"I'm not stopping him, you go do it."
"No way."
Hunk and Pidge stand on the opposite side of the training room, watching Keith once more continually fighting the sparring robot. He's been going at it for a few hours now.
The two are wondering who's going to stop him this time. Last time they had Shiro do it but Shiro is with Allura right now.
Ever since they lost Lance on Olkarion, again, three weeks ago, Keith has been more irritable than ever. He spends his days fighting and training. He rarely leaves the training room and the only time he does is when someone makes him leave, which is no easy task for anyone here.
"How about we both do it?" Pidge suggests.
"Okay that's fair." Hunk replies.
They walk together on the outskirts, so they don't accidentally get involved in the fight. When they get close enough to Keith, they look at each other hesitantly.
"Hey Keith." Hunk says first.
Keith ignores his name being called and continues fighting.
"Uhh Keith." Pidge says this time.
Again they get no response from him and he keeps fighting.
"Oh for the love of- End training simulation!" Pidge shouts.
The sparring bot powers down and Keith turns to the two, mad.
"What the hell did you do that for?" Keith asks.
"It's time for lunch. Someone had to get you to stop." Pidge responds.
"I'm not hungry." Keith says.
"But you still need to eat." Hunk replies.
"I'll eat when I'm finish." Keith mumbles.
"Yeah we heard that before. You almost went the entire day without eating." Pidge says.
Keith turns away and lifts up his sword again.
Pidge sighs.
"Grab him." She says.
Hunk go over and lifts Keith up and puts him over his shoulder. Pidge grabs his sword out of his hand and holds it.
"Let me go Hunk!" Keith says.
"Nope you're going to go eat." Hunk responds, leaving the training room with Pidge.
"I don't need to eat, I need to train." Keith says, frustrated.
Pidge rolls her eyes and looks at Keith.
"He would call you an idiot if he heard you say that. You know he would make you eat too." Pidge says.
Though she doesn't say his name, they all know who she's talking about. After the last time, the paladins don't even mention Lance's name in front of Keith. He gets really upset and storms out of a room whenever he hears Lance's name. They all know he's worried for Lance and that's why he's training so hard. But they're all worried and they all want to get Lance back, so he can't just go around throwing fits.
Keith stops struggling in Hunk's arms. He just stares at Pidge, knowing she's right. Lance would insult him for training so much and then personally bring food to him. Of course Lance, being Lance, would try to make it a big deal and act like he didn't care so he can keep the rival thing going. But they all know Lance actually cares. He cares for all of his teammates.
When they get to the dining room Hunk sets Keith down in a chair.
"Now don't move, I'll be back." Hunk says.
Hunk leaves to go to the kitchen and Pidge sits next to Keith.
"You know Keith, I understand what's it like to want to get someone back that you don't want to stop to do what seems like unimportant things. I spent so many days of not eating and nights not sleeping to find my dad and brother. But none of that really helped me. A bit after he healed, he came to talk to and he told me that we were going to find my family no matter what happens but I have to take care of myself so when I see them again I can show them how well I'm doing. Don't worry Keith, we're going to get him back but you have to take care of yourself, just like he said. We all miss him." Pidge says.
Keith glares at his hands. He knows they're going to get him back but he's just mad that he's there in the first place. To be left in the hands of the galra prince is a nightmare no one should suffer through.
"I know we'll get him back." Keith responds.
Hunk comes back with a place with a plate of the space goo that they have grown accustomed to.
"Here you go, eat up." Hunk says putting the plate in front of Keith.
Keith stares at the plate and then looks up to Pidge and Hunk.
"Go ahead eat." Pidge says.
Keith picks up his spoon and puts a spoonful in his mouth. Slowly but surely he eats his food while Pidge and Hunk watch him. They high five each other when he finishes his food.
"We did it." Hunk says.
"And without Shiro's help." Pidge adds.
"Yeah so can I go back to training now?" Keith asks crossing his arms.
"No you're going to go suit up."
The three turn to see that Shiro entered the room all suited up.
"What's going on?" Pidge asks.
"We got a message from Lance himself." Shiro says.
Keith shoots out of his seat.
"What did he say?" Keith asks.
"Go suit up all of you and meet us so we can show you the message to see for yourself." Shiro responds.
They rush to change. Lance sent a message himself, that's serious.
They suit up and go to meet the others. When they get there, they see the serious look on Allura's face.
