Pirates of the deep space

[Voltron Legenday Defender] Pirates of the Carribeans!AU

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    Keith appeared at night, into the relic of a destroyed space ship. He was five, and he didn’t remember much of his life. He didn’t have anything with him except for his own clothes and a dark blue knife.
    At that time, Shiro was ten and it was an accident he was on the rescue ship – he was there as the son of the Earth ambassador, traveling towards the colony. Curious as he was, he ignored the crew’s orders and sneaked out to see what they’ve found.
    He was surprised to see Keith, with his dark mess hair and his pale skin, but the thing he noticed most was the knife. There was a symbol on the knife – a pirate symbol. The crew members haven’t noticed it yet, too worried into transfer the possibly wound boy into the infirmary, so Shiro sprung in action. He slipped the knife under his jacket before his father called him back in his quarter.
    There was no reason for Shiro to do so, except for his not so secret crush for pirates. As much as he knows most of them were criminals and assassins, there still was some romanticism in the life they faced, being free to fly towards the space as they wanted. And the idea Keith could have one pushed Shiro to protect him, for now, until Shiro decided if Keith could be trusted.
    During the years, Keith showed some rebellious tendencies, but mostly he was a nice, sweet boy that Shiro is proud to consider one of his closes friend.
    If Keith do remember the knife, he never mentions it. Shiro keeps it as a personal secret, and it’s still in the bottom of his drawer. Shiro looks at it sometimes, to remember the time he did a crime, he stole something to protect someone and didn’t respect the rules.
    “Shiro, are you ready?” Commander Iverson calls from outside the bedroom.
    “Yes, coming!”
    In a swift decision, Shiro puts the knife in his pocket and closes the drawer. In the day of him becoming a Captain, it feels right to remember what he did in the past. He breathes hard in the white, ceremonial uniform and reaches Iverson outside.
    “Nervous?”
    “Should I be?” Shiro smirks.
    He’s happy. He works hard to reach his position, and because of his illness first and his disability later, harder than everyone. He feels he deserves it.
    “We should hurry,” Iverson informs him. “We need to stop by to Sal’s before the ceremony.”
    Shiro smiles: even if he knows it’s for collecting the special sword for the ceremony, it’ll be nice seeing Keith before it. And he isn’t disappointed: Keith is there, knelled in front of an engine, his usual red jacked abandoned on a chair next to him.
    While Iverson speaks with Sal about the sword, Shiro gets near. Keith notices him and stands up, his mouth opened a little.
    “You look good,” he says, at last.
    “Thanks. I really feel like a sausage because this thing is thigh.”
    Keith coughs a little. “Yeah, I’ve noticed.” Then he smiles. “I’m so happy for you, Shiro. You deserve it.”
    It’s good to have someone like Keith on his side. “Will you be at the ceremony?”
    “No.” Keith rolls his eyes, annoyed. “Sal wants someone to keep the shop open. I tried to tell one that everyone will be at the ceremony, but he’s stubborn. He insisted that because every other shop is closed, we can lure more clients.”
    “This is so illogical it makes some sense,” Shiro laughs, and even Keith can’t hold back a smile.
    “You’ll be great,” he says. Iverson compares behind Shiro and Keith hurries to add, “Sir.”
    Shiro doesn’t really mind, they’re friend, but Iverson really care about formality, especially when Shiro is on duty and especially when he’s about to be nominated Captain. So he reserves an apologetic smile to Keith and a small wave, because turning to Iverson. He accepts the sword, thanking Sal for it, and hung it at his belt before leaving the shop.
    The ceremony passes in a blur. The discourses of the higher-ups are boring, and Shiro loses count of how many people he shakes his hands with, and thanks for their presence. He’s pretty sure he’s going to forget all their names within the evening.
    He’s glad when Adam manages to snatch it out: with two glasses of wine, they find themselves in the terrace outside the headquarter palace. With a sigh, Shiro leans on the parapet, and admires the light blue sky that reflects itself on the small artificial lake below them, where mostly of the Garrison spaceship are parked.
    “I was thinking,” Adam begins, as he sits down next to him. “Now that you’re a Captain, maybe we can think about settling down for once.”
    Shiro blinks and turns his head at him. “What do you mean?”
    “Well, your new position comes with more responsibility, and probably you may ask for more time here at the base instead of going around like when you were just a lieutenant.”
    “That’s not why I wanted to be a Captain,” Shiro points out, with a frown. For him, being a Captain means having more freedom to fly around the space, definitely not being stuck at the base.
    “You deserve some rest, and you don’t have to prove anything more to anyone,” Adam continues. “Your health may be good now, but you still…”
    With a sigh, Shiro turns back looking at the sky. He should have known that Adam wouldn’t have understand. They may be friend, there may be some affection between them even, but they search something different in life, and Shiro doesn’t know how to reject him gently.
    “You know I like you a lot, Takashi,” Adam continues, but Shiro’s attention is now on someone else.
    There is a small blink on the sky, a small flash, and then a white pod falls with a cough into the lake. Whoever the pilot is, he’s not half bad, because not only manages to not crash the pod despite the evident problem with the motor, but he also directions the pod in one of the free space of the port. The pod half sinks in the water, but it’s in the right spot.
    And that’s when Shiro notices the symbol of pirates on the right side of the pod.
    “It’ll be the right time for a marriage, so we won’t have to be separate for so long because of our mission…” Adam is still talking.
    “Sorry, I have to go,” Shiro interrupts him in a very harsh way, as he basically throws himself over the parapet and jumps in the water below them. He emerges back on the river in time to see the pilot as he’s talking with the guards of the port. At a first glance, he doesn’t look armed, but Shiro has been in battle long enough to recognize people that hides guns and swords behind their clothes.
    He reaches the groups, in time to hear the pilot says, “what about I pay twice for the parking spot, and you don’t make any other question?”
    “Sorry, sir, but that’s no possible,” Shiro says. “Please, introduce yourself.”
    The pilot scrutinizes him. “And you are…?”
    “Captain Shirogane, a pleasure, mister pirate.”
    “Ah.” The guards step behind, leaving only Shiro and the pilot on the jetty. “I’m Captain Lotor Sincline, my pleasure.”
    Shiro’s hand is already on the hilt of his ceremonial sword, so he’s ready to draw it and shield himself from Lotor’s slash. Lotor is almost taller as Shiro, but less broad, which doesn’t make him less strong, the same way Shiro’s body doesn’t make him slow.
    “I’m not here to cause trouble,” Lotor says. “It’s beneficial for most of us if you let me go.”
    “I can’t do that,” Shiro replies as he pushes Lotor behind, not enough to have him falling in the lake.
    The sword clashes again, and Shiro hears a small cracking sound. He realizes the ceremonial sword wasn’t made for a fight, and it won’t resist for long. So he let the left hand slide on the pocket, and presses more to force the sword to break. The blade snaps, Lotor avoids to stumble and turns his sword around but Shiro is fast to clash it with Keith’s knife.
    A shiver passes through Shiro’s body, and Lotor’s eyes focuses on the symbol on the knife. “Where do you find it?” he demands, with cold voice.
    “Stop immediately, pirate!”
    Adam has reached the jetty with a group of soldiers, all of them with their guns already on their hands.
    “I couldn’t have handled it,” Shiro mutters behind his breath.
    Lotor passes his gaze behind Shiro and the group. With a slowly movement, he lets his sword falling on the ground, then jump behind Shiro. “Will you risk to shoot and hit him too?”
    “Takashi, move aside,” Adam advice, but Shiro snorts.
    It’s too late: Lotor’s sword is on Shiro’s back, pressed through the thigh uniform. He still doesn’t let the knife go.
    “Drop your weapons,” Lotor orders.
    Adam grits his teeth, but then looks at Shiro and nods at the soldiers. They don’t look happy, but they place the guns on the ground.
    “It’s been a pleasure, Captain Shirogane,” Lotor whispers in his ears. “Until next time.”
    Shiro understands what’s going to happen, but from that position he isn’t able to resist to stumble forwards when Lotor pushed his back with both hands. The movement is enough to distract Adam, and Lotor jumps on a ship parked in the near and then on the river, surpassing the soldiers.
    “Are you okay?” Adam asks, but Shiro refuses his hand.
    “Fine. We need to follow him.”

    Lotor is annoyed. He realizes that coming in a port that hold a Garrison division may come with some inconvenient, but there isn’t another place near enough to steal a ship – a decent one, not like the last pod that abandons him in a matter of days.
    Still, he hopes to have a little bit of time more, at least the time to hide himself in the small street of the town, and to be worried only about escaping with the ship. Instead is on the run the very second he stepped on Garrison, and with the knowledge that he couldn’t leave very soon, at least not before finding out more about the knife.
    Garrison is a disappointed city. Most of the street are deserted, a positive thing for someone who’s running, but civilians are usually a good distraction for the soldiers, and make them more prudent before shooting at Lotor. And the shops are mostly closed, so no place to hide inside before the soldiers reach him.
    But luck is still on his side, because finally there is an open door, and of a blacksmith/mechanic of all things. There, he can find back a sword, having been forced to abandoned the previous one, and maybe a lead for a good ship. He enters and closes the door behind him.
    The place looks empty. With prudence, Lotor puts his gun away with the idea of passing as a normal client, and reach for a barrel full of sword. He weights some of them, unsure of what is the best one, when he hears a small creak behind him.
    He turns in time to have the tip of a blade at his neck, hold up by a boy with raven hair and intense blue eyes, cheeks spattered with dark dust and oil.
    “Are you the pirate that fought against Shiro?” the boy demanded.
    “It’s better if I say he was the one to start it?”
    The grip on the sword tightened. “You threatened him.”
    Lotor sees the weakness and hit. “A little,” says, with a smirk.
    The boy breathes hard and grits his teeth. The anger obfuscates his sense enough for Lotor to grab a sword and tries to disarm him. To his surprise, the boy has good reflex, and he’s stronger than he seems since he small and slender body. Lotor can’t believe to have meeting two incredible skilled swordsmen in the span of few minutes.
    As much as he enjoys the fight, he has other plans for the day. The boy is strong, but he lacks delicacy. Lotor drags voluntary him back, faking a weakness under his string lash, then he turns around so he is again in the direction of the door. He takes a jump forwards and then kicks a pile of boxes, that fell on the ground and free all the metal objects they contained.
    The boy steps behind to avoid being it, and Lotor rushes towards the door.
    “Don’t worry, I haven’t hurt your Shiro too much,” he yells, and he doesn’t see that the door is opening, and it hit him right in the face.

