Chapter twenty-one: My sword is stolen

As the gang sleeping in a hut in Ariel around a fire. Pidge gets up and looks at Shiro, more importantly, His sword, the one thing that Haggar want.

Pidge reached out her hand towards Shiro. She is taken aback by her own actions and holds back. "What? What am I doing?" she said. "...I can't just grab the sword while he's sleeping,"

Just then, Keith's eyes suddenly snapped open, causing Pidge to gasp as she stumbled back.

"...Keith?" she asked.

"...Hey," Keith said. "You all right, Pidge?"

Pidge's eyes went wide before she cast her eyes to the fire. "...Not really...no..."

Keith heaved a small sigh. "Listen, Pidge...I'm gonna kill him, although I feel badly for you."

"I already told you…he is not Matt. Matt…my big brother, could never attack an entire village. I will deal with him and Haggar at the same time!" Pidge pissed.

"Is it that simple? He looks exactly the same. Can one hate and forget so easily?" Keith said.

Pidge gasped silently while Keith looked at her...his expression showing something rare, even for him: sincerity.

"Don't underestimate me! I am a Daemon  explorer I don't fall for dirty tricks!" Pidge said.

"I get it," Keith said. "If I were in your position, I probably couldn't do it." 

 "...You do?" Pidge asked while Shiro, whose eyes opened slightly as he heard them talk, glanced over at them.

"Yeah," Keith said. "When you're close to somebody and they seem to change for the worse...you don't wanna accept the kind of person they've become."

Shiro's eyes softened at that.

"He's talking about Allura," he thought. "I guess a part of him still wants to remember her for the good person she was...or...he thought she was, anyway..."

"Keith…Be on your guard. We are surrounded." Lance said as he starting to get up.

Outside the hut... Matt stood with a horde of Galra behind him, all of them with their guns at the thought of potential victims...not to mention Shiro's Crystal fragment. As Matt grabbed his staff, a voice suddenly sounded off within his head.

"Remember, Matt...leave Pidge alive but kill the others...and make sure she has the sword."

"Yes, High priestess," Matt droned as he brandished his weapon. "I hear and obey."

At that moment, Stats gulped as he peeked outside through the reed flap in the doorway, then quickly retreated back inside.

"Stats!" Stats said "Stats!"

As Lance taking off the beads round his wrist, Hunk stop him and said. "Hey Lance! What're you doing?! What about your ice powers!"

"Yes…but…" Lance said.

"Stop it, Lance! Don't hurry to death for these small fish. I just have to go and get rid of their boss!" Keith said.

"Keith is right!" Shiro said before he turned to the others. "and besides we have to think as a team?"

"Yeah," Hunk nodded while holding his minigun.

"Absolutely," Lance affirmed while he held his gun and sutras.

"Whenever you are," Pidge added while Kiaion growled, eager to get started.

"Okay...on my signal," Shiro whispered as he looked out the door and raised his hand. "Not yet..."

Stats whimpered while Keith pulled out his  Dagger from his sheath.

"Almost...!" Shiro whispered...and at that moment, one of the demons lunged at the hut! "NOW!!"

Keith leaping towards the Galra horde and slashes away several groups of Galra with his dagger while Matt sends a pallet in Shiro's direction, which engulfs him. making him leaps and attacks Shiro with his staff but Shiro dodges every move.

"You plan to fight me with that level of skill?!" Shiro shouted as he retaliates, swinging his sword at him, who leaps away.

Suddenly, Keith turned and seized the staff. Matt failed to anticipate this tactic, reminding Pidge painfully obvious that Matt was a

experience deamon explorer, and Keith fairly tossed him away by the line.

Seeing the difference in strength between her brother and Keith so clearly, Pidge could barely breathe.

"Keith," Shiro cried, "don't kill him!"

"I know," Keith snapped.

Pidge could scarcely believe what she had just heard. Were they intending to save Matt?

"I'm easy! Way too easy! It's okay to kill 'im! This is Haggar's trap! I've got to kill him!" Keith vexed as Matt landed safely on his feet, skidding backward through thick grass but not losing his balance.

"You're right. I deserve to die." Matt said,  monotone.

