Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The legend of Voltron was one that Keith had heard often growing up. Stories of great deeds, whispered in hushed tones. Forbidden tales of hope adults would tell children as bedtime stories. Never loud enough to draw any unwanted attention, however. Fables with bits of reality scattered about, but fables nonetheless.

He had heard the stories often enough while growing up. He and Acxa both. Five wise paladins with five great ships that form one symbolic warrior, spreading peace throughout the universe. The countless retellings they had sat through while growing up had built up an image in his mind. An image of what the paladins should be. An image that grew harder to maintain now that he saw what these… new paladins were like.

They were stubborn children who bickered over the smallest, most simple things. It was like they had never seen war before. Princess Allura was no better, shattering her own image of a regal ruler as well as what Lotor had built Alteans up to be. They sat on a couch in the common area, arguing over what, to Keith, should have been an easy topic to agree on.

"I'm just saying, to make any progress in taking down the empire, Voltron can't be your only weapon," Keith repeated for probably the 5th time.

"I refuse to drag innocents into this fight," Princess Allura restated stubbornly. Keith was truly getting annoyed at this point.

"You already are if you liberate their planet. The least you can do is arm them and train them to fight. Otherwise you leave an unarmed planet in your wake for the Empire to regain control of the second you're gone."

"We are trying to bring them peace, not more war!"

"That isn't an option anymore. It hasn't been for a very long time. These people have already experienced the horrors of war. Freeing them and then leaving them will, in reality, make it worse in the long run. If the Empire does decide to reclaim them, they will likely treat them worse than before for something that was entirely out of their hands. If you arm them, train them, and prepare them, there is at least a slight possibility the empire won't see them as worth the effort to conquer again. It gives them a fighting chance."

"And let's say we decide to stay and train the natives to fight. We don't even have the resources to arm half of them. And the longer Voltron stays on the planet, the bigger target we paint on them."

"Use the weapons from the Empire's bases. Send most of the lions off planet."

"Galra tech only works for the Galra, genius," Lance interrupts and Keith can't help but to glare at him with annoyance.

"Reprogram it then. You already have the most basic clearance using his arm," Keith motions toward Shiro, "Access the code and change it. Everything runs on one system."

"What do you mean I have clearance?" Shiro asks curiously but cautiously.

"Your arm. It's Galran technology. It's rare for anyone who isn't Galra to have any cybernetic enhancements like that. Outside of the arena, at least. So security systems are designed to read the technology as Galra. Without a specialized code in it though, it won't give you higher access than that of a low ranking soldier. But it's enough to get you in and as long as one of you is able to code, you now have a military base, on planet, with weapons and supplies for the locals."

They all look at him with varying degrees of surprise as he finishes speaking. Though Pidge's face quickly morphs into an expression of suspicion, even as the others whisper amongst themselves. Their eyes practically burn into him.

"How do you know so much about this sort of thing anyway?"

Keith honestly should have expected that sort of question. He was giving more information about the empire than most had access to. But how was he supposed to answer that anyway? Lotor had given him orders. He wasn't supposed to give away too much information about himself.

"...I suppose you could say I have a bit of experience when it comes to… dealing with the Empire."

"What-"

"It's not a topic I'm willing to talk about right now. Drop it." Perhaps his tone was a bit harsh, given how all conversation around him ceased in that moment. But if getting 'defensive' is what made Pidge, whose gaze seemed to dissect him in seconds, back off… well he had to consider it worth it. He wasn’t expecting the quick flash of pity to cross their face.

“So… what you’re suggesting is we repurpose the bases on planets we free?”

“Something like that. You just need someone who understands code. Which I can’t exactly help you with. Technology isn’t my strong suit.”

"I have the code covered. I'm great at hacking," Pidge's eyes seem to gleam with that statement and Keith felt like he should be a little bit worried.

"So we have a method to arm the local inhabitants of the planets we free," Allura speaks again, "but we simply don't have time to train them to fight."

"You're overthrowing an Empire. It's not going to fall in any quintant. You can spare at least a little bit of time."

"The longer we stay at those planets, the bigger of target you paint on their backs."

"They already have targets on their backs when you free them. The nearest cruisers will come to reclaim them and unless the Empire really has a use for the planet, they might let the planet go if they put up a big enough fight."

"But we can't guarantee that."

"So? This is war. War isn't a walk in the park and it's not something you can win with six people."

"You mean seven people," Hunk says softly, catching Keith off guard. The large man had, thus far, stayed out of the argument. He clearly found it distasteful.

"Excuse me?"

"Well you said six people but there's seven of us. Shiro, Lance, Pidge, Allura, Coran, you, and me," he counted on his fingers as he recounted the names of everyone in the ship.

"I said six and I meant six. I haven't agreed to work with you yet."

"Are you kidding me?!" Lance shouted as he stood up, glaring at Keith like he had done something to personally insult him, "We've been here for at least 30 minutes now and you still don't want to fight with us?!"

"You have yet to convince me that even staying here is a good idea," Keith defended as he stood to glare right back at Lance, "I refuse to put the ones I care about in any more danger."

"Everyone's loved ones are in danger with the Galra running around and conquering people!"

"They'll be in more danger if I run off for a rebellion that might not even work! Everything I've heard from you is idealistic but ultimately unrealistic. It'll just end in blood being shed!"

