Loving You to the Stars and Back // Keith x OC //

The Altean

59

~Keith~

I opened my eyes as my body felt sore all over after going through the wormhole back to our reality. It took a while for my eyes to adjust, only to realize that the comet we pulled out with us is no longer in sight.

"Paladins! Are you okay?!" Coran's voice was heard over the comms, "Can anyone answer me?"

"I'm here," I weakly replied. "What about the rest of you?"

A groan was heard over the channel, "I could be better." It was Hunk. "I could really go for some food right now."

"I'm here as well," Pidge replied as she shifted in her seat.

"Ditto," Lance grunted on his end.

"It sounds like everyone is alright," Allura jumped in on the conversation. "But where's the comet?" She asks. I was glad to hear that I wasn't the only one who noticed the comet's disappearance. I piloted Voltron, turning it to search for the comet.

"Lotor has taken it away," Coran replied in dismay. My heart dropped, not because that Lotor had taken away a vital piece to our mission, but because Athena was still with Lotor. If only I wasn't knocked out, I would have taken her back from him."It seemed as if this was a setup for Voltron to take the comet so he could take it away."

"Are you saying that he was waiting for us to find the comet? But how?" Hunk asked.

"He must have known about the comet being in that reality," Pidge interjected, telling her perspective of what might have happened. "Lotor wanted Voltron to go through. If anything, if we didn't make it back, he would have won the fight. If we did and brought the comet back with us, Lotor would have taken it from us, which in fact, he did."

"What's worse is that Athena was in Lotor's ship," I murmured under my breath but audible enough for the others to hear. Silence loomed over the communication channel as we were thinking back to what happened.

Coran had asked us to come back onto the Castle of Lions so we could rest. Anger stirred up within me, causing me to grip harder on my controls. I could have saved Athena, but there was nothing I could do. We disassembled and headed to our respective hangars for our lions. The whole time, all I could think about was Athena. She could have been saved.

While everyone went back to their rooms to freshen up, I noticed Princess Allura heading to the bridge. There was this sad, longing expression on her face as she walked into the room alone. There was an urgency to follow her, so I did.

Back in the other reality, Allura was convinced to have seen her people alive. As good as it was for her, there was something unusual in that reality. Something didn't feel right and it turned out that those Alteans that we believed that were good were actually the ones doing harm in that reality. I could understand the hurt that Allura was going through.

"Allura," I called out as I saw the princess sitting on the edge of her platform. "You did the right thing. We couldn't let Hira get the ore."

"But now, Lotor has it," Allura replied as she stared at the ground in front of her.

"We didn't know," I spoke up.

"That is the problem," Allura turns her head towards me. "We never know and that is exactly why my father sent lions away so many years ago; to avoid this reality." The princess then stood up as she looked through the window of the castle. "I finally understand."

"We'll get it back," I assured,. "We will also get Athena back." As soon as I said that, Allura turned around with a grim expression.

"But if we don't, Lotor is always going to be one step ahead of us. He has a plan for this ore and if he succeeds, the Galra will finally have a weapon that is as powerful as Voltron. The worst part is that Athena might be part of it if we don't rescue her." The thought of Athena being at the hands of Lotor, with no way of escaping, terrified me. We need her back; I need her back.