"Hailing the castle of lions, this is keith," Keith popped up on the main screen as lance and Allura parted the embrace.

"Keith your okay!" Lance smiled relieved of his teammate.

"Where have you been? Did you get shiro?" Allura asked smiling happily.

"I got him, but it's not the shiro we know," Keith told them sternly not letting his emotions get to him.

"The shiro that took Lotor was a clone,"

"Then Where's the real one?" Lance felt his heart drop. Since when was shiro a clone? When did it all begin..? Where did the real shiro end? It made more sense than if it was their shiro this whole time. Shiro would never tell...

"It's complicated," Keith told them without hesitation.

"I'll explain everything later but right now you need to focus on Lotor," he told them as a command. Lotor was their enemy to defeat, not a friend to rescue.

"I've picked up the sincline ships on my scanners, it looks like Lotors headed back to your position, right where you are," Keith continued as a map pulled up of tracking the ships.

Lance smiled a little to himself with hope. Lotor was coming back for him, he wasn't going to be abandoned. Lotor would never abandon him, despite the Paladins and them being allies, Lance didn't feel safe, at home or wanted. He wanted to be with Lotor instead, with the galra.

"He need to get back into the quintessence field," Allura breathed as lance glanced at her.

"I'm on my way to you now, but without a wormhole it's going to take me a while, you'll have to hole off Lotor without me," Keith's voice seemed rougher as lance noticed his face was more beat up and a burnt wound on his cheek.

"I'll handle him," lance nodded. This wasn't a command for him but lance would take it into his own hands.

"Lance your letting your feelings get in the way," Keith growled.

"I don't care, you said to hold him off, I will, if anyone would trust me I thought it'd be you," lance glared back a little. Keith was silent for a moment.

"Do what you can, but be ready for a fight, don't let your guard down," Keith sighed giving in a little and lance nodded frowning as the screen went away.

"Will you trust me?" Lance looked at Allura after a moment of silence.

"Of course, only if you trust me," Allura looked at him and gulped a little.

"Don't give me a reason not too," lance walked away to go to their lions as Allura followed behind him. Feeling her neck heat up anxiously looking at lance, feeling everything she's kept become more and more of a burden.

——

"Accessing the quintessence field has been Lotors singular drive for millennia, he wants to harness the power for himself but we cannot let him," Allura told the other Paladins and quickly muted lance out of the conversation for a moment.

"On my call, we attack, with or without lance, he is driven by his affection for Lotor," she told pidge and hunk in one breath.

"You sure?" Pidge asked softly knowing the past of this team. It felt wrong when they were starting to build trust again.

"Of course, hunk you with me?" Allura asked.

"I'm here to fight, but I'm not fighting our personal battles whatever you have against lance," hunk frowned as there wasn't as much kindness in his eyes.

Allura pursed her lips and brought lance back in as he didn't notice the few seconds of silent.

"There's only one way into the quintessence field, the gate," Allura looked at Lances screen as the lions lit up and activated.

"We must destroy it," she nodded.

"Before we talk?" Lance asked confused.

"We cannot let Lotor feel the addiction of the quintessence," Allura told him.

"That's not how they work.." lance made a face not believing her.

"Trust me, please," she asked gulping back her guilt build up and put it behind her.

"Then let's go I guess," lance sighed as they all took off to the inter reality gate where they could either meet Lotor within moments or destroy it.

——

Lotor and the girls flew in their ships to the castle as they followed the tracker.

"Zethrid, ezor, my apologies to lying to you both, but in order for me to gain the Paladins trust and believe we were at odds, it had to be done," Lotor told the two calmly as he lead the ships.

"Does lance know this much?" Zethrid asked.

"He knows of Axca and I's interaction, but nor to either of us know that you disappeared during the Kral Zera, to work with Hagar," Lotor glared a little.

"Orders were to lay low," Axca told him.

"Her offer lead us to regaining respect of the empire," she explained.

Lotor felt something prick inside him at that, they trusted that witch. It sparked something deep in his chest.

"I'm just glad we're on your side again, all of us together again is great, like old times!" Ezor smiled brightly as she held controls.

"As long as I get to blow something up I'm good, there's been a lot less of my favorite activity lately," Zethrid smirked.

"Excellent, today we will gain access to unlimited quintessence, regain the empires power and trust, and together we all usher in a new era of power," Lotor smiled proudly.

——

The lions circled around the gate as Allura had a glare of determination as she looked at the machine that could end it all.

"Are you sure about this?" Lance asked unsure.

"We must, it's the only way," Allura told him hoping for lance to stop questioning her. She pushed the levers and triggered the lions beams as one by one they all shot at the inter reality gate to destroy it. The beamed going through the gate and through the planet.

And they succeeded...

The small victory felt more of a burden watching it explode in front and another go off at the other side of the galras planet, and lance felt fear strike him as he realized what theyve done.

"No this is wrong," lance shook his head.

"We should've waited, now it'll damn near impossible to avoid a fight," he looked at the others concerned.

"... you were going to fight Lotor either way weren't you?" He noticed how Allura didn't look effected by her doing.

Lance looked back at Lotors Home planet that was already dead but now was destroyed more into ruins. He didn't like it anymore.

"What's the plan? Lotor will be here any second," pidge inhaled deeply.

"Castle of lions is broken down so there's no help there," Allura told them frowning. "And the black lion isn't here so we can't form voltron,"

"And you didn't think about that before we destroyed this?!" Hunk snapped a little as lance was to quiet.

"Well just have to do what we can," Allura shot a look at him.

"Attempt to survive, got it," lance closed his eyes.

He couldn't help but feel so lost... looking like a paladin but had the heart of a general. Even when he didn't want to fight anymore...