For a moment, Lance couldn't tell if they'd won.
It was chaos everywhere. Below them, the city was in flames. Although most of the citizens have escaped, Lance knows that they'd find more than a few bodies under those crushed buildings, most likely burned to a crisp. Some of them by laser fire. Some by boiling flame. And a few, maybe just one or two, will have been frozen to death. The other lions hovered cautiously, waiting for Shiro's direction. A solitary battleship sputtered in the sky, with thick, black smoke spilling out of the numerous holes in its hull. Lance didn't think they'll have to worry much about it, and although he'd prefer to shoot it down, it was better for it to stay afloat, rather than to crash onto the town beneath it. Keith did a lap around it, and gets no response.
They let out a collective breath.
Shiro's gaze shifted to Pidge, and then Hunk. Both of their lions had sustained heavy damage during the battle, and the resulting tumultuous flying had left Pidge with a broken arm, and Hunk with multiple bruises. Whether they had concussions or not was yet to be seen. "Pidge, Hunk, I'm going to escort you back to the castle; you need to get checked out by Coran before you start helping with the rescue and repair efforts. Keith and Lance, go check out that ship. See if you can get any information out of it before landing it, away from the city."
"Aye-aye, Captain." Lance said, giving Shiro a mock salute.
Keith simply nodded, and they both headed off towards the ship. The coms switched over, muting their lines with Shiro, Pidge and Hunk until they're spoken to; Pidge had implemented that feature after listening to Lance sing for the better part of his solo mission, unable to mute him.
Lance shifted gears, and his lion zoomed forward. "Bet I can beat you there."
"In your dreams." Keith retorted, as Red's thrusters fired, closing the distance between them before Lance had a chance to reply.
Keith reached the ship first, but only by a little bit (Lance was kinda proud of that. Red is physically faster than Blue, after all). And then they parked inside. And then…
Lance can't remember what happened after that. Maybe they missed life signs inside, or maybe they'd separated and Lance had gotten lost, but whatever had happened next has left him alone in a tiny, cold cell. He still has his Paladin armor, which is a good thing, but his helmet isn't receiving a signal. Great.
He sits up, and his head is pounding, worse than that one time he'd gotten totally drunk on Altean alcohol. He winces, but stands up anyways, using the wall for support. He doesn't seem to be injured beyond the headache (could be a concussion), which means that he has to try and escape now.
Shiro had warned them, a few months into this whole Voltron thing, about what could happen. Being captured would likely lead to torture, very quickly after capture because the Galra knew of how soon the others would come to retrieve their missing link. It would be hard and fast and brutal, but if they held out, they'd be fine. Allura had told them later that just in case they weren't fine, there was a safeguard, built into their suit. In the collar of their armor, hidden by a flap, rests a suicide pill. That's what Lance thought of it as anyways. If you took it, you were put into a coma. You had a week for your comrades to find you and give you the antidote. If not, death.
He hopes that he won't have to use it, but it's better safe than sorry. His fingers feel stiff as he flips the flap open and grabs the pill. He's not sure where to put it at first; if they decide to strip him, where should he stash it? He settles on his underwear, the pill wrapped in a small swath of fabric to protect it from his skin.
A moment later, the door slides open, and two Galra step in, flanked by two droids holding very big guns. The tallest of the two Galra is more decorated, and has half of his face replaced by a metal implant. It makes him kinda look like a terminator, if a t-800 was half-fuzzy purple alien. Even with the fuzzy purpleness, he still looks pretty intimidating. A small smile dances on half of his face as he speaks. "Blue Paladin, under the third revision of the War Trials article, you are being kept as a War Criminal to the Galra Empire. There is no guarantee of your survival."
OoOoOoO
Keith wakes up with a start, tangled in a nest of wires and torn cushioning. A few of the wires are actually tangled in him, running straight through his thigh and left calve. The skin around the puncture wounds is cauterized, and Keith hopes that any infections will be held off by it. He doesn't try to pull it out, and simply cuts them so that they won't snag on anything as he climbs out.
He sits up and looks around him. The purple metal and the glyphs labeling dislodged panels tell him of his location; he's still on that Galra ship that Shiro had them check out. Them. Right, they'd come together to check out the ship. There's no room in the collapsed...wherever he is for Lance to be hidden nearby. So where is he?
