They all walked with Lance silently down to the hangar. It was strange. Only on rare occasions was the castle that silent. Normally Lance would be making jokes, or if not him breaking up the silence, it would be Pidge teasing him or Coran prattling on about some alien species.

But they were all silent too. Everyone was aware of what a fragile moment this was. Lance had taken his time in agreeing to try black, and they didn't want to risk scaring him off like he was one of the mice riding on Allura's shoulder.

So instead no one spoke, but they did fall into step around him.

The hangar loomed in front of Lance as they got closer. He could see Black's barrier shining in the darkness. As though Black knew what they were planning, she dropped the barrier the moment they stepped over the threshold.

Lance took a deep breath. He glanced back at his teammates. Allura smiled at him encouragingly, nodding. Hunk nodded once when Lance met his eyes. He had a look of sober determination. Coran shot Lance a pair of finger guns. Lance wasn't quite sure what to make of that. Clearly Coran had been paying a bit too much attention to human hand signals.

He looked over at Matt, who was standing behind Pidge, hands on their shoulders. Matt nodded once as well, smiling. Lance looked down to meet Pidge's gaze. Their eyebrows raised when their eyes met. A slight smile played across Pidge's face as they slowly nodded.

A hand gripped Lance's shoulder. Lance looked over to Keith, whose eyes were closed. He looked almost as though he were in prayer. Keith took a deep breath before looking into his eyes. The determination Keith wanted to bestow on Lance was written on his face. He nodded once as well, holding his hand there.

Lance had already tried Black once, but this time it felt so much more important. Last time, he had been hopeful, but no one had really believed he would become Black's paladin. He didn't even think he had believed it himself. Even though it had hurt that Black hadn't felt he was leader material, he had come to accept his role while sitting in the cockpit. Lance had refused to let the hurt and sadness show on his face. He had sat in the cockpit until he felt determined to show Shiro or whoever the next Black Paladin was that he would be a strong comrade they could rely on for anything.

When he had stepped out, no one seemed disappointed or surprised that Black hadn't chosen him. No one's faces gave a hint of disappointment.

But this time?

This time if Black didn't accept him he'd have to face a group of paladins who had believed in him. His failure would mean more. Lance wasn't sure how he could even face the group if Black found him inadequate again.

Lance stepped forward, Keith's hand dropping silently from his shoulder.

Lance had been alone in space for weeks. He hadn't had any comrades to rely on then, and yet he had never felt more alone than in this moment. Black was imposing in front of him. She didn't seem to react to his presence at all.

Please. He thought as he took a step inside. Please.

He walked up to the chair and sat down, taking a few deep breaths to calm his nerves. As he sat there he bounced one of his legs up and down, nervously waiting.

No lights lit up. No lion roar met his ears. Lance's heart began to sink.

"Please..." He said it aloud this time. Whispered it into the darkness. "Please...Black, I-I don't want to let them down."

Still nothing happened. Lance squeezed his eyes shut trying not to let the tears he felt welling fall. He felt pain in his chest. He was not surprised by Black's lack of reaction. A few good ideas didn't make a good leader. Lance allowed his head to fall into one of his hands, gritting his teeth against the dam of tears.

A leader needed to be someone who cared about the wellbeing of the team and knew when to rely on and help them while being smart, strong, and trusting themself and their instincts.

"And are you not?"

The unfamiliar voice made Lance's head snap up. He looked around but saw no one in the darkness.

The voice started again. A slow quiet rumbling sound. "I'll ask you again. Are you not smart and strong?"

"I-uh…" Lance said, blinking in the darkness. He couldn't place where the voice was coming from, then he realized.

An image flooded his mind. Lance was in the castle with Coran, as the door opened Rover flew in. Lance acknowledged the robot before realizing something was wrong. He managed to jump in front of Coran before the explosion took place.

A new image flashed in his mind over the first one. He saw himself in Blue, fighting the underwater garden beast. He watched as it crashed into boulders destroying them, before it charged at him. With Lance, blue came alive and shot a supersonic wave towards the beast, destroying it under falling boulders.

