Together at Last, Lead Me to the Past
“Lance!” Keith growled as he pointed his sword at Lance’s chest, throwing his helmet to the side of the room. “What did you think you were doing out there? You can’t just run into the middle of battle like that! What if you had gotten hurt? Then what?!” He yelled at the taller boy, not caring that he had gotten the attention of the rest of the team. They had just gotten back from a mission attacking Lotor’s ship and Lance had had the very bright idea of running straight into the battle before anyone could’ve even begin to start thinking of a battle plan. “You may be the red paladin now, but that gives you no right to be this reckless and stupid.” He angrily spat as he turned his bayard back into its usual form.
Lance furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance, putting his hands up in surrender as a sword was pointed directly at his heart. Definitely not what he was expecting to happen the first few seconds of leaving red’s hangar, but it could be worse. At least he wasn’t faced with a fleet of Galra like during the mission. Although that definitely was his fault, he couldn’t deny that, but it didn’t mean Keith had to get so upset about it. God, why was he so mad anyways? It wasn’t like he cared for him much in the first place.
“What the quiznak, Keith! What’s your problem?! I’m fine, so stop getting so pissy over it, Mullet,” Lance argued, now crossing his arms as the sword wasn’t pointed towards his chest anyone. He didn’t understand why Keith had been having such a short temper with him lately, it seemed like everything had been going great with them, especially after they talked with each other after Shiro’s disappearance. Lately though, it was as if none of that had happened and they were in the same position they were in when they first encountered each other when they rescued Shiro from whatever they were going to do to him back at the Garrison. They both seemed to not be able to be in the same room with each other without a snarky side comment being mumbled about the other within the first five minutes. He didn’t know what caused the change between them, and he really hated it since he was starting to get stronger feelings towards the guy who was now pushing him away. At least he didn’t have to worry if he liked him back or not since he was making the answer really obvious.
Keith hated himself for being so hostile towards the other, but god dammit, this guy had the nerve to make him catch feelings towards him. Honestly, it was offensive and just plain rude. Even when he was pushing the guy away and being rude to him it only made him feel bad and didn’t in anyway make his feelings less intense like he hoped. What kind of witchcraft was this?
“My ‘problem,’” he said, making air quotes with his fingers around the word. “Is that you could’ve gotten hurt. Then we would be down a member of the team. You could’ve costed us an important mission and you’re acting as if you didn’t just do the dumbest thing in the known universe. Or any reality, in that fact,” He remarked, copying Lance’s actions and crossing his arms. Their team didn’t say anything to the two boys, watching as the fight broke out between them. Usually Shiro would at least step up and say something to the two, but after the last time he learned to just let them talk or in this case yell it out. They always made up in the end after all.
“You know what, Keith? Fuck you, I’m done with you and your childish attitude right now,” Lance huffed out and held up his middle finger in Keith’s general direction, turning on his heels and heading towards his room. He tugged off his helmet as he walked off, raking his fingers through his hair to fix his hat hair. When he got into his room he stripped of his armor leaving himself in the sheek black suit that resigned under the armor that they were required to wear underneath. He sat on the edge of his neatly made bed, rubbing his face with a sigh. Maybe giving him the bird wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but oh well. What’s done is done, there’s nothing he could do about it now except apologize later.
Lance laid back on his bed, looking up at the ceiling as he was now alone with his thoughts, which could always be a dangerous thing if his mind started to go dark. Although, right now he was trying to figure out why he ran blindly into a battle. It wasn’t like him at all, he usual thought of a plan making sure not to do something ridiculously stupid and impulsive like that. It was something Keith would do, but here he was risking his life. Why? Cause he wanted to see the face of their enemy. He had seen the generals before, but never had he had the opportunity to see Lotor up close and he knew if he didn’t run ahead he wouldn’t get the chance to see him. As to why he wanted to see the infamous Lotor he would never know, but he did. Now, he was paying the price of it too.
Keith watched Lance walk away towards his room, middle finger suspended in the air. He groaned in anger, walking to the other side of the room. Bending down and picking up his helmet before turning and facing his team who all looked like they felt awkward to be there.
“Keith may-” Shiro started to speak only to stop when Keith glared daggers at him. The pervious red paladin looked about ready to kill anyone and everyone who crossed him. Keith stormed out of the room, not knowing where he was heading until he found himself in the training room. That was definitely the best place for him to blow steam off, at least better than him yelling at the other paladins. He set the training sequence to level five, nothing too crazy but at least he could let out some stream. He activated his bayard and started attacking the bot that appeared in from of him.
Lance had fallen asleep while he was thinking of the day’s events, curled up on his bed for a few hours as he laid peacefully on top of the covers, still wearing the skin tight suit from their armor sets. He could probably have slept for a few more hours if a loud knock at his door didn’t come so unexpectedly. He woke with a small jolt, rubbing his eyes he stood up and headed to the door. When it opened he was surprised to find Keith standing in front of him, pushing his way into the small bedroom.
“Can I help you?” Lance asked as he rose an eyebrow. He couldn’t read Keith’s expression, he definitely looked angry but there was another emotion hidden in there somewhere and he was trying to figure out what it was. He crossed his arms, half expecting the other boy to start yelling at him again. Honestly, if he did, though Lance was going to lose it, especially since it was something he should be over by now.
“You know, it’s very inconsiderate to do this to me,” Keith said flatly, his arms crossed as he went and sat on Lance’s bed. He glared at Lance as if waiting for him to say something but all he got in response was an overly confused looked from the other. He clearly didn’t get what Keith was going on about, especially since he was doing as vague as physically possible because why wouldn’t he. It was Keith Kogane, he had to make everything overly complicated at times no matter the circumstances. Clearly, this time there was no exception to it as well. Just great. “Making me catch feelings for you, it’s rude and inconsiderate. How am I supposed to go about my daily life when I’m like this?” Keith finished with a scowl, throwing his arms in the air before tightly crossing them once more.
Lance gave a small nod, still slightly confused about what Keith was going on about. That was until he saw the light blush that was slowly getting darker with each passing second on Keith's cheeks. His own cheeks getting a warm hue of pink to them as he processed what was being said.
“Oh… OH!” Lance said quickly reacting to what was said to him. Okay, so Keith liked him, good to know. “I’m not sorry..” he mumbled with a slightly nod, now it was Keith’s turn to be confused. Lance moved to sit on his bed next to Keith, who instinctively moved away from the taller boy. “Hey you don’t have to move away from me, I like you back if it wasn’t obvious” Lance replied, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at Keith with soft eyes.
“Okay, first off saying that you aren’t sorry, does not make your feelings obvious in the slightest,” He said, crossing his arms as a pout formed on his face. In Lance’s opinion, it was adorable. The Cuban boy bit his bottom lip before hesitantly cupping Keith’s cheek and pulling him into a kiss, his hands shaking more than he’d like to admit. Keith tensed up feeling the soft lips against his slightly chapped ones, he started to pull away, before letting himself be vulnerable around the other and kissed him back. His eyes fluttering shut, he enjoyed this more than he probably should especially with how nervous he was.
It took a few moments before they both mutually pulled away, Keith rested his forehead on Lance’s and looked into his eyes. He could get lost in them forever if he were given the opportunity. The silence between them was broken when a soft laugh erupted from Lance as a grinned happily at Keith, his eyes seeming to sparkle.
