Chapter Text
Stars, they come and go,
some are fast, some are slow,
they go, like the last light of the sun, all in a blaze,
and all you see is glory
-
The last things Lance Fuentes remembered he could count off his fingers;
1) Him, team Voltron and Coran rescued Allura.
2) Something went horribly wrong getting away through a certain wormhole
3) He had no idea where him or anyone else was.
Lance groaned, a ringing in his right ear as he tried to peel himself from where he was stuck on the cockpit floor, only for his shaking arms to fail to support his weight and he crashed back down to the floor, his left cheek hitting the cool metal. A low comforting purr hummed in the back of his mind, at least Blue was still with him.
"Blue...what are the readings?"
He gasped, pain blossoming in his abdomen and shoulder and his head was spinning. Lance forced his eyes open to look around where they crash landed, steam hitting the ceiling of the cockpit, a few wires sizzling and sparking from under the dashboard, and one of his lion's eyes was cracked, but he breathed a sigh of relief as the holographic screen fizzed to life. He was just able to read what the planet's readings were, even with his vision spinning and blurry. An atmosphere of 22% oxygen, gravity only slightly stronger than Earth's, and life here was carbon-based. At least he had a chance on this strange new world, and at least he had his helmet on. His helmet . Lance groaned in pain, but he could manage picking up a finger to push the com button by his jaw.
"Hey, this is Lance...does anyone copy?"
The radio was silent, then resorted to static.
"This...this is Lance, anyone copy?" He tried again. "Shiro? Hunk?...Pidge?... Keith ?"
He better make quick friends with the static on the other side, as that was all he was getting. A lump settled in Lance's throat, and not just from the need to empty his guts on the floor.
"...shit."
He wheezed, tearing his helmet off as he scrambled for the emergency hatch on the ceiling, managed to throw his torso through it to puke on the head of his lion, feeling delirious and light-headed, it wouldn't surprise him if he had a concussion from the...'bumpy landing'. Lance could hear Blue snarl disapprovingly in the back of his mind. It was dark outside, a shades of blue and purple so dark, littered with stars and distant planets, but the sky was starting the lighten at one end, must be dusk on this alien planet.
"Sorry Blue...p-promise I'll clean you up later."
Lance felt his eyes droop and the world started spinning way too fast, the pain in his abdomen and calf was starting to feel numb, and his ear was still ringing from what felt like the inside, so he let his body crash back to the floor onto his back, passed out cold, at the bottom of a hard, cruel new world.
Pain. Nothing but pain. Shooting from his calf and abdomen again, That was what woke Lance up in the end, that and his armour was...suffocating him, to say the least, and his black undershirt stuck to his back from sweat or blood or both, and to be frank, Lance felt like he was drowning in heat, on the floor of Blue's cockpit, staring up at a square in the roof, hearing the crash of waves and the soft whispers of the wind. Frantically, he struggled out of the carbon armour and peeled his soaked shirt away, now lying on the floor in the dark gasping for breath, sweat running into his eyes and hair, which was already plastered to his forehead, like he had just had his head dunked into a bucket of water. This planet wasn't like home, Earth was never this humid or hot, or at least it didn't suffocate him. Blue sent a feeling directly into his head, and if feelings could be translated into words, it would be something along the lines of 'are you okay?'.
“Peachy.”
He spoke aloud, even though he didn't have to, it just felt good to actually be talking, even if it was to a semi-sentient robotic lion. Blue sent another feeling, this time it was curious, not entirely directed at him, but rather at everything around them, this alien environment, a whole new world. Looks like even Blue had never been here before.
“Blue...where are we? You know this...planet? You know this galaxy, even?” He asked.
A sorrowful sound that hummed through the cockpit only confirmed his fears.
“Okay, but tell me one thing, is it safe to go out?”
