Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“And why are you here, Paladin of Red?”

“I’m here for Lance.”

Lotor was sitting in the throne that had belonged to his father and that now was his. His chin propped on his hand, looking down at Keith.

When the Red Paladin approached their ship, piloting a small space pod, Lotor’s generals wanted to shoot him down, but Lotor and Lance agreed on letting Keith inside and hearing what he had to say and the reasons why he ventured there all alone.

“I can’t keep running away from them.” Lance bit his bottom lip.

Keith had rushed through the ship, bayard in his hand, searching for Lotor and eventually found the throne room where Lotor was awaiting him.

“Where is he?” Keith demanded, raising his voice as if somehow Lotor would feel threatened by him.

“I’m here.”

Lance stepped out of the shadows and walked to stand next to Lotor. The prince got up and remained by his side.

Keith’s eyes widened at the sight of Lance, who he hasn’t seen for almost a year since he had been taken by the Galra empire.

Lance was wearing the same suit as Lotor’s generals. On his back, he carried a holster where his sniper was secured.

Lance kept his distance from Keith, the steps that led to the throne keeping the two apart.

“Why are you here?”

“What do you mean why am I here? I came to rescue you.”

“I’m not a damsel in the distress waiting to be saved.”
Lotor snickered at that.

Keith glared daggers at his enemy, “He kidnapped you. Took you away from us.”

Lance moved a few steps, “I wasn’t kidnapped. I joined Lotor on my own free will.”

“The team didn’t need me. The Blue Lion didn’t need me. So I ran away.” Lance cast down his eyes, “I thought this was the best way. You and the others wouldn’t understand and would try to stop me.” He briefly closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, before forcing himself to make eye contact with Keith, “I love Lotor. I fell in love with him.”

Keith didn’t believe any of it, at all, “He brainwash you. He had that witch use her magic on you.”

“I’m not his prisoner, Keith.”

“I’m taking you back.” Keith moved forward, but Lance backed away before he could get any closer.

“I’m not going back. My place is by my prince’s side.”

Keith clenched his hands into fists.

“Why would you want to stay by his side? He is a monster, just like his father!”

Lance and Lotor exchanged glances. His blue eyes fixated on Keith, again.

“Lotor and I wed.”, Lance said without any hesitation.

They wed four months after Lance joined Lotor.

The ceremony took place on a planet where no life form inhabited it. Despite the lack of living beings, the planet was covered in fauna and beautiful flowers bloomed everywhere.
It was in the middle of a flower field that Lance and Lotor stood side by side as their union was blessed and made official by a galra priest.

The only guests allowed were Lotor’s generals, who were there to make sure no one interrupted it.

Lotor wore his armour to the wedding, while Lance wore a sleeveless white skin-tight suit. The light blue cape that was attached to it was long enough to reach his boots.

A flower crown, crafted with the flowers from the planet, had been given by Ezor as a “wedding gift”. Lance wore it on his head during the ceremony.

A white sash was tied around their wrists and locked hands, as they spoke their vows. Promising to stay truthful to one another until the end of their lives.

The kiss they shared at the end sealed it.

“No. No. Lance that can’t be true.” Keith shook his head. He pointed to Lotor “You... you forced him into it.”

Lotor frowned, getting tired of Keith false accusations. He draped his arm over Lance’s shoulders, pulling him closer to him. Keith snarled.

“Keith...” Lance started, but Lotor cut him off.

“Ever since Lance has been with me, I never once forced him into anything against his will. He accepted me as his lover and I accepted him as mine. He chose to stay by my side and rule together with me. And now...” Lotor’s hand rested on Lance’s stomach, “... he is bearing our child. The one who will carry on our legacy.”

Keith’s breath hitched.

Lance placed his hand over Lotor’s one.

“Lance.” Keith's head was throbbing, “Please, tell me he is lying. Tell me this isn't true.”

Lance looked Keith in his eyes , “No. It’s no lie.”

The child had been conceived two months after their wedding.

Lance felt so nauseous that he mistook the symptoms as a flu or some virus that he caught during one of his missions with the generals.

Lance was taken care by the many galran medics on the ship. He was flabbergasted when the news were delivered to him. The doctors were also the ones to tell Lotor about it when he came to see how Lance was doing.

The prince was ecstatic.

He jumped to the bed where Lance was resting and hugged him, peppering his face with kisses.

An heir.

It had been three months, but Lance still doesn’t have a bump, so many are still unaware of his condition.

“Maybe it's time you leave, Paladin.” Lotor spat.

“I’m not leaving without Lance.” Keith activated his bayard, now holding his sword.

“No!” Lance shouted.

Lotor moved to stand in front of Lance, unsheathing his sword and adopting a defensive stance.

Both Keith and Lotor were ready to throw themselves in a fight where the best swordsman would win. But then Lance wrapped his arms around Lotor from behind, pressing his body against him.

“Please, no. My prince.” Lance plead for him to stop before any blood was spilled.

The prince’s face softened and he let down his sword. He turned around and took hold of Lance’s face.

He planted a gentle kiss on Lance’s temple and the human boy closed his eyes and a small smile appeared on his lips.

Keith felt his heart shatter in a million pieces.

Lotor kept an arm around Lance as he turned to Keith.

“Leave.” he ordered.

Keith refused to obey and lifted his sword again.

“Keith, please.” Lance voice cracked a little, “Don’t make things harder than they have to be.”

Keith’s hands were shaking.

“Please...” Lance begged once more.

Keith lowered his weapon.

He made his way out, head hanging low, but stopped midway. He looked over his shoulder, determination written all over his eyes.

“I’m not giving up on you, Lance.”

The two stared at each other one last time before Keith turned his back to him again.

And then he was gone.

Chapter Text

“Something is wrong.” Lance pointed out.

The generals weren’t responding and neither Lotor or Lance could establish contact with their ships.

They finally got a response from one of them after minutes of silence.

“Lotor.” It was Acxa, “We are under attack.”

“By who?” the prince asked.

A loud noise and Axca grunts of pain were heard through the transmission.

“Acxa?” Lotor called her name.

Nothing. Just static.

The sound of metal doors being burst open and footsteps approaching reached their ears. Whoever had taken down the generals, had managed to get inside their ship.

They weren’t going down without a fight.

Lance took his sniper from its holster and got into position, aiming for the door and ready to shoot anyone who came through it.

“Stay close to me.” Lotor advised as he drew his sword.

The footsteps were getting closer. Lance tried his best to remain calm.

No matter what, he would keep Lotor safe, and he knew Lotor would do the same for him.

The metal door was broken down and the paladins of Voltron leaped out.

Hunk, Allura and Pidge moved to attack Lotor, who fend off their attacks like the skilled fighter he was.

The purple glow from Shiro’s prosthetic hand faded as he ran towards Lance.

Lance had the perfect shot. He could have easily killed Shiro at that moment. But his fingers froze over the trigger and he found himself unable to do it.

Shiro grabbed him by his sides, lifted him up and threw him over his shoulder. Lance, out of shock, let his weapon slip out of his fingers.

Lance struggled to get free, but Shiro’s arms were wrapped tightly around him, not giving him the chance to escape.

“Unhand him!” Lotor growled and dashed towards Shiro, easily dodging the other paladins

It was in that moment of rage that Lotor failed to see Keith, from the corner of his eye, as the red Paladin slid between him and Shiro. Lotor couldn’t block the swipe from Keith’s sword in time.

“No!” Lance screamed as he saw his husband falling to his knees, his blood pouring from the wound on his chest. The sword had pierced his armour and the strike left a diagonal cut, from his shoulder to his hip.

Lotor dropped his sword, his hands moving to press against his wound. His head was bowed down and his shoulders were slumped forward. He was breathing raggedly and shaking. It broke Lance’s heart to see his beloved in such state. He squirmed against Shiro’s hold, but the Black Paladin refused to let go of him. Tears started to stream down Lance’s face.

“Lotor!”

Lotor lifted his head. His dark blue eyes met Lance’s. The galra prince's lips moved, but his voice could not be heard. His eyes then rolled back and his body fell forward. He lay unmoving, face down, on a pool of his own blood.

Lance’s mouth hanged open, his eyes stinging from the tears he was shedding. He started to hyperventilate, his hands now digging into Shiro’s shoulders.

“Let me go, please! Let me go to him!”

Shiro, instead, just strenghten his grip on him.

“We have to leave. Now.” Allura said.

The paladins recomposed themselves after the shock of what had happened and got moving. Shiro ran behind them, carrying Lance over his shoulder.

Desperation took over Lance as Lotor’s body was left behind, far away from his reach.

He hit and kicked Shiro, but none of it made Shiro even flinch. They boarded the Black Lion, that was awaiting her paladin.

Once Shiro set down Lance, the smaller boy curled up on himself on the ground.

Lance hugged his knees to his chest, his face resting in the crook of his arms, sobs racking his body.

It was really difficult for Shiro to hear his friend cry and not being able to do anything to comfort him. He knew that there was nothing he could say that could ease the ache Lance was feeling in that moment.

“I’m sorry, Lance.” Shiro apologized.

As Shiro piloted back to the castle, Lance thought of Lotor’s last words. Even if he couldn’t hear his voice at that time, Lance knew what word he had mouthed.

With his last breath, Lotor had murmured, his name.

Lance…

----

The generals hurried to get to where their leader was. Axca was the first one to get there. She gasped in horror when she found him. Ezor had a similar reaction as she arrived right after Axca.

“Is he alive?”

Axca kneeled next to him and flipped his body, laying him across her lap. She pressed her index and middle fingers on his neck to the side of his windpipe, hoping to feel his pulse.

“Barely.”

Narti and Zethrid came running.

“Where are the Paladins?” Zehtrid shouted.

“Gone.” Ezor looked around, “Hey, where’s Lancey?”

