"Oh…" Shiro said. His eyebrows shot upward slightly giving himself a few forehead wrinkles.

Keith and Lance stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

It was Lance who broke the silence first. "Well…uh…" He looked down at his feet, teeth gritted. "We can't stay here. We've gotta go if we want it to make it to the others on time." He turned to leave, forcing his feet to move.

"Wait, Lance." Shiro moved to place a hand on Lance's shoulder, but Lance shrugged him off and kept going.

"We really don't have time to stand around." Lance said, refusing to turn around. He continued moving forward, picking up the pace a bit so the others were forced to follow.

Shiro frowned, but began following silently. Keith brought up the rear.

As though on queue Allura's voice rang out over the comms. "I don't know how much more time I can spare! I need to wormhole you to our location immediately."

"Allura, we've got Shiro, we'll notify you when we're to the Lions." Lance replied, moving faster down the hall.

Lance had a pretty good memory of what direction to go in, having just come from there. He looked around corridors carefully before ducking around them. He made sure to keep just enough of a lead on Shiro and Keith that they didn't have a chance to talk to him.

Every once in a while they'd get closer and Shiro would whisper, "Lance, wait!"

But Lance would just duck around the next corner.

Shiro's frown deepened as they walked. Because he could not talk to Lance, he spoke to Keith in a whisper instead. "Keith, I know that we need to leave to help the others, but I can't leave the prisoners on this ship. They're all enemies of the Galra and potentially valuable allies to our cause. I won't leave them to continue to be prisoners and slaves."

"Then we're gonna need a plan." Keith looked at Lance's back, his eyes softening as Lance was about to duck around yet another corridor.

Shiro nodded slowly continuing to look at Keith instead, then cocked his head to the side slightly, a weird smile playing at his lips.

"What's going on between you two, anyway?" Shiro asked casually.

Keith choked on his own spit and managed to cough out. "Nothing."

Shiro raised his eyebrow. "I know you better than that, Keith."

Keith was not about to have this conversation, so he looked ahead and called out to Lance in a loud whisper. "Lance, seriously, stop!"

Lance turned to look at Keith, his gaze questioning. It gave enough time for them to catch up to him.

Shiro grabbed his shoulder to prevent him turning away yet again. "Lance, listen to me for a minute."

"There's not a lot of time. We're almost back to the lions. Can't this wait?" Lance said, still refusing to meet Shiro's eyes.

"No, it can't."

"If you're worried about who's going to be piloting Black, don't be. I don't mind stepping down. It makes the most sense, Keith's more your right hand man than mi-"

"You idiot!" Keith smacked him on the shoulder.

Lance briefly met Keith's eyes surprised.

"That's what this is about?" Keith rolled his eyes. Lance was a lot of things, and idiot was a frequent one, but even so…

"What Keith means," Shiro paused, taking a moment to glare at Keith, "is that we need to free the prisoners first."

"But there isn't enough time. We have to get you to the others so that we can form Voltron." Lance said quickly.

"No, we don't."

"But-"

"Lance! Listen for a minute." Shiro paused again. "I'm staying aboard the prison ship."

"What?!" Both Keith and Lance forgot themselves for a moment and shouted.

Shiro glared at them both before continuing. "The only way to free the prisoners is if someone stays here and pilots the prison ship to safety through the wormhole. If you two don't get back to the others they'll be in trouble. I'll need help freeing the prisoners and taking over the ship, but after that you two will need to go."

"But-"

Shiro raised his eyebrows at Lance, effectively silencing him. "Lance, listen to me." Shiro took a breath, softening his tone as he said his next words. "I'm not the Black paladin anymore. You are. You need to lead the others to victory. The only way Voltron gets formed is with you."

Lance went to open his mouth again, but Shiro frowned and he stayed silent instead.

"You've clearly grown a lot, as a person, as a paladin, but most importantly as a leader. You've always reminded me a bit of myself. You're creative and daring, you listen to others advice, and are stronger for it. We all consider you a friend," he shot Keith a look, "some consider you even mo-ouch"

Keith took an opportunity to step on Shiro's foot. His eyes were wide. He didn't want to hear where Shiro had been going with that sentence.

