21. The Prince

The study nooks in the Masters' tower were stuffy and held a chill that could never be gotten rid of. They said it was because the humidity ruined the books, but Keith was well aware of book conditions spending so much time in the Masters tower in Ko-gane. Still, Keith was warm enough cuddled up against Lance in one of the window seats waiting for the Ko Grand Master to finish grading a report he had been forced to write in hopes understanding some of the theories associated with a Grand Mastery of his element in order to help him reach that mastery faster. He was suppose to be studying. It was hard to pay attention to the words on the page with Lance was pressing little kisses into his hair and lazily drawing patterns on his stomach as he held Keith to him looking at the book as well. He had forced his way into Keith's lesson by announcing his presence loudly then trying to pull Keith away only to be told to keep quiet by the Ko Grand Master. So, Lance just cuddled up to Keith and that was that. It wasn't like a Ko Master could get Lance, better yet the Heir Prince, to listen to them when the Altean masters couldn't. Keith was happy for the company, though. Lately, they had been finding more and more time to spend together. They had even started having nightly activities. Keith had experienced being turned onto his back and pounded into in the middle of the night. On that night there had been penetration, but most nights there was not. Lance seemed to be holding back, but Keith wouldn't push it. They were doing it and that was all Keith had really wanted.

"You should flip the page," Lance whispered against Keith's ear making it twitch.

Keith was unsure on what his husband meant, but staring at the page he was on made him realize he had been staring at the same page for the past five minutes. He flipped it and turned his head to quickly peck Lance's chin.

"I hate studying," he said quietly.

"Was he going to do anything after grading?" Lance asked voice copying Keith's volume.

"Probably lecture me. I'm suppose to do physical practice on my own time, but I feel like just sitting here reading theory books is a waste of time."

Lance nodded and put his chin on Keith's shoulder. "I agree with you on that. They're trying to get me to start proper Grand Mastery lessons. Oh, we should just have them at the same time. Then we could schedule physical practice together."

Practicing together? They didn't do much of that anymore. "I'd like that a lot."

Lance chuckled and nuzzled against Keith's neck. "I wonder how much physical practice we'd actually get in."

"We'd get more practice in that way than we would reading. We both don't like to study."

Lance's hand suddenly moved beneath Keith's shirt. "Oh, I'm sure we'd get a lot of physical practice in, but not for what we should."

Keith's breath hitched and he felt a flush creep up his neck as Lance's hand moved farther up and pinched a nipple. "Lance."

"Shh, he'll hear," Lance whispered and tugged on Keith's punctured ear softly.

Keith pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and clutched his book tightly as Lance continued to play with his nipple. His fingers were cold, too cold. He glanced over to the Ko master, but he was still deeply engrossed in his studying. It was refreshing to have a Ko around. Keith could tell he was oblivious and not secretly watching. What would he think if he caught them? That they were horny newlyweds, which they were. Or that they were up to something showing off like this, which they also were. It might be part of a power play on Lance's end. Keith only chose not to pull away because he was curious and found it hard to push Lance away when he was being intimate instead of being an annoying flirt. Both greatly consisted of teasing though.

Keith was hard.

"Hey," Lance whispered, "do you like this? Are you excited doing this with someone else in the room? Should we have sex when we practice our elements, see how hot you can make your fire when I'm pounding into you, see if you can melt a block of ice with your cock. I'll let you put it in me if you can. Or you could ride my cock covered in ice."

"Th-that would be too cold," Keith groaned out.

"Not for me, it's my ice," Lance said and tugged Keith's ear again, the missing skin making that ear more sensitive. "You're hot, though, you'd melt it so fast. You're so hot inside. I want to feel it. Tonight. When you're falling asleep studying, I'm going to put it in when you're half falling off the bed and pound into you while blood is rushing to your head. You'll have to wrestle your way back onto the bed before you pass out. You've got such nice stomach muscles, I'm sure you'll get yourself up in plenty of time."

Keith shivered. He didn't understand half of what Lance was saying, but it sounded sinful and like something he wanted to try. "I definitely won't pass out."

"Maybe afterwards you will," Lance said and moved to suddenly bite Keith's neck and Keith let out a surprised yell.

"Okay, that's enough," the Ko Grand Master said looking up from the report. "This report is horrible, it has no feeling. And yet you're sitting over there letting your husband dirty talk your ear off. How well does that even work?"

"He doesn't understand half of it, so it's pretty funny," Lance said.

Dirty talk. They were talking about sex..oh, the master could hear that. "I'm sorry if we disturbed you."

The Grand Master waved a hand at Keith. "You need more passion to be a Fire Grand Master. I'm honestly considering just adding sex to your studying regime. Maybe it'll help."

