Keith lay in his old bed, in his old room, on his old base. He should feel better here, shouldn't he? This place was familiar, it was once home. But the anxiety he'd been feeling the past few quintants hadn't let up. In fact, even though he was nowhere near the Princess, the awful feeling wasn't any better at all. He rolled over on his side and took a deep breath, then another, before finally resigning himself to a sleepless night.
They crashed against each other, the loud thud of colliding bodies echoing off the walls along side their heavy breathing. Keith lunged to the left, narrowly avoiding the edge of Plak's blade before whirling around to swipe his leg. The older man collapsed onto one knee, repurposing the momentum to somersault into a new position. "You're being reckless. Focus, plan your attack 3 manoeuvres in advance." His former mentor scolded and Keith let out a growl of frustration. He couldn't focus, he was trying as hard as he could, but something was blocking his ability to concentrate.
Keith didn't last much longer. With his mind elsewhere he was an easy target, Plak taking him out after only a few dobashes.
"Again" The mentor commanded and, for the first time in his life, Keith turned down to order to spar. "Is everything alright? You're not acting like yourself."
"I'm fine." He dismissed, moving to collect his red Earth jacket and wipe off his face with a towel. "It's just, a lot has changed."
"Yeah, no kidding! Red Paladin of Voltron! I'm proud of you, kit." Plak smiled as he nudged Keith's shoulder, throwing him slightly off balance.
With a half hearted groan Keith voiced his objections. "Not a kit anymore."
< Operative 2675 to the hangar for visitor arrival. Operative 2675 to the hangar. >
Tragok's voice echoed overhead and Keith let out another unenthusiastic groan. He made his way through the small base with Plak, the two traversing the halls in relative silence until he reached the primary hangar. Inside, Red was sitting tall in line with the pods and looking dramatically out of place next to the generally uniform appearance of the Blade ships. He smiled up at her and felt the soft purr in the back of his mind.
"It's pretty cool. I'd love to have a look inside it if that's possible. Maybe even a ride?" Plak contributed from beside him and Keith nodded.
"She." He corrected. "And sure, maybe later."
"Rubin would have been beside himself to see a Voltron Lion. I wish he was here to see this." There was a dark tint to his words, and a finality to the past tense that was used. Looking up at the accomplished young trainer, Keith couldn't see past the activated mask of his suit, but he did note an almost permanent slump to his shoulders. Why hadn't he noticed that before?
"Did he get reassigned?" Keith probed; fearing the answer his gut knew was coming.
Plak shook his head slightly. "No." He answered quietly, voice dropping as he continued to stare up at Red. "We went on a mission with Rikki and a headquarters operative named Zavin. It was a hard mission, and our intel had been planted by the Empire; we walked right into an ambush." He took a moment to collect himself and Keith watched him, his gaze still fixed on Red and his body tensing ever so slightly as he pulled up the memory of his lost brother. "Zavin called for a retreat and we turned back right away, but Rubin didn't make it to the extraction point on time. A few phoebs ago we found what was left of him in a work camp out on the fringes of the Empire. Hollowed out and stolen by the retched druids. The operatives who found him ... ended his suffering."
There was a distant sound in the young man's voice and Keith felt a pang in his chest. "Rubin was a fine Blade. His loss is felt by us all." Leaning into Plak's side, he let out a comforting purr as the other wrapped an arm around him, squeezing tight.
"Thanks." Their moment didn't last, ruined by the sudden opening of the heavy hangar doors and the Green Lion's loud roar. Keith glared angrily at the lion as it landed and mentally told Red to scold her sister for the intrusion.
Ignoring their guests, he turned back to his friend. "Can I accompany you to the resting wall later this quintant?"
"I'd like that."
"WOW this place is awesome! How long are we staying here? Can we see the generator thingy? Is there a cafeteria? Where's the bathroom?" Hunk rushed out of the Green Lion and nearly trampled Lance in his attempt to get answers from Keith as quickly as possible. With the hangar doors closed once again, protecting them all from the harsh vacuum of space, the two Blades dissolved their masks. Plak took over when Hunk reached them, stamping down everything he had just been feeling and putting on a more welcoming expression. He greeted the overly excited Paladin, offering to escort the poor guy to the nearest toilet, and giving a look that said he was very interested in spending some time getting to know this new species. Keith smirked; the others were not going to like the way Galra got to know each other.
"Dude, this place is cool. It looks nothing like those Galra bases we've been on!" Lance said, admiring the design of the station.
"This is a Galra base, Lance. It's just not an Empire base."
"Yeah, yeah, you knew what I meant." The Blue Paladin waved his hand dismissively and Keith narrowed his eyes, letting out a faint growl at the boy. "Yeesh, take a chill pill dude." The young Blade gave a sharp hiss and before he could revel in the shock on Lance's face, a swift smack to the back of his head had him reeling around to face Tragok.
