Hello, hello, here's the next chapter! Please enjoy! I think this story should finish up around the thirty-fifth chapter, if not before, but we'll see how everything plays out! There's not a whole lot left to cover, so it should be pretty soon.

cosmic dust

chapter thirty two

counterattack

"Sendak took over the bridge. He's holding Hunk and Coran hostage."

Her words were followed by a short burst of static, and for a second, she feared that she had lost the connection again. As relieved as she was to hear Keith's voice, she couldn't find any real enjoyment in it. With Sendak in control of the bridge, there was a high chance that if they attempted to come back now, he'd just turn the Castle defenses on them.

"Copy that," Keith finally spoke, "-I'll pass that on to Thace. Are you okay?"

"Matt and I are fine." Pidge said. It was true- she was a little sore maybe, but otherwise fine. Matt was a little more battered, but the worst of it looked to be bruises that would all heal soon enough. "We're still free."

She swore she could hear Keith's frown. "What about Allura?"

A faint smile crept across her face at the question. It wasn't that she was happy about the fact that Allura was potentially putting herself in danger, it was the person she was doing it with that made her smile. At least that was one piece of good news she could give him. "She's with Shiro."

There was another pause, but this time she didn't think it was due to the connection cutting out. "Is he...?"

"It's a long story," Pidge admitted, "-but she managed to free him from Haggar's control."

If she thought he had sounded relieved to hear her before, that was nothing compared to the audible relief in his voice now. "So he's... Pidge, that's great!"

"Yeah, it is pretty great." Pidge admitted, unable to help but sound a little smug even though she barely had anything to do with it. "Anyways, she and Shiro have a plan to take care of Sendak. With any luck, we should be able to recapture the bridge."

There was another long pause- and she didn't need to ask to know that Keith was at war with himself. He probably wanted to ask questions about Shiro, about what he remembered- specifically if he remembered him- but at the same time, he realized there were more pressing concerns right now.

She didn't have an answer to that anyways. Shiro had definitely reacted to seeing Ulaz, but she couldn't say if that was because he had remembered Keith or not.

"Okay," Keith finally said, "-okay, that's good. Are you sure there's nothing we can do to help?"

"Actually," Pidge considered it, "-does that ship you're on have any weapons?"

"It is a transport craft." Ulaz chimed in.

Pidge looked up at him. "So... no weapons, then?"

"I am afraid not." Ulaz said, shaking his head. "But Thace is a skilled pilot. If you wished to ask him to serve as an additional distraction, he would be more than up to the task."

Pidge frowned, considering it. She'd feel better if the ship had weapons, but...

"Did you get any of that, Keith?" Pidge asked.

"I got it." Keith told her. "So did Thace. We'll see what we can do. I'm guessing with the particle barrier up, we won't be able to get to our lions."

Pidge swore underneath her breath. "The particle barrier is up?"

She glanced up towards Matt, who just shook his head. He'd been trying to get into the system since Allura left, but it seemed like Sendak had forced Coran to lock down access to it from anywhere that wasn't the bridge. He wasn't having any luck getting past it.

"You didn't know?" Keith asked. "Well, it is."

"Okay, that's a problem." Pidge said. "We can't access the system from where we are. We think Sendak has restricted all access, or at least limited it to the bridge."

Over the coms, she could make out the sound of a faint growl. "Should have shot the bridge of his ship while I had the chance."

Pidge could only grunt in agreement. Other than their bounties going up, they weren't typically used to their actions having consequences. It sort of came part and parcel with the whole space pirate lifestyle. But they were paladins now- so maybe they needed to stop thinking so much like pirates.

Or maybe... maybe thinking like a pirate was exactly what she needed to be doing right now.

"Matt," Pidge said, looking up at him, "-I think I might have a way to hook you back into the Castle's systems."

Matt took one look at her and frowned. "Am I going to like it?"

"No," Pidge said frankly, "-no you're not."

The vents.

