"Um.......Lotor?" It was minutes after they discovered Allura was still alive, they went down the hall to continue looking for Lance when Keith had stopped dead in his tracks.
"What?"
"Well...there's this uh, cat here.." Lotor looked behind himself to Keith, then his attention was drawn the floor.
"Cat?" Then realization struck him and he darted forward, "No, Keith! Don't let him see you!" He pulled Keith out of the cat's view and then shielded his eyes. Keith frowned at the wall, blinking owlishly.
"Wh-what just-"
"Keith, listen to me." Lotor said in a low voice, "This cat can give us away-"
"How-"
"JUST—" Lotor took a deep breath, "just, listen. You have to run." Keith frowned, "Go; get out of here so you can find Lance. If we're lucky, he didn't see your face-"
"But-"
"Keith! Please you have to listen to me. It's a possibility someone knows we're here now, maybe I can find some way to throw them off. You need to get to Lance so you two can get to safety."
"But..when are you going to be able to meet us and get to the ship?" Lotor's head whipped around to the other direction. The sound of footsteps could be heard in the distance. He turned back to Keith with an expression he could understand all too clear, "....no.."
"Keith-"
"I am not going to just leave you-"
"You have to-"
"No!" Lotor shut his eyes. Keith's vision began to blur.
"Don't argue with me, I'm your brother-"
"I just got you back, Lotor, I can't lose you again!" He cried. Lotor's eyes pierced Keith's. The footsteps sounded like the person was running now.
"Go." Keith's chest tightened, "Keith, please. I know I wasn't there for you for most of your life. And I certainly haven't been the best brother to you. Please, let me make it up to you now."
"You don't-"
"Keith, believe me, Father'll miss you more than me."
"But I would miss you more than he'd miss me!" Lotor breathed a laugh.
"Would, indicates the consequence of an imagined event or situation." Keith felt a tear fall down his cheek.
"Lotor."
"Keith, hurry. Please." Keith glanced up and could see a shadow of someone running down the hall.
"But-"
"Keith, whoever is coming down that hall going to be here in like, five seconds."
"Then we'll take them." Lotor was ready to shout at his brother when the the footsteps stopped. They both looked up.
"Lance!"
"Keith!" Lotor watched Keith run over to Lance and pull him into a hug.
"Oh my gosh are you okay? What happened? We saw Allura—Allura! She was there! How ca-"
"Sh." Lance silenced Keith with his finger, "I'll explain everything later, we just have to get out of here, now." Keith nodded.
"Right." Lotor stood up with the cat, still holding his hand over his eyes, "Um...you're not planning to take that are you?" Lotor rolled his eyes.
"Obviously, this is a really nice cat." Keith raised a brow, "Of course I'm not taking it!" Lance looked back for a few seconds.
"We should get out of here before my sister finds us." Lance reached forward to grab the cat, but it hissed and clawed at him. He shrieked and shrunk behind Keith. "Stupid cat!" Lotor patted the cat's head before setting him down.
"Alright, when I take my hand off his eyes, we bolt down the hallway." Keith was now furious.
"Why the heck didn't you just do that earlier?!"
"READY GO!" Lotor screamed and the three of them ran down the hall.
~
"Hey Narti! I found Kova!" Ezor exclaimed and bent down to pick him up. "Aw you're such a good little boy!" She giggled and rubbed Kova's stomach. He purred and Ezor felt a tap on her shoulder. "Oh, here you go!" She handed Kova over to Narti, who took his place on her shoulder.
"Have any of you seen Princess Allura?" Acxa came down the hallway with a nervous look. Ezor shrugged. But Acxa's question was soon answered when Allura came stomping down the hallway.
"When I get my hands on him.." She grumbled. Acxa looked away with pursed lips. "You were supposed to be watching him, Acxa!"
"Yes, I know your majesty! I'm very sorry your majesty! But there were intruders and-" Allura frowned in panic.
"What intruders?"
"We don't really know who exactly yet, but-" Allura glared down.
"I have a pretty good idea who." She moved to walk past Narti, then Kova hissed at her. Allura jumped away with a glare, "Stupid cat."
~
"One of those girls said something about the procedure being almost done or whatever, then Allura came back...." Lance trailed off, frowned, and looked out the window. Keith turned around to look at the Altean.
"Lance?" He blinked and looked back at Keith, smiling.
"Sorry, I zoned out. Must be a side affect of the stuff she gave me or something." Keith nodded but smiled.
"Well, I'm glad your safe now." Lance sighed with a faint smile.
"Yeah."
"I was really worried about you, Lance." His smile faded and he turned away.
"Sorry." Keith didn't know how to respond to that.
"..don't be sorry. It wasn't your fault. It was hers." Lance frowned.
