Lance's head reeled as he slowly got accustomed to being conscious again. The first thing he felt was a throbbing ache in his arm where he had been shot, and he grimaced as he moved slightly.

The Galra had tied a strip of cloth tightly around it to keep him from bleeding out - they apparently didn't want him to die at that very moment - but nothing other than rudimentary first-aid, and the bandage was already stained with blood.

He shook his head, trying to clear it from the haze that covered it, focusing on his surroundings.

He was in a dark grey cell that was lit by a singular purple light that didn't do its job very well. His hands and legs were bound and he was all alone. Well, none of that information is helpful, he thought. The Galra are annoyingly good at keeping their prisoners uninformed.

Suddenly the mechanized door opened, revealing a large Galran man who abruptly grabbed Lance by his feet and dragged him out of the cell.

Lance winced as his head bumped along the hard metal floor. "They don't like to sugarcoat things around here, do they," he clarified, faking all of the bravado he could muster. "Well, can you tell me where you're taking me?"

The soldier only grunted in reply, but Lance could hear him muttering "I'm a commander, I shouldn't be doing these types of things" under his breath.

Okay, so if this guy is a commander, that means someone if a higher rank told him what to do, Lance inferred. Then that person has to be above the rank of general. Then again, this is Zarkon's main ship, so the orders could be coming from him. . . .? They have to be. I'm a paladin of Voltron, so I'm more important than your everyday prisoner, I guess.

Lance frowned, just realizing that they had stopped moving before he was thrown unceremoniously into another cell that was much bigger.

"Am I getting a promotion?" he joked at the commander's retreating back, masking the pain that shot through his arm. "If so, that's incredibly nice of you - "

"Lance!"

At the sound of a familiar voice, Lance's head whipped around, and his eyes widened when he realized who he was staring at: Hunk. Hunk was tied up - like him and Pidge - and was already covered with bruises and cuts, but he was alive, and that's what mattered.

Pidge was leaning against the wall beside Hunk, and even though she was still furious at him for messing up in the first place, he could see that she was still greatful that he was okay.

"Don't get used to being together for very long," the commander sneered, breaking the reunion. "Because I promise that this is only temporary." And with that, he closed the door.

Pidge banged her head back against the dark grey wall in frustration. "What are we going to do now? I mean, we didn't leave a note or anything, because we thought that we would be back immediately with Hunk in tow." She frowned, internally beating herself up for her mistake. "I should've thought that far ahead."

"No, I understand that you were in a hurry," Hunk comforted her. "Listen, it's not your fault. . . ."

While they were talking, Lance scanned the cell for any possible opportunity to escape. As he had suspected, he found none. If it was just me, I wouldn't care if I escaped or not, but Pidge and Hunk are here too. It was my fault that they both ended up here in the first place, so I have to take responsibility of what happens to them, and that's why I'll help them leave. "Maybe the next time someone opens the door, we can sneak through it."

Hunk looked away from Pidge and sighed. "Believe me, I've already tried that. Obviously it didn't get me anywhere. Oh, and I didn't have any sharp objects to cut these bonds with, so I was only able to hop." He forced a laugh. "Yeah, the Galra didn't appreciate that. They thought I was making fun of them by trying to escape using such meager methods."

Lance noticed Hunk's black eye and busted lip, which he assumed were only some of the consequences of his little 'adventure'. "Don't worry, guys," Lance assured them, "I'll find a way to get you two out of here."

"And yourself," Pidge said pointedly. "We're not leaving without you. Also, don't you dare sacrifice yourself for us, or I will find a way to beat the sense back into you in the afterlife, okay?"

"Okay." No promises.

The paladins heard heavy footsteps approaching their cell and a beep as the pad acknowledged that whoever's hand was touching it was in its database. The door slid open, revealing Haggar, accompanied by two robed druids, who flanked her on either side.

She grinned, her yellow eyes flashing, and as soon as Hunk saw this, a brief wave of panic showed on his face before it disappeared. His hands clenched in the cuffs, but his eyes still stayed wide with fear.

"It's only been a day and you're already afraid of me?" Haggar said disgustedly, looking down on him. "How pathetic. You have no spine."

Hunk seemed to wilt slightly under her gaze, but the look in his eyes hardened.

