Beyond

Blast From The Past

Lance awoke in the medical room of the Avengers tower.

He frowned and slowly sat up to find he was alone.

That same cactus stared at him.

"This is a reoccurring nightmare." He huffed in disbelief. "Why does the universe love this room?"

He shuffled up and frowned when he caught sight of his reflection. There were things stuck to his head.

Like the time Tony and Bruce had checked up on him and his headache.

Ah headaches.

He remembered what it was like the have a measly headache.

You are being dramatic.

"Yeah, I am." Lance mumbled in reply to Blue's grumble. "And I have a right to be."

You are still tired, you should rest more.

"And what good would that do?" Lance asked softly. "Whatever Haggar has done to me, sleep is not enough."

Save your strength paladin. The black lion purred. Your battles are not all over.

"That's reassuring." Lance whispered before he set off to find life within the tower.

He arrived in the lounge to find the Avengers and paladins chatting away.

Lance stayed there, in the doorway just watching.

He was too tired to pinpoint anything of importance but he knew that they were getting along. That was nice.

"Hang on!" He suddenly gasped making everyone else jump.

"Lance you okay?" Tony asked jumping to his feet at the same time Hunk did.

"I left my universe where Haggar is now in control, the paladins are here so there's no one to take on the Galra, Lotor is also here, so there's no one to stop Haggar taking the throne. Axca is here, so the rest of Lotor's generals are abandoned. I left the Blades and the Rebels to deal with that chaos all by themselves." Lance realised facepalming. "Yeah, no. Everything is not okay."

"We didn't ask if everything was okay." Natasha replied and when had she gotten so close. "We asked if you were okay."

"Yes? No? I don't know." Lance admitted with a shrug. "I should be dead, a hundred times over. Everything hurts and yet everything works and my head feels like it's about to explode but it hurts to try and let go."

"What did Haggar do to you?" Shiro glared.

"I don't remember." Lance mumbled slowly sitting down. "I remember what Zarkon said."

"And what did he say?" Keith asked gruffly.

"If you destroy me, you will doom yourself to the hands of Haggar." Lance whispered. "I doomed the universe and everything in it."

"No, that's not true." Allura said sharply. "Zarkon was a tyrant."

"But Haggar's a monster!" Lance snapped back. "I took one guy out, and let someone much worse take over!"

"You cannot blame yourself for that." Lotor challenged. "You were outnumbered."

Lance glared at him. "Like that's an excuse."

"Where is all this coming from?" Bruce asked looking around. "Why are you so angry?"

"Because!" Lance huffed dropping his head into his hands. "Because I stupidly thought that I could fix it, reverse time and take away the damage. I thought I could win!"

The lounge was quiet, heavy and heated with Lance's rage. He hated himself.

"Do you feel better now?" Hunk asked and now he was sat next to him.

Lance shot him a side-glance. "This isn't like the Garrison Hunk."

"Why can't it be?" Pidge asked as she sat opposite him. "Keith can be grumpy in the corner, Shiro can take a nap and we'll cause chaos."

"I'm not grumpy." Keith grumbled.

"And I did not take a nap." Shiro responded but it made Lance smile.

"And this time when we get back, you won't be alone." Pidge promised with a smile. "We'll be right there with you."

"Like you said we're your team, team Voltron." Shiro added.

"You're not my team." Lance said shaking his head. "You're part of my family, and you guys always will be."

"And we'll help you guys get ready too." Steve offered. "Anything you need I'm sure we can help in some way."

"Thanks Steve." Lance smiled. "And sorry about being dramatic."

"You just needed to get it out, and that's fine." Clint grinned. "We all probably need to do it more often."

"Aye, how do you feel young friend?" Thor asked sounding concerned.

Lance sighed. "Better."

"Good." Natasha nodded. "But now we need to talk about something quite serious."

"Oh no." Lance mumbled.

"You blacked out on the jet."

"Ah that."

"And you scared us all."

"Right."

"And your mind it too quiet." Wanda added.

"Ha!" It was halfhearted at most.

"We're not joking Lance." Hunk frowned.

Lance met his gaze. "But... How?"

"We don't know." Coran answered. "But we are hoping we can figure it all out."

Lance nodded. "Okay. It just hope the answer is something good for once."

"We'll work it out." Tony smiled. "That I can promise you."