32
Sometimes lost things can be found, but they are never the same.
Lance wasn't sure how long it had been since he'd made the team leave him behind. He'd done well to stay hidden for a while, but he knew he had no chance to escape when he'd told them to leave. There were too many here for them to take on as a little group of five. It had only taken about an hour for him to be captured and less than that for the questioning to start.
It was easy, at first, to lie.
Questions like, where are they and where is voltron really could be answered simply. He didn't know. Had they taken off? Were they still nearby? Lance honestly couldn't answer. Where they able to track this ship despite its strange ability to mess with the sensors?
The torture had been easy enough at first too. Yeah, it sucked, but after a while, the shocks started to just cause more of a jolt than anything. His body was nearly numb, trapped in the feeling of limbs full of pins and needles. In his chest, Lance's lungs burned from the electricity, but somehow, he managed to keep himself strong.
Put up with this and he would keep them safe. Keep this up and soon the paladins will come to save him. He just has to wait for them to come up with a plan. Surely, he can last long enough for them to figure out the best way to get him back.
But they didn't give him time to sleep. They hardly give him time to think. Time becomes a strange swaying thing, caught somewhere between reality and the next swell of pain. Questions become nothing but white noise. Lance is certain he couldn't answer any of them even if he'd wanted to.
But when they started to question his friends' loyalty, Lance had to do something. He had to give himself a reason to believe in them. More than that, he had to give himself a reason to stay positive. He'd been making a list on the ship and while he might not have the notebook anymore, he can keep going. Lance hadn't even realized he was counting in response to a question the first time he said something.
"Twenty nine." His voice had broken through the angry shouting of two galra soldiers trying to figure out the best way to get Lance to speak. When they hear him, they look back in surprise.
"Twenty nine what? Twenty nine paladins?! No that doesn't make sense. Twenty nine...what?" One of them shouted before slamming his fist into Lance's stomach, annoyed with his vague choice of words.
"Twenty - nine," Lance coughed then had found a second wind. "Love."
"He's messing with us!" The second soldier says then hits the switch sending a painful shock through Lance's body.
"Thirty." He had almost laughed. "Thunderstorms."
But now his count had grown high. He could barely keep track of the numbers. The third night, he finally got some sleep. It hadn't been much and it hadn't been comfortable, stuck to this strange contraption he was stuck to, but finally he had slept. In his dreams, Lance was home again. He could see Allita and sing her another lullabye. He and Teb could wrestle in the field behind the house again. Mama would make him his favorite meal and they would all sit together and eat.
He had hardly wanted to wake up. But the painful pull on his brain from the druid had woke him. They were trying to pull information from him now through different means. But, Lance really didn't know much. He never knew much, right? They were in space. Somewhere in the stars. They were hopefully all safe inside that castle with the goo meals. Maybe by now, they had come to the conclusion that it was safer to leave him behind. The lions had their pilots after all. All he was...all he'd ever been was the seventh wheel anyway.
Frustration seemed to fill the enemy team when the information they pulled from Lance was far from useful. Rather than the location for Voltron, they seemed to get the most useless of information.
Most of it was blue.
Blue oceans. Blue lakes. Blue skies. Blue dresses on little cousins. Blue flowers. Blue kool aid from a glass pitcher being shared by a laughing family.
Blue.
Lance wasn't sure how long he could keep all of this up. His body is tired, his spirit is broken and his heart is on the floor. He'd been left behind. Knowing this hurt, but at least he managed to save them all in his own way. Sure, he might never see his family again and he'd never get to tell Keith how he really felt, but Lance had done his deed. And now, he needs to keep counting. It's the only way he can keep going.
"Sixty eight, the horizon."
