Beyond

Glow in the dark

"Pidge!"

Lance jolted awake panting hard.

He couldn't move.

After a few minutes he managed to blink his eyes clear enough to see he was in Avengers tower. It was a dream.

"Yikes." Lance breathed sharply.

He felt sticky as he pulled at his damp t-shirt. Wow.

He shook his head letting his breathing level out. He hated dreams like that, ones that almost touched the truth but not quite.

Pidge wasn't killed by HYDRA, so he knew it wasn't real but the dream felt real.

There was a soft knock on the door and Lance lifted his head to see Clint leaning in the doorway.

"Hey kiddo, you okay?"

"Y-yeah." Lance croaked. "I'm okay."

Clint frowned. He stepped into the room closing the door behind him before he sat down. "You don't look okay."

Lance huffed out a short breath reaching over to turn on a light. He then realised how shaky he was.

"Lance."

"It was just a dream." Lance admitted rubbing his forehead. "I know it wasn't real but..."

"But it got close?"

Lance nodded. "Yeah."

Clint looked across the room at nothing in particular.

"You know I have nightmares too. They're usually a mix of stuff that happened a long time ago and new things." He shifted looking down at his lap. "Like Loki killing my mum. He didn't she died when I was 8 but it's true that she died and I've seen Loki kill people."

Lance nodded leaning forwards as he crossed his legs. "How do you... How do you stop them?"

"You can't." Clint sighed. "Dreams and nightmares aren't really controllable. But talking about it and settling your own nerves can make it better."

Lance fiddled with the blanket in his lap his pulse slowly returning to a suitable speed. "Pidge died."

He knew he had Clint's eyes on him.

"She um... Got hit badly." Lance swallowed thickly. "We thought she was better..."

A weak sigh escaped him bordering on a sob, Clint's hand found his, offering a squeeze. "She died on a Galran ship and... No one was with her she just... Was gone."

"And the dream?"

"A HYDRA agent shot her." Lance shook his head. "I know it wasn't real but... It really hurt."

Clint nodded. "I'm sorry, I didn't know your friend was gone."

"They're all gone." Lance whispered. "They're all dead."

"What?"

"That's what I've been meaning to tell you." Lance admitted lifting his gaze. "I'm the last paladin, the others are dead and I-" his voice cracked, "-I couldn't save them or stop it I didn't know how and... I'm alone."

Clint shook his head. "No you're not alone, gosh Lance... I can't believe you've been through all that."

Lance gave a weak nod. "I wanted to trust you, all of you but I... It's not just me I have to protect."

"What do you mean?"

"It's not just me and Blue." Lance explained looking across at where the Russian blue cat was watching them with warm eyes. "Blue has four sisters, together they make up Voltron."