Its your guys lucky day since I'm posting back to back chapters! Considering where the last one left off i thought it might be cruel so decided to release this one early.

Warning that the torture in this is graphic as well and the rating is now M.

Chapter song is: "Shiki no Uta" from mimi

And as always please comment,fav and follow!


"Good morning Lance! How did my favorite prisoner sleep last night?"

" Not at all thanks to you." Lance hissed back. It seemed Irant had started to sleep deprive him as well now.

The set up in this video was different from all the previous ones as of far. Instead of being strapped to a chair like usual he was standing. His arms were placed above him bound to a rope that was hanging from the ceiling. He was shirtless as well with his back facing the camera.

" You know as much as I know I have a wonderful body you have to pay to see it. Or be a hot babe and in this case you are not." Lance snarked back over is shoulder. They would have been relieved to see that he was still fighting back but they knew something was off about him. Even though his sarcasm was ever still there his voice had a different tone. He sounded weary and almost monotone. Lance was starting to break.

" Oh ill be sure to keep that in mind." Irant chuckled as he pulled out simple black whip.

Looking over his shoulder Lance eyes widened when he saw what he held. The muscles in his arms began to coil in anticipation for what was to come. It seemed Irant had gotten tired of using the same torture methods and was bringing in new ones.

" Oh this one is my favorite! It looks like a normal whip at first glance but if I press this button on the handle..." as he spoke he did just that and the whip began to glow a soft orange. " It heats it up! So not only will I be whipping you but also burning you." He happily informed Lance.

Lance said nothing to this as he continued to face forward. He would not give him the satisfaction of seeing him scared. He knew this was going to be beyond painful but he could endure. He had to, after all his friends were on their way right now...right?

"Tell me Lance, have you ever been whipped before?"

He didnt answer and that suited Irant just fine as he raised his arm back and the first crack of the whip came down hard on his back. Lance cried out in pain as the whip tore through his flesh and burned as it went. The heat was almost unbearable as it burned the torn flesh. Before he could even recover from the first one a second one tore a long line across his lower back. Rocking forward with the pain he buried his face in one of his arms while he cried out. Strike after strike rained down on his back as he sobbed brokenly into his arm. He wasn't going to last much longer at this rate and it was with that thought that he blacked out.

The next video wasn't much better as it was the one where Lance lost his finger nails and toenails. They all watched in horror as one by one each of them were ripped out with a pair of pliers. Keith gritted his teeth in anger as Lance cried even after all his nails were ripped out. It was no secret that Lance was a bit of a metrosexual when it came to his looks. Keith had even watched once in mild amusement as Lance spent a good hour on filing his nails to perfection and making sure they shined. And now they were all gone, sure they were almost regrown in the pod by now but that wasn't the point.

This video after this one was quite different than the rest of them. Lance hung from the ceiling by his arms, shoulders clearly struggling to support even his meager weight. Entering the room Irant carried with him no torture device, no new contraption to cause Lance misery. Instead he took a seat in a chair next to where Lance hung.

" I figured after yesterdays little activity I would be gracious and give you a little break. Being so I thought it would be relaxing if I read to you for a little while." Pulling out a stack of papers Irant leaned back in his chair, looking to Lance as if he was waiting for something.

" Well do you want me to read to you?"

"Not really." Lance finally mumbled out.

" Ok so this first one is a report from a small cargo ship almost half way across the galaxy." Typical of Irant. He didnt care if Lance wanted to hear it or not.

" We have spotted the lions and their command base. It seems they are one lion short but it hasn't had a effect on their battle strategy. One of the cargo ships has been lost to them."

Hearing this Lance slowly turned his head to face Irant. His eyes wide and unbelieving at the words he was hearing. Smirking at his reaction Irant continued with the next report.

" Paladins and their lions spotted. They have liberated a nearby planet and are currently making peace with the natives. Pulling back for now, even with one short they are still a force to reckon with."

And so it continued like this. Irant read through all the reports that held information about where the paladins were and what they were doing. In every one of them it was mentioned how they didn't have Lance but seemed to be doing fine without him. Keith and the others even recognized some of the events they were talking about.

Finally finished with reading the reports he turned to Lance.

" So Lance are you still convinced your friends are coming for you?"

" They are! I know they will they just haven't located me yet." Lance yelled back frantically. He refused to believe that his friends had abandoned him so easily.

"Well from what I just read it sounds like they aren't even searching for you. Shouldn't someone who's searching for something not have the time to be liberating planets and making peace. I certaintly wouldn't as a matter of fact. Now that I think about it, it sounds like there doing just fine without you. " Irant calmly stated, in secret loving the look of absolute torment Lance's face was taking on.

" N-no your wrong." Lance shakily tried to protest. They were his friends, there just had to be a realistic explanation of why they hadn't found him yet.