"What?" Keith said, taken aback while Shiro, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk equally shocked at what Matt said.

"I…I trying to kill them all. Hunk's Father…our friends…the villagers…I attacked everyone." Matt said as he looks up "That's why…I deserve to die."

Matt raises a knife and points the sharp end in his direction. He stabs his own back where the Quintessence crystal fragment is embedded. He falls to the ground.

Pidge couldn't help it. "Matt!"

She was vaguely aware of Shiro and the others shock beside her, but all Pidge could hear was the sound of her own unsteady breathing and pounding heart. All she could do was watch as Matt began to dig at the wound with his fingers. Trying, she realized with a sense of mounting horror, to dig the crystal shard out of his back.

Without that shard, he would die…

Despairing, Pidge knew what she had to do.

"Stop!" she shouted as her boomerangs hits Shiro's sword which sends it flying into the air.

"Huh?" Shiro said.

Pidge catches her boomerang as it spins back towards her while Shiro's sword lands in front of her.

Soon, she picked up the sword and run off into the opposite direction...holding Shiro's sword in her hands.

"I got it," she said. "I got the sword...!"

"Pidge!" Everyone shouted.

Pidge didn't listen, Instead, she called Kiaion to her and he sprints while transforming into his flying form.

"Wait, Pidge! What're you doing?!" Keith said, agitated.

"I have no other choice. My only choice…My true desire…" Pidge thought as she  disappeared into the night, Away from all her friends.

At that moment, she could see someone approach...and as she turned around, she saw Matt, staring at her with that same blank expression. Pidge gasped quietly, but then she took in a deep breath and exhaled, trying to keep her composure as she looked back at him with an almost expressionless face that matched his own.

 "...Matt...take me to Haggar."

"Magical daemon Art! Soul Stealer!"

A Galra shrieked as its gun was torn open by Keith's powerful move. Shiro panted as he sat behind him, holding the crystal fragment that hung from around his neck while Keith stood in front of him...surrounded by the knocked out daemons.

"That takes care of them," Keith said before he glanced back at Shiro. "You okay, Shiro?" 

"Mm-hmm," Shiro nodded. "I wasn't worried. I knew you'd protect me!"

"Keith! Shiro!"

The half-daemon and samurai turned to see Lance approaching them, also a bit out of breath but nonetheless unscathed.

"Thank goodness for guns," Lance quipped. "But what about Pidge!"

"Let's go, Keith!" Shiro said as he realize that Hunk, Lance, and Keith frozen. 

"How about it, Keith!" Lance said.

"I still smell it. That man..Matt's blood is still here. It still reeks out it." Keith said. "Haggar is luring us to him". 

"Good thing I know where!" Chief Herschel said.

As Kiaion carried her through the forest, hot on Matt's trail, Pidge threw guilt and caution aside. If she paused for even a moment to think about what she had just done, if she acknowledged that she was helping her worst enemy, then she might not have the courage to keep going. If the man she was chasing really was Matt, then she had to keep going. She couldn't risk letting him die because of her own weakness.

If it would save Matt, then it couldn't matter that she'd betrayed Keith and the others. If any of the other explorers at the village, she would have done the same thing. For her brother, she would have done anything.

She couldn't hesitate. A moment's delay could mean life or death for her brother. If Haggar knew she had hesitated, if he suspected that any sort of plot were afoot, she might not keep his word.

Deep down she knew that she was unlikely to keep her word no matter what she did or did not do, but she had to cling to that last bit of hope. Matt was still alive, she was sure of it, and if there was a chance yet that he could be restored to himself, then she was going to seize it.

She hadn't realized just how alone she was until Matt gave her the chance to not be alone any longer.

"I'll save you, Matt", she thought, refusing to think of Keith or Shiro or the others. "No matter what!"

Just then, she and Kiaion arrived in a dense  forest, Kiaion banked upward sharply to avoid flying into it. Pidge gripped hard with her thighs, fighting a frightening sense of recognition as the forest spread out beneath them.

But there was no sign even of Matt or the Galra army that had carried him here, yet Pidge seemed certain that this was the place. After topping the branches of the tree, Kiaion dropped low so that Pidge could dismount.

