Sheith Angst week

Day 8: Free Day

Notes: AU where Shiro never makes it out of the Gladiator Arena

Arena

One loses track of the time they spend waiting, until eventually they forgot what they were waiting for. Was it freedom? The hope of being rescued? Rescued by whom? Their own existence becomes blurry. What had been his name before hell? Where was he from? Was it relevant when he probably wasn't ever going to leave that place, not even after death?

That's what it was like to be a prisoner in the Empire's Arena.

You went in, you thrive survival, and if you were a champion, you lived. Or something like that.

Was he even alive? He wondered. Had he been alive before or were the vague memories just a product of his exhausted imagination. Were they just some sort of escape from the horrors of the arena? A safe place far away from the killing, the blood spilling, the screams, the haunting cheers, the cracking bones… The champion rarely found real peace, not even when everything went dark around him. Those were the worst moments, actually. His brain seemed to awake, while in the arena he was on standby, acting on raw instinct. When he wasn't killing to live, he was trapped in the screams of those that unwillingly saved his existence. When alone in the darkness, when the sound of the arena was only a distant whisper, the weight of his sword felt realer than ever, the blood dripping on his arms was impossible to ignore. It didn't matter how hard he rubbed them with cloths, his hands felt always drenched in thick, heavy guilt. And no matter how loud he screamed by himself, the screams of those dying and those cheering was always louder than his weak lungs.

Only sometimes, he saw faces he swore he hadn't ever seen before. On very rare occasions, heard a remote voice that didn't scream in horror but laughed and told him they would wait for him. It always came with a pair of blue-gray eyes.

Voltron's Paladins had heard of the infamous arena. Until then, even though they had fought Galra Generals and whole fleets, they had lived the attack on Arus and had freed the Balmera, and still they hadn't seen themselves the destructive power of that race on a social level. It was something to fight face- and nameless war ships. It was a totally different thing to be actually confronted to the actual horror of wars.

"Things like this happened on Earth too," Pidge murmured while they were going through the intel and the resto of the Earthling nodded. "…but we never lived it. It's… not that horrible when you just hear it from your History teacher… and to think that my family and lieutenant Shirogane might be… or have been there…"

She didn't finish. She was rather pale, not looking at anyone. Allura was silent, taking in the pictures.

If asked, they would say they didn't want to go in and see that place, yet their mental state was nothing if traded for thousands of prisoners' lives. As the castle prepared for the jump through the wormhole, Keith tried to focus. "Patience yields focus" was Shiro's favorite compact lecture and he had never actually thought a lot of it. Keith was an instinctive pilot and fighter. From the beginning he had thought he should have been the Red's pilot. Maybe Allura should have been the black Paladin, she was a princess after all and when they met she seemed to know what to do. Kind of. Keith on the other hand… Keith had got them almost killed for not knowing to wait or give clear instructions. Pidge and Hunk weren't pilots to start with and Allura was just as stubborn as Keith and that wasn't a good combination. Thank God Coran was a thing, that sort of helped while he was taking his crash curs on leading.

Now… At that moment he still didn't feel like a true leader. His head kept telling him how Shiro would've been such a wonderful black Paladin. Shiro would have known how to save the whole damn universe. And Keith would have followed even when the universe hadn't offered him anything. Anything but Shiro. He would have followed and Shiro wouldn't even have to ask. And now the thought of maybe finding him was making those ideas stronger, more solid, almost a reality. What if they actually found him?

"Paladins, we're close," Coran's voice informed. Keith put on his helmet, wishing one more time to see Shiro soon. Maybe he even prayed. It wasn't unlikely at the sight of the arena.

It was a massive thing, possibly it could fit the whole galra race in it. And even if that was an exaggeration, it didn't sound like one. The castle wasn't as impressive next to it, and maybe it was better like that because this was an infiltration mission. They knew they couldn't liberate all prisoners but they hoped to get out as many as they could while they got the intel they needed to track Galra fleets. Keith gulped, being almost happy they had to do this s secretly as possible.

"Ok, let's go… Paladins, get your lions moving," he ordered and they followed him as they leaved the castle on pods. Pidge's cloaking device helped them get through the minefield of sensors. "Paladins in," Keith informed Coran as they made it. "We should try to keep communication as sparse as possible, better not risk it."

"Understood," Coran answered and went silent.

Keith looked at his team. "Ok, Pidge, Allura and I will go look for the prisoners. Hunk and Lance get the information we need." He glanced at the green Paladin and she placed a device in Hunk's care.

"Connect it to the central control system and it will do the rest. It needs about two minutes to load but you will make it," she assured. Hunk seemed a bit nervous about the waiting time, didn't say anything though and they parted ways. Pidge leaded Keith's party, following hurriedly the map they had gotten their hand on. Keith and Allura followed closely, looking around as they made up for Pidge's blind race. The lack of guards roaming was unsettling.

"This place is so open it's weird."

"More like suspicious," Allura replied.

Keith nodded. Then they suddenly halted. A faint rumor had been heard from far away but now it had grown stronger.

"We're right beside the arena," Pidge explained. "I guess no one's around because they are watching…"

Allura felt a shudder and she was sure she wasn't the only one. However, before they could walk on, they heard steps. Keith was the first to react and dragged the girls with him, turning around the next corner and ducking behind a column. They had come off of their route but seemed to have evaded whoever came along, yet they still heard them in the corridor. "Pidge, are there any other ways?" Keith whispered. The hacker seemed annoyed at the question but nodded and looked at the map on her device.

"It will take longer…"

"Not longer than if we get caught," Keith hissed and examined the hall they were in now. There was a long window on one of the sides, he guessed it face to the arena. They would have to crawl under it to not be seen even if they didn't actually know if they could be seen from the arena. "Let's go," Pidge grumbled and slid to the floor right next to the wall, evading being in front of the window. Allura followed and then came Keith. They were half through when an opening door was heard and then roaring cheers. The sound was a raging tempest and went through them like an electric whip, so hard it hurt. The screams resonated in their ears and the girls froze out of pure fear. Keith, however, didn't. He didn't actually know why he did it but he jumped up and looked through the glass, down. Pidge and Allura looked at him shocked and tried to immediately tug him down.

Keith however didn't move. "Keith!" Allura called tried to keep her voice down, pulling at his arm. "Keith, we have to go!" Pidge hissed but finally stood up too. Keith wasn't listening.

"Keith, what the-"

Her words died in another wave of blaring cheers but the image before them muted it completely. It felt like the world had gone into slow motion as they were standing above the arena, seeing how Shiro jumped up and slid over the screeching beast, sinking his sword into its back and opening it like a book. Pidge fell down back on her knees, trembling.

Keith's eyes were wide open, his body trembled as he slowly turned to her, even though she wasn't even looking at him.

"I'm getting him out."