Phobia: an intense fear

If there was one thing that they all had in common, it was that they each knew fear, just like one knows the rhythm of their heartbeat. It had become a constant companion after becoming the Paladins of Voltron, and had stayed by their sides throughout their time in space. Sometimes it was almost ignorable. Sometimes it was all-consuming. No matter what, it was always there. Lurking in the peripheral of the mind, waiting for the perfect time to consume the mind.

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"Wait!" Someone called, as Lance slid under the falling rock. Too late.

The other Paladins were stuck outside of the cave, and Lance was stuck inside, with four droids and a heavily injured Pidge. They stare at each other, neither side moving. And then Lance raises his gun and fires. The first one fall to the ground before the others raise their guns. A perfect headshot. The second one aims and fires, laser missing Lance as he ducks to the floor. He fires, hitting the droid as it aims again. His hand spasms as his brain circuits are fried, and another laser flies at him. He doesn't move out of the way fast enough, and the laser hits his shoulder.

Lance doesn't have time to feel the burn of it, as the third droid aims at him. Pidge lifts her bayard, and shoots, knocking the droid off balance. His gun fires at the ceiling instead of at Lance, and he takes the opportunity to fire. This droid seems to be smarter than the previous droids, as he lays flat, allowing the laser fire to go right over his head rather than staying still. Lance fires again, but it's a little late. The droid fires a volley of shots, most of them going wild, but two of them hitting his chest and right arm. Lance's aim is true, and the droid falls silent, a sporting a new hole in it's head.

Lance drops his gun, chest heaving as he tries to calm down. The adrenaline is fading, and he can feel the burns on his body. It feels like the armor has melted with it, and onto his skin. He tries to ignore it, and stands up, using the wall as a crutch as he crosses to Pidge.

Her injuries are far worse. The gap that allows her ankle free movement has also allowed a clean shot to her ankle. Lance is pretty sure that he can see the bone. Her neck has a thick cut on the side of it, but it doesn't appear to be bleeding too badly, so he assumes it isn't life threatening. The main injury is right below her heart. The armor was either torn, or pulled away, revealing pale skin underneath. Dark, black bruises color it, tell-taling the internal bleeding that she has procured.

Lance hears voices through his helmet, which finally breaks through the sound of his heart pounding in his head. "...you guys alright? Answer me!" Keith's voice is frantic, and Lance wonders how much that they've heard, and how long they've been listening.

"We're fine." Lance says, weariness obvious in his voice, even through his joking tone. "I saved the day, once again."

Keith sighs in relief. "Alright. We're working on a way in. Hold tight and stay away from the entrance."

"Will do."

He sits down beside Pidge and watches her. While her eyes are still open, she seems like she's in a daze, and he's unsure if she's got a concussion or not. The caved in entrance is shaking, rocks tumbling to the ground, and Lance figures that they don't have too long before they are rescued. He slips his hand into Pidge's, and tries not to worry about how cold it feels."

The cave bursts open a few minutes later, Hunk leading the others in, blaster aimed and ready to fire. He scans the room, and puts his bayard away once he realises that the only ones left were Pidge and Lance. Keith and Allura are behind him, a floating stretcher trailing after her like a dog on a leash.

"Oh thank god." Keith says under his breath, probably thinking that Lance is too out of it to hear it. He probably looks worse than he feels, if that's possible. "I don't think they're both going to fit on the stretcher."

Lance sits up, wincing when he moves his torso to much. "My legs are fine; I can walk."

Hunk glances back at him worriedly as he and Allura lift Pidge onto the stretcher. "Yeah, uh, I don't think so." He secures Pidge onto the gurney before turning to Lance.

Lance presses against the wall, and slides up it until he can stay steady on his feet. "I'm fine, see?"

Allura stops pushing Pidge away just long enough to bark back at them. "If he can walk, help him back to the lions. We don't have the time to argue."

Hunk sighs and mutters about stubborn Cuban boys as he lifts Lance's uninjured arm over his shoulder. His other side is left dangling, both arm and shoulder burnt and immobile. Keith doesn't know what to do; obviously he can't support him from the other side, so he walks beside them and watches them warily, in case someone trips or faints.

The walk to the lions isn't that far, Lance reasons. There's no way that they parked them far away, especially after Pidge had had to escape by foot. Blue is probably with them now, parked safely within the other lions reach. Still, each step jostles his wounds, and causes another ripple of pain to wash through his body. By the time Lance can see Blue's paw, he's trying his best not to wheeze. He's sure that Hunk is noticing how his body further slumps against his, relying on his support to keep him upright. Keith can't decide if he wants to walk in front of or behind the two of them, so he settles for walking beside him, eyes flittering to Lance every once in awhile without comment. Hunk helps him into his pilot's seat, and Lance settles into the comfortable familiarity of Blue's cockpit.

"Are you sure you're good? Allura can always tow your lion back, and you can ride with me." Hunk suggests.

