Chapter Text
It’s an odd thought, thinking that Galra cells are cleaner than some of the Castle’s unused rooms. It makes Lance to almost chuckle at the irony before a fist connects with his jaw.
It’s not long before blood spreads all over the once clean floors.
Lance chokes, breath hitching as he spits out his loose tooth. He moves his jaw, barely having a tick to sigh in relief when he takes note that it’s not broken before a big metal arm grabs him by the collar of his undersuit.
He stares down at the golden glowing eyes in front of him and Lance regrets not saving his tooth so he could spit it now in the Galra Commander’s face.
“Had enough?” the Commander asks, malicious smirk growing on his face only to drop it when Lance grins at back at him smugly.
“Nah.”
That earns him another punch in the face.
“ Lance ,” Keith shouts on the background, thrashing against the Galra soldier that pines him down, “Lance, stop, stop .”
His shouts are not heard and Keith’s not surprised when next to him the rest of Team Voltron shout their own outrage, each and every single one of them beaten up and restrained by the Galra.
“Paladins! Paladins, please answer, what’s happening? Paladins!” Allura’s voice is faint and distant, Keith barely being able to hear it from his disposed helmet next to him on the floor, “Coran and and I are on our way! Paladins, please, hold on!”
Her voice is quickly tuned out as Shiro lets out an angered scream, lips turned into a snarl as he fights against the soldiers that holds him down. It’s unsettling, Keith thinks, seeing such expression in Shiro’s face but not entirely a surprise.
Shiro fights nail and tooth against the Galra, grunting in frustration when two more soldiers pin him down. It’s barely visible, but Keith catches the small wince in his brother’s features when his fresh stump hits the floor.
Keith’s stomach burns with anger, mind reliving the events since they were captured. He has lost track of the time but it feels like eternity since the Galra Commander lost interest in Shiro only to focus on Lance.
“Leave him alone,” Lance had said, eyes unwavering but Keith had noticed the small shaking in his hands as he gripped his bayard tight, “Take me instead.”
The Galra Commander had ignored him at first, saying that why in the universe would he choose a scrawny useless human for the arena when he could have the Champion .
Everything happened too fast after that statement that none of them could have reacted in time even if they wanted to, but from one second to another, Shiro was suddenly screaming in pain as the Commander ripped off his metal arm and threw it on the floor, only a small part of his prosthetic sticking to Shiro’s arm, all covered in blood.
“Let’s see how he wins in the arena without his gadgets.” The Commander had sneered gleefully before yelling out in pain when a laser collided with his shoulder, making him drop Shiro to the ground.
With anger and murder in his eyes, the commander had turned to meet Lance’s steady icy glare.
“Take me instead,” Lance had repeated, voice low and deadly as he had stared down the Commander, bayard still held up in defense.
The Commander hadn’t answered him, but he didn’t had to because it wasn’t long before the first punch arrived and everyone's nightmare started.
Keith shakes his head, trying to get out of his own memories. His stomach turns unpleasantly at every grunt of pain coming from the Blue Paladin, only making his moves to get away more frenetic and desperate than before.
He had to help Lance. He had to, he –
Keith can hear Pidge from his right, fighting against the handcuffs around her wrists and ignoring the way her face gets dirtier with the tear tracks in her face as she sobs against the floor. There’s a foot on her back, the Galra soldier looking almost bored as she sniffles and winces at every grunt coming from Lance.
Besides her, there’s Hunk. If the picture of an angry Shiro is unsettling, seeing Hunk’s usual calm features turning into a snarl and menacing growling is even more so. It took a little more than a dozen of sentries to pin him down on the ground and even then the robots seemed to be struggling under the Yellow Paladin’s strength.
“Stop, stop , you’re going to regret this!” Shiro screams, a loud growl leaving his lips when the Commander waves him off nonchalantly.
“Your turn was stolen, Champion; small Blue wants the attention right now,” the Galra jokes darkly, an ugly smirk spreading through his lips as he picks Lance up from the floor once more time, “Don’t you, Paladin?”
Lance groans at sudden movement but he’s stubborn enough to raise his head, meeting the Galra’s golden eyes and arches an eyebrow at him as a challenge. “Speak for yourself,” he grunts out, his mouth twitching into a bloody grin, “I’m getting bored.”
The punch in his stomach steals his breath away and Lance gasps, eyes wide and teary as he drops to the floor on his knees and hugs his middle, mouth open in a silent scream.
“Fuck,” Lance breaths out, forehead pressed against the floor before he shouts when the Commander jerks his head back by his hair, sharp claws scratching his scalp.
