Don't Forget About Me (Previously, Keith Isn't Dead)

Chapter 10

Keith woke up in pain yet again. The burning, stabbing sensation was becoming familiar to him already. He was curled up in a corner, sandwiched between the wall and Clat. The Balmearean was shouting at something. Keith's head was heavy, and his thoughts were scattered. 

"Get away from him! He's young and needs more time to recover!" Keith lifted his head and looked past Clat. He felt his blood run cold, it was Korgon again. 'Not again. I can't do these things back-to-back like this' Keith was about to voice his opinions aloud but Clat put an arm out in front of him, effectively trapping Keith in the corner.

Keith could hear Clat's labored breathing and wondered why his friend seemed so scared. Then Keith put his hand on the ground and it slid. He stared down at the puddle of dark liquid, before looking up in terror at his friend. Clat had been whipped. Keith's eyes darted to the whip in the doctor's hand. It had three long strips of leather, and attached to each strip was a small metal spike. Clat's skin was torn apart. Most of the welts had split, and there were cuts littered all over him. Keith narrowed his eyes and he growled. In one swift motion, Clat was behind Keith.

"Don't touch him."

They had said it in unison. Keith had growled it, while Clat's words came out as a plea.

"Foolish brat. Your cellmate's right. You are young, you make immature decisions and think you can do so much." Korgon leaned down, his grip on the whip tightening slightly. "But I know what you really are." He raised the whip, sending it crashing into Keith with every sentence. "You are foolish-and you do not think-That thing in the corner is hurt because of you-If you were not so weak-you wouldn't have needed someone with you-" Keith hadn't moved, but the words stung. He stared Korgon down, taking the beating if it meant Clat didn't have to.

The teen only lasted five minutes before he moved. He fell back onto Clat, who continued begging the doctor to stop. Korgon did. Keith looked up at the Dweller with a face full of determination and anger. He was slumped up against Clat. The two prisoners had sunk onto the ground, Keith had his arms out, one hand on each wall of the corner. He was still in front of Clat. Korgon looked down at them with a smirk. He grabbed Keith's arm with lightning fast reflexes. 

This time, Keith didn't scream as he was dragged off. He was too scared it would frighten Clat. Instead, Keith screamed at himself, in his head. 'God, you stupid piece of shit! Why do you have to ruin everyone's life?! I hope they kill me, I would deserve it=and it would be better than being stuck here.' Keith kept his facial expression angry, but all he wanted to do was break down and cry. He couldn't though, 'Clat would recognize your cries and it would crush him.'

*

"Okay, Alura can you take us to GRT1 first?" Pidge was at her computer, sitting with the rest of her team in the control room. She had been working for a few days, narrowing down Keith's location. They had found out that he was on the far corner of the universe, in Sector G. This Sector consisted of 107 different galaxies, one of which was Section R, that was where Keith's signal was strongest. In Section R, there were about 23 planets, all purple. Keith's signal was strong, but the Castle of Lions wasn't able to get close enough to fly past and check the signal for multiple reasons. The main one being that this was a 'bad side of town' sort of area. There was a lot of crime and poverty. Section R was apparently famous for the alien equivalent to massive drug and weapons dealing. There were a lot of shady people around. 

Allura took them there, and Pidge's fingers flew across her keyboard. After three tense minutes, she stopped. "I've set up a scanner, it'll be done in five hours, and then we'll just have to move on. "Will it beep is it finds Keith?" "Yes Lance, It'll tell me." After that, the group parted. Shiro went to train, Hunk disappeared into the kitchens, Pidge to her lab, and Coran stayed glued to the castle controls. 

Lance stood awkwardly by the door as everyone passed, he shifted his weight from foot to foot, feeling useless once again. He stayed there fiddling with his hands for a bit until finally retreating to his room. He didn't feel like playing video games or watching a movie. He was just-empty. The only thing he could think of doing was throwing himself on his bed. So he did. Lance stayed like that, letting his thoughts take over. Eventually, they drifted back to Keith. They always did. 'I hope he's okay. This is a dangerous part of space, and even though we're the closest to finding him as ever, we still have a long way to go.' Eventually, Lance fell asleep but woke up only an hour later.

He rolled out of bed, deciding that the best way he could help Keith was to research the area. Maybe he would find a lead or something. He came out of his room and almost stepped on something. It was right outside his door, bending down, Lance picked up his blue mug. There was a note attached.

The scanner is doing it's job, so I had some time to kill and figured you fell asleep, so we made popcorn and are waiting for you in the screening room. Follow the popcorn unless the mice ate it all.

-Pidge

Lance smiled and grabbed a blanket and his favorite pillow. He dropped the note in his haste and almost laughed out loud when he saw the scribble on the back.

Where do you stash your cocoa mix?? I've looked everywhere so we could make you some!

-Hunk

Lance draped his blanket over his shoulders, turning around and heading to the kitchen instead. He made everyone a hot cocoa and followed the popcorn to the screening room. After everyone cheered upon his arrival, they started watching a movie. Pidge had actually managed to hack into Netflix from where they were and the team voted on a movie. Shiro was all for the Karate Kid movie but everyone else sensed that it would turn into a 'learning experience' so they watched a cool movie about how the universe is saved by the power of friendship, a dance-off, and a talking tree. They all had a blast and throughout the film, they called out which one of them acted like a certain character. 

If you're wondering, the movie they watched is Guardians of the Galaxy, which is sadly not on Netflix, though it's sequel is. Anyway, we will get more Keith perspective next chapter, unless people want more of the team's perspective. 

If anyone wanted to know, these were the characters assigned to the Paladins by each other:

Lance: Starlord/Peter Quill, he picked it himself and no one wanted to argue

Hunk: Groot :)

Pidge: Rocket or Gamora, they couldn't decide which was better

Shiro: Yondu

Keith: Drax