DISCLAIMER: I do not own VLD

A/N: Hey guys, this my first Voltron fanfic. Yay. I hope you guys find some enjoy through this fic, it'll only probably be 3-4 chapters roughly.

ALSO HEADS UP: This fanfic will have some Keith/Lance undertones, but I'm writing it in a way that can be interpreted as you please. I do ship Klance, but I believe that some more proper bonding development is needed before they get together, hence why this fic was born.

Onwards we go! Hope you guys enjoy the first chapter!

It was one of those rare occasions that things were quiet in the Castle of Lions. Well, it was as quiet as it could get.

The paladins had just finished training against the gladiator when Lance and Keith were suddenly an inch away from each other bickering. Normally was hard to tell who started it and how it escalated, but after a surprisingly successful simulation, Lance started throwing insults at Keith.

The blue and red paladins were arguing a lot recently, particularly after training sessions. It's not like that fact itself was surprising and it wasn't like they still couldn't form Voltron. If anything it just got tedious to watch.

Shiro had to step between the two, becoming the mediator. In the meanwhile, Pidge and Hunk wished they had popcorn to enjoy the show.

"Knock it off guys. We're all a team here."

Lance backed off, but continued to have a scowl on his face.

"Are we now? Maybe you should tell him that."

Keith narrowed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Lance opened his mouth to answer, but suddenly the sirens were going off. Allura had a new mission for them. After everyone had gathered unto the control deck, Keith and Lance stood on opposite sides to one another.

Coran began explaining.

"We've received a distress beacon from the planet Zilate." Coran pulled up a hologram of the planet. "This is the planet Zilate. The planet itself is filled with trees with wood like the quality of metal. And the dirt is extremely dense. But they were better known for their Zilatian crystals. The crystals are similar to the ones on Balmera, but they're much smaller. I recall meeting some Zilatians on a few occasions. They're a quite peaceful race." Coran pulled up a hologram of the race. They looked like humanoid lizards with long, muscular arms that dragged along beside them.

Allura frowned.

"However, our scanners aren't picking up any signs of life on the planet."

"The galra?" Shiro asked. It had been all their assumptions. Coran exchanged a glance with the princess and then hesitantly answered.

"We're not actually sure."

Pidge cocked her head to the side.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Coran continued, "The distress signal was only sent out a few days ago. Even if it were the galra, there should be, well, something."

Allura straightened up with a new look of determination.

"Paladins, I need you to scout the planet for any survivors that the scanners may have missed. But I implore you to be careful. Something about this doesn't feel right. Coran and I will stay here in orbit ready for an extraction if any of you should need one."

Shiro nodded.

"Understood. Let's move."

When they arrived, the scanners could didn't pick up traces of life. It was just like Allura had said. Flying in their lions, they saw the trail of the tree like terrain been bent and snapped. The tree-like terrain looked as if a giant had angrily had ran through the planet.

"What could have done this?" Pidge's voice was barely heard through the communicator.

No one knew how to answer that question. The fact that Coran had said the trees were like metal just made the whole situation more eerie.

"Doesn't anyone think it's strange that there are no bodies despite the scanners not picking up life?" It was a morbid question, and it had come from Hunk of all people, but he did raise an important point.

Shiro looked around suspiciously before a small glowing blinking of his navigating screen of his lion.

"Hey, I'm getting something. It's in the west."

Keith glanced down at his screen, he saw what Shiro had been talking about, but he also picked up on something else.

"I'm getting a signal too, but it's in the east."

Shiro took another look. "I see it. They're not too far from each other. We ought to cover more ground. We're splitting into two groups, but keep communications on at all times!"

Allura's voice came on over their communicators.

"Shiro is right. There still may be danger."

Lance's voice came over the comm.

"Hey princess, there is no need to worry, dangers my middle name."

A light groan of annoyance was heard from Pidge and Hunk, whilst Keith silently rolled his eyes.

"Lance. You and Keith check out the signal in the east. Pidge, Hunk and I will check the signal in the west." Shiro stated.

"Me and the mullet-head? Oh yeah, because that's a GOOD idea." Lance's words reeked of sarcasm.

Keith immediately complained.

"What!? Shiro! Why am I stuck with him!?"

"Because I said so!" Shiro sounded like a parent scolding his toddler children (he kind of was). A heavy sigh followed. "Come on, like I said earlier, we're all a team here. Please just do what I ask."

"Fine." Lance groaned.

He switched from the open channel to the enclosed channel from his communicator so he was only heard by the red paladin. The enclosed channel only limited who they spoke to, so the other paladins could still contact him if they needed to.

"You ready, Keith?" Lance put a mocking emphasis on Keith's name.

