by Kaie Darkstar
Go-Lion is copyright Toei Animation; Lion Force Voltron is copyright World Events Productions, and the characters belong to them. This is a piece of fan fiction produced by a little kid's overheated imagination. Please don't sue!
"Feel better?" a soft voice asked.
Lance scrubbed at his eyes blearily. It didn't help; even without the tears blurring his vision, the room was pitch black. Keith hadn't turned on the light when he'd come in. "Not really," Lance said.
It wasn't really gracious of him to say that, considering that Keith had just spent the last few hours letting him cry on his shoulder. His normally crisp uniform had a wet spot to show for it. But Lance hadn't been drastically improved by his crying fit. "A little, I guess," he allowed.
"Want to talk?"
"No ... "
Lance didn't really know what to say. His emotions were still very much in turmoil -- well, it wasn't every day that a woman he thought loved him betrayed his team to the enemy. He wasn't sure if he were angry, or simply saddened. He just didn't know what to think anymore.
Keith put an arm around his shoulders, giving him a light hug. "Maybe later?"
"Yeah, I guess. Maybe."
Keith's hold on him tightened briefly, then he let go. "So long as it's some time." He paused, an odd new note in his voice as he put his arm back around Lance. "I just wish I could have been a better friend for you this time. I've failed you."
"I don't understand what you're talking about ..."
"I should have realized that Miara was a spy," Keith said, very quietly. "Now that I think about it, there were definitely signs that I should have noticed. But I thought everything would be fine, since she made you so happy."
Lance let out a ragged breath. "Skipper, you're absolutely nuts sometimes, did you know that?"
"Mm?"
"Let me tell you, if you had gone nosing about in my private affairs, I would've clipped you a good one," Lance said, still not quite believing that Keith was blaming himself for letting the spy so close to their lions. "I was too infatuated with her. I thought I loved her. If you'd come up to me and said she was connected with Lotor, I wouldn't have believed you."
"That bad?" Keith asked. "I ... I'm sorry."
He shook his head. "Keith, honestly, you have no fault in this." He had the sneaking suspicion that his captain didn't even know what it was like to fall in love. Aside from being abashed by Allura's occasional signs gratitude, he was singularly disinterested in romantic interludes. Lance thought that a pity. It'd sure liven up the castle gossip, he thought. Or, to be more accurate, it would start up some decent gossip.
"Did ... did you really love her?"
Lance considered that. "I was blinded by her beauty, that much I know." Miara had definitely been one of the better-looking women to enter his life. "It was probably just infatuation. But she showed so much interest in what I did, too, I thought she really liked me."
A sigh. "She was just using you, Lance. I'm so sorry."
He almost laughed, a coarse bark of his usual peals of amusement emerging from his throat. "Listen to you! You're more depressed about this than I am." He felt a grin twist his lips. "Lighten up, skipper. I'll get over it. It's not the first time I've had to deal with a broken heart. Besides, this time there's actually something to take it out on." He was referring to the robot Prince Lotor had built with the information gleaned from the spy. Voltron had come out victorious in the last battle, but since it had been designed with Voltron's weaknesses in mind, it was more than likely the robot would be repaired and sent to fight them again. It was just a matter of time, and the next time, Lance swore, he'd have his revenge.
Keith's hand gave his shoulder one last pat, then fell away. "That's better. Now, let's get some sleep, ne?"
The bed creaked as Keith rose. "Okay, skipper. Good night."
Lance heard a click as he lay back down on his bed, and jerked. "What -- "
"I turned your alarm off. It's late; you may as well sleep in tomorrow. We won't need you right away."
"Oh." He paused. "Thank you, Keith."
"You're welcome," he heard Keith's voice say, and then the door closed behind him.
Keith forcibly restrained a shriek of sheer frustration as he eased Lance's door shut and leaned back against it. Lance needed sleep, needed rest and some time to put some distance between himself and the events of the day. He did not need to be alerted to his captain's own problems.
Problems such as the difficulty involved in holding his dear friend for hours and not being able to be anything more than a friend...
"Bad?" a familiar voice asked.
He looked up sharply too see the princess seated in a chair a little ways down the hall. "No, Lance will be all right," he reassured her. Realizing that his grimace had probably given her the wrong impression, he hastened to give a plausible explanation. "I'm sorry, it's just been such a hectic day. I'm tired. I wanted to be asleep yesterday."
Thankfully, the princess took him at his word. "Well, now that I know he's all right, I'll let you get some sleep too."
He gave her a sketchy farewell and turned to his own room. He was glad she cared; she hadn't approved of Lance even talking to Miara, but apparently she wasn't directing that resentment toward Lance, or she wouldn't have stayed up.
