Devil's Advocate (Voltron: Legendary Defender Fanfic/ONC Entry)

Hell Bound

He didn't like Lance.

Keith was dead and James found Lance ranting and raving to thin air. Worse, Lance's words were, "Why the hell do you have to make everything about you Keith! Why do you have to be so self-centered like that Keith!"

In reality, the person doing that was Lance. James couldn't remember a conversation back at the garrison from Lance where his fellow cadet wasn't complaining about the latest slight from someone; typically, the someone was Keith or the slight involved Keith. Lance was also self-centered and didn't understand why nobody worshiped the ground he walked on.

James was surprised when he found out Allura was, in fact, dating Lance, but he also found himself losing respect for her. The lights blinked on and off.

"You."

James took a deep breath. "I don't like you."

"I don't like you either. You bullied Keith."

James turned his head and looked at Allura. She was a dark enigma cloaked in clothing that lacked her usual brightness. "You dated someone who still bullies Keith." Something sharp pierced his shoulder and James found himself looking down at the spot the pain came from. One of his hands reached up and touched the blood which seeped out of the wound, but his eyes looked over and saw a blade in her hand. "Shit."

He found himself backing away from her, knowing full well Allura – this Allura – was more than he could handle. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw her narrowing her eyes at him. "Are you running?"

"Shit." James hurried into the locker rooms and grabbed a towel and tied it around his shoulder. He'd not seen anyone but Lance since he wants to bed the night Allura was brought in.

"Where are you?"

James turned his head and saw her approaching. He didn't have any kind of weapon against her. The lights blinked on and off again and he saw that she was gone. It was then that he heard.

"Found you."

James turned and looked her right in the eye but swallowed. He felt pain shoot through his left.

"Now you can't run away."

"Bitch." James let his mouth twist into a grin. He watched her narrow her eyes at that word, yet he wasn't sure she understood what it meant. "Completely called for as you decided to be the girlfriend of the guy who bullies other people."

"Shut up."

James felt pain in his throat this time and his eyes widened. He looked at her in disbelief, yet he still found himself able to talk even though he gurgled his words out. "Not surprising you have a poor choice in men. Look at what you're doing now. "His hand pressed against his throat. "And don't pretend you're doing all of this for Keith. If you knew Keith, this isn't what he would have wanted. So don't try being the champion of justice for him because you're not. If you were, you never would have dated Lance."

James' eyes closed at feeling pain in his other leg. He didn't understand why he wasn't bleeding out at this point. "I had no choice."

"You had a choice." James hated the blood coming out of his throat, yet realized it wasn't that deep and the gurgling stopped. Of course, nothing about the situation made any sense beyond the fact she wanted him to talk.

"I had no choice."

"How can you have no choice?" The pain was immense. "Don't joke with me. Nobody was holding a gun to your head Allura."

"Lance didn't give me a choice."

James frowned. "Wait? Are you saying he never gave you the chance to say no, you didn't want to date him?"

"Then it was too late. We were already dating."

James let out a soft laugh. "What? You didn't want to hurt his feelings because he's your friend?"

"He's family."

"Then why the hell are you dating with him if your love for him is familiar."

"I had..."

"You're not helping..." Suddenly the gurgling was back and James closed his eyes. "You don't help a person like Lance by giving him what he wants. He needs to hear the truth."

The lights blinked on and off. Allura disappeared from his sight. James could feel himself bleeding out and knew he, in fact, didn't have much time left. His eyes blinked upon seeing a familiar face. Keith approached him which seemed strange due to the fact Keith was dead, yet in the back of James' mind, he thought maybe, just maybe he was seeing Keith because he himself was dying.

He opened his mouth to say sorry for everything he'd done, yet he wasn't able to say anything. For some strange reason, he was able to say what he wanted to say to Allura, but he couldn't say what he felt he needed to say to Keith. He'd meant to say it sooner, that he was sorry for the way he'd treated him back at the garrison, yet here he was now, in fact, unable to say anything, yet Keith was attempting to be the friend he never was.

Of course, that likely was just wished fulfillment on his part. His eyes opened and closed. That was until he heard Lance's voice. "Keith."

James' eyes snapped open and he found himself glaring at Lance. Keith turned his head to look at Lance. Realization hit that Lance wasn't talking into thin air, but he personally suspected Lance was the reason behind all of this mess they now found themselves in. He found it cruel that Lance was, in fact, manipulating Allura even now, but he hated the fact that would be his last memory of life.

For when he closed his eyes the next time he was gone.