“… up!”
The Princess came to as Lance’s frantic shout rang through the cockpit. She had fallen from her seat and standing up caused a rush of dizziness to go through her. The ground was shaking beneath her.
As soon as she saw her small monitor, she knew why. The robeast was coming for her.
And Keith was flying that robeast.
“I’m glad I found you… I thought you were lost to me forever…“
For one inexplicable moment, paralyzed as she was while watched the robeast come towards her, Keith’s words in her dream echoed through her head with uncanny clarity. Beyond the robeast, she could see the three other lions desperately shooting at his back, aiming for the dome at the top of the robeast’s head, only to stop and dodge as it turned its sword towards them and shot back.
Without thinking about the foolishness of her actions, she pushed a button on her console and the overhead door of her cockpit swished open. Pushing back another wave of dizziness, she pulled herself up to the top of her lion’s head, standing erect and unflinching, looking up at the robeast with recognition, forgiveness, and something more flashing in her eyes.
After the last volley of fire towards the other lions, Keith turned his robeast towards her again, sword raised in preparation to strike her Lion. She continued to stand erect on top of her lion in a reckless but futile effort to shield her lion from the blow. She shut her eyes, feeling the strong warm gust of wind as the sword swung down…
And stopped with a crash, embedded on the ground in front of her lion.
The robeast had bent down to pull his sword from the ground, bringing the glass dome just above Allura’s head. As she looked up, she was startled to meet a pair of familiar dark eyes staring at her in what seemed like… pleading.
Keith’s hesitation was all that the three other Lions needed. With a mighty roar, Black Lion pounced, the razor knife in its jaw slicing through the shoulder diagonally upward towards the neck; Lance pulled up when the deed was done, leaving the way clear for Pidge and Hunk to topple the robeast towards the ground. The impact caused it to explode, throwing off all the Lions and the severed head.
The metal head’s trajectory hurled it straight into the deepest part of the lake, where it began to sink. Allura quickly jumped into her Lion and dove after it, praying under her breath that Keith was alright.
The three remaining Lions flew towards the fracas
in front of the Castle to even the odds in the attack. The Green and Yellow
Lions both took Doom battleships between their jaws and ripped chunks off
them. Lance, thoroughly infuriated by what Haggar had done to Keith, went
after the command ship carrying Haggar, razor knife in Black Lion’s jaws.
Just as he reached the ship and slashed a hole in the hull, a small escape
pod ejected from the ship and sped out of Arus’ atmosphere, towards deep
space, carrying a snarling and defeated Haggar within.
The Princess had dragged the robeast’s metal head on the lakeshore and was now attempting to unfasten the unconscious Keith from the straps holding him within the cockpit.
Lance, Hunk, and Pidge took over the task for her; Lance, noting her own pale and shaken face, bidding her to sit on the ground, and Hunk gently plucking Keith from his seat and setting him down on the ground with his head pillowed on Allura’s lap.
“Will he be all right?” Pidge asked, peering over Keith’s closed eyes and ashen face cradled between Allura’s gentle hands.
Lance was gently examining the rest of his friend’s body with expert hands, checking for any broken bones. At his friends’ questioning glances, he gave a small smile and shook his head. “How’s his breathing, Princess?” he asked.
“He seems to be breathing normally,” Allura said with a quavering voice, stroking off a lock of hair from his forehead tenderly. “Like he’s asleep.”
“The medical team has been dispatched,” Hunk promised, taking his own look at Keith to reassure himself. “You’re going to be fine, Cap,” he nodded with a grin. “You better be.”
Within the next few minutes, the Castle medical
team came out and took the still-unconscious Keith from a reluctant Allura’s
grasp. After he was placed securely on the stretcher and loaded on the
hovercraft, the other pilots reboarded the Lions and flew back into their
dens, all eager to be there when their friend finally awoke.
The Worst Enemy -- The Heart's Reason's