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

Chapter 11

Keith was taken to the Med-bay again, and he felt the panic rise but was thankfully taken away from all the scalpels and needles. Korgon dragged him to a different room, this one was much smaller. It had glass walls which Keith supposed were meant for observing, and there was a medical bed in the center of the small room. Keith was led inside and immediately hated it. The room was silent. It felt like someone stuffed cotton in Keith's ears. He hated it so much. He hid everything he could do to break the heavy silence. The Dwellers all gathered around the room, staring into the room like Keith was some sort of animal on display. He yelled at them and tried to break the glass. Nothing worked, all that the teen managed to do was make a fool of himself and add bruised knuckles to his long list of injuries. 

Keith was so busy feeling humiliated he didn't notice the soft hissing coming from the ceiling. The gas filled the room without Keith knowing. When he did notice the problem, it was too late. The toxin had entered his system and Keith was just beginning to feel the effects. He stumbled, feeling dizzy. He, of course, shook it off and continued trying to escape. He only realized how bad it was when he stumbled again, this time crashing into the bed. 

He blinked rapidly, trying to regain his senses but the symptoms only worsened. The floor swayed under his feet, it became as unforgiving as the ocean and Keith was forced to sit on the bed so he would not fall. His head became heavier than lead, which caused him to fall onto the pillow. Soon after his head got heavy, Keith's eyelids began to droop. The teen was fast asleep before he knew it.

Korgon walked in, picked up the specimen and transferred him to Medical. From there he and his fellow scientists would do some operations on Keith. 

*

The doctors stood over Keith and worked, they had already examined his joints and done a few tests on his reflexes and bones. Korgon was getting excited, they were preparing to start his favorite type of examination, one of the head. The heads of creatures always facinated him. This was where everything important was, especially the brain. Eagerly, Korgon began the operation, they started with an X-Ray to begin learning the layout of the species' head. What they saw puzzled them.

"Everything seems normal except for that area there." One of the doctors sat in front of the fresh pictures of Keith's head, staring at a small cylinder located just below Keith's neck. Korgon was called over. "Sir, it appears he has some sort of device in his neck. Shall we remove it?" The doctor stayed silent, his fellow doctors backed away, knowing he was about to explode. 

"Take it out and wake him up."

*

The medicine began wearing off as Keith's neck was being stitched up after the operation. He woke up in pain, as usual, but something was different. For one thing, none of the Dwellers in the room were jeering at him, they were all somber. Some even looked scared. Keith discovered why the room was silent only seconds after he regained consciousness. Korgon stormed into the room and he was livid. 

"What the hell is this!" He barked, spittle flew from his mouth and Keith shrank back. Korgon waved a small plastic bag around as he continued screaming at Keith. 

Keith ducked as Korgon tried to take a swing at him, and tried to make sense of the rush of words coming from Korgon's mouth. 'Chip, tracker, Blade member, and I'll kill you' were the most popular. Keith was beyond confused and apparently showed it because Korgon only raised his voice and continued to holler. 

"Who knows about it? How long have they been looking?" Keith was forced to balk away as the plastic bag was shoved under his nose. The computer chip was tiny, maybe the size of Keith's little finger. Everything clicked, he had heard Kolivan talking about the trackers he started putting in the Blade members'. They were used for emergencies and on missions. Keith paled. If that was the case, then the Dwellers would be enraged. He looked up at the doctor, scared out of his wits because Korgon could do anything he wanted to Keith. Right then and there.

"We are a secret society. This-" Korgon waved his rocky hands around the room, "is a secret. No one knows about us. And. We. Want. To. Keep. It. That. Way." The doctor's face was inches from Keith's and the teen was preparing for his death right then and there. But Korgon backed up and left the room, muttering something about telling the 'recipient that their package was on the way'. On his way out the door, he threw the bag on the ground and made a big scene of crushing it under his rocky foot.

*

Allura stepped down from the control panels after taking the castle to the outskirts of another planet cluster. Pidge turned to her computer, ready to refresh her search scanners. She clicked her laptop keys and nothing happened. Puzzled, she tried again and was greeted by the same message as the first time she tried.

Error: 01001011 01101001 01110100 

Signal lost

She stared at the screen for a minute and was quickly startled by the automatic doors opening. "Hey, Pidge! How's it g-" Lance's happy voice trailed off, his eyes glued to the large projection screen above their heads. Pidge mentally slapped herself as she copied Lance, looking up to see a mirrored image of her laptop screen. She gasped, closing her computer as fast as she could, avoiding Lance's gaze. Allura had also been staring at the screen. Lance cleared his throat, muttering something about needing a shower before he practically ran away. Allura looked at Pidge, a hopeful expression began to seep into her features as she gave Kolivan a call. 

The two girls talked to the Blade general for a while, discussing possible meanings behind the error. They had come up with two of the most likely scenarios. One being Keith was alive, and that the tracker was just removed and destroyed, two being that Keith was in fact, dead. Obviously, the ideal situation was that Keith was alive. 

They hosted a team meeting shortly after Kolivan hung up, Lance was nowhere to be found, and Pidge explained to her team what had happened. She finished quickly, leaving the questions and emotional support to Allura. As Pidge walked around the castle in search of Lance, she couldn't help worrying about Keith. 

Pidge found Lance curled up in a ball in his room. She tried talking to him but decided she was not the right person for the job, instead, she called Hunk to help out the Red Paladin. She took a small detour to the kitchens, making a batch of hot cocoa for Lance. she left a note telling the two boys that Voltron needed to look for Keith by hand, and that they would be starting the search soon.