As it turns out, you could program the gladiator to fight in the style of different species, and Keith was excited to set it to Altean and Galra. Galra for the familiarity of his native fight style, and Altean purely out of curiosity. But the coolest feature he discovered was that the droid could be set to 'learn' a style through training. He'd set it to 'learn' when ever the other Paladins signed in, and already it was fairly decent at replicating a Human fight style.
The style it came up with was a mix match of Karate, Taekwondo, and boxing due to the 3 Humans having wildly different skill sets. Keith didn't want to 'taint' the results with his own styles and their Green paladin had yet to make an appearance in the training room aside from forced group sessions.
A few quintants ago Katie had pulled him aside, shoving him in a small dark room, and making him instantly nervous and desperate to get out. She'd smacked him on the arm (though he didn't doubt she'd have gone for the head if she could reach) and told him to 'chill out man' as she locked the door. He immediately slammed his eyes shut. There was a faint light coming off a jar in the corner, casting an eerie blue glow in a small radius around it, and he knew the room was definitely dark enough for his eyes to slightly glow. There was no way Katie could see him, it was far too dark and even the light from the jar wouldn't be enough to illuminate his face, so he kept his eyes screwed tightly shut and 'stared' right back.
"Open your eyes." She commanded and he nearly complied purely out of shock.
"What?"
"Open them."
"They are open."
"Liar. I know they're closed cause I've seen them glow before. Open your eyes, Keith." He sighed and felt his shoulders slump, she may be small but she was terrifying. After a moment he gave in, opening his eyes and watching hers go wide. "Right, what's your other half?"
He nearly choked. "What?"
"Ugh. Keith I pulled you aside cause we need to talk and I know you're hiding something you don't want every one to know. What. Is. Your. Other. Half?" Her eyes had narrowed and were boring directly into his soul. He sighed again.
"What makes you think it's a secret?" He asked incredulously and she smacked his arm again.
"Cause if you were part – I don't know, Altean -" he snorted " – you would have come right out and told us." That was fair, she was definitely right. "So – what is it? If you don't tell me I'll assume 'worst case scenario'."
Keith winced. He watched her closely in the dark room, his superior night vision giving him the ability to see the emotions as they played out on her face. There was a slight wrinkle beside her eyes, a tight press to her lips, and a wild look spread across her expression. She darted her eyes back and forth between his, craning her neck to stare him down. "Galra." He said deadpan, waiting for a reaction, watching closely to catch the change in her façade.
She didn't react though, instead she maintained her composure and continued to hold his gaze. "I suspected as much." He quirked a brow. "I've been spending most of my time in the archive room here in the castle, reading up on Alteans and the Galra. Their characteristics fit you really well."
"How though? You can't read Altean or are their records in Common? ... not that you could read that either." She rolled her eyes at him as if to ask if he were stupid.
"I set the archives to read the content out loud and the castle's translators do the rest. I hear it all in English – wait, what language do you hear everything in?"
He shrugged, no sense denying it now. "I hear you guys speaking English since I'm fluent, and everyone else I hear in Galran since my Altean is garbage and the Arusians don't speak Common."
"You can speak Altean?"
Keith shrugged again "Kinda. I can read and write in Altean just fine but speaking it is really hard." He watched her closely, eventually just out right asking. "How did you put the pieces together?"
"Please, Nancy Drew wishes she had my skills. Back at your dad's cabin there was a picture you drew that had a purple lady in it. Then when we got out here I did some research in the archives and realized everything I read about the Galra fit you perfectly – aside from being tall and purple." He rolled his eyes. By Galra standards he was still quite young, he could easily grow a whole foot yet. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Didn't want to upset you or Shiro or Allura."
"Keith, this is different. You can't choose how you're born, but you can choose who you become." There was a long pause while she gathered the courage to say something and he waited patiently. "Around the others you call me Pidge, but when we're alone you still call me Katie." He nodded, why wouldn't he call her Katie? That's her name after all. "I don't want to be Katie anymore."
