Chapter Text
The atmosphere inside the Green Lion was tense, and just like the silence and darkness surrounding the paladins, it lingered.
Lance could almost smell the hope irradiating from Pidge, who was maneuvering her Lion while Allura stood by her side. That very hope had been the only thing that kept Lance from walking out of the Lion to force the team to listen to him. Or at least, to make them think about this more calmly, knock some sense into their heads, and work on a better plan.
The now red paladin could not stop bouncing his leg up and down where he sat, cross-legged atop a cargo box at the Lion’s hatch. And judging by the deadly glares Keith kept shooting at him from across the room, the shaking was getting from annoying to obnoxious.
This movement was almost second nature to Lance, he did it without even thinking, but he always managed to stop when he became aware of it. He would breathe in and out, stretch for a bit to un-tense his body, and remind himself that they would be okay; that even if there was always something to be worried about, this was going to go just fine. He trusted his friends and his instincts; he always knew they were going to be alright.
However, today he wasn’t so sure about that.
Today he had a bad feeling about this mission, and he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He trusted his gut, and right now it was telling him to leave.
“It might still be a trap,” he had said back at the Castle, looking solemnly at Keith, hoping that if his words were not enough to get through his teammate’s brain, at least his eyes could stab his concern into him.
Then, Lance gazed at Pidge, and almost felt an urge to take a step back.
The Castle of Lions had just received a distress call, coming from a nearby Galra-invaded planet. From the type of signal, Pidge had gathered that it had to be coming from a prisoner or a hostage because it wasn’t originating from Galra technology. The young paladin eagerly explained that it appeared to be something built by bits and pieces, as it seemed to be matched with different types of alien tech they had seen around the galaxy. Yet, nothing was pure or complete, it seemed to be built off scraps, which only meant that whoever put it together was a genius. Because, besides building the device, the broadcast also reached an enormous distance, and somehow it was able to remain invisible to Galra cruisers, going completely unnoticed if any passed by.
That’s when hope had washed all over Pidge’s body, as she immediately thought it might be her brother Matt trying to contact them. Without a second thought, she jumped from her seat and declared that they had to go.
Keith, however, had been more hesitant, because he was the new leader — as much as he hated it — and he was responsible to make the call; he was responsible to make the best call, and assure his team’s safety. So he decided not to jump to conclusions just yet.
Until Pidge brought to his attention that if it wasn’t Matt broadcasting the signal, it might be Shiro.
“We have to take the risk,” Keith had commanded as he looked around to the rest of the team. Hunk seemed troubled, probably thinking about telling Keith to think this through a little longer. Allura’s eyes were also coated with concern, but deep inside them, Keith could see the determination. Pidge’s brows were still drawn together, and her shoulders and arms were tense. Surprisingly, Lance had the exact same expression and posture, but his gaze was filled with worry instead of hope.
“Even if it isn’t Matt nor Shiro,” Keith sighed, and even if this explanation was for the whole group, he was only staring at Lance, trying to make the other understand the reasoning behind his decision, “we must assist whoever is calling out for help. They wouldn’t have built that device if they didn’t really need saving.”
Keith wouldn’t lie, though. He knew this was a dangerous call, that there was still a huge probability that this was bait, luring rebel ships to their doom to eliminate the threats to the Empire. But despite all of the cons and the nagging thought at the back of his mind that he was being led by his emotions once again, Keith made his choice.
And nobody tried to change his mind after that. They wouln't be able to.
Lance bit his tongue, suppressing the uneasiness that heaved from his stomach to his throat, which threatened to be spit out as bitter words and angry exclamations. But he held back. He swallowed his argument and merely nodded. He was Keith’s right-hand man, after all. Lance had given his two cents, and Keith had cautiously listened. After that, he had made the choice. Even if Lance didn’t agree with it, it had been made. And he would do everything he could to support it, and asure that his team leader could only make the best decisions after this one.
“The planet has two Galra bases,” Coran had explained as he twirled his mustache, deep in thought. He gazed at the displayed image he had pulled up over the castle’s screen, “and it is unclear from which of the two the signal is emitting from.”