"You don't know that!"

"Maybe I don't but that's not something I'm willing to chance! I will not be responsible for any more of my family dying!"

The entire room seemed to freeze at that. Keith felt off kilter as all of the others stared at him. Their pity was stifling. He forced himself to take a calming breath. Acxa would be upset if she found out he lost his temper. Lotor would be disappointed if he messed up a perfectly acceptable alliance for no reason, "Look. Just… properly address my concerns then allow me to contact my… family. Then I'll go run around and rebel with all of you. Is that acceptable?"

The paladins and princess all exchanged looks, having a silent conversation, before Shiro takes a step toward him, "We'll do our best to quell your worries, okay? Let's just take a seat and start from the beginning. No arguing, no shouting. Just calm conversation and strategy."

Keith nodded slowly and sat down. The other's all followed suit. They could do this. They could have a conversation and talk this out.

It had taken at least another varga to finally agree on a course of action to an extent he was satisfied with. Keith had felt exhausted by the end of it. Circle talk was absolutely the worst part of any negotiation. It made him want to spar just to have some mental reprieve. But he had at least one more thing to do.

He reentered the Red Lion's hangar with a small smile on his face. Red was practically radiating positivity. She was probably happy to be home. Who knows when the last time she was even here was. Long before his time, that's for certain.

He walked up to her and laid a gentle hand against her chin. Even laying down, Red towered over him, "Hey Red, think I can come in?"

Keith could feel her purr through the floor. It practically shook his whole body as her entrance opened. He couldn't help but smile as he walked in, "Thanks girl."

His smile dropped once he was safely inside Red and she closed back up. He had to contact Lotor. Had to discuss his next move. He had deemed the paladins and Alteans to be worth working with. But the choice of if he stayed around to help was ultimately out of his hands. He just hoped they were still in range.

The comms crackled a bit as he booted them up before the image cleared, showing Acxa in the communications center. She looked relieved.

"Keith. It's about time you came on. Where have you been? It's been at least three vargas since your last transmission. Are you okay?"

"Relax, Acxa. I'm fine. Coming to an agreement just… took longer than expected," he said and she raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? Let me guess, you tried to get in a fight and one of them had to talk your stubborn ass down."

"Hey! It didn't get physical this time!"

She snorts but makes no attempt to hide her amusement, "Yes. That really is such an improvement. You truly are a saint."

"Shut up, you probably would have tried to shoot the blue one."

"No I wouldn't have. Because, unlike you, I'm not a hot-headed idiot."

Keith opened his mouth to defend his honor but quickly closed it at the sound of the door behind Acxa opening and Lotor stepping through. He looked pleasantly surprised as he walked in, if the smile that spread across his face was anything to go by, "Ah, Keith, done already?"

"Yes, sir."

"Excellent. That's faster than I expected you to finish. How did it go?"

"The new paladins are inexperienced but show at least a bit of potential. They don't seem to have any ulterior motives. Though that may be because of how I look."

Both Lotor and Acxa raised a brow at that and Lotor, naturally, pressed him on the matter, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, physically, I look like the other paladins. As if we were the same species. They called me human, which is apparently what their species is called."

"Interesting," Lotor said, clearly intrigued, "It is entirely possible we finally found the other half of your heritage."

"That's not the only thing I found. There were two other people with the paladins. Two Alteans ."

"...is that so?"

"Yes. Princess Allura and her advisor, Coran, of the planet Altea."

Lotor is silent for a long moment, a contemplative look on his face, "Keith, did you deem them acceptable?"

"They're worth helping."

 "Alright. Here are your new orders then. You are to stay with these new paladins and the Alteans. Help them. Contact us when you can but not at the risk of your own safety. Do whatever you need to in order to keep relations friendly. No killing."

"Understood, but are you sure that this is a good idea? It's highly likely we won't be in contact for pheobes."

"Do you want to help Voltron, Keith?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then do this. Just trust me. It'll be more useful if you stay with them. Voltron is strong but can only form with all 5 paladins and lions and I doubt Red will be willing to give you up. For now, I'll lift the information ban. Tell them whatever you feel they should know."

"Understood."

"Good. Until next time, Keith," Lotor bowed his head and departed. He seemed off somehow and Keith couldn't put his finger on what was wrong. But he didn't have time to before Acxa came back. She looked concerned and Keith at least understood why.

"Hey, relax you worrywart."

"I don't know how you expect me to relax. You're being left alone with a bunch of strangers with no way of contacting us."

"It will be fine. Most of them don't seem like they have any formal combat training. I could take them in a fight easily. Though Shiro might prove to be a challenge."

"You should at least try to avoid getting in a fight."

"Ugh, stop, you sound like Pa."

"Well good. Pa was a smart man."

Keith groaned, "Fine. I won't provoke a fight with the paladins."

Acxa sighed heavily, "That's probably the best I'm going to get from you, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Well fine then. I'll leave it at that. I need to disconnect soon, anyway. Lotor wants to move on to the next quadrant as soon as possible."

"I see. Well then, I'll be signing off then. Just… stay safe, Acxa. Both you and the others."

"We will. Try not to die, idiot."

And with that, the line went dead, and Keith was alone.

