2019 Voltron Whumptober Collection

6 Dragged Away

An explosion, a rescue, an interrogation, anything.

"If they do come today, what do you think will happen?"

Shiro shrugged again, his eyes vacant, "I don't know, they'll probably try to see what we know."

A long pause as Keith thought about it, then- "Which one of us do you think they'll pick first?"

He watched as the man stiffened for a moment, eyes widening as he looked to the closed door in front of him, "I- I hope it's me."

Keith's thoughts faltered for a moment, as he turned to look at Shiro, "Shiro no-"

"Look, I've been here before, they'll know how to break me, you might still have a chance to make it out of here-"

"A chance?" Keith echoed, "Shiro, do you even hear yourself? That's not going to happen, they're not going to pick you first, if they know anything about how to break you, they'd pick me-"

"Keith, no-"

"Yes, Shiro," the man looked up at him then, a tired look hidden beneath his gaze, and Keith took a breath before continuing, "Look, I know you don't want it to happen, but I know they'll want me first, they'll break you by breaking me, don't you get it?"

He watched the black paladin give a nervous swallow before looking back at his hands, "Let's- let's not talk about this anymore, okay?"

Keith gave a dejected sigh then, before giving a soft nod, moving instead to play with the frayed hem of his purple prison top in silence, squeezing his lips together in an attempt to keep himself from blurting anything else that might make Shiro more frazzled than he already was.

The last thing Keith needed was Shiro losing himself to the plain and clear fact he was once again a prisoner on a Galra ship.

It'd probably be better if Keith kept quiet from now on.

At least until something happened.

...

Add two more days to their current three, and Keith was starting to get antsy.

And hungry.

Oh, and thirsty.

Shiro was starting to get nightmares the longer they stayed in silence, there were more than a few times during the rare hours he'd sleep he'd wake up to the man thrashing, eyes pinched shut, breaths coming in short gasps as he fought off some enemy hidden in his head.

And, despite all that, their captors still haven't made a move.

After picking a little more around their cell on the fourth day, Keith noticed a tiny camera hidden in the shadows near the ceiling on the far wall of the room. The lense was dull so it wouldn't glint in the light and become invisible to prying eyes, but as soon as Keith noticed it was there, he couldn't take his eyes much anywhere else.

They were watching them.

They were watching them talk, starve, slowly die inside, everything.

And still nothing.

Keith would be more than glad at this point if that damn door opened just for one of them to be taken away and tortured for absolutely no reason.

He'd be grateful if something like that happened.

It was so quiet otherwise.

Keith was starting to really hate the silence.

He shifted his position.

His butt was growing numb again.

He hated this floor.

The last two days of their five-day wait, Shiro had taken it upon himself to start pacing the cell in worry, hands itching to grab something as he walked from one side of the room to the other.

Back and forth.

Forth and back.

Keith knew the black paladin was doing his best to keep his cool, but if Keith was being honest with both himself and Shiro, he was pretty sure they were both unraveling just a little by this point.

It was just so quiet.

Keith concluded he'd hate the quiet for the rest of his life.

Now he understood why Lance talked constantly at least.

Silence was lonely-

His eardrums screamed as something sounded outside.

Shiro froze midstep.

Keith clenched his fists, straining to listen to the first noise they've heard from the outside since their capture, too afraid if he breathed hard enough it would disappear.

With a loud clang, the door was opened, whirring up into the ceiling, making Keith's stomach sink in dread at what was waiting for them on the other side.

Zarkon's witch.

"Your time is up."

That voice must've been Shiro's trigger, because he was suddenly falling back to get away from the scene in front of him, scooting back till his back hit the wall, eyes blown wide, breathing too hard as he stared at her, "You-"

The two druids who had been standing behind the witch when the door opened moved towards them and Keith moved to push himself further against the wall as he shouted, "Take me, whatever it is, take me, leave Shiro alone, please!"

He wasn't sure if that had been the plan all along, but they moved towards him anyway, one bending down to secure cuffs to his wrists and ankles before straightening up again, then proceeding to drag Keith out of the room by his hands as Shiro shouted from his corner of the cell, limbs jerking as if he was being held in place by some invisible force.

His friend, his brother was being dug away from him, and there was nothing Shiro could do, "No! Leave Keith alone, he's just a kid, he won't survive, take me instead, please!"

Keith didn't bother to say a word as the druids stopped once he was outside the room, he could only be grateful they weren't going to get Shiro, he'd gladly take on whatever that witch has cooked up for him as long as Shiro wasn't hurt.

"Your time will come, Champion-" he watched as Shiro flinched at the name "-but only one of you may enter the arena at a time."

Dread coiled in Keith's stomach like a snake as his mouthed "What?"

Shiro's brown eyes widened in horror, "No. No, you can't do this-"

"But I can," the witch interrupted with a cackle, "and what fun it will be to see your friend slaughtered by the merciless hands of my monsters."

"No, please, let me take his place!"

The witch ignored his pleas, and instead, the doors began to close with a hiss as Shiro continued to shout his name from the other side.

Keith didn't say anything as they moved, his wrists began to hurt as the druids walked down the hall, dragging him behind them as Keith fought to keep his lips closed.

Because he wasn't sure what he'd yell if he opened them.

He was going to the arena.

He was going to die.

The realization hit him like a weight to the chest and Keith squirmed and yelled, trying to tug against the cuffs locking his hands in place as he was drug along the ground to the battleground.

To the slaughterhouse.

"Shiro!"

"Keith!" The black paladin's voice was quiet as they grew further and further away, his ears caught the sound of banging as the man continued to shout his name, nearly bordering on the verge of hysterical the further away they grew.

"Keith!!"