*yo this was supposed to be a full fic but I gave up on it. have the first chapter revised to be a one shot :) it's Keith's pov*

*Edit: I wrote this when only the first two seasons were out (I think) so it's not canon compliant. It's post-war, having just won the final battle, but they're still in space. Pidge hadn't found her family yet in the show so I gave her them in this fic. Also, some people got mad at the ending, please read the note at the end and let me explain.*

TW/ brain trauma and amnesia

(3465 words)

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"Lance!! Look out!" I screamed out to him.

"Wh-wha-?" He was too late.

He got hit.

I tried to run to him.

I was too late.

They kept hitting him.

"LANCE!!!!" I finally made it to him and took out the guy who hurt him.

I looked down at him.

Blood.

Blood everywhere.

"Oh my god! Lance!! Shiro, help!!! Lance, please be okay! Lance!!!"

"Lance!" I woke up screaming his name, sitting up right in bed. I looked around, catching my breath. Then I remembered. That dream was a memory from two weeks ago..

Lance really did get hurt.. He's still in the pod, still healing from getting beaten within an inch of his life.

"Damn it.." I grumbled, rubbing my head, "That dumbass is even in my dreams now.."

I talked bad about him but honestly, I was worried sick. And I felt guilty.. If I had been just a few minutes faster.. If I would've called to him just a few seconds earlier.. I could've saved him... He wouldn't be clinging to his life right now..

I sighed and stood up, deciding I wasn't going to get any more sleep for the night. I got ready for the day before going to the kitchen to get some food goo. I took my bowl of food goo with me as I went to check on Lance. This is how it's gone every morning for two weeks. I wake up at some ungodly hour, get some food goo, and go check on him. The first few days were the hardest.. When his injuries were the worst.. It hurt to look at him. But now he looks good as new. So we're all thinking he should come out any day now. Matt especially, Pidge's brother. She finally got her family back.

I walked over to his pod and sat down in front of it. He really did look like nothing had ever happened. He had taken so many blows to the head that he was almost unrecognizable before.. But now he's fine. Thanks to the pod, he's made a full recovery in two weeks. It's pretty cool if you think about it.

I was just finishing my breakfast when I heard small footsteps walking into the room, "Hey, Pidge.." I looked over at her.

She smiled and sat down next to me, "I knew you'd be here.. I was just talking to Matt. He was medically trained back on Earth. Me, him, and Allura are thinking Lance should've come out by now.. So we're thinking of putting in an override to take him out today. Allura thinks the pod is malfunctioning and keeping him in longer than necessary."

I couldn't help but smile, "Really? So you guys think he's okay?"

"Yeah. And if he's not then we simply put him back in. Thanks to Matt's medical training, we have something close to a doctor now. Someone who's familiar with the human body specifically. Lance is in good hands." She said before looking up at him, we both did, "I know you feel responsible.. But it wasn't your fault.. You did everything you could to help him. You warned him, you ran to him as fast as you could, and you called for help. You got there just in time to save his life.. I don't think he would've survived another hit..."

I sighed and looked down, "He wouldn't have.. He barely survived this.."

She pat my back, "But he did survive. That's all that matters. And thanks to the pod, he doesn't have a scratch on him. So stop thinking about what could've gone differently, and start thinking about how excited he'll be when we tell him we finally defeated the Galra."

I smiled and looked at her, "Yeah, you're right.."

"I'm just glad you two worked out your little rivalry before all this.." She laughed a bit.

I rolled my eyes, "That was completely one-sided. It was my own fault but it was all on his end."

"What do you mean it was your fault?" She raised her eyebrow.

"He started the rivalry with me because he was tired of me being better at him at everything. Apparently, even after I dropped out, the Garrison instructors were rubbing me in his face. Saying he was only there because I dropped out. And then Shiro was choosing me for stuff all the time. Lance just felt so shoved aside.. I get why he hated me, why he thought I hated him. I was rude to him. But we had a bit of a bonding moment and everything was fine. We worked it all out." I shrugged a bit.

She nodded, "Yeah.. I get it... He's more insecure than he would care to admit.. That stuff probably really got under his skin."

I sighed and nodded, "And he's a stubborn ass hole and decided to make me his enemy instead of just talking to me about it."

We both laughed a bit as two more sets of footsteps entered the room, "There you are, Katie."

