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Chapter Text

“Remember this is only a recon mission,” Kolivan reminded me before I sprinted down the halls.  

After a few turns I was in front of the door to the control room. I quickly placed my hand on the scanner, and heard the  swoosh  of the door when it opened to five sentries. I quickly unsheathed my blade, letting it extend to a full sword. I quickly sliced the robots in half before any of them could fire a shot that could give away my position. I slipped the chip that was on my suit hidden near my boot, and walked over to the computer to place it inside the console.  

“Okay Kolivan, all set here,” I say to the leader of the blades.  

“Good job Keith, give V’ek here a tick so he could download the files from over here,” he replied.  

The screen then showed a purple bar that seemed to have indicated that the computer was having all of its content downloaded. Then, the ship shook from underneath me, making me stumble a couple steps to the right.   

“Kolivan, what’s going on?” I asked through the coms as I stared back at the screen to see it being close to finished.  

“Haggar just joined the fight against Voltron, and her druids are her too, we mu-” he got cut off and I just heard static.  

“kolivan!” I shout through the coms, but I just receive more static than an actual response from the leader., “Quiznack.” I mumble to myself as I look up to the computer to see that the information has been downloaded from the console.  

I quickly snatch up the chip and run back toward the way I’ve came. As I take a left turn through one of the halls, I hear a crackling closer to my left side, so I quickly move to the right, then run up the wall to jump and I do a backflip so I land behind the druid who tried to attack me.  

“Ahhhh,” the druid simply says with a nod of its head, “I see that the paladin changed costume, your friends must be happy to see you,” the menacing druid croaked.  

I just shake my head before I throw my galra blade at the druid’s head, but before it does, it disappeared into a swirl of black particles of something. I close my eyes, and I trust my gut’s feeling and quickly spin around to punch the vile creature. I make contact with my fist to its face, but it then it blasts with a power surge to my side before I could run.  

“AHHHHH!” the scream is just ripped from my throat as I feel the burning in my side and I am flung across the hallway into a wall, denting it inwards as I slump to the ground. I see my blade only a couple inches away as I make sure my injured left side doesn’t have much pressure on it, but I could still feel like flames attacked me and my whole side is on fire.  

“The witch will have fun with you little one,” the druid creature sneered.  

Black dots starts to dance in my vision as the druid just creeps closer. My blade was to my left, and I was so close to reaching it,  almost there.  I tried to army crawl to it, but any movement that involves my side is just killing me. I try to reach out to grab it, but I can only graze the handle, but I am so focused grabbing the blade I don’t see the druid being back its leg and-  

“AHHHHH!” another scream of pain makes my throat feel raw.  

The druid took the blade, as I attempt to curl in on myself to hide from the pain, seeing a decent flow of blood from the kick seep down my side, and it placed it in its cloak, hiding it from my line of vision. Then the druid bends over to grab my ankle tightly before it starts to drag me across the floor. I have to bite my lip to stay quiet as we walk –be dragged- down the halls. My mask has been deactivated, and my hood has just been collecting anything from the floor. My back felt soar, my head felt a little fuzzy as my ankle felt like I have been pulled from it –oh wait, I am- and it’s becoming hard to think straight.  

I hear a voice over the coms with a robotic voice that said,  “We’ll about o hyperdrive in 3... 2...,”  Oh no, I quickly think before they say number three, and feel the whole ship lurch forward really fast, and when we do stop, my injured side hit the floor hard and I black out with one thought in my mind.  

I hope the team made it out okay.  And then blackness consumes me into nothingness.  

~_~  

“Um, guys, I see Haggar and she seems furious, what do we do Shiro?” I hear Hunk shakily ask me.   

“We don’t want to stay too long, but I think Voltron should try to hit her with one good hit, then quickly leave,” I command as I know that Keith, my younger brother, was down thereon that ship on a recon mission.  

I hear Pidge and Lance shout as they aim their lions at the witch, but when they fired, there was a poof of black quintessence stuff, and I realized she vanished.  

“Where she go?”  

“Did we get there?”  

“Shiro, what do we do?”  

“Head back to the castle, I see the Blades’ pod leaving the ship now,” I command as we turn around and head back to the castle.  

We have only started to devise a plan to gain a major portion of the universe from  Zarkon’s  empire, but we need more information, so the blades went to go retrieve it, but this cruiser was the one that will give us much needed information. We follow the blades’ pod to the Castle of Lions. We quickly disband and get into our respected hangers. Once my lion lands, I get out of the chair, and head to where the blades landed. I haven't seen Keith in what feels like weeks. Once I walk into the hanger, I do a head count, but I only count three blades, but wasn’t there supposed to be four...  

I walk toward the three blades and they all deactivated their masks with solemn looks, one of them included  Kolivan , but I couldn’t find the raven-haired teammate.  

“Hey,  Kolivan , where’s Keith?” I asked the leader of the Blades.  

 “ Shiro , Keith didn’t-”  

“Paladins! It’s Keith! Come to the bridge now,” I hear the princess’ advisor shout through the coms.  

I sprint toward the door, hearing the blades follow, then I run toward the bridge. Once I get there the first thing, I see on the screen was  Hagger  with a twisted smile on her face that could send shivers down anybody’s spine, but that wasn’t the scariest sight on the screen. The scariest sight was behind her, where the unconscious raven-haired boy who payer than usual with two druids behind him and a small puddle of blood underneath him. That’s when I heard the paladins come into the bridge.  

“Well hello paladins, blades, it’s nice to you see you all here,” the evil witch croaked with a crooked smile.  

Chapter Text

“Well hello paladins, blades, it’s nice to you see you all here,” the evil witch croaked with a crooked smile. 

“Now, I’m pretty sure your friend would like to see you,” she smugly spoke as she walked over to Keith.  

I could just feel my arm heating up slowly with every step she took toward my little brother, then she touched his face like she cared with a sickening look. Her smile then grew into something menacing before she pulled back her hand that was in a fist and swung toward his injured side-  

~_~  

“ Ahhhhh !” I screamed as I felt my injured side  explodes  into  pain.  

I crumble to the ground as I try to control my breathing while fighting back a sob that threatens burst out, and tightly squeeze my eyes shut.   

“Good morning little one,” I hear an eerie voice whisper near my face. Before I open my eyes, I feel three horrible presence near me, two behind me, and one sickening, menacing one to my left. I open my eyes, and see a screen of the paladins, and the blades. I turn my head to my left to see Haggar giving me a toothy grin that does send chills down my spine.  

“Well, I see that you finally decided to join us,” she  quietly  snickered as all I could do was just groan in pain.  

She nodded her head, and before I knew it, two sets of arms yanked up from the ground onto a chair-like thing while retraining my arms behind my back, and locking my feet to the chair. I looked up to see the Voltron team, and some Blades looking at me with all different stages of fear.   

“Well, I see that you have a change of costume, from a team that worked in the spotlight to now working with rebels of the  galra  empire who work in the shadows,” she stated simply before she continued, “In that case, it  is  a crime to try and sneak onto a  galra  ship, try to kill the emperor, try to free planets, and many other crimes that are just too hard to keep track of, so you would have to serve punishment for both parties,” she sneered.  

She leaned forward a little, and I quickly glance at Shiro before I stare into the witch’s eyes and try to death glare her. She then out of nowhere placed her hand on my injured side, and I inhale sharply from the pain silently as she just stared at me with her yellow eyes under her hood with a menacing grin before it  disappeared  and-  

“AHHHHH!” a scream was ripped from my throat as hot searing pain was focused on my injured side. I saw black spots spotting the corner of my eyes when she finally stopped. I sagged into my chair as I tried to regain my breath, as I felt my  consciousness  start to slip. I tried to stay awake, I really did, but the pain was too much, and I didn’t want to feel anything anymore, so I lost the battle of staying awake.  

~_~  

The scream that came from Keith came out broken, and horrible. The witch just placed her hand on his side, then there was a dark purple glow from her hand before we heard the crackling of some type of electricity. Once the witch stopped, Keith just then sagged forward on the chair, but the restrains on his wrist and ankles kept him up.   

He fell unconscious, but his breathing was off and labored. He looked a couple shades paler than usual as he had sweat that made his bangs stick to his forehead. The wound didn’t look good, most likely worse than the injury I had gotten when I fought the wish when we had to save the Allura. I looked away from Keith to see the witch with a please smile that meant she must have been satisfied with the results of her actions.  

“This is only the beginning, a taste of what will come to this traitor,” she snickered, “don’t worry though, he will not die of blood lose, especially since I need him for my experiments,” and at that I felt myself go pale at the thought of Keith being  experimented  on.  

I heard everyone gasp at the realization as well. I just looked back at Keith to see him looking a mess. He was shaking either from the shock of the spell, or just in pain, maybe a bit of both. His skin looked pale, and he seemed like he was still out of breath. It was a horrible sight that made him look vulnerable, something he usually doesn’t look like even when he’s asleep.  

“What do you want Haggar?” I asked as I clench my fist of my metal arm.  

“What do I want?” she hummed as she walked closer to the screen as her arms stayed at her sides, “Revenge for the empire, a test subject that seems to have an interesting heritage, being part  Galra  as well as  Altean , and of course Human,” she says with a shrug as a sly smile twisted on her lips. “Good bye for now Champion,” she hissed before the feed went out, leaving us in tense silence.  

Chapter Text

“Now what?” Lance asked, and he sounded ... scared. 

“Keith has been trained to withhold any information while being tortured,” Kolivan attempts to reassure, but it doesn’t. 

“First, we honestly don’t care if he could withhold information, but secondly, how do train someone not to give away information?” Lance asks the leader of the Blades. He didn’t answer, and his silence was deafening. 

“I cannot tell you the process of our training, but you can know he passed with flying colors,” he states simply. 

I hear some sniffling come from where the green paladin’s chair was at on the bridge, and I turned over to see the green paladin hastily wiping her eyes. I walk over to her and put my hand on her shoulder and gently squeeze her shoulder hopefully reassure, then let go. 

“I’ve tried to track the feed, but I couldn’t get a signal, and he doesn’t have a lion that is primarily his, so we can’t sense him...” she trails off as her lips start to quiver and I could see tears start to form in her eyes. 

I put my hand on her shoulder again, but this time she grabs my waist, and starts to sob, trying to speak. 

“Shiro- he’s like a brother... to- me, I can’t... lose him... too...” she tightens her grip and continue on her ranting while I rub slow circles on her back, “Haggar will... pay if anything... happens to... him,” she says after another squeeze, and this time I hear the paladins shuffle closer. 

