Hi there! so, this is my first work in the fandom, and one that has been brewing for a while now to be honest, but at least it's here now.

Fair Warning(s): There's descriptions of blood, foul language and mild ponder of death.It's not slash, but whatever fits in your shoe.

I do not have a beta reader, but it was proofread by the author so, a heads up.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATIONS.

Lost

This was bad, this was so very bad. As bad as having a teammate go missing whilst battling an, exceptionally violent, alien species that wanted you exceptionally dead! Why is it as bad?

Because that's exactly what happened.

Team Voltron had been in the midst of counterattacking an ambush lead by a Galran fleet, that had popped out right as they were coming down from their wormhole jump rush, when one of their own went MIA. Last time they'd seen said pilot, he'd been unresponsive and unable to give any explanation as to why his lion was spiraling down, sucked into the nearest planet's orbit. With no control over his ship, he was deaf to the rest of the team screaming bloody murder through the comms.

Pilot and lion violently cut through the planet's atmosphere, disappearing from everyone's visual reach, and went radio silent.

That was fifty painful minutes ago.

Lance cursed loudly as he took out a handful of sentinels with the help of Blue's ice blast. Explosions and battle cries raged over his head, yet he couldn't help but loathe how dreadfully silent everything had truly gone.

"That's it, I'm going in."

"Lance-,"

"No, Shiro. Keith's been down there long enough." The Black Paladin went silent, Lance took it as his cue.

"Pidge, Hunk. I expect you to cover my butt."

"Gotcha, Lance."

"Right on it!"

The paladin peered through Blue's screen, glaring at the deep indigo surface of the nearest planet. According to Allura, and the scans flashing right before his eyes, ninety eight percent of the planet's integrity was essentially water. Only the core, thousands of meters bellow surface, was made of solid rock.

Keith, the Red Paladin, associated with fire, had crashed there.

How convenient.

Lance took a deep breath, resting his right hand over the control panel.

"You ready girl? This is going to be one hell of a bumpy ride."

With that, he blasted his way out, dodging drones and space debris; the war lashing out behind him was completely forgotten, only one task at hand.

'Rescue Keith, stash the blackmail material for later use.'

Breaking through the atmosphere had been relatively easy, much easier than Lance had anticipated. Now that he was soaring over the area, however, he found himself thoroughly confused.

The Red Lion was literally the first thing that came into view, which wasn't normal because that planet's basically one humongous drop of water and, yet, Red was right there. As if this gargantuan ocean was just ridiculously shallow. That made no sense, since there was no sand or rock formations anywhere near the surface for it to be shallow.

Lance did not deliberate on it long, easy problem meant easier solution. If it really was just like walking on the shore, the only thing he had to do was land, get Keith, get out and come back for Red sometime later. In fact, Red probably wasn't that much damaged at all, perhaps she needed a quick reboot and they will all be off and away from the place in no time.

'Where's the catch?' Slipped through Lance's thoughts, but he shook the dark tone away, no time for pessimism.

The teen turned to the comms, "Guys, how's everything up there?"

There was a controlled grunt, the sounds of a small explosion somewhere, and then Shiro's voice broke through.

"Just peachy." Lance chuckled, "You found Keith?"

Lance frowned thoughtfully. "I found Red. Haven't got a hold of Keith yet. I'm going in closer to try and reach him through radio."

"You do that," It was Hunk now, Lance recognized. "but do it quick because we're not sure how much longer we'll be able to hold these guys."

Lance grimaced and drilled it into his head to get a move on. "Copy that."

Comms closed, Lance turned to face the slumped form of the Red Lion. There were dents marring all over her hull, but from what, he couldn't be sure because, again, water. Still, he winced in sympathy.

He opened a private line with Keith.

"Hey Mullet-head, you there?"

Lance bit his lip when nothing answered after a few moments.

"You better be short on power and not playing the worst joke of the year, 'cause that's my job and I will punch you."

He waited, no response.

"C'mon. Keith?"

Nada.

