*I think I started this one is closer to the season 3 timeline. Idk there's so much going on in this show it's hard to keep track. Yes, it's taken me over a year to write this. I have so many one shot drafts that I start and abandon.

Things in this fic are really... easy. I think that's the best way to describe how it all goes down. Too easy. You'll see what I mean. Since I started this around season 3 I made that stuff up without any knowledge of how it would actually go down. I'm too lazy to change it to make it canon compliant. Or just believable in general.*

TW/ mentions of rape

(4573 words)

Keith POV:

"Lance?! Why aren't you answering?! Come on!!" I heard Hunk shouting over the coms.

We were in the process of raiding a Galra war ship and we all got split up. We weren't in our lions, they were still at the castle.

Hunk was so worried about Lance because the last thing we heard from him was a scream. It's been silent from him ever since.

I was running to where he last said he was, near the hangers. That's when I saw a blue helmet and a puddle of blood, "Oh my god!" I ran over, picking up the helmet that definitely belonged to Lance.

"What is it, Keith?" Shiro asked, worry in his voice.

"I-I, uh, found Lance's helmet.. There's a lot of blood here, Shiro!" I looked around.

"Any sign of Lance?" Pidge asked.

"No! You'd think if he was bleeding this bad then there'd be a trail of blood, but there's nothing!" I was trying not to panic.

We all knew what the Galra were capable of. Just look at Shiro's arm. Lance isn't as emotionally strong as we are, they'll break him.

"Everyone stay calm! We'll find him!" Shiro tried to calm our nerves.

"Guys! An escape pod is getting away!!" Hunk shouted.

I ran over to the window, since we were all inside the ship, and saw the pod leaving.

"Shiro, what if Lance is on that pod?!" Pidge asked.

"We have no way to go after it!" Hunk sounded even more panicked.

"I'm tracking it now." Allura said, her still being at the castle, "You four focus on the ship. I'll keep a lock on the pod."

We all followed her order until we had completed the mission. We had searched every inch of the ship but never found Lance. We knew he was on that pod, Pidge found his bayard near the other pods. We finished up and met up at the castle.

"Did you track the pod?" Shiro asked Allura before we were even in the room all the way.

"Yes, but we can't go after it right away." She bit her lip.

"Why not?! They have Lance!" I shouted at her.

She sighed, "They took him to the main fleet, probably to Prince Lotor. Going in without proper backup and a plan would just be suicide."

Pidge looked at the coordinates of the pod that took him, "Okay.. Well, we had to go after the main fleet sooner or later... Now we're just being forced to chose sooner.."

"We need to contact all our allies.." Shiro spoke, coming up with a plan in his head, "We have to get everyone together and form a plan.. Then we all attack..."

Hunk bit his lip, "How long will that take?"

"I don't know.. Longer than we'd like, that's for sure..." Shiro sighed.

"Then we get started now!" I shouted, "You know better an anyone what they're capable of! They'll break him, body and spirit, in less than a week!"

My little outburst seemed to motivate them because everyone was going off to contact someone.

Hold on, Lance... We're coming...

Lance's POV:

"Oww..." I mumbled to myself, looking down at the wound on my side. It was bleeding at a fast rate. I wasn't wearing my uniform anymore. I was just wearing the black pants, socks, and shirt that I usually wore underneath it. I looked around the cell they were keeping me in. It was small and empty, just 3 walls and barrier keeping me in. The barrier corrupted my view of the hall but I was pretty sure I could see a guard, "Hey, dipshit! I think I'm more valuable to your boss alive! So you might want to do something about this wound before I bleed to death!"

That seemed to have worked because I heard some shuffling and whispering on the other side of the barrier before someone spoke in a really gruff voice, "I sent for medical assistance."

"Thank you." I sighed and leaned my head on the wall. I knew I was helpless until the team came for me. I just had to sit tight and stay strong until they did. I couldn't let them break me.

I sat there with my eyes closed as I heard the barrier open long enough for someone to walk in, "You're not even going to fight?"

"That'd be a bad strategy. Best to make sure I don't bleed to death before I make a run for it." I chuckled and looked over at the Galra who had entered my cell.

He raised an eyebrow as he walked over with his medical equipment, "You were shot, correct? With a laser gun?"

