Veronica stood before Lance with a range of emotions tearing at her heart. The one she could identify the best, which also happened to be the most predominant, was confusion. She didn't understand her brother's actions on any level. Not just the way he acted around their family and her, but the obvious hesitancy in his voice, his posture, or even the way he talked in general. When he'd disappeared, her whole family had been an emotional wreck. And while Veronica held a stronger control over her emotions than any other member of her family, the devastation that filled her soul at the prospect of her little brother's death threatened to consume her. She refused to believe he was gone, and instead of moping around in her room for weeks on end, like her sister, she decided to find the truth herself. She joined the Garrison, against her parents' urgings, and resolved to uncover any truth about his unseemly "death". Of course, the Garrison had locked away any information about her brother behind an unbreachable "classified" label, of which she had no resources to defy. But she rejected the idea of quitting in her search for her brother, or even leaving the Garrison. It wasn't until just before the Galra arrived and ravaged her home that she learned the truth. And she hadn't even been looking for it at the time. She'd been curled up with her family, watching their favorite show, when the announcement shook their world. She remembered sitting among her shocked into silence family as they heard the news about the Galra's plan to invade, and the gasp that drew collectively from each of their lungs as they saw Lance on screen, his eyes so vulnerable and apologetic, his smile bittersweet. After that, she demanded as much information on the entire situation as possible, and her whole family had seemed to have life breathed back into them. Her mother started to sing again, her father stopped burying himself in his work, and her siblings bounced with vigor and energy. Leave it to Lance to make her family the happiest they had been in years in the face of an alien invasion. So, after seeing their pain, and how much Lance had seemed to miss them, she couldn't understand how he could ignore them. How he disregarded them like Christmas toys, unwanted after their initial appeal. The second feeling that she could somewhat grasp was anger. How dare he treat them like only he was the one impacted by his absence? As if his own trials had brought none to his family? The fury that pressed against her eyes built with each slight he paid them, until it almost exploded when she watched him barely mutter a word to their mother when she'd tried to catch Lance's attention. Their mother had toiled for hours in order to give him a new sweater, but he hadn't seen her reach out to give it to him, and completely missed the crushed look that appeared in her eyes. That event had led Veronica to finally confront Lance, and was why, as she stood before him, her head high and posture impeccable, she did not feel an inch of remorse at the way he squirmed under her intense gaze. Other emotions swirled through her stomach like ingredients in a potion, like sorrow and frustration, but she didn't know how to properly address those, so she suppressed them and hoped they'd vanish after this encounter.

"Why have you been avoiding us?" She repeated firmly, tone void of sympathy and brimming with resentment.

"I…"

Did he not even have a good reason? Did he think that he didn't need them, or that because he was now a hero who had saved dozens of worlds, he was above his family?

"Well?" Veronica pushed, crossing her arms.

Lance fidgeted with his sleeves, then his fingers began to move in a seemingly random manner, all the while keeping his eyes glued to the floor beneath him. Veronica noticed how his shoulders slumped uncharacteristically a small part of her felt surprised. When he was younger, Lance would never stop prattling off about different ways to attract the attention of women, and he would often emphasize how the air of confidence was imperative. Impeccable posture was a part of this look, and he always held his head like he was not only proud of everything he'd ever done, but of who he was. Now, he looked like he barely had enough confidence to get out of bed.

"Veronica…" He faded off, and she couldn't stand how measly he looked.

"Stand up straight for goodness sakes. I thought you were the one who used to harp on that," Veronica snapped, enough aggression in her voice to startle him into straightening his back.

"Are you going to tell me, or will I have to be the one to tell mom that her son doesn't pay attention to her anymore because he's too stuck up," she remarked harsly. Perhaps a bit too harshly, a part of her admonished, but the statement finally brought his eyes to meet hers.

"Why in the world would you say that?" Lance demanded, perplexion and anger tinting his tone.

"Oh, so you can form full sentences after all," Veronica noted bitterly.

