Colder

Summary: Lance struggles to find an accurate description of himself and his place on the team. After five months captured by the Galra, he suffers some serious side affects.

Chapter Five: Doubt

Lance is faced with a series of choices.

Lance was no stranger to fear.

Fear was merely a reality when you were billions of light years away from home, caught in some kind of intergalactic war with nothing but five robotic lions and his own pseudo-confidence to show for it. Fear was a luxury the paladin couldn't afford, not when there was so much at stake. Functioning at maximum capacity was scarcely enough to keep up with Keith and Shiro-now those guys?

They weren't afraid of anything.

Lance's head was spinning as buried memories began to surface-he couldn't keep it under control. Lingering doubt lashed out at the corners of his mind and sunk into his skin, which felt clammy and hot. Doubt bared its nasty fangs as Fear sat with a triumphant look in the corner.

'"I remember you, you're a cargo pilot."'

"Shutup-shutup-shutup," bare hands ripped brown and white strands to their limit, the pain went unnoticed as Lance's teeth gnashed in anguish.

Cargo Pilot.

That witch knew what she was doing when she chose him: he was the weakest link after all.

The Seventh Wheel.

Wide eyes snapped back to his present reality, the reality he had no control over.

The weak link.

Lance would have stopped everything, he would have never done this, if he had control. Yet the boy had all the control in this situation.

'"Maybe I don't have a thing."'

He began to pace in the small confounds of the cold, dim alien warehouse. Lance landed on this planet a couple of vargas ago with only one thought and one goal: he had to find the person Slav told him about, even if it meant breaking into this guys home and forcing him to come here. His pacing continued. Experiencing his own fear was different than experiencing someone else's. Lance heard Slav's screams and he saw the look of terror in this man's eyes upon his arrival. There was not enough guilt in the universe to stop Lance from finding a way back to Earth...back to his family. Allura had been attempting to make friendly negotiations with this planet for several movements and they were one of the few planets that had managed to advance technologically as a society under Zarkon's rule, and (according to Allura) their success in science field would be an essential ally in their fight against the Galra. Lance wasn't exactly the best negotiator but he was pretty certain that kidnapping one of their top leading science people was a big no-no.

Allura would have to deal because this guy was his last chance. He was Lance's only chance. The paladin was nowhere near half as smart as Pidge or Hunk but he knew that if this progressed any further Voltron might lose Lance forever.

Fear reared its ugly head once more as it made his vision darken at the edges. His breaths were shallow and erratic as his pacing quickened. He was running out of time. He needed the cure now. The scientist appeared to be working, if not pain-mistakenly slow with his back turned to the paladin. The man was stealing the occasional glances over his shoulder at Lance, his hands pausing as if to consider something. Lance had stalled enough in his lifetime to know that's exactly what this guy was doing. Any slower and he might have to re-incentivize him. The last thing the boy needed was for somebody to wake up and realize that one of their most important citizens had gone missing. Lance halted in his tracks. He frowned for a brief moment of clarity and mumbled, "What am I doing?"

The break of silence in the chilled atmosphere gave the man enough courage to speak, "They'll find me you know. They won't let you get away with this."

Lance's glowing eyes stared at the man dangerously, "If you want to keep those fingers, Doc, I would keep working."

The damage had already been done, however, the scientist continued, "If you think for a second that this doesn't end our alliance with Voltron-"

"What part of 'I'll freeze you to death' don't you understand?"

His hostage definitely raised his chin, "Anyone can see that you have never taken a life outside of battle, paladin, the fear is in your eyes."

Lance had his back to him now, "I don't fear anything anymore."

Wrong.

It was suffocating him and it wasn't a wonder that this guy could sense it. The Cuban boy was struggling to get a hold of himself. Glowing eyes closed momentarily and his captive stole the opportunity. Webbed alien fingers typed manically on his computer while tripping some kind of alert system. Lance's hand shot out and grabbed the other man's arm, whose scream echoed in the empty warehouse as ice deeply embedded itself into his skin.

The ice destroyed the computer he was working on as his skin blackened before his eyes and Lance's voice changed, "What did I tell you?"

There was no chance to respond as ice in the atmosphere began to crystallize in his lungs, there was telling if the boy before him knew it was happening. The man began to gape like a fish out of water as the doors to the warehouse opened. Lance took several steps backwards as he was surrounded by soldiers. He heard the barrels pull back consecutively.

"Hands on your head!"

"Don't move!"

"We have a man down-man down!"

The blue paladin cooperated by lifting his hands into the air.

"Quiznack-he's a just kid!"

His glowing eyes searched the armed officers with suspicion. Those same eyes fell to the man dying on the floor only a few feet away.

"Don't you even breath pal," one of the officers had a gloved finger poised on the trigger.

Lance shifted his weight around as they began closing in. A few more seconds and it would be too late. Ice collected in his palms and fingers, "Well, they don't call me the dumb one for nothing," he thought. In less than a time slice he began lowering his hands as a foreign bullet tore from its chamber. The growing wall of ice surrounded him as his eyes closed.

Lance waited.

He waited a few more ticks before daring to crack an eye open. He was met by a blurry head and a bright green shield. Lance's heart stopped. A roar was heard from a mile in every direction.

Green?

"Pidge?"

"I've got Lance!"

"Freeze!"

"Don't move!"

"What the-"

Flashes of red, yellow, and black dropped in the warehouse despite the alien force's commands. These colors dropped in to form a protective circle around Lance with every shield and scrap of metal raised and ready to fight.

Lance began to grow very uncomfortable as his friends not only stood inches away but refused to glance in his general direction. Doubt grinned a nasty smile at him from the corner it sat in.

Shiro addressed the officers, "Stop! We are the paladins of Voltron, we are not here to hurt you."

"What do you call kidnapping and attempted murder bub? We are way past negotiation so back the quiznack up."

Shiro clenched his jaw, throwing a single word back over his shoulder, "Lance," his steely gaze softened temporarily, "What are you doing?"

The blue in Lance's eyes returned as he felt guilt prick through the ice. "I…"

"We don't have to resolve this through violence. Is there any other way?" Surprise blossomed in the blue paladin as these words came from Keith. Keith hadn't looked at him either. Anxiety peppered him relentlessly as the others simply tried to diffuse the situation.

What appeared to be the chief officer snipped, "If you give your guy over, no harm will come to you."

"What about our guy?" Keith prompted.

Shiro eyed Keith, then the aliens.

Lance struggled to blink away the fog that was beginning to settle in. The tension in the air was so thick one could cut it with a piece of string.

"He made his choice."

His heart dropped roughly into his stomach as ice began collecting around him.

"Lance?"

He couldn't breathe.

The lights flickering caused his thoughts to skip with it.

"L-L-La-an-c-c-ce?"

Ice fell out as a restricted exhale and his hands began shaking. He rapidly scanned the soldiers around him as external noise fell under water. Panic gripped him as they moved closer; his hands rose with a cloud of ice crystallizing in the air.

"Lance no!"

The ice barely left his hands before shots were exchanged.

Author Note: Thank you so much for reading guys, to be honest I didn't know if I should take this chapter I bit further or end it here, so if you guys have a opinion on that please let me know. I know I am still learning as a writer so if you have any suggestions, any at all, I am willing to here it. I am not very good at updating but this story seems to keep going lol. I am thinking of ways I can go back and fix previous chapters, so again, if you have any outside perspectives, please let me know. Thanks!