"Now, who shall I extract information from first?" Her eyes moved around the cell before they landed on. . . . Pidge. "There, the smallest one." Haggar pointed a finger towards Pidge.

Her druids swept by her, grabbing the green paladin by her arms and dragging her to the front of the cell. They forced her on her knees as she glared up at them, trying to be as threatening as possible. Unfortunately, it didn't work on them.

"Stop! Don't hurt her, you - !" Before Hunk could finish his sentence, he was struck in the chest with dark purple lightning. He keeled over, groaning with his arms wrapped around himself. "Ugh. . . ."

Haggar sneered at him as she said, "You may not have talked yet, but you will once you see your friend suffer." She turned to Pidge, who was struggling as much as she could with bound hands and feet. Haggar raised her hand, and the same lightning crackled around it. "Begin - "

"You don't want to do that," Lance spoke up.

The lightning's power faded slightly now that her concentration wasn't completely on it. "Why? I demand an explanation, former blue paladin, even though it will not change my mind."

"She's useful. She can hack things and even make your technology better, and so can Hunk. They'd both be an asset to your empire, and that's why I'm suggesting that you don't damage them." He smiled at her as his own words replayed in his head: I'll take responsibility of what happens to them. "And that's also why I'll make a deal with you. Release them from the cells and have them work for you, and I'll go with you willingly. I won't put up a fight - "

"No! Lance, what did I say?!" Pidge managed to shout, jerking against the druids. "Don't be an idio - mmph!" She pulled at the hand that had clamped over her mouth.

Haggar looked from Lance to Pidge and back again, laughing quietly to herself. "I know this is a trick, but I'll humor you." She stretched out one finger from her cloak and touched Pidge's forehead, not without some resistance, and closed her eyes.

When she opened them, her sneer grew. "You're right - she is quite intellegent. I could feel it in her mind. She would be an amazing addition to arsenal, and I would assume he" - she waved a hand at Hunk, who was glaring at her and wincing every time he moved, his arms still wrapped around his chest - "would be too."

After a few seconds of contemplation, she cackled, "Thank you for the idea, paladin! You just doomed both yourself and your friends, because not only will you be my prisoner for the rest of your life, they'll be working for me the rest of theirs!"

Lance's eyes narrowed at her taunts, but he consoled himself. I trust they'll be able to escape, he thought, because she'll be too busy interrogating me to pay any attention to them. They will escape. I'm sure of it. Haggar's words seeped into him, and again, so did the doubts in his own judgement. But what if I'm wrong? I'll have endangered them, because there's no doubt that Haggar is heartless enough to work them to death. He bit his lip, worry flooding him. Oh god, what have I done? If they die, it will be all my fault!

"Take them to the work station and come back to me," Haggar ordered her druids. "I want your assistance in the interrogation."

They grabbed both Hunk and Pidge by the arm and disappeared in a cloud of dark purple magic before they could even utter one protest, only to appear a moment later right where they had been, but without the others by their side.

Lightning once again sparked in Haggar's hands as she approached him. "Let's see how tough you really are, paladin," she spat.

Her left hand cupped Lance's chin and her right was placed on his shoulder. He could already feel his flesh sizzling from the heat under her touch and he winced, instinct causing him to try and wrench out of her grasp, but her nails dug into him, pulling him closer to her.

Haggar leaned in, her lips hovering beside his ear as she said, "I'm going to enjoy making you suffer."

And then it began.

Together with her druids, bolts of magic broke into Lance's mind, tapping into his cerebral cortex and following the connection to his spinal cord's pain receptors, activating them all at once. They were concentrated around the wound in his arm, and it felt as if it was on fire. As if he was on fire.

He bit down on his tongue as hard as he could, trying not to scream, but he couldn't stop one ripping its way out of his throat.

It was terrible.

He could feel the lightning hovering under his skin, burning everything above it as the magic coursed through his body. The pain took over every thought, leaving him no place to hide, even in his own head.

Tears formed in the corners of his eyes and flowed down his cheeks, uninhibited by anything. His only focus was to not curl up into a little ball and cry until it passed.

Every second felt impossibly long, and he couldn't tell how long it took until black dots started to appear in his vision. He actually looked forward to it, because it would be a break from the agony. He watched as the dots spread and he sank into the welcoming darkness.