Lance was dead on his feet, all he wanted was to sleep. He gave his family a brief summary on the UN's dicision -or the lack thereof- and headed upstairs. He was about to fall face first onto his bed when he remembered his talk with Coran. With a sigh, he pulled out his phone and texted Marco. Luckily, the boy was always on his phone so he came upstairs as soon as he read the message. 'Hey Lance, what's up?' Marco asked when he entered the room. Lance looked up from where he sat on the bed. He flashed Marco a smile. 'So, you know about the coalition,' Lance said, 'and you know about our plan to rebuild the Castle of Lions.' Marco nodded. 'It's not exactly a cheap project so we'll be needing sponsors and donations. We can't expect the other coalition members to pay it all. We've already done a tour the last time so we need something else. I thought that a YouTube channel might help raise some money. It's not exactly a YouTube channel, more like the galactic version of it and who would be better for the job than my hermanito? I've already asked Coran and he was hyped about it as well and...Marco?' Lance had been ranting, but Marco hadn't said a word at all. Maybe this was a bad idea. Marco already had a lot to do, Lance should've asked. Lance was snapped out of his thought when Marco tackled him, landing on top of Lance, knocking the air out of him. 'You're the BEST BROTHER OH MY GOD!' Marco screeched, grinning from ear to ear. 'You've deserved it', Lance told him before pushing his brother off him. 'There's still a lot to do before you can actually start, but Coran will help you with that.' Marco started to list off all the possible video ideas. Lance was just as excited as Marco was and he really wanted to hear his brother's ideas, but the day's mission took a toll on him and Lance was having trouble keeping his eyes open. Marco seemed to notice it after voicing his fifth idea. 'I'll let you rest', he smiled, giving Lance a hug. 'Thank you.' 'You're welcome', Lance said. 'Now go tell the rest about it!' Marco didn't needed to be told twice. He was out of the room in a second. Lance laid on the bed, staring at the plastic stars on his ceiling. He smiled, it as a good idea. 'Why did Marco almost knock me down the stairs? Keith asked when he enterd the room. 'He's just excited to be part of the Voltron promotion team', Lance answered.

'That's a thing?' Keith asked, letting himself fall onto his mattress. 'It is now', Lance answered. He was tired to the bone. 'Good night, samurai', he mumbled.

'Good night, sharpshooter.'

Lance hated Sendek. Lance absolutely detested his existence. Sure, him killing thousands if not millions of innocents and enslaving entire planets was terrible. But waking Lance up when he had just fallen asleep? That Galra was going to regret being born.

Lance was just as tired as he was before, only now, he was also cranky as shit. Nevertheless, he dragged himself out of bed and changed into his armor. Keith seemed just as tired and irritated as he was. Lance could hear the lions flying away to find their paladins. Lance hurried down the stairs while cursing profanities in every language he knew. The two paladins were just outside the door when Veronica called. 'Wait!' She called. Lance halted and turned toward her. 'We don't have time Veronica!' He called back.

'Catch!' She threw two objects at him. Lance caught them on instinct. He looked down, they were bottles of energy drinks. 'I thought you might need them.' Lance loved his sister. 'Thanks!' he said, at the same time Keith told him to hurry up. Lance sprinted over to Keith and handed him one of the bottles before he ran to his own lion. It was time to fight some aliens.

_
'Where is the signal coming from?' Keith asked when they've left the Earth's atmosphere. 'It's from a small planet at the edge of the Galra territory', Pidge said. 'It's only twenty light-years away so well be there in give or take thirty minutes.'

'Anything else we need to know?' Lance asked.

'I've made some other modifications to our comms and video chat system', Pidge said. 'Now they have a wider range so we can communicate with our team on earth.' Coran's face popped up in the corner of Lance's screen. 'Number five is right', he said. 'We'll handle the communication with the planet, you can focus on defeating the Galra fleet.'

'Let's finish this and be back before breakfast', Hunk said. 'I promised my moms I'd make waffles.'

'Ooh, can I come?' Lance asked. 'I love your waffles.'

'Sorry dude,' Hunk said, 'it's a mothers and son bonding breakfast. Maybe next time?'

'No problem buddy', Lance answered. 'You go have fun with your moms.'

'My lion has picked up some Galra activity', Allura said. 'We're close.'

'Be ready for the fight', Keith told them. 'Protecting the inhabitants and the planet is our first priority.'

'Roger that.'
_

Sendek had sent two battleships and dozens of fighter jets. It was a full-scale attack on the colony's capital. 'Why is Sendek attacking this planet?' Lance asked. 'I thought they were loyal to Sendek.'

'They were', Coran said. 'But apparently they switched over to Lotor's side recently.'

'What else do we know?' Keith asked. 'We can't go in without a plan.'