"This is precisely why you are not on the welcoming committee, kit." Keith groaned and mumbled 'not a kit' as he stepped aside, offering a respectful salute to the base's Commander. "Right, welcome to the Blade of Marmora Communications Base Thaldycon. We are honoured to host the famed Voltron Paladins." Keith rolled his eyes. "Since you are already familiar with our operative Keith, I shall defer to him for your tours."
"WHAT?" He shrieked. "I thought I wasn't on the welcoming committee. Can't I just go back to my room?"
"No." Tragok turned to Allura, softening his voice and stance to come off slightly less militaristic. "Princess Allura, you will be our honoured guest. I have a private room prepared for you." He bowed and left them, exiting the hangar as swiftly as he'd entered it. Keith turned to glare at the others; playing chaperone had not been in his plans. He didn't say a word, instead Keith made his way abruptly out of the hangar, turning in the opposite direction of Tragok and heading for the paladin's rooms. The group scurried behind him to keep up.
They walked the halls in a nearly suffocating silence. The others made the odd comment here and there but Keith ignored them. Each question was ignored, each comment about the architecture or design of the base was ignored, and each observation about the Blade of Marmora or its members was ignored. Eventually they got the hint and stopped speaking.
One by one the paladins removed their helmets, tucking them under an arm as they walked. It wasn't until they reached the first room that the problem with this decision became apparent. "This room is for Lance and Hunk and Pidge. That one –" he pointed to the door directly beside the room to its left "- is for Coran and Shiro." He then turned to the door directly to the right of the first room "Allura in there." before turning back to face the group, crossing his arms and letting out a huff. "Any questions?"
Their faces were an array of shock and confusion. "Uh, what? Dude, da-fuck language was that?" Lance asked, his look of confusion migrating into annoyance. Keith glowered at him.
"Galran, dipshit."
"Just speak English!"
"Why? This base was my home before I came to Earth. It's a Blade base and if I want to speak my native Galran then I'll speak my native Galran. Don't like it? Put your fucking helmet back on." Keith huffed, speaking English so they'd understand, and immediately switching back to Galran to drive home his point. "Put your stuff in your rooms and get situated. I'll wait here for 2 dobashes before we continue the tour, with or without everyone."
Lance immediately began to argue the language change until Shiro stepped in, his cybernetic arm acting as a translator allowing him to understand the instructions. He relayed the information and their time limit, then gave Keith a look that screamed 'what's wrong with you' as he stepped into his room with Coran. The others entered their own rooms after Shiro used his hand to open the door for the Princess and Keith used his for the two cadets.
He gave them more than 2 dobashes. Waiting a whole 5 dobashes before banging on the door to the cadet's room and yelling (in English) for them to 'hurry the hell up'. It took another dobash before the entire group was gathered and Pidge muttered mutinously that they knew he wouldn't ditch them. Keith just rolled his eyes.
He led them through the halls pointing out the showers, bathrooms, laundry facility, lounge area, meditation room, training deck, cafeteria, archives, flight simulators, classroom, main bridge, engine room, and medbay. He may have also taken them past the morgue for shits and giggles. He did not however, take them to any of the more sacred locations; like the resting wall, or the reflection pool.
The tour had gone by pretty smoothly until they reached the recruit training wing where the classrooms and simulators were stationed across from each other, as well as rooms setup to resemble various sections of Empire ships and bases. While they were nowhere near as detailed as the decoy base, these rooms were vital in their training regiments. Pidge had been fascinated with the mock Empire system interface, while Lance had been obsessed with trying to use the simulators. After Plak dropped off a mildly terrified Hunk, the Yellow Paladin had tried to sneak bites from the snack table in the main classroom.
Currently Keith was struggling to convince Hunk not to eat the tasty looking tarts, even though they were still warm and smelled heavenly. "Anything that smells that good can't possibly be dangerous!" the big guy had reasoned and, try as he might, Keith could not express enough just how dangerous those little tarts actually were. It wasn't until Pidge piped in that Hunk actually pulled his chubby fingers away from the treat.
"Diffry berry? Isn't that the stuff used to poison Iverson back at the Garrison?" They'd asked and Hunk paled immediately, his hands finding their way back to his sides as Keith nodded.
"Oh man, I heard about that! Some cadet tried to kill him with a toxin they mixed into his apple sauce!" Lance paused ... processing ... wheels turning ... "That was YOU?" there it is! Keith chuckled to himself and nodded again.
"I didn't try to kill him. I knew Nurse Rob would administer a shot of epinephrine and he'd be fine." Keith rolled his eyes, folded his arms across his chest, and shifted his weight onto his right hip. "I was buying us some time so Pidge could steal information off his computer. We were trying to figure out how to save Shiro and Matt from the Empire."
"Is that how you got expelled from the Garrison?" Hunk chimed in and Keith nodded.
"Only partially. You wouldn't have gotten expelled if you hadn't socked Iverson in the eye."
