Voltron Legendary Defender Fanfiction: Keith

Part 1

It was a heated battle, Voltron against two fleets of Galra ships. The battle had been raging for sometime, they only had a few more ships to go, but they were all wearing down a little. Keith's hands gripped the controls of his lion, hard. He was starting to rethink his life's choices as suddenly an unexpected hit came from the rear. Keith was jostled out of his seat by the force, hitting a wall with a loud crack. Vaguely in the back of his mind he hoped he didn't break his lion as he retried to regain his seat. However the blow had knocked him into the gravitational pull of a planet near them and he was being pulled down into the atmosphere, thus ruining his attempts to reach the chair. He called out to the other paladins as suddenly he blacked out by the g-forces.

"Keith? Keith!!!" Shiro tried to regain contact with the red paladin but to no avail, "Everyone, keep going! Keith is down and I am going to find him"

"Roger that, Shiro! Hunk, go left. Pidge cover me, I'm going in to take out the big one's cannon." Lance replied, taking over temporarily. The black lion manned by Shiro turned around and flew trying to locate the paladin. Keith woke up with a giant pain in his shoulder and a throbbing headache. He winced as he opened his eyes, the bright red lights flashing wildly on the consul. He put a hand to his head as he sat up, trying to stave off the dizzy feeling. "Sh-Shiro?" He croaked, praying that the com was still working.

"Keith? Is that you?" The communication was fuzzy but it came in. Keith breathed out a low sigh as he heard his foster-brother's voice come over the line. "Yeah it's me." He struggled to his feet to reach the pilot's chair, blinking harshly against the lights. "My consuls going crazy, Red's pretty banged up." He said pushing some buttons to turn the lights off and groaning when it didn't work."Where are you? I am coming" Shiro asked concerned for his brother's welfare. It was a Voltron motto to never leave anyone behind."Um..." Keith peered out the window, seeing a dense forest and weird pink glowing trees. "Somewhere on the planet in a jungle. With, really really weird glowing trees." He muttered something under his breath that sounded a bit like, "Only in space."

"Okay... I will try and find you" Shiro whispered to his lion "Find red. Please help me find red"

The Black Lion responded, his eyes glowing as it felt the connections with Shiro and its red counterpart. An image suddenly flooded into Shiro's mind, the downed Lion's covered in broken tree branches that were still glowing. "Thanks. Come on" he pushed the Black lion towards the planet thinking: "Hold on Keith. I am coming" Keith nodded softly, groaning slightly as the dizzy sensation worsened in his cranium. He glanced down at his shoulder, grimacing as blood oozed through his armor, painting red with more red. Shiro tried to find Keith and slowly lands near a patch of trees. "Keith?! Keith?!!!'" He yells.

"Shiro stop yelling." Keith grunted as Shiro bellowed into his ear. "You're still on the coms." Keith shook his head, trying to rid it of the ringing in his ears.

"Sorry brother. I am on my way" Shiro turns off the communication device and yells. "Idiot." Keith grumbled with a fond smile. He tried hard to connect with Red, who weakly gave off the equivalent of a flare to show where they were.

Shiro detected the flare and tries to get closer, breaking vines and foliage with his power arm to get to the paladin. Keith tried to assess what was wrong with his Lion, but engineering wasn't his forte. He huffed and walked to the back of his Lion to open the hatch manually, since Red wasn't in a condition to do anything else.

Shiro continues to follow the signal and carefully makes his way closer and sees a flash of red in the foliage.

"Keith?"

Keith opened the hatch, staring incredulously at the glowing foliage. He activated his bayard , in case there were any wild animals on the planet that weren't friendly. He barely heard Shiro's call in the distance. "Shiro?"

Shiro slowly makes his way closer to the red mark in the trees and activates his arm. Keith stumbled forward and sat down, leaning against Red's paw as he waited for Shiro to get there. "Anyone there?" Shiro asks cautiously and continues forward. "Shiro?" Keith called out, glancing over from where he had been about to doze off. Shiro hears him and rushes further and breaks through the barrier of bushes and sees Keith. He deactivates his power arm and runs over and kneels next to him "Keith"

Keith smiled a little. "Hey. Took you long enough." He grumbled, shifting as he turned to face him better. "Keith, I am so relieved to see you." Shiro looks him up and down "what happened to you? You're bleeding"

Keith shrugged, which really wasn't a good idea, according to his shoulder. He hissed as he lowered his shoulder back down. "Crashed. I think maybe a piece of metal hit my shoulder or something. I hit my head too." He said, pointing to his cracked helmet. "Oh boy. Not good, we need to get you back to the castle for rest and care." Shiro worried, after all, Keith felt like blood to Shiro and he was the leader of the paladins. Shiro racks his brain wondering what to do then he starts the communication again "Lance, Pidge, Hunk? How is it?" A small burst of static came over the com, then an exclamation from Pidge as she was hit. Lance finally answered, sounding irritated and breathless. "Not looking too good, Shiro. Another fleet showed up, we're having a hard time defeating them. How's Keith?"

"Pull back guys. Head back to the hq, Keith and I will meet you there okay and take care of Pidge. We can't have anyone else injured"

"Got it. Over and out." Lance said, ordering the others through a strategic escape to the castle. Meanwhile, Keith was nearly dozing off again, his concussion making it hard to stay awake. Shiro turns it off and looks at Keith "Are you okay? And please Keith, drop the tough boy act. I am your foster-brother" Shiro moves a little closer and talks softly. Keith blinked his eyes back open, leaning towards his brother and resting his head against his shoulder. "My head hurts. And M'tired." He mumbled.

"I see that. Hey Keith, i think you need to come back with me in my lion." He rubs Keith's helmet gently.