"What's happening?" Keith asks.
Allura just turns around and plays the message.
"Hello Allura, bet you didn't expect this but here I am, sending you a message. Make sure you show everyone this." Lance starts.
Lance looks worse than before. Though he has a smirk on his face, he's clearly in pain. Blood drips from the side of his mouth. He has a blackish-purple bruise on one cheekand a deep scratch on his other cheek, also bleeding. His hair is a complete mess.
Pidge, Hunk, and Keith stare in shock. What did Lotor do to him?
"The prince decided it was time to end this useless chase so I'm here to tell you what's going to happen. Along with this message is our coordinates. Make sure you show up or else I'm sure some other planet can face the punishments and torture. The planet you'll be going to is deserted so you don't have to worry about anyone else getting involved. No one will be able to save you. I told you you won't be so lucky to escape this time. Have fun preparing for your deaths. Until then, adios amigos." Lance says.
The message ends and a silence fills the air.
End this? Deaths?
Damn Lotor is going to try to kill them this time. And he'll most likely make Lance fight them to the death.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go." Keith says.
They all turn to Keith.
"It's dangerous Keith. I'm positive Lotor has a plan that we do not know of. If we rush into this, it may be fatal." Allura responds.
"Yeah but are we going to risk others' lives? We all know Lotor has no problem using Lance to go make others' lives miserable. What, are we going to keep telling people Lance is doing undercover work as he helps wreak havoc on their worlds? Besides if we don't go this may be the last time we get to save Lance. You heard him, they're ending this chase. We have to go. I'm going." Keith says.
No one replies but just stares. They know Keith is right but they may be risking a lot, their lives even.
"Keith's right. I'm going too. I'm going to save Lance." Pidge says and moves to stand next to Keith.
"Me too, I'm not leaving my buddy any longer with that monster." Hunk says.
They turn to Shiro, waiting for his response.
"You know this may very well be a trap?" Shiro asks.
"You know better than anyone else here that being a captive to the galra is not something anyone should go through. You know we can't leave him there." Keith responds.
Shiro sighs.
"I knew you guys would make the right choice. Let's go save our teammate." He says.
"Be safe." Allura says.
"Bring him back to us." Coran adds.
"We will, we're not leaving without him this time." Shiro says.
"I checked the coordinates they gave us with Pidge's device and they are correct, so we are heading to them. We will be there in a few ticks thanks to the wormhole, prepare yourselves and be ready for anything when we get there." Allura says.
"We're coming for you buddy." Hunk says.
It takes only a short while until they land.
"We don't need our lions I think but let's take one just in case. We can take the black lion and if anything major happens we can go back to get the other lions." Shiro says.
They all head to the black lion hangar.
"You guys ready for this?" Shiro asks.
A collection of yeahs and of course is said in response. They all go into the black lion and head out.
"He wasn't lying when he said deserted. This planet has no signs of life." Pidge says.
"At least we know no bystander can get hurt or affected in anyway here." Shiro replies.
"Shiro below, it's Lance and Lotor!" Keith says, pointing to the two figures in front of them.
Shiro lands his lion and the rush out, bayards ready.
"Ah paladins, took you long enough to get here." Lotor says.
Lance stands next to him in his paladin armor, a taunt to them.
Keith glares at Lotor.
"I see you noticed that my Lance is dressed in his armor. I thought it would be fitting for your last moments alive to see him the way you abandoned him. To die by the hands of someone who was once your teammate. How gruesomely perfect for the demise of the legendary paladins of Voltron." Lotor says.
"He isn't yours!" Keith replies.
Lotor smiles and turns to Lance.
"Hey Keith remember when you said I wouldn't be able to land a hit on you?" Lance asks.
Before Keith can respond, Lance runs up and punches him in the face, hard. Keith, not prepared for the hit, stumbles back.
"Guess what, I landed a hit." Lance says with a smile.
Keith looks back to Lance.
"Lucky hit." He mumbles.
"Well let me show you how luck has nothing to do with it." Lance says charging at him.
Lance swings a few more hits at Keith's face as Keith avoids him. Keith doesn't see though when Lance aims a blow lower. Lance kicks Keith in his stomach as hard as he can. Keith falls to the ground, actually feeling the kick through his armor. He curses under his breath.
"What do you know, I'm finally better than good 'ol Keith." Lance taunts.
