This is a chapter I've been fighting with for a long time so it's clearly not my favorite. But hopefully you'll enjoy it! Also, please note that the fighting scene is mostly skipped over because who even knows how to write space battles?

Lance was still wearing the suit for the healing pod as he rushed to the Red lion, stopping only to grab the red bayard and his helmet from the training room before heading to the hangar and getting into the lion. This existential crisis of his or not, he was a paladin of Voltron, and he had to help defend the ship and his teammates from whatever threat they faced now.

Red purred as she let him into the cockpit, and while Lance felt a pang, missing Blue's constant contact in his mind, he smiled at her. "Hey, pretty lady," he said, taking his place and pulling his helmet on, ignoring the fact that he hadn't had time to put on the rest of his armor. "Let's see what's going on with the others. Let's head out, Red."

"-aren't any Galra, what was the purpose of the proximity alert?" Allura asked, confusion filling the comms.

"Maybe it's something that's passed on already?" Pidge suggested.

"Hey, guys. What's going on?" Lance asked, looking around as Red joined the other lions. "Something about a proximity alert?"

"Lance! Are you okay?" Hunk asked, almost frantic. Lance felt bad at the concern in his friend's voice, realizing just how much he'd screwed up.

"I... I'm fine," he said, brushing it off. "Do we know what's going on? Maybe whatever it was is cloaked or something."

"Lance... we know you're not fine. We'll talk when we're all back on the ship. But for now, that's a good point. Pidge, can you scan for the same kind of cloaking tech that you installed on the Green Lion?" Keith asked, serious solemnity echoing in his voice, reminding Lance of Shiro.

"Yeah, I'll do that now. But if there is something here, then why hasn't it attacked yet?" Pidge fell silent as she started running scans, then swore suddenly. "Quiznak! Lance was right, this guy is big. Let me see if Green can share the image with you all." The screen changed from the blackness of space to an infrared scan of another robot, this time cloaked and only visible through Pidge's thermal scan.

"Shit. That's a big one," Keith swore. "Let's form Voltron. That way we're going to be able to protect the ship better. And Pidge, you can share the continued scan while we're connected, right?"

"Right!" Pidge confirmed, "Great suggestion, Lance. I've missed your input like that on missions!" The five formed Voltron, the cloaked robot remaining motionless, as though it were waiting for something.

"Guys, I've got a bad feeling about this," Lance said softly, frowning as he watched the robot, shifting uncomfortably in his cockpit.

"Well, it's not like we can solve that. Let's approach with caution. Be prepared for any kind of response," Keith said over the comms. "Pidge, be ready with the shield. We don't know what kind of a punch this thing is packing."

"Got it," Pidge replied firmly. "It hasn't moved yet. Do you think we should strike first?"

"I think that's our best bet," Lance pointed out, "If this thing is really powerful, we may not get a chance to get in a hit afterwards."

"Alright. I'm gonna form the sword. Allura, Hunk, get ready to put out a speed boost. We want to rush it so it doesn't have time to get out of the way."

"Got it," Hunk said, knowing that at the same time Allura was preparing to dart forward.

"Form sword," Keith cried, likely more out of habit than anything else as he used the Black bayard to form a sword. "Now! Go!" Voltron rushed forward, nowhere near as fast as the Red lion, Lance realized. As the sword was about to cut through the robot, it seemed to almost flicker from view, reappearing in front of them to stop the strike before it could complete the swing.

"Pidge, shield!"

The shield was put up in an instant, just managing to block the hit in time, though it did jar Voltron from their stance. To Lance, still reeling from the news of his heritage, the battle became a blur; he responded to orders, though the chatter over the comms became a dull roar in his ears. He was aware that they had taken hits, and Allura had gotten injured when being knocked around, but she insisted she was well enough to continue fighting.

"I'm fine. Lance, are you alright?" Allura's concerned voice was enough to snap Lance from his stupor, at least enough to reply.

"I... I'm fine. I'm not injured. Have Coran look at your wrist as soon as this is over," he said, dismissing the question. "Keith, what's our next move?"

