Chapter Text
“Princess, are you sure about this?” Shiro asked, “you’re the one who handles diplomacy, not us.”
“Yeah,” Lance agreed, “we’re supposed to sit there and look pretty, not strike bargains with aliens. That's you and Corans job!”
“We wouldn’t send you out there alone if we knew you couldn’t handle it,” Coran butted in, face now visible on the lion's video feed, “this species is typically very calm and nice. All you’re attending is a party they're hosting in your honor!”
“Oh, well,” Lance shrugged, “a party I can handle.”
“Just be polite, smile, and leave at an appropriate time, not too early,” The princess shot a warning look to Pidge and Keith, and Keith felt himself bristling. It was easy for her to say, she would be the one staying on the castle ship. Apparently, they had repairs to do and settled down on a nearby planet in the same star system. He wondered why they didn’t just settle down on this planet, but Keith figured Allura would get onto him and call it the ‘rudest idea she had ever heard,’ so he kept his mouth shut.
Diplomacy meetings weren’t his thing. Parties even more so. He would let the people like Lance and Shiro handle the talking and hopefully he would be able to find a good corner to take shelter in.
“Is there anything we need to know about these aliens that we’ve never seen before?” Hunk pointed out, “Have I mentioned that we’ve had no interaction with them at all? Like, whatsoever?”
“You have made your concerns very clear, Hunk,” Allura sounded exhausted, but Keith was with Hunk on this one. Something was fishy about the whole thing, but maybe that was just his body going against the idea of a large social gathering. He figured that in space he could get away from those, but he had better luck staying in his desert shack.
“The species are known as the Platogens-”
“Huh, sounds like Pathogens-”
“Thank you, Pidge,” Allura continued, “and they haven’t been in communication with any other species for quite a bit, even my Father had trouble getting a hold of them, but this is about to change. I believe this is the first party they have ever hosted, so do not mind them if they are a bit… awkward about it.”
“No parties? Ever?” Lance asked, sounding like someone had just kicked his puppy, “well that’s about to change, right team? Let’s party it up!”
…
“Come on? Team? Buddies?”
“So,” Keith blatantly ignored the blue paladin, “isn’t it a bit weird that they’re suddenly branching out? I don’t like this.”
“Well Keith, you never like parties,” Lance teased, “no need to be so paranoid all the time.”
Allura cleared her throat before Keith could reply, “You must not mess this up, do you hear me?”
“Understood Princess,” Shiro replied, “about to breach the atmosphere in a few ticks, we’ll spend an estimated four varga before leaving.” The comm system clicked off after that, though if they said anything Keith wouldn’t be able to hear it anyway over the sound of gravity pulling them downwards. It wasn’t as much as a sound, but more of pressure mounting in his ears, but after flying for a few months he had gotten used to the feeling.
Once they pushed past the cloud coverage Keith noted that the planet below them was mostly flat, open lands. Good for a battle but terrible if they ever needed to find coverage. There went the idea of landing their lions somewhere where they could be hidden. It didn’t take long for them to come across the civilization with large buildings and cobbled paths leading all the way to a castle, though the castle was nothing like the one they were used to.
“That thing looks kinda…”
“Medieval?” Pidge supplied for Hunk.
“Yeah, that.”
“Guys,” Shiro warned, “there’s not much resources on this planet besides what they can mine, so the scenery is going to look a bit… different.”
“Spooky is the word you’re looking for, bossman,” Lance joked nervously.
“Let’s just land and get this thing over with,” Keith forced their conversation to a halt, and he could practically feel Shiro’s thankful smile. They ended up landing just behind the stone castle in what looked like a courtyard of sorts.
Keith was reluctant to leave the comfort of the red lion, but he haltingly climbed out of the cockpit to meet with the other paladins anyway. There was already a figure standing outside waiting for them, and now that Keith was out he noticed finer details.
The castle and the courtyard’s night atmosphere was lit up by torches hung up along the wall, casting shadows, and the cobblestone under his feet somehow was harsher than normal, Keith could feel the coolness seeping in through his paladin armor.
“Welcome,” the alien held out a large clawed hand to Shiro, who took it with his prosthetic one. “I am one of the several representatives of this land, please, come in and enjoy the festivities.” The alien's tone was robotic and its face didn’t so much as twitch from the large smile.
“O…kay,” Lance whistled lowly, letting Shiro walk in front of him.
“Not so eager to get to the party now, huh?” Pidge asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No, it feels like we’re being walked to our execution!” Lance hissed under his breath, shutting up only when Shiro reached back to elbow him.
