Voltron Fan Fiction ❯ Desert Rain ❯ Padlock ( Chapter 4 )

For the rest of the night, Hunk and Dominique did not cross paths with one another. The only time that he saw her was when she was laying on the couch half-asleep, watching a late night movie, some old horror flick... I dunno, the Shining maybe, or was that Psycho? Neverless that was the only time he saw her before he went off to bed.

Hunk or the rest of the force, never really asked about the way she acted at the dinner table, either they believed that she was sick, or that they didn't bother to intervent her at the time. Dominique obviously doesn't seem like the person to talk about her problems, but her ackward behavior though ignited a spark in Hunk from the first moments they reunited but then again like the old saying goes 'curiousity kills the cat'...

"Hey Hunk!" A voice called out behind him, Hunk snaps out of his trance and turns around to see Pidge running up the hallways towards him, like Hunk he was dressed in his uniform rather than his casual clothes. As soon as he catches up to his large friend, Pidge looks up and says "Wait for me will ya? If you wanna get a good substitute for Yellow Lion, you'll need a second opinion! So I'm here to help you out."

Hunk gives a smile and says "Thanks Pidge. I really appreciate it. I dunno what to do about this sort of thing, I mean I never took time off from my duties before. What if the pilot screws up? What if he or she pisses off the force? What if he cannot handle Yellow Lion? I mean there are so many variables that can happen if someone else takes the reigns!"

"You're really protective of Yellow Lion aren't you?" Pidge says with a smirk

"....Yes." Hunk says with a sheepish laugh he head hung low in embarrasement, he sighs and says to Pidge in a more cheerful tone, "Maybe I shouldn't take it so seriously, it's only two weeks right?"

"Yeah. You have nothing to worry about." Pidge replied happily

They both walk along the ominous white hallways of the Alliance Headquarters, bidding hellos to people left and right. After they've walked a couple of walkways, they ended up at an transparent glass elevator and used it to get to the tenth floor: the Military Resources department.

"Ah. Christopher Jarreth, so nice to see you again." Ms. Polly Ko grins, taking in Hunk's firm handshake and giving the same greeting to Pidge. She guestures the two to sit down by her desk in order to get started. She takes a look at Hunk's medical slips and says "So you're here for an Absence and wish to profile a substitute pilot to serve the Voltron force until you are in better condition. Am I right?"

"Yes Madam." Hunk says, slightly nodding his head
"Will you be showing us elegible candidates for this task?" Pidge asks as he takes back the papers from her hand
"You won't be needing to do that gentlemen." Ms. Ko replies "We have already selected the best candidate for the job."

"....You have?" Hunk says, a little bewildered, "Without consenting us? Even though the person is best for the job, there's always the variable of compatibility with the other pilots."

Polly Ko chuckles softly and says "Nothing to worry about Christopher, this man has much experience in combat as well as teamwork. We believe that he will be no problem at all with you or your teammates. If you still don't believe me, talk to him yourself!"

From the left to where Pidge and Hunk were sitting at, a metal door whooshes open and out stepped in a tall lean young man with dark wavy locks of hair, blue eyes, and pale skin, dressed in the Alliance uniform neatly pressed and cleaned. He looks down at the two pilots, give a small smile and says "Hello, my name is Sgt. David Connors. It's very nice to meet you."

"Um.. Thank you very much Connors..." Hunk says as he reaches out a hand to grasp his but instead of a warm handshake, he was suddenly interrupted by loud bloodcurdling screams and rapid images of gruesome horrors in his head, his temples begin to swell with blood from the mindbending tangent until he could
not take it any long and collapse to the floor, crying out in extreme pain.

Pidge dives to where his friend sat and panicked "Hunk! Hunk are you alright?! What's wrong?!"
"...My....head is... killing me!!" Hunk whimpered loudly, holding his throbbing head.

"I'm gonna call the paramedics!" Polly Ko says jumping towards the phone.
"NO!" Hunk cries out "Just... get ... me the capsules!"

