Keith dreamt of his father. He saw a man whose face resembled his almost identically if not for the insane glint in his eyes. He remembered the sting of his father's slap after the man came home from his nightly drinking parties. The pain he felt now was ten times worse than the pain he felt under Colin Porterfield's hand, but his mind went back to that time because to a child, any pain felt like death. He wanted to die as the memories tumbled in his head.

He felt gentle hands minister to his bruised and bloody face with care and his muddled mind thought of his mother at first. She had died when he was very young during a violent battle with Drule fighters. Her ship was blown out of the sky right in front of his father's eyes. He mumbled his mother's name incoherently as he felt the burning sensation of his wounds recede slightly.

"Shhh..." the girl soothed. "Don't be too loud or else they'll hear you."

Her voice was scratchy and hoarse, but it was like music to Keith's ears. He opened his swollen eyes as much as he could to take a look at his nurse. He had seen her serving Zarkon in the throne room. For a second he thought he was looking at Allura as she leaned over him. Her long blonde hair and bright blue eyes reminded him of the Arusian Princess, but there was a difference in their expressions. While Allura's face held a confidence, this girl looked broken, but the sparkle in her eyes told him that she wasn't beaten. She smiled reassuringly as she washed his wounds.

He had been moved to the dungeons after he had endured seemingly endless hours of torture as they tried to extract information from him and Zarkon had gotten tired of playing with him. The Doom guards had first beaten him with steel clubs, then electrocuted him much like Hagar had. He was surprised he was still coherent, but his will was stronger than his body. His tongue felt thick in his mouth and he could barely talk. He could barely move. The dungeon floor was wet and cold. His arms ached from hanging for so long in Zarkon's throne room.

"You're going to have a nasty scar on your jaw," she said quietly. "But I'm sure your doctors can make it disappear."

She finished cleaning the cuts on the parts of his body that she could see. She dressed them next as he hung on to what consciousness he could. In a corner of his mind, he wondered why they hadn't rescued him yet.

"W-Who a-are y-you," he managed to stammer out.

"Romelle," she replied after a moment's hesitation.

"T-thank y-you," he said.

She smiled and stood when she finished. He closed his eyes and gave in to his exhaustion. His last thought was that they better get to him fast because he didn't think how much longer he could hold on.

Lotor led them through a confusing maze of corridors that Allura could barely follow from her seat at Castle Control. They were equipped with tracking devices so that she could keep tabs on them while cross-referencing their destination with the map they had to make sure Lotor wasn't trying to pull any tricks. Each of the pilots had an earpiece so that she could communicate with them as well as tiny microphones on their collars so that she could hear what was happening. They were going to the dungeons after Lotor had gotten information from one of the castle's computers as to where their new prisoner was. It was only a matter of getting to Keith and getting him out without running into trouble.

"He's not going to look good," Coran said.

"I know. We've seen what Zarkon does to his prisoners. I hope we're not too late," she said.

At last they reached the lower levels of the Castle and when Lotor opened the doors to the dungeon level, a musty smell invaded their nostrils. They entered and went down a flight of steps. It was damp and dark. Lance and Sven held torches lifted from the wall to light their way. They found Keith's cell quickly, but found no key hanging nearby.

"We can't fire at it," Lance said in a low voice. "We might be detected. I was counting on a key being here."

"Don't worry," Pidge said confidently. "I came prepared."

He reached into his pocket and took out a small, square-shaped object. He slipped it into the crack of the door where the metal piece slid into the wall to lock it shut. They heard a hissing sound soon after and a puff of smoke come out of the crack. The door creaked open.

"Vat vas dat?" Sven asked, amazed.

"I used a little bit of the explosive we had left over to make a little key for us," Pidge replied. "Call it a mini-bomb."

Lance opened the door slowly and what little light they had felt on the cell's lone occupant. Their faces fell as they saw him. Keith was nearly unrecognizable if not for the tattered pieces of his flightsuit clinging to his battered body. His face was a swollen mess and his black hair hung around his face in wet strands. They rushed to him. He didn't wake as Sven and Hunk lifted him, put each of his arms around their shoulders, and dragged him out the door.

It was then did they realize that Lotor was nowhere to be seen.