Natepat & Septiplier oneshots

97. Caught off guard

SHIP:
Klance (you guys are now allowed to hit me)

WARNINGS:
Nothing that should trigger
Slight spoilers for later seasons of Voltron

EXTRAS:
This is a special chapter for ScottyGonzaela who spoke about this thing called fluff

WORDS:
1209

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The Galra were attacking and had completely caught team Voltron by surprise, no one had been prepared and without Shiro the team had been left in the hands of Keith Kogane who was certainly not in the emotional state to be the leader of an entire team. He tightened his hands on the controls of the black lion sweat dripping from his forehead as he continued to push forward, yelling at his team however maybe it wasn't the loss of Shiro that was causing Keith to act like this maybe it was the fact that the Galra had captured Lance and were more than willing to kill him.

The team wanted to retreat knowing that perusing the fight would cause them causalities however Keith was chosen by the black lion, Keith was chosen to be their leader meaning they had no choice but to follow his orders even if it was likely to result in their demise. The former red paladin was yelling orders and demands back and forth slicing through various Galra spaceships to reach their main goal: Zarkon's ship where Lance was being held hostage and where they might be able to locate Shiro as without the two the team was serious lacking and Keith maybe missed Lance's flirting and joking just a little bit although he'd never admit to it.

"Hunk! Allura! Distract the Galra ships whilst Pidge helps me get onto Zarkon's ship!" Keith snapped, he wasn't trying to be harsh but in the heat of battle you couldn't afford to always be nice. Pidge piloted her lion over to where Keith was successfully hitting the Galra ships that tried to stop her, once she reached Keith she created an entrance in the bottom of the ship for the hot-headed leader and followed his instructions to go and help Hunk and Allura. The black paladin then got out of his lion leaving it in the side of Zarkon's ship which honestly is rather stupid considering that's the head of Voltron but at the time Keith frankly couldn't care less.

Once he entered the ship he was greeted by complete and utter chaos as galras appeared to be on high-alert and were being attacked by various different types of aliens which appeared to have escaped from their prison cells and a smirk emerged on Keith's lips as he knew exactly who was the cause of all this chaos - their sharpshooter, Lance McClain. He was then went on his search for the former blue paladin, taking out a few Galra who were in his path when he found Lance being held against the wall by his neck slowly being choked to death by one of the Galra. Lance was struggling but it was clear that he wasn't strong enough to defeat it. Without even thinking twice and without checking that he himself would be safe the hot-headed leader raced to the Galra holding Lance and sliced it across the back with his sword. The Latino fell to the ground desperately gasping for air and he looked up to see his rival, "I... Totally had him," He managed to get out through his pants. Keith rolled his eyes but decided to let this one slide, mostly because he couldn't hear what Lance was saying due to Lance's communication device being broken, as he took in Lance's beaten appearance. The boy was badly bruised and had various cuts over the exposed parts of his body along with an especially nasty looking wound over his eyebrow, his suit was also badly damaged and would not be able to withstand anymore hits. He tossed Lance a new earpiece and microphone for him to attach to his suit to they would be able to communicate (they always had spare because Hunk had once taken his off and sat on it by mistake and had never been allowed to live it down) before speaking, "Whatever Sharpshooter lets just get you home," The former red paladin sighed not even realising that he'd referred to Allura's castle as home. Lance, however realised, but chose not to comment on it as a smile formed on his lips - Keith saw the castle as his home then as a stretch he must see them as his family.

"Yeah let's go home."

(Now I could just leave it there and let it be fluffy and cute but we all know that's not going to happen)

Keith helped Lance to his feet, wrapping the former blue paladin's arm around his neck to help him balance. The two walked through the chaos taking place on the ship however they managed to avoid it and it seemed like they were going to get off this ship almost completely unharmed but life is never fair like that and when you're a defender of the universe you've got to be ready and on guard at all times alas this one time Keith wasn't on guard, he was too focused on Lance and making sure he was okay that he didn't see the Galra who had been tailing them since he'd found Lance. The Galra had been waiting for the perfect time to strike and he knew that the leader's guard was down so he aimed and fired. After that everything moved in slow motion as the sound of a bullet blasting from the gun echoed around the chaotic, loud ship and Keith froze in his tracks finding himself for the first time ever unable to move out of fear. Lance was the one who acted, he threw himself in front of the leader and took the bullet himself, he wasn't going to let Keith die, not for him.

Suddenly reality came crashing down and Lance was on the floor bleeding badly from the bullet wound in his chest. Flames of anger burned in Keith's eyes as he immediately took out the Galra assassin and ran to Lance's side dropping to his knees beside him. "You fucking idiot!" He yelled, tears threatening to spill. "Heh... That's me alright," Lance chuckled softly before grunting in pain, "I couldn't let our new leader die could I?" He weakly reached a hand up towards Keith and without any hesitation the leader grabbed it and entwined their fingers. "Shiro was right to chose you as our leader..." Lance flashed him a smile. The former red paladin let his tears fall as he looked at Lance, he knew he wouldn't survive this but he wouldn't admit it, "You're going to be okay..." Lance only shook his head, he knew this was his end.

Keith franticly called for Hunk, Pidge and Allura to help them and they promised they'd be there soon. Whilst Keith was panicking Lance was trying to talk but the communication device kept cutting out, "I love you..." He mumbled his head falling back and his grip on Keith's hand becoming limp.

"I... love... you..."

"What Lance? Lance! ANSWER ME!" Keith yelled but it was too late the former blue paladin was gone and Keith never even heard his confession.

He would never know that Lance had felt the same way.