause to grab the reins and urge Kova to move. As they moved forward, a loud bang sounded behind them in the bar. Teysha swiveled his head behind them, only to gasp. The Galra Bar was on fire. Dropping his face in his hands, Teysha cried silently in the loss of everything he had. Keith sent his father a sympathetic look. All this father worked for was gone.

Pulling the sphere out of his pocket, Keith stared at it like it was a bomb in his hand. "All of this...for an ball." he murmured to himself.

---

"All of it...gone." Teysha whimpered. Grabbing his shoulder, Lotor squeezed it in a comforting manner as he handed the distressed man a cup of tea. Currently the trio was hiding out at Lotor's mansion. Lotor was known to be one of the most knowledgeable people in their galaxy, and had written books himself explaining things like quintessence and new discoveries he had found himself. This resulted in a lot of money to come in Lotor's way, which, of course, got him a mansion.

They were huddled in the study, the rain continued to slam against the ground harshly, somehow angry with the night. Lotor had insisted they study the sphere, and what better place to do so than in the place that held the most books that held definitions of symbols that could possibly match the ones that were on that sphere. Keith was slumped against one of the bookshelves, still observing the sphere in his hands. "I must say, those markings are quite extraordinary." Lotor smiled, rubbing his pointed chin as he walked across the room to another bookshelf. "I've never seen them before during my studies though, sadly. It could take years for me to hack it, understand it…"

As Lotor babbled, Keith randomly poked the many scattered buttons on the surface of the sphere, stopping shortly once it clicked open into three different sections. Smiling to himself, he turned the top and bottom one left and right before tapping on the middle one. A blinding gold light suddenly filled the room and Lotor yelled a 'hey' as a map was expanded in front of them, taking up the whole room.

"What the…" Teysha said in confusion as he did a full circle.

"Why...this is us." Lotor marveled as the map started to move. He pointed towards a small galaxy as it passed, Arus scribbled under it. "And there's a frozen planet. And oh! Daibazaal." The map slowed down to a small planet that had two dust rings around it. "Well, curse my eyes...that's…"

"Treasure Planet!" Keith finished, a huge grin playing on his face. "This is a map to Treasure Planet. Oh my Quiznack! Dad, this is the answer to all of our problems!" he ran up to his father, shaking him like crazy.

"Wait! No no no! You're not going." Teysha shook his head, crossing his arms tightly against his chest. It was like he caught Keith staying up his bedtime all over again.

"Your father's right!" Lotor chimed in.

"See, yes, thank you Lotor." Teysha said, releasing a sound of relief.

"That's why I'll come with you." Lotor squealed, running around the study to grab things. "This is truly amazing." Keith trailed behind the alien man, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Stop it! You're both grounded!" Teysha shouted, grabbing the attention of them both.

"Dad...please…" Keith begged, giving his dad the sad eyes. Biting his lip, Teysha spared a glance at Lotor, who gave him an encouraging nod. "Okay...but you have to stick with Lotor at all times." Laughing, Keith hugged his father tightly.

"I promise, I won't disappoint you." He said against his dad's shirt. Rubbing his back, his father pressed a kiss against Keith's hair.

"I'm already hiring a crew and a ship. Don't you worry, Teysha, we should be ready by tomorrow to get heading out." Lotor said as he opened a screen and started tapping it wildly. It seems like the two Kogane's stood there in each others arms for hours until the sun started to peak over the horizon, the rain disappearing after the long night. Bidding his father goodbye, Keith and Lotor walked side by side onto a bustling ship that would take them to Olkary's Moon, a shipping dock where ships from all over the galaxy would stop and grab passengers and supplies for the journey that they were going to take or continue.

It was a couple of hours on a crowded ship, but it felt like forever until they finally landed on their destination. The other aliens on the ship complained as they filed out of the cramped place. Keith didn't utter a word and instead marveled at the scene in front of him. Ships all around, different shapes and sizes, were tied down to the moon and people were hustling around. There was little shops set up all over the place as the owners yelled at the crowd, trying to get civilians to come over and look at their merchandise and buy it. He was about to go look for their ship but stopped shortly when he noticed Lotor wasn't with him. "Lotor?" he called out behind him.

The said man stumbled out with a large backpack on his back, waving his arm toward Keith. "I'm here, I'm here!" he said. Keith raised an eyebrow towards the purple man's direction.

"Do you really need all of that stuff?" the Kogane boy questioned.

"Of course! You never know what could happen out here." Lotor scoffed, marching forward. "Now let's go find our ship. Hurry up now." the couple pushed their way through the crowd. Some people cursed at them and others pushed back. Not every alien, Keith was finding out, was as nice as the ones that stopped by The Galra Bar. "There she is!" Lotor smiled, placing his hands on his hips as he puffed out his chest proudly. "There's Voltron, our ship!"

Keith's mouth dropped as he stared at the beautiful thing in front of him. There was a large ship, that had black posts which held the sails, the sides of the ship were painted a brilliant colors. On the right side was red, and on the left green. The under belly consisted of yellow on the left and blue on the white. It's white sails were tied in, hidden away from the community. Walking up the side plank, the sounds of the crew hustling around and talking filled his ears. In front of him stood a woman with bright blonde hair that was tied back into pigtails. She had pointed ears like Lotor and bright purple eyes. Little blue marks laid on her cheeks right underneath those eyes. She had a pink sailor coat on with pure white pants and a blue cap. She was shouting orders, walking around the ship and talking to all the crew members.

Moving onward, Lotor waved his hand towards the girl to get her attention. Blinking, she tilted her head to the side, waiting for him to speak. Coughing awkwardly, Lotor reached his hand out. "You must be the captain of this ship." he said carefully. Taking his hand and shaking it, the girl smiled.

"I'm not," she said, a heavy accent laced with her words. "My name is Romelle, the captain, she's upon us." she tilted her head back just as a shadow passed over her face. A woman was running against the ships end, jumping up and grabbing a rope as she swung herself over to where the small group was standing. She landed perfectly on her two feet, standing straight with her chin in the air. She must've been the same species as Romelle, because the pink marks on her cheeks were identical to the blue ones that Romelle held. The woman had white hair that was braided back into a bun, complimenting her darker skin tone. Her own blue coat wasn't buttoned up and revealed a stunning white blouse that had lace all over it. She had black pants and boots on, it's heels clicking against the wood as she moved.

"Romelle, as usual the ship is absolutely…" the woman paused her harsh sounding words before continuing with pride. "Perfect. As usual." Like Romelle, this woman had a weird accent, and Keith had to strain his ears to just catch the words that the woman had spoke.

"Oh Allura, you flatter me." Romelle gushed. Turning her attention towards the two men, her blue eyes felt like it had pierced their souls.

"Ah, you must be Lotor." she said towards the purple skinned man. He only nodded in response, a light pink color appearing on his cheeks. "I must say, it's quite nice to meet you. But I also must say, a traveling man, doesn't pack his whole house." she waved towards the bag on his back, making his pink cheeks grow a darker shade.

"You can't speak to me like that! Why, we're the one who found the ma-!" Allura slapped her hand over his mouth, her eyes wide with alarm.

