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Chapter Text

     Lance tries not to think too hard about the lives he’s ending as he shoots his gun.  It’s easy to do when the Galra are trying to kill him back, but every now and then he won’t look away in time, and then he’ll feel sick.

     Lance thinks it must be worse for Keith.  Keith, who’s making a path for them and taking down dozens of Galra with his sword.  Keith is much more up close and personal with the weapon he wields, it’s times like this that Lance is grateful for his gun.

     The enemies are starting to thin significantly, it helps when the other three Paladins are using their lions to attack.

     It had been a surprise attack, the Galra had figured out where the castle had landed and attacked them from the ground.

     They quickly had to reevaluate their plan once they discovered the tank-like ships took far too much firepower to destroy, hence why Lance and Keith were on foot, infiltrating said ships.

      The army of Galra soldiers made it difficult, but it’s nothing they can’t handle.

     Lance focuses on shooting, watching their six as Keith makes a path to the next ship.

     Lance fights the urge to look back to check on Keith.  He can’t help the sinking feeling that settles in his stomach.  He’s looked back several times already, which had Keith yelling at him to focus every time a Galra had come too close for comfort.  Still, he can’t resist the urge to check…

     Lance glances at Keith.  Unsurprisingly, he seems to be doing alright.  Aside from being a little winded, he slices through the enemies with ease.  Lance goes to turn away, satisfied with his one-second assessment, when he spots it…

      The red light was about two hundred feet away atop a nearby cliff.  It’s to the left of them, but more so facing Keith than himself.

     Lance goes into overdrive.  There’s no time to tell Keith, every second could mean death for them!

    So, Lance sidesteps, bumping Keith into his enemy in the process.  He lifts his gun, he’s a good shot, but even with his skills, he’s going to need a hell of a lot of luck.

     He hears Keith yell something at him just as he takes the shot.

     He watches his shot hit his target just as a beam of light shoots through the air and hits Lance straight in the chest.

     Lance is sent back by the impact, landing on his back.  Lance let out a choked noise, the blast had hit his chest plate, but that didn’t seem to stop the bullet from going through.  His armor completely splintered, some of it stuck in his chest, moving and shifting with each breath he took.

     “LANCE!”  Who was screaming?  It sounded like someone he knew.

     The pain is unbearable, spit and blood pool out of Lance’s mouth as he lifts his head to assess the damage.  It wasn’t deep, but it still exposed muscle and tissue that should otherwise be covered.  Still, maybe if they got him to the castle quick enough he wouldn’t die.

     Lance lets his head fall back to the ground, coughing as the blood that had been collecting in his mouth hits the back of his throat.

     Voices are coming from his helmet, yelling and screaming that just turns into incessant buzzing in his ears.

     The voice next to him is back, only this time it’s yelling, barking orders as it gets closer and its owner comes into view.

     “Keith?” Lance’s speech comes out garbled, and when he tries to take a deep breath in he’s suddenly choking on his own blood.

     Keith lets out a shout before reaching over to turn Lance on his side.

    Lance screams as the movement makes his whole body explode in pain, though it sounds wrong with the blood clogging up his airway.

     “I know, I know!” Keith’s grip on his arm tightens and his voice is frantic.  It’s so unlike the way Keith normally sounds.  “I’m sorry!”

     Lance is lowered back onto his back, much more gently than he was lifted.

     Keith curses before moving into Lance’s vision.  “You idiot, if you ever take a bullet for me again I’ll kill you!  What’s wrong with you?!”

     Lance does his best to smile, “someone’s gotta look out for you, Samurai.”  Lance turns his head, he’s so tired.

     “Lance?”  Keith hits his cheek.  “Stay with me!  Shit!”  Keith swears, running his fingers through his hair.  “Lance, Buddy, I gotta lift you.”

     Lance hums, “What ‘bout the others?”

     “They’re covering us, once we get in the castle we’re evacuating.”  Lance can hear Keith move, “Ready?  One two-“

     Lance doesn’t hear the end of the count.  He screams as Keith lifts him into the air.  His chest is on fire, and he can’t breathe, oh god he’s dying, it feels like it anyway.

     Keith apologizes again, but Lance doesn’t have the chance to say anything as the world around him goes dark.

     Lance shoots up out of bed.  Nightmares have become much more common since the incident a week ago.

     That’s not to say they were uncommon before, sleeping in the silence of space is enough to cause a restless sleep.  But they’ve been relentless the last few days.

     Lance grabs his chest, his lungs burn as he struggles to take in air.  His chest hurts too, a violent pain starting from where his injury had previously been and shooting out to his whole body.

   He needs to calm down.  Lance takes a quick breath, trying to will his heart to calm down.  He’s unsuccessful, the harder he tries to calm down the harder it is for him to breathe.  Back on Earth, he’d have someone with him.  His mom and his siblings were always so patient and understanding when it came to his panic attacks.  He wants that, he wants someone to comfort him.

     ‘Lance, is everything alright?’   Blue purrs in his head, he can feel her concern through their bond.

     Lance shakes his head, he learned very early on that there was no use lying to the magical space lion that could look inside his head.

     ‘Oh Cub, I wish I could help.’   Lance can feel her guilt.  Sometimes, he wishes Blue wasn’t so kind towards him.  He couldn’t take how upset she’d get when she couldn’t help him.

     ‘Why not ask another Paladin for help?’

     Lance shakes his head.  No, no way.  There was no way he was bothering his friends with this.

     One thing is for certain, Lance can’t say in his tiny room another second.  He’ll just go for a walk, surely that will help him calm down.

     Keith currently swings his sword on the training deck.  He couldn’t sleep, he was hoping training would burn some excess energy.

     Keith slashes at the gladiators.  He’s felt restless the last few days, it’s becoming annoying.  He can feel it festering just beneath his skin, the frustration that’s been eating away at him for days.

     He’s angry at how badly their last battle went.  He’s mad at Lance for being so careless.  But mostly, he’s mad at himself.

     He’s angry for not being good enough, for not being able to prevent Lance from getting hurt.  He’s angry at just how useless he’d been while his friend was dying in his arms.

     He strikes again before expertly rolling out of the way.  He doesn’t want anyone to get hurt because of him again…

Especially not Lance.

     Keith defeats the last gladiator, taking its head clean off with his sword.  He sits there a moment, catching his breath.  Before he can activate the next training sequence he sees movement from out in the hall.

     He frowns, who’s up this late?  Usually, Keith is the only one up this late.  It’s odd to see someone else up and about, maybe Shiro couldn’t sleep either?

     Honestly, it’s none of his business, but he can’t help this nagging feeling growing in the pit of her stomach.

     Keith sighs, putting his weapon down and walking in the direction he’d seen the movement go.  He’s not sure where the person had gone, but he just hopes that he finds them soon.

     After a few random turns Keith is almost ready to give up.  He turns around the next corner, fully set on giving up if there is no one there.

     He’s met with Lance, who’s shuffling his feet almost aimlessly around the hall.  Keith frowns, something about this seems really off.  “Lance?”

     Lance turns, looking akin to a deer in headlights.

     Keith’s frown deepens, worry wedging itself deep in its guts.  This felt all wrong, Lance is curled in on himself, and he’s shaking from head to toe.  “Are you alright?”

     Lance swallows, opening his mouth to respond only for a sob to to leave his lips.

     Alarm takes over Keith when they don’t seem to stop.  Lance chokes on his sobs, breathing fast and heavy and gasping for air.

     Keith closes the gap between them, placing his hands on Lance’s arms.  “Hey, what’s wrong?”

     “K-Keith,” it’s all Lance manages to choke out as he leans into Keith.

     “Woah, hey,” Keith takes Lance’s weight, leading the two of them down to the floor.

      Keith holds him tight, not sure what else to do in this situation.  How do you help someone who’s in the middle of a panic attack?

      “Take a deep breath, Lance.  It’s alright.”  Yeah right, like hell it’s alright.  What a stupid thing to say.

     Lance only clings to him harder, burying his face in the crook of Keith’s neck.

     Keith can hear Lance’s struggle for air.  Seeing his friend struggle like this leaves Keith’s chest feeling tight.  He wishes he knew what to do, wishes that he could take all of Lance’s pain away.

     Lance sobs again, causing Keith to hold the Blue Paladin tighter.  “It’s alright, I’m right here!  Just- just breathe with me, Lance.”  Keith begins to take comically exaggerated breaths as he starts to rub circles into the other’s back.

Keith can tell Lance is trying his hardest to match him.  Lance takes stuttering breaths, they’re still far too fast, but Keith finds himself smiling at the small improvement.

     “There you go, that’s it.  In and out.”  Keith feels awkward, he’s not used to things like physical contact, but he pushes the feeling down for Lance’s sake.  Lance, after all, was more important.  “I'm right here, I’ve got you, Buddy.”

     It’s such a stark contrast to how they normally interact.  Normally, they’re messing with each other, arguments that over time morphed into something almost playful.  Keith always knows what to do then, but right now he isn’t sure.  So, he sits there and does his best to be there for his friend while he cries it out.

     Eventually, Lance begins to calm down.  Keith isn’t exactly sure how long they’ve been sitting in the middle of the hallway, it could be hours for all he knows.

     Keith looks down at the lanky boy in his arms.  Lance isn’t clinging to him anymore, but he makes no effort to move out of Keith’s grip.  Lance simply sits in Keith’s arms, looking downright exhausted.

     “What happened?”  Because, honestly, what was that?  Keith doesn’t want to pry but he needs to know what brought that on.

     “Bad dream.  Sorry.”

     “Don’t apologize,” Keith isn’t even sure what Lance is sorry for, but he certainly isn’t upset with him.  “Do you… want to talk about it?”  Talking about things normally helps, right?

     Lance shakes his head, his cheek rubbing against Keith’s shoulder.

     Keith hums in response, that’s ok.  He isn’t going to force Lance to talk.  Lance doesn’t want to talk about it and Keith respects that.  “Must’ve been a real bad one.”

     “Yeah, I guess,” Lance’s voice is quiet.

     Silence fills the hall for a while.  There’s something so upsetting about seeing Lance so emotionally exhausted.  Keith finds it worrying, it’s like he’s a whole other person.

     Keith’s been in space with these people long enough to have seen his fair share of panic attacks.  Up until this point, he’s helped all the Paladins except Lance through at least one of them.

     Keith just sort of assumed that Lance didn’t get them, or maybe that he had a good support system set up with Hunk since they were close.  After seeing this, however, he’d say he was mistaken.  It almost seemed as if Lance didn’t know what to do, was this his first panic attack?  “Have you had panic attacks before?”

     Keith can feel Lance tense in his hold.  He’s not sure why Lance does, he didn’t think he’d asked anything personal.

     Lance nods, the response leaves a tight feeling in Keith’s chest.  Keith was really hoping that wasn’t the case, if that’s how Lance had been handling all his panic attacks, then it’s probably been rough.  “When did they start,” Keith’s hoping it hasn’t been for very long.

     Lance shrugs, his left shoulder rubbing against Keith’s chest.  It wasn’t much of an answer, and it made the tight feeling in Keith’s chest worse.

     “Lance,” Keith’s tone is harsher than he means for it to be.  He said he wasn’t going to force Lance to talk, but he needs to know, it’s eating away at him.  “How long has this been going on?”

     Keith can hear Lance’s breath hitch, “I dunno, since like ever?”  Lance sounds as if he’s on the verge of tears again.  Suddenly, Keith feels bad for practically forcing Lance to respond.

     Keith’s heart sinks at the news.  Lance has been going through this whole time?  How long has he been suffering by himself like this?  Since they got to space?  Before even that?  “Lance…”

     Lance pulls away, a strange panicked look on his face.  “I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have bothered you!”  Lance scrambles to get up.

      Keith frowns, was Lance embarrassed?  “Lance-“

     Lance ignores Keith, continuing to ramble on.  “I mean, we all have our own things we’re dealing with!”

     Keith moves to stand, following Lance’s lead, “Lance-“

     “Honestly, I’m fine!  It’s no big deal, really!”  Lance takes a step back.

     Keith follows him, taking one step forward.  “Lance-“

     “And, honestly, I should learn to deal with things on my own!”  Lance turns away, clearly intending to run away from the situation.

     Oh no, Lance wasn’t getting away that easy, not after spending all that time trying to calm him down.  “Lance!”  Keith lunges forward, trapping Lance’s wrist in his hands.  “Lance, listen to me.”

     Lance turns back towards Keith, opting to stare at the hand holding his wrist.

    Keith smooths his thumb over Lance’s wrist, trying to reassure him.  “Cut it out.  No one is telling you to deal with everything on your own.  I’m not upset with you for coming to me for help and you didn’t bother me.  We’re a team.”  He needs Lance to hear him, to believe what he’s saying.

      Lance looks up at Keith, eyes wide in disbelief.

     Keith doesn’t like the look on his face.  Lance shouldn’t be shocked by that.  “Listen, if this ever happens again I want you to find someone.  It doesn’t have to be me, just go to someone so you don’t have to deal with this on your own.  Got it?”

     Lance nods, “Whatever you say, Mullet.”

     They stand in silence for a few seconds before Allura’s voice echoes from the intercom.  “Paladins, please head to the Control Room!”

      Lance wiggles his way out of Keith’s grip.  “Well, you heard the Princess!”  He begins to walk back in the direction he came but is stopped when Keith grabs his shoulder.

     Lance turns to Keith, a frown on his face as he cocks his head to the side.  “What?”

     Keith doesn’t know why, but he hates the idea of leaving Lance alone after that.  “Will you be alright?”

     Lance scoffs, giving Keith a goofy smile.  “‘Course I will, Mullet.”

     Keith nods, satisfied with the answer.  He can tell that Lance is being sincere, so he lets go of Lance before following him to the Control Room.

Chapter Text

     Keith arrives to the Control Room before Lance.  He’d wanted to go in with the other, but Lance had insisted he take a couple moments to himself before joining the rest of the group.
 

     Keith supposes he can’t really fault Lance for wanting a second to himself, but it doesn’t mean that he likes it.  He continues to watch the door as the other Paladins file in.  He can’t help but worry, did Allura want them out on a mission right this instant?  Would Lance even be up for something like that?

     Eventually, all but Lance has entered the room and positioned themselves around Allura.

     After a few doboshes pass Allura lets out a sigh.  Keith pulls his eyes away from the door long enough to see the annoyed look on her face.  “How come we are always waiting on Lance?  Does he take nothing seriously?”