Pidge slid off of her companion's back cautiously, Shiro's sword still gripped awkwardly in one hand. The Nichiren Blade was longer and heavier than her own blade and would be difficult to use in a fight. She had to hope it would not come to that. Or, if it did, that she would have time to strike before her enemy realized what was happening. If she could kill Haggar here and now, perhaps her brother might yet be saved…

She could not think of that. She had always been bad at disguising her thoughts. If Haggar knew she thought of slaying her, all could be lost.

Best to be cautious for now, until she knew that  Matt was safe.

"Are you here, Haggar?" she called out.

She felt the familiar sense of unease, the same thing she'd felt when Haggar was leading her to this place. A moment later, a deep, rumbling laugh made her blood run cold. "Such loyalty," Haggar said. "It brings tears to the eyes."

Pidge whirled and spotted Haggar seated upon a nearby rock. She was certain that the figure, clad as ever in the cloak, had not been there a moment ago. She did not move as he continued to address her. "So you betrayed your friends for your brother, did you?"

Pidge's grip on Shiro's sword tightened.

"Are you going to give me the sword, Pidge?" Haggar said

For the space of a single heartbeat, she hesitated. Could she truly give him the sword? She held Shiro's sword out in front of her, as if in offering. "As promised," she said slowly, taking a single step toward him. "The sword is yours."

"Excellent," Haggar grinned as she soon took the sword in her hand. "I must admit...I was a bit worried, Pidge, my dear. I actually thought that you wouldn't come through for your brother...but then again...people like you are so predictable. Willing to backstab others for the sake of the ones you love...it's almost poetic."

"Where is Matt?" she demanded. "He's here somewhere, isn't he?"

"Don't worry, he's waiting for you," Haggar assured her.

There was no sign of Matt. He could have been anywhere within the castle, or nowhere at all. She couldn't even be sure that he was really alive and not just some trick of Haggar's.

It in Any case, Pidge had to be careful with her.   With that, She clenches her right fist, tearing the cloth wrapped around her arm, revealing a blade. A assassin blade and as she lunged forward, slashing. "Prepare to die!"

Haggar evaded easily; all she managed to do was slice through the cloak as she vaulted over her and into the courtyard. The cloak fell away with a chunk of long, white hair. "A hidden weapon, huh," she commented, as if it were not the least bit threatening.

"Now, Haggar! Turn Matt back to his former self! Right now!" Pidge said.

"Killing me won't help. You know that already. It's all the fault of the quintessence crystal." Haggar said. "The Galra desiring the crystal attacked your village and now your brother's soul now wanders…are all because of the curse of the quintessence crystal".

"Stop this nonsense! You and your leader went after my comrades! Just because you covet the stupid crystal… you did it all!" Pidge said,

"People die because of the power of the quintessence crystal and people live because of its power. Do not despise the crystal so much. Matt was revived because of the crystal 's power. The promise was to exchange Matt with the sword. What will you do?"

"You despicable…! What promise?!" Pidge said as she tensed for another attack. Could she reach him with her arm-blade before he could bring the Nichiren Blade around to stop her? Maybe.

Something coiled tightly around her wrists and yanked sharply toward the ground. Taken by surprise, Pidge fell to her knees and found that she could not rise. The bits of hair that she had severed in her initial attack had tangled around her, and now some power of Haggar's was immobilizing her with that same hair. "Damn it," she bit out. She really should have known better.

"Foolish girl," Haggar went on, kneeling before her. "Did you really think to slay me all by yourself?"

"Not by myself", Pidge thought. Haggar had been focusing entirely on Pidge and had ignored Kiaion. Now, Kiaion was in position behind him.

The mighty lion daemon pounced.

"Kiaion, kill her!" Pidge shouted, an instant too late. Haggar began to turn, but Kiaion was already upon him. She did not have time to turn fully, much less dodge, before the enormous fangs plunged into her shoulder.

For a moment Pidge thought they had won.

Kiaion reared back, jerking her head away from Haggar. Thick poison foamed in Kiaion's mouth, sizzling powerfully.