Keith stands, his legs stiff and uncertain of their balance. He's down deep at the bottom of a tunnel of some sort. Maybe a vent of some kind. Its maybe three feet wide, and goes up so far that all he can see out of the vent is white. White.
His vision flashes into white, and a scene plays out before him.
The ship was dark, and wires hung haphazardly like snakes in the jungle. The dim purple emergency lights cast an ugly glow onto their skin.
Lance snickerd.
"What?"
Lance waved him off and they start walking. "It's just, this looks just like that haunted house Hunk and Pidge and I went to last year. Hunk was horrible. He was supposed to lead, but he kept hiding behind me and somehow Pidge got in front of us, and left us behind. She told every freaking monster to scare us. He was gripping my shirt so hard, by the end of the night, it was too stretched out to wear again."
Keith had never been to a haunted house before. Most of his childhood had been spent at discount skating rinks and in public parks. His foster homes could never afford to pay for anything expensive. He thought he might like to go to one, if they ever went back to Earth. Maybe Lance could take him. He'd probably know the best place to go.
He tried not to think of how they'd cling to each other, the threat of rubber costumes and body parts, preventing them from fighting. Hands clenched together, probably sweaty and clammy, but neither of them would care. And then-
Lance grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Keith opened his mouth to protest and then saw the room that he was pointing at. The Galra writing was unfamiliar, but the computer terminal behind it wasn't.
"Found it."
"Hello?" He calls tentatively. His helmet beeps in response, weak signal flashing across his screen. Great.
Metal bends into the tunnel, pushed in to make an artificial ledge fifteen feet up. He bends his knees, and jetpacks the distance. His leg hurts when he lands, but he ignores it. He can deal with pain after he gets into contact with the others. Lance could be badly hurt, and he'd never know.
Another jagged piece of metal bends in about five feet above him on the opposite wall.
By using the damaged integrity of the tunnel, he manages to make it about a hundred feet up before his leg starts getting really painful. Keith checks his helmet signal again. Signal improved.
He sighs in relief. He can finally take a break, even if it's only to make this call.
"Hello?"
There's a burst of static and then a voice breaks through, relief audible in their tone. "Keith? Are injured?"
Keith glances down at his leg. "No. Do you know what happened? Where's Lance?"
The voice is quiet, and Keith still can't tell who it is. Pidge maybe, possibly Hunk.
"What happened?" He repeats slightly annoyed. He needs to know, even if it's bad. Especially if it's bad.
"We're not sure. The ship fell out of the sky, with you two inside it. Your lions helped to slow the fall. We lost contact before then, so we have no idea what led to the crash or…" The person hesitates, and Keith thinks he knows who it is. Pidge is never hesitant in her words.
"Hunk? Do you know Lance's location? I can't connect to his signal."
Hunk sighs. "We dunno what happened to him. His signal disappeared a few minutes after your crash." Neither of them says anything in response. Keith isn't sure what to say. He can't remember what happened beforehand, which means whatever happens to Lance, he can't do anything to help find him. The knowledge weighs heavily on him. "We're coming to get you. Stay put."
OoOoOoO
The two droids walk behind him, close enough for him to feel the heat of their guns against his legs. They'd forced him to strip off his armor, leaving only the black flightsuit on. Lance is glad that he moved the pill when he did. The Galra walk ahead of him without looking back. They're pretty cocky to not even worry about Lance, walking behind them. Lance wonders if he can take advantage of that, but his bayard is gone and he's not strong enough in physical fighting to have a chance against one of them, let alone all four. He knows that if it were Keith in this position, he'd try anyways. Lance thinks of what else he can do to help with his escape. Try and understand the layout of the ship maybe? He can do that, he thinks as they turn another corner.
Lance is trying so hard to memorize their path, he doesn't notice that they've stopped until he's almost run into the two Galra in front of him. The smaller Galra, presses his palm to the keypad beside the door. It slides open and the droids behind him nudge him to make him walk. Lance barely focuses on the room. His eyes go straight to the table in the middle of the room. It's such a stereotypical torture bed that Lance wants to laugh. He would've too, if he wasn't so scared.
Lance isn't sure exactly what he plans to do; the terror takes over and he turns, trying to dash past the sentries. One of the Galra behind him, he can't tell who, kicks his legs out from under him and forces him onto his back. He hits his head on the ground, hard and his vision is blurry, but even so, he realizes that they're dragging him onto the table.
"Thought he'd last a bit longer before trying to run off."