Shiro coughed to regain his composure. "You're going to make a great leader, Lance. You already are one."

Lance stayed quiet for a moment before saying, "Let's do this." He yelled on the comms. "Allura! I'm going to need you to stall for just a little bit longer."

"Lance! I don't know if I can do that! We're not prepared to fight these Galra without Voltron."

"I don't want to risk anyone's safety. Try and run evasive maneuvers until we can get there. We'll finish this as soon as we can. I know you can do this Allura. Call us immediately if things start getting worse."

Shiro had a pretty good idea of the layout of the ship already. They made quick work of the floors leading up to the control room. They were doing this guns blazing style. They didn't have the option to take things slow or to come up with a different plan.

They'd have to take the control room quickly and then the moment any of them got a chance near the main computer to free all the prisoners.

Before the doors to the control room, Keith pinned a Galra to the wall to get the door code. Pidge, of course, could have made quick work of the doors themself, but Keith was glad for some good old fashioned threatening.

They held their weapons ready as the doors slid open. Immediately they were barraged with blaster fire.

Keith danced around the blaze as it came. He dodged around blasts and slashed through the nearest Galra's blaster.

Lance's movement's were animated and quick. He got to work with his good aim, making sure to keep clear of the blaster fire at the same time. As soon as he found an opening he slammed one Galra into the wall with his full force.

It left an opening for Keith, who slid around Lance and to the next Galra, slicing at him without hesitation.

Shiro went after the Galra that looked to be the captain. He slashed at him with his glowing hand. The Galra dodged, but Shiro was faster, incapacitating him with his other hand.

Keith and Lance made it to the main computer at the same time.

"Keith! Figure out how to release the prisoners I'll cover for you!" Lance yelled over the sounds of blaster fire.

Keith got to work, pulling at an unconscious Galra's hand to be able to unlock the computer, before searching for the command sequence he was looking for.

"It's gonna take me longer than it would take Pidge, I'm not a tech wizard." Keith said over his shoulder.

"I've got your back for as long as you need!"

Lance meant that, quite literally too. Keith felt one of Lane's shoulder blades press against his own as he carefully scanned the room for any dangers.

Shiro was still madly fighting the captain. Keith watched, looking up from the computer for a moment as another of the Galra approached Shiro from behind. Before he could utter a word, a blue blast shot out at the Galra, hitting him squarely in the chest.

"Nice one, Lance!"

Keith got back to work, there was no one else he'd trust more with his safety.

A loud banging sound over the comms made them glance at each other in fear.

Lance yelled into his helmet. "Allura, what's happening?!"

There was no sound for a moment. Both Keith and Lance held their breath. Keith could see the fear in Lance's eyes, the doubt in if he made the right decisions, the worry that he had doomed his friends.

Suddenly a loud sound of fuzz broke over the comms before Allura's voice managed to break through the buzzing. "-It's not good! Lotor-he-hit us with some sort of ion blast. Pidge and I managed to be on the outskirts...but Hunk-"

"What happened!?" Lance shouted.

"He was too close to Lotor's lion. Yellow's gone dark and we can't reach him. We don't know if he's okay!"

"Keith! How close are you to getting that command through?"

The Galra tech under Keith's fingers was surprisingly organized. He had managed to sort through a few commands, but there were still several to go before he'd be able to find the one to open the prisoner cells.

"I just need another minute!"

"Allura! We're almost there! Just try to get Hunk away from Lotor before he can do any more damage. Don't take any risks!"

A second later Keith found the command he only a few presses of buttons he heard a ruckus beginning somewhere far off in the ship.

The Galra captain looked toward the noise, giving Shiro enough time to pull him into a headlock before smashing his hand into the Galra's head making him fall unconscious.

With a few more beams from Lance's blaster the rest of the Galra were incapacitated.

"Good work team!" Shiro said, high fiving them both. "I can take the ship over from here. You need to go!"

Keith and Lance nodded at him. They turned toward the doors, already starting their sprint.

"Wait!" Shiro yelled after them.

Lance and Keith stopped, turning back to Shiro simultaneously.

