#species whump weekly

[mightaswell-whump]

Sunday: Holy messenger and unholy recipient

New ocs to add to the fantasy world

For Angel week by @species-whump-weekly

Warnings: Ownership/dehumanization (including "it" used to dehumanize), extremity amputation and subsequent dissociation (he. gets his fingers cut off and his mind shuts down about it for a while), ask if anything else needs warned against

Angel whumper, demon/hellhound whumpee

"You are to be mine," Peniel hissed with an odd sweetness, "and mine alone. You will bow to no one else. Got that?"

The angel's prisoner bared its sharp teeth and growled as it tried to make itself bigger. Peniel grabbed the creature's neck with a divine grip and watched as the power surged from her hand through its skin and to the bone.

The pain shot through his whole body, holy, radiant fire coursing through his demonic veins. The unrighteous one screeched for their mercy, to release their grasp. His perverse form ached from the inside out. When she finally let go, his entire, unrighteous body, collapsed as his flesh became numb.

"Would you like me to repeat myself, dearie?"

The fiend spat at her, a last act of defiance. She simply spat in her hand and placed it on the impure one's shoulder. It stung and burned and bubbled, like a brand on a cow's flank, and left her perfect handprint as she pulled away.

Angel saliva had a tendency to corrode a hellhound's skin, so no matter what, no matter how much time it took to heal, he would forever bear her mark. Her symbol. A reminder he was no longer his own.

"Alright," Peniel sang, "get up, Dog-tooth. I'm not finished with you yet."

She hooked a collar around the beast's neck, stroking its wolfish ears as the fastener clicked. One hand swirled its thumb into the joint between ear and scalp, whilst the other yanked on the collar, pulling the unholy one closer. Another long strap of leather was hooked to the one around his neck, a leash, which Peniel tugged at with such divine strength, Dog-tooth was quickly compelled to follow along on his hands and knees.

The way the rocks and sand dug into his knees and shins, scraping and scratching and sticking into the flesh, was humiliating and agonizing. No hellhound was meant to walk like this, outside of their doggish form. With a body that could pass for a human - minus ears and tail - Dog-tooth found himself degraded, at the whims of an angel. With the strength and speed he was dragged along at, though, he could not right himself to a less demeaning posture. Peniel knew this; he knew they knew this. It was all part of their game.

Thrown into a wall, Dog-tooth tried to pull himself up, but was quickly shoved back down again before the angel picked up a flat, heavy, slightly-sharp stone.

"As my guard dog," she explained, "you will need to learn not to use your weapons against me. So, as a precaution, I'm taking them away." She grabbed his hand, setting it on the ground in front of her.

His eyes widened, already catching on to what she was doing. Her firm grip held on despite him struggling to pull away. She raised the rock abover her head, and he yelped before he even felt the blow.

What felt like an eternity later, Dog-tooth's head started to clear of that distant, foggy feeling as his consciousness started to slip back into his body. His left hand seemed to have already been bandaged, with the fingers - or what was left of them - curled inwards. The right hand was still in the angel's grip, though one a bit gentler. She licked away the blood, her divine power both burning and sealing the wound shut, before bandaging the hand in the same manner as the other. Once out of her grip, he slowly brought the deformed limb to his face. His claws, the only thing left of his life before, gone. He brushed the exposed knuckles against the hand-shaped scar, just to see what the skin felt like.

The skin contoured inward, toward his collarbone. It was only a short while into the healing process, but it already felt like the same leather that tied him to his attacker. And, in a weird way, they meant the same thing.

[secret-bug-pain-blog]

[THURSDAY]

Buried Alive - Outlived Family - "Not growing old was fun at first, but then everyone around me started dying."

Hi! Hello! We're here, Late To The Event. Technically, we have plans for all these days! We only remembered this event was ongoing halfway through the week, and by then... well, you know how it is. Technically, this isn't fully compliant with the prompt, but it's close enough that we figure it counts, since outliving his entire family was actually slightly less impactful than outliving his husband for our boy.

Fic below the cut, and @species-whump-weekly we sincerely hope this isn't too late to count.

You have been asleep for long enough that you aren't even sure if he'll still be alive.

His swarm finds you before you find them.

Marina gasps when she sees you. She's years older, now - wings worn at the edges, shell thin and flimsy, aged far beyond the young butterfly you saw her as last.

She looks older than you ever have been. She looks older than you suspect you ever will be.

Her father, your friend – your paramour, your years-long companion – isn’t with her. You fear, for a moment, you’ve stumbled upon them too late. You nearly cringe away from the migration them and there, fearful of discovering yet another thing that’s slipped away while you hibernated.

But you don’t have the heart to walk away.

He’s been waiting for you.

He is old, and frail, and dying. You can taste the creeping end in his veins from the moment you step foot into the tent. His shell is pitted with age, now, cracked and chinked in places, brittle enough that you fear taking his hand will hurt him. Time has weathered him, his wings transparent and paper-thin around him, and you… you stay the same, looking just as young as the day you first met him on the stolen life of those who unearthed your grave.

“I knew you’d come back,” he tells you. “You wouldn’t die that easily.”

You hold his frail, trembling claw in both of yours. You aren’t sure how he can say that so confidently. He has always had more faith in you than you have in yourself.

He invites you to drain him.

You hesitate, at first. Every instinct you have picked up over your long, long life is screaming for you to run. To survive, to keep your secret- he knows, and it's against everything you've ever learned to remain, to let him speak, to not preserve your life-

He knows. But maybe he's known for a long, long time.

You take his offer. You take his life.

You know what it is that killed him the moment you bite. The magic of the wastes, the low hum that seeps into your bones, the constant background noise that sometimes threatens to tear you apart - it gathers within him, down to the deepest parts of his shell. There are lumps of flesh in his heart, his lungs, full of the same mind-jarring, skull-shattering buzz.

He has the wasteland sickness.

You think that, perhaps, he has had the wasteland sickness for a long time.

You drain him until he is dry, until every last flicker of the wasteland sickness is gone from his body, until he is stiff and his flesh holds the texture of jerky, and you let your fangs linger on his shrivelled veins until you can't bear to remain anymore.

You are sick, the next day.

And the day after that, and the day after that.

The buzz is in your bones, now - too close, too loud, rattling through your shell like a twisted beast. You have the wasteland sickness, stolen from his dying body, and it is trying to take you the way it took him.

You do not die.

You don't know if it's a blessing or a curse, anymore.

It is energy. It is vitality, the buzzing, throbbing pulse beyond the heart of a beast on a scale you cannot comprehend.

It is life force, and you can stomach it just the same.

A week passes. Two weeks. The symptoms slow, as you digest it. It becomes your life, your energy, it bends to keep you alive, it becomes you, while you lie weak and dizzy and throwing up blood.

It becomes you. You become it, in turn.

It is the last pulse of your husband, and you refuse to waste it.

You stumble out of the tent two weeks later, exhausted and bearing injuries you cannot see with your naked eyes. You are tired, and hurt, and you have burnt through most of the life you had, but you are alive.

His body is still waiting for you.

[thethistlegirlwrites]

No Killer - Teaser for Compass

For the first day of @species-whump-weekly, y'all get a teaser from the current draft of Compass!

For anyone unfamiliar with my OCs and the plot of this story, check out its masterpost here!

“I could help you, if you’d take the cuffs off.” Barrett holds out his bound hands. 

“Yeah, my day would really be improved by being strangled into unconsciousness and then getting my blood sucked like a juicebox.” 

“Look. If I wanted to hurt you, I could pick up one of these rocks and break your skull right now. I was just offering.” 

He has a point.

“Why would you help someone who’s taking you to a death sentence?”

“Because no one deserves to die like that.”

That doesn’t sound like something a stone-cold killer would say.

“You could just run.”

“Where would I go? It’s broad daylight, your car isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and who in their right mind would pick up a hitchhiker who looks like me?”

This is the kind of conversation Sierra would expect to have with Pete, not Barrett. It does give her a moment’s pause that he thought through all those angles. Guess it’s not like he had much else to do back there but listen to me and Pete. She’d honestly probably have done the same. “You’re being weirdly logical.”

“I’m not brain-dead.” He shrugs. “With one good arm, digging him out will take you hours. I just figured he has a better chance if I help.” 

