ruins
chapter one

Lance stirred.

The first thing he noticed was how cold it was. He curled in on himself, tucking his knees to his chest.

It was pain that woke him fully. Lance shot up with a gasp. A burning fire raced up his side, raging at his body, and Lance had to reel in his panic and confusion slowly, telling himself everything was okay.

He took a deep breath followed by another before he uncurled his body slowly. He found the left side of his armor covered in caked blood; Lance peeled it away slowly, an involuntary keen passing his lips as the pain flared.

Lance let himself take a small break, leaning back in the pilot's seat as he tossed the pieces of his armor to the floor. His side looked like it was still bleeding sluggishly, and he picked at the torn flight suit still clinging to his skin.

"Okay," he muttered, but panic made breathing difficult and his thoughts unclear. "Okay. Okay. It's okay."

His voice echoed strangely in his ears. Lance let his hands hover, not sure what to do first.

He had no idea how long it'd been since the battle, nor did he know what had happened to the others. Lance tried to contact them now, turning the volume on his comms up and clearing this throat.

"Hello?" Silence stared back at him. "Hello? Anyone…?"

Faint static was his response. Lance groaned, wrestling with hopelessness as he tugged his helmet off and let it join the rest of his armor on the floor.

He looked around at the darkness in the cabin and knew without trying that Blue wouldn't respond.

Lance tried anyway. "Blue?"

He held his breath, listening, but there was nothing.

"Blue…"

He staggered to his feet, hissing when his side began to throb. Lance remembered he'd hurt his knee, too, and caught himself against the wall before he could pitch over.

Lance wanted to cry. He shuffled forward a few steps, relying on the dim light from outside and what little he got from his armor to see. It didn't take long to reach the back wall of the cockpit. Lance felt around for the notch in the wall and pressed it. A light lit up as the drawer pushed outwards, and Lance took the med kit out, relieved.

He sunk to the floor, angling himself so he could see his side. It wasn't pretty. Lance made a face at it before pulling out a small tube of healing cream; he smeared a bit on his fingers and sniffed it. Didn't seem like it'd expired, though the medicine was ten thousand years old.

It didn't matter. It was what Lance had, so he squeezed some out and spread it over his side and then his knee. The relief was immediate, a cool tingling calming the pain and tugging it under control.

His healing skills were far from perfect, as much as Elolith had tried to teach him. Still, Lance managed to bandage his wounds—enough so he wouldn't bleed out, which he counted as a win.

Lance found his helmet on the ground and lifted it up.

"Hello?"

It wasn't any use. There was no one. Lance shivered and rubbed his hands over his eyes, pretending there weren't tears in them.

"Shiro…?" His voice was small to his own ears. "Allura? Coran? Is anyone there? Hunk, Pidge—"

A crackling sound filled the stale air, and Lance's heart pounded in his chest at the sudden noise.

"Hello?"

"Cr—z—any—z."

Lance did cry then, pressing a hand to his mouth to muffle the sound. He wasn't alone.

"Can you hear me?" he said loudly. "It's Lance. Can you hear me?"

Crackle, crackle. "—hnn—Lance?"

He laughed. "Hunk!"

There was more static, but suddenly Hunk's voice was clearer.

"Lance! Thank God you're here, buddy. I thought I was all alone in this giant freezing ocean, and Yellow's got a bit of power but she's kinda down—of course she is, we just fought a battle against Zarkon—wait, holy crap, we just fought Zarkon…"

Lance stopped listening. "An… ocean?"

"…and the others, I wonder— yeah, man. Have you looked out the window?"

"Um," Lance said. "Not really. I've been… busy."

"We're on some kind of ocean planet," Hunk explained. "There was a lot of ice on the surface, though we just kind of broke straight through. No idea if there's any life here."

Lance walked slowly to the dashboard, pressing his hands to the cold glass and staring out into deep blue. Shifting light showed different hues of water.

"Oh," Lance said.

"You okay over there, dude? You sound… weird."

"Yeah," Lance whispered back. "No, I'm okay."

"Is Blue up? I'm running on reserve power. Crash messed with the main engines."

Lance silently called for Blue again. He let loose a long sigh when nothing happened.

He didn't remember crashing, only remembered falling, wondering if his last moments were going to be spent alone—no Lion, no team, just him.

"No," he said softly. "Blue's, um, out."

