Chapter Three: The Rescue
While it wasn't as long as the time Shiro was gone, Keith felt Lance was still gone too long. Three weeks too long.
It took some time, but they were finally able to gather enough information and manpower to infiltrate Alpha Kaj again. Apparently, it hadn't moved much for a while, and for the first time in perhaps forever it asked for Galra soldiers and drones reinforcement, no longer manned only by Druids. It hovered by the second brightest star in Pala galaxy, a galaxy just next to Neba, staying near a cluster of asteroids surrounding the star. They didn't know what changed in Alpha Kaj that soldiers were brought in, but it offered an opportunity because one of Marmorra's spies was sent in.
"Mara will be able to show you in," Kolivan told them. "However, he requests that we bring as many of our own that are able to fight as possible. He told me that there is something powerful and dangerous in Alpha Kaj. He doesn't know if it is a person or an object, but apparently it is powerful enough to defeat most Druids. He doesn't know why soldiers are called in, for sure, since usually Druids are capable of fast healing. He suspects the Druids are preoccupied with it, thus the need to get people for patrol."
"Do you think they brought this thing to subdue Lance?" Allura questioned Kolivan.
"It is certainly a possibility." Kolivan gave a nod.
"Then we need to go in quick," Keith pressed immediately. "We need to get Lance back."
"Keith, calm down." Shiro squeezed Keith's shoulder. "I agree with you, but going in headfirst will endanger us all. Kolivan, do you have a plan?"
Kolivan stared at him and motioned them all to come closer. "Gather around. I'll explain the plan. If things are going smoothly, we should be able to retrieve the Blue Paladin in no time."
And so they worked, quickly infiltrating Alpha Kaj once more. The Paladins, Allura, Kolivan, and two other Marmorra members went in, while Coran, Slav, the prisoners that helped them with some parts of the plan, and several other Marmorra members stayed in the castle-ship. With an inside man helping them, getting in was a simple matter. Walking through the hallways of Alpa Kaj, however, proved to be a harder thing to do. Not because of the guards, but rather because of the wrongness that permeated the air.
"Does… anyone else feel really, really uneasy here?" Hunk asked as he walked quietly in the darkened hallway.
"I do," Pidge piped up immediately. "Also, is it just me or are there so many less guards around?"
"Alpha Kaj has yet to find a new rhythm," Mara answered. "New soldiers and drones means new schedules. There are less guards around, and we have yet to come up with a schedule that could secure this place properly."
"That means, if we want to strike and get the prisoners, now would be the perfect time," Allura muttered thoughtfully. "Kolivan, will you see to it?"
The Galra nodded. "We'll free as many prisoners as we are able to."
Keith frowned and pressed his hand into the wall. "Guys… don't you think this place is cold?"
Hunk paused. "Now that you mention it… it's colder than the last time we went here, don't you think?"
"The temperature is fine when we went in," Keith told them. "But as we moved, it gradually grows colder."
"There is a room where no guard is allowed in," Mara informed. "It's the coldest part of the ship."
Shiro thought for a bit. "Can you guide us there? It's possible that our friend is being kept there. He can manipulate water and ice, so it's possible that he's using his ability to try to get out."
Mara nodded. "I'll ensure a path that avoids as many guards as possible. Has the Green Paladin deactivated the security cameras yet?"
"They're playing yesterday's footage in a loop, so you don't need to worry about that," Pidge said dismissively.
"I see. Come this way, then."
As they walked, the temperature dropped ever so slightly but constantly. Keith gritted his teeth. He'd become more sensitive to the cold since the ability to control heat and fire awakened, and at times it greatly discomforted him. Even with his armor's temperature-regulating function, he could still feel the coldness prickling his skin. He wished he could just raise his body temperature using his ability, but he was worried that he'd need every last bit of his quintessence later. Dealing with Druids take energy, after all, and with this cold he might need to warm his teammates later.
They soon reached a hallway with a single door at the middle of it. Mara pointed at it. "That's the room."
As per their discussed plan, Mara left to attend to his duties and kept the group safe from the background. The Blade of Marmorra members left with him to free the prisoners. The Paladins and Allura turned to the door and approached it.
