Chapter 1

"All right Pidge, go in, I've got you covered. No one's noticed you yet, so try to keep it that way." Lance said from behind her, voice teasing.

As if the universe wanted to prove Lance wrong, alarms sounded through the whole ship, a shrill noise repeating over and over. Pidge looked over to the blue paladin and smirked. "Spoke a little too soon, huh?"

Suddenly Galra soldiers were entering from every door, flooding the room. Lance and Pidge both immediately took defence positions, arms at the ready.

"They knew we were coming." Lance said darkly, shooting his bayard at the nearest soldiers.

Pidge rolled her eyes. "Well it's really not surprising. They took Keith. They know that we would come to get him." She dodged a shot aimed at her, throwing her electric bayard at the Galra in return. "The whole thing was probably a trap to begin with. Kidnap the Red Paladin, other Paladins come to rescue him with the lions, they take lions, no more defender of the universe. But we knew that coming in, and decided it was worth the risk." She launched her bayard again and swung left, electricating five Galra in one shot.

Lance sighed. "I know. Okay, I'm going to give you an opening. Keith's in there, go get him."

Pidge nodded, filled with determination. Lance was right, Keith was in there, and nothing was going to stop her from getting him back. Pidge deflected a shot aimed at her, kicked open the door, and slammed it behind her, trusting in Lance to keep the Galra from coming after her. She would never admit it, but Lance was actually a really good sharpshooter.

And finally, finally, they were going to rescue their friend and get out of here. All she needed to do was grab Keith and they were home free.

Yet as she turned around, nothing could have prepared her for what she saw next.

"Keith!"

Pidge ran and kneeled next to him, where he was chained against a far wall. He was covered, literally covered in blood. He hadn't even seemed to register she was here. What did they do to him?

"Keith, it's okay, it's me, I'm going to get you out of here. Lance!" she called over the comms, "Lance, I've found Keith. He's in really bad shape. How much time do I have?"

"Only a few doboshes, there's too many of them Pidge, get Keith and get out of there!" Lance's usually teasing voice was serious, and quiznack they were running out of time.

"Okay Keith, come on, I'm going to unchain you okay?" She reached up, touching his hands to figure out how to possibly get the chains off of her friend, but suddenly Keith flinched, hard, eyes flying open and he whimpered. Pidge drew her hand back in surprise, she had thought he was unconscious this whole time, but if he was awake, how did he not hear or see her?

That could only mean…

Pidge looked at Keith's eyes, wide and frantic and afraid, but there was something else about them. They were unfocused and pale and there were scars around them, little cuts that went across his eyes, and she realized he couldn't see. They had taken away his sight, and they had done it slowly and painfully.

"Keith, Keith it's me, it's Pidge. It's okay, please, its me."

Keith whimpered again, the sound making Pidge want to scream and cry because Keith should not be making that sound, not him.

"Keith, I promise it's me, please, It's me." She cried. Then a thought hit her, and she begged it not to be what she thought it was. "Keith," please, no. "Keith, can you hear me?"

The silence scared her more than anything.

Don't jump to conclusions, Pidge, you have to have proof.

Taking a deep breath, she screamed. She screamed as loud as she could, hoping for any sort of reaction.

And there was none.

"Lance," she said shakily, wondering how her face got so wet, "Lance this really isn't good."

"Pidge, I'm really busy right now, if you could please hurry so we can get out of here." She could hear gunshots through the comms, and knew she had to get moving, but for the first time in her life she had no idea what to do.

"Lance, they.. He, he can't see or hear anything. Lance, I don't know what to do."

There was silence over the comms and for a second she'd thought Lance was gone and the thought scared her more than she'd ever be willing to admit.

"Pidge," At the sound of his voice she let out a sigh of relief. "You always know what to do. If anyone can figure this out, it you."

Pidge tried to calm down. She just had to breath, and think. Clear her head. "Okay," she breathed. "Okay, I can do this."

She could literally hear Lance's smirk from across the comms. "That's the Pidge I know. Now hurry. I can't hold this for much longer."

Okay, here goes nothing. She pulled her bayerd, hoping that this would work. With enough force, it should. She stood up, raising it over her head, and slammed it through the chains that attached to the wall.

The chains pulled away from the wall, and while the cuffs were still on his wrists, they were no longer attached to the wall, and his arms fell to the floor.

Keith's face scrunched up in confusion, but when Pidge reached down to grab his hands, he panicked again. Pidge grabbed his hands, and even though Keith fought against it, she refused to let go.

Then, she took a deep breath, and lifted Keith's hand to her face. More specifically, her glasses and hair. When Keith felt the glasses, he stopped fighting. He felt her glasses, then all around her face, then spoke.

"Pidge?"

His voice was so quiet and hoarse that she almost couldn't hear him. She pressed his hands more against his face and nodded, and Keith's face crumpled in relief.

