Notes: AHHHH I'm so so so sorry! I know this is over a month late! July hit me like a bulldozer and with so much crazy crap going on, I totally lost my motivation to write. Don't worry, though! I'm back and I will work my very hardest to catch up on all my writing this week! I know you guys have been waiting for this one, so thanks for being patient!
The courtroom was absolutely frigid. Most of Heaven was either a vaguely warm or pleasantly cool, but under the stares of dozens of other angels, Lance felt like he'd been shoved into an industrial sized freezer and locked inside.
He glanced across the silent jury stands, recognising most the angels that sat there. These were his friends, his siblings, people he'd grown up and fought side by side with. And now they were going to sentence him to some unknown and terrifying punishment.
It didn't help that they sat so much higher than him. In trials, the accused always sat in a stone chair in the bottom of the room, with the jury and judge seated along the walls. Lance always thought it resembles a pit, a daunting precursor to whatever sentence the accused faced.
Maybe they would smite him or something. Lance had never seen anyone be smitten, but it had always sounded more like being spanked than any real punishment. He highly doubted he would get away with just a spanking, though. Holy shit, were they going to stone him? Like they did in the bible? Did angels even do that anymore? Lance didn't know.
A loud creaking noise broke the silence of the courtroom as the heavy golden doors in the back opened and an important looking angel strode in, followed by Veronica and Louis. Veronica was wrapped in a blanket, looking odd with short singed hair. She looked better than before, but was still covered in painful looking burns.
Veronica pointedly avoided meeting Lance's gaze, sitting stiffly on one of the benches, and Lance's stomach dropped through the floor. Was she really that mad at him? He'd been trying to save her life. And where was Marco? Why wasn't he here? Louis sent him an encouraging smile, but the doubt in his eyes did little to quell Lance's anxiety.
At least one person in his family didn't hate him.
The important looking angel settled behind the judge's stand, and called for order, despite the fact that no one was talking.
"This trial will now begin. The accused, Lance of the Demon Task Force. Judge and Prosecution, Israfel of the Higher Order."
Judge and Prosecution? Was that even allowed?
"The counts against the accused, fraternization with demons, the making of a deal with a demon, and, most grievously, sending said demon through the gates of Heaven. Does the accused deny any of these claims?"
Lance shrunk under Israfel's sharp gaze. His glowing blue eyes seemed to be boring through him, and Lance had the uncomfortable feeling that the older angel could read his thoughts.
"No, but I-"
"You did indeed break the very first of our sacred laws regarding interaction with demons?" Israfel interrupted.
"Yes, but-"
"And let the foulest of beings to invade the sanctity of our kingdom?"
"I mean yeah, but I was just trying to-"
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, clearly the accused has committed the crimes he is accused of. We have a multitude of witnesses to this fact, including the angel who watched him help the demon infiltrate our home," Israfel gestured towards Veronica, whose gaze dropped to her lap as dozens of eyes snapped to her, "and the angel who exorcised the demon, who is not in attendance."
Whispers filled the courtroom, eyes sliding from Veronica to the empty seat next to her. Lance could see Louis grit his teeth and clench his fist in anger, even from the bottom of the courtroom.
Wait- Marco had been the one to exorcise Balrathan?
"I move to find the accused guilty, and sentence him to banishment. His grace will be taken from him, and he will be sent to Hell to reside for the rest of eternity."
What?! Hell?! He… he was going to be a fallen?
"Those in favor,"
Hands shot through the air, and Lance didn't have to count to know more than half the jury had voted. Veronica kept her eyes firmly in her lap, but raised a shaky hand, and Lance's heart dropped into his stomach.
"No! NO! PLEASE!" He screamed, but no one seemed to be listening. The two angels who had escorted him into the courtroom were now approaching him, hands gripping tightly around his arms. Lance tried to shake them off, but they were stronger than him. "PLEASE! I WAS ONLY TRYING TO HELP!"
He was sobbing now, desperate tears streaming down his cheeks, hoping, praying that someone- anyone would speak up.
"Wait a minute!" It was Louis. Precious kind, Louis, who just wanted to see the good in everyone, "How is this fair? He wasn't even given a defense!"
"He doesn't need one." Israfel scowled.
"That's illegal!" Louis shouted, but no one seemed to be listening. Lance was still being dragged from the courtroom, "You think because you're above us you're also above the law?"
