Inspired by an incredible artwork/comic!

I tried to link back to the original artist, just to give them and their incredible art some love. If I linked the wrong person, please let me know!

The underside of Lance's arms were slippery with blood. His breaths were coming out in short raspy gasps, his lungs filled with fire. His legs were trembling, every step backward sending a fresh flare of pain up through his ribs. His injuries were minor though, a blip on the scale next to Shiro's.

A shock of black hair tilted backward, mouth agape in a scream that had never quite passed his lips. Shiro's eyes were closed, his cheeks scuffed and a light bruising appearing just under his chin. Blood seeped from a wound in bitten into his side, leaving a horribly grisly trail across the thick marble floor.

We shouldn't have come here, Lance thought, vomit catching in his throat as he risked another glance at Shiro's horrendous injury. We should not have come here…

It was supposed to be something simple. An agricultural group of aliens that were about three feet tall, purple, and had hands sprouting out of the top of their heads had contacted Team Voltron about a possible alliance. Lance and Shiro had been sent down, treating the mission as some sort of team bonding exercise.

Everything had been going well, until the realized that the aliens weren't as pure-hearted as they were thought to be. In fact, they seemed to be the apex predators of this galaxy, luring travelers in with promises of fresh-cut vegetables only for the tourists to become the food. Lance and Shiro, despite being Voltron Paladins, were no different.

Shiro and Lance had made a break for the lions, fighting off strange purple aliens at every turn. Lance thought Shiro was okay. He thought his leader would be right behind him.

But he wasn't.

They had run into a temple overgrown with weeds and foliage. The marble was cracked, sunflowers and lilies peeking out through the cracks. It must have been an impressive shrine back in its prime days, but now it was only a sad reminder of days long past. Lance had only ducked into it because he remembered passing through it on the way to the village. The Lions were somewhere in the dense forest that grew in tangles beyond the crumbling walls. They were in the home stretch.

Lance had turned around to ask Shiro about his status but stopped short. Shiro was slumped on the ground, collapsed with his hands curled protectively around an obvious bite wound in his side. Lance had rushed to Shiro immediately, only to see that his leader was unconscious. How long ago had he been bitten? How had he hidden it so well?

Guilt pooled into Lance's stomach as he looped his arms underneath Shiro's armpits and pulled. Lance - with his greatest strength being tall and lanky, with no real muscles to account for - was unable to drag him too far.

A great smear of red marked their trail. Shiro was losing so much blood, far too much. Any more and he was going to die.

Die.

Die, die, die.

The concept wasn't foreign to Lance. He faced the possibility of it every single day since he'd launched everyone into space. He understood his crucial place in restoring balance to the universe, perhaps better than most people thought.

But Shiro...Shiro had always seemed untouchable.

He'd survived more than Lance or the other Paladins would ever know. He'd gone up to pilot a team to the farthest known reaches of the galaxy, only to be proclaimed as missing and called a failure for crashing his ship. A year later, he defied all logic and returned, crash landing in an alien pod with his right arm replaced with a cyborg prosthetic.

Lance knew that Shiro suffered from nightmares. He heard it from the hushed conversations between him and Keith when they thought nobody could hear. He heard it from Pidge, who hardly slept herself, and had caught Shiro wandering the castle more than once, with a haunted look in his eyes.

Shiro couldn't just die. Not like this. He just couldn't.

Lance pulled again fruitlessly on Shiro's armpits. He moved a small inch, but Lance was suffering from a few blows himself. His legs had exerted all the energy they had between running and dragging Shiro across the plant-riddled temple. Hot tears pooled into Lance's eyes. If only he'd been more attentive. He should have noticed that Shiro was injured immediately after he was bitten.

But he didn't.

"Shiro," Lance's gasp was hot and burned his chest. He tugged again, his legs nearly giving out at the exertion. He reached out desperately to feel Blue, and she pressed back into his mind. They were close. They had to be. "Shiro, please wake up. Please, please…you can't die, the team needs you. " He took another unsteady step backward, his head now buried in Shiro's armored shoulder. He smelled like sweat and freshly cut grass, a hint of his musky cologne still detectable through it all. There was a metallic scent there too; one that made Lance's stomach curl in protest and bile practically claw its way up his throat.

Lance's legs gave out at the next tug. His knees hit the ground first with a loud thunk of his armor. The collision definitely would have hurt more if he didn't have the knee-pads, but Lance didn't think about that. He didn't think about the aching in his shoulder blades, the fire racing up through his spine, and stitch in his side.

