Zarkon had to admit he was impressed by just how viciously the Red Paladin fought. The intensity reminded him of—.
"You fight like a galra soldier." he said. He had wanted to say, "You fight like my son did."
When he captured Voltron, he would have to try to turn the Red Paladin to his side. No sense in attempting to find any more new paladins than necessary. That would be incredibly inefficient.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Haggar and her druids worked their spells together and they could feel the wormhole being destabilized. Separate the pieces of Voltron were vulnerable, and separate they should land. It had nearly been scrubbed were it not for Haggar's experience preventing her former apprentice from ruining things. They rested.
"What was with you Ishael?" she said.
"I felt him," she said. Haggar's breath caught. There was only one him to whom Ishael could have felt and lost her concentration. Haggar snapped her fingers and a divination circle was drawn. She and Ishael stood in the center. They focused their energies and the quintessence made the circle glow before space sped past them revealing a rocky barren place and a Red Lion. Emerging from the lion was the source. The black-flame quintessence soul tinged red from its connection to the Red Lion, indicating—.
"Work on finding the other lions, I must report this to Emperor Zarkon," Haggar said. She walked the short walk down the hallway to the lift which took her to Zarkon's throne room. The would-be emperor of all, sat in on his throne brooding.
"What are the odds that one of our own is that paladin?" Zarkon asked.
"None," Haggar said, "I have seen him, and he is the same as the Champion on the outside. However, he is not the same where it matters. I have located Lotor's soul." Zarkon pondered this and smirked.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Keith limped past his lion. She looked pretty rough, and he was barely able to sense her at all. That's when he felt a pull like the blue lion but not meaning there was another lion not too far from his position! Keith trudged across the barren landscape to find the Black Lion and a weak Shiro out front of it.
"Shiro!" Keith rushed and checked on his pulse, finding it weak and thready. Keith scrambled to think of any sort of first aid, but it all came up blank when glowing hand prints were involved.
"Keith, if I don't make it out of this, I want you to lead Voltron," he said.
"We both know that would be a bad idea," Keith said, "You're going to be ok."
"You're still bad at lying little brother," Shiro said. Keith winced. Black let him in so that he could drag out the first aid kit. He let his mind wander. Voltron was supposed to be the ultimate weapon in the universe and Zarkon just ripped them asunder like it was nothing. Did the Black Paladin, former Black Paladin have that much power? If so, why did he even need Voltron. He took down the Red Lion easily enough even as just a Galra versus a giant robotic cat—ouch! Keith looked down to see his hand was hovering over the glowing wound and it had zapped him, but it was glowing less. Keith kept his hand over it and he could feel the flow. It was almost like pulling poison from a wound. He could try it. He focused and while it hurt his arm the purpled energy flowed out until Shiro's breathing became easier. He fell over from the shock to his own system and —
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Pain, unbelievable pain ripped through his whole being. He saw a pair of yellow eyes with red markings on her blue-violet face. Betrayal, why was she doing this him!
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
"Long live Altea!" a blast ripped through his chest and he blacked out as a Galra trooper decapitated the man in blue and white with a cannon like blaster in his hands.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
"Mother!" A violet hand reached for a woman with long hair. Her pointed ears revealed she was Altean.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Keith snapped out of this strange fit to see the Black Lion was in motion.
"You alright?" Shiro asked. Keith sat up.
"I think whatever that witch hit you with messed with my head," Keith said shaking said body part. His mother had been human.
"How did you draw that out?" Shiro said.
"I just guessed it was like pulling out poison," Keith said. His whole right arm hurt as if he had over worked it.
"Black decided to let me fly her and we picked up Red before getting off that planet. Good thing too, I spotted a Galra cruiser before we took off," Shiro said.
"And they didn't chase us?" Keith asked.
