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Chapter Text

Back on Earth, it wasn't so hard to hide. But now in space. It seems to have grown. 

His dad told him of his mum and his other race. But he didn't tell him much before he passed. 

Living with Shiro and Adam, he grew up not to let anyone know. He had his tricks. Though his panic attacks make it worse. Every time he has a panic attack, he always starts to transform to his galra form. And that makes him panic. He doesn't want anyone to see him. He can't have anyone see him like that. It's dangerous. And he's scared. 

Keith paces in his room. He's panicking. He doesn't know why he started to panic. Maybe it's because of the thoughts of his mum. Oh, he can't remember. He's too focused on trying not to show. His breaths are unsteady, and he's beginning to claw at his arms. He notices and moves his hands up to his shoulders. Clawing at his shoulders instead of his arms. There are tears running down his face, and small noises are coming from his mouth. He crouches down to the floor and infant of his bed. And rests his face onto the bed. He is still clawing at his shoulders, which are now starting to bleed. 

This all started just because of thoughts of his mum. He wants his mum. He doesn't know why. But then he started to think negatively. what if she isn't alive anymore. What if she actually abandoned me and didn't want to see me. What if she doesn't recognise me. What if. What if. What if. Over and over. What if. 

He mind won't stop. He's starting to bang his head onto the bed. Mentally screaming to himself. He stops and moves his hands to his head and starts clawing at his hair. It hurts. But he's used to it. Every day hurts for him.

An hour goes by. Keith has already calmed down. But he is sitting with his head to his knees. In silence. In the dark. The only noise is the humming of the castle. And the faint noises of his team around the castle. And the one outside hos door. Outside his door. Keith looks up. He didn't realise someone was calling for him.

"Hey Keith!" Lance's voice calls our from the other side. Keith's dazed. He looked at his skin and saw nothing purple. Only his human looking mismatched skin. God, he looks sickly pale. 

"Keith!"

Oh, right, Lance, Keith thinks to himself. "Uhh yeah!" Keith managed out a reply while running around his room to clean himself up from his earlier tantrum. Shit. His face looks like shit. 

"We haven't seen you at all today. The team was wondering where you were." 

"Mmm yeah no, I've just been... shit, Asleep!" 

Lance was getting worried. Like what the he'll was that, worried. He decided to just forget the rules and opened Keith door. Only to see Keith crouched on the floor, picking up some books that had fallen. Well, that's nothing to worry about, he thinks to himself. 

"Lance?" Keith looked up to meet Lance's eyes. And Lance just lost it at the first look. His face turned red. He has cute bedhead and morning eyes. "Erm , orry about that. I'll eave!" Lance says. Turning around completely to leave. Keith just tilts his head to the side. "O-oh ok." 

Lance let's out a huff as he walks away from Keith's room. His head filled with image's of Keith. Gosh. He didn't know how long he's had a crush on Keith for. But thinking about it now, be believed it was long. Back at the garrison 'Long'. He lets out another huff. Daym he was hungry. Good thing it was lunch time for the Paladins. Oh right, Food! Lance screamed to himself as he remembered the other reason he went to see Keith.

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Keith sits crossed legged in his seat in the control room, reading one of his books he found in his bag he unintentionally brought to space. While Allura and Shiro are talking to the blades. At one point, he decided to look up, and he noticed one of the blades was watching him. He didn't know who it was, except for the fact he knew it was one of the leaders, Kolivan, was it? pack member. 

He didn't mind the stare. He just went back to the book. Then, some ticks later just to be called by Allura. "Keith!" 

"Yeah?"

"Are you listening? This is important!"

"U-uh no, s-sorry." Keith was listening, but he got distracted, and their voices started to sound like mumbling to him. 

"Not acceptable." Allura gave him her royalty glare. "Sorry." He apologized again. Putting his book to the side. 

Shiro didn't like how Allura gave him a glare. He knows Keith. He knows how distracted he gets. That's the whole point his summarise their meetings afterwards. "Hey Allura leave him, I'll summarise the meeting later to them anyways." Allura just side eyed him and went back to the meeting. Shiro just gave Keith a reassuring thumbs up and also went back to the meeting. Keith smiled back. He looked back up to the screen. The galra was still watching him. Keith looked away from him and focused on Kolivan's talking.

