Don't Ask, I'll Never Tell

Missing

"Stupid Keith with his stupid face and his stupid immune system! Making me take care of him... Wait. HE didn't make me take care of him. That was all Shiro's fault! Stupid Shiro."

Lance paced back and forth in his dorm, his seething anger slowly ebbed away as the minutes dragged on. Sighing, Lance flopped back onto his bed. "What's going on with him lately?" Lance asked no one in particular. Lance rolled over and face planted into his pillow.
___________________________

"LANCE! GET UP!"

"Wh-what?" A groggy Lance staggered to his feet still fully clothed from the day before. He rubbed his eyes and scratched at his tousled hair.

"KEITH'S MISSING!" Pidge exclaimed urgently.

These two words sent just enough adrenaline to get Lance moving. He sprinted after Pidge. "That can't be possible!"

They skidded to a halt beside the open door of Keith's dorm. Pidge motioned for Lance to step inside. "See for yourself."

Upon entering Keith's dorm, Lance noticed something off about the room almost immediately. "I thought Keith was tidier than this." Lance commented, referring to cloths and belongings haphazardly thrown about the room. He looked up to address Pidge. "Where's Shiro?"

"I'm right here." Shiro stepped into the room. He was slightly out of breath. Lance knew that Shiro must have been running around all morning. "Keith took one of the escape pods. Allura and Coran are trying to locate him now." He said between breaths.

"I don't understand. Why would Keith do something like this?" Pidge sounded hurt.

"I don't know. It just doesn't sound like something he would do." Shiro answered.

"Maybe we pressed him too hard. What if he ran away? What if he was kidnapped? This doesn't look like the sign of a struggle despite the mess but what ELSE could it be? What if he's in danger?" Pidge was on the verge of a panic attack now. "What if they hurt him?"

"Pidge! Look at me!" Shiro demanded urgently. Lance could detect a slight unsteadiness in their leader's voice at the prospect of Keith being a prisoner of the Galra. Pidge fell silent. "We WILL find Keith. And I KNOW that we will bring him back safe and sound. We're a team. We have to stick together. Not even an army of Galra soldiers will stop us from finding him."
Lance, who had remained silent up until now turned to Shiro and Pidge.

"Shiro's right. We WILL find him. And when we do, I've got some choice words to say to him!" Lance's eyes sparked with determination as he passed between Shiro and Pidge then out the door.

"What? Why?" Pidge called, trying to chase after him with short legs.
"Because!" Lance called over his shoulder. "He ruined my favorite pair of slippers!"

As Lance marched away, his eyes dropped to his blue lion slippers. Or should he say green lion slippers because now they were stained green courtesy of Keith's little outburst yesterday. Lance could never accept that maybe, just maybe, he found the red Paladin's presence to be somewhat enjoyable and having him gone left an emptiness that just didn't feel quite right. After all, without his rival, how would anyone ever know who the best Paladin in Voltron was? Okay, maybe Shiro was the best Paladin in Voltron being the leader and all. But how would anyone ever find out who the SECOND best Paladin in Voltron was? Lance decided that this cliffhanger simply wouldn't fly with him.