March 17th, 2018, Saturday.
It seemed to Krolia that Pidge's pulse slowed with every piece of armor that was extracted from her body. And, yeah, every piece of armor pulled off was another milliliter of blood added to Keith's bandages. But, because they were probably the only thing stopping Pidge from bleeding out of the spot, the two females let them be, refusing to replace them with REAL bandages.
Eventually, the last piece of armor remaining was the breast plate, and, being the biggest piece of armor, was hardest to pull from off. After all, Pidge was laying on the ground. And they couldn't risk moving her into a upright position without hurting her. But, as Allura stated, Shiro had already hurt her, so how much more pain would this cause? It probably wouldn't even amount to how much pain Pidge had already been forced into.
"I still don't like this." Krolia snarled as both women leaned The Green Paladin gently onto a pod.
"I know. But for the sake of healing her…no matter. Krolia, push that button right there…that's the release lever. And here we are." Allura pursed her lips, pulling the armor partly off. Unfortunately, there was a problem. Her arms. "Can you raise Pidge's right arm, I'll lift her left. On three we'll use our free hands to lift up her chest plate. One tick. Two tick."
"Three!" Both females pulled the armor fully off, letting Pidge's limp arms fall back to her sides. "There we go." Krolia sighed, leaning back on her haunches. "So, where are the jumpsuits we usually outfit them with before stuffing them into a pod?"
"I'll get it…" Allura opened a drawer on the bottom of the healing pod before finding the proper size of garments.
"Are you kidding me?" Krolia groaned. "That'll be really baggy on her! Which moron taught you to pick suit sizes?"
"My father." Allura flashed back. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing. Help me get this on her, 'Kay? I'll show you why it looks like it'll fit…fit…"
"Shiro." Wrong choice of words.
Allura flinched visibly before nodding. "Yes. Just like that."
After some hastily removing of Keith's makeshift bandages, the two aliens managed to put Pidge into the suit.
"I still think it looks three times her size." Krolia deadpanned.
"But look at this." Allura leaned Pidge forward gently before pointing to a pattern on the back of the outfit. "See the spinal cord printed onto this cloth? If you push it…" Allura's fingers gently pressed onto the design and the outfit shrunk to skin-tight. "Ta-da! Perfect fit. Now, keep Pidge still for a moment…" she pressed a button on the pod, which magically opened. "Let's get her into here."
Krolia hesitated for a brief second to feel for Pidge's pulse. It was hardly beating at all. "And not a moment too soon." Krolia murmured as she helped Allura press Pidge into the pod.
At that moment, Hunk ran in, swear forming on his face. "Guys, my lion just roared for no reason and-!" Hunk froze, staring at the three females. "What in the world just happened to Pidge?"
"So."
"So." Shiro repeated, raising his eyes to glare at Keith and Lance.
"You're Haggar's puppet." Keith continued.
"I guess so." Shiro frowned. He remembered EVERYTHING that he did, he had been in control the entire time. But he wasn't going to tell THEM that.
Keith pounded his fist against the glass in fury, causing both Lance and Shiro to jump. "You idiot! Did you have any idea that Haggar was manipulating you?!"
"I guessed. But no, not until recently."
"You coulda killed Pidge!" Lance broke in, glaring at him.
"I'm not entirely sure he didn't." Keith rolled his eyes, feeling queasy as he remembered the blood that had flooded from Pidge's stomach.
Lance nodded stubbornly before turning back to Shiro. "I don't think that you're OUR Shiro."
"You're right about that." Shiro grunted. "I'm part of something called Operation Kuron."
"Clone." Keith glared. Shiro-the real Shiro-had taught him well. "Kuron is Japanese for clone."
Shiro nodded. "Yeah. So, I guess, you should call me Kuron."
Keith glared at Kuron, crossing his arms. "Well, then. Do you know where OUR Shiro is?"
"Only that the Black Lion teleported him somewhere safe." Kuron admitted. "Other then that…I don't know."
"Why did the Black Lion teleport him away?" Keith demanded, pounded the glass again.