Turning to the enclosed channel soon after Lance, Keith's smirk could be heard over the communicator.

"I should say the same thing, cargo pilot."

Eventually Lance and Keith had run out of names to call each other. The pair flew in silence. The tension of earlier that day lingered.

Keith suddenly piped in.

"There's nothing out here. We should go back."

Lance was about to for once agree, but his scanner began beeping.

"Wait, Blue's picking something up. There's something in a village of some sort up ahead," glancing up from the map schematics, he could see buildings in the distance. The sudden thought of Allura giving him praise for finding any missing inhabitants made a grin appear on his face. "We should check it out."

Keith had seen it on Red's scanner, but something just wasn't right with it. Keith was chosen to be the red paladin for his instinct and temperament (at least according to Allura). And his instincts were telling him that something was off about the village.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Allura said that the planets inhabitants should be friendly. Or what," Lance's smirk could be heard through the communicator. "Are you scared?"

"I'm not scared!" Keith snapped back, now obviously fired up. He wasn't going to back down from this new challenge.

"I'll race you there." Lance transferred power to the thrusters, gaining a large head start in front.

Keith didn't even notice the smile growing on his face.

"You're on!" It only took a few moments for Keith to catch up to Lance. "You think you can keep up?"

As if to mirror Keith's expression, an excited grin began to spread on the blue paladin's face.

"Bring it!"

The longer they followed the signal, the more and more they saw was destroyed nature. Many of the trees were knocked down.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Hunk said, shuddering ever so slightly.

Shiro felt it too. Allura had warned them that something felt amiss, but it didn't give him any comfort. If anything it made more anxious.

"Pidge, are you getting anything?"

"Up ahead there looks like there's some sort of station. We should land and check it out."

Landing the lions out of sight, they walked for a good while before they spotted what the scanner had been picking up.

It was small building and definitely looked galran. The three paladins can't say that they were surprised to find that the galra were involved.

"Follow my lead and keep your guard up." Shiro activated his arm. Pidge and Hunk followed behind Shiro, activating their own bayards.

The three paladins quietly crept around in the three roomed building. There was not a single galra in sight. Within the building there were scorched markings from lasers, chairs had been knocked over, and what looked to be webs was everywhere.

"It's empty." Shiro confusedly looked around, deactivating his arm.

Pidge brought up a scanner next to what looked to be a generator.

"Well I found what the scanner must have been picking up." Pidge's scanner began to beep wildly. "Woah. The power source of this generator is off the charts. It's obviously built to last, but it looks pretty unstable."

"Well obviously something creepy happened here. Those webs look pretty new." Hunk looked around, spotting some sort of surveillance camera in the corner of the room. "Look."

"Maybe that'll help shed some light." Pidge immediately approached the computer hub and began hacking into the system. "Shiro, hand on the handprint please."

Complying, he placed his robot-prosthetic hand over the panel. Pidge expertly got into the system within a few short minutes (or a few ticks if they were going by Altean time).

"This is the most recent feed. It was two days ago." Pidge began to play through the footage.

The footage itself had broken up audio. Shiro was the first to notice.

"Pidge, what's wrong with the audio?"

"The files seem to be corrupt. I'll download them unto my system where I'll be able to clean it up."

As Pidge began to download the files, Hunk immediately pointed back to the camera feed.

"What is that!?"

Within the footage, a sort of black mass invaded the control centre. It was moving so much, it was hard to determine what it was. It seemed to be some sort of creature. The three galra in the room attempted to shoot at it, but it bounced off of it. Whatever creature it was, it didn't even seem to phase it.

Suddenly the footage became filled with static and shut off. It was only then that the three noticed the generator was almost jumping off the floor.

"It's going to blow!" Hunk warned. The generator began to give off a sickening glow.

Shiro sprang into action.

"Everyone, get down!"

Hunk dived out of the way as Shiro immediately pulled Pidge to the ground away from the generator, using his own body as a shield to protect her.

The generator blew up, releasing a massive electromagnetic type of pulse through the air, shaking the walls around them. The metal-like debris flew straight into the walls, embedded deeply within them. It was a moment before they finally all got up from the ground, surprised to find they were all unscathed.

"Is everyone all right?" Hunk asked.

Shiro nodded to then ask, "What was that?"

"It felt like some sort of pulse." Hunk thought aloud.

"Let's find out." Pidge immediately tried to access the system again. "No. No. No. No."

"What's going on?" Shiro looked over at Pidge's holopad.

"Well whatever it was, it's messing with everything! Everything is down." Pidge pulled out her scanner. "My scanner is down."

Hunk had a look over as well. "It had to have been something like an electromagnetic pulse."

In their communicators, something sparked alive.