Of course it was the vents. He should have known from that look in Pidge's eye. Grumbling, Matt crawled forward, starting to wish he had left his cape behind in Pidge's care. Reaching behind him, he knotted the end, hopefully reducing the amount of drag it had.

Figures Pidge would have a map of the Castle's vents, though, the little pirate that she was. He still didn't see why she wasn't the one doing this.

Okay, so he knew it was because in the absolute worst case scenario, they needed her to remain free so if nothing else, she could get to the green lion and take it and Ulaz out of here. Keith had already agreed to flee with Thace if things got really bad- and since they all knew that the red lion would respond to him if he called for it, that would be at least two lions safe from Zarkon.

After all, it wasn't like they could just keep the Castle's particle barrier up forever. Could they?

Slapping his cheeks, Matt forced himself to focus. Getting into the system and taking down the particle barrier was his job. And he had to admit- even if it involved crawling around in the Castle's vents, Pidge's loophole was nothing short of genius. Obvious genius when you stopped to think about it, but pretty much no one would think of using the vents above the bridge to bypass Sendak's lockdown.

It was too bad they just couldn't access the bridge directly from the vents. But Ulaz was right- it really had been designed so that it was difficult to assault. He just hoped that the vents above the bridge still qualified as being on the bridge. The only thing worse than crawling around in vents was crawling around in vents for nothing.

"Commander Sendak."

He remembered Sendak, from his days before he became Haggar's Champion. For a time he had been kept on his ship- it was there he rose to 'fame' as a gladiator, if you could call it that. It was also there that he had caught Haggar's attention.

Those were his last clear memories of the Galra Commander, but what scattered recollections he had of him during his time serving as the Champion were enough. No one embodied the Galra creed of victory or death better than Sendak. Even Commander Ranveig, in all his ruthlessness, couldn't compare.

He was Zarkon's right hand for a reason.

And now that right hand was holding two people hostage. He remembered the yellow paladin from the mining colony where the yellow lion had been hidden. Not very well- but well enough that he definitely got the feeling that he had seen him somewhere before.

Turned out, he was right.

He recognized him- just barely, but he did. He'd never looked at him with such unmasked horror before, so it had taken a moment to place hi. Wasn't he a cadet at the Garrison? How'd he get so far out into space? Was the other paladin a cadet as well?

Right now he couldn't dwell on that. For now, he had a part to play. He could ask all the questions he wanted once they got through this.

Sendak turned to look at him. "Haggar's Champion. I see you're still alive."

"They were keeping me in cryofreeze." Shiro told him. "I suppose I have you to thank for the power failure that allowed me to escape."

"Haggar has a vested interest in seeing you returned to duty as quickly as possible." Sendak told him, and he had to fight the urge to shiver. He never wanted to go back to that.

"Consider me returned, then." Shiro lied. "I brought you a gift."

Mentally apologizing, he tightened his grip on Allura's wrist. It was the signal that they had agreed upon ahead of time, so that at least she would have some warning before he threw her in front of Sendak. It was subtle, but she was able to brace herself a bit, lowering the potential risk of damage. Frankly, he thought he was overselling it, but the theatrical display did seem to be in line with what he was starting to piece together from his time as the Champion.

Something about knowing that his evil alter-ego liked to showboat just managed to make an awful situation even worse.

"Princess!" The Altean man- presumably Coran- thrashed against his bonds at the sight, his eyes wide with horror. Horror which quickly turned to fury, as he directed an angry glare towards him. "How could you!?"

Regret already sat in the pit of his stomach like a stone, but Coran's words just made it worse. He had the feeling that he had been in this exact same situation before, only during those times, he had truly believed in the act he was putting on now. Whether he wanted them or not, his memories from his time as Haggar's Champion kept trickling back, and there was nothing he could do to stop them.

He guessed this was his punishment. But it was fine. He deserved this.

"Princess Allura," Sendak sneered, snapping him back to the here and now, "-I see you have decided to accept my generous offer."

Allura played her part well, glaring at Sendak with absolute fury in her eyes. Then again, she might not be acting at all. "Sendak. It would seem you survived our earlier encounter."