~_~ 

I wake up to me being dragged down halls by two druids, passing cell after cell that all seemed empty at first glance. When we did stop, we stopped at a cell that seemed to be at the very end of the hall. The druid on my right went to go opened the door, then came back to me to throw me into the cell on my good side. Before I could get up to my feet, they closed the cell door, and they left.  

“Quiznack,” I mummer as I looked at the cell, I was being held in. 

It was almost completely bare except for the small pile of what looked like a hay bed, and a toilet looking thing that seemed attached to the ground. Other than that, the cell was empty, there was nothing I could use to get out of here. I didn’t have anything restraining me like earlier, I was just in a black T-shirts and pants. I walked over to a wall, and just sat there, counting the ticks that passed by. 

What felt like hours later, a few druids came to the cell door, probably to escort me somewhere. I stood up from my spot on the floor, and put up my hands as one of them started to speak. 

“We are supposed to take you Emperor Zarkon,” the druid sneered as the door opened. 

I just raised my hands higher as I saw that they were aiming their hands at me, and I didn’t have a helmet on, or any type of armor, so one hit, and I could possibly get killed. No pressure. Then they disapper, and reappear behind me. I quickly turn around, but they grab my arms, and one of them hits my head, making me see black for a few seconds. 

They were escorting me down halls that all looked the same with the same gray halls with the purple light. We stop near a big door, then it opens, and I see Zarkon sitting on the throne. And with that, I was pushed into the room. Once I was a couple feet from the stairs, the druids dug their nails into my shoulder, making me hiss through my teeth. 

“Well, I see you bought me a paladin, but he switched costumes into something else,” Zarkon said as he stared at me with those menacing yellow eyes, “But you are also a halfling, part galra, part altean, and part of that race from that back water planet,” he hissed with a wave of his hand. 

He then stands from his spot on the throne, then walks down the steps until he is on the same level as I am, only a few inches away. 

“As I'm your emperor, I want you to bow before me,” he snarls. 

“No,” I growl as I straighten my back, trying to seem taller, and glare. 

“Bow now, or you’ll suffer the consequences,” he threatens with a formidable step foreword. 

“I won’t bow down to you,” I snapped. 

His eyes turned a dark purple, almost looking black before he punched me in the stomach, hard. I dropped down to my knees as I tried to catch my breath.  

“Send him to the arena, and make sure the paladins watch,” he sneered to my escorts before he kneels down before me and grabs my shoulder hard, using his nails to dig into my left shoulder, “Maybe you have the same fighting spirit as the black paladin,” he sneered. 

I just spit into his face, making him let go of my shoulder, but he then back handed me in the face, making me fall to the metal floor a little dazed. 

“Take him to the arena without a weapon in a couple of dobashes,” he growled before he went back to the throne, and then with a flick of his wrist, I was brought up to my feet, and taken out of the throne room, and taken to what looked like a domed arena.  

As I neared the door, I could hear the roar of a crowd through the door. Someone quickly shoved my head through a short, rough cloth over my head, and I just put my arms in the obvious arm holes before I was shoved into the arena. I looked down at myself to see I wore the same prisoner cloth as Shiro did when we rescued him from the Garrison.  

I heard the crowd clearer once I was in the arena, and as I moved a little closer to the center, and I could hear the shouts of ‘Champion’ louder. A large door on the opposite end of the arena opened, and once it opened, I gulped in fear as I saw my opponent.  

~_~ 

After only eating half of my goo, I decided to try and take my advice I gave to the others and go to bed early. I fell asleep about a varga later, around twelve in the morning, and went into a new nightmare that wasn’t because of my time at the arena.  

It took a year to find him, and rescue him from the galra empire, but we did find him. I walked into the cell to see him there in the corner of the cell looking at me from his place on the floor as he was sitting upright. He changed, with a scar through his right eyebrow, his hair cut short, and all the obvious muscle he had to gain, but that wasn't the worst part of it. It was the prosthetic right arm and leg he had that almost brought me to tears.  

We then ran out of the cell, and down the halls when he asked a question, I wasn’t entirely sure why he asked now. 

“What took you so long?” he barely whispered before I didn’t hear his steps echo behind me, but a thud. 

I looked back and saw that he was on the ground on his back looking up. I ran back to him to see there was blood on his head, and chest. He wasn’t breathing, and there was a tear on the corner of his eye still falling down his cheek as he just stared at the ceiling with no meaning behind his purple eyes. I closed my eyes and saw an image of Haggar with yellow eyes as she croaked out ‘Champion’ and then I woke up panting. 

We have to save him before he dies.  The same thought kept circling around my head as his lifeless eyes just stared back at me. I shook my head and looked at the clock Pidge was able to make and the time to resemble Earth time. 2:23 was the time. I shook my head as I rubbed my face with both my hands as I tried to get the images of Keith’s dead body out of my head. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep, so I took off the covers and walked out of my room and let my feet take me wherever, which was the bridge.  

It didn’t sound empty once I got there, being able to hear some type of  clicking  noises from inside. I went through the door to find every paladin in their seats doing something on their smaller screens while on the big screen there was millions of galaxies listed.  

“Did I miss something?” I asked which startled everyone. 

“We couldn’t sleep, so we thought we do something constructive. We were kind of just waiting on you to give up on sleep,” Pidge said as she fixed her glasses. 

“Got any leads yet?” I asked as I walked up front to my seat to try and find Keith. 

“No, Nothing yet-” 

“W-wait, it’s a transmission from Zarkon,” Allura announced slowly, her face paling as she looked over to me, just like the rest of the Zoltron crew. 

“Open it,” I finally say, if anything on there is about Keith, we need to know what’s going on and not be in the dark, I think to myself as I tiny voice in my head whispered,  and so I know he isn’t dead.  

Allura nodded, and then opened the transmission with Zarkon. He had a cruel smile that was twisted on his face. Wherever he was, there was an audience chanting something. 

“I thought you might want an update on your little friend,” he sneered, “I hope you are all comfy, and enjoy the show,” he laughed as the screen changed to a camera, to see an Arena’s floor. 

Then it hit me where he was, and my stomach dropped. He was at the arena, going to fight the champion, that’s what the audience is chanting. Keith was a little off from being the center of the arena, but where I could see him, saw that he had no weapon, and wearing the same slave clothing every slave wore. I gulped as I tightened my prosthetic, something I got from the arena. For maybe the first time since coming out here, he looked weak and small. The big door across the arena started to open- 

“No,” I hear Allura said under her breath. 

“What is it Allura?” I hear Lance ask as he gripped his chair. 

“It’s a Savage Brute,” she exclaimed, “They’re not as dumb as you think they are, but they are vicious on the battlefield,” she says, and could see that everyone pretty much pales at the thought of Keith having to fight him. 

The Giant looking thing height was three times my size, and three times Hunk’s size with his rocky exterior he has. The monster also seems to have a big, thick wooden bat thing that was roughly my size. This fight was rigged. 

“Everyone who’s watching, let the battle begin,” Zarkon shouted from where he sat. 

Then the beast roared, shaking the arena and the camera a little. The chanting became louder and Keith looked scared, terrified even.  

“Quiznack,” I heard Keith mummer.  

The beast was faster than I thought it was going to be, considering its body structure and everything. It sprinted to the center of the arena, and swung its bat at Keith. He tried to move away from the fast-approaching wooden weapon, but couldn’t, and got thrown into one of the walls, denting it inwards. The crowd was silent as nobody moved nor spoke. 

“Come on Keith,” I whispered to myself. A tick passed and I thought that Keith died under Zarkon.  

I looked down at my hands, trying to ignore an image of Haggar, feeling a headache coming on when I heard a loud yell from where Keith was thrown at, then a big piece of metal flew at the beast, hitting him in the arm that held the bat. Keith stumbled foreword, his hand on his ribs on his injured side. 

“Yeah, go Keith,” I heard Lance yell from his seat. 

I felt a little relieved that he was alive, but he still has to defeat the alien creature before we could really celebrate. The audience started to chant again for the champion. Keith quickly got another big metal piece, about twice his size, and threw it at his opponent’s head, but the giant dodged it, and charged the former paladin. 

He just stood there until the last possible second, making me clench my fists in anticipation. He jumped out of the way, letting the alien run into the wall, shaking the walls. It stumbled out of the den, looking disorientated. Keith must’ve saw it too because he jumped onto his back with a metal shard of metal he must have gotten from the wall, and stabbed him in the back of his neck. The giant howled as he threw Keith across the floor, 

The Savage Brute stumbled back into the wall, collapsed, and just lied there limp. The crowd was silent and Keith was- 

“Oh Keith,” I heard Allura say under her breath. 

“Please get back up, come on brother,” I plead. 

~_~  

I stabbed the rocky beast, as hard as I could, knowing his skin must be really hard, with my makeshift knife I had in my hand despite my whole body screaming for me to  STOP!  But I couldn’t stop now, not when I could kill the beast and stop the fight. My opponent then bucked really hard, and I lost my grip and went flying, and then skidded across the floor.  Pain!   

My whole body hurt. I’m actually kind of surprise that I have some type of consciousness. My ribs hurt, it hurts to breath, my back hurt, my right arm hurt; my head feels like it’s about to explode. Dots are dancing in my blurry vision; I can barely think clearly through all the pain. My right leg feels numb, and I just want to sleep. 

THUD!  

I tried getting up, but only moved to my stomach. I took a deep breath, and did the next step, getting my arms and legs beneath me, so I could push myself up. I pushed with the rest of the strength I had to get to my feet, but it was too quiet. I looked around the arena and saw that nobody was moving. I stumbled a little backwards and finally turned around and my eyes landed on the giant that now lied limp on the ground. 

Chapter Text

I looked around the domed arena, and saw Zarkon, now standing, looking down at me like I was some type of lab rat or something. I just glared at him, daring him to do something while I tried to stop the bleeding on my side. He simply flicked his wrist, and four druids came through the same door the giant came out of. 

“Quiznack,” I groaned as I took a step back, bringing my hand that was not occupied to my side up. 

The first one disappeared, then reappeared behind me. I ducked down and rolled out of the way of their hand. They then all four powered their dark magic, and took aim. One of them tried to advance, but I took a few steps backwards, before they all fired. I jumped out of the attack, hearing the crowd cheer, but the beams of lighting just followed. I landed on hard on my chest when the druids recharged their attack. I got back up to, and then they fired, but this time I couldn’t move in time... 

~_~ 

“AHHHHHH!” the scream that was ripped out of his throat was in human. It was horrible especially when they stopped, he just fell limp like a puppet got their strings cut.  

