It was dark. You were in your room at the castle. You were waiting, sitting on the floor, feeling nauseous. Like something bad wanted to get out of you. And your heart was racing. Like it wanted to escape your chest. Was something wrong?

You didn't let yourself cry even though you felt like it. Maybe you were just so used to everything being wrong, that you couldn't separate the good things anymore? After all, you were the one to blame. This was all your fault. Why wouldn't it be? You were nothing. Were you? Why were you to blame? Was it really your fault?

You flinched as the door to your room was opened. "(Y/N)?" A familiar voice called out. And you gasped. He found you. How could he find you here!? You were in space. Nobody knew you were there. But he still found you.

You quickly got up. You had to. The nauseating feeling tried to take over, but you put on a smile as you went to the door. You knew you had to get out of there. But how? How could you escape?

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You woke up gasping for air, sweating.

You had slept horribly and woke up feeling quite numb. You hadn't seen those nightmares in ages. Or at least what felt like ages. So why now? Was it because of the test you had faced at the training grounds? Was it just remains from yesterday? Or was it because you wanted to feel again? Was it guilt?

You had those nightmares almost every night when you started at the Garrison. At that time you slept so poorly. And it lasted for months. You probably looked and acted like a walking dead for the start of the first year. Then, after months, dreams started to replace the nightmares, and everything started to seem brighter. Then you knew you had gotten over the worst. You knew you had gotten away.

But now that you thought about those nightmares, your anxiety levels started to rise. So you immediately got down on the floor and started to meditate. You had to. Relieving anxiety was the original reason you had started to meditate in the first place. You had to do it to get through the days back then.

You tried closing your eyes and concentrate on clearing your mind and steadying your breath. Maybe this nightmare was just a one-off? Maybe, if you got rid of the anxiety now, there would be no more of them?

After a moment of meditating, you finally started to calm down. It eventually got rid of the anxiety, but not that awful feeling you still had in your gut. It was like you were back to square one. Like all the old feelings were coming back.

After that you took a shower to get rid of the sweat. You ran your hands through your hair, trying to wash the nauseating feeling away. And while doing that, your determination started to take over. You knew you weren't going to let those nightmares control you again the same way as before. You were already stronger than that. You wanted to move on.

And while you were putting your clothes on, you kept thinking of what had happened yesterday. You had experienced so many different emotions in one day. And even though your head still tried to keep you back, your heart said different. And this time you decided to let yourself be vulnerable. No amount of nightmares could convince you otherwise.

With your hair still slightly wet, you walked to the kitchen. The sleep deprivation made you really thirsty so you had to get something to drink. But suddenly Coran's voice interrupted you. "(Y/N), Pidge, please come down to the detainment room." His voice echoed through the speakers. Detainment room? What was in there?

After getting a drink you headed down to meet the others. And as you arrived to the door of the detainment room, you stopped. You took a deep breath, straightened out your back and tried to hide the fact that you had slept poorly so that nobody would get worried. And then you entered the huge detainment room.

Coran, Shiro, Lance, Hunk and Keith were already there. "Morning!" You said to them as cheerfully as you could. And as you walked in, you saw Keith standing a bit further away with his arms crossed. And as he saw you coming in, he perked up a bit. You gave him a small smile without anyone else noticing. And he quickly averted his gaze a bit flustered, still glancing at you from the corner of his eye.

You felt yourself blushing as you realised that he was watching your every move as you made your way to Coran. It felt a bit weird and exhilarating at the same time, as you both knew what had happened between you two, but the others didn't. And suddenly you started to feel butterflies in your stomach and you loved it. Oh how you had missed that feeling.

Then you stopped as you saw Sendak in the pod next to Shiro. And you got serious. You had already forgotten that they were keeping him there. And as you looked at him, you felt shivers running down your spine as you remembered the vile energy that he had. You could almost still feel it through the glass. It was like he was staring at you even though his eyes were closed.

