Keith drew out a heaving breath. He'd lost it, he'd completely and utterly lost it in front of the team he was supposed to be leading! Leading, not only acting out ruthlessly with so little as talking to the other Paladins.

He knew he'd have to talk to them, discuss the game plan and... the loss of Shiro. He talked just a bit yesterday in the thick of despair and exhaustion, but that was hardly enough. They needed to work out their next plan of action. Or, in reality, get over what happened to the black Paladin. Really, it was mostly Keith that needed to get over it.

Seeing images of Shiro in his head... that wasn't a good sign. At all.

Now the main problem they were facing was figuring out how they would form Voltron. That was the first step into making any progress in their new arrangements.

Keith closed his eyes, allowing his hands to graze the wall and lead him to the all too familiar path. He'd headed this route so many times now, he wouldn't be surprised if he'd followed it while sleep walking.

The black lion was pilotless. He'd been able to control it himself once, but would he be able to again? Would it even accept him after fighting so hard for its previous pilot?

With a final sign, he realized he'd been sighing a lot, he continued on his way to the training deck.

Taking a mental note to have a meal later, Keith threw down his jacket towards one corner of the room. His voice rang out in an echo-like manner the moment he spoke. "Begin training level 6!"

A simple enough level if he considered just beating Zarkon only a day ago. The last time he had trained on the deck, level 3 was barely visualized as 'complete'.

The red Paladin had really only defeated the Altean robot once its back had turned, a clear sign of a fatal mistake in its programming. He wasn't going to tell the rest of the team he'd won by a fluke, though. Let them believe what they wanted. If he had to put it into a level, he'd rate defeating the Galra race at a 4, anyway. How bad could a 6 be?

By the time the whooshing of a door sounded along with metal clanking, he began regretting his decision.

The robot was no different in appearance, but an almost menacing aura could be felt. It permeated the room in a thick fog, so strong that Keith almost felt the urge to cover his nose and run out of the room.

But he wouldn't. In every sense of the word fear, he'd not back down even as the feeling washed over his every nerve like a tidal wave of nausea. The Altean training bot was a measly piece of metal with arms and legs and a weapon or two. It held no conscience and should therefore be an even easier kill than most with a working brain. If Keith could defeat this pre-planned robot, whatever else the universe planned on throwing at them could hardly be as easy.

The universe was huge, a mass beyond recognition. An entirely new fleet of Galran soldiers could be right there, under their noses. For that, Keith and the other pilots needed preparation like no other.

Straying from his thoughts, Keith backed up a few steps as the robot drew nearer. It's arms drew wide circles around itself in a threatening manner; not to mention the blades it wielded in each as well. It's stance gave reassurance that it was programmed both for offense and defense in such a way the red Paladin had never seen before.

"Alright," Keith mumbled, "Let's do this."

The bot flung itself at him from across the room within moments.

Keith had been able to pull himself to his feet just before its blade had swung down at him, only barely nicking his side as he rolled away.

'Okay. This is going to be harder than I thought...'

The robot retaliated it's attack, catching it's balance once more and leaping back at where the Paladin now stood. It's movements were quick and nearly difficult to calculate. Truly, a splendid piece of equipment as Pidge would say.

Keith had only just enough time to strike at the bot with his sword in as quick a motion as ever once it'd landed deathly near him just as he spun from its well aimed blow. He was panting already, only after nearly a few seconds of leaping from a killer robot. If he had to, Keith would blame having recently fought and defeated the Galran race literally several hours ago, getting no sleep, and not even having breakfast or any sustenance at all for the past day. Sure, he could blame all of the facts, but he wouldn't. Not even mentioning the emotional drain of losing the closest connection he'd ever had.

He was a mess in all honesty.

The robot, though, thought it best not to give him a breather.

It'd followed him once again in a few swift motions. Its blade swung widely around where Keith found it impossible to figure its path on where it planned to strike next.

By the time he even came up with the coherent thought to 'hey, maybe I should stop this thing before it kills me,' he was covered in cuts and bruises all over his body and face. It wasn't his voice that ended the training session either. Apparently Lance showed up in the nick of time to stop the bot before anything worse happened.

Though Keith was extremely thankful for the intrusion,he wouldn't show it. In his eyes, the blue Paladin had overstepped his boundaries and interrupted the only source of release Keith had.

"Keith, buddy, you good?" Lance spoke up, his voice laced with concern. He'd taken it upon himself to step forward where the red Paladin was still crouched, gasping for air and sweating from exhaustion.

Keith growled, losing his nerve. Finally looking up and glaring into the other's eyes. "Lance, I'm going to kill you."

So, sorry for the delay. I've been super busy with school and everything, but I had the time to get this written up now.

I've got a ton of plans for this fic and don't want to give up yet.

Thanks if you enjoyed and don't forget to drop a review!