    Shiro is disappointed. He’s first day as a Captain hasn’t being great. A petty part of him consider that he could have beat Lotor if Adam wouldn’t have interfered, still. The fact that in the end it was Sal, even if by mistake, to catch Lotor was a pretty wound on Shiro’s pride.
    The positive thing, Shiro thinks while looking at the knife, was that Adam didn’t notice it, neither did the other soldiers. Adam especially were too focused on Shiro’s well-being, allowing Shiro to hide back the knife in the pocket.
    Well, what’s done is done, Shiro shrugs. He’s about to put back the knife in his drawer, when the symbol on the hilt glows. White light erupts from it: it lasts just five second before disappearing again, but Shiro isn’t mistaking his sight. It never happens before, and he puts Shiro on an edge.
    That day was also the first time Shiro ever used it in battle. Usually, he doesn’t even bring it around. Shiro remembers clearly the shiver he felt when the knife’s blade stopped the slash of Lotor’s sword. Now he’s chilling, but a different kind of chilling, like the feeling that something bad is about to happening. Like the knife is trying to warn him.
    Iverson is in his own room, and Shiro feels it’s not use to disturb him over a feeling. He takes his coat and leaves the mansion, the knife safe in his pocket. His intention is to reach for the guard tower next to the port and checks the defense system. Garrison Town has one of the best of the universe, so probably even if they’re under attack they will be able to repel it.
    He doesn’t manage to arrive at the tower. He hears a whistle sound, then the entire town is hit by a shock wave that caused a blackout. Shiro observes with wide eyes as the light in the house around turns off one after another. The stars above him become brighter and, even in the dark, it’s impossible to miss the light of the giant ship that is slowly descending on the port.
    Hoverbikes flying out from the ship, and screams and yells and gunshots can be heard around. Fires starts sprouting around.
    “Pirates!”
    Shiro changes his course, running towards the headquarter with the idea of helping with the defenses. He isn’t armed, so there’s few he can do against the pirates alone. Yet, he stops when he sees a pirate jumping off his hoverbike and trying to attack an old man that slowly is trying to reach his house.
    Using the dark and the pirate’s distraction at his advantages, Shiro strikes body slamming against the pirate. He lets the gun fell, so Shiro grabs it in a second and shot the man in the chest, the adrenaline pushing him into shooting ten times, with the body of the pirate that winces against the hits.
    Silence fells in the street, and Shiro breathes hard to calm himself. Then his ears rings, and he can hear again the screams above and around him. He’s about to turn to ask at the old man if he’s okay, when the pirate stands up. His shirt is plasters with holes, but not blood in there.
    He cracks his head and smirk at Shiro. The old man screams and Shiro shots again, this time in the head. The pirate stops, but doesn’t fell.
    “The legends… they’re true…” the old man whispers.
    “Impossible,” Shiro says, the gun still pointed to the pirate. “Pirates aren’t immortals.” Yet, the knife seemed to have some sort of power related to them… it couldn’t be a coincidence that the pirates arrived the day Shiro used it the first time.
    “No… they’re true… I’ve seen the symbol on the ship… it’s the Black Lion…”
    The Black Lion is a legend among sailors: a mysterious ship that navigate space for hundred years, with an immortal crew of pirates. Nobody has been able to testify it, because there haven’t been survivors in the towns the Back Lion attacked. Shiro knows of the legend, with the curiosity about space stories he has as a child, but he never believes them.
    Not until his gun finishes the shot and the pirate is still alive, still upstanding in front of him. And with no regards, he leans his hand towards Shiro, towards his pocket…
    “Parley,” Shiro says suddenly.
    “Par…don?” the pirate startles.
    “What, you don’t know the parley?” Shiro comments, while the old man behind him trembles. “The pirate cone. Sure someone that lives for so long knows about the right of a person to ask for a meeting with the Captain. You know, to negotiate a deal.”
    The pirate frowns. “We don’t need to negotiate.”
    “What’s your name?” Shiro asks, surprising the pirate.
    “Haxus.”
    “Well, Haxus, you can do what you want, but are you sure your captain won’t be disappoint of you disrupting the pirates’ code?”
    “Fine,” Haxus says. “If you want so bad to speak with the captain, you will. Your loss.”
    They reach the ship with the hoverbike, and Shiro can’t help but enjoy the fly, and also the chance to admire from above the Black Lion. It’s a gigantic ship, with three black sails and a silver lion head as a figurehead. The pirates are still around the city with their hoverbikes, but the attacks have stopped, and some of them are already on board, to check the situation.
    Shiro remains next to the parapet, even if he knows he can’t jump from that height: the pirates have been smart enough to not land on the surface of the lake.
    “So, who’s the man who asked for a parley?” a deep, loud voice says, sounding like a roar.
    The Captain is an imposing man, taller than Shiro, with a big mouth and teeth that looks like fang. Just like Shiro, he has a prosthetic arm, but his own hasn’t the dimension of a normal arm, and instead of a hand it ends with a blade.
    “I’m Captain Takashi Shirogane,” Shiro introduces himself with a step forward, to show confidence.
    The Captain eyes brighten. “Oh, you’re famous around space. The Champion.”
    Shiro doesn’t like that surname, and the way he gains it in war, so he doesn’t answer. “Who have I the pleasure to speak with.”
    “I’m Sendak, the Captain of the Black Lion,” he answers with a grin. “You’re here for the parley, so… speak.”
    “I want you and your crew to leave the town and not coming back.”
    Around here, the pirates snicker, but Sendak looks at him with interest. “And why we should do that?”
    Slowly, Shiro puts the hand on his pocket and he takes off the knife. It’s a lucky guess, but he smiles a little because he doesn’t miss the slight way Sendak’s eyes bulge. And the way the pirates stop laughing.
    “In exchange, I’ll give you this knife.”
    “Why should we turn down an entire city over a poorly knife?” Sendak tries to show indifference.
    “Oh, well, if you don’t want it I can always…” He puts the arm over the parapet and opens his head.
    “No!” Sendak yells.
    With a swift movement of his prosthetic, Shiro grabs back the knife and smirk with satisfaction.
    “Fine,” Sendak spats, realizing there have no way to negate his interest in the knife. “You have your deal.”
    “How can I know you’ll respect your part?” Shiro asks.
    “The pirates’ code is sacred for us. Otherwise, I wouldn’t ever have talked with you.”
    That is true. In all the years Shiro navigate in space, the parley and the sanctity of it is something that everyone agrees with. So he puts back his arm and delivers the knife to Sendak.
    He passes it at Haxus, before turning to his man. “We’re leaving! Ready to set sail!”
    Shiro looks around, guessing how they will be returning him to the ground. But when the Black Lion starts lifting to the ground, he realizes they have no intention of letting him go.
    “What about me?”
    “Oh?” Sendak purrs. “You haven’t say anything about you in your parley.” And then, with a satisfied smirk, he adds, “you’re not as good as you think you are, Champion.”

