"Ahh!" I screamed in shock as I was slowly put in a tank of ice-cold water that almost felt like it was burning.

I had rope wrapped around my wrists above my head as I was hanging on a hook thing that was lowering me down into the tank.

The water was now to my abdomen and I could feel all my wounds burn, like it would if it was being disinfected, but I don't think that was what the water was doing. A couple of ticks later, the water was up to my neck, making it freeze my airways. I felt like I couldn't breathe, but I know that soon, I was going to be submerged under water, so against my aching chest, and raw throat, I took a huge gulp of air before I was completely submerged, then my hands were unhooked.

For some reason, I felt tired. Like my body seemed heavier, and my head didn't feel like it should be placed on my shoulders, I just felt drained for some reason. I didn't feel like I was having too much of a challenge holding my breath, but my wounds were burning more the longer I was submerged. I had the instinct to breathe, but I wasn't out of breath left, so I opened my eyes, it didn't sting I noted, and glared at the witch.

Haggar looked at the tank and gave an evil smirk that seemed to have made her eyes glow a brighter shade of eerie yellow, before she then turned around to what looked like at a metal table that had several objects on top of it.

"Did you know that Galrans can hold their breaths longer than most species? Most would have thought they would be the opposite, but no." She placed her clawed hand on the table as she skimmed through the objects that were on top of it, "I think that they have better lung capacity because they are a fighting race, needing air so they can take more blows without being winded too much, and have better stamina in a fight. I guess from my research on the champion, you have the Galran's lung capacity. By this time, he was already gasping for air,"

She looked up and just smirked before she looked back down, and picked up a blade. A luxite blade. My blade.

"This is an interesting blade. Did you know that the planet that harvested this metal, one of the strongest in the universe by the way, had one of the best harvests of quintessence? It is kind of what started the whole expedition after Zarkon came back from the field to find that Alfor destroyed Daibizaal, but we haven't found another planet with enough of it, maybe that back water planet might ha-"

The ship started to shake, interrupting the witch as she slammed down the blade on the metal table with a frown. She looked at her druids before she gave me one last glare, then followed them out of the room as the ship shook again. I tested the rope around my wrists, but it didn't loosen. I looked toward the glass, and quickly swam on the other side of the small tank, and slammed against the opposite side of the tank as a long crack formed. I tried again two more times before finally the glass broke and I fell out.

The gush of wind I felt left me shaking as I dropped like a bag of potatoes onto the metal floor. The fall aggravated all of my injuries and it was hard to breathe. The cold before I was submerged under the water returned, plus the wounds burned, and falling flat on my chest left me trying to inhale as much air as I could. It hurt. Everything hurt. It felt like the only thing I could feel was pain, but I know that I would need to hurry up and use this distraction to try and escape the cruiser.

I got my arms and knees underneath me once I could catch my breathe. Once I did accomplish that, I used all my strength to push up off the ground, going against the gravity on the cruiser, to get me onto my knees. I was breathing harder as my injuries just seems to burn. My vision was a little blurry, but that could be because of blood loss, which isn't good. I grunted as I went to my next of goal of standing up.

Once I was able to shakily make it to my feet, I had to grip onto the metal table that had my knife lying on top of it for support. My body felt extremely heavy, seeming to not want to hold itself up. Once I felt stable enough, I reached for my blade, then looked over to the door where I had to exit. I just grit my teeth, tighten my hold on my blade, and started to walk over to the same door that the witch left.

Once I was close enough to touch the pad, I took a deep breath before I placed my hand on the pad and as the doors open, I quickly raise my blade, letting it extend to all its glory, and cut the heads of the two sentries that were standing guard outside my door before they had the chance to turn and fight back. I leaned onto the wall for support as I tried to suck in as much air as I could.

I pushed from the wall, and gripped my blade with hands as I started to walk down the ship in search of the escape pods. I was about to turn a corner when I heard footsteps. They didn't sound like sentries since they sounded quieter and off beat than the usual beat the sentries seem to walk on, but they could be druids.

"Quiznack," I murmur quietly to myself.

I close my eyes as I try to manipulate my quintessence, but the only thing I can do is just flicker in my usual dark red color before I turn back to nothing. My quintessence just feels stretched too thin. I must be using some of it to help stand, which makes sense since I am starting to see black spots in my vision. The footsteps are getting closer, and I could hear, I think, three sets of steps, but I can't be too sure.

I just need to be able to get a running start and jump into the quintessence field, and hope I can get into an escape pod, but that will mean they can use their power against me, and even if I can jump before they hit me, I would have to make sure I don't pass out from using too much quintessence and my wounds. This is going to be a little hard to do. I shake my head before I hear the footsteps about to turn the corner-

I jump out, about to distract long enough for me to gather my core quintessence when I see that the 3 beings weren't wearing cloaks, but instead wearing black suits with purple markings. The one that is in front of the group turns off their mask, and I see Kolivan's face behind it.

"Kolivan," I whisper before I see more black spots in my vision, and the ground seems to get closer, and closer...

Until I feel arms wrap around my middle and lets me lean almost all my weight on top of him. I hear static before some words that I cannot make out, but the voice sounds familiar, but it sounds so far, like it's at another end of a long tunnel. But I hear Kolivan's response as he speaks into his com.

"Shiro," oh, so that was who was talking, "we found him, but he's in pretty bad shape here," and I almost want to laugh at that, because isn't that the understatement of the year, or is it deca-phoeb.

I feel all the injuries I sustained before I was captured, while Haggar was showing what she will do to me, during the arena when I was fighting the champion, what the druids did to me after the fight, and what Haggar did to me while she was experimenting on me. She electrocuted me, burned me, put me in a tub of ice, and then just dropped me into a tank of water that burned. She did all of that for what? To see that my eyes could change colors with my quintessence. Everything hurts.