"Ok. So just Pidge then?" She nodded and gave him a wary look as he continued. "Um, 'Katie Holt' is a girl, and 'Pidge Gunderson' is a boy. What are you -"
"Neither ... both? I don't know. I just – not 'She' and not 'He' but 'They' okay?" They interrupted and Keith nodded. "No big deal? You don't think it's weird?"
"No, why would I think it's weird? Is it weird to Humans? Pidge, I may look passably Human but I'm not – I'm Galra. So to me this isn't really all that strange. Humans make everything so complicated." He groaned and Pidge snickered, almost immediately wrapping their small arms around his torso.
"If you ever tell anyone I hugged you – you're a dead man. Understand?" Laughing he wrapped his arms around the tiny Paladin, squeezing them tightly and rocking from side to side as their legs lifted off the ground and swung wildly in the confined space.
"Love you too, Pidgeon."
The past few movements had gone by a little faster than expected. They'd been attacked by a robeast, as Hunk had so affectionately dubbed it. The beast had been a former champion of the Gladiator pit; Keith and Shiro had recognized it after a few attacks and the team managed a victory by unlocking Voltron's sword.
For 2 quintants after the battle, Shiro had secluded himself from the team. He remained locked away in his room, reliving some of the more traumatic parts of his time as the Champion, until eventually Keith managed to be allowed in. He'd sat on his former mentor's bed holding some food Hunk had sent along. It was the big guy's way of helping; he had made a serving tray full of 'Sushi' from fish on Arus. Since the planet was so similar to Earth, there were plenty of local substitutes for the ingredients he needed. The alien hand rolls and sashimi were blue, purple, green, and even bright neon pink but Hunk had managed to make them taste exactly how Keith remembered. He'd placed the tray down between him and Shiro, popping a piece of the blue sashimi into his mouth.
"Do you remember the first time you took me for sushi?" Keith asked through a mouthful of food. Shiro gave a weak smile in response, returning slightly to the present as the new memory took over.
"Yeah, you said you hated it, but ate double your weight in rolls."
"I – what? NO! I said I hated the texture of the seaweed salad and that salmon had a weird taste. It was good though."
Shiro actually laughed, breaking his thousand-yard stare to glance up at Keith for the first time. "Oh, right. I remember you nearly killing Matt for the last Dynamite roll."
"THAT ASSHOLE ATE THE WHOLE PLATE! I only got one and he tried to take the last piece too! He deserved it." Keith objected, suddenly transported back to that night and feeling the heat boiling his blood all over again.
"You stabbed him with a chopstick!"
"Pfft. I grazed his arm with it."
"He was bleeding, Keith." The boy shrugged and the two burst out in laughter, spending the rest of the evening going back and forth with funny memories until Shiro had pulled himself together again. About 3 vargas later he'd gotten up to leave, and found himself being pulled into a bone-crushing hug. "Thank you. You're a good friend, Keith."
"Any time."
After that, Shiro had slowly worked through the memories, processing the bits and pieces that came to him and working past the mental blocks. Coran pulled out the awful headbands and used them to guide their black paladin on a meditative journey to tranquility and bliss or whatever. Keith had rolled his eyes and deemed the whole thing to be kooky Altean magic. Like how some Humans believed sparkly rocks could heal them. Then again – who knows! Maybe the rocks on Earth do have healing properties, and maybe a guided tour of your own memories with an eccentric royal advisor / mechanic is great therapy, and maybe Keith is just a cynic. Shiro had certainly looked a lot better afterwards. He'd made comments about getting a better night sleep, and he wasn't losing himself mid training anymore.
Hunk was helping Allura plan a party for the Arusians and Lance was in charge of decorating; something he had been super excited about until he realized there was no PartyCity in space. Which just left Keith and Pidge. This was fine, they got along really well and now that Pidge knew about him being Galra, it made their interactions a little easier. Although, they kept pestering him for a blood sample and information on where Sam Holt was.
"Would you hold still? Are all Galra this squirmy?" Pidge scolded as they worked. Keith was sitting in a chair beside their desk, with an IV line hooked up to his arm and several electrodes placed strategically on his chest. The Green Lion's hangar, which doubled as Pidge's lab, was a little chilly to be sitting in half naked and he'd objected at first until the gremlin threatened him with their zappy bayard. In the end Keith found himself covered in medical equipment while the tiny lump of limbs and dirty blonde hair typed furiously away at their laptop.