Keith didn’t know how good these aliens' hearing was, but he firmly kept his mouth shut, not wanting to find out. Once they reached the banquet room, all movement ceased. Keith felt a shiver run up his spine as dozens of milky white eyes stared owlishly. Even Shiro took an apprehensive step backwards into Keith and Lance.
“Paladins of Voltron,” the one who had led them to the castle, introduced, “royal court. Party, commence,” he clapped, and just like that, the population had resumed their mingling.
“They all have that weird smiley expression on their face,” Hunk pawed at the back of Pidges armor, trying to hide behind her, “my gut is telling me that not even alien cuisine is worth this.”
“It’s… it’ll be fine buddy,” Lance patted Hunk’s shoulder. “Remember, they’re awkward and don’t know how to throw parties, maybe they think smiling will help ease the tension? Either way, Lancey Lance is about to show them how a real party is done. Maybe I can find a girl here who doesn't smile creepy.” And just like that, Lance disappeared into the crowd of aliens who were a head taller than even Shiro.
“As much as I hate to say it, we need to follow Lance’s example,” Shiro admitted, “spread out and try to be nice.”
Soon enough everyone left and Keith was the only one standing at the entrance way. His feet felt grounded, weighted down and unable to move. Something, some force, was driving him to blow this weird ass popsicle stand. Maybe it was his unwillingness to celebrate, or how stiff the aliens had been moving, the stone sinking in his gut told him otherwise.
Keith took a calming breath and forced himself to walk along the stone etched walls of the gala, ignoring the strange otherworldly looks the species was shooting at him. Anytime he passed, their heads mechanically turned as if sensing him.
Oh god, maybe they could tell he wasn’t fully human?
Keith swallowed down the nausea climbing up his throat and tried to play it off by leaning against a stone table that was attached to the floor. On the table were delicacies, and it was good to know that at least Hunk was nearby at a separate table, eyeing the food suspiciously before shoving a spoon in his mouth. Another alien was next to him, probably describing each of the food items.
Keith’s stomach rolled when he got a good look at the food. There was nothing solid, it was all soups and stews. It was probably all the species could eat with their limited food sources, but Keith knew well enough that in every ecosystem there had to be a good source of meat. If they only had little, then where did the rest of the meat go?
“Hello paladin,” Keith jolted when one of the aliens spoke from next to him. Keith didn’t even sense its presence. “I hope that you are enjoying this gathering immensely.”
“Uhm,” Keith coughed into his fist, “Yeah, yeah, this is a great… party you have here.”
The smile on the other’s face twisted upwards even more, “That is wonderful news to hear. Though I must ask why you seem so withdrawn, the other paladins have spread themselves out and socialized with each of us while you sit here.”
Keith bit back what he would normally respond with- That’s none of your damn business- but for the sake of not screwing up this gathering, he shrugged instead. “Humans are different from one another, and some people are more laid back than others.”
“Hmm,” the other alien contemplated, as if individuality was a hard thing to swallow. Keith had noticed how the other species acted, looked, smiled, and walked the exact same way. Just like a damn cult. “I see, very well then.”
The other alien stayed by his side for an uncomfortable amount of time despite Keith now obviously giving him the cold shoulder, staring out into the endless crowd. If he distorted his vision, it looked like he was looking at a large mound of cotton with the color of the paladin armor occasionally peeking out from the folds.
“Hey man!” Lance called, trotting up to Keith, “I know you’re not big on this scene, but-” his eyes immediately shot up to the alien that was silently standing besides Keith. Almost close enough to brush shoulders with him. Keith shivered at the thought, not wanting to know what their pearl white skin felt like.
“Is there a problem?” Lance asked, tilting his head to the alien.
“No,” Keith waved off the blue paladin, “It’s… it’s fine, I have it handled.”
“If you say so, dude,” Lance shrugged before turning his back to them and skipping off to wherever Hunk was.
Keith blocked the other out for an entire varga before it finally spoke to him again, like an alarm clock. “You really must try our delicacies, we brought our best stew out for this day. Here you go,” clawed hands grabbed at a ladle, holding it up to Keith’s mouth.
Before Keith could wonder just where he got this sudden bowl from, since it hadn’t been on the table, the stench nearly made him double over. He pedaled away from it, his back bumping the wall, nearly hitting a torch. “No thanks,” Keith put a hand up, “I’m goo-”
A slimy hand suddenly pushed him further against the wall, then moved to plug his nose and shove the entirety of the large spoon into his mouth. Keith tried his best to make a sound, but none would come as the chunky substance filled his mouth until he was forced to swallow it in order to breathe.
He highly doubted he would be able to get any help from this angle, as well as with how the other aliens were probably blockling the paladin's view.