Hunk swore over the comms. "Uh, I don't know if I can track you right now. I don't have anything I need…"

Lance's blood began to sing. There was an itch under his skin that only got worse with every passing second.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "We'll find each other. Blue will wake up soon—in the meantime, I'm gonna go exploring. Keep your comms on, yeah?"

"Lance, I don't like that tone."

Lance pressed his hand to the button that would release Blue's jaw. It creaked open, and water spilled in. He dove out and watched her shut behind him automatically.

Then Lance shifted. Scales crept down his torso; he didn't have to look to know his legs were fusing together. It took only a handful of seconds before he was in his myr form and twisting in the water, testing his body.

It came to him naturally, like breathing. Lance turned to face Blue and found her slightly tilted as she sunk.

"Lance…?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I see something."

A chill crept up his spine. He spun in a slow circle, searching. "What?"

"I don't know. Some kind of fish, maybe—woah!"

"Hunk?" Panic gripped him. "Hunk, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I just don't know what it is… Definitely too big to be a fish."

"Shark? Sharks are cute."

"Sharks? Cute? You're kidding."

"Oh, come on. Have you ever swum with a shark? They're adorable."

"And deadly."

Lance shrugged as if Hunk could see him. "I guess."

Still, Lance tightened his fingers around his bayard, the only other piece of his armor besides his helmet he'd bothered to take with him. It glowed softly as it turned into a trident—a gun had no place here.

"This isn't real."

"What?"

"No. Nope. Not real. You kidding me? I think I might've hit my head."

Lance squinted through the dark. "What?"

"I think I see a mermaid."

Lance tried to process this for a moment before he burst into laughter. He couldn't help it, pure joy rising in him and bubbling to the surface.

"Hunk, I—" Lance wheezed.

"I swear!"

"I believe you, Hunk," Lance said between gasps. "It's just—I'm literally a mermaid, dude."

Silence. Lance wondered briefly what Hunk's face looked like and promptly burst into laughter again.

"Are you messing with me?"

"No," Lance said. Then he sobered. "I think you should follow them, Hunk."

"What about you?"

Lance looked around. There wasn't much in sight, just sealife. Brilliantly-colored plants drifted in the water; a couple of fish swum lazily by, and Lance ran his fingers along the side of one, scales smooth to his skin. It darted away, nothing more than a glimmer of silver in the distance.

"I'll be fine," Lance said slowly. His side pulsed. "Probably. Just keep me updated."

"There it was again," Hunk reported. "Yeah, I'm, like, eighty-percent sure that was a mermaid. Oh, man, holy crap, that's a mermaid, my life is a lie—"

"Hunk," Lance interrupted. "Dude, where have you been for the past who knows how long? Mermaids should be, like, the least surprising thing ever."

"Lance. They're mermaids."

"Got that the first time. Seriously, though, Hunk. Whoever's out there… I think they can help."

"Roger that. You sticking with Blue?"

Lance cast a glance back at his Lion, frowning when she still remained unresponsive.

"Yeah, I think I'll stay here until she comes back online. I'll track you once she does."

They lapsed into silence. Lance swum in tight, impatient circles.

It felt good to be back in the water again, even if it was after being tossed through a wormhole and stranded with no Lion. Even injured, Lance felt better underwater, the itch under his skin satisfied.

He'd never seen what had happened to Aestus.

Lance hated wondering, hated thinking about Zarkon setting his eyes on his home and taking it. He thought of the day they'd met—Zarkon had led Voltron to help them, but long after that, he'd led an empire against them.

Without thinking, he touched the shell on his neck and murmured a quick prayer.

This wasn't Aestus. Couldn't be, not after ten thousand years, but it felt a bit like his home planet.

"There!" came a distant, warbled shout.

On instinct, Lance turned his trident so he could fight if needed. His wounds, though treated, would slow him down, but that didn't mean he couldn't skewer something.

Three figures swam into view, dark shapes that manifested from the shadows.

"Who are you?" Lance called. There was no way of knowing if the people approaching him were friends or foes, but Lance's luck wasn't exactly the best.

Out here, Lance had more enemies than he had allies.

"We could ask you the same thing," one of the strangers called. "We saw two mercats crash through the surface and sink. One landed too close to the castle, but yours was further out."

The castle. Lance filed the information away—that was where Hunk was, probably chilling with some queen by now. Didn't seem too bad.

