Voltron Legendary Defender Fanfiction: Keith

Part 2

Shiro woke up on a random planet and he looks around "Black? Paladins? Where the heck am I?" Then it dawns on him, his lion teleported him. "BLACK!! You stupid lion! You stupid piece of space metal! An awesome piece of space metal but stupid all the same! Why did you do this to me? Now I have no way of getting home."

A playful roar rang through Shiro's mind, an explanation of how Black thought Shiro was too stressed and needed a break dawning in Shiro's mind as Black gave a self satisfied purr. He sighed and punched the ground, "I have no time for this Black. You left all my stuff back at hq: my suit, weapons, everything."

Black gave an indignant roar, an image of Shiro's arm filling his vision. Black flooded their bond with an overwhelming sense of worry for Shiro's mental and physical state before Black cut their connection. "Stupid lion." Shiro grumbled but he didn't have any way to connect to the castle.

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Coran had called Shiro over the castle's speakers, but there was no response. Keith was pacing back and forth in the counsel room, where everyone had gathered. "What's happened to him?! He was here just last night! Where is he?!" He ranted, everyone watching him, their heads moving along with his movement. His worst fear seemed to come true: Shiro disappeared. "Coran, is there any way Black could lead me to Shiro?" He asked desperately looking at him for answers. 'Please, please say yes' he prayed....

Coran shrugged with an exaggerated raise of his shoulders. "That would be up to Black, Keith." Keith immediately ran to the hanger and started talking to Black. "Black. Please, please show me where Shiro is. Please, I need to find my brother, he's all I have." Keith pleaded, staring up at Black. Black however was unmoved and simply didn't answer, too concerned for Shiro to pay any attention to Keith. He was getting nervous and he tried really hard to work with Black. He sat there for a long time waiting for Black to respond but it never happened. Finally Keith let out an exasperated sigh and glares at Black before standing.

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Shiro was trying to talk to Black telepathically, "Come on Black. Please get me home or help them find me, I need to go home. As the leader of Voltron you must understand buddy. Is this because I am worrying so much?" He talks to himself gathering stuff.

A slight affirmative growl rang clear in the bond before disappearing again. Shiro sighed and gathered another piece of fruit that he could only hope was edible. "If I stop worrying will you let me go home?" He asked, getting no answer. He hated Black's harsh reaction and he tries to create a place to sleep. Slowly time passes and he looks up at the stars, taking in the wide expanse of space around him. "Wow." He said quietly, remembering the reason that he became a pilot in the first place. Because he loved the stars. Black purred somewhere in the back of Shiro's mind. Shiro smiled a little. "I guess this isn't so bad." He whispered as he fell asleep. "Good night Black"and he drifted off to sleep to the gentle purr.

Slowly the next morning he awakened to the bright sun of the planet warming the area he was in. He smiled looking up then he heard a disturbing rattling noise and a hiss, like a giant snake. He got up quickly and activated his arm as a creature like a giant centipede with razor discs of teeth and 12 eyes. It hissed and Shiro took in a deep breath.

The creature hissed and spat out a mouthful of hot acid, burning a hole in a tree next to Shiro. Shiro's eyes widened and he shielded himself behind a tree. He bit his lip as the beast moved forward, but a sudden hissing from the bushes behind the creature drew its attention and it retreated back into the brush. Shiro let out a breath and sagged slightly against the tree trunk, 'Wow, close call.' He thought.

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Keith hadn't slept all night, worried and racking his brain for answers to where in the world was Shiro. He was detectably sad and uneasy but like his other emotions when people were around they were locked away deep inside of him. Pidge looked over to him and smiles reassuringly at Keith, "We'll find him Keith. As a team".

Keith looked over to Pidge from where he was looking at the map of the nearby planets. "I hope so." He mumbled, before bringing up the five nearest planets. "If Shiro was taken by a hostile group of aliens, then it would be most likely to be from one of theses planets."

Pidge and Keith spend a hour looking at maps and trying to chart a course close enough to see if Shiro was on the surface. "I can have Hunk program something to see if he is underground." Pidge suggested to Keith but he shook his head, "None of the planets nearby have stable cores. If they hid underground they'd have a good chance of being buried alive if any seismic activity occurred." Keith said, pointing to the readouts of the planets. "We should scan for any buildings on the surface that have Galra tech, if we find that we find Shiro." Pidge nodded affirmative and went to go find Hunk and get him started creating. Keith closed the star map and goes for one more chat with Black.

