Voltron: Legendary Defender // Keith Kogane

Chapter 045.

Shiro, Keith, and Cira were in the Red Lion, which followed the path on the screen that lead to the Blade of Marmora's base. While they were flying, Keith had remained quiet and tense, not once looking at Shiro or Cira. The two share a look and Shiro leans forward, "Keith, is everything okay?"

"I'm fine." Keith furrows his eyebrows.

"You kind of blew up at everybody back there. You'll have to control your emotions if you're going to lead this group someday." Shiro tells him.

Keith visibly stiffens, as does Cira.

Lead the group?

What is he talking about?

Keith chuckles nervously as if hoping that he heard Shiro wrong, "Lead the group?"

"When we were stranded I told you, if anything ever happens to me," he looks at Keith, "I want you to lead Voltron."

"I thought you were just delirious with pain." Keith glances at Shiro, "Why would you make me the leader?"

"Because I know what you're capable of, if you can learn some self-discipline." Shiro finishes.

"Why are we even talking about this? Nothing is gonna happen to you." Keith's tone holds annoyance, but Cira could detect a tint of worry in it, as well. Shiro was an important figure in Keith's life. He was the only one who believed and befriended Keith back at the Garrison. When Shiro disappeared, Keith started acting out. Cira didn't want to imagine the Voltron team without Shiro. It scared her to even think about it. Keith straightens his posture and turns back to flying Red to the base up ahead. Shiro places a hand on his shoulder and smiles, "It's just in case. I need you to get focused. When you, Cira, and Allura ran off, it put us all in jeopardy." Cira looks down in remembrance, her expression holding a bit of guilt, "If you're going to be a leader, you've got to get your head on straight."

"I'm sorry." Keith looks down guiltily, "I've just had a lot on my mind."

"We all have." Cira mumbles from behind the two, her eyes trained on the Marmora base up ahead. Shiro gives her a sympathetic look while Keith was confused to the max.

The Red Lion violently starts to shake and all three groan. Cira grabs ahold of Keith's seat in front of her to steady herself. An alarm starts blaring. "We're getting drawn in by one of the black holes!" Keith yells.

"Get us out of here!" Shiro orders.

Keith pulls on his handles and activates the Red Lion's boosters, moving them away from the black hole's gravitational pull. He quickly moves them back on course. All three let out sighs of relief.

Cira smiles at Keith, "Great job. That was close."

Keith smiles back and then returns his gaze to the screen as an asteroid comes into view. He lands the Red Lion safely on the surface and they make their way to the exit. The Red Lion lets the three out through it's mouth and then moves back into standing position. Everything seemed quiet. Nothing but the asteroid's surface was visible. Keith sounded disappointed, "There's nothing here. This place just looks like a plain asteroid."

Suddenly, an elevator rises up in front of them to reveal two masked Blades. They wore a similar attire to Ulaz. The three walk towards them and stand on the elevator that begins to lower. It was silent throughout the ride. Cira became nervous. Her palms started to clam up. The moment is coming. The moment that she had been longing for. She takes a deep breath when the elevator stops. The doors open before her to reveal a grand hall. Blades were lined up on each side leading up to the leader of the Blades. He stood as the very end of the hall, masked. Above the Blades was a large purple hologram of the Blade of Marmora symbol, just like the one on Ulaz's blade.