After more pictures appeared on the screen, Coran continued, “The bases are ten miles away from each other. The one at the North is the smallest, but it’s the most heavily guarded,” he squinted and zoomed in on the image, “from the looks of it, whoever operates the base is guarding something of most importance.”
When the image in front of them became clearer, it was evident. The base appeared to be a plated dome, visibly galran, and it had several troops of sentries guarding its whole perimeter.
“As for the base at the South,” the Altean continued, making another image pop into the screen, “it is larger and most likely only guarded by sentries, perhaps also a few minor soldiers and officers. From the type of infrastructure, it seems like they keep the prisoners there.”
“We’ll split up,” Keith announced a second later and the whole looked at him, wide-eyed and exchanging nervous glances between each other.
“We don’t have time to waste.” he continued to explain, “and if the whole team barges into one of the bases, they will alert the second one. We can’t afford them escaping with whoever broadcasted the signal.”
And okay, Lance will give it to him, the plan did make sense. The team had split up several times before to gain a strategic advantage over the enemy, but still, his gut clenched at the thought of not being all together.
Keith probably noticed Lance was about to protest, so he spoke before he had a chance to, “Allura, Lance, and Hunk, you will be going to the prisoner’s base while Pidge and I break into the other one.”
“No way!” Pidge and Lance both exclaimed at the same time. They looked at each other in surprise, not expecting to have this agreed disagreement.
“If this is Matt,” Pidge explained, voice shaky with anger, “he’ll most likely be at the prisoner’s base. That’s where I’m going.”
Keith thought about it for a moment. Then he nodded, before looking over at Lance and raising an eyebrow in question. Of course he wanted to hear Lance’s excuse to disagree.
“Wh- Well, I—“ Lance began, but even he couldn’t quite place the reason why he disagreed. Maybe it was because he didn’t have only one.
Firstly, he didn’t want Pidge to go into the most dangerous of the two bases. And secondly… he also sort of didn’t want Keith going there either. At least, not when Keith was going to be the only one fighting for the both of them, protecting Pidge while she hacked into the base’s system. No one would be able to watch his back. In all honesty, there was just no way the two of them would get out of “the most heavily guarded base”, and Lance was not having it.
“I just… don’t think we should be splitting up,” Lance decided to say. Keith resisted the urge to roll his eyes, clenching his jaw and taking a deep breath.
After thinking about it for no more than five seconds, Keith spoke. “Pidge, you’ll be going with Allura and Hunk, then. Which means, Lance, you’re coming with me.”
The red parading wasn’t too happy for the switch, he’d very much prefer sticking together with the whole team to ensure everyone was safe. This mission was completely unplanned, and they had literally just hunches of what to expect, nothing for certain. Which only meant, they had no idea how to prepare for it. Hell, they aren’t even sure who they are supposed to save.
But the decision had been made. And as much as Lance hated it, he was only going to support Keith.
Plus, hey, if Lance had to look at it on the bright side, the switch wasn’t the worst. Honestly, if they had to split up, he was glad they had been divided this way. It made sense! Pidge would have access to the largest prisoner cells without a problem, while Keith and he worked on a quick extraction, in case that it actually was Shiro, without even having to hack the control center. They’d only need a master key to access the doors.
And well, Lance very much preferred being the one watching over Keith, ensuring to keep him at a leash from doing anything stupid or reckless out of impulse, especially when it was his brother on the line.
Lance doesn’t blame Keith in the slightest, and he doesn’t blame Pidge either, he’s more than sure he would do anything for his siblings too. He can’t imagine how desperate they must feel, hoping against hope that it’s their brothers calling for help. That is exactly the reason why Lance manages to swallow the uneasiness down his throat as determination flooded his chest. He will not rest until his friends find their siblings.
Yet, no matter how many times Lance repeats this promise in his head, he’s still worried about the mission. Deep down, he still fears it’s a trick; a mistake.
And oh did Lance, for the first time in his life, wish he had been wrong.
As the Northern base had the most security and it was the smallest of the two, it was impossible to sneak in with a massive Lion without being spotted, plus having to park it anywhere near. So, the team decided to only take the Green Lion, and with the cloaking device, Pidge maneuvered them towards the base. She dropped Keith and Lance off at the least blocked entrance, only guarded by a couple of sentries, and then flew the rest of the team over to the Southern base.
