Chapter 21
A/N: once again, I only own this story and the OCs.
/comms/
"Bold is intercoms"
Flashback/telepathy
Keith remained silent as they walked towards Red, it was painfully obvious that the Red Paladin was not handling this new information about his heritage well; not that Shiro could blame him.
"Hey, Keith," Shiro started, breaking the tense silence, "do you want to—"
"There's nothing to discuss," he replied coldly putting on his helmet. "Can you stay in the back and keep an eye of them?" Keith motioned to Kolivan and Antok whom were joining them on their trip back to the Castle of Lions.
It struck Shiro more as a strong suggestion than a request, but he got the gist, Keith needed some time to himself to sort out his problems. He'd open up in his own time.
Keith sat down in the pilot's chair, sealing the door between the cockpit and the hold. Waving his hand Yorak materialized and flew up. "How long have you known?"
The small blue eye looked down, trying to appear fascinated with the controls. "…I've known since I picked you. It's been so long since I saw your mom, but I do remember her. She was really nice, nothing like those in the empire if that's what you're worried about."
That felt like betrayal, his own ghost chose to lie to him. They were literally bonded for eternity until they suffered a permanent death likely at the hands of a beast, and his own ghost blatantly lied to him.
"Keith…" Yorak trailed off before flying over, nuzzling his cheek. "I'm so sorry! I should've told you, but your dad wanted to be the one to tell you, and on Earth I figured it was for the best, and then we got out here and…and…"
"And what?"
Yorak grew quiet, "I…I didn't want you to think of yourself as a monster," he voiced, silencing Keith. "You already feel bad enough about everything you have to hold back, and I remember all the things those people used to say about you…I thought, I thought if you knew you'd be even worse on yourself than you are now."
His explanation took Keith aback. He was aware Yorak could pick up on his thoughts and feelings, and he worried himself over Keith's health, but Keith would never think his little ghost would've been so worried just because he had a few bad days every now and then. Days he hated being different from everyone else. "Yorak?" Keith spoke softly cradling the light in his hands.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be acting like this—"
"No, no…I should've seen what I was doing to you," he apologized, "I never thought you were the blame of me being different, I love being a Guardian. It's just…guess we now know why I could never click with normal Earthling kids."
"Why would you want to? Where's the fun and being normal?" Yorak said and Keith felt a smile tug his lips.
"There you go again, making me feel better when I try to help you."
"Making you feel better makes me feel better."
Despite the day's revelation's Keith couldn't hold back a soft smile as he patted his ghost. "Please never change."
"You're stuck with me Guardian, to infinity and beyond."
"Keith?" Shiro called knocking on the door.
"Hmm?"
"Have you let Allura know we're on our way back?"
"No, that's your job, I'm currently keeping us from falling into pits of darkness that're almost as black as my soul," he replied adjusting Red as they started to stray a little off from the designated path.
-.-
Keith stood nervously at the exit ramp with Shiro and the Blades. He was honestly hoping that they would keep quiet about his…heritage, he didn't want any distrust to form just because he was part of the race they were currently trying to stop from taking over the universe.
Kolivan made the first move, walking down the ramp towards Allura. Coming to a stop, he removed his hood and Keith could now see his face not that it and the mask were gone. "Princess Allura," he said calmly kneeling in respect, "it's good to see that the rumors are true. You're still alive after all these years."
"So is Zarkon. Can we consider you our ally in the fight against him?" she questioned coldly.
"Yes, but we have little time to discuss this, I just received word from our spy inside the Galran hierarchy that they've become aware of our presence. So the timetable for our plan has been moved up."
"How soon do we need to begin?" Shiro questioned.
"Now."
"Here's one thing I want to know," Jaz said stepping forwards, "why was Red attacking the base?"
All eyes turned to Kolivan and Keith and Shiro shared a glance. "Nothing but a misunderstanding," Keith replied crossing his arms defensively. Tossing a warning glare at the leader of the Blades, he prayed he got the hint to shut up.
Apparently, he did not.
"Your Red Paladin took part in the Trials of Marmora."
"Why?" Allura questioned, sounding suspicious.
"He had a weapon in his possession that we believed he stole, in truth it merely showed the Galran blood he shares with us," Kolivan stated and Keith froze as all eyes turned on him each with varying emotions. Lance looked suspiscious, Hunk looked as confused as he felt, Pidge looked curious and Keith could see the questions begin running through her head, Jaz looked surprised, and Allura…he could see the rage growing.
"What."
Out of the corner of his eye, Keith saw Shiro and Jaz tense up at her tone. The Princess took a step towards him and Shiro moved closer, ready to act like a shield if need be.
"You lied to us."
Keith raised his hands in his defense, "Allura, I swear, this is news to me too."
She narrowed her eyes, betrayal and distrust showing through. Whirling on her heel, she stormed away. "Let's get to the bridge to discuss plans."
Everyone began following, except Keith, Jaz, and Shiro. "Hey, are you—?"
"I'm fine," he replied probably a little too fast, but right now Keith didn't care. They hated him, and he knew it. The question remaining was how long did he have till they cast him aside and replaced him?
Allura could most certainly find a replacement, of that, Keith had no doubt.
"Keith," Shiro said, placing a hand on his shoulder and breaking him out of his thoughts, "lets get your injuries checked out. That shoulder has to hurt."