The druids just shot my little brother at his chest at full force, and then just tilted their heads as he fell from the attack. The crowd just continued to scream, something about  half-blood.  I just stared at the figure on the arena’s floor, shaking so hard he looked like a leaf on a windy day as he just panted, breathing hard. The druids then went up to him, grabbed his arms and started to drag him out leaving behind- 

“Oh my god, is that a trail of blood?” I hear Hunk gag behind me as the other paladins just gasped. 

“That’s too much blood,” I hear one of them state, but I couldn’t match the voice to the names of the occupants in the room. 

The video changed from the arena, to the menace of the universe, Zarkon. He had a cruel smile that seemed to have been twisted on his smug face as he spoke, “He’s definitely something,” the emperor just nodded his head. 

“What are you going to do to him?” I ask through gritted teeth. 

He just shrugged, “I let Haggar take a look since it seems that this one is special,” he sneered before the feed was cut off and there was a strange silence that no one wanted to break. 

There was some typing on going behind me from Pidge’s station that made me look behind me to find that she was doing something on her screen that made her in deep thought. 

“Pidge, what-” 

“Not now Shiro, I'm almost in,” she states as she licks her lips, “Bingo, yes!” she exclaims as she transfers her findings to the big screen with a big smile on her face.  

It looked like a map of a galaxy, Solymus, and a purple dot, since Pidge insisted that we are not animals, moving.  

“Pidge,” Allura starts out slowly, “is this what I think it is?” she asks as she stands a little straighter. 

“If you are thinking it’s the galra ship Keith is on then yes,” Pidge replied as she adjusted her glasses. 

“Pidge! You’re a genius!” Hunk exclaims as he rushes to squeeze her in a tight hug.  

“Good job number five,” a cheery voice declares behind us, startling us, “been here since Zarkon hailed,” he answers before any of us could question him. 

And with that, we started our planning, hoping we could save Keith in time. 

~_~  

I wake up on a table that seemed to be upright, and I was chained to it. I slowly opened my eyes to see four druids setting something up, making me gulp in fear.  

“Ah, you finally wake,” a croaked voice whispers to my left. 

I turn my head to search for the source of the voice, but it seemed to be a huge mistake because I then got dizzy, the room spinning as I started to feel nauseated, and I groaned my discomfort. After a couple of seconds everything finally stopped moving. I then felt a cold, rough hand on my arm making me flinch. 

“I sense something powerful within your quintessence,” she smirked, “I’ll like to complete a couple of elements on your quintessence,” she smiled as she walked away from me. 

I tracked her movements as she moved over what looked like a switch to something. She whispered something to a druid before she reached for the switch and pulled down the lever as I felt bolts of electricity shock me. 

I gritted my teeth in pain as I felt my whole body burn from all injuries to the new ones that I knew were forming. I squeezed my eyes shut as I tried not to give joy to the witch from my pain, until I heard some knobs being turned and felt the bolts increase the burning pain of my body. I then screamed through gritted teeth.  

Then I felt the burn from the electricity rise, and I couldn’t hold in my scream as I felt everything burn. Like every molecule in my body was burning, disintegrating into nothing. Everything hurt, until I felt nothing at all and I was breathing heavily as I was leaning away from the table. My head was bowed as I just tried to gain my breath and try not to move too much, but I heard steps coming toward me, then the same hand that touched my arm earlier was back. 

It was colder than earlier, and it made me flinch, which made my body burn a little more, resulting in me groaning in more pain as my breathing picked up again. The hand moved a little in an up and down motion as she hummed in acknowledgement.  

“Well, it seems that the electricity shock seemed to have had made your quintessence faster in a way that seems incredible,” she murmured, “Do you feel different than the pain,” she moved in front of me to ask me, but I just sent her glare. 

I did feel not normal from the shock. My body felt like it does whenever I have an adrenaline rush. I felt like I had energy, but everything hurt, I could feel every pain be electrified. I tried to calm my shaking, but the witch just grabbed my check, and squeezed to point where I felt drops of blood, but I didn’t feel the pain, just start to see black spots in my line of vision.  

“Fine, don’t tell me, let's start the next test,” she sneered through gritted teeth before she let go of my face and turned away.  

They all walked out the room, leaving me strapped there. I was wearing a ripped black t-shirt, and a ripped pair of pants. Darkness start to cloud my vision, and my body started to feel number, and I gladly closed my eyes as I feel into unconsciousness.  

Chapter Text

A cold hand touched my arm, and I jolted back to awareness slowly. I raised my head which felt heavy on my shoulders to see through my bangs that the witch just smiling menacingly down on me. A groaned escaped me as I started to regain feeling in my body.   

“We’ll about to begin,” she whispered before she walked over to the other druids that were in the room to prepare something.  

Then she quickly turned around and placed a hot poker thing on my arm, and I felt pain burn my skin, making me drop my head onto my chest, but it seemed like it wasn’t hurting as badly as it was supposed to. She moved around my arm until it seems that all skin was touch by the hot metal. It felt like my arm fell asleep and I was feeling the pins and needles, but worse. When I heard her hum, I moved my head to glare at her, and she just smirked.  

She grabbed my face, and brought hers closer as she just stared while I continued to glare at her. She then put the poker on my ribs and I had to grit my teeth hard and curl my fist on my left hand since it hurt to move my other hand, to not break my glare to the witch. She just tilted her head to the side as she moved the poker across my ribs, and when she touched an injury, I felt how the pain was amplified to that area of skin, and winced in pain.  

I looked away, but she shook my head until I looked up at her. She just smirked before she put more pressure on the wound, and I clenched my eyes shut not to reveal too much of the pain I was in.  

After another minute of her touching all my wounds on my mid-section, she walked away as she put down the metal rod. She talked with the druids about something before she returned to me with her hands at her side.  

“It seems that fire does change your quintessence,” she said as she started to pace the floor with one hand on her chin as she started to talk, “Did you know that eyes are the window to, well, you I guess you can say, they can tell someone whatever they want without that person needing to speak,” she said as she looked over to me, and momentarily stopped her pacing.  

I just titled my head in response. I felt so soar.  

“It takes a skill person to hide what they are feeling in their eyes, but it takes someone with more skill to be able to actually read what in their eyes. You seem to be able to hide your feelings, but when I started the tests, your eyes changed,” she continued onto her pacing, “And you didn’t just magically start to show me your secrets, but your eye color change,” this made me a bit worried.  

Haggar was a witch, but she was also someone who wants facts and sometimes the only way to get those facts were to experiment on them and get the results. If this mean that she wanted to do more experiment on him,  especially  his eyes...  

It left a sour taste in my mouth.  

“When we did first test, your eyes turned black, and your pupils turned into slits. Now your pupil change seems to be your  galra  nature showing more, but the eye color change is nothing like  galra  unless they turned complete yellow,” she murmured something to herself before she shook her head and continued talking louder, “At first I thought it was the way light reflected off your eyes, but it doesn’t seem that way, and then the iris of the eye change to a dark red, closer to the powerful spectrum of quintessence,” she then stopped and looked up at me with wide eyes.  

For a moment she didn’t move, then she took three long strides until she was by my side and laid her cold hand on the arm she just burned. Her hand was cold, and  I could feel the heat radiate from my skin.  It made me jolt in surprise, that jostled my wounds which made me release a quiet wince of pain.  

“Well that is interesting, it seems that your quintessence is stronger in the areas of the burns,” she simply said as she finally looked up at me, “Do you feel different in any way?” she asked as she moved to  in front  of me.  

Aside from the burning pain I was feeling that I definitely wasn’t feeling before the test, but I did feel like I have energy, and the pain doesn’t feel as bad as they should, but I wouldn’t tell her anything and she just squinted her eyes for a second.  

She huffed out a “fine, then start the next test,” and with that she left the room with the other druids trailing behind her, and I dropped my head to my chest in exhaustion, the pain was starting to really set in.  

(~_~)  

“The only problem where Keith is located is that it is central command and last  time,  we almost didn’t survive the mission. We had to rely on the blades, and I am going have to say we might have to do it again,” Pidge spoke as she looked at where the command ship is at now.  

“Ah don’t worry number five, I have already contacted the blades, and  Kolivan  has already agreed to help with a small group of blades,” Coran spoke from behind the group with his cheery  attitude.  

“Great, now all we need is a plan,” Shiro spoke and we started to make a plan to save Keith from the hands of the  galra  empire.  

(~_~) 

“ Graaaah !” the pain I felt from someone punching me in the ribs spread fire throughout all my bones. It hurt, pain was just the one thing my brain could comprehend.  

After a few minutes of taking deep breathes, I finally looked up and saw that the druids seemed to be preparing something with their dark magic, and it made me gulp in fear. There were four druids, two were coming closer, and two of them were aiming at me with their hands aimed at with electricity crackling to life in their palms. The two coming closer unchained me, and grabbed me by my arms, but just pulled on all of my wounds that seemed to spark to life, making tears bead at the corner of my eyes as I winced. It hurt, everything hurt.  

I couldn’t move my legs underneath myself in time before they started to drag me out of the room and down the hallway, passing closed doors until we stopped at one that they had to scan their hands to open the door before we entered the cold room. When I was able to lift my head, I saw what looked like a tub with ice filled to the top.  

“Let’s begin with the first  part  of the test. Throw him in,” croaked a voice from somewhere to my left, and before I could turn my head to face the witch behind the voice, the druids were dragging me over to the tub of ice. I could feel the temperature of the room go lower, and I start to try and pull away, but I was in too much pain.  

My body felt like a huge bruise as the druid dragged me farther into the room and closer to the tub of ice. I tried to get away, but they just squeezed harder, and the arm that was burnt lit up in pain that I saw black spots in my vision. They then lifted me by my arms and just placed in me in the tub. I tried to lift my body above the cold, but it was inevitable and they just held me down.  

It felt like everything slowed down as it became harder to breathe. It felt like all my muscles were frozen over, and every move I made to try to breathe, made it worse. This type of ice felt like a cocoon of a freezing blanket that is wrapped all around me. I still had on my  prison  clothes, but it just felt like the thin material did nothing against the cold.  

I tried again to struggle out of the tub, but it just made all of my muscles feel like they were being pulled apart. The witch was in front of me after a couple minutes of me trying not to cry out in pain, and she placed her hand on the same area on the same arm. It somehow felt colder that the ice and made me flinch as I groaned in pain.   

“It seems that the cold is making you weaker in your quintessence, interesting” she  murmured  before she let go of my arm, and then talked to the druids, “let’s start the final part of this test of today,”   

The druids nodded their heads before they grabbed my arms and lifted me out of the tub, but it felt like fire was burning under my skin, but I couldn’t move any part of my body, so a groan in pain was the only sound of pain I released as they started to head out of the room. I just felt like I was wearing a weighted suit that clung to me, making it harder to breathe, and burning my wounds.  

