I'm Fine

(3): Action

All alone and in the dark of the Blue Lion's hangar, Lance let loose. Tears flowed down his cheeks as his thoughts overwhelmed him. It should have been me. Hunk doesn't deserve this! Why couldn't it have been me?! He curled up into a ball right next to Blue's particle barrier, his arms wrapped around his knees. Hunk made a mistake by being my friend.

Lance remembered his first time meeting Hunk at the Garrison and how Hunk was the one who came up to him and began a conversation instead of the other way around, despite his initially shy nature.

He had seen how hesitant Lance was, seeing as he had just emigrated from Cuba and only spoke a few words in English. Hunk had been so friendly and kind and encouraging to Lance as his first friend at the Garrison, teaching him English and also listening as Lance tought him Spanish in return.

And what had he done to pay Hunk back for his kindness?

Allowed him to fall into the hands of the enemy.

He's worth way more than me! Why wasn't it me?!

That continued for hours until gradually, an idea started to take shape in his head. His crying slowly dried up as he looked toward the ceiling.

I'll go find him. Lance jumped to his feet. I'll find him and bring him back here, and if I die while doing it, it won't matter. I don't matter, so it wouldn't make a difference.

With a new-found determination, he knocked his hand against the blue particle barrier, and Blue bent her head down for him to climb into, powered by a source separate from the castle's, something more unexplainable.

As he was about to retract the walkway that led into the Blue Lion, a voice shouted to him, "Lance!"

Since the light from Blue's force field was illuminating the area around her, he was able to make out Pidge's face as she yelled at him, "What are you doing?"

He shrugged, trying to hide his anxiousness to get moving. "Oh, I'm just planning to take Blue out for a spin," he lied. "You know, extra training."

Pidge's eyes narrowed, clearly suspicious. "Don't lie to me," she said. "I know you were going to sneak out and find Hunk."

Lance sighed, knowing he had been found out.

"But that's exactly what I was planning to do too."

"Wh - what?" Lance stuttered, suprised. He had been waiting for her to reprimand him, but her admitting that she thought the exact same as he did took him aback.

"Honestly, I'm pretty frustrated with our situation right now." She waved her hand around in a sweeping gesture. "The castle's crystal is depleted of energy and because of that, we can't track the Galra ship's coordinates or move anywhere. The Voltron lions are the only things that are working, and everyone else can't get into theirs because without power, they can't open the doors to their hangars. So in the end, I figured, what do we have to lose?"

Lance blinked. After he had recovered from his suprise, he asked, "Well, which lion should we take, yours or mine?"

"Mine," Pidge said immediately. "The doors to an exit large enough for your Lion to go through are closed, while mine aren't. Also, it has an invisibility feature. Oh, right, and mine can actually track the coordinates."

After Lance agreed to leave in her lion instead of his, Pidge led him to the Green Lion's hangar. She sat in the pilot's seat while she plugged her coordinates into the lion's system. "Hey, Lance, I forgot to ask you this, but. . . . are you doing any better now?" She looked over at him, trying not to reveal that she could see the dried tear-tracks on his cheeks. "You kind of blew up back there. So, just tell me if anything's wrong, okay?"