Chapter 19

Keith had just managed to push the princess out of the way when searing pain dug its way from the top of his left arm across his chest. The jagged dangerous edge of the mauve glass trickled his own crimson blood violently. He could already feel the tell-tale stream flowing past his hand and onto the floor, but he didn't care. His head ached even worse at this point. It was decided. He was going to crush Jeffrey Aki.

Jeff, for his part, realising that he had missed, jumped back quickly and threw the bottle to his right hand, gripping it brutally, ready for his next attack. Alcohol and Adrenaline had filled him to this point beyond reason. And shame would not let him drop his guard and let his enemy live. He rushed Keith, targeting his already injured left side. Keith narrowed his eyes seeing Jeff charge, back stepping as the bottle slashed the air on his left side where he had been a second before, then in front of him, aimed at his throat. Throwing his weight forward, Keith swiftly blocked Jeff's next strike, blocking his arm before slugging him hard in the gut. Grunting in pain, Jeff lost his grip of his weapon and gasped at the impact of the attack. He refused to be outdone, throwing a series of vicious left punches straight aimed for Keith's head. The first one hit before he received the first of a series of three to his torso and an uppercut. Slightly dazed, Jeff stumbled back as he desperately tried to focus on his opponent. Keith seemed to have lost his balance slightly, or maybe he was drunk. Suddenly hearing the princess scream out Kogane's name made him realise that he had at least caused some damage. Now for the kill. Heart pounding viciously, he ran toward the broken bottle, aiming it for Keith's heart. Elation was what he felt at the thought of blotting out the cause of his shame. He heard Crik shout at him to stop but it wasn't happening. Propelling him was victory. The next thing he knew was he was in pain and flying.

Keith aimed a back kick straight at Jeff's head, boot meeting skull with a crack. The momentum of Jeff's rush plus meeting the force of the kick threw Jeff across the room, causing him to tumble until he came to a stop at the center of the hall. Breathing heavily, Keith clutched his heavily bleeding arm trying to stop the blood as he waited for Jeff's next attack. The punches to his head had felt like sledgehammers. He felt Allura press dishtowels on his cuts but he wasn't concentrating on her. Or on the semi conscious Jeff.

Keith felt as if he'd been sucked from reality, all sound stripped from his senses as everything around him slowed. Allura's actions as she tried to staunch the blood as panic filled eyes met his, he could see her movements but could not feel them. His heart, which had been racing a few seconds before, slowed down to barely a few distinctive beats which assured him he was alive. Believing it was panic, he closed his eyes and counted to three before opening them. What met his perceptive gaze was pitch black, thick empty darkness. He felt the cold slither into his bones every time he breathed. This darkness was alive. Something was alive in the darkness with him. Swiftly turning,trying to get a bearing, he frantically fought to keep the blanket of evil he felt from consuming him. He paused as he thought he saw a shift in the inky pitch-black sea in front of him. It shifted again and slowly it opened. Keith felt his racing heart stop.

A huge red-yellow sphere opened up in front of him, rivulets of tiny crimson across the surface standing out distinctly as they met at a grayish-green thick strip four or five times wider than he was, that cut the orange sphere in two. What petrified Keith was that as his frozen eyes concentrated on the grayish strip, seeing his own reflection on the glassy surface, it dilated. Hate. Evil. A roar emanated from the monster as he felt the air around him shake.

"Die."

The hate he felt caused his blood to run cold, the words emanating from the pounding in his head. Gasping like he'd been drowning, Keith grabbed Allura in a fierce hug, which shocked her. She could feel how cold he felt, how hard his heart was beating. To their audience it seemed like a fierce lover's embrace, but it was not so. The furniture started to shake, cutlery falling violently from the table. Everyone in the room lost their balance as the shaking increased but they couldn't as they were tossed about.

"Earthquake!" yelled a young sergeant as he stumbled into the room, responding to the King's order to get their highnesses to the command center.

"How's that possible? We are no where near a faultline, you idiot!" yelled Cliff as he tried to hold on to the counter for dear life. He heard Jeff moan and vomit in the corner he had crawled to 'Serves 'Im right!' Cliff applauded as the idiot suffered. The shaking continued for about a minute more before it subsided, metal groaning deeply in different places around the bunker. The shocked couple got onto their feet as they ran toward the command centers as alarms blared throughout.

"Keith, your arm..."

"I'm alright. Let's get to the others first."

Arriving at the command center, they saw a flurry of activity as the King and generals gave orders and received reports of damage from every corner.

"What the hell happened to you!" Lance asked as he saw the blood staining the commander's clothes. The guy looked glassy eyed to him, which made Lance very suspicious.

"Dinner." They both responded.

" Jackass, Did you two fight with the steak knives or what?" an annoyed Lance asked standing near his new boss as the king prepared to inform them. 'Something's off with him.' Lance thought to himself. He felt the presence of his own lion in the back of his mind somewhat restless. He saw doctor Gorma enter the room and nod at the Princess, who gestured her head toward Keith slightly. The older man sighed deeply before he gave a small nod.