Lance, through Blue's eyes, suddenly saw his surroundings clearly for the first time beyond the cockpit; it was dark, but he it still reasonably light, at least enough for him to see. They were lying on sand, embedded into it, black sand that sparkled and glittered, and inky water, that was also glowing a pale sky blue, the foam at the edges of the waves that lapped on the shore. When he looked to his left, the trees were almost like coconut trees, hanging low over the water, their roots twisting into a bank of land that gave way to lush forest and bush, and yellow vines twisted over the ground, with some sort of fruit topped with a white and pink flower sprouting off it. The sky was something to behold, dark blue, billions of stars, and two distant planets, a large one was swirling with oranges and reds, while a smaller one, further away, glowed an emerald green. Once his own vision came back to him, Lance felt his breath hitch in his throat. It was beautiful, but he was so far away, oh so far away from home. It put a lump in his throat, a stubborn lump that refused to move, and he let the tears he was trying to blink back roll down his face.
Besides, there was no one left to see him.
-
Lance felt his body moving, like it was being gently being pushed forwards, then felt something cold and wet against his fingers and foot, and the side of his face was pressed against something grainy, and oh god it was in his mouth and hair.
“Mmm...Blue? Wh-what the fu -!?”
He coughed and sputtered into the ground, the sand was everywhere, and now up his nose, and at least his body wasn't working against him this time, his elbows moved to support him, but every shudder and cough send pain to his abdomen. If there was one thing, if it was bad, it would have killed him by now, and he was still alive, so that was one good thing. His right ear did not pick up any noise at all, but his left one still worked! Plus, the water felt beautiful, and in this hot and humid planet, it was like liquid gold. It also went to show how parched his throat really was, and by digging his elbows and fingers into the sand, managed to drag himself into the water, far enough until he was floating, and his finger tips were barely brushing the bottom. For the first time since arriving here, he smiled, and he laughed.
“Blue! Are you seeing this!?”
The water was slightly thicker here, and crystal clear, and when he brought his fingers up from the water, it rolled off in big fat droplets, and it reminded him of the green food goop back at the castle, how his skin didn't even feel wet, but his hair and clothes seemed to disagree.
“This is amazing! Blue!”
Blue did look at him this time, not literally, but he could feel it, her blank yellow eyes on him, and that surge of pride she just threw towards his mind. Lance filled his lungs with air and dived under, daring to open his eyes. Small pink shells, though blurry, were nestled amongst the rolls of black sand, and small green fish fish, with long yellow translucent fins and tails, lazily swam in front of him, appearing just as curious as he was, and he didn't even care that his calf and abdomen were numb, in fact, the water seemed to be help if anything, then he looked down, and there was no mistaking the cloud of red that streaked through the water, and it was coming from him.
'Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm, don't look, just don't look.'
Lance repeated in his head, as adrenaline suddenly kicked in and his heart was racing and his arms were moving, in some sort of breaststroke back to shore, then he was pulling himself up along the sand and every movement made him wince. Why did he have to put this off for so long? Lance hissed between his teeth as he looked down where the pain in his abdomen was stinging. A straight slash, purple and bruised around the edges, but otherwise raw and bleeding. It didn't take an idiot to know that it needed attention. The other one on his calf looked like it had something embedded into it, a thin needle of metal, that entered his right calf, and it was deep, but at least the metal staunched some of the bleeding, it would still have to be removed though, and he wasn't looking forward to it. Blue lowered her head and opened her maw, carefully scooping him up, sending him into the cockpit. Lance was ever thankful that Blue was friendly, if he was stuck with Keith's lion...well, Red didn't exactly hate him, but if he was on fire and she just so happened to have a bucket of water, he was a hundred percent sure she would it spill on the ground on purpose and let him burn.
“Have I told you how great you are?”
