They had all been locked up for almost 3 days now. No food, no water, no change of scenery.
All of the paladins were shoved into a medium sized jail. Shiro attempted to remain calm and help Hunk through his panic attacks but he couldn’t keep up the act forever.
Shiro was slipping and could anyone blame him? No they couldn’t. He had already spent a year as a slave to the Galra, he didn’t deserve to be here.
Pidge was using this as a way to get information about her family. She would ask passing prisoners if they saw anyone that looked like her. They always said no.
Hunk, as stated before, was panicking every moment. He didn’t want to be there and he was constantly scared that he would die there. He tried not to bother his team but he couldn’t help it when his screams got too loud.
Keith was usually taken out of the cell, the druids taking special interest in him due to his heritage. He always came back slightly beat up but he would never tell anyone what happened. He would just sit silently next to Lance and stare at the floor, waiting for the next druid.
Lance, well he was trying to remain positive. He found it harder to do when hunger burned into his stomach and his leg throbbed with pain. He was sure that he broke his ankle or something but he was too scared to tackle his boot off to check.
This was how they lived. Nobody knew how to escape.
-
It was around the 5th day when the guards would start to take them out one by one and they would get a new mark (it was basically a tattoo) placed one their bodies.
The Galra must of really liked Lance because he got the most. The colors stood out against his dark skin and Lance saw them no matter where he looked. He would never say it in front of anyone but he thought that they were kinda cool.
Of course Lance wasn’t stupid he knew exactly what the marks were. They were to label them as prisoners, the lowest class in the emperor. Wherever they received food (It was very rarely) the alien that brought it to them had marks all over their body.
-
Week 2 was slowly approaching, but the team didn’t think that would be there to see it. No they weren’t going to die, they were going to escape.
Pidge had managed to talk to Shiro enough to learn the basic layout of the ship (all ships were the same) and the team started to form a plan.
It took awhile to learn what halls to take and where to go but in 2 days they had a plan formed. It was a simple plan, steal the key (This is what Pidge would do), unlock the door and bolt. Easy right?
Well everything was easy until they were spotted. They were so close to the hangers to steal a ship when a guard saw them. Almost immediately alarms were blaring and the footsteps of guards could be heard from every direction.
The team took off running dodging soldiers and shots that flew a bit too close for comfort. Lance was running a lot slower than the rest of the team, his entire legs felt on fire and his vision was clouding over. He barely register the shot that ripped through his side sending a burning sensation throughout his body.
Lance slumped against the wall, trying to blink away the black spots that appeared in his vision. He could hear his team calling for him, Keith trying to pull him forwards, the soldiers round the corner. Lance knew that if he went with the team he would just slow them down. He wanted, no needed them to escape.
Lance pulled his arm away from Keith and picked up a gun that was dropped when Shiro destroyed a century.
“Lance what are you doing?” Keith went to grab him again.
Lance stumbled away from Keith. “You need to leave me.”
“What? No we aren’t doing that! You nee-”
“Leave Keith. Get everyone safe. Be the leader we know you are.” With that said Lance charged at the wave of soldiers. Keith stumbled back, Hunk pulling him onto a ship, and they flew away.
They only escaped because of Lance.
-
It took them a day or two to reach the castle. Allura and Coran were ecstatic to see them all.
“Paladins! We looked everywhere for you! I’m so happy to see that you are alright!” Allura scooped them all up in a hug, unaware of the grave faces that they all wore.
Coran wiped his eyes and quickly looked at all of his paladins. One, two, three, four.....four. Coran looked in the pod. Four....
“Coran are you alright?” Allura loosened her hug on the paladins.
Coran looked at the four paladins that stood in front of him “Where’s Lance?”
-
It took the paladins longer than it should have to explain what happened. They couldn’t put what happened into words. But when they eventually did they heard a sad roar rip throughout the castle.
Blue just lost her paladin.
-
Despite the fact that Lance was most likely dead, they still searched for him. Along with a new paladin. Yet everyone they found was always refused by Blue. She wouldn’t even give them a chance to prove themselves. She would only let Allura pilot her when it was needed.
