A/N: Hello, everyone! I'm back with a new Voltron entry, and I'm quite excited about it. I've had this idea ever since I watched this episode the first time years ago, so I'm glad I finally managed to make it into a real product. Just a quick disclaimer, there will be descriptions of wounds/injuries in this story. I tried no to make them too descriptive or graphic because I'm actually a little queasy about those things, but if you're particularly sensitive you might want to keep that in mind. Thank you for reading my story, and I hope you enjoy!

The plan was simple.

Infiltrate the Kral Zera, plant a bunch of bombs, and take out the new era of the Galra Empire before it even began. In and out, simple, like every other mission the Blade of Marmora took on. That's what Keith thought he liked about it. The lack of attachment, the purely professional nature of the relationships between the Blades. The freedom to focus solely on the mission and never look back, no matter who was behind you.

The plan was so simple… so how could it have gone so wrong?

Keith ran with the Blades underneath the temple, splitting from the group and setting charge after charge throughout the practical maze they were navigating. Before he knew it, it was already time to activate the timers. It was up to each Blade to ensure they got out on time. There wasn't much room to maneuver, and no one would be going back for you if you were late.

Keith was doing exactly that, running from the temple as quickly as he could, when he felt something tugging at his mind. It was a familiar and yet strange feeling: the Black Lion. Against his own judgment, he stopped and turned around.

Shiro. No one Keith wasn't okay with blowing up was supposed to be here- never mind Shiro- and where Shiro was, the other Paladins were sure to follow.

"Ilun, Vrek!" He found himself shouting into the comms. "We have to stop! Shiro is out there!" He knew it was no use- that wasn't the Blades' way, but when Ilun replied that it was too late, that the operation was already underway, he did the thing he knew he wasn't supposed to do.

Keith loved working with the Blades and he didn't resent the way they did things, but he had forgotten one important thing: he was awful at following orders. So, he ran back in.

The unsynchronized beeping of the bombs was haunting and disorienting as Keith ran attempting to disarm each one before it was too late. If he could just get most of them, or even the ones that would hurt the temple's structure the most, maybe Shiro would be safe. Maybe the Paladins would forgive him for almost blowing up their beloved leader. Maybe.

Ilun and Vrek had made their choice, and so did Keith. Somehow, he was more afraid of living because he abandoned Shiro than dying because he tried to do the right thing. Because he couldn't bring himself to leave another man behind. Not Shiro, he owed him too much.

Keith disabled bomb after bomb, but it wasn't enough; there were too many bombs and not enough time. Before he knew it, they started going off. Keith weaved through the fire, dodging debris along the way. There was a long corridor in front of him. He dashed toward it, so close to the light, so close to escape, but a bomb went off right behind him, propelling him forward and out of the inside of the temple.

He only laid on the ground for a moment before getting up, ignoring the buzzing in his ears. His mission wasn't over yet. The Galra had begun focusing their fire on Shiro and, while the Black Lion could take a beating, that meant Keith still had work to do.

The whole temple descended to chaos, with each potential champion suddenly firing on all the and attacking anyone who looked even vaguely like a threat, including Keith. He jumped back as a big, purple mass attempted to tackle him to the ground. He managed to parry the attack, but his Marmoran mask faded, getting damaged in the process.

Keith ran, jumped, and rolled, dodging and parrying attacks from all sides. At one point, he lost his sword, but another Galra shot his attacker, creating an opening for him to attack. He jumped up, kneeing the Galra in the face and knocking him unconscious.

He only had a moment to feel triumphant before he was tackled from the side again, being pushed against a metal structure. He swore he heard something crack, but there was no time to worry about it as the Glara immediately began to bring his sword down on Keith. Against his better judgement, Keith reacted quickly, grabbing the sword. His Blade armor was thick, but the longer he held it the more he risked it cutting into him.

Keith used all his strength to push against it, but his enemy's blade continued to inch closer and closer to his neck. Unfortunately, his sword had been knocked too far out of his grasp. Keith reached a hand out, hoping there was anything he could use as a weapon nearby. His hand felt something that felt akin to a handle, and Keith decided that was good enough. Gripping his hand tightly around it, Keith swung, smashing against his enemy's face. That did that trick, loosening the Galra's grip and allowing Keith to push him back, freeing up just enough room for him to then give a powerful kick that sent his enemy toppling down the large stairs in front of them.

Breathing heavily, Keith dropped the weapon- which he recognized as some sort of torch that Lotor had lost during the battle- behind himself. At that very moment, a large whoosh sounded behind him as a purple blaze rose up behind him.

At once, the fighting below stopped and a deep voice boomed out, "The flame is lit, bow to your emperor."

Keith frantically scanned the area, looking for some kind of explanation. Instead, his eyes found Lotor, looking somehow confused and vengeful all at the same time.

"Oh, quiznak."

"So… let me get this straight. Mullet is the leader of the Galra Empire now?"