"Mierda." Lance cursed under his breath. "Relax, no need to shit your pants just 'cause the asshole doesn't wanna say hi… Hijo de puta, le meto uno por el culo si realmente me está tomando el pelo."

Lance breathed out. "Okay. Strike one, two outs, bases loaded."

He maneuvered Blue close to 'land', carefully because his theory could be totally wrong and maybe the Red Lion could just float or something. Then, he felt solid contact and his worries over that particular issue were pushed aside.

"Okay, Blue. I'll be back in a tic with our team emo and we'll all go back to the castle."

Lance felt her soft rumble, resembling a purr, as the main hatch opened. Using the hover jets, he slowly lowered himself down to where he was so sure he would slip through and sink the moment he stepped down on the not-so-shallow-looking water.

He didn't sink and now he was standing on water like freaking Jesus, or that ninja show he used to watch as a kid. Under any other circumstances he might've felt really cool, right now though? The tight pressure around his chest wouldn't let him.

He needed to see Keith right now, to shut up that nagging voice inside his head and maybe sooth down his heartrate.

Albeit wobbly at first, Lance put one foot in front of the other and made his way to Red, or to her back legs, as she was facing away from him. He probably should've thought of that before landing.

He placed a hand over the cool metal and startled. Normally, Red would always maintain a soothingly warm temperature whilst Blue remained much cooler under and over her hull. With one more thread of concern weaving its way around his chest, Lance ran along the massive body, all previous fear of sinking lessened and promptly vanished when he spotted the main hatch. He broke into a quick sprint because of two reasons.

The first being that, really, he was wasting time.

The second, well, Red's hatch was open.

'That's weird.' He thought and turned to look around, wondering if Keith had actually been dumb enough to just go explore the alien planet instead of being reasonable and wait for rescue. He couldn't discern any silhouette wondering around in a red and white suit at the moment, so, Lance climbed inside to look into the cockpit.

"Muuulleeet!" He called out. "You can stop moping already, the cavalry's here!"

The cabin was dark, Lance could only partially see because of the dim Altean blue that willed on after everything else had powered down which, thinking about it, Lance realized was a bad sign because it meant that the Red Lion truly was offline. He did a roundabout of the cabin and came to the disheartening conclusion that it was, indeed, empty.

With a frown pulling from his brow, Lance turned to leave when the comms flared suddenly. He almost fell backwards from the shock of a respectfully big explosion attacking his eardrums.

"Lance-,got-eith, yet?!"

Well, he sounded agitated.

"Sorry Shiro, I don't." Lance replied. "He's not with Red."

"What do you mean 'he's not with Red'?!" Hunk again.

"I mean he's not with Red. The main hatch is open and the cockpit's empty." He answered with slight irritation. "Maybe he's completely fine and being a jerk as he takes a stroll around the place knowing I'm on a wild Koothe chase!"

He heard a soft sigh. "That's wishful thinking."

"That is realistic thinking, princess." 'No, it's not' Lance's inner voice argued, even as he said the next statement with his voice soft, but firm. "In fact, allow me to prove it to all of you in a moment."

"Lance, don't-,"

"Sorry, can't hear you over the fact that I'm heading out in a blind search for a mop head through alien terrain that is clearly not terrain at all, because it's water. If it makes you feel better, there aren't many places to hide here except for, uhm, down. Anyways, call you later guys!"

That was all before he cut communication. He knew he was being quite stupid, but the little knot of guilt tightening at the back of his throat would continue to strangle him lest he found Keith, soon.

Guilt.

Yup, that summed up what he was feeling quite well.

There was one thing Lance knew that the rest of the team did not. One thing concerning the reason as to why Keith was blasted off into a planet's atmosphere in the first place. Now, he wanted some answers as to why he knew why.

Keith had those answers, so he better give them to him.

He trudged his way back to the hatch and froze.

He couldn't see much, much of anything at all. It was pitch black. The time course in the planet must have been very odd because all daylight was just gone, without trace. The water reflected millions of stars and nebulas from space. Suddenly, both floor and sky had blended into one.

And Lance couldn't see.

With a heavy sigh, he squinted his view to the far horizon or, at least, where he thought the far horizon even was.