"Not yet," Shiro said, "I hope they won't, we're not in any shape to run." Keith could feel Red's reassurances and he sat down going over whatever the heck those images were. They sure as hell weren't Shiro's memories. Shiro would have never felt betrayed by that Druid witch doing something to him, and that had been an Altean man who shot whoever through the chest. Alteans have been gone for 10,000 years. Why would the druid's spell show him that? Was it some sort of head game? Because it worked. It almost reminded him of—.
"Sh-o, Come—Shir-." It was static but it was clearly the Castle of Lions. Allura and Coran! They'd found them.
"Allura! Coran!"
"Shiro! We have you and the Red Lion on the Radar. Is Keith alright? He's not answering our hails?" Coran asked.
"He's fine. Red's too damaged to fly, so he's in Black with me and Black's carrying Red," Shiro said. A worm holed opened up before them and Shiro dove through relived to see the Castle on the other side as it shut behind them. He pulled the Black Lion in for a landing and set the Red Lion down gently.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
"So, Hunk and I were at the bottom of an ocean and there were these totally hot Alien babes—."
"Who shot Mr. Smooth-Stuff here down in no time flat."
"Hunk!" Keith ate his food quietly as Shiro and the other two chatted.
"Where did you to land?" Hunk asked.
"It was rocky and lifeless," Keith said, "We were lucky Black wasn't totaled."
"What did Black have to carry Red out like a baby?" Lance asked. Keith rolled his eyes. "She totally did!"
"Enough, Keith managed to get me up and moving, but he's not Hunk or Pidge, which means he can't do the same to his lion," Shiro said. Keith's arm was still sore from it.
"But I wonder how you knew to draw the quintessence out," Allura said.
"I guess it was like treating a venomous animal bite," Keith said with a shrug.
"How did you do that?" Lance said.
"It was already trying to zap me, so I just focused on it," Keith said.
"Does that mean Keith can use quintessence like those druids can?" Hunk asked.
"Maybe, or it could just indicate an increased sensitivity for quintessence," Coran said stroking his mustache.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
When they found Pidge and her little….art works, everyone was so relieved to see her that they were kind enough not to comment on the scrap "art." Well, most were,
"Bwhahaha! You totally nailed Mullet's expression with this!" Lance said pulling out his cellphone and snapping photos of the representations of the others made out of scraps and rocks.
"She certainly managed to give yours the same IQ," Keith said with a straight face.
"She sure—hey!" the others burst out laughing and the Red Paladin laughed along too. Lance punched his right shoulder making the whole arm tingle. He must not have hidden his grimace well enough.
"Dude, are you ok?" Lance asked.
"Just a side-effect of that quintessence," Keith said shaking his arm out. Shiro frowned but said nothing.
— — —
"Keep up with me, slow-poke!" He raced after a girl with white hair and pink marks under her eyes. She fell and began crying and he began to cry a little too, not sure what to do. Then her Daddy came over and began to sooth her. His Daddy came too, towering over everyone but he wasn't scary. He was Daddy! He smiled up at his father who smiled back and crouched down to ruffle his white hair into his eyes. Out of the shadows he could see his Daddy's face clearly—
— — —
Keith sat up panting. Zarkon! Why was he dreaming about a child of Zarkon? It was better than the recurring dream of whoever memories these were's death, like the last six nights, but it was still unsettling to see Zarkon.
That little girl she was—He had to find out. Keith padded out of his room, and found Allura was alone in the room were her father's holographic consciousness once was.
"Oh, Keith. What are you doing up at this hour?" Allura said.
"I could ask you the same," Keith said.
"It's silly, really. I just feel closer to him here even though it was never really him here in the first place," Allura said. Keith looked down.
"You have something on your mind?" Allura said.
"I've been having strange nightmares, well not nightmares but dreams since I helped Shiro," Keith said.
"And your arm's been bothering you too," Allura noted. Keith winced, "What kind of dreams?"
"I think they're someone else's memories because the first one is them dying. It feels like everything is being ripped from me," Keith said. Allura placed a hand over her mouth.
