Alright, here's another chapterrr! I'm currently curled up in a onesie writing fanfiction at midnight on a school night (I have a problem XD) and living the American dream (I guess) I'm not quite sure if this chapter is going to be good enough for you guys or not, because I'm sleep deprived and I've been having writers block (ladies and gents, welcome to my life!) But I hope this is up to your standards. Thanks to anamg210, Angel of the Honey Bees, and Natiainen for reviewing, I'm so glad (and kind of amazed) that you liked the story! Also a big thanks to my friend SilverDewDrop (whom I just met like two hours ago lol) for giving me some inspiration for this story. Alrightie then here is another chapter of my beautiful children getting tortured ;) (PS I apologize in advance if there are any spelling errors or whatever. My spellcheck isn't working, so that's why :D)

"Don't make this hard on yourself." Zarkon suggested, leaning closer to Keith in his chair. "Just tell me where your lion is, and you won't get hurt."

"Yeah...a little late for that." Beads of sweat mixed with tears rolled down his face when another inhumane scream escaped his mouth as unbearable pain ripped through his body. Zarkon watched with a sick expression of satisfaction.

"I must admit, I'm impressed young paladin." Zarkon cracked his knuckles. "Not one of my prisoners have lasted even a minute with the serum in their body, and you have lasted for five."

"Yeah, well I can be in here for hours, days even, and I won't tell you anything." The defiant expression that the emperor hated so much was back on his face in full force. "You hear me? You will never break me. And I will never tell you where the red lion is." Keith started thrashing around, his restraints barely holding the boy down. "I WOULD RATHER DIE THAN TELL YOU!"

"Oh no my precious paladin, I need you alive if I am ever to get Voltron." Zarkon picked up the syringe that had held the serum that had been injected into Keith, looked at the boy, and bared his teeth. "I will break you." He smashed the syringe into pieces with just the squeeze of his hand. "That's a promise."

Keith's eyes followed the shards of glass as they fell to the ground around him. "Whatever you say," Keith whispered, tearing his eyes away from the now shattered tool that had caused him so much pain.

"What was that?" Zarkon asked, brushing glass off of his fingers. "It sounded like you didn't think I would follow through on my promise."

Keith rolled his eyes at the Galra and scowled. "Because your not. No amount of pain will ever make any of us crack. Ever. And that is my promise to you."

Zarkon tapped his chin. "In that case, I'll make you a deal."

Keith opened his mouth to reply, but instead of words a spine chilling scream of pure agony erupted and echoed throughout the room.

Zarkon sneered. "It hurts, doesn't it," Keith said nothing, just watched the galra intently with teeth bared and tears trailing down his face.

"Ah, look at that. Mr. Big and Tough is crying."

"I am not cry-" another wave of pain washed over him. Keith let out a small whimper and a few more tears slipped down his cheeks.

"Yes, you are," Zarkon replied, flashing a victorious smile. Keith gritted his teeth together. He was mad, mad about Zarkon threatening them and then torturing him with his awful serum, mad that his friends were here with him, but he was mostly mad at himself for being so...weak. He was crying. Warriors should never cry...right?

Zarkon watched as Keith debated with himself. "Boy, do you want to hear the deal or not?"

Keith cocked his head to stare at Zarkon. Through his tough exterior, Zarkon could see a faint shimmer of curiosity written on his face. "I'll take that as a yes." He hissed. "You have two choices. You can either tell me where the red lion is and I let you go back to your friends, or-"

"I'LL NEVER TELL YOU! NO MATTER WHAT PAIN I HAVE TO TAKE, WHAT TORTURE I HAVE TO ENDUR, I. WILL. NEVER. TELL. YOU. ANYTHING!" Keith's veins were bulging and his face was flushed bright red. "EVER!" he finished, casting a smug look at the emperor.

Zarkon had had it. "WHY MUST YOU BE SO DIFFICULT, BOY!" He roared. His patience was running out fast, and he needed the whereabouts of the lion before his temper took over. "HERE, YOU DON'T LIKE THAT DEAL? THEN LET'S MAKE A NEW ONE!" Zarkon slammed his hands on each side of Keith's head and got nose to nose with the young paladin. "HOW ABOUT THIS! YOU TELL ME WHERE THE RED LION IS, OR YOUR LITTLE GREEN FRIEND SUFFERS!"

That wiped the smug look of his face instantly. Zarkon stood back from Keith and smiled. He had done it. He had found his weak spot, his love and protection for his friends. Keith's face had morphed from the look of confidence to anger and terror. A smile of pleasure spread Zarkon's face. "She's such a pretty little thing, isn't she," Zarkon stated, smirking at the seething red paladin.

"Shut. Up." Keith growled, struggling at his bindings with more ferocity than ever before.

Zarkon watched in amusement before getting close to the boy's face. "You know," he said. "I'm sure Lotor would be more than happy to have her for the day, don't you think?" There. Zarkon had seen it. All hope and fire had been completely extinguished from Keith's eyes. Zarkon smirked. "I did it." The galra threw back his head and laughed. "I DID IT!" the red paladin was now broken. Who would've known his feelings would be his demise?

"Fine. I'll tell you where the red lion is." Keith murmured, watching Zarkon laugh maniacally. "Just...ugh fine."

Zarkon calmed himself and sat down in his seat, fingers intertwined. "I'm listening." He hissed.

Keith rolled his eyes and bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. "The lion is stationed on a small planet about five galaxies away. It's hidden in the middle of the forest there."