"I...don't mind having sex more," Keith said, ears flattening down. Would that really help? Not that that was why he wanted to have more sex. He was pretty sure there was more to it than what they had been doing as of late.

The Ko Mster sighed. "Well, maybe it's not passion you're lacking then. Either way, both of you get out and go find somewhere to get your newlywed hormones out. I thought you two would have gotten that all out on your honeymoon."

"We didn't have one," Lance said.

The master rolled his eyes. "No wonder. Just scat already, I've got other work to do, too. These Altean masters are no help."

Lance pushed Keith off his lap and pulled him by the arm towards the door of the study nook. Once in the hall, Lance pushed Keith up against a wall and peppered kisses on his face, fingers moving under his shirt and across his skin. At first it tingled, but then Keith started laughing.

"L-Lance," Keith said between giggles and pushed at Lance's shoulders.

Lance laughed. "So you do tickle, I wondered that." He didn't stop in his attack though.

Keith curled in on himself trying to block the tickling, but he also wanted to feel the kisses more and turned his head to try and catch them managing to get a few. The more he caught, the more distracted Lance became with his tickling so Keith pressed his lips harder and harder to Lance's until his hands had gone back to hot caresses on Keith's skin and their tongues were twining.

Footsteps walked down the hall towards them and Keith pulled away. Lance had the decency to remove his hands from beneath his shirt, but continued to kiss Keith and hold him against the wall ignoring the whispered words of a servant and a master walking together past them.

"You use to be so reserved about our displays of affection," Keith pointed out relaxing against the wall and moved his hands around Lance's neck.

"Well, this isn't a secret and I don't need it to be. I'll be as open as I want with my husband. Isn't that how people in Ko-gane act?"

"That just really depends on the couple. The knights were pretty open about it because of heats. The royal family occasionally showed public displays that were more innapropriate. I heard stories that King Akira and his consort were caught in the kitchens once using certain desserts for purposes other than consuming."

Lance whistled. "We don't have any stories like that for our royals. Everything is hush hush until needed. Hardly anyone even knew the queen was cheating on King Alfor."

"I'm glad it's not a secret," Keith said and pecked Lance's lips quickly.

"That's because you're the jealous sort," Lance teased.

"Am I not allowed to be? You're mine and I love you," Keith said.

Lance smiled softly and kissed Keith's forehead. "You're such a good husband."

Keith's chest fluttered at that. If he could be such a thing, he'd be happy.

"So, so good," Lance continued, his voice lowered and said directly into his ear. "So good I'll have to reward you tonight with all the things I said earlier. I meant them."

Keith shivered. He wanted to be a good husband in that way, too.

"Please," he said softly, "please, Lance, I-"

His words were suddenly cut short when an alarm went off in the castle. The doors to the nooks around them began to open and Lance was forced to press against Keith as panic broke loose.

"Wh-what alarm is that?" Keith asked, ears twitching this way and that trying to pick up the sound.

"An intruder," Lance said, his face suddenly serious, arms going to hold Keith tight. "I need to get to Allura. You should go find Shiro."

"Wait, you can't go off yourself, you're the heir," Keith said holding Lance back.

Lance turned to Keith and kissed him quickly. "Pidge is down the hall watching us, she'll follow me, but I have to get to the Queen even if I'm not her personal guard anymore. You're a prince, too, but go to Shiro. I'll see you soon."

Keith nodded and let Lance slip out of his arms. He caught a glimpse of green as Pidge darted after Lance and then Keith was left in the swarm of masters and servants in the Master's tower.

Shiro.

By their usual schedule, Shiro should be getting ready to head out to the training arena which meant he should be in the central tower so Keith could have gone with Lance as Queen Allura rarely left the central tower. However, there was a large chance Shiro got ready earlier and went to Matt in the testing room the Masters had set aside for the Builder to invent in. Keith decided to head up there first and make sure Matt was safe. If Shiro was in the central tower than Keith needed to get Matt there as well. And seeing as the siren had gone off in the Masters Tower, the intruder was most likely here and Keith needed to make sure everyone got out safely.

Keith grabbed for his dagger still kept on him at all times and removed it from it's hilt. He pushed through the crowd of running Alteans and up the stairs, biting his wielding hand's thumb and pressing it against the stone. His sword grew and he stayed quiet as he moved up. There was screaming and Keith could hear guards fighting off someone. The other's weapon sounded strange, but familiar, pinging out shots, mechanical. When he came around the corner, Keith's eyes widened seeing the man there.

He was familiar - hairy and purple.

Sendak.

