Unfortunately for Lance, his pent up anger only resulted in swatting at the air. Shiro saw him coming a mile away and restrained him at arm's length. Everyone else was too caught off guard to say or do anything and instead just stared at the scene. It was laughable when you thought about it. A young man restraining a teenager like he was a child throwing a fit. Allura was the first to come to her senses and easily separated the two. The look in her eyes told both of them she did not think the display was cute. "Alright, clearly the two of you know something we don't. You will remain calm and you will begin explaining immediately."
Lance turned his ferocious expression towards Shiro as he waited for him to reveal his wicked nature. Lance had certainly seen enough of it in the past week. The black paladin sighed, looking genuinely regretful. "This is all my fault."
Lance made another leap for the man. "Of course it's your fault! You-" He was silenced by Allura clamping a hand over his mouth, effectively quieting him and holding him back at the same time. She nodded at Shiro to continue.
"Last night, we got into an argument. I said of lot of things I really didn't mean. Things I would never say to him in a million years. But that's not it, at least I don't think so. It's been building up since we've been together. I never should have forced him into that with me." The black paladin hung his head, the sorrow and guilt almost tangible in his voice. Lance calmed a bit, and Allura released him to put a reassuring arm on Shiro's shoulder. He looked up at her, then worked up the courage to continue.
"While I was held captive by the Galra, I thought about Keith a lot. I knew that he didn't have a lot of other people besides me, and I kept thinking if I made it back for anyone, it would be him. He's like family to me, and I know he feels the same way. But I made a mistake. I know how he gets sometimes, and I thought maybe he just needed someone close to him. At the same time, I felt like I needed someone close to me too. It made so much sense. I thought a relationship would be good for both of us. We were both a little broken, so I figured we needed that kind of understanding and caring. But I was wrong. This wasn't good for either one of us. I got too possessive. I mistook kinship for love. And when he didn't feel the same way, I got angry. More aggressive, physically and mentally. I didn't feel like myself. I felt like…"
And although he didn't say it, everyone in the room knew the word on the tip of his tongue. A title he'd earned through a battle he hadn't wanted to fight.
Champion.
No one spoke for what felt like a decade, contemplating the heaviness of Shiro's confession. Despite his earlier rage, Lance felt a tiny stab of guilt for everything he'd said about Shiro. He'd forgotten that above anything, Shiro was a survivor. Faced with the same predicament, Lance would have lost his mind and perished. Shiro managed to get out with a few scars, and they weren't all physical.
Shiro was right, it was more than just their argument last night. But Lance knew it hadn't just been Shiro's aggressive advances that drove him to this point. He'd played his own part, and it was time to come clean. "It's my fault too." Every set of eyes in the room swiveled to face him, all bearing different expressions of shock. Lance almost regretted speaking up, crossing his arms in embarrassment. "What?"
Pidge enlightened him. "You have to agree, it's a little strange for you to willingly admit you've made a mistake."
Lance didn't miss how Hunk nodded in agreement with the statement. Closing his eyes if only to avoid rolling them, he put on a serious expression and prepared to spill his guts. "For a little bit now, I've thought Keith had a crush on me, and I didn't really know how I felt about it at first. I said some stupid things that I didn't mean to Shiro, and he gave me what I deserved…" The black paladin shifted uncomfortably while the others put together the events in their minds. Despite the revelation, no one seemed that surprised. "But then things got kinda confusing. I started to feel like I liked him back, and we went out in my lion and shared a moment together….but he didn't want to tell anyone about it. And I got pissed. I was so confused about myself and I just lashed out at him." Risking a look at Shiro he added, "Guess we both exploded on the same night, huh?"
Once again, no one spoke. The room felt muggy and unpleasant. Even those who weren't involved felt guilty, wondering if there was something they could have done. Lance felt his fists clench. There was no time to just stand around. "I can't tell him how sorry I am and what an idiot I've been if I never see him again. Can't you guys call him or something?"
Allura snapped herself out of her thoughts and back into action, everyone followed her over to the controls as she brought up a map. "He's disabled the communicator in the pod, so we won't be able to contact him. But we can still track him." Her fingers moved at lightning speed across the panel as she honed in on his location. "Alright, I'm setting the castles coordinates on his pod. He's still moving, but we should be able to catch up with him." The determination in her voice was contagious. She wasn't about to lose one of her paladins, and none of them were going to lose their friend.