Shiro nodded at them before talking. "Keith, you can go on ahead, I needed a word with Lance for a moment."

Lance made eye contact with Keith, frowning as Keith turned back around. He shrugged at Lance, not sure what Shiro wanted, before taking off once more in a sprint.

"What is it Shiro? I need to get to the others." Lance asked.

"Look...I wanted to apologize for not noticing sooner."

"Noticing what?"

"What an incredible leader you'd make. I should have nurtured that in you more. It'll be my biggest regret as a leader myself."

"Oh..." Lance's eyes lit up a bit at Shiro's words.

"You're going to be an amazing leader Lance." He put his hand on Lance's shoulder.

"Thanks, Shiro." He let the words sit with him, feeling his pride swell in his chest.

"Listen, Lance, being a leader is difficult. You're going to constantly question if you're making the right decisions. It can feel isolating at times. Just remember it's the skill of the team that makes the skill of the leader. You have a good team around you, and you should rely on them as much as they rely on you."

Lance nodded at his words, absorbing them.

"But Lance, you also have to remember that sometimes it's okay to go after what you want as well. Sometimes that can make the team stronger. Part of being a leader is recognizing the people we need in our life."

An image of Keith's face flashed in Lance's mind.

"What do you mean?" Lance asked, a bit too quickly. He didn't want to jump the gun, or get too excited. It almost sounded like Shiro was giving him his blessing.

"I think you know what I mean. You two have a connection. That's only gotten stronger as time has passed. We have a dangerous job protecting this universe. Time for us is too unknown to neglect the people we love."

"Ah."

"But what I really wanted to say was that you're already doing a great job, and I know that no matter what happens, Voltron is in good hands."

He squeezed Lance's shoulder before shoving him toward the door. Lance nodded at him before beginning his sprint down the hall to try to catch up to Keith.

"Go save the universe!" Shiro yelled after him.

Lance ran down the hall, breathing hard. He yelled into the comms. "Allura! We're on our way to the lions."

"I'll get the wormhole ready." Her voice sounded relieved, but there was a stress there that told Lance that they were about to enter into a bigger fight than they even realized.

Lance let Shiro's words run through his head. He had to trust his decisions, his instincts. He couldn't worry about if he'd made the right decision while also being able to focus his full ability on a fight.

But if it was Lance's decision that led to Hunk getting injured or worse? Lance wasn't sure how he could deal with that.

Hunk wasn't the only one that Lance was worried about. This was his team. Allura could handle most situations, but that didn't mean there wasn't incredible risk to what he put her through and he respected her too much for it not to affect him if she were hurt. Pidge was like a sibling to Lance, it would tear him to pieces for them to suffer.

And Keith?

Lance's whole world would crumble to dust if Keith didn't make it out of a fight. He was so capable of looking after himself so Lance didn't want to have to worry, but at the same time Keith was Lance's best friend. It was strange to think how much things had changed from the beginning. Best friend felt right to Lance, but he knew that his connection with Keith was even deeper than that. Lance had known for a while, but putting it into words for the first time made his heart pound in his ears. The realization shook him.

It transcended words.

He managed to catch up with Keith in front of their lions. Keith took one look at him and shot him a wide smile. Lance felt his knees turn to jello.

"Are you ready for this?" Keith said. "Let's go save our friends."

He went to turn away, but Lance grabbed his wrist before he could. "Wait."

"Lance? What is it?" Keith blinked at Lance, his smile gone, a frown taking its place. His brow wrinkled a bit in confusion.

"I just wanted to tell you something…" Lance trailed off, not sure how to word what he felt. He could feel Keith's heartbeat from the hold on his wrist. It sped up slightly, but was still keeping an even pace. Lance's heartbeat was going faster. He could feel it like a drum in his head, counting down the seconds.

"Can it wait? Our friends need us, the wormhole is about to open. We don't have any time here." Keith said it softly, before gently taking a step in toward Lance, worry still furrowing his brow.

"That's the problem. There may not be any time, so I wanted to make it now." Lance grabbed Keith's other hand.

