A/N: I binge-watched the last half of season seven (have I mentioned spoiler alert yet?) and it was amazing. So amazing, that I had to go and write some Langst. Hopefully all the timing fits the canon scenes.
I'll try and get a better cover done soon.
The lions were falling.
"They can't be." The thought flashed through Shiro's mind as he watched the five colored shapes free-falling closer.
"Paladins, come in!" Coran yelled into the comms.
"Communications are down," Sam reported. "I'm working to override the hanger for the MFE fighters now to intercept."
The lions had already entered the atmosphere. They showed no signs of slowing as their flight paths drifted apart.
"Lance!" Veronica yelled, standing.
No one spoke again as the lions plummeted. Within seconds, all struck the ground with muffled booms, throwing dirt and debris everywhere.
For a minute, static was the only sound in the Atlas' bridge. Coran slowly stood. Shiro turned.
"Commander Holt, do you have the hanger doors open yet?"
"Just a tick… yes, now I do."
"The MFE's are ready to go," Griffin said.
"MFE pilots, stand by. I need a ride to the Black Lion," Shiro said.
Coran turned. "I must check on Allura."
"I need to see Pidge," Sam said.
"I have the captain," Griffin said. "Rizavi, take Coran to the Blue Lion. Lief, you and Commander Holt find the Green Lion. Kinkade, reports already show Hunk's family approaching the Yellow Lion. Go help them. Veronica-"
"I'll take a rover to find Lance," Veronica said.
"That's what I was going to say."
"Iverson, you have the bridge," Shiro said before he and the others left.
Five rescue teams raced for the fallen lions.
The Black Lion was sprawled in the remains of the Garrison Base. Black willingly opened her mouth to Shiro, who felt the barest tickle on the back of his mind. Black was tired and hurt, but he had protected Keith.
Coran found the Blue Lion floating gently in the ocean. He gently removed Allura from the cockpit and left, thanking Blue and promising to return to retrieve her.
It took an hour of hacking through brush to reach Green. The smallest lion seemed to rumble at Sam as he carefully climbed into her mouth that had jammed open. He extracted his daughter, grateful to find her breathing.
Yellow actually tried to shift around to allow access more easily, but the massive lion was obviously drained. A dozen of the former prisoners helped Kinkade get the mouth open, and Hunk's family carried him out.
Veronica found the Red Lion alone. His mouth gaped and she ran inside. Lance was slumped in his seat, pale and shaking. It took almost a minute for Veronica to find his pulse. Twenty minutes later, Griffin arrived to help move Lance.
The brave paladins were brought to the Atlas' infirmary, until a proper hospital could be found. Their friends and family surrounded them, glad to have their kids back and all together.
Everything was going to be fine.
Between the efforts of the humans and resistance contacted by Shiro, Earth started to rebuild quickly. It wasn't long before the paladins were moved to into a hospital on the Garrison grounds.
It had been a week, in which all the paladins had remained unconscious. Scans by Coran showed their natural quintessence was slowly replenishing. A week after the battle against the mech, the lions had recovered enough that they aided in their paladin's recovery.
Keith was the first one to awaken. He opened his eyes to find Krolia seated at his feet, and Kolivan against the back wall.
"Mom," Keith rasped.
Krolia teared up and grabbed her son in a hug, while Kolivan left to tell the others.
Hunk was the next to revive and remained conscious twenty minutes longer than Keith's first ten. His lion could withstand more of a beating than the others, so it was no surprise that he recovered the quickest.
Allura woke a day after Keith and Hunk. Coran was right there waiting, as was Romelle and the mice. Coran tenderly hugged her, just plain relieved to feel her breathing strongly and listening to her weakly ask for an explanation.
Pidge being the next one, two days after Allura, came as a bit of a surprise. Green was the smallest lion, and Pidge was often hardest hit and slowest to recover.
Still, her family wasn't about to complain. Matt had returned the previous day, and was there with his parents and the dog when Pidge finally pried her eyes open. She was weak, but her sarcasm was already going full strength and Matt actually had to hold her down when she insisted on checking on Green.
And Lance… Lance wasn't waking up.
Veronica sat at Lance's bedside, holding her brother's hand. Behind her, she could hear the joyful news that Hunk was already sitting up and talking, four days after he first woke up.
