"What was that?!" Hunk's eyes were wide. He looked to Lance for answers.
"I don't know...I'm just glad we got away from it." Lance patted Hunk's arm.
Upon making their way back to the Castle, all the paladins had collapsed onto the couches out of exhaustion. They were all sweaty and tired looking. Lance had put the top of his suit back on, but Keith noticed how he still looked pale and much more unkempt than usual.
He looked around the common room at the others and noticed how they were sitting around almost like old times. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge all taking up space on one couch, while Allura and Coran were on another. The addition of Matt next to Pidge was a welcome sight even if he hadn't been part of the original group. Keith chose to stand against the wall rather than sit with the others.
The space where Shiro would usually sit was empty.
Keith spoke. "That's what Lotor must have been doing with the rest of the comet. We have no idea just how powerful it is."
"It looked like some sort of...white lion." Hunk said, eyes widening even more.
"Lance…" Allura said carefully. "That was terrifying...but we're so glad you're back."
"Me too." Lance agreed.
"Lance, I missed you so much! I thought you had left us forever. I thought I'd never see you again!" Hunk hugged his friend.
"Awe, thanks buddy." Lance's words were muffled under Hunk's arm.
"Yeah, I missed you too." Pidge ruffled Lance's hair while he was trapped.
Lance shot them a quick glare.
"Wait," Keith said suddenly, "how did your mission go?" He looked at Allura.
Allura looked away from Keith, at the floor. "Not good."
"What happened?" Keith was suddenly alert, waiting for her answer.
"We couldn't infiltrate the station. It was too much of a challenge with only three lions. There were too many Galra, and we were stretched too thin. And then Coran called us to tell us you were in trouble, so we were forced to leave before we'd even really started."
"No one got hurt did they?" Lance asked, once again the sound was muffled by Hunk's arm.
"No, fortunately not." Allura said, breathing out a sigh of relief. "But I'm not sure our plan will work again. We'll have to come up with something new.
"We'll figure it out. We have to." Keith said with determination in his eyes.
Lance forced himself free from Hunk and Pidge. "And now that we're all back together, we'll definitely be able to."
"What do you suggest?" Allura asked looking at Lance.
"A healing pod, some food goo, and then a good nap." Lance laughed at his own words. Keith was happy to see him smile again.
Allura, however, frowned.
"What? I can't think on an empty stomach. I think Hunk will agree with me too."
"No, the healing pod. Why-"
"It's nothing major. Keith bandaged me up and I don't think I'm bleeding anymore anyway." Lance said quickly, not wanting to make her or anyone else worried.
"Alright," Allura said, still frowning. "Coran, Keith, will you accompany Lance to the medical bay, and make sure he gets whatever he needs. The rest of us will stay here and try to start coming up with a new plan."
Keith nodded, straightening up and moving to help Lance stand up from the couch before following behind Coran.
Out in the hallway, Lance spoke up again. "Hey, wait, can I stop by my room first and grab a change of clothes. I want to get out of this armor as soon as possible."
"Uhhh." Keith's mouth fell open a bit.
"What's that look for?"
"It's uhhh...well...Lotor."
"What about that purple faced jerk?" Lance frowned.
"He kind of threw out everything in your room when he made it look like you left."
Lance stopped dead in his tracks. "He WHAT?"
Lance tore off in the direction of his room, running straight past Coran and down the hall.
"Wait, Lance, you're going to make your injury worse!" Keith yelled, running after him.
Lance slid to a stop outside of his door, opening it with an expression of horror.
"Keith! It's all gone!" He stepped inside the room. "My clothes, my photos, my collection of weird shaped space rocks!"
He started opening his drawers. Groaning as each one was empty.
Keith approached him, raising his hand out towards Lance's shoulder, then pulling his hand back to his side, thinking better of it. "It'll be okay, you can borrow some of my clothes, or something."
"You are several inches shorter than me, and also the only person that can even come close to pulling off that weird red cutoff jacket of yours."
"Hey! What's wrong with my jacket?" Keith punched him lightly in the shoulder. The punch seemed to help break Lance out of his panic a bit.
"Oh...sorry. I don't mean to take it out on your jacket. It's a good jacket...you make it work." Lance started chuckling a bit and sat back on his bed.
"Somehow that still sounds like an insult to my fashion taste."
"No, I mean it. You look good."
Keith frowned, taking the moment to sit next to Lance.
"Uaggh," Lance let himself fall backwards onto the bed, and then covered his face with his hands. His words came out slightly muffled. "He even threw out my moisturizer."
Keith couldn't help himself. He started laughing just a little bit.
"It's not funny!" Lance jabbed Keith in the ribs. "Somewhere out in space floats a really high quality face mask."
Keith started laughing a bit harder. "Well, I'm sure something out there in the abyss of space could use a quality lotion."
