(A/N): I honestly don't really know what season this takes place between, but just roll with it, okay?

Lance took in a deep breath and closed his eyes, focused on warding off the thoughts that plagued him.

"It's okay," he muttered to himself, leaning against Blue's cold metal paw. "You're okay." He could feel the lion's calming presence in his head, radiating reassurance, but he only allowed himself thirty more seconds of comfort before he shrugged Blue off and concealed his pain with a smile.

He had given up on trying to get better. The nagging worries that he would never be able to keep up, that he would always be left out, were never going away, and he realized that. The best he could do was block them out and fake a smile, because he was the goofball. Keeping the rest of the team happy was his only use, so that's what he would do. Even if it cost him.

. . . .

-The next morning-

Lance sauntered into the kitchen in his blue robe and lion slippers, grinning. "Good morning Hunk," he greeted the yellow paladin.

Hunk replied, "Good morning to you you too, Lance," before he went back to stirring a bowl of green space goo. His face bore a look of deep concentration as he expertly added dashes of spices and herbs here and there to add more flavor. He was so concentrated, in fact, that he didn't notice that the smile fled from Lance's mouth for a brief second before it was replaced almost instantly.

Stop taking everything the wrong way, Lance chided himself. He's not ignoring you, he's just preoccupied. He acknowledged your presence, didn't he? Then you shouldn't be worrying. Still, his doubts wouldn't leave him alone. Right?

He shook his head and his smile grew even bigger. "Hey Hunk, what new recipe are you trying out this time?"

The Samoan boy added one more pinch of a red spice before grabbing a spoon to taste-test his creation, and he sighed happily. "I wanted to make the food goo taste like scrambled eggs on Earth, and I succeeded!" He handed a spoon to Lance. "Here, try it."

Lance took a bite and nodded. "Yeah," he said through a mouthful, "it's really good! It tastes just like the eggs my madre made for me every morning before I left to enter the Garrison."

He remembered it clearly: his small but welcoming house that was only about a few blocks' walk from the beach, and how every weekend - before he had to take responsibility for his siblings - his mother would make him eggs and walk him over to the beach. A wave of homesickness washed over him, threatening to drown him.

He swallowed thickly and set the spoon down. "Thanks, Hunk, but. . . . I'm not really hungry right now."

"Well, alright," Hunk said.

Lance was about to walk out of the kitchen when Allura's voice rang over the whole castleship. "Paladins, make your way to the lions' hangars - we have received a distress call from the planet Kiric. It's being attacked by the Galra, and the planet is about ready to fall apart," she was saying.

Immediately, Hunk and Lance exchanged a glance before running to the hangars. As he ran, Lance shoved his feelings into a small box in his mind, readying himself to act like the flirty, perpetually happy paladin the others thought he was.

Time to live through another day of lies, he thought to himself, climbing into Blue. Now, it was time to wait and figure out what to do before they rushed out into battle.

"Okay, what's our plan, Shiro?" Pidge asked from the Green lion.

"We'll attack the Galra ships while Allura and Coran use the castleship to evacuate the citizens," Shiro answered.

Keith sighed and said, "How about we just get going?" He didn't even try to hide his irritation. "We're just wasting precious time while we sit here and discuss this."

"Usually, it's always good to have a basic outline of what you plan do when you plan to do it, but I guess in this situation you're correct, Keith." Shiro smiled and he said, "Come on team. We have some aliens to save."

. . . .

After they were almost finished with the mission, Allura's face popped up on all of the lions' monitors. "Paladins, Coran and I evacuated most of the Kirins from its surface, but there are still about ten left and the castle's surrounded. We're taking heavy fire, and - aaah!" She grimaced as the camera shook with the force of a blow. "Needless to say, we need backup!"

"Don't worry, Princess, I'll take the job." He grinned and winked at her. "You can count on me!"

There was a brief pause that was broken by her saying, "Anyone but Lance." She looked around. "Is anyone else free?"

Lance bit his lip, staring at the floor. She didn't trust him to succeed, did she? It was like everyone thought that he couldn't be depended on, and that hurt.

"I'm a little bit preoccupied here!" Hunk shouted. Lance could see his lion swerving around one of the main ships, followed by smaller fighters.

"Yeah, me too!" Pidge seconded.

Shiro's voice rang through their helmets. "Sorry, Princess, but you'll have to put your faith in him. We're all pinned down right now, and we won't be able to lose them in only a few minutes."

With a sigh, Allura caved. "Alright. Lance, do your thing, but take care to not mess up."

"No problem." Lance said nonchalantly, trying cover up the pain in his voice.

He dove to land on the planet, and as soon as the Blue lion's paws touched its crust, he lept out of her mouth, waving his hands over his head to get the aliens' attention. "Hey, those of you who are left, cram into Blue right here, okay?"

They anxiously followed him, piling into the cockpit. It was a tight squeeze, but they all fit.

Then a young alien girl, dressed in black rags that named her as a prisoner, walked up to the pilot's seat and spoke to him a language that he couldn't understand, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. He held up his index finger to signal to her that he wanted one second, and pulled a translator out of his pocket. Despite her age, she seemed to understand what to do, and talked into it.