     Keith’s head snaps back to the princess at that.  Keith’s heard his fair share of Lance-related complaints from the team throughout their time together.  And, logically speaking, Allura can’t possibly know Lance was having a particularly hard time this morning, but that doesn’t stop the annoyance that Keith feels.  “Is this meeting urgent?”

     Allura looks at him, a confused frown adorning her features.  “Well, no.”

     “Then lay off,” it comes out much harsher than intended, but Keith can’t find it in him to care.

     “The urgency of the situation does not matter!  A Paladin of Voltron must-“

     “Why don’t you just shut up and wait then?  Complaining isn’t going to get him here any faster.” Keith glares at Allura, ignoring the look of hurt and surprise on her face. 

     Allura doesn’t say anything after that.  They team sits in a tense sort of silence until Lance arrives.

     “Morning!”  Keith whips his head in the direction of the voice, finding Lance.  The Paladin is no longer in his pajamas, and his hair is smoothed down.  For the most part, he looks like his normal, annoying self, but Keith can’t help but notice the dark circles that adorn his eyes.  How long have those been there?  Worry starts to set in as Keith starts to wonder just how much sleep the Blue Paladin has gotten recently.

     “Lance, you’re late again!  Might I remind you-“

     Lance waves his hand, effectively cutting Allura off.  “Yeah, yeah,” he pauses to yawn.  “Paladin of Voltron, the fate of the universe is at stake, blah blah blah.”

     Keith can’t believe that Lance would actually say that, to the princess of all peaople.  “It’s not a big deal,” Keith decides to speak before Allura has the chance to get mad at Lance.  “Now that we’re all here what did you want to talk to us about, Allura.”

     Allura glares at Keith and Lance before she begins to explain.  “We have received intel from a reliable source about a secret Galra Base in our sector.  In a few Vargas we’ll infiltrate the base with Green and Red.  We’re splitting up into teams, Shiro and Hunk will take the left wing and Lance and Keith will take the right.  We’ll go around, find the mainframes and get Pidge into the system so she can download as much Galra intel as we can from within the Green Lion.”

     It seemed easy enough, and for once Keith is glad he’s paired up with Lance.  At least he’ll be able to keep an eye on him.

      “Wait, how is Pidge supposed to access the computer from her Lion?”  Lance’s confusion rings in his voice.

      Allura sighs, seemingly very annoyed as she pulls up a map, “there are two computers located here and here.”  Two little blips appear on opposite ends of the base.  “Now Pidge cannot be in two places at once, she has invented these devices that you all will put into the computer so she can access them wirelessly.  Honestly, Lance you should understand how this works by now.”

     Keith feels his annoyance build when he notices Lance tense.  “Right, sorry she’s just usually in the room with the computer.”

     Allura doesn’t acknowledge him, simply opting to dismiss the group instead.

     Keith follows Lance into the common room.  Lance flops down on the couch, sighing dramatically.

     Keith follows suit, though sitting down in a much less dramatic fashion.  The two of them sit in silence.  It’s driving Keith nuts.  He’s not even sure why he’s here, Lance doesn’t need a babysitter, he’s being ridiculous.

     Just as Keith is about to get up Lance sighs, flopping down onto Keith’s lap.

     Keith lets out a noise in surprise.  “Lance, what-“

     “Hey, Mullet,” Lance pauses, closing his eyes as he stretches, “thanks.”

     Keith frowns, what was he saying thanks for?  “For what?”

     “For, y’know,” Lance waves his hand, clearly trying to find the words.  “For being a good friend, ‘nd all that.”

      Keith stares at Lance.  Was he talking about earlier?  “Don’t thank me.  It’s not like I did anything.”  Really, he didn’t, he just sort of awkwardly stood there.

     Lance waves him off, “no, you did.  It helps to have someone there.”

     Keith frowns, if that was true, then how come he’d never asked for help before?  “Then why don’t you ask for help?”

     Lance looks off to the side, Keith thinks he almost looks embarrassed.  “You’ve all got your own stuff going on.  I didn’t want to bother anyone,” Lance talks softly, like even he knows it sounds ridiculous. 

     Keith’s frown deepens.  Did Lance not think he was worth anyone’s time?  That thought didn’t sit right with him.  “I don’t have stuff going on.”

      Lance looks back to Keith and frowns. “What are you talking about?  Yes you do.”

     Keith shakes his head, “nope!  I never have any stuff going on.  Feel free to ask me for help any time.”

     Lance stares at Keith.  For awhile he doesn’t say anything, merely staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face.  Then, he smiles.  It’s not his normal, big, Lancey grin, but a smile all the same.  “I’ll remember that.”

     Good, Keith feels better now that he knows Lance will reach out next time.  “You should go get some rest.  You look tired.”

     Lance hums, turning so that he’s on his side.  “Mmmkay, night.”

     Keith huffs, but he’s not particularly annoyed. “You’re gonna sleep here?  On top of me?”

     “Yup,” Lance pops the p, not opening his eyes, “you said you don’t have any stuff.”

      Keith rolls his eyes despite the smile creeping up onto his face.  “Go to sleep, Lance.”

     “Lance.”

      Lance’s eyes snap open, panic stricken at the sensation of being shook awake.  He shoots up, his head smacking into a blur of dark hair.

     A groan fills Lance’s ears, “dammit, Lance!”

     Lance turns to face the voice, finding Keith holding his nose.  Lance’s eyes widen in realization at what he’d just done.  “Shit, Keith!  I’m sorry!”  Lance hovers over the Red Paladin.  Shame and guilt swell in his chest, he feels bad.  He’s never been good with abrupt and sudden contact, or anything really, but he’s been getting better with it!  He really has, Lance just wasn’t awake enough to stop his reaction.

     Keith glances at Lance, aggravation written on his face.  Lance braces himself for the other to yell at him, it’s a perfectly reasonable response after all.  Instead he freezes, making eye contact with Lance, who must look like a frazzled and embarrassed mess.  

Keith’s annoyed expression melts away as he lowers his hand and sighs, “it’s alright.  It was an accident.”  Huh, not quite the reaction he was expecting.  Keith offers him one of his rare lopsided grins.  “C’mon, Shiro wants us all on the training deck,” he hits Lance’s arm lightly before getting up.

     Lance follows, “how long was I asleep?”

      Keith shrugs, “not sure, enough for my legs to fall asleep.”  Lance makes note of the other’s disheveled appearance and the dazed look in his eyes that hasn’t quite left him.  Had Keith fallen asleep too?

     Lance doesn’t say anything after that, his brain is still too groggy to come up with anything to say.

     They’re the last two to get there.  Keith stops next to Hunk and Lance next to Keith.  Lance stands closer to his rival than he normally would.  He doesn’t miss the look Hunk directs his way.

     “What did you need, Shiro?”  Lance’s attention is brought back to Keith.

    “We’ve only got about twenty Vargas until we infiltrate the base.  I just wanted to make sure everyone’s familiar with their roles and get some light training in.”

     Seemed reasonable enough. It’s better to be prepared for something like this after all.

      “Lance, Keith, you two go to the other side of the room and go over your route.  Hunk and Pidge will spar against me first.”

     Lance follows Keith, sitting next to the Red Paladin as he pulls up something on the computer.

     “Ok, so we’re taking up the left wing.” Keith points at the start of the highlighted path.  “It’s pretty straight forward, a right, a left, a right, then two lefts, after that it’s a straight shot.”

     Lance frowns, following Keith’s finger trace the path, a left then a… right?  Directions have never been Lance’s strong suit. 

     The confusion must show on his face, “the path is programmed into your suit.  Try not to stress so much.”

     Right, he forgot about that part.  Thank god navigation systems seem to be a universal thing, otherwise he’d be screwed.

     “You’re leading the way.”  Keith states the obvious.  Obviously Lance is leading, he’s the one with the gun after all.  “Try to remember where to go.”

     Lance nods, he can do that.  He’ll read the map more throughly in his own time.  It helps him remember if he’s able to draw out his own version, even if his art skills aren’t the greatest. 

     Keith stares at him, eyebrows scrunched in a look of confusion.  “Relax, we’ve done harder missions before.”

    “I know,” Lance sighs, hanging his head.  Honestly, he’s being ridiculous, everything’s going to be fine.  “I just can’t help-“

     “Lance, Keith!  You’re up!”  Lance turns to Shiro, finding the other two helping him up. 

      Lance gives Hunk a smile, it wasn’t easy to beat Shiro.  He’s proud of his two friends.

      Lance and Keith walk over to Shiro.  “Ready to win, Mullet”

      “Just don’t get in my way.”  The jab is playful, that’s what most of their arguing is these days, playful.

      The sparring starts off smoothly.  Lance and Keith take turns exchanging blows onto Shiro that he skillfully blocks.

      Hand-to-hand combat has never been Lance’s strong suit.  He’s awkward and all limbs, but Keith’s skill makes up for it. 

      Lance takes a swing at Shiro, his fist missing it’s trajectory, causing Lance to stumble.

     Shiro takes the opportunity to sweep Lance’s legs.  Lance falls to the floor, his head smacking painfully against the thankfully padded floor.

     Lance blinks, dazed by the sudden pain.  He looks up, not entirely sure of the scene he is seeing.

      There’s a large figure towering over another familiar figure.  For a second, Lance doesn’t remember where he is, or what exactly he was doing, all he sees is a flash from his past.

      His momentary daze is enough time for him to act.  Lance is up in a flash and tackling the large figure down to the ground.

    Lance isn’t thinking, there’s no time for that.  He needs to act, he-

     “Lance?”

     Lance freezes, the world coming back into focus.  He looks down at Shiro, then at his fist that was a second away from punching the man. 

     Lance looks around, seeing everyone’s eyes on him.  Lance’s breathing picks up speed, “I… I’m…” Lance isn’t sure what he’s trying to say.  He’s horrified and embarrassed at his own actions.  He’d forgotten where he was and just panicked.  Lance scrambles to his feet, backing away from Shiro.

     “Lance,” there’s a soft voice beside him and someone is grabbing his shoulder. 

     “Don’t touch me!”  Lance turns and smacks the hand away.  He finds Keith, taking a step away from Lance.

      Lance can’t take it anymore, there are too many people, his chest is getting tight, and is it hot in here?  It feels hot.

     “Lance, it’s-“ Lance doesn’t hear the rest of what Shiro has to say because he decides to race out of the room.

     Lance turns the corner, and he doesn’t stop until he’s in the safety of Blue’s cockpit.

      He crams himself under the control table before burying his face in his knees.

     He can feel Blue’s concern buzzing under his skin, can hear her calming voice in his head.  It’s comforting but it can only do so much.

     Shiro isn’t sure what happened, one second they were sparring , the next Lance was on top of him, looking more akin to a scared and cornered animal than anything else.

     “What happened?!”  Hunk’s voice is tight and panicked, it seems he and Pidge had made their way over during the ordeal.

      “I’m not sure,” Shiro had a bad feeling settling in his stomach.  “It didn’t seem like Lance did either.”

     “I’m going after him.”

     Keith turns to leave, Shiro stops him.  “No, Lance needs space.  We should give that to him.”

     Keith shakes Shiro off, face twisted into a scowl.  “No, he doesn’t.”

      Shiro was about to argue, but the look in Keith’s eyes told him Keith’s mind was made up. 

     Shiro sighs, running a hand through his hair.  He’s not sure what had caused Lance to react the way he had.  It almost reminded Shiro of those moments when he’s taken back to his time captured.  “Alright, that’s enough excitement for one day.  Get some rest, and if you see Lance don’t push.  If he wants to tell us what happened he will.

     Keith’s looked everywhere.  The observatory, Lance’s room, Hell, he even checked his own room in the small chance Lance was waiting for him there.

      There’s only one more place that Keith can think to check, so he heads towards the Lion bay.

      Once Keith gets there, he marches straight up to Blue.  “Lance?!”

     He gets no response, but he knows Lance is there.  There’s no other place The Blue Paladin can be, so he tries again.  “Lance, let me in!”

     There’s a pause before Blue lowers and opens her jaws to him. 

     Keith storms inside, finding an empty cockpit.  He frowns, “Lance?”

      A sniff then, “here.”

     Keith looks down to find a foot poking out from under the control table.  He moves to sit on the floor, finding that Lance has managed to squeeze his gangly body into the small space.  “What are you doing down here?”

      Lance pokes an eye out from behind his knees.  He stares at Keith for a moment before hiding again.  “Sorry.”

     Keith frowns, “for what?”

     “For all of it?”

     “Lance,” his tone is stern, Keith hopes it comes off as serious and not as mad.  “Look at me.”

     Lance turns his head, his teary eyes meeting Keith’s.

     “No one thinks you did anything wrong.”  Keith scoots closer to Lance.

     They sit in silence for a few minutes.  Eventually, Lance scoots out of his hiding spot.  He sits next to Keith, staring at the wall in front of him, face flushed and eyes red.

      Keith feels for Lance.  It seems like The Blue Paladin was more ashamed by the ordeal than anything else.  “What happened?”

      Lance groans, dragging his hands down his face.  “It’s so stupid.”

     “It can’t be that bad.”  

      Lance grumbles for a minute before resting his chin on his knees.

     The two sit in silence for a minute.  It makes Keith’s ears ring.  Eventually, he can’t take it anymore.  “So?”

     Lance turns his head so that he’s looking at Keith.  “I just… he reminded me of someone,” Lance’s voice is so small. 

     Keith frowns, what is that supposed to mean?  “Who?”

     Lance stares at Keith for a moment, he seems unsure.  “Doesn’t matter, he’s back on earth.”

     Keith’s heart drops to his stomach.  “Lance, what-“

     Lance doesn’t let Keith finish before he stands up, “I’m hungry, you hungry, Mullet?”

     Topic change.  That’s fine, Lance doesn’t want to talk about it and Keith can respect that.  “Sure.”

Chapter Text

     Hunk is worried.  It’s been almost a Varga without any sign of Lance.

     He knows that he’s freaking out over nothing, Lance is probably just holed up in his room, either taking a nap or doing some extravagant spa routine to take his mind off of things.  Either way, Hunk really has nothing to worry about.

     “So then the whole canoe flipped over!”  Hunks head snaps towards the doorway of the kitchen, Finding Lance talking animatedly to Keith.

     “Did it attack you?”  Keith frowns, not taking his eyes off Lance.  “Sharks usually do that, right?”

     “No, Sharks don’t even like how we taste, man.”

      “But… it’s a shark.”