They dragged me out the room and down the hall until they stopped at another door. They opened it, and this time there was a tank of water with a chain that was out of the tank. I tried to stand, but all it just resulted in the druids to just tighten their hold on my arms. They brought me closer to the tank before I could see Hagger at the corner of my eye.  

“Chain him up, and put him,” she instructed.   

I didn’t want to be confined in the tank, being held down  my  the chains, but they didn’t care.  

“No, no  no   no ,” I tried to pull away, being able to get to my feet, but before I could put much more effort into pulling away, I heard some type of crackling before I felt a heated pain on the head, and all I saw was black.  

(~_~)  

“Okay, here’s the plan,” I started to say in front of Voltron and the Blades, “Voltron will attack central command as the blades will go in and find Keith. We’ll then separate and one of the lions, whoever is closest, will pick up the blades and Keith, and hurry back to the castle to put him in a pod,” I stated the quick plan.  

The blades nodded their heads to the plan while team Voltron responded with a simple ‘yeah’.  

Hopefully this would work...  

Chapter Text

“Ahh!” I screamed in shock as I was slowly put in a tank of ice-cold water that almost felt like it was burning.  

I had rope wrapped around my wrists above my head as I was hanging on a hook thing that was lowering me down into the tank.   

The water was now to my abdomen and I could feel all my wounds burn, like it would if it was being disinfected, but I don’t think that was what the water was doing. A couple of ticks later, the water was up to my neck, making it freeze my airways. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, but I know that soon, I was going to be submerged under water, so against my aching chest, and raw throat, I took a huge gulp of air before I was completely submerged, then my hands were unhooked.  

For some reason, I felt tired. Like my body seemed heavier, and my head didn’t feel like it should be placed on my shoulders, I just felt drained for some reason. I didn’t feel like I was having too much of a challenge holding my breath, but my wounds were burning more the longer I was submerged. I had the instinct to breathe, but I wasn’t out of breath left, so I opened my eyes, it didn’t sting I noted, and glared at the witch.  

Haggar looked at the tank and gave an evil smirk that seemed to have made her eyes glow a brighter shade of eerie yellow, before she then turned around to what looked like at a metal table that had several objects on top of it.   

“Did you know that  Galrans  can hold their breaths longer than most species? Most would have thought they would be the opposite, but no.” She placed her clawed hand on the table as she skimmed through the objects that were on top of it, “I think that they have better lung capacity because they are a fighting race, needing air so they can take more blows without being winded too much, and have better stamina in a fight. I guess from my research on the champion, you have the  Galran’s  lung capacity. By this time, he was already gasping for air,”  

She looked up and just smirked before she looked back down, and picked up a blade. A luxite blade. My blade.   

“This is an interesting blade. Did you know that the planet that harvested this metal, one of the strongest in the universe by the way, had one of the best harvests of quintessence? It is kind of what started the whole expedition after  Zarkon  came back from the field to find that  Alfor  destroyed Daibizaal, but we haven't found another planet with enough of it, maybe that back water planet might ha-”  

The ship started to shake, interrupting the witch as she slammed down the blade on the metal table with a frown. She looked at her druids before she gave me one last glare, then followed them out of the room as the ship shook again. I tested the rope around my wrists, but it didn’t loosen. I looked toward the glass, and quickly swam on the other side of the small tank, and slammed against the opposite side of the tank as a long crack formed. I tried again two more times before finally the glass broke and I fell out.  

The gush of wind I felt left me shaking as I dropped like a bag of potatoes onto the metal floor. The fall aggravated all of my injuries and it was hard to breathe. The cold before I was submerged under the water returned, plus the wounds burned, and falling flat on my chest left me trying to inhale as much air as I could. It hurt. Everything hurt. It felt like the only thing I could feel was pain, but I know that I would need to hurry up and use this distraction to try and escape the cruiser.   

I got my arms and knees underneath me once I could catch my breathe. Once I did accomplish that, I used all my strength to push up off the ground, going against the gravity on the cruiser, to get me onto my knees. I was breathing harder as my injuries just seems to burn. My vision was a little blurry, but that could be because of blood loss, which isn’t good. I grunted as I went to my next of goal of standing up.  

Once I was able to shakily make it to my feet, I had to grip onto the metal table that had my knife lying on top of it for support. My body felt extremely heavy, seeming to not want to hold itself up. Once I felt stable enough, I reached for my blade, then looked over to the door where I had to exit. I just grit my teeth, tighten my hold on my blade, and started to walk over to the same door that the witch left.  

Once I was close enough to touch the pad, I took a deep breath before I placed my hand on the pad and as the doors open, I quickly raise my blade, letting it extend to all its glory, and cut the heads of the two sentries that were standing guard outside my door before they had the chance to turn and fight back. I leaned onto the wall for support as I tried to suck in as much air as I could.  

I pushed from the wall, and gripped my blade with hands as I started to walk down the ship in search of the escape pods. I was about to turn a corner when I heard footsteps. They didn’t sound like sentries since they sounded quieter and off beat than the usual beat the sentries seem to walk on, but they could be druids.   

“ Quiznack ,” I murmur  quietly  to myself.  

I close my eyes as I try to manipulate my quintessence, but the only thing I can do is just flicker in my usual dark red color before I turn back to nothing. My quintessence just feels stretched too thin. I must be using some of it to help stand, which makes sense since I am starting to see black spots in my vision. The footsteps are getting closer, and I could hear, I think, three sets of steps, but I can’t be too sure.  

I just need to be able to get a running start and jump into the quintessence field, and hope I can get into an escape pod, but that will mean they can use their power against me, and even if I can jump before they hit me, I would have to make sure I don’t pass out from using too much quintessence and my wounds. This is going to be a little hard to do. I shake my head before I hear the footsteps about to turn the corner-  

I jump out, about to distract long enough for me to gather my core quintessence when I see that the 3 beings  weren’t  wearing cloaks, but instead wearing black suits with purple markings. The one that is in front of the group turns off their mask, and I see  Kolivan’s  face behind it.  

“ Kolivan ,” I whisper before I see more black spots in my vision, and the ground seems to get closer, and closer...  

Until I feel arms wrap around my middle and lets me lean almost all my weight on top of him. I hear static before some words that I cannot make out, but the voice sounds familiar, but it sounds so far, like it's at another end of a long tunnel. But I hear  Kolivan’s  response as he speaks into his com.  

“Shiro,” oh, so that was who was talking, “we found him, but he’s in pretty bad shape here,” and I almost want to laugh at that, because isn’t that the understatement of the year, or is it deca-phoeb.  

I feel all the injuries I sustained before I was captured, while Haggar was showing what she will do to me, during the arena when I was fighting the champion, what the druids did to me after the fight, and what Haggar did to me while she was experimenting on me. She electrocuted me, burned me, put me in a tub of ice, and then just dropped me into a tank of water that burned. She did all of that for what? To see that my eyes could change colors with my quintessence. Everything hurts.   

I didn’t hear the response from the other end of the com's unit, but I did hear  Kolivan’s  grunt of confirmation before he grabbed my arm and put it around his neck before he started to half-carry, half-drag me down the halls that all looked the same, as they kept blurring in and out.   

We soon were at the extraction point where the black lion was waiting for us with the jaw opened.  Kolivan , with the two other blades, led us into the black lion’s mouth before he placed me down the metal floor allowing me to lean back on the wall s of lion.  

“ Dulna , get me the scanner,” he commanded.  

I just stared at the  galra  who was shuffling in a bag until then there was a scanner being handed to the leader of the blades. He looked back at me before he started to scan me. His frown went lower and lower as the scanner beeped every other second.  

“Stars Keith, how are you still awake?” I just shrug my shoulders, which turned out to be a bad idea as it aggravated my wounds and hissed through my teeth.   

My left side was killing me, it hurt to breath, my head was hurting with a constant ringing noise that wouldn’t go away, and I just felt soar everywhere. It just hurts...   

(0_0)  

“ Kolivan , what’s Keith’s condition?” I shouted out from over my shoulder as we started to head away from the battle and towards the castle.  

“His whole left side seems burned, broke three ribs, cracked at least the others, minor concussion, bruises all over his body, a sprang wrist, druids magic marks on his body from what seems where the druids attacked him, and that’s what I can get from the scan so far,” he said, and it didn’t sound like it was all of his injuries.  

My little brother was only there for about two days, but that was two days too much. There was still a fight that was still going on, and it was getting harder trying to dodge the ships that were fighting back. One ship got a lucky hit on black’s back which seemed to have had impacted the-  

“Ahhhhhh!” I hear the shout of pain from Keith and it broke my heart.  

Once we got back to the castle, before the Black Lions paws were fully on the ground, I got up from my seat and raced to the cockpit, hearing Black’s purr in the back of my mind as I saw my little brother breathing heavily.  

His slave shirt and pants were ripped badly with dry blood staining the ends and water drenching them and his hair. He was shivering. his arms were wrapped around his middle, and he looked paler than he usually is. I kneeled in front of him and saw Keith’s eyes were following my movements, but he seemed like he was barely staying awake.  

“I’ll need to take him to Coran so he could put Keith in a pod,” I inform  Kolivan . I looked over to him and he nodded his head before I go to carry my little  brother  by holding him bridal style.   

I try to move him gently, but he still groaned in pain, and as we started to move, I can tell that I was bothering his injuries as he continued to wince. His eyes kept fluttering close before they opened, but not long until he started to close them again. I just kept telling him little reassurances to him as I continued toward to the infirmary where I know that Coran was waiting for them.  

“Come on Keith, just stay awake a little bit longer,” I turned a corner as Keith let out a groan, “We’re almost there, please keep your eyes open, please,” I begged as I continued to race to the med-bay.  

He did keep his eyes open, but only barely. Once I ran into the med-bay I saw Coran running around trying to gather supplies for the injured boy, but once he saw Keith, he stopped for a second to let out a “Oh Number Four,” before he was running around and mumbling to himself.  

“Where should I place him?” I asked, wanting to get this right the first time so we won’t waste  any time .  

But before he could answer, there was static coming from my com, “Shiro it’s -” then it was just static again. I looked up to Coran before the Castle shook, and the power all turned off.  

“Its... Haggar,” Keith croaked and once I looked down at his face, I could see fear and pain in his face and his eyes.  

