Hey y'all, here's chapter nine! We're steadily moving forward! The Big Reveal is so close that I can almost taste it. Are you excited? Because I'm excited. But we've still got a handful of episodes to get through before we get there, so let's get on with it! Here we have the castle-ship crew's very bad no good day. Which sums up a lot of days, but this one was an especially bad day.

maroon

chapter nine

storm

Zarkon.

The sight of Central Command all but dwarfing the Castle of Lions sent a chill down his spine.

How? How had Zarkon found them?

Commander Branko. He must have radioed Zarkon from Olkarion. That had to be it. There was no other explanation.

Whatever the case, however he had found them, one thing was clear- they couldn't stay here. Scrambling to his chair, Keith brought up the program for the ship's drones. He'd rather just hop in the red lion and attack, but from the sound of it, that wasn't an option right now. They'd been up since early this morning, and had just come off an intense battle- maybe he was fine, but the same couldn't be said for the rest of the paladins.

They just had to put some distance between them, and then Allura could wormhole them away. They could worry about how Zarkon found them later. If they didn't get away from him now, there would be no later.

It was only once they got away, that the problem presented itself.

He'd never given how the ship managed to create wormholes much thought. He knew that even ten thousand years ago, Altean technology was so advanced, that it could nearly be mistaken for magic, so he'd just chalked it up to that. But from the sound of it, there was an actual technical explanation behind the creation of wormholes.

And right now, those same teleduv lenses that let them wormhole were cracked.

That was undeniably bad. From the sound of it, they didn't just have replacements lying around, which honestly seemed kind of like an oversight. It meant that until they could find some way to replace them, they might not have enough power to create wormholes.

Even worse, the lens stones were apparently made out of scaultrite, which, while not nearly as hard to find as luxite was, was still a pretty uncommon substance. And the only method of getting it was... well, there was a reason fetching some was a mission every new Blade of Marmora recruit was sent on.

Himself included.

And he was not going back into the stomach of a Weblum anytime soon, not if he could help it. He could make a whole list of things he'd rather do, such as spending the rest of his life stuck as a human, or returning to the temples of Elzat and consequently losing his sense of self, since the first time had been so much fun, or stars forbid, eating a lezidan fruit again.

It had been that bad.

Near as he could tell, the Castle of Lions didn't possess any kind of hyperspace functions- which again, seemed like kind of an oversight. Maybe it wouldn't get them as far as a wormhole, but it would do in a pinch.

Without those lenses, if the Galra caught up to them, they'd be sitting ducks.

And that did not sound good.

To make matters worse, Allura's condition wasn't good. Maybe the malfunction had caused the lenses or whatever to draw more energy from her than they otherwise should have? That sounded reasonable, right?

And then there was Coran's condition which was just... yeah.

He'd heard that some furred Galra could develop a condition which caused massive hair loss in their youth, but nothing to the degree of... what had Allura called it, the slipperies?

Whatever it was, it was disgusting.

(Honestly, he was surprised it was just Pidge who vomited.)

At least they had gotten away. That should give them some time to recover, think of a plan about what to do from this point forward. When Shiro mentioned the Blade of Marmora, he'd frowned, wondering if that was really such a good idea- they'd never exactly figured out how it was that Zarkon had managed to find them back in the Thaldycon system, so he didn't like the idea of potentially risking the location of their main base.

Thankfully, it was quickly shelved.

He had to admit, for a human, Shiro's stamina was impressive. Everyone else looked like they were nearly dead on their feet.

Rest was in order. He didn't fight it- he should probably take this chance to report to Kolivan about Olkarion, and the fact that Central Command had come after them. As for telling him about Shiro... maybe that could wait.

"Keith."

Speaking of Shiro.

Turning on his heel, he looked back at him. "Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Shiro asked. "It won't take long, I promise."

Frowning, he nodded his head. "Sure."

"This is the second time Zarkon's found us." Shiro told him, his voiced hushed. There wasn't anyone else in the hall with him, but it was nice to see that he was erring on the side of caution. "You're the one who knows the most about the Empire. Do you have any idea how he could have done it?"