"It will take more than the destruction of my ship to stop me." Sendak said. "I am here to return the favor."

"You will never get away with this!" Allura yelled. "Zarkon will never claim Voltron for his own."

"We will see about that." Sendak told her, taking a step forward. "You seem to have found new paladins for the lions, but they can all easily be dealt with."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the yellow paladin shiver. Shiro had to fight to keep himself from reacting, keeping his expression as neutral as possible. All he wanted to do was to reassure him, but he couldn't. He couldn't do anything for him right now- or for Coran, who had to be forcibly restrained by one of the sentries.

Yeah. He'd definitely been in this position before.

But he needed to wait. Their positions weren't yet optimal. Before they could even deal with Sendak, they would need to deal with the two sentries that had been set to guard Coran and yellow paladin- Hunk, he thought the princess had called him.

Patience yields focus.

Beyond them, there were four other sentries, and Sendak's lieutenant- Haxus, he recalled. Haxus was at the forefront of the bridge- presumably Coran had been forced to grant him access. If he didn't know any better, he was starting to make preparations for takeoff. That they would definitely have to do something about.

"There are still two others on the ship." Shiro stated, purposefully lying. Sendak had reason to know about Katie and Matt- but he didn't know about Ulaz. "The green paladin and her brother. They split up in an effort to lose me. I prioritized the Altean princess."

If Sendak noticed the deception, he didn't react to it. "There are still eight doboshes left. Perhaps they will decide to turn themselves in before then."

"Never." Allura spat.

"Sir," Haxus spoke, "-we are detecting a single craft entering our range."

Sendak turned to look, and for that matter, so did he. Even if he tried digging into the Champion's memories, something he was loathe to do, he'd never seen a ship like that before. Ulaz had mentioned something about belonging to a group, so maybe this was the ship that Thace had used to get to Sendak's cruiser.

Keith was on that ship.

By his side, his right hand clenched into a fist. He had to force himself not to look at it- at the metal arm that Haggar had forced upon him. The one he remembered having from the arena had been bad enough, but this one... this one was so much worse.

That one he could hide. This one served as a permanent reminder of who he had become, of what he had done. He could still recall the way the Champion had been elated to receive it- a great power that he could use to further the cause of the Galra Empire. He knew exactly what it was capable of, and it terrified him.

It was undeniably a weapon. The fact that it was part of him in turn made him a weapon.

"So the traitor did show up here." Sendak said, narrowing his eyes. "Bring it down. Haggar's experiment is likely onboard, but it should survive."

Raising a hand over his heart in salute, Haxus inclined his head. "Vrepit sa."

He felt a shiver run down the length of his spine. Haggar's experiment. He didn't even need to ask to know he meant Keith. Haggar's experiments on him had been loathsome enough, but she had experimented on Keith as well? That he couldn't abide.

Was this why he had disappeared, all those years ago? Had he been taken by the Galra? All this time- all this time, had Keith been suffering at Haggar's hand? Since he was fourteen- just a child, still shy of his first real growth spurt.

No wonder he'd never been able to find him. Why no one had. None of them thought to search space.

How? Why? These questions mattered, definitely, just not right now.

Because right now, they had the distraction that they were looking for. Silently exchanging a glance with Allura, the princess nodded. She stumbled to her feet, while he drew further into the room, under the impression that he was going to once again restrain her. Sendak barely even paid attention to him, his gaze still fixed on the ship that weaved through laser blasts like it was nothing.

Then suddenly, the firing stopped.

"Sir," Haxus frowned, "-I seem to have been locked out of the system."

That was as good a cue as any. Allura released her cuffs, using the hidden key he had given her. Before anyone could react, she threw her full body weight against the sentry that was keeping Coran hostage. Seeming to sense something was going on, if not exactly what, Hunk did the same, throwing his own bulk at the sentry tasked with guarding him.

He didn't waste a single second gunning for Sendak. If his right arm was made to be a weapon, then at least he could use it to do something good for a change.

