Black's Princes
Lance’s eyes blew wide open, a gasp tearing from his lips as the final red and blue lines crested into a wave right under his black Voltron insignia. He lurched forwards, bumping into Keith and practically feeling his boyfriend’s heart start beating again. Keith gave a half-sob, squeezing Lance until his ribs let out a half-hearted crack.
“Keith…! A-ir!” Choked out Lance, and Keith let out a watery chuckle before shoving Lance back and punching him lightly in the shoulder.
“You idiot.”
Lance just shrugged, grinning as he glanced down before cocking a smirk at his boyfriend.
“Eh, I’d say my ‘idiocy’ got us some sweet upgrades.”
Keith blinked, only then thinking to glance down to see what ‘upgrades’ Black had given him. Spiked shoulder pads adorned his armor, a few additional barbs sprouting from the glowing circles on his boots like wings, and a fiery red glowed along his boots. Crimson lines crossed his armor, a few extending across his arms, and a flame lined in gold reached up to touch the edge of his chestplate’s Voltron insignia. He didn’t even have to glance up to know a golden crown, rounder curves with a red and black gem in it, was carved into his helmet either; he could see it in the reflection off of Lance’s helmet. Lance just grinned.
“These are my paladins!” Bellowed Black, growling at Zarkon’s stricken expression. “They are my choices and I would not trade them for the whole universe! And certainly not for a traitor like you!”
Keith stood as a matching pair of black earrings crystallized on his and Lance’s ears, his sword drawn. Lance crouched, pulling out his bayard, which hummed with a faint white glow to match the black one already sizzling around it. Black crouched, a growl between her teeth and golden eyes flaming as she faced down her first Paladin. “I shall never let you hurt my kits! Your reign ends here, Zarkon!”
Zarkon let out a scalding roar, his sword pulsing with purple energy as Lance lined up a shot and Keith leaned back into a fighting stance. Black snarled.
“How dare you make these puny humans the Princes of Voltron?!” Bellowed Zarkon, slashing his sword in an arc that flung a boomerang of glittering quintessence at the group. “Did everything we have mean nothing to you?!”
“NO!” Roared Black as Lance tackled Keith out of the way, firing off a shot on Zarkon as they dodged the arc of death carving through the moon’s surface. “Rather, you have meant everything to me for far too long! You are no longer my Paladin, Zarkon! Lance and Keith are! They are true Paladins, more than you ever were!”
Zarkon howled, and Keith snapped out his luxite blade as Lance spun his rifle into position behind a rock they had unearthed. Black paced towards Zarkon, and Lance lined up a shot as Keith stole into Black’s shadow to advance.
“Princes of Voltron?” Asked Lance silently, even his mind’s voice soft as he fired off a volley. “What are they talking about?”
“Heck if I know,” replied Keith, creeping closer to Zarkon and readying his glowing blades. “We can harass Black about it later. For now, let’s go ahead and let Black distract him.”
Lance raised an eyebrow, spinning his bayard into a sword, and flashing a grin at Keith.
“Eh, I’ll give them a hand.”
Keith’s eyes blew wide, but Lance just chuckled as he launched himself over the boulder, sprinting across the ground as Zarkon narrowed in on him with a snarl. Lance’s grin turned to a lightning bolt and he propelled himself off of Black’s back with a quick mental apology to the Lion as he leapt high over Zarkon’s head with a battle cry. The emperor’s eyes flashed like a wildfire, and he raised his sword to intercept Lance’s downward swing without even bothering to look.
“You have truly fallen, Black Lion!” He roared as a harsh CLANG echoed across the battlefield. “To resort to relying on such foolish paladins as this! They can’t even land a single blow on me!” He snarled, raising his chin as Keith’s shadow stole across the moon. “They are nothing more than bugs to me. I would advise coming with me quietly, or I will find a way to destroy even a Lion of Voltron!”
“Not happening!” Shouted Lance, and Zarkon let out a roar of pain as the Altean broadsword dug into his stomach, lightning flickering from the blade as Lance’s shield finally dissolved against the emperor’s sword.
Lance’s eyes flashed, his teeth digging into one another, and his hair stood on end as electricity crackled through the air. Keith’s breath came in sharply as light pulsed through the black bayard, Zarkon’s twisted lips pulled back, and Black smiled grimly as Lance’s eyes glowed a crystalline blue.
“You can do this, my prince,” they promised.
He dug his sword in deeper, his boots hitting the ground in a heavy stance, and quintessence blazing through every inch of his body.
“You forgot, even bugs can be poisonous sometimes!” Roared Lance, throwing his shoulder forward as lightning exploded from the sword, white volts arcing through Zarkon’s body as he let out a feral scream, and Keith charged in to join his partner. “And even the mighty can be brought down when the weak join hands!”