Sierra sighs, slumping defeatedly against the wall. “Tell me why I should give you a chance to try anything, when you murdered two people and nearly drained eight more.”

“I didn’t kill anyone.” His voice sounds shaky. “I didn’t…those people…that wasn’t me. When I was still human.” He looks down at his hands. “After I turned, that’s on me. I know I messed up. I know I hurt them, and I couldn’t make it stop. But I didn’t kill that woman and her daughter.”

“Everyone who gets caught says they’re innocent.” But there isn’t as much conviction in her voice as she wants there to be. 

“They were dead when I got there. Look. I might have been a junkie and a thief, but I was no killer. I swear. All I did was break into the place looking for some cash or some shit I could fence. And they were just…there. I’d seen a lot of messed up things, hanging around with dealers and all, but nothing like that. It freaked me out. I didn’t know what to do, so I just froze. And then ran like hell.”

“You panicked and left without taking anything, but left behind enough evidence to get yourself accused of the murders?” Sierra can’t believe he’s said this much. But he’s also had almost a week to fabricate a convincing story. He’s telling me all this for a reason. He didn’t just suddenly start opening up on a whim.

He shakes his head. “A neighbor’s security cameras caught me.”

“And no one ever looked to see if they caught anyone else?”

“You think I called the LAPD to ask hey, did you by chance look at those videos again?”

“Okay, back off the sarcasm, huh?”

“Want to take these cuffs off so I can get to work? We’re wasting time.” He nods to the still slowly shifting rock heap. “What are you afraid of? What happens if I’m wrong? Or what happens if I’m right?”

The three feet between them feels like an uncrossable rift. Like they’re shouting back and forth over some chasm dividing them into different universes. There is no way he can ever cross back over to her side. And joining him, for Sierra, would be a literal fate worse than death. 

But she needs to make a choice. Trust him, or trust herself.

And she hasn’t exactly been doing so great with her own instincts lately. 

She almost got Pete killed at Motel California, leaving him in that office by himself. She got a second chance at getting it right. And she can’t blow it.

“Okay.” She reaches into her pocket for the key and unlocks the cuffs. His wrists below them look raw and chafed. She feels just a little bit sorry for the way she’s been treating him. He was never tried for the murders, no one had the chance to find out whether he was responsible or not, but she was still treating him as guilty until proven innocent. 

“You know it’s daylight. You won’t have your vamp strength.”

“We’ll worry about that if we have to.” He picks up the rock Sierra was struggling with and tosses it at least four feet away as if it weighs nothing.

“What were you shooting up, steroids?”

He shakes his head. “After I got bit, I worked third shift manual labor. I felt better at night, didn’t know why at the time, but those were the only jobs I could hold down for long. Mostly on the docks moving cargo, or night construction.” 

“Oh.”

“After a while, I got into some underground fights, when I started feeling like ripping someone’s head off at work because they looked at me the wrong way. Thought maybe if I found a constructive outlet for feeling that way, I’d get better.”

“Underground street fights are constructive. That’s a new one.”

“I was bloodthirsty. Literally. I was just trying to find some place where that didn’t make me a freak.” He turns to look at her. “Those bites don’t just poison your body. It gets into your head, trying to turn you into a monster from the inside out.”

Sierra knows the biology of vampire venom. But there’s very few studies on its mental effects. Hunters get bitten without turning, disturbingly often. But the vampire responsible is usually staked within days if not hours, which renders the venom inert. There’s only a few hunters living with the long-term consequences. Sierra’s met one of them, a hunter from San Francisco who taught a crash course in working with shifter fae. Amy Sherwin had been a strange sort of contradiction, a twiggy, petite woman with pale skin and a grip like iron, dark eyes burning above shadowy smudged circles. 

If Barrett had been like that…he would have added a physically intimidating physique to the intensity and controlled fury Sherwin had given off.

“You can’t tell me you don’t get it,” he continues, tossing a few more rocks aside before stepping back and studying the shrinking heap. “No one gets a job like yours without needing an outlet for something burning them up from the inside.”

She can’t exactly argue with him, and she doesn’t want to get into that. 

“I can take it from here.” She doesn’t want Barrett around Pete if he’s bleeding. He’s sun-weakened and probably exhausted himself further moving all these rocks. He might not be able to stop himself from trying to feed. She holds out the cuffs.

“Really?”

“Look. You’ve told me a pretty convincing story, but I can’t afford to just take you at your word. It’s not just about me. I have to worry about Pete too, and if you’re lying just to make me stop watching you every second, both of us could die. Or worse, get turned.”

She doesn’t miss the slight flinch. Right, that was insensitive. But she doesn’t really care. Nothing about his story has really made him like her any better. Why hasn’t he told anyone else this? Does he know who the killer that night really was? Is he protecting them by taking the fall? If he thinks any of this is going to make them friends, he’s wrong. They’re not even reluctant allies. They’re just…not currently trying to kill each other, in the interests of saving Pete.

She reaches for another rock and winces.

“Just don’t,” Barrett says. “I’ve got this. I’ll tell you if I don’t. I’ll find him.”

@nade2308 @catwingsathena @telltaleclerk @the-one-and-only-valkyrie

[i-eat-worlds]

New Series Reveal!

[Image ID: A title photo. It has a star filled picture of space as its background. The title reads “Starcross” in a large, futuristic font. A shooting star wraps around the last half of the title, shining brightly over the “C.” /End ID]

Two thousand years in the future, in a world where the Milky Way is dominated by hundreds of new alien species and humans are almost extinct, the crew of Starcross (a ship which is sometimes a courier, and sometimes a smuggler, depending on the cargo), find a terrified human left aboard an abandoned Yeran ship. As Starcross tries to outrun Yera’s imperial forces and protect their newest member, they must recon with their pasts, and their place in the history of the galaxy at large.

Content: sci-fi whump, conditioned whumpee, living weapon whump, violence and murder, medical whump, fictional politics, multiple caretakers, occasional discussion and thoughts of suicide, military whump, recovery with flashbacks, blood and gore

I’m going to try and post weekly, or at least every other week. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish it over the summer, but we’ll see. I’m excited to explore this new, whump world with you!

Let me know if you would like to be tagged!

[parasiticwhumpee]

Here’s my submission for @species-whump-weekly alien week!!!

poor little slime boy :(

[rainysflowers]

Tosses this out into the eather for the most niche audience I could think of. *NYEAH!!*

After seeing the lovely @species-whump-weekly and waiting excitedly for their Demon prompt list for the purposes of using them against my favorite Mazoku, I decided that it would be fun to do something similar. Therefore, I'd like to offer to you, the whump and Slayers community...

Mazoku Whump Week!!

This is the perfect opportunity to take your beloved Mazoku, be them canon or original, and beat them up (maybe comfort them too) for the world to see! What fun ^^ If this does interest you, please look under the cut for more info and prompts!! If not, then have a lovely day!!

CWs/TWS: Themes of Hurt/Pain, Dehumanization of Non-Humans, Neglect, and Similar Content

ALSO I feel that upon farther community interaction that I should mention to PLEASE write out/tag your entries with content & trigger warnings and the characters involved as to not offend/trigger anyone who may come across it without interest in said character/content!!

Personally, I like to give a general overview of what content is in the media much like my CWs/TWs above, then also add on SPESIFIC tags for worse things like Major Character Death, and finally PLEASE SPESIFY which character you'll be hurting in the media!!

Now, I call it a week because that's the way i formatted it, but there's no timeframe and there's no start date. I just made it for fun and my own enjoyment ^^ All I ask is that you please tag me in whatever you choose to create [Writing, art, GIFs, ect]:)) You totally don't have to be a part of either community to participate, I just made this for Slayers fans specifically because I love that anime <3 They are also more so anime-based, than light novel-based, as a side note.

Prompts are formatted as a single master-prompt, something that sets the theme for the sub-prompts under it, and three sub-prompts that you can write one, two, or all three of!! There are also seven alternative prompts that follow the same general theme of the master-prompts (I.E. alternative prompt one (1) has the same theme as master-prompt one (1) and so forth). !!! Two alternative prompts are based on my personal headcannons, but those are labeled as such, and do not have to be used !!!