They paused when they finally got a good look at it. A thick layer of frost covered the door, white and cold and menacing. The coldness felt like pinpricks on Keith's skin, stabbing relentlessly even as he automatically raised the temperature of the air around him. Moreover, it felt weird; it felt like Lance, but at the same time it didn't. It felt too… distant, without feeling, chilly, whereas Lance's usual ice felt like frozen warmth, no matter how impossible that sounded.
"Keith, the door," Shiro instructed. Keith could hear his nervousness in his voice.
Keith took a deep breath and reached for the door, pressing his palms to it. He grimaced when the coldness stabbed into him mercilessly. Taking a deep breath, he concentrated and focused on his palm, generating enough heat to burn down a house to the ground without actually sparking flames. Despite the intense heat that had his teammates shift back, it took a while for the ice to actually melt and let Keith get to the metal. Even then, the metal was too cold to melt, and Keith coaxed more heat to his palm. After a moment, the metal began to melt. Keith immediately focused the heat on the locking mechanism to make it easier for them to break down the door. When it was done, they pushed the door.
Cold wind slapped them in the face. The entire room was cold, too cold. Almost on reflex, Keith heated up the air, but it didn't work.
The room was dark, making it hard for them to see. Distorted pillars of ice stood here and there without any recognizable pattern. In the middle of the room was a bed, and on it, sitting with his back hunched, was Lance.
"Lance, buddy!" Hunk yelled as he approached the bed. "Oh man, it's so good to see you!"
"Wait, Hunk," Shiro grabbed Hunk's arm, effectively stopping him. "Something isn't right. Let's be careful here."
"What are you talking about? That's Lance!" Keith protested immediately.
"The entire room reeks of something odd," Allura murmured. "Something… dark. Dirty. For some reason, the idea of approaching Lance makes me feel… ill."
"But this is Lance," Hunk objected.
"Has he moved since you called him?" Shiro shot back.
Hunk blinked and turned back to Lance. He hadn't moved an inch.
"We need to approach him anyway if we want to get him home," Pidge tugged Shiro's hand. "Come on. The sooner we can get out of here, the better."
They approached Lance carefully, walking slowly on the slippery, ice covered floor, avoiding the misshapen pillars of ice. Lance didn't move as they approached him, not even when they were finally within touching distance. Keith stared at him, noting how he sat without moving as if he was a statue of ice himself. There wasn't a twitch on his fingers, not a tap on his foot. He didn't even seem to be breathing. It was unnatural, seeing Lance so still.
What made Keith feel most worried, however, was that it felt like Lance was the source of the cold that hung in the room stubbornly. Even with him carefully regulating the heat, the cold pierced through it easily the closer they got to Lance. When he was finally close enough to touch, Keith extended his hand to pat Lance in the shoulder to grab his attention. He stopped midway, hand hovering in the air, too shocked at how Lance felt like dry ice to actually touch him.
Hunk didn't hesitate the way he did. He paused for a moment and steadily placed his palm on Lance's other shoulder. "Lance, buddy? Are you okay? We're here to get you home."
For the first time, Lance seemed to realize that they were there. He twitched and slowly looked up to meet Hunk's gaze. When his face was finally visible, Keith took a step back.
Lance's deep blue eyes had changed into icy blue, so light in color they almost looked white. It was made more jarring by how the normally white sclera had turned dark, inky black. Black tendrils sprouted from the edge of his eyes, painting his temples and cheeks like controlled cracks on glass, looking almost familiar in a way Keith couldn't grasp. Lance didn't look like himself. He almost looked… inhuman.
The lights overhead suddenly blared to life, jolting Keith and making Pidge yelp in surprise. Hunk choked on a scream when the light finally allowed them to see the room clearly.
All the misshapen pillars of ice turned out to be Druids. Druids, encased in ice like some sort of sick, distorted frozen display. Even with their faces obscured, Keith could detect hints of fear and panic in their person. Even though he didn't like them, seeing them like this made him feel almost sorry for them.
He turned back to Lance, disturbed by the frozen Druids and the changes in Lance himself. "Lance?" he called softly. "Lance, did you do all this?"
Lance simply gazed at him wordlessly. His frozen gaze sent chills down Keith's spine.
"You've come for him."