Chapter Text

To say life in the Castle of Lions was interesting would be an understatement. Just going from a smaller ship that almost felt crowded with only 6 people to a ship that felt almost empty despite having 7 people was an adjustment in and of itself. The Castle was clearly meant to have multiple families of people. Yet, somehow, despite that, Keith found himself constantly running into the paladins and Alteans.

He wasn't sure if they were intentionally seeking him out. Most of the time, they seemed surprised yet cheerful to see him. But a few times, they were clearly, and poorly, attempting to spy on him. Though he didn't see the merit in staring at him as he ate nutritional paste of the wrong color.

(That, in and of itself, had been an interesting discovery. He had tried not to be horrified when he was told that the others all primarily only ate nutritional paste. But on top of that, he had been completely shocked when he actually saw it. Green nutritional paste. Whoever heard of green nutritional paste? It was unnatural. It was supposed to be purple. Not green. Green was a terrible color. Don’t tell Pidge.)

He had slowly gotten into the habit of spending his time either on the training deck or in Red's cockpit. At least he was doing something productive during his downtime. Unlike seemingly all of the others, who seemed to use the time to relax in their own weird ways.

Lance liked to put weird green stuff on his face and 'paint his nails'. Hunk fiddled around in the kitchen and made things that were actually edible. Pidge attached themselves to every piece of technology they could and messed around with its software. Shiro meditated. Keith, frankly, had no real idea what Allura or Coran did. He, unlike the paladins, wasn't one for blatant spying. The only reason he even knew the routines of the paladins was because they, for some reason, kept trying to involve him in their routines. Lance even tried convincing him to let him cut his hair.

He mostly tried to avoid them when they tried dragging him along for those sorts of things. Something about it didn’t sit quite right with him. It left him feeling guilty . Of all things to feel while being dragged through pointless rituals with people he barely knew, guilt wasn’t one he was expecting to feel. He had no reason to be guilty, after all.

Sure, the repeated attempts to involve him did only serve to remind him of the home he had left behind. But that hardly mattered. He could handle the distance. He wasn’t an emotionally dependent kit, after all. Still, he did have to admit the distance did leave a bad taste in his mouth. Though that might have been the nutritional paste.

Either way, Keith found himself avoiding more personal moments with the paladins. The only time he willingly allowed them near him was when they were all training together. He did have a feeling most of the paladins were untrained but watching them spar only served to prove that thought. Hunk reacted with fear to the slightest suggestion of violence, Lance tried showing off in increasingly ridiculous ways, Pidge avoided doing anything physical as if it were a plague. The only one who seemed to know what they were doing was Shiro. But Shiro had his own issues, though Keith did not blame him for those. He had seen enough suffering from Soldier’s Heart to know Shiro was not to blame for the attacks that happened during training.

Still, he was a little disappointed with how untrained the other paladins were. Especially when it came to working as a team. Allura seemed to be just as disappointed and irritated by it. If not more so if her pushing was any indication. She didn’t want them to take breaks until they worked as a cohesive unit. Something Keith was more than willing to argue against. He understood her frustration but teamwork didn’t just happen with a few drills. He knew that from experience.

But then Coran had recommended something that made Keith unsure of how to continue. A mind meld. Coran wanted them to do a mind meld. And despite the fact Lotor had lifted the information ban, Keith still felt his blood run cold. Mind melds tended to be treated as a last resort among special operation groups that needed to be in sync. It stripped the agents of their walls and forced their brains into one. There was no hiding anything and, for some reason, that scared Keith. But none of the other paladins were complaining so he allowed himself to be dragged along with them.

Realistically, he knew what they were about to do was different than what the Empire did. Unless Coran was secretly a druid. Now there was a terrifying thought. Still he stared at the device in his hands before very slowly placing it on his head with the rest of the paladins. He could tell the second they were all linked because suddenly there were others, gently pushing on the edge of his consciousness. It felt almost like Red. But while she burned with a warm, protective passion, the other paladins felt cold and unsure. They were just as unsure of this exercise as he was. But as they relaxed, he could feel them change. He didn’t know how to describe it as they mixed together into an odd concoction that left him lightheaded.

He could hardly hear Coran as he clears his throat and asks them to clear their minds and focus on coming together as one. He let out a soft breath and allowed his mind to empty, his thoughts fading away into the background. As he did so, the pressure on the edge of his conscious changed again, softening and starting to meld into him. But there was something wrong. A sudden thought flickered through him but it wasn’t right. It wasn’t his. This image of two humans couldn’t be his. It took him a moment to recognize Pidge and when he did, suddenly his brain was filled with a cacophony of emotions that made him pull away completely. The other paladins returned to just being pressure on the edge of him. None of them were overlapping anymore.

“Dang it, Pidge! Stop thinking about your girlfriend!” Lance snapped, giving Keith pause. Girlfriend? No… that wasn’t right. Something about the implications of that word wasn’t right for those emotions Pidge had accidentally sent across. It wasn’t the right word. He racked his brain for an explanation and only one image popped into his head at that. Acxa . Now he understood.

“Not you too, Keith!” Lance snapped again, startling Keith enough for him to open his eyes and look over at the blue paladin. He hadn’t even realized he closed his eyes in the first place. But now that they were open, he could see what Lance was complaining about. There were screens in front of each of them and Pidge was desperately trying to clear that picture of them and the other person off of their screen. He felt a pang of sympathy for them and thought of Acxa again. But he immediately froze as he saw her appear on the screen in front of him. Lance groaned while Keith instantly forces Acxa from his mind.

