Devil's Advocate (Voltron: Legendary Defender Fanfic/ONC Entry)

Killing Favoritism

Lance wasn't sure who was more shocked, he or Keith.

The pained expression on Keith's face though when he looked back up from the blade protruding from his chest made Lance feel guilty. In the back of his mind he kept telling himself he shouldn't feel guilty as Keith was trying to steal Allura from him, and yet he still felt guilty as the color started draining from Keith's face and Lance watched him die in front of him. The process was far from slow, but Keith acted as if Lance somehow betrayed him when in the back of Lance's mind he felt as if Keith was the betrayer again.

And then Keith dropped to the ground dead.

No blood dripped from the knife. In fact, no blood pooled around Keith either, yet this didn't cross Lance's mind as he turned and left. Guilt wracked his mind as did the fact he needed to get away from there so nobody would accuse him of killing Keith. The fact he killed Keith was true, and the death – Lance kept telling himself as the humming continued in the back of his head – was in fact justified. He simply didn't want anyone to know yet, or for anyone to stop him from curing Allura.

He took a deep breath and headed down the halls getting as far away from the room as he could.

"Lance?"

Lance's head darted up. He saw Romelle staring at him. "I thought you'd be excited when Keith found Allura. After all, the two of you make a perfect couple and I'm pleased I helped in getting you together."

"Ah, yeah." Out of the corner of Lance's eye, he saw something rush past him as if in a state of urgency. His eyes blinked upon seeing Keith standing now just behind Romelle. More importantly, he realized it was Keith who ran by him, but Keith had a rather panicked expression on his face. Lance swallowed. "Um, Keith..."

"I haven't seen him since he came back with Allura." This comment from Lance made his eyes blink. "Have you know, as you Earthlings say, seen a ghost."

Lance swallowed. "Maybe."

"Maybe?" Keith took a deep breath. "The answer is a yes Lance. I am a ghost thanks to you, but so far you're the only one who can see me."

Lance cursed under his breath.

"What's that?"

"Oh, sorry Romelle. I was just thinking maybe Shiro knows where Keith is."

"You're worried about Keith as well?" Romelle glanced over at the captain of the Atlas. Shiro looked slightly ill as if something was worried about something, yet his words indicated what that was.

"How come he's worried about Keith of all people?"

"That..." Keith responded almost as if he could hear Lance's thoughts."

"Don't tell me you can hear me!"

"What?" Keith's face twisted in confusion.

Romelle waved at Shiro and Lance and walked through Keith as she left. "Well, I'm going to go and see Coran and Allura. See you guys later."

"Keith's not been himself since Allura..." Shiro frowned. "Disappeared."

"You could say that." Lance stared right at Keith who most certainly wasn't himself.

"I was about to go and see if he's in his room. You can come with me if you want."

Keith let out a slight hiss. "Lance! Don't let Shiro find my body. He'll be devastated."

"He kind of deserves it."

"What?" Shiro's head darted up.

Lance swallowed and turned towards Shiro. "Uh, Keith deserves a chance to rest. Didn't you tell me that earlier?"