"We do not speak of this here, Lotor." she said in a hushed tone. "Follow me to my cabin." Keith gave Lotor a questioning look, only for him to shrug in response. They walked up the steps of the ship to where Allura's quarters were, Romelle close behind. While they were walking, Keith caught the eyes of two crewmates. One was small with big round glasses that took up half of their face. They had messy brown hair and was wearing a green shirt and cargo pants. Next to them was a man who's hair was pulled back with an orange bandana, revealing his tan iris'. His dark skin was jumping out with the loose yellow shirt he was wearing. He too had cargo pants on. They both stared back at Keith. The smaller one turned and said something to their companion, who nodded after a minute as they both turned around and continued their duties.

Allura nodded towards a man who was leaning against the wheel, finding his hands highly interestings. After all of them got into the room, Allura closed the door and locked it. "May I see the map?" she asked, holding her hand out. Neither did Keith or Lotor moved. "Please?" she pressed. Rolling his eyes, Keith fished the golden sphere out of his pocket and tossed it to Allura. Humming in happiness, she studied it closely. She then turned on her heels and walked over to a small closet, placing the little sphere in a wooden box. Closing the doors, she pulled out a key and locked it. "This must be kept under lock and key. Neither of you must speak to it while on the ship." she explained, moving to sit in a chair. Romelle stood beside her, looking content and closed off.

"Understood," Lotor nodded, clasping his hands together.

"I really don't trust this crew you hired, Lotor. But we will manage for now. Keith," she caught his wandering attention. "You will be working with Mister Shirogane in the kitchen. Lotor has told me you worked at a eatery in Arus. This job will fit perfectly, so I think. Is this understood?" Keith's facial expression said otherwise.

"But All-"

"That's Ma'am, to you. You will work with Mister Shirogane in the kitchen. Understood?" Allura repeated, leaning forward in her seat.

"...understood." Keith huffed. Giving him a small smile, she pointed over to the door.

"Romelle will show you where to be go. Lotor, I'd like to discuss the place we will be traveling to." Romelle made her way over to the door and held it open for Keith. Giving a hopeless stare over to Lotor, the boy trudged out of the quarters and walked back down the stairs with Romelle. Going down to the belly of Voltron, the two passed by a bunch of tables. It was like the lunchroom at Keith's school At the middle of the room stood a man, humming to himself as he swayed his hips back and forth to his own, made up tune.

"Mister Shirogane, I'd like you to meet Keith." Romelle spoke up after a minute of both of them watching the man. Turning around, Keith held back a squeal as he stared at the man in front of him. A cyborg. The man had a right metal arm, and with some of his right leg revealed, there was some random places of metal found there as well. He was a tall, muscular man with small, dark eyes. On the bridge of his nose he had a long scar that started from one cheek and ended on the other. His most noticeable feature was the white tuft that was laying on his forehead with an undercut of pitch black hair.

"Keith, it's nice to meet you. You can call me Shiro for short though, it's what all my crew mates call me." Mister Shirogane chuckled, his voice deep and groggy but kind. He held out his metal hand for a handshake, but Keith was frozen in his place. "Ah, well that's alright boy, no need for formalities. I'm the cook on this ship." he smiled, turning back to a pot. Pouring some soup in a bowl, he plopped in a spoon and handed it to Keith. "Don't be shy, try it!"

Hesitantly, Keith picked up the spoon, trying to calm his upset stomach which was caused by just the sight of the soup. The soup had...an unappetizing appearance. Before he could put the spoon in his mouth, a fit of giggles sounded in the room. The utensil started to shake making Keith yelp in surprise as it slurped the soup that it was holding, then morphed into a straw to drink the rest. As Keith was in shock, Shiro howled in laughter.

"Lance!" he scowled. In the blink of an eye, the straw turned into a tan teen who stumbled back on the floor, covering his mouth as he tried to suppress his constant giggles. "I was wondering where you went," Shiro pulled the boy in, ruffling his hair. Seeing that Keith was standing there confused, Shiro spoke up. "Lance is a morph. He can change into anything no matter the size or object. He can't change into other humans though. I found him on the streets when he was a young boy, he's been with me ever since." he finished happily.

Lance placed a hand on his heart, "Why Shiro, you tell that story as always, beautifully."

Making an eye roll sort of movement, Romelle interrupted the conversation. "Keith will be your new cabin boy. Have him down whatever you deem necessary."
Shiro's held back a gasp of surprise. "No, really Romelle, I don't need no help. I got Lance here to do all of that."

"Sorry Mister Shirogane's, Captain's orders. Now if you excuse me, I have to go make sure that everything is ready for take off." She said, leaving without another word. Hanging his head in defeat, Shiro moved back to his work area and started to cut up some weird looking vegetables while Lance sat on the counter and started to peel a fig. Gulping, Keith picked up one of the many figs in a barrel, and took a bite.

"So...Shiro," the man hummed. "I have this friend of mine, said he knew a cyborg." Keith continued, taking another bite of the fig.

"Oh really now. Do I know of him?" Shiro asked, not looking at Keith.

"Maybe, he goes by the name of Sendak." Lance nor Shiro seemed to react to the name. Rubbing his scruff chin, Shiro shook his head.

"Nope, never heard of a Sendak." he gave Keith a grin. Suddenly, shouts from the deck seeped through the floorboards. Lance perked up at this.

"We're about to take off." Lance squealed, hopping off the counter and headed towards the staircase. "May I go watch?" he asked Shiro with excitement. Shiro smiled softly at the scene.

"Yes you can, take Keith with you while you're at it. You both should watch it." he gestured to Keith.

"Well come on then, Keith!" Lance ran up the stairs without another word. Keith went up slower, sparing one last glance at Shiro before he reached the deck. He spotted
Lance talking with the two people he had seen earlier. Above him, he heard Allura giving orders to the man who was at the wheel, his name apparently was Kolivan. There was a couple more people among the ship. When Allura had called out to them, he heard Ulaz and Thace. "Keith!" Lance waved him over. "I want you to meet some of the crew. This is Pidge and Hunk. They're my friends."

Pidge rolled their eyes when mentioned, and Hunk grunted in greeting. Keith wondered to himself how such quiet people could be friends with such an outgoing person. The ship jolted underneath their feet, resulting in Lance to climb up the nets and hang there, lifting his face to meet the cold atmosphere. Joining him shortly after, Keith felt his heart soar as they moved away from the dock at Olkary's Moon.

"I love takeoffs…" Lance said quietly, closing his eyes. His dark blue shirt clung tightly to his skinny frame as the ship moved. Keith had to admit, Lance was a beauty of the making. He wanted to run his fingers through his dark brown locks and kiss his skin that the sun kissed itself which had created the tan. But he dismissed the thought, and instead hummed in agreement. As they just hung there, Keith took in is what he always wanted. To get away...wasn't it?

---

Keith was expected to sleep with the rest of the crew down below the docks where Shiro and Lance worked on meals. There was a large column that had multiple hammocks surrounding it, each hammack held a different crew member. It was where they all slept for the night after a long day of work. Shiro and Lance apparently woke up at dawn to make everyone breakfast, an hour later the rest of the crew woke up and ate. When they were done, everyone would go up and start their duties. Keith figured this all out after the night he spent with them as morning grew upon them. He didn't know how they all did it. The hammock was highly uncomfortable and way too big, and when he woke up he was exhausted. Why wasn't Lotor sleeping with the rest of the them? Where even was Lotor?

"Are you ready for your first day as a cabin boy?" Lance interrupted Keith's train of thought, sitting down next to him with a bowl of his own porridge and meat.

"I guess," Keith puffed out his cheeks. "Will you be joining me?" he asked hopefully.