"What a promising, fun adventure." Lance muttered under his breath, he wondered out into the dark, going step by step across the water that might as well just be an illusion and swallow him whole at the slightest presence of a misstep.

That could've been what happened to Keith, plunged into the cold, now long since his lungs first gave out.

The Blue Paladin violently shook his head, almost getting rid of his helmet in the process. He chastised himself for his own pessimistic thoughts when he ought to be staying positive, before he as well drowned in the darkness, where no one would ever find him-

"Argh!" He growled into nothing with frustration, tried his mightiest to stem the flow of unhelpful thoughts and proceeded with his appointed quest.

Even though daytime seemed to have slipped away like rushing water, the darkest of nights prolonged. His sense of direction was promptly messed up. Was he walking on water anymore? Or floating in space? And that was a wild thought in itself. To add, the soft glow of his armor was not nearly enough to help him gather his surroundings.

It was only when his foot caught on something solid, which unceremoniously had him tumble over and land with a big splash, that he was snapped back from his aimless wander.

Scowling, Lance abruptly lifted his head in underlying embarrassment to glare at the offending object that had, according to only him, undeniably popped into existence just to make him fall.

Then, the Altean light of his suit bounced off said object, and all spite died within him as quickly as it rose.

"Keith!" Blatant relief washed over him much too fast.

Because it definitely was Keith, there, lying at his feet, unmoving.

The Red Paladin's eyes were closed, half of his face was blurred by the water, the other half was pale, much paler than what Lance's used to see on the swordsman. There was a dark patch peeking from just beneath his hairline and the sight of it had a burst of panic shoot through Lance's heart. Keith's helmet lay forgotten little ways to the side, it ported a visible crack across the white surface.

Without thinking it, Lance scrambled to kneel next to the paladin's head. "Keith! Keith-hey! C-C'mon buddy, open your eyes!" Lance placed a hesitant hand on the other's shoulder to maybe try and shake him awake, but, at the first push, Keith's head lolled boneless to the side, facing away from him.

And thus revealed the most gruesome head wound Lance had ever seen.

The rise and fall of his teammate's chest now seemed like witchcraft.

"Mierdamierdamierda." Lance's heart leapt to his throat, he almost couldn't breathe around it.

What should he do?

He could feel his, by now ancient, first aid training kicking up at the back of his brain, but he'd never had to deal with head wounds before! He knew they were dangerous. He knew one wasn't supposed to jostle a person with a head injury, but shouldn't he get him somewhere safe? Would that just worsen it?

'Why don't I know these things?!'

With little to no other option, Lance slammed the comms open.

"Guys! I need your help! Now!" He crudely hollered through the mic and waited, impatient, for a response. Some excruciatingly long seconds passed before the line crackled to life at the other side, with a burst of static, then smoothed into muffled noise. It didn't soothe the Blue Paladin's nerves.

"-ance!" Cut through, he didn't know who it was, but it could've been Zarkon himself and it wouldn't matter right now.

"I got Keith!" He yelled, "b-but, he isn't good. Actually, he's positively, very much extremely, not good!"

"What? What do you mean? What happened?" Three different voices chorused in distress.

Tracing a shaky gaze over his teammate and the, now perfectly visible to his eyes, pool of crimson slowly dissipating in the water, Lance told them quite explicitly what was it that he meant.

"He's wounded, seriously at that. Head wound. It's deep and he's not responding, a-and who knows how long he's been-, been like this. He needs help, and, and I don't know what to do!"

There was no trace of emotional control in his voice during that last statement, who could blame him? Keith could and might die right in front of him because he sat around and did nothing.

His hands were shaking.

"Paladin," The voice cut through all the others and promptly halted his thought flow.

Thank god, Space Uncle.

"Coran?" Immediately, the Altean's voice was all he could hear, everything else blurred into his growing panic. It was only him, Keith and Coran's voice.

"Are you sure he's unresponsive?"

"Positive."

"How deep is the wound? Does it still bleed?"

