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Chapter Text

When a pretty alien girl pulls you aside and says she wants some ‘one on one time’ after you have both been flirting all throughout a party, there’s a place your thoughts are likely to go.

Lance was grinning as the girl held his hand, pulling him towards a secluded room away from the festivities. The paladins had recently forced the Galra off of the planet, and this gathering was to secure their place in the alliance. The happy feeling of helping a civilization was still burning through Lance, and the fact that a pretty girl had flirted back was making his body tingle with little waves of satisfaction.

Braelyn, the girl, had approached him first, which made him feel even better. Of course, he loved flirting and engaging with others by flirting, but the little rush you get when being flirted with is even better. That’s part of the reason he does it. Knowing you’re giving someone else that rush is almost as good as getting it yourself.

Braelyn had long dirty-blonde hair tied up in two loose, curly buns, strands falling loose and dragging over her smooth skin, which was a gorgeous muted shade of teal. She had long horns that started on her forehead and stuck out and twisted near the ends, and a short tail that curled around her waist like a belt. Her eyes were a solid vibrant green that seemed to pulse softly when she watched Lance.

She wore a large dress that draped from right below her shoulders to the heels of her feet, which had three toes and no nails. She wasn’t wearing shoes. The dress was made of silver and gold material that seemed to weigh heavily on her body.

Lance let himself be pushed gently into the room, then led over to the large bed. He chuckled, but he was a little nervous and his game was definitely off by now. He wasn’t a virgin in any way, but he hadn’t really been able to do much of anything since he had left Earth. “Going straight for it, then?”

“Heh, guess so,” Braelyn purred, then giggled and pushed Lance back down onto the bed, kissing him hard. Her tongue, which Lance dimly noticed was forked, slid into his mouth.
Braelyn moved to straddle him, her hands sliding down his chest and towards his hips. A thrill went through him as she ground down, creating much welcome friction. One of her hands danced over the edge of his hip, where a knife rested.

Lance had brought the knife to make sure he had at least some means of protecting himself, not that he really had anything to protect himself from. Braelyn unclipped the knife and set it on the table, stopping kissing him for only a moment, before she moved back and set her lips against his neck, making him shiver.

She pressed her hands down on his wrists, effectively pinning him, and sat up again, still placed on her middle. She looked down at him and smirked. Lance raised an eyebrow but smiled back, face flushed a dark red that showed clearly even on his darker skin.

“Look at you, little Blue paladin. You know, people told me you would be willing to do things like this, but I didn’t think it would be this easy.” Lance’s smile faltered slightly but didn’t disappear. “I’m gonna let you in on a little secret, okay?”

Lance tilted his head to the side slightly. “Hm?”

“I’m not here to have sex with you,” Braelyn says it in such a deadpan that Lance freezes for a moment, not really understanding.

“W-what?” Lance stutters out after a moment.

“I’m not here to have sex with you or make out with you. Sorry, honey, but I’d never fuck a human, let alone a paladin of Voltron.” She scoffs. “You all are disgusting. You know, we drew straws for this mission. I got the littlest, means I had to do... this.” Braelyn picked up one hand and gestured to Lance before putting it back down and pinning him again.

Her body was heavy on top of Lance, hands circling his wrists with a strength he hadn’t noticed until now. Lance coughed again. “I’m… I’m sorry, what’s going on? Who’s we? What mission? Let me up.”

“What’s going on? You’re a slut, that’s what. I mean, really, we’ve been talking for a varga. Besides, to think I would want to have sex with someone who looks like you?” Braelyn let out a high laugh. “Anyways. You don’t need to know who we are, and our mission is to infiltrate Voltron. And it’s working!” Her tail uncurled from around her waist and stroked Lance’s cheek gently before tucking under Lance’s chin and tilting his head upwards so he was looking directly into her eyes.

Braelyn reached into a pocket tucked into one of the folds of her dress, pulling out a small metallic chip. She reached behind Lance’s ear and pressed it to his skin, the cold of the metal quickly overridden by the stab of pain as it reached into his ear and stuck tiny claws in, digging into his skin and holding on. He released a sharp yelp of pain, shoving at the body on top of him.

The shrill laugh came again, slicing into Lance’s ears almost painfully. “Now, my little Lancey, this is a bug. It’ll be listening to whatever you say. Tell anyone - and I mean anyone - and there will be dire consequences. Understand?”

“No! No, I don’t! Why are you doing this?! What consequences?!” Lance struggled underneath her, trying to move his legs enough to be able to kick her off or get his arms free.

“The current paladins of Voltron are not right for this universe. None of them understand what it truly feels like to be under the reign of Zarkon, except for your Black paladin, and he’ll fall apart without his useless team. Humans and their bonds.” Braelyn said, smirking. “Practically anyone would be better, and the lions know it too. We’re just making sure the choice is clear for them to take.”

“You’re not giving them a choice! If you kill us, any of us, you’re taking away the universe’s defenders!”

“And giving them better ones. Now, about the consequences, I just want you to know it’s a stupid decision. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to survive for long in the aftermath, and your friends will move on just fine. They’ll replace you, and slowly we’ll use that chance to replace them. You should stop struggling, Blue. We’re going to win.”

“Who the hell is we?!” Lance brought his knee up as best he could, but Braelyn wrapped her legs tighter around him, enabling his legs useless.

“My group, of course. You don’t need to know who they are yet. Now, we’re going to go back to the party, and you’re going to act like everything is fine. You’re going to pretend to be fine for as long as I want you to be, got it?”

“No! I’ll tell them immediately!”

“You’ll be removed from Voltron.” Braelyn looks him in the eye and speaks in a flat voice. “You’ll be removed, and they’ll never let you come back.”

“W-what? How? No, you c-couldn’t do that!” Lance spat, but his voice shook. What if she could? What if she could get him permanently removed from Voltron? He mentally shook his head. He had to tell the team, even if it got him hurt. He couldn’t let anything happen to them, and if this chip was what Braelyn said it was, then it was dangerous. He would leave the team if it meant he didn’t get them hurt.

“I absolutely can. Come on, Blue, it’ll be so much easier.” Lance looked away as if considering. “For everyone.”

“F-fine.” Lance looked back up into Braelyn’s eyes, watching them pulse victoriously, and let out a mental sigh. She believed him. Part of him was disgusted that she thought he would betray his team that easily, but the other part was glad this was working. He could do this, he just had to get the other paladins alone.

Braelyn slowly moved off of Lance, picking up his knife and holding it loosely in her hand as she let him sit up. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, rubbing the spot on his neck she had kissed.

“Did you leave a mark?” Lance rubs the spot again and stares at Braelyn.

“No,” she stated, not saying anything else as she opened the door and walked out. Lance followed her silently, every step feeling heavier as the chill of the metal chip seemed to spread throughout his body, freezing him and making him a creature of solid ice.

They made it back to the party where they were greeted by a sight that made Lance sigh in relief. Shiro approached Lance, eyes narrowed slightly. “Hey, Lance. Where were you?

“Off with - um - off with Braelyn.” Lance nodded to the girl next to him, and he caught one last glimpse of her pulsing eyes as she kissed his cheek and disappeared back into the crowd. Shiro sighs.

“Next time tell us where you’re going if you’re going to leave, okay? We can’t have anyone wandering around.” Shiro shot a disappointed look at Lance, and a wave of guilt crashed through Lance’s stomach. If Lance hadn’t done something stupid like that, he wouldn’t have he had to deal with this kind of situation. Lance sighed heavily but shook it off. It didn’t matter right now, he had to get the paladins back to the castle so he could tell them what was happening.

“Right, sorry,” Lance said quietly, earning a concerned look from Hunk.

“Anyways, we’ve all said our goodbyes, so let’s head back to the castle now.” Shiro walked towards the heavy wooden doors of the large building they were in, stepping through as small creatures who seemed to be the servants opened them.

--

“Guys, I have something really important to tell you,” Lance spoke the words as soon as they were all gathered in the lounge room, preparing to relax while Allura talked about the party.

“Yes, Lance, what happened?” Allura turned from the tablet she was typing on and watched Lance. The others in the room looked towards him as well.

“It’s about the girl at the party, she-” an unfamiliar alarm blared through the room, startling everyone and interrupting Lance. “Um, what was that?”

“It means we’ve got an emergency message. Allura, Coran, and I will all go check it out, you all suit up and make sure you’re ready to jump into battle.” Shiro sounded cheerful, but they all knew he agreed with the collective groan from nearly all of the others.

None of them were ready for a fight after a meeting like that, especially not Lance, who glared at the ground. What if something happened and they got hurt because of this stupid chip in his ear? He stayed silent, however, putting on his armor and watching the doors of the room where the three older members of the team had exited from.

About 15 minutes later, the trio walked back in, all with set expressions and angry looks. Shiro walked straight up to Lance and before Lance’s mind had registered what was about to happen, slapped him. “Get the fuck out.”

Chapter Text

Lance blinked, recoiling from Shiro’s touch and stepping back a bit. “What?”

“Hey, wait, what’s going on?” Pidge walked over to the two, eyes wide and looking more than a little shocked.

Shiro ignored them. “Get the fuck out of this castle. You may not take Blue. Get out and never come back, do you hear me?”

Lance’s mouth dropped open. “I-I’m sorry, what? What’s going on? Allura?”

Allura turned her head up from where she was staring at the ground. “You terrible, disgusting asshole. You may never step a foot in my castle or within 50 feet of me ever again.”

Lance choked on his own breath, tears quickly forming in his eyes. “What’s happening? Coran?”

“No, Lance. We know exactly what you did, as do you.”

“Um, guys, this isn’t funny. You can stop.. You can stop pretending now.”

“Out, Lance! Right now!” Allura walks up to Lance and shoves him towards the door, flinching when she touches him. Lance stumbles towards the door, pausing in front of it.

“Please, just… tell me what’s happening! Why are you kicking me out?!” His voice cracked multiple times, the tears brewing in his eyes starting to drip slowly down his face.