"We know that this thing's got two flaws: a hit limit before needing to recharge, and it has to stop to hit us. I think we need to hit it right as it hits us at the end of that limit with everything we've got." Keith's reasoning was sound, so Lance gripped his controls, ready to swing the sword with everything he had

"Pidge, keep the shield ready until I say so. Hunk, Allura, don't dodge the hits. We can withstand them until it needs to recharge."

"Got it!"

"Understood!"

"We can do it!"

Lance waited through the jarring hits, his hands tightening on Red's controls as she purred with pride in his mind. As the robot prepared the last blow of its current cycle, his eyes narrowed. "Now!"

"Form sword!" Keith bellowed, and Lance was swinging even as the blade was formed in the space between them. The crunch of metal echoed even through the soundless vacuum of space, and though Lance wasn't truly the one holding the sword, he could feel the rebound of it up his arm as it cut through the robot, splitting it in two, fueled by the full emotions of the situation that not only he felt, but the rest of the paladins did.

Lance panted heavily as the swing ended, knowing that the job was done but not taking pride in the victory like he normally would. When the explosion of the robot's power centers rocked Voltron in its place, the others cheered, but Lance found no motivation to do the same despite cracking a small smile, sitting still in Red's cockpit and breathing heavily.

"Alright. Break formation, guys, let's go make sure there's no one out there still. I think Voltron would be a little overkill for a single soldier piloting that thing," Keith said decisively.

"Guys, I think I can recover the brain of this thing. If it's another robeast then we can recover the last memories they had, and if it's just a robot then I might be able to hack into its data storage," Pidge suggested as they broke formation, flying around to ensure that there would be no danger from the debris.

"Allura?" Keith asked, deferring to the princess.

"...Retrieve the brain. We may be able to discover information about your family or about Shiro. It could be that it was sent to keep us from approaching Shiro's location. It's possible that they've discovered his appearance on Daibazaal and have stationed a fleet around it."

"Alright. Pidge, pick it up. Hunk, Lance, stay on her and then head back to the ship. Allura and I will return and brief Coran on what happened." Keith spoke decisively, and Lance was glad for the reprieve before they all had to talk, as he knew needed to happen.

Silence reigned over the comms as Pidge sifted through the debris left by the robot they'd fought. Lance could tell that Hunk was itching to ask questions, to determine if Lance was okay, but he was grateful for his friend waiting for him to speak first.

"I've got it, guys, we can head back now," Pidge said, breaking the silence and making Lance jump in surprise after being lost in thought.

"Alright. Pidge, you take point, Lance and I will cover you just in case. Any information we can find will be great." Hunk's words were uplifting to hear. Though, the reminder that they were so close to getting Shiro back was not only uplifting, but also terrifying. Lance wasn't ready to give up his place as a paladin, but he wouldn't dare tell Allura she couldn't pilot Blue, and he wouldn't hold Keith back from returning to Red. While he worked well enough as the interim Black paladin, it was clear that Red missed him.

"So... how far out are we from Daibazaal?" Lance questioned after a moment, knowing that Pidge would know, at least.

"Not far. We should be there in another few hours," Pidge said in response. "Lance..."

"Yeah, Pidge?" Lance questioned, guiding Red into the hangar.

"I... nevermind. It can wait a few minutes, I want to say it in person."

Lance frowned, but sighed. "Okay. I'll see you guys in a minute, then." As Red landed, Lance stood, stretching and pulling off his helmet, gently patting the console. "You did really good out there, Red."

Red chuffed in response, as though to say that she would do nothing else, but Lance understood; he wasn't Keith, and Red was amenable to working with him until Keith could come back, but it didn't make them best friends. Lance pulled his hand back before leaving Red in the hangar, meeting up with Hunk as the Yellow paladin approached Green's hangar to help Pidge with the robeast's brain.

