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Hope: The Truest Treasure

Six

Caring for forty-seven people himself included was just as difficult as Lance imagined it would be.

It was also, he thought with a smile as he wiped a hand across his sweaty forehead from digging out a section of their garden plot, absolutely worth it. Ocean eyes looked out over the camp they had all made for themselves; tent-like structures built of trees and boughs took up one section outside the cave where many chose to sleep rather than inside the rock walls, even though they had been decorated with pebble inlays and wreathes of sticks and leaves.

The cave they used mostly to store their stolen food and supplies as untouched by the sun and elements it was the most convenient place to do so, although they had another tent structure outside designed to hold both towels and cloths for bathing as well as an assortment of stolen clothes and tarps and the like that they were still constantly trying to find ways to outfit themselves. It hadn't rained once yet in the twenty-six days they'd been out – and Lance had been marking that time with tick marks inside the cave – and if the skies ever looked like they might they could move their textiles in then.

There was always a full guard on watch in any event, so be it weather or Toads they would be ready. Sort of. They only had eight blasters and there had been no luck in procuring any from the town when they'd gone in as the citizens were not armed. But it had not yet mattered as no Toads had come after them.

Lance wasn't sure why. If he'd been in the king's shoes he'd have sent an army to roust them out. Perhaps the Toads were ill-equipped to really fight outside of bludgeoning chained slaves, but there would be plenty of mercenaries happy to do the job for a price.

Lance grinned then. He knew why there were no mercenaries at least.

The king had no money.

It had been one of the first things he'd communicated to the slaves (and communication was hard too as no one here spoke the same language written into the ground with sticks and they were all voiceless) through a series of gestures and pictograms of jewels, the castle and whatever else came to mind to get across that he wanted to stop the king from buying any more slaves. To do that they needed to steal all of the remaining jewels that Lance intrinsically knew would be housed in the castle, although how they were going to do that was anyone's guess.

But his fellow ex-slaves had surprised him. Lemur, as Lance had guessed accurately by his naming of him, was an excellent climber and had indicated he would scale the mountain back with a long length of rope, procured from Lance's raids in town that only he allowed himself to go on despite the eagerness of the others. For while they Toads had not stepped up security in town from just him on the run, it was crawling with guards now and the more people involved the more dangerous it would become.

And it was becoming dangerous for sure, but not as much as Lance had expected because the Toads? They had no idea what to do. That was the gist Lance was getting from his forays into town and eavesdropping while hiding in the woods and waiting for darkness. Nothing like this had ever happened before and he was pleased his hunch had been correct; the Toads were not fighters. They had not yet once tried to venture towards where the slaves had vanished into the forest and the talk seemed to be because they didn't know how to try and fight back (as well as the fact there was some confusion as to who had blown up the mine and if the slaves were trapped inside or if they had rebelled and done it).That and none of them had apparently ever ventured from the town and mine so the forest terrain, despite being part of their home planet, was as foreign to them as it was to the now freed slaves. Lance couldn't believe such a bunch of incompetent idiots had managed for so long, but he supposed on the same token that's how sheer numbers of Toads and hopelessness in the slaves evened it all out. He silently thanked Hope again for what she had done for them all.

Lance had spent every evening since the escape sneaking back into the town, Zebra accompanying him to wait on the outskirts with a ready blaster and a keen eye, and collecting food, bandages, clothing, towels, and everything he could get his hands on. While the Toads didn't have rope in the traditional sense the curtains they all hung in their front rooms were of a thick burlap texture and Lance had been happily snatching sets of those from every home to use instead. He had wanted to go the next day before the Toads could really regroup, but the mine collapse had created quite the confusion as the Toads and it had taken two days for the Toads to really spot the path that almost fifty people had made cutting through the grasses (no hiding that). Lance took full advantage of the confusion and on day three had determined they had collected enough curtains to make the rope and continue onto the next phase.

Lance didn't necessarily like stealing, but it was a necessity right now as they had nothing and although they were working to plant the seeds from the fruits and vegetables he'd taken none of them had any idea how long it would take to grow for their own use, not to mention the need for clothing and bandages and salves to care for the open wounds that most of them sported.

But the main thing they had needed to steal was the jewels, as with them the king could just replace the missing supplies and his missing slaves.

So Lemur had gone up the back of the mountain with the rope and Lance, Zebra, Kuzco, Marble, Snoopy and Stampede, armed with both blasters in some cases and empty pillowcases in others, had traversed it once it was secured. The back of the castle was still unguarded and Lance had felt Marble's eyeroll at that and he'd shared a small grin with her.