“See! How are we supposed to focus on this while you and Pidge think about your girlfriends?!”

“She’s not my girlfriend , whatever that is!”

“Bull!”

Shiro groaned from where he was seated, “Lance. Let’s drop this topic. We’re done for the day.”

In one solid movement, all there other paladins pulled off the mind meld devices and Keith followed suit. All at once, the faint presence of the other paladins were yanked away, leaving him with just Red. That fact brought him comfort but at the same time, it left him feeling oddly empty.

Allura marched over to them, practically fuming, “You can’t stop now! You aren’t working as one yet!”

“No offense, Princess,” Keith interjected with annoyance, “But you can’t expect a team of people who barely know each other to suddenly be a perfect team out of nowhere. It takes time and-”

“We don’t have time! The Galra are likely expanding their rule as we speak!”

“Frankly, Princess, they’d be doing that if we were working as a team or not. Getting upset about it isn’t going to change the fact that no one here is ready to go charging into a battle. The Empire has been conquering for 10,000 decaphoebs! A team put together in a movement isn’t going to make a difference unless they’re given the time to adjust to each other!”

“But you-”

“I’m not having this argument, Princess.”

“Just because you have some sort of connection to a Galra woman doesn’t mean we aren’t going to war with them and nothing you claim is going to change that fact!”

Keith froze as if he had been slapped. A single glance at the paladins showed them in a similar state of shock. They were all just staring at him, clearly expecting answers. Answers he wouldn’t give. A wave of fury enveloped him and Keith growled before marching past Allura. Toward the exit.

“Keith!” There was a chorus of yelling behind him as he walked away and the door slid shut behind him.

Chapter Text

Keith sat in Red’s cockpit. He didn’t know how long he had been there but he honestly didn’t care. He didn’t want to see any of the paladins right now. He had a feeling that whatever they would say to him wasn’t going to be positive. Even with the short amount of time they had all spent together, he could tell that none of them particularly liked the Empire. And despite his attempts to subtly correct them, they couldn’t separate the Empire from the Galra. Acted as though they were interchangeable words.

Maybe that’s why Keith felt the need to keep them all at a distance. Why he stormed away the second Allura pointed out that he had been thinking of Acxa. Racism wasn’t a new experience to Keith. Among most species, he was fine until they found out he was half Galra. His physical appearance helped him seem like just another victim of the Empire's crimes but once he donned his armor, which proudly declared his heritage, any warmth was instantly replaced by malice. Among other Galra, however, the complete dominance of his paternal species genetics only seeked to hinder him. He was stuck being both too Galra and not Galra enough. Lotor making him one of his trusted generals had been one of the greatest blessings Keith had ever received in his life. He knew that's what kept him away from the Druids. What kept him and the others away from certain death at the hands of those angered by their mixed blood.

Though his position came with it's own drawbacks. It was no secret that they had no respect among the pureblooded Galra in the Empire. Despite the fact they outranked them, even lowly Lieutenants refused to follow orders given to them. Purely based off of the fact they were "half breeds". It irritated Keith to no end. They acted as though he and the others hadn't worked to earn their rank. Like it had been gifted to them on a silver platter simply because Lotor was also only half galra. Lotor was not that kind of person. Keith had worked to earn his trust and earn his place amongst his guard.

Though, now he had to wonder if he had failed the trust put in him. Lotor had trusted him to work with the paladins. And now, here he was, hiding in Red. Like a kit who had broken something important. All because he was scared , of all things. He had no right to be scared. After all, if necessary, he could take Red right now and leave. And if the paladins came after him, he was fairly certain he could take most of them in a fight. Shiro would be difficult and Lotor had said Alteans were capable of incredible feats of strength with very little effort. He would prefer not to fight them. Though he would not hesitate to bring them down if need be.

But that wasn't what he was supposed to do. He was supposed to earn their trust. Supposed to work with them. How was he supposed to do that if they hated his maternal half? If they saw anyone with a single drop of Galra in their blood as the enemy? Why did it always circle back to that? Either too Galra or not Galra enough.

He was pulled from his mental spiral by a pulse of comfort from Red. It wrapped around him like a blanket and warmed him to his core. Red always felt warm. He wondered if it's something she did on purpose or if her very core burned like a flame. If she was warm because she wanted to be or if that's just who she was. Either way, it was a comfort to have.

He stretched out, feeling his spine pop in a few places. Apparently that was normal for humans. It always scared the other generals when he would do that. Acxa had long since grown used to it, though. But he wondered how long he had been in there for. Where the lights out? Had the paladins gone to bed? Would it be safe for him to sneak into the kitchens and grab some nutritional paste to eat?

He didn't tend to eat more than he had to so it had been awhile since he had eaten. And if he had to go back to hiding it Red, it would be worth it to have eaten something. So he decided to risk it and exited Red as quietly as he could. She purred gently as he departed, as if attempting to nudge him onwards and out of the hangar. Into the castle proper. He had quite the walk to get even get to the kitchens. But that didn't stop him from taking his time as he crept through the hallways.