Pidge let go of Keith's hands and stood up because now that Keith knew it was her they had to get out of there, but as soon as she did Keith seemed to panic again and reached out his hands.

"Pidge!" He shouted, hands searching for her, voice filled with desperation. She immediately grabbed one of his hands, and he grabbed that hand with both of them. She pulled to try to communicate he needed to get up, and he seemed to understand.

She helped him up and they walked slowly to the door, she half carrying him. Pidge had no idea how many injuries he had, or how bad they were. They didn't have the time, they needed to get out of there. Yet it hurt her so badly every time he whimpered in pain. But there was nothing she could do. So, she opened the door and together they walked out.

And then chaos ensued.

Lance's heart stopped when Pidge said what had happened to Keith. The Galra had been cruel enough to take away two of Keith's senses. He must have been terrified.

Lance would never forgive himself for letting Keith get taken. It was his fault. He was there, he should've been able to stop it. But he was just Lance, stupid Lance who couldn't ever do anything right. But they had been too fast, and that witch shut down the Castle of Lions, they couldn't even warp after them. It took weeks to find where the Galra were. And even then, Lance was sure it was a trap. That's why they had been able to find Keith at all. The Galra were setting a trap for them to get the Lions.

So they made a plan. Two of them go in so that they would be more likely to not be seen, and have one Lion hidden by Pidge's awesome tech for backup. The others would stay half a solar system away, ready to warp them back at any given moment.

Now, though, Lance couldn't even back Pidge up. There were too many Galra, he couldn't take them all. He was trying to fend all of them off, shooting every Galra that came close to him or to the room that had Keith and Pidge, silently thanking Altean technology for not needing to reload. But they weren't going to be able to make it out of there, and it would all be his fault again.

No, he thought. Save Keith first, self-hate later. Now think.

"Hunk!" he yelled through the comms. "Hunk, buddy, come in!"

"Lance?" Hunk replied, "What's wrong? Do you need back up?"

Lance smiled at the sound of his friends voice. "Yeah, man, they knew we were coming. Pidge found Keith but he's in bad shape. There are too many of them."

"What do you need me to do?"

Lance smirked as he shot down another Galra soldier. "Buddy, your going to think I'm crazy."

"You want me to what?!" Hunk yelled, eyes widening in shock. "Man, I thought you were crazy before, but now…"

"I know, I know," Lance said, "But man, you gotta trust me. It's the only plan I've got."

Hunk sighed. "Okay, I'll do it, just tell me when. But Lance, this could kill you guys."

He was worried. Really worried. He knew Lance was a good strategist, but frankly, this plan seemed more like something Keith would do. Lance must either be crazy, or a genius. Or a crazy genius.

"I'm sure about this. We'll be fine, I promise. Just do it when I give the word, Pidge and Keith will be here any minute."

Hunk sighed again. He was not emotionally prepared to do this. But he trusted Lance, trusted him with his life, and if Lance said this would work, it would.

It was only 30 ticks later when Lance shouted. "Hunk! Now!"

And Hunk closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and used his Lion to shoot directly at the Galra ship his friends were on, praying he didn't just kill them all.

Silence and darkness. That was all Keith could feel.

It was a strange sensation, the only thing connecting him to the world around him was touch. And even that was limited, he couldn't move at all. Even if his arm's weren't chained to the wall, he'd be too exhausted by the sheer amount of pain he would feel at any movement.

The Galra had taken his sight the first week he had been here. Or at least, that's how long he thought it was. They hadn't even asked any questions, they were sure that the other paladins would come to rescue him. They just tortured him for fun.

Still, every day the paladins- his friends- didn't come, he was relieved. If they came, all of them would be captured, the Lions taken, and the universe defenseless. He wasn't worth all that, and he didn't think he could watch- well, be aware- of his friends being tortured like he was. He just couldn't.

A week later, they took his hearing.

He isn't quite sure how, with his eyes they just cut across them. Slowly, and many more times than necessary. He remembered screaming as he cried tears of blood, the last thing he saw was red. But with the hearing, they only put something in his ear, like some sort of gel, and suddenly he didn't hear or see anything.

And now, he just wanted to get out of there. The next week was filled with not knowing anything except the pain. He didn't see when the Galra would come in, and he didn't know if he screamed or not.

Eventually, they got bored. One day, they just stopped coming. In a way, that was worse than everything else. He was alone, painfully and truly alone. He woke up to darkness and silence, and he just wanted it to end.

He desperately wished the paladins would come for him now. He wished he didn't, he knew he shouldn't because it was a trap and he knew that, but as the hours turned to days of being utterly alone with nothing to feel or see or hear, he could feel himself going insane.