The last Keith had heard of the potential assassin was the day they had sent him off to the cell in a frozen state. He had mostly forgotten about the Galra. If he had to guess, he would have assumed the man dead, but finding out one of Zarkon's precious soldiers, if they were precious to him, was killed from lack of food, he may have come down on Altea much harder. But, why was he here, why was he awake? Keith didn't have time for questions, though, he needed to put this invader down before he did anymore damage to the castle and the tower's residents..

He needed to put him down before he got what he wanted. Last time, that had been the princess now queen.

Keith started to rush forward, but suddenly found himself rooted to the spot. He looked down to see ice at his feet and furrowed his brows. Had an Altean missed? A newbie? Keith turned his head and looked confused at the woman standing behind him. She had long white hair and an angled face with Altean markings Keith hadn't seen before and she was wearing Grand Master robes. He couldn't tell if she was old or haggard nor did he care for her age. Why was she stopping him? Was it because he was the Heir Prince's consort? Keith wasn't just going to stand back and watch other people fight when he was one of the best fighters and second in charge of their military. Keith opened his mouth to demand an explanation instead of just melting the ice, he owed a Grand Master at least that much respect even if they were being a nuisance, but then the woman waved her hand and suddenly there was ice on Keith's mouth.

It was cold, too cold.

The ice wasn't just on his mouth, it was creeping up his entire body. Immediately, Keith called out his flames. They were dried out by a sudden splash of water that only made the ice grown faster. He called out to them again and again, but they were weaker the more they was drenched. Before the ice could cover his eyes, he saw the Grand Master disappear in a whirl of frost then she was in front of him. She reached out and tapped a sharp nailed finger against his temple.

"Sleep, dear prince, my lord wishes to speak to you."

Her finger was cold, it pierced Keith's mind. And then…

Keith woke up.

He knew he was awake, though surrounded by darkness pushed the illusion he was still in the depths of his dreams deeper on his consciousness. His heart was racing, though, like waking from a bad dream with the memories of the dream already fading into the darkness around him. And he was wet, soaking from head to toe. And cold.

The memories were much more frightening than any nightmare. That Grand Master had frozen him. Where was he now, though? He was laying sideways. Someone must have moved him. Keith sat up feeling grit sticking to his wet hands as he moved from a hard surface. He rubbed his hands together, the tiny rocky remnants helping to spark his flames and soon his hands were dry enough to hold a fire. The palm sized fire didn't do much for light, but being Galra didn't come without its rewards. With just the small fire, he could make out one wall. It was gray and reflective and nothing Keith had seen before. Or perhaps he had. Keith stood and began walking around. He found three other walls of the same material, a steel he wasn't familiar with but he had seen particularly when rescuing Matt and the other prisoners from the overtaken Marmora hideout.

Galra. Was he in Galra territory?

One of the four walls was cut in multiple sections each held together by hinges and locks, one of them being the door. How had he gotten here? Who had brought him? Was Queen Allura safe? Shiro? Lance?

Keith needed to get out. Slowly, he began to heat one of the cut up panels of metal with his fire. It would take a while, but he would be dry soon and the dryer he got, the more fire he could produce. He just needed his fire and he could get out of here. As long as he got to some sort of shelter outside, he could call Red to him. She was probably already trying to find him, maybe even close by.

How long had it been?

Time was futile here. Keith just had to work to get out. Once he was out of this box, then he could figure out what he needed to do.

There was a creek. A flicker of hope rose inside of Keith only to be doused as the panel fell away. This metal wasn't so weak as to give under such a small flame. He quickly moved back to his puddle in the middle of his box prison and blinked angrily as bright lights suddenly shot at him. He could make out the shadows of figures moving in and then they were upon him. Fur covered hands grabbed at his soaked clothing and began pulling them away.

"Stop! What are you doing, don't touch me!" he yelled trying to fight back, but he was surrounded and at a disadvantage. It was then he noted his lack of weapon. Did they take it or had he dropped it when the Grand Master had frozen him? It would hurt him to leave it behind here wherever here was, but it was more important to go back to those he had made vows to.

He started to kick at the Galra around him, bite, but there were more of them than him and he was wet and cold and who knew what they had done with him before he had woken up. It only took minutes for him to be left in the cold puddle of water naked and seething. But, now he could see them a bit better, the Galra soldiers. They all wore the same uniform and all wore masks. One moved forward with a bucket and splashed Keith with it. Then the hands were back on him holding him down as a person wearing a robe with strange markings moved into his box prison holding a vial. They poured it over his body and Keith let out a strangled sound as the cold, much too cold, viscous liquid touched his skin. It hurt. The robed Galra poured the whole vial then began to rub all over Keith's skin, every inch, long nails pricking him here and there. He struggled the whole time, heart racing, a desperate scratching at the back of his throat.

Keith had been afraid before, he knew what fear was, but never had he been so confused and so vulnerable and afraid. He let out a growl and that was when one of the Galra soldiers stopped a heel into his face.