I nodded, "You got it.."

He started cleaning up all the blood and I winced. He was actually pretty gentle about it. I didn't understand why until I saw a blade of mamora symbol on his sword. I chuckled a bit.

"You tell your boss that it's going to take a lot more than this to kill me. You got that? You tell your boss I'm not giving up." I told him, looking at his sword.

He got the message and nodded with a smile, "Will do... Now, this is going to hurt." he started disinfecting the wound and I wanted to scream. I just bit my lip and groaned. He finished up with that and bandaged it. He lowered my shirt again when he was done, "Okay, you're going to be fine.. I hear you have hurt your ankle as well.. Though, I don't have the right equipment handy to treat that. So just keep it at a normal angle and no walking if not necessary."

"Also known as, don't try to escape because you'll fuck up your ankle." I laughed, "I bet they made sure you didn't have the right equipment, huh?"

He sighed, "Good luck... you're going to need it." He stood and left the cell. The barrier opened around him, probably set to let Galra in and out as they pleased.

I leaned my head back again, looking up at the ceiling, "I'm not going to die here..."

Keith's POV:

"Paladins, we have an incoming transmission from the blade of mamora!" Allura shouted and accepted the transmission, we all walked over.

We had just spent the last four hours working on contacting everyone and forming a plan. We knew the blade had a few under cover members in the main fleet so we hoped this was news about Lance.

"Princess, paladins.." a blade member spoke, his face hidden by a mask, "I have news of the blue paladin."

"What is it? Is he alright?" Shiro asked, worry filling his expression.

"He's severely injured. He was shot with a laser gun and his ankle is broken. Luckily, the one to clean his wound was one of us. Lance said he wasn't going to try to escape in this state because it was, as he said, bad strategy. That was before he knew he was talking to one of us. When he realized, he left a message for you. He said it's going to take a lot more than this to kill him. He said he's not giving up."

I felt the relief wash over all of us. Just to know he was alive and still fighting was the best news we could've hoped for.

"Do you know what they intend to do with him?" Allura asked.

"Yes.. It appears they're going to try to get information out of him. When they get what they want, they'll offer a trade. His life for the lions of voltron."

I ran my hands through my hair and looked at Shiro.

"We can't attack for another three days, Shiro.." Pidge said softly.

Shiro nodded and looked at the screen, "Can you have your inside members watch over him until we attack? I'm not asking that they try to intervene. Just asking if they can keep an eye on him and keep us updated."

He nodded, "Of course. I'll report back to you once we hear more."

"Thank you." Allura said as the transmission ended.

We all let out a deep breath and looked at each other.

"Well, back to work.. We can't afford to fall behind schedule." Shiro ordered. We all nodded and went back to our tasks.

Three days.. please last that long...

Lance's POV:

"Hello, Lance, paladin of the blue lion~" a smooth voice spoke as they entered my cell, "I am Price Lotor, son of Emperor Zarkon."

"Well, hello, your douchiness." I chuckled a bit, looking up at him from my spot on the floor, "A pleasure to make your acquaintance." I couldn't help being as sarcastic as possible.

He chuckled and came closer to me, kneeling beside me now, "I've heard of your strong spirit... I wonder how long it'll take to break it." He pressed down on my bandages, where I'd been shot.

I screamed slightly and looked at him, "Too long.. My friends will come for me before you get anything out of me."

He stopped pressing down and smirked, "No one is coming for you. Don't you see? You've already been here for a full day."

I shrugged, "So what? They're smart enough not to attack without a  plan and backup. They're probably rallying the troops as we speak."

"If you're so determined to see them again, I can make it a lot easier for you. Just give me the information I want and I'll return you to your team." He ran his hand under my chin.

"Jokes on you, can't bribe someone with no sense of self-worth or value to his team." I chuckle a bit, deciding to use my insecurities to my advantage.

He looked shocked, "Wh-what?"

"I mean, honestly, they're better off without me. But they will come for me, they need a blue paladin. That's my only value to them, and I can be replaced in time. So what's the point. Kill me, go ahead. I'm useless enough as it is, I'm not about to betray them to lengthen my life. Sorry, Lord Stick-Up-The-Ass, but I'm not talking." I smirk at him, meaning every word.

