Voltron: Dark Universe

Chapter 23:

"I Am Here"

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Sparkles of colors. Whispers. A shake. Somebody calling his name: a man, a woman, a monster…

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Keith woke up. He was standing, though he wasn't doing it by himself. He heard the healing pod open and he felt a breeze. As he opened the eyes he fell forward, and was caught by someone.

"Calm down! Calm down. It's okay now. Stay calm."

Keith tried to get up, but he was still weak. He wasn't fully aware of what was happening. He was still holding from the jacket of this person.

"What… what…"

"There, now. It's okay mullet. Everything's fine."

"What?" There was only one single person in the entire Universe who called him like that. He forced himself to open the eyes and look up, only to meet the Blue Paladin's face. "Lance!" Keith lost his breath and almost fell again if it weren't because of Lance.

"Woah! Keith, are you all right!?"

"I…" He took a deep breath. "I'm fine! But, you! Are you okay!? Are you-"

Someone grabbed his shoulder. It was Shiro. "Keith, relax. Everything's all right." Keith looked around him, now fully aware of his surroundings. There were his friends, all of them. He calmed down a little, but he was still confused.

"That's it," said Lance, helping him to stand on his own. "That's better."

"B-but…" Keith looked at everyone. He pressed his temples so he could think about everything that happened. He took his hand to his side only to see that there was no more pain. Nor a weapon. Nor the feeling of the Luminous Quintessence. And Lance was just in front of him, he was alive and well. Keith thought he might be dreaming. Could he just be waking up from a terrible nightmare?... No. Not at all. He relaxed, and looked for Shiro. "What happened?"

"As soon as you both fell unconscious, we brought you two to the pods."

"Uh, yeah. I know that." He waited. "Shiro, you know what I mean."

"Hey, Lance," Hunk said to him. "Keith might be hungry. Would you mind helping me in the kitchen?"

"Me? Uh, sure! Let's make lunch for Keith!"

"Let's make lunch for Keith." Hunk repeated. "We'll meet you on the dining room."

Hunk turned back. Lance hesitated and looked at Keith, but then smiled and walked with his friend."

Keith looked back at Shiro. He was still confused. "So?"

"First things first." Said Pidge. She approached Keith with a syringe in her hands, and a smile on her face.

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"Absolutely nothing." Said Shiro, sitting next to Keith on the dining room. "He has no idea about the last days. He knows nothing about The Beast, nor the Crystals, not even about… his accident."

"How can it be?" Keith asked. "A-are you sure he doesn't remember any of this?"

"It's almost a fact." Said Allura, sitting on the other side. "Once he was woken up, we tried to ask him about it, but he seemed to be confused and not sure about what we meant. He didn't even realize that he was coming out of a healing pod. What we think is that he lost every single sign of logical thinking, and so he was never aware of his actions since he was in contact with the Crystals of Dark Quintessence. "She paused. "Therefore, there's no memory of the latest events in his mind."

"He doesn't remember us telling him the event," said Pidge. "He doesn't remember his fight with the Galra, nor Orion Prime. Not even that Voltron just split in two the Beast, which was like three days ago. His mind is empty of any of it."

"What if it's a kind of lock? Something still because of the Dark Quintessence? He still may have something inside him."

"Actually, it seems to be quite the opposite." She said. "We run a blood test, more than once. Its clean. There's no sign nor remnant of the Dark Quintessence. Its like if he was never in contact with it. By the way, I've got the results of your blood test and you're clean too. There's no more Luminous Quintessence inside you."

Keith looked for a sign of the Quintessence to his sides, but as Pidge said, there was nothing. It was gone. Keith heard once again the words from the White Beast: "…until you decide to voluntarily separate from it…" Keith had chosen to give that power to Lance in order to save him, so it made sense that he hadn't anymore. Could that explain Lance's memory loss? Maybe it was the Luminous Quintessence, that it vanished every sign of the Dark one, even the memories related to that.

"What about his DNA?"

"Clean too. He's entirely human."

"So… He's not a hybrid?"

"I've made up two theories," Pidge move her glasses. "The first one is: that we were deceived. The Dark Beast, as well as the White, may be actually taking anyone as their bearer. But as we had seen, another of their powers is to mess with people's mind. Maybe they just wanted us to believe all that blood-related stuff so we can turn into better subjects. The second one, though: its that Lance may indeed had other species DNA. It's so, so small though, that the scanners can't detect it. It may be something so well hidden in his genes that only the Dark Beast was capable of finding it, and at the same time, amplify it. As the Dark Beast is gone, so his genetic signature."

Keith stopped so he could think about all this information. He stopped looking at his friends until he was ready. "So, is it over?"

"Almost. There's still Lance."

"What do you mean?" He looked at everyone. "What did you tell him?"

"Actually," said Shiro, "we haven't told him anything."

