Heart of Ice, Soul of Fire

Chapter 4: A slow rise to power Part 2

"Hey guys-" Keith greeted them with an almost, not quite timid smile.

"Hey Keithy-boy, why are you so shy all of a sudden?" Lance joked halfheartedly.

"Well, I found this map thing in the Doctor's office and I sort of, swiped it?" he chuckled nervously.

"You did what to who now?" Shiro asked, skeptically. "No one has ever seen the Doctor's office, how did you - a class B2 student- end up in the Zarkon's office alone?"

"Long story- buuuuut, I found a map. Do you want to use it to get the hell out of here or do you want to be stuck here for the rest of eternity like fucking wuss-puss Jenna over there?" He gestured dramatically to a girl sitting against the wall.

"Keith," Shiro paused. "There is no way I would ever turn down an opportunity to get the hell out of here." cracking a smile.

"We're in." Hunk added, raising Pidge's hand as well as his own.

"Me too!" Lance nodded enthusiastically.

"There is no way you five are leaving the institute," Allura intercepted, emerging from behind Shiro's broad shoulders. "Without me." She smiled.

"What about professor Coran, is he trustworthy?" Lance eyed the professor skeptically.

"He'll be covering our escape." Allura smiled briefly.

"Great idea, why didn't I think of that?" Lance scoffed sarcastically, rolling his eyes for what felt like the millionth time that day.

"How are we going to get out of here anyways? The archangels are the only ones who have the keys out of this place and there is no possible way we could bribe it off them." Lance huffed, disappointed in their barely half-baked plan.

"I just so happen to know a guy." Keith shrugged as if that answered every question Lance could imagine, folding the map and tucking it into his internal vest pocket inconspicuously.

"Fine, we'll do it your way Mister I-Know-A-Guy." Lance rolled his eyes again.

Later that night, as he packed his bag and said goodbye to his very brief yet lingering stay , he started to wonder, how long had the others been here? Were Keith and Shiro even actually related?

And how, how was Keith supposedly so powerful?

The most a modern fire elemental could do would be to heat their palms, but Keith, Keith had made fire- and supposedly a weapon of fire too, he wanted to see it for himself.

The room looked much emptier than the day he had woken up there, photos had been removed from every surface and sheets had been stripped off beds but something of them remained, each had carved their initials into the frame of the beds.

"Everybody ready?"

A few solemn nods and a "yes" were all he needed and they set out immediately to meet Keith's 'guy'. Making their way through the corridors, they slipped past guards and children of night alike until, at last, they diverged from their path into an unseen hall containing only a door and a nylon mat.

The other's looked around curiously, thinking the man they were to meet was hiding somewhere in the shadows until Keith swiftly dropped to one knee and pulled something small and silver from under the mat;

a skeleton key, made of small bones from some previously living organism.

Lance shivered when he caught sight of the key, not doubting for a moment that someone, somewhere, had hurt something to make such a key.

Keith calmly stood and in one quick, fluid movement he inserted the key into the door lock and turned.

A warm breeze wafted through the corridor, so much different from the sterile environment it had been just moments before. Keith shooed everyone out the door, locking it again once they were outside. Slowly he removed some sort of ring from his belt and slid the key onto it, a key ring- it suddenly made sense, Keith's guy hadn't come because he had someone he valued here, in the institute. This putrid place was known to stir hate and fear into young minds but with hate and fear also came love. He stayed behind for love.