"Kiaion!" Pidge could not even move to go to him. Kiaion fell to the ground, shrinking in weak puffs of flame until he was kitten-sized and trembling. "Kiaion!"

"Don't be so surprised," Haggar chided. "This body of mine is made of poison of Wisteria, you see."

She stood, examining the sword. Pidge wondered if she could even use it, or if she only wanted it to weaken Shiro or Keith.

"How about it? Will you serve me in the empire along with Matt?" Haggar told her. With the blade in her hand, she seemed ready to be her executioner. 

This was it, then. Pidge braced herself for death.

But Haggar did not strike. Instead, she smiled slightly. "As a reward for your service, I'll let your brother be the one to send you to the next world."

"My brother"… She was suddenly aware of a shadow behind her. She managed to turn her head enough to see that it was indeed Matt. "Matt!" she cried, knowing it was hopeless.

His fist punch in the face, tearing a deep rent just below her left eye. Blood soaked her body, dripped down her face.

Again and again his fist leaped toward her, piercing her flesh in a dozen places. The hair that had bound her wafted away on the breeze, leaving her free to fight back.

Pidge fought past the pain and refused to attack her brother. "Matt, wake up."

Haggar laughed coldly. "You can't reach him."

The fists lashed forward again. Pidge reacted on pure instinct, raising her own hand to block what she knew would have been the final blow.

"Snap out of it, Matt!" Pidge said.

"Kill her, Matt." Haggar said.

Matt did not hesitate. He ran forward, raised  his fist at her, and when he would have brought it down to hit her throat, Pidge dove for him. She did not slash with her blade, but threw her arms around him, using her greater weight in an attempt to pull him bodily to the ground. But she was too weak, or he was too strong. He stood firm under her weight; she sagged against him.

"Matt, remember me," she pleaded.

But Matt did not hear.

By the time the forest came into sight, Keith, Shiro, Lance, Hunk, Stats and Chief Herschel arrived at the same spot where they had found Pidge, indeed, and it was worse than she had expected.

"Pidge?" Shiro said, his voice trembling in horror.

"Kiaion! Are you all right?!" Hunk said, also in horror.

The slayer was clinging to her brother, his eyes as hard and cold as ever. The boy was unharmed. His sister was soaked in blood. Her own, most likely. The smell of it was strong enough even for everyone to detect, and yet Keith had said nothing.

Sango turned her head at the sound of Shiro's voice. "Shiro?" she asked. The word sounded like it would be her last.

Matt released his grip on her and Pidge collapsed to the ground with a hollow thud. She made no attempt to rise. everyone could not even tell if she was still breathing.

Tears filled Shiro's eyes. "How horrible," she breathed. It was taking everything in her to remain calm, Chief Herschel could tell. But where Shiro and Hunk was horrified, Keith and Lance was furious.

"He made her brother do this?!" Lance said.

"Haggar… where are you?! Come on out!" Keith said, infuriated and clenching his teeth and fists! For the first time the others noticed the shadowed figure lurking on the verandah of the forest. they'd been so distracted by the sight of Pidge, murdered at her brother's hand, that he had not looked further. They feared the mistake might cost them dearly, but Haggar seemed more interested in taunting Keith or Shiro to further heights of rage than attacking.

"Such a foolish lot," Haggar observed idly. "You came all this way even though you knew it was a trap, and all for a little girl that betrayed you."

"Oh, shove it," Keith retorted. Without warning, he leaped past Matt toward his real enemy, but Haggar was even quicker to react. His hair burst toward Keith as if it had a life of its own, attempting to ensnare him.

Matt turned and fled as Shiro and the others raced forward to reach Pidge. Stats leaped down from Lance's shoulder to cling to Shiro as he gently lifted Pidge and cradled the fallen explorer on his lap. Knowing that he was useless to Keith in this situation, Lance brandished his staff in an effort to keep the hair, impossibly long and always moving in search of an opening, from reaching Shiro and the others.

"Pidge? Pidge, please wake up," Shiro murmured quietly.

Lance, Hunk, and Chief Herschel did not dare turn their attention away from Haggar, long enough to check on them, but Pidge's silence spoke volumes.

"Can't believe this happened!" said Chief Herschel.