Here is the prompt list:

01) Summoned.

1] I’ll Treat You Like My Pet/Dehumanization

2] Defiance/Defiant Whumpee* (*Whumpee refers to the character who is in pain, which is in this case the Mazoku of your choice)

3] Terms and Conditions

02) Used.

1] Losing Control

2] Astral Wound/Pain

3] Magical Exhaustion

03) Misunderstood.

1] Kindness Makes the World Go Round

2] Starvation

3] Botched Shapeshifting

04) Betrayed.

1] Backstabbed

2] Found Out

3] Ritual Sacrifice

05) Returned.

1] Uncaring Master

2] Can’t Go Back

3] Demonic Punishment

06) Inherited.

1] Immortality

2] Bleeding Black

3] Ingrained Morality

07) History.

1] Scars

2] War Never Changes

3] Falling Comrades

Alternative Prompts

1] Orihalcon Restraints/Weapons (Based on a headcanon where the metal Orihalcon is able to suppress the Mazoku's ability to either return to the Astral Plane or negates their ability to be impervious to physical wounds in the real world.)

2] Reluctant Caretaker

3] Presumed Dead (Based on a headcanon where if a Mazoku is injured enough, they must ditch their assumed form to return to the Astral Plane, leaving them looking like a corpse in the Human World.)

4] “I can’t believe I trusted you.”

5] Assassination (Attempts)

6] “I thought that you couldn’t love?”

7] Survivor’s Guilt

Here is the Prompt List in a Google Doc:

Thank you so much for checking out this post, sorry for the crappiness lol, I just wanted to share some stuff. Ill be back sooner or later, and if you have any questions, please send them on in ^^ luv yall with the strength of a thousand suns <3 Have a good day, night, and whatever else!!

[maychorian]

Weekly Voltron Fic Recs #57

Rules: You can find past weekly rec lists here, and non-list recs in my general fic rec tag. Also follow @maychorianrecs for individually tagged posts, the easier to search and reblog. This is stuff I like, and I have a huge bias toward Lance, hurt/comfort, and general fluff, in that order. Gen unless otherwise noted. Please comment on the fics if you read and enjoy them!

Sweet Poison by Eastofthemoon Words: 3,046 Author’s Summary: If there was one thing Hunk almost felt was worth becoming a paladin for, it was the kitchen in the castle. My Comments: Sequel to a previously recced fic, and this one is just as lovely. It’s wonderful to see the team coming together and Hunk settling into his new role and finding acceptance and pleasure in his new accommodations. Lance was particularly lovely, too.

find me in the drift by ghiblitears Words: 2,038 Author’s Summary: He puts a hand on Keith’s shoulder and it’s startling to note that it feels almost like nothing, though the weight of Shiro’s hand is usually a comfort. Instead a slight warmth lingers in the spot he touches, insubstantial as a beam of light.Keith blinks, and looks back at him. “I can’t feel anything.”“Me either.” Shiro frowns. “It’s like a memory, or…” “A dream.” *** (Keith and Shiro meet in the astral plane during and after the events of season 4) My Comments: Intriguing concept, very well done. I love the idea of Keith and Shiro connecting like this even when they are far away from each other, and I would love to see the show bring back the Astral Plane too.

Resting? Who’s She? by Cinnamean Words: 1,914 Author’s Summary: When Lance woke up that morning, he could already tell he was sick. Or in other words, when Lance wakes up and doesn’t feel well, but instead of resting like he should, he instead decides that sparring is a great idea. Cause that makes a lot of sense. Good thing everyone else is there to look after him. My Comments: Nice little Lance sickfic with a protective team. Hits the spot.

we move lightly by eatjamfast Words: 2,539 Author’s Summary: In space, thousands of miles away from home, love and forgiveness are the only things that can keep you going. My Comments: Lovely and warm and just a little heartbreaking. I love the tenderness between Lance and Hunk here and how well they understand each other and want to take care of each other. Just lovely. Hance.

Voices by YukiSetsu Words: 4,812 Author’s Summary: When Lance gets captured by the Galra during a rescue mission gone awry, he’s sure he can hold out until the others arrive and get him out. The Galra, however, have other plans. My Comments: Wonderful finale to the all of the hurt!Lance fics this author has been giving us lately. The emotions are intense, and the ending was cathartic and satisfying. It nice to get some aftermath after one of the worst ways to whump Lance yet. Shiro was perfect, too, offering support afterward. I really, really like this one.

Little Green Hat by YukiSetsu Words: 4,012 Author’s Summary: In hindsight, Lance knew that walking around in the cold when he was that sick was a bad idea. My Comments: This is everything I could want in a Lance sickfic, plus Lance with a cute little kid. Just perfection.

Nothing Makes Sense by fandomsnstuff Words: 2,003 Author’s Summary: Everyone had a mark. Some had more than one. They were images meant to reveal the future of a person. Some images had different meanings than what’s expected, such as a heart could mean a person falls in love or they touch the hearts of many, but the marks always make sense. My Comments: Nice little bit of fluff, not complicated, fun to read. Good way to round out a day of reading sickfics, if you’re me.

Just a Touch by AssortedGeekery Words: 15,926 Author’s Summary: In which a particularly tenacious bug gets loose among the Paladins, prompting a full halt for recuperation. Too bad Shiro’s system didn’t get the message about this being a non-emergency. My Comments: Fantastic, indulgent, super detailed sickfic in which everyone gets hit, but Shiro gets hit the hardest. It totally has a plot, too, which is unusal for sickfics, but also there is So. Much. Cuddling. And I loved every single bit of it. Warnings for copious amounts of vomit–I actually felt a little sick to my stomach myself at times reading it, though not enough to make me stop reading. Hint of future Sheith at the end.

Feeling Down by codevassie for gdesertsand Words: 4,130 Author’s Summary: Lance is undeniably sick and it’s possibly the worst day for it. He and his friends had been planning this day for months! Now he feels like he’s ruined it all… My Comments: Really sweet and enjoyable modern AU sickfic. Everyone is adorable, and Lance gets lots of love, and that’s what I want, always, every day, forever.

in your hands i fold these cards by prettyshiroic (AnalystProductions) Words: 5,093 Author’s Summary: Pidge shares some thoughts, Lance shares his skincare routine. Keith shares so much more than he planned to. My Comments: Unexpectedly profound. I went in expecting fluffy shenanigans, and I got those, but also a whole bunch of EMOTION. It was awesome.

Reaching Out a Daring Hand by wingedflower Words: 3,320 Author’s Summary: Keith and Shiro visit a very sick Lance at the infirmary. Keith is extremely uncomfortable with the whole situation, but at the end he manages to learn a thing or two about being a good friend. My Comments: Perfect little sickfic, everything I could ask for. It made me so happy. I love it.

hold on to you by valkyriered Words: 1,129 Author’s Summary: A New Years ficlet crossposted from my blog. Lance reflects on his found family as they enter the New Year together. My Comments: Warm and soft, and all of the descriptions are crisp and vivid. I love this vision of the team after the war, safe and at home with their world and with each other.

Coming Up For Air by crumpetz Words: 15,636 (2/?) Author’s Summary: “Sometimes Keith wondered if with every new person he let past his walls, maybe the walls got weaker, came down quicker, more eager to let people in. Maybe Shiro had been the beginning of the end on that front. It was all so freaking scary.” The team must recover in more ways than one after a mission gone wrong leaves Keith with brain damage. AKA, the fic where Lance and Keith (accidentally?) become bff’s. My Comments: This is everything I love, and it’s being written fantastically well. The characters all feel like themselves, and they are so very supportive and protective of each other already, with a promise of MUCH more to come. It’s very realistic, too, in the way the injuries are treated and the reactions afterward, and gah, I just can’t recommend this highly enough. Favorite, favorite, favorite. Kudos, follow, subscribe, comment, bookmark. I love this so much.