'Wow, our reckless leader has changed!'

'Now is not the time, Lance', Keith grumbled.

'According to commander Morack, most of Jilrim's inhabitants have fled to evacuation ships, but they can't leave with Sendek's troops blocking the path.'

'When he said 'inhabitants', did he mean the Galra ones only or all the inhabitants of the planet?' Allura asked.

'Both of them', Coran said. 'But the Galrans have a different evacuation centrer than the Jilrims.

'Typical', Allura scowled.

'That makes this mission more complicated', Keith said. 'We need to take care of those ion-cannons first before we can do anything else. Then we'll take care of those jets and bring the refugees to Olkarion.'

'Are we splitting up?' Pidge asked. 'Or are we forming Voltron?'

'Voltron will be our last resort', Keith said. 'We'll cover more ground in our lions. There are two ion canons, Lance and I are the fastest so we'll take care of them. The rest of you focus on getting the people to safely. Let's go!'

Lance followed Keith toward the battleship before they split up to deal with the ships. Even though Red was the fastest and most agile lion, Lance still had trouble deflecting and eliminating the fighter jets guarding the ship. The fight was different than Lance was used to. The patterns and tactics of the jets had been changed. The ion cannon was heavier guarded this time. Lance tried get through the ship's defences by taking out the jets one by one, but it was taking him way too long. Lance could hear the whirring of the ion-canon and he knew that it was only a matter of minutes before the ion-beam was fired. 'Lance, what's taking you so long?!' Keith shouted over the comms. Lance took a sharp turn to avoid a laser beam, but he was being shot at from all sides. Red took a hit. Lance let out a grunt. 'I'm being tailed by four jets and there are four more guarding the canon!' Lance shouted. 'I can't get through them!'

'I'm almost done with this ship', Keith said. 'I'll come help you after.'

'Thanks, mullet', Lance gritted, making a 360-spin with red to take out another jet. Lance had just taken out the jets tailing him when he saw the passenger's ship take off from the evacuation centre. 'Pidge!' Lance called. 'What are you guys doing?! I haven't cleared the skies yet!'

'I don't know what's happening!' The Green Paladin responded. 'All I did was enter the coordinates of Olkarion. The ship took off on its own!'

'Then fix it!' Lance demanded. 'Otherwise they'll get blasted into oblivion!'

'What do you think I'm doing?' Pidge snapped. 'Just keep them safe until I fix the problem.'

'Ugh!' Lance grunted. 'Why can't things just, go the way they're supposed to?! Just once!' Lance fired hot lava beams at the jet surrounding the cannon. He managed to take one of them out as well as cause damage to the battleship.

'Lance, the canon!' Hunk exclaimed.

'Quiznak!' Lance cursed. The ion-cannon was directly aimed at the refugees. Lance thrusted Red forward, hoping that he would make it in time. Seconds before the cannon fired, Lance reached the passengers ship and he pushed it out of the cannons path. He had to leave, quickly. But Lance was taken aback by a sudden flashback. The memories of the omega shield and the solar flares and the pink blast flashed in front of his eyes. He was staring straight at the cannon, but Lance was frozen. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. Lance remembered the impact, the unbearable pain, his own screams, along with Red's in his head. He remembered the nothingness. Lance felt Red's presence in his mind. They were both reliving the same memory. Lance vaguely heard his teammates screaming through the comms. The purple light filled his sight. Something crashed into the red lion, pushing him out of the ion-beam's path. Lance sucked in a sharp breath and snapped out of his frozen state. 'Lance! Are you okay?!' Hunk shouted in his ear. 'Ye-yeah', Lance answered weakly.' He was still quite shaken, but they were still in the middle of a fight. They had to finish this as soon as possible. 'What happened?!' Keith demanded. The black lion was floating in front of Red. Only then did Lance realize that Keith was the one who saved him. 'Why didn't you-' Lance cut him off. 'We need to take care of the canon.' Lance flew off before Keith could say anything else. Lance's hand were shaking. He could feel the tear welling up in his eyes. 'Lance, my boy, are you all right?' Coran asked softly. Oh shit. He'd forgotten about the connection with Earth. Lance cleared his throat to get rid of the Lump in his throat. 'I'm fine', he lied. 'Just a bit tired. I got dragged out of bed for this mission, you know.' He shot Coran a smile, but he could see that the older man wasn't buying it. 'Lance-' 'Sorry, can't call and drive at the same time. Safety first and all!' Lance broke the connection. Mission first, he thought. Cry later.
.

.