They had all agreed to regroup after three varga, which was just about enough time for Pidge to reach the base’s control panel, hack into their system, and load the prisoners safely into her Lion. After that, they’d pick the other two paladins, and hopefully, Shiro too.
Coran had also informed the team that their communication systems would fail while they’re on the planet because the Galra had somehow managed to block all the signals that interfered with and on the planet. Which, to Lance, was another fucking huge red flag. Now it made even less sense that the apparently-hand-made distress signal had been able to broadcast itself.
Matt and Shiro are smart, Lance tried to think as he calmed down his panicked thoughts, they must have figured out a way to make it work.
After Keith and Lance were dropped off at their base, they silently got past the sentries without them even noticing, and they didn’t even need to activate their bayards… odd. It was the cleanest break-in they’d ever done.
Huh, that was easy. Pride flooded Lance’s chest at the thought, but it drained right away just as fast when another thought occurred to him. It had been too easy.
Without wanting to continue to dwell on it, the pair of paladins kept walking in silence towards the hallway that led into the different sections in the base. But before reaching said corridor, they noticed another oddity. There were no ships in the hangar.
They exchanged questioning looks at each other. The place seemed to be completely deserted, save for the sentries they had passed at the very entrance. Keith just shrugged and continued walking, but Lance gazed around once more. Yeah, no, something definitely wasn’t right.
“Keith,” Lance said in a low voice as he followed the other close behind, “I really think we shouldn’t be here.”
The other paladin couldn’t deny he that also felt that something was wrong. Too many weird things kept being adding to the list; too many to still be considered as a coincidence. Nonetheless, he chose to not so easily agree with Lance, because he didn’t want him to get even more worried than he already was.
So instead, Keith decided to reply with more confidence than he felt, “We’ll just look for Shiro where Pidge told us to, then we’ll hide outside until the others get to us.”
With a sigh of relief, Lance remembered the large boulder Coran had pointed at when they were back at the castle. The older man had explained that if they ever needed to hide outside the base, that boulder was the safest place to wait for the others because from a certain angle the paladins would be at the base’s blind spot.
Well, at least Keith still had some amount of sense left in his brain.
A moment later, the pair reached the hallway that divided into two paths. The paladins were back to back, each drawing their weapon and ready to attack their side of the hall; but again, it was completely empty. Lance had never encountered a place that felt so lifeless.
The air felt dense. That very same feeling Lance got whenever he went into abandoned buildings with his cousins when he was little, pretending he wasn’t scared of ghosts.
He never got much sleep those nights.
Purple lights lined the walls, exactly like every other Galra base and ship they had been on. However, these particular ones felt worse.
Lance blamed it on the stillness of everything around them. They had even stopped hearing the sentries’ footsteps, they were completely alone. He could hear their own breaths, anxiety starting to creep into their throats. Lance tried not to focus on the hammering of his heart in his ears. He was certain something would jump out of the shadows at the end of the hallways.
Any second now.
The weight of Lance’s gun was the only reassuring thing at the moment, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see Keith bringing his sword closer to his chest as well.
“Didn’t Coran say this was the most guarded base?” Lance asked, voice coming a little higher than he anticipated, and he immediately felt Keith flinch behind him by the sudden interruption of the silence.
“They’re probably at the cells,” Keith argued trying to steady his voice as well. Although, he was also trying to convince himself, not only Lance.
They scanned the wall closest to them, following Pidge’s instructions about how to generate a probably accurate holographic map of the base. After it completely loaded, they proceeded down the left path, which apparently led to the cells. Lance was thankful they walking now, at least this way they could hear their steps instead of being swallowed by the complete silence.
“Do you really think Shiro is going to be in a cell, of all places?” Lance asked after a few minutes of only listening to their boots echo down the hall, growing more and more unsettled. Also, Lance tended to talk even more than usual when he was nervous. At any other time, Keith might have told Lance to zip it, but at this very moment, the silence was so deafening, Keith was grateful Lance was there to break it.