They turned to the door to see a figure standing there. Haggar raised her head, allowing them to see her face, and Keith felt like he had been struck. The black that painted the sides of Lance's face looked somewhat similar to the marks on Haggar's face.
"What have you done to Lance?" Shiro growled. He assumed a fighting stance, though his arm remained inactive.
Haggar strode into the room almost casually. "Careful, my Champion. You do not want to show aggression around him. Look what he's done to my Druids."
"Lance did this…?" Hunk looked around the room, equal parts in terror and in disbelief.
"What have you done?" Shiro repeated, his words heavier than before.
Haggar stopped midway into the room and tilted her head as she stared at Shiro. "We wanted you back, Champion," she told him. "You could have been our greatest weapon, but you ran away. And then we found him." Her gaze shifted to Lance. Keith followed her eyes for a moment before gazing back at her.
She stared at Lance with a gaze that Keith couldn't quite recognize. It looked almost somber, somehow. Yet there was also anger and pride mixed in her stare. "We saw how he could use the elements yet not basic magic Druids are capable of. We saw his potential. So we claimed him."
Shiro staggered back. "You claimed him? Like you claimed me?"
Haggar smiled at him. "That claim on you is still valid, Champion. Do not forget where that arm came from." She turned back to Lance. "But it was different with him. We learned from our mistakes. We know that simply branding his body will not work. That was why I handled him myself. I branded his soul."
"His… soul?" Allura asked in horror.
"You are capable of magic yourself, Princess," Haggar said. "Have you gotten a feel on his quintessence just yet?"
Allura paused before the horror in her face intensified tenfold. Rage slipped into her visage, accompanying the terror. "You corrupted his core?!"
"If the Champion would not submit to us, then the Ice Mage shall take his place and become the empire's greatest weapon," Haggar told them seriously. "If you want to take him, then he will be the one you face."
The already below-freezing temperature pitched even more, dropping drastically into detrimental territory. Keith turned around, not bothering to try to get the temperature up again. It was pretty obvious by then that Lance was consciously keeping the temperature down low. Instead, he assumed a stance at faced Lance.
"Keith, can I trust you to subdue Lance?" Shiro asked as he assumed similar stance, though facing Haggar instead. "You're the only one who can counter Lance's ability."
"I'll try to," Keith gulped. He hadn't been able to control his flames as well as Lance did his water and ice. Not to mention he really didn't want to hurt Lance and Lance in this state obviously wouldn't have any qualms about stabbing him with spikes of ice.
"Hunk, help Keith. You know Lance the best out of us all," Shiro instructed, and Hunk nodded. "The rest will face Haggar. We'll try to get her to return Lance to normal." Shiro leaned to Keith and whispered, "Try not to make flames, just heat. Haggar took interest in Lance because he used ice; I don't want her setting her eyes on you too."
Keith nodded. He took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and launched himself at Lance.
Lance simply looked at him and flicked his hand. A pillar of water trapped him inside, and he pushed back, only to realize that he was trapped in ice much like the Druids around the room. Panic seized him immediately and he gathered heat around himself. The ice melted. Lance stared.
"Why would you want Lance? Return him to normal!" Pidge yelled in the background.
Haggar growled as a response. "You think I will let him go now? After I've lost so many Druids trying to contain him? No. I corrupted him. I can control him. He is mine, and he will be the empire's greatest creation."
"Keith, are you alright?" Hunk gripped Keith's arm and brought his attention back to the problem at hand.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Keith nodded. He realized the water that he melted had started to freeze again on his suit. He melted it once more. "Hunk, can you try to talk to Lance? I'll hold him back, but I don't think my words can reach him."
"What? They totally could!" Hunk protested.
"Hunk, are you saying that I of all people should have a heart to heart with Lance?"
Hunk paused. "Good point. Alright, I'll do the talking. I know his family, do you think mentioning them could work?"
"I don't know, but it's worth a shot." Keith focused his anxiety into heat and prepared himself to deal with Lance's ice again.
"Lance, hey," Hunk began, "are you in there? I mean, you're there, but are you there? Cause right now you don't look like you're there and I'd really like to talk to my best friend, you know?"