“Was that more obvious? Or do I have to find another way to show you how I feel about you, Mr. Oblivious,” Lance teased, poking Keith’s nose. Causing the other to scrunch up his face a bit and laugh. Jokingly pushing Lance away from him, he stood up with a roll of his eyes. Lance chuckled, looking up at Keith since he wasn’t bothering to stand as well.
“Mhm, you know I think I got the hint. Thank you for making sure though, Pretty boy.” He said with a grin heading towards the door without another word to the other. Lance furrowed his eyebrows together as he looked at Keith. He quickly jumped to his feet and reached a hand out to the other’s, intertwining their fingers.
“Wait!” Lance said quickly, a blush spreading across his cheeks as he realized how quickly he had responded, hastily pulling his hand away from the other’s. “Where are you going?” He asked, clearly embarrassed as he quickly took a step away from Keith who was grinning happily at him. Lance chewed the inside of his cheek, tearing at the skin a bit. Though, it was nothing bad enough to draw blood. Keith gave a small shrug, looking at him as if deciding on what he was going to say, a soft hum emitting from the back of his throat for a moment before he opened his mouth to talk.
“Don’t know, possible to train. Why? Do you want me to stay?” Keith teased, only causing the blush on Lance’s face to darken. It was a miracle that he wasn’t blushing as well, or that he was keeping such a calm composure, but it was only an external act. On the inside he was a blushing mess. A small smirk tugged on the corners of his mouth as Lance gave a small nod, confirming that he wanted Keith to stay with him. Which he was pretty happy about, just meant they had more time to figure out what they were and not have the opportunity to fall into the awkward stage of avoiding each other until they were forced to talk. If he was being honest, he didn’t know what he was going to actually do if Lance had told him to leave.
Lance was leaning against the wall of the training room, staring at Keith as he stayed concentrated on fighting the training bot in front of him. Lance loved whenever he was able to just sit back and watch the other fighting, when they weren’t in battle, that is. Keith wasn’t able to get injured and he could just indulge in the sight of the other. Which Lance was very happy to do.
They had probably been training for about two hours now and Keith was just as energetic as he was when they started. Why did this guy have to train so often? Not that he was complaining, since he shamelessly loved the results. Keith just defeated the bot he had been focused on before, he went to start another level before Lance decided to interrupt his boyfriend’s practice.
“Baaaabe~ We should do something,” He whined, giving Keith puppy dog eyes. Hoping that was enough to convince him to stop his current activity. Keith looked at him and snorted softly, rolling his eyes with a fond grin.
“You know those cute eyes of yours don’t affect me in the slightest, McClain. Nice try though,” He said as he took off his shirt, using it to dap the sweat that was accumulating on his brow and then tossing it at Lance. “But, having said that, I wouldn’t mind doing something. What do you have in mind?” Keith asked, deactivating his bayard and holding it at his side. Massaging his shoulder with his free hand,he waited for Lance to come up with something.
“Um…” Lance thought for a moment, it wasn’t like there was much they could do at the castle unless eating and sleeping counted. Although he assumed neither of those options were something Keith would be interested in at that exact moment. “Quiznak if I know Keith, but something!” He complained, throwing his hands up in the air dramatically. “Come on, I’m bored and we should figure something out.”
Keith chuckled, walking over to Lance he loosely wrapped his arms around his neck. “Okay, okay. We’ll go and do something, that isn’t training.” He agreed as he leaned up on his toes and pecked his lips. “We can see if anyone wants to hang out with us and we can do something with them” He suggested, raising an eyebrow. He moved to cup Lance’s face with a hand, running his thumb along his cheek bone with a soft smile. Admiring the other’s features as he did.
Lance’s arms instinctively wrapped themselves around Keith’s waist when the other’s arms wrapped around his neck. “ Nooo~ Babe, I just want to spend some time with you. Well, more time with you that is,” He said, leaning into his touch when Keith’s hand was moved to his cheek. It was definitely a comforting and welcoming feeling to him. He loved it. He opened his mouth to say something before the alarms on the ship started to ring in every room and hall. With a small groan he pulled away from Keith. “Come on, let’s go see what’s going on,” He said, slipping his hand into Keith’s and heading towards the control room.
Keith quickly followed Lance, already activating his bayard again. “Well, as much as I’d love to spend some more time with you, it looks like something else has decided what we’re going to be doing. Hopefully whatever it is, it won’t take too much time.” He said with a soft hum. They were one of the last few people there, only second to last from Pidge. Keith leaned against Lance as he looked over at Allura, waiting for her to explain what was going on. It was now obvious that there was an attack to the ship, but to how bad it was they didn’t know yet.
“Okay, Lotor’s main ship and his general ship’s are here and attacking the castle. Shiro and Coran will stay back and use the castle’s defenses and help out as best as they can. Lance, sneak onto Lotor’s ship with Pidge and see if you can’t find any useful information about what Lotor is planning. Everyone else, keep the rest of the ships away from the two. Attack as usual and remember we don’t want a repeat of last time,” Allura said, glancing at Keith was a small warning glare. He was starting to worry more about Lance than the mission at hand if the taller boy was in any danger.
Lance chuckled softly when he noticed the look Allura was giving Keith and he knew exactly what it was about. He gently kissed his cheek before he pulled away a bit. “Got it ‘llura,” he said with a small nod. The team split off and he headed off to red’s hanger. Once he got situated into the lion he quickly flew off towards Lotor’s ship. He dodged attacks to his lion, quickly getting out of sight of them and getting to the ship. A lot harder than it was for Pidge to get there since she was able to turn her lion invisible. Lance snuck off his lion, activating his bayard. He met up with Pidge in an empty room, Lotor didn’t often have many Galra ever on his ships, unless it was one of his four generals so it was easy to find an empty room. Unfortunately with Lotor, there was also no chance that he didn’t know they were already on his ship.
“Okay, so your boyfriend doesn’t kill me, I need to make sure you stay safe,” Pidge began as she grabbed her laptop, plugging it into the ships program. “You’re going to stay here and make sure this keeps downloading and no one interrupts it, and I’m going to see if I can’t get any more information than what this provides,” She planned as she headed towards the door, looking at Lance. “Stay out of trouble, I don’t want Keith on my case for something I can’t control,” She mumbled, pulling her visor down.
“Got it, Pidgeon. Be safe and don’t get hurt. Easy enough.” He said with a grin, leaning against the counter that resided into the room. Pidge nodded as she rushed off to do who knows what. He didn’t think there was much more information she could find that wasn’t hooked up to the main system of the ship, but it was Pidge, he knew not to question her. He stayed put, not much really happening at the moment. They had gone through a quick briefing from Keith when they flew towards his ship. They had a short window to get the information they needed.
If this was like every other encounter with Lotor he was attacking to gain something, although they didn’t know what it was. At least they were getting the opportunity to get the information they needed as well. It was a while until someone actually started towards the room he was in, the ship was relatively quiet so there was no indication that anything was wrong at the moment. By the time someone opened the door he just assumed it was Pidge, not even bothering to look at who entered. He unplugged her laptop from the system now that everything was downloaded.
“Okay, let’s get out of here. Shall we, Pidge?” He asked, finally turning around to see who was really at the door. Definitely not Pidge. But, by now, he should’ve expected it not to be. The ship had been way too quiet for anything good to be happening and he was only now realizing that. He quickly set the laptop down and activated his bayard, getting into a fighting stance as he prepared for an attack that never came.
