Title: Brother, let me be your fortress

Chapter: 2

Rating: K+

Summary: SongFic for Hunk - Brother, let me be your shelter

Face down in the desert now there's a cage locked around my heart

I found a way to drop the keys where my failures were

Now my hands can't reach that far

I ain't made for a rivalry, I could never take the world alone

I know that in my weakness I am stronger

It's your love that brings me home

Lance - Season 2

"Lance, don't you quit on me. Lance, you need to move. Lance, Keith would have gotten me out by now." Hunk sat in the cage tears streaming down his face yelling at Lance. Yelling at his friend who was bleeding to death right in front of him.

"Hunk. I can't." Lance was moving his hands but that was it. Nothing else was moving. He was four feet from the cage - four feet away with the keys. Four feet from saving both of them. Four feet away and dying, his best friend was going to die right in front of his eyes just out of reach.

"Lance, you can. You can." Hunk sobbed remembering how this had all started how this had all gone so wrong.

"So it's a meet and greet, schmooze and make nicey nice with the friendly aliens?" Lance waved his hand in the air brushing off any concerns. "I got this, totally. Me and Hunk will go down all smiles and waves and awesomeness and we're good."

"Lance, admittedly we do not anticipate any issues, but please take this seriously." Allura frowned at him. "I am not highly comfortable sending you without the lions, but the people of this world live below ground and I am even more uncomfortable leaving the lions unprotected on the surface of the planet while you meet. One of the small shuttles will be able to fit into their hanger, but just barely. Please avoid destroying the entrance to their hanger." Allura's frown turned teasing. This was not the first meeting with the planet. They were invited to a small festival and to pick up a delivery of materials they could use to replenish depleted parts for the castle. A particular ore that Coran said was essential to proper formation of spare parts. They were delivering a new communicator that Pidge had been working on and bringing along a group of refuges from a mining prison camp. The former prisoners were excited to put their skills to use fighting those that had held them captive.

"Ah, Allura, the tailor will not fail you." Lance smiled broadly. Pidge and Hunk groaned and everyone else looked mildly confused.

"We are going to wormhole out to the Galra base that Pidge tracked from the prison information. As you know it seems to be some sort of communications hub. We can't take the prisoners with us on this mission. We are going to go in have a look and if it looks like we need Voltron, we'll wait for you and Allura will open a wormhole to get you to us before we go in." Shiro went over the plan with the team and ignored the poor joke.

"We don't anticipate a lot of resistance, the base is essentially hidden and we wouldn't have been able to find it if we hadn't known where to look. We believe that this is it's primary defense and we should be able to get in and out without any issues." Pidge was anxious to get to the information that could be the key to finding her family.

"But we are playing it safe, we are going to check carefully first." Shiro cautioned. He knew how Pidge felt. He wanted his old crew back too, but he wouldn't risk his new one.

"Be careful guys, we are just a wormhole away." Hunk offered looking squarely at Pidge, trying to reassure her that if the delay was required it wouldn't have to be a long one.

Pidge gave him a smile, she understood.

Lance pulled his eyes up to Hunks. Hunk tried to pour every ounce of strength he had from his body into Lance's through their eyes. Lance managed to move an arm and then a leg, he was dragging himself forward slowly.

"You got this Lance. You got this." Hunk reached as far as he could through the bars. He strained, but he couldn't get any closer.

"Welcome Paladins to the planet of Quarton. The leadership of the planet was waiting at the doors to the hangers. They were dressed in bright yellows and reds. The people of this world were essentially albinos. They had pale white skin and hair. Their eyes were pink and very sensitive to light and weak. They had extremely sensitive hearing and sense of smell. They were humanoid in form, with slightly broader and shorter bodies and heavily muscled arms and legs. There were about twenty people waiting to greet them. Among them the leader of the planet who wore a wooden crown carved from a single piece of wood. To them metal and jewels were common and the wood was the rare material, the clothing of the leadership was made of soft cotton, another rare material in the underground world. The common people tended to wear more silks made from the cocoons of worms they raised. It was more durable than earth silk and they wove it thicker. The colors of their clothing were bright and vibrant adding color to their underground world.

The halls were lit with a phosphorescent plant. Pidge had been excited to take a sample back after their first visit. Hunk and Lance were greeted with hugs and pats on the back. They were a very touchy feely group and Hunk and Lance were the two best suited to their ways. The former prisoners had also been warned to prepare them for as Lance phrased it "the love fest."

