Echoes of a Life

By Harmony Winters

Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron or the characters…I am just borrowing.

A/N: Thank you to Mertz, Wade, Mel, LW and Usagi-Ryu for beta reading and/or making suggestions. I welcome all comments, critiques, reviews and suggestions…positive or not.

Special thanks to Athena, who introduced me to slash, and encouraged me to stretch myself as a writer and try my hand at it.

This is dedicated to my dearest male friend, and his husband, who are celebrating their

one year wedding anniversary this week…I love you!

~*~*~*~*~

Keith Kogane and Lance McClain died on the same day within moments of each other.

It was during a Doom raid on Arus, and per usual, the Voltron Force swooped down in the lions. They saw a small group of frightened children trapped in a canyon-like area by Doom soldiers. Unable to reach them in the lions, Keith took off on foot, figuring he had time to bring the children to the safety of the caves. He ordered the team to stay behind. “Keith, don’t do it…damn you!” Lance hissed. Despite the pleas of the team, Lance broke free of his lion as well, vowing that if he couldn’t stop Keith he would at least help him. The shrill wail of the air raid siren pierced Lance’s ears as he tore after Keith, who had a huge lead on him.

Lance heard laser blasts and in the distance, and he saw Keith sink to his knees. “Oh shit!” Lance screamed. “Keith!” By the time Lance got to Keith, his white space suit was wet with blood. Lance grabbed Keith, turning him over, and a pair of black eyes frozen in shock and horror looked up at him. “No,” Lance moaned. “NO!” Within moments, a flash lit up the sky, and Lance’s last thoughts were, That’s a bomb.

Then…silence.

~*~*~*~*~

When Lance woke up in his own bed, he breathed a sigh of relief. He left his bed wanting to make sure Keith was all right. He ran to Keith’s room, even though it couldn’t have been more than 5 AM, and banged frantically on the door. Keith appeared puffy eyed and concerned with his hair sticking up at odd angles everywhere. Lance was so relieved he did something he hadn’t allowed himself to do in years. He grabbed Keith in a relieved embrace. “Keith…I’m just so glad--” he choked out. Automatically, Keith hugged him back. Lance was glad for Keith’s gift for silence when words weren’t necessary. “I thought something terrible had happened.”

“I’m fine,” Keith assured Lance. He gave Lance a worried frown. “Are you?”

Lance realized he still had Keith’s light blue pajamas in a death grip in his fists, which was out of character, and definitely out of line. Lance breathed a deep sigh of relief. “Yeah. I’m okay. I--”

He was interrupted by the splitting wail of the air raid siren, and Lance actually yelled, realizing he was reliving the same day he had died all over again. Keith was already running towards his beloved Black lion. I have to stop him, Lance thought, frantically. He dashed after Keith and tackled him to the ground. “Lance…what in the bloody hell--?” Keith sputtered.

“I can’t let you go on this mission!” Lance cried. “You might die!”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take!” Keith struggled to be free of Lance, but Lance punched Keith in the ribs. With a strangled noise, Keith struggled with renewed effort, finally managing to get away.

Triumphant, Keith lorded over him momentarily until suddenly Lance regained his breath and sprung forward, tackling Keith’s legs and knocking him over. Keith’s neck snapped backwards, his head slammed into the tile floor, and he bit his tongue. Lance straddled him, pinning down his wrists in a bruising grip. “To hell with you, Lance McClain!” Keith snapped, and he struggled to free himself, and when he couldn’t he spit at Lance, spraying him with bloody saliva. “What’s gotten into you?”

Lance was in a foaming at the mouth frenzy, frantic to save Keith’s life. He couldn’t move without releasing his hold on Keith so he hollered every horrible word he could think of while Keith kicked his legs like a mad man.

Keith ordered, “STOP!” and he grabbed Lance’s shirt hard enough to tear it and swung Lance around so he crashed onto his stomach. Keith pitched forward and tried to scramble to his feet, but he wasn’t quick enough. Lance leaped over and straddled Keith’s back, pushing his face hard into the floor.

“I’M TRYING TO SAVE YOUR LIFE, KOGANE!” Lance bellowed in desperation.

Allura, Pidge, and Hunk stood waiting for instructions. Lance could see there was blood on the floor where Keith’s face struck, and he immediately felt sickened that he had made Keith bleed. Suddenly Coran asked, “What is that on the scanner? Is that a bomb? LOOK OUT!”

