Star Crossed (Keith/Lotor fic)

Chapter Seven

 A/N: Another violence warning for this one 

Lotor had been trying to track down the ship Keith was being held on for roughly 13 quintants since he'd lost him. He kept his blade at his hip at all times, Keith was no damsel in distress, and he knew that by the time he found him, he'd want it back for immediate use. 

  His generals tried to convince him to just forget about Keith, it wasn't important right now, he could search for him later, but Lotor knew what a prisoner of the Galra empire was treated like, he knew all too well the whips and chains and senseless beatings that came with it, and he was going to do whatever he possibly could to keep Keith from having to experience that.

  He'd never felt the need to protect someone so strongly. He'd lost sleep over this, felt panic rise in his chest when he thought about what they could possibly be doing to Keith, his Keith. He'd find every last monster that laid a hand on him and rip them to shreds himself if he had to, someone was going to pay if he found the boy with so much as a scratch on him.

  He was so on edge and frustrated by this situation that when a sudden loud, ship shaking crash sounded and alarms began blaring, he was only more infuriated because whoever it was, they were wasting his precious time.

 Him and his generals arrived at the same time, and he never thought he would be relieved to see the paladins of Voltron. His generals looked ready to attack but he motioned for them to stand down, despite every one of the paladins having their weapons trained on him.

  "Where is Keith?" The princess spoke first, her eyes narrowed and glaring at the prince.

  "I've been trying to find him myself." He told her.

  "We aren't stupid Lotor, we know you have him!" The blue paladin snapped, keeping his gun pointed at Lotor, who didn't seem to care much.

  "I will admit- I did have him." He told them. He took Keith's knife and held it up for them to see, proof that the paladin was once there. It didn't improve his situation.

  "What did you do with him?!" The green paladin shouted, raising her bayard.

  "If you would all calm down- and please, lower your weapons, it's rude- then I'll explain what happened. Here, I will surrender my own weapons as well." His generals looked at him like he was crazy, but Lotor ignored it. He laid down Keith's blade first, then his own sword. The paladins seemed hesitant but they at least lowered their weapons, which was good enough for him.

  "Okay, explain." The black paladin said seriously.

  "Gladly- though I advise I do so away from this part of my ship... which you destroyed."

***

 Lotor decided to momentarily set aside his bitterness over having to get part of his ship repaired and led them farther into the ship, explaining to them as the group walked exactly how and where he found Keith.

  He left out certain details, but most importantly he left out his confession to the boy right before he was taken. It took confirmation from his generals, and some security footage he was able to find of Keith roaming the halls or on the training deck for them to finally accept that Keith was treated better than any mere prisoner could ever hope to be treated. When asked why he kept Keith so long, he explained what his original plan had been, and then how he grew rather fond of the boy, and wanted to help him get back, before all this happened.

  "And you believe it was zarkon who took him?" The black paladin asked after he explained it all.

  "Yes, or at least one of his many useless underlings." He said dismissively. "I've been trying to pinpoint the exact ship he's on, and I think I've finally narrowed it down." He brought up a map and pointed at a specific purple dot. "If we can get on to it then surely we will have no problems getting to him. The only problem I was having was actually getting on the ship- me and my father aren't exactly on good terms."