"No, I'll be staying down here in the kitchen." Lance pouted.

"Who'll be with me then?" Keith hoped the tan boy wouldn't say Shiro.

"Well, Shiro of course." Lance smiled, lifting the bowl to his lips to take a sip of it. Quiznack. At that exact moment, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Ready to start the day?" Mister Shirogane said in a loud voice. Keith flinched but nodded, quickly shoving the rest of his breakfast in his mouth. Both bidding their goodbyes to Lance, them along with the rest of the crew piled on the deck. Allura was already awake with Romelle, saying good morning to Kolvian as he made his way to the wheel. Pidge and Hunk climbed up the nets and checked on the sails while Thace and Ulaz started moving things around the ship.
Shiro sat down on a plank of wood, patting the spot next to him for Keith. Stifling a sigh, the Kogane boy obliged and the cyborg started to lower them down the side of the ship. Before he knew it, Keith was met with a wall full of barnacles. Scrunching his nose up in response, Keith leaned away, his feet swinging in the air. That was when he noticed Shiro was holding out a scraper and bucket towards him. "Really?" Keith groaned.

"Really," Shiro smirked. Grabbing the scraped, Keith started to roughly shove the barnacles into the bucket. It took most of the day to get all those darn barnacles off. As soon as his feet met the deck of the ship again, he was hoping to catch a break, maybe a quick nap. But to his disappointment, Shiro tossed him a mop and a bucket full of soapy water. Keith didn't say anything as he went right to the job, wanting it to be over with already. He mopped until the sun had disappeared and was replaced with the night sky. As he made his way back down to the sleeping quarters, he grabbed a plate full of dinner and sat alone on a table. When done, he got up to sleep. Yet again, Shiro stopped him and set him with Lance to peel potatoes.

It seemed to be like that every day for the first couple of weeks. After breakfast, Shiro would make him retie sandbags or wash the sails which usually went into late afternoon, where he would spend the rest of the day scrubbing or mopping the ship. At night, he was put with Lance to prepare for tomorrow's meals by prepping the food. He didn't complain though. Lance told funny jokes, and watching Shiro give the younger boy soft looks reminded him of his father. Just the thought of the man made his heart ache, but he shooed away the feeling. He wanted this. Right?

One night, Shiro had insisted he teach Keith how to tie proper knots. They climbed all the way up to a watching port as Shiro carried rope up on his upper arm. As they settled down, the cook started to explain the basics of knots. They sat there for a couple of hours, Shiro expertly showing how to tie tight knots. "Alright Keith, I think that now that I caught you up, you can try yourself!" Shiro puffed out his chest proudly. Turning to face the young boy, he blinked in surprise to see that the knot had been already tied and was laying there, abandoned. Looking over the small watching port, he watched as Keith walked away with his head hung low, hands buried in his pocket. Shiro smiled gently, but felt his heart break in defeat. At least he tried.

The next night, Shiro didn't have Keith or Lance do anything. The cyborg told Keith that it was the annual monthly story night. Lance explained to Keith later Shiro was going to be telling the story of how he got the scar on his nose. The whole crew came around one of the tables and Shiro's hand started to glow as he began the tale. He spoke of a Weblum and how he had to steer it away from their ship. With his glowing arm, he drew the creature and ship in the air, and made them both explode while he spoke, earning a lot of laughs and giggles from the crew as they listened to Shiro with intrigued faces. Keith's attention wandered over to Lance. His dark blue eyes sparkled against the purple light, making Keith's heart skip a beat. He noticed the multiple cartilage earrings that lined up on his ear, and the golden earring that hung on his left ear. He never noticed those before, but they suited the ship boy.

Nothing interesting happened until another couple nights later. Allura had invited a ship called The Balmera that they were passing on board and ordered a feast for them. There was a lot of dishes afterwards, which was given to Keith to clean. The more that Shiro and Lance brought down, the more Keith wanted to throw himself over board. Some point during the night though, the cabin boy dozed off mid scrub of a pot that was already pretty clean. Shiro was about to scold at him for sleeping on the job, but Lance stopped him as he pointed to all the clean dishes. Smiling softly at this, the man shedded his jacket and placed it over the sleeping boy. "Good night, Keith…" Lance whispered into Keith's ear. Keith never told them he was awake for the part of Shiro giving Keith his jacket as a blanket and the sweet words Lance uttered.
The next morning Shiro asked Keith if he could help him and Lance lower a side ship down so they could fly to the closest port to gather more supplies. Before Lance joined them, Keith and Shiro lowered the boat down to a height where Shiro could climb into it. "Maybe in a day or two, I could show you how to fly this baby." Shiro said, checking the engine that was attached to the back of it. Keith perked up at that.

"Really?" he asked excitedly.

"Yeah! And it can be just you and me kiddo, Lance can stay behind and get Hunk to help with the kitchen." At Lance's name, the boy was running over, his bare feet thumping against the wood. He jumped into the boat next to Shiro, giving Keith a wide, toothy smile.

"Good bye, Keith!" he waved as Shiro untied the ropes. "See you in a few hours!" Then the boat dropped on the air below them, and the two flew off.

A few days later Shiro had kept his promise and took Keith out flying on one of the boats. He of course scared the heck out of Shiro with how fast he went. He did enjoy the wind in his face, he also enjoyed that the same wind muted Shiro's screams. He could feel the wisps of the clouds go through his hair and it skim across his skin. He couldn't help but hold the urge to do what he always did on his hoverboard. He yowled in happiness. He didn't know that that the man was smiling at him softly behind him. Those soft eyes didn't go noticed by Keith. When they returned to the ship, Lance was waiting for them, ropes ready to tie the ship back up. As Shiro and Lance tied the ship in place, Keith laid back and closed his eyes. "That was something." He sighed happily. Shiro hummed in agreement, mimicking Keith's movements. Lance crawled on with them and laid his head down on Shiro's chest. For that moment, it was all quiet, all was calm and seemed right with the galaxy. "This was all I ever wanted." Keith admitted after a bit, surprising the two others.

"Really?" Lance asked, lifting his head to meet Keith's eyes.

"Yeah, I'd give anything to do this all the time." Keith said. Shiro pressed his lips in a tight line. Grunting, he slowly moved his metal arm to rest it on his knee in a painful looking way. His adoptive son noticed and turned into a small wrench.

"Ah, thank you, Lance." Shiro muttered as he used Lance to tighten a bolt on his arm. When done, Lance turned back into his human form, giving Shiro a kiss on the cheek. "I'd be careful what you say lad…" Shiro said to Keith. "You give up a few things," he motioned to his arm and leg. "To go on the adventures you want. And you really have to consider if it was worth it."

"Well, was it?" Keith raised his eyebrows. He hoped to hear a good answer and not a depressing one. Shiro only looked over at Lance and smiled.

"Yes."

---

As another day ended, Keith plopped his scrubber into the bucket and let out a yawn. He got the wake up call he needed though as Voltron jolted to the side, making the crew shout out in alarm. Keith be damned as he saw Lotor for the first time in days. "Lotor!" Keith screamed over another shake. "What's going on?!"

"A star is going into a supernova!" Lotor yelped in alarm, clutching onto the railing as the ship shook. Allura was beside Lotor within seconds, her eyes widening.