He had one idea, but he was trying not to think about it.

"I don't know." Keith lied. "I was going to ask Kolivan, see if he could maybe get something from Thace."

"Thace?" Shiro asked- and he felt himself flinch as he said it. He hadn't meant to tell him that. "Is that the name of the spy you've got in Central Command?"

"Yeah, that's him." Keith admitted- not point denying it now. He wanted Shiro to think of him as someone he could trust, in spite of his current status as a spy. "He's a ranking commander, so he might know something."

Nodding his head, Shiro gave him a small smile. "Good plan. Let me know if you find anything out."

"Yes sir."

With that taken care of, he made his way down to the red lion's hangar. Giving her a small smile in greeting, she leaned down to let him into the cockpit, where he promptly retrieved his transmitter, opening a hailing line to Kolivan.

"Kyix," he began, without prelude, "-report."

"We received a distress signal from Olkarion." Keith informed him. "Commander Branko was using them to create some kind of weapon based off their echo cubes. During the liberation of the planet, the green paladin forged a deeper connection with her lion, and awoke its hidden power. She used it to neutralize the weapon."

"King Lubos," he noted with disgust, "-was working with the Empire. He's been turned over to his people. An Olkari by the name of Ryner is in charge now. The weapon should no longer be a problem, but I'll send you the data the red lion gathered on it."

"The liberation of a planet is good news." Kolivan stated. "Yet you seem troubled, and by more than just a treacherous ruler."

"There's... more to report." Keith told him. "Olkarion was freed successfully, but shortly afterwards, Central Command tracked us down."

Narrowing his eyes, Kolivan frowned. "I take it you managed to escape."

"For the moment." Keith informed him. "But the wormhole generator has taken damage, and I'm not sure if we'll be able to fix it or not. We assume that Commander Branko must have radioed Zarkon from Olkarion, but-"

"-but you are not convinced."

Shaking his head, Keith frowned. "This is the second time he's found us. We know how he tracked us down on Arus and the Balmera, but we still don't know how he found us in the Thaldycon system. I checked every inch of this ship for bugs, but the only ones I could find were the ones that I set up."

Which, for the moment, were switched off.

If Allura decided to check for trackers, then the bugs he'd planted ran the risk of being exposed. They were designed to be invisible even to Galra scanners, but this was Altean tech they were dealing with, so he couldn't say for sure that the same would apply to it. Either way, he wasn't about to take his chances.

"I will contact Thace, see if I can find out what he knows." Kolivan told him. "In the meantime-"

Kolivan didn't get to finish that sentence, the castle-ship jostled violently by something, pitching him forward. Grunting, Keith dug his fingers into the pilot's chair, trying to keep himself steady. Using one hand, he brought up the exterior view of the Castle, feeling himself pale.

"No way."

"Kyix?" Kolivan spoke. "Is something wrong?"

"It's Zarkon." Keith told him. "He found us again."

Kyix's transmission cut off abruptly.

While not without its quiet moments, leading the Blade of Marmora was hardly a relaxing job. When he'd taken the position all those centuries ago, he'd known that. Still, he didn't think he'd ever felt quite so tense as he did now.

Zarkon's forces had been able to track down the Castle of Lions twice, within the same day. It was clear to him that there was something abnormal going on here, and the faster he got to the bottom of it, the better.

Whether or not the Blade of Marmora would ally with them, Voltron was still a substantial fighting force. As the paladins continued to deepen their bonds with their lions, it became even more so. But that same power in Zarkon's hands would spell an end to any form of resistance, and perhaps even the universe itself.

It wasn't something they could let fall into his hands.

The best case scenario was that it was a fluke, but experience told him that there was no such thing as a fluke when it came to Zarkon. No, somehow Zarkon was tracking the Altean castle-ship, and whatever he was using to do it, it was no normal instrument. He might be young, but Kyix was still well trained- he wouldn't have missed a tracker.

Turning on his heel, he kept his back straight, so that he didn't betray anything he was feeling. They couldn't afford to lose Voltron, yes- but he also didn't want to lose Kyix so soon after losing Ulaz.