"You've been holding back." There was no emotion to their voice, just a blunt scientific observation and Keith blinked in surprise.
"What? How can you tell that from what ever you're doing?"
"If I explained the science would you understand?" He opened his mouth but closed it immediately, they were right.
"No probably not." He shrugged and Pidge smirked victoriously.
"Long story short – the genes that control your aesthetic; your skin tone, hair, eyes, and such are mostly Human. But the rest of your physiology is mostly Galra. It looks like you have both Galran and Human genes active in your eyes and more Galra genes active other places too – like your ears and teeth and hands. Huh, according to this you should have claws."
"I do. I just file them down to keep up appearances. My dad told me I had to and I guess constantly filing them kinda became a habit." He shrugged but it was just now dawning on him that he could stop that particular habit, he could let his claws grow back out again. The thought made him smile and when he looked back at his friend, their grin confused him slightly. "Why are you so happy?"
"I thought I made a mistake, or there was some sort of error with the data processing, but you confirmed the claws and I now know the program I built is accurate." They continued on into a long-winded explanation of how the program worked, what it could detect, how they'd built it, and blah blah blah more stuff Keith didn't really understand. Instead he found himself waking up with a jolt as the gremlin zapped him with their bayard. He let out a loud hiss and they merely grinned wider, bayard still in hand.
Keith watched as it came closer, noting how the bright green edges almost seemed to glow brighter and felt a sudden urge to remove himself from the situation. Ripping the IV line from his arm and vaulting over the small Human in one smooth motion, he landed on his feet and spun around to catch their arm at the wrist as it moved to connect the bayard to his side. He hissed again and twisted their wrist behind their back as he pried the bayard from their grip.
"Zap me again and I'll introduce you to my bayard." They'd rolled their eyes but agreed to back down saying they had enough data for now and that Keith was free to go. Except – he didn't really have anywhere else to go, so he opted to resume his place in the seat (sans medical testing equipment).
"Don't you have anything you can be working on?"
"I guess I could do my homework." They quirked a brow as they looked at him.
"You know we don't actually have to hand in our final projects while IN SPACE right?"
He snickered; of course they thought he meant the Garrison. "No, my work for Ms. Proxa. I have to write an essay about the legends of Oriande, then compare and contrast the Altean Alchemists and Galran Druids." He groaned and threw his head back against the seat. "Wanna write it for me?"
"Nope. But I'll help you with the research!" Keith nodded and Pidge shut down her program and laptop before they left the Green Lion's hangar. "So, why are you studying this?"
He shrugged. "I was just starting my Altean studies when I left for the Earth mission. Ms. Proxa said I needed to keep up my studies even though I was gone."
They made their way to the archives room while they discussed his lessons. Opening the door and stepping inside, he was greeted by something he had not been expecting. The room was large and dark, one of the few places on the entire castle that didn't blind him, and filled with long rows of tables and row after row of bookshelves. Like the medbay, the actual room was two steps down after entering the door. Directly inside, on the slight entry platform, was the console Pidge was currently standing in front of. He made his way to stand next to them and read the Altean words in the center of the screen. They explained that not all of the archived information had been digitized and some of the records were still only available in their physical form. There was a small button linking to the categorization key, and another that would display a map of the archive room. Before he could choose any of the options, Pidge hit the flashing blue button on the top right corner. A familiar soft voice sounded in the room, echoing off the long abandoned isles and dusty shelves.
< Welcome. To begin your search of the archives, please say 'SEARCH' >
"Search" Pidge spoke and the console lit up, accepting their response.
< Please clearly state the information you are searching for >
"Oriande" Keith spoke up and watched the system blink again.
< Searching Archive ... 71 Results Found >
"Search: Comparison of Altean Alchemists and Galran Druids" Pidge called again and shrugged their shoulders at Keith's questioning look.
< Searching Archive ... 2 Results Found >
"Well that narrows it down!" They called. "Let's start there!"
