Chapter Text
Alright.
Lance Mc Clain, for good or bad, nevermind, has become a Paladin of Voltron. A Blue Paladin first, then piloting Red Lion, still Blue by heart. They lived through so many battles, so many breakdowns, but they had to keep going. Voltron was the only salvation there was, it wasn't like anyone else could defeat Zarkon, the galra empire, and bring peace to the coalition planets. Everyone suffered their own hurts. He would manage with his little disability. The fact that most of them were still children, and they shouldn't even experience this much of death and destruction so early in their life - well nobody questioned it.
When they approached Lirren 5, a planet covered mostly by water, nobody expected a fight. There wasn't actually a good terrain for that, inhabitants of this world were peaceful, meek and quiet. And they couldn't offer much to the galra so...
It was kind of a safe decision to land there.
Until the battle cruisers invaded the atmosphere later that day and inferno started anew.
They were fighting in Lions, as always, taking down the fleet one by one. Lirrians shouldn't pay for their bad decisions, it wasn't fair. The least they can do now is to assure planet's safety and freedom.
So they fought. And it wasn't long before one of the blasters shut Red Lion down and Lance went spinning towards the ground.
He was going to die, he knew that. Actually it was already a surprise he survived this long. It would be nice to come back home to his mother and father, his siblings and Abuela. Now, he would have a bunch of good stories to tell, wouldn't he?
But he won't come back, and he won't tell them. It's not the worst case scenario, at least Hunk will be there to tell his story. Not all, because, let's be honest, even Hunk doesn't know him that well. He never opened up enough for his teammates for them to see his struggle. But it still will be something.
The crash itself wasn't that bad. His body had been ripped from the seat and Lance flew through the cockpit hitting his head and arm. The world started spinning again and Blue Paladin tried not to puke on the floor. His insides hurt. The sinking feeling did not disappear, it was getting worse actually. Until the doors of Blue were ripped open by the Lion itself, so the pressure would not kill them both. And Lance hurled towards the opening taking one last breath before his world become black.
Lance always loved water. Being raised in Cuba, he grew up with calm waves of Verdado Beach, swimming, diving and surfing on top of the crystal water.
This sea wasn't crystal clear. It was thick and cold. It was deep and solitary. It was more similar to the space itself than to the known waters Lance held dearly to his heart. Everything hurt but the boy desperately wanted to fight against sleepiness that started to overtake him. It was just so cold.... Cold.. And soothing. He didn't hear any more war havoc while cold waters enveloped him. He saw the light lingering so far away, as the body kept on getting lower and lower, drowning deeper with each second. It wasn't like he already gave up. After the fall his limbs were just too heavy, too.. disconnected to his body and mind. He couldn't move.
God he didn't want to die.
Or at least he didn't want to die that way.
The Blue Paladin held his breath to the very end trying to fight his way to surface - its what a human nature does. When you're drowning, you don't actually inhale until the black out. It's called voluntary apnea. It's like no matter how much you are freaking out, the instinct to not let any water in is so strong, that you won't open your mouth until you feel like your head's exploding. And when you finally let it in that's when it stops hurting. It's not scary anymore, it's actually kind of peaceful. You are finally able to calm down and sleep, the only thing is, that there is no waking up after that.
And as Lance finally let his mouth open and his lungs were filled with waterfalls, his body went limp. He remembered the beach, and the sun and the heat. He remembered ice cream and time spent with his family. He remembered the stargazing. He remembered when they switched Lions, and Blue never talked to him again. He remembered not saying goodbye to her. He remembered dying there at the Omega Shield, when no one even noticed he was gone. He remembered, and unshed tear fall from his eye, melding into one with the dark waters.
Until he didn't remember anything at all and death took a grip on him, covering the boy with a blanket of nothingness.
- Here is the last one! - Shouted Hunk into his comms.
Fight wasn't pleasant, they were easily cornered and outnumbered. Each paladin had to struggle with enemy by themselves. But they won. Finally. Geez what an adventure.
He felt bad with killing. He always did. But nothing's fair in love and war, right?He felt his limbs trembling from exhaustion as Allura replied over the comms, ordering them to meet near the Black Lion.
Hunk was third to approach, then Pidge and Keith. As usually they were waiting for Lance, and Pidge already lamented about destroyed tech of this planet.
Good, all of them got to the Black, now only... Wait.
Hold on.
Where is... Lance?
- Hey, is it me or Lance didn't appear yet?
NOW, the doubts erupted from the crew.
Which didn't calm Hunk down at all.
- Well, I did NOT see him as far as the battle started but..
- Oh my God..
- So no one knows where he is? - Shiro started panicking, alarmed suddenly.
- Okay, guys it surely is nothing big, maybe he got lost or something...- suggested Pidge.
But Shiro was already in the middle of locating Red Lion and shushed her.
- Come on guys, let's see what stopped our sharpshooter.
Everyone was too tense to pretend it was nothing out of ordinary. Their steps were fast and unsteady as the team looked around for the boy. They wouldn't probably find him - black 's radar showed them the middle of the sea, far far away from the firm ground. Shiro gulped soundly as his eyes scanned the waters for any trace of the Lion. Lance did not replied to anyone on the comms. It was silence only. But there, on the beach, they spotted a group of Lirrians, kneeling around something and whispering in small voices.
There was something on the sand. They prayed it wasn't what they were afraid of. They prayed and hoped it won't be Lance laying on the soft sand. But here they came and indeed it happened.
- Lance...?
- LANCE!!!
