I'm Not Leaving You (Keith Kogane x Reader)

VII

~~In the hangar

We hopped out of the Red Lion and crouched behind a rock, Lance not much farther behind.
"The entire hangar's only being guarded by a few sentries." Informed Keith. He pulled out his bayard and it turned into a katar, "Let's go!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Whispered Lance grabbing Keith by the neck of his suit, "Cool your jets, Keith! Don't you remember all that stuff about this Balmera thing being a sensitive animal?"
"Oh... right."
"Yeah, so we can't just blow things up like a psycho."
"You got a better idea?"
"He might not," I interrupted, "But I do. Why don't we sneak into the control room to shut down the bay doors? That'll trap the ships in."
"Hey," Said Lance, "I was gonna say that!"
"Guess I beat you to it, loverboy."
He stared at me, scowling, "I hated it when you called me that."
"Which gives me all the more reason to do it."
Keith muttered something under his breath and continued back to the conversation, "That... actually is a better idea, Y/N."
And with that, we started to sneak into the control room. We crawled through the vents and finally reached our destination.
Lance shook his head, "No, no. It's over here."
"I know what I'm doing." Shot back Keith. They had a small staring contest and finally Keith started to cut into the ceiling. Lance jumped down and smashed the sentry at the control panel.
"Keep an eye out for those guards," Started Lance watching Keith swing down from the vents, "I'll see if I can find a way to shut the hangar doors."
Keith nodded and put his hand on my shoulder, guiding us towards the window.
Suddenly Lance grunted, "I don't know what I'm doing here. It's all Galra gibberish."
Keith rolled his eyes and walked over, "Let me see."
He stared at the control panel, then focused on a symbol smack dab in the middle. He pressed it slowly and the hangar doors began to shut.
"Whoa!" Exclaimed Lance, "How'd you do that?"
Keith shrugged, "I just put my hand on the handprint."
Before they could continue their conversation, Allura started talking to us on the coms, "Paladins, are you there? The Galra troops are moving down the tunnels. It looks like they're going down toward the center."
"They must be headed to the core of the Balmera." Explained Hunk, "That's where they're holding Shay."
"They're drawing us into an ambush," Sighed Shiro, "But we don't have a choice if we want to save Shay. We have to follow. Lance, Y/N, and Keith, get to the core. I think we're gonna need everyone together to get through this firefight."
"Copy that." Said Lance, "We're on our way."

***

Sentries fired at us and I crouched next to Lance.
"Their shooting is destroying the Balmera," I grunted, "We gotta do something."
"Well," Started Lance, "We can't shoot back. It'll just make it worse."
Then, something dawned upon Lance and he gave Keith a series of hand signals that he was supposed to follow. Keith, being completely clueless to this kind of stuff, put his hands out as if to say, 'What?', looked out to where the sentries were shooting, and climbed the ladder behind him. Lance ran up to the opening, did a weird dance, and distracted the sentries. Suddenly out of nowhere, Keith jumped down and destroyed every last sentry.
"Thanks for your help, Y/N." Groaned Lance.
"Hey, don't get mad at me!" I shot back defensively, "No one communicated with me otherwise I would've. Plus, Keith seemed to have it under control."