“You know exactly what you fucking did!” Shiro’s voice booms throughout the room, echoing through everyone’s ears with a grim sense of finality.

--

Keith was confused. So, so confused. Why had Shiro and Allura just told one of their friends, part of their family to get out? What was going on?

Coran and Allura had gone to watch Lance leave, making sure he didn’t take Blue or try to hide somewhere in the palace. Shiro had stayed behind to explain, not that he was really doing much of that. He sat on the couch, staring blankly at the ground.

It was Hunk who finally spoke up. “Why was my best friend just kicked out of this castle?”

Shiro looked up from the floor and directly into Hunk’s eyes. “He… I… Lance did something. Something really, really bad.”

Keith’s mouth went sour at the words. What had Lance done? What could have been so terrible that Shiro and Allura would just send him away without even letting him explain? As annoying as Lance was, he rarely did anything that warranted more than a scolding or a gentle punishment.

“What did he do, Shiro?” Pidge stared at their leader, eyes ever so slightly shining with unshed tears. “Why is he gone?”

“I think it’s better if I just… show you.” Shiro looked away again, then stood. “Come on.”

The group walked in complete silence as they made their way into the room where Allura and Coran piloted the castle, the three younger paladins each anxious about what they were going to find.

When they reached the room itself, Shiro gestured for them to stand around, uncharacteristically silent. He pressed a few buttons on the panel before him and moved back a few steps to stand with them, letting the video play.

“Hello, paladins of V-Voltron.” The voice was staticky and unfamiliar, scraping through the room as if angry. “My name is Braelyn, and I was-” - she swallowed hard - “assaulted.”

Pidge looked surprised but still confused, wondering what this had to do with Lance, but Hunk looked fearful. He knew Lance and Braelyn had gone off to another room alone, and he knew they had been flirting throughout most of the party. What had happened? Keith’s eyes were narrow, his face unreadable.

“As you all probably know, the B-Blue paladin and I went off alone. We were at first just kissing, but then Lance - he - I -” The girl choked up and broke off, wrapping her arms around herself and starting to do what seemed to be crying, green fluid leaking from her bright eyes. “I asked him if we could stop because I was - I was uncomfortable, but he kept… pushing. He wouldn’t stop, no matter what I said, and when I - when I screamed, no one heard, so he - he -” The girl stopped again, but the paladins knew what she meant.

“I understand, if you don’t - if you don’t believe me. I have a recording that I managed to start, but if you think that’s fake as well, I only have one kind of proof. Lance said he would - he would tell you all, that I - that I had tried to do… something to him. So, um, if he says something then I hope - I hope you believe me. I hope you do something.”

The recording cuts out, and the paladins stare open-mouthed at where the video was playing. “Allura and I watched the first couple minutes of the recording of… that. It’s real, she wasn’t - she didn’t lie.”

Keith lets out a choked noise and Hunk runs from the room covering his mouth, Pidge just sitting there as if frozen. Keith stands and leaves the room slowly, not stopping or looking back.

After a few minutes, Pidge speaks. “Lance really - Lance did that? Lance? Nothing about this is - is fake, or wrong, or something?”

“Everything about this is wrong. But I don’t think it’s fake. There’s nothing to show… nothing to show that Lance didn’t do that. Nothing except our trust in Lance, and that’s not really something we can depend on right now.” Shiro’s voice broke on the last sentence, and a tear slipped from the corner of his eye.

Pidge looked up at Shiro, looked at the panel where they’d seen the video and started to cry.

--

Lance didn’t know what was happening. He didn’t know why he had been thrown out of the castle, and he didn’t know ‘exactly what he did’. The one he was absolutely sure of, however, was that this was Braelyn’s fault and that he was going to find her and take her down.

The ship (if it could be called that) he was in was small with limited supplies, and Lance worried at his lip, wondering how he was going to manage to pay for food and water and such. Would anyone take pity? Or maybe give him something for free because he was a paladin?

Lance’s loud groan echoed through the enclosed room, which was also a problem. Lance disliked small spaces fiercely and being stuck in one for god knows how long would not go well for him. Usually, the other paladins were careful about having Lance in tight or enclosed spaces, knowing about his claustrophobia and wanting to make sure he didn’t get uncomfortable. Well, didn’t seem like they cared anymore. About his fears, or anything.

They had wanted Lance gone. Shiro had - Shiro had slapped him. What did they think he had done? Why hadn’t they even let him try to explain? Lance touched the still throbbing red mark on his cheek, massaging it softly as tears started to fall from his eyes.

What had Braelyn done? What was Lance going to do? He rubbed his eyes, trying to stem the increasingly steady stream of tears. If the Galra found him while he was still in this ship, he was done for. The ship had nearly no defenses and Lance wasn’t allowed to take his bayard, so the best he could do was wait for them to board him and attempt to stab a couple.

A broken half sob/half laugh spilled from Lance’s lips, turning into a choked cry that echoed throughout the ship as he curled in on himself. He cried harder, the sound echoing back to him and pressing him down further into a small ball. Lance knew he has to get himself together, figure out how he was going to find Braelyn and her group, but for now, he let himself cry.

Chapter Text

The castle was a mess. It had been a week since Lance had been thrown out, and none of them knew what they were doing without him. They all fell into habits that Lance was usually there to pull them from, and none of them (except for Keith, of course) had trained in several days.

Keith had started training endlessly, only stopping if he absolutely had to. He was grumpy and didn’t interact with the others, instead choosing to stay on his own in his room or in secluded spots in the castle.

Pidge worked on various projects, not even talking to Hunk as they dove into their work and ignored all reminders to keep up their health. They were sleep-deprived, dehydrated, and snappier than ever.

Hunk cooked obsessively, but he found it difficult to eat the food itself, especially when he made dishes or used ingredients that Lance enjoyed. Hunk seemed to be taking it the hardest, a mixture of anger and disbelief that Lance would actually do something like that, and an unwillingness to acknowledge Lance’s existence at all.

Shiro walked around the castle, checking on the other’s periodically, but he seemed to have no idea what to do. Occasionally he’d attempt to gather the team for training, but he was always met with harsh resistance.

Coran ran around fixing and cleaning things, even if they no longer needed it. He just worked wherever, trying to keep busy as the rest of them were. None of them wanted to think about the situation, anything about it. Shiro had sent a short video to the girl saying that Lance was gone from the castle and that if she ever needed anything or had further problems having to do with Lance and the paladins.

Allura hadn’t spoken to any of them almost all week, so it came as a shock when she finally came out of her room and demanded they all practice forming Voltron with Allura piloting Blue. The group dared not to protest with the princess, who’s hair was unruly and eyes were red with lack of sleep and what seemed to be tears.

The group made their way into the hangar, each walking over to their lions. Keith reached his first, making his way towards Red’s mouth. He went to take a step closer and promptly bounced off of Red’s shield. Hunk and Pidge across the room bounced off of the shields on their lions as well. Shiro stopped before the shield and put his hand out, feeling the solid blue of the barrier under his hand. Allura gently poked the shield covering Blue but was met with the same resistance.

“Black? What’s going on, girl?” Shiro knocked gently on the blue material in front of him but was given no response. Keith reached out to Red through their bond, only to find a hostile barrier put up there as well.

“Red?” he whispered. The lion gave no response, not reacting to anything.

“Let me in!” Allura demanded from where she stood in front of Blue. She smacked her palm against the shield but earned no response. Allura turned back to the others. “What are they doing?”

“They’re shutting us out, obviously.” Keith glared at Allura. This had to be her fault, she was the only one who wasn’t a real paladin.

“Yes, I understand that. Why?!” Allura said, crossing her arms and frowning back, seemingly just as mad as Keith.

“Why would any of us know, Allura?!” Pidge spoke up from next to their lion, one hand on their hip.

“They’re your lions!”

“That doesn’t mean we know what’s going on!” Keith hisses, eyes flashing softly. “We haven’t dealt with this before!”

“But you have more experience with the lions, you should have at least some understanding of what’s going on!” Allura stalked up to Keith, hands on her hips as she started to shout.

“Just because you’ve never flown one doesn’t mean you haven’t been with the lions for longer! You should be telling us what to do!”

“Well, I don’t! I have no idea what to do! I have no idea what I’m doing at - at all!” Allura finished her sentence with a muffled sob, and Keith pulled back a bit. Pidge walked closer to the two and looked up at Allura, seeming unsure of what to do.

“Allura, you know we don’t expect you to fix everything, right?” Hunk’s voice came from across the room, surprising everyone. Hunk usually wouldn’t be the one to speak up in this kind of situation. “We’re all a mess right now. None of us know what to do without Lance, but we all feel guilty for needing him because we just found out he was a - a rapist.” Pidge let out a little gasp at what Hunk had called Lance. None of them had been able to say the word yet, not wanting the finality of labeling Lance. “I know that it’s wrong, but there was proof. It’s a real thing, and we have to - we have to know that. We can’t keep pretending that it isn’t something we don’t know how to deal with, something that changes so much. It’s real. It happened.”

Shiro inhaled and swallowed, crossing his arms as he started to speak. “This is going to be hard, for all of us, and it’s going to take time to get used to the idea that someone we all loved so much was something that terrible. But we can’t skirt around it anymore. Lance played a huge role in this team, and he was a part of taking care of all of us. I don’t really know how you all are feeling right now, but I think that’s a bad thing. I think we should talk about this.”

“Talk about what, Shiro? The dude I thought could be one of my best friends was a criminal, a fucking rapist, and nothing anyone says can change it or make it better. We let someone terrible in, and we let him have control in so many parts of our lives. That’s not something just - just talking about can make better! I’m leaving!” Keith growled, his voice cracking as he spoke the last few words. A tear slipped down his cheek and he ran out, ignoring Shiro’s cry of “Wait, Keith!”

--

“What do you want?” Keith crossed his arms and glared down at Pidge, who was standing in his doorway with a determined expression.

