Winter Tree (Voltron: Legendary Defender Fanfic/ONC )

Entrapment

The blackness felt more welcoming than the pain which coursed through his ribs, arms, and head. When the pain started up again he heard her voice. "Keith..."

Bright images flashed in front of his eyes as he attempted reaching out for the retreating figures. Keith first saw the back of his mother, then the back of Shiro and then finally Allura not looking at him. He heard Shiro's voice speaking firmly as she walked away from him. "We should have been good enough for you Keith."

"Allura! If I did anything wrong, I'm sorry. I really am happy with the way things are, but if I acted jealous in any way, I apologize. I really don't care that you're with Lance since that makes you happy." Keith watched Allura start turning towards him, but before he could see her face a grey haze covered his vision as he felt pulled into a more conscious state.

"Oh my. I knew Lance found something, but..."

Keith felt his throat reverberate slowly as his body instinctively responded to the sound of Allura's voice. "Alu?"

"Can we keep him!" The voice was definitely the voice of Allura, yet in the back of Keith's head, something didn't feel right. He at first thought the issue was that something instinctively told him the Allura speaking wasn't his Allura. Keith mentally chided himself regarding that thought and changed my to our, yet in the back of his mind, he wondered how he knew.

"Allura.."

Keith's eyes snapped open despite the bright light upon hearing the sound of his own voice not coming from his own throat. Instinctively Keith found himself bolting up straight despite the pain riveting through his body. He gulped back the air which surged into his lungs painfully. His eyes darted around the room taking in everything in quickly.

A man who looked like Lance sat nearby in a chair with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Keith's eyes took in the fact this Lance looked older than the Lance he knew, but still wore the clothes made from denim like the Lance he knew. Hovering on the other side of the bed was a man who looked just like Coran, but with no Altean marks. Keith almost flinched at the rather serious look on Coran's face which indicated one of the paladins was in trouble.

The reaction ceased upon seeing one of the other two people in the room. Keith's eye widened upon seeing an Allura in front of him, but she wasn't like their Allura. Instead of white hair, hers was a golden blonde, but her skin wasn't a milk chocolate color and instead pale in color. The only similarity was her vivid blue eyes. For some reason, this Allura looked more like Romelle instead of their Allura.

It hit hard; this wasn't the Allura he knew.

Instinct kicked in and Keith bolted towards the door where the fourth person leaned up against the doorway. Keith's vision remained focused on the gap which quickly closed as the person in the doorway moved quickly in response, yet Keith still didn't register anything specific regarding the person. Instead, his mind registered the air rushing from his lungs and his back hitting the infirmary bed as the person forced him back down.

Keith gasped briefly for a breath of air while his eyes widened in surprise. His eyes still didn't register the person in front of him. Keith attempted escaping by lashing out physically while his ears picked up the sound of familiar voices which belonged to copies of those, he heard someone calling out in dismay regarding the scene in front of them. Keith's mouth opened and he found himself baring his teeth at the person in front of him.

"Woah..." Keith wasn't sure who said that, yet his ears registered the sound of horror in the person's voice.

Whoever held him down leaned down so their face was now inches from his own and yet Keith still didn't mentally register anything regarding the person beyond the fact he felt threatened. The person spoke in a very loud and commanding voice. "That's enough!"

Keith's eyes blinked a couple of times in response to the person's words and tone of voice. On top of feeling even more pain after the person forced him back onto the bed, Keith felt long locks of hair tickle his face and his eyes registered the person's shoulder-length black hair. Mentally he recognized other familiar facial features which would help him identify who the person was a copy of, and yet before his mind completely registered the information, he instead registered the intensity of the glare. "Shiro..."

"What?" The person's facial features relaxed slightly, and Keith's eye snapped shut while sucking in a deep breath of air. He recognized the face and voice as his own but older. He felt the locks of hair stop tickling his face indicating the person moved away. "Who's Shiro?"

"Mmhh..." Keith didn't wish to divulge anything to that Keith who didn't know who Shiro was.

"I think it's his mom." Keith turned his head towards the voice. He mentally noted the voice was the voice which called out when Keith barred his teeth at the other version of himself. Visually he recognized an older Lance.

"No. Uh-uh." Keith wanted away from the group of strangers and attempted pushing himself up again so he might escape.

A glare from the other Keith made him flinch, but the other Keith narrowed his eyes. "I said enough."

"Keith..." Allura's voice drew Keith's attention towards the sound of her voice.

"Ahh. Even in other universes, you're such a puppy dog when it comes to the princess aren't you Keith?"

"What?" Keith's entire body tensed up and he found himself pushing against the other Keith's hands to launch himself at Lance. The pain in his body and something else kept him from acting rationally and the realization made his breath come in tightly while the other Keith continued holding him physically down.

"Lance, you're not helping either." Allura's voice – even though it wasn't the Allura from his world – felt calming and Keith closed his eyes. "Little Keith is injured."

"Wait..." Keith's eyes snapped open and he turned his head towards Allura. "How old do you think I am?"

He started struggling again when he heard the Coran lookalike let out a deep breath. "I'm afraid we need to sedate him."

"Wait. No."

His protests didn't prevent the other Keith from holding him down while that Coran stuck a needle filled with a sedative in his arm. Keith felt his protests grow weak and eventually, he found himself disengaging from the world around him.