+1. Communication

Keith wasn't Shiro. He was well aware of that fact. Shiro was often a solid calming presence, and even in the rare times that he didn't appear as such he would still be able to evaluate a situation and respond accordingly. Keith always flew straight into the fire, damn the consequences. He'd race in recklessly, put up his best fight, and was often caught in the building metaphorical flames- only to then find himself burned to the ground.

This was exactly the case when it came to him stupidly placing a tracker on Lotor's ship and blindly making his team follow him in a dead end mission that could've put Voltron (and the whole universe) in jeopardy. More than half the team were in new lions and Keith had recklessly insisted that they all 'hold formation' in a hopeless attempt to end Lotor's reign 'right now'.

Keith should have known that everything was going to go tits-up the very moment he realised how ill-prepared he and the rest of the team were. Allura for one had never piloted a lion before, Lance was struggling with the heightened speed found with Red, and Keith himself was feeling uneasy with piloting a bulkier lion with a vastly different control system. Whatever made Keith so insistent about following the single fighter into the dense gases of Thayserix, he couldn't say. Being in the role of leader, Keith shouldn't have been so hyper-focused on completing his own goal. Keith should have fallen back and allowed his team to regroup. Instead, there they were with all the sensors on the lions going crazy (due to the planet's atmosphere and strange magnetic poles), Allura taking a hit (Shiro would never have let that happen), and them being caught in a deadly trap.

"Keith, you're splitting up the team!"

Lance always had a way in getting under Keith's skin.

Keith had been so intent on following Lotor he had even been growling in irritation every time the others distracted him. Yet with one simple "Keith don't do this!", Lance had made him incredibly aware of the damage he was causing and persuaded him to double back. Lance shouldn't have had to tell him. Shiro would never have needed something like that. Shiro wouldn't have endangered the group in the first place.

"We're a team. We stick together. Isn't that right, Keith?"

In retrospect Keith could see that Lance's statement had been justified. The team was falling apart, one of the main reasons being Keith's mission to hunt Lotor down and end him no matter the consequences. At the time, however, that one had hurt. They were a team, and he was trying so hard to lead them but Lotor had been right there. All Keith had to do was stop Lotor right that second, and allow himself to think (and breathe) afterwards. Ignoring Lance's statement, Keith had told the team his plan on stopping Lotor 'right now' before speeding off. The faster he could stop Lotor the faster he would be able to put the growing guilt in his gut to rest.

Of course, Keith's plan hadn't worked.

Lotor had toyed with them and Keith had stupidly brought his team into a dead end trap that had ended up with each paladin of Voltron torn away from the rest of the group.

"What happened back there? Where's the rest of the team?"

Keith had no clue where Hunk, Allura and Pidge all were. They could be gone completely (just like Shiro was). Keith could have no possible way in finding them at all. He could be stuck on this desolate planet for the rest of time with no-one but Lance to keep him company. The thought of being stuck with Lance for eternity should not be providing him with the small flicker of comfort that it was.

"This is all my fault-"

If he hadn't been so stupid.

"-I followed him right into this trap-"

He'd been foolish and reckless.

"-Everyone warned me, but I didn't listen-"

They were his team and he hadn't even bothered to listen to their warnings.

"-I put the entire team in jeopardy."

He'd torn apart Voltron and put his friends, his family, in danger.

He wasn't Shiro, that was very clear to him now. Shiro wouldn't have endangered his friends, and he wouldn't have put the mission ahead of Voltron.

"Yeah you kinda did, but now we gotta fix it!"

And here Lance was, being Keith's voice of reason and focusing him once again on the mission. Only the mission had changed. Keith's priority had to be his team. He couldn't make the same mistake again, he had to help them, and he had to allow himself to be helped in turn. Communication between every member of the team was fundamental, and Keith had allowed himself to become caught up in the fight and forget that fact.

Keith had allowed himself to wallow in self-pity and despair for too long. He hadn't been the only one hurting, fighting, wanting. He had, however, been the only one that allowed his own desires to endanger the rest of the team. He knew now what he had to do.

Keith wasn't Shiro, and he was never going to be. This wasn't some sort of self-deprecating thought that his brain whispered to him in moments of fear and anxiety (although that had certainly been the case over the last few weeks). No, Keith had come to the realisation that he was never going to become Shiro because he wasn't Shiro.

"Lotor's getting away, should we go after him?"

"No. Pushing the team too hard is what got us in this mess in the first place. We'll face him again when we're ready."

He was Keith Kogane. He was the ace pilot, the half-Galran, the self-proclaimed conspiracy theorist and the newly made black paladin. He may not be Shiro, but he was going to be the best Keith Kogane the universe had seen.

"Roger that team leader."