“Well, well. What a pleasant surprise to see you, blue paladin. And here I was thinking only red and green came,” Lotor purred, crossing his arms as he pushed himself away from the door frame and took a few more steps towards Lance. He waved his hand when he wasn’t standing down. “It’s obvious that you’re not going to attack me until I attack you. If you haven’t noticed though, Kitten, I don’t even have a weapon. It would be unwise and untactical to attack you now,” Lotor noted, causing Lance’s stance to falter as he let his gun lower to his side.
“What do you want from me then, Lotor?” Lance insisted as he kept a tight grip on his bayard, so much so that his knuckles white. He carefully watched Lotor as he started to circle around him. He felt somewhat weary around him, like he should, but for some reason he thought twice about attacking him. He didn’t bother to say anything about the nickname the other used for him. It sent a shiver down his spine with just the thought about it, and he silently hoped Lotor wouldn’t use it again.
“Now, now. You don’t have to be so feisty,” Lotor said, clicking his tongue to the roof of his mouth. He admired the boy in front of him as he thought of exactly what to say. He had to carefully plan what he was going to say, know what sentence structures and string of words would have the biggest effect on the other. “Anyhow, I came to talk and hopefully strike up a deal with you. You are clearly the strongest member on your team, which means you’re a greater value to me than the rest. Do you get what I’m saying or should I continue to explain?” He asked, although the slightly confused look and raised eyebrow of the other made it obvious.
“I’m not-” Lance started before giving a small shake of his head. It wasn’t important to argue with Lotor about being strongest or not. He was completely relaxed now, knowing Lotor wasn’t about to attack him and was staying true to that. He let his bayard deactivate although he kept his guard up. “Just tell me what you want with me.” He mumbled, turning his body a bit so he was looking at Lotor head on, now that he had stopped moving.
“Well, Kitten,” Lotor started, watching Lance shudder a bit with the wrinkle of his nose when he used the nickname. “I want you on my team,” he proposed, glancing unnoticably over Lance’s shoulder where Ezor would be by now. “And you /don’t/ have a choice,” he finished with a smirk, looking at the boy. By the time Lance had noticed what was going on, his bayard had already been stolen by Ezor. How he loved her ability to turn invisible. The girl gave a soft giggle as she ran off, never being seen by either of them. It was only possible to know where she was from the white and red weapon in her hands.
“What-” Lance started, quickly looked behind him and then back to Lotor, his eyes widening a bit. He got into a fighting stance despite never being one for hand to hand combat. “It doesn’t matter what you do to me, I’m never going to side with you!” He growled, staring the other down. Lotor laughed, waving Lance off with a grin.
“It’s cute that you think that, Lancey Lance. But whether you want to or not, you and me are a team now, so you better get used to it.” Lotor said with a mischievous tone, taking a few steps closer to the other. “Please, don’t humor me and argue with me on this. I know I said you were strong, but in no means was I talking about in physical and or mental strength,” He smirked as he looked at Lance’s faltering confidence. “Don’t be discouraged though, you’d be a very strong pawn on my team, Kitten.”
Lance bit his bottom lip, lowering his hands a bit. He didn’t know what to say in return to that, he raised his hand to his helmet going to turn his comm on. Before he was able to do so though a hand struck across his face. The side of his helmet getting forcefully shoved into the soft skin of his cheek. He looked up to see the murderous eyes of Lotor, although his composure seemed calm. He went to punch Lotor, only for an invisible hand to grab his wrist. Lotor’s general, Ezor, materializing in front of him.
“Awe~ Our new pet wants to play, Lotor” Ezor giggled as she swiftly put Lance into handcuffs. “Now, what would you like me to do with him, sir?” She asked with a bright smile, nearly bouncing where she stood. She was definitely going to be having a lot more fun with the new pet.
“Take him to his new room and make sure he gets properly attired. What he is wearing is-”
“Let go of me! You can’t just keep me as some mindless pet! I won’t submit to you or be part of your team!” Lance yelled, interrupting Lotor who sent him a glare before continuing to speak.
“As I was saying. Get him in proper attire and gag him if he is going to continue making these comments of his.” Lotor said with a wave of his hand, dismissing Ezor. He loved his girls, but he wasn’t about to let his new kitten see his sensitive side. He watched with a soft hum as Ezor dragged Lance out of the room, him himself starting to head to the control room to send a message to his dear ‘friends’ on team Voltron.
He had let Pidge escape, tricking her that her friend left without her already. Getting her to leave and go back to her team before she knew what had really happened. By the time she did they were long gone. Now with the red lion and its paladin in his possession, things around the ship would be much more interesting. Lotor sat down once he got to the control room, setting up a video call to the Castle of the Lions.
Ezor hummed softly as she pulled Lance along, anytime he tried to say something or fight back it resulted in him getting hit. It was a good way to silence the boy. She pulled him to the cargo room of the ship where there was a few ships to hold any prisoners in. She forcefully shoved him into a small room, it’s only walls being metal bars. Undoing his handcuffs before locking the door she went and dug through some boxes until she found what she was looking for. Throwing the bunched up fabric at Lance.
“Get dressed and stay quiet. Make another noise and I won’t hesitate to gag you pet.” Ezor threatened although she was definitely excited about the idea. “Actually, please be my guest and start talking.” She said with a grin. She looked at him expectantly, frowning when he wasn’t talking or getting dressed. “Hey! What did I tell you pet? Get dressed before I drag Lotor in here to kick the quiznak out of you!” She yelled, her voice eerily darker than before.
“S-sorry!” Lance quickly stuttered out as he started to pull his armor off. Ezor smiled with a nod as she went off to find something to gag Lance with, allowing him to change without someone watching him. It wasn’t like she wanted to see him changing in the first place. After a few minutes later he was fully dressed in the more than revealing outfit. His shirt, if you could even call it that, was a tight black crop top that stopped just below his pecs and for bottoms he was wearing shorts that even volleyball players would find short. With only fishnets underneath them to hide anything and everything.
“Why are you guys making me wear barely anything? What do you want from me?” Lance asked when Ezor came back, quickly as he moved to sit in the corner of the cage, trying to hide as much of himself as possible. He looked at her, his eyes falling to what she was holding in her hands. He was definitely about to be gagged, just great.
“Because Lotor requested you to, and like he said. You’re going to be part of our team, and you don’t have a choice in the matter.” Ezor giggled as she went into the cage. “Now, are you going to make this difficult on me or are you going to be a good little pet and let me do this? Because either way it’s going to happen.” She said with a grin, when Lance seemed not to make a move to fight back or say anything she went over to him, first putting a tight pair of handcuffs back on him followed by gagging him. “Awe~ Lotor is going to be so pleased to see you like this! He’ll come see you when he’s done talking to your previous loser team.” She said as she locked the cage back up before running off to who knows where.
Lotor hummed softly as the screen popped up and he was able to look into the control room of the castle. It was silly of Pidge to not think his ship was downloading information from the castle while trying to get stuff from his ship. He now had a perfect layout of the ship, along with knowing everything there was to know about the place.
“Paladins of Voltron, I’m notifying you that I have captured your red paladin and the lion. Only one of them are useful to me and my team. I’ll let you try and guess which one it is. Don’t try and rescue your pathetic friend, all your attempts will end in failure, but if you choose not to listen to me…” He paused, giving a soft chuckle. “Well, let’s just say you’ll regret it.” He smirked, his message having broadcasted to every room in the castle. Technology was definitely his friend in situations like this.