“Taken by the Paladins, no doubt.” Axca easily came to that conclusion.

Zethrid cracked her knuckles, gritting her teeth, “I will crush their skulls when I see them again.”

“You can do that next time we fight them, but right now I need you to hold Lotor. I’m going to staunch his bleeding. Ezor and Narti, get the ship moving and fly us to the nearest station.” Axca commanded.

“Lotor won’t be very happy about this.” Ezor said out loud.

Chapter Text

When Lance and Shiro stepped out of the Black Lion, now in the safety of the castle, the other paladins were already waiting for them. Lance followed behind Shiro, his eyes puffy and red from the crying.

He had a blank expression on his face, as his friends ran towards him and hugged him, telling him how much they missed him. Lance didn’t return the affections or even spoke.

It was when Keith arrived at the hangar that Lance snapped. His face twisted, the hate that he felt taking over him, and he balled up his fists, baring his teeth.

Pidge tried to stop him, but Lance pushed her to the side as he darted forward and threw himself at Keith.

The two fell down, Lance on top of the red Paladin. Lance, without any restrain, began to strangle Keith.

Keith tried to push Lance off of him, but Lance wouldn’t budge.

“You killed him!” Lance tightened his grip on Keith’s neck, cutting off his air supply.

Shiro hurried to put an end to it. He pulled Lance up and dragged him away from Keith.

Lance swung his fist and punched Shiro in the face. Shiro released his hold on him, letting him fall to the floor. While Keith was helped to his feet by Hunk, Lance remained on the ground.

“What lies did you tell them, Keith? That Lotor kidnapped and raped me? Forced me to be his broodmare?” he yelled, his voice echoing around the hangar.

“Lance…” Allura reached her hand to him, but Lance, reflexively, slapped it away.

He got up on his own, refusing the help from anyone, and stared at the team, keeping his distance from them. His blue eyes were glinting with anger and unshed tears that welled in them.

“I was never in danger. I wasn’t being held against my will.”

“But Lance…” Hunk stepped forward “Lotor is… was the bad guy.” He corrected himself, ” How could you side with him?”

Lance held his head between his hands, tugging on his hair. “You didn’t know him. None of you did.”, he frantically shook his head.

“Lance.” Shiro approached him, “I was a prisoner of the Galra too. I suffered at their hands as well. What they did to you…”

“I love him!” he shouted, fat tears rolling down his face, and then realization hit him, “I loved him...”, he whispered to himself.

A whimper escaped his lips and he let go of his hair to hug himself.

The sight of Lance in such an inconsolable state pulled at the paladins’ heartstrings. Allura rushed to wrap her arms around him. Lance attempted to push her away, refusing to accept her pity, but was unable to even make her move an inch. He gave up and let her comfort him, resting his head against her chest as he cried his heart out.

She glanced over her shoulder, looking at the paladins with uncertainty and concern in her eyes.

They were unsure of what to do.

Chapter Text

“You should be resting, Prince Lotor.”, Axca stood at the door.

The other generals were sleeping in their own rooms. Lotor, who was inserting coordinates for the ship to fly to, and Axca were the only ones awake.

Lotor’s fingers tapped the screen in front of him, displaying a map showing him the planets of that area, “My priority right now is finding the Paladins before they get further away from me.”

“Lotor.” Axca walked to stand at his side. The prince didn’t turn his face to her, continuing to look to the screens in front of him.

“A week hasn’t even passed. Even if your wound was stitched up, you still need time to regain your strength. You can hardly stand on your own two feet.”

Axca was right about that. Lotor was still weak from almost dying of blood loss.

Ezor and Narti, who were left in charge of piloting the ship, while Axca did her best to stop more of his blood from pouring out, found a station operated by galra soldiers.

It had been a miracle that the medics had managed to save his life. Despite the medics’ advises, Lotor had refused to stay there another minute and set on to find his husband.

He depended on anesthetics, provided by the medics, to numb the pain he felt from the now closed wound on his chest, where Keith’s sword had cut into his flesh.

The lack of sleep wasn’t helping either. That showed on his face, as fatigue caused dark circles to appear under his eyes.

When he lay in bed, his head was filled with thoughts of his love. Without Lance sleeping by his side, the bed felt so much bigger, and Lotor couldn’t help but pat the empty space next to him.

In dreams, he heard Lance calling out to him. Telling Lotor to come find him. Those dreams only caused Lotor more anguish.

His unborn child also crossed his mind many times. Lance would keep their baby safe, no matter what, Lotor was sure of that.

But he wondered if the paladins would go as far as to put an end to Lance's pregnancy. The thought alone made Lotor’s head throb.

Axca took hold of his arm and pulled him away from the controls of the ship. Lotor didn’t fight back, realizing she would keep insisting with him, as she lead him out of the room and walked with him through the hallways, heading to his room.

Once they stepped in, Axca instructed him to sit down and so he did, sitting on the edge of the bed. From one of the pockets of her suit, Axca pulled out a glass vial filled with some blue transparent liquid and handed it to him.

“I didn’t think I would need to give you this.”

“What is this?”

“It will make you fall asleep faster.”, she explained.

“Why do you have something like this?”, he inquired.

“I sometimes have restless nights, too.”

Lotor didn’t push the conversation from there, knowing Axca wouldn’t talk about whatever kept her awake. He uncapped the small bottle and drank it all down.

It took only a few seconds for it to start taking effect. He felt his eyelids becoming heavier and all of his muscles relaxing.

Axca helped Lotor lean back on his bed, head resting on the pillows. He was no longer able to keep his eyes open or think anything at all. Once he slipped into sleep, Axca left the room.

In his dreams, Lotor was taken back to the day when the Paladins, after taking down his generals, broke into his ship and took Lance away.

Just like on that day, Lotor was struck by the red Paladin’s blade and fell to his knees, clutching his chest. But this time, his lover crawled towards him and held him in his arms. Lance turned his head to the other Paladins and begged them to save Lotor.

The Paladins were indifferent to Lance's begging, eyeing him coldly. The red Paladin fisted his hand in Lance’s hair and pulled him away. Lotor tried to hold onto his husband, but his body couldn’t move at all.

The red Paladin forced Lance’s head back and held the blade of his sword against his neck.

“STOP!” Lotor screamed at the top of lungs.

In a swift move, the red paladin slit Lance’s throat open.

Blood gushed out from the cut on his neck, a few drops splattering Lotor’s face. The red Paladin let go of him and Lance fell to the floor like a puppet, whose strings had been cut off.

Lance was now a lifeless corpse, laying in front of him. His eyes, that had lost their brightness, were still open and looking at the prince.

The red paladin walked past Lance's body, not even sparing him a glance, until he was standing right in front of Lotor. He raised his sword and then brought it down on Lotor’s head.

Lotor jolted awake, his body shaking and sweat soaked stray strands of hair clinging to his face. He got up and approached the window of his room that gave him a wide view of the vast space. He pressed his trembling hand over the glass as he leaned his forehead against it, and tried to control his breathing.

Lotor remembered the many times he woke up to find Lance standing in front of the window, admiring the beauty of billions of stars. Lotor would join him in his stargazing.

Lance, during one of their moments observing the stars, shared stories about how he, his nephews and nieces loved to point at the constellations, back on Earth. Lotor liked when Lance talked about his home planet, he always told him fascinating things about it. Lance and his family often went camping in the middle of the woods, just to lay in the grass and look at all those bright dots in the sky above them. As a kid, he used to say one day he would get a spaceship and explore the entire universe.

Lotor embraced Lance from behind as he told him all that.

Lance let out a little laugh, “I guess that came true.”, he said and nuzzled Lotor's neck.

Lotor gave a faint smile as he relived in his head such a fond memory of his beloved.

‘Even if I have to search the entire galaxy, I will find you, my love.’

Chapter Text

Lance opened his eyes and found a blue sky and clouds above him. He felt something soft under his palms and Lance recognized it as grass.

“Sleep well?”, fingers moved gently through the locks of his hair.

Lance tilted his head back and meet Lotor’s dark blue eyes. His head was resting on his husband’s lap and he, apparently, had just woken up from a nap. The two were under the shade of a tall tree.

He sat up, “Lotor?”, he held Lotor’s head between his hands, “You’re alive?”

“What are you talking about?”, he crooked an eyebrow.

Lance leaned in and kissed him, at first in his lips, and then little pecks on his cheeks.

Lotor couldn’t resist a laugh, “What’s gotten into you?”

Lance rested his chin on Lotor’s shoulder, his arms wrapped tight around him. He looked around and immediately realized where he was. This was the planet where their wedding ceremony took place. The vast green fields covered with flowers remained the same as the last time they were there.

Lance’s eyes landed on the generals, that were far away from them. While Zethrid and Ezor seemed to be doing some sort of hand-to-hand combat practice between each other, Narti and Axca kept their distance from them and preferred to relax for once. Axca leaned back against a trunk of a tree and Narti sat close to her, petting her cat that squinted his eyes and purred.

Lance, when he first joined them, was so terrified of that cat. Especially because the first time he tried to lay a finger on him, he hissed and scratched his hand. Now, he sometimes lets Lance pet him a little behind the ears and under his chin.

They were okay. It had all been a bad dream, after all.

Lance plucked a flower that was near him. It resembled a dhalia, its thin petals of the color white and pink. He blew on it, the same way you do for a dandelion, and a few petals flew with the wind.

Then everything changed.

The sky was no longer blue and the sun was gone. Lance now looked up to see dark clouds above him. The beautiful and serene scenario that had been in front of him just a few seconds ago was now a grim one. The flowers around him had all withered, including the one he still held in his hand.
The dry grass and flowers were now prickly against his skin.