"You did WHAT?" Shiro interjected, cutting Pidge off at the tail end of their unhelpful contribution. Keith glowered at them, Shiro wasn't supposed to find out about that.
"Yeah, you did what?" Plak's voice came from around the corner as he appeared from seemingly nowhere. "I assume this 'Iverson' is a commanding officer?" Shiro nodded at him, and Allura visibly tensed as the oblivious trainer moved to stand beside her. He seemed to notice the Altean Princess for the first time, eyes widening as he took her in. "You must be Princess Allura!" He excitedly exclaimed, thrusting his hand out in greeting. "I can tell because you're so ... Allur-ing." Plak threw in a wink at the end and Keith let out a heavy sigh, his fingers moving to pinch the bridge of his nose in exasperation. Allura blinked rapidly at him, her face morphing into shock, completely taken aback by his comment and it was clear she had not been expecting it in the least.
Pidge broke the tension, snorting loudly and finally pinning down what it was about Lance that had felt so familiar when they'd met back at the Garrison. His similarity to Plak suddenly becoming painfully obvious. "Oh GAWD." They groaned. "There's two of them!"
"It was not funny before, and it is not funny now." Allura sneered, turning her nose up at the situation and folding her arms across her chest, effectively refusing the outstretched limb. Plak took the insult for what it was, bright eyes turning to a glare.
"Keith was right, you really are a piece of work." He huffed at her and she gasped in shock. It was satisfying to watch. Instead of allowing her a retort, Plak turned to the Humans in the room, addressing them all for the first time. "I am Plak of the Blade of Marmora. It is a nice to meet you. How long will you all be staying at our communication base?"
The question was mostly directed to Shiro. Their Black Paladin was oozing 'leadership' from every pore as he squared his shoulders and addressed Plak; still clearly uncomfortable to be so casual with someone who was pure Galra, but doing his best nonetheless. "We aren't sure just yet. That is mostly dependant on Keith here. We can't exactly leave without our Red Paladin, we wouldn't be able to form Voltron and our team just wouldn't be complete without him." He gave a warm smile and Keith felt some of the ice around his heart begin to melt.
"Red Paladin!" Plak added almost reverently. "I still can't believe it! Feels like just yester-quintant you were reassigned to our base. I can't believe how much has changed, how much you've changed." He added, giving Keith a strange look.
"Wait, you knew baby Keith?" Hunk asked excitedly.
"Um, no – we met when he was 15 deca-phoebs old."
"You said he was reassigned?" Allura questioned, side eyeing Keith and unable to hide her curiosity.
"Yeah, he was relocated by our Leader after causing some trouble back at head quarters."
"More like I was 'banished'." Keith muttered to a round of snickers.
"You deserved it kit. Actually, you're lucky Tragok even let you anywhere near the simulators when you arrived here." Keith rolled his eyes but smirked at the memories. He still thought it had all been worth it. "Actually, we should test the Paladins, see how you hold up against our pilots. What do you say?" All three of the cadets scrambled over each other in their enthusiastic attempts to be the first to try out the sims. Shiro agreed much more maturely but Keith could see him struggling to contain the glee that bubbled under the surface. At the end of the day, no matter how well he took to his role of team leader, Shiro was still a pilot at heart; one who loved flying just as much as Keith did.
Lance had been first to enter the sim, Keith explaining the difference in the controls and how the simulators worked. The four Humans had opted to leave their helmets on, activating the visual translator in the visor so that they could read the instructions on the screen.
Their Blue Paladin breezed his way through the first few levels with relative ease, until the third level hit and he smashed nose first into an Empire cruiser's ion cannon blast. His pod disintegrated on impact and the controls gave a relatively strong jolt of electricity as a punishment for his failure. Keith may have left that titbit out of his explanations. Lance had screeched like a wounded Earth cat and complained loudly about how much it hurt.
Neither Pidge nor Hunk had made it past the first level, both eating it just before the cut off. Lance had actually swelled with pride at their demise. Hunk took the punishment with a yelp, while Pidge flew from their seat the moment the sim crashed, somehow avoiding the electric shock.
Coran took a stab next, passing the first level but being blindsided by falling debris and subsequently failing the second. The jolt had made the hair on his moustache frizz and stand on end. Allura flat out refused to enter the sim on the grounds of not wishing to be shocked. Plak had shrugged and let her out of the exercise which Keith deemed unfair favouritism.
Shiro entered last, climbing into the pod amidst a barrage of useless tips and pointers from the failed cadets. Smiling and nodding along, he closed the sim's hatch and began the program. He'd made it the farthest, managing to pass all of the other's scores before finally failing on the seventh level. Plak had been impressed. The moment Shiro stepped out of the pod, the older man had clapped him on the back in approval so hard that the Human had lost his balance and stumbled forward.