This was only because Allura said she was only doing this because Lance was dead.
Allura would never replace Lance but Allura was a good teammate when Voltron was needed. Blue could except that.
-
(Roughly 3 months later)
“Remember everyone, this is a live ship. We need to get the prisoners out and leave.” Shiro spoke as they snuck onto the ship.
They were only on the ship because they heard that Pidge’s family might be on the ship. They were not prepared for what they found.
They were about to reach the cells when the heard an explosion a few floors above them. The team hid as soldiers ran towards the explosion.
“What was that?” Hunk spoke his anxiety picking up.
“I have no idea, maybe a malfunction?” Keith spoke as he looked around a corner, seeing if the cost was clear.
“Well now that the guards are gone let's ge-” Pidge was cut off, and the team heard a thump.
“Pidge!?” Everyone voiced their concern over the coms and started to head to where Pidge was.
They ran down the hallway where she was as say her sitting on the floor staring at...Lance?!
He looked very different than the last time they saw him. He was skinnier, his armor scraped and busted, his hair was longer and a scar ran down his face right by his left eye. He was rubbing his head and looked up at Pidge. “Fuck I didn’t expect, Pidge!!!” Lance stared at her then took notice at the other paladins, his team.
“Lance!” Hunk ran over and hugged his best friend. He tried not to focus on how Lance tensed up on contact.
Lance slightly pulled away and stared at his teammates. He rubbed his eyes, just to make sure what he was seeing was real. However after a few moments he scrambled to stand up. “This is sweet and all but I need to save the prisoners.” He took off running down a hall, his team following.
Keith couldn’t help but notice how Lance limped every time he took a step with his right leg. What happened to you?
“What do you mean save the prisoners?” Shiro asked as they turned down another hall.
“Well I didn’t plant that bomb for nothing.” Lance huffed in reply as he skidded to a stop in front of a control panel.
“That was you?” Pidge asked, confusion plaguing her voice.
“Yes, I learne-well I’ll explain later. We only have a few more minutes until the guards come back.”
-
Having Lance back was the best feeling in the world to the team and Alteans. However they sooned learned that Lance wasn’t the same.
They didn’t get a good look at him on the ship, but when the out him in the pod the started to notice the changes.
Lance was covered in more marks, marks that the team managed to remove from their skin due to a few sessions in a pod. Scars littered his body and his right leg? It was replaced, just like Shiro's arm.
Hunk sat down and started to fight back tears.
“Hey Hunk, he’s going to be alright.” Pidge offered him a small smile. “He’s in the pod, he will get better.”
“I know that. But if that’s what happened physically, what happened to him mentally?”
Nobody knew what to say. Afterall that could only imagine what Lance went through.
-
When Lance came out of the pod he told everyone what happened, over a plate of goo. Which he ate like he hadn’t eaten in days.
Lance told them about how he was recaptured, that’s when he got more marks and his leg. He told them how the druids would play mind games with him and made his see his family die and his teammates fall under his hand. He told them how he escaped and how he looked for them but could never find them. This resulted in Lance saving prisoners, because he could still do something good.
It took awhile for the team to adjust to living with Lance again.
Lance didn’t sleep, and when he did it was never enough.The team never mentions how they heard Lance’s screams when he did sleep, his nightmares getting the best of him. He didn’t eat as much as he should. He trained and really only talked to Blue.
Lance was quieter and more nervous around people, especially Keith.
Whenever Keith entered the same room as Lance, Lance would tense up and stare at the ground. He never looked at Keith.
Sometimes Lance would unconsciously attack Keith. Whenever Keith would turn a little purple and “act Galran” Lance would jump at him and try to hurt him.
Lance never meant to of course. He never remember what he did. He said it felt like he blacked out.
Keith started to avoid Lance. He could do it. He already suffered through the lost of the love of his life once. He could do it again.
---
Wow this is really long....Sorry for the long wait!