"Kolivan, steer us away!" she shouted. Spinning the wheel to the right, the ship quickly turned. "Everyone, get your lifelines ready!" she shouted, Romelle echoing her so the rest of the crew could hear. The whole ship was moving now, everyone running and tying ropes around their waists. They all gathered to the middle column and tied them down. The waves of fire that the supernova was emitting was catching up to them quickly. Fire started to burn the sails and cracked through windows. Allura gasped.

"Romelle!" she shouted down, catching her second hand mate's attention. "Tie down those sails. We have to save them!" the girl nodded and repeated her words to the crew. Rushing to climb up the nets, the crew starts to tie down the sails to avoid any further damage. " "Keith!" Romelle called him down. "Check on the life lines, we don't want anyone dying." Nodding, Keith quickly tightened all the life lines, calling up to Allura when he made sure that everyone was secure.

Over all the ruckus, he still heard Lotor scream. "The supernova is turning into a blackhole." Kolivan somehow lost control of the wheel and fell to the side, shouting out in pain. Grabbing the wheel instead, Allura tried her best to steer them away, but it was no use, they were being sucked into the hole. "Captain," Lotor yelled. "The hole is releasing waves, maybe we could ride out with one of them." he suggested, continuing to hold onto the railing for dear life.

"Brilliant! Great thinking, Lotor!" Allura beamed.

"Captain, all the sails have been tied down." Romelle reported.

"Great work, Romelle. Now untie them!"

The woman blinked. "Uh, aye Captain." she grumbled before shouting to the crew. It only returned groans. Climbing up there herself, Romelle helped release the sails. As a smaller wave hit them, Allura was flung back, making the wheel turn out of control. Shiro let a scream rip his throat as he fell off one of the sail posts.

"Shiro!" Keith ran forward, grabbing onto his lifeline and pulled him back up.

"Thank you, Keith." Shiro wheezed.

Shiro wasn't the only one who fell off though. Romelle was flailing around in the air, trying to climb back up the rope. Thace showed himself behind one of the sails, staring down at her in shock. "Thace! Please help me!" the flailing woman pleaded. Thace only smiled wickedly, and pulled out a knife. Cutting the rope, he watched as Romelle plummeted into the black hole, screaming as she disappeared into the darkness.

"Everyone hang onto your lifelines, the final wave is coming!" Allura gripped onto the wheel, finally able to turn the ship around so it face the opposite direction. Before they were swallowed into the black hole, the wave pushed them out, sending them far out into the the star system. Shiro pressed Keith into one of the posts, protecting the younger boy's body from the flying debris as they flew at top speeds. And then as soon as it started, it was over.

The crew started to cheer, falling back onto the deck to hug each other. Shiro lifted himself off of Keith and they crawled down the nets as fast as they could. Keith was about to say something to the man who protected him but noticed him looking around frantically. "Lance!" he called, worried etched in his voice.

"Shiro!" Lance's voice came bouncing back. The boy emerged from the small cloud of debris, running to Shiro with his arms open. As soon as Lance was in his arms, Shiro squeezed the boy tightly to him, holding his head with the metal hand.

"You're okay, you're okay." Shiro said in Lance's hair. Keith's heart stung at the scene. Would his father have that same reaction after something like that happened. He wasn't sure. His father was protective, but he didn't know the full potential of that.

"Good work crew!" Allura said as she walked down to meet everyone else. "Romelle, is everyone accounted for?" Silence. "Romelle?"

"Romelle...she didn't make it." Thace stepped forward, his eyes downcasted to the floor. "Her life line wasn't secure." At that, everyone's eyes landed on Keith.

"What? No! I made sure!" Keith insisted, running over to where all the ropes were tied. Except Romelle's was gone. His heart plummeted. No. He knew he double checked it. It was tight and in tact.

Allura dismissed it sadly. "Romelle was a wonderful leader, and she knew how to run things ship shape. She will be missed. But we're in the middle of nowhere on a ship, we don't have time to grieve...carry on everyone."

And that was that.

---

Keith laid in his hammock that night, unable to sleep. Lance was above him, and it was obvious the boy was swinging it, awake. A second later, the boys head was in front of Keith's. There were unshed tears in his eyes, making them look glassy. "Can I sleep with you tonight?" he asked quietly. Keith didn't know what to say, and he practically heard his heart hammering against his chest. But he nodded none of the less.

Lance's long limbs hopped down on the floor and climbed into Keith's hammock. He was glad that it was big enough to hold two people in it. "What's wrong?" Keith asked gently. Lance shrugged, feeling embarrassed for even being there in the first place. "Well, hey, let's get your mind off of it. Tell me something about yourself."

"Like...what?"

"Like...how did you and Shiro meet?" Keith gave him an encouraging smile, even at the mention at Shiro's name Lance seemed to be more relaxed.

"I was born in a big family. I had two older brothers, and two sisters. My parents were very poor. They already had my two older brothers, Luis and Marco, and my older sister, Veronica. I was a twin of my sister, Rachel. They were happy they had another daughter, she could marry into a rich family, like Veronica had when she came of age. But I was another son with nothing to offer. Marco and Luis were struggling to find wives as it was, but it was hard when you came from a family of nothing. They couldn't afford to keep me at that rate. I was placed on a junkyard when I was six. I constantly begged for food, money for food, anything for people in ships who were passing by. I was usually ignored though, there was some kind souls who gave me something, but it wasn't enough to sustain me.

"Two years later, Shiro ran into me with his ship. I thought I was good as dead, all my bones were poking out and I barely had clothes on my back. He got me out of that place, nursed me back to health, and clothed me with something other than rags. He was more of a father to me than my own dad was, who gave my older siblings most of the food and me known of it. So I guess when I think of it, I was already practically starving since the beginning. I've been with Shiro for almost ten years now. I love him. I know that he loves me too. We're like...a little family." Lance told him happily. He fluttered his long lashes to Keith. "What's your story?"

Keith shrugged, tucking his arm behind his head. "I lived in the galaxy Arus, and worked with my father in a bar. My mother left when I was very young, I don't really even remember that much of her now that I think of it. The only thing I have left of her is this blade." he lifted the blade to show Lance, who stared at it in awe. "Lotor really helped out with raising me, I could consider him my second father I guess. I've been with him ever since. Working building, and studying at school." Keith chuckled to himself at that. Lance gave him a sad smile.

"That sounds really sweet." he said. Without even thinking, Keith's eyes fell down to Lance's lips, watching as his tongue ran over them. Meeting Lance's eyes again and back down to his lips, he heard the morph's breath hitch as Keith connect their lips. Keith didn't know what to expect from the other boy, if he would freak out or pull back. He definitely didn't expect him to kiss back. Placing his hands around Lance's hips, he tried to get them as close as possible.

Lance's lips were softer than Keith had imagined. Those lips seemed to encourage him to continue. When pulling back, they both panted softly. "Wow…" Keith breathed. Lance connected their lips again, less hungry than before. They soon fell asleep as their kisses got lazier and slower.

Keith next awoke to light being shined down on his face. Groaning, Keith blinked his eyes open slowly. Lance was no longer in the hammock, probably making breakfast. Swinging his legs out of the thin fabric, Keith tiredly pulled one of his boots on, reaching out to grab the other only for it to hop away. Staring in surprise, Keith reached out for it again only for it to hop off.