Lotor stood up from where he was sitting and decided to visit his new pet. Cracking his neck he started following the path that lead to the cells, humming as he did. It wasn’t long until he made it to the other male, smiling down at him. Lance was clearly trying to hide as much of his body as he could from where he was sitting on the floor, but Lotor was determined that he’d get Lance more comfortable around him. Lotor crouched down a bit and looked at the other with a small tilt of his head, he put up a kind exterior.
“Hey Kitten, seems like you were being a talker. What a shame too, I do like your voice. Just not when it’s unwanted.” Lotor said, waiting to see what Lance’s reaction would be. The Cuban pushed himself off the ground and moved closer to the bars, glaring at Lotor. He would be screaming at him if he was able to. Putting up the biggest fight he could, but instead he was handcuffed and gagged, stripped of anyway to contact his team or have access to any kind of weapon. Lotor chuckled softly, standing up to tower over Lance a bit. Reaching his arm through the bars he poked Lance’s nose, who in returned wrinkled his nose and quickly moved back.
“Now, don’t be like that, Kitten. I was just trying to get the glare off your face. It really isn’t a good look on you.” Lotor said with a small shake of his head. “Now, I’m not trying to hurt you, Little Blue, I just want you on my team. Just submit to this simple request and everything will go a whole lot smoother. If not I’m going to be forced to hurt you, and nobody wants that now do they?” He said with a small cross of his arms, looking at the other. Lance shook his head a bit, not wanting to get hit especially when he was defenseless at the moment. He struggled in his hand cuffs, trying to get free although they only seemed to tighten more. Lance was desperately trying to get free, but he couldn’t see how it was going to be possible.
The team would be there for him soon though. They weren’t just going to let Lotor take him. Would they? All these thoughts kept running through Lance’s mind along with a few others. He was worried that the team wouldn’t go after him, but he was even more worried that they would. They had never been able to defeat Lotor and they weren’t about to be defeating him without Voltron. Not that Lance himself was a good aspect of the team, as Lotor said he wasn’t physically or mentally strong at all. Voltron would honestly be better off without him. Although Keith always tried to argue with him about that.
Thinking of the stubborn hothead that he loved so much, tears started to well up in his eyes. He was crying knowing he probably wasn’t going to see Keith again, how he was leaving Keith like everyone else had before in his life. Although it was against his will, it would still damage Keith’s mental health. He tried to talk with the gag in his mouth, but it worked how it was supposed to and only muffled noises were able to be heard.
“Kitty, don’t try to talk. you’re just making a fool of yourself. Keep quiet and do as you should. If you’re a good boy, I’ll start letting you have some freedom.” Lotor said as he unlocked the door to the cell, going inside and closing the door behind him. “So, I just talked to your team. I told them where you are and that I have you captured. Now, I have good and bad news. The good news, is we get to spend a lot more time together” He grinned, pinching Lance’s cheek. “Having said that, the bad news is, at least for you, Voltron isn’t coming to save you and has no intentions of doing so. Those are exact words from the one in the red uniform.” Lotor said with fake sympathy, looking to see the damage the lie did to Lance.
Lance felt his heart shatter into thousands of tiny shards that would never be able to be placed back together again upon hearing that. Keith was his lifeline at this point, they hadn’t been together the longest, but Keith was such a huge part of his life. He helped Lance through a lot of psychological stuff, pushed away his insecurities whenever he was around, made sure that Lance knew he wasn’t alone. Now it felt like everything that Keith had ever told him was a lie just to break him in the end. Something small was telling him not to listen to him, but the voice was quickly tuned out.
Lance thickly swallowed the dryness in his throat, moving back a bit until he was pressed up against the wall. He hated this, he felt like the room was closing in on him as he realized no one cared for him. No one wanted to save him. No one was coming to get him, to make sure he was safe. Sure they’d come for the red lion, but immediately after that they would be done with the mission and leave him to rot in this continuously smaller cage. He felt his legs start to go weak, trying hard to keep himself from collapsing onto the ground like he feared he would.
“Hey, hey calm down. It’s okay, I tried to tell you earlier, Voltron is a horrible team filled with horrible people. That’s why I want you on my team, you’re important Lance.” Lotor said softly, wrapping his arms around the thinner framed boy. Rubbing his back as Lance started to sob, he knew what buttons to press, what insecurities to bring up, and exactly how to word things to get Lance to break. If he was being honest, this was just the beginning. He was ready to tear Lance to the ground before building him back up. Make sure there wasn’t able to be any doubt in Lance’s mind that his team didn’t want him back. That he was just a useless body to that team. After that, Lotor would then convert Lance to his team.
Lance’s knees gave out from under him, but since Lotor was holding him upright he just ended up leaning more into cold embrace. It was nothing like when Keith would hold him, he always found comfort in the former red paladins hold. Although it seemed that Keith never felt the same, if he did he would be trying to save him. He would never have let him get captured.
“Now, Kitten, I’m going to need you to stop your blubbering now. You’re part of my team now, no one from Voltron matters anymore. It’s not like they ever listened to you or bothered to give you the time of day. You should’ve been the leader of Voltron and instead they casted you aside like you were nothing of value.” Lotor whispered in Lance’s ear, pronouncing each word carefully and with force to get Lance to start to believe him more. The smaller boy gave a small nod, not knowing why he was agreeing with Lotor.
Lance assumed it was his own insecurities getting to him especially when he was having Lotor bring them up in a twisted way. Lotor gave him a soft smile, once Lance could stand on his own again he carefully untied the gag that was keeping him from talking. The Cuban bit the inside of his cheek as he got use to not having the fabric forced around his mouth anymore,
“Keith… he didn’t really say that did he…?” Lance asked in a quiet voice, scared to what the answer was going to be. He timidly moved his hands a bit, testing his freedom in the handcuffs. Giving up on trying to get out of them though, it was obvious that it wasn’t going to happen. “I mean, he told me he loved me, he wouldn’t just leave me here would he?” Lance asked, looking at Lotor with puppy dog eyes.
“He never really cared for you, Kitty, I didn’t want to be the one to tell you that but it’s true. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but no one else was going to do it.” Lotor said as he grabbed Lance’s chin tightly in his hand. “Now you better stop doing that with your face or I’m going to have to make you.” Lotor said with a soft growl, a tone of anger that wasn’t there before coming through.
Lance looked at him like a lost child, he didn’t know where he was, what was going to happen to him, or if anyone was going to come find him. As hard as he tried, the puppy eyes and pout stayed plastered to his features. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly when he saw Lotor’s arm raise, though the slap to his face with a satisfying clap was still unexpected. This all seemed so fake and real to Lance at the same time he didn’t know what to think.
Lotor gave a small shake of his head, Lance still looked innocent, scared and oddly cute? He shook the last thought away, shoving Lance back into the bars of one of the walls. He hated how the other made him feel and he hated Lance for it. Although the poor boy couldn’t help it, he didn’t know his effects on the other. It just angered Lotor that he felt this way, he half hated himself for it and he half hated Lance for it. Like it was somehow the others fault for his feelings. He if was being perfectly honest, he didn’t exactly know what he was feeling but one thing was for sure. He didn’t like it.
