The two months since Keith vanished into the mission .the Blade of Marmora had stretched into an unbearable silence, each passing day a fresh gouge of absence. Then came Kolivan's stark pronouncement, a cruel, measured blow: Keith had chosen death over knowledge, a final, unyielding path. The words were shards, piercing the hearts of many, but you felt the deepest laceration, a brutal tearing at the bond forged through Shiro, a friendship honed in fire.

A stunned paralysis seized the team. Disbelief choked the air, a refusal to accept the impossible. He wouldn't just vanish. Not Keith. Not like that. Something was profoundly, terrifyingly wrong. And then he arrived. The air in the room thickened, almost crackling, as the door opened, revealing a figure that was both Keith and utterly, monstrously alien. His skin, once pale, was now mottled with coarse, light purple fur, a stark contrast to the deep, fresh scar that bisected his left cheek, clawing dangerously close to his yellow, slit-pupiled eyes.

Canines, sharp and predatory, gleamed wetly, a thin line of saliva tracing their points. Aggression radiated from him, mirrored in the frantic twitch of his fluffy, pointed ears and the restless flick of his long, fluffy tail. He towered over them all, a menacing monument of muscle stretching nearly seven feet.

The paladins' reactions were a silent symphony of shock. Allura's face drained to an ashen white. Lance's knees buckled, threatening to give way under the sheer weight of the sight. Pidge and Hunk stared, caught in a bewildered horror, struggling to comprehend the impossible nature of his transformation.

Coran and Shiro, equally petrified, stood frozen, their eyes wide with disbelief. But you, you felt the impact like a physical blow. All sensation, all thought, seemed to shut down, plunging your body into a deafening, terrifying silence. From the Blade of Marmora, Kolivan, Regris, and Antok exchanged a single, knowing glance, a silent acknowledgment of the grim task ahead.

Then, his gaze, feral and unseeing, locked onto you. A guttural roar ripped from his throat, and he lunged. You had no time to even register the blur of motion before Kolivan intercepted, his arm a steel band around Keith's waist.

Antok and Regris were a blur behind him, their grips like iron manacles clamping both his arms. Keith writhed, a beast trapped, thrashing violently against their vice-like hold, a symphony of growls, roars, and ragged pants tearing from his chest.