Lance was honestly surprised that Sendak didn't put up the slightest bit of a fight when they told him that they needed to put Katie in a holding cell, but wasn't at all surprised that he put up a fight about not being in there with her.
"You really expect me to allow her to wake up alone?!" Sendak roared, fur bristling in absolute enragement.
"She cannot just be left alone with no one to explain! Not even the witch leaves her alone after messing with the implant!"
"I'm sorry, Sendak. But we don't know what you two could do if left alone together, we need you separated. One of us will keep an eye on Katie." Shiro sighed, carrying the small girl towards the holding cells.
"Besides, we don't have any cells that would fit both of you."
"She is not fit to be left alone! Much less monitored by you all!" Sendak snarled, fangs bared and pushing against the multiple galra escorting him in an attempt to get to the small human girl.
"Enough! This is how it's going to be, deal with it!" Shiro snapped, glaring at the larger galra.
Sendak continued on growling and snarling as they took Katie to one of the smaller holding cells, putting her in. It was plenty big enough to fit the both of them, he could tell that the paladins just didn't want the pair together.
Sendak grumbled something in galran under his breath, Kolivan snapping back in his native tongue. By the tone of it, it was likely a threat.
The large empire solider was absolutely furious, they didn't even give her a blanket or a pillow or anything of the sort. Just laid her down on the floor and locked the door before escorting Sendak to his own holding cell a bit further down the hall.
He was just happy that the paladins had the decency to leave the two alone after locking them up, meaning that when Katie woke up Sendak would likely be the only one there.
Good, that meant he could explain things to her easily.
He sat there for hours, the paladins coming to check on them once or twice (mostly the red one, and they hardly paid any mind to the galra only a few cells away from the human girl) but luckily, when she awoke they were alone.
Katie groaned, pushing herself up off the floor a bit and grunting at how the remaining bits of her spine popped and cracked at the movement.
"Fuck.." she whispered, eyes a bit blurry as she looked around. The implant bit that connected to her eyes must have been malfunctioning, and Katie made a mental note to have Sendak fix it.
Sendak, fuck; where was Sendak? She couldn't see him. He wasn't with her.
Where even was she? Katie didn't recognize the place.
"Sendak?" Katie called, shaking a bit as she pushed herself to her feet. They felt a bit fuzzy, her implant didn't have long. Maybe two weeks at most before needing repairs and replacement.
"Kit!" Sendak boomed, "I'm not far from you! Just a few cells over!"
"Where.. where are we?" Katie grumbled, walking over to the entrance of her cell and looking at the lock system. Easy to crack open, just needed some time.
She knew the lock would likely take longer than normal as well, she felt nauseous. Katie really felt as if she was going to puke.
"The altean castle.. Why did you activate that protocol?" Sendak asked, voice soft and concerned.
"It gives off an emergency signal to Zarkon, though I doubt it'll help now. We're probably too far away." Katie gasped, oh god she felt sick. Something was wrong with her implant, something had to be pressing against a nerve or her spinal column wrong.
She'd tell Sendak once she got to him, no need to make him worry more than he already was.
"I'm almost out, just hang tight." She frowned, "we're gonna get out of here."
"Katie," Sendak sighed, "I do not think we can. At least not immediately."
"We are not staying here any longer than we already have," Katie snapped, teeth grit. "We've already spent too much time here, we need to get home!"
"We need to wait, Zarkon will send for us." Sendak said firmly, ears twitching as he heard the lock on Katie's cell click open.
His eyes widened when he saw Katie stumble over to him, immediately getting up and rushing to the front of his cell.
"Kit! What's wrong?" Sendak breathed, able to see that his kit was far from okay.
"Feel like I'm gonna be sick, it's fine." Katie frowned, getting to work on Sendak's lock.
"I think the ports got messed up.. pushing on something.. legs feel weird."
"Weird as in?" Sendak pressed, he only knew the basics of repairing her implant. If it was serious then they'd be forced to ask the paladins for help.
"Fuzzy, this implant doesn't have long before it has to get replaced." Katie grumbled, "I'm starting to lose feeling. It's nothing serious though."
"Your implant beginning to shut down is serious!" Sendak hissed, fur bristling with worry.
"The protocol must have overloaded a circuit."
"Probably, it's fixable. At least fixable enough to buy us some time until we can get home. Do you still have your tool kit?" Katie grumbled, sighing with relief when Sendak's lock clicked open.
Immediately the galra pulled Katie close, holding her in a tight and desperate hug.
"Sendak-" Katie squeaked, hugging her caretaker regardless.
"Never, ever, ever do that ever again," Sendak said softly, biological hand gently resting on the back of her head and thumbing over the back of her neck, just above the very first port.
"It was neces-" Katie began but Sendak cut her off.