The generals had disappeared and were nowhere to be seen. He turned his head to the side, in panic, and his eyes locked with Lotor’s pain-stricken eyes.
Lance then saw it. A long sword stabbed right through the prince’s chest. And Lance was the one holding it. Lotor coughed violently and blood drops smeared Lance’s cheeks.

Lotor body fell back, the blade slipping out of his body. Lance recognized the weapon in his hands as Keith’s bayard.

He suddenly felt a numbing sensation from the pit of his stomach. Blood trickled down from between his legs.

“No, no, NO!”

Screams tore through his throat. He thrashed around in his bed, frantic, his hands gripping the sheets.

“Lance, Lance, wake up, please.”

Hands held his head, trying to calm him down. Lance snapped out of his nightmare, but he continued to struggle, tried to slap those hands out of him.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s me.”, Pidge shushed him. She kneeled on his bed, hovering over him. Allura and Hunk were behind her, next to the feet of the bed. Concern written all over their faces.

“Just breathe, Lance.”, Pidge told him.

He hadn’t even realized he was hyperventilating. He licked his chapped lips, feeling the taste of the sweat that drenched his entire face. He closed his mouth and breathed through his nose.

Breathe. Just breathe.

His heart was beating in his ears. Then images of his dream started to flash in his mind. He sat down and pushed the covers off of him. There was no blood staining the mattress. He put a hand over his stomach, where a small bump had started to show.

His child was still there.

He fell back into the bed, draping an arm over his eyes.

Pidge was no longer in his bed, now standing back with Allura and Hunk.

Lance managed to hear Allura whispering something to Hunk.

Hunk was out of his room after that and Pidge followed after him. Allura stepped closer and pulled his arm off his face.

“No.”, Lance shook his head.

“Come with me, please.”, she kept tugging at his arm, gently.

Lance ended up complying and got out of his bed. He let Allura lead him to wherever she wanted to take him.

----
Allura brought him to an empty room, located far away from the Paladins’ sleeping quarters. When they arrive there, Allura pressed some button and one of the wall slid, revealing a wide glass window that gave them a view of space.

They were sitting on the ground, in front of that window. It was somehow calming. Stars and interstellar clouds of dust, and the silence and dim-light of the room.

Allura was in her pink nightgown, while Lance wore his pajamas under his dark-blue robe. They kept his clothes even after he left them.

Lance had calmed down, and was now leaning on Allura’s shoulder. The princess held his hand, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles.

Lance started to think about the immense grief Allura must suffer from having lost her planet, her home, her culture and her people. Everything she loved. She had been able to put her own pain aside for the sake of the universe and portray strength through everything.

Meanwhile, Lance can’t endure the loss of his lover.

Thoughts and memories of Lotor made him fall apart and nightmares haunted him during the night.

It had been two weeks since the Paladins “rescued” him and brought him back to the Castle-Ship. Lance and Keith’s relationship hadn’t been the same. Lance, for the first days, was resentful towards Keith. He was violent and didn’t hold his tongue back when Keith tried talking with him. He didn’t care if he was hurting Keith with his words. He wanted Keith to suffer like he did.

When a week had passed, Lance had finally allowed Keith to come closer to him. Keith knocked on the door of his room and Lance told him to leave, but something made him change his mind and he let Keith inside.

Their conversation lasted only two minutes and Keith ended up on the floor after Lance punched him in the face.

“Get out!”

“Lance, listen...”, Keith propped himself up on one elbow while his hand cupped his red cheek, where Lance’s fist had hit him, “The baby...”

“You don’t get a saying on this.”, Lance had a protective arm wrapped around his swollen belly.

“I’m worried about you. This pregnancy could be too much for your body.”, Keith was standing on his feet again, “Birthing is not something easy. And that isn’t a human baby growing inside of you. It’s a hybrid. We don’t know how this can affect you.”

“Enough!”, Lance yelled, covering his ears and shaking his head, refusing to hear anymore of what Keith was saying, “Just... leave.”

Keith, instead, moved closer and tried to graze his fingers lightly on Lance’s face, but he stepped away from his touch.

Keith drew his hand back, a defeated look on his face. He then left.

Lance closed his eyes tightly as he tried to forget that conversation. He squeezed Allura’s hand a little.

“So... how have you and Blue been?”

“We’ve established a strong bond between each other.”. Allura smiled, her eyes sparkling, “I always wanted to be a Paladin, like my father, and I was so happy when the Blue Lion gave me that chance.”

“You are an amazing paladin. Better than I ever was. Even before you were a paladin you were braver and stronger than all of us.”

“You were also a great paladin and a fighter, Lance. You still are.”

‘A great paladin wouldn’t go around sleeping with the enemy.’, Lance believed that that was what Allura thought of him. What the whole team thought of him. If he had been brainwashed, like they thought at the beginning, they could still forgive him for turning his back on them.

But no, Lance willingly chose to be by Lotor’s side and walked out on them.

How could they forgive him? Lance had no idea. Especially, Allura, who had given him nothing but comfort and sympathy since he returned. She should hate his guts, but instead she is here, sitting by his side and holding his hand after he had a nightmare.

The door to the room opened and someone walked in. It was Hunk, and he was carrying a platter in his hands. He sat down next to Lance and put the platter on the ground, near their feet.

There were three mugs filled with a steaming liquid that Lance assumed was some sort of tea and plates with pastries that were, no doubt, baked by Hunk.

“I’m not hungry.”, Lance tried to reject. His stomach was still a little uneasy from the horrid nightmare he had.

“Lance.”, Hunk put a gentle hand on his shoulder, “Bearing a child demands a lot from your body. I know you haven’t eaten regularly since you’ve been here.”

Lance only sneaked into the kitchen to eat whatever was there when the hunger was too much to handle. He knew it wasn’t healthy for himself and his baby, but he couldn’t bring himself to sit down during meals with the others. He was afraid he would have a breakdown right in front of them and he didn’t want that. Lance came up with excuses about why he skipped meals; he had fallen asleep, morning sickness, wasn’t feeling well,...

Yesterday, Shiro brought him a plate of food goo, when once again, Lance preferred to be somewhere else than at the dinner table with the paladins. Shiro found Lance sitting on the floor of the training deck, back leaned against the wall, hugging his knees to his chest.

Shiro didn’t bother asking him why he was there. He simply handed the plate and the spoon to Lance and sat down next to him as Lance shoved spoonfuls of goo into his mouth.

“Can I ask you something, Lance?”

Lance swallowed his food, but didn’t look at Shiro, “Sure.”

He had become a little comfortable around Shiro again, so he was fine talking about some things with him.

“Did Haggar do anything to you? Did she or the Druids ever try to modify you.”

“No.”, Lance replied, “In fact, Haggar is no longer there. She disappeared a long time ago.”

Shiro’s eyes widened in surprise.

After Zarkon’s death, the witch went missing. Her Druids also left for reasons unknown.

Lance, at the time, in which Zarkon was still alive, had only been with Lotor for a month. Haggar stood at Zarkon’s deathbed, trying to save him, but nothing worked. When she wasn’t using her magic to try to wake Zarkon from his comatose state, she tried to destroy his and Lotor's relationship. She called the prince a 'fool' for letting a paladin seduce him and that Lance, certainly, intended to manipulate him and bring down the empire his father built.

Lotor defended Lance against her accusations, but no matter what he said, nothing convinced her that Lance wasn’t just using the prince’s love to his and the paladins of Voltron advantage.

The news of Zarkon’s death were delivered by medics that had also tried to save the emperor’s life. Haggar was nowhere to be found. Not even during the funeral ceremony was she present.

Lance, when it was just him and his beloved in the throne room, after Zarkon's funeral, asked Lotor if he was okay. He had just lost his father and his mother disappeared without a word.

“I’m fine.”, he ran a hand through the throne in front of him. He then sat down on it, “I have an empire to rule, now.”

Lance knew things would be a lot different with Lotor in control.

He took hold of Lance’s hand and pulled him closer,  gazing affectionately at him, “And I want you to rule it with me.”, he bowed his head and kissed the back of his hand.

Lance picked up a sweet from one of the plates and took a big bite out of it. It was delicious, like he was expecting. It looked exactly like a a muffin, like the ones his mother used to bake for him to take to school and the ones we saw at display at the windows of bakery shops, but the ingredients used in these were definitely not from Earth. He brought a mug close to his lips and after blowing on it to cool it down a little, took a sip.

Hunk and Allura also enjoyed the snacks and drink
.
“So Lance.”, Hunk nudged him lightly with his elbow, “You had a wedding and didn’t even invite me to be your best man.”, Hunk tried to lighten the mood, but he realized how insensitive he probably ended up sounding.

“If you had been to my wedding, you would have probably been chosen as the ‘flower girl’.", and for the first time, during those two weeks, Lance laughed.

----
Shiro, Pidge, Coran and Keith were in the kitchen.

Lance’s screams had awakened them all and they had rushed to his room. Pidge and Allura were faster and Hunk followed after them. They heard Pidge calming Lance down and were relieved that Lance was just having a bad dream. Shiro stopped Keith from going into the room. Keith tried to move past him, but Shiro held him back.

“It’s best if you don’t go.”

Keith knew Shiro was right. Keith was the last person Lance would want to see right now.

Hunk and Pidge walked out of the room.

“I’m going to the kitchen to prepare something for Lance. Allura will take care of him.”, Hunk told them.

They, along with Coran, decided to also go to the kitchen and sat there as Hunk fetched the food he had baked the other day and Pidge warmed tea. After Hunk left to take the food and beverages to Lance and Allura, the four remained there, sitting at the table. They said nothing to each other, until Keith finally broke the silence.

“We have to find out what is wrong with Lance.”

All heads turned to him.