And then today, something changed. He sat like he did every day, eyes closed because what's the point in even opening them, and suddenly he felt a hand touch his. He panicked, because even though he wasn't completely alone anymore, he knew that only pain would meet him. He could feel his eyes moving but he couldn't see anything.

But then pain didn't come.

He felt his hands suddenly drop to the ground, but that could only mean he wasn't chained to the wall anymore. Then whoever was there touched his hands and Keith tried to fight them but it just hurt to much, and they lifted his hands and he felt-

-Glass? And hair? That didn't make any sense. Was he touching someone's face? But who's?

He felt around the face with new hope surging inside him because even though he couldn't see, he knew that face.

"Pidge?" he thought he said. He could feel his voice, he just didn't know what it sounded like. Then they pressed his hands against their face and nodded.

Pidge had come, they had all come for him. They had made it here without being caught. He was getting out of here.

He felt like crying with relief and happiness.

But then Pidge moved away and he panicked again. He knew it was irrational to think she had left or that he had imagined the whole thing, but he couldn't feel alone again. Anything but that.

He felt Pidge's hand again and Keith gripped it with both of his. Pidge tugged, gently, and Keith knew it was time to get out of here.

Soon, he would be free.

Pidge activated her bayard, ready for anything that could come at her.

Or, so she thought. She held Keith close to her as she swung her bayard, electricating anything that came in her path. But meer ticks after she and Keith left that horrible cell, the whole room shook. Hard.

She looked at Lance, who was making that smirk he makes whenever he has a horrible plan he thinks isn't horrible. Ah. Hunk.

She recovered quickly, and Lance was prepared for the impact of the Lions shot. Keith, however, was looking around frantically. She reached up with squeezed his hand, trying to communicate that everything was fine. Well, sort of fine, anyway.

The Galra didn't recover as fast as they did. Most of them lost balance or concentration because of all the chaos around them, making it easier for Pidge and Lance to attack.

Lance ran over to them as Hunk shot the ship again, the impact making Pidge momentarily lose her balance, but she still held tightly to Keith.

"Lance!" She shouted above the noise, "Are you crazy?"

Lance grinned back at her as he shot a Galra soldier near him. "Yup!"

Pidge rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. What's the plan?"

Even though having Hunk shoot at the ship was crazy and idiotic, it was actually pretty smart. It distracted the Galra enough for them to regroup and figure out what to do next.

"Well, basically, it's to fight our way to that wall over there," he pointed to the wall facing Pidge's Left, "And then Hunk will break through said wall with Yellow, giving us a way out. I know it's crazy and not well thought out but-"

"It's the only plan we've got." Pidge finished and Lance nodded. "Alright, I think this will work. It's hard to use my bayard and carry Keith, and you have more distance with the gun, so you cover me, okay?

Lance nodded and they started making their way toward the wall.

There weren't as many Galra as there were when they first came, but they were still quite a few and they were now all recovered from the impact of the shot. Pidge deactivated her bayard and put all her energy into carrying Keith, who was getting seemingly heavier by the minute. He wasn't able to walk as well, clearly exhausted, but was still trying his hardest to carry his own weight. Pidge rolled her eyes. Even after two and a half weeks of torture, he was still Keith.

Lance shot anyone who came close to them, and Pidge was reminded yet again that he was a really good shot. She smiled to herself and concentrated again on walking to the wall.

"Hunk!" she shouted through the comms, "We're ready for you. Come through the wall your facing, were on the bottom deck. Hurry!"

"Pidge? Thank goodness you're alright. Are you all okay?"

"Yes! Just get here quickly or we won't be!" she shouted.

"Okay, Okay, I'm coming now! I'll be there in two ticks. Prepare for impact!"

She and Lance finally reached the wall, Keith now too exhausted and leaning fully on Pidge. There were still so many soldiers, and if Hunk didn't-

Suddenly, the whole ship shook again, only this time it was much harder. And ah, what a beautiful sight indeed. The Yellow Lion of Voltron's had crashed through the wall and it's head was now directly in front on her. Yellow's mouth opened, revealing the entrance to the cockpit. Finally, they were going to get out of there.

Lance glanced over at him and grinned. "It worked. We're getting out of here. We're safe." Pidge grinned back at him.

Then suddenly, something hit her back. Something hot and painful and she suddenly couldn't feel anything but the pain. ...What?

Then she realized that maybe Lance spoke too soon again. There were still several Galra outside, it was lucky enough this hadn't happened sooner.

She got shot. By a stupid laser gun because she wasn't paying attention enough to notice. Seconds felt like hours as her vision swarmed and she could feel herself falling over. She vaguely heard Lance calling her name before everything went black.

Keith had no idea what was going on.

He hated depending on people, always had. Every time he trusted someone, they failed him. His mom left him as a baby, his Father died when he was 7. His only friend was abducted by aliens. But right now, he had to depend on Pidge. He was blind, deaf, and seriously injured. He could barely walk and Pidge was taking most of his weight. Currently, he was really out of his comfort zone.