Lance looked away from Lotor, not saying anything in response to being hit and pushed. It didn’t really faze him, he felt so numb to what was happening, he knew this was just the beginning of what was going to happen while he was there. Lotor crouched down in front of Lance, cupping his cheek.
“I didn’t want to do that, but you have to know that listening to me is important. If you don’t, you’ll be punished. Once you learn my rules and start listening, I’ll give you a safe word in case something goes too far. But, you don’t get the pleasure of having one now. Got it, Kitten?” Lotor asked softly, he didn’t want Lance to be scared of him, but he needed him to just listen to him.
“Okay, sir.” Lance tensed up a bit at the touch to his cheek and gave a small nod. He didn’t know exactly why he said ‘sir’ but it felt right to say. Also, he didn’t know what was safe to say or do at this point if he didn’t want to get hurt. He also didn’t want to give Lotor any other reason to say something about his former team. Former, that was a weird thing to think. They didn’t want him back though, so he couldn’t exactly call them his team. Not in the slightest.
Lotor let a small smile tug at the corner of his mouth something about how Lance said that last sentence sent a shiver down his spine. Sir. He loved that, he was going to make sure Lance started calling him that much more often. Lotor gently ran his thumb along Lance’s cheek bone that was red from the previous slap that the other received.
“Sir, you should call me that more often.” Lotor replied simply, he wasn’t going to be subtle about his enjoyment for it. When was Lotor subtle about anything? Lance gave a small nod, not knowing what to say. He was hesitant to speak, not wanting to be hurt again. It was confusing to him, he was either getting hit or being treated sweetly by Lotor. One moment he was slapped across the face, the next a thumb was gently running along his cheek bone. The worst part was, that he oddly didn’t hate it.
“Very good, Kitten.” Lotor said with a grin when he saw the small and nearly unnoticeable nod that Lance had given him. Pulling away from Lance, Lotor moved to stand up. Looking at the small boy cowering in the cage. “Are you hungry? You should really eat something sooner rather than later.” He replied, biting his bottom lip. He was trying to escape the intimacy of the situation, probably an emotion Lance didn’t feel in the situation, but it made Lotor’s heart beat so harshly he heard it echoing in his skull. He didn’t understand how Lance wasn’t able to hear it with how close they had been.
“I could eat..” Lance nearly whispered, remembering what Lotor had said just moments before, quickly speaking once again. “Sir.” He looked up, eyes big with a curious look on his face. He couldn’t read Lotor’s emotions, they always seemed to be changing. It was weird for the former paladin to experience. Lotor nodded, leaving the cage silently he locked the metal door behind him. Leaving Lance trapped in the small room, he had mixed emotions about seeing the other boy locked up in the small room in a revealing outfit but he quickly shook the thoughts away. He didn’t need to be thinking about that at the moment.
“Got it..” Lotor mumbled, quickly making his way out of the basement of the ship. Heading to the kitchen, he shuffled through the food rations and deciding what to bring Lance. There was an assortment of colored fruits from different planets they had visited, ‘meats’ from different animals they had encountered and killed, among a few other things. Picking out some of the sweeter fruits that were there and some source of protein for the other he dished the food. Making the long trip back to Lance, well, the trip wasn’t long but he took the path that took the longest. Leaving himself to his thoughts for a little longer than what may have been necessary.
“Okay, I brought you some fruit from the last planet I- er, took control over?” Lotor said hesitantly. Took control of wasn’t the exact words he’d want to use, but that was exactly what he said. He hated taking control of place’s, his goal in life wasn’t to have an empire and to enslave as many planets as possible. No, he just wanted to please his father, make allies, show people they didn’t have to fear him. He couldn’t do that and make his father happy at the same time though and that’s what tore him up the most. The constant feeling that he was a failure to his family and no matter what he couldn’t change that.
Lotor slid the plate of food between the bars, looking at Lance expectantly. Lance hesitated before grabbing that plate of food, moving back to his corner of the cage. Giving a small smile and a nod of approval.
“T-thanks..” Lance mumbled, looking at him. After a few silent moments, he picked up the already pre-sliced fruit. Although he much rather eat with actual silverware, this was going to have to work for now. He took a bite of the food, the taste was strong, sweet and unplaceable, but it definitely wasn’t displeasing. “This is good…” he noted, glancing up to Lotor.
“I’m glad you like it, it’s from a nearby planet. The fruits only produced once a year, and is only available to be harvest for three days.” Lotor said with a smile, happy to have done something to please Lance. For some reason he wanted the acceptance of the other. Even if it was for something as stupid as fruit.
Lance gave a small nod, going back to eating the fruit. He stayed quiet, not knowing what else to say after that. Plus, if Lotor wanted him to speak, he would tell him to. Lotor nodded, opening his mouth to say something when the small radio in the arm of his suit begin to ring, he glanced over to Lance with a small nod.
“I’ll be right back, I’m needed.” Lotor said quickly before scurrying off to find somewhere out of earshot of the other. “What do you want Zethrid?” He asked as her imagine appeared on screen. The girl gave a blood thirsty grin before speaking, seeming a bit preoccupied with something going on in her own ship.
“Well Lotor, our ships seem to be under attack by the paladins of Voltron. Do I have permission to destroy them?” Zethrid asked with a little more enthusiasm than most would usually have when talking about a fight, but hey, she did always have a fascination with violence.
“Damage them, don’t kill anyone. They’ve lost anyways, they are nothing without the paladin we have captured. In fact, if you want let them talk the Red lion, it’s no use to me.” Lotor say with a small wave of his hand signaling he was done with the conversation. “Don’t let them reach my new pet.” He said, waiting until he saw Zethrid give a small nod before he shut off the communicator. Heading back to Lance he gave him a small smile.
“I’m going to be busy for a bit, but if you make a single noise while I’m gone you’re going to regret it. Okay?” Lotor asked, looking at Lance with a smirk. Watching as Lance looked up at him and gave a faint nod. He had finished eating so Lotor reached through the bars and grabbed the plate. “I’ll get this out of your way as well.” He added as he started to walk off.
“Stay quiet, got it…” Lance mutter with a faint smile. He didn’t want to anger Lotor, especially since it seemed like he was busy and a little bit stressed. Although maybe Lance was just reading into the situation a bit too much. He moved to the corner of the cage once more and adjusted his outfit. It was definitely uncomfortable, but he could get use to it. If he had too.
Lance listened carefully as he heard explosives coming from the upper deck. Straining his ears a bit to see if he could identify any of the voices. Of course over the explosions and shuffling around he wasn’t able to hear anything except a brief exchange between Lotor and one of his generals. Though the only word he really caught was ‘Voltron’, meaning they were probably there to get Red back. Keith would go back to piloting red and Shiro would pilot the black lion. It seemed like Keith was right, it would all work itself out in the end. In some twisted way Lance was correct as well, he wasn’t needed. He was the extra and nonessential paladin.
It had been about two hours since anyone had checked on Lance, the fighting above continuing the whole time. Lance just assumed that Lotor didn’t want to let the red lion out of his possession so quickly. After waiting a while with absolutely nothing to do, Lance passed out while sitting up. Leaning in the corner between the cold metal bars and the bare wall. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, but it was that or completely just lay on the floor and he didn’t want to do that.
