Taken (Voltron Fanfic)

Burden

After a while, half of the beaten team leave the infirmary to eat and get some rest. Keith, Lance, and Matt all stay by Pidge's cryo-pod, beaten expressions on their faces. Slowly, Lance approaches Keith. 

"Uh, hey. I'm sorry that I was sort of a pain on the rescue mission. I was just really scared for Pidge and Shiro. I didn't know what to do," he says quietly. Keith finally tears his eyes away from Pidge and looks at Lance, surprised. 

"Um... thanks, I guess. That's probably one of the most sincere things you've ever said to me," he replies. Lance just smirks. 

Then the room goes deathly quiet again. No words can express how heavy that burden felt for those boys. The feeling that they didn't make it in time. The feeling that they put their friend and sister in danger of dying. The Galra had left their mark, and in a way that the Paladins still haven't discovered.

Eventually, Hunk comes in to bring news of dinner, and insists that the three come to eat. Lance exits the room reluctantly and follows Hunk while the other two stay behind.  

Matt sits on the steps, not having moved since Allura bandaged his leg. Keith realizes that he should say something of comfort, but he's never been the best with people. Besides, the only thing he can think of is something along the lines of, "It'll be okay," but he can't lie to Pidge's brother. It will only make things worse.

So, they sit in the thick silence, worrying and waiting.  Eventually, Matt is so tired that he falls asleep involuntarily. Keith looks down at him and, now that his face is in view, sees a single tear rolling down his cheek. Keith closes his eyes and tries to imagine what Matt might be feeling. What if Shiro had been in Pidge's condition? It would've been like losing his brother to the Galra. The only difference would've been that Shiro has had more experience with being tortured, whereas Pidge, on the other hand, has not. This thought is most unsettling for Keith. 

What if she can't handle the wounds? What if we were too late and now she may never be healed?  What if I lose her? Voltron would be ruined and we would be deprived of a valuable teammate. Pidge is so smart and strong. We can't let her die. Her family... they'd be heartbroken... and so would we. 

Keith tries to stop these ideas from popping into his head, but every time he looks up, he sees the bloodied body of his teammate and her crushed brother.

Finally, he decides to get some rest, leaving Matt on the floor as to not disturb him. The halls are empty, so Keith assumes that the others are probably in their rooms. He makes his way down the Paladin's hallway and passes Pidge's lab. The door is open, which is unusual. Pidge always locks it up. A bright lamp is sitting on a desk, emitting light onto a picture. He slowly ventures into the cluttered room and looks at it. 

The photo is of the team last year, right after they'd defeated the Galra and were recovering in the hospital. Everyone seems so young; Pidge has short hair, Hunk still has the look of an innocent child, Lance is shorter, and Shiro is younger. The picture reminds him of good times and the fun they'd had in that hospital. They'd played pranks on each other and laughed about the adventures of their years in space. Now those days are gone, and the Galra have returned, miraculously.

Keith is suddenly filled with sadness and anger. The Galra. Every time someone gets hurt or something bad happens, it's because of them. They had been so close to wiping out the wretched race, his race, but evil always finds a way. 

Now Pidge may die because of these bloodthirsty creatures, and there is nothing he can do about it, which is more maddening because he is half Galra. The anger slowly turns to hopelessness, and Keith sinks to his knees. The photo is clutched tightly in his hand as he leans his head against the desk in misery. He's dealt with the Galra for way too long. All of the fights, all of the loss, all of the fear... everything is returning to him.

When will they ever escape this ongoing war?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shiro lies in bed, unable to sleep. Every time he does, nightmares attack him until he awakes. He's had nightmares before, but none like this. Instead of being beaten, tortured, stabbed, interrogated, chained, or broken by the Galra, he watches it all happen to Pidge. 

Her screams haunt him along with the sound of sparking electricity. The general's blood curling laugh and sharp needles accompany these sounds. It's too much for him to handle, so he just lays awake, staring at the ceiling. 

Finally, he gets out of bed and leaves his room. The hallways are dark and silent. As he passes Pidge's lab, he sees the door open and a light shining out. As Shiro looks inside, he spots Keith lying on the floor, asleep. He smiles sadly and decides to leave the boy in order to let him rest. 

He starts down the hall once more and finds himself at the infirmary. As he walks inside, he sees Matt sleeping on the steps in front of his sister's cryo-pod. 

Shiro quietly creeps forward and sits next to him. Memories of being captured on the Kerberos mission return. Fighting in the arena and being held in the cold cells... but it was nothing like what he's just experienced on the Galra mother ship. 

Watching someone you care about get tortured is the way a man is broken. At least she's back at the Castle, right? The Galra can't hurt Pidge here. A flicker of doubt crosses his mind, but he quickly tries to wipe it away. 

Matt stirs and groans, opening his eyes. He tries to see through the darkness and feels someone next to him. 

"Shiro?" he asks groggily. 

"Yeah, it's me."

"What are you...? Where is everyone?" 

"They're sleeping," Shiro replies. Matt nods and rubs his eyes. 

They sit in silence for a long time, neither one knowing how to start a conversation. After a while, Shiro takes a deep breath. 

"Matt, I... I'm sorry. I should've been able to stop the Galra from capturing her. I should've been able to break us out and escape. I should've been able to stop them from hurting her. I tried so hard, yet I failed so miserably. I was able to protect you when we were taken all those years ago, but somehow I couldn't this time for Katie. I am so sorry. I'll understand if you're angry with me."    

There is a pause before Matt answers. 

"Shiro, what are you talking about? None of this was your fault. You couldn't help her. The Galra are powerful and merciless. I know you tried everything you could. I don't blame you at all. I'm just glad you're okay and we got you outta there. We really have to do something about that horrible race, though. They're just going to keep on causing harm. We can't let anyone else get hurt."

Shiro nods in agreement, although he still feels bad. Neither say anything for a moment. They both turn around to look at Pidge, who looks more dead than alive at the moment. 

"I do worry, though. She can take a hit, that's for sure, but I'm afraid that this one may have been too hard. She's never been through something like this before. At least nothing I know of. What if... what if she doesn't make it through? What if they did something?" Matt says in worry. 

Shiro flinches. These are some of his fears. He can't let Matt know this, though. "She'll be alright, I promise. The Altean technology mixed with ours is extremely powerful. It'll work out and she'll heal," he reassures.

How true are the words he said? To give you an idea, he doesn't believe a single one of them. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, hey, and sorry this chapter took a while, but it's pretty long and school was stressful. Hang in there, guys! Also thanks for the votes! They are very much appreciated. <(^w^)> 

I dedicated this chapter to @Infinity_Pikachu for being such a great supporter and for being so encouraging! Thank you! Also check out her stuff because she has some pretty amazing stories.  

Please vote and comment!

--TigerHeaven--