The ship shook again, and I just held Keith closer to me, though I had to be very careful since he had serious injured ribs. The next shake was followed with shouts and my stomach dropped even further. Keith shivered, but he tensed in my arms. My arms started to light up, emitting a light glow to the room that let me see that I was near a wall. I couldn’t find Coran, but I heard a thud in front of the med-bay before the door was blown off.  

There stood an angry witch that seemed to be glowing a lighter lavender color. I put Keith behind me, letting my brother lean on the wall as I made sure to get into a protective stance in front of him with my arms growing hotter with heat.  

“Give me the boy, and I’ll leave,” the witch’s wrath seemed to be fuming in waves of hate.  

“Never,” I sneered, and I could hear a groan coming behind me.  

(~_~)  

From where I was standing, I saw Shiro lunge at the witch with his glowing arm. All the witch did was just raise her hand before she fired her dark magic at Shiro’s chest...  

And he dropped like a ragdoll. Lifeless.   

“Shiro!” I shouted.  

The witch just grinned a twisted smile as she readied another attack, except this time she aimed at his head as he groaned and started to stir. And that was the last straw before I looked down at my older brother. Everything started to go fuzzy as I could see red at the edges of my vision...  

(^_^)  

I started to get up despite that my chest seem to protest, making it harder to breathe. I heard some crackling in front of me, making me tense in anticipation, but I didn’t feel anything once the crackling noise had quieted down. I looked up, but instead of a bolt of lightning, I saw a stunned Haggar that seemed to be staring at something, so I followed her gaze to see Keith.  

He was glowing a dark garnet red with midnight black sparks that seemed to be flying from him. His pupils were slits and his eyes were pure neon yellow, but there seemed to be a fire behind them though, and from his snarl that he was holding to the witch, his teeth have sharpened.   

“Keith,” I whispered.  

Then a battle roar as Keith brought both his hands in front of him, extending his arms, and shooting a beam of a darker red than the dark garnet color that was surrounding him with black sparks following the beam until it hit the witch.  

“ Ahhhh !” Haggar screamed as she put her hands and was pushed back a few inches before she disappeared, but there wasn’t any smoke like she usually does when she disappears, but I wasn’t able to think too much about it before there was silence.   

Keith turned back to normal, but he then dropped like a puppet who got their strings cut.

Chapter Text

Keith turned back to normal, but he then dropped like a puppet who got their strings cut. 

I was barely able to scramble in time to at least catch his head. His breathing was harsh and fast and he was shaking violently. I moved a strand of his hair out of his eyes that were squeezed shut, and I noticed his fists were clenched shut as well. 

“Shiro!” I heard Allura shout as she entered the med-bay with the team who was following behind her with a few bruises. Hunk seemed to be the last person to come in and he seemed to be carrying an unconscious Coran in his arms. 

“What happened to Keith? His quintessence levels are really high. What did Haggar do to him?” Allura asked as she kneeled by us, and touched his forehead.  

I took a deep breath before I recited what happened only a couple of minutes ago. Allura just stared at him in surprise. 

“Allura, what’s happening to him?” I asked the princess. 

“His quintessence is powerful right now, and it seemed that he over works himself. Pidge, set up a scanner,”  

I picked him up as he continued to quiver in my arms and placed him on the examination table, but he winced terribly, a tear rolling down his cheek. Pidge came over with a scanner, scanned him, and as she read over the scan, her face paled fast. 

“What is it Katie?” I asked as Keith winced again. 

“All of his ribs are broken, getting close to at least one of them getting fractured, a dislocated left shoulder, a minor concussion, sprang wrist, and ankle, but for some reason it seems to be getting worse by the minute,” Pidge tears her glasses off and rubs her eyes hard before she looks over Keith again. 

I looked down at Keith and saw him clench his teeth and fist tighter as some blood dripped from his hand to the table. 

(^_^) 

The blurriness in my vision finally cleared and I felt like I was falling for a few minutes before I landed hard on my side, luckily the less injured side. 

“Ow,” I groaned to myself as I shakily raised myself to my feet. 

My ribs hurt with every breathe, no matter how deep I inhale, it felt like a pile of rocks were crushing my chest. My left should was burning, and my wrist didn’t feel right, but it wasn’t the most concerning injury. I looked around my surroundings to find... 

Blackness. A midnight black color was all I could see. There didn’t seem to be a light source anywhere, but I could still see fine, but the color of my surroundings was just a midnight black color that seemed to be engulfing me. I tried to think on how I got here, but I just keep seeing Shiro’s body moving a little as Haggar was aiming a lightning bolt to his head, then everything was blur. 

I walk foreword, or was it my left, my right? Whatever direction I was walking, I walked into nothingness. I look around the landscape and saw a cloaked figure lying there. I take a deep breathe despite my aching ribs, and walk closer to the figure. Once I'm a good foot away, I recognize that the cloaked figure is Hagar, and she starts to move. 

I limp away from here, trying to get as far as possible away from the witch. Once she gets up, and gets a good look of the place where we’re at, she gasps, then turns around to face me with a look that says this whole situation is my fault. 

I just stared at her as I inched to my fighting stance, finding that I don’t have my blade with me, and made sure my ribs were being protected with arm. She then raised her arm and release a black attack at me. It almost felt like everything was in slow motion as I dodged the attack, but landing painfully on my side with the burns. I gasped in pain, but that just made it worse as everything was silent.  

I got up from my position on the floor and glared at the witch as I put a protective arm around my ribs.  

“What did you do!?” she shouted her question as she readied her attack with her hand crackling with electricity near her sides, “Where are we!?” she then aimed at me, and I brought my arm up in time to- 

“Ahhh-!” I shouted as she hit me in the chest, making me gasp in pain, which resulted in me flying above the ground and landing hard on my back. 

Then there was no more crackling sounds, but instead, all I could hear were my choked off screams, and groans in pain. I couldn’t breathe. There wasn’t enough air, and I felt like I was dying. My ribs ached, and my heartbeat felt like it was beating too fast against my broken ribs and it felt like it wasn’t letting me suck in air. I heard her cloak move closer until her croaked voice rang through my choked off breaths. 

“How did you bring us here you vermin?” after a few seconds of silence between us, she readied another attack and struck. 

“Ahhh!” it wasn’t as strong as the last one, but it hit my sides hard enough for me to have been pushed further away from her. 

I finally was able to get enough air to manage to answer her question, “I d-don’t kn’w,” and I just clenched my teeth and fist hard as I heard cracklings come closer and closer... 

(^_^)  

“Can we put him in a pod?” I asked Allura as she paced up and down the infirmary. 

“Sadly no. His quintessence levels are all out of whack, but we can put Coran in thanks to Hunk getting power to the pods,” Allura said with a hopeful attitude as she smiled toward Hunk who was in the corner of the room with the other paladins. 

The blades left once the fight was over, Kolivan telling us to keep him updated on Keith. He was going to make sure that the castle wouldn’t have to fight while they were looking over Keith. 

“Yeah, cup half full,” I look down at Keith as he clenched his eyes and fists tighter shut. He was looking worse by the minute. His skin was a few shades paler than his usual skin tone, he was panting harsh, and I could see his canines sharpen. His ribs were getting worse, and it resulted in him breathing harsher. 

“This is weird, I mean this didn’t happen last time he had to blast something,” I heard hunk say, which caught my attention. 

“What? Last time?” I asked, knowing that if something like this happened, I definitely would have remembered. 

“Oh right, this was when Keith was leader,” Lance said with a nod of his head, but he didn’t seem to be his normal self though. 

“Okay so apparently the witch sent out this huge snake like monster creature to capture Keith since he is part Galra, Altean, and Human, and most hybrids wouldn’t have lived, so while Hunk and Keith were on a mission, the creature came out and tried to capture Keith and kill the rest of us-” Pidge started to explain before Hunk cut her off. 

“But after about five minutes of talking to the creature to stall for the others to come save us, he started to attack, and you should have seen him. Keith was like really fast with his attacks, but precise, until he got hit with the tail,” he murmured under his breath before he went back talking about what happened. “And then the snake creature thing was about to roast me, but then Keith was like ‘Leave. Him. Alone.’ and he was pulling an Allura-” I made a face at this. 

“He means when Allura healed the Balmera, and she had the light blue aura with quintessence surrounding her,” Pidge explained as she adjusted her glasses. 

“Yeah, except he was glowing red and black with no sparkles, just light, but anyway. The creature attacked him with fireballs that came from his mouth, but then Keith caught the fire, then start to shoot them back, but he only seemed winded after he did that though. He didn’t...” he trailed off. 

“Go into a coma that seems to be doing harm to him,” Pidge finished as she quickly wiped her eyes. 

Lance walked over to Pidge, and brought her in for a hug as we heard a sniffle from her. After a couple of minutes of silence, Hunk led both Lance and Pidge out of the infirmary to the kitchen, if I heard the excuse correctly. 

“I just don’t understand how he’s unconsciousness, and yet he’s getting worse. How?” I questioned after Keith let out a painful whimper. 

Then Allura stopped mid-stride as she half turned and looked at Keith. 

“Wait, when Keith blasted Haggar, you said she disappeared?” she asked as she came closer to Keith. 

I nodded my head, “Yeah, but it was weird though, it didn’t have the usual smoke effect like it usual does, and she definitely got hit,” I concluded as I looked down at Keith, and then back up to Allura.  

“Maybe he’s conscious, but he’s in an astral plane he must have created, and accidently brought Haggar with him, and now their...” she trailed off. 

I just shook my head in confusion, “Princess, I have no idea what you are talking about,” 

“Haggar said that she wanted to take some tests on Keith, right?” I nodded my head, “Okay, so she might have been testing his quintessence, and depending on which species, their levels could either drop significantly, or raise beyond what should be normal,” she then continued pacing. 

“Which one happened to Keith?” I asked as I looked down to my younger brother after another pained whimper. 

“I think his levels rose beyond what should be normal. I think when he attacked the witch, he sent her into an astral plane, and there he is as well since he doesn’t have that type of training to be able to avoid something like that to happen, especially the state he was in when we got him back,” she walked back over to Keith and reached out to his hand to squeeze it. 

“Okay, so how do we get him out of there?” I asked. 

“Well, I will have to go in and free his mind from wherever he is, because if he dies there, he will die here. The body cannot live without the mind, so I will enter, and when I pass out, catch me,” she says, and before I could react, she put her fingers on Keith’s temples and pink sparkle things float around her before they disappear and she collapses.  

I caught her before she hit the ground, and I placed her on a bed that was near Keith’s and saw she looked peaceful unlike Keith. 

“I hope you know what you are doing princess,” and with that I watch over both them, and waited. 

Chapter Text

Once I put my fingertips to Keith’s temples and closed my eyes, I felt myself falling. Falling in darkness that looked like it had no end to, until I landed on my arm, hard.