     “A common misconception, started by the movie Jaws.  Sharks aren’t blood thirsty monsters.  They’re animals, and they only attack us when they mistake us for prey.”  Oh, good, Lance is rambling about sharks again.  He must be fine if he’s up to ranting about sea creatures.

     “Huh, so what did happen then?”

     “It swam over to us and I redirected it by pushing on its nose.”  It’s then that Lance notices Hunk, “oh, hey man!”

     “Hey,” Hunk smiles, “careful, Keith.  Getting him going is easy, it’s the getting him to stop that’s hard.”

     Lance lets out a gasp, “rude!  I’m sorry you don’t appreciate my extensive ocean knowledge!”  Lance grabs Keith by the arm, pulling him closer.  “Keith here happens to be very interested in ocean life!  Right, Keithy?”

     “Uuuuuh,” Keith is flustered, confused, Hunk finds the expression on his face amusing.  “Sure?”

      “Welp, that settles it!  You’ve been demoted, Hunk!  Keith, you have now been promoted to best friend-slash-rival!”

     “Gee, thanks,” Keith shakes Lance off him, successfully gaining some of his personal space back.  “But, I don’t think I can be your best friend and your rival.  Seems kind of contradictory.”

     Lance ponders this for a moment, “I suppose you’re right!  Hunk, you have regained your title of best friend!”

     “Glad to hear it.”  It’s odd seeing the two of them getting along.  Usually, Lance and Keith are constantly trying to push each other’s buttons.  He wonders what changed?  “You two seem to be getting along.”

     Lance scoffs, “are you kidding?  Look at this ugly mug, I can’t stand this guy.”

      Keith rolls his eyes, “yeah, and who can possibly stand to be in the same room with him.”

       “Hey!”

      “What?  You started it!”

      Hunk sighs, seems like he spoke too soon.

     Lance eats his bowl of space goo in silence.  They’d been getting along so well that Lance isn’t sure where to pick up after their little argument.

     The silence and the sound of chewing is making Lance’s ears ring.  He needs to think of something to say otherwise he’ll go crazy. 

     “So… you like the ocean?”  Seems like Keith beat him to the punch.

     “Yes,” like is an understatement, Lance adores the ocean and everything that has to do with it.  “I love it, back when we used to live in Cuba we owned a beach house.  And even now we live just off the coast.  My siblings and I practically lived in the water.”

     “Used to?”  Keith cocks his head to the side, a frown on his face.  “Your family doesn’t live in Cuba anymore?”

     Lance shakes his head, “no, we moved when I was about seven.  Veronica had got a scholarship to the Garrison so we moved to America.”

     “Wait, as in Officer Veronica?  That Veronica?  That’s your sister?”

     Lance nods, smiling at the thought of her, “yup that’s her!”

     “Huh, I never would’ve guessed.”  

     Lance isn’t sure how Keith didn’t know, it wasn’t like it was much of a secret while they were in school.  “Dude, are you kidding?  Everyone knew!  She was talking to me like all the time!”

     Keith shrugs, “I dunno, I never noticed.”

     Lance can’t believe this, “well, now you know!  Everyone always made a big deal about it so I always assumed you knew.”

     Keith frowns, “why was it a big deal?”

      Shoot, Lance shouldn’t have said that.  “Well, y’know, my scores weren’t the best.  So everyone always said she was the only reason I even got in.”  Shame burns in his chest, technically, that rumor was true… but it was for a reason that Lance doesn’t want to get into. 

     “That’s ridiculous.”

     Lance smiles, “yeah, I guess.  I sorta stopped listening to them after a while.”

     There’s a moment of silence before Keith speaks.  “What’s your family like?”

    Lance wasn’t expecting Keith to ask that.  Is he curious?  Why would he want to know?  “Well there’s my mom, my older sisters, Rachel and Veronica, and my younger brothers, Marco and Luis.”

     “That’s a lot of people.”

     Lance nods, “one day I’ll take you to see them.  Mom loves having company over.”

     “That sounds nice.”

      Lance smiles, “you and Veronica would probably get along really well.  You guys are a lot alike.”

     “I am?  So are you constantly fighting with her too, then?”

     “What?  No,” Lance pauses, “well sometimes, but that’s not what I mean!  You’re both stubborn and hot headed.  And she’s strong, she doesn’t let anything stand in her way.”  Lance’s voice gets soft, he’s always admired his sister.  She’s so much stronger than Lance could ever be.  She’s always cared for him and kept him safe… god, he misses her.

     “You must miss her.”

      The understatement of the century.  “Yeah, I do.”  They’re lightyears from Earth, from home, from his family, and the thought makes him want to scream.  “She used to be right down the hall, now I don’t know if I’ll ever get to see her again.  She doesn’t know what happened, none of them do!  What if she thinks I’m dead?  What if they all think-“

     “Lance!”  Keith’s hands are atop his own trembling ones, “cut it out.  They don’t think that.”

      Lance doesn’t know how he can be so sure, “how do you know that?”

      “Because they know you.”  Keith pauses for a moment, swiping his thumb against Lance’s knuckles absentmindedly.  “You’re strong, Lance.  They know you’re a fighter.”

     Lance nods “you’re right.  I just wish there was a way I could tell them.”

     “Lance…”

      Lance gets up, he can’t do this any more.  If they talked about this any longer he was going to start crying. “I’m gonna go rest before our mission tomorrow.  See you at dinner, Mullet.”  And with that, Lance leaves.

      Keith watches Lance leave.  He has no idea how Lance feels, he has no family, no one to miss.  It feels perfectly normal to Keith for Lance to want to tell them he’s ok and to not worry.  Is there a way they could tell them?  Keith thinks it would help Lance if he could just see them.  

     There’s only one person Keith knows who’d be able to figure this out.  So, Keith stands up and goes to look for Pidge.

      It doesn’t take long to find her.  As expected, she’s in the lab working on some sort of gadget.

     “Hey, Pidge.”

      Pidge turns to look at him, lifting up her protective glasses before speaking.  “Hey, something wrong?  You don’t usually come in here.”

     “I just had a question.”  It’s a little more than a question, but first he needs to know if it’s possible first.

      “Hit me.”

      “Is it possible to make something that would allow us to communicate with Earth?”

      Pidge frowns, “why?”

      Keith wonders if he should say his real reason, after all it’s not his business.  Though, it’s not like Keith didn’t know Lance missed his family before this, so it’s probably ok.  “Well… Lance just misses his family.  His sister specifically.”

      Pidge’s expression morphs into confusion, “so let me get this straight… you want me to figure out a way to communicate with people lightyears away… just so Lance can talk with his sister?  Lance?”

      The way that Pidge said it made Keith feel a little ridiculous.  He nods, “yep.”

      Pidge shakes her head in complete disbelief.  “What is with you two?You seem to be getting along for once.”  There’s a teasing glint to her eye, “what you feel indebted to him for saving your life or something?”

     She’s joking, Keith knows she is. Still, he feels a little offended, he’s always cared for Lance.  Sure they don’t get along most of the time, but they’re friends right?  Teammates?  Rivals or not they’re still important to each other, right?

     Keith decides to shake it off, no use getting defensive over nothing.  “I just thought it would help.”

     Pidge’s face falls, suddenly getting serious.  “Is this about earlier?”

     Keith shrugs, “I guess?”  He really doesn’t feel comfortable telling Pidge all of Lance’s business.  Maybe he’d made a mistake asking, “it doesn’t matter.”

     “Well sure it does!  Is he alright?  I haven’t seen his anxiety get that bad in a while.”

     Keith freezes, unsure how to process this new information, “what are you talking about?”

     Now it seems like it’s Pidge’s turn to be uncomfortable with the information she’s sharing about Lance, “well, Lance would get really anxious back it the Garrison.  Especially at first, he was a bit of a mess, couldn’t even sleep.  At the beginning, most nights he stayed in Veronica’s room.

     This was news to Keith.  Seems like trouble sleeping is a common occurrence with Lance.

     “Hunk and I asked Veronica about it once, we were worried after all.  She told us that because everything was so new and that it was his first time away from home that he just needed time to adjust.  True to her word, the more comfortable and familiar he’d gotten the better he seemed to be.”

     Keith wonders if the same thing was happening now, if being a few hours away caused that, Keith could only imagine how Lance felt being lightyears away from his family.  “Well do you think being able to talk to his family would help then?”

     “Probably.”

     “Then, could you get something together in a few days?”  Keith doesn’t even know if something like this is possible let alone able to be done so quickly. 

     Pidge scoffs, “please, I’ve been working on something for awhile now.  Lance isn’t the only one with family back on Earth, you know.”

     “So you can do it?”

     “It’ll be done by morning.”

     Lance is up in Blue’s cockpit.  There isn’t a particular reason for him being there.  He just enjoys coming from time to time.  He enjoys spending time with Blue, content to just feel her presence.  It’s comforting in a way that Lance cannot describe. 

     Lance likes talking to the Lion, often just babbling about whatever comes to mind.  Today’s topic: the one and only Keith Kogane. 

     “He’s just being so nice?  I don’t get it, we’ve actually been getting along!”

      ‘Isn’t this a good thing?  You’ve always said you wished Keith was more of a friend to you.’  Blue purrs in his head, Lance still hasn’t figured out how he perfectly understands her.

      “Well, I guess, but why the sudden change?  Like this whole week he’s been moodier and more distant that normal.  He hasn’t shown up for meal times, and he wouldn’t even look at me!  Now, all of a sudden he’s not only talking to me again, but he’s making an effort to interact with me!”  It’s odd, normally, if anyone on the ship talks to Keith they’re the ones that have to initiate said conversation.  Lance finds it odd that he suddenly doesn’t have to fight so hard for Keith’s attention.  “I don’t get it.”

     ‘Why not ask him, Cub?’

      Lance shakes his head, “no way, I’m not pushing it.  If I start hounding him he might go back to ignoring me!”  As weird as the new change is, Lance would hate for it to go back to Keith ignoring him.  “Besides, it’s more fun if we come up with our own conclusions, part of gossiping.”

     ‘Gossiping?’ 

     “Don’t worry ‘bout it,” Lance swings his legs across the arm ready so that he’s laying across the pilot’s chair.  “So, why do you think Keith’s acting weird?”

     Blue hums in his head, trying to figure out an answer for him.  ‘Perhaps that earlier when he found you it allowed Keith to see you differently?  Isn’t that when you said he began acting differently?’

     “Blue, you’re a genius.”  Honestly, Lance doesn’t know what he’d do without his giant Lion spaceship giving him advice.  “Then how come he was ignoring me?”

     ‘That I do not know, Cub.  If you want I can ask Red to do some digging?  Perhaps she’ll know something we do not.’

     Lance smiles, he loves when Blue gets the other lions involved in whatever nonsense they’re up to.  Last time, Blue had gotten Yellow to reveal the location of Hunk’s snack stash. 

     Maybe this time he’ll get the answers he’s looking for.  

     Maybe he’s not cut out for this.  Everyone else seems to think so.

     Except for his sister.  His sister wouldn’t agree with him.  She’d tell him not to listen to such nonsense and that everything will work out.  He knows he should listen to her, that he should just keep working harder and it’ll eventually get better, but it didn’t help that he’d gotten the lowest score again.  

     “McClain got the lowest score again?!  Isn’t he here on a scholarship?  I thought you had to be good to get one of those!”

     “Not when your sister’s an officer.”

     Lance keeps walking, he shouldn’t listen to them.  They might be right, he didn’t really earn his right to be here, but he didn’t need to hear it from someone else.

     Maybe he’ll just pack his things and run away.  He could live on the beach and camp out under the stars.  It wouldn’t be so bad, he could get a job, rent a little run down shack and live on his own.  It wouldn’t be so bad, he’d miss him mom and siblings, but at least he wouldn’t have to see-

     Lance’s elaborate plan suddenly comes to a crashing halt as he collides with someone as he rounds the corner.

     Lance falls, his papers going everywhere as a result.

     “Watch where you’re going, McClain!”

     “I’m sorry!”  He’s panicked, flustered, and he’s sure it shows in the way he frantically tries to recover his scores before anyone else can see.

     “Hey, McClain?”  The voice is softer this time, more cautious and concerned.

     Lance can see the person bend down out of the corner of his eyes.  He can hear paper being picked up, and there’s a pause before the person speaks again.  “Oh.”

     Lance looks to the person at that, finding none other than Keith Kogane holding those damned test results in his hands.  Shame burns through Lance’s being, this is turning out to be the best day ever.  “Can I have that?”

     Keith hands the paper back.  He clears his throat suddenly looking awkward.  “I- uh- look, I know we don’t really get along-“

    Lance snorts, understatement of the century.  He cannot wait to see where this is going.  Keith is probably getting ready to tear through him like it’s nobody’s business.

     “But don’t freak out over some stupid score.”

      Lance frowns, what?  Was Keith Kogane being nice for once?

     “You’ll get there.  Don’t give up.”  Keith stands up.

     Lance follows him, still baffled by this entire interaction.

     Keith puts a hand on Lance’s shoulder.  “You said we’re rivals, right?  Well, who’ll be my rival if you quit?”

     Lance watches as Keith walks away.  He isn’t quite sure what happened, but one thing’s for certain.  He’s going to be a pilot of that rival title.

       Suddenly, Lance is standing in front of Commander Iverson.  He frowns, where did Keith go?

     “Kogane’s been kicked out of the program!”

     Lance couldn’t believe what he was hearing.  “What?!  He’s the best pilot in the program!”

     Commander Iverson glares at Lance.  “Talent amounts to nothing if you lack discipline!  Are you going to be next, Cadet?!”

     Lance straightens at that.  “No, sir.”

     “Good!  Now, your hard work may have gotten you far as a cargo pilot, but don’t be fooled!  Your scores now aren’t half as good as the worst fighter pilot we have!  You better be ready to work hard!”

     “Yes sir!”  But Lance didn’t feel ready.  He was working to catch up with Keith.  But he’s gone, does that mean Lance surpassed him?  How could Keith just leave like that?  They were supposed to be rivals.  Keith was supposed to be the person that pushed Lance farther.

     What is he supposed to do now?

     Lance opens his eyes, his whole back screaming in protest.  Somehow, he’d managed to fall asleep sprawled over the chair in Blue.  It wasn’t exactly comfortable. 

     Lance stands up, stretching.  “How long was I asleep for?”

    ‘A couple hours.  Did you sleep well.’

     “More or less.”  Lance would say he slept better than normal, but he still wouldn’t really constitute it as good.  “I had a dream about the Garrison.”

     ‘Do you miss it?’