Suddenly, the world spun around Keith and he was forced to grapple onto the alien in front of him to stay on his feet. It kept a tight grip around him, dragging him upwards. Panic and nausea clawed at Keith’s insides as he tried to force his eyes to stay open, but to no avail. Despite the torches flames brushing against his back, Keith shivered from the coolness sinking into his bones.
“You left yourself vulnerable, paladin,” the alien hissed, the smile never leaving its ugly face, “we only need one of you to get the job complete. It’s a good thing we did not even have to try to separate you.”
Keith’s legs collapsed beneath him, his fingers gripping uselessly at the aliens shoulders in a vain attempt to scratch its moist skin. To Keith’s horror, he didn’t black out. Instead, his body went limp, eyes closing, but he was awake, he could still hear everything. Feel everything. It was like he was comatose with no control over his body.
He swallowed down fear when the alien moved him, dragging him from the gala and the crowd and out to what Keith assumed was a cobble stones hallway. The echoes of chatter became distant while Keith scrambled to gain his bearings, to at least get his toes to move. Instead, the dragging sound of his feet against the cobble and the heavy breaths of the Platogen (hot and curling against the back of his neck) was all he could hear.
Keith should have expected something like this to happen. They had been told to discard their helmets with their lions with some shitty excuse of “It is hard to read humans face expressions with helmets on” and now there was no way for the paladins to contact each other or avoid getting hurt.
The alien said that they had only needed one of the paladins, so Keith could mark off a personal attack, no matter how personal getting a spoon shoved down his throat was. There was obviously a paralyzing sedative in whatever was in that stew, and Keith could only hope that his Galra side could flush it out quick enough to get him out of the situation.
But of course, it was never that easy for him.
Suddenly, he was dropped harshly to the ground, the back of his head clacking against the floor painfully. His head swam and his mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and Keith was horrified to learn that he couldn’t even reflexively jerk away when a hand was on his jaw, pushing his head from one side to the other as if to examine him.
“A paladin of Voltron should be a good offering, enough to sustain our village for a very long time,” a new voice said, and it sounded older, more withered. “It is a good thing we called for this gathering, a wonderful idea on your part.”
“Oh please Elder, this Human practically gave himself to us.”
Keith’s skin burned at every new contact of the aliens hands on him, probing along his body starting from his face.
“Hmm, his eyes are fluttering, are the drugs working as they should?”
“Yes elder, he is paralized but aware.”
“Hmm,” the hands brushed his cheeks before poking past his lips and grasping onto his bottom row of teeth, pulling his mouth open. “Ah, this is not a full Human, now is it? Half Galran, i presume.”
Keith tried to scream and kick, to get the aliens away from him, but all he managed was a pressed groan.
“He is responsive enough vocally, though the fact that he is a mix of species makes him a perfect candidate. Prepare him for the process, I shall be back within half a Varga. He shall be ready by then.”
“Yes Elder!” Many voices chimed, maybe about four that Keith hadn’t noticed before. What the fuck was the process? What were they preparing him for? Keith didn’t want to find out. He tried to get his unresponsive body to just move, but failed when hands grabbed onto his ankles and wrist, pulling him up from the ground to place him on something higher. It was even colder than the floor, and with a sharp stab of dread, Keith realized he must be on an examination table of sorts.
The aliens around him spoke like he wasn’t there, examining him and pointing things out while busting around. Soon enough the slimy hands were stripping him of his paladin armor, leaving him in only the pants of his undersuit.
No
No
No
Keith’s tongue wouldn’t cooperate as he heard a metallic tray set down, right next to his head. He wouldn’t even be able to open his eyes and see what was going on around him, wouldn’t be able to mentally prepare himself for whatever the sick aliens were scheming.
Suddenly something cold came in contact with his chest, something sharp and jagged, before pressing down and tracing. Tracing marks and shapes until Keith saw fireworks in the back of his eyelids. If he weren’t drugged to hell and back, he would have bit through his lip to keep from screaming, but instead, all he could do was let out pained noises and gasped breaths.
“The mark is complete,” One voice garbled, but sounded like it was underwater due to the piercing ringing in Keith’s ears. “Get a tooth sample and continue with the marking process.”
No
No
No
Hands wrenched his mouth open, stretching and pulling at his jaw until a large object was shoved far into it. Hands were gripping his hair, pulling his head upwards, and Keith could feel the object against his tongue, cold and stony and wrench-shaped.
“A back molar should suffice, then a nail sample as well.”
Keith felt the drool pooling at the top of his mouth from it being open for so long in such a strange position. He could feel even more scalpels carving away at his wrist. He could feel a smaller object prodding at his fingernails. He could feel everything.