Hunk and Lance opened the back of the shuttle and the hodge podge group of aliens from the prison stepped into the hanger. A cheer of greeting raised up from the gathered Quartonians, they were a warm people and were happy to welcome these people into their family. Each miner was presented with a colored scarf in yellow and escorted into the hall where others waited to take them to their new home. There were more cheers as each person was met in the hall.

Lance and Hunk stood back and smiled. They were surrounded by the leadership. They had presented the new communicator amidst a wave of gratitude. There were promises of a huge feast. Hunk told Lance next to the Balmera where Shay lived this was his second favorite planet to visit.

Hunk was never going to want to come here again. It didn't matter who was at fault. He was never going to be on this planet again and not smell blood and not hear the whimpers Lance was making as he crawled. He was never going to set foot in that hanger again and not smell the smoke, not feel the vibration of the explosion, the screams of the people blinded by the stun grenade.

The blast went off about as they were preparing to leave the hanger. It had been somewhere ahead in them in the hall. They were blinded and deafened by the blasts. The Quartonians were screaming in pain. Between their eyes and ears this kind of attack was devastating to them. Hunk was afraid it could have actually permanently damaged or even killed them.

He felt hands pulling him, dragging him. He couldn't find Lance. He couldn't find him anywhere. He was being moved somewhere. When he got there something hard hit him in the head. He was already stunned and the pain left him reeling. He tried to stand again and a second blow sent him into darkness.

Hunk wasn't going to give up. He was going to get Lance and him out of here. He was going to stop this atrocity. He was going to stop this coup. He was going to stop all of it.

Lance was getting closer his eyes kept drifting closed.

"Lance, please, you are the most amazing friend I have ever had. Please, I love you man, don't quit on me. Come on Lance, if anyone can do this it's you. You can do anything. You can do anything." Hunk pushed his arm further out. His shoulder pulling and bruising against the bars.

"Tell me where he is." The Quartonian dressed in dark gray pressed the knife against Hunk's throat. "Where is the other paladin?"

"I don't know. I couldn't see after the bombs went off. I don't know what happened to anyone. I was dragged here and then knocked out. I didn't see anyone. I was trying to find him, but I couldn't see." Hunk's head swung to the side with the punch he saw coming. He didn't know what to do. Lance wasn't here with him. He didn't know where he was. This bozo was trying to take over the planet. Something about traditional values and taking them back to who they were supposed to be., keeping them safe from the outside universe. Hunk thought he was jut a crazy on a power trip, but he had an entire group of crazies helping him.

He was tied to the chair. They kept hitting him. It sucked. They were strong and his head was swimming. One eye was swollen shut and the his lip was busted and bleeding. A commontion in the hall caught the head crazy's attention. Low growls sounded around him from the followers.

"All hail, Lord Movrin, I bring an offering. We have succeeded in our pursuit. Though he was more resistant than we thought. He will not be resistant anymore." A harsh voice yelled from the hall. And Hunk's throat tightened in fear.

"Put him in the cell." Hunk felt himself being lifted and thrown into the cage in the middle of the room. Metal bars and a huge freaking lock between him and the outside world. Every muscle in Hunk's body tensed when they dragged Lance in. He was limp. There was blood, a lot of blood. The words "not resistant anymore" echoed in his head and he nearly passed out forgetting to breath and in a panic until he saw Lance's body shudder with a breath.

They dropped him on the floor. The leader kicked him. Lance was flung over against the wall, groaning in pain.

"Where did you find him?" The leader growled.

"He was in a back hall near the kitchens. No one was with him. We still haven't found the leadership. He attacked us and we had to fight back. He would not answer our questions." The follower was on his knees in front of the leader.

"You." The leader grabbed Lance by his hair. "Tell me where the false leaders of my people have hidden. They must pay for their crimes."

Lance's eyes were closed. There was blood running from his nose. His breath rasped painfully. He gave no indication of hearing him. The leader pulled him up to his feet by his hair and shook him.

"This is a waste of time. Renew the search. I am joining you." The leader dropped Lance and walked out the door. The others followed not even looking back at them.

A few moments later Lance opened his eyes and looked at Hunk smiling. He opened his hands and showed Hunk the key he'd apparently picked off of the leader.

Lance stopped moving about two minutes ago. He didn't react to Hunk's cries. He was barely breathing. Hunk screamed and cried. He slammed his arms against the bars. His fingers were so close to the key, so close to freeing them both. He pushed his arm through the bar again. Pushing further and further and couldn't reach, couldn't reach. He slammed his shoulder as hard as he could into the bar. Something gave, something slipped and he felt like his shoulder was on fire, but it was enough, he also felt the cool metal of the key hooking onto his hand. He used his other arm to pull that one back in. He clamped his mouth shut to hold in the pain.