Keith shrugged, "Shiro, I'm fine, it was a scratch. Besides, I've always been a quick healer."
That seemed to do little the calm the older man's nerves as he watched the wheels turn in Shiro's head, probably trying to think of some way to get Keith to the infirmary.
"At least let me check," Jaz said crossing her arms.
Looking at Shiro, Keith sighed, there was no getting out of this. Removing his chest plate, he pulled the shoulder down, revealing the cut that was already looking a few weeks old. "See? Fine. Must be my, Galra lineage or something," he lied pulling the shirt back up and picking up his chest plate. "I'm going to go get changed."
Shiro and Jaz stayed silent as their younger friend left the room quickly, the elder man sighing and running a hand through his hair disbelievingly once the doors closed. "I can't believe this, I mean, I always suspected Keith was a hybrid, but I figured he was part Awoken."
"Same, there were one or two other races I had in mind, but Galra was never one of them," Jaz stated. "But it makes sense, he has a Galran temperament."
"He's nothing like them!" Shiro snarled clenching his fist in anger. He saw how the others looked at his brother, it was the same way people would look at him and Jaz when they were in the arena; like they were monsters, like Keith was a monster.
She raised her hands. "I know, but we just need to give everyone time," Jaz said, "this is news for all of us. But we need to keep a close eye on Allura, you've seen how she treats Galra."
That made Shiro pale, Allura all but cheered when she found out he ejected Sendak into space. She said there was no need to feel guilty over handling a beast. With Ulaz, she wanted him in cuffs even after Shiro and Jaz vouched for him, she even continued her distrust after he sacrificed himself to save them. He wasn't sure he wanted to imagine what she could do to Keith if they ever ended up alone.
Most of the time he was certain that Keith could hold his own, but against Allura, even he had trouble, and Shiro had once been a gladiator. Nodding in agreement, they made their way up to the bridge. The faster they got this plan done, the sooner they could defeat Zarkon, find the rest of their crew, go home and leave this nightmare behind them.
-.-
"WHAT'D I MISS?!" Hunk screamed shooting upright as he woke himself up snoring.
"Oh, nothing important, we've just discovered a way to defeat Zarkon," Lance answered.
"Really, I dozed off for ten minutes and you've already figured out how to defeat the forces of evil?"
"You've been asleep for three hours!" Pidge exclaimed.
"Thank God, the snoring's stopped," Jaz praised walking back in with a cup and rejoinging the others around a table with a hologram of Zarkon's ship on it. "What's I miss?"
"I think we've got something here," Shiro stated. "It's dangerous and there's a lot of moving parts, but if we can coordinate everything just right, then—"
"Zarkon's reign will be at an end," Kolivan finished, and the savagery that's poisoned our universe can be finally cleansed."
"Well, mostly, there's still the Hive we have to worry about," Jaz reminded.
"True, but with the Galra empire out of the way, may more planets will be able to turn their forces back to handling them," Allura stated.
"It'll have to be one united army, because otherwise they'll just end up like Fundament, Harmony, Qugua, Ammonite, Dakaua, Taishibeth, Ecumene, should I continue?" Keith listed before noticing everyone else was looking at him. Cursing internally at his own slip up, he just crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Am I the only person looking up the history?"
"The Hivian gods were thrown into disarry years ago with the deaths of Oryx and Crota, his sisters haven't been heard from since their disappearances, I believe it's safe to say that the Hive may no longer be a concern," Kolivan replied and Keith and Jaz shared a disbelieving look.
"Wait…they're dead?" Coran questioned. "Permanently? I thought Hive Gods couldn't die."
"Indeed, that is what we all believed. Until Crota was slain. His killers used his death to lead Oryx into a trap, and permanently killed them within their own Acsendent Realms. The allies we once had were responsible," the leader of the Blade replied. "As of now, the Hive remains without a ruler and thus the threat is dimished."
Keith's head shot up and he and Jaz shared a worried glance, these guys knew the Guardians, more so, they were allies. Now Keith could see how he was related to the Galra, his dad was responsible for maintaining one or two of the few alliances the Guardians had in place with those outside of their home system. He could've been in charge of the Blade's alliance, it would explain his Galran blood and the memories of some alien beings resembling Galra when he was younger.
But that also meant that he'd be a lot easier to recognize, especially if he pulled his ghost out. He could pass Yorak off as a stolen drone like his Pidge had done with Rover if he was ever caught off guard by the Paladins. To those who'd seen Guardians and their ghosts before, that wasn't likely. And just like that the universe's biggest target would be aimed at him and his friends.
"Wait, are these the same allies Ulaz mentioned?" Pidge questioned raising her hand. "The ones who mysteriously vanished?"
Kolivan nodded, "Indeed, we've been out of contact for some time, the last representative we sent informed us the region's tentative peace has broken into all-out war. As for who is currently winning, that remains unclear."
"If that's true and the Hive are out of the picture, then we could be taking out the last major threat to the universe," Shiro breathed.
"You've done it Shiro," Kolivan said.
"We did it together," he replied shaking the rebel commander's hand.
"As long as we all stick to the plan, it should work," Allura stated, tossing an accusing glare at Kolivan and his men.
"It will work," Kolivan replied firmly, not backing down. "Perhaps then, you'll learn that not all Galra are as bad as Zarkon."