Pidge was stunned for a moment but realized what Hunk meant. Pidge dove his hand into Hunk's shirt pocket and pulled out the small container, pried open the lid with his shaking hands and handed two blue pills into Hunk's hand. Hunk quickly swallowed them and waited.

The screaming was not as loud as before, but the digusting mental images were still there. He could not tell what was really going on in the pictures but for some reason he felt like he has seen these images before, which obviously he did not want to remember due to its graphic nature. Soon the screeching sounds and the images in his head faded away along with the pulsing pain. Hunk removed his hands from his temples and looked up at Pidge, Polly and David. His vision was a little fuzzy, but neverless he was fine.

"We're going to have the substitute on duty right away." Polly Ko says looking at Pidge
"Yes. Until Hunk is completely healed from the disease, David will be piloting Yellow Lion." Pidge replies

Hunk sat quietly on the floor for the moment, the only sounds he hears is his breathing and the muffled sounds of Ms. Ko and David talking. He glances up at Pidge whom was wiping off the cold sweat off Hunk's face with his hankerchief. His limbs felt heavy and his skin felt a little bit hot, but the pain was slowly going away, eventually.

He looks up from Pidge, towards where David stood, his soft blue eyes glanced back at his. The substitute seems oblivious to what was going on around him, which in some people's cases, ignorance can be bliss... or a curse depending on where you stand in the situation.

Soon after the meeting at Galaxy Garrison Military resources, Hunk and Pidge were back at the Castle of Lions. Hunk still feeling a little bit whoozy went straight to bed for a little bit, while Pidge went off to show David around the premesis. Except for him, Pidge and David, it seemed that everyone else went out to town for the morning, so there wasn't gonna be any disruptions while Hunk rests. Except for one little variable...

"Well well well.." A quiet voice pipped from the doorway, Hunk slowly turned his head to see Dominique standing by the door with a small smirk on her face. She chuckled softly and says "The Migrane from Hell strikes again."

"What do you want?" Hunk snarled angrily, hiding his head underneath the bedsheet

"Just wondering to see if what happened at the Galaxy Garrison was true." Dominique shrugged, her face returning to normal callous look. She takes a small step and walks inside Hunk's bedroom, her eyes scanning the walls and floor of the small bedchamber. Beige colored carpet with metallic white walls like all the other rooms, unlike the others, Hunk's quarters were not so cluttered. The only furniture in the room was a queensized bed where Hunk currently sleeps in, a desk with books, an armchair and a small closet at the right wall of the room. She looks back at Hunk curled up underneath the blue and green flannel quilt and murmured "Nice room you got here. Very cozy."

"Are you just here to taunt me or what?" Hunk snapped back. He didn't want to get at anyone, even her, but he really needed some rest and he can't relax due to all the interruptions.

Dominique sighed and replied "Nanny sent me to give you your medication and some water in case you need it. I also brought you an extra blanket in case your body temperature decides to go fuck up on you."

Hunk turns around and says "Oh? Thank you... I guess. How did you know about my condition?"

"Word about your illness spread fast in the psychiatric unit." Dominique replied casually, she takes the blanket and the tray with the pill container and water glass and set them down on the desk by his bed. She spreads the blanket on top of the quilt and then sits on the foot of the bed, leaning against the post. "Plus I knew a bit about your disease, I've seen some really bad cases of it on some people, so I have an idea how to help out in your recovery."

"I see." Hunk murmured at a loss for words, first time he's seen her being remotely nice to him, not in a warm kind of way but... it was nice. He sighs and says "Well... thanks again Dominique. I appreciate your concern."

"Not really a concern. Just something to prevent the fever from being spread through the castle. I don't wanna catch the shit that you've got there." Dominique says callously as she pulls herself up from the mattress and heads towards the door. So much for being nice.

