"It's running off! Look at the coward! We won!" Lance exclaimed over the intercom as the massive beast retreated. The other paladins sighed in relief, but Shiro didn't feel safe yet. Zarkon's unnatural creations were never this easy to defeat.

"Stay alert, team! It's not dead yet," Shiro said as he moved to pursuit the bull-like abomination. It ran faster than they could follow on foot, quickly disappearing into a maze of rocky cliffs and riverbeds, with them following. He didn't like this at all. An attack could come from anywhere in these canyons.

"Aww, come on, Shiro, don't be such a buzzkill! It's clearly scared. Let's dismantle and-" Lance started to say, before being interrupted by Keith.

"Behind us!" was all the red paladin managed to say before the bull rammed their back with its enormous horns. Shiro's head banged against his chair, his helmet thankfully absorbing most of the impact. Voltron stumbled and fell, and the intercom was filled with screaming.

"Pidge, shield us from those teeth! Try to get it off! Keith, when it's further away, hit it with the sword!" Shiro quickly ordered as Voltron tried to turn around to fight off the rabid monster on its back. They wrestled with the bull, rolling over several times as robot and beast fought to kill.

"I got it!" Lance shouted, just before moving his lion forward to kick the bull away. However, a moment before impact the bull lowered its head, putting its horns straight in Lance's path.

"Lance, no!" Pidge screamed, but her voice was drowned out by the loud crunching sound when the blue lion collided with the solid horns. Crackling and static filled the comms for a few seconds before dying out, and the bull staggered back.

"Sword, now!" Shiro shouted, and Keith didn't hesitate to insert his bayard and shove the newly conjured sword into the now exposed belly of the beast. It screamed a horrid death cry as blood and innards spilled out the gash, but Voltron could show no mercy. All the paladins were silent as the bull died. When the monster was finally still, they dared to breath again.

"Everyone alright? Status report!" Shiro said.

"Fine," Hunk said, followed by Keith's out-of-breath "Fine."

"My lion is a bit battered, but otherwise fine," Pidge said.

"Lance? Status report?" Shiro asked when the last paladin didn't respond.

No answer.

"Lance? This better not be a joke," Keith said as Shiro moved to look down, and a moment later Pidge loudly yelled "Quiznak!" Shiro was about to scold her when he saw the sight himself. Quiznak indeed.

"Separate. Now," Shiro ordered when they saw the blue lion's head was almost unrecognizable, its impact with the bull having flattened most of the head, creating sparks, and exposing whirring gears behind the ears. Oil was leaking out, creating a spill on the ground like black blood.

"Lance! Are you alright?! Talk to us!" Hunk shouted as the lions separated. For a moment it seemed like the blue lion was going to fall to the ground, but then it flew away, back towards the castle.

"Seems like Blue is still functioning… barely… Comms are out, though. The impact shattered the entire radio hub. Lance is probably fine, we just can't talk to his cockpit. Let's go back, there's a lot of repairing to do," Pidge said, looking at her screens. The other paladins agreed, following the blue lion back to base.

The blue lion unexpectedly flew straight into the entrance hall of the castle, instead of its hangar, but that didn't alarm the paladins that much. They figured Lance wanted to do a victory parade or something, and expected him to already be out of his lion and boasting of his 'heroic deeds' by the time they landed.

But Lance wasn't there. Blue was sitting on its haunches, sparking and leaking oil from its broken face, and the paladins swore it was making a soft sound, almost like whimpering. Shiro approached the front, and when he was just a few yards away the mouth opened. Shiro briefly frowned at Keith, before climbing inside towards the cockpit while Pidge and Hunk moved to the side. Pidge swore loudly when she saw the full extent of the damage, and Hunk started rambling about how cruel Zarkon was to hurt a majestic creature like this.

The door to the cockpit was shut, and wouldn't open, not even when Shiro pushed with all his might.

"Keith? Can you cut it open?" he asked with heavy heart. He was reluctant to cause more damage, but making sure Lance was okay was more important. Lance drew his bayard and cut a clean rectangle in the door, making it fall inward with a heavy thud.

"Lance? You okay in here?" Shiro shouted as they walked inside, silently swearing when he saw the cockpit was wrecked. The entire right and front sides were pushed about two yards inward, and the floor was covered with broken glass from all the shattered consoles.

"Shit…" Keith muttered, and warily they walked toward the chair in the center, nearly crushed by the dented walls.

Lance lay in the chair, not moving, eyes shut. Blood covered his face inside the cracked helmet. His leg was lying at an unnatural angle, with blood seeping out near his knee. When Shiro looked closer, he noticed more blood was leaking out of the narrow gap between his chest and groin armor. He leaned in and thanked every god he knew of when he heard a shallow, grating breath.