"So… why not go meet the Yellow Lion?" he asked, not loosening his grip on his trident. "Why come find me if I'm further out? And why are you wearing… uh, jellyfish?"

"Good questions that'll be answered in time. I'm Plaxum, by the way."

Lance eyed the offered hand warily. They didn't seem like they meant any harm—and, well, if Lance wanted to get back together with Hunk and the team, then he'd have to take the chance.

He lowered his trident and took Plaxum's hand.

"Talin," he said.

The myr behind her cocked his head. "An interesting name."

Lance laughed, the sound a bit hollow. "I guess it is."

He hadn't used it in a long time, hadn't heard it since—no, but Sendak had said it, venom on the tip of his tongue. Lance shuddered.

Plaxum gave him a weird look. "Are you alright?"

"Fine."

"The jellyfish are for protection," Plaxum said. "Come with me. We need your help—and you need ours, but it's too dangerous out here. Too many people listening."

Lance opened his mouth to say that there was no one around, but he remembered that there were always eyes and ears where they weren't invited.

He cast another glance back at Blue and sighed.

Blue, he prompted. He didn't know if she could hear him, but… Be safe.

There was no shield to keep others out, no power to defend. But the myr needed him, and Hunk needed him, so Lance turned away with a heavy heart.

"Lead the way."

"I'm Blumfump," the other myr introduced as they swam. He pointed to the guard in the distance, a sharp blade in his hand as he swam after them. "And that's Swirn."

"Uh," Lance said. "Cool names, I guess."

"Ah, here we are," Blumfump said. Plaxum had already gone ahead, disappearing into a set of caves. He could see distant light in them and Plaxum's figure moving steadily in.

Lance weighed his options. He didn't know if it was a good idea, going into a situation where he knew nothing about his surroundings or the others he had with him.

But he was hurt, and Blue was gone. One against three didn't sound like a good idea, either—and Lance was tired of not being able to trust.

"So… what's the deal? Why ask me for help?"

Plaxum clasped her hands before her. "We think you are our savior."

Oh. That… complicated things.

"Savior," he repeated. "I mean, I'm down, but what am I saving again?"

Swirn entered the cave, speaking up. "The coast is clear. None of the queen's, ah, helpers in sight."

"Good."

"The queen?"

Swirn scoffed. "Queen Luxia of the colony. Presides over all the other myr here—"

"By mind-swishing them!"

Lance rubbed at his eyes. He hadn't even been awake for a varga.

"And… you lost me. What the quiznak's mind-swishing?"

"She controls their thoughts," Plaxum said flatly.

Oh. That wasn't good at all.

"Could've just said so," Lance grumbled. "Mind-swishing."

Unease stirred in his gut. If Hunk had followed a myr back to the colony, that meant he was with Queen Luxia. And by the sounds of it, that meant he was in big danger.

"Our theory is," Blumfump began, holding up a poorly-drawn picture of who he assumed was Queen Luxia, "the queen controls minds by using her voice to strike certain head switches in your ear pan."

He held up the next picture. Plaxum continued. "And her magnetic stare locks onto your eye-to-brain pathway plug!"

"Plus her mind-control sonar is always broadcasting through the waters. Bong! Bong! Bong!"

Lance held still for a moment.

"I may not be great at science," he said, "but that doesn't sound, uh… well, very science-y."

"It is only a theory," Plaxum said.

"The entire colony is under her control," Blumfump said. "The only reason we aren't is because of these jellyfish, see. They block her powers and hide our minds. You can't control what doesn't exist."

Lance pursed his lips. "Why control them at all?"

"To kill them."

His blood ran cold. "What?"

"Well," Blumfump said. We don't know for sure, but hundreds of mermaids disappear, and they never come back. There's nowhere else to go—we used to be able to go above water, but she blocked over the thermal vents and froze over the surface."

"We've tried to take her out, but…" Swirn looked away. Lance didn't need to hear the rest of the sentence to know what had happened. Anger and sadness pulsed through him. He knew how it felt.

"There's only three of us now. Four, including you."

"We believe you can stop her."

Not only for Hunk, but all the other myr under the queen—he had to help.

Lance took a deep breath.

"Where do we start?"

The plan was simple, mostly because it wasn't much of a plan at all. Retrieve Hunk, and get the Lions back online. That was it.

Then they'd regroup at the caves and begin planning their next moves. With the two of them and their Lions, they'd be able to stand a chance against the queen's forces.