Allura frowned, glancing towards a certain Red Paladin, "I hope not."
"Ulaz was right to trust you all," Antok spoke.
"He sacrificed everything to bring us together," Jaz smiled before tapping her chin, "wait…that sounds wrong. Makes it sound like we're dating and no offense, but I don't think you're my type."
"Neither are you mine," Antok replied and she stuck her tongue out at him.
"You know what, let's just honor Ulaz's sacrifice by taking down Zarkon," Shiro suggested.
"That works."
"So what's the plan?" Hunk inquired walking over.
"The plan is amazing!" Lance exclaimed jumping onto the table. "First: we infect Zarkon's ship with a virus!" He tapped the hologram and it turned red before the Blue Paladin jumped to the side and made another hologram. "Then we make an extra-large wormhole and lure Zarkon inside of it, zapping him a bajillion lightyears away! And once he pops out on the other side all like, 'Oh, why isn't my ship working?' Voltron kicks his butt! Pew-pew-pew! Womp, womp, womp! Huh! Hi-yah!" he put his finger over his nose, "'I'll form the head!' That's what you'll say Shiro!"
"Oh God," Jaz snicked holding back her laughter as Shiro blushed.
"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! We won for all time suckers!" Lance exclaimed before yelping as Pidge tripped him.
"Calm down."
"Wow…so this is it," Hunk breathed and they all grew quiet. It was really it, they were going to finish this, finally.
Katie stepped forwards, breaking the silence, "I guess the only question is: when do we strike?"
"As soon as we build a teludav big enough to wormhole Zarkon's ship," Coran stated.
"Aw man, that thing again?" Hunk groaned, tossing his head back. "Does that mean we need more scaultrite?"
"That's just one of the many thing's we'll need," Allura answered.
"Am I sensing a trip back to the space mall?" Hunk smiled.
"No," Jaz stated. "This'll require more scaultrite than any one shop will carry. We're going to have to harvest it from the source."
"For this plan to work, we'll need to split up," Coran informed. "Keith, Hunk, you two will be responsible for getting the scaultrite. Shiro, Lance, and Pidge, you three need to rescue a prisoner that can help us build the taludav. Allura, Jaz, you two are responsible for getting the Balmera crystal we need; do not kill each other. I'll go to Olkarion and let them know of what's going on to rally our forces. If any one of us fails, the entire plan fails."
-.-
"Stay safe buddy," Shiro said as he and Keith quickly hugged as the Red and Yellow Paladins prepared to start their mission.
"I will."
Pulling apart, Keith stumbled as Jaz jumped onto his back. "Don't die on us, ok! I need someone to help me torment Lance!"
"Hey!"
Jaz ignored him, "And Keith, don't worry about your bloodline, I mean, look at all the assholes we've dealt with before? Griffin! He was from a 'good family' and you remember how he was."
"How could I forget? I punched him in the face."
"You still shouldn't have done that," Shiro chided.
"He deserved it!" Jaz defended. "I would've done it myself if Keith didn't beat me to it! Anyways, my point is, blood doesn't always define who you are, got it?!"
"Yes."
"Good, group hug!" she cheered grabbing her two best friends.
"Seriously, don't kill Allura while we're gone," Keith teased and Shiro chuckled as Jaz made a scandalized gasp.
"I would never! Do you really have so little faith in me?"
Neither hesitated in their answer, "Yes."
"Ok, granted you two have a right to worry, I'll do my best, maybe just dye all her clothes purple or something."
"Don't start a fight you can't win, Jazmyne," Shiro reminded.
Jaz smacked him upside the head, "Well Takashi, didn't I tell that to you during our prank war? Who won that by the way?"
"You did."
"Exactly! I refuse to lose to a preppy princess!"
"The bigger they are, the harder the fall."
"You two are horrible," she sighed before the three burst out laughing as Keith walked over to join a teary Hunk at the ramp of the Yellow Lion.
"Hunk, I wish you luck on your mission," Allura said smiling at him, not bothering to even glance at Keith as she began talking with Lance and Pidge about their mission.
"Rude," Yorak muttered as they flew out of the hangar towards the open wormhole, "I hope Jaz dyes her hair violet."
-.-
Jaz joined Shiro and Pidge in the Blue Lion's hangar as they prepared to head off towards the prison this Slav was being held.
"So Princess, how about a kiss for good luck," Lance said puckering his lips.
Without hesitation, Coran lifted one of the mice off Allura's shoulder and pressed it to Lance's lips, making the Blue Paladin yelp and wipe at his mouth viciously.
"I got a pic," Jaz smirked showing the photo to Shiro.
"You seriously can't stop tormenting them can you?" he sighed.
"You know me too well, the universe is full of people waiting to get annoyed. Who am I to deny them?" she smiled and he rolled his eyes. "Just so you know, singing obnoxiously loud irritates Galra very much, so if you get caught just do that. They'll probably go away after a while."
"…Why do I feel like this is something you did before?"
"I did it to the witch herself."
Shiro's shoulders slumped, "…It's a wonder you made it out alive."
"I know, but seriously, don't make me come to rescue your gay little arse."
Shiro raised his hands in defense, "We'll be fine. Just promise me you and Allura won't fight."
She pressed her lips together before groaning in defeat, "Fine, just as lone as she doesn't start anything."