"That was impressive; much better than the other's attempts. Even the Altean didn't do as well!" Plak praised, garnering himself several scowls and one stuck out tongue courtesy of a very 'mature' Blue Paladin. Keith snickered to himself.
"Oh, you think it's funny? How 'bout you give it a try then Mr. Confident!" Lance jeered and Keith rolled his eyes.
"We don't have time for that. There's 38 levels per craft style and I don't feel like standing here all quintant while Keith destroys his own records." Plak's dismissal made him blush; the humble brag of his former pupil's skill as a pilot was so subtle Keith doubted anyone other than Pidge would pickup on it.
Pidge, Hunk, and Lance lay spread out on the side of the training room floor panting and cradling various injuries while Keith danced around them. "Come on you guys, get up!" He teased, kicking lightly at Lance's leg and garnering a hefty groan of agony and exhaustion from the boy.
"I can't feel my – everything!" Lance whined, lolling his head from side to side on the mat, sweat pooling around him. "Seriously, you call this 'getting to know each other'? I call it torture!" he groaned again as a hydration pouch landed on his gut.
"Are all Humans this weak?" Plak asked in complete sincerity.
"Pretty much." Keith shrugged. "There are a few exceptions, but most would lose a sparing match to a kitling." The two Blades chuckled and Pidge let out a sarcastic 'hardy har har' from their place on the mat, though they didn't bother trying to prove him wrong.
This is what he had been missing, this feeling of camaraderie and belonging. He'd felt this with the paladins at first, but after Allura had turned on him everything on the Castle ship became far too tense. Plak tried to invite the princess into a sparring match, attempting to include her in their bonding, but she merely arched a brow and huffed at him.
"Don't bother, miss priss over here wont want to slum it with a Galra soldier, Blade or otherwise." Keith spat watching as her face morphed into defiance. She rose from her seat, striding gracefully across the training room to stand before Plak. Keith smirked; she was very predictable and easily manipulated, a side effect of her youth.
The white, pink, and blue Altean flight-suit was a sharp contrast to Plak's black and purple Blade suit, but Allura stood tall and met her opponent in the centre of the sparing area. "I accept your challenge on the grounds that we each use a staff." Plak quickly agreed, a giddy energy rolling off him and an excited sparkle to his eyes. Keith rolled his.
Their match had been impressive. He knew the princess had training, but it was a whole other thing to actually see her perform. She was fast and strong but Plak was highly skilled and, though she had held her own for far longer than anticipated, ultimately she was no match for the Blade Operative.
"Well fought, Princess." Plak gushed and Keith made a gagging sound. But Allura, Allura had blushed, and that surprised him the most. He quirked a brow and watched as his former mentor reached out a hand and hoisted the defeated Princess to her feet.
The rest of their tour seemed to go by relatively smoothly. Pidge and Hunk vanished to help Rikki with repairs to the gravity generator. Shiro opted to spend the rest of the afternoon in the meditation room with Coran. Allura was intercepted by Ms Proxa and drilled about Altean culture and history. Before he knew it, only Lance remained.
The Cuban boy followed Keith around the base like a lost puppy, or an unwelcome shadow, until he couldn't take it any more. "Will you please leave me alone? Why are you following me, Lance?"
The poor boy seemed to whither under his scrutiny, deflating at the aggressive tone. "Sorry, I just thought it would be cool to see where you lived, you know? See what it was like for you growing up. That's all." And now Keith felt like the asshole. Letting a little of the fight fall away, he softened his gaze and took in the other's demeanour. He wasn't being hostile, Lance genuinely wanted to follow Keith and learn more about the Galra. Yup, he definitely felt like an asshole now.
Crossing his arms with a huff he managed a small smile. Though it had lessened slightly, he was still being plagued by the anxiety from before and it was clearly factoring into his dramatic reactions. There was no reason to have blown up at Lance like that. But now wasn't a good time. "Look, I have somewhere private I need to be. But how about we make a deal. You piss off and leave me the hell alone for the rest of this quintant, and I'll come get you after dinner."
"Why? What do you have planned?" Lance asked with suspicion.
"Nothing. We can run through the rest of tonight and all of tomorrow as if I'd never left the base. I'll put you on my old schedule including class with Ms Proxa, the simulators, flight training, combat training, meals – the whole none yards."
Lance smirked. "It's nine yards, dude. And yeah, ok. That sounds fun! I'll see if the others wanna do it too!" Keith nodded, turning to leave before a clearing throat pulled his attention back. "Um, I have no idea where I'm going." Keith groaned.
He'd ended up leaving Lance in the main lounge room with a data pad and an old game chip. It had taken nearly a varga to explain the game mechanics to him, and in the end he had just stuck his helmet back on to use the translator. Now Keith found himself charging through the halls at full tilt, rushing to meet up with Plak. He had the vague sense of being followed, but that feeling had become familiar to him over the past few quintants. Ever since leaving the Emperor's Central Command fleet, he'd felt as though he was never alone. So he ignored the sensation.
