Lance awoke to darkness.
Inhaling sharply, his muscles tightened- refusing to move until he had a grasp of where he was. With no sight to help him, he was at a lost, curled in a ball for who knows how long before he dared to even shift.
Turning over to his side, finding himself sprawled on a metal surface, he groaned. "What the hell?" he lifted himself to his knees… his bare knees.
Well, not bare, but more of armor less. Freaking, Lance patted his chest and arms- his armor was gone! He still wore the black under gear thankfully, but he was officially stripped of anything else, including his Bayard.
Great…
"Uh…" Throwing his hands around, he hit something no matter which direction he tried- it was like he was in a box. Perhaps a cage? That wasn't comforting.
Grabbing what he can only assume to be a bar, Lance reached a hand up to the side of his skull- feeling something wet. "Head injury… fantastic…" he groaned.
"Lance…?"
Startled at the call of his name, he shifted, "Keith?"
"Yeah. Yeah, it's me." He said with a heavy gasp of air, "I'm to your right. We're in cages."
"That is a horrible thing to wake up too-" inching to the right, pressing himself as deep into the side as he could, he heard Keith ask-
"Are you okay?" gripping the edges of the bars, Lance unthinkingly stuck his hand between the spaces. He wasn't sure what he was hoping for, but when his hand grazes Keith's wrist, then his fingers, he sighed. The tight feeling that had churned in his chest released and he nodded,
"I'm okay. Where are we?"
'I don't know." Keith admits. There is a pause between them before Keith tightens his own grip on Lance's hand, flustering the other, "I got us into this mess…" he mutters.
Lance is quick to reply, despite the hammering in his ears, "Wha- no. It was two against two- or three. I couldn't see how many guys they had, but you were injured and so was I."
"I can at least see- I should have been able to get us out of there." Keith insists.
"Well- you can try to get us out of here now. Did they take your armor too?"
"Yeah." Keith grumbles, "My Bayard too."
Playing with Keith's hand, feeling comfort from it in this situation, Lance says, "Okay- so we'll have to use something else to get out of here. Got any plans?"
"Not at the moment…" Keith clears his throat a bit, "Stop playing with my hands." He pulls them away.
"Aww." Lance pouts, feeling a little colder. "Come on, Keith. I'm panicking over here-" he wiggles his eyebrows, not even sure if the other paladin can see them through the bandages. "I feel better when I can hold onto you." As stillness falls between the two, amplified by the sound of dripping water not too far away, Lance licks his lips, "Uh-" realizing that probably sounded weird, he began to regret his request, "I mean- it is just… I can't see so having you here is- I'm really grateful you are here… Um-"
A hand quietly slips into his, squeezing, "I'm glad you are here too."
The very flustered Cuban boy who feels way over his head is beginning to panic, "Y-Yeah?"
Keith makes a noise of confirmation. "Let's just- we need to get out of here."
"Right. Right." It felt odd to be holding hands with such a distance between them, but Lance wasn't going to start voicing any complaints now- not after Keith was the one to initiate the contact. "See anything useful? Where are we exactly? Tell me what you see."
"We are in a dungeon of some sort."
"Creepy…"
"I don't see any guards, but they might be posted farther down the hall. We've definitely been caught by some sort of civilization."
"Coolio…" Jeez, Keith's hands were soft. They must have taken away his gloves too because Lance could feel every knuckle- warm and strong. "Do you like lotion?"
"What?" Keith cuts himself off from assessing the area, most likely giving Lance a peculiar look.
"Nothing." He says tightly, "Just- never mind, your hands are just soft. I was curious. I'm always a man for skin care so, you know…" he trailed off, whistling to avoid the awkwardness. "Carry on." So, losing his sight made him irrational and clingy, gotcha. They have got to fix this and fast before Lance says something he really might regret.
"….Right," Keith says just as awkwardly, his hand feeling warm all of the sudden, "There are uh… chains, on the other wall. If we could somehow reach them we could use them." The more he talked the more his confidence began to return to his voice. Lance listened, nodding from time to time to whatever the other was saying.
He couldn't help but wonder what the others were doing right now? Were they close to tracking them down? Could they even do that without their lions with them? Perhaps their lions could come get them?
Zarkon could do that, right? He could connect with the black lion from a far distance- but his connection was also really strong with the Lion's. As close as Lance claimed to be with Blue, he wasn't actually sure if their bond was strong enough to pull that off.
So unless they could get a signal out to the castle instead, they were shit out of luck. How charming.
"Hey-" pulled out of his thoughts, he straightens, "Is your head okay? I can see blood."
"I'm fine," Lance says. He felt a little light headed a while ago, but it had long since passed. "Just wish I could get some answers."
"You and me both."
Chuckling, Lance went quiet- he could hear footsteps.
