Keith was always the first to rush into things. His recklessness had always gotten him into trouble. Combined with Lance's "saving people" thing that had seemed to rub off on him during the years, it made for quite a self-sacrificing nature.
So no one was surprised that Keith was first to die.
But that didn't stop it from hurting.
They had all thought that once they finished saving the universe, they'd go home and would all be safe. That they could go home and all would be well.
Keith had screwed that up for them.
Yet none of the paladins could fault him for his actions.
If they had been there when the child had fallen from the bridge, they would have jumped after the kid as well.The kid had cried when they had landed, Keith using himself to brace their fall.
The surrounding people had rushed to help, and he'd made it to the hospital alive. But he didn't last long, his body too damaged to support life any longer.
It had hit Lance the hardest. He and Keith had been going strong since their days in space. When they heard the news, it had been Lance that had rushed to the hospital, pushing through crowds of reporters to get to Keith. He'd been in intensive care for an hour by the time he had gotten there.
Lance had stayed by his side until the last second, holding Keith's trembling hand as he whispered that it was okay.
They all knew it was not, but there was nothing left to say.
Lance moved back in with his parents afterwards, planning to live the rest of his life as best he could, until the day he could re-join his partner.
They always knew that Hunk's kindness would be the reason for his death. They often joked about it, silly scenarios such as a murderer would ask to kill him, and he would be too kind to say no.
Although not as silly as that, it was his kindness that brought him to his end.
Hunk had remained in touch with Shay, and when she confided that a disease was sweeping amongst her people he called Yellow to him immediately. He had always been good at biology, and he was firm in his belief that he could help.
And he did, creating a vaccine that worked with Balmeran biology. It eradicated the disease within weeks, allowing the Balmerans to live on, rebuild from what they had lost.
However, the vaccine did not work for humans, and in the end the very disease he'd worked to cure was what lead him to his end.
The others did not find out for many weeks what had happened, not until a message from Allura informed them that the Yellow Lion had returned on its own, no pilot to be found.
The funeral was small, and the coffin held no corpse.
Lance was the next to go, although not until many years later. His body was old, his mind older. He knew it was time.
He spent his last days with Pidge and Shiro, the former of which had moved in with their leader when Matt had died a few years before.
"I have to admit, we've done well." Pidge laughed, sipping her coffee as she sat beside Lance's bed. "I had always thought that we would die in space, killed by same bizarre alien with extra limbs or something."
She placed her cup down on the bedside table, settling back in her chair, content to stay in the quiet.
"Mmmhmm." Lance agreed, eyes closing as he rested. Shiro's voice broke through, his human hand pushing his hair back from his forehead.
"It's okay, you can slip away," Shiro said, calming Lance's anxiety with a small heart felt smile. "We'll be here by your side."
Lance listened as Shiro and Pidge made idle chit chat, remembering days of old aboard a massive castle ship.
Lance let his eyes slip to the photo on the wall. It was of team Voltron, the day they had all returned to earth, happy to be on their home planet once more. He burned the image into his brain, letting it consume his thoughts as he drifted off into sleep, never to awake again.
Pidge made sure to organise a proper send-off.
After all, Lance had always wanted a parade.
Pidge had always loved machinery. She loved the way it seemed complicated at first glance, with many bits, bobs, and wires spreading throughout large and small hunks of shell. She loved how uncomplicated it was if you really had a look.
It was her love of technology that brought her to her end. She wanted to test her new jetpack, something she had been trying to replicate from what she knew about their paladin armour.
It hadn't worked, only exploded and caused the building to collapse under the powerful blast. She had been careless. She should have taken more precautions. This was what they had drones for. She should have used a drone.
But she was so sure that it had been perfect, and was confident enough to try it herself. It was foolish of her, but she found no time to regret her decision.
And so Pidge passed on, codes and algorithms flying through her head until the last second.
Shiro stared around his room, empty except for a few cardboard boxes. He gave a sad smile to the picture on the wall, the one thing he was intentionally leaving. He didn't want to risk destroying it, the last memento the world would have of its defenders.
Shiro sighed, turning away from the photo to walk out the door and towards the Black Lion. There was nothing here for him now. He was a married man with no spouse, a friend with no friends, and a leader with no team.
But he was still a pilot, and there was still space to explore, there was still aliens to meet and still princesses and advisors to live with. It had been awhile, but he was sure Allura and Coran would take him. After all, he was all they had left.
The lone Black Paladin, once again the last of his companions.
He planned to live the last of his limited days in space, reminiscing with Coran and the Princess.
So with a sad smile, Shiro walked from the house, never to be seen again.
All that he left behind was a dusty photo on the wall.