Lance looked at him as though confused. He tilted his head, still not speaking. It was creepy. Keith never thought he'd say he missed how talkative Lance could be, and yet he really missed talkative Lance right now.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Keith wouldn't see the talkative Lance anytime soon, because Haggar chose that moment to realize what Keith and Hunk were trying to achieve and immediately screeched, "No! I will not let yet another of what is mine taken away from me! Ice Mage, strike them!"
Immediately, Lance's eyes widened as he drew a small gasp. The icy blue flashed white and the markings on his face sparked black electricity before Lance suddenly rushed forward in a flash. He jumped back on reflex, and Lance turned to target Hunk instead, who now was conveniently closer. His hand grabbed Hunk's helmet and the bigger man cried out.
Keith launched a kick to Lance, which was avoided easily. He turned to Hunk to see the side of Hunk's helmet, as well as his cheek, was covered in ice. Hunk was grimacing as though trying to contain pain. Keith had no doubt that he'd be suffering from frostbite. Carefully, he extended his heat and carefully regulated it to melt the ice but not bake Hunk alive.
"Thanks, Keith," he muttered, before bellowing to Lance, "What the heck, Lance! That was rude and you know it! What would your mama say?!"
Lance didn't respond. Instead he launched himself at them again, and Keith blocked his attack before it could connect. With the grace of a dolphin, Lance simply sent another attack that hit Keith's chest and knocked the wind out of him. Not to mention leaving a layer of frost there. keith melted it.
Lance tilted his head, studying him with that unnerving icy blue eyes, and struck.
Keith had had hand-to-hand practice with Lance before. They had compared their fighting styles. Keith's was quick and sharp, brutal. He made use of his smaller stature, relying on speed and quick bursts of power. He jabbed and punched, kicks lighting fast.
Lance's however, was flowy, even showy. It was almost like a dance, graceful and wavy. It became even more so when his ability to use water and ice surfaced and bloomed. Faced with Keith's unforgiving strikes, he usually ended up not being able to dodge or contain the attacks and ended up losing. They never thought much about it, since Lance's forte was long-distance shooting anyway.
Now that Keith faced Lance in hand-to-hand combat involving their own elements, however, Keith saw why exactly Lance's moves were so showy. With every seemingly useless wave of hand, water and ice acted as the extension of his limbs and landed devastating hits. Keith had to concentrate to keep a shield of extreme heat around himself just to keep himself from being trapped in ice again, but even with that it was hard to keep up with Lance's powerful elemental attacks. The deadly dance Lance was presenting him would do him in soon if Keith let this continue on.
"Lance, come on, buddy!" in the background, Hunk kept trying to reach Lance verbally, occasionally using his bayard to shoot at spikes of ice that Lance sent to him before Keith could stop it and smashing it into thousands of tiny shards. "Don't you want to go home? Back to Earth? How can you go home if you won't even come out? Think about what your mama would say! Think about your little girls! Klara and Karina would be devastated to see you like this!"
The names made Lance flinch back and the water that he had prepared drop and vanish. He gritted his teeth and rushed forward again, with bare hands this time. Keith easily caught him and pinned him to the floor, finding him much easier to fight when he wasn't using water and ice. He struggled against Keith's hold, and Keith pushed him harder.
"And what about your big bro Arlo? You said he was about to get married when we left! Don't you think he deserves an explanation why you never showed? Don't you think he misses you?" Hunk kept going, approaching Lance and practically shouting to his face. "And Theo! You said you want to see him for his birthday! And your older sister Maria!"
Lance cried in dismay. Frost grew under his back, spreading ever wider in vine-like patterns. Keith channeled the heat around him to melt the frost, but they endured under the summer sun he exuded.
"And what about us?" Hunk went on, voice cracking. "What about Shiro, and Pidge, and Keith, and me? What about Allura and Coran? We miss you, Lance. I can tell that Allura is willing to put up with your cheesy pick-up lines as long as you're back. Please come back to us."
Lance struggled still under Keith's weight. He pounded the floor, and even more frost spiderwebbed out of his fist.
Hunk groaned. "This isn't working. We need some other way to get through. Something more effective. Like…" He paused for a moment, forehead wrinkled. His eyes darted around as though reading through an invisible board. Then, without warning, he pulled off his helmet and gripped the sides of Lance's head, ignoring the frost that immediately climbed up his arms.
