"You could try it on me."

Lance looked at his sister in horror as if she had grown a second head or drank strange cactus juice in the desert again.

For her part, Veronica continued to brown the turtle duck meat over the fire, the only edible thing they could find. R.I.P lovely turtles duck, but they were all hungry. Your sacrifice will be honored.

"No," Lance said with a snort.

"I'm serious. I won't use you for some strange experiment."

Veronica turned her head towards him, frowning, "You wouldn't hurt me. You would need it to learn. "

"I don't need it. " "Lance ..."

The waterbender interrupted her, "I already told you. I will never use bloodbending again. Not a chance."

"Lance, think about it. If Hama managed to break out of a Fire Nation prison with that, think about what you could do in battle. "

Lance pursed his lips, "I don't want to use this on people."

"Soldiers, Lance. Not normal people. " "Aren't they the same people?"

"They are enemies. - Veronica reminded him, - I admire your heart, little brother. I do. But in war, you cannot be kind. "

Lance was aware of this. He wasn't an idiot, despite what Pidge thought. He used his bending to fight, despite the initial difficulties.

He didn't like fighting, not as he had thought before Lance left the South Pole, but it was necessary. Use bloodbending, though? Unnecessary.

"I could only use it once a month, with a full moon. It's not worth it."

"That's the point. You can't know for sure if you don't train. "

Lance grimaced, "Hama has only been able to use it during the full moon. It seems to be very indicative. "

"You are more powerful than Hama. You used bloodbending after seeing it once. "

Lance shrugged, "It was pure luck."

Veronica wrinkled her nose.

"Why when you have to brag, you never do?"

"There's nothing to brag about," Lance replied, annoyed.

"I know what it feels like when someone uses bloodbending on you. I don't want to make anyone else feel... like puppets. "

He hated how helpless he felt. He had watched as Hama hurt Veronica and Keith, unable to do anything to stop her. It had been terrible. It had been humiliating. It was something he didn't want anyone to feel for any reason.

Veronica was about to say something when their hesiblingsscream, "Lance!"

The two siblings turned their heads simultaneously and saw Hunk arrive with Keith in his arms as Shiro carried Pidge and Allura.

"Hunk, what ..."

"Lotor sent assassins. - Hunk replied - They weren't even benders, but they had these poisoned blades ..."

Lance bit the inside of his cheek.

He'll have to try to heal the more superficial wounds first. He didn't want them to become infected, making the situation worse.

"I get it. I will do my best."

#

As he discovered, the best of Lance was not enough. Pidge had managed to escape the poisoned blades, but she had a bad concussion.

Allura's shoulder was out of order and nauseous.

After throwing up on Lance, she seemed to have expelled most of the poison. Keith was the one in the worst condition, with a high fever and purple spots all over his body.

Lance treated Keith's wounds, but the problem remained the poison: Lance had no idea what the killers used or how to cure him.

He could only try to lower his fever, wanting to discover something from the symptoms.

Observe. Make assumptions. Cure , master Takoda had taught him at the North Pole.

It was difficult to watch his friends get sick and stay alert to analyze the symptoms and find a cure. At least he didn't have to do it all by himself: Hunk kept Pidge awake while Veronica was with Allura. The thought of them waiting for him to give him instructions was terrifying.

Shiro brought him some water, and Lance smiled gratefully. As he made Keith drink it, the Avatar was hovered above him, barely holding back his anxiety.

Didn't anyone tell him it wasn't a good idea to make a healer feel anxious?

"Will he make it?" the earthbender asked suddenly, and it almost scared Lance off his mind.

"I won't let him die from this," Lance told him. "Lotor owes him a fight. "

Keith was furious that Ba Sing Se was kicked in the ass by the jerk prince, and had been angsty ever since, saying he needed to regain his lost honor and make Lotor pay for it. He didn't understand the whole thing about honor - from what he'd seen, Keith was one of the few firebenders to be obsessed with - but he was important to Keith, and when the time comes, he'll help him kick that big balloon.

So there was no way Keith would die now before he regained his honor. Not on Lance's watch.

"You care about him, don't you?"

"We're friends," Lance said absently, spinning the water around Keith.

"Before, you were always at each other's throats." "If you worry that I don't do my best to cure him ..."

Shiro cut him off, "That's not what I meant. Glad you got close. You have a positive influence on him. "

"I don't think so. He's always damned stubborn, and he never listens to anyone. "

"He listens to you. - Shiro said, a strange inflection in his voice. - To Ba Sing Se, Keith would have stayed behind to fight Lotor. But you asked him not to, and he listened to you. "

"That's not how I remember it," Lance muttered.

He had had to drag Keith away before Lotor killed him, ignoring the firebender's protests and trying to find Veronica. It had been a terrible day.

"Besides, you can't know how it went. You were in the catacombs with Allura. "

"Keith told me what happened. - Shiro clenched his fists - Anger is the enemy of firebenders. He would fight to the death if necessary. You saved him, Lance. And I'm sure you will be able to do it this time, too. "

Lance wanted to believe he deserved that trust. But Keith's condition was critical, and he no longer even had water from the Spirit Oasis. Perhaps with that, he could have done another miracle, as he had done with Shiro.

Alone, however, he was useless.

"I almost healed my wounds, but he still has a fever. I don't know what to do with poison. "

He didn't even know which antidote to use. Now the toxins must have damaged the organs, and Keith would slowly died.

Lance could not heal internal damage.

How can you know that bloodbending can't be helpful? Veronica's voice rang in his mind.

A crazy idea came to him: the poison toxins were in the blood.

Lance could potentially bend the blood and eliminate the poison.

Here's the problem: it was only potential. Lance didn't even know if he could do it.

"If I don't try, Keith will die."