“This ‘love’ he has for Lotor, it can’t be real. It has to be something they implanted on his brain.”, he turned to Shiro, “That witch could have messed up with his head and tried turning him into a weapon against us, like they tried to do to you. ”

“I thought that was the case, at the beginning. But Keith...”, he sighed, “I already told you. Lance wasn’t brainwash. I talked with him yesterday...”

“They could have still put fake memories into his head. About him and Lotor being in love.”, Keith interrupted, his palms hitting the table.

Pidge and Coran exchanged glances, no idea of what was the right thing to say in that moment.

During these two weeks, they had all ended up learning one thing: Lance loved Lotor.

Shiro and Keith were the last ones to believe it. After his talk with Lance, yesterday, he no longer had doubts about it. But Keith was stubborn and refused to think that it could be true.

“I’m going to talk with him.”, Keith got up from his chair and moved towards the door. Shiro got there first and blocked his path, “Get out of my way, Shiro.”

“No. Keith, I know how you feel towards Lance...”

“Move out of my way.”, he tried to push Shiro off.

“.... that you love Lance....”

“Move!”, he shouted and tried to punch Shiro, in a fit of anger. Shiro managed to grab his wrist before it could hit him.

Keith tried to pull his arm back, but Shiro held his hand in a firm grip.

“... and how much you must be hurting from this.”

Coran and Pidge remained in their chairs, knowing it was best not to intervene. Tears prickled the corner of Keith’s eyes.

“But Lance has fallen in love with someone else. Even if that someone turned out to be our enemy.”, he let go of Keith and the red paladin stepped back.

He stared at Shiro with anger, that began to slowly fade as he wiped the small tears from his eyes.

“Why? Why did Lance fall in love with him?”, Keith's hands clenched into fists.

Coran knew how much it hurt to love someone who doesn’t love you back. In his youth, he had fallen in love with Alfor, but never confessed his feelings, knowing that Alfor’s heart already belonged to a girl, who, a few deca-phoebs later, would become Alfor’s wife, queen of Altea and the mother of princess Allura.

Coran sometimes wished he hadn’t become enamored with someone like Alfor. It would have spared him from heartbreak.

Coran stepped forward and stood by Keith’s side. He gave him a symphatetic look.

“I guess it’s true what they say. You can’t decide who you fall in love with.”

----
Two days later

The Castle-Ship’s alarms were blaring. The paladins rushed to the bridge, where Coran and Allura already were.

Lance, who had been resting on the couch, was the last one to arrive. When he got there, he saw his teammates and the two alteans staring at the Galra ship in front of them with bewildered and shocked looks on their faces.

It wasn’t just a Galra’s ship, it was...

“Lotor.”, his husband's name escaped from his lips.

He was alive. Please, let him be alive. Lance prayed, realizing that there was also the possibility that someone else, aside from Lotor, could be on that ship.

The Castle-Ship notified an audio message being sent to them from the other ship.

‘Princess Allura...’, Lance’s heart skipped a beat as he heard the voice of his lover. The voice he thought he would never hear again. ‘... I don’t have any intention to launch an attack on you. I believe you know why I’m here. And once I’m done, I will leave.’

Allura and Lance’s eyes met.

‘I ask you to let Lance return to me. If he wants to come back on his own free will.’

Lance wanted to respond to that, saying ‘Yes, I want to return to you’, but the transmission cut there before he could open his mouth.

The particle barrier was activated, protecting them from any blasts.

“Lotor is not going to fire at the castle. Not while I’m here.”, Lance had no doubts about it.

Keith walked to Lance. He took hold of his arm and, without warning, started to lead him out.

“Wait! Here are you going?”

“We have to keep you somewhere safe in the ship. Where Lotor won’t find you.”

Lance shook his arm off before Keith could drag him any further.

“No!”

They stood in the middle of the room.

“Lance...”, the red paladin was almost pleading, “Lotor will be coming after you.”

“I’m going back to him.”

Keith’s eyes shot open. Lance turned to the rest of the team.

“This is what I choose. I want to return to my beloved.”, his eyes now focused on the ship, where Lotor was waiting for him.

If he were to, for some reason, reject Lotor’s love and refuse to come back to him, he was sure Lotor wouldn’t try to take him by force. His husband never treated him as a possession and Lance had always been free to leave whenever he wanted to.

The paladins were speechless, unsure of what to say right now.

“Are you sure about this, Lance?”, Shiro’s face twisted with worry.

“I am.”, Lance’s expression softened, “I’m going to miss you. All of you. But I have chosen to spend the rest of my life with Lotor. I belong with him.”

Hunk was the first one to run to him and wrapped his arms around him. Hunk lifted him up a little, until his feet were no longer touching the ground.

Lance hugged him back, “Take care, Hunk.”

“You too.”, Hunk’s tears came easily.

When he put Lance down, the two stared at each other, smiling tenderly. That moment was interrupted when Pidge pushed Hunk aside so she could have her own moment with Lance, too. Her head pressed against his chest. Lance bent down a little, so his chin was resting on top of her head as they hugged.

“I’m going to miss you, goofball.”, her voice cracked a little. She was trying her best to hold back the tears that were already welled up in her eyes.

“I'm going to miss you too.”

Allura came next. The second Pidge let go of him, Allura held her arms open and Lance didn’t hesitate for a second in embracing her.

“You can return to us whenever you want”, she assured him, “We will welcome you back, anytime.”

“Thanks.”

Coran didn’t even wait for Allura and Lance to finish their hug. He joined them by putting his arms around the two.

“You will always be like a son to me, Lance. I hope you know that.”, Coran’s mustache was already wet from all the tears sliding down his face.

Lance nodded his head in response and Coran crying only got worse.

Shiro was waiting patiently for his turn to say goodbye to his friend.

Coran and Allura stepped back, allowing the black paladin to have his chance as well.

Shiro didn’t need to cry for Lance to know how much he was going to miss him. As they hug, Shiro gave him a light pat on the back.

“It was great having you as a teammate.”

“And it was great having you as a leader.”

Once Shiro and Lance finished saying their goodbyes to one another, they let go of each other. All eyes turned to Keith, who kept his arms crossed over his chest and his head hang low.

Lance walked away from the group to stand right in front of Keith. He put a hand over his shoulder, but Keith’s eyes were still staring down.

Lance didn’t wait for any response from Keith. He pulled Keith closer to him and wrapped his arms around him before he could move away from him. Keith’s squirmed against his hold.

“Please, please, Keith, understand.”, Lance’s hand was on the back of Keith’s head, keeping him close “This is what I want. Lotor is who I want. Who I love.”

Keith’s struggle stop and he gave up, surrendering to Lance’s embrace.

Silence between them.

Then Keith’s hands came up and clasped around Lance, “I understand.”, Keith’s face rested against the crook of Lance’s neck.

Lance, hearing those words from Keith, smiled a little.

“I’ve grown to like you a lot, Keith, and I used to hate you so goddamn much.”, Lance let out a small laugh, “I want you to know you will always be a precious friend to me. And I will miss you as well.”

Keith’s hands gripped the fabric of Lance’s jacket harder. “I’m so sorry. For everything.”, a sob escaped from Keith’s mouth. Lance felt the tears brushing against his skin and couldn’t resist shedding a few as he hugged Keith tighter.

“I forgive you.”, those words caused Keith’s breath to hitch and more tears to well up in his eyes.

Lance, slowly, pulled away from him. Keith’s hands lingering on him before finally letting go of him.

Lance smiled to his friends.

“Thank you. For letting me make this decision.”

Lance turned on his heels and ran to the door. He spared one last look at them.

Pidge had taken off her glasses and wiped her tears with the sleeve of her shirt. Allura’s hand covered her mouth as tears rolled down her face. Hunk waved him goodbye. Coran was still a crying mess. Shiro smiled at him, his eyes glistening with unshed tears.

Keith blinked his tears away. A bittersweet smile bloomed on his lips as he and Lance shared a last glance between each other.

Lance walked past the door, leaving all his friends behind. The friends that he, after all they went through together, came to see as a family.

He reached the shutter bay where the pods were. He hopped inside one of them and got it working. Before he grabbed the controls to pilot it, Lance leaned back.

This was it. He was coming back to Lotor. His prince, his lover, his husband.

And Lance had no second thoughts.

He grabbed the control and the ship moved according to his commands. In a matter of seconds, he was out of the hangar and floating in space. He stood between the Castle of Lions and Lotor’s ship.

He pressed the communications button, hoping it would establish contact between him and the Galra’s ship.

“It’s me. Lance.”

It took less than a minute for the pod bay doors to open, allowing Lance to board. He couldn’t resist one last glance to the Castle of Lions, before flying right into the ship that waited for him.

Lance landed the pod inside and the doors shut behind him. Before he had even stepped out of the pod and put a foot down, he already heard footsteps rushing to where he was.

The secured doors that gave entrance to the hangar slid open and Lotor was there on the other side. The prince froze at the sight of Lance, as if he couldn’t believe his lover was standing right there.

Lance rushed towards him and threw himself into Lotor’s arms. His husband almost fell back when he jumped at him, but manage to keep his balance.
Lance took hold of his face and kissed him, closing his eyes. Lotor kissed back, an arm on the small of Lance’s back, while the other cupped his cheek. Lance pulled away from the kiss and gently bumped his forehead against Lotor’s, his eyes still shut.

Lance put his hand over the one that was cupping his cheek.

“I thought you were dead.”, Lance opened his eyes and tears came pouring down. He bit his quivering bottom lip.

Lotor clung onto him tighter, tucking Lance under his chin, his hands rubbing soothing circles on his back.

“It’s alright, now.”, he shushed him, pressing a kiss to the top of his head, “We found each other again. That’s all that matters.”

Lance buried his face in Lotor’s chest, his arms latched around him. Lance felt his heart beat so fast, he thought it was going to burst out of his ribcage.

