Taking A Chance

Single-Handedly

Keith stepped closer to the window.
‘To your lions,’ Shiro ordered.
‘No,' Keith said.
‘What?’ Shiro said.
Keith looked up at him. ‘Just wait, please,’ Keith said.
‘What are you going to do?’ asked Shiro.
‘They wanted an ultimate weapon,' said Keith. ‘Let's give it to them.'
He turned back to the window and his eyes and markings began to glow again.
Quintessence began to flow from each of the three Carandian ships that now occupied the space in front of the Castle. He opened a larger portal in the glass when the golden threads reached them. The threads wrapped themselves around Keith.
Fighters began exiting the ships, thousands of them, Iike hornets swarming from a nest.
Keith raised his hands, fingers splayed and formed a ball of quintessence in front of him. He thrust his hands forward and the ball shot through the portal, smashing through the fighters in its path then through the original Carandian ship, destroying it. He continued to draw quintessence to him and shooting it back at the Carandians destroying fighters, and ships.
When a wormhole appeared and a ship started coming through. Keith thrust out his right hand and made a fist. The wormhole closed, ripping the ship in two before they could launch even one fighter.
On the left another wormhole opened, and the ship suffered the same fate.
When Keith looked to be weakening, Lance moved to stand behind him.
It took him a little longer to destroy the remaining two ships, as the effort to contol the quintessence took its toll.
With one last surge, Keith pushed the remaining quintessence back, ripping through the last of fighters, until there was nothing but debris left.
The portal closed, and Keith fell backwards into Lance's arms, who sank to the floor with him.
Keith's breathing was fast and laboured, and his body shook and jerked.
‘Come on, baby,' muttered Lance. ‘You're okay, just relax.'
Keith seemed to try to turn to him.
‘Shiro, help me get him up,' Lance said.
Shiro picked Keith up, and Lance sat in Shiro's seat which was the closest.
‘Turn him to me,’ Lance said.
Shiro and Adam realised what he wanted, and they got Keith turned so he sat with his chest against Lance's, his legs bent on either side of Lance's hips, his face turned to Lance's neck. Kosmo curled up near them.
Lance held him, and slowly rubbed circles over his back to try and help him relax.
‘It's okay, baby,’ he muttered. ‘I've got you.’
It took Keith ten minutes to finally start to relax, and he fell into an exhausted sleep against Lance. Closing his eyes, Lance gently ran his fingers through Keith's hair, and a smile pulled at Lance's lips when Keith started purring softly.
A startled look passed between the Blade members.
‘An alpha purring,' one said.
‘A perfect match indeed,' said Malay. ‘A rare find of a soul mate.’
Some of the Galra looked at Lance with a new found respect. The pretty human was perfect for their leader, an Ancient Altean who single-handedly took down the Carandians.
Malay turned to the other members of the Blade. ‘Head back to base. Naran and I will join you one we speak with Keith. Do not speak of what happened here.'
They did as ordered, and Allura opened a wormhole for them. Once they were gone, Allura stared out the window at the debris of the destroyed ships. In a matter of minutes, Keith had rendered Voltron obsolete. Would there be any call for the massive robot and their paladins once the news got out?
The Castle returned to Earth, but no-one was in a hurry to leave until Keith woke up, which was after lunch of the day they returned. He was pale and tired, and only the need to use the bathroom forced him up.
Lance sat on the bed and waited for him. When he seemed to take a long time, Lance frowned and went to to door.
‘Baby, you okay?'
He opened the door when he heard sobbing inside and found Keith kneeling on the floor, completely distraut.
‘Baby, what's wrong?' asked Lance, kneeling in front of him.
‘I can hear them in my head, screaming,’ sobbed Keith. ‘And feel their terror and pain.'
‘Oh, baby, come here,' Lance said, sitting on the floor. Keith crawled into his embrace and continued to sob. Lance pulled out his datapad and sent a message to Shiro.
Adam and Shiro found them still sitting on the bathroom floor minutes later.
Everyone gathered around the dinning table, with Collins standing at the end. Malay and Naran had spoken to Keith briefly and left.
‘Where are Keith and Lance?' asked Pidge.
‘They've gone home already,' Shiro said.
‘What's going on?’ asked Hunk.
‘We will get to that in a minute,’ said Collins. 'After some discussion it's been decided the inhabitants of Earth don't need to know how close they've come to being destroyed again, and would like to keep what happened between us. To advertise what happened would place Keith's life in unnecessary danger.' He paused and looked between them all to see if there were any protests. ‘The treaty between Earth and New Altea will, of course, stand, as with the terms of the use of Voltron. I don't see any reason to change what has been agreed on.’
‘But, you no longer need Voltron,' said Allura. ‘Keith has shown he's more than capable of fighting without...’
‘You miss the point, Allura,’ said Shiro. ‘Keith doesn't want to do that again. He doesn't want to be used as a weapon. If it got out what he can do, his life would never be his own again.’
Shiro was right. Keith would be asked to get involved in the universes battles, and the toll would come at a heavy price.
She nodded. ‘Neither Coran or I will tell anyone what happened.’
The others agreed not to say anything about what happened.
‘Also,' said Shiro, 'It has affected Keith badly. He was able to feel and hear each life he took in the attack.’ Everyone looked horrified. ‘It will be best to let Lance deal with him for the moment.'
‘Now everyone go home, you've earned a rest,’ Collins said.