The Best Medicine In Space by bouquetofwhoopsiedaisies Words: 5,327 Author’s Summary: “Sorry,” Keith sighed, pushing his hair away from his sweaty forehead. “I woke up feeling sick this morning, and I thought I could power through it, but I guess it got worse.” The Blades exchanged confused looks. “Sick?” “Yeah. Sick, you know, ill. Unwell. The opposite of a healthy state.” Keith looked around at all of them, taking in their puzzled looks. “When there’s, like, a foreign virus or bacteria that gets into the body and attacks the immune system, and the body has to fight it off.” Confused and awed murmuring broke out among the Blades, who wondered aloud if this was true. “This has been known to happen to certain species of aliens.” Ulaz said slowly. “But Galra do not ‘get sick’.” “Well, humans do.” Keith said. “Guess I didn’t inherit a Galra immune system.” He broke off to cough a few times into the crook of his arm. (After Keith collapses in the middle of sparring, the Blades learn that humans can get sick and what that means. Taking care of their sick youngest member brings out some of the Blades’ protective sides.) My Comments: Suuuuuper cute. I love how befuddled and concerned the Blades are, and Kolivan was especially endearing. Fluffy and fuzzy and sweet as sugar pie.

Failsafe by VelkynKarma Words: 49,930 Author’s Summary: In the aftermath of Shiro’s rescue and recovery, he and the team start to figure out how exactly to incorporate Ryou into their dynamic, while Ryou takes some time to try and determine who he is. But when Ryou starts acting out of sorts, Shiro and the others realize they might not have as much time as they’d like. My Comments: Really, really wonderful sequel to a previously recced fic. Fics where “Kuron” get hurt or injured always hit me really hard, maybe because he never asked for this. He’s a total innocent, and seeing him suffering because of what Haggar did to him is never not gonna pierce my heart. As always, VelkynKarma’s plot is out of this world, and the hurt/comfort, both physical and emotional, is absolutely pitch perfect. This story does get VERY depressing early on when Ryou’s illness causes some terribly severe symptoms, so be sure to read the tags and notes and know what you’re getting into. But it’s absolutely worth it to keep going, I promise. The payoff is wonderful and cathartic and so, so satisfying.

Home Is Where The Heart Is by wingedflower Words: 9,834 Author’s Summary: Five times Lance’s big brother instincts have kicked in, and one time Pidge has returned the favor. (platonic Pidgance, sibling relationship) My Comments: Absolutely adorable, so warm and fluffy I’m gonna die. I love these two forming a sibling bond. Protective Lance is awesome, and protective Pidge (at the end) just as much.

Obverse (History is Written By the Victors) by Spazzcat Words: 4,685 Author’s Summary: Obverse noun 1. the side of a coin or medal bearing the head or principal design. 2. the opposite or counterpart of a fact or truth. The first time Sam Holt hears the word Voltron is in the hushed whispers of the guards as he’s dragged on board a ship and they nervously scan the sky. A sick feeling settles into his gut as he realizes that there is something out there that even the Galra fear. My Comments: Well-written, but hard to read, if that makes sense. It’s hard to think about the other side of an all-out war, but this story does a great job of showing it, showing the horrors of war.

I Hope You Dance by hufflepirate Words: 2,282 Author’s Summary: Inspired by ggracee’s art on tumblr (link inside) When the paladins start learning to dance, Allura remembers Coran teaching her - and they both remember that it’s supposed to be fun. My Comments: This made me smile so much. It’s warm and soft and made me nostalgic for things I’ve never done and sights I’ve never seen.

Voltron Whump Week 2k17 Day 2: Hypothermia by carefulren Words: 2,399 Author’s Summary: a different take on what happened in season 3 episode 5– the one where long-haired Shiro is travelling alone on that ice planet My Comments: Alternate take with Shiro getting lots of love and comforting. I am such a sucker for hypothermic characters, like for real, this made me super happy.

Stand by Bandity Words: 13,800 Author’s Summary: Lance writes letters to help with his homesickness. After an injury, his letters become a source of solace during a difficult time. Based on a prompt from tumblr. My Comments: Another absolute homerun from Bandity. She is SO good at taking us (and Lance) down to the depths of despair before slowly building us back up to where things are okay. This is a smorgasbord of suffering: physical, emotional, you name it. And an endlessly supportive team makes it all okay eventually.

Day 6: Presents by BluePlanetTrash Words: 6,663 Author’s Summary: The paladins wanted to exchange presents for Christmas and they were excited to do so. When they went to the Space Mall they quickly picked something for everyone. It wasn’t until they got back that they realize they all forgot to get something for one person. The same person. My Comments: A little OTT, a touch OOC, but very sweet. This author has a BUNCH of other short little Lance-centric hurt/comfort fics, too, if you’d like to go on a spree.

A Little Taste of What Should Have Been by hailqiqi for Engineer104 Words: 2,340 Author’s Summary: Despite the persistent begging, Samuel Holt had forbade his daughter from getting her ears pierced until she was sixteen. Fast-forward four years and ‘missing out on getting my ears pierced’ was just another reason to be angry at the Galra. Pidge was only mildly bitter about it - there were bigger reasons to be angry, after all - but it still hurt to think about.Then the topic of 'what would be different if we were still on Earth?’ comes up, and her friends realise that this one’s something they can rectify. My Comments: Very sweet and cute and just a little achy. It hurts that Pidge wasn’t able to cross this milestone with her family at her side, but Hunk and Lance and Allura were all very kind and eager to help. Just adorable.

Bright And Bright by YukiSetsu Words: 3,493 Author’s Summary: A migraine hits Lance at a bad time, and threatens to ruin a new alliance if he doesn’t face due punishment. Unfortunately, in his current state, mere isolation is enough to hurt Lance in more ways than one. My Comments: This one gave me that good sweet ache in my chest, a little bit. Perfect mix of angst and whump and hurt/comfort.

Inner Workings by MoonlitWaterSunnyRiver for Mikiri Words: 2,439 Author’s Summary: Denial was a powerful drug, thought Hunk dizzily as he stared down at the rebar puncturing a hole through his gut. So powerful, really, that he could almost pretend he wasn’t seeing it. Almost. Or, Hunk is injured in an accident and trapped in his lion while floating in space, waiting for Keith to get there. My Comments: Really, REALLY good whump, a little graphic, but worth it. The yellow lion tries so hard, and Keith is great, too. Poor Hunk.

(Not) A Competition by beloved_key Words: 4,494 Author’s Summary: Normally, Lance is pretty good at letting Shiro know he’s not feeling his best. Better than the other paladins, anyway. But when Keith issues a challenge on the morning Lance wakes up with a bitch of a cold, before Lance can go to Shiro, well… It’s not like Lance can just back down, right? Besides, he’s not even that sick. He’ll be fine. Definitely. Based on a prompt by whumpcity on Tumblr My Comments: I loved how in-character this sickfic is. Lance makes a dumb decision and suffers for it, and there’s some teasing and jokes along with the pain. Great read.

If It Ain’t Broke by overlymetaromantic Words: 13,642 Author’s Summary: A 5 plus 1: Five times Lance takes a hit for the team, and one time the team takes a hit back. My Comments: A new one for my favorites. Everyone was in-character, and the whump was great, but that last chapter, mmm. So satisfying. This tickled my h/c itch magnificently, though I could have done with a liiiiitttle more comfort after the individual whump scenes. Lance should definitely have some PTSD, honestly. I would make grabby hands at a sequel.

Anathema by kitsune13tamlin Words: 2,088 Author’s Summary: he’s know all along that something was wrong. He just - never knew how wrong it really was. Shiro from season 3 and 4. Takes place after Shadow and day 4 of Black Paladin Week. My Comments: Really, really cool use of the clone!Shiro theory, just fantastic, and the descriptions were stunning. I would happily read much more of this concept.

Protect Your Own by ambivalentlangst Words: 2,810 Author’s Summary: Lance loves his lion, but sometimes love is not enough to stop fear from taking root. My Comments: Chilling and compelling little spot of horror, but do mind the tags. It’s intense, and far from a happy tale, but intriguing. We really don’t know ANYTHING about the lions, and I could definitely see them being capable of something like this.

Previously Recced Fics That Updated:

Back from the Edge (7605 words) Beacon (35665 words) As Color Fades Away (261938 words) The Purity of Sin (80960 words) Shadows of Stars (143678 words) Turn Back the Clock (14766 words) Blue and Bruised (25025 words) Fusion Confusion (23062 words) Truce (194329 words)

[allorana]

Bruising Waters

Someone order mermaidLance, lots of Hurt/Comfort (Whump and Illness/Injury of course;) and gratuitous bonding and angst??

