Adrenaline

Keith's End (Part II)

Something went wrong and the team was discovered. Keith didn't know who that was discovered, but the blasting alarm deafening everything else was a clear sign that the Galra knew something was amiss.

"Pidge, Hunk, Lance, are you okay?" Shiro asked before Keith had overcome the white-hot panic screaming from the base of his throat.

"Yes," Pidge answered stressed but uninjured.

"We're almost at the prisoners," Hunk added. "But I'm really, very afraid there's someone waiting for us there."

"I'm coming as soon as I can," Shiro stated and ran a couple of steps before he either remembered Keith's presence or simply heard Keith following right behind him.

Shiro sent Keith with a firm look over his shoulder with hard eyes and a tight mouth as he ordered, "Go to the lions."

"No!" Keith huffed as he and Shiro ran towards where the rest had run to.

"Do it. We can't protect you if we're going to save the prisoners. So it's going to safety or letting people die."

Keith was stunned. He knew that the team liked him but being told outright that they would just abandon the prisoners to their own fate for him was entirely different from just knowing they liked him.

Keith didn't like it but he did as he was told and changed direction and ran towards the lions.

He promised himself that he would be better. He would be so good that there would be no question about whether they could have him fighting on the ship because he would be that strong and capable. He would save countless lives and if he died, then it would be because of a mission that no one in the entire Universe could have survived.

He needed to believe this as his breath grew short and he heard his teammates breathe less heavily than him but still deep and fast.

It took Keith embarrassedly long to notice the footsteps running just behind him. He entered the hangar just as a hand took a hold of the back of his paladin suit and pulled.

Keith landed on his back, looked up, and saw a purple and furious face looking down at him from a short distance. A gun swinging just next to his face and Keith realized for the 100 time in his time as a part of Voltron that he could very well die. It would just take one unlucky, or lucky for the Galra in front of him, shot to kill him. He was weak and he should have listened to the others when they denied his request to come and feel useful in the first place.

Keith bended his arm and hit the Galra in his cheek. The Galra turned his head and his body just enough for Keith to kick him in his either stomach or just a bit farther down. The Galra let out a pained huff of air and was incapable of stopping Keith from crawling under the Galra and away.

Keith only got a few seconds head start but it was enough for him to have some sort of distance between them. Or so Keith had thought until he realized how stupid that move had been.

Keith had a sword, a close-range weapon, and the Galra had a gun. Keith hadn't talked to a lot of Galras but he knew they weren't dumb creatures and he wasn't the least bit surprised when shots fell around him and he twisted and turned with his sword and shield still barely got away from the lasers fired in his direction.

He wouldn't be able to survive this for much longer and then this Galra would go back to the rest of the ship and shoot his friends. Maybe the Galra would even bring his body and mock them. Make the rest of them weak. Caring was a sign of strength but only because it was a big weakness too.

Keith saw a button that he had unintentionally run towards. It reminded him of several times that he had done this before. Times when Red had saved him. There would be no Red now but Keith still pressed the button to open the hangar.