Damaged Beyond Repair

Giving Up

Day 11:
When Lance finally returned to the land of the living, he was confused.
For the first time in who knows how long, his dreams hadn't been plagued by death and torture. Progress!

His happiness didn't last very long however, as his sleepy eyes found the forms of Hagger and Lotor.

"Oh great. This wasn't all some horrible dream then?" Lance rubbed his eyes, furious with himself when he felt the dried tear tracks that ran down his cheeks.

He heard Haggers evil little snort.
"I wouldn't worry about it too much. Soon your little friends will be here, and I'll finally get to put you out of your misery."

"I wouldn't bet on it." Lance shocked himself with how much sincerity he poured into the sentence. Just when did he start believing his team didn't care about him?
"They don't need me anyhow. I was just extra cargo for Voltron to carry. Why not 'put me out of my misery' now instead?"

Hagger stares at him for a bit before answering.
"As much as I'd love to take you up on that offer and end your puny life, the other paladins are coming, you'll see. In the mean time I can wait. It'll just make that day so much sweeter."

Lance watched in silence as Hagger gave one last swoosh of her cloak, and then power walked away. (Hint: imagine those old ladies in the malls, but angrier and more purple.)

Lance was grateful for her departure, but unfortunately it left him in an awkward position- alone with Prince Good Hair. (Seriously what products did this guy use!?)

After a few moments in which Lance grew increasingly more awkward, Goldilocks began to speak.
"I'm sorry."

Que more silence. This time though, Lance was stunned. The Galra could apologize? This was world (universe?) breaking news.
In the minutes Lance spent gaping at Lotor, said prince couldn't keep still. Lance's gaze burnt a hole through his galran armor.

Just as he was about to up and leave, Lance finally started to speak.

"Don't worry about it dude! It's not like you just subjected me to pain and suffering. Oh wait, you did! On the bright side you didn't have to watch said suffering, how awful would that have been?"

Lotor grimaced.
"In my defense, I didn't know how bad they were hurting you."
Lance gave him a blank stare.

"Alright alright. The word "torture" should've tipped me off. Can you blame me though? I didn't know what to say."

Lance's stare turned into a sharp glare.
"You're right! I can't blame you for giving them more ideas! You're completely in the clear. And by 'clear' I mean I wish this room was clear. Clear of you. The door you can exit from is located just to the left of you. Have a great day!"

Lotor opened his mouth in a retort, before shaking his head and flouncing out the open door, giving it a nice slam (!) for good measure.

Lance sighed, the short exhale making him grit his teeth at the pain. His ribs were most definitely broken. Great.

He did a quick body check and found that he had multiple bruises on his chest and legs, and the blood he was tasting in his mouth indicated a busted lip. How kind of the Galra to at least leave him in one piece.

He laid against the metal chair, they hadn't even bothered to take him out. Closing his eyes, he thought about just how bad his situation was.
He focused on his breathing as thoughts swarmed around his head. He would never see his team again. He would never see his family again.

In that moment, Lance could feel himself giving up. On hope, on freedom, and most importantly- on living.
He was resigned to his fate.
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Pidge was beyond frustrated.
Waiting for the Blue Lion to come back on, to put it simply, was exhausting.

She hadn't slept in a good two days, not to mention she was beside herself with worry.

She wasn't alone though. Hunk had had at least 4 breakdowns since Lance's paladin-napping, and Kieth had been extra-emo. Add that to Shiro and Allura's constant worrying, along with Coran's unusually stoic expression, the paladins of Voltron were not on their best.

To put the cherry on top, all they could do was wait. Waiting, it seemed, was not their strong suit. It wasn't even in their vocabulary.

Pidge sighed and pushed up her glasses as she typed away on the alien-tech laptop. She was researching galran ship sightings for the 100th time, and surprise! Still nothing. It was like Lance had gone off the grid, he was MIA.

Sometimes, when she was alone in the dead of night in the castles observatory, she allowed herself to think. She had faith in Lance, just like she had faith in her brother and father. They were out there. She was going to find them, all of them.

"Hey." Hunk's voice said from the doorway. The sad expression dark on his usually happy face. "Dinners ready. Up for some space goo?"

Pidge shook her head.
"I think I should keep researching. There's bound to be some sightings here somewhere, I just have to look harder. I'm not that hungry anyway."

Hunk sighed, walking towards the green paladin and sitting beside her.
"You know what? Me neither. I'll help you look."

Pidge smiled at the lie. Hunk would never turn down food. The smile soon faded as she thought about the reason why he was lying, and she quickly flipped the laptop closed.

She turned to Hunk.
"Actually? On second thought, I am hungry. Space goo sounds pretty good right about now. Come to the kitchens with me?"
Hunk gave her a small smile.

"Alright. I guess I could go for a snack." His stomach growled. "Or maybe two."

Pidge laughed genuinely for the first time in the 11 days Lance had been missing. They would find him, she was sure of it.

And when they found him, the Galra would pay for what they did to him.
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A/N- Woo! I haven't updated in two months I am terrible!! So sorry guys, I plan on updating again super soon to make up for the wait.

Also! This story is on a different plot line then canon, as you can see by Lotor's personality and the fact that Matt isn't there yet.

Alright I think that's all! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, I'm sorry for being an awful human being!
-witch_demigod_runner