A/N: Hey, guys! First, I want to say thank you to everyone who favorited, followed, or reviewed any of my stories. It still meant a lot that you guys liked them enough to do so, despite the fact that I wasn't the most faithful updater. I know its been awhile and I'm really sorry about that, but I'm back for now and hopefully this chapter will be fulfilling. Secondly, I just wanted to say that I certainly hope you guys have been enjoying the story so far and I hope you keep enjoying the story as well. I'm currently working on quite a few projects as well as my daily life, which might be why I take forever to update, but I'm still trying my hardest to get new chapters out in a somewhat reasonable timeframe. Hopefully the next chapter will be out soon, but I can't really make any promises, since it's going to have some action-y scenes and those aren't the easiest to translate from mind to page... Anyway, thank you for you patience and for sticking with this story and if you're new here, welcome! Now, without further ado, enjoy!

Keith awoke on his knees with a groan. Everything around him was completely dark, so he found himself blinking a few times to make his eyes were actually open. Keith slowly stood and tried to take cautious a step forward, but he was stopped by a sharp pain in his shoulder.

What the...?

Keith moved his arms to test for the source of the pain and found that he couldn't move them at all. Fortunately his eyes had adjusted enough for him to make out why.

Each of his wrists had an individual cuff surrounding it. Said cuffs were attached to slightly rusty metal chains that pulled his arms an unnatural distance behind his back. Keith tried to see where they were connected to, but they ran so far back that they were engulfed by the darkness around him.

It was a good thing he hadn't been able to move forward too, because he was standing on a lone circular platform that was surrounded by empty space for about 30 feet in any direction. After those 30 feet, Keith assumed there must have been the rest of the room, but with all the darkness be couldn't be sure.

Keith's heart started to race. He was alone, captured, and incapacitated with no way of getting to the team, and, worse than all that, he couldn't get to Shiro. He had to get to Shiro.

The thought that he was still on the castle ship, stuck in his own head, being forced to fight and hurt the people he cared about… it only served to make his heart beat faster.

Keith took a deep breath and clenched his fists.

Patience yields focus-"

"You should have said something, that way we could've gotten started sooner."

Keith squinted his eyes to be able to see through the darkness, but he really didn't have to. That voice was unmistakable, and when its owner stepped into the light Keith felt a sudden flash of anger flare through him.

"Lotor."

Keith tried to glare at the Galran prince, but recoiled when a single spotlight flashed above him, making him feel like some attraction at a zoo.

"What do want with me? What did you do to Shiro?!"

Lotor didn't answer, but instead just smiled and started walking toward Keith.

"Hey, Grape Turd, I asked you a question!"

Before Keith knew it the taste of iron had settled in the back of his throat, and the sound of its cause was echoing through the room.

"I didn't hurt your friends and I even fixed your face, so I demand a little more respect and gratitude than that."

Keith literally had to bite his tongue to keep from saying something he'd regret.

"Better. Now, I didn't do anything to Shiro, I simply used his condition to my advantage. If nothing else, I'm the one who freed him."

Lotor waited, tempting Keith to answer back, he didn't take the bait. Seemingly pleased, Lotor continued.

"As to what I want with you… I told you once that I wanted you as one of my highest held generals, but alas after today's events I doubt you'd go along willingly."

"That's because you're a sorry excuse for a living being and a piece of shi-"

In one swift movement Lotor punched Keith with all the force he could muster, which left the boy gasping for breath, while simultaneously releasing dry heaves, as his stomach was too empty to throw anything out.

It wasn't a fun combination.

Thankfully it seemed someone had extended his chains, so that he could fall to his knees comfortably, and retain the feeling in his arms.

"As I was saying, that wasn't how I wanted things to work out, but I didn't know that you were so irksomely nosey. That can be fixed however and your loyalties can, and will, be changed. So even if you will no longer work with me willingly, I will still get my way and you will still end up groveling at my feet and calling me master."

As he spoke Lotor moved his face closer to Keith's to taunt him, but Keith remained quiet, unsure of what Lotor's plan was. Keith decided that that must've been the wrong move, however, when Lotor backed away and attacked again.