"Right." Keith reached back to hold Lance's hand, but Lance just seemed to shift away from him. Keith stared at Lance for a minute, then decided to turn back to face the front.
~~~
"Oh Lawrence!" Alfor rushed at his son and hugged him tightly. Lance grabbed the back of Alfor's shirt in his hands, holding on desperately.
"Forgive me, Father.."
"Shh, the important thing is you're safe now." Keith looked at Lotor, giving him a what-do-we-do-now?? look. Lotor shrugged just as Alfor turned to them.
"Prince Keith, Prince Lotor." They both bowed their heads in respect.
"We apologise for getting involved with this again, your highness." Keith said. Alfor shook his head.
"Please, there's really no need. I did in fact have a very long and difficult talk with Haliz and Odan. You two were right. They said Allura forced them to lie and hide evidence." Keith looked down as Lotor scoffed.
"We knew it! Kei-" He looked at Keith, deciding that now wasn't the best time to get excited, "Right. Well, I think we should be getting home ourselves." Alfor nodded.
"Very well. Thank you again for bringing my son back." Keith smiled a little and looked at Lance.
"Bye Lance." He wasn't looking at Keith, his eyes were screwed tight. Keith let out a sigh, then began to leave with Lotor.
"Keith!" He stopped and turned around. Lance's eyes were wide and he was clutching his stomach. "I-I...." He moved towards Lance with a concerned look.
"What's wrong?" Keith noticed Lance's eyes welling up, but he looked away before a tear could fall. He took a deep breath.
"I just...w-wanted to say—goodbye." Then Lance ran off to his room. Keith didn't have any time to process what Lance said before he was gone. Lotor frowned at the tension and decided to leave, pulling Keith with him.
~
"Hey, Lotor?" Keith asked after a long silence between them.
"Yeah?" Keith kept his gaze out the window.
"Allura hates Galra right?"
"From what I've heard and seen, I'd say yes."
"Okay...then why is she working with Galra hybrids?" Lotor hummed.
"Huh...I don't know. Maybe she doesn't really want to work with them. If she were here, she'd probably say she's been reduced to that level." Keith bit the inside of his cheek.
"Do you know them?" Lotor's grip tightened on the controls, "Those girls?"
"...those girls..are just people from the past." He mumbled. Keith turned to him.
"So you do know them?" Lotor pursed his lips.
"I thought I knew them."
"What do you mean?"
"It's not something I'd like to think back to." Keith leaned closer, blinking his eyes rapidly. Lotor glanced at him and scoffed, "Puppy dog eyes will get you nowhere."
"Please?" Lotor rolled his eyes.
"Fine." Keith scooted closer and crossed his legs, propping his eblows on his knee to hold up his head. "When I was banished, I was lost for a while. Wandering from planet to planet. I first met Ezor at a circus." Keith gasped.
"I've always wanted to see the circus!" Lotor smiled.
"She wasn't really happy there but didn't have anywhere else to go, so I let her come with me. We were both misfits in the universe" Lotor paused, so Keith smiled just a little.
"You are so nice." Lotor snorted and nudged Keith.
"Then Narti came along. Ezor and I were on another planet and there was a large crowd in the street. Narti was in the center performing some street magic. You know she can control people's minds?" Keith's eyes widened.
"That is extremely terrifying!"
"I know, it's why it was so interesting to watch. She can't see or speak on her own though, so her eyes are through her cat, Kova." Lotor laughed softly, "When the show was over, we went to go talk with her, and he jumped up into my arms with the cutest little face ever."
"That cat really likes you, huh?" Lotor shrugged.
"I guess so. So anyway, that's how we met." Lotor stopped to think back, "Then Zethrid," Lotor started laughing, "oh Zethrid. She's doesn't take crap from anyone. We were heading out to leave when some guy came crashing through a window! It was a bar of some sort and Zethrid was the bouncer." Keith hummed with a nod.
"Impressive."
"Yep, but apparently she was 'too violent' for some of the guys. The manager had to let her go because he was losing business. So we decided to take her in." Lotor's smile faded. "Then Acxa came along. She was already a bad girl when we met her; but she's dangerously smart. She didn't really have a backstory to tell us but, Acxa's-" Lotor tensed and Keith's head tilted.
"Acxa's what?" Lotor was trying to think of the right words to say, "Oh..was she your girlfriend?" Lotor's eyes widened and he turned to Keith with his nose wrinkled in disgust.
"OH MY GOD, NO!" Keith raised a brow. Once Lotor composed himself he shook his head. "No."
"Okay, then what is she?" Lotor hesitated. "Come on, you've got me on the edge of my seat now."
"Well, Acxa is..." Keith pouted at another pause.
"Tell me!" Lotor nodded.
"Alright! Acxa is your—twin sister."