     Lance thinks for a moment, did he miss the Garrison?  It’s where he met his friends, and it was the first time he was finally free from him.  But it was also cold, and he didn’t have his mother or other siblings.  And most of the kids treated him poorly.  “No, I don’t think I do.”

Chapter Text

Lance wakes to find himself clawing at his own throat, attempting to pry off hands that weren’t really there.

     He sits up, hunched over and gasping.  He keeps a hand over his throat as a reminder that he’s ok, that no one is hurting him. 

    He squeezes his eye shut.  God, he can’t breathe.  Why can’t he breathe?

      He needs to calm down, because everything is ok, he’s fine.

     It’s ok… he’s not here.  He’s not here.  Not here.  Not here.  Not here.  Lance lets the thought ring through his head like a mantra but it doesn’t seem to do anything to quell the scenes that play behind his eyelids.

     His stomach clenches, and Lance quickly realizes he’s about the be sick.

     Lance scrambles out of bed to the bathroom attached to his door.  He shoves his face into the toilet bowl, heaving.

     Lance has decided that a panic attack makes throwing up a million times worse.  Once the bought of sickness is over he sits there for a moment to be sure it’s passed. 

     He sits up, still fighting the panic that coils itself around his lungs.  He can’t just sit here anymore.  He needs something, anything to ground himself. 

      Keith could help.  Lance shakes that thought out of his head.  No, no way.  They have a mission tomorrow.  Lance isn’t going to just ruin Keith’s sleep because he had a bad dream.

     Now, a part of Lance knows Keith isn’t actually asleep.  He’s not quite sure how the Red Paladin functions, but he knows that Keith doesn’t sleep as much as the rest of them.  Combine that with the fact that we have a mission tomorrow, Lance doubts Keith’ll sleep at all.

     Lance shuffles out of his room, grabbing his blanket on his way.

     It’s cold in the ship, the bottom of Lance’s feet send a chill down Lance’s spine with each step he takes.

     His legs feel like jello and his lungs burn, but walking around the castle is better than doing nothing.  

     He takes a loop around the castle, mindlessly wandering until he finds himself back at the dorms.  His feet had taken him to Keith’s room on their own.

     He’s not in there, and even if he is, Lance shouldn’t be bothering him.  Despite that he finds himself knocking anyway.

     Lance isn’t surprised when he gets no answer.

     “Lance?”

     Lance jumps about ten feet at the sudden voice, and he turns to find Coran.

    Coran puts his hands up in surrender, looking a little apologetic.  “Sorry, son!  Shouldn’t’ve snuck up on you like that!”

     “Coran?”  Lance wills himself to seem somewhat calm as he tightens his grip on the blanket wrapped around him.  “What are you doing up?”

     “I could ask you the same question, Number 3.”

     Lance shrugs, “couldn’t sleep.” It was only partly true, “figured if Keith was still up we could go over the plan one more time.”

     Coran waves his hands, “no need, Lance!  That can wait till the morning!  You should try and get some sleep!  Aren’t you tired?”

     Lance shrugs again, he is tired.  But he doesn’t think he could fall asleep even if he tried.  “Aren’t you?”

     “I’m doing a quick sweep and making sure everything is in order for tomorrow!  Besides, I’m not the one infiltrating an enemy ship!”  Coran moves behind Lance, “let’s get you back in bed!”

      Lance pulls away the second Coran’s hands are on his shoulders.  He doesn’t mean to, but he can still feel the panic tight in his chest and he doesn’t think Coran’s unexpected touch is doing him any favors.

     “Are you all right, my boy?”  Lance can hear the concern in Coran’s voice as he moves back into view.

     Lance nods, clearing his throat, “sorry.  I’m just…” he trails off.  Just what?  Shaken up from a bad dream and don’t want anyone’s hands remotely near his neck?  Yeah, that’ll go over real well.  “Restless, I guess?”

     “Ah, we have something for that!  On Altea, we have a strong herbal remedy that we drink when we have trouble sleeping!  I could whip some up for you if you’d like!  Might help calm your nerves!”

     Lance manages to give Coran a smile, “we have something like that on Earth, we call it tea.”

     “That’s a much easier name for it!”  Lance wonders what the Altean name could possibly be, but he doesn’t ask in fear of having Coran start spiraling into a long story.  “So, would you care for some tea?”

     “Sure Coran.”

     Lance follows Coran to the kitchen in silence.  If the Altean notices anything odd about Lance’s behavior he doesn’t say anything.

     When they get to the kitchen Coran pulls out a chair for him.  “Sit here.”

     “Thanks.”  Lance sits, slumping forward so that his head rests on his hand.

     “Once I whip this up for you I’ll see if I can find Keith and send him your way.”

     Lance frowns, “I thought you said it could wait?”

     “I did, but something seems to be bothering you, and if it’ll help you get a full night’s sleep then it can’t possibly wait.”

     So Coran did notice.  Lance is grateful that Coran didn’t make such a big deal out of it.

     The Altean tea is done much faster than Earth tea.  Lance is surprised how much the concoction looks like the Earth variant.

     “I added some Colarian Crystals to sweeten it!  Careful, it’s very hot.”

      Lance smiles, “thank you, Coran.”

     “Anytime, my boy.  I’ll go find Keith for you, be back in a tick!”

     Lance watches Coran walk away.  Once he’s out of view Lance slumps, resting his head on the table.  He feels pathetic, no one else on ship needs to be babied like this.  They’d probably think he’s being ridiculous.

     He shakes the thought out of his head.  Coran didn’t think that.  Lance sits up, staring at the steaming mug that Coran was nice enough to make for him.

    Lance takes a sip, it tastes almost exactly like the green tea Veronica would make him whenever he had a nightmare at the Garrison.  

     It’s the first thing that Lance has found here that reminds him of home.  It tastes like his sister comforting him in the middle of the night, like her pulling him in close and holding him tight till he fell asleep.  And if Lance got choked up because of some space tea?  Then that’s no one’s business but his.

     “Are you sure this is going to work?”  Keith can’t believe he’s gotten roped into helping Pidge, but it means if they can finish before Lance wakes up in the morning then it’ll be worth it.

     “Shut up and hold still, I’m almost done.”

     “You said that five minutes ago.”

     “Well I would’ve been if you could’ve just held it still!”  Pidge snaps and him for the fifth time now.  Keith is starting to regret asking her for a favor.

     “Ah!  There you are!” Keith jumps at the sound of Coran’s arrival, causing Pidge to yell at him.

     “What are you two working on?”  Coran frowns, “you two should be resting for your mission.”

   “Well if someone stopped moving I’d be done in like ten minutes!”

     “What did you need, Coran?” Keith ignores Pidge’s complaining, she’s been doing it this whole time, after all.

     “Ah, well Lance was looking for you.”

     Keith frowns, walking away from Pidge and his task of keeping the wiring steady.  “Is he alright?  What’s wrong?”

     Coran raises an eyebrow at Keith’s reaction.  “He didn’t really specify.  Something about the mission?  Whatever it was seemed like it was bothering him.”

     That doesn’t ease Keith’s worries at all.  “Where is he?”

     “I left him in the kitchen with- hey!”  

      Keith doesn’t wait for Coran to finish his explanation. 

     He can hear Pidge ask Coran to help instead as Keith heads out of the room to find Lance.

     When Keith gets to the kitchen he finds Lance sitting at the table.  It’s hard to see him from under the blanket, but Keith can tell his knees are pulled up to his chest where his head rests.  He’s staring with glassy eyes at a cup in front of him.

   “Lance?”

     Lance startles, his legs moving back down to the ground where they’re supposed to be.  He looks at Keith, dazed and more exhausted than Keith’s ever seen him.  “You alright, Sharpshooter?”

     Lance nods, “sorry.  I didn’t want to bother you, but Coran-“

     “Don’t apologize,” Lance has done enough apologizing for a lifetime.  He sits down next to Lance.

     Keith sighs, turning to face Lance, about to ask what happened when the words get caught in his throat. 

     Now that he’s closer, Keith can see the angry red scratches and the purple splotches poking out from underneath the blanket wrapped around Lance. “Lance?”

     He must sound alarmed, because Lance’s frown deepens, “what?”

    “What happened to-“ Keith stops when Lance flinches back as Keith’s hand reaches for his neck.

     Keith frowns, that wasn’t the reaction he was expecting.  “Lance, what happened?”

     Lance’s shoulder go up to meet he is ears and he looks away.  Keith can see the shame burning across the tips of his ears, “I didn’t mean to.”

     Keith’s blood turns to ice, “Lance, look at me.”

     Lance turns back to him, eyes wide and scared, like he’d just been caught doing something wrong.

     “Did you hurt yourself?”

     Lance bites his lip, adverting his gaze from Keith.  “I just- I had a bad dream,” it comes out in a whisper.  It’s not quite the answer Keith was looking for, in fact it left him more confused.

     “You did that in your sleep?”  Keith scoots closer, moving painfully slow as he brings his hands up to Lance’s neck.

     Lance tenses but otherwise stays still and allows the other to properly inspect the damage. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

     “I know, just stop apologizing.  You didn’t do anything wrong.”  Keith grazes his fingers delicately over the scratched skin.  He doesn’t like this, a sick feeling is settling in the pit of his stomach.  What could Lance have been dreaming about for him to scratch and grab at his throat?  “What happened in your dream, anyway?”

     There’s a pause, and for a moment Keith doesn’t think he’s getting an answer.  But then Lance speaks so quietly that Keith almost misses it, “nothing good.”

     Not much of an answer, but Keith supposed it’s better than nothing.  He sighs, sitting back in his chair.  Lance has been off the last week or so, even with Keith avoiding him it was obvious.  And with the events of today thrown in…

     Well, let’s just say Keith’s getting a bad feeling from it all.

     “You can talk to me, Lance.  I may not be good at this kind of stuff, but I’m still here for you.”

     Lance doesn’t say anything, he stares at his drink before grabbing it and taking a long sip.

    Keith sits in silence, he’ll sit there all damn night if he has to.  When Lance is ready to talk he’s going to be there to listen.

     “Why were you avoiding me?”

     “What?” Keith’s head snaps back up to look at Lance, finding his attention still on his cup.

     “This week.  You- well it felt like you were avoiding me anyway.  Did I do something wrong?”

     “You didn’t do anything.”

     “Were you mad at me,” there’s something so childlike in Lance’s question, so vulnerable that Keith suddenly feels awful.

     “No, it’s just,” Keith sighs he really didn’t want to explain this to Lance.  But he feels so bad for making him feel bad, he deserves some sort of answer.  “You almost died, Lance.”

     “Oh.”  Lance sounds confused, like him taking a shot in the chest for Keith wasn’t the worst thing the Red Paladin’s ever had to experience.

     “I just, I needed time.  I was scared.”  It’s not the whole truth, but it’s more than he’s willing to share and he hopes it’ll be enough.

     Lance nods, “yeah, it was pretty scary for me too.”

     Keith isn’t sure if Lance was trying to sympathize with him but it only made Keith feel worse.  He wasn’t the one who’d almost died, Lance needed all of their help and support after something so traumatic and Keith just decided to ignore him.  “I’m sorry.”

     Lance shrugs, “nothing to apologize for.”

     “Well I still feel like shit about it.  You almost died and I couldn’t even bother to look at you!”  God, he’s a lousy friend.

     “It’s ok.  Just talk to me next time, ok?”  Lance turns to look at him, offering a small half smile.

     Keith nods.  He’s not quite sure how this conversation got flipped to him, but that’s ok.  If that’s what Lance wanted to talk about right now then that’s what they were going to talk about. 

     Lance sighs, slumping back into his chair.  Keith watches him, he looks so tired.  He frowns, if Lance doesn’t get some rest before tomorrow then too many things can go wrong.  “Let’s get you back to bed.”  Keith stands, offering Lance a hand.

     Lance stares at him for a moment before hesitantly taking Keith’s hand.

    “C’mon,” Keith leads the way, holding Lance’s hand tight.  He doesn’t like this.  Has Lance always had this hard a time? Or is all of this resurfacing because of the incident that happened a week ago?

     “Keith?  This isn’t-“

     “I know,” Keith opens the door to his room.  It’s messier than usual, he hadn’t been able to clean up after breakfast today like he normally would.  “Sit.”

     Lance sits at the edge of the bed, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.  “But what about-“

     “You don’t want to be alone, right?”

      Lance stares at Keith, shaking his head.

     “Then shut up and lay down.  I can sleep on the floor.”  Keith grabs one of the pillows and throws it on the floor.

     There’s silence, and Keith hears Lance settle into the bed.  Satisfied, Keith lays down, his back up against the hard floor.

     A few minutes pass of Lance tossing and turning before he finally speaks, “are you sure?  It’s not fair.”

     “Lance you looked like you were about to fall over you were so tired.  I’m fine. Just go to bed.”  Honestly, what is he feeling bad about.  Lance isn’t forcing him to sleep on the floor.

     “Ok.”  There’s a beat of silence, followed by more shuffling.  Lance drapes his hand over the bed feeling around for something.

     Keith frowns, turning on his side to grab Lance’s hand.

     They sit like that for a minute, until Lance gives Keith’s hand a gentle squeeze.  “Goodnight.”

     “Night, Sharpshooter.”

Chapter Text

     When Lance wakes up Keith isn't in the room.  He sits up, feeling better rested than he had the night before.

     The door to Keith's room opens with a hiss, "Lance?  Oh good, you're up.  You sleep ok?"

      Lance nods, "thank you."

       "Don't mention it."  Keith jerks his head in the direction of the hallway.  "C'mon.  We have a surprise for you."

     A surprise?  Lance is intrigued.  "What is it?"

     "Just come see."

     Lance gets up and follows Keith to the kitchen.  He's got to admit, he's pretty excited to see whatever this surprise is.

     When they get there he finds the entire team huddled around Pidge and a rather strange looking laptop. 

     "Perfect timing!"  Pidge steps back from the laptop, "I just finished setting it up!"

     "What's going on?"  Because, honestly, what exactly is happening right now?

     "Sit down!"

     Lance follows Pidge's instructions, noting that his phone is plugged into the device.

     "Ok, I haven't exactly tested this yet, so hopefully it works."  Pidge hits a button on the computer like item.

     Lance stares at the loading screen for a few moments before it flickers to life.

      "Lance?  Is that you?"

     Lance can't believe it, this can't be real, can it?  "Ronnie?"

      "Oh my god!  Lance!"  Lance's sister practically screams.  "Are you alright?!  Where are you!?"