Besides Lance, she was alone. She had insisted the rest of the family go back to their Garrison quarters. Sitting in the silent room alone was depressing, but not nearly as bad as seeing her mother's desperate eyes or her father's clenched fists.
Footsteps made her turn, and she saw Shiro enter the room. His eyes went to Lance, then he took a seat beside Veronica.
"Any change?" Shiro asked.
Veronica shook her head. "He's just… laying there. Sometimes I am sure his heart stops, then it goes again."
Shiro put his mechanical hand on Veronica's shoulder. "Your brother is a fighter. He'll be fine."
Veronica looked at her and Lance's linked hands. "He was so badly injured when we were going after the Zaiforge canon."
Shiro's hand tightened on her shoulder. "What?"
"Didn't you know?" Veronica frowned at Shiro. "When the other four paladins summoned their lions, Lance and I were attacked. We were nearly killed, and would have died if the Red Lion hadn't arrived."
"I knew something had happened, but he dropped you off without mentioning... " Shiro closed his eyes, then opened them. "That is probably why he is taking so much longer to wake up."
Veronica's gaze turned to Lance's pale face. "Perhaps…"
A week after he woke up, Keith was on his feet and walking the Garrison with Krolia's help. Hunk was already moving freely on his own, and Allura was close behind. Pidge couldn't stand for long periods of time, but after being carried to Green by Matt, she felt stronger.
The four paladins met together with Shiro, Coran, Matt, Sam, and Colleen two weeks and one day after waking up for the first time. Pidge and Allura had to remain seated, but it didn't dim their excitement to see each other out and about.
They chatted about the battle, but mostly about the rebuilding that had been going on outside of their windows and all across the world. Everyone's family had been found safe, and were staying at the Garrison until the paladins had fully recovered.
Allura was the first to notice Lance's absence.
"Where is Lance?" Allura abruptly asked Shiro.
Shiro and Coran glanced at each other. Hunk's comment about Lance probably just being with his family died on his lips when he saw their expressions.
"What happened to Lance?" Keith asked firmly.
"Is he here?" Hunk asked, realizing with horror that he hadn't seen his best friend since the battle.
"He's here," said a voice from the doorway. Everyone turned to see Veronica. "He's just… not waking up."
Allura pushed herself to her feet. "What do you mean?"
Veronica waved for them to follow. She slowly led them to Lance's room, where Lance's parents and cousins had gathered around the bed. The family looked up, then wordlessly moved outside the room.
Issues with Lance's breathing had prompted the hospital staff to keep an oxygen mask over Lance's mouth. He had IV's in his arms to provide hydration and nutrients, but he was still so much thinner than normal. He was pale, and laying too still for such an energetic boy.
Allura quickly knelt at Lance's side and took his hand. It was cool, with only a trace of warmth.
"How long has he been like this?" Allura asked as tears flooded her eyes.
"Since the battle," Veronica said. "I almost couldn't find a pulse at first, and his heart has stopped twice since."
"His quintessence isn't replenishing as it should," Coran said, picking up a holo-pad from the bedside table.
Pidge, who was supported on either side by Matt and Sam, took the holo-pad. It showed an outline of Lance's body. The white light symbolizing quintessence was a dull glow in the center of his chest.
"Shouldn't his body have replenished enough by now?" Hunk asked.
"Everything his body creates goes straight to healing his body. Lance took quite a beating, he needs more quintessence than his body can create," Coran said.
"What about Red?" Keith asked.
Coran shrugged helplessly. "The Red Lion has recovered as well as the other lions. Perhaps Lance's injuries are so bad that even with the Red Lion's assistance, his quintessence isn't replenishing as it should."
"But it is replenishing, right? Just more slowly than it did for us?" Hunk asked. "Lance will be fine, it will just be a bit longer, right?"
The silence following Hunk's desperate question was broken when Pidge gave a choked sob, slipping from her family's grasp to fall to the floor.
"Pidge!" Matt cried.
Matt and Sam crouched, but Pidge lifted the holo-pad to show it's data was cause of her collapse.
"This has been tracking Lance's quintessence since the battle. It hasn't been building, not even slowly. It's dissipating," Pidge said.
Allura turned to her. "You can't mean…"
Veronica spoke up through welling tears. "Lance is dying."