Happy Birthday my lovely friend!! @sailormew4  I hope this week has been really good to you!

I’m posting in parts because I apparently cannot write anything in moderation and my word count will never cease to get away from me.

Link to AO3 (for full fic directly)  Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5

Bruising Waters Pt. 1: Honey, We Hurt the Fish

Lance murmured softly to himself as he slept, turning over in the warmth that the water provided as it gently glided around him.  He felt a current run its fingers through his hair, playfully jostling the strands and Lance whined, batting at it and rolling back over to try to continue his nap.  A soft giggle belled out around Lance at his antics.  He blinked his eyes open, awake with a smile and small hands reaching upwards for the smiling face that was hovering over him.

“Mama!”  Lance cried with a grin and he surged upwards into her waiting arms.  His mother laughed, curling backwards from the force of his hug, bouncing him against her.

“Hello, my little one; it’s time for you to wake up.”  Lance’s only response was to hum lightly and bury himself further into his mother’s arms, sighing contently as he closed his eyes against her chest.  “Oh, I see.”  Lance’s mother raised an eyebrow as she looked down at her son, eyes glittering mischievously, “So that’s how it’s going to be, is it?”

Lance frowned in confusion before shrieking loudly, eyes flying open as his mother lifted him up and gave him a merciless rasberry right in the center of his stomach.  Lance squealed and twisted against his mother, whacking his little blue tail against her shoulder in an effort to get her to stop.  Lance’s mother just laughed loud and hearty and spun her son around once more, her long green tail kicking up bubbles around them before letting him go.  Lance shot away from his mother, panting hard and trying, but failing, to fight the grin that kept pulling at his mouth as he gave her a put-upon look.  Lance’s father swam up behind his mother, snickering at the pout on his youngest son’s face.

Lance gave his father an indignant look and opened his mouth to tell his dad just what he thought of his father snickering at him when Lance was bowled over by his eldest brother from behind and they went spinning through the water towards their parents.  Lance screeched and flailed as he tumbled through the waves, his brother’s tail and arms wrapped tightly around him and laughing hard at Lance’s surprise.  Mrs. McClain shot out of the way but their father was hit directly by his children and sent reeling with a startled noise that gave way to a booming laugh.  Lance giggled breathlessly as his brother’s flipping came to a slow stop, beaming up at him and crying “Again, again!”

Lance’s craned his neck around as he heard his other siblings calling out to him, chuckling and swimming towards them.  He grinned lopsidedly at them and reached back a hand, opening his mouth to call out their names-

Lance yelped as he slid off the bed and onto the floor with a crash.  He lay awkwardly on the floor, stunned for a moment before letting out a low groan and pressing his face into the cold ground.  The lights were too bright, his head was pounding, and for some reason his nose felt completely clogged.  Lance groaned again.  He resituated himself more comfortably on the floor and let out a soft sigh, frowning.  He hadn’t had a dream like that in a year, since he first enrolled at the Garrison and was dealing with a bout of homesickness.  The dream had been a memory from when he was little and his family had still lived in the ocean off the coast of Cuba.  It was necessary for Mers to live underwater when they were first born in order to develop their gills, fins, and tails properly.  They’d lived there for a few years until Lance was strong enough to switch between human and Mer without trouble.  After that, his family had moved back onto the surface to the house they’d been living in before Lance had been born.  His grandparents had been taking care of the house while they were gone, and they were thrilled to have Lance and his family back with them where they could be safe from prying human eyes.

Lance groaned again as he pushed himself up, tossing his blankets haphazardly on his bed and padding towards his bathroom for a quick shower.  He missed his family.  He missed their weekly trips to the ocean so much that he physically ached.   But, Lance mused as he turned on the hot water, shedding his blue lion pajamas and stepping in, maybe the dream had been because of their recent mission.

They’d gone to a new planet on one of their diplomatic missions, hoping to convert the locals to their cause.  What Lance hadn’t know is that the planet had been largely based in aquatic species, with large cities like lanterns and beautiful glass domes covering the seafloor, some of them rising like beacons above the surface.  It had been so warm, colorful, and brightly lit, teeming with several species of humanoid-esque sea creatures of all colors and sizes.  There were even a few ancient-looking Mers the size of whales!  Lance bit back a nostalgic sigh as he turned over every detail of the city in his mind.  The ancient Mers had turned out to be the elders that Allura and the paladins were to meet with for negotiations and their low, grating rumbles had echoed through him like the sea itself.

Lance had wanted nothing more than to swim with them; to shed his human form and feel the water rushing across his gills and the scent of the ocean and its life wafting between his fins.  It’d been so long since he stretched his tail and seen his scales reflecting the sunlight in the clear water.  Lance smiled lightly to himself as he let the water run over his face, soothing some of the ache in his head and nose.  Lance loved his human form, truly.   As far as he was concerned he had the best of both worlds!  Lance’s smile faded as he let his thoughts wander from the beach and his favorite haunts and back to the water.  Another pang passed through him.  He longed desperately to be back in the ocean.  He needed it.  Lance hadn’t gotten a chance to transform since they’d entered their wild space adventure, and his skin was starting to feel uncomfortable and wrong.

Maybe there was still enough time before training...  Lance frowned as he thought it out.  He could skip breakfast and that would give him a chance to just transform real quick in the shower so he could check out his scales and air out his fins.  He could feel the water on them again and see if there was any problems that needed taking care of!  Lance quickly grew excited at the prospect, the promise of feeling water against his tail outweighing the fear of his team finding him.  His skin was itching and crawling with the anticipation of switching to his scales.  Lance decided that he’d just take a quick second to switch when he heard the telltale Beep of the castle comms.

*Paladins.  Please come to the dining room for further debriefing on yesterday’s mission.*

Lance groaned loudly.  Of course Allura would call everyone in for an impromptu meeting.  Lance sighed and reluctantly shut off the water.  There’s no way he could switch now.  If he was late the others would come looking for him, and then what was he supposed to tell them?  Hi, forgot to tell you but I’m half-fish and the reason I’ve been hiding it is because of past traumas and what I’ve been taught and trained since birth by my family.  Please don’t reject me!  Lance grimaced, wincing at the twinge in his legs as he dried off and put on his paladin armor.  Yeah, that would go over well.  Lance’s head wasn’t pounding any less, but at least the hot condensation had cleared up his nose a bit.  Lance headed out to breakfast, hoping training wouldn’t be too bad.  The buzzing beneath his skin didn’t go away.

**********

Holy crow, forget everything he’d previously said Lance felt like he was burning.  His skin was crawling and he kept twitching in discomfort, rubbing his legs against each other to assuage the itching.  Allura droned on about the successes of their mission and where each of the paladins could have done better, not noticing Lance’s movements, or if she did, was electing to ignore him.  The congestion had come back with a vengeance and this time it had settled in Lance’s lungs making it really hard not to cough.  He stifled another bout just barely and received an annoyed side-eye from Allura as Shiro began addressing her and the team.  Yep.  She’d noticed.  Lance huffed and hunched down more, trying to stay out of the line of fire.

He was so caught up in trying not to cause a scene that he didn’t notice Hunk leaning over to him.  “Are you ok?”

Lance jumped slightly as he felt Hunk’s breath flicker past his ear but quickly composed himself.  He nodded, leaning his head slightly down to Hunk’s to murmur back, “Yeah buddy don’t worry.  It’s just a little congestion.”

“Are you sure?”  Hunk frowned.  “You’ve been squinting pretty hard there too.”

Lance sighed.  Of course Hunk had noticed.  He took a deep breath, trying to calm his lungs before responding.  “It’s just a little headache.  Really Hunk, I’m fi-”

“Lance, Hunk!”  Lance and Hunk both jerked away from each other and shot up straight.  Lance saw the other three paladins startle in his periphery, equally alarmed by Allura’s outburst.  She glared down at Hunk and Lance, nostrils flaring slightly.  She took a deep breath and spoke calmly, but her eyes were glinting in a manner that had Lance wincing more than the stupid, overly bright lights above them.  “Is there something you’d care to share with the rest of the team?  Since you obviously think it’s so important that it cannot wait until we’re done.”