“Where else would he be?” Keith responded, genuinely thinking about Lance’s question.
“I don’t know,” the other continued, “but I feel like a cell is too easy.”
“Easy?”
“Yeah, like,” Lance lowered his blaster to look closer at Keith beside him, “Shiro is— was the black paladin of Voltron. Don’t you think the Galra would keep him some place else than just a normal prison cell? He’s escaped those before.”
Keith considered it in silence for a minute, furrowing his brows, as they made a few more left and right turns, which unsurprisingly led to more completely empty hallways.
Lance had a point. But the only other place Keith could think of where the Galra could keep prisoners was the torture chambers, and he really didn’t want to believe Shiro was there.
“Coran said this base was guarding something highly important, which is why the security is so… amazing, apparently,” Keith replied, unable to not use sarcasm. Though he doesn’t usually joke — and this obviously isn’t the time to make fun of their situation — this certainly feels like a joke.
Keith just couldn’t wrap his head around the thought of a Galra base — that was supposed to be the most dangerous on this planet, and one of the most hostile they had ever encountered — would be so empty.
“Are you sure we should keep going?” Lance asked Keith again, and by the look on his face, he hoped it was the last time he had to ask that question.
“We’re already here,” Keith sighed as they kept walking, “we still have about two hours and fifty minutes to go. Might as well find out what’s going on here.”
Keith didn’t want to admit it, but with each turn they made, he was more and more sure Shiro was not in this base. But he wanted to keep his hopes up. He’d rather look for him everywhere and not find him, than backing out early and then discover he could’ve saved him today.
“Roger that, team leader,” Lance said, trying to keep his voice light. Their situation was also starting to be humorous to him, which still didn’t keep his heart from pounding anxiously inside his chest. He let out a long breath. There was nothing they could do but walk and hope for the best.
A few moments later, they reached their last right turn. Keith stopped and signaled Lance to do the same.
“The cells should be right around this corner,” Keith whispered, looking at Lance closely in the eyes. Keith doesn’t remember the last time he felt this anxious. He was so used to the rush and heat of the moment, to the fights, the adrenaline, the gunshots, and sword strikes, that the complete lack of it made him uneasy. Even more when he knew it should all be there.
“At the count of three,” he continued, and Lance nodded with determination.
The first two whispers were almost inaudible, but the third one came out more like a growl. The paladins jumped into the hallway, ready to shoot, fight, and charge.
But the short hallway was also empty.
Lance lowered his rifle, “What the—“
CLACK!
The sound of a door shutting close beside them made them jump. Wait, closing?
“Didn’t we just— come from there?” Lance’s voice was high and his shoulders were tense. His blaster made its way back to his chest, ready to aim.
Keith’s eyes widened. Of course here were the cells! This was a cell.
Realization seemed to hit Lance at the same time, as he started cursing under his breath in both spanish and english. In comparison, Keith couldn’t even speak. Lance had been right. And this mission hadn’t only been a trap, they were literally trapped.
They looked around at the four walls surrounding them, their eyes adjusting better to the darkness. It still looked like a hallway, still narrow and long, but they could visibly see the end of it a few feet away from where they were standing, unlike the rest of the corridors they had walked in. The light was dimmer than usual, and there was something about being lit only by a single purple light that made the hairs at their backs stand.
There was no clear way out.
“How are we—“ Lance started, beginning to panic, but he was interrupted by another sound. This time, of a door sliding open. Apparently, the wall at the end of the cell was also a door.
“What do we have here?” came a mocking voice, “The red and blue paladins of Voltron, I see.” The owner of the voice came into view. He was a galran officer, and his face was almost completely covered by a helmet. Other than that, Keith and Lance were only able to see his silhouette, as well as the ones of two sentries at his flanks, because the door was still open behind them and the light coming from the rest of the hallway was much brighter compared to the obscure cell.
“Actually,” Lance corrected after he cleared his throat and puffed his chest, “it’s the black and red paladins, now.”
Keith immediately shot him a warning look that perfectly read this is not the time, Lance. In turn, his teammate gave him a sheepish smile. Right.