Burning and pulsing sensations grabbed at his cheek.

If only he could burn.

Keith tried calling out to his flames, but they were stuck beneath his skin.

That vial, it had felt like ice, like liquid ice. Much too cold to be water.

When the robed Galra left, Keith was dragged out of the cube prison after a few punches and kicks from the guards for his continuous attempts at fighting back. But, he was struck when he saw where he actually was.

This was definitely Galra territory. The same steely panels from his box lined the whole hall and he could see more doors along them indicating more prisons with perhaps more captives. Lines of purple light ran through the metal, sometimes interrupted by a red or green light. And when they came to a door at the very end of the hall, it slid open just with a touch of one of the soldiers' hands to a glass plate. Once outside of it, Keith started struggling again. He struggled all the way until he felt dirt beneath his feet. The Galra soldiers suddenly threw him away from them and Keith felt grit against his bottom and back.

And above him was the sky.

But, it wasn't blue. The sky was polluted by black clouds swirling around and around. And it wasn't just a sky, there was glass between him and those ominous black clouds. Still, Keith called out to Red even though he knew it might be fruitless.

He was in the heart of the Galra Empire after all.

Suddenly, there were cheers in multitude and aggressive. Keith pushed himself to his feet and looked around the walls of the room he had been thrown into. There were rows and rows of seats and in those seats hundreds and thousands of Galra. Immediately, Keith crouched and hissed at them. However, not one of them moved towards him, just kept cheering and roaring so loudly Keith couldn't make out a single word of it. He moved his eyes away from them and stared at the dirt he had been thrown on. It was a large patch of it, odd in the otherwise metal arena.

An arena.

Why was he in an arena?

A voice suddenly boomed over the screaming and the Galra in the benches quieted down. The voice was coming from the opposite end of the arena where a large mess of leather tubes and pipes were woven together. Only when a man fully armored in red with a long flowing cape took residence upon it did Keith realize he was looking at a throne, a throne for the Galra Emperor.

"Zarkon," he said softly, the name unfamiliar on his lips as though it hadn't been said all his life by everyone around him.

To the Emperor's left was a man holding a conical device that registered his voice across the arena. "Welcome honored guests once again to Emperor Zarkon's battle arena. Today we have a special guest. Before you is the shell of the rumored Hybrid Prince. Indeed, he appears to be one of ours tarnished by those Elemental Masters blood, but here in the arena he will prove his worth or be purified by our lord's gracious creations."

The speaker paused and the cheering grew. Keith caught a few lines of what the Galra were shouting, but nothing he hadn't heard before. Yet, it was strange to hear it from the Galra. And there were a few new insults thrown in. Backwards Trickster. Dragons' Harlot.

Abomination.

No, wait, that wasn't new. Had they even said that one? Keith shook his head and tried to filter out the cheers.

"Now, unlike our usual fights, our Hybrid Prince will not be going against another prisoner; however, he will be given a helping hand if he so chooses, or he can help them. I doubt any of them will be willing. They aren't our best gladiators for nothing and everyone knows the biggest prize comes after the second phase. Reaching there shouldn't be a problem, the Hybrid Prince is said to be the best swordsman of both the fire and ice kingdoms. I should also mention we have handicapped the Hybrid Prince. The elemental lords think they can overcome our empire with their magic, but we have come up with a solution for the fire lords who have proved themselves much harder to beat back. He will not be able to use his magic. We can thank our druid leader Haggar for that."

No magic? Keith tried to call up his flames, but it only burned beneath his skin. He was still covered in that disgusting cold liquid. It was keeping his flames from reaching the air it needed to grow. He immediately looked up at the throne intending to glare at the emperor when he noticed the person to Zarkon's right. A woman in familiar dark robes.

The Grand Master.

A spy.

Keith felt sick. She must have been the one to get Sendak into the castle in the first place. Haggar, Keith faintly remembered hearing the name before. He had never met this Grand Master personally, but he must have walked past her a million times in the Masters' Tower. Why hadn't they caught on?

Keith's attention was pulled away from the Grand Master as the sound of metal sliding against metal came from behind him. The door Keith had been pushed through was opened and Galra guards led two other men out. One was a tall and brawny Galra with a leg that creaked as he walked obviously not his own, and a pained look on his face. He wore more thank Keith, but barely enough to be called clothes. A tattered shirt and leggings that held nothing to the imagination already with holes in it. His yellow eyes widened seeing Keith and then narrowed. Keith couldn't tell if he was angry or contemplating, but he turned his attention to the other prisoner. This one looked similar to a Builder or Altean or Ko, but horns large and curled protruded from their head and they were short, shorter than Lord Pidge. Yet, they had a fierceness in their eyes that rivaled the Green riders, rivaled anyone Keith knew. It was the intent to kill. Both of his arms had been replaced with some sort of cannon like weapon much like the guns their armies had been familiarizing themselves with. The guards pushed the Galra prisoner towards Keith, but simply moved back from the horned prisoner and returned to the opened door.