“Our child?”, Lotor’s voice dripped concern as he laid a hand on Lance’s stomach.

“They are okay.”

Lance was taken by surprise when Lotor swept him off his feet, his arms under his knees, and spun him around. The two laughed heartily, a huge shift from how they were seconds ago.

Lotor put him down and Lance wrapped his arms around his neck, nuzzling the space behind his ear.

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

“Look at the cute love birds.”, Ezor’s voice resonated through the room. She was standing at the doors with the other generals, watching the lovers’ reunion.

Axca nudged her on the side and Ezor pouted.

“I’ve set a course for the Central Command System. We will arrive there quite soon at our current speed.”, Axca informed.

Lotor had kept his promise of leaving Allura and the paladins alone once Lance returned to him.

Lotor let go of Lance, so he could be welcomed back by the generals.

Ezor came skipping towards him and hugged him so tight, he could hardly breath. Zethrid was next and she gave him a hard pat on the back, making him flinch a little, and ruffled his hair. Narti remained in her spot. Axca was the last one. The two shared a forearm handshake.

“It’s good to have to have you back.”, she managed a little smile.

Lance smiled back.

Chapter Text

Lance's fingers trailed Lotor’s skin, feeling the raised scar tissue on his chest.  

"It must have hurt so bad.", he says, his voice barely above a whisper.

"It did.", Lotor had an arm lazily draped over Lance as the two lay in their bed, and his husband had his head resting on his shoulder.

They were expected to arrive at the Command Ship in a few vargas. Lotor thought it would be best for them to rest as much as possible before they did.

Lance’s palm presses flat against the scar that extended from Lotor's shoulder to his hip. Lotor could feel him trembling a little.

Lance stifled a sob, hiding his face in the hollow of Lotor’s neck. Lotor wraps his arms tightly against Lance smaller frame, pulling his body closer to him, burying his nose on the soft locks of brown hair. He shushes his lover, his hand rubbing soothing circles on the small of Lance’s back.

Lance blamed himself for what had happened. Lotor had assured him that no one thought that. Lotor knew Lance would be emotionally fragile after what they went through, and he was more than willing to provide Lance the comfort he needed.

After a while, and after Lotor helped him calm down, Lance fell asleep. Lotor stays awake. He propped himself up on his elbows, and stared down at his lover, gently brushing his bangs away from his face.

The universe had already taken so much from him, he wasn't going to let it take Lance.

Chapter Text

Lance sometimes wonders how different things would have been if “that” had never happened.

A year ago

Lance and the Red Lion were returning to the Castle-Ship when his lion picked up on a distress signal coming from a nearby planet.

The Paladin Code states that we must help all those in need.

Lance made a detour to go see who was in need of saving.

But there was something wrong with that planet. When he entered the atmosphere, his lion started to malfunction, not responding to him and went offline, causing Lance to crash on the desert planet. Luckily, he only hit his head on the control dashboard when his body was thrown forward from his seat.

He took a few minutes to recover from that, before trying to get the Red Lion back on. Seeing how nothing was working, he decided to step outside to search for any signs of the habitants. Sand covered the planet's surface and it was difficult for Lance to walk on it without almost sinking to his knees. He used his jet pack to make things easier. The heat was unbearable, but Lance kept going.

He had barely walked a mile when he found a ship, that was half-buried in the sand. Lance couldn’t help but feel like he saw it somewhere before.

Assuming this to be the ship who sent him the distress signal. Lance shouted, announcing himself as a paladin of Voltron.

No response. He climbed up the ship, until he reached the windshield and peeked into the cockpit. The pilot was there. Body slumped on their seat and helmet on their head, hiding their face.

Lance tapped the glass, but, once again, no response.

He had to get them out of there. His hands searched around until he found a lever. The glass swinged up enough for Lance to duck under it and get inside the ship.

He walked to the pilot and bent down to take off their helmet.

“Hey, everything is okay, I’m... Lotor!”, the prince’s helmet rolled down on the cockpit’s floor after Lance dropped it.

Lotor was sweating and his lips were chapped. He was clearly dehydrated. No wonder. The cockpit was burning like a furnace. How long had he been here? Vargas, Quintants?

If Lance left him there, he would die. Lance knew no one would judge him if he chose to do so.

The Paladin Code states that we must help all those in need.

Lance sighed and rolled his eyes.

---

Returning to his lion, with Lotor unconscious body, under the scorching hot sun, was a difficult task, but he somehow managed to do it.

Since Lotor was much taller than him and too heavy for him to carry in his arms like a damsel, and since dragging his feet on the sand would only slow them down, Lance had no choice but to carry him on his back.

Yup, a paladin of Voltron was giving the universe’s greatest enemy, after Zarkon, a piggyback ride.

The Red Lion’s cockpit was chilly and Lance could breath again. He fell to his knees and Lotor’s body fell down along with him, but not even that made him wake up.

Lance crawled away from the prince’s body and towards a white box that had a label that said ‘emergency stock’ in altean. In there was water and food rations, as well as some bandages and medicine to treat small injuries. It was Coran’s idea that each Paladin should have one of those in their lions, in case they got stranded, like Lance was, or hurt.

Lance made a mental note to thank Coran when the two meet again. He stabbed a straw through the water packet and took a big sip out of it. He sighed in contentment, and despite it being the best feeling in that moment, he knew he had to be careful with his supplies. The ‘emergency stock’ could last two weeks if he ration it properly. He didn’t know how long he would be stuck here.

Lance hadn’t forgotten about Lotor. He returned to his side and adjusted the prince's body, so his torso was resting on his lap. He held the back of Lotor's head as he poured the water into his mouth. He knew this wasn’t the best way to save Lotor from dehydration, but he couldn’t think of any other way for him to do it.

This did seem to finally wake Lotor up. He coughed and water trickled down his chin. His eyes snapped open. Once he saw Lance's face, he sat upright and pushed the paladin's off of him.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.”, Lance handed him the packet, that still had a bit of water in it. Lotor eyed it suspiciously, “It’s just water. Don’t worry, it’s not poisonous.”

Lotor continued to refuse it. Lance shrugged and got up, putting the packet back in the box. He sat down on his pilot seat and tried, once again, to get his lion to work.

“What are you doing here?”, Lotor asked.

“Your distress signal. At least, I assume it came from your ship.”

“It did.”, Lotor got up and walked closer to Lance. The paladin didn’t look up or tried to meet his gaze, focusing on the control panel, “I’m not going to be in debt to you for this, paladin.”

“Good. I don’t care.”, Lance frowned, still not making eye contact with the prince.

Lotor didn’t have a response to that, and simply walked away from him, “Let me out.”

“I wouldn't go outside if I were you.”, Lance looked over his shoulder, “It’s too hot. Plus, you have no idea what could be out there.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that. But I rather be out there than in here with you.”

Lance narrowed his eyes, his mouth set in a hard line, “And I thought you were supposed to be smart.”

But Lance complied anyway. His lion could still open his mouth, so he let Lotor walk out of the cockpit and into the desert.

He couldn’t force Lotor to stay there. He could have tried to convince him to stay, but it would most likely not have worked.

The night was starting to fall and Lance hadn’t been successful in getting the lion back online.

“Come on, Red.”, he begged, but nothing.

Lance slouched in his seat, defeated. He had tried to reach the other paladins through comm, but the planet also seemed to interfere with that and Lance only got static. The only thing he could do now was go to sleep and try again the next day.

Except, falling asleep was proving to be impossible.

The moment it became night, the temperature dropped like crazy and the cockpit was freezing.

Lance rubbed his hands and sides to keep himself warm, but it didn’t help much. He tried to sleep on his pilot seat, since the floor was too cold. How he wished the Red Lion could at least still be able to warm the cockpit for him.

As he closed his eyes to try to fall asleep for the seventh time, this time counting sheep, he heard a knock. Someone was knocking on his lion.

It was so dark, he couldn't see who or what was out there.

Lance materialized his bayard. There was always the possibility that a planet's habitants weren't very welcoming. And if these were Galra that came to rescue prince Lotor, Lance had to be ready.

Others knocks followed after the first one, these ones more frantic.

Lance pressed the button to open the maw of his lion and got his sniper rifle ready to defend himself of any hostility.

The paladin ended up lowering his weapon when he saw who it was.

“You?”

Lotor was shivering, his hands tucked under his armpits, and puffs of breath came out every time he exhaled.

Lotor hurried to get inside and Lance rushed to close his lion.

“It’s freezing out there.”, Lotor blew some hot air into his hands to warm them up and rubbed them together.

“So is in here.”

“Believe me. This feels like a sauna compared to out there.”

Lance sat down in his chair, legs crossed, and a smug grin on his face.

“What?”, Lotor said with a tone of annoyance as he kept trying to warm himself.

“Well, well, well. Look who came back, asking for shelter, after I told him it wasn’t such a good idea to go out there.”, Lance crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back in his seat.

Lotor squinted his eyes in anger, “You’re loving this, aren’t you?”

“No, not really. Unlike you, I don’t get satisfaction in watching other people suffer.”

Lotor darted him an irritated look and then turned his back to him. His eyes landed on the ‘emergency stock’ box and he walked towards it, opening it without Lance’s permission, and taking out the packet that still had water in it.

“Not a word.”, he glared at Lance over his shoulder as he proceeded to drink through the straw.

---

Neither Lance or Lotor had any sleep that night. Not because they suspected the moment they closed their eyes, the other would take advantage to kill them in their sleep. But because it kept getting so goddamn cold as the night went on.

Lance wondered what kind of life forms could survive on this planet. He continued to try to fall asleep in his seat, while Lotor sat down in one corner, leaning against the wall, far away from Lance.

Lance started to count sheep, but whenever he felt the slightest bit sleepy and his eyelids heavy, Lotor’s groans and constant shifting would wake him up.