The move was like electricity to Keith, he jolted, surprised, his brain almost telling him to run away before his heart forced his feet rooted to the ground. He looked up in Lance's eyes, puzzling what emotion he could see there. He didn't want to hope, just in case, but his mind raced, already dedicating this moment to his memory forever.

"What is it?" Keith barely breathed the words, he wasn't even sure if Lance had heard him.

Lance slid the hand on Keith's wrist up his shoulder to rest gently on his neck. The hair there was standing on end, making Keith want to shiver at the sensation, but he held still, waiting, not even daring to breath.

Lance leaned in. He was looking into Keith's eyes before he dropped them to look at Keith's lips instead. He hesitated. Involuntarily Lance chewed on his own lip gently.

Keith moved, less than an inch closer, hoping he wasn't about to scare Lance away.

It was enough. Lance dropped his lip from his teeth and moved in the rest of the way, closing his eyes at the last moment.

Their lips pressed together, gently at first, and then quickly became more frenzied.

Keith's neck was hot under Lance's hand. The warmth rose from his neck into his face, turning his cheeks pink.

Keith raised his free hand, to pull Lance in even closer, but before he was able to touch Lance's skin the ringing sound of the wormhole opening startled them apart.

Lance dropped Keith's hand like he'd been electrocuted. He skittered away, completely shocked at himself.

"Uh...sorry...uh…" Lance was flustered, trying to have a coherent thought. "We have to go!"

He ran toward Black leaving Keith standing, shocked, for a moment, not sure exactly what had just happened either, even though he'd been a more than willing participant in it.

He shook his head to clear it before running for Red.


Black, followed closely by Red and the slower prison ship sped threw the wormhole. The other end led them immediately into chaos. Blasts of light were shooting in every direction.

Lance focused so that he could piece together what exactly was going on. Lotor's ship was giant compared to any of the Blade's ships. They buzzed around him like flies, as he tried to knock them out of the air with anything he had.

He could see that Blue and Green were doing their best to avoid any of Lotor's blasts while trying to gain ground so that they could rescue Yellow. Even in the time it took Keith and Lance to make an appearance they still hadn't been successful in rescuing Hunk.

Lance closed his eyes for a moment to silently hope that Hunk was okay. It would be his fault if he wasn't. Without Yellow they wouldn't be able to form Voltron either, and his entire plan would be for nothing. There wouldn't be anything they could do.

On top of everything happening Lance had only embarrassed himself further in the previous moments with Keith. Just thinking about it made his ears tinge pink. He could feel his face was hot.

Black started to drift away from its path in Lance's momentary distraction.

"Uhh...Keith...I just wanted to say sorry about all that from a moment ago. Just forget anything happened okay?"

"Lance!" Keith shouted, hoping to wake him up from his daze. "Just focus for now we can talk about it later."

Inside Red Keith's ears were pink as well. Right now he couldn't think about the kiss. He had to focus.

"Right! Uhh…" Lance focused again on the battle at hand. "Allura! Pidge! We need to know where help is needed the most!"

He watched them as they tried to dodge around more blasts coming from Lotor's ship.

"We're still trying to get to Hunk! Lotor's not giving us any chance for an opening!" Allura yelled through the comms.

"We'll try to distract him!" Lance assured her. "Keith, we're gonna need to get in close to Lotor's lion's face."

"You do remember he has a giant mouth canon that nearly killed us before? Right?"

"Yep."

Keith sighed. "Okay, then. Let's do this."

"Take Lotor's right. I'll take his left. We've got to make him notice us. Fire with everything you have!"

"Got it!"

They flew toward Lotor fast, keeping pace with each other. As soon as they were close enough for him to claw them out of the air they split up, each focusing on dodging anything he sent towards them.

Lance used Black's jawblade to slice through part of the white lion's shoulder. It roared angrily, rearing back a bit, before its paw came down trying to slice through Black. Lance dodged, but he wasn't yet used to Black's movements and the force clipped one of Black's wings sending him spinning off course.

"Lance!" Keith shouted.

"I'm alright! It was just clumsy maneuvering on my part."

