Work Text:
"Unconscious"
Keith didn't know why every planet they liberated held a party in their honor. He would prefer just to go back to the castle after the fight and relax in private, but he was never that lucky. At least Allura made sure that the inhabitants were okay with his heritage. He was pleasantly surprised that they knew of it and had no issues, especially since he (and Red Lion) diverted a missile that was aimed at the orphanage.
Shiro had tried to get out of going to the party by saying that the Paladins didn't have any appropriate clothing for such an important occasion and they didn't want to show up in their armor and potentially offend them, but the royal family wouldn't hear of it and were more than happy to provide traditional clothing for the Paladins and Princess.
This was what led Keith to be standing against a wall dressed in what could barely be called clothes. His shoulders were bare, which drew attention to his scar from the Trials of Marmora, and the almost sheer fabric wrapped around his torso, allowing a sliver of skin to show here and there until his waist. The fabric from his waist to his upper thighs was opaque and tight fitting. The rest of the pants were billowy and sheer. His ensemble was red and purple. The rest of the male Paladins were dressed in a similar manner, while Pidge and Allura were dressed in two piece dresses. It reminded Keith of a tube top and a short skirt.
However, what made Keith different than everyone except for Allura was that his hair was styled and pinned up. Normally, he wouldn't have let anyone touch his hair, but the person doing his hair was gentle, to the point of almost making Keith purr.
Keith watched as the other Paladins mingled with the inhabitants of the planet before he started making his way to a balcony that was deserted. Once he was leaning against the railing with his back to the party, Keith felt like he could breathe. There were way too many people in the ballroom.
"You're not hiding, are you?"
Keith smiled at Shiro, who had come up beside him. "Naw. I just needed some air."
"Shiro!" Allura called out, drawing Keith's and Shiro's attention. "Shiro, the King wants to meet with the leader of the Paladins."
Shiro looked over at Keith who gave him a smile. "Go ahead, Shiro. I'm okay."
"Don't stay out here too long, ototo."
"I won't, ni-san."
Shiro offered his arm to Allura, who graciously accepted his offer of escort. Keith smiled as he watched his adoptive brother leave with the princess, when suddenly a hand was placed over his mouth and another restraining his hands behind his back. His eyes darted over, and he saw that there were three individuals that he didn't know. He couldn't get free, so he did what he could. He bit down hard and could taste blood on his tongue. The hand was removed from his mouth and he let out a chirp before he was hit across the back of his head, and his vision went black.
%%%
Shiro heard a scuffle behind him and snuck a peek at the balcony. At first, he didn't see Keith, but then he entered his view and appeared to be looking out at the view of the city beyond the balcony. The leader only had a view of his brother's back, but something seemed off. He surreptitiously slipped out his data pad.
As Voltron liberated more planets, they had come across some planets that were prejudiced against all Galra, even Keith. So, the Paladins came up with a way to keep an eye on their team mate without letting him have a constant guard, which would have irritated him. They came up with a tracking device disguised as a tooth cap. Keith liked the idea and eagerly had it fitted onto one of his molars. Each of the Paladins had a program on their data pad that could connect to the tracker and tell them where Keith was.
However, it was a moot point, because before Shiro could even open the app, Black Lion and Red Lion let out dual, resounding roars that shook the foundation of the building. Through his bond with Black, Shiro could hear her calling, "Little one!"
It was the same thing with Lance as he heard Red Lion call out, "Cub!"
When the roars shook the palace, the Keith on the balcony stumbled slightly, allowing Shiro to see his face, which clearly didn't belong to his brother. Shiro saw red, rushed over to the imposter, and hoisted him high in the air by his throat. "Where is Keith?"
The body double started gasping for air as Shiro was using his right arm. The Black Paladin lowered the imposter and loosened his grip a bit, asking again, "Where is Keith?"
"Gone."
"What do you mean 'gone?'"
"Taken."
"By who?"
"I don't know their names. I was just brought to be a body double to delay you finding out when the half-breed was taken."
Shiro released his hold, and the body double dropped to the ground but landed on his feet. He breathed a sigh of relief before he saw Shiro's fist heading for his face. Shiro knocked out the imposter and addressed his team. "Suit up! We need to get to Keith!"
%%%
Keith groaned as he came to. He realized that he was laying in the back of a transport of some sort. He also realized that he was gagged and his hands were bound behind his back. His head was pounding from the hit he had received after he bit one of his kidnappers, but that wasn't the only thing that hurt. Pretty much everywhere hurt, except for his eyes and his mouth (aside from the rough material of the gag).
"I see you are finally awake, half-breed. That will make this much more fun...for me that is."
Keith didn't have time to focus on who was talking as his attacker's foot connected with his side. Keith grunted as pain shot through his side from the steel toe of his attacker's boot. That was going to leave a deep bruise.