Lance looked back down and to the prominent gash, his stomach rolled. With trembling fingers, he probed around it lightly, terrified of aggravating the injury. The depth of it was frightening, the deepest he had ever seen. It wasn't wide, a clear hit if he dare say, but it was deep.

However, it was not bleeding anymore, and the water must have partially cleaned it. With a sick sense of comfort, he thanked all deities for that.

Looking at it again, Lance seriously wondered once again how was it that Keith was still breathing, there was a sharp tug of doubt even as he checked it himself to reassure-

Wait. Hold on.

Hold on.

'Shit.' He thought first. Then, he said it.

"Shit!"

Not breathing, the Red Paladin was not breathing. No rise and fall, no wheezing or rattling. Just not breathing.

"Coran!" Lance shouted, his heart somewhere close to bursting through his mouth. "Coran! He stopped breathing! He's not breathing and-shit, low pulse, low pulse! Coran-,"

"Calm down." Soothed the older male, but that didn't fool Lance in the slightest. He could hear sheer concern laced into every word, "It's quite risky with the wound, but you'll need to take charge Lance, and proceed with an emergency resuscitation method." There was a brief pause. "I believe the human terminology is 'cardiopulmonary resuscitation'."

"CPR?!" He almost screeched. "You want be to do CPR on him?!"

"Only enough to aid Keith's heart back into its regular rhythm… Do you not know the procedure?"

His teeth jarred through his bottom lip. "I-I do, but-," What if he messed up? What if he ended up rushing the whole thing? What if it wasn't enough?

"Lance." He startled, it was a different voice. "Lance, it's Shiro. Listen to me."

He forced himself to focus again, he was slipping and that wouldn't help at all.

"Your teammate's life is in danger and you're the only one that can do anything about it. Keith needs you, Lance. It's your decision to act now or wait for backup, but know what's at risk.

"I know you're scared, Lance, but believe me, if you do nothing, it can only get worse from there."

Lance swallowed hard, it's true, what did he expect? Help wouldn't get there in time if Keith's heart gave out completely. He needed to make up his mind.

If he doesn't act, Keith might die.

"You'll need to match the compressions to Keith's pulse," Coran suddenly informed, "but be gentler than regularly advised. Your primary concern here is ventilation. Use a 15-2 pattern instead of 30-2."

If he does act, Keith might not die.

Great odds. He'll take them.

He rose over Keith's prone figure, took him carefully to shift into laying strictly on his back. Briefly, he took the other's wrist and listened to his decelerating pulse, to its unstable rhythm. Then, he was peering down at Keith's inert chest, arms extended under him straight as a ramrod, closed right hand around his open left one, just like he'd been forced to learn.

Then, he began, pushing straight down one time after the other, same amount of time in between each compression, though his pace threatened to reach his own heartrate when all the Red Paladin did was flop lifelessly around the brunt.

Around the sixth repetition, his tense movements slipped into the mechanical pattern of his awakened muscle memory.

His mind wandered and forced him to recall the first time he'd been obligated to do this. Terrified, pumping life back into his little brother after the little brat had ignored his direct orders to not go in too deep, and had ended up inhaling a good gulp of seawater.

That one trip to the beach had scarred young Lance forever, his thirteen-year-old self, pressing down on his ten-year-old kid brother's chest as Veronica dashed away in a panic to fetch their parents.

Eventually, Marco did end up coughing it all out, and Lance had hiccupped through shameless sobs as he clutched the younger to his chest, because his brother was still alive.

He'd been scared back then too, positively freaking out. It'd been only the two of them back then too.

It still wasn't the same.

Back then, all Marco had to deal with was a couple of bruised ribs and was immediately handed over to professional hands as ten family members sat restlessly in the waiting room, with more on the way from across the country.

But Keith? If Keith died here, who would mourn him back on Earth? Was there even anyone to mourn him in their home planet? To tell his stories, gazing up at the sky and waiting for him to pop into view, safe and sound? Would anyone even know about the messed-up lives they were now living? Would anyone even care enough to know?

Did they all think them dead?

Probably. That didn't matter, not right now. What mattered now was whether he could keep stubborn his stubborn friend alive.