It was only later when Keith realised why the Galra was looking at him. He wasn't wearing his armour. Just his usual clothes. But he wasn't wearing his long sleave under shirt nor his jacket. Just his short sleeve shirt. And just peaking out was a purple mark. Keith's face went white. Literally. Instead of pale-er Vitiligo skin. It was purple. A grayish light purple. And just following it was his fur, that spread from his spine. It was spreading from his shoulders to his outer biceps. Keith started to pant. oh God no. This can't happen not now. Not never. 

He hurriedly grabbed his inner shirt and put it on. He hugged his arms and started to pace again. Not again please. Unexpectedly he punched the nearest wall he could. And accidentally put a hole into it. Crap. Soon Shiro came knknocking. "Keith, Are you ok?"

"Yup!" Keith forced out. But clearly Shiro knew it was a lie, and came inside. Just to see Keith holding onto the hand that had just punch a hole into the wall. Shiro raised a hand to his forehead. Not taking in the stupid face Keith giving him. It's his face after doing something stupid and getting himself hurt but doesn't want to show it. "Let me see." Shiro says, waling to him and reaching a hand out to take Keith injured hand. He knew exactly what happened. Its happened multiple times before. Panic attacks, punching a wall, now the pain that follows. Atleats the panic attack flew away as Adam put it. "Another panic attack?" He said anyway. Keith just nodded a reply. Still got the stupid face on, and holding back a tear. At this point Shiro checked Keith hand and is now heading to the Medbay. And also casually passing the control room where there was another meeting going on with the blades. Except the blades were actually there in person. 

Keith realised he probably worried Shiro when he heard a bang, and he came out of the meeting just to find him. It made him feel guilty. As they were passing, that same blade from the other day was eyeing him again. It made Keith worry again. Did it reach up to my neck. He questioned himself. But he didn't have time to think as Shiro pulled him closer to him.

Shiro still kept Keith close to him as they walked back. The stopped just before the door of the control room. Shiro grapped on to his shoulders and gave comforted him with his words before returning to the meeting. 

Keith could still see the previous Galra was still looking at him. Or maybe he wasn't he couldn't tell with the mask. But he was pretty sure he was watching him. As he began to walk away, he could hear Shiro apologising, and explaining how Keith had punched a hole into the wall. Allura made a surprised noise, and "how could his punch a hole in the castle" followed it. 

He sighed and walked away.

Chapter Text

It's been a movement since he noticed the purple showing on his arms. It has now spread down to his elbows, chest, stomach, thighs, and his neck. Even his fur. He's getting troubled now. Panic attack after panic attack. It's making everything worse. His inner shirt can only hide what it can. And soon it'll ble useless to wear. 

He can even feel his fangs coming through. And he's struggling to eat with the pain. Soon, his tail might pop out unexpectedly. And then his ears. He can already feel it. 

He sits on his bed, lifeless. Book drooping from his hand, and his head tilts back. He sighed and decided to just take a shower.

He walks into the Altean bathroom and starts to strip his clothes. He views his body in the mirror. The purple fur has spread a lot. But it has seemed to have stopped in some places. The only thing that hasn't stopped is his purple skin. It's gone up his neck, passed his knees. But it's only in random places. Like he's just threw paint in random splodges. It's not like he worries about the bottom part of him. It's just his top half that's mostly visible. If it reaches past his jawline, he's cooked. There's nothing he can do but just endure. 

He thinks for a while before remembering what he was doing and hops in to wash.

As if his thoughts were heard. Keith woke up to his purple skin reaching past his inner shirt. Fuck! Well, what should he do now. Ooh, I know. There's now another hole in the wall. FUCK! Keith curses at himself again. And screams. Mentally. 

He quickly rushes to the bathroom to check the rest of him. And of course, his purple skin has spread past his elbow and is almost covering his whole arms. As well as his legs. He runs out again and quickly tries to cover himself the best he can before sitting back down on his bed. Contemplating life. 

His appetite is gone now. It's not like he was hungry anyway. He knows he can't hide them anymore. But he just wants to hide for a bit more. He locks his door and throws his blanket over himself, and sits on the floor, with the bed as a backrest. He grabs a book and just reads. Trying to escape. It's not like his team would care anyway if he disappeared.