You decided to back away a bit. And Shiro noticed it. "You alright (Y/N)?" He looked at you with concerned eyes. But you just smiled at him. "Yes. He just still makes me slightly nervous." You answered him.

Then you turned to Coran, who was installing some technical devices to Sendak's pod. "What are you doing?" You asked, even though you guessed he'd probably tell you something you wouldn't even understand. "Patience Paladin." Coran just stated without giving you an answer while concentrating on his installments.

"Is Allura still at her room?" You then asked. "The Princess was visiting her father this morning, but she is resting now. She still hasn't recovered all her strength." Coran explained. And you thought that maybe you should go and visit her again. She'd probably want to know how your journey to the training grounds went.

Just then Pidge came in. And she seemed a bit irritated. "What is it? I was in the middle of something." She just stated while walking in. "What a nice way to say good morning." You smirked at her. But she didn't smile back. "I was in the middle of trying to figure out the Galra crystal. What could be more important than that?" She said, slightly pouting. But just then she saw what Coran was doing and got silent. She went closer and started to inspect everything with curiosity. And you almost laughed out loud. What a way to shut Pidge up.

Then Coran tapped on a holographic screen. "Okay guys, Sendak's almost hooked up. But, look, I have to warn you, this technology was used to keep Altean memories alive, not to interrogate prisoners." He explained. So, they were going to interrogate Sendak. You had no idea how they were going to do that, but if there would be some use of that scumbag, then good.

"Coran, we understand this isn't what the technology was meant for, but if we can extract Sendak's memories, we may gain valuable intelligence on Zarkon's troop locations." Shiro tried to reason with Coran. And just then you glanced at Shiro. He looked like he hadn't slept much either last night. And that you had in common. Maybe the challenges had affected him more that you thought. He was always the strongest one, so you had almost started to think that he was invincible. That nothing would fracture his mind more. He had been through so much already.

Just then Lance's voice snapped you out of your thoughts. "Yeah, and then we can just be like, knock-knock. Who's there? The avenging fury of Voltron, son!" Lance lightened up the mood again, making you chuckle a bit. And he looked back at you, smiling widely, seemingly happy to have made you laugh again.

"Fascinating. So, how exactly does this work?" Pidge asked, looking at everything with curiosity, her nose pressed against the glass of the pod. She got way too excited with all that technical stuff. "As the memories are extracted, they're written bit by bit on individual molecules of the micro-storage strands." Coran explained. "Say what?" You asked him puzzled. And you saw Pidge looking at you smirking. And you heard a small sneer coming from Keith.

You immediately glanced at Keith, squinting your eyes. "Not like you understood it either." You said while giving him a sly little smirk. And you saw how he seemed to get a bit flustered again from the look you gave him. He probably wasn't used to the attention you were suddenly giving him. And you found it to be so cute that he got all flustered around you.

"When I go, I want all the stuff in my brain stored in a giant ship." Lance suddenly said with a dreamy tone in his voice. "The amount of information in your brain could be stored in a paper airplane." Keith said to Lance a bit amused, getting over his flustered state. And you laughed.

Keith looked at you, like he was surprised he had said something that made you laugh, and Lance just got irritated that you were laughing at Keith's joke. "Oh yeah? Well the amount of information you have Keith, could be..." Lance tried to come up with a good retort, without succeeding. "Yeah?" Keith tried to provoke him in turn. And you looked at Lance struggling. It was amusing.

"Uh...it's less than I have!" Lance then said proudly. And you saw Keith rolling his eyes and Pidge starting to laugh. "Oh, good one, Lance!" Hunk encouraged him. "No it wasn't!" You exclaimed laughing. And poor Lance was glaring at you pouting. But just then Coran interrupted you. "Okay, let's see." He said, ready with his installments.

The device that Coran had installed was activated, but nothing seemed to happen. And the room was silent as everyone almost held their breaths in the anticipation. But nothing. "Uh, is this what's supposed to be happening?" Hunk asked wondering. "Let's give it some time." Shiro said, trying to reassure everyone. And you took a deep breath. You had no choice but to wait then.