Lotor couldn’t find a comfortable position. When leaning against the wall wasn’t good enough for him, he curled up on the floor, but it wasn't better. He even tried using the ‘emergency stock’ as a pillow, which earned him a little snort from Lance.

Lotor did manage to sleep for five minutes, giving Lance some quiet, but he woke up, feeling uncomfortable, again, and he was back to finding another position to fall asleep, not giving Lance any chance to rest.

The sun began to appear, marking the start of a new day. Lance got out of his lion just to get those rays of sun to warm his body. During the day it was a burning hell, during the night it was a freezing hell, but during sunrise the temperature was perfect.

Lotor did the same. Rubbing his eyes and yawning, he stepped out of the lion’s mouth and basked in the sunlight.

Lance sat down, dipping his fingers into the sand, and laid back, closing his eyes. It almost felt like he was on the beach, back at home.

Hearing footsteps on the sand, Lance cracked an eye open and saw Lotor walking away.

“Where are you going?”

“Some of us would rather look for a way to leave this dry planet, rather than sunbathing.”

Lance stuck his tongue out and watched as Lotor disappeared in the distance.

As much as he hated to admit, Lotor was right. He couldn’t lay there in the sand all day, not just because the sun of this planet would burn him, but because if he doesn’t get Red to start working soon, the longer he would be stuck here with prince ‘Loturd’.

---

This was Lance's day. He tried and failed to get the Red Lion back online. Gave tiny bites on a yellow bar that tasted like almond, just enough to satisfy his hunger. Tried to fix his lion. Went outside and yelled to see if anyone yelled back at him. Drank water. Tiny bites on the yellow bar. Fix his lion. Yelled, in hopes of getting a response. Drank water. Tiny bites on the yellow bar. Fix, yell, drink, eat...

As the sun went down, Lance fell into his seat, hands over his eyes as he let out a long sigh. It was too soon to lose hope, but Lance couldn’t help but feel like nothing was working at all and he had no idea of what else to do.

Lowering his hands, he saw, through the windshield, Lotor approaching.

Lotor didn’t need to knock this time for Lance to let him inside.

“Any luck out there?”

“No. You?”

“Nope.”

Lotor sat in his corner and Lance remained in his seat. Neither saying a word. Until the rumble of Lotor’s stomach broke the silence.

Lance swore he saw a faint blush on the prince’s cheeks.

“Here. Eat this.”, Lance picked up the half-eaten bar that he left on top of the dashboard and threw it across the cockpit to Lotor, who caught it in his hands.

Lotor seemed to hesitate, eyeing Lance and then the yellow bar with little bite marks on it, but he made up his mind about the matter, and gobbled it up. He ate so hastily, that he almost ate the plastic wrapper too.

The sun went away and everything was dark outside. The temperature in the cockpit dropped again.

Another mental note that Lance made was that he would have to tell Coran to include blankets on the ‘emergency stock’. And sleeping pills, because the lack of comfort was making Lotor agitated once more and if Lotor couldn’t get any shut-eye, neither could Lance.

Lance started to think about what his favorite hero would do in this situation. Han Solo cut that Tauntaun open to save Luke from extreme hypothermia. The lack of sleep hadn’t made Lance desperate enough to cut Lotor open and crawl inside his body just to keep warm. Yet.

There was another way. But Lance highly doubted Lotor would go along with it.

“Lotor.”

Lotor, who was hugging his knees, lifted his head up.

“I think there’s a way for us to not almost freeze to death.”

“And what is it?”

Lance bit his bottom lip, “You might not like this idea.”

“Just say it already.”

“Cuddle up for warmth.”

Chapter Text

“Excuse me?”, Lotor crooked an eyebrow, a puzzled expression on his face.

“You heard me.”, Lance got off from his pilot seat, approaching the prince until he was standing in front of him. He crouched down. “I don’t know how ‘whatever-you-are’ thing works whenever it comes to sleep, but if I don’t get some shut eye soon, I’ll go crazy. And this cold isn’t helping us get any rest.”

“And you propose that we…”

“Cuddle.”

Lotor frowned, the idea clearly not pleasing him. He opened his mouth ready to shoot that down, but Lance threw his hands up, cutting him off.

“Look, I don’t like this either, but if we are getting out of here we need our minds rested and sane.”

Lotor’s eyes moved to the side as if he was thinking.

“No one needs to know about this. We will take this to our graves.”

Lotor closed his eyes. He sighed and then opened his eyes again, looking at Lance. “How are we going to do this?”

---

Lance removed his armor, wearing only his black jumpsuit and boots. They decided they would try first that way, with Lance being the big spoon and having his arms wrapped around Lotor’s body.
Lotor had been adamant about taking off his armor, but after so much complaint from Lance about how it made it difficult to share warmth, Lotor ended up going with it. Probably because of the lack of sleep and just wanting to finally get some shut eye.

He only removed the chest armor, revealing a grey jumpsuit underneath.
Once that was taken care of, Lotor laid down on his side, a brushed his long hair aside so it wouldn’t be cascading down his back.

Lance couldn’t believe they were doing, and that this was his idea.

But they had to survive somehow.

“Why are you taking so long?”, Lotor was getting impatient.

“I’m going, I’m going.”

Lance sat down next to Lotor and tried to decide which way was better to put his arms and hands on him.
Lotor clicked his tongue, annoyed by Lance’s indecisiveness. He took hold of Lance’s arms and arranged them so they looped around his body and Lance’s palms pressed flat against his chest.

“Keep your hands there, understood?”

“Yes.”, Lance rolled his eyes. He pressed his cheek against Lotor’s shoulder blades, since it was more comfortable for him that way, plus it gave him just a bit more of warmth.

Last time Lance had cuddled with someone was with his ex-girlfriend, when she let him sneak into her house in the middle of the night to make out in her room and spent the rest of the night, having to leave early in the morning before her family found out.

She loved when he cuddled her, especially because he would leave little kisses on the nape of her neck and he was so gentle and warm.

He did miss her a lot when they broke up, but he had to move on. Sadly, after that, he didn’t get any luck in the romance department.

And he had no idea why he was thinking of his ex and him not finding a girlfriend while spooning Lotor.

“Comfy?”, Lance asked after ten minutes of being like that.

Lotor didn’t reply and Lance though he either had fall asleep or was ignoring him, but then he heard, “A little.”

Lance closed his eyes and tried to sleep. Maybe the other paladins wouldn’t be so “careless” like him and take a nap when Lotor was there. The prince could easily snap his neck or choke him while he slept. Lance doubted Lotor would do that since the Red Lion was their only way out.

He was kind of confident that Lotor saw him as his only hope to get away from this hell.

Lotor’s breathing was strangely soothing for Lance, and even if Lotor only radiated a little bit of warmth, it was still better than when Lance was trying to warm himself. It was so weird how cosy this felt. Good thing whatever happens in this cockpit, stays in this cockpit.

His tiredness finally took over him and he fell asleep.

---
Lance woke up the next morning without anyone by his side. He turned around and saw Lotor, already up, putting his chest armor back on.

“Sleep well?”, Lance rubbed his eyes.

“Your incessant snoring made it kind of difficult, but I managed.”, he kept his back turned to him and he finish clasping the piece.

“I don’t snore.”, he did and he knew, but he always said he didn’t.

Lotor didn’t seem to want to get into that argument. He began to walk towards the jaw of the lion, clearly heading out.

“You are going to adventure by yourself out there again, aren’t you?”

Lotor looked over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes, “None of your concern.”

“Well, I’m going with you.”, Lance got up.

“Why?”, Lotor asked as Lance put his paladin armor back on.

“Because if the two of us go, maybe there is a better chance of finding a way out of here.”, Lance pulled his chest guard down.

“Or you are going to slow me down.”

Lance crossed his arms, “Well, I have a jetpack so I’m not going to stay behind. And you seem to forget that I’m the one here with the cool and awesome bayard to fight off any alien monster that pops out. What are you going to do if something tries to kill you? Throw sand at their face?”

They stood there like that. Throwing glares at each other. Until finally Lotor let out a little groan. “Fine.”

The two walked out of the lion, that remained unresponsive, and set on to search for a way to leave this unknown planet.

Chapter Text

“We are lost.” Lance let out an annoyed grunt. He wiped the sweat from his face with the palm of his hand. As, what he assumed, hours passed, the sun went higher and higher, the heat increasing and nearly suffocating Lance.

Lotor just kept walking, a little ahead of the paladin. “We are not lost, we are searching.” He corrected. “Besides.” He turned around, a hand on his hip. His hair wa starting to stick to his forehead due to the sweat. “You’re keeping track so we know the path back to the Red Lion, right?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Of course.” He looked over his shoulder. “There is a huge boulder over-” Lance pointed his finger but then lowered it when he saw that the boulder, that he sweared he just walked past, wasn’t there. Lance had memorized everything they passed by as a way to know how to get back to Red; rocks, dry trees, some small plants that kind of looked like mini cactuses...If they saw all of those on the way back, then they would know they were going in the right direction.

But now Lance didn’t see any of that. Just mountains and mountains of sand.

He slowly turned to Lotor and saw the prince glowering at him. He briefly gritted his teeth, eyes narrowed, before turning his back on Lance.

Lance could still hear what seemed to be Lotor cursing under his breath.

“Okay, okay, this looks bad….But I’m sure we will find the way back if we keep on moving.” It was Lance’s turn to be the optimistic one.

---

Lotor and Lance didn’t say a word to each other.

Lance knew the prince was mad at him, but it wasn’t his fault that the heat was messing up his head.

Lance kept his head down, looking at his feet and the footprints they left on the sand. It was becoming harder to walk as Lance grew tired and he could feel himself sink deeper into the sand with each step.

He didn’t even realized Lotor had stopped walking. Only when he hit his head on Lotor’s back.

