Catch the Stars ||Keith Kogane||

13

Trip had never been happier to see the floating castle surrounded by its glowing blue shield.

With her broken soul finding its pieces and sewing itself back together, she was beginning to regain feeling in her limbs. And it just got worse with every passing second. Some cuts had reopened, bruises had been bumped, and burns had been rubbed against. New blood was leaking into her already ruined outfit.

The red lion wasn't docked in the hangar with the rest of the lions. It flew right into an opening on the side of the castle, giving a rough landing and rattling Trip against the wall.

Along the ride, her legs had given up. She slid down and was now sitting with her legs to her chest once more. Her mind was set on other things besides her people. She knew that they were all safe, she had been right to trust Harron as her second. But she was still concerned with the body on the ground. No, it hadn't been Haylie. Thank god it hadn't been Haylie. But that means it had to have been another Eow. Her species.

There weren't many of them left. Haylie told her that herself. When they heard of their planet about to be invaded by the Empire, they scattered the galaxy to find refuge. Haylie and her mother found Olympia, her aunt and uncle had supposedly found a placed called Atrora to call home. It wasn't like you would see one walking around wherever you looked.

Haggar must have remembered Haylie. She had to have seen them together before. It was logical. Before Haylie got pregnant they were a team. While Harron was her second head when it came to the politics of leading, she was her second set of eyes on the battlefield. They fought together for years, trained together before that. Haggar must have hunted down an Eow, scoured the galaxy to find one. Then she killed her for the purpose of tearing Trip apart from the inside.

An unnecessarily lost life. Trip promised herself to never tell Haylie about what had happened her last few days in there. To know someone was killed because they were like her would break her heart. And to know that she was used to hurt Trip would be even worse on her.

"Commander," Keith spoke while his chair slid back enough for him to stand. He pulled the helmet off so his voice was no longer through the helmet but through the air, "Coran has the healing pod ready."

She looks up from her deep thoughts, beginning to push herself up the wall and into a stand position. Blood dripped from a particularly deep cup that reopened. She didn't register that yet, just that it stung a little more than the rest. She had no idea what a healing pod was, but she figured it was something like their infirmary back home. Maybe more high tech if it was like the rest of the castle.

"Uh..." came his voice again when she slowly pushed herself up off the wall. Keith awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, holding the helmet under his other hand, "do you need any...help?"

She looks over to him, reaching up to yank off her own helmet. Her pride told her no, but the aching in her body told her yes. One was stronger than the other.

She sighs, nodding her head weakly.

Neither of them made an attempt to make eye contact as he set his helmet in his seat. She left her helmet on the ground, deciding if it was really important then she could find it later. He looped an arm around her waist, lifting her arm over his shoulder.

He did most of the work to keep her up as they left the lion. She was pretty sure her feet were only on the ground to save a sliver of her inner  pride. He was practically carrying her.

She expected him to drag her along, if not just leave her in the lion. She didn't know why he was suddenly so nice to her. Last she remembered he was yelling that he didn't trust her across the training deck and looking for any excuse to set team Voltron against her. Now he was practically dragging her to the 'healing pod' after being tortured.