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"Allura." The tension was suffocating and everyone knew it wasn't good. "I think we're too late." From the Castle, they could see as the planet they were originally headed to loomed in closer. There were signs of destruction all across the surface. Whatever had happened had happened and the Galra were far gone.
Allura's face fell the longer she looked at it. With Voltron having been reformed, she had been so optimistic in reviving whatever Alliance they could and defeating Zarkon. However, the first planet that they had officially recieved a distress signal from and they headed towards, was already down? It was horrendous, soul-breaking and something Allura refused to believe. "No! It can't be! There has to be something- someone, maybe we ca-"
Her words were cut off by Coran. "Allura, I'm sorry." He shook his head sadly and pointed to the planet. "It seems that the Galra have destroyed everything on the planet. There wouldn't be many survivors left." The paladins all looked towards each other, not wanting to butt in.
Allura pressed her lips together. "We're going down to see." Nobody fought her, all internally sharing the same emotions as her. They all still wanted to see if there was anything recognisably on the planet. Allura carefully directed the Castle of Lions down onto the planet's surface. It set down gently onto the ground, barely disturbing the rubble around it.
One by one, the Paladins and Allura made their way out of the castle, while Coran stayed behind to moniter the group. They stopped just outside taking in the view of the ruined planet before them. All around them, grey slate buildings were crumbling, most of them cut clean in half across the middle, half collapsed on itself. It was a horrible sight.
Normally, the Galra would enslave the population and use them to use their own planet for their evil schemes. But here, it seemed that all of life itself was drained out from its very seams.
None of the paladins spoke, instead soaking in the atmosphere around them, wondering that if they had arrived earlier, this could have been prevented.
As the group entered into what used to be a bustling city square, the loss of the planet they didn't know grew stronger. Judging from the fallen stalls and miscellaneous items laying around, it had been a bustling town, full of life. Now it was empty, desolate and it wouldn't ever be the same again. Everyone stuck together, and in the case of the paladins, bayards drawn in case of a possible attack.
The air was deathly still around them, only the laboured breathing of everyone could be heard. The faint smell of burnt wood and death hung about. If they were to find anything, it definitely wouldn't be very pretty.
Ears pricked for sounds of living beings, the paladins all slowly stepped over debris and scoured through the fallen city. Every so often, one paladin would split off from the group for a short while, then return back shaking their head.
Their efforts yielded no fruit and soon enough, they had gone about enough times to nearly memorise the layout of the city. Everyone stood back in the main city square, milling about and wracking their minds for an idea on what to do.
"It seems the Galra must have really wiped this place clean." Pidge had a hand on her hip, her other hand lifted to show a view of a hologram it was emitting. She had pulled up a tracker in an attempt to search for any last survivors of the attack, but unfortunately, something had been messing with her technology and it wasn't successful.
Everyone looked to Allura. She had been the one most adamant about finding survivors and the one most hopeful for them. Yet, after all their searching, they worried for her. She had both hands on her hips and she was looking down into the ground, a frown set in her mouth. "This wasn't the work of the Galra." She looked up and saw the blank looks on the paladins' faces, then hastily continued on, "At least, not Galra who were working under Zarkon's rule."
"Princess, what do you mean?"
Shiro's question was answered by Pidge, who had turned off her wrist device and had taken to rubbing the bottom of her chin in thought. "I doubt that Zarkon would have any use pillaging a lone planet. This was most likely the work of some space pirates or Galra rebels who just wanted supplies."
"Well, it's too bad then, there's no one here to save." Lance shrugged, his voice nonchalant, but there was a certain quiver to it, one of disappointment and sadness.
However, no one had any time to question it as then, a small noise alerted the attention of the group. It was small at first and it definitely wasn't anything they were expecting.
The faint noise of a child crying.
A small alien child emerged from behind the rubble. How the paladins had missed them, it was a mystery. They were humanoid in shape, with [colour] tinted skin and wide [eye colour] eyes glistening with tears. At first now one moved, too shocked to do anything.