Kuzco was apparently a master lockpick – even if Lance had had his voice he knew not to ask why the dark haired sort of llama-looking bipedal had never tried to escape as those eyes were heavy with regret and pain – and armed with a set of small twigs he'd sharpened to various points with the weird scissors, he'd jimmied open a vent covering and in they went, Stampede barely fitting but shoving his broader shoulders in anyways.

Entering the actual castle was one of the scariest things Lance had ever done and he had never been so grateful for the vent to emerge them in a back hall unpopulated by anyone. They hadn't had any idea of where to go then but Snoopy had taken point, tapping his large nose, and led them through the winding halls. Lance left a little "L" marking carved into the wall at each junction so they could find their way back.

Snoopy could apparently smell out nearly any scent and while Lance wasn't sure what he was sniffing – jewels didn't have scents but the cleaning material they used on them did and maybe? – he brought them by the end to a large vaulted looking door.

There were several Toads stationed outside of it.

Lance and Zebra took down all six before they even had a chance to aim their own blasters. Lance's stomach had twinged at the wash of fear that had stolen across one Toad's face before a headshot took him out.

He'd done that. He'd made himself into a monster to them.

Lance had shoved the queasy stomach and thought away as he relieved the Toads of their blasters and Kuzco set about opening the vault, large ear pressed against the door to listen to the tumblrs. The Toads were bad people who had done horrible things. At least their deaths had been quick and painless. It was more mercy than they'd ever show a slave.

They were lucky that the vault was not encrypted entry like the datapads. Lance had tried asking, sketching out a keypad in the dirt, to see if anyone here had any hacking knowledge. He'd gotten only head shakes of either confusion or a negative answer. He'd tried not to be too disappointed as had they had someone who understood technology in that regard they could have reached out to Voltron then and been able to actually go home.

Lance hadn't wanted to give up so easily. Not when they were in the castle and he was so close to the possibility of reaching his team. He'd taken Lemur with him to scout out more of the castle while the others waited on Kuzco, desperately hoping to find some communication center or loading dock with a ship.

The loading dock had been a bust as the Toads apparently had an airfield but not any ships of their own. They hired ships as they did everything else. Lance shouldn't have been so surprised but he was still disappointed.

The communication room he had found, to his utter excitement, but it had fallen a moment later as every screen in the room was fixed with a rotating string of numbers and unlike the datapads there weren't going to be any notifications that popped up to unlock it. He hadn't dared even attempt to guess a random string in case it set off an alarm and really, he had no idea what even to guess.

He'd already acknowledged the fact he was not getting off this planet in his lifetime, but having it so close and yet so far out of reach was like a punch to the gut, a reminder of all he had already lost and would never see again. He'd pressed one slender hand to the console, feeling the hum, and could picture Hunk standing next to him, Pidge on his other side and both talking technical jargon that he could not follow but loved to listen to because it made them happy.

Only Lemur's tugging on his arm had jolted him back to what reality actually was and he'd given an apologetic nod and left the room and back towards the others and the vault.

Kuzco had gotten it open and the others were already inside, Stampede standing guard. He'd met Lance's eyes and he'd shaken his head, already reining in the worst of his disappointment. It was as he'd already concluded. He wasn't going to get off this planet but he was going to make the best of the situation. And that right now was making sure no other alien ever ended up here as a slave again.

They emptied the vault, leaving a pile of forty-seven cut off manacles displaying prisoner numbers inside to replace the gems.

It took several long trips, having to drag the jewel bags behind them down the vent before they hefted them over the side of the mountain to where a bunch of other slaves waited below to intercept them, but they took every. Single. Last. Jewel.

In a moment of vindictive glee, Lance had carved the "L" he'd been using to mark their path into the vault doors as they closed them, reminiscent of Zoro. Ha. He'd started using it then on every home he raided, feeling a bit like a real life Robin Hood.

The king and his Toads would not be buying any more slaves. They would not be hiring mercenaries to hunt them down. They would not be able to care for themselves.

Their only option was to dig out the mine themselves and start over as their own laborers (and Lance had seen their pitiful attempts at digging already and after two days they'd managed to clear a few boulders from the front and there were thousands more where those came from hopefully clogging the halls; Lance tried not to think of how many Toads had been killed in the explosion and collapse and told himself again it had been necessary and they had deserved nothing less). And if they chose that path Lance wouldn't interfere, unless they used the uncovered gems to then buy more slaves. But he knew from his own time in there that they damage the explosives had wrought would be beyond extensive. It would take years for them to get through.