"Hey, Hunk," Lance said quietly, rubbing sheepishly at the back of his neck. He expected his friend to smile, maybe respond – he didn't expect to be swept up in a hug that lifted him off his feet. He squeaked in surprise, then sighed softly, returning the hug. He didn't realize how much he had missed this. Tears welled in his eyes at the realization, and he buried his face in Hunk's shoulder, squeezing his friend tightly in a hearty hug.

"I'm so sorry, Lance," Hunk murmured, gently making sure his friend was settled on the ground, not releasing the hug until Lance began to pull back. "I was an awful friend to you these past few weeks. I don't know how I'm ever going to make it up to you."

Lance sniffed, wiping at his eyes before he smiled softly at his friend. "No, it's okay. I was trying to make myself as... Well, as little of a problem as possible."

"That's what I mean, Lance! I should have noticed." Hunk's shoulders slumped and he sighed, shaking his head. "I'm gonna do better from now on, I promise. You're my best friend, Lance. I mean it."

Lance was somewhat at a loss for words; he'd spent... A long time, for what they'd been through so far, thinking that he was mostly a hindrance. A bit part of him was wondering if Hunk was being honest, if he really was Lance's best friend... Lance wanted to believe him.

"Thanks, Hunk," Lance said after a moment, leaning his forehead against Hunk's shoulder and speaking more loudly than he had in weeks, but not nearly so robust as he had before things started going downhill. "I'm gonna try to be better, too." The pair continued walking towards the Green lion's hangar, Hunk beginning to take off the outer shell of his armor so that he could move easier, when the person-sized door opened and Pidge barrelled through, practically throwing herself on Lance in a hug somehow tighter than Hunk's had been.

Lance stumbled back in response, blinking in surprise as he adjusted to the younger paladin's weight and gingerly lifted his hands to return the hug. "Pidge?" Lance asked hesitantly, frowning at Hunk before he looked down at Pidge's head again. She looked up, meeting his eyes with an earnest, honest expression in her own.

"You're my family too, Lance," she said, her voice wobbly but sincere. "I know that I'm not going to stop looking for Matt but you've treated me like a little sister and I've been taking advantage of that and it's not fair to you at all, and I just want you to know that I'm really sorry!" The words came out in a rush, and Pidge flushed as she finished speaking, as though she'd thought of what to say beforehand and it ended up being not quite what came out.

Watching her for a long moment, Lance lifted his hands to her shoulders and separated them, considering the Green paladin's expression – she had bags under her eyes as though she hadn't slept in a few days (quite possible, since she was good at hiding herself away where Coran couldn't find her to get her to sleep and Lance hadn't really been around to make her take a break for some time) and she looked more than a little distressed. Not the same kind of distress that she showed when the discussion turned to Matt and Shiro, but distressed all the same. Sighing, Lance nodded. "Okay, Pidgey," he said easily; the road to forgiveness was a long one and he and Pidge didn't really have a lot of trust built up in the first place, but he had a feeling that she was being sincere about this. "Come on, let's get this brain for you."

Pidge sniffed, but smiled and nodded. "Yeah." There was a long pause as they entered Green's hangar together before she spoke again. "...Can you give me some tips on reading Altean?"

The question was so unexpected that it managed to pull a startled laugh from Lance, and he grinned at the girl before he nodded. "I think I can do that," he said softly after a moment, scratching at his cheek under his right eye. "I... the change isn't too obvious, is it?" He turned to Hunk, something like fear hidden under layers of bravado in his eyes.

Hunk smiled softly. "No, it's not too obvious," he promised. "The ears aren't that bad, way more subtle than Allura's. And... well, the face marks haven't come in all the way yet but I bet they'll suit you."

"Huh," Lance mused, frowning. "That's probably why it's so itchy..."

"Maybe you're shedding!" Pidge called from further away, grinning as she adopted a teasing tone. Lance huffed a laugh, shaking his head.

"Who knows? Maybe I am," he agreed after a long moment, grunting with exertion as he helped Hunk move the robeast's mechanical brain, or storage, or whatever to a workstation so Pidge could hook it up. "The others are going to want us all to talk, huh?"