“Do you think Lance really did it?” The question caught Keith by surprise, and he raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. The girl had proof.”

“But… what if there’s something else going on here? Lance looked so confused, and could you ever imagine him doing anything like that?”

Pidge looked so hopeful, and while Keith didn’t think anything would come out of this, he’d humor them for now. He knew how they were feeling, wanting to believe that maybe - just maybe, the team had gotten it wrong. Besides, if Pidge was right, maybe he’d get to see Lance. He could hug the lanky boy and apologize and know that Lance would forgive the team because Lance was Lance, and he always understood. Keith sighed internally, realizing he wasn’t the only one hoping for this to be more than a small thing. “What do you mean by something else?”

“Well, what if the video is fake? What if Braelyn was lying?” Pidge tapped their fingers on the side of their leg absentmindedly.

“Wouldn’t Shiro have recognized if the video was fake?”

“I don’t know, would he have been able to? If the video was robots or advanced holograms, they might be able to perfectly recreate a scenario that showed - um, that showed something like that. Last time I checked, Shiro doesn’t have built-in features in his eyes that let him recognize shit like that.” Pidge crossed their arms, stopping the tapping and creating a surprisingly intimidating air for one so small.

“We can check it out, I guess. But Pidge? Neither of us should get our hopes up.”

“I know. I just,” Pidge’s voice broke, and they swallowed hard. “I don’t want to believe that it’s possible for someone so kind, and cheery, and amazing to do something like that. He’s one of my best friends.”

Keith didn’t know how to respond, so he hugged them. Normally hugs weren’t something he’d initiate, but both of them needed it. They both knew exactly what the other was feeling, and it hurt, and it was hard. Pidge pulled away after a minute, and Keith frowned again.

“Alright, how are we doing this?”

Chapter Text

Lance hated the Galra. Not all of them, of course, Keith was one of his best friends, but Lance seriously hated these Galra. The ones that had been tailing him for the past two days. Damnit, couldn’t they find some other important-to-Voltron person to track?!

He groaned and sped up the tiny ship, willing it’s annoyingly weak thrusters to go faster. The craft was small, and he hadn’t been able to move around much, so his legs were cramped and twitching, trying to bounce but without the space to do so. Lance tapped the pinky finger of one of his hands against the joystick-like contraption used to control the ship.

Usually, he could use some grounding things around him to help him calm down, but the stress of this situation and being alone wasn’t allowing for any breaks. Adding to that, nothing on this ship made him comfortable in the slightest.

He was cold and lonely and oh so scared. And maybe, deep down, in a place he didn’t want to admit, he was angry. They hadn’t let him talk, hadn’t tried to see if he didn’t do whatever they thought he did. Hell, he didn’t even know. Murder? Robbery? Something worse?

It didn’t matter. Lance would prove to them that he hadn’t done it, and they would have to believe him. He craved the apologies, wanted them to be done and over with so that he could hug them all and just be with them again. With his team. Not here, alone and being chased by - shit, the Galra!

He attempted to speed up again, getting nowhere but a weak putter that was distinctly worrying. He needed to touch down on a planet, get more food and water, and hopefully a faster ship or some kind of repairs on the piece of junk he was using as of now.

Lance checked the crude system he had been using to see the ships that appeared and moved around him. It also showed planets and asteroids, although it had no information on the planets themselves and was generally unhelpful.

There was a planet nearby labeled as ‘258961’ with two moons. Deciding that was his best chance and knowing he had to get away from the several fighters following him, Lance turned his ship towards it.

Lance sang softly as he flew, hating how empty his voice sounded as it rang through the small space but hating the silence even more. He’d had nothing but his voice and the light taps of his feet against the floor. He had yet to figure out how to slide the chair back so that his legs weren’t stuck under the metal console.

Sleep was uncommon and hard, as shutting his eyes sent waves of anxiety coursing through him that made him scared to even try. His limited supplies had started to run out quickly when he ate regular portions, so he had taken to eating half or quarter portions. He still had water left, but the food capsules had run out by the fourth day, and he knew he had lost at least a couple pounds.

He touched down on the small planet, the Galra tailing him no longer visible. They had been following him since day four but had yet to make any moves towards him or shoot at him. They had just been watching, staying on Lance’s trail no matter what he did. He didn’t know how to shake them and he didn’t know what they were doing.

Lance knew, of course, that they would attack at some point, and it would likely be sooner rather than later. And when the time came… well, he dreaded it. He didn’t know if he could take them on alone, and he was fairly sure he couldn’t. He was going to get injured or captured, or maybe even killed because Shiro and Allura couldn’t take 5 minutes to ask him to explain whatever the fuck they thought he had done.

His eyes widened at the sudden surge of anger that had risen, and he pushed it back down once more, telling it to stay hidden. It wasn’t their fault. They had been lied to, they didn’t know. He couldn’t blame it on them just because they had made a quick decision.

Lance’s mind felt like it was on a loop. Worry, anger, and guilt swirled around in a twisted circle that jumped from one negative to the next, slowly making Lance feel worse and worse as he got farther into the week.

The layers of grime he knew were coating his body didn’t make him feel any better. He was used to showering daily, using his facial routines to make sure his skin felt clear and clean, to have power over that part of his body. He had always been happy with how he looked, it was one of the few things he didn’t have insecurities about. He kept his skin clear, his hair soft, and he ate reasonably healthily.

But now Lance was too skinny, his hair was tangled and greasy, and his skin was coated in a layer of grime and sweat. He hated it, hated how it felt. He had only one set of clothes, and they weren’t loose or airy or anything that could provide small comforts. He couldn’t waste water to complete basic tasks and the ship had nothing but a small ‘toilet’ that folded out of one wall.

The ship wasn’t built to house a person for over 2 days. Lance had been in it for over a week. He didn’t know exactly how long it had been, and without Allura’s morning alarms or weird Altean time measurements, he didn’t know how to achieve a normal schedule.
Not that he would have had one even if he did know the time. He couldn’t eat or sleep regularly and he had nothing to do but fly, so there wouldn’t have been much of a schedule to be had.

Lance stood from his seat, the edge of the console scraping painfully against his knees and extracting a hiss of pain from the slender boy. “Dammit.” He leaned down and rubbed his knee before walking to the door and struggling with the panel for a moment. Eventually, he presses the right button and the ramp opens, letting him walk out of the ship and down onto the gently swaying grass.

The grass crunches under Lance’s feet, which worried him, but there was nothing he could do but attempt to step lighter as he made his way across the seemingly never-ending field and hopefully towards some kind of civilization.

--

Two weeks.

It had been two weeks, and no progress had been made with the lions or with their current situation. Keith had drawn back from Pidge’s work, not really understanding their many formulas and methods for fleshing out the coding of the video.

Pidge hadn’t acknowledged when he stopped showing up, only told him when they thought they had leads and every once in a while checked in to make sure he hadn’t told anyone - not even Hunk, which surprised Keith. He figured Pidge would want to tell their other best friend, but he figured out quickly why.

Hunk had been trying to replace Lance. Keith knew it wasn’t him trying to wash away the memory of Lance, or anything like that, but he had begun to become the team’s support person like Lance had done. He told Keith to stop training, made sure Pidge was sleeping (mostly unsuccessfully), didn’t let Allura overwork, helped out Coran, and - well, Keith wasn’t really sure he had done anything for Shiro yet.

But it felt wrong. It felt so wrong, and Keith knew he couldn’t be the only one who had noticed it. Hunk hadn’t been doing anything bad, and he wasn’t cruel or anything, but he was just wrong. It was supposed to be Lance doing these things, supposed to be Lance being a prat about their health.

Keith wondered if Lance was angry. Did he even want to see them again? Did he want to know if they were okay? Would he want their apologies? Would he want to come back?

Waves of guilt had been washing over Keith all week. He knew that he had been the one to tell Pidge not to get their hopes up, but he couldn’t help but think of Lance as innocent. Lance wouldn’t have been able to do something like that, and no matter what video evidence there was, Keith’s brain refused to acknowledge the truth. Refused to acknowledge that it was the truth. It refused to acknowledge that the person he was in love with was an insane rapist.

Oh, and of course, his brain chose these weeks to inform him that it had solved whatever that complicated knot of emotions regarding Lance was. Love. He was in love with the person he had played a part in sending away without an explanation - Gods, he must hate them. All of them.

A sob sounded through the commlink that was set up between Pidge and him. They had installed it so Pidge could tell him about their findings without alerting the team.

Keith, who had been lying on his bed in his room, staring at the ceiling, sat up straight. “Pidge? What’s wrong, what’s going on?”

“We were - I - We were right, Keith. Shiro was wrong, and we were right.”

Chapter Text

Lance wasn’t truly sure how long he had been walking, but his feet ached and he was so, so hungry. There was a twisting claw in his stomach that had started as a soft ache and grown until it dug into him and demanded he fed it.

But he couldn’t. Because Lance still hadn’t found any kind of buildings or other organisms that could communicate, except for a few people who were following him that he had established to be the Galra from the ships trailing him earlier. They were determined to follow him, and it was only making him panic further.

The Galra still hadn’t tried to interact with Lance at all, instead just following him silently. They didn’t appear to be trying to hide the fact that they were pursuing him, but they matched his speed and stayed the same distance behind him always.

A few times, Lance had tried to communicate with them, but they hadn’t spoken or done anything but move farther away when he shouted or tried to get close. 

The field hadn’t been as long as he first had thought, but he had sweltered the entire time he walked through it. He estimated that had been about a day tops, seeing as he had only had to rest for a sleep-like state once. At the end of the field, a huge forest that continued on either side in a freakily straight-line, like someone had cut two different terrain planets in half and stuck them together.

The Galra had shown up almost as soon as Lance walked into the forest, rustling branches behind him and scaring him for a little while before he had managed to discern what they were. 

Lance was resting, or trying to, sitting under a large plant that he thinks is a tree. He couldn’t get his eyes to close, so he just sat. He didn’t like the silence of this place, because it gave him room to think, and thinking made him acknowledge the steadily growing emotions regarding his team. 

