Today was a day that Keith hated.
A day that for the first 16 years of his life he ignored as best he could and hoped that the people in his life would have the decency to do the same.
Of course, Shiro never let the day quietly pass by, always making a fuss with cake and a few presents something that though Keith found annoying was also charming.
The birthday after Shiro disappeared was hard.
Keith had woken up half expecting his brother to be standing at the foot of his bed singing happy birthday. Being surrounded by the silence that morningā¦ it really made it sink in that Shiro was gone.
Then it turned out he wasnāt and Keith found himself in space surrounded by people, by a family he never knew he wanted.
For the first time, Keith actually found himself looking forward to his birthday and was certain nothing could ruin it.
Oh, how wrong he had been.
The day started out great. He was allowed to sleep in and was woken well after noon by everyone jumping on his bed holding a mixture of food and gifts.
Hunk had made him a cake that tasted a little like vanilla gasoline but was still surprisingly good.
Pidge somehow downloaded all My Chemical Romance music in existence and placed it in a shiny red device that Keith held close to his chest as he praised her.
Shiro got him a knife that changed colour depending on the blood type of who he stabbed. The gift was almost immediately taken away when Keith wanted to try it out.
Allura and Coran dug up some old Altean fighting games and uploaded them into the training bot so that Keith could learn a few different styles.
Finally, Lance gave him a hand-sewn hippo plushie that though he claimed was no trouble to make Keith spotted the dark circles under his eyes and the slight paleness to the blue paladinās skin.
Keith didnāt have words to thank them, so instead he pulled everyone into a hug and for one moment everything was perfect.
Then the alarms sounded and that moment ended.
It was just supposed to be a small fleet. A quick in and out mission that Voltron would take care of in a matter of minutes.
Then as they were flying towards each other a stealth fighter appeared from nowhere and sent a blast right at the red lion.
Keith prepared for impact butā¦
Screams filled the coms, four of terror and one of pure agony.
The blue lion was hit and quickly falling towards a close planet, Lance was clearly hurt. His pained sobs the only thing telling the team that he was even still alive.
Considering the smoking hole in the side of a lion that in itself was a miracle.
Keith didnāt hesitate to follow after them, the cockpit shaking from the force. But he didnāt dare slow down, he had to catch them.
He was so closeā¦ yet so far away.
Blues impact shook the entire planet leaving a giant crater in the ground. Keith landed red just outside the creator and ran down the side finally skidding to a stop just in front of the wreck.
Her metal body twisted and bent in ways it was never designed to do, if Keith had the time he would have felt for the mighty beast being reduced to this.
But first, he had to get to Lance.
It was easy enough to get inside, the blast made sure of that. The problem came actually getting to the cockpit.
The way was blocked with various rubel that had come loose during the crash causing the process of actually getting to Lance to be slow and laborious. The entire time Keith kept trying to get through to Lance on the coms but only received static in return.
Finally, after climbing over a large container Keith saw him.
But first, he saw the blood.
It was everywhere, staining the floor the walls even the ceiling. There was so much of it caking every visible surface like it had been painted on.
Lance was stuck in the middleā¦ his body mostly crushed beneath where a blues head had caved in on itself.
Keith couldnāt see anything below his shoulders, with only Lanceās left arm and head actually being visible. He could see the blood though. The endless stream that flowed through the cracks in the metal.
He could hear Lanceās wet breathing as he struggled for every single breath he took.
He felt bile rise in his throat and was forced to turn from the scene to throw up.
āT-Thatā¦ bad?ā Lance croaked out causing Keith to snap his attention back to the blue paladin.
Keith swallowed thickly āyouā¦ youāre going to be fine, the others will be here soon.ā
Lance chuckled blood dripping from his lips āliarā.
āYou canāt die on me, please youā¦ Lance, I need you.ā Keith whispered as he dropped to his knees and tossed his helmet to the side so he could rest his forehead against Lanceās oddly cool and clammy one.
āSorryā¦ I didn'tā¦ I didnāt mean to ruin your birthday.ā Lance mumbled brushing his hand against Keithās cheeks āyouā¦. Have really pretty eyesā¦ likeā¦ galaxiesā
Keith began to cry as Lanceās hand fell away and the life left his body.
This was where the team found them almost an hour later. With Keith sobbing over Lanceās now cold body.
Removing Lance from blue was a slow and painful process for all those involved. In the end, they could get all of him to take back to earthā¦ his legs were practically a paste.
Shiro was the one to pull him out finallyā¦ he didnāt leave his room for a week afterwards.
Allura was accepted by blue to become her paladin, she never once sat in the chair.
Coran stopped telling his stories, he no longer had the one he truly wanted to listen any more.
Pidge stopped sleeping, she would spend the nights curled up with Matt telling him about the brother she lost.
Hunk was destroyed. He became quiet and reclusive just acknowledging anyone unless he had to. He forgets sometimes that Lance is gone and will go to his room only to find it empty with a single black ribbon across the door.
Keith never celebrated his birthday again.