Lance smiled, feeling Blue hum a small thanks to him, then sent him an image of a bag, shoved in a side drawer, right next to him. He didn't even know there were drawers along the side of the cabin. But he did vaguely remember Coran walking into the hangars with a bunch of bags like that the day after him and the others moved into the castle, ( “You never know!” Was all he said when Lance shot him a look, he didn't even bother questioning how he got into the lions with none of their paladins around, because Coran had that eccentric weirdness about him that no-one questioned) The supposed drawers didn't even had handles, but when he pressed his hand against the blue tinted metal, the metal split, forming a rectangle, that he could pry open with his nails, and sure enough, one of those bags was in there. It looked like something from Earth though, not some high-tech alien technology, as it was a dark green, made from canvas, with two extra zipper pockets on the front, a loop with clips and a couple of carabiners was tied onto the strap, and when he zipped it open, it was lined with what felt like a waterproof material. If Coran was here, he would give him a hug, for this bag might just save his life. Trying not to move his lower body too much, he emptied the contents onto the floor, and was slightly amused with what he found; an extra two pairs of socks, a small bottle filled with water, as well as a spare change of clothes, dehydrated food goop and a first aid kit. Bingo. Lance popped open the box and tipped everything out. All he needed was something akin to disinfectant, and something other than his hand to apply pressure to the bleeding. Altean technology was far more superior to human technology, but this was very basic. It was better than nothing, for the most part, at least it had some gauze, pads that felt like cotton, a little device that looked like it would staple a wound together, and some sharp smelling vial of a cloudy liquid was hopefully disinfectant, for his best guess, and he took no hesitation in dabbing a few drops onto the raw flesh, and it burned, and it coursed through like veins like fire. What was it doing, trying to disinfect his entire bloodstream? Gritting his teeth, he pressed the skin together and positioned the 'stapler', clicked it twice (and almost bit through his lip trying to muffle his cries) and forced the cotton pad to his wound, gingerly wrapping a roll of gauze around it, securing it with a safety pin rolled up with the gauze. Lance couldn't believe he just did that, having to take a minute to lay back and wait for his beating heart to stop, and the dull ache in his abdomen to become more bearable.
“Blue...you still there?”
The lights flickered inside the cabin twice. He was becoming more attached to Blue every minute, she was his only link to a place like home after all, and she seemed to be actually communicating back, almost like they could hold a conversation between them, between a human and a gigantic metal alien cat.
“Is it, y'know, safe? To take a nap ‘fore I do the other leg?”
A sharp hum filled the cabin. Take it as a no? Great, Blue was turning into his mother, but that wasn't entirely a bad thing. She even lightened up the cabin a little. Lance sighed and grit his teeth as he inspected his mangled calf. It must have slipped through a break or a joint in his armour before digging in, like a knife skimmed across his skin, and the faint outline of it bumped against his flesh, creating an edge he winced at when his fingers ran over it, despite the numbness of his leg. Shock is a pretty powerful drug, huh? Quickly inhaling air, one breath, two breath, three!
“ Fuck! Jesus!”
Lance hissed through his teeth, gripping his calf to staunch the bleeding, taking a moment to scream because he just pulled a slab of metal out of his leg. He would be worried if he didn't feel pain.
“Fff... hah.”
He grit his teeth again as he dripped some of that miracle liquid on it, as his veins burned, and this time he could feel the skin actually melding together, like snakes under his skin. Why he didn't feel it with his abdomen, he wasn't sure. Lance worked quickly this time, as he felt like he was going to vomit, with all the blood, and the pain, and just the general stress of being trapped alone a few million galaxies from home. Once the gauze was wrapped around his leg firmly, he inspected the area around him. It felt sickening, knowing that all the blood and gore on the ground belonged to him, and that the metal slab had small globs of crimson flesh still clinging onto it. Lance kicked it away from him, heaved up onto the ground, and before he could stop himself, that all-too-familiar lump settled in his throat and he tried, he really did, to not cry again.
What would they think of him now?
-
But it gets lonely there,
with no one there to share.
But we can shake it away,
if you’ll hear a story.