Lance swerved so that he was facing Lotor again. "C'mon Black, let's work together." He muttered to the lion. He hoped she was listening. He didn't have the connection with her that he'd had with Blue or Red, but he wanted it to be there.

It would take time and effort to show her what a leader he could be, but he knew that with hers and the rest of the team's support it was possible. Right now he'd prove that he could lead them all by destroying Lotor's ship.

He took off toward Lotor's left, coming up fast. "Show me what you've got." He muttered to his lion again.

Keith was already there, blasting Lotor with his lava fire.

Lotor swatted at him, forcing Keith to stop and dodge. Lance didn't give Lotor much of an opportunity to attack though, forcing his hand by shooting Black's lasers aimed into the Lion's other eye.

The two attacking lions combined together forced Lotor back a bit. Lance was hopeful that it was giving the others enough cover.

"Allura, how is it going down there?"

"We've made it to Hunk, but we still have to get him out of here and figure out what's wrong!"

"We'll keep forcing Lotor backward!"

Lance didn't want to leave any opening for Lotor to shoot his larger canons, although he knew that he was leaving himself and Keith vulnerable the longer they were close by. It would only take one shot to knock both of them away, damaging their ships in the process.

"Lance! Watch out!" Keith yelled.

Just in time Lance dodged out of the way as the White Lion's tail extended towards him, firing off a bright white burst of heated energy. The heat radiating from it almost singed Lance's eyebrows. He was lucky that Keith had noticed in time.

"Thanks!"

It had forced Lance backwards and the few seconds it took allowed for Lotor's lion to open its mouth and start charging some purple energy. Lance was right in the way, and he didn't like the look of it.

"Lance!" Keith yelled again.

Keith watched helplessly as Black swerved widely. Backpedaling as best he could out of the way, Lance watched the purple energy build up before being shot out towards him.

It clipped Black's wing again and sent him flying even further backward, spinning out of control. Lance's hands were doing everything they could flitting around the controls, trying to find some way to stop his momentum. Black bashed into one of the Blade's ships. It crunched upon impact. Lance winced. He hoped the rebel inside was okay.

Lotor didn't give him a chance to recover. He immediately sent out more blasts from the tail.

"You forgot about me!" Keith yelled at Lotor, even though he couldn't hear him. Keith used his bayard to have Red expose the giant rail gun on her back. She fired directly into the white lion's eye.

Lotor veered off course, allowing Lance to straighten out finally. He pulled up toward the white lion's other eye.

"Ready, Keith?!"

"Ready!"

They fired. Blast after distracting blast his Lotor. The bursts of energy weren't enough to bring him down, barely enough to cause damage, but together they forced him backward and gave the rest of the team the valuable time they needed to pull Yellow away from the battle.

"We've got him!" Allura shouted, happy to have succeeded.

Pidge was more serious in their reply. "I'm gonna check out what's happening with the ship and that he's okay. We need you to keep Lotor distracted for a bit longer."

"Okay!" Keith and Lance shouted at the same time.

Lance considered the situation. He and Keith could fight off Lotor for a while, but it would be a pretty big stretch of their abilities. "Allura, we could use your backup out here now that Pidge has a handle on Yellow."

"I'm coming now!"

With three lions against Lotor they stood a better chance. Allura could use her ice canon to stop Lotor from advancing while Lance and Keith focused on pushing him back.

The white lion swatted at Keith and Lance's ships again. Lance was more careful with maneuvering Black out of the way. He needed to get used to Black's controls as soon as possible. It was a big weakness in the fight if their, Lance's chest swelled with pride as he thought, leader wasn't able to control his lion to the full extent.

Keith dodged the claws easily. He should have been focused entirely on himself in the fight, but couldn't help spending a little of his attention on Lance at all times. Fortunately Red was the fastest, and Lotor stood no chance against her speed even as the pilot's brain was half focused elsewhere.

Allura caught up to them and immediately got to work. Lance didn't even have to tell her. There was a huge strength in a team that knew their own strengths.

She iced White's legs as much as possible, creating a large wall even the white lion would have difficulty getting through.

"Nice one, Allura!" Lance cheered her on. "Keith, let's send Lotor backward!"