He personally hoped they gave up. He hoped they pooled whatever resources that remained and hired a transport ship and left the planet. Then he and the rest of the ex-slaves could leave here, peacefully. Maybe someday a kind ship would stop and they'd be willing to take them somewhere else (or they could pay them with their stolen jewels). Maybe if the castle was left operational Lance would find a distress beacon signal or go through every combination of code until he unlocked the right one to send a transmission.

Those were a lot of maybes. They were still more hopeful than anything previous and Lance would hold to them.

And if he never left, if he never saw his family again… well… he would just have to make a new one here.

As if summoned there was the stampeding sound of tiny feet and Lance didn't even have a chance to brace himself before Hope was launching and tackling him into the upchurned garden with a sort of breathless squeal.

Lance was knocked flat on his back and Hope perched on his stomach, bouncing up and down – and he would never tell a lady she was heavy, child or no, but owwww – and extended her hands out to him, a grin taking up her entire face.

Inside her rough hands was a small polished stone and Lance knew without explanation it had come from the lake. As his fellow aliens had seen, Lance loved the water. When he wasn't working on fortifying their camp or showing ex-slaves how to hold the blaster and fire or sneaking back into town for supplies, he was at the lake splashing around and losing himself for at least a few minutes in the familiar sensation of water about his skin and carding through his hair.

The stone was prettier than any jewel he'd ever laid eyes on, a dark blue with a very pale near white streak through it that resembled a V. His breath caught. It looked like the Voltron symbol.

Hope held it out more towards him with an excited sort of grunting noise and he carefully sat up, sliding her down his stomach onto his legs, and gently took it between his thumb and index finger.

Tears came unbidden to his eyes as he held it up, the sun washing through its near opalescent color now and making the V seem to glow. A small hand was on his cheek a moment later, the excitement faded away to concern as Hope brushed at his tears and glanced between his face and the stone that he'd clutched into his palm.

In answer Lance wrapped her up in a hug, burying his face in the rough fabric of the dress Plaid had made for her to hide his tears although his shoulders would not stop shaking.

He didn't even know really why he was crying over this and it just made him sob harder, broken gasps choking his throat and his nose tingling unpleasantly. He was aware that he was drawing attention as more hands and paws descended on his shoulders and in his hair, soothing caresses and murmured sounds of comfort.

He cried harder.

He had to stop. He couldn't afford to break down. He hadn't let himself do so once since he'd freed everyone because he had been made their leader by his actions and they looked to him for guidance and leadership.

He could not go to pieces like this. He had to remain strong. Just like Shiro. It didn't matter that he was still a kid. He wasn't one anymore, not really. He'd seen too much, endured too much, to be considered a child even if his seventeen – eighteen? – years still made him one.

By the time he was finally able to get his hiccupping breaths under control and lift his eyes from Hope's completely damp shoulder, it was to see that every single ex-slave had gathered around. He felt his face flame even more than the blotched cheeks had done, but there was not a hint of judgment in any of the gazes and several were tear-lined liked his own.

Someone tapped his shoulder and he turned slightly to see Amber, hers one of the many hands that was pressed against his back. She opened her free hand to show her palm and held it out towards his own clenched fist.

Lance uncurled his own fingers, revealing the stone.

Amber took it.

Lance must have made some sort of expression because Amber sent him a smile, a real smile, that was soft if sad and she patted his back with her other hand. She lifted the stone up towards her own neck and held it there, raising an inquiring eye brow.

Lance blinked, confused.

Lemur was there then, holding out a loose thread from his tarp-tunic to make a sort of loop above the stone and Lance understood.

A necklace. Amber wanted to make him a necklace.

More tears swam blurred his vision and he heard her make a sort of throaty sounding laugh, although there was no ill intent behind it, her amber eyes dancing. He managed a nod of consent.

That was the signal for everyone to get back to what they had been doing, but none went immediately to their tasks. Each one stopped, offering Lance a shoulder squeeze or a pat on the head and a sign of understanding, of thanks, that made his eyes sting for the third time.

After a few minutes it was just him and Hope and she scrambled off his legs although remained by his side as he pulled himself to standing, dusting the soft dirt from his clothes. She captured his hand before he could return to the improvised shovel they had made from sheet rock and logs and pulled him after her towards her "play" area of loose rocks and carved lines after Lance had demonstrated hopscotch.