     "I'm alright.  I'm in space."

     "Space?!  How?"

      "It's a long story."  Lance smiles, he can't believe this, he didn't think he'd ever be able to see his family while he was up here.

     There's a hand on Lance's shoulder.  He looks beside him to see everyone's left except for Keith.  "I'm gonna-"

     "Keith?!  You got stuck in space with Keith!?"

     Lance laughs, "Pidge, Hunk and Shiro are here too."

     "Where are they?"

      "They left to give you guys some privacy."  Keith leans down to better see the screen.  "Did you want me to go," Keith speaks quietly, like he's afraid of ruining this moment for Lance.

     "No, you're ok."  Lance doesn't know if he can handle such a big emotional thing on his own without becoming a crying mess.  He wouldn't want to waste this time with Veronica crying over how much he misses her.

     "So what happened?  When we heard you were missing I couldn't believe it!"  Veronica talks fast, like she's afraid he'll disappear at any moment.  "The Garrison couldn't give me answers and I was afraid something happened-"

     "Ronnie-"

      "-I was worried he had something to do with this, so I took matters into my own hands and-"

     "Veronica," Lance gets her attention that time.  "I'm ok."  He then proceeds to tell Veronica everything.  He tells her how they found Blue and about the Galra and how they're going to save the galaxy.

     "I can't believe it.  Mamá is going to be so happy to know you're ok!"

     "How is everyone?  Are you guys ok?"

     "We're ok.  Rachel moved back in with her husband to help around the house."

     "Oh," Lance knows that his family would probably take his disappearance hard, but he didn't think Rachel would have to move back in as a result.  "Is everyone... getting along?"  It's a bit of a loaded question, one that Lance knows Veronica will understand the implications of.

     Veronica nods, "that's why Rachel had to move back in!  It was crazy!"  

     Lance frowns, "what's crazy?"

     "After you went missing, the police did a full investigation!  All this stuff came to light and, Lance?"

     "Yeah?"

     "Lance, he's in jail."

      Lance freezes at that, "he is?"  He tries not to let the emotion show, but his heart is beating so loudly and his ears are ringing.  He had to have heard that wrong.

     "He's gone, Lance."

     He's... gone?

     "They're getting divorced, and he's looking at..." Lance's stoped listening at this point.  

     There's a million different emotions running through him.  He can't quite explain it, happiness?  Relief?  He's not quite sure, but what he does know is that tears start silently rolling down his face.

     "Lance," Veronica's smile is gone, replaced with concern.

     Lance laughs, and out of the corner of his eye he can see Keith hovering, unsure of what to do in this situation.  "You're- you're not messing with me, right?  He's really gone?"

     Veronica nods, "you'll never have to see him again, Lance."

     Lance curls in on himself as silent sobs rack his body.

     "Lance," it's Keith this time, there's a hand on Lance's back.

      God, it's like the fourth time Keith has seen him cry in the last twenty four hours, but he's thankful he's here.  He doesn't panic or look at Lance with pity like Hunk and Pidge would at the Garrison.  Keith's calm, and he's nothing but understanding.  He doesn't suffocate Lance with comfort or affection, or force him to explain what's going on.  Keith is simply there, and Lance really appreciates that.

     "I'm sorry, maybe that was too much.  I can call back later."

     Lance shakes his head, he doesn't know when they next time they could call would be.

     "We have a mission in a couple hours."  Keith speaks for Lance, "we wouldn't know when we could call you back."

     Veronica hums,  "If you don't call me back today, I can call you same time tomorrow, how does that sound?"

     Lance nods, "sorry," he sniffs running at his eyes. 

     "Don't go apologizing to me.  You didn't do anything wrong.  You should get ready anyway."  Veronica glances off to the side, she stares for a moment before an amused sort of smile spreads across her face.  "And maybe explain to poor Keith what's going on.  I haven't seen that boy show that much emotion ever."

     Lance laughs, "Keith is surprisingly nicer than he let on."

     "Oh really?  The grumpy loner is secretly nicer than he let on?  Who would've thought."

     Lance can hear Keith grumbling in the beside him.

     "Lance?"

       Lance hums, staring at his sister.

      Veronica stares back an unreadable expression on her face.  "Stay safe, ok?  I love you."

     Keith already felt like he was intruding, but Lance told him to stay.  Now that Lance is crying, it feels like he's completely violated Lance's privacy.

     Not because he's crying, but because the two siblings are talking about personal things.

     Despite saying goodbye, and despite Lance still silently crying, they talk about their family.

     Well, Veronica does most of the talking, Lance listens and chimes in occasionally.

     "Rachel's boss is being really understanding.  And is letting her work from home on less hours and a higher pay to help out.  It's been easy for her since we live so close to the water."  Veronica suddenly waves her hands around.  "Enough about the family!  How've you guys been up there?  What's space like?"

     "Big," Lance sniffles.  "We go to all these different planets and meet all these new kinds of people."

     "I'm sure you're getting into all sorts of trouble."  She glances to Keith "better keep an eye on this one.  He's known for being a little too trusting."

     Keith manages a smile, "he hasn't caused us too much trouble yet, but he does like to try."

     "But, Lance, how are you doing?  Are you holding up ok?"  There's a concern to her tone that Keith doesn't miss.

     "I'm ok."

      "Lance McClain don't you lie to me."  She waves a finger in the air.  "You need to rely on your crew!  They'll understand, I mean Keith is literally right there!"

     Lance groans, "I know, but you know how Hunk and Pidge are.  And I can't go to Shiro that's embarrassing."

     Keith notices that Lance didn't say his name, he doesn't know wether that's a good thing or not.  "I've been helping Lance."

     Veronica actually seems shocked at that, "you have?"

     Keith nods, "well, admittedly it's only because I happened to run into him."

     "Lance!"  Veronica yells something in Spanish.

     "I know I'm sorry!"  Lance puts his hands up In surrender.  "I just thought everyone had enough going on with fighting a war and all!"

    Veronica softens at that.  "I know, Lance."  She looks back to Keith.  "Thank you, for looking after my baby brother."

     It's so sincere that it leaves Keith momentarily speechless.  "He'd do the same for any of us."

     Lance finally ends the call.  He looks lighter than he has in days.

     Keith just stares at him for a moment.  Does he say something?  Someone in Lance's family is in jail and it seemed like Lance had taken the news hard.  But what does he say?  "I'm... sorry?"

     Lance turns to him, confused.  "What?  I told you to stay, Mullet."

     "No, not that."  Keith huffs, why can't he ever say anything right the first time around?  "I meant about whoever's in jail."

     "Oh," Lance pauses for a moment, before unexpectedly breaking out in a grin.  "Don't worry about it, man."

     Keith just stares at Lance and blinks, once, twice.  "You were upset about it earlier?"  At least, Keith thought he was.

     "Nope.  Ronnie just dropped like the biggest news ever and it was a very emotional time."

     Keith doesn't understand, "who was she talking about anyway?"

     "Our step father."  Lance says it like he's disgusted.

     Keith frowns, "I didn't know you had a step father."  Now thinking about it, Lance only ever talks about his mother.  Keith always assumed Lance's dad was either always working or simply out of the picture.

     "Yeah, well I don't like to talk about him."  Lance looks away, bringing his arms close to his chest,  "Pidge and Hunk don't even know."

     They don't?  Is Keith the only one of them that does?  Keith can't help but wonder why that is.  "Why?"

     Lance shrugs, "doesn't matter.  He's gone."

     There's a hint of excitement in his voice that rubs Keith the wrong way.  Lance has this loving family, something Keith doesn't have.  If he was in Lance's shoes  he thinks he'd be upset, devastated even if he didn't necessarily like or have the best relationship with the person.  He was still Lance's father, after all.  "What is with you?  Your dad's in jail.  How can you not be sad about that?"

     Lance's head whips back to look at Keith.  "Don't call him that!"

     Keith frowns, "what?"

     "That... thing is not my dad!"

      Keith's not quite sure why that made him mad.  "Well he is!  How on Earth can you not be upset?!"

      "Screw you, Keith!  You don't know anything!"  Lance stands up so fast his chair knocks over.  "You can't go around telling me how I should or shouldn't feel!  I'm glad that monster is in jail!  I hope he rots in there!  I hope he's miserable and that he suffers!  It's more than he deserves after all he did!"

     "What could he have possibly done?!"  Keith wants to know, what could possibly warrant such a reaction.

      Lance falters, bringing a hand up to his neck.

     Keith's eyes trail down to the hand, eyeing the scratches and bruises Lance had left there.  Suddenly, Keith's burst of anger is gone as quickly as it came and is instead replaced with that sinking feeling that something is really wrong.

     "Whatever," Keith looks up to see the angry expression on Lance's face.  "I'm not doing this with you."

     "Lance, wait!"  But it's too late.  Lance is already out the door.

Chapter Text

     If Keith is being honest, he’s mad.  He’s mad at himself for blowing up at Lance.  He’s mad at Lance for disappearing right after, making it impossible to apologize.  And he’s mad about the fact that he’s going to have to fly with Lance in his Lion for the mission later.

     ‘Keith,’ right, how could he forget about the sentient lion that’s been bothering him telepathically? 

    “What?!”  He doesn’t normally respond to her, not out loud anyway.  But he’s fed up with everything.

     ‘You need to get ready.  We leave in thirty Doboshes.’

     Keith sighs, his Lion is right.  Besides, Lance can’t hide from him forever.

     “Why’s your hair wet?”  It’s the first thing that leaves Keith’s mouth when Lance sees him.  It only proves to make Lance more mad.  No apology, or jab?  Is Keith really going to pretend like he didn’t completely insult Lance and all he’s been through earlier?

     Lance tries to ignore him as he jams his head into his helmet, but he can feel Keith’s eyes burning a hole in the back of his skull.  “Went swimming.”

    “Before the mission?  Why?”

     Lance shrugs before walking into the Red Lion.  “Let’s go.”

     Keith doesn’t say anything, simply following after Lance.

      Lance stands behind Keith as he gets into the pilot seat.  

     “You, uh maybe should sit down.  Or at least hold onto something?”

     Lance turns away from Keith, crossing his arms.  “Don’t tell me what to do, Mullet.”

     There’s a pause, then, “alright.  Shiro, we’re ready to leave when you guys are.”

     “Copy that, the base is about fifteen Doboshes from the castle.  We have to fly in undetected and fly out.”

     Keith nods, he knows this already.  “Leaving now.”

     The Red Lion leaves the hangar with a burst of speed.  Keith can hear Lance yell in surprise behind him.

     Keith resists the urge to check on Lance.  He was the one who’s too stubborn to listen to him.  Not his fault if Lance falls.

     They have to maneuver through an asteroid belt.  Allura informed them the base was here to deter others from finding it.  However, it’s so congested that it’s going to take way longer than the estimated fifteen doboshes.

      Keith makes a quick turn to avoid an asteroid.  This time, Lance’s yell is followed by a crash and several colorful curses.

       This time, Keith does look, finding Lance trying to get back up just as an asteroid smacks into the Red Lion’s side.

     Keith steadies the controls, and he hears Lance hit the ground again.  A choked noise leaves Lance’s mouth, as if he was trying not to make any noise.

     “Dammit, Lance, just sit down!”  Keith’s more worried for Lance’s safety than anything at this rate.  “Did you hurt anything?”

     “What do you care,” Lance snaps from his spot of the floor.

     “I care because we’re friends, idiot.  And I’m not about to go onto a Galra ship if you dislocated your shoulder!”

     Lance doesn’t say anything, the silence makes Keith’s ears ring.  “Lance!”

     “I’m fine!  Just don’t blow us up by running into another rock!”

      Keith sighs, trying to will the anger out of his body.  This is doing neither of them any favors.  “The Green Lion isn’t as fast and won’t be able to maneuver as well in this.  Why don’t you get some rest?  We won’t be there for awhile.”

     “Lance!”  

     Lance jolts awake, sitting straight up.  He lets out a yell, heart beating fast.  He looks around, god this room is so small, where is he?

    “You were having a bad dream.”  Lance’s panic comes to a halt.  That’s right, he’s stuck in Red with Keith.  “We’re almost there anyway.”

    If he’s being honest, Lance hadn’t meant to fall asleep.  He didn’t want to give Keith the satisfaction of listening to him again, but his body seemed to have other plans.

     Lance frowns, taking notice that Keith grips the controls tight and his shoulders are locked tight.  “Are you alright?”

     Keith gives a shaky nod, “what- what were you dreaming about?”

     Lance’s frown deepens, Keith seemed really freaked.  “Why?  Was I talking or something?”

     “Mostly Spanish.  It- it sounded like you were begging.”

     Lance can’t remember the dream too much, but he has a pretty good idea. 

     “Lance, Keith, we’re approaching the base now.”

     Keith doesn’t get an answer, now that the mission is in full swing.  

     Things are still tense as Lance leads the way through the base.  Not nearly as tense as before, Lance is able to give him some short responses without snapping at him, so Keith guesses that’s a good sign.

     Still, Keith doesn’t like this tension that formed because of their fight.  He was actually enjoying that the two of them were getting along.  “I’m sorry,” the words leave Keith’s mouth before he’s even aware of it.

     Lance stops and turns, a frown on his face.  “For what?”

     “For earlier.”  Keith can’t believe he has to elaborate.  Then again, neither of them have really ever apologized after any of their arguments before.  “I shouldn’t have gotten mad. I don’t know what your family is like.  I shouldn’t have told you how to react.”

     “Oh, it’s fine,” Lance doesn’t sound like he truly means it, but there’s a slight softness to his voice that tells Keith that Lance does accept the apology, even if he is still a little upset still.

     “It’s just… I don’t really have people the way you do,” his words come out jumbled and clumsy.  He hates sharing things with people, but he really was awful to Lance and the boy deserves some sort of explanation.  “And I guess-“

     “Keith,” Lance interrupts.  “It’s really ok.”  There it is, the sincerity and understanding Keith has become so familiarized with. 

    Keith nods, he still feels bad.  And, now that Lance isn’t mad at him he feels even worse.  Keith was an ass, and here Lance was, being understanding without even hearing the whole explanation.

     “Besides,” Lance turns back around beginning to walk.  “It’s not like I told you.”

    Keith frowns, “told me what?”

     Lance doesn’t say anything at first.  “C’mon, we’re almost there.”

     “Lance-“

     “Not here,” Lance turns back to look at him, an unreadable expression on his face.  “Please, Keith… not here.”

