Chapter Text
The lights were flashing from red to purple like the pulse of a heartbeat with the alarms blaring constantly in the almost empty ship, forming a migraine in his head that he hardly noticed over everything. He can’t believe that in 5 minutes what was once a full boarded ship now only held 3 lives, one of which had been chasing him and Krolia.
Krolia had a hand grasped over her eye like a lifeline, his mother’s blood wept like tears as it escaped the confining palm. The image of that beast’s claws going through one of Galran soldiers head out to the other side where Krolia had been standing is plastered in the back of his mind, it was his mother’s eye that was surrounding the claw of a beast.
A beast that should have never been unlocked.
A method of escape now hunting them.
He heard it before it came. The same side his mother couldn’t see out of. His blade hummed with fear and anticipation that made it feel like his whole body was vibrating. It took a split second for him to go against the claws of the beast. His mother had stepped back grabbing a riffle from a destroyed bot and begin shooting areas of the same creature that took the eye that was now heavily bleeding. He cheek had been painted red like a deeply concentrated watercolour, the same stream of blood running down her suit forming a puddle on the floor.
The creature screamed upon impact with the shots.
At the same time its arms came down like boulders in a landslide.
His arm had been in the way.
Pain shot through the limb, it too began creating a puddle of blood on the cold and hard metal floors of the base. The blood didn’t look red in the flashing lights illuminating the ship. He screamed as the pain radiated off the loose limb, that was just handing by his side.
His mother grabbed his uninjured arm, and they ran.
They ran past the storage rooms, the control centre and straight into the escape pods.
He could hear the dragging of claws against metal from the enemy behind them. The claws like chalk on a board but it only blended in with the alarms coming from the speakers in the base.
His arm continued to drag behind them as they ran. He paid the limb no mind the only thought in his head was to survive. To see another day. He has fought for to long to having things end now right as he has met his mother, the woman he had wanted to know for his whole life even if it was just for an explanation about why she left.
All he could hear as they left was the scream of the beast behind them before everything went quiet. There were no blaring lights or sounds that had been filling the Galran base on the pod. Just the sounds of the engine and their breathing.
Krolia guided them out of the range of the ship before entering in coordinates to their next destination. He had gone to find a first aid kit and some supplies aboard the pod. His own arms had still been pulsing with pain that was oddly grounding as he gathered equipment.
“We will continue to follow the quintessence path, I have already set the coordinates, but it will take a while.”
The female galra, his mother, sat down in front of him and began working with the med kit. Helping him wrap up his arm, where the limb had dislocated from his elbow and had been hanging uselessly from his side tearing the wound that had occurred at the same moment to the point of stitches being required.
“How well can you see out of your eye?”
She had glanced up hearing him talk, the injured eye’s eyelid shaking a bit with the movement.
“Just lights. Grab out the disinfectant and please apply some then we can get some of the antibacterial gauze straps onto it, not much pressure can be applied though so don’t bother trying to do so.”
He worked quietly, his body language stiff as he began cleaning out the eye. The woman had been looking over him as he worked, as if she was trying to find out what her boy had been through since her leaving.
So long ago she had left the boy, she knew nothing about him but neither did he know anything about her. They were both in uncharted territories both knew that the fact that they had even met should have been impossible. She knew from the moment she stepped out of the shack all thoughts years ago. He knew from when his father mentioned that his mother was up in the stars fighting for his future, he just didn’t know his father had been telling the truth all along.
With the wound bandaged correctly they both made their way into the cockpit of the pod. The air between them still tense with unspoken words.
“Where are we going Krolia. You mentioned the quintessence path, but Kolivan and I have been tracking it for months and have no leads.”
He saw the way Krolia’s shoulders tightened as said her name, he didn’t do anything to remedy that.
“I was the one who obtained the information from the ship with the pure quintessence, I had been able to keep the coordinates myself. But I was under the eye of my commanding officer and had been unable to send them through. We will be following through that path.”
He just nodded and made his way to a seat off to the side, overlooking the vast emptiness of space. This was going to be long journey.
He hoped he would get some answers.
As he looked back at the woman who was looking through the ships map, he mentally added on to his sentence.
Eventually.
They ran out of fuel as they reached the trade hub. Krolia had mentioned after looking through the maps that she was going to alter the course so that they could get supplies for the journey.