Now alone with the other two prisoners, Keith felt even more naked though he didn't know how that could be. The Galra prisoner avoided lowering his eyes below Keith's shoulders, but the horned prisoner had no qualms in looking Keith over. The look in his eyes was a hunger Keith was familiar with having experience on the battlefield and it made him feel a little more self assured.

"Ya're too pretty to be a savage beast, barely a scar on ya," said the horned prisoner. "Well, if ya don't count the bruises and the bite marks, tha' is. I'd say they raped ya if I didn't know any better. Galra barely have a bone of truth in their body better yet in their pants. Or maybe it was their Prince Lotor. The only hunger he inherited was lust. Did he play with you for a while then get tired of his new toy?"

Keith frowned and stood up straighter. "I don't know who you are or where you hail from, but I am a married man."

The horned prisoner laughed. "A married Galra, well I haven't heard of one of ya in centuries. But I'mma married man maself. These furry guyrampaged my kingdom on their trip east. Gotta work with 'em if I want my wife to keep bearing me children. We've gotta keep populated even if we're all just gonna be slaves for the Galra. So, a Galra traitor and a Galra pet are nothing to me seeing as I'm nothing to the Galra. I'll make some pretty entertainment for em."

As soon as the words left the horned prisoner's mouth, he held out an arm and shot at Keith. Keith barely had time to dodge the attack. He rolled along the ground, the cold salve on his skin the only thing keeping the grit in the dirt from irritating his naked flesh. The horned prisoner shot at Keith again. Keith jumped sideways only to clash with the Galra prisoner. He suddenly felt something cold slide into his hand as the Galra man pushed himself away from Keith. It was a Marmora blade unactivated, but still large. He looked towards the Galra man and noticed another in his own hand.

A Marmora rebel, Keith wasn't sure if he was happy or not to see the man. He didn't have time to inquire about why he had helped him as more bullets were being shot at him. With a weapon in hand, Keith at least knew what to do about them. He held up his sword and slashed at the bullets having them ricochet back at the horned prisoner.

The horned prisoner laughed. "Do you think a sword will help ya? This is what ya get when ya win. They're upgrades, experimental, yes, but they sure do come in handy. If ya lose a limb here, they'll give ya a knew one, a better one. Emperor Zarkon wants everyone to be as useful as they can be or some shit like that. As long as I get to kill a few Galra, I'm willing to go through a few of those other races and those elemental freaks."

Elementals? Limbs?

Shiro. Had this been what Shiro had gone through for the year he was captured? Had he been sent here naked with less experience than Keith had now to be forced to fight? Was this how he had lost his arm? Who had taken it? Certainly not someone like this.

Rage grew in Keith, but without the escape of his flames, it only built up deep in his chest like it had when he was young. He had to keep his mind clear. He couldn't rush into anything, he had a place to get back to, arms to hold him, a prince to kiss.

And Shiro, he had to protect Shiro, protect Queen Allura, protect the Masters and the Builders.

Suddenly, the bullets stopped raining in Keith's direction. He looked up to see the tip of a Marmora blade pierced through the chest of the horned prisoner and holding its hilt was the Galra rebel. He pulled his sword out and turned around to take a stance facing a larger door beneath the throne. Keith was confused, but he could tell there was no time to ask questions, not when shadows were moving towards them from the much larger door.

Keith had heard of monsters before, usually just stories to scare children that were actually just perfectly normal if not dangerous animals or even simple inanimate objects playing ghost in the moonlight. But, Keith thought what crawled out towards them was a true monster. It was not quite as tall as the Galra rebel but weighed twice as much and made mostly from mechanic parts, but there was an organic skin to its body. Two legs were mechanic, but the others were clawed. A long skinny tail that looked shaven past the skin on certain parts twitched behind it with cords of wires wrapping in and out of it hooked to a glowing spike at the tip. One shoulder was armored in metal and puffed out smoke and crawled high on the monster's neck like a collar. Then it's face appeared like a mismatch of skin with fangs of metal poking out of its mouth. But, there was one thing about it Keith recognized above all else, the single multi-pronged horn sawed into one long sharp point.

A kirin.

Bile rose in Keith's throat, but he held it down. He had never seen a kirin until he had come to Altea, but he knew they were protected. He had ridden many, they had carried him through the snow to the Crystal Castle to start a new life he would have never had before. And they...what had they done to it?

