A/N: This chapter is shorter than the last couple but it was the best place to cut it off in my opinion. Although maybe not in y'all's opinions, if you know what I mean~
Chapter summary: In which Lance comes out to potential allies, faces and enemy, and is still so hungry.
10: Shield
Separating from Voltron -when had they combined in the first place?- wasn't the most pleasant experience. But hey, it could be worse. It felt like something in him was lost; or, not lost so much as taken away from a while. Like waving goodbye to one of his siblings as they left for a mission they may or may not come back from.
He had so many questions. The first one was pretty simple: what the quiznak just happened?
No, but seriously, what. The. Quiznak. Just happened? Lance couldn't remember hardly anything after screaming in terrified pain. The pain was still there in the back of his mind tangled with his spirit like a knot in just the wrong place. It tugged on his movement, seeped into his muscles, and weighed on his heart and mind. He needed his quintessence. He needed it.
Quintessence was life. To have it taken away was a death sentence. To have it cut off was…torture. He wondered how long he would last?
Water rippled in his spirit. It was a question he wasn't sure he knew the answer to. So he ignored it. Hurt that wasn't his own nudged him accompanied by the mental image of a big blue lion crouching sadly in front of him, its eyes dim, its ears folded back, and its tail dragging on the ground.
She lashed out at the Blue Lion with all the hurt and terror he felt lingering like oil on the surface of the ocean. If she wanted forgiveness and his understanding of for his own good, then she needed to know what cutting him off from his quintessence was doing to him. She deserved to know his pain. She deserved to know what she was doing to him. If she really wanted to keep her promise, then she needed to release her hold.
She was killing him slowly. He'd rather just slit his wrists and be done with it if she kept this up.
He felt the sensation of the Blue Lion jerking back in awful shock. Confusion and disbelief flooded his mind. She hadn't known. She didn't mean to. She just hadn't wanted him to attack those innocent Balmerans in the mine shaft. They hadn't done anything to him.
Maybe they didn't, he admitted reluctantly. But doing nothing was often just as bad as doing something. It was condoning the act being done by others. They also cheered the deaths of so many innocents on the destroyed Galra battlecruiser along with the other paladins of Voltron. They deserved to suffer too.
No, they didn't, she insisted. They didn't have the technology to join the fight. Even if they had, the Blue Lion doubted they would have actively joined the fight. The Balmerans were inherently peaceful just like their parent Balmera.
Lance frowned. He had to admit, she presented a good argument. But she still hadn't released the hold on his quintessence, so could he really trust her? Should he trust her?
He felt the Blue Lion's faint pleading hope tickling his senses and sighed. What she was doing to him hurt. But rejecting her hurt too. This wasn't the best situation to be in, although Lance had been in worse. Curiosity tinged with a deceptively dangerous threat tugged on that thought as the Blue Lion demanded to know what he meant. Who dared hurt her paladin? He was hers.
Lance froze, figuratively and literally. She… What? She wanted…revenge? How very, he smiled, Galra of her.
She cringed, her mental presence retreating in shocked offense. Lance blinked. Offense? Why offense? The Galra weren't evil. They were generally rather honorable. Why was she so against being compared to them?
"You coming out any time soon?"
The Champion's -Shiro's- voice jerked him from his thoughts. Lance lifted his gaze to the Blue Lion's view screen and flushed. All of the other paladins were already out of their Lions and standing on the Balmera's surface. The glistening white Castleship stood behind them, gleaming in the cloudy light of the Balmera's atmosphere.
It was pretty. If only he could feel comfortable with that thought. All he could think of when he saw the Castleship now was death, destruction, and fear. The Blue Lion purred, mentally nuzzling him, offering him comfort the only way she could.
He sighed and hung his head, relieved the Champ- Shiro hadn't contacted his visually. The black paladin had kept his message audio only, giving Lance the time he needed to mentally and emotionally prepare himself. That was something, he supposed.
A tin paw pressed his cheek and he turned his head to the little mice on his shoulder. The green mouse squeaked, tilting its head slightly as if to ask what he was going to do. If only he knew. The tiny blue mouse was standing on its hind legs, touching Lance's face with one of its forepaws, and staring up at Lance with wide, concerned eyes. It squeaked softly in what was Lance took to be an are you alright in mouse. He sighed. If only he knew the answer to that too.
Well, might as well get this over with. "Coming," he said to Shiro.
The window indicating an audio communication vanished and Lance took a deep breath before standing from the pilot seat and exiting the cockpit. He strode down the walkway in the Blue Lion's mouth to the Balmera's surface. Four helmeted faced stared at him distrustfully. Only Shiro smiled and stepped towards him.
