Lance Alone

Part 1 (Keith)

​"Paladins! Everyone! Wake up! It's time for breakfast," Allura's voice echoed through the halls over the Castle's address system.

Coran's voice joined hers. "That's right, everyone! Time for the finest in food goo technology! I hope you're hungry, because it's blueberry flavored today!"

"Blueberry goo? Oh boy, I love blueberry!" Hunk rolled out of his bunk still dressed in his pajamas. He crackled his knuckles in anticipation. Keith appeared from his bunk, pulling his jacket over his shoulders.

"How do they know what Earth blueberries taste like?" Keith asked. Pidge was asleep in the hallway, with her computer in her lap as always. Hunk gave her a friendly nudge and she startled awake.

"Huh? What? I was--just about to go to bed, I swear," she insisted, shutting her laptop.

"It's morning, Pidge," Keith reminded her, "time for breakfast."

"Oh. Right. Sorry," she fixed her glasses and stood up to join them. The paladins all convened in the dining hall, where bowls of food goo lay in wait. Hunk sat down immediately and grabbed the biggest bowl for himself. After sticking a spork into it, he immediately spat it out. "Hey! This doesn't taste anything like blueberries!"

Coran took off his chef's hat and sat down at the table. "This food foo was modeled after the famously bitter Rasflank berries of Altea! I called them blue berries because the ripe ones are charming shades of cyan and azure!" He piped up. Hunk pushed his bowl away, significantly less interested in breakfast. Allura came in and sat down, her face lighting up at the sight of the goo. She slurped up a whole bowl without batting an eye.

"We have a lot of work to do today, paladins," she explained between bites. "First of all, I received a message from a small group of rebels that say they may have found a trace on the black paladin. They said--"

"Wait, Lance isn't here yet. Shouldn't you wait to start the daily briefing until everyone's here?" Pidge asked.

Allura looked around, realizing her mistake. "Oh, I'm sorry. Is he on his way? We have a lot to do, I don't have time to wait for him to get in his--what does he call it? 'Beauty sleep'?"

"I'll go get him," Keith volunteered.

"Ooh, me too! Let's give him a scare!" Hunk jumped up. "We all jump on him while he's asleep--he'll never see it coming!"

"Wait for me! I want to prank Lance, too!" The three of them ran out of the dining hall towards Lance's bunk. Coran sighed and looked at the bowls of food--hardly anyone ate his beloved food goo.

They ran down the halls, eager to beat each other. Hunk shushed them when they got close to the door, and pushed it open. They all crept in silently--although Lance had a tendency to sleep with headphones on.

"Surprise attack!" Pidge jumped out, but Lance's bed was empty. "Huh?"

Keith looked around the room. Lance was nowhere to be found. His clothes were missing, and so was his paladin armor.

"Maybe... he's out on one of his famous Lance adventures around the shop. You know, how he loves to wander around... on his own. He totally does that all the time," Hunk argued. The other paladins looked at him, unconvinced.

"Pidge, check the cameras around the castle. Hunk, check the bay logs and see if anything moved in the night," Keith ordered. They ran off, and Keith sat down on the bed, looking around the room. This wasn't like Lance, to fall off the radar... one time, back at the Garrison, he live-tweeted an entire simulator flight (resulting in the crash of the simulator). Anytime he walked into a room, he would announce his presence.

Keith looked behind him and noticed a note pinned under the pillow.

Dear Everyone,

By the time you find this note, I will be long gone. That's assuming you even looked for me and found this note. Lately, I haven't really felt like a real member of Voltron. Everyone else has somewhere they belong. Keith's got his friends with the Blade of Marmora, and that's cool. Hunk has Shay, Pidge has her family out there somewhere in the universe. It's like you were all supposed to be here, but the only thing I have in this universe is my family, and they're back on Earth. Why should I be out here when they're all down there? Shiro used to always keep talking about how important the team was, but now that he's gone I can't help but think how much better Team Voltron could be without me. How can I think about saving the universe when I don't know where I belong? I'm just slowing you guys down. That's why I'm leaving. Don't go looking for me because you feel sorry for me. I'm out to find my purpose in this universe.

Sincerely,

Lance McClain

Find his purpose in the universe? What kind of self-serving quest was that? Keith crumpled the letter up in his hand. Sure, the team was suffering since Shiro's disappearance, but that didn't mean--they were still a team! They still needed all the lions AND the paladins to form Voltron! How were they supposed to help anyone without him?

Hunk's voice came over the intercom, confirming Keith's fears. "According to the schedule, a pod left from the Blue Lion bay late last night. He's gone!"