Lance raises his foot to stomp on Keith's head. Before Lance can get to Keith, Pidge's grappling cable wraps around his ankle. She pulls and he falls.
"You know you have an annoying tendency to make me fall before I can attack him." Lance says, turning to Pidge with a glare.
Keith gets back up and gets some distance between him and Lance. Lance removes himself from Pidge's cable and stands up. He takes out his bayard and aims his rifle at Pidge.
"I should deal with you first." Lance says.
He fires but Shiro moves Pidge out of the way.
"Keep him at a distance. Come on Keith." Shiro commands.
Hunk uses his energy cannon and shoots at the ground by Lance's feet. Lance tries to get around the shots but Pidge also helps keep him further back.
Shiro and Keith charge at Lotor. Lotor shows no concern on his face. Instead he simply keeps his smile on.
"Initiate Paladin override: Beast mode." Lotor says. (A/N: I totally saw amazing artwork of this concept of an override on Tumblr and thought it was so cool so I thought to add it. Not my idea, I'd give credit if I could find the original creator again)
Lance freezes as his necklace glows purple. Hunk and Pidge stop when they see Lance not moving anymore. Shiro and Keith stop and turn to Lance.
Lance shakes. His eyes turn purple, his breathing becomes rough, and his hands seem to grow claws. Lance growls and turns to Shiro and Keith.
Before either of them can realize it, Lance is in front of them, landing a very hard punch in Shiro's jaw. Shiro goes back a few feet from the impact.
Lance turns to Keith, grabs him by his arm, lifts him up, and throws him towards Pidge and Hunk. He lands on the ground hard, so hard the ground cracked.
"Do you like what I did? In this mode his strength and speed is increased. The best part is he's just like any other monster we create, doesn't stop until his target is destroyed." Lotor says.
He points to them and Lance moves to attack.
"Scatter!" Keith says, trying to get up.
Pidge and Hunk go in separate directions. Pidge heads towards Shiro and Hunk just tries to get distance from Lance.
As Keith tries to stand up, Lance puts him back on the ground swinging his leg down on Keith's back. Keith's jaw hit the ground with force. Keith tastes blood in his mouth.
"Dammit." Keith groans out.
Lance kicks him in the side and Keith slides back, spitting out blood. Lance then stomps on Keith's leg.
Before Lance can attack again Hunk tackles Lance to the ground.
"Snap out of it bud. Don't let him control you." Hunk says, struggling to keep him down.
Lance eventually pushes Hunk off of him. He stands up again and lifts Hunk up by his shoulder. He knees Hunk in his stomach. He lets him drop to the ground and turns to Pidge and Shiro.
Shiro steps in front of Pidge as Lance runs towards them. Lance sweep kicks Shiro's feet and as he falls, elbows him in his chest to the ground.
Lance looks at Pidge. He grabs her by her hair and lifts her up. She struggles to get out of his hold and kicks him as hard as she can.
He drops her and growls. She shocks him with her katar and crawls away as the electricity travels through his body. She gets up and runs to put some distance between them. She runs to Keith and helps him up. He leans on her for support.
"How are you holding up? You seem to be getting the worse beating out of all of us." Pidge says.
"Forget that, we need to find a way to get him out of this mode or else we'll be in some serious trouble." Keith responds.
"Uhh guys he's coming." Hunk says, standing up.
They turn to see Lance coming towards them.
"Pidge let me go and run back to the black lion." Keith says.
"He's going to kill you. You're the one who needs to get to the lion." Pidge argues.
Lance doesn't reach them though because Shiro pulls him back and throws him the opposite way. He lands on the ground, next to Lotor.
"I don't think we're going to get out of this alive if we don't actually defend ourselves." Shiro says.
He looks as tired and in pain as the rest of them.
They all group together. Pidge helps Keith lean on Shiro instead.
"Allura was right when she said Lotor had a plan." Hunk says, looking to Lotor and his smiling face. He thinks he won.
Lance stands up and looks at them as a provoked animal would. Lotor wasn't lying when he said Lance wouldn't stop until they were down for good.
"He's going to be here again soon. What do we do?" Pidge says.
A white blur goes past them. In front of Lance sits Sirius. Lance stares at Sirius.
"How did Sirius get here?" Hunk asks.
"Probably snuck on the lion with us." Shiro responds.