Lance pulled out Black's jawblade again and flew in close to Lotor, trying to cause as much damage as possible. Keith busied himself in creating more lava and fire for Lotor to fend off.

They made a strong crew.

Lotor moved backward, trying to avoid the blows from Lance and Keith. The ice wall wasn't allowing him to do much except retreat.

"Keep going!" Lance yelled, spurring his team on.

Allura sped up, trying to keep up with Lotor's movements. The ice became thicker as she moved, keeping Lotor away, walls building up to almost surround them.

It was Lance who noticed first, but he was too late. "Allura! Wait-"

Lotor had let them trap themselves. Lance rushed toward Blue, pushing her out of the way of Lotor's purple blast. They weren't able to move back towards the Blade's base fast enough. With the ice walls around them they were unable to scatter and dodge like usual.

The blast hit Black squarely in the shoulder. Lance spun out of control again, but he had managed to keep Allura from getting hit.

"Lance!" Keith yelled once more.

"I'm fine! Keith, get out of there!" Lance yelled back.

They began their retreat, trying to dodge Lotor's blasts and hard blocks of ice that were being blown apart by them. Lotor advanced back through the ice walls, destroying them as he went.

"Aaaaaggghh!" Lance yelled, his frustration getting the better of him for a moment. They were losing all of the ground they'd worked so hard to make.

Suddenly a bright blue light from ahead appeared. The bang resonated from the canon as it fired. Bright light whizzed just past Black and hit the white lion squarely on the jaw. She roared.

"Miss me?!"

"Hunk!" Lance yelled, happy to see him.

He was just in time. A moment later and Pidge pulled up alongside Hunk, Green's mouth laser at the ready.

"Lance, it's time." Keith said over the comms.

He was right. There was no time to lose, they needed to finish this battle.

"Form Voltron!" Lance shouted.

The lions flew together in formation. Flying around each other before beginning to merge. Lance felt the rumble as each of the lions came together. Blue and Yellow as the legs, Red and Green as the arms, and Lance with Black as the head.

Keith pulled out the sword without Lance even having to usher a command. They were completely in sync.

Lotor's lion was still slightly bigger than Voltron, but it wasn't going to be enough. Five paladins in sync were better than one.

They swung the sword as Lotor approached, forcing him to dodge around their blade. He backed up just enough to be out of their reach. They watched as his lion transformed into a more human like figure, with its own sword at the ready.

"Go!" Lance urged them forward. Keith swung the blade, matching it to Lotor's. The resounding noise was ear-splitting as the blades connected. Pidge raised the shield as Lotor swung again. Voltron was forced backward a step.

Lotor swung his sword again, this time blocked with Voltron's sword. They force sent them back another step.

Once more Lotor struck. Pidge yelled with the amount of force they were taking. "Aaaagghhh!" Voltron had no choice but to step backward once again.

Over and over again Lotor swung his sword, hitting blade and then shield, forcing Voltron back. Sword. Shield. Sword. Shield. Lotor was ruthless.

Sword. This time it was Keith's turn to yell. They would wear down at the rate things were going.

Shield. Voltron tried to dodge, but had to bring up the shield at the last moment.

Sword. This time Keith swung first. They couldn't keep getting forced back and expect to survive. Already they were too close to the base.

Lotor saw it coming, and sent his own sword to parry before quickly aiming for Voltron's face. Pidge raised the shield just in time, but they were forced back again.

"Aaaarrrgggh!" Lance yelled in his frustration. "We've got to move forward! Allura! Step in on Lotor's next attack. Brace yourselves!"

She moved Voltron's leg forward. When Lotor stuck again, it glanced off both Voltron's sword and shield together. They didn't lose any ground.

Quickly Voltron stabbed forward, slashing at Lotor before he could close the opening. The white lion took a step back.

"Hurry!" Lance yelled.

Voltron's heels fired up, sending them forward fast. Keith used the momentum to position the blade so that it would strike hard. There was no need to explain his plan in detail, the longer they fought as Voltron, the more they understood each other.

The strike stabbed the white lion in the gut, sending Lotor staggering backward.