The lights were dimmed but Keith could only trust that so much. He knew Pidge had a habit of not falling asleep until it was almost lights on. Shiro was prone to night terrors and would often get up to patrol the corridors just to give himself something to do. Even Hunk would occasionally get up at odd times for seemingly no reason at all. The only paladin he hadn't seen wandering at night had been Lance. But he was fairly certain Lance could sleep through anything.

He reached the kitchen after a few doboshes. The door slid open when he drew close enough, revealing a dark interior, illuminated only by the faint, blue floor lights that were ever-present on the ship. Keith slid inside, not bothering to turn on the light as the door slid shut. If there was at least one bonus that came from his mixed heritage that he didn't mind, his improved senses would be it. Humans had rather poor senses. Their night vision? Horrid. Their sense of smell? Dull. Their hearing? Pathetic. Keith's senses were worse than an average Galra. But they excelled compared to the paladins. It was something to be thankful for, at the very least.

He made his way through the kitchen, pulling out a bowl and quietly filling it with nutritional paste before grabbing a spoon and settling down on the counter to eat. He only needed a few doboshes to eat. Then he could return to Red and it would be like he never left. But then the door slid open and Keith almost threw his bowl in his rush to hop off of the counter and hide behind the island. Quiznak, why did someone have to be awake this late? Why did they have to go to the kitchen of all places?

He listened to their footsteps as they walked. He hadn't had enough time to properly figure out whose footsteps were whose and he was regretting that now. Especially as the light was turned on and he had to close his eyes against the sudden glare. Whoever was in the kitchen with him shuffled around a bit and Keith quietly slid on the floor. He just had to get to the door. Then he could potentially run without any conflict. But before he could even get close there was a startled yell to his right and his head whipped around to stare at Hunk, who was leaning over the counter with a hand on his chest. He was dressed in yellow sleepwear and his hair was rumpled in a way that implied he hadn’t been awake for long.

“Oh man, Keith. You can’t just sneak up on people like that,” Hunk spoke. He didn’t sound angry, which was odd but Keith chose not to question that.

“I wasn’t sneaking up on you. I was already in here.”

Hunk blinked and then looked down at him in a mix of disbelief and confusion, “With the lights off?”

“The lights were irritating my eyes,” he lied. He didn’t want to admit his vision was good enough for him to see the kitchen clearly in dim light. Despite everything, he didn’t want them to know his heritage. Didn’t want to see how bad that reaction would be.

Hunk seemed to buy it though if his sympathetic facial expression was anything to go by, “Oh, sorry. I’ll turn the lights off soon. Was just trying to get a midnight snack and maybe try to see if I could find anything to actually give the food goo some flavor. But if you still need some alone time, I could leave.”

Keith shook his head, “You’re fine, Hunk. I don’t need time alone.”

“You sure? Cause there’s no shame in needing time to yourself.”

“I’m fine. Just get yourself some nutritional paste.”

“I still don’t know why you call it that,” Hunk says as he turns and grabs himself a bowl and fills it with the green paste, “Like, I get that’s what it’s called but it doesn’t exactly sound edible.”

“And food goo sounds better somehow?”

“Well, no. But it’s easier to say.”

“I don’t know about that,” Keith couldn’t stop the small smile that made its way onto his face. They lapsed into silence as they ate and Keith could almost feel comfortable again. Almost. But Hunk kept glancing at him.

“So… you doing okay, man?”

“What do you mean?”

“You kinda ran out earlier and hid until everyone was asleep.”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Hunk.”

“Alright. Well… then can I ask a question?”

“Go ahead.”

“Who was that lady you were thinking of earlier? The Galra one.”

Keith felt himself grow tense at that. He wasn't sure how to answer that. What could he say that would satisfy Hunk? The yellow paladin was almost as inquisitive as Pidge and that was a dangerous thing. But it was also dangerous to leave the question unanswered. Hanging in the air.

Hunk visibly grew nervous the longer Keith stayed silent and quickly moved to try to soothe any damage his question may have caused, "That was probably too personal of a question, huh? You don't have-"

"Her name is Acxa," Keith interrupts. He feels almost self-conscious when doing so but Hunk quickly fell silent and listened. He allowed Keith a moment to continue, "And she's only half Galra."

Hunk tilted his head as his brow furrowed in confusion, "Does that matter?"

To say he was taken aback by that question would likely be considered an understatement. It was almost naive in nature. He had noticed a certain lack of knowledge toward the inner workings of the Empire. The paladins didn't know anything. It made sense, in a way. Their planet was pre-contact. They hadn't been conquered yet. They wouldn't know how much that distinction matters.

"It does to the Empire," and the rest of the universe but Hunk didn't need to know that part, "In their eyes, half Galra are barely better than the races of those they conquer."

"But… they're Galra," Hunk weakly points out, as if that fact had escaped his notice.

"They also aren't. The Empire only values pureblooded Galra. Just, trust me. The distinction between Galra and half Galra matters."

Hunk frowns. Something about that displeased him but Keith couldn't begin to understand what. Surely he didn't give away enough information for Hunk to figure out what Keith was. But he couldn't be sure. Hunk was smart. Both when it came to mechanics and people. It had him feeling panicked. Would Hunk care? Would he react negatively? Would he go and tell the others? Keith didn't know.

But Hunk merely cleared his throat and corralled their conversation back toward the original topic, "So… this half Galra woman, Acxa? How do you know her?"

"We grew up together."