And so you waited. You walked around just to stop yourself from getting bored. Shiro was silent as he looked at Sendak steadily. Hunk was lying down on the ground, letting out deep sighs, like he was about to fall asleep. Keith was leaning on one of the pods lost in his thoughts. And even Pidge started to look bored. "How long do we have to wait?" You decided to ask Coran when nothing seemed to happen. "Patience Paladin." Coran just said while looking at the device unceasingly.

So you just waited again. Hunk had already fallen asleep, looking really peaceful. And you wanted to take a nap badly too. You went next to him and sat down. Then you leaned your head on Hunk's tummy while straightening out your legs. His deep breaths felt so calming that you really wanted to fall asleep.

But then you heard Keith's voice. "What are you doing?" He asked slightly puzzled. "Shhh." You hushed, signaling him to keep quiet. "Look how cute he is." You then quietly said, smiling. And Hunk really looked so cute when he slept. But Keith just leaned back on the pod, not replying to you. "He is! Like a little puppy!" Lance on the other hand exclaimed, coming next to you. Then he poked Hunk's tummy, making him groan in his sleep before you slapped Lance's hand back.

And again you just waited. You were up again, trying to stretch your legs in the meantime. You really had nothing else to do there. But just then Keith suddenly stretched out his arms, getting your attention. "Well, I can't wait around anymore. I'm going to hit the training deck." He said to everyone, even though he was slightly looking at you, like he meant to say that to you. And then he left the detainment room. And you were left there slightly puzzled. Was that an invitation? Did he want you to go after him? And again you felt the butterflies in your stomach as you realised your cheeks felt slightly hot.

You looked at the others. Nobody seemed to notice what had happened. And you wanted to go straight after him. You wanted to spend time with him. You were actually waiting for it. So you tried to come up with a plan. You decided to stay in the detainment room for awhile, then come up with some excuse to leave, and go to the training deck. Yes, good plan.

Then you waited, again. And you tried to come up with an excuse. Breakfast? No, Hunk would probably come with you. To see how Allura was feeling? No, Lance would probably try to come with you just to see Allura's bedroom. Yeah, he probably would.

Just then Pidge's voice snapped you out of your thoughts. She had also had enough. "Okay, if anyone needs me, I'll be in my lab. Maybe I can pull some information from Sendak's Galra Crystal." Pidge said as she waved at everyone, leaving the room.

At the same moment Hunk got up from the floor. "Time to feed the beast. I'm going to go make some breakfast." He said before slowly walking out of the detainment room. So you were right.

When Hunk had left, you knew it was your time. "Okay, I think I'll head out to my room to take a nap, if nothing is going to happen here..." You said a bit hesitantly as you looked around. Your excuse wasn't well thought but that was all you could come up with now. But when nobody seemed to pay any attention to you, you slowly made your way out of the room.

Then you walked along the hallway, on your way to the training deck. And you felt yourself somewhat positively nervous as you tried to think of what to say to Keith. You knew there were no more excuses. You liked him, and you wanted him to know that. So what the heck. You were a Paladin, dammit. You had decided to let yourself feel, whatever happened. You didn't care.

Just then suddenly the lights in the hallway started to flicker and were eventually turned off. And you immediately stopped as it was pitch black. Suddenly it was so quiet. And you held your breath. What was happening?

Then the lights flickered again and you saw a figure at the end of the hallway. You gasped and leaned on the wall, so that the figure wouldn't see you. You had immediately realised that it wasn't any of the Paladins, Allura or Coran. The figure was moving eerily calm and it seemed to be heading towards Allura's room. It was pitch black, but you could still see the figure, like it was radiating light. Who was it? An intruder? Just then the lights flickered again and were turned back on. And the figure was gone.

You were frozen, but your mind was going through so many thoughts at the same time. What should you do? Should you first go tell the others? But before you could get back, it could have hurt Allura. And if that happened, you would never forgive yourself. But you didn't have your bayard with you either. Shit, what to do? Could you beat that intruder without your bayard? And after so many thoughts, you made up your mind. You had to go see first that Allura wasn't hurt.