Lance shook his head violently, then stopped when he saw spots dancing in front of his eyes. “Nope, no we’re um, we’re good Princess sorry.”  He coughed pointedly at Hunk who was giving him a disbelieving look.

Shiro frowned at Hunk’s expression.  “Hunk?”

Hunk glanced at his leader who was gazing at him, patient but worried, then back at Lance who was glaring at him out of the corner of his eye.  Hunk bit his lip nervously. “Lance is sick!”  He blurted.

“Hunk!!”  Lance threw his arms in the air and turned on his best friend, annoyed glare in full force now.

Hunk huffed a protest.  “I’m sorry buddy, but you always do this.  It’s not good for you!”

The other paladins sat up straighter, Allura looked slightly confused and Shiro was already making his way over to Lance, concern coming off of him in waves.  Lance reeled back from everyone and pushed Shiro’s hand away from his forehead, scrambling up.  “Guys I’m fine!  It’s just a little headache and congestion, probably just caught some dumb space cold or something.”

Shiro frowned but backed away some.  Keith was studying Lance like he could determine what was wrong if he just looked hard enough.  Pidge just made an exasperated noise.  “Oh my gosh Lance.  It’s fine if you’re sick, ok?  Just let us know so you can take things easy if you need to.”

Lance grit his teeth.  “I said I’m fine.  I don’t need to ‘take it easy’ it’s just a little cold.”

Pidge gave him an unimpressed look.  “Garrison, Monday November 23rd?  The Physics test?  You said that was just a ‘little cold’ too.”  Keith glanced at her a curious expression on his face while Hunk groaned, muttering under his breath “I remember”.

“Okay in my defense-”

“Enough, all of you!”  Shiro cut in, rubbing the bridge of his nose.  He looked up at Lance once everyone quieted down and addressed him directly.  “Are you good to train today?”

“Yes.”  Lance replied without hesitation.

Shiro and Allura shared a look before she nodded and turned to Lance.  “If you’re not too bad then I think it would be fine if you continued training with the team for the day.  However, a sick paladin is a serious thing because it could affect our readiness to form Voltron.  So if you do get worse, you are to inform Coran or I so we can take care of it, understand?”

Lance huffed.  “Yes, ok fine.”

She smiled at him and hesitated a moment, before reaching out to ruffle his hair, eliciting a squawk from Lance.  “Besides,” She smiled warmly, “We can’t have our Blue Paladin getting too sick on us because he didn’t take care of himself.”

Lance gaped at Allura as she turned around and began giving Coran the training instructions for the day.  Well that was unexpected.  He thought, as everyone quickly filed out of the room after Shiro.  Keith and Hunk shot Lance suspicious looks a few times but he ignored them.  He would be fine.  He was just a little irritable because of the dream and the weird itching.  Lance decided he’d just take it easy and maybe check over his scales later.  There.  Lance nodded to himself as he activated his bayard, beginning the training sequence with the team.  Now that he had a plan, Lance felt better already.

**********

Lance groaned as he face-planted into his bed, sighing into the mess of blankets from earlier that morning.  How many times was he going to be wrong in one day?  The universe was against him.  Lance was sure of it.

True to her word, Allura had kept the paladins training the entire day.  They’d mostly worked on combat training and had ended the day flying formations in their lions.  Blue was worried the instant Lance had stepped into her cockpit.  He managed to convince her that he wasn’t about to die, and that he was just a little sick.  But Blue still kept up a soft undercurrent of purring behind his head as they flew, and if she took control a little too much during the harder maneuvers, well there was nothing Lance could say to change her mind.  She ignored his indignant exclamations each time.  Blue just snuffed at him through their connection, causing Lance’s hair to fluff up as if she’d actually blown on his head, then continued flying.

Needless to say, Lance was exhausted.  Everything ached and the itching that had been running in random bursts and patches in his legs had moved to his hips and arms.  It was at the point where Lance felt like there was a semi-constant, dull fire underneath his skin.  He wanted nothing more than to sleep it off and wake up better.  Too tired to do more than toss his armor on the floor and call out in a croaky voice for the lights to dim, Lance buried himself in the blankets and drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

The next day didn’t get any better.  In fact, Lance seemed to be steadily getting worse.  The burning was now continuous through his legs, but alongside the burning, new patches of pain were creeping up.  Lance had to cover up a wince more than once at a sudden flare up during meetings, training, and meals.  Hunk had noticed he seemed to have a difficult time moving and was now keeping an annoyingly close eye on him.  He’d conscripted the others into watching Lance as well.  This meant that whenever Lance tried to go off alone, someone else inevitably showed up to keep him company.  Which was great and all, usually Lance would be ecstatic, but he hadn’t had a moment’s peace to check his tail because of it, which only served to further sour Lance’s mood.

He managed to brush off most of his friends’ concern.  Blue, however, was having none of it.  When it came time for lion training she refused to allow Lance to perform any maneuvers she deemed “too hazardous” for his current condition, leaving Lance seething and at his breaking point.  He was tired, in constant pain, and his congestion had decided to permanently move to his lungs making his voice scratchy and sore.  Allura was at a loss as to what to have the paladins do next, so Shiro took over and proclaimed the rest of the day be spent with light paladin bonding activities as a team.  An evening of playing games and trading jokes and stories had Lance’s spirits lifted considerably, something that everyone on the team noted with some relief.  The pain hadn’t subsided any, but Lance was grateful for his team anyways.  They went to bed relieved that Lance was finally feeling well again.

It wasn’t until Lance’s third day of dealing with the random bursts of pain, lightheadedness, coughing, and discomfort that everything finally hit the fan.

**********

Lance yelped as his body spasmed underneath his sheets, jerking up onto his elbows as he tried to get the convulsions in his torso and legs under control.  They only lasted for a few seconds but it was enough to leave Lance sweating and panting for breath.  He threw back the sheets and checked the time.

Crap.  He’d missed breakfast and morning training was starting in 10 minutes.  Lance jerked himself up, swaying slightly before steadying himself.  Ok, there was no way he could do training today.  The others were bound to notice and honestly he was not interested in dealing with whatever this sickness was today on top of Allura’s regularly scheduled torture fests.  Lance haphazardly threw on his gear, praying and begging that whatever was going on had nothing to do with his other form.  If it did, Lance didn’t know what he’d do.  The thought of having to reveal his heritage was paralyzing.

Every step Lance took towards the training deck was agony.  Pain like barbs shot through his feet and up his hips making him let out small cries every few steps.  He needed help-- now.  Lance staggered into the training room just as his team was finishing their first sparring session.

Shiro glanced up at the sound of the door opening and gave Lance a smile.  “Nice of you to join us Lance!  We weren’t sure you’d be up for it, so we were planning to let you sleep in a litt-”  Shiro froze as he turned fully to face Lance.  Lance was sickeningly pale and sweating profusely, clinging to the wall to hold himself up.  There were dark reddish bruises under Lance’s eyes, and he was shaking so hard his knees were knocking together.  Shiro immediately straightened up and strode over.  The other paladins stopped sparring at Shiro’s sudden halt.  They looked up and when they saw Lance, deactivated their bayards and ran up behind Shiro.

“Lance?  What’s wrong?”

“Jeez, you look way worse than yesterday.  What were you thinking coming up here in your armor to train?”

Lance tilted his head down and sneezed a hacking cough into his chest, his arms preoccupied with keeping him upright.  “I wasn-”  He coughed again, sucking in quick shallow breaths before continuing, “I wasn’t.  I don’t want to train.  Everything hurts.”  Shiro came around Lance and gently lifted his hands so he was leaning against the Black Paladin instead of the door frame, hands braced against Shiro’s arms as he spoke.

“Wait, Lance.  If you weren’t planning on training today, why did you get into your paladin armor?”  Hunk wrung his hands nervously.  Pidge frowned, confused.

“Technically he didn’t even make it into his armor”  Keith muttered.  Lance blinked long and slow at Keith, then glanced down to look at himself.  Oh.  Lance’s arm guards were on the wrong sides, he was missing his left boot, and his chest plate was hanging somewhat loosely.

