Drip. Drip. Drip.
The sound of a liquid dripping echoes throughout the room, rousing Pidge from her thoughts. She almost forgot about her job- the duty she had to fulfill. It had been weeks, if not months since she had been captured by the Galra and she was due to crack anytime. She looked at the piece of sharpened metal she was able to snag between interrogations as the wounds on her wrists and forearms oozed an angry red, spilling onto the floor in that infuriating sound of drip, drip, drip.
Pidge wanted it to end. Hell, she wanted her life to end, if it meant the constant agony and darkness of imprisonment would cease to exist within her mind. She had long since lost the need for handcuffs, becoming too weak to stand, much less fight. She now saved all her energy for screaming during the druids' "experiments," thinking, and attempting to kill herself. Granted, she usually got lost in her thoughts or dozed off to as close to sleep as she could get (the dull glow of the lights made it impossible to get any quality rest), or she was dragged to another session before she could make any progress. But goddamnit, did she try. She knew her brother was tearing apart the universe to find her, having only seen her for so short a time, but enough was enough. So she dug the makeshift blade deeper, gasping in pain as she tore through the veins in her thin arm. She switched hands and made short work of her other wrist and laid down, finally satisfied. Perhaps now, after all that had happened, the dark tendrils of depression would leave her. Perhaps now the guards wouldn't use her for their anger management. Perhaps now, finally, she would die. Katherine "Pidge Gunderson" Holt closed her eyes, hopefully for the last time, and fell into the first sleep she'd had in weeks.

Eighty five. It had been eighty five days since the green paladin had been captured, and the team still hadn't had any sign of her. Hunk gripped a hologram, shaking with barely controlled sobs as he looked at the small girl in the picture. Her brother, Matt, had taken over as the green lion's pilot under the agreement that he'd let Katie pilot after she was found. He had insisted on the terms himself, voice firm in his beliefs. It had been sixty seven days since this event, and nobody had received any intel on the small girl's whereabouts.
"Hunk? Are you alright?" A familiar voice called from the doorway, startling Hunk from his grief. Lance invited himself in and pulled the yellow paladin into a gentle hug. The larger man hugged Lance like he was a lifeline, wave after wave of anxiety crashing into him.
"N-no, I'm not okay! Pidge could be- could be--" Hunk couldn't finish his sentence as another round of sobs overtook his body. The blue paladin just rubbed gentle circles into his friend's back, waiting for the appropriate time to speak. He was about to speak up when-
"Paladins, please report to the bridge immediately! It is of the utmost importance!" Allura's voice suddenly rang out across the castle's speakers. The two boys jumped from their position and sprinted to the source of the voice, Hunk wiping his eyes as he ran.
"What is it, princess?" Shiro asked, always the first to arrive. Allura looked up at the Paladins as they entered the room, a look of hope on her face.
"We've found Pidge!" She exclaimed. Matt froze before bolting to the green lion frantically, throwing on his resistance armor in casual denial of his position and heading to the lion's hangar.
"Matt!" Shiro called to no avail. "Matthew Daniel Holt! You come back here this instant or so help me I will kick your ass!" Matt stopped short, startled at Shiro's harsh words. The older man just sighed and put a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder. "You didn't hear the full report. She's on a meteor near Sentaria and the prison she's in is heavily guarded. She... She's been visited by different generals many times. I'd brace myself. I'd offer to let you stay behind, but the green lion is the only one with a cloak and I know you'd want to go save your sister anyway."
"You're damn right, Shiro. I'm not leaving without my little sister, even if it means I have to kill every soldier on that base first." Matt spoke quietly, his voice shaky and full of rage. Shiro nodded curtly and turned to go to his lion.
A few minutes later, all the lions were ready to move out, waiting on Matt to give the go-ahead.
"Remember the plan guys: we wait for Matt to disable the security systems before we go in guns blazing. The prison wing is below the surface so don't be afraid to kick some tail!" Shiro said. The whole team, minus the green pilot, cheered as a chorus. A few minutes later, Matt spoke over the comm's system.
"I'm in, guys. Time to kick some purple ass!" Lance laughed at Matt's remark and followed Shiro as the team set towards the base.

Matt sighed in relief and sat back on his haunches, wiping his brow. The coding was more advanced than normal, and he was definitely out of practice. Team Voltron had been avoiding as many conflicts as possible since Katie had been captured, focusing on finding their lost family member, and it was coming back to haunt them. He stood and waited for the rumble of explosions and the blare of alarms to sound before heading to the prisoner's ward. Fear twisted in his stomach at what he may find as he neared Pidge's cell.
"Stop right there, rebel!" A Galra soldier called from behind Matt, gun raised. Matt stopped and turned around before activating his bayard to reveal a spear, almost feeling bad for the soldier as he fell to the ground. Almost. Matt turned back to the cell door and opened it quickly, switching off his microphone as he did so. What met his eyes was an image beyond that out of a nightmare.