"...Yeah. We're all worried, Lance. Even Allura's worried, even though she doesn't really... get how it's affecting you. None of us have been fair to you, and it's even worse that it's all coming out right now because..."

"Because we just found out that you have Altean ancestors and we don't want to make you feel like we only care because you're Altean," Pidge explained. "Allura made it seem like that in by the pods but that's... it's not... Ugh." She shook her head, frustrated that she didn't know how to explain herself.

"You're still Lance. You're my best friend, you're Blue's favorite paladin, you're Keith's right-hand-man and you're an important part of this team," Hunk said firmly. "Just because you're piloting Red right now or have Altean genetics doesn't change any of that."

Lance didn't even realize he had started crying until his vision blurred and didn't return to normal until he blinked and hot tears slid down his cheeks. He gave a sharp nod, then cleared his throat, wiping the tears away before he spoke. "Right. I... I guess we should go and, um. Do that. But our priority should be on finding Shiro. Do we know where he would be on Daibazaal?"

"Not yet, but I think Keith and Black are working together to find out," Pidge said, taking Lance's hand in her own as they walked up to the command center, where the others should be gathered. The simple contact made Lance smile, and he slowly relaxed as they made their way through the ship.

Once in the command center, Coran gave Lance an understanding expression, Keith gave him a relieved look, and Allura seemed focused on the mission.

"Status report?" She questioned as they approached, focusing on Pidge.

"We got the brain, or data center. Still haven't figured out which – it looks like it's bio-mechanical. No casualties, injuries, or even scrapes on the lions." Pidge squeezed Lance's hand, glancing over at the teen and at the rashy, flaking skin under his eyes. It looked uncomfortable, and Lance too seemed uncomfortable – this time from the scrutiny Allura was giving him.

"That's good," Keith said before Allura could say anything else. "We've got a course plotted to an uninhabited moon near Daibazaal. From there we should be able to tell if there's any kind of Galra presence and further pinpoint Shiro's location. Until then... We all need to talk." Keith fixed each of them with a look that prompted no argument, even managing to keep Allura silent – it was clear that they had spoken about it before the Garrison trio had entered. "Lance, are you hungry at all?"

Lance hesitated for a moment, thinking about it before he nodded. "Yeah. I haven't, um. Eaten in a while."

The expression on Hunk's face made it clear he was holding back a comment on that, but Lance was glad that he didn't say it – he knew that what he'd been doing wasn't exactly healthy but he hadn't been in a very good space – he still wasn't. Right now, though, hunger won out over discomfort.

"Alright. Let's all go take a break, maybe get something to eat, then," Keith suggested; they hadn't properly been able to do so while Lance was in the pod. "We can talk while we eat. Because if we're going to function properly as a team then we need to communicate. It's a miracle that we're able to form Voltron at all, because... we haven't been doing that." Coran nodded sagely as he followed the paladins to the kitchen, almost making it feel like he was there simply to ensure everyone did, in fact, go.

The room was silent as they dished out food goo enough for each of them, until Lance's skin was crawling from the awkward silence (and from the look of it, most of the others were just as uncomfortable).

"So," Lance said, frowning as he spooned up some goo, looking fixedly at his plate. "I'm apparently Altean, huh?" His tone was light, a drastic contrast to his expression, which was enough to make Pidge snort inelegantly.

"Yes," Allura said easily, putting her spoon down. "We are distant cousins if we're correct. The first Blue Paladin was my father's first cousin, and we believe she made a life for herself upon hiding the Blue Lion on Earth. You are her descendant, and we believe that your Altean genes were activated when you began interacting with the castle and the Lions."

"Not to mention all of the times you've been exposed to quintessence since you've been here. Altean genetics have always been highly susceptible to quintessence-based reactions," Coran added.

"So... what kind of changes can I expect?" Lance asked after another moment, glancing around at the other paladins. Hunk had an encouraging smile on his face, and Pidge looked just as curious as him, while Keith was brooding into his food goo, like he was trying to figure out what to say.