     Keith nods, “ok.”  And it really is ok.  Now is not the time to be having a serious conversation anyway. 

     They walk a little farther.  Keith finds it odd, they haven’t run into a single sentry this whole time.  Then again, this base was supposed to be undetectable.  Maybe they just got lucky. 

    “C’mon, Mullet.  It should be at the end of this hall.”

      Keith takes another step, running straight into a purple barrier that spontaneously appears.

    “Keith?”  Lance turns around, and it’s the last thing the Blue Paladin says before beginning to scream as electricity runs through his body.

     “Lance!”  Keith pounds on the barrier. 

     The energy running through Lance ceased after what felt like hours.  Lance’s chest heaves, by some miracle he’s still standing.

     The small respite was short lived as Lance is screaming again as he’s shocked again.

     “LANCE!”  Keith swings his sword at the barrier now, hoping it makes a dent.

     Lance crumples to the floor, his bayard deactivating upon impact.

     Behind Lance, a familiar cloaked figure appears, their face is hidden beneath shadows.  “Well, what do we have here.”

     “Don’t touch him!” Keith slams his hand down as the figure bends down to grab Lance’s face, pulling him up to look at him.

     “Yes, your Quintessence matches the data we’ve acquired.  You’ll do quite nicely.”

     “Get off!”  Lance manages to weakly push the figure away, falling to the floor.

     “Such a frail thing.  To think, a creature as lowly as you became a Paladin of Voltron.”

      Keith is desperate now swinging his sword relentlessly at the barrier.  It’s pointless, he brings his hands up to his helmet.  “Shiro!  We need backup!”

     “Keith?  What-“

      Keith doesn’t hear the rest of what Shiro was going to say.  His whole body explodes in pain as the electricity shoots through him now.

      There’s yelling, is it him?  He can’t be sure.  the only thing he’s sure about is this unbearable pain.

     Once the pain subsides Keith is on his knees.

      “There’s nothing you can do,” the voice in on Keith’s ear, a shrill whisper sending a chill down his spine.  “The Blue Paladin is mine.”

      Keith grips his sword and swings at the figure now standing behind him, only to find them not there.

     Keith hears something behind him, he moves to swing again, only for the figure to disappear just as the sword would’ve made contact.

      Keith hears a noise from somewhere to the left of him, and he moves, dodging a glowing magic hand in time for it to miss plunging into his stomach.  However, he’s not fast enough, he yells as he feels his side slice open.

     “Keith!”  He looks to Lance, the boy has propped himself up on his arms and is breathing fast.  He looks scared, desperate, and tears start to form in his eyes as he stares at Keith.

     Keith presses a hand to his side.  Blood pools between his fingers.  This is bad, he needs the team he-

     Lance is screaming again as another wave of electricity runs through him.

     The figure is beside Lance now.  “How pathetic.”  They bend down, “you know if you were a Galra child, facing hardships like the ones I’m seeing in your head would make you strong.”

     Keith’s heart sinks, he rams into the barrier again, willing it to go away.

     “You, however, were made weak.”

     Keith watches Lance reach for his bayard.  It won’t do him much good, his weapon is for long distance, but Keith supposes it’s better than nothing.

     Lance activated his weapon and turns and swiftly swings his sword at the figure.

      Wait… sword?  Keith isn’t sure how it’s possible, but he’s glad nonetheless as the figure veers back.

     Lance stumbles to his feet.  He looks worse for wear, Keith thinks it’s a miracle the boy is standing at all. 

     The figure turns back to them, hood bow down to reveal a women with long white hair and a deep gash now running all the way down her face.  “You little brat!”

     Lance’s triumph doesn’t last long, as electricity runs through his body again.

     “Lance!”  Keith bangs on the glass again, leaving bloodied handprints on the purple barrier. 

     Lance is sprawled out on the floor again, by some miracle he’s conscious.  “Keith,” he reaches out for Keith, weakly clawing at the barrier. 

     Keith is enveloped in pain again as he’s electrocuted this time.  Pain erupts violently from his side and enhances the pain he feels.  He doubles over, grabbing his side.

    He’s electrocuted a second and third time, and by the fourth he doesn’t have the strength to hold himself up anymore.

     Keith can feel himself slipping away, can see the edge of his vision going out.  No, he can’t pass out.  Lance needs him, he needs to stall till the team gets here.

     “Keith,” it leaves Lance’s lips in a sob.

     Keith heaves, he doesn’t think he has the strength to speak, but Lance looks so scared.  “‘S ok.  Gonna get you out,” his speech is slurred, he’s not even sure Lance can understand what he’s saying.

    “Such a sweet sentiment… too bad you won’t be able to keep your word.”

     “Keith!”  The word comes into focus briefly giving Keith a view of a familiar face in front of him.

    “Shiro?” Another voice, one he can’t quite place in the darkness of his vision.  “His… too much blood.”

     Keith groans, turning his head to the side.  He can only make out half of what they’re saying as he slips in and out of consciousness.

   “-unk.  We just… get to a pod!”  A pod?  Who needs a pod?  Is Lance ok?

    “…Lance?”  Keith’s vision comes into focus to find Hunk looking worried.  It’s the last thing he sees before everything fades to black.

     The next time the world is in focus he’s looking at Shiro, who’s holding him in his arms as the run.

     Keith stares at the gray of the Galra base walls as they blur past them.  He’s so cold, he can’t wait to go back to the castle, Lance and him can finish talking out their earlier argument. 

     Keith frowns, is Lance ok?  Why did Shiro look so grim?  “Lance?”

     Keith never gets an answer, his only response is the darkness that creeps into his vision.

     “Lance!”  Keith is falling, the only thing stopping him from hitting the ground is a familiar pair of mismatched arms.

      Keith thrashes.  He needs to get to Lance!  He needs to help him!  He-

    “Keith, calm down!”

     Keith stills, he’s back in the castle.  “Shiro?”

     Keith stands up, looking around the room, everyone is here.  Everyone except… “where’s Lance?”

Lance jolts awake, his breathing fast and heavy.  Everything hurts, and he can’t move, and god he can’t breathe. 

     Lance wills himself to look around, to try and get his bearings through the panic he’s feeling.

     “Awake, are you?”  Lance pulls on his restraints harder at the voice. 

     Lance turns to see the cloaked figure from before, her hood down and a bandage covering half her face.  “Who are you?!  Where’s Keith?!”

     The woman glances at him, “I am Haggar.  I’m looking forward to getting to know you, Blue Paladin.”

     “Where’s Keith!?”  Lance questions her again, because the boy had been in worse shape than him when Lance lost consciousness.  If he was captured then surely Keith was too.

     “Tell me, Paladin, do you know what Quintessence is?”

    She’s ignoring him, well two can play at that game.  “Where’s Keith!?”

     A wave of electricity runs through Lance’s body.  He jerks and pulls away, trying desperately to get away from the pain.

     “You will only speak to answer my questions!”  Haggar turns to him, “now.  I’ll ask again, do you know what  Quintessence is?”

     Lance doesn’t say anything, giving her the best glare he can manage.

     “No?  Well it is the energy in all living things.  It’s the most powerful thing in the Galaxy.”  Haggar picks something up from a table of the the side.  It’s a knife, long and sharp and gleaming in the purple light.  “A Paladin’s Quintessence is quite special.  It is directly linked to the Quintessence of his Lion.  The stronger the bond, the stronger the link.”

     Haggar leans close, getting in Lance’s face.  “However, in order to truly tap into that connection a Paladin must first be broken.”

Chapter Text

     Three days… it’s been three days since that god forsaken mission.  Three days Lance has been missing without so much as a hint to his whereabouts.

     Keith’s only been out of the pod for a day, and he’s been going nonstop, despite his teammate’s attempts to get him to take it easy.

     How can they expect him to relax?  Every minute they waste is another minute Lance is at the hands of the enemy.

     Keith reads through the data they’d managed to collect from the ship.  Pidge said she’d already had her computer scan it, but he had to make sure for himself that there wasn’t anything they’d missed.

     Keith feels sick, this feeling of absolute dread threatens to suffocate him each time he forces out a breath.  It had been a trap, a trap to kidnap Lance and Keith had just let them take him.

     Why did they want Lance?  the figure had said something about Quintessence, but what does that have to do with Lance?

     He’s pulled out of his thoughts when the Long-distance Communicator next to him goes off.  It was Veronica.

     Apparently, she’s been calling everyday at this time, the team’s been letting it ring, unsure of what to tell her about the situation.

     It’s not fair, she’s just found out where her brother had gone, and they kept blowing her off.

     Keith hesitates for a moment before answering the call.  He was the one who was with Lance, he should be the one to break the news to his sister.

     Veronica’s face appears on the screen, her expression morphs into confusion.  “Keith?  Where’s Lance?”

     Keith doesn’t say anything at first, he didn’t really think about what he was going to say.  “I’m sorry,” it leaves his mouth against his will.

     “What happened?  Kogane, where is my baby brother?”  He can hear the concern in her voice, the fear teetering on the edge as if she’s bracing for the worst.

     “The mission was a trap,” Keith pauses, adverting his gaze.  He couldn’t bear to look at her face when she finds out he’d failed.  “Lance and I were attacked.  I couldn’t-“ his voice breaks off, and he takes a few deep breaths in an attempt to steady himself.  “They captured him.  The Galra have him.”

     The silence that follows makes Keith’s ears ring.  “Do you know where he is?”

     Keith shakes his head, “we’re doing everything we can to find him.”  Keith digs his nails into his arm, this is all his fault.  He should’ve done more, should’ve distracted the attacker for longer, done something instead of just lay there.  “I’m sorry, I couldn’t- she’d separated us!  She wanted him, and all I could do was watch!”  He’s disgusted with himself, he’s supposed to be strong, he was supposed to keep Lance out of trouble, to look out for him.  “It’s my fault.”

     “Keith, look at me.”  Keith looks up, finding Veronica staring at him with tears in her eyes, a sympathetic expression on her face.  “There was nothing you could do.”

     She wasn’t mad at him?  He nods, though he doesn’t quite believe her.  He was there, and he couldn’t stop it. “I’m going to get him back.”

    “I know.”

     Lance doesn’t know how long it’s been since he’s been strapped to this table.  Minutes, days, hours?  It was hard to say.

     He was in the dark most of the time, and when he wasn’t, the lighting he did have was faint, a purple glow that barely kept the shadows back.

     He can’t feel anything, the pain has encompassed his whole being, leaving him numb.

     The door opens, revealing Haggar and another Galra who Lance vaguely recognizes.

     “You’re awake, excellent.”  Haggar takes a nail down Lance’s bruised, swollen face.  “You remember Dr. Turk, don’t you?”

     Lance doesn’t say anything, attempting to glare at the two.

     “He specializes in Quintessence extraction.  He says we’ve extracted all we can from you without killing you.”  She pauses, beginning to walk around him, “unfortunately, draining you to empty was not enough to trigger your bond.  Dr. Turk here has a theory, would you like to hear it?”

     “Go to hell.”  It takes Lance an embarrassing amount of effort to respond.

      “Now, don’t be rude.  Dr. Turk has worked very hard.  Surely we should hear what he has to say.”  Haggar’s tone is mocking, she’s toying with him.

     When Lance stays silent Dr. Turk steps forward.  “Now, a Paladin is an extension of their Lion.  If the situation is dire enough, then not only will you act on instinct, but your Lion should as well through your bond.”

     Lance isn’t quite sure where they’re going with this.  But, if they’re looking to affect his and Blue’s bond, then-

    Lance laughs, earning a couple surprised looks.

     “What’s so funny?”  Haggar grabs Lance’s face, digging her nails into the cut on the side of his face.

     “Your experiment won’t work.  She won’t come.”  It’s the truth, his and Blue’s bond isn’t strong like Keith’s.  “If you want the Blue Lion you’ve already failed.”

    “You misunderstand.  We’re trying to trigger your bond, to strengthen it.  Once we do this, your life forces will become one…” Dr. Turk pauses, picking up one of the many sharp blades on the table.  “In theory, at least.”

     “I’ll leave you to it,” Haggar bids the doctor farewell before leaving.

     “I wonder how durable you Paladins are.  I’m looking forward to finding out.”  He places the blade in his hand down before sauntering over to Lance.  “Tell me, which arm do you favor more?”

     “What?”  Lance doesn’t hav a chance to properly process what he’d asked before Turk unstraps his right arm and moves it so his forearm sticks halfway off the table.

     Lance tries to pull away, but Turk is stronger than he looks.  He pushes down on Lance’s arm until Lance can feel the bone snap under the pressure.

    Lance screams, his vision going dim around the edges.

     “Surprisingly flimsy.”

     Turk lifts Lance’s arm up to observe its now unnatural position.

     Lance has to resist the urge not to throw up at the sight.  He turns away, trying to breathe slowly through his nose.

     Turk then places Lance’s arm roughly back into its restraint before grabbing the Paladin by the neck, lifting his head as much as it would allow.

     Lance jolts at the sudden attack on his airway.  He pulls against the restraints, his arm screaming in pain as he tries to get free.

     His lungs burn, he looks at Dr. Turk through the haze of tears.

     Just as Lance’s consciousness was about to slip away the hand releases him.  His head slams back onto the metal table but Lance ignores the pain as he hacks and coughs, greedily taking in air.

     “Already so fragile… and we’ve barely started.”

     Keith sits in the Red Lion, trying to focus on their bond.

     When they form Voltron, they’re all connected, one solid unit.  Maybe, Keith can tap into that bond to find Lance.

     ‘It’s no use.’

     “Shut up and let me focus!”  Honestly, if his lion wasn’t going to be helpful then she could at least be quiet.

     ‘The Blue Lion says she can barely sense him.  Wherever he is, he is too far to locate.’

     “Shut up!”  Keith stands up, anger evident on his face, “I can’t sit here and do nothing!  If she can sense him then there’s still a chance!”

     ‘Keith,’ to the lion’s credit she sounds sympathetic.  ‘ I understand, but this isn’t going to help.’

     Keith flops back onto the chair, defeated.  She’s right.  “Does she know how she is?”

     There’s a pause, as if Red is conversing with the Blue Lion.  ‘She says he’s scared.’

     “Keith?!”  Keith looks out to see Shiro at the entrance of the hangar.

     Keith sighs, heading down towards him.

     Shiro looks terrible, hair strewn about and rings under his eyes, though Keith suspects he doesn’t look much better.  “Come on, Hunk made dinner.”

     Lance is alone again, only this time he’s in so much pain he can barely breathe.