Shiro grinned, relieved at least she wouldn't be making it a mission to drive Allura to kill her. With a wave he joined the others walking up the Blue Lion's ramp, before like the Yellow Lion they took off into the wormhole.
-.-
"Why does Allura get to take a leasurely trip to the Balmera, while we have to fly into the belly of a giant space worm to get scaultrite," Hunk whined.
"Hunk, Allura is trapped alone with Jaz," Keith emphasized, "that mission is going to be anything but leasurely. We all have a job to do to build this giant teludav, no one said it was going to be easy."
"But I always get the worst missions," he continued, "go to a Galra-occupied planet to get the Yellow Lion, go to a Galra-occupied Balmera to get a crystal, and now: go into the belly of a beast with the only alien team member."
Keith barely kept his eyebrow from twitching. Sure he spent most of his childhood on another planet, in another solar system, but he was still human, and he lived a decent portion of his life on Earth. Jaz and Darvah's races weren't considered aliens anymore, he wasn't any different. "I'm not an alien Hunk."
"Well, you're kind of an alien," he remarked, "more alien than me, you're at least some alien, I'm none alien."
This conversation was going nowhere. "Let's just focus on the mission."
"Yeah…Was your mom alien? Your grandpa? How Galra are you?"
"I don't know," Keith replied with a shrug. It could be worse, at least Hunk seemed curious instead of frightened or infuriated as Allura had been. At least here he didn't need to worry about being stabbed in the back, the Yellow Paladin was way too nice for that.
"Did the Blade of Marmora like teach you the secret handshake or something?" he asked looking back at him.
"No. No one said anything."
Hunk gave him a sympathetic look. "The Blade of Marmora…they're real tight-lipped aren't they?"
Keith chuckled dryly, "No kidding."
"Alright, I get that your society is secret and all, but is everything a secret?"
"Hunk, I literally joined a day ago! I don't know anything! I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that almost everything I've known about myself has been a lie. It's bad enough to deal with that and deal with Allura hating my guts now. Can you please lay off?"
"Allura doesn't hate you," Hunk smiled looking apologetic. "You just need to give her time to accept the fact that you're Galra, the race that destroyed her entire planet and all of her people…" he trailed off thinking about his words, "ok, she might hate you a little bit."
"Thanks Hunk," he deadpanned. "Now we at least know who's responsible if I end up stabbed in the back."
"Come on Keith, I don't think she hates you that much."
Keith sighed, no point in trying to argue, Hunk was just too good, he couldn't see or imagine the bad in others without seeing it for himself. "Let's just watch the video Coran uploaded and stay on task. We need to find out how to collect this stuff."
"Too bad we didn't ask Jaz, it sounded like she knew where scaultrite comes from," Hunk sighed.
"Well it's a common lesson in Reef schools," Keith commented absentmindedly as he opened a console searching up the video, "ecology of the universe or something like that. Scaultrite comes from an animal that lives in the void of space that's known as a Weblum, however I can't remember what it eats. But I do know that they're huge."
"Which is why we have to go into the belly of the beast."
"Yep."
"Wow, you know a lot about the Awoken," Hunk remarked, before going quiet for a moment. "Hey, I have a question?"
Keith raised an eyebrow, he had questioned before, what was stopping him now? "About what?"
"How do you and Jaz know each other?" Hunk inquired. "I mean, I figured that you knew each other from the Garrison like Shiro, but from the sounds of it you two have known each other longer than that. I mean, you don't have to answer, I was just curious, that's all."
"Uh…well, I spent a lot of time in the Reef, my dad works with their military," Keith confessed and Hunk made an understanding sound.
"Man, that's so cool. You were already going to space before the Garrison. Well, going to the Reef is pretty common, but usually its just tourist stops and ports. I bet you saw a lot more."
Keith smiled slightly, "Yeah, I never thought about it like that."
Hunk raised his eyebrows and glanced at him questioningly. "See anything cool? Pidge told me that they have this crazy engine in the main city that functions purely on gravitational forces of the surrounding asteroids providing energy to the city, but I don't think that's true. Because look at Jaz, she's a mage, how do we know that they aren't using their mystic power stuff for that?"
"The Techeun are responsible for a lot of that stuff," Keith answered. "It's mostly magic, but you might want to ask Jaz about the specifics, she tried explaining it to me once and it all went over my head."
"Oh! Did you ever eat this fruit called Xyis?!" Hunk exclaimed. "I swear to God that was my favorite to buy at the store whenever the shipments came in! I was so bummed when that stupid plague wiped out the crop, they tasted just like cookie dough."
Keith snorted, Xyis was one of the Terran fruits they traded with the Awoken, it really shouldn't've been surprising it ended up on Earth. "Yeah, but if we go back to the Reef I think I know where we can get some. Darvah planted some seeds a while back, but I can't garuntee its alive."
"Hope is enough for me," Hunk grinned. "So what was the coolest thing you saw there?"
Keith shrugged, "I mean the royal court was cool, but the balls were a pain to attend." As Hunk seemingly sputtered at the new information, Keith finally located the file. "Found the video," he said opening it. The screen flickered and they stared at an image of Coran with short hair and sideburns.
"Hello brave Altean!"
"No way," Hunk chortled, "Is that Coran?"
