Madness - A Voltron Shiro x Reader Tale

On Dangerous Ground

Shaken and weak, you were half-walked, half-dragged to the high security cell. Compared to the ritual room, its torment was trivial pain you could sideline. You waited for what seemed like vargas before Shiro was dragged in, so drained he couldn't even attempt to stand.
As soon as the doors closed, you hurried to his side. He moaned and made an attempt to sit, but you gently and effortlessly pushed him down again. You heard his hoarse voice say, "(Y/N)? I need you to live. I need you to survive, otherwise I might not. Please." His tongue stumbled on the words, and his eyes filled with tears.
You hugged him, for both of you, and realized you were crying too. Your tears were for each person you had known and loved, for each ounce of pain the Galra freely gave every day, for Shiro especially.
You cried for your planet, you cried for your home, and you cried for this Earthen who had been such a beacon of hope in your previously so dark life. You had never cried before. Soon, it was Shiro hugging you, softly quelling your now-uncontrollable sobs. You hoped that you two could avoid the Ring, or any experiments today, but no such luck, for as you finished drying your tears, a Druid opened the door and gestured for Shiro.
He got up with ragged breaths, and you let him go, though you were pained to see such a man be subject to such creatures and torment. About a quintet or so later, Shiro was tossed back in, shaking uncontrollably. The tuft of hair you so loved was streaked with white, and you realized that his right arm was now a bloody stump.
He moaned and you hurriedly leaned him against the wall, hoping he wasn't too badly injured to speak, give some indication he would be okay. "(Y/N)..." You barely heard his soft mumble.
"I'm here, I'm here, it's okay-" you cut off as a sob rose from your chest. He had probably never felt pain like this before. You knew what the Galra could do, and he did, too, but this must have been beyond the norm. Though you had both endured the Ritual together, now it seemed like a long-past nightmare, and the pain of the present, though incomparable to the Ritual pain, was still agony because you were not currently enduring the Ritual.
You had no idea how much they had done to him, how much they had hurt him. So you, silently, just held him tightly. As he calmed, and eventually fell asleep, you made up your mind that you would, from now on, live a double life. In the Galra's eyes, you would be almost the model prisoner - with a few exceptions. But when they finally rested their eyes from their sharp watch, you would plot an escape route for, if not both of you, at least him.
You drove this thought into your mind, and you felt a bit of hope seeping back into you through the loss, pain, and sadness that surrounded you. You whispered into his hair, "I will get you out of here alive. I swear." Your heart lightened the slightest bit, and you set to thinking. You had a promise to keep.