Instead, his thoughts remained solely on his dying leader.

"Shiro," he gasped, sucking in deep amounts of oxygen with each shaky breath. His fingers trembled on Shiro's shoulders, white armor turned red from all the blood. Shiro's head lolled, landing with a quiet thump against Lance's shoulder. "Shiro, please, I-I can't…" he squeezed his eyes shut. "I can't walk anymore Shiro. I can't carry you, I-I can't."

Lance's voice broke. He reached out to Blue again, pouring all the desperation and fear he could into their bond. He sent her mental images of Shiro's wound, the blood, and hoped somehow she'd pass the message onto Black. Lance knew the Lions were sentient enough to sense when their Paladins were in danger. Keith and Red were a prime example of that, the Lion abandoning the team in order to rescue her Paladin from certain doom the crowning event in many of their missions.

"Sh-Shiro..." his voice was hoarse and raspy. Tears dripped onto Shiro's armor, mingling with the blood splattered on the pristine surface. "Por favor. Open your eyes…I-I can't...I can't do this alone…"

But you must, a traitorous voice in the back of Lance's head told him. It was right, no matter how much he tried to deny it. Lance had no choice. He had to pull Shiro back to the Lions and get him back to the Castle before he bled out, which wouldn't take long with how much time Lance was wasting here.

Lance hefted his arms under Shiro's again and pulled forcing his aching legs to move. It would definitely leave a harsh burn in his calves in the morning, but that pain would be nothing compared to losing Shiro. Blue sent strength and reassurances in the form of a deep purr through their bond. She believed in him. He'd get him back to the Castle alive.

Lance pulled again. Every step he took backward made his knees buckle and the stitch in his side worsen. Scissors bit into his lung with every sharp gasp. Shiro was at least one hundred and fifty pounds of pure muscle, and the heavy armor certainly wasn't helping his case.

Lance wished he had something on hand to block the blood flow. Some kind of bandages or a portable first-aid kid. Maybe he should have brought the one in Blue's cockpit or at least his helmet so he could contact the team . The air was breathable, so Lance hadn't had the foresight to bring it with him, deciding instead to communicate with the team only to inform them of their success.

The mission was supposed to be easy, after all.

Another strangled pant left Lance's lips. He was now dragging Shiro over stairs that had been weathered away. Cracks spidered across the marble, tufts of grass growing in patches through them. Lance stepped carefully over them, trying to keep his footing as even as possible. If he even jostled Shiro a little, the bite wound would spew scarlet, rivulets of blood gushing over the hole in Shiro's armor.

Lance step backward, his foot landing unevenly on a stone the size of his fist. He let out an alarmed yelp, his ankle rolling as he crashed to the floor. His head collided with the crumbling dais sending stars across his vision. He dropped Shiro, who landed with a horrifying squelch on the bite wound.

Shiro's eyes flew open and he flat out screamed.

It was hoarse and horrible, cutting into Lance deep. He flinched, foregoing the urge to feel the back of his head for the inevitable bump and instead scramble forward to check on Shiro.

"Sh-Shiro-!" He gasped out, hot tears still tracking down his face. Shiro's dark eyes were half-lidded, dull and clouded with pain. He sought Lance out, his fingers now curled around the wound. Blood seeped from in between his shoulders. "I am so sorry, I-"

"Lance?" Shiro murmured. He sounded confused, like he didn't quite recognize him. "E-Everything is-" He coughed wetly. Lance was relieved that no blood bubbled up to slide down his chin. "I can't see very well…" Shiro finished weakly. "My head is killing me and...I can't...everything's blurry…"

Side-effects of blood loss, Lance thought grimly, wiping desperate tears from his eyes. He staggered toward Shiro on unsteady legs, reaching out to loop his arms underneath his leader's armpits again. Shiro let out an uneasy groan and Lance's stomach curled in on itself in the ground.

" Lo siento," he murmured, pulling. His spine creaked in protest, his calves returning to the burn they had been before. "I-I'm trying to get back to the Lions and-and I dropped you. I'm sorry this is…" He hiccuped back a sob.

"The Lions…" Shiro repeated, almost absent-mindedly. His head fell forward, his chin touching his chest plate. The Voltron insignia on the front was smeared with red from Lance's own hands, desperately pulling Shiro over the rest of the dais. Shiro didn't speak anymore after that, shutting his eyes and going limp.

