"Hello? ... guys? Does anybody copy? Shiro? Allura? Anyone?"

Lance waited with bated breath, listening as Pidge called out to the rest of the team. She may not know it, but her voice was getting clearer to Lance, the static fading slowly as the distance between them closed. If Lance was correct in his suspicions, it meant that she was getting closer to Hunk. He tried his comms again, hoping that she would hear him.

"Pidge?" he started quietly, refusing to get his hopes up. "Do you read?"

"Ugh, stupid comms!" Pidge snapped, and Lance perked up, thinking she may have heard a flicker of his voice. A loud crash followed her words immediately after. Pidge must have thrown something in her anger.

"What was that?" Hunk's voice came through again, slightly panicked, "Can anyone hear me?"

"Hunk! Thank god!"

"Pidge!"

Lance smiled, a bittersweet feeling blooming in his chest and threatening to explode. He was glad they had found each other, but jealously washed over him as he listened to them talk. He only wished he could join in, but he knew it was no use.

But he guessed that the universe was just against him. Maybe he wasn't supposed to be found. 

Dejected, Lance fell back in his seat, slouching down as far as he could without pushing weight onto his injured leg. He let it roll back along its rail, away from the console, and sighed deeply.

Lance felt- rather than heard- Blue's assurances covering him like a soft blanket, safe and warm. 

Soaking in her calm, he exhaled, pushing the negative emotions to the back of his mind. He couldn't think about that now.

He slid out of his seat onto the floor, his injured leg spread out before him. It was a position that was rather reminiscent of a different paladin, and he nearly laughed at the memory. Instead, he levelled his breathing and closed his eyes, trying to connect with his lion. He delved into his mindscape, doing his best to reach out fully to Blue.

Her engines needed his attention. And her weapons system was offline.

He sighed before slowly getting to his feet and stretching his neck. He would start with the engines.

Lance gave a cheer as the engine roared to life. He could finally move! He ran quick diagnostics of Blue's other systems, taking note of which ones were working or not and listing them in level of importance before he let his hands rest on the familiar controls, ready to go.

But then he frowned, slowly taking his hands off again. He didn't have anywhere to go. He had no idea where he was, and Blue's navigation systems were still down.

He had no idea how to fix that.

He was lost in unfamiliar space with no contact to the other paladins or the Castle ship. And even without his Garrison training, Lance knew that when you were lost you didn't move from where you were. It could only lead to worse things.

A light flashed on the radar to Lance's left and he scrambled over to see what it was.

He had been wrong in his previous statement. He was meant to be found. Just not by a friendly face. Lance's smile faded as the unidentified vessel came into visual range. Two more blips of light followed onto the radar, and this time he didn't need to see them to know what they were.

"Girl, I know you're not up to your best, but we've gotta go," Lance said, checking over his systems one last time. Nothing had changed, but that didn't matter. He had the engines going, and for now, that would have to be enough. "Just work with me, okay?"

Blue's hum in his mind spurred Lance into action, and he immediately turned tail and kicked into gear.

The three Galra ships matched his speed and he suppressed a groan, pulling back in a sharp loop to avoid them. The team had trained and fought in these situations so many times it was second nature, but Lance still felt the adrenaline course through him as he took to evasive tactics.

And all those times he had done it before, he had a way to fight back. 

Lance did his best to dodge the Galra ships, pulling manoeuvres that would have him kicked out of the Garrison in a heartbeat. He was distracted for an instant of the thought of the Garrison. If they ever returned to Earth; he, Hunk and Pidge would probably be kicked out anyway, if not for the way they saved Shiro but for the way they took off with Keith and then Blue.

Lance shook his head, focusing back in on his situation. He couldn't afford to get distracted by thoughts like that. No self-pitying, or thinking of times long past. It was stupid.

He was stupid.

He pushed himself harder, ignoring his ankle as he felt it crack a little under the strain.

That would be painful when the adrenaline wore off. He turned sharply, narrowly avoiding a barrage of lasers from the closest Galra ship. All three of them were closing in, making it harder to move. Lance had a feeling he knew what the inevitable was. As much as he acted it up, Lance was scared for what would ever come if he was hit or captured. They had all seen how it affected Shiro.

He rolled Blue out of the way of another beam, slamming on the brakes and turning on a dime to head the other way.

Unfortunately, it turned him directly into the path of another ship. Purple light blinded him, and he tensed, bringing his shoulders up reflexively. There was no way he could avoid the strike, it was too close, too soon. He scrunched his eyes up, turning away, waiting for the blast to hit.