He'd rather not be turned into a pelt on Krolia's wall.

"Contact Thace."

This couldn't be right.

Somehow, Zarkon had tracked them down again. It had barely even been an hour since they had escaped from him the first time- that he would be able to find them again so soon didn't seem like it was possible.

But regardless of whether or not it was, it didn't change the fact that he had. Racing to his control panel, Shiro looked up to find Pidge and Hunk scrambling onto the bridge. No sign of Lance, and Keith-

"Shiro," almost as soon as he thought that, Keith's face popped up on the Castle's screens, "-I'm in the red lion now. Do you want me to launch?"

His instinct was to say no, but that wasn't his call right now. Turning back to Allura, she gave him a curt nod of her head, her expression tight.

"Launch, but stay close." Shiro instructed, turning back to Keith. "We can't afford to be separated."

Giving him a curt nod of his head, Keith's screen vanished without another word. Another screen popped up in its place, informing them that the red lion had left its hangar. Bringing up the visual onscreen, he sucked in his breath, something about the image of the red lion facing down hundreds of Galra fighters alone not sitting well with him.

"Lance," Shiro began, turning on his heel only to realize that Lance was still not there, "-where's Lance?"

"According to this," Pidge spoke up- she'd probably been thinking the same thing, since she was already checking her monitor, "-he's stuck in the elevator. Looks like Coran diverted power from it."

Any other time, he'd find some irony in that, but right now, that was the worst place for him to be.

"Well un-divert it." Shiro instructed.

Skidding in just a minute or two later, Lance scrambled to his seat, bringing up the drone program. Judging from the way he was dressed, he'd say he'd been on his way to that pool Allura had mentioned in passing once, when he'd gotten stuck.

Whatever he'd been doing, it didn't matter now. What mattered was getting away from Zarkon- again.

"Keith." Shiro instructed him, the red paladin's image appearing onscreen again. He wondered if his conversation with Kolivan had turned anything up, or if he was still in the dark. Either way, he couldn't ask about that now. "We need you to clear us a path. Lance will cover you."

"Got it." Keith told him.

He watched as the red lion's railgun, the weapon that he had unlocked during his fight with Zarkon, charged up, firing a single shot. It decimated the fighters, but more simply came back out to take their place. Letting out a growl of frustration, Keith fired another round, before he had to switch on the defensive as Lance lost control of his drone.

Seconds later, Keith's image vanished from the screen, as Coran and Pidge diverted power from that too. The wormhole generator must have been in worse shape than he thought, if just making one jump took all this power.

But they made it.

The red lion barely had time to follow, but it made it too.

"Keith," Allura instructed, once she had caught her breath- the wormhole jump had taken a lot out of her, and she was already exhausted as it was, "-remain on standby in your hangar."

"Copy that, princess."

No one questioned what he had been doing there. Apparently, word of Keith sleeping in his lion had spread.

He wasn't sure how the princess would feel about her father's lion actively guarding Keith. He'd been stunned to learn that it had been shielding his transmissions this entire time, but in hindsight, it kind of made sense. The red lion's bond with Keith ran deep.

From the moment it had accepted him as its paladin, it had realized what he was. It just hadn't cared.

He wished he had that kind of connection with the black lion. But he didn't have time for such thoughts, not now. Right now, they had to figure out just how Zarkon was tracking them, and ensure that they put a stop to it.

Pidge's suggestion to hide in the eye of the storm was a good one- at least, that was what he thought.

Because he found them again.

"It's me."

Allura sounded so sure of herself, so certain.

"It's been me all along. That's how they found us on planet Arus."

He wasn't so sure.

"It doesn't matter, princess."

No, if Zarkon was tracking anything- it had to be the black lion.

"We're in this together. We're gonna get out together."

It was him.

It was him.

It had to be him.

It was the only thing that made any sense. Allura was right- Zarkon's witch had done something to him when they'd passed through that corrupted wormhole. He didn't know what, but whatever it was, it had to be what they were using to track them.

He was putting them all in danger, just by being here.