"There's something big fighting outside. Our cameras are not able to pick up what it is exactly. However, we know what its fighting." Admiral Garrison addressed the room as they pulled up the images. Dozens of drule fighters lit the night sky like flares as they exploded from the impact of thrown projectiles. Their lasers were all aiming at a humongous humanoid beast that roared, jumping into the air and destroying a drule warship before it landed on the ground, crushing other ships under its feet.

"It's decimating the drule armies as we speak." All of the generals were concerned at this point, everyone beyond tense.

"If they can't fight that thing with their present strength, then how are we?" asked Hunk as he analysed the situation correctly. " That location is somewhere near the Drule empire. We should just sit it out and let them be wiped out."

" We can't just leave it. Once it's done with them, its coming after us next. That thing definitely isn't ours." Keith responded cautiously.

"So we go after it and save our enemies, oh fearless one? We don't even know what it is."

"It's a Robeast."

Everyone in the room turned to Allura after her statement, surprised. Except for the King. Allura herself squeezed the blood stained towel in her hand tightly before breathing out softly.

" I know what it is because I've seen one before. When the crown Prince and I were captured by Prince Lotor's forces. I was forced to watch as they made one."

"Your majesty, an explanation is in order. Please." a frustrated general asked.

" That thing, that Robeast is an experiment of the traitor Lord Aidan and the witch Haggar. They create them under Zarkon's Castle, but they are never released. They are for... entertainment purposes." Allura finished quietly.

" A routine scouting mission went wrong when our parry of four lost power in our shuttle. The crown Prince was with me and two other guards. They suggested we walk the rest of the way since waiting out a failure would be useless. We both believed them and decided that it was a great idea. We hadn't walked long before we were intercepted by a man, half drule and half human in the tunnels. We tried to fight them and escaped above ground but were thrown to the ground by the guards. They were Lotor's men. They dragged us to King Zarkon's Castle and tried to threaten us to call father. But we refused to submit to his demands."

" You never told us about this, Princess." Lance stated, more upset with himself for not realising that the gut feeling he'd had years ago had been right. She hadn't gone to visit her aunt Orla at all.

"He didn't whip us, beat us, rape me or do anything physical. He would come into our cell and sit on a chair, eating fruit whilst talking about his future plans of ruling the drule empire. He wanted me to marry him. I told him I would rather die but he wouldn't allow for what he considered an easy exit. He wanted me to beg him to let us live and for me to agree. Brother encouraged me to not give up. Then one day he dragged us, chained, to his arena to watch these beasts fighting each other, fighting drules, fighting humans. Hagar was there, upset that he champion was losing to Aidan's creation. She complained that she needed a replacement, and a strong one." At this point Allura was crying as she remembered how they had both been kicked into the arena, Lotor's final word echoing in the background as he smirked proudly. "Beg."

" We fought together against the others for days, managing to avoid being critically injured. He forced us to kill our own people to survive. But I wouldn't give in to his demands. He was upset and commanded Hagar to do something. She came with guards, forced us both onto our knees and tried to force me to agree."

"And i've already told you to kill me, you witch. I won't ever marry that sick man!" Allura spat loudly as the guards forced more of their weight on her arms and shoulders, forcing her to bow further before Hagar.

" That's my Ally." Her brother gasped before a flurry of punches met his torso. Screaming in horror at the knew form of assault, Allura cried as they pummelled her brother.

"Don't you dare give in. Don't you dare beg." Her brother's painfully gasped words tore at Allura's heart as she realised that he had broken a few ribs and was in excruciating pain.

" My love, choose me."

"Never! I will never choose a heartless monster like you. No one ever will! Even if the breath leaves my body it will never be you." Screamed Allura from her knees. Because her head was bowed, she didn't see the impact of her words on Lotor.

"Show her the consequences of rejecting me, witch. Let her wish for a timely death and never receive it!" Lotor yelled, causing the servants around his to run for cover.

"As you wish, my Prince."

"Daughter of Ariella, you chose your own hell." Hagar stepped from Allura to her brother and ordered the guards to force him to kneel upright. In horror Allura watched as Hagar stooped before her brother, placing a wrinkled finger on his forehead. In her other hand she conjured a dark, tainted bowl with putrid liquid in it. Dipping her clawlike hand into the liquid, she thrust the hand into the crown prince's chest like a dagger. The Prince jerked back, wide eyed in horror as he heard his sister's painful scream.

"Ally." He whispered.

"Haggar injects a subject with some type of fluid in the heart while she recites a spell. That individual loses their mind as their body transforms into that of a hideous monster with barely any resemblance you can pick out. All it wants to do is destroy anything its told to." Allura finishes, too ashamed to look anyone in the eye. She wrung the towel even more until she saw a hand gently grasp her own.

"We have to put it out of its misery." Keith stated quietly, more like a question at this point. The nod of her bowed head was enough for him.

