Ardor | Klance [COMPLETED]

X. The Price We Pay

Now that he was awake, standing, and mentally braced for saving Lance,

Keith was terrified.
If Lance wasn't... alive after all this, Keith wouldn't be able to go on. Nobody would. Pidge and Lance had an unbreakable sister-brother bond, Hunk was Lance's wingman, he was Coran's favorite paladin, Shiro's little brother, and Allura's... well, he was like Allura's brother. Lance was able to carry the entirety of Voltron on his shoulders, and without him, they would crumble at Zarkon's feet.
Keith, as much as he hated to admit it, could not function without Lance, after all that's happened. Pidge was right; teasing aside, Lance did mean a lot to Keith, way more than he'd formally thought.
Sure, being scared was bad, but not nearly as intimidating as Lance not ever coming back again, which made Keith determined.
They would get Lance back.

Coran had pinpointed where blue lion was being held, at the center of the smallest planet in the galaxy they floated above. Shiro and Keith were sent down together to go see what was going on. Coran volunteered to, but seen as he didn't have a lion, and, well, he wasn't exactly the stealthiest, the black and red paladin seemed like a better alternative. At the same time, Pidge would be sent to attack the west side of the small Galra fleet that surrounded the blue lion, while Hunk took care of the east. If... well, hopefully when they took care of the surrounding ships, Shiro would sneak down and heroically save Lance, they'd bring him back to the ship, maybe stick him in a healing pod, yada yada, happily ever after for everyone.
Except Keith knew all too well that it wouldn't be nearly that easy. Alas, he tried to be positive, but as he and Shiro guided his lion down towards the planet, his hands shook so hard that he had to grip the controls so Shiro wouldn't see.
He would've been the same if that was Pidge or anyone else down there, psh, obviously the exact same. He'd feel the exact same way, how his heart races so fast that he can hear it over the blood roaring in his ears. How he could've sworn that he cleaned his gloves earlier, but they were drowning in sweat. He wouldn't have been able to hold onto the joystick without his hand slipping off of the grip if it was Coran down there. Obviously.
Still, it was painfully embarrassing to Keith, and he did his best to keep his head low, making sure the helmet covered his face, so Shiro couldn't see anything.
But Shiro, despite being six years old, (cough leap year cough) was much, much smarter than that. He knew exactly how much Keith was sweating, and he saw every time that his hand slipped off the controls. And when they finally landed on a nearby hill, both Shiro and Keith were happy to be in fresh air.

"Shiro."

"What?"

"Look."

The small planet was a warm gold color from behind the lion's glass eyes, almost sparkling in the sun's light. On the hill, Keith and Shiro had a clear view of the bright green river that swam along the edge of the forest. It got darker and darker near the center of the lake that the river leaked into, and Keith shuddered, wondering what unknown aliens were lurking in those waters.
The thick blue-green trees were all similar, with thin, dark trunks and no stems. The leaves were in a cone formation, almost like a Hershey's kiss, and all of the trees looked so similar, it reminded Keith of those cheap video games where the creator is too lazy to change the characters. He could see small meadows with bushes and flowers in between the tallgrass, and he had a good view above everything, except for the tall trees that loomed above him, even when he was standing on a large hill.

As soon as they dismounted and got out of Red, Keith could distinctively hear the sound of scraping metal, and by seeing the flashes of yellow from behind the thick leaves, he was comforted knowing that Hunk and Pidge had landed on this planet, and that they weren't alone.
The red and black paladin sat crouched behind a surprisingly large bush near the blue lion, and Keith began to notice a thin trail of smoke leading past the trees and into the sky. He traced it with his finger, and nudged Shiro to show him.

"Is that smoke?"

"Looks like it."

"Well, what do we do?"

Shiro sighed, exasperation evident in his voice. "I don't know, Keith, okay?"

"Jeez, I was just asking." Keith put his hands up in mockery. "Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or something?"

"Actually," Shiro growled. "I didn't get any sleep last night, because I was busy doing your job while you dozed off in your room."

Keith glared at him. "It isn't my fault that Allura forgot to put in the coordinates! How's that my job?"

"How is it any more mine than yours? You got assigned it, yet I still did it."

"Okay okay, let's just go." Keith crossed his arms. "I'd guess that Lance is probably over near the smoke," he said, trying not to shudder at the thought of what fire can do to human skin. "So we should try to go around the river over there," he pointed to his left. "And go from there around to the campground, or whatever that smoke is."

Shiro nodded. "Although, if we go around the river, we're going to have to swim through it. I don't know how deep that river is, Keith, and being in a foreign galaxy, we have no idea what's in that water-"

"Stop talking."

"I'm sorry? You don't get to talk to me like that, Keith, I'm the-"

"Shiro, stop talking! Listen!" Keith whispered harshly.
Shiro shut up, and sat back, a frown on his lips. Keith listened for the rustling of the leaves nearby that he'd heard over Shiro earlier, but before he could gather what was happening and what was in the bushes around them, the ground that they crouched on began to lift, and Keith felt himself being thrown into the air.

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Sorry this chapter is sorta short and unproductive but near the end I couldn't think of any ideas that I wasn't using in the next chapter oops
Thanks for almost 8k reads that probably seems small to most people but <3