"K-Katie..?" He choked out, staring at the crumpled and bloody mess of a girl in front of him. Her torso was bare, revealing whip marks and red, angry Lichtenberg scars littering her back. Her undersuit was ripped off at the waist, torn and ragged from overuse. It was only after he stared for a moment that Matt noticed the cuts on Pidge's arms. He rushed to her side as he stabbed the lock controls with his spear, a string of curses from mixed languages leaving his lips. He felt for a pulse and sighed in relief when he found one, though it was weak. Her arms were bleeding too heavily, and he hated what he had to do. He readied his spear again and activated the electricity at its end, producing a white- hot tip not unlike Shiro's arm. He swiftly cauterized the wounds and nearly retched at the smell of burning flesh.
"Not now Matt... Katie needs you," he muttered to himself, pulling off his cloak and wrapping his sister's frail body in it. He activated his comms once again. "Guys, I found her. She- she's in terrible condition; I... I don't know if she's gonna make it..." He choked on his words, tears welling up in his eyes. "I cauterized the worst wounds with my spear, but she could have internal bleeding..." The comms were eerily silent for a moment as everyone processed what he said.
"Okay. Matt, I want you to get the hell out of there! We can come back and release the other prisoners later! Do I need to send support?" Shiro asked, doing his best to calm his teammate down.
"I... I don't know. I already ran into a live soldier a few minutes ago... I'm scared, Takashi. I'm so damn scared I don't know what to do! I'm in the middle of space with a robotic lion, a dying sister in my arms, and a bounty on my head!" Matt sobbed, looking down at Katie.
"I know, buddy. I'm sending Keith right now." Lance didn't even argue with Shiro's choice, too shocked by Matt's breakdown.
"Th-thank you... I'm still in Katie's cell." Matt took the green lion's helmet off and set it beside him so he could hear the comms if he was needed, but nobody could hear him. "Oh Katie..... What did you do to yourself?" He moved the hair out of his sister's face and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. Pidge stirred a bit and leaned into her brother's touch, whimpering softly. "I'm so sorry we couldn't find you before..." Matt hugged the girl close to himself, crying.
"Matt? Matt, I'm in the base. I'll be there in a minute!" Keith's voice rang out from the discarded helmet.
"A-Alright, thanks Keith," Matt said as he pulled the helmet back on. He struggled to get his voice under control. "You'll want to prepare yourself though, there's a lot of blood."
"Understood." Matt pulled his cloak tighter around his sister and waited for Keith to come. The sounds of battle soon grew close as the red paladin fought his way to the cell.
"Keith? You there?"
"Yeah. I'm coming in now, alright?"
"Go ahead." Matt stood, carrying Pidge in his arms. He was careful to tuck her head into his shoulder so it wouldn't hang and hurt her neck. Keith pried the doors apart and stared, hair and sweat in his face, his armor spattered with Galran blood. He stopped short at the sight of the green paladin.
"Pidge...?" He asked, running to check her over. Both boys turned off their microphones as Matt sighed.
"She tried to kill herself. She didn't want to give us away, I just know it." Keith stared at Matt in shock, eyes wide.
"She... I....What?" He stuttered, completely floored by Pidge's actions.
"Think later, fight now!" Matt yelled, staring at the Galra soldiers in the doorway. Keith quickly turned around and launched into attack. Matt stayed behind the red paladin, doing his best to keep Pidge safe. Time blended together as soldier after soldier was slain, blood spattering all three (almost) humans as they made their escape. Matt soon came face to face with Green, rushing Katie inside and laying her on a surgical table that the lion had provided. He strapped her down and quickly took the controls, flying out of the prison, pushing Green to her limit, using the lion's anxiety to focus himself and keep his own emotions tucked away. The lion suddenly went into autopilot, prompting Matt to tend to his sister. He obeyed Green's wishes and went to Katie, surprised to see a tray of supplies by the table. Letting green's conscience flood him, he went to work cleaning his sister's wounds. As he finished, Green landed in her hangar and let the team in, Shiro being the first in the cockpit.
"Pidge-- Katie!" He cried, shocked at what he saw. He started to remove Matt's cloak from her body, but was stopped.
"She's shirtless. I think we should let Allura do this." The black paladin nodded and unstrapped Katie from the table, carrying her out past the shocked paladins, face completely devoid of emotion. Coran didn't even try to help, instead letting Allura handle the situation. She gingerly took Pidge from Shiro, unspoken words passing between the two before she carried the girl away.
"W-What happened to her...?" Hunk asked, voice quiet and childlike.
"She.... She didn't want to give any information..." Matt replied, collapsing into a chair. He ran a hand through his hair, suddenly looking much older than before.
"So.. She tried to kill herself?" Lance's voice holds a surprisingly understanding tone to it, almost like he has firsthand knowledge.
"Yes. Everyone, clean up. No more questions for now," Shiro ordered, going to Matt's side. "Including you, Matt." The mentioned man didn't respond as shock seeped into his bones, startling when the black paladin put a hand on his shoulder, helping him stand. The two men said nothing as they headed for the showers.