With his hands tied up by the chains that were suddenly tight again, Keith could only sit back and take every punch and kick that Lotor threw his way. Eventually he couldn't even muster the strength to hold back his cries of pain. That was okay though, because he wasn't strong enough to scream either.

By the time Lotor had finished his onslaught he was breathing heavily, and Keith didn't even want to know what he looked like.

Keith was boiling on the inside, he could already tell his fuse was basically nonexistent and his patience had been stretched to its maximum. But it seemed that Lotor wanted him to blow up, so he kept a, relatively, cool head. Because if Lotor wanted it, then it couldn't be a good thing. On top of that, Keith knew from experience that he would never find a way out if he couldn't think rationally.

"There is no way out. No way out, but down!"

As if he had read Keith's thoughts of escape, Lotor suddenly grabbed Keith by his hair and forced it over the edge the platform. As Lotor pushed him forward, Keith felt like his arms were being pulled out of place, and he couldn't help the tears that fell.

"What do you want from me?"

"I want you to stare down this abyss below you. I want you to pretend that you can see all the way down to the bottom. Do you know what's at the bottom of that abyss, Keith?"

Lotor said Keith's name as if he were an old toy that he once loved to play with… it sent chills down Keith's spine. (The way Lotor held his hair made Keith feel like he was going to be bald soon.)

"All the way down there your friends are lying on the floor dead. Perhaps they tripped, and you couldn't catch them… or perhaps they were pushed, and you didn't do anything to stop me… you just sat back and watched it happen. And when it was over… you looked down at one friend in particular, and you smiled. You smiled at the way his little white piece of hair was dyed red, you laughed at the horrified looks on the faces of your friends."

Lotor loosened his grip and moved to whisper in Keith's ear, but Keith still felt like he was being held in place by an anchor.

"Can you see it now, Keith? Your precious Shiro, lifeless on the floor, his arms and legs simply strewn about in a most awkward and uncomfortable position, his eyes glazed over and full of pity that he couldn't save what matter most… his hand still in the position it was in when he reached out to you begging for help, for mercy… and blood. There was blood everywhere. Beautiful crimson. The iron wine spilling everywhere, covering the floors, gushing out of his-"

Keith exploded. Everything around him was red, and he couldn't hear anything over the roaring in his ears. He didn't even notice that his pupils had turned to sharp, straight, Galra like slits, and his sclera had turned a muddy yellow color.

"I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL GET OUT OF THESE CHAINS AND RIP YOUR THROAT OUT! I'LL BREAK THROUGH YOUR RIBCAGE AND SQUEEZE YOUR HEART UNTIL IT'S DRY!"

Keith pushed against the cuffs so hard that they cut into his hands, leaving blood to drip down his arms.

Lotor backed away and, for a moment, allowed a hint of fear to show through on his face. As quickly as the fear came, however, he was able to collect himself once more and evilly smiled down at Keith. The out of place satisfaction on Lotor's face brought him back from his angered state, leaving him dazed and breathless.

"It's over, paladin."

Keith tried to formulate some sort of reply or remark, but the words wouldn't form, and his heart felt like it had stopped.

He had messed up.

He had played right into Lotor's hands.

And now he was left helpless, staring at Lotor's back as he walked off.

"Initiate stage one."

Keith assumed that someone must've been listening in or observing them, because, the moment Lotor gave his orders, the platform beneath Keith split down the middle and opened up.

With nothing supporting him, Keith was left dangling from his chains. They felt tighter than ever around his wrists and his arms felt like they were being pulled out of their sockets.

I won't scream… I won't give him that satisfaction.

"Oh, and Keith? Thanks for playing. I'll see you on the side… I hope."

That was the last thing Keith heard before his chains were released and gravity plunged him into the dark below.

He screamed then.

Shiro shot out of bed, Keith's screams from his nightmare were still fresh in his mind. He was breathing rapidly, his heart was racing, and he was completely drenched in a cold sweat.

It had only been a couple hours since they had officially started looking for Keith, but since Lotor disappeared through what they could guess was a wormhole, considering how far he had gotten in such a short time, nobody except Allura could really do anything. The team had convinced him to take a quick nap,so he would be refreshed when they found and had to rescue Keith, but Shiro was pretty sure he was more tired now than when he went to sleep.