    A bucket of water wakes Keith up. He passes out the night before, fighting against the pirates, and he’s still on the ground, in the dirt, with his body that aches everywhere. He doesn’t know how he managed to survive. He doesn’t remember much of the night previous except from the fact those pirates look immortal like the legends his father told him as a child, before dying.
    Stumbling and with a hand on the wall, Keith stands up and walks with the intention of returning to his small apartment and sleeping all day, ignoring the fact that he has to work at Sal’s. Damn, maybe Sal was killed by the pirates. He has to check he’s okay before resting.
    He has to check Shiro is fine before taking care of himself.
    The city isn’t destroyed as Keith feared. There are burned house around, but the fire has been stopped, and apparently most people are fine enough to take care of the reparations.
    Keith grasps fragments of conversation as he walks towards the blacksmith. Most people discuss about the fact that the pirates left without destroying the city, or even attacking the best house, the mansions of the nobles. The soldiers admit they were losing, but the pirates run away by themselves.
    And then, Keith hears something that freeze his blood in his veins: Shiro has disappeared. Nobody has seen Captain Shirogane around and, it seems, a person testified he left with one of the pirates.
    Immediately, Keith’s pain disappeared, substitute by the worries for Shiro’s situation. He changes his course and runs towards the headquarters, a place he hasn’t visited anymore after he was expelled a couple of years before. He ignores the complain of the guards and jumps on the railway. The time he has spent there as a cadet there allows him to know the best route to reach for the higher-ups’ office: and they are all there, around their table, with their maps in front of them.
    “Where’s Shiro?” he demands.
    Iverson looks at him with annoyance, but before he gets the change to kick Keith out, Adam intervenes. He places his hand on Keith’s shoulder and, despite his protest, he pushes him outside the room and closes the door behind them.
    Keith escapes his grip. “He was kidnapped by the pirates, wasn’t he?”
    “Listen,” Adam says. “We’re on their tail. The entire army is ready to fight for them. They probably took him for a ransom, and we’re getting ready for that too. We’ll bring him back.”
    “I know how it works. You’re there discussing by yourself while Shiro’s outside in the hands of the pirates!”
    Now Adam is annoyed. “What Shiro always tell you? Patience yields focus. We have-”
    “Don’t,” Keith snarls. “Don’t use this against me.”
    He turns his back at Adam, who doesn’t follow back. While he walks, he takes a decision. It’s a stupid one, reckless, but it’s the best idea Keith has at the moment to reach Shiro.
    So he moves towards the cell block.
    Since most of the guards are in town to help with the damages, Keith sneaks in without being spotted. Lotor is the only prisoner in the cell block, and in the silence of the area it’s impossible he hasn’t heard Keith’s steps, still he doesn’t lift from the bed he lies on.
    “Hey,” Keith calls. “What do you know about the Black Lion?”
    “And why do you want to know something about the Black Lion?”
    “They took Shiro.”
    “Ah, Captain Shirogane. A pity but, well, what’s done it’s done,” Lotor replies, with a brief shrug. “If he isn’t dead already, he’ll wish to be soon.”
    Keith’s fist clatters the cell bars. “I’m going to save him. I just need to know where the Black Lion is now.”
    “You’ll die,” Lotor affirms, and this time he stands up. “Why does he matter so much to you?”
    “Shiro is the only one who never give up on me, so I won’t give up on him.” He looks at Lotor, at his impassible face, and the snorts. “Doesn’t matter, I’ll do it alone.”
    He’s about to leave when Lotor calls him back. “What’s your name?”
    “Keith.”
    “Keith and what?”
    “Keith and nothing.”
    “Well, Keith and nothing,” Lotor smirks, “what’s your plan? You’re going around looking for any trace of the Black Lion and then, just, fight everyone? An army of immortal pirates?”
    “That’s the plan, yes,” Keith answers between his teeth. It’s not like he has any other ideas.
    “Okay, my plan. I’ll give you not only a way to find the Black Lion, but also a hand to take your Shiro back without dying in the meantime. If you bring me out of here.”
    Keith blinks and looks at the metal bars. “I can’t take you out.” Lotor’s eyes widen, and Keith adds, “the lock is a magnetic one, it can be open only with the fingerprints of the guards.”
    “Then what, you really came here hoping me, a pirate, will give you information for free?”
    “That was my plan, yes.”
    “Unbelievable!” Lotor turns around and lies again on the small mattress.
    Keith smirks. He takes off his screwdriver and opens the small box below the lock. He takes off the caves, cuts out of them. The lock frizzles a little and then the bars open. Lotor turns around surprise.
    “But I have a back plan,” Keith says. “My boss helped to build this locks.”
    There is a satisfied smile on Lotor’s face. “Glad to know you’re not as naïve as you look. We may be able to do it, after all. Now let’s go before someone catch us back. But, one last question: how good are you as a pilot?”

    His time in the pirate ship was boring than Shiro expect: he basically spends all his time in the small cabin they reserved to him, and for a prisoner he feels he’s be treating good. But he’s bored nevertheless, so he accepts with enthusiasm Sendak’s invitation at dinner. A good chance to find more about the knife and why they wanted it so bad.
    The dinner was served in Sendak’s private cabin, and he and Shiro are the only guest inside. Sendak doesn’t eat, but Shiro is hungry and Sendak doesn’t seem the type to indulge in poisoning. He seems more inclined in decapitation or some other gruesome methods.
    “You’re not scared,” Sendak says, after Shiro ends the first chicken wing and starts the second one.
    “There’s no reason to be,” Shiro replies calm. “If you want me dead, I’ll be already. And to be fair, I’ve been in worse situation.” He waves his prosthetic just to make a point.
    “Fair,” Sendak admits. He takes off Keith’s knife and stab the wooden table with it. “You’re an interesting man, Champion. But before deciding what I’ll do with you, I need to know where did you find the knife.”
    “It’s mine,” Shiro replies immediately. “I’ve had it all my life, even if I don’t remember who gave me.”
    There is no way Shiro will bring Keith in this: the less Sendak knows about Keith’s connection to the knife or to Shiro himself, the better. Hoping that Keith didn’t get killed in the attack. But no: Shiro needs to hope Keith is safe back at the town.
    “I see,” Sendak hums. “Are you interesting in its story?”
    “You’re going to tell me, just like that?” Shiro is surprised.
    Sendak shrugs. “Why not? I can assure you, there is nothing you can do with it.”
    “Except to finally satisfy my curiosity.”
    “I suppose so.” Sendak touches the knife with his finger. “This story started a lot of time ago, when Captain Zarkon was still the captain of the Black Lion, and a man I’ve been proud to follow. He was a great, blood lusting pirate, you know, but he was mortal like every human.”
    “You don’t look mortal to me.”
    “It wasn’t always like that. The first time we ever heard about the possibility of being immortal, it was when Zarkon fall ill. His wife, well, she was a strange one, always focused on strange rituals, like a witch. She said his illness was fatal, unless she found a way to make him immortal. So she left to find the source of this immortality. Oriande, she called it.”
    “But they’re supposed to be all legends, right?”
    “Most of them, probably. But the space is huge, so some legends end up true in the end, in some way.”
    “Like this one.”
    “That’s what Honerva believed, at least. But when she returned, Zarkon was already dead.”
    “The illness got him.”
    “Not the illness. His own son killed him.” Sendal almost growls his last words, before his face returns impassible. “Honerva was desperate, and to calm her down, we accepted to follow her to Oriande. None of us believed the story of the immortality, but we hoped to find some treasure there. A place no one knows where it is? That’s something.”
    “And did you find something?”
    Sendak shakes his head. “Nothing except for those kind of knife, that were embedded in the rock of a cave. We didn’t know which metal they’re made off. Honerva called it luxite, and she said they’re magic. They were, sort off. In the hand of the person that took them off the rock, they can turn into a sword. But that isn’t their only secret.”
    “What also they can do?” Shiro asks, a little too exciting.
    “Since the knife were the only thing there, we took them, with the idea of selling them around.” Sendak smirks at Shiro’s disappointed expression, then he continues, “we didn’t gain much money, to be honest, but soon after we realized that we couldn’t be killed. We were so amazed, at first.”
    With a sudden movement, Sendak takes the knife and stabs his neck with it. Shiro looks in awe when the two hem of skin and human meat are surrounded by small, round dark creatures, that moves with a metallic sound. They cover the wound entirely and then disappear inside Sendak’s body, leaving his neck intact as nothing happened to it.
    “Nanomachines, probably created by a very advanced society,” Sendak explains. “The knifes were the key to this kind of technology: once we removed them, the nanomachines escaped their container and parasited us. I felt there some magic in them too, since how able they are to repair our bodies.”
    Shiro is amazed, in a weird and sick way. “So that’s your secret. But what about you get decapitated?” Sendak misses a limb after all.
    He doesn’t answer. “We spend years to collect back every single sword and bring them back in the cave of Oriande. Searching all the legends about it, we were pretty sure that putting them back in the rock with a small blood sacrifice will be enough to put the nanomachines back in their container. And finally, we found the last one of them.” He stabs back the knife in the table.
    “I don’t understand,” Shiro murmurs, honest. “I thought you want to be immortal.”
    “It was great at first,” Sendak admits. “Before we realized what did it mean for real. The nanomachines treat the human body like their personal puppet. They heal you only because they want to continue to use it as a vector. They steal all of your feelings. I can eat and drink, but they’ll be the one getting it, while I’m condemn to be hungry and thirsty forever. There isn’t a human desire I can’t satisfy anymore.”
    “It did sound like a shitty life. No offense.”
    “It is. But it’s almost over.” Sendak stands up and walks around the table. “When I took my place as the rightful heir of Zarkon, there are a group of us that didn’t approve. They wanted Lotor as a Captain,” another growls behind his teeth, “despite what he’d done to Zarkon. We threw them out, but we didn’t realize that one of them remain behind, to spy on us. She was with us at Oriante, and she took a knife too. And then she escaped.”
    “Will I sound smart if I guess this knife was hers?”
    Sendak grins. “Once we found out, we pursued her, and then let her rot in the emptiness of the space. That was before we discovered that we need the knife and the blood of the person that took it. But we are luckily: the blood of her son should be enough.”
    There is a predatory look in Sendak’s gaze. Shiro sustains it, even if there are a lot of thoughts spinning around his head. Keith had the knife with him, and didn’t remember his mother at all, just his father. It made sense with Sendak’s story. Shiro is glad Keith isn’t there to listen to the story.
    “You don’t look much like her.”
    “I haven’t ever met her.” And it isn’t even a lie.
    “You will soon,” Sendak affirms, with an amused smirk. “Like I said, we need a bloody sacrifice for the ritual to work. It doesn’t matter for us because we’re immortal, but you. Well. It’s been a pleasure, Champion. Enjoy your meal for me too.”

