Chapter 24: The Escape
Part 4: The Unexpected Dilemma
Keith nearly crawled halfway through Black's opening, but he can feel the Black Lion move away from the hanger so no enemy could get his paladin. Before Black Lion could get away, a strong cold laugh echoed through the hanger. "Well, well," a familiar voice sounded. "So, my Kitty Paladin did have a broken leg."
"Shadow Mother," Keith growled as he rolled over to his side. He looked down and saw the Shadow Mother, floating near the edge of the hanger. "You're not getting me this time."
"Oh, please darling," Shadow Mother giggled. "If I have set one foot off this ship, I will go poof. So, I wouldn't dream of it."
"Still," Keith growled louder. "You're still not getting me! Black Lion, the Paladins of Voltron, the Blade, the Garrison, and my friends will be protecting me."
"True, but not to the end of the year." The Shadow Mistress replied.
Keith turned to her quickly. "What do you mean?" Keith asked.
"Remember about the rose, darling?" She asked. In a flash, Keith remembered the rose that is wrapped around the orb of his life.
"Yeah," Keith replied. "What about it?"
"You see darling," Shadow Mother hummed. "Every spell that I cast has a timer on my subject, it will release its amount for each week to tell the time of when you have left. Since that rose is wrapped around that orb, a petal falls to equal one week. Since you've been here with us for a month, four petals have fallen. Due to the number of petals that shall fall, the final petal will fall to the end of that year."
"Keith," Pidge's voice spoke through the inner comm. "I think she meant that you only have eleven months left."
"That would explain the fallen petals in her room," Lance added.
"Now paladin," the Shadow Mother hissed. "Here's your task to find a way to break my spell towards the end of the year. If you have, you will return to your human form and your life shall return to you. If not, you will remain in Galra form and your life still return to you in that form. And then, I will hunt you down to be my pet once again."
Keith gasped.
"What?!" Pidge jumped.
"That's not fair!" Matt shouted.
"What about his freedom?!" Hunk asked.
"Taking that away again," Lance spoke. "That's for sure."
"We won't let that happen to you again, Keith!" Shiro spoke through the inner comm.
Keith grunted at the near despair. "You...you would get away with this," Keith growled.
"I already have, darling." The Shadow Mistress chuckled.
Keith growled deeply.
"Now go, Paladin. Find a way, before time runs out before you know it." All at once, the Shadow Mother has disappeared without a trace.
As the Shadow Mother disappeared, the Black Lion floated away while Keith crawls to the airlock. Once he is in, everything in the room has become clear air again. Keith leans against a wall, painfully. While Black Lion continues to glide automatically into space.