Keith's ship landed in the bay and he hopped out quickly, scanning his friends for anything peculiar or out of place. There was nothing out of the ordinary, except for the tenseness in the atmosphere and the lack of happiness in everyone's expressions, Lance's especially.

He knew that the Red lion had stopped working for Lance, and he knew that the team needed him to take back his place as red paladin as soon as possible.

The Voltron Coalition was cracking in places. The cracks needed to be filled, and that couldn't happen without Voltron's right arm.

It was awkward. Nobody knew what to say. Lance was the one who always broke tension with puns or really bad flirting, but now, he was silent. Refusing to meet Keith's eyes.

"... Uh... How was your journey?" Allura asked politely, forcing a smile.

"It was fine, but... what happened with the Red Lion?"

It was a silly question. He had already been told. He was just fillings the silence.

Lance repositioned his shoulders in a more slouched fashion and tried not to look too hurt.

"It stopped responding to Lance. At this point in time, it is vital to be able to form Voltron, so, we called for you immediately." Shiro explained.

Keith sighed, and nodded.

"It would be best if we did this quickly. If Red decides to ignore you too, then, it would be better to know sooner."

He nodded again, marching off to find his paladin armour. Something he hadn't worn for quite a while now.

When he returned, ready to enter the lion, Lance was feeling very conflicted. Of course, he had the team's best interests at heart, and wanted the lion to work for Keith, but another, darker, side of him, wanted it to reject Keith as well. At least, then, he wouldn't be alone. He wouldn't feel so outcast and solitary, and even better, the Lion could be to blame after all, not him.

It was selfish and stupid, he knew, but he couldn't help it. He hated this.

Keith walked steadily up the ramp and into the control centre, taking a deep breath.

The team, stood outside, did the same.

'Don't work...' Lance thought 'Please don't work...'

'Please work...' Keith thought 'Please can you work...'

He reached for the controls, calm and composed, slightly worried, but hopeful.

Voltron had to be functional. To be back on the team again would be great.

Lance closed his eyes and tried to reach out to the lion. Even though he wasn't in it, he thought that he might have a tiny chance to stop Keith from grabbing its allegiance.

'I can pilot you just as well as Keith can... I promise I can... please believe me...'

'I piloted you before... will you let me pilot you again?'

'What changed? Nothing... please... consider me. I can do it. You've seen... I can fly you well... right, Red?'

The rivalry was back, two sides playing tug of war and not even knowing it.

'C'mon Red... don't work for Keith... he can go back to the blade... I can't... I need you...'

'Voltron needs me. The blade is important, but not as much as this team. You have to work for me.'

He reached down and ... to Lance's extreme disappointment and devastation, the moment that Keith's fingers brushed the controls, they reacted. Lighting up, whirring into action, running as smoothly as ever.

The other team members were happy. Thank god, Voltron would be able to work. Thank god, they could still fight back against the Galra Empire.

To Lance, it was like a bullet to the head. Everything stopped working for a little while, trying to work around what had happened.

It had worked for Keith... so... there wasn't anything wrong with the Lion. There was something wrong with him.

Seventh Wheel. Seventh Wheel.

Lance just stared as the lion sat up, letting out a roar, and he felt like it was teasing him.

'You aren't as good as Keith. You will never be as good as Keith.'

Seventh Wheel. Maybe it wasn't true when it first occurred to him, but now it was. Oh, now it definitely was.

Not first. Not second. Not third, fourth, fifth, nor sixth. Seventh. In a 100 person race, that ranking wouldn't be bad....

Though...

This was a seven person race. Worse, it wasn't even a race. Lance was thrown out of the competition before he could even compete.

He'd been replaced by someone he once called rival.

Great. He was finally coming to terms with Keith and accepting that they didn't have to fight all the time... and then this happened.

He knew it wasn't his fault, but how could he ever forgive him for this?

Keith had gone and taken the one thing that validated him in this life. This scary, hidden life in space...

What was he to do now?

Keith walked out of the Lion and was met with smiles and congratulations, and nobody noticed Lance walking away.

Nobody but Keith.

He turned to Lance and found him nowhere, looking to the distance and watching his depressed, slumped figure pass through a doorway and disappear.

"This is great! We can finally make our plans to fix the coalition! Everyone, this way. We need to talk." Shiro proposed happily, oblivious to Lance's absence.

Keith almost said something, but brushed it away.

Lance would probably be fine.

Probably.

Later on, Keith went around to Lance's room to get his Bayard, cautiously knocking on the door and hearing frantic shuffling from inside.

Eventually, the door opened, revealing a rather disheveled Lance, with red eyes and messy hair. It looked like he had been crying.

"What do you want."

His voice was so hurt and blank that Keith felt a strong urge to just hug him and comfort him, but, they weren't even friends, really. It would be weird.

"... My Bayard... I need it."

"Oh..."

It seemed like Lance had expected something else, but none the less turned around and fetched it for him, handing it over slightly hesitantly.

"There. You can go now."

He went back into the room and the door closed, leaving Keith alone in the corridor.

Yeah, he had been crying. Keith didn't know what to do. He had never been great with people, upset people especially.

So, he just walked away.

He had hoped that his first interaction with Lance after he return would be.... more happy? More... heartfelt? Was that the right word? Keith didn't know.

Lance would be fine. He just had to do was come to terms with what happened and accept it... but Keith had a bad feeling that Lance wouldn't bounce back so easily this time.

A bad feeling, that Lance wasn't going to be ok, at all.