"I'm glad you decided to come out," Shiro said, a weary smile on his face. Lance could still see the distrust in the black paladin's eyes, but he was fine with that. It wasn't like Lance trusted the black paladin or anything. Besides, better to be mistrusted then attacked, he supposed. Without his quintessence, Lance was essentially a sitting yelmor.
"Hello," he said. His lips twitched upwards despite his attempt to smother it when the mice on his shoulders chittered a greeting as well. They may be the princess's friends, but it seemed that they were comfortable being his allies, for now anyway. At least he wasn't entirely alone in this.
The Blue Lion grumbled in his mind, sloshing her watery presence around in his mind deliberately. Lance hesitated. He wanted to believe he had her as an ally too. He really did. But-
WhY wAs ThE cHaMpIoN cOmInG cLoSeR?!
Lance stumbled back, instinctively raising his arms and adopting a defensive stance. Shiro stilled, his dark gray eyes wide. The other paladins drew their alchemic weapons but Shiro waved them back. The Champion slowly lifted his hands, palms outward, in what Lance hoped was a peaceful gesture and not something else.
"It's okay," Shiro said, choosing his words carefully. "We're not going to attack you. I promise."
"Hm, yes, no. Don't believe you," Lance said. "The last time someone made a promise to me, they broke it."
Take that Blue.
The hurt whimper in his made tugged at his heartstrings leaving him feeling like he's just punched a newborn. Well frell, now he felt like a jerk.
Interestingly enough, Shiro nodded. "I understand," he said. "Well, not really," he shrugged helplessly, "but I know what you mean. How 'bout this then? You have my word we won't attack you unless you attack us first. Sound fair?"
Lance mulled over the Champion's words carefully before easing his stance. "Not really," he admitted, "'cause I'm not sure what people like you would consider an 'attack.' But I guess that'll do for now."
Shiro blinked, taken aback, but nodded nevertheless. "Okay, I'll take that," he said, lowering his hands. He looked over his shoulder at the princess leaning on a group of Balmerans standing under the Castleship. Was something wrong with her?
"If you could help us make sure everyone's safe," Shiro continued, returning his gaze to Lance, "then later we can talk about the deal you made with Keith."
He was quiznaked.
"Fine," he said, his shoulders drooping. He moved cautiously, making sure every move he made was within the paladins' line of sight. If he was going to die, he'd rather it happen over a legitimate reason. Dying due to a misunderstanding was just ludicrous. He would never live that down.
Er… Well, he wouldn't live that period. He snorted at his own personal joke, ignoring the strange looks he got from the yellow and green paladins.
"Um, you okay man?" the yellow paladin asked, startling Lance.
He glanced at the larger paladin strangely, then snickered. "Nothing, just cracking myself up, is all," he said, waving away the paladin's concern. "Don't worry about it."
Instead of pressing like Lance assumed he would, the yellow paladin shrugged and said, "Oh, well be careful. It'd be awkward if you were an egg."
What? "Excuse me?" Lance said, staring at the paladin in utter confusion.
"Well," the paladin said casually, "if you were an egg, cracking yourself up would be bad. Since you're not an egg, I'm gonna assume you're fine."
Lance stilled, his eyes wide. That…was so freaking clever! How had he never thought of that comeback before?
"Hey," the yellow paladin called back over his shoulder when he noticed Lance had stopped moving. "You comin'?"
Lance grinned. "Perfect," he chirped, feeling unusually light hearted. "Just appreciating a good joke when I hear one. Don't get that much on the battlecruisers. The Galra are so serious."
Frak! He'd said too much. He clamped his mouth shut and looked anywhere but at the paladins. For some reason, his eyes settled on the downed Robeast some distance away. He absently wondered who or what had given their quintessence to Haggar for her to use as a base for this particular Robeast. It had certainly been formidable and its primary advantage had been its lack of blind spots. That mean whatever she'd used had been heavily reliant on its eyesight. Interesting. Well, whatever it was, Lance was just glad they'd defeated it.
Come to think of it. Had they defeated it? Lance had been under the impression Robeasts had to be completely and utterly destroyed in order to thoroughly severe Haggar's influence from them. This Robeast wasn't destroyed. It was still mostly intact.
He paused again, turning to face the Robeast directly. He frowned when he tried to reach for it with his quintessence and slammed into the Blue Lion's mental blocks again. He did his best not to whimper.
If he had his quintessence, then he may have been able to touch the Robeast's quintessence to make sure Haggar's influence was gone. Because if Lance's suspicions were right and the influence was still there then-
It moved!
"I thought you said you destroyed it!" Lance cried in terror.
"What?! Fuck!" he heard Keith shout.