"Hey, Matt, Allura," Pidge replied as we both looked over at them.

"I told you she went looking for Keith." Allura smiled and looked at Pidge, "Did you tell him the good news?"

Pidge nodded, "Yup. Did you tell the others?"

Matt nodded, "Dad is now. They should all be here any minute. Then we can wake Lance up."

I smiled, "We're waking him up now?"

"Yes, he should've come out days ago." Allura said, walking over to the pod's control panel.

Soon enough, Sam, Shiro, Hunk, and Coran came into the room. Allura put in the override command and the pod opened up. I stood next to the pod and caught him when he fell out. His eyes fluttered open and he looked confused as he looked around the room.

"Wh-what.. wh-where am I? What happened?" He asked, rubbing his head.

I helped him sit down, "You're in the castle. You got beat up really bad. Like really bad.. But you're better now."

He still looked confused, "C-Castle? What?"

Allura kneeled down beside us, "Lance, are you alright? You seem confused."

He scrunched up his eyebrows a bit, "Who's Lance? Who are you?"

I felt my heart stop as I looked down at him. He had to have been joking, right?

I chuckled a bit, "Real funny, Lance. But now isn't the time for pranks, we have to make sure you're okay."

"I-I'm not.. I'm not pranking.. Am I Lance? Do I play pranks a lot?" He looked around at all of us.

I looked up as Shiro as he kneeled in front of us, "Yeah, you're Lance.. Do you remember anything?"

Oh god. Shiro believes it so it has to be true! Lance doesn't even know his own name!!

"Um.. I don't know.. I can't remember anything... I, uh, I actually remember being in a lot of pain and hearing someone shouting.. I think they were shouting my name.. Lance... And, uh.. One other name... Is one of you Shiro?" He tilted his head a bit.

Shiro nodded, "I'm Shiro.. I think you're remembering when you got hurt and Keith called out to me for help. That's Keith." Shiro pointed to me.

Lance nodded, taking it in, "Oh... There's a lot of you.." He looked around at all of us.

"Yeah, nine of us if you include yourself." Pidge said, "We're all a team. My name is Katie but you always called me Pidge."

Lance titled his head, "Like a pigeon?"

We all laughed, even Pidge, "Yeah, something like that."

Shiro stood again and made room for Matt to come over, "Hey, Lance. I'm Matt, Pidge is my sister. Do you mind if I look at your head? Just to make sure there isn't still an injury we don't know about."

Lance nodded, "O-Okay."

Matt took a good look at Lance's head, making sure that he was completely healed, "I don't see any remaining wounds.." he sighed, stepping back.

"What do you think that means?" I asked him.

He shrugged, "My best guess is that the blows to the head caused brain damage.. Even though he's healed completely on the outside, he may have some more healing to do on the inside. And then there's the possibility that he's healed on the inside already and this is just something the pod can't heal.. I'll have to do some tests to be sure.."

Shiro nodded, "Do whatever you have to do.."

Allura pat Lance's shoulder, "You need to eat.. I can have someone help you back to your room so you can change while Hunk makes you some food."

"Hunk?" Lance asked, still needing to learn all our names.

Hunk walked over, "That's me. I make the food around here because you guys decided I'm the best cook. Me and you have been friends for a long time.."

Lance nodded, "Oh, okay." He looked back at Allura, "What's your name?"

Allura smiled, "I'm Princess Allura, this is my castle. And over there, that's Coran. He's a dear friend of mine, he used to be an advisor to my father. And that's Sam, Pidge's and Matt's father. I'm pretty sure you've been told everyone else's names."

Lance nodded, looking around again, "Shiro, Pidge, Matt, Sam, Coran, Hunk, Allura, and Keith?" He pointed to everyone as he said their names, ending with me.

I nodded, "Yup, that's it. And you're Lance."

"Okay.. I think I want to change my clothes now.. I'm cold." He wrapped his arms around himself.

I nodded and helped him stand up again, "I'll show you to your room. The layout of the castle can be a bit confusing sometimes so make sure you're always with one of us until you get used to it all."

He nodded and let me lead him out of the room. He stumbled a bit so I held on to him, "Hey, are we friends?"

"Eh, define friends?" I bit my lip.

