A/N
Hands up if you thought Lotor was going to be a nice guy and things were gonna be resolved *raises hand*. Put your hand down me! *lowers hand*. So, apparently, Lotor will always play both sides... I do want to write an AU where he doesn't... Let me know if you would like to read that!

Also, mentions of blood etc.

Allura and Lotor enter the bridge to the Paladins and Coran all glaring.

"What's going on?" Allura asks.

Antok comes up behind Lotor, gun prepared to fire, whilst Ulaz and Keith come from Allura's side, blades extended, ready to protect her from Lotor, if necessary. Lance pulls his gun on Lotor.

"Allura, step away from Lotor," Lance orders.

"I will do no such thing," Allura stands in front of Lotor, arms spread, as he hunches his shoulders and positions himself, so that Allura protects more of his body, "Tell me what's happening here."

"Lotor is a monster and has been harvesting Altean quintessence for generations!" Bandor declares, causing Lotor to stop trying to catch Keith's eyes and turn, surprise and shock making him pale.

Allura turns to Lotor, who frowns, face becoming closed off. Bandor begins to cry angrily, declaring Lotor the murderer of his sister, his niece and thousands more. Pidge takes over, anger pouring into their words, because nothing is more important than family, and they should've known Lotor was just like Zarkon, his father. Allura's face falls, her heart shattering, as the world she knew turns upside down. Lotor protests, saying they don't understand, but he knows it's pointless when he finally meets Keith's eyes, flinching at the burning hatred and betrayal present, so he turns to Allura, hoping he can regain her loyalty, her forgiveness.

"I've dedicated my life to preserving Altean culture. Now that we have unlocked the quintessence field, all of your people, who would have been hunted down long ago had it not been for my intervention, can live in peace. Were some lives lost in the process? Yes, but they were martyrs to a noble cause. I sacrificed a few to preserve the future for millions. Allura, do not let this ruin everything we've worked for," Lotor sees her face change and approaches her, hoping he can convince by whispering into ear (like he convinced so many others), "Think of what we experienced in the quintessence field," he goes one step forward, hoping their relationship will let them move forward.

It backfires.

She grabs him and slams him on the ground hard enough to make him bounce across the floor. Keith stares at Lotor and sees something fall to the ground by his feet. He lifts a hand to his face and feels the tears falling. An alarm begins to beep, stopping Allura from breaking down right there and making Keith rapidly wipe the tears away. The wolf rubs against his leg in comfort and he scratches behind his ears.

Two of Lotor's ex-generals, now Haggar's puppets, have landed in the hangar.

"It's Lotor's troops. They're stealing the ships!" Hunk declares.

The wolf barks in distress as Keith falls to the ground, onto his hands and knees, clutching his head in pain, eyes wide and unseeing, gritting his teeth against the pain.

"Keith?" Shiro asks, panic setting into his tone and he approaches Keith, who growls, swinging his blade.

Hunk holds up an arm, stopping Shiro, and approaches slowly, causing Keith to growl again, but Hunk crouches down. He keeps his distance and tries to check him over, despite the small amount of distance between them.

"What's happening to him?" Coran asks.

Lance steps up again, "Allura and I will secure Lotor. Hunk, help Keith. Everyone else, get down to the hangar and stop these guys."

Everyone else exits, although Shiro is reluctant and hesitates momentarily.

Hunk notices Keith begin to look up, "Keith?"

Keith turns to face Hunk.

There's no recognition.

He lashes out like a wild animal, but with the same precision he always has and he flings Hunk into Coran, sending them both flying.

"Keith, what are you-" Lance asks, but is cut off as Keith charges, tackling Lance to the floor and beginning to strangle him.

"Lance! Keith!" Allura yells.

"Keith," Lance chokes out, "It's gonna be alright."

Keith freezes momentarily, his grip not loosening or tightening. It give Lance the opportunity to reverse their positions and take in air again, causing him to cough. A millisecond later, Lance is sent flying and falls on top of Coran, who had just been getting up. Keith pushes himself into a crouched position, grabbing the Red Bayard Lance dropped and his Blade, turning to look at Allura. She moves into a fighting stance and Keith charges, positioning his body low, like a Blade, but Allura notices how unsteady he is, tilting to one side.