Lance stared at the little red dot on the screen. He couldn't help but wonder if he might have been able to stop him. If he'd acted on his worries and went to check on him, he might have caught him before he left. He could have apologized, and maybe consoled him after his fight with Shiro. He could have told him how much he meant to him, or maybe he could have shown him. But he hadn't. He wasn't there for him. And now Keith was alone. And when one is alone, their mind wanders to dangerous places.
Lance kicked those thoughts away, silently urging the castle to go faster.
Catching up to Keith had gone quicker than Coran and Allura had predicted, but it still hadn't been fast enough for any of them. All attempts at contacting the pod had still failed, so it seemed like they were going to have to bring him back by force. Allura knew they'd have to send one of the lions out to retrieve him, but she wasn't exactly certain who to send. Since Lance and Shiro seemed to be responsible for this mess, they probably shouldn't be involved. However, Keith was a skilled pilot, and if he tried to flee, she wasn't sure Hunk or Pidge would be able to catch him. It was times like these she'd wished the castle had a strong tractor beam.
Shiro stepped forward when they were in range. "I'll go get him. It's my fault he's out there and I'm sure I can catch him if I have too."
Allura still didn't like it. "Maybe we should try a more peaceful approach. I'll remove the castle's cloaking device and just idle next to him. We can open the bay doors and maybe he'll fly in on his own." She got a few doubtful glances in response to this. "Aggression and force is what got us here in the first place. We need a different approach." Her subtle reminder may have been low blow, but it got her point across. Coran removed the castles cloaking and opened up the bay doors. Everyone peered out at the escape pod as it suddenly slowed, the castles sudden appearance most likely startling the red paladin.
Team Voltron held their collective breaths as they waited for the small ship to move again. Instead, they watched as the boosters began warming up. It only took Pidge a few moments to catch on. "He's about to use that upgrade I added! It'll boost him far enough away that-"
She was interrupted by a clearly alarmed Coran. "It'll explode the whole pod is what it'll do!"
All they could do was watch in horror as the pod disappeared in a cloud of flame, debris floating in every direction. A lone body drifted in the cold darkness of outer space, not making any sort of movement. Lance had heard someone scream. It might have been him. But the tears on his cheek were unmistakable. He began to tremble, cursing himself. Cursing everything. In that brief moment, the entire universe was a wretched place.
He almost missed the shape of the red lion shooting out of the ship, swallowing the form of it's paladin. As it began to return, everyone sprinted out of the control room towards the hangar. Lance had never moved so fast in his life, and everyone was right there with him. They came crashing through the door just as the red lion gently discarded Keith's unconscious body on the ground. Everything that happened next was a blur. The next time Lance could think straight again he was staring at Keith, eyes peacefully closed in a healing pod. He heard the tail end of Coran giving a speech, declaring that Keith should be alright in a couple of days.
He eventually found himself alone with Shiro and the sleeping Keith. Lance gazed at the wounded boy, wondering how he still managed to look so beautiful after being violently thrown into space. His dark hair framed his sleeping features, his lips slightly agape as he took shallow breaths. Lance resisted the urge to put his hand on the pod, still feeling Shiro's presence in the room. He hadn't planned on saying anything, but the older man still wanted to clear some things up.
"You deserve an apology from me just as much as he does. I'm sorry about everything that's happened. I hurt both of you, and I kept you apart. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me, and I want you to know that I never want that part of me to surface ever again." Shiro placed a hand on Lance's shoulder, and the blue paladin knew he couldn't stay mad.
"It's alright. It wasn't just you. We all played our own parts, I guess." Lance could tell Shiro meant it this time, and grudges were bad for people on both ends. He watched as Shiro smiled warmly at him before returning his attention to the pod.
Shiro's desperate expression almost made Lance want to hug him. "I just hope he can forgive me too."
Lance turned as well, his eyes once again falling on Keith's slumbering form. "He'll forgive you. You can't stay mad at family." Lance assured Shiro, as he knew this all too well.
He just didn't know if they'd be able to pick up where they left off.
This chapter was actually ready yesterday but the site was giving me an attitude so I had to wait until today. Close enough.
We're nearing the end here folks. Hope you're ready for the conclusion. The final chapter should be posted sometime this week. A big thank you to everyone reading and supporting :)
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