Chapter Text
Lance was not having a good day.
He knew it wasn't going to be a good day when he was awoken and given less than 30 ticks to remove his face mask, get dressed, change into his armor, and then get to the Red lion.
It did not take him 30 ticks. And he got yelled at.
Again.
But he had risked his skin, literally, to get out onto the battlefield as quickly as he possibly could.
He was not going to go through grade school again with his acne. No flipping way was that happening.
But he was to risk the absolute humiliation in order to get out there.
Too bad he wasn't even able to go back and try to fix it.
Oh no, they not only got attacked by several cruisers but also happened to land on a planet where they had to take out a massive Galra base.
Because why not?
He grumbled to himself as he found the perfect sniping spot. He preferred it. It helped him keep an eye on the action while at the same time helping his team.
Not that any of them seem to notice. But hey, that was for after the mission when Allura decided he wasn't good enough this time. Or Shiro said he hadn't been quick enough, even when he took out the three guys who had almost killed Shiro without him even being aware.
Not that they ever believe him.
So here he laid, already having run the scans over the entire planet to get a body count.
He was proud of that little trick, again not that they ever knew about it.
So here he was taking Galra after Galra out. Century after Century falling to the ground.
What his scans did not pick up was the fact that there were druids on the base.
Lance ticked off armored being after armed being to the tone of a popular Spanish song. The music played through his helmet to help with timing. He didn't really fear anyone trying to get a hold of him because why would they?
Pidge was off gathering information with Shiro.
Keith was taking out the commanders because that's where the Black lion had landed.
Allura was taking out the outer weapons with Hunk.
Leaving Lance to take out guy after guy after guy to the tone of a song long forgotten by the mass majority of the human race.
It was as two more fell that suddenly blinding pain sliced through his leg.
He gave a cry out, muffled by the music so no one on the other lines heard his pain. He turned and saw a Druid standing there and a dagger was sticking out the back side of his leg. In a spot where the armor didn't cover.
He shifted easily to the blaster, ignoring the pain like he had so many times before, to take out the druid that he could never pick up.
He hated the druids because of that simple fact.
Raising the blaster to take the bastard out, he was a tick too late as the Druid raised up his hand and suddenly a puff enveloped Lance’s head.
He blasted anyway, knowing the helmet would filter out whatever it was.
The druid fell, but at the last tic, Lance saw a smug grin on his face.
“Bastard.” He hissed sitting up and glaring at the dagger embedded in his leg. He glared at it and stood switching back over to the coms.
“Alright, we got everything!” Pidge called out.
“Let's move out team. Allura, Hunk, drop the bombs.” Keith replied, though out of breath.
No one checked in with Lance as he limped back to the Red lion who rumbled in his mind with concern.
Lance just waved her off as he sat down.
He wouldn't be able to patch himself up right now, but once he got back to the Castle he would be able to.
He watched as the base exploded for a second before turning Red back to the castle.
Only then did he notice the little flashing warning light in the corner.
“Warning signal.” He commanded the warning.
“Filtration device failed.”
He growled. Of course, it did. Whatever the druid blew at him must have been more dangerous than he had originally thought.
Thankfully it held out and he didn't breathe in. But he would have to fix the helmet when he got back. After he at least patched up his leg though. That was currently his main goal.
Red rumbled in the back of his mind, startling him.
“Sorry Red, I think I'm going to pass out. Mind taking over?” He could feel the cloud taking over due to either the blood loss or the pain, not that it mattered at the moment.
He got a confirmation from the Lion and promptly slumped in the chair. Lance removed his helmet and tossed it to the ground, it was broken now anyway.
He made his way to the makeshift bed he had set up in the cockpit, sometimes he needed his Pyro Queen to sleep.
Flopping down within seconds before he passed out.
Lance didn't know how long he was out but it was long enough for Red to grow concerned and wake him up.
When he did he groaned as the pain came back. But they were back at the castle.
Good.
“Thanks, Red.” He muttered. “I'll clean you up when my leg feels better.”
She purred in his mind as he stepped out, helmet dangling from his hand as he made his way to the med bay. Dragging his leg behind him as the dagger still clung to the inside of it.
Thankful the bay was empty, he honestly didn't want to deal with anyone right now, not even Coran. And he loved the older Altean like a father.
Not that Lance really knew what it was like to have a proper father figure.
He shook that thought process from his mind and went to work. He got everything prepped before removing the blade.
“Puta.” He hissed between clenched teeth.
The bleeding started up again making him pant. But he went about removing his armor and flight suit, knowing where the extra robes were in the med bay.
Tossing the flight suit, one of many he has been through, into the disposal and dropping his armor in the shoot that led to the Red Lions bay, he went about cleaning the freshly bleeding injury.
The dried blood was the worst, but he powered through it and removed all signs of both fresh and dried blood to the best of his ability. He just needed to make sure that when he collapsed on his bed it wouldn't get anywhere.
He would take care of the rest in the shower when he had to redress the injury.
He placed bandages over the injury and wrapped it, while he got the stitches ready. He would apply healing gel afterward, but it was too deep for just the gel.
Lance confidently applied numbing cream before going about adding the 7 witches that the injury demanded, and then placed healing gel on it. In two days he would be able to take out the stitches, but for now, he needed to be able to keep going.
He methodically went about placing a bandage on top before wrapping his thigh with longer strips and applying the adhesive to prevent it from coming undone.
He fell back taking a moment to breathe, before grabbing two pain killers and gulping them down.
Lance laid there for a moment to let the drugs kick in before he went about cleaning up everything.
It was definitely easier to stand and move about without the dagger sticking out of his leg. He eyed it for a moment before deciding it would be better to keep it. Just in case.
One never knows in a war after all. Plus he had been thinking about putting a blade in his boot, he wasn't the one who had dagger issues after all. If he got captured he wasn't the one they would check for weapons like that.
Keith on the other hand was free.
Lance slipped into a rope and grabbed a good amount of supplies to bring back with him so he could redress the injury over the next few days. Plus he was out of his own supplies in his room.
Always good to have a secret stash. He would have to check his supply in the Red lion as well. That always needed to remain fully stocked. Lance had been trapped on too many planets in need of medical attention not to have the need to make sure the Red lion wasn't fully stocked at all times.
He didn't know if Allura knew about the Blue lion's freshly stocked first aid kit, as he had just refilled that before the whole lion switch, but he had a feeling she did not.
Which was always a good thing to keep in mind. In case something happened. Not that Lance wanted something to happen, but the possibilities were always there.
Lance signed and made his way back to his room.
Both annoyed and happy that no one called for him or came in search of him.
But he made it back and dropped the supplies on his desk before tossing off the robe, slipping on a new pair of boxers with only minor winces, and climbing into bed.
He was so tired. They had been fighting all day, and he hadn't been able to wake up properly. The rest of the team should feel lucky he didn't shoot one of them.
Lance grabbed one of his extra pillows and curled around it.
Feeling out of it to even think about crying himself to sleep.