❝𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞❞ ||𝐊. 𝐊𝐨𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐱 𝐋. 𝐌𝐜𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧||

Part 34: The Link

{A bit of Angst}

Lance sighed from the Holodeck as he observed Keith, he hasn't taken a break in the last couple days unless Lance forced him to. "Is he still training?" Rachel walked next to him, "He is, and we still haven't had any luck in finding Shiro," Since Shiro vanished the other day, each Paladin had gone out to try search for him but each time they've fallen on no leads whatsoever. And the more this went on and lingered, there was a high possibility that Keith would refuse sleep entirely even with Lance's influence. Rachel pursed her lips, "Shiro meant a lot to him, didn't he?" Lance nodded, "I don't know the full story, but what I do know is that Shiro took him in and mentored him when he was young. They were close as brothers in the Garrison as I remember," Lance told her as she patted his shoulder, "We'll find him, for the team's sake, and as well as Keith's," she said as walked out of the room, Lance remained on the Holodeck. 

There had to be some way to find Shiro, some kind of lead. 

Without Shiro, the battle was still far from over and Lance worried on the circumstances that could jeopardize the safety of the kids and his siblings when they mostly stayed in the castle. Where had they gone wrong during the last battle? Their spy was dead, Keith confirmed it just to get that virus in Zarkon's command, and then they lost Shiro. 

Blue lightly tapped her tail to his mental state making him wonder what- he paused in his mental questioning on the sudden tail whack when he remembered something, he could connect to the lions. He raced out of the Holodeck to go to Black's hanger, maybe Black would know, she had to know where her Paladin went!

Putting his hand over the pad he then ran inside to Black who was still deactivated and slid to a stop in front of her large metal snout. "Black... Hermana mayor... Help us, please" He felt Blue nudge him towards Black, and so he went closer and placed a hand on her snout. "Black..." weirdly he felt his vision go black and his body collapsed to the floor in front of Black and her deactivated metal shell, Lance gasped and scattered to his feet when he realized he wasn't in the lions hanger anymore. 

"B-blue, anyone? Guys!" A roar made him whip around and there, far in the distance, was a distant blurry figure. "H-hello? Hey!" he went running towards the blurry figure but as the distance closed between them, Lance slowly felt his breath falter as he got closer until his running turned into jogging and soon slow steps of walking. "Shiro?" Shiro looked at him in surprise, "Lance, h-how did--?" It was impossible, how did Lance even get here. "Me? How did I get here, how did you get here? Where even are we?" He asked him, "I don't know, an astral plane I believe," Shiro said as they looked around the place, it was infinite, there were no doors, no escape. Nothing. 

"Where did you go? We can't find you anywhere and you've been in here this whole time?" Lance asked him, and now Shiro sort of understood the situation, "I have... how long since the battle with Zarkon?" Shiro asked, "About a day, Keith's still cursing your name thinking you abandoned him" Lance said as Shiro shut his eyes tightly to the point they shaked. "Shiro?" He knew where he was now, and why Voltron couldn't find his body. 

"Lance, how did you get here, the astral plane I mean," Shiro asked him suddenly.

"I remember being in the Black lion's hanger, then after I touched her snout, I woke up here and found you," he said, "Lance, I know why you couldn't find me out there," Shiro said, "Why?" Lance raised a brow, "When I fought with Zarkon in order to strengthen my bond with the Black lion, he told me something that I must've forgotten about for a while. When you fight, in a place like this, if you die here, your body outside dies as well," Lance's eyes widen horrified. "W-what... Shiro you didn't-" by Shiro's painful nod, Lance felt his breath stop... Shiro died? No, no he couldn't have died. Lance refused to believe it. 

"Your lying, you can't- you can't have died! Your lying! Lying!" Shiro took him into a hug as Lance cried, "I know Lance... I know, it was only a matter of time until it happened. If it wasn't my disease then it was this... it's okay" it wasn't really, he was dead... and Keith thinks that he has no one left... aside from Lance and the others but he didn't have any family really left, maybe his mother but neither of them know her name or where she is and or if she's alive or not. "It's not Shiro! It's not!" Lance cried, hitting the chest plate of his armor. "I know..." 

I'm sorry Keith... 

They heard a roar again and Black- in a different form- was whining against Lance's legs, "Black?" she huffed and pressed her head into Lance's stomach, "How-" Lance rubbed Black's head, kneeling down as he took her into a hug, "I don't know..." Lance hugged her, his oldest Pride mate as she coddled him to ease his sadness. She'd talk to him more about this later. "Lance, don't bring this up to the others," Shiro said, "What? I have to!" Lance looked at him, "Lance, look at me," Shiro knelt down to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

"You can't tell them, as painful as it is, you can't. I told Keith a long time ago when everyone was shot through the bad wormhole that if anything happened to me, I wanted him to be the next leader of Voltron with you at his side. There is nothing you can do to bring back a body that is dead, when you leave the astral plane, don't tell them that I'm dead even if it's painful and will hurt." Shiro told him as Black whined, Shiro rubbed her head. "Look after them for me," he told the lion as Lance cried, he lost his sister and now he lost his friend... why wouldn't the pain end already. Black gave a sound that sounded like a sigh, looking to her youngest Pride mate and pressed her nose to his temple making him pass out and his body faded out of the astral plane. 

"I will block his memory of this temporarily," Shiro looked to the lion, "You can do that even if he's not your Paladin?" he asked, "I've known this child since he was conceived. His connection is deeper than an individual Paladin, one of these days, we'll get our answers." Black said through telepathy as she faded herself leaving Shiro alone in the astral plane. 

Get our answers... what did she mean by that? And the more important question, is who is Lance really.

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3/26/24