Once he had his breathing relatively under control, Shiro made his way to the bathroom to wash his face with some cold water. He turned on the water, collected some in his hands, and brought it up to his face. Right before the water came in contact with his skin, Shiro closed his eyes.

That was mistake number one.

The moment his eyelids pressed together flashes of his nightmares came flooding back to him.

Keith was unconscious on the floor, drowning in his own blood. His body a mangled mess, having been pulled apart and tested by Lotor and his goons. Day after day of tortures, incisions, and injections, all because Shiro couldn't save him.

Keith's own lifeless and beady eyes boring into Shiro's.

"Why didn't you save me? I was counting on you, but you never came. Everyday I told myself, he's thinking of me. He'll be here in no time. I only stopped believing when I took my last breath. You finally gave up on me!"

Somehow those hadn't even been the worst. The most horrifying dream had been one where Shiro was right next to Keith, but unable to do anything but watch him.

In that dream Keith was in a dark room, struggling to fight his rising heart rate, chained up and being taunted and beaten into submission by Lotor until he broke and released a monster within. The whole time Shiro could feel Keith's pain, not just physically, but emotionally and psychologically too. He could feel how scared and vulnerable he was, could see how Lotor brought out the worst in him. In the end, despite how hard he tried, Keith ultimately fell to Lotor, and was dropped at least fifty feet down. Shiro woke up before Keith hit the ground, but he could've sworn he heard the sound nonetheless.

Compared to the others, why was this one the worst? Because it was real. It was the most realistic out of all of them in everything from Keith's emotions and thoughts, to Lotor's actions and motivations. It combined all of Shiro's deepest fears of losing Keith, either to some evil or the demons Keith held within himself, but most of all because the whole time Shiro was right there, and he was powerless to help the boy he had considered a real member of his family for so long.

All these memories surfaced at once, causing Shiro to ditch the water and go back to see if Allura had made any sort of progress. He was just at his door when he heard a noise from inside the room behind him. He took a step backward and turned around to see where it was coming from.

Mistake number two.

Standing in front of him was Keith… but a different version of him.

This Keith was taller and more muscular. He had sharp slits for eyes and yellow sclera, knife sharp pointed teeth and claws that could rival even the toughest wild animals. From his head he had grown a pair of almost catlike ears, but not in the cute way, and, the more Shiro looked at him, the more purple he seemed to become.

It was Keith, but it was a Keith who had given in to the dark side of his lineage. The Keith who had accepted that in the midst of a war sacrifices were going to have to be made… and it was victory or death. It was the Keith that everyone, including Keith, had been at least a little afraid of, without even meaning to.

Above all, it was the Keith who had no problem using Shiro's moment of hesitation to go on the attack, and rip his throat out in one quick swoop. Laughing all the while and relishing in the Da Vinci worthy painting of Shiro's blood on the wall.

Keith wasn't sure how long he'd been falling, and screaming, for, but his throat was already so dry that it hurt.

After about five minutes, however, he gave up on the novelty of screaming and stopped bracing himself for an impact he was sure was never coming.

He was wrong.

It seemed as if the moment he let his guard down, he was immediately blindsided.

Figures.

The pain came all at once. It was like nothing Keith had ever felt before, and neither in the moment, nor years later would he be able to verbally and accurately describe it… but "Like hitting concrete" was a good place to start.

For a minute, he thought it was concrete. Afterall, it was hard like concrete, it hurt like Hell-erm- concrete, and Keith was pretty sure it could've broken his bones like concrete too. In fact, he was surprised it hadn't killed him already.

So what deterred him from thinking it was concrete? Simple: He started sinking.

Well, I'm sinking pretty fast, so at least I know it's not liquid concrete… What is up with me and concrete?

(It was probably the concussion)

Oddly enough, as he was immersed in the mystery liquid all of Keith's pain slowly disappeared, he could feel his previous wounds mending themselves in a moment's notice, and his energy that had once been zapped away by Lotor was returned.

As the pain subsided an uncomfortable chill ran up Keith's spine and quickly turned to something much worse: a burning cold that took him right back to reality and revealed exactly what this substance was.