But before she stepped through the door, she looks back and says, "....Neverless, try to get better as quick as you can." Hunk smiles and says, "I will." before slipping underneath the covers for a long rest.

A few hours later, the afternoon rolls around to greet the people of Arus as the light of the winter sun was slowly setting by each hour. The Voltron force, minus Hunk were out in the village of Iko, helping out the people fixing up the damage set by the last fight with Zarkon. Keith, Lance and David helped out with the construction of the buildings while Pidge, Ryana and Allura took their turn playing with the village children in the field nearby. A big snowball war was erupting.

"Ha ha! Got ya!" A kid laughed when a snowball splattered against Pidge's head.
"Oh yeah?" Pidge smirked evilly, he glances down at his little army and then yelled out "RAM THE FORT!!!"

A loud war cry was called out as a stampede of children, lead by Pidge were running towards the other fort where Allura and Ryana took charge. So far there was no movement from the other fort until Pidge and the others were about halfway there. Then Ryana jumped up to the top and called out "FIRE!!"

The stampede stopped in shock as a whole bunch of children popped out from trees and bushes surrounding them and started bombarding them with waves and waves of snowballs. Pidge and some of the kids fought back but eventually it was too much for them and they had to run back. This little stragedy led to the girls' fort a chance to seige the boys' fort so Allura, Ryana and the rest of the girls jumped from their fortress and charged towards the otherside, knocking down the snow wall and changing the game from snowball fight to snow wrestling!

The children were laughing and screaming as they tossed themselves and each other into the snow drifts, tackling, tickling and roughousing with each other. Even the adults were getting into the fun as Allura and Ryana had Pidge pinned down and were covering him with snow, transforming him into a living snowman.

"Hey! Ryana! Allura! Lemme out of here!!" Pidge yelled playfully, finally admitting defeat as he looked up to see his entire body covered in snow and the two women sitting on him. Allura and Ryana laughed and says teasefully "Hooray! We won!"

"Yes yes. You won. Now will you please get off of me?" Pidge wheezes with a tense weighted look on his face. The princess and the knightess both got up from the snowpile, dug Pidge up and tempted to pull him up before he grabbed them by the elbows and dragged them into the snow with him.

"Happy now?" Ryana smirks her face half covered in snow.
"Yes." Pidge says casually, glances at her evilly and pounces on top, giving her a big kiss. "Now I am!"

Pidge was clearly enjoying himself giving Ryana a kiss or two until he felt the back of his coat being grabbed and himself being dragged off Ryana and onto the snow. He looks up at the Princess and teasingly whines "Allura! Why did you do that? I was finally having some fun!"

"Can we please keep it PG?" Allura laughed

"At least compared to the rest of this story!" Pidge teases, sticking out this tongue at you the reader, "Not to mention this fanfiction series as well!"

Allura then sighs and takes Pidge to were a bunch of kids were playing and left him there to be bombarded by snow and tackling of children. As Pidge's playfully yelling for mercy sprang out from some of kids in the crowd tickling his ribs, Allura and Ryana set out to check what the others were doing.

"Hey there." Keith greets warmingly "How's the war coming along?"
"All's quiet on the Western front!" Allura replies with a large grin of accomplishment

"We can see that due to all of the snow stuck in your hair!" David chuckles pulling a couple of clumped snow pellets from Allura and Ryana's hair. The girls laughed and blushed in a friendly manner but kept their composure and attention to Keith and Lance. "So what brings you girls here?" David asks as he walks by, returning to his task.

"We're just here to see how the work is going along." Ryana says casually, eying the new doctor's office being built.
"Do you need any help?" Allura asks, noticing that the construction was going a little slowly.

"Er.. no no! We're fine really! No need for you ladies to get yourself worked up about it!" Lance replies with a small sheepish smile. Allura playfully glares at him and says, "Hey! If I can pilot a Lion, I can help out with some construction! So why don't you lend me some of your tools and I can get started."