He tilted Keith's head, pinched his nose, breathed for him. Once, twice, the started over.

"One."

But what would occur-

"Two."

-were Keith to die-

"Three."

-under his hands?-

"Four."

-Would-

"Five."

-would he-

"S-

A choking sound cut through his thoughts like the butcher's knife. Everything came to a screeching halt. Lance retrieved his hands and his eyes widened in alarm.

Violet, bloodshot eyes met his own.

Keith gagged and Lance, in autopilot, took his shoulders with haste and pushed him onto his side, where the other hacked and sputtered, lungs seizing against the motion, his chest heaving right alongside it. The rest of his body though, remained inanimate.

Lance reeled back, frozen, and stared aghast at the thin trail of saliva that rolled down Keith's chin and mixed in with the clear surface of the planet, losing itself completely.

A funny noise formed at the back of Lance's throat. That in the midst of a relieved sigh, a choked sob and a terrified whimper. The corner of his eyes burned with unshed tears and his own chest felt constricted under the weight of, well, everything.

Then, the convulsions and coughing seized altogether, Keith's figure came down to be as inert as it was before the small episode took place; he was facing away from Lance, meaning that when he stopped moving completely, to the Latino teen, Keith looked dead. But even then, it took a couple more seconds for Lance to gather up enough of his scrambled brain and place it back together, before he hesitantly approached his teammate.

"K-Keith?" his voice shook, "You okay?"

Nothing responded, giving Lance a sick sense of déjà vu. He sprang into motion, moving over to see the other's face. His heart plummeted.

Keith's eyes had fluttered shut.

"Keith?!" He called desperately but noticed that the other paladin was still breathing and, at least somewhat, conscious, given that the mentioned whined and tried to move away from the noise, which wasn't much more than his head turning, just slightly, away from Lance.

The Blue Paladin sagged back, some weight having eased off his shoulders, instead feeling crudely fatigued now as his mind showed him an uncalled replay of what had just taken place.

He breathed out a laugh, but the tears still burned.

"Paladin?" Lance jolted, shooting alarmed look all around him before he managed to use his reassembled brain.

"I'm here." He swallowed down the anxiety. "Keith is too."

There was a chorus of relieved breaths and chuckles and 'thank god's through the comms.

"That's very good!" The Altean exclaimed. "Now, you must take Keith back to the lions immediately, the team will be coming down in a tic."

"Can't I just take him to you?" Lance asked with a confused frown.

"I'm afraid the launching procedure would be too stressful on Keith's body right now. It's best if you two wait. It won't be long now."

Judging by the still raging blasts going off as background noise, that could pretty much be a lie. Still, Lance both nodded and voiced his answer.

"Got it, Coran."

As carefully as it was possible for him, Lance heaved Keith onto his shoulders, once he got hold of his balance, one foot moved dutifully behind the other and he began their long stroll back to relative safety.

After seemingly eons of walking and straining his muscles under Keith's weight, Lance finally caught the distinguishable glint of Altean on the Red Lion's body. Relief flooded him unannounced and his knees nearly buckled from the shock; that would've been a nasty fall. Instead, his pace picked up on speed he wasn't even aware he could have mustered at the moment.

His senses didn't fail to notice that it was still nighttime.

Lance approached the head of the lion; to his utter dismay, the main hatch was closed.

"Hey-," his lack of breath cut him off. 'Jesus Keith, care to lose a few pounds?' He thought sarcastically before trying again.

"Hey Red, uh, I don't really know if you can hear me but… Keith's in real bad shape, a-and I'm sure he'd prefer to be with you right now. You'll have to let me in as well, though."

The mechanical/mystical beast did not react to his voice. In Lance's opinion, Red was sizing him up like some beggar asking for shelter. It made him feel extremely out of place and exasperated since he's pretty sure Blue wouldn't hesitate to let Keith in were the roles switched.

He sighed in disappointment without thinking it, because, if Keith's lion wasn't going to trust him, then he would have to trail back to Blue. She wasn't too far off, but Lance worried the path would take too long for Keith.

