WEP owns everything except the voices in my head...

sunshineleo - I can't help it, I have the urge to draw some of the drama out... this is another shorter chapter, but the end will be here soon...

Paulina Ann - I can't give everything away at once... OK so I don't give everything away here either... But we're getting there...

Wade Wells - sorry, sometimes I can't resist... Here's a bit more... Not too much longer before everything gets resolved one way or another...

Smithy - Yeah Lotor's got a one track mind alright... No wonder his plots tend to fail...

"So, how is he Doctor Gorma?" Allura nearly tackles the burly physician as he emerges from the examination room, closing the door quietly behind him.

"Keith should be fine once he gets some rest. He was lucky and didn't sustain any major injuries, just some bumps and bruises, but he is showing symptoms of severe exhaustion. Has he not been sleeping lately?"

Without standing up from the chair he's slumped in, the Red Lion pilot takes a deep breath before speaking. "Keith suffers from insomnia, Doc. He's in the middle of an episode right now." Lance sighs as he continues quietly, refusing to meet the doctor's gaze. "We've just gotten him to admit to having issues for the past few weeks, but to be honest, we all suspect it's been at least two or three times that long since he's had a full night's rest." He keeps his eyes focused on his hands where they dangle listlessly between his knees.

"Then why hasn't he been in to see me? We have plenty of treatment options to try out. He can't survive without proper sleep." The doctor looks to Voltron's second questioningly, his eyebrows raised.

Looking up, Lance shrugs helplessly. "C'mon, Doc. You know Keith well enough by now to know that it's gonna take more than sleeplessness to get him in here on his own." Exasperation is evident in Lance's tone as he waves his hand at the closed door in obvious frustration.

"Well, he's here now. I've given him a mild sedative to keep him asleep for the next few hours. Once he's rested a bit, we can determine the next step to take."

Allura turns to Lance and he stands, opening his arms to her. She steps forward into his embrace and starts quietly sobbing in relief as he holds her close. "It'll be alright, Princess. You heard the doc, Keith's gonna be fine. We'll find a solution to get him sleeping again."

In the hospital room, Keith tosses and turns in his bed, groaning and mumbling in response to the nightmare that is overwhelming his mind. His eyes twitch rapidly in an unsuccessful attempt to open and end the torment he's experiencing. However the sedative administered by the doctor is preventing him from coming fully awake. Trapped between sleep and wakefulness, he thrashes about in an effort to escape his tortured dreams.

Hearing noises issuing from Keith's hospital room, Allura breaks free from Lance and rushes to the door. She barely waits for it to open before pushing inside and racing to a position beside the bed. Lance follows her in more slowly and lounges against the wall, watching in concern as she tries to sooth the writhing form of their captain. She softly croons to him as she tries to gently calm his flailing motions. Lance frowns as he realizes that her actions are not having the desired affect and Keith's agitation is not diminishing at all nor is he awakening. Slipping back out through the open doorway, he searches for the doctor.

A few minutes later, the two men reenter the room and find that Allura is still desperately trying to find a way to reduce Keith's desperate attempts to fight the demons that are invading his dreams. "It's OK, Keith. Relax, shhhh…. I'm right here." The princess is near tears as her efforts seem to have none of their usual effect on him as he continues to mutter and groan incoherently.

Doctor Gorma positions himself on the other side of Keith's bed and gestures to Lance. "Hold his head still for me."

Lance quickly moves past Allura and reaches down, straining as he immobilizes Keith's head. "Make it quick, Doc. I don't know how long I can hold him like this." At the same time, Keith's cries increase in volume and frequency as he attempts to move his head from side to side.

The doctor reaches down and gently raises Keith's eyelid. He then shines a penlight into the dark, unfocused eye. He releases his hold and repeats his actions with the other eye. "Alright, Lance, you can let him go now." The physician sighs before gently tapping his lower lip as he stands lost in thought.

"What is it, Doctor?" Allura looks with concern from the man in the bed, to the doctor.

"How long has he been having these nightmares?" he asks pensively, his eyes narrowed.

"I don't know, but I think they are a pretty recent thing. Though earlier when he was having a nightmare, he'd either wake right up, or I could calm him back down into a more restful sleep. Now it's like he can't do either and nothing I do seems to help him at all…" The princess struggles to hold back the tears that suddenly form in her eyes.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say there was some outside influence behind this. There is no medical reason for him to be in this state. The sedative I gave him should have been strong enough to encourage completely dreamless sleep. Instead it just appears to prevent him from waking from the nightmare. There isn't anything else we can do until it wears off. I don't want to take the risk of giving him a stimulant right now when he's already having sleep issues. Unfortunately, I gave him enough to keep him out for a couple of hours…"

As Allura looks down at her captain's prone form, the tears welling in her eyes begin to spill down her cheeks. "Oh, Keith. What's happening to you?" She reaches down and strokes his hair and face gently, desperately trying to offer him some bit of peace as he struggles against the demons that have invaded his sleeping mind.

"Prince Lotor, the time is ripe for you to attack. The captain is caught in a nightmare between sleep and wakefulness. There is no way he will be able to join the battle and without him, there can be no Voltron!"

"Finally, old witch! It's about time you came up with a plan that worked! I *will* have my princess! Have a robeast loaded and ready to go immediately. It's time to make my dream come true." Lotor grins wickedly and rubs his hands together as he sets off to launch his battle cruiser. "Princess Allura will be mine at last!

"Come, Kitty, let's go pick out the perfect gift for planet Arus…"

Allura races into Castle Control, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk right on her heels as the alarm blares throughout the palace. "Coran, what's going on?" The princess looks to her advisor for an update.

"We've picked up a battleship approaching from planet Doom. A coffin ship accompanies it. I fear we are about to be attacked!"

"And with Keith laid up in the medical wing, we don't have Voltron. I have a bad feeling about this…" Lance shoves his hands into his jacket pockets and glares at the image on the viewscreen.

"Well, we better get up there and see what's going on. C'mon, boys, let's get those lions in the air." Within moments Coran finds himself alone once more.