"Lance." Keith growled playfully, earning a laugh in response. Running after the rogue, fake boot, it hopped behind a pile of boxes that held food. Lance was in sight now instead of the footwear, the actual boot in hand. He ran from his hiding spot and scrambled into the barrel full of the figs. Jumping in right after him, Keith came face to face with Lance. Grabbing onto his boot, Lance managed to steal a kiss from Keith earning them both small smiles. They froze when they heard whispers entering the room.

"You almost cost our asses!" they heard Shiro hiss.

"I did what had to be done," Thace's voice shot back. Finding a small peephole, Keith pressed his face to it to see the scene unfold in front of him.

"We can't hide anymore, Takashi." Ulaz said, Kolivan grunting in agreement.

"We're so close though, we can wait a little longer." Shiro insisted. "We're pirates, aren't we? We were born with patience." Keith's eyes widened, and shot a glance at Lance, who wasn't giving off any emotion.

"We should get back to work, we will be reaching the planet soon." Pidge said, their light steps making their way up the stairs. The others steps could be heard moments later, until it was silent again. Lance and Keith climbed out of the barrel, staring at each other in silence.

"Did you...did you know?" Keith choked out. Lance didn't say anything, and made his way up to the deck. Leaning against a table, Keith could feel himself shaking. No, this wasn't right. It just wasn't. It made no sense. It was Allura's crew, wasn't it? How did Lotor hire pirates and now an actual crew! In the background of his thoughts, he heard the crew cheering 'Treasure Planet', so they must've made it. Heavy steps made the wood stairs creak.

"Keith." Shiro said, surprised. "How...how long have you been down here? I thought you were up an hour ago."

"You...you lied to me." Keith croaked. Shiro reached out to Keith, only making the boy bolt up the stairs. Sighing in frustration, Shiro re-emerged onto the deck, his voice ringing clearly as Keith slammed Allura's door closed as he managed to gasp out 'pirates'.

"Guess we're starting earlier than planned boys!" More cheers erupted. Meanwhile, Allura was pulling out guns from her closet.

"You do know how to use one of these, don't you?" she asked as she threw one to Lotor.

"Why of course I do...not." Lotor deflated, staring at the gun like a foreign object. "I know how it functions, if that helps." Three bullets blasted through the door, causing Lotor to scream.

"Keith, take care of this." Allura commanded as she gave the said boy the gold sphere. Kneeling down, the woman took the butt of her gun and slammed it into the ground, creating a small hole. She tore the hole open to be big enough for them to fit through, even if it was a little tight. All of them jumped down into the hole, which had opened up to the main controls of the ship. Running down the halls, Keith could hear the crew coming after him, shouting at each other of who's fault it was that they had gotten away. The trio reached the small boat loading area. "I'll open up the hatch. Keith, Lotor, get that boat ready to drop." Allura ordered. They all got to work.

Lotor and Keith started to untie the ties until they heard a gunshot. This resulted in Keith falling to the side and getting the air knocked out of him. The sphere bounced out of his pocket and rolled down the ramp. "No!" Keith yelled, getting out of the boat and running after it. It didn't make it that far, for since it hit Lance's foot, who picked it up with scared eyes. "Lance!" Keith said excitedly. "Bring it to me, please." Lance's eyes turned soft for a second and he took a step toward Keith.

"Lance, no no, come here, son." Shiro's voice sounded on the other side. Lance at this point looked distressed. Both Keith and Shiro continued to urge Lance to come to them. Squeezing the sphere against his chest, Lance backed up into a bunch of sandbags. The Shiro and Keith's eyes met for a second, waiting for Lance to come out or for the other person to do something. When nothing happened, Keith took the chance to reach in the sandbags and grab the sphere. Making a run for it, the boy hopped into the ship with Allura close behind.

"Go go go!" Keith told Lotor, who let go of the last rope. Shiro had his gun up, aiming at Keith. Facing him, the Kogane boy puffed out his chest at the pirate, seeming to challenge him to shoot. Shiro hesitated, seeming torn about killing the boy and letting him get away. Letting his arm drop, he let one shot go. Allura screeched in pain as the bullet hit her arm. Lotor took control of the engine as they flew down to Treasure Planet, leaving Voltron behind.

"Keith," Allura panted, reaching for the boy. "Do you have it? The map?"

"Yes, yes I do!" Keith held the sphere out proudly, everyone sagging in relief. But then, the sphere slowly changed, and then there was Lance, sitting there next to Lotor. "Lance!" Keith yelled. "Where's the map?!"

"It's on the ship!" Lance fired back, gripping onto the side of the boat as Lotor landed horribly. The whole boat was shaking drastically. "You grabbed me!"

"Why were you in the shape of the map then?" This was getting frustrating. What the hell was going on?

"I panicked okay?!" Lance was now in tears, sniffling.

"We can't worry about that now," Allura interrupted, getting up on shaky legs. "We have to scout ahe-ah!" the woman gripped her arm, red seeping through her fingers.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere, Captain. You're injured." Lotor said gently, helping the woman out of the small boat and laid her down on the grass.

"Fine...Keith and...Lance, scout ahead. We don't know what's out here or if we're alone." Nodding, Keith moved forward, his knife in hand. Lance trailed behind, keeping his distance from the pale boy.

After a few minutes of walking through dense plant growth, Lance decided to speak. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Keith. I really am. It's just, Shiro is my family, the whole crew is-"

"It's whatever, Lance. Just forget about it." Keith waved him off. Suddenly, there was a loud snap, making both of the boys jump.

"It isn't whatever though, Keith!" Lance whined, making his way to stand out in front of Keith to make him stop walking. "I couldn't help it, I couldn't tell you. Please understand-"

"Oh my Quiznack!" a voice shouted, making the boys scream. At first nothing came out, it was just a scene of trees. Suddenly came a robotic man, pushing his way through the dense undergrowth. It was taller than both Lance and Keith, and had metal orange hair along with a orange mustache. "People! I haven't seen people in so long!" it cried, running forward to hug the scared boys.

"W-who are you?" Lance stuttered out the question, trying to get out of the steel arms that the robot held them in.

"Why, I'm Coran!" it answered. "You don't understand how lonely I have been for over a thousand years." he sighed. "Ever since I was put here by Zarkon…"

"Wait, did you say Zarkon?" Keith stopped him. "You knew him?"

"Of course I did! He was my master." Coran snapped, placing his hands on his...hips? "Well, sort of. I was really his best friends servant, Alfor. But same difference yes?"

"Do you know where he put his treasure?" Keith asked next, his excitement getting the better of him.

"Well, no. But I do remember a few things," Coran said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Let's see, there was a door that opened many places…" that's when the first spark popped out of Coran. "Sphere...anger...gold...ruct-..." Coran suddenly started malfunction, shaking violently as he tried to say his words. It wasn't until Lance hit him because it was freaking the poor teen out that Coran finally snapped out of it. "Yep, that's all I know. Sorry, I don't have my memory at the moment." he pointed to a big chunk of metal hair that was missing on the back of his head.

"Well...that's not very helpful." Keith grumbled. "Come on, Lance, let's keep going." Keith grabbed Lance's hand, ignoring the blush that was displayed Lance's cheeks. He couldn't think of that right now. He was angry at Lance.

"Oh, alright then. I guess I'll just head back to my house." Coran pouted, walking out onto a field of flowers and tall grass to where a large building was, covered in moss and vines, but still in one piece. Lance and Keith exchanged a look. Shelter.

"Coran, I think you just solved our problem." Keith said, making the robot seem quite pleased.

