Voltron: Darkest Days

Chapter 17: The End?

A quiet week allowed the team to rest and recuperate from the dramatic events, everyone falling into a mundane pattern around the castle. Life continued. However the universe didn't seem to intend to allow them take a break for too long, as the defenders soon found themselves at the receiving end of a distress signal from one of the planets in the coalition. The message sounded urgent, but the leader of the planet Githana reassured the team that they would be able to hold off the galra battle ship, but not for long.

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"Alright everyone." Allura spoke to the team over the comms from where she was stood at the bridge, re watching the distress video. "We'll be worm-holing over to Githana in a few minutes, so get ready and be prepared."

Lance looked over to Keith from where he was sitting on the couch in the common room. "Damn, first mission already. We should go get ready."

"Yeah..." Keith stood, stretching. "Let's just hope it's a quick mission." He offered his hand to Lance.

Lance took in a deep breath and took hold of his hand, rising to his feet wth a nod. "Let's do this."

Keith gave him a smile, before pulling him into a quick kiss. "Don't die, ok?"

"I promise. And don't you either." He smiled slightly after the kiss, trying to calm his racing thoughts. His first mission after getting back... that was a scary thought. He hadn't even flown Blue yet! What if their bond wasn't strong enough? What if he wasn't her paladin anymore? He didn't know if that was even possible, but Vara had been piloting her for about a year now, all while Lance was so far away he couldn't feel their mental link at all. It had been something he'd been actively ignoring thinking about, but now that they lions were needed, the thoughts came flowing back.

Keith placed his hand on Lance's arm. "You're going to be ok, Lance." Keith assured. He knew his partner well enough to know he was freaking out. "Now C'mon. I bet Blue's going to be excited to have you flying her again."

Lance smiled thankfully at him, letting out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. Keith always knew what to say to help get Lance out of his own head, which had unfortunately been happening more and more frequently now. Clearing his throat, he took a step towards the door, still grasping Keith's hand. "Lets go get changed."

Keith smiled widely and dragged Lance by the hand out of the room and down the hall.

Lance followed with a smile on his face.
When they got to the room they changed into their flight suits quickly, pulling on their armour and grabbing their helmets. The weight of the armour felt both strange and comforting to Lance as he ran his hand over the face of his helmet.

Keith quickly changed. "I'm going to go ahead." He told the boy before running out, leaving Lance alone.

Lance took in a shaky breath and put on the helmet, walking out of the room before breaking into a jog as he headed towards Blue's hangar. He was partially aware of Allura announcing to everyone that they were entering the wormhole, and barely registered the castle's shift in motion beneath his feet, as he was too caught up in focusing on where he was heading to and not on the nerves in his stomach that were making him feel sick.
He would have remained like that until he reached Blue's hangar, but instead he was thrown into the wall as the castle was hit with a sudden blast as soon as it exited the wormhole.

It took a few moments for Lance to realise he was on the floor, but when he did he scrambled to his feet and looked around, noticing the power to the corridor he had just been in was shut off.

"Allura!" He spoke, knowing she would be able to hear him through the comms. "What happened? What was that?"

There wasn't an instant reply, and he let out a curse and began to sprint towards Blue's hangar, calling out to Allura as he went. The comms spluttered to life, and he heard Allura's voice, determined and commanding. "It's a galra battle ship! It was waiting for us. Get to your lions as quick as you can!" Shen then told Coran to raise the particle barrier off to the side, and the faint blast that echoed throughout the ship seconds later told Lance that it had been raised just in time to deflect another blast from the battle ship.

As Lance skidded around a corner, one that looked like any other corner in the entire castle, he heard a gasp of horror through the comms, and it was enough to make Lance pause.

"What is it?" He demanded, a horrific feeling settling in his gut.

"No.." Came the hushed exclamation from the Princess, before she was yelling at them through the comms to 'get to your lions now! We need Voltron!'

Lance clenched his jaw and began running again, stumbling more frequently as blasts from the galra ship rained down on the shield and sent shockwaves throughout the castle. He was thrown into another wall as the number of shots increased, far too many for there to be just one ship, but he rose to his feet again and ran, desperate to reach Blue.

He could hear Allura and Coran yelling to each other through the comms, but he tried to block them out and using the comms in his helmet, attempted to contact the others.

"Hello?" He called, "Guys what's going on? HELLO?"

Shiro's voice suddenly came over the comms. "Lance? Where the hell are you and Keith? You need to be in your Lions and out here now!" Shiro ordered, before there was grunt, as though his lion was getting hit.

"Shiro?" Lance called. "I'm still in the castle, I'm heading towards Blue now. I don't know where Keith is, he left before me." He continued running, heading down a familiar corridor close to the bay. "What the hell's happening out there?"

"Shit!" Shiro exclaimed as there was a clanging noise on his end, and an explosion shook the castle. "We're being ambushed! There's too many. We need to get back to the Castle's safety and wormhole away." Shiro Instructed. "Allura, Coran, prepare the wormhole, Paladins, retreat!" He commanded. There was another explosion, and a staticky noise announced Shiro's comm cut out.

"Shiro? SHIRO?" Lance exclaimed, breath coming fast and panicked. "FUCK!" He roared before the castle was hit with the worst blow yet. It tipped the entire ship to the side, causing Lance to skid to the side of the corridor, hitting his head on the wall as he did so. Stars flashed in front of his eyes and he thought he was fading out of consciousness before he realised it was the lights flickering on and off, before shutting off with a hum. There was a noise unlike anything he'd ever heard before and a scream of metal before a shockwave hit the castle again, Lance being launched to the floor and down the corridor as the ship was tipped from the blow. His head was ringing and the wails of the alarm wasn't making it any better but he tried to get to his feet anyway, blinking rapidly and wondering when exactly blood had begun pouring down his face.

Lance managed to get to his knees but another large blast sent him sprawling to the floor again, his head knocking against the inside of his helmet. The flashing lights and alarms constantly flickered on and off, creating a staggered pattern of screaming and echoing silence. Lance was only vaguely aware of floating off the ground, probably due to the anti gravity having shut down or failed, before unconsciousness overtook him. His last coherent thought was of his team, and he wondered if they were still alive or if they were already dead and gone, before he knew nothing but darkness.