"I-" Lance said, suddenly unsure.

"Do you not trust your own instincts?"

He watched as Slav was grabbed by the enemy on their way into space. He watched himself focus, tell Shiro he could do this, and then take aim and fire, successfully freeing Slav and allowing them all to escape. "Nice Lance, that's why we bring our sharpshooter!" Shiro said.

"Do you not care about the wellbeing of the team?"

This time he was out cold on the floor of the castle, as Sendak raised Pidge in threat. He watched as he woke up, taking in the scene within a moment. He took aim and shot, before his brain could shut down again. He saved his friend. It was a split second to do and took all his energy.

"Do you not know when to rely on and help them?"

He watched as he followed Keith, chasing him down in Red. Keith sped towards Lotor's ship, leaving behind the rest of the team. Lance yelled, "Keith! Don't do this!"

He watched another scene on planet Naxzela. Dark energy had forced Voltron down. Lance realized that Allura had a connection to the magic and sent her into action. Allura's shaky, "I don't know I haven't been trained." was met with Lance's confidence in her. "There's a reason the blue lion chose you."

"I...guess I do…"

"Then why won't you accept my choice of leader?"

"Your choice?" Lance asked, unsure.

The black lion roared inside his head. Lance was offered one last image, this one not a memory. The four other lions landed together on a planet. Behind them was Black, large and intimidating, being piloted by Lance. As the lion touched down they all began to roar together.

"Accept and be my paladin." The voice said, before going quiet.

Lance looked around the cockpit once more, taking a deep breath as he did so. He thought about the team, and all the different roles he had played. He had been a stable leg for Shiro to stand and rely on. He had been Keith's right hand man, a voice of reason or a dependable fighter whichever was necessary. He had even been the clones right hand, pushing forward himself or helping the others gain new skills and confidence when needed.

Maybe it was all leading up to this.

"I accept." Lance said quietly, taking another deep breath.

The controls under his hands came alive. The screen turned on and showed him the paladins on the ground, and their looks of confidence and pride. Black keeled back on her hind legs and roared. The other lions joined her.

Lance closed his eyes again. Proud of himself, he smiled.


"Now we've got to come up with a plan. What have we got for rescuing Shiro?" Lance still wasn't used to standing at the head of the table. He definitely wasn't used to the other's looking at him with expectation in their eyes.

Pidge started recounting the details from the intel they'd collected. "From what we gathered we know that Shiro is being held in a prison ship in the Etryria quadrant of the Iopra gallaxy." They pulled up the map of the star system. "It's not a very large prison ship, and we definitely would have overlooked it."

"We've got to move fast in case the Galra realize what intel we stole from their base." Keith added.

"Exactly." Lance agreed. "They could move the ship at any moment or move Shiro to a different prison. Do we have a trace on the ship in case they move it?"

"Matt and Hunk helped me set one up earlier." Pidge replied.

"What about access to a blueprint of the ship?" Allura asked.

"Unfortunately not. We'll have to go in blind." Matt added. "But we do have a rough idea of what it probably looks like based on other ships of the same design."

Pidge pulled up a blueprint of a ship.

"And we know what other ships are around it...right?" Hunk asked.

"Yes, that we do know." Pidge said.

"I don't think it's worth doing this mission stealth, they likely already know we're coming, so there's probably no point it would likely just waste time." Lance looked around. The others nodded. "Allura, how soon can you have the castle ready to wormhole?"

"Iopra isn't very far, so it won't take much power. I could have a jump ready within a few moments."

"Are we already to fight again this soon? We just got out of one fight." Lance asked.

"We can do this." Keith said, pressing a hand on Lance's shoulder.

Just as Lance was about to dismiss everyone an incoming call on the monitor interrupted them. "The Blade?"

Allura answered the call automatically. "Kolivan?"

His face showed up on the monitor, sweaty and out of breath. "Voltron, you're needed. Lotor has-" an explosion cut Kolivan off mid sentence. He yelled orders out to someone before continuing. "He's attacking our main rebel base. I don't know how he found it, but we need your help."