Keith nodded slightly, but then looked up at Shiro with worry on his face. "What about Red?" Shiro looks at him "Red will come back after she is healed. Or we can tow her back however it will take longer and you need help soon Keith" Shiro said worriedly. Keith thought about it for a minute, but Red took place over his own health. After all, they could always get a new paladin, but not a new Red Lion. "We can't leave Red here. Have Black carry her back with us." Shiro sighs and nods "okay. Come on, we need to get back to Black" Shiro puts Keith's good arm around his shoulder and props him up. Keith groaned slightly, but tried to keep the pain off his face. He leaned heavily on Shiro, staring at the ground as it spinned.

"It isn't that far. Now I know where I am going." Shiro supports Keith all the way back to the Black lion and they slowly get on board "Sit here and rest okay? We will go get Red" Shiro lets Keith down slowly onto the floor and goes to pilot. Keith nodded, leaning against the wall. "Yeah sure, let's get my Lion." Keith winced slightly as Shiro took off, his shoulder jostling with the movement.

"I will try and be gentle" Shiro tried to move as smoothly as he can but being in a metal lion isn't the gentlest thing. They began to tow Red behind them and they try to leave the planet. "It's fine, Takashi." Keith said, gritting his teeth. "Just get us back to the ship, okay?" Keith leaned his head back, closing his eyes against the light. Shiro nods and they fly smoothly towards the castle ship "Almost here."

There was no answer from Keith as he slumped to the floor, unconscious. Shiro looks behind him at him and he bites his lip flying faster trying to get to safety faster. As they got closer to the castle, they inevitably got closer to the Galran fleets. One of the ships seemed to spot them and advanced towards them. Shiro sees them and thinks "no... no... No!!!" Shiro immediately calls in for help "Paladins! I need backup. Keith is here with me and we have the red lion, but the Galra ships are advancing. Please help" He calls and waits for a response from hq. Allura came over the com. "They're on their way, Shiro. Just take care of Keith while they clear the path." The other paladins hurried to their lions and hurried to the scene.

Shiro begins to come closer to the castle and begins descent when a Galran blast from their cannon flies right past the lion's nose, causing The Black lion to halt. Shiro looks back at Keith, still on the floor, and silently thinks "Sorry buddy. A rough landing is ahead" Lance and Hunk dealt with the first ship together, but more were coming now. Pidge was running cover for the others as they got closer. Another near blast shook the Black Lion and Keith woke with a pained cry. "Sorry Keith. I can't take it easy right now. We are under attack" He apologized backwards but watched the battle around him.

Keith forced himself up to brace against the wall so he wouldn't be caught off guard so easily. "It's fine Shiro." He ground out, masking his face in indifference. Pidge's lion came up and covered the Black lion and they slowly tried to make it to safety and Shiro pipes up on the coms "Thanks guys. Almost there...."

"No problemo, Shiro!" Lance said, grinning from where he was freezing a ship. Hunk agreed, asking Shiro how Keith was. "Keith is in rough shape guys. We get him back to the ship and we all can help him get better" Shiro responded not taking his hands off the controls and his eyes off the landing bay. Keith tried to relax but every attempt was met with a jolt of pain.

Keith rolled his eyes slightly at listening to them talk about him. "I'm fine, guys. You make it sound like I'm dying." He said loudly so Shiro's com would pick it up. "We'll see you back guys. Thanks" Shiro turns off the communication and says back to Keith, "you are in rough shape Keith. I don't care how well you think you are doing I am worried about you. Always am" His tone takes on one of brotherly authority and superiority.

Keith huffed softly, but said back. "I know, I know. It's just kind of disturbing to listen to you guys talk about me."

"Get used to it for the next couple days. Just be careful Keith while you rest up, no strenuous practice sessions in the simulation room" he said gentler and looks behind him slightly. Keith looked pointedly to the floor. "Why? The healing pod will be enough."

"Because it cannot cure everything. Your body needs to recover from shock." Shiro went quiet finally landing the lions. He stands and goes over to Keith and kneels in front of him. "Keith, listen to me. I know you put a face on and tough boy exterior because life isn't easy for you. But I care for you and want you to do well so you have to be healthy. Just listen to me okay?"

Keith watched Shiro as he knelt down in front of him, knowing he was about to get the big brother speech, again. He listened, tensing slightly as Shiro spoke, but overall nodding his consent. "Fine. I'll take a day off." Shiro slightly smiles "Thank you." He helps Keith up and they make their way inside meeting Allura and Caron. Keith looks at Allura and she doesn't look back at him and instead has her nose a little up. Shiro notices, "Allura, this is no time for your problem with Keith being part Galra, he needs help." Allura isn't really moved. Keith sighed softly. "Don't bother, Shiro." He whispered, not caring to go into that subject right then. He straightened his posture a little at Allura's disdainful glare.

Shiro sighed and nods leading him off to the pods. Allura watches them go and looks over to Caron's saddened face. "What is it Caron? Why do you look so sad? Surely it isn't to do with me and Keith." Caron gave Allura a sad, slightly disappointed smile. "Ah, Princess. I have seen you grow up so much since we awake from stasis, but you definitely have much to learn. Such as not all Galra are bad."

"But Coran, they took us over! And they destroy and hurt so much of the universe. What if he still has that desire deep down?" Allura glared slightly at the floor envisioning the terrible things that had happened to the galaxy. She was disappointed in herself since Coran was a second father to her but she couldn't forgive Keith.

"Allura, we have see ourselves that not even all Alteans were good. You cannot judge someone on their race." Coran said, laying a gloved hand on her shoulder. She sighs and gives him a nod "Right Coran." She takes her leave before she can say anything else.