Lotor came down to the cells after a while, once the fighting had long since settled down and the excitement of it all had died. Discovering Lance asleep, he quickly went off and retrieved a blanket before draping it over the boy with a soft smile. He felt a slight guilt for not giving him a bed to sleep in, but that would be arranged at a different point in time. Lance stirred in his sleep, cuddling into the warm fabric. The Cuban opened his eyes and sleepily looked up at Lotor, giving a faint smile as he closed his eyes once more.
“Morning..” Lance mumbled, moving against the wall more. Lotor gave a soft chuckle, seeing Lance this tired and half asleep was definitely something he was happy to be able to experience. He sat down on the floor of Lance’s cell, not feeling the need to leave just yet.
“Good morning,” Lotor said with a soft smile, starting to move his hand to Lance’s hair to push it out of his face before stopping himself. Thankfully Lance still had his eyes closed, otherwise he would have noticed the unusual movement. “Have you thought more about what I suggested earlier? You joining my team?” Lotor asked with a raise of his eyebrow.
Lance instantly sat up, looking at Lotor with wide eyes. He didn’t know what he was going to say. It wasn’t like he could go back to Voltron, they didn’t want him. They didn’t even rescue him when they were just there. He knew he shouldn’t join Lotor’s team, he didn’t think he was strong enough emotionally to fight against anyone from his former team if it came to that. In all honesty he just wanted to go home, but that didn’t seem to be a choice for him. He could try and go back to Voltron, be kept a prisoner, or join Lotor. Only one of those opinions sounded good to him.
“Yes, I’ll join your team..” Lance whispered softly with a small nod. Lotor gave a bright smile and nodded, standing up he gestured for Lance to do the same. Lance didn’t waste any time in standing up, not knowing if there would be any punishment for not listening to him. The blanket that he had from sleep was now wrapped around his shoulders.
“Perfect! It would have been a bore trying to get you on my team if you didn’t agree. Now I’ll have Zethrid start your training right away. Usually, I would do it, but I’m afraid I might not be able to punish you when needed if I did.” Lotor said, starting to pace back and forth the small cell as he thought about everything that would need to be done. “Okay, I already know exactly what I’m going to need you to do when you’re ready. Okay?” Lotor said quickly, his mind racing a million miles a minute.
Lance watched Lotoe as he moved around the cell, he wasn’t expecting the other to be so well he couldn’t even place it. Excited maybe? Yeah that definitely seemed like the best fit to describe Lotor at the moment. He stood up completely, although with some difficulty thanks to being fettered but he managed. Leaning against the wall to keep himself up, carefully he kept his eyes on Lotor. If he was right about who Lotor’s generals are he really didn’t want to be trained by Zethrid. Though it wasn’t like he had a choice in the matter.
“When does training start” Lance asked, interrupting Lotor’s train of thought. Forcing a smile as he did, he was trying not to show how scared he really was. He needed to get through this and hopefully being on Lotor’s team would be a good thing. Lotor stopped his pacing and turned to look at Lance with a grin.
“The moment you get changed into something more appropriate.” Lotor said, pointing his finger at Lance. “I’ll be right back, you stay right here.” He said as he left the cell, locking it behind him out of habit. Lance raised an eyebrow at Lotor as he left but decided not to argue. He couldn’t leave if he wanted to and it seemed like Lotor had forgotten that small fact. Oh well. He twisted his hands around to mess with the handcuffs, doing something for the pure fact of doing something. Lotor came back a few minutes later, a handful of clothes in his arms as he dropped them into the cage through the bars.
“Okay, here I’ll undo your bonds and then you can choose what you want to wear. Everything is black and or blue. I felt like it would match you best, plus the blue will compliment your eyes.” Lotor said, looking at Lance with a glint in his eyes that the other couldn’t quite place. Lance gave a sad smile and moved closer to the bars, moving his hands between the metal as Lotor undid the cuffs before bending down and working on the ones around his ankles.
Was Lance sad aboutleaving Voltron? His friends? Keith? Yes, of course he was, but it didn’t seem like they ever cared about him. So maybe he shouldn’t be this torn up about it. Butseeing Lotor look this happy about him deciding to join his team, well, he kinda liked it. It was cute how excited the other looked, especially since he had only seen the other trying to give off a stern vibe. Everything about Lotor was usually held with an aura of authority down to the clothes he wore to how he composed himself. So yeah, maybe Lance was upset about leaving his team but seeing Lotor this happy made it all worth it.
“Okay. Thank you, Sir.” Lance said, and he said it like that. Sir, with a capital S. Lotor looked up at him with a bright smile, a rare sight to be seen on him. He stood up and gave a small nod, dusting off the knees of his uniform.
“Of course, Lance. I’ll be back in ten minutes. I expect you to be changed and ready to train.” Lotor said and with that he was already out of the room, leaving Lance alone with his thoughts. Lance looked at his bruised wrist, gently rubbing them as he kneeled down and stared blankly at the pile of clothes in front of him. It was obvious that it was all pretty skimpy outfits, booty shorts, skin tight fabrics and a suspiciously low amount of shirts like it was preferred if he didn’t wear one.
Lance skimmed through the clothing, eventually changing into black booty shorts with blue accents on the side. Along with that he grabbed a loose royal blue tank top and pulled that on as well. Just like Lotor had said, at nearly exactly ten minutes the taller male walked into the room, smiling softly as he looked Lance up and down.
“You look nice.” Lotor noted as he got to the cell door, pressing his hand to the sensor and unlocking the door. “Okay, now I’ve given Zethrid her orders. She’s going to train you until you’re a perfect teammate. You will have a certain place on this team and will be doing infiltration.” Lotor explained, looking at him with a smile as Lance gave a small nod as he listened to him. He Hesitantly stepped out of the cell as Lotor moved to the side to let him out. “Oh, and make sure you listen to Zethrid, she will get physical with you if you don’t follow orders. Got it?” Lotor asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes, Sir.” Lance responded, looking down at his feet. Lotor grinned hearing Lance call him Sir again, he would be purring if he was able to. Lotor motioned for Lance to follow him as he made his way to the upper deck of the ship. “Sir, you said I’ll be infiltrating… May I ask what exactly?” Lance hesitantly asked, biting his bottom lip a little.
“Voltron of course, they don’t know I told you the truth about what they think of you.” Lotor explained, guiding Lance through the hallways of the building. “They will accept you back onto the team like nothing is wrong and like they actually care about you.” He said, stopping in front of a double door set. “Anyways, this is where I leave you. I’ll be back when you’re fully trained, hopefully that will be soon.” Lotor said, opening the door and ushering Lance inside before closing the door behind him. Quickly going to the control room to the ship.
Lance squealed softly when he was practically shoved into the new room, stumbling slightly before he caught his barings. He looked around the room, it was relatively bare, kind of like the training room back on the castle as well. Before he could finish making his observations on the room he noticed someone from the corner of his eyes, running at him, ready to attack. Lance quickly jumped out of the way, watching who he could now identify as Zethrid pull a laser rifle to him and aimed.
“Fight back or you’re going to have a bad time!” Zethrid yelled, not caring if she hurt the smaller male or not, but Lotor said she wasn’t allowed to completely mame him. Lance quickly looked around, spotting a wall of weapons on the other side of the room he quickly started to run in that direction. Dodging the lasers from Zethrid’s weapon. He could already tell he was going to be a little more than just exhausted by the end of the day.
“What the hell lady?!” Lance questioned as he finally was able to grab some sort of gun from the wall. Zethrid growled at the tone of voice Lance was using, she was going to be respected not treated like she was doing something wrong. Lance shot at the other, hitting her in the arm although it seemed to do nothing.
