Langst One-Shots

Inked (Part Two)

Lance woke up to blood running down his arm again. The galra didn't seem to care if he was still bleeding when they threw him in his cell. They just wanted him to suffer. All he could think of as the red trailed down his arm was "what will my soulmate think?"

°•°

Keith rubbed at the weird ink on his arm. It was red at first, but now it had turned and ugly shade of brown and hurt to rub off. He wanted to work on finding Lance, not work on rubbing this shit off of his arm!

°•°

"Bring the pain, bitch." Lance spat. The armored emperor just stared at him.

"You humans... So spunky. You always seem ready for pain. Perhaps I should pay your planet a visit someday. For now, however, you." Zarkon made a deep scratching noise that Lance could only interpret as a laugh. "What to do with you? You won't answer me when I ask nicely, or when I hurt you. Not even when I offer you freedom do you open your mouth other than to scream."

"Maybe if you weren't a lying asshole I'd consider it. But even then, I love the way you get frustrated when I don't say anything." Despite being strapped to a table and extremely drugged, Lance was laughing.

"You may think it's funny now, but I doubt you'll laugh again any time soon." Zarkon left the room with no explanation, leaving Lance confused, and, quite honestly, terrified.

°•°

"He could be on any of these ships!" Hunk exclaimed frustratedly, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Yes, but now you know not to check every ship you come across. My father would not be so careless to leave him on a simple prison ship." Lotor stared studiously at the screen in front of him, which had many blue dots highlighted on a map. They seemed to be moving around, like a giant tracker.

"Thank you for the help." Allura said. She still didn't trust Lotor, but he and the blue paladin had become friends since the battle for Naxzela, something that Lotor had very few of. The galra prince would do almost anything for Lance.

"It's no trouble. Anything to help the rebellion." Lotor said distantly. It still hurt him that he could never go back. At first, he wanted to. He searched for a way to double-cross the paladins and please his father enough to be let back into the empire. But as the paladins showed him kindness, he felt obligated to help them. Eventually, he realized that he couldn't ever go back to his old life. He was a rebel now, whether he liked it or not.

°•°

Lance had his mouth clamped shut in an attempt to silence himself. He didn't want to give the druids the satisfaction of his fear... But he could tell that they knew what he was feeling.

"We don't need him." 'Shiro' said. His hero... Why would he say that?!

"We have five paladins without him, anyway." Allura smiled. Lance knew it wasn't them, it couldn't have been, but it looked and sounded so real.

"Who are we talking about?" Keith asked, walking on-screen.

"Lance." Allura rolled her eyes.

"Oh, him? God, I hope he's dead by now." Keith yawned. Lance could feel tears forming, but he wouldn't let them spill. He wouldn't let the galra think they'd won.

"So the red one upsets you?" Haggar asked. Lance glared at her, but otherwise ignored her. "How... interesting."

"How about fuck you?" Lance growled. Haggar just smiled.

"You'll soon regret your vulgar comments. It would be much easier to just comply." The witch left the room, but left the video playing. Lance tried to look away, but with the restraints, it hurt less to stare straight ahead at it. He must have passed out from exhaustion, because he woke up later in his cell with fresh tears on his cheeks and dried ink on his arms.

Can I talk to you? I just feel like I have nobody else to talk to.

Lance looked around desperately for a pen of any sort. Finding none, he resorted to using his own blood.

I guess so. I have nothing better to do...

It took a couple minutes for his soulmate to write back.

I have a friend that I really, really miss. Have you ever dealt with any deaths or kidnappings? I just feel so lost and alone...

Lance smiled weakly. He did have a little experience, yes, seeing as he was, in a way, the victim of a kidnapping - if you could call it that.

I know the feeling. Just try not to think about it.

How do you "not think about it"?

Focus on literally anything else. It can be hard, but even the smallest things can help.

But ignoring the problem doesn't fix it.

Some problems just don't get fixed. I realized that a long time ago.

But what if this problem IS meant to be fixed?

Well, then you better get to work.

Lance yawned and leaned back. At least the galra were giving him time to rest. It would be unbearable to endure physical and mental torture without sleep. Perhaps it wouldn't be good to tell them that, though... They would probably use it against him.

You remind me of the friend. You talk, or, write, like him.

What did that mean? Was that supposed to be a compliment? Hey, you remind me of my kidnapped/possibly dead best friend! Not the weirdest compliment Lance had gotten, but still, odd.

What was he like? He knew it was stupid to ask, but he needed to take his own advice. Think of anything, literally anything other than his friends. Maybe his soulmate could help him take his mind off things. And, if not, it would help his soulmate vent.

Well, I don't really know where to start... His name is Lance.

[Part three coming soon]