So you started to carefully make your way towards Allura's room. You were a bit shaky after the flickering lights and the eerie intruder, but you tried to concentrate on your surroundings. You listened carefully, but you heard nothing. That was a quiet intruder.

Then you came to Allura's door. And your heart started to race fast. If the intruder was there, you'd have to fight him. But you only had your fists and Keith's teachings. They would have to suffice. Then you took a deep breath to gather your courage and quickly pushed the button to open the door.

"Allura!?" You yelled as you rushed in. You clenched your fists, ready to punch whoever was in there. Then you stopped and quickly searched the room thoroughly with your eyes, but there was nobody. Not even Allura. And you gasped. Had the intruder already gotten her? Were you too late? And you cursed your incapability on making quick decisions.

Then suddenly the door to Allura's room got slammed shut, startling you. "Who is it!?" You yelled, demanding to know. You quickly ran to the door and tried to push the button to open it, to see who it was. But the door wouldn't open.

You tried to push the button again, but nothing. The door wouldn't budge. "Who's there!? Open this door!" You demanded, trying to sound as threatening as you could as you banged your fist on the door.

Then suddenly the quiet humming that was usually heard in all the rooms, stopped. It was the air ventilation system that kept the oxygen flowing in the castle. And it shut down on the room you were in. And you stopped what you were doing as you tried to comprehend what was really happening.

You went to the air vent and put your hand on top of it. You felt that no air was flowing through it. But just then it started to hum again. And you gasped as you realised that the air was now being sucked out, not blown in. What the hell was happening? You were so confused that you just stood still.

Then you realised that if all the air was being sucked out, you would soon run out of it. Your heart started to beat fast and you felt your knees getting weak, even though you knew your mind had to stay sharp. You knew you had to first slow down the air leaving the room. And the first thing that came to your mind was to take Allura's blanket and put it in front of the air vent. You had no idea if it would work, but you had to try.

Then you looked around to see if there was anything that would help you get out. But there seemed to be nothing you could use. And as you searched the room, your body started to unintentionally tremble with fear, and your mind started to get muddy again. You were seriously in danger.

You ran to the door again and started to bang your fist on it. "Is anyone there!? Let me out!" You yelled as loud as you could. But nobody seemed to be in the hallway. Then you remembered that you should try to calm your breath. The less you breathed, the less you consumed air. You knew that, but you just kept banging on the door and yelling for help. "PLEASE! HELP ME!!" You yelled again. But you still didn't hear anything. You were all alone.

You fell to your knees, instinctively trying to take in deep breaths which you craved tremendously. And at the same moment you remembered what you had seen in the training grounds. That all the people there were suffocating. And now it seemed like so were you.

Soon your breaths were starting to get more shallow as the air left the room. Soon you started to feel yourself a bit drowsy and your sight started to blur. You had also started to sweat. And you didn't know how much time had already passed. Who would do this to you!? Who was that intruder!?

Then suddenly you heard voices coming from the hallway. Someone was there. You immediately alerted and stood up, even though you were feeling a bit lightheaded. You leaned on the door and banged it with your fist as hard as you could to draw attention. And just then you thought you heard Lance shrieking before the voices stopped. You tried to shout, but only an almost silent "Help!" got out from you.

You heard running steps coming closer to the door. And you let out a relieved sigh. "Allura!? Is something wrong?" You heard Keith's and Lance's voices as they were trying to open the door. But it still wouldn't budge. "Allura!?" You heard them repeating.

You tried to clear your throat, but it was so dry and your breaths were starting to get really shallow. So you had to focus hard on clearing out all the air from your lungs. "I'm running out of air!" You just barely managed to yell. And immediately you felt so lightheaded that you fell back on the ground on your knees, trying to gasp for air. And then you heard Keith gasping. "(Y/N)!?"