A sour frown appeared on the reflection of himself in the small mirror on his wall. He snarled silently, then stripped out of his damp uniform. As if I had approved of their relationship.
He hadn't been telling Lance the entire truth back there.
He had missed the warning signs about Miara because he was too busy being jealous of her.
Keith pulled on his pajamas with almost enough force to tear the worn cloth. It didn't help that Allura was being obviously concerned about Lance.
That boy has too many girls drooling for his attention.
He exhaled in a huge sigh, forcing himself to calm down somewhat before hiding himself under his covers. He could think of any number of reasons for women to like Lance -- he was handsome, he had a wiry sense of humor, and he simply had a certain flair about him. It was entirely reasonable that Lance would return the girls' attention, too. It really wasn't anything particularly out of the ordinary.
Right. The only thing out of the ordinary is me.
Why, oh WHY did I have to fall in love with my second-in-command?
"Keith, you look terrible," Hunk said, leaning over to get a better look at his captain's bloodshot eyes.
"Thanks, Hunk," Keith said, his voice slightly raspy. "That really makes me feel better."
The stocky pilot flushed darkly. "I didn't mean it like that, captain. I meant you should take a nap or something, before you fall on your face and dent the computer keyboard."
"That keyboard's survived worse."
"That's not the point. You're going to fall asleep in the middle of a fight if you keep on working fourteen hour days."
"I would never -- "
"Sure, you wouldn't want to, but you're pushing yourself too far." Hunk glared, hoping the lamplight was bright enough to show just how annoyed he was at his captain. It was well past midnight, and for the past week Keith had been sequestering himself with file after file of data, both from their recent battle with the new robot and from snippets of missions that were now only legendary. Hunk didn't know where he got all the information; all he did know was that it was too much for one man to handle by himself. "Keith, listen to me. You're heading for a breakdown. You're not even eating properly."
Keith sighed. "Trust you to think of that," he said, but Hunk thought he caught a note of resignation in his voice.
"Keith. Go to bed. Please. Or I swear I'll drag you there and tie you down until you've had a proper rest."
To his surprise, the captain didn't protest. Instead, he shut down the machine he'd been using and stood up. "All right, Hunk. I will." He stumbled a little before successfully walking out of the room, but managed to turn back without any untoward incidents. "Thank you."
Just to be sure, Hunk followed him back to his room. When the door shut, he nodded with satisfaction.
"Not a bad job," Pidge said from the shadows. "You got him to quit pretty fast. I'm impressed."
Hunk nodded at the shorter pilot. "Yeah, I'm really surprised you didn't have to jump in and help." They'd agreed to let him go first to see if they could convince Keith without making it look as if his entire team were ganging up on him, but Pidge had insisted on listening in case the captain put up too much resistance.
Pidge shrugged. "It's about time he listened to somebody besides Lance."
"Don't remind me," Hunk said with a groan. Their captain was perfectly willing to listen to their suggestions on all topics save one -- any reference to his personal health fell on deaf ears. Even Allura, who'd barely stopped short of giving him a temper tantrum, couldn't persuade him to take a rest. And with Lance still seeming slightly dazed from the abrupt about-turn of his erstwhile girlfriend, there had been no one to remind Keith that he was human, and that he had limits.
"Well, at least we didn't have to go to Plan B."
He raised his eyebrows. "I wasn't aware of a Plan B, Pidge."
"Oh, you're too honorable for that. I was going to dose his coffee with some sleeping pills."
"You're incorrigible, did you know that?"
Pidge yawned. "It'd be very effective, you have to admit. Besides, it was originally Lance's idea. If I tell him that, he won't be mad. He never stays mad at Lance for very long."
Something occurred to Hunk. "He trusts Lance completely, doesn't he? They must be friends from way back."
"Didn't you know? Captain got transferred to our division late from the military. There's no way he would have met Lance more than a few days earlier than he did you or me. They just get along well, I guess."
He was slowly coming to the realization that he didn't know Keith as well as he'd thought he did. "I hadn't heard. I thought he'd been injured, and that was why he started later."
"Well, that's part of it." Pidge lowered his voice and pulled Hunk closer to their rooms, away from Keith's. "That's all they'll say officially, but he left the military very suddenly, and there was some kind of scandal. Lance wouldn't tell me any details. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if Lance does know any more than he told me."
"We're back to Lance again, aren't we?" Hunk murmured. "I hope he snaps out of that blue funk of his. I don't blame him, but the way things are going, we've got two people not working at peak efficiency. I just get the feeling that now would be a horrible time for an attack."
Pidge shrugged, ever the optimist. "We'll worry about that when it happens. Good night, Hunk."
"G'night," Hunk said, but couldn't help feeling a wisp of dread crawl up his spine.