"Your hair will begin to grow out white, the same as Allura's," Coran told him. "I'm sure you already noticed your ears and where the marks are beginning to develop. Normally it's far more instantaneous, so I can only assume that it's taking so long because the gene was not only recessive, it was buried deep in your genetics. They'll begin to appear all over your body eventually, most prominently on your chest and arms." Coran took another moment to ponder it before speaking again. "There is also a chance you'll be able to operate the teludav, as well as manipulate quintessence, but those are skills that will likely develop with time."

"Huh. So mostly just cosmetic changes then." It hurt, to know that his face would no longer be his own, not really, but it was better than he had initially expected. "So..."

"We need to talk about how we operate as a team," Keith said after no one spoke for a long moment. "We've all been doing a lot of things wrong. Focusing too much on ourselves, too much on fighting. Even with Shiro..." Keith trailed off for a long moment, biting at his lip before looking up confidently. "We haven't been a team. We've worked together, sure, even formed Voltron, but I don't know anything about you guys. I haven't told you guys anything, either. And because of that, at least one person on the team thought that they weren't needed, weren't important." He looked over at Lance, giving him an apologetic look.

"Guys, I –" Lance started, then cut himself off, looking down in shame. "That's not on you guys."

"No, it kind of is, Lance," Pidge said with a frown on her face. "I mean, we were a team at the Garrison and I didn't try to bond with you or Hunk then, not really, because I was too focused on looking for Matt and my dad. And I haven't really made an effort since then." She paused, shoulders slumping as she put her spoon down. "Actually, it feels like you're the one that's been making all the effort with it."

"Yeah, it's not fair of us that we keep shutting you down when you're being yourself or trying to lighten the mood. And we haven't bonded as a team at all," Hunk agreed.

Allura frowned. "We have done team bonding exercises," she countered, shaking her head. "Are we not bonding when we work together in training? Do we not get to know each other?"

"Not really," Keith said, shaking his head. "I mean, Princess, could you honestly tell any of us our favorite colors? Favorite foods? Favorite kind of music?"

Allura faltered, brow furrowing before she shook her head. "No, I could not."

"I want us to get to know each other. We're going to be saving the universe together... I think we should be able to be a family while we do it." Keith looked to Lance, giving him a small smile. "And every member of this team, of this family, is important. Whether they're human or Altean, Paladin or not." Keith smiled at Coran as he spoke the last bit.

Lance's fingers tightened on his spoon as he looked around the table. "Why now?" He asked in a sharp voice, eyes hard as he looked at Keith. "Why are you bringing this up now? It never seemed to matter before." Don't get him wrong, he was more than happy that it was happening; it was something that needed to be done for a long time. He just didn't like the fact that him breaking down seemed to be the catalyst for it.

"It did matter before, but I was ignoring the problem," Keith admitted after a moment. "I thought that if we could manage the same way as we had with Shiro as leader then everything would work out. And I was wrong. I didn't realize how bad it had been, sure, but this has been a problem from the beginning and we need to fix that problem. I'm sorry that it took you being hurt so badly for us to realize it," he apologized, ducking his head at Lance.

Lance felt his anger draining out of him and he slumped slightly as he sighed. "Thank you," he said after a moment, looking around at the others. "I... the apology helps. It doesn't make things right, but... it helps." He spooned out another small bite of food goo, then looked over at Allura. "Princess, I'm not going to just dive into Altean politics right away. I'm going to need to get used to the fact that I'm not fully human first. Thank you for being so enthusiastic about it, though." He gave her a small smile, looking incredibly tired. "Hunk, Pidge... thank you for making me feel better and for apologizing earlier. I'm looking forward to getting to know each other better." Lance smiled at the two, then turned to Keith. "Keith, I... I don't know what to say, honestly. I want to... I want to believe that it's going to get better from here on out, but... It'll take time."

"And well it should!" Coran agreed brightly. "You've been hurt, my boy, you have every right to take time to recover. "Now, Keith... What sort of bonding did you have in mind?"