Apologies - Klance/Lancelot Voltron

Chapter 8

"Keith, good to see you again." Shiro said over the comms. The red lion approached the castle after a long journey from Lotor's ship; after all, there was no wormhole for Keith to go through.

"Keith! Welcome back buddy!" Hunk chimed in cheerfully. The red lion was now almost in the hangar and it finally sunk in what Keith was going to have to tell the team.

"It's nice to have you back, Keith!" Pidge cheered. While she didn't sound 100% better yet, he noted that she didn't seem as weak as she did last time they spoke. She sure is resilient, he had to give her that.

Keith was now inside the castle and heading down to the main hall. Truth be told, he was nervous. Panic gripped him as he recalled his encounter with Prince Lotor. And what was going on with Lance?

He was so unsure, he had no idea what he was going to tell the team. Would they blame him? Should he have done more? Disliking the vulnerability of this uncertainty, he decided to allow anger to cover it. It's easier to show anger than it is weakness.

"Is Lance with you?" Coran's voice echoed through the comm, concern clearly present.

Keith threw off his helmet and chucked it across the hall, not caring where is landed. He didn't bother to respond and instead stormed into the hall, where the rest of the team was congregated. They all looked at him expectantly, hoping for some sort of answer.

The silence grew, becoming increasingly tense as it went.

Shiro was the first one to break it. "Keith, breathe. You seem angry but I'm sure once you explain to us what happened we can come up with a solution."

Keith took a long breath in through his nose. "Where do you want me to start? Perhaps where the part where we get knocked out and kidnapped by the Galra."

The red paladin began angrily pacing around the room, energised by aggression. "Or maybe the part where it turns out we were kidnapped by none other than Prince Lotor!"

He throughs his hands up into the air, getting more and more riled up. "Or would you prefer the part where Lance abandons the team to be Lotor's sugar babe?"

Before the team can respond, Keith stomped out the room: heading to the training deck.

A heavy silence blanketed the room. It felt like Keith's words had been wrapped around their necks, choking.

This time it was Hunk to tear through the deadness in the air. "Lance couldn't have done that. There must be more to this than we're hearing."

"It must be something bad. Normally, Keith tends to calm down and focus when we talk about it but he's just getting more exasperated." Shiro added, wearily running his hand through his hair.

"I think he's trying to put up walls to avoid it, rage seems to be his go-to defence mechanism." Pidge mentioned. Shiro noticed she had pulled herself into a ball. She had been through a lot and was probably exhausted. They hadn't had the time to put her in a pod because they were looking for leads on Lance and Keith.

Looking around, everyone seemed exhausted: even Allura and Coran. Shiro decided that whatever was happening, the team wasn't ready to deal with it now. They were a tower on the verge of collapse and this might just be the push that topples them.

"Alright. I understand that a lot is at stake right now and we're all under a lot of pressure" Shiro announced, "but we need a break if we're to focus on this wholeheartedly."

He stood up began giving directions. "Coran, take Pidge to the medical bay and get her in a healing pod. Hunk and Allura, I want you both to take it easy. You've both been pushing yourselves in order to help the team and you both need a rest. I'll check on Keith and then we can fully understand what's going on and formulate a plan."

And with that, Shiro left the room and left everyone with their thoughts. There was a small pause before everyone burst into life.

Coran offered out his hand to help Pidge up, saying "Come on number 5! We'll have you shipshape in no time." He gingerly guided her out the room, nattering about some injury he once suffered long ago from some wild adventure.

Hunk got up and stretched, planning to head to the kitchen and make something to eat to de-stress. If he thought about it he might make something for Keith too.

Allura rounded up the mice before going to her chambers. Shiro was right. They needed this.

The doors to the training deck opened with a swish and Shiro paused a moment before stepping in. Keith was angrily slashing at the robotic opponents. As Shiro walked in, Keith's gaze darted to him for just a second however that flitting distraction was enough to allow the training gladiator to close in: knocking Keith to the ground in one swift hit.

Shiro quickly ended the training programme and ran over to Keith, quick to help him up. Keith brushed himself off and nodded a quick thank you to him.

They stood still for a few seconds, Keith going through all lengths to avoid looking Shiro in the eyes.
"Are you ready to tell me everything that happened now?" Shiro said, bending down slightly to try and intercept Keith's gaze.

Keith sighed and looked up at him. "Sit down." He said with a dry laugh, "This is going to be a long one."

**********

This is really boring ughh, im planning to actually get to the story part with Lance and Lotor soon. So stick around if you want

Art by: gay_toaster on instagram or libsterdraws on tumblr (seriously check them out i fucking love their art, theyre so funny and so talented)

Please point out any errors or mistakes, i suck at proofreading

Wowow thanks for over 2k reads!! This is happening so fast!!