"Answer the question, Veronica," Lance replied, the coldness in his voice contrasting the hot fire that raged within her.

"Answer my question first, Lance," Veronica held her ground.

"I don't feel obligated to answer your question right now," Lance growled.

"Since when have you started using such fancy language?" Veronica mocked, "Is it from your posh girlfriend, who, I've noticed, you seem to be fine paying attention to."

"Girlfriend?" The anger in Lance's features and voice completely disappeared as he cocked his head at Veronica.

"Who are you talking about?"

There was no emotion in his voice whatsoever, at least, not the kind that appears when one tries to deny romantic feelings or a relationship. It seemed as if Lance truly had no idea what Veronica was talking about, and that fact threw Veronica off as well.

"You mean you and the Princess…?" Veronica mirrored Lance's befuddled expression.

"You think me and Allura?" Lance pointed to himself. "Are you kidding? I don't think of her like that anymore."

"So you used to!" Veronica grabbed onto that information like a club that she was poised to beat him with.

"At one time I thought I did," Lance admitted, rubbing his forehead, "But I honestly don't feel anything for her."

"Well…" Veronica didn't know what to do for a moment, before she recalled the entire purpose of this conversation, and snapped back into aggressive mode.

"That doesn't matter. Tell me what purpose you could possibly have for avoiding us!"

"We've been busy trying to plan how to beat the Galra, don't you remember?" Lance asked snidely.

"Oh, don't use that as an excuse," she placed her hands on her hips, "I've been doing just as much as you and I've had plenty of time to talk to my family."

"No, you haven't," Lance disagreed, further stoking the flames within her, which were steadily growing into an inferno.

"Is that because you're one of the 'famed Paladins of Voltron'," she glared.

"Yes, it is," Lance confirmed, "I have to do things that you're not required to do."

"Well, it goes both ways, smart one," Veronica hissed.

Lance looked as if he were about to say something angry, but instead, without warning, his entire demeanor changed, and his eyes told her a story of remorse and agony. Caught off guard by the rapid mood shift, Veronica could only gape. For some reason, the scars on his temple seemed more defined than before, and their untold history sent chills down her spine.

"You're right," he sighed, leaning his back against the nearest wall.

"I have been avoiding you all."

Well, that wasn't a reason, but at least she'd gotten a confession.

"Why?" She wondered, tone softer than earlier.

He regarded her with an expression that she couldn't quite name, then blinked his eyes slowly and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, might as well get it over with.

"It's hard to explain."

"Can you try?" Veronica urged as gently as possible through gritted teeth.

Closing his eyes and rubbing his hands over his face, he nodded.

"I don't want to lie to any of you," Lance told her, which was not the reason she was expecting.

"Lie? About what?"

"How I got all my scars, what we did in space, what happened to me, why I can't sleep at night, why I can't really taste anything anymore. Everything," Lance recanted as if he were holding his breath.

"Why? What happened?" Veronica inquired, curiosity exploding in her mind.

He raised an eyebrow as if he were telling someone, I told you so, though no one was in his line of sight.

"It's a long story," he supplied.

"I have time," Veronica couldn't believe that she'd have to fight him every step of the way.

"It's not one that I'd like to tell," Lance told her.

"Well, then, you won't have to. I'll ask Keith," Veronica threatened.

"You really think he'll tell you?" Lance asked judgmentally.

"If he won't tell me, I'll ask Pidge, or Hunk. They seem like they'd tell me," Veronica crossed her arms again, amazed but not surprised at his stubbornness.

Lance considered her threat for a moment before meeting her eyes.

"Alright, I'll tell you what I can, but we might want to do it somewhere else," he proposed.

"If we go somewhere else that gives you a chance to escape or someone else to find something for you to do. I don't think so," Veronica persisted.

"Ok, then," Lance breathed deeply, as if gathering every ounce of energy in his body.