Keith hesitated. "Why?"

"What do you want us to tell him?" Said Pidge. "That he did several days ago and was resurrected by some evil being?"

"Well, obviously we're not saying like that!"

"Well," said Allura calmly. "That why we decided to wait for you." Keith looked at her. "This unfortunate event didn't affect all of us in the same way. The truth is that it was even more personal for both of you. You were the ones who faced directly these entities. You two experienced it. That's why I want you to be the one who decide what are we doing next."

Keith opened his mouth but nothing came from it. What should he do? Why was he again the one who had to decide? At that moment the door opened, and Hunk and Lance came in. He was holding a plate on his hand, and dancing, he placed to Keith.

"Bon appetit mesiuh," he said, entitizing the "Uuh". "I'm pretty sure I said that wrong. Anyways, I hope you like it."

Keith stared at the food, not really thinking about eating.

"Keith?", Lance looked at the meal. "Don't you wanna eat it? It doesn't look so bad, does it?"

"What? Oh! No, no. I'm sorry, it's just that…" Keith looked up and met with such a familiar face. Lance was smiling. Like he always did, but Keith didn't really notice it until it was missing. Then Keith remembered everything again. He remembered how affected Lance was when finding the Crystals. The kind of link that was forcefully made in his mind, which was what made him go for the Crystals. He returned to the moment where they find him alive, days after that. And he remembered the pain he might've felt when they told him the truth: that the failed in saving his life.

Keith was now sure about what to do. He looked at Lance again and smiled at him. "I'm just happy to be together again."

Seeing Keith eat made Lance happy. He turned to Hunk and gave him the thumbs up. He did the same in response. Keith ate calmly, yet, he was a bit worried. There was one last step he had to take…

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Keith left the Castle. They had arrived on a planet far away from Orion Prime. The surface was a lot Earth-alike: they had landed over a mountain, one of many. Rivers were flowing and turned into waterfalls. It could have been the Earth, except for the water's cyan shining. It was almost like home. He spotted Lance from where he was standing. He was waiting for him at the mountain's cliff. Just in front of them an orange Sun was hiding on the horizon. Keith approached him and sat next to Lance without saying a word.

A few minutes passed, and they were just staring at the so different, yet so alike, sunset. Keith broke the silence.

"How do you feel?"

"I'm fine. I think. You?"

"I feel better. Thanks." Keith stopped a moment. "So, do you know what I want to tell you?"

"Yeah… yeah, I guess." Lance seemed to be nervous. He hadn't look at Keith. "I mean, the other told me that, things got really out of control. And I woke from the healing pods yesterday… before you did. But I don't remember that…" He finally looked at Keith.

Keith sighed. "You really don't remember anything?"

Lance shook his head. "No. There are… fragments… but it feels more like a dream. I only remember a light. But as much as I try to focus, I can't make it." He stopped. "Was it that bad?"

Keith cleared his throat. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I remember us talking, in my room." Lance laughed feeling ashamed.

Keith was surprised. He actually didn't get it at first, but he smiled when he remembered. "The painting!"

"Yeah… now that I think about it, doesn't seem to be a good idea. Have you seen how it is now? It lost all the magic! I don't know what I was thinking…"

They remain silent again. The Sun was bright, but they could look at it directly without hurting their eyes.

"Lance… I want you to listen carefully." Lance looked at him worried. Keith's expression could mean… anything.

Keith finally took a deep breath and started telling. "A few… um… Okay. That day, the las time that you remember we talked, we landed on a planet. On it we found something…" Keith's hands were shaking, and he felt thirsty. "We met there with a creature. A really, really powerful and elusive creature. And you were infected."

"Me?"

"Yes. You got sick and, it made you… you were…"

"Yes?"

Keith froze, then controlled himself. "It got stuck to you, like a parasite, and kept itself alive beside you. After that, u-um, I was infected too… and the creature would've killed all of us, if we hadn't found the cure. I had to stop that thing."

"Wait! Was that a virus or an animal?"

"Part of both." He said immediately. "He infected you with its essence, and it used your strength and your life as his… and could've done the same with the rest."

"And… how did we win? I guess we won! Right?"

"Yes, Lance. We won… thanks to you."

"Uh, excuse me?"

Keith took a deep breath. "I wasn't strong enough to resist against the B-… the creature. I fall apart… but you didn't. You fought from beginning to the end. You resisted, and when it was the moment, you fought it, you beat it, and you destroyed it."

"You… You're joking, right? It- it doesn't make much sense that…" Lance tried to laugh, but he was about to cry.

"No, Lance. It was thanks to you that we made it. If it weren't for you… for your courage, and your strength, we would've lost."

"But! But if, if I'm just… I'm just, I'm… I'm just Lance.

"Well," he grabbed his shoulder. "Just Lance, was enough so we could be here now."

