Safe and Sound (Langst)

Chapter One

It didn't happen often but when it did, the paladins could only feel like they had failed the entire universe. Every failure created a sense of hopelessness in their hearts. They walked through the now abandoned Galra prison, carefully stepping over the destroyed corpses of the prisoners. Somehow the Galra were able to figure out that Voltron would be targeting this prison and instead of trying to fight, they decided to leave and cut their losses. Literally, by the looks of it.

"We'll need to cover more ground," Shiro decided. "Pidge, I want you to see what you can pull from the Warden's system,"

"Got it," she said, heading up the stairs to the overview offices.

"Keith and Hunk, go left and take blocks A and B, Lance, we'll go right and take C and D," he said gesturing to the off-shooting hallways. They nodded and went forward, hoping that they would be able to leave sooner rather than later. Shiro walked beside Lance quietly watching out for any potential danger but it seemed like any enemies had fled leaving the building completely empty. As they approached the stairwell leading down to the C-Block, Shiro gestured for Lance to go down.

"Because it's closer," Shiro teased when Lance looked at him questioningly. Lance allowed himself to smirk slightly and he quickly went down the stairs.

"Ugh," He gagged when he reached the bottom of the stairs. He covered his mouth as he looked at the blood that was covering the floor. He felt absolutely horrified at the amount of malice that these aliens were shown. He cautiously crept forward with his rifle drawn in front of him. He cringed at the way his boots stuck to the floor and came off with a 'shlick' each time. He let the light from his wrist armour shine into the darkened cells as he passed them trying to ignore the way his stomach clenched in pity for the people they couldn't save.

He whipped around when he heard a faint scuffing and sniffing sound coming from the last cell. He brought his bayard up to his eye to line up in case there were hostiles still aboard. The cell door creaked as he swung it open and he almost fell back at the sudden loud wailing that broke out when he entered. He lowered his bayard immediately at the sight of a small figure struggling to push themselves back into the farthest corner of the room, away from Lance. Lance's heart clenched in sympathy at the sight of the blooded child that couldn't keep his eyes off of Lance as he bawled and tried to curl up into himself. He looked to be from the planet Puig from the markings on his face and the small horns that were peeking out from his forehead.

"Please don't hurt me," the child whispered almost inaudibly but not to Lance. He instantly went down on one knee and laid his bayard on the floor.

"Hey, buddy," Lance said quietly. For the first time, the child looked at Lance's face and his eyes widened. "I'm here to rescue you,"

As soon as the words came out of the words came out of his mouth, the boy leapt up with a loud sob and ran into Lance's arms. Lance brought his arms around him and held his head to his shoulder as he trembled in Lance's arms. In one of his hands, he picked up his bayard and carefully lifted the Puigan into his arms and backed out of the cell. He ran out of the block and towards the meeting point as quickly as he could, not wanting the boy to be exposed to this place any more than he already had been.

"I've got a survivor here, it looks like he's from Puig," Lance said into the coms. There were various exclaims of surprise from the rest of the paladins. "What's your name buddy?" Lance asked quietly.

"Argu," he sniffled. Lance swayed slightly trying to calm the child. He glanced around when he started hearing footsteps approach from all sides. Argu started sobbing in a panic and wrapped his arms around Lance's neck. He pushed himself closer to the paladin's chest, trying to hide from potential enemies. Lance raised his bayard in front of them and scanned the area around them. Shiro raised his arms when he stepped out of the hall and cautiously approached when Lance let his rifle fall to his side.

"So this is our new passenger huh?" Shiro smiled gently at Argu, who was still whimpering softly into Lance's collar.

"Yeah, his name is Argu," Lance said hoisting him up a bit to rest more comfortably in his arms. Before they could say anything else, the other paladins came rushing out, Hunk and Keith from the hallway and Pidge punding down the stairs. They all looked at the shaken toddler in Lance's arms and looked to Shiro.

"Were heading out guys, straight to the Castle from here," he said gesturing to the exit of the compound. They nodded their heads and headed out, surrounding Lance and Argu like a protective pride of lions. Lance tilted Argu's head away from the view of the other prisoners. He knew that his innocence was already close to destroyed but if he could spare him just a little, it would be worth it.

"Coran, we have a Puigan child coming on board, he'll have to be looked over," Shiro's voice echoed over the coms.

"Oh dear, I'll be waiting in the med bay when you come on board," he replied shortly.

They climbed into their lions and took off towards the Castle being sure to still look out for any lurking Galra. Lance looked down at Argu who was whining quietly and trembling in the crook of Lance's arm.

"Hey Argu, it's okay buddy," Lance tried to comfort him. "You'll never see that place ever again, we're going to take you back to Puig and your family," he rocked him gently against his chest and frowned when his condition didn't change. He tried to tell him about Voltron and their adventures, or about Earth and how he got to space but nothing seemed to work. Looking at Argu's terrified face reminded him of comforting his little sisters back home and he remembered that singing to them always helped them calm down. He felt a brief bout of homesickness but pushed it down. Right now someone needed him. He trusted the flying to Blue and wrapped his arms around Argu to cradle him warmly.

"I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go when all those shadows almost killed your light," he sang quietly. He heard Argu's breath hitch slightly at the new tone.

"I remember you said don't leave me here alone, but all that's dead and gone and passed tonight," he could hear Argu still sniffing slightly but he could see his eyes start to open up to look at him.

"Just close your eyes, the sun is going down. You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound," he wiped the tears that were falling down his face and propped him up against his shoulder. Argu looked at him in wonder as he continued to sing to him. The choked crying died after a few lines and Lance rocked him gently to the tune of the song. As he let out hums he could see Argu's eyes slipping shut as the last few tears rolled down his cheeks. He looked at him fondly and dabbed at his cheeks to get rid of the tear tracks. Looking forward he noticed that they were almost ready to fly into the hanger and land. He got control of Blue again and gently landed her.

"We're at the Castle Argu," he said quietly and huffed in amusement when the child didn't rouse in the slightest. He only picked him up and trudged out of Blue ready to take him to Coran to be checked out before they decide when to take him back to Puig. He stepped down the ramp and stopped when he noticed the rest of the team waiting for him with small smiles.

"Hey, guys... what's goin on?" He asked hesitantly. He walked past them and they followed slightly behind him.

"So, I was thinking that we could have a Voltron band," Pidge started. Lance looked back at her in confusion and quirked a brow which she ignored.

"Keith would be bass guitar, Shiro lead guitar, Hunk on the drums and I would be on the keyboard," she said flippantly pressing a hand to her chest.

"Oh yeah?" Lance said with a smirk, deciding to humour her, "and where would I be?" He asked.

"Lead singer obviously," she said smugly. He felt his entire face go red and turned so he could walk backwards. This way he could see the smiles on each paladin's face.

"You heard me?" Lance squeaked. They laughed at the way his blush covered his entire face.

"Yeah, that sort of happens when you have your coms on," Keith chuckled. Lance groaned dramatically and turned his back to them instead.

"If it's any consolation, you're a great singer," Shiro said earnestly. Lance ducked his head down, embarrassment tingling in his gut.

"Thanks, Shiro," he mumbled quietly. They walked into the med bay where Coran was waiting patiently. Lance gazed at the now peaceful Argu and gently laid him down on the table.

"Let's get you fixed up buddy,"