Marked For Death | klangst

Twenty-Three

"It is so wonderful to have you back, Lance," Allura was saying to the Blue Paladin after Hunk and Pidge returned with the rest of the team. "How are you feeling?"

"Honestly?" Lance responded, looking in everyone's eyes. "Hungry -- like, really hungry."

Everyone laughed. "I'll get started on something," Hunk told the team before heading out to the kitchen. Lance watched him leave with a grateful smile tugging at his lips.

"So Lance," Shiro started, moments after the med-bay doors slid shut behind Hunk, "is it too early to ask what happened down there?"

"Shiro!" Allura exclaimed in shock. "Let his mind recover just a tick more."

"Yeah. For all we know, it could still be as scrambled like a wemblay's egg!" Coran added, peering at Lance in a mock inspection.

Lance brushed him off. "Allura, it's okay," he assured her. "I feel fine."

"If you don't feel comfortable yet, it's alright..." Shiro continued, looking guilty.

"No, seriously, I'm good," Lance insisted.

"Are you sure?" Keith asked worriedly.

"Look, guys. I appreciate the concern, but my mind's never felt clearer," Lance said with finality.

"So what do you remember?" Pidge piped up, curiosity brimming in her amber eyes.

"I remember landing weird. It made my helmet dislodge for a little bit. I didn't think much of it, but I guess I should have, considering. I remember not knowing where to look first, so we just went off in a random direction, hoping to find any sort of a clue. And then it kinda gets fuzzy. I had looked to my right, and I saw myself -- like, it was me. Same flawless skin, same beautiful hair, same spotless armor, same--"

"Okay, I think we get the point," Keith interrupted brusquely, trying to hide the hot blush spreading across his cheeks.

Lance smirked. "Well, I wasn't going to go investigate, but you all seemed to be moving at a fairly slow pace that I figured I could just catch up with you."

"That's why you didn't say anything? Because you thought this whole double-Lance thing was only going to take you a minute?" Pidge wanted to make sure.

Lance nodded. "I mean, now that I think about it, that was a pretty stupid decision, but we can just ignore that fact for now, right? Anyways, I asked this other me who he was and what he was doing there -- you know, all that basic stuff -- and he said he was me and that he was there to save me..."

"Save you?" Shiro questioned, perplexed. "Save you from what?"

The Blue Paladin looked at the floor guiltily. "He said from Voltron."

"Voltron? Why would you need saving from Voltron?" Allura asked, confused and a bit hurt. Voltron was her legacy, her ancestry, her heritage and culture. It was the defender of the universe. It helps the innocent and the neglected. Why would anyone -- especially one of it's Paladins -- need protecting from it?

"More specifically, he said from the team..." Lance continued, his eyes still glued to the floor.

"Why on earth would he say that?" Keith asked defensively. "We'd never do anything to hurt anyone on our team. We're a family."

"I know," Lance said, "but his argument just seemed so... real, I couldn't ignore it."

"What did he say?" Shiro asked.

Lance sighed. "He said that this whole thing -- reforming Voltron and fighting Zarkon -- was just a ploy, that it was all Allura's plan to carry out her vendetta against the Galra for what they did."