"Asteroids don't need moisturizer, Keith." Despite himself Lance had started to laugh as well.
Keith let his chuckling subside slightly, before he bumped Lance's knee with his own. "Well, you don't need moisturizer either, your skin is flawless." A slight pink lit up Keith's cheeks after saying it, unsure of himself slightly.
Lance paused for a moment. He kept his hand on his face slightly muffling his voice still as he said, "I will take the compliment...but...if you ever suggest that moisturizer isn't important again, I will kick you out of the castle and into the abyss of space to go look for it."
Keith paused for a moment before cracking up. Lance joined him in laughing. Their laughs came out in huge bursts. Keith let himself fall back onto the bed as well, landing right next to Lance.
Slowly the laughter subsided. They laid next to each other staring up at the ceiling.
Keith broke the moment.
"Hey, I know it sucks that your stuff is gone, but we can see if Allura can find some extra clothes, there's gotta be something in the Castle. And you can start a new collection of weird rocks. I'll help."
"You...mister always serious, gotta always be fighting and training, are going to help me look for weird rocks?"
Keith paused for a moment. "Yeah, that's what I'm saying."
Lance let out laughter again before quieting. He moved his hand, running it through his hair before allowing it to lay casually on Keith's bicep. They made eye contact before Lance said a very genuine, "Thanks."
They stared at each other for a moment, neither breaking the moment this time.
But then the door slid open again, and Coran's voice spoke up from the hallway. "I know you're upset, Lance, but we do need to get you to the medical bay. We don't want you getting Fluffy Korpticenders from neglecting to take care of your injury properly."
Lance sat up quickly, a slight pink flush in his cheeks. Keith followed suit, running his hand through his hair a few times.
"Right!" Lance said, voice slightly higher than normal. "Let's go, Keith, I don't want to be getting Fluffy Korp-what did you call them?"
"Yep! Let's go." Keith said.
Both boys lept up and followed Coran down to the med bay. Neither of them spoke the entire way, letting Coran go into detail about different space fungi that can infect a wound.
Lance would nod on occasion. Occasionally saying "hmm" or "yeah" when it sounded appropriate. Keith looked at him, but couldn't get a read on what was going on inside his head.
When they arrived at the med bay, Lance's eyes immediately flicked to the pod that held the fake Shiro.
Seeing him made Lance frown. "How did you figure out Shiro wasn't Shiro?"
"I trusted you. I knew you wouldn't have suspicions for no reason." Keith said.
Lance looked at Keith, a bit surprised. "You just...trusted me?"
"Yeah." Keith nodded, not really sure why it was so important. "You have good instincts, and tend to notice things other people don't. You don't think about things in a perfectly straightforward way. That's why your plans work so well usually."
Lance's mouth dropped open slightly.
"You seem surprised." Keith prompted.
"Well, yeah, I mean, I didn't realize you thought so highly of me." Lance looked away, not able to meet Keith's eyes.
"We all do."
Coran, feeling left out, butted into the conversation. "I trust you too Lance, and I trust that you know how to step into a healing pod?"
"Right, sorry Coran, I know you all have planning to do." Lance apologized.
"Don't worry, Lance." Keith added as Lance stepped into the pod. "We all want your input on the plan as well."
Lance saluted Keith as he stepped into the pod and Coran activated it.
"So how bad are his injuries actually?" Keith asked.
"Well it's good you bandaged him when you did, he lost quite a bit of blood. The injury on his side isn't too bad though. It's deep, but missed anything important. He's also got a concussion and some bruising. He's a bit malnourished too." Coran studied the rest of the screen. "Mostly he seems okay."
Lance woke up relaxed and revitalized. Then he immediately tensed when the first sight to greet him was the fake Shiro in his own pod.
He touched his side where the injury had been. It felt like it always had. No pain, no blood.
Waking up from a healing pod was a jarring experience. You fall asleep hurting and bleeding and wake up completely different.
The next face he saw was Keith's. He was working the computer, probably figuring out just how long Lance's healing would take.
"Hey." Keith said.
"Hey." Lance responded.
"We're still working on planning. Come and join us."
There was something that felt slightly off between them. Lance couldn't quite place what it was though. Just like when using a healing pod, he had disappeared from the castle with their relationship one way and reappeared for it to be different. It wasn't a bad difference either exactly, but it wasn't something Lance could figure out what had changed either.
Lance shook his head to clear it. Keith was just standing there gesturing to the door. "Great, yeah. Let's go find a way get Shiro back."
They walked in silence down to the common room. A couple times Keith opened his mouth as if to say something, but both times he closed it again.
Lance didn't try to say anything. He just let them walk in silence.
When they arrived to the common room the others were deep in conversation.