The documents were of course archived in Altean, however the castle offered written translations in 5 available languages: Common, Dalterion, Nalquodi, Rygnirathian, and Galran. Keith immediately recognized these as the languages of the original paladins, plus Common, and wondered if the Emperor himself had been the one to complete the Galran translations. If it had been him, then he would have read everything in these archives. Was that why his witch accompanied him at all times?
He opened one of the files and selected 'Language: Galran' for himself and 'Language: Altean (Default)' for Pidge; the castle would translate it to English anyway. Two vargas later, Keith had most of the information he needed for the report. Even going so far as to download a copy of 'The Mysteries of Oriande; Diving into the Legend' so he could send it to Ms. Proxa and Ms. Drezlia knowing they would both be salivating at the chance to read it. Hey, maybe he'd get bonus points.
Keith left the archives, leaving Pidge behind, and made his way to his room. Sitting on his bed he pulled out his Galran data pad and began his assignment. The more he read, the more he started to notice just how corrupted the Druids had become. They were nothing like they used to be, a bastardized version of their former glory. Instead of being uniquely gifted Galra with the ability to sense and manipulate quintessence, they were now horrifying monsters who barely even qualified as Galra anymore. He shuddered at the thought until a new one popped into his mind; perhaps, buried deep in the archives, there was a way for him to learn the old ways. He resolved to go back another quintant and look, without Pidge this time.
The rest of the movement went by incredibly slowly, Keith spending most of his free time either on the training deck or in the archives. As predicted, both of his teachers had been chomping at the bit to get their claws on more texts, drilling him about where he had found such incredible works. Grinning, he'd told them to speak with Kolivan.
Before any of them knew it, the celebration had already arrived and various Arusians were filling up the front entry of the castle. The snacks came out and the drinks were shared around, people were chatting and dancing and generally having a really great time; the party was going fairly well. Keith stood off to the side, large parties were not his thing and socializing with other species could be complicated. It didn't take long for Lance to saunter over and join him.
Lance was good company. The tanned skin boy was personable, funny, easy to talk to, and incredibly engaging. Keith leaned against the wall and listed to Lance talk, not really hearing him, but enjoying his presence nonetheless. The Arusians had prepared a skit depicting the battle between Voltron and the robeast, and if their 'dance of apology' was anything to go by this was about to be epic.
The skit was terrible.
He'd been right; it was amazingly entertaining, so bad it was great. Standing next to Lance the two chuckled and snickered throughout the production, earning a few mildly offended glares from nearby Arusians.
"Arus will be the first planet in the Voltron Alliance." Allura had said in the most diplomatic voice he'd ever heard. Clearly her strong suit was politics.
The Arusian King celebrated by shouting "HOORAH!!!" to which all of the Arusian people responded with an equally loud "HEE HEE!!"
"We oughtta get something like that." Hunk's voice came from the crowd and Keith would never ever, not in a million deca-phoebs, admit that he had been surprised by the boy's sudden appearance.
"Like what?" Lance asked, popping out his hip and moving his attention from Keith to Hunk.
"You know, like, a cheer. Like, a team cheer that we do."
"Mm-hmm. Yeah, okay. How about, uh ... I say VOL and you say TRON. VOL!" He left the line hanging; moving his gaze back to Keith at the end and the young Galra froze. They didn't have 'catch phrases' or 'team cheers' in the Blades or even in the Empire. It just wasn't a very Galra thing to do. They had their salutes but that was it. Suddenly it dawned on him that Lance was waiting for something – was he supposed to reply? What was he supposed to say?
"Uhh ... Voltron?" He answered, still incredibly confused by the whole situation.
"No! Nonono the cheer includes the instructions. I say VOL and you say?"
"Voltron?"
Lance sighed and popped his hip out again, leaning into a much more casual stance as he dismissed Keith and his inability to grasp Human culture. "We'll work on it." The Cuban downed his entire cup of nunvil that he'd been holding and immediately convulsed, a violent shiver running through his entire body as he choked down the offending liquid. "Coran, what is this?" Lance looked like he was about to puke and Keith stifled a laugh. Nunvil wasn't great, but it wasn't that bad.
"Oh, this is nunvil, the nectar of the gods."