    Lotor considers himself a good judge of characters. And, by the brief time he knows Keith, he deduces Keith isn’t good at following orders. He may do it only if the trusts the person he gave the order, or if he finds the order reasonable enough. It’s obvious then that Keith doesn’t work well with Lotor, being unable to understand the finesse of his plan, and Lotor doesn’t have time to explain things to him.
    “So,” Keith says. “I hope the fact that they’ve surrounded us it’s part of your plan.”
    “Your mistrust hurts me,” Lotor informs him, as he throws a quick glance around.
    They’re on the top of the biggest ship in the port, the Atlas (the fact that Shirogane was supposed to be its captain doesn’t help Keith’s humor unfortunately). They were spotted soon enough by the guards and now the soldiers are on their boats all around, anchored the big ship on the lake.
    “Keith,” calls a man who Lotor recognizes like the one that came in Shirogane’s aid the day of Lotor’s arrival. “I understand you’re worried, but that’s not the solution. Come down quietly and I’ll speak with Iverson about it.”
    Lotor looks at Keith, who snorts. “So? What’s the plan?”
    “Well, now that ship is free,” he nods towards a red ship at the near end of the port. “It looks fast, and we should be able to pilot it by ourselves.”
    “Red?” Keith asks. “She’s the fastest ship of the fleet. Still, I fail to say how we can reach her since we’re, if it isn’t clear enough, we’re surrounded.”
    “You claimed to be a good pilot,” Lotor says. “It’s the moment to prove it.”
    “Unbelievable,” Keith comments.
    Without another word, he disappeared inside the ship. Lotor doesn’t stop it: to be fair, he has a plan to escape from the siege, but he needs to see Keith’s ability first. They’re going to fight the immortals, and they’ll need to be prepared for it. Keith’s being the key of everything may be not enough for Sendak, and in any way Lotor doesn’t intend to use it unlike he needs to.
    He keeps the gaze on the soldiers and he notices that they’ve started the boarding. He doesn’t have much time left, if Keith doesn’t manage to find a way… and then he hears it, the roar of a hoverbike’s engine. Instead of coming out by the hangar’s door, Keith passed towards the hallway of the ships and emerges from the same door he used to enter.
    “Get on!” he screams as he passes next to Lotor, and he has to jump on the running hoverbike, with a big smirk on his face.
    Keith flies the hoverbike behind the soldiers that are about to jump on the ship and then lets the hoverbike falling towards the lake. He turns on again the engine just a second before they crash on the lake, and the air of the engine splashes the boats with the soldiers around. Then, with the push, they spring towards the ship of their choice.
    Lotor doesn’t even have to order Keith to take the helm of the ship. With a smirk, he confesses, “I’ve always wanted to pilot Red.”
    “You didn’t lie when you said you’re the best pilot around,” Lotor comments.
    Like mother, like son, he thinks. Krolia would be proud, but Lotor can’t tell Keith. Not yet, at last. Maybe, once he gets the Black Lion back, he may think of recruiting Keith.

    If Shiro wouldn’t be in danger, Keith would have enjoyed the ride. Red isn’t supposed to be maneuver by only two people, but she’s little enough to let it works, so Keith can stay on the helm and see her as she drifts towards the waves.
    Truly an amazing feeling.
    “Hey,” he calls for Lotor. “There is the island! The Black Lion will be there?”
    “No way,” Lotor answers with a yawn. “That’s Olkari, the town of pirates. They would never stay in such a spotlight.”
    “But I thought…” Keith frowns.
    “Listen, if you want to save your Shiro, we have to be prepared. Only two of us won’t work. But I have friends here, and I can create a small crew in no time. Then we’ll be ready to go to the Black Lion’s den.”
    “It can be too late!”
    “The Black Lion is a big ship, slower than us. And I know a shortcut to the den. Don’t worry.” Lotor pats Keith’s back. “Just be careful when you moor.”
    Keith grits his teeth, but at the moment he doesn’t have other choices but to follow Lotor. He’s not a pirate expert (not as Shiro is) and he can’t just go around hoping to intercept the Black Lion; especially with the Garrison on his tail. At least, in a town of pirates he may found some other leads if Lotor isn’t enough.
    Surprisingly, he feels at easy in the town. There are looks in his direction, but they seem more because he’s a new pirate in town than the usually pitied and annoyed expression he got back. And the absence of rules actually turns the place into something really free: there are machineries and engines and ships that wouldn’t have allowed under Garrison’s jurisdiction but that Keith would test for sure if he had the time. Without even notice, it has a small smile in his face.
    “Can you look more…” Lotor whispers to him “… I don’t know, threatening?”
    Keith frowns. “What do you mean?”
    “That’s it, perfect! Keep that expression.” And he pushes open the door of a tavern.
    The inside isn’t very different from the outside, save for the fact that the people are busier into drinking and betting that paying attention to them. Lotor looks around until he spots a beautiful woman with white hair cupped in a high chignon.
    “Allura, my dear. It’s a pleasure to meet you again.” He leans towards her.
    She smiles, a pleasant but dangerous one. Then she grabs Lotor by one arm and she throws him around the room: he falls right next to Keith, who is still at the door. He raises an eyebrow.
    “I like you,” he says to her.
    “Thank you.”
    “I’m not sure I deserved it,” Lotor complains. He stands up again, brushes his dirty pants and sighs.
    “Believe me, you did,” Allura replies. “What are you doing here?”
    “I need your help,” he says sincerely. “I need a crew, a small, trustful one. To get to Oriande.”
    Allura rolls his eyes. “Again? Listen, I understand you, and I’m the first one that hate that my faith was used but-”
    “Sendak has the last knife,” Lotor interrupts her, and Allura’s surprised expression turns into a sadness one in a second.
    Keith remains silent, but he listens every word. What knife was Lotor talking about? Who is Sendak? Was Oriande the pirates’ den? Lotor was in prison at the time of the attack at the town, so he definitely knows more than he says. And despite that, he may be the right person for Keith in that moment.
    “Maybe that’s for the best,” Allura says. “If they revert the course, the world will be a better place. You’re too involved because of the Black Lion.”
    “The world will be safe only if Sendak will stop being the captain of the Black Lion,” Lotor retorts. “And in the moment they revert the course they’ll be vulnerable. We need to hit them!”
    “Your name is Allura, right?” Keith intervenes, at last. “The pirates of the Black Lion kidnapped a friend of mine. I want to save him, and I’ll do everything to do it. If you could help us, it’ll be really appreciated. If I lose Shiro…” It’s the first time he admits loudly that not everything could be fine in the end, and it’s so hard he almost chokes in himself.
    Allura’s expression soft. “I’m sorry for your friend, but I really…”
    “Please,” Lotor says. “I haven’t been the best person around, and you’re right to be angry… but this time we can do something good. Saving a life…”
    “Fine,” she spats. “Give me three hours. I should be able to recruit someone crazy enough to follow you.”
    “Thank you,” Keith says sincerely.
    They return back to Red and waits. Keith is restless so he trains a little on the deck with a sword, while Lotor looks the horizon in silence. There are some questions Keith has for him, but he isn’t sure Lotor would have answer. And to be honest, he doesn’t not care as much as he cares about Shiro.
    As promised, Allura joins them after four hours, and five girls are with her: Keith remains on the deck and studies all of them. They look tough, which is probably what they need.
    “All woman?”
    “I can pay them less,” Lotor jokes, and he jumps on the moor to greet them. “I’m happy to see you, and I thank you for-”
    Before he can finish, the woman with the long blond hair grabs him and throws him in the air. Lotor lands with his ass back on the deck of the ship.
    “Let me guess, you don’t deserve it,” Keith comments. Sometimes his decision to follow Lotor wanders.
    “No, I probably deserve this one.”
    “Let’s go, girl,” Allura says, “we have a work to do.”
    Flying Red with a more numerous crew is easier, and lets Keith more time to dedicate only at the navigation. Lotor gave him direction, and Keith drives with more energy because this time, finally, they’ll go to save Shiro. The others are expert sailors, unlike Keith, but they seem impressed by his ability to keep the ship, and he can trust her for the other duty.
    Again, Keith feels an easiness he isn’t used to. And that he wasn’t supposed to, since they all were pirates and Keith… Keith isn’t sure of what he is.
    “You can rest, you know,” Allura joins him next the helm. Her tone is kind.
    “I can’t,” he replies. “Not until we save Shiro.”
    “You care a lot about him, don’t you?”
    “I thought is pretty obvious, since everything. I mean, I’m following Lotor.”
    Allura chuckles. “Fair point.” Then, her gaze becomes serious. “Lotor isn’t a bad person, but you have to be careful. The Black Lion is a sore spot for him, and it happened in the past that he ended up hurting people because of it. It doesn’t matter if his intentions are good, someone is going to suffer. And I truly hope it won’t be you.”
    “You don’t even know me,” Keith replies.
    “Maybe,” she says. “But you remember me of someone.” She doesn’t add anything, and Keith doesn’t ask.
    His top priority in that moment is Shiro, and Lotor can bring Keith to Shiro. That’s all. He doesn’t feel any attachment to Lotor, so if he has to let Lotor behind for Shiro’s sake, he will.
    This probably makes him a worse person than Lotor. A person who’s more likely hurting someone of the crew than Lotor.
    “You don’t have to worry about me, but I hope we all get out of this unscattered.”
     