“What the-” He shook his head. “Why did you-?” He then tilted his head to the side and saw what Lotor was looking at.

A ship. Lotor’s ship.

It was even more buried in sand than the last time Lance saw it.

Lotor rushed to it and wasted no time in climbing onto the cockpit, the windshield still lifted from when Lance pulled an unconscious Lotor out.

Lance noticed how the ship had a bit of shade on the side and hurried to get under it, getting away from the hot sun that burned him. As he felt his head cooling down a bit, he started to think. If Lotor’s ship was here, then the Red Lion wasn’t too far away and they just had to make the same path that Lance did when he carried Lotor on his back to his Lion.

The path to the Lion was much shorter than the route they just took that lead them here, so it will be so much easier. Lance hoped so.

“It’s still here.” Lance heard Lotor say to himself.

He looked up and saw Lotor standing near his pilot seat, holding his sword. Lance hadn’t even seen that thing there when he rescued Lotor.

He didn’t like the idea of Lotor having a weapon, but he knew there was no way he could convince Lotor to leave his sword there. He still had his bayard. He could shoot him if he tried anything.

“If you are already thinking of ways to disarm me, don’t worry, there will be no need for that.” Lotor didn’t even looked at him as he slid his sword into the sheath.

“Just don’t point that thing at me and we’ll be fine.”

Lance felt a cold breeze hit him and he shivered. He looked to the sky and saw it turning into shades of orange and red as the sun of this planet went down so much faster than the sun back on Earth.

“Night is coming.” Lotor pointed out.

The temperature was already dropping and Lance was starting to believe Lotor when he said the chilly cockpit of the Red Lion felt like a sauna compared to this. “We will freeze to death if we stay outside.” There was no way they would make their way back in these conditions. No matter how close Red is, Lance knew he wouldn’t be able to handle the cold.

They had to find shelter fast.

Through the corner of his eyes, Lance saw Lotor leaning down and extending his arm, offering his hand to hi,.

“What...hum...what?” Lance didn’t know what was happening now, looking at Lotor quizzically.

“The ship can be our shelter for the night. Come on, get in.”

There weren’t a lot of options. Lance accepted the hand and let Lotor help him climb inside the ship. Lotor’s hand was so big compared to Lance’s, and Lance noticed how Lotor, as he took hold of his hand, was careful not to cut him with those sharp nails of his.

Once he was inside, Lance sat down on the floor, right next to the pilot seat, so Lotor could lower the windshield.

The sun went completely down and darkness surrounded them. It was hard to see inside the ship, the stars above them being the only source of light.

Just like in the Red Lion, it was chilly, but it was probably way much better than outside.

Lance rubbed his hands together to warm himself a bit. “So….What now?”

Lotor sat down on the pilot seat, leaning back and sighed. He set his sword down, right next to him, here he could easily and quickly pick it up if it was needed.

“Should we...should we cuddle?” Lance asked, but didn’t get a response. He decided to just stay quiet and go to sleep, hoping morning would come fast.

Turns out is hard to fall asleep, even if you’re bone-tired, when you are cold, hungry and thirsty. Lance cursed himself for not bringing any supplies with him.

He wondered if Lotor was also feeling that way and if he was, then he knew how to hide it well.

“I can survive this.” Lance thought. He just had to make it through the night.

His stomach rumbled and Lance tried to clear his head from any thoughts of food, only to think of his mother’s cooking, garlic knots,...

“You’re hungry.”

Lance closed his eyes and hugged his knees harder. “Yup.”

“Are you having trouble falling asleep?”

“The empty stomach is not the only thing that is keeping me awake. It’s hard to sleep when everything around you is cold.”

There was a brief silence before Lotor spoke again. “If you were warmer, would it make it easier for you to sleep?”

“Maybe. I guess.” Lance opened his eyes and lifted his head, about to question why Lotor asked him that, when he saw Lotor’s fingers working fast on unstrapping his chest armor. “Why are you taking that off?”

“I need you rested for tomorrow. Because I’m not going to be dragging you all the way.” Once the chest piece was removed, he set it down on the floor. “I’m willing to share warmth with you again.”

Lance was surprised Lotor was the one proposing it this time.

Maybe it was the hunger, the thirst, the cold or the intense need to sleep that made Lance not even hesitate in accepting it. He took off his paladin armor and waited for Lotor to join him on the floor, only for Lotor to remain on his seat.

“What are you waiting for?”

“Uh well...I thought we were going to sleep on the floor like we did in Red.”

Lotor frowned. “It doesn’t look comfortable.”

Lance almost said it out loud that the floor of the ship was freezing his butt. “Then where are we-” Realization hit him. He pointed his finger at Lotor. “You want me to…” He then pointed to his lap. “...sit there?”

It was one thing to spoon when desperate for warmth, but cuddling while sitting on Lotor’s lap felt like it was another level of intimacy between them. An intimacy reserved for couples.

Lotor sighed and shrugged. “Forget it. This was a terrible-”

“No, no!” Lance got up so fast that he nearly hit his head on the wall of the ship. “We can do this. I just…” He stood in front of Lotor. “...need to…” He turned around and slowly lowered himself. “....get comfy.” He squirmed a bit until he found the best position for him to be sprawled on Lotor’s lap, his feet dangling on the side of the seat.

Lance couldn’t help but feel awkward and embarrassed, but it was either this or freezing on the floor.

“Try to sleep now.” Lotor closed his eyes and laid back his head against the seat.

Lance tried to do the same, but he wasn’t sure where to rest his head. Lotor had occupied all the space in the seat. He could put on Lotor’s shoulder, but then their faces would be too close to each other and it would make things more awkward.

He was starting to feel uncomfortable and Lotor picked up on that. “What now?” Lance could tell Lotor was getting frustrated.

“Where do I rest my head? Your majesty has taken all the space.” Lance huffed. “Unless you have a pillow around here that I can borrow. Wouldn’t be surprised if the prince’s ship actually has a pillow for him to sit his butt on when he pilots.” Lance joked a bit.

“Why don’t you just rest your head on my chest?” He said it without any hesitation, and it took Lance by surprise.

“You sure about it?”

“Do you have any other idea?”

“I just find it funny that you were so stubborn about the whole spooning thing we did on the Red Lion, and now you’re so comfortable with me cuddling on your lap. Talk about character development.” Lance snorted. “What’s next? You’re going to borrow me your jacket when we go for a walk?”

Lotor’s brows drew together, a sullen expression on his face. “I think the sun really messed up your head.”

“Was that a joke?”

“Impressive how you never ran out of things to say.” Lotor closed his eyes again and breathed out a long tired sigh. “Please go to sleep.”

Lance hesitated a bit, but did as Lotor suggested. He slowly leaned in, until his cheek was resting against the prince’s broad chest.

Lance could feel the warmth coming from Lotor’s body and it felt nice. So nice. He could also feel the gentle rise and fall of Lotor’s chest as he breathed and he found it strangely soothing.

With sleepiness and tiredness taking over, his eyelids grew heavy and he yawned.
Lance closed his eyes, leaning his body as much as he could into Lotor.

Lotor didn’t seem to mind. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Lance’s waist and shoulders and pulled him closer to him. Lance could feel his exhausted body finally relaxing.

Lance’s head was tucked under Lotor’s chin and Lance had to admit that this was way better than cuddling on a cold hard floor.

Lotor also let out a little yawn and Lance thought that it was kind of cute. “Goodnight.” He said quietly.

A few seconds of silence.

“Goodnight.” Said Lotor.

---

It hurts when Lance hits his head on the floor of the ship. Everything is spinning. His body is hitting every surface of the cockpit. His back hits the windshield and he can hear the crack of the glass and see small shards of it flying right in front of his face. The ship is still spinning and he slams his face on one of the metal walls. It happens so fast he doesn’t have time to put his hands in front of him to protect himself from the impact. He tastes blood in his mouth.

The ship finally stops and gravity pulls Lance’s body down. He is laying down on his stomach and it feels like he just broke every bone in his body. He tries to lift himself up, only for his arms to fail him. He feels something sliding over his lips. He looks down and sees drops of blood trickling down his chin and splashing on the glass surface underneath him. The windshield. Or what was left of it. It was full of cracks and most of it was shattered, letting sand and the freezing wind of the outside into the cockpit. It’s was so dark, he could hardly see a thing.

He squinted his eyes, trying to adjust them to the darkness in the cockpit. He looked up and saw the pilot seat above. The ship was upside down.

Lance turned his head to the side and that was when he saw him.

“Lotor!” Lance called out. The prince was laying close to him, but as Lance did his best to drag his body over all the broken glass and sand, the distance between them felt so big. “Lotor! Lotor!” He kept saying his name, but there was no response.

He continued to drag himself on his elbows until he was finally right next to Lotor. He was bleeding from an injury on the side of his head and had a few bruises and cuts on his face.

Lance’s fingers grazed softly over his face. “Lotor. Wake up. Please.” He pleaded. Lance, with all the strength he had left, tried to sit. He whimpered as he felt shards piercing into the skin of his palms and knees, but he didn’t give up.

Once he had managed to get himself into a sitting position, he pulled Lotor’s unconscious body onto his lap and cradle him in his arms. Just like when Lance saved him the first time. Lance’s hand moved to his neck. Relief flooded through him as he felt a pulse.

Aside from the broken windshield, there wasn’t any other sort of damage on the cockpit, at least none that Lance could see.

Parts of Lance and Lotor’s armours were thrown around everywhere. Lotor’s sword was in a corner and Lance’s bayard was in the other.

What had happened, Lance had no idea. But he wasn’t planning on waiting for it to happen again.

He noticed a completely broken window, the hole in it big enough for him to crawl through and to pull Lotor out from the outside. He just had to move.

Move.

Move.

