Catch the Stars ||Keith Kogane||

78

Trip didn't dare take her eyes off the person in front of her. She knew all too well what she would be capable of if given a moment of hesitation. Even when she heard the others shouting in confusion behind her, she remained in stance. Poised, confused, angry, and wondering if she was losing it.

"No way!" She hears Hunk behind her, "Shiro?!"

The name alone was enough to make her hiccup. She doesn't turn her head to see what they were talking about, but she does find her eyes dipping to the side just for a moment. Wondering what had brought the name of their missing paladin to light. But that single millisecond was enough for this other Trip.

There's a swipe at her legs the second her eyes aren't on her anymore, with enough force to knock them at least half-out from under her. Trip groans as she goes down, landing on her butt and clumsily losing her sword in the process.

When she flinches at the impact, there's a silver glint and the point of the smaller sword was then at her throat, just barely grazing her skin. A threat, but an unsure one, a confused one. Trip looks up at...herself, angrily analyzing every tick of her aggressive movements as she pinned her in one spot.

"Plis lo cou te Olympian dolrug?" (How do you know the Olympian tongue) the copy speaks in flawless Olympian, her eyebrows raising in question. She nudges the sword against her neck, making Trip lean her head back.

"Trip!" Keith calls out behind her, but she can't look back at him, "How..."

"Are there two Trips?!" Lance hollers, "what is going on right now?!"

"Mienos te jost" (Put down the weapon) Trip commands in her most comfortable language, "Seuba kane kcle puin se poan cou." (Before I have to take it from you)

The copy scoffs as if a bad joke had been told, tilting her head mockingly, "venst cou?" (could you)

"Cou lenst'u daun nsyet je kcle cou bank." (You wouldn't live long enough to have your answer) Trip taunts her captor.

"Olympian! Stop playing around!" A voice behind them has a tone similar to one that Trip recognized. It was Shiro's voice, though thick with an accent that didn't belong to him. The real him.

"If you have come for the comet, you'll never get your hands on it," there was another voice, "it will never fall into Altean hands."

Trip finally risks looking over, her curiosity burning. Just like her, there was a copy of Shiro. But he wasn't an exact match. He had no white patch of hair on his hairline, and no scar running across the bridge of his nose. And the way he was looking at Keith wasn't with familiarity. The thing next to him was clearly Slav, yet also a false version.

Where the hell are they? Who are these people?

She looks back at the copy holding her at sword point.

"Plis lo cou te Olympian dolrug?" (How do you know the Olympian tongue) she demands once more, this time pressing the tip of her sword into Trip's throat enough to cause a trickle of pain. Clearly she was not worried about what her teammates were dealing with.

But Trip was. Keith had a blaster pointed at him by his brother, he would be caught off guard on everything that was about to happen. And the others were as clumsy as baby Jesters together. If they wanted a chance at a fight, she couldn't be sitting on the ground when it started. She began to slowly twist her palm so that it was facing out. In the direction where her fallen sword lay.

The copy presses the sword harder, and a warmth begins to trickle down her neck from impact of the blade. Before it can go any deeper, Trip bends her middle finger and taps the sensor that had become familiar on her palm.