Part six of that weird thing I’m writing
And Shiro could see the tightlipped frown on his face, with eyes he couldn’t see staring at him.
“Quiznak.”
Lance felt his face droop, grabbing Shiro’s wrist and snatching him into a small alleyway, diverting themselves away from the lively crowd that seemed intent in celebrating. Despite living here for months and doing his best, the inbred trait of crime still seemed to be a common occurrence and those innocent around were always ecstatic when the Galra finally dragged off another danger. His protection for these people was just a small guilt that added to the list of reason he stayed.
Gritting his teeth, he twisted dangerously on Shiro. “What were (click) you doing? You’ll get (click-click) killed like (click) this!” He snapped, forcing himself to keep his voice steady and calm.
Had Shiro always been so ignorant? He’d known that Galra patrolled this community like a mantra, and still he wanders over defenseless. Why? He’d been watching him, Lance could conclude that he’d spied on him, a reminder of the looks he’d received back at the shelter.
“I apologize.”
“Don’t bother.” He grimaced, dropping Shiro’s hand as he turned on a corner. “I’m (in) deep trouble (click-click) if you’re caught,” Lance hissed lowly, tapping his finger impatiently as a release for the small anxiousness that reeled inside of him.
“Then why’d you have us stay with you?” The man grunted from behind him, the crunch of sand sounding as they swiftly moved between that of two narrow walls．
“Why wouldn’t (click) I? You’re my-“ my teammates he wanted to say, wanted to fall back into their comfort, back into routine. “Doesn’t matter.”
Shiro raised an eyebrow, grimacing as a grotesque bug crawled over his foot. “Doesn’t matter? It was reason enough to apparently risk your safety,” he muttered, ignoring the way that Lance paused to momentarily bristle at the comment.
“Subject change (click),” he demanded. Scooting past a dinky store that had some obnoxiously loud children gossiping outside of it. “You’ve got a (click) new paladin for (click) Blue.”
“Yes.” Shiro croaked. Lance tilting his head curiously at the brief flash of grief that overcame him. “After the incident a replacement was needed.”
“Incident,” he mused sadly. His kidnapping and torture to be brushed off as an incident would have crushed his pride had had he had any left. Looking down the short street that where his small home lay, close enough that if you strained your ears hard enough you’d hear muffled words escape its crumbling walls.
The Galra hand of Shiro’s suddenly gripped tightly at his shoulder and Lance made an awkward wheezing sound from panic, reaching immediately to push it off. Didn’t work.
“And what did you mean by that?” His voice brittle and harsh, as Lance stiffened from the muffled fury he felt from the man behind him.
“How you brush (click) it off as (click) an accident,” he spat sadly. He’d doubted his position once before in his team but never had he thought that his friends would never actually care about his own humanity.
“It was!” Shiro was yelling now, not noticing the attention that he was going to draw. Lance turned around immediately, mouth falling open as he saw the reddened face with eyebrows drawn. “Lance was our teammate, and his death was inevitable!”
“Death?”
Death. The word had him stunned, the word had him so stunned that he felt himself falling back, crashing to the ground as he looked around frantically as if to prove himself that what he heard wasn’t real. Dead. His team had thought he was dead... was that- was that why they never came? They’d never known he was alive, of fucking course, what “proof was there. Just a Bayard and a bloody helmet? In the middle of battle?
“You’re lying!” He screamed, shivering from a sudden chilliness. “That’s not (click) true, it can’t (click) be.” His words got louder, his metal hands snapping to claw desperately at the black paladin’s chest.
“What are you talking about?!”
People were beginning to crowd, even the paladins had risked opening the door only to rush to their leader’s aid.
“Get off him!” Keith yelled, kicking Lance’s panicked form away from his brother figure. “Freak!”
“Shiro, you’re lying!” Lance ignored the approaching Galra, begging to know if he’d truly been wrong about his teammates thoughts for him.
“Keith, we might have other problems!” Pidge cried, weapon at the ready as she kept the Galra away from her distracted teammates.
Lance felt his hands glow the unsettling purple as he shoved himself off of Shiro, ignoring the latter’s widened eyes at their shared prosthetics. Moving himself in front of Pidge he used whatever power it was that his hands granted him to fight and destroy the soldiers that dared to near any closer to them.
“It’s Voltron!” One seethed loudly, pointedly at the armored humans (and altean).
“Fuck off!” Keith yelled at one, his sword swinging down harshly as they closed in. But Lance knew some basic math, whatever forces they had here was limited and would be nothing against the paladins with their bayards.
“When’d you say Coran was getting here, Pidge?” Hunk chuckled nervously, firing shots into the violent crowd filled with Galra as the citizens scram we back to the safety of their houses.
“I sent coordinates hours ago - so I have no quiznacking idea!” She screeched.
“There’s an opening behind Shiro!” Allura cried, ducking from a Galra’s swing as she skidded towards the possible escape route.
Hunk snatched Pidge and ran, Keith and Shiro shortly after. Lance took a few more swings before throwing himself after them.
.
They could’ve been running for minutes, hours, Lance wouldn’t know. Looking with such lament at his team, he felt his heart swell, doubt and hurt knitting its way through him. He’d made so many reason not to go back, what would they think of him, how they no longer need him, the looks they’d give when they see how much of a fuck up he’d become. And what he’d do when he went into panic mode, although they had already caught a glimpse of that.
His body made a series of clicks as he squatted down at the cave he’d first met them in, watching hesitantly as Pidge began to fiddle with the wires of their original escape pod. Keith stood off to the side, eyes narrowed and foot tapping.
He cleared his throat. The team looked at him with distrust, of course that was because he made a seen of going ape shit crazy.
“I (click) believe there may (click) have been (click-click) some misunderstandings?” He tried weakly, his lips twitching upwards awkwardly.
“No kidding,” Keith snorted.
“You see, (click) after escaping Haggar (click) I didn’t return to (click) my team because I thought (click) they mustn’t have wanted me if they’d never even sent (click-click) a signal sign that they’d come (click), even having someone else take on my job (click).” Eyes were on him as he loosened his hood. “I also (click) didn’t come back (click) because I was so scared (click) of what they’d think of me.” The hood fell down.
Pidge screamed.