"I can definitely hack into the system, but I may only be able to do it quickly if I'm here." Pidge pointed to a location on the blueprints that were the centerpiece of the group.
"That means cutting through a lot of Galra." Hunk answered, nervous.
"Yes, but we may have to do that regardless." Allura said, patting Hunk on the shoulder.
Lance jumped into the conversation. "What's the tradeoff in time if we can't get you there, Pidge?"
"Lance!" Everyone shouted. They were excited to have him back with them. Hunk immediately made room on the couch for Lance to sit down. Keith chose a spot near Allura, leaning back onto the cushions.
They quickly filled him in on the issues, going over the blueprint and the last mission failure. He listened attentively, asking questions when needed.
"So, Pidge, the tradeoff in time? What if we couldn't get you to that particular control room?" Lance asked again.
"Well, if I got to any control room I could hack in but it would take an extra five minutes minimum. The station is segmented so that in case of emergency they can shut down and lock entire parts of the base, but it also means not all information is available to the average Galra unless you're in the central station."
"Good thing you're not the average Galra. That's a big difference, though. Where are the other control rooms?" Lance asked.
They were pointed out on the blueprint. Each one was pretty deep within the station segments, quite difficult to get to. There was a guarantee of running into a lot of Galra regardless.
"So I'd say stealth is out." Lance let out a laugh.
"Yes but if we don't do stealth we could get locked into one of the sections and not be able to get the information we need at all." Allura added.
"Hmmm...I get why this has been such a problem. What if we use distraction on the outside of the station to clear out most of the Galra while Pidge uses stealth to break in?"
"If that's the case we'll definitely need the time." Pidge said. "I'll need to focus completely on the hack, so one or two people will need to go with me as well to get rid of any Galra that spot us."
"I'll go." Keith said, volunteering.
"What are you talking about? We definitely need you in your lion." Lance said.
Keith frowned. "What are you talking about? I was just borrowing Red. Now that you're back, I don't have a lion."
"I wasn't talking about Red, Keith. I was talking about Black. Besides it's probably better to have someone who specializes in long range combat, to get Galra that are farther away."
"Oh, right." Keith realized how stupid he'd been for a moment. Of course Lance was talking about Black. With everything that had been going on Keith had almost forgotten that the team needed a Black Paladin again.
"You aren't planning on leaving the team again, are you?" Lance asked.
"Well, no...I just...nevermind."
"We need you here. Even when you're not in a lion you're still important to our team. Were you planning on joining the Blade again?" Lance's words were more serious than usual.
"I...uh…" Keith's face flushed slightly.
"Well Matt could go, although he doesn't do a lot of long range." Pidge volunteered, completely ignoring the two boys and going ahead with planning.
Matt nodded. "I like that plan."
Lance nodded, attention going back to the team and off of Keith. "And I guess if we have to pick another paladin, it makes the most sense to use Red for a stealth mission since she's so fast. So I guess I'll go as well."
"Plus you are the team's sharpshooter." Keith added.
Lance glowed a little bit from the praise.
"I don't like the idea of only having three lions to fight the rest of the Galra, but we'll have to make it work." Allura said.
"Don't worry, we'll be communicating, so if anything should happen I'll make sure we can get back to our lions and form Voltron." Lance said, to assuage her fears. "It's not the same as the last mission. We're all working together this time. We won't fail."
Keith wasn't in love with the idea of flying Black again. She was a great lion, but she just didn't move as fast as he liked.
He loved being a part of the team though. It was good to be a part of this plan. They were going to find Shiro. They were going to bring he team back together.
He approached her shields and gently touched them to lower.
Nothing happened.
He pushed a little bit. There was no budging, no shudder of movement, just the shield pushing back under his hand.
Keith's heart fell. Of course the plan wouldn't work exactly.
"Lance! There's a problem!" Keith's voice rang in Lance's ear.
Lance had been doing a last minute run through of the plan with Pidge and Matt before he was going to leave for Red's hangar.
"What's happening, Keith?"
"Black's not responding."
"What?"
"Black won't lower her shields for me."
Lance swore under his breath. He said to Keith. "Hold on, I'm on my way." And then to Pidge. "Pidge, wait for a moment."
He ran to Black's hangar, panting after the run. He had a bit of sweat on his brow, already soaking into his hair.
"You didn't have to come all the way here." Keith looked at Lance with concern.
"Of course I did. We have to figure out what's happening."
Keith frowned. "It's obvious what's happening."
"What do you mean?"
"I left the team."
"Yeah, but now you're back." Lance said it matter-of-factly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Keith let out an exasperated sigh. "Maybe when I left the team it meant I could never come back."
Keith didn't like the idea, but he was already accepting leaving the team again.
Lance frowned. His voice turned softer, more caring. "No, Keith, that can't be true. You left because you thought it would be better for the team, maybe...specifically for me. But you're the best pilot we have. There's nobody better to pilot a lion."