His eyes moved up, pleading into Red's own. After a moment or two, there was no shift or flicker or sign, so, Lance made up his mind. Stepping away, he paused to readjust his hold on Keith, and turned to walk over to his lion.

'Maybe if I run… no, no, that would jostle Keith too much, and that would make things worse, right?'

He huffed. "Maldita sea."

In his grumble, he almost failed to notice the sound of metal groaning behind him. Startled, he turned around with wide eyes and, sure enough, Red's mouth was wide open.

A soft laugh escaped him. "Thank you."

A low hum resonated at the back of his head, just like how it happened with Blue.

"Keith, I swear to quiznak, you're the biggest idiot that the universe has ever known." Lance muttered in mild irritation as he lowered his unconscious teammate onto the smooth floor. He slumped next to him, leaning heavily against the control panel. His sight trailed over pale skin and sunken eyes, he swallowed hard. Two of his fingers placed themselves over Keith's jugular, checking for a pulse yet again. It was there, but having to reach over and wait to make sure didn't bring him any comfort.

Lance's gaze lingered for a moment, thoughtful, before he took Keith's frame and repositioned. Now, with Keith's back leaning on his chest, he could feel his teammate's feeble, but stable heartbeat, not to mention the shallow rise and fall of his chest.

Lance's fists clenched and unclenched with anxiety.

"Hang in there, Mullet. Help's coming."

On cue, the Black Lion's strong battle cry ran over the entire place.

Lance might've cried a bit.

Lance sat alone in the control room, knees tucked against his chest with his chin firmly resting on top of them. Normally, he'd feel uneasy and restless when he was in that section of the castle by himself, because he would vividly recall that time not-Rover almost killed him and Coran, and then start jumping at nonexistent noises.

Nevertheless, there he was, sitting quietly in the dim light.

For a reason he could not place, it soothed him.

It'd been three Earth days since they'd been scooped up from that odd planet. Keith was shoved into a cyropod right away and had been there since. At least, since Lance last saw him, exactly three days ago.

Both, Coran and Allura, had hurriedly assured them that the paladin would make a full recovery, that Lance had done good, that he had saved Keith's life.

Even so, Shiro almost never left the Red Paladin's side, and Lance… Lance had hightailed it out of there.

His stomach still churned with guilt. He couldn't face Keith when Keith couldn't talk to him, because of him.

In result, there he sat, heart heavy. Something in him ached for his Ma, for her hugs, for a tint of familiarity, of safety. Because, this thing they were doing, it didn't feel safe anymore.

Pumping the life back into your friend didn't feel safe.

It felt real.

It was real, it's just that it took Lance longer to understand, that they weren't just playing soldiers, that's they were. Out there, in a war zone, dying was easy.

They weren't safe.

He wanted to go home.

A soft, shuffling sound behind him startled his mind back into the dark room. He turned around instinctively, nerves screaming in alarm, hands itching for his bayard.

Then, he saw who it was and let his shoulders slump, deflating immediately as he sat back down with a defeated huff. Is this what he's become?

"Hey Keith." He greeted with a grumble, just snatching a glimpse of his teammate. Keith was in his regular clothes, looking almost like he did every other day, save for the dark bags under his eyes and his hair being messier than the norm. He looked okay, just tired. Like he'd had a rough night's sleep, nothing more. Must not have been long since he exited the pod, too, but of course Keith would get too restless to stay in one place.

Keith nodded slowly in greeting, blinking away some sleepiness. "Hey."

"You're out." Lance stated.

Keith nodded again. "Yeah… not that I remember how I got there."

Lance's gaze went back to nothing, curling into himself as he muttered. "Maybe that's for the best."

It was obvious that Keith heard him, but since he didn't say anything in retaliation, Lance asked. "Why the hell aren't you resting anyways? If I was you, I'd be snoring away."

Keith shifted his weight from one foot to the other behind him. "Well, uh, Shiro and Hunk, and Coran, and Pidge…and Allura, a-and the mice even, they were getting a bit overbearing. I felt crowded."