He smirked back at me before reaching down and touching my broken ankle, "Oh, I'm not going to kill you~" he bent it, causing me to scream, "But I'll make you wish I had~"

Please hurry, guys... I don't know if I'll make it much longer...

Keith's POV:

"How much longer, princess?" I asked Allura, as we prepared to storm the main fleet and get Lance back.

"Not long. Paladins, to your lions!" She shouted so the others would here. We nodded and all made our way to the hangers.

It'd been four whole days since they took him. The blade gave us updates but they weren't helpful. Apparently, Lotor would go into his cell but no one could see or hear what was happening inside. All we know is that after Lotor left, Lance would be either crying or unconscious. I was scared of what he could've been doing to him, scared that he could've managed to break him. I wasn't even afraid of Lance spilling our secrets, I was afraid he'd be traumatized and never be the same again. Luckily, we linked up with every anti-galra cause we knew of. Even some we'd never met before but had mutual allies.

"Alright, five more ticks!" Coran shouted over our coms.

I prepared to leave the hanger as I heard some beeps that were counting down.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

I'm coming, Lance!

I left the hanger at full speed as we put our plan into action. I was the one who was to find Lance and get him out safely, I volunteered for that. Because while he was gone, I realized something. How completely empty I feel without him. I don't know what that means for me and him, but we'll figure it out together once he's back with us.

I had to land my lion on the main ship of the fleet and put a force field around it as I went in. A few rebels guarded it for me, knowing how important it was that the red lion wasn't taken by the Galra. I took out countless Galra soldiers as I made my way to where they kept their prisoners. The blade had told me where to go, they even told me which cell was his. I froze when I saw him in his cell. He was curled up on the floor, barely conscious. He was just awake enough to lay there crying, hands wrapped around his stomach. He was covered in tiny little cuts too. It was like I just snapped, I attacked the guard in front of his cell with full force. I let out all my anger on him. I was so angry that someone hurt Lance like that. Once he was taken care of I went to the control panel on the wall and turned off the barrier.

Lance looked up at me and started crying more, "K-Keith..."

I smiled and rushed over to him, "Hey buddy. Sorry, we're late. We had to get some backup first." I picked him up as carefully as I could, "What kind of person would I be if I just let someone hurt my rival. No one can mess with you but me." I smiled at him.

He smiled a bit too, holding on to me tightly as his crying slowly came to a stop, "Thank you..."

"Don't thank me. What exactly did they do to you?" I walked slowly, knowing sudden movements could hurt him.

He tensed up a bit, "Something h-horrible..." he started to tear up again, "B-but I didn't let him win. I-I didn't give him what he wanted..."

I smiled at him still, "Good, I knew you'd stay strong. Now, I'm going to get you out of here and into a healing pod. Then we can have Hunk make your favorite food. You've earned it."

He nodded, sniffling softly, "O-okay..."

We soon reached my lion and I carried him inside, laying him down before getting us out of there as fast as I could, "What are your injuries, Lance?"

"Uh.. broken ankle, my side is bleeding out steadily but I have bandages over it, uh, various little cuts, and, uh, a burn on my back. I think that's it." He had his hand over his bandages again, it was definitely causing him a lot of pain.

I rushed him up to the castle, where Allura and Coran were waiting. I carried him out of my lion once we reached the hanger, seeing Coran there.

"Lance, good to have you back." He smiled at him.

Lance smiled back weakly, "Good to be back."

"Let's get you in a pod," I said, carrying him out of the hanger.

He nodded, "I think I'm going to sleep now..." he closed his eyes, leaning his head against me.

I sighed, "Get all the rest you need, you deserve it."

I got him in a pod as fast as I could before going back to my lion and rejoining the fight. Everyone was relieved to hear Lance was back to safety, but we had to finish this raid. This could end the war! We were already at a disadvantage without Voltron, so I couldn't stay behind.

The fight lasted for nearly the rest of the day before we took out the fleet. A lot of people were injured and I'm sure some lives were lost. But we won. Shiro had captured Lotor and we were going to keep him prisoner on the castle for now. It was a few more hours before everything settled down after our victory. Hunk and Pidge had to be put in healing pods but only for minor injuries, they were out in no time. Hunk got out of his pod first, he had only broken his wrist. Pidge came out second, having broken a couple ribs.