Lance didn’t want to be mad at them. He really, truly didn’t. But this was unfair, and Shiro, Allura, and Coran had been so terrible about it. They hadn’t let him explain anything and none of the rest of the team had advocated for letting him explain or stay either. 

If it was Keith, Shiro would’ve waited.

The thought rose unexpectedly and felt like another slap in the face. It was even worse because he knew it was the truth. Because Keith mattered more to the team, more to Shiro. Lance was - maybe - a friend of Shiro’s, but he wasn’t even near as close and despite all of Lance’s attempts to stop the unneeded jealousy, it was there. 

It was there, and it was so, so clear. Keith was better at hand to hand, better at strategizing, better at flying, better at combat in general, not a goof-off like Lance, closer to Lance’s biggest idol, everything Lance wanted to be. Lance knew he had been harboring feelings for Keith, he’d been ignoring the no-longer halfhearted feelings since the Garrison, where they had first formed. 

The feelings were messy and strange and not a normal crush. They were built from admiration and shot through with jealousy and bitter resentment and crushed under Lance’s unforgiving mind as he shoved them away whenever they arose. He knew he had them, but he couldn’t have them, so he made sure they didn’t surface. 

But now all of the emotions he could usually push away into a small ball in the corner of his mind were unlocking doors, even if he didn’t want them to. They were tearing him apart as they ran around in circles, spiraling into a circle of negativity that hurt.

Because the angrier Lance got, the more miserable he felt. His foot started to tap as his leg shook, the emotions bringing on the desperate need to fidget, to move out from under this neverending wave. He needed to channel it so it would leave him alone, stop feeling like this because he shouldn’t be mad at people who were lied to, it was wrong.

Lance stood up quickly. He knew how to end this so that it would be okay again, so that he would have Pidge and Allura and Keith to bother and Hunk to hang out with and Coran to talk to, so that these emotions would go away - he hoped.

He was going to find Braelyn, he was going to find out what she had done, and he was going to make her pay.

--

Pidge hadn’t stopped sobbing. Keith could still hear their quiet cries as they undoubtedly curled up on themself in front of their computer and choked out strangled whimpers. 

He wondered if anyone else heard them.

He wondered if anyone else had been crying.

Keith hadn’t moved from his position. He hadn’t said anything. He didn’t know how long it had been, or how long he had been lying here, but he couldn’t force himself to stand up and walk over to Pidge’s room. He knew he should, should go try to console them and figure out how to tell everyone else, but he couldn’t move. 

Lance had been alone for two weeks, having to fend for himself and find food and water and shelter and - oh, lords, they had just kicked him out.

No, that was wrong.

Not they.

The team hadn’t done this. Pidge and Hunk would have questioned it, they would have asked Lance questions, would have known that he wasn’t lying.

Shiro and Allura and Coran. They had done this, they had just thrown Lance out without another word. It was their fault. Pidge and Hunk - maybe even Keith himself - would have fought, they wouldn’t have just let him go because they were his friends, his family, and this was the older paladin and the Princess’s fault and they needed to know that they had done something so wrong.

They needed to know, so Keith was going to tell them.

--

Pidge was excited. Scared, yes, but so excited. They had figured it out, the last piece of code that would go into this project that had taken them so long, and it was worth it because now they would know. Pidge was going to find out if it was the truth.

Internally, they knew that no matter what happened they were going to be hurt. If Lance really had - had raped Braelyn, then that meant - well, they weren’t going to think about that. Not when they didn’t know if it was really true, because they couldn’t let themself think the fact that they might have trusted a person who was so truly horrible that he’d force someone to have sex with him, and it at some point could have even happened to them, but - no. That wasn’t a viable answer in their mind.

If Lance hadn’t, that meant that all of the younger paladins had just let the Princess, Shiro, and Coran kick him out for absolutely nothing. Lance was alone in space somewhere on a tiny ship meant to last maybe 2 days with limited food and water. 

Considering Lance’s love for physical contact and habits of getting nervous easily when isolated from his friends or other people in general, he was probably miserable right now. Pidge took a soft sense of pride in the fact that they were going to play a huge part in getting him back.

They knew they shouldn’t be assuming Lance was innocent, but it was all they could think. Hunk seemed to have completely accepted it, which shocked them to no end, but they hadn’t given themselves to really think over the other’s opinions or emotions on this topic.

Green still hadn’t let Pidge in, which made them feel sad and distinctly disconnected, but they supposed they understood. This was just another piece of evidence to Lance being innocent, as they saw it. None of the lions had let any of them, hadn’t moved since Lance had left. Blue would know if Lance had or had not committed that crime, and there was no way she would defend him if he had.

But overall, Pidge was trying to stifle their emotions. They didn’t need to focus on themself right now, instead of trying to focus all their energy on making sure this code was complete. 

So they typed in the last few pieces and watched as the screens slowly broke down the last parts of the video needed so they could tell.

It finished within seconds, and Pidge let out a great sob that echoed deep in their throat as they read off of their screen.

Innocent. Lance was innocent, and they had solid proof.

Chapter Text

Keith stalked into the large room where Allura was piloting and talking to Shiro, coming up in front of them and stopping with his arms crossed.

“Hey, Keith, what’s up?” Shiro turned to Keith first with a surprisingly strong smile. Keith hated it.

“You were wrong. Both of you,” Keith said, voice somehow completely devoid of emotion despite the knot of anger that was ripping through him as he stared at these people who sent Lance away for no fucking reason. 

Under the rage, he knew that they had no idea, but that wasn’t a thought that could pierce the dark emotions flattening all logic in his mind. 

“Wrong about what, Keith?” Allura’s accent was usually soothing and made him feel calmer - it’s a nice sound, very heavy and just a generally smooth voice - but instead, it curdled his blood, and he wanted to punch her.

“You were fucking wrong. Lance is innocent.” A growl crept into his voice, and Shiro’s eyes widened before his face pulled into a sympathetic expression. Allura is smiling at him sadly, and he snarls. 

“Keith, I know this is hard, but we have evidence. Lance is not who we thought he was, and I know it might be hard to think you might have ever been friends with someone so -” Allura started calmly, only to be cut off by Keith’s shouting.

“Don’t you fucking dare finish that sentence! Lance did nothing - nothing! Pidge was smart, unlike you, and didn’t believe it either so they actually fact-checked instead of just throwing him out like some piece of trash!” Keith roared, arms uncrossed and hands clenched into tight fists.

“He is a piece of trash! He raped that girl, and there were consequences! They should have been worse than they were!” Allura spoke before Shiro could, whirling around and glaring at Keith as her skirts settled around her ankles once more.

“He didn’t! Lance didn’t, and he never would have, and we have fucking proof that he didn’t! Pidge set up some techie bullshit and now we know, Lance was innocent. You made a fucking mistake, accept it!” Keith’s nails were dug deep into his palms now, crescent moons that burned but made sure he didn’t hurt someone else. 

“We didn’t make a mist-”

Shiro was the one to stop Allura this time. “Keith, I understand that this is difficult to accept, and we’ll look at what Pidge found. But we shouldn’t be expecting anything. The two of you aren’t in a good headspace for this, so -” 

“Shut up, just shut up ! Watch the goddamn video, go see whatever Pidge did, understand that you made a stupid fucking mistake!” Keith was still shouting, but Shiro didn’t reprimand him, only keeping the pitying appearance and nodding like he knew something Keith didn’t.

“Okay, Keith, we’ll watch it.” Allura had her hands on her hips but she wasn’t shouting anymore, and Keith let out a somewhat relieved sigh.

“Let’s go, then,” Keith growled, eager to prove them wrong. Together, the trio made their way towards the green paladin’s room. 

--

Shiro was still frozen, staring at the laptop in disbelief. Allura had run as soon as she realized it was real, although Keith had wanted to grab her because whatever she was feeling couldn’t have been half as bad as what Lance was. 

Keith didn’t want to break the silence, but he wasn’t sure what else he could do. Shiro was gawking at the laptop and showed no sign of stopping. “We have to do something, find him, anything. ” 

Pidge nodded, another tear slipping down their cheek, which was already wet and shining in the soft light from their computer. “I can, um, I can track the pod, and we can find wherever it is. If Lance is still in it.” 

The room was quiet for another moment before Shiro coughed to hide what Keith could barely make out as a stifled sob. Shiro coughed once more before shaking his head and speaking in a soft tone. “I’m so sorry.”

For some reason, Shiro’s apology made Keith’s anger rise once more, because Shiro shouldn’t be apologizing to Keith, he should be apologizing to the lanky Cuban boy who he had thrown out of the castle and left to survive alone in a ship not meant to survive in. 

Shiro should be apologizing to his teammate who he had hurt both emotionally and physically but Shiro couldn’t because that teammate wasn’t here because he had fucking sent him away. “Come on, we need to find him. Right fucking now. He could be - he could be hurt or starving, and we wouldn’t know, and we have to know, so come on. Get your ass up and help us find him. We have to help him, and we have to tell Hunk and Coran.” Keith felt no pity for Shiro, and if some seeped up at the look on his brother’s face, it was burnt up by the still desperately flaming anger that roared over all other emotions.

“Right. I - Right, let’s go. Let’s get Lance back.” 

--

Lance was tired. He had been tired before, yes, but now he felt like he might just fall over at the slightest breeze. (Gods, he wishes there was a breeze). And his head hurt, and his feet did too, and he didn’t have bandages to wrap the toes that he had stubbed so much some of them had begun to bleed. He laughed hysterically at what it would be like if the Galra approached him now.

But no matter how bad it hurt, how much he wanted to collapse from exhaustion and let himself rest, he didn’t, because that would make it worse and if he didn’t find other people soon he would die anyway. 

Maybe that would be better. No one on his - no, the team seemed to care, but they would’ve found him by now to at least check in. But they hadn’t. Or maybe they had. They could’ve contacted the shuttle and he would have no idea.