"So, you're about to into the belly of a Weblum to harvest scaultrite. Good for you! Scaultrite is an important substance with thousands of commercial and industrial uses, like: fabrication foam, insect night vision goggles, teludav—" Coran was cut off in a burst of static.
"Uh oh, looks like it's degraded," Yorak informed.
"O cas saa fhaf. Uey veylds'f haddas fe lamambal eyl Vablym lassess veyld uey? [I can see that. You wouldn't happen to remember our Weblum lessons would you?]" Keith murmured.
"We had those?"
Keith grimaced, when the Red War started he wasn't due to go scaultrite harvesting for another few years. So basically all they had to go on was a degraded video and his meager knowledge of Weblums.
Fantastic.
"—Klanmürl lotion and other such lubricants."
"Why didn't Coran check this?" Hunk groaned pressing a few buttons and the static stopped as Coran came into focus again.
"I could go on for days! But you've got a Weblum to enter and some scaultrite to collect!"
"He is way too excited about this," Yorak groaned and Keith nodded in agreement, there was no way anyone could be this excited about entering the stomach of a gigantic, planet-eating beast—wait…did he remember that right?
"Oh look! There's a Weblum now!" Coran waved. "Hello big fella!"
A small animation came up beside him, resemebling a creature that reminded Keith of one of the large fish that were often caught in the waters of Wuld. "Hey Coran! I'm off to eat some planets! There's one now! Nyum, nyum, nyum, nyum, nyum, nyum…"
"Oh quiznak."
"We'll see you soon!" Coran called after. "As you probably remember for school, Weblum are enormous creatures that're an integral part of keeping our universe functioning. It survives off the—left over from dead planets," he continued as a body diagram took over the screen. "It then reconverts quintessence remnants by—becoming the building blocks of new solar systems. Incredible isn't it?"
Keith shared a nervous glance with Hunk as it cut into static again.
"Of course, these are no gentle giants. They're actually quite deadly! Which leads to rule number one—it's important so listen closely. Stay away from its—You got that?"
"NO!" they all exclaimed.
"It's like a rhyme! Say it with me: stay away from its—!"
"Come on!" Hunk whined.
"Other things to remember include avoiding poisonous—eye sockets—could lead to certain death!"
This video was not helpful. Not. At. All.
"Whoa, Keith look," Hunk said motioning to the window. "What are those?"
Keith leaned forwards, gazing out at the debris warily. "They look like…" he trailed off as his light flickered within him. The release of pressure was an immense relief, but its implications weren't. Something happened here, something bad. And the realization made his stomach drop. "…dead planets."
Hunk pulled up a scanner, looking confused and frightened. "That's strange, the chart says these planets should still be thriving."
Keith clenched his jaw, that was just what he feared.
"What do you think happened? Asteroid?" Hunk suggested.
Keith looked away from the Yellow Paladin, gazing out at the debris. No asteroid could've done this…but there were several races that could. "Something tells me they died an unnatural death."
Hunk seemed to freeze as the implication of his words hit him.
A rumble shook the lion as a massive blue worm moved past them through the dead planets, the spines on its body alone dwarfing the heaviest Lion of Voltron, making Hunk yelp and pulled Yellow back.
"Guess that ancient Altean weblum tracker really did work," Keith remarked gazing up at it. Now, he could understand why scaultrite harvesting was an exercise done after the age of eighteen for Kiin and was a hated chore for all Guardians. Going into those beasts had to be a nightmare.
"We have to get out of here! We haven't watched all the video yet! We don't know what to do!"
"We're not leaving," Keith stated. "You fly, keep distance, I'll skim through the video."
"So you've made it into the Weblum's first stomach!"
"Rewind!"
"I know!" Keith snapped quickly pressing the button.
"So you've identified a Weblum. Great! Now remember rule number one: Stay away from its face."
"Wait…that's rule number one?" Hunk said and they both slowly turned to look out the window into the face of the Weblum. "WE BROKE RULE NUMBER ONE!"
The beats began opening its mouth and Keith could see a white light emanating from the back of its throat. So weblums could breathe fire too, great. "GET US OUT OF THE WAY! NOW!"
Grabbing onto Hunk's seat, Keith braced himself as the Yellow Paladin drove them upwards out of the way of the blast originating from the weblum. The blast died before another one came, making Hunk pulled back again before it fried them.
"A weblum's natural defense is a venmous laser, deadly acid—total annilation—death monster—you'll find its blind spot on the back of its neck just below the gills."
"That's where you get inside!" cartoon weblum sang. "if I can't see ya, I can't kill ya!"
Hunk whipped Yellow around, flying past the weblum's head again before speeding towards their landing sight. Bounding off some of the spines, Hunk began muttering, "This isn't good. This isn't good! This isn't good!"
They rammed into a spine and Keith almost crushed the part of the chair in his hand as they flipped around before crashing on the armor plates, skidding along the surface before Hunk activated his lion's special ability, using the claws to keep them firmly latched onto the beast's backside.
"We're attached to its back, in its blind spot."
"Good," Keith sighed, standing up, "we're going in."
"Wait, what do we do once we're inside?"
"A quick recap of what to do when you're inside the beast!"
"Talk about convenient."
"One: Avoid things that want to kill you. Two: Get to the third stomach and find the scaultrite gland. Three: Activate a weblum's defense mechanism to collect the excess materials from the gland. That's the scaultrite!"
"Seems simple enough."
"Seems under-explained."
