safe here [shiro/reader]

chapter three: medella

[YOUR POV - 2 years before Voltron was formed]

You woke to a sharp, electrical lightning bolt traveling through your body. You screamed at the sudden, stinging pain and opened your eyes to find a cloaked woman with long, white hair and yellow eyes. She was cackling at you. It was Haggar.

"Did you have a nice nap? I was wondering if I should wake you or not -- you looked so terrible when crying that I nearly collapsed in a laughing fit." Haggar snickered. "Oh, and isn't the new setup great? It's exclusively for you, [y/n]. You should appreciate it. It'll be your last memory here."

Your fingers felt around your face. She was right -- your sunken cheeks were damp with tears and your baggy eyes were swollen. What had you been crying about?

But your attention quickly turned to her last sentences. A new setup? Your last memory here?

A prick of fear arose from the inside of your chest -- but not for fear of death. Rather, you were scared on how you would be killed. Knowing Haggar, you couldn't even begin to imagine how terrifying the pain would be before she finally pulled the plug.

"You know, you should be grateful, [y/n]." Haggar broke the silence. "Throughout these seven years, I've never put you into the arena to fight: I've only invited you over to this lovely room on board the ship and, well... did some researching and performed some experiments on you. Do you know why?"

You shook your head, but not only in response to her question. You've never once felt grateful for not being put into a gladiator fight. All these tests and experiments done on your body has ruined everything from your reproductive system to the your emotions, to your development and to your appearance. You'd much rather die than go through torture.

You have a camera-lens glass eye in your right socket. You have streaks of white all over your filthy hair. You don't have ovaries anymore -- and these are the only three things that you know has happened to your body. The majority of damage is underneath your skin, underneath the thousand stitches and scars all over your stomach, all over your thighs, all over your arms. and all over your back. There could be anything under there, from ticking time-bombs to god-knows-what.

Haggar cackled. "Unbelievable. Do you really think you're human, all because we picked you up from planet Earth, and all because you look like a one? Did your family distrust you that much to never have told you the truth?"

You froze at the mention of your family. Your face flushed with anger, but you suppressed it. After being experimented on for seven years by Haggar, you knew what would happen if you fought back.

"Unbelievable," Haggar sighed. "Truly, truly unbelievable. And all this time, I thought you knew. I didn't know you were such a clueless idiot, [y/n]. Why do you think I've kept you alive for seven years? Why do you think I experiment on you so much, more than anyone else on this ship? How valuable could a human being be for me to toy with them for seven years straight?

You're not fully human. Your mother was an alien. More specifically, she was the last survivor of a lost race: the Medellans, from the planet of Medella. Zarkon got rid of that planet and its people for a reason -- they were too powerful. They were incredible healers. Any disease, any injury, any problem with a creature's body, whether human or not -- they could heal. It didn't matter if the illness was unknown or not, they got rid of it. Think about it, [y/n]: have you ever fallen sick throughout these seven years on this ship? Have you ever come close to death here?"

...She's right. You've never fell ill to food poisoning here, and you've never caught a single illness here either -- in fact, you don't think you've ever coughed in your entire life.

"Moreover, why do you think you have the symbol of the Medellan kingdom in the palms of your hands?"

Symbols?

You looked down at your palms. There were images there, but weren't those just weird tattoos? Or birthmarks or something?

"...Anyway. Medellans cannot die from disease or injury, only from old age, which is how Zarkon got rid of them. Even then, it's difficult: Medellans age slower than humans -- much slower. You're an exception to this, since you're a hybrid. But Medellan hybrids like you cannot die from disease or injury either -- most of the Medellan genes are more dominant than any other race's genes in the universe. That makes them even more of a threat, but that's not the only reason.

Medellans can kill. Just like they can heal, they can kill. Very easily, at that. They're all the ultimate weapons when used, but terrifying when used against you. An entire fleet of ships could be wiped out by a couple of Medellans in only a couple of minutes, if executed correctly.-

Do you get it now, [y/n]? You've only been kept alive because we wanted to give your Medellans powers to our Galran elite, which includes Zarkon and myself. Imagine the power we would acquire and how easily it would be to get rid of entire planets! Imagine how easy it would be for us to wipe out an entire race!"

You flinched at her power-hungry tone, but also astounded at the potential you, a mess of a creature, held.

"For that reason, we were horrified, as well as excited, for when we found out there were two Medellans left in the universe -- you, and your mother. Our original plan was just to take your mother, since she seemed more useful, being the pure Medellan she was. Unfortunately, our great Zarkon fell in love with her. That made our plans even more complicated. She only agreed to be with him and be experimented on as long as you and your family weren't hurt -- we agreed at the terms, but had to get rid of her when we found out she was purposefully weakening Zarkon. We had to use you instead, since we found out your sister wasn't related to either of your parents or you. I was assigned by our great leader Zarkon to experiment on you and find a way to extract your p--"

"Why did you kill my sister and my father?" you blurted out, your voice cracking as you looked down at your hands, observing the intricate Medellan designs. "They're harmless and as you said, useless to your reign. Why didn't you just--?"

"Silence," the witch hissed. "Did I ask you to interrupt? Anyway, since you don't want to learn about your background at all, we'll just go straight to the reason I brought you here today."

You felt cold sweat form on your back.

She sighed, walking towards you, still sprawled on the ground. "It's such a shame. I really wished I could've played more with my favorite toy. Well, before we get on with it -- are there any questions?"

You hesitated. What should you ask? If what she was saying was true, isn't there a chance of escape? Then again, why would Haggar be telling you this?

You decided to keep your mouth shut.

"Alright, no questions? Then let's get to why I brought you here in the first place," Haggard snickered.

Your eyes widened.

Oh, no, no, no, no no nononononononononononono.

Your body steeled in anticipation.

No, no, no, no, no no nononononononononononono.

Your fingers curled up into a fist.

No, no, no, no, n--

"You're going to be sent back to planet Earth."