Hearing the sound of a door opening, Lance subconsciously tightened his grip. Keith's thumb brushed his knuckle soothingly- AHHHH. Keith! Now is not the time to be- y'know- sweetish! Not Swedish, but sweet… ish… Yeah.
Holding hands was a bad idea. Teammates don't usually do that. He should just let go.
….He doesn't let go. He doesn't want to let go.
Lance should really focus on whoever came in. Go to that, Lance. Focus on that.
"Oh," a soft and crackly voice speaks to them through the darkness of Lance's vision, "You are both awake. Good morning."
"Who are you? Where are we?!" Keith demanded.
"Now, now-" it was a woman from what Lance could tell, "Calm yourself. I should be the one asking the two of you that since you are the ones trespassing on our lands." There was shuffling and a few footsteps. "Did you come to spy on us?"
"No. We were just passing by, looking for help," Keith grumbles.
"We did see that you two were injured. How is your leg?"
Lance hadn't even thought of that till now, only just then realizing how worse it could be right now after all this. Turning to the direction he knew Keith was, Lance's fingers felt numb at how tightly he was holding onto him.
Keith's voice was dark when he says, "These are new bandages…"
"We disinfected it and closed the wound the best we could." The woman confirms. Lance lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.
"You helped him?" he asks softly, "Why?"
"We are not cruel," the woman scoffs, "I would be grateful if I were you."
Lance was, he really was. Keith not so much.
"I'll be grateful when you let us out of here," he pulled against the bar with the hand not currently clinging to Lance's. He couldn't help but wonder what this must look like to this woman.
Two guys just casually holding hands across the cell as they yell at her… yeah, that wasn't weird or anything.
"Perhaps you can answer my questions first." The woman's voice gets closer to their location, "Who do you work for? What are you exactly? I've never seen any species like you."
"We're human…" Lance says quietly, "And we don't work for anyone."
"You are not from here then. I see." The woman says softly, "Then they see you as outsiders…"
"What?"
"We are known as the Coeihns- people of the western woods; we own these lands. I am a translator amongst my people and was asked to come here and speak with you since we could not originally understand your native tongue. Your simple babble wasn't too hard to master, however."
"Simple…" Keith grouched, already disliking this woman. Lance really wished he could see what she looked like. He really wished he could just see in general. If he could, he probably wouldn't have to hang onto Keith with some death grip.
"If you do not work for our enemies, then who are you? Where are you from?"
"We are not from this planet," Lance says honestly. There was really not other option they could have except be honest.
"From the stars?" the woman sounds surprised to hear that, "Not many visit us from the sky- only purple soldiers from time to time."
"The Galra." Keith hissed, "They are here?"
"They are shot down." the cold tone is startling to the both of them. "Are you one of them? These… Galra?"
"No." they snap.
Lance pauses, "Well-" he thinks of Keith, but the red Paladin squeezes his hand enough to shut him up. Right, yes, probably not a good idea to bring that up. "We aren't one of them. In fact, we fight against them too."
"We are paladins of Voltron," Keith declares.
"Voltron? The child's tale?" the woman finds it amusing enough to laugh, "You must be joking."
"We aren't," Lance assures her. "We can even prove it if we can get in contact with our friends. Doesn't your leader have some way to contact our ship?"
"One does not simply just visit our leader unless you yourself are one of us." There is a pause, "Being outsiders, the rules are different for you." She explains, "Since we cannot confirm that you are not spies from our enemies you shall be considered prisoners of war."
"Of war?" Keith tugs violently on the bars, "We've done nothing wrong!"
"Be that as it may, we cannot take the chance."
Keith is slamming his fist, pissed, "The chance?! So you just throw random people into dungeons without so much of a trial or anything?!
"Um-" Lance lifts a hand, "Sorry to cut in, but I'm kind of blind and freaking out right now."
"I noticed." The woman says, "We looked at your eyes- there isn't much we can do other than give them time and hope for the best."
"…." Lance lowers his hand, "Okay, but um- Hi there. What is your name?" he turned to the option of avoiding the topic of his sight.
With a startled pause, the woman eventually says, "I am Tellru,"
Keith wasn't willing to say his name in reply, suspicious that this might be some kind of trick to get them to talk-
"I'm Lance."
"Lance!" he snaps, furious at the Blue paladin.
He jumps a little, "What?" he frowns.
"You just told her your name!"
"She told me hers!"
"She could be lying!"
"…Maybe I'm lying?" he offered weakly, pursing his lips. Keith slaps his own forehead, flinching when Tellru began to chuckle.
"You two are very strange. Perhaps you really aren't spies or Galra- but we still cannot trust you. For now, we shall decide where to put you within the other prisoners and scum that rot down here.
"Hey." Lance huffs
"Fun," Keith commented dryly.