"You don't really need to Allura. It's fine, thank you." Keith says, holding his hands up in a gesture of courtesy

While Keith, Lance and Allura were in a little heated discussion about the Princess working on the construction crew, Ryana takes a glance over at her shoulder, smiling as she watched some of the children and Pidge trying to create a large snow sculpture of Voltron while other kids were off on their own groups playing Tag and Hide & Go Seek. Suddenly she notices somebody off in the distance standing on top of the hill, Ryana squints slightly and places a hand over her eyes and notices a tall female figure watching over everyone. "Hey guys! Look who came out from her shell?"

Allura turns around and walks to where Ryana was standing and took a look in her direction. She gives a slight smile, waves and calls out "Hey Dominique!"

Surprisingly from that far of a distance, Dominique reacted to Allura's call. She takes a glance and then gives a small wave. Allura smiles again and asks "Why don't you come over here and help us out? We could use an extra set of hands!"

From all the way over there, it looked like Dominique was replying to Allura's question but since she was so far away Allura and Ryana could not hear but they realized that she didn't want to come over as she raised her hand and shook her lowered head. As Dominique starts walking down the otherside of the hill, Ryana looks over at Allura and says "I guess she's not too interested."

"She's not entirely out of her shell yet. We'll have to give her some time." Allura says as she pivots on her heel and starts walking back down the hell were Pidge and the children were at.

Ryana glances down at Allura and then back up at the hill in which now Dominique had disappeared. She takes a deep breath of the winter air and thinks to herself, "I sense something dark within this person, a lethal poison slowly infecting her body... something that may infect everyone else.."

Ryana then sighs and starts trotting down the hill following Allura.

From the otherside of the valley, Dominique slowly trudges through the large snowdrifts, wrapping her coat tightly around her torso, a blue scarf wrapped around her neck and face and a black hat covering her brown locks of hair. It wasn't too chilly outside, but Dominique was never too fond of the winter weather no matter how warm it is.

Never the less, she was a little bored wondering around in the castle all day, so she had to get outside before the nuisance of a governess started getting on her back about no getting any sunlight... why would she care anyway? Dominique's not one of her duties. And if Nanny even thinks of getting Dominique into some "respectable clothes", she will strangle that old bat until she gets some sense back into that one-tracked mind!

She keeps on walking along, trying to clear her mind from the past few days, forgetting about everything else and just enjoying the peace and quiet that she has for awhile. Never a social butterfly, always likes to be alone and think, that's what her grandmother used to say to mom. Mom used to always think that her anti-social behavior was just a phase, but alas it never left and in Dominique's case. She likes it just fine. Nobody to worry or care about.

Dominique sighs deeply and keeps on trudging, only to have her foot caught on a tree root buried underneath the drift causing her to land flat on her face into the cold slushly snow with a soft thud creating a deep imprint. Without uttering a word, she spins around upon the snowdrift onto her back, spitting out some snow.

"I hate winter."

She huffs angrily at the cold yucky feeling and yet stays underneath the snowy surface, despite the temperature the hole in the ground were she layed at, felt kinda cozy, like lying in a big soft (and slightly damp) beanbag. So she shrugs and shuffles her shoulders and lower back deeper into the snow almost making a cradle for her to rest in. Dominique lays her body straight, crosses her arms over her stomach and lets her mind go on automatic, listening to the sounds of the children playing, the soft snowy breeze above her. "This is kinda... relaxing. Maybe I'll doze off for a little while..." She says with a slight grin as she closes her eyes
and lets her body to ease and finally relax.

The wind was the only sound present were she slept at. No one else was around, no one to bother her with such silly things as life and all of it's problems. If she was to suddenly die there in that large hole, she wouldn't mind at all really, since she would be left alone to die in peace.

<SPLAT!>

Again that's an "if".

Dominique raises her hand and wipes off the snow ball that fell upon her face. There was a sound of speeding footsteps and suddenly some snow from the edge of her hole fell upon her face again. The icy feeling of peace was shattered as her anger started to take over her, returning her to her normal self.

