regretful lance au: in detail
i recently got a lovely comment asking for more details about my regretful lance au, so i thought i'd make a post about it going more into depth about it!
content to be aware of: age-gap, angst, mentions of suicide, death
post show, lance became a teacher on new altea, where he then met a galra woman named solak (who is suspiciously keith shaped). shortly after their meeting, she and lance married and they had a child.
lance taught at a museum created to resemble the old castle of lions, which after coran built, he left and disappeared; the grief of allura too much on him.
for several years, the past paladins kept up a shallow and distanced relationship and only met sometimes, but all of them were content in their own newly formed lives.
but then lotor, who had been alive and managed to escape the quintessence field, where he then gathered loyal supporters in secret and attacked new altea. unfortunately, one of these quintessence infused bombs hit lance's home and killed both wife and child, which leads him to blame keith, who comes to new altea to save him after the BoM noticed suspicious sightings (but far too late).
as the war with lotor begins and new altea is destroyed, lance's and keith's relationship fractures with lance's resentment, which is a farce for how much he still loves keith.
as the war continues, lance's relationship with shiro becomes hostile, especially after the death of a small team who he lead. after his team dies in battle, lance resorts to drinking, and sullies his other relationships as well in his unwillingness to help in the war and waste away in his room.
Lance’s expression of disinterest strikes something in Hunk and he stands from where he sat, the chair squeaking with it. Heavy disappointment; that’s what Lance would call the face Hunk gives him. Maybe he’s too far gone, because he feels nothing in the face of such torrent emotions.
“You’ve changed,” he whispers in disbelief.
“And it’s time you do,” Lance remarks. “We’re not kids anymore. Things happen, things change.” He sets the bottle down onto the coffee table with a clink, and he looks Hunk square in the eyes.
“I’m not helping.” Not anymore.
There’s a slight quiver to Hunk’s lips. The Lance he knew, the one he loved, would have eagerly jumped to the depths of Hell if it were to save others. Would have boldly exclaimed he would end it all; charming vanity under a truly caring kid. A hopeful, smiling, glittering star which lit up the sky.
That kid is gone. A bitter, resentful man has replaced him.
“Get out.”
Pidge holds her ground, her gaze is steady and cruel, “No, you need to grow the fuck up and stop punishing everyone just because you couldn’t admit you loved Ke-”
A bottle of whiskey whizzes past Pidge’s face and crashes against the wall. Lance is a heaving mess, blind rage reddening the edges of his vision; his eyes mad.
All proud pretenses fall from Pidge and she stares as him with a mixture of horror and offense. It bounces between the two before landing onto the third option: fear.
“I used to look up to you.”
as the war peaks, keith attempts to visit lance and reach out one last time. lance begrudgingly sees him, where keith tells him he will be going on a mission which determines his for sure death. lance breaks and pleads for him not to go, but keith goes regardless.
nothing returns but keith's broken blade, and with the death of hundreds of soldiers, the war's tide has turned to lotor's favor.
having lost someone else he loved for the third time, lance is overcome with despair and he ends his life.
(un)fortunately, his body is sent back into time around the time keith is in the quantum abyss.
while everyone searches for ways to return lance back to his time and get back their lance....this lance decides to foil their plans so he can stay.
this leads us to the beginning of our terrible tragedy!