Lance's heart skipped a beat and he reached up to wipe his tears away again. He left a trail of red on his cheek, the blood almost smearing into his eyes. He had to focus. No more crying, no more panicking. Shiro took top priority now.

Lance took another unsteady step backward, glancing behind him to see how far the crumbling back wall was. It was too far still, and Lance was sure he wasn't going to get Shiro to a pod in time. He needed the Lions to come to him - otherwise, Shiro was going to die.

Lance squeezed his eyes shut. He reached out to Blue, feeling her purr in answer. A silent question passed through their bond.

Can you do it?

Lance remembered Keith saying that it not only took a strong bond, but an incredible will to call the Lion to you. Every time he had been saved, he'd reached out to the Red Lion and practically begged her for help.

Lance knew what he had to do.

Please, he thought. Please, save us. Save Shiro.

For one horrible beat, Lance didn't feel anything. Blue's presence pulled back, as if deliberating, and she didn't return for far too long to be comfortable. Lance sobbed dryly again, the noise cutting a burning line through his aching chest. This was it. Shiro was going to die now because of him and-

A roar shook the ground. The marble trembled beneath him as two distinct shapes broke through the ceiling of the temple. Relief flooded Lance and he let out a happy cry, tears tracking their way down his cheeks anew. He activated his shield to protect Shiro from the falling debris as the Black Paladin opened one eye to observe the situation. The lions had answered.

Blue and Black landed with heavy thuds, cracking the temple floor further. Lance stood there, in awe of them for a moment. Black reared her head, regarding her injured Paladin and lowered her jaw, opening it for Shiro.

"B-Black…" Shiro whispered, reaching out with one blood-stained hand. Lance glanced between him and the lion and realized with a return of the aching in his spine and the burning in his calves that his mission wasn't quite over yet.

He stood up, looped his arms underneath Shiro's armpits again and pulled him back to his lion.

Shiro was in a pod for more than a week.

Lance had stayed nearby the whole time, almost obsessively keeping watch over the vitals. He was there when Shiro came out too, watching as Keith caught the Black Paladin in his arms, a tender smile on his lips. Shiro was been disoriented, his hand moving to brush his side, looking for a phantom wound.

"It's gone," Keith's gaze snapped to the movement almost instantly. "You lived."

Shiro blinked a few times, looking quite surprised. "What?"

"Lance…" Keith's amethyst eyes snapped to him. "Lance saved you."

Shiro turned to Lance with a smile on his lips and words of gratitude but Lance brushed them off. He didn't feel like a hero, not with how much time he had wasted crying and desperately trying to assess the situation instead of grounding himself and actually asking Blue for help.

"I didn't do anything," Lance said honestly. "It was the lions."

"You heard what I said before, right?" Keith said, leading Shiro to sit down. "It takes a lot to call them to you. It exhausts me just to call one, and I'm her Paladin. You calledtwo. That's pretty impressive."

Lance's lips twitched into a smile. "I guess." Keith snorted and Shiro lifted his head to lock his gaze with Lance's.

"Thank you," he said again. "I...would have died if it weren't for you."

"I couldn't just let you die," Lance said. He folded his arms, remembering the seemingly endless amounts of blood that had seeped from Shiro's wound. The image made him shiver and he wondered if he'd ever truly be rid of it.

"I appreciate it," Shiro said honestly. "I...owe you my life, Lance."

"Well," Lance bit his lip. A horrible feeling settled in his stomach, weighing on him like a brick. "We're soldiers. I don't think this is the last time something like this is going to happen." Shiro looked a bit pensive at the words, but he knew them to be true just as much as Lance did. This wasn't the first, nor the last, time something like this would happen. They were soldiers, chosen to be that way by the Lions they now piloted. Someone would almost die again. Someone could die.

"Yeah," Shiro whispered. His voice was quiet and he leaned back on his prosthetic hand to stop the world from spinning. "You're right. It's not the last time."

And it wasn't.

So this is the start of a new VLD project that will be updating on Fridays! Five chapters long, following the '[insert number here] of times this happened and the one time it didn't' format. This was inspired by some truly incredible fanart shown above, so please give the artist some love!

I hope I wrote everything okay and it doesn't feel rushed! I was really exhausted while writing this and just wanted to curl up and take a nap. Editing was even harder, so I might have missed something. Point it out, if you can! I hate rereading stuff later and finding out it had a typo...

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! Leave a comment/kudos if you did, I absolutely adore feedback and it means the world to me!