Voltron - The Black Paladins

Following in someone's footsteps

After being separated from his fellow paladins through a wormhole, Keith has to handle the chase after their kidnapped friend, Shiro, by himself. If they wouldn't have split up, nobody would have had a chance to reach him. Especially Keith wouldn't give up on him now. Regardless of his strange behaviour and sudden turn to the dark side. He knows that's not the real Shiro and that there's still something good inside of him. That's why the young paladin accepts the risk of entering the enemies base, suffering possible damages and even failing his personal mission. He has to try. Shiro would never give up on Keith either! Luckily, Keith left the galra base behind pretty quick, due to Shiro himself. The boy witnesses his elder friend leaving again, with the same altean ship. Compared to the rest of the battleships, it's tiny, but the white color shines bright and makes it stand out. That comes in handy for Keith and he starts chasing after him again, ignoring the fact that he himself is being followed, until his persecutor decides to let him go.

Keith takes his time, not wanting to get Shiro to attack him. He silently follows him to a small moon, that appears to be dead. Its surface is dark and dull, and the boulder seems fragile. Some pieces of its surface are scattered across space, which adds to the overall hostile atmosphere. Beneath the planet is a brightly shining star, creating scary shadows. Carefully Keith enters the moons atmosphere and begins to feel the tension he's built up during the flight.

There's the altean ship. Keith scans the location and notices the obvious footsteps. They look as if Shiro or whatever he turned into, wanted to be followed. From his lion he can track them to a small entrance, a cave. He doesn't know what to expect in there or what to think. The young paladin only knows that he has to follow the tracks and find his friend. Without hesitation he lands near the entrance and drops out of his ship, but he stops right before he enters the cave. With a concentrated gaze he follows the marks in the dark, sand like ground. Of course they reach farther into the cave. Slowly Keith starts to pursue Shiro, whom chose an interesting place to hide. The cave looks mysterious with its unique forms and stalactites. But the increasing darkness, with every step he takes, makes the dropstones look like fangs. Sharp and deadly fangs. The small pond to his right seems like it's containing grey or even black water, but it's probably just extremely clear water that enables Keith to see to the ground.

He passes more and more stone columns, stalactites and rock piles as he proceeds through the consistently darker growing cave. By now the tension he can feel in his body is just as sharp as the stalactites. Finally, he sees a light in the distance and reminds himself again that Shiro could linger here somewhere in the dark, ready to jump out any second. He shakes his head to get rid of the thought and determinedly keeps walking toward the exit. At least that's what he hopes it to be. As he reaches it, Keith stops for a few seconds. Suddenly he can feel his pulse in his throat and how he is breathing heavier than usual. This could be due to the lower oxygen level in the cave, he tries calming himself. He inhales deeply and starts to focus again. In front of him is a small platform leading to an elevator. That's where the footsteps end. But that rusty elevator looks like it's going to be a one-way road, transporting him even deeper into the cave. The weak purple lighting of the galra tech actually makes him feel more uncomfortable, but Keith doesn't have a choice.

He walks down the slight lift and makes it to the elevator. Before he ultimately enters it, he reassures himself that he's not being followed or if so, that he's prepared - could be Shiro. But then again he dismisses the thought, because then there wouldn't be any footsteps near the elevator, right? Jeez he needs to stop worrying so much. Before the young man is overwhelmed by his foreshadowing, he hits the switch and to his surprise the gate opens immediately. Wait. Does that mean, Shiro really didn't take the elevator? Keith whirls around, his knife tight in his hand, but there's nothing. Nothing but the sound of the steaming doors and some static. Or was he hiding inside the elevator all this time? Again he vigorously turns around and activates his sword unconsciously, preparing for a fight. Very tense and sharply breathing, he waits for something to happen. But again - nothing. Everything remains quiet. Get a grip, Keith! The paladin enters and hits the only button possible. It's going down, and he needs to calm down. Without thinking too much about what could happen down there, he just stands still and finds himself concentrated again, putting away his knife. The ride was so short, he can't tell whether he just descended a few meters or if the elevator was really fast. But that's nothing for him to think about now, because as the doors are sliding open, he is caught off-guard.

From anything he has already experienced and seen, this was not what he had expected. Keith exits the elevator and comes upon a gigantic structure, that definitely reminds him of the Galra. The dark blueish metal and the mechanical shapes are well-known designs of galra ships. But what surprises him the most, is the enormous void. From his position he can see the big star below and some chunks of the moons mass that once filled this void. He wasn't really able to see them, when hearrived here, but the young paladin simply could've blended them out. In front of him is a long way which heads down toward a stage with strange looking capsules, aligned in the shape of an upside-down U. This place is so massive, it makes him feel like there's almost nothing filling in the huge gaps among every structure. It makes the path from the elevator he came from, appear narrow. Something else catches his interest. There is a strange construct attached to the ceiling of the cave. The young man is puzzled, he doesn't know what that thing is. There are lots of tubes and holes and overall so many parts that are connected. What he definitely knows though, is, that this thing up there is everything else but good. Now that he thinks about it, he in fact doesn't want to know what it is. Instead, he walks down the broad path leading down to the strange objects. On his way down, there are even more tanks stored in the byways. What are they good for? Disturbed by their sight, Keith continues walking. He leaves the gloomy area behind and arrives at a rather small platform, compared to the rest of the construction. These are the containers he saw from distance. In this small area his surroundings appear much lighter, thanks to the star, radiating white light. Somehow he really wants to know what's inside those capsules. They look similar to the ones from the castle of lions and the one the paladins had captured Sendak in. Could it be, that there are people captured in those? Curiously Keith approaches the one in the center and puts his right hand on the dark glass of the tank. Just as he is wondering why he can not see though the glass, the tank makes an activating sound and lights up in bright purple. If it wasn't the sudden activation startling him, it was certainly what's inside. He holds his breath and snatches his arm off. This can't be true. Frozen, he stares at Shiro who is kept in the flickering tank. But hold on, the dark hair. This is not really Shiro, right? But he looks like him. That is Shiro! In complete disbelief the young paladin keeps staring at his concealed friend. Suddenly another sound catches his attention. It's another tank. Then again to his right, and the next one until the very last capsule is lighted. Keith doesn't know where to look next, what to say, think or feel. He is overwhelmed and doesn't want to believe his eyes. Shiro is in every single one of these containers. "Hello Keith." All of the sudden a familiar voice rings out behind him. Dazed, he turns around and just a few steps ahead of him stands... Shiro. That- No. How? He does look like Shiro, the real Shiro with the white streak of hair on top. Whether it's him or not, Keith has a very bad feeling of what is about to happen. He can see it in the eyes of his counterpart.

// I hope u enjoyed reading it ;)

I'm currently working on the rest (all based on epsiode 5 of course). I thought it would be interesting to imagine what Keith must feel like during that episode. Well I certainly took Shiro's harsh words to heart xD

I gotta say that's by far my fav episode. The two of my fav boys have the time of their life. Rewatching it was both heartbraking and fuxxing awesome! The Devs did an amazing job and I looooooove the cast so much!

And also I'm trying my very best to deliver some great english skills, cause I'm not native ;D //