Those sharp jaws suddenly parted and a sickly scream echoed around the arena. A second later, arrows littered down upon the kirin. Red coursed through the metal bits forged into its body. It screamed again and moved cloudy eyes on Keith. Then it charged.

Keith dodged, but felt a tail whip across his back that sent him tumbling into the dirt. It stung. The glowing spike on the kirin's tail had penetrated the thick salve and into his skin. It must have been coated in Galra poison as well with how it stung. He ignored it and quickly got up to get out of the way as the kirin charged again, but this time, the rebel moved forward and met the kirin's horn with his sword. The kirin huffed and growled. Keith could see its muscles twitching. He could see the craze in its cloudy eyes. It was in pain, not just from the arrows, but from very life itself. Kirins shouldn't be like this, no living thing should human or animal.

What were the Galra thinking?

The kirin broke away from the rebel's sword and charged at Keith. He held his ground this time and met the kirin's horn with his sword, but this animal was strong, the metal and sheer need to destroy made it stronger. Keith didn't even know how strong a normal kirin was, they were so docile. He felt sympathy for this creature so much so he lost the balance and was thrown aside to the floor. He felt a hoof connect with his thigh, but only a clip, and then the searing scratch as the tipped tail scraped at his arm again. It took a moment longer for Keith to stand up again and again the kirin came at him. He was getting closer and closer to a wall. It wasn't a good idea to be pinned their. That tail was long enough that if they came face to face, it could stab him if the horn didn't stab him first.

Suddenly, the kirin swung away with a scream and turned, its tail whipping Keith across his chest and he flew back. The rebel held his sword ready for the kirin to charge. Instead it raised its front hoofs in the air and cried out more before swinging around and lashing its tail at the rebel. The Galra rebel swung his sword. It easily sliced through the kirin's tail and sent the spike flying off to the other side of the arena, the tip no longer glowing. Beside it, the rebel's sword landed. Then, the kirin charged.

"Wait!" Keith yelled.

The Galra rebel was one second too late to react caught off guard weaponless. His other hand had reached for a spot on his hip, the place where the sword he had given Keith must always be housed and dread overcame Keith turning to a distaste like self hate when the kirin skewered the rebel against the wall.

A man with a name Keith would never know, a man who had helped him in a fight. Keith had known many men like that and many had met worse fates than this, but Keith was confused and alone and naked before a tortured monster with thousands of their enemies around them. He stood and gripped his sword and slowly made his way towards the kirin. It had moved away from the wall where a dent from its horn had bent in the metal. It was bucking around with the body of the Galra rebel still attached to its horn flopping about like a ragdoll almost comical with how large and empowering the man had first appeared. His body covered the blunt of the kirin's horn.

Keith took a deep breath and watched the horrible creature. The movement stung. Keith touched his chest. He was bleeding, the wound deeper than he thought. His red blood covered his fingers and he rubbed it between them. His blood. A grin pulled at one side of Keith's lips. He moved his hand on the borrowed blade so he was holding it at its blade and started towards the kirin. It barely noticed him beyond crazed trying to get the rebel from its horn. Keith held the blade in both hands pressing his other hand to the sharp point of it as well. It stung. He moved his hands to the hilt as he brought the sword down in a clean swipe. The kirin crumbled to the dirt in a peaceful mess. Keith knelt down beside it breathing heavily, but he kept a firm grip on the sword.

Feet began to pad across the dirt running at Keith. Before they could get any closer, Keith lifted his sword and swung it. A whip of fire swung out at them.

"Don't come any closer," Keith warned.

The guards cocked guns at him and Keith held up his sword, fire growing ever larger on its blade.

"Haggar!" a voice boomed.

Keith didn't mean to turn his head, but when he did, the Grand Master was once again in front of him, her pointy finger poking at his forehead. He called out to his flames, but if the signal reached them before he passed out as cold entered his brain, he didn't know.

Blackness overcame him.

Once again, Keith awoke in darkness. His skin felt wet, but not slippery. he sat up and ran a hand along his arm. The sensation of his own touch on his cold kissed skin sent shivers through his body. He listened around the room of his prison, but heard no one, felt no one. He moved to the panel he had began work on the previous day or perhaps it had only been a few hours. Keith had no idea what time it was. By the look he had gotten of the dark clouds in the arena, he would have guessed it had still been light enough for the clouds to not be pitch dark. Who knew how dark it was now.

Keith was careful with the level of fire he used. He wasn't sure when the guards would notice his attempt a an escape. He hadn't even been here long enough to decide on one. So far his plan was to just run as soon as he could. Even naked, as long as Keith wasn't covered in that cold salve, he was sure he could make it out somehow. It might take a few days, but he wouldn't wait around to be saved. He didn't blame Shiro for doing so or perhaps the prince had been broken immediately. He did have a lover to watch over. Maybe he had taken to the arena like the horned prisoner had in order to protect Matt and Chief Holt. But, Keith needed to protect those on the outside. Certainly, there were still prisoners inside the Galra castle, neighboring Keith right now, but the best thing he could do for them was to get out and come back with dragons and soldiers.