"No, Lance, I am not the leader of the Galra Empire."

"I mean, it kind of makes sense. He did light the fire after all."

"Pidge, I am not the leader of the Galra Empire."

"To be fair, you did totally interrupt the Kral Zera, and win. Kind of looks like you're the leader of the Galra Empire."

"Fine, Hunk, let me rephrase. I don't want to be the leader of the Galra Empire," Keith repeated again through gritted teeth.

"Well that's rather a shame, seeing as how you've already ruined everything," Lotor voice echoed through the large room, drenched with annoyance.

Following the ceremony, Lotor had brought Keith and the Paladins to a large castle. It was located on the same planet as the Kral Zera temple, but it's location was supposedly hidden to all but a few in the empire. Lotor had said it was customary for the new emperor to rest and recover there following the Kral Zera. Keith had tried to explain that he was not the emperor and just wanted to leave, but Lotor had none of it. He, Allura, and Shiro had spent the better part of an hour having a discussion amongst themselves and the Blades in another room. Keith hadn't even seen Shiro yet.

"Come on, Lotor, it's not like Keith was trying to undermine your bid for the position of ruler," Allura said sweetly, clearly trying to keep the peace.

"Not helping," Keith said pointedly. He wasn't trying to be rude, but the whole thing was way too overwhelming to him. Lighting the torch was just another reminder of Keith's Galran heritage- not that he could forget. Keith dropped his head in his hands, groaning to himself. How in the world was he going to clean up this mess, or explain any of this to the Blades.

Keith felt a firm hand descend on his shoulder, sending a jolt of pain running through his body. Ignoring the pain, he quickly turned his head to see who it was. "Personally, I think you should be grateful. From what I hear, Keith saved all of us," Shiro said, looking down at Keith with a smile.

Keith felt himself relax a little bit. It was good to hear Shiro say that. Thankfully, none of the Paladins held a grudge against him for accidentally ruining the ceremony or almost blowing them up.

"Well, we wouldn't have been in danger at all if the Blades hadn't felt the need to interfere, now would we?" Lotor said bitterly, crossing his arms over his chest like a kid.

"Look, if you're so bitter about it why don't you just let me give you the title now?!" Keith asked.

"Because, the title of emperor is not something you give away like you've won a contest!" Lotor shouted. "If I let you give me the title now I would look weak, the title of emperor would mean nothing, and every single Galra who competed for the throne tonight would feel even more cheated than they already do, you insufferable whelp!"

"What? You want to fight to death for it, then?" Keith retorted, moving closer to Lotor. He seemed to get more angry the more exhausted he became. His whole body ached, and he just wanted to be out of the spotlight. He knew he'd messed up, he didn't need some entitled, pompous, purple prince reminding him of that.

"Don't even joke. I'd kick your quiznak all over this planet before you could even blink," Lotor replied, stepping toward Keith himself and pulling out his sword for dramatic effect.

"I think we should pick this discussion up tomorrow. We'll all feel better after a good night's sleep," Shiro said, putting himself between Keith and Lotor to- once again- act as the voice of reason for the group. "Besides, I need to talk to Keith- alone." Keith didn't like the sound of that last part.

Lotor sheathed his sword and took a step back. "Fine, but you should be warned. They may have bowed to you in the moment, but the Galra will never accept you as their leader."

"I'm afraid Lotor is right,' Allura said, moving forward to put an extra body between Keith and Lotor. "We'll have to keep close watch over Keith for however long this goes on. There's no telling what might happen."

"This castle isn't known to many, and all of them are on my side," Lotor said. "You should be safe here."

"Still," Allura began, "I'd prefer to be cautious until we can sort this out."

"We're on it, Princess," Lance said, giving Allura a sloppy salute. "One heightened security detail coming right up."

Hunk and Pidge fell in line with Lance, giving their own salutes.

Keith could tell this was going to be a long night. He rolled his eyes at the group, but, inside, he felt grateful.

"Come on," Shiro said in a lowered voice, steering Keith away from the group.

Walking down the faintly light halls, Keith felt like a kid being marched down to the principal's office. Eventually, Shiro led him to a large room that Keith assumed must have been where the new emperor- in this case him- was meant to stay.

"Sit," Shiro ordered, motioning to the bed.

Keith sat. Somehow this didn't feel like the time to be arguing, and he barely had the strength to continue standing either. Shiro pulled a box from the connected room- which Keith figured was a bathroom- and sat next to Keith, gently turning him so Keith's back was facing Shiro.

"Uh, so… Shiro, what- what did you need to talk about?" Keith asked, hating the awkward tension in the room.

"Lift up your shirt," Shiro commanded, completely ignoring the question.

"What?" Keith asked, slightly surprised. He turned to look at Shiro, but he refused to look at Keith.

"You're bleeding," Shiro said in a quiet voice, still not meeting Keith's gaze.

