Lover, Please Stay ~ ( A Lance / Keith / Lotor fic)

Chapter 7

Keith ran furiously at Lotor, bayard in hand.

"You don't love him red, you know nothing about love. You know nothing about Lance!"

Lotor let go of the boy and let him sink to the floor almost lifelessly. He then swung a sword out from his armour and charged back towards Keith.

The two battled, limbs flying everywhere and their bodies appearing as a mass blur of colour under the dim light of the room. Keith's eyes began to water in a confusion of anger, pain and sadness amidst the madness and Lotor smirked at his weakness.

"Do you see this Lance? He is weak, undeserving of you, he can't even face a fight without tearing up."

"I'm not weak," Keith struggled to speak under the stress of it all. His broken limbs were pulsing and becoming increasingly painful as his adrenaline wore off, and his mind was buzzing with all emotions imaginable whilst he attempted to focus on the fight and beating Lotor. Whatever that took.

He lunged at Lotor with as much force as he could muster, but was dodged easily - the prince didn't even seem to have broken a sweat yet.

"Kitten, this can all stop if you just tell him yourself. You trust me, not those paladins anymore."

"Don't tell him how he feels Lotor, you don't have the control here."

"Really, red? We can't fight forever you know, eventually you will surrender or I will kill you. There is no other outcome. You might as well just give up and go back to those other petty human paladins like yourself."

"Lotor, Keith, please," Lance managed to murmur from on the ground.

"You humans never do anything right, I find my kitten, the most perfect being of all, and none of you can stop running after him. You're just like my father, all of you. NONE OF YOU ARE ANY BETTER, YOU CAN'T STOP FOR A MOMENT TO THINK ABOUT WHO IS REALLY THE BAD GUY."

Keith paused for a moment, staring into Lotor's glossy eyes. He looked like he was going to cry?

"Lotor..." Lance almost whispered.

Lotor took the opening to launch himself at Keith with his sword, and he barely managed to dodge it.

"KEITH," Lance screamed, tears still streaming out of his eyes like ribbons.

"I'm okay...I'm okay."

"Red, you really need to watch yourself," Lotor launched at him again.

Keith jumped out of the way, landing in a pile on the floor. Pain shot through his leg and he screamed deeply.

"KEI-"

Lotor grabbed Lance by the arm and pulled him into a standing position forcefully. His eyes blazed with fury and a little sadness, and his pointed teeth bared together.

"Lance, listen to me," he locked eyes with him as Keith attempted to stand up again, "you can't just reject me now, think about everything that I have told you, it's all true."

"Lotor...I love Keith, I really do."

The prince's face dropped, and a single tear ran down his face.

"Of course."

Keith finally managed to return to standing, limping heavily on his leg however.

"Lotor, you're mad."

"Am I?" his eyes seemed to have turned an even brighter yellow, and his facial expression was manic as if he wanted to kill a thousand men.

"Please, let Lance go..."

"I have one question for you, red paladin," he avoided the question ungracefully, "Do you truly love Lance?"
"Yes."

"Will you ever stop this," his voice started to raise, but Keith kept his composure.

"No, I will keep fighting until I return Lance back home, with Voltron."

"You know I will defeat you and your 'Voltron'.."

"No, you won't. We will always win against the likes of you Lotor. Now give me Lance."

Lotor's fury rose and he tightened his grip on Lance's arm. The boy leant lifelessly against Lotor and stared at Keith, a slight look of satisfaction on his face.

"TELL ME ONE LAST TIME RED PALADIN, WILL YOU LEAVE LANCE AND ME ALONE?"

"Never."

Keith began to step towards Lotor, but he silenced him before he could continue.

"Fine."

Lotor plunged his sword into Lance's chest, and with one last tear from his eye, he dropped to the ground. Both Lotor and Keith were speechless.

"Nononono..no.." Lotor murmured under his breath. He couldn't comprehend what he had just done. He killed his only hope.

Keith screamed nothing and everything all at once, and charged towards the Prince with all of his might, and plunged his own sword into his back.

The two bodies lay in front of Keith, his own blade covered with the incredibly dark red blood of the Galra.

"I'm so sorry Lance..."

Tears streamed down his face uncontrollably as he fell to his knees. Lance was gone, and it was all his fault. Pain shot through his entire body and he thought he was going to die right then and there.

It was like time had stopped, as if everything in his life had melted away and this was all that mattered. He could hear his own heart thundering in his chest and he really had no idea what to do with himself.

He glanced to the left of him, and through the tears he sighted Lotor's blade. He could kill himself with the same blade that had slain his love.

No.

This wouldn't be what Lance would want. He could kill himself later for all he cared, but for now he needed to let his friends see Lance for the last time. He needed to have a proper burial alongside his loved ones, not be left on a Galra ship next to the two people who caused his own death.

He yanked himself up on to his feet and hoisted up Lance bridal style. His blood stained Keith's clothes almost instantly, not that he cared one bit.

"It's okay Lance."

He swiftly sent his coordinates off to the other paladins using his armour's tech and began to leave the room. He took one last look at Lotor's corpse and sighed. His hair was sprawled out elegantly on the floor and his blood only seemed to taint his clothes like a splash of colour to a painting. He was too perfect, he only ruined himself.

The steps Keith next took were hard ones. His entire body ached agonisingly and he was starting to lose conciousness. Yet he continued, for Lance's sake.

-

Eventually Keith met with the same deck that he had entered through. This is where he sent the coordinates to, and as expected he sighted the Castle through his cloudy vision.

"KEITH," he heard Shiro shout out, as the ship lowered itself down to his level.

"You found him!" Hunk cried out, hopeful.

The paladins all ran out of the ship, down the ramp like a flurry of wild animals. Until they saw him.

Keith dropped to his knees and gently lay down Lance's body.

"I'm so sorry..." he manage to gasp before coughing up a fountain of blood.

Black.