Footsteps echoed outside of Keith's prison and he moved away from the door to curl up against one side of his prison. Immediately he was grabbed and drenched in water stalling his use of fire for a moment as another of those hooded Galra, the announcer had called them druids, touched him with salve covered hands. He wasn't as thorough as the previous. He avoided parts of Keith's body he found distasteful. Keith could only be grateful to Zarkon for encouraging a lack of sexual urges in this instance. He was more than aware of what soldiers with low morals would do to prisoners. He had sent a few of his own fellow soldiers to the Dragon Pits for such disgusting acts.

Once Keith was coated, the Galra soldiers pulled him out. Keith fought against them out of pure stubbornness expecting them to take him back to the arena to fight again, but instead they pulled him towards the doors on the other end of the hall and then down a few more halls. Keith fell quiet the further they pulled him to take in the map of the halls he was guided through. They all looked the same with only a slight difference. Eventually, they moved down a hall outstandingly decorated compared to the rest of the castle Keith had seen so far. There were tables made of the same metal as the walls with pulsing purple lights in them. Some had mirrors above them and one even had a strange plant. At the end of the hall were two cylindrical vases with taller versions of the plant, a strange reddish brown color as if it was dead, but Keith could smell it, a stinging spiciness Keith found himself attracted to.

The door opened and Keith was suddenly pushed inside. Guards on the other side were immediately on him and he felt cold metal snapped around his wrists and neck. His arms were pulled to each side and he dropped to his knees at the sudden pull. There was a clinking sound and Keith looked from side to side to see the guards holding tightly to chains holding him in place. He flattened his ears and hissed at them both. He stopped though when he heard the click of a tongue.

"Hissing? I haven't heard a respectable Galra hiss in years," said a voice much smoother than Keith would expect from a Galra.

Keith turned his head to see a man with long white hair and purple skin dressed in a much fancier version of the guards' armor. His eyes held a hint of yellow and the purple of his skin seemed soft, but Keith hesitated to call him a Galra. Keith didn't have the best judge of appearance. He had never considered the rebel Galra ugly, but this man before him was undeniably beautiful.

The man grinned with his sharp little fangs and Keith's chest was suddenly stung with a deep longing. Lance grinned like that when he was teasing Keith, but the look in his eyes was always sweeter.

"Hello, Hybrid Prince," the man greeted. He walked closer to Keith and then circled around him, the guards lifting Keith's chains in order to give the man room to move and it strained Keith's muscles already spread out so far. "I must say, I thought a Galra hybrid would be a disgusting little thing, but you are beautiful."

A low growl rumbled in the back of Keith's throat. He didn't trust this man.

The beautiful man's ears flicked. They were smaller than Keith's and moved with less enthusiasm. "Ah, can't you take a compliment? It is unfortunate you have taken a beating in my father's arena, though, but he insisted you had to go through that test before you could become my play thing."

Play thing? Father? "Zarkon's arena?" Keith asked.

The man raised a brow then laughed. "Correct. I am Prince Lotor. Have you elementals not heard of me?"

"Heard, never seen," Keith said. Prince Lotor. Was this really Zarkon's son, his heir. Keith had seen the emperor himself, though not close enough to really get a good look with all that armor covering his body. How did he have a son like this? He looked like more of a hybrid than Keith.

The man, Prince Lotor, raised a hand to his chin seeming surprised. "You don't need to see me to know me. Am I really so unpopular among your kind?"

"All Galra are unpopular," Keith said.

"Oh, even the likes of you?"

Keith's ears twitched. "Yes, especially the likes of me."

"Then why do you stay there? Why do you fight for them? They treat you badly do they not? You would fight the same here as there."

"I would not," Keith argued. "I fight for entertainment only if I want. I'm not forced to fight for others to watch."

The prince hummed and moved his eyes along Keith's body again. "Really, such scars are unsightly. What sort of weapons could give you such small ones?"

Small scars? Keith couldn't look down at himself with how his neck was being held by the collar, but it only took a moment for him to realize what the Galra prince could see. "They are from my husband."

"You have a husband who hurts you?" Prince Lotor clenched his teeth. "So there really is no use for mates then."

"They don't hurt. I've made a few on him as well. They're love bites," Keith said, embarrassment flooding beneath his skin.

Prince Lotor scoffed then glared at the guards holding Keith up. "Chain him and leave us."