Quintessence.

He was sinking in quintessence.

There was no air in quintessence.

He started to panic.

Keith against the strange liquid-energy and barely managed to kick his way up through the surface. He took a deep inhale as he did so, and began to shiver violently as he tried to catch his breath.

Keith hadn't thought that swimming to the top of the quintessence would have taken that much out of him, but all of the sudden his entire body, including his mind, felt like lead. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to stay afloat, he had no choice but to take one last deep breath, and let himself sink.

Initially the quintessence had, obviously, been freezing cold, but the further Keith sunk, the hotter it got. He was too weak and disoriented to care, so he just kept going.

But all of the sudden the water went from being somewhat warm, to boiling hot. The sudden change caused Keith's eyes to fly open, and for him to take a sharp breath. In the process getting a lungful of fluid.

Keith's hands flew to his throat and his mind began to race.

He was drowning. He had to get out. There was no way out.

Come on, Keith. You need to calm down. Patience yields… Happiness? Hunger? More patience? No, that's not right…. Focus yields patience? Ahh, that sounds wrong too.

How could I forget? That one guy I know says it all the time… What was his name? Ki? Midori? Kuro?

Try as he might Keith couldn't seem to remember the phrase, person, or anything else for that matter. In fact, he couldn't even remember where he was or how he had gotten here.

Keith looked up and saw the fleeting image of a man with a tuft of white hair and scar across his nose. Keith couldn't pinpoint a name, but he could tell this man was important. He slowly reached out his hand, but the image faded away just before he could touch it.

One-by-one, more images began appearing: Some Cuban guy in blue, a woman with white hair, a short kid, a bulky guy with a headband, some dude with an orange mustache, and the man with the scar again, only this time he appeared to be gently smiling down at someone. One-by-one they all disappeared.

He had no idea who these people were, but Keith could tell he had begun crying anyway.

He began to lose consciousness, but stubbornly reached his hand out once more to touch the man with the scar on his nose, the only one that had yet to disappear.

Keith couldn't tell if he had touched it, because it faded to black alongside everything else.

He mouthed something he couldn't quite make out for himself, and gave in to his exhaustion and the screaming in his lungs.

Keith's back finally bumped into something solid underneath it and, in a moment, everything he knew was lost in the darkness.

Shiro shot up in bed and immediately his hands flew to his throat. He was once alain breathinghardy, gasping for air as if he had been drowning. It took him a long time to register that he was fine, that dream had been so real.

Correction. Both of them, had been so real.

A dream in a dream… great.

Shiro looked to the side at his clock. They didn't have much point in space when it came to telling time, but they still held the ability to keep track of its endless passing. When Shiro had finally been convinced to take a break and sleep the clock had read "11:56 PM." Now it read "1:55 AM."

An two hours had passed, but Shiro was no more rested because of it. If nothing else, he was actually more weary and losing hope fast. Afterall, if they had made any sort of progress in their search, the team would have woken him. Shiro was sure of that.

He was also sure that every second he wasted, was just another opportunity for Lotor to hurt Keith, and for Keith to slip away.

Still, Shiro couldn't stop from taking another second to pinch himself before he left for the bridge.

"Hey, Shir- WHOA! You look like crap!"

Allura practically flew to Lance's side from where she was standing… and elbowed him in the ribs. She hit him so hard that he dropped to the floor.

"I appreciate it, bbt didn't have to do that Allura. If I look anything like how I feel then Lance is probably right."

From the floor Lance weakly spoke.

"You couldn't have said that before she hit me?"

Allura ignored Lance and walked closer to Shiro.

"As much as I hate to say say it, Lance is right. What happened to you?"

"Nightmares. Same as always, but also different somehow?"

Allura grabbed Shiro by the shoulders and looked right in his eyes.

"Different how?"

"It's not important right now. What is important is realizing that Keith is on serious danger."

Lance, having gotten up from the floor, followed Allura to Shiro, his eyebrows were knit with worry and confusion.

"Um, we already know that Shiro. I mean, come on, he's with Lotor. Of course he's in danger!"