" Face it Lance they don't need you. In fact they could probably care less about what happens to you. I mean surely there would have been reports of them asking about you. As far as their concerned they are better off without you."

And it was with that everything shattered. Like a dish falling unto the floor and shattering into tiny little pieces, Lance was broken. Tears streamed down his face as he stared blankly down at the ground. For as strong as Lance was even he could only take so much himself. Seeming pleased with the results Irant smiled and stood up.

Stepping forward he put a hand on his shoulder while reassuring Lance, " Oh but don't worry Lance you still have me. Just you and myself well that is until I get bored and finally kill you. But don't fret that wont be till much, much later."

And with that he turned and left. The last thing they saw was Lance still hanging from the ceiling, helpless and sobbing as he did. Then the video ended.

They were all pulled out of their thoughts though at the sound of soft sobbing. Turning Keith was shocked to see Pidge had removed her glasses and was doing her best to wipe away the tears the poured down her petite face. But before anyone could ask why she was crying she spoke up.

" How could he say that to Lance? Can you imagine just how betrayed and heartbroken he must have felt in that moment? I should have fixed the system sooner, we should have worked harder to find him." She howled as the tears just kept coming.

Stepping forward Coran placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. " I think Pidge and myself have had enough. It would be best for you three to continue on without us." He softly said as he lead the still crying Pidge out.

Now it was just the three of them. The ones who had originally found Lance in the first place, now it seemed so fitting that they would be the lasts one to stay.

" Allura just how many videos are left?" Shiro wearily asked.

"A little under a months worth. The last one says it was recorded the day before we rescued Lance."

" Well we might as well continue to watch the rest." Keith said. There was no point in stopping now and he was determined to see this through.

Nodding her head in understanding Allura began to play the next one.

In this video Lance was once again strapped to his chair but something was horribly different this time. His eyes were hollow and unfocused as he seemed to stare at nothing. They were blood shot and puffy from no doubt crying. It was clear that this was the beginning of him giving up.

Once again Irant entered the room but this time a droid rolled in a glass container about the size of a keg. It was filled with a bright yellow fluid that seemed oddly familiar and then it clicked.

" Is that-?" Keith asked at the same time Allura said, " What are they doing with quintessence?"

But it seemed they didnt have to wait for a answer for long as the cart was parked right beside Lance.

" So Lance I'm sure you have no idea what this is so ill enlighten you. This substance is quintessence a marvelous substance that allows you do amazing things such as regeneration. However its not easy to obtain so this is all I can spear for the little experiment I have in mind." Irant gushed as he pulled out a wicked looking paring knife.

" What exactly are you going to do to me?" Lance wearily asked.

" Well i have never tried quintessence on human regeneration so I thought we could do a small experiment. And being so why don't we start small." As soon as Irant had said this he seized Lance's hand and cut his pinky off in one fell swoop.

For a second Lance didnt react as he watched his finger dangle in front of his face by Irant. However as soon as he finally realized just what had happened he began screaming and crying. Irant just smiled as he placed his finger on a tray.

" I think ill just cut off all your fingers first then I will try my little quintessence experiment." Irant informed him as he wasted no time removing 3 more fingers.

They all watched in horror as Lance's fingers were removed one by one and placed on the tray. He continued to scream and sob as blood ran from his fingers and unto the floor. Soon all 10 fingers of his were sitting on the tray and Lance had stopped screaming and was now a crying mess.

" Well now shall we try reattaching your fingers?" Irant hummed in glee as he prepared the quintessence.

They all watched in awe and disbelief as Irant realigned Lance's pinky finger and dropped a few drops of quintessence unto it. Almost immediately the bone and tissue began to reconnect, the flesh knit together over the wound but a feint scar remained. That explained why he had scars on his fingers. But with the density of his scars it had to been done multiple times at least.

As much as they all wanted to investigate further the quintessence Lance was of the most importance. The video soon ended but before Allura could play the next one Shiro interrupted them

" Guys I cant do this anymore. I know I should stay and be strong for Lance since I'm the leader but I just cant anymore. It just takes me back to my time and I cant watch a friend go through things I similarly went through."

Keith couldn't blame Shiro for what he felt. He was having a hard time watching what Lance was going through as well. But he also knew Shiro sometimes suffered from PTSD and this wasn't helping him. He needed to fill his time with happy things and not watching someone he cared for being tortured.

" It's alright Shiro. Allura and I will be fine by ourselves. You should go see if maybe Hunk needs help on blue." Keith suggested.

Shooting him a ever grateful look Shiro nodded his head and exited the room. Turning towards Allura they shared a long look, full of understanding and mutual comfort.

" Are you ready to finish this?" she softly asked.

" Yeah lets get this over with already." he replied.

