Chapter 3 : Escape

Aria had awoken the next morning with beads of sweat on her forehead, her stomach was doing flips. Quickly rushing out of bed she runs to the bathroom and empties her stomach into the toilet. Lotor was by her side in an instant rubbing circles on her back. This was the side of Lotor she barely saw and if she saw it she'd cherish every minute of it.

After she gets done puking Lotor picks her up and carries her back to bed. He puts her in bed and covers her up. Lotor glances at the time and notices he's going to be late for a special meeting if he didn't get ready. He throws on his armor and before he leaves he places a gentle kiss on her forehead, "Rest beloved, I shall return in a few hours with breakfast."

"M'kay…" She replies, half awake as she turns over on the other side of the bed, falling back to sleep.

Lotor shuts the door quietly and says, "If she wakes before I return take her to the kitchen and have him cook whatever she wants."

The guards nod and return to their post, guarding the door like their life depended on it. In some cases it would.

An hour or so passes and an alarm blares over the speak, red lights flash with caution. Surprisingly it didn't even wake up Aria, she was in a deep sleep. She was too tired to be bothered by the loud annoying sound.

The yellow and green lion of Voltron were spotted up ahead. It didn't take long for Lotors' ship to start shooting at them. Yellow and green were just distractions so Shiro, Lance, and Keith could sneak aboard and find Aria. Once inside they Keith pulls up the schematics of the ship, seeing a heavily guarded area not too far from them.

"Guys there's a heavy guarded room not too from here." Keith tells them. "This has to be where he's keeping her."

Keith takes off running in that direction and Shiro and Lance reluctantly follow him. They fight with the guards that are guarding the room and know I them out cold. Keith barges through the door and finds her sleeping soundly on the bed. They all walk over to the bed, so many questions running through their heads. They all could see the scars of where he bit her.

Lance pushes past Keith who was closest to the bed and picks her up bridal style. "Come on let's get out of here."

The two nod and head out of the room, Lance trudging behind. They make it to a hallway and that's when Aria starts to stir awake. Once she realizes what's going on she lets out a scream and air bends herself out of Lance's arms and onto the floor, stopping everyone in their tracks.

Lance goes to pick her up again but she backs away from him, "Come on Aria, we don't have much time. We need to get you out of here."

A few tears slide down her face as she says, "Y-You guys s-shouldn't be h-here."

"What do you mean?" Shiro asks in a comforting voice.

"I-I can't leave, h-he won't l-let me. H-He's never going to let me l-leave." She replies, her voice shaking terribly.

A few seconds later Keith is picking her up and throwing her over her his shoulder. He continues to walk down the hallway, no matter how hard she hits his back and screams for him to let him go. They head down a numerous amount of hallways and before they can get back to their lions safely Lotor is waiting for them. Keith puts Aria down and she looks at Lotor, fear flashes in her eyes.

"Come beloved." Lotor says as he reaches out a hand, gesturing her for come over to his side.

She hesitantly and slowly starts to walk over to Lotor. Lance's words stop her dead in her tracks, "Aria, don't go to him. Come back to us and we can help you. We'll take you home. We're your family."

She turns to look back at her friends more tears rolling down her cheeks, "This..this is my home now. Lotor is my family…"

A smirk grows on Lotors face as she says these words. "Come beloved, you need your rest."

"Aria...please..we miss you. Come back home.." Keith tells her, his voice cracking a little.

Her hands fly to her head and she holds it. There were too many voices in her head, they were all screaming at her. But she knew she had to make the right decision for her and her unborn child. If she stayed with Lotor he'd beat her if she disobeyed him. But if she went with her friends she'd be free until Lotor came to capture her again. But at least she'd be free.

"Beloved, come here now!" Lotor orders her but she doesn't budge.

She turns away from Lotor and walks towards her friends. Lotor, outraged by her betrayal, takes out his knife and throws it at her. She uses air bending and redirects it at Lotor who quickly moves out of the way. She throws a gust of wind at Lotor and his acolytes, pinning them up against the wall. The Paladins take this as their chance to escape and head over to their lions, Aria following close behind.

She climbs onto the Red Lion and heads up to the cockpit where Keith is currently sitting. She sits down on the floor and lets out a sigh. She finally felt free and for once in that long month she was there she felt safe. The Paladins fly their lions back to the castle of lions and when they reach the hangers she gets up off the floor and walks out of the Lions mouth. Her head feels light and her legs start to wobble. Keith grabs her arm and tries to steady her. Her legs give out and her eyes slam shut, Keith quickly pulls her to his chest before she could fall to the ground.

He picks her up and says to his fellow Paladins and the Alteans, "Hey Guys, Aria just passed out. I'm heading to the pod chambers."

"We will me you there Keith." Allura replies over the coms.

Keith carries her throughout the castle to the pod chambers and Coran helps him put her inside the pod. Pidge, Allura, Shiro, Hunk, and Lance look at the girl laying inside the healing pod. She had bruises, bitemarks, and scratch marks all over her. She looked so broken and worn. "What did he do to her?"

Lance's voice came out so sad and broken. His best friend was laying in healing pod and he could tell that she was abused mentally and physically. He just wished that they had gotten there sooner. Corans' voice brings him out of his thought, his words shook everyone, "It appears that healing pod is detecting a second life energy.."

Coran types on the healing pod pad and it confirms his suspicion. He tells everyone, "The Avatar is pregnant."

Lance's heart shatters into a million pieces, all Keith sees is red. Keith quickly leaves the room, his fists clenched in anger. Lance quickly follows him and when he walks out of the room he sees Keith land a solid punch to the wall near him. He starts to repeatedly punch the wall until Lance stops him, pulling him into a hug. "I know what your going through...it's okay...it's okay…"

Keith completely breaks down at that point. He was so angry and upset. They both were. But all three of them were going to get through this giant mess together.

Word Count : 1298