Adrenaline

Keith's End (Part II)

He could die before he had been able to prove his worth but it was fine, the Galra was caught off guard and sucked out into the vast space and Keith just had to hold on until someone would close the hangar again. Preferably without them being either Galran or sucked out themselves but Keith found himself less picky as time when on and his fingers started burning from both the weakening muscles and the sheer pressure on having metal plates forced into his skin.

Keith heard footsteps and looked up. He was for once hopeful that this was going to end well. Even he would secretly admit that he hadn't been physically ready for battle but his mind had been ready long ago and this would be the fruit of his effort.

The hope fell from his throat and into his stomach like a stone falling through water and the stone turned into disappointment and horror as it fell.

The Galran soldier in front of him was not happy about the paladins sneaking into the ship but he seemed too happy about seeing Keith. Disturbingly so.

Keith lifted one hand from his death grip on the metal. He would die but he would rather become an invalid again than go down without a fight. He knew that he couldn't kill or even severely wound anyone like this but he could do something and that was better than nothing. Maybe even better than anything. A Galra carrying a scar forever from him would show just how strong Voltron was if its current weakest link could do something like that. Maybe he could pull out an eye and really spread fear of Voltron among the soldiers.

Keith activated his bayard and his fingers finally gave out.

He felt the burn from the metal edge cutting a layer or two of his skin and saw two single drops of blood find their way out of him as he was sucked out into space. Instincts or reflexes, Keith wasn't sure which since they both seemed unlikely, but one of them moved his hand up to close his helmet before he was suffocated in space. Again...

He was still going to die floating around and the only satisfaction was that the Galra looked almost as disappointment as Keith felt. He didn't really feel any fear anymore but disappointment that this would be his end. After all he had been through this was how it would end – floating in space waiting for the Galra to find a gun and see if he could hit him. Or maybe just someone from the ship noticing a paladin and a Galra soldier floating around and hitting Keith while he was helpless. He would be blown up beyond recognition and maybe the others would never truly know what happened to him as they would fly away from the ship and through his ashes.

It was just great.

Keith was surprised how calm he was feeling. Maybe it was a product of how close to death he had been both while conscious and not. Maybe his body and mind had accepted their fates.

He felt disappointed that the last thing the others would have seen him do would be him being stubborn and refuse to obey orders but at the same time that sounded like something he would have done before all this. So, in a way he would die more like himself than he had lived lately. It was all about finding the silver lining, as Shiro would have reminded him once upon a time when they were both far more innocent and with far less mental and physical scars.

The Galra only held onto the metal wall for a short time before he had clicked a lifeline into place and had both hands free to shoot Keith without fear of being sucked out with him. So, the Galra Empire did learn from Voltron's earlier actions. Good to know right before he would leave his team forever and could only hope that his teammates could evolve their fighting techniques faster than the enemy could.

Keith saw how the Galra pointed the gun in Keith's directions, aimed until it pointed directly between his eyes. The Galra was just about to fire the gun when his eyes widened in surprise.