"It tastes like hot dog water and feet." Keith nearly lost control at Lance's description. To him, nunvil tasted like berries that were well past their prime.
"Yeah, makes a wonderful hair tonic as well." The Altean proceeded to splash some of his alcohol into his moustache and pranced away, leaving Lance to vomit on the floor. The poor boy just stood there, frozen in place as he tried to regain his faculties. Keith and Hunk tried to their best to pull him out of it, Keith had even poked him, but it only ended with the Cuban falling over and immediately passing out.
"Do we – uh, do we take him to his room?" Hunk asked as he poked Lance's side with his foot.
"Nah, just drag off to the wall. Nunvil isn't that strong, see?" He grabbed a cup off a passing tray and took a sip – only to immediately spit it out all over Hunk.
"AHH my eyes!" Keith felt absolutely horrible for all of 2 tics until the big guy turned around with berry pops in his eyes. They burst out laughing and dragged a groaning Lance over to the wall. Clearly 10,000 deca-phoeb old Altean nunvil was very different from Galran nunvil. Just as Keith dropped his feet, Lance opened his eyes, staring at him and raising a brow in question.
"Uh, you passed out. We were being good teammates and moving you out of the way and -"
"Yeah yeah yeah, save it Mullet. Just, help me up would you?" He reached out his hand and, with an exaggerated eye roll, Keith bent down and pulled him to his feet. Lance stared at him a moment, a blush creeping over his face. "You can let go now. I'm up." Immediately Keith dropped his hand, sputtering about ... something! His brain had gone into meltdown mode and random sounds just started pouring out. He had no clue what he was saying and no clue how to make it stop. "What language is that?" Lance asked with a head tilt and Keith died. He dropped all pretense of being suave and just hightailed it out of there, deciding to locate Pidge.
He'd found them siting cross legged against a wall talking to their droid, Rover, and interrupted the 'conversation' by abruptly plopping down beside them. "I'm a moron."
"Yup."
"You're not supposed to agree with me."
"Then don't say things that are true." They didn't even bother to look up from the floating tray they were tinkering with. Keith groaned. "Why? Are you just figuring this out now? What did you do?"
"Lance -"
"Bout time." They muttered, interrupting, and Keith smacked their arm. "Ow!"
"If you'd let me finish – Lance drank a bunch of nunvil and I may have held his hand and uh, stammered in Galran." This got their attention and they looked up from their project to blink owlishly at him then roll their eyes dramatically.
"Moron." They deadpanned and Keith nodded, letting his head fall back against the wall.
The night progressed much the same way, everyone partying and having a good time and Lance attempting to drink more nunvil before leaving. Eventually Allura made her way over and stood in front of the Red and Green paladins, the mice sitting atop her shoulders. "Hello Keith, Pidge. We haven't had a chance to really talk. Tell me about yourselves." She smiled brightly and the two paladins exchanged nervous looks.
"Gee, has anyone seen Shiro? No? I'll go find him! Bye!" He jumped up and darted away, feeling Pidge's hateful glare burning the back of his neck. Once he was clear of Allura and her personal questions Keith paused to finally take a breath. Shiro was standing outside the castle running what appeared to be a standard perimeter check. Keith weaved through the waist height Arusians, making his way over to his friend and headed out of the castle.
"Shiro, what are you doing? The party's inside."
"Yeah, I just – I wanted to make sure the castle was secure. With all these people coming and going you can never be too sure." He stared at the man and placed his hand on his broad shoulder.
"Want some help?"
A warm smile, almost seeming relieved, greeted him. "Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks, Keith." He gave a curt nod of agreement and Shiro directed him to circle from the North side while he went around the South side. They split up and Keith hummed an old Galran folk tune as he trudged along the side of the castle.
It wasn't long before he sensed something off. Pausing and pretending to catch his balance, he scanned the bushes with his eyes and ears, the dim nighttime sky making it much easier for him to see than the bright lights of the castle. A slight movement caught his attention but he pretended not to notice, letting his gaze fall over the spot and continue on. He turned his head slightly and refocused his attention on the moving shadow from the corner of his eyes, at this angle he would appear to be looking elsewhere.