"Come on," Keith said turning to walk out ignoring the exaggerated sigh from behind.
Exiting Yellow's mouth, they flew over to the gills, watching them open and close. "…We're in the vacuum of space. What is it breathing?"
Keith's eyes widened, that was a good question.
Watching it open again, Keith hit the thrusters on his jetpack, speeding in with Hunk on his heels, flying through just before the gills closed again.
-.-
Macidus walked through the wreckage of his battle with the Titan. He ordered noting to be touched until he found something to support the fact that the Red Paladin of Voltron was a Guradian. So far, nothing. The Guardian was good at covering his tracks.
But then again, judging from the reaction his skin had in response to his attack when they fought, the Red Paladin wasn't a normal Guardian.
No matter, he would make Haggar regret her choice to demote him. Just as soon as he found evidence. Driud chambers never had cameras because the High Priestess didn't want just anyone privy to their art, unfortunately that meant there was no footage on the change from Paladin to Guardian.
Looking down at the pool of quintessence that had been spilled, he smiled, there was blood on some the the glass. And where there was blood, there was always quintessence tying it to the owner.
He just had to make sure the quintessence of broken vat didn't contaminate it. And if that didn't work, the blood could confirm his other theories about the elusive Light Wielder.
Macidus could afford to wait, it was only a matter of time.
-.-
Keith and Hunk descended down into an open chamber filled for steamy, probably smelly, air and small patches of skin near a pool of bubbling stomach acid.
"Nice place," Yorak remarked sounding as disgusted as Keith probably looked. Now it made sense on why the scaultrite harvesting missions were so despised, it was disgusting. It also made sense on why it was waited on till after Kiin came of age, Keith was certain he would've hurled if he came any time before now.
"Ugh! Yuck! Am I standing on a mucous pocket? Gross! I do not like mucous!" Hunk gagged stumbling back from the patch he landed in. "Is that steaming stomach acid? Look, it—right over there! Oh man! I really hope I don't see any blood!"
"Hunk!" Keith exclaimed whacking him upside the head. "Knock it off. You're freaking yourself out."
"No! Standing inches away from a puss-bubble's freaking me out," he replied stamping his foot down on it before turning green as goop splattered out.
"Look, we're inside a disgusting worm, there's no way to sugarcoat it. We're going to need that big brain of yours if we want to make it through. Will you be all right?"
Hunk continued to look sick as he started gazing wildly at their surroundings.
"I said: Will you be all right?" Keith repeated.
The Yellow Paladin's gaze fell to him and he nodded. "Ok, ok," he took a deep breath, "I'll be ok."
"Good," he said patting his teammate on the shoulder, "I've gotta be able to count on you. Besides, no one knows an explosive digestive tract like you." With that, he started walking towards the acid pool, there had to be a way to get to the third stomach from there.
"Wait, wait wait…did you just make a joke?" Hunk squeaked before he bounced a tiny bit. "Seriously, that was a joke wasn't it?"
Keith rolled his eyes and activated his jetpack, flying to the next dry area near the stomach walls.
"You're saying I throw up a lot. I get it, it's funny!" Hunk called chasing after with a laugh. "I do. Wow, Galra Keith is way funnier than regular Keith."
Keith furrowed his brows at that, he didn't change. At least, he thought he didn't, being Galra didn't have that big of an effect on his personality. He's always had a sense of humor, just who got to see it was a different story. "Ok, we need to find a way around the stomach acid into the third stomach."
The walls before them opened, revealing small pores allowing little jellyfish-like creatures to come floating out.
"What are these things?"
"Uh…I don't know, maybe bacteria?"
"Have you ever seen bacteria this big!" Keith snapped.
"Keith! The video! These things were on the video!"
"Se gōntan ziry ivestragon skoros īlis? [And did it say what they were?]" Keith questioned.
"Wait, they seem friendly," Hunk said as two floated up to him landing on his head and another flew over onto his hand. "They like me. They're tickling me!"
"THINGS THAT WANT TO KILL US!"
Quiznak. "HUNK! GET THOSE OFF OF YOU NOW!" he shouted and the Yellow paladin yelped shaking them off.
"THAT'S NOT TICKLING IT'S HOT ACID! OH! THEY WANNA KILL US!"
"You think?" Keith growled pulling out his sword.
"I think they're part of the creature's digestive system. They're trying to break down the food and we're the food!"
Slicing through a group flying at them, Keith glanced at Hunk making sure he was alright. Sure enough, he was blasting away at the enzyme-creatures with his cannon.
"Five to your left!"
Swinging his sword Keith took out the next wave before he heard Hunk shouting, before turning back to watch him get absorbed into the wall. "HUNK!" he shouted sprinting over placing his hands on the wall. "Yorak! Where'd he go?!"
"I'd say he just got absorbed into the circulatory system."
/Ugh, I'm surrounded by blood. I hate blood!/ Hunk groaned.
"Hunk listen to me, you need to find a way out of the circulatory system," he ordered slicing at a few more of the digestive enzymes as they flew at him, backing him towards the stomach acid. Glancing between his two options, Keith grit his teeth. "I'm outnumbered here! Meet me in the third stomach!"
Putting his sword away, Keith dove into the stomach acid, glacing back at the surface, relieved to find the enzymes weren't following. "Keith, you have about five minutes before this acid will eat through the armor and kill you."