"I was captured and tortured for a month and a half and I killed some people and, oh, yeah, I died," he blurted so rapidly that Veronica hardly caught everything that he said.

"You...what?!" Veronica's anger rose to a whole other level, but this time it was not aimed at Lance, it was targeted at this whole situation in general.

"I thought you said you didn't want to lie!" Veronica hissed, about to slap her brother.

"I didn't lie!" Lance insisted, moving away from her, "All of that happened!"

"You died?!" She was so bewildered that she practically screamed the words. "You were captured, tortured, and killed?"

"Yes, quiet down. I died before the whole capture thing," he tried to clarify.

"Then...what? How'd you die?"

"I died knocking Allura's Lion out of the way from a massive electricity strike," Lance explained.

"And how are you here right now?" Veronica spluttered in disbelief. "Did the grim reaper not want you?"

"No, Allura kind of resurrected me…," Lance paused, realizing just how absurd the whole event sounded.

Veronica, who had thought she could prepare for anything and had a comeback for any sort of sentence thrown her way, was at a complete loss for words.

"She...resurrected you?" Veronica repeated.

"That does sound really weird phrased like that," Lance admitted.

Veronica's head was spinning.

"Hold on a second," Veronica pulled her glasses off her face, cleaned them, and pushed them to the bridge of nose.

"What are you doing?" Lance wondered as she squinted.

"I'm trying to decide if you look insane, because you certainly sound like it."

"Veronica," Lance grabbed her hands, his voice dead serious as he forced her to look into his eyes.

"I am not lying to you. Every word I said, every event that told you, all of those happened. If you need proof, here are the scars."

Frozen, her throat clogged and eyes wide, Veronica watched in horrified fascination as Lance lifted the hem of shirt and revealed the scars that covered his torso. Some scars glared scarlet like blisters, making her think of hot and uncontrollable rage, while the others that marred his skin were the color of bones and radiated terror and suffering. They physically disfigured his chest, pinching places where soft tissue should be. Veronica could count each of Lance's ribs, several of them bulging from his skin as if they had been broken and not set correctly. Burn marks trailed over some of the scars, adding layers to the mural etched into his skin that told a wicked story.

Tears rushed to her eyes as she brought a hand to her mouth, trying to stop herself from either gasping or vomiting. Numb and shocked, she couldn't speak, couldn't move. The sight before her seared into her brain. Veronica couldn't picture the horrors that had been inflicted upon Lance, nor could she truly grasp how damaged he had been.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you," He let his shirt drop back into place and looked away, jaw clenched and eyes closed.

As if an icy wave had just slammed into her, Veronica felt all feeling and movement return to her, and her first instincts were to reach for her brother.

"Lance," she said tenderly, delicately placing her hand on his face.

He opened his eyes and looked at her, blue irises shimmering with unfallen tears.

"It's okay. I'm glad you told me," Veronica reassured, acknowledging that Lance had struggled through more than enough pain for a lifetime.

He smiled wistfully at her and stepped back.

"I'm sorry, Veronica, I hope I answered your question," he said mechanically.

Stunned, Veronica watched him turn stiffly away from her. As his back retreated, she couldn't rid the thought of his scars from her mind, nor could she stop herself from wondering what kind of scars scattered across the other parts of his body, and what stories they told. When he disappeared from her vision, leaving her to absorb his revelations alone, her knees collapsed from under her as she finally grasped everything he'd said.

A/N:

Hey everyone! Sorry that's its taken me a while to update, I've kind of been procrastinating. So, so far, I've been following canon events pretty closely, but that ends at the end of season 7. Nothing in season 8 will be included in this story, especially not Allura and Lance. At the moment, Lance has plenty of other problems to deal with before being in a romantic relationship. Plus, in this story, he's made it clear that he doesn't have any feelings for her. I'm sorry if you ship Allurance, but no ships will be included in this story. Also, what happens to Lance at the end of Season 8 is not in this Lance's future.

Thank you for reading! You are all so amazing!