The Blood on Her Hands

The Fight

Um. This whole chapter is a huge trigger warning. Literally the whole chapter is dedicated to the fight, so don't read if you get triggered by this stuff (Fights, Blood, Mild Gore )

 As the cuffs fell, Keith dashed forward, running straight at the Champion. She met him halfway, her staff blocking his blade, digging one end into the sand. She used her staff to swing around him, kicking him in the back before lifting her staff off the ground, hitting him squarely in the head and sending him flying. He quickly got back up, but Lance was already in his place.

Lance had grabbed a discarded and bloodied gun, shooting at her from behind Hunk, who was holding up a bent sword. The Champion had already made her way over to them, Hunk just barely holding his own against her. Lance was trying to get a good shot, but she would use her staff as a shield, expertly dodging the bullets. Shiro joined in, coming at the Champion from behind. Right as he appeared behind her, she whirled around, blocking his attack with her staff, before sweeping it down and countering.

Hunk saw his chance, and feebly pushed her away, using the blunt edge of his sword to shove her closer to Shiro. She dug her staff into the stand again, falling forward before flipping upwards, landing behind the head of Team Voltron, planting her feet on his back with her staff around his neck, her hands pulling the staff tighter. She smiled and leaned back, causing Shiro to stumble backwards, his hands flying to his throat to relieve the pressure.

Lance ran out from his spot, grabbing the Champion's staff from it's position across Shiro's neck. Matt went in from the other side, pulling her off of Shiro, tossing her away.

Shiro gasped in relief, a mark stretching across his throat where the staff had been. Lance, who was now in possession of the staff, tossed it over to Matt, who neatly caught it, flipping it over to aim at the crumpled form of the Galra.

The Champion stumbled back to her feet, swaying unsteadily. Shaking her head, she regained control over her senses, looking up to see Team Voltron on the other side of the ring, weapons at the ready, eyes following her every move.

She saw her staff in the Green Paladin's hands, held in a way that showed he had wielded one before. She saw the Blue Paladin with a bloodied gun, and the Red with a small katana held expertly in his hands. The Yellow one had a bent sword, holding it up in a defensive position in front of him. The Black Paladin was in the front, his prosthetic blade aimed at her.

She stood still and watched; evaluating and calculating, slowly picking up two short daggers from the ground, not taking her eyes off the Black Paladin. The Champion took a small step forward, smirking as the paladins and tensed. She took one more, and the Green Paladin decided that was far enough and rushed her.

The Champion quickly sidestepped, bringing her daggers up as the Green Paladin swung around on the staff, facing her once more. She felt, rather than heard, the others' footsteps behind her as she blocked another blow from the staff.

She turned around once again, feeling a bullet fly past her ear, and heard the Blue Paladin's cheers. The Champion immediately shut him up by tossing one of the small daggers in his direction, hearing the yelp as he dove out of the way.

She dove downwards, the prosthetic blade swiping at her head, and grabbed the bottom of her staff, taking it back from the Green Paladin and swinging it towards the Yellow one, jumping up and hitting him more solidly on the shoulder. He went stumbling back, holding his shoulder in pain. The Champion used her other dagger to swipe at the Red Paladin, who countered with his own blade, missing as she ducked below him, flipping her staff up to strike him in the stomach before hitting him with the other side as well.

Shiro watched as his friends were demolished, getting hit back and forth by the Champion as if they were toys. He watched as Lance was nearly impaled by her dagger, as Hunk held on to his shoulder which was starting to bleed.

He had watched as Keith crumpled to the ground, a hit to the head taking him down. He watched as Matt was rendered weaponless, as he tried to fight back but fell with an underhanded strike to his knees.

Shiro was the last one standing, making eye contact with the Galra Champion as she took down his friends. She paced back and forth, her rattling breath sending shivers down his spine. Shiro watched her, how she was obviously tired, how she was thinking before attacking, how she was holding back.

And he made his move.

Running forwards, he dashed to her left, right in her path. She dodged backwards, jumping and twisting, digging her staff into the sand. Shiro smirked as he grabbed one end of her staff, pulling it out from under her. The Champion deftly flipped, using her momentum to slam into his back, pushing him off balance as she took her staff back.

Lance appeared behind her, his blaster in hand. He quickly took aim, shooting her while she was distracted with defending against Shiro's attacks. The bullet hit her in her right leg, causing her to fall with a yelp. The Champion quickly whirled around, holding her hand to her wound, crouching down while sweeping her staff under his feet. He fell straight on his back, the breath knocked out of him. She brought the staff down hard on his chest, then on his head, knocking him out. Spinning around, she returned her attention to the Black Paladin, who had his prosthetic held in front of him defensively.

This time, she lunged first, bringing her staff around, balancing on it with her injured leg hanging off. She flipped straight up and back, her staff in hand. When she landed on the ground, she slammed her staff into Shiro's knee, a crack echoing through the air. He gritted his teeth as he fell to one knee, blood running down his leg.

He quickly looked up though, still on the defensive, but it was too late. She stood in front of him, her dropped dagger back in her hand. It was aimed at his throat, the Champion smiling sinisterly. He raised his prosthetic to strike, but she stabbed her staff right through it, piercing the metal like it was putty. The blade immediately dimmed, returning to the original hand form and losing the purple glow. She pulled the dagger back slightly, before jamming it straight at his neck.

Right before it pierced the skin, though, she stopped.

And looked down.

A sword was poking out of her stomach, right below her ribcage. Shiro looked past her to see Keith, glaring at the Galra with his Marmoran blade in her gut. He retracted it, the bloodied blade turning back into the short knife it was at first. He stepped back quickly, keeping his eyes on the Champion.

Shiro limped backwards, Hunk helping him get away. The Galra was unmoving, still staring at the bloody gash. Her head slowly looked up, making eye contact with the Black Paladin.

She stood still and continued to stare him in the eye. It was a few seconds before she whirled around, her staff in her hands as she attacked Keith.

He was ready, though, and stabbed her again, piercing the Galra through her side, the blade poking out of her ribs. She stumbled, blood dripping down her armor. But she didn't stop.

Her staff hit him in the neck, right below his chin, causing him to fall. As he crashed to the ground, he stabbed her through her already injured leg, finally hearing a pained yelp. She retaliated, the dagger she had been about to use at Shiro aimed at his face. The Champion succeeded, the knife slicing him across his cheek, blood already bubbling from the wound.

She turned back to Shiro who stood at the ready, leaning on Hunk to help relieve the pain of his knee.

But before she could even move, she froze.

And fell to the ground, unmoving.

...................................................................................................................

As the paladins were led out of the arena, Shiro looked back at the still, bloodied form on the ground. As the Champion was led away, he realized something. The blood coating the Marmoran blade was red. The blood on the sand was red.

The blood pouring from the Galran girl was red.

Wasn't Galra blood blue?

( This chapter was dark. It was actually less bad than I had expected, but still. Dark. I'm sorry for the people who read this and got disgusted, but I think that's as dark as it will get. I think. I'm not sure.  But I hope you enjoyed it!

Also, life is getting busier, so updates might be a little slower. But I will finish this story!)