---

Lotor managed to get Allura in a comfortable position, he had managed to get her arm in a sling while the boys were scouting ahead. "I wasn't expecting any guests, so I'm sorry I didn't clean up." Coran gushed, moving his stuff around to make more room for everyone to sit down. The building was quite impressive for being around a thousand years old. True, it was really dusty, but Coran was a robot, how the heck would he know how to dust.

Lance and Keith were sitting at the entrance, keeping guard. They heard Lotor say to Coran that Allura had gone insane because she called his eyes 'beautiful'. "Keith," Lance whispered, catching Keith's attention. "Please, can we talked about what happened?" he begged.

"Lance, like I said, just forget about it."

"I can't though! I like you, Keith. Like, I want to kiss you whenever I see you. And I know I didn't say anything. But how could I. It was going to scare you away, I didn't want that." Keith's heart melted a little bit, violet eyes meeting blue. Before he could say anything, a voice rang up through the entrance.

"Keithy boy, I know you're up there." Shiro sang. "Please come down, Keith, I only want to talk."

"Wait…" Keith spoke softly. "If Shiro's here...he still thinks we have the map! We can use this. Wait here guys." With that, Keith hopped out of the entrance and onto the ground. There stood the cyborg, who brightened up when he saw the boy.

"Keith…" he said gently. The said boy just sent him a glare, pressing his lips together. This made Shiro frown. "Look, let's make this easy. You give me the map, and we'll let you live." he said, his eyes turning towards the entrance, where Lance sat. "Ah, there's my Lance." he sighed. Keith suppressed a growl, but still didn't say anything. This seemed to piss of Shiro. "Keith. I'll give you until tomorrow night to give me the map. But if you don't, you can say goodbye to this little crew of yours. I'll be blowing up this place as soon as the sun touches the horizon." with that, Shiro turned and disappeared into the little forest.

Crawling back up to the entrance of the building, Lance grabbed Keith's arms and pulled him in. "We don't have time." Keith told him. "If we don't give him the map, he'll kill us all."

"How are we going to get back to the ship though?" Lance whimpered.

"I don't know yet…let's wait until nightfall, maybe we can figure something else then." Lotor agreed, the small crew settling in to where they could be held most comfortable with the stone. Lance leaned against Keith, wrapping his arms around his waist.

"I could...try to convince them not to." Lance suggested.

"No, we should use this to our advantage. I mean, unless...you want to go back." Keith's voice died down as he finished the sentence. Lance shook his head against Keith, making him visibly relax.

"I...I want to stay with you." he whispered. "I don't really know what to do...but this feels...this feels right." They were quiet after that. Watching the sunset over the dense canopy of trees.

Keith didn't remember falling asleep, because he was suddenly opening his eyes to the sound of someone singing. "And I, want a moment to be real, wanna touch things I don't feel. We want to hold on and feel I belong...and how, can the world want me to change? They're the ones that stay the same, they don't know me, cause I'm not here…" Lance sang quietly, running his fingers through the ends of Keith's hair. The supposed sleeping boy took the moment to take in his surroundings. Coran was sitting next to Lotor as they watched Allura sleep. It was dark outside now, which was good, but on the next hill over there were lights flickering. A fire.

Startling Lance, Keith got onto his feet and leaned out the entrance. "Great...how are we going to get out of here now?" he asked no one in particular. "We're practically stuck here. Sitting ducks."

Coran shifted nervously, feeling the air in the room growing dense all of the sudden. "I think I need some air, I'll just step out the back door." the robot opened a little door that was attached to the floor, a soft green light flowing into the room.

"Wait, did you just say back door?" Keith snapped his head around. Running over to be next to Coran, he peered down. There was a bunch of wires and metal boxes that opened up to other systems. "Is this apart of the planet?"

"Why of course it is, it's the inside of this planet of course. Or, one of the many layers to it."

"Coran, once again, you just solved our problem." Keith grinned giddly. "Lotor, you're in charge here, we're going to go get that map." And with that, Keith hopped down into the door. Disappearing. Lance, then Coran, jumped down next. They fell down on a meshed metal path. As quietly as they could, they made their way to the next door that lead to a way out. Believe it or not, that door opened to where Shiro and the crew were sleeping.

Pressing his pointer finger to his lips, Keith crawled out of the door. Lance was next, "How are we going to get back onto the ship?" Lance mouthed. Keith nodded up to the small boat that was floating above their heads. One by one, they all piled on and took off toward Voltron.

As they all loaded onto the deck of the bigger ship, Keith took immediate action by running down to the belly below. "Coran, you deactivate the cannons from the ship. That's probably how they were planning to kill us. Lance, follow me, you have to show me where the map is." Following Keith's orders, they all went off to do their things. It wasn't long until Lance found the pile of sandbags he had hidden in, pulling out the sphere from its hiding spot. Keith let out a sob of relief. Now they just had to get off this crazy ship.

"Looks like someone just couldn't keep away." A voice laughed. Behind one of the walls stepped out Thace. Keith felt his blood run cold at the sight of him. Lance uttered a 'run' in his ear before the boy himself disappeared, turning invisible. The former cabin boy didn't wait a second at that command. Sprinting down the hallway that Lotor, Allura, and him had run through when they were trying to escape, he heard Thace's steps close behind. "Come here little boy." Thace's voice rang down the hall. Pulling out his knife, Keith spun on his heel, ready to thrust it into Thace. He was met with darkness. The lights were off.

Why did the lights turn off? Red filled the hall a minute later. The emergency wasn't where he was before though. He wanted to call out for the man, but he knew that would be a bad idea. He did a full one eighty, making sure to check everywhere for the pirate. There was a loud whack instead, resulting in Thace to fall behind him. There was Lance, his whole body made of metal. He converted back into flesh and bones.

Both ran back onto the deck, hearts hammering against their chests as they tried to get to the smaller boat. Keith let out a scream though as he fell, Thace having grab onto his ankle and pulling the boy down. Kicking himself free, Keith ran up to the nets and started to climb. "Keith!" Lance cried frantically from the deck. Looking over his shoulder, the boy climbed faster seeing as Thace was only a couple feet behind him. All of the sudden, they were all floating. His sweaty hand betrayed him, slipping him free as Keith rose upward, able to grab the flag that had five lions on it.

Laughing wickedly, Thace pulled out a small pocket knife and started to cut the tie that held the sail up. Gasping at this, Keith pulled himself forward, grabbing the pole instead. Hissing in frustration, Thace made an attempt to grab the boy. He beat him to it though, and kicked Thace in the stomach. Groaning in pain, Thace let go to whatever he was holding on. He was in the air again, falling into space now. The last thing he heard was screams of helps before it was all quiet again.

Someone turned the gravity on again, because Keith fell all the way down to the deck from the very top of the pole. "Keith!" Lance ran up to the struggling boy, who was trying to stand. Coran appeared on his other side, wires hanging over his shoulders.

"It took a while, but I disabled the cannons!" Coran told them proudly.

"Please don't tell me you were the one who cut the power and gravity." Lance glared. Coran only smiled to that. They made their way back into the boat and flew back down to the surface Treasure Planet.

Pushing open the door that lead back into the building, Keith waved the sphere around like a prize. "Lotor, Allura! We found it!" he cheered. "Allura? Lotor?" he echoed, not getting any response. Instead he got Shiro's face, smiling like a mad man.

