~ Lance ~

It was hard to run through the dark hallways. I kept banging into walls but there was no time to carefully work out where I was running to. Keith couldn't hold of that creepy little ghost child forever. And if she possessed him and he died, he'd come back to haunt me and I'd have to deal with two ghosts for the rest of my life. Which I didn't really want.

I bashed into another wall. "Ouch, ouch, ouch..."

I squinted, trying to recognise where I was. Hold up...the bridge was here. Just down a bit and hallelujah, I'd be reunited with the others.

I walked down, feeling around for the entrance. Got it. Thank the lord, praise him, amen.

I began banging on it frantically. "Hey! You guys still in there?! Hello?!"

No reply.

I pressed my ear against the door. Nothing.

Holy crap, had the ghost gotten them already?

Hunk...Pidge...Shiro...Allura...Coran...

No, no, no, no.

Hunk was too pure, Pidge was a frickin super hacker, Shiro had survived a year trapped on an alien ship, Allura was a freaking princess and people like Coran just don't die. It'd take a lot more than a ghost to kill those five.

I hoped.

~ Keith ~

I ran out of the room, down the hallway as fast as I could. This was all getting a bit out of hand.

Every time I took my eyes off her and she disappeared, she'd reappear with a new weapon. She'd gone from scissors to a dagger to a hammer since Lance had left. She wasn't saying anything except those same words over and over: "play with me".

No offence but no. I will not.

I bashed into something.

"Oof!"

"Ow!"

"Keith?"

"Lance?"

"Where's the ghost?!"

"Where are the others?!"

"Um, bit of a problem...I can't find them."

"You can't what?!"

"I can't find them! Keith, what's going on?!"

"How should I know?!"

"Where's the ghost?! Did you seriously run away?!"

"Don't blame me, you had the easier job!" I inhaled shakily, trying to calm myself. "Look, arguing like this isn't going to get us anywhere. We need some kind of a plan."

"Okay, fine," he sighed. "Any ideas?"

"How about we both get to our lions and-"

"No! Don't you know the first rule of horror movies?! Never split up!"

"Okay, fine, Red is faster so we'll-"

"Why won't you play with me?"

We both jumped and I gripped Lance's hand. The little girl was walking down the hall towards us, her creep ghostly aura lighting up the hall. She was now holding a large carving knife.

"Keith. Lance. Come play with me."

"Come on, to the lions, quick!"

Lance began running and I followed him. "R-Right!"

We turned the corner.

The ghost girl was waiting for us.

"Turn back!" Lance yelled.

We tried a different direction. The ghost girl was there once again, blocking our path.

"Turn back again!" He shrieked.

"This isn't working!"

"What are we gonna do?!"

I frantically scanned the hall. There had to be something, anything we could do...

I didn't see her. But I heard her voice.

"You won't play with me. I was a good girl, I was nice. I don't want to play nice anymore."

Lance wailed and clung to me. "We're all gonna die!"

I saw something then. A thin, narrow door.

I didn't know where the hell it led or if it would even lead anywhere but I was certain I'd rather be in there than out here with a terrifying ghost child.

I grabbed Lance's hand, pulled the door open and yanked him inside with me.

It was a small narrow room, barely enough space for the two of us. Our foreheads were touching. I could feel his breath on my face as he could probably feel mine on his. We were still gripping each other's hands tightly.

I struggled to find the words. There was something I wanted to say but I didn't even know what it was.

"Lance..." I whispered.

"Yeah?" He whispered back.

Come on, don't think, just say whatever you want to say...

"Lance, I just want you to know that no matter what I've said, I never really hated you."

"Keith, I used your bayard to unclog a toilet."

"You did what?!" I shrieked.

He hastily slapped his hand over my mouth but it was too late.

The door creaked open.

The girl was standing there, a scythe in her hand.

"You wouldn't play with me."

I swung at her and she glitched and disappeared. Damn, damn, damn...how we were supposed to get rid of her if she kept vanishing every time we almost had her?

Lance and I ran down the corridor as fast as we could. I glared at him. "When did you use my bayard to unclog a toilet?!"

"This is so not the time!"

"Answer me!"

"Coran was making me and Hunk clean and we broke the plunger so we just borrowed it, there, are you happy?!"

"No, why would you-"

"We're even, you made me hit me head off the floor last night! That still hurts!"

I sighed. "I'm sorry I threw a pillow at you. It's just that you didn't seem like you would ever stop talking and I panicked."

"Okay, thank y...hold on, you just turned that apology into an insult!"

"Grow up, I threw a soft, little pillow, you contaminated my-"

I suddenly tripped in the darkness and fell to the ground. I felt a sudden hot pain surge through my ankle. Lance stopped running.

"Keith!" He dropped onto his knees. "Are you okay?! Come on, get up, get up!"