But he couldn’t move. Couldn’t blink. Couldn’t even scream in agony when hands grasped at the wrench in his mouth, aligning it with his furthest molar, before pulling.
“Has anyone seen Keith?” Shiro asked, trying not to let the worry laced in his tone show. Off of a hunch, he had searched the entire room, corner to corner, for the red paladin only to come up empty on his search.
He had gathered Pidge, Lance, and Hunk near the doorway to avoid any confrontations.
“I saw him when I was getting snacks, but that was about two varga ago,” Hunk shrugged, “don’t eat the stew, it’s not worth it.”
“I saw him chilling with some other alien dude by the wall,” Lance offered, “I figured maybe he had made a friend. Everything seemed okay…”
“How long ago was that?” Shiro’s tone was less of a question and more of an order. He could feel his prosthetic arm instinctively flaring up.
“Lets not jump to conclusions,” Pidge placed a hand on his arm, lowering it, “maybe he went to the restroom or something and got lost.”
“Or maybe he went back to his lion?” Hunk supplied.
Shiro knew his team all had valid points. Skipping out on the party to go to the restroom or hide out in his lion was a very Keith thing to do, but something was nagging at his gut, telling him that something more sinister was at play here.
“We need to split up and search every inch of this place until we find him,” Shiro decided, ignoring the way the other paladin's faces dropped with concern. “Me and Lance will head out to the lions and contact Allura before doing a sweep of the courtyard, Pidge and Hunk will stay with each other at all times and search down the corridors. If someone tries to stop you, use any means necessary. Understood?”
“G-got it,” Hunk replied, looking like he was about to hurl. Shiro could only hope he was making the right decision here, because if he was wrong then they had just ruined an alliance, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure what the princess was thinking when she ordered them to this planet.
He wasn’t sure if he wanted to make peace with these aliens. Something was very obviously off.
“You could have let me go with Hunk,” Lance whispered as he followed behind Shiro down the path to the courtyard, Bayard ready, “I mean, I doubt Pidge will do anything to calm his nerves.”
“A long range fighter and another long range fighter wouldn’t work,” Shiro replied, “stay on guard, there's no cover from here on out.”
To Lance’s credit, he remained silent behind Shiro as they silently made their way across the courtyard to their lions. Black immediately lowered her head to let them inside, “Lance, stay and guard the front while I contact the castle.”
“You got it.”
Shiro trusted Lance’s shooting skills enough to leave him alone, cursing under his breath as he reached for his helmet he left in the pilot seat. “Shiro to the castle, can anyone hear me?”
Static.
“Princess, are you there? Coran? Pick up, this is an urgent situation.”
More static, and if Shiro were an impatient person then he would have given up by now, but his ears strained until he heard a faint voice over the comms.
“-hiro, Shiro! Are you there?”
He let out a sigh, “Yes, yes it’s me.”
“What seems to be the situation? You aren’t supposed to make contact with me until another Varga.”
“There’s been a change of plans. Keith’s missing and something here is off. We need you to have the castle ready and orbiting the atmosphere because when we find Keith, we’re getting out of here.”
Shiro could feel Allura’s disappointment radiating from the comms, “Yes, but has the alliance failed? Keith could simply be hiding away as normal-”
“A peace treaty is not more important than Keith and that's final,” Shiro hissed, “be ready.” With a click he terminated the private comm link before shoving his helmet on and leaving blacks cockpit.
“The princess will be ready for us as soon as possible,” Shiro answered Lance’s silent question as he exited his lion, though Lance wasn’t focused on him, no. One of his eyes was closed and he was peering through his scope somewhere off to the left.
“Lance?”
“Shiro,” he lifted his gaze from the scope, though his eyes remained glued to the distance, “Shiro, t-theres something wrong.”
Lance was scared. Lance was terrified.
Something curled in Shiro’s gut as he quickly crouched next to the blue paladin, “What is it? What did you see?”
With shaky hands, Lance offered Shiro his gun. Shiro quickly peered through the scope in the general direction Lance had been looking, and that's when the flames caught his eye. Torches stuck out of the tall grass, circling around the only tree in the clearing like some kind of homing beacon. ‘
The tree was large and twisted up to the sky, leaves bristing almost as if it were alive. Shiro inhaled sharply when he noticed something shimmering against the tree. Chains. Something was chained to the tree. Whatever it was, was on the opposite side.
“What in the hell,” Shiro breathed, slowly lowering the scope as if the scene would disappear. “What’s happening here?”