Plak was waiting for him outside the large doors, leaning against the wall with one foot hitched and his arms crossed over his chest. He looked damn good, Keith thought. "I was starting to worry." The older Blade spoke without looking up, seemingly mesmerized by the tips of his claws.
"I'm sorry – I needed – to deal with – Lance." Keith huffed, gasping for breath as he came to a stop. "Left him – in the lounge."
"Did you run the whole way here?" Keith nodded in response and Plak's eyebrows nearly shot off his head. "Geeze kit, I knew you had stamina but, stars!"
"Humans are endurance runners and fighters. They can't run as fast as us and they aren't nearly as strong but they have endurance like I've never seen before! I mean, I can outrun all of the other Paladins, but they can out last me no sweat. Well, maybe not Hunk – or Pidge. But Shiro and Lance for sure."
"Fascinating! So that's why you always had so much energy, huh?" Plak added with a chuckle, the cheerful sound dying down as he glanced back to the doors. He let out a long sigh, a weight settling back on his shoulders, and the momentary lightness of the air fading into something heavier. "Shall we?" Keith nodded in response yet again, stepping through the heavy doors behind his former mentor.
The room was dim, even dimmer than the rest of the base. He knew the Humans would struggle to see in this lighting but that didn't matter; they weren't welcome in this part of the base anyways. He followed Plak further inside, making their way over to the small basin in the centre of the room. It was small and shallow, approximately the size of a dinner plate and only slightly deeper, standing at 4 feet tall and made of shimmering luxite. Inside was a fine purple sand taken from his people's home planet of Daibazzal. Keith took a small amount into his fist and continued on towards the wall on the far side of the room.
The wall was made of a special metal, one that could be pierced by a luxite blade without losing any of its structural integrity from the intense pull of the vacuum of space beyond it. This wall was the final resting place of their members. When a Blade of Marmora operative perished, or was lost on a mission, their blade would be salvaged and returned to their home base.
The blades were coated in the fine purple sand and pierced into the wall by a family member, mate, or superior officer. Never to be removed. Here rested the blades of countless fallen operatives, each a tragic and devastating loss to them all. The Galra lived together, fought together, and mourned together. The loss of one was a blow to them all.
Keith stepped past Plak, placing his sand coated hand on the hilt of Rubin's blade. The weapon felt cold and dead, the flicker of its owner's quintessence having long since faded away. A shudder passed through him as he gave a silent farewell, rubbing some of the sand into the sigil with his thumb. After a dobash, he released the blade, moving back to Plak's side and watching as the other did the same.
They stood there for a while, Keith not wanting to pull him away before he was ready, and Plak not wanting to leave his fallen brother. It was nearly a varga before the older Blade turned towards the archway at the far right of the room. Keith followed, walking through the arched entry into the shimmering light.
The narrow path around the edge of the room was barely 3 feet wide as it snaked its way around the irregular shapes of the reflection pool. The dark water in the pool reflected the light of the soft purple flames coming from the perpetually lit sconces along the walls. The lights bounced around, dancing across the walls and ceiling in an ever-changing pattern as the flames flickered in the still and quiet room. Their voices echoed off the rounded metal walls, not a single right angle anywhere in sight, giving this section of the base an ethereal feel; different from anything else they were used to.
The soft edges were an architectural metaphor for how life never truly ends; there are no full stops in the grand scheme of things. Quintessence is borrowed from the universe to give life to a being and returned upon their death, forever existing though its form may change. Keith found this comforting; he didn't know what the Humans believed happened after they died, though he knew they must have some sort of belief system since Lance had called himself a Catholic. Pidge didn't seem to believe in anything other than their tech, Shiro had a belief system that he kept private, and Hunk never really said anything along those lines.
He stepped into the pool behind Plak, settling down to a crouch as the inky black liquid lapped at his shoulders. It was the same temperature as a healthy Galran body temp and made it feel as though you were floating in a vast nothingness. They moved together until they reached the deeper sections of the pool where Keith's feet only barely touched the bottom. He lay back, letting his body float weightlessly on the surface as he spread out his limbs and watched the light dance around. It was easy to lose yourself here for vargas at a time, reflecting on the lost ones as you float peacefully in the stillness.
The tension that had been clutching at him seemed to melt away, the dark thoughts and energy unable to enter this peaceful place. He let the serenity of the room pull him into a trance like state, focusing his energy and his quintessence on why he had felt so awful. Keith focused, trying to suss out the change that had caused a shadow to loom over his every encounter for the past few quintants.
The lights above danced around, swirling and twirling as their patterns changed and he saw something that sucked the air from his lungs; Haggar. The Emperor's witch stared back at him, her dark energy even more sour and putrid than that of her foul Druids. Keith retched as the sensation of her presence hit him, a tightening of his gut forcing him to curl in on himself and sending him down to the bottom of the pool. He struggled against the feeling of being held down, forced into the depths of the dark water by some unseen power, struggling to escape until a strong hand grabbed his shoulder and dragged him to the surface.