In the hanger he stares at the black metal creature hard, "Black. One last time... will you show me where Shiro is?" The lion looked unmoved by his plea and Keith growled low, his patience short. "Oh, come on! You've worked with me before to save Shiro on that desert planet! Work with me to save him now!" Keith shouted, receiving no answer. Keith groaned. "I don't know how Shiro ever thought I could be the black paladin, this clearly isn't working." He sat down and put his head in his hands. "Shiro... Please come back." He whispered, closing his eyes, wishing the paladins could feel their bond without the lions. Keith sighs and whispers one more time, "Please.... we are lost without you, I am lost without you."

The days drag for Keith and all he can think about is what he will do to Shiro when he gets back. The thoughts of finding Shiro were addicting and he had to keep drinking them in and trying to find him. Keith trains hard, forcing out anger and distress while avoiding contact with anyone as much as he can. During one session he had cranked up the difficulty on the simulator and slowly he was losing energy, similar to when he proved his ability at the Blade of Marmora headquarters. Allura came in, "Keith!" She called.

Keith startled and yelled for the simulation to end. He turned to face Allura as his bayard blinked out of existence. He straightened his posture, feeling self conscious under her gaze. "Yeah? What is it? Have you found a lead?" She shakes her head, "No but I must talk to you." She said coming closer but he put his hand up, "Listen Allura, if it has nothing to do with Shiro's whereabouts or it is about me being Galra I don't want to hear it." She stops moving, "No, it isn't either. I came to tell you to stop training so hard. It isn't good for you."

Keith blinked, taken aback by Allura's words. Did- was Allura actually being nice to him for once? 'Why now? Why all of a sudden?' "You... did? Why?" He asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked at her, as if waiting for an insult.

She looks down, "I am sorry for all the things I have said but this isn't healthy. You don't eat much and you train all day or spend hours in the map room. Shiro wouldn't want you training so hard, I don't want you hurting yourself. Keith, you're the only Red paladin we have."

Keith scoffed. "So that's it. You're only concerned because you're scared to lose another paladin and Voltron is already too affected without me disappearing too." He said exasperated, crossing his arms. "So what? When we get Shiro back you'll throw me aside again? Because Voltron is all you care about, right? You don't care about any of us at all!" He said, his voice raising to an octave higher. "Thanks, Princess." He said sarcastically walking out past her, retreating to his room.

Allura sighed and thinks, 'That went less than desirable.' Keith was fed up with a princess and although she was valuable to them she got on his nerves plenty.

Keith headed back to his room, but upon reaching it, stopped and turned towards Red's hanger. The instant he reached the hanger, Red greeted him with a soft roar, bending down to open her mouth for him. Keith smiled faintly, "Thanks, Kitty." He whispered, settling down in the pilot's seat. He leaned his head back. "I don't get it Red. The castle alarms didn't go off, Shiro never tried to contact us, and there's no talking to Black. He's completely unresponsive." Keith rubs the dash and thinks, and he says quietly, "What if he wasn't kidnapped?" The possibility existed of course and it could happen. Did Shiro leave by himself? No, he would have his suit and could communicate, also Black would be with him. This makes no sense at all.

"Shiro wouldn't leave me, right?" He asked, sounding almost like a scared little child. A comforting purr vibrated through the cockpit, trying to reassure Keith that Shiro would never do that to him. Though it didn't do much to help, Keith was too lost in his grief to really believe in anything at the moment. He decides to open the hatch and sends a message into the castle, "Red and I are going out."

Hunk nearly fell off his chair in the control room and responded, "Out? Out where? Keith don't," but Keith had already left and shut the com off. Keith breathed a steadying sigh as he guided the lion through some asteroids, just taking a relaxing cruise around. He made sure to stay near the castle, in case anything happened.

Hunk watched the Red lion fly through space, shaking his head. 'Keith is really taking this hard.' Hunk thought to himself as Lance came up behind him. "Hey, Buddy, whatcha doin'?"

"Monitoring Keith and Red. Keith all of a sudden decided he was going to go out and he shut off communication and he is ignoring us. Thankfully he is near the castle though. They must be close for him to worry that much." Hunk said with his eyes still on the screen following the red mark.

