Drowning (Klangst/Klance)

Chapter 13

Lance fell to his knees as he stared at his hands, shaking. He wasn't even conscious of the fact that he was screaming.

He was back.

And he was mortified.

His head wound was sending jolts of pain through his skull as he started to scramble away from the other paladins, spotting Pidge's corpse out of the corner of his eye. The pain was too much.

He vomited, utterly disgusted at himself. He did it. He killed Pidge. He didn't want this. Blue did, but he didn't.

Shiro didn't stop despite Lance's obvious change in behavior. He activated his arm and walked towards him, slowly. His face was a mask, emotionless. He raised his arm at Lance's cowering form, getting ready to finish him off.

"Shiro, wait!" Hunk screamed at him, able to tell that Blue was different.

"No! He fucking killed Katie, Hunk!" Shiro sliced his arm downward, straight towards Lance's head...

And froze, grunting in pain as he was suddenly paralyzed. Hunk and Keith were too.

Crying, Lance looked up, expecting to feel a blast of pain any second.

"St... Stellark..?" His voice was shakey. He wasn't sure when he'd even stopped screaming.

"Blue." She had the all too familiar purple aura around her, using her magic to hold the paladins in place. "Come here."

"N-No..." Lance inched backwards, on the ground still. He could feel Shiro's eyes following him.

"Now." Her voice was commanding, laced with a threatening undertone. She moved towards Lance, appearing to hover over the ground.

"Stay back! Please!" Lance's voice was begging.

Stellark hissed. "Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way." She spoke quickly, watching as Lance fell limp, unconscious. The others fell to the ground, knocked out as well. "Guards, take those three and put them back in their cells. I'll take care of Blue and the green one."

With a wave of her hand, they got to work.

-----

Lance didn't know how long he'd been sleeping. He could feel Stellark present in his mind again, waiting for him to awake. She was in the room with him. It was his room.

He bolted up, his eyes wild. "Get out! Get out!"

'Out of you room, or out of your mind?'

"Out of my head... Please... Just let me go... I wanna go back..." Lance broke down again, crying. "Oh God... I killed her... I killed Pidge..." His sobs filled the silence of the room.

Stellark narrowed her eyes. She had no time to waste on feelings. He needed fixed. The aura appeared again.

Lance saw it. "No! No! Stay out! Stay out!" He put his hands over his head, trembling as he curled up into a ball. Her presence grew stronger in his mind as she got to work.

He started screaming again. Jesus Christ, this hurt so much worse than the first time. He tried fighting back , but it only made the pain worse. He felt weak. This time was different, way different. Something wasn't quite right. He felt distant, like he wasn't all there.

He suddenly collapsed, limp.

Stellark's aura faded away, the tension completely gone. His mind had suddenly left her's. She frowned, gazing at Lance. "Blue?"

Lance opened his eyes and turned to her, his eyes a blindingly bright shade of blue. He was certainly not himself again.

"Oh ho? Different yet again? Interesting..." Stellark examined him. "Rise. I need to attend to the green paladin still, and I need to do one last thing to you."