Lance managed to avoid his team mates and their questions for the rest of the mission. Including the trip to Olkarion and the Galra headquarters (where they still thought of Voltron as their ally since the word if their fight with Lotor hadn't got out yet) Lance couldn't evade them any longer when they returned to Earth. He had barely stepped out of his lion when Keith stalked over to him, aggressively tearing off his own helmet. 'What the fuck were you thinking!' Keith hissed. 'Why didn't you move out of the way? You could've died Lance!' Keith was yelling now. 'You can't make mistakes like this! What are we going to do if you died, Lance? What would happen to Voltron?' Voltron, Lance thought bitterly. He doesn't care about me. He only cares about Voltron. 'Well, I'm sorry', Lance snapped. 'Shit happen. Get over it.' He dropped his helmet the ground and stomped off.

'Lance!' Keith called after him. 'Come back!' Lance fastened his pace. The tears streamed down his face, but he wouldn't allow himself to start sobbing until he was sure he was out of sight.

.

.
'Lance!' Keith called. 'Come back!' Why was he so stubborn? Why couldn't he just listen! He almost died, dammit! Keith was about to call Lance again when he felt a hand in his shoulder. 'Keith, wait', Allura said. Keith spun around and slapped her hand away. 'Wait?' He sneered. 'He almost jeopardized everything! He could've gotten himself out of the way in less than a second, but he didn't. He stayed there, staring at the quiznacking canon like a deer in headlights! If I weren't there to save his dumb ass, he would've been space dust by now! So no, I won't fucking wait, princess.' Keith was taking his anger out at Allura. It wasn't right, she wasn't the one he was mad at, it was Lance. 'It's my fault', Allura blurted. 'What?' Keith frowned. That didn't make any sense. 'What do you mean 'it's your fault'? You weren't even there!'

'Lance he- no, I-' Allura was struggling to find the right words to say, much to Keith's surprise. The princess had never acted like this before. Allura sighed. 'Lance died.' She said at last.

'WHAT?!' The paladins shouted at once. 'What do you mean he died?' Pidge asked. 'When did that happen?'

'Why didn't he tell us?' Hunk added. 'Why didn't you tell us?' Keith was too shocked to ask questions. 'Explain', he said cooly.

'When we were fixing the omega shield,' Allura said slowly, staring at the spot in the horizon where Lance disappeared. Lance pushed me out of the way of an energy discharge, taking the full blast himself.' She paused. 'He- I rushed to him as fast as possible. Red had temporary shut down, and Lance wasn't responding to anything. But then I felt it... I felt Lance's presence within the lion. Blue guided me, she told me what to do. With her help, I managed to return Lance's spirit to his body and heal him. Lance he- he probably relived that moment today when he pushed those refugees out of the way.' Keith ran a hand through his hair. 'Fuck', he breathed. 'That's why you knew what to do with Shiro. I didn't know.'

'None of you did', Allura said softly.

'Why didn't you tell us?' Hunk repeated. 'Lance is my best friend, we don't keep secrets from each other.'

'I don't know why Lance chose to keep this from you', Allura said. 'But I respected his choice and it wasn't my place to tell. I thought that he'd open up after a little while.'

'I yelled at him', Keith groaned. 'He relived a trauma and I yelled at him for it. I was a fucking asshole to him. I need to find him.' Keith needed to apologize and set this right. 'Any idea where he went?'

'The hiding spot', a voice behind him said. Keith turned. The entire McClain family had gathered around without Keith noticing. They stood in their pyjamas. Keith knew they'd heard everything by the sad look in their eyes. Keith looked at Luis. He was the one who spoke 'Where is it?' Keith asked.

'At the end of the shore, there's a cliff', Luis told him. 'There's the entrance, it leads to an open cave. It's like a private beach. You'll find him there.'
'Thanks', Keith said before running off to find Lance.

.

Lance sat alone in the cave. It was his favorite spot and the view from the cave was the best in the world. Lance had changed out of his armor and taken off his shoes. He'd stopped crying by now. The sound of the waves hitting shore was calming. Lance laid down in the sand and placed his feet in the water.

He was weak. Why couldn't he just go through one mission without freaking out and almost getting himself killed? Keith had to risk his life to save him. Keith... Just remembering the way Keith looked and yelled at him made him want to cry all over again. It was stupid of him to think that Keith saved him because he cared. In the end, all he cared about was Voltron. The tears started flowing again. Lance screamed to let all of his frustration out. The sound echoed through the cave.

'Lance?' A familiar voice called. 'Are you all right?' Lance heard the footsteps coming closer. Lance was panicking. Why did Keith come here? Keith can't see him like this! Lance considered his options: he could dive into the sea and swim his way around the cliff to the beach, but it was dark outside so he wouldn't be able to see where he was swimming; or maybe he could subtly sneak past Keith and escape. But before Lance could make a decision, Keith came stumbling through the entrance.