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    If Sendak thinks Shiro is demoralized by the all “sacrifice things” or that he will accept his fate without a fight, well, he’s incredible wrong. Just, Shiro doesn’t do pointless fights. And fight a pirate ship in the middle of unknown space doesn’t seem the best course of action for Shiro in order to survive.
    Patience yields focus has always been Shiro’s motto, and that his way to survive during the travel. His only chance for saving himself is to act once they reach a planet.
    From his cabin, definitely more comfortable than a cell, he can’t see outside because the window has been closed with iron boards. Still, Shiro has enough knowledge of spaceships to realizes just by the way it moves if they enter in one planet’s atmosphere.
    When Haxus comes for him in his cabin, Shiro already knows it’s the time.
    Unfortunately, Sendak is a prudent man, and he sent Haxus to take Shiro even before the ship moors on the planet, which makes Shiro’s plan of escaping a lot more difficult.
    “Put this on your eyes,” Haxus orders, throwing him a piece of clothes from the door, that Shiro catches with his left hand, “and then put your hands on your back.”
    Before obeying, Shiro scrutinizes Haxus: he has two guns at his belt, alongside a sword and a knife. Not enough to defeat an entire army of pirates, but something Shiro may need to defend himself. Then, he blindfolds himself and focuses his attention of his earing.
    Steps of Haxus that approaches him, and then stops behind him. Shiro waits until Haxus is about to close the handcuff around Shiro’s wrists, then he stomps one of his feet into Haxus and, even before he has a chance of screaming, he put his head back and hit him in the face, then he let himself falls backwards to crush Haxus on the ground.
    It doesn’t have much time considering they are immortal, so Shiro takes off his blindfold and gags Haxus with it, then he handcuffs him to the bed. He steals all his weapons and goes out of the cabin, closing the door behind him.
    Reaching the main deck may be too dangerous, since mostly pirates will be there, preparing for the landing. And Sendak doesn’t appear like a patient man, so he doesn’t have much time before someone else is sending to check on Haxus. So, contrary of every reasonable decision, Shiro takes the stairs that bring on the upper quartier of the ship.
    He doesn’t need to escape at the moment, just to understand where they are. So his main mission is to find a window to look around, and he’s luckily enough to find one main hall, probably the crew dinner room. There is a nice window there.
    There is dark outside, but it’s the dark of the night, not of the space. Shiro already knows they’ve entered the atmosphere, but now he can realize how much they’re near to the surface of it. There aren’t any lights on the planet, but from the light of the stairs, Shiro notices below him there is just dark water. An island stands in front of the ship, far enough so the ship will land directly in front of them, or at least Shiro guesses by the height the ship is in that moment.
    He doesn’t have any choice. He takes the tablecloth and uses the knife to cut them into smaller straps. He ties them together to create a long rope, the ties one of the end to the leg of the metal table, that is stuck on the floor. He grits his teeth and curls his right metal hand into a fist before smashing it into the windows. He doesn’t break it, but it cracks the glass enough so he can crash it throwing a chair on it.
    The cold air swooshes inside and almost sucks Shiro outside as he throws the rope outside it. The sound lures the pirates inside the dining room, but it’s too late. When they try to shot at Shiro, he already pushes himself outside the windows, his hands on the rope as he lets himself sliding down.
    The pirates can’t kill him, so he’s sure they wouldn’t have cut the rope. But they grab it and tries to collect him back to force Shiro back on board. Shiro swings in the air, looking between the ship and the dark water below him. He hurries to reach the end of the rope, but he’s still too high.
    With a last look at the pirates, that laughs and insults him from below, Shiro stops his breath and lets the rope goes. He hears the screams of the pirates as his body fall fast towards the water. In the air, Shiro tries to put himself in the most comfortable position to the impact, still the pain as he smashes on the water. Unable to recollect himself immediately, he sinks down.
    Water penetrates in his lungs and Shiro’s brain awakes despite the pain. He waggles the arms and the legs and he manages to put his head back outside the water, coughs heavy, throat burring for the sea water. The ship is still upon him and it seems to have stop his movement: every lights are now turned on.
    Sendak will sent the hoverbike to look for him soon enough. Shiro looks around to find back the island in the dark and starts swimming in that direction.
    When he reaches the beach of the island, every fiber of his body aches except for the metal arm, because it’s made of metal, of course. It’s stupid, but his black humor makes Shiro smiles. He sees the hoverbikes hovering on the dark water, so he crumbles outside the beach and inside the forest.
    He needs to find a place to hide to recover himself; he would need any piece of his strength to fight the pirates. The situation isn’t ideal since the island is probably Sendak’s lair, but Shiro hopes to have enough time to set up some traps that will let him have a little advantage.
    He walks outside the signed paths, but his mind is still lured by the gigantic tree at the middle of the island; dawn is arriving fast so Shiro, despite the protest of his body, accelerates his steps. The tree seems far like it was on the beach, which makes Shiro stumbles. Yet, he doesn’t stop because he sees something behind the forest.
    And then he finds a clearing in front of a mountain, and lent against the mountain there was an unmistakably human building made of stone. Shiro observes him with open mouth: it’s a pyramidal building, at least for the three face that aren’t against the mountain, with a big, stone stair that goes from the ground to the small alcove at the top of the pyramids. At each side of every steps of the stair there are jaguar stone statues, with sides of the pyramids are decorated with scene of killings: in those, the jaguars are hung up, burned or sliced up.
    As stupid as it is, Shiro feels the eyes of the jaguars on himself. And it may be true: Shiro guesses this may be the place where the pirates’ curse started, which meant that the people that created that building were probably so technological advanced that create both nanomachines and living jaguar robot machine.
    He has a desire to enter the pyramid and explore the inside, because it’s clear there is much more there than a pirates’ lair, but in the end it is the pirates’ lair so the worst place for Shiro to hide. With a last look, he steps behind not letting the jaguar statues looks at his back, and then returns back in the forest.

    During his Garrison day, people told Keith he has a sort of sixty sense, the one that made him so good during fight. He doesn’t really believe it, but he has a gut feeling that Shiro is still alive, and it’s the only thing that make him stay sane during the journey. When he pilots Red, he has enough distractions, but when Acxa takes his place to let him rest, Keith is left alone with his thoughts about how many things can go wrong with Shiro’s rescue plan.
    For this reason, he’s happy Romelle joins him on the main deck. She’s a little too much exuberant, but a good distraction nevertheless. And at least she’s better than Ezor, who only want to mock him, for whatever reasons.
    “For you,” she smiles, offering him a bow of maize soup.
    He groans. “Why haven’t we load something more than maize?”
    Romelle sits down in front of him and takes a spoon of the soup. “Maize is a very important element of the nature. All humans born from it, or so Allura says.”
    At the mention of Allura, Keith turns around to look at her. She’s on the front part of the deck, near the figurehead of the ship. Lotor is there with her, and they both stands there, in silence. They both wore a jaguar band at their right arms.
    So much for someone that warned Keith about Lotor’s danger attitude.
    “What are you looking to?” Romelle asks. She’s licking her spoon.
    “Nothing,” he says, but she hasn’t missed her stare.
    “Nice couple, aren’t they?”
    “Are they together?”
    “Dunno? They have known each other for a long time, even before Lotor is kicking out the Black Lion and went around searching for us all.”
    Keith blinks. “Wait. Lotor was on the Black Lion’s crew?”
    Romelle’s turn to blink. “Yes. The first captain of the Black Lion was his father. I though you knew, since you asked him help to track down it.”
    “He was the only pirate around,” Keith shrugs.
    “Lotor will be so offended if he found out,” Romelle giggles.
    But at this point, Keith is curious. “Why Lotor has been kicked out?”
    “It’s kinda of a long story.”
    “We have time,” Keith replies, and finally takes a spoon of his soup.
    Romelle takes a look to Allura and Lotor, but they’re not paying attention to other than the horizon. “Okay, but keep in mind mostly of it sounds a lot like a legend.”
    “The Black Lion’s pirates are immortal,” Keith points out.
    “Fair enough.” Romelle sits down better on the floor. “You see, Allura and I descend from the people of one of the older planets of the galaxies. Now that planet doesn’t exist anymore, it’s been destroyed when the Earth started colonized around.”
    Keith chokes on his soup.
    “The only surviving were the people that had already starting exploring the universe. For quite some time, they were a closed group that married inside themselves to make our culture and race surviving despite the destruction of our planets.”
    “I fail to understand how it connects with Lotor’s story.”
    “I’m getting there!” Romelle complains. “Sit up and shut up. What I was telling… Okay, so, Lotor’s mother was one of us, and she had an incredible knowledge of our legends. Only Allura’s father surpassed her on that. And then went away and married Zarkon. Lotor’s father,” Romelle clarifies.
    “I guess it was a disappointment.”
    “A little, but nobody could stop her. We were a group, not a cult. And none of us realized back then what tragic results it would bring. And we didn’t know about it until Lotor came to us.”
    “What did his mother do?”
    “She was following an old legend of our tradition to find a way to save his husband from dead,” Romelle says. “She reached Oriande, a sacred a secret place for all of us, a knowledge that only the descendant of the royal family should have known. Between us, only Allura knows where it is, after his father passed away. But Honerva found it anyway.”
    “Oriande is the place we’re going right now,” Keith states. “What’s there?”
    “To explain it, I have to tell you the story of Hun Hunhapu, the maize god.”
    “Again with the maize…” Keith isn’t going to shit on someone’s else belief, but it’s getting ridiculous.
    “Told you it was important. But anyway, Hun Hunhapu wasn’t a god at first. He was a man, and for helping humanity he challenged at duel the god of thunder and lightning and won. He did it to convince the god to help humanity against the force of evil, that they’re usually represented in jaguar forms. At least, they seem like the Terran jaguars in our pictures.”
    Keith throws a look at the jaguar skin both Lotor and Allura wear.
    “The god of Thunder accepted to help humanity, and did a pact with Hun Hunhanpu: he conceded him one of his lighting and he forged with it a group of swords which were delivered to a group of worthy men. With them, they managed to defeat evil and sealed him away in Oriande. That’s how Hun Hunhanpu became a god among men. For generations, though, my ancestor still haunted jaguars to avoid the evil to returns.”
    “I guess they’re extinct now…” Keith murmurs. “It really sound like a legend more than an actually story.”
    “But it isn’t. Or at least, Lotor was sure it wasn’t. He feared his mother finding Oriande and messing with the last traces of Hun Hunhanpu on Earth would destroy the balance.” Romelle’s expression softness and sadness as he speaks, “Lotor knows how to persuade people. He convinced us we’re the ancestors of that worthy men and, like once, we had to go to Oriande and take the sword to fight evil. We believed him. Allura believed him, and she revealed him the location of Oriande.”
    “And you followed him to Oriande?”
    “I didn’t personally, but mostly did. Including my all family.” Romelle nods. “But when we reached Oriande, the blades weren’t there. The pirates had already taken them.”
    “And was the evil free now?”
    “The pirates are immortal,” Romelle states, like a matter of fact, and Keith can’t reply anything to that. She sighs deeply. “Without the blades, and without any military training, they were all wiped out by the pirates.”
    “That’s why you beat Lotor,” Keith understood.
    “He convinced my family to fight for his battle, a battle we couldn’t win.”
    “So why do you still work for him?”
    “He pays well.” Romelle comments. “Also… Allura told me we’re going to save a friend of you. It seems something good to do.”
    Shiro. He’s always present in his mind, but Romelle’s story has distracted him a little. “Yeah,” he smiles, hardening his gaze. Then, he realized, “you haven’t told me about why Lotor was kicked out the Black Lion.”
    “Oh, that. I didn’t know the details to that. But for what Lotor said-” she doesn’t manage to finish, because Lotor steps in his direction.
    “If you’re done having lunch,” he says, and he sounds a little crueler than usual, “get ready. We’re almost there.”
    Without adding anything, he goes in the below decks. Romelle shrugs and follows him. When Keith stands up, picking up her bowl of soup too, he finds Allura staring at him.
    “Once we land, only you and Lotor will get to the island. It’s safer. We’ll be waiting for you, ready to run once you’re back with your friend.”
    Keith is about to ask if he can trust her to wait for them, but then he realizes he probably can’t trust even Lotor, and he’s going to be alone with him in his way to save Shiro.
    “Keith,” Allura murmurs. “I’ve been in Oriande before. It won’t be the same for you probably-”
    “Because I’m not a descendend of an ancient maize god, I guess.”
    “But the magic there is overwhelming.” She bits her bottom lip, ignoring his sentence. “But the maize god has always been a god of creation. Do not believe people that consider blood sacrifice a viable way. It’s not how we make things, and it only bring chaos.”
    Allura always speaks as she’s declaring prophecy. Keith has enough of Romelle’s stories, which, by the way, are more gruesome since they talk about
    “I’ll keep in mind.”