“Black paladin, you say?” The officer repeated, stepping closer and the sentries pointed their guns at them, “Right! I forgot your former leader perished.”
“He didn’t—!“ Keith growled but stopped himself before bitting the bait, “I am the new leader of Voltron,” he decided to say instead, fists clenched with hatred and a firm look on his face. Nonetheless, Lance could hear the quiver in his voice and the bother in his words. He knew Keith still didn’t like to use that word, believing that it didn’t quite fit.
“Now, what do you want?” Keith barked, making the galran merely smile down at him and huff a laugh.
“Let’s go ask the commanders, shall we?”
The sentries walked over to the paladins and attempted to take away their weapons, but with nothing more than a glance at each other by the corners of their eyes, the pair knew exactly what to do.
With one quick swipe, Keith cut the sentries’ arms, making them and their still-tightly-clutched guns fall off their grasp. Then, he repeated the movement but to their heads, making their bodies cackle noisily to the floor. He summoned his shield to block the possible upcoming blast from the officer, but it had only taken Lance one shot to the galran’s hands to make him drop his weapon and bend over in pain.
They quickly crossed the cell, and when Lance walked past the officer, he knocked him out with the butt of his blaster. Keith’s lips formed a small smile as he nodded to his teammate. They really were a good team, weren’t they?
They stared ahead.
Another empty hallway, and once again, they could clearly see the end of it. They were still trapped. The wall at the very end of the corridor also appeared to be a huge, metal door, much like the one they had just been trapped by. Such amazing luck, they had. Lance got a sick feeling of deja vu.
Before advancing, they looked back to where they came from.
“What do we do?” Lance asked, grateful that they had successfully dodged a bullet just a few seconds ago.
Keith had to make yet another choice. He’d already been wrong for coming here, and he had decided to continue walking instead of turning back ages ago, he didn’t dare make the third worst decision in a row. He had to listen to Lance.
Before he could say anything, though, Lance said, “Well, I think these friendly guys were going to take us that way,” he pointed to the gate in front of them, “doesn’t it make sense to avoid it at all costs?”
“Yeah, we should head back,” Keith's gut clenched with guilt, he definitely wasn’t supposed to be the leader of Voltron. Look at where that had gotten them. He only hoped the rest of the team wasn’t doing as bad as they were.
They silently nodded, then turned on their heels and walked over to the door that had trapped them there in the first place.
There was no control panel to be found anywhere, and the metal was so thick it was impossible to bust open. Keith had even brought his Luxite blade with him, but neither of his swords managed to do more than scratch the surface.
“There has to be another way out,” Keith panted under his breath after he gave up with the swords. He stepped away from the door and tried to get a better look at his surroundings.
As this cell was much dimmer than the rest of the hallways they had passed on their way here, the paladins had to squint their eyes to see clearly in the dense darkness. While Lance still held his gun tightly to his chest, Keith put his bayard away so he could run his hands over the walls to try and find a crack or concavity.
“I thought you didn’t believe in secret passages,” Lance joked. He had walked over to the cell’s other still-open door, just a few steps outside it and with his back to Keith. He looking directly onto the closed gate at the end of the hallway, more than ready to shoot if anyone decided to emerge from the other side.
“I’m not looking for a secret passage,” Keith groaned, amazed at how Lance still managed to be an ass while in a stressful situation such as this one. With his hands still rummaging all over the surfaces, he sighed, “there at least has to be something that operates this thing. Or an air duct or vent hopefully big enough for us to fit.”
“Oh, the duct definitely counts as a secret passage,” Lance laughed, “but I doubt this ugly cell even has—”
SWOOSH. CLACK.
Lance jumped as the door behind him closed and left Keith trapped alone in the cell.
“Keith!” Lance yelled, hoping the metal wasn’t as thick as it seemed to be, “Keith! Can you hear me?!” He desperately banged on the door with his left hand, not daring to lose hold of his rifle. He pressed his ear against the cold surface, eyes still fixated on the door in front of him.
Lance didn’t hear a response. And when he tried the comms, there was only static.
Fuck.
But after a few seconds, and to his relief, he heard the same amount of hits coming from the other side of the door. Lance tried to make sure that it was Keith who was “answering”, and that he was not being attacked, so he repeated the motion. Knocking — or more like pounding — three consecutive times.
