Determination
VOLTRON AU
Summary: A darkish AU where Voltron was formed under far more… unusual circumstances. Galra!Keith, Altean!Lance, Olkari!PidgeMatt, and Balmeran!Hunk
A/N: Bring your pitchforks and witchcraft everybody, and burn me at the stake. I'm sorry about being late but shit happens. Strep, Flu, school play, trio to NYC, school work, a stomach bug... I've been unable to write anything remotely pertaining to DotF, and while some fault goes to the reasons listed above, a lot of them blame goes to myself. I'm lazy and unmotivated, but I got a kick in the butt, and while it took a bit, and its a little short, I have finished the fourth chapter of Determinstion of the Few!
So without further ado, please enjoy!
-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-
Chapter 4: Trapped
-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-
Keittek hated his appearance, it was as simple as that. Sure, Galra came in multiple body types and shades of purple, but most could tell something was off just by looking at him. His body consisted of long legs and a long torso, but despite that, his height rested inches below any other Galra he met. The position of his ears was off as well; instead of resting one-half or three-fourths of the way up his head, his ears instead rested right above the junction where head met neck. All of this didn't even come close to the attention his eyes garnered - oh, his eyes! Like any Galra, he possessed a schlera the color of liquid amber, but the damning parts were his pupil and iris, two very lacking features in a Galra eye. Within his golden schlera rested two oval irises the color of churned coal dashed with amethyst, and the little pupil that could be distinguished angled sharply like a feline's. Keittek would admit it: a lot of his insecurities derived from his appearance and heritage.
The whole universe just wouldn't let him forget his father's sin.
Okay, he needed to halt that spaceship before it landed. Trying to distance himself from the depressing line of thoughts he was tracking, he glanced up from his lap to stare across the rocky cavern.
Shiro paced the small cave they were trapped in, growling like a feral animal. Whenever he reached the offending piece of rock causing their confinement, he would pound it with his fists. Each time his metal arm struck the stone, Keittek flinched a little, drawing his ears back. Each time he had to resist the guttural growl that tried to force its way out of his throat, remembering the unconscious Olkari on his lap at the last second. Eventually, he got sick of the repetitiveness of his companion.
"Will you stop already? You are only wasting energy and oxygen," Keittek snapped at the human after a particularly aggressive assault on the boulder. "Why don't you explore the cave instead of being so hung up on that rock?"
Shiro twitched, fisting his hands into tight balls. A low sigh whispered through the cave before the human faced the Galra, eyes burning with a muted fire. "You... you're right, Keittek. I'm being stupid. We should be exploring alternate routes instead of what I'm doing." He glanced at the small, unconscious Olkari by Keittek's side. "Besides, it's not just you and me in here."
The halfbreed barely recognized the flash of concern in Shiro's eyes, but when he did, he sighed as well. "I understand you're frustrated - I am too - but we at least owe Mattikeer here a little more shut-eye, so why don't I help?"
Shiro nodded jerkily at the suggestion before stiffly walking to the opposite end of the cave from the rock. Hidden by a few stubborn stalactites and stalagmites, a small opening in the rock wall tunneled further into the earth. The entrance was tight, but Keittek was almost sure he could squeeze by with his lean build. Shiro might be a little tougher, but Mattikeer would prove no problem at all. However, walking into the depths with no scouting or preparation did not sound like the safest option, even if wildlife on Earth was supposedly far more tame than on some of the planets he had seen.
Therefore, Keittek volunteered to explore the tunnel first.
While the cave entrance had been fairly dry if a bit musky-smelling, the tunnel seemed to hoard that moisture, and within seconds of crawling into the narrow space, his fur and suit were coated in a thick layer of slime. Disgusted at the feeling, his ears flattened to prevent any of it from gathering in his ear canals, but he continued moving. With each step he took, the heat also began to peak, causing him to pant more as the tunnel continued.
After several moments, long after the point where he would usually stop, the small tunnel began to widen, and in almost time at all, Keittek was faced with another cavern similar to where they came from. The uncomfortable heat had now become sweltering, but no longer did he sweat. No entrances were visible, though, so the tunnel had proved to be a bust. Disappointed, Keittek turned around and began to head back.
When he was facing the tunnel entrance, however, a tingle zapped through him. Startled, he backed up until he reached the middle of the cavern, next to a massive column, only to have his breath taken away when he spotted them.
Carved on the rocky faces of the room were very faint but elaborate murals as far as the eye could see, sprawling from the bottom of each wall and crawling around the flooring and column until they coalesced at the top. Etchings of blue, green, red, yellow, and black that seemed far older than time itself, the likings of which stirred something deep within himself.