“Ow,” I whisper to myself as I stand and rub my arm.

Then I hear some type of crackling noise, a croaked voice echoing, and an awful scream that seems to get closer to me.

“Ahhhhh!” I then see the source of the shrilling sound that seems to echo in this place, somebody skidding across the darkness, holding their ribs and coughing up something.

“Fine, if you won’t tell me, I’ll just kill you,” I hear the croaked voice before I see the cloaked figure.

Haggar is standing there with a snarl on her face as she raises her hand up with a big ball of energy that is buzzing with energy, but before I could move to stop her attack, Keith suddenly springs up from his position on the floor and blast her with his own power that hit the witch square in the chest. She flew back, and he collapsed on the ground, this time not moving.

(x_x)

After I put Allura on the cot beside Keith, I feel a sharp spark of pain behind my eyelids. I just squeeze my eyes close as I rub my temples, hopefully making the headache go away before it gets worse, but before I could make the pain disappear, I hear a wet scream to my right, where Keith is at.

I quickly open up my eyes and walk the two steps distance between him and the princess to get to him. Keith seemed to have coughed up blood, and his ribs with his chest showed blossomed bruises, looking both purple and black. Tears were falling from his shut eyes and I feared what was happening.

Before I could call out for help from the others, the wet scream stopped, and his eyes opened and showing yellow eyes that glowed a fierce neon yellow. He glowed a blood red color with black sparks surrounding him for a tick before he turned back to normal, his eyes closed, but his breathing was faint.

(x_x)

I ran over to his body and saw a small puddle of blood of where he was coughing up earlier. I kneeled by his side and saw how limp he looked, his chest barely moving as his breathing seemed shallow with small rasping noises that followed.

“C’mon Keith, you cannot die, we need you,” I whisper as I splay my hand on his chest, feeling how faint his heartbeat, “I’m going to try something okay?” and I let some of my outer layer quintessence transfer over to the wounded man.

I could feel that he did not have any outer layer quintessence left over, probably using it all for the last blast he did. I felt a little dizzy afterwards for a tick, but other than that fine. I have to wait another tick before I see Keith’s eyes start to flutter open.

“Keith?” I whisper as I rubbed his shoulder.

“’lura?” he sounded horrible, his voice sounded rasped and scratchy like he been yelling for hours, which I sadly do think happened.

“Yeah Keith,” I reassure him with a nod of my head, “I’m here,”

He grunted in response as he tried to get up. I quickly help him sit up. I hear the painful winces, and once he was up, it did not leave me how terrible he looked. His pale skin almost paper white, sweat rolling down the side of his face, and the intense shaking.

“Where are we?” he croaked.

“We’re in an Astral Plane of your making. Do remember what happened before you were here?” I place my hand on his non-injured shoulder as I asked the question.

He cleared his throat before he answered, “I remember Shiro on the ground with Haggar standing above him w-with her power trained on him. T-then a blur of red and black before darkness enveloping me as I fell here,” he answered as he turned his head to me once he was done.

I nod my head as I squeeze his shoulder and started to get up. I then help him stand. Once he was up on his feet and I was sure he was not about to fall over, I could hear that his breathing sounded off and he looked exhausted.

“How do we… get out of here?” he was shaking a little and I was a little scared.

(x_x)

My whole body ached with every inhale of air that I took. My head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, yet I could feel the pain that was pounding behind my eyes. My right shoulder felt like it was on fire. Then my torse was whole another type of pain that was barely manageable. It felt almost numb, yet every inhale and exhale I took, I could every bruise that was blooming, cuts that were being reopened again, every burn felt like fire was licking the skin, and I felt my broken ribs with every breath. My chest felt like there was a boulder on top of it, making it harder to breathe.  

I looked over to my left to see Allura there studying me, watching me suffer with every harsh breath that seemed to push out air than allow me to suck it in.

She cleared her throat, “There’s a backway. That is how we will get out of here, let me just…” she trailed off as she raised both her hands up and waited a moment in silence.

Then, a whoosh of air as a blood red door appeared in front of us. She staggered a little into me. I quickly grabbed onto her, ignoring the sharp pain that sparked in my chest, as I made sure she was stable. She sent me a smile in thanks before she straightened up and walked over to the door.

“Here we go,” she whispered as I followed her through the door.

We walked into a blinding, white room with a pay phone in the middle of the room. There were mirrors, from the ceiling to the floor, around the room, making me see my reflection stare back. I looked down at the white ground, from the quick look, I looked awful and I did not want to stare any more that I had to.

“Let me go first,” Allura broke through my thoughts, making me stare up at her, “Shiro will need my help getting you into a pod,” she smiled a small smile.

I nod my head as she walked closer to the pay phone. It looked exactly like any pay phone down on Earth, it was just white like the room.

“Just put it by your ear a few seconds after I do, and make sure to put it back here,” she pointed to where the phone was placed before she followed her own directions, picking the phone up and disintegrating into white pixels before disappearing.

(x_x)

I turn around to see Allura gasping as she finally awoke. She seemed a little drained and tired, but other than that, fine.

“Keith should be coming out soon, though his would be more painful unfortunately because of his poor cond-”

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

The wet scream came from behind us. Keith arched his back painfully above the table he was on, and I saw why he screamed. Now on his back seemed to be a burn that was not there covering his back.

Chapter Text

“Now, before you leave this prison, let me finish what I started,” the voice breaks through my fog of pain, “killing you,” she spatted before I heard another lightning bolt about to be released.

I feel a quick adrenaline rush as I quickly get up from the floor, despite the pain in my back, and make an X with my arms in front of me as I make my outer layer quintessence form a shield to block the shot. I feel the lightning hit the shield, making me slide back a few feet before I pushed the attack out back to the witch. I let my arms fall to my sides, but I follow the attack with my eyes, so I see the witch sidestep the attack as she smirks.

“Well, this makes this more fun,” she croaks.

The witch’s hood has fallen off her head so I can see her ruined Altean marks, and how her eyes shine brighter. She puts her hands in front of her, her palms facing each other, as a purple ball of energy is formed. I copy her movements, making a dark marron energy ball. We just stand like that for a moment, staring each other off. She wears her smirk as her eyes glow, I wear my glare as I fear some of my Galran features start to show, my sclera turning a neon yellow like the witch before me as my iris slits as my vision narrows on the foe before me. It is silent…

Then she lets out a roar that rocks the Astral Plane, and I match her with my own battle cry before there is just blinding light on both ends of the white room. Light gleams off the mirrors, the temperature seems to have dropped as well as heated up. The energy in the room being used as well as being replenished. It’s a light show as the two beams of power clash.

I grunt under her power, her beam creeping closer to me. I hear her laugh as her beams grows stronger and get closer to me, showing more of the purple color than the red. With a battle cry I press back, ignoring the burning of my wounds as I feel ice cold sweat drip down my back, I push out more of my quintessence, taking some from my core and push back as I feel the power warp into something else. I see as my beam has turned into a neon blue fire that quickly burns her power, creeping closer and closer to the witch. I hear a grumble on her end as I feel her try to push back, but I start to walk closer to her, pushing back the power toward the witch.

I grunt under the power, feeling my arms tremble, but I know that if I fail stopping her long enough to get to the phone booth, I know that I will never get out of this Astral Plane alive. So, with all the force I can put in, I push forward. Every step I take, she takes one back. I get closer and closer and closer…

A violent scream echoes in the room…

The mirrors all break into shards, cutting the two occupants in the room…

A blast that makes both persons fly backwards…

It is silent. Nothing happens for a very long while. Then something shifts. A harsh cough…

I get to my knees and arms and push up of the ground, leaning on the part of the wall where no mirror shard could cut me too badly. I shakily inhale as I feel my adrenaline start to leave my system. I hear some shuffling on the other side of the room as I see white hair start to move. My eyes widen as I start to quickly limp to the pay phone, seeing as it is the only thing standing.

I hear a growl before a crackling noise that follows my moves…

“You will remember this fight, as the next time we meet, you won’t be so lucky,” and the pain that follows makes sure I will not forget.

 It’s a burning pain that hit’s my left calf, but I finally reach the phone as I quickly pick it up to my ear as I hear the witch’s scream of rage fade.

(O_O)

Keith let out a half scream through his teeth that made me clench my own. He looked horrible. I put my hand on his chest, making sure I didn’t aggravate any of the major burns. I looked back at Allura as I caught her biting her nails again with wide eyes as she stared at Keith.

There was a second of silence. Then it was broken by Keith sitting up with a horrible scream that seemed to have brought tears to Allura’s eyes. His eyes shot open and I saw his amethyst pupils almost get consumed by the pupil. His arms were around his ribs before he seemed to just have collapsed, almost falling off the cot if I wasn’t there to steady him. He was shaking violently as his breathing seemed to have got more frantic, like he was trying to gulp air, but wasn’t able to actually get in any oxygen into his system.

“Allura,” I spoke to Allura, making her look up at me, “help me get Keith into a suit,” I command gently.

She hesitated a second, looking at Keith a final time before she nodded and rushed over to grab a suit as I started to strip him. It was difficult trying to get his slave clothes off of him without hurting him too badly, but it seemed like no matter what I did, I couldn’t avoid the wince or groan of pain that came out of my brother’s mouth. By the time Allura finally came back with the suit, he was only in his boxers, and the injuries that littered the pale skin of the former paladin almost made me throw up.

It seemed like the skin was a canvas of bruises, blood, gashes, cuts, and burns that speckled along the body, almost hiding any of the pale skin. It was sickening that at such a young age, Keith had to experience this amount of pain in a war that we weren’t involved until at most a year ago. It was sickening.

I look over to Allura to see her hands up to her mouth as she seemed to be shaking her head while she silently cried. A sharp gasp from Keith made me put my hand on Allura. She looked over to me as I just nod to Keith. She nodded and we put him into the white cryo-suit, though it turned red the second the fabric was placed on any of the wounds. Keith let out horrible sounds throughout the whole process, making me have to swallow my tears.

Once Keith was in a cryo-suit, we heard Coran’s pod beeping, warning everyone that the pod was about to open. Allura ran to the coms to warn everybody about Coran. I quickly lifted up Keith and walked him over to his prepped pod. I heard a groan from him and looked down to see his eyes barely open.

“Hey buddy,” I whisper to him.

“H’ro?” he slurred as he blinked a couple of times.

“Yeah, it’s me,” I tighten my hold on him for a second before I speak again, “You did good buddy, you escaped and now you can rest,” and after a second, he does just that.