Although they definitely had the element of surprise, Sendak was quick for someone of his size. He caught his fist using his own robotic arm, for a brief second, staring at it in what could only be described as confusion, before understanding dawned across his features. Shiro wrenched his fist free, jumping back to put some distance between the two of them. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Allura wrested control of one of the sentries' blasters.

"I see the high priestess' programming has worn off." Sendak stated, his tone cool and impassive. "I will have to inform her that you need to be reprogrammed."

Shiro narrowed his eyes, clenching his right fist. "I will never allow that witch inside my head ever again."

He was Takashi Shirogane, ranking lieutenant at the Galaxy Garrison, paladin of the black lion. Keith's brother. He would never be the Champion again. Never.

"So you say." Sendak stated, even as the sound of blaster fire met their ears. But Allura and the others had their hands full with the sentries and Haxus- he couldn't count on them coming to help him, not now.

But he hadn't had his body modified against his will for nothing. If he couldn't even defeat Sendak here, what use was it all?

He barely even knew some of these people, but they had still put faith in Keith's words, and had helped rescue him. They had believed him when he said he wasn't doing this out of his own free will- and sure, he knew Matt and Katie would probably never believe that, but nobody else on this ship even really knew him- it would have been a lot easier to believe that he was doing all this willingly, rather than that he had been brainwashed.

That just showed how much they trusted Keith. And he wouldn't let that trust down.

Putting distance between him and Sendak quickly turned against his favor. He bit back a swear as Sendak's arm shot forward, forcing him back off of the bridge. Grunting, he staggered to his feet, his already aching ribs protesting some more. That arm hit hard.

"Haxus," Sendak instructed, "-deal with the rest of the rabble. The Champion is mine."

"Princess! Oh thank the ancients, you're alright!"

Allura gave Coran a faint smile. They had ducked behind the red paladin's chair for cover, but it wouldn't last long. "A little sore, but otherwise alright. Can you move?"

"Oh, I think I can manage." Coran said, rubbing his wrists. "Just a little sore myself, that's all."

"Good, because we cannot afford to relax yet." Allura stated, passing Coran the release key she had used for her own cuffs. "Use this to free Hunk. I'll deal with the sentries."

Before anyone could protest, she wrenched a blaster free from one of the sentries that had been guarding them. After a tick of determining just how to hold it, she shot the pair of them right through the head, while they were still trying to recover from being tackled. That left only the other pair- and Sendak's lieutenant.

Sendak himself seemed occupied with Shiro, and though she wished she could lend him a hand, right now the remaining two sentries had her pinned down by blaster fire. As the crown princess of Altea, she had been trained in many forms of combat, however she had to admit, blasters were far from her speciality.

"Hunk!" She yelled. "Grab the other blaster, lend me a hand!"

The yellow paladin, now rubbing his own newly freed wrists, flinched a little at her voice. She briefly recalled the horror that had been in his eyes after he'd shot Shiro. But after a tick, he seemed to steal himself, grabbing the other fallen blaster, helping her to return fire. Haxus appeared to be preoccupied at the moment, likely trying to reestablish his connection to the Castle's systems- which she suspected she had one or both of the Holt siblings to thank for.

"So is Shiro not evil anymore?" Hunk asked.

"It is a bit of a long story." Allura told him. "But yes."

Hunk let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, that's good. I was worried there for a second."

Allura briefly spared him a smile, touched by his concern. He and Coran had been in far more dire circumstances than she had been, so for him to stop and worry about her amidst all that... it was quite telling of his character. And while it appeared that he had qualms about having shot Shiro, however good his timing had been, he appeared to have no such reservations in regards to the sentries.

But something still needed to be done about Haxus.

"Coran," Allura said, "-I will leave this to you."

Passing him her blaster, he stared down at it, baffled. "But what about you, princess?"

"I will deal with Haxus." Allura stated, her tone allowing for no argument.

With any luck, the four of them would be enough to take back the bridge from the Galra. And if not... with the particle barrier now lowered, hopefully they should be able to get some reinforcements. That said, she could not attest to Keith's condition- hopefully the fact that the power had been restored to the Castle was a sign that they had successfully managed to complete their mission, and that he- or his crystal, to be more exact- had recovered.