Lance had looked over his shoulder at his unfinished work, but Dorito waved at him with a long orange wing in the direction of Hope and Lance had needed no further urging.

Later that night, while they were eating their meal of stolen fruit and chewing on pieces of rough bark that Marble had assured them were edible (even if they didn't taste very good but they couldn't be picky), Amber had approached with an almost giddy step.

Everyone had been watching as she seated herself across from Lance and just as Hope had done opened her hand to show what was inside.

The stone was wrapped about with thin pieces of silver wire (he'd stolen some of the crafting supplies on a whim for Hope to play with but other ex-slaves had been taking to it with a gusto to create decorations and details for their new home and clothes) with a loop at the top and in such a way that it didn't pull away from the wavy V symbol. It was threaded then through with a thick brown cord that had been intricately knotted to seal the loop.

It was beautiful.

Amber was stretching the necklace over his head before Lance could even blink and the stone came to nestle on his chest, gleaming against brown skin. He raised a hand to it, rubbing his fingers over the smoothness of the stone, the detailing of the wire, and looked up to meet Amber's eyes, a silent 'thank you' on his lips and a nod and smile on hers.

Lip reading was hard here; even if they all somehow spoke the same universal language not everyone had the same lip structure or typical mouths at all (beaks and muzzles and large fangs) but Lance tried anyway, looking about the assembled slaves. They nodded and smiled back at him, Lance picking out a "welcome" or "thank you" from a few of them.

His hand tightened over the stone, which almost seemed to be pulsing with a warmth that was filling him from the inside out.

He had indeed found a new family.

xxx

Something was wrong.

Lance could feel the prickle on the back of his neck as he crouched with Zebra on the outskirts of the town.

Forty-two days of freedom later had resulted in thirty-six evenings of raids. The six unaccounted for were because on those nights the Toads had finally tried raiding parties of their own, crashing into the forest with all the grace of a baby elephant. They had been stopped before they'd even caught sight of the camp each time. They were just not soldiers. They were bullies and torturers but they had no actual fighting skill or knowledge even of their own forests. But they came anyway. It almost felt wrong killing them but Lance knew they would not be shown any sympathy if they were caught.

Lance could understand their desperation. He'd seen it in town when he visited; the fear as the citizens hurried through the guard-lined streets (guards that were becoming smaller in number with each visit after one of their attempted attacks) and the way there was much less food in the homes and none of it fresh. The Toads had taken to blockading their doors and locks had been installed in nearly every home, but Lance just used the windows that did not have such latches and they had yet to catch on.

The Toads were scared.

Lance both hated and delighted in it.

With every passing day he hoped this would be the one where the Toads gave up, where they boarded a hired transport ship (they had no ships of their own or he'd have already tried to commandeer it) and left the planet behind.

And although the town was eerily quiet right now, Lance did not think that was what had happened. It seemed so…. Sudden. Too perfect.

But facts were facts. There were no guards patrolling the roads, no lights on save for the glowing rocks of the street lamps.

Even the castle was dark.

This could be it.

Lance backed away from the quiet town and skirted around it towards the castle, pulling the hood of his cloak Plaid had made for him down tighter as he shivered in both the night air and the sudden adrenaline mixed with fear and hope racing through him.

No guards.

Not a single one was lined up across the gate that led to the castle's winding front path.

They really were gone.

It was still too early to celebrate. Lance gestured for Zebra to stay put, hidden still in the long grasses and spattered trees. He'd just take a quick look. He could make it up the path pretty quick and he was nearly invisible with his black cloak and the moon hidden behind cloud cover tonight.

Just a peek.

And…

And if it was actually abandoned then…

Then he could try and get a signal to Voltron.

His heart leapt into his throat. This could be it.

He carefully stepped out of the cover and onto the cobbled street, blaster clutched tight in his hands.

Nothing happened.

He cocked his head, straining to hear any sort of sound. The Toads always had a sort of throaty breathing to them that they could not seem to control.

Still nothing.

He eased himself from the shadows and further onto the path, heart thumping as loud as it had when he had made his final escape. He willed it to be quiet as he crept forward towards the archway and wall.

Every near soundless but still too loud noise of his bare feet – shoes had been something they had had no luck with yet – had him wincing and holding his breath, but nothing else moved.

He halted his trek right on the last stone pillar before the expanse of clear courtyard between it and the normally guarded wall. Once there he would be completely out in the open.

Lance took a deep breath. That didn't matter. There was no one here. And even if there were Toads hiding, none of them had anything close to accurate aim, especially at a moving target. He would dash across and be at the wall in… ten ticks. He'd have cover again then if there was something.