"Hunk, what are you doing?" Keith demanded instantly, a little out of breath. Lance's struggling was really persistent.
Hunk paused before answering, "I'm going to force-mend my bond with Lance."
"Is… that safe?"
"I don't know." Before Keith could object to Hunk's plan, the bigger man slammed his forehead into Lance's and pressed them together.
Lance froze for a moment before he struggled anew, screaming desperately and trying to push Hunk away, but Hunk held on stubbornly. Before long, he was screaming along with Lance. Through his bond with Hunk, Keith could feel an entirely unwelcome sensation of slinky darkness wriggling through. He couldn't decide which was worse, the screaming or the dark.
"Get out, get out, get out!" Hunk growled in between screams.
It was clear for Keith that neither of his nearest teammates were even aware of him then. He gritted his teeth, concentrated, and plunged deep into their bonds without a second thought, reaching for Lance's dangling tatters of a bond and trying to reconnect.
Almost immediately, he was swarmed by suffocating darkness. It probed him for a moment and immediately pulled him down, obscuring his vision with blotches of black. He gasped and pulled back out on reflex.
The sounds of Lance and Hunk screaming slammed into his ears again. He could feel agitation from both Shiro and Pidge because of it all, and that was saying something considering that the bond normally stayed dormant, almost inactive. Keith closed his eyes and prepared himself before he dove in once more.
The darkness dragged him in without giving him any moment to counter. This time, instead of pulling back, Keith plunged deep into the center of the darkness. Aggressive and wrong as it was, he was sure Lance was buried somewhere deep inside. It didn't stop him from feeling disturbed, though, and it didn't stop him from letting out a scream that never quite stopped, joining the cacophony Lance and Hunk had created earlier.
As he tried to slough off the muddy dark that permeated Lance's bond, he could feel something, warm and steady and unmistakably yellow as the ray of the sun, by him. He gave Hunk a mental nod before he resumed trying to get to Lance.
It was a hard and tiring work. Digging into the bond itself was tiring, and the dark continually tried to take over and tainted his own blazing red. He had to keep his flames around him to protect himself, and it was hard having to pull back. He wished he could just flare up and burn the darkness away, but he could potentially hurt Hunk. He could potentially burn away Lance, as well, considering how he couldn't tell just how corrupted Lance's quintessence was. Besides, could it even work? He still didn't know what exactly his flames could do. Best to play it safe for now.
After what felt like hours of digging and fending off the dark, he finally saw a flash of blue in the distance. In a heartbeat, he dove in to reach the blue that was obscured by inky, repulsive black. He could feel warm yellow doing the same right next to him, providing support as it hit away the black to create a pathway.
It took a while, but they finally reached the blue. Keith had been ready to pull Lance out immediately, but he instead recoiled. He couldn't see it clearly before, but apparently the bright blue that he had come to associate with Lance was nowhere to be seen. In its place was sullied, muddy blue, something that made Keith think of a blue cloth that had somehow been used to wipe away car oil, thrown to the streets, and ran over by at least a hundred wheels. It stunned him silent; it made him feel like crying for some reason. Had Lance endured all this abuse alone? All by himself?
Hunk, however, didn't waste time staring like Keith did. Yellow leapt forward and enveloped dirtied blue, trying to get him to resurface once more. It was worrying to realize that the blue didn't react, as if it was unconscious even within the mental plane. Hunk prodded Lance, again and again, leaving Keith alone to fend off the dark that kept trying to swallow them whole. Occasionally, Keith sent a wave of heat a touch too hot to be called warmth, trying hard to get Lance to respond somehow.
He could feel Hunk's irritation at the heatwave, but when they both realized it somehow managed to rouse Lance, hope sparked anew. Keith could feel Hunk prodding at him, come on, again, again, it's working.
Blue clung to yellow desperately, and Lance gasped as he finally seemed himself for the first time.
And then blue pushed both yellow and red away.
A/N: At first I planned to post chapter 3 and 4 as one full chapter, but then I realized the word count would make it a monster of a chapter because together they have like 7k+ words or something. So I broke them down into two.
Anyway, things will have to get worse for our beautiful blue boy before they get better, but they are getting better. I won't be that mean to Lance, I love him too much for that.
Next chapter will be up in a few days, so keep a lookout. Have a great day!