"Red?"

There were so many questions Lance wanted to ask, but they got stuck in his throat, squabbling over which was to be asked first. Instead he remained silent, swallowing uncomfortably around the lump, watching the swirling blue of the wormhole around him. The team's chattering in his ear was distracting, ranging from the wonder of a new lion power to distress and worry for Lance and Keith. He turned off his intercom, limiting it to only allow signals from the rebels through: he felt terribly guilty, but he needed to focus.

How did Red even manage to open a wormhole? No one had told them they could do that… Granted the paladins were always unlocking new powers the lions possessed, but it would have been helpful for Coran or Allura to mention. All the difficult times such a power could have come in handy, when Allura was incapacitated or when the teladuv lenses had shattered. They could have spent time specifically trying to unlock the ability instead of being left to stumble blindly in the dark.

But Lance didn't have time to wonder how he was here: the wormhole's exit was fast approaching. He had left the others far behind, taking this detour across space. He had only followed his gut instinct: it had all happened so fast. The tear on his cheek hadn't even dried yet.

Suddenly a battle was erupting around him: the daunting, purple particle barrier of the Galra ship was before him, ships blurring past, firing endlessly at the force field while attempting to dodge the lasers being fired at them. It was utter chaos, Lance's intercom picking up chatter from the rebel fighters as they shouted for someone to present a plan.

But someone already had. Where was he?

"Keith!" Lance screamed, turning Red, searching desperately for a ship on a kamikaze mission.

"Lance?" Keith's voice was full of confusion, his breath hitched.

"Where are-?"

"Look out!" Keith yelled, Lance's eardrums buzzing from the volume of his cry. At that moment Lance spotted Keith's ship: it was barrelling straight towards him.

He had wanted to find Keith, and Red had made that happen. Had managed to place Lance somewhere Keith would notice him – where Keith couldn't fail to see him.

Lance had succeeded in his mission to stop Keith crashing into the particle barrier. Instead, Keith was going to crash into the Red lion. The outcome was the same: Lance would lose Keith.

Lance yelled, attempted to move out the way. But it was much too late: Keith was going too fast. Lance felt everything slow around him as the ship drew closer, crashing into Red's hind leg and exploding into a fire ball.

"KEITH!"

The blast sent Red careening backwards, spinning and turning Lance's vision into a series of blurs. He tried to steady Red, but he was distracted as he shouted Keith's name, screamed, waited for him to say that the crash wasn't as bad as it looked.

He got Red out of his spiral, turning to look at the charred wreckage that had been Keith's ship. The red lion was close to indestructible. A Galra ship, however…

"Keith?" Lance sobbed his name, his breathing uneven. He was gone…he was gone and the particle barrier was still up. Naxzela was still going to blow, still going to destroy this entire galaxy, and Lance couldn't even save Keith. This was all his fault.

"Lance!"

Lance's breathing stalled in his chest, ears straining, sure he hadn't imagined it.

"Keith?"

"Help-" The breathing was laboured.

"Help me!"

Just then Red's sensors locked onto something: a small projectile hurtling through empty space, too small for the battle cruiser's lasers to lock on to.

It was Keith. Keith, who must have ejected from his ship at the last second, was flying through space uncontrollably, his jetpack struggling to slow him.

Again instinct took over, and Red was racing towards Keith, the lion's jaw opening wide to catch the small form. Lance abandoned his seat and ran to the Lion's mouth, desperate to make sure Keith was alright. Red could keep them safe for a few minutes without him.

His boots clanged loudly on the metal as Lance entered the mouth, rushing to where Keith lay on the ground.

He was breathing heavily. The hood on his Blade of Marmora uniform had fallen down, but his helmet still securely in place. Lance knelt next to him, attempting to remove the helmet, desperate to see his face, to see if he was hurt.

After a moment of fumbling (the helmet blended seamlessly with the rest of the uniform) Keith reached up and pressed a point behind his earlobe. The helmet dissipated, and Keith's dark eyes were peering up at him.