"Mean either, dad!" Hunk said as the thought of Haggar or the Galra claiming another victim was unbearable. And this was even more unbearable because Pidge had survived one of Haggar's plots before, only to be drawn back in and horrifically wounded by her own brother.

"He tried to make Pidge hate her brother so that she would kill him. Then the quintessence crystal in his back would become more evil. The same trick she used to make Allura and Keith to hate each other, and fight!" Shiro through, enraged. "I can't forgive her! I'll never forgive this!"

"Damn it!" Keith cursed from somewhere amidst the swirling hair. "He's fucking run away!"

Haggar's mocking laughter echoed from everywhere – and nowhere. "You're wrong, boy. I won't run this time, because I wanted you to come here."

All at once, all the hair fell limply to the ground. The others knew better than to assume this was a good sign. Power pulsed through the air, strong enough that even an ordinary human might have felt it. Within moments, the limp strands of hair had transformed, taking on the shape of venomous serpents.

"AAAH!!" Shiro shrieked.

"SNAKES!!!" Hunk cried out in fear. "I HATE SNAKES!!!"

"Guys, look out!!" Keith shouted, but it was then that Haggar saw her opening: her transformed arm suddenly grabbed the half-daemon and forcefully slammed him down into the ground, causing him to cry out in pain as his shoulders were pierced. Not just that, but his dagger ended up flying out of his reach!

"Keith!!" Shiro cried.

"Urrgh...guys! Run for it!!" Keith shouted. "Get out of here! Don't worry about me!!"

"I'm afraid that none of you are going anywhere," said Haggar...just as one of the snakes lunged for the others, who growled as he slammed the tip of his staff into its head...but in doing so, the snake suddenly burst into a giant cloud of noxious fumes!

"Poison!" Hunk cried as he covered his mouth.

"Don't breathe it in!!" shouted Chief Herschel as he covered his mouth, and Shiro and Pidge quickly did the same, just as the cloud of poisonous vapors began to overwhelm them. At that moment, Lance and Hunk grunted as they glared at the serpents, all of them hissing as that same purple gas came seeping out of their mouths.

Just then, Pidge struggles to get up.

"Pidge, you mustn't move yet." Shiro said.

"Sango, keep still! I gotta lot of things to say to you! So don't you dare die!" Keith said.

But Pidge instead unknotting a bundle around her waist and offered it to Shiro. 

"Pidge!" Shiro exclaimed.

"I'm sorry," Pidge murmured. She sounded horrifyingly weak. "I…"

"It's okay, Pidge!" Shiro said.

Pidge did not respond; a quick glance revealed that she had fallen unconscious again.

"Hmph..." Haggar scoffed before he raised his other hand. "Pathetic." She snapped her fingers...and suddenly, the serpents began to expand and bulge...until they all burst into clouds of poison, surrounding the entire  forest...as well as Keith and company!

"MMPH!!" Lance cried as he covered his mouth.

"Urrgh...it's...too thick!!" Chief Herschel cried, trying his hardest not to breathe in the poison gas while also shielding Hunk and Kiaion, who was still paralyzed by his earlier poisoning.

"Stats...!" Stats groaned.

"Don't breathe it in, Stats...!" Shiro urged, trying to keep his head down to the ground as well as his own, a hand clasped over his mouth.

"Shiro! Guys!!" Keith cried as he struggled to get free, but Haggar could only cackle at his attempts.

"How pathetic, Boy!" she declared, mockingly. "You desire to protect your friends when you can't even protect yourself, now...you will die here, along with your foolish friends." she then cracked a dark grin. "For a failure such as you...it's a befitting end."

Shiro growled viciously while Haggar continued to laugh...but then, out of nowhere, The poison surrounding them was starting to disappeared as it look like being absorb by something. And soon a flash of brilliant light that streaked across the area abruptly the poison...Surprisingly Haggar herself.

"Impossible!" Haggar said as she stumbled back while Keith gasped in shock...but then, he looked to his left, where the light source came from the one place leaves suspected...Shiro...standing tall as he was developed by a bright purple energy...and on his face was an expression he never saw on him before: an expression of unbridled rage! 