It wasn't a lie. He had been told many times that he was bad at lying. Hunk would likely see through any attempt Keith made to lie.

"You did?" Hunk sounded surprised. But there were undertones of curiosity. He shouldn't feed it. Curiosity was insatiable and dangerous. And just because Hunk was kind, it didn't mean he wouldn't go digging for answers once he had gotten a taste. But Keith was never good at listening to his common sense.

"We were both taken in by an Urzit when we were infants. He raised the both of us."

"Woah, wait, you were adopted by an alien and raised with a half Galra? Why?"

Keith merely shrugged, "We were both unwanted. Urzits only take in children who have no one else. It's not uncommon for half Galra children to be thrown away before anyone else finds out they exist."

"But why were you there?"

"How should I know? I was a baby."

Hunk winces, "Right. Dumb question."

"I've heard dumber."

"So… this Acxa is like… your sister?"

"In as many ways as she can be." It's more honest than Keith probably should be. But it's difficult to deliberately hide details from Hunk. Hunk was too friendly. A dangerous thing. Hunk was dangerous. As dangerous as he was nice.

Hunk nodded and yawned. He seemed a little surprised by that fact though as he sent Keith an apologetic smile, "Guess I lost track of the time. We should probably turn in for the night, huh?"

Keith just nodded and collected their empty bowls, putting them into the Castle's dishwasher. He should probably return to Red and try to get more rest. Hunk opened the door and paused, turning to look back at him.

"Hey, man, if you ever want to talk more about that kind of stuff, I'm here to listen."

Keith didn't understand why that made a small smile crawl it's way onto his face, "Thanks, Hunk."

And then he returned to Red and fell asleep, feeling more at peace than he did before.

Chapter Text

It took a bit for things to settle down, even after Keith's short talk with Hunk. He had a feeling Hunk had told the others what little information he had been given. Just to help smooth things over. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about that. It's not like he had said told everything to Hunk in confidence. And he was thankful that over the course of the next day, most of the untrusting stares had disappeared. Most of them.

Allura was a different case. Frankly, Keith was surprised she was the only one who visibly did not accept Hunk's explanations on some level. Of course she would be upset that Keith had any form of connection with a Galra, though he still understated how deep that connection ran. It didn't take much to gather that she and Coran had been put in cryosleep during the Fall of Altea. She saw it burning before being put to for thousands of decapheobs, waking up without so much as a trace of her home left. She had every right to be upset and untrusting in Keith's eyes.

It still didn't stop him from disliking her glares though. Yes, he was used to being glared at but it was different with her. He had grown to at least somewhat like her company despite the fact she was sheltered and naive at the best of times. She had been friendly enough, if a bit demanding. But now all he was left with was her cold demeanor. As if even consorting with someone of Galra blood removed any value one could have. It made Keith bristle with barely restrained anger. He refused to approach her about it yet. He would give her a chance to come to her senses on her own.

For now, he took his anger out on the training bots. He was still adjusting to the bayard, which was heavier in his hand than his knife but lighter than the older swords Lotor would allow him to use. But the sword was steadily growing more familiar in his hand as he climbed the levels. The training robot moved differently than the drones deployed on the training deck on the Royal Cruiser. The drones would kill him if he gave an opening. Especially on the higher levels. By comparison, the robot was easy. This training deck refused to let him skip to the higher levels though so he had to work his way up to something actually challenging. The first time he had trained, he had been there for at least two vargas and left frustrated, having barely broken a sweat. But he trained often enough that he was able to get up to a good level within the first movement.

The real difficulty he had was when he was forced to hold back for the other paladins. Lance, Pidge, and Hunk were all noticeably behind him in skill level and frequently tripped over themselves. But team training meant they were also tripping over him or getting in his way. They had difficulty moving as a cohesive unit. It wasn’t surprising. The younger three had admitted to having never had formal training before. Shiro said that he had taken a few self-defense classes when he was younger. But his fighting skills mostly came from areas his mind had clouded over. Swift and lethal. That plus the fact his right arm was made out of druid technology didn’t paint a pretty picture. Should Keith had watched the gladiatorial matches, he was certain he would have recognized Shiro. It was the only reason he could think of as to why the Druids would make him such a thing.

But nonetheless, training was terrible when it was all five of them. If Keith could, he likely would avoid it. He quickly accepted that he couldn’t though. So to make up for the lack of real practice he got with the team, he had gotten into the habit of spending a frankly unhealthy amount of time training by himself. Should he have still been with the others, they would have kicked his ass for fighting for that long without a break. Ezor likely would have tied him to a chair again. Or worse, Narti would have Kova sit on him.There was no escaping that. But the paladins didn’t seem to even be aware of his habits. Or if they did, they simply didn’t care. He personally preferred it to be the former rather than the latter but he didn’t know why.

“And of course, Mullet is still working out even though it’s been nearly two hours,” Lance called suddenly, causing Keith to trip over himself. He twisted his body and brought up his bayard to barely block the robot’s staff before it hit him in the head. Then, in one swift movement, he twisted the staff out of its hands and decapitated the robot. The training room floor opened its maw to swallow the metal husk whole.

With that out of the way, Keith turned to glare at Lance, who looked just as unamused as Keith felt, "You couldn't have waited until I was done with that level to interrupt me?"

“Would you have actually acknowledged me, emo?”