Maybe that would be better, too. He didn’t want the pressure of their voices bothering him, telling him that he needed to get out, that he was never welcome back. He didn’t want their voices at all.

The last part shocked Lance, although it was true. It was their fault he was out here, bleeding and alone, and he couldn’t deny it any longer. From what he could tell, the team hadn’t even made an attempt to reach him, which meant he was completely on his own, with no backup or reassurance or help if he was fatally injured.

Not that Lance was, or would be. He refused to let himself be. He was going to survive, and figure out whatever Braelyn had done, and he was going to prove the team wrong. But he didn’t really want to see the team anymore. He didn’t want Shiro bossing him around - definitely didn’t, because Shiro had fucking slapped him - didn’t want to help Coran or listen to any of his stupid old stories, didn’t want to have to help Hunk when he was whining about some space food not turning out right, didn’t want much to do with any of them.

They hadn’t tried to find Lance. They hadn’t even tried to check if it was a lie, and while the lie itself wasn’t on them, that was. Because Lance was not a criminal, and he would not stand with people who thought he was. Who believed he ever could be. 

He wondered, vaguely, as the pain in his toes slowly increased, if he would want to go back to them even if they did apologize and ask for him to come home, to help them and be part of their team once more. 

He didn’t really know.

That scared him a little. 

A crunch of grass behind him alerted him to the fact that someone was there, and he whirled around and ducked just in time to avoid a punch from one of the Galran soldiers. His head reeled immediately, his headache pounding horribly at his reflexive reaction. 

Lance shook his head slightly, trying to clear the dark spots from his vision and failing. He released a groan, but he could see the three Galran figures standing in fighting positions. He wasn’t going to be able to fight them. Not like this. 

Cursing softly, he got himself into the best stance he could. He wouldn’t be able to fight them head-on, so maybe if he could get one of their blasters? Any weapon would be helpful, any kind of gun would be best. 

His armor consisted of a helmet, which would help with any kind of head injuries, but it wasn’t anything like his paladin armor and made it harder to breathe when he ran or did any physical activities. It also fogged when he breathed out and from the heat of the sweat against his forehead. 

It was lucky he had brought it, annoyances aside. Any armor was better than none. 

As he was thinking about what to do and attempting to assess the situation, two of the Galra had moved forward, one of them trying another swing at Lance. He managed to dodge it again, but the sharp movements required still made his head feel like it was being drilled into. 

He ducked under the other one’s arm as he approached, pulling a small blaster from the edge of the tallest Galra’s belt. The three Galra were all tall and wide, and they seemed to make up in strength where they lacked speed. That was good. Good for Lance, anyways. He was lithe and quick and this would make it much better for him. 

The blaster was one-handed, and - he checked quickly - at half charge, meaning he only had room for a couple of strong shots that wouldn’t putter weakly against the Galran armor that seemed to cover every part of the huge figures. 

“So, how are y’all doing? Was following me fun?” Lance joked, grinning at the taller beings and trying to show that he wasn’t scared. 

The Galra remained silent, running at him again. He shot one of them in the arm, and it howled but kept coming and punched him in the side before he could move. Lance gave a loud groan, ribs screaming at him. He moved away anyways, pain echoing in his chest.

The tallest Galra, the one he had shot, fell back a bit, stumbling and holding its arm. It didn’t seem to be able to get a good grip on its gun and it couldn’t shoot with it, so it stayed behind the other two. 

The smallest one, in both height and width, came sprinting towards Lance, reaching him in seconds and grabbing one wrist before Lance could move to shoot or push back against it. The Galra twisted hard just as Lance placed the tiny blaster against the side in what he hoped was a weak spot in the armor and pulled the trigger.

The Galra fell back, hitting the ground and writhing before falling still. Had he killed it? Did Lance just kill a living being while it was touching him? Of course, he had killed before, but not while he could see it. A shudder ran through his body, but he pushed rising nausea away.

The one that had fallen first pulled another small blaster that looked like Lance’s from its belt, approaching slowly but steadily, and the one who hadn’t done much was - Lance cursed hard as it punched him in the jaw and he fell to the ground, seeing stars and head screaming.

It jumped on top of him, sitting on him and raising its blaster to shoot him as he struggled underneath it, but Lance raised his blaster and shot it in the foot. It growled heavily and slid off of him, struggling to stand once more as its foot bled openly into the ground. 

Lance stood triumphantly, ready to turn to the next Galra, when a hard force hit him through the helmet and his vision faded, knees buckling as he landed once more on the ground and passed out.

Chapter Text

Hi, guys!
So, this is not an update, apologies.
I'm working on the next chapter, don't worry! It will likely be done within the next day or a few days.
I just wanted to alert you all, I went to the beach today and tore up some of my fingertips, so it hurts to type very fast and my updates are likely going to be a lot slower until they feel better. I'm just working through it right now, but that hurts and I really don't like the sensation of pain when it has to do with my fingers. (They're just kind of a weird thing for me, more sensitive than most. Typing actually usually feels very nice because of how smooth and squared the keys are.)
They shouldn't be too much slower, maybe a day or two, but I felt the need to tell you all anyways.
Thank you so much for being patient!!

Chapter Text

Shiro was walking around the castle, searching for wherever Allura had run off to. Keith was helping Pidge with their tracking, and it had become quickly clear neither of them wanted Shiro in the room. He was unwelcome with them because of what he had done to Lance.

At first, he felt a trickle of resentment, but it had been quickly wiped from his mind when he pulled up the face that had been teasing at the corners of his mind for the weeks without Lance, the face Lance had made when Shiro had slapped him.

He had looked so betrayed, so scared, but also so confused. Shiro had passed it off as acting, as Lance just trying to convince him that he hadn’t done anything, but now he knew that expression was real, and it kept stabbing him hard in the heart. 

Shiro wasn’t sure of how he was going to apologize to Lance. There were no words that could actually make up for what he had done, and a selfish part of him hoped that Lance would still be the same forgiving person who loved the team wholeheartedly that he had been when he had left.

However, the rational part of Shiro’s brain knew that was completely wrong. Not only had they hurt Lance in that one moment, but they had also left him completely alone and hadn’t attempted contact at all, meaning Lance had to survive isolated in the middle of space in a tiny ship that wasn’t meant to go far on its own.

Shiro kept trying to push the emotions away, knowing they weren’t going to do anything but cloud his judgment and press on his spirit, but his efforts were useless, as he felt the crushing wave of grief and sadness and fear. Shiro was scared. 

This was going to affect how Lance thought of them, all of them. Specifically Shiro and Allura, probably Coran too. But Shiro and Allura, well… they were both leading figures in the team and having Lance not trust both of them was going to be a large problem. If Lance didn’t trust the leaders of the team, he was likely to not trust their judgment and their orders.

The look on Lance’s face kept coming back as Shiro prowled the halls of the castle, popping his head into various rooms and occasionally calling out Allura’s name in an attempt to find her faster. She was standing in her room, next to a huge window that let her look out into the endless expanse of space dotted with shining stars and the occasional planet or some other flying object.

Allura’s jaw was clenched harshly as she glared out at the beautiful view, hands fisted tightly in the folds of her dress. 

“Ah, Allura?” Shiro approached cautiously.

She whirled around, skirts settling around her legs once more as she stopped moving. Removing her teeth from where they were buried firmly in her lower lip, she choked out a wavering sentence while obviously trying to sound proper, as she usually would. “Y-yes, Shiro? What is it?”

“I - um, I understand that this is really hard to hear and that we need to deal with this and talk about it, but right now - I - I don’t think we get the privilege of thinking of our own emotions. This is our fault, we need to help Pidge and Keith find Lance and bring him back. Also, uh, we need to tell Coran and Hunk. They also need to know this.” Shiro felt awkward and his tongue felt heavy. He didn’t want to tell Allura this, and he didn’t want to have to do any of this. 

But it was his fault. Because he should have checked, let Lance stay in the castle on probation or something. The decision he had made was stupid, and it would have been easy to just lock Lance in his room or something like that. It would have been so easy to avoid everything wrong about this, but Shiro hadn’t. 

“I - of course. Right. You’re right. Let us go tell Hunk and Coran, and then we can aid Pidge and Keith.” Allura shook her head slightly, schooling her features into an indifferent expression. Shiro just nodded in response, turning around once more and going to leave the room.

He missed the last soft sniffle Allura gave before steeling herself and walking after him. 

--

Lance woke up to see a bright light and a handsome alien leaning over his head. The alien grinned upon seeing Lance’s eyes open, moving back a bit so that Lance could sit up quickly.

“Who are you? Where are the Galra? Where am I? What’s going on?” As soon as Lance got out the last word he swayed woozily, almost falling back to the soft mattress beneath him. 

“Hey, hey, hey, take it slow!” The alien spoke with a raspy voice, throat pulsing visibly at each word. Lance thought he might be the same species as Rolo, the dude who had worked with Nyma. This alien had the same purple skin but a darker shade, and the vibrant purple spots Rolo had had on his arms were around this alien’s neck. 

Its hair was a darker color than Rolo’s, more of a deep stone grey than an offwhite, but its nose was the same sharp point, and it had the same long arms and skinny torso. Its smile was brighter and kinder, too, not the harsh lopsided smirk Rolo had worn. Although he supposed, that was probably just depending on the person. 

It was wearing a long white robe-like garment that hung loosely off its shoulders and had a deep neckline that ended somewhere around the alien’s midchest. There was a wet cloth in one of the large hands, and it seemed like the alien was going to put it on Lance’s forehead before he had woken up. 

Lance quickly scanned the room he was in, trying to gauge an idea of where he was. It seemed to be a bedroom, walls made out of chunks of some unknown material stuck together with a chalky black substance. There was a metal chair tucked under a table made of the same material as the walls, and the mattress he was currently sitting on. Other than that, there was no furniture. 