"Our planet. . . . we don't have a home. . . . what are we going to do now?" The pocket translator repeated her words but without emotion. Then again, Lance knew her face said it all.

He patted her on the head and dried her tears, smiling at her in the friendliest manor that he could. "Don't worry. It'll be fine, you'll see. We'll take you to a planet where you'll be taken care of before we find you another one. You'll be safe." As she heard his words in her language, she ran up to him and hugged him.

She whispered a "thank you" into the translator before her father pulled her away with what Lance assumed were apologies.

He reassured the father that she didn't do any harm, and then he flew back to the castleship to drop them off. A second after he got back out into space, he heard Hunk's voice yelling at him to get out of the way. He jerked around in his chair to see a large purple bolt of energy streaking at him from an ion cannon, too close for him to avoid.

Just as it was about to smash into his lion, something blocked it, taking the full brunt of the hit. That 'something' was the Yellow Lion, and it didn't seem to be working. Blue sparks crackled around it and its eyes were dull. The incredible amount of energy packed into that bolt had disabled it.

"Hunk! Hunk, can you hear me?" Lance cried out, trying to get in touch with the Yellow Lion's paladin. The silence on the other end was deafening.

"What happened?!" Pidge inquired anxiously. "What did you do, Lance?!"

"Hunk jumped in front of me to save me from getting hit. . . ."

"Is he unconsious?" Shiro asked. "I tried to contact him but I didn't get a response. You have to check for us, since we're still clearing the area of the fighters."

Suddenly, a groan came from the Yellow Lion. "Ugh. . . ."

"Hey, Hunk, are you okay, buddy?" questioned Shiro.

"Yeah. . . . but Yellow's fried. I can't move - wait, what?" An edge of panic seeped into his voice. "What's happening? I feel like I'm being lifted up somehow, but the cameras aren't working so I can't see anything."

Lance looked over to his location and immediately shot forward, heading toward him. "You're being sucked up into the Galra ship, but I'm on my way to get you out of the beam, okay? It'll be fine."

The Blue Lion was about to reach out and knock the Yellow Lion out of the ray, but a fighter barreled into Blue, sending it spiraling out into space. By then, the Yellow Lion was already almost into the Galra ship. Lance kept on it, but every time he was intercepted.

The Green Lion hovered beside the Blue Lion as its paladin contacted him. "Lance, I can handle this!" Pidge yelled into the com. "Just find an opening for me and I can save him, I promise!"

Lance was so focused on trying to help Hunk that he didn't comprehend what she had said and rushed back into the battle again.

Pidge eventually gave up and activated the Green Lion's invisibility, streaking after him. When she attempted to shoot herself forward, aiming to knock Hunk out of the ship's beam, the Blue Lion - which had just gotten deflected by the Galra fighters - struck her and sent her off course. She tried again and again, but every time, something kept her from making her mark.

The Black and Red Lions were attacking the main ship along itself, but even they couldn't stop Hunk from getting sucked into it.

"No!" Lance yelled. He desperately tried to pierce its armor, but he kept on bouncing off. He let out a scream of frustration. "Hunk, is there any way you can get Yellow moving?!"

"She isn't responding!" He replied. After a few minutes of silence, the whole team could hear him saying, "Just leave me alone! Why do you want me here anyway?" The paladins of Voltron waited with bated breath until Hunk yelled, "Hey, stop, what are you doing?! Let go of me!"

Suddenly, with a little static, a new voice, female and raspy, was talking through Hunk's helmet. "Paladins of Voltron - "

"What did you do with Hunk?! Where is he?!" Keith demanded.

The voice answered, "He's fine, as of now, but if you don't listen to my demands, I will kill him."

"If you dare - " Lance shouted.

Shiro's eyes narrowed but his response was calm. "Team, we have to think this out rationally. Everything we do could either help or hurt Hunk. He's depending on you right now."

"But, Shiro - !"

"Lance, listen to me," he snapped, struggling to keep his voice calm. Despite his own advice, he failed. "A teammate's life is at stake here! We can't afford another one of your screw-ups!"

Tension bled into the conversation as Lance went quiet. Unbeknownst to the others, tears formed at the corners of his ocean-blue eyes, but he blinked them away. He could deal with his emotions after they got Hunk back.

"I'm glad I got to be here to see the Voltron team crack," the strange Galra woman laughed. "This is extremely enjoyable for me."

"What are your demands?" asked Allura through her clenched teeth. She had been listening to the entire conversation from the castleship.

"You must bring all the Lions of Voltron to me. Surrender them without a trick, and I'll give you the coordinates so you can find me. It will be a win for both of us - I get the lions, and you get him back." Even though they couldn't see her, they could tell that she was sneering at them. "You have two Earth weeks to decide, but if you take too long, don't be surprised if your little lost paladin isn't in the same condition as he was when you found him."

With that, she cut the connection off, leaving the paladins to their thoughts and doubts.

(A/N): To be honest, this plotline might only span 4-5 chapters excluding this one, so this book may turn out to be a series of one-shots. Well, if I can come up with any more ideas. . . . *sweats* Who knows, we'll see. But shout out to all of you who write one-shots, because you have to be dedicated and have lots of ideas to do that, so good for you!

Edit: I'm going to start uploading every Sunday if I can, so keep an eye out for them :)