She popped her head from her hole and was greeted by another rush of snow to her face, she shook the snow off herself, and looked back to see a couple of boys chasing another kid up along the hill. She growled out loud to them "Hey! Why don't you kids watch were you are going!!"

Obviously the kids did not hear her for they were too far away from being earshot, so she sulks back to her hole, grumbling a few obsenities underneath her breath. She tries to ignore the loud yelling from the three boys running about nearby the old barren tree but their ever growing loud antics were starting to bother her, a low growl emerged from her lips, her fingers clutched the snow beneath her hands. She decided to do something about the noise and popped back up from the ground.

Dominique looks over to were the large storm-tattered oak tree was to see the three children running around the old trunk, throwing snowballs and tackling each other... although it looked like one of the kids did not like the game they were playing. She turned an ear and listened carefully to what the kids were saying:

"Leave me alone! Go bother somebody else!!" the smaller boy cried out to the others despite the snow being shoved into his mouth while one boy was sitting on his back and another was stuffing snow into his face. He squirmed and struggled porfusely but they were too strong. Dominique could hear the sneers and malic laughter coming from the other two boys.

"Awww but I thought you like having white stuff in your face!" the boy sitting on his back snickered
"Just like your momma. The five cent whore!" The eldest boy chuckled smacking more snow onto the little kid's face.
"Love something for awhile then throw it away when she's done! Just like you!" the other boy laughed

"Please.. I'm begging you. Leave me alone! Go Away!" the little boy cries.
"Awww.. poor widdle baby!" the eldest child giggled

"This is too close to home." Dominique thought to herself. She rose herself up from the hole and dashed as fast as she could to the hill were the children were at. She watched as the younger child managed to get away from the other kid's grip and ran as fast as he could up the old tree, the other kids tried to climb up but it was too slippery for them to catch a grasp.

"Come on down Brandon. We won't hurt ya!" the eldest kid smirked
"GO AWAY!" Brandon screamed

Suddenly there was a snapping kind of sound, the kids look down to see the roots of the large rotting tree starting to crack one by one. The tree starts to lean over to one side with little Brandon holding onto the branch tightly, screaming for help.

"Let's get out of here!" the other boy panicked

The two kids then started running in the other direction past Dominique in a snowy blur. She glances back over her shoulder and cries out "Hey you little BRATS!! Come back here!!", and again the children did not hear her as they ran further and further away. She then hears a scream in front of her and saw the child clutching onto the highest branch of the old oak tree, crying out for help as the large tree ever so slowly starts to fall over.

"HELP ME! PLEASE SOMEBODY! HEEEELP!" Brandon screamed in fright.

Dominique set her weight to her back leg and sprung forward into a quick sprint towards the tree at an amazing speed and reaching the target within a few seconds before the tree was able to touch the ground. The child looked down to see Dominique underneath the large trunk, hoisting it upon her shoulders and back, holding the tree in place.

"Jump down!!" Dominique yelled
"I can't! I'm too scared!" Brandon cried

"You have to jump. I dunno how much longer I can hold this thing up!!" Dominique yelled back, the weight upon her back was starting to get to her. Her heart raced in her chest, sweat dripped along her face, her legs shook in pain as she attempts to keep the tree from crashing onto the ground, crushing the child beneath.

"HELP! HELP!" The kid screamed again.
"It's no use. They can't hear us!" Dominique whimpered in pain

Suddenly she can feel a familiar feeling within her body, some thing shearing through her flesh, burning her nerves and numbing her mind, making her feel light-headed. Her vision starts getting blurry and whirls around. Her control was waning, she must regain herself before she does something drastic.

"Dammit, control yourself woman! Don't let the Ambrosia get to you! CONTROL YOURSELF!!" She thought as she held herself and the child up, trying to control the rush of adrenalin within her body. If she looses control of herself, she may not be able to stop the horrible things she will do to the other people.

