Ah an attempt at a rescue mission... but will it go the way the paladins planned it to go?  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"It's done." Pidge whispered, stepping back and marvelling at their work. Hunk stood proudly beside them, one hand on his hip as the other wiped at his sweaty forehead. Shiro stood behind them and neither knew how long he'd been there.

"Alright. We can rest for one more night and then, when we are refreshed, we can get Lance back." Shiro spoke, hope returning to his tone. They all nodded in exact unison, more than prepared for such a task. All they could do was cross their fingers that everything went to plan.

-

"Good boy..." Gort whispered as Lance nibbled at his Galran bread roll. Gort had brought him some sort of green thing with it. He had no idea what it was but it had a sour taste that made Lance's taste buds dance and sing. The water also had some sort of flavouring to it as it was tinted pink and tasted almost like an Earth strawberry. He gulped back the liquid without savouring it. "Do you want more of that?"

Nodding slowly, he eyed Gort for any signs of a catch. Of course there was one.

"If you answer one question for me, sweetheart. When the green lion uses its cloaking ability, can you still feel it? Or does it disappear completely?"

"I- I think you can feel it." Lance looked up at Gort through wide, empty eyes as he nodded his head. Gort stood up and disappeared for a few moments before returning with more of the special juice. He sipped at it that time, savouring each moment.

"May I look at your arm?" Choosing against saying anything, Lance held out his arm for Gort to inspect. It had been ripped apart not long earlier and the blood had dried up. Gort mumbled something under his breath before exiting the room once again and returning with a damp cloth. He wiped Lance's arm until only the cuts were visible. "We can't have you dying on us."

"How k-kind of you..."

Gort hushed Lance, reaching out and tracing his cheek with the tip of his finger. "None of those smart retorts of yours anymore, okay? You don't want to be punished, do you?" Lance shook his head, body trembling at the thought alone.

-

"You know what to do, right?" Shiro murmured into his secret earpiece. Once he received confirmation from Pidge, he realised he was live to the entirety of the Galran empire. "Uh, hello Galrans. It's Shiro here, paladin of the black lion. We have realised that you didn't rightfully return Lance to us and we want to propose a second chance to make such a trade. I assure you that we will stick by our end of the bargain and give you Black. We also offer you the red lion as well. We just want the blue paladin in return." He couldn't tell how the Galran responded to the message but the doors of the ship were slowly coming open which seemed like an invitation.

He thrust the controls forward towards the Galran ship. Pidge was behind him, the lion invisible as a result of its cloaking ability. Shiro landed the lion aboard the ship but didn't exit until Pidge had confirmed that they were inside too.

Shiro stepped down, coming face to face with a pair of Galran guards. He cleared his throat, watching as the soldier's faces remained emotionless. "Please bring Lance to me and I will give you the lions as we proposed."

They charged at him but Shiro was prepared for the attack. He curled his robotic hand into a fist and sent it flying towards the first soldier he saw, knocking them out with a single hit. The other stumbled backwards at the sight. Shiro repeated his actions onto the second guard until he was also unconscious.

"We're in." Pidge whispered across the coms, infiltrating Shiro with a mound of hope. Shiro headed to the door behind where the guards had once been standing. He grabbed one of them, lugging them along with him until they were close enough to touch the scanner with their limp hands. The door flew open immediately at the contact.

"Doors open ready for exit."

"Okay, target spotted."

"Don't call Lance a target. It makes him sound evil." Pidge didn't respond, presumably because they couldn't. The coms went completely silent for a few doboshes, the moments creeping by at an agonisingly slow pace. It was taunting Shiro as the fear and anxiety ate at him. He clenched his fists and stood as tall as he could, swallowing down the negative emotions in favour of protecting his team.

"Shiro, are you clear?"

"Yes, yes, all's clear."

"We've got him. H-He's in a bad state. Get ready to leave. I don't think the guards will be distracted for much longer."

"Okay! Black's ready to go!" Shiro yelled as he raced back inside his lion, settling his hands on the controls for a quick take off.

"Shit, shit!" Pidge screeched, their voice muffled by the transmission. Eventually, they reached the lion and Shiro saw the tiny figures of the green, blue and yellow paladins come into view. "Go, go, go!" Shiro shoved the controls forward and Black lurched into the air, escaping out of the ship. The doors were coming down quickly and the room was flooding with guards, an alarm roaring in the air.

"You with me, Pidge?"

"Yes! Just shut up and get out!" The door was about halfway closed before the green lion slid beneath it, their head just scraping the bottom of it. The only sound on the coms was heavy breathing whilst they followed through with the plans they had gone over a million times.

Shiro reached for his bayard, shoving it into its designated slot inside the lion. A blinding flash of yellow light spread through Black's head before a portal opened in front of it. His large hands wrapped around the control sticks before he raced forward into the wormhole, Green not far behind. "Coran, Keith, you with us?"

Coran's response was a harsh grunt as they entered the wormhole. They only gave time to properly breathe and speak once they were out the other side, a safe distance from the Galran ship. Black and Green boarded the ship, the paladins leaping out of the lions whilst breathing erratically. Keith was there, waiting for them. He pulled Lance into a long hug, burying his head into the blue paladin's neck and breathing him in.