I put him in the pod, as soon as he is stable, Coran comes out of his own. I see him fall forward in the princess’ arms as she place a blanket over his shoulder. I walk over to the pad that did a scan of Keith once I put him in the pod and looked over his injuries.

 His ribs seemed to have broken twice and cracked many times, making me think of the pain he had to endure to just breathe. He seemed to have dislocated his right shoulder, his left wrist was broken, and a moderate concussion. He had gashes, bruises, and cuts. He also had different types of burns, some that seemed to have been made from magic, some that looked like he got because of electricity, and some from something hot.

It seems that it will take a movement to heal all his injuries and replenish his quintessence. Seven quintants of waiting. I heard the other paladins come in and heard them gasp, probably at both happiness that Coran was healed, and Keith was finally in a pod, but also some of the visible wounds that littered Keith’s face and blood that showed through the cryo-suit.

Chapter Text

“Shiro, what happened?” Lance asked, and I just shook my head as I lamely shrugged my shoulders. 

“I don’t really know to be honest, might want to ask Allura,” I nod my head over to the princess. 

The Garrison Trio all turned their heads toward the princess as she let Coran take a seat in front of the pod he came out of. She sighed as she ran a hand through her disheveled hair. There was a moment of silence before she spoke. 

“I don’t know how he did it, but he was able to make an astral plane. He and Haggar seemed to have gotten stuck and started to fight. That is why he continued to get hurt when he was unconscious. I went in to get him out, but only one person could get out at a time, and I foolishly thought it would be better to get myself out first so I could help Shiro when Keith came out himself, but instead Haggar must have attacked him when he was vulnerable, and I couldn’t go back in. As you can see, he got out, not unscratched, but he did get out. Now he must heal, and replenish all the quintessence he lost. 

“How long will that take?” Pidge asked. 

“A week,” I answer as I look at the healing pod that contains Keith with my arms crossed. 

“W-what do we do now?” Hunk broke the silence. 

Everybody turned to look at me as I just sighed and dropped my gaze to the floor. I rubbed my temples for a second before I looked at the clock that was hanging on wall of the infirmary. The human numbers showing off a bright red 2:14am. “It’s getting late, we should probably go to sleep. Tomorrow, we can get a plan on what to do next.” 

The others nodded their heads, but none of them moved. I just sighed and walked out the infirmary, not caring if I was followed or not. I walked down the halls until I saw my room door. I put my hand on the scanner, and walked in, rubbing my temples once my door was closed behind me. I could feel pressure build behind my eyes. After a second of just standing there, I finally walked over to my bed, and I crashed on to the mattress, and fell into a fit full sleep with Haggar’s voice echoing throughout my skull. 

(O_O)  

I was just there in the dark, feeling like I was floating around in nothing but coldness, and darkness. I could feel the cold deep in my bones. I wasn’t necessarily cold, more like when you touch cold metal on a hot day and you get chills. I don’t know how long I was there, just… being there, but suddenly I start seeing flashes of light. At first, it’s almost like fireworks consisting of red, black, and purple, flashing for a second until it disappears into particles. I can’t do anything, no matter how hard I try, I’m just stuck there. 

Then the light changes from splashes of color, to beams of dark purple light hurtling towards me. I can’t move, I’m stuck. Every time it gets close enough to me that I try to flinch from it, it goes back, then returns. It happens a few times, and every time I still try to move away, put my hands up, anything, but instead I’m paralyzed to the floor as the beam tries to strike its target. 

After a bit, I see a flash of yellow in the background. Eyes. Yellow eyes that are from the witch. I could feel every time her eyes linger, feeling goosebumps rise whenever and wherever she stares. Wherever she is at, the beam of purple light comes hurdling my direction, this time faster, but it never hits me. I try to move, to raise my arms so I could block or counterattack. I try to raise my legs so I could run away from the beams of light, but I still cannot move. I just want to be able to move because I feel helpless and vulnerable.  

Then sound starts to register. Laughter starts to echo, overlapping each raspy voice over another. I want to cover my ears, curl into a ball, and hide from this nightmare because it has to be. I escaped from the cruiser, I escaped from the Astral Plane, and I escaped her. I had to, I remember Shiro’s voice telling me to rest, I know I left. I must have left because I don’t think I would be able to stand it. I want to curl into a ball and hide from the noise and lights but all I can do is clench my eyes shut and my fists and try to ignore it. 

And now her words echo along with her laugh.  

‘Well, this makes this more fun’  

The laughter doesn’t change pitch, but it sounds more maniac. When she speaks, her voice is piercing and scratchy. 

‘Good. You’re finally awake.’  

 I’m pretty sure she’s speaking right into my ear, her breath hot on my face as I try to move once again but fail to do so. 

‘You Vermin’  

 I open my eyes to try and see, but all I see are yellow eyes staring back from the corner of my eye, and that voice is still speaking, louder than the maniac laughter. 

‘We’ll about to begin’  

 I want to scream. Scream louder than the witch, but I can’t move my own mouth, and I just hear her voice still speaking. 

‘I can’t wait to hear you scream’  

Then I hear a roar. Roars. Two of them. A thunderous one that booms over the witches’ laughter and words, drowning all sound with roars that seems to shake wherever we are. Another roar echoes alongside the booming one, though this one sounds farther away. Then it stops, everything is silent. I see no more purple beams, no more yellow eyes, and I don’t hear her voice. Nothing. Everything is silent and everything is in the dark again. 

And then there is a humming noise, almost like an engine starting up. It sounds almost like a purring noise, but more mechanical than not. I feel myself get closer to a state of sleep I’ve been wanting for a while now where no nightmares could haunt me, and nothing can wake me. So, I fade into a sleepy state, and rest for a little while… 

(O_O)  

It has been a tense morning. Everybody didn’t know what to do. It was a torn of wanting to be in the infirmary waiting on Keith and doing Voltron duties.  

“Oh,” I heard Shiro say out of the blue, monotone. 

“What?” I adjusted my glasses on my face as I abandoned the food I’ve been picking at, giving my full attention to Shiro. 

“We haven’t told Kolivan that Keith is in the cryo-pod. He wanted us to keep him updated with Keith,” huh, I guess Kolivan did have emotions and cared for Keith. 

“I can tell him,” Allura volunteered, “I don’t have much I can do,” and I nod my head. 

“I want to visit Keith,” I pipe in. 

“Pi-” 

“I want to visit Keith too,” Hunk added. 

“Me too,” and now Lance, Hunk, and I were looking at Shiro who just sighed. 

“Listen Shiro,” I put my hands in front of me as I start to reason with the black paladin, “I have nothing else to do. While you guys were with Keith, we were working. I fixed all the programs I could that got knocked down when Haggar bordered the castle, and Hunk fixed everything he could, the rest Coran has to do,” I nod over to the orange haired man. 

“And I cleaned up everything that was proof we were bordered,” lance puts in. 

I look up to Shiro, trying my hardest to just convey to him how much I want –  need  – to see Keith from the look I was giving, but Shiro wasn’t looking up but looking at his meal. Then Coran cuts the silence with his spoken thoughts, “I think they should go see Keith. There’s nothing else they can do for now,” it was softly spoken, but it was stern. 

Shiro just sighed and nodded his head. I let out my own sigh of relief, giving Coran a thankful look, and quickly finished up my breakfast, sharing glances with Hunk and Lance who were doing the same. Once we were done and put away our plates we went to our destination. Lance and Hunk followed me out of the dining room, and we headed toward the infirmary in silence. 

Once we did get there, I went to go take a peek on his vital signs. 

“How is he?” Hunk asked as he still stared at Keith in the pod. 

“He seems to be fine.” 

I walk over next to Hunk, and plop down on the ground as I just watch him breathe. There’s silence for five minutes until Hunk makes a noise like he just figured something out. I look up to him. 

“What is it man?” Lance asks. 

“If Keith beat the Champion, does that mean that he is the Champion?” 

I get ready to respond with a ‘Where the quiznack did that come from?’ but close my mouth when I realize what he meant. Keith fought the champion and he beat the champion, meaning he was supposed to be the new champion. 

“Oh...” I let out as I look back up to the pod that held the new champion of the Galran arena. 

There was silence before I got restless and went to look at the pad that held all the information about the occupant in the pod. I look over the injuries that he seemed to sustain and hiss in sympathy before I look at the brain waves, wondering if he could hear us or not. I tapped a couple of buttons to be able to see if he could understand us through the pod, but from the results he could not. 

I just sigh, not knowing if that was good or not. I noticed that it seemed he had some activity last night, but it just seemed that he had a nightmare. Not really surprising with what he went against. 

“How does mullet look?” Lance asked, making me spare a glance at the now red paladin. 

I look back at the screen before I responded, “He seems to be healing physically.” 

“Mentally?” Hunk asked. 

I just sigh, “He had a nightmare and you know how having a nightmare where you can’t wake up...” I trail off, not needing to explain further as the others nodded in understanding. 

There was silence before it was broken by Hunk speaking, “What do you think- um, what do you think happened when he was with the witch?”  

I just shake my head, not really wanting to answer the question or think about it really but the thought was like a fungus, it continued to fester until two minutes later I answered with a huff. 

“Well...” I start out before I relook at the wounds, noticing some of the burns that did not look normal, “probably tortured for most likely information.” 

“This is awful,” I hear Lance say this time as I snapped my head. 

“You have to be more specific.” 

“We’re teenagers, only six months off of being able to live on our own and we are fighting in a war that involves magic... and-and torture...” he stops his short rant before he takes a deep breathe to calm himself, “We shouldn’t be in this war,” is what he finishes. 

Hunk and I look at each other. There was nothing to really say. What was there to say? It was all true. We really were just kids, we’re not supposed to be heros.  

“Lance-” 

There was an alarming beeping that cut off Hunk, making me look down at the screen that was flashing red. 

My eyes widen at what was being flashed on the screen. I looked up to both Lance and Hunk’s shocked faces before I looked up to Keith’s pod. He seemed fine, but I was too far away to notice any of the little changes. I rush over to the com to call Allura. 

(O_O)  

I watched the three paladins leave the room to visit Keith before I rushed through the rest of my own breakfast. Once I finished, I said my goodbyes to both Shiro and Coran before I made my departure. It wasn’t far to the control room, but the distance did help clear my head a little. I was a little exhausted from yesterday, feeling soar and drained. 

I sigh as I take a turn that would lead me to the control room. Before I entered, I take a deep breath to calm my racing thoughts on what I should say then entered the dark room that brightened once I stepped in. I walked to the middle of the room, the same position where I watched Keith fight the champion, and opened the screen. 

