Pain shot completely throughout Lance, his breath hitching with every single breath. His right wrist was bent at an unnatural angle, he twisted his left ankle, had a laceration on his right thigh, a few broken ribs, and a gash that was letting blood flow into his right eye. Lotor stood above Lance, a sword in his hands, a sad expression crossed his handsome features.

"You know, Paladin of the Blue Lion, I'm going to truly regret not screwing you before I end you." He hummed and let out a sigh of content, "It's also quite a shame that the other paladins aren't here to see your last moments." Lotor kicked Lance's side when he started nodding off, making the snarky boy scream and writhe in pain.

The coms lit up then, Lance finally realized that they had flicked back on sometime during his fight with the Galran prince. "Lance, what's going on? What's your status, have you found the Eastern Wing prisoners yet?" Shiro shot out questions rapidly, in any other situation, Lance probably would've laughed and answered like his cocky self, but not now.

Distracting him from the voices of his teammates, Lotor got down on one knee, half-way stradling Lance. "You truly are one of the most beautiful paladins I've ever met, I'd spare you your life if you agreed to go to bed with me." Lotor's smile stretched into a smirk, Lance repressed a shudder when Lotor looked him up and down again.

"Go to hell, Lotor, I would never agree to that!" Just to make what he said final, Lance spit up at the Prince, successfully getting his spit on Lotor's cheek. Quick as lightning, Lotor struck Lance and he yelled out and gagged before rolling onto his side and emptied his stomach onto the cold ground. Lotor laughed and stood back up, digging his heel into Lance's crotch, making him bite back a howl of pain.

The coms lit up with worried comments about Lance and someone asked Coran to get Lance's coordinates. "Lance, Lance, listen to me! You have to tough through whatever's going on, I'll be there in a few!" Lance couldn't get an answer out so he just hummed, he couldn't tell whether it was Shiro or Keith that said that.

Lotor snapped at one of the nearby guards and he cleaned up the mess next to the Blue Paladin, bowing down to Lotor as he did. Once the vomit was gone, not a speck left, Lotor completely straddled Lance again and leaned down, popping the Cuban's helmet off. He laughed, "You won't be needing this anymore," and simply tossed it over his shoulder, not caring where it landed.

Lotor's smooth hand clapped against Lance's cheek a few times, making sure the Cuban was fully aware of his surroundings. The Galran Prince lowered his face to the point where the two were touching noses and their breaths were intertwining. The moment seemed to last forever with Lance's harsh panting from the broken, aching ribs to his pounding headache and Lotor's calm and collected atmosphere.

The Prince sighed and chuckled deeply before pressing his lips up harshly against Lance's own dry, cracked lips. Lance jerked, trying to get away, but only caused himself more pain and accidentally let Lotor have access to slip his tongue into the Blue Paladin's mouth. A loud hissing sound echoed throughout the mostly silent room and then an enraged cry.

"Get the fuck away from Lance!" There was sounds of a struggle behind the two, Lotor's lips still covering Lance's. Another cry rang out before a piercing pain shot through Lance, making him scream into Prince Lotor's mouth. Lotor detached himself from the boy underneath him and ran his thumb over the smear of blood that was beginning to drip down his chin.

"It really was a shame our relationship had to end like this, if only you had accepted my offer," He tsked a few times, frowning. Lotor dug his blade even further into Lance, making the Cuban emit a gagging sound and stood up, putting even more pressure onto the blade that was almost impaling the heavily injured male.

With an enraged cry, Keith swung his sword at Lotor and the damned Galra jumped back, dislodging his sword from Lance's body with sickening sounds. Lotor turned on his heel, his hair swishing over his shoulder as well, some soldiers came racing into the room, blocking their Prince from Keith.

"Don't attack them, let the Voltron team leave peacefully, we've crippled them enough." Lotor chuckled darkly, turning to send Keith a smirk before leaving the room. The soldiers put their weapons in their holsters and stood at attention, watching the two members of Voltron with sharp glares.

Keith went to his knees next to Lance, tears forming in his eyes against his will, "You can't die on me, Lance! You promised me, before this mission! Damn it, I love you so please, for me, don't die," Keith spilled, his voice quivering.