Keith doesn't realise how much his team is worried. Especially Shiro and Lance. 

Shiro knows what's happening. It happened before. He locks himself in his room, doesn't ear nor sleep, and then a couple days later, he's back to new. Though this time, he thinks it's something different. But he still stands aside. Letting Keith do Keith. 

Lance, on the other hand. Is very worried. How could he not. Keith had not done his usual keith stuff for a whole movement. No training till night, no banter between the two, he just walks away, looking tired, and he's been hugging his arms with a stressed expression. It's definitely something to worry about. 

Pidge and Hunk aren't equally as worried, but they still are. Hunks always cooks food for the team, except he's missing a certain Paladin. He hasn't eaten much during the past movement. Only one small meal a day, and that's it. 

Allura and Coran are also not as worried. But they don't know if its just a human thing. But Coran always makes sure that Keith is staying hydrated. So he always brings a glass of liquids to him. 

The only other people on the castles are the blades. There's no reason they should worry. Right. Except they are. But why should they be. Keith and the blades don't have a connection. But ever since Ulaz had noticed the purple marks, he's made it clear that he'd keep an eye on Keith. And he made sure he'd tell his pack about it. But then the sudden cries of a galra kit caught their attention. They couldn't just sit there. Their instincts just want to rush in and cradle the kit. But they don't want to startle the Paladins.

It's been 3 Quintants since Keith hid himself in his room. The Paladins took turns to bring Keith's meals to him. But when them come to retrieve the tray the food was on, they noticed that the food was still on the tray. They were more worried now. Keith hasn't eaten for 3 Quintants. And more if they didn't sort this out. 

Lance and Shiro had argued multiple times. Lance wanted to bring Keith out and force feed him. And make sure he's ok. But Shiro says to leave him be. Lance doesn't agree. And Shiro knows. He doesn't agree with himself either, but he knows Keith. 

Keith could hear their arguments. It echoed through the castle. He felt bad. He just wanted a couple more days hiding. 

His purple skin was now on his feet, hands, and cheeks. And even the tips of his hair was a magenta. Just like his mum. 

His dad showed him a picture of his mum before he died. And ever since he's kept it. Alongside a picture of him and his dad. He kept them close to him. And sometimes Keith would bring the picture of his mum next to him as he looked in the mirror. He saw many resemblance now. He had marks on either side of his cheeks, though faint. The back of his hair was magenta. His eyes are a dark purple like hers. And he bets his ears and tail look like hers as well.  

He doesn't remember much of his mum. But he does remember the hippo plushie she gave him. He still has it. And it helps him from not scratching himself.

He takes a break from reading and decides to take a shower. To wash away the dry blood on his arms, neck, and thighs.

It's been another Quintant since Keith had hidden away in his room. He's been constantly clawing at his arms, neck, and thighs. He's had several panic attacks. And with each panic attack, he becomes more Galran. He doesn't know why it happens whenever he has a panic attack. Maybe it's the stress. He just wants his mum. 

He knows it's his Galran Kit instincts to want. During the time he's been in space. He's read books on different species. Especially his own. To know more. And while reading, he found out more about his biology and that he's technically a child in Galra biology. That explains a lot. He thought to himself. 

Chapter Text

Keith's sitting head in knees, His plain black shirt, and short shorts on with a blanket draped over his front. He's holding the stuffed hippo in his arms. He continues to claw at his arms. Blood has been dripping from where he was scratching. He looks pale and lifeless. He feels suffocating. The thought of food makes him feel sick. He really doesn't want to be awake. Tears are falling down his face. He wants his mum. 

His ears start to ring. And he begins to close his eyes. He just wants to be with his mum. He isn't focused on what's happening outside. He can only hear faint mumbles of people arguing. Again. But then he falls asleep.

He didn't know how long he was asleep. And he didn't know what awoke him. Maybe it was the sound of the footsteps coming his way. Wait. someone's coming. Keith hugs the hippo more. And begins to claw on his upper arms. And at some point , he realised he was clawing off his fur. At the same time , someone had stopped in front of his door. Keith begins to panic again. Again. And he scratches deeper. 

"Keith!" Lance's voice was heard on the other side. Keith doesn't get the second to say anything back before his door was forced open.