But he couldn't focus on that now. Shiro wanted them to form Voltron, so that's what he would do. Getting everyone out of here took top priority- he could worry about how Zarkon was tracking them once they got away.

And they would get away.

He'd make sure of it, even if he had to fight Zarkon himself for a second time.

He could almost feel the others exhaustion through the paladin bond. Even Shiro felt more tired than he'd thought he was- had he just been pretending?

(That probably wasn't healthy.)

Chewing on his lip, Keith couldn't help but wonder if there was anything he could do about it. He was fine- not even close to being tired. Maybe if he could just share some of that energy with them, they'd be able to pull through this fight. Was that even possible?

No sooner than had he thought that, did he feel something being pulled out of him. The moment he noticed it, he panicked, slamming the floodgates shut.

"Wha- did you guys feel that?" Hunk asked.

"That sudden burst of energy?" Lance asked. "Yeah, I felt it alright. I'm like, wide awake now."

"Yeah, me too." Pidge observed. "I- Keith was that you?"

"Uh," frowning, Keith's brow furrowed, "-maybe? I don't know."

Was it? All he'd done was think about it, he hadn't tried to do anything. Then again, there was so much he didn't know about his own reazit, so he couldn't say it wasn't possible, especially not when he kept the paladin bond in mind. Even if he did keep his end of it as guarded as possible, that didn't mean he didn't notice what a mysterious sensation it was.

It was like they were all linked.

One unit, fighting with one goal. That was how Shiro had described it, when they had formed Voltron the first time they had fought a robeast. He was starting to think he understood what he'd meant by that.

He could only imagine what it was like if he were more open to it, but he couldn't afford that. He had too many secrets, too much to give away. He'd already exposed more through it than he wanted known.

"Whatever it was," Shiro said, "-it's a help. Thanks, Keith."

All he did was nod his head- before he dimly realized none of them could see that. "Yeah. Sure."

"Right," Shiro began, "-now lets get these fighters away from the Castle."

The downside of the paladin bond was that they all felt what Keith felt.

It meant feeling Voltron being torn apart twice as strong. It meant feeling like their minds were being invaded by some kind of unknown force, threatening to claw at them if they got too close to it.

And if that was how it felt for them, then they couldn't imagine how it felt for Keith.

"I, for one, can't believe we're alive."

Holding up a hand, Lance just grunted in agreement with Hunk.

"I think what Lance is trying to say is," Pidge began, from where she had collapsed on the couch, "-ditto."

Letting out another grunt, Lance gave her a thumbs up, before dropping his hand entirely. He couldn't exactly blame him- after the day they'd been through, exhaustion was understandable.

Whatever Keith had done back in Voltron, it had either worn off, or had just waned naturally. Having Voltron torn apart by outside forces, and then having to use their own bodies to position makeshift teleduv lenses, where even the slightest miscalculation in trajectory could have killed them all, seemed like it would do that.

Once it became clear that Zarkon wasn't following them this time, they had all but collapsed in the lounge, nearly dead to the world. He had half a mind to tell them all to just head to bed, but here was, in the exact same boat as them.

Well, everyone except for Keith. But he had a hunch he knew where he was.

He'd looked... troubled. He hadn't gotten the chance to talk to him, other than making sure he was alright after Voltron being broken apart, but he could tell there was something weighing on his mind.

Whatever it was, he didn't seem inclined to share it.

It wasn't like he'd entirely expected Keith to open up to him, but he'd hoped that if something was troubling him, that he wouldn't hesitate to talk to him. Even if his own thoughts were a little on the frazzled side right now.

Even leaders needed to take a break sometimes.

For all he knew, Keith did have someone to talk to. He didn't know just where he fit in with the Blade of Marmora, but Ulaz had clearly been close to him. He still didn't know what his relationship with Krolia was, but given their similarities, he wouldn't be shocked to find out they were related.

On the rare occasion that he spoke of his family, it was his mother he spoke of. Had he... had he met Keith's mother? Was that why Keith was so interested in her? Why she was so interested in Keith?

...in which case, he'd prevented his mother from getting any updates on her son. Not his best call.

