He knew he was dreaming.
Kind of.
He wasn't confident enough to declare to the room that this was a dream. But something surreal was resting in his gut, whispering to him that there was something odd with the scene before him. That something wasn't quite right.
The whole team was together, in the same room.
Shiro, Hunk, Pidge, all donning their paladin armour, and lounging on the couch in the castle. Black, yellow, green. They were all smiling widely – he had never seen Shiro look so carefree. Lance couldn't hear what was being said: their mouths moved but no sound came out. Instead, the scene was washed over by the sound of waves crashing against rocks. If he closed his eyes he could see his beloved beach from home stretch before him, almost smell the salt in the air.
Allura stood just back from them in her red armour, getting distracted by the three on the couch as she attempted to hold a serious looking conversation with Coran. They were always talking seriously, Lance remarked. He understood that she was a princess, but Allura was only a little older than him. She was too young to always be tied up in galactic policies and leading revolutions.
They all were.
As she spoke wordlessly, Lance couldn't keep from staring at her. Something was different with her – something was off. Was her hair different? Her ears slightly more pointed than usual? Did she get new earrings?
His focus was broken as he saw three small figures come battering into the room. As though holding a race, the three mice ran across the room towards Allura, climbing up her legs to the apparent finish line: the red helmet she held at her hip. With this, her conversation with Coran crumbled as she brought a hand to her mouth and started to laugh. She brought the helmet towards her to coo at the sweet creatures, three sets of whiskers gently touching her cheek in greeting.
Wait - Three…?
Lance took a step forwards into the room. "Where did the other one go?" He asked, being able to hear his voice quite clearly over the crashing waves.
No one paid him any mind. He stepped closer again and no one reacted, as though they couldn't see him.
Weren't there supposed to be four mice?
Lance began to feel distressed as he his voice grew louder, trying to get anyone's attention. Was this some kind of elaborate prank they had been working on?
"Guys, this isn't funny," He pouted, crossing his arms.
And still no response.
He was standing by Allura at this point, waving a hand in front of her eyes, a breath away from touching her.
"Allura?" His meek voice said.
She didn't see him.
None of them did.
He felt like he had been punched in the stomach, and had to take a step back. Did no one wonder why he wasn't present – did none of them care where he was?
As he stepped back again his back collided with someone. They both fell to the ground with a yelp and an 'oomph', long limbs tangling together as both fought to push the other away. He caught a flash of blue as Lance saw a hand reach to push his face away roughly. He rolled onto the floor, turning to look into Keith's burning eyes a hand's span from his face.
"Watch where you're going," He said viciously.
Stunned, Lance stayed on the ground, staring as Keith pushed to stand. With Keith's voice, the ocean had stilled in Lance's ears and the room was completely silent. The team rushed towards Keith, clearly concerned at the paladin's fall sudden fall, asking their silent questions, voicing their mute concerns.
Keith's gaze continued to bore through him. "What are you even doing here?" He asked with venom in his voice.
"I-"
Keith was wearing the suit of the blue paladin.
Suddenly the sense of unease inside swelled: three mice, Allura in red, Keith in…
What the quiznak was going on?
"Can't you see no one wants you here?" Keith asked. The team surrounding him all stilled and turned to look down at Lance with scathing eyes.
"Wha-"
"We don't need you Lance," Keith smirked. "You've known that for long enough. You're right, for once – we don't need a seventh wheel."
"But… but Blue-"
Keith chuckled. "You being a part of Voltron was a mistake – how can you not see that? You? The first paladin? We can see the lion made a mistake – can't you?
"You aren't supposed to be here, you know that right? Blue wasn't supposed to pick you – as always, even your mere presence causes a disaster."
Lance swallowed around the lump in his throat. "That not true," He said adamantly.
"Really?" Keith stepped closer, leaving the team behind and squatting down to Lance's level. "Without you, the first paladin would have been the person who was actually qualified for the job. I was the best pilot at the garrison, I was the one that had been searching for the lion for months – Blue was calling to me, isn't that clear? She was calling to me for months in that desert. And you got in our way."
"No…no, Blue cares about me."
"Cares about you enough to pawn you off onto another lion the first chance she got?" Keith asked with a raise of an eyebrow.
Lance had nothing to say to that.
Keith gestured behind him, towards Allura clad in red and white armour. "You were the one to get in the way of Allura and Red. You knew how badly she wanted to follow in her father's footsteps, to be the paladin of the red lion. It was all she ever wanted."
"And you got in the way," Allura's voice suddenly rang out.
Keith nodded solemnly, "She finally gets the opportunity to bond with the red lion, and you mess it up again. Step in between her and King Alfor, all for your own personal glory."
"You're lying."
"Am I? Think about it, Lance – think how pleased you were to think you could be my right hand man, how happy you were that you thought I would actually care about your opinion and what you had to say? It's a good thing I left or who knows what would have happened to the team if we had listened to you."
Lance opened his mouth to retort, but like the others no sound came out. He was stunned: he had no defence to what Keith was saying.
What did he really bring to the team anyway?
If he hadn't have been here, Keith would never have felt like he had to leave and join the Blade of Marmora. He wouldn't be constantly distracting Pidge and Hunk when they're trying to work. Or making stupid comments when Shiro and Allura are preparing for battles.
There's no use in a seventh wheel.
"Exactly," Keith smirked. "We are better off without you."
He glanced down and finally noticed the uniform he was wearing. He recognised it from the Garrison.
It was a cargo pilot uniform.
"You're finally where you're supposed to be."
Lance stared down at himself in disbelief – no, this wasn't right. He had worked hard, he had moved up to fighter class, he-
Keith came an inch closer, "Would you like to know something else?"
Before Lance could respond, Keith was at his side, mouth by his ear.
"You only got moved to fighter class because I left," He whispered, "And you know it."
At that Lance felt his eyes widen a split second before he felt his entire chest compress, the air in his lungs being violently purged. He fell backwards onto the ground, the pounding on his chest constant, the sudden pain overwhelming. He was trying to gasp for air as the weight on his chest came again and again, pressing down on his sternum. As soon as he would manage to grasp breath, it was forcefully squeezed out of him.
He tried to cry out, unsure of what was happening. The team were fading from view, Keith lingering by his side. He tried to reach out but Keith ignored him, looking on without mercy at his writhing figure.
Just as Lance thought he couldn't take anymore, the weight disappeared, yet he felt like he still couldn't get any air into his chest: as though the ribs had been crushed and the cavity had caved in.
He was going to suffocate.
Keith suddenly put a hand on his struggling chest, and Lance froze. The boy leaned down and Lance shut his eyes, knowing that he didn't want to hear anything else Keith had to say.
But no scathing words came.
Instead soft, warm lips met his. He froze up in shock as he felt his head being tilted upwards gently. And just as he felt he couldn't hold on anymore, the lips parted and breathed life back into him.
It was at this point that he finally woke up.