Keith took a gasping breath as the illusion shattered and he returned to his senses. Plak dragged him to the shallows, the image of a crystal shard flashing behind his eyes mere tics before he passed out.
When he came to, he was lying on the narrow floor of the room, the dancing lights guiding him back to reality as he coughed up more of the inky black water and rolled over onto his side. His chest hurt, his head hurt, but he fought against it.
"Keith? Are you okay?" An incredibly worried Plak exclaimed, pulling him up to a sitting position and he nodded in response. "You scared me! What happened?"
Keith coughed, clearing his throat before attempting to speak. "I think I figured out why I've been so 'off' lately." He replied, forcing himself to stand. "I – I need to go lie down."
Keith didn't join the others for dinner and he didn't get Lance as he promised. In the morning, he didn't join them for breakfast and he didn't attend the team meeting.
Keith had barely finished getting dressed when the door opened and Shiro stepped in. "Keith? Is everything aright?"
"Yeah, I'm just – I need to deal with something."
"Well, Commander Tragok has called a meeting; he wants to talk to us all about working with your organization more closely. Come meet us on the main bridge okay?" Keith nodded in response, towelling off his hair and following the Black Paladin from the room.
On the bridge was the entirety of team Voltron as well as Ulaz, Plak, Rikki, and Commander Tragok. "Welcome, Keith. As I was saying, coordinated attacks between Voltron and the Blade of Marmora could finally sway the war in our favour. With your power and our inside knowledge, we could hit the Emperor where it hurts."
The meeting dragged on for quite a while as Shiro, Allura, Ulaz, and Tragok went back and forth over the logistics. In the end, Rikki had pointed out that nothing they decided here was final until the organization's leader gave his word. Keith knew he was right, it didn't matter how much they hashed it out, in the end whether the Blade of Marmora worked with Voltron or not was up to Kolivan.
The proximity alarm sounded suddenly, catching them all off guard. "You were tracked!" Ulaz accused, anger clear on his face. The glares of the Blades fell unfairly on Keith.
"Impossible." Allura countered. "There are no trackers on my ship. Coran checked it himself as I'm sure Keith has also done." He nodded after a moment, surprised that she had come to his defence. Ulaz huffed at her and pulled up the approaching object on the screens. The hard casing opened to reveal a familiar and unwelcome sight.
"It's another one of Zarkon's robot ... beasts ... RO-BEASTS!!" Hunk yelled, pointing aggressively at the screen and beginning to panic.
"Everyone, get to your lions. But don't launch." Shiro studied the screens with a scrutinizing gaze, a plan forming in his mind as he delegated. "We'll wait to see what this thing does. I don't want to risk fighting it if we don't have to."
Keith sat in Red, his screens connected to the other lions as well as Allura and Coran on the Castle's bridge. They sat and waited, and waited, and waited as the robeast approached. It was big, bigger than he had expected it to be, and appeared to be a large head with a thruster at the base. It opened a hatch where its mouth would be, drawing in the xanthorium clusters around it, before letting out an absolutely massive blast of energy into a wall of crystals.
The xanthorium clusters exploded on contact, powerful shockwaves rushing out in all directions. If the base had been anywhere near that section of the cluster the force alone would have shredded it. Keith swallowed the lump in his throat. This was his fault, he had allowed team Voltron to come to this system and now the entire base was in danger. Plak, Tragok, Rikki, Proxa, Kyra, Fritzil, and Ulaz were all in danger and it was entirely his fault.
The robeast charged up again, pulling in another round of crystals and realigning itself with a different section of the system; their section. Keith felt himself pale as the destructive cannon opened, aimed directly at the castle ship. Vaguely he heard Coran shout about the particle barrier and watched as the blue light formed protectively around the Castle and Lions. In the blink of an eye the robeast was unleashing hell upon them. Blast after blast hit the shield before the giant gaping hole opened up, sucking in more of the clusters and charging for another attack.
"It's pulling us in as well!" Allura observed, and she was right. The power of the robeast was drawing in not only the crystals, but also the castle. "Paladins, I think it's time to launch!"
"Form VOLTRON!" Came Shiro's call over their coms and not a tic later Voltron was punching the abomination out of range. The force of their attack had caused the robeast to miss fire, aiming at a random point in the cluster and protecting the castle from being obliterated or drawn in any further. Unfortunately the force of the blast had dislodged the delicate balance of the pieces in the gravity generator, exposing the position of the small communication base.
They fought hard, giving everything they had, but it just wasn't enough. With a constant supply of energy, the beast was able to continually refuel its reserves, pounding them with blast after blast, never waning in its power.