Keith tried to ignore his attacker and not react to anything he said or did, which was easier when he wasn't being kicked or hurt in some way. He could tell there were two beings that had kidnapped (or kit-napped, he supposed as he was a kit in Galran culture) him. One of his kit-nappers was piloting the vehicle, but he still didn't know if he was still on planet or off. It didn't really matter which is was as the Paladins (and Lions) could find him no matter where he was.
A kick to his ribs drew a hiss from him, but it came out distorted due to the gag. Keith knew that he was going to end up in a healing pod the tick he was rescued, so he just had to endure the torment. He just hoped he wasn't going to end up with internal bleeding from all the kicks being aimed at his abdominal organs.
Keith was surprised when the gag as removed slightly. "What was that, half-breed?"
Keith took the time to chuckle albeit weakly at the kit-napper's misfortune. "You are going to be in so much trouble when I get out of here."
His attacker laughed at what he thought was a bluff. "No one knows where we are, let alone that you are missing."
Keith let out a laugh. "You underestimate my position on the team and the intelligence of my team mates. You especially underestimate how important us Paladins are to the lions."
"Gag him again! His voice is irritating!" called the pilot from the front of the ship.
The other kit-napper slid the gag back into Keith's mouth, being careful to not give Keith a chance to bite him again. Once the gag was back in place, he gave another sharp kick to his ribs, causing Keith to bite down onto the gag as he was sure at least one of his ribs was broken at this point.
%%%
"How much further he is, Shiro?" Lance asked. "Red is getting harder to control. She's really angry."
"I understand, Lance. Black is extremely angry. From what I understand, Keith is getting injured from the kidnappers."
A deafening silence reigned over the comm systems until Lance tried to crack a joke to alleviate the tension. "Don't you mean kit-nappers?"
Pidge snorted over the comm system in slight amusement. "That was lame, Tailor."
"Tailor?" Allura questioned. "Why do you call him that?"
"When we were back at the Garrison, Lance would call himself The Tailor when we would fly the simulators. He would cut things close, citing how he could 'thread the needle' but would inevitably crash," Pidge replied.
"Anyway, how much further is it?" Lance was quick to change the topic back to how close they were to getting Keith back.
%%%
Keith was hovering somewhere between conscious and unconscious when the vehicle rocked. Judging by the movement, Keith surmised that they had been in space. Keith groaned as he tried to come back all the way to conscious to see what was going on. However, he didn't get the chance as he heard two purrs in his mind that eased him into unconsciousness.
%%%
The Red and Black Lions were in a hurry to get to Keith as they could feel his pain from every hit coursing down their bonds with him. As soon as they were close enough, they sent purrs to him to let him fall gently into unconsciousness as there was no need to have him in more pain than he needed to be.
%%%
When Shiro and the other Paladins boarded the vessel, they quickly took down the kit-nappers and found Keith. He was bound, gagged, and severely injured. It was hard to look at him with the amount of damage he had been dealt. Shiro knelt down next to his brother and went to shake him awake but paused as he heard Black growl softly at him. "Red and I let him drift into unconsciousness. He was in so much pain that it was better for him not to be awake. Please hurry and get him into a pod."
Shiro nodded and scooped up Keith. He hurried into Black as the other Paladins left the kit-nappers with a warning. "Pray the Galra don't find out that you kidnapped our Red Paladin. They consider him a kit, and kits are considered precious and to be protected at all costs."
The rest of the Paladins rushed off to the lions (Lance in Red and Allura in Blue) and took off back to the castle. Shiro was already in the med bay with Coran, who was helping get Keith into the white bodysuit that helped promote healing in the pod. They were horrified to see all the damage inflicted upon their team mate.
Once Keith was in the pod, the Paladins set about getting things ready for when Keith would get out, but first, they got showers. Hunk went to the kitchen to prepare something light but filling for Keith. Allura went to the bridge to pilot the castle to a friendly sector so they wouldn't have to fear an attack. Shiro and Lance went to the Black and Red Lion, respectively, to tell them that Keith would be in the pod for a couple of vargas. Neither Paladin expected the lions to take on their real, furry lioness forms and make their way down to the med bay, where Pidge and Coran were fixing the nest the Paladins kept in there to wait for whichever team mate was unlucky enough to need healing.
%%%
It was a tense two vargas, but soon, the pod beeped, alerting everyone that the healing sequence was done and the pod was opening. Shiro caught Keith and carried him to the nest, settling him against his side with Black Lion behind them and Red Lion on Keith's other side.
Keith hated the healing pod, because it left him feeling so cold, so when he found himself warm, he was slightly confused. Soft purrs encouraged him to wake up, and he slowly opened his eyes. He saw he was in the nest they kept in the med bay, surrounded by his team and his lions. They had come for him like he knew they would. They were the one family he had that would never give up on him, and that thought caused him to purr as he ate the food Hunk had brought him and the Paladins filled him in on what had happened.
Fin