Lance placed his hand on Keith's shoulder.
"But I wasn't a good leader, and now Black doesn't trust me anymore." Keith didn't add that he thought Black was making the right choice. He had been a terrible leader, causing nothing but problems among the team members. He looked into Lance's eyes, trying to get him to understand without words.
"No," Lance said quickly, "that's not true."
Keith shot him a look with eyebrows raised.
"It's not!" Lance yelled, but then lowered his voice. "Maybe it's true that you weren't the best leader-"
"Great pep talk." Keith interrupted sarcastically. He looked away.
"No! That's not what I..." Lance was flustered. He took a deep breath and started again. "It's not about the leader that you were, it's about the leader that you could be. You weren't focused on the team, and it made sense because there was so much else going on. That doesn't mean you're a bad leader, it just means that maybe it wasn't the right time for you."
"Well clearly now is definitely not the right time for me." Keith gestured towards Black's locked hull.
"So then maybe it is about trust like you said . It's time to gain back Black's trust by proving that you're ready."
"How can I do that. It's not like we've got a lot of spare lions lying around. Just let it go, Lance, I'm better with the Blade."
"No, you're more reckless with the Blade. More likely to kill yourself with the Blade. You're meant to be on Team Voltron, and Voltron needs you. No one in the universe pilots like you do. It's all good and fine to pilot a few shows and theatrical performances as the Red Paladin, but when it comes to a real fight I'm no match as a pilot."
"That's nonsense. You've gotten much better." Keith gave Lance a cheeky smile.
"Thanks." He said flatly before continuing. "Pilot red, Keith."
"What? But you're-"
"I'm serious. Pilot Red. You need to regain Black's trust and we already know Red will let you pilot her, so take Red."
"I can't! You need to-"
"I need to do what's best for the team. It's not a grade school competition. This is a war. We need the best people in the best places."
"But-" Keith tried to protest again, but Lance silenced him with a look.
"I'm not stepping down as a pilot for Voltron. I'm going to go with Pidge and Matt and provide backup and support, just like the plan always was. Besides I haven't piloted a lion in a long time anyway. I'm not used to it anymore. And you know that the moment Black accepts you again I'm booting you from Red's cockpit anyway."
"But what about when we find Shiro?"
"We'll deal with that when we find Shiro. Right now we need to get Voltron up and running as soon as possible. Giving up piloting a lion for a little while isn't a big tradeoff for something like that."
Keith didn't have anything more to use as protest. Lance without a lion didn't feel right to him though. Lance was a fast learner and a good teammate.
"Go! We've got a mission right now. Don't just stand around and be lazy."
"Okay! I'm going." Keith said, running down the hall. He took a quick look back at Lance.
He was frowning, a slight look of defeat on his face. Keith already knew how much piloting a lion and being part of the team meant to Lance, but seeing it on your friends' face was a different story.
Keith's stomach clenched. He wanted to run back and demand that Lance pilot Red. But he knew that Lance would never go for it. His mind was made up, and it would be shameful to have had Keith throw all the kind words and plans back into Lance's face.
This was the hardest thing for Lance to do, and he was doing it because he thought it was what the team needed. Keith wasn't going to let that sacrifice be in vain.
He'd get Lance back into a Lion one way or another. Now was the time for Keith to be a team player.
He hoped into Red's cockpit and spun the controls. Red responded as she always had, coming to life under his fingertips.
He heard the other's talking on the comms.
"Where are they?" Allura asked.
"Maybe they fell off of the zipline. I keep telling you that those things are a hazard." Hunk's voice chimed in.
"No, that's not the problem." Allura sighed into her mic. "Look, Red's coming now. Lance, what's happening?"
"It's not Lance." Keith said, making red stop just short of them.
"But, why-" Allura started.
"Sorry, everybody." Lance's voice suddenly spoke from the comms. They all watched as Yellow launched from the Castle. "There was an issue with Black. We're not gonna be able to form Voltron today."
"But why aren't you in Red?" Hunk asked.
"I thought it would be better to have Keith pilot for today. But believe me, if Keith makes even one mistake I'm taking Red back." Lance had laughter in his voice.
It helped make Keith feel a bit lighter.
"But what will we do if we need to form Voltron?" Allura asked.
"No worries. I've come up with a new plan." Lance spoke up.
A/N: Dang it Coran, can't you just wait to barge into someone else's room for a bit longer?
One day late's not bad! Besides I'm not exactly sure when I posted the last chapter anyway. Hard to know when I keep going through time changes.
It helps to get writing done when I have lots of flights and time without wifi, too.
I already wrote most of the next chapter, but now I went and changed a couple things and will probably have to rewrite most of it...sigh. Either way next one should be up next Thursday/Friday if all works out.
