They were coming quickly.

Quickly, quickly, and they wouldn't stop.

There had been a lead on Pidge's family. There had been records- very recent ones at that- of the prisoners.

Zarkon had been quiet for a long time now.

They rushed the ship, taken down the drones.

They were supposed to grab it and go.

But that hadn't happened.

Galra soldiers and drones alike flooded the area. And now… now the five paladins were trapped.

Lance looked to his left. Pidge's eyes blazed a fire. Her bayard was already out and ready. Hunk, too. So he looked to his right. Keith's eyes were narrowed, his sword being formed. And Shiro, with his Galra arm glowing a sinister purple. Looking at his four friends, he couldn't help but be reminded of that old saying on Earth...

How'd it go?

Something about a cornered animal. Or… was it a caged animal?

Lance mentally shook his head. Focus… you need to focus…

The point was, him and his friends- no, his family- wouldn't go down without a fight. They wouldn't give up.

"Pidge." Shiro's voice echoed through all of their intercoms, "You got the records?"

"Yeah. Backed up and ready to take on the castle."

"So we just… blast our way through the Galra, make a running leap to our lions, and high-tail to the castle so we can wormhole our way away!" Lance chirped, ever upbeat.

"Yes… that's about right." Shiro spoke the same time Keith grimaced. Lance made it sound too easy.

"So why aren't we already making our way to the- oh…" Hunk was cut off by the sound of footstep. Too many footsteps. And they were heading their way.

Shiro, however, grimly answered his unfinished question,"Because they're already here."

And, like magic, those four words were the start of the battle. Galra guns fired non-stop. The sound was never ending… it wouldn't stop…

But then the five paladins leaped forward, slicing and shooting at any foe close enough.

Blood pounded in Lance's ears. He couldn't hear much over that, combined with the never-ending gunshots. He himself shot his own gun. One after another, he waste not a single shot.

A few lucky shots managed to hit Lance's armour, but it did not pierce skin. Sure, Lance didn't doubt that he would have a few bruises the coming day, but it could be much worse.

It did take quite a while, but eventually, they were able to fight a path through their attackers. They all stayed close, all looking out for each other.

After they escaped from the main cluster of Galra, the five were mostly left to sprint to their Lions. It was then that Lance was starting to feel the bruises as he ran, over-exerting himself. The original adrenaline from the fight started to wear off, and he could sense his movements becoming more sluggish.

Get a hold of yourself, Lance snapped at himself, vigorously shaking his head. The lions were then there, though.

Blue's particle barrier went down, and her mouth opened, as did Green, Yellow, Red, and Black. And Lance and his fellow paladins all did the same thing- getting in the pilot chair and, quite literally, high-tailed out and away.

The coms were turned on, so the sounds of all five paladins panting for breath filled the air. As they sped away, Shiro was heard once again,"You guys all good?"

A chorus of "yes"es were heard, albeit some a little more out of breath that others.

Lance was one of these. Hunk noticed this. And he also noticed something a bit… off…

He decided to voice his worries. "Lance? You alright?"

No answer.

The others fell silent as well.

"Lance." Hunk tried again, "You didn't get hit did you? I'm pulling up a video chat."

"... N-no. I-I'm fine. Sorry, bud, didn't mean to…" Lance trailed off for a few seconds before quickly jumping back in again, "to scare you."

"You sure?" It took Lance a moment to register Shiro's voice. So that meant that Shiro was the one talking now, right?

"Lance!"

… Right.

"Yeah! I'm fine, guys! Stop acting so concerned, the battle just took a toll on me. I think."

"Well, if you don't want us to worry then stop acting so weird!" That voice was really mean. Or mad. Either one. Did being mean and being mad mean the same thing? Lance didn't think so. He was fairly certain that there was a small difference, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Lance!" And there was that mad/mean voice again! He didn't like it.

"CRAP!" That was another voice. It sounded mad/mean, too, but different this tim-

BANG!

Lance was suddenly forced to slam forward as Blue was pushed from behind. Upon impact with the… the button table, pressure was put on a particular bruise. The dull throb was suddenly replaced with a sharp burning sensation and so he let out a pain-filled cry.

"Pidge, Lance, what happened?!" That was familiar. Who…-?

"Sorry, Shiro! Lance and Blue suddenly stopped and I was right behind them so I didn't have time to stop and I ran right into them and Lance are you okay? You don't sound okay so-" So the small, rambling voice belonged to Pidge. That… that made sense. Why wouldn't that have made sense before?

"Pidge," Shiro gently cut off Pidge, "Calm down. No harm done, right?"

Lance had pressed his hand to his bruise, as if to somehow shield it.

"Lance."

They were so needy, all of them. They can't just… just leave Lance alone. No, they just keep calling his nam-

"Lance!"

And there they go again! Not five seconds before they go and shout his name to the rooftops, and… and- and WOW that bruise was nasty.

Lance could hear Shiro mutter something under his breath, but couldn't catch exactly what he said. Louder, though, Shiro spoke, but his murmuring was still hard to hear, "... Blue… seems unresponsive… Get to the castle… Check out Lance…"

Silence. Lance squeezed his eyes shut and sucked in a quick breath, curling in on himself to protect his burning bruise. Bruises didn't hurt this much, right? They weren't supposed to hurt this much, right?

… Right?

And so suddenly Lance could feel Blue moving again. And he felt too sluggish. And he was tired. And after that important mission, he was entitled to a nice, long, comfortable nap, right?

He supposed so.

Lance allowed himself to go limp. And he was drifting off, when Blue was jostled again. The movement hurt his bruise and he let out an almost-silent cry.

Blue was unmoving after that, though. But only a few seconds passed before more sound could be heard. Footsteps? Was that footsteps? But how had they- oh. Blue probably opened the latch. Or was it them who opened Blue up? He didn't know.

Lance could faintly hear Pidge suck in a breath, followed by a, "That's… a lot of blood."

He knew he should've felt alarmed at this blurry statement. Blood?! Was there blood? Was someone bleeding?

They… They weren't talking about him, were they?He hadn't gotten hit, so there was no reason for them to-

The cloudy haze surrounding Lance lessened its hold for a moment, allowing him to give a soft start.

His bruise…

But… But no. The armor prevented him from getting hit.

But… did they…?!

Had Lance really been shot? Forcing his eyes to once again open, they immediately widened as he stared at his side. There was, indeed, much blood.

He needed to look away, Lance knew. But he couldn't. And as his breath quickened, he felt a dullness being thrown over his thinking once again.

No! You can't… you can't zone out. That'd be bad… bad… really bad, because…

"Lance!"

The voice did nothing to rouse him.

The voice didn't… but the slap did.

With wide eyes, Lance look limply up at a blurred Keith, purple eyes narrowed. He was saying something, but the ringing in Lance's ears were louder and he found himself unable to make anything out.

The Blue Paladin was slightly in control of his thoughts. He now knew that he had been shot; it felt surreal, but Lance knew the truth. His chest also hurt. Breathing was hard… That might be because of his quick, shallow breaths that Lance may or may not have been sure of it was normal or not.

But then suddenly, firm arms were slipped under him, picking him up to carry bridal style. Black and white, Lance made out of the darkening, blurring scene. Black and white hair, black and white armor. The abrupt move, however, sent black spots dancing through his vision and they seemed reluctant to leave. So Lance decided to close his eyes once again.

The yells and urgent screams did nothing to wake him. And as it were, those blue eyes, usually so, so bright, did not open again for a very long time.

His friends were beginning to think that the pod wouldn't ever release its hold over the Blue Paladin.

But finally, it did.

And Lance was believed to be okay.