"He's still alive, but we have to get him to a healing pod," he said, and Keith nodded, clearly shaken. Keith put his arms under Lance's knees and back, ignoring his soft whimpering, and slowly lifted him up. He had just lifted him out of the chair when a horrifying snapping and tearing noise, like nails over chalkboard, rang through the cockpit, followed by Lance screaming and crying.

Shiro's eyes moved down to Lance's leg, swearing silently when he saw the a long narrow, blood covered object peek out through his armor. The bone, now unsupported had torn right through the flesh and broken armor plate, and was now exposed to the outside air.

Quiznak.

Lance was now crying softly and whimpering, and Shiro wasn't sure if he was conscious or not. Keith was frozen, looking in horror at the exposed bone and torn muscles.

"Keith. Keith, look at me," he said clearly, and the red paladin tore his eyes away to look at Shiro.

"We'll grab him together. Come on, you take his shoulders, I'll take the legs," Shiro said, hoping Keith wouldn't notice the shiver in his voice. Slowly, Keith nodded, clearly still in shock.

"We got ya, buddy," Shiro whispered as they gently carried him out to the entrance hall.

"Is he…" Hunk asked hesitantly when they entered his line of sight, but before Shiro could answer Coran walked into the hall.

"Why are you here and not in the hangars? And what happened out there?! We suddenly lost communi-" Coran suddenly stopped when she saw the bleeding Lance and the smashed lion.

"I guess there's my answer. Healing pod?" he asked, and Shiro nodded.

"We'll stay here and try to repair Blue, okay?" Hunk said, and Shiro, Keith, and Coran moved forward, keeping Lance between the three of them.

"Hmm… Wha-Wha's happen..." they suddenly heard, making them look down. Lance's eyes were still shut, but he clearly winced in pain with every step they took.

"You were an idiot, that's what happened. You nearly got yourself killed with that stunt!" Keith exclaimed angrily, making Shiro glare at him.

"Wha… Where… Blue..." Lance muttered, and Shiro couldn't tell if he even heard what Keith said. If he had hearing damage as well…

"Lance, listen to me. Can you hear me? What is my name?" he asked, leaning over into Lance's line of sight as they walked.

"I… I hear Blue… She's…" the paladin continued to mutter, not responding to Shiro at all, and when he looked up Shiro saw Keith look at him with a scared expression.

"Let's get you healed up," Coran said, with a tone that was way too cheerful for someone carrying a half-dead paladin as they reached the infirmary. They put the still muttering Lance in as gently as they could, sighing in relief when the pod closed and the healing process began.

"Do… Do you think he'll be okay?" Keith asked, his tone much softer than Shiro was used to.

"I'm sure he'll be fine! These old pods have healed much worse!" Coran said cheerfully. "Too bad we don't have a healing pod for lions, though. Blue took quite a beating!" the butler continued as he accessed a nearby console, bringing up data on the blue lion. It seemed Pidge and Hunk had managed to plug it into the network for diagnosis. The fact that nearly the entire screen was flashing bright red didn't settle Shiro's mood, and he saw Keith wasn't doing any better.

"Come on, Keith. Get some rest. You did well today," Shiro said as he patted the red paladin's shoulder, and Keith slowly nodded before leaving. Shiro tried to remain positive as well, but he found it hard to do when he looked around and saw Lance floating in the pod, covered in bloodstained armor.

No matter how tired he was, Keith couldn't seem to fall asleep. Even though he just did more than three hours of nonstop intense training to stop the thoughts, he couldn't forget the image of Lance lying in that shattered cockpit.

He wasn't sure why. It wasn't like this was the first time one of them was wounded. Though it had never been this severe. He supposed Lance had been worse when that Rover impersonator drone blew him up, but it hadn't felt this… bad.

It hadn't occurred to him back then that one of them could have actually died. It was weird how they had been fighting for months now, but the possibility of death had never entered his mind like that. He knew being a paladin was dangerous, but knowing and realizing were too very different things.

Keith turned over again, punching his pillow and trying to find a more comfortable position, but it was useless. His thoughts kept straying to the infirmary, where Lance was still floating. He had a bad feeling in his gut, telling him to get up. It reminded him of the magnetic pull he had felt back on Earth, when the blue lion had attracted him.

The pull became stronger and stronger, until Keith couldn't take it anymore and jumped out. He only took a minute to put his shoes on and grab his bayard before running out of the room and down the hallway toward the infirmary. He wasn't sure what he was doing, it wasn't like there would be anything to see. Lance would still be there, floating lifelessly in that pod. But he had to, somehow. That pull in his gut kept telling there was something very wrong.

The infirmary was dark, but Keith's eyes adjusted as he walked toward the healing pod.

"You better appreciate this after you wake up, idiot. I'm losing sleep because of you," he said, preparing to unleash a big rant at the unconscious Lance, but then his breath stopped in his throat, and it felt like he had been punched.

The pod was open and empty.