This time the shadow fully moved locations, sliding out from behind the bush and darting into the cover of a nearby tree. Keith feigned a yawn and leaned against the castle, pretending to steady himself against it as Shiro rounded from the other side.
"You alright?" He asked with a slight chuckle mixed with his concern. To the unknowing eye Keith appeared drunk.
"Yup, just uh – testing the castle's stability. It's stable!" He joked and Shiro chuckled again. "Care to walk me back? I'm totally fine – but I think my legs are a little drunk."
The Black paladin barked out a laugh this time. "Sure." He said with a smile and they headed back the way Keith had come. What ever was out there – it was wearing Empire armour that much he had seen, and if they wanted in – Keith would be ready.
He walked back into the castle with Shiro and Rover flew by, nearly smacking Keith in the side of head as he tripped over a particularly small Arusian. They made their way over to where Hunk, Allura, Pidge, and Rover were and - WAIT, Rover?
"Something's not right." Keith said in a slight panic and received some questioning stares in return. "Rover just flew by – but Rover is right here."
"Keith, buddy, maybe stay away from the nunvil ok?" He narrowed his eyes at Hunk and the big guy backed down with a blush.
"I'm not drunk and I'm not hallucinating. Something's wrong, I can feel it." At that moment a loud explosion went off and the entire castle shook from the force. They immediately lost power and the Arusians scattered, screaming their heads off as they fled to their village. Allura and the 4 present paladins ran off in the direction of the bridge.
When they arrived, the smoke was just starting to clear, revealing Coran's semi conscious form in the entry way. The Altean moved to sit.
"What happened?" Shiro asked; his voice filled with urgency.
Coran groaned. "I'm not sure."
Allura noticed the destroyed crystal first, she also noticed Lance first. Shiro rushed to his side, picking up the injured paladin and giving him a quick once over. With no power the medbay was useless, and without a new Balmeran crystal the power couldn't be restored. Keith quickly surveyed the room; it was bad, very bad. The fact that Lance was even still alive was a testament to the effectiveness of their Paladin armour.
There were chunks of shattered crystal all over the main area of the bridge, and the metal arms that held the crystal were bent out of shape. Scorch marks lined the walls of the room and a twisted clump of metal and wires lay off to the side. Keith stepped back from the group and walked over to the now destroyed droid, picking it up and looking through the remains for the memory chip but it had been melted. Moving on, he rejoined the group and listened as the Arusian King begged for assistance.
They agreed that Hunk would accompany Coran to acquire a new crystal from a nearby Balmera, Keith and Allura would check on the village, and Pidge would help Shiro tend to Lance. Everyone went their separate ways and Keith pulled Coran aside under the pretense of checking him over.
"I'm fine dear boy! Number 3 saved me."
"That was admirable of him. But it's not why I pulled you aside. Coran, there is only one Balmera in this system and it's been taken over by the Empire as a mining colony. You're going in a pod instead of a lion – make sure you take more than just Hunk's bayard." Coran nodded, his face falling slightly and Keith understood. The Empire's reach was far and all consuming.
He joined Allura on the ridge of the village after they'd parted ways. Everything was on fire and a cluster of droids stood in the center of the flames. Something wasn't right. The Empire droids never stood still and they wouldn't have let the Arusians stand so nearby to watch. He felt a tingle run up his spine and narrowed his eyes to focus more clearly on what he was realizing had been a distraction. "Allura! We need to get back to the castle! NOW!"
She trusted his instinct and didn't question him. The two ran towards the castle at each of their maximum speeds. Keith knew he was substantially faster than the average Human, but he was completely taken aback by the speed the princess managed. She kept his pace, stride for stride, and they reached the castle in record time.
"Keith, the particle barrier!" He looked up and to his great horror; the particle barrier of the castle was being activated. He used the jet pack of his suit and burst through the final gap as the barrier crashed down behind him. "GO. They have control of the castle. They're taking Voltron! You have to stop them. I will do what I can from out here." He gave her a curt nod and tore off down the dark hall, part of him relishing in the fact that the lights in the castle were finally a decent level. Too bad it was because of quiznaking Sendak!
" – the castle for take off." Sendak's voice came into focus as Keith rounded a corner.