"Not that you two are either of those- but perhaps I can work out something with my Lord." Tellru corrects herself.
"That would be great, thanks." Lance feels a little better about this. Tellru seemed like the most understanding person they've come across… though they haven't really had a chance to talk to anything else but her.
"If you can prove your worth, perhaps you can change your fate." She offers, and Lance doesn't want to even try to understand what she is talking about, "For now there is little to worry about. With you two being equivalents-"
"Equivalents?" Keith frowns.
"Yes, equivalents of each other." Tellru said like it should be obvious, "You two will not be separated-" Leaning a little towards the cage, Tellru sniffed them, then stepped back as if she was startled, "Oh-" she covered her mouth, frowning deeply, "Well, uh- That is very surprising."
"What?" Keith growls at her, "What are you talking about?"
Lance was shifting a little, swaying back and forth awkwardly before saying, "…Did you just smell us?" he inquires, only just hearing the sound of someone sniffing towards him.
"You two aren't-" Lance wasn't sure what was going on, but he thought Tellru backed up from their cages, "Oh. Well- this makes things different. No wonder Rashra was so insistent on keeping you alive, Red one."
Was she talking about Keith?
"Okay, yeah, Tellru- Hey, confused blind guy here, yet again. What the hell are you talking about? Who is Rashra? I would prefer to stick with my friend here. What are equivalents?" too many questions were shooting past his lips for Tellru to answer all of them immediately.
"Rashra is head of the guard, his men brought you both here." There is a sound of knocking coming from the door, "My time is almost up. I must leave soon."
"But you haven't explained anything! What the hell is going on!" Keith yells.
Tellru sighs heavily, "Why am I always the one who gets the difficult prisoners?" she grumbles, "Listen, being pure, you two will be separated. Lance, you will most likely be taken to fight amongst our champions with our other prisoners. The Red one will be added as a prize."
Lance wasn't sure what he was hearing, "Champions? Prize? What?" his head was spinning too much. Was he still dreaming? It was hard to tell when he was awake and when he was asleep sometimes with these bandages.
"He's blind! He can't fight!" Keith was quick to rage.
"Rashra will decide that for himself. Considering he saved you, I already assume he knows you are pure; you will not have much of a choice. It is sad, but there is nothing I can do about it."
"….WHAT?!" what was happening. What was she even talking about?
"Who is pure? Keith? Keith isn't pure. Far from it. Pure means you are sweet and cute- that isn't him." Lance argues. Well… sometimes he could be that, but Lance would never ever admit that aloud.
"Lance…" he can feel Keith's death glare.
"Is Keith your name?' Tellru says a little smugly.
"Lance!" the death glare was starting to actually hurt at this point- along with his hand. He really shouldn't have let Keith hold onto it.
Lance grinned nervously, "Sorry."
Tellru continued to talk in a rushed tone, "Listen, sky dwellers- I thought you were both equivalents, but you aren't. Lance, since you are not an equivalent, you are now just considered an impure- like most other prisoners. Keith is pure-" There is another heavy banging and Tellru is backing up, "I shall be back within a few hours to collect both of you. I will try my best to explain then. For now, rest up. You have a tough couple of days approaching."
Unable to stop her they sat there in a dumbfounded silence.
"So… did you get any of that?" Lance inquires, brushing his thumb over Keith's wrist, rather pleased at the feeling of such delicate skin.
… He didn't just think that, shut up.
"No. What the hell did she mean?" Keith grumbled. Lance wished he could see Keith's face- or even just the color of his form. It terrified him to think too deeply on the matter of his eyes, but he had a feeling that was the least of his worries after what Tellru said.
He would be placed with others to fight champions?
Keith would be a prize? What did they mean by that Like a prize prize- something you win at a carnival?
"What do you think equivalents are?" he inquired.
"I don't know." Keith sighs, "Apparently you are considered impure." He says it like he is teasing him.
Lance huffs a little, leaning back to press his forehead to the bars, his hand hanging loosely out of these confinements, fingers intertwined with this smug paladin. "I don't even-"
Being pure…
Sitting up, Lance covered his mouth, "Wait-" he gasped.
"What?" the red paladin grumbled.
"Keith-" he turned so fast that he could hear the other cage shake slightly in surprise. "Are you…." He couldn't say it.
Keith clicked his teeth, "What?" he snapped.
Taking a few breaths, prepared for the rage that was Keith, he cautiously asked, "Keith… Are you a virgin?"
Hehehehehehhe, I'm gonna have so much fun with this fanfic, I just know it. Yes, Yes little Keith is a pure little virgin.
And Lance isn't. Hope I made that obvious.
So yeah, since I mention the Keith being a Galra thing just assume this takes place somewhere in season two.
Like, Shiro isn't missing yet but they have learned the truth about Keith?
... It is a fanfic, don't think too hard about it.