"S...Shiro...?!" Keith whispered in disbelief.

"Say that again," Shiro hissed as he glared at Haggar. "Say that about my friends, again!! I DARE YOU!!!"

Haggar gaped in absolute disbelief, then back at Shiro, who was determined to kill her but Haggar summon a wave of magic was released from her body, and it struck Shiro right in the chest!

But Shiro stop it as he summon all his might and magically form a bow and arrow in his hand.

"Could it be...?" she thought, but before she could even react, Shiro fired the arrow, this time piercing right through her torso...and not only that, but he managed to blow up half the  Forest behind her! 

"I won't let you go even if you beg forgiveness!" Shiro yelled as he kept shooting at her, advancing toward her as he continued to fire arrow after arrow.

"What in the world...?!" Pidge questioned as she sat up on her knees while she held the quivering Kiaion, and it was that moment that she noticed that the poison was getting thinner. "Is...is this Shiro's power?!"

"Unbelievable...!" Lance whispered in awe. "He's not just damaging Haggar, but he's purifying the poison with every shot he's making!"

"You can do it, Shiro!!" Hunk cheered.

By now, Haggar was reduced to nothing more than a disembodied head, lying on the ground as Shiro prepared to fire at him, one more time.

"This man…What is his power? With hardly any effort, he can purge the poison…the poison vapors… This power belonged to Allura…! It can't be…!" Haggar thought. 

"...Die...!" Shiro hissed before he fired the arrow again again...but just as the blast of Magical energy was about to hit her, a blur suddenly ran in, grabbed Haggar, and then dashed off. The resulting energy blast only managed to completely obliterate the east area that surrounded the forest...and leaving a massive fissure in the ground.

However...Haggar had escaped.

Shiro panted as he stared at the huge fissure that was left behind when he tried to hit Haggar with one final shot. The sky was clear of any Poison, the air now safe to breathe...and all the while, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, Chief Herschel, Stats and especially Keith stared at the young man in awe.

It was at that moment that Shiro's knees suddenly buckled and he started to collapse, causing Keith to gasp as he managed to unpin himself from the dismembered claw that Haggar had impaled him with, then he ran over to his side as fast as he could, catching him in his arms.

"Shiro!" he cried as he gently held him, just as the others came to his side as well. "Take it easy!"

"I...Keith..." Shiro whispered.

"Are you okay?" asked Hunk.

"Yeah...just a bit lightheaded, now," answered Shiro before he looked around. "Where's Haggar?"

"...It looks like she's gone," Lance said as he looked around.

"...Damn..." Shiro cursed silently. "I couldn't hit her."

"What do you mean?" Keith asked.

 "...Just as I was about to fire one more time...someone ran up and grabbed him," Shiro said...causing Pidge to sigh as she looked down to the ground.

"...I know who it was..." she said...just as the sun began to appear beyond the hills, chasing away the darkness.

In the forest, not too far from Keith and company...Matt sat in a tree branch, his eyes still blank and listless. In his arms...was Haggar's disembodied head.

 "...That bastard," she said. "He is certainly a powerful one. However...it seems she is even more powerful than even Allura or the  Samurai. He can purify and exorcise even my deadly poison with those power of his...I don't think even anyone has that power."

For some reason...a grin appeared on his features...a grin of malcontent.

"Well...I think I know who to keep my eyes on from this point onward," Haggar said. "That man...I'll be sure to separate him from ...and I'll make sure he cannot use those powers of his to boot."

A dark chuckle soon erupted from his throat.

"Matt...let us go back to the castle...and be quick."

"Yes, high priestess."

From somewhere behind him and to one side, Keith called out, "Shiro, look! your sword!"

Keith turned to look and found that Haggar had indeed abandoned the sword. She had used it to force Pidge to betray her companions before coming here, but it clearly had no value to him. If Haggar could use the Nichiren Blade , Keith felt certain he would have taken it with him. That he'd left it behind was telling.

As Lance picked up his staff from where he had dropped it during the fight and rose to join Shiro and the others; Stats hopped down from his shoulder to stay with Pidge. Her expression was tense, but she was still unconscious.