"Yes, Commander." He knew that voice, it was Haxus; Sendak's right hand man and the lieutenant who had killed the first operative the Blade of Marmora stationed in the Commander's crew. Keith had known that Blade, not personally but he had trained with her a few times back on the main base. Her death had been hard to hear.
A thick hate boiled in his veins. He knew this feeling; it was what would carry him to victory. He got closer to the bridge, waiting for a chance to strike and distantly heard Allura speaking with Pidge over the headsets. His mind was hyper focused on it's target, all other input was inconsequential, and he only barely registered that Pidge was going to attempt to disconnect the primary turbine. Taking stalk of the room, he saw that both Lance and Shiro were unconscious, which meant as long as they stayed down they would be safe. Shiro was smart, he would understand that immediately and Lance was too hurt to move. It was Pidge that would need backup.
Keith used the scanner in his wrist gauntlet to locate the Green Paladin and made a dash to their location except, it changed. He adjusted course and headed off for the training deck where they were now located, upon arriving he found they had already left. A trap door was open and the remains of a severed droid lay on the ground while another bounced around trapped inside the invisible maze. Backing up a few steps, he took a running start and used his momentum to run along the walls of the room, avoiding the maze and jumping through the trap door.
Keith followed the tunnel until he came out the other side, still no signs of the smallest Paladin. Checking his gauntlet again he found their signal back in the main engine room and with a hearty groan he once again adjust his destination. There was a jolt of electricity inside the room; he watched the door panel glitch uncontrollably as it short-circuited. Fearing the worst Keith rushed for the door and began to manual pry it apart.
"- not a child. I'm a Paladin of Voltron." Pidge's determined voice drifted through the small crack followed by an arrogant laugh.
"Let me tell you something, child. I'm a soldier of the Galra Empire. Nothing stops me but Victory or Death." A loud yell accompanied the clash of weapons and Keith felt himself worry for his friend and pushed every ounce of energy he had into opening the door. He listened to Pidge's grunts as they fought around the room, avoiding Haxus' weapon and trying to stand their ground.
The moment the doors opened wide enough for him to slip through, he rushed towards the conflict. "Nowhere left to run. Nowhere left to hide." Haxus' taunt echoed in the metal room and he raised his arm back to make the killing blow.
Keith pulled his blade, feeling it transform in his hands and the quick pulse of life reacting to his will. Slicing it through the air he swiftly severed the soldier's right hand, savouring the clang as the sword crashed to the floor. "Vrepit Sa, Lieutenant." Keith spat in his native Galran as Haxus screamed in pain. Spinning around the Empire soldier's eyes widened and took in the paladin armour and his dripping blade.
"A Galra paladin?" He snorted, "No – a halfbreed paladin." Keith hissed violently at him, raising his blade again and colourfully cursing him out in Galran. The blade met it's target, cutting cleanly across his throat and Keith growled as he kicked the man backwards, the silent screams almost echoing as he fell down the engine shaft.
"Haxus, report in." Sendak's voice came over the com and Keith rushed over to help Pidge stand. The green paladin ran to the console and bellowed into it going back and forth with the Commander until Shiro's screams filled the room.
"We have to help him!"
"Pidge, we cant just run to Sendak without a plan. We need to get the particle barrier down so Allura, Hunk, and Coran can get in the castle."
"Fine. What do you suggest?"
"I'll go after Sendak, you take down that particle barrier and get to Allura."
"Keith? Pidge? Can you hear me? I contacted the mice. They're taking down the particle barrier. Is everything alright in there?" Allura's voice came over their coms.
"Ok, change of plans. Pidge, you come with me to the bridge. The mice can get the barrier down. Allura, meet us on the bridge when you get in."
Pidge nodded their agreement and the two immediately took off running, Allura's "Right, okay!" sounding in their helmets as they tore down the hall.
Sendak had Shiro and Lance lying off to the side, the latter of which was returning to consciousness. Keith and Pidge stopped outside the bridge doors, and listened to him taunt Shiro about attacking Earth. Pidge couldn't take it; they activated a hologram from their gauntlet and Sendak charged after the figure.
