Chapter Text
"Lance." Keith said and his voice was firm despite how broken it had sounded only some seconds before. The red paladin had his sword on his hand and it was pointing directly at Lance’s chest. He stared at Lance with those angry, betrayed, purple eyes and it hurt, oh god it hurt. "Stay right where you are."
Three days, seven hours, twenty two minutes and eighteen seconds before everything went to shit.
The planet where sources said Lotor should be had some kind of weird sun. It was warm and all but it also made everything look greenish which was kind of strange to look at. It was also full of life. Lance had seen at least twelve different kind of aliens as he walked through the busy streets (it seemed to be a market, judging by the weird round things that were treaded for by all kinds of weird stuff) and he had been there for less than thirty minutes
"Find all the information you can" Shiro had said "And then return to this location in two hours"
Lance replayed the command over and over inside his head, smiling. It was good to have Shiro back. Lance had missed him a lot, all of the team had, and finding him had given Lance this energy, this will to keep fighting.
(Shiro was there, smiling and hugging them. Tears were falling down everyone's eyes as they all expressed how happy they were to have found him. Shiro only smiled and thanked them, repeatedly saying he was okay and just really glad to see they were all fine. After what seemed like hours and hours of happy feelings and smiles and hugs, Shiro's face got darker, the smile disappeared and was replaced by a worried expression.
"Black told me things" Shiro said and Lance wanted to cry at how sad he sounded "Our fight isn't over yet")
"Excuse me" Lance politely called the octopus like purple alien in front of him. They turned to answer the call with what Lance assumed was a smile on their face (facial expression is a difficult thing to figure out when there are three eyes and two holes mouths?? on one's face.) He smiled back.
"Hi, I'm the blue paladin of Voltron and I was wondering if you have any information on where a Garla named Lotor is."
Bad choice of words.
"A Garla?! Here?!" The alien became agitated. The other aliens stopped to see what was happening and Lance could feel how close everyone was to start panicking. Of course Lance had to screw everything up."Are they attacking us?! Is there a Garla ship nearby?!"
"No! There's no garla thing anywhere! Could you please calm down?" Lance sighed. He was not payed enough to deal with this. In fact, he wasn't payed at all. How fair was that? "I was merely asking a question, but judging by your reaction you have no idea on who Lotor is."
"Well of course not!" The creature crossed two of their tentacles over their...chest? Not important, Lance scolded himself. "Garlas have no name, they only come and destroy! If there's a Garla here, we're all doomed!" The aliens which were watching the conversation nodded together at those words.
"Well, okay." Lance kind of wanted to tell them that no, not all Garlas were bad. A Garla (or half Garla anyway) was a paladin of Voltron after all! But he didn't. He just nodded as well. "Thanks for your time."
As he left the strange alien and began walking again Lance could feel all his previous energy being drained out of his body. He was never going to find do anything if everyone just kept freaking out and saying no. He hoped the others were having more luck than he was.
"Blue paladin"
Lance turned so fast it made his neck hurt. In front of him was a pink alien with blue dots all over their body. Their face was similar to a human one, with the exception of their three eyes. They seemed scared, nervously looking around, bracing themselves with their two arms.
"Yes?" Was Lance’s response.
The alien looked around again and signed for him to get closer. Lance obeyed. After all, what's the worse that could happen? ( Lance would soon learn not to ask this type of question)
"I know where Lotor is" the alien whispered in his ear, voice trembling slightly, like they were telling a secret. "He's been hiding here for years! No one even knows he's Garla, but I do! He has that purple skin and that fire in his eyes that I've never seen in any other creature!" The alien looked visibly distressed. "I'm scared, paladin, I've always been scared! What will he do with my children?"
"He won't touch your children, I would never let that happen." Lance said firmly. "You just have to tell me where he is"
The alien looked like they were thinking, analyzing every single possibility. It seemed like an eternity had passed before they turned to Lance again.
"Follow me" They said. "But please be discreet"
Lance nodded. He didn't contact the others on the way, even feeling like he should. He couldn't risk getting the kind alien helping him into into trouble.
After ten minutes or so of walking, they finally stopped, far from the center of the town, in a place with just some houses and little aliens (alien children?) playing on the streets. There was also what looked like a small forest and that's where the alien who guided was pointing at.