Anxiety flickered in Keith’s eyes at Lance’s lack of response and he sucked in a sharp breath.  Without thinking, he leaned over and put his hand on Lance’s forehead, instantly recoiling at the intense heat under his gloved palm.  “Shiro, he’s burning up.”

“Ok.”  Shiro shifted Lance slightly as he thought.  “Keith, take Lance to his room and get him out of that armor and into something more comfortable.”  He nodded and moved to take Lance from Shiro, swinging Lance’s arm over his shoulders and pulling most of Lance’s weight onto his hip.  “Hunk and Pidge prepare the Medbay.  I’ll send Coran to you as soon as I find him.  I’ll let Allura know the situation as well.”  Hunk and Pidge wasted no time replying, taking off in the direction of the Infirmary.

Lance swayed against Keith, taking in Shiro’s orders blearily, stumbling as they suddenly twisted around to move down the hallway.  Oh good.  Maybe they were going to take Lance somewhere he could cool down.  Cold sounded nice right now.  Also water.  That sounded good too.  His skin was raw and crawling rapidly.  Water would help.  Lance was confident in that.  They staggered down the hall, Keith trying to talk to him but Lance wasn’t having any of it.  Keith’s voice kept fading in and out and Lance just knew he was doing it on purpose to mess with Lance’s headache.  So why should Lance bother to listen to anything Keith had to say?  Maybe he’d be nice though and bring Lance some water when they got to wherever they were going.

“...es Lance… get you some water… but please try to focus…Hunk and...okay?”

Lance jolted and hissed, movements uncoordinated.  The pain was building and he felt so sick oh by the seas, please make it stop.  Lance felt Keith pull him forward, speeding up at the pained sounds Lance was emitting.

“...We’re almost there…-old on Lance.”

Lance was gasping by the time they got to his room.  He felt like he was choking on the phlegm coating his throat.  Keith set him down and started ripping the armor pieces off of Lance in a panic.  His hands were shaking and he was trying to talk to Lance, but Lance still couldn’t hear him.  Water, he needed water.  He needed to change please, he begged.

“Ok Lance…getting you some water…-tay here.”  Keith turned and raced out of the room, sprinting for the kitchen.

As soon as he was gone Lance pulled himself up and staggered, panting over to the shower.  He threw the water onto its coldest setting and started pulling desperately at his black undersuit, dragging it off as the shower cascaded down him until he was shuddering there in just his boxers, arms wrapped tightly around himself.  He couldn’t breathe.  He couldn’t think.  Everything was tearing underneath his skin.  Off, he needed it off.  Lance scrabbled desperately at his legs.  Sharp stabs hit his chest and stomach repeatedly and he doubled over.  He heard a voice screaming but he couldn’t tell where it was coming from.  He arched back as he clawed at his legs.  Lance barely registered his mouth wide open or his raw throat as the agonized screams filled his ears.

**********

Keith moved down the hall towards the bedrooms as quickly as he could without spilling the large glass of water he was carrying.  He’d never seen Lance so sick.  The desperate way he’d cried for water made Keith uneasy.  It was his crying that had finally pushed Keith over the edge and sent him for a cup for Lance.  He didn’t like leaving him alone it that state, babbling incoherently and moaning in pain, but Lance had sounded so desperate.  Keith sped up slightly.  The sooner he made it back to Lance the better.

Keith had just made it to the hallway closest to the bedrooms when a horrible screaming pierced the air.  His body went numb and the cup slipped from his hand, crashing to the floor.  Racking screams tore through him and Keith was sprinting, calling Lance’s name over and over again.  He shot past the door and burst into the bathroom, skidding to a halt as he took in the horrific sight before him.

Lance’s torso was covered in reddish bruises and he was screaming, tearing at his legs and hips so hard that they were bleeding.  But the biggest shock were the stone-like pieces he saw stuck randomly along Lance’s hips, legs, arms, torso; they were everywhere.  He was faintly aware that they were probably once blue, but the color was ether faded or hidden under dark growth that clung between the pieces and stretched across Lance’s skin in patches.  A white, filmy substance was curling out from his ears and along his arms and spine.  Keith’s throat closed and he froze, stricken with more terror than he’d felt when the Red Lion had stalled while he was facing Zarkon.  Another gurgling scream had Keith throwing himself down at Lance’s side.  He grabbed Lance’s hands and drug them away from his legs as Lance fought against him, hissing and twisting to escape Keith’s grip.  Keith pushed down a wave of nausea as he took in Lance’s hands.  His nails had sharpened and extended considerably, causing deep gouges in his legs that made the water run a sickly pink.  It pooled beneath their feet and swirled down the drain, leaving trails along the tile floor.

This was beyond Keith’s capability to handle-- beyond any of their capability to handle.  He felt hysterical as he pinned a struggling Lance’s arms to his sides.  And now Lance was actually snapping his teeth at him.  Whatever this illness was, it was far more serious than Coran or anyone else had assumed.  Keith crouched down and with a grunt hauled Lance over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, keeping Lance’s arms as secure as he could.  Keith whipped around, not even bothering to shut the water off as he ran from Lance’s room, hitting the emergency button by the bedroom door on his way.  What kind of sick alien virus could have transformed Lance into this?

Keith burst into the Medbay, skidding to a halt in front of his startled teammates who’d gathered frantically at the sound of the alarm.  Panic coursed through the other paladins as they took in Keith’s gasping form and Lance twisting and screaming over his shoulder.  Hunk screamed and Pidge shot forward.

“Oh my gosh, Lance!”

“Keith!  Keith, what happened, what’s wrong with him?”

Shiro and Allura lifted Lance’s squirming form off of Keith’s shoulder and pulled him over to the pods, immediately preparing one for stasis until Coran could help them figure out what was wrong.  Lance’s screams had died down to choked gasping, eyes blown wide and his back still arching with each pained exclamation.

Coran was fumbling with the pod’s controls as Allura and Shiro finally managed to get Lance inside.  Keith leaned against Pidge, breathing hard.  He squeezed his eyes shut against Lance’s cries, and flinched when they were cut off by the pod closing.  The weight of what had happened crashed down around Keith and he slid against Pidge who yelped and struggled to help him sit down.

Keith saw Hunk staring into the pod, face gray at the sight of his limp best friend.  He was frozen, hands pressed against his mouth like he’d forgotten they were there, eyes teary and blown wide.  Pidge shot Shiro a slightly desperate look as she held Keith.  Shiro left Coran and Allura to hover by the pod and watch for the results of the scans to come over to Keith and Pidge.  Shiro placed a firm hand on Keith’s shoulder and Keith drug his eyes over to look at his oldest friend and older brother figure.

“Keith.  I know this is rough, but I need you to tell us what you saw.”  Shiro smiled gently down at Keith, but it didn’t reach his eyes.  Everyone except for Coran stilled and looked at Keith, hoping he could provide them with some answers.

Keith swallowed hard, then spoke shakily.  “He was incoherent when we were walking to his room.  He kept muttering and asking for water.”  He gulped and Shiro squeezed his shoulder.  Keith sucked in a deep breath, grounding himself in the familiar presence before continuing.  “He seemed like he was in so much pain.  I just wanted to get him back to the Medbay, but he sounded so desperate, and he kept pleading.  I don’t even think he realized it.  So, I left him and ran to get him some.”  Keith hunched into himself with a moan, pressing his hands into his eyes.  “I’m sorry Shiro I’m so sorry.  I shouldn’t have done that; I should have stayed with him.  If I hadn’t then maybe-”

“No Keith, no.”  Shiro knelt down and pulled his little brother into his arms.  “It wasn’t your fault.  You didn’t know.  None of us did.”

“But we should have.”  Pidge interjected bitterly.  “We saw he was sick.  We should have known when Blue refused to let him do any flying that something was seriously wrong.”  Her hands were clenched into fists, the nails digging into her palm as she shook.

“Well, Keith leaving was probably a good thing in the long run.”  The paladins startled and turned to Coran who was gazing intensely at the readings before him, brow furrowed.

“What do you mean, Coran?”  Allura asked as she walked over to him.

“I think I know what’s happened, but with Lance only being partially transformed, I can’t tell for sure.”  Coran pressed the button to open the pod ignoring the shocked and protesting exclamations from the other paladins.  Hunk yelped and scrambled forward, catching Lance who started twitching and shaking violently the moment he was free from the pod.  He was completely unconscious.