"The five of you need to prepare for the Robeast when it finally makes its way here. We've formulated a strategy at this point and we'll go over it soon after we deal with our current crisis." The king nodded to Eagle, who flipped the screens to show a group of drules entering a cavern a less than a 100miles from the bunker's location. Though hazy, everyone was shocked to see an old decrepit woman with a staff and white haired young drule leading the party. They watched as the drules fell to their feet as rocks from above them and the cameras shook. But they continued on into the cavern. Keith felt more than saw Allura's shock as her hand squeezed his tight. For whatever reason, every time he touched the princess, it felt as if a coolness washed over him, reducing the aching pain in his skull.

" Are they who caused the earthquake?" Pidge asked as he watched the readings and time on the monitors.

"More like isn't it impossible for them to even go underground? How the Heck are they doing it?" Lance asked, just as shocked as they all were. This white haired Prince was proving to be a recurring problem.

"There's something alive down there, isn't there sire?" Again with the king and his secrets!

" The five of you, plus Gorma, come with me. Everyone, prepare for a drule counter offensive. Get every civilian armed and ready for an attack if necessary. Just prepare." With that , the king left the command center, leaving his generals to continue on with their planning. The young five people just looked at them like idiots until Garrison shouted at them to leave.

They caught up with the king as he was opening one chest, then another in the rooms designated his. Not having found what he'd been looking for, he asked Coran who pointed to a covered box under a blanket. Keith spotted a picture of a younger king, a beautiful golden haired woman who was holding a toddler in her arms and three boys grinning at the treats in their hands. He was trying to reconcile the family man in the pic and the man in front of him. He felt as if he was looking at a facade.

" Akira. I know you find me annoying secretive."

"Naturally." Huffed Keith before he winced as Allura slapped his wounded arm. Doctor Gorma took initiative and told the commander to strip so he would look at the wounds.

" I also find you annoyingly secretive. Sending Holgerson to Aki's shrine to retrieve that drive before I did was quite smart of you. We're more alike, you and I." The king added as he paused, pulling out a steel case that was locked. He pulled it out and set it before them, grazing it's surface gently. Keith didn't warrant him with a reply.

"These uniforms were made by our ancestors, adaptable breathable and strong enough to withstand the force created within the lions. Unfortunately, the technology was lost when it came from Terra as over time your people grew more comfortable. Hopefully, Pidge can assist with reviving these technologies." The uniforms were all plain white, no colour to them at all. Lance, for his part, lifted up a sleeve shuddered and dropped it back in the box.

" Sorry sire. My style won't let me. White is too...awful on a flight suit. Its awful. Kogane, do you want to try it on?" A quick flip of the finger was all he got. Hunk was stretching the material, trying to comprehend how his 6'4 large built frame was going to fit inside the tiny thing. " Just suck it in, Hunk. I think you can manage an arm at least." Laughed Pidge at Hunk as he stretched his own too long suit. One thing Keith had come to appreciate about his new team was that they didn't take things too seriously, despite the situation. Whether they'd listen to him was the question.

"You want me to lay out my plan." Keith asked as he flexed his arm for the doctor to bandage. Allura tried to keep her composure as she played assistant to the doctor, not trying to react to her barely dressed commanding officer. The king nodded and everyone else cooled down.

" We hit the Prince first. What he's seeking seems to be the biggest threat considering the damage we saw from just one earthquake. The Robeast is last since its following someone's orders to attack drule. From Allura's knowledge, its Aidan. We don't know where he is, how he transforms people into beasts or what his endgame is. Let's deal with the Prince and the witch."

"Hagar may be old but she can fight, you know that right cap?" Hunk asked

" I know. The Lieutenant will take on Hagar. I'll go after the Prince. We have to stop him from releasing that thing."

"How do you know what he's trying to release is a living thing chief? We haven't heard anything about it." Pidge asked, looking from Lance to Hunk to Allura, who all shook their heads. Taking his key out in response, he told all of them to touch it. Sceptical about all things related to the alpha lion that seemed to hate him at this point, Lance only placed the tip of his finger on the smooth, black surface. Curiously, doctor Gorma watched as all young people seemed to freeze before four of them screamed and jumped back, Lance falling onto the table behind him, breathing hard. Allura had covered her mouth in shock, shaking. They were all shaking.

"It's called the umbra. A menace that tormented this galaxy for centuries. Civilizations feared it and hid from it, unable to grow as everything we built was snuffed out. Or so the legend goes." The king added quietly, handing each of them their uniforms. He took the key of the black lion and placed it on one white uniform, which shifted from white to black. They all noticed this, but were too shocked to comment.

" The chronicles of the Kogane family are here. I've been unable to read them since they can only be read by your bloodline. However your father is the one who told me. The umbra must not awaken at any cost. There are specific requirements for their awakening that must be followed so it takes time. But once the first one is found, it will only be a matter of time before the other four are found. Find a way to stop its release. You're not fighting to win. You're fighting for survival. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir!." The uncertainty and shaking in their voices caused the king even more worry.