The Blue Paladin closed his eyes for a moment, maybe he came from a big family, but even he had wished for some peace and quiet from time to time. "I understand."

A moment passed where nothing happened. Then, Keith sat next to him, shoulders mere inches from touching.

"Thanks." He said.

Lance snorted humorlessly. "For what?"

The Red Paladin frowned at him, confused. "You saved me, didn't you? Shiro told me."

Lance wanted to shout and, even if he didn't, he might as well have done just that with all that escaped his mouth.

"Save you? If it hadn't been for me, you wouldn't have needed to be saved in the first place. You don't remember what happened? Here's what happened. I fucked up, nothing new there, just the usual. But then you, like the selfless jerk that you are, took the brunt for me. Swept in between a Galra blast and Blue, like a tragically stupid hero. Which promptly screwed you and Red up, sending you crashing down into some alien planet, vanishing from our sight, radio dead. Because, why not?" He spat distastefully, taking a deep breath and not even letting Keith think before he continued.

"Then, I had look for you, leaving the rest of the team in the middle of the battlefield because, y'know, man down never left behind and all that. I find Red, but you're not with Red, which was insane, Keith, how in the hell did that even happen? -don't answer, please." He quickly interjected when he saw Keith's mouth start to move. "Then, I finally find you after ages of wandering around in the dark, and your head's split open and bleeding all over the alien water, floor- whatever. Then you stopped breathing a-and-," He choked up, unable to continue for a moment, but his resolve hardened.

"And you almost died on me, you prick. I had to do CPR! And that's something that I never want to do again, ever. I don't even want to hear 'cardiopulmonary resuscitation' for the rest of my life."

He swallowed. "I can watch my own six, Keith, unless I ask you to. Hell, even if I can't, it should've been me. You don't have to make up for my mistakes, much less with your own life, jackass."

At the end of his rant, Lance refused to meet Keith's bewildered stare. He, after a few seconds, heard the other sigh softly.

"Yes, I do."

Lance bristled and glared at him. "No, you don't."

Keith met him with a resolute stare. "Yes, I do. I'm sorry Lance, but you're my teammate, my friend." He stressed out, "I couldn't just stand and watch you take the hit from behind, I couldn't. True, I didn't plan things through, but I did what I intended to. I had to protect you, Lance, as a part of the team, one way or another."

Lance gaped at him, tongue not working properly enough to respond to that. Keith was insane, but what he said made more sense than it should have. Thinking back on it suddenly, he bitterly mused that he would've done the same.

He almost didn't hear Keith pipe up again.

"Besides, you and Blue had just taken down, like, three ships by yourselves. I had to steal you thunder somehow."

Lance couldn't help it; it was such an un-Keith thing to say. He barked a laugh that even startled the other pilot.

"Keith, man, when did you and I switch places?"

He heard Keith chuckle next to him and felt the unease begin to slip off of him, even if the episode in that planet would forever haunt him, along with the other pile of junk he'd collected over his time in space.

He'll relish what he still has.

"You're an idiot." He stated after the mirth died down a little. Keith nudged him fondly.

"Yeah, guess where I learnt that."

"From living alone in the dessert."

The Red Paladin clicked his tongue.

"Close, but no. Try again."

"From growing out a mullet?"

Keith smacked him.

"Who's the idiot now? You don't even know who it is."

"Keith, babe, you know I'm way out of your league." He teased, which had Keith rolling his eyes in mild irritation, but clearly not offended. He shifted closer; their shoulders touched.

"Whatever Lance, shut up and let me sleep."

"Sure. Here?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

And that's it! Thank you soo much for reading!

The spanish translations are my own, since I'm bilingual, but they're not Cuban slang, 'cause I'm not Cuban and, tho I tried, could not get a solid hang on their lingo to use it in a story, sorry.

Translations:

"Mierda." (Shit)

"Le meto uno por el culo si realmente me está tomando el pelo." (I'll stick one up his ass if he's really joking/pulling on my dick.)

"Maldita sea." (Goddamnit)

Yes, I did change the age order between Lance and Marco, I just needed that to be done.