Wasting no time they began to watch the remaining videos. In each one Lance was tortured a variety of ways. He was beaten, dunked, whipped, electrocuted, burned, and his fingers and toes were cut off multiple times. Keith didnt think he would ever be able to get the sound of Lance screaming out of his head for as long as he lived. But they continued to watch their friend suffer until tears ran down Allura's face and Keith's hand hurt from clenching them to tight.

Before they knew it thought they had arrived at the last video. But by this time Keith wished they hadn't. As they watched Lance was once again strapped to a chair but he yowled and fought not to be. He begged and pleaded but his words went unheard and soon he was strapped in.

Irant once again entered the room but this time he carried a peculiar rod with him with a design carved out at the bottom.

"Lance today I have something special in mind. You have been such a good prisoner, giving me all these lovely screams and tears of yours." He cooed.

Lance said nothing by now and just whimpered every so often. His wounds wept and his body shook. He looked just like he did when they found him so what did he do to him? It must have been something or in a place Keith couldn't see. Looking to Allura he was surprised to see a look of pain across her face as she watched the screen, as if she knew what was going to happen. Judging from this it must be something Keith could not have seen when they first rescued him.

" Today I am going to brand you. You see I am not quite tired of you yet and I thought it would be fitting to mark you as a piece of Galra property to cement the idea." Irant hummed full of cheer.

Keith watched in horror as the rod in Irant's hand began to heat up until the design on the bottom glowed dark orange. The design he now could see was in the shape of the Galra emblem with their writing surrounding it. The design was about the size of a baseball but even that would still show. Moving towards Lance who was now struggling to get away while chanting over and over, "Please no!" he heaved the brand up and pulled on Lance's trashed garments to reveal his slim hip.

" This might hurt just a little." Irant teased and with that pressed the brand straight into Lance's flesh. His screams were absolutely horrible as he cried out in pain. Big fat tears streamed down his face that had twisted in agony. His hands were gripped so tight unto the chair that Keith was surprised his delicate bones hadn't broken at the force he was putting through them.

Pulling back the brand it revealed the ugly sight of the Galra symbol burned into Lance's flesh. Admiring his handy work Irant whistled in appreciation before patting Lance's head.

"Its beautiful Lance!" He crooned.

Lance didnt say anything as he had stopped crying and instead blankly stared forward. Any will he had left in him had snapped at that very moment, just a day before they were to come for him. It just wasn't fair. The video soon ended after this and Allura turned to him.

" That's it of course. We all know what happened after that."

" But what about now? How are we going to even hope to take care of Lance after seeing just what all he went through?" Keith exclaimed in frustration.

" We will do the best that we can Keith. For now we both need to rest after everything we just saw. Lance is scheduled to come out of the pod tomorrow and we need to be ready for when he awakens." Allura explained.

The reality that Lance was ready to come out and they might finally be able to properly reunite was almost to much for Keith. A nights rest seemed like a wonderful idea. Nodding his head in understanding Keith said no more as he left the control room.

But this time he didnt head for Lance's pod. Instead he went straight to his room and collapsed unto his bed. He knew he didnt have it in him to sit there and face Lance for a whole night. Especially with the knowledge that if maybe they would have tried harder, if maybe he had tried harder they could have saved Lance. His dreams were filled with fitful images of Lance sitting in his cell, alone and afraid that night.

The next day found all of the paladins gathered around in one of the med bays as they waited for Coran and Allura to finish with Lance. It was all a delicate process as they had to drain the fluid while retrieving Lance out of the pod. Next they had to clear his lungs of any fluid that may have gotten trapped. After this they checked to see if everything healed right and his vitals were good. Then it was just clean up after that.

Keith couldn't stop pacing as they waited for Lance to appear. He had never been so anxious in his life before. This situation was such a unknown area for him and he wanted so badly for Lance to remember him. To remember that he would never hurt him and was his friend.

Luckily it seemed like the wait was finally over as Allura entered the med bay followed by Coran pushing a table with Lance laying on top of it. He looked so much better and actually looked like he did before they had all gotten separated. Earlier Allura had informed them that for the most part his body would return to normal but some of the deeper wounds would leave behind scarring. Keith was pretty sure Lance had quite a bit too under the soft t shirt and jeans he now wore.

" He should be waking any moment now." Allura happily informed them.

All of them except Allura watched with anticipation from a safe distance. They still didnt know what the mental state of Lance would be when he woke up and they didnt want to cause him to freak out. Everyone watched in awe as Lance's eyes began to twitch and the most amazing thing happenend his eyes began to open.


So Lance is finally waking up guys! Where everything goes from here we will see. Oh and i dont know if quintessence actually works that way but we'll just use our imaginations.

And as always please comment,fav and follow!