I didn't hear the response from the other end of the com's unit, but I did hear Kolivan's grunt of confirmation before he grabbed my arm and put it around his neck before he started to half-carry, half-drag me down the halls that all looked the same, as they kept blurring in and out.

We soon were at the extraction point where the black lion was waiting for us with the jaw opened. Kolivan, with the two other blades, led us into the black lion's mouth before he placed me down the metal floor allowing me to lean back on the wall s of lion.

"Dulna, get me the scanner," he commanded.

I just stared at the galra who was shuffling in a bag until then there was a scanner being handed to the leader of the blades. He looked back at me before he started to scan me. His frown went lower and lower as the scanner beeped every other second.

"Stars Keith, how are you still awake?" I just shrug my shoulders, which turned out to be a bad idea as it aggravated my wounds and hissed through my teeth.

My left side was killing me, it hurt to breath, my head was hurting with a constant ringing noise that wouldn't go away, and I just felt soar everywhere. It just hurts...

(0_0)

"Kolivan, what's Keith's condition?" I shouted out from over my shoulder as we started to head away from the battle and towards the castle.

"His whole left side seems burned, broke three ribs, cracked at least the others, minor concussion, bruises all over his body, a sprang wrist, druids magic marks on his body from what seems where the druids attacked him, and that's what I can get from the scan so far," he said, and it didn't sound like it was all of his injuries.

My little brother was only there for about two days, but that was two days too much. There was still a fight that was still going on, and it was getting harder trying to dodge the ships that were fighting back. One ship got a lucky hit on black's back which seemed to have had impacted the-

"Ahhhhhh!" I hear the shout of pain from Keith and it broke my heart.

Once we got back to the castle, before the Black Lions paws were fully on the ground, I got up from my seat and raced to the cockpit, hearing Black's purr in the back of my mind as I saw my little brother breathing heavily.

His slave shirt and pants were ripped badly with dry blood staining the ends and water drenching them and his hair. He was shivering. his arms were wrapped around his middle, and he looked paler than he usually is. I kneeled in front of him and saw Keith's eyes were following my movements, but he seemed like he was barely staying awake.

"I'll need to take him to Coran so he could put Keith in a pod," I inform Kolivan. I looked over to him and he nodded his head before I go to carry my little brother by holding him bridal style.

I try to move him gently, but he still groaned in pain, and as we started to move, I can tell that I was bothering his injuries as he continued to wince. His eyes kept fluttering close before they opened, but not long until he started to close them again. I just kept telling him little reassurances to him as I continued toward to the infirmary where I know that Coran was waiting for them.

"Come on Keith, just stay awake a little bit longer," I turned a corner as Keith let out a groan, "We're almost there, please keep your eyes open, please," I begged as I continued to race to the med-bay.

He did keep his eyes open, but only barely. Once I ran into the med-bay I saw Coran running around trying to gather supplies for the injured boy, but once he saw Keith, he stopped for a second to let out a "Oh Number Four," before he was running around and mumbling to himself.

"Where should I place him?" I asked, wanting to get this right the first time so we won't waste any time.

But before he could answer, there was static coming from my com, "Shiro it's -" then it was just static again. I looked up to Coran before the Castle shook, and the power all turned off.

"Its... Haggar," Keith croaked and once I looked down at his face, I could see fear and pain in his face and his eyes.

The ship shook again, and I just held Keith closer to me, though I had to be very careful since he had serious injured ribs. The next shake was followed with shouts and my stomach dropped even further. Keith shivered, but he tensed in my arms. My arms started to light up, emitting a light glow to the room that let me see that I was near a wall. I couldn't find Coran, but I heard a thud in front of the med-bay before the door was blown off.

There stood an angry witch that seemed to be glowing a lighter lavender color. I put Keith behind me, letting my brother lean on the wall as I made sure to get into a protective stance in front of him with my arms growing hotter with heat.

"Give me the boy, and I'll leave," the witch's wrath seemed to be fuming in waves of hate.

"Never," I sneered, and I could hear a groan coming behind me.

(~_~)

From where I was standing, I saw Shiro lunge at the witch with his glowing arm. All the witch did was just raise her hand before she fired her dark magic at Shiro's chest...

And he dropped like a ragdoll. Lifeless.

"Shiro!" I shouted.

The witch just grinned a twisted smile as she readied another attack, except this time she aimed at his head as he groaned and started to stir. And that was the last straw before I looked down at my older brother. Everything started to go fuzzy as I could see red at the edges of my vision...

(^_^)

I started to get up despite that my chest seem to protest, making it harder to breathe. I heard some crackling in front of me, making me tense in anticipation, but I didn't feel anything once the crackling noise had quieted down. I looked up, but instead of a bolt of lightning, I saw a stunned Haggar that seemed to be staring at something, so I followed her gaze to see Keith.

He was glowing a dark garnet red with midnight black sparks that seemed to be flying from him. His pupils were slits and his eyes were pure neon yellow, but there seemed to be a fire behind them though, and from his snarl that he was holding to the witch, his teeth have sharpened.

"Keith," I whispered.

Then a battle roar as Keith brought both his hands in front of him, extending his arms, and shooting a beam of a darker red than the dark garnet color that was surrounding him with black sparks following the beam until it hit the witch.

"Ahhhh!" Haggar screamed as she put her hands and was pushed back a few inches before she disappeared, but there wasn't any smoke like she usually does when she disappears, but I wasn't able to think too much about it before there was silence.

Keith turned back to normal, but he then dropped like a puppet who got their strings cut.