The Red Paladin switched his coms on and carefully picked Lance up and cradled the Blue Paladin in his arms. "Shiro, I have Lance, he's severely injured! Lotor has ordered all of his soldiers to let out get out safely so get out ASAP and get a pod ready!" Lance cried out when Keith accidentally let the Cuban's left ankle on one of the doorways to get out.

"We've got Blue so don't worry about her, you can take Lance back in Red," Hunk called over the coms. The halls were eerily quiet as Keith raced through them; not a single Galra soldier could be seen. Keith spared a glance down at Lance to pick up speed, Lance's face was too pale and he had slipped out of consciousness. He rounded a corner and slid into the hangar, mentally calling out for Red to open up.

Not bothering to separate Lance from himself, Keith sat down in the pilot's seat with an unconscious Paladin in his arms. Keith hoped Lance would remember this bonding moment, unlike the one when Lance had saved Coran from getting blown to bits. Keith put Red into autopilot and gentle smacked Lance's cheeks, "Lance, dude, you gotta wake up. Come on," His voice was beginning to seep into the more desperate tones, even more tears were beginning to build up in his lilac eyes.

Blue eyes began to show through lidded eyes, Keith nearly laughed, he was so happy. Until Lance started arching his back and making a horrid gagging sound. Keith grabbed a bucket and held it next to Lance so his fellow paladin didn't vomit onto the floor of the cockpit. Lance stopped throwing up and leaned back against Keith, panting heavily.

Something was very apparent then, especially with the blood coating Keith's lap and in the bucket. Lance wasn't going to make it. A few stray tears fell down Keith's cheeks.

Keith made sure his communication system was shut off, "Lance, I'm so sorry, I wish I had gotten there sooner. I'm so, so sorry," Keith buried his face into the crook of Lance's neck, fully sobbing at this point. Lance trembled as he attempted to soothe Keith by stroking his mullet' Keith remembered all of the times that Lance had made fun of it.

"Keither, listen up, bud," Lance gave a few wet coughs that wracked his whole body, "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have been so mean to you, dude, mullet suits," more coughs, "you." Lance turned towards Keith, hissing and nearly screamed.

"Keith, I love you."

Lance pressed his forehead up against Keith's, tears falling freely from both of their cheeks. Shakily, Keith closed the distance between them, pressing a gentle kiss against Lance's lips. The body in his arms went limp and Keith separated himself, sobbing to the point of wheezing.

How dare Lance do this to him? "I-I love you too, Lance!" Keith clutched Lance's limp body against his chest, cradling his head and had his hand resting on the square of Lance's back. Keith choked on his sobs when he realized they had gotten back to the castle.

Through his own pain, Keith could feel Blue's immense pain and sadness for her recently deceased paladin. He had been her favorite, there was no doubt about it. Keith grabbed a blanket he had left in Red and wrapped it around Lance, making sure to cover most of the injuries. Keith picked his first and probably last love up, attempting to compose himself before he saw the rest of the paladins reactions.

Red unwillingly opened up to let Keith stumble out, doing everything he could not to break down and start crying. Shiro, Coran, and Allura were the first ones to notice how still the usually lively paladin was. Allura threw herself into Shiro's chest, sobbing, while Coran just stood there with a stricken look.

"We have to get him to a pod immediately! I can take him, Keith," Hunk said, trying to take Lance away from Keith. On reflex, Keith stepped back and held the corpse closer to himself, sniffling while doing so.

Realization hit Hunk like a truck, he recoiled sharply and went to his knees. He didn't start sobbing until Keith walked past him, Pidge immediately went to his side with tears in their eyes as well. "Coran, is there a special pod we can put him in? I want to take him to his family, it's what he'd want."

Coran swallowed thickly and nodded, they found themselves in a room down the hall from the med bay that was lined with pods that were lying horizontally. Some in the far corners were dimmed so you couldn't see inside of them where the rest were empty. Keith numbly placed Lance in a pod and closed it, Coran placed a hand on his shoulder and rubbed his thumb into Keith's shoulder.

"Thank you, Coran, could you tell the others I've gone to bed? Thanks, night," The walk back to Keith's room was numb and he looked a little down the hall. Lance's room.

Keith continued walking and slipped into Lance's room, closing the door behind him. The room screamed Lance, full of blue and life. Keith's shoulders started shaking with sobs and he gingerly touched Lance's pillow before burrowing his face into it, breathing in the last smell of Lance.