Something dark zipped past his screens as two blade pods fired on the beast from behind. Lance had cheered about having backup for once, and Shiro had tried to open up a com line with the pods, but Keith's mind was racing. There was nothing they could do but hope to hold their ground long enough that the entire system ran out of crystals. That wasn't a plausible solution. Sure the Castle and the lions could get away, but that would leave the tiny base undefended. And while it was likely the robeast would follow Voltron, there was always the chance that it wouldn't. They needed something that would take it down from the inside, something to tear it apart instead of giving it power.
The back of his mind tingled as a shiver ran up his spine. The shard. That damn shard had been poisoning his every encounter for nearly a movement already. Like the robeast, it contained corrupted quintessence courtesy of Haggar herself. It was only capable of destruction.
"Guys, I have an idea!" He called over the lines. "I need to get close, as close as possible."
"Um – how about no, dude." Lance immediately objected. "Seriously, the second Voltron gets anywhere near that thing it tries to eat us!"
"Not Voltron; me. Red and I can do it. The rest of you get back to the castle and prepare to defend the base with the castle's shields." He commanded and felt the probing mind of Black as the Lion analysed him. Red responded with a possessive roar.
"Keith, are you sure about this?" Shiro hesitated.
"Nope. But we can't keep doing nothing."
"We aren't doing nothing, we're tactically evading."
"That's fancy Earth talk for 'nothing'." Keith rolled his eyes and answered the call from the Blade pod hailing him.
"Keith, Voltron needs to protect the base. I'll do it." Plak volunteered and he shook his head.
"No, I can't let you do that."
"And we can't risk losing a Voltron Paladin and potentially one of the Lions. There's no arguing. As your superior officer I command you to open the hatch of the Red Lion and let me in." Keith slumped in his chair and did as he was instructed. A few tics later the cockpit opened up to his former mentor and friend.
"WOAH! This is so much more impressive than I had imagined!" The Blade stared in awe at the Altean controls surrounding him. "What a magnificent ... ship?" Keith snickered at his hesitation but nodded in agreement any ways. Red purred at the praise, offering her approval of Plak's presence.
"I think she likes you." The words barely made it out of his mouth before little hearts appeared in the other's eyes. The battle hardened soldier melting in pure glee as he lovingly caressed the walls of the cockpit whispering sweet nothings to the Lion. Keith was maybe a little jealous.
A powerful blast of energy rocketed past them, missing Red's side by a hair, and snapping them back to the reality of the situation. "Right, what's this plan of yours?" Plak asked, reluctantly returning his focus to the Paladin before him.
Keith rolled his eyes. "I have this." He replied, holding up the poisoned shard. "It's been tainted by the Emperor's witch and I think it could tear that robeast apart ... from the inside." Plak paled as he examined it. "We just need to get it close, like – very close."
The Blade looked up at him and gave a curt nod, taking the shard, and moving in for a tight hug. "It was nice seeing you again, kit. Take care of yourself." He pulled away, leaving a small affectionate lick to the side of Keith's cheek before turning heel and heading back for his pod. Immediately the Red Paladin opened a line to Rikki.
The Blade pod dropped from Red's cargo hold, flying in a determined path straight for the gaping mouth of the robeast. As it approached, a second pod swooped in, flying directly below. The two approached at a steady speed and Keith watched, resisting the urge to dig claws into his knees. Shiro gave the order to form Voltron and as they were merging, the pods made contact. The moment Voltron formed they called up their shields and a massive explosion had them bracing for impact.
Immediately the icy grip that had latched onto him, the deep sense of 'wrongness' that had permeated his every waking minute, the poison that had clouded his judgement and amplified the anger between himself and Allura, it was gone. All of it: gone. He felt the lightness as everything returned to normal only for it to be quickly replaced by panic as a single Blade pod returned from the violent explosion in front of them.
"No." He whispered over the coms to a resounding silence, no one daring to say a word.
The Lions returned to their hangars on the Castle ship, all except Red. Keith ran out of his Lion before her jaw had even finished opening, rushing to the returned pod and tearing off his helmet. The red and white helmet bounced across the metal floor of the hangar as the Paladin sprinted to the Galra exiting the pod. "RIKKI - Rikki where's Plak?" He screamed, a choked sob threatening to betray him. "I told you to get him! Where is he? WHERE?" Keith rushed by the others entering the hangar, and shoved his head into the tiny cockpit of the fighter; the tiny and empty cockpit.
"Kyra and Ulaz already took him to the medbay. He's going to be alright." Relief flooded his veins at Tragok's reassurance. "You are welcome to pay him a visit if you wish, kit." Keith didn't even bother to comment on being called a kit again. Instead, he rose to his feet and gave a curt nod, blinking away the tears that nearly fallen.
After spending a few quintants back on his old base, it was hard to return to the castle. Everything was exactly the same, the same too bright lights, the same clinical smell, and the same terrible food goo. He sat on his bed, dagger in hand, and stared into the glowing sigil at the hilt. Rubin was gone, Plak had almost been lost, and he still hadn't heard word about his Uncle Thace. Voltron was supposed to be helping the universe, things were supposed to be getting better but it just seemed like everything kept getting worse.
