Brighter Than the Stars: A Voltron Fanfic (Keith X OC)

Chapter 12

Two days later, Coran took Lance, Hunk, Pidge, Keith and Violet to some kind of black market to shop for scaultrite to fix the castle's teludav. Keith had been avoiding Violet the whole two days, which was a blow to the chest every time he'd refuse to meet her eyes. She'd stopped Lance from going to have a "nice little chat" with him - she deserved it. And she'd deal with Keith on her own.

They took a pod to the market, which turned out to be a space mall. Coran gave them all ridiculous disguises to wear to blend in, and left them to wander around the mall, browsing.

Violet examined her ripped cloak that was just short of a rucksack, fake horns, and fire-red mask covering most of her face. Grimacing, she pulled it all off and dumped it into the nearest trash bin. "I might as well do something productive while we're here," she said. "I'm going to go find the nearest bookstore, since all the books in the library are in ancient Altean." With that, she set off, the rest of the paladins following suit.

Violet walked around for a while, searching for a bookstore to go into. At one point she passed Pidge and Lance, who were standing in a fountain with their pockets full of coins, Hunk, who was operating a small café, and Coran, who was bartering with some moody teenage girl, still in his odd clothing. She spotted Keith, who was at some kind of knife-stand, and shrugged to herself. He couldn't avoid her forever.

"Ah, young miss!" The shop owner said as she walked over. "What brings you here today?" Keith glanced at her and looked away, slipping something back into his pocket - some kind of blade.

"I wanted to see if I could buy a of knife-sharpener of some sort," said Violet. "I've been whittling down my blades with stone, but if I want them to stay sharp, I'll need something of higher quality." She offered the shopkeeper one of her daggers.

"The metalwork is phenomenal," he mused. "If I'm right, this is a starlight blade -  its very rare, made by Galra blacksmiths ten thousand deca-phoebs ago. There's only five or so left."

"Five?" Violet said,surprised. "I have eight."

The shopowner slammed his hand onto the table. "How much do you want for them?"

She frowned. "Sorry, they're not for sale."

"Really. Name your price," the owner continued, ignoring her. "I'll give you whatever you want for two of the starlight daggers."

"No," Violet repeated. "Give me back my blade." 

He only tightened its hold on it. "How about I keep this one and you tell me where you got the others, then get out before I have you arrested? You could never pay for a starlight blade, let alone eight. They're clearly stolen."

Growling, Violet leaped across the stall and snatched her dagger from the shopkeeper's hand. She jumped back to Keith's side and grabbed his arm, leading him away.

"Thieves! Stealers! Someone stop them!" the shopkeeper yelled, pointing at Violet. "Security!"

Violet cursed and launched into a sprint. Keith followed, and they ducked around shoppers and stalls, eventually pausing for breath.

"I think we lost him," said Keith, looking over his shoulder.

"Hey! Stop right there!" A pudgy man on a speeder skidded to a stop and charged at them.

"We did not lose him! We definitely did not lose him!" Violet yelped, fleeing once more. They sprinted away from the security man, but running seemed to only draw more attention.

"He's gaining on us!" Keith warned.

"How is that possible?" Violet said. "He's, like, twice our size, and looks like he's never run a day in his life! And he's on a scooter! Run faster!"

"Wait," said Keith, grabbing her arm. Violet skidded to a stop as he slid over one of the shopping booths, following suit. They crouched behind the stall, panting.

Almost accidentally, Keith met her eyes. Instantly the tension between them snapped back into place, and Violet's gaze dropped.

"Vi-"

A loud yell cut him off that could only belong to Hunk. Frowning, Violet peeked over the side of the stall to see the yellow paladin running around and flailing his arms as he was chased by the man on the scooter.

"Come on, Hunk's in trouble," Violet said to Keith, vaulting over the shop stall and rushing to her friend.

"You too! What luck!" The security guard yelled. "Get back here!"

"No!"

The man faltered. "Oh, okay. Never mind then." Remembering what he was doing, he yelled, "Hey! Stop trying to trick me!"

Violet ran away with Hunk and Keith on her tail. "Good news, he's an idiot," she shouted back to them.

They found Lance and Pidge departing some kind of game store with - was that a cow? No time to question Lance's decisions. "Let's go, people!" Keith yelled. "Mall security's after us!"

Thankfully, Lance didn't hesitate. "Kaltenecker's big enough for the five of us! Everyone climb aboard!"

"The ... cow?" Violet said. "That you bought?"

"It was fifty percent off!" Pidge replied as they all piled on uncomfortably. Kaltenecker the cow sped off with a moo.

"We need to find Coran!" Hunk called over the rushing wind and joyful cow noises.

"Found him!" Violet shouted back, pointing to where Coran was bartering with a shopkeeper. "Time to go, Coran!" They careened towards him, Violet grabbing him by the collar as they skidded by and hauling him onto Kaltenecker.

"I bought the supplies we needed!" Coran said cheerfully, then seemed to notice his surroundings. "Why am I riding a cow?"

"No time to explain!" Pidge shot back.

The security guard stopped pursuing them as they sped towards the exit of the mall. "Hah!" Lance taunted, facing backwards. "Look who's the-" he slammed into a low-hanging beam, getting knocked right off the cow and promptly falling to a heap on the floor.

"Goddammit, Lance!" Violet yelled, frustrated. Flipping off Kaltenecker, she dashed over to Lance and grabbed him, drawing her lasso. The security guard began to close in on them; she tied the rope and tossed it after the escaping cow. "KEITH!"

He grabbed the lasso, and she gripped the rope as it was yanked forward, clinging to Lance's arm. Keith pulled her back onto Kaltenecker, making sure Lance, who'd been knocked out, didn't slip off again.

A second of silence while they all caught their breath. Then - "Was the extra flip really necessary?" Keith grumbled.

Violet smirked. "No. But it was awesome."

"Show-off."

She sketched a bow, which was hard considering they were riding a flying cow. "In the flesh."

Keith looked away so she wouldn't see him smile.