She hesitates landing a hit.

Keith doesn't.

"Allura!" Bandor cries, running to her aid.

Keith ignores them, throwing Lotor over his shoulder and leaving.

"Keith..." Allura groans.

———

"Keith's attacked everyone!" Bandor yells over the intercom, "He's escaping with Lotor! Stop him before he gets away!"

Pidge pushes their surprise away, moving to confront the running Keith, preparing to strike Keith. They could take the shot, but Keith looks up and those dull, empty eyes remind them of the bad nights, when they'd curl up together in a pillow and blanket nest, sometimes alone, sometimes with a member of the team.

Pidge hesitates.

Keith gets away and they feel useless and weak.

"Keith!" Shiro yells, coming up behind Pidge, "Yurak!"

———

"Yurak, it's Dad!" Shiro hesitates, when he doesn't respond, "Yurak, it's gonna be okay. We just have to-"

Shiro's face falls as communication is cancelled. He turns back for his teammates.

———

They are desperate and willing to do anything to help Keith.

They do something reckless and stupid.

Shiro is on his own.

———

"Can't Red find Keith?" Pidge asks.

"She's been having trouble connecting with Keith, since he got back," Lance informs them, "I should've realised something was wrong."

Hunk crosses his arms, "We all did, but we just... let him go. We thought time with the Blades would help after everything... It's all our faults, so it's our responsibility to make things right."

"First, we need to find them," Pidge reminds them, causing everyone in the room to sigh.

Suddenly, Lance perks up, "I have an idea! Get to your Lions!"

All the power cuts out.

Including the healing pods.

———

A pod lights up and Shiro sees himself. Another lights up, then another, until all light up, revealing many copies of himself, except for one that sits next to the one in front of him. The pods are connected and Shiro can see what Bandor meant when he described quintessence drainage. This 'Keith' is draining the quintessence from the copy of Shiro.

"Hello, Shiro," Keith says, but it's wrong, distorted.

Shiro turns to see Keith stood in front of endless tubes.

"Yurak, it's gonna be okay," Shiro says, a beg in his tone.

"Yes, I know," Keith says, but he sounds detached.

"We just have to get back to the Castle," Shiro begs.

"We are not going anywhere!" Keith declares and charges.

He relentlessly attacks Shiro with his blade (not extended, Shiro notices and suddenly, things make a little more sense), pounding against the shield Shiro only just manages to get up in time, again and again. The pods are destroyed and lose power, but Shiro doesn't notice, as he's knocked off the edge of the platform, his jet pack saving him from the fall. Keith dives down, blade raised and Shiro dives away, just in time.

He pants and pulls out his Bayard, aware of what must happen.

"Yurak, please! Fight it! Come back to me!"

It doesn't make it any easier.

"Come home."

Keith holds out his blade, before moving it, so that he holds it slightly behind him, and he charges.

———

"I built a virus with Keith to terminate all command prompts of any technology, like Shiro's arm or the Castle. It was aggressive and I made sure to have a virus to fight against it. It was a virus I created for the same purpose, in case something like this ever happened, or Shiro..."

"I never thought I'd ever have to use it."

———

Shiro's Bayard forms a sword, blocking the blade, but Keith kicks him down the stairs. He uses his jet pack to get out of the way of Keith's falling blade. Keith is relentless, chasing Shiro, their swords colliding again and again. Keith moves in close and throws a punch, only for Keith to utilise the move he taught him to catch it and punch him away, making him lose his helmet and any edge he had, forcing him to run, dodging all attacks.

Keith is quicker and smarter. He has more experience.

He attacks so Shiro is near the edge, backed up, no escape but backwards, and forces him to dodge a swing by leaning back. When that isn't enough, Keith tackles Shiro off the edge and they fall. Shiro catches a wire, cutting it so that he can hold it and fall, Keith clinging to him.

Keith freezes.

Shiro watches his eyes clear and the fear return.

Keith begins to slip and he doesn't even notice.

He puts his Bayard away and grabs onto Keith, pulling him in close. They hit the ground and Shiro goes into a roll, protecting Keith with his own body. They hit a railing and Shiro groans, relaxing his ironclad grip on Keith.

It's a mistake.

Shiro sees Keith push away, moving upwards, before he feels the pain.