I shook my head. "I think I sprained it. Go, get help."

He stared at me as if I was crazy. "I'm not just going to leave you here-"

I spoke through gritted teeth. "Lance, I can't walk."

"Are you finally going to play with me?"

The girl was standing at the other end of the hall. She smiling now, showing her sharp, fanged teeth. She looked creepier when smiling. It looked too big for her face.

Lance suddenly hoisted me up onto my feet and put my arm around his shoulder and wrapped his other arm around my waist. "Come on, just go as fast as you can."

I didn't budge. "L-Lance, what the hell are you thinking?! How stupid are you?! There's no way you'll be able to escape that thing if you're helping me limp around! Just go, I'll be fine!"

"Nope, nope, nope, no, not gonna happen."

I glared at him. "Do you want us both to die?"

"I don't want either of us to die. Now, shut up and walk!"

I sighed angrily and limped forward, putting all my weight against him. This wasn't going to work.

I was right. We barely even taken five steps before the ghost suddenly appeared in front of us, smiling that creepy smiling of hers. "You know, there's no way you can run away if you're protecting him."

I looked at Lance to see his reaction. I didn't get what I expected.

He squared his shoulders and looked at her right in the eyes, an eyebrow raised. "So?"

She cocked her head to the side, it swinging so loosely I thought it'd snap off and fall to the floor, still smiling. "So, I can kill you and you'll both have to play with me forever."

In one swift and sudden movement, she stepped forward, swinging the scythe.

My reaction time was all off, I couldn't process what was happening.

Lance shoved me away and I fell to the floor, rolling down the hall.

No, no, no, no...

I frantically clawed at the floor, trying to grip something, anything, I just needed to stop so I could help him.

I was too late.

I saw the scythe slash through his body.

But this is where it got weird.

The ghost started glitching and so did the scythe and Lance was just standing there, completely unharmed.

We shared a look of confusion.

The lights flickered back on and I heard the sound of Allura shouting at some people.

The ghost was gone.

Lance stared at me. "What. The. Heck. Just. Happened?"

"I'm pretty sure that wasn't a ghost at least."

Lance reached out his hand to help me up. I ignored it and pushed myself up.

"Is your ankle okay?" He asked.

"I'll live," I said grimly. "Give it a day or two and it'll be fine."

I slowly hobbled to the bridge with Lance. Now that the lights were back on and that we'd heard Allura, this didn't seem so scary anymore. I was trying to act cool and calm but inside I was cringing. I couldn't believe I'd acted so...so...

"Are you going to apologise?" I snapped.

Lance blinked at me. "For what?"

"For using my bayard for unsanitary purposes."

"It was weeks ago!"

"Doesn't change the fact that you still did it!"

He ignored me and opened the door of the bridge and we walked inside to see Allura was towering over Hunk and Pidge with that disappointed mother look.

"What were you two thinking?!"

Pidge shrugged. "It's getting annoying, watching those two fight each day and trying to deny their feelings so we decided to speed things up a bit-"

"You did what?!" I demanded.

She and Hunk jumped. I glowered at them. "Are you...telling me...that all of what just happened...was you two?!"

"Yeah."

Lance ogled at her. "What?!"

She shrugged. "You forgot your first bonding moment so we decided to give you another. And since you two can't seem to get along unless one of you almost dies, we made a ghost hologram and messed with the lights a bit-"

"I thought we were gonna die!" Lance shrieked. "I was planning out my funeral in my head!"

"I almost broke my ankle!"

"Yes, it was a very foolish thing to do." Allura hesitated. "But, do you by any chance have the footage of them together?"

"Allura!"

Pidge grinned. "Yes."

"Delete that, right now!" We both yelled.

She ignored us. "We got a lovely shot of-"

"Pidge, I swear to god..." I growled.

"Hunk, you're supposed to be my best friend!" Lance yelled in outrage. "Why would you do that?!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you'd both get so freaked out-"

"Why wouldn't we get freaked out?" I growled, clenching my fists. "You made us think we were gonna die or get possessed or maybe even worse and you expect us to be calm about this?!" I stepped forwards. "You're both the biggest-"

I suddenly fell to the ground, wincing slightly. My ankle wasn't broken but it still hurt.

"Hey, Keith!" Lance bent down to look at me. "Are you-"

I sat up, still feeling furious about this whole thing. "This is all your fault, if you would just remember bonding moments, they wouldn't have had to do that!"

I pushed myself up onto my feet, ignoring Allura's questions about my injury and glared at them all. "No one speak to me for the rest of the night if you know what's good for you."

And I stormed out the best I could.