He gave a weak smile, and Lance felt relief flood him. Before he knew what he was doing, he had pulled Keith into a firm hug, trying to still his shaking body.

"You idiot!" They both said at the same time.

Lance released him, his face growing stern. "Me, the idiot? Did you bang your head in that crash?"

Keith sat up, glaring at Lance. "The barrier is still functional. Naxzela is going to blow any minute now. We're going to die anyway!"

"Well excuse me." Lance felt anger creeping into his voice. "I just wanted to stop my teammate from doing the stupidest thing I've ever heard of! I thought after all this time with my guidance you would at least think before rushing in headfirst without thinking."

"I did think! The pros outweighed the cons. It would have saved everyone." Keith's voice was clipped short, nostrils flaring. "Including you."

"Oh how noble," Lance's voice was laced with sarcasm. He pushed to stand, Keith quickly joining him rather than being left on the floor. 'Because you don't matter, not one bit. Because no one would care if you disappeared forever!"

"Because I'm not selfish," Keith snapped.

Lance was taken back, just for a moment. He nodded. "You're right, I am selfish. I couldn't just let you die because it would have haunted me until the day I die. You wouldn't have saved my life: your presence would have hung grey over everything I ever did for the rest of my life."

Keith stayed silent.

"It would have been an empty life," Lance crossed his arms and looked away. The air between them was too serious, even if these were their final moments. "I would never have moved past the fact that I was only living my life because you weren't. It's not a trade I was willing to make."

Keith was looking down too: neither of them wanting to acknowledge the tension between them. A light blush dusted his cheeks: did he really think that he was so worthless that he could just disappear and no one would care?

"Come on," Keith muttered, walking past Lance on his way to the control room. "We need to get that particle barrier down."

A low rumble from Red was all the warning they got to get their helmets back on before the lion suddenly opened his mouth. Lance breathed deeply, looking to Keith in confusion. He activated his jetpack, flying to the edge of the lion's mouth to peer out onto the battle, breath loud in his ears. What was the lion trying to tell them?

"Oh my god," Keith muttered, floating past him.

Oh my god was right. Lance blinked, unsure if he was actually seeing what was happening before him.

The impenetrable Galra barrier had been breached by a shining, purple beacon. The ship it came from was impossibly small, Lance couldn't believe it was packing such power. But it hung peacefully in space, calmly decimating the Galra defences below.

"Lotor." The name escaped Lance's lips without much thought. But it made sense: no one else would have access to such power.

They watched as bright cracks raced across the particle barrier, the fissures splitting and branching off, consuming the entire barrier. It held for a mere second, its broken pieces joined together with that bright, bright light, before the whole thing shattered and disappeared.

Without its barrier, the battle cruiser looked far less daunting. It remained still for a second, as though shocked to be beaten, before making a hasty jump to hyperspace.

"What just happened?" Lance said.

Keith grabbed Lance's arm without a word and fired up his jet pack, dragging them both to the back of the mouth and back up into the control room. He ran towards the pilot seat, ready to sink into a role he had donned countless times before seeming to remember where he was. He looked to Lance awkwardly, standing next to the chair and waiting for Lance to sit down.

"Are you sure?" Lance felt uncomfortable: when Lance first started piloting Red Keith had the black lion, there was no competition.

Was Keith even able to pilot the red lion anymore?

What if Red preferred him to Lance?

He found himself wishing for the security of Blue, who had always stood by him, who chose him first when she could have picked any of the others. Who had only let him go so he could continue to grow.

Allura was one lucky paladin.

"We should go after Lotor," Keith said, pulling Lance from his thoughts.

Lance nodded, but neither of them made a move towards the chair.

Keith sighed. "Red is yours now, Lance. I understand that: as much as I love flying with him, my rightful place is either piloting the black lion, or piloting nothing."

