Odigía (Keith Kogane x Reader)

Duty Over Desire

Y/N couldn't really remember much, other than the fact that she and Keith had just found themselves in one massive mess of space time. She wasn't supposed to be here and Keith had already lived through it. At first, it seemed like it could be a good thing, that they could use all they knew to stop the war early, save lives. Right now, it was seeming like the outcome was going to be worse than they had ever hoped for.

Especially now.

Y/N knew Haggar. Honerva. Keith had told her stories. The girl knew what Honerva wanted in the long run. Being as smart as she was, Y/N already knew where this was going. Horrified of what was about to come, she tried to force down a deep breath, just in hopes it would help deliver clear thoughts. But it almost seemed like wasted effort. Y/N also roughly knew where she was at in Keith's string of stories about the war. This meant that Voltron was about to get wrapped up in one massive mess and go missing for three years. If they didn't get her out soon, she was going to be here...Here for a very long time.

Honerva shuffled closer to Y/N. Though her vision wasn't overly clear and her senses a muddled mess, she could make out the figure of the witch. In no way, based on all of Keith's descriptions, could Y/N have ever imagined Honerva to look as broken as she truly did. This was no longer an Altean alchemist, she was a lost soul. For a long time, Y/N had thought that if maybe things had been different, Voltron could have saved Honerva somehow. The truth was, Voltron missed that chance thousands of years before they arrived in space.

Raggedly, Honerva's voice shook Y/N's mind. "You have seen the end of this war. Tell me, what happens?"

The girls mouth was dry with panic. There was no winning in this situation. No, she didn't know the details about how exactly Voltron won the war, but she did know they had. How was she supposed to explain that and make it seem like she wasn't lying? "I wasn't there when it happened. I don't know."

"Liar!" Honerva snapped.

Y/N felt small tendrils of electricity around the room. She was completely powerless. The knowledge that she was just some human from earth really settled in.

"I was alive at the end of the war. I don't know exactly what happens." She tried to reinforce. "I can't help you."

"My son," Honerva leaned down closer to Y/N. The girl winced and tried to lean away from the witch. "Where is he? Is he alive? Does he come back?"

Y/N closed her eyes and shook her head. "He's gone. There's nothing you can do to get back your son—your real son."

Honerva struck Y/N down. The girl wasn't even sure what hit her, what the witch had done, but this was nothing like being knocked to the floor by someones physical force. This was all magic. She couldn't even fight back in anyway. All she could do was try to comply enough to keep herself alive. "What do you know? There has to be something!"

"There's—you tried. It doesn't work." Y/N coughed.

"We'll see about that." Honerva discarded Y/N on the floor and stepped past. "Take her to the cells. She'll provide us with what we need to win against Voltron."

"...What I need to truly find is the reality where my family will love me."

Those were the last words Y/N heard before being lift off of the ground by Galra guards, dragged down echoey halls and to a cell. She felt ripped apart from the inside out. The magic Honerva had was something she couldn't comprehend, nor could she treat herself. She was alone. Trapped.

And as much as she felt sorry for herself, she felt twice as much for Honerva. When Keith told her stories about twisted the witch was, she never fully believed him. Here and now though, she did. She understood what he had always been talking about. Honerva could see inside Y/N's mind, she knew everything Keith had told her about how the war ended. Honerva now knew, in that timeline, she never found the reality she was hoping for. She never got her son back. In the end, she worked with Voltron to end things. To fix things.

Despite knowing all of that, in her current unstable state, Honerva only saw those things as a means to an end. She saw all that Y/N knew about how the war ended as a way to get closer to getting what she wanted, calling that version of herself who gave way to helping Princess Allura save the universe weak and disgusting.

All of Keith's fears came true. Despite going after Shiro, he was unable to retrieve Y/N in the process. Haggar already took Y/N in.

Things began moving too fast. So fast, Keith saw no way to break from the timeline he already knew in order to get Y/N.

He endured his fight with Shiro. Then the fight with Lotor in the quintessence field, to have the castle of lions destroyed. He was there all over again to bring Shiro back to life, to travel slowly and painfully through space on their way to Earth. The time they were captured by Ezor and Zethrid. How in each and every moment he wished she was there.

Y/N's days started to meld together. She wasn't sure when she was awake or asleep, perhaps dead at this point. Honerva took her in as often as her fragile state would allow, trying to extract any and all information she could provide. Though Y/N was weak, falling apart at the seams, all she could do was try to remember what information Honerva got out of her. At least, if some day she got out of here, she could warn everyone about what Honerva already knew.

It wasn't until now, sitting on a wasted planet while the lions rest to restore their energy cores after escaping Ezor and Zethrids grasp that Keith finally received word of Y/N.

It was also in this moment that Keith realized they'd been gone nearly three years. For what had once seemed like weeks for them after the events in the quintessence field, years had passed elsewhere. Based on his life lately, Keith was beginning to really hate space time.

Three whole deca-phobes Y/N was out there, alone. Far too much of that time being spent with Honerva on the Galra ships.

"Your friend, Y/N?" Those few words from Axca finally had Keith paying attention. All other conversation flowing around had gone right over his head, thoughts stuck on hating himself for forgetting how long they would be gone for. If he'd remembered that sooner, he might have just risked more to get her back before any of this happened.

"Where is she? What happened?" Keith snapped.

Axca was stunned by his sudden snap. "I heard The Blade got her out a few phoebes after Voltron dissapeared. She was brought to Olkarion to heal."

"How quickly do you think we can get there?" Keith jumped up, impatient. "How far off is it from our current location?"

"Keith, wait." Krolia eyed him. "She's not doing well. She hasn't woken up since they got her out."

"She hasn't woken up for almost three years? You knew about this too?" Keith growled. Y/N had gotten out with the Blades and been in some sort of coma for nearly two years and no one told him. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Axca informed me earlier. We saw it best we wait until it was safe to tell you. Couldn't risk you taking off on your own." Krolia clamped her hands together. Truthfully, she felt sorry for Keith. She knew how much he cared for the girl. Depriving him of this information was cruel. Right now, the mission came first though.

Keith snarled. "Whatever. Tell me how close Olkarion is. Maybe I can bring her back to Earth if we can get to Olkarion on the way. They can look after her there."

"No, she's safest on Olkarion." Krolia tried to calm him down. "Their healers are better than that you could ever hope for on earth. Your people are not made to treat the supernatural wounds she has sustained, not in the way the Olkari are."

"But—"

"Keith, you've lived through this war once before. See it out again, play every moment the exact same you once did. On the other side, you'll be able to see her again. But trying to change things now? It could throw everything out of balance. We don't know what impact Haggar having her has had to begin with. The less variables we change, the better."

"People are going to die." Keith tried to speak through a sore throat. "What if they attack Olkarion? When...then attack Olkarion. What if she doesn't get out before the robeast takes it out?"

"I know. Maybe those fates were determined long ago. But you need to keep the universe from falling into the wrong hands. You're almost there."