His crumpled body was lying limp on the ground, with Aliens focused on stopping more blood from flowing out of the wound. which was... God Damn! Lance had been impaled on something sharp and now his right side painted the sand with red.
Lirrians closed the wound as far as they could but a sad look Paladins received from one of the inhabitants said everything words couldn't express.
- No... - Pidge stuttered on her words.
- We are sorry Paladins of Voltron. We did all we could to bring him back but.. he lost too much blood. He... his Lion had been shot and they drowned. Blue Paladin probably received additional damage while falling out of his seat. He - Alien took a deeper breath - He is dead. We...we can take care of the body if it's too traumatic for you.
- What..? No, No, NO! There HAS to be something we can do...?!
Allura broke the moment at once.
- Shiro, guys I need your permission to use your quintessence if we want to save him. Please, we have to hurry. Take my hand, all of you.
- Princess, what do you want to do...? - Coran asked terrified.
- I.. on Balmera and Olkarion I learned a ways which allows me to manipulate the quintessence of a living being. We.. we can bring him back.
- But Allura you don't know HOW to do this, what if you... what if he comes back like Zarkon? - Coran said fearfully.
- He won't. I know what I'm doing.
- You've never done this before!
Allura closed her eyes sadly.
So he didn't tell them.
They didn't know.
They didn't know he... he died there.
- But I did... - Answered Allura quietly.
- I... what?
- Can we talk LATER, please?
And Allura closed her eyes, letting the power travel from them all into the boy's heart again.
Why it always have to be you?
A strong light attacked his senses making him shiver and blink rapidly. He was cold, wet, he felt weak and breathing hurt... wait, why does breathing hurt?
Where is he?
What...What happened?
- Why does my eyes hurt...? - he wheezed.
- LANCE!!
- Lance!!!
- Oh my God, Hermano, you are okay!
- How...? - Coran asked relieved -How are you feeling My Boy?
- Ha, as if I was left in the freezer for little too long... where are we? What happened?
- You don't remember? - Asked Hunk uneasy.
And then memories came back. How they fought, how he fall, how... how he was drowning. Ha. So they actually cared about him a little. They noticed he was gone. They... they found him on time. Good.
And Lance took a deep breath, while trying to sit upright.
Shiro tried helping him there, but Lance was already done, and now was struggling to stood up.
- LANCE, wait, you shouldn't... how did you do it?
The boy in question only shrugged and looked around himself a little dumbfounded.
- Alright, maybe someone will be kind enough to tell me what happened exactly? I know that I'm popular but this much attention scares me to be honest. - And he pointed to the Aliens behind him.
- Lance you...you drowned.
- Yea, I know. But you came for me so...
Shiro averted Lance's gaze and instead shut his eyes close.
He had to tell him the truth.
- No, Lance. We did not. We met next to the Black Lion after the fight was done and when you... didn't show up, we went searching for you. Lirrians were trying to patch you up but... but you were already gone. We were too late. You died. Allura brought you back just now.
The silence was broke with Pidge and Hunk sobbing out of control, and Lance sighing sadly.
- Oh - He said, massaging his arm - I... thank you Allura. It seems as you had to revive me again. Sorry for the trouble guys I...
Everyone got simply too quiet after this statement, so McClain stopped mid-sentence.
- Waait, WHAT DOES "AGAIN" MEAN?! LANCE, ALLURA? - Keith visibly started panicking too.
- What does " what " mean? At the Omega Shield? Like when I was hit by this big red laser thing that we couldn't get hit by under any circumstances? Come on guys, I was in a big Red Lion, made a ruckus over the comms and got Allura out of the way by hitting her Lion...it's not like... wait...you...you didn't know I died back there?
- LANCE IF WE KNEW YOU DIED, WE WOULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING!!! - Pidge screamed in terror.
- I just... well I guessed we didn't have time for that, like there was a war, and galra and... ugh... I just assumed you have more important things to do than fretting over me. I came back, haven't I ? So.. there was no problem. And it was your mission Hunk, you were so happy everything turned out okay, I didn't want to spoil the mood. It wasn't anything important.
- Hermano, Lance, how... how can you say so openly that it was only your death? That it wasn't anything important? You are my best friend I... I don't know what I would do without you. How can you not view this as important enough to tell us you died?
Lance gulped, his eyes flooding with tears.
- I just thought you didn't care. After no one brought it up like ever, and I still was just a seventh wheel I didn't want to turn all the attention to myself. It would be unfair to you guys, and my job here is more of a comic relief than an actual Paladin so... I'm not needed. I'm not necessary. With Allura piloting Blue, we are one Paladin too many this or either way. I accepted that it might not be my place to save the universe. I just didn't want you to worry more.
- I... I was not even there. You died, and I wasn't even there. Oh my God, Lance I'm sorry...
Lance started to feel really uneasy.
- Alright, okay I died. Get over it. We are fighting in a war, this things happen. I'm really glad I'm alive now, but we should think about getting back the Red Lion instead of falling apart... she sunk with me. I guess there have to be a Lion which will go after her and got her out. A pressure would surely kill any of us. I.. I suggest Blue as she is probably the most adapted to icy-watery environment. Allura can you ask her to do it, please?
- I...yeah. Of course.
And so it was finally over. They all got back to the castle, Red in need of some serious repairs, Lance flying with Allura for the time being.
He tried to smile back as Princess's reassuring hand touched his shoulder, making him flinch a little. God, he was still so out of it all. He was so tired.
So he didn't register when the voices got muffled and his vision lost sharpness.
Or when his body hit the floor, limp, and he lost consciousness.
Or when he got swollen by the darkness again.
God, what a day.