"You did good work out there today, team." Shiro told them, once he'd roused enough energy to do so. "I know today wasn't easy, but you all really pulled through. I'm proud of you."

"I'm just glad Hunk decided to make those terrible cookies." Pidge remarked.

"You know what, I'm so tired, I'm not even going to get offended." Hunk said. "But hey- lesson learned. Scaultrite is not for baking."

"I learned to make sure the safety is on the next time I try to learn Altean." Pidge said, which was about as bizarre a statement as they came.

"I learned getting stuck in the elevator is not fun." Lance remarked. "Ugh. I can't believe I have to apologize to Keith for making fun of him. How did he even manage to get out of it? Because I tried, and let me tell you, that is not a one person job."

He knew it was because Keith had never been in there in the first place, but he'd just bite his tongue on that. Maybe Lance would actually learn something from this. He had potential, he just needed to work a little harder to bring it out.

"It's Keith." Pidge stated. "I don't think he's well acquainted with the laws of physics."

"Maybe he levitated." Hunk said.

"Hunk, I don't think he's that kind of psychic." Lance told him. "He's more like some kind of weird empath or whatever. Which yeah- he's right, that's a lousy ability."

"Oh good, so I'm not the only one who felt that." Pidge said. "He's okay though, right? I mean... he seemed pretty okay to me. Shiro?"

"He said he was fine." Shiro told her. "I trust him."

"He said that back on the Balmera too." Lance pointed out. "Shouldn't someone like, check to make sure he's not passed out somewhere?"

Closing his eyes, Shiro let the paladins' conversation wash over him. It was good to hear that they were concerned about Keith- about Kyix, he guessed he should say- he just had to have faith that their bond with him would hold up once the truth came out.

Because sooner or later, he knew it would have to.

This had to be what bone deep exhaustion felt like.

For a long time, all he could manage was to slump in the pilot's chair, head resting against it. Allowing Red's low rumble to wash over him, Keith closed his eyes, half drifting.

He should leave.

Some part of him knew that. Zarkon had to be tracking them through him, it was the only explanation. But at the moment, he couldn't dredge up the energy to do so. He was sure that once he got some rest, he would be back to normal, but for the time being, he was completely wiped.

Letting out a breath, he gathered up his last dredges of energy, sitting up straight. He still needed to touch base with Kolivan. Maybe he'd learned something that would put all his worries to rest.

Probably not, but it was worth a shot.

"You appear exhausted."

"It's been a long day." Keith told him. "Did you get anything from Thace?"

"I'm afraid not." Kolivan told him. "Whatever method Zarkon is using to track the Castle of Lions, it appears to be beyond his access level."

Frowning at that, Keith felt his brows furrow. "Wasn't he promoted to Commander?"

"He was." Kolivan told him. "According to Thace, Zarkon has been spending more time with the druids lately, though no one seems to know why."

Druids. Druids meant Haggar.

Groaning, Keith closed his eyes. "Right. Thanks, Kolivan."

"You should get some rest." Kolivan told him. He didn't even need to open his eyes to see the stern set of his brow. "You've done much today."

Cracking open an eye, Keith frowned. Maybe he should tell Kolivan about his suspicions- but how could he? Let him know that he'd been potentially compromised? Forget staying with the paladins, he could never even return to the Blades at this rate.

Like father, like son.

Even if in his case, it hadn't been willing.

He'd... tell him later. Once he confirmed it.

If he left, and Zarkon followed, then he'd know for sure. He didn't know what he'd do after that, but he'd figure something out. Maybe once it became clear that he wasn't going to return to the paladins, Zarkon would just lose interest in him.

Unless he'd done something to gain Haggar's interest, in which case, he was screwed.

"Right," Keith said, "-I'll do that."

The stern set of his brows relaxing into something softer, Kolivan nodded his head. "See to it that you do."

Cracking a faint smile, Keith tried not to think about how this might me the last time he'd be able to contact him. If vanishing was what it took to protect the paladins, and to protect the Blade of Marmora, then he would do it, without hesitation.

...okay, maybe with some hesitation.

"Goodnight, Kolivan."

"Sleep well, Kyix."