Chapter twenty-two: Back to the Village

Later that same day, Keith and friends finally returned to the daemon explores village, where they decided to take this time to rest. As soon as they came back, they were greeted by Hunk's mother, Sahra who was relieved to see that they had made it back safely, once again.

However, it was during this time that Hunk regaled his mother about the trials they had undergone, from Lance's hand where his ice power were getting injured to Haggar almost tricking Pidge into betraying everyone, and he didn't neglect to tell his mother about Kiaion being poisoned, either.

Needless to say, Sahra was quite shocked to hear these things and quickly gestured Pidge inside the hut so that she and Kiaion could rest. Pidge seemed fine for the most part, although it later turned out that she needed bandages on her face. The best Shiro did was clean it out and stop the bleeding, but Sahra soon took care of the rest. She also advised that Pidge not move for a few days, just to make sure that her wound had completely healed.

Speaking of Pidge, she lied on the bed that Sahra had laid out for her, covered by a Blanket while Kiaion lied curled up at her side, twitching and mewling weakly.

"...It'll be okay, Kiaion," Pidge whispered as she stroked the Lion's fur. "I'm so sorry you're in so much pain."

"Pidge?"

Pidge turned to see Shiro walk up to her, holding a small cup of some sort. It looked like it was filled with something that was all crushed and mushed up.

"Here," Shiro said as she set down the cup. "It's an herbal remedy that Sahra made. She said it might not cure Kiaion completely, but it should at least ease his pain a little. See if you can feed it to him."

"Thank you," said Pidge as she took the cup and held it up to her feline companion. "Here, Kiaion. This might help a bit."

Though he was in pain, Kiaion obeyed and opened his mouth, allowing Pidge to feed him the concoction.

"There you go," the daemon explorer praised. "Good boy."

"Well, at least he can eat a little," Shiro said with a smile. "That's good, right?"

"Yes," Pidge replied before she sighed, sadly. "Still...I just hope we managed to cure him...aside from Matt and Hunk, Kiaion's my friend too. I don't know what I'd do if we lost him, too."

Shiro's eyes softened and a frown soon appeared on her face. He knew that Pidge had already been through so much: almost losing her entire village, realizing that her brother had been brought back to life as a mindless puppet for their archenemy, and to top it all off, her dear friend was probably inching slowly toward death. It was a miracle in itself that Pidge didn't feel like she wanted to end it all, now.

"I'm so sorry, Pidge," Shiro said. "I wish that I could do more."

"You've already done everything you can!" Pidge said. "And I'm grateful even for that...Shiro, please, don't think that any of this is your fault. Haggar is the one responsible for all of this."

"You're right," Shiro nodded. "I just hope that Kiaion can hold out."

"...So do I," Pidge said while she gently stroked Kiaion's fur, trying her best to comfort the ailing nekomata as he lied on her side, the small cup of medicine having been ingested.

"Darn it..." Keith cursed as he stood near the stream, gathering some clean water for Kiaion to drink in a bottle. "I hate this feeling."

"What feeling?, Keith!" Hunk asked.

"That I still couldn't stop Haggar," Keith said as he took the bottle out of the stream. "Pidge still got injured and Kiaion's been poisoned...and meanwhile, she still manages to escape!" He growled as he squeezed his free hand into a fist. "It makes me feel like I really am a failure..."

"You're not a failure, Keith!" Hunk argued, causing the half-daemon to look at him. "Even if Haggar try to get Shiro's sword, you still managed to fight back, right?"

"It doesn't matter if Haggar gets away in the end," Keith said.

Hunk bit his lip as he cast his eyes to the ground, then glanced back at Keith. He just wanted to try and cheer him up, but it seemed that his efforts only ended in failure.

"Well...at least you alive," Chief Herschel said.

"Chief Herschel!" Keith said, taking back.

"Dad!" Hunk said.

"That's something, right? And it's because of Shiro that Haggar's been weakened, too!" Chief Herschel said.

"...That's true," Keith said. "I guess I should just count my blessings, then."

"See?" asked Hunk, his eyes brightening a bit. "It's not a lost cause, after all! Thanks dad!"

"You're welcome, I wish I can do more about Kiaion's plight, though," Chief Herschel said, sympathetically. "This must be some very strong poison if he hasn't recovered yet."

"I see, I wish I was there!" Hunk said.

"We all would have!" Keith said, sadly.

"Hey, I just had a thought!" Hunk piped up. "Dad, can the poison suck out of Kiaion? You know!"

"I'm afraid this is an entirely different matter, Son," Chief Herschel said while crossing his arms. "First of all, in her current form, Kiaion is too small to suck out any poison. It could end up making him anemic...and besides, if it's taking this long for him to recover, the poison might be stronger than you need to suspect it."

"Oh..." Hunk muttered, sadly.

"Back to square one, then," Keith said...but then he raised his brows and his eyes lit up in realization. "But I do know someone that's good at gathering information, right?"

"you do!" Hunk said.

"Yeah, Someone that could really help Kiaion in his condition!" Keith said.

"You really think they could help!" Chief Herschel said.

"Well...it might take a while," Keith answered, "But still see what they can do!"

With that said, Chief Herschel left the two and continued of leading his village.

"Do you really think you can find something!" Hunk said, worriedly.

"Romelle is good finding out information!" Keith began, "And so is Coran, What's this hope it could help us!"

Concurrently, in another part of the hut...

"You did that?!" Sokka asked.

"Yeah!" Shiro said as he sat before his hologram. "Just as we were about to die in Haggar's Poison gas, I suddenly felt the energy around me. Enough for me to purify the Wisteria poison as well as destroy Haggar's body, leaving her as just a disembodied head."

"Unbelievable...!" Sokka whispered in disbelief. "I suspected you had great power just as Haggar or Allura did...but even they did not have powers of this caliber!"

"Really, I didn't know either!" said Shiro. "Because I felt angry at Haggar I relentlessly attacked her without pause." He narrowed his eyes.

"Hmm, you know what a similar occurrence happened during the battle with the robeast...when you and Romelle returned to Aurs after Keith sent you away. Just as it seemed that Keith was about to be defeated, when you appeared, he suddenly regained his strength and stamina and was able to turn the tide." Sokka said.

"Yeah, I do see the resemblances, now," Shiro said. "you say that I and Keith draw strength from each other."

"So it seems," Sokka said.

"But what does it mean!" Shiro said.

"No doubt that Zarkon and the Galra will attempt to exploit this, somehow," said Sokka before he looked up at Shiro. "I believe that the next time you encounter Haggar, she might go after you, next. I advise that all you be on your guard."

"Of course, Sokka," said Shiro. "We'll make sure of it."

"I used to believe that Shiro and Allura were one and the same," thought Sokka. "However...it appears that Shiro's powers are growing at a far faster rate than Allura's ever did. At the rate he's going...He might even surpass Allura or Perhaps even beyond.