Lance squirmed beneath his heavy gaze: the thought of flying Red with Keith looking over his shoulder made him uncomfortable. He didn't want Keith judging him, back seat flying, or deciding that Lance's bond with Red wasn't as strong as his own.

"You're the better pilot," Lance said. "You weren't top at the garrison for nothing. Lotor obviously has a lot of power at his disposal, we need to start with our best foot forward."

This wasn't hard for him to admit. After all, there was a reason Lance had chosen Keith as his rival.

Lance could see the longing in Keith's eyes: he wanted to fly with Red, even just one more time. "Are you sure? I don't want you to feel like-"

Lance cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Take the offer. I can see how much you and Red miss eachother."

This earned Lance one of Keith's rare, toothy grins as he flung himself down into the seat. Keith visibly relaxed into such familiar surroundings, pressing on the controls to find where Lotor had had flown off to.

Lance stepped forwards, leaning on the back of the chair. "Is your sword from the Blade of Marmora like our bayards?"

Keith didn't turn round as he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Like, does it get stored in your suit when you don't need it?"

"No? Why?"

"Just you always have it sheathed at the small of your back, but it's not there. So where do you keep it?"

Lance had thought the question was innocent enough, but Keith's hand flew to his back, grasping desperately for the blade that was not there.

"Damn it!" He slammed his hands on the controls, causing the lion to jutter. "I must have lost it in the crash!"

Lance knew what that blade meant to Keith. He rested a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down. It's probably just downstairs on the floor where you landed. You find Lotor, I'll go check."

Keith's hands relaxed slightly. He nodded his thanks, turning back to the screens.

"It'll just be on the floor." Lance assured.

It was not on the floor.

Lance quickly looked throughout the small space, checking between Red's teeth to see if it was lodged anywhere.

"Lotor has completely disappeared," Keith's defeated voice came through the intercom. "That new ship must have a cloaking device - he's just vanished. Did you find my knife?"

"No," Lance announced. "Maybe it dislodged itself while you were outside. Open Red up and I'll go and check."

"Don't worry about it Lance, I can just get another one from the Blade."

"It can't hurt to check," Lance said, knowing full well that Keith was just putting up a front. "I will be two ticks."

"Okay. But be quick – we should meet up with the rest of the team."

The teeth parted before Lance and he fired himself out into empty space. It was strange, floating out in front of Red. With the battle cruiser's disappearance, the rebel ships had gathered in a small cluster, most likely updating the paladins and Coran on Lotor's appearance.

Lance brought up his scanner on his screen, slowly searching his surroundings for any sign of the knife.

"Lance, just leave it," Keith's voice came through, uneasy. "We should go."

"Keith, it's fine, just-"

"This was a battlefield up until a few minutes ago. You shouldn't be floating out there, you're defenceless."

"I've got you and Red looking out for me, it's fine." Just then Lance heard a quiet ping and his scanner locked in on something. "Besides, I think I've found it."

Lance's jetpack started, pushing him forwards. Red waited patiently, though Lance could guess that Keith was impatient as ever behind the controls. "How far are you going? Get back inside and we can pick it up with Red."

"I'm almost there," Lance said, now close enough to see the item he was chasing. He recognised the glowing initial on the hilt: the knife!

"Lance-"

"Almost-"

"Red's picking up on some strange activity."

"-there."

Keith's voice was taking on an edge of panic. "Lance-"

Lance's fingers were stretched out before him, grasping at the blade hanging peacefully.

"Something's not right!"

Lance's fingers clamped around the sheath. "I've got it!" He announced happily, turning back towards Red to wave the blade triumphantly, hoping Keith could see.

"Get inside," Keith ordered.

"What?" Lance asked, the euphoria of locating the blade quickly draining to be replaced by a panic similar to Keith's. He started back towards the red lion, just before a beam of purple energy shot out from empty space and collided with Red, knocking him backwards as Keith yelled from surprise.

And Lance now understood what Keith had meant: floating out in open space with a knife and a rifle, he really was defenceless.