"Thank you, Keithy." Shiro grabbed the sphere from him as Kolivan and Ulaz started to tie his hands behind his back. "How do I open this thing now?" Shiro asked him, tossing the sphere up and down like it was a toy ball in his hands. Keith didn't say anything, trying to muster up the scariest look he could and aimed it as the pirate. Allura and Lotor were tied up as well, with white clothes over the mouth to prevent them from speaking.

As Kolivan and Ulaz reached to tie up Lance, Shiro stopped them. "Lance is fine, you know him." Shiro smiled at the young boy, waving him over. Lance planted his feet on the ground and stood his ground. "Lance," Shiro's voice didn't sound as gentle anymore. "Lance!" he said louder this time, his eyes filling with small rage.

Lance lift his chin up, "No."

Grinding his teeth together, Shiro snapped at the two men. "Fine then, if you want to be tied up, be tied up. Now, Keithy." he turned back to the raven haired boy. "Back to the map, how do you open it."

"I could show you if you'd just let me go." Keith muttered. The captain went behind Keith and unsnapped his restraints, giving the map back to Keith. He spared a look at Lotor and Allura. Allura was shaking her head no, but Lotor was shaking his head yes. What? Suddenly Lotor changed it into a no though when he saw Allura give him the stink eye. Taking a deep breath, Keith pressed the buttons and screwed the three dividers, cracking it open. A map didn't show up this time though, and gave out a green light with arrows pointing out of the building and across the planet.

"Atta boy," Shiro chuckled. "Let's go then!" Shiro commanded. Hunk and Pidge forced everyone up, as they went on their long walk to where the treasure was.

---

They had been walking for a couple hours now, quietly following those green arrows across the planet, Hunk on the ship Voltron, driving it closely behind them through the air. After another hour, the arrows stopped. "Pidge, you watch those two." Shiro pointed at Allura and Lotor. "The rest of you, come with me." They pushed through a few more trees to be met with a cliff.

"Where's the treasure?" Kolivan asked Keith, who just shrugged.

"This can't be right, we walked all this way for nothing!" Shiro cursed, placing his hands on his hips as he continued to look on beyond the cliff. Staring at his feet, Keith caught sight of a weird hole on the ground. Kneeling down, Keith rolled the ball into the slot. The ground shook, making everyone shout in surprise. Five beams of light shot toward them, forming a triangular form.

A map popped up in front of them, as well as an image in the door. "It's Olkarian's Moon!" Lance observed, catching the familiar loading decks and the bustling streets. Keith tapped on a random planet, the image changing in front of them and showed a desert.

"It's a door." Keith snapped his fingers, remembering what Coran said. He moved the map around, finding Treasure Planet.

"Okay, so where do we find the treasure." Shiro tapped his foot impatiently.

"You just have to look in the right...place." Tapping on the planet, the door showed a bunch of gold, it was practically shining at them.

"The treasure…" Ulaz breathed out. "It's Zarkon's treasure!" he shouted this time. Keith stepped forward, pushing his hand through the image. He went through. Stepping in now, there is was in front of him. Zarkon's gold! Ulaz and Kolivan jumped through, running straight down and burying themselves in the gold. Shiro did the same, being in heaven as he ran his fingers through the countless gold coins.

"They're distracted." Keith said, quickly cutting Lance free. "We have to get out of here, and get Allura and Lotor." Spotting an old ship on one of the many piles, the trio made their way over, avoiding Shiro and that crew of his as best as they could, not wanting to draw any further attention. It didn't seem like that much of a problem though. They stumbled onto the ships deck, almost jumping back down of what they saw in front of them. There was a skeleton. "Holy Quiznack...that looks like Zarkon."

Next to that skeleton was another skeleton, who was sitting beside where Zarkon was. "That's Alfor…" Coran said, rubbing his chin. "I feel like I'm missing something...Zarkon told me something about this place…if I could just remember." his hand moved to scratch his metal hair. Keith leaned closer to the bones of Zarkon, studying the infamous pirate. Spotting a shiny piece of metal in his hands. It looked orange. A part of...Coran's head.

"I think I just found your memories, Coran." Keith smirked, snapping Zarkon's bones to get to the piece. He didn't hesitate to push it into Coran's head, a missing piece finally apart of its whole puzzle. Coran's robotic eyes widened, his rusty brown eyes turning into silver.

"Ah, yes, now I remember." Coran clapped his hands together. "Now, Zarkon never wanted to let anyone have his gold, so he set up a booby trap at the entrance so all inside would perish with the rest of his treasure! It'll make the whole planet explode! Isn't that just so genius?"

"WHAT?!" Lance and Keith shouted in unison.

"Well, when I put it like that I guess that does sound pretty horrible." Coran smiled sheepishly. At that, the whole room began to shake. The metal that was being held by whatever it was covering began to melt. It must have had heat under it. The floor then began to crash, revealing lava. Ulaz screams where vanished within the moment, as he had fallen in.

"We need to get this ship to work." Keith said, running back to grab the engine. Would a thousand year old ship even function? There was one way to find out. Kicking it to start, the engine started to purr after a few more good kicks. Lance cried in relief as the ship slowly lifted off the ground. Keith looked over the ship, noticing that Kolivan had disappeared as well. Did Shiro fall to his death as well?

That answer came quickly as Shiro's grunts filled their ears. "Sorry to crash the party boys." Shiro snickered. He staggered his way over to where everyone was standing, an evil grin plastered on his face. No one was paying attention, nor bothered to notice that the ship was about to ram into one of the broken pieces of the floor. Everyone tumbled out the side, Lance and Coran thankfully falling close enough towards the entrance. Keith and Shiro on the other hand fell to where one of the cracks were. Shiro landed safely right on the edge, his hand metal hand clutching onto the small ship. Keith was clutching to the edge, the lava lapping up to him.

"Shiro!" Keith screamed, struggling to hang on. Shiro spared a glance at his name. His heart twinged at the sight. He looked between Keith and the ship that had the remaining gold on it. "Just a second, Keith." Shiro said, leaning over to the side, reaching for Keith, making sure not to let go of the boat. His arms weren't long enough though. Keith was crying now, his hot tears burning his cheeks.

"Please," he shakily begged. He was losing grip, and he could already feel the lava touching his feet. He whimpered. Squeezing his eyes shut, Shiro muttered a 'damn it' and pushed the ship away. Grabbing onto Keith's shirt, he brought him up, quickly leading him to where Lance and Coran were standing. Lance grabbed Keith in his arms, tears of his own falling on Keith's skin.

"We don't have time for a little reunion, we have to get out of here." Shiro snapped, pushing everyone through the open door. As they ran, Shiro called to Pidge to run. A large heat wave got everyone flying in the air. "To the ship!" he commanded, everyone climbing up. Allura and Lotor were set free, Pidge hurrying with cutting their restraints up, putting them into immediate action. Grabbing the wheel as Hunk stood back, Allura moved the ship to try and escape their situation.

"I don't think we're going to make it!" She called out. Fear was in the air. Keith peered over the side of the ship, catching sight of the door.

"We have to turn around!" he called up to the captain. She gave him a crazy look, but he ignored it as he rushed around, grabbing a torn up piece of metal and an old booster. "If I can only put these together…" he tried wrapping rope around it, but failed.

"Allow me," Shiro pushed through, pushing his hand on the metal. His arm warmed up to high temperatures, melting the two pieces together. Keith shot him a grateful look, starting the booster up as it lifted him up the ground.

