Chapter Eleven

Shiro was almost to Lance's room when he was suddenly hit with a crippling shock of fear. It catapulted him straight into a flashback.

He was chained to the wall. It was right after his first fight, and he was still sweaty and out of breath. A cut on his cheek was dripping blood down his face. He heard someone enter the room with soft footsteps and raised his head to see a tall thin figure in a cloak.

"This is the one who killed my Robeast?" the figure asked in a growling feminine voice.

"Yes, Mistress," replied one of the cloaked figures behind her. She came closer and Shiro saw that she had grayish blue skin, long gray hair and glowing yellow eyes that sent a shiver of fear down his spine. She reached out a clawed hand and grasped his chin, forcing him to look right into her eyes.

"You will make an excellent specimen. But first we must break you."

Shiro clenched his jaw, trying not to show how terrified he was. He didn't trust his voice enough to speak.

She laughed. "I see that it won't be easy. I look forward to it."

Shiro gasped as he wrenched himself out of the memory and into the present, where he was kneeling in the hallway with cold sweat on his forehead. His heart was pounding with the fear from the memory, but also from the realization that this flashback had come without a prompting. The other times the memories had always been triggered by something. Were they getting worse for some reason?

He placed a hand on the wall and stood up, taking deep breaths to calm himself. But his pulse went right back into overdrive when he heard a very familiar voice in his head.

Shiro. I am coming for you. This time you will not be so lucky.

Lance tried not to panic. It was just a voice in his head. It couldn't hurt him, right?

You will be the easiest to subdue. I will tear your mind apart and feast on its energy. The others will curse you for your weakness.

"Get out!" he yelled, curling into a ball on his bed and gripping his hair with both hands. "You're not really here!"

I don't need to be here to destroy you. Lance was suddenly assaulted with a memory. He was cuffed to a tree, watching Nyma steal his lion. He'd messed up big time, again. Then he was treated to every single time his teachers at the Garrison had yelled at him for goofing off.

Always playing the fool. Lance felt himself slipping into another memory.

He was in his kitchen at home, leaning against the counter. His mom was looking at him but not saying anything.

"I know it was stupid. I'm sorry. I was just, well . . ."

"You were trying to impress a girl."

Lance hung his head. "Yeah."

His mom sighed. "You nearly got both you and Hunk killed. I can't just let this go."

He met her eyes. "But Dad said . . ."

"I know what your father said. But he doesn't know how many times you've gotten into stuff like this."

"I won't do it again, I promise."

She just looked at him for a few moments. "We both know that's not true."

"But I'm headed to the Garrison next week! How much trouble can I get into there?"

She shook her head. "There's no way I'm sending you to the Garrison when I can't even trust you to drive my car."

"Mom! You can't do that! I've been waiting for years to be old enough!"

"I'm sorry, Lance. You're not ready yet."

Lance blinked and he was back on his bed. His mom had had several similar conversations with him. But she'd been so proud of him when he'd gone a whole year without any serious screw-ups, enough to let him go to the Garrison after all.

She was always disappointed in you.

"No, she wasn't!"

How do you think she felt when she found out that you'd left the Garrison without warning, deserting your family and all your responsibilities? I doubt she was very surprised. She was probably glad to be rid of such a troublesome son.

Lance clung to his memories of his mother hugging him, laughing with him, and smiling at him. But he felt Haggar chipping away at those memories, replacing them with every time his mom had looked at him with sadness and disappointment.

And now you've disappointed your team. The only family you have left. Lance knew that was true. He couldn't protect them like he was supposed to. Haggar laughed. You are useless compared to the others. You are not truly the blue paladin. Your lion chose you out of desperation, nothing else. You are weak.

"No," Lance murmured. He knew that wasn't true. He and his lion were connected in a way that went beyond anything he'd ever experienced. He reached out, trying to feel Blue's presence. It wasn't there. He stopped breathing for a moment.

It was easy to sever your connection. Your lion will soon be nothing more than a tool for the Galra.

Lance yelled, bashing his fist against the wall. The pain brought him back to reality. Haggar was trying to manipulate him. He tried to connect with his lion again, and this time he felt a flicker of something. The druid was blocking him off from his lion somehow, but not completely. He jumped out of bed and rushed out of his room, only to run into Shiro, who was leaning against the wall, looking disoriented.

"Shiro!" Lance grabbed at the wall to keep from falling over. "Is the druid talking to you too?"

Shiro blinked at him. "I . . . yes." He didn't elaborate.

"She's trying to cut me off from my lion!" Lance blurted out. "I have to go." He ran down the hallway, stopping only when he reached his lion's hangar and saw that Blue's shields were up. When he touched them, a surge of energy knocked him back.

"Blue, it's me. It's Lance." The blue lion stared at him with its yellow eyes. "I'm your paladin. Let me in!" He reached out for the shield again, this time simply laying his hand on it. He wasn't knocked back, which he supposed was an improvement. "Please. I healed you, remember?" He pushed down the sliver of doubt that crept up in his mind. The lion kept staring at him, as if daring him to prove it.

Lance took a deep breath and concentrated on his hand. He felt a tingling sensation and watched, wide-eyed, as his hand started glowing blue. There was a happy purr in the back of his head and Blue's shields dropped.

Lance grinned. "Sweet! Take that, you stupid druid!" He ran up to his lion and put his glowing hand on its nose. "I love you, too, Blue."

The purr was replaced with a feeling of urgency. Lance looked up into his lion's eyes. "What is it?" The others. Blue was worried about the others. He nodded. "Yeah, okay. I'll go check to make sure everyone else is all right. But I'll be back, I promise!" He took off running again, back to where he'd seen Shiro. He wasn't going to fail his team this time.