Running into the room, Pidge rushed for Shiro and Keith felt a tingling sensation crawling up his spine, the urge to duck to the side was over whelming. His gut had never let him down before so he listened, jumping swiftly to his right in time for Sendak's massive arm to wiz by his head, wrapping its claws around Pidge's tiny form.
"You really thought your little hologram trick would work with me?" He jeered and Keith pulled his bayard this time, hearing Allura running into the room as he did so. "Stand back." Sendak commanded them but immediately dropped Pidge as he was shot in the back by Lance. In a fleeting moment of wakefulness, the Blue paladin had shot a blast that wasn't powerful enough to cause damage, but was successful in diverting Sendak's attention. Shiro lunged, rushing to his feet to attack with his hands still secured behind his back.
Sendak kicked him back easily and Keith jumped into the fray. Slicing his bayard's blade against the armour and flying into a series of jumps, kicks, blocks, and strikes. His training as a Blade took over, instinct leading him through the fight. Pidge and Shiro intervened, the former using their bayard to sever Sendak's connection with his robotic arm, while the princess dashed for the console.
He saw the small particle barrier base light up around the crystal. "KEITH, NOW!" The princess yelled from across the room and he jumped, using Sendak's grip on his sword as leverage and kicking off just as the barrier rose in to place. Sendak now segregated from the rest of them. Pidge immediately ran to sever the cuffs around Shiro's wrists, helping him up into a sitting position as Keith rush to check on Lance.
"Lance, are you ok?" He knelt down beside the Blue paladin and clasped his hand, pulling him up with great effort. Lance's strength was waning and Keith could see how badly he needed rest and medical attention. A deep unexpected worry settled in his gut.
Lance leaned forward, groaning with the strain, and clasped his hand tightly. There was a soft look in the Cuban's eyes as he turned his gaze from the ground to meet Keith's. "We did it. We are a good team." His words hit harder than the Red paladin thought they would. The slight upturned smile, the gentle look, and the calm tone of his voice all combined to hit Keith with a force he was not prepared for. His own expression softened immediately and he smiled back at the boy.
They stayed like that for a moment, staring between each other with soft smiles, hands held tight, as the chaos rained around them. Shiro and Pidge were making their way to the medbay with Allura close behind, while Sendak banged his fists against the barrier. All too soon, the magic was over and Lance's eyes rolled back in his head as he passed out.
It took Keith a tic to realize what happened but, as his brain came crashing back to reality, he scooped up the injured Blue paladin and carried him bridal style down to the medbay. Running through the large door he placed the boy on one of the metal tables that had sprung from the floor. Allura pulled out a mess of fabric and instructed Keith to strip Lance's armour. Which he promptly did.
Lance lay on the metal table clothed solely in his skin-tight black flight suit. The too-bright lights of the medbay illuminated each and every one of the cuts, scrapes, burns, and soon-to-be bruises on the visible skin. He groaned quietly and shifted his body around uncomfortably on the table, though he remained unconscious the entire time as Shiro switched his flight suit for the specialized pod suit Allura provided.
Giving them some privacy Keith moved to stand by the pods, taking the opportunity to marvel at the incredible piece of technology. He'd read about the pods in his files from Ms. Proxa, and through legends of the Ancient Alteans, but to see one in person – to see it in USE; this was truly magnificent. Keith looked over the screen, reading the current configuration and noting that it was still set to Altean biology.
"The pod will perform a scan on Lance once he is inside, and adjust it's settings accordingly. Not to worry." Allura beamed brightly beside him and he offered her a tepid smile in return. She tapped a few buttons, one saying 'New Species. Data Archive: Active' and he turned to give her a questioning look. "Oh it's nothing, just making sure the pods are 'good-to-go' as you Humans say. After the power failure it is wise to be cautious." Again her voice was full of cheer but Keith knew she was lying. He could read the buttons; why would she lie? He could call her out but that would mean admitting that he could read Altean and that would mean explaining just how he'd learned it which would mean explaining that he was Galra.
He sighed and watched as Lance was loaded into the pod, the barrier sealing around him and the pod whirring to life. Too much was happening at this moment, he'd tell them all later; when Lance was safe.