For the next few days, everything went great. Pidge and her brother finally got to spend some time together, Hunk went out to get all the ingredients he needed for Lance's favorite food, Shiro spent a lot of time questioning Lotor, and I stayed close to Lance's healing pod. It was reassuring to see him a bit better every time I went to check on him. I spent a lot of time thinking about him, how I felt about him. I finally knew what I'd say to him when he woke up.

"Keith.." Shiro walked into the room, "Come with me."

I nodded, following him out of the room. I could tell it was serious by the look on his face and his serious tone. We walked to the common room where everyone, even Matt, was waiting. I sat down next to Coran and Shiro stayed standing.

"I finally got something out of Lotor... And I'm honestly hoping he was lying to get a rise out of me... He told me what he did to Lance... And, I just..." he sat down next to Allura, "If it's true..."

Allura put her hand on his back, "What did he say to you..?

Shiro looked down at the ground, his hands in his hair, "He told me that he raped him... More than once..."

I felt my heart stop, "H-He what?!" I felt the anger boiling up inside of me.

"I don't know if it was a lie or not... But that's what he said... Only Lance can tell us if it's true or not.." Shiro sat up straight and ran his real hand down his face, "If it is true, the mental damage done to him is what we really need to worry about. The physical is nothing..."

I stood up, "I-I need a minute..." I walked out of the room, clenching my fists.

They all let me, knowing I had to work my anger out before I exploded and did something I'd regret. I walked straight to the training deck. I needed to hit something. Repeatedly.

I ended up spending a good two hours training, just letting it all out. I couldn't believe someone did that to him. I couldn't believe he managed to stay so strong through it all. Yeah, he was crying. But he didn't give in, he kept fighting. And he smiled. He fucking smiled. After being raped repeatedly, he still had the strength to smile at me. After all that, the fact that he was only crying was the biggest show of strength I've ever seen.

"Keith..." Allura walked in, forcing the gladiator I was fighting to power down by pushing a button, "You need to take a break before you injure yourself. Why don't we sit down and talk about what you're feeling right now."

I sighed and nodded, grabbing a drink before sitting down next to her, "Sorry... I just needed to punch something before I hurt someone."

She nodded, "I understand. It's how you cope with things. It's smart. But sometimes too much of a good thing can become a bad thing."

I leaned back a bit, "I just can't stop thinking about what Shiro said." I bit my lip, "Lance said they did something horrible to him. I don't want it to be true but it is... What Lotor told Shiro is true. There's no other explanation that I can think of. He doesn't have additional major injuries. The ones he has are from the initial attack when he was captured. So what other horrible things could Lotor have done?"

Allura sighed, letting me talk it all out now, "I hate to admit it, but you're right. But we can't dwell on it, what's done is done and nothings going to change that. We can't go back and save Lance from this. But we can help him recover from it. He should be coming out of the pod around dinner time. Once he's out, we get him fed and observe his condition. Then we get him to bed and decide what to do from there based on how this experience has affected him."

I nodded, "There's just something big I want to tell him but I'm scared it'll just make things worse. I'm scared he'll push me away again... He just started trusting me, Allura."

"You want to tell him you are in love with him.." she placed a hand on my shoulder as I looked over at her, "I noticed how you've been acting since he was captured. I know you have feelings for him that you didn't quite understand until we rescued him. You've spent so much time by his pod, just staring at him while thinking. Thinking about what your feelings were, what to do about them. The others have been too wrapped up in their own things so they didn't see what I saw. But I was worried about you and kept an eye on you." She smiled at me.

I was so surprised she'd caught on but I smiled at her, "Have you noticed anything else? Anything that could tell me if this is the right time to tell him or not?"

She nodded, "I've noticed things about Lance for quite some time now. I've noticed how he's always picking fights with you, talking bad about you to your face, and is just generally upset in your presence. However, I've also noticed how he's always quick to praise your skill when you're not around, smiling when talking to or about you knowing you can't see his face and denies it all in an instant if anyone catches on. He always claimed to hate you, but that's not true. He hates himself for loving you. He hates that you're seemingly best at everything, he hates how he'll never compare to you. You're our ace and best pilot, and that's in his own words. He says you never, ever mess up. He hates that. He hates how you act towards him, how he acts towards you without even thinking. He hates that he's in love with someone he wants to hate. He wants to hate you, but he doesn't. He's completely in love with you. I promise you that. And maybe if you tell him you love him too, he won't be full of hate anymore."