"He comes out once a week or so" they whispered "buys food and some metal parts and goes back" the alien turned to Lance, grabbing his arms with their own "Please don't tell him I was the one who brought you here! I'm scared paladin! I don't want to die!"
"Hey, calm down" Lance said with his most soothing voice and the best of his smiles in his face. "He will never know, I won't let anything bad happen to you"
Then, for a little longer than a second, the expression of the alien flickered. Their eyes didn't look scared anymore, they looked full of...pity. Lance didn't have much time to really thing about it, since the alien was already letting him go and walking away.
"Good luck, paladin" they said and left.
Lance's hand moved to his helmet as soon as he began walking.
"Guys, I think I've found Lotor" He said. Static was the only thing that answered him. "Guys? Is anyone listening?" Nothing. "Hello?" More static.
Lance stopped. The right thing to do was going back to where they said they would meet and wait for the others to show up so he could lead them there. Pidge and Hunk would most definitely make the perfect plan and then Shiro would guide them and Keith would defeat Lotor because he was just that cool and everything would be alright.
But
Maybe Lotor wasn't even there. If he brought the entire team to an empty forest they would be disappointed in him for wasting their time.
Perhaps Lance should just check, you know, just to be sure. And if he managed to take Lotor down on his own, well that was a bonus. He imagined it. The glory, the respect, the praise he would get. It felt awesome.
Lance’s hand left his helmet and moved to hold the blue paladin’s bayard with a tight grip and it took less than a second for it to turn into his familiar weapon. Lance inhaled and then exhaled a couple of times. He could do it, he had trained and all that, he was the team's sharpshooter, he could totally do it.
Lance began walking.
The forest wasn't too dense and it kind of reminded Lance of the forest like place he had on his backyard. The trees were weird, though. They seemed soft and had colors Lance had never seen on a tree before. It wasn't too surprising. He was in an alien planet after all. The forest was basically some strange trees, something that resembled grass and a small house.
Lotor's house.
Lance's grip on his bayard tightened and he started walking slower, careful not to make too much noise. He replayed his plan on his had as the house got closer and closer.
Surprise Lotor, shoot him if necessary, take him to the others, become a hero.
Easy.
The house was made of the soft wood of the trees, Lance could feel it as his hand touched the door. He counted to three before opening it with a loud bang and entering the place with his gun raised.
You see, Lance expected a lot of things when he opened the door. He expected an empty house, he expected Lotor sleeping or eating or something like that, he even expected a death trap to get triggered. But, above all, he expected Lotor to be surprised that a random guy with a gun was entering his house.
The purple alien with long white hair sitting comfortably on a chair, legs crossed and a smile on his face, didn't seem surprised at all. In fact, it looked like Lotor was...waiting for him.
Well, Lance thought, I still have a gun.
"Don't move a muscle" Lance said, pointing the gun directly at Lotor's chest. His voice was firm and confident. "Prince Lotor, you are coming with me"
Then, Lotor surprised Lance again and laughed. The sound sent shivers down Lance's spine, but he still held his bayard firmly.
"My, my, you sure are a brave human, aren't you?" Lotor began. His voice was like a cold blast and it sounded...dangerous, somehow. The Garla got up and started walking towards Lance, both his hands behind his back and a sick smile on his face. "Do you really think you can win against me?"
Lance had never regretted a decision so much in his whole life. He should have gone back, He should have found the others. But he didn't because he was stupid and selfish and wanted the glory he didn't deserve.
Lance's grip on the gun wasn't as firm anymore, his hands were shaking slightly. He really hoped Lotor couldn't see how scared he was because at the moment, he had no other choice than to keep his act.
"If you take one more step I'll shoot you" Lance practically screamed and he sounded completely terrified but it didn't really matter because Lotor stopped walking. He didn't stop smiling, though.
"Will you?" Lotor asked like he already knew the answer. Lance could see that he didn't belive for a second that Lance would shoot him and he didn't understand why. Did Lotor think Lance would pity him? Because he wouldn't.
"Yes, I will" Lance's finger moved to the trigger and the confidence he had lost came back to him. He was powerful again.
Well, at least he felt powerful until Lotor's smile got bigger and more sadistic. It was the kind of smile Lance imagined psychopaths would give and it was directed at him.
Lance prepared to pull the trigger.
"Your mother's name is Clara Garcia McClain and she lives on a yellow house near the beach"
The bayard hit the ground with a loud noise.