Connections - klance

>>10<<

Weeks passed. Pidge's information hadn't given them any clues. In fact, none of the Galra ships that they managed to intercept had had any information about Lance. Keith could feel the team giving up, the spark of hope growing dimmer and dimmer with every day that passed. Hunk had lost weight, having lost most motivation to cook or eat. Although Pidge had healed well, Keith hadn't seen her in days, and he heard Shiro sobbing late at nights. Allura spent a lot of time crying as well, trying to cover up her tear-stained cheeks for the team. Coran was surprisingly distant, spending a lot of time staring into space (A/N lol no pun intended). Keith hadn't realized that Coran and Lance were even that close.

There was one good thing that happened, though. Shiro and Allura had been spending more time alone together, comforting one another. Keith pretended not to notice, but he couldn't help but be glad for them. Shiro deserved someone he could love like that.

Keith was snapped out of his thoughts as the castle alarms started ringing.

"Paladins, the castle is under attack! Get to your lions!" Allura's voice rang through the castle halls. Keith immediately ran to put his armor on.

This better not be a drill, he thought, a strange sense of déjà vu washing over him.

Flying his lion out of his hangar, he immediately stopped.

Three enormous Galra ships surrounded the castle, ion canons fully charged. The other lions slowly trickled out of the castle, the yellow lion being the last to arrive.

"Hunk, you try to knock out some of those canons. I'll try to help you out the best I can," Shiro shouted, forcing himself into battle-mode. "Keith, Pidge, and La-Allura," he stammered, correcting his error. Keith felt his heart twist. "I need you three to destroy as many of those Galra pods as you can. Once the ion canons are destroyed, we can form Voltron and take out the main ships."

Keith threw himself into the battle, every destroyed Galra ship blurring before his eyes. After what felt like ages, he heard Shiro's voice through the coms.

"We destroyed the ion canons, everybody get over here so we can form Voltron." Keith immediately turned his lion away from the smaller Galra ships, flying to Shiro's side. The other lions appeared shortly after, and they flew in formation.

Nothing happened.

A sickening feeling filled his stomach.

---

Lance flinched as his cell door opened. He kept his eyes closed, curling himself into an even smaller ball. Rough hands gripped his skeletal arms, and the Galra guards dragged him out of the cell. He couldn't find the strength to stand, let alone walk. He let his feet drag behind him, the Galra guards holding him up on either side. Streaks of blood smeared the floor, dripping from his innumerable wounds. The darkness crept at the edges of his vision, and he ignored it the best he could.

He knew where they were taking him. It was the same route they took every day.

The Galra turned right.

Lance looked up in confusion. They had never been down this corridor. Too weak to think about it any harder, he let the darkness take over.

---

"-good for him to die."

Lance groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. The voices filtered through his ears, and he furrowed his brow.

They want to kill me?

"Paladin." The voice was sharp. Lance forced his eyes to open. He had been thrown to the ground, and he weakly tried to sit himself up. Giving up, he simply rolled onto his side, looking up to find the source of the sound.

A tall figure stood before him. He was obviously Galra, judging by the purple skin, but something was... off.

"Paladin, I am Prince Lotor. The witch, Haggar, has tormented you long enough, and I'm here to help."

Lance only stared at him blankly. This had to be a trick. The Galra—Lotor—swam before his eyes.

"What do you want from me," Lance whispered, barely able to hear himself. Lotor smiled.

"I already told you, Lance." Lance started in surprise at the sound of his name. "I'm here to help you."

Lance couldn't understand what the prince meant. What kind of torture did he mean? Galra didn't help. Galra only killed and hurt. Although, this prince didn't seem to be entirely Galra. Perhaps he was a cross of something else as well?

Lotor sighed, squatting down to see Lance better.

"Lance, you're hurt. We're going to get you a healing pod and fix you up. After all, you're rather valuable. It wouldn't do me or anyone else any good for you to die."

Lance's eyes filled with tears. He didn't know who this man was, but even the possibility of removing the pain was enough to fill him with hope.

Nodding, he looked back up to Lotor, tears in his eyes. Lotor smiled, turning to a guard.

"Find me a healing pod and bring it to this room," he ordered. Lance felt himself slipping into the blackness again. Before it could take him, he took another look at Lotor's face.

Altean.

(841 Words)

Haha, this chapter took me a little while to write. Sorry for the cliff-hangers, but I hope you're excited for the next chapter. Things are picking up ;P