“I’m acknowledging you now, aren’t I?” Keith said, ignoring the foreign word Lance used at the end of his sentence. There was no point in derailing the conversation to ask for a word definition from Lance. Keith made the mistake of asking what a mullet was once and all he got was a vague hand gesture toward himself and a disdainful ‘ that’ . It was not an enlightening conversation.

“Well, yeah, but that’s beside the point! You’re just here moping!” Lance threw his arms out in a wide gesture, as if to enunciate his claim.

“I’m not moping . I’m training.”

“You don’t need anymore training, dude. You’ve been avoiding everyone else more than normal ever since we found out about your Galra friend,” Keith felt himself tense but Lance continued anyway, “But it’s not like it’s a bad thing so get over it. Pulling away just because you’re friends with someone isn’t helping anyone. So quit moping and do something that doesn’t involve stabbing things!”

Keith crossed his arms and stood to his full height, cursing how short he was as he drew up a little shorter than Lance, “Well then what do you suggest?”

Lance’s face broke into a large grin that absolutely did not read as trustworthy to Keith, “A race. Blue versus Red. Coran told me there was an asteroid field nearby. First one there wins.”

“You want to get in our lions and race?”

“That’s what I just said, Mullet. Can you not hear me past that bad haircut?”

“Did you get permission to do that?”

“Are we gonna race or are you just too scared I’ll win?”

Keith frowned but he couldn’t ignore that challenge. Something bubbled in his gut as he stared Lance down, “I’m not scared of something that’s not possible.”

Lance let out a scandalized gasp, putting a hand over his chest in an almost dramatic fashion before his body shifted into a more competitive stance, "Oh, I'll have you eating those words, Mullet! Ready, Set-"

"Wait, we're starting here?"

"Go!" Lance took off, quickly running out of the room before Keith could even react. But he wasn't going to hold that lead for long. Competitive instinct took over as Keith raced after him. He just had to make it to Red and then he knew he could make it to that asteroid field before Lance did. Red was faster than Blue. She was faster than all of the other lions. He just had to trust that she would make it.

He raced through winding halls, keeping his breathes measured. It didn't take long for him to reach Red's hangar and he couldn't help but smile as she lowered her head and extended her ramp the second he appeared, her purring shaking the floor beneath him.

"Hey, kitty. Ready to fly?" He asked as he ran inside and took his seat. Instantly, an eagerness that was not his own flooded his mind, almost drowning out the competitiveness that burned in his gut. Red was almost instantaneously on her feet and launching herself out of the castle. It was a rush. When they were not on-planet, Allura didn't typically allow them to fly, in fear of the Empire spotting them and being unable to get all of them through the wormhole. To be in flying in Red brought him happiness. And judging by the warmth filling him, Red felt the same way.

"Alright, so we're having a race with Lance to get to a nearby asteroid field. Ready to win?" A purr of agreement is all he received as he saw Blue shoot out of the castle and start flying. With almost no prompting, Red surges forward and past Blue. There was an undignified squawk from Lance through the open coms as they did so and Keith held back from laughing at it.

Lance wasn't wrong when he said the field was nearby. In practically no time, Red arrived. Blue didn't take much longer but Keith reveled in the several ticks it took. He won.

"How did you do that?!" Lance yelled over the coms. Keith looked over at the image of him projected off to the side. Bathed in a blue light within his lion, Lance was practically pouting.

"Do what? Win?"

"You didn't win! You cheated!"

"Red is the fastest lion and her hangar is closer to the training deck than Blue's. There was no reason to cheat when you set yourself up to lose." Not to mention Keith didn't like the idea of cheating. This did not seem to ease Lance though. If anything, he bristled at that comment.

"I demand a rematch!" Lance yelled as his lion turned and sped off,  "Race you back to the Castle!"

Keith allowed himself a moment to smile before taking off after him.

Chapter Text

Keith had become prone to wandering the castle at night. He didn’t sleep as much as the other paladin’s seemed to and this left him with vargas alone with nothing to do other than train. Which is already what he does for most of the day cycle already. It just left him bored and alone for the most part. There was only so much he could take of sitting inside of Red and bonding before he ended up getting twitchy and desperate to fly. So he started attempting to mentally memorize the entire layout of the Castle.

Coran had provided them with a holographic map but it had a tendency to glitch. Older technology was unreliable at best, much to Keith’s annoyance. It at least gave him something to do, even if there didn’t seem to be any good reason to do so. It had become a nightly ritual. He would choose a section to explore and make his own map. He would then retrace all of his steps and make it back to the area he started in. He’d then turn around and repeat that process until he got a feel on where each hallway lead. Following that, he would end up choosing a random destination and figure out the fastest route to get there. It was a slow process but he needed something to do anyway. It wasn’t like he necessarily had anything else to do.

He had been charting things out for a few movements at least when he ended up running into someone else. It wasn’t an occurrence that he had been expecting. It was late and not even Shiro would be awake for a few vargas. He expected to be alone. But sitting there on the floor of the hallway, hunched over some screens, muttering to themselves, was Pidge. They didn’t notice him, to enraptured by whatever they were reading. Or attempting to read if their increasingly frustrated muttering was anything to go off of. He grew curious and took a few steps closer, silent as possible, to get a better look, thankful that what was projected on the screen could at least be viewed from the other side.