     He sobs, choking on the air that he fails to get in.  It hurts, everything hurts.  He can’t breathe, his lungs have decided they don’t want to work.

     “Breathe, Sharpshooter.”

     Lance turns his head at the familiar voice, finding a mop of dark hair and a pair of sad, purple eyes.

     “Kei-“ Lance chokes on the word.  What was he doing here?

     “You’re gonna be ok.  Breathe, Lance.”

     Lance nods, he’s ok, he’s ok.  Keith is here, everything is going to be fine.

     “That’s it.  You got it.”

     The door slides open, Lance snaps his head in the direction of the noise, finding a female Galra.  Most of her face is covered by a helmet, but Lance can make out the markings on her cheeks.

     Lance turns back to Keith, finding him gone.  He frowns, scanning the room, where had he gone?

      The Galra sets a tray down holding a singular glass of purple liquid.

     “Who are you?”  Lance’s voice is hoarse, and his throat screams in protest.

     “Be quiet,” she whispers, her head glancing back behind her before turning to him again.  “I am supposed to dump this on you.”

    Lance frowns, “what is it?”

     “It’s a concoction Haggar designed.  It is meant to give you just enough sustenance to stay alive.”

     Lovely, well at least they weren’t completely starving him on top of it.

    “You’ve been here for three days, I’ve shut the camera off but we do not have much time.”  she grabs the glass, placing it to Lance’s lips, “I can only give you half, it will look suspicious if you are dry.”

     Lance supposes that makes sense.  He drinks the strange liquid.  It’s thick, like syrup but is cooling on his throat.

     She pulls the cup away far too soon, before dumping the rest of the contents onto his head.

     She turns to leave, not even reacting as Lance thanks her.

     When the door shuts Lance is left in the dark again.

     “Why did you drink that?!”

     Lance jumps, his head turning to meet Keith’s disappointing scowl.  “Where did you go?!”

     “Are you stupid?!  What if she poisoned you!?”

     “Why would they poison me?”  Lance sighs, relaxing as much as he can while strapped to a table.  “So, where were you?”

     Keith stares at Lance for a moment, “Lance, I’m not here.”

    Lance snorts, “yeah right.  Did you get captured too?”

     Keith stares at Lance, scoffing, “you’re an idiot.”

     Lance frowns, Keith doesn’t look injured anyway.  At least, he doesn’t look like he’s been tortured for three days.  “I don’t understand.  Why are you here?”

     “Well, why did you choose me?”

     It’s obvious to Shiro that Keith is not taking Lance’s absence well.  He’d barely eaten at Dinner and went straight to the training deck.

     It’s worrying to say the least, he’s been going non stop.  Shiro doesn’t think he’s rested since he’s been out of the pod.

     It’s doing none of them favors, Keith’s snappy attitude and steady deteriorating physical state is the last thing the team, or Lance needs.

      So, Shiro is going to try and convince Keith to relax at the very least.  Shiro knows it’s easier said than done, but he heads to the training deck anyway.

    When he gets there he finds Keith swinging his sword erratically.  It’s not precise and skilled like his sword fighting usually is, it’s angry and uncoordinated.

     “End training sequence.”  Shiro steps fully into the room when Keith stumbles back after being thrown off balance.

     “What the hell, Shiro?!”  Keith whips his head, his eyes wild with annoyance.

     “You need to rest.”

     “I’m fine!”

      Shiro sighs, taking a step forward.  He can see how tense Keith is.  There’s anger, yes, but Shiro knows who the anger is really for.  “It’s not your fault, Keith.”

     “Why, do you people keep saying that?!”

     “Because it’s true, Keith.  Do you hear me, kiddo?  It’s not your fault.”

     “You weren’t there!”  Keith screams, eyes wild.  “He needed me, Shiro!  He needed me and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it!”

     “You did everything you could.”  Shiro moves to place a hand on Keith’s shoulder.

     Keith shakes him off, “no!  I failed!  Now the Galra have him!  I failed him, Shiro!”

     Shiro’s heart seizes at that.  He needs Keith to know that this wasn’t his fault.  “No one blames you, and I know if Lance was here he’d say the same thing.”

     “Yeah, well he isn’t.  So how could you possibly know?”

     “Because I know Lance.”  Shiro pauses a moment, waiting for Keith to somewhat relax before he jerks his head towards the exit, “c’mon, you need to rest.  You need to keep your strength up for when we find Lance.”

     “You’re ok!  Everything’s gonna be ok!  Just look at me, Sharpshooter!”   Keith’s here again, far enough away to be just out of reach, but close enough to be of some comfort.

     Lance screams, he’s not sure what Dr. Turk is doing to him, but everything hurts.  It’s like he’s ripping all his skin off, and every second that passes leaves Lance feeling weaker.

     “I’m here, Lance,” Lance hadn’t even realized he’d called for Keith.

     Lance isn’t sure how long it’s been when the pain stops.  He goes slack, his breathing labored.

     Dr. Turk hums, “there seems to be no change in your Quintessence.  I was hoping that the pain from your arm would have sufficed.”

      Lance’s heartbeat picks up at the large knife now in Dr. Turk’s hand.  “What are you-“

      “Well, it seems we haven’t broke through your bond have we?  We need to create high enough stakes to force your bond.”  He steps forward, turning the now glowing blade in his hand.  “I’ve studied your kind briefly, we have so little research on your kind, after all, so I’d like to perform some more tests while we continue.  Might as well maximize our data, yes?”

     Lance doesn’t like how this man talks, so calculated and precise.  He thinks he’d prefer it if there was disdain to his voice.

     “I’d like to see if our charts on the human body are correct.  Hopefully we don’t knick anything vital.  Hate to have to have Haggar fix you up so early into our research.

     Lance barely has time to process what he’s said before the doctor plunges the knife into his stomach.

     Lance can’t breathe, can’t make a sound as Dr. Turk pushes down further.  The knife is hot in his belly, the searing only adds to the pain twisting in his insides.

     When the doctor pulls it out the smell of burning flesh hits Lance’s nose.  He gags before leaning forwards and expelling the contents of his stomach onto the floor.

      “Yes, a clever little device, isn’t it? Closes the wound as it is made.  I hadn’t had the opportunity to use it till now.  Where else shall we try it?”

Chapter Text

 “Please stop,” Keith whips his head towards the sound, being met with nothing but the darkness  that seems to surround him.

     “Lance!?”  Keith runs in the direction he thinks he’d heard the voice.  “Where are you!?”

     There’s screaming now, Keith finds himself running faster.  His hand moves to grab his Bayard, only to find it missing.  Actually, now that he’s looking at it, he’s not in his Paladin Armor, but instead his normal t-shirt and pants.  Doesn’t matter, Lance needs him, he’ll fight whoever is there with his bare hands.

     The screaming stops just as Keith makes out a shadow in the distance.

     Keith doesn’t know whether he should be relieved that the screaming stopped, but his heart drops to his stomach the second Lance’s sobs reach his ears.  

      Keith approaches Lance, the poor boy is strapped to a table, sporting so many injuries that Keith can’t even begin to count them all.  

     “Lance!”  Keith hovers over the Blue Paladin, relieved when Lance looks his way.  Only the relief is short lived when he realizes that Lance’s eye that isn’t swollen shut is looking through him.  

     “Lance?”  Keith tries again, but Lance doesn’t repond.  It’s as if he isn’t there at all. 

     Keith’s heart breaks watching the other crumble.  Lance is struggling, gasping for air and Keith can’t do a thing.

     He tries, Keith reaches out for him but his fingers pass right through Lance.  

     Lance sobs out Keith’s name.  

     “I’m right here.”  The Red Paladin reaches out again, but it’s pointless.

    Keith feels like screaming, he can’t help him.  He can’t do anything.

    The door opens from behind Keith.  He watches Lance’s face crumple and he pulls at his restraints.

     “Now, where were we?”  

     Keith jumps up, panting.  A dream?  But it felt so real.

     A sick part of him nags that it very well could be real.  While he’s in the castle asleep in his bed the Galra could be torturing him. 

     Keith shakes the thought out of his head, or tries to anyway. 

     It’s been over a week… Lance has been missing for ten whole Quintants and they’re no closer to discovering his whereabouts. 

     Keith gets out of bed and leaves his room.  There’s no destination in mind, he just needs to do something or he’s going to go crazy. 

     Walking aimlessly probably wasn’t the best way to distract himself in hindsight, especially when he realizes that he’s now standing in front of Lance’s room. 

     Lance’s room, the one at the end of the hall… the room farthest away from all the others.  That fact somehow made Keith feel sick, Lance was alone, isolated from the rest of the group.  Lance, who grew up in a big household, surrounded by family and noise, was put in the room farthest from another Paladin.

     Despite himself, Keith goes into the room.  It’s messy, papers and clothes and various knickknacks are scattered about. 

     Keith looks around, this is what his room was like before he went missing, frozen in time until he can be found again.

      It makes Keith’s chest hurt.  He was right here.  And Keith can feel him, he can see his presence everywhere.  

     But Lance isn’t here.  Keith doesn’t know where he is, or what’s happening to him.  Doesn’t know if he’s hurt, or even alive.

     Keith thinks it’s the realization that Lance might not even be alive that’s the tipping point.  For the first time since he was a kid, Keith cries.

     Hunk thought he would be the one taking Lance’s absence the hardest.  It made sense after all, that is his best friend, and even though they all care for him deeply, they didn’t know Lance like Hunk did.

     Keith, however, has proven that he was greatly mistaken.  Hunk had finally just started to enjoy Keith’s company, and he knows the others felt the same.

     Their Red Paladin had finally started opening up, started hanging out and talking with them more.  Since Lance’s disappearance, however, he seems to have regressed back to his old reclusive self… only about a hundred times worse.

     Quiet, broody Keith is something Hunk can handle, not this angry thing that’s been skulking about the castle.

     Hunk can understand it, Keith was there after all, but after the first few days Hunk had stopped trying to be there for the other Paladin.  

      After Keith had yelled at him the first few days, Hunk’s actually been doing his best to avoid him.

      The kitchen seems to be the best Keith-free zone in the castle, seeing as the boy has decided to practically starve himself since Lance’s disappearance. 

     Pidge must agree, because she’s brought her laptop into the space and is sitting at the corner while Hunk works.  She types angrily, pushing down hard on the keyboard as she mumbled to herself.

     “What happened anyway?”  Whatever it is must’ve been bad, she never takes her laptop in here.

     “I don’t understand why he cares so much!”  Pidge snaps, slamming her laptop closed.  “They don’t even like each other!”

     A few weeks ago Hunk might’ve agreed with her, but Hunk’s noticed the friendship that had started to grow between the two.  “We’re all taking it hard, Pidge.”

     “I know that, but you don’t see me being an ass!”  Hunk can see the frustrated tears beginning to well up, “I’m not doing enough?!  I’m doing more than him!”

     Hunk winces, Keith has been picking fights with them more and more, but even for Keith that was a little far.  “Maybe something happened?”

     Pidge whips her head to face him and Hunk knows he messed up, “Hunk, what have I said about being rational?!”

     Hunk sighs, “to not do it when you’re angry and venting.”

     “Ok, so now I say Keith is a rude jerk, and you say?”

      “He’s a major jerk.”  This is so ridiculous, he will never understand girls… or Lance.  He is the same way when it comes to complaining.  Hunk thinks he might just like to complain.  Maybe Pidge is the same way too.

     “So this is Blue?”

     “Yup, this is her.”  Keith places the long distance communicator in the middle of the room before stepping back to stand next to the Lion.

     “She’s so big!  Lance pilots this all by himself?!”  Veronica’s amazement is clear in her voice. 

     “He does,” Keith still feels a little awkward talking to Lance’s sister.  Ever since he’d first called her and given her the news she’d been calling every day.  At first it was strictly updates, but after awhile Keith had started telling her of their time in space.  That way she’d be caught up for when Lance got back.

     He wasn’t telling her everything, Lance would probably want to share some things too, but it was helping him as much as it seemed to help her.  Sure, Keith’s chest ached whenever he talked about the Blue Paladin, but it was manageable.  Talking about their time in space was a nice distraction.

     “When you told me you guys piloted lions I just figured that’s what the name of the model was.”

     Keith shakes his head, moving back to be closer to the screen.  “They’re sort of alive too.  They talk to us sometimes.”

    “Really?  What’s Blue saying?”

     “Oh, I can’t hear her.  It’s like telepathic, I don’t have a bond with Blue.  She’s Lance’s.”

    “Oh, why not show me yours then?”

     Keith shrugs, “I’ve been coming in here a lot.  Lance spends a lot of time with her.  I figured she’d be lonely.”  It was more so that Keith knew Lance would think the spaceship would get lonely.

     There was a pause, then “thank you, Keith.”

    Keith frowns, she spoke so softly and sounded so genuine, but what was she thanking him for?  “What for?”

     “For being there for him.  He’s been through so much, I’m glad he has someone like you by his side, Keith.”

     There’s that feeling is again.  That should crushing guilt he’s felt since Lance was captured.  “Thank me when I get him back.”

      “You will.” 

      God, she sounds so sure.  How can she trust him so wholeheartedly?  “We got into a fight the day he was captured.”  Keith isn’t sure why he tells her that, maybe it was just sitting too heavy on his chest, constricting his lungs and begging to be told to someone.

     “I don’t have a family, so when Lance was glad about his stepfather I just… I couldn’t wrap my head around it.  I would give anything to have what he does, and I just lost my temper.”  Why had he done that?  What if that’s the last real conversation they ever have?

     Veronica doesn’t say anything for a moment.  Maybe Keith shouldn’t have said anything.  What if she’s mad and he’s lost the one real piece of Lance he has right now?

     “Our father died when Lance was very young.”  She pauses, her expression serious, almost mournful.  “We were inseparable after that.  Mom was always working or at school, so all we had was the three of us.  And then I’d gotten a scholarship, and we had to move.”  

     Keith can see the tears welling up in her eyes, but he doesn’t interrupt her.  “God, if I had known, I never would’ve taken it.  I left him.  And not too long after my mom met that man and I didn’t even know, I couldn’t help them or protect him.”

     Keith’s heart drops to his stomach.  “Protect him from what?”  Keith thinks he knows the answer, but god he hopes he’s wrong.

      “It’s really Lance’s story to tell, not mine, but our stepfather is a cruel man, Keith.  I got him out of there as soon as I’d found out, and I swore I’d always protect him from then on.  But now he’s lightyears away from me, I can’t protect him or be there for him.  So thank you for looking out for him when I can’t.”