"That is ENOUGH!"
Louis opened his mouth to argue, but Lance was thrown from the room and the large, golden doors swung shut, blocking any noise from the courtroom, and separating him from his final, only hope.
Dreams were really fucking weird.
Pidge wanted him to cut her hair, something about wanting it to look like Keith's, but Lance was too busy trying to sew clothes for all the Arusians.
"Come on, Lance! I know you can do it!"
Lance tried to explain to her that it was impossible for him to cut her hair into a mullet because it was too short, and he couldn't cut her hair longer. Besides, he had a hundred tiny sweaters to knit and he was on a deadline.
Suddenly Keith was there, tossing his long, dark hair over his shoulder. It trailed down his back and across the floor like Rapunzel or some shit, "Look! I'm not going to hurt anyone, so just let me go!"
Let him go? From what? He didn't look like he was trapped, was he stuck in a Tangled tower or something? Lance didn't really feel like fighting Mother Gothel at the moment. He didn't feel like doing much of anything, he felt so woozy and sleepy.
"C'mon, Lance! Wake up already!"
Was he asleep?
He opened his eyes and the room exploded in unexpected warmth, the floor approaching at an alarming speed. Something told Lance he should probably stop that, but his arms were too tired and heavy to respond like they were supposed to. He let out a half formed grunt, absently wondering how he'd look with a broken nose after crashing into the hard, Altean tile.
"Woah, Lance!" Hunk dived forward, stopping Lance's descent with his body and lowering him gently to sit against the healing pod he'd just emerged from.
"Hunk? Pidge? Wha's goin' on?" His voice sounded weird, even in his own head. He was slumped awkwardly against Hunk's large frame, still trying to clear his mind enough to take in his surroundings.
"Oh, Lance, thank god you're alright!" Pidge was buzzing around them, her arms fidgeting restlessly like they did when she was anxious.
"Give him some air, guys!"
Was that- Shiro? Was he alright then?
Memories hit Lance like a slap to the face, the mission, Tolvalan possessing Keith, getting stabbed, the exorcism. He clawed against Hunk, trying to climb into an upright position, "Shiro? Keith! Where's Keith?"
"Calm down, Lance." Allura's cool alien accent floated through the infirmary, and twisting around, Lance caught sight of her fluffy white hair, "You're safe now."
Yeah, he figured, but where was Keith? Had Tolvalan come back? It had been so long since Lance had performed an exorcism, what if he had messed something up? If Tolvalan had somehow dodged Lance's spell, Keith would be his first choice for possession. It was always easier to take over a host the second time.
"I'm over here, Lance."
Lance's eyes snapped to the source of the quiet voice, and he nearly toppled back on top of Hunk in surprise. Keith was crouched against the infirmary's far wall, hands bound by a very familiar pair of handcuffs. Lance didn't even know they kept those. Shiro was so close he was nearly standing on Keith, as if he were standing guard over him.
"What the… why are you handcuffed?" Lance stood, one hand still on Hunk's shoulder for balance.
The team fell quiet. It seemed like no one wanted to meet Lance's gaze. Keith pulled uncomfortably at the cuffs, but made know progress. Lance knew from experience that there was no way of slipping out of them.
"Lance… how much do you remember?" Pidge asked, scuffing one sneaker against the floor nervously.
Lance froze, and glanced over to Shiro. How much had he told them? Did they already know? Or were they still piecing things together? Maybe it would be easiest just to tell the truth and get this over with quickly.
"We landed on the lava planet for a mission and were attacked and I got stabbed. Now why is Keith in handcuffs?"
Hunk swallowed nervously, looking at Lance as if he were about to fall apart, "Dude, Keith was the one who stabbed you."
"What? No he's not!"
"His knife was in your stomach, Lance! We had to pull it out of you!" Allura shook her head, "I know you two have never been on the best of terms, but none of us expected him to resort to such violent methods of-"
"It wasn't him! He's fine now, you can let him go!"
"And what makes you so sure?
"I exorcized him."
The team fell silent again, only the steady hum of the ship's stasis systems buzzing in their ears. Shiro shifted uncomfortably back and forth on his feet, and Pidge's eyes narrowed with scepticism. Lance knew it seemed fanciful, but he needed the team to understand.
