You're my right hand

Hunk cheered on as the small grape sailed through the air. Laughing loudly as Lance caught it in his mouth.

"Way to go Lance!" Hunk whooped

Keith rolled his eyes at his teams' antics while Pidge picked up another grape out of the bowl and redied her aim.

"Wanna go for five out of five?" She asked

"Hell yeah! Let's go!" Lance agreed, opening his mouth wide, waiting for the thrown fruit, Pidge took aim but before she could throw, the Paladin team were thrown from their seats to the floor. Instantly alarm sirens began to sound and the group jumped to their feet and began to run for the control room, the floor shifting under them as the Castle of Lions came under increasing fire from an unknown assailant.

"Paladins, we're under attack, come to the control room immediately" Koran's panicked voice came over their communicators

"We're already on our way Koran" Keith replied, picking up his pace.

The Paladins burst into the control room and immediately received their orders from Koran. Keith was to pilot the defence drones to counter-attack whoever was firing at them, Hunk was told to identify exactly who was attacking them while Pidge got to work on mapping out an escape route for them and Allura stood ready to make a wormhole for them to escape through. This left Lance stood around while his teammates got to work around him. He moved back so he was stood resting against the wall, forgotten by everyone else in the heat of battle.

"Ha! Got one" Keith yelled joyfully, watching as something on his screen blew up

"Guys... They're Galra ships" Hunk announced to the group

"Okay... I have a way out for us" Pidge told Allura where to open the wormhole... The four human Paladin's mouths dropped as they came out of Allura's wormhole. Greeted by a sight they had long since given up on seeing ever again. Earth.

After making sure that no Galra fighters had managed to follow them through the wormhole the Paladins were dismissed. Keith marched off to the training room, Hunk and Pidge made their way back to the dining room and Lance shuffled back to his room, replaying in his head what had just happened. As he threw himself down onto his bed he managed to sum up the events into one simple sentence

"They withstood a Galra attack... Without me, they don't need me" he whispered to the walls. It was in that moment he knew what he was going to do. Return to Earth and allow the team to find a new Paladin, a better Paladin. He packed up what little personal items he had gathered while travelling throughout the galaxy, opting against taking the games console he and Pidge had brought from the Space Mall, deciding to leave it for her. He placed his bags on his bed, sat down at his desk. Grabbing a pen and a sheet of paper he began to write a letter to everyone, listing his reasons for leaving and wishing them all the best in the fight against the Galra. Finishing by writing that he'll miss them all (even Keith.) He wrote their names on the envelope.

A few hours later when Lance was sure that everyone else would be asleep he stood up, picked up his bags. He left his room, sticking the envelope containing his letter to the door and began to make his way to find a ship he could pilot back to earth. He had almost made it when he was stopped in his tracks by a hand on his shoulder

"What the fu-" He screamed out in surprise

"Lance shut up! You'll wake everyone up" Keith hissed in his ear

"Keith, what are you doing up at this time?" Lace questioned

"I could ask you the same thing" Keith replied

"Going somewhere?" Keith asked, spotting Lance's bags

"Back home. Not that it's any of your business" Lance retorted. Keith saw red and shoved Lance up against the nearest wall, pinning him against it.

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah, I am"

"You can't... We're a team"

"A team? That's a bit rich coming from you... Running off every other day to join your Galra friends" Lance spat, regretting what he said instantly as Keith drew his arm back and punched Lance hard in the stomach. Lance got back up to his feet and tried to barge past Keith, who grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Lance, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit you" Keith apologised. Lance just glared back at him, holding the spot on his midriff where he was punched.

"Why are you leaving?" Keith asked. Changing his tone to something softer

"You saw what happened earlier..." Lance began, hoping that Keith knew what he was talking about, but the raven-haired boy just stared back at him blankly

"With the Galra attack..." Lance prompted. Again Keith looked back at Lance blankly.

"Forget it, there's a note on my bedroom... My old bedroom door that explains everything" Lance sighed, again trying to push past Keith. Who maintained a tight grip on his arm

"Lance. I'm not letting you leave. We need you here. You're the teams' sharpshooter..." Keith began

"Anybody can learn to fire a gun, teach the new Paladin"

"Okay... Answer me one question before you leave?" Keith asked

"Okay"

"What Lion do you pilot?"

"The Red Lion"

"You're Voltron's right hand... You're my right hand, Lance I can't lead this group without you. Can I tell you a story? Something Shiro once told me?"

"I guess so?"

"He told me that he wasn't always gonna be around and that he would need me to step up and lead Voltron. I never knew what he meant until... You know... And now I have others who depend on me... I have to tell you the same thing. Lance if I have to leave Voltron to fulfil my other duties then I'm going to be counting on you to lead in my absence. I can be replaced, I'm the loner remember, but you... You're the glue that holds us all together. Without you we wouldn't have even been able to start this journey, it started because of you. We need you to stay" Keith took a deep breath, knowing this was now or never. He either tells Lance how he feels now or he stays silent and full of regrets. He leaned in close to Lance and whispered in his ear

"I need you to stay" He slid his hand down Lance's arm to his hand, interlocking their fingers, Lance looked at Keith and was shocked with what he saw. Keith looked scared and small. Lance knew that this was serious, Keith never opened up like this... about anything. He felt a rush of warmth radiating from his chest. Before he knew what he was doing he had spun Keith around, pinning him against a wall, leaning in close to him he whispered back to him

"I'm not going anywhere" He and Keith walked back, arms linked loosely. He ripped the letter down from his door and tore it in half. Walking back in he placed his bags down, ready to unpack them later. He pulled Keith into his room, placing his arms around his neck and pressing his lips against Keith's.