Blackout (A Keith Fanfiction)

Chapter 3

    The people of this planet are definitely cautious. We land deep in the woods, seemingly away from any inhabitants of the planet, yet as soon as we step foot onto the land, we're surrounded with swords pointed at us.

Next to me, Keith pulls out his bayard, that turns into a sword. Before he can move forward, I stick my arm out to stop him. As if I have any clue what I'm actually doing, I start speaking, "We're only here to help. I understand your caution, but please, drop your weapons and let us help you."

That seems to do the trick, somehow, as they all drop their weapons and part to let a particular person through. The Paladins all exchange glances before looking at me with a hint of surprise. "I'm Shiro, pilot of the black lion, and these are the Paladins of Voltron," Shiro introduces.

"Our prayers have been answered! Voltron has come!" the alien the crowd parted for gasps.

"Umm... I thought Voltron only had 5 lions..." one of the aliens comments.

"Oh, uh... I'm not a pilot... Just... Valerie..." I bite my lip, awkwardly, not really knowing what to call myself.

"A Galra fleet has taken our home in the capital. We are limited on resources out here and don't have long before they run out," the seemingly leader explains. I glance around at the forest, not completely understanding how they could be 'out of resources', but I don't comment on it. The alien leader continues briefing us on the layout of their capital and what the Galra have taken.

"You mentioned your escape through the underground tunnels. Is there a tunnel that could lead us to the Center?" Pidge asks. "We could sneak through and take back the Center. If we take out their source of communications, taking back the rest of the city by surprise will be easier."

"Blaxush," the leader calls and one of his men steps forward. "Lead Valerie back to the Center. You are not to enter. Just lead her there and come back immediately. I don't need to lose any more of my men in there."

I'm about to object in pure confusion, but Shiro steps in, carefully phrasing his opposition, "She's unarmed. She can't just go in there alone without a weapon."

The leader eyes him, analytically, "Very well. We can allow one more."

Before anyone volunteers, they look at Shiro to choose. They don't seem very phased when he tells Keith to go. Blaxush begins to lead us to the tunnel, but when I turn towards it, Lance calls, "Valerie."

I turn to him, holding out his blue bayard. I give him a puzzled look, "But... won't you need it?"

He gives me an assured smirk, "You'll need it more to get back here alive. You have a reason to fight, too, right?" As soon as I met Lance, I knew he'd be like an open book. That boy is easier to read than my own name. But right now, he actually means to be. He doesn't have to say another word to get his thoughts across to me. Thanks.

I give him a smile, "Thanks."

The tunnel gives me chills as soon as I step foot inside. I look at Keith, who gives me a matching uneasy look. Blaxush made no effort to wait for us. He rushes through as if this is the last place he wants to be, and, to be honest, I don't blame him.

The tunnel is narrow and only dimly lit by the occasional torch on the walls and the glowing blue lights on our suits. Suddenly, there isn't ground underneath my foot, and I stumble. I grab onto Keith's arm, instinctively, and pull my foot out of the pothole. Keith looks back at me, scanning over me, silently asking if I'm ok. I respond an abrupt nod and we continue after Blaxush.

Blaxush comes to a short halt before pivoting to face us, "The tunnel goes on straight from here. I trust that you can navigate it fine." He doesn't even give us an option before pushing past us and disappearing down the tunnel.

With a screech, a bat-like creature flies over, and almost into, us. With a small gasp, I jump, ending up a lot closer to Keith, with a hand on his arm, tightening my grip on Lance's bayard.

"Why am I getting the feeling that this was a bad idea?" Keith tenses.

I relax a bit more and we start to walk again, "Well, we are in a creepy tunnel that everyone seems to be deathly afraid of, heading towards a Galra-infested city, on a completely unfamiliar planet. But that's just my-" my sarcastic comment is cut off when we approach a clearing of sorts. That is, if clearing means ominous, seemingly endless pit with a very narrow, hardly supported staircase.

"Yeah... Bad idea..." Keith mutters under his breath. I take a breath, look up, and start up the stairs. The looking up works for a little bit, until I get to the end of the stairs I hear a sudden crumbling. I spin around and quickly grab onto Keith's arm, digging Lance's bayard into a crevice on the ground to support myself and Keith, who is now dangling off the edge.

He uses the jetpack of his suit to propel himself up, and I help him back onto the cliff. He mumbles a short "thanks" before proceeding forward. The tunnel slowly gets wider and less creepy as we continue and I freeze when I start to hear footsteps in the distance.

"Wait," I whisper loudly to Keith, who suddenly stops to look at me with an eyebrow raised, waiting for an explanation. "Wherever this exit is, there are Galra sentries patrolling... Whether they're aware or not..."

His bayard appears in his hand and he glances down at Lance's in my hand, "You know how to fight?" His tone doesn't suggest he's surprised, but more as if he's checking that I can take care of myself in a fight.

I bite my lip, struggling to remember. But as soon as I notice he's picked up on my trouble, I brush it off, "I think we might be about to find out."

He blinks at me like I might be crazy. I mean, I guess I am, to be fair. I'm literally about to wing it and hope I don't die. That even sounds crazy to me. The uneasy look he gives me starts to melt away the fake confidence I put on, so I keep walking through the tunnel.

The footsteps get louder as we get closer, despite how they fade a bit as the sentries march up and down the hall. I feel a nervous lump form in my chest, but I try my best to push it away. What if I actually can't fight? That's really gonna suck. I almost wince at the thought of being turned into a shish kabob. Not only would that be painful, but a pretty embarrassing way to go out.

"You ok?" Keith breaks me from my thoughts, clearly having noticed the nervousness I tried so hard to repress.

"Wha- uh... yeah... For someone who may be embarrassingly souffléd..." I honestly don't know why I keep trying to laugh it off. It kind of just seems natural.

"God, you sound just like Shiro..." he mutters, more to himself than to me.

The tunnel ends in a room with a trapdoor on the ground. I carefully open it, and look at Keith, signifying that he should go first. Just as two sentries walk under the trapdoor, Keith jumps, his bayard turning into a sword as he slices right through the robots.

He looks around quickly before looking up at me, signaling me to come down. I jump down, landing softly, Lance's bayard still tightly in my grip. "You remember where we're going?"

I think back to the specific directions we were given, and produce a cocky smirk when I remember, "Yep. This way."

Word Count: 1342

Okay!!!!!!! *clap* This was a bit hard to come up with without any detailed plan whatsoever, but I did it. What do you think? I think I'll read this back in a few years and want to strangle myself, but what's new?

Thanks for reading!