Familiar characters greeted him and before he could stop himself, he ended up asking, “Is that Galran?”

Pidge practically jumped, letting out an undignified yelp in their surprise. It took them only a tick to recover and glare at him, “Don’t sneak up on people. It’s rude.”

“You need to be more aware of your surroundings if you don’t want that to happen.”

They rolled their eyes and grumbled, turning their attention back to the screen, “Yes, it’s Galran. Stupid translators don’t work on written language so I have to do it by hand.”

Keith felt himself frown at that before forcing his expression to become neutral again, “You can’t read it?”

“Of course I can’t read it, it’s an alien lan- wait, does that mean you can read it?”

“Yes? Everyone in the conquered universe needs to be able to read and speak modern Galran. To not learn is to sign your death warrant. The Empire doesn’t take kindly to those who don’t understand them without translation chips.”

“So you can read it.”

“And speak it. It’s a necessary skill.”

“Tell me what it says,” Pidge stood up quickly, shoving the projection device toward him.the screen was bright and irritated his eyes but he read the first few lines anyway.

“This is… a cargo log. Why are you reading the cargo log?”

“I’m looking for something. What does a ships cargo log typically include?”

“Depends on the type. Transport is mostly personal items from the families aboard it and enough rations to get to their destination and no further. Cargo ships can include just about anything. Battle cruisers are enough rations to last the crew at least a few phoebs as well as fighters and munitions.”

Pidge groans and shakes their head, “No. that’s not it.”

“What are you looking for exactly?”

“Just- ugh! Are there prisoner logs?”

Keith felt his blood run cold and he delicately took the device from Pidge’s hands. He began scrolling quickly through the device, skimming over words quickly. While he was glad to finally be able to read something familiar, he didn’t like how this was going. Pidge watched him carefully as he went through, backing out of the file they were in and opening other files, only to back out of them again. Eventually, he landed on a file and stared. The character for prisoner stared back at him. He didn’t want to read it, despite knowing that he would have to in order for Pidge to find what they were after.

“Found them. What are you looking for?”

“Two humans. The other two people who went to Kerberos with Shiro. Sam and Matthew Holt.”

“They won’t be listed under their names but I can try to see if any of them are human,” his throat felt dry as he started to scroll through the logs. He knew that the Empire painted a bad picture of his race but he didn’t enjoy reading their preferred way of making themselves feel superior. He scanned as quickly as he could, ignoring the blatant racism and the incident reports cataloged under each incident report. The logs starting dates began at least a decaphoeb back. Not too surprising. They were likely put into the main system at the beginning of the decaphoeb and a new log began afterwards.

Still, despite searching, he couldn’t find what Pidge had wanted and he reluctantly handed the device back, “Sorry, I can’t find anything. If they were ever on this ship, it would have been last decaphoeb.”

Pidge only took the device back, cursing softly under their breath as they sat back down. Their expression was dark and sullen as they looked at the screen as if it had betrayed their trust in some way. Keith let out a sigh as he sat down next to them.

“Why are you looking for them?”

“What?”

“Sam and Matthew Holt. Why are you looking for them? Are they important?”

“They’re… they’re my family…”

“So the boy you were thinking of during the mind meld, your brother-”

“Matt.”

“Matt... he’s a prisoner?”

Pidge let out a weak and forced laugh, “As far as I can tell. Shiro can’t remember anything and I have no information to go off of aside from the fact they weren’t in that stupid arena, thank Christ-”

Keith wasn’t sure who this Christ person was or why Pidge was thanking them but he ignored that.

“But that leaves me with no leads and no way of really looking for them.”

“So you find random ship logs and hope that something involving them is there?”

“I don’t have any other way of looking! I have no leads and no way to find them and I just-!” Pidge cuts themselves off with a frustrated noise. They look pained and it almost pains Keith to see it too. He tries to imagine what it must be like to be in their place. His family gone with no way of finding them, knowing that they must be in pain, if they’re even alive. He can’t stand to let his mind wander down that way very far.

“I… could try to help,” he offers softly and Pidge whips their head around to face him. He doesn’t understand why they seem almost shocked by that.

“You want to help ? Why?”

“You’re my team member. Why would I not help you?”

“It would be easier not to.”

“We’re on a team of a total of seven people fighting an entire empire with 5 ships that look like lions. Nothing about our current path is easy or even likely to end on a positive note. We’ll probably be dead within a decaphoeb anyway”

“...no wonder Lance calls you a buzzkill.”

“He calls me a lot of things and refuses to explain any of them. Does he really not understand that insults don’t work if the insulted person doesn’t understand them?”

Pidge only snorts and lightly punches his shoulder, “Lance is an idiot who likes to compare you to an antisocial teenager who acts edgy just to make a statement.”

“Edgy…?”

“Nope. Not getting into it now. It’s too early in the morning for that and I need to get to my room so Shiro doesn’t find out I’ve been up this whole time.”

They stand up and start gathering their belongings.

“Do you normally spend your nights sitting in a hallway trying to read a language you don’t know?”

“The change in scenery helps me think,” they respond simply and Keith decides he won’t try to figure out how that works. He has at least another varga to continue his map before Shiro goes for his jog through the main hallways that he always insists on inviting Keith on. But instead, he finds himself helping Pidge carry all of their things back to their room. And, surprisingly, he doesn’t mind that part a single bit.