Keith's pupil shrinks. And quickly scruffled away into the nearest corner. He's glad he decided to cover his whole body with the blanket. But that isn't what he's supposed to be focused on right now. 

Lance, let's out a worried huff. "You look stupid like that." Lance walks in, and the door shuts behind him. Keith is scared Lance would come any closer. But he doesn't. He just stands in front of the door. Keith can't see his face. But he imagined Lance has got a really annoying face on. But Keith is wrong. Lance's face is filled with worry. 

"Why are you covered like that? You'll suffocate." Lance says. And Keith thinks to himself, is that why I feel like I can't breathe. 

"Take that off." 

"No!" 

"Why?" Keith pauses. He's listening to Lance. But his voice doesn't sound annoying, but soft and patient. Keith wants to reply but is cut off when Lance turns the lights on. And then there was a gasp from Lance. 

"Keith, why is there blood on the floor?" He sounds panicked now. 

"I-i had a n-nose bleed." Keith lied. But clearly, Lance could tell he was lying. 

"Don't lie, Take the blanket off now." Lance steps closer, and Keith panics. A small whinper comes from his mouth as he tries to cover himself more, away from Lance. Lance pauses. And says in a soft and caring voice. "What are you afraid of Keith?" 

Keith pauses. Tears are streaming down his face. "P-please don't come near. I-i..." Lance crouches down to the floor. Ready to listen. "Go on, it's ok." Lance says. Keith moves his hands to his eyes, trying to wipe away the tears. "I don't... I-i don't want t-to..." Keith says in-between sobs. "I don't w-want to hurt you."

Lance made a surprised sound. "Hurt me. Keith, you could never hurt me. Or anyone." 

"No, but I have, and I will again!" Keith shouts from under the blanket. "But I don't want to hurt anyone." 

"Keith." Lance pauses. "Can you please take the blanket off." 

"..."

"Keith."

"I'm not who you think I am, Lance." 

"Take the blanket off,"

"..." 

"Take it off,"

"Why?"

"...Because I want to see you."

Keith face turns red. Why would Lance want to see me. He can't see me. He can never see me. Not him. Keith moves slightly under the blanket. "What if I don't look like how usually did?" 

"I don't mind, even if you looked like an alien, I just want to see you." 

"What if I was an alien," 

"Then you'd be the cutest alien in the whole universe!" Lance exaggerated with his hands.

"Cutest?" Keith tilted his head to the side. Face turning more red. Lance's face also turned a shade of red after realising what he said. "I-i mean... You've always been cute, soooo, even if you looked like an alien, you're still Keith, and you're still cute." Lance placed his hand to the back of his neck and looked away in embarrassment. 

Keith started to cry again. He wanted to see how stupid Lance's face looks now. He smiled. He lifted his hands to the top of the blanket. And slowly moved it away from his face. 

Lance's heartbeat stopped. He stared at Keith, amazed. Holy shit he's gorgeous. Keith saw how Lance's eyes widened and how his mouth fell open. He started to panic when Lance hadn't said anything but was only staring at him. "Lance?"

"You are so fucking beautiful!" 

Keith became a tomato. He was too stunned to speak. 

"Well, you've always been beautiful, but I think I've been blinded by how stunning you are." 

"You're not scared."

"Why would I be scared, I've seen scary, and you're not on that list."

"You won't hate me for being the enemy race," 

"I would never hate you," Lance paused, then relised. "Your Galra!!" Keith just wanted to hide again. But Lance just had to be Lance. "I never knew pretty Galra's existed." 

"Why are you flirting with me?" Keith asks, deciding not to hide after Lance's sentence. 

"Of course I am, isn't it obvious?"

"Why tho."

"...because I like you, and I don't like seeing you hurt yourself." 

"I'm a problem Lance, no one likes me." 

"I love you"

Keith blew up. He grabbed his hippo and started hitting Lance with it, "You can't just drop a bomb on me like that!" Lance chuckled. He grabbed both of Keith hands with his own, and planted a kiss on Keith's lips. 

Chapter Text

Keith didn't back away from the kiss. He deepened it. But Lance just had to ruin it. 

As the blanket moved away from Keith, more of Keith was shown. Lance couldn't help but have a glance. But his eyes stopped to Keith arms and legs. 