Immediately after, and with the same rhythm, he heard three knocks in return.
Lance sighed in relief, but the feeling left his body just as fast as it came. This situation was getting from bad to worse by the minute. Now they needed to open, not one, but two doors, while making sure the third one — which kept taunting Lance from straight ahead — remained closed.
God, Lance only hopes he didn’t jinx himself. No wood to knock on. Fucking great!
On Keith’s side of the door, the cell seemed to get smaller and smaller, his eyes hadn’t yet adjusted to the sour darkness, and it felt like it was crawling onto his skin, gripping his throat while the walls started to push at his sides. But of course, Keith was also well aware that this wasn’t actually happening, yet he was starting to feel sick altogether.
The most unsettling part was the silence, and not having Lance there to banish it. But the most terrifying part, however, was that that meant Keith had no idea what was happening outside of the cell.
He had no way of knowing if Lance was alright, if he was in danger, if he was still standing there, if someone had taken him, if he was alive, if he was—
Keith shut his eyes and immediately cast away that thought.
—hurt. If Lance was hurt. That’s the only thing he had meant, nothing else.
He cursed under his breath, angry at himself. Keith had left him alone in that god-awful hallway, facing a threatening door that led to somewhere he didn’t want Lance to go into alone. And it was all his fault. He should’ve listened to him since they were in the Castle. And now, if something happened to Lance—
No.
He was going to bring Lance back safe, whatever it takes.
If Keith had been determined to open the door or find a secret passage before, it could not be compared to how absolutely fixated he was on doing so now. Starting with the door that led to Lance.
In the meantime, the red paladin had started to mutter to himself. He used to do that quite a lot to calm his nerves when he was little, and sometimes he still did it during missions. However, this time, he hadn’t even realized he had started doing it.
Maybe he did it because he found comfort in listening to something else other than his shaky breaths and thundering of his heart in his ears.
His eyes remained settled on the door in front of him, tightening his grip on his blaster with every second that passed. He was sure Keith was looking for a way to open the cell’s door, he trusted him. But Lance couldn’t as much as spare a glance behind him because if he did, he’d be vulnerable, and if someone appeared at the other end of the hallway, they’d have the advantage.
So, Lance refused to look away, almost afraid to even blink.
He sincerely hoped that this time no sound would interrupt his talking, because the last three times he had opened his mouth to speak, he was cut off by the awful noise of a door either closing or opening. It was his shitty luck, Lance guessed. He only prays that if he is interrupted by the sound of a door, that it’s by the one behind him.
But to piss him off even more, as soon as that thought crossed his mind, the door he had been attentively staring at slid open.
“Oh, you’ve gotta be shitting me!” Lance exclaimed, he couldn’t help it. “This has to be a joke.”
And god, did Lance wish it was when he saw what emerged from the gaping entrance.
Almost right after Keith had returned Lance’s knocks on the door to reassure him he was okay, he had come up with a crazy idea that he could only hope would work. He held the passed-out officer’s hand in both of his own, placing and sliding the purple palm on the surface of the cold metal door in hopes that it would open.
“Come on, come on, come on,” Keith repeated to himself under his breath. With every second that passed, questions kept bombarding his mind. Was Lance still right before the door, where he had last seen him? Had he been taken? Had he been attacked?
He was basically working on autopilot now.
He wasn’t worthy of being the team leader. He had fucked up and now Lance could be paying the price. All he could do was try to fix it as fast as he can. He just has to open this god damned door.
Keith snarled, almost dropping the officer’s arm just to punch the wall with his bare hand out of hatred and rage directed at no one but himself. But this wasn’t the time to make himself feel worse. He needed to concentrate.
Patience yields focus, Shiro’s voice echoed in his mind as he inhaled deeply.
He then breathed out slowly, and resumed his movements.
When he had finally traced the entirety of the door with the officer’s hand, he refused to believe there wasn’t a sensor that would open it. There had to be one, this made no sense! But then again, what in all of this fucked-up situation had made sense?