A tense silence filled the room afterward. Zarkon looked disappointed and stood up. The galra walked slowly to the door going into the hallway. "Guards." He said sternly. The robots standing at the door twirled their heads 360 to look at their master. "Get me the girl. And bring her in here."

"WHAT!" Keith roared, glaring at Zarkon with the intensity of 1,000 suns. "I TOLD YOU WHERE MY LION WAS!"

Zarkon clicked his tongue. "I happen to know what is on the specific planet you spoke of." Keith paled considerably. "And I also happen to know that it is infested with virus bugs, which would kill me with a single touch of their stingers. In short, my boy," Zarkon's face changed into an expression of pure rage. He stalked across the room and flipped over one of the tables filled with tools. Weapons of all shapes and sizes were scattered all across the room. "You lied. And now your precious paladin friend will pay the price."

"No, please don't do this. Please! Keith begged. "She's just a kid, she didn't choose to be in this war! Come on! Torture me! TORTURE ME! Inject me with more of that serum, please, anything!"

"Can you tell me where the red lion is?"

"NO! I would, I would lead you to it myself if it meant saving Pidge, but I don't know where it is! None of us do! We rode here in them and they just up and left!" The desperation in Keith was clear as day. "PLEASE, YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME!"

Zarkon fingered a small blade from the toppled over tray. "And why didn't you tell me this instead of telling me it was somewhere else?"

"I knew you wouldn't believe me anyway! So just let Pidge go!" Keith was shaking now, whether it was from fear, from anger, or from pain from the serum, no one knew. "We don't know where our lions are! I couldn't tell you anything useful! Don't torture Pidge for information we don't have!"

"Young paladin, that is where you are so very wrong. Do you remember the but?"

Keith stared at Zarkon, his eyebrows furrowed. "The but? What?"

"The but in our little agreement." Zarkon's pale eyes gleamed. "The one that you didn't bother to hear."

A stunned silence followed. "That's not fair!" Keith exploded, baring his teeth ferociously "The agreement was that you would take me instead of Pidge!"

Zarkon looked up at Keith, his gaze deadly. "I said that you could take her place, but... and you said you didn't need to hear the rest, as long as your precious 'Pidge was safe." Zarkon paused as shouts of terror emitted from the Paladin's cell, along with Pidge yelling at the top of her lungs. The emperor turned his attention back to the red paladin, who was straining his head to get a glimpse of the door with a terrified look plastered on to his face.

"But if you had heard the rest, you would've known that if you lied, she would be tortured anyway." Zarkon ran his finger over the sharp edge of the blade he had been toying with. "This'll be a good place to start. " He murmured, earning screams of protest from Keith. The doors slid open, and there two guards stood, each holding a trashing young girl by one arm.

"Let. Me. GO." She ordered, her legs kicking the air. Her eyes were screwed shut and her hair was dirty and tangled.

"Pidge?!" Keith cried, trying to cock his head in order to get a good look at his friend.

Pidge's eyes snapped open. "Keith?" She exclaimed. All struggling and kicking ceased. "Keith! We thought you were a goner! After hearing those screams... we all feared the worst!" Pidge fell limp in the robot's arms. "We were all so freaking worried about you! Don't ever take my place again!"

Zarkon watched this exchange with dull interest. "Drop her." He ordered his guards. They did as he asked and quickly left the room, sealing the door, and the paladin's fate, with them.

"Pidge slowly got up, receiving a small cut on her hand from one of the knives strewn across the floor. "Rude." she murmured.

Zarkon studied her for a split second. "This should be fun."

Pidge whirled around to glare at the galra. "I'm not afraid of you." She growled, her eyes bright and determined.

"Hm," Zarkon replied, walking over to Keith and unstrapping him from the operation table, earning surprised looks from both of the paladins as he did so.

As soon as the last strap holding Keith down was undone, he tried to run over to his young friend. He barely got more than two steps before his body collapsed from sheer exhaustion. The serum, which seemed to have worn off, had rendered him completely useless.

"You like? It's a useful side effect when you want it to be." Zarkon said to the paladins, earning ferocious glares from each.

"You no like?" The paladin's face's remained stony. Zarkon shrugged. "Works for me."

Zarkon took Keith's handcuffs (A/N like the ones they had on in The Way Forward) which he had removed before strapping him to the operation table and slid them around his wrists. Though completely quiet, Pidge could see the pleasure in Zarkon's old and wrinkled face. He slung Keith over his shoulder and carried him over to the wall in front of the operation table. Once there, Zarkon dropped to boy right on his head and walked back over to Pidge, who was looking at him with such hope and determination that it made him sick. Keith lay in a quiet heap, unable to do anything but watch the whole horrific scene unfold.

"You've got a bit of a loud mouth." Zarkon flicked the knife in his hand. "We're going to have to fix that."

A flicker of despair cut through Pidge's mask of confidence like a knife, but she quickly regained her composure. "Well, whatcha gonna do?"

Zarkon's face was an emotionless stare. "I'm going to find out what makes you tick. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Pidge shrugged, avoiding Zarkon's gaze. "Doesn't sound too bad."

Zarkon grabbed Pidge's chin roughly and forced her to look at him. "Trust me, young paladin, it will be."

"Pidge!" Keith cried desperately, trying and failing to get up from the floor.

Zarkon's gaze flickered from Keith, then to Pidge, and then back to Keith. A wide smile spread across his face. "Guards," he called. The door slid open and one of the two robots stepped inside the room quickly before Pidge could make a break for it.

"Yes, master?"

"Bring the other paladins from their cell. I think they're going to want to see the show."