They'd sent him too far though. They couldn't get close enough to strike again before Lotor had readied himself once more into a strong stance.

Voltron's next attacks were met blow for blow. Lotor didn't lose ground like they had. It didn't seem to matter how hard they hit.

"Again!" Lance yelled, grinding his teeth.

Keith slashed through the air and once again Lotor parried. The swords slid over each other with a noise like grinding lightning. It forced both of them to jump backward.

At a distance Lance readied Voltron to strike again. They shot forward just as Lotor did, striking yet another explosive blow.

The burst of energy cost Voltron. They were forced backward yet again, while Lotor only advanced. Once more, they did everything they could to block him, while Lotor gave no openings for them to take advantage of.

They switched up their tactics, stepping back twice, to gain the space they needed. It made no difference, Lotor's sword was longer, it could reach farther.

If they stepped to the right, Lotor would counter them, with a step to his right as well. If they stepped to the left, Lotor would take advantage of their shield arm and force them back even further with a harder hit.

They were pressed back, almost against the base's metal walls. There was nowhere to go. They needed ground, but they couldn't dodge Lotor's blows if it meant risking the base's walls and all those rebels within it.

Suddenly a ship to Voltron's right sent a blast at Lotor, taking them all by surprise. Lotor swatted it out of the air like it was a fly. It hadn't even given them enough of an opening. Lance felt for the rebel's sacrifice, it had been brave even though it had done nothing.

But then a crowd of small ships swarmed around them. Lance couldn't place where they had come from, but then, over the comms. "Don't forget about us!" Shiro's voice rang loud and clear.

He must have been able to free all of the prisoners and pulled out every single smaller vessel the prison ship had to make this army. So many of the ships buzzing around Lotor wouldn't even have guns installed. To the people who had been imprisoned by the Galra it made no difference. They would fight to the last breath if it meant they would be free again.

Lotor stumbled back. Lance was not about to take anyone's sacrifice in vain. None of Voltron was.

They slashed at Lotor, successfully forcing him back.

They slashed again. Lotor took another step back. Another slash, another step back. And another. And another.

Lotor was faced with the possibility of defeat. He took two steps back, but Voltron advanced. He tried stepping with his right and Voltron countered. He tried stepping left and Voltron forced him backward even farther than they had before. They were using his own attacks against him.

In the darkness of the White Lion none of the rebels fighting could see Lotor smile.

Lotor slashed wildly, leaving an opening. "Go!" Lance yelled as Keith swung the sword, piercing the white lion's armor.

Lotor turned the white lion around, yanking the blade from Keith's hand. Lotor ripped it out of the lion's armor, wielding the giant red sword for himself.

It had been a risky move and didn't leave Lotor with much time to finish the fight. He had already won though.

Lance's eyes widened in fear as Lotor had two blades and they had only a shield to protect them. He had made a mistake somehow and Voltron was going to suffer for it. Lotor slashed hard. The ships buzzed around them, trying to distract but offering little challenge.

Moving forward, Lotor hacked into Pidge's shield. They yelled again, struggling to keep up with the flurry of blows Lotor offered.

It took only a moment. Lotor sliced through the air at just the right angle. It pried the shield from Voltron's arm and sent it flying into the distance.

There was no hope.

Lance was shocked. Too stunned to do anything. Too stunned to even think. This was it.

"Lance!"

He heard Keith's yell as though it was from a distance. He saw Lotor's blades coming towards him as though in slow motion.

"Lance!" Keith yelled again.

It broke through to him, just enough to be able to see what was in Keith's mind. Lance shot himself forward, slamming his bayard into the black lion's controls just as Keith did the same in Red.

Voltron was bathed in light. It's arms stretched out as large wings grew from its back. Just as Lotor was about to hit, Voltron flew forward at incredible speed. They swatted at the sword with nothing but Voltron's hand, parrying the swords just barely.

Keith's arm grabbed at the white lion's throat, just as Pidge's wound back, ready to deliver the final blow.

Still as though in slow motion Lance watched as Pidge's arm came forward. But Lotor moved under them, unable to escape Keith's grasp he swung the sword, slicing toward himself, severing through Keith's arm.