"Never run away again. Please. I can't lose you again. I missed you so much. I thought you were dead, Lance. Promise me you won't run away again." Keith rambled, his voice muffled by Lance's skin.

It was in that moment that Lance realised just how still Lance was. He had tensed up and frozen which was very unlike the blue paladin who always loved hugs. Keith backed up and finally realised just how ​bad​ Lance looked. His face was devoid of colour with the exception of the black ring around his right eye and a red scar running across his left cheek. He was wearing rags as opposed to his armour and... he didn't have a right arm anymore. Where skin was showing, it was black, blue or covered with a horrific amount of cuts.

"We need to get him to a healing pod before he passes out." Shiro commanded, wrapping his arm around Lance's shoulder to support his weight. That was enough to make Lance tremble and let out a soft cry in protest. He was too weak to do anything else to fight the contact. Keith went the other side of the blue paladin, doing the same so that they could guide Lance to the med bay with ease. When they reached the healing pods, Lance started to sob at a worryingly high volume.

"Hey, hey," Keith offered. "You're going to be okay. Nobody's going to hurt you. You're safe here."

"You- You- You-" Lance tried but he couldn't stop stumbling on the first word of the sentence. After a few more seconds, he went limp and his eyes fell shut. Keith and Shiro both exchanged a worried look before hoisting the paladin into the healing pod.

Vargas and vargas passed but Keith insisted on waiting outside. Shiro brought him food to eat outside the healing pod but he had just pushed it away, refusing to eat until he knew Lance was okay. The scent of the food poked at his nostrils but he ignored it, not wanting to let his guard down in case Lance woke up. Eventually, Lance's eyes opened and he stumbled out of the pod.

Keith caught him in his arms and their eyes met for a brief moment. "Lance," Keith choked out, pulling him into a weirdly positioned hug. "I knew you'd be okay."

"D-Don't touch m-me." Lance said, scrambling out of Keith's grip. His legs were like jelly so he just collapsed right onto the floor with a soft moan.

"L-Lance?"

"Y-You replaced me. T-This can't b-be real..." Lance squinted his eyes, choosing against standing up again. He crawled towards the wall and pulled his knees up to his chest.

"It is real. I promise you. Everything here is real and you are okay. Nobody is going to hurt you anymore. I won't let them. D-Do you maybe want to talk about what happened?"

"N-No." Lance had buried his head into his knees so that his voice was muffled. Keith hated seeing the blue paladin so vulnerable.

"O-Okay. Do you want to go back to your room?"

"Y-Yes, please." Keith held out his hand to help Lance up but was ignored. Sighing, Lance began to head back to his quarters where he hoped he could pretend things were okay. Keith tagged behind him, even going as far as to watch him climb into bed.

"Do you need a drink or- or something?" Lance shook his head, even though his throat resembled the desert Keith had lived in back on earth. He laid his head against his pillow and begged the world to let him wake up from the horrific nightmare. "You want to sleep?" Keith took Lance's silence as a yes so flicked off the lights without thinking too much.

Almost immediately, he heard a shaky sob. Keith turned the light back on to reveal Lance had curled up into a ball and was rocking back and forth on the bed. "Hey, hey, Lance..." He mumbled, heading over to the bed. He wasn't really sure how to respond to the attack so laid a gentle hand on the paladin's back. Lance jolted away as if his touch was fire.

"Get away f-from me!" He screamed, so loudly that the entire Castle probably heard. Keith jumped up and backed away, holding his hands in the air in defence. Shiro came rushing to the room upon hearing the yell and instantaneously shoved Keith to the side.

"He's having a panic attack! Do you have any idea what triggered it?" He asked, rushing up to Lance's side and bending down to meet his height on the bed.

"The l-light. I just- I thought-" Keith stammered, tears welling up in his eyes as he watched the scene outlay itself.

"Lance, listen to me, you're okay. You aren't back there. You're on the Castle of Lions. I'm Shiro and Keith is also here. You're safe. Nothing is going to hurt you and we won't fiddle with the lights unless you want us to. You aren't going to get hurt and you won't have to be alone again. Just breathe with me, okay? We can make you feel better."

It took about ten long dobashes before Lance was calm again. Shiro had to continuously whisper words to ground the blue paladin but, eventually, he had managed to do it. Lance had continued to cry into his shoulder but was breathing more normally. When Lance finally laid back down, both Shiro and Keith let out a sigh full of relief. "You didn't touch him, did you?" Shiro questioned.

Keith shrunk back, heart beating fast inside his chest. "I- I didn't know what to do..."

"Never touch someone having a panic attack. It often makes things worse."

"I-I'm sorry. I made it worse..." Keith rubbed his eyes as a poor attempt to fight back the tears welling up in them. It wasn't enough as, a few dobashes later, the dam broke. He hunched over and sobbed into his hands whilst Lance and Shiro watched with wide eyes. Then he was engulfed into a warm embrace and he buried his head into Shiro's broad shoulder.

"You didn't know but now you do. It's okay."

"I-It's not. I-"

"Keith, it's okay. You're new to comforting people. I get it. But we can do this, okay? We all make mistakes."