“Don’t what the hell me, this is your training and you better take it seriously!” Zethrid yelled, grabbing Lance by the collar of his shirt before he had the chance to react. Lance instantly brought his hands to Zethrid’s arm in a futile attempt to get her away from him, a small squeal coming from him when he was initially picked up. “This is what you get for talking back and not listening! Understand that.” She growled as she punched him square in the jaw while pinning him against the wall.
Lance closed his eyes tightly as tears threatened to spill, holy quiznak did that hurt like hell. He was dropped to the ground and he allowed himself a small moment of rest before he pushed himself up to his feet, Zethrid already walking away from him.
“That was your first test and you failed, you should always expect an attack and be ready to fight back and /win/ that fight. We don’t need a weakling like you on this team.” Zethrid explained, a low growl coming from her. To say she was a little pissed was an understatement. She wasn’t the one who was suppose to be training the rejected paladin, that was Prince Lotor’s job but he seemed to have acquired a sweet spot for the weakling. Lance nodded, balling his hands into fist so tightly that his knuckles were turning white and his nails dug into his skin causing him to bleed.
“Understood, ma’am. I’ll try harder, my apologizes.” Lance said quickly, trying not to anger her any more than she clearly already was. Zethrid scoffed softly as she headed towards the center of the center of the room, motioning for Lance to do the same, who of course followed her.
“First rule, never and I repeat ever questioned anyone of higher ranking than you. That includes me, Ezor, Acxa, Narti and Lotor. And if we tell you to follow someone’s orders, you will listen to us without a second thought. Nod if you understand.” Zethrid said, crossing her arms as she stayed stationed in the center of the room. Not saying anything else as she stared daggers at Lance.
“Yes ma’-” Lance started before Zethrid swiped his feet out from under him in one swift movement that he could barely tell what had just happened. Within seconds a foot was placed to his arm and was starting to apply pressure.
“I said, /nod/ if you understand me. Do not talk unless told to. The rule might be different with Lotor, since he has seemed to take some weird fancy to you, but I will not be having you speaking unless spoken to. /Nod/ if you understand.” Zethrid said, applying more and more pressure to Lance’s arm with each word. Watching as the lanky boy gave a small nod, whimpering in pain as his arm was being crushed. “Very good.” She said, pulling her foot away from him, crossing her arms once more as she stood straight.
Training consisted of Lance doing everything and anything wrong even when he was doing everything like he was asked, and Zethrid continued finding reasons to punish him. By the end of the week, Lance was beaten and bruised like a rag doll. He had cuts and bruises on every square inch of him, one of his wrist where sprained, he was now walking with a limp, not to mention his busted lip and black eye. So yeah, Zethrid beat Lance up pretty bad, and of course, Lotor wasn’t exactly happy to see his poor Kitten all beat up, but it had to be done.
“Tsk, tsk. It’s a shame she had to hurt you so badly, but she says your basic training is complete and that you will have no problem with your orders. Plus, Zethrid said you are a very fast learner.” Lotor said, gently dapping away some of the blood from Lance’s cuts. Usually, Lotor would have Lance go in the healing pod, but since he was still training Lance had to let his injuries heal naturally. Learn that everything won’t be given to him on a golden platter. Although, Lance already seemed to realize that. However, this was still protocall, and Lotor wasn’t about to break it for this boy.
“Thank you for patching me up, Sir. Next time I will try not to step out of line so much…” Lance said, his eyes wandering to his hands in his lap. His wrist had already been wrapped up so he (hopefully) wasn’t able to hurt it anymore than he already had. Lotor shook his head, gently cupping Lance’s cheek as he worked on cleaning the blood away from his lip.
“Shh, you did great for your first training. Especially for coming from another team, Zethrid just- well she likes to punch things and she was in a bad mood. It just means your training is practically over now. We just have to start training you for your mission.” Lotor explained, gently guiding Lance’s face closer to his to get a better look at the injury. Lance made a small humming noise in agreement, leaning into Lotor’s touch. His eyes wandering to the other male’s lips.
Lance knew he shouldn’t be thinking about Lotor that way, but quiznak, he was nice to him, overall extremely hot, and he seemed to care about him. Among other things. And man oh man did Lance McClain want to kiss those damn teasing lips right in front of him. Before he had the chance to decide what he was going to do next, if he even truly wanted to kiss Lotor or not, before any of that could even start to cross his mind, the decision was made for him.
Slightly chapped purple lips were pressed to his soft ones, and in a mixture of fear and excitement his eyes fluttered shut and he pushed into the kiss more. His heart beating so fast, so loud, he swore Lotor could hear it too. He moved his hand to the others hair, and although he knew it had to be soft, the silkyness of it all surprised him. The whole situation was quite surprising if he was being honest, and he didn’t expect any of this to happen.
Though, before he could fully process everything, the moment had ended. It was too short for Lance’s liking, he never wanted to pull away from the kiss. Lotor’s lips. He wanted to go further, explore everything there was to explore of the other’s body. Yet, at the same time the moment seemed to last for an eternity, and he learned more about Lotor in just that kiss than he thought possible. He learned that Lotor was soft and unsure of himself at times, extremely nervous even though he didn’t show it, and that there was so much more to him. Lotor wanted more in life, something that wouldn’t come from hurting others and conquering planets.
“I- um… Sorry!” Lance squeaked, even though he wasn’t the one to initiate the kiss. On top of that, there was no way, shape, or form that he felt sorry about what they just did. No, he wanted more. And by how much he was pushing into the kiss, he knew Lotor knew exactly how he was feeling. But Lance felt like he had to apologize, he didn’t want to be hit or hurt in anyway. Lotor shook his head, planting a quick but gentle kiss to Lance’s nose, causing him to blush brightly.
“Don’t be sorry. I know I’m not.” Lotor said with a soft smile, cupping Lance’s cheeks. “And I know you aren’t too. Now let’s continue to patch you up, shall we?” He asked, pulling away from Lance and standing up to go grab some more medical supplies for Lance’s deeper injuries. “Now, I think now would be a perfect time for you to go on your mission..” Lotor started, sitting down in front of Lance once more and taking his arm in his hand a little forcefully.
Lance nodded with a small whimper, Lotor grabbing over one of his deeper cuts. Of course, the other didn’t know that.. Right? It didn’t matter, Lotor clearly liked him and wouldn’t do something like hurting him on purpose. That was something Voltron did to him. Made him feel like he could trust them and then throw him to the side and let Lotor, someone they thought was horrible and would kill him, take him away. Lance really wasn’t happy with his old team at the moment, and couldn’t bring himself to even think about them having a reasonable reason to do so.
“Okay, Sir. So, what’s my mission going to be? I’d like to start as soon as it’s possible if that’s okay with you.” Lance said, staring at Lotor as he started to stitch up one of his deeper cuts. Quiznak, that definitely hurt him a lot, especially without anything to numb the pain, but he would survive. Lotor hummed in thought before he seemed to come to a conclusion, glancing his eyes up at Lance before looking back at his work with a small smile.
“Tomorrow evening, that’s when you’ll leave for your mission. You’re going to go back to Voltron,” Lotor started, pausing for a moment so he could focus on finishing off the stitch, starting on another. Watching Lance physically tense up at the mention of his old team, he continued. “And regain their trust, they don’t know that you know the truth. As I’ve said before, you’ll have an earchip that they won’t be able to detect, that why I’ll be able to talk to you and vise versa.” He explained, kissing above one of the cuts. “And from there, you will help me destroy them from the inside out. Got it?” He said simply, still focusing on his work.