When he studied the odd carvings, however, he began to notice a pattern. The main colors of these murals were red, every other mural painted in the one deep maroon of blood. Each painting depicted some sort of animalistic machine of the likes he had never witnessed, each individual color representing a vaguely different form of the same type of creature.
The Black one was the largest no doubt, its hulking form and red wings striking the opposing form of leadership, but also representing a shining beacon of hope in dark times, as represented by the sun that always heralded the black creature.
Blue and Yellow were next in size, with Yellow winning only by a small portion. The yellow's creature's paint seemed to be the longest lasting, hinting to him a strong and stubborn personality. In most of the murals, Yellow stood over the weak, guarding all those that came to rest under its protection. Blue's murals radiated a calmness that none of the other's achieved, almost laid back in a way, but in each scene it was shown as a fun-lover who put those around it as ease. Together, the Blue and Yellow ones were obviously the supporting columns of the group. Without them, it would all crumble.
Red and Green were easily the smallest. Green showed a fierce loyalty and problem solving capability, always shown to be the problem solver of a situation, always in the back but never lacking in attention. The brains of the group, if you will. Red, however, was wild and tenacious, a pure force of nature. If Black signaled hope and peace, Red represented freedom in the purest sense of the word. His paintings always included a symbol of nature or calamity, trying to convey the beast's wild nature.
So mesmerized by the art, Keittek barely registered his own body leading him up to a particularly prideful visage of Red. Above what looked to be a field of lava, Red stood proud and undaunted even as a volcano erupted behind him.
Proud and unafraid. Two words that Keittek so desperately wanted to describe himself with.
Before he knew it, his hand rested upon the mural creature's muzzle. Warmth spread through his body at the contact and something, some consciousness, seemed to shift around his mind. It seemed to have found what it was looking for, and the consciousness faded away with a rumble akin to a motor.
Suddenly, his vision was enveloped in white and he stumbled backwards, his nerves firing off one after the other, his entire being buzzing. When his vision cleared, he gasped in utter awe.
A dazzling array of colors enveloped the room like a kaleidoscope, dancing off each surface and bringing the murals to life. Each rendition of the beasts moved across the cave wall, dancing from mural to mural with graceful steps. One group of the lions gathered on the wall in front of him, expanding until they took up the wall and towered above him. Black, Blue, Yellow, and Green let out a soft roar of greeting, but once they were done, Red absolutely howled, almost leaping from the wall in all its lifelike glory.
"What the…," he whispered, the feeling from earlier gathering in his gut, trying to tell him something. Something important.
And then he was tumbling as the earth fell, grabbing for purchase and flailing his limbs as he decended into darkness, the echoing howl of Red and debris accompanying him.
He didn't quite know how long he fell, but he would garner that he had spent five minutes or more in that darkness before light burned his retinas and he had to close them against the pain.
Something softly brushed his consciousness with a rumbling purr. Once again, Red roared, but this time the source was much closer than it had been in the darkness.
Hesitantly, Keittek opened his eyes only to gape at the… the thing several hundred feet below him. He sprawled his limbs out, attempting to slow his decent - whether it was to prevent his death or spend more time to admire the sight, he didn't know.
Protected by a hexagonal dome of electro-lights, a massive mechanical beast sat on the only island in a boiling lake of lava, regal and very much alive - in whatever way a machine can be alive. Fire danced off its gleaming red coat of metal and lit its eyes with something old and wise.
So preoccupied with the majestic sight before him, Keittek no longer noticed the whipping winds or the agonizing heat or the fear that had pervaded his being before. His sights only had room for Red, the symbol of freedom and hope that he had just idolized on a cave mural.
Elated, he whooped as he grew closer to the sleek beast. He vaguely registered the shield disappearing and its mouth opening before he fell into another pit of darkness, for however short it lasted.
-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-
Shiro had once again taken to pacing, but this time his frustration focused around the too-small tunnel and the Galra that had entered and had yet to return. Almost thirty minutes ago, he had heard a scream echo faintly through the tunnels and he had scrabbled to try and force his body through. In his frantic struggle to get to Keittek, his upper right torso was covered in cave slime.
As time slugged on, he felt himself get more and more wound up thinking about what happened, whispering suspicions or hints of other noises that had been present besides the scream. But that was foolish-there were no lions in this part of the world, and certainly not that deep in a small cavern system. If he hadn't been able to fit through the tunnel, why would a lion?
But then again, his mind whispered, there might have been another entrance far more accessible to a large quadruped.
Growling, he nearly flung himself at the tunnel once again before a soft voice startled him out of his mindset.
