Author's Notes: PLEASE READ!
Fanfiction dot Net does not technically allow updates or stories of solely author's notes and so I post this mainly as an author's note but have also included a fanfiction to abide by rules. Enjoy it, but please read this first.
I am no longer posting on Fanfiction dot Net. I am not active on this site. I am not reading or responding to any messages I receive.
I have moved solely to Archive of Our Own where I have posted over TWENTY new Voltron fanfictions since leaving this site. I encourage you to join me there. Please do drop a comment if you read anything you like, the emotional support and validation means the world.
In addition to being on Archive of Our Own I am also active on both Tumblr and Patre0n (FF does not like this word, replace the '0' with an 'o'). All of my handles for these sites are listed below. If you like my works, please come by. Again, I am not active on this site. I am posting this as I have been receiving an influx of private messages in the last few weeks and I want it to be clear, if my earlier announcement on my profile and author's note of this fic was not, that I am not active here. I am not seeing these messages nor responding.
Thank you for your understanding. Maybe see you around :)
Archive Of Our Own: IcyPanther
Tumblr: icypantherwrites
Patre0n: IcyPanther
Screaming So Loud (There's No Sound at All)
Timeline notes: Technically I'm picturing season two but really any season is applicable depending on how gentle you imagine Shiro to be while under Haggar influence xD
Warning notes: Field surgery? Not anything too graphic but intense medical situation
Summary: Shiro was holding him down, flesh hand pinning him to the table and his legs restrained. "I'm in position," Shiro whispered into the comms, voice wavering. His attention turned. "Just… just hold on, Lance. It's gonna be okay." And burning hot fingers plunged into his stomach. Someone screamed. And Lance realized it was him.
xxx
Screaming.
Who was screaming?
They were so loud.
It…
It sort of sounded like…
Him?
At the realization it cut off, the ear splitting wails giving way to loud pants that still somehow hurt, each inhale feeling like fire was flooding his stomach.
He whimpered.
Over them he heard someone else shouting.
They sounded scared.
Was… was he scaring them?
He tried to open his eyes, to figure out what was going on.
Harsh light assaulted his vision and he shut them.
It hurt.
"Hold on, hold on buddy," the shouts were quieter now but no less panicked. "It's gonna be okay. I've got you. It's gonna be okay."
Shiro? He tried to say such but pain swam up his throat and he coughed.
The fires were set alight.
He was screaming again.
He couldn't stop.
"Lance, Lance shh, it's okay, you're gonna be okay. Stay with me buddy."
There was a sharp crackling then in his ear and he cried out.
"Number One, there's no time. You need to get them out now."
"Coran, I can't," Shiro sounded, voice echoing both in Lance's helmet and outside it. "I can't do—"
"He will die, Shiro."
Shiro's breath hitched.
Lance wondered who they were talking about.
They sounded like they were in trouble.
"What… what I do?" Shiro's voice trembled.
"You need a flat surface, preferably elevated so you are at height."
"Okay. Okay. Got it. Hang on a tick."
Shiro picked up the pace and Lance whimpered.
It hurt. Dios, why did everything hurt so much?
What had happened?
He couldn't remember.
He was being lowered from Shiro's arms a moment later, something hard beneath him and as painful as Shiro's hold had been he missed it.
"Okay, done," Shiro said.
Wait.
Done?
Were…
Were they talking about him?
"You said the radzes entered his stomach, yes?"
"Y-yeah. Four of them."
Coran cursed.
Lance started.
Radzes.
He knew that word. Sort of.
Those were the weapon they had been sent to retrieve. The small spiked bullets that could penetrate almost any substance and worked their way into the bloodstream to flow to pierce the heart.
Near instant death.
Voltron had learned of them through the Blades and their Paladin armor had been found to be one of the few substances the bullets could not pierce. They'd gone down to stop the production and apprehend all of the ones that existed before the Galra could get their hands on them.
Lance had entered the lab…
He didn't remember anything else after that.
Had he…
Had he been shot?
Coran and Shiro had apparently carried on their conversation without his listening as next he knew Shiro was unclasping his chest plate and dropping it to the floor with a clatter.
Lance jolted at the sound.
His stomach flared.
He screamed, a near breathless sound.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's okay, you're okay. It's okay."
Shiro sounded like he was almost ready to cry.
It was most definitely not okay.
"—ep him calm, Shiro. A faster heart rate causes them to—"
Coran's voice cut off abruptly as the helmet was lifted away and then there was a heavy hand pressing on his shoulder and a lighter, warmer one descending on his head and stroking bangs backwards.
"Lance, buddy," he heard Shiro swallow, the higher tone of his voice fading, replaced with a cooler calm. "Lance, I need you to take a deep breath for me, okay? I need… I need you to do that."
The hand continued petting his hair and the one on his shoulder was a steadying weight and Lance tried to do as Shiro asked, although knowing he needed to do it because his rapid heart rate was going to kill him was terrifying and what if they were almost at his heart now and—
"Lance, please," Shiro pleaded. "Calm down. It's going to be okay. Breathe for me, buddy."
"Sh-Shiro," Lance whispered, pitch high and breathy and oh Dios that was him?
It hurt.
It hurt so bad.
"Shh, shh, I've got you. Come on buddy, deep breath. Breathe with me."
He heard Shiro suck in a noisy inhale and he tried to copy it.
"No more time to waste." Coran's voice was softer now, as while Shiro had removed Lance's helmet he had placed it just above his head and he could still hear the comms.
He didn't know if that was such a good thing.
What was Shiro about to—?
The sound of ripping fabric reached Lance's ears.
His undersuit, he realized, a breath of cold air washing over bare skin on his stomach.
