Author's Note:

Hello all, and welcome to this rather delayed chapter. This one looks at the 'Fall of the Castle of Lions' episode, and 'The Tears of the Balmera', since they cover the same event. Its more of a swift dive through so assume that what you don't see pretty much happens as it does in the actual show. Thank you for your continued support, and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I own nothing.

Chapter 9

Lance sat alone in the Castle's large control room, gazing absently up at the crystal that dominated the ceiling.

The Arusians they'd protected were currently in celebration alongside the Alteans and other Paladins, but Lance had ended up leaving the party.

Partly, this was due to the attention from all the Arusians, he wasn't used to being the centre of attention, in fact, his survival had depended on being the opposite of that. Luckily, he shared the spotlight with the other Paladins, allowing him to hide behind them if he needed to. This meant that he thought he could manage, but something else had caused him to go.

Family interactions.

He'd seen an Arusian mother lovingly praising her children after their little recreation of Voltron's victory, and it had caused something to stir in him.

His relationship with his mother had been…difficult to describe. While she didn't hate him, she didn't really seem to greatly care for him either, she barely seemed to care for life at all if he was completely honest.

He never knew what had caused her to end up on the street, she never told him, but she had become resigned to her life, like she believed she didn't deserve any better. By the time Lance was born, his mother had long been selling herself for money, the city providing many people willing to have her 'services'. However, the very things she did to help them survive, slowly killed her from within, until one day, her physical body finally followed suite, leaving Lance behind.

This meant, that there was very little 'love' in their relationship, but her death still left an ache within him that never completely faded.

The sound of the doors opening drew him out of his thoughts and he glanced around to see Coran entering.

"Ah, Number Three, what brings you away from the party?"

Lance simply looked away again, unsure as how to answer.

For his part, Coran simply stood next to him, "Not used to all the attention you're getting?"

Lance looked up in surprise, Coran seemed far more perceptive than he appeared.

The Altean gave a small smile, "Though something tells me that's not everything."

The boy glanced down at the floor, unsure whether or not the headset could project symbols to explain it, since he couldn't in his own head.

Once again, Coran perceived well enough, "Don't worry about trying to explain it if you can't." He stared up at the crystal, "I wondered if you were missing home, but I get the feeling there isn't much there that you particularly miss." He looked at the teen, "But I suppose you could be wondering if there's something you're supposed to be missing."

Once again, Lance was surprised, and in that moment, he realised just how experienced Coran was. He seemed to be such a bumbler, but the Altean was likely older than all the Paladins put together, since they already knew that Alteans lived longer than humans, he'd seen a lot while serving King Alfor.

Coran turned to face him fully, "I suggest you don't dwell on it too much, you might find it taking away from what you have now."

Lance stared, then smiled, he wasn't sure if the man's words had helped, but he felt better. He stood up and gestured to the door, and Coran clapped his hands, "Indeed, back to the party!"

They walked to the door side by side, Pidge's hacked drone Rover passing them by. The teen stopped, instincts from surviving on the streets telling him something was wrong.

Rover was there, but not Pidge…

On impulse, he dived towards Coran, shielding the man just as the drone exploded, he felt a surge of heat and pain…

Then he was gone.

Pain, fuzzy, burning pain.

Lance forced his eyes open, mind numb and blank.

What happened, how was he here? Something happened on the bridge, but what was it?

His eyes worked slowly, and his mind even slower, gradually taking in the sight before him. A Galra, Keith, Allura and Pidge, the Green Paladin grasped in some large claw.

Then his mind rocketed into high gear.

He summoned his bayard, aimed at the claw and fired, freeing Pidge and distracting the Galra. His head then fell back, the following fight becoming white noise as he lay in exhaustion, until Keith appeared over him.

"Lance, can you hear me?"

Lance blinked, then managed a small nod, seeing the faces of the others gathering over him. He vaguely registered someone holding him up and he managed a smile at their concerned and relieved faces.

For some reason, his earlier thoughts of his mother came to mind, and he wondered if the care he was seeing was how it was supposed to be in a family.

As he felt himself blacking out once more, he grinned.

If so, he thought they were a good family.

Shiro eyed the cryo-pod impatiently.

Allura had told them Lance would be in there for roughly one Earth day (give or take, since Altean time measurements were slightly different), and was due to wake up any second.

He looked back at her, "Can't we get him out yet?"

She shook her head, "Just a few more ticks."

"How long is that?" Hunk asked, equally impatient.

"It means he'll wake up any time now." Coran answered confidently, "We just want to be absolutely sure that he's healed."

The princess smiled, "Trust us Paladins, we wouldn't keep him in there any longer than we had to."

Pidge was effectively pressed against the pod's glass, "C'mon, open up already."

The pod hissed and clunked, and the girl jumped back as it opened, releasing Lance.

The teen stumbled forward, right into Shiro's waiting arms. Immediately, everyone swarmed around him, as he blinked groggily at them, raising a quizzical eyebrow, but received no informative reply as Hunk yanked him out of Shiro's arms into a hug.

"Lance, you're back!"

Keith grasped the Blue Paladin's shoulder, "You really had us worried there."

Pidge joined the hug, sandwiching Lance between her and Hunk, "Glad to see you feeling better."

As they piled on the boy, Shiro watched fondly, until Allura stated that the boy needed something to eat. He stepped forward, "I need to speak with him a moment, we'll catch up to you."

They stared in confusion, but Coran seemed to have an understanding, "C'mon you lot, let's get some grub sorted for him."

The Altean shepherded the others out, leaving the two paladins alone.

Shiro remained silent for a moment, then spoke, "Lance, Coran told me what you did on the bridge, how you shielded him from the explosion."

The boy's eyes widened, then filled with uncertainty, and Shiro weighed his next words carefully, "What you did was brave, and noble, but it also scared us, all of us."

And that was no exaggeration, especially when the crisis was over. Coran felt incredibly guilty and was unlikely to let the boy do anything remotely strenuous anytime soon, Allura had certainly kept a far too close an eye on the cryo-pod as it did its work, and everyone else hadn't left the sickbay the whole time he was recovering, except when Hunk grabbed them all food.

Personally, Shiro been close to his wits end, not taking his eyes off the pod, lest something happened when he did, and he definitely wanted to protect Lance, and the others, as well as he could.

The man kept his eyes fixed on their least experienced member, learning fast despite everything stacked against him, "We don't want to see you so hurt Lance, and although I know that we'll all have to make snap decisions like you did then in the future, please try and keep yourself safe, for all of us."

He smiled, and then pulled the boy into a tight hug, "Because there's no way we're going to let you go."

In the embrace, Lance smiled softly.

PS-Some nice Space Dad fluff at the end there, as well as a little hint as to what Lance's mother was like in this AU at the beginning. Please let me know what you thought as well as any chapter suggestions, this fic will probably skip around the timeline so don't worry about chronology.