    Another thing Shiro reflected about when he was prisoner of the Black Lion is how to kill an immortal man. Sendak showed him what nanomachine can do into repairing the human tissue, so Shiro decides to try for a more direct approaches.
    He’s hiding in the forest, a place that gives him wide space of maneuver. Two pirates come in his direction, but Shiro waits. They split up, a very bad choice usually, but not for immortal people apparently. Shiro is about to find out just how much immortals they are.
    He takes a sword in his hand, and then he hides his arm behind his back. In the other hand, he has a gun. He jumps off his hideout, just behind the pirate, and shots at his hand so he lets his gun fall on the ground. The pirate turns around, a satisfied smile on his lips, and takes a step in Shiro’s direction.
    Shiro’s gun touches his chest, and Shiro shots again. The pirate doesn’t even falter, still smiling. That moment of distraction is what Shiro was waiting for: in a swift, he moves the other hand and uses the sword to decapitate the pirate. The head rolls two time before stopping and the body crumbles on himself.
    There hasn’t been any yell, so Shiro has still a couple of minutes to check the situation. He observes as the nanomachines erupt from the neck and create a bridge towards the head to collect it back. With a horrified fascination, he watches as the nanomachines drag the head near the body.
    So there isn’t a way to kill them? Not even the decapitation… and then Shiro stops. He remembers the pictures he saw at the strange building back then, where the jaguars were burned after being tied up to a rock.
    The other pirate isn’t around yet. Swiftly, Shiro takes off the pirate’s belt and, after taking the weapons for him, he uses it to tied up the pirate to one rock nearby, with the feet that don’t touch the ground. The nanomachine doesn’t disturb him, just continuing their work to reattaching the head. Shiro creates fast a small flame from two branches and, as soon as the pirate regains consciousness with his head on his neck again, Shiro presses the flame on his chest.
    The body burns immediately, faster than human should do. There hasn’t been any scream yet, just a long, desperate whistle that hurt Shiro’s ears. The body crumbles and becomes ashes in front of Shiro.
    He can’t wait anymore, so he disappears again in the forest with his new knowledge.

    The thing Lotor is most worried about isn’t facing Sendak and his men, but keeping Keith under control. For the little time they spend together, Lotor has one thing clear: Keith is ready to do everything for saving his Shiro, which means doing the most reckless things. Lotor, instead, needs him to stay under control.
    “Stop here,” he says, after looking at Keith for understanding what he’s thinking.
    “Why?” Keith asks, but obeys.
    They landed Red not far from the island and, once they spotted the Black Lion, they circumnavigated on the water in order to park on the other side of the island, so they wouldn’t see them. Them, Lotor and Keith left with the hoverbike, following the line of the beaches.
    “There is a small tunnel here, under the rock. I’ve made him myself.”
    After the first, disastrous time on Oriande, Lotor has spent quite some time there, trying to find new ways to defeat Sendak inside his own lair. That’s the reason he digs the tunnel that brings from the beach to the secret cave inside the mountain, just behind the sacred tree, so he can access to the cave without passing from the temple’s entrance.
    The tunnel is big enough for Keith, able as he was, to drive inside with the hoverbike. At the end of the tunnel, it’s possible to see at the cave below without being spotted because two rocks blocked the entrance. Keith doesn’t hide his surprise at watching the cave.
    The ground of it is completely full of treasures, everything Sendak has collected in the past twenty years, and they flick grim at the light of a couple of lamps. Sendak sits down in what seemed a golden throne, alone.
    In the opposite wall from the entrance there is a big mural depicting a jaguar; the mural is ruined by countless blades stuck inside the rock, as to figuratively kill it. They are a lot more than last time, so Lotor feared they almost collect all of them. Keith is looking at the blades and Lotor hopes that, from that distance and with the low light, it’s impossible to recognize which kind of blades they are. Then, Keith turns to him.
    “Where’s Shiro?” he whispers, and Lotor takes a relieved breath.
    “Maybe they’re keeping him prisoner somewhere else,” Lotor guesses. “That’s how we act. I’m going done to speak with Sendak, hoping to make him reveal where he’s keeping your Shiro. You’ll stay here,” he underlines the word because Keith is ready to protest, “to be out escaping route. Take the hoverbike ready to run away if we need to.”
    Keith doesn’t look happy, but he nods. So Lotor slides down the rock of the wall and then walks steady towards Sendak, trying to give the impression he arrives from the main entrance of the temple.
    When Sendak sees him, he smirks. “I didn’t expect to see you again here. One defeat wasn’t enough for you? Or I should say, two?”
    “You’ve been lucky,” Lotor replies. He stops few meters from him.
    “Lucky,” Sendak growls. “I should have killed you when I had the chance, for what you’ve done.”
    “I did nothing. You lied to everyone about it.”
    “It wasn’t a lie. The reason Zarkon died was you.”
    “My father killed himself.”
    “You forced him to do.” Sendak snaps and stands out, his sword already in his hand. “All because your stupid belief that a suicide is somewhat honorable, that you have a hung goddess that bring suicide to a promised paradise. Suicide is the way out of cowards, and Zarkon wasn’t one.”
    “He was dying of an illness, and it helped him to have a nice, fast dead. A mercy one. Don’t blame my religion when you used it to become captain instead of me.”
    “He should have been saved. The witch was trying to find a way for immortality…”
    “And it worked perfectly for you.”
    “I’m still a better captain than you.”
    Just before Sendak is about to attack him, Lotor stops him. “Parley.”
    “Pardon?”
    “Parley,” Lotor repeats. “I’m not here to fight, not to steal you the Black Lion. This time, I have information you may interested in, and I wat to discuss it with you.” And with a smile, he adds, “you still have some pirate pride, don’t you? Don’t dishonor the parley.”
    “I won’t,” Sendak mutters low. “But speak fast.”
    Lotor nods. He has prepared the speech long before this moment, in a way to not rise suspect on Keith. He doesn’t get the chance to speak, because a confusion comes from outside and then Haxus enters the cave dragging a wounded and battered Captain Shirogane.
    Lotor swears under his breath. The timing is terrible.
    “Glad you finally join us, Champion,” Sendak mocks him, a triumphant grin on his face. Shirogane throws a terrible, not defeated at all gaze, as Sendak adds, “you only slowed us down a little, as time matter for us. Haxus, proceed.”
    “I was about to speak,” Lotor tries to stop Haxus. “You can do this later.”
    “No. First my interest, later, if I’m still in the mood, yours,” Sendak says, excitation in his voice. Haxus pushes Shiro against the wall, against the jaguar picture.
    “Don’t do this. You’re making a mistake.”
    “Shut up.” And he lifts the blade, the same Shirogane fought Lotor with.
    And disaster happens: a hoverbike fells from the sky and literally runs over Haxus and Sendak: Haxus is thrown in the air, while Sendak fall on the ground, face afainst his own treasure.
    “Get up!” Keith yells. Lotor observes, like the unwilling watcher of a movie, as Shiro’s eyes widen looking at Keith, then he bends down to take back the blade in his tied up hands, before jumping in the hoverbike Keith has already moved towards the exit.
    The hoverbike passes just next to Lotor, but he’s too stunned to move for hopping on it. The sound of the engine disappears on the far as Keith drives towards the exit of the temple. Sendak sputters as he stands up again.
    “What the hell was that.”
    “I would have explained you, if you gave me the chance,” Lotor mutters. “You had the wrong person. Shirogane isn’t Krolia’s son.”
    “He had the blade, he told me…”
    “And you believed him? A Garrison boy?”
    “And you know who he is?” Sarcasm is in Sendak’s voice, but Lotor knows he has his attention.
    “I know where he is. We can talk about it.”
    “Later.” Sendak growls. “The Champion took back the blade. I need it. You’re coming with us.”
    Lotor sighs and nods. Thatìs not the ideal solution, but if Keith doesn’t do any reckless thing, not more than he already does, maybe they’ll get out of it.