The guards pulled Keith's chains tighter and hooked them to metal rings that hung around the prince's room. Looking at it, Keith noticed many other such chains and other tools he found familiar, but none he would have guessed to be in the Galra Empire with Emperor Zarkon's view of reproduction.

"What is this place?" Keith asked.

"My chambers of course," Prince Lotor answered and moved over to a chair that was like a smaller version of Zarkon's throne in the arena.

"Why am I here?"

Prince Lotor reached over to a bowl on a table beside him. "I wanted to see this so called cousin of mine. Initially, my father planned to have you killed in the arena as a way to bring down the morals of our rebels and to bring strife between you elementals. I, however, have a different way of looking at your capture."

"And what is that?"

"Can't you guess?"

Keith sneered. "I am naked and chained in your room. I would remind you that I am a married man, Prince Lotor."

The prince sighed. "Indeed, you are beautiful, but not my type."

"And you have a type?"

The prince stood again and began to pace the floor with his hands held behind his back. "The woman's egg I was born from was not pure Galra, but enough so that I did not end up like you, however, I am obviously far more beautiful and level headed than these other monsters about. They're drones just following my father's every word. He wants everyone emotionless, but also ruthless. I do not see how such a matter can be accomplished without passion, without something to work for."

Keith would not agree to call Prince Lotor level headed, but he did think the Galra prince at least sounded reasonable in his thoughts.

"You see," Prince Lotor continued, "I have an interest in this thing called mating. It use to be part of our culture and my father has ruled it out. Our people have no connection to each other until they get in the arena and then it is all to encourage the death of one of the participants. So unsightly, so monstrous. We are a powerful race. If we could connect, we would be much more powerful. Is that not something your people do, mate for connections?"

Keith's ears perked up. "Yes, though rarely is it purely for connections."

"Oh, was your marriage not?"

Keith shook his head. "We were already lovers before they insisted we marry. We married for a connection, but it was not an unwanted thing all together. I love my husband."

Prince Lotor raised a brow. "Love? That's a strong word. Does he love you as well?"

"No," Keith said softly.

"How does that make you feel? Do you hate it, being mated to one who doesn't love you?"

"He wants me and he cares about me, but his heart is still hesitant," Keith said. "I understand that, but I am frustrated. Being mar...mated can be frustrating."

"I see," the prince said and moved over to his bed grabbing a sheet from it. "So why is it worth mating?"

"For connections or personally?" Keith asked. This prince...was very strange.

Prince Lotor shook out the blanket and then turned to Keith. "Perhaps that is not the question I meant to ask. Mating, have you mated him?"

Lance? "Yes."

"And how did it feel?"

How? Keith's skin tingled. Sex with Lance felt amazing. Why did the prince want to know...Keith looked around the room once again. Ah, the Galra heir had desires that his father did not approve of.

"Amazing," Keith answered. "Have you tried it?"

Prince Lotor's fingers clenched into the fabric of the blanket. "I have many pets, but none of them know of pleasure. I hurt them and I feel pleasure. And they do as I say and they feel none back. It is unsettling. Father greatly did not want me to speak with you. I think I know now why."

The prince walked over to Keith still with the sheet in his hands and wrapped it about him before leaning his taller stature over to meet Keith's eyes. "Dear cousin, you have told me there is something out there that will fill my desire. Is that what your mother found in your father, I wonder. It must be wonderful to be a child born of love."

Keith frowned. Was it? Lance had been raised better than Keith, but his parents had not loved each other, it was an affair of power. Keith's parents had loved each other and Keith's father had done what he could for Keith to give him a better life.

"I started from the dirt and rose to a prince," Keith said. "Love doesn't mean your life will blossom, but it certainly helps nurture it."

The prince pulled away and began to pace his room. "I want the Galra to rule all and to be the most powerful race on this planet. We have overtaken many you have never known about, but you elementals are difficult. You have those Builders and then your magic. Together, it is a difficult block to overcome with sheer force. I want to try diplomacy. I want to slowly break you down. I've heard of an Altean Queen with no mate. Beautiful and strong. I will have her."

Keith's eyes widened and he shook at his chains. "She will not have you!"

Prince Lotor suddenly turned with a sharp glare. "Does she hold another?"

"No, but she would never trust a Galra with her bed," Keith growled.

A short hiss escaped the prince and he turned away in a huff to move back to his chair. "And yet she let you marry her brother. Oh, yes, I know who your husband is."

A low rumble formed in Keith's throat. He was crazy for thinking that perhaps this Galra would be reasonable. "She will never agree to a marriage with you, not if that put the Galra in power."

The prince only smirked and leaned back in his chair staring at Keith. "You mistake my words, dear cousin. Your queen has no choice. I will have her. And you're already helping me."