"We'll cover you, princess." Hunk told her.

Nodding, Allura wasted no time in rushing forward. But while Shiro's initial attack against Sendak had caught him off guard, she had no such luck with Haxus- he easily saw her strike coming and blocked it, though she managed to pull away before he could use it as a means to draw her in.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Hunk shot one of the two remaining sentries. One less thing to worry about.

"Princess Allura," Haxus said, drawing an energy sword from his belt, "-I see you are in a rush to join the rest of your kind."

It was a taunt, one that she clearly recognized- and yet she could not help but fall for it. Bristling, she surged forward, attempting to duck inside Haxus' guard. But as expected of a trained Galra soldier, it was no easy feat. It did not help that she was unarmed.

If she could just get to Hunk's bayard, dangling tauntingly from his belt...

"The only one who will suffer defeat here is you." Allura replied. "You will pay for what you have done."

Haxus merely scoffed, angling his blade at her. She avoided it, pivoting on her heel to land a powerful kick on his side, but he skirted just outside her range. Narrowing her eyes, she clenched her fists, raising them in a defensive stance. The exchange of laser fire had ceased, but she could not afford to tear her attention away from Haxus for long enough to determine the outcome- she would just have to hope it was in their favor.

Haxus struck again, and this time, Allura saw an opening. Grabbing his arm, she used his own momentum to fling him over her shoulder, sending him flying across the bridge. Before he could even react, she rushed him, slamming her knee into his chin with all the force she could muster, just as he was stumbling back onto his feet.

She heard the sound of bones breaking, and she knew full well it wasn't from her.

Stumbling back, Haxus held his jaw in one hand, his grip on his sword momentarily lax. Narrowing his eyes, he let out a ferocious growl, charging at her with seemingly all attempts at strategy abandoned. She braced herself, readying a counterattack-

-only for Haxus to stumble backwards, letting out a loud groan before collapsing in a heap before her. She had to scramble to avoid the Galra lieutenant landing on her.

Turning to look behind her, she met Hunk's eyes. His hands were shaking, and his face pale. "Is he-?"

Kneeling down by Haxus' side, she pressed her hands against his chin. "He's alive. Just unconscious."

Hunk let out a long breath of relief, his grip on the blaster growing lax. Once again, she was reminded of the fact that he was a child- perhaps only a little younger than she. But unlike her, he'd no cause to see violence before becoming a paladin.

It was a heavy destiny that had been laid on his shoulders- him and the rest of the paladins. It wasn't fair, but nothing about this situation was.

"We should restrain him." Allura said. "Coran, the cuffs."

"Certainly, princess." Coran said, scooping up the forgotten cuffs and making his way over towards her. "Are you alright?"

She managed another weak smile. "I'm fine."

It was a bit of a lie- with the adrenaline fading, she felt absolutely exhausted. But they could not afford to let their guard down just yet, not when she could still make out sounds of a battle from the next hall over. Not only was the fight between Sendak and Shiro still ongoing, but from the sound of it, it had escalated.

She needed to get out there as soon as possible. But first...

Retrieving the yellow bayard from Haxus' belt, she handed it back to Hunk. "I believe this is yours."

Hunk swallowed, hesitating to take it for a tick. She just smiled, pushing it a bit deeper into his hand. Chewing on his lip, his fingers wrapped around it, still visibly uncertain. "I- he took Coran hostage. I didn't have any other choice."

Allura merely shook her head. She didn't blame him for choosing to surrender, if that is what he had done. "You handed it over to protect Coran, didn't you?"

Slowly, Hunk nodded. "I should have stopped Sendak from hurting him. I'm sorry."

"There is no need for you to apologize, Hunk." Allura assured him. "You did well. Thank you for protecting Coran."