How could this have happened? Those pods were supposed to be locked! And where had Lance gone?! Keith looked around in panic, trying to see any trace of the paladin. Lance's bloodstained and cracked helmet lied next to the pod, and his eyes eventually fell on a trail of dark blobs on the floor, and he swore loudly.

He couldn't have actually walked off in his state, could he? It was almost certainly Lance's blood, but maybe there was an intruder in the castle who kidnapped Lance. He decided to follow the trail of blood which was becoming thicker and thicker, the strange feeling in his gut telling him to follow it as well.

Keith walked the same route he had walked yesterday when carrying Lance, only the other way, and soon enough he reached the door to the entrance hall. Was the kidnapper trying to leave the castle? As silently as he could he opened the door and peeked in.

Well, that was definitely not what Keith expected.

Blue was still sitting there in the center of the hall, half of its head screwed open for repairs. The lion's was nosing something small next to it, and after a moment Keith realized it was Lance, lying in a spill of oil.

"Hey, kitty kitty. Who's a good kitty? You're a good kitty!" he could hear Lance mutter with a hoarse voice as he walked closer. What the hell?

"What are you doing here?! You should be healing!" Keith shouted angrily as he quickly examined Lance, swearing silently at the bloodstains in his hair, bruised and torn chest, and leg still lying at a disturbing angle. Thankfully the bone was covered by newly created skin again, though Keith could see it would scar.

Lance turned his head to look at Keith, and immediately cursed from pain.

"Don't move, you moron! Do you want to die?!" he shouted as he stomped over to Lance, glaring at the wounded paladin.

"Keith? Is that you? I'm… Are there two of you?" Lance stuttered, making Keith frown when he noticed Lance's eyes were unfocused. He should definitely not be out.

"Of course it's me, moron. Now what are you doing out here?" Keith asked, getting angry.

"I… Blue was hurt… and… I felt that… I think. She needs me. It's kind of blurry," Lance said, and Keith reluctantly knelt next to him.

"But how did you get out here? There's no way you can walk!" he said angrily, getting fed up by Lance's inability to grasp that this was dangerous.

"Uhh…" Lance stuttered for a long time, clearly in pain from the thinking.

"I… I think I crawled. I don't really remember. I just knew Blue was in pain, so I wanted to help her," he eventually said, and Keith sighed. Blue looked angry, gently pushing at Lance again with its nose. The lion was clearly telling Lance to go away, back to his healing pod, but the paladin didn't seem to get the message.

"Let's get you back to the pod," Keith said as he reached out his arms to Lance, who was now tickling Blue's chin.

"No, I gotta stay with Blue! I can feel her pain!" Lance said, sounding almost like a crying child, and Keith sighed.

"If you stay here soon you'll not feel anything anymore! Blue'll be fine, Pidge and Hunk will fix her! Now just work with me, dammit!" he said, losing his patience.

Lance was about to protest more, but then Blue moved a giant paw, and used it to slide Lance slightly toward the door.

"Blue? I'm not gonna leave you! You're hurt!" Lance shouted, clearly hurt by the rejection.

"Come on, Lance! She can't go with us into the castle. You'll see her in the morning, I promise," Keith said as he grabbed Lance's shoulders. The blue paladin briefly tried to fight, but he was no match for Keith in his current state. The moment he tried to jump to his feet and a cracking sound came from his leg, Keith knew it was over. He moved to catch Lance, who was now falling over like a limp ragdoll after breaking his leg for the third time that day.

"Now will you stay still already, you moron?! I'll get you back to bed, then you're gonna sleep, and then you're gonna be on toilet cleaning duty for a week if I get my say," Keith said, as he put his head under Lance's chest, and moved him into a fireman's hold. Lance still struggled between his whimpers of pain, reaching out to Blue, who was looking after him with a hint of sadness in her mechanical eyes.

As Keith walked back into the castle, Lance over his shoulders, he suddenly felt incredibly calm. The strange gut feeling was lifted, and he realized that it must have been caused by the blue lion. Maybe she called him out because she needed help, just like on Earth. That time he had to bring her paladin to her. This time he had to take her paladin away. How quickly things change.

"Blue… Where are you? It hurts!" Lance mumbled between his groans of pain, and Keith didn't really do his best to be gentle. Lance probably wouldn't remember it, and even if he did, he kind of deserved it. Keith hated to admit it, but it hurt to realize how much closer Lance was to Blue than he was to Red. He had never sensed his lion's pain or emotions. How had Lance of all people beat him to that?!

Maybe Lance wasn't such a terrible paladin after all, Keith thought as he put a barely conscious Lance back into the healing pod and put a nearby computer case against it to make sure he wouldn't be able to escape again.

Keith was still nervous about death, but seeing the way Lance defied it, spit in its face, made him wonder if he was worrying too much.

So, as he walked out of the infirmary, he didn't take the route back to his room. Rather, he walked to the hangars, deciding to visit Red. Maybe he'd be able to sleep there, his lion watching over him.