The doorway did not have a door and was just an empty part of the wall that light streamed through. There didn’t appear to be any other doors or windows anywhere, not that he would necessarily recognize any alien home structures. Or that they even had windows. Did these aliens know what windows were?

“Lance?” The alien spoke again, throat still pulsating when he spoke. Lance found it strange, but weirdly rhythmic. 

“Uh, yeah, sorry, how do you know my name? And who are you? And again, where am I?” Lance watched the alien as it stood, trying to gain some knowledge of how strong it was or how badly he was still hurt. 

Lance’s head pounded terribly, and he could see bandages out of one corner of his eye covering one half of his head. The biggest thing he noticed, however, was that he was no longer thirsty. He pursed his lips, trying to figure out how and why this completely random alien had decided to bring him here. Lance’s thoughts were somewhat fuzzy, but he tried to think of reasons the alien might keep him here. Did he think Lance could give him things? Or maybe he wanted to use Lance as a hostage?

“Well, you’re kinda a famous paladin of Voltron. Loverboy Lance. So, uh, yeah, that’s how I know your name. I’m Emlyn, by the way! You’re in my house. I took care of the last Galra and brought you here to heal you! You can leave whenever, although I don’t recommend going for another couple of days. I think you have a concussion.” Emlyn scooched backward a bit, still sitting on its knees next to the mattress. 

“I can just - I can just leave? Why are you helping me?” Lance said, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes skeptically. He looked down at his clothes. His shirt was gone and his skin had been rinsed, but his pants were on and seemingly untouched. 

“Again, you’re a famous paladin of Voltron. I can’t really contact your team to get you back to them yet, but we can go into town and do it! Just so you know, I didn’t treat the wounds on your feet or legs yet because I know the lower portions of a human’s body are sacred to them. I figured I can help if you want or I can just give you the things to do so.” Emlyn smiled a little wider, still looking sheepish but also excited to help.

Lance, however, was not excited by any of this. At this point, he was done with the jokes and the teasing to make light of his situation. He was stuck on an unknown planet with an unknown alien in an unknown home without his - without the team. “I’m not going to contact the paladins. I want a ship and I want off this planet. Also, how do you know so much about humans?” 

Emlyn seemed confused to be met with harshness from the usually cheery paladin, but didn’t acknowledge it. “Ah - why not? And I study other species. The paladins of Voltron were really cool, so I studied your species. To be honest, we don’t have a lot on them, and some of my information is just semi-educated guesses, but that’s the best we’ve got.” 

“It’s none of your business why not,” Lance snarled, sitting up straighter and glaring at the taller alien. Emlyn’s eyes widened further, and he looked on edge now. 

“U-um, okay. I can take you into the village to try and f-find a ship. But,” Emlyn drew itself up, crossing its arms and setting its shoulders, trying to look determined instead of nervous. “But you have to tell me why I shouldn’t contact the other paladins.”

Lance glared harder, but it softened after a moment and his face broke into a badly repressed anguished expression. “I - I just, um - why do you n-n-need to know?” 

“Because I want to help, and obviously something is wrong!” Emlyn peered at Lance sympathetically. “I promise, I just want to help.”

Something in Lance finally broke at those words, and slow tears started to drip down his face as he pulled his knees to himself and hid his head. 

Emlyn waited, letting Lance speak as he wanted to. And even though he knew it was stupid, knew he shouldn’t let these emotions show, and definitely shouldn’t be telling these things to some rando alien who said it wanted to help, Lance gradually explained the last 2 weeks.

Chapter Text

Braelyn stalked down the main hall of her base, shoes clacking loudly against the metal of the floor as she bared her teeth. This wasn’t supposed to happen. The Paladins were not supposed to find out this quickly, and there were apparently some Galrans after the blue paladin. 

She hissed, abruptly stopping and turning around to fling her tablet against the wall, startling the assistant stumbling after her and shattering the glass of her screen. 

They had received a video recording from the Voltron team about a half-varga ago, and now Braelyn was going to record her response. Her higher-ups were still debating noisily in her earpiece whether or not they were planning to have her continue to play the role of ‘scared assaulted little girl’ or just let her represent their team and respond like someone with some self-dignity instead of a stuttering idiotic mess.

“Just fucking give it to them! They’re not going to believe it if we try to put up the mask,” one argued, followed by staticky shouts of people disagreeing and agreeing. 

“You don’t know that! Giving into it immediately is stupid, and besides, if we act like it’s still true and they’ve been misinformed, it’ll likely at least make them doubt themselves.” There was less disagreement this time, and Braelyn rolled her eyes. She wanted to talk back and just say that she was the one talking, she would decide, but she worked below these people. One thing she was not planning on doing anytime soon was losing her job.

Reaching up, Braelyn turned down the sound on her earpiece and walked faster, trying to block out the annoying babble that was giving her a quick headache. The assistant behind her walked faster, trying to keep up with her rapid pace and not drop the multiple things he was carrying. 

A couple of minutes later Braelyn heard a faint voice calling her name loudly in the earpiece, shouting for her attention desperately. “Apologies, sir,” she hissed unapologetically, turning back up the sound. 

“We’re going with the second plan. Any kind of hesitance will be helpful, and if they’re not sure whether or not he is a rapist, there will be hesitance.” A few groans followed the words of whatever douche bag was currently speaking, but no outright protests.

“Yes, sir,” Braelyn said, tail curling around her wrist. She was tired of bowing to these idiots who could do nothing but constantly argue amongst themselves. This job, fooling Lance, all of that, was supposed to move her up in the ranks, but barely anything had happened at all. She was stuck under their thumbs. 

It sucked. 

Braelyn walked into the small room they used for recording, built to look like a small bedroom of a less fortunate villager. It was disgusting, but it served its purpose for making videos like these or pretending when need be. 

Using the small metal door in the back of the room, Braelyn walked into her large dressing room. A stylist sat in one of the several plump chairs in the center of the room, scrolling through something on his tablet and waiting. There was a long metal rack that wrapped around the circular room, clothing hung off of the skinny bars.

The stylist stood a second after Braelyn came in, almost dropping his tablet and quickly standing straight up. The corners of Braelyn’s lips curled up in a tiny smirk, a jolt of a powerful feeling going through her at the knowledge that there were still people considered beneath her. 

Still sporting a small grin, she stalked quickly up to the stylist. “Well? What are you waiting for? Let’s get started.”

--

Hunk couldn’t breathe. Lance had been alone for weeks and he still was and they didn’t know where he was and they couldn’t help him and he was alone and Lance did terribly alone and Lance was going to hate them all so much and he’d never want to see them again and Hunk couldn’t breathe. 

Vaguely, Hunk could hear Shiro’s voice telling him to breathe, to calm down, that it would be ok and they could help Lance, but it didn’t help. Lance was gone and he had been gone for so long and they didn’t know if he was ok or if he had been hurt or if he was dead - oh, gods, Lance couldn’t be dead. Hunk would never forgive himself - never forgive any of them - if Lance was dead.

But he wasn’t.

Lance couldn’t be.

Cheerful, lighthearted, amazing Lance - fuck, he could not be dead. 

Hunk knew he was hyperventilating hard and would probably pass out if he continued, but all of the methods he knew to stop attacks like this were mentally associated with Lance because Lance had taught Hunk all the strategies he knew because Lance had anxiety too - different from Hunk’s, but similar methods worked for both of them. 

Hunk wasn’t sure they would work, anyways. He didn’t think he’d ever had an attack this bad. There were black spots on the edge of his vision. He still couldn’t get himself to breathe right. 

Was he going to pass out?

That had happened a couple of times.

Lance usually got to him before it got that bad. 

Hunk had helped Lance through attacks sometimes. Spanish helped Lance a lot because Lance linked it to home and found it grounding. 

Hunk swallowed as hard as he could, but the hard lump in his throat wouldn’t go away. He didn’t think he was going to pass out anymore, but he might throw up. He should probably get to the bathroom before that happened, Shiro likely wouldn’t want him puking in the main hallway. 

Hunk bent over further - had he been bent over before? - and threw up violently. 

--

Shiro’s eyes widened and he took a quick step backward as Hunk vomited, effectively avoiding it. He knew Hunk’s reaction would be bad and had tried to steel himself for it, but the panic in Hunk’s eyes had still been painful.

“Hunk? Hunk, buddy, is there anything I can do?” Shiro stepped a little closer, still avoiding the vomit but trying to get close enough to put a hand on Hunk’s back. Hunk stood up and stared at Shiro with unfocused eyes, but he wasn’t hyperventilating anymore, so there was some kind of progress. 

Sort of. 

“Hey, Hunk? Do you have anything you do in these situations?” Shiro’s mouth twisted into a frown. He didn’t know how to deal with anxiety attacks - or whatever this was. Was it even an anxiety attack? He’s pretty sure. 

A buzz of feedback cut through the coms before Pidge’s voice sounded over the speakers. “Hunk, Shiro, Coran, Allura. Come on. We found his ship.” 

Hunk immediately focused, eyes clearing and head turning to the speaker which Pidge’s voice came from. He looked at Shiro, muttered something that sounded somewhat like an apology, and took off running down the hall to Pidge’s room. 

Shiro paused for a moment, glanced at the vomit, and walked after Hunk. By the time Shiro reached Pidge’s door, Hunk was bent over Pidge’s shoulder, staring at their laptop and frowning as Keith spoke. Pidge’s sad demeanor from before had completely disappeared into a state of pure determination. 

“-about 15 varga to get there on the lions, so easier and possibly faster, but they won’t let us in.” Keith finishes just as Shiro walks up to the group.

“Alright, what’s going on? What are we doing?” The three younger paladins looked at him in shock. Shiro narrowed his eyes, confused momentarily, before realizing they were expecting him to lead, to tell them what to do. Shiro shook his head. “You guys lead the way. I messed up here, and I don’t know how to fix it other than to talk to Lance, but the only one who can get me there are you all. I’m counting on you.”