"I said never do that again! I don't give a shit about what would normally be done in that situation! Never, ever do that again!" He growled, holding Katie out at arms length now so he could look her in the eye.
"No matter what, you put your life first. Do you understand?"
"Sendak-"
"Do you understand?!" He boomed, the very cell shaking with the intensity of his voice.
"You save yourself, no matter what! No matter our circumstances or if I'm hurt or if I'm dead, you save yourself! And that is an order!"
Katie gulped, looking down at her feet.
"I understand." She said quietly, shaking slightly with how unstable she felt.
"Just.. promise me you won't leave me.."
"Katie. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, no matter who you side with, I will always be there beside you." Sendak frowned, voice dead serious.
"I am not going to leave you. We're in this together, till the end. Like I promised you the day I found you."
"Till the end." Katie repeated, initiating the hug this time.
It was tight and desperate and caring, showing just how much she cared for and needed Sendak. Just as much as he cared for and needed her.
"The paladins will likely be returning soon, they'll be happy to see you awake." Sendak grumbled, clearly not as excited to see them as they would be to see Katie.
"We can still probably escape in time." Katie huffed, but Sendak shook his head.
"We okay it safe, bide our time. Zarkon will send for us, for you." He insisted with a smile, "he wouldn't let you win the chess competition for anything."
Katie snorted, bursting into laugher as Sendak sat down.
"You think that's what he's concerned about?" She giggled, settling onto the large galra's lap.
"I know for sure that's what he's concerned about," Sendak chuckled, leaning back against the wall of the cell so he could curl into the human.
"The emperor is about as competitive as they come, you know that."
"Mhm, so that's why he's such a sore loser." Katie hummed, "just wait till I actually beat him in training, that'll be the day."
"Oh come on now, Kit. Zarkon is the one teaching you how to use a sword, you're far from beating him." Sendak gently swatted Katie on the back of her head.
"I'm still mad at you for letting him train you instead of me."
"You're my hand to hand, Zarkon is my sword, and Throk is my marksman." Katie said smugly, "the best of the best, my teachers."
"I still despise Throk." Sendak grumbled, "and I'm a better marksman than him."
"The records disagree." She scoffed, "he beats you, by almost a full-"
"What in the world are you doing?!" Kolivan boomed, both Sendak and Katie jumping up. The smallest of the three shouting a galran curse once she sees who it is.
"Oh, it's you," Sendak hissed, fur bristling as he tucks Katie behind him and mostly out of view.
"And the humans as well."
Sure enough, the paladins weren't far behind. All eager to peer into the cell and get a look at the small human behind the hulking mountain of muscle that protected her.
"Katie! You're awake!" Lance beamed, Keith and Hunk right behind him while Shiro and Kolivan were far more concerned about the fact that Katie had broken out of her cell and into Sendak's.
Sendak frowned, Katie not saying a word even when he looked back at her and asked if she was alright.
"Have nothing to say, traitor?" Kolivan growled, fur bristling and ears tilted back.
Katie stiffened, suddenly bursting forward in a rage. Sendak was barely able to grab onto her and keep her from going past him.
"Oh trust me, motherfucker I got plenty to say you fucking-" she shouted, Sendak growling loudly at her to get Katie to shut up.
Even then, she was still huffing curses in both English and galran under her breath.
"Alright Kit, settle," Sendak murmured to her, "remember what we talked about,"
"Excuse me-" Shiro scoffed, glaring at the pair, "how did she get out? And what in the world are you two planning?"
"She got out and in there because she's smart." Keith sighed, still trying to get a decent look at Katie, "we should've expected this.."
"Must we stay in here, or can we perhaps go somewhere a bit more.. relaxing so we can have a productive conversation... besides, I'd like to test Katie's physical health and implant connection if that would be alright." Sendak grumbled, trying his best to be at least somewhat cordial.
"Princess, what's your call?" Shiro frowned, looking over at Allura who'd been keeping her distance.
"...he may test her in the training room, though they need to watched and we must be armed." The princess said quietly, feeling Katie glaring at her.
The small human was, she was giving the altean princess the death glare of a lifetime. If looks could kill, Allura would be six feet under.
Sendak nodded, slowly getting up. He didn't even give Katie the chance to try and walk on her own. He picked her up by the collar of her armor and put her on his metallic shoulder.
Kolivan and Shiro both pulled out their weapons, Keith, Lance and Hunk all reluctantly doing the same as Sendak exited the cell with Katie riding along.
The walk down to the training room was silent and tense, each footfall seeming to add to the absolutely suffocating anxiety almost all of them seemed to have.
The two had the entirety of the castles equipment at their disposal, anything that they could possibly want in order to ensure Katie was alright.
"Alright, let's test the base connection, Kit." Sendak hummed, setting her down on a treadmill of a sort.
"Heavy armor off, you're gonna run."