Just the thought alone led him to try the impossible. He closed his eyes and took a shaky breath. It was worth a try.

He opened them again and concentrated on the blood still flowing from the wound in his abdomen. Nothing happened.

It was disheartening, but Lance continued.

After long, endless seconds, the blood finally moved. Lance hardly believe his eyes and felt a Holy

spirit from Shiro.

He could see the purple traces of the poison in the blood. With the water, the toxins disappeared, and the blood returned to normal.

Lance felt like he was going to cry. He wouldn't have done it: there was a lot of work to do.

"Shiro ... I think I'm about to perform another miracle ..."

#

When Keith regained consciousness at dawn, he smiled. An honest, goddamn smile. Lance felt his heart go to a thousand, and he blamed the fear that the idiot had made him feel.

"So, I owe you my life."

Lance snorted, "Nothing new, mullet."

Despite the insult, Keith's smile didn't go away.

"Thanks, Lance. "

"Hey, we have to fight Lotor together, have you forgotten that? I won't let you die before you regain your honor. "

It didn't sound entirely sincere even to his ears, but what Keith didn't know wasn't going to hurt him.

#

They had to stay in the forest for a week. Lance's friends needed time to recover. Especially Keith: Lance had to finish eliminating all the toxins from his body and wasn't sure Keith didn't have permanent damage.

The firebender spent most of the time sleeping, the fever almost gone. Master Takoda told him that it was a good sign when a patient spent a lot of time sleeping.

It meant he was recovering. For his part, Lance was glad that no one was dead.

Cleaning the poison from Keith's blood took time and a lot of energy, and as soon as he finished, Lance collapsed next to the firebender. He had fallen asleep right away and had recovered several hours later when the sky was dark, and the others had fallen asleep too.

While he slept, Lance grabbed Keith's hand and walked over to him.

He blushed, but Lance didn't turn away. Keith was hot and cold.

He curled up next to him again, relieved to see him breathe more regularly.

He didn't know how to feel.

He was happy that Keith was no longer in danger of his life, and he was glad that the bloodbending had served for something other than the manipulation of the bodies.

But he felt, deep down, that it was wrong. The waterbending had always seemed natural to him, an essential part of him. With bloodbending it wasn't like that.

It did not belong to him, even though he had had to use it out of necessity.

"Maybe just for the healing ... Hama would be furious to find out I saved a life by bloodbending ..."

Lance tried to go back to sleep, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed shadows moving among the foliage.

He sat up, his heart pounding in his chest. He was breathing slowly, so as not to make any noise, all his senses on alert.

There was a flash, and Lance was just in time to move that a dagger planted where he had been a few seconds ago.

Lance stepped on top of Keith to protect him from other attacks.

He heard voices.

"Perfect. You missed him."

"We wouldn't be here if you had done your job!"

"The kid nearly burned my face! You could have killed the Avatar!"

"I was busy not getting killed!" "Me too!"

"You know what? Let's kill them all and get it over with."

"I agree."

All of a sudden a shower of daggers poured on them. Lance stepped onto Keith, but an earthen wall rose, protecting them.

Shiro had woken up, his arms outstretched and a focused expression on his face.

"Lance, get Keith. Veronica, go with Allura. Hunk, you take care of Pidge."

"And you?" Hunk asked, his voice drawling from sleep.

"I'll keep them busy." "But..."

"Go! Go before they ..."

He was interrupted by a stab in the back. Lance saw him fall to the ground, the assassin on top of him. The man had arrived behind Shiro, silent as a cat.

The man smiled, " I thought that killing the Avatar would be more difficult."

Veronica was about to take her sword, but she was kicked in the face. The woman who had hit Veronica looked at her indifferently.

"Don't be a braggart, Rolo. You let them escape before. "

"Well, this time, I won't repeat my mistakes. "

He sank the knife deeper into Shiro's neck, letting trickles of blood slide.

"What do you say, poison or old-fashioned?"

"Slice his neck and be done with it. Lotor doesn't pay us to waste time. "

"You spoil the fun."

Rolo knelt on the ground. He was about to slit Shiro's throat. It was as if time slowed down, and Lance felt small and helpless again. There was no water he could use, nothing.

But he was wrong. There was something he could use.

Rolo froze. His partner grunted, "What are you waiting for? Finish him."

"I cannot do it..." "Don't be stupid. " "Seriously, I ... argh!"

Rolo opened his hand and dropped the dagger to the ground. He hunched over, looking like he was going to throw up.

"What the hell..."

Nyma looked at Lance, narrowing her eyes. It wasn't difficult to put two and two together. The boy was doing something. The Avatar wasn't the only dangerous person to eliminate.

Lance was in a cold sweat. He had spent a lot of energy before healing Keith, and keeping control over Rolo was taking a tremendous amount of effort.

He didn't notice Nyma approaching. His sister did.

Veronica intervened promptly and punched her before she hit him, knocking her into Hunk. Hunk pinned her by the arms, and the killer couldn't extricate herself.

"I'll give you back the kick from before," the warrior spat hatefully.

"Nyma!"

Rolo tried to move, but Lance was still in control. He held him back, and for a moment, he thought he could break all his bones and make him unable to move.

But that wasn't how they worked in the Water Tribe.

"Veronica, tie him up. I don't think I can resist for long. "

"You should just kill him."

"No."

"Lance ..."

He was adamant, "We're not like them. Tie him. "

Veronica wanted to remind him that they were at war and that she had already killed to defend herself. But it wasn't a conversation she wanted to have right now with her brother.

So she tied Rolo.

Finally, Lance released the control. He was so fucking tired. And it wasn't over: Shiro needed treatment.

"I need water. Now! "

Veronica was looking at him with a smirk he didn't like. He was about to repeat it when she said, "I told you bloodbending could be helpful. "

God, he hated it when she was right.