Keith growled, exasperated, as he finally gave up and acknowledged that his idea had failed. Another failure added on to his list.
He let the officer’s arm fall to the floor, resisting the urge to throw it down with all his might. Then, he closed his eyes to try and calm down his breathing again.
Patience yields focus.
He looked over at the fallen galran, then at the door he and Lance had come from, and instantly decided to give it a try as well. In the end, this was his only hope.
Keith took the galran’s arm and dragged him over to the other door, and right when he began to slide the officer’s palm along the surface, Keith felt the floor tremble beneath him. Even though the walls around him were made of extremely thick metal, he could still feel the deep vibrations echoing through them. Once, then again, then again, then again.
They were slow but consistent, almost rhythmic.
It sounded like… steps. Heavy, steady steps.
And they were getting closer.
Closer to Lance.
The creature was absolutely horrifying.
Really, no horror movie could have ever prepared Lance to see such monstrosity up close. Not that he even dared to open his eyes when he watched horror movies, anyway. And this time, when the horror was actually there, standing before him and fucking walking towards him, Lance was forced to keep his eyes open, for his own safety. In any case, it wasn’t all that hard; his eyes were already as wide as a deer’s when caught by a headlight.
The creature at the end of the hallway was almost double Lance’s size, complete with a hunched back and two insanely muscular arms Lance knew would break every bone in his body with just one hit. It looked Galra: purple skin, some darker purple markings here and there, and their signature yellow eyes, although these ones looked more like a dead fish’s eye-sockets.
Something had gone very very wrong with this… thing, because those key characteristics of the Galra appeared to be the only thing it had left as a reminder that it had once been considered a person.
The monster’s jaw was almost bigger than its entire head, it almost looked as if it had been attached to its body. Actually, now that Lance’s eyes had begun to un-haze from the initial shock, he was able to focus more on the details to try and think of a way to beat — or more like escape — it. And just like that, he noticed that that was exactly what felt so wrong about the creature.
It looked made up, molded and experimented with. As if with time, the Galra had been playing with things and features they could attach to their puppet to make it more deadly and horrifying; and now it was just a pile of things that should have never been mixed together in the same bowl.
Lance gulped, eyes still blown wide.
Legs that appeared to be animal paws, and a short, disgusting mane of dirty and greasy hair. For some weird reason, Lance was reminded of the Beast, from that old animated Disney movie he watched when he was little. He let out a shaky laugh; he knew no beauty would ever fall for this beast, though.
Other than its horrendous and most menacing appearance, the creature didn’t even seem to be sentient.
The only upside from this was that, because of how big and bulky it was, its mobility seemed to be slow and limited. But that absolutely didn’t stop Lance from shrieking in terror when he first saw it.
Its dead eyes were locked on its prey, and Lance had no place to hide away from it; nowhere to run to. The paladin tried to keep his composure together, his mind doing a poor job at commanding his muscles to stop trembling.
“Keith,” Lance muttered under his breath, as if the other could hear him. His voice was tinted with fear and desperation, but it was barely a whisper, “right now would be a really good time to save the day.”
The red paladin was completely exposed. The creature kept getting closer and closer, and his back hit the door behind him when he instinctively stepped back.
Lance’s grip on his blaster was starting to shake too. Even though he didn’t dare let go of it, Lance didn’t even try to shoot at the monster. He was afraid the attack would somehow trigger it and make it start sprinting towards him, which would be much much worse.
The way Lance stood — knees almost buckling from fear — right at the end of the corridor, with his back flat on the door, no way to somehow save himself, and not even trying to put up a fight as his opponent advanced, was almost like he was the creature’s meal; delivered on a silver plate and with a cherry on top, merely waiting to be eaten.
Lance was frozen in place, save for the quiver in his joints. He felt the vibration under his feet with each step the thing took. And the closer it got, the more Lance could hear its heavy breathing. It almost sounded like an irritated bull’s howl.
He can’t die like this.
Not like some bug, squashed by a huge purple beast.
That was no way to die for a paladin of Voltron.
That was no way to die for Lance McClain.
“Snap out of it Lance,” he growled to himself, anger taking over him and drowning out the fear, “you can save yourself.”