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

Fading

For some reason, Lance decided he'd try finding Keith.

Perhaps the fact Keith was, in fact, the last person left of those who he'd killed in order to revive Allura drew him to find Keith. Perhaps instead Lance wanted to avoid Allura as currently, she scared him, yet he didn't want to face the fact she truly didn't love him the way he wanted her to. The fact she, and others for that matter, said they hated him honesty stung.

Lance found himself peeking into various rooms, yet he kept finding nothing. Eventually, though he arrived at the locker rooms for the male crew members and stepped in and looked around. He didn't see anything when he first stepped in but moved farther in. He found himself pausing when he saw Keith standing in front of the body of James Griffin.

Griffin was dead, blood dripping from between his lips and also the wounds in his shoulder, legs, and throat. The entire sight was ghastly and Lance looked away. "Another one?"

"If you think I did it, I can't exactly hold onto things with my hands."

Lance looked over at Keith. "Why would I think that?"

"For starters, you always blame things on me."

"I do..."

"And you're insistent it's not Allura doing this."

"Why would she do this Keith?" Lance watched ghost Keith take a deep breath. "What?"

"I'm tired."

"How can a ghost be tired?"

"I don't know. I'm tired of going in circles with you, and..."

"We go in circles because you never accepted me as a rival."

"Lance, I never wanted to be your rival."

"See. You didn't want to treat me as your equal."

"Rivals aren't equals. Friends are."

"Wait..." Lance swallowed as the light flickered on and off.

"All I ever wanted was to be friends."

Lance looked down at the ground. "Isn't that the same thing?"

"No, it's not." Keith took a deep breath. "Do you know how lucky you are? Family, friends. Even the girl you liked reciprocated your feelings."

"So, you are jealous of the fact Allura chose me." Lance found himself pleased that someone admitted what he thought to be true to actually be true."

"I don't know." Keith glanced away. "Honestly, I just want Allura to be happy."

"What?"

"If you're the person who makes Allura happy then I want her to be with you."

"Are you going to try and tell me you love Allura more than me?"

"I don't really understand this love thing beyond the fact Allura told me I was family and I knew my feelings would never be reciprocated."

"Wait..." Lance found himself freezing. He, in fact, told Allura he would be her family. "What's next?"

"I don't know. I am so tired."

Lance looked up and saw Keith starting to fade, but it seemed as if he was breaking emotionally. "Keith, are you giving up on Allura?"

"I..." Keith looked Lance in the eye. "I can't stop her Lance. I can't touch her, but she can't see and hear me. I can't do anything. I already told you I'd accepted the fact she'll never reciprocate my feelings, but I just want her to be happy. I want her to be saved. Please save her. Please stop her from killing any more people."

Lance opened his mouth. He wanted to say it made perfect sense that he would be the one to save Allura because he was her chosen one and her soul mate, but Keith disappeared before he could say anything more and there was an inkling in the back of his head that the reality he wanted wasn't ever real.

"Don't kid yourself."

The sound of James' voice made Lance spin around. "You!"

"You were thinking that you're the one to rescue Allura and ride off into the sunset because of some absurd notion you're supposed to be together. You're the reason though she's like this though, aren't you? In effect, you're as bad as Lotor."

"You don't know what you're talking about." The lights flickered on and off. Lance swallowed back the negative feelings while James glared at him.

"Did you know I'd lost respect for her because she started dating you of all people?"

"Oh. Let me guess? You're jealous I scored..."

"Women aren't prizes to be won," James snapped. "But I'm talking about the fact she was dating you despite the way you treat Keith. That didn't make sense if she was such a nice person like everyone said."

"You mocked Keith for not having any parents."

"You kept insisting he was your rival..." The lights flickered on and off." James looked around, but saw his body and let out a deep sigh. "What do you think you are to Allura? Some kind of knight in shining armor?"

"Of course."

James turned his head back towards Lance. "Except you're not. You're a black night with tarnished armor, but I don't think she wants a knight in shining armor. She wants to be someone's knight in armor."

"If you mean saving someone, she saved me by saying yes."

"Did she really say yes?"

"She said yes to the first date."

"That's not the same as saying yes to being your girlfriend." James took a deep breath.

"She said she loved me before she sacrificed herself."

"Allura was taken over by that dark entity before that, remember."

"Keith said I'm the only one who can save Allura."

"Then you don't need me to stay around." James started fading.

"Wait! Don't leave me alone!"

James glared at Lance and made Lance swallow. He honestly doesn't care that Lance was in trouble and didn't know what to do, but the look in James' eyes was filled with hatred. In truth, he didn't want to face Allura on his own. He didn't want his belief in her love for him dashed. After all, for once he'd won, but now suddenly it didn't feel like a win.