“It’s me who you want! Leave him alone and face me, you coward –!“ Shiro shouts desperately, trying to break free and help his teammate but his words are waved off as Lance’s lips turn into a small weak smile, the flash of bloody teeth making a shiver to run down their spine.
“It’s okay, Shiro,” Lance whispers, “It’s alright; better me than any of you.”
“How humble,” the Commander says sarcastically, eyes half lidded as he pulls Lance’s head further back, “We’re not done yet, boy.”
Lance meets his glare upside down. “Do your worst, pendejo .”
The beating continues and Keith’s heart is slowing losing its beating when Lance’s responses turns less and less present and instead he just lays there, punch after punch, barely grunting as more blood stains the ground.
Keith keeps a list. He adds every injury the brunet has endured since it started only to keep a track of what he shall do to the Commander once they were free. Keith’s hands twitch, hand aching for something to grab and stab, something to slash and make them regret .
He takes in Lance’s image and it’s barely a second before it’s burnt in his memories. Lance’s tanned skin looks a shade paler and ashing, not its usual livid color. His lower lip is split open, only adding more blood to the single trail of if running down his chin from his bloody mouth.
Both of his blue eyes are red shot and his right eye is heavily swollen, Keith barely making out any blue in them except for the red and white corners. An open nasty gash near his hairline on his left side, almost near his ear, thin and small trails of blood still spurting out of it.
Keith’s eyes fall on Lance’s chest, he follow its shallow and slow paused breathing, almost as if he was trying to hold his breath to avoid any movement. He adds one or two bruised ribs, maybe one broken rib.
Keith’s mind is so distracted by his teammate’s injuries that he doesn’t notice the moment the Commander decided that none of the wounds were enough.
His head snaps back when Lance’s agonized scream echoes around the cell.
Keith opens his mouth in shock, head shaking in disbelief as Lance drops back to the floor on his right side and tries to make himself into a ball, his unnaturally bent left arm being craddle carefully against his chest.
“F-fuck,” Lance whimpers, eyes shut tight as he tries to bite down the pain but Keith sees the big tears running down his cheeks and yet no other sound coming out of his mouth.
A kick from behind coming from the Commander quickly changes that. Keith jerks at the impact and Lance’s screams make themselves present once more, small hiccups being a companion this time around.
“You’re going to regret that,” Keith whispers, eyes still wide and stunned, never leaving Lance’s shaking form until the last second to stare at the Commander’s golden ones, “I’ll make you pay.”
The Commander doesn’t look amused in the least but then there’s an explosion, followed by a familiar roaring from an Altean engine and the entire room freezes.
One, two, three ticks before a second explosion appears and all hell break loose.
Keith loses track of the battle around him, his eyes are entirely on Lance as he lays on the ground, almost unmoving, eyes dropping dangerously with exhaustion and pain.
Keith yells, jerking against the hold the Galra soldier had on him but then it disappears in an instant, the familiar sound of Pidge’s bayard barely missing his ear and Keith turns around, catching Pidge’s fierce glare as she takes down two more soldiers that had made their way towards them.
“Keith, you bayard!” Pidge shouts, throwing the weapon effortlessly, “You got exactly 30 ticks, okay?”
Keith frowns, mind running mile per hour at the words and their meaning before Pidge’s amber eyes finally connects with his own and the message is clear as day.
“Make him pay, Keith.” Pidge whispers coldly and Keith’s shoulders tense with anticipation before he nods.
Keith charges, cutting off the Commander's orders in mid sentence as he slashes and cuts through the Galra’s armor. It takes the Commander by surprise as he stumbles back, hands clumsily reaching for his own weapon, but Keith’s merciless.
“I told you,” Keith hisses slowly, his bayard colliding loudly with the Galra’s sword, “That you would regret that.”
The Commander snarls, pushing back at the attack and grunting when Keith deflects him almost effortlessly. “Do your worst, cub.”
Keith doesn’t need to be told twice.
It’s exactly thirty ticks later when they’re moving out. Keith deactivates his bayard, panting hard as he stares down at the unmoving Galra at his feet and it’s not until Shiro’s call of his name shakes him off his trance that he’s blinking back to the present.
“Keith, grab Lance and head towards the pods! Allura and Coran will meet us in fifty ticks,” Shiro shouts, picking up the Galra’s forgotten sword before he shakes Keith with his flesh hand, “Keith! Keith, now !”
Keith nods numbly and runs, sliding the rest of the way down until he’s next to Lance, hand hovering over his figure for a tick before he cups his neck, gently and careful, forcing his own heartbeat to slow down so he could hear Lance’s.