"Keith why are there cuts all down your arms, and thighs!?" Keith froze. I should have covered them up. Keith looks down at his arms, and tempted to cover them up with his hands. "sorry" 

"why are you apologizing, come on we need to go to the med bay." Lance stood up and put his hand out to help Keith up. But Keith didn't move. "Keith." 

"I cant go, I have to hide." Lance sighed, he had a pained expression on his face. "Keith no you don't, the team wouldn't mind that you part Galra, I think, but that doesn't matter, all that matters is that you eat and get healed up." Lance grabs Keith's wrists and pulls him up close, and planting a kiss on Keith's forehead. 

"Dad says I need to hide." 

"But theres no need to hide anymore, we're your team, we support each other." 

"...ok. But I don't want to show them yet." 

"Alrighty, I'll make sure we wont bump into anyone, Anyone."

Lance kept holding Keith's hand as they walked through the castle. Keith smiled. its been over a Movement since he smiled. 

"Ok so I bet no one would be in the kitchen now, so it should be safe to get food now."

"I'm not hungr-"

"You haven't eaten properly since over a Movement. Your eating something!" Keith couldn't even protest. He didn't mind Lance bringing him food to his room. Not taking him out of his room. It means that he will get seen. But Lance is right. There's no need to hide anymore. He has a team, that hopefully care about him. Heck he didn't know Lance cared about him, so the rest of the team will right. Right? Lance was a real surprise. Never mind Lance just caring, he had a whole other thing as well. 

The realisation just hit him. OMG WE KISSED. His mind started going crazy. "Uhhhh Lance?" 

"Yeah"

"I don't know if this is a good time or not, but uhhh. What does this mean between us?" Lance stopped, heat slowly creeping up his face. He turned around to face Keith. Still holding onto Keith's hand. "Well I thought I indicated what was happening between us when we kissed." 

"I've never been in a relationship Lance, I'm not even good with people." 

"Well I thought you knew!" Lance exaggerated, moving his free hand to cover his face in embarrassment. Keith giggled. "Well I want to know what you want us to be, Lance~" Keith grinned. Lance blushed. "Wellll what do you want us to be, Sugar?" Keith face blushed at the pet name Lance just dropped. "Food first!" Keith rushed passed Lance. Being redder that his lion. Lance chuckled, "I thought you weren't hungry~"

Keith was too focused on Lance talking that he forgot where they were going and the whole reason why he was hiding. He just simply forgot. But he was soon awoke from a gasp just in front of them. It looked like Lance had forgotten about his surroundings as well. Because he paused and pulled Keith slightly behind him when he heard the gasp. Keith suddenly remembered what he looked like. Oh no. Keith and Lance shared a thought. The Kitchen wasn't empty. It was full.

Keith threw himself behind Lance, shaking. Lance could feel Keith's panicking breathes at the back of his neck. He didn't want Keith to Panic. He already knew he made a big mistake, he just doesn't want to make it worse. But all eyes are on them, how is he supposed to make this any better. Everyone is in the kitchen, why is everyone in the kitchen. Everyone. Lance was starting to panic now from hearing and feeling Keith's panic. 

"Keith..." Shiro was the first to speak. Keith knew they all saw him, and can still see him. He started to clutch onto Lance's back. His knees begin to feel weak, and tears are starting to form. Lance steps back a bit, clutch onto Keith's sides behind him. "I'm sorry." Lance whispered. A small whimper came out of Keith. He could feel their eyes on him. He couldn't see their expressions, but he's assuming their all disgusted. He began to feel sick. This isn't how he wanted this to go. The tears start to pour down his face. He's to scared to look at everyone. He wants to run away. 

"Kit..." 

Keith froze. His ears began to ring. He hadn't hear someone call him that since his father passed. I was a Galran word that his mother called him. His mum. By instincts he wanted to go towards the voice. But stopped when he heard Allura's voice call out. "Your one of them." Her voice sounded as if she was stabbed in the back. That was Keith's last straw. He started to run back the way he came. Lance tried to chase after him, but Keith was just to fast. He didn't know where he was going. He was just running. Lance was still trying to run after him, but he didn't know which direction Keith was running in. 