I typed the command to call the Blade leader and waited. It didn’t take long, definitely shorter amount of time of waiting than usual for him to answer. When he came on the screen he had his mask down which revealed his face which looked like it was carved from stone as he seemed to look through me than at me from the other side of the screen. 

“Princess, is everything alright?” he asked and I nodded. 

“I wanted to let you know that Keith is in a cryo-pod getting his injuries healed.” 

Kolivan seemed to release a small breath of relief, something so small that I almost missed it. He nodded his head signaling that he understood.  

“We need to make sure he stays far away from the witch and the druids,” he crosses his arms behind his back, “Haggar has been searching for your black paladin because he was the last champion, and now it seems Keith is the next reigning champion. She will try everything to get him.”  

I nodded my head along with his logic, though I know that isn’t the only reason why she might want him and I voice my thoughts. 

“That may not be all that she might want him for.” 

He quirks his eyebrow at her, “What else might she want him for then?” 

I take a deep breath before I give him a recap of what happened the night before. Kolivan kept quiet the whole time. Once I was done, there was a moment of silence before Kolivan hummed. 

“I might know somebody who can help him control his power,” he places one hand on his chin as he rests his elbow on his opposite arm as he seems to look off screen as if he was in deep thought, “She might be able to help with teaching him how to control quintessence, and being able to sense it,” 

I nod my head, “Where is she?” 

“On a mission, but I’m sure he would be able to extract her,” he looks back up on the screen and put his arms down, “I think her and Keith should have a connection though so that aspect of things can be taken care of.” 

“Okay, and I can give him some tips before he goes,” I nod along at the idea. 

“Princess, can you call me before he’s out of the pod? I would like to be there,” he says and I'm shocked. 

I don’t let it show, but it’s still shocking. I mean, I know Kolivan has to care enough to set up a rescue mission and be one of the main operatives to rescue Keith despite the whole thing about the mission before the individual or something along those lines. I nod my head, but before I could continue, the coms start up. 

I looked up to Kolivan, and say my goodbyes before I go to answer the com, “Yes?” 

“Allura, we got an emergency here in the med-bay and it’s about Keith’s quintessence levels dropping,” my eyes widen before I just run out of there, not caring that I left Pidge on the line. I run down the halls, cursing why the med-bay is so far from the control room. When I do run the final length of hall, I almost run into Coran before we rush through the med-bay. 

There's a beeping noise from the pad where Pidge is looking at Keith’s stats, and what looks like a dark red color flashing from Keith’s pod that Lance and Hunk are both in front of it. Coran rushes over to the pad and I rush over to the pod where both Hunk and Lance are at. 

I look at the occupant in the pod and he still seems peaceful in his slumber. Good, I think. 

“Princess,” Coran calls for my attention, making me turn around to look at the advisor, “It seems that Number 4 here either used more quintessence than we initially thought, or he has a lot more quintessence than usual and percentage number is so high that the pod can’t give him more of that type of quintessence,” 

“What do you mean?” Lance asks. 

“The quintessence that is being used for the pod and replenishing Keith’s quintessence isn’t pure quintessence. I guess you can say that it is rather stored quintessence yet the way it’s formed you do not want to have too much of it in your body and it seems that he needs a lot, but the pod is programmed to stop pumping quintessence into the body,” I explain before I look up to Coran, “I can transfer some of my own quintessence,” I volunteer quickly. 

He just nods as he goes to get the intravenous immunoglobulin equipment required to transfer the proper amount of quintessence. It only takes about five minutes to get everything set up before he can inject the needle into the inside of my arm where most of my quintessence is stored. 

“Princess, you may be a little exhausted once this is all done since you are still self-replenishing from yesterday,” I nod my head in acknowledgment.  

I take a deep breath as I feel the quintessence start to drain from me. The process and feeling similar to having blood drawn, just that instead of just having your body feeling tired, you feel tired more so deep in your bones, an exhaustion that you just can’t fight no matter how long you sleep. It's tiring but worth it if I could help Keith. 

I look up to the pod that still holds our injured family member. My eyes widen at the sight of him glowing a faint red color, the same he was glowing while he was in the Astral Plane. I quickly stand, my vision tunneling for a second before I continue my way toward the glowing man.  

Once I was standing right by the pod, I leaned onto to it and took a closer look at him. I can see his eyes moving behind his lids, his fist clenching, and see him letting out a grimace. I hear the others rush by behind me when I saw something start to show on his skin. Right under his eyes are Altean marks. Dark red Altean marks that match the glow that he is emitting.  

I hear beeping start up from behind me, but I don’t turn to look as both Coran and Pidge run toward the source of the noise.  

(O_O)  

A cold feeling awoke me from where I was floating in nothingness that seemed to have wrapped me in a warm blanket. The cold was sharp, unexpecting. It seemed to flow around me before it seeped into me slowly. It was cold whatever the yellow grainy stuff was. If felt like pinpricks against my skin as it flowed through me slowly.  

I tried to move, to at least give blood to some body parts that seemed to be gaining pins and needles as the seconds ticked by. All of a sudden, my eyes started to burn like I was staring at the sun without blinking for too long. I constantly blinked my eyes, trying to let them water, but nothing happened.  

Then I feel an almost burning sensation on the area just below my eyes. It started out small, just a prick of unfamiliar heat before the temperature grew like I was being branded. I couldn’t scream, the noise stuck in my throat as I tried to let it out, but nothing happened while the burning sensation continued. 

Then it stopped. All the pain stopped. And I was left back in nothingness. I gladly slipped back into the comfortable darkness... 

(O_O)  

 “What’s happening?” Lance asks the million-dollar question, or at least I think that’s what the Earthen phrase is. 

I continue staring at Keith, his new Altean marks glowing. I ignore the tiredness I feel from my draining quintessence and try to think of how to answer the question, my mind slowly connecting to my mouth. 

“I think... When my quintessence started to interact with his, which is Altean, it interacted with his quintessence that is a mix between Human, Galran, and Altean. I think it interacted with his Altean part of his quintessence, changing his physical attributes to more Altean than Human.” 

I see everyone nod and turn around to see Coran and Pidge looking back and forth from the pad and Keith’s pod, “How is he?” Hunk asks. 

“He looks good...” Coran’s eyebrow furrow in concentration before he nods, “He looks really good. It seems that he is healing himself. His quintessence seems to be working on overdrive and trying to heal him faster.” 

“You can do that?” Lance asks. 

“It’s a certain skill that is rare,” I speak before I look back at Keith, the glow that was surrounding him dimming but not completely diminished.  

I feel a hand on my shoulder and see Shiro standing there with worry in his eyes, “Are you okay Princess? You’re swaying.” 

Now that I think about it and the shock of Keith’s form is not as grave, I do feel rather dizzy and see the ship moving under me, “Just a little,” and I go take a seat with my head in my hands, trying to calm my racing thoughts.  

“So... What does that mean for Keith’s health if he is healing faster?” I hear Hunk ask. 

I lift my head to see Coran looking at the pad before he looks up from the device, looking shocked as he quickly glances at the pod and back to us, “It means that his healing process will be finished tomorrow but he will be extremely tired since he did most of the healing himself and barely assisted by the pod.” 

My eyes widen and take a look at the pod and the occupant inside. His skin doesn’t seem so pale as before... He does look like he was breathing easier. I narrow my eyes at the man and rub my temple as I try to straighten my thoughts. Sometimes I wonder how something so simple as our life force can be so confusing. All Keith needed was some quintessence and he was healing fine, quicker than any Altean should be able to. His Human and Galran genes must be assisting somehow.  

I feel a hand on my shoulder and jump to see Coran looking down at me with an easy smile, “Number four has enough quintessence to be stabilized, you can stop providing.” 

I quickly nod my head and carefully pull out the machine from my skin and accept the bottle of water Coran just randomly supplied. I take slow measured sips as the others talk, letting their voices flow around me until my eyes widen as I remember who else wanted to stay updated on Keith’s health. 

“Kolivan would want to know about Keith’s progress and that he would be released tomorrow,” I supply quickly, interrupting whoever was speaking. 

Pidge raises her hand, “I can contact him.” 

I just nod my head and sit back as I look over to Keith. This whole situation has been confusing as quiznack. Nothing makes sense and my head feels heavy with everything that has occurred. I just hope Keith will be okay once he gets out... 

(O_O)  

Thirteen hours, or vargas for all alien personal, later we are all standing in front of Keith’s pod. About an hour ago he turned back to his normal human form, his Altean features hidden. Everyone is standing around the pod awaiting Keith to pop out even Kolivan. We were all afraid when we first learned he was stolen and this whole rollercoaster of a mission has drained us but now that we might finally take a break, finally get our friend free makes all of us anxious for his awakening. Usually, he’ll be the one waiting on one of us to come out of the pod with something to comfort them, but now that it’s reversed it just doesn’t feel right. 

I roll my metal wrist before I cross my arms. Sadly, the headaches haven’t been lessening, almost a complete constant since Keith was first placed in the pod.  

“Who should be the one to stable him once he gets out?” Hunk asks once there is a lull in the conversation, “I mean he’s going to be disorientated and with what happened before he went in...” 

All eyes are on me and I feel a sigh of relief at the thought of being able to help my brother first before the whirlwind of the paladins come take him away. Kolivan nods toward my direction, “I believe your current black paladin would be the best choice,” and they all nods their heads. 

I nod mine and hear a beep from the pod. I share a glance with the others and they all take hurried three steps back. I turn around in time to see the cover over the pod to disintegrate into particles and half a tick goes by with baited breath and my little brother falls. He's twisting his body like he is subconsciously trying to cushion his fall the best way possible. His head falls on my shoulder and he’s grasping my arms like a life line. He's slow moving but once he does get enough feeling in his body his head snaps up with wide eyes. 

(O_O)  

Feeling starts to come back to me slowly as memories of what happened come flashing forward like a movie in front of my eyes. Once I get feeling back and the memories stop running, I look up at the person holding me and wait for yellow eyes shadowed by a looming hood and- 

“Shiro?” 

He nods and I shakily exhale in realization that she isn’t here. I'm safe, I'm finally safe. My knees grow weak and Shiro’s arms is the only reason why I'm still standing and not collapsing.  

“Woah there. I got you, I got you.”  

We lower to the ground and all I can do is just nod into the arms that hold me. It's only a minute before I feel a hand on my shoulder and look up to see Pidge with tears in her eyes that don’t fall. I nod my head and she collapse on top of me and I feel a few of her tears fall. It's not long before the others join in the group hug, Kolivan standing off to the side but close enough for me to be comforting for me. In I don’t know how long, I finally feel safe with my space family.