"Copy." Gazing at his surroundings, Keith found a pore or opening of somesort at the bottom. Most likely it was the way to the next stomach. Activating his jetpack, he shot down towards it, hitting it as hard as he could.
It gave way a lot easier than he thought, because before he knew it Keith was falling into open air. Looking around for something to grab on, he saw the wreckage of a ship sticking out of the digestive tract.
Talk about convenient.
The thrusters of his jetpack burst to life once again, allowing him to crash unceremoniously on the cockpit window. "That sucked," he muttered sitting up on his knees before freezing as he stared into the cockpit.
In the pilot's seat, an armored figure sat looking up at him.
"No way." Regaining his composure, Keith tapped on the window, trying to see if they would react. "Hey! Are you alive in there?!"
They nodded.
Standing up, he pulled out his sword quickly slicing at the tendrils of tissue that had slowly started to entangle the crashed ship. "Don't move. I'm here to help," he said before stabbing his sword through the window.
Probably not his best first impression, but whatever, this guy would've died otherwise.
Carving the window off, he put his bayard away and tossed the cover to the side before stretching out a hand. "Here." The pilot nodded, taking his hand as he helped them up.
Then he saw the symbol of the Galra Empire on their shoulder.
Using the existing leverage he had on their arm, Keith twisted it, yanking them past him as he grabbed their weapon, leveling the blaster at the soldier as they turned to face him. "You're Galra."
"Keith, we have bigger priorities at the moment."
Hearing squeaking, Keith's head snapped up as he saw what Yorak meant. The enzymes were back, and this time there was more than there had been in the stomach. "Not those ryccosg things again."
The Galra soldier pulled up a screen, quickly typing.
"What're you doing?!" he exclaimed before looking down as the ship's alarm began blaring. The self-destruct (still a stupid ship feature in his opinion). "You're turning your ship into a bomb?"
The growing mass of collecting enzymes shot out a volley of the pesky things at them, forcing both Paladin and Galra soldier to jetpack off the ship. An explosion sounded behimd them, and Keith turned on his shield, grabbing the pilot and yanking them behind it with him. The blast hit and they were shot through a membrane, hopefully into the third stomach.
/Keith! Keith, are you there?!/ Hunk called sounding frantic. /Keith! Answer me!/
Keith groaned as he sat up, reaching for his comm, he stopped as he heard the sound off footsteps rushing towards him before he was knocked back to the ground. Rolling to his feet, he growled as he saw the soldier aiming the gun at him before pulling the trigger, making him summon his shield.
Except…the shots didn't hit.
Gazing behind him, he watched as the remains of several enzyme-creatures fell to the ground. "Guess you can keep your weapon," he resigned pulling his shield away and standing up.
"Keith, according to my scans the third stomach is just beyond that valve over there at the other end."
"Finally," he sighed flying over, hearing the Galra soldier follow after. Together they pushed the valve open, letting them fly into the third stomach where Hunk was waiting.
"KEITH!" the Yellow Paladin exclaimed flying over and hugging him. "You made it! We both made it! Who's this?"
"Someone I found," he answered. "They don't talk much, and they're Galra."
"So do you guys all know each other?" Hunk asked and Keith tossed him an unamused glare. Now was not the time for Galra jokes, nor was it the time to discuss his heritage. The last thing they needed was word spreading that the Red Paladin of Voltron was part Galra. It could lead to distrust among the people they were trying to save or could end up lumping Voltron with the empire. Both of which were unideal situations. "Are you sure we should be rescuing a Galra soldier right now?"
"We're Paladins of Voltron. We can't just leave people to die, even if they are Galra," Keith reminded sternly. "Now come on. Let's get what we came for and get the nopāzma out."
"Ok, well, that might be a problem too," Hunk said.
"How?"
"The scautrite gland somehow secretes mucus, or saliva, or something gross, which crystallizes. Only problem is, I think, in order for that secretion to start we have to trigger the Weblum's defense mechanism."
"Great," Keith drawled. This mission could not get any worse.
Squelching began to echo around them and they turned to the stomach wall it was originating from, finding the little creatures emerging from it like before.
"Oh māzigon va! Daor aril! [Oh come on! Not Again!]" Keith exclaimed tossing his hands in the air in frustration.
Th enzymes once again huddled close together to create a large mass. Once they were fully clumped, large tendrils began speeding out towards them, forcing the three invaders to dodge. Pulling out his sword, Keith sliced through the one flying at him and Hunk as the Yellow Paladin used his cannon, aiming at the mass.
The cannon's blue beam created a massive hole in the mass, which regew and repaired itself before their eyes as more tendrils came at them.
"THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!" Hunk exclaimed.
Under the growing mass of digestive enzymes, a valve opened pushing gases into the stomach as another valve opened above, funneling the air through the organ, threatening to drag them all out as they held onto different parts of the third stomach.
"I think this thing's getting rid of the excess gas produced from its multiple stomachs!" Hunk called.
"What?"
Hunk laughed, "It's farting!"
That was something Keith could've lived without knowing. The airflow started dying down, and Keith glared at the digestive-aids as they started to regroup after most had been sucked out through the gas release. It wouldn't be long before it reached the size it was before, maybe bigged. "Hunk! What do we need to do to get that scaultrite gland to goop?"