"Nooo!" Lance yelled as Pidge's fist connected.

The world exploded. The white lion smashed into pieces as Voltron was thrown back, ripping through Keith's arm the rest of the way.

Voltron disassembled. Lance spun back, fighting the force of the explosion looking for Red. As soon as he spotted her he rammed Black forward, forcing her through the rubble.

Red was still an arm, mangled and barely recognizable. Black's teeth pulled at Red, forcing her toward the castle.

Seeing what had happened, Coran met them halfway, immediately opening the hangar doors.

Lance jumped from Black without a single thought to himself before she'd even touched down all the way.

He ran to red, climbing through the debris. A hunk of metal slashed as his side where his old wound had healed. It wasn't too deep, so he ignored it.

He pushed through the wires and hunks of metal wildly, slicing up his hands and arms and face in the process before finally making it through to Red's cockpit.

Keith was completely still in Red's seat. There was a significant amount of blood on Keith's side. It was pooling on the floor slowly.

"Keith!" Lance yelled, running to him.

He was unresponsive. Lance couldn't tell if he was breathing. He ripped off Keith's helmet, throwing it to the ground away from him.

Lance grabbed one of Keith's wrists to check his vitals as he studied his face closely for any sign of life. There was no movement in Keith's face. His head had rolled to the side and was still.

Lance took a deep breath to be able to focus. He placed two fingers on Keith's wrist, but he wouldn't be able to feel anything unless he calmed down for a minute. Keith didn't feel cold, but that didn't mean much.

Then he felt it, a faint ba-bump as Keith's heart pounded. It wasn't as strong as it should be, and the weakness frightened Lance, but it was there. Keith was alive.

He pulled Keith to his chest carefully, making sure not to jostle him too much. Keith didn't need to lose any more blood than he already had.

Once he was securely in his arms he took off at a sprint. The rest of the paladins watched Lance exit Red's hull and start to run down the hall. They followed as quickly as they could asking questions that Lance didn't know the answer to.

"Is he breathing?"

"How much blood did he lose?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Lance let out a panicked yell.

He placed Keith gently on a table in the medbay, and got pushed out of the way almost immediately by Allura and Pidge.

Coran ran to the nearest medical pod and started getting it ready. Allura and Pidge started pulling out Altean medical tools. He watched, horrified as they checked the rest of Keith's vitals.

"His blood pressure's low."

"He's not breathing."

Suddenly Keith coughed, and blood came dribbling out of his mouth. Lance watched as Keith had an intake of breath, and then tried to sit up. Hunk's hands pulled him back down.

"Lance?" Keith asked. His voice was quiet and raspy.

"What? I'm here." Lance elbowed his way past the others so that Keith would be able to see his face.

"Hah….we match…" Keith poked Lance in the side where he'd gotten injured during his rescue.

It felt like so long ago that they'd been fighting Lotor together just the two of them. There wasn't anyone else Lance would rather have by his side.

Lance caught Keith's hand as he went to poke him again. "Just stay alive, okay?"

Hunk pulled Keith off the table and safely into the waiting pod. Lance allowed Keith's hand to be pulled out of his own as Coran pressed the button to close it.

Lance watched Keith's face change into a serene look as the pod started working. He didn't want to look away for fear of it changing to one of pain.

"And now we wait." Hunk said, placing his hands on either of Lance's shoulders.


A/N: YEEESS! And then a huge resounding NOOOOOO!

Man this chapter took a lot longer to write than I thought it would. Although to be fair a whole lot happened in it...so…

There's way too many space battles in this fanfic, but I suppose if you've read up to now you probably like that at least a little. They are SO HARD TO WRITE THOUGH. Why did I do this to myself?

More than anything this chapter kept feeling like it wasn't quite right somehow, like I didn't leave quite enough tension before the kiss or like I was mischaracterizing people. But I think I'm pretty happy with how it turned out in the end.

I want to post this chapter and the last chapter (which is short and mostly an epilogue) at the same time. I'm finished writing it, but I still have to edit, so it'll be up soon!

Love you all! Thank you so much for reading! Enjoy!