Oh… Keith realized what this must have been about. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Keith knew he had been injured, he had just planned to take care of that on his own after the excitement had died down. His instinct was to tell Shiro he was fine, or that he could handle it on his own; instead, he relented. Breathing sharply as stretched out his back in an attempt to remove his shirt.

It was hard for Keith to see exactly what the damage was, but he at least noticed the edge of what must have been a rather large bruise and streaks of dried blood that had traveled from his back to the edge of his ribs.

Shiro was silent after that, and Keith did his best not to wince or groan as Shiro cleaned his wounds. To his credit, Shiro was gentle, but there was no stopping the pain that came from removing small pieces of debris that penetrated his skin from the explosion.

"There. You can put your shirt back on," Shiro said, taking the bowl full of debris and bloody medical supplies back to the bathroom. The man still hadn't even looked at Keith.

Pulling his shirt back down and ignoring how his body screamed at him, Ketih stood up, forcing himself into Shiro's view.

"Shiro…" he began, not knowing what exactly to say. "You have to look at me some ti-"

"You could have died today, Keith," Shiro said, cutting across him. "The Blades told me all about how they left you behind in a field of bombs just to save me! And now you're picking fights to the death with Lotor?!" Shiro's voice was stern, angry in a way Keith hadn't heard in years. Keith knew Shiro wasn't angry at him, not really, just worried and scared and confused, but he found himself flinching slightly as Shiro raised his voice anyway.

Shiro went silent. For a moment, nothing but their breathing could be heard. Shiro took Keith gently by the hand, the one that Keith hadn't even realized had been injured during his earlier fight, and guided him to sit on the bed once more. This time, he was facing Shiro as the man gently cleaned and wrapped the cut on Keith's hand.

"I'm sorry," Shiro whispered. "I shouldn't have yelled."

"No, Shiro. I understand. This… is my fault," Keith said, pulling his injured hand to his chest.

"It's not anyone's fault, Keith. I just… wish you'd value your life a little more," Shiro said. "I know you've been struggling since you found out that you're part Galra, and I know going with the Blades was your way of coping, of pushing us away, and I tried to respect that, but… they left you there. You could've died, and they left you there."

"I made that choice, Shiro. I couldn't lose you again," Keith replied.

"I know. And I know, the mission has to come first for us, but it doesn't for me. You come first, Keith. Always. But I'm the leader of Voltron and you're a Blade now, so I need you to promise me that you'll put yourself first when I'm not there," Shiro said, voice thick with emotion.

"You know I can't promise that," Keith said. "The whole universe is counting on us."

"I love what we do, and there's nothing I want more than to know the universe is safe, but sometimes…" Shiro stopped.

"I know," Keith said, anticipating what Shiro wanted to say.

"I just hate that after all this, you're in danger again. I hate that I can't protect you the way I could back then," Shiro said. Keith got the feeling that Shiro probably still saw him as a 14-year old kid.

"I know," Keith said.

They once again lapsed into an awkward silence.

"Make sure to change those bandages when you get up tomorrow," Shiro said, suddenly standing up to leave.

"I will," Keith said, hating how they'd left so many things unresolved. "And, thank you, Shiro."

Shiro smiled lightly before closing the door behind him, leaving Keith alone with only the dim light of the outside.

Without Shiro, the room felt crushingly dark and lonely, so when Keith stepped through the large double doors that led out to the balcony, there was something freeing about the way the breeze hit his face. Keith leaned over the rail, staring out into the distance. From the balcony, he could see a small light moving around. He figured it must have been Lance patrolling the perimeter of the building.

Keith sighed, replaying the conversation in his head and asking himself why and how things had gotten so complicated. He wondered if staying with the Blades was the right thing to do, but he also knew that if he went back to Voltron he'd always feel like deadweight or an outcast.

Keith stayed outside for some time before being shaken from his thoughts by a knock at the door. Hoping that it was Shiro, Keith immediately moved to open it.

"Shiro?" Called into the hall, but no one seemed to be there. An eerie silence hung over him. "Note to self… no more scary Galra castles." Keith said to himself, shaking his head as he moved back into the room.

He had just managed to convince himself that he was just being paranoid, closing the balcony doors so he could go to sleep, when Keith realized something. Lance's light was gone.

Keith's breath caught in his throat as he tried not to devolve into a panic. There were plenty of reasonable explanations. Lance could be taking a break, changing spots with someone else, or maybe he just dropped his light. That seemed like something he would do.

Keith turned to go back through the front door and find Shiro, but froze in his tracks when he heard it. The air vents hissed as a strange gas began emanating from them. Keith raced to bring his Marmora mask back, lifting his hood and pressing the little switch imbedded in it… only to remember that it had been broken in the previous battle.

Quiznak was all Keith managed to think before his body was racked with coughs and he felt weaker and weaker, falling to the ground. The last thing Keith saw as he fought to retain his consciousness was a large silhouette reaching toward him.