Outside in the hall the Paladins were all quiet. No one seemed to want to break the silence.

It was Keith who changed it. "Well, I've got to get back to working with the Blade...so I'll leave Lotor to you." He nodded in Shiro's direction.

If anyone was going to stop him from leaving, he would have expected it to be Shiro. When someone spoke, however, something in Keith's stomach warmed at the knowledge that it was Lance who wanted him to stay. "Keith, wait."

Keith turned around to face him, not sure if he'd rather stay or leave.

"Keith...I...Look, you're still a part of the team, even if you're working with the Blade. This is an important decision. We need your judgement."

When had Lance ever given Keith a compliment. It was enough for Keith to barely be able to choke out an "okay" before Shiro started to speak.

"We definitely shouldn't trust Lotor, at least not right away. But I do think he has a point. It would be foolish for us not to at least try to work with him, especially if he has the information he says he does."

Shiro had a way of convincing everyone else to nod along to anything he said. It wouldn't work on Keith, though, he'd been around Shiro too long.

Allura chimed in, "I have to agree with Shiro on this. I know we've had our differences in the past, but if there's anything I've learned over the past several months it's that just because someone is Galra, does not make them evil." She glanced in Keith's direction before quickly looking away.

Keith was sure she hadn't meant to look at him with that comment. He couldn't help but take that personally though. His temper was flaring up. "Yeah, thanks for that Allura. I know I'm half Galra-"

"Keith." Shiro warned.

"No! Not all Galra being bad is not a good enough reason to trust one. Lotor's been plotting against us this whole time! He just wants to use us-Voltron for something!" He hadn't meant to slip up. It was still odd not thinking of himself as a Paladin.

This time Matt spoke. "Keith, you make sense, but Shiro is the leader, and should make the decisions about what is best for the team."

Matt hadn't purposefully meant it as a jab at Keith. He probably didn't even know that not long before that moment Keith had been the leader of Voltron. It didn't stop the cold knife from piercing Keith's heart. Keith had wanted Shiro to be the leader again, but that didn't mean he wanted his opinion to be meaningless.

"FINE!" Keith spat it into the air like he had tasted something rotten. He threw up his hands in defeat. 'Honestly I don't know why I'm even part of this discussion.'

It wasn't until he got the concerned look from Lance that Keith realized he has said the second part aloud. Fortunately no one else seemed to hear.

Shiro spoke, diffusing the situation. "If I'm deciding, I think we need to work with Lotor on the war efforts. That being said, it's important that we be careful, and that we don't give him our full trust at first."

The Coran, Allura, and Matt nodded in agreement. Hunk and Pidge each muttered something about it "being reasonable."

Lance looked..unsure. Keith wasn't used to him looking anything but entirely confident. It was slightly off putting.

Lance glanced from Shiro's face, and back to Keith's for a few moments before he finally spoke. "Okay...I guess so…"

"Looks like I'm out voted." Keith tried to make his voice sound even, but he was failing miserably. "As I said, I've got to get back to the Blade of Marmora. I guess I'll be seeing you…"

He walked down the hall, turning the corner until he was out of the others' eyesight. A part of Keith really hoped that someone would come after him. He knew they wouldn't though. They were paladins, and he wasn't. They had a connection to each other that Keith had given up. It was his own fault.

As if he existed only to prove Keith wrong, Lance surprised him yet again. "Keith, wait."

He turned to look at the boy, trying to mask his surprise. It was true that he and Lance had become closer after Keith had become the red paladin. Lance's acceptance of him as the leader had caused a change in their relationship. Even their banter with each other was different, like there was something between them that hadn't been there before. Keith mused that it was a mutual respect.

"Keith...look I know you don't want to trust Lotor."

Ugh. Now that it was Lance's turn to defend Lotor, Keith definitely didn't want anything to do with it. "I don't care what you do."

Had Keith said that too abruptly? He hadn't wanted to insult Lance or put distance between them. He only wanted to end this conversation quickly so that he could go back to the Blade and forget this whole thing with Lotor ever happened.

Lance frowned. "Okay, well then I know you have doubts about Lotor."

"I'm not interested in talking about this Lance."

"Look...Lotor might actually have some good intel-"

"I said I don't care if you trust him." Keith cut Lance off. This conversation was not going how either of them wanted it to. Keith could tell that much.

"I know!" Lance paused, recollecting himself. "I'm just saying that he's got a perspective that we don't have on the empire. There's a lot to learn."

"THEN LEARN! GO AHEAD AND TRUST HIM!" Keith's anger was getting the better of him. The idea of Lance learning anything from Lotor made Keith's stomach turn over.

"No that's-"

"I DON'T CARE LANCE!" He turned away to walk back down the hall, running one of his hands through his hair in frustration at the same time. He wished he had a better handle on his anger sometimes. It wasn't fair to Lance.

Lance tried one more time to bring the conversation back, before Keith had a chance to disappear down the hall. "Look...I'm just trying to say that I'll make sure to keep an eye on him for you."

Keith paused mid step, listening.