The child looked out towards them and their eyes widened. Mouth trembling, they struggled to form its thoughts, words tilted with the classic lisp of a child's. "W-where's m-mama a-a-and...?" They hadn't even finished speaking when suddenly, they burst into tears once more.
The sobs seemed to click something inside Lance, as the Blue Paladin suddenly rushed forwards and bent down to scoop the child up in his arms. His limbs were warm and his aura was comforting, causing the child's sobs to be slightly muffled as they buried their face into the crook of his neck. "Ssh, hey," he murmured his words, soothingly and gentle, careful not to startle or to agitate the child in his arms even further, "It's alright. What's your name?"
The sobs gradually grew down as they attempted to speak, but nothing else would come out. Rubbing small circles into the child's back, Lance turned towards the other paladins. They didn't say anything, startled from the change in demeanour Lance had as to compared with how they had seen him. His eyebrows were drawn together in thought and his lips were in a slight frown, pondering over what he was to do. Quickly mouthing a "let's head back," he turned on his heels and made his way back to the Castle of Lions.
The others followed not long afterwards.
The child didn't talk much. The paladins didn't push them to, understanding that whatever they had experienced was probably not something to be talked about. Out of all of them, Lance was the one who took care of them most of the time. He would sit with them on the bed granted to them (although most of the time, they tended to hang by Lance regardless) and tell them of stories of Voltron, of both the old and the new.
The child would watch on with wide and curious eyes, as Lance dramatically retell their adventures and all they had overcome.
It was such a sweet thing to watch.
But yet, the child's mouth would close shut at the mention of their old planet and anything that had to do with it. It was always Lance who asked, the other paladins too worried of pushing past boundaries of them. Lance's face would crumple as he watched the child's eyes sparkle from his stories to suddenly be darting around nervously in terror of whatever memory he had evoked. Their lips would tremble and his face would fall.
"Hey, it's okay. You don't have to be scared or worried." He would hug them, his limbs wrapping around the child's small body, his warm embrace eventually calming the small sobs down. They would climb into his lap and curl up into a ball. Lance didn't ever push them out, his heart ached too much to reject them.
It pained him terribly, seeing such a young child having to deal with the aftereffects of such a horrible thing. It reminded him of his younger cousins back on Earth. How would he have to deal with his cousins, a few of the most important people in the world to him, going through what this child had gone through? They didn't deserve this. They didn't deserve everything that had happened to them.
Their lose life
Their lost planet.
Their lost civilisation.
Their lose parents.
Their lost family.
Lance clenched his teeth, determined not to cry, especially when he was supposed to be so strong with the child. Nothing in life was fair, and the child that sat in his lap was proof of it.
His thoughts were soon cut off by slow shaking. Little hands grabbed onto his shirt. He could feel the wetness of tears as the child clutched on. His wrapped his arms even tighter around them. Then to his surprise, a shaky little voice sounded. "L-Lance... I-I liked my-" Then their voice stopped abruptly and was suddenly replaced by sobs.
Lance blinked in surprise. Since having been rescued, the child hadn't talked, let alone spoken his name or made an attempt to communicate. His face softened. "It's okay, you don't have to talk about it."
The child shook their head. "M-my name is [N]-[Name]. M-mama was..." Their voice died down again.
"No, it's alright, [Name]." Although his voice was gentle, Lance was elated that the child, [Name], was speaking as normal as they could for now. With a name now known, he was sure that things could progress and they could soon be able to interact with him and the others soon.
Regardless, it was clear that the matter was still a sore subject. Tilting his head in thought, Lance tried to rack his mind to try and bring their attention off the subject. "Have I told you about the battle where I got knocked out and ended up saving the day by waking up from a coma?"
There was a small giggle. Something that Lance certainly hadn't heard before. "Keith said that you forgot that he cradled you in his arms!"
Lance was definitely not expecting that comment. He spluttered, and choked on the very air he was breathing in. "What did Keith tell you?"