Ally Gone Astray

Chapter two

    The following morning, Keith woke up feeling worse than he did the night before. "I may have underestimated my injuries..." He thought as he sat up, holding his head in his hand.
    Fighting the pain and sudden nausea- which in all likelihood is caused by the massive headache -Keith staggered down to the med bay.
    He wasn't alone.
    "Keith, good to see you up and about." Coran smiled genuinely at the boy. "I was just checking the healing pods. Is there anything I can do for you?'
    "Yeah... Actually there is."
    Coran gave him a puzzled look "what seems to be bothering you?"
    Keith shrugged, "I have this headache," he said, rubbing his forehead with his thumb in a circular motion. "It started after I blacked out in the training hall..."
"Well I wouldn't consider that a real injury. If anything you're just tired." Coran replied reassuringly.
"I heard voices."
"Voices?!" Coran seemed more interested now.
"Yes. It was like someone needed my help. But it wasn't anyone in specific..." the teen looked to Coran for an explanation.
The Altean was just as confused as Keith. "I'm sorry, Keith. But I can't help you. I'd put you in a pod but that does nothing for mental... issues."
"Thanks anyway..."
Coran smiled a little, "I'd help if I could. But you're, in most cases, tired or stressed. Taking a nap or a walk might help."
"Yeah, sure." Keith nodded in response and left the room. He felt as if Coran wasn't telling the whole truth, but he was too tired to give it any real thought.
Keith took a long walk around the castle, making his way down every hallway. He tried clearing his mind and attempted to become less tense. As he did, his headache slowly faded. It took a varga or so, but at least it went away.
As he rounded the corner, he heard chatter in the front hall, and decided to check it out.
"I'm sorry to hear that you must leave so soon." Allura said. "It was a pleasure to meet you."
"The honor is my own, princess. Thank you for your hospitality." The voice was familiar.
Keith gasped when he saw who Allura was talking with. "Mom?!" He ran down the stairs before stopping abruptly in front of Allura and Krolia. "You're leaving?!"
Krolia turned her head to Keith and gave a slight nod. "The war isn't over, Keith. The Blades need as many fighters as they can get."
"Let me come with you! I can fight!" He protested.
"No, Keith." His mother shook her head in disapproval. "You must stay here. You aren't feeling your best and we need our fighters who are. I however can and must fight."
Keith clenched his fist in anger. "You said you wouldn't leave! You promised!"
"Keith, I'm sure she won't be gone for long." Allura tried reassuring him. "There's really no need to get so angry."
"Allura stay out of this!" He stepped towards his mother, growling. "You said you wouldn't ever leave me again!"
Krolia placed a hand on Keith's shoulder and smiled. "This time I will be back. I promise."
"No!" He pushed Krolia away, tears brimming in his eyes. "I don't want any more useless promises. Just go... See if I care..." Keith turned his back on her, "I'm just your son... It's not like I really matter..." He huffed and slowly walked back towards the empty halls.
"Screw your advice, Coran!" He though in anger.
Keith ran as fast as he could into the training hall. "Begin Training level thirty-four!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.
The two robots once again dropped from the ceiling, charging towards Keith without warning.
He yelled, running at the two of them. He sliced the first one in half with ease, tossed his blade into the opposite hand and cut the head of the other clean off.
"Begin training level thirty-five!" He ordered, not giving himself a chance to breath.
Two more dropped to the floor, charging at Keith.
He ran headfirst towards them. The first one went down with ease. "Too easy" he grinned, closing in on the second gladiator.
Out of nowhere, he was hit from the back, all of the air was knocked out if him entirely.
He fell to the floor, gasping for air. "Damnit!" Keith scurried to his feet, looking around for the gladiators. But there were none.
"Are you insane?!?"
Keith turned his head, finding Lance a few feet away. He ignored him, "Begin Training session thirty-five!"
Quickly, Lance reacted, "End training session!"
"Lance!" He glared to the Red Paladin, looking him dead in the eyes. "Begin training session thirty-five! Now!"
"Override!" Lance yelled just at the last moment. The room fell silent and he ran to his friend. "Keith have you gone mad?! You're not fighting another one of those things!"
His mind was clouded with anger, nothing could stop him now. "Begin training—"
"Forget this!" He tackled Keith, pinning him to the ground. "Shut your quiznak, Keith! You're done training today!"
"Lance! Let me go!" Keith struggled to get free, but his efforts were futile.
"Calm down... I know you're tired and angry, but you have go to calm down. You're going to get yourself killed!" He dragged Keith to his feet, holding his wrist tightly.
"Lance!" He grit his teeth, twisting his arms in any way possible, but he couldn't get free.
"Keith, please forgive me." Without giving him a chance to respond, he slipped a pair of Altean handcuffs on Keith.
"Are you serious?! Get these off of me now!" Keith ordered.
"You need to learn to calm down." Lance dragged Keith out of the door of the training hall. "This wasn't my idea by the way... Shiro said it'd be best."
"Shiro...?" Keith looked to his wrist, his voice was quite a shaky. "Why would he...?"
Lance shrugged. "He thinks anyone unwilling to help in the war effort is a threat to the plan... After you yelled at your mother he told me to put these on your wrists..."
"Th-this is insane! I'm not a threat!" He raised his arms in opposite directions, hoping to break the link.
"Here..." Lance clicked a button on a handheld remote, and the cuffs released. "I just wanted to get you out of there..."
    Keith rubbed his wrists, looking at Lance, "But why? Why would Shiro want to—"
    "I don't know, ok? I'm just doing what he says. Otherwise it could be me that's the threat... He hasn't been himself lately..."
    "You're just saving your own skin?! That's why you tackled me to the floor! I can't believe you..."
    "No! Well yes. But no, I'm not! I'm just worried about Shiro. He's yelled at me five times now..." His gaze fell to the floor. "I thought his whole thing was patience yields focus..."
    Keith changed his tone to a more sympathetic one. "He's probably just stressed. We all are."
    Lance nodded. "Yeah. You're right. I'm overthinking this... Again... Sorry for the handcuffs..."
    "I'm still pissed about that..." he cleared his throat, seeing that Lance didn't appreciate his joke. "No, it's fine. I don't mind all that much."
    Lance looked over his shoulder, "Well... I'm going to tell Shiro that you calmed down..."
    "No." Keith replied suddenly. "I'll tell him the truth myself. I'm not letting you take the fall for me."
    With no reply from Lance, Keith pushed past him, hurrying down the hall to the control room.