The deep thrum of the explosion resounded all around him, but Lance felt nothing.

Is that what dying felt like? Was he dead? It didn't feel like it, but then again, Lance had never died. He slowly opened one eye, peering out hesitantly to the view in front of him.

Another Galra ship was in between him and the one that had fired, acting as a shield.

His vision focused, and he took in the full appearance of the ship. It was an older, outdated desgin, worn around the edges and displaying scars from many previous fights. As he sat, dumbfounded by what just happened, the ship charged up its weapons and fired at the other Galra ships.

Lance was grateful, but completely confused.

A loud burst of static sounded and a surprisingly high pitched voice echoed through the comms.

"Blue Paladin of Voltron, we are from the Resistance. Let us take care of this fight."

Lance grew wide eyed. He was not aware of a resistance existing. Remembering Nyma and Rolo, Lance narrowed his eyes once more, this time out of distrust.

"Blue paladin, do you read?" 

Lance cursed his broken comms, groaning as the pain from his ankle burst through the wall of adrenaline. Gritting his teeth, Lance decided to once more try. Maybe they would work this time around.

"I- I--" he fought through his pain. His vision grew fuzzy, and he rapidly tried to blink it away.

"Paladin? Come in, do you copy? Paladin, are you alright?!"

No, Lance was not alright. But still nobody could hear him, so there was nothing he could do. The pain shooting through his ankle dulled as he started to loose consciousness, and he tried to fight it, not knowing what would happen when he was out. It was a losing battle for him, no matter if this 'resistance' was winning their own.

He blacked out.

When Lance awoke, he was still within his lion. He opened one bleary eye, immediately noticing the rocky terrain of the planet they were on. His first thought was of thankfulness, being on a planet rather than floating lost in space. His second thought was that the resistance's stolen Galra ship looked a lot worse in this light.

He leaned back in his seat to stare at Blue's ceiling. The patch job repairs he had done to Blue hadn't survived their landing- her engines were offline once more- and he could definitely see some new dents. He sighed.

He didn't have the energy to stand up.

"Hello? Blue Paladin, are you there?" 

It was the same voice as before, though slightly lower pitch. He withheld a groan, letting his head drop again so he could look out again. 

"Look, we know you're injured- anybody would be after that crash! How are we supposed to help you with this dang force field in the way?"

There before Blue stood a very dirty and very disgruntled human, one hand to his ear, the other planted firmly on his hip as he looked up at the lion. He didn't wear a helmet, meaning the air on whatever planet this was was breathable, but also allowed Lance to see who it was. It was one human that Lance could recognise, if not from photos and new castings than from his very own memories.

"I swear to God, if you don't let down these shields!"

Lances tired brain kicked into gear, and years of ingrained military code forced him to stand. He didn't even think. This man was his superior officer, he had to show him the proper respect.

Blue let down her shields at Lance's command, lowering down to the ground and opening her mouth to allow him access. He didn't even wait for her to settle fully before he started to make a beeline for the entrance.

Upon boarding, his eyes went wide, spotting the quite obviously human pilot stood in a perfect Garrison salute.

"At ease, cadet." He managed to order, watching as Lance dropped his salute. He still held himself at attention, though he was quite obviously injured, favouring his left side. The man walked up to Lance, steadying him as he began to sway a little. "Woah, there kid, I said at ease."

Gently, he guided the cadet back into the pilot chair. Lance seemed a little out of it, and he figured that he was in more pain than what his let on.

"What's your name?"

Lance stared at him in shock, and he spotted both hope and surprise within them as well.

"Lance Alejandro Fuentes," he said slowly, still gaping at the man in front of him. "Are you really Matthew Holt? Pidge-- I- I mean Katie has been looking for you! So has Shiro! I've got to find the others, I've got to--" he trailed off and Matt watched as Lance looked sadly at his lion.

"I've got to fix Blue."

Matt placed a steadying hand on the Blue Paladin's shoulder. Lance noticed his hand trembled a tiny bit, but when he spoke, his voice was level.

"What did you say about my sister?" Matt asked "And Shiro? Is he alive? Did he escape?"

Lance stared at Matt, still not quite believing his luck. Of all he people to run into, it was one that they had been searching for since the start. He felt a smile begin to form, and Matt blinked in semi-confusion.

"I have so much to tell you."