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“No!”
Allura took in the sight of Lotor’s mangled form, still slumped in the seat of his Sincline mech after three deca-phoebs, looking almost as though he were physically melting into it— merging with it.
It was clear he hadn’t been in control since long before Voltron had returned. Honerva had been using her own son— or what was left of him— as a puppet.
Allura felt sick as she approached him. Was he dead? How could he be alive, after phoebs of this?
No more— this was it. She had to save him, heal him. Whatever he had done, this was far beyond what he deserved, beyond what she’d wanted to inflict. They could deal with all that once he was conscious again. If he didn’t have a good explanation, she would continue to despise him, but that didn’t mean she wanted him to continue like this.
Stepping up beside Lotor, pushing down her disgust at the gruesome sight before her, Allura took a deep breath. “Alright… you’d better have a quiznacking excellent reason for all of this… but I’m not leaving you to die.”
——————————
Everything hurt.
A voice drifted into his consciousness: “Please… come back to me.” At first, it grated on his ears, then, slowly, the pain began to ease.
Safe. Comfortable. Gentle arms around him, emanating a protective, euphoric light…
Then they fell away with an audible sigh of relief, and it was only a moment before pain spiked through his entire body again. Lotor screamed as his eyes flew open, thrashing in the seat. Allura jumped back, looking alarmed.
It was a long moment before he managed to regain control over himself, stifling further screams as he hunched forward, teeth clenched hard enough to hurt and whimpers escaping past them involuntarily.
The princess approached him again cautiously. “Lotor? Are you in pain?”
He couldn’t even answer in words, but she got the idea, and pressed her hands to his head. Even that light touch practically stung until he felt the flow of quintessence again. When she went to move her hand away, he tried feebly to grab it and keep it there, not wanting to face the pain again.
“Lotor…” Allura looked worried as his face crumpled with agony again.
“More. Please.”
“I can’t just do that forever.”
“Hurts,” he slurred, attempting to reach toward her.
“I know.” She sighed. “You’re going to be alright.”
Lotor didn’t feel alright. His head was reeling, and everything hurt. He cried out as she picked him up carefully, oblivious to the concern on her face as she carried him out of Sincline. He didn’t want to leave.
As they exited and even more quintessence was ripped away, he screamed in pain again, and felt Allura struggling to transfer more quintessence in his direction to make up for it. Gods, this was all he needed, all he ever wanted to feel again… he could just float like this forever and forget the world.
Yet even through that desperate, agonized haze, when the princess stumbled and nearly dropped him, he resolved to stop begging her for it. Gritting his teeth, Lotor ceased his cries of pain, letting her think he was alright.
Just get through this for now, you can find another way to get it later. Just don’t hurt her.
Refusing to bother her again any more than he already had, Lotor hung on determinedly until the pain became so terrible that black spots began appearing on his vision— and then even longer.
When he finally blacked out in Allura’s arms, the loss of consciousness was a vast improvement.
——————————
Lotor woke up in an unfamiliar bed, still in terrible pain.
As he sat up, he slowly realized that he was on an unknown ship, and remembered Allura taking him from Sincline. Before that… everything was fuzzy.
There she was now, sitting slumped over and worried-looking. She perked up immediately once she noticed him moving. “Oh, you’re awake! How are you feeling?”
“Awful. Where am I?”
“You’re on an Earth ship.”
The humans had built this? It looked rather Altean, though with some definite distinctions. Perhaps they had learned from Allura and Coran.
How long had it been?
“They gave you some human painkillers… I don’t know if they worked, though.”
“Doesn’t feel like it.” He sighed. “At least it doesn’t appear to be having any negative side effects, but if it did anything, it wasn’t much.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He managed a small smile. “How are you?”
“I’m alright. I just can’t believe… I’m so sorry that happened to you. You looked like you were dead… if not for all the quintessence rising off of you, I would have been sure you were. Not that I couldn’t have still revived you, probably, but… I didn’t mean for that to happen. I just… can’t believe she did that to you.”
“Who?”
“Honerva.”
“What did she do?” It was a challenge to keep his tone calm, but he made an effort nonetheless.
“She was… controlling Sincline. Controlling you. Using you as a weapon.”
Whatever she said after that didn’t register. He felt sick. Clawing at his own arms in panic, he backed instinctively toward the wall, trying in vain to hide like he had so often done as a child.
It was worse than he’d thought.
——————————
Oh, no. She’d said the wrong thing, hadn’t she? He was panicking.
Leaning in closer to him, Allura gently took his hands and pulled them away so he couldn’t hurt himself anymore. “Lotor? Can you look at me?”
Trembling, he met her eyes.
“It’s going to be okay. I promise you. Breathe.”
“I’m too tired to fight her now— she’s going to find me, she’s going to be furious, she’ll— I don’t— I can’t do this—”
“We won’t let that happen,” Allura said firmly. “We certainly have plenty of our own issues to address with you once you recover, but we aren’t going to let her near you again.”
There was a moment of quiet, silent but for the low hum of the ship.
“Thank you,” he said finally.
“Of course.”