"Dominique!!" she hears a voice call behind her, she looks up to see Allura, Ryana, Keith, Lance, Pidge and a few other men running in to help. They all ran over and grabbed onto the trunk of the tree while Ryana and Allura tried to coax the child to jump down from the branch. After a couple of tries, Brandon finally musters up the courage and leaps down from the tree and into Allura's arms.

"Okay. On the count on three. We let go of the trunk." Keith commands to the others, the rest of them get themsevles prepared as they slid one foot back as Keith makes the call. "One....two....THREE!"

The other people all then released their grip upon the tree at once and stepped back before the tree fell to the ground. Unfortunately, Dominique jumped back a little too late as a couple of large branches tore through her jacket and scraped deep through the flesh of her back. She cries out in pain as blood trickled along her back, staining her clothes.

"Ah shit! Fuck this hurts! OOoooowwww!" Dominique hissed painfully as she lies her back upon the snow trying to relieve herself from the throbbing pain. Ryana and Pidge went over to her to see if she was okay, and suggested that she goes to the infirmary to get that checked, but something else was on Dominique's mind. She looks over at the crowd of people and saw the two boys watching the incident in awe and guilt. Her eyes lowered angrily, and she rose up from the blood covered snow from where she layed.

"Er.. where are you going?" Lance asks

Dominique all out ignored him as she walked through the crowd and grabbed the two boys by the arms and dragged them out from the group. The kids cried out in pain as she gripped their arms tightly, almost cutting off circulation.

"Hey! What's the big idea?!!" one of the boys spat angrily

"You little brats were tormenting this little boy to no end and ran off when he was in danger!!" Dominique growled furiously, gripping their arms tighter.

"B-but we were just playing!!" The other kid muttered painfully
"I don't give a fuck what your excuse is!" Dominique snapped
"Dominique please watch your language!!" Allura snapped back, holding her hand over Brandon's ear.

"Sorry but this have to be told. These two boys need to go to the sex trade and see what things are like over there before they spit out the shit that I have heard, being said at this poor kid!" Dominique snarled, tossing the children into the snowdrift by the crowds' feet. She walks over to them and says "The next time I've see you hurting this little boy I will have you both sent to the Juvenile Delinquent prision, and trust me, they are just as bad the adult ones!"

"That's enough!!" a gruff voice growled from the crowd, Dominique looked up to see Hunk emerge from the crowd looking mighty pissed off at what was being played before him. He looks down at Dominique and muttered "That's enough Dominique. I think they get your point, they're pretty much scared out of their minds now thanks to you. I think you should leave and have someone take a look at your back, I'll take care of things here."

Dominique did not say anything except for a loud grunt of anger, and then disappeared through the crowds. Hunk then proceeds to get everything back in order, the adults proceed to their work in the town, while the other children went off with the Princess and the rest of the Voltron force for a nice walk in the forest trail. In the meantime, Hunk had his eyes upon the two boys and was prepared to deal with them.

"Hey! What's going on?!" The eldest boy whined as he felt his arm in a steel grasp of Hunk's hand.
"What are you doing?!" the other boy stuttered

"I'm gonna take you to the Matron at the Orphanage. She and I will deal with your punishment." Hunk muttered coldly as he walks towards the road to the building, dragging the boys along with him. The laughter of children starts to fade away as they headed up the road.

"Do you honestly believe this woman?!" The eldest kid snarled, trying to relieve himself from Hunk's grip, "I mean this person has mental problems! She needs psychiatric help if you know what I mean? She looked like she wanted to kill us there!!"

After the kid muttered his last sentence, Hunk turns his head swiftly and glares coldly at the kid as he spoke in an ice cold tone, "My friend may be a bitch, but I know that she doesn't lie to me about things like this.."

Hunk then pulls the kids towards him and held them close beside him until he reaches the orphanage.