Move! He yelled at himself, but his body didn’t obey him. He was completely frozen. Not only because of the cold, but because of the pain and how the effort he made to sit up just made it worse. He was now sure that aside from a busted lip, he also had sprained his left ankle.

Where else can he go anyway? Even if he manages to get himself and Lotor out, he would find himself in a freezing desert, with no shelter. His injury will make it impossible for him to carry Lotor. And even if he left Lotor behind, he would still be with nowhere to go and would be dragging his feet or crawling over the sand until he froze to death.

Things can’t end like this. No. No. Lance can’t die on this planet. When he dies, he is going to be old, surrounded by family, and he will die on his home planet, Earth.

Lance closed his eyes, feeling his heart beating fast. He tried to calm himself down and think of his link with the Red Lion.

“Red. Red. Come to me. I need you.”

Nothing.

“I need you, Red! Please, save me!” He grew desperate. He could feel his whole body shaking and the tears prickling the corners of his eyes. “I don’t want to die!”

He opened his eyes and tears cascaded down his cheeks, warming his cold face. He couldn’t hold back his sobs and hiccups. He couldn’t breathe properly, starting to hyperventilate, but continued to call for his Lion, yelling in hopes to be heard. “Red! Red!”

Nothing.

Red wouldn’t come for him.

He was doomed.

“Someone is there!”

Turns out somebody else heard his yelling.

Lance manage to hear other voices aside from that one. It was a group. There were inhabitants in this planet after all. The idea of being found by someone brought hope back, but then the voice in the back of his head reminded him that these could also be enemies. Maybe the ones who attacked the ship.

He summoned his bayard into his hand, changing it into his sniper rifle. He winced when he felt the sting of the cuts in his palms. Despite the pain. he kept a strong grip on his weapon. He wrapped a protective arm over Lotor and held him close to him. He was ready to shoot if he had to.

He hoped he wouldn’t have to.

A head peeked into the cockpit through the broken window. At least it looked like a head. In the dark of the night, Lance made out a oval shape with two big yellow circles.

The stranger, who was laying down on the sand to look into the cockpit, raised his hands. “We mean no harm.”

“Neither do we.” Lance tried to control his breathing.

“Can you lower your weapon then? Please?” The stranger asked, his voice calm.

Lance always prefered to be a pacifist, and he felt like he could trust this stranger, so he did that. He slowly lowered his sniper and changed it back. He still had a few tears running down his face but he didn’t care.

“Can you help us? We don’t know what happened and me and my…” Lance looked down at Lotor, whose head rested against his shoulder. “...friend are really hurt.” Lance and Lotor weren’t exactly friends. Or anything close to it. But at that moment Lance wasn’t going to waste his and the stranger’s time by explaining their complicated relationship.

The stranger took a long look at Lotor. “He does look really bad.” They commented.

Before Lance could say anything, the stranger got up and walked away from his sight. Lance panicked, thinking they decided to just leave them there.

“Crem, Para.” The stranger called out.

Lance could hear their voices, but couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. He noticed how one of the voices was deep, while the other had a higher pitch.

A head peek into the window again, those yellow circles looking at him once more. This time the alien crawled inside the cockpit, and Lance could tell from the much smaller body of this one that this was not the first stranger that he talked to. They kept crawling closer until they were just a few inches away from Lance.

Lance could now see that the yellow circles are not their eyes, like he had thought at first, but goggles. The alien wore some sort of cape made out of black fur that reaches down to their ankles. Underneath it, they had a white undersuit, made out of a thinner material, that covered their arms and legs.

Their face was visible and Lance could now conclude from the voice, the body and the facial traits that the alien in front of him was a female. With her so close to him, Lance could see, even almost surrounded by darkness, how her dark hair was short on the back and she had long bangs that were tucked behind her bat like ears. She had pale blue skin and triangle shape marks decorated her cheeks and extended all the way down to her chin.

“It’s best if we take your friend first.” Her voice was the high pitched one he had heard before.

Lance glanced down at Lotor, who still showed no signs of waking up. He was no longer bleeding, the blood starting to dry on his skin, but he would still need to get cleaned and bandaged. Lance loosened his hold on Lotor and leaned closer to the alien, letting her take Lotor into her arms.

The alien had a pair of brown gloves and when she turned around, Lance saw her beige boots. She did her best to crawl through the space with only one arm, while holding Lotor with the other. Once she reached the broken window, she went through it first, and then pulled Lotor after.

A new one appeared. This one was so much bigger and it took some effort to squeeze their large frame inside the cockpit. They wore the same beige boots, brown gloves, yellow goggles, black fur cape and white undersuit that clung to their body. They had a square jaw, long locks of white hair and also had pale blue skin and triangle markings, but his ears resembled more the ones of a chinchilla. His appearance gave it away that this one was male.

The two didn’t need to exchange words. The moment he offered his hand, Lance took it and let the alien gently pull him closer towards him.

He guided Lance towards the window, helping him move fast through the glass surface. Lance continued to hold his bayard in his hand. Before crawling to get out, Lance looked over his shoulder. There was no point in taking his and Lotor’s armour with him. Those were replaceable. His eyes then fell on Lotor’s sword that still laid there in the corner.

Should he take it? He is taking his bayard with him, so it would seem fair for Lotor to also have his weapon. A while ago, Lance didn’t felt comfortable with Lotor having the sword and now he was considering taking it with him to give it to Lotor once he woke up.

The alien must have noticed what had catched Lance’s eye, because he let go of Lance and crawled to where the sword was.

Lance was caught by surprise when a pair of strong hands grabbed him from under his armpits and yanked him out. His feet dragged over the sand as the alien that pulled him out from the ship helped him into a standing position. He flinched when he put too much weight onto his sprained ankle.

“Are you hurt?” The alien, that was still holding him, asked. Lance recognized the voice. It was the first one that peeked inside the cockpit and that had called the other two to get Lance and Lotor out.

Lance could now take a better look at him. The first thing he noticed was how tall they were. So tall that Lance’s head couldn’t even reach their chin. Their outfit was different than the others. Instead of a cape, they wore a brown fur coat with a hood that covered their head. Lance could now tell that this one was a male as well. A much older one. His voice was raspy and rough, and there were a few wrinkles on his face. He had long black hair that reached his shoulders and his skin was light purple. Long scars spreaded through his left cheek as well as his triangle marking there.

Lance stared at him, slacked—jawed, not knowing what to say. He was freezing, his knees shaking and the only comforting thing in that moment was the warmth that radiated from the alien’s palms that were pressed against his ribcage. Lance just wanted to put on that fur coat that seemed to not only be warm, but also cozy.

His wish came true. He suddenly felt a weight on his shoulders and heat enveloping his entire body. A gray fur cape had been put on him.

A pair of hands from behind him adjusted it so that it fully wrapped around him. Lance spared a glance and saw that it was the female alien.

“Thank you.” Lance smiled softly at her, feeling his whole body melting over the comforting warmth that the cape gave him.

She smiled back at him and nodded.

The other male alien crawled out of the ship, holding Lotor’s sword in his hand.

He didn’t approach Lance and the others, instead he walked away and Lance’s eyes followed him.

Only now did Lance see what appeared to be a large wagon and a weird—looking animal in front of it, the reins of the vehicle attached to the harness that the creature wore. He was so distracted with the cold and the strangers that he had failed to notice any of it at first.
The older one had already perceived that Lance had some sort of injury on his foot, so he put an arm over Lance’s shoulders. Lance limped as he was lead towards the wagon, leaning his weight on the stranger to avoid putting too much on his ankle.

His hands gripped the cape tightly, his fingers sinking into the soft fur.

The wagon, completely made of wood, resembled those farm wagons that Lance had only seen in museums and books, and the animal that pulled it looked like a black bear with the mane of a lion and the nose of a tapir.

The bulky male had already climbed onto (as Lance remembered from history lessons) what was called the bed of the wagon. Once Lance was close enough, he bent down and picked up the paladin, his big hands encircling Lance’s torso,lifting him with so much ease as if Lance weighted nothing.

He gently lowered Lance down on the wooden floor and kept a hold on him until Lance was sat down.

Lance spotted Lotor, who remained unconscious, laying just a few inches from him with what appeared to be a blanket made out of black fur wrapped around his entire body. His sword had been set down next to him, the alien having guessed right that the weapon belonged to him and not Lance.

The bed of the wagon was large enough to carry a group of at least ten people. There were a few burlap sacks and baskets piled up at the far end of it, and Lance assumed those were supplies.

His attention went back to Lotor. He seemed to be breathing fine and almost looked like he was just sleeping peacefully. Lance wondered how he was going to react when he woke up and found out that the two were not alone after all.

“He will be fine.” Lance was a bit startled by the gruff and deep voice of the alien. Despite that, Lance appreciated that he was trying to assure him that his “friend” would be okay.

Lance looked away from Lotor to look at the alien and gave him a genuine smile. “Thank you for your help. And thank you for going back and getting my friend’s sword.”

A small smile tugged at the corners of the alien’s mouth. “You’re welcome.” He sat down in front of Lance, legs crossed. He pointed his thumb at himself. “I’m Para.”

“I’m Lance.” He introduced himself. Lance would have reached out his hand for a handshake, but he didn’t want to let go of the cape.

Para pointed to the other two who seemed to be taking a look at Lotor’s ship. “That one is my sister Crem. And the other one is our leader, Sol.”

From here, Lance could now see the huge dent on the side of the ship. Something really had attacked them.

Lance turned to Para. “Do you happen to know what or who attacked our ship?”

“We do.”

“Really? What was it?” Lance leaned closer to him.

Para grinned as he waved his hand, signalling for Lance to lean back. “You’ll get to see it for yourself once we get to the village.”

“Village?”

“Yes. The Kalorian village.”