Don't Touch Me (Voltron Kangst Fanfic)

Depression and Broken Paladins

3rd Person POV (At Castle of Lions)

One week. That's how long it's been.

Pidge had determined that Keith left the ship with that Galran shortly after they retreated. They managed to track his armor up until a certain point. They found it abandoned in the middle of space to their disappointment.

Lance took it the hardest. He was there one that watched Keith's amputation. He was the one who witnessed the pain he was in. He was the one who could only stand there in shock as Keith's limp body was taken from him.

Hunk tried getting him to eat, but every time Lance thought about it, he could feel Keith's hand in his and his appetite would fade away. Everyone was growing anxious and worried. It hadn't even been 2 months and they had lost Shiro, Keith, and the way things were going, they might just lose Lance, too.

Pidge was busy working with the Alteans to find out Keith's location, so she left it up to Hunk.

He brought Lance a plate of his favorite colored food goo and knocked on the door. "Hey. You should eat. You won't get to see Keith if you're dead." Hunk said on the other side of the door.

Lance was laying under the covers. He had no more tears left to cry, so he was only feeling bad for himself and worrying about what Keith was going through. He was fiddling with the bottle of anti depressants that they had found out Shiro was sneaking into his food before he was captured. He wasn't sure why he had it, but just holding it in his hands and hearing the pills clack against the bottle was soothing. It distracted him from his thoughts. He only wished it could drown out Hunk's voice.

Lance didn't answer him, so Hunk continued. "We aren't giving up until we find Keith, Lance. When we get him back, we'll treat his injuries, we'll give him whatever help he needs, and we'll get all of him back. You know, the Keith you used to argue with and...the Keith that used to let you win back in the Garrisson."

That caught Lance's attention. Lance thought Keith didn't remember him when they were at the Garrisson. And he wasn't sure what hunk meant by "let him win".

Lance sat up and looked to the door in his dark room. "What's that supposed to mean?" Lance asked in a hoarse, dry voice.

Hunk smiled, glad that he spoke up. "Well, remember that race you had with Keith during that illegal fighter pilot race? Keith let you win. He was number 1 in his class and that day, you won by a couple meters. I asked him about it, and he wouldn't comment, but he definitely let you win. I remember how happy both of you looked after that race..." Hunk reminisced.

Lance, now curious, stood up for the first time in a while and headed to the door. He opened it, surprising Hunk. Hunk took a good look at him. Although he had been in bed all week, he had dark bags under his eyes, indicating he wasn't sleeping. He was pale and his hair was messy. Hunk had never seen him like this and it broke his heart.

"So...he did remember me?" Lance asked.

Hunk smiled, pitifully. "Yeah, he did. So, that's more reason to do everything we can to get him back. To do that, we need to be at full strength." Hunk said. He nudged the plate of food goo closer to him a bit and Lance looked down at it.

He slowly raised his hand to take the plate, but then stopped, as his stomach began to churn. He looked at Hunk, eyebrows closely knit together.