The other one laughs, a harsh sound like a barking dog. "The Blue Paladin won't be hard to break, by the looks of him now."
Someone pulls his arms out and straps them down, then does the same for his legs. By the time his head clears enough for him to think of resisting, it's too late. The taller Galra, T-800, stands by the side of the table as the second rummages through a something loudly.
"Drone e3fh1, record visual and audible feeds." One of the drones steps forward and stands at the foot of the bed. A red light blinks on it's visor. "Blue Paladin, tell us the weaknesses in the castle defenses."
Lance doesn't speak.
T-800 waits for maybe thirty seconds before nodding to Galra number two. He looks a little like the Wolverine, Lance thinks as he pushes a tray to the side of the table. T-800 picks up a baton from the tray and hits him with it, directly across the face.
His face stings as he pulls his away, and Lance knows that he's got a split lip, at the very least. It wasn't too bad, he thinks. He's been hit on the face before, by his brothers, back on Earth, and Keith, when they trained together. Keith could forget very easily that training was training, and all of their sparring rules would melt away. Lance was no stranger to a well placed hit to the face.
He grins cheekily at T-800 and Wolverine. Neither reacts visibly.
T-800 speaks again. "What are the castle's weaknesses in it's defense? Speak now and this will stop."
Lance watches them, his cheek swelling and eye puffy.
Wolverine hits him again, this time on his shoulder. Lance has to admit: that hurt like hell! He breathes heavily through his mouth, teeth clenched to prevent him from making any noise. Wolverine grins, his canines sharp and white, a stark contrast to his purple fur. Did the real Wolverine have sharp canines like that? He'd have to check when he went home.
'If' lingers unspoken in the back of his mind.
"Tell us the castle weaknesses." Terminator repeats. Wolverine stands at the ready beside him, baton clenched tightly in his claws.
Lance looks away. He'd rather not see the hit coming.
It comes down in the soft plane of his stomach, and leaves him aching and retching. He can't sit up to dislodge it to the floor, so he settles for turning to the side, allowing the green, half digested goop to drip onto his shoulder.
One of his captors chuckle at his reaction and then forces his head to face them. A sharp claw digs into the skin under his chin, and Lance is unsure if it will break skin.
"What weaknesses does the castle possess?" Terminator hisses, spittle spraying Lance's face.
Lance thinks again of what Keith would do. Probably something extremely stupid. Great. Lance can do that.
He roars, anger and pride overriding fear. "Fuck you and your hairy-ass mother!"
T-800 releases his neck and steps back. Fire flashes in his eyes. "If you do not wish to cooperate, your treatment will increase in severity. You have been warned, and yet you try my patience."
Wolverine raises the baton again. "Shall we continue with the baton, or would you like to change methods?"
Terminator watches Lance disinterestedly. Whatever emotion his had shown is gone. "Pick something worse. I think sharper pain is the key to this one."
Lance wonders what happened to Keith. He's not here, that much is certain. If he were, his helmet would've connected with his and Lance has no doubt that the Galra would've incorporated their bond into the questioning. He wonders what he'd do, if he were watching Keith being beat on and cut and bruised by the Galra. He'd like to say that he'd stand strong and not give in, but if Keith really was feeling this kind of pain, Lance knows that he'd do anything to stop it. Even give up his lion for him.
Because they're friends, Lance thinks. Friends who fight and argue and compete. Keith is a friend...who Lance may or may not have had dreams about. Dreams of kissing and touching and-
Lance doesn't get to finish the thought as a purple hand pushes a serrated blade through the flesh of his calf. A long, high pitched scream erupts from his chest. Lance can't help it; he wasn't prepared, not for this. He saws through until thick slice of his calf hangs off of his leg. Tendons and muscle hang from it, and blood leaks onto the cut fabric.
"Now we're getting somewhere." T-800 says, half of his face curled into a grin.
OoOoOoO
By the time Hunk drops down the lift to pick Keith up, he's figured out that Lance is not on the ship. Red asks Blue to try harder to connect, and then tells Keith that he's gone. Not in words of course, but in bursts of images and emotions. The conversation between them leaves Keith feeling as if he needs a nap, with all that he has felt.