Sirius climbs up to Lance's shoulder and yanks the necklace off of his neck. They jump off his shoulder and runs away.
"Don't just stand there, get the creature and get the necklace back." Lotor orders.
Lance begins to chase after Sirius, but they're a smarter creature than they look. They run around, avoiding Lance's reach, with the necklace in their mouth.
"The necklace? The necklace must have something to do with how he's controlling Lance." Shiro says.
"But shouldn't Lance be back to normal then since the necklace is off?" Hunk asks.
"I don't know but that necklace must be important if Lotor wants him to get it back." Shiro responds.
Pidge runs and uses her grappling cable to yank Lance's leg again. Hunk joins and uses his energy cannon to block Lance's way. Sirius runs to Keith and Shiro.
Lance grabs the cable around his leg and pulls it, sending Pidge forward to him. When she gets closer to him, he claws at her shoulder, leaving deep scratch marks. Pidge screams and he grabs and throws her into Hunk. He catches her but the force of the throw and the catch knocks the wind out of him. She grabs her shoulder in pain.
"This needs to stop." Keith says.
Lance turns back to Sirius and continues to chase after them. Keith pushes himself off of Shiro and stands shakily. His leg still hurts like hell.
Sirius runs and drops the necklace in front of Keith. He takes his sword, raises it above his head and swings it down onto the necklace, right as Lance gets in front of him to swing. It shatters to pieces.
"NO!" Lotor shouts.
Lance stops and the purple in his eyes turn back to their normal color. His once feral look becomes one of fear as he looks straight into Keith's eyes. He lowers his fists and turns around slowly. His eyes land on Pidge in Hunk's arms, holding her injured shoulder. His breathing becomes more jagged as his eyes finally land on Lotor. He falls to his bottom, scrambling away from Lotor.
"What have I done?" He whispers.
Lotor turns without a word and leaves. No one goes after him. No one can.
"Come on let's get back to the castle." Shiro says.
Shiro offers Lance his hand but Lance just backs away from it. Lance stands up by himself and gets a good look at his teammates. He saw everything he did to them. He remembers from the first time he attacked them on the Balmera. He remembers everything he's said to them. He knows that he almost killed them just now.
He looks at Keith, who is clutching his side and barely able to stand. He really put a beating on Keith. Those injuries and bruises were all caused by him.
Shiro sighs and turns to help Keith walk back to the lion. Hunk carries Pidge back and Lance follows, looking all around him making sure Lotor doesn't pop up and snatch him back.
He still feels the torture he went through at the hands of Lotor. Before, under Lotor's control, the pain of the beatings weren't so noticeable. He couldn't think about the pain because Lotor was commanding him to do things. Now that he's free, all his bruises and cuts are in screaming pain. He won't mention that though.
The walk back was silent and so was the journey back to the castle.
"Oh my word, paladins you're hurt." Allura says when they exit the black lion.
"We need to get all of you healed." Coran says.
"I'm fine." Lance says softly, not able to look anyone in the eyes.
Keith pushes himself off Shiro once more and limps over to Lance.
"You're the main one who needs to be healed. You were gone for months." Keith says.
Lance looks down at Keith's bad leg.
'At least I can walk.' Lance thinks.
He doesn't argue though and follows everyone to the medic room. He watches as Pidge gets put in a pod first then Keith. Those two probably have the worse injuries. Keith's very bones are bruised with the amount of force Lance used in those hits. The scratches on Pidge's shoulder are extremely painful. Lance knows what the pain feels like all too well. Lotor clawed and scratched at him to no end.
He refuses to go next so Hunk goes in a pod next. Though he wasn't attacked as much, the few hits he did get were with a lot of force. He was down on the ground for a good two minutes after one hit before he could stand up again.
Shiro looks to Lance.
"You're next." Lance mumbles.
Lance knows that Shiro is in pain. He would feel terrible if he went before him even though he caused his pain. He would feel terrible if he went before anyone.
"Lance you really should go. Your's will take the longest because of how many injuries you have acquired. None of them were healed properly." Allura says.
Lance stands his ground though and waits for Shiro to go first. Shiro relents and go in a pod next.
Lance stares at his teammates healing. They wouldn't need to heal if he didn't hurt them.
"Lance you're next." Coran says.
Lance hesitantly goes in the pod. He feels like he doesn't deserve to be healed. Not after the pain and trouble he just caused everyone.
I didn't want to come home this way.