Our little secret -- Klance

Chapter 5

Shiro was absolutely livid, and black could sense his anger. She tried to calm him down, though the farthest she got was Shiro being able to steady his breathing.

"It's the ship directly in front of Shiro," Pidge's voice crackled over the com. The largest ship in the whole fleet loomed in front of Voltron's leader.

"Guys, remember- time is of the essence. We get in, find Keith, and leave as soon as possible. No side tricks," Shiro said, maintaining the aura of confidence he had so carefully mastered.

The Lions landed softly on the roof of the ship, in a blind spot Pidge had uncovered. Lance fired his Bayard at the roof, blowing a hole so they could sneak in undetected. Shiro jumped in first, landing with a practiced quiet. He was followed by Hunk, then Pidge, then Lance.

They all split down different hallways, hoping to cover more of the ship in less time.

_____

Lance took the hallway to the right of where they had entered. Most of the doors were closed and there was no light leaking out from the cracks under them. By the time he reached the end of the hallway, he was running out of hope.

He turned around and was about to tell the rest of the team he had no luck until something caught his attention. The faint smell of something enragingly familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

He crept back to the door even though there was no sign of any occupants inside. The smell was driving him crazy- completely due to the fact that he couldn't figure out what it was.

"Yea right," Lance whispered to himself. He braced himself, then shoved the door open. Inside he found... Keith's jacket on the floor of a storage closet. Inside the pocket was a small bottle of Keith's cologne, shattered.

"I found him!" Hunk whispered into the mic. "Lotor's unconscious and we're heading to the Lions now,"

Lance broke into a run, nearly colliding with Pidge as an alarm rang through the ship. Seconds later, Hunk emerged with Shiro right beside him. Keith was in between them, an arm slung over each of their shoulders.

"Go!" Pidge led them through a series of hallways and doors, and after climbing an emergency exit staircase, they were back on the roof, Lions unharmed.

"Lance! Red is the fastest Lion. Take Keith back to the castle as fast as you can," Hunk huffed, heaving the semi-conscious boy into Lance's arms. Shiro gave Hunk an approving pat on the back.

Lance carried Keith into Red, and Red instantly woke.

"Take us to the castle, girl," Lance muttered and she roared in response, taking off while Lance seated Keith in the pilot's chair.

Keith seemed paler than usual, and his breathing was shallow and uneven. Lance swore when he saw why.

The blood was barely visible through his black shirt, but now that Lance really looked at Keith, there was blood smeared on his hands and neck.

Cringing, he slowly pulled the shirt off of Keith. There was a long gash across his chest, stretching from his collarbone to the bottom of his ribcage. The cut didn't seem very deep, but he was still losing a lot of blood from it.

Red landed in the castle and Lance picked up Keith bridal style, desperately trying to ignore the overwhelming closeness.

"Now is not the time," Lance whispered as he ran through the castle to the healing pods. He finally relaxed when the stats appeared on the glowing screen.

Shiro, Pidge and Hunk ran into the room, followed by Coran.

"How's he doing?"

"Well, he had this big cut across his chest but the pod says he'll be healed in only few Vargas, so it must not be that bad..." Lance replied uncertainly as Shiro bypassed him and sat on the floor in front of the pod.

All the occupants in the room jumped at the telltale clicking of Allura's heels approaching. She was walking fast, which only meant she was angry. The door flew open and Allura stormed inside.

"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded, gesturing angrily at the healing pod that Keith was in.

Lance crossed his arms over his chest. "He's our teammate and there's nothing you can do about it," Allura fixed her icy gaze on him, and to his credit, he didn't back down.

She slowly stalked up to him, like a predator analyzing its prey. She stopped just inches away from him. The room was pin-drop silent until Pidge shouted in warning.

Lance was knocked backward by a blast of icy magic. He landed hard on his back, but rolled onto his feet, grabbing his Bayard in a defensive stance. Shiro sprinted towards Allura-or tried to. She aimed a blast of magic at his feet, effectively cementing him to the ground.

A muscle feathered in Lance's jaw and his eyes narrowed. He lunged at Allura, narrowly dodging the blast of magic she sent his way. He felt frost latch onto his skin as he swung his Bayard at her.

His fingers were frozen to his Bayard and he bit his tongue to stop himself from shivering. With each step he struggled to take towards the Princess, the air around him got colder.

"Allura! stop this madness!" Coran shouted. His mustache was decorated with droplets of ice. "You're going to kill him if you don't stop!"

Lance was struggling to shield himself from the icy storm raining down on him. The voices shouting out beside him dimmed out more and more until the black dots dancing in his vision took over and he blacked out.

So... 948 words for Y'all this time. Really, really sorry about the long wait but I just couldn't find the inspiration to write.

As always, hope you're enjoying the story so far and happy reading :)

Purplesocks out :)