"How long have you been having this dream?"
"Since I was a child," Keith admitted, "It started after my parents died."
"Any other dreams?"
"Tonight had a little girl who looked like you in it and Zarkon was there with I think it was your father," Keith said, "You were crying." Allura gasped.
"I was playing with Zarkon's son that day. Our mothers had been friends," Allura said.
"Was she a galra?" Keith asked.
"No. Before Zarkon betrayed Voltron, betrayed Altea, he'd been considered a great ally as both the Black Paladin and husband of one of the best Altean pilots outside of the Paladins. His son was half-Altean. He died shortly before Coran and I were sealed," Allura said, "He'd been my friend."
"What was his name?" Keith asked. He was almost afraid to hear it.
"It was—." The proximity alert we set off. Keith and Allura raced to the control room to see Coran already there and Lance sliding in, face mask still on, and eye mask slid up on top of his head, but his armor was on. Hunk stumbled in next with Pidge and Shiro on his heals, both of them in armor. Hunk mostly in his armor.
"Status report?" Allura asked.
"With Pidge and Hunk's help, the Lions are in fighting shape. The Castle is not," Coran said.
"We're going to need to—."
"Form Voltron." the Paladins said in chorus along with Allura who gave them all a withering look. Keith bolted for his room and was pulling is armor on as he ran to get to his hanger.
The others were already out but his lion was fastest, he would catch up. He slid into his controls and Red roared.
"Let's go, girl," Keith said before he pressed the controls forwards and rocketed out into space.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Keith dodged laser fire and returned fire with the primary laser of his lion while Lance froze over other parts of the Calra Star Cruiser. Red took a direct hit which caused Keith to be violently thrown into another flash.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
He was in a craft in which the panels were lit up violet. He was facing heavy fire. Why were they being like this! He had to make them see that this was for the best!
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
"—eith! Keith!" Keith snapped out of it and barely avoided being captured. He took out a few smaller fighters.
"Let's form Voltron!" Shiro yelled. Keith narrowed his eyes and focused. Voltron formed but it didn't feel like it normally did. They were barely able to do the one attack they needed before it all fell a part. Keith knew it was him but he had no idea what was going on with him. The Galra were retreating but Team Voltron was hesitant to call that a victory.
"Keith, what's going on with you?" Shiro asked once they were all in the hanger.
"I don't know." Keith grabbed his head as he fought off another flash.
"What's happening?" Lance asked.
"Keith's been like this since he managed to take the quintessence out of my wound," Shiro said.
"Is it possible that whatever they meant to do to you is now affecting Keith?" Pidge said.
"What can we do?" Hunk asked. Keith collapsed just as Allura and Coran arrived.
"Something's wrong with Keith!" Lance said.
"I know," Allura said, "It didn't seem to be this bad before." She picked Keith up and held him as if he weighed nothing to her and everyone went to the medbay. He was placed in a cyropod and Coran began to run an analysis on the unconscious Red Paladin.
"Can you think of what curse they had tried to give you?" Allura asked Shiro.
"I had some pretty bad flashes of memory from when I was…but why would this affect Keith that badly? His past wasn't the greatest but it shouldn't be enough to cause this," Shiro said.
"Keith has a past?" Lance asked.
"Keith lost his parents when he was four and bounced around foster families until he ended up with mine," Shiro said, "Some of the other families had been….bad, but not so bad to be traumatic this many years later."
"Maybe it's screwing up because it was meant for you and that energy is in Keith?" Pidge said.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Haggar snarled with frustration. Even with a weakened Voltron, they were unable to win. No matter, she would have to devise a particularly useful Robobeast in the mean time. Yet, she also needed to get that Paladin. That vile lesser flesh form was a disgrace . But she'd need some tests to make sure transferring a soul was possible beyond a simple Robeast conversion. Yes, more data was needed. Hmmm. That could be interesting.
