Langst: Lost Under The Waves

8- Shield

Lance frowned as he saw the Galra abandoning their persuit of him.

He was well hidden but still the Galra were usually quite dumb and tended to follow anything that wasn't dressed in their signature grey and purple.

Muttering something under his breath Lance went back the way he had come to see Hunk, Keith and Pidge all being cornered as the battle continued.

Lance grit his teeth and aimed, first he hit the control panel and made the door seal, locking a large number of the Galra out.

Then he turned his attention to thinning the pack out making sure that the others had an escape route.

It didn't take long and soon he joined them and he ended up being back to back with Pidge making sure no one hurt his little sister.

An opening came up and Lance shoved Pidge towards it, she grabbed Hunk's arm pulling him along with her as Lance ran catching up with Keith who seemed to hesitate for a few seconds.

As they turned the corner Pidge slammed her hand on the control panel making the doors close.

As they did a blast sounded and Lance felt himself get shoved crashing into the ground.

It took Lance a few seconds to catch his breath and for the lights to flicker to life, but as soon as they did he rolled over to see Keith curled up holding his leg tightly as he tried to stop the blood that was now starting to drip onto the floor.

At the mere sight of it Hunk's face pale and his eyes widened in panic. And Lance knew if he didn't act soon Hunk would be out cold, so would Keith.

"Pidge, get Hunk out of here I got Keith." Lance ordered looping Keith's arm over his shoulder practically dragging him along.

Pidge nodded and again tugged Hunk down the corridor leaving Lance and Keith alone.

Once he felt that they were safe he turned his attention to Keith with a worried frown as he set him down.

"Keith look at me." Lance instructed as he pulled Keith's hand away from his leg to inspect the damage. "You're going to be alright, we'll get you back to the castle."

Keith simply nodded biting his lip as he tried to ignore the pain.

"Lance? Keith where are you?" Shiro's voice asked anxiously over the coms.

"I swear they were right behind us." Pidge added making Lance sigh.

"Keith's injured." Was all that Lance could really think to say.

"Okay I'm coming to get you." Shiro said quietly and Lance nodded even though it wouldn't be seen.

"You still with me?" Lance asked worriedly as he pulled Keith to his feet starting to set off again.

Keith grunted in response his head dropping.

"It'll be okay." Lance whispered taking most of Keith's weight to prevent the paladins from injuring himself any further. "I promise it'll be okay."

Keith was now in the safety of a pod but that didn't lift the almost crushing weight off of Lance's shoulders.

It should have been me.

Those words danced around his mind and no matter what he did it just kept playing like a broken record.

It should have been me. Why am I so useless? I can't even protect my friends.

Eventually he headed to the training deck and decided to take his frustration out on a metalic bot that would come back at a later date.

He hadn't been there long when he realised someone was watching him.

He finished off the last bot and turned to see Allura watching him with a sad look.

"Allura?" Lance asked confused, first of all, how long had she been stood there? And second, why did she look like she was about to cry? "Is something wrong with Keith?"

"No, no, he's perfectly fine." Allura assured quietly stepping forwards. "I'm worried about you."

"Why?"

"Because you seem to be taking this on yourself more then you should." Allura stated making Lance frown. "You blame yourself don't you?"

Lance sighed with a shrug as he looked at his feet. "I can't control everything."

"And you wish it hadn't happened to Keith?"

"He pushed me out of the way, he saved me." Lance responded quietly still refusing to lift his head. "I should be in the pod not him."

"Oh Lance." Allura said pulling him into a hug making Lance go stiff. "It's not your fault, for starters and it shouldn't be any of you in the pods, I want all of you to be safe."

"That's easier said then done." Lance mumbled making Allura sigh.

"Lance if I could I would gladly take every hit for all of my paladins." Allura said in almost a stern voice. "The universe needs all of you, and I mean all of you."

Lance nodded and finally hugged her back as she rubbed his back.

Lance sighed quietly into her embrace, at least this time he wasn't crying.

Allura pulled back lifting his chin to meet her gaze. "Please try and get some rest before tomorrow."

"I will try." Lance frowned. "It's not always easy."

"I understand." Allura nodded cupping his cheek. "But you're doing so well, were all so proud of you."

Lance smiled slightly but she could see that it hadn't quite reached his eyes.

"I'm gonna go and get some sleep then." Lance said after a few minutes.

"Good." She smiled letting go of his arm turning to leave. "And Lance."

"Hmm?" Lance asked making her look at him.

"You can't be a shield for everyone, you sometimes need a bit of protecting too." With that she left leaving Lance staring after her.

He hadn't ever really though about his instincts to protect, he always through it was just that he had siblings, but being compared to a shield was making sense in his mind.

He wanted to be the shield, protecting his team, but of course Allura was right, he would break if he wasn't careful.

I'll make sure this doesn't get any worse, for any of us.