"Shir-…..wha-…..goi-….on-…"

Shiro attempted to reply.

"Allura, can you hear us?"

He was only met with static.

"Hunk, how long do you think this will last?"

"I have no clue. Pidge and I can try resetting everything manually and reboot the connective settings. It'll be a while, but it might work," Hunk eyebrows furrowed, "But the real question is how far did that pulse travel?"

Pidge shrugged. "I can't say that I'm exactly sure, but our tech is down."

Hunk's eyes widened as the memory of the footage filled his thoughts.

"Wait, if the generator was what the scanner was picking up for us then what were Lance and Keith picking up on?"

The sudden realisation struck both Shiro and Pidge hard. Knowing that it now may have pointless, Shiro shouted into his communicator.

"Lance! Keith! Come in! Get out of there!"

Long story cut short, Lance lost the race. Apparently, Keith had just gotten lucky; or rather that's what Lance had repeated multiple times as they landed their lions, hiding them within the trees. The two paladins exited their lions and approached the village on foot.

Upon seeing up close, the two exchanged an unsure glance. The village looked similar to the Erusian's village in some ways. The houses were made out of what the two suspected was mud and stone with thick tree leaves for the rooftops. But that is not what disturbed the two.

It was the fact that village was completely deserted. It looked like all the inhabitants had just dropped everything and left. Nothing looked like it had been raided nor did it seem that any inhabitants were killed. It was strange; it was as if they had vanished without a trace.

Lance and Keith both went to inspect two different neighbouring houses. Keith poked his head inside. A few bowls were knocked down to the ground, but nothing looked too strange.

A stray doll was lying on the floor. Keith gently picked it up. It looked like a tinier and cuter version of the Zilatian people. Keith had no doubt that the doll belonged to a child from the village. Obviously they all just didn't leave the planet. And if they did surely if they had, the child would have been able to bring it's doll. It just didn't make any sense.

"Hey Keith! Check this out!"

Following Lance's voice into the house next door, Keith's eyes widened slightly at the sight. In the mud of the ground of the house, it showed a trail. It was as if someone was dragged out, desperately trying to cling to the ground in an attempt to not be taken.

"This wasn't of their own free will," Lance looked over at Keith, immediately noticed the doll he was holding and laughed. "Well, now the hair makes sense, Keith, you big softie."

Keith had honestly forgotten he had been still holding it until Lance pointed it out. Keith rolled his eyes as a response. Every time that Keith thought that the bickering had stopped, Lance would say or do something to rile him up.

"Are you incapable of being serious for more than three seconds?"

"Dude, you're the one holding a doll and you're telling me to be serious?" Lance scoffed.

Keith carefully put it down on a stone table near the door and left the house, Lance eventually followed.

"We should probably get out of here and re-group with the others." Keith said, suspiciously eyeing the empty village around them.

Before Lance could reply, the two felt a sort of pulse pass by them. It disappeared as quickly as it came.

"That was…weird." Lance said, suddenly noticing a small static sound coming from his communicator.

"Are you hearing that too?" Keith asked, focusing on the static sound. "That's not right."

Lance looked over to Keith. Both of them knew that something was wrong. Keith attempted to use the communicator.

"Shiro? Can you hear me?"

A small static feed came on their communicators. It was hard to tell what was being said, but the voice was distinctly Shiro's.

"La-…..eith-…com-…in-…..Ge -…out-…of-…ther-"

Even with trying to focus on Shiro's voice, Keith's instincts still managed to kick in. He immediately activated his bayard, twisting around his sword instantly connected with something large and black.

Taking a moment to realise what was happening, Lance immediately activated his bayard in time to shoot at the incoming enemies, he expected galra soldiers, what he didn't expect was a massive creature looming over him and Keith. It had to be at least twenty feet tall.

If it looked like anything, it looked like a gigantic spider. With only the brief scan that Lance was giving it, he counted twelve legs, prickled and thick. It had four piercingly large eyes; all four had the swirling of yellow and red within the iris. It had a long torso, it moved like it had no spine. It's head similar to that of a horse. It looked like something straight out of a nightmare.

How did they not hear or see it?

Keith dug into the black leg with his blade, but he barely made a cut. It's skin was course and rough, it was like a thick layer of armour.

It let a demonic kind of cry. It was like a mix of gargling water in reverse, along with the deep yet feminine voice screaming. The creature flung Keith from it's leg. Keith had been thrown with such force that he slammed into one of the mud and stone houses in the village, the make-shift building collapsed on top of him.

"Keith!"

Lance immediately sprang into action and began shooting at the creature, drawing it's attention away from Keith. The blasts barely fazed the beast, but it was a good distraction.