He shrugged, "Like, we trust each other and are there for each other. And not because we have to be, but because we want to be."

I sighed, "Me and you.. We didn't really get along too well.. You said I was your rival.. But a little bit before you got hurt, we talked out our differences. We've always been team mates but I don't think we were really friends until about a week before this happened to you."

He nodded, "Well, I guess it's water under the bridge at this point.. I get a fresh start with everyone. I have to start over with everything. Even my friendships."

"Yeah, I guess so. I just wonder..if you're the same... Memories and experiences build who we become. And if you don't have any of those..." I looked at him.

He looked down, "I don't know who I was.. I barely even know my own name.. How am I supposed to know if I'm the same."

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter. You can be whatever kind of person you want. As long as you're not a total jerk, then I'm pretty sure everyone will accept a new you. As long as you're happy and comfortable with who you are." I smiled at him as he looked up at me.

"Thank you.. That helps..." He smiled back at me.

We reached his room and I opened the door for him, "This is your room. I'll wait in the hall for you so I can take you to the dining room. Take as much time as you need."

He nodded and walked into the room, "Thank you. Uh, how do I close the door?" He looked at the controls and tilted his head.

I chuckled and pointed to the right button, "It takes some getting used to."

He nodded and giggled a bit before closing the door. I sighed and leaned against the wall, "This is so weird.." I whispered to myself.

Pidge walked over as I waited for Lance, "Matt just went over some scans from when Lance was in the pod. Apparently, Lance's brain swelled up and was pressing against his skull.. The swelling has gone down but the pressure caused some damage.. The pod kept him in to try to fix it but the damage is irreversible.." she sighed.

"And that damage is memory loss..." I looked up at the ceiling, "He's worried that because he doesn't know who he was that he'll be different now and we won't like him anymore.."

"Well, what did you tell him after he said that?" She leaned against the wall with me.

"I told him that as long as he's not a dick we'd all accept him whether he was the old Lance or not. He smiled and said that helped him." I looked over at her, "He also asked if I was his friend.."

She snorted a bit, "And how did that blow over?"

I shrugged, "Pretty good actually. I told him that we didn't always get along. I told him that he called me his enemy. But I also told him that we were always a team and ended up working out our differences about a week before he got hurt."

She nodded, "How'd he react to that?"

"He said it was water under the bridge. He says he has to start over, and that means start over all his relationships. Me and him are starting on a clean slate." I smiled a bit.

Lance came out of his room, wearing his usual outfit, "Hey, what's this?" He held up his bayard.

Pidge chuckled a bit, "That's your bayard. It's your weapon. It turns into a gun, you're our sharp shooter."

He looked at it, "Oh wow, that's really cool!" He laughed a bit before going to put it back. Then he came back out and closed his door, "Oh, where am I from? I saw something written in Spanish and I understood what it was. Plus my skin is darker than yours."

I nodded, "You're from Cuba. English isn't your first language but you're pretty fluent. You lived in the U.S. with us back on earth so you had to learn English."

He titled his head, "We're not on earth?"

"Nope. Right now we're traveling through space." Pidge smiled at him, "It's pretty cool."

He nodded, "Yeah, that's super cool! Why are we out here though?"

"We were fighting a war." I answered, "There's an alien race called the Galra and they wanted to take over the universe. We just defeated them. You got hurt in the final battle."

"Ohh." He nodded, "That's awesome!"

Pidge chuckled and pat his back, "We can tell you more later. Let's get you fed."

"Okay." Lance smiled as we started to lead him to the dining room, "So the princess is an alien right? I saw her pointy fairy ears."

I nodded, "Yup. She and Coran are Alteans. They're the last of their kind. Their planet, Altea, was destroyed 10,000 years ago. They only survived because they were put in sleeping pods."

"Ohhh, that's cool. She looks like a pretty fairy princess. But she's actually a pretty alien princess." He giggled.

Pidge rolled her eyes, "Yeah we know how pretty you think she is. You started flirting with her the second you met her."

Lance thought for a moment, "That's weird. Because I don't think I'm into girls.."

Pidge's eyes widened, "You're gay??"

I was definitely surprised to hear this, "I've never seen you flirt with a boy. Like, ever. But you flirt with every girl you see."

Lance shrugged, "Maybe I was hiding it."