    The moment Sendak lifted the blade, Shiro thought it was the end. For sure he doesn’t expect Keith to appear out of thin air, and take him away with his hoverbike. Keith is focused on his driving, his ability to swift the hoverbike inside the forest without being slowing down, and Shiro is still too bummer for asking him something.
    But the sight of Red wakes Shiro up from his surprise. “The Garrison is here? You brought him here?”
    “Er… not really,” Keith murmurs, embarrassed, as he flies the hoverbike on the dek of the ship.
    Shiro frowns. “This has something to do with Lotor, right?”
    There’s no need of answers: the sight of the six girls on the ship is enough. Red may be a Garrison ship, but the crew definitely isn’t. Pirates. Lotor’s, Shiro guesses.
    “Where’s Lotor?” asks one of the girls.
    Keith swallows, but his voice is hard. “You told me that I should be careful about him. I had to leave him behind.”
    The girl’s expression seems sad for a second, before her eyes move on Shiro and nods. She turns to the rest of the crew. “We’re leaving!”
    And everyone, despite their perplex expressions, hurried to prepare Red to departure. Keith, at his side, sighs, a long one of relief.
    “Keith… you… you saved me.”
    “You’re hurt,” Keith states. “Come, I’ll patch you up
    He takes Shiro’s hand, and he frowns, seeing the handcuff and the knife. He doesn’t add anything, though, just guiding Shiro in the medical room in the below desk. Shiro looks with sweetness as Keith bandages his wounds, that luckily aren’t so deep. The pirates took him more because of tiredness than strength.
    “Keith,” he murmurs softer, while Keith takes his hand for the cut on the palm. “Did you really go and join a bunch of pirates just to save me?”
    He scoffs. “Did I have another choice? Garrison was too slow and I needed someone to bring me to the Black Lion.”
    “Try to not risk so much next time?”
    “Try not to get capture next time?” Then, Keith expressions softening. “Are you okay? I was so worried… when I saw that pirate with the blade…”
    “I’m fine,” Shiro assures him. His eyes swifts on the blade placed on the near table, and Keith follows his gaze. He stands up and takes the blade in his hands, swiping his thumb on the hilt.
    “What happened?” he asks.
    With a small sigh, Shiro recollects what Sendak has told him about the course. He summaries it to Keith, about how the pirates are immortal and how Shiro managed to let them go away from their town, until the fact that the blood and the return of the blade will make the pirates turn back to normal.
    “So this is one of the blade of Romelle’s story,” Keith mutters under his breath. “But Allura told me the blood is wrong, isn’t something their ancestor would use.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I don’t know. But I feel there is something wrong in Sendak’s plan. I understand them being immortal is bad because of the nanomachines influence… what about the nanomachines are influenced them more than just feelings?”
    Shiro’s eyes widen. “You’re saying returning the blade with their blood may have a different result than they expect? Something… worse?”
    “I don’t know. It’s just a feeling.” Finally, he turns his head at Shiro. “But this is my blade.”
    “You remember it?” Shiro exhales.
    Keith nods. “I thought I lost it time ago. It was the only memory of my mother…”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Why did you have it?”
    “You had with you when the ship found you… the day we met,” Shiro explains. “I saw it and I thought it was a pirate symbol, so I took it. I didn’t want them to become suspicious of you.”
    “I see,” Keith murmurs. “So my mother was a pirate.” Disappointed was in his tone. And then, he realizes, “but she’s supposed to be immortal too. She stole the blade after all.”
    “She was, but Sendak told me they threw her on the outside space,” Shiro says. “Even if she’s still alive, finding her it’s almost impossible at this point. I’m truly sorry.”
    “It’s fine, it’s not like I remember much about her.” But despite his words, it’s clear that he’s hurt by it, so Shiro grips Keith’s arm to comfort it.
    “We may try to look at her.”
    “Maybe,” Keith concedes. “I wonder if, years ago, my ship was attacked because of this blade.”
    “Unfortunately, you’re probably correct.”
    And Keith swears under his breath.
    “It’s not your fault.”
    “I… I know, but…” Keith takes a deep breath. “They almost killed you because of me, right? It’s my blood they wanted, since they can’t have my mother.” A deep, bitter laugh. “The sins of the parents…”
    Shiro didn’t explain much about the blood sacrifice, but apparently telling Keith about the connection between that and the thieving of the blades was enough for him to understand. “It’s not your fault,” Shiro repeats, thigens his grip. “I’m the one who kept the blade.”
    Keith looks at him. “Why haven’t you tell me?”
    “You never said anything about it, so I guessed you didn’t remember it, or it wasn’t yours.”
    “But you kept it.”
    “I did.” Shiro smiles. “The day of the ceremony… it was the first time I brought it with me. It was usually hidden in my drawer. I guess now it was the reason the pirates found it.”
    “Why?”
    “Maybe… I wanted you with me during the ceremony, somehow.”
    They look at each other. “Shiro,” Keith whispers, and he leans a little towards him, his hand places on Shiro’s knee.
    Their face are so near they look they’re about to kiss.
    And in that moment, the ship trembles and the rumor of an explosion arrives at their ears. They break the eyes contact and looks at the door. They run on the desk.
    “Allura,” Keith calls. “What’s happening?”
    “They’re following us,” the woman with the white hair answers. “And they may reach us very soon.”
    Shiro watches over the parapet: the Black Lion is on sight, the canons already out and shooting in their direction; even if they’re still too far to be hit, the shockwave of the explosions are enough to disturb the ship’s movement.
    “Red should be faster!” Keith exclaims.
    “It should,” Allura murmurs. “But unfortunately in this area of space the Black Lion, with his three sails, has an advantage on us.”
    Keith grits his teeth. “Then we should stop and fight. They’ll never let us go.”
    “They’re immortal,” Allura reminds him.
    “They can be killed,” Shiro intervenes, and the two of them turn to look surprised at him. “I’ve killed some of them back at the Island. I took the idea from the pictures on the temple there, the ones where jaguars are killed.”
    “Jaguars are a symbol of evil in my culture, but I never associated it with the pirates.” Allura sounds truly impressed. “How did you do?”
    “Fire is their weakness,” he says. “But to be honest, I didn’t know if it’s just the fire or the entire process. On the island, the pictures show the jaguars tied up on rocks as they are burned, so I did the same. I guess you don’t have rocks on the ship, do you?”
    “Unfortunately no,” Allura nods. “We may try to prepare as much as we can so weapons that use fire, but to be honest I think the best way for us is to escape. Using fire on this kind of ship may be too much dangerous and it could backfire.”
    “But-” Keith tries to protest. “This may be our chance! They know Shiro knows, but they probably haven’t the time to prepare some countermeasures.”
    They turn their head at Shiro, asking him to tip the balance. He sighs and places a hand on Keith. “You’re right about it, but if the right way to kill them is with the rocks, we won’t have any chances. And we’re weaker than them, since we’re few people here. At this point, it’s better if we escape and bring this information to the Garrison. They’ll have the means to use this knowledge to prepare an attack to wipe out those pirates once and for all.”
    Keith turns his head away. “Fine.”
    “It’s decided, then.” Allura nods. “Keith, you’re the best pilot out of us, go take Acxa’s place. You may be able to make Red go faster and take routes the Black Lion can’t follow us. In the meantime…” she turns towards the main deck, where the other girl are waiting for orders, “everybody, take your weapons and get ready to fight back!”
     
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    It was hard piloting in that situation. Keith may have a great talent, but he doesn’t have the real experience of driving a ship inside a solar storm while a pirate ship shot at said ship. He’s still able to avoid major damage to the ship so it can still navigate, but it’s too slow to hope to shake off the pursuers.
    In front of him, a little on the right, an asteroid belt appears. Keith was the best in that kind of simulation. Following his instinct, he turns the direction of the ship on the right: Red is smaller, so it can slip towards the asteroids, but the Black Lion is bigger and it may have problems web if they have a good pilot.
    But before he’s able to sink the ship inside the belt, a shot hit the ship on the side, a shot Keith wasn’t able to avoid it. The hit makes the ship swings on the right and Keith loses his balance. He falls down and crashes on the wall. He hits his head and stays there for few minutes, a little bit disoriented.
    When his legs are able to sustain him again, he rushes towards the helm, but it’s too late. No matter his efforts, the ship isn’t following his orders anymore, and there are only two possible explanations: the engine was hit and it’s now broken, or the pirates are boarding them.
    With his gun in his hand, Keith returns in the upper desk and finds himself in the middle of the fight. Zethrid is fighting with his bare punches, slowing down the pirates as Ezor helps her to push them back. In the middle of the fight, both Allura and Shiro have torches in their hand, but apparently Shiro was right and the ritual to kill the pirates only works if they’re tied to a rock: the pirates’ clothes burn but they don’t slow down, and it’s even more dangerous for the ship itself, that already has some small burn on the ground. Romelle is on the back, and shots flame arrows directly to the Black Lion’s deck, hoping to damage it enough to force the pirates to focus more on it.
    “Gentlemen,” Lotor’s voice sounds clearly despite the chaos on the decks. “Now that we’re all here, my suggestion is to calm down.”
    Sendak grabs Shiro by the collar and smashes him on the ground. “You lied to me, and now you’re gonna paid,” and his voice is calm despite his feral expression. His gun his pressed against Shiro’s throat.
    “I’m pretty sure we can settle things right if we just stop to talk, and if any of us does something stupid.”
    Without thinking, Keith jumps on the parapet and places the gun on his own neck. “If you don’t stop and let Shiro go, I’ll kill myself!”
    Sendak’s expression doesn’t change, but he stops. “And why should I care?”
    “Because I’m the son on the person that stole this blade on the first place,” Keith says, and he shows the blade on his hand. “And you need my blood to destroy your curse.”
    “Something stupid like this,” Lotor ends up disappointed.
    “Why should we believe you?” Sendak asks, even if his pirates talked to each other about how much Keith resembles to Krolia.
    Keith takes a breath and relax as Shiro taught him. The blade in his hand turns into a sword and everyone around gasp. Sendak smirks, predatory.
    “What do you want?”
    “Let Shiro go!” Keith orders immediately. “Don’t kill the others too!” he adds, looking at Allura.
    “If I may…” Lotor tries to intervene, but Sendak cuts him off.
    “Granted.”