Lance nodded, that shouldn’t be too hard. If the team really saw him as a gullible idiot, then it wouldn’t be too hard to gain their trust back. They wouldn’t expect him to do something like this, to go so against them. Anyways, it wouldn’t be hard to get Keith’s trust back at all, he could easily pretend to still be in love with him.
“Okay, Sir. I can do that, easily. I can do whatever you need me to do and for as long as you need.” Lance said with a polite nod, not wanting to say anything to upset Lotor. He still wasn’t sure how he should act around him, not sure if he would hit him or not. Depending on the situation they were in though he wouldn’t mind the pain.
“Good, now you should go get some rest. I’ll bring you to your new room, you’ll have a bed and everything you could need when you’re staying here.” Lotor said, finishing up everything he could do for Lance at the time without putting him in a pod. And he wasn’t about to do that. He stood up and offered Lance his hand, the other happily taking it and hosting himself up.
“Thank you for providing me with a bedroom.” Lance said with a soft smile, thankful to not be sleeping on the floor of a more than uncomfortable cell. Lotor gave a small nod, heading through the halls with a soft hum of thought, guiding Lance to his room without bothering to make any conversation.
“Okay, so this will be where you are going to stay. I hope you find the place accommodating, feel free to move about the ship when you are here. But I do recommend for you to go get some sleep, I’ll wake you up early tomorrow and get you situated. Making sure you know exactly what to tell the team when you get back, got it?” Lotor said softly as he opened a door for Lance. Revealing a small room, it was simple but definitely an upgrade from what he had at the castle. A lot more room, an actual window. Nothing much, but there was room to personalize.
“Thank you, this is perfect. I’ll make sure to get plenty of rest tonight. Meaning I should probably go to bed about now.” Lance replied, nervously he pecked Lotor’s lips softly. Before he could pull away though a slightly cold hand was moved to his cheek and pulled him closer. Making it so he couldn’t pull away from the kiss just yet. Not that he minded, nope not one bit. He would happily continue to kiss Lotor as long as he was allowed. Their lips fit perfectly together and it was nothing like when he kissed Keith. No this was better, sweeter, like it was right. Something about kissing Keith always felt just a little wrong, like it wasn’t exactly right. Although he didn’t think that at the time. Lotor pulled away sooner than he wanted, but they both needed to breathe.
“I’ll see you in the morning, beautiful.” Lotor said softly, leaving it at that as he turned on his heels and walked away with a grin. Taking Lance into his possession was one of his better idea’s that’s for sure. Lance smiled, watching as Lotor walked off. After staring at Lotor for a little longer than he probably should, he turned and went into his room. Closing the door and going over to his bed, collapsing onto the mattress.
As Lotor had promised he woke Lance up early the next day, and was nice enough to make him breakfast as well. Which surprised Lance and he absolutely loved it. They spent a few hours coming up with a story about what happen to him and how he ‘escaped’ and why he was stitched up. Making sure their story had no plot holes and Lance knew the story forward and backwards. Once he did, and after a few heated kisses, Lance was put onto an escape pod and made his way back to the castle.
It didn’t take him long to get back, the castle was on a planet at the moment. Seeming like they didn’t have anywhere else to be at the moment. Going into the castle unnoticed, he made his way to the bridge. Everyone seemed to be gathered around, not making much of a conversation, really, just looking depressed.
“Why are you guys acting like someone died?” Lance asked with a soft laugh, watching as everyone turned to look at him at once.Attacking him in a hug, Keith making it to him first and attacked his cheek in kisses, tears poured down his cheeks. Lance found that pathetic, he didn’t care that he was gone. None of them did, this was just a horrible act. And thanks to Lotor, he was finally able to see through it. Nonetheless, he hugged them all back tightly before gently wiping Keith’s tears away gently.
“Stop crying you guys, I’m back, I’m okay and I’m not going to leave you guys again. I promise.” Lance said, squirming out of their grips. Yeah, that was enough physical contact from the people he hated for now.
“God, I’m so glad you’re back, I didn’t want to lose someone else. I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to save you Lance.” Pidge said as she was crying, wiping her tears although more continued to pour. After losing her brother and father, she was really emotional when it came to losing the people she cared about. Not like she even cared about Lance, but whatever.
“It’s good to have you back, Lance. How did you even escape?” Shiro asked, patting Lance’s back with a smile on his face. Finally the team was all back together and hopefully everything could go back to normal. Lance opened his mouth to say something but stopped when he felt a hand slip into his. Keith. Of course. He looked at him with a soft smile, kissing his cheek softly.
“I missed you, Lance, I’m glad you’re safe. We- we tried getting you, but we couldn’t d-” Keith started to say, only stopping when Lance held a hand up to silence him. Keith gave a small nod of understanding, the only way they were going to find out what happened to Lance was if they all shut up. Everyone but Keith seemed to get the hint after Shiro spoke.
“Okay, so you want to know how I escaped? Easy enough of a story to tell.” Lance started, going and sitting in his usual chair in the control room,pulling Keith onto his lap. Although he hated it, he had to pretend he loved Keith with all his heart. “Okay, so I’m not going to bore you guys with the unnecessary details such as how I escaped my cell and all that stuff. But, I tracked the guards patterns and found my window of opportunity, from what I remember from when me and Pidge got to the ship the first time, I had a small idea of where I needed to go. I didn’t have too much difficulty, I found a weapon luckily before I ran into one of Lotor’s generals which is why I’m so beat up. But as you can also see, I got away. I found an escape pod and flew here. Luckily for me, there was some medical supplies in the pod, so I patched myself up the best as I could on the trip here.” Lance said, summarizing the story. He only had to go into detail if they asked.
“Well thank the gods you’re okay, Lance, we were all so worried about you. We didn’t know what to do..” It was Allura who spoke up this time, looking at Lance with a soft smile. That was a lie, they weren't worried, they didn’t care. Heck, they probably celebrated when Lance got captured. He wouldn’t put it past them. Lance could see the truth, they didn’t care about him. He kept repeating those words to himself.
They didn’t care about him.
It was all a horrible act.
No one but Lotor and his team cared if he died.
Lance allowed these thoughts to flood his mind, giving a small nod as he glanced to Allura with a fake smile. No one was able to tell what he was really thinking and no one was going to be able to get Lance back on their team. No, he was long gone, too broken, too lost. Nothing could fix him, nothing could bring him back. Lance was going to be on Lotor’s team until he died. There wasn’t anything they could do to change that. He had his place, and it was more than obvious it wasn’t with Voltron, or the liars he thought he could trust.
“Lance, sweetie, I hope you made it to the castle okay. Remember, if you need to talk to me I’m here. Make sure they think you’re on their team, and find each of their weaknesses. Not only of them, but of the castle and the lions as well. I need to know how to take them down. For us.” Lotor said, talking through the earpiece and causing Lance to actually smile.
“Okay” Lance replied to Lotor, knowing the others could hear him he continued as if he was talking to Allura. “As happy as I am to be back, I could really go for a quick trip in the healing pod and a long bath. Please?” He asked softly, looking at everyone. Man, was a good to be back with this new perspective.
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