[ whatever relief there is to feel over the situation remains heavily tempered with confusion. keith still has no answers to the basics of what just happened. the fight started with lotor and a druid, but the two still bodies no longer bear any resemblance. is it a trick? hallucination? it's not that the questions have ceased to matter, it's simply that in the moment shiro's< safety had been the most pressing of keith's concerns.
and perhaps it shouldn't be. leaving lotor behind in the rift between realities had been a forced choice. of course, the paladins were more important than rescuing a man who'd been ochestrated a shadow genocide of alteans hidden away in the bowels of a distant galaxy. the only reason it continues to nag at keith's conscience is the fact that this exact scenario had been the reason for zarkon and haggar's genesis ten thousand years ago. it's often said that history repeats itself and keith had been haunted for some time over being the black paladin to preside over the rise of a seco scourge upon the universe.
but more often than not, being leader in war isn't about making carefully debated calls. everything boils down to snap decisions made purely in the interest of surviving long enough to fight the next battle and hoping those calls don't come back to bite you in the ass.
all that said, keith hasn't articulated a damn word of this to anyone, and if there is something loose in the facility that's able to pick up on fears and insecurities, in the same way it knew in an instant to take on the shape of a druid when facing his best friend, then surely this is an even greater problem in the making?
who's to say that the warden hadn't been deliberately bringing these creatures in as a means of forcing people's hands? or that this isn't some beta trial for a new form of torture while prisoners are confined in solitary?
all of those new concerns get maybe three seconds of breathing time before shiro falls heavily onto his knees and his best friend once again eclipses every other spiraling thought in his head. ]
Shiro!
[ hands fly to shiro's armss, keith desperate to provide some semblance of stability. expression faltering instantly, keith wonders why the fuck he'd ever blurted out something so casual as you're okay when he knows his boyfriend is a fucking iceberg. sobering fast to the insensitivity, keith wraps his arms around, a hand reaching up to cradle the back of shiro's skull. he doesn't try to pull shiro's hand away fro his face, instead pulling him in close, shiro's head flush to his chest. ]
Babe, it's okay.... it's okay. I've got you. Nobody's going to hurt you again, remember?
[ keith had promised that months ago after the vr incident had left them both shaken. since then they've run into more danger, like the ghost girl from the lighthouse, but for a time shiro hadn't been rattled or retraumatized. repressing a bone deep sigh over his uselessness tonight, keith presses his lips to the crown of shiro's head and holds him tighter. ]
You're safe.
[ except shiro isn't. none of them are. the lie leaves ashes on keith's tongue, the absurdity of the lie made all the more apparent by the dound of footsteps coming from within the hangar at the end of the tunnel. the fact that it isn't bothering to communicate is at least a dead giveaway that it's a sentry doing a perimeter sweep.
the timing would almost be funny if keith weren't suddenly exhausted by their unending escalation of their predicament. he amends: ]
You will be. C'mon, we should regroup at your cube.
[ the footsteps come to a stop. out of sight, the sentry begins unloading heavy boxes from within the cargo ship. the boxes, of course, contain various items, most notably a shipment of something that smells like potpourri when unsealed. for the time being, the sentry works diligently and efficiently, though one particular box is soaked through with blood on the bottom. once that one is lifted, the heavy contents will siimply fall through the compromised bottom and smash on the ground.
would be a real shame to get caught up in that mess, eh? ]
i'm vaguely charmed
and perhaps it shouldn't be. leaving lotor behind in the rift between realities had been a forced choice. of course, the paladins were more important than rescuing a man who'd been ochestrated a shadow genocide of alteans hidden away in the bowels of a distant galaxy. the only reason it continues to nag at keith's conscience is the fact that this exact scenario had been the reason for zarkon and haggar's genesis ten thousand years ago. it's often said that history repeats itself and keith had been haunted for some time over being the black paladin to preside over the rise of a seco scourge upon the universe.
but more often than not, being leader in war isn't about making carefully debated calls. everything boils down to snap decisions made purely in the interest of surviving long enough to fight the next battle and hoping those calls don't come back to bite you in the ass.
all that said, keith hasn't articulated a damn word of this to anyone, and if there is something loose in the facility that's able to pick up on fears and insecurities, in the same way it knew in an instant to take on the shape of a druid when facing his best friend, then surely this is an even greater problem in the making?
who's to say that the warden hadn't been deliberately bringing these creatures in as a means of forcing people's hands? or that this isn't some beta trial for a new form of torture while prisoners are confined in solitary?
all of those new concerns get maybe three seconds of breathing time before shiro falls heavily onto his knees and his best friend once again eclipses every other spiraling thought in his head. ]
Shiro!
[ hands fly to shiro's armss, keith desperate to provide some semblance of stability. expression faltering instantly, keith wonders why the fuck he'd ever blurted out something so casual as you're okay when he knows his boyfriend is a fucking iceberg. sobering fast to the insensitivity, keith wraps his arms around, a hand reaching up to cradle the back of shiro's skull. he doesn't try to pull shiro's hand away fro his face, instead pulling him in close, shiro's head flush to his chest. ]
Babe, it's okay.... it's okay. I've got you. Nobody's going to hurt you again, remember?
[ keith had promised that months ago after the vr incident had left them both shaken. since then they've run into more danger, like the ghost girl from the lighthouse, but for a time shiro hadn't been rattled or retraumatized. repressing a bone deep sigh over his uselessness tonight, keith presses his lips to the crown of shiro's head and holds him tighter. ]
You're safe.
[ except shiro isn't. none of them are. the lie leaves ashes on keith's tongue, the absurdity of the lie made all the more apparent by the dound of footsteps coming from within the hangar at the end of the tunnel. the fact that it isn't bothering to communicate is at least a dead giveaway that it's a sentry doing a perimeter sweep.
the timing would almost be funny if keith weren't suddenly exhausted by their unending escalation of their predicament. he amends: ]
You will be. C'mon, we should regroup at your cube.
[ the footsteps come to a stop. out of sight, the sentry begins unloading heavy boxes from within the cargo ship. the boxes, of course, contain various items, most notably a shipment of something that smells like potpourri when unsealed. for the time being, the sentry works diligently and efficiently, though one particular box is soaked through with blood on the bottom. once that one is lifted, the heavy contents will siimply fall through the compromised bottom and smash on the ground.
would be a real shame to get caught up in that mess, eh? ]