"Oh no," the yellow paladin groaned.
"It's still alive?!" the green paladin gasped.
"No," Shiro murmured just loud enough for Lance to hear. "Coran, princess, take cover!"
No. No no nononononono! This wasn't happening. This wasn't happening! Lance scrabbled desperately at the mental barricades blocking his quintessence. He needed a defense. Any defense. He didn't want to die! No! He was so close to finding a way back home. He couldn't die here. Blue! Blue please!
The Blue Lion roared both in his mind and in the real world and Lance was suddenly drowning in his quintessence. He barely had enough time to fully comprehend that fact before the Robeast was back on its feet and glowing a poisonous green. It took almost all of his concentration not to revel in the addicting ebb and flow of his quintessence in his spirit.
He was whole now. He may not be the most skilled of Druids and he may struggle in some basics, but there was one thing he was good at: shields. This may be the last thing he ever did, but, then again, it may not be. Maybe Haggar would feel his quintessence through her influence. Maybe not.
It was worth the risk.
He narrowed his eyes and slid his right leg back, bracing himself. Then he lifted both hands in and extended his arms in front of him, taking care not to lock his elbows. The Robeast straightened and the green eye in its chest brightened as it powered up its attack. Lance waited.
A beam of concentrated green energy blazed from the eye, racing across the expanse towards them.
Almost there. Wait.
Closer.
Lance pulled his quintessence into his arms, focusing it in his hands. An orb of purple tinged white formed in the space just in front of his palms.
Closer.
Now.
Lance launched his quintessence out from the orb in a concave curve, not too big and not too wide.
Impact.
It hurt! Hold! Hold! Hold!
He could feel his arms locking to keep from being forced back. His anchoring foot pressed deeper and deeper into the ground. He tensed his muscles and braced himself, forcing his body to hold his stance. If he broke his stance, he would lose his shield. He would not lose his shield. He had to hold!
He couldn't hold.
He didn't want to die! Someone… Anyone…help…please…
Blue quintessence crashed through his channels without warning, sparkling like the sun on the ocean and deadly as a rip tide. It froze his veins and drowned his senses until there was nothing but blue and his shield. Oh. Huh. His shield actually was blue now. That was new.
Something touched his quintessence. Two somethings. Sentience. One from beneath his feet and the other through his shield. The first sentience was unknown to him. The latter, however, he recognized and hoped against all hope that Haggar recognized his sentience as well before it was too late.
His shield cracked.
No!
It stopped.
He staggered, his body crumbling limply to the ground when his aching muscles suddenly had nothing pressing on them. He landed hard on his knees and caught himself with his hands before collapsing completely and eating dirt. His entire body twitched and he was gasping from exertion. Everything was blurred and muffled like he was being smothered or…drowned…
Sounds, voices? What were they saying? Was it important?
Hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him up so he sat back on twitching legs. Who? His back thumped against something solid and warm, warmer than his own body. So cold. He shuddered.
His head hung weakly and it took everything he had to stay awake. A voice he knew shouted something close to his ear, but it was too muffled to make it out. He barely managed to lift his head but he was glad he did.
The Robeast was, well not destroyed, but definitely incapacitated. Giant crystals, larger than any Lance had ever seen in his life, were growing from the Balmera. So fast. He could hardly believe his eyes as the crystals continued to grow in and around the Robeast, completely encasing it. One of the crystals punctured the Robeast's chest eye. It roared, the green glow shining fiercely. Then the light faded completely and it was silenced.
"How…?" he breathed, his voice so faint he could barely hear it.
"I-…Balmera…-nd…Lan-…" That sounded like Keith. Was Keith the one holding him?
"Wha…" He stopped trying to speak and just let his head fall back against Keith's chest. At least he hoped it was Keith. Or the yellow paladin. He seemed nice. Lance still didn't trust the green paladin yet and the Champion was still to scary.
Lance took a shaky breath and closed his eyes. He'd overexerted himself. He'd done that before, most Druids had at one time or another. But he'd never drained himself this far before. He was still so cold…
Blue.
He twitched, his eyelids fluttering when the sentience he didn't recognize brushed his quintessence once more. It was soft and living and warm like a caress. It didn't attack him so much as just brush him curiously.
What…?
Wait. He did know this sentience. He'd felt its quintessence briefly in the mine shaft. Was this…the Balmera?
Blue.
A purr rippled his spirit, tugging him down into the cool depths. So tired.
Naturally, that's when his stomach grumbled loudly and painfully. He wanted food so bad. Quintessence depletion required rest, food, and water to aid in the recovery. He still managed a small smirk when he heard Keith groan.
He liked Keith. So…much fun to…tease…
Blue.