"What!?" Keith and Pidge yelled together.

"He's got that giant robot lion. I've never seen anything like it. It took out thirty of our ships in one blow. We have more rebels coming to help defend but they won't be able to get here in time." Lance had never seen Kolivan look panicked before. The signal cut out, before he could say much more.

"Allura how quickly can we wormhole to them?" Lance asked.

"It will be the same, only a few moments...but Lance…" Allura trailed off.

"What is it?"

"If we go to rescue Kolivan and the rebels-"

"We won't get to Shiro in time." Keith cut Allura off and finished her sentence. The grimace on his face made him look like he was physically in pain. He felt like he had been punched in the gut.

"This timing is too perfect. Lotor's doing it so that the Galra can move Shiro." Pidge slammed their fist on the table. "He must be."

"So the option is either Shiro or our allies?" Lance asked to no one in particular. "How can we decide that?" Lance looked at Keith. "Keith what do you think?"

Keith met Lance's eyes. "I...I can't make that decision. You're the leader now, Lance."

The words sent a pang through Lance's body. He didn't want to be leader if it meant making decisions like this. Lance studied Keith. He looked doubled over slightly, still in pain. "I don't need you make the final decision, but I want your opinion. All of yours." He said addressing the room.

"Lance…" Keith said quietly.

Pidge answered first. "As much as I hate to say it, we can't win this war if we lose our allies now. Losing Shiro would be terrible, and we probably won't get another chance to rescue him. But…"

"Losing the war would be worse." Hunk finished Pidge's thoughts quietly, nodding solemnly. Matt nodded behind him.

Allura spoke, carefully selecting each word. "My father would have said that a single life is not equal to the lives of many, but that it is the love we share with our own family that determines the weight of our soul. Shiro may just be one life, but he is our family and we should not just let him go."

Coran placed a hand on her shoulder as she looked at the floor, a few tears began to well in her eyes.

They stood around for a moment in silence all looking at the ground except Lance. He was looking at Keith.

"Keith?" He said quietly.

"I...I know that we should rescue Kolivan and the rebels...but...Shiro...he's my…" Keith trailed off before he could finish saying 'brother.'

Lance watched Keith for a moment. His eyes were so intent, darker than usual a they stared at the ground. A flash of some emotion twisted in Lance's stomach. The thoughts came before he could force them down.

It was obvious.

Keith loved Shiro.

Keith loved him in a way that Keith didn't love Lance.

The thought struck Lance, hurting him. Jealousy. That's what it was.

Lance turned away from the group before any of them could look up and see the powerful emotions rip through his face. He tried to calm himself. Took a few quiet breaths, making each one deeper than the last.

Finally he spoke. "Pidge, Hunk, and Keith get to your lions. Allura, I'm gonna need you to make three wormholes in pretty quick succession. Do you think that you can do that?"

"I...yes, I believe so, although I haven't tried that before."

"Do you think you can do that while also fighting Lotor?"

"I'm not sure what you mean." Allura said, confused.

"I'm going to go after Shiro, while you, Hunk, and Pidge go help Kolivan. But I'll need a couple wormholes. One to get to Shiro and one to get from the prison ship to Kolivan and where you all will be fighting. But you'll be in a big fight during that second wormhole, so I need to know you can do it." Lance turned back around to look at her..

"I'll do it." Allura looked determined.

"You're not going to go rescue Shiro by yourself. It's too dangerous." Keith said. His eyebrows were knitted together in frustration with Lance's plan.

Lance raised an eyebrow. "Of course not. You're coming too."


A/N: Yea! Black Paladin Lance!

I officially have decided on how I'm organizing the final chapters of this story. There will be 3 more chapters! I'm not gonna change my mind, so it's however long it takes me to finish each of these chapters when they go up.

I'm trying to rush them a bit. I really wish Voltron staff had given me a bit more time between s6 and s7 because now my story seems even more behind than it already was lmao!

I'm so EXCITED though! Who else?