He laughed nervously. "You know that it doesn't make much sense, right? Its just that… I don't understand how a parasite let us to three days on the healing pods."

"Well, you'd better believe it," Keith's voice shook. "Because it's the truth…"

Lance couldn't hold it and he started crying, but also laughing. "Yes… Yes… Yes! Of course, it is!" He looked at Keith and hugged him hard.

Lance cried, because he was happy, or because he was said. Maybe both. And so, did Keith, but in silence, and not letting him notice. After a while, Lance let go and looked at the Sun just about to hide. "So, tell me. How was I? Was I great? I mean, I've been practicing some moves, like Hyaaa! Or Huuaaaa!, ya' know?"

Keith couldn't hold the laughter at the look of Lance. "You were great. Almost as great as me."

"Oh! Well, excuse me, Mr. Team Leader"

They laughed again. The Sun was about to disappear.

Keith looked at Lance. He was smiling at the Sun. "So, I saved you?"

Keith nodded, nervous.

"Woah! Wish I could remember it."

"Yeah… I'd like you to…" Keith said. "But I guess its for the best, don't you think?"

Lance didn't answer immediately. "I guess."

"Lance, the only thing you have to remember is that we won. We did it together. As a team."

Lance looked at him and offered his hand. "As a team."

Keith picked his hand. "All right," he stood up. "I'm still tired, so uh, I'll meet you later. Okay?"

"Sure." Keith turned back. "Keith, wait!"

"Yes?"

"…Thank you."

"…You're welcome." Keith smiled at him.

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He was heading towards the shower, holding a towel and a new pair of clothes. He walked by the door of the hall and stopped. Next to him there was Pidge, with her arms crossed.

"Will you tell him some day?" She asked, calmly, but curious.

Keith waited before responding. "Yes… One day. When he's ready."

"He?" She asked, but Keith said nothing. "So, he'll be ready. Then what?"

Keith had a lump in his throat. "Then, I hope I can count on you."

Pidge did not hesitate and stretched the hand. "You will."

Keith picked her hand, as a sign, as a promise. And so, he kept walking.

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Keith sat on the chair in front of the camera.

"Hello, u-um, I, I've already come here. But… I need to tell you something…" He took a deep breath. "What happened to Lance days ago was… I can't still sleep well. I fear for the day that… something really bad happens, and things get as terrible as this time… so, I'm telling you right here, and right now: I swear, "he got close to the camera. "I swear that I will never give up on anyone. Ever. I'm not letting this happen again."

Keith got up. "I think… that's all from me… goodbye."

He turned off the camera…

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"Last piece in place" Said Hunk. "Fire up that power, Pidge!"

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"Shield's up" She answered.

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"Shiro, no!"

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"What's going on with the plates?" Asked Lance… "Allura!" Lance run the Red Lion so he could crash with Blue. He managed to throw her away just at the time the shield made explosion. ¡Lance yelled "Aaaaah!"

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"Aaaaah!" Lance screamed and sit on the bed. He felt the need of air and he was covered in sweat; despite he was cold. His chest hurt and he leaned against the wall. His breathing was out of control, and he couldn't stop crying… What was that? A dream? No… It was real. The Omega Shield… Allura, he had tried to save her, but doing so… a shiver ran through his body and he felt worse. He coulnd't control his breathing, not even his tears. He felt alone… he was scared… he was alone…

"Lance…"

"Aaah!" He yelled again, but this time he was surprised. He had heard somebody being in his room. "Wha- what!? Who!" He looked around him, but there was no one inside. Lance laughed hysterically. "I'm just getting crazy…"

"Lance…"

He was scared again, but he stayed silent. This time he was sure he had listened a voice.

"Lance… come…"

It was a deep voice. It was far, and yet, close. It was coming from somewhere in the room.

"I am here…"

Lance looked around to find the source of the voice. Though, he could've turned the lights on. He got out of the bed and walked slowly. Alert to… whatever could happen.

"Lance… Lance… Lance…" The voice was getting clearer. Fearful, but lead by curiosity, Lance discovered that the voice came from the closet. He reached the door and opened it, but the darkness was so deep. He decided to turn the lights on and returned to the closet, only to meet his own reflection in the mirror. Lance sighed and rubbed his face. This was the third nightmare of the week. The others wouldn't take that long to realize he wasn't sleeping well. If he just…

"Lance…"

He panicked and stepped back. Lance was looking to his own reflection, except he wasn't obeying to his movements anymore. He was standing, watching from the shadows, with some shiny purple eyes.

"Lance… don't be afraid…"

Lance got closer to the mirror, still not sure if he was dreaming or not. He reached to the mirror and touched the crystal. "Is this real?"

"It is…"

"Who are you?"

"I… am a friend…" The Beast raised his hand so it could be as Lance's, and smiled at him.

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