But, as he could feel everything shaking around him for the second time in five minutes, he figured he'd have to deal.

He still tried to take as much of his own weight as he could, but was quickly exhausted and was basically carried by Pidge. She was surprisingly strong for her size and age. Or maybe she was just determined enough.

Suddenly there everything started shaking again, this time even more than before, but Pidge held her ground.

And then Keith felt heat. He's not sure what it was or where it came from, all he knew was that not even a full tick later, Pidge was falling. And he was falling with her.

"Pidge?" he said, not sure if he screamed or whispered the name. "Pidge?" he fell partially on top of her, and he moved to get off, wincing at the pain that shot through him. He felt around for her hands or her face, but someone grabbed his hands, and it was definitely not Pidge.

He fought against them, and he could feel his own voice vibrating through him, but the hands were firm and steady. A few seconds later Keith realized the owner of the hands wasn't attacking or hurting him. One of the other paladins, Keith was mostly sure now, but he couldn't tell which one. So he tentatively lifted his hand to look for the persons face. It took whoever it was a few seconds to realize what he was doing, but when they did, he put Keith's hands to his face.

He felt a long face and a sharply curved nose, Lance, he realized quickly. He must've said his name out loud too, because Lance's face nodded.

"Is Pidge okay?" He said, again feeling the sense of vibration in his throat. He never noticed that before, the vibration. It's really awkward talking without hearing his voice, and very unnerving. Keith kind of hated it.

Lance seemed to have hesitated, and a spike of fear went through him. The fear turned to panic as Lance's head shook no. Keith's hands flew out of Lance's and reached to where he thought Pidge was. He barely noticed the vibration though his throat as his hands reached wildly around but couldn't find her.

He felt Lance grab his hand again, but this time only one of them. He gently moved Keith's arm, and soon he felt Pidge's familiar hand. Wait, not her hand, her wrist. Lance was helping Keith find her Pulse.

He could feel a steady beat. Slow, but steady. Pidge was only unconscious.

He breathed a sigh of relief, and then he could feel movement again, but it wasn't harsh shaking like before, it was smooth and.. Familiar.

Keith would recognize this movement anywhere.

"Lion?" he said simply and probably really quietly. "Safe?"

Lance grabbed his hand and moved it to his head again, then nodded. Keith sighed in relief, this time laying down. He didn't particularly care where he layed, he just did. "Tired." he said, feeling his eyes close. "Sleep."

He felt no sign of protest, and he let himself relax. He was safe now. He didn't know what was coming next or how he would deal with the newfound blindness and deafness, but right now, he just slept peacefully for the first time in weeks.

He said one more thing before he drifted off into unconsciousness, though.

"Thank you."

Lance only left himself relax as he felt Yellow take off. He had made sure both Keith and Pidge were stable and as comfortable as he could make them. They would be back to the Castle of Lions in only a few doboshes, but Keith had so many injuries and Pidge had literally been shot in the back.

Hunk had contacted Allura and Coran, telling them to prepare two healing pods for the two injured paladins, and by the time the Yellow Lion had warped back to the Castle it would be ready for them.

Now though, Lance sat down by his two unconscious friends, feeling the guilt run through him. This was all his fault. He should have been able to stop Keith from being taken, he should have been able to find Keith before they took away his sight and hearing, he should have noticed the Galra soldier aim at Pidge. He should have-

"Hey, Lance." Hunk walked into his line of sight. "Is Pidge okay? Will she-"

"-Yeah," Lance replied before Hunk could finish, "She's unconscious, but stable. She'll be fine after a few hours in the healing pod."

Hunk nodded in understanding. "What about Keith? He doesn't look so good, shouldn't we try to keep him awake?" he asked, worry lining his voice.

Lance mentally face palmed, he'd been too preoccupied to even think of that. Just Lance being stupid again. "I don't know, man. He looked so exhausted, and I didn't even think that-"

Hunk shook his head. "He wasn't bleeding when we got him, right? He has a lot of bad injuries, but he's not bleeding out or anything, I think he'll be fine until we make it to the Castle."

Lance nodded and laid his head back against the wall he was leaning against. He was so tired, he just wanted to sleep, but he knew he had to stay awake until Pidge and Keith were safe in the healing pods.

Only a few more minutes until this whole thing was finally over, probably less than that. Only a few minutes and they could all just forget this whole experience.

He didn't realize, though, that this might just be only the beginning.

A/N

I'm probably an idiot for posting this before I finished writing the whole story, but I got too excited so leave me alone. So far, its at least 10 chapters long, but it will probably be longer than that. Constructive criticism welcome bc I know I suck. Otherwise, this is my first Voltron fic so I hope you enjoy.