“I saw movement in the tall grass,” Lance whispered, his voice almost lost in the wind. “Whatever it was, it was huge and hunched over. If it stood up, it would probably be taller than that tree.”
“We need to check it out,” Shiro decided. Already crouching low.
Lance scrambled behind him as they waded through the grass, “Are you kidding? Shiro, you’re our fearless leader and I would follow you to the end of the galaxy but isn’t that big beautiful mind of yours telling you that this is a bad idea? A very bad idea!”
“Lance-”
“I mean, I saw a creature in here somewhere, and now we’re sitting ducks!”
Shiro would have taken the lions if it wouldn’t have gained the aliens' attention. Pidge and Hunk were still inside, he didn’t want to create a hostage situation. “Lance,” he said steadily, “Keep that gun aimed and follow me.”
The night was dead silent with only the rustle of the singular tree up ahead. The torches casted looming shadows the closer they got. There were no aliens out here, Shiro realized, once they reached the edge of the ring of torches.
Shiros’ arm glowed a bright purple by the time he was bypassing the barrier and ducking before rounding to the other side of the tree and-
He had to turn away to avoid throwing up. From behind him, Lance lost his dinner.
The sight hadn’t seemed real at first, but when Shiro blinked the shock away to look back, Keith was still there, dangling from the tree branches. The chains dug into his wrist, all of his weight leaning on his tied up arms in such a way that his shoulders would pop out of their sockets. A stress position.
Shiro’s eyes unwillingly traveled further down and he almost wretched at the crimson color etched into Keith’s skin like a brand, the design slit into his wrist traveled further down to his chest, where a symbol that Shiro had never seen was displayed in Keith’s blood.
They had carved into him.
They had carved into Keith.
“Oh my god-” Lance choked from behind him, and all sense of silence had been broken. Shiro didn’t waste anymore time, snarling as he cut through the chains from Keith’s arms, catching him by the waist to keep him from hitting the ground. Keith’s body was limp and cold, and when Shiro set him down he scrambled for a pulse.
It was there.
It was faint, but it was there.
“Holy crow how did they do all of this in… in,” Lance held back a sob as he crashed to the ground on the other side of Keith. Shiro noticed the blood spouting from Keith’s mouth, and with relief he realized it wasn’t internal bleeding. It was obvious that a tooth had been taken out.
A fucking tooth had been taken out from Keith’s skull while they were forming a treaty with these sick aliens.
“His nails,” Lance said, breathless as he delicately held up Keith’s right hand to showcase the nailless finger beds. A quick glance to the other hand proved that only one hand had been affected.
“Keith?” Shiro asked, voice cracking, “Keith, buddy, I need you to wake up now. It’s me, Shiro.”
Keith’s eyelashes fluttered and a strangled noise broke past his cracked lips.
Shiro was going to kill-
“Hey,” Lance said, tone gentle as he cupped Keith’s face without looking up at Shiro. “We need to focus on Keith right now, we can bring their castle down later, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Shiro numbly agreed before tapping Keith’s cheek, “he’s out of it. They must have drugged him with something.”
That was when Keith opened his eyes, not all the way, but enough to see his glassy stare. Half-lidded eyes shifted from Lance to Shiro, and Keith let out another heartbreaking noise before he was retching.
“Shit,” Lance was quick to help Shiro move Keith to the side, and after even five minutes of Keith trying to throw up, nothing left his mouth.
“It must be the drugs they gave him, they could be reacting badly to his system,” Shiro mumbled, then hefted Keith up in a sitting position, back to chest. Keith’s head lolled against his shoulder, mouth wide open as if he was struggling to breath. Shiro took a calming breath before bringing two fingers, his mechanical ones, and pressing them into Keith’s mouth until he found the soft part of the roof of his mouth. He pressed down until Keith listed to the side, finally discarding the drugs from his system.
“We need to get him back to the castle, now!” Shiro ordered, sliding one of Keith’s arms over his shoulder and standing up. Lance was quick to take Keith’s other side, and under the torch light, he looked three shades too light.
The rest was a blur. Shiro saw red.
By the time he got Keith back to his lion, he was shivering from blood loss. Somewhere along the way Pidge and Hunk had joined them in their lions, but Shiro was too focused on how blue Keith’s lips looked to acknowledge them.
In the distance, the red lion raged. Shiro could hear her cry of anger as she sent the castle toppling down. Shiro hoped that whatever creature had been lurking got to all of them
“Why would they do this?” Allura finally asked in horror, once they were back inside the castle and Keith was in the healing pod. He was expected to make a full recovery with no scars left behind. His nails and missing tooth would even grow back.
Shiro crossed his arms, something dark on his tongue.
“They were using him as a human sacrifice.”