He got the key into his good hand and unlocked his cage. He pulled himself out and over to Lance. His legs were numb from being on the floor cramped. He got over the Lance and reached out his good hand to check for a pulse. It was there. He felt himself sag in relief.

"Okay, Lance. Okay. We are getting out of here. He sat next to his friend. He was having trouble doing anything one handed. He made himself look at his shoulder. It was the wrong shape. He was dizzy and hurting from the beating, but he knew his shoulder should not look like that. He couldn't feel his arm. He needed his arm. He had seen it done in movies. Most specifically the kind of movies that Lance had made him watch. He just needed a solid surface. He eyed a book shelf on the wall. It was stone. It had a flat side. He pulled himself over. His legs were in agony as the blood flow returned. He knew it was going to feel like nothing in a minute. He took a deep breath and slammed his shoulder into the shelf. He nearly bit his tongue off choking back the scream. He could taste copper and feel blood running out of his mouth. He could also feel his arm tingling back to life. If not perfect it had at least helped.

He hurried back to Lance. There were two stab wounds in his abdomen. He took off his shirt and balled it up to put pressure on the worst one just under his rib cage on the left side. He hadn't even realized he was crying until he felt the tears splashing on his good hand. He was sobbing.

"Lance, please man, don't do this to me." He scooped him into his arms and stood on shaking legs. He was getting out of here, where ever here was. He looked into the hall. It was not an area he was familiar with. He made his way down the hall. He didn't see anyone. He didn't hear anything. Where were they?

"Lance, where are we man? I wish you were awake. You are so much better at direction than I am." Lance didn't answer, but he was still breathing and that was answer enough for Hunk.

He kept moving, kept walking on shaking legs. They were getting out of here. He was getting them out of here. He heard something moving ahead. He stepped to the side of the hall. He crouched low, leaning Lance against the wall.

Voices were moving closer. Voices and footsteps.

"They were this way, I am sure. There is a trail." Hunk looked down and almost puked. There was a drag mark down the hall in blood - Lance's blood. A group of Quartonians came around the corner. They were dressed in red.

"Paladin! They're here! We found them!" Several rushed forward hands out.

Hunk startled back pulling Lance against him, protecting him. He couldn't think straight and there were all these people rushing him.

"Peace, Paladin Hunk. Please we want to help. We want to help. We have stopped the revolt. Please, we won't hurt you," Hunk relaxed and the hands were on him and on Lance.

"These wounds are beyond our skill to heal." One voice spoke softly, gentle hands laying Lance's hands over his chest, like he was dead.

"No." Hunk whispered at first and then increased in volume as he stood cradling Lance against him. "Not beyond ours. I have to get him to the castle I have to get him back."

Then the hands were helping him, moving him, guiding him and before he knew it he was at his shuttle. He didn't remember what they said. He didn't remember how he got there. He didn't remember being in the hanger or piloting out in to space. He simply found himself in space, in the shuttle, calling Allura.

"Allura, I need a wormhole now and a healing pod!" He didn't know if she didn't answer and opened right away because of how he sounded, frantic and detached at the same time, or if she answered back and he just wasn't capable of hearing her.

He didn't remember landing. He was sitting in the pilot chair still holding onto Lance. Shiro was there and Pidge. They were talking. They were wanting something. Then Shiro was prying his hands off of Lance. Hunk looked down at his fingers, they didn't feel like his. They were someone else's. Then Lance was gone. Shiro was gone. Pidge was sitting in front of him crying. Why was Pidge crying? Why was there blood on his hands, on his body…wait where was his shirt? He couldn't breathe. He couldn't catch his breath. Pidge's voice got louder. Allura was there. Allura picked him up. Just reached down and scooped him up like a little kid. And then he was in the med bay. Lance was floating in a pod. He looked back and Allura was talking to him, but he couldn't hear her.

He felt himself falling into warmth. A warm blanket wrapped around him and then his knees gave out and he was sitting on the floor. There was the musical sound of his best friend's laughter echoing in his ear.

"Hey there, Hunkalicious. You okay?"

Hunk blinked his eyes open. Lance was attempting to hold him up and was laughing openly at his failed attempts. Hunk had to smile back. Lance's laugh always made him smile.

"Are you okay?" He looked at Lance smiling with color in his face, breathing, talking, laughing, looking very well.

"I am. Thanks to you, buddy. You saved me. Thank you, Hunk." Lance wrapped him in a tight hug.

"If you're okay, then I'm okay." Hunk wrapped his arms around Lance and rested his head against his. As long as they were together, everything was going to be fine.