"Sh… Sh-Shiro?" Mattikeer whispered, his voice faint and strained and his complexion near wilted. "You there?"
Shiro rushed towards the Olkari's side, his heart thundering in his ears. "I'm here," he whispered. His voice and presence settled Mattikeer, who noticeably relaxed into the rock.
"W-where are we?"
Shiro grit his jaw. "We're… we're trapped in a cave. We're on Earth, my home planet, but we were attacked. We fled here, but a boulder is now blocking our exit."
The Olkari's breath hitched, but otherwise he tried to stay calm. "I-is there not a way to escape?" He asked, panic slipping into his voice.
"Keittek went to look."
"O-oh," Mattikeer murmured before letting his eyes wander around the cave. "I hope he hurries."
"I do, too."
-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-
Keittek's harsh panting echoing around in the odd cockpit he awoke in. He grasped his side painfully and kept his other arm protected against his side. In the decent into the beast's "belly", he had suffered massive bruises and a broken arm caused by his entering the tube at such an angle that his momentum cupaused him to bounce off walls and rattle all the way down. Thankfully he hadn't hit his head on the way down, but it felt like he had hit about every other surface of his body.
When the aching dulled down enough that he could move without folding in on himself, he stood to inspect his new surroundings. A cooing growl rumbled inside his consciousness, like the beast was apologizing to him for his pain.
He still couldn't quite believe that he currently sat inside a mechanical beast so old that is probably predates the creation of the Galra Empire, but he needed to figure out what was going on so he could return to Shiro and Mattikeer.
Bracing himself on the center chair, he studied the symbols and numbers scrolling across the holographic-like screens. Next to the seat was a intention, likely for a 'key' of some sorts. After about another minute of exploration, his curiosity won over his logic, and he sat his tush down on the surprisingly comfy seat.
The rumbling from before once again returned and then quickly craciendoed, the creature crying out in triumph. With a jerk and a feeling akin to having the world pulled out from under you, he was flying.
The screens lighted up, turning from the previous green to instead a representation of what was going on outside. The lake of lava passed by in a blur of orange and red as Red flew over, aiming for a speck of light several yards away. Within seconds of exciting flight, Red burst free from its prison of ten thousand years (although Keittek didn't know that) with another enthusiastic roar.
Keittek roared along with it, pushing the handles by his seat forward, spurring the mechanical beast on faster, the freedom rushing through his very being and exhilarating him like nothing ever before.
-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-
Mattikeer hurt.
As he lay on the cool rocks of the cave, he felt his energy seeping out of him, leaving him weak and shaky. His eyes flitted about the cavern, seeing but not seeing, his mind too tired to fully register the impulses his eyes were sending. He felt the skin on his chest crackling as it expanded to fill his lungs with life-giving air. A papery tongue flitted out to wet his lips before abandoning the fruitless effort altogether.
Shiro continued to pace the cavern after a recent bout of frustration. That time, instead of just trying to squeeze through, he had decided to force his way through by expanding the tunnel with his metal arm acting as a hammer and chisel. Mattikeer seriously feared for the man's sanity at that point; by the time Shiro got to the other side using that method, any help he could have given would be nil if the Galra had been in trouble - if the Galra was only exploring deeper and was returning than his efforts still would have been for naught.
Humans could be so stupid sometimes, he realized, before returning to a dozing state.
The next time he regained consciousness, it would be to the scraping of stone on stone and the panicked voice of Shiro as the human saw the Red Lion for the very first time.
Mattikeer wouldn't stay aware long though. At the first sign of extraneous movement, his body shut down until it reached the minimum amount of function.
He would slip into a coma, as humans called it.
-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-
A/N: Okay, so a few of you were curious about how this group would reach Allura, Coran, and Altman!Lance, and I think I found a safe solution. Since we were never given Red's location before it was captured by the Galra, I took some artistic license in shuffling around their origin spots. I'll just say this: only Yellow will be in his original position, besides Black, who HAS to stay in he castle as a last defense (to prevent Voltron's formation in case Zarkon gets a hold of the lions). Red was at Earth, but can anyone guess where Blue and Green are? I'm sure they will be very obvious considering the plot I have developed.
Anywho, I have a question for my reviewers: should I have the paladins "nickname" their lions? If so, what are some name suggestions? I have some already in mind, but I want to ask. Just to let you know, I would like if you keep the names to either gender ambiguous ones, or follow my version of the lions' genders (Red, Green, Blue: female, Yellow, Black: male).
Please review and let me know about your opinions! Always like to hear from my readers. ;3
Happy Writing!
_-*Doodling Shadows
