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“Your insolent pride will get you nowhere. You’ve lost, paladin. Voltron is nothing without all of its lions, and the lions cannot fly without their pilots.” The Galra soldier circles Keith, his spittle occasionally landing on his cheeks.
“We gave you the chance to do this the easy way, and you refused to take it. We’ve given you dozens of chances to make all the pain stop, and you still let your pride make you stubborn and foolish.”
Only a Galra soldier could see taking pain instead of giving up and working for the universe’s most evil man as ‘foolish’. Yes, he hurts all over, in places he didn’t know it was possible to hurt and from methods of torture he never could have dreamed up. He’s barely standing, can barely see straight, is pretty sure that without a healing pod he’ll never be the same again. But the soldier has one thing right - Keith is proud and stubborn. He’s not giving up. If the other paladins don’t show up soon to rescue him, then he’ll die right here and be satisfied that he did what was right.
“You think if you stay stubborn long enough, you’ll somehow win. But we’re only getting started here. And I have a feeling I’m just about to find your weakness.” The soldier stops in front of him grinning. Keith has run out of witty comebacks at this point, so he just stares back at him with a tired but steady gaze, waiting to see what torture he’s come up with now.
The door to the cell opens. Two more soldiers shove their way inside, but it’s the muffled protests of the figure they hold between them that immediately catches Keith’s attention. A gag and blindfold take up nearly her whole face, but there’s no mistaking…
“Pidge,” he breathes, shock and dismay flooding through him. This is not how he was supposed to see his friends again. They were supposed to be smart, play it safe, not risk themselves for him. If they were going to come it should have been guns blazing, saving the day, not…this. They’re supposed to be safe. Now they’re going to hurt her just like they’ve hurt him, and they’ll probably make him watch.
She stills at the sound of his voice, a questioning sound coming from behind the gag. Before either of them can react further, though, the guards force her down onto her knees. She hits the floor with a grunt, fighting to pull away.
The Galra soldier’s grin widens as he watches Keith’s expression. “See? I told you we were just getting started.”
Dismay turns quickly to despair. Keith’s weak and injured legs buckle beneath him, and he drops right in front of his friend.