He hadn't originally planned on telling the team, as knowing about the supernatural would make them all targets, but knowing demons could get so far away from Earth was a major spike in Lance's original plan. How could he keep this a secret with demons attacking them left and right?
"Wait, what are you saying?" Pidge adjusted her glasses, a cold scowl spreading across her face. She was so science based and analytical, making her the most difficult to convince. "Keith was possessed?"
"By a demon, yes."
Hunk frowned with concern, "Lance, you okay buddy? Did you hit your head?"
Great. Now they thought he had brain damage.
"No, let him speak," Shiro reached down to unlock Nyma's handcuffs from Keith's wrists. Allura made a hesitant move to stop him, but was waved away, "you guys weren't there, but there was definitely a… different presence. It wasn't Keith at all."
"Think about this, Shiro," Allura didn't try to handcuff Keith again, but stepped between him and the rest of the team, "he's half Galra. He might have been overwhelmed by his Galra blood and-"
"No." Lance interrupted. He could understand Allura's concerns (despite being slightly racist), but they were unfounded, "It was my fault. The demon was trying to attack me and possesed Keith in the process. He didn't do anything."
"What are you talking about?" Pidge suddenly shouted, startling everybody, "Let's entertain the idea for just a minute that demons are somehow real! Why would they be on a random planet in the middle of space? Aren't they a religious aspect from Earth?"
Coran spoke up for the first time, one finger twirling through his orange mustache in what seemed to be a nervous tick, "No, it's impossible that the demon is isolated only to Earth society. We Alteans also have such mythology. They must be some intergalactic species. Fascinating, how they spread so far without their existence being unquestionable defined is- "
"But why would they be after Lance? And how does he know how to exorcise them?" Pidge wiggled her fingers in air quotes around the word "exorcise", "Last time I checked, it's not exactly common knowledge."
"I've been trained to fight demons from the moment I was created. I know how to do an exorcism."
"Oh yeah? What are you? Some kind of demon hunter, like in the movies?" Close, she was close. Such hunters did exist, but he wasn't one of them.
"No. I'm an angel."
A beat of silence. Then…
Pidge exploded in a fit of giggles, slapping her hand against the now empty cryopod, "You? An angel? Yeah right, now I know you're messing with us."
Not exactly how Lance thought his reveal would go. He would have at least expected a few gasps, a 'why didn't we see it before?' and a new sense of awe and respect from his team members. Instead he got Pidge's annoying, raspy laughter.
Hunk took one of Lance's arms, trying to ease him back to the floor, "Lance, maybe you should sit down. Do you think you need a few minutes in the pod?"
"I don't need to go back in the pod." Lance hissed between gritted teeth, yanking his arm from Hunk's hold.
Allura sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Lance, we need you to be serious. What happened on the mission?"
"I am being serious!"
"Listen to him!" The hoarse voice rang through the room, and Lance had never been so grateful for Keith's strange ability to capture everyone's attention, "Look, when that thing was in me, I… I saw things." Keith's violet eyes met Lance's, his expression cold and calculating. Lance wondered what kind of things Keith would have seen in the mind of Tolvalan. "Lance isn't lying. He wouldn't lie about something so serious, so listen to what he has to say."
Lance's mouth felt suddenly dry. Was Keith defending him? Did he really trust Lance so much to believe him, even when he was spouting nonsense?
Pidge snorted, but Shiro locked eyes with Lance and nodded, telling him to go ahead.
"I was… I was born an angel," Lance began, swallowing roughly, "but I was cast from Heaven and made into a human."
"The demon called you a fallen." Shiro stated, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Yeah, it's what they call angels like me. Since I don't have any divinity anymore, it makes me an easy target for monsters like me. I didn't think it would be a problem so far from Earth, but, well, it seems there are Hell gates all the way out here."
"Do you have any proof of any of this?" Pidge demanded, hands perched furiously on her hips.
Lance sighed, then twisted his arm behind him to toy with the zipper of his cryopod suit, peeling the spandex down to his waist to expose his torso. He turned around and the team gasped.
His warm mocha skin tone was marred by two waxy, pink scars. They ran parellel down the length of his back, from his shoulder blades to his hips. Each was over an inch thick and raised over the rest of his smooth skin, almost as if there were bones underneath.
"I used to have wings."
Notes: What did you think? Reviews are much appreciated!
Season seven comes out this week! Hopefully we will get some quality Lance action in!
Love you lots!