Okay.

Go.

He was three ticks across the plaza when he heard it; the faintest whine of something charging to fire.

Someone was there.

This was a trap.

He was in danger.

He was so stupid.

Dios, he was so stupid.

It was too good to be have been true.

He needed to go.

Now.

Now now now now now!

Lance managed to pivot on count four the same time he heard a voice scream "NOW!" and a flash of green and white light sizzled in the corner of his eye.

He couldn't dodge it.

He tried.

He threw himself to the right but whatever it was was too large, too fast.

It clipped his shoulder and he would have screamed if he could have as what felt like the Toads shock prods went off along every inch of his body and his vision whited out at the sheer pain. He crashed onto his stomach and the blaster went flying from his grip to skid across the ground.

Above the sounds of his wet gasps he could hear multiple voices shouting and a cacophony of footsteps. He put all he had into pursing his lips into one shrill whistle to Zebra. Her aim was impeccable but as soon as she fired she'd give away her location and these were not Toads. These were some sort of mercenary – and how? How had they paid them? – and she could not fight all of them and live to tell about it.

She had to go.

She had to go before he killed her.

He heard her garbled whinny in return but that was it and even as his body twitched from the aftermath of the shocks he breathed out a sigh of relief.

She had left. Knowing her, knowing the loyalty of his new family, it was to get them and get help.

He prayed they didn't come. They were as safe as they could be out there although he knew the mercenaries would go for them eventually. Not only were all of their slaves hidden out in the woods… so were their jewels, buried in bags at the back of their compound. Their best bet was to defend from home field advantage. He prayed it would be enough. Otherwise… he hoped their deaths were quick. He had a feeling his would not be.

The voices were starting to sound like words now as the harsh buzzing in his ears slowly faded as the worst of the shocks wore off. Lance tried to shift but whatever it was that had hit him had wrapped about like wires, tightening with every attempted motion and his hands trapped below him.

He shook at the feeling of utter helplessness.

The voices grew closer.

They were not the rasps of the Toads though. They were clearer, less throaty.

"—so hard," came one voice, a tinge of worry on it.

"I wasn't taking any chances," was the retort, higher pitched. "Besides, this is better than what the king wanted."

Lance's breath caught.

These voices.

They weren't just clearer.

"He's secured?" a third voice, more authoritative in tone but still kind sounded.

Lance's eyes watered.

These voices…

"Of course. I know what I'm doing," the same higher-tone voice sounded, a little smug.

"Then let us get to the bottom of this," came an accented tone.

These voices were familiar.

He knew these voices..

"Rebel," the accented tone, beautiful and deadly, sounded again. "Do not resist and we shall not harm you further."

Lance stilled his trembling as much as he could, all attempts at movement gone.

"That was fast," a fifth voice muttered, suspicion clear.

Tears pricked Lance's eyes.

He thought he'd never hear these voices again.

"Roll over," instructed their leader, "and go no further. We will shoot if we must."

Lance took a deep breath, heart hammering and tears streaming down his cheeks now to plop onto the cobblestones with little plips.

What were they going to think? To say? Would they even recognize him?

There was only one way to find out.

He splayed his hands on the ground and rolled his body to the right, awkwardly landing on his side and hood falling away. From this angle he could see them.

All of them.

Hunk. Pidge. Shiro. Keith. Allura.

They looked the same and yet different; older, wearier.

But they were them.

His family.

They were looking at him as though seeing a stranger and he felt his heart thump harder.

They didn't know him.

Had they forgotten him?

But there was a choked sounding inhale then from Hunk, his entire face crumpling behind his visor. Lance could see the others in his peripheral looking to the Yellow Paladin but his own ocean gaze was locked entirely on that dark honey brown.

His best friend. His brother.

Hunk's lip wobbled, tears gathering in those warm eyes, and he let out a sob.

"Lance…"

xxx

Author's Notes:

Uh, what is this now? Did I bring the Paladins in? Jajajajaja. Keeping this under wraps and telling y'all "don't get your hopes up" was killing me inside so so glad this part has been uncovered. And what a reunion, huh? But let's not let it completely overshadow the rest of the chapter either because there were (I thought xD) some beautiful moments in there as well. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the chapter, so pretty please do leave a comment. Make me as happy as Lance is right now, por favor?

(Also, just a note, please no season seven talk in comments or messages. I am avoiding all spoilers to the best of my ability.)