The hub itself was much more like what Coran had mentioned with space pirates. They had repurposed a few of the blankets in the pod to serve as cloaks; hiding their uniforms from any unwanted eyes. His blade was still by his own side the one closest to Krolia as they walked side by side through the market stalls.
They began with trading some of the medical supplies they did have for money adding onto what they had been given by the blades.
With that they bought the fuel from a tall alien with twice as many eyes as he had arms, they had eight arms each a different shade of purple. Following through the markets they bargained for various foods, Krolia kept checking on him to ask if he was allergic to the long lasting products they were buying and what they knew to be safe to eat. It felt nice to be cared about, even if it was by the person who never should have stopped caring.
The path towards where they were going was long and spindly, the stalls were packed with merchandise from all planets, but the amount of people had decreased compared to on the main streets. Various shop like buildings were what lined the streets the further they went till the mother and son duo arrived a ghastly blue building. The building itself smelt like stale air in a way that the garrisons medical centre reminded him of in the few times he had been forced to visit.
Upon opening the door, a blast of cool air went into their faces. His own face scrunched at the smell of the room and unexpected cold. The room was filled with dozens of other aliens, some that looked like family’s with the older fussing over the younger, a few that appeared older and others that just sat waiting. The robot looking being at the desk waved in greeting before speaking a language he did not understand, what he assumed where the same words appearing on the screen. Unfortunately without the blades mask up he couldn’t identify either and turned to look at Krolia who continued forwards towards the robot.
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The robot nodded in ascent after the conversation passing over two usb looking drives, similar to what Pidge has in her room, to his mother before they both went to one of the benches.
They sat down next to a brightly coloured alien that made a chuffing which resulted in them turning a different bright colour. The alien waved at them before returning to stifling they’re noises and turning to a muted colour. Across from them was an alien that inflated and deflated each time they breathed, across the room looked like an alien with the same thing.
He was knocked out of his mind when he felt Krolia nudge him and begin speaking in a rusty English. On her device were two forms, one already filled out the second one must be for himself and only partially filled out.
“Keith, what is pain on scale? And have you noticed anything about it?”
“A 6. Mobility issues and minor swelling.”
His mother nodded going back to filling in the forms. After a while he mentioned,
“I didn’t know they used the same way of telling injuries here as they do on Earth.”
“They do not, you father had used it on me. You would then feel more comfortable with it, I can summarise it to this method.”
Hm, he didn’t know that one thing his dad would have done to ensure Krolia’s health would be something she’d remember over 18 years later.
“Kogane’s!”
His own thoughts from previously were cut short as he stared at the long alien looking at their own device who had just called his last name. Then to the hand tugging lightly on his own blanket cloak, bringing him along to the doctor’s office. The floors were a pale grey in the room, the benches had products on them, likely a disinfected or at least he hoped.
His mother and the doctor began speaking in the same language from before as he sat next to her looking at the doctor as if he could understand what was being said.
After a few minutes the doctor grabbed a light and began unbandaging Krolia’s eye, shining the light into it while they continued. While the doctor grabbed something from outside the office Krolia turned to him.
“She is just grabbing some eyedrops for myself, we don’t know if my vision will return. You will go next, I can translate questions for you.”
Nodding to the older Galra as the doctor returned with a ghastly purple bottle and dropped some of the liquid on a fresh bandage to go on Krolia’s eye.
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“She’s asking if you can show her the arm.”
Nodding he unzipped his suit, while still hidden under the cloak, and brought out only the one arm. Hissing as he removed the fabric stiffened with blood.
Almost instantly the doctor began disinfecting the wound. As they muttered in a loud voice.
“ !!!”
“She is telling you off for not keeping the wound clean. It is likely your suit opened stiches.”
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He honestly feels like he’s intruding in a conversation despite the doctor still holding up his arm and redoing the stiches as the two of them talk. His mother is already looking much more at ease, he’s guessing the eyedrops were also a pain killer. It takes 15 minutes for his arm to be bandaged up and them to have been given the right medication.
“The doctor is a friend of mine, she owed me a few so we don’t have to worry about paying.”
He just nods as they continue their way back to the ship. Their cloaks blocking them from the harsh winds picking up in the trade hub. They’re gone right as a fight between merchants breaks out, distracting anyone from recognising the former red and black paladin.
They have a long journey to go, so he begins the take off process as Krolia begins putting things away. The pod is thankfully small enough that her lack of depth doesn’t cause to much of an issue.