Summary:

Team Voltron has their original Red Paladin back, except this time as a prisoner. How can they convince him that they're actually on the same side?

Kioreth stared at his cell walls and snarled. How could he have been so careless! When his mother got him out of this, he'd be grounded until he had cubs of his own. Then there was his grandfather's reaction. The only grandson of Zarkon, he was looked at as a sort of crown jewel. He'd be rescued and his kidnappers would be sorry.

Then he was disgusted at himself for that thought.

He didn't need to be rescued! He'd rescue himself. Kioreth had made the mistake of thinking Xandar was safe. He'd never make that mistake again! He needed to calm down.

Patience yields focus.

Wha-Where had that come from? Whatever, it was good advice. Kioreth took a breath in to calm down his temper. He'd save that for his captors. The room his cell was in was not always a cell. It was too long and skinny. This meant that this was probably a storage room of sorts. He had also been kidnapped by the Paladins of Voltron. Ergo, he was on their Castleship. A castleship with the ability to wormhole. Great. That meant he was probably half the galaxy away from Xandar at this point. That also meant the door lock would be easier to hack open. He reached for his blade and it was gone. Of course they'd take the comrictain blade! Foca, that was a pain. Kioreth found the door and noticed the interior release had recently been removed and hastily at that. Kioreth pried the covering panel off and looked at the mess of wires. He found the blue ones, because Sinecline told him it was always the blue ones, and twisted them together to cause the door to slide open with a zap to his hands. Son of a— He was free!

Kioreth stuck his head out into the halls and had no idea where to go. The air was eerily void of any scents, including his own. He took a few steps down the hall only for the Blue and Yellow Paladins to be standing there waiting in full armor along with a training robot. What? He charged them, dodging their attempts to stop him and he was blindsided by the droid. He kicked it away and ducked a grab from the Yellow Paladin and used his momentum to flip the Paladin. They were speaking but he didn't understand what they were saying. Kioreth swept the Blue Paladin's leg out from under him. He heard a noise and turned his head, but it was too late. The Green paladin zapped him, again, and he was injected with a sedative.

"I wonder if Twyla taught him that," Ji-hun said. He inspected the wires of the inside of the door.

"They've had him for a month. Who knows what he's been taught," Sam said.

"I'd hate to actually put him in the brig, but I don't know how we can contain him," Coran said.

"Smart move on using Spanish," Ji-hun said.

"It's because we know Keith doesn't speak it," Shiro said.

"That's what that was?" Allura said.

"Why wouldn't Keith understand that language?" Coran said.

"On Earth, there are many different dialects and languages. It just so happens that Keith chose to learn different languages than the rest of us," Shiro said.

"What does he speak?" Ji-hun asked.

"Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and English, and apparently Galran now," Shiro said.

"Why didn't you jump in?" Lance said.

"Because, you guys need practice fighting an angry Galra," Shiro said.

"Yeah, but now what? He's already shown he can escape," Pidge said.

"We're going to need to keep him in a cyrotube," Coran said, "Like we did that Sendak fellow."

"He's never going to trust us if we do that," Ji-hun said.

"I hate to say it, but he could nearly throw Hunk with minimal effort. Keith's too strong to be treated with any less caution," Shiro said.

Kioreth awoke and this time he was in a tube with no way out. The Red Paladin was outside.

"Keith."

"Why do you call me that!" Kioreth snarled.

"Because it's what you were named! You're Keith Akira Kogane. You were born on April 10, 2023, on Earth. Your mother is Captain Twyla, but you were born my son as well."

"You lie!" Kioreth said.

"I would not lie about this, Keith!"

"My name is not Keith!"

"It's not Kioreth either!"

"You can't be my father because I'm not a hybrid!" Kioreth said.

"You used to be until a druid got a hold of you and twisted you!"

"That's ridiculous! No druid can do that!"

"Don't you find it odd that you have not memories?"

"I was in an accident!"

"Really? Then explain the fact that you have no scars from it and there is no evidence of your dead fellow cadets."

"What do you mean by that! Are you saying they lied to me? They're my family!"

"They're also the ruling family of an empire you were fighting. They took your memories away to make you more malleable. You're mother's too."

"You lie!"

"If I'm lying, how are we speaking Japanese right now?" Kioreth blinked before he realized Ji-hun was right. They were speaking another language.

"If they were telling you the truth, then your wouldn't understand Korean either."

"Stop it."

"You speak this language with more ease and familiarity than Galran, don't you?"

"Stop it!"

"It's because this was the language I spoke to to you as a baby. This was the first language you learned."

"Stop it!" Kioreth shook his head and there was an image of Ji-hun younger and handing him his crest blade, but he got that from his mother! He screamed from the pain in his head before he passed out.

"What happened?" Coran had arrived.

"I forced him to realize he could still speak Japanese and Korean, which meant he'd been lied to whenever he started screaming and grabbing his head," Ji-hun said. Allura rushed up to the pod and placed a hand on it, closing her eyes.

"What's she doing?" Ji-hun said.

"I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with Keith," she said. Her eyes snapped open, "It's a block."

"Can you remove it?" Ji-hun asked.

"I can try," Allura said. She closed her eyes but opened them, "I'd need direct contact with him."

"Is that safe?" Matt said. He'd just arrived.

"I'm more than a match for Keith, even like this," Allura said. Coran pressed the side panel and Keith's body flopped out. Ji-hun barely caught him. Though, Keith was now taller than even his father. He rearranged Keith so he was holding him in a less constricted way. He moved some of Keith's mane out of his face.

"Question, why is his hair white now?" Matt said.

"We can figure that out later," Allura said. She placed her hand on Keith's forehead and closed her eyes.

She found herself in a blank space. In the middle of the room was Keith holding his head.

"Keith, I'm here to help," Allura said.

"I'm not Keith!" he said. Allura placed a hand on the ground, for lack of a better term, and energy surged out from her hand revealing a locked up building.

"If you'll got there, you'll find out who you are," Allura said.

"I know who I am!" Keith turned away from her. He started walking away.

"Do you?" Keith faltered. He turned back. "If you want the truth, you must undo that lock."

Kioreth saw the Altean woman vanished. Princess Allura. He approached the door and the lock pulsed. He saw the image of a druid. He drew back, shaking. He tried again. It was Uncle Malior? This meant….he had to break that lock! Kioreth reached for his blade and touched empty air. Right. He slammed his fist against the door, which made the frame shake a little. He continued to attack the door. A memory escaped.

"So, if I can't brainwash you or overwrite your memories, I can do something that you might be able to undo on your own someday, if you're lucky. I'm just going to lock these memories away." Malior said.

Why had his Uncle Malior locked his memories away. Why would he be avoiding brainwashing him! Why would he even need to be brainwashed in the first place?

Only one way to find out. Others kept telling him he had druid potential. It was time to finally try using that potential. He focused on the lock and exerted his will. The lock disintegrated and the door was flung open, the next he knew was more pain.

MP:It's Wednesday!

Galran vocabulary

Foca: shit

comrictain: Galran f-bomb