It Ends with Us

Chapter 11

 They had taken him. What was it? Half an hour? Fifteen minutes ago? Time was hard to tell in a place like this. The purple hued corridors and pitch black cells made it feel like another world entirely and maybe it was. But as far as Kiera could tell she had been left alone in a cell and Keith, the one who was supposed to be in charge of her, could be dead.

"This is fine," She whispered, "I can do this. I'm eighteen. I'm an adult. I can figure this out." She glanced towards the cell door. She wanted nothing more than Keith to come back through that door. He knew what he was doing. He had been through this before. She needed someone to talk her through this.

She heard a scream only to realize it was coming from her own head. The screams of her neighbors as their houses blew up one by one. The sounds of her feet crashing through the bushes separating her house from the forest behind her house. Then a deeper cry, the one that sent the eight year old to a halt. One that she had never before heard in her lifetime till this moment. Her dad. He was trapped in the house. She went back for him only to have her mother scoop her up in her arms. Her mother took off as fast as she could, but not fast enough. For little Kiera saw a flash of purple from the sliding glass door and a loud bang moments later. At that moment she couldn't wrap her mind around what had happened but understanding came in the middle of the night. Her sobs and cries for her dad couldn't be silenced by her mother, so Kiera was just held until her tears stopped and her whimpers faded to soft snores.

Her mind could've replayed that day on loop for hours if not for the scraping of the cell door being opened. Kiera instinctively pushed herself into the corner turning her head away from whoever it was standing at the entrance.

A heavy sound like something was being dragged piqued her curiosity, but she stayed still. The object was dropped and the cell door was once again sealed shut. Only after the footsteps faded away did Kiera dare move.

Keith was laying in the center of the floor. From the way his arms were laying about he looked almost dead. The pale color his flesh showed scared Kiera the most. She placed a hand on his abdomen and his shoulder in an attempt to wake him up. The only thing she got in response was his head rolling towards her.

She pulled back, "Keith?" She called his name. Sight of red brought her attention to her hand that had been placed on his abdomen. It was covered in blood. Her eyes flicked to Keith. A large portion of his clean uniform was torn and drenched in Keith's blood and it was growing by the second.

"Keith!" She called again, placing both her hands on his cheeks, "wake up!" She shook his head once before moving back to his wound. She placed her hands against the wound applying pressure. "Please I need you to wake up! I can't do this! I need to survive! We both do! I can't die here! Not like this!!" She dropped her head between her arms gasping as air moved rapidly in and out of her body. Tears streamed down her face as she fought to gain control of her lungs. "Please wake up!"

The body beneath her shuddered. Kiera flicked her gaze to Keith's face. His eyes were slits as he looked at her. His face was still pale and sweat mounted his forehead and soaked his hair beneath him. Her bloodied read imprint covered the left of his face and part of his hair.

"How bad is it?" He asked before he was thrown into a coughing fit.

"Bad. I-I've been applying pressure but there's no medical supplies for us to use, "Keith, if the others don't locate us soon you could-"

"I know." Keith swallowed. His eyes were focused on the ceiling. He didn't want her to say it. He knew that he had to have lost more blood during the time he had been passed out. He wouldn't be able to last much longer before he passed out and succumbed to his wounds.

It'll be fine. They have the Atlas so they'll be able to locate them. They'll make it out and it'll be as this has never happened.

XXX

The familiar upside down crescent shaped badge that resided on the left side of the paladin's chests was reflected up on the holographic screen before them. A smaller dot resided beside it indicating Kiera was also with him.

Days after the war with the Galra ended Pidge had taken it upon herself to install trackers in the badge they wore. She was hoping for efficiency and precaution when installing the trackers into the badges. And it's a good thing she did too.

"What's with the weird crescent shape thing?" Samantha asked. It's one of the few things that the twenty-six year old had said since they left the scarlet sand planet. Everyone could tell that she blamed herself for the events that had happened.

"It's a tracker that we all have," Pidge replied, gesturing to the other former paladins in the room.

"So that means that-" Peyton started to say before Shiro stepped in.

"Yes. The dot next to Keith is Kierra."

"Do we all have that?" Lucas inquired, shifting uncomfortably from his spot next to Lance. Even without his eyesight he was still able to feel all the eyes turn towards him. He had been working with Lance and a few others in order to develop an ability to get around the Atlas without any help. It was easy to get turned around. Especially if he didn't know where he was.

"Yes." Pidge confirmed, "There's one in all of your uniforms. It's-"

"You put trackers in our uniforms without letting us know??" Peyton asked.

Pidge made eye contact with Hunk, Shiro, and Lance. "Y-Yes. Everyone has one should this exact situation ever happen. . ." Pidge trailed off her hand gesturing behind her. Peyton was staring at her with an attention she hadn't known since she had been her age. The same fascinated look reflected in his eyes. The slight twitch of his lips as his own thoughts came together. Thoughts that could either improve said device or destroy it.

"That's so cool!" Peyton whispered. He then began patting his legs. Then his arms. He then began spinning in a circle in an attempt to reach his back.

"Uh what are you doing?" Hannah asked.

"Trying to find the tracker," Peyton grunted as he reached for his middle back.

"You won't be able to find it," Hunk said. He reached for the boy in order to stop him before he hurt himself. "That's why the Galra have no idea we're coming."

"But before that we need to find the green lion. Peyton?" Pidge asked turning towards him.

"Yeah?"

"You ready to find your lion?"