Lance looked down and saw a bloody Keith under his hands, his dark eyes aghast, and then he saw a blinding flash of light.

~*~*~*~*~

Lance woke up the next time with the siren ringing. He hit the ground running, all the while keeping an eye out for Keith. Clearly he was not meant to stop Keith, because the lions were meant to lead the Doom forces and the bomb away from the castle.

But maybe he could save Keith anyway. This time Lance parked the Red lion and was out onto the ground before Keith even realized what had happened. He tore towards the children, with Keith hot on his tail, screaming for him to get back in his lion. Lance kept running frantically, hoping to make it far enough to avoid the inevitable death of his best friend. Then he stopped, triumphant, thinking I made it! He heard Keith call his name and push him out of the way of a laser blast. Keith took the blast square in the chest…and this time it was because of him. Keith sunk to his knees, and Lance wrapped his arms around his best friend. “I’m worth dying over, Keith?” Lance asked, but when he looked down, all he saw in Keith’s eyes was sorrow.

And regret.

While the sky lit up with a blinding light, Lance had an epiphany. He realized that it wasn’t Keith’s physical body he was meant to save.

~*~*~*~*~

Lance sat up in bed, his heart pounding in fright. He threw back the covers and ran to Keith’s room, frantically knocking on the door. When Keith opened the door, Lance barreled in his room uninvited, talking a mile a minute and Keith was shocked to see Lance’s hazel eyes brimming with tears. Keith blinked a few times, shook his head, and ran his hands through his tangled curly black hair. “Just calm down,” Keith soothed. “Try to calm down. I’m here to listen.”

Finally Lance looked squarely at Keith. “I was an asshole,” Lance blurted. “What I did to you was unforgivable.”

Keith stiffened up, immediately uncomfortable. “We said we were never discussing it again. I’ve been able to deal with it. I don’t want this thrown up in my face…”

“Keith …can you ever forgive me?”

“Of course I forgive you,” Keith lied, and averted his dark eyes. Lance knew the hurt was still smoldering somewhere so deep it didn’t even ripple Keith’s polished surface.

“Keith…I…”

The air raid siren bellowed and echoed through the castle, and Keith snapped to attention. Keith started running towards his lion. Lance lumbered after him, miserably, thinking, I’ve got to get it right one of these times...

~*~*~*~*~

When Lance woke up in his own bed, he breathed a sigh of relief. This day, he just laid and thought until the sirens went off. Lance had always been a good liar and that’s what made him a lady’s man. Compliments and love confessions were very easy for him when they were insincere. When he roomed with Keith at the Space Academy he had loved Keith with an intensity that frightened him. When he realized Keith loved him back, he wasn’t exactly ecstatic.

Instead, he bolted.

He changed rooms, changed roommates and pushed Keith out of his life. Even when stationed together on Arus he made sure he kept a careful distance. Due to his reputation and Allura’s evident crush on Keith, he was sure no one ever even suspected.

So much fear on his part, and for what? Lance now knew it would lead to a short lifetime of lying to random women, and having Keith dying in his arms, never knowing the truth.

~*~*~*~*~

Lance moved quickly when he woke up, because he knew his time was short before the air raid buzzer would go off. He stealthily crept down the hall, as to not wake anyone. There was so little time that was his alone; every moment had to count. He rapped at Keith’s door and when Keith answered sleepily, Lance confessed, “I love you…and I know you love me…I’m sorry I pushed you away. I was scared.”

Keith blinked sleepily. “Am I dreaming?” he asked. But without another word, he drew Lance into his arms and for a few wonderful moments no one existed in the world for the two of them but each other.

When the siren went off, Keith and Lance jumped apart. Keith was immediately focused on the threatened attack, and Lance ran after him because he knew he had no choice.

This time Lance ran side by side with Keith to try and save the children. When Keith got shot and sunk to his knees, Lance grabbed him before he hit the ground and held him. For the few seconds before their vision was completely obscured with the white flash, the two looked at each other in a loving moment of perfect understanding.

~*~*~*~*~

This time Lance did not wake up in his bed. He woke up standing beside Keith on the hillside overlooking the chaos below. “In time everything will be all right for Arus again,” Keith said softly. “Death is just a temporary loss.”

Lance looked up and he saw Keith’s dark eyes shining. Lance had never seen his best friend look so peaceful or so happy. Lance looked towards the bright light, and he took Keith’s hand. “You ready?” he questioned. Keith nodded.

Together, they walked towards the light.

~THE END~