"Make sure the ship turns around." He told Shiro, pointing to the door. "Don't stop, head straight for the door." with that, Keith flew off ahead of them.

Shiro turned to Allura, who still looked frightened. "You heard the boy! Turn this ship around!" Shiro shouted. Turning serious, Allura turned the wheel, getting the whole ship around and started head to the door.

Keith was flying as fast as the board could take him. He had to keep hitting the restart a couple of times to keep them going. He was approaching that tiny map and the door at high speeds. All he had to do is touch any other planet, and they were home free. If only his board would make it that simple. The booster stopped again, but this time, it didn't restart. "No!" Keith screeched, kicking it, trying to get it to start again. It was no use. He started to plummet to the ground, his screaming continuing to tear up his throat. "Come on come on!" he kept kicking it, trying to get it to work.

He gave on more, forceful kick, bringing it back to life. Keith could sob. He shot back up, and continued to go towards the map. The whole planet was practically on fire now. The beginning of the explosions could be seen as the planet cracked apart. He was so close to the map, Voltron on his tail. Extending his arm, he touched Olkarian's Moon, shouting as the door switched to the bustling place.

Him and Voltron pushed through, the planet behind them making an ear deafening explosion. The door closed quickly behind them. Keith felt tears slip down his cheeks as relief overfilled him, but shouted happily at Voltron. He landed on the ship, his chest heaving heavily. Allura and Lotor ran up to him, giving him a quick hug. Pidge and Hunk kept their distance, but also looked, far more relaxed than before.

Keith checked around for Lance, only to see that Shiro was disappearing below deck, dragging the boy down with him.

Lance was shuffling his feet nervously as Shiro untied one of the boats. "Shiro…" Lance started, but the man shushed him.

"Leaving so soon?" A voice asked. Shiro didn't bother to look up, but he did smile.

"Keithy, as much as it pains me to...leave, duty calls." he chuckled. Keith grinned softly. "You know, you could join us. Get out of this dump. Travel the world."

"When I first boarded this ship, I would say yes a million times over. But, I know I can't now. I have a future. I have family here. I'm finally willing to face it." he laughed weakly. I'm...I'm going to miss you, both of you" he admitted. Lance and Shiro exchanged glances. Lance made his way over to Keith, cupping his face. He placed a soft kiss on his lips, his eyes shutting.

"Good bye, Keith." Lance said against his lips, pulling away. Unshed tears were there. Turning back to Shiro, he saw heartbreak on his face. Licking his lips, Shiro pulled Lance into a hug.

"Maybe...you should, stay with Keith, son." Shiro rubbed his neck, pushing the boy away. "Keep an eye on him for me?" Lance blinked back tears, staring at Shiro in shock. "It's okay," the man kissed Lance's hair, facing Keith. "You deserve not to be on the constant run. You deserve to be happy and feel loved."

"Will I ever see you again?" Lance croaked, holding Shiro's face in his hands. Shiro only smiled sadly, prying the hands of his face, nudging him towards the other boy.

Sniffling, Lance walked over to Keith. The intertwined their fingers and pressed their foreheads together. Shiro went into the boat, throwing a few jewels and multiple coins in Keith's direction, surprising them both. Giving them one last wave before he cut the ropes free. There Shiro went, to where ever he wanted to go. He was gone in a blink of an eye.

---

A lot of stuff happened happened over the past few years. Or Keith thinks so.

Teysha was wondering around Olkary's Moon when he was alerted that Voltron had returned. He seemed really confused, and kept apologizing to anyone he touched on accident. Keith spotted him first. Running up to his father, Keith had engulfed him in a tight hug. Teysha stumbled back in surprise, but hugged him in return, smiling widely. "Welcome back, kiddo." he said, petting Keith's hair. Lance stood back, letting the two have their moment. He didn't go unnoticed though, and he was introduced to Teysha, who welcomed him with open arms.
Allura had written a letter of recommendation to the Flight Academy about Keith's skills, and encouraged the boy to use his talent. Keith got accepted in the next month, but had to leave Arus to be able to attend the academy. Giving the gold that Shiro gave him to his father, Keith bidded him and Lance goodbye before traveling to Altea's galaxy. He would be there for the next three years to complete the school. Pidge and Hunk joined Lance on staying on Arus, claiming they were ready to stay on the ground and start something new.

While Keith was away, Lance, Pidge, Hunk, Lotor, and Teysha worked on rebuilding The Galra Bar. It took a few months, but with a great building crew that the money could by, it was finished at a great pace. It was larger than the last one, and they had put on more landing docks so more people could come at a time. Lance and Hunk worked in the kitchen before the place reopened, hoping to create some signature dishes while Teysha taught Pidge and even Coran how to be a waiters. It wasn't long until Keith flew down to watch his father open the new bar. Like thought, it was became highly busy, and was popular for its food.

After a couple of years, Lotor asked Allura to marry him. They had been on a couple of dates, but it soon became clear to the others that they were in love. They had a small wedding with the close friends and family. Teysha and Keith were even groomsmen. They didn't wait long to have a family though. Allura had given birth to three little girls: Honerva, Melenor, and Romelle, along with a son named Alfor. The three girls looked almost exactly like Allura, with the dark skin and beautiful white hair. Alfor resembled his father Lotor, with a light tinge of purple on the skin tone.

If you caught up to another year, it was Keith's graduation. Hunk and Lance had prepared a big cake, and everyone was wearing formal clothing for a party. "He's going to be here soon." Teysha fretted, walking around the bar in a frantic mode.

"Teysha, it's fine, everything looks great." Lance reassured him, giving him a tight hug. "He's going to love it, don't worry." he insisted when the man still looked stressed. The noise of a ship landing sounded outside, making everyone at the bar go quiet. Seconds later, Keith walked in. He had let his hair grow out, and now he had hair that curled around his shoulders. He had on a white tux with a gold metal of graduation, his face beaming happily.

"Welcome back!" Teysha kissed Keith's head, eyes beaming with pride. "We have cake, music, and a feast ready for you! Oh! Let me go get Hunk! We can start serving now." he ran off to where Hunk was, in a yellow tux already shoving food in his mouth.

"You grew a mullet when you were gone." Lance mumbled, rubbing Keith's hair in between his fingers.

"You look great too, missed you tons. Thanks for the sweet words." Keith swatted Lance's hand away, causing the boy to smirk. Pressing a kiss against his lips, the boy rubbed his thumb over his tan boyfriends cheek. "How are you, my love?"
Lance closed his eyes, leaning into Kogane's touch. "I'm good...I just miss him, you know?" Keith hummed in agreement.

"How about we go have some food hm?" Keith tugged Lance over to the table. "Tonight's a night full of celebration." Cheers of agreement rang through the room.

The night was full of laughs and dancing. People were clapping and jumping around, cheering on to songs and swaying back and forth. Keith and Lance mostly just kept foreheads pressed together as they danced. After most of the night and everything settled down, the couple laid down outside on the roof, watching the stars from the roof.

"I love you Keith Kogane." Lance whispered against Keith hair before placing a lot of kisses over the boys face.

"And I love you Lance Shirogane." Keith murmured back. The last name made Lance pause, but soon a giggle erupted through his lips. Everything was finally falling into place. And Lance even swore later, he saw the stars turn into Shiro. It was wonderful.

It was just the way it was meant to be.

---

Notes:

Thank you for reading!

Teysha is the origin name for Texas by the way.

Hope this turned out really well haha.