Gone and Mute

Chapter 17

Allura asked Lance to join them on the next mission.

And when Lance refused, she forced him into the Blue Lion with no further questions.

So Lance didn't have much of a choice. And Keith was okay with that.

They landed on the Galra ship, and Lance immediately felt uneasy. The others did too, and they all voiced this over the comms.

"I don't like this," Pidge mumbled, holding her laptop under one arm and her Bayard in the other.

Lance shifted his hold on his own Bayard. "It..." He faltered, and Shiro and Hunk looked at him.

"What is it?" Allura prodded.

"... It feels like the other mission."

A heavy silence filled the air, before Shiro looked at Keith and Pidge. "Be careful. Keith, you go with Pidge to get the information. Hunk and I will go look for prisoners. Allura, Lance, you go with those two to keep watch."

Everyone nodded and split off. Allura and Pidge took lead, while Keith hung back with Lance. He turned his comm off and reached out, nudging Lance's arm. Lance looked at him.

"You okay?"

Lance swallowed. "I'm worried someone's gonna get hurt."

"They won't."

"How do you know?"

"'Cause you're here."

Lance flushed and looked down, and Keith smiled before he ducked into the room with Pidge.

The hallway was silent, and Allura twirled her Bayard. Lance watched up and down the hallways, paranoid.

There was a crackle over the comms. "There's a ship coming in to dock," Pidge called from inside the room.

"Lotor?" Shiro asked.

"Looks like it."

"Lance, Allura, be at the ready."

"Yes sir," they murmured in unison.

There was further radio silence. Lance raised his Batard at any noise, or movement he thought he saw, but wasn't able to shoot anything.

He was about to report that there was nothing to do when he heard a gunshot from behind him. He whipped around and raised the gun, spotting Zethrid down the hall. His stomach dropped but before he could do anything, Allura's bayard had wrapped around Zethrid's gun and yanked it down to the floor.

Zethrid growled when Allura moved forward and Allura's whip wrapped around Zethrid's arm. The half-Galran didn't budge, though, and instead yanked her arm so Allura fell forward. Allura pushed herself up in a frantic hurry but let out a choked scream when Zethrid's large hand wrapped around her throat and lifted her up in the air.

Panic coursed through Lance's veins and he wasted no time in raising his Bayard and shooting Zethrid in the stomach, where her armor appeared weakest. It left a smoking hole in her armor, and he could see the fur underneath. Zethrid let out a roar and dropped a coughing and spluttering Allura to the floor of the ship. She barreled forward, one shoulder angled down towards Lance. Lance shot at her shoulder but it didn't seem to do anything, so he ducked to the side at the last moment before Zethrid could put all her body weight into throwing Lance to the ground. Lance whipped around and shot at Zethrid's back, in the same fabric-covered area as the front. She roared again and whipped around, exposing the hole in her stomach. Lance ducked down and had barely a second to aim before shooting again, right where the bullet had aimed last time. It hit her and burned right into her fur and skin. She pressed one hand against the horribly burned area, looking at it with wide eyes, Lance took this moment to shoot her three more times- one on her hand that was shielding her stomach, one on her chest and one on her forearm. She looked stunned by pain and stumbled back, grabbing the doorframe.

The doorframe? There wasn't a usually a doorframe unless the door was open.

Zethrid realized this a moment too late. Keith kicked her in the already burned stomach and Zethrid roared, falling back on the tile.

"I got the information. Let's go!" Pidge yelled.

They were in their lions and gone before Zethrid could haul herself back to Lotor to tell him what had happened.

Shiro and Hunk had reported successful on releasing the prisoners. Pidge had gotten the information, and Keith and Lance had kicked butt.

"Allura, whatever you managed to do, that was awesome," Pidge commented, and Lance felt a stab of pain go through his heart. He tightened his grip on the back of Blue's chair, and Allura glanced back at him with a frown.

"That wasn't me. That was all Lance."

Keith let out a laugh. "Of course it was. Lance is awesome."

Lance's face lit up and he covered his face with his hands. Allura giggled. "Does someone have a cruuuush~"

"Oh! Oh! Are Keith and Lance *finally* dating?!" Pidge asked excitedly, causing Shiro and Hunk to laugh good naturedly. Lance let out a squeal, refusing to pull his hands away from his face as the group laughed. 

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Thank you guys so much for reading! I actually really enjoyed writing this fan fiction, but it may be my last long fanficiton on here for a while, because I think I'll be getting an account on another fanficiton website to upload my next big project to.

I'll keep you guys updated! In the mean time, thanks for reading!