The creature charged at Lance, forcing him to jump out of the way of it's multiple legs and flailing body. The creature's speed was fast paced and rabid. Shooting at it seemed useless, but it was all Lance could do.

One of the legs slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. On his back, Lance kept his gun up as the creature seemed to push out a sort of stinger from one of the front legs. The stinger came out of it's hidden region like a bee, but it looked like a single large fang of a snake.

Lance rolled to his left, avoiding the stingers. The legs thrust back up and Lance dodged it again. Lance shot at the stinger, finally hitting a vulnerable spot which had been the tender flesh around the stinger.

The creature let out an angered shriek and slightly recoiled away due to the burning of the blast. The stinger was still intact, but the skin around it was burnt. It looked painful. It gave Lance the opportunity to get back on his feet. His blaster was still raised and he was ready to shoot once more.

If the creature wasn't angry before, it definitely was now. It's gaze was fixed on Lance as with the opposite front leg, another stinger appeared out of it. Now there were two stingers.

"You have got to me kidding me!"

It began charging at Lance. He had no choice but to leap out of the way and summon his shield, luckily blocking one of the stingers. The creature beat down on the shield with both stingers.

Any choice he could come up with, a stinger would get him. He was trapped. For a moment his strength wavered and the shield slipped up slightly. The creature used another leg to knock the shield and to pin Lance down with another. Lance thought he was done for, but the stinger never came down.

It happened in a span of a few seconds. Lance remembered seeing a red blur continuously hitting at the leg that had a cut.

Keith expertly hit the place where he had cut the creature earlier repetitively until the leg was finally cut off. The creature immediately started backing off, whining in loud screeches of pain leaving the entrails of yellow blood.

Keith offered a hand to Lance, which he took without hesitation. Pulled to his feet, Lance grabbed his blaster. The slightest feeling of déjà vu hit Lance. Earlier against the gladiator, Lance had helped pull Keith to his feet after he'd gotten knocked down protecting him, but the main difference was that with the gladiator, the two had the others with them. The creature they were up against was in a vastly different situation and it was far more dangerous.

"What is that!?" Lance asked, panic evident as the creatures screeches were beginning to quiet down.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Keith then tried to use his communicator. "Shiro? Allura? Anyone? Come in, we need back up now!" The communicator was still coming in as static. It was useless.

The creature obviously never had to face a challenge before. It was inexperienced. Without even having to discuss it, the two both knew that the creature was no doubt the reason for the disappearance of the inhabitants of the planet Zilate. The creature decided that it had enough and it suddenly got three times faster than it was before.

Despite the loss of one leg, the others were certainly making up for it. Lance and Keith stood, back to back, fending of the legs from hitting them. Three more legs appeared with stingers. The two paladins were obviously outmatched; all they could do was fend it off.

Keith swung and stabbed at the one stinger that was inches away from in and Lance. The stinger in the leg was definitely bigger than the others. Preoccupied with two legs with stingers, Lance didn't even notice another leg, hovering afar to his left as it began lactating venom, preparing to strike.

By the time Lance noticed, the leg was already thrusting down toward him. Lance immediately flinched back with his eyes shutting for a moment. The leg was about to run him through. Sudden thoughts of death came over him.

So this is the end? He thought.

But the strike never came.

It took Lance a moment to realise that something had come between the stinger and him, or rather someone. The stinger had pierced straight through Keith's armour and was embedded into his left shoulder. In the split moment that Lance shut his eyes, Keith had switched their positions and protected him.

Lance didn't remember hearing a scream of pain, but maybe that's because there never was one. Instead, Keith let out what sounded to be like a battle cry and grabbed unto the leg with one hand, twisting it around whilst he aggressively hacked away at the leg with his sword with the other. After about four quick and precise blows, the leg came off the creature.

The creature once again backed off, writhing in pain from the loss of yet another leg. The two both knew it would give them at least a moment. Lance's eyes began widening and he let his bayard slip from his hands. There were many things that Lance wanted to say, but only one question fell from his lips.

"What did you just do?"

Keith ripped out the part of the leg and stinger still hanging from his shoulder. He let out a hiss of pain.

"I think I just saved your life." Suddenly his face grew instantaneously paler and his eyes looked distant. Keith's bayard went back into his suit as he began to fall forward.

"Keith!" Lance caught him before he fell to the ground. The blood began seeping from Keith's shoulder on to Lance.

Before Lance had a chance to react, the creature slammed into him and Keith. Lance managed to absorb most of the blow of the landing, not even realising himself that he had instantly did everything he could to hold onto and shield Keith. Lance's head slammed into the stone of the house and all turned black.

So what do you think? Comment below, let me know!

Also, the next chapter should be out a week from now. Until then, I'll see you in the next chapter.