    “You’ve gotta kidding me.”
    Lotor looks with an incredulous opened mouth the desolation of the destroyed base. At his side, Shirogane frowns, but he seems quieter than he should be.
    “Sendak, you liar!” Keith is screaming from the Black Lion. “You promised to let Shiro go.”
    “And that’s what I’m doing. If you’d like for me to bring him into a specific place, you should have told me before. Now stop pestering me, boy.”
    Keith tries to protest again but his yells got cutting off. Lotor should have been angry at him for being so stupid, but to be honest somehow he understands it.
    “Well, Lotor, looks like you remember this was the place we abandoned you last time.”
    “Yeah, I’ve recognized him.”
    “Good luck in surviving this time too. Wonder who’s the real immortal now.” Sendak leaves with a last, satisfied grin.
    “What’s this place?” Shirogane asks, once the Black Lion was far at the horizon and Lotor walks towards the inside of the base, his steps resounding on the empty space.
    “An old abandoned Garrison base,” he answers, since Shirogane is following him. “The build him during the war, to monitoring this area, but the solar storms are too strong here both for transmission and movements so it became soon useless.”
    “And they left you here, after you killed the previous captain.”
    Lotor gritted his teeth, but not correct the statement. “Don’t remember me.”
    “How did you escape last time?”
    “Smugglers.” Lotor points out at one of the closed metal door, then he pushes to open it. Dust and webs fly around. “They utilized this base to hide their goodies, and I negotiated a lift with them. But, as you can see, they aren’t around anymore so we’re trapped here.” He takes a bottle from the room, shakes a little to free it from the dust, and takes a sip of rum. “Be my guest.”
    “Lotor,” Shirogane says.
    “It doesn’t matter anymore, we’re going to die now that they have the last blade and the last blood, so, who cares.”
    “Another good reason to tell me everything. You’re the one that bring Keith to them after all.”
    “Fair,” Lotor rolls his eyes, “but you can imagine Keith wouldn’t have accepted to stay back with you in danger.”
    “That’s probably true.” A soft smile is on Shirogane’s face. “But you lied to him, or at least kept some informations for you, so spill them.”
    “There isn’t much.” Lotor realizes Shirogane isn’t Keith, and he isn’t let it go, as a true Garrison Captain. A pain in the ass. “When I realized what my mother’s plan was, I tried to stop it, and I failed. My father killing himself was useless, and I was kicked off from my own ship. Then, I found out the crew has become immortal, and I immediately realized the dark entities from the legends was freed.”
    “You mean the nanomachines?”
    Lotor nods. “But I was wrong. I believed it was my mother’s doing, and that I could stop them by taking back the blades. But the fact the pirates stole the blade in the first place freed the nanomachines. The dark entities behind them is still trapped, but not for long.”
    “The blood…”
    “Yep. Returning the blade and make sacrifices with blood will untied the spell that the first owners of the blades use to trapped the entities.”
    “It makes sense,” Shirogane reflects to himself. “The blood isn’t part of the original legend. And I was wondering why Sendak would want stop his immortality, despite his explanation… The nanomachines are controlling them for free their boss. But then, how do we stop it? Returning the blade without the blood can be enough?”
    “That, I don’t know. After my failure with my army, I searched for another solution, but without results. I hope to keep at least one blade away from Sendak, but now…”
    Shirogane chuckles, and Lotor lifts an eyebrow. “This story teaches us something: don’t steal!”
    Lotor looks at his stolen rum bottle and shakes his head. “I’ll keep in mind in my next life.”
    He doesn’t notice Shirogane’s disappearance, not until he ends the bottle. Then he turns to take another one from the room and sees he’s alone. With a frown, he follows the strange sounds and finds Shirogane in the older control room of the base. Shirogane tries to connect two caves and presses some buttons. The control beeps and then dies again.
    “What are you doing?”
    “Even if they’re old, I know how this controls work. I can send a sos around.”
    “To the Garrison.”
    “Well, this is a Garrison base.”
    “May I reminder you I’m a pirate and Garrison aren’t my favorite people.”
    “Oh, it means you don’t like me?” Shirogane replies, a fake wounded expression on his face. “Don’t worry, you already stated you prefer spending your last hours here, drinking old room and drowning in self-pity.”
    Lotor is going to be petty about it. He kicks the machine, that beeps again. “Those things are too old, I doubt they can send a signal so long to be caught.”
    He leaves the room and returns to the outside, in time to see a Garrison ship floating upon him. Shirogane reaches him with a smug smile. Lotor snorts.
    “Oh, bite me!”

    Between all the people, Shiro is happy Adam is the commander of the rescue ship. He hopes Adam’s easier to convince.
    He’s wrong, because even if Adam listened to Shiro’s explanations, he immediately gives order to the ship to return to the base.
    “Have you understand what I tell you, Adam?” Shiro says, and his tone is annoyed.
    “I did, Takashi,” Adam speaks as he’s a baby. “Immortal pirates that are about to free an evil dark entity? It’s hard to believe. And it comes from a pirate’s mouth too.” And he throws a look at Lotor, who’s still on the main deck, even if his hands are already handcuffed behind his back.
    “You fought with them back there, haven’t you noticed something strange?”
    Adam sighes. “I had. But still, it isn’t a bigger reason for us to turn back to the base and explain the situation to everyone? With the information you got, we can prepare more efficient countermeasures.”
    “But Keith will be death at that point,” Shiro replies.
    “I’m not happy to leave him too, but I have no choice. I can’t risk my men – our men – only to save one person.”
    “You came for me.”
    “It’s different,” Adam immediately says. “I have orders for you, and you’re a Garrison Captain. Keith is someone that ignored orders and plotted with a pirate, even helping him to evade from a Garrison prison.”
    “To save me,” Shiro points out.
    Adam shakes his head. “Like I said, I can’t go back for only one man, not matter how much I want to.”
    “Fine, then,” Shiro snorts. “I’m sorry I won’t be able to marry you then.”
    “What?” Adam looks at him baffled.
    “I’d like to marry you, but I won’t build my own happiness by the idea that I or my husband would leave the man who saved my life to die. Not if we can avoid it.”
    The conflict is clear on Adam’s face. “Fine, Takashi. Let’s try to save him.”

    With his hand handcuffed behind his back, Keith is dragged to the cave again. He looks with wide eyes at the jaguar pictures as they place him in front of the only free spot from the blades. Sendak is behind him, with a hand on his shoulder.
    “Finally, it’s time.”
    “I won’t do it if I were you.” Lotor’s voice resounds in the cave, and Sendak growls.
    “You again!”
    “Me, yes.” Lotor walks steady towards him, the pirates that glare at him but not attack him, not until a direct order. “And you should be grateful for it, since I’m here to warn you about the fact you have a Garrison ship just outside the cave, ready to kill you. I don’t think dying is the best way to spend your freedom for your curse.”
    “Where’s Shiro?” Keith asks.
    “Safe, as I promised. He’s going to marry a man named Adam as he promised. And you’re going to die, as you promised, so we’re all men with one word.”
    “What do you want, Lotor?” Sendak growls. “I gave you two occasion to survive and leave us alone, you should have taken them.”
    “I excuse you bad manner because I understand it’s a tense situation.” At this point, Lotor is in front of them, smiling sweetly. “I came here early to warn you about Shirogane’s lies, and to deliver you the real Krolia’s son, and you refused to listen. Now, will you listen to me about the Garrison ship?”
    Sendak narrows his eyes. “So you’re telling me you’re trying to help us all this time? Why should I believe you?”
    “Because, at the end of the day, I’m a pirate,” Lotor answers, as his right fingers rub the rock wall. “I don’t care about the Black Lion anymore, but a nice, long, comfortable life. I gave you him,” and passes his left arms on Keth’s shoulders, “and now I valuable information. I think I ca accept something as payment,” he kicks one of the golden vases in the ground, “and then I’ll be my way.”
    In all this, Keith doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t understand Lotor, at all. Allura didn’t tell him Lotor is a bad man, just one ready to do everything. And in that moment, he’s giving Keith some time and, if Shiro is for real with the Garrison, they know how to kill the pirates even if they’re immortal. It’s better playing with Lotor’s plan, even if he may be wrong.
    “Decide fast, Sendak,” Lotor says. “In few minutes, the Garrison will attack.”
    Sendak turns to his men in the cave. “Go. Kill them all, and fast. We have a sacrifice to make.”
    “Wise choise,” Lotor murmurs, once all the men but a couple, who remain to surveil the entrance of the cave.
    “I don’t like you,” Sendak says. “But maybe, finally, you’ve became a real pirate, like your father.”
    “Maybe,” Lotor nods. “Or maybe not.”
    In a flash of light, the blade he stole secretly before turns into a full sword he uses to cut Keith’s handcuffs. Keith rolls on one side, just when Sendak, with a yell, screams angry at Lotor and tries to shot him. Lotor’s body startles under the shots, but he doesn’t fall. A smirk appears on his face.
    “This time, stealing was the right answer.”
    With a swift movement, he opens cut a wound on Sendak’s arm: nothing that can hurt him for real, but Sendak is force to let the blade go, and Keith rushes to take it. He stands up next to Lotor, sword already transformed.
    “Go help your Shiro,” Lotor says, in an amused tone. Then, his face hardens. “I take care of him.”
    “Be careful,” Keith whispers before rushing towards the exit.
    He doesn’t let the two men on guards stopping him and he kicks them out of the way and exits the temple. In front of the stair, the battle explodes. There are fires under rocks, and Garrison soldier with their uniform fighting pirates.
    He sees Shiro and runs to him.
     
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2 replies since 12/2/2020, 20:54   19 views
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