Everything is Gray (Langst)

Chapter 16

After Lance finally calmed down and fell asleep, the room was tense and the atmosphere was heavy. The silence of the room only made the atmosphere even heavier.
"Lance, h-he...what's happening?" Allura buried her face into her hands, shaking. Shiro only wrapped his human arm around Allura, giving her a bit of comfort. Keith sat quietly, arms folded against his chest, a frustrated look on his face.
"I don't know. We've tried to help him, but every time we do it only gets worse." Shiro sighed, his face showing heavy emotions.
Keith grumbled and murmured something under his breath. Shiro nearly missed it.
"What did you say?"
"I said, maybe it's because we aren't helping him." He repeated, annoyed.
"What ever do you mean?" Allura protested.
"Well, I'm not the one who threatened him when we went to rescue Slav, am I?" But he knew he was part of it.
"Let's not talk like this. This situation-"
"I'm not saying it's not my fault at all. But, we have to get the full picture here. Lance is dying, physically, mentally, and emotionally. We can't help him by just standing around thinking 'Oh, Lance is fine, blah blah blah.' Because clearly, he is not. And it's not a situation, Shiro. It's called depression. Situation is for physical war. Depression is like war, but mentally." Keith spoke as if it was the simplest thing in the multiverse.
"...I see." Allura mumbled. Shiro only nodded his head until he eventually spoke up again.
"Guys, this isn't going to fix anything. Once Lance wakes up and Pidge, Hunk, and Coran solves the problem with the castle, we'll all sit down and talk this through."
"Guys! We need Allura in here now." Pidge's voice rang out through the castle.
"Something's wrong, like, really wrong."
"Ok, I'll be right there!" Allura immediately started for the door.
"I'll go with you. Keith watch over Lance." And he too left.
Keith sighed, glancing over at him.

——-W/ Pidge, Hunk, And Coran

"What in the name of Alfor is going on in here?" Allura called the moment she found the three typing and tinkering with the castle's system.
"Princess! Something awful is happening! The castle! It's over riding itself! If that happens we stand no chance against the Galras at all! The maps, alliances we've made, contact, and alarm system will all be forgotten! And! If the alarm system doesn't work, that means the castle with automatically think of us as outsiders and will try to eliminate us!" Coran panicked, waving his arms wildly.
"What? How is this possible?" Allura rushed to the controls
"Shiro! We need you over here, we can't seem to lift this!" Pidge and Hunk called, also waving their arms around to try to get Shiro's attention.
"Alright! I'll be there in a tic!"
"Coran! Do you remember what your Grandfather said? If anything like this we're to happen? Anything?"
"No! I'm sorry Princess! Grandfather Hieronymus Wimbleton never mentioned anything like this! Ah may his soul Rest In Peace. But! I do remember his old tool box! I'll go and get it!"
"Ok Coran! Do you have anything over there Pidge?"
"No! Sorry Allura! Oh wait! Wait! I think Hunk just got something!"
"Great! What is it?"
"Ok so I think the castle started to override when we last encountered Lotor. Didn't he blast the ship with something? I mean we brushed it off as nothing because nothing happened but maybe it's like a computer virus! Once we're hacked it takes time for it to actually do this much damage!" Hunk yelled over the chaotic mess.
"I...I see! Yes! That's...that's the most probable answer right now! Coran! Did you find the tool box yet?"
"Yes yes! Right here princess!" The older Altean quickly flung open the container as 10,000 year old dust flew in his face.
"Oh sweet Altea, someone remind me to do a thorough sweep of the castle once this is over!"
"Not the time Coran!"
Coran coughed into his fist nervously,"Ah yes yes."
"Well Coran?" Allura asked. You could hear she was impatient, but no one held it against her.
"We have some 10,000 year old Nunville! And a few oaposods!"
"Oaposods? That's it! Coran hand me all of the Oaposods!" Allura lit up.
"What are Oaposods?" Pidge questioned, their hands flying over the machines and 'keyboard.'
"They're like...how do I explain this...healing gems? But for machines...to many of them could destroy a system from the inside out. But, use them in safe quantities and they could return a machine back to its original shape. They're extremely rare and valuable. Coran how did your grandfather find these?"
"Ah, grandfather Hieronymus Wimbleton always had his ways. But! If we can get these goodies into the castles system we can potentially wipe out the virus!"
"But how do we do that?" Hunk nervously yelled from across the room.
"...well, usually the planets top mechanics would do it, but I'm afraid we don't have one onboard...but we do have you Hunk." Coran twirled his mustache in thought.
"Me? Oh no no no, what if I mess up? I'm a mechanic sure but this is an Alien crystal we're talking about!" Hunk coward from the thought.
"Hunk you hav to do this! Remember! Lance is fighting for his life! If we don't give this a shot, we're as a good as dead!" Pidge nudged.
Hunk stared at Pidge for a few seconds before steeling himself , now filled with a newly burning fire in his eyes.
"You're right Pidge! I'll do it! I'll do it for Lance!"
"That's the spirit Hunk! Um, Pidge can I set this down now?"
"Oh, sorry Shiro! Yeah, you can."
"Alright. Here's fine right?"
"Yep."
"Pidge were gonna need you over here!"