***

"Where are the Galra?" Asked Shiro as we ran into the area of the core, "If this is an ambush, they should be here waiting for us."
Then, as if on cue, the exits started to close, locking us in.
"Not an ambush." Sighed Hunk, "More like a trap."
"Whatever it is, keep your guard up." Said Keith.
I looked over to see a Balmeran, my guess is Shay, standing close to Hunk.
"The Galra," She started, "They gained knowledge that you would return to the Balmera."
"How?" Asked Pidge.
"I know not. But they set this trap just for you. I was the bait."
Shiro shook his head, "Who could've possibly known that we were heading here to save Shay?"
"Rolo!" Cursed Hunk, "Those liars must've told Zarkon."
"We have to figure out how to get out of here." Continued Shiro.
"Wait!" Exclaimed Lance, "We have a giant castle ship hovering in the sky. Allura, can you please come get us?"
Keith crossed his arms, "How do you expect her to do that, genius?"
"I don't know, maybe they got teleporters or something."
"We're quite occupied at the moment." Started Allura over the coms, "We're completely surrounded by Galra ships and we're taking heavy fire!" She paused, "Paladins, you need to get out of there as soon as you can!"
"This is it!" Cried Lance, "We're gonna die in here. I can say bye-bye to that parade."
"Get it together guys." Scolded Shiro, "Allura, we'll get there as soon as we can."
"Perhaps," Interrupted Shay, "My people can help us get out."
She placed her hand on the core of the Balmera and closed her eyes, "This is how we communicate. The Balmera senses our vibrations and sends a message to those in the tunnel."
"Are you sure someone will be able to hear your..." I paused, "Hand... from all the way down here?"
"The Balmera will deliver the message."
The core started to glow and the Balmera began to make soft, graceful noises. We all stared at Shay, waiting for her to tell us if it worked.
"So?" I asked.
She turned to me, "We will only know in time, but the Balmera is not one to let us down."
I nodded my head, "Allura, how are you doing up there?"
She grunted through the intercoms, most likely taking another hit, "The lions are in danger! You must get back to them immediately! Paladins, do you copy? There's a battle cruiser locked onto us. If it fires its ion cannon, I don't know if we can survive."
"We're trying Allura." Said Lance, "Shay's pressing her hand against a wall, which apparently sends vibrations to the other rock people who... vibrate back or something? Hand talking? I guess the answer to your question is, 'Yes, we copy.'"
Shiro focused on Shay, "Shay, are you sure the Balmera is sending your message?"
No response. She was too focused. Suddenly, one of the doors broke open, and Shay's family walked through the doorway.
"Rax!" She exclaimed.
"We must make haste." Explained Rax, "We know a shortcut through the tunnels."

We all nodded and followed them out.

***

"Paladins hurry!" Yelled Allura, "They're taking off with the lions!"
I grunted and ran as fast as I could to the speeder. I hopped in just after Keith and we were off, finally making it to the Red Lion.
"Guys," Started Shiro, "Did everyone make it to the lions in time?"
Lance popped up on a video transmission just above the command console, "Come on, Shiro. Who do you think your dealing with, a bunch of amateurs?"
Before he could answer, Lance ran into one of the Galra installations.
"Do you really want me to answer that?" Asked Shiro.
"No." Groaned Lance.

We flew towards the Galra fighters and one by one took them out.
"God, how many of them are there?" I asked Keith.
"I don't know," He responded, "But hopefully only a few after this."
"Paladins!" Yelled Allura, "I need you immediately! Five more ticks and we're finished!"
I grunted, "We're working on it, Allura. Almost there."
Shiro sighed heavily, "Okay, team. Let's form Voltron!"

Seeing Voltron being formed is one thing, but being in one of the lions as Voltron is forming is something that'll never get old.

Voltron flew higher into the atmosphere, approaching the battle cruiser. We lifted it so it's accuracy was off, and it stopped firing the canon completely.
Then, Allura fired a laser from the Castle and the entire battle cruiser went up in flames.
"Nice shot, Princess!" Exclaimed Pidge.
"Yeah!" Shouted Lance, "The parade's back on!"
I smiled and put my hand on Keith's shoulder, "Nice job."
He gave me a faint smile back and sighed, "Mission accomplished."
"And just in the tick of time." Added Allura, "The Castle's defenses are battered and we'll need to fully recharge."
Suddenly, something entered the atmosphere, dangerously close to crashing into the Balmera.
I gripped Keith's shoulder harder without realizing and he winced.
I quickly let go and sighed, "Sorry... it's just... do you guys ever get a break?"
He shook his head, "Nope."
And with that, the object crashed into the Balmera.
"What the heck is that?" Asked Lance.
"Trouble." Answered Shiro gravely.