The Difference Between You And Me [Voltron WA 2017]

Found

This story has been something I've wanted to do since season two came out, but it was heavily inspired by "I'm Your Silver Lining" by trevor-boi

The darkness was getting on her nerves.

She never meant to be captured. She never meant to forget. She never wanted any of this.

Then again, why would she? As a paladin of Voltron, she spent more time hating the galra than imagining that she would be their prisoner.

Of course, it wasn't as if she knew that she was a paladin. She had forgotten months ago, screaming the names of her teammates as her mind was scanned for what seemed like the hundredth time. She remembered the pain, how hard it was to resist the high-tech machine, but not that she sacrificed her mind for the safety of the universe. She didn't remember any of it.

They still asked her, though. Knowing how little she remembered wasn't an advantage for the galra. But they still tortured her. They still grilled her for information they knew she didn't have.

She still cried herself to sleep, never remembering why.

--

"She's gotta be in here." Keith said over the comm, stepping into a dimly lit room. Lights fizzled into life as he stepped through the doorway, revealing a small girl hung from the ceiling. It took Keith a moment to try and contact Shiro instead of crying. The girl before him was undoubtedly Pidge, but her hair was greasy and long, her wrists small and red from rubbing against the metallic ropes she hung from. "I've found her. Shiro, come down here. I've just sent you my coordinates."

"Copy that. Get her restraints off. Get her ready to go - there's a ton of Galra on my tail." Keith nodded to himself and approached the girl.

"Pidge?" He asked tentatively, discouraged when he got no response. The girl in front of him was wearing a black, skin-tight suit that resembled human body armor. Yep, it had to be her. He had seen the same outfit on Shiro, that day out in the desert. "Are you okay?" He asked, desperate for a response. She only moaned, and her glossy, lifeless eyes just continued to stare at the ceiling.

"Keith, is that her?" Shiro asked, skidding into the room.

"Yeah. She isn't answering me though. She might be drugged."

"That's highly probable. It doesn't matter now, though. You hold off the galra and I'll carry her out of here." Keith nodded and switched places with his team leader, eager to battle the soldiers that had collected outside the room. Shiro, on the other hand, was pulling the restraints away from Pidge's wrists, bracing to catch her. When she was all free, he caught her and lifted her up, concerned at how easily he did so.

"Shiro, we've gotta go. Now!" Keith yelled, taking on two galra at once.

"Then go!" Shiro shouted in response. The two of them hurtled down the hallway, Pidge moaning softly in Shiro's arms.

--

"We've got her. She's... She's home." Shiro said, as soon as the hangar doors opened.

"Will she be okay?" Lance asked in a scared voice.

"She ought to be alright, once we get a proper assessment of her injuries and some food in her. Lance and Hunk, you're on food. Keith, go get her some clean clothes. Allura, kindly come with me to get some medical supplies. Shiro, you stay with her." Coran said.

"Okay. I'll take her to the leisure deck." He walked down the hallway as everyone scattered to do their assigned jobs. He glanced at Pidge. Her skin was pale, and she was even thinner than usual. All visible skin areas - her hands, feet, neck - were covered in ugly scars that made Shiro wince at the thought of the small girl being subjected to such terrifying instruments. Yet, from the database they accessed, the empire still had no information on Voltron, other than the stuff that was already known.

"You'll be okay, Katie." He said soothingly, unsure of why he chose to call her that. Since he met her, she had always been Pidge. Why would he call her that now? He sat down on a couch, suddenly aware that he had made it to the leisure deck. "We're here. You hang tight, okay? You'll be okay." The girl's eyes squeezed shut, and suddenly, her breathing picked up.

"Where..." Something was definitely happening. Something, behind her eyes, was playing out. She unsuccessfully attempted to wrench herself out of Shiro's arms, and when that failed, she flailed until he was forced to let go. She turned and looked at him with confusion in her eyes.

"Take it easy, Pidge." He said, trying to sound calm despite the terrifying ideas his mind had conjured.

She only whimpered. She buried her face in her arms, and hot, wet tears began to spill onto Shiro's shirt.

"Pidge?" He asked, now uncaring of how worried he sounded. He knew what it was like. And her, being a known paladin of Voltron... He had no idea, no right to say he understood what she had gone through. And that terrified him.

"Pidge, I honestly don't... I don't really-" Shiro gasped quietly as he realized. "Do you even remember anything? Do you... Do you remember me? Your lion? Anything at all?"

Another whimper.

"You don't have to do anything tonight, okay? We can talk in the morning, I just... We missed you, Pidge." He felt a hand against her forehead. Warm, too warm. He sighed.

"You've been through hell, haven't you?" He smiled in a bittersweet way, and more tears spilled down his shirt. She let go of her grip on him and slid to the floor, dripping salty water onto the floor.

"If you're going to cry, cry up here." Shiro said softly, easily lifting her back onto his lap. He felt her cuddle close to him, her sobs becoming more and more controlled until he realized she had drifted into a quiet sleep.

--

"She's asleep, and quite feverish. I doubt she'll be awake anytime soon, seeing how weak she is." Shiro told Keith in a hushed tone.

"What if... What if she doesn't wake up? I thought we had lost her once. I don't know what I'd do if..." He didn't have to finish.

"It would be cruel, wouldn't it? Giving her back to us just to pry her away. I would rather she die than be captured again, though, and she may agree." Keith noticed Shiro staring coldly at his metal arm. "She was captured as a paladin of Voltron. I was captured as a 'primitive scientist'. I thought my life was hell? She would have had it way worse, and she was there for twice my time.

"Yeah. Pretty tough, I'm guessing." Keith said, thinking of the horrible things. He saw again, burned into his mind, how small she was. Her wrists, thin and red. He remembered seeing a syringe, recently emptied, and several more near it, sitting on a metal tray near her. He shuddered, thinking of how horrible thingd had to have been for her. He then smiled a little, knowing that maybe they would get better.

Many thanks to fantasyficfluff and Harpcat101 for helping me edit. I'd be lost without them!!