      Oh god, everything hurts.  Can’t they give him a break for two seconds? 

     He’s not even sure what they’re doing, but Haggar and Dr. Turk are working together.  It always hurts so much more when they’re here together. 

     He doesn’t dare open his eyes.  The pain from the enchanted blade they’re using is nauseating enough without him seeing the poking and prodding they’re doing to his body. 

     He screams, he’s not even sure what he’s saying.  He just wants it to stop, for someone to make it stop.

     And then, just like that it stops.  The electricity, the strapping the pain, it all stops.

     Lance goes limp, heaving.  After a few seconds he manages to lift his head.

     “That name you keep saying, who is that?”

       Lance frowns, he’s not even sure what he’s been saying, he’s been just screaming.  “What name?”

      Haggar looks unhappy that he didn’t answer right away, but luckily it wasn’t met with more pain as a result.  “This Keith.  You do know he’s not coming to save you.”

     Why are they pretending to not know Keith?  Lance has seen him here, he knows they captured him too.

      “Tell me who he is!  I do not like to be kept waiting.”  Haggar’s hands spark with energy, a warning to Lance.

      “You should know,” Lance pauses to catch his breath.  “He was there.  You captured him too.”

      There’s a moment of silence before Haggar’s face twists into some sort of sick amusement.  “Oh, you think we captured the Red Paladin?”  The way she speaks leaves a sick feeling in Lance’s stomach.  “The Red Paladin was of no use to us.  So, I disposed of him.”

     Lance thinks he stopped breathing.  “You’re lying.”

     “Don’t believe me?” Haggar gets closer, her face now inches from Lance’s.  “Perhaps I should show you.”

     Haggar places a hand on Lance’s forehead.  He knows what’s about to happen, but he’s still not ready for it.  Images flash in Lance’s mind.  Grotesque scenes of Keith fighting for his life, struggling to stay alive.  He watches as Haggar mercilessly tears him apart until all that’s left is a lifeless bloody husk.

     Lance is choking on air again.  No, this isn’t real.  It can’t be, Keith can’t be dead.  Despite all the pain Lance has endured since he’s been here, this is the worst pain he’s ever had to endure.  Lance can’t take it.  Lance can feel it, the pressure the pain building up.  He swore he wasn’t going to give the Galra what they wanted, was going to stay strong.  He can’t keep that promise anymore, not when Haggar is showing him his friend’s death on a loop.

     Lance can feel himself break.  He screams, and cries.  He‘s well past hysterics.

      Somewhere past the hurt and pain Lance can feel the air around him shift, and the ground shake at his feet.  Then his body is on fire, and Lance is screaming for another reason.

      Then, everything stops.  There’s no more flashbacks, no pain.  Lance vaguely notices a faint blue glow just as the room fades back into the familiar dark purple glow.

    Haggar stares at him, triumphant.  “It is done.”

Chapter Text

     “Oh, you think we captured the Red Paladin?”

     “You’re lying.”

      “Perhaps I should show you…”

      “Lance!”  Keith shoots up in a cold sweat.  Another dream?  This one wasn’t as clear as the others, he couldn’t even make most of it out.

     Before he had time to dwell on the dream, the whole castle begins to shake, and Keith can feel something deep in his chest, almost like when he’d sensed the Blue Lion back on Earth.

     Keith whips his head in the direction of the lions.  “Lance,” he races out of his room, running past the confused paladins leaving their rooms and straight to the Lion Bay.

     There he finds the Lions, their eyes aglow with energy as they roar.

     Keith watches as the lions begin to go still once more, the glow from their eyes fading.

     He pants, the warm feeling of hope settling in his stomach.  There’s no time to catch his breath because he’s now running to the control room.  He shouldn’t get his hopes up, but he knows that presence, that feeling was Lance.  He could sense it.

     When he bursts into the room the rest of the team is there, now staring at him in shock.  “It’s Lance!”

     They exchange looks, for a moment no one says anything.

     “Keith,” Shiro talks slowly, taking a cautious step forward.  “We’re not even sure what that was.”

    Keith frowns, “that- did you not feel that?”

      Now everyone was looking at him like he was crazy.

     “I cannot speak for the paladins, but there was a large spike of Quintessence here.”  Allura zooms in on a planet.  “For some reason, it seems as if the lions reacted to it.”

      “Ok, so what’s the plan?!  We have to go rescue him!”  Keith is ready to leave right now, he won’t even grab his Paladin gear if it means Lance will get rescued sooner.

      “We’re going to investigate it.  Scout the planet out.  We should arrive in a few Vargas.”  Allura turns the star map off before continuing, “the goal of this mission is to see if anything is out of the ordinary.  Once we have an idea of what we’re dealing with then we will proceed accordingly.”

     Keith doesn’t understand, why are they dragging their feet when Lance needs them?!  “Are you kidding!?  That’ll take too long!  We need to act now!  Lance must be in trouble if-“

     “Keith, stop.”  Shiro’s voice is stern, “we want Lance back with us as much as you, but throwing around baseless claims is not going to help anyone!”

     Keith doesn’t understand why none of them believe him.  They all have a connection with the lions, did they just not care?  “I’m not!  It was him!”  Keith’s hands are pressed against his chest, “I could- he was right here!”   Frustrated tears burn his eyes, he knows he must look like a desperate mess.  “Why do none of you believe me!?”

     “I believe you, Number Four.”  Coran takes a step forward.  “But I also believe you need some much need rest.  Shiro and I will come up with a plan in case we do find something that may hint at Lance’s whereabouts.  You focus on making sure you’re at your best for the mission.”

     Lance stares at a spot on the floor, eyes glazed over.

     “Lance.”

      Lance doesn’t move, doesn’t respond to the voice.  Maybe this time he’ll finally go away.

     “Lance, please.”

     “Go away,” Lance’s throat burns as his voice scratches against it.  “You’re not real.”

     “She was lying.”

     Lance shakes his head.  He saw it, “you’re dead.”

     “How can you be sure?”

     “Because she showed me, Keith!”  Lance’s head snaps towards the figure, suddenly angry for some reason.  “Go away!”

     For what it’s worth, the hallucination seems almost remorseful.  “It’s like you said, I’m not real.  I’m here because of you.”

     Lance turns back to stare at the floor.  Maybe he can at least pretend he’s not there, if he’s not looking at his face then he won’t have to be reminded that Keith is dead.

     For a few minutes there’s nothing but silence.  “Why me?”

      “What?”  Right, Lance was supposed to be ignoring him.  Too late now.

     “Why did you choose me?  Why not Hunk or Pidge?”

     Lance doesn’t really have an answer for him.  Keith is just… safe.  “I don’t know.  You just- you see me, y’know?”

      Keith frowns, “no, I don’t.”

     Lance frowns too, trying to put into words what he means.  “You’re just like this constant I guess.  This like immovable force, it doesn’t matter how you see me, I’m still just Lance.”

     Keith cocks his head to the side, the way he always does when he’s confused.  “But you’re always Lance?”

     Lance sighs, turning back t stare at the floor.  “Forget it, man.”

     “Lance, wake up!”

      Lance cracks his eyes open, a purple blur in his vision.  “Wha-“ His vision clears to reveal the nice Galra that’s been coming in everyday to give him that liquid to drink.  “Oh, hi nice lady.”  If it weren’t for her Lance would’ve gone insane.  It’s always the same, a few words of comfort, how long he’s been here, and a reminder to stay strong and not give in.  “‘M sorry, I couldn’t stay strong.”

     “It’s alright, my child, but we must be quick.”  She moves to undo his restraints.  “The timing is not ideal, but we must move on with the plan now.”

     “What plan,” Lance looks around, noticing the absence of a certain Red Paladin.  “Where’s Keith?”

      Her movements pause for a moment before she continues.  “I do not know who you speak of, but I am sure he is safe.”

     The restraints unlock, but the Galra makes bo effort to open them further.  “You must listen to me.  Later, Haggar plans to drain you of all your Quintessence.  You must escape before then.”

     “But how?”

     “I will cause a distraction.  When that happens, you need to find an exit.  We are on a planet, I want you to run as far as you can into the woods, I will find you.”  She digs into her pocket, pulling out a small black pill.  “Swallow this.”

     “What is it?”

     “A tracker.  This way I can find you.”

      Oh, Lance supposes that makes sense.  Even if it was a ploy, poisoning doesn’t sound so bad.  He takes the pill, taking a few tries to swallow it.

       “I will get to you as soon as I can.”  She places something small in his left hand.  “A blade.  Just in case.”

     The Galra cups the side of his face with her hand.  She gently brushed his cheek with her thumb, “you can do this, Lance.  Be strong for a little longer.”

     The door slides open, causing Lance to jump.

     “Hello, Lance.”  Dr. Turk gives him that smile that makes Lance’s stomach churn.  “Are you ready?”

     Whatever he has in store can’t be good.  “For what?”

     “I’m so glad you asked!”  Dr. Turk reveals a three pronged device, its ends sharp and gleaming in the dim light.  “Haggar’s agreed to let me try a new method of Quintessence extraction.  It’s slower, so in theory it allows you to replenish some of what you’ve lost.  If I’m correct, it should increase the amount by a hundred and fifty precent!”

      Lance doesn’t like the sound of that.  If he had to guess, slower probably means more painful in this case.  It always seems to with him, anyway.

     “Now please hold still.”

     Lance doesn’t even have time to process the request as the device is immediately plunged into his chest.  He screams as the prongs latch into his skin.  He doesn’t thrash like he wants to, if he did, the unlocked restraints would come undone and he’d never escape.

     “Now, let’s begin!”  Dr. Turk presses a button and a needle protrudes down into his skin.  Suddenly, Lance’s body feels as if it’s on fire.

     Lance screams, he does his best to stay still as the room begins to glow like it had earlier.  Is it from him?  He’s not sure, but whatever they’re doing is killing him.

     And then, an alarm goes off, blaring in his ears.

     “An attack?”

      Lance decides this has to be the distraction, and takes the opportunity to break free.  He lunges at his captor.

      There’s a lot of yelling and rolling around.  It’s hard to overcome the doctor’s strength when he’s so weak and actively has some device embedded in him.

      A pain explodes in Lance’s stomach just as he manages to stab the Galra in the throat with the blade he was given.  He doesn’t stop at just stabbing, Lance proceeds to drag the small blade across the man’s entire neck.  Warm, purple liquid spills out and onto Lance’s face as the doctor stares at him with lifeless eyes.

     Lance pushes him off.  He wipes the blood out of his eyes as he rips the device off him.  He takes a few deep breaths before moving to stand, only to stop when something shifts painfully in his abdomen.

      Lance looks down, a scalpel, great.  He pulls it out, it’ll only slow him down after all.

     Lance braces himself before getting to his feet and running out the door.

     Well, running is a generous way of putting it, stumbling is more like it.  He uses the wall to keep himself upright.

     He should really be checking his corners and watching where he’s going, but all he can manage to do is focus on keeping himself upright.  Besides, most of them should be headed towards whatever diversion that nice lady set up so he should be fine.

     His theory is quickly proven wrong, when he turns the corner and a Galra soldier is staring straight at him.

      They both freeze for a moment, staring at one another.  It’s only when the Galra reaches for his com that Lance decides to take action.

     He smacks the soldier’s weapon out of his hand as he tackles him.  Pain shoots up Lance’s broken arm but it’s hardly a concern, he needs to dig into his pant’s waistband and pull that knife-

     Suddenly, Lance is pinned down on his back as two hands find purchase on his neck.

     Lance claws at the hands weakly, tears springing to his eyes at the lack of oxygen.  He needs to do something, quick or he’s going to die.  Lance throws his hand out to try and push his attacker back, only that light appears again, and suddenly the Galra is sent flying back.

     Lance coughs, turning on his side as he catches his breath.  What happened?  He gets up, looking to where the Galra had landed, to find him sprawled on the floor, covered in ice.

      What?  Lance looks at his hands, at the now fading glow coming from them.  Had he done that?

      The alarm blares again, and Lance is brought back into the present.  Right, he had to escape.

      Lance begins to move again.  He wanders aimlessly until he finds a wall with a window.  He could keep going and actually find a door, but who knows how long that’ll take.

     He doesn’t have long to decide, because in the distance he hears footsteps, lord of them.  Lance’s heart pounds in his ears as he punches the glass.

     There it is again, that glow, and with it the glass practically explodes.

     Lance wastes no time in pulling himself up, ignoring how the leftover shards dig into his palms.  He drags himself over the side, cringing at the way the shards tear across his skin.  When he gets himself over he practically crumples to a heap into the glass below.  It hurts, but luckily the glass managed to avoid his face.

     Lance gets back up, there it is, the forest.  He’s nearly there.  He runs, into the dense trees.  He ignores the brush as it hits him as he runs, it doesn’t matter.  He’s out, he’s gonna be ok, he’s-

     Lance yells as he runs through and bush and suddenly finds himself rolling down a hill.  It’s rocky, and he seems to hit every thorn and root on his way down.

     After what feels like forever he stops, staring up at the sky.  The ground is wet and cold, it soaks through his pants and he can feel it as it finds its way into every cut and gash.

     He’s so tired, and everything hurts.  He hopes that this is far enough, because he doesn’t even have the strength to lift his head.  Maybe he’ll just close his eyes, not much more he can do but wait after all.

     Then he feels a drop hit his nose, then another.  He opens his eyes, it’s raining.

     Lance laughs, actually laughs.  He closes his eyes, and focuses on the water hitting his face.  God, he loves rain, he missed the rain.  He should probably head in soon, if he stays out in the rain for too long Veronica will get mad at him.  Besides, mama usually makes her tomato soup on days like these, he’d ate for it to get cold.

     Lance frowns, his chest suddenly feeling tight.  But why?  Why did that make him sad, it doesn’t matter.  Any minute now Veronica will come out to get him and he can hug her till the feeling goes away.

     Then there are hands on him, gentle ones that push his hair back before lifting him up.

    Lance opens his eyes, finding a blurry purple figure, there’s nothing familiar about them, except they have an awfully familiar haircut.

     Lance frowns, “Keith?”  But no, that’s not right.  Keith isn’t purple, or is he?  Lance is having a hard time remembering right now.

     “It’s alright,” definitely not Keith, Lance doesn’t remember him sounding so feminine.  “I’ve got you.”

     Lance should probably do something, but this stranger feels so safe, and he’s so tired.  So, Lance closes his eyes and lets the darkness take over.