“It’s pointless!” Bellowed Zarkon, pulling back his sword with straining muscles and wild eyes. “You are finished! Not even your puny lightning can stop me. You have wasted the greatest power of the universe, and now you are going to pay for it!”
“Not as long as there are two Black Paladins!” Boomed Keith, driving both of his swords through Zarkon as electricity sent his hair exploding free of the ponytail. “We’ll never let anyone suffer because of you ever again!”
Zarkon threw back his head with a howl as lightning blazed across his body, flashing and rippling over him like snakes, and Lance’s gems began to glow in time with Keith’s. Black paced forwards, steps slow against the moon, and Keith growled low in his throat. He dug his boots in, the lines of color pulsing across his armor as the quintessence was quickly sapped from his body. Lance’s shoulders shook beside him, the light flickering out from him, and Keith’s teeth snapped against each other. Zarkon writhed, the lightning curving into his bloodstream, and Keith raised his head as Black finally drew near them, grief already in their eyes.
“This has to be enough,” he pleaded as blood trickled from Lance’s mouth, his eyes shining like stars about to go supernova. “Black, tell us this is enough to stop him!”
Black stepped between them, fur just grazing their shoulders as a wave of regret washed through their bond, regret that they couldn’t take their paladins’ place, and Keith tried desperately to focus on anything but the implications of what that and the warmth running from his nose meant. Lance’s lungs shuddered through an exhale, and he raised his eyes to the stars above as his lightning turned a deep purple.
“Lance, no!” Screamed Keith as his partner’s life force flowed into the lighting. “Don’t you dare do this to us! We can’t lose you again!”
“I’m not letting anyone touch Nadia or Sylvio ever again,” stated Lance, the purple flashing through his eyes, and Keith didn’t even notice when his own lightning lit up a deep red.
Because he knew Lance didn’t want this. He didn’t want to give up his life anymore, didn’t want to sacrifice himself and leave the ones he loved behind to cry. He knew Lance wanted to run back to Sylvio and Nadia, to sweep them into a hug that crushed the air from their lungs, to go on hoverbike races with him across the galaxy, to join in Shiro and Adam’s wedding. He knew Lance wanted to be Pidge’s rubber duck even just one more time, he wanted to cook with Hunk, to talk for vargas with Coran, to dance late into the night with Allura and tease her about Acxa. He wanted to go home. Lance wanted a future alongside them, standing hand-in-hand with his family and facing the unknown with a smile because no one could break them as long as they were together.
“So, if this is the end of the line,” Lance added, turning to Keith with a smile gentler than any flower and overflowing with honesty, “just remember that I love you.”
Keith knew Lance better than he knew his own heart. And, no matter how badly Lance wanted to go home to the ones he loved, he would abandon all of that if it meant the ones he loved had a home to go back to. And Keith wasn’t any different. He never had been; that was why they were the Black Paladins of Voltron.
You both have an unconditional love for this universe, for your families, and for one another. You will not find people who share that kind of devotion easily. Treasure it in one another.
Keith bit his lip as all his energy poured into the lightning, the sword burning up under his hands, and he reached out to catch Lance’s extended hand like it was the last thing he would ever feel. Zarkon roared, the lightning streaming up through him, and Black bowed their head.
“You two have a very strong life force. I’m sorry I cannot lend my own, we Lions cannot control our quintessence as you humans can. And it is too…feral to offer for you to keep. I will lend my aid, though,” they promised. “And together…it will be enough to accomplish our goal.”
Keith’s breath vanished. He raised his head, locking eyes with Lance’s gentle irises, and he wanted nothing more in the universe right then than to kiss those tears off his boyfriend’s cheeks. If this really was the end…
“I love you too, Lance.”
…Then Keith wanted to go down smiling.
So, fingers intertwined and teary smiles shared over their lips, Black’s quintessence flooding into their bond like a tidal wave, and heads raised to the stars they had always wanted to see together, Keith and Lance closed their eyes for the last time.
“I love you.”
The lightning exploded from their bodies, stealing all the life from them and transforming it into a spear of pure lightning. Black roared, quintessence pouring out from them, and caught the spear between their teeth.
“I will not let you down, my princes.”
Zarkon screamed as the lightning coursed through him, and Black closed their eyes. “This will be the last kit I lose.”
Black drove the spear through Zarkon’s chest, the purple lightning exploding in waves throughout the emperor, and his shouts were cut short. The emperor toppled to the ground, his armor crashing around him, and Black collapsed between him and the paladins they loved more than they had thought possible.
And, unseen by the universe, Keith and Lance fell, hands still intertwined, and smiles frozen on their faces as they sank into the moon’s surface. A cloud of moon dust puffed around them like a first snowfall, like the start of a new beginning, and their chests lay still, peace finally on their eyelids.
For, in death, they were finally victorious. The ones they loved were safe. And that was all they had ever asked for. The magnetic stars that had guided the universe onto the path of peace could finally, truly, rest. Together.