"I don't know." Kuron shrugged, glancing at his hands. "I think it was so you could get a promotion or something. I don't know everything."
"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Lance smirked. The kind boy was acting unusually angry, furious. Because of what Kuron had done to Pidge. The Paladins had fallen under the routine of always having someone stand near Pidge, like a bodyguard. It was usually Hunk or real Shiro, the only ones who really understood her. So now that they had failed to protect her…
"Hey, can I pull this out of my shoulder? You know…without bleeding to death." Kuron gestured to Keith's knife. "Wait, does it even matter if I die or not?"
"Do whatever you like, man." Keith scowled. "We'll wait until Pidge wakes up to decide what in King Groggery the Infirm's name to do with you."
"Geez. How many Alien phrases do you know?" Lance asked, raising an eyebrow.
"A lot, actually." Their attention drifted off of Kuron for a moment as Keith responded. "Kolivan and Mom have taught me well."
"Oh. I still can't believe I flirted with your Mom! How old IS she?"
Keith shrugged helplessly before turning his attention back to Kuron. "Listen. I don't care what you do to yourself. If you die or live. I just don't want to be here when you decide to escape." He snapped.
Kuron flinched before nodding. "Yeah. Okay. Deal. You won't be here when I escape."
"Hey, wait a moment!" Lance gasped. "This entire time you were dropping hints left and right that you were a clone."
"And you still managed not to realize until now." Kuron sighed.
"Lance, let's go." Keith coldly grasped the younger Paladin's wrist and pulled him out of the room, leaving Kuron to stare after them.
"Gosh." Lance sighed, leaning his head against the elevator door. "Gosh." He repeated. "Gosh. That guy's insane."
"Yeah."
"You know ten minutes ago when we were talking about Kuron and you mentioned is being scared because you were going to fly into some shields?"
"Yeah?"
"What was going to be your point? And WHEN did that happen?"
"Lance…"
"I need to know, Keith. Tell me."
"My point was I'm sorry for any hardships I may or may not have caused you. I didn't realize you didn't even know what I did went unnoticed by you guys."
"Yeah…but…when did this happen?"
"The battle for Nagzela." Keith sighed, and the elevator doors opened at the fifth floor. "It was…look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to mention it if you didn't know."
"Keith, we're family. We're basically each other's least favorite brother. We have to know what's going on in each other's lives."
"No, we don't."
"Listen. We're like one, big happy family. Families are always there for each other. We've got the Dad, Shiro, the grumpy teenager, you, the Space mother, Krolia, the two obnoxious sisters, Allura and Pidge, and insane the brothers. Hunk and I. See? We're related."
"Where do Coran and Lotor fit in?"
"Oh, you mean the crazy uncle and the oldest sister's betrothed?"
"Wait, Allura and Lotor…betrothed?!"
"Might as well be. They're seriously serious with each other. I'm fairly certain they kissed in Oriande."
"What's Oriande?!"
"Geez! Where've you been all this time?"
"The Blade of Marmora."
"Rhetorical question, Zu Lee! You gotta keep up!"
"What?"
"Uh…never mind. You wouldn't get it. Probably."
Keith snorted and waved his hand, opening the doors to the infirmary.
To his joy, he could see Pidge safely resting in a healing pod, Krolia, Hunk, and Allura hovering nearby.
"Hey, girls and Hunk! How's Pidge?" Lance asked, resting one hand on Pidge's pod.
"She's doing fine." Allura told them, glancing up at them. "It may take her a day or two to fully recover and…wait, someone should tell Coran and Lotor what happened."
"Everyone, please report to the infirmary." It still amazed Keith how the castle could pick up his words and carry them to whoever he was thinking of.
Within moments the two other males were there, glancing around the room. Lotor was the first to spot Pidge and frowned. "Why is the child in a pod? Why was I not informed?"
Coran stared in surprise, fiddling with his mustache. "Well, I'll be a Waggler's horn. Princess, what happened?"
Allura sighed, her eyebrows knitting together before she hopped in on the tale.
Author's note; Thank you to Ultimate-Hunter-Guyver for the chaprer idea!
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