The paladins clearly would require more training, but in this moment, that hardly mattered. It was to be expected, she supposed- the previous paladins were all trained fighters- and they had been so deca-phoebs before ever setting foot inside a lion. Out of the current batch of paladins, only Keith and Shiro knew how to fight- and only the latter seemed to have ever received any kind of formal training.

"I don't feel like I protected him." Hunk mumbled, staring down at his feet.

"But you did." Allura assured him. "And me. That was an excellent shot."

Hunk's eyes darted up towards her, uncertain and filled with doubt. It was not terribly hard to guess what he was thinking- likely, he was questioning his status as a paladin.

She simply smiled at him. "The yellow lion chose you for a reason, Hunk. It responds to kindness and caring- both traits which you display in abundance. Do not doubt its choice."

She wished she could say more to him, but there was no time. There would always be chances to speak later.

"Coran, the bridge is yours." Allura said.

Coran looked up at her, a deep frown on his face. In that instance, she realized he had seen past her white lies, and knew that her condition was not as optimal as she was putting on. "What about you, princess?"

"Shiro cannot fight Sendak alone." Allura stated. "Someone has to help him."

She could not afford to idly stand by while her paladins fought. It was not what her father would have done, and it was not what she would do.

Clutching his side, Shiro rolled out of the way to avoid Sendak's arm. Its range was quickly proving to be a problem, and the more he moved around, the more his ribs throbbed. That blast from Hunk's bayard had obviously done more damage than he'd thought.

Still, this wasn't a fight he could afford to lose.

The fight had lead them away from the bridge, but whatever Haggar had done to him, it had made his hearing good enough to tell that the shooting had stopped. He just hoped that was a good sign. Even if it wasn't, he couldn't afford to dwell on it- if he failed to take out Sendak, everything would be for naught.

He'd been the one to send him after Keith and Katie in the first place. Maybe he hadn't done that of his own free will, but it didn't change the fact that he had. It was only fitting that he be the one to set this right.

"What's the matter?" Sendak mocked. "I seem to recall you having more fight in you."

Shiro grit his teeth, trying not to let his words get to him. Powering up his arm, he put his speed to use- it was the one thing he had over Sendak, but even that wasn't providing him much of an advantage right now. Ducking into Sendak's guard, he angled his arm to strike his chin, only for him to block it with his robotic arm, his own skidding off the surface.

Grunting, Shiro held his ground, digging the claws of his robotic arm into that of Sendak's. Sparks danced off the surface, but the blow wasn't deep enough to do anything more than superficial damage. Sendak smirked, using his other arm to strike down at his head, which Shiro jumped backwards to avoid.

But Sendak didn't give him even a moment to catch his breath. The next thing he knew, his arm was on him again. He was just barely able to avoid it, but he wasn't as lucky the second time- when Sendak yanked it back, he caught him in his grip, dragging him forward in spite of his attempts to break free.

Sendak tightened his grip, causing the pain in his ribs to flare up, a pained grunt escaping despite his best attempts to stop it. He guessed whatever Haggar had done to him to numb his sensitivity to pain had all been in his head- now that he wasn't the Champion anymore, he felt it just as vividly as he'd used to.

"Your humanity makes you weak." Sendak observed. "Haggar was right to banish it."

Gritting his teeth, Shiro glared at him. "At least I'm fighting for the right side now."

Sendak scoffed. "The right side is whoever is the strongest. And there is no stronger side than that of the Galra Empire."

Might makes right, huh? Figures a commander as ruthless as Sendak would follow that philosophy. He tried not to dwell on the fact that he was certain the Champion would have thought the same. Maybe he was still responsible for his actions, but Matt was right- the Champion wasn't him. Those thoughts and feelings didn't originate from him, they came from what Haggar had planted in him.

The real question was if any of that was still there.

"Yeah, well," Shiro gave him a fierce grin, "-we'll see about that."

Sendak narrowed his eyes, about to question his statement when he got the answer delivered straight to him. The force of the blast was not enough to penetrate his armor, but it was enough to cause him to stumble and release his grip. Shiro didn't hesitate to put some distance between himself and Sendak, but even as he raised his right arm defensively, he couldn't deny that his ribs were beyond just cracked right now.