Lance shrugged. "Well, yeah. They're foster brothers, after all." Lance said, watching Red do a barrel roll between two asteroids. "Its a good thing Allura isn't here to see this. I don't think she'd be too happy with Keith leaving like that.." Hunk shook his head, "Nope. Not at all." They watched the screen for a bit and then Hunk looked at Lance, "What now?" Lance shrugged and they left to go somewhere.

Keith eventually flew back in, heading straight to bed, skipping dinner. He flopped onto his bed, burying his face in the pillow. A few hours pass and alarms blare inside the castle, Allura's voice coming on the loudspeaker, "Paladins, we are under Galra attack. Repeat under Galra attack! Get to your lions!" Keith woke up with a start, insomnia having kept him awake, and jumped into his suit and all went into their lions and flew out into Galran fire. Keith bit his lip as he started giving out orders, wishing Shiro was there. He ordered Pidge and Hunk to take out the ships on the left while he and Lance took the ones on the right.

The fight ensued, more ships coming the longer they fought. Out of the corner of his eye, Keith caught a glimpse of a ship charging a shot aimed at Lance. With no time to warn Lance, Keith had Red lunge forward to protect his teammate. The Red Lion was hit hard, electricity crackling around it. The dashboard exploded with a loud boom and Keith was knocked unconscious.

"Keith? Keith!" Lance yelled into the com system as he watched the Red Lion power down "Not good! Not good at all!!" Hunk panicked but Lance barked, "Get ahold of yourself Hunk. Finish what Keith said and I will call into the castle"

"Already heard Lance, remember we can hear everything. We need to get Keith and the Red Lion back on board." Allura said to the paladins. Lance nodded, shooting a ship that was advancing on Red. "Okay, how do we do that exactly?" He asked, a slight edge of panic in his voice. Allura's face hardened and she left the controls, "Princess! Where are you going." Coran asked Allura and she responded, "I am going out. I need to get Keith conscious." Coran tries to object but she didn't want to hear it. She loaded on a pod and jets out into the fight to Red under the protection of the lions.

Lance blanched when he saw the pod leave the castle. "Allura, you're going to get yourself killed!" He shouted, flying over to cover her. "You paladins sacrifice yourself. Time I did that too." She says flying quickly to the lion. Lance shook his head, not too happy with anything in this situation. He stayed close to Allura and Keith, defending them while Pidge and Hunk did most of the offensive fighting. 'Where are you Shiro? I am going to kill you.' Allura thought to herself as she jumped off the skid and entered the lion to the cockpit and sees Keith laying there "Keith..." Keith was sprawled out on the floor, his helmet blown off and his face covered in burns. The dashboard was still on fire, crackling loudly in the small space. Allura runs over and takes off her helmet and takes him off the floor and puts his head in her lap. She surveys the damage and the burns and sighs, "C'mon Keith. Please wake up." She says gently and rubs his head. Keith's eyes fluttered open slowly, coughing in the smoke that was starting to fill the cockpit, the ventilators must have malfunctioned. He gazed up at Allura, "What happened?" He asked, wincing as his face moved. "You were electrocuted Keith. You took the burst of Galran energy that was about to hit Lance with your own lion. Now the whole console is fried but you are alive" She smiles a little and puts a hand gently to his face but puts no pressure."Oh." He said, still clearly out of it. He coughed again, his body spasming from the aftershock. "Why are you here?"

"You were unconscious and needed help." She isn't sure what to do to get the red lion back on and back to the ship. Keith nodded, wincing as he pushed himself off the floor. "You should get back to the castle." He said, giving her a slight shove towards the exit. "But don't you need assistance? I risked my life coming here and you are going to make me do it again to go home?" She gawked and watched him struggle up and to help him fully stand she grips his arm in support. Keith let himself lean on her for just a second before he got his bearings back. "Uh, yes?" He said, standing on his own power. "You can't do anything more here, and Shiro will kill me if I let you get hurt. Go back to the castle, I'm sure Coran is waiting for you." He said, reaching into one of the compartments in the lion and finding the fire extinguisher. She frowns. "You are just as stubborn as me! Ugh fine!!" She says and marches out to find her skid. Keith was dealing with the electricity and trying to fix Red enough so he could help. Keith smirked lightly, 'Well, there's one thing we have in common.' He thought, putting out the fire with the Altean extinguisher which used some sort of chemical gas that took any oxygen away. He gets it started and turns on the communication "I am back on guys. Let's finish this." He said confidently.