A tentative knock pulled him from his reverie and he glared at the door for a solid tic or two before getting up to open it.
"Keith, I – I was hoping we could talk." He stared at Allura for a moment, her cheeks flushed and her head angled down, staring nervously at the floor. He shrugged and stepped aside, letting the Princess enter. "Why is it so dark in here?"
"Galra, remember? Hurts my eyes."
"Oh, right. Yes." She seemed flustered as she stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. He could make this easier on her and just turn the lights back on, but after everything that had happened, he was still a little pissy. So instead Keith moved around her in the dark room and took a seat on his bed. Eventually she found her way over to the bed as well and took a tentative seat at the foot, sitting as straight and proper as she could. It gave the appearance of her having a rod shoved up her back. He could make a joke about the princess having a stick up her ass but he decided to be mature and hold that one it ... maybe later he'd let it slip to Lance, the other boy would appreciate it.
"Keith, I'm sorry." She immediately blurted out and he blinked at her in surprise. "I had reacted very poorly to the news that you are Galra and I, well honestly I did not handle it very well at all."
"No Shit." He huffed in annoyance.
"Yes, well, I suppose you have every right to be upset."
"Allura, I understood why you freaked out initially. I even felt bad for not telling you, it made me feel like it was lying to everyone. But after all the bullshit you pulled, its going to take more than an 'I'm sorry Keith' to get past this." He crossed his arms over his chest watched as her eyes wandered the general area of his head, not once locking directly into his gaze. Realization settled in; she was clearly having a difficult time seeing him, even with the faint glow of his eyes.
With a huff, he got up and increased the brightness by a few increments; enough that she could just make out his features, but not bright enough to hurt his eyes. She smiled warmly at him as he took a seat at the head of the bed, pulling his legs up and folding them beneath him.
"We're a lot alike, you and I." That got his attention. He looked up, meeting her gaze and refusing to show any emotion on his face. "We've both lost much to Zarkon and his Empire. I was so overwhelmed by the loss of my people and my home that I didn't stop to think of what you had sacrificed. I only saw how difficult it was for me to be forced into working with a Galra and having a Galra paladin in my father's lion. It didn't occur to me that it would be difficult for you to work with Alteans. You have proven to be more than worthy of the Red Lion, and my father's AI had been fond of you before being corrupted by Sendak's crystal." She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "What I'm trying to say is that, I miss judged you and mistakenly -"
"Stubbornly" he interrupted.
"- held to ... what? Yes, I suppose I was being stubborn. Any ways, I stubbornly held to my assumptions and prejudices unfairly. I am sorry. I know it will take more than this little chat for us to move on but I do hope, at the very least, we can work together again."
"We don't really have a choice do we?" He countered. "For the sake of the team we kinda have to start getting along. But I appreciate the effort you're making. I guess I didn't really make it any easier on you like I could have." He paused a moment and took a calming breath of his own, building the resolve to get out what he knew he needed to say. "Allura, I'm not going to change anything. Actually, that's not true; I'm going to change a lot of things back. What I mean is – I'm not going to modify my behaviour to make everyone feel better. I know it's going to take some adjustment, but I don't care. I'm tired of being the one who has to change, always watching what I say or do, and just constantly walking on eggs, as the Humans say. I want to feel like I can relax and be myself."
"As you should." Once again, Keith found himself dumbfounded. "The Paladin bonds are built on trust and openness. Now that both you and Pidge have come forward with the secrets you were holding, the bonds can strengthen. I will do my best not to hold you all back as I have been."
"Thanks."
"One more thing before I go." He narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion but she seemed unfazed. "I am sorry for the loss of your friend. A woman by the name of Proxa told me that you were joining the other Blade in mourning."
"Plak." He nodded. "It was his brother, Rubin, we were saying goodbye to."
"Would it be inappropriate of me to offer you a hug for comfort?"
"Yes." He pulled his lips back in disgust. "Unless you want my claws in your eye sockets, don't try to hug me." The Princess paled slightly before composing herself and nodding.
"Cultural differences." She said with a smile and rose from the bed. "Good night Keith, I'm glad we could have this talk."
"Me too." The door closed behind her and every ounce of energy in his body vanished. Keith collapsed on his bed and stared up at the ceiling.
A flurry of emotions crossed over him. Relief that things with Allura were looking up, anxiety over the Emperor being able to track them, joy from the news that Plak had woken up no worse for wear, and excitement over no longer feeling the need to amend his every move. It wasn't going to be suddenly sunshine and happiness on the Castle of Lions, but at least they were on the way to a more amicable environment. He hoped.
Finally, even with the will of a Galra, Keith couldn't fight the inevitable any longer and drifted off to sleep.