Lance shakes his head, and turns towards the dashboard. "Nah, I'm good. It's just a few burns. I'm pretty sure I've had worse when I tried to make a fried klemon with your homemade turkey baster." He jokes lightly, his joke falling flat. Hunk hesitates at the door, but leaves without another word, leaving Lance in silence.

It's as he stares at the two-hand handle that he realizes that he may have needed a little help. How the hell was he supposed to pilot with only one hand? His lion rumbles at him, and emotion floods over the bond. worry/Ihelp/guide/yousleep His lion takes off, and he lifts his good hand from the steering wheel. Lance trusts that Blue will guide him back safely and allows himself to close his eyes, just until he gets to the castle.

When he opens his eyes again, Hunk is leaning over him, trying to get him out of the pilot's seat. Lance somehow managed to curl up on himself, legs lifted over the edge of the chair, his injured arm dangling beside him.

"I got it." He yawns, sliding into a sitting position.

Hunk sits up. "Okay. I'm still helping you walk though."

"There's no escaping the attention of the formidable Hunk once you get started, huh?"

"Nope." Hunk replies, lifting his uninjured arm over his shoulder. Outside, the Hangar is empty. Allura must've brought Pidge to the med-bay already, Lance thinks, because another stretcher is waiting for him by the exit of his lion.

Lance opens his mouth to protest, but closes it when he sees Hunk's expression; it distinctly tells him to shut the frick up and to sit on the damn stretcher already. Lance concedes with a sigh, and sits down. Hunk frowns when he refuses to lay down, but doesn't bother to force the issue; he's known Lance long enough to know that when Lance is being stubborn, there is no changing his mind. He pulls the gurney through the halls without talking, and doesn't stop until they reach the cryo-pods.

Lance hadn't thought about it, not until they came into view. Pods, tight and restricting, only one filled stand before him. Lance scoots back on the stretcher. "I'm good, Hunk."

"What?" He asks, most of his attention focused on pulling a healing pod suit from the shelf, and a pair of scissors to cut his uniform away with.

"I'm not going in the healing pod."

Hunk looks up from the drawer, and looks at Lance. Lance grips the stretcher with his good hand, the metal cutting into his palm. He's not going back in there. Not after last time.

Hunk sets the suit and scissors down on the stretcher. "Hey, hey. It's alright Lance. But you do need to take off the armor, okay?"

Lance isn't sure what to think of Hunk. Will he still try to force him into the healing pod? Hunk slowly unbuckles his armor, peeling off the pieces not currently adhered to his body, and setting them down beside him. Lance relaxes a little, but doesn't take his eyes off of the pods. The room feels smaller with them out there; they take up more space than they should. Lance doesn't move until Hunk tries to cut away the black undersuit around the burns. Luckily for them, the armor melted into the fabric, which kept the material from fusing with his skin, but allowed the heat to go through it. The fabric itself is warped, indented slightly into the wound. Hunk looks up apologetically.

"I'm gonna have to get Keith to help me with this one. Sorry, Lance."

Lance nods, and Hunk leaves to retrieve Keith.

He can't stop thinking about the pods. About how trapped you are inside of them, with nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. The world revolves around you and continues moving on, and you're completely oblivious. Even though he knows that it's impossible, Lance can't help but think of dying there, unable to do anything about it. No way is he getting inside one of those. Especially not now, with his non-life threatening wounds.

He hears footsteps outside the door; they must be coming back. Lance turns around to say hello, or to shoot a witty joke at them, but stops himself when he sees what Keith is carrying: Pidge's bayard. It crackles with electricity as he steps closer.

"We don't have the time for you to wait and heal up naturally, Lance, and we can't form Voltron without you."

"I'm not getting in the pod." Lance asserts. There's no way that he's getting in there voluntarily.

Hunk stands in the doorway, blocking his exit. Keith stands before him, and Lance knows that he wouldn't even make it halfway to the door with Keith blocking him; even if he weren't injured, Lance has nowhere near as skilled at short distance battle.

"You have to." Keith says softly.

Lance shakes his head again, opens his mouth to say no, but Keith doesn't give him the chance. The bayard meets his skin, and his body slackens.

Hunk watches him worriedly for a moment, until he's sure that Lance won't be resisting. "Come on. We have to hurry if we want him in there before he wakes up." Keith insists, cutting through another piece of fabric. Hunk joins him, cutting away from the wound on his chest. Lance can barely feel it, besides a slight tug on his skin. What he can feel is absolute panic. If he wasn't already immobilized, he'd be frozen to the spot. The open pod gapes at him, mocking him. Too scared, it says, I'll never let you go.

Soon, Lance is stripped and in a healing suit. It doesn't even take Hunk that much effort to lift his prone body into the pod. As the door closes, Lance makes a final attempt to stop them. He raises his good hand and presses it against the door. "I don't...wanna." He croaks.

Hunk doesn't meet his eyes as he knocks his hand down and closes the door.