The flying Paladin

Chapter 2

I hit the floor with a loud thud. Keith smirked as he loomed over me. I felt my feathers bristle as the strong sense of deja vu washed over me. 

"I've caught you, my pet!" she laughed, pulling my feathers out as punishment for trying to fly away again. I screamed in agony. "Haven't I told you that flying is not allowed?"

"Please," I begged, tears streaming down my face. "Let me go home! I just wanna go home! Solo quiero irme a casa!" 

I was rewarded with a swift slap to my face, my cheek stinging from the blow. I stared up at her in surprise, my vision blurring from the tears. 

"Don't you get it kid? You're mine! You don't get to go home."

"--ance? Lance? Lance!" I snapped my head up to see my teammates staring at me in concern. "Are you okay? You were spacing out.." Shiro asked, stepping closer to me and placing his galran hand on my shoulder. I flinched and shifted out of his touch. 

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, standing up and brushing myself off.  "Just..got stuck in my head I guess?" Hunk narrowed his eyes at me but everyone else let it go. I sighed in relief and walked to the side of the training room to watch the others train. 

"Lance...what really happened?" Hunk whispered. 

"I just remembered something I wish I hadn't..." I said, refusing to meet the grizzly's eyes. 

"Lance.."

"It's fine Hunk, I promise." I said, brushing off his concern. It's not that I didn't appreciate it, I just didn't want him to get sucked up in my PTSD. It's bad enough I can't forget everything that happened to me, but to make Hunk deal with it...that was just cruel. 

"Okay..." Hunk said reluctantly. "Just...know you can always talk to me okay?" 

And that's what made Hunk the best friend in the entire universe. He really cared about me. I smiled warmly at him, hoping to convey all the love I felt for him in one watery smile. He seemed to get the message because he hugged me tightly. 

==============

"You know what's funny as hell?" Pidge asked suddenly. I looked up at her expectantly and she grinned when she saw she had my full attention. Suddenly she lunged forward, her fangs glistening against the harsh castle lights. I flung backwards, my self-preservation instincts kicking in. I almost opened my wings but thankfully I was able to keep them from shooting out to fly me to safety. Pidge burst out laughing at my reaction. "Oh my gosh that was hilarious! You should have seen your face!"

I glared at her, hoping that my blatant anger would distract her from my oncoming panic attack. "That wasn't funny, Pidge." I snapped, storming out of the room. My hands were shaking and I clenched them together to stop them. 

"Hey Lance," Hunk said, popping out of his room at the perfect moment. I raced forwards, burying myself in Hunk's warm arms as I sobbed. "Woah, what happened?" Hunk asked as he softly rubbed my back. I sobbed harder. 

"It's nothing...It's s-stupid..." I said in between gasps. 

"It's not stupid if you react like this," Hunk frowned. "What happened?" Hunk led me into his room and sat down, cuddling me against his chest. I sniffed and explained the encounter with Pidge. Hunk growled lowly, his grizzly hissing at what Pidge had done. 

"I just overreacted..." I said after I had calmed down. Hunk shook his head.

"No, Lance, you didn't overreact, what Pidge did was cruel." Hunk said.