Everyone suspected that she was going to be in a lot of pain in the coming days, but at least for now she could rest, however uneasily.

Shiro retrieved the Nichiren Blade  "Are you okay?" asked Keith. and sheathed it. He was clearly pleased to have the blade back in his possession, but he still seemed ill at ease.

Everyone felt much the same. They had only barely survived, but it almost seemed too easy.

"Haggar escaped?" Pidge asked.

"Yes," Shiro said, glumly. "I don't sense the crystal fragment anymore, so she must have got away somehow." He was standing with her back to them and would not turn to face them. He gave a shuddering sigh. "I'm sorry. I couldn't do it. I wasn't good enough. I didn't kill her."

"No need to apologize. Without you, we'd all be dead by now." Chief Herschel said.

"Shiro…I've never seen you so awesome before." Keith said at last. It was a admission, but it was undeniably true. Keith had never seen anything like the display of sheer power Shiro had unleashed when he fired his own power at Haggar and ended the fight. It felt as if his eyes must have deceived him, and yet he knew what he had seen. More than that, he knew what he had felt. The power had been palpable.

Shiro lowered his head, anger rippling visibly through him again. "Keith…we must destroy Haggar. No matter how hard it is. We must work together…," he bit out. 

"No, Pidge, don't move!" Hunk urged.

Keith and the others turned to find that Pidge had somehow attempting to stand in spite of Hunk's protestations. "Pidge!" he repeated, tugging hard on her shirt.

Pidge paid him no heed. She struggled nearly upright, stood there trembling for a moment, and then her strength gave out. If not for the bone boomerang she leaned upon, she would have fallen to the ground.

"Pidge!" Shiro called out in alarm.

"Where are you going?" Lance asked mildly. He kept his tone gentle to mask his surprise. That Pidge was even able to move was remarkable.

"I'm sorry," she said, "but I- I can't stay with you anymore." As felt that the only real thing left in the world.

"Sango…we all know that you were being blackmailed by Haggar over your brother." Chief Herschel said.

"That's why!" The sound of despair in her voice was heart-rending. She whirled to look at him then, and he saw that it wasn't just despair. It was desperation to save her brother. It was fury that Haggar had manipulated her so easily. And it was stark terror that he had never expected to see on the face of a warrior like her. "I'll betray you again! Haggar has Matt completely under his control. I'll do whatever it takes to save him."

"Pidge," Pidge's voice was little more than a whisper in the silence.

"Stats!" Stats said.

"Pidge, you intend to defeat Haggar on your own, don't you?" Chief Herschel asked. He was stalling. The more he kept her talking, the more time they had to dissuade her from this suicidal plan.

"It's the only way," she said. Her voice was dull. Defeated.

"No," Shiro said. "That's not true. Let's all look for Matt together." She rushed over to Pidge, ignoring the way that the explorer tried to push her away. For once Sango was not strong enough. "But first we have to see to these wounds."

"You…why?!" Pidge said, touched

"Will you stop yapping? Just stay together! 'Cause you fight well!" Keith said, Shiro glanced to him in surprise, taken aback by the vehemence of his answer, but he saw that Keith was being earnest. "It's better when we're all together."

"Keith," Shiro murmured. "That's so kind of you!"

Ignoring Shiro, Lance seized upon what Inuyasha had said. "Even when you had stolen Shiro's sword and run off, Keith said this same thing," he told Pidge. It was close enough to the truth, although Keith shot him an angry look for it. "There is no problem if you stay with us."

"You saying I'm an idiot or something?" Keith groused.

Lance sighed. "I'm saying you have a big heart."

"Pidge, do you dislike us?" Hunk said.

"It's all my fault that this happened, and I may end up doing something like this again, and yet…" Pidge said as she turns around to hug Shiro and wails. She cries loudly without inhibition.

"Poor Pidge…How hard it must've been for her." Shiro said as stroking Pidge's hair "It'll be all right, We're with you now." 

Her outburst had drained the last of her energy. Already she was slumped against Shiro and her powerful sobs had subsided into a stream of silent tears. Soon, if everyone was any guess, she would be sound asleep. And good thing, too.

At least for now, Pidge felt that he was around by people that will help get her brother back.