He drew in a long breath and winced. Yeah, definitely broken.

Sendak turned to glare behind him, angling his body so that he remained in his peripheral vision. "Princess Allura."

"Your lieutenant has been dealt with." Allura spat. "Now you're the only one left."

"You think you can defeat me?" Sendak almost seemed to laugh. "So be it. Victory or death!"

Sendak's arm surged forward towards the princess, leaving her with no choice but to drop her stolen blaster to avoid it. Steeling himself, Shiro ignored the pain in his ribs, lurching forward, summoning the energy blade built into his right arm in a flash. Sendak avoided the burnt of his blow, but his blade cut through more than just his armor. Violet blood was still sizzling against the surface of the blade as he drew it away.

He tried not to freeze at the scent.

This wasn't the first time this had happened either.

Maybe he'd dropped the ball, but Allura hadn't. The princess raced forward, slamming a powerful kick into Sendak's torso, strong enough to send him flying. He couldn't help but blink- the princess was slight, but she was clearly packing a lot of power in that slender frame.

"How are you holding up?" Allura inquired, almost casually.

"I'm still upright." Shiro told her. "I think that's a good sign. You?"

"I have been doing better myself." Allura confessed. "Do you think you can hold out a little longer? With any luck, reinforcements should be on their way."

"I think I can manage." Shiro said.

That said, he was pretty sure they had just made Sendak angry. It didn't take him long to recover from Allura's attack, and when he did, he let out a deep growl. Having to fight against two opponents didn't seem to deter him in the least, but he didn't think it would. He'd spent enough time with the Galra to know that much.

Sendak's arm shot out at them, and though they both dodged it, the limited space of the hallway worked against them. They could try drawing him back to the bridge, where there was more space, but there was too much risk of getting Coran and Hunk mixed up in the fight. They couldn't let him get back there.

He activated his arm again, unable to bring himself to use the blade. The scent of Sendak's blood still clung to his nostrils, kept forcing his thoughts to different, darker times. Maybe getting into a fight before he had time to grapple with his memories as the Champion wasn't such a good idea.

But they had no other choice.

Digging the claws of his robotic arm into the floor of the Castle, Sendak used it to drag his entire body forward, slamming into the ground with a powerful strike that had been meant for him. He didn't doubt that if it had hit, he likely would have crushed his skull, Haggar's enhancements or not.

Allura moved in to strike, but Sendak was ready for her, grabbing her by the wrists and tossing her forward. She skidded back with a pained cry, her head impacting with the wall just outside the entrance to the bridge. Sendak moved to pursue, but Shiro cut him off, blocking his robotic arm with that of his own, though the sheer force of it caused him to skid backwards.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Allura staggered to her feet. The blow to the head had clearly done some damage, beyond just ruining her hairstyle but it didn't seem like she was ready to throw in the towel just yet.

Grunting, Shiro dug in his heels. If he could just find a way to pin down Sendak, then maybe Allura could manage to knock him out. One thing was for sure- the longer this dragged on, the lower their odds of winning got.

Sendak smirked, and Shiro realized too late that he still had a trick up his sleeve. The next thing he knew, he'd been sent flying, skidding all the way back into the bridge. Grunting, he lifted his head, watching as Sendak surged forward, right past the princess, his arm looming above him ready to strike-

-but the blow never made it.

Sticking out right through Sendak's torso was a sword, the red and white blade dyed violet. He stared down at the weapon in sheer disbelief, before pivoting on his heel, a growl ripping itself from his throat. Apparently, having an entire sword piercing his abdomen did nothing to slow him down.

The head shot did.

The first thing he saw after Sendak crumpled was Allura, clutching her stolen blaster. She must have recovered it, using Sendak's brief moment of distraction to her advantage. It fell out of her hands with a clatter as she sunk to the ground, visibly exhausted.

Beyond her was a face that was equal parts familiar and not. But he'd still know it- and the person it belonged to- anywhere.

Keith.