Hunk offers him an uneasy grin as he pulls him up and into the jaws of his lion. His gaze drops to the wire embedded in his legs. "Dude, you lied. You need to go straight to the-"
"Do you have any leads on Lance's location?" Keith interrupts. Hunk isn't gonna come right out and say it, but he won't deny it either, as long as Keith's straight up. He's learned quirks like that from living with him for so long. He has to admit, he knows Lance and Shiro the best. Like how Lance tends to get more obnoxious when he's upset, or how when he has a panic attack, he slips into broken spanglish. Hunk doesn't reply as he helps Keith to settle into one of the storage shelves. The edge of the drawer digs into his thigh, but Keith doesn't complain; It's better than standing.
Hunk keeps his eyes on the screen, even though he really doesn't need to in order to steer. His hands are wrapped tightly on the steering wheel, and every movement he makes is precise and orderly. "Allura thinks that he's being transported. He's on the edge of the solar system now, most likely on a smaller sub-vessel."
Keith stays silent. If he opens his mouth he may say things that he doesn't mean and will regret later.
The trip to the castle doesn't take long.
When they arrive, Pidge is just getting into the cryo-pod, and Allura and Shiro are fighting.
Pidge tries to push past Coran, her one working arm pushing against his chest. It doesn't do much to hinder his progress, so she settles on yelling. "Keith, what happened?"
Even if he did manage to yell before the pod closed, he wouldn't have been able to give a straight answer. His head is still foggy about what happened leading up to his and Lance's separation. Separation. Something about that word has his head hurting, bad. A conversation floats back to him.
"Why do you get to drive the speeder?" Lance whined.
Keith's hands tightened over the steering. The speeder rumbled. "Because I'm a better pilot than you, and I can actually drive."
Lance pouted behind him. Keith could hear it in his voice. "You don't get to throw that in my face everytime you want to prove a point, Mullet. Besides, I'm a good pilot. I got into the fighter pilot program, didn't I?"
Keith snorted. "Yeah, after I dropped out."
Lance muttered. "Sometimes I wonder why I even like you."
Keith wanted to ask him about what he said. Didn't Lance hate him? Then something loud crashed behind them, and Keith could make out the sound of voices, yelling in the harsh untranslated Galran tongue. The heat of laser fire brushed past his head, and he put the speeder in full overdrive. The cracked floor beneath them flies by, and they land on the other side with a loud clank. Keith was down the hall, nearing the end, when he heard another voice call out. He crashed the speeder moments later.
"Keith?" Shiro calls tentatively, resting his hand on Keith's shoulder. The familiar pressure grounds him, and he realises how he's slumping against the wall behind the gurney. He straightens up. Coran's still figuring out how to pull the wire out with the least amount of damage.
"It's nothing." Keith reassures him. "What about Lance? Do we have a plan yet?"
Shiro eyes him warily. "We have a trace on his helmet, but-"
Allura cuts him off, her arms crossed. "Blue can't feel him, which means he's cutting her off from his end. He's being tor-" She hesitates, breaks off. "He's being hurt. Which means we need to follow this lead now."
Shiro shakes his head. "Not until we know more about his location. He could be deep in the middle of a Galra cluster, and we'd never know until we wormholed there. We're already down two; we can't afford to be hasty and risk losing another."
Keith grits his teeth. "The longer we leave him there, the longer he'll be tortured!"
Hunk nods, and Keith is glad that those who're in favor with rescuing Lance overpowers those who aren't. "Yeah, and that also increases the chances that he'll say something. It's not like any of us, except the Princess and Pidge and I maybe, know much about how the castle's work, but he could always say something unintentionally useful."
Keith has to bite back his tongue. He doesn't think Lance'll his pride and that weird competition with Keith'll keep him quiet. He's stronger than he thinks he is.
Shiro eyes each of them carefully. Allura glares at him, and Keith keeps his gaze hard. "Alright," He walks to the star-map and watches it carefully. He points at a sector on the grid, where Lance's signal flashes. "We'll go there. Not any closer. Hunk and I can get a closer look."
"What about me? I'm ready to go." Keith protests, trying not to kick Coran as he pulls the wire out of his leg. It halts once or twice where the wire knots, and he has to pull harder then. A few beads of blood spill out with it.
Shiro straightens up to his full 6'6 height. His gaze is steady. There'll be no swaying him now. "You're already injured. I'm not going to risk you going out there when you can barely walk."
Keith frowns and turns away with a growl. "Fine."
He hopes that it's not too obvious that he's not gonna listen to Shiro's warning.