He shuddered.
The fire roared back to life.
Lance let out a choked moan.
Keep calm. Keep calm.
Dios.
There was a rustle of cloth and he felt Shiro move from above down to his feet. Something wrapped about his calves, tightening.
Shiro was tying him down.
Oh Dios. Dios Dios Dios.
"Shiro," Lance whimpered as he felt something drag against his legs, the restraints weighted down now. His armor, he realized, that Shiro had removed.
Shiro moved back towards his chest, his flesh hand now on his shoulder, not as gentle as before but almost bracing.
Holding him down.
Oh Dios.
"I'm in position," Shiro murmured.
"The radzes will have already moved from the entry points. You must find them. They react to heat."
Lance could feel Shiro's shudder through his shoulder.
"Coran, you can't mean—?"
"Yes. Seek them out and then… then you must remove them."
Lance did not like where this was going.
"Shiro," he whispered, voice cracking. "Sh-Shiro, please—"
"It's going to be all right," Shiro responded, the waver in his voice betraying him. "It's gonna be okay."
"The heat from your hand will cauterize Lance's flesh inside," Coran sounded. "Be careful and quick. We… we don't want any further damage."
Lance let out a low sob, keeping his eyes wrenched shut.
No.
Oh Dios no.
"Quickly, Shiro. You don't have time."
"Okay. Okay."
Shiro took a deep inhale. "Lance, I'm so sorry. I'm going to be quick, okay? Just… just hold on. It's gonna be okay."
Shiro's grip tightened painfully on his shoulder and he could feel him pressing down with his body weight, larger form strong enough to do so.
Oh Dios.
There was a wash of heat then, almost gentle. It passed over his stomach.
Shiro was hovering his hand, he realized.
But even that started to hurt, the warmth turning hot and Lance moaned again, trying to shift away even though he knew he couldn't.
There was a quick intake of breath, an "I see them," and then—
Burning hot fingers plunged into his stomach.
Lance wailed.
He flung his head back, smashing it against the ledge, and his feet kicked out uselessly, not going anywhere thanks to the restraints and the weight.
He could feel them curling inside of him, pinpointed streaks of torture, digging and searching and searing and oh Dios make it stop make it stop make it stop!
He continued to scream.
Shiro's fingers left only to go back in.
It was worse the second time.
It didn't end.
Shiro was saying something but Lance could no longer hear him. He could only hear his own screams, his pulse, he needed to calm down calm down calm down before he killed himself but he couldn't he couldn't breathe it hurt it hurt it hurt.
Twice more it happened, Shiro's heated hand moving lower each time, the vague sound of curses assaulting Lance's ears as surely as the pain inside of him.
And then…
It stopped.
The pain was still there, a crackling, stabbing torment, but no longer actively moving, Shiro's fingers stopping their plunging search.
"Got them," Shiro panted above him and the bruising grip on his shoulder lessened. "All… all four."
That shaking hand came up to rest against Lance's forehead, brushing against the sweat-soaked bangs. Lance turned his head into the gentle touch, shuddering and crying.
"All over," Shiro whispered. "It's over. Lance, it's over. It's okay. It's okay. You were so brave. It's over now. You're gonna be okay."
Lance didn't feel capable of speech, his throat ravaged from his shouts and his stomach and chest still a mass of agony and fire.
"Excellent job, Shiro," and Coran's relief was palatable. "Bring him here now. I'm prepping a pod as we speak."
"Roger that."
The hand left his bangs and Lance whined at the loss, but they were traveling to his feet, relieving the weight and the restraints.
"I'm so sorry," Shiro murmured, back a moment later. "I'm so sorry, Lance."
Lance rocked his head against the surface.
No.
No.
Shiro had nothing to apologize for.
He'd… he'd saved him.
"Th...thank you," Lance managed, prying open tear-crusted eyes. Shiro's countenance, worried and scared and relieved and horrified met his.
Shiro let out something that could have been a sob, could have been a laugh, and the hand trailed down his cheek, rubbing it gently. Lance closed his eyes, soothed by the gesture.
Everything still hurt, but…
But it wasn't so bad now.
He was okay.
He was safe.
Shiro had saved him.
"You're gonna be okay now," Shiro promised him, voice choked. "I've got you."
Saying so Lance felt one hand slide under his knees and the other even more carefully shift to his back and he was lifted into Shiro's arms and cradled close. Lance tilted his head forward, nudging it into the crook between Shiro's arm and shoulder.
Safe.
"I've got you," Shiro repeated softly. "You're gonna be okay." The arms tightened.
"You're gonna be okay."
Author's Notes (reposted again): PLEASE READ!
Fanfiction dot Net does not technically allow updates or stories of solely author's notes and so I post this mainly as an author's note but have also included a fanfiction to abide by rules. Enjoy it, but please read this first.
I am no longer posting on Fanfiction dot Net. I am not active on this site. I am not reading or responding to any messages I receive.
I have moved solely to Archive of Our Own where I have posted over TWENTY new Voltron fanfictions since leaving this site. I encourage you to join me there. Please do drop a comment if you read anything you like, the emotional support and validation means the world.
In addition to being on Archive of Our Own I am also active on both Tumblr and Patre0n (FF does not like this word, replace the '0' with an 'o'). All of my handles for these sites are listed below. If you like my works, please come by. Again, I am not active on this site. I am posting this as I have been receiving an influx of private messages in the last few weeks and I want it to be clear, if my earlier announcement on my profile and author's note of this fic was not, that I am not active here. I am not seeing these messages nor responding.
Thank you for your understanding. Maybe see you around :)
Archive Of Our Own: IcyPanther
Tumblr: icypantherwrites
Patre0n: IcyPanther