"That'd explain him flirting with every pretty girl he lays his eyes on.. Trying too hard to hide it." Pidge pointed out.

I nodded as we walked into the dining room. Everyone was waiting for us.

Shiro walked over, "Hunk is making your favorite meal right now. It's going to take longer than we thought." He laughed softly.

Lance nodded, "That's okay~oh cool your arm!"

Shiro smiled and held his hand out so Lance could get a better look, "It's alien technology. I can use it as a weapon too." His hand started to glow purple.

Lance looked completely fascinated, "That's awesome!!"

Shiro's hand went back to normal, "It can be. Hey, do you want to know something?"

Lance nodded his head quickly, "Yeah!"

"I lost my memories too. I didn't lose all of them as you did, only about one year of my life was gone." He smiled at him.

Lance tilted his head, "Did you ever get them back?"

"Some of them. They come one at a time. I don't know if I'll ever get them all back.. But we just have to have faith that our memories will come back. We also have to accept it if they don't." He put his human hand on Lance's shoulder.

Lance looked down, "If I don't get my memories back then I won't be the same person you remember.. I know I'm different without them.."

"That's okay. People change all the time. That's just human nature. If you don't get your memories back, then that's fine. You're still our team mate and our friend, our family even. No matter what."

Lance looked up again, sniffling a bit, "Thank you.."

I think I like this new Lance... He's just like he was before but more.. open. Honest. Not trying to hide anything, not trying to overcompensate. He's a version of himself that doesn't feel he needs to hide who he truly is. This is who he truly is...

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

"Keeiithh, wake up~" I heard an angelic voice whisper to me in my sleep. I opened my eyes to see the source if the voice was my equally angelic boyfriend.

I smiled at him, "Hey, Lancey.." I sat up and kissed him softly.

He frowned, "You gotta get up, we're going out today."

I nodded and stood up, "Right, right. Give me a minute." I walked out of the room and to the bathroom.

Lance is my boyfriend now, we live together on a small, peaceful planet. It's been a year since the war ended. We decided not to go back to earth, I had no family there and he had no memories of his family. He didn't want to go back to a family he didn't know, saying he might as well have no family at all. He never got a single memory back. But that's okay, sometimes I see the old him show through in the best of ways.

"Keith, hurry!!" he whined from our bedroom. He couldn't leave the planet alone because he didn't have the blue lion anymore. She rejected him after the loss of his memories and Allura became the new blue paladin. But that's fine, I still have Red and the war is over so we don't really need Voltron. We just still have bonds with our lions so they came with us to our separate corners of the universe. But if we can't pilot them anymore, they go back to Allura and the Castle of Lions.

"Okay, let's go." I walked out of the bathroom to see Lance laying on the floor with his legs on the bed.

"Finally!" he quickly stood up and grabbed my hand, pulling me out the door.

The planet we're on right now is like earth in some ways, there's nice plant life and we live by a huuuge blue lake. It's actually blue. The water isn't clear. But it's fine, it's safe and Lance loves it. He loves swimming and looking at the pink sky, it's pink on this planet. He loves all the colors. We chose this planet because it has so many things he loves, I lived in a desert shack so I'm not picky about where I live. I'm happy if he is.

We walked to the red lion and got in, soon taking off and flying into space. I told Lance I'd take him to see our friends today. We all planned to meet up because Lance missed them, they were all happy to agree. We all missed each other, he was just the first of us to say something since our last meet up.

Allura opened separate wormholes for us all and we made it to our meeting place in no time. Planet Arus, where it all began. The people there were always happy to let us meet there, considering we sorta saved the universe.

Once we landed, Lance ran out. I laughed and followed after him. He ran to give everyone hugs, them all happily hugging him back. We were the last to arrive because I had overslept.

This is it..

This is our family.

*ahh I sorta don't like how this turned out but idk how to make it any better so just take it*

*Edit: Okay, so I got a lot of shit for Lance not returning to Earth and going to see his family. It was his choice to stay in space. I had a long paragraph about how they tried to take him home but he didn't want to go back to a family he didn't know. The paragrah explained how everyone spent their time after the war. But it didn't fit right so I cut it out. Don't murder me. I got a comment saying it was cruel and they were keeping him away from his family. But it. was. Lance's. decision. Okay??? I added a line saying that so hopefully I won't get more hate for it.*