Lance pulled up his knees and looked the other way. 'Lance', Keith said. 'What happened? I heard you screaming.' Lance ignored him. 'Lance', Keith tried again. Lance continued to ignore him. Keith sighed. 'I was an asshole', Keith said. 'I freaked out. I didn't know what you went through and know I realise that yelling at you for reliving a trauma might not be the best thing and I-' He paused. Lance closed his eyes and listened to the waves. 'I'm really not good at this', Keith admitted. 'Please say something.' Lance took a breath and slowly turned so he was facing Keith. He still didn't say a word, not trusting his voice. Keith stepped forward hesitantly, but he sat down next to Lance when Lance didn't object. 'I'm really sorry', Keith told him. 'Do you... Want to talk about it?' Lance shook his head. He didn't even want to think about it. They sat side by side for a moment, looking out at sea in the moonlit cave.

'Was that the reason why you blamed yourself for not noticing that Shiro was stuck in the astral plane?' Keith asked. Lance nodded. He'd only been in the astral plane for a few minutes, but that would've been enough for Shiro to talk to him, right? Lance couldn't exactly remember what happened in the astral plane. All his memories were blurry. But if Shiro did warn him about the clones, then they could've taken care of it way sooner than they did. If he'd known, then Keith wouldn't have to fight Shiro. If-

'Stop it', Keith said, snapping Lance out of his thoughts. 'Whatever you're thinking, it's not true.'

'How did you know?' Lance asked weakly.

'You have that look on your face', Keith told him. 'The same one you had when you told me that you wanted to give up your lion.' Lance stared at him in disbelieve. 'But that was-' 'About two years ago, I know', Keith said. 'Let's just say that I had a lot of time to reflect when I was stuck on a space whale.'

'Thank you', Lance said softly. 'Thank you for caring and for coming after me.'

'Of course I care', Keith said. 'You're my friend.'

Ah, friend. Fried-zoned again by another one of his crushes. It's nothing new, really. Lance just wished that it didn't hurt so damn much. He pushed those thoughts and feelings as far down as possible. 'Thanks Keith', Lance smiled. It was a genuine one. 'But after all this, I think you've deserved the best friend upgrade.'

'Best friends?' Keith asked, dumbfounded. 'But I thought Hunk was your best friend?'

'A person can have more than one best friend, Keith', Lance told him. 'Unless you don't want to...'

'No! I do!' Keith said hastily. 'You're my best friend.' Lance grinned. 'So I guess this counts as a bonding moment.'

'It definitely does', Keith said seriously. 'And you're not allowed to forget this one.'

'What if I do?' Lance taunted. 'Whacha gonna do, cradle me in your arms?'

'More like strangle you with them.' Keith grumbled. Lance snorted. The clouds had fully covered the moon now. Lance used his phone to light up the cave. Suddenly, Lance heard the familiar sound of raindrops falling into the sea. He perked up immediately. It's raining! 'Oh my god we have to go!' Lance said, jumping to his feet. He pulled Keith up with him. 'What?' Keith asked, alarmed. 'Why?'

'It's raining Keith', Lance said. 'I haven't felt the rain on my face in over a year. Let's go!' Lance dragged Keith out of the cave, not letting go of the other boy's hand. 'Quick, sing that song!' Lance urged as they ran. 'The one you always sing in the shower.'

'W-what!' Keith sputtered. 'How do you know about that?!'

'Dude, your bathroom and my bedroom share a wall', Lance told him. 'I hear everything.' Lance probably could've seen the blush on Keith's face if it weren't so dark. 'But-'

'C'mon! As a 'Sorry I yelled at you' gift?' Lance pleaded. They were finally outside. Lance let go of Keith's hand and started spinning around in the sand. Lance was grinning from ear to ear. Lance could hear Keith sigh, but he started singing nonetheless. The two of them fooled around on the beach, singing and dancing in the rain. But all things come to an end eventually. 'We have to head back', Keith said. 'The rest is probably getting worried.'

'Yeah', Lance agreed. 'Let's go.'

.

Lance was immediately pulled into a tight but his mother when they arrived back home. To his surprise, everyone was still awake. 'We heard what happened, mijo', his mother said. Lance knew she meant more than what just happened on the mission. 'Lo siento, mamá', Lance whispered. 'Don't apologize', his mother said. 'You've got nothing to apologize for.' She hugged him a moment longer before letting him go. Veronica immediately walked up to him and punched him in the arm before pulling him into a hug. 'Don't ever die again, you heard me?' She told him.

'I don't think that's how it works', Lance said with a smile.

'I don't care', his sister replied.

'And you better tell us the next time something happens', Pidge warned, joining the hug.

'Yeah', Hunk agreed. 'Don't keep stuff like that from us.' Soon, it turned into a massive group hug. Lance felt warm and loved. He was more at peace than he had in a long time.