“Coran!  What the heck, man?  Why would you let him out?”

Coran ran over to a different edge of the room and started pressing buttons, causing a chamber to come out of the wall.  “In case of aliens who are primarily aquatic, we have this chamber to help treat them in a more natural environment.”  The paladins watched wide-eyed as the odd tank filled with water.  Hunk tightened his grip on Lance.  “Get him to the water quickly.  He needs to finish transforming.  Being in this half form is only doing him more harm.”  Hunk looked shocked.

Keith’s mind reeled.  Half-form?  Transforming?  What was happening to Lance?

Allura seemed to take Coran’s instruction in stride.  Before Hunk could do more than protest she’d lifted the Blue Paladin out of his arms and placed him in the water.  Everyone held their breath as they watched.  At first, nothing happened.  Then, Lance started to change.  He whimpered and squirmed in the water before settling as his legs elongated and fused together, the stone-like pieces along his hips; scales, Keith’s shocked brain helpfully supplied, soon covered his lower half.  Fins grew out from his ears and back, and a few trailed along his arms.  Keith couldn’t believe it.  Pidge let out a soft “oh” and Hunk squeaked in shock.  A mermaid.  Lance looked like a mermaid.  No, not just ‘looked like’, Lance, somehow, was a mermaid, er, merman.

Even in his daze, Keith knew instantly that something was wrong.  He felt it in his gut, a pooling sense of deep anxiety as his eyes took in the dropping, haggard fins.  They were almost see-through now instead of just white, and still seemed foamy and wisping.  His scales were darkened and oozing an unnatural substance all over his tail.  The patches of rotted and grayed scales continued up Lance’s torso, along his arms, and on his cheeks.  Everywhere the scales were they were cracking and covered with a gray substance.  The tips of Lance’s fingers and his carefully manicured nails had extended into unnaturally blackened claws, chipped and bleeding.  His skin and the area around his gills were bruised and red, the dark bags under his eyes looked worse than yesterday.  His gills looked inflamed, a foamy, white substance oozing out whenever Lance breathed.  Keith felt like he was going to be sick.

Hunk gagged at the sight of his friend.  Shiro’s grip on Keith had tightened to the point that it started to hurt.  He was staring at Lance as if seeing him for the first time.  Pidge’s eyes were wide as saucers and brimming with tears.  Allura and Coran inhaled sharply.

Lance whined pitifully and began to cry, tears streaming from his closed eyes.  His fins fluttered weakly against his head and he lifted his face towards the paladins, like he was trying to sense them.  Lance’s hands raised weakly towards them.  A desperate keening call broke from his throat and shot straight down Keith’s spine.  Keith ran towards Lance without hesitation, Shiro right behind him.  Without even thinking about it he grabbed onto Lance’s outstretched hands and began rubbing soothing circles into them.  Lance’s keening sobs quieted at the touch and he leaned towards Keith, unconsciously seeking him.  The other paladins looked on in shock.  Tears were rolling down Hunk’s cheeks, and Pidge was clinging wide-eyed to the edge of the tank.  Keith noticed that at Lance’s cry, everyone in the room had moved closer to surround the tank and Lance from all sides.  He seemed to quiet slightly at the proximity, but his whimpers didn’t stop.

Coran stepped forward purposefully, breaking the tension.  “The good news is, I know what this is.  The bad news, he’s in the final stage.  Which means we need to get him into a healing pod-- now.”

Pidge piped up, “Final stage?”

“Yes.  His fever is dangerously high and he’s begun hemorrhaging.  Shiro, Hunk, lift Lance and get him into that pod.”

Keith and Pidge balked at Coran’s blunt explanation.  Horror gripped Keith’s gut.  Shiro managed to rouse himself enough to pull Hunk forward and together, they gently lifted Lance out of the tank and carried him towards the pod that Coran was busily setting up.  “The pod should take care of the internal bleeding and any other injuries he’s sustained, but the rest of the infection will have to be waited out the old-fashioned way.”

Hunk grunted as he held onto Lance’s arms, Shiro supporting his tail.  “Jeez Lance, and I thought I was heavy, what the heck man?  What are you eating?  Also, Coran, Coran my man what do you mean internal bleeding.  What is going on, why is my best friend a fish?  I thought those pods were supposed to fix everything?  Wait, how are we supposed to stand him up in that thing with this tail?  Also, is this because of that illness or was Lance a fish all along, because I think I’d know if my best friend was half-”

“Hunk.”  Shiro called,  “Breathe.”

Coran, for his part, look offended.  “Of course he was already part- er, whatever he is!  This illness doesn’t do that!  It’s an infection that’s common on Vellugher.”

Keith gaped as Pidge pulled him to his feet with a sharp grunt.  They trailed nervously behind Hunk and Shiro.  “Wait, you mean that water planet we just visited?” She asked.

“Yep!  That’s the one!”  Coran’s voice was slightly high and he nodded jerkily as he helped Hunk and Shiro somehow muscle Lance into the pod and shut the door.  He typed rapidly at the keys, jittering.  “See the virus is actually really common on Vellugher.  It starts with congestion in the lungs, for the aquatic creatures that have them, and mild scale and fin rot in patches.  That’s when most people are able to recognize the disease and get it treated.  After that comes a gray/white growth that starts eating away at the scales and the sensitive skin underneath and between them.  The pre-final stage is a dangerously high fever that overlaps with the final stage which is hemorrhaging of the internal organs.  That’s indicated by reddish bruising around the eyes, gills, and on the skin.  The screaming was likely due to the sensation of the infection finally eating away at the internal tissues.  At that point, most of the infected don’t have the kind of advanced medical treatment required to fix it so they end up dying.”  Coran was visibly shaking now, voice climbing higher as he spoke.

Allura looked confused, hands clasped in front of her dress as she glanced worriedly at Lance.  “But Coran, I thought that it takes at least a week, sometimes more, for the symptoms to run their full course.  Was he suffering like this for the past week or longer, and we just didn’t know?”

“Oh no, Lance most definitely caught this on Vellugher.  He couldn’t have been exposed to it recently enough otherwise.  Normally the aliens who visit Vellugher get immunized but I-”  Coran was pulling at his mustache, muttering and fussing as he started putting away various instruments and pulling others out to set the room up for when Lance came out.  Allura frowned at him in concern.  “I didn’t-  I should’ve-  I had no idea any of you possessed aquatic characteristics.  Otherwise I would have gotten you all vaccinated.  I should have anyways, this never would have happened if I’d just-”  Coran shook violently as he spoke, voice thick with guilt and eyes far away.

Allura placed her hand gently over Coran’s, effectively halting his erratic movements.  Keith watched worriedly from where he stood near Shiro.  “It’s not your fault.”  She whispered.

Shiro sighed, running a hand dejectedly through his hair.  “Allura’s right.  I’m the leader.  I should have noticed Lance was hiding something from us.”

Angry exclamations met Shiro’s words.

“What?  Oh come on Shiro, we’re just as much to blame as you.”

“Keith’s right.  We’re all at fault here… even Lance.”

“Yeah, Shiro.  I mean, Lance is my best friend.  If I didn’t know how could any of the rest of you?”

“Ok, ok.”  Shiro raised his hands against the protests.  “I get it.”

Keith turned to glare at Pidge.  “How is this Lance’s fault?  We never gave him a moment’s peace alone; when could he have found out about this?”

Pidge gazed at him in disbelief.  “Do you really think that Lance would have told us even if he’d known what was wrong?  He has a history of pulling crap like this.  He hides that he’s feeling under the weather until he’s sick as a dog and passing out.  And how do you even know he wasn’t aware of it, and just didn’t want to tell us?”  Her lip wobbled slightly as she spoke.  “He didn’t trust us, Keith.”

Keith flinched and Hunk looked sad.  Shiro seemed conflicted, and Keith could tell he was still blaming himself.  Allura glanced at the pod with a sigh, “I suppose we’ll just have to ask him when he wakes.”  Everyone nodded and turned back to the pod, guilt and anxiety flickering across their faces as they gazed at Lance’s limp form.  There was nothing they could do now but wait.