——-

"Ok Coran, how does this think work?"
"Well, I do know that we need to replace a panel with the crystal but I don't know how many we would use. One crystal is enough to heal a fighter jet, so if I carry the one...drop the two, subtract 7...We're gonna need approximately 14 crystals to get the castle back in tip top condition!"
"Uh, Coran we only have 12 crystals..." Hunk held up the small batch in his hands.
"Oh well that's gonna a problem now isn't it!"
"A problem? Yeah it's gonna be a problem!"
"Wait! If we can manage to weaken the virus maybe I can hack into the castle and take it out before it can expand again!" Pidge explained.
"How did I forget! Genius!" Hunk gave Pidge a thumbs up. Pidge looked rather proud of themselves even grinning a little.
"Well? Mechanic get to it now! Chop chop!" Coran clapped.
"Yeah Yeah, ok so if we just..."

——-

Allura And Shiro eventually lost track of the words being thrown around. Pidge dismissed them and with a small glance back, they left to go check on Keith and Lance.
As they approached the door hushed whispering could be heard.
"Lance...why did you do that?" It was Keith's voice.
"... I don't know...I'm sorry just forget about it." Landed voice was raspy and dull. It's almost didn't sound like him.
"Lance...you can tell me what's wrong. You're not going through this alone. I've been where you've been. This lonely feeling. I grew up without parents. All I ever wanted was a home...then I met Shiro and everything turned out ok."
"...I...I just want to go home. I want to be with my nieces and nephews, my brothers and sisters...my mom..." Lance's voice sounded weak now, broken.
"Sometimes I think I'm not good enough to be in the team. I try and try and it's always never enough. I want to give up so bad...I'm not good enough and I'm not trying hard enough...and I should just end it all because then no one would have to deal with me..."
"Lance, don't give in. The moment you give up is the moment you've truly lost. If you give up now what would they say? You have to keep going and while you're millions of miles away, fighting you know who your fighting for."
Silence.
"You told me you were bad with words..." Lance sniffled, he must have been crying.
"Ah, uh, I mean...Im...sorry...for forgetting about our bonding moment..."
"No it's ok. I forgot too didn't I?" Lance...laughed.
The two eavesdroppers quickly looked at each other, shock and joy written on their faces. They quickly, but stealthily, stepped away from the door and walked in silence to the control room. Once there they finally broke the silence.
"He'll be ok right?" Allura asked, stepping up to the center of the room.
"Once we do our part in the healing process." Shiro answered.
"Of course...have I really been that harsh on him?" Allura mumbled.
"No Allura, we were all being to harsh on him. It was never his fault, but ours. We were so clouded, we totally forgot how important Lance is to the team. He only tried to help, but we gave him nothing but doubt." Shiro sighed, resting his hand on Allura's shoulder.
"I see..."
"Well, do you think Coran and the others will be ok?"
"I'm sure they're fine."

——- meanwhile with Coran and the others

"CORAN DO WE HAVE A FIRE EXTINGUISHER?"
"EVERYONE PLEASE BE QUIET! I'VE ALMOST GOT IT!"
"CORAN YOU'RE ON FIRE!"
"I'VE GOT IT!"
"HUNK, CORAN'S ON FIRE!"
"WHAT?"

——-Notes

Ok soooo I finished season seven of Voltron and I was in a Voltron-y mood soooooooo Yeah! This is a 1700+ words chapter so enjoy! I'm really sorry for not updating and yeah yeah you can go and trash me in the comments 😅 I kinda deserve it. School's starting soon for me and I'll be a freshmen in high school so I don't know how long it is until I'll actually update again. But! Like I said! I'll try my best!

But omg! You guys! I can't believe we're number 5 in the #Lance division! You guys are amazing and I never would have made it this far. I love you guys so much! And I'm sor sorry for failing you guys! I'll try harder to update faster! Now that season 7 came out I feel like my love for Voltron has been renewed. But again, thank you so so much!

I hope you enjoy this this Chapter and I hope to see you next time! Art is not mine! It's beautiful, look at it! Makes you think...Anyways as always!

Tata~!