"Keith! Lets go! It's gonna blow!" The sound of Lance's voice echoed in Keith's helmet as the red paladin slammed his back against a wall, knocking a drone senseless long enough for him to offline it. The blue paladin sighed from his position in the cargo bay, loading the last of the freed prisoners into the Blue Lion's belly. Keith was doing the last checks of the cells, double checking to make sure that they had gotten everyone out. He looked over the drones spilled out behind him, proud of the mess of scrap metal left in his wake. He touched his helmet to respond to the other paladin.
"Alright, I'm on my way. Get out of here, Lance." Keith ordered before breaking into a run across the deck towards the door. He held his bayard, transformed to sword, in his right hand for defense. A droid's arm shot out of an opened cell, gripping onto his ankle. Keith tumbled to the floor, the bayard sliding across the metal and out of reach. "Get off of me!" Keith shouted, using his free heel and slamming it into the robot's head. A bit of panic filled him when the thing didn't let go. He let out a snarl of anger, kicking the metal being repeatedly until the head twisted and snapped off. As his purple eyes looked over the dented metal, he started to calm down from his panicked high. He kicked the hand, watching it roll down the hall into another damaged bot. The fingers didn't release, but he was able to drag himself far enough forward to just reach his bayard, using the sharp edge to slice the digits free of his flesh. He kicked the body one last time for good measure. The hand flew off, dislodging from the cuts and bounced off a box in the back of the cell. The box wobbled and broke, revealing a smaller crate with a little black cat inside. It looked up at him with green eyes and hissed up at him defensively.
"Keith! Are you okay? I heard screaming!" Lance practically shouted in his ear, causing the red paladin to desperately turn down the volume. Keith wrinkled his nose and rolled his eyes at the dramatic words of his friend. He raised his hand to touch the helmet side to speak, activating the com unit to speak.
"Yeah, I'm fine. And I wasn't screaming." Keith snapped at him, an embarrassed flush covering his face as he moved over to the crate. He could hear Lance telling him that they didn't have much time left. He looked at the cat in the tiny crate, debating leaving it for his own survival. An ache ripped his chest as the beast mewed helplessly up at him. The cage was much too small for any animal and it clearly hadn't been cared for. "Dammit!" He cursed his weakness to animals and grabbed the handle loop on the top of the cage. He apologized to the little feline and took to running again. An explosive pop sounded behind him and he immediately set to panic again. "Damn cat!" He cursed at the creature inside the cage as he ran. Red lowered her head as soon as Keith entered the cargo bay to escape. He raced up the steps and tumbled into the driver's seat, securing the cat between his legs and gripping the controls. Red's console screens lit up and he twisted, turning to lung out into space with Blue. The ship exploded seemingly as soon as Red's tail swept off the surface.
"Keith, you okay?" Lance hollered at him, bringing Blue beside Red to gently touch their noses. The cat in Keith's lap looked up at him with what appeared to be a smile and meowed around her purr.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I just.. found one last prisoner." Keith moved a hand to reach his fingers through the bar and touch the fuzzy beast. It just purred and rubbed against his hand. He wanted to be mad at the little cat for nearly getting him blown up, but she
"Right. Let's get back to the others." Lance nodded, though Keith couldn't see it over the com link. He could tell that Lance was worried. It was obvious in his tone of voice that he was worried. Keith nodded, gently touching Red's nose to Blue's. He and Lance had been together for a while now, but being overly affectionate wasn't really their style. Lance still flirted with females and Keith would smack him for it when he did, but at the end of the day, Lance always did something to remind Keith that he still loved him and he was only his. Keith managed a soft smiled as Lance pushed Blue's head against Red's neck for a moment before turning and urging the lion forward towards the Altean ship.
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Purring (Voltron One-Shot)
FanfictionA cat has mysteriously been found on a Galra ship. A pang in Keith's chest practically forces him to free the poor creature and take it with him. Keith doesn't really like cuddly things, but this cuddly thing likes him.