Pidge pushed their glasses up their nose and gave Shiro a tiny grin before looking up at Keith. Keith had his arms crossed and lips pursed in an openly annoyed expression, but Shiro didn’t really expect immediate forgiveness from him. Hunk still had a somewhat dazedly panicked look on his face, but his eyes were clear and he looked ready for whatever needed to be done. 

“Keith, Shiro, go get Coran and Allura in case we do need the castle,” Pidge instructed. “Keith can explain the very little you missed.”

“Wait - hold on, in case we need the castle? Have you missed how all of the lions have been shutting us out for days?” Keith spat, mostly looking for an excuse not to walk anywhere with Shiro alone, even for a short time. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve noticed. I have a theory. Let me test it, get the castle - or, Allura and Coran ready to fly. Thanks, Keith!” And with that, Pidge grabbed Hunk’s hand and hurried out of the room towards wherever they were planning to test their theory.

--

Pidge walked quickly, knowing how important it was to do this fast. They had to get to Lance as soon as possible because the longer they waited the more danger he was in of being injured or dying. 

They wouldn’t let that happen. They would get to him before it could. They sped up, trying to get to the hangar without full-on sprinting and risking dropping their laptop or leaving Hunk totally behind. 

The lions shutting out the paladins had obviously been a shock, and it had left all of the paladins (excluding Lance, of course) hurt and confused. Pidge had thought it likely had something to do with Lance but dismissed it on the premise of the lions flat out not having a good reason to do so. They wouldn’t shut all the paladins out just because Lance had done something wrong (at least, Pidge was pretty sure the lions wouldn’t), and they didn’t have enough evidence to say that the lions were mad about the team unfairly kicking Lance out.

Now that Pidge knew that Lance indeed had been wrongly removed, they figured that the lions would let the group in if they knew they were going to be assisting the boy who had been treated so unfairly.

Hopefully, anyways. 

Blue would either be much more difficult than the rest or much more eager, and Pidge was worried about which way this might go.

Lance always had a really strong bond with Blue, and the rest of the team had noticed. They were the only pair who spoke fluently in words together instead of just broken pieces of thoughts or emotions that conveyed messages the lion wanted its paladin to know.

Maybe, Pidge thought, Lance would let them study the bond. That would be interesting.

They shook their head slightly, trying to clear any and all distractions. They had to be focused on Lance right now and not studying him or any fascinatingly strong magic bonds between Lance and a huge metal cat.

They reached the hangar before long and strode into the room, walking straight up to their lion and pressed one hand to the shield that still pulsated in a glowing blue orb around the beast.

“Hey, uh, Pidge? What should I be doing?” Hunk stood next to Pidge nervously, wringing his hands together and shifting slightly. 

“Go talk to Yellow. Tell her we’re trying to get to Lance, and it’ll go faster with their help,” Pidge spoke quickly before turning back to their own lion and placing their skinny hand onto the shield again. 

“Right. Green. I know that we shunned Lance without looking into it, and that was wrong, but we’re trying to help now. We’re trying to get to Lance and to make sure he’s okay and to bring him back - to bring him home.” Pidge spoke as clearly as they could, still uncertain with their words and how to communicate. But their lion was in their mind as well and knew that they spoke the truth and did truly want to help their fellow pilot and friend.

A soft rumble echoed from the chest of the great metal beast and its eyes had begun to glow a soft yellow as it crouched, lowering its shield and opening its hatch so that Pidge could step inside.

They grinned at the familiar control board that lined the inside of their lions head, the feelings of the buttons and switches and small levers all making sense to Pidge. It was normal. That would help.

“Alright, girl. Let’s go get Lance.”

Chapter Text

so...
i'm here to say sorry.
i broke my space key. it takes me much longer to write and is a lot harder.
i am working to find a substitute but do not have one so it will take me almost 2 days to focus and type each sentence out.
this will be on a very short hiatus.
no more than 3 weeks, and by the end of that I will have been able to use another device and will have written out more of this fic.
thank you so much for your patience, and I apologize deeply.

Chapter Text

Emlyn frowned at Lance’s sleeping form, its arms crossed as it bit its lip. It wasn’t sure what to do. It wanted to help Lance, but it wasn’t sure how to. Its anxiety had also swelled once Lance spoke of the ‘consequences’ that Braelyn had promised, but it hadn’t commented on it and Lance hadn’t pointed it out.

Emlyn had seen the chip in his head while examining him to heal him, but it hadn’t thought it was anything more than a harmless com chip between Lance and his team. Emlyn hoped that the chip had been hurt or even fully broken within the fight, especially after Lance admitted all of that to it. If the bug was still fully functional, it could spell out disaster for the skinny teen.

Did Lance think there was nothing else for him to lose? Emlyn bit its lip harder, drawing a bead of lavender blood from the inside and wincing. It lessened up on the pressure and sighed, pulling the blanket farther over Lance and patting his head gently. 

Emlyn pulled back a moment later and sighed, flexing its fingers. Underneath the overwhelming weight of worry, it was angry. Team Voltron had been its heroes since it had first heard about them, but now it was angry and disappointed. These people were not heroes if they shunned a member of their team without listening to him.

They left Lance alone in a tiny pod meant for travel from the Castle to a planet and back. It had supplies to last one person maybe a week if they were lucky. Lance could have died , and the paladins hadn’t done anything. They had just let him drift, knowing he’d be a target of the Galra and knowing he didn’t have the supplies to survive or to fight. 

Even if Lance had been guilty, the fact that they turned so fast on their former friend and sent him out to almost definite death was horrid. These people were supposed to be war heroes, and they should’ve at least looked into it. Emlyn supposed that the team could’ve thought Lance did something terrible, but really. This was too much.

Of course, some of the story might be altered a bit. Not purposefully, Lance wouldn’t do that - but Emlyn had no clue how to tell how bad human concussions were, and it was pretty sure Lance had one, so his memory might not be in tip-top shape.

Shiro and Allura were known for being brave and smart leaders who made good decisions. They had no excuse, and it made Emlyn want to tear into their throats. 

It wouldn’t, though. This was Lance’s battle to fight, and Lance’s battle to win. Emlyn wouldn’t step in once they managed to confront the paladins unless Lance was going to get hurt.

Because they were going to confront the paladins. They were going to confront them, and they were going to make them feel terrible. They wouldn’t be able to feel like Lance did, probably never would, but the moment the team realized Lance was innocent, the ropes were already loosened. Lance could simply let go and they’d fall into a sea of their own guilt.

Emlyn wanted to watch it happen.

--

Coran was silent. He hadn’t said a word since Shiro had told him, and frankly, Shiro wasn’t sure he was going to say anything. It had been a good 10 doboshes now, and Coran had stayed completely quiet the entire time.

Shiro decided to test the waters carefully. “Uh- Coran?”

Coran swallowed hard and stood, nodding decisively before finally speaking. “We were terrible, and we need to fix it immediately. Numbe- Lance did not deserve what we did, and we made a horrible mistake in sending him away. It must be remedied.” 

Shiro nodded in agreement, recognizing that Coran was still working himself up to really talking about it and getting ready for what would come. Lance was like Coran’s son, so as difficult as throwing Lance out of the castle was for Coran, knowing it wasn’t justified had to be a hundred times worse.

“I know that this is hard right now, but we owe it to Lance to ignore how this is making us feel. We need to get to him as soon as possible. He could be in danger or hurt and we don’t know if he’s gotten himself proper materials to survive, nor do we know anything about his mental state.” Shiro didn’t present the idea that Lance could be dead already, not wanting Coran to freak out as badly as Hunk. 

Shiro didn’t really think Coran would react that badly anyway, but bringing up the possibility of Lance’s death would only really be distracting at this point. Mulling it over constantly would just hurt the team, and if he was being honest, Shiro didn’t want to deal with that possibility either. It was dark, and it made his chest ache for multiple reasons.

This whole situation was Shiro’s fault. And Allura’s, somewhat. He knew that and looking back on the moments where he told Allura that they had to make Lance leave immediately and, once again, the look on Lance’s face right after Shiro had slapped him. It was still echoing in his mind, and it hurt a lot.

Lance was a 17-year-old boy who had been forced out of his secondary family and out into space in an underdefended ship with significantly fewer supplies than he needed to survive properly. Not only were people not supposed to live in the ship, but it wasn’t one of those ‘you could stay in a pinch’ situations. The ship was not meant to house life, and if it really really needed to, it shouldn’t be for more than a day or two.

The fact that Lance had made it anywhere, especially as far as he had, was impressive and amazing and extremely worried. It meant Lance had likely been dehydrating and starving himself to space out the little materials he did have. Shiro at least knew Lance hadn’t died of either of those, at least not in the ship. If Lance hadn’t spread out the water, he would have died of dehydration within about 3, maybe 4 in a best-case scenario. The boy would’ve been alright without food for a while longer, but it would be a fairly excruciating process, and starving slowly would be horrid.

Shiro really, really hoped Lance had found people.

The image of Lance, starved to death and lying boneless on the ground, wouldn’t leave his mind.

He needed to get back to Pidge and get Lance, now.

Coran nodded. “Of course. I’ll go talk to Pidge to get the location of the planet Lance is on, and we will go to him immediately.” Shiro admired how quickly Coran was pushing away his own thoughts in favor of helping Lance, even if Shiro could still hear how badly Coran was hurting in his voice.

“Good.” Keith’s voice sounded from the end of the corridor. He was leaning on the wall with his shoulder. Shiro wasn’t sure how long he had been standing there, but it occurred to the older man that Keith was supposed to be helping find Allura and Coran as well. He was pretty sure Keith hadn’t been skipping out, not on these tasks, but he hadn’t found either of the Alteans first. “We should be getting back to Pidge. They have some idea about the lions and how to get them to work, I think.”

Shiro dipped his head and started walking towards the hangar where the lions sat, Coran following him with a quiet urgency. Keith walked ahead of them, not stopping to offer any kind of reassurance or even trying to talk to either of the older adults. 