Keith started to pant. He legs felt weak. He fell to the floor, he felt faint. He couldn't breathe. He was stuck in a random corridor of the castle. He sat himself up right and hugged his legs. His mind was racing. This wasn't suppose to happen. Maybe he should've stayed in the room. His mind went straight to Allura's voice. How disgusted and heartbroken she sounded. He let his head fall into his knees. He started to claw at his head. He knew he was being loud. But he couldn't help the Childish noises that he was making.  His mind went straight to his mum again. His instincts were overwhelming him again. He just wants someone to cradle him and to calm him down. He wanted his mum. 

As on cue, someone was approaching him. But Keith didn't notice them. His mind was stuck on how he believed everyone would hate him, and find him disgusting. But those thoughts were driven away as someone touches him on the shoulders and embraces him in a hug. Keith could tell the person wasn't human. But he didn't care. The person had sat down where Keith was and sat Keith in their lap. The person started to purr, and Keith began to calm down. "Is that better Kit." Keith soon realised who the person was. It was Ulaz. The same on tht had been watching him this whole time. But also his mums pack mate. 

Chapter Text

His mum had told him about her pack before. Although she couldn't show a picture of them, she did describe them. Kolivan was the leader. Antok was the bigone with a tail. Thace was the smaller one and fluffy. And Ulaz was the non fluffy one. It wasn't a good description. But it stayed with him. 

Now that he had met them, he knew exactly who they were. And he could tell that they knew exactly who he was as well. Well, they weren't so sure up until now when its clearly visible. The magenta in his hair. The cheek markings. His eyes. They were just surprised there weren't any ears or tail showing. Krolia did say he had a tail and Galra ears. Maybe his dad had cut them off. No, he couldn't have. He still had pointy ears that weren't normal for humans.

Keith had shifted a bit in Ulaz's arms. Remembering that Ulaz is still technically a stranger to him. "Sorry." Keith whispered. Ulaz tightened his arms around Keith. "There's nothing to be sorry about, Kit." Keith hummed. Ulaz began to purr again. To try and comfort Keith. Keith's instincts over came him again, and he nuzzled deeper into Ulaz's embrace. 

A sudden chuckle was heard just a few feet away. It was Kolivan, Antok, and Thace heading towards them. "I found the kit!" Ulaz practically shouted with excitement. "We can see that." Thace replied. 

Keith moved his head to look at the other pack mates. As they slowly walked up, Keith noticed something in Kolivans hand. Keith eyes widened. It was his hippo. He faced his whole body towards Kolivan and reached his hands out to grab the hippo. Kolivan chuckled again. "We went looking for you in your room, but you weren't there. But I thought I should give this to you once we found you." Keith snuggled the hippo. "Thank you." Keith didn't know them well, but he already felt comfort in them. Maybe its because they all share a similar sent to his mum. Well, it would make sense they are pack mates. But then that also means he's their packs kit. Maybe they already knew about him. They did know him. 

They all sat around Ulaz and Keith. Each with their masks off and gently touching Keith's arms or head. They sat there in silence. Kolivan was the first to speak , "Those are pretty deep cuts kit." He placed his hand onto Keith's arm and uncurled his arm from around the hippo. Keith nuzzled his head into Ulaz's chest. Ulaz tightened his arms around Keith in retaliation. "They need to be treated before they get infected." Ulaz spoke up. "I don't want to go to the medbay." Keith sniffled. "Why not?" Thace spoke up this time. "I just don't want to," Thace chuckled, "that's not a good excuse." And with that, Thace stood up, followed by the others. Keith was picked up by Ulaz. Keith didn't protest. He didn't need to know them for a week just to begin to feel comfortable with them. It's only taken a few minutes. 

Once they were in the medbay, Ulaz placed keith down on a bench and went to find some bandages. The other 3 were surrounding Keith. Thace holding one of Keith's arms and Antok doing the same, while Kolivan helps Ulaz. Keith felt uneasy with all his wounds in the open. But when Lance suddenly appeared in the medbay, he felt relieved. While Ulaz was treating his cuts, Lance was hovering over, saying reassuring words. And a couple jokes then and there that only Keith would laugh at. He was happy Lance was here.

All the other Paladins have been on edge. Hunk and Pidge were worried for Keith, but they understand why Keith was distanced. Shiro has been distressed. He wanted to go find Keith and heal him of his troubles, but he knows he can't. Coran sort of knew but he couldn't really prove it. 

(Editing...)