However, the second I walked out of the room, I leant against the wall, pain throbbing through my stupid ankle. I've learnt that injuries just heal themselves after a day or two but it still hurt. I probably should've gone to the infirmary to do something about it but my pride wouldn't let me considering how furious I was with everyone. I'd manage, it didn't matter.

I began to limp off when I heard a voice behind me.

"You want any help?"

I turned around to glare at Lance. "No thanks."

"You sure you don't wanna get that checked out?"

"Leave it, Lance."

But as I walked away, a sudden realisation hit me.

Earlier, he'd...he'd really been prepared to die for me.

I shouldn't have been surprised. Lance had always been the selfless one, running into a situation before even thinking about his own life. I just hadn't thought he'd do that for me.

But he had.

I tried to shake away that guilt I was feeling. It wasn't because he was trying to be nice or anything. It did say in the paladin code that we had to put our teammates safety above our own. It wasn't like I had to be nice to him now or anything. He could be selfless, I'd be logical.

But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get rid of the guilt gnawing at my gut.

***

~ Lance ~

I sat on the counter, swinging my legs back and forth. "So, whatcha gonna make this time?"

"Please don't make more of those disgusting cookies," Pidge muttered.

Hunk glared at her grumpily. "If it wasn't for those cookies, we all could have died, you know."

"Still doesn't change the fact that they almost broke your teeth."

"They were crunchy, just how I like them," he said defensively. "And they saved us and you can't argue with that, so stop being so insensitive."

I folded my arms. "Says you, you almost gave me a heart attack yesterday!"

Pidge rolled her eyes. "Get over yourself."

I kicked her as hard as I could. "You made a hologram of creepy little ghost child, who I thought was entirely real and made her say "come play with me" and creepy stuff like that and you expect me not to be mad?!"

"You said you liked The Shining so I tried to match your preferences."

"The Shining is a movie, it wasn't real!"

"Well, maybe if you and Keith weren't constantly fighting to hide the fact that you both secretly want to-"

Hunk decided to play peacemaker. "So, you guys, whaddya think I should try this time?"

I looked at one of packets of ingredients. "Ugh, the writing is all tricky." I looked at Pidge. "Didn't you start learning Altean or something?"

Her face froze. "Yes. I did. Not a good idea."

"Why do you-"

"Any ideas, Hunk?" She interrupted.

"I was thinking maybe cupcakes-"

I suddenly gripped my head. "Oh my god!"

They stared at me. "What?"

I looked at them with huge eyes. "You bake cookies but you cook bacon."

Hunk dropped the tray he was holding and gasped. "Oh my god!"

"I know right! I'm a genius!"

Pidge groaned. "You are so delusional."

"No, I'm not!"

"Um, hey?" Someone behind us said.

Hunk and Pidge looked in the direction of the voice. I tipped my head back to see Keith standing in the doorway on the ceiling.

"How did you get up there?!"

"How did I get up where?"

Pidge sighed again. "Sit back up and just turn around."

I did as she said. "Oh. Never mind."

Keith inhaled. "Lance, can I talk to you for a second?"

I blinked. "Yeah, shoot. What's up?"

Pidge and Hunk looked very interested. Keith gave them a glance. "Alone?"

***

~ Keith ~

"Dude, I'm pretty sure we're far enough. Can you tell me what's going on?"

I sighed and turned around to face him. "I just...I never exactly..." I did not like this. "Listen, I just want to say...uh...I didn't mean to get all mad and stuff...and...thanks, I guess, for yesterday."

He blinked. "What did I do?"

"You know..." I awkwardly kicked at the ground. God, I really, really hated this. "For...not leaving me there."

He grinned. "Didn't really matter in the end, it's not like it was a real ghost. I still can't believe that they actually..."

I stopped.

Was he serious right now?

I clenched my fists as he rambled on. That idiot. Didn't he get this at all? Didn't he even understand?

It may not have been real but we'd thought it was real.

And he'd really been ready to save me.

Apart from Shiro, one had ever done that before.

None of those idiots from earth had ever cared about me. And I'd labelled Lance right along with them.

But...

"So, is this really why you dragged me out here? To say thanks? Jeez, you sure are one awkward little kid aren't you?"

My head shot up in outrage. "I'm like a year older than you!"

He grinned and leaned on my shoulder. "Last time I checked, I'm a good inch or two taller than you."

I scowled. Curse those few inches.

"A-Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. See you around."

"Hey, don't you want to join us in the kitchen? We're baking, it'll be fun."

I stopped walking and looked down. "N-No...I think I'll just...think about some stuff for a while."

And quickening my pace, I left.

__________

Absolutely no Voltron meme references were made in this chapter

What was the point of this you ask? 😂 To get Keith to start giving a damn about Lance because according to SCIENCE it's been proved that you feel obliged to form a bond with someone who saves your life or was prepared to save your life so now that that's been established the train of development can come