Talking to Keith right now felt... precarious. Usually, the teen would come to Shiro about emotions or at least have some kind of body language that let Shiro know some part of what he was thinking, but right now it was like he had slammed up walls with spikes that would unforgivingly jab at Shiro if he tried to get too close. It wasn’t something Shiro was used to if he was being honest. He was almost always one of the only people Keith would let in, but he was being pushed out.

Shiro knew he probably deserved it at this point, but he was really worried about how this would affect them as brothers. He didn’t want to lose how close he was to Keith, and that felt selfish, but Keith was immensely important to Shiro. It took the two of them a long time to become as close as they were, and losing both Lance and Keith in one swing would be terrible.

Shiro raised his eyebrows at his brain's own implications at losing Lance. If he was being honest, after this, he knew in at least some way he would be losing Lance. The real question now was if it was from the team, as a friend, or as a living person.

Chapter Text

Green landed on the surface of the nameless planet gracefully, but Pidge wasn’t paying attention to how well they touched the ground, only how quickly. The younger paladin dashed out of their lion as soon as its paws were touching the ground, sprinting over to the pod lying in the grass close by.

Hunk followed close after them, but Yellow flew slower than the lithe green beast. Once he had landed, he dashed after them, making it to the collapsed pod right as Pidge was coming back out.

“He’s not in there, then?” Hunk asked, not sure if that was something that provided relief or concern. He didn’t want Lance to be stuck inside of that pod, especially when the lanky boy would be long out of supplies at this point, but it did mean that Lance could be anywhere on the planet.

Hunk ignored the possibility of Lance finding another ship and leaving the planet, the possibility of him being anywhere in space. Beyond where the paladins could find him, beyond where anyone knew of Voltron and who they were. Hunk shuddered uncomfortably at that, the attempt to ignore the thoughts going wrong as soon as it began.

Pidge checked their watch, on which they had installed their private commlink to Keith, before looking up at Hunk and starting to speak. “Keith and Shiro are coming in their lions soon, Blue is flying on its own, and Allura and Coran are bringing the castle down a little ways away. They’ll be able to catch up with us, but let’s go.”

Hunk’s stomach gurgled painfully. “Are you sure we shouldn’t wait for Keith, at least? You and he were the ones who found out.”

“You think Keith wants to wait on finding Lance? He could be dying, Hunk, we have to find him now!” Pidge spat, crossing their arms and glaring up at the taller male.

They hadn’t realized it before, but they were definitely holding some kind of grudge-like feelings towards Hunk. They didn’t really know how to explain it, but Hunk hadn’t spoken up about questioning what Lance might have done at all, and he had tried something that seemed almost like replacing Lance.

Pidge knew it was unfair, knew that Hunk was probably feeling just as terrible as the rest of them, if not worse, and they definitely did feel guilty. Everybody had coped with Lance’s supposed crime differently, and Pidges was nearly always thought to question things when they didn’t like them or they didn’t make sense.

Hunk nodded in response. “Right. Yeah. Let’s go. Er, what direction are we going in?” He looked down at the smaller person, who paused for a moment before speaking.

Pidge shrugged. “We don’t really know, and I rushed here without any kind of equipment other than Green, who I don’t think will be able to help. I have no clue if Blue could help us find him, but for now, anywhere is good.”

Hunk swallowed heavily before taking a deep breath. “I- uh, forward, then?”

Pidge didn’t speak again, just headed off into the fields in front of them.

“We’re coming, Lance,” Hunk muttered before starting off behind the small person.

--

Keith wanted Red to go faster. She was going as fast as she could, and was already way ahead of both Blue and Black, but he wanted her to go faster. He needed to see Lance again, needed to hug the boy and make sure he wasn’t hurt. Not past what the team had done, anyway. He needed to make sure there wasn’t additional damage before he could help the skinny boy.

Shiro had started speaking over the comms once or twice, but Keith had been ignoring him. Keith knew it was pretty much the entire team’s fault for not figuring out something until so late, but he was still without pity for the three older members of the team.

They were the ones who had made the first decision, and there should be consequences for them worse than Keith and Pidge being pissed.

Keith gripped the controls of Red faster, and she growled indignantly. She knew how important this was, but she couldn’t physically speed up anymore right now. It probably wasn’t even safe for her to be going this fast for this long, but Keith was long past caring.

He did have to slow down a little later, though, because the planet was much closer now, and slamming into it would be idiotic. He did, however, land as soon as he could, ignoring the loud uneven thuds as her paws settled next to Yellow and Green, who were sitting empty on the long grass.

The grass crunched uncomfortably under Keith’s boots, but he ignored it for now. There would be time to worry about evil plant species later. He turned around in a full circle, trying to spot Pidge and Hunk. He caught a trail of smashed down grass, but he didn’t want to assume, so he turned on the small commlink he had set into his helmet.

“Pidge? Pidge, come in.” Keith paused for a moment, static coming from the other end for a minute before a voice broke through. He could hear mumbling that was probably spilling from Hunk as the two other paladins walked hopefully closer to Lance.

“What, what is it?” Pidge asked impatiently.

“Which direction did you all go to? I want to catch up.”

“We probably left a path, but go in a different direction. Lance could be anywhere on the planet, I don’t want to miss him because we all went one way.”

The red paladin nodded in response before remembering they couldn’t see him and letting out a quick “Got it.” He turned around in a circle before picking a random direction and walking straight, somewhere to the left of Pidge and Hunk’s trampled out trail.

It was time to find Lance.

--

Shiro had stayed back with Allura and Coran in the castle. Allura heard him say something half-assed about the castle going faster, which wasn’t exactly incorrect, but all three of them knew that wasn’t the reason he was staying. Allura wouldn’t pressure him, though. All of them were stressed, and the three people in the castle probably felt the most terrible out of the entire group.

And again, all of them did indeed feel horrid, but the Alteans and Shiro were the ones who had sent Lance away, the ones who had made a decision like that without trying to talk to the blue paladin or determine anything about the situation first.

If you were to play devil's advocate, it did make some measure of sense. They had been shown seemingly solid proof that Lance had done something truly unforgivable, and they didn’t forgive him.

But the group should’ve known that people want to tear Voltron apart constantly. Many enemies, whether involved with the Galra or not, don’t agree with Voltron and its ideals, and just because this wasn’t a typical Galra approach didn’t mean it wasn’t them either.

They should’ve expected the boy they loved and trusted that held their team together wouldn’t just up and suddenly do something as terrible as raping someone.
And yet the only people on the team who did attempt to fact-check were the people who weren’t viewed as leaders, who weren’t looked to to make decisions like that. What did that say about Allura? Shiro? Coran?

Allura let out a quiet sigh and rubbed one eye with the heel of her hand. The planet was clear in front of them, the coordinates shown in Altean on one of the projected rectangles around her. They didn’t actually know much about this planet, or this sector in general. It was a little worrying, but they only really had to worry about murderous fauna and/or flora if it was involved with Lance or got in the team’s way.

Coran had been uncharacteristically silent, and it was wearing on Allura. He was always a supporting character in her life, one of the most important people she knew and the one who had been here to explain and help and provide a source of love and humor in the time since they had awoken from the cryo-pods.

The older Altean had taken the news of Lance’s supposed misdeeds pretty terribly, keeping himself busy and avoiding the others as best as he could, but now that he knew that they had gotten something wrong, Allura was legitimately worried about how his mental health would fare with knowing he had done something so unneededly horrible to someone Coran saw as a son.

Allura was shaken out of her thoughts at a quiet reminder from someone- Coran or Shiro, she couldn’t tell. She hadn’t been paying attention.- that they were getting closer to the planet. It would be time to land soon, and then they’d search the entire place until they found their teammate or found where he had gone off of the planet.

The thought that weighed heaviest on Allura right now was the possibility of Lance’s death, but the image of Lance’s stiff body lying somewhere on a foreign planet was impossible, so she didn’t dwell on it.

Keith spoke over the comms, his voice scratchy and staticky through the castle’s speakers catching it over a far distance. “I found a forest.” Allura opened her mouth to respond, but Pidge got there first.

“Which direction did you take away from the pods?”

“Left of yours, but keep going your way. We shouldn’t meet up unless we know where or have clear ideas of where Lance might be.”

“Got it,” Pidge said and stopped speaking. Keith didn’t have anything else to add, and Allura didn’t know how to contribute. They were doing the right things, and she felt intrusive by trying to instruct them on what to do here either.

Allura shook off the guilt riding up in the edges of her mind, focusing on landing the castle. They were here.

--

The forest was making Keith uneasy. The trees felt as if they were curling in on him, and he had a growing sense of worry as he moved farther and farther forward, occasionally using boosts from his shoes and hands to propel himself as if he was running.

He wondered if Lance had come this way. If so, Lance would have likely been weakened from lack of supplies, so how long would it have taken him to make his way through here. It was definitely hot, so with little or no water, Lance could’ve gotten something like a dehydration fever- not that Keith knew much about what happens when you were dehydrated.

Keith was still wondering over what kind of issues Lance might have run into other than the obvious ones when he tripped over a root hidden among the grass and rolled down a hill, yelping and grunting loudly as he went down.

He sprawled out at the bottom, panting slightly and rubbing his helmet where it had knocked against his head. “Ow.” He sat up, shaking out his limbs loosely and checking nothing was broken before realizing where he was. There was a small shack-like building sitting in front of him. Someone was hurrying out of the shack, moving to the back of the house to check what yelling had been about.

An unfamiliar alien stood before Keith, eyes widened as it covered its mouth with one hand. It looked like Rolo at first glance, but upon further inspection, its skin was darker and Rolo’s brighter purple spots were located around this creature’s neck. It gasped at him. “Keith..”
Keith stood up abruptly, stumbling a little. “Who are you? Why do you know me?” He started to approach the alien but was stopped in his tracks by a small voice coming from behind it.

“You’re here,” The small voice said quietly, the boy it belonged to stepping forward as a number of conflicting emotions warred on his face and he stared at his old teammate.
Keith had found Lance.