Shiro sighed deeply and walked past Allura and Lance as if he couldn't even see them there. He only stopped when he got to the window at the very edge of the bridge.

Shiro lifted his arm up and gingerly touched the window, as if he was reaching for something out of his grasp.

"It's more than just knowing he's somewhere dangerous, Lance. It's like… I can feel him. I can feel how scared he is, how alone he is. I can- I can feel him slipping away. Losing himself with every passing second. And if you would have seen what I saw, had the dreams that I've had… you'd fear the worst too."

The room went silent except for the sounds of breathing. Nobody moved as the atmosphere around them tensed.

The silence was suddenly cut down when Allura snapped her fingers, making both Shiro and Lance jump.

"That's it!"

When it didn't seem like Allura would elaborate, Lance and Shiro voiced their questions at the same time.

"That's what?"

"How did I not see this before?"

Allura continued to ignore them and began typing on one of the main consoles.

"See what?"

"It was so obvious."

"Princess!"

Allura stopped her typing and suddenly whipped around. A noticeable blush rose to her cheeks when she realized how she had been acting.

"My apologies, but I think I've figured out the key to locating Keith."

Shiro immediately stepped forward.

"What is it?"

"It's you, Shiro. Or, more specifically, your connection to Keith. I already knew that you and Keith had a history before becoming Paladins, and I knew that you are also both connected as Black Paladins, but I thought to bring these connections together."

Slowly Shiro began to put the pieces of Allura's thoughts together.

"So you think I can connect to Keith and find him?"

"Not on your own, no. What I'm saying is that those connections together are already so strong that you have gained the ability to see the way Keith sees. So if we utilize your bonds through each other and the Black lion alongside my Altean magic, then there's a good chance we could find Keith anywhere in the universe."

Allura paused to allow any interjections, none of which came, and continued.

"But our abilities rely on the strength of your connection. If you have any sort of doubts-"

"I don't."

Allura's face relaxed and a slight smile spread across her face.

"Then allows us to begin right away."

Lotor walked down a long, dimly lit corridor, only stopping to enter through a single door at the end of the hall. Behind the door was a small, square observation room, overlooking another deep (currently dark) room. Sitting in front of a small control panel was a very scared looking Galra soldier. At the very end of the room was a massive, reinforced iron door.

Lotor turned to the soldier and spoke.

"Open the door. I wish to see our little experiment."

The soldier whipped around, looking at Lotor like he was crazy.

"W-with all due respect, sir, I'm not sure that's very… safe idea. We've already sent five high ranking soldiers and three others to check on him and none have come back."

Lotor quickly dismissed the soldier, though his patience was running thin.

"That's why I have come in person."

"I don't doubt you could've tamed him at one point, sir, but he's becoming more unstable by the minut-"

Lotor cut across the soldier, continuously telling himself that he couldn't kill the soldier because then he'd have no one to open the door.

"Good! Now open the door or I won't hesitate to kill you and find someone else who will."

"Y-yes, sir. My apologies, sir."

As the Galra soldier pressed the buttons on his console, the bug door, very noisily, unlocked.

Lotor walked through the door and descended the long stairs that led further into the darkness. There weren't that many steps, but getting to the bottom still felt like entering a new world. It was dark and empty, desolate and cold. Perfect for keeping monsters in, and victims out.

The moment Lotor's foot left the last step, entering him fully into the room, something jumped out at him from the cover of the shadows. Despite the surprise it caused, Lotor didn't do so much as flinch and the beast landed right in front of him, holding a bloody Marmoran knife to his throat.

They stood like that for a moment before realization flashed across the beast's face. He took a knee and bowed before Lotor.

"My Lord."

"As much as I love seeing you now to me, we are equals now. At least we will be, if you pass one last test."

"What do you require, my prince."

Lotor walked around so that he was standing behind the figure.

"Voltron's precious leader is coming here to kill me. I want you to intercept him and keep him busy long enough for me to put my plans into motion. Should you kill him, then you'll finally become my top general, and everyone will know the name, Keith Kogane."

As the lights flashed on, Keith turned toward Lotor, revealing a sinister smile and a sadistic look on his eyes.

"Nothing… would please me more."