***

    "Shiro!" Keith stood next to his comrade. "I came to talk to you."
    "Great." He smiled, facing Keith. "I wanted to talk to you too. It's about your attitude."
     Keith nodded, looking ashamed.
    "You have to learn to control your emotions, Keith! The way you acted in front of Allura will not stand. If we hope to win the war, we need complete cooperation from everyone; the Blades, the Rebels, everyone." He looked to him for an answer in hopes that he'd admit fault or apologize.
    "I really am sorry, Shiro. It's just..." Keith looked at Shiro defiantly. "I finally had something! For once I had someone who cared about me!"
    "I understand, Keith." He smiled, placing a hand gently on Keith's shoulder. "You're not in trouble... Not yet." Shiro chuckled "I'm just joking. I'm not mad at you... This is, however, your first and only warning."
    "Y-yes, sir..." Keith slowly backed up, about to leave before he stopped and looked back. "Shiro... Why the handcuffs?"
    Shiro simply smiled at Keith, not saying a word.
    "The handcuffs... Why??" He asked again, more forcefully this time.
    "I didn't want to hurt you... That was my best option."
    Keith didn't buy his answer. "Why didn't you come yourself? Why send Lance?!"
    Shiro pauses before stating his reply. "I couldn't get you myself... I had business to attend to." He smiled at Keith reassuringly. "Thank you for coming to talk to me. But for now, I think its best you rest."
    "Right...." Keith sighed, slowly walking backwards to the door. "I guess I'll see you around...."
    Walking back to his room, Keith replayed their conversation in his mind. Everything seemed so strange. Normal Shiro wouldn't act like that. If there was a problem he would fix it himself.
    "What are you saying? Shiro is just stressed... He has a lot on his mind." he told himself. "Cut him some slack. There's nothing wrong with him."
    Keith turned into his room, taking a seat on his bed.
    Still, everything seemed so weird, so unreal. None of it seemed like it happened. It wasn't normal.
    "Just relax... You're tired and emotionally distressed... Everything is normal"
    But not everything was normal as he thought.
    "Keith!" A voice called out to him.
    "Shiro...?" He opened his door, but there was no one there.
    "Keith! Listen to me!" It was Shiro's voice, but the halls were empty.
    "Shiro!" Keith called out again, but he didn't hear his own voice this time.
    "Ke-th! The lio-! Get- -our -n!" The so called voice of Shiro began fading, it was getting harder to hear.
    Then, everything went black. Just like the day before in the training hall.
    No noise reached his ears, not a single sound. He was trapped in endless darkness with no way of escaping.