I listened to her explain everything, tears threatening to fall as everything sunk in, "I-I never would've realized... I-I made him hate himself... I need to tell him everything! I have to start making it up to him!" I stood up.

Allura smiled at me, "You can start with taking a shower so you don't smell of your human sweat when he wakes up." She teased.

I nodded, "Thank you, Allura! Thank you so much!" I ran out of the room, running to my room.

I'll fix this, Lance! I promise! I'm going to start by telling you I love you! Then I'll show you how much I love you! I'll make sure you recover from this! I promise!!

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Lance woke up just a bit before dinner as Allura said he would. We were all there, I caught him when he stumbled out. He looked around the room, trying to get his bearings. Then everything sunk in and he started crying a bit, "Y-You guys saved me."

I smiled and held him up, "Of course we did!"

"Why wouldn't we? You're our friend, our family even." Pidge smiled at him too.

Those last three words really got to him. He bit his lip as his tears started falling freely, "Th-Thank you..." he clung to my shirt.

I helped him sit down, he was unable to support his own weight, "Don't cry, Lance. We will always be there to save you, understand? Hopefully, next time we're a bit faster."

"Let's just not let there be a next time." Shiro chuckled a bit.

Lance nodded, reaching up to rub his eyes, "You guys attacked the main fleet for me.."

"Yeah, but we had to do it eventually." Hunk shrugged, "And it was okay it happened early because we won."

Lance's eyes widened, "We won?! The war is over?!"

I nodded, "Yup, it's all over with."

Lance smiled a bit, "Well, I'm glad some good came out of this.."

Shiro pat his shoulder, "I just wish your life didn't have to be put on the line for all this to happen."

"My life was never really in danger. He wasn't going to kill me..." Lance looked down, "He said he wouldn't but he'd make me wish he had." he started to tremble a bit.

Shiro kneeled down in front of him, "He told us... Lotor told us what he did to you.." he sighed softly, "I'm so sorry, Lance.."

Lance sniffled a bit, tears forming in the corners of his eyes, "I-I... I just.." he started crying full on, "I was s-so scared... scared y-you wouldn't come for me..."

I pulled him into a hug, running my fingers through his hair, "We'll always come for you..."

He was locked in that cell for four days.

He was raped repeatedly for four days.

He was starved for four days.

It probably felt like an eternity.

He kept crying in my arms, holding on to me tightly. I kept hugging him, knowing he needed it, "Why don't we get you changed back into your own clothes and then get you fed... Okay?" I asked as I rubbed his back a bit.

He nodded and pulled away, rubbing his eyes, "O-Okay."

I pulled him to his feet and helped him walk to his room, he was still feeling weak and needed me to help him. When we got to his room, I sat him down on his bed and grabbed his clothes for him, "I can wait in the hall if you want." I handed them to him.

"Uh, can you stay with me? I feel light headed still.." he bit his lip.

I nodded and turned my back to him so he could have at least some privacy. He started to change his clothes before I heard a little whimper, "Everything okay..?"

"Y-Yeah.. just... scars. The healing pod can't prevent scarring." he sighed a bit and kept changing.

"Well your side was super bad, that would obviously leave a scar.." I bit my lip, wondering why he used the plural.

"Yeah. And the cut on my inner thigh... It was deeper than the other ones and left a scar... The burn on my back probably scarred too... He did that on purpose..." He finished pulling his clothes on.

I turned to look at him again, "How are you feeling, Lance. Surely you can't be okay after going through that.."

He shrugged and looked down, "I don't know... I don't want to really think about it."

I sat next to him, "Don't think about what happened, don't think about him. Think about you. What are you feeling right now?"

He sniffled a bit, "Scared, depressed, I don't know..." he tried not to cry again.

I sighed and hugged him again, "You're safe now. I promise... He's locked up in the castle right now and can't get to you. And I don't plan on leaving you alone until you feel safe. I'll sleep on your damn floor if you need me to."

He smiled, "Thank you..." he hugged me back tightly.

*this is getting long. part 2 coming soon*