Takashi "Shiro" Kogane (takashi) wrote in valloic, @ 2024-05-08 22:55:00 |
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Shiro stood a few feet behind his husband. He had his bayard in sword form, but that was before he'd realized the potion users were getting overtaken one by one. He saw exactly when Keith's posture changed. Worse, he felt it, like ice cold fear up his spine. He quickly turned the sword into a shield and took a step closer. Maybe it was foolish. But Shiro would likely do worse in the next few moments to protect Keith - and protect everyone else from Keith.
"Keith?" The whisper was too quiet in the din of the battle and yet he could tell by the subtlest shift that Keith heard him. "Talk to me. Can you fight it?"
Much like how the potion had turned on them, it was like a switch had flipped in Keith's mind. Overtaken by Horace's will, Keith fought the orders that were being whispered into his mind. Had this been how the other Shiro had felt? Good and right in one minute, seduced to a darker will in the next?
It was insanity, how he felt in that moment, but as strong as his stubbornness was, this was a magic he couldn't fight. Not outright.
His shoulders tensed, shoulders nearly to his ears as he fought against the giant snake’s demands. But he couldn't stop his bayard at his side from transforming into his preferred weapon - a katar. “Shiro. You have to go,” came Keith's pained, pleading words. Then he was turning sharply, bayard raised to be used in the offensive. “Go!” And then there was nothing more, as Keith took a flying leap at his husband.
Keith sounded scared. Shiro hated that more than anything. But Keith had to know he wasn't going to leave. How could he? He started to open his mouth to refuse when Keith rushed him and he had to bring up his shield. The sword and shield coming together caused a quintessence light show and drove Shiro back a few steps. He braced himself to stop sliding.
"I won't leave you," he half-shouted over all the noise of battle around them. "I will never leave you," he swore. It might not have been what Keith wanted to hear but it was the truth. Shiro shoved his husband backward and twisted, dancing out of his reach and searching the area around them. There had to be a way to shut Keith down without hurting him. He just needed to buy a little time.
"This feels a little like old times, huh?"
When Keith thought about old times, he wished he could say he thought of better times when they weren’t locked in a battle to the death because of someone mind controlling one of them. The fact that this was happening again, with a role reversal, was fucked and he had many opinions about it.
But he was going to be too busy trying not to kill his husband to share them.
“You’re so dumb!” Keith shouted, frustrated and tears of anger blurring his vision. Good. Maybe he wouldn’t stab his husband in that case. He braced his shoulder against Shiro’s shield and used his hidden Galra strength to shove him back, before bringing his katar around for another swing.
God, he was so fucking weak, unable to resist this compulsion. “You have to go before I hurt you or you hurt me and can’t live with it!” He knew how Shiro was. It would eat him alive, if he was the cause of Keith’s harm. “Go for Kipp!” It was a low down dirty tactic to use their son like that, but Keith hated the thought of Shiro suffering because of this.
"Maybe I am!" Shiro shouted back. Keith's strength was formidable, but Shiro had fought many Galra in the arena. He held his ground and dodged backwards out of the swing of Keith's katar. There was more space away from the bulk of the fight this way, so he led Keith as carefully as he could, trying not to seem too eager. If he could pin Keith, he was at least halfway sure he could knock him unconscious. Gently. Sort of.
"But if you think you can use our son - who needs us both - against me, then you're also dumb." Shiro wasn't in the habit of calling Keith dumb, but he had a point to make. And also needed the evil snake driving his husband's body distracted from the way he was moving his feet. "I will never hurt you again, Keith. We can get through this. Just like everything else. There is nothing in this universe or the next that can break us."
With that said, he spun hard and whacked his shield against Keith's side, driving him towards the cave wall.
He had fallen for the lure that Shiro had put out, shifting away from the worst of the fighting that the others were doing and getting free for Shiro to make his next move. Keith hit the wall with a pained grunt, but unfortunately for the both of them, that didn’t knock him out.
Getting back on his feet, forced to ignore the stinging of his side and the possibly fractured/broken ribs he could feel, he charged Shiro again. “Just go!” It was a miserable shout, full of pain and terror as he brought down his katar on Shiro again and again. Shiro had bulk and strength on his side, but Keith had agility and speed. And with the giant snake puppetting him, the pain wasn’t holding him back either, as he came at his husband with watery eyes and extreme reluctance as he fought. “I’m dumb and I love you, but knock me out or go!”
Shiro refused to really hurt Keith if he could avoid it so he met every strike with his shield until his arm ached from the blows. Keith's words tore at his heart. Still, he was grateful. The snake could have taken control of his husband's mind and that would have been far worse. Seeing a stranger wearing Keith's face, saying hateful things like a certain clone had - twice no less. He supposed he deserved some turn around at this point, but he was selfish enough to prefer he never experience it.
"Patience yields focus, Keith." It was the wrong time to tease, of course, but that made it all the more crucial somehow. Shiro met Keith's next strike with his bayard shifting into sword mode just in time. Quintessence sparks flew and he twisted Keith's sword in a sharp, practiced move to rip it out of his hands and fling it away with just the deft twist of his own sword. As soon as it was free of Keith's hands, Shiro wrestled him to the ground until he was on his back and had Keith held to his chest by a muscle arm around his throat and equally thick thighs around his waist.
"I love you too," he whispered fiercely into Keith's ear, starting to squeeze tighter with his bicep. "Now go to sleep for me, please."
If this was happening in their bedroom and with consent, this would have been Keith's dream scenario. But as it was, Keith struggled and squirmed, before finally succumbing to the darkness of unconsciousness. His last thought before he drifted away was I love you Shiro…
Tears stung at the corners of Shiro's eyes. This was only marginally better than hurting Keith in the moment, because he could feel the tension drain out of Keith's body as he went limp and he still had to hold on for a little longer, to make sure Keith stayed under for at least a few minutes. When he finally let go, he kissed Keith's temple and murmured apologies into his skin. Then he very carefully tucked his husband behind a few boulders near the wall, where he would hopefully be safe long enough to take down the snake.
He had to be safe.
"I'll be right back," Shiro vowed.
As he stood, his bayard lit up at his side in a new form for the first time in years; it was a long handled battle axe with a wickedly curved blade. It was a blade meant for severing and it was time to work.
He could worry about what it meant later.