He hears it, after a painful agoanizing tick, but it’s there and Keith feels like he can breathe again.
“Lance? Lance, I got you, you’ll be fine, you hear me? It’s going to be okay,” Keith mumbles, allowing himself a tick to caress Lance’s bloody cheek for a tick before he shakes his head, “I’m going to pick you up, okay? It’s going to be okay, I got you.”
The lack of response feels like cold stones dropping down his stomach but he continues, carefully gathering Lance in his arms until he’s standing full height.
Lance’s head hangs limply in the air on Keith’s arm crook, looking so pale and unresponsive that it almost makes his heart to skip a beat but Pidge’s suddenly there, carefully picking it up until it's resting against Keith’s chest.
Keith sends her a grateful nod before they run, Pidge ahead of him while Hunk and Shiro cover their back behind them.
“I got you,” Keith mumbles, breathing hard as they take another sharp turn, pulling Lance closer, “I got you, babe, hold on.”
Keith gasps, almost stumbling over his own two feet when shaky finger graze his jaw. He looks down, running never stopping as he meets Lance’s eye, barely open but aware and alive .
“I got you,” Keith repeats, almost in a daze, and Lance’s lips twitch, a ghost smile covering his face as he drops his hand to his stomach and leans closer to Keith.
“I know,” he slurs quietly, hand rubbing against the edge of Keith’s chest plate, “I know, amor.”
Keith tries to swallow but the lump in his throat makes it difficult. He lets out a shuddering breath, though, blinking away the stray tears in his eyes while Pidge finally hacks one of the pods and they get inside.
“Stay with me, Lance,” Keith says shakily when he notices Lance’s eye dropping heavily, “Stay awake, you idiot! Please, Lance !”
“Hurts,” Lance whispers in a slur, blinking tiredly, “Keith, it –”
“I know, I know, I know,” Keith cuts off gently, back against the pod’s wall as Shiro shouts orders and contacts the Castle, “I’m gonna make it better, you’re going to be okay. You hear me? You’re going to be okay, ae-in .”
He gets no answer. Or maybe he does but the pod’s engine grows louder as Hunk takes over to fly them out of the Galra ship while Shiro’s communicating with the Castle.
Keith can even hear Pidge on the background, using the limited weapons in the pod to destroy the few drones that followed them in their way out but Keith’s attention is entirely on Lance.
Time slows down, silence slowly taking over the pod as they approach the Castle’s coordinates. Keith sighs, sliding down the wall with Lance still in his arms and he chokes up a hard sob that gets stuck in the middle of his throat.
“You’re going to be okay,” Keith whispers, dropping his head until his forehead is pressed against Lance, “Just - please, open your eyes, I can’t - Lance, please.”
“Keith,” Shiro calls softly, kneeling in front of the pair, flesh hand resting on Keith’s shoulder and smiling when the teen visually relaxes at the touch and looks up, “He’s going to be okay, but I need to take a look on him, alright? I will be gentle, it’s okay.”
Keith hesitates, eyes still wide and shaky but he nods after a tick. The grip on his boyfriend gets loose but not by much, most of Lance’s body still resting on Keith’s lap as Shiro slowly and gently examines him with concern.
“How is he?” Hunk asks anxiously later from his place in the pilot seat, stealing concern looks behind him every few ticks.
“Alive,” Shiro answers with a soft sigh, closing his eyes for a moment before reopening them and standing up from the ground, “I will update Coran so he can get the crypod ready. Keep us steady, Hunk.”
Hunk bites down his lower lip and nodding as a thanks when Shiro squeezes his shoulder in comfort.
Keith watches the scene before his Pidge’s movement catches his eye. He stares, blinking almost owlishly as Pidge kneels next to him, near Lance’s head, as his heart makes a hard tug when she sobs weakly, small shaking hand hovering above Lance uncertainly.
Keith hums to catch her eye and once she looks at him, surprised and afraid, he nods at her.
Pidge doesn’t hesitate this time. She freely sobs out, head falling until she’s hiding her face against Lance’s hair and she places her hand against Lance’s neck, her shaky breathing slowing down as she takes comfort on the low but steady beat of Lance’s heart against her palm.
Shiro walks slowly towards them a few ticks later, taking a seat next to Keith against the wall and presses his human hand over Pidge’s head, stroking her disheveled bangs tenderly.
“He’s going to be okay,” Shiro says, voice calm and strong, knowing fully well the entire team could hear the small waver on it, “We’ll make sure of it.”
Keith vaguely hears the rest of the team’s affirmations to the statement. He limits himself to take a deep breath and place his hand over Lance’s chest, letting it rise and fall along Lance’s breathing.