"Oh, uh…wait a second, wait a second, wait second," he said counting on his fingers, "Stay away from its face, the blue laser," he smiled widely, "I know what to do!" Turning on hs pack, Hunk flew up towards the opening releasing the excess digestive gases.
"What?!"
"If we want that third stomach gland to secrete the ooze, I need to get farted out of the weblum's butt and attack the face in the Yellow Lion to get it to fire its laser puke!" Hunk said. "For the sake of the universe, I'll provoke the beast! You two stay here and get that scaultrite."
And that was officially the most disgusting sentence Keith had ever heard in his life. "Hurry! I don't know how long we can hold these things off!" Keith reminded as he dodged out of the way of an incoming attack. Seeing the valve opening, Keith stabbed his blade into the flesh of the stomach, holding on tightly as the vacuum forces tried to pull him out with Hunk.
/I'm out! Heading to Yellow now!/
"Good, don't take your sweet time about it," Keith stated slicing through another attack.
-.-
Macidus strode calmly into the lab with the Red Paladin's blood sample. Placing it on the scanner, he turned back to the sentry that Provok had reportedly attacked, using his magic to analyze the source of damage. The sooner he rooted out this traitor, the sooner he would be off babysitting duty and could get on with his current research on the Red Paladin of Voltron.
The door opened and the newly promoted Commander Thace scowled as he spotted him. "Why are you tampering with evidence?!"
"Commander Thace, I was ordered to assist you in your investigation into the possible traitors on board."
"Ordered by whom?" the Commander growled baring his teeth.
Odd reaction, but then again, no new commander wanted anyone stepping on their toes in their quest for power within the Empire. It was no secret the druids were feared, it was something Macidus reveled in; to watch the weaker commanders attempt to act fearless and brave when in reality they were weak cubs to scared to do what was necessary to achieve power. However, something about Thace's reaction still made him take note.
"Haggar. I've analyzed the sentry that was destroyed just before the sheilds went down."
"The one that was killed by Prorok," Thace scoffed, "I've already examined him."
"So you found the trace elements of Luxite on the wound?" he questioned facing the new commander. It was barely noticeable, but his eyes did widen slightly. Appears that Commander Thace missed evidence after all. "It's a rare metal. I believe if we find others in possession of Luxite on this ship, then we will have found our traitors."
"Then what are you waiting for?! Begin the search with the lower block!" he ordered.
Well, Haggar was right when she said Thace showed promise, any other commander would've scoffed and tossed his advice aside. "I'll assign some sentries to that."
Nodding, he turned sharply on his heel out of the room, making Macidus sigh pressing a few buttons on the console ordering it to secretly send the scanner's results to his personal datapad. His babysitting duties called, with a traitor still on board the investigating Commander's life was at stake. And ancients forbid what would happen if the commander died on his watch. He was already falling out of Haggar's favor as it was.
-.-
"HUNK! WHATEVER YOU'RE GONNA DO, DO IT NOW!" Keith ordered as he stood back-to-back with the rescued Galra soldier, using his sword to slice through the attacking enzymes as they used their blaster to shoot at the incoming ones.
/Rodger that. Provoking giant spaceworm now/
Keith bit the inside of his cheek as he pulled up his shield blocking a torrent flying at them. "HUNK!"
/YES! YES, IT'S GONNA DO IT!/ Hunk cheered before realization seemed to dawn on him. /Oh quiznak, it's gonna do it!/
The enzymes violently pulled away and Keith turned watching the gland begin to glow as a blue good began to fill it. "It's working!" he called.
"Keith, temperature's climbing rapidly!" Yorak warned.
"It's about to get hot in here!" Keith stated grabbing the soldier and yanking them to the side as he pulled up his shield as the braced themselves along a cavity in the stomach lining. Bright light filled the room with the immense heat, forcing Keith to squeeze his eyes shut or risk going blind.
/HE'S OUT!/ Hunk called as the light died down. /Please tell me you've got the scautrite/
Coming out of their hiding spot, Keith pulled out the device. Pressing the button he tossed it out watching as the bags began growing from the small pill-sized container. "Grabbing it now."
It took awhile, but Keith began tying the bags together before stopping as a gun whirred to life behind his head. Sighing, he glanced back, seeing the soldier aiming their weapon at him. Appears their temporary truce outlived its usefulness.
"So you're just like the rest of 'em."
They didn't answer, instead heafting a single bag onto their shoulders. They lowered their gun and turned away, flying off towards the exit.
Oh well, according to Yorak, Keith collected more than enough for one bag going missing to be of little concern. "I'm coming out."
/On my way/
-.-
"Where's your buddy?" Hunk questioned as Keith stepped into the Yellow Lion's cockpit.
"He wasn't my buddy," Keith said, narrowing his eyes, "besides, he's long gone by now. Took a bag of scaultrite with him."
"What? Should we go after him?"
Keith shook his head. "No, we have more than enough. Whatever the Galra are planning won't matter once we defeat Zarkon."
"Copy that."
Keith smiled setting a hand on his fellow Paladin's chair. "By the way Hunk, you really came through in the clutch back there. Without you the mission would've been a complete failure."
"Aw, thanks Galra Keith, you're all right," Hunk replied with a smile. "I think turning Galra's made you a better human."
Keith's brow began twitching. "I DIDN'T JUST TURN GALRA!"