Lance continued, quieter now, and getting softer with every word. "That way you won't have to worry when you're with the Blade." He trailed off at the last word.

Silence fell like snowflakes between them.

Keith couldn't think of anything else to say except a quiet, "thanks."

The two boys walked in opposite directions down the hall. Lance heading toward the noise and resignation of the other paladins, and Keith heading towards the quiet and isolation of space and the Blade.


Having Lotor around was strange. Shiro didn't think it would be showing good will if they kept him locked up somewhere in the castle, so instead the solution was to have someone watching him at all times. That meant he was hanging around in the common areas a lot.

At first he didn't speak much. He was watching them all carefully. Lance wasn't sure what information Lotor could possibly gather from watching them all so intently, but he didn't want to find out. The entire thing struck him as a terrible idea.

Shiro is the leader, so I'm just gonna have to grin and bear it. Lance wasn't about to let one purple alien get him down. It was still awkward having him there though.

Hunk brought in some milkshakes for everyone. There was something about food that always made people relax. Hunk could just pick up on that. He handed a milkshake to Lance.

"Hunk! Have I told you lately that you are my favorite person in this side of the galaxy?" He sucked on the straw greedily.

"Yes, but you could say it more often."

Lance lightly punched him in the shoulder.

"Hey, you coulda made me drop it." Hunk stuck out his tongue at Lance.

"Ah, but see, that was my plan all along. Then I could have caught the tray and been everyone's hero!" He wiggled his eyebrow at Pidge.

They snorted. "Yeah, but that would take quick reflexes."

Lance made a show about how insulted he was by Pidge. He made an audible gasp and held his hand to his chest while jumping up off the couch. "I'll have you know that I have cat like reflexes." He moved his hands in some different poses to make them all laugh. It worked. "I'm faster than...CoranI What's the fastest thing you know of?"

"That would be a Yellow-Bellied Cruupt Racer."

"Yeah!" He was jumping around. "I've got reflexes faster than a Yellow-Bellied-"

He knocked into someone behind him and fell to the ground. It was Matt. Like a domino he fell too and bumped into Hunk, whose milkshakes flew through the air, only to land on Allura, Coran, and Pidge's heads.

"Lance!" They all said at once.

"Whoops, sorry." He smiled sheepishly. "To be fair the milkshake looks good on you." He winked at Allura.

She rolled her eyes. And then they all started laughing.

Hunk went to the kitchen and Lance followed to get something to help clean everyone up. He was glad they all laughed at his clumsiness, but he still felt slightly bad about it.

"Hunk, do you need any help?"

"Nah man, thanks, but I you remember what happened the last time I let you near the blender." He smirked at Lance.

"Okay. Fair point. But how was I supposed to know that Altean blenders work completely different from ones from Earth? There shouldn't be a button that just makes the entire thing explode. What's the use in that?"

"Oh I dunno." Hunk nudged him with his shoulder. "It did a great job of making me laugh."

"Ha. Ha." Lance grabbed some towels off the counter. "Sorry for ruining your milkshakes, buddy."

"It's alright. I don't mind making more."

Lance headed back out of the kitchen to help the others clean up. Back in the common room Matt had taken the seat that Lance had been at only a moment before. He was ruffling Pidge's hair, sticky now with milkshake, and they were laughing, trying to get his hands off. Allura was laughing too, Coran helping her clean herself up.

It was a sweet scene, made all the sweeter with the milkshakes, but something about their easy laughter without him made Lance's stomach tighten.

His head whipped around with a sudden thought. The panic subsided when he spotted Lotor out of the corner of his eye. He was sitting in exactly the same place he had been, watching as carefully as always. He met Lance's eye. There was, what Lance could only describe as, a very menacing twinkle in his eye.

It made Lance's stomach tighten even further. He walked forward with the towels, handing them off to Coran and Pidge. He tried to bring his laid back smile back, but he was pretty sure there was a stiffness to it they all could sense.

Lance decided to sit so that he could see Lotor a bit better, to keep an eye on him. It meant he was slightly further away from the group, but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make if it kept them all safe.

Hunk reappeared with more milkshakes and some green cookies as well this time. He handed one to each of the Paladins and Matt, who were still cleaning themselves up. The last one Hunk awkwardly walked over to Lotor and handed him.

"Ah...thank you, tall kindly paladin…" Lotor waited expectantly.

"Hunk...uh...I hope your stay with us is pleasant…" Hunk felt awkward trying to be nice to Lotor, but it was all for the best.

Lotor made a sharp nod before Hunk turned around to sit back down with the others.

"Wait!" Lance said, exaggerating how offended he was, "What do you mean Lotor gets one of your food goo cookies, but I don't?"

"Well, Lotor didn't spill milkshakes all over everyone." Hunk tilted his head and sipped at his own cup.

"I'll have you know that it was Matt who bumped into you, not me."

"Hey!" Matt made a show out of pretending to be offended.

Everyone laughed.

Lance's laugh felt heavier than usual. He couldn't quite pinpoint why, but it probably had at least a little bit to do with the easy laugh of the purple alien nearby.