Lance Alone

Part 7 (Lance)

Matt took Lance down a couple of stories into the station, at last finding a storage closet with ample space. He pulled out a bug-looking robot and pressed a button on the center, setting it on a shelf. "If the Galra have this place bugged, they won't be able to hear us," he explained. "And I'm guessing you have a lot of explaining to do."

There really was no better place to start than the beginning. Lance told him how Katie lied about who she was so she could attend Galaxy Garrison, and about the night Shiro came back to Earth. Then he started talking about how they found the Blue Lion and it took them to Arus--a brief history of Voltron.

"We're the paladins of Voltron now. I'm sure you've heard of us. We've been all around the universe, saving people from the Galra and trying to destroy Zarkon! Our last battle really did a number on him, and now we're trying to unite all of the rebel groups to help fight him. Pid--I mean, Kaite's one of us too. She flies the Green Lion!" he finally finished. During this whole explanation, Matt squinted at him like he was unconvinced. Or maybe he just really needed his old glasses back.

"I don't want Katie to be in danger. She should be home, on Earth," Matt insisted, "There's a rebellion with hundreds of members and we haven't been able to defeat him. Why do you think you can beat him with a bunch of... flying cats?"

"Excuse me, they're lions, and they're awesome," Lance crossed his arms, "Besides, it couldn't be lame if Shiro was one of us."

"Shiro's with you guys? I haven't heard from him since..." Matt trailed off for a moment.

"Well, not really. He disappeared."

The moment of happiness in Matt's eyes quickly vanished, replaced by the guarded look he had before. "Well, I still want to see Katie more than anything else in the world. So I'll go with you to your... Voltron thing."

Lance rubbed his neck, embarrassed. He left a few hours ago, and the Castle could be anywhere in the universe right now. He took out the tracking module in the pod he stole so they wouldn't be able to find him; the only problem was, now he couldn't find them. "Uh, that's going to be a little tough. I sort of... I left."

"Voltron must not be the godsend the universe thinks it is if it's own pilots don't believe in it. You have to have a cause, Lawrence."

"Lance. My name's Lance," he backed up into a shelf of Galactic All-Matter Remover. Matt didn't seem to notice that he got his name wrong.

"A cause you fight for, and believe in. Without that, you are nothing, and the world is chaos," with one final poke in the ribs with his staff, Matt decided to leave. He opened the door where his fellow rebel was waiting for him. "We're done here. Let's catch that train."

"No! Come back!" Lance waved his arms, "Your sister's been tearing apart the universe looking for you--if I could bring you back, then they'd finally see--"

Too late. Matt was already gone. And Lance felt emptier than ever.