"We know a way in," Plaxum said. "Hopefully, your friend will be asleep by then. We'll grab him while you get the mer-cat—"

"No," Lance interrupted. "I want to be there with Hunk."

Swirn exchanged a look with Plaxum. "Fine."

Lance huffed a sigh of relief.

"We'll need to prepare you," said Blumfump. He plucked a nearby jellyfish from where it was swimming and held it up. "Looks like a good fit."

Lance groaned. "Is this, uh, necessary?"

"It keeps you from her control. You will need it."

He closed his eyes. "Get it over with."

A jellyfish to the face felt exactly like Lance expected. It stung a bit; Lance felt his skin swell and moaned. He'd have to treat that, maybe add a couple products to his routine if he wanted his face to be fine after this.

"And your wound?"

Lance blinked, glancing down at his side where the Altean-made bandages had stretched and adjusted to his shift. The healing cream would help, and it'd keep the pain at bay for a while.

"It's fine," he said. "Don't worry about it."

"If that's all, we have to go. We won't have much time."

They snuck through the caves and connecting tunnels. The rock was cool, spotted with shells, and Lance ran his hand over the rough surface as they swam through. The structure ran up over his head, and Lance was reminded of the caves he'd lived in when he was young. It was almost like he was home.

"Here," Swirn said.

They'd emerged from the caves and straight in the heart of the colony. Lance had to admit it was beautiful, with arching structures that were brilliant colors. In the front was a garden he'd never seen before, bright-colored fish weaving in between tall fronds of grasses.

"This way," Blumfump hissed.

They headed towards a portion of the main castle, but not before Lance caught sight of Yellow, her shield up as she rested in the courtyard.

There wasn't really a way into the castle without being caught. Lance spotted patrol after patrol swarming the place.

"Oh, don't worry," Swirn said when he saw Lance's concerned look. "We've got it."

We've got it apparently translated into busting a hole into the wall of the sleeping quarters. Lance slipped through and found Hunk wrapped in a comfortable-looking bed of seagrass, fast asleep.

He darted over to Hunk's side.

"Hunk," he hissed, shaking his shoulder. "Hunk, wake up."

"We don't have much time," Plaxum warned.

"I know," Lance said, keeping his voice low. "Hunk!"

Hunk stirred. He blinked a few times and then bolted up. "Lance!"

He lunged forward, throwing his arms around Lance's shoulders. Lance hugged him back, glad to see he was alright, and then pulled away so he could assess Hunk. He didn't look hurt or anything. Fine for the most part.

"What do you remember?" he murmured.

"Um… we got to the planet, and then I saw a mermaid. And then there was Queen Luxia, and she was so welcoming, and being here is…"

"Safe and warm," three voices droned at the same time.

"Ugh," Swirn said. "Hate that."

Hunk looked confused; Lance patted his arm. "I'll explain on the way. But it's not safe here, Hunk. We've gotta get out."

"Get out…," Hunk said, but his eyes were a little unfocused. "But why leave?"

Outside, Plaxum whistled, a sharp noise that snapped Lance to attention. "We've got visitors. Hurry!"

"Go," Lance hissed, his bayard already in hand. It changed into his trident, the most effective form he could have underwater. "Hunk first. Swirn, Blumfump, help him. I'll bring up the rear and keep anyone else distracted."

It was then that two of the queen's guards burst into the room, wielding their own weapons. They wasted no time, heading straight for him, and Lance backed up. Behind him, he heard the shuffling of the others as they rushed to leave.

He caught the first blade with his trident and threw himself forward, forcing the guard back. Lance rammed his tail into the hilt of the other.

It hurt, but it did the trick, disarming the second soldier.

But the guards were faster than Lance expected. The first one blocked his swing and shoved at Lance's trident. His arms shook as he tried to keep control—but then there was the other guard descending from the other side, and Lance twisted to avoid the blow—

"Hurry, Talin!"

A blow cuffed the back of his head. Lance faltered, the world warping, and that was all they needed.

He caught Plaxum's gaze and mouthed, go.

It was okay. They'd get Hunk out of there, and Hunk was smart and strong. He'd help.

Lance stopped fighting; he knew he'